#- i have no clue what the relevance is to the plot LMAO

[albatris]

had a dream the title of rental car book two was just KEEP LEFT UNLESS OVERTAKING

(anyway today was moving day!!! so I'm too exhausted to post anything else. I woke up to post this. goodnight again. be good drivers y'all)

[hugemilkshake]

Hey can you do more uh...self aware cookie run au with anxious reader? Just I can't help but imagine more scenarios of y/n being anxious and thinking 'OH MY GOD IM GONNA DIE!' Buuut end up spoiled by cookies. Here are some examples I thought up but if you think of anymore cute and fun things, I'd love to see em too!

Y/n goes to the hollyberry kingdom and meets pitaya. Thinks they are gonna die to dragon...nope, dragon just wants to encourage y/n to make smores or roast jelly dogs over their flames and if a single one of the cookies who sabotage the competition even think for a SECOND about interrupting that, then they got another thing coming!

Y/n thinks they are gonna die to the licorice sea or the traitor affogato cookie when encountering them....sea acts kind to y/n somehow (or just ignores em...your choice lol) and affogato just wants to spoil y/n with sweets! (Bonus: instead of joining the COD....they go with y/n as something along the lines of 'you know what? I don't want to take over this kingdom anymore. I don't want it anymore, I want y/n! King, I admit to everything, please banish me so I can run away to y/n's kingdom!') Lmao!

Golden cheese kingdom...y/n goes in, thinking glitches are gonna kill em buuuut all the digital cookies make sure y/n is feeling safe, happy, and comfortable....aaaand golden cheese gives em lots of hugs lol! Can imagine being wrapped up in her wings feels really good!

Enjoy the milkshake! I had to give an excuse for writing about affogato cookie- I mean, the dude caused me brain rot. Also I’m not writing any golden cheese stuff because smoked cheese massacred my team and I’m angry at that (my team had way more power than smoked cheese)

Somewhat plot relevant?

-platonic self aware au-

Normally you had means of controlling your anxiety but at this moment, there was no way you could control your anxiety. You were in the middle of a forest! And not even one in your own world! It was one in the game you had recently just gotten into!

You were only on episode 4 in the story mode so you literally had no clue where you were. You just sat on the ground and started to silently panic.

But at some point a cookie you did see once in the cookie unlock screen kinda picked you up and just took you to a palace? You don’t really remember what the cookie said but they weren’t hurting you! So that must mean something!

But you were now having a feast in this palace with a cookie who you learned was actually a dragon- well anyways the dragon said they were Pitaya Dragon, also known as The Red Dragon. You did panic for a moment before Pitaya told you to just chill out and have something to eat.

And you know what? It was actually quite fun! The Red Dragon talked about other dragons and nice fun stories while the two of you ate, you were sad to go but you had too. You got some berries and stuff you could sell as a wondering traveler. Though you did tell Pitaya you’d come back one day so might want to stay close

——————

You had gone from a warm and humid forest to a frozen wasteland. What’s more to say? You had everything you needed to survive and villages were quite nice to you, you had your own gear so you didn’t bother them too much.

But you did befriend a peculiar cookie when you were by the Dark Cacao kingdom…

A cookie who looked quite lavish found you and seemed a little lost and panicked… kinda how you were when you first got here…. You felt bad to the cookie so you went to talk to them

Apparently his name is Affogato Cookie and he was banished from the Dark Cacao kingdom on the grounds of the false accusations of him trying to upstage the king. Poor guy…

Now since Pitaya Dragon was so generous to you when you had nothing so you decided to help Affogato get back in his feet since you should be passing on others kindness!

What you didn’t know was that one Affogato lied to you, two Affogato had connections to Dark Enchantress and three, he would become your travel buddy. So now the two of you travel around as friends :3

[mulders-too-large-shirt]

s3 episode 8 thoughts

i’m conflicted. i didn’t like this episode, and i don’t know if my reasoning is valid or not. but i guess at the end of the day it’s all subjective, right? it’s MY BLOG and i decide which episodes are good vs bad in the juni-verse.

(do not be offended if this is your favorite episode and i am slandering it. it’s not personal, pinky promise, but i explain my reasoning at the end, so let’s jump in)

((also i hear geese right now. not relevant but highkey distracting))

oooo today’s episode title looks french… i thought at first that it would mean (feminine) someone who forgets something, but it actually means “a type of dungeon with a single escape route”. the more you know!

i’m excited to watch this episode. it sounds interesting. it also sounds like it could be really really dark. so let’s see! (verdict: DARK!)

we open on high school picture day. a girl named amy is getting her pictures taken. these girls are in very cute outfits. a guy from the photography company is staring at amy though… OH! and stroking her picture in a darkroom. HELLO??? jail jail jail. 

(we later learn his name is carl. he will be referred to as “the creepy man” and “carl” alternatively throughout this post)

he cut out her picture and put it next to a picture of himself??? is he making a collage? GROWN MAN! GROWN MAN DOING ALL THIS BTW!!! in what looks like a trapdoor darkroom beneath his house. is this the aforementioned oubliette….?

amy is sleeping and. SOMEONE IS COMING IN HER WINDOW. NO MA’AM. it’s carl, who says that “nobody is going to spoil us”. a little girl sees this happen!!!! noooo… but maybe she can give a clue?? i mean a witness to a kidnapping seems like it’ll help solve the case, right?

now we are at a burger place, someone is taking a while to fill up some drinks- her name tag says “lucy”. and then there is BLOOD all over her from her nose. the boss looks majorly freaked. and she FAINTS! mumbling that nobody is going to spoil us. OH… so lucy and the girl must have some sort of connection. boy, that seems it'd be disruptive to the work day…

bum bum bum bum!!!! spooky noises. spooky imagery. you know it, you love it: the intro.

mulder and a very large coat are here to investigate the kidnapping. he is looking about at various rooms and walls. 

noooo, he is in a child’s bedroom :( and he finds a very sad mrs. jacobs looking out the window. he says they will do everything they can to help but she is like “how could you really know how i feel?"

well actually he is quite well versed in kidnappings!!! so please be mindful of your words. she walks away and he looks very sad. way to dig some stuff up for the guy. she didn’t mean it, i know, but still, it was a very purposeful dialogue choice.

(mulder is staring intently at dark red spots on the carpet) “it’s blood”, says a guy we have never seen before. excellent work detective. could have had me fooled. i was thinking it was jam /s

this guy thinks it was someone that knew her, mulder does not think this is the case because it was so bold. fight fight fight!

oh, he actually came on this case to talk to lucy from the burger place!!! and not for the kidnapping. we should have known that was far too conventional for our friend.

(door opens) (deep sigh) (scully’s voice from off screen) "mulder…" <- yeah this had me giggling. not even really sure why. they are reunited after a flight apart. it must have been harrowing. 

so, he explains: the girl, amy, is 15 years old, and was kidnapped. and twenty miles across town, lucy was repeating the same words the kidnapper said as she passed out! “well that’s spooky”, scully notes, and mulder replies “that’s my name, isn’t it?” <- LMAO

OH GET THIS: Lucy was kidnapped when she was 8 for FIVE YEARS!!!! until she was found by the side of the road. HUH??? THE PLOT IS THICKENING. same guy…? scully seems very deep in thought

first thing lucy says upon their entrance: “i’d like a cigarette” in the hospital. queen i think there are laws against this but idk 💔 

they explain that amy said those same words about spoiling it for us at the same time she did, and lucy has a thoughtful look on her face then says no, i know nothing about it. NOT BUYING IT!

paused on scully’s face to take notes and she really is just so beautiful huh. 

lucy asks when she can leave and they say um probs when the doctor says you can. and she’s like, no they said it was up to you. so they’re like uh yeah you can go. this is very exciting and she doesn’t even change before she leaves. 

CREEPY MAN ALERT. he’s on the side of the road with a busted tire and a tow guy offers to change it for him for $10. a screaming deal! until this fellow picks up a crowbar looking thing and screams LEAVE ME ALONE and chases him away!!! deeply suspicious behaviors. tow guy calls him a freak as he drives away. a very rare deserved case of calling someone a freak as you drive by them.

back at the station, the lead agent or whatever his title is tells mulder that lucy and her boyfriend have a criminal record, but mulder doesn’t think she’s involved. i’d have to agree, but maybe i’m easily fooled. 

“mulder, i got something- something weird” scully strides in the room and announces. and i’m thinking, YEAHHHH BABY, WE LOVE THAT AROUND THESE PARTS!!!

so, here is the weird stuff: lucy had two types of blood on her shirt that night… so scully is gonna test and see if there was a match to amy’s. but mulder doesn’t want lucy treated as a suspect, so he says to try and keep that quiet.

now we’re at a halfway house. a guy is going up some stairs whilst lucy shivers in bed. she has scratches all over her face and complains about being unable to see. and it looks like she has the same scratches as the girl in the creepy guy carl’s hole!!!

mulder rolling up to the halfway house. he asks to take lucy to dinner, as the paramedics say she is probably better now after her episode. 

she is going to town on some soup and insisting that she is clean, and you can even ask henry about this. she is very insistent that she CANNOT help amy, but he is trying to gently be like. well... maybe you CAN. and she says: NO.

back in the hole, amy is having pictures taken of her. and screaming

at the station. mulder is watching a video of lucy from 1978 where she is crying on the ground and also screaming. her eyes were hypersensitive to the light when she finally escaped from her kidnapping all those years ago. it’s honestly very upsetting to watch.

oh!! scully has a break in the case: all the school photos were sent out EXCEPT amy’s. and the assistant was fired THAT DAY AFTER THE SHOOT. his name is CARL. and he spent the last 15 years institutionalized “for a bipolar condition”. well would that make him not a suspect for whoever took lucy…? i can’t do math. but if she got back in ‘78 then it would be possible, right? because idk when s3 takes place. anyway, mulder’s gonna show the photo to lucy and see if she knows him.

(i groan when a story makes a villain bipolar or have any other mental health issue to enhance their ~scariness~. it’s cliche, it’s perpetuating harmful stereotypes, and it’s bad writing. i was mentally throwing tomatoes at the screen)

carl is leaving and he left amy in the basement. is this her chance to break free? or is it a trick. she finds a hole in the wall sealed with some wood and starts to rip it up 

back to lucy cam. mulder is trying to get her to stop running away and he grabs her shoulder and she says “DON’T TOUCH ME. i don’t like to be touched” this is understandable and he apologizes.

anyway, he shows her carl’s photo, and she starts to run away again, indicating that she does, in fact, know who it is.

back to amy cam. she’s trying to break free, but he is coming back in his car! he hears her trying to get out and sees her running out the window. she is running!!! into the woods!!! run run run run!!!

lucy is also running. 

but no!!! they both fall!!! mulder picks lucy up. nooooo, amy failed her escape attempt :(

but upon seeing the photo, lucy confirms that it IS the same guy that took her way back when. she says she feels like she’s going through it all over again. 

however, scully and the cops are at the door! lucy is suspicious. reveal: THE BLOOD ON THE UNIFORM WAS AMY’S!!! mulder is saying she didn’t do it, but scully says it’s concrete evidence. unless you believe in the migration of blood. 

carl is explaining to amy that she shouldn’t have run. she asks for some water. is she gonna make another break for it? no. she does not. but she does ask for her mom and also for her to please not die here. it’s very sad.

mulder throws out a theory: maybe lucy bled out amy’s blood. it’s a stretch. “i hate to say this mulder, but i think you just ran out of credibility” <- girl i think that was a while ago.

i jest, but it appears scully does not. yowch. okay, yeah, bleeding someone else’s blood is a little rough in terms of an idea, but some thoughts we try and keep inside our heads in terms of our pals having wild theories.

OHHHH... scully insinuating that he is seeing his sister in lucy, and that is why he cannot see her as the perpetrator when all the evidence points to it…. oh i felt chills... or some sort of adjacent negative experience. bad feelings washed upon me.

he says that not every single thing he does or says is traced back to his sister but… i’m actually not gonna agree with him on that one. anyway, he’s mad at her. and i would be too tbh!

someone is coming in to the station who saw carl. it’s the tow guy!! and he was spotted heading near the place lucy was found years ago!!! 

carl witnesses the cops racing off to his place. but the agents go to the photo store to see if he has an account. not a bad idea on behalf of mulder.

although, we don’t even know if they go in because next they are ambushing carl’s property. and they see the trap door!!! is she in there??? and she is!!!

WAIT NO. IT’S LUCY?? everyone is confused. 

okay, so they DID go to the photo store, because they have the photos of amy that were taken in the basement… i see now. i am listening and learning.

the cop guy wants to take lucy into custody because she can’t say why she is at the crime scene, but mulder is like “no i’ll take her” and scully tells the cop dude it’s alright. so now she must see what he was saying. he’s walking lucy out. and she’s saying that carl hasn’t touched amy, and then she starts shivering and coughing, saying she is cold and wet. and mulder’s touching her….

he says lucy is trying to tell them amy’s in a river, so they try to go there. and then when carl dunks amy underwater, lucy starts spitting up water!!! and then drowning in the car on land. 

agents are running in the woods.

they find carl, and mulder shoots him. then he runs off holding amy. so he starts doing mouth to mouth and she’s doing chest compressions and lucy is coming back to life?? maybe?? no.

scully is trying to tell him to stop because she’s dead, but he won’t, and they actually come to blows about it. he’s sitting there all soggy and wet and crying. but then she finally starts coughing!!! 

mulder learns that lucy was also dying, and he gets all freaked out and runs back to her. and lucy is, in fact, dead. he’s touching her face as water pours out of her and she’s crying. mulder is full on kneeling at her dead body and sobbing. and damn, if this moment didn't get me right in the chest.

scully shows up to the halfway house, where mulder is sitting on lucy’s bed with a bunch of pictures of her. scully says amy had NO INJURIES and she can’t explain it, but nobody wants to talk about it because everyone is relieved to have her back. and it turns out lucy drowned. despite being on land.

“mulder, whatever there was between them, you were part of that connection, did you think about that?” <- AUGH (girl who is in pain as scully tries to put into words how important he is to not just her, but the whole world)

but he says that dying was pretty much all amy could do to escape from her past. and i'm thinking, well, if this whole episode has been a way to comment on your past... what exactly are you saying? because i'm hearing things i don't like. what about the power of healing and friendship? have we tried this?

i’m not sure how i feel about this episode, so i want to hear your thoughts even more than usual. actually, i am pretty sure that i didn't like it. i love a good character-centric episode, and this was definitely a mulder episode, but i felt that scully was really sidelined. like REALLY sidelined. to the extent she felt almost mean, with the losing credibility comment and trying to get him to stop doing CPR and bringing his sister up into it. on the other hand, though, she did seem to accurately describe the situation as himself projecting his past onto these people. it was pretty clear that was the case no matter how much denial he had going on.

luckily, in long form content like this, when something is written that feels out of character, i have an ease of just ignoring it i feel is usually denied in tighter season or movies. like yeah, everyone has an episode or two where their favorite character acts weird as hell. i could already point to a couple episodes on mulder’s behalf- cough cough genderbender cough cough 3- so maybe this will even out the tally of agents doing stuff that feels wrong. and like those episodes, i can ignore them. i am the rememberer and when i need to i am also the forgetter.

(now, you may present an argument to me that these actions WERE in character for scully. and i will not deny you the chance to present that argument my way. i shall hear out cases with a fair and impartial nature. but my opinions have been voiced)

characterization aside. this was another dark episode with almost no lightheartedness. there were a few things i giggled early on, like the way she just announced his name when they’re reunited, but other than that… childhood kidnapping? a real bummer. also, their psychic connection wasn’t even explained. it didn’t seem to follow any sort of logic at all. she would just… snap into it sometimes and then out of it. but you couldn’t really tell why she’d snap into it beyond it seemed moments where amy was in danger. but like. when you’re kidnapped you’re basically in danger 24/7. so: ??? 

and the transmutation of physical injury. they said that amy had no injuries, but we could see she had the same face cuts and scrapes as lucy. so are they ignoring that or are we thinking that lucy dying absorbed all that damage…?

mulder also ends the episode saying that he thinks death was the only way lucy could escape her suffering, which has troubling implications for his own character and those who love him.

hmm. idk, i just don’t think i liked this one. i’m learning that i find children being hurt less campy and fun than aliens and bigfoot. a good scary episode can be that, both good and scary, but i didn’t feel scared because it still was fantastic in nature. when there was a real scary episode- i’m thinking of irresistible in s2- the reason that felt so scary was because it WAS an entirely human, no supernatural elements at all, spooky episode. and that was the whole point; that episode was used to explore scully’s greatest fears, her struggle with being unable to control every aspect of life, trying to grasp who she can and cannot trust, and the depths to which the human soul can descend. so we had something similar going on here, except that lucy was taking amy’s damage, and you can see how that sort of transmigration makes for a harder sell on the commentary of the evil things humans can accomplish, no?

hmm. again, please let me know. i actually might look this one up, because ever since i learned that there are wikipedia episodes for every single episode, i have mostly neglected that fact to avoid audience ratings sullying my own hot takes on the subject. but this one has me curious. 

[hallucinateonpaperspines]

Sorry for swamping your ask box with my questions again :(

but like on a scale of ‘ew that’s absolutely disgusting get away from me’ to ‘you have been blessed to be able to experience this’ do you think the autobots and decepticons would have to food and how ingrained and important it is to world history and our cultures?

I mean it’s like an entire love language in its own and it’s something that can be so deeply personal to people ugh I love it. once they get past the whole ‘yeah this hamburger was made from a dead cow’ thing ofc lmao.

Also like do they even realise and or care about animal byproducts used for clothes and stuff?

-🍄

Deceptions have no idea about this until it’s relevant for the plot. Like no clue what so ever until they’re forced to deal with it and that results in a few breakdowns (poor knockout, his seats aren’t even real leather but the fact that he’s mimicking it…) along with a little emotional journey for a few players about different cultures and finding common ground. Because I do think, especially in times of a shortage, sharing your resources is something special. It has meaning to it. And in this war, with a major energon shortage, sharing “food” is a bonding thing. Once that’s translated to its organic equivalent, there’s a little more understanding about it and the comfort or bonds food can create. They still are absolutely disgusted by the organic aspect, but hey, people among the ranks have done weirder things for science and not survival.

The Autobots also don’t really consider this too much until it’s actually relevant. They’re more open to the cultural exchange aspect, especially with having a diverse array of food backgrounds present. Miko with her Japanese cuisine, Raf with his mother’s homemade Mexican, even Jack who crosses between an equivalent of MacDonald and the canonical tofu dishes Nurse Darby has made. And, I’m reaching a little bit, but Fowler reads like a soul food man to me. I can just see that man chowing on some fried chicken, coleslaw, and talking trash about military rations. So the Autobots would get to see food, not only as a necessary requirement or binding implement, but a representation of different subcultures or culture within a society.

OP would eat that up.

That said, there would still be a slight stigma to get over. In my mind that originates a lot from the logical political history behind the majority of the Autobots (likely mid-classers who could gain from a caste shuffle but have a lot to lose overall) who probably were a bit removed from the concept of death. Cybertronians are an exceptionally long-lived species, and I could see it as very easy in their original system for a dissociation to form with their own mortality. Lower casts who were personified cogs would have been more exposed and more prone to taking advantage or being aware of burial processes (ie repairing themselves using available spares from remains, the dead being melted down a slag instead of memorialized, etc)

I think this could also be a reason why Megatronus wanted more decisive and quicker action (lifespans were shorter in his experience) and why Orion was so horrified by it (loss of any form of life would have been horrific in the sterile environment he was so used to)

So bots have an issue with death and the war kinda helped that a bit, but there’s still a major stigma against using the dead as a resource. (Cons don’t have that problem; hi cliffjimper!) the process of digesting organic organisms is similar enough that it raises some hackles, then combine my theory about Cybe essentially being primary consumers (tho you could potentially argue they’re some form of producers if you come at the angle of energon simply being a physical form of energy that could equate to the sun… bayverse kinda did that with the sun harvester plot…) coupled with some minor residual prey programming due to predacon/scraplete influence, and humans eating habits are incredibly conflicting.

I think it’s incredibly funny because both sides have hang-ups about the opposite sides of the issue; Autobots appreciate the culture and bonding but have difficulty accepting the physical reality and Cons understand the necessity but need help to connect that to the emotional and social relevance.

[necroromantics]

TALI AND TOBIN ARE SUCH A MOOD I need more of them

THANK YOU 🔥 I have a couple asks for more TalBin content but I genuinely have no clue what to write LMAO I don't know what yall are interested in seeing. How they met? Angst? Fluff? Funny moments? Dynamics? Headcanons? One-shots? Creepedverse plot-relevant content with them? MY CREATIVE JUICE IS RUNNING ON EMPTY

[pochapal]

1. Congrats on the kinda blown up post!

2. This is a really weird, kinda stupid ask, but out of the Umineko characters u know, who seems like they’d be the most fun to play in a ttrpg? I ask because I know multiple people have done this one character and, for spoilery reasons, I have no clue how.

1: thank you i guess! feels weird to have a post gain traction among people beyond my usual follower circle lmao

2: now the first thing you need to know is that i don't do ttrpgs or understand anything about them in any meaningful way so this is very hard to consider. i do think the dice rolling factor of certain tabletops plays nicely with the whole "demon's roulette" angle of umineko except for the part where umineko only pretends like it's a series of random chance events and not a thoroughly premeditated script but maybe chance vs control could thematically translate into a good ttrpg character basis maybe? i guess the hard thing with umineko is that everything including its characters was not designed for a rng roll one outcome of millions scenario but instead deliberate consideration and understanding - idk much about ttrpgs but i feel like needing to take a 3000 word break to painstakingly sketch out a deeply biased account of a character's tragic backstory in order to explain the relevance of the morally questionable action they have just taken (the explaining of which being as plot-critical as the actions themselves) isn't the most friendly thing you could mix in with a ttrpg formula.

as character archetypes i think a great deal of umineko characters ire fun and engaging to explore on their own terms, but ttrpgs often have a growth/power fantasy element baked into them that isn't entirely congruent with the grounding theses of most of the cast. natsuhi is deeply fascinating as an individual but "powerless woman who is snared in the twin nets of pride and desperation and whose only agency is whether or not she can uphold a conspiracy to people who can leverage all kinds of abuse towards her" doesn't really work in any kind of rpg sense. if natsuhi were to get "stronger" and "advance" this would lay ruin to the underpinning tragic essence of what makes natsuhi *natsuhi*. same goes even for characters like battler who you'd think would click more with this formula - even a hypothetical mystery-solving based ttrpg could not accommodate battler as the inherent gamification of the narrative necessitates truths and evidence being revealed on a diegetic level in such a way that battler could actually figure out, and at that point what we're talking about is basically danganronpa instead of umineko.

i think in this way despite being a vn and thus a form of video game so much of umineko is heavily resistant to being "played" in the traditional game sense. there is a game going on in umineko between writer and reader, but this is a game of thinking and interpretation and understanding and not something that can be broken down into quantifiable Progression Units. the only "final boss" of umineko is your own lack of understanding and this fight is waged in your own head and not within the fabric of the story - even if in umineko proper battler "figures out" the mystery, it won't end up in a climactic final fantasy-esque showdown with beatrice on rokkenjima. gamification is kind of like "fantasy" within a narrative context (this is something i have/will talk about more in the writeup so forgive me if this isn't clearly defined yet) in that it's an embellished obfuscation of truth in the Romantic sense where you get lost in the process rather than the results - in theory, battler cornering beatrice during the denouement and saying definitively "this is the truth behind everything" is as a decisive an action as battler using the power of anime and friendship to energy blast beatrice into ash. the difference is the former keeps the mystery and tragedy front and center, while the latter out of necessity makes it specifically about battler as the center of the narrative universe.

this goes into the territory of mystery fiction and whether or not the designated Detective (capitalized in the stock archetype way and not the literary analysis dichotomy way) character must also occupy the traditional role of protagonist in the Hero sense. battler is the central character in umineko and the most crucial information is filtered through his lens, but battler is not the Hero of umineko - he is a passive witness to the tragedy who can only grow more desperate and powerless as the atrocities continue to pile up. the troubling thing about a lot of mystery is how you make a Detective that isn't basically just a cop - there is a certain power tension in mystery where through uncovering the truth the Detective takes the obfuscating "power" held by the Culprit and redirects into a clarifying force of their own. a denouement is when the Detective has, after a sort of hero's journey, acquired enough truth/power to unmask/dominate the Culprit, and as a "reward" is able to use the power structures of society (police, carceral punishment, "Just" murder) to get their way (return to a status quo) where the Culprit was previously able to use the power structures of mystery narratives (tricks, unreliable perspective, misdirection, "Unjust" murder) in order to get theirs (subversion of the status quo in accordance with their motive). all of this very easily feeds into copaganda-esque regurgitations of power dynamics and grows more prominent the more physical agency a Detective-Hero has in their given narrative situation.

bring those elements to a gamified stage and what you're left with is more a simulation of dominion through your character's power biases than a nuanced understanding of the social conditions that led to the formation of these events in the first place. you could of course perform a complete dissection of the Events and Circumstances of a ttrpg's setting, but is producing a diatribe on social structures and reinforcement of power akin to "playing"? i think maybe an umineko character might work in an undertale/deltarune-esque manner where there is an explicit conflict and tension inherent to the non-neutral action of "controlling" a character, but i don't see how that easily fits into the dna specifically of ttrpgs. there is an element of roleplay in ttrpgs where there is a meeting of the player's self and the character's self in order to produce the performance of the game-narrative in accordance with the structural rules. laying out like that i guess there's overlap between the premise of a roleplay-focused ttrpgs and the Witch Narrative, but both have different causes and different end goals. in a ttrpg no matter what in some form your goal is to "win", to attain something and move on to the next thing - everything in a ttrpg/game serves more as a vessel to enable the player to both achieve and experience a victory-state. there are ttrpg types that could interrogate these elements in a satisfying way, but nothing in umineko is directly about these things and thus a translation in this form would be to lose something in the process.

you don't come to umineko to "win" umineko. or if you do you'll quickly figure out that that is something not possible within the story's verbage. mystery and horror and tragedy do not produce victory in the conventional sense and any story in those genres that uncritically ends on a "victory" is dubious at best and incompetent at worst. in these worlds and fictions, how is it that something you could call victory can be attained? what sort of person would you need to be in order to strive for this victory? if any of the umineko characters were capable of this trajectory then they would never have ended up in the situation that they are in. to not only be concerned with powergaming but also to have the ability to do so fundamentally changes an individual's position within a narrative - for the premise to exist it implies a way out of any potential hardship, that if you're good enough at [power verb] then you can attain autonomy/power/dominion. nobody on rokkenjima ever had any of these things, which is why this is all happening in the first place. i don't think you can ever satisfactorily separate umineko characters from their disempowering material conditions like that.

the silly answer to this question, of course, has to be beatrice who has already been roleplayed by half of the cast of umineko at this point anyway. beatrice "exists" and beatrice is a vessel for power so in this way beatrice is already kind of a ttrpg character in that sense if the ttrpg's goal is desperate slaughter through at least two layers of metaphor and obfuscation. the important thing to take into account is that a playable ttrpg character "exists" and so maybe if more people on rokkenjima were into roleplaying none of these horrors would be happening lol.

[stewyhosseini-bf]

do u think it’s strange that there was almost no mention of kendalls drug addiction/him using in this season? we got that one line in the first episode which implies he might be clean? maybe? and its never brought up again. i just cant help but find it weird bc kendalls drug use and addiction was such a big part of his character and really used to reflect what hes going through. but then again this season wasn’t very long in-universe and he was focused on a lot of other things so maybe there wasnt any necessity for him to do drugs? i might have answered my own question.

Okay that's a really good question. So in terms of why they didn't bring it up again, I literally just listened to a podcast ep where Jesse essentially answered this exact question so I'll just write down his answer here real quick:

Podcast Host #1: I don't think I've ever seen an addict on television without relapse being part of the story.

Jesse Armstrong: Yeah, yeah, and it was part of our story, but I wasn't especially intrigued by that dynamic.

Podcast Host #2: Why did you do it if you weren't that intrigued by it?

JA: It just felt right. It's that episode in the desert, it came after episode 6 of the first season. And it just felt like he was in a tough place and so we did it cause it felt right. But the episode isn't really about that. I don't want to be glib about addiction, but I think it's quite heavily covered in the culture. It's well covered in the culture. We've got some stuff to say about power and also I guess about the way that money can insulate you from some of the worst things that can happen to you if you don't have money and find yourself addicted.

I don't necessarily think the show (or Jesse for that matter) is saying he didn't relapse, but that, as with many things in this show, they just don't bring it back up again because there's no plot-related reason to. Like you know how there's a lot of those jokes about how 'x was true, it just wasn't relevant to [characters]'s journey so we never saw it' - I feel like if there's any show that this joke really works well on it's Succession lmao. Stuff will come up and then be dropped quite easily again later on, and they're not necessarily trying to make a statement by doing that. So them not mentioning it doesn't imply anything about whether Kendall is using again, it really just tells you that whatever the case may be, it's not really relevant to the plot and/or doesn't reveal anything we don't already know about the character, so there's no reason to mention it.

With Kendall, drugs are also mostly brought up either by Logan or Kendall's siblings, to point out his 'weaknesses' (just revisited this post on how the show conflates Kendall's drug abuse, him performing in a business-sense and his sexuality). I don't think there was necessarily anything new to be said about that. Kendall's also flying pretty high for most of the season, and those topics and Kendall's drug use mostly comes up when he's depressed and more hopeless, which he simply didn't really have time to be, with everything that was going on this season and with how little time passed.

This doesn't mean, though, that I think they don't put thought into whether he is sober or not or don't put in certain 'clues' (for lack of a better word) that point to that. At the start of the season Kendall kind of implies that The Hundred is keeping him occupied enough to keep him from drugs ('I need something super fucking absorbing in my life', which tells me he is trying to stay away from drugs and is asking them straight up to tell him if it's not gonna be this, so he can look for a different substitute). And I'm pretty sure the drink he orders in 4x2 is non-alcoholic (though I could be wrong, I'm going off what I've seen others say here) but as the season progresses we do see him drink, like in Norway and then also at the Tailgate Party and in the finale. Whether that means that he's using drugs again as well, I don't know, but he's clearly not staying sober. We also know he uses drugs when he's under a lot of pressure to perform, in the business-sense, which he obviously is this season, so there is that as well

[luckloveandwaterfalls]

i love your aouv fics! what got you into ficwriting?

thank you so much!! i actually started writing fic several years ago and it all began with me getting pissed off abt something in my beloved first fandom lmao.

so when i was just getting into online fandom, i was really into this one ya fantasy series and waiting for the last book to come out. there was this big cliffhanger abt one person in a group being a traitor, and it was IMMENSELY obvious to me who it was. all the clues were right there. it was so clearly this one guy. i scrutinized these books and developed theories and it was 100% this guy. (i was right, though it turns out the guy was getting possessed and not doing it of his own accord, though this bit isn't relevant)

in trying to prove this theory, i saw something on the author's website abt this guy in a character list that said he was rumored to be the son of a major character in the prequel series. which would be HUGE news, like that's a major fucking development, and the books say literally nothing abt this rumor. it's never mentioned. i thought, "wow! the last book is gonna have such a wild plot twist regarding this guy and his father when it comes out"

and then it didn't. they got into the fact that he was the traitor, then revealed that he was being possessed, then dealt with that storyline and never once alluded to the fact that he was the other guy's son or even that he could be. what the fuck. why would the author bring it up if it's never discussed or hinted at in the story. it would be SO much better to mention it bc it would add a lot of complexity and moral dilemmas to the last book (bc when the guy betrays everyone, his "father" has to fight against him - not as big of a deal if you never discuss the fact that it could be his father!). i was deeply bitter abt this. also a lot of things were written really clumsy in the last book, and i just had a lot of Thoughts about it.

so i wrote my first fanfic of how i would've written the storyline for this guy if it had been up to me. i never published it, and i don't even have a copy anymore, but it's what got me into writing fanfic and from there i got more involved in online fandom. nowadays my life is really busy irl but i'm trying to make more time for writing even if i'm not as active on tumblr.

thanks for bearing with me through my rambles! this is just a funny story that i felt like telling, but i'm so glad that you like my aouv fics and i hope to have more to share with you soon :)

[deathdxnces]

thinking about swain's lil map in the level up animation in lor and i'm pretty sure narrative people said 'don't think too hard about it a lot of it is just easter eggs' but they also don't give us enough content so i am in fact overnalyzing this

anyway, it's obviously ionia, and the demon hand would mean it's future plans. the red marking around the placidium suggest it's the central target (which makes sense, with it being not only one of ionia's most sacred places but also where noxus suffered its greatest defeat; capturing the placidium wouldn't be easy i think — there's a lot around it which seems to be why the approach the map suggests is through the south, where they wouldn't go through the yánléi, the kinkou, the wuju or karma and her followers — but it'd be deeply demoralizing to the ionians). the x markings might be related to possible bases? there's one in the island where fae'lor is, and we know for a fact there's noxian presence there (the other one is close but in navori, and there's a third in what could be the intended path of noxian forces towards the placidium)

i don't have the slightest clue what those mean, if they mean anything at all lmao

but around navori, it's possible to see irelia's family crest

and considering karma's symbol is in shon-xan, where it's established the lasting stand (the place where she and her followers stay) is located, and the same goes for yi around wuju (plus other markings where the hirana monastery is and the kinkou) i'm just. thinking about what the hell that could mean aidfhasid it could be indicative of irelia hersef (although i always assumed she'd stick around closer to the placidium — she lived there to study under zinneia; it'd make sense for her to still live around there). it could also be indicative of the xan family having at some point been relevant enough to be pointed out, but the lore since her rework gives no real indication of that (her dad used to be a master swordsman and zelos a important military figure in old lore, but the focus on nonviolence being the philosophy of her entire family in the current lore always makes me think none of that was carried over in any form; i guess her dad could have still been an important figure in a leadership sense, though — ionia is pretty divided and he could've been a leader of sorts in their province, possibly nobility of some sort considering they had a family crest/an admiral took their home to occupy it with his officers when conquering the village?)

anyway the real important thing here is the wine stains suggesting swain drinks and stares at this map and possibly plots a second invasion when he's drunk

[gggoldfinch]

why do i (someone who knows little to nothing about star wars- don’t worry im being educated) want to read your star wars fic. i’m just concerned id be dreadfully confused- but it looks so good!! what should i dooo

OMG LMAO so first off I totally recommend getting into Star Wars, it's so fun and nonsensical and has SO MANY lovable characters!!!!!!! Everyone hates it but loves it and it's campy trash but is good and bad simultaneously and is the ultimate fandom paradox. I'm glad you're being educated 🤣

As for my fic, it isn't super involved with the canon plot— at least the main character isn't. Canon Events just kinda happen to the love interest in the background and the main character (oc) kinda just has to go along with it. It doesn't pick up in a spot that's canon-relevant (actually starts pre-movie canon) so you're not gonna be thrown into a Canon Situation without context; also almost all of the future Canon Events that will eventually happen will happen on the sidelines and will be explained for the sake of content relevance, so you won't really be that lost if you have no clue what's going on in The Phantom Menace, The Clone Wars, and Solo.

Not to toot my own horn, but it really is good fic— the premise at least. It's been cooking in my head for literal years, and I think it has the potential to surpass Cemetery Gates as my magnum opus if I really put effort into it.

[onerabong]

Dark Matter ( by @lara60 ) rambles pt.3

Previous

As always, spoiler alert!

I read the previous four chapters again, and wrote rambles for them too. So there’ll be stuff I said before lmao

Ch.27

‘a feeling of loneliness encompassing him’- when Iryo feels Zael’s presence in the hallway.

This makes me so sad. What is it like, to be near someone you love, and be all the more lonely. It hurts so much. I feel so bad for Iryo..

‘The General must forgive him. He must welcome him back; he must accept him again.

Because if he won’t, Iryo’s life will have no value anymore. He’ll be just another nameless, insignificant soldier, lost in the masses of Xaria Vecta.’

This gets me every time.

These two are the most heart-wrenching quotes from this chapter for me. It makes me wanna put my head in my hands and CRY.

Also Boros’ musings left me with a question I should’ve had a long time ago: what are the ancients? They’re literally the only ones who knows of the Heart of the Universe but for some reason I never really thought about them before now. They are so important to the HotU plot point, there’s been multiple mentions and clues about them, they seem to have a connection to GERYU yet I’ve never theorized about them. This is absurd. I guess I was just too lost in Ziryo in the recent chapters😭

‘He knows that he’ll have to start training properly soon – trying to hone his skill, to better his control over the stellar energy that lies in his core.’ - is this. Is this what I think it is. Is Iryo gonna be Boros’ sensei. Cuz that would be the COOLEST thing ever oh my god. It’s actually something I’ve thought of since Iryo joined the crew, him teaching Boros to control his powers; the potential for drama here is endless.

‘,,It’s – uh, it’s not showing anything, cap. Actually, it seems that most of our screens are glitching.”

As soon as Ayla says this, the cockpit goes dark.’

‘,,Wait. Everyone – be quiet for a moment,” Boros speaks up, a tone of urgency in his voice. Right after the lights went out, he felt something – an echo of sort, a hint of unknown energy in the air.

The marks on his face start emitting a soft pink glow as he quickly uses his heightened senses to feel around his vicinity. He feels his friends’ energy signatures, and when he reaches out further, trying to see if the Voyager is maybe being boarded – he freezes.’

This scene gives me chills every time I read it. Literal chills. My heart was pounding when I first read this and for the whole scene I was actually scared.

‘The Voyager runs on antimatter fuel’

I know this is sci-fi fantasy tech but still- I feel like a monkey whenever I read technical stuff.

‘He finds it rather endearing, how much the little albino dislikes him, when he didn’t even do anything to earn such hostility yet.’

Einaros you goddamn menace what are you gonna do??

And the chapter ends with the best cliffhanger in the history of fiction.

That whole last scene in the void. It’s the best scene in the entire fic for me.

‘Yet the eye that bears into his rivals the void that seems to surround him.’

There are just no words. No words for how good this is.

Ch.28

‘there isn’t really a way to defend against them unless you’re a very experienced Esper.’

‘A Mindtaker is an ancient being, a remnant of a world that no longer exists.’

Hmmmmm.. so the Mindtaker is said to be an ancient being as well. The only thing we know of these ancient beings as of now is that they left clues for the HoU, and that they were technologically advanced, and that they have something to do with Geryu.. or at least his species. And the Mindtaker too. Were there many espers among the ancients? Is Geryu’s whole species espers? Do their species have something to do with the Mindtaker? Well the Mindtaker very much operates the way an esper does, at least in the mind(?) department, although Proxima and the esper sisters from OPM are not shown to do that. Captain Zakhar channeled in on the scorcher’s conversation to find Laura, he would be relevant i think, in this context. But he’s not said to be an esper.. (to be fair tho i really don’t remember much about him except that he talks to people telepathically and that he has a Cerebro thing on his ship that helps him reach out further and that he’s good at math?(Aeron asked him for a confirmation for the asteroid) Idk i really need to re-read the earlier chapters there’s so much stuff I forgot already)

I know it’s all in Iryo’s head but that scene always hurts me to my core. Maybe it’s worse cuz it’s in Iryo’s head.. his greatest fear.. god I feel so bad for Iryo.. that’s the theme for the whole goddamn fic I guess.

Wait wtf is a World-Eater

‘That Xar – that tall, imposing figure with a look so cold that it chilled him to the bone’

‘Whatever it meant, he knows that he didn’t like looking at that Xar. He still feels the chilling remnants of his gaze.’

FDTFTSWRSDUGUKGKYTFE6SYFYFIFKYFRDENOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

“Sorry. I was thinking of something menacing to say, but everything that comes to mind is cheesy.”

Fucking Einaros

Look, this is like the third time I’m reading this fight scene.

And it still makes me hold my breath.

It’s fucking incredible. The tension. The stakes. The first time I was reading this, I was SO SCARED cuz there really seemed like there was no hope for the pirates. The whole fight scene is insane, we get to see just how unfairly OP Einaros is, and how Boros, even at his most powerful, cannot hope to beat him. It’s absolutely bonkers how good this fight scene is. Not to mention everything that happens afterwards. It’s just-snfjeskfewjlfbesjlj SO GOOD

Ch.29

‘He must have been aware of how Zael would react.

Or …

Did he not care about that at all anymore?’

Bingo bitch now go find your twink and apologize

(Skipped ch.30’s ramble cuz that was the most recent one)

Ch.31

So the most recent chapter.

There’s a LOT to unpack here. First of all, I wanna say that I absolutely love this chapter. I love the dialogues, the character interactions, a dive into Iryo’s thoughts, Einaros and Zael’s past being revealed a little more.. Everything.

Boros first. He’s angry and scared of Iryo. And rightfully so.

He’s angry at Arkaus too, for letting Iryo join them, and this sparks a wonderful rebellious attitude towards the captain. Before, Boros never questioned Arkaus, following him without question, never putting a toe out of line. But now? Wooooooo now Boros glares at Arkaus head on, challenging. I love love LOVE this. And even if the situation calls for it, I just love seeing this rebellious side of him. I feel like Palpatine, goading Boros into the dark side but I can’t help it. I wanna see my boi MAD.

Now onto Iryo. Iryo’s thoughts are no doubt the highlight of this chapter. This absolutely delicious character arc.

Iryo wants more from Zael. He wants Zael to love him BACK. But he knows now, that that’s impossible(because Zael is a stuck up idiot coward with one braincell that he can’t use to save his fucking life). This makes him come to the conclusion, that he can’t go back to him. Because worst case scenario, he’ll die for disobeying him. Best he can hope for is that he’ll go back to the old routine of being used like a disposable toy, with the very rare affectionate comments and instances that wouldn’t be nearly enough to sate his thirst for more. And he hates both scenarios. He’s been through the latter for years now, and he’s tired of it. He’s now in a position where he can change things up a bit. Even if it would result in his death.

He was so afraid before, so afraid of what Zael would think of him, afraid he’ll disappoint him. Well, he’s certainly disappointed him now, and went the extra mile and fucked up even further. He really messed up everything he could even if unintentionally. Now he’s got nothing to lose.

All the things he wants is impossible anyway, so why not use this situation to his advantage? Why not see if Zael would leave Xaria Vecta to come get him himself? He gave and gave and gave his whole life, but now he’s drawing back, to see if Zael would move.

I personally think that Zael would eventually have to leave to get Iryo, but it’d be really funny if he didn’t, and Iryo gets so fucking angry that he just goes back to Xaria Vecta himself to yell at him. And punch him in the face. I just really wanna see Iryo punch Zael in the face.

Anyways, I am such a big fan of this development. It’s such a refreshing change of attitude, while staying true to his core motivations(even if that motivation is pretty fucked up). And as I said in my last ramble on ch.30 I would’ve liked to see more of Iryo’s inner conflicts about wanting a life outside of Xaria Vecta before he meets Lumi, and I think the upcoming chapters will probably have more of that shown as his time with the pirates increase. I like to think that while Iryo’s initial motivations for joining the group is tied to Zael, as he spends more and more time with the crew he’d come to actually appreciate them for who they are, and consider them real allies.

But before that, he still has to apologize to Boros. And Arkaus. And Aeron. But Boros most of all. Boros is still TERRIFIED of him. He’s traumatized. The poor boi had nightmares about Exodia ever since he can remember. The incident on Exodia is too traumatizing for Boros; seeing his friend’s head blown to pieces, his own limbs getting cut off, and the pure terror of having to just watch as his friend was about to get murdered. You don’t just recover from stuff like that. So the least Iryo could do for Boros is to apologize. Although I’m not sure if or when that’ll happen, since we know that Iryo’s motivation for joining the pirates is far from noble.

The interactions! I love this new dynamic Iryo brings joining the crew. I was fine with the original members, their relationships and dynamics were fun on their own, but with Iryo here, it makes things so much more interesting. It’s like adding chili peppers to tomato pasta. 100% more rich in taste.

I loved that little scene between him and Ayla, Iryo not saying anything and yeeting off the ship after Ayla thanks him.

And Iryo referring to Boros as a younger Xar- is something I didn’t know I needed. It’s true, Boros is still practically a baby by Xar standards but hearing it out loud, it makes me so happy. I don’t know why, i just like it a lot.

And the gratefulness Iryo feels towards Lumi for trusting him is the shit right there. Beautiful. Amazing. Fabulous. It’s such a small thing, but it’s so important. He can feel grateful. He can feel guilt. It’s like what Lumi said in the last chapter, Iryo is very emotional. Hell, his entire motivation throughout the whole story was his love for the General. But that love, blind devotion to be exact, repressed every other emotion he had the capacity to feel. Well, that’s not exactly true, the better way to phrase this would be that all his emotions revolved around Zael. But now it’s not. He’s in a new environment, interacting with new people. And even though his main focus right now is of Zael, now that he’s around others, others he will have no choice but to interact with, there’ll be more chance for him to feel new things that doesn’t have to do with Zael.

Zael. Every time I write his name I wanna kick him in the shins. Dude should go on a douchebag contest. He’d win first place. Narrowly avoiding second place, which is given to Valerio.

Anyway, best example for what I said above is of course the scene with the child who wanted his helmet. I’ve talked about this before so I’ll keep it short; Iryo is a kind person. The cruelty he inflicts on others are all tied to his devotion for the General. Outside of that, he’s just an awkward but kind guy. So him joining the pirates and opening up a sea of potential for showing who he is without Zael, is so exciting for me.

So naturally his interactions with Arkaus was a delight to read. His surprise whenever Arkaus refers to him as a fellow crew member, as if he was there since the start. That ADORABLE scene where Iryo accidentally jumpscares Arkaus and his EARS DROOP- I can’t. It’s too much cuteness.

But there’s an important distinguishing factor about Arkaus, compared to the other members of the crew. He’s a captain. A figure of authority. To say that a little piece of my heart broke when Iryo saluted after receiving orders from Arkaus would be an understatement. The Dark Matter pirate crew has a very laid back attitude with hierarchy, but Iryo lived his whole life serving in a very strict military. He has obedience and discipline drilled into his mind and body. Like a fucking robot. THIS IS SO FUCKING SAD. It’s not exactly a bad thing but still, to see him act like that, just really makes me sad.

Likewise, the brutality he displayed on capturing the bandit leader. Iryo obeying every goddamn word Arkaus says to him, as if his words is just a button pressed to make him act. This is natural to him, something so obvious, he doesn’t even have to think before following orders. It’s unnerving. It makes me wanna sit down and stare at nothing. Thank god Arkaus is Arkaus. Imagine if Iryo’s superior figure was a complete asshole using and manipulating him. Oh wait.

I wanna punch Zael so bad.

Back to Boros again!

My boi. My poor lil boi. I need to hug him. I need to give him kisses and pat his hair and tell him that he’s a good boi.

‘Is he not enough? Have they all collectively decided that all Boros does is cause danger to arrive at their doorstep, with no ability to actually get rid of it when forced into a direct confrontation?

Is he really so pathetic that his captain had decided to gamble with their fate so recklessly, hoping that the Albino would be able to provide protection for the crew that Boros could not?’

NO. NO THEY DO NOT THINK THAT BOROS PLS SEE REASON.

But fr tho, these thoughts are not unwarranted. Iryo is no doubt much stronger than Boros. More experienced. So from a technical point of view, the crew will benefit greatly to have Iryo here. They already have; Iryo got rid of the tracker, and he saved Arkaus from getting shot. Then he dealt with the bandits with impressive efficiency. Lumi trusts him. And now, Arkaus seems to like him. Boros sees Iryo awkwardly imitating Arkaus’ thumbs up, further proof that he’s not the monster Boros thought him to be.

So, Iryo’s strong, he’s a great help to the pirates, and he’s slowly interacting with the crew in a positive way. Boros, however, is the reason why the crew is in constant danger in the first place. And he’s not strong enough to protect them from the harm he has invited.

With Iryo joining the crew, Boros feels uncomfortable not only with the fact that he’s still scared of him, but also with the feeling that his place among the pirates is being threatened. He feels useless in front of Iryo’s superior power, intel, and experience. He feels like his position of being the crew’s protector is being replaced. Like he is being replaced.

But even IF that is the case, the crew would never think Boros is useless. He’s their friend, he’s not with them just because he can help them with his cool powers. It’s not a matter of useful and useless, he’s not just an asset. He’s their friend. YOU’RE THEIR FRIEND BOROS. FAMILY. YOU HEAR ME? YOU’RE A PART OF A FAMILY!!!

But again, I completely understand that Boros would feel this way. I’m sure Boros knows all this, logically, but you just can’t help it, if you’re in a situation like that. So I hope he’ll have the chance to talk it out with his friends, in the following chapters. My boi needs a lot of hugs and kisses. My bby boi.

Now the last scene with Einaros.

A little more of the twin brothers’ past revealed..

I don’t think there’s a lot to say about this scene other than me screaming in hype, which I did plenty. Just- it’s so fucking epic. And so, so scary. Because this is Einaros. We know he’s really, really strong. But even he can’t beat Zael. Even Einaros feels uneasy, scared, to face Zael’s wrath. I don’t know what happened back then that made Zael so angry, but suffice to say that I do not wanna be on the same planet if it happens again.

Also I can’t wait to see what Zael’s reaction would be when he hears the reason behind Iryo’s desertion. Then the fact that he has not returned, even with enough time to do so..

Go get your twink Zael, he’s waiting.

[whetstonefires]

What if Itachi was isekai'd into MDZS? As Jiang Yanli of course. He is killed by his little brother, as he wanted, and he can finally rest... And then he wakes up. He is Jiang Yanli. Jiang Yanli has /two/ little brothers. She also is sickly/has weak cultivation/both, so overwhelming violence is not a viable response to any immediate threats, depending on how soon to Plot he lands in. If she only has weak cultivation because she simply wasn't expected to, Itachi can fix that, but I'm pretty sure she was sick as well and well. At least he has experience with that? Whether he knows any plot at all or where he is is debatable. I don't know if he would read something like MDZS, but if not I thought it would be funny if Kisame liked it, despite all the duplicity involved, but he liked to imagine what would have happened if everyone had just been honest with each other (for better or worse). Or maybe Itachi has to go on a mission with a pre-Hidan ninja and they just wouldn't shut up about it. Or maybe he just saw the cover of the book somewhere and would recognize whoever had been on it if he saw them but otherwise has no clue what he's got landed in. I don't know really know what he'd do once he became Jiang Yanli, but the thought was very entertaining last night when I was trying to fall asleep.

ANOTHER OF THESE BASTARDS. 😆😆😆 it is in fact true that i am basically a gacha machine where you put a deranged question in and a torrent of relevantly deranged words comes out but a;lskjdf

Okay so first response point is, I cannot imagine mdzs as it exists being written in the Naruto setting.

A lot of the way subjects like Magic Sword War are handled by the narrative derives specifically from how those elements are 'escapist' and unrealistic to the intended audience, which creates a specific type of narrative distance that makes certain stories easier to tell.

You could get the general plot of mdzs, especially the backstory setup for the actual main plot, into a Naruto-setting novel, fairly easily. Mdzs is, after all, constructed of cliches rotated several degrees and slotted together into a slightly weird machine that is then displayed from a weird angle.

You could do the whole story centered on Jin Ling and have it be a relatively standard mystery-adventure bildungsroman with a vastly more interesting Undead Gay Uncle subplot going on in the background, we've all seen something like that lmao.

You could do it as a tragic romance about Jiang Yanli fantastically easily. The resulting work would look almost nothing at all like mdzs due to how few scenes she's actually in and how little of all the drama she ever learns about, but what wwx would look like in a jyl-pov novel that ends with her throwing herself in front of a sword for him is a fascinating thought-exercise.

Technically I think he'd be the villain of such a book but the kind you blubber over and wish you could have saved.

Which is, after all, the point.

(Actual mdzs as elaborate post-canon fix-it slashfic for the Jiang Yanli tragic romance novel--plausible. This also, I think, is somewhat the point. Fun with archetypes!)

But the specific work being done with the framing of the meta nonsense around Wei Wuxian and the concept of 'villainy,' and the social reception of deviance and restorative versus retributive systems of justice, etc.--you could maybe pull it off effectively with the same overall plot structure in the schizo-techy not-Japan of Naruto?

But you'd still handle some elements quite differently, writing it there, simply because in a world where 'Magic Combat Clans Kill Each Other' is a politically relevant issue, the symbol-language wouldn't do the same things. What you chose to shorthand in what ways would be different as what counted as 'realism' and 'genre convention' were different.

Naruto ninjas have better healing magic than the mdzs setting's cultivators! That alone alters a lot of beats, even for civilian readers who don't personally have access to healing techniques. Similarly, the narrative conventions around bullshitting up tricks with talismans would be a bit different in a setting where the similar but non-identical art of sealing is just. A real technology that exists.

And by the standards of the Naruto setting Jiang Cheng's character design with the yelling and wearing purple and having an iconic purple lightning whip is restrained and elegant.

Also no one in Naruto is openly gay, suggesting a repressive environment on that front, and they don't have the internet to circulate trashy novels on. I suspect the Naruto universe version of mdzs would, among many other differences, need to be vastly raunchier in order to pay for its own printing. I don't know how it would manage this exactly. Not my department.

Anyway though yeah, it would all depend on when he landed and how much he wound up identifying with/as Yanli.

I think if he wound up close to Plot it would have a dramatic impact because Itachi at time of death is wayyyyyyy too damaged to convincingly portray Jiang Yanli. Even with all his infiltration skills whatever those are and a detailed character dossier. It isn't happening. Everyone would be Concerned.

He would feel really bad about taking this person from her family? But like, Itachi is as we all know a past master of not letting the fact that he feels bad about something affect his behavior in any way, and these aren't people he personally cares about, so he's probably not going to be that broken up.

Also he just...doesn't want to be alive, was looking forward to not being alive, and has no ability to observe or affect the situation his brother is now in, which has been the only thing he's cared about for many years, and would mostly be upset about that and disinterested in his actual environment. So that's just a huge mess. Getting a satisfying narrative out of that would be a job and a half.

Drop him in as a baby and he gets some time to recover and move on and bond--it depends. I feel like he'd be initially so relieved to be without talent?

Just, the evaporation of that parental pressure around excelling that defined him so much as a person...but unlike actual Yanli he's got an existing history and relationship with power and duty, so he wouldn't develop quite the same way even if he did find his way to being kind enough to himself to lean into I Don't Have To Become Good At Killing This Time Because This Body Has No Talent and therefore did, in fact, enjoy being left to spoil little brothers and get good at soup.

Unlikely to manage to crush on Jin Zixuan lmao. Not out of the question would be willing to be romanced by him, eventually. Would, I think, be positively disposed toward having baby, but less willing to leave natal family to do so.

I think Jiang Yanli's disposition and body were both ill-suited to cultivation; Itachi having already been molded into a weapon once would have different emotional stumbling-blocks? But I have no idea how e.g. experience channeling chakra would translate into utilizing the related but distinct magic system of xianxia taoist sword cultivation. If you wanted you could bullshit prodigy Yanli out of this but that is boring.

It's possible Itachi!Yanli would give her(?)self repeated qi deviations fairly early in the process of trying to cultivate a core by trying to balance yin and yang energies in a way that a cultivator body is fantastically ill-suited to do.

(Because, as I understand it, the taoist practices this fantasy milieu draws on emphasize developing the masculine yang qi, while the Naruto worldbuilding states that the default chakra draw is a fairly even blend between spiritual yin and physical yang. Arbitrarily medical as well as genjutsu techniques require yin iirc, which is fairly transparent Girl Gating but may have some precedent idk. But anyway these habits could cause problems.)

Having experienced the traumas he had...it wouldn't matter how weak Itachi was in this lifetime, he'd push himself harder than Yanli did, to have murder and/or political options of some kind, because he 1) expects the world to fall apart and 2) thinks it's his job to fix it. Neither of these apply to Yanli, even after her world falls apart once--she persists in regarding peace and happiness as the default and trauma as an aberration.

Once the war hit, assuming having had most or all of a lifetime to naturalize and care, this version of Yanli would go kind of feral. Everyone would be scared.

Well, everyone who knew. That's probably not a lot of people. Wen Chao might not live long enough for Wei Wuxian to catch up with him, depending on where this Yanli chose to focus--Itachi's abilities as an accomplished assassin wouldn't be entirely neutralized by a lack of physical superpowers. A lot of them are tactical.

Even if 'searching for unofficial brother' and 'vengeance' weren't topping the priority charts, Wen Chao would be a good target because he's more exposed than Wen Ruohan and despite being an incompetent deputy he still is one of this father's generals, and also his incompetence frequently takes the form of careless destruction.

Assassin!Yanli crossing paths somehow with DoubleAgent!Meng Yao would be a fun scenario.

Itachi!Yanli would favor Jiang Cheng over Wei Wuxian because of his lasting Sasuke issues resulting in Little Brother Tunnel Vision that would be pretty well set by the time the secondary target was added. But that doesn't mean he/she/they wouldn't get pretty attached to wwx too, especially in the face of Madame Yu making further favoritism over blood relationships feel like puppy-kicking.

Itachi!Yanli would undoubtedly be much more authoritative after the sacking of Lotus Pier, being up to 20+ years older than she looks and having experience at working through this kind of trauma as well as in small-unit command, so the sequence of events that led to the core transfer and thence to the rest of their family's unspooling tragedy might get disrupted at the root.

Or they might not! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[ellesliterarycorner]

Tips for Foreshadowing

Foreshadowing done well is probably my favorite thing to read in a books series. It just hits different. Especially, when you read the book twice and you can pick up on even more hints and clues that you didn’t see the first time. It’s just *chef’s kiss* fantastic. But, when you’re actually writing and have to keep track of all those little foreshadowing clues and easter eggs you put in your books, it’s a lot less fun to say the least. I can hardly keep track of all my POV characters, and keeping track of all the little nuggets and clues I planted in my book is a lot harder than keeping track of my characters. Worry not, here are some tips on how to foreshadow and how to keep track of all your clues! 

Don’t Overdo It

Like everyone always says about writing, everything in your novel should somehow be relevant to the plot and foreshadowing is no different. In fact, foreshadowing might be one of the most important things to your story, but that doesn’t mean you should overdo it. Every single line in your book should mean something, yes, but every single line shouldn’t be a hint of foreshadowing for the future. Minor plot events don’t require foreshadowing or clues that they’re coming, but the big events normally do. Overusing foreshadowing may seem like it makes your book super suspenseful, but it actually lowers the stakes. If every little event is blown way out of proportion with foreshadowing and cryptic warnings then its hard for readers to know what events are actually the really important ones, so save the foreshadowing for the big events in your novel.

Make It Purposeful

A while ago there was a really funny writing meme that was like a beta reader complimenting the author on their foreshadowing, and the writer was like lmao, what foreshadowing? Which has happened to me before, and I’m sure it’s happened to lots of other people, but foreshadowing should be purposeful. Making sure that each foreshadowed moment has a purpose and a payoff helps us not overdo it with the foreshadowing. Foreshadowing basically shows a character’s action or an object and tells the reader to remember that moment for the future because it might be important. It builds suspense and keeps readers on their toes. But that also means you have to be purposeful enough that your foreshadowing is obvious to the reader, but also not a neon arrow pointing to it. For example, if a character gifts another character a knife for protection, your reader may or not note that. But, at the end of the book, in the midst of the harsh battle, when the character has been disarmed and has their back against the wall with the villain advancing on them, we think all is lost. When, suddenly, the character pulls out their knife and stabs the villain! Boom! Purposeful foreshadowing with a payoff. Now, you’d probably want your foreshadowing to be a bit deeper than that, but that’s all I’ve got on short notice. 

Sorry Pantsers, Ya Gotta Outline

Okay, you may not have to do a seventeen page completely detailed outline, but you probably should keep track of your foreshadowing. It’s hard enough to think of foreshadowing and payoff for that foreshadowing when you do have an outline, but thinking of it on the fly is really hard. Foreshadowing has to do with the structure of your novel, and to do it effectively, you need to plan out the structure in advance. Foreshadowing should occur far enough in advance to tip off the reader to events, but not too far as to where they forget about it. If it’s a really really big event like the Red Wedding in Game of Thrones, occasional reminders and more sporadic hints are probably necessary. Having a birds-eye view of your story and all the different plots and arc inside of it can be really helpful to help you know and decide what events need to be foreshadowed and the best places for said foreshadowing to go. If you really, really don’t want to outline, then I might wait to add foreshadowing into your story in the second draft. That way you already have all the plot points and events set, so you have a good idea of where the foreshadowing should go. 

Google Sheets Is Your New Best Friends

Or Microsoft excel if you’re a word person. I promise you’ll thank me later. Like I said earlier, I have a hard enough time keeping track of my characters. Having a google sheet of where they are all is SO helpful. I have all my locations listed and all the characters who are there at each point of my story. It’s neat, easy, and helpful. I also have a sheet for all the major events of my series that I think need to be foreshadowed. By keeping track of all the major events in one place, I can also make sure I’m not sprinkling too much foreshadowing in one section or accidentally overlapping my foreshadowing for two separate events. Bottom line is, one of the keys to successful foreshadowing is making sure that you know everything even when the reader does not. To do that, you need to stay organized and Google sheets or Microsoft excel or really any spreadsheet or listing program is a great way to do that!

[ahwait-no-yes]

Let’s talk about if Saihara hated Ouma

So lately I’ve actually seen a bit more comments on how Saihara doesn’t actually like Ouma and people have gone as far as saying he hates him and idk why people genuinely believe it so here I am about to refute that (I’ve been waiting ages to make this post just so you know so this came out as a horribly unstructured ramble more than anything oops)

some notes beforehand:

I have an obvious bias as I do ship saiouma. although i’ll try to be neutral on what I say here, I can’t hide my bias. I have tried to include what people that hate this ship believe to counter them though, also if you ship other things that’s totally fine?? don’t think of any of this as an attack at your ship and I’m not saying Saihara loved Ouma, I’m just tired of people saying Saihara hated him.

You’re allowed to respectfully disagree as long as you don’t berate me or say I don’t know the game when the majority of the screenshots in this are from my own gameplay, lmao. 

and massive whole-game spoilers! Don’t read this if you’ve not finished DRV3!

Glad to know you made it under the cut! now I can begin with where I think people got this idea that Saihara hates him from- the infamous “You’re alone Kokichi and you always will be” line.

I admit this was very cold and still breaks my fragile saiou heart, but to base Saihara’s entire perspective of Ouma on this one line he said while he wasn’t thinking straight is just.. no.. It’s unrealistic. we’ve seen how Saihara is able to adapt his views and grow (I’ll come back to this later), he’s not stubborn in this regard like Momota or even Ouma is, so even if he did mean it 100% (which I doubt because when *anybody* is angry they will say or do things they may regret had they been calmer), it’s not like his view on Ouma from chapter 4 was his final view on him. And that’s what people fail to realise. 

So, how does Saihara view Ouma then?

well, I’d say he’s been interested in Ouma as a detective from the moment he met him with his curiosity piqued at Ouma’s claims of leading a secret organisation.

and he remains curious about Ouma throughout, always questioning why Ouma says certain things, what Ouma is lying for, he just wants to figure him out- and this doesn’t just apply to free time events either

I think you get my point there, now, I think if I didn’t ship saiou and read this, I’d argue these are all pre-chapter 5 and before the breaking line so he may have been curious before but not after- that then brings me to my next point

Saihara was confident- dare I say believed- in Ouma, especially after Chapter 5.

how bold of me to say ikr, but this ties in to Saihara’s ability to adapt his views. He’s sort of like a mixture of both Kaito and Ouma honestly, because naturally as a detective he has to be suspicious and think logically as Ouma does, while at the same time Kaito taught him to believe in his friends which has also helped him to advance in trials. I think he might have extended this belief to Ouma, because he trusts that Ouma is doing what he does for a reason.

In fact, I’d argue he’s the only one of the remaining group who wouldn’t readily accept pinning Ouma down as a villain. If anything, it’s the opposite- Saihara fought to clear Ouma’s name, and never stopped trying to understand whether or not his intentions were true or false

i’ll just drop this screenshot here (that i named THIS MAKES ME SO HAPPY.png in case you were wondering)

this is what I mean when I say he wouldn’t accept it as fast as the others and would second-guess it, bear in mind this is the moment Ouma “admitted” to being the mastermind. and it’s not like this doubt was sudden or anything, cause I can recall this moment (that I actually didn’t catch on to on my first playthrough)

which gives me the idea that hadn’t Ouma purposefully messed with everyone and built up his bad reputation, it would’ve been so much easier for Saihara to disprove him being the mastermind at the point he said it. 

Anyway, going back to my point- excluding Kaito (cause Ouma directly told him), Saihara is the first to bring up Ouma’s innocence, and this is what I mean when I say Saihara believed in Ouma

note that I say believed in. believing Ouma and believing in Ouma are different, it’s like how loving someone and being in love with someone are two different things, so don’t argue that by saying “he didn’t trust him” because ik that and that’s not what I’m trying to say.

but he did believe that Ouma had his reasons, and he tried to discover and understand them. I mean, take this for example

he’s already on board lool look at him go, but no really look at the confidence

he’s both confident in himself and in Ouma not lying here, then goes back to being curious about his intentions

oh and let’s not forget who it was that searched Ouma’s lab to find clues to prove he is a remnant of despair. Why do you need to search for evidence for something you (and the others even more) think is irrefutably true? the answer is obvious- he was doubtful of it from the start, and needed evidence to convince himself it was true, but then as he found nothing to prove it (and even evidence against it), he had to convince the others of it too- and prove Ouma’s innocence

(the last screenshot was from Hikkie’s playthrough on Youtube) 

But as you can see, he’s clearing Ouma’s name as the leader of the Remnants of Despair. 

Now, I bet someone would argue that this only proves Saihara was determined to find the truth in general, because he’s mister detective, so I’ll raise you the fact that Saihara didn’t need to try figuring why Ouma does the things he does- he could leave it at just knowing the truth and if he really didn’t like Ouma like people say then there’s not much merit to it. 

“So what if I know this now? I didn’t care about him, it’s pointless” he could’ve thought something like that, but no

(I also think the “you’re lying again kokichi, there’s a method to your madness” moment fits here too)

Not only this, but there’s also how Saihara learnt from him.

honestly im still kinda mindblown from this ever since I first realised it, but when you think about it, Ouma hinted to Saihara in his FTEs how to win the game.

(those 3 screenshots are from justonegamr’s kokichi’s FTE video; random fun fact this was the playthrough that i watched while first getting into drv3)

But if you think about it, Ouma tried this again in his own trial in his attempt at ending the killing game and then Saihara also used this to actually end it

Not only that (which personally i think is pretty powerful in itself), but Saihara also tries to take Ouma seriously and picks up hints he leaves and uses them later

as well as

et

(and generally just)

generally, Ouma will hint and then Saihara will pick it up. it’s been like that for the whole game- why should Saihara give any extra thought to what Ouma hints if he dislikes him?? really, he could’ve just ignored him the same way he did at the end of chapter 4- but again, he didn’t “”hate”” Ouma enough to keep ignoring him, he considered him a friend in the end anyway.

and the end is what I’ll talk about now, too.

first- can we just acknowledge this?

he doesn’t ignore Ouma at all here. even though he didn’t trust him, he was sad to have lost him. 

Not to mention the way he thinks about lying at the end of Chapter 6. (like, please this is just-  *chefs kiss*)

IMAGINE Ouma was alive to hear him say that omg but Saihara could (and probably would) extend what he says here to Ouma himself- y’know, the ‘embodiment of lies’

by thinking about lies in a different angle instead of at face value like this, he gets a more neutral view on them rather than just thinking “they’re bad!!”, why wouldn’t he be able to do the same for Ouma? especially now that he knows Ouma was innocent and actually hated the game as much as they all did. I mean hey, even after chapter 5′s trial he sort of already thinks about lies differently

and throughout this post, I’ve tried to avoid talking about his free time events or his salmon mode ending because people always say “well they’re not canon” and to that I say not canon to the plot, yes, but still canon to the characters. so yeah, I don’t disregard any of them.

from this point onwards these all technically happen before chapter 5, so it’s not entirely relevant to my point that saihara still liked ouma even after the end of chapter 4, but it’s still something that shows he liked him beforehand at least. I mainly just wanna ramble though haha

one thing I’ve always thought was interesting was how Saihara easily lashed out at Kaito in his own free time event

and Kaito is undeniably Saihara’s best friend who he holds in high regard. If Saihara having backbone means he doesn’t like someone then damn bye bye momota have a nice trip in space

in terms of ouma and saihara though 

how about the fact that Saihara willingly sat there and played rock paper scissors (janken pon!) with Ouma 100 times?? bruh I got bored playing that with my brother after 8 rounds yesterday how would Saihara manage 100?? would you really have the patience for that when you don’t even like the person you’re playing with?

how about his third free time event too?

(from justonegamr’s kokichi fte video)

Saihara wanted to spend some time with Ouma, that’s- its literally written there I don’t know what you want from me the guy wanted a nice time with someone he supposedly doesnt like

what I love about this is how “reaching out” could be taken both literally and figuratively. Wanting to understand someone and trying to find a way to but them being too unwilling to trust anyone.. damn 😔👊 also shuuichi either wanted to handshake or hold hands, what else do you do when you reach for someone’s hand come on

oh yes and how about that he’s content with the refusal because it allowed him to figure out a small thing about Ouma? understanding that Ouma has a different way of being reached out to? mhm please think about that for a bit

that parallel in the salmon ending too...

he considered how it’ll be like with him after they get out and how he’ll learn about him, then ultimately decided when ouma reached out to him that he does want this, and even comments on the warmth of his hand... afhskfdlj

his blush when ouma mentions how his lies didn’t bore saihara was also a very cute moment

ooh and what about the love hotel???

there’s that one line “I know i’m meant to be Kokichi’s ideal in this fantasy but when he tells me he loves me I feel like he means the opposite” or something like that- i’d argue it’s because he’s cautious of Ouma for one but also am I getting something wrong here or is he talking about how he, Shuuichi, thinks Ouma doesn’t like him?  because I see people argue this is proof saihara doesn’t like ouma but all he’s really doing is just doubting ouma loves him

well in any case

WHY would he want him to stay in a love hotel of all places if he disliked him?! I know I’m just a broken record at this point but I can’t think of anything logical for it. they didnt even need to include that line in the scene at all but they did like they could’ve easily said something to do with realising where he was instead but nah. even after the event’s over, he says to himself

doesn’t he sound disappointed by it? and the fact that he even questions if it was a dream- okay  

ooh, something i’ve realised while writing this as well: it kind of seems like Saihara might not want to like him but does anyway; he quickly ‘smothered the thought’ of staying with Kokichi, didn’t want to admit that Ouma’s lies never bored him, and I also thought about how in one of Kaito’s free time events he says to himself “I shouldn’t be talking about another boy like that”- well, maybe it’s similar for how he thinks of ouma? it’s not like Saihara didn’t care for the others’ opinion on him (probably the opposite ngl if you mess up in class trials he says something along the lines of“Ah I screwed up! They probably think I’m a fraud”) and considering nobody else liked ouma (except for maybe gonta) I wouldn’t be surprised if he felt shame for liking him, thus repressing that feeling (especially around the others, there’s that part in trial 4 where he’s trying to convince kaito he isn’t siding with ouma cause he knows by doing that could damage his friendship with his bro)

I mean this is something I only thought of just now, but it could be plausible (i hope?)

One last thing- I find it incredibly funny how in chapter 2 when ouma is literally on top of saihara he doesn’t freak out or scream and everyone else in the room is also completely chill with it and unquestioning. no really they’re just standing there.. and how long was ouma even in that position for??

Now, I think that’s all. So to finish off, I’ll just say

People get the idea that saiouma is bad because some don’t realise Saihara can still like a person without idolising or putting them on a pedestal. Idk if this is gonna sound controversial or not, but I honestly do think he did exactly that to Kaito and Kaede- which doesn’t make what they have with him toxic or bad at all, I just think his view on Ouma is a lot more realistic and less clouded. Heck, if Saihara canonically liked Ouma as much as he does with the other two I don’t know if I’d ship saiouma as hard as I do (it is fun to imagine though).

If you actually read through this then.. wow? I’m surprised you got through this unstructured mess? I hope you can agree with me for some of my points at least but I’m not here to convince you or anything, this has just been on my mind for weeks now I needed to get it out somehow.

I said it at the start and i’ll say it again now too- i didn’t intend on attacking or comparing saiou to any other ships so I do apologise if I seem like it, i’m just terrible with my wording (lmk if something genuinely offended you, i’ll probably change it) but you’re free to ship whatever you like cause at the end of the day it’s just a bit of fun. that being said, I don’t want to actually argue on this so please don’t haha, i’ve contemplated just deleting this but I’ve put a lot of effort into this post even though i cant analyse for 💩

I hope you can enjoy the rest of your day!

have the kokichi gaygun as a farewell present

[emmys-grimoire]

Lesson 52 analysis + 53 predictions

Turning this into a routine thing now! They’re fun to write and they’re popular (moreso than my actual commentary posts lmao).

Y’all like my ramblings.

Things guessed correctly from prior lesson

The House of Lamentation was an illusion produced by the fairies

The arc culminated in the completion of the Trial of Patience (star received via Simeon)

The illusion did a number on Simeon's feelings as well due to his fondness for Lucifer and the brothers

They shoved Mammon and Luke off to the side and plopped them back in only after the Satan/Simeon arc was complete. There was no arc for Luke. To be fair, though, they did get more content than I expected even so.

Things guessed wrong

The banshee didn't show up at all. It was a red herring.

There was no significance to the geranium found in the mysterious book

Our adventure also completed the Trial of Generosity. (I incorrectly attributed this to Diavolo, who actually gave us the Star of Gratitude)

Still ???

Whether or not there is some kind of transfer of memories/experiences going on between the brothers' past selves and present selves due to our meddling in time. We've confirmed that past angel Beelzebub has turned into a glutton in between the time we last saw him and now, but we haven't confirmed if it *is* our meddling that has induced that. Currently, no change has manifested in the present brothers, nor has the timeline of events seemed to have significantly changed.

Whether or not present Lucifer becoming more "angelic" in season 2, in lieu of past angel Lucifer's growing doubt, will be a significant plot point. The parallels are getting stronger, though. (This is elaborated on further down)

It feels like 50/50? I’ll probably keep a list like this going for future analysis/prediction posts just so I can keep track of how right/mistaken I am throughout the playthrough. Might help me make less mistakes in my analysis!

As a general rule I try not to meander too far off into symbolism or out-of-game lore because what I write begins to sound like this:

And this is an otome game that is light on writing and plot. Nine times out of ten, it’s not going to be that deep. So I work with the details given and the plot points shown and try to draw connections within the framework of the story, in an attempt to try to deduce where the devs are taking the plot. Unfortunately for me, the devs like red herrings, and red herrings are designed to mislead you. With me, they are quite successful! I’d like to get better at spotting them.

The book was consequential -- it’s used to imprison Satan later -- but that’s the end of it’s meaning. Maybe the Bible verse had something to do with it, too -- those were some weird ass numbers to just throw in the title -- but maybe not. Either way, it doesn’t really matter. 

But enough of that, onwards! We have a lot of points to go over that may be interesting to note, right or not.

Satan the Memory Thief

Back in 50-B we learn that it was Michael who taught the brothers the stories behind the human world constellations. 

When we’re tossed back in time-dreamland (?) again, it is Satan who takes the opportunity to teach the brothers the human world constellations. The room had just been remodeled: Michael hasn’t had the opportunity to give them tours yet. Lucifer mosied into the room so he and the brothers can get the first glimpse.

Sooo if in a future lesson we ask them about where they learned the constellations in the present timeline and they say “oh a guy named Sully, who suspiciously looked just like Satan, taught us!” then we know our meddling is having significant consequences.

It IS worth noting that unlike the prior dream sequence, Satan and Simeon remember what they just went through. This particular time-dream could very well just be an illusion meant to give Satan/Simeon some kind of emotional resolution and nothing else. This is kind of why I hate that they’re bring time travel back into the story: it makes stuff like this confusing and borderline inconsistent. Some sequences may have effects and others may not. 

The chat between Lucifer and Simeon could also be consequential.

“Do you *really* mean that?”

There is a parallel at play here!

After you wake up after dozing off, you go off to find Lucifer and Simeon conversing in a forest clearing, evidently unaware that you’re eavesdropping on them. Simeon says although he knows it is just an illusion, that he was glad to see angel Lucy once more. Angel Lucy is predictably confused, and reassures Simeon that they’ll remain like this forever.

Simeon, of course, knows better. He tells Lucifer that he knows he’s been meeting with Diavolo and he’s having doubts about his place in the Celestial Realm -- and if things really will remain the same. Lucy is caught off guard, and starts to explain with some clear hesitation... and of course we pass out before we could hear his answer.

There’s creepy loud heartbeats when it fades out. Normally I associate them with tense, pivotal decisions -- but it could also just be related to us waking up and returning to reality.

If Simeon ends up being wrong -- and there will be real world consequences to this conversation -- they could be very significant consequences. We’re not sure if the conversation continues for a bit longer after we pass out, but Simeon already woke up before we come to.

Obviously the brothers still fell (they’re still demons in the present), but I wouldn’t underestimate the potential of a butterfly effect changing the circumstances of the Great Celestial War. I kind of hope they don’t do that, though, because they haven’t even begun to explain the present details of that event. We know only the broad strokes. Suddenly changing them to make the resolution between the demons and angels more smooth will feel really forced.

And that parallel I mentioned: Diavolo expresses similar worries and doubt in Lucifer’s conviction in season 2.

I have no doubt Lucifer actually means what he says to Diavolo, unlike his dialogue with Simeon, but Diavolo is aware of just how far Lucifer will go for the sake of his family -- and he’s probably #2 on the priority list, when push comes to shove. Lucifer forsaking the Celestial Realm for Lilith was the thing that brought him to Diavolo in the first place.

Of course, this lesson has Simeon suggesting that Diavolo’s influence on Lucifer was significant prior to all that unfolding, and it may have eventually happened regardless. It was only a matter of when, not how.

Still, Lucifer be writing checks he may not be able to cash. We also get this foreboding warning from Barbatos in Season 2:

As I’ve said before, the inevitable conflict the story was hinting to at this point doesn’t happen in Season 2. Lucifer isn’t forced to make a choice like this. The Night Dagger didn’t demand it.

I’ve also expressed my belief that Season 2 and Season 3 were likely written back-to-back due to the small window of time between their releases, so I believe details overlooked in Season 2 may suddenly become more relevant in Season 3.

It’s worth remembering Diavolo’s growing feelings for MC -- and Lucifer’s inner conflict about it -- were hinted at early in Season 2, as well. It doesn’t really get going until the conclusion of Season 2, leading into Season 3.

Do I have any clue of what this is actually leading up to? Not at all! If it mirrors Season 2′s format, though, it’ll suddenly come to a head in the last 3-5 lessons. I remember feeling equally clueless then, and Season 2 had a lot more foreshadowing...

... a lot of which actually didn’t pan out! But it might now. 

Guardian Angels

Another smaller, but interesting detail. Guardian Angels are indeed a thing.

I think they’re gonna become a thing soon. The devs very sneakily changed a small detail in Season 2, suggesting they might have realized that it may interfere with their plans for later seasons. 

Old version.

New version.

I’m thinking they may have decided giving Michael guardianship of an entire swath of the population was cheating, and they may be individualizing the role of Guardian Angels.

Which leads me to who I think Michael’s chosen human squeeze is:

My man has been scoping him out long before we came around.

It makes sense, too. We know Michael gave his Ring of Wisdom to Solomon, which seems to have kickstarted his career as a demon-pacting sorcerer (though he clearly was a sorcerer before this).

This is a very powerful item, described as the Ring of Light’s counterpart, that would be very useful for a high-ranking angel to possess. I don’t think Michael would fork it over to just anyone, particularly when we remember how he felt compelled to interrogate us via dream hi-jack before the Ring of Light fully came into our possession.

Solomon also makes Michael angst in a way a well-meaning but misbehaving child would make their parent angst:

Solomon also really doesn’t seem to regard Michael like some distant, all-powerful alien being who could smite him out of existence.

Contrast this with how he responds when he’s forced to hang out with Diavolo for a day (he gets more comfortable, but he initially wants to punt the responsibility back to Lucifer ASAP).

And he knows a surprising amount of small details about the guy:

I think Solomon is a significant part of Michael’s long-term plans, but he may not even be fully aware of how. Or he is, and they’re in some kind of mutually beneficial agreement -- possibly related to cross-realm peace -- that we simply haven’t been made aware of yet.

Personally, I think Simeon should be made MC’s ‘official’ Guardian Angel if they’re gonna be a thing with official mechanics behind them. I know Michael is supposed to be the Big Cheese and ridiculously hot, so it may make sense to have him linked to the MC of an otome game because they’re super special too, but Michael may already have Solomon. He shouldn’t get to hog everything. It’s not like assigning Simeon to do job would really inconvenience him, either: MC is Solomon’s apprentice. He can easily work with the arrangement.

Luke may feel left out but he’s a kid so...

Seven Brothers Constellation

We learn there’s a constellation representing the brothers in the Celestial Realm. Everyone there knows the legend, but Luke doesn’t know what the three stars ‘watching over them’ represent. 

He, Mammon, and Satan begin to theorize and Satan suggests they may represent the three realms. The other two like the idea, and Mammon insists the ‘human’ star represents MC. 

He’s probably right, but I’m willing to take it a step further: it represents MC, Diavolo, and Michael. The three “guardians” of their respective realms, and the brothers. Season 3 has been repeatedly beating us over the head with how much Michael still cares for the brothers and his relevance to their upbringing, and likely their future.

It bears repeating: Diavolo and Michael are aiming towards the same goal, though their visions of what peace and harmony looks like may be very different.

Solomon could also qualify as a self-appointed guardian, but I think he lacks the connection to the brothers MC obviously has.

Still, he has the same resolve, and he’s not leaving the story any time soon.

Predictions

I sniff out even the smallest Michael details because he’s clearly the key to whatever is gonna blow up.

This might give us some insight on how the initial dealings with him may unfold:

It’s hard to deduce just what this actually means. Either Michael tends to overthink things that just aren’t that deep (can empathize) and that in itself leads to needless complications, or he’s apt to misread situations and as a result gives poor advice. Or a combination of both.

My initial read on him makes me think that he thinks the best of humans/angels but the worst of demons. He is very, very complimentary towards MC as soon as they start answering his questions.

Am I now? Really?

It could just be the game making characters butter up the MC to make the game more enjoyable for the player of a self-insert character, but dude we just met.

When you tell him you did what you did out of love for Lucifer:

That’s a very telling pause/ellipsis. It’s like his brain momentarily short-circuits and he needs to regain his composure before he continues, and he still doesn’t sound entirely sure of what you just said lol

He also just outright admits he initially thought you must be wicked just because the brothers liked you, and this is a guy who is still fond of them himself. I think he’s having a very hard time with it.

So the inevitable bumps in the roads ahead with him will likely be a result of this, and/or his dad being an asshole. Neither he or Diavolo are actually in charge of the realms they’re overseeing -- they’re both de facto leaders -- so maybe the parents will suddenly barge in and try to knock over their sand castles for whatever reason. It is kind of weird that the exchange program has been agreed to in the first place, particularly on the Celestial Realm’s part.

Regardless, I have no clue what the next arc will be. I know we still have three trials left, but they could combine two again to leave more room for the actual storyline to progress. The climax is going to be the last trial of our sorcerer’s exam, or something happening afterwards. Not sure which one I’m willing to bet on yet: I remember Simeon’s play and the silly Blood Moon contest in Season 2 were what kept use preoccupied for Season 2 until SUDDENLY LUCIFER GETS AMNESIA AND THE WORLD IS IN DANGER AND WE HAVE TO STAB HIM TO SAVE EVERYONE. But they did heavily foreshadow that in the very beginning lol. They just didn’t fill in the blanks until much later.

I wonder what the trial of chastity is gonna be like and how hard we’ll actually fail and the game will need to overcompensate for that

[doubleedgemode]

Thanks to you, @theskyprism, I'm glad you like it! I think it's time to reveal what franchise is this making a crossover with:

Right, so there's a french franchise that started as a videogame but now it's "transmedia" and that's Kros.moz. Well, actually, that's the name of the universe, the two franchises grouped under this umbrella are Do.fus and Wak.fu. Under the cut there's a long synopsis and thoughts by yours truly:

The Krosm.oz has A LOT of wacky things happening but for brevity, the stories take place in the World of Twelve, named like that since there are Twelve major Gods, which you can pledge allegiance to and recieve.. Sorta their powers but on a tamer scale?

For example, there's this uh. Vampire jock knight God w light/fire motifs called Iop (don't let the desc fool you, he's an asshole but his powers sound so cool) and his followers get similar characteristics and are known as iops. This pattern is followed by almost all of the playable classes.

Dragons are here and they're a Very important part of lore, and some special dragons lay these weird unfertile sparkly eggs called Do.fus. They are tied to an element and if the main six are reunited then you, one of many adventurers trying to get them, obtain some big power/use them to defeat a certain crying ogre that set the world in a cataclysmic state.

Wak.fu is what happens to the dofus world after 12000something years have passed and, like I said, a cataclysm has occured. Wak.fu itself is sort of, like ki, which also has plot relevance.

ANYWAYS, the Kros. moz franchise is uh.. I have a lot of gripes with it, from writing I dislike, questionable.. designs and things that would deserve a bunch of trigger warnings. Also some lore inconsistencies.

However, the lore is incredibly rich, has some very competent and charming writing and designs..! I struggle to explain it, but I do think it has some good things and I'm passionate abt it. I stay in my lane and craft and think abt my own take of the lore and such.

So! Tdlr I like this dumb big franchise so I put it with gg for fun! Each character probably has their own little story in this world. Sol is, indeed, ALLEDGELY an atheist yet has iop features (pointy vampire ears, FIVE KILOMETER SUPER JUMP) and he has no clue why, but there's a lore reason for it. :)

Ironically, Ky's class, the hupper mage, is like.. Atheist BUT according to lore many huppers are religious, idk who'd he worship but it's there haha. Sol is trying to find the do.fus for a juicy bounty and his old friend Ky pokes around, not that different from normal gg.

Also the title especifically being Guilty Omelette has its reason..

I'm not THAT deep into g.o. lore, and I might not even talk much abt it (hell, rn I'm lukewarm abt the kros.moz due to some really bad wak.fu show episodes, so bad I need some rest lmao) but it amuses me and if it can amuse other people then so be it! Thank you for reading this chunk