#this is also how he appears in headspace apparently

[harmonysanreads]

Analysis↬Sunday and Jealousy

The Oak Family's leader doesn't get jealous, he shouldn't get jealous but still ; at times, it feels as though the practiced grasp he keeps on his emotions is more fragile than it appears to be.

「 words : 1.3k 」

Jealousy catches Sunday completely unprompted one day.

It's not that he'd been ignorant to the concept of envy, having met its acquaintance sporadically throughout his younger years. But envy in relation to a person, someone who's getting closer and closer to bringing down the barricades around his soul at an increasingly concerning rate — turns out to be an entirely new predicament for the Oak Family's Head.

Not that he welcomes it as well, because of the realizations it brings alongside itself. Envy is a reflection of insecurity, a gap in healthy confidence. That one has no faith in their capabilities. Alternatively, they refuse to acknowledge their worth or deem it insufficient before another's, but at the same time, can't bring themselves to focus on improving themselves — resulting in a state of inferiority complex.

Envy is a natural response scattered throughout one's lifespan, because no one is at their best all the time. To let it consume them further than a miniscule timeframe and drive those initial feelings of insufficiency towards hatred, that is where the problem arises.

Visible indication of these emotions is scarce, but his silence is meaningful. As a leader, it's more or less obligatory for him to use his words at the right place, while also knowing when to utilize silence. For you, he's willing to both lead a conversation and to remain a listener. But when jealousy sinks its talons into him, he's rendered a bit too silent, almost as though he's unable to process what is happening before him.

Further observation will reveal some other things ; namely the manner in which his wings curl around himself, how he withdraws both of his arms behind him and his overall countenance appearing even more rigid, withdrawn than before. Should you be perceptive enough to look into his eyes, you'll find their edges to be far sharper than what your memory suggests.

It takes no more than a while of contemplation in complete silence for Sunday to draw all these points. The feeling is uncomfortable at first, because dwelling in that pessimistic headspace isn't the most enjoyable. Sunday holds himself guilty before extraordinary standards, which is why his first course of action is self-improvement.

He attempts to pinpoint where exactly his subconscious detects himself insecure, what aspects of him he can improve so that his heart won't betray his soul and makes apparent progress in that pursuit as well. But it doesn't work in the long run, because he's harsh on himself. The cage of “self worth” lures many to make mistakes, but the human subconscious will always tilt towards asking external influences to take the burden. Because of this belief, he has difficulty in shifting the microscope away from himself for a long time.

When he finally wills himself to look at the source of the envy, he becomes even more confused. Objectively speaking, there are very few who can best the Oak Family's leader in an overall inspection. Perfection is but an estimate, he's aware everyone falls somewhere in the path towards it and for matters that concern human relationships, objective views don't really matter. So, he spares you of any judgement.

Supposing that the source of his envy is a person, Sunday holds himself back from comprising a resolute opinion on them as much as he can ; since he's aware that that opinion will ultimately be dictated by emotions. Still, studying people comes as a natural instinct to him. So when he spots certain... negative qualities in them, he's split between pity and relief. The latter stuns him initially.

Accustomed to viewing things from an overall perspective, oftentimes feelings such as anger and hatred seem futile to him. Like an instrument handled a little carelessly or left unused for an extended time, Sunday would not mind ‘tuning’ that person if necessary. After all, everyone deserves compassion and he'd much prefer settling things peacefully.

On the other hand, his relief stems from his trust in you. Because if he didn't place his faith in you, you'd not be as important to him as you're now at all. He knows sooner or later you'll see what he sees as well and return to his side on your own ; unless his perception of you was wrong. Though the thought births an ache in his heart, he doesn't reject it either. He's been betrayed and used too many times to cross out that possibility.

There is another case that'll hurt him far more, if the person is revealed to genuinely love and care for you and there is no such quality that tramples their positives. There is so much Sunday can't give you, being with him requires more patience than what one would think and worst, he knows this all. As such, he can't bring himself to just walk up and drag you away from them — not when he knows you deserve better.

If your relationship with Sunday was established even before this ; he's first displeased, then in disbelief until it settles on disappointment. This disappointment vacillates between you and him before he ultimately fixates it on himself. Sunday places before him nearly impossible standards to meet and unconsciously expects the same efforts from the people he cares about. It's not a hassle for him to be harsh on himself but he can't expect similar attitudes from others, everyone is different. You are not someone he can control and shape to his preferences.

So when his silent, impossible expectations aren't met, frustration and hopelessness replace them. He shouldn't have expected so much from you in the first place. When he thinks about them more, could he have just overreacted? Analyzed the situation so much that it became separated from what happened initially? This ensues a state of paralysis where his functions become static until he ultimately blames himself for everything.

After all, it's easier to do so. Take everything on himself so that no one, or worse — you get hurt. To know that he'd lowered his thoughts to such a degree and for a measly reason at that would undoubtedly fracture you, put forth the question of whether he has trusted you at all. No matter what, Sunday cannot ever bring himself to be cruel to you, it's not in his nature. Rather, his problem is that he cares so much for everything else around him that he has not a speck left of that kindness for himself to spare.

In this stage of it all, he really has no idea who is at fault and everything that transpired in his head feels meaningless and he's tired. A part of him keeps probing that he should just be honest, confess everything to you and bare his soul — but he can't find any semblance of courage required to do so. To everyone he appears normal, with nothing out of place. But inside he's crumbling, everything he's pushed to the back of his psyche has come forward to crush him.

Sunday is not above letting you go should you desire. He's always been selfless, sacrificing everything of himself for the greater good. And for you and your happiness? Destroy him, take away everything but please, be happy. Be genuinely happy and he'll find joy in your smile, even if you forsake him.

Sunday has always known attachment would inevitably hurt him, which is why he doesn't bare himself to just anyone. This turn of events does not surprise him, but it still hurts. Admittedly, he would not mind being proven wrong for once, he yearns for it even.

Besides, he has far grander plans to execute, so many other responsibilities to shoulder. He can't dwell on that attachment for long. Granted, he won't just forget you and the thought of what he could've had would haunt him for a long while but still, he won't blame you for anything. He knows he could just prevent everything by coming clear to you, however, he doesn't have that courage yet.

His suffering is silent, as it has always been. Even in the sweet dream of Penacony, he remains plagued by nightmares he can't shake off. In other words, he's afraid to awaken, to face the inevitable. And until he learns to be sincere to himself, to not be as tenacious as he is, this cycle will remain a challenge to break.

[woodchipp]

Yeah no I'll have to cut Basil out entirely lol. Dude has no reason to be in a version of the plot where Mari commits suicide and my attempts to organically integrate him into it without deviating from the game's original framework too much didn't work out. Which is a shame. He's got a cool design and he's interesting! The problem is that he's good only as a plot device in Headspace, and I don't want to relegate him to that :(

To make up for that, I think it'd probably make more sense for Sunny to be the photographer and for Mari to be the flower enthusiast. The former's hobby could be justified by him having memory issues, and thus the idea of creating a photo album could be born out of the fear that he'll forget his friends at some point in the future. Additionally, I think this could benefit Sunny's characterization - the photo album's captions could be used to characterize Sunny instead, and the detail of Basil being outside the frame since he's the one taking the photos would make more sense for Sunny because the game (off-handedly) mentions he's "a bit camera-shy". I imagine that he wouldn't want to be featured on his photos both because he doesn't consider himself important enough and because he wouldn't want to be reminded of his appearance :) Maybe that would also recontextualize his eternal resting bitch face in the few photos he is on as him being geniunely uncomfortable as opposed to just "not liking to smile"

I guess the photo album itself could be more of a group project the whole group is involved in, since y'know, they're friends and all that. Of course, most of the captions would be written by Sunny himself, but there could be a few captions here and there from Kel, Hero, or - better yet - Mari. Girl needs some semblance of a personality lmao

Speaking of Mari, her hobby could stem from the flower arrangement classes she and her mother were apparently taking. Maybe she'd take it up along with softball to keep herself busy or something. I just think that a scene of Mari telling Sunny about the symbolism of the flowers she recently grew could be pretty cute lol. I'm not made of stone :P

...huh, now that I'm thinking about it, Aubrey taking the photo album away could be the catalyst for Sunny becoming a hikikomori. He still continues to attend school after Mari kills herself as a way to get out of the house he simply can't bear to stay in anymore and despite his deteriorating mental state. Then one day, Aubrey begs him to let her study at his house, he reluctantly agrees, she finds the ruined photo album and angrily confronts him over it instead of stealing it on the spot (in this case, her argument that the album is important to all of the friend group would hold a bit more water since it was, after all, a group project). Being reminded about the photo album proves to be the last straw for Sunny, however, and so his anger issues come into play without causing him to kill someone in a fit of rage as he blows up at her for going through his things behind his back to look at the album without his permission. And that's when Aubrey decides she had enough and escapes with the album in tow. I imagine her crush essentially telling her to fuck off on top of seeing the ruined photos would hurt her twice as hard, and it'd give her a considerably more solid reason to hate Sunny's guts four years later.

Sunny, horrified by his behavior (and totally not reminded of the big argument Mari killed herself after, ofc :)) decides to shut himself off from the outside world for good. Can't hurt anyone ever again if you remove yourself out of their lives altogether and all that. Oh, and by the way, isn't it funny how there's another character who directed a furious outburst at someone they cared about?

[watermelonsugacry]

heyy don’t know if ur requests are open for 1dmember!reader but maybe u could do “never have i ever” from the Ellen show back in 2015? maybe could add some more questions of ur own in too?

Never Have I Ever

A/N: a highly requested interview...more iconic interviews to come lovies! (i see harry the day after tomorrow...wHAT??)

SINCE 2010 masterlist

“Alright, we’re back with One Direction. Your fans think they know everything about you, well we’re about to find out,” As Ellen introduces the infamous, invasive games they’re about to play, fans squeal at the sight of YN placing a hand on Harry’s knee as she readjusts herself on the couch between him and Niall. It’s a very platonic action, but any kind of interaction between the two makes the fans lose their minds—especially when they give each other a small smile from their close proximity. 

“Never have I ever had someone write a song about me?”

Harry doesn't know what to label the twist in his stomach is when YN ultimately decides to have her sign read I Have Never.

Was she completely oblivious to all of the songs he writes about love? Was this her way of trying to deny they were ever about her? Or is this just her way of trying to protect her private life and not make anything seem suspicious?

He feels some kind of relief from his racing thoughts when some fans in the crowd say her name in a disappointed tone. 

"We're not gonna play if you’re gonna lie." Ellen's words make YN laugh, especially when she sees that Harry holds up the same sign as her.

...

“Never have I ever made out with someone within the band?”

When the crowd sees that YN and Louis hold up the same sign, two things occur: One, the fans scream in excitement at any information being revealed about one of the most shipped duos within the band (aside from her and Harry, of course). Two, the heat of jealousy makes itself apparent within Harry’s chest. 

"Really?" Ellen smiles.

It really takes everything in her not to roll her eyes at the inappropriate questions, already dreading another second on this couch as she’s going to have to explain her reasoning. At least she's squished up against Harry, so it's not so bad.

"Not recently." YN puts a hand up in reassurance and leans over Niall to look at her childhood best friend. "But Louis and I dated when we were younger, so...” 

 It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see the way Harry’s mood has shifted for this question. The crease appears between his eyebrows and he lets out a stiff cough into his fist when Ellen keeps pushing the question.

“So no other lip action has happened since then? Or with any other boy on the couch?”

YN shakes her head and taps her paddle to each of the boys’ knees, “These lads are me brothers...so that would be quite weird.”

When the audience laughs and the host moves onto the next fan-sent question, the fans can see the way YN takes a few discreet and concerned glances at Harry as she pushes her hair behind her ear.

...

"Never have I ever been skinny dipping in a hotel pool?"

As Liam makes a joke about how he’s never done it while the rest of the band has, Harry and YN are grateful for their media training now more than ever as they keep a neutral face—chuckling along with everyone without causing any suspicion of what happened merely a couple of weeks ago.

Harry and YN glance behind them for the millionth time as they scurry down the hotel hallway. After a day full of interviews and almost two hours of performing on stage in front of thousands of fans, it was totally reasonable that all the band wanted to do was slip into the fluffy comforters of the hotel beds and knock out for the rest of the night. It was also reasonable that YN wanted to have a drink or two before heading off to sleep and reasonable to extend the invitation to her bandmate.

So a couple of mini alcohol bottles got the two into a giggly, bubbly headspace, two o’clock in the morning seemed like a perfectly reasonable time to go out exploring. After Harry taps Niall’s sleepy face awake to cover for the two of them and miraculously sneaking out of the hotel room without their security teams noticing, the two push the heavy doors open to welcome the breeze hitting their warm skin. 

Harry trips over his feet from his tipsy state and YN quickly grips his arm, both leaning into one another’s touches. They both scrunch their noses up as they turn into a giggly mess but he quickly puts a finger to his smile to remind her that they need to keep quite.

“Woah, holy shit,” YN gasps at what’s before them. It takes a moment for Harry to register where they are. Since their hotel suites are on the top floor, they find themselves in the fancy, lounge area exclusive to the snobs that can afford it. 

When he finally realizes what took her breath away in the first place, his jaw drops in drunken awe. Looking out to the beautiful view of the city is a luxurious pool that wraps around the edges of the lounge area. 

Since it’s already dark out, there’s no possible way there were any other guests out here. The only light sources come from the obnoxious amount of yellow, LED light bulbs that hang above their heads, the city lights, and the dark blue lights that shine underneath the water.

He follows her towards the edge of the pool and he looks at her so fondly when she tilts her head to the side in contemplation, “Am I really really that hammered or there’s no bloody edge to this pool?”

“S’an infinity pool,” Harry explains with a giggle. “S’supposed to look like that.” 

She mutters out a soft, “oh,” as her eyes continue to dart around the beautiful water. She swats at the finger that pokes at her cheeks.

“Yeh wanna go in it,” Harry teases.

“No,” She stubbornly states with a furrow of her eyebrows but a smile grows itself on her face when his fingers wiggle on her side.

“Come on, yeh know you wanna.”

“I don’t have a swimsuit,” Harry holds back cooing at her genuine pout at the fact of her lack of swimwear.

“Aw man, you’re right,” Harry puts his hands on his hips, tucking his lips in to avoid showing his smile. 

“Do yeh think we can sneak back to go get them?” YN blinks her glossy eyes at her bandmate in hope, her hands coming up to hold onto his bicep. He shakes his head disappointingly and his heart nearly breaks in two when he sees her shoulders slump. 

“Reckon we can come back tomorrow though,” He tries to reason. When she nods sorrowfully and turns around to walk away from the water, Harry smiles to himself, “Or we can go in now.”

YN doesn’t have time to yelp or let out a scream because in a split second, Harry spins around to grip onto her waist and effortlessly chucks her into the water. He jumps up to tuck his legs to his chest and follows her into the pool.

When they resurface, Harry bursts out in laughter when gets splashed with water. 

“You prick!” YN can’t really be mad at him. Not when she’s laughing alongside him and making memories they will remember in years to come. 

Fully clothed in their black skinny jeans and satin blouses, they continue to swim around and splash each other around the pool.

“I have to admit, I don’t think skinny jeans were a good substitute for swimwear,” Harry huffs out with a smile.

“S’your fault,” YN shrugs with a teasing smile sitting comfortably on her lips. “But v’got a pretty easy solution to our problem.” 

Without another word, they two get to tugging off their bottoms. If taking off jeans while submerged in water was hard enough, their tipsy states only added to the difficulty. She even juts her leg towards him in a whine for help once he’s got his off. She’s turned into a giggly mess when she gets dragged closer to him through the water from his tugging. 

“Why didn’t we think of this before getting in?” Harry asks as he hurriedly undoes the buttons of his top. She’d be lying if she said she didn’t let her eyes wander to his muscular shoulders once he removes the fabric from his body and tosses it aside.

“We? You more like for tossing us in here.”

Harry can’t help by letting his eyes linger over the tops of her chest when she pulls her blouse over her head. They’ve seen each other this undressed more times than they’d like to admit: from reasonable occasions like being poolside or from quick changes that happened over years where there just wasn’t enough time to get her little area set up in time. The boys were always super respectful of her space and since they saw her as a sister, no one spared more than a glance her way—maybe two from Harry.

They’ve seen each other’s skin in this way before, so he doesn’t understand why he feels the heat rise to his cheeks at their close proximity. Maybe it’s an attempt to personally get the spotlight off of him when he asks, “Have yeh ever been skinny dipping before?”

An attempt that was unsuccessful as YN gives him a beaming smile that makes his insides turn in giddiness. How is it possible for her to look even that much more gorgeous? Could it be from lights shining from the water or from the city scenery beside them? It has to be, right?

“Maybe,” She brings her shoulder to her ear. “Maybe not. Have yeh?”

“Yeh, s’quite freeing actually. A bit of a rush. Would recommend.”

“Really?” Harry nods at her as his answer. Her question just confirms how well he knows her. He could tell from a mile away that she was merely bluffing despite all of her media training. Maybe it’s just with him, but she can be a shit liar sometimes.

“But to do it with someone you’re comfortable with, you know? With someone who you think you’ll have fun with. Erm, maybe you and Matt should do it one day when you see him again.” He wants to cringe his face up at his suggestion. He doesn’t know he would ever willingly bring him up, especially when he just wants to enjoy time with his best friend...and crush for the past five years. As much as it pains him to be reminded that she isn’t his whenever Matthew is brought up—by her, interviewers, the other boys, etc—he can’t help but relish the times when it’s just the two of them. 

The world disappears and she’s the only one he can truly be himself. He’s not The Harry Styles that everyone knows and loves. When it’s just them two, he’s just Harry. He’s goofy and sentimental and weird. Not a lot of people know or get to see that side of him, but if she only knew how much she sees him.

YN hums and looks to her right at the lit-up cityscape. When her eyes meet his again, she holds his gaze. A lot of people find his eye contact to be quite intimidating, but not her. It gives her an old sense of comfort; like nothing else around them exists and he’s providing a time of intimacy like nothing she’s ever experienced before.

Maybe that’s why as they hold each other’s gaze, she slowly reaches behind her back. She unhooks the clasps of her bra with ease and the straps go limp and slide from the tops of her shoulders.

Harry’s eyes stay locked on hers, only making out her actions from his peripheral vision. He’s aware of how his chest as gradually began to speed up from his breathing. He swallows thickly and if she were move her gaze to the base of his neck, he could see his pluse beating underneath his skin.

Her hands keep the cups of her bra to her chest and as she goes to remove the fabric from herself, the two snap their heads to the sound of the heavy door slamming open.

“What the hell do yeh guys think yeh doin’?” Paul shouts frantically. Grateful that he’s too panicked to fully take in the sight in front of him, Harry quickly moves in front of his bandmate as she swiftly clasps her bra back into place. “Get yeh bums out of that water, now! What are yeh lads thinking? Had the whole security team looking for you two. Daniel is getting bloody fired for this.”

As their head of security scolds the two of them, it’s the last thing of their minds as they climb out of the pool. As Harry hands her a towel from one of the poolside lounge chairs, they share an unknowing look.

What the hell would have happened if Paul hadn’t come and found them? 

...

"Never have I ever sent a naughty text to the wrong person?"

Everyone on the couch but Harry reveals that this embarrassing mistake has occurred—they’re just grateful that she doesn’t ask how many times it happened.

"Sorry, dad." Harry jokes as he pretends to text on his paddle like it was a phone. YN chuckles along with the rest of the room and an idea pops up in her mind. 

She tsks with a shake of her head in faux disappointment, “Wrong ‘Mommy.’”

The fans in the audience erupt into a frenzy at her joke. Louis and Niall throw their heads back as they cackle, and Liam squints his eyes shut as he laughs and claps his hands. Harry slaps a hand over his eyes and his dimples dig into his cheeks as he lets out a string of giggles all the while YN bites down on the corner of her mouth in an attempt to control her smirk. 

It doesn’t last long before she joins in on the laughter as the host announces the commercial break.

...

Bonus:

Ellen is introducing the video clip of Harry falling on stage. Niall is just laughing his head off because he knows what's about to be seen, they all do.

YN just puts her hands over her mouth, her elbows resting on her knees as she tries to hide the obnoxiously big smile at the memory. They were all singing Through The Dark, a song that has both her and Harry leaving their designated spots on stage to sing further into the crowd.

Everyone watches the screen behind them and sees Harry in a white t-shirt, pulling his microphone stand behind him and pumping his other fist in the air. YN is a little farther behind him, moving her body to the rhythm of the song as she holds her microphone to the screaming fans.

It’s not long before the inevitable happens. Harry’s microphone stand gets caught on something on the stage floor, making him lose his balance and take a tumbling fall to the ground.

The camera moves a bit to the left just in time to see YN standing frozen with her arms reaching out towards Harry, her jaw on the floor and eyes wide after just having witnessed everything. 

It makes sense that one’s first instinct is to go to the man lying on the floor, asking him if he’s alright, possibly looking to see if he was hurt or needed to be taken backstage. Then helping him off the ground and continue the show.

That’s what’s expected anyways.

But we should all know by now that that’s not YN.

Instead of doing any of that, YN just bursts out laughing, squeezing her eyes shut and leaning her hands on her knees. The sight in front of her affects her so much she drops to her knees as she clutches her stomach and lays down next to her band member. 

taglist:

@wobblymug @be-with-me-so-happily @ashtongivesmebutterflies @kiwiskiwiskiwi @darlingdesire @obsesseddd @hopefulwastelandcreation @cacapeepee @breezie-b00 @harrysfolklore @theekyliepage @sunshinemoonsposts @nervousspiderling @tbslonelyhes @tenaciousperfectionunknown @harrystylesrecs @certified-nalayak @itsjustsel @iknowyouthinkimbulletproof @gviosca @behindmygreyeyes @twobluejeans @allisonxmcu @theemeraldbutterfly @jean-love @marvellover-sam @b-reads-things @reveriehs @rach2602 @thurhomish @perrypughstyles @luvonstyles @mxltifxnd0m @teamspideyman @c00chiemonster @juiceboxrry @s8tellite @folklorehrry @illicithallways @claramllera @eunoiaax @hoya122 @nichmedder @sleutherclaw @gloriousmoneyrascalbiscuit @harianaswhore @teawithcyb0rgs @vrittivsanghavi @vc55bughead @futuristiccroissantlampsludge @onecrazydirectioner @valluvsu @itsgabbysblog @awkwardbisexuall @rosehel @sucker4angstt @isalove

[the-fictive-haven]

Seeing as we just had someone new arrive from another Circus yet again, I think it's finally time to do a - drumroll please - ... ✨sourcemate search!✨

We are looking for fictives/introjects from The Amazing Digital Circus to chat and hopefully become friends with host Yami and our own Circus gang! EVERYONE Circus related is welcome! Doubles? No problem. Traumagenic system? Great. Endo or self made? Awesome. You are or feel you're the same as the original? Cool! You're canon divergent or from an alternate world? Come on in! This is a safe space for all fictives and their sysmates.

Finding sourcemates would be awesome, but canonmates even more so! We'll give a quick description of everyone so you can get a better idea of who they are and if you'd like to get to know them, or if you may already know them!

Meet the cast;

>This group are all from the same timeline, which is very similar to the original one, but with some different events. All of them have memory of these same canon divergent happenings, or if not, have at the very least accepted the others as their canonmates.

(OG) Pomni - the first Circus introject to show up here. Nervous, breaks under pressure, prone to small outbursts, but a sweet girl and a good friend nonetheless.

(OG) Jax - has a bit of a softer side (don't tell him I said that) and more teasing and annoying than an outright violent jerk. Makes fun of me any chance he gets.

(OG) Ragatha - yeah she's the same personality-wise as the original canon, actually. One of the system "moms" and caretakers. Fuckin love her. So gay for this bitch.

(OG) Gangle - also the same. Clings to me like glue half the time because apparently I'm her security blanket or something, not that I mind. I have gotten the Jaxes to stop bullying her, though, even if only because I'm basically god here and they don't want to get put in time-out out of bounds (lol)

(OG) Zooble - we don't know a lot about her, actually. She doesn't bother to interact with anyone much and most of the time we have no idea where TF she is.

(OG) Caine - ... Caine.

>Everyone hereafter hails from an alternate reality! All of these divergent worlds are given codenames that'll be used when referencing these headmates to make distinguishing them easier.

The Darkside timeline: DS!Pomni - a more jaded and done-with-this-shit Pomni from a world where basically, everyone fucking died (abstracted). Her colour scheme is black, dark purple, and silver/grey. She usually appears glitched in our headspace, the abnormalities growing worse when she's distressed.

The Chain timeline: Chain!Jax - a more quiet Jax who keeps to himself and quite frankly doesn't give a damn. Dresses differently (sassy leather and jewelry type shit) and smokes for some odd reason, I don't even know where he's getting cigs from. The name of this timeline doesn't have much actual significance, it just needed to be named something.

The Ura timeline: Ura!Gangle - her default is comedy and she refuses to return to tragedy, literally destroying the mask and not looking back. While she may feel happier, the lack of balance has essentially made it turn into full-on mania and she'll carry on how she wants with no regard or notice of how it affects others. Also she has no sense of personal space. Her memories show that her world's Jax had grown low-key scared of her, she may have even bullied him back. Ribbons are blue instead of red.

That's everyone for now! But more are bound to keep coming in so we'll update this post as needed. Feel free to send asks, reply, repost, or message us!

[cringelordofchaos]

Fuck me I was going to write a "why I think kel has ADHD and how it impacts the game" ANALYSIS as in throughout ESSAY but I'm wayy too lazy for some reason?? Maybe one day but (warning for huge omori spoilers!!)

Kel. Kel who's canonically described as impulsive in the official guide through. Kel who IS pretty impulsive, both in sunnys headspace and in the real world. Kel who gets bored easily. Kel who's easy to irritate and excite. Kel who easily forgets stuff. Kel who hyperfixates on stuff he likes (capt. Spaceboy, basketball)(?).Kel who appears to be pretty hyperactive (a bit less in real world) and who's probably highest social and familial achievement is the fact that he's good at sports. Kel and him canonically doing bad in school, probably due to a bad attention span or something like that. Kel who both he and Hero had pressure put on them from early childhood to excel and to accomplish great things that could guarantee a good job (such as being a doctor) and kel probably being unable to achieve such standards and who might even get less attention from his parents due to this (or might feel like that)(I'm not saying his parents are straight up abusive just)(not explicitly an ADHD trait just). Kel who's still childish in his teenage years, who's probably been told he's simply and stupid throughout his life, and the only way to cope with it would probably be to "own" it ("smarts aren't everything!")(this isn't explicitly an ADHD trait it's just ah experience I've noticed is fairly common(?)). Kel who missed social cues. Kel who's extremely blunt. Kel who probably has low object permanence causing him to appear to be "less affected" by Mari's death. Kel who DOES care a lot about Mari but his possible ADHD and the traits that MAY come with it (such as the aforementioned bluntness, low object permanence, or the bad coping mechanisms that may come with it, etc) make him seem like to many outsiders that he "doesn't care" when he DOES. (he said he thinks about her every day.) KEL WHOS TRAUMA IS COMPLETELY DISREGARDED BY BOTH THE INGAME CHARADTERS AND THE FANBASE (THIS IS NOT AN ADHD TRAIT THIS IS JUST ME RANTING AT THIS POINT).

(you can have many of these traits WITHOUT having adhd, I'm just saying they're very apparent in his character to the point where it raises my eyebrow)

(also many of these aren't explicitly ADHD traits, moreso the experiences that may or may not come with it. I don't know, I'm no expert)

Anyway that's it I "probably" (DEFINITELY) missed something idk maybe I should've written this during my extreme omori obsession-phase to really get the FEEL of his character in my skin

[blackstarchanx3new]

FSR rambles PT 4

Over explaining the decisions in my own comic once again. UwU

Smth fun about these pages is ZELDA. My lady.

Something I'm not sure was how well this portrayed that this was shortly after they put the sword back (like maybe a year at most?)

I kind of like to think for FSR at least, they were all around 13-15 during the events of the manga (This isn't my opinion tbh, though in the bonus pages they buy child tickets for the theme park so they aren't canonically adults.)

Link's old enough to drink in FSR so he's at least 21.

(I've never really liked the idea they're YOUNG kids during FS it just lends itself better to FSR specifically. I really write them however old I want for whatever scenario I'm writing because Link's as fluid as a Vocaloid when it comes to making fan works and cannon is my bitch. Writing them as adults during the events of the manga usually lends itself to MORE writing opportunities but not for FSR. I don't really give a shit what other people decide to do when making fan works either.)

You'd also notice the 7 years it takes FS Link to pull the sword is a reference to the seven years Link misses during OOT.

Anyways onto the page itself: Zelda's a sweet girl who cares deeply about her childhood friend. Link means a lot to her and she makes time for him. He waits for her too. Zelink shippers I got you lol.

Something I always found WEIRD was how Link doesn't talk in the pages after he reformed. That's so odd to me. The fan "theory" It's basically cannon in BOTW/TOTK at least Link's selectively mute. That Link's mute is also something I took inspiration for FSR Link.

So Link doesn't respond to Zelda verbally but she still makes the effort to talk to him.

Shadow Link is very disapointed he can't get hugged by the princess. Because as he stated earlier in the comic he loves her. Zelda addressed him too so she tries to include him.

This page shows off just how gradual the curse was: So funny enough at the START of the comic it was actually going to be explained how Link utterly deteriorated but I decided to add that later. (Wanted to get to funny shenanigans with the boys so I put it off)

It started with him just hearing whispers, then full voices then the what I call "Headspace" fully appeared.

Blue mentions liking Zelda's hugs Haha "Where's my hug???"

Vio just says Zelda's name, Vio's relationship with Zelda is something I'd love to expand upon later down the line.

Green's more focused on food oof.

Red's just happy to see Zelda.

Green was right about being hungry, so Zelda invites him over for DINNER-

Shadow Link's still just vibing.

Zelda lifting Link up in this panel just shows she's there for him.

Link is just dealing with the fact he can hear them by himself. Also dad is still alive.

Lol he's actually making his dad proud which was something he didn't do often before the OG book.

Zelda hanging out with Link and his father kind of shows them as a family.

Shadow Laughing in the bg but he's away from the rest.

So the captain died in a fight, and Link blames himself for it because he can't think straight when there's 4 people constantly talking.

Daddy's demise was really the start of the snowballing downhill for him.

Lol. So Vio's daddy issues are apparent for the SECOND time in the comic. He was uncomfortable even bringing up Link's dad before and this is partially the reason why:

Vio's the only one not crying or overtly emotional about their dad dying.

But something to consider is if he's truly talking to Link or himself in that panel. Because the man is still SHOOK. We have the liberty of SEEING Vio here, but Link doesn't.

So he takes this statement very poorly because:

Well, Vio's seeming "no shits given" attitude is unsettling enough coming from an outside source but that IS apart of Link.

A part of him, seemingly doesn't care his own father kicked the bucket and that's scary to him.

I think anybody would have lost it at this point.

Too bad Zelda saw Link screaming his lungs out at his father's grave lmao. Poor man.

Bro can't do anything but plead for Zelda to help him at this point. She's really the only person he feels he can turn too anyway.

Our girl comes in clutch with them hugs.

This was the conformation Link was actually not speaking in the comic Felt like I had to outright state it cause I wasn't sure if people would notice it otherwise.

Something I REALLY wish was a thing in Zelda manga:

Zelda and Link BOTH lose their parents. Usually their mothers.

And we never get any sort of bonding over that. And I find that a complete waste of potential.

I'd like to dive further into that with FSR or some other Zelda work I do because: HOLY SHIT THEY COULD BOND OVER THEIR LOST PARENTS????

Also Zelda's unfortunate phrasing here with "You can talk to me" she means just, that he can confide in her in general lol.

He's still struggling to actually speak. Poor guy.

While keeping him from doing knight duties kept him PHYSICALLY safe it was just another thing he lost to the curse Vaati laid on him.

So the obvious: Zelda had to watch the person she cares about most completely fall apart before her eyes and she couldn't do shit.

They weren't even aware this WAS A CURSE from Vaati mind you. They were completely in the dark trying to solve this.

Something horrific about this situation you might have also considered:

Not only did Zelda have to watch Link deteriorate but so did Shadow Link.

Shadow Link couldn't even offer much comfort. Zelda could offer physical comfort and attempt emotional comfort but Shadow was completely fucked.

And with the new context of "Link was mostly mute" the fact he wasn't actively TALKING to Shadow Link makes a lot more sense.

Still didn't make that fact any less painful in the moment.

Shadow literally could not participate, was isolated and lonely and had to watch someone else slowly get isolated and lonely and couldn't even help.

Link and Shadow Link literally felt the same way and could not help each other even though they were right next to each other all that time.

Also with the new context of what Link was going through, Shadow's persistence to be there for Vio starts to make a whole lot more sense: He can actually DO something now.

Vio's just stating the obvious at this point and his broken record nature really pissed Link off.

I'm sure you noticed what he wore color wise matched his emotions lol.

Vio technically is 100% right: They think Gannon is in the sword. It would literally be INSANE to pull it knowing that.

But Link's kinda at the point of not giving a shit.

Zelda would get hurt no matter what his "solution" to the problem ended up being.

Shadow Link trying to cheer Link up by reminding him he's there is so sad. Mghhhh

And for the first time in the flashback we actually have Link fully acknowledge Shadow Link's presence.

Vio was outright in denial the man was still alive and didn't want to acknowledge his existence so Link fully embracing Shadow Link here was a big moment between the two of them.

Shadow Link started to figure out what the man was planning but couldn't do squat about it. (He also couldn't communicate with the 4 or HEAR THEM.)

Link shows up in the head space! :D

His words imply he wasn't SURE he could properly communicate with Green like this alone...Which is no surprise considering Vio thinks how odd it is they were able to do that in the first place.

I kinda scrambled to think of what to have him look like hah. Ended up with him wearing white. Since white is the lack of color, white reflects all wavelengths of light so it literally kinda REJECTS color. (Apposed to Black which absorbs light, which funny enough his pants are black...)

And it symbolizes rebirth, peace stuff like that.

It can also symbolize death but we're ignoring that one lmao.

His nails are all the colors + Shadow Link too.

Lmfao when you gaslight yourself.

Okay in all seriousness the Link lays down just how DIRE the situation is since the other 3 don't seem to be quite aware.

And the "Promise" Green made to Link is what had Green so shook at the start of the comic for.

And the weight of the line "Can I trust you?" really sinks in as we'll see.

Link's kinda spooky haha. You can tell he wasn't sure Green was going to help him but that's quickly overtaken by how overjoyed he is Green is for sure on board.

One of my favorite panels from this batch is how happy he is. He's so relived he can finally just rest.

Green can't though. The crushing weight of keeping everything "Okay" is a heavy burden to bare and Dark Link spits those words right back into Green's face, and just holds him.

Green doesn't seem to hate the hug as much as Vio did hah.

Green doesn't even seem to acknowledge his presence while Vio not only NOTICED but was actively terrified of him to the point of trying to grab his sword.

He also mocked Vio more throwing Vio's own words back in his face, but just repeats what Link said to Green.

How. Odd.

And that's all for this batch. Hope ya come back to read my rumbly thoughts about my own comic.

[avocado-frog]

Anyways ghosts in my wip since I'm thinkin about them (@steh-lar-uh-nuhs since you asked to be tagged lol)

ghost post time:

(cw for a lot of death mention. parent death)

Dylan's magic was kinda vague in forget me not (book one not series) but the general gist was something along the lines of they can control dreams to a certain extent and can sense when somebody is going to die (foreshadowed elliot) (and leo apparently???) but also when I reread it, Dylan is actually BARELY in any of the chapters at all. They don't have a line until well after halfway through even though they showed up in like chapter six

SO dahlia (book two) has a lot more Dylan in it which is great stunning showstopping i love them. Unrelated but looking back the lack of Dylan was definitely why I didn't know what I was doing with characterizing them. <3 DYLAN <3

Before this becomes a dylan appreciation post, the stuff Dylan can do is more expanded on in Dahlia, and includes: -A sort of healing magic that Cass can't do, which is why Elliot is okay even without Cass -That healing magic is that they can handle more advanced injuries (elliot's stab wound, life threatening injuries) while Cass can only do sprains and cuts and bruises -Possession -Necromancy apparently -Possession is what Dylan says is why they could hypothetically raise the dead, if they could wake up Elliot. A post for another time

I've said that Elliot's dream world thing is based on Omori, and in Omori, Mari is like. may or may not be a ghost who is real but you'll never know because Sunny hallucinates often. Same thing for Elliot. Same mechanics

In forget me not Elliot claims to see his mother in the graveyard, right by where her grave would be. There's no realistic way for him to KNOW where that was, unless he is aware that that is where dead people go. So like Mari omori it's ambiguous whether Elliot was actually seeing her or if he was just hallucinating. And in the dream world, Olivia is noted by Dylan to have a scar across her neck, even though Elliot would not want any reminders of her death in what is supposed to be a safe area, hence why the reminders of his two Big Traumas are upstairs in separate rooms. And Olivia is the most sentient of the dream world characters aside from Lucas (who is btw dream world Leo) and Cass. Everyone else is scripted by Elliot. Olivia seems to be knowing what's going on

So what I'm saying is that dream world Olivia like headspace Mari MIGHT just be a ghost. hypothetically

Also in forget me not, I think that at one point Leo claims to feel a hand on her shoulder

ALSO ABOUT LEO: she gets her own little dream section in rosemary where she sees Olivia, despite having not known her

It's still left pretty ambiguous in what I have of rosemary so far. But Jaxon witnesses several deaths, Leo's, who isn't really dead, but he doesn't know that, Maria's, a woman who he accidentally got killed in chapter four and a boy who he sees the execution of. He sees all of them, as well as a boy who he doesn't know but who IS in fact his brother. Again, whether or not they're real is vague because Leo is not dead, but he does see one that he doesn't know

My OTHER dead character is Jasmine, Logan's sister who has Not made an appearance yet but she should be allowed to. She haunts Logan's character arc at the very least. Also maybe Dylan's

tldr if ghosts were real and canon, they are in people's dreams. Dylan and Elliot might be able to raise the dead but I'm not going to dwell on that because that is a whole other plot

This post was brought to you by me wondering how Olivia would interact with the other kids, and me being sad about her death again

[justalexisfine]

🍄-(how did you get your system name?)

👾(funniest out of context system quote?)

🔦(how did you discover your system?)

🪐(what is headspace like for you?)

also we feel so bad yall had to scroll so far down bc we have the link to the ask game saved in our notes and coulda gave it 2 yall ;A;/gen/lh

-Izu,Link+mirage(it is l u r k i n g)

ahhh it's fine! we didn't have to scroll down that far, really /gen, pos, lh

🍄- how did you get your system name?

Well, one of our most prominent memories as a wolf/monster was in a court, and it was a traumatizing memory, I think (so basically we're retaliating against the trauma [I think]). also, we love the stars, and we all agreed that we are stars/take care of stars in some way, shape, or form!

👾- funniest out of context system quote?

Jinx: "Hey, I can flirt! Watch this: hey baby, are you- I. wha. hm. lemme try that again. hey baby, are you a. wait a minute uh"

Jace, while Jinx is still trying to 'flirt' in the background: "Good job 👍"

🔦- how did you discover your system?

well, it was more like a realization than anything. faint voices in my head telling me what to do and fighting over critical choices? not normal (but I thought it was). feeling like I was being controlled sometimes (we've come to the conclusion that im always stuck in front or co-front)? not normal. that's when I started interacting with the system community, and it just kinda clicked. they just showed up one day, and since my experience wasn't like everyone else's (and the possibility that our median has formed out of something "bad" or "not valid"), I kept quiet.

🪐- what is the headspace like for you?

okay, so since we've come to the conclusion that I'm always stuck in front and/or co-front, Sonne decided to explain what it's like for all of them. so let me break it down under the cut:

Front room: a cluttered space that's more like an office/extra room/art studio. there are bookshelves to store the latest retained information and a computer (on a desk) that we think my inner body is connected to. There are multiple blankets strewn about and an overall cozy vibe to it. There's a window with a wonderful view of The Forest, as well as a few plants hung on the ceiling right in front of the window. Sometimes it's raining. Sometimes, it's sunny. Sometimes, it's storming. But we think the weather is connected to my mental state at the time. There's a dark wood door leading out into the hallway.

Hallway/Rooms: There's a hallway leading to more rooms and such. The hallway is connected to more hallways and a few staircases, as well as a basement. There's a living room (at the end of the hall. It doesn't have a door and just opens up to the living room), a closet, a soundproof closet (for medianmates to just scream into the void. it's dark in there, but calming), and a kitchen that opens to a dining room. A staircase, which leads to everyone's rooms, is straight across from the front room's door. There's a garden in which Yarrow likes to reside, and it's also part of the forest.

The Forest: a foggy forest that seems to be infinite. It surrounds the mind (which is apparently some sort of victorian house thing that's fluid in appearance) and is supposedly dangerous. Medianmates go there when they want to be dormant, in which Yarrow leads them through to the ruins, which is where the medianmate is left to be at peace. It's thick and dense with both fog and nature.

The memory room: a void that changes its appearance daily and is Jace's 'room'. He sorts our memories by holographic panels that float around him (think of Miguel oharas screens but portable and always stay near him). He doesn't let anyone in his room unless he wants to show them a memory.

The Abyss: a void-like detention that's just black and provides peace and stability for the medianmate who was sent there to unwind and calm down. The Abyss is controlled by Yarrow.

The rest is foggy since Sonne didn't explain the rest, but that's kinda all I know about it. /gen, lh

Thanks for asking btw:] /gen, pos

[swiftsaltsweet]

The Hunt for Kyoshi: Chapter 8-Party Affairs

Characters: Rangi and Kyoshi (plus whoever appears in Rok)

Pairing: Rangshi

Summary:  

“What are we going to do?” She asked steely, still not looking up from the ground. She was ready to uphold her duty, or at least, what remained of it. “We need you to capture Kyoshi,” Jianzhu instructed. “Capture?” “Yes, we need to set an example of an Avatar murderer,” Jianzhu responded, oh so matter of factly again.

(Canon Divergent AU- “What if Rangi wasn’t there when Kyoshi ran away, and Rangi had to hunt her down?)

Prev chapter

Other Sites: AO3 and Fanfic.net

A/N: :D So I realized timeline wise I should probably have this chapter next but I was totally not in the headspace for a Jianzhu chapter so it took a min to crank out (I want to write about two teens being dramatic, not Mr. Evil! u_u). TT0TT Anyway 2nd Jianzhu chapter, I do have at least 1 other one planned but that’ll be waaaaaay farther in the future.

Obive this chapter is a parallel/slight rewrite of a portion of RoK’s Obligations. Anyway the domino effect be domino-ing, the butterfly effect be butterflying. uwu

______

Jianzhu sighed against the wall he was leaning against, swirling his wineglass in his hand. He raked his eyes over the crowd of people, trying to find whom he was looking for. No one of importance caught his eye, except for his friend Hei-Ran. She was once again surrounded by subpar suitors, her scowl was increasing with every moment air was wasted around her.

She’s been in a foul mood since we got those letters. Jianzhu took a swing of his drink. I’m sure the ride didn’t help things either. It certainly hadn’t helped his mood. Being greeted by Chamberlain Hui as soon as they exited their vehicle didn’t help matters either.

A few nights ago, after Jianzhu received an invitation to attend Lu Beifong’s party celebrating Yun’s victory over the Fifth Nation; he had also received a letter via messenger hawk from Rangi. It was written in code, of course. It gave a quick description of her travels, her need for an eel hound and other such needs, how she confronted the Avatar and let her slip away….all thanks to daofei. 

Apparently, Kyoshi had met up with her parent’s old group, The Flying Opera Company they called themselves. Jianzhu had a vague recollection of a group like that from years ago. They were a very lucrative smuggling daofei group, but Jianzhu was able to put a stop to them with the policies that he put into place. One of the few times he took out a daofei group with politics rather than his usual force.

He didn't need to put that particular daofei group in the ground, he just needed to cut off their supplies and money. They would die a slow death that way, allowing him to focus on more vile daofei…. Or so he thought. Apparently there were still some clingers he’d yet to dispose of.

No, Jianzhu wasn’t exactly happy with the fact Rangi let the Avatar get away, or the fact Kyoshi had joined a daofei group…. Or the fact that he hadn’t successfully snuffed out said daofei group already. If he had, then the Avatar would most likely be with them already!

Hei-Ran wasn't pleased either, but for different reasons. She’d been frowning at the beginning of the message, not caring about what the rest of the contents claimed. She didn’t like the names of the villages listed on the paper, nor how the math added up in her head. 

“She’s not sleeping,” was all Hei-Ran said when they received the first letter.

“She’s resting now,” Jianzhu tried to placate her, motioning to the part of the letter stating her resting at an inn in Youke. It didn’t work. 

The next letter arrived hours later, with its seal unfortunately loose from being intercepted. It was brief with no code. “Heading towards Serpent's Pass.” 

Jianzhu could still hear the sound. The measured beat of Hei-Ran’s fine nails as she tapped the desk before she read the letter, turning into a grating screech as she raked those same nails down the desk. Leaving 5 new ruts in his once fine mahogany. 

Hei-Ran was lucky they were good friends, he’d eat the cost of the table. Plus, her reaction was warranted, the Serpent's Pass was a treacherous trail. Jianzhu was just thankful that Kyoshi still had a bison, and didn’t have to make that same trip on foot. However, the fact that one letter without any code had been intercepted…. Well, he most likely wasn’t going to be able to keep up the vacation ruse for Rangi much longer. 

Hei-Ran appeared at his side, bringing him out of his musings. He looked at her as she subtly tilted her head in the direction he should look.

Approaching them was a man who looked like a mummy that was wrapped in the finest silk and spite, Jianzhu’s master, Lu Beifong. Trailing behind him, looking like he’d seen better days, was Chamberlain Hui. 

Jianzhu's brow wrinkled in confusion just slightly. Earlier, Hui was all smugness and pride, and schmoozing on Hei-Ran without a care in the world. Now he appeared like the world was about to end. Jianzhu quite liked the change in demeanor, anything that made his sub-par rival distressed must be good for him. 

Lu Beifong approached, despite his mummified appearance, he was still as lively as ever. “Headmistress, wonderful to see you as always,” he squawked. He took Hei-Ran’s hand and gave it a quick, chaste kiss. 

“Oh, please, the pleasure is all mine,” Hei-Ran smiled cordially, possibly the first and only smile in the past days or weeks. Even if Jianzhu knew, it was forced for formality.

Lu turned to Jianzhu next. “And Jianzhu, looking strapping as ever!” Jianzhu didn’t allow the shock play on his face, his former Sifu wasn’t the type to compliment his students. Something really bad must’ve happened. A smile played on Jianzhu’s lips, but forced himself to only look at Lu. 

“One of the many things I’ve learned from you, Sifu,” Jianzhu gave his warmest smile he could muster to his former master. Then he finally allowed his eyes to wander over to Hui. Hui’s eyes were plastered to the ground, face pale and sweating. “Chamberlin-”

“Do not bother with that one!” Lu spit out, causing Jianzhu and Hei-Ran’s eyes to widen in shock, and Hui to flinch.

Jianzhu did his best to swallow his glee. “Oh dear, it seems something unfavorable has happened. Is there anything I can do to help?”

“No, no I couldn’t possibly trouble you my dear student,” he casted a grimacing glare at Hui.

Jianzhu put his hand on his former master’s shoulder. “No, I insist, how can I be of service?” If he had to move the Taihua Mountains themselves to win Lu’s favor over Hui, he’d do it. He needed a win, especially with how much of a mess things were becoming. 

Jianzhu caught Hei-Ran’s weary glance at him, he let the corner of his lip curl upward in reassurance. He had a plan. 

Lu sighed and gave Hei-Ran a weary look, as if weighing his options. At least I know it most likely has something to do with Earth Kingdom politics. Why else would he be giving a weary look to someone of a different nation?

After a moment of deliberation he finally spoke. “Very well. Headmistress, if you could excuse us.” He and Hei-Ran exchanged a small bow. It must’ve been very serious if even a former and current companion of the Avatar couldn’t listen in on their conversation. 

Jianzhu left his friend, and followed his master.

_______________

“You incompetent fool!” Lu Beifong yelled as he threw the first thing he got his hands on, a dictionary of archaic Earth Kingdom characters. The book sailed over Hui’s shoulder, the corner hitting the tip of his shoulder, before it crashed loudly into the wall behind him. 

Jianzhu stood there with wide eyes, because it took all his effort to fight the grin that was attempting to control his cheeks. He couldn’t believe what he’d just heard. 

Hui had gotten so bold in his attempts to shape politics, he thought he could play spy. For months he had taken important political documents and decrees, and had been using various store fronts to secretly exchange and move them. Very stupid, so stupid it was a bit surprising it only now backfired. 

Some of the documents were secret and under the desk dealings for the Earth King himself, not that the King would ever admit to it if they ever came to light. Apparently, the ones that had been recently stolen were very, very important.

Not only that, the idiot also somehow incriminated not only himself, but Lu and the Earth King as well! It was going to be a nightmare to fix, but fixing this type of nightmare was exactly Jianzhu’s specialty. 

And if he fixed it, then this would put him in a much better favor with Lu, not that he wasn’t already thanks to Hui’s fumble. But brownie points were like money, you could never have enough. 

“I can fix it,” he said confidently.

“You can?” Lu stopped his tirade against Hui to look at him hopefully.

“Yes, trust me, I can make it like this never happened at best, or reduce the damage at worst. Regardless, you and the Earth King will be unfazed, Sifu.” Jianzhu smiled at his old master. Hui shook, there was no way he was getting out of this unscathed. Jianzhu was prepared to put his moniker ‘Grave Digger’ to use. A political grave in this case, though.

Lu looked at him, weighing his options. He realized the reward far outweighed the risk. “Alright.” 

Jianzhu smiled and bowed at his master.

“What is it you want in return?”

Ah, there was the shoe, dropping. “I don’t have a need for anything from you, Sifu. Except, maybe if you could lend me your ear.” Lu raised an eyebrow at him, and then Jianzhu looked at Hui. “Privately.”

Lu waved his hand, sending Hui away. As soon as the door clicked shut, Lu turned towards Jianzhu. “What is the issue, my boy?”

Jianzhu, inhaled, ready to give the performance of a lifetime. “It’s about the Avatar….”

Lu’s eyes widened, concerned. “What about him?”

“There’s a reason he’s not here,” Jianzhu put his hand to his head, he made his demeanor look like a worn out father. “I fear his teenage hormones have gotten to him.”

Lu Beifong looked at him stunned, and then laughed. “Oh dear, he really is Kuruk’s reincarnation!” His laugh grew louder and more high pitched. “It’s a shame you have to put up with it two generations in a row, Jianzhu. Tell me, what did he do? Seduce a maid?”

Jianzhu looked at his old master, tired. “Yes, and no.”

Lu let out a smaller laugh, and then sighed. “Well I’m sure it’s not too big of an issue for you-”

“The maid has run away,” Jianzhu said quietly.

Lu’s smile started to die into a neutral expression. “Is that not a good thing? She’s not there to distract him anymore.”

Jianzhu ran his hand up and down his face, as if attempting to wipe the despair off. “She ran away because he turned her down, because he only saw her as a close friend.”

“So he’s not in love with her?”

“If he is, he’s putting his duty before his….well……” Jianzhu coughed. “He’s far more nobel than Kuruk you could say.” Lu Beifong nodded solemnly. “That being said, she was still a close friend and confidant of his. I’m not sure what he’s told her, if she knows too much. But even if she doesn’t, if she’s taken I’m sure that would put duress in him regardless.”

He watched as Lu took in the details. “So where is he now?”

“He is with Master Kelsang, they are in the middle of searching for her via bison. His bodyguard, Rangi, is also searching the rest of the Earth Kingdom as well.”

Lu’s eyes widened in shock. “Is it that serious?! Wait, young Rangi is also searching?! I thought she was-I-I mean I heard she was on some sort of vacation. Is that why she seemed so…..ummm…. distressed? When I last saw her, I mean?” Though he caught himself while, his slip up made it evident to Jianzhu that Lu must’ve tried reading his first letter he’d sent to Rangi. But it made no difference, this was why they wrote in code to begin with.

“Yes. She was both their close friend, and for the Avatar’s mental wellbeing, it’s best we find her. Unfortunately, she slipped away while we were confronting the Fifth Nation, so she had quite the head start. And now, either she is craftier than we thought, or just that the Earth Kingdom as a whole is just so vast, but we’re having issues finding her.”

“Is it really that important that he finds her?”

“She’s his companion, it’s a bond that’s stronger than anything this world has,” Jianzhu shrugged, knowing full well what that bond felt like. And knowing that it was the stuff of legends to most common folk. “I’m letting them go on this wild goose duck chase for now, but soon I’ll need him back. Regardless if we find her or not.”

Lu closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He stood like that for a few minutes, deep in thought. “Young love and friendship….can be so troublesome, but alas it is life.” Jianzhu nodded gravely. “I think we should expand the search! If you could provide a portrait and description of her, then we can have more eyes looking for her. And it’ll help young Rangi as well, poor thing looks like she’d seen better days. And here I thought she was going on vacation because of how she was looking.” He shook his head, upset on the girl’s behalf. 

“I would greatly appreciate it, Sifu.” Jianzhu smiled, relieved and sincere. His plan was working. He was going to have to give Hei-Ran the details later. “Oh, and whatever Rangi says, just go along with it. Humor her. She may be creating new stories to save face, she’s a bit embarrassed about this whole ordeal. You know….” He gave a knowing eyebrow raise to his master. 

But really, this part of the plan was to give a cover for Rangi, in regards to any cover story she’d happen to make up. 

Lu laughed and nodded knowingly, “A love triangle I see. Don’t worry Jianzhu, we’ll play along with whatever she says to us.”

Jianzhu smiled, happy to see something going right. With more eyes on the lookout, even if Rangi fails at finding and acquiring Kyoshi, then someone else will at least.

“Thank you, Sifu. Now, if you don’t mind, perhaps we could get some tea brewing. I have a few more details I want to iron out about this and Hui’s problem. And a few more ideas I’d like to run by you.”

______________________________

Jianzhu felt a light burn and wetness on his cheek. He looked down to his left and saw Hei-Ran’s Fire Nation hairpin embedded into his carriage seat. 

Jianzhu watched in horror and surprise as the tresses of Hei-Ran’s hair fell out of its tight bundled style, and down her shoulders. For a Fire National to treat their hair in such a way meant they felt they were losing their honor.

He waited for her to speak, as he absentmindedly wiped the small trickle of blood that fell down his cheek.

“Jianzhu, I pushed that boy to the breaking point," her voice rasped with hoarseness, like she’d been holding back tears all night. "He might not have been a Firebender, and he might not have been the Avatar, but Yun was still my student. I had an obligation to him, and I failed."

Hearing his name all night must have been eating at her. The absent Avatar was still the toast of the party, his conquest of the pirates turning into legend through word of mouth.

“And now I'm also pushing my daughter to that same point,” her voice broke as she placed a hand to her forehead. “I’m failing them both. No, I’ve failed them both” 

So she hadn't likened the way he was handling the situation, understandable. There wasn’t much he could control, but with the turn of events that were taking place, it was on the right course again.

He reached his hand out, not to touch her but to quell her. “No you haven’t, there’s still time to make this right.”

He couldn’t have her crumbling now, not when things were starting to take a turn for the better.

“I've turned it around Hei-Ran, I've gotten the nation on our side. At least this'll get both of the girls back and in safe hands,” he smiled at her. It wouldn’t fix what happened with Yun, but surely she’d be happy with her daughter at least being back. She just needed to hold out for a little longer.

Heiran curled up In her chair, her gown bunching up into a mass. “I hope so, Jianzhu. I really hope so” She muttered over and over until she promptly fell asleep.

Jianzhu followed not long after, thanks to the weight being lifted off his shoulders.

____

A/N: “Playing spy?” Hui read Yangchen’s novels and was inspired. Turns out, he’s also very bad at it. 

Not me realizing they capitalize the first letter in Fire/Earth/Water/Airbenders orz well boo we’re sticking with not doing that TT0TT

Ugh this really took forever. Orz I love you Jianzhu, I love reading your chapters. But I wanna go back to “silly teens’ misunderstanding and murder” rom-drom-com orz. (the comedy part is for me ajfkdlsaj *looks at the upcoming chapters* Wait comedy where are you going? TT0TT Nooooo) 

(also ahhhhh ch 10 is gonna be soooooooo long I just know it. Do I make it two parts? Eh…we’ll see jkldsjaf TT0TT ch 9 is basically done, and I’m in the middle of drafting ch 10)

I might be bouncing around the fanfics a bit, whichever worm has taken over my brain for the day. 

[anewstartrekfan]

Rambles about the Conscience of the King cuz it gave me brainrot last night

You know after reading some stuff, while I my angst loving self is bummed the whole “Kirk witnessed/survived a genocide,” won’t get brought up again, I’m kinda glad. It’s rare for protagonists to have something that traumatic happen to them while also having it not get brought up all the time. And I did like the way we see Kirk’s past influence him in the episode. Like he cared for the Doctor and believed an outlandish claim like “I have invented a new synthetic food source,” at the start but when the truth is revealed Kirk denies it. He wants this part of his life to stay buried and he uses the ship as cover. “How am I going to be able to explain this in my report?” Only after looking into it a bit did he realize a criminal might actually be on the loose and decided to investigate. His flirting with Kodo’s daughter appeared to be more playful, even genuine. Like he actually thinks she’s pretty but also wants information. But then the doctor was murdered.

And this snaps something in Kirk, tho he will try to not show it and nearly the entire enterprise crew doesn’t pick up on it. But after this, Kirk throws the Enterprise off course and his advances on Kodos’ daughter seems more of an act. She even basically calls Jim out for fishing during one of their “romantic,” walks around the ship. He gave her a tour to try to get her to trust him but this tour gave her the run of the ship, which let her track down and nearly murder the only other still living survivor, Riley, after Kirk moved him to engineering for safety.

I made a separate Sorta joke post as I was watching the story about Jim’s weirdass smile here but it’s true.

Jim is not in a good headspace here. He’s recklessly making decisions under the guise of seeking justice but leaving everyone he cares about out of the loop b/c it’s his personal business and he doesn’t want them to get hurt and he is attempting to bury his emotions to focus on this mission.

Aka basically what Spock just did in the Menagerie.

And so of course, Spock notices this instantly. And unlike Kirk, who was in denial about Spock’s lie until it was irrefutable, Spock follows logic, figures out what’s going on, and confronts Jim with Bones to make him see reason. That he’s needlessly risking his life here. And I think this is what ultimately snaps Kirk back to reality. Cuz after this he’s way less reckless. (The phaser nearly killing everyone on his deck also helped but still)

Kirk still confronted Kodos, even had the execution order he apparently memorized (god that is a whole other can of worms), but importantly, he’s almost sympathetic here. Like he sees a broken man and doesn’t want to take that away from him. He’s piecing together that Kodos isn’t the one killing the survivors.

And I like that Kirk stops Riley from killing Kodos but then still attempts to arrest Kodos before it all goes to shit. Kirk wants justice, not vengeance.

Best episode so far. I know these episodes were filmed out of order but whoever made the call to have this air after the Menagerie, thank you it works perfectly.

[lemonhemlock]

Heeeyy, it’s the anon who sent in an ask a while ago about shipping Alicent with others out of spite. Feel free to ignore this ask if you’re tired of ship asks (I see you’ve already received more than enough lol) or if it’ll start any unnecessary discourse you’d rather avoid.

Just wanted to pop in and say that most people on Twitter are not okay. I had no followers nor was I following anyone and I had people screenshot a very innocuous Alicole tweet (it was literally a picture of a lady and her knight, basic) and talk badly of me - apparently I am lesbophobic and Cole is misogynist with anger issues 🤷‍♀️. Newsflash: Rhaenicent is not a healthy ship either, none of ASOIAF ships are.

I then came out as a Larycent shipper. I got ratioed (as much as, again, someone with no followers can).

Anyways, I got bored and deactivated but before I did, things got messy. There was group chat drama, people were saying pro-shippers deserve to be bullied etc.

All this to say that I am frustrated with the performative activism this fandom participates in, though I’m sure the same can be said for other fandoms. What’s the point of defending a celebrity by insulting another celebrity, or worse, another user? (Sorry but I’ll sympathize with a “regular” person over a celebrity any day. Imo, they don’t really care about bullying, they just project onto their favorite character or celebrity.) What makes one inherently morally better by being an “anti” but turn around and shit-talk people’s appearances or character? Real people with real lives and issues. Characters are fictional they do not exist, it comes off as disingenuous and self-righteous. I need people to do better.

Thanks for entertaining this ask, hope you’re doing well!

welcome back, anon. i hope you're doing well, too; don't allow this pointless drama more headspace beyond it being a funny anecdote. also, by this point, you guys should check-in using stage names. :)) or serial killer names. or maybe racing horse names ?? (those are always funny)

I had no followers nor was I following anyone and I had people screenshot a very innocuous Alicole tweet (it was literally a picture of a lady and her knight, basic) and talk badly of me - apparently I am lesbophobic and Cole is misogynist with anger issues

wow, how did they even manage to find you out in a sea of accounts with no followers or following anybody? i can understand the logic of dogpilling on a popular account, because they're visible in the fandom, but this? don't these people have, idk, jobs? do they not have to go to the grocery store or smth? what kind of lame-ass surveillance state? 😂

Newsflash: Rhaenicent is not a healthy ship either, none of ASOIAF ships are.

this is why shipping wars are even stupider in asoiaf-verse. what exactly moral high ground do you think you're defending here? i keep hearing "at least it's not an inc3st ship" well ok congratulations they're fucked up & unhealthy in a different way then?

I then came out as a Larycent shipper. I got ratioed (as much as, again, someone with no followers can).

ohhhhh anon you're a brave one with larycent there! i gotta say i was into it at the beginning bc he was super fucking yandere about it to the point of it being hilarious and, also, who can resist murderous puppy dog eyes ??? but the latter part of the season, esp. ep 9, put me off and i fed myself on the green family dynamics crumbs

Anyways, I got bored and deactivated but before I did, things got messy. There was group chat drama, people were saying pro-shippers deserve to be bullied etc.

group chat drama? is that a discord thing? i feel like it's a discord thing. this is so funny to me bc the only way "group chat drama" leaks is if you have traitors in your midst who screencap and then spread it around. so who are these conspirators? these subversive agents? these freedom fighters? who watches the watchers? 😅

What makes one inherently morally better by being an “anti” but turn around and shit-talk people’s appearances or character? Real people with real lives and issues.

they end up appearance-shaming and have zero self-awareness about it? oh me oh my 💅

performative activism is a very good word for what the moral panic that has taken hold of this fandom, at least on tumblr/twitter. another thing that makes me laugh is when people write page-long essays saying "ofc you can ship whatever you want, BUT..." followed by an entire diatribe on why shipping said thing (even if it's within the confines of fiction and decidedly not irl) puts a stain on your moral character and you should basically be ashamed of yourself 😂 so which is it? can people ship in peace or do you just want a pat on the head for being a good trooper?

[euclydya]

CHARACTER BINGO FOR THOSE MARKERPLIER CHARACTERS MAYHAPZ

YOUUUUU DIDN'T SPECIFY SO WE DID A LOT HAHSSJDHDHSHDHFH

So before we start these r all very Much biased bc plurality . we tried 2 stick to how we feel abt the source characters but uh.... ANYWAYS,

all under the cut let's go

where DO i even start. ok. he's Lirerally just a dude (... Debatable. /joke) and that makes him So Funny . New Guy Just Dropped: literally just a haunted house's Angry Humansona. He's on a mission to Kill (justified) but he's gotta do a trillion side quests first and they're all Be Gay Do Crime. Before WKM and therefore His Lore™ dropped i think all we knew abt him was what happened in ADWM which is even funnier. 3 fuckign people get trapped in a meatsuit and they're like "what's the bEst way 2 get revenge" and apparently the first step is to go seduce people about it. Gay Rights 😃👍!

Our take abt Dark is that Mark did a Damn Good Job At Accidental Plural Representation! This Man Is A Fucking System!! Litcherqlly the trauma-endo system OF ALL time thnk u fr coming 2 my Ted Talk .

woulj not want 2 meet irl on account of would also probably fucking kill us <3

HE...... THEE BUBBLEGUM BASTARD OF ALL TIME.

ok after everything in WKM literally he deserves to kill too. Man fucking lost all his friends and got blamed for one of their deaths (which . Listen to me. Not his fucking fault but we'll get into that Later,) and watched as the DA fuckin g fell to their death and then GOT UP. AND WALKED AWAY*. Like. Listen to me.

If my fuckign life went from being pretty cool to absolute hell within the span of like 2 days i too would lose my mind and then change my identity completely and be convinced that everything is a joke. I too would be pink abt it btw pink is gender as hell.

(*by this point it wasn't Exactly the DA but Dark but whatever THE POINT STILL STANDS!)

Now we would absolutely not want to meet him if he were real IRL . Shit would go fucky and we'd be dead almost immediately. no thank u HFJDJSJDN

THIS FUCKING GUY!!!!!!!!!! OK,

So The Host has like zero canon whatsoever. And. That sucks. BuT! What very very few appearances he has are very cool and he looks cool and we think he's neat. Also he should get to kill too I think almost everyone should get to kill :3c

I would not want 2 meet him bc he can narrate shit into existence and that is terrifying. God blees. <3

THIS!!!!!!!!! MOTHERFUCKER!!!!!!!!!!!

the man the myth the reason why dark exists the reason why wil is the way he is etc. etc. etC.!!!!!!!!

he scares me. JEHWJDJFDJJSJFDIDISI. he's a huge jackass canonically and literally planned his death like What on god. But anyways!!! From a character standpoint he's so cOOL!!!!! like hello!!! literally did all that shit bc his wife cheated on him with his bestie iirc which WHAT the fuck <3. ok <3. Divorce exists but gO off dude!

So this is where shit gets... Less abt The Canon Character and more very biased sys-wise. Cuz our Actor is the funniest fuckign guy ever I think and I don't think he realizes it. Dude fucking exploded something in the headspace once and just said "Clown for the dount" before leaving front for 1-2 months straight and that lives rent free in our head forever.

Like. We all think he's gr8 here lmao he's helped us a lot so far with day to day shit. But he's also way fucking different than source!Actor is so ?? dhajKxjfjsn.

Anyways we would not want 2 meet source!Actor bc he'd probably also try to kill us <3. tl;dr he's a WONDERFUL villain and a well written character tbh. I want to canonically see Dark rip him 2 shreds.

:D so this uhhh. So this is 10000% system bias. Uhhhhhhhh. Ummmm.

I can't explain this one except I'm gay and literally our Google fictive is my bf in-sys LMFAO -Marvin✨

wait actually i Can explain a bit hold on.

I/we think people forget tht he's like. Mainly a hater. Dude popped into existence and was almost Immediately bitter about everything. He Is A Sarcastic Jackass. He Is Not A Helpful Man. He literally wants one thing and that is to destroy mankindJFJSKSKFJFKDJ

With that being said if canon!Google existed irl anywhere near us we r running away. He Would Kill Us. JSHSJDJFMFFJJDJSJF

[lhs3020b]

Ending ended

Last night, I finished my Baldur's Gate 3 playthrough.

Some disorganised and incoherent thoughts below the cut, inevitably with SPOILERS...

We ended up freeing the Prince of the Comet - what I was not expecting was that this sent the Emperor straight off to the Netherbrain. It was interesting that there were no persuade options to talk him down from this, particularly as Orpheus's later actions suggest he's not quite as radically anti-ghaik as he claims.

Orpheus, frankly, I ended up with mixed feeling about. Some of his behaviour is understandable given that he'd spent several thousand years trapped inside the Astral Prism, and yes likely wasn't in a great headspace when he got out. Still, I found I didn't really warm to him. He was a long way from pleasant to interact with; perhaps, just perhaps, you can see the seeds for where the Vlaakiths came from, if this is what all gith'yanki rulers have been like. Haughty, high-handed, firm in their view of their own righteousness and also firm in the view that the lesser mortals should die when they're told ... while at the same time being quite willing to be a complete hypocrite if they think it suits them.

I was particularly-irked by his "you should have let my honour guard kill you" line. My good man, we had no idea who these people were when they came pouring out of the portal at our camp in the middle of the night! And at that point, from our viewpoint, the Astral Prism and its occupants were the only things stopping us from getting a face full of wriggly, wiggly tentacles. Lastly, why should we take the hit for gith'yanki internal politics, which really should not be our problem in any way?

So yes, the Prince of the Comet ended up as the Prince of a Noodle-Filled Face. In fairness to him, he did become slightly more pleasant to interact once we destroyed the Netherbrain (thank goodness there was no Synthesis here!), and actually I did try to talk him down from insisting on being killed. However, by that point all the Inspiration was gone and I couldn't make the Persuade check, so oh well. Stabbing it is then.

Presentationally, the endings suffered a bit for me as the city's asset-load-time issues were on full display. For instance, one entire cutscene looked like this:

Floaty floaty bell! It tolls! While levitating! Above a non-existent city!

Anyway, in terms of the endings themselves, it was nice seeing all your allies make their appearance. It's anyone's guess how they got into the Upper City but apparently they did, so fair play to them. And it did feel like the stuff you had done in the game mattered, and you were able to make choices that felt like they were important and would have real consequences, all the way up to the end itself.

Also, Wither's cameo where he was, umm, withering to the Dead Three was unexpectedly-hilarious. (He really did not hold back on their inadequacies.)

I did feel like the characters could have done with more-developed end-sequences. In mine, Astarion just runs off and Wyll says "that's the last we'll see of him". OK, bye then, I guess. Karlach's was a bit longer but again, left a lot hanging. (She and Wyll went back to Avernus; my headcanon, I have decided, is that they had Zariel in the Naughty Corner by the end of the week.)

Shadowheart never appeared in the ending-scenes - in fact I got more from Halsin, who spent most of Act III out cold on a slab in the Bhaalites' temple!

Scratch ... never appeared again after the last trip to camp. (Please, tell me what happened to my dog!) For that matter, nor did Yenna or their cat. I want to think this means they're all safe, but a lot of fireworks were going off during the illithid invasion of the city, and the Netherbrain itself seems to crash in the harbour, and the campsite is right next to it, so it's hard not to worry. (Maybe next time I'll make sure my final camp is near Rivington, just to be on the safe side.)

For that matter, Mizora also sort of just ... disappeared. Her ongoing cope-and-seethe style plan to kill Duke Ravengard apparently went nowhere - or maybe she just realised she was double-booked that Tuesday morning?

Lae'Zel's ending also felt truncated - she just suddenly whistled up an actual dragon and flew off with the rest of the rebel gith'yanki. There's no hint as to what happens next.

It was odd that killing Raphael off apparently had no significant impact, other than his non-presence at the end. And while there's been a lot of talk about Zariel, she never actually appeared either.

Probably the most developed ending was Gale's, and I think that was largely because his was the main romance option my character pursued. Even then, while Gale agreed to turn over the Crown of Karsus to Mystra, we never actually see it happen, so who knows if it ever actually did?

So overall in summary, this has been the best gaming experience I think I have had in about 11 years. The game's depth, breadth of content and characterisation have knocked a lot of recent so-called Triple-A products into a cocked hat. It was a complicated, emotional journey. At the same time, I am left wishing that some aspects of the endings had been expanded, however I am very glad that it didn't end up being a repeat of Mass Effect 3.

[tsarinatorment]

Hello, I love your pjo analysis posts and how much you try to keep it within its canon material.

The books let us know that Percy’s fatal flaw is loyalty and we see that often, while Bianca’s ghost kinda implies that Nico’s fatal flaw is holding grudges. My question is, what would you think is Will’s fatal flaw? Or a fatal flaw within the Apollo cabin in general?

Aww, thanks, anon! I always like keeping things within canon universe where possible because that's how my brain works, so I'm glad people like that I do that :D

Still on holiday with no books access, so this'll likely be a short answer at least for now, but a fatal flaw is definitely something I've thought about for Will, and could easily conclude for a couple of other of the cabin seven kids, too, so I'll give a brief rundown of my thoughts here and maybe revisit this later in more depth if that's something that people would want.

So, let's start with Will Solace's Fatal Flaw.

I'm certainly not original in this one, that's for sure, but my thought is that Will's fatal flaw is Responsibility or Self-Blame (specifically regarding patients under his care). I actually wrote a fic based on this premise, Fatal Flaw, a couple of months back. We see flashes of Will's stubbornness and sense of obligation when it comes to healing throughout canon - first with Annabeth, where he doesn't stop until she's out of danger even though it drains him to the point he looks "as pale as" she was, then again at the end of HOO where he's been working non-stop in the infirmary for I think it was two days solid, with the implication that he hadn't been taking a break at all during that time. We also see this in THO where he not only pushes himself to heal Paolo and the other wounded campers despite being worried about his siblings, he also yells at Apollo until Apollo gets his priorities straight, too.

At the very least, Will feels responsible for the well-being of his patients to the point he doesn't step back until they're out of danger, so it's natural to extend the idea into his fatal flaw being that he can't stop until they're out of danger, and that he himself runs the risk of burning himself out (perhaps even literally) trying to save someone who's past saving. As healing is shown to sap Will's energy in TLO (although not so much later on, perhaps because he's been forced to heal so much he's grown more powerful to compensate for that), the risk of it draining him and killing him is there, which would fill the condition for it to be a fatal flaw.

There are two other Apollo kids whose fatal flaws I have an idea about. I don't subscribe to the idea that the whole cabin would have the same fatal flaw, after all they're all unique people even if they have the same godly parent, but it does make sense that demigods might inherit one of their godly parents' potential flaws (for Poseidon, we see a loyalty to his children regardless if they end up good or evil, so loyalty is certainly a factor; for Hades, we see him holding grudges against Olympus; Athena also shows an inability to admit to being wrong at any point; Apollo we got an entire pentalogy focusing on his character and the need to put responsibility solely on his shoulders is one such flaw, but also arrogance and anger, amongst other things, which is where I'm going with these next two kids).

The next kid I'm gonna briefly talk about probably won't surprise anyone who regularly talks to me because he's arguably my second-favourite Apollo kid and one that takes up a lot of my headspace at the moment, and that's Michael Yew. While his appearances are limited and only within one book, we do actually get a reasonably feel for his character. I'm tossing up between two potential fatal flaws for Michael - Anger and Pride (both of which are known Apollo traits). On the one hand, he's written as a character with a short fuse who gets into arguments and apparently scowls a lot, so it's logical to assume that his anger is going to get him into a lot of situations that he would be better off avoiding, but on the other hand, pride is what stops him from bending the knee, from apologising for his angry outbursts and making amends (we see this with Clarisse and the flying chariot - yes, there is a lot of anger involved in there, but there's also pride on both their sides; neither is truly willing to concede to the other, and they continue to clash). Anger gets him into messes, but his pride is what keeps him there, so they're arguably both strong candidates.

The other one I have an idea for, mostly because Apollo also expresses some concern about it in the book, is Austin Lake. Kayla, despite having equal amount of page time, more or less, I don't have pinned down well enough to theorise rather than headcanon, but with Austin I think we can make an educated guess that his might be Arrogance or Over-Confidence. He's a popular internet (or at least youtube) sensation, apparently, which could feasibly get to the head of a thirteen or fourteen year old boy, and in TON he tells Apollo that he can handle clearing the way for him, giving him a grin that Apollo himself says reminds him of his own, reckless and arrogant, approach to some things (I don't remember the exact quote but it's along those lines). From that, I'd say it's pretty inferable that Austin's fatal flaw is somewhere in that area.

[godonthetraintracks]

Inbox lightning round!

Elesa will be showing up in the au... eventually. We'll see her reaction then, but I feel like you can probably imagine how she'd feel about Emmet going missing and coming back as god. Though tbh she should expect something like this from him haha.

Emmet's already met all of the ride nobles at this point "off-screen", and their reactions range from suspicious like Sneasler to very understanding like Wyrdeer. Where the others fall on that scale is up to your interpretation! As for the other nobles, hmmm... I don't have an answer for how/if he'll meet him yet, but they definitely know of his existence in Hisui. We'll see!

I know, who would do this to poor Emmet 😔😔😔😔 In all seriousness tho, I know it's a lot of angst lately, but things will get better. Of course, in order for that to happen some things will have to get worse first. But no one said crossing time and space to find your lost brother would be easy!

You're right that this is an interesting question! Unfortunately, Emmet did not bring his Pokemon with him to Hisui. Where they are now is a matter that will be explained eventually, but suffice to say they're back (or foreward?) in modern times and not available to him. The same goes for Ingo's pokemon, too.

Awwww omg that's such a cute drawing! And personally, I do think the "bedazzled hula hoop" is a permanent fixture, probably fused to the skin somehow. That doesn't stop Emmet from threatening to take a saw to it so he can lay down normally, though.

The feature that's worst for him is definitely the legs, secondarily the ring because it keeps him from sleeping comfortably. The arms aren't as bad as you'd think, because aside from getting in the way occasionally/moving in unfortunate ways they actually come in handy (aha) sometimes. I imagine when he finds a way to turn back he'll at least slightly miss having a second set of arms, imagine how well he could operate a train with them!

Also, Emmet (but really Ingo and Akari) have a running tab with the people of Jubilife village for every time Emmet has left a ring-shaped hole in the sides of doorways. As he gets more used to his new body he does it less and less, but we know how... excitable he can be. Poor spidey-Emmet and doors do not mix.

Arceus' situation is hard to explain, but they are both aware of what Emmet is doing (and feeling) yet completely unable to interact with the world at present. Their consciousness essentially doesn't exist in our reality anymore, and if it had tried to share Emmet's headspace it would have had... dire consequences for him. So for now, Arceus is pretty much out of the picture. Certainly makes things more complicated, hmm?

The plates do work on Emmet and change his type, but it's more cosmetic than anything so it's just a fun novelty to him and Akari... for now. I personally don't think changing types actually makes him feel all that different, and lugging around a weird plate with the practical functionality of a mood ring isn't high on his list of priorities. They might make a more significant appearance later, though!

Ingo is.... complicated, right now. What's frustrating about this is that he likely would've remembered more by now if not for the fact that he is actively avoiding the situation for a variety of reasons, but mostly because he's, well, frightened of all the unknowns. That being said, those brotherly instincts are very much still there (he oftentimes finds himself reflexively calling out to Emmet when he sees him doing something reckless, for example). He will, however, remember him someday. I promise.

Also, he didn't overhear the conversation between Emmet and Akari... you can bet that if he had, it would've been a bit of a wake-up call for him. But we can't have nice things apparently.

[messymindofmine]

Not to get too heated about fictional characters but one thing that has always annoyed me when people talk about Robby’s relationship with Johnny is that as far as Robby is concerned, Johnny really is the deadbeat dad that Robby thinks he is. The guy was literally never there for him by his own admission and everytime Robby did reach out, Johnny behaved like a jerk. People bring up that hug between Miguel and Johnny a lot but what a lot of people seem to forget is that Robby was literally only there because he wanted to make amends with his dad. That too after his mom had flat out told him that the only reason his dad wanted him to move in with him was to get out of paying child support (and seriously don’t even get me started on how massively fucked up that is). Despite that, Robby still decided to give Johnny a chance and went to see him. Only to see his dad, who’d been absent for him his entire life, hugging some kind he’d barely known for a few weeks. Obviously, he didn’t know the full story but all he did know was that his dad (after an extremely half-hearted attempt at reconciliation at best) had chosen some random kid over him. And to say that he should’ve made the effort even after seeing the hug....why?! why should he have been the one to make the effort when his mother had already made him think that his father didn’t care and he had just seen his father choose someone else over him. And let’s not leave out Daniel’s role in all this. Daniel did take on a paternal role in Robby’s life by his own choice and then at the first challenge not only rejected but verbally attacked him in the worst way. And then he basically had him arrested for something that was a complete accident that he was already clearly traumatized by. And let’s not forget that Shannon- his own mother-actually helped Daniel do that. And then of course he went through hell in prison. And he waited for his dad to come and visit him only for Johnny to not even show up. And yes, he stayed at the request of Miguel’s grandmother but that doesn’t change the fact that yet again he was not there for his son. And honestly, it’s hardly surprising that Robby is resentful of Miguel. After all, Miguel already had a loving mother and grandmother while Robby had nobody, So to see not only his own father apparently prioritizing someone else over him but also to see the girl he had feelings for kiss that same person would’ve been like rubbing salt in an already heavily bleeding wound. And it was Miguel who attacked first not Robby, Robby was the one who tried to stop the fight, This isn’t meant to be anti-Miguel by any means btw. I love him just as much as anyone else. I’m just pointing out the rather obvious double standards that some people appear to have with regards to the whole Johnny/Miguel/Robby dynamic. Also, when Johnny did finally go to see Robby in prison, the first thing he did upon seeing a massive black eye on him is berate him for getting into a fight without even asking for the details. He didn’t even bother to ask his son if he was okay. It’s not at all surprising that Robby ended up being seduced by Kreese. Kreese did exactly what predators do, he saw a vulnerable target and he lunged at him. And obviously by the time Kreese got to Robby, he wasn’t in the headspace to listen to anybody anymore. Why should he? Why should he listen to the people who constantly let him down and hurt him? And Johnny knocking Robby unconscious certainly did not help either. And yet despite all that, Robby was still able to eventually see what was happening himself and take a step back. That’s why he was at the dojo in 4x10 to begin with. The hug between Robby and Johnny was definitely a good start but I hope that the next season will expand on that properly. It’s honestly a bit disturbing to me how many people actually think that Robby is to blame for any of what has happened. He’s literally just a kid. A kid just like Sam and Miguel. Unlike Sam and Miguel though, he’s a kid who has been let down and abandoned by literally everyone who he should have been able to trust. And unlike Sam and Miguel, Robby didn’t have anyone to turn to after Miguel’s accident. The thing about being a parent is, just because your kid is rightfully angry with you and tells you he doesn’t want to see you, it doesn’t mean that  you should just accept it and turn your back on him. Honestly, I think Robby is one of the best written character I have ever seen. His entire character arc is so heartbreakingly sad and painfully realistic. I can only hope that the show will actually do justice to his character and provide him with the opportunity to actually express his frustrations and show Johnny actually working to be the father that Robby deserves. And it certainly wouldn’t hurt for them to show Shannon and Johnny putting working through their issues-not in a shippy way but to show how important it is for both parents to put their child over their own issues. I would also like to see Daniel admitting to his own role in Robby’s trauma. Anyway, that’s the end of my tangent. I hope that season 5 will provide us with a lot of quality Robby and Johnny scenes where Robby can work through his trauma and Johnny will actually be there to take care of Robby the way he deserves