setdsol

[setdsol]

Your question was regrettably delayed, but here it is now:

What villain career did Rafael pick? What motivated him to choose that path? Did he ever consider a different villainous career?

Oh, I am so glad you asked my friend. Rafael is a hero hunter, out to destroy any hero who stands in his way. He did think about the others: His first thought was mob boss, it means power and respect and maybe loyalty sure, but it also means...people. Meeting people. Talking to people. His social battery is not strong enough to handle this amount of socialization and he'd inevitably have a small panic attack about it, so no. Next off is being a Thief. He did always wonder what it was like to be wealthy, rich and have everything you want, but the term itself, being called a mere thief, triggered feelings related to his sidekick days, so that's a no. Anarchist was too broad for him, Rafael is a very personal individual and he'd like to make his enemies know it. You see, the thing about Rafael is that he is a deeply emotional person pretending to be logical, and this career proved to be the culmination his already preexisting feelings of rage, betrayal, loneliness and lost friendship, but also the logical extension of his actions at the gala. If he has these feelings, and he already enacted his plans to take out the Rangers, why not make a career out of that? So that's why he settled for Hero Hunter.

[setdsol]

New sidestep for the sake of being in an unhealthy relationship with Julia Ortega

[setdsol]

Question for July:

What are Rafael's skills (tech/social and fight/tactic)? How does he use those skills in day to day life? Do they work differently from how the books portray said skills?

Yeah, sure. Everything is in the brackets, but i'll copy it here if necessary:

Rafael is a Fighter/social step, Bless his heart. He does a bit more than the books showcase, like the fact that Rafael learned to fight dirty by beating drunken assholes in alleyways back in the day.

Another thing to note is the fact that Rafael routinely hunted down his contacts for any info on where to find the best paint for the armor. From blue...to red...to indigo...You have no godly idea how many times he repainted it once Mortum gave his puppet the armor

[setdsol]

Chapter's 3 weird route is the secret minigame you play in the S Rank room

You have to kill everything in your path to progress and one of Kris' status increases according to how many enemies you've slain.

The status is invisible in Chapter 3, but in Chapter 4, if you kill the two Titan Spawn before confronting the Titan itself, the status is revealed to be "Slain", and the number beside it is two, corresponding to the Spawn you massacred.

Alternatively, if you banish the Titan Spawn, another hidden status of Kris will be revealed instead: the one that says Purified.

It seems from now on, the SOUL will play a key role in the story, with Kris having to decide between killing beings of deep darkness or purifying them. However, the prophecy DOES state the three heroes must BANISH the Angel's Heaven, not SLAY the Angel.

What consequences could there be if Kris' SOUL keeps "feeding" its sinister hunger* to slay dark creatures and isn't strong enough to banish the Angel? Could it be killing too much may tarnish the SOUL somehow and condemn both worlds?

*: the creature you fight for the Shadow Mantle is the only one that mentions Kris' weird red eyes, his secret boredom with Tenna's innocent games - something Ramb also knows about Kris - and how "the knife grows dull if it isn't sharpened".

It seems Kris is actually partial to slaying creatures rather than sparing them. His true nature is that of a KILLER: violent, with a taste for chaos and bloodshed. But if that is so, then why does he react so poorly when the player follows the Weird Route?

Maybe he's finally having a taste of his own medicine?

[setdsol]

Chapter's 3 weird route is the secret minigame you play in the S Rank room

You have to kill everything in your path to progress and one of Kris' status increases according to how many enemies you've slain.

The status is invisible in Chapter 3, but in Chapter 4, if you kill the two Titan Spawn before confronting the Titan itself, the status is revealed to be "Slain", and the number beside it is two, corresponding to the Spawn you massacred.

Alternatively, if you banish the Titan Spawn, another hidden status of Kris will be revealed instead: the one that says Purified.

It seems from now on, the SOUL will play a key role in the story, with Kris having to decide between killing beings of deep darkness or purifying them. However, the prophecy DOES state the three heroes must BANISH the Angel's Heaven, not SLAY the Angel.

What consequences could there be if Kris' SOUL keeps "feeding" its sinister hunger* to slay dark creatures and isn't strong enough to banish the Angel? Could it be killing too much may tarnish the SOUL somehow and condemn both worlds?

*: the creature you fight for the Shadow Mantle is the only one that mentions Kris' weird red eyes, his secret boredom with Tenna's innocent games - something Ramb also knows about Kris - and how "the knife grows dull if it isn't sharpened".

It seems Kris is actually partial to slaying creatures rather than sparing them. His true nature is that of a KILLER: violent, with a taste for chaos and bloodshed. But if that is so, then why does he react so poorly when the player follows the Weird Route?

Maybe he's finally having a taste of his own medicine?

[setdsol]

Nice new username! Here's your question for July:

What are your Sidesteps' skills (tech/social and fight/tactic)? How do they use those skills in day to day life? Do they work differently from how the books portray said skills?

ajdhsdjhs thank you! technically it's an old one but ehhh pedantics. and oh i Love this question, this is something that's always in the back of my mind but never really scrutinized like this, so thank you for the ask!

Caine:

he's a tech/tact step, and by God are they tech stepping it up. the biggest difference between how they are usually and how the book portrays it is the intensity and depth of knowledge. i think i've described him before as "two steps away from becoming a mad scientist". he is Autistic about it, and i as the creator enable it because im doing comp sci and need to work my degree somehow. he likes to take apart the armor from time to time and mod it to his liking, which i suppose is another difference from how the book portrays tech steps adjsjd. they want to take a crack at dr mortum's lab so Badly, and if he had learned earlier that argent had technopathy he would've made it his life's mission to get her to be their tinker buddy. thank god he doesn't have the tech store base, because if they did they would be neglecting his real job for his fake one.

the tactician bit, on the other hand, i'm a lot more on the fence about. like, so much so i considered switching him to be a fighter step at one point. dont get me wrong, being a tactician suits them incredibly well. he loves strategizing, planning, figuring out strengths and weaknesses and gauging how to get something working. chess with chen is a highlight too. it's just that they also Love fighting. it's one of the reasons he's so dedicated to his work as a hero hunter. theres also the scene at the dogpark where chen sneaks up on you if youre a tactstep, and i just really feel like caine would react the way a fighter would instead. caine finds a lot of joy in fighting because there's a near meditative ryhthm to fights, it's a reason to release the imperceptible restless energy they carry around all the time, and it requires rapidfire decision making that you don't really get anywhere else. another reason why argent and caine should be friends adjhsjf. overall though, the tact wins out in terms of personality.

Cyrus:

he's a social/tact step! his streetwise aspect tends to lean more on his telepathy, generally preferring not to meet his contacts himself and just taking information from their minds when needed. one less lead back to him. that said, he'll still sometimes do it the old fashioned way. if there are dampeners or he's in argentine, he'll analyze behaviour and try to steer the conversation that way. he has the puppetmaster scar for a reason. and if all else fails, well, sexual appeal usually does the trick. easier with argentine because she has the tits to back it up, but he's learned how to flirt either way. when garnering sources for info, he'll sniff out leads using his telepathy, or from connecting the dots from the web of contacts he already has. he strikes me as the kind of guy to keep physical records of his contacts???? like, maybe not actual folders, but a notepad or something similar he can keep track of all of them with. he'll also go out of his way to keep his information up to date, researching contacts he already has to check if anything of interest popped up.

theres honestly a lot less notes i have on his tactician side tbh, he's just very strategic about the way he goes about day to day life. he has to make sure everything goes to plan, and being a tactician makes him feel one step ahead. oh, i will say, his tact side tends to manifest as him being a coward a lot of the time 💀. he knows when he's outmatched and he is Not above running. this pisses off argent tremendously.

Cecilia:

she's a social/fighter step, and honestly, i kind of took that element of her for granted until i started thinking of it more and realized it is So much fun. she isn't particularly extraordinary at finding sources, most of the time she just goes about her daily life and runs into people that way. unless she's actively looking for something, she doesn't really find need to build up connections. finding contacts ended up being ace's job, because she always seemed to have better chances at finding the right people. wonder what that's about. no, ceci's streetwise skills shines when she has to get information from somebody. she doesn't rely on telepathy to get what she needs— where's the fun in that? she much prefers to dig out information the same way ortega does. charm the crowd, show people a good time, and before you know it they're spilling secrets without knowing they've said a word out of line. she's not stupid, of course, she always adjusts the person's memory of her so that even if they Did find her out, she wouldn't get caught.

her fighter side is a lot more simple: she finds true joy in beating the shit out of people. not even out of a vendetta or anything, it's just her idea of a fun friday night out. has a sort of je ne sais quoi to it. spiritually cleansing. the adrenaline rush is a strong factor, and maybe there's something there about her ability to fight giving her comfort as a means of protection, but that's not something she's admitting to anyone.

Chance:

chance had to complete the combination, so she's a tech/fighter step 🙂‍↕️. that's only partially a joke, he fit very nicely into the last skillset ajdhsdj. the major difference between how she interacts with tech in headcanon and how the books show it is that he has a specific niche of technology she specializes in. that's because her proficiency in tech came as a sort of side effect to his interest in medicine. as she interacted more with it, he took closer looks at the medical machinery that went into it, specifically modwork and neurological medicine. honestly she got invested enough in this that when mortum first brought up the "im not a medical doctor" thing, he couldnt help but joke "that's what i'm for", even if that revealed too much of eden's knowledge at the time. it became a sort of affectionate callsign between them later on. her knowledge of tech comes in handy at the repair shop, he'll usually get any issues sorted as efficiently as possible or tell the person plainly that their shit is busted and they need to get a new one. she used to help out the rangers A Lot with modwork, but he obviously doesn't do so now. she may still do it if ortega asks. maybe. potentially. ortega likes to think so, at least.

as for his fighter side, it ties in with her love of everything sporty. he just has to get on the move, feel the way her body interacts and reacts to every new stimuli. there's a muscle memory to it that he's fond of. more than that, she doesn't like sparing herself the time to think. giving time to think means giving time to doubt, and if he doubts he's going to overthink it. that's how you lose. she'd honestly hate being a tactician ajshasj, too many thoughts would be clamoring for attention in his head. much better to work with the flow of the fight instead.

[setdsol]

Nice new username! Here's your question for July:

What are your Sidesteps' skills (tech/social and fight/tactic)? How do they use those skills in day to day life? Do they work differently from how the books portray said skills?

ajdhsdjhs thank you! technically it's an old one but ehhh pedantics. and oh i Love this question, this is something that's always in the back of my mind but never really scrutinized like this, so thank you for the ask!

Caine:

he's a tech/tact step, and by God are they tech stepping it up. the biggest difference between how they are usually and how the book portrays it is the intensity and depth of knowledge. i think i've described him before as "two steps away from becoming a mad scientist". he is Autistic about it, and i as the creator enable it because im doing comp sci and need to work my degree somehow. he likes to take apart the armor from time to time and mod it to his liking, which i suppose is another difference from how the book portrays tech steps adjsjd. they want to take a crack at dr mortum's lab so Badly, and if he had learned earlier that argent had technopathy he would've made it his life's mission to get her to be their tinker buddy. thank god he doesn't have the tech store base, because if they did they would be neglecting his real job for his fake one.

the tactician bit, on the other hand, i'm a lot more on the fence about. like, so much so i considered switching him to be a fighter step at one point. dont get me wrong, being a tactician suits them incredibly well. he loves strategizing, planning, figuring out strengths and weaknesses and gauging how to get something working. chess with chen is a highlight too. it's just that they also Love fighting. it's one of the reasons he's so dedicated to his work as a hero hunter. theres also the scene at the dogpark where chen sneaks up on you if youre a tactstep, and i just really feel like caine would react the way a fighter would instead. caine finds a lot of joy in fighting because there's a near meditative ryhthm to fights, it's a reason to release the imperceptible restless energy they carry around all the time, and it requires rapidfire decision making that you don't really get anywhere else. another reason why argent and caine should be friends adjhsjf. overall though, the tact wins out in terms of personality.

Cyrus:

he's a social/tact step! his streetwise aspect tends to lean more on his telepathy, generally preferring not to meet his contacts himself and just taking information from their minds when needed. one less lead back to him. that said, he'll still sometimes do it the old fashioned way. if there are dampeners or he's in argentine, he'll analyze behaviour and try to steer the conversation that way. he has the puppetmaster scar for a reason. and if all else fails, well, sexual appeal usually does the trick. easier with argentine because she has the tits to back it up, but he's learned how to flirt either way. when garnering sources for info, he'll sniff out leads using his telepathy, or from connecting the dots from the web of contacts he already has. he strikes me as the kind of guy to keep physical records of his contacts???? like, maybe not actual folders, but a notepad or something similar he can keep track of all of them with. he'll also go out of his way to keep his information up to date, researching contacts he already has to check if anything of interest popped up.

theres honestly a lot less notes i have on his tactician side tbh, he's just very strategic about the way he goes about day to day life. he has to make sure everything goes to plan, and being a tactician makes him feel one step ahead. oh, i will say, his tact side tends to manifest as him being a coward a lot of the time ���. he knows when he's outmatched and he is Not above running. this pisses off argent tremendously.

Cecilia:

she's a social/fighter step, and honestly, i kind of took that element of her for granted until i started thinking of it more and realized it is So much fun. she isn't particularly extraordinary at finding sources, most of the time she just goes about her daily life and runs into people that way. unless she's actively looking for something, she doesn't really find need to build up connections. finding contacts ended up being ace's job, because she always seemed to have better chances at finding the right people. wonder what that's about. no, ceci's streetwise skills shines when she has to get information from somebody. she doesn't rely on telepathy to get what she needs— where's the fun in that? she much prefers to dig out information the same way ortega does. charm the crowd, show people a good time, and before you know it they're spilling secrets without knowing they've said a word out of line. she's not stupid, of course, she always adjusts the person's memory of her so that even if they Did find her out, she wouldn't get caught.

her fighter side is a lot more simple: she finds true joy in beating the shit out of people. not even out of a vendetta or anything, it's just her idea of a fun friday night out. has a sort of je ne sais quoi to it. spiritually cleansing. the adrenaline rush is a strong factor, and maybe there's something there about her ability to fight giving her comfort as a means of protection, but that's not something she's admitting to anyone.

Chance:

chance had to complete the combination, so she's a tech/fighter step 🙂‍↕️. that's only partially a joke, he fit very nicely into the last skillset ajdhsdj. the major difference between how she interacts with tech in headcanon and how the books show it is that he has a specific niche of technology she specializes in. that's because her proficiency in tech came as a sort of side effect to his interest in medicine. as she interacted more with it, he took closer looks at the medical machinery that went into it, specifically modwork and neurological medicine. honestly she got invested enough in this that when mortum first brought up the "im not a medical doctor" thing, he couldnt help but joke "that's what i'm for", even if that revealed too much of eden's knowledge at the time. it became a sort of affectionate callsign between them later on. her knowledge of tech comes in handy at the repair shop, he'll usually get any issues sorted as efficiently as possible or tell the person plainly that their shit is busted and they need to get a new one. she used to help out the rangers A Lot with modwork, but he obviously doesn't do so now. she may still do it if ortega asks. maybe. potentially. ortega likes to think so, at least.

as for his fighter side, it ties in with her love of everything sporty. he just has to get on the move, feel the way her body interacts and reacts to every new stimuli. there's a muscle memory to it that he's fond of. more than that, she doesn't like sparing herself the time to think. giving time to think means giving time to doubt, and if he doubts he's going to overthink it. that's how you lose. she'd honestly hate being a tactician ajshasj, too many thoughts would be clamoring for attention in his head. much better to work with the flow of the fight instead.

[setdsol]

If you have multiple steps, go with the most common answer/your preferred route

[setdsol]

every single person who reblogs this

every

single

person

will get “doot doot" in their ask box

[setdsol]

Fallen Hero Revelations spoilers under cut

My honest reaction to what Ortega called Murderstep and when new RO was introduced

I recreated an old meme I made

Og meme

Fallen Hero by @fallenhero-rebirth

[setdsol]

It's the first of May! That means a new question.

How does Rafael dress? Has that changed between his days as Sidestep and now? Does his specific villain career affect his wardrobe?

I know I am late and I am sorry about it. I'll be frank.

Nowadays, Rafael chooses to wear Sports-wear. He feels comfy wearing it, it's light, and it always allows him to run away from his problems. *wink, wink*

I feel I should mention the color scheme here, since it's related to the armor. The Overlord suit is filled with black and reds. His day-to-day clothing is black with orange outlining or spots, deliberately contrasting his Sidestep colors. He needs the mental reminders to remember he is not Sidestep anymore, that he does not want to be again, and that his new life will be better now. No matter the cost.

[setdsol]

🏳️‍🌈Happy Pride Month!🏳️‍⚧️

This month's question is themed. Tell me about Rafael's orientations. Does he identify differently from how you'd describe him? Has his orientation/attraction changed since his Sidestep era?

Sorry I didn't answer the last ask, so I will make it up by answering this one.

Rafael is asexual, for the most part. Even without that, he's pretty shy/hesitant when it comes to romance and intimacy because of the vulnerability it requires and he is now afraid of. Hence the whole Overlord persona.

If there is one thing that changed from his Sidestep days, it's his actualizing his feelings to the point of being able to act on wanting a romantic relationship. When he falls for someone, Julia for example, he falls hard, even if it takes him the better part of the story to come to terms with it.

[setdsol]

New month, new question: Lets talk gender. How does Rafael identify? Is that different from how you would describe him? Does he feel any particular way about his gender?

-Cigs

Rafael is male…That hasn't changed. What has changed is his own attitude towards it. Before while he was still back at the farm everyone else referred to him as 'male', if not it due to his Re-Gene status. He didn't want to cause trouble and make his handlers angry with him so he just went along with them. They were just some meaningless pronouns humans use...Right? Maybe it was so at the time...but the more he recognized and acknowledged his own individuality, his feelings on the matter began to shift. By the time he took Rafael's name as his own, His self-perceptions shifted from “I'm a man because that's what people tell me I am.” to “I'm a man because this is what I choose for myself.”

[setdsol]

Another question, because why not. 🤣

Did you know who your Sidestep was going to romance from the beginning? Or did you decide to see where it goes?

Sort of "I want them to romance this person" vs "I want to see what feels more in line with their character".

[setdsol]

When Sidestep tells Ortega they don't wanna be friends anymore

[setdsol]

When Sidestep tells Ortega they don't wanna be friends anymore

[setdsol]

Fallen Hero Rebirth achievements part 1!

The progress is slow, so very slow, but it happens.