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After reading Come Catastrophes and Wakes of Vultures and A Light Spark in Darkness, I really appreciate how Arknights recognizes the concept of the diner/saloon as a refuge for the working class. It places an emphasis on found family and resilience in the face of the hardships Infected face, and organically allows a whole slew of people from different walks to mingle and provide mutual aid.

People make fun of many stories for starting in a diner so the characters can talk and establish character and plot, but what Arknights does is different—it centers the atmosphere of the diner as an integral part of the local community.

It's a shorthand for family, so when Goldenglow loses the diner the day after she buys it to keep it safe, it's no wonder that she ends up on the rooftop. She's lost her home and thinks she's lost her family in one fell swoop, more than five years work up in flame. What's so touching is that the rest of the event hammers home that basically everybody in the Infected district of Caladon, whether they're Infected or not, is desperately trying to find her to make sure she's safe. The diner is the gathering point for the community, but the community still exists without it there!

We see this with Coldshot's diner as well in Davistown. Even when everyone is forced to leave and the diner is left behind, the community has never been more connected.

"Life might suck, but we can get through it together."

(unrelated, but I love that both Quercus and Grani's first order of business upon seeing Susie is to rub her ears to relax, regardless of the risk of static shock. and it happens four or more times in the event!)

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what i really appreciate about Coates's straightforward denunciation of Zionism & Israeli apartheid is that it completely neuters the efficacy & shelf-life of the cowardly bothsidesism constantly touted by his peers in the progressive intelligentsia

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Finally got a clear shot of noonoo carrying her spring, it's her favourite toy

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the first comprehensive complete map of Terra we EVER GET and it's a fucking wonderdraft map for the dungeon meshi collab. i love this game, please never fucking change

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eeeeeeeugh this sure is a day of arknights taking Ls

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The history of corporate propaganda.

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"Mlynar stole spotlight away from the Nearl women" you mean the Mlynar with an event that's shorter than Maria Nearl by

ten thousand fucking words? an event that's largely about him reworking his worldview and proving Maria and Margaret were right?

where this happens? that Mlynar?

get a grip and stop gagging on reddits dick and actually engage with the text. it's embarrassing, especially when you pretend you're literate.

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you have GOT to be able to admit when you’ve believed something bigoted in order to improve as a human being. like you NEED to be able to handle that if you want to act in line with your values

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is there a guide for all the combos in the minigame for zwillingstürme? i can't figure out how to make remorse

found a guide in discord. yayyyy

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I’ve been thinking for a while about putting together an “Arknights rawest line” bracket but I think there’s maybe no point because now there is the line “May my bullet forgive what my heart cannot” and there’s no point running any contest when there is an obvious winner

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you may be thinking "now, why this as a collab? what does arknights and dungeon meshi have in common?" and the answer is twofold:

An extremely political narrative delving into how conflict is fueled by natural disasters forcing people to meet at the intersection of race, class, and oppression

canonically autistic strategists as lead character

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Ascalon and Projekt Red.

Talking about their relationship and similarities.

Spoilers for things not in Global yet.

So when Babel got announced I was excited to see what Ascalon and her event would give us in regards to her relationship with Red and while there's not much in her files, there's actually a lot more than I thought there was. It's actually kind of funny but this is going to be split into two parts: their relationship and similarities.

Then a conclusion to top it all off but without further ado:

Their relationship.

So to cover the basics, Ascalon, Projekt Red and Scavenger are all a part of S.W.E.E.P: Rhodes Island's counterintelligence and covert operations, with Ascalon being the director and therefor Red's boss.

There is possible implications that there was more about their relationship prior to the Babel event. One is how close Ascalon is to Kal'tsit, the two working together during Babel and even more closely upon Theresa's death and the forming of Rhodes Island. Another is that Red's promotion record is Ascalon talking about Red and specifically the line: "All I'm here to do is sharpen her fangs and her knife."

Not exactly stellar evidence of anything, but that's where Babel comes in and gives us Ascalon's File 1 which focuses on her position within Rhodes as well as a glimpse into how S.W.E.E.P operates:

(Hong is Red)

This is all that we get about Red within Ascalon's files: that Red cannot smell her and that she holds S.W.E.E.P's special training record for putting a ball of tail hair into Ascalon's pocket by what is theorized to be Ascalon's own technique. With Ascalon making an inconspicuous comment.

The most important part being how it's theorized that Ascalon herself taught Red this technique. After all, it's the one thing that Red managed to do as she didn't get much information so it's entirely her planting the tail fur onto Ascalon that is impressive and a feat that not even Ines has done. So it's possible that Red alone was taught this trick.

It adds more context to Red's promotional record as Ascalon saying she'll sharpen Red's fangs and knife has reason now to belief she really did mean personally teaching Red:

But also, this isn't the first time we've seen Red planting something on someone without their noticing. Her module starts with her stealing a chip and planting a fake one onto her target without them noticing which with this context, might've been her using this technique she learnt from Ascalon:

If true, they're adding further context and bringing up an inconspicuous detail from Red's module that could be a coincidence but if not, is possibly emblematic of thought being put towards their relationship.

Before I move onto the similarities as revealed in the vent, I want to expand upon why no further connection between them is displayed in Ascalon's files.

The entirety of her File 1 is to demonstrate how little information is known about Ascalon and what exactly is. The rest of her files are mainly various physical documents on hand that could be added to the file, like voice recordings (File 2), intelligence regarding her (File 3) and a letter from her to the Doctor (File 4).

If Ascalon and Red have a closer relationship it wouldn't be mentioned in the file because Ascalon is so unknown that likely no one found out to put it into the files. Hence it being theorized that Red learnt Ascalon's technique (possibly being a hint by the game writers that there is more.)

*cough cough* Red or Ascalon oprec *cough cough*

Similarities.

So actually this bit is the reason why I'm talking about this and my smoking gun that Ascalon and Red have a deeper relationship than simply being boss and employee. I will say however that I've not read the entire event. I skimmed through the early sections and only read Ascalon's parts.

Nonetheless, before I even read the event and was reading through Ascalon's files, I was surprised to discover this line in her File 2:

The event goes more into this. The Catastrophe storm that is mentioned here is referencing when she first met and subsequently was taken in by Theresis and Theresa. Before that she was surviving on her own in the wilderness, hunting wild animals just to survive and from a very young age.

This is very similar to Red, who through the information found within Il Siracusano and her module, we learn also grew up surviving in the wilderness. It's very much implied that Red came into frequent contact with wild animals in which she had to defend herself:

But that's not all, though it is the root for the next similarity that they share.

A noticeable thing about Red's speech is that it's broken. She speaks in short sentences or with sizeable pauses between her words:

And we know from the vignette: Operational Intelligence - After-class Homework, we know that Red is doing homework, at least on English in which she does have problems understanding:

And her files say that she has educational problems, all compounding Red's problems with speech. But when we see Ascalon as a child in the Babel event, especially when she first meets Theresis and Theresa, this is how she speaks:

She has broken speech, a thing that continues into the next scene of Ascalon when she was young and it's deliberately explained as being because she spent so long in the wilderness:

The both of them grew up in the wilderness, not having anyone else to talk to or perhaps rather not having reason to talk which leads to them having broken speech when they finally do enter civilization.

And as shown in the first meeting between Ascalon and Theresis, Ascalon's first action was to try and kill him since that's how she learnt how to survive with wild animals, which she didn't see other humans being anything else.

Well later on, when she was taken in by Theresis, a younger Manfred bursts into the room they were in and I believe it startles Ascalon who's reflexively attacked him:

I've not read the entire event yet as I said but nothing before this showed them meeting and rather push that they shouldn't know each other and the scene moves on from this with nothing implying she attacked him because she recognized him. (I might be wrong however.)

So likely, Ascalon felt threatened by him bursting into the room and reflexively attacked him which is another thing that Red does because of her similar past:

And from their similar paths come similar struggles. Only knowing how to kill, not having their own beliefs, struggling to interact with the rest of the world.

For Ascalon it's highlighted in scenes like these:

And for Red, it's the entire point of her module but particularly this section of it:

When she came into civilization it broke her, she had no guidance and to this day she doesn't fully interact with civilization, doesn't know how to spend money and by the time of Il Siracusano she returns to Grandma, yet to form her own beliefs.

Also she routinely defines herself as a wolf hunter which really is an assassin for Grandma. A weapon if you will.

In conclusion.

Red and Ascalon have many many things in common and they are things that we know Ascalon are aware of as she comments on Red's problems in Red's promotional record. And it feels like there's too much similarities, that they practically share the same past that combined with what little is said of Red in the file I'm all but certain that Ascalon and Red's relationship is more than just boss and employee.

And I also think an interesting part about these scenes in the event about Ascalon is the questions it raises about Red, as we see how Ascalon met Theresis and Theresa, as well as got her name.

Because there's still many mysteries about Red we don't have answers to. How she met Kal'tsit and the origin of her name, because Projekt Red is ever a curious one, being two that are highlighted here.

But you could also see Ascalon and the paths she took as examples of where Red's character is or could go. Maybe even flip that around: Ascalon meets someone who is practically identical to her past self. How does she feel? How does she interact with Red on this basis?

It's all brainstorming and me being hopeful that this means Red can finally get an oprec, we see the two interact or that Red Alter is on the way but I am 99% confident that these similarities are purposeful and we'll see something on them.

Thank you for reading all the way through.

(Also there's not enough information about S.W.E.E.P to make it it's own post but from Terra: A Journey and Ascalon's files:

Theresa was killed and by extension Babel fell apart in Autumn of 1094. But from voice recordings in Terra: A Journey, we know S.W.E.E.P was founded as part of Rhodes in 1094 also and Red being a founding member means she likely joined within a year of Rhodes creation.

So she's known Kal'tsit and Ascalon for three years before the Doctor and met them likely not very long after Theresa's death.

Also S.W.E.E.P officially has an office. Idk if it's the room from Ascalon's theme or not but it exists. Red and Scavenger probably sit around talking about Provence there.)

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my streamer

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ティフォン＆ヴァラルクビン

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Really love how all the EX stage names for Come Catastrophes or Wake of Vultures, a event that ends in a climactic pistol duel, describe the process and consequences of deciding to kill another human.

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Okay so I've finally gotten to Jessicalter's Oprec and now feel qualified to talk about Come Catastrophes or Wakes of Vultures. holy shit. This went straight into my list of top Arknights events. Fantastic event, spoilers will be under the cut so I HIGHLY RECOMMEND reading the event first. It's really good and worth your while.

Anyway, what follows is a scattered mess of thoughts about this event and things that stuck out to me.

First off, plot stuff! I'll probably cover this when I do my next plotline recap post, but what I took away from the end is that Clip Cliff seems to want to make Blacksteel independent, or at least more self-determining than it is now. He seems to be gathering resources and assets like mobile city plates and investing in long-term infrastructure like merc training, so he definitely has a long game he's pushing for. I don't think we know enough go speculate about his goals, but we'll definitely be coming back here again. After all, Tila has an infection monitor in her art, which probably means she's going to be playable at some point in the future.

Next, having looked into this a little on my own, I was interested in some of the previous places Raythean has shown up. Specifically, the ones that stood out were the drones in the Kazimierz Major and arming Silverash's forces in Kjerag, which might be referring to the Tschäggättä. It's not just notable for their apparent level of technology, but also as a faint connecting thread between three separate capitalism plotlines. I don't know if that's going to be meaningful in the future, but I found it interesting enough that I thought I'd bring it up.

Now on to more narrative things. While I love Liskarm and Franka, I do think it was the right choice to give them less screen time in this event. They're both (for the most part) fully-realized characters who understand their own motivations and morals. This is above all else an event about Jessica learning to stand on her own as an adult, so it makes sense that they're more here to support her than they are to play their own roles in the story.

Speaking of said roles, I liked the event's commentary on cops. It pointed out an interesting distinction that I wouldn't really have ever thought of, that between mercenaries and cops. To start: cops exist to protect property, not people. The police exist to protect things and do not have an obligation to err on the side of people over things, and in fact are supposed to do the opposite. This event understands that, and that role os the core of how the bank treats the Blacksteel mercs. CV, however, raises an interesting point that mercenaries are bound by the letter of a contract and not the larger obligation to property cops are, so they can actually raise moral objections and point to their contracts, sort of a Lawful Evil/Lawful Neutral to cops' Neutral Evil. The independence of their position with respect to cops allows for more of an independent morality than you'd get in a cop story and I like that, I think it's a really smart direction to take your writing in.

On a (mostly) separate note, holy shit Arknights is really good at writing cowboy stories. Between this and chapter 9 (and I would argue An Obscure Wanderer), Arknights has repeatedly made it clear that they Do Not Fuck Around with their cowboy stories and I'm surprised I haven't heard more people talking about it. It kinda has everything:

- It takes place in a rural, working-class setting undergoing a larger imminent societal shift that can inform the larger narrative, and deals with a semi-mythologized past that is rapidly disappearing.

- It has a protagonist and an antagonist that serve as foils, both very heavily affected and defined by the (same) violence in their past that they've both had different reactions to. Our protagonist has come to terms with the violence as a tool to maintain order, while our antagonist has used it for personal gain and in some ways lost control of it.

- It's a story about community, and heavily emphasizes local and personal community over larger artificial corporate "community". That's my reading of the recurring motif of the cold btw, warmth represents the close, personal community Davistown used to have and the cold that now pervades it comes from how the bank has systematically dismantled that community.

- And, I'd argue most importantly, it understands the narrative power of a bullet. The Showdown at the end of a cowboy story is powerful because we've spent the entire runtime of our story with these characters, and they are now facing each other down with the intent to end one of their collective two stories. The entire weight of the narrative so far comes to rest on a single moment of tension. It's really hard to gather up the kind of narrative momentum you need to make that hit like it does in CV. For example, it requires a really light hand with actual action in the story, so that it really does feel like it's an even standoff between our protagonist and antagonist. On the other hand, though, you do actually have to establish the relative skill of both parties and actually sell the danger of the moment to the audience. It's really hard to toe the line between tension and actual action in a way that makes for a satisfying resolution, and CV does it extremely well.

Honestly, Arknights just seems really good at getting the vibes of American media right. This is something I noticed in DV and Lonetrail too, and I haven't really been able to put my finger on what it is about them, but the vibes are just really on-point. I want to write more about this at a later point once I actually figure out what it is that I'm feeling, but maybe it's the setting, maybe it's the cast, maybe it's the plot points, maybe it's something in between — it just seems to understand the spirit of period cowboy stories in a way that I can't describe. Good shit.

Finally, I wanna end this with where Jessica is now. The events of CV take place In between the events of Loneterail and Ideal City, so the current "now" of the story is a few months ahead. Jessica left for the frontier along with Woody, Helena, and Miles. They live together in a small new settlement, building the place from the ground up with Woody and Jessica acting as town sherrifs. At the point we're at now, rhe town is fairly well-established and Woody has temporarily left on other business, leaving Jessica the sole sherrif of their new settlement. However, she's risen to her new station, and is growing into a stronger person than she ever was before.

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Arknights Blorbissimo Series

#41 – #50