#mention of some ships

[rorimoon9597]

"Paladin Cadets, please report to the briefing room." Artemis looked up from her homework, confused. She moved anyway, marking where she was and standing.

She made her way to the briefing room, wondering what she was needed for.

She entered the room when she got there, nodding to Curtis and the other Bridge Officers when they filed out from the meeting they were in.

She was the first to arrive, unsurprisingly. Leo constantly had things he was working on, and was always researching something or looking through old scientific papers. Rex spent his time baking, Alex was probably coming from the training deck, and Sava was probably coming from where she was helping in the engine room.

Her parents, Lance and Keith Kogane, were there already, and they smiled as she walked in.

"Hey, mija. I hope you weren't too busy," Lance said. Artemis shook her head.

"No, I wasn't. I was working on some math homework," she replied. Kosmo teleported up to her, begging for pets. She caved in.

"Man, I suck at math," Lance commented.

"You do," Keith agreed. Lance gave him an indignant look. "What? You came to my room after we found Kuro and tried to work out how many Paladins we had even though it's the simplest thing in the universe." Lance huffed.

"I was struggling that day." Artemis chose to sit in her seat, ignoring her parents.

Leo came not too long after she did, Alex, Sava and Rex right behind him.

"Are we late?" He asked. Shiro shook his head.

"No, you're just in time," he said.

"Alright." The other four sat down.

"What did you need us for?" Alex, ever the leader, asked.

"There has been a request for help from a Coalition planet," Shiro began. He smiled at the confused looks that were shared around. "I'll hand this to you, Lance."

"Thank you, Shiro," Lance replied. He stood at the front of the table, screen behind him clear to see. An image of a planet appeared on the screen behind him. "Shaatull is a planet that's relatively new to the Coalition. Their culture is based around crystals, and they have some really interesting theories about Quintessence and relationships."

"You can talk about it later on, okay?" Keith said, a reminder. Not dismissing him entirely, an invitation to talk as much as he wanted to when they had time to talk about it.

"Right. Anyway, Shaatull has certain creatures. None of them are insanely dangerous, because it's not a death world like Earth, or New Altea or New Daibazaal. Recently the head of Shaatull, Lady Ravra, reached out to us and requested our help with a creature that has been terrorizing the planet. Or, that's what they say about it."

"What does this creature look like?" Leo asked, genuinely curious about this creature.

"This is what it looks like." The image of the planet disappeared, replaced with a few images that looked like it came from a security camera. Not the best quality, but it was enough to give them an idea of the creature. "This is the creature that has been causing so much panic." Pidge rested her head on her joined hands.

"It looks like some sort of cross between a cat, a fox, and a phoenix or something," she observed. Artemis looked closer at one of the clearest pictures and noted that she was right.

It was nothing like what Artemis had seen, and she'd seen a lot. Her dad had a cosmic teleporting wolf as a pet, her grandmother was Galra, and she was training to become a proper Paladin of Voltron.

The creature, from what she could see, was gorgeous. Its fur was and amber colour, and it had a white muzzle from what she could see. The white went from the muzzle to somewhere around it's stomach. The tail was only slightly bushy, almost as if it were a combination between a fox and a cat tail. It's paws, which were like a cat's paws, had white socks. It had wings, which went from the same amber as its fur where the wings were connected to an off white colour.

"It's beautiful," she commented.

"It is," Lance agreed.

"The Atlas crew is working on finding where it comes from. While we are working on that, you five are to go to Shaatull and trap the creature. Do not harm it. When we know where it comes from, we will release it and figure out ways to stop this from happening again, to protect the creature's species, and the ecosystems of other planets," Shiro said.

"Yessir!" The five Paladin Cadets said, in sync. Determination showed on their faces.

"This is your first mission. We will set up check-in times to keep updated on your progress and to help you wherever you may need it. However, apart from that, you will only have each other to depend on." The thought made Artemis... nervous.

"We'll go pack as soon as we can," Alex said.

"Go do that now. We will sort out the check-in times," Allura encouraged.

"I agree with Allura there," Shiro said.

Clearly dismissed, the five of them stood up and went to their quarters.

"This is so exciting!" Sava said. Leo shook his head.

"It might be tough but..."

"How long do you think it might take for us to be able to trap the creature?" Rex asked, nervous.

"Patience yields focus," Leo reminded them. It was something that Shiro told all of the children he knew - Keith, all of the Paladins, the first MFEs, and now them, the Paladin Cadets, and the MFE Cadets.

They split up, going to their individual ways to their rooms.

Artemis cast one look at her homework, still on her desk. She turned away from it to grab a duffle bag.

She set out to pack it, grabbing underwear, a couple of hoodies, some jeans and spare shirts. She grabbed her toothbrush and toothpaste too, as well as her hairbrush, some basic skincare products, and her shampoo and conditioner.

She grabbed some of her electronics, too. Her phone, headphones, and a tablet and the pen that went with it, as well as the chargers for those things.

She didn't over pack, fortunately. And she remembered to put in her pajamas, too.

Her phone pinged. She grabbed it and checked the notification that appeared on the screen.

MISSION ALERT - PALADIN CADETS TO PLANET SHAATULL TO ASSIST WITH FORGEN CREATURE. DEPATURE DATE & TIME: 20/4 1300. REPORT TO LIONS IN ARMOR.

Artemis checked the time, noting that she was set to leave that afternoon after lunch. She double checked her bag, making sure she had everything then triple-checked it. Once she was satisfied that she had everything she needed, she left her room and went to the Lion hangar.

When she was younger, her parents would take her and Alex around the ship, showing them all of the different places. She was four or five when they first did that, and she still remembered how it felt to be around the lions.

They radiated power, each and everyone of them. Black radiated power that told anyone and everyone that she was in charge, that she could zap them all if she wanted but chose not to. Green radiated the sort of power that came with scientists; smart, desiring knowledge, and using what they had to do their part.

Blue radiated the same sort of power that came from the ocean. Calm, playful, even, but with deadly currents and the ability to go from calm to raging quickly. Yellow radiated kindness, a solid rock to lean on when needed, and dependent.

Red had always stuck out to her, though. The lion was known to be fierce, unpredictable and dangerous to those who didn't know her. Hotheaded and reckless. Yet when Artemis first looked at Red, the only thing she felt from the lion was protectiveness, warmth like what one expected from a fire on a cold night, or a campfire. She was an observer, observing and making moves that no one could predict when she needed to. A gentle fire that would flair up when it needed to, often in the heat of battle.

Despite that though, Red was still rather stubborn.

"Hey, girl. We're going on a mission! I thought that I'd bring my stuff here now so that I don't have to worry about it later," Artemis said. Red's particle barrier went down, and she bent down, her jaws opening to grant Artemis access.

"Mission?" Red asked.

"Yep. We're being sent out to trap this creature from a planet known as Shaatull. It's not meant to be there, you see, so we have to figure out where it comes from and get it back to its home," Artemis explained. She placed her bag down and made sure that it would be secure.

"When?"

"After I have some lunch," Artemis replied. She stepped out of Red's mouth and onto the floor of the hangar. She turned to press a hand to Red's nose. "You won't be doing much except for flying to Shaatull and back. Sorry, girl."

"It fine." Artemis nodded.

Apparently, as her bond with Red grew, the lion would be able to speak in complete sentences. The fact that she was able to even hear simple sentences from Red was nothing short of an achievement. Not even Leo, the technological genius of the team, could hear simple words. He could only hear Green's growls and purrs and understand how they were meant to be taken.

Artemis walked to the cafeteria and grabbed some lunch. Looking around, she could see Leo, Sakura, and Shiro and Adam sitting together. Artemis got the hit and went to find her family.

It was easy, considering the fact that the red and black of both of her parents uniforms stood out among the sea of orange.

She slid into the seat next to Alex.

"I'm kind of nervous," Alex said. He was picking at his food.

"Hey, it's okay, mijo. At least you won't mess up your first mission as badly as your dad did when he first became the Black Paladin."

"Hey, I was mourning the loss of my brother," Keith shot back.

"I know. At least I was there to reign you in, eh?"

"Gay," Pidge said as she passed, a tray of food in her hands.

"That's glaringly obvious, Pidgeon!" Lance replied, a grin on his face. Artemis looked towards her twin and sniggered. No one else in the cafeteria bothered to look up. The Paladin's close relationship was normal, now.

Silvio slid into the seat next to Alex.

"I heard about the mission," he said nonchalantly, biting into the garlic knot he grabbed.

"It's nerve-wracking," Alex said.

"Our mission to free Shay's Balmera was super nerve-wracking," Lance reminisced. "So much so that we teased Hunk about his obvious crush on Shay." Keith snorted.

"I very clearly remember the way Pidge called Shay his girlfriend," he said. Lance barked out a laugh.

"Man, those times were... much better than the rest of the war." A grimaced passed both of her parent's faces.

"The problem I have right now is what we're going to do to trap the creature," Artemis said, pulling both of her parents out of their thoughts before they got too far.

"Simple. Get its trust, then trap it in a cage," Lance told her.

"But it won't trust us after that," Artemis said, pouting.

"It'll be fine, Arti. We'll have to break its trust to get it safe." Artemis nodded.

They ate in silence after that. Then, as one, the Paladin Cadets got up and put their trays back. They left the cafeteria and went to the armory, where the Paladin armor was sitting, already out for all of them.

Artemis grabbed the red armor and the accompanying undersuit. Sava grabbed the blue one, Alex the black, Leo the green, and Rex the yellow.

They ducked into the changing rooms, changing out of their Cadet uniforms and into their armor. Artemis grabbed the red pin and put it into a hidden pocket.

She went back to the armory and grabbed the red bayard. She threw the black one to Alex, who caught it and stored it away in his storage bars. They handed the others their bayards, too.

Now fully ready, they walked to the lion hangar.

"Mijo, mija," Lance said. He walked up to them and wrapped them both up into a hug. She returned it.

"Alex, Artemis." Both twins pulled away to face their dad. He handed them something. "Your grandma left these with me last time." Alex and Artemis gasped when they realised what their dad was offering them.

Two Luxite blades, like the ones the Blade of Marmora carried. One had a black grip. It stood out against the blueish colour of the blade. The other one had a red grip.

"What-"

"They're both linked to your life forces. The red one is linked to Alex's life force, the black one is linked to Artemis'. I was waiting for your first mission to give these to you."

"He's had them for years, since you were babies. He decided to give them to you when you turned eighteen, but then you were both chosen by one of the lions, so he decided to give them to you before you went on your first mission," Lance explained. Artemis reached out and took the red blade.

It was perfect in her hand, the red grip comfortable in her hands. The symbol of the Blades glowed with Alex's life force, his Quintessence. She pulled it out of the sheath and turned it this way and that in the light. She put it back into the sheath and hugged her dad. Alex joined her.

"Thank you," she murmured.

"Anything for my children," Keith replied. Lance joined them.

Artemis waved goodbye to her parents from Red's jaw, then stepped inside. She sat in the pilot's seat and, when the doors opened, shot off into space just behind Black. A wormhole opened, and she flew through, right to Shaatull's solar system, and far away from the Atlas and her parents.

Shaatull, though, was a pretty planet from space. There was pink, and some green, and yellow, too.

"The pink is land, the green is water," Leo informed them.

"Alright. I've got the landing coordinates here, I'll send them to you guys," Alex said. His face went from the nervous look to focused. Artemis, knowing Alex like she knew the back of her hand, could see the nerves still there, in his eyes. "Everyone got them?"

"Yep," Artemis replied. She entered them into Red's system.

"Ditto," Rex said.

"I've got them," Leo confirmed.

"Me too," Sava piped up. Alex nodded.

"Alright, team, let's go." Black sped up, heading to the planet. Artemis urged Red forwards, matching the speed that her brother set for them. She could see Blue on her right, just behind her.

They entered Shaatull's atmosphere. The grass and the leaves of the trees were all different shades of pink, and the sky was a similar blur hue as Earth's sky was. There were clusters of something sparkling in clusters on the ground.

"This kind of reminds me of Barbie Land from that twenty twenty-three Barbie movie," Sava commented. There was laughter through the comms.

"Let's not let the Shaatullians hear that," Alex suggested.

"Wouldn't dream of it," Sava replied.

They landed in the designated landing area. A group of Shaatullians were waiting for them, ready to greet them.

"Alright, the atmosphere is safe for all of us to breathe. We can leave our helmets behind," Leo said.

"Let's do that, then," Alex agreed. Artemis stood up and took off her helmet, leaving it on her seat. She walked out of Red and onto the ground, falling in step just behind Alex.

The Shaatullians were an interesting people. They were mostly humanoid, but they weren't entirely so. They were tinted dark colours that contrasted with the landscape, and came in all different colours. Artemis counted four fingers on each hand. They wore loose clothing, like robes that people in the Middle East would wear, which were pale in contrast to their skin. They had long hair that was tied back, and they were decorated in crystals.

Alex led them up to a Shaatullian who was a deep purple. A pink crystal hung around their neck, glowing slightly.

"Paladin Cadets, it is an honor and a relief to have you on our planet," the Shaatullian, who Artemis guessed was Lady Ravra, greeted them.

"Lady Ravra, it is an honor to meet you as well. I do wish that the circumstances were much better than this, though," Alex said.

"As do I. Now come, follow me, we must discuss our options." Lady Ravra turned around and led them through an estate that was huge.

The walls and floors were made out of a marble-like material, and there were crystals everywhere. In the chandeliers, in the artworks and arches of the hallways. Crystal statues, and crystal columns. Artemis looked around in awe, unable to tear her eyes away from anything in fear of missing anything.

"You can explore later," Leo reminded her. She nodded, and turned to face the front.

They came to a room that housed a crystal table made of some sort of brown crystal. The chairs, thankfully, were made of wood.

"Please, have a seat," Lady Ravra said. They sat down at the rounded table, Artemis on Alex's right, Sava on her right. Leo and Rex were on Alex's left.

Lady Ravra introduced them to her councilors, all of whom nodded in reply. In turn, Alex introduced each of them.

"So, about this creature?" Alex prompted. Lady Ravra nodded.

"Yes. This creature came on a trade ship. We have made sure that the people who have brought it to our planet have paid their fine for doing such a thing, but no one knows where the creature came from," Lady Ravra said. Alex nodded.

"Fortunately, the Atlas' scientific crew is searching for the creature's home. If all goes well, then we will be able to trap the creature and take it back to it's home planet," he explained.

"How do you plan on trapping it?" A councilor asked.

"We'll have to get the creature to trust us, which will take some time. We have a cage that we can trap the creature in when we get to that part, though it will be a while until we can do that," Artemis explained.

"So you wish to release it in its home world?" Lady Ravra asked.

"Precisely. And, with the information we receive about the creature, we can properly document it and enforce rules and regulations surrounding it to keep something like this from happening again," Leo added on to Artemis' explanation. There were murmurs as the plan was discussed by the councilors and Lady Ravra. Finally, she stood up.

"Paladin Cadets," she said. Her voice was clear, with a hint of a sound that was like crystals clinking against each other. "We will provide you with anything you may need in order to capture the creature. We trust that you will be sure to capture it." Alex stood up.

"We promise to help with this issue, and bring your planet back to stability," he said, using his Black Paladin voice. Authoritative, sure and steady.

This declaration closed the meeting, and the five of them were led to the rooms that they would be staying in. Someone had gone in and grabbed their things, because Artemis' things were at the end of her bed. Sava's things were at the end of another bed, right next to the one that Artemis had been given.

As soon as she was inside of their room, Artemis stripped off the armor. She didn't throw it anywhere, instead choosing to piled it up into a corner. She grabbed her spare clothes and put them on. She could hear Sava doing the same as her. Once they were done, they sat on their respective beds. Sava scanned the platter of food left for them.

"Safe for us to eat," she said. She grabbed a strawberry looking thing. Artemis grabbed a pastry thing. It was sweet when she bit into it, perfectly satisfying her giant sweet tooth that she'd inherited from her dad.

There was a knock on the door.

"Arti? Sav?" Leo called through the wood.

"Come in," Artemis said. Leo opened the door and walked in, followed by Alex and Rex. Leo sat on a chair while Alex joined Artemis on her bed, and Rex sat on the floor.

"You can sit on a chair, you know," Sava pointed out to him. Rex shrugged.

"The floor's comfortable," he replied.

"Check-in time, let's go," Leo said. He set up the communicator, they all crowded around it.

A holographic screen appeared, showing the faces of the Paladins. Artemis watched as worry disappeared from her parent's faces like ripples in water.

"How's it going?" Shiro asked. Right to the point.

"We came out of a meeting with Lady Ravra and her council not too long ago. They explained that the creature came in on a trade ship, though no one's sure when it got on," Alex reported. There were nods.

"The team is researching on where it comes from, but so far it's proved to be fruitless," Pidge told them. "Coran has been sent the images of the creature, and he has a team looking into it. Hopefully, with our combined efforts, we will be able to figure this out."

"We'll start searching for the creature in the morning," Alex said. Looking out the window, Artemis saw that the sun was setting.

"That's a good idea," Lance agreed, also eyeing the window that he could see.

They talked a bit more before signing off. The boys retreated to their room, and Artemis climbed into her bed.

"G'night," she mumbled.

"Night," Sava replied.

____________

The next morning, when she woke up, Artemis stretched and went to the bathroom. She showered and changed, threw her hair up into a ponytail and let Sava use the bathroom after her.

They were given breakfast by a servant. Artemis ate her fill, and left the rest for Sava, who ate her own fill after she came out of the bathroom wearing casual clothing as well.

They went to meet up with the boys afterwards.

"The best thing for us to do is to split up and search for the creature. It'll give us a better chance at spotting it," Alex said. He was typing something out on his phone, probably a message to the Atlas about what they were doing. "The creature has been spotted here multiple times, trying to steal food, so that's where we're going to start our search. Feel free to buy yourselves something while we're here."

"Alright," Leo said. They were standing not too far from where the market was, and even from here, Artemis could see all of the people milling around. Mothers with babies strapped to their backs, children chasing each other, and men talking to each other.

It was so interesting, and Artemis had always been one to learn about culture. Exploring a market place was perfect for learning about the Shaatullian culture.

"Lady Ravra gave me some maps. There's enough for all of us to have one each. Artemis, you take this area. Leo, you take this part. Rex, you take this one. Sava, you take this one. I'll search here." Alex pointed out each part. Artemis took one of the paper maps from her brother and a pen from her backpack and outlined her area. The others did the same on their maps, handing the pen back to her once they were done. "Meet back here before dinner time. Lady Ravra has invited us to eat with her."

"Copy that," the four of them said in unison.

They split up after that and went to find their areas. Once Artemis found the start of her area from where she'd entered, she started to explore and search for the creature.

The Shaatullians were rather fond of bright colours, she noticed. All of the stalls sold things like jewelry and scarves and clothing all in different shades, as well as some food. Curious about the culture, Artemis bought some candy. The candy tasted good, and they were in the shape of crystals.

Papa wasn't lying when he said that the Shaatullians find crystals important, she thought as she watched a mother buy her child their first piece of jewelry. Artemis couldn't help but smile at the child's happy expression as their mother helped them put it on. The vendor smiled as well.

"Come and get Soul Crystals here! Perfect gift for married couples and parents!" One of the vendors shouted. Artemis stopped, thinking about it. She was... intrigued, to say the least. And her papa would love to have a souvenir from this planet.

Artemis turned and walked to the booth.

The booth was covered in those simple crystal necklaces that Artemis had noticed everyone wearing, all of which glowed slightly, like Lady Ravra's. None of these ones glowed, though they came in all different kinds of colours. Pink, purple, blue, green, red and many others. The vendor grinned when they saw her.

"Well, hello there, traveler! May I interest you in a Soul Crystal for your significant other? Or perhaps as a gift for your parents?"

"What do they do?" She asked, eyes roving over the crystals.

"Well, these are an ancient tradition among our people. They are linked to two people's Quintessence. It allows for couples to feel each other's emotions, as well as acts as a compass of sorts for them, so that they always know where each other are, and how they are feeling."

"Is that why they glow?" She questioned. The vendor nodded.

"Precisely," they said.

"How much would it be to get a couple for my parents?"

"Fifty VIC," the vendor replied.

I have a few hundred VIC in my wallet, she thought.

"Buy. Lance like," Red said.

"Keep it a secret from him," Artemis said.

"Yes. Secret. Surprise." Artemis pulled out her wallet and pulled out a 100 VIC note.

"Here," she said, handing the money over.

The vendor took the note.

"Now, just close your eyes, and search for the crystals that match your parents. It's easier for those who have Quintessence sensitivity." Artemis closed her eyes, feeling for something that matched her parents. She opened her eyes and looked at the crystals her Quintessence sensitivity helped her zero in on.

"Those two, that blue one with white swirls and that red one that has gold in it, those match perfectly," she said, pointing to the crystals. They were on a basic black string. The blue one looked like the ocean, while the red one looked like fire.

The vendor boxed them up and tied the boxes with a ribbon without question.

"I wish your parents wonderful and fulfilling life, Young One," the vendor said. Artemis nodded.

She left the vendor after that and wandered around some more. The crystals she bought were in her bag, waiting to be given to her parents.

She continued around the market. She bought some fresh meat and some fruit for the creature to eat when she came across it. Part of gaining its trust was to give it food, which was a universal sign of 'I'm not here to fuck you up' with all species, not just people.

There was a commotion. Artemis looked over to see it.

The creature, which was the size of a cat that was somewhere between being an adult and a kitten still. It was trying to get some meat, but was being chased off by a vendor.

Artemis leapt into action. She ran after the creature, following along as it flew through the air and ran on buildings. She never took her eyes off of it, which caused quite a few close calls with other people.

"Hey, watch it!" One yelled.

"Sorry, gotta chase this creature," she shouted.

She ran around a corner, using her arm to turn more accurately. She used the momentum to keep going.

She followed the creature out of the market and to a dilapidated house on the outskirts of the city. It flew in, and Artemis followed, slowing down do not scare it.

The house was made of the same stone as the other houses were, but the crystals that adorned them were missing. Artemis stepped over a chunk of rock that had fallen from the ceiling and into the room. Dust and rocks covered the ground. Artemis saw the creature in a corner. It yowled at her, wings and fur puffed up to make it look larger.

"Hey, it's okay, I don't want to hurt you," she said. She crouched down and sat on the floor, making herself smaller, less intimidating as much as she could. "You're hungry, aren't you? That's why you were trying to take that meat from that guy."

The creature growled at her, still untrusting. Slowly and clearly, so that the creature could see what she was doing, she pulled out the meat from the bag the vendor had given her. She held up a chunk of the slightly green meat - the colour reminded her of the description of dragon meat or whatever it was Hagrid has used as an ice pack in The Order of the Phoenix.

"Here, I got this especially for you," she said. She chucked it to the creature, as far as she could. The creature crept forward and sniffed the meat. It took it and went back to its corner, chewing on the meat. Artemis took out her phone and snapped a picture, sending it to the others and the Paladins and Shiro.

Artemis: I've found the creature. Artemis: It eats meat. Artemis: Click to see image.

Shiro: Good job. We'll pass on the picture and the information.

Pidge: It's even prettier than the security pictures show.

Alex: Save the location of where it's staying so that you can find it later. Alex: It'll be better for you to be the one to capture it in the end.

Artemis: Already on it.

She saved the location on her phone and looked up. She saw that the creature was looking at her, having eaten the meat she gave to it.

"Here, have some more. You need to eat all you can so that you don't starve. I'd rather be able to take you back to your home than have you die," she said. She grabbed more meat and chucked it over to the creature. It grabbed that meat, too. Artemis chucked over the rest of the meat and stayed there. She stayed there until an hour and a half before dinner.

The creature watched her with wary eyes.

"I'll be back with more food tomorrow, and a bowl. I'll be able to give you water without having to force you to get too close if you don't want to." She turned to leave. Before she was our from under the door, she turned back to smile at the creature. "Bye." She walked away from the house.

____________

True to her word, she set out to the house that the creature lived in the next day. She packed her electronics into her backpack along with some lunch and some meat and water, then set out. She went and bought a couple wooden bowls, and made her way back to the house.

The creature was still there. It growled softly, a warning to not come any closer.

"Hello, pretty. How are you today?" The creature growled again. Artemis nodded. "Fair enough. I've brought some bowls with me, so I can put your food in there as well as some water. You don't have to worry about coming too close to me anymore." As she told the creature about the bowls, she pulled them out, and poured some water in one. She set it on the ground, not too far from the creature, not too close. She then took the meat and put it into the other bowl. She set that down next to the water bowl.

She walked to the opposite side of the the room compared to the creature, the bowls halfway between them. She got herself comfortable and put on some music, using her headphones. She started to draw on her tablet.

She sketched out the creature, capturing it's beauty on a canvas. It moved forward to sniff the bowls. It realised that she wasn't trying to kill it and watched her. Artemis watched it herself, and smiled as the creature ate the meat and drank some of the water before hopping up onto it's perch.

She grabbed her phone and opened the voice recordings.

"Day two of taming the... creature. We don't know what it is still, but it's beautiful. I'd say that it's the same as a kitten that's nearing the same size as a fully grown cat from Earth. I've given it some meat, and some water. They're both in a bowl so that it doesn't have to come too close to me if it doesn't want to. I'll continue to do this until I can get close to it without it panicking and trying to murder me."

She went back to her drawing when she finished the log.

Pidge: We've found out what the creature is. Pidge: It's called a Refr, and it's from Hvalba, which is an extremely new planet, only having sentient life within the last 357 years.

Artemis: Seems like a cool place tho.

Pidge: It is.

____________

"Day twenty of taming the Refr, who I have discovered in a girl. She's friendly now, and she has let the others get close to her. That's as long as I'm here, though. No one can get close to her without her trying to maim them if I'm not around. She trusts me enough to keep her safe from danger if it ever arises. That's... that's the same level of trust Dad and Kosmo have. I don't know if we're going to be able to actually release her onto Hvalba, but it's worth a shot." She finished the log and looked at the Refr.

"Mrow?" The Refr asked. Artemis smiled.

"I'm going to go now, girl. I have to get back to my friends before it's too dark," she said. She stood up and packed her things into her bag and then set off for Lady Ravra's estate.

She was barely walking for five minutes before she heard the telltale signs of something following her. She looked back to see the Refr landing on a building.

Artemis grabbed her phone and took a picture of it.

Artemis: I don't think we need to trap it. Artemis: And I think I have a pet now.

Keith: That's fine.

Lance: At least it's safe. Lance: Don't worry, I give you my full permission to keep the Refr if you want to.

Allura: We can still create rules and regulations surrounding the Refrs to keep something like this from happening again.

Artemis: Alright. Artemis: She'll only let people near her if I'm around tho.

Alex: That's some Dad and Kosmo level trust.

Lance: It is.

Artemis put her phone away and turned the Refr, who was still there.

"Come on, girl. I'll take you to Red, she's a safe space for you to stay," she told it. The Refr tilted her head.

Artemis started her walk again, path engraved in her mind. She could hear the Refr following her, all the way to Red, who bent down to let Artemis in. The Refr followed.

"You'll be safe here," Artemis said. She offered her hand to the Refr, who pushed its face into it. "You need a name." She thought through all of the names. "How about... Amber?" The Refr purred at the name. "Amber it is."

Artemis had to leave Amber in Red, which was simple enough. She went back to her room, where Sava was waiting.

"So you have a pet now, huh?"

"Yup. I've named her Amber," Artemis replied. She grabbed her pajamas and went into the bathroom and changed.

"Amber's a nice name," Sava commented when she walked back out.

"Yup. And we've finished the mission, so we can leave soon."

"Thank quiznack. I miss Hunk's cooking," Sava said.

"I miss Dad and Papa," Artemis said. She climbed onto the bed and under the covers.

The next day, the five of them climbed into their lions and departed Shaatull. Amber sat on one of the consoles, staring out at space. Artemis flew Red through the wormhole that appeared and into the Lion hangar, landing her expertly.

"Let's go, girl," she said to Amber. The Refr meowed again and followed her out of red. Artemis went and hugged her parents when she saw them, leaving Amber to watch with curious eyes.

"This is the Refr," Lance said when he pulled away. He knelt down and offered Amber a hand.

"Yeah. Her name's Amber," Artemis replied. She watched as Amber readily accepted pets from Lance.

"You guys have to debrief. Bring Amber with you," Keith said.

"I will," Artemis agreed.

Ten minutes later, and she was in the briefing room for the mission debrief. Amber laid on the table, watching everyone. Artemis' hand on Amber's head kept her calm.

"Why do we have to do a debrief?" Alex asked.

"Protocol," Adam answered.

"Adam's right. This is protocol, and the Garrison will have my head if I don't do this," Shiro said with a sigh. "Trust me, I hate debriefs too. I don't even know why I'm still the captain of the Atlas."

"Let's not question life choices now, otosan," Leo said.

"Alright. Let's get through this."

It was... surprisingly quick. Amber willingly got up and went to meet everyone in the room that she didn't know, including Kosmo, who touched his nose to Amber's nose in greeting. After sniffing each other, they curled up on the ground together.

"That's cute," Alex commented.

"Yeah, it is," Artemis agreed.

"I didn't expect for you to end up with a pet after all of this," Leo said.

"Shut up," Artemis shot back. Leo stuck his tongue out at her. Artemis returned it.

"It's good to have you guys back," Shiro said.

"You're a sap," Adam said. Everyone laughed at that, causing Amber to look up from where she was lying on top of Kosmo.

[emariedraws]

This man is NEVER beating the dog allegations

[demonic0angel]

Prompt: Dan Phatom as an inmate of Arkham Asylum?

Part 2, part 3

Harley hummed. She eyed the newest inmate, a gorgeous hunk of meat with dark raven hair and bright blue eyes. He was wearing the usual orange suit, but he wore it like a model, with the buttons opened and sleeves rolled up, highlighting his broad arms and tight muscles. He was as beautiful as a demon, and even though Ivy was way prettier, Harley still couldn’t help but be curious.

Harley nodded to herself, thinking for only a moment. Then she waved a hand, calling out, “Yoo hoo! You there! Hey, handsome! Why don’t you come here and spend some time with me and Ivy?”

Ivy rolled her eyes next to her. “Harley!” She hissed.

The man paused, tilted his head, and then smiled, flashing his sharp fangs before he crossed the prison yard to sit down with the two. People stared at them, but the man didn’t seem bothered.

“Hello,” he said politely, “what’s up?”

“You’re new here, ain’tcha?” Harley said rhetorically. “What’re you in for?”

The man chuckled. “I thought it was rude to ask?”

“Nahhh, in here? It doesn’t matter. Everyone already knows why we’re here, there’s no secrets around here. So? What’re you in here for?”

The man smiled. “I started teasing a little bird I found and then he started getting mad at me. I didn’t like how he made Batman go after me, so I made a building explode and I was tossed into here. I didn’t even kill anyone though!”

Seeing how large and old he was, Harley was a little worried and had to ask, “Which little bird?”

“The beautiful one with the black and blue suit and the pretty smile,” the man said dreamily, curling a lock of raven hair around his clawed fingers as he looked towards the sky in a daydream. “He was pretty funny too.”

Harley immediately cooed. Anyone who thought Nightwing was funny clearly hadn’t been hit over the head by his escrima sticks while he threw out obnoxious puns, but the way he described him was so sweet! He was clearly insane, so that was completely okay in her books!

“Awww, that’s so cute! Are you a meta or what? Those fangs o’ yours don’t look human!” Harley said, while Ivy shook her head exasperatedly.

The man shook his head with a small smile. “Not exactly. But I guess I do have meta powers.”

Ivy asked, “Then doesn’t that just make you a meta?”

The man shrugged and then asked, “What about you ladies?” Harley knew that he was just dodging the question, but she didn’t mind, so she began to prattle on about the recent museum break-in she and the girls did, but Selina got away while she and Ivy were caught. Selina was planning a break out for them soon, so they just had to sit tight and wait!

The man smiled, fangs appearing again. “Can I join you? I want to see that little bird again.”

Harley beamed, “Sure thing! What’s your name?” while Ivy groaned.

The man smiled and reached over to shake her hand. His hands were cold and large, like a chunk of ice. He smiled and his pupils sharpened into slits, but oddly enough, he still looked friendly, like a tiger in a way.

“Please. Call me Wraith.”

[oldbutchdanielcraig]

take my rpf quiz boy

[starcurtain]

Comparing Phaidei and Other Hoyo MLM Ships (Part 2)

<- Part 1 is back that way.

In the first part of this, I laid out some of the ways Phaidei fits within Hoyo's normal pattern for queer-coded MLM ships: They're equals but opposites, perfectly matched; they've ostensibly got a "rivalry" as a cover for their laser focus on each other; their models are deliberately placed closer together in cutscenes than other characters' are, and they're intentionally paralleled to a heterosexual married couple. All of these are traits that other Hoyo MLM pairs also show, a sort of foundational standard for Hoyo's queer-coded MLM ships.

But then Phaidei just took a huge side-step around all of them, and started doing things that Hoyo hasn't done in any of their other recent games. (Tiny aside here: HI3 does wildly different things with its characters; I think that being first published when Hoyo was a more obscure company allowed them to get away with things--like the Bronya/Seele kiss and Welt and Co.'s cross-dressing, for example--that "modern" Hoyo games cannot get away with due to greater levels of public scrutiny.)

I said it in the other post, but it bears repeating:

You really aren't imagining things--Phaidei is actually different.

So I wanted to take a closer look at what was making it feel so unique, by comparing its differences to other popular Hoyo MLM ships.

Here we go:

1. The Feeling's Mutual

There was no heterosexual explanation for this framing.

In Part 1 of this post, I noted that Hoyo has a typical personality pattern they follow when queer-coding their male characters, particularly in using "difficult" personalities to create an artificial sense of distance between the characters. If one character is angry all the time, or tsundere, or using sarcasm to cover for their fear of getting close to others, Hoyo can mobilize that personality gap as a shield to give anti-LGBT+ players plausible deniability. Hell, there are people still out there genuinely convinced that Alhaitham and Kaveh have a toxic relationship. There are people out there saying Ratio despises Aventurine because he was mean to him one (1) time while undercover. That's how effective injecting a little bit of bickering into a queer-coded relationship is.

Hoyoverse is very, very familiar with creating this delicate balance of teasing the ship while feeding anti-LGBT+ players and censors just enough "Look, they don't like each other; they're arguing!" contrary material to avoid setting anyone off.

Which... makes it absolutely bizarre that they made almost no effort to do this with Phainon and Mydei.

Sure, on paper we're told that Phainon and Mydei are rivals. Phainon describes it as "He's both my friend and my foe." And yes, they have their quips (Phainon's "It's exhausting talking to you sometimes" comes to mind).

But animosity--the genuine desire to one-up each other--is completely missing from Mydei and Phainon's "rivalry." They aren't Sasuke and Naruto. They aren't Izuku and Bakugou. They don't actually even want to beat each other--they want to be equals. If you defeat Mydei in the 3.0 competition, Phainon immediately folds and calls the contest off. If you let Mydei win, Mydei immediately folds and declares no contest.

Although Aglaea notes they compete because they're "impulsive youths," what she was actually missing is that Mydei only let himself be goaded into Phainon's hot bath competition because he was worried about Phainon and wanted to take Phainon's mind off the failed trial. Then, immediately after beating Phainon in the hot bath challenge, he lets Phainon win the "take more people home" challenge, to tie up their score again.

In fact, Mydei and Phainon's relationship is so devoid of the actual back-and-forth typical of other Hoyoverse MLM ships that at one point, Phainon even asks for it:

(Though he's equally quick to demand compliments from Mydei too.)

Instead, virtually every line from Phainon and Mydei through both 3.0 and 3.1 reiterates that they care deeply about each other, and are concerned for not only each other's physical well-being but also each other's mental and emotional health. They freely and consistently support each other both on the battlefield and off, confessing their struggles and relying on each other for advice. Whenever they're separated, the game intentionally hammers home how worried they are without the other around.

Over and over and over again, the devs tell you how well Mydei and Phainon know each other and how much effort they're putting in to take care of each other:

The game doesn't let us forget that they are one another's "closest person," and that the respect they have for each other is mutual. Although I wouldn't go so far as to speculate they actually recognize romantic feelings, canon makes it clear that they are aware their emotional connection goes both ways. They don't just value each other's battle prowess, intelligence, or usefulness--they value each other's feelings explicitly, every single time emotions are expressed between them in the game's text.

In fact, Mydei even scolds Phainon for approaching their goodbye with a straight face; he knows that Phainon is hurt by their parting, and he wants Phainon to be honest, as Mydei is being honest in turn:

The rainbows in the background really sold the scene, ngl.

This isn't Renheng, where resentment has taken away any glimmer of joy. This isn't Ratiorine, where even if Aventurine were in a more stable mindset, Ratio's inability to spit out his feelings might keep them from going anywhere. Even with Haikaveh, the Hoyo ship known for Alhaitham's devotion, Kaveh's own struggles and refusal to accept Alhaitham's kindness are an active plot point keeping them from progressing. Maybe you could draw a parallel between Phaidei and Cyno/Tighnari for levels of "mutual," but even then, Cynari interactions are often left off-screen or in the background, for the players to fill in the blanks. On the contrary, Phainon and Mydei's fondness for each other is constantly in our faces.

The devs wanted players to know Phainon and Mydei are invested. We're supposed to see how much they want to be near each other.

More than that, we're supposed to understand just how deeply they trust each other.

Okay, okay, yes, I know this is massive foreshadowing to the inevitable betrayal and tragedy impending (come on, Amphoreus wouldn't qualify as an ancient Greek drama without it!), but I think that a lot of people are missing the key here: By this point in the story, Mydei already knows how he's going to die. He knows someone is going to stab him in the back and finally end his immortal life. When he entrusts Phainon with this secret, he's not trusting Phainon to keep him safe. He's trusting Phainon to do the opposite.

He's telling Phainon: "I want it to be you."

If the prophecy can't be changed and fate is set in stone, then Mydei wants Phainon to be with him in his final moments, to be the one to finally set him free from the "curse" he perceives his own immortality to be. Of course it would be Hoyo who makes "I want to die by yours hands" into a declaration of ultimate trust, but it is an explicit statement of trust, in a way that very few--if any--other modern Hoyoverse MLM ships get to show each other on screen.

Phew, that was a lot!

But I think this is one of the clearest and most defining differences between Phainon and Mydei and other Hoyo MLM ships--the devs took away players' ability to claim they don't get along. You might still be able to call them "just friends" or "brothers in arms," but unlike Alhaitham and Kaveh who fight, Ratiorine who scheme, or Renheng who are actual enemies, Mydei and Phainon explicitly like each other. They trust each other. They seek one another out.

It might seem like a small thing on paper, but this is actually a big thing in practice. Hoyo is pushing the boundary here, reducing the avenues for deniability. It is harder for anti-LGBT+ fans to claim that Phainon and Mydei don't have obvious in-game ship-tease than for virtually any other modern Hoyoverse MLM ship. (By the way, this is why people have resorted to calling Phaidei "industry plant yaoi;" because they can't deny the queer-coding is actually there this time, they instead have to try to de-legitimize the ship in other ways, such as dismissing it as nothing more than bait.)

This also means Hoyo has less of an "out" if people start to really question. It would be harder to explain away Phainon and Mydei's relationship than it would be to explain away even Alhaitham and Kaveh's. Alhaitham and Kaveh have "They're always arguing" and "Their friendship was ruined by their fight" or "They're just roommates," etc. to lean back on. Phainon and Mydei... are really bad at even pretending to be rivals...

All of this to say: Hoyo made a bold and deliberate choice allowing two of their mainstream male characters to be so emotionally close and attentive to each other on screen. They went outside their own current comfort zone for this one, guys.

2. We're Conspicuously Missing a Twink

Moving on from Phaidei's emotional differences, I wanted to talk specifically about Hoyoverse's perspectives on gay men, and how easy it is for companies to slip into not only stereotypes for gay characters, but also extremely heteronormative portrayals of gay relationships. As sad as it is, it is easier to market queer-coded male characters to yaoi fans (who are often--although obviously not always--heterosexual women) if they fit into the expected pattern for heterosexual relationships: a highly masculine man to "wear the pants" in the relationship, paired with a delicate, effeminate man to obviously be the bottom.

Now, don't get me wrong: Gay relationships come in all varieties; people have different preferences, and categorical groups like "twinks" and "bears" exist so people who have those preferences can find each other. Obviously plenty of hyper-masculine (and just masculine-leaning) gay men do want more effeminate partners. Plenty of real guys consider themselves twinks and have great relationships with men ranging all the way up the most masculine dudes you've ever seen. But "masculine man with feminine man" isn't the only kind of gay relationship around, despite the fact that that's what Hoyo's yaoi shiptease might lead you to believe.

(Edit: I can't believe I have to say this, but it seems some portion the HSR fandom cannot read, so apparently I do: Stop using my post in your hunk/twink or hunk/hunk discourse; if you didn't bother to read the paragraph above this in which I word-for-word point out that real gay relationships come in all varieties, including lots of relationships between masculine men and more effeminate men, then that is on you--this post isn't about how "hunk/hunk" is more "real gay" material or "hurr durr twinks bad;" it's about how Hoyo has served up the exact same ship with different clothes on 13 times in a row, with their constant modus operandi being yaoi genre staple tropes in which one character is essentially designated as the bottom and the other as the top specifically using masculine versus feminine coding, because that is what sells to the yaoi fan demographic they are targeting, particularly to heterosexual female yaoi fans, who are predisposed toward heteronormative relationship patterns even in the gay media they consume. The only situation in which hunk/hunk is "more progressive" than hunk/twink is for Hoyo, who clearly have hunk/twink as their comfort zone and only very, very rarely step out of that established pattern. This entire post is about Hoyo's patterns for creating their mlm ships, not about gay rights activism--read the essay in the context of Hoyo's design philosophy or just stop reading here, fucking please.)

I don't want to say that Hoyo's track record on this front is bad, because honestly it's not. Their male characters often have surprisingly complex expressions of gender identity, with interesting blends of masculine and feminine traits. But... Hoyo does have a pattern. Plenty of their queer-coded MLM ships fall into this same general (and kind of stereotypical) profile: a masculine man with a more feminine man. Alhaitham is inexplicably ripped and represents calm rationality, while Kaveh is "the spitting image of his mother," has to wring out his wrists when he uses his own weapon, and represents passion and romanticism. Ayato is the head of his clan; Thoma holds housekeeping classes for Inazuma's other housewives. Xingqiu is the "refined" rich boy in ruffles; Chongyun is the down-to-earth working lad. Wriothesley is the most masculine man in Genshin Impact; Neuvillette mothers the entire race of Melusines. Over in Star Rail, Aventurine covets pink diamonds, bathes himself in sparkling perfume, and is so tiny Ratio's hands can encircle his waist. (I don't actually think Aventurine is that feminine, but trying to pretend that he isn't designed to evoke queer tropes is just silly.) Moze is as ripped as Alhaitham, while Jiaoqiu is... very pink. I'm going to talk more about Renheng in a sec, but Renheng is also this way, with the more "delicate"-looking Imbibitor Lunae to Yingxing/Blade's solid frame.

Mydei and Phainon don't fit this pattern at all. Both of them are as tall as Star Rail models come, and while Mydei's build has an impressive degree of bulk, Phainon is no slouch either:

Neither one of them is visually effeminate in any manner, and they're also not effeminate in personality or role in the story. Neither of them is a housekeeper or a home-maker; (again, poor Aventurine catching strays, but:) neither of them is in the business of blinding people into deals with their good-looks or careful facade of helplessness.

Theoretically we could say the devs tried to squish Mydei into a more heteronormative role by giving him traditionally "feminine" traits: he cooks, he plays house with children, he puts milk in his juice and turns it pink, he's paralleled almost exclusively to his own mother... But his role in the plot is such a quintessentially masculine story (son of a self-fulfilling prophecy, father-killer, god-slaying warrior, king to his people, aura-farming champion of the Amphoreus battle cutscenes, etc.) that clearly we are not meant to perceive him as a stereotypically feminine figure. The whole "malewife Mydei" thing comes across as so comedic because he is so masculine.

Conversely, Phainon, despite being the "gentler" of the two characters, the one who is described as having a soft heart and being outgoing and kind, is even less suited to being called feminine. His "Messiah"-esque role in the story, literally being the "prodigal son" of Amphoreus, paints him as the very picture of a classical male hero. Even more so than Mydei, he is a private and closed off person who hides his heart--and his own identity--from those around him, traits more often stereotypically associated with emotionally-closed-off men than female characters.

Up to this point, Hoyoverse had a relatively stable pattern in the MLM ships they baited in their recent games. They primarily played it safe, sticking to queer-coding relationships that both visually and narratively reflect heteronormative relationships.

But Phaidei once again broke the mold.

This time, Hoyo chose to queer-code not the more delicate-looking man (although I guess there's still plenty of time for Anaxa, I shouldn't sell him shorter than he already is lol), but two overtly masculine male characters, who can't be readily projected on to a stereotypical heterosexual relationship. This was a big departure from Hoyo's norm, and I think this actually deserves a lot more respect than people are giving it. Hoyo didn't have to pick their two muscle-bound warrior male leads and make them close and caring. They didn't have to expose themselves to the obvious question: "Why are two 'manly' characters being so soft on each other?" It is harder to pass off Phainon and Mydei's queer-coding as accidental, or suggest the fans are just reading too much into it, when nothing about them can be mistaken for a "traditional" heteronormative relationship. For a game produced in China, where standards for depicting men and masculinity in media are so high, making the choice to bait two masculine men together (let alone this expansion's "hero," who is an expy of a beloved former character), was a very bold and risky choice on Hoyo's part.

Companies don't make bold and risky choices on accident.

Finally, I wanted to make one more point about why I appreciate Phaidei's emotionally attentive depiction--it's because there's a whole other realm they could have taken the "definitely going to turn into a villain" queer-coded main character. As I mentioned in the first part of this post, queer-coding villains is a trope as old as dirt. When you queer-code a male villain particularly, you add an extra layer to the danger: Now the male villain is not just a physical threat, but a sexual one. Adding queer-coding to the male villain has often, in past media, been used to conflate homosexuality with deviance or perversion and suggests sexual violence even if nothing ever truly occurs.

Maybe the real Hoyoverse queer-coding was the red flower petals we threw along the way.

I said I was going to bring up Renheng, and here it is: Unfortunately, Blade and Dan Heng fall into this latter pattern a bit. Although he has his reasons, the game's portrayal of Blade's "pursuit," especially in the early portion of their story, casts Dan Heng into the role of the victim, a young man being hounded by a crazed stalker who refuses to let him go. Their cutscenes, including Dan Heng's nightmares, paint Blade as an overwhelming presence who invades both Dan Heng's physical space but also his mental space, making it impossible for Dan Heng to escape his clutches. This "We must pay the price together" absolutely reads, out of content anyway, as some sort of yandere death pact. Their lightcone is literally called "Nowhere to Run."

Even though Blade is not deliberately engaging in any form of sexual behavior, his obsession with Dan Heng in their early scenes can give players the impression of a cliched "depraved homosexual," and the implication that sexual violence could occur is present through their early interactions. This isn't on accident; Hoyo was playing with the yandere trope on purpose! I'm not going to lie, part of Renheng's early appeal for many players was how scary and dominating Blade came across as. The subtle sexual implications of pursuit are the point, and if you think Hoyo wasn't capitalizing on the intersection of "sexy" and "dangerous" with Renheng's early interactions, then you're probably a little too pure for this world.

As things progress, of course, we see this dynamic between Renheng dissipate, shifting his narrative from "crazed pursuer for unknown reasons" to "potentially the victim" of their past scenario, an effect which they achieved through the slow drip feed of Yingxing and Dan Feng's backstories. This, I think, speaks to not only a shift in the devs' intentions for Blade and Dan Heng's relationship (there's more to be said here about the Yingxing-Baiheng-Dan Feng mess that is the cut lore, etc.), but also to a shift in the way the devs wanted Blade to be perceived by fans, from a potentially predatory figure to a much less toxic potential love interest.

Anyway, back to Phaidei: We know that Phainon is headed for a downfall. It's been so obviously foreshadowed at this point that there's really nothing much more to say than that--however, even though he will likely also descend into villainy like Blade, and even though we know he's very likely going to kill Mydei... I don't think that the devs will use Phainon's queer-coding as part of his villainous identity. I don't get any sense that the dev team has any intentions of conflating Phainon's potential homosexuality with depravity, or using it as a motive for his descent into villainy (he might be gay and a villain, but he won't be a villain because he is gay). I definitely don't think we will see the kind of sexually-threatening physicality between Flame Reaver and Mydei that the devs did earlier with Blade and Dan Heng, even if "stabbing someone from behind" does have an inherent sort of sexual symbolism.

I appreciate that even in a story headed for the obvious "stabbed in the back by the villain form of the man I loved," the devs seem like they have moved on from falling into the pitfall (accidentally or intentionally, to sell yandere tropes) of portraying of gay men as predatory.

3. Leave Room for the Trailblazer

In part 1 of this post, I mentioned that Hoyo uses the placements of characters in scenes to indicate closeness, and I already pointed out that Mydei and Phainon stand really... really... close together, much closer than they stand to other characters.

However, it's not just that their models are literally positioned closer together in cutscenes--it's that their body language explicitly closes other characters out. Plenty of Hoyoverse MLM ships are ship-baited by moving the models of the male characters closer together, but very, very few of them are positioned to so consistently exclude even the player.

For comparison, consider the well-known scene where Alhaitham brings the Traveler and Paimon to his and Kaveh's house, which was framed with both domesticity and intimacy:

Although Alhaitham and Kaveh are also prone to the "stand shoulder-to-shoulder" thing that Hoyo does when they want to imply closeness between characters, the framing of their scenes nevertheless leave enough space for the Traveler and Paimon to be active participants in the conversation, enough space between Alhaitham and Kaveh for Traveler to not look blocked out.

For example, despite standing next to each other in that moment above, the camera deliberately cuts Alhaitham out, so that only Kaveh and the Traveler duo occupy the shot. Later on, Alhaitham bridges the divide between the Traveler and Kaveh, turning away from Kaveh toward the Traveler--once again, the conversation and scene are open to the Traveler, and thus, to the player.

Here's a live demonstration of my earlier point: Alhaitham and Kaveh stand closer together than the player and Candace, indicating their closer connection.

Other scenes play out similarly--although Alhaitham and Kaveh are close, their body language doesn't actively exclude other characters or the player from feeling like part of their conversations.

Over in Star Rail, we see the same general situation. We know that Aventurine rarely stands close to other characters, with Ratio being the one relatively consistent exception, but even so, the camera will usually give them some breathing room, making it feel like there's enough space for the player on the other side of the screen to be part of the moment:

Meanwhile Blade excludes both Dan Heng and the player, putting us on equal footing to Dan Heng and giving the impression that the player and Dan Heng are standing against Blade together. There is still room for "us" in this scene.

However, once again, Phaidei proves the exception. Mydei and Phainon don't just stand close--they don't even want to share air with anyone but each other.

A very normal way to have a group conversation. Definitely.

Consistently when standing side-by-side, they turn inward to face each other, rather than facing other characters in the conversation, literally forming a closed unit despite the fact that they're supposed to be in a group scene:

The thirdest third wheel to ever third wheel.

If it wasn't enough for the devs to just imply that the Trailblazer isn't able to break through Mydei and Phainon's circle, they decided to call it out in the text itself, echoing the player's own thoughts: "What about me?"

As I mentioned in the first part of the post, the devs also consistently use specific camera angles to capture both Mydei and Phainon in the frame together, at the same time, further emphasizing the closed nature of their conversations.

You will never see so many over-the-shoulder shots again in your life. You are the outsider looking in!

Perhaps most telling about the devs' intention to create an intimate air for Phainon and Mydei's conversations is that literally everyone else disappears when they speak to each other. For example, Phainon and Mydei's first goodbye takes place in the Garden of Life, which is actually a pretty bustling plaza with numerous NPCs. But every single NPC was deliberately removed by the dev team for Mydei and Phainon's scene there, to allow them a private moment:

Even in their final farewell, where Mydei was seen off by a literal bustling crowd of NPCs, not a single person is visible during their goodbyes--until the exact moment Mydei reminds Phainon that the whole rest of the world is waiting for him. The whole rest of the world didn't even exist for Phainon until Mydei forced him to remember.

It's not just the Trailblazer (and us, the player) who is third wheeling Mydei and Phainon's relationship. They literally exist in a world of their own when they speak to each other. No other modern Hoyoverse ship is on this level of excluding even the player--excluding even the damn NPCs!--to make a point about their closeness.

I thought I was going crazy the first time I was watching these scenes, thinking "It can't be that the devs actually went that far in framing Mydei and Phainon as a pair." But they did. They actually did.

The envelope has been pushed off a mountain, my guys.

But that still wasn't enough for the devs. They needed to go further.

4. Deploy Shoujo Manga Trope #57

I know I just said that Phainon and Mydei's relationship doesn't map well a typical heteronormative male/female relationship, but that doesn't mean the devs gave up on any and all attempts to apply typical romantic cliches to Phaidei. On the contrary, the dev team's thought process seems to have been "Hey, we're doubling-down on our queer-coding for Phainon and Mydei. How can we make it really, really, really obvious they're a ship?" And then they literally spun a roulette wheel of romantic tropes and threw every single one of them at patch 3.1 at the same time.

We have the "romantic lead beautifully framed by red rose petals blood glitter":

The "You used my love to manipulate me" subplot:

Phainon begs for compliments, and Mydei's reaction is to look away demurely and call him a scoundrel?? Am I seeing things?!

This is where he'd be blushing like a tomato if he was a female character.

The "please look after my dear husband when I'm gone" tragedy trope:

THE RING???

"LET'S MEET AGAIN IN THE NEXT LIFE"?!!

What do I even say about all... this...? Do I even need to say anything at all? Has any MLM ship in a recent Hoyoverse game gotten remotely as many romance flags? Alhaitham, where is Kaveh's ring?!

What I actually want to say isn't a specific breakdown of any of these moments, but what they mean in totality. Remember that Hoyo made every one of these choices with deliberate intent. They knew what the picture would add up to. These are explicitly romantic tropes that are extremely difficult to interpret in other lights.

You are supposed to read "If there's a chance in the next life" as "I want to be reincarnated with you; I want to meet you again; I want to be with you in a softer world."

You're supposed to think of the ring as a wedding ring. For one, Gorgo would only have gotten it through her marriage to Eurypon, but even more so--there was no reason this item needed to be a ring in the first place except to evoke images of wedding rings. We already knew from 3.0 that Castrum Kremnos used crests and seals for identification. Why make it a ring and not just the crest of Castrum Kremnos? Furthermore, why involve Phainon at all? The audience would never have known any different if Chartonus just said "Found this I did, have it you should, Mydei." It's a ring and it's a ring deliberately from Phainon because the devs want you to see it as a wedding ring.

What an incredibly bold move on Hoyo's part, and I don't even really mean just in the context of being a Chinese company, but even in the context of being a global company. Hoyo lives and dies by the revenue of their character banners, and choosing to explicitly and (nearly) exclusively apply romantic tropes to their male lead and deuteragonist in a brand-new patch cycle was a legitimately daring choice. Their deliberate application of romantic staples to an MLM ship, in a way that is difficult even for anti-LGBT+ fans to write off, was a very, very calculated decision. I genuinely hope it pays off for them. I hope Mydei and Phainon's banners both sell well, so the devs' receive a clear message in turn that fans appreciated their boldness and their commitment to creating queer content for these two characters.

I'm just going to end on one final note, about a scene that you may have noticed I conveniently skipped. Yes, the most conspicuous scene of them all:

5. A+ Censor Dodging

By some miracle of obliviousness, some Olympic-level mental gymnastics, or by sheer force of will, I think some people might still have made it to this point thinking that Phaidei was not being deliberately baited by the devs. You could maybe, somehow, convince yourself that the blood glitter rose petals and the shoulder-to-shoulder emotional conversations were just coincidences, that the tsundere "I'm not worried about him" was just dudes being tough guys, that the Trailblazer was a third wheel because Phainon and Mydei are "just good friends."

But then devs said "No, we need to be unmistakable. We need to make ourselves 1000% clear. We are baiting the yaoi fangirls, guys; please stop ignoring our hard work."

If going further than they've ever gone with Mydei and Phainon's body language wasn't enough, if Phainon's being willing to kill a god to save his man wasn't enough, if implying a wedding ring wasn't enough, what else could the devs possibly do to remove all plausible deniability and make it undeniably clear that Mydei and Phainon are queer characters (even if it is only for the benefit of yaoi fangirls)?

They can do something they've never done in their recent games before: Imply actual sex between male characters.

(Side note, Hoyo lesbians have had this implied sexual content pass from the beginning. You will always be famous, Beiguang. It's only the male characters that can't even have implied sex. 😂)

Obviously Phainon and Mydei are not having sex in the game. The dialogue even goes out of its way afterward to remind us that they remained fully clothed in that bath, thank you. But the refusal to show what was actually happening--censorship used as a tool to imply--the cut to the black screen, the narration of one animal pursuing another, the discretionary water droplets between the moaning... (And another little edit because @mynabirb made such a good point in the tags: The fact that they chose to "censor" this with a butterfly, the literal symbol of romance in Amphoreus, is almost too much. The devs really did say "Time to silence all doubts.")

From the player's perspective--and examining this as a choice on the dev team's part--there is no way to read this scene other than "sexually suggestive." You're supposed to think "This sounds incredibly sus." Because it is sus. Because the devs added this scene knowing that it would intentionally make people think about the idea of Phainon and Mydei having sex.

Sure, this scene is really funny in context. You're supposed to come out of it laughing, going "Wow, they're idiots." But you will also, whether you like it or not, come out of this thinking "Damn, Hoyo really went all in on the yaoi bait, didn't they?"

You can't "Devs didn't mean it" out of this one.

Which is brave as hell on Hoyo's part, to be honest! Even if this is nothing but queer-baiting, they saw that sick yaoi fan money and decided to go all in on it.

Say it with me: A dev team from a country with notoriously strict rules against depictions of homosexuality in media, from a company with a huge global fanbase including many conservative and religious countries, and with a majority male target audience, went out of their way to undeniably include sexually suggestive gay content in their game.

Whatever their motivation--be it simply money or from a genuine desire to tell gay stories--this wasn't a casual decision. This took commitment. This decision almost certainly went all the way to the top brass of the team for clearance. Someone probably had to fight to get this added.

But they did it, and not with Kaveh and Alhaitham (the previously undisputed kings of current Hoyoverse queer-coding) but with two brand-new (to Star Rail at least) characters who have extremely important roles in the game's on-going narrative--major characters who can't be overlooked.

Phaidei is literally built different.

But I'm still left with one lingering question:

Is Hoyo queer-coding or just queer-baiting?

Even though I played 3.1 in a sort of stupefied haze because I actually couldn't believe what I was seeing in Phainon and Mydei's scenes, I also ended it with a pretty bittersweet feeling.

How amazing that Hoyo pushed the envelope so far with Phaidei... But at what cost?

Did Mydei really have to leave Okhema never to return? Or is he being banished from the plot because his relationship with Phainon was too intense?

Isn't this just the "bury your gays" trope, in essence?

Lore-wise, there isn't any reason Mydei actually has to leave Okhema forever. Sure, he presumably is going to fight the Black Tide where it manifests across Amphoreus, but what about that requires him to "never return"? Demigods aren't geographically bound to the locations their Titans blessed, or Aglaea and Anaxa wouldn't be able to leave the Grove. There shouldn't be any reason Mydei can't visit Okhema when he wants.

The more you think about it, the worse it looks that the dev team implied Phaidei harder than they've ever implied an MLM ship before, only to immediately turn around and go "And then Mydei left forever." As if the only way it's okay to make characters that gay is if you then get rid of at least one of them. (Speaking humorously, at the rate Phainon and Mydei were going, if the devs didn't get rid of Mydei, he and Phainon probably would have been making out on-screen by 3.2, but you know what I mean.)

Sure Phaidei can be the MLM Star Rail ship with the most support in canon--but only at the cost of never being seen together again, apparently.

I'm not sure I like this trade off.

However, I am telling myself to remain cautiously optimistic. We know that Mydei's role in the story is not done, and that he and Phainon are destined for at least one more reunion, even if it won't be a happy one. We've been told that Amphoreus's story will be "heart-warming." I choose to believe that the devs will try to scrabble some sort of positive ending out of all this. At the very least, perhaps we'll end with a "in another life montage," and get to see Phainon and Mydei finally meeting in that library.

So is Hoyo queer-coding from a genuine desire to include gay characters or just baiting hard to sell Mydei to fangirls?

I'd say let's wait and see. Amphoreus has barely started cooking.

In the meantime, I think it is worth examining (and appreciating) Hoyo's willingness to mix up their own patterns, break their own trends, and to try something truly new and different with Phaidei. Even if this is all the content we ever get, Hoyoverse did things they haven't done before in any of their recent games, and showed that they're willing to push the limits for queer content in order to tell the stories they really want to tell.

I am a served fan, Hoyo. Well played, well played.

[queerdraws]

projecting on luffy again. get bited.

[psychiclounge]

eliot. eliooooooooot. eliot spencer. he's a Lone Wolf he only works alone he's the most dangerous man alive. out of the whole team, he has the most actual friends that appear on-screen. he's the most likely of all of them to adapt well to a "normal" life. he winds up buddy-buddy with the guy who broke his ribs the first time they met. he's a not-so-secret romantic who buys flowers for his friends' partners under their names. he will fully risk the job just to help out a child in danger. basically unprompted, he describes in detail the kind of father he wants hardison to write his 'blogger dad' character as, like it's something he's thought about before. he has a clearly bursting at the seams need to be casually physically affectionate with the people he's closest to that's only held back by a thin layer of 2000s masculinity and Bro Code behavior. may (true love) always prevail.

I need to take big cartoon bites out of him.

[youareabeautypj]

go my player design notes

plus some old doodles:

this ones got some old designs but i still think its silly:

[hijinxinprogress]

Does the JL know that YJ has just casually been beefing with darkseid??

imagine there’s a all hands on deck battle against darkseid and everyone is there but darkseid points out the nearest yj member (it’s probably Bart) like ‘you!!! You managed to escape with your lives last time but this meeting will be our last’ and for a split second Clark’s so fucking confused bc we haven’t fought in years wtf are you talking about then he hears ‘oh shit, look it’s Doug’ and everyone turns to see Bart nudging Kon going ‘he’s talking to you…damn he must still be mad about the coal’ and kons shoving him back bc ‘you were the one fucking around with his coal, you fucking walnut’ while Cassie’s being scruffed by wonder woman bc they’re trying to avoid being around when the jl finds out and tims having a very intense silent conversation lecture about why tf there’s at least half a dozen yj mission reports that mention an assailant named ‘Doug’ 

then Constantine shows up with Greta and everyone (including darkseid) starts yelling and if you don’t know her Greta seems like the one with the ownership of the braincell in yj (she is not but I guess she looks like it from a distance if you squint) which goes one of two ways:

retired-civilian!greta is giggling and waving excitedly to each member of yj along with hal before she practically tackles each of them in a tight hug while the titans, jl, & jl: dark lose their collective shit bc Constantine brought a tiny civilian dressed in pastel floral prints from head to toe into an active battle with fucking darkseid, a civilian who doesn’t register as a threat in any capacity until she makes eye contact with darkseid and gives him the most disgusted look imaginable “Doug… you look…well.” and then like three jl members have to stop her from leaping at darkseid while Hal’s like ‘no! No no, bad Greta! We don’t fight supervillains with…what is that?? I really fucking hope that’s not a gun…Is-is that fucking silly string?! Greta no we don’t silly string supervillains! We’ve talked about this!’

or

never-retired!/recently-out-of-retirement!greta who does the same thing but when she notices darkseid she rocks his shit in eight seconds flat and starts muttering about ‘that fucking Doug, always ruining my goddamn day’ and Hal is the first one to recover from the shock/confusion but only to tell Greta she’s grounded which gets another irritated ‘fucking doug!’ while Wally and Barry are losing it at Mach 6 while Bart tries to explain himself also at Mach 6, Cassie manages to catch Wally’s exasperated ‘where the fuck did you get Doug from?!’ And responds with ‘Apokolips’ in a tone that means they’re questioning his intelligence which leads to more screaming bc ‘so you knew who he was?? Why didn’t you come to us??’ and they all back up Kon when he claims they told Lex bc that means they have at least 3 hours of freedom while Lex is getting yelled at by the jl (and honestly every cape over 24)

[lucabyte]

you dream of devouring your friends whole

[crumboatt]

lmfaooo imagine eating bugs what a loser

the line art bc im really happy w how it turned out!!

[hootyhoowoo]

Yushi Huang my beloved + manwhore Pei Ming

[respocked]

btw i know the 90s aren't like the XIX century or anything but it is still impressive how well ds9 and its special effects have aged. the makeup artists' work especially is just so good. all of the heavily made-up characters look so natural in their prosthetics. everytime i see gul dukat's author out of drag for half a second i wonder why he's still in his bajoran disguise when surely enough that wasn't needed for a fan convention. like genuinely the cardassian look is so iconic and the perfect look of the human and the alien. having said that,

put these red contacts DOWN i beg you people...

[plutonious]

hm. going insane over @teethmongerrr's freaking MTTV on Air au. I'm plagued. can someone put me down. they're objectkins.

[feroluce]

I have finally finished 2.4 and oh my GOD watching Dan Heng be so protective of his friends nearly killed me, MY HEART.

And yes, the cutscene where he pushes the trailblazer out of the way and even cushions their fall with his own body, but I mean even before that! When he was already trying to protect them and March 7th from Feixiao and Lingsha!!

Because if you watch the dango trio throughout the main quest, you'll notice that they often position themselves in the same way, which is a detail that makes me super happy that Hoyo thought to include- when the three of them aren't evenly spaced, March 7th and the trailblazer tend to gravitate towards each other and stand very close together, frequently side-by-side. And by comparison, Dan Heng usually stands slightly away, and often even slightly behind them, where he can pull on their leashes to wrangle them keep an eye on them.

This is probably a habit learned through experience, since March 7th said during Belobog she is the "queen of unannounced disappearances" fjdksajfkldjsak

And of course at least a little bit of it is just done for like, aesthetic purposes. It's a video game. Things have to look nice for the player. The trailblazer and Dan Heng are the same height, March 7th is a bit shorter, and Yanqing is even smaller. It makes sense to have the trailblazer and Dan Heng stand on the ends, with March 7th and Yanqing in the middle, it just looks nicer and more balanced that way. But still! Even when they're accommodating for Yanqing in this quest, they still all arrange themselves the same way, almost every time!

But this changes after Dan Heng and Yanqing become suspicious of the visitors from the Yaoqing.

The dango trio still stand around relaxed and in their usual manner when they go to the artisanship delve and meet Skott,

but Dan Heng takes notice of Lingsha when she arrives, and he and Yanqing mentioned her specifically when discussing their worries.

Yanqing worrying so much about Jing Yuan got me right in the heart, he's such a good boy WEH

And when the four of them go out to the alchemy delve to meet Lingsha for tea, the pattern breaks. Suddenly Dan Heng is standing right up front, and even walks in and enters the scene before March 7th and the trailblazer to get to Lingsha before them. He stays a step in front of them the whole time, too.

And then when Dan Heng and the trailblazer have to go be interrogated by Feixiao! The same deal! Dan Heng walks in ahead of them and stays in front of them! Noticeably so! Enough that even Feixiao takes note and voices it!

Dan Heng is so so fiercely protective of his companions, and I love it, I adore hyper vigilance in the wake of trauma like this, I'm so excited to see what else he does in 2.5, I hope we either get to see him get fucked up or the trailblazer gets fucked up in his place, I wanna see them run through the meat grinder!!!

[froginmygarden]

It started with an ad: Little time left

Okay, he could do this, no biggie. I mean, the fifth time's got to be the charm, right?

"I'm really sorry Mr. Jordan, but your request has been denied. If you have any further questions please contact us via email. Good luck and have a great rest of your day.*click*"

"sssssss..."

That was a hard blow. He wasn't unreliable, he paid his rent on time, so what was the issue, why wouldn't anyone take him, exactly?

"AND I COME HOME TIRED AND HUNGRY AND YOU HAVEN'T DONE ANYTHING ALL DAY! WHAT AM I SUPPOSE TO DO NOW HUH??!"

An old woman was sobbing as a middle aged man physically kicked her out the door, continuing to curse at her. Hal was standing at his own apartment door on the other side of the hallway, takeout in one and keys in his other hand. He had an unholy post mind control headache and the noise wasn't helping him any.

"Is there some kind of problem here?" In a blink Hal was at their end of the hallway, standing partially between the pair. They were a Mr. and Mrs. Jenkins, not a couple but rather a mother and son. The poor widow moved in a month after her husband's death. The guy used to be pretty quiet, not interacting with other residents, but became much more dislikeable in the poor woman's presence. Hal hadn't bothered learning his name, it didn't really matter.

"It's a family matter, you better stay out of it, beanstalk!" The bastard hissed, grabbing for the now gasping woman, "AAAHH," except he didn't reach quick enough and got yanked away, hard.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS YOUR PROBLEM?!"

"First off, lower your voice, second, hasn't anyone ever taught you not to hit a lady?" Hal squeezed harder, pulling the man further away from his mother. Let's just say the guy wasn't pleased and the situation escalated.

In the end the cops were called and they both got escorted out of the building. Mr. Jenkins was the only one getting arrested, but Hal got a written note for his physical altercation with a neighbour. Which didn't really seem to matter at the time...

"hmmmmmmmm..." Alright, maybe he wasn't the most pleasant of tenants...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Maybe it was just him, but the lights seemed awfully glaring right now.

Green Latern and Flash were sitting on a rooftop at dawn - whoever said evil never slept sure naild that dawn - having early breakfast, some really amazing chinese.

"Sooooo... How have the things been going?", his friend asked,"WiththeplaceImean!"

Hal could only sigh heavilly through his nose, hanging his head.

"That bad huh?"

"Aha...", he really didn't want to talk about it right now, knowing Barry - he'll still end up doing it anyway.

"You know," Barry started, "you can always crash at mine if you need?" He was so nice about it too, might even be a little fun. They haven't been in contact for a pretty while, if there was an emergancy in his sector his absence could stretch up to multiple months.

"You can just say that you missed me, ya know that?"

They laughed and went on chatting. The day was still young and they had much to catch up on. Hal did end up telling Bary about his wories later in the morning.

"I've been thinking about this for a while... I love Coast I really do... but maybe, if this doesn't end up working out, I should move into OA..."

"oh... Have you talked to Carol about... "moving"?"

"ssssssss mmhh... speaking of Carol..."

...

"What???!!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Still nothing, Hal thought, walking through the mid day crowd, everyone rushing somewhere, honking cars stuck in traffic. His worry returning after he'd parted ways with his friend.

Maybe this was some shitty karma, what else could explain this? A sort of divine retribution for something he's done no doupt. Who's snickering from above? Which god should he shake a fist at?

Hal Jordan had been so deep in thought, getting back home on autopilot, that he didn't notice an unidentifiable object heading straight for him, not until it had smacked right into his face with a thwack. A noise nearly loud enough to cover up his muffled squawk.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"mmmmmmm..."

"Yeah, baby?"

"uuuuuuu ahha!"

"Yeah you're right as always!"

Another day, another shift at Surfer Smile's. This time featuring Dani, who this morning had decided to scream her lungs out any time Danny had stood at most 10 feet away.

Thankfully it was a slow day, not many people to complain about the "disturbing" presence of a small child.

Ms. Soyer - Oh come ooon, Danny, don't be shy! Just call me Britney! <3 - was quite free today as well, it seemed. Since she was right there cooing at the babbling toddler, who looked to be performing the sphinx stretch in what was no doubt an unsuccessfull atempt at ending her tummy-time early.

"BA!", Dani yelled into her personal rug as she slams her face into it's fluffy surface, "Da- diiiii!!", and Danny was already picking her up and bouncing on his feet. Kissing her little head.

"Awww, she's adorable~", Dani scrunched up her little face, so much so that she seemd to have bit a lemon, and Danny smiled at his colleagues cooing, "Yes, she really is."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You should lay off the jewelry, children have delicate skin, you could cut the little thing."

She was here again. In all her glory, scowling at him.

"Those rings are also small enough for her mouth and a teribble choking hazard."

She had come, this time without an appointment, and just sat there by the fireplace. And of course she had to say something, never satisfied with just fiddling with her sudoku.

"Ma'am I assure you, I don't leave these things anywhere near her."

Dani may be a toddler now, but she'd at one point had a life of an adolescent. She still had her personality and definitely kept some memories as well, at least enough to recognise some people and locations, and, unlike other small children, didn't have the unprompted need to stuff every object within arms reach into her awaiting maw, in the name of exploring the world.

No. If Dani ever put something between her sharp little mawlers, it was deliberate, calulated for her amusement, either at his or his colleagues expense.

"To be carefull isn't usually enough, noone has more determenation then a child wanting something out of their reach."

Danny agreed, saying he'll consider it later, and old Jenkins left shortly after that, not forgetting to say her ferwells to all.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was late, he'd decided to take a detour from the bus stop, the air would be good for Dani. His little girl hadn't been able to properly sleep at the practice because of the lights, but started to nod off on their ride home.

She was asleep now, in bed with her turtle, sound asleep, fed, changed, dessed in her pajamas, wrapped in a blanked, and happy.

He'll have breakfas for dinner, eggs plus ham and peas - a classic, he thought after checking his fridge, a grocery run wouldn't hurt.

"You have one voice message", reminded his phone. He'd noticed it ringing earlier, but the number was unknown and the practice disucuradged personal phone usage during work hours. He'd decided to listen back to it later, if a message was left at all.

Guess that time was now.