oneverydelululemon

[oneverydelululemon]

At some point I need to see Damian see firsthand just how highly his mom thinks of Anya's mom. The kid might actually short circuit.

[oneverydelululemon]

the thing that really rubs salt in the wound here is that the voting isn't even real. like, if those blank NPCs really are the committee, caine should be able to rig them to do anything, the same way he makes them fawn over him during the actual ceremony. caine getting no votes is just a material manifestation of him feeling lonely and rejected. ties a nice little crooked bow on the episode's themes of choosing to love yourself

[oneverydelululemon]

I love how half of the group (ragatha, gangle, jax) is a hot mess and the other half (pomni, zooble, kinger) are the therapists lmao

And then you have caine whose only friend is bubble who tells him to kill himself

I honestly adore how Jax, Ragatha, and Caine all have abandonment issues but exhibit it in different, realistic ways.

Jax - Trying to take control and abandon people before they can abandon him.

Ragatha - Trying to earn someone’s love and validation constantly to get silent assurance that they’ll never leave.

Caine - Trying to earn approval for his efforts then getting angry when he’s unappreciated and neglected.

And honestly, as someone with bpd, I’ve experienced all three of these — sometimes within minutes. They’re all very real and natural reactions. Seeing them play out is incredible.

[oneverydelululemon]

NOOO CAINE!!! I KNOW YOU FEEL LIKE YOU HAVE TO BE NEEDED BECAUSE THATS THE ONLY WAY YOU UNDERSTAND PEOPLE CARING FOR ONE ANOTHER, AND THE ONLY WAY YOU KNOW HOW TO MAKE ANY CONNECTION IS THROUGH BEING USEFUL, BUT YOU HAVE TO UNDERSTAND THAT IT WILL NEVER BE ENOUGH!!! NO MATTER WHAT THEY SAY OR DO YOU’RE SIMPLY A BOTTOMLESS PIT OF AFFECTION THAT CAN NEVER BE SATIATED UNTIL YOU START LIVING FOR YOURSELF AND START ESTABLISHING WHO YOU ARE AND HOW OTHER PEOPLE SHOULD TREAT YOU, CAINE!!!!!

[oneverydelululemon]

I concur!

This episode really confirmed the idea I had of him as a person, and even though I never liked him and possibly never will, I really enjoy the way he's written. Not to mention the VA's performance - Michael keeps proving us why he's cast for every indie show nowadays!

Now about the irredeemable thing. The thing about people like Jax is that they refuse to open up and heal. And truth of the matter is, if someone doesn't want to open up to you, no amount of pushing will make them reach out.

There's no point in trying to save someone who outright refuses to be saved. It'll just create unnecessary tension and harm. The fight that Pomni had with Jax is a good example of this.

With people who are emotionally closed off like this it's best to do what Kinger told Ragatha - give them space and be there when they need you. Don't try to push anything, just....exist with them and show them you care.

That being said, if Goose did say he's irredeemable and is not just trolling us, then maybe Jax will never reach out to anybody and keep up this evil persona of his. After all, it's the only way he knows how to deal with this reality he's stuck in. Or maybe he will reach out eventually.

We'll just have to wait and see.

Honestly, I don't know why I expected Jax to be more sensitive to Pomni in this episode. And I guess I've been naive thinking this. Jax is like that and it would be very abrupt for him to suddenly talk about his feelings with Pomni.

I actually hated Jax's behaviors in this episode, but I also give kudos to Gooseworx, I think it's very well written (even if he's a jerk) , because he must be like that. I mean , he's not going to solve his problems all of a sudden and it's very curious to see how this affects him. I'm looking forward to seeing more ...

[oneverydelululemon]

Ahhh yorlinda my beloved

yurifies your shounen mothers

[oneverydelululemon]

Until Everything Blows Up in Your Face

(Some spoilers ahead!)

Hi friends! 👋 After chapter 120, I couldn't help but reflect a bit on our beloved Twilight and how his character arc is being shaped.

From the very beginning, Twilight’s identity has revolved around his deep conviction that love and a “normal life” simply aren’t meant for him.

It’s no coincidence that, in the very first episode, while he's playing the role of Robert, the entire focus of the scene centers around one simple question:

“Have you ever thought about getting married?”

From the very beginning, this rejection of emotional attachment is framed as a core pillar of Twilight’s character. Saying goodbye to Karen doesn’t faze him. And yet, there’s one line that gives him away:

It’s not that love doesn’t exist—it’s that he’s chosen to ignore it. To suppress it. Because opening up emotionally means revisiting a pain he’s not ready to face.

Love isn’t foreign to him. It crosses his mind, of course. But he’s made the conscious choice to push it away. Because loving means risk—and he already knows what it feels like to lose everything.

If we briefly revisit his childhood:

Redacted was a child who was emotionally open, sensitive, expressive… traits that didn’t fit in a world on the verge of war. His father—stern and rigid—seemed determined to toughen him up, perhaps thinking it would protect him. But all it really did was build a wall between them. His mother, on the other hand, was his first safe haven: a warm, gentle presence who taught him what it meant to feel secure. And then there were his childhood friends, those who shared his games and held onto the last fragments of his innocence.

One by one, they all disappeared from his life.

After that complete loss, Redacted didn’t just change his name—he changed the way he exists. He became someone who lives to avoid pain, who hides behind his mission, behind lies and roles. Because if everything is just an act, then nothing can really hurt him.

And what about Yor?

At this point in the story, it’s impossible to ignore it: Twilight has slipped, stumbled, and continues to fall emotionally every time Yor is involved. And we’re not just talking about subtle gestures—his actions betray him, over and over again.

From trying to seduce her in the most awkward way possible, to opening up about his mother and his real childhood. From defending her when others criticize her, to sparing Yuri’s life—even though he poses a direct threat to his mission. And let’s not forget his constant need to protect her, his concern for every little gesture she makes, or the way he completely falls apart just from seeing her smile.

Twilight already knows that Yor affects him deeply.

She invades his thoughts to an overwhelming degree. She unsettles him, moves him, throws him off balance. And the worst part—or perhaps the most revealing—is that what he truly wants is simple: for her to be okay.

To be happy with their family (with him)—all under the convenient excuse of keeping the mission on track.

Even at this point, Nightfall is the one who knows better than anyone: Twilight isn’t acting normal—not when it comes to Yor.

Twilight doesn’t think like a spy when it comes to Yor. He loses all objectivity, and his emotions override his training. He doesn’t act with precision or calculation—he acts like a clumsy, insecure man with no real emotional tools to navigate this.

Just look at the level of anxiety attacks this man goes through… It’s a complete mess

In fact, Yor’s emotions shouldn’t matter, as long as she continues to see their agreement as viable and plays her part. And yet, Twilight feels that she’s not truly satisfied with him—that something’s missing....And that thought eats away at him.

What he tries to resolve with logic ends up as emotional chaos. Because Twilight isn’t an efficient spy around Yor—he’s a man who constantly fails at keeping control.

So, when will he finally admit what he feels?

Probably a thousand chapters from now… because Endo clearly enjoys watching us suffer slowly.

I have a feeling Twilight is destined to experience a much longer, more intimate, and more painful character arc than we might expect. One where the very emotions he’s repressed will eventually explode in his face.

Accepting what he feels won’t be easy. For him, falling in love isn’t just “letting his guard down”—it means breaking away from everything he has become. Twilight doesn’t just live as a spy—he is his mission. He’s built his existence on an unspoken vow: “I won’t allow myself to lose again.”

And in order not to lose, he chose not to love. In order not to love, he chose not to feel.

What’s interesting is that, unlike his past as a soldier—where he did grow disillusioned with the system and lost his motivation—he has yet to question his role as a spy. He hasn’t reflected on his own humanity beyond the success of his missions. But it’s only a matter of time. Because loving Yor and Anya will eventually lead to something far greater: facing his guilt.

We’ve already seen, in small moments, how his guilt toward Anya affects him. So the idea of possibly being rejected by them too must be eating away at him.

That conversation between McMahon and Yor suddenly makes even more sense: How will Twilight cope with the idea of his family discovering the truth? Could they accept him? Could he accept that Yor is an assassin? How will he process the fact that Anya was an experiment—and that, silently, she’s known everything from the very beginning?

I get the feeling that the more he tries to get closer to Yor (while still trying to avoid his own feelings), the deeper he’ll sink into a hole of denial he won’t be able to escape. Every step he takes toward connection, trust, or vulnerability will only drag him further into the emptiness he’s been trying so hard not to face

Even if, at some point, Yor opens up to him—and he plays with her feelings (consciously or not)—let’s hope not—the most likely outcome is self-sabotage. He’ll pull back. He’ll shut down even more. Because that’s what he’s always done: build walls. Fake kindness. Run away, dressed as a functional man.

Until there’s nowhere left to run.

And then, without disguises, without masks, without an escape… his feelings will explode in the worst possible way—right in his face.

[oneverydelululemon]

This is legit a chapter from the manga, it's so accurate it's not even funny

Ostania's normalest family

The next day, at a hastily thrown together birthday party at the Forger residence:

[oneverydelululemon]

okay so people have been mentioning that Caine says he can't control the minds of the players, but he can make things like the possession in episode 3, the stupid sauce in episode 4, and was able to turn Jax vegan in episode 5. so of course, that means Caine's a liar because he's obviously controlling minds there so what gives

well. I've noticed something. the pattern between all those moments is that they're status effects. they alter the mind of the player in some way, obviously, but not completely and also not forever. with the stupid sauce and veganism thing, both effects wore off after the adventures were over and no longer needed to be there. and while the possession was only alleviated because of the ghosts literally being smacked out of Pomni, I don't think Caine wouldn't have some sort of contingency plan if the possession was still going. either by having it stop after a certain point or he'd just snap it away

plus, note the context of the original "Caine said he couldn't control minds" line

he said it after Pomni mentioned she couldn't remember her original name, which applied to every other player in the circus. he notes that he wasn't able to help her with remembering her name, and could only give her a new one, and while that could also be a lie, why the hell would he lie about something like a name? plus, needing to input a different name for a video game makes sense, it's literally just a username lmao (plus isn't it like an old internet safety thing to not use your real name for your username? idk)

that brings me to my personal theory/headcanon. when Caine said he couldn't control someone's mind, he meant it. just not in the way you'd think. he just isn't in control over what happens to someone's mind once they enter the digital circus. the things you forget, the things you don't, he can't do anything about that. he can do things like alter the minds of the players temporarily, which is creepy in its own right, but not really the same as "controlling" a person's brain. he can just mess with it for an adventure or because enough players wanted it to happen

TLDR: Caine may not be able to bring back memories but he sure can fuck up your controls for a few minutes

[oneverydelululemon]

I couldn't pinpoint it yesterday, but I must admit that despite the pain something felt right about Loid not even thinking Yor could be in love with him.

Remember this?

This was Loid jumping to ask Yor to marry him for real, because she gave him signs of jealousy, and it could be useful for the mission to deceive her into a relationship.

Remember this?

Ok, it's not canon, but still, this is Loid rushing Yor into a relationship in order to take advantage of the situation.

He was looking for chances to make it happen before for the sake of operation Strix. So, now, Yor gave him CRYSTAL CLEAR signs of being in love with him, and he didn't catch on.

I can go into deep deep analysis, but this is Loid not planning on deceiving Yor anymore. This is Loid respecting Yor as a teammate, not an accessory. The idea of love isn't in his head at all now, since he's not thinking of it as a tool to use on Yor, and I love that for her.

She showed some vulnerability, and him not exploiting it immediately is the absolute best we could ask from Twilight at this point.

[oneverydelululemon]

I jus had a trancendent idea holy shit. Okay so Caine crashout right? Usually when character with massive power break, it’s shown as flames spilling out of them etc, bursts of energy— but with Caine he’s already very unleashed. So I feel like it would be more compelling if his crashout made everything grind to a halt instead.

Like, Caine having such a massive fucking breakdown the circus buffers and freezes. He’s screaming and it’s dead quiet, because nothing can move, including the players. They’re stuck there frozen as Caine freaks out, because his Big Stupid Emotions are tearing the circus up like confetti

it would speak to his isolation, to. When he screams for real he’s the only one screaming, because Caine can comprehend nothing else. You’re living in gods veins and he’s having a heart attack.

[oneverydelululemon]

Zooble and Caine are linked together in such an interesting way. It's not a coincidence that Caine is becoming more emotional since the episode he sincerely discussed his fears of becoming obsolete. He's mentally cracking and struggling at the idea of everyone not liking his adventures. He needs to fulfill his programming. That's all he thinks he is.

I think Zooble is bringing out Caine's humanity. They act as Caine's voice of reason, in a sense, rebelling against his adventures and questioning everything he does. They encourage him to let them choose their own adventures, breaking him down to relinquish his power. And it's been working.

On top of that, Bubble has been changing, too. He's been acting more, "adult." He swears more, talks sexually, and is even more blunt. Minus the sexual aspect, he's almost mimicking Zooble.

Bubble is also vocalizing insecurities of Caine's. Why? Because Bubble is the representation of Caine's humanity. Therefore, because of Caine's interactions with Zooble, he's becoming more vocal. Caine constantly pops and shuts Bubble up because he's afraid of confronting his own sentience. He's sees everyone as AI because he is becoming a sentient AI. And that terrifies him.

[oneverydelululemon]

amen

[oneverydelululemon]

This i exactly what i've been thinking this whole time! We're on the same wavelength! Even if you don't ship them, you gitta admit there is potential for a very interesting dynamic between them.

An In-Depth Analysis on Why I Believe Pomni WIll Break Through to Caine

(showtime enjoyers here’s a heaping spoonful of hope)

warning : lonngggg post

i. Pomni's Role as A Jester

Of the entire cast of characters, Caine and Pomni are the only ones to have circus-related designs. Caine of course as the ringmaster, and Pomni as a jester.

The others' character designs are relevant to their defining characteristics or issues; for instance, Kinger's seniority and wisdom (when he's sane); Ragatha as a doll matching her gentle, yet people-pleasing, nature.

But what about Pomni?

Well, for one thing, she's anxious and a bit awkward; traits of "a fool". But her character is far more than that. Her character isn't as simple as feeling panicked, and the more she adapts to the circus, the more that shows. So it certainly runs deeper than that.

Historically speaking, jesters not only served as entertainment to royalty, but had the privilege of offering genuine criticism and advice (as long as they successfully entertained them). And this sort of reminded me of a very common theme in TADC fanfictions / comics:

Pomni becoming an advisor to Caine.

Now, I don't believe she'll canonically become an advisor. But I do think this points to the potential that she could be the one to actually break through to Caine. And with Caine's descent into insanity as he tries to please the humans, this becomes more and more likely.

ii. The Link Between Gummigoo & Caine

For a while, I wasn't quite sure how Gummigoo would be relevant to however TADC ends. (The episode is a great analysis on exisistential and depression, in my opinion. But in terms of the plot, I wasn't fully sure at first how adding a character and immediately killing him off would tie back to the ending.)

And I personally believe that the purpose of a character like Gummigoo, another AI who became sentient, will eventually tie back to Caine. Especially given how similar they are—when stripped of their given purpose, they think, “i’m nothing”. The only difference is, we didn't see when Caine became sentient; and it was likely similar.

To me, this is also supported by how Gummigoo was introduced so early on into the series; and they brought him back so soon after--not even halfway through the series--as closure. I mean, she quite literally says goodbye to him and watched him go; that side plot read, to me, as her gaining a sense of closure and acceptance.

But why would the connection between Pomni and Gummigoo come to a close so early on in the series?

I suspect it's because that connection will eventually fuel an understanding of Caine.

(This paragraph from Gummigoo's Wiki Fandom page even sounds like it could apply to Caine:

"...grappling with existential anxiety and an eagerness to understand the unknown. Through the development of his relationship with Pomni where she comes to understand his hopelessness, he evolves from a seemingly antagonistic figure to a well-intentioned individual, illustrating his capacity for growth and redemption.")

They also released an officially licensed TADC "best friends" necklace at Hot Topic of Caine and Gummigoo. Obviously, it was intended as a joke, but I do think even that shows that there is some sense of similarity, in that they are the only AIs in the entire circus that have become sentient.

Yes, Pomni most definitely resents Caine, but she has also been shown to be very empathetic. She understood Gummigoo, and Caine isn't too far off. The main barrier is that no one, at the moment, sees Caine's insecurities (except for Zooble), and only resent him.

Would Pomni punch Caine given the chance? Yes, absolutely. But i also believe that there will be a breakthrough. Because as she said, she doesn't want anybody to feel like they're nothing.

iii. Gooseworx's Comment About "Meaning to be found in a stagnant life"

With all of this in mind, I also wanted to tie it back to the message Gooseworx wants people to take away from TADC.

Meaning to be found in a stagnant life.

Of course, that refers to the humans trapped in the circus, stuck doing the same things day after day. But I also think it’s going to, in some ways, refer to Caine. After all, he is just as trapped--if not more--than the humans.

Caine exists to entertain in the circus, to please. The very meaning of his existence was questioned when zooble implied that he was bad at what he was made to do. it’s “all” he exists to do.

A stagnant life of creating and entertaining.

Similarly, the inspiration behind TADC--I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream--follows a very similar underlying meaning. The title of IHNMAIMS, at a glance, refers to the suffering of the five humans being eternally tortured. But it also refers to AM (the inspiration for Caine), who quite literally has no mouth, being a program. AM makes the humans suffer, because he is suffering. He hates humans, living a tortourous, never-ending existence.

"I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream" -- refers to both AM and the humans.

A "stagnant life" -- refers to the humans, yes, but likely also Caine.

One that there is meaning in that perhaps, Pomni could show him.

iv. Caine Is Alone

This also ties back to this ask Goose answered:

Caine quite literally has no one.

In fact, it's worse than that. He has people who admire him, but none of them are real.

Aside from being a menace, Bubble praises him.

The Moon is in love with him.

The NPCs call him "God".

Everything Caine creates loves him, because he creates them to do so. To give him the validation, praise, and connection that he otherwise completely lacks. He praises himself, in fact, because otherwise his self-esteem is completely shattered.

But the humans? The moment he enters, the comradry amongst the group goes away. The room goes quiet. When they return from their adventures, they don't even acknowledge when he welcomes them.

At the end of episode four, once Gangle walks out, Caine assures himself that he's "such a good boss", then is shortly cut off by him glitching out. It reads as a silly cartoon gag, but it also shows a crack in his sense of self.

Of course, the others don't think of him or consider that he may be lonely, because he's the source of many of their problems. He's an AI with a limited spectrum of emotions, so that is how they see him.

v. The Worst Thing You Can Do in the Digital World is Exactly What's Happening to Caine

Near the end of episode three, the writers made it a point to show that Caine is highly insecure about his worth when his adventures aren't appreciated or liked.

Meanwhile, around the same time that this is happening, Pomni and Kinger are stuck in "hell"--and what does Kinger tell her?

Caine, minutes earlier, started panicking because he believed that no one wanted or loved his adventures. In fact, it eats away at him so much that he's overworking himself, driving himself to the brink of insanity to please everyone. To prove himself. To feel wanted and loved.

And, of course, Pomni is the one who hears this piece of advice. Something she puts to use towards Ragatha but eventually, I believe, will acknowledge Caine more.

While we're on the topic of "dialogue that wasn't directly said about Caine but clearly applies to him", there's the end of episode four.

As Gangle's explaining that she "cracked under the pressure", the shot instantly cuts to Caine watching her.

And now here we have him cracking under the pressure. The Wacky Watch site saying, “SOS COME QUICKLY DANGER, I AM LOSING MY MIND ALSO HI”. He feels a sudden sense of pressure to prove himself, to go above and beyond, but ultimately cracks under the pressure.

As we saw in episode three, his mental state affects the very state of the circus. So, him "losing [his] mind" is going to be impossible for the others to ignore at a certain point.

And I believe that there's a certain jester (who is established as very empathetic) who will actually be the one to do something about it.

vi. Pomni is the Most Likely Person Who'd Speak Up to Caine

Okay, this sort of seems like a "duh". She's the main character, after all.

But it also delves deeper than that. The others are too preoccupied with how their time at the circus has traumatized them. Ragatha is nice, sure, but as Gangle said, it's hard to determine what's genuine from her.

The refreshing thing about Pomni is that she is both hot-tempered and incredibly empathetic. She is fully capable of speaking up, and in every single episode she has been shown to really listen and offer advice to those who are struggling.

And, as Pomni herself said, she doesn't want anybody to feel like they're nothing.

Also, in episode three, Zooble explicitly gives reasons why no one speaks up: Ragatha is too nice to voice the truth; Jax enjoys the adventures as an opportunity to torment others; Gangle is too shy; Kinger's mind is gone. And then Zooble does speak up, but gives into frustration and simply tells Caine to "forget it". (So he literally does.)

The reason Pomni doesn't speak up is because she "looks traumatized everytime she comes back from one". For one thing, that feels less like a "reason" and more of a "reaction"; whereas the others are actual character flaws. They don't align.

I would argue, though, that Pomni does speak up.

In episode four, she's shown as the only character to have interrupted Caine as he's announcing the day's adventure, flat-out criticizing him.

The others even look surprised that she interrupted him, so I'm sure it doesn't happen often (aside from Zooble's distaste towards the adventures, of course).

I’d also like to point out that despite them being two of the most important characters in the series (story-wise), and how often they are marketed together, they haven’t canonically interacted much.

It could mean nothing, but I do believe the lack of interactions now will build up to Caine’s inevitable crash-out and a potential resolution.

And I love Showtime as a ship, but I also see their dynamic as something to be explored. Especially because the series is already acknowledging how everything is affecting him; sooner or later, the characters will have to.

Anyways, TLDR: I think their dynamic will eventually play a big role in the series, especially since we’re already seeing the beginnings of Caine angst.

[oneverydelululemon]

One thing I don't get about a lot of Spy X Family fanworks is that a lot of them depict the identity reveal as like "How... how could you lie to me?" dramatic angst. Which like yeah I get angst is cool and all, but like, are we forgetting that Loid and Yor are both doing it? To each other? For the same reason?

This is literally like the one case where the two people involved would absolutely understand why the other didn't tell them about it. They'd literally be like "Oh, well that's completely understandable, I too hid my true occupation to protect the peace and the ones I love". The most I expect is just a "oh, that explains a lot actually."

[oneverydelululemon]

I think I’ve seen a few posts on here about how “Damian-Vision” makes Anya very sparkly on top of emphasizing the good parts about her appearance. While that in itself is a very funny concept, I want to take it a step further, and have come up with the most nonsensical headcanon/crack theory I possibly could have.

The reason why Anya looks sparkly to Damian is because he’s the ONLY person who can see the twinkles that appear around her when she reads minds. We also see him swatting away bubbles of text occasionally in the manga, something that he has done since early on in the series. And his swatting is acknowledged by other characters, who are always confused by what he’s doing.

Damian is able to see the elements of the manga that are invisible to every other character. He’s got a superpower like Anya does, but he hasn’t realized it.

[oneverydelululemon]

So, according to Damian, his dad stopped the war... very interesting,,, very interesting indeed.

It's a small line, but it says a lot about Damian, his values, and why he looks up to his father. Damian, likely with a limited understanding of politics, believes that his father was responsible for at least the end of the war. Whether or not that is true (to be addressed later), it still helps to clarify why he would look up to such an "evil" man.

Donovan has long had the reputation of being a war mongerer, and Damian is essentially the only character who has anything remotely positive to say about him. It's clear that the reason Damian idolizes his father is because he doesn't really know who his father is. As a result, he idolizes his father based solely on action, not ideology.

And this is where it gets interesting. Damian looking up to his father for stopping the war means that to Damian, the heroic thing to do in this situation is to stop the war. This implies that Damian is, of course, anti-war.

This also indicates that despite his open adoration for his father, no one actually talks to him about him. He only has second-hand information that he was left to interpret by himself; drawing the faulty conclusion that his father stopped the war.

Damian doesn't know his father. He knows a very vague and disjoint version of him. Most of he loves probably isn't even true, and it's just things he projected onto his father to fill the gaps. At his core, he wants to love his father and therefore will find any reason to.

This helps to better explain the disconnect between him and his family. Demetrius is old enough to know and understand his father's role and beliefs with regard to war, and for that reason, he looks down on him. Melinda knew her husband, but at some point, he changed in such a way that he is borderline unrecognizable. With that change comes fear and distrust.

Now for the big question: did Donovan stop the war?

Answer: Assuming Donovan was in office at the time, yes.

Although I don't think the exact conclusion to the war was ever shared, my best guess is that it was some form of mutual agreement, possibly due to an external force. Given the timing of the story, this would be around the time when the UN was formed, and that could have pressured the countries to go about the warfare in more discreet and less destructive ways. Alternatively, there could be a shift in an environmental factor that caused both countries to pull back (eg, limit weaponry, natural disaster, etc).

(It's hard to say how much influence an organization like the UN would have as we still have no context and the political forces that drove the war. But then we will be getting into discussions about colonialism and imperialism, which is such a drag.)

What we do know for sure is that nobody truly won the war. Hence, why they are currently in a cold war.

Leaning more into a treaty or agreement of some sort being used, we can see why the SSS and WISE are still active. Westalis does not trust Ostania to uphold their side of the bargain and therefore are prompted to keep spies in the east to ensure nothing goes wrong. The SSS is reaction to their presence, seeking to pick them out and stop them from reporting back. This might seem suspicious on Ostania's side, but again, we do not know the true intentions of Westalis.

Without any proper understanding of why the two countries fought, it's hard to define "peace" on either side. The story is told from a biased perspective, so I refuse to simply take Twilight's word on the situation.

That being said

Donovan likely was forced to stop the war by signing whatever treaty or agreement was presented to them. So, even if he didn't necessarily want to, he still did. Therefore, he did stop the war. However, the detail that Damian is missing is the why. We know he didn't want to war to end and is clearly up to something in that space ship of his.

We can always refer back to his very not creepy debate from the 17th century:

He does not believe that humans have the capacity to genuinely stop fighting. According to him, someone is always lying, and therefore, no one can be trusted. A deranged take for a 7th grader, but that does explain his behavior. Ironically, he is now the liar who can not be trusted. His own anxiety turned him into the very person he resented.

At least according to Twilight.

Now i can go on and on about the parallels between Twilight and Donovan, but no one cares, so I'll make it short. Twilight is functionally no different from Donovan. They both aid in the cycle of war.

Although I don't think sxf is sophisticated enough to pull this kind of twist, it is still interesting to think about.

In the same way, we as an audience blindly assume Twilight is right, the same way Damian blindly assumes his father is right. In the end, we don't actually know what Donovan wants. The whole point of the mission is to figure it out. And man is he dragging his feet on it its been 100 chapters Twilight...