#Holding onto the grudge for aeons...

[anonymoususeru]

"Replaced" [lore art]

Notes:

The flowers are obvious, but...the thing on Agar's chest isn't her accessory in her usual form. It's what their soul jam used to be. And the colour is changing to purple, indicating someone is taking their power.

The unreadable expression is due to how Agar is conflicted about this. She was initially satisfied about "taking back the right they lost," but she isn't truly at peace.

Less gold accessories is how she js not valuable anymore, to her creators, to others, and to themself.

No text version under the cut

[pearblossomrain]

personal summary of what might be the most unserious gp i have ever seen aka sao paulo 2024:

(almost needed a whole separate post just for qualis and side note, this sounds a bit like commentary bc i was actually making commentary when watching for my friend)

tldr for qualis; more red flags than an all boys' school, some controversial safety car periods, hamilton out q1, red bulls+sainz out q2, crazy top 5 of norris, russell, tsunoda, ocon and lawson in That Exact Order.

• before the race even STARTED, sainz was starting from the pit lane, albon didn't start the race due to damage from quali, verstappen had a 5 place grid penalty. when you think things are already crazy enough, lance stroll spins out on the formation lap which calls for a second formation lap, and then a third formation lap and aborted start due to lots of confusion (multiple drivers were noted 💀)

(will cut here to save space T-T)

• lights out and away we go....and so does the lead apparently bc russell almost immediately grabbed first from norris?? and he held onto that lead like my grandma holds a grudge; for what seemed like aeons. ����

• verstappen, hamilton, colapinto and gasly were leaping up the ranks like nobody's business, literally blinked and i missed multiple overtakes from them.

• speaking of verstappen, he goes all the way up from p17 to p6 in like less than 15 laps and there was a super nerve wracking train of tsunoda, ocon, leclerc and verstappen that honestly stressed the hell out of me to watch for all those consecutive laps (i left to get an ice cream and when i came back, even the gaps between had barely changed at all)

• ferrari suddenly decides to pit leclerc incredibly early which i still cannot tell if it was a good idea or not because it started raining heavily and soon everyone except a few of the leading pack went into the pit after a virtual safety car period bc hulkenberg spun out (more on him later trust me), which puts us with a seemingly temporary top 3 of OCON, VERSTAPPEN AND GASLY??? in that order too! 🤡

• first red flag because colapinto collided really heavily into the barriers (man i feel bad for him, this is as close to a home race as it gets for him) and i swear nobody is having a worse day than the williams garage.....my genuine thoughts and prayers to that blue unserious team

• AN ACTUAL BLACK FLAG?!!??? to hulkenberg because apparently when he spun out he had marshals push his car back on track which isn't allowed (but i have to say, unless he made the marshals do it when they didn't want to, it's also a bit on them)....williams racing might have a competitor for most depressed garage after this 😭

• penalties!! so many penalties!! bearman picked up a couple of penalties for collisions and so did piastri which they keep until the end and i'm quite sure there were a couple more but i really could NOT keep up oops. (edit: one more thing! i do feel a little bad for piastri bc he had to sort of give a bit of way for norris at the end when they were stacked tgt only for them to not move up positions at all and with the 10s penalty idk how this will end up being.)

• this red flag period was so unbelievably long (i think all in all it was about 30 min?) that i had time to watch them all go into the pits and get out of their cars, then leave and do some laundry, grab a snack and a drink. 😭 and when i returned, 16 drivers had just requested a restart which in turn led the fia to call for a rolling start

• they finally went back to racing, and so many things happened relatively quickly; norris went wide and russell went past norris to p4, bearman got into the barriers but returns to bring up the rear (NOOO MY SON) and sainz crashed rather badly into the barriers and that was ANOTHER safety car period good god! (they said this is his second time in the barriers which, absolutely Foul, but unfortunately not wrong 😭)

• verstappen (who was honestly having a great day so far from p17 to p2) TOOK A PRETTY BIG LEAD which. oh my god we hadn't seen this in like 100 days or something 😭 and norris goes down to p7?? not sure what happened there tbh i was not looking closely oops again.

• there was a crazy back-and-forth battle going in the midfield bc both vcarbs are in front of perez who, in the commentators' words, "are both fighting for his seat" 💀 and hamilton was also chasing perez (and eventually got the last point) so there was just a lot of scrabbling for points i guess?

• also somewhere in there, i didn't keep track because of so many things happening, alonso spun out and ended up at the back of the pack (i also feel bad for him bc he mentioned back pain and bouncing at the end so sorry grandpa) and yet he did not finish dead last? afterwards he was dead set on finishing the race "for the mechanics", in his own words, which i see as an absolute class act in my opinion. hate him or love him, this makes me have huge respect for him.

• ALPINE. alpine oh my god i (and them. and EVERYONE HONESTLY???) can't believe they held onto a double podium all the way to the end wow i think nobody is happier than that garage and team rn like whole house GLADDD 😭 (p.s. my friend, not sure if she'd like to be tagged, said that the french flag and dutch flag at the podium ceremony were "like y-axis and x-axis" which had me losing it)

• honestly the only thing i am rather sad about is tsunoda finishing p8 after starting p3 but if we are being honest, parts of this race were due to circumstances and perhaps a little bit of additional luck but at least he is in the points and goodbye unlucky streak!! plus it's double vcarb points!

[side notes because this is as long as an entire speech; i did the maths and norris would have to be p1 and verstappen p8 in every single grand prix (not counting the sprint) to win by 1 point and if the maths works out that they're both tied in points, verstappen would still win because he has more grand prix wins even if norris wins all remaining 3 gps]

in conclusion, for a race i predicted would finish at 1:30am my time (it started at 11:30pm here) and hopefully i would get more 5 hours of sleep before work, i will be left with just over 3 hours of sleep now and yet i have ZERO REGRETS BECAUSE HOLY FCK THAT WAS A ROLLERCOASTER. absolutely nothing can top this race for me for the entire season and maybe even last season!!

definitely probably missed quite a few things but this is what i can remember off the top of my head or what was most memorable to me and it is 3am here so pls cut me some slack 🙏

[aurae-rori]

children of the city ; a dr. ratio analysis

Dedicated to all the people in my inbox going, "WHAT IS A CHILDREN OF THE CITY AND WHY IS IT DR. RATIOCORE?!" I will now be pointing all of you to this post, because it's easier to access and find.

If you are finding this out in the wild, greetings. I am Aurae, one of the many Dr. Ratio Analyzers (shoutout to my other homies who are doing the work of the aeons and clearing the misinfo and slander to my boy's name). I am here to tell you why the song "Children of the City" by Mili is Dr. Ratiocore.

It's time to deconstruct my boy like the puppets that you see on tv, who find comfort in the strings. (if you know, you know.)

"Sleep for a total of 800 hours per day And then drink a liter of milk Warm-up before you go play Only eat, or write Or pull the trigger with your right hand Only thing that's left Is to work on following commands"

I'm totally not projecting my gifted child trauma here, nuh uh... Anyway, my personal HC for Ratio is that his child might have felt monotonous being in classes that he was already too "intelligent" for. Learning things at a quicker pace than other children, absorbing knowledge up like a sponge - sure, the praise is nice, but after awhile, especially when you get to higher levels, intelligence isn't enough to carry you. You have to put diligence, effort, blood sweat and tears into what you're studying for, especially if you want to make a change, like how Dr. Ratio wanted to. It. must have gotten lonely, getting up only to do more researcher, eating only to go back to work. Following a schedule is wonderful, and he would have enjoyed the routine, but after being isolated from other people along with that, it might have made him feel subhuman or less than human for only being there for the studying of more knowledge. Eat, study, work, repeat. This is more of a personal HC rather than something canon, though. :)

"By the time you realize You'll be restrained to a desk And with your dreams on the floor, you comply Eyes chained to the test In 30 minutes, find a groom or bride Bonus if brunette In 90 hours, spill their insides Paint your room picturesque"

I feel like the prospect of romance is pushed onto children at a very young age - and that can be applied to Dr. Ratio. Who knows what romantic beliefs that he grew with? However, I believe this is less of him observing himself, but more of him seeing what the education system does to others, and how society molds others into the person that they "should" be, rather than what they want to be. Also, it could be a reference to academic trauma and placing all your self worth in your grades.

"Now it's time for another vendetta Going through the shelves Picking out my pre-written persona (ha-ah-ah) Children of the city sees only the neon stars Reflected upon the murky gutter sky Don't ask me why I desperately wish to be included in the city's night"

This is how I see Dr. Ratio holding a grudge against the Aeons and other figures of authority. We are all expected to be "good" and "well-behaved", and yet, we all look to the "city's night" - the approval of those who are in a higher position of us. We want to gain the approval and the praise of our parents, of our teachers - it's natural, after. We want to be included in the "city's night" - in Dr. Ratio's case, the gaze of Nous. He wants to be acknowledged by Nous and let into the Genius Society because his beliefs that were instilled into him as a child dictate that since he is hailed as a genius, he should be seen as one by the Aeons, right? However, I'd like to point out the usage of the words "neon stars" - stars are not neon. This implies that the stars are fake - I can also see this as a pointer to the idea of there system itself being fake, or societal "norms" being fake, as we are all unique.

"In four hundred thousand meters, turn right

Pick up a knife and stab a familiar warm body Learned to fight before I knew love or bitterness of coffee Snippy scissors cut down the strings I set myself free Only to figure out everything I chose was by proxy"

Dr. Ratio following orders until he doesn't. Fitting in until he gives up on it. Setting himself free from the chains of what is expected from him of other people, but not by the Aeons - no, that's something that still stays with him. However, I like to interpret the idea of a "familiar warm body" being his own childhood - killing the child that you used to be in favour of facing the future. Coffee is also something commonly regarded as students or workers using it to keep awake during long periods of work and study - it talks about how he has known to fight for himself, or fight for what he wants, before he was told to suck it up and just work for the sake of others, for the sake of the authority. However, this might feel scripted to him as well, with the mention of a "proxy" - it was a decision someone else made for him, maybe? Who knows? Maybe his selflessness was originally chosen by someone else, and drilled into him?

"As we suckled upon the nine millimeter pacifier Swallowing the fact that other than to expand We had no purpose As my ever-burning will to stay afloat backfires I now know I must be comfortable being Who I considered worthless"

This is definitely expanding on the idea of being raised to just be used by the authorities. Also, this can also be a representation of the way that he calls himself "mundane" - he was called a genius and raised as one, and now that Nous has not seen him, he must be "mundane" and he must come to terms that he is exactly what he wasn't called growing up. None of their words of praise have any meaning any more, because in the all seeing gaze of an Aeon, he is nothing.

"Follow the city's ribbon To a heart nobody seems to listen It takes my heart being broken and broken again (broken and broken again) To know that I am the reason why (the reason why) The sufferings never end"

As Dr. Ratio uncovers the truth of his childhood and the truth of why he was raised this way, the empathy that he has suppressed comes back up. And this is it - because he feels for others, because he is so incredibly human, that is the reason why his suffering does not end. He cannot detach himself like other people, like other geniuses, and treat life with little to no care. He cannot, because he loves, and that is his fatal flaw. He listens to his heart, as well as his mind, and that does not make him a genius in the eyes of an Aeon.

"Do not go home until you finish reading the value of E. 2.71 8281 8284 5904 5235 3602 8747 1352 6624 9775 7247 0936 9995 9574 9669 6762"

"E" is a mathematical constant, and therefore is logical. It's called the base of a natural logarithm, and while my knowledge in that area is limited, the fact that it is called a "constant" means that it cannot change, just like all numbers cannot. It might be a representation of the idea of Dr. Ratio trying again to fit in with others, only to fail once more, even though he knows all the rules. He was simply born in a different way, doomed from the start. It wasn't his fault.

He was just human.

You can also see this as Dr. Ratio observing the world as he grows up in an "apathetic" and "detached" way - as he pushes down his own emotions in favour of staring at his own success to help others, knowing that his empathy will not get him anywhere in terms of a cruel world. However, he cannot help it.

Ultimately, "Children of the City" is about how we are raised in a society that forces the idea of work on us ever since we are young. We do not get to cherish our childhoods nor our youth, and are immediately turned to the prospect of how we can provide value to society. We are raised in a never ending cycle like machines, to be puppets to corporations, to be slaves by the desire of the majority, to never have free will of our own.

[rafent]

Defeated though she may be, Maria hasn't left the battlefield just yet.

"Rafal!" She trots up to him not long after their match is called, a vast, silly grin a-bloom upon her face despite the slight skew of her step. Neither does loss seem to have dampened her spirit -- at least, not enough to prevent her from cheerfully popping onto her tiptoes.

"Hee hee... you called me a magician, so I thought I'd show you a little magic trick!" It would be easy to mistake her words for sarcasm or bitterness if she was someone else, but she is only Maria; her smile blooms in sincerity, her warmth wholly unabashed as she holds up her hands and unfolds them. Tannenbit glitters gently under the sun, pulling a minuscule shroud of snow around itself before-- poof! It shines, merry as her laughter as it peacefully catches the light.

"They say you can take something from the losing team," the little cleric begins to explain, upholding her little globe of snow with deceptive ease, "So I thought... would you want to take Tannenbit?"

At that she holds the focus out to him, winter finally falling away -- not so her smile. It grows and widens, mischief glinting in her eyes.

"You said you were looking for Griss, right? Hee hee... don't you think he'd be surprised if you showed up to fight him with magic?"

But then it softens, mischief falling away to affection, affection falling away to gentle laughter.

"And if you take it, then you'll have to remember I'm cheering for you! Heeheehee... good luck, Rafal!"

Kris and Maria; so together the knight and the princess were judged defeated.

In the end, it was not they who succeeded to the next round of the Battle of Eagle and Lion but the terrible, no-good, villainous dragon. If there were rightful expectation, it did not exist here; if people were ever matched to their just rewards, the most selfless would advance instead. Elsewhere, Nil would not have died in the noble effort of making his older sister proud. As such, the unforgiving way of the world as Rafal knew it did not know imbalance even by this trivial tournament. Almost.

"It is beyond my understanding." Eyes fixed upon the snow globe and its playful flourish of magic, powdery snow caressing against clothed skin with faint chill. Upon its disappearance, his attention returned to the user. A magician dealt intimately with matters little comprehended by the mind; in the same manner, Rafal understood Maria in this moment all too little.

"You are defeated yet bear no semblance of a grudge. To make this offer to me as if nothing were amiss, to even express hopes for my prosperity as If I had been your ally instead, you are thoroughly. . .strange."

Every thought that Rafal possessed landed with acuity but among them was not denial. It was true that he sought after Griss for his own reasons; true that facing him with this unusual conduit would be to great surprise; true also that Maria was 'thoroughly strange', as like to Rafal as oil and water in both form and nature. Neither grudge nor guile, a plain and over-bright girl without the hateful complexities of emotion weaponized by most others, some many aeons her senior.

In the childish brandishing of a snow globe—a magic trick, she'd called it—the dragon let out a sigh at the maturity it belied. Unseen and between the lines.

"No; I wonder, if perhaps in some way it is I who is defeated instead." A mysterious and unthinking statement upon which Rafal did not linger over long, replaced instead by acceptance - a showing of equal strangeness in such a world where the strongest Fell Dragons took, not vow to return that which they'd borrowed. "—Very well, Maria, I shall accept this as spoils. Know that you will see it again."

Rafal receives Tannenbit from Maria

[everybodyshusband]

because i know you have Thoughts: tell me about aeon :3

i doooooo !!!! <3

How I feel about this character

he's my baby, my plaything, my poor little meow meow, my evil dude and my pet to project everything and everything onto <3

All the people I ship romantically with this character

it's the ghouls so... everyone, really sdkfjnksdf particularly swiss, dew and rain though but i'm not really sure why, they just seem to fit together well

My non-romantic OTP for this character

well @midnight-moth got me into cowbell & aeon and i've seen the light and been converted dbkdjfnf they're the best of friends your honour (i see them as having a romantic relationship as well but in my eyes the ghouls interact platonically just as much as they do romantically so i think they count :3)

My unpopular opinion about this character

my aeon headcanons shift constantly but my favourite (that i haven't written yet, oops !!!) is that i think he's veryyyy quick to anger but he's quiet about it. he won't blow up in anger like some of the other ghouls can. when he's angry, he's clever enough about hiding it that no one will know unless he accidentally lets that mask slip. he holds grudges like no one else and once you get on his bad side, there's barely any chance of redemption in his eyes

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon

uhhh i wish we got more of the mummy dust hip thrusts 👀

[mezzopurrloin]

Mezzo Plays Final Fantasy X: Part 5

The boat to Luca is pretty crowded. The Aurochs, the Goers, Yuna's party, Dona, and Barthello are all present.

And the Goers are still being jerks too. Tidus says he's the star of the Zanarkand Abes, which makes them laugh.

Yuna's here to defend him, though. They get bored and walk away, leaving Tidus and Yuna to have another moment.

Tidus heads to the upper deck and hears part of a conversation.

Lulu is mad at Wakka (again) for taking Tidus along, especially since he just plans to leave him in Luca afterward. Tidus decides it's best not to interfere.

There's a lone blitzball sitting on the deck. Tidus is reminded of his father once again.

Jecht shows off his skills by doing a kick followed by a midair spin.

Then one last shot to send the ball flying.

This leads to a short minigame where Tidus has to fend off the memories of Jecht as he tries to replicate the shot.

Turns out the Aurochs were watching, and they're quite impressed. Tidus says it doesn't have a name.

But Yuna knows better. It's actually the "Sublimely Magnificent Jecht Shot Mark III", but there never was a Mark I or II. He just made that up to keep the crowds coming.

She wonders if Jecht is alive, but neither of them has any clue. Tidus isn't even sure what he'd do if he met him. Probably smack him, though. Yuna talks about how it is when your father is famous, and that she is honored by his accomplishment. Tidus says there really isn't anything honorable about his old man.

The two retire to their cabins, and they reach Luca the next morning.

It's a big city, the second biggest in all of Spira. The announcers call out the teams as they arrive for the tournament: the Kilika Beasts, the Besaid Aurochs, and their very own Luca Goers.

Okay, that's just harsh.

Tidus decides the team needs some remoralization after that, and grabs a nearby megaphone to taunt the Goers.

A large crowd gathers around a particularly fancy boat.

This is Maester Mika, one of the Maesters of Yevon and the leader of the people of Spira. This tournament is being held in honor of his fiftieth year as maester.

He is accompanied by Maester Seymour, a newly-appointed maester and proud owner of the weirdest hairstyle in Spira. There's a brief moment of eye contact between him and Yuna as he steps onto the dock.

The Aurochs prep for the big tournament in their locker room. Their first match is against the Al Bhed Psyches, and if they win that they're on to the finals.

Yuna barges in with some important information. Turns out she knows who Auron is because he was also one of her father's guardians.

"It didn't even occur to me to think that the Auron Yuna was talking about...and the one I knew from Zanarkand could be two different people. I don't know why, but I knew it was the same guy. I knew it was the same Auron."

Yuna is concerned about getting separated from the others, so Tidus tries to teach her to whistle. She doesn't get the hang of it quite yet.

Tidus is impressed by the town's size. Large cities like this aren't very common in Spira, mainly due to the Sin threat. The Crusaders are doing all they can to keep the people safe so they can enjoy the blitz.

There's no Auron in the cafe, but Kimahri runs into some old acquaintances. They tease him about his small size and refusal to speak.

Pretty good response. Soon, though, everyone is distracted by the tournament starting on the screen.

Mika gives an impassioned speech before the team captains.

Then, the stadium is set up.

Blitzball is played entirely within a sphere of water, which is kept aloft through presumably magical means. Blitzball players have trained to hold their breath for long periods of time, which explains Tidus and Wakka's swimming skills.

As the game starts, Tidus and Kimahri suddenly notice that Yuna is missing. They head out and run into Lulu.

The Psyches plan to hold Yuna hostage and force the Aurochs to throw the game. Tidus' group isn't going to stand for this, and heads to the rescue.

They also have a few salvaged machina guarding their boat. These things attack on sight, and their metal bodies are vulnerable to electricity.

They pass by a screen as they run to the dock. Wakka took a serious hit, but he's managing to stay in there.

Eventually they encounter a boss mech on the Al Bhed boat. This thing is really just a blitzball pitching machine, but as we've seen from Wakka, thrown blitzballs can cause some serious damage. We've also got a full Overdrive bar for Lulu, so let's try that out.

Lulu's Overdrive is Fury, and it has probably the most annoying gimmick of them all. You need to rotate the right stick as swiftly as possible, and then she unleashes a barrage of magic, with the number of rotations equaling the number of casts. In this case I used Thunder Fury to drop 4 lightning bolts on the field. Two hit the boss, and two hit the crane on the side, restoring power to it.

Then I could use a trigger command to dismantle the mech, dealing some serious damage.

A few more zaps and it was junk.

Yuna is safe and sound. Tidus looks around the ship, and confirms it's not the one Rikku was on. He mentions the Al Bhed he first met to the others, and Yuna asks if he met a man named Cid. Cid is Yuna's uncle, and though she hasn't seen him in years, she knew she could come to him for advice. This also means Yuna is half Al Bhed, on her mother's side. This is why she has one blue eye and one green eye.

Wakka has kind of a grudge, so it's best not to mention this.

Lulu sends out a magical flare to signal to Wakka that Yuna is safe.

Wakka receives the signal, and scores one last goal, winning the game 3-2.

Unfortunately, after taking that hit, he's too injured to play the next match. Tidus has to step in.

The Blitzball tutorial is incredibly long and tedious, and I don't want to get into it too much. Let's just play.

Blitzball plays as a combination of a turn-based RPG and a sports game, two things you'd never really expect to see combined.

Teams are 6 v. 6, and each player has their own HP, tackle, block, pass, and shoot stats.

When one player intercepts another, you have to choose whether to suffer a tackle from them or throw the ball and have them block it. If either fails, the opposing team grabs the ball.

Unfortunately for me, the Goers managed to score a goal in the first half of the game.

Wakka gives a pep talk at halftime, then it's back to blitzing.

I even had Tidus try out the famous Jecht Shot, but the Goers' goalie just barely managed to catch it. At about 3 minutes in, the crowd starts chanting Wakka's name.

Tidus leaves and Wakka returns to play, and you play out the rest of the game as him.

Unfortunately again, the Goers managed to score one more goal in the last few seconds.

Final score: 0-2. Goers win.

Announcer: "The Aurochs may have lost the game, but what a way to go!"

Suddenly, fiends appear in the stadium! Tidus and Wakka have to fight them off. In the stands, a large reptilian fiend stands against a familiar figure.

One who strikes a pose of sheer badassery.

Yeah, he's already dead. Tidus and Wakka join with Auron to fight off a few more fiends, then Maester Seymour rises to the front.

It turns out that he is also a summoner. His aeon fires blasts of pain from her eye, reducing the remaining fiends to dust. The stadium is saved, and Maester Mika is confirmed to be all right.

The Aurochs are sad to see Wakka go, but Wakka is determined to become a full-time guardian for Yuna.

Elsewhere, Tidus and Auron have a talk. Auron says that he knew both Jecht and Yuna's father.

Tidus asks if Jecht is alive, and Auron says he is... for a given definition of "alive". After all, Tidus must have felt something of Jecht when he attacked Zanarkand.

Of all the RPGs to have a "the villain is really the hero's father" plot twist, I sure wasn't expecting this to be one. Tidus points out that this is nonsense, but Auron insists that it's true.

Tidus knows that Auron has the answers he needs, so he has no choice but to come along. They meet with Yuna's group, and Yuna is honored to have him as a guardian. She also notices that Tidus is feeling kind of down after that reveal.

She has some advice for him.

Yuna: "Next, try laughing out loud."

You know what's coming.

This scene has been memified so much. Tidus' "AH HA HA HA HA HA HA HA" is legendary. Apparently it's been taken out of context too, to the point where James Arnold Taylor, the voice actor for Tidus, had to explain that no, it's supposed to be stupid fake laughing.

Tidus keeps laughing anyway.

Yuna joins in with her own stupid fake laugh, and the two eventually collapse into genuine laughter.

They both seem a little relieved after that, even if they're getting weird looks from all the other party members.

There's no time to rest, though. The next stage of Yuna's pilgrimage lies ahead.

[aurae-rori]

hi friend, i am literally so glad i've found another dr. ratio enjoyer! you're literally such a great writer and I love your character analyses.

anyways, my curiosity is peaked, how is children of the city dr. ratio core?

First of all, thank you so much - haha, I'm glad that you enjoy my analyses and writings. I'm so sorry that it took me this long to get back to you - I had a few things to take care of, but I'm going to do a full analysis in your honour!

Analysis under the cut, because it gets really long. :)

"Sleep for a total of 800 hours per day And then drink a liter of milk Warm-up before you go play Only eat, or write Or pull the trigger with your right hand Only thing that's left Is to work on following commands"

I'm totally not projecting my gifted child trauma here, nuh uh... Anyway, my personal HC for Ratio is that his child might have felt monotonous being in classes that he was already too "intelligent" for. Learning things at a quicker pace than other children, absorbing knowledge up like a sponge - sure, the praise is nice, but after awhile, especially when you get to higher levels, intelligence isn't enough to carry you. You have to put diligence, effort, blood sweat and tears into what you're studying for, especially if you want to make a change, like how Dr. Ratio wanted to. It. must have gotten lonely, getting up only to do more researcher, eating only to go back to work. Following a schedule is wonderful, and he would have enjoyed the routine, but after being isolated from other people along with that, it might have made him feel subhuman or less than human for only being there for the studying of more knowledge. Eat, study, work, repeat. This is more of a personal HC rather than something canon, though. :)

"By the time you realize You'll be restrained to a desk And with your dreams on the floor, you comply Eyes chained to the test In 30 minutes, find a groom or bride Bonus if brunette In 90 hours, spill their insides Paint your room picturesque"

I feel like the prospect of romance is pushed onto children at a very young age - and that can be applied to Dr. Ratio. Who knows what romantic beliefs that he grew with? However, I believe this is less of him observing himself, but more of him seeing what the education system does to others, and how society molds others into the person that they "should" be, rather than what they want to be. Also, it could be a reference to academic trauma and placing all your self worth in your grades.

"Now it's time for another vendetta Going through the shelves Picking out my pre-written persona (ha-ah-ah) Children of the city sees only the neon stars Reflected upon the murky gutter sky Don't ask me why I desperately wish to be included in the city's night"

This is how I see Dr. Ratio holding a grudge against the Aeons and other figures of authority. We are all expected to be "good" and "well-behaved", and yet, we all look to the "city's night" - the approval of those who are in a higher position of us. We want to gain the approval and the praise of our parents, of our teachers - it's natural, after. We want to be included in the "city's night" - in Dr. Ratio's case, the gaze of Nous. He wants to be acknowledged by Nous and let into the Genius Society because his beliefs that were instilled into him as a child dictate that since he is hailed as a genius, he should be seen as one by the Aeons, right? However, I'd like to point out the usage of the words "neon stars" - stars are not neon. This implies that the stars are fake - I can also see this as a pointer to the idea of there system itself being fake, or societal "norms" being fake, as we are all unique.

"In four hundred thousand meters, turn right

Pick up a knife and stab a familiar warm body Learned to fight before I knew love or bitterness of coffee Snippy scissors cut down the strings I set myself free Only to figure out everything I chose was by proxy"

Dr. Ratio following orders until he doesn't. Fitting in until he gives up on it. Setting himself free from the chains of what is expected from him of other people, but not by the Aeons - no, that's something that still stays with him. However, I like to interpret the idea of a "familiar warm body" being his own childhood - killing the child that you used to be in favour of facing the future. Coffee is also something commonly regarded as students or workers using it to keep awake during long periods of work and study - it talks about how he has known to fight for himself, or fight for what he wants, before he was told to suck it up and just work for the sake of others, for the sake of the authority. However, this might feel scripted to him as well, with the mention of a "proxy" - it was a decision someone else made for him, maybe? Who knows? Maybe his selflessness was originally chosen by someone else, and drilled into him?

"As we suckled upon the nine millimeter pacifier Swallowing the fact that other than to expand We had no purpose As my ever-burning will to stay afloat backfires I now know I must be comfortable being Who I considered worthless"

This is definitely expanding on the idea of being raised to just be used by the authorities. Also, this can also be a representation of the way that he calls himself "mundane" - he was called a genius and raised as one, and now that Nous has not seen him, he must be "mundane" and he must come to terms that he is exactly what he wasn't called growing up. None of their words of praise have any meaning any more, because in the all seeing gaze of an Aeon, he is nothing.

"Follow the city's ribbon To a heart nobody seems to listen It takes my heart being broken and broken again (broken and broken again) To know that I am the reason why (the reason why) The sufferings never end"

As Dr. Ratio uncovers the truth of his childhood and the truth of why he was raised this way, the empathy that he has suppressed comes back up. And this is it - because he feels for others, because he is so incredibly human, that is the reason why his suffering does not end. He cannot detach himself like other people, like other geniuses, and treat life with little to no care. He cannot, because he loves, and that is his fatal flaw. He listens to his heart, as well as his mind, and that does not make him a genius in the eyes of an Aeon.

"Do not go home until you finish reading the value of E. 2.71 8281 8284 5904 5235 3602 8747 1352 6624 9775 7247 0936 9995 9574 9669 6762"

"E" is a mathematical constant, and therefore is logical. It's called the base of a natural logarithm, and while my knowledge in that area is limited, the fact that it is called a "constant" means that it cannot change, just like all numbers cannot. It might be a representation of the idea of Dr. Ratio trying again to fit in with others, only to fail once more, even though he knows all the rules. He was simply born in a different way, doomed from the start. It wasn't his fault.

He was just human.

You can also see this as Dr. Ratio observing the world as he grows up in an "apathetic" and "detached" way - as he pushes down his own emotions in favour of staring at his own success to help others, knowing that his empathy will not get him anywhere in terms of a cruel world. However, he cannot help it.

Ultimately, "Children of the City" is about how we are raised in a society that forces the idea of work on us ever since we are young. We do not get to cherish our childhoods nor our youth, and are immediately turned to the prospect of how we can provide value to society. We are raised in a never ending cycle like machines, to be puppets to corporations, to be slaves by the desire of the majority, to never have free will of our own.

Summoning @ironunderstands @pepper-demon @misty-lilies @sleepyburito :)