#and cuz of image limits

[just-honey-dewd]

THE GENIUS VS THE MASTERMIND

Thinking about the recent Link Click MOD…. The second song had the album cover(?) referring to Lu Guang as a genius. Which made me spiral into critical thinking. So this post will be covering Lu Guang's relationship to the term "genius," the way it differentiates from "mastermind," and then how Liu Xiao makes for a good character foil for Lu Guang.

I’ve never thought that far enough to consider Lu Guang one because genius as a term reeks of an exceptionalism mindset that I don't really subscribe to. But coming off of that trailer with more consideration for the term, it paints a picture on my head of the kind of exceptionalism mindset Lu Guang has always been subjected to: whether it'd be for his mind, his appearance, or his vast knowledge of things.

I find it fascinating from a writing standpoint how Lu Guang can technically be considered a genius in his specialised field: the intrinsic understanding of timelines. For the context of his world, and with the limited base of reference we have of other time-based power users, Lu Guang might be in uncharted territory, and the nature of his abilities make him a cut above the populace. There are several interpretations of the word genius from many people, but I quite take to looking at the word's etymology itself for reference.

It originated in Rome and was defined as "tutelary or moral spirit" who guides and governs an individual through life.

The Latin version of the word meant "guardian deity or spirit which watches over each person from birth; spirit; incarnation; wit, talent." The noun is related to the Latin verbs "gignere" (to beget, to give birth to) and "generare" (to beget, to generate, to procreate). A person's "genius" dictated their unique personality and disposition, so it used to be that the term "genius" was used to define a spirit that inspired the talent in a person, rather than the talent itself.

It's not hard to consider Lu Guang as a moral spirit or guide for those closest to him. And it's also representative to me that he is not only a guardian deity to Cheng Xiaoshi and Qiao Ling -- but also a spirit that possesses and guides himself when he dives back in time. So, yes, I've now taken a liking to describing him as a genius.

Which is where I get onto the other mystery man of the show...

The man of mystery, Liu Xiao— the mastermind.

It’s an oxymoron to me how he’s advertised as being behind the shadows, and spotlighted for how enigmatic he is. The most we know of him from now [2/06/2024] is that the environments around him go out of their way to tell you he's not to be trusted, that he's a red flag, and that he seemingly has a fascination with Lu Guang. Shout out to the PV trailer for showing off his haunting aura.

There's a lot of parallels he has to Lu Guang: both are adept at planning ahead, they are manipulators that haunt the narrative and each others' worlds, and they always know more than they let on. It's not even that other characters don't know they're mysterious -- but they recognise their distant and secretive dispositions.

I find it fascinating looking back at how easily Lu Guang never paid a glance at Liu Xiao in that previous iteration of the timeline, yet regarded Liu Xiao with familiarity in the Yingdu episodes.

So it could be suggested that in previous iterations, they would eventually meet Liu Xiao, but it was never in Bridon. Another thing to consider is that Lu Guang might've never noticed that Liu Xiao was at the airport, instead of ignoring him on purpose.

PV shows us this: Lu Guang seems unaware of Liu Xiao at the airport, but Liu Xiao is either aware of both Cheng Xiaoshi and Lu Guang, aware of Cheng Xiaoshi (for his objective in Bridon), or aware of Lu Guang (perhaps as a long term threat to his objective).

While Yingdu arc shows us this:

[Lu Guang's heartbeat quickens]

LIU XIAO: You're not just tailing Cheng Xiaoshi now. I want you to keep an eye on Lu Guang. XIA FEI: You mean... LIU XIAO: What's the matter? Didn't you say you only get paid to do the job? LIU XIAO: Relax, I don't have any bad intentions. LIU XIAO, OFF-SCREEN: I'm getting curious.

This scene seems to indicate that Lu Guang's behaviour is enough of a variable for Liu Xiao to want to take him into account. But crucially, Lu Guang hadn't been on his radar. Which... makes little sense if he had been aware of the duo/Cheng Xiaoshi in previous timelines.

It's also kind of a headache if this is the same Liu Xiao seen later playing tetris with a high score that's dated at 12/09/2024

A lot of the time, the fun aspects of interrogating Liu Xiao's character comes down to trying to analyse what he doesn't already know: what isn't an absolute truth, and if he knows these truths.

I think a fun interpretation to me is that Liu Xiao has the broad strokes figured out, and -- through an unknown combination of means -- can predict the outcome of events, anticipate the intervention of third parties, and can quickly single out points of interest, pawns, and those he considers prey. But he's not omniscient in the same way Lu Guang is.

I think in a technical sense, Lu Guang has the vantage point of foresight and memory as the time seer, but Liu Xiao has the persistence and agility of a spider. Go to this post for a deeper analysis on Liu Xiao's PV.

In identifying the oppositional natures of Lu Guang and Liu Xiao, it can be read through through verses from the song "Train Trial," specifically lines like:

"The lights are down (oh?) I brought the darkness (wow)"

The character 光 in Lu Guang (陆光) means 'light.' And his corresponding verses:

"Give me a pair of eyes, where I can see all the joy and sadness Give me a pair of hands that I can cover the unpredictable darkness"

"Even if you want to get rid of my ropes, a hundred years won't be enough for you."

"Above me, the clock's hand turns"

"High places are cold, but it can't affect me"

If nothing else, we know that Lu Guang and Liu Xiao's objectives impede each other's. It's hard to say what Liu Xiao as a person truly believes in, but from all his appearances in and out of the show, what little can be gathered is that he has some deep connection to Cheng Weimin, has no true allies he won't betray for his objective, and consistently monitors Lu Guang.

UPDATED NOTES:

The interview with Li Haoling adds some extra information that might click with or disrupt my current notes:

Liu Xiao studied in Yingdu because it's in close proximity of Bahati: a school linked to supernatural abilities

Liu Xiao's interest in Cheng Weimin's case, as well as his own ability to "hear people's heartbeats," is tied to the concept that supernatural abilities can be taken away

Liu Xiao's objectives in Yingdu were to use Vein to locate Wang Qing to obtain Cheng Weimin's book, and to have Xia Fei monitor Cheng Xiaoshi and Lu Guang due to Lu Guang's unusual heartbeat

Anyways, the point I've reached is Lu Guang is a rank below Liu Xiao probably due to limited political influence and power to influence the future the way he desires to -- even in spite of his vantage point. Quite like the knight and bishop chess pieces. Liu Xiao is deserving of his reputation of being several steps ahead of the game.

A genius isn't guaranteed to win against a sweet-talking manipulator who has determined the terms and conditions of his game longer than when the genius first learns it.

[paperstreetlocal]

some unused promotional stuff by u/nabient on reddit

[sweattyspaghetti]

Wip for the big collection of “I Am Tyler Durden’s Bitch” (cw: suggestive but no one’s surprised cuz it’s soapshipping 🙄)

Down bad

[chaiencefiction]

CNMN’s “Wanderer” Costume

[mishy-mashy]

Y'know, I was originally gonna just put this down and leave,

And then I thought, they really gave Kudo and Bakugo the same eyes, man.

And then I started going through more panels of Bakugo.

And a lot of it looks like things Kudo actually would do and look like when he was alive?

Then- Then there's also this, about being equals with others, and,

HE REALLY DOES RESEMBLE KUDO???

(No wonder AFO lost it, man)

[gomzdrawfr]

Hello I am here with pretty photos I took as a distraction and a question, what's your favorite natural feature? You can tell I love rugged cliffs but the 6th photo shows a dolmen in an area called the Burren which is my favorite. It's flat limestone slabs for miles and just the sound of the wind.

The last photo is from this Jan/Feb when we got really bad snow and the country shut down for a week. This doesn't look like much but in Ireland we don't get much snow and where I'm from in the west we get even less. I couldn't leave the house for a week and right outside our house people had to leave their cars behind because it was completely black ice. I did get to finally have a snowball fight though 😂

Oh my god I had to sit here and admire these view holy shit!! Good photos and very pretty places wahhhhh

Fav nature features…uhhmmm I’m not sure if I know the terms but I really like these shots with the ocean? Like an overhanging sea cliff (so I absolutely loved your 2nd, 4th and 5th shots). I also love it when a bit of the sea cuts through the cliffs

Which kinda brings me to the next point, I like rivers, granted I have not seen much of them (cuz I’m again, surrounded by skyscrapers and such and rarely visit nature-y places). The ones with a lot of rocks + the ones that are running (like the water keeps flowing??)

MOSS. I love mossy landscapes. Mossy hills mossy walls GIMME. LET ME BE ONE WITH EM���

Oddly specific, but I absolutely love when concrete floors or any kind of man-made floors have small grass and flowers peeking through, like these, this and this

Hell yeah snowball fights

[aibouart]

love your adopt designs!, but i do have to note, none of them have prices. Are they listed on another site, or are the adopts free?

Still cute as heck tho <3

yes, sorry abt that! it is mentioned in my pinned post but the queue is uploading backlog from the past few years, so unless stated otherwise in their description they've been long sold off by now...! for any designs still in need of a home, you can check my toyhouse or ko-fi <3

tysm also btw!! ;o;;

[sythrynn]

hello tumblr, and ISAT fandom

i bring thee, pokemon au, for funsies

coloured versions down below, no spoilers dw

[stepswowdsen]

【KagePro】 KuroEne AU: MaryEne infiltrate Saeru's lab and confront him

Summary:

KuroEne AU: MaryEne team up against Kuroha/Saeru

Kuroha manipulates the MekaDan into splitting up and kills them one by one

Before leaving the hideout, Kuroha reassures Ene that he will be sure to come back for her... After all, he always keeps his promises (^-^) 🖤

Mary feels the snakes slowly return back to her, and Ene wonders why Saeru insisted on going by himself

Mary uses Captivating and Concealing to distract Saeru once he reveals his identity

Ene runs away carrying Mary and finds temporary refuge in an abandoned building so they can plan their infiltration of Saeru's lab

Mary uses Focusing Eyes to obtain entire floor plans of Saeru's lab

Ene uses Opening Eyes to disable security systems

Ene confronts Kuroha alone to stall for time so that Mary can learn how to control the Kagerou Daze with Combining

Lengthy discussion between me and Feila.

These are the main points ^^

I was imagining a scenario where, after Kuroha kills everyone on August 15th and leaves MaryEne alive on purpose, he reveals his true motives as the “traitor” of the Mekakushi Dan and the one behind everything.

Mary and Ene confront him at first, and then realize that they can't outrun Saeru due to his super strength and speed due to Awakening Eyes.

So, Mary, who absorbed the MekaDan members’ snakes after their deaths, uses Captivating Eyes to draw his attention to her, and then uses Concealing Eyes to completely blank out his surroundings in white.

And then Ene uses the distraction to carry Mary and run away with her since her android body won't get as easily tired, giving them some time to run and find a place to temporarily take refuge.

I HC’ed that Ene carries Mary cuz she hardly spends time outdoors, so she’d get tired easily due to her lack of exposure to sunlight.

So Ene carries her since she doesn’t get as tired with the body that Saeru built.

Ene then tells Mary that they need to come up with a plan to make the first move, otherwise they'll eventually get cornered.

My dialogue script WIPs and rambles are under the cut since this post is super long.

Dialogue Script WIPs

Rambles

Decided to show some dialogue snippet WIPs from the KuroEne AU Route where MaryEne team up against Kuroha/Saeru because I never posted them before.

I haven't cleaned up the rest though so I'll only post these snippets. I used line breaks to distinguish between different scenes since I write down ideas as they come to mind.

Saeru tells them, "You [two] have nothing left," telling them that all of their struggles are pointless and that their efforts will be in vain since they're the only ones left.

Therefore, the Queen (Mary) will use her powers to rewind the world to see her friends once more.

...

Ene realizes that she can stall for time against Saeru by engaging in conversation with him first, and then baiting him into intimacy, since she knows he won't turn down the offer to indulge in more pleasures with her.

I imagine that Saeru will eventually realize that Ene is stalling him... and that she must be desperate to resort to this, but realizes that her wanting to stall for time for Mary's sake for as long as possible is not the only reason for this, but that she's acting based on her inner yearning too.

While they're still talking, though, Saeru tells Ene that he basically decides who lives or dies, and that he could end her life right now if he so pleases. But then Ene counters this by telling him that Saeru is more interested in seeing how things will play out.

I especially love Saeru's line, “How could you ever expect to defeat someone who surpasses you in both knowledge and strength?” because it’s true.

Ene uses Saeru's interest/willingness to see more outcomes/gain more knowledge of her antics against him, and then counters him by saying that he’s not immune to “human sentimentality/emotions,” despite claiming to be above it all…

"You've always been much more interested in seeing what choices I make."

Also I feel like Saeru seems especially excited seeing his S/O (Ene, in this case) stand up to and defy him.

He looks down on humans and thinks he's above all human sentimentality while also claiming to love humans and their foolishness... That's such a human-like contradiction.

...

I think Focusing can be used more than once to check his whereabouts (assuming he doesn't change his appearance)

I don't think he even bothers changing his appearance since it's just MaryEne left.

Though MaryEne think it's best to use Mary's Eye Abilities sparingly so she can preserve energy and not get too exhausted. Saeru is aware of all of the Eye Ability Snakes and what they do.

Mary’s gonna try and use them sparingly to avoid revealing too much of their hand. Otherwise, he'll find ways around them and counter Mary's Eye Abilities. Like don't use them more than once in front of him in a single Route. Cuz he can still be caught off guard with the element of surprise.

Novel Route states that “he is a living encyclopedia with a full grasp of everything from the start of civilization up to modern science” and due to his nature of existence as the embodiment of Azami's knowledge/wisdom, also knows things beyond what Azami knew about herself.

Saeru told Azami (Mary’s grandmother) to create the Kagerou Daze in the first place, when she wasn't even aware she could do that.

Saeru can counter Combining Eyes (Queen Snake) in the Novel Route and MR2 by just using Awakening Eyes to rebuild his body

The most useful Eye Abilities to use against him are:

Combining, Locking, Captivating, Concealing, Focusing, Deceiving (maybe)

Discussion Rambles

KuroEne AU ideas I came up with just now

Also I just thought about something.

Mary would be able to know Kuroha/Saeru's whereabouts with Focusing Eyes as long as he doesn't change his own appearance (like he did in MR2 to avoid detection by Hiyori's Focusing Eyes)

Not sure if he's gonna do that here.

Depends on if he wants to make the game easier for them (not considering it a threat due to his ego since Mary is bound to reset anyways with only the two of them alive), or if he wants to make things harder for them on purpose.

I assume he's not gonna bother to change his appearance with Awakening Eyes in the first KuroEne AU Route with a MaryEne team up cuz only 2 are left.

Though ofc I still want to write a KuroEne AU Route where Ene gets to see Kuroha/Saeru's MR2 form...

In that case, Mary would still be able to see where he is with Focusing Eyes.

F: Tbh even if he changes his form, if he looks odd enough it'll be detectable at somepoint

How tf does Focusing Eyes work again-

Me: Yeah I think Focusing Eyes works by being able to zoom up on any person you imagine if you've seen them before.

In MR2, Saeru changed to the MR2 form to avoid detection by Hiyori's Focusing Eyes. Though once the MekaDan confronts him in the forest, Hiyori is able to use it to detect his whereabouts and can estimate how long it’ll take to reach them. Like Hiyori goes, "He's on the move again...!"

After he gets hit by a land slide and the mf just regenerates with Awakening Eyes

F: Oh no wonder it didn't work 😭 So you have to imagine their appearance first, then you can find them. I thought it'd be like zooming in really really close towards a certain area

Me: I think Hiyori has to know their appearance to zoom in on a certain area. This is probably one of the most useful abilities to use against Saeru.

Locking (Mary), Combining (Mary), Concealing (Kido), Captivating (Momo), Focusing (Hibiya), and maybe Deceiving (Kano), are the most useful ones to use against Saeru imo.

Focusing (Hibiya) and Opening (Ene) are really useful for infiltrating his base though

Me: Ok I just checked Focusing Eyes' wiki page rn to remind myself.

Hibiya can use Focusing Eyes to obtain entire floor plans of Saeru's lab after seeing a picture of Kenjirou.

I imagine that's how MaryEne's going to keep an eye on his whereabouts and plan their infiltration.

So Mary can still find his whereabouts while they temporarily take refuge in an abandoned building. Ene can use Opening Eyes to check out which security systems she needs to disable before entering

Me: One other thing I realized.

In Outer Science, the Bad End of the Music Route, since Kuroha kills everyone at once, this triggers Mary's transformation into a "monster" or Medusa, as Saeru calls it, since she absorbs all of the dead members’ snakes after their deaths.

In MR2, the members get killed throughout the day with some time in between.

I remember Mary was lying in bed first for a while from exhaustion because she was slowly turning into a "Medusa."

Mary instantly feels when a member's snake returns to her when they die.

Kagerou Daze: Ch. 57 - 58

In my KuroEne AU, Kuroha/Saeru splits up everyone in the MekaDan to search in pairs of 2 for the "Clearing Snake"

Then he starts to kill everyone, so the remaining members later try to search for the missing members.

Even if they don't know what exactly is going on yet, Ene and Mary must feel that something is terribly wrong

To get a specific member's snake back basically means their death... But I don’t think they would realize what it means at first.

F: Mary would stop every once a while like "Hold on... I feel another one coming back to me," or something like that as if she was trying to process what's going on

Me: Yeahhh like at first I don't think they know what's going on

Me: Imagine if Kuroha told Mary and Ene they should stay inside the base at first so Ene can take care of Mary?

Ene probably watches over Mary while Mary’s in bed at first. Since in MR2, she looks exhausted and her hair shortens (and gets blackened at the ends) as she absorbs more of the members’ snakes. And then eventually, Mary gets out of bed after feeling slightly better.

So then Ene worries that if the “Clearing Eyes” guy is targeting everyone in the city, then their base might not even be guaranteed to be safe anymore, so she leaves the base and takes Mary with her

F: MekaDan has 9 members, so spliting up into teams of 2 would let one person not get a team, which would be Saeru, it's all apart of his plan—

Me: RIGHT

I imagine Ene eventually gets a sinking feeling about this (once Mary starts getting snakes back) but ofc... he is her lover, so she wants to believe in him at first (before the reveal)

At first, Ene thinks, "Kuroha would understand if we temporarily moved locations to some place safe... Because frankly, I don't even know if our base is safe anymore... We'll regroup with him later! And then we'll try to find everyone! It's better if we all stay together!"

(Note: In Routes where Saeru pretends to join the Mekakushi Dan, he goes by "Kuroha" for obvious reasons)

I imagine there's going to be some scene where Ene gets teary eyed at the thought of Saeru leaving the base alone (like right before he leaves the MekaDan's hideout) and clutches onto his sleeves, saying, "Don't go... What if something happens to you and that 'monster,' the 'Clearing Eyes' guy, gets you!!!"

And Saeru just goes (...) before he turns around to face Ene.

Saeru reassures her that he has Awakening Eyes' super strength so he can scout across the city. And he pats and ruffles her hair and smiles at her like (^-^) and then gently caresses her cheek.

Me: One more thing I imagined.

Before Saeru leaves the hideout, he tells Ene, "I promise I'll come back to you."

And then, when he finds Mary and Ene (after he killed everyone), he goes like, "See? I always keep my promises..."

He is so evil for this honestly.

F: Oh God... 😭😭

"Jokes on you, I WAS CLEARING EYES!"

Me: Yeah honestly it's already devastating enough on Mary since he killed all of her friends and she physically feels the effects of slowly becoming “the next Medusa/Master” (as Saeru puts it)

But then Ene??? It must be so devastating to find out that her lover of 2 years is actually the mastermind behind everything who orchestrated everyone's deaths and killed everyone.

This must feel like your entire world flipped upside down and came crashing down on you all at once. The situation is so DIRE now.

Ene feels like she can’t afford to let her feelings get in the way, now that it’s been revealed her lover is actually a monster that needs to be stopped at all costs.

And Ene would definitely try to hide how she feels to avoid worrying Mary by keeping up a (^v^) shtick, but Mary ends up telling Ene that she should tell her how she really feels.

Honestly heartbreaking cuz she was probably getting flashbacks to all the happy times she had with Saeru (before of all of this happened) while she was running away with Mary.

Me: Yeah and then I imagine Saeru comes back to the base (after killing everyone) to find it's completely deserted. Saeru notes it's a good call on Ene's part, cuz if they just stayed in the MekaDan's base, they would've been cornered by Saeru.

Then he assumes that MaryEne either figured out his identity, or that Ene decided to take Mary with her after seeing their base might not be safe anymore (which is more likely)

Though they're probably laying low while trying to find out what happened to everyone.

On Mary and Ene’s end, no one is answering their text messages or phone calls, which is extremely concerning.

I imagine they’re not running around the city to avoid detection, just so Mary can preserve her strength just in case they run into the so-called "monster," so they move around quietly. At this point, Saeru probably eventually finds them by scent since he’s a snake.

F: Not to mention not listening to Shintaro's warnings because he was the one who had a bit of suspicions for Saeru

Me: Yeah I imagine Shintaro and Kano would've been a bit suspicious of him... 😭 Ouch

Me:

Kagerou Daze: Ch. 21

I just imagine Ene does that thing where she quickly goes back into her cyber body and tries to find the other members' whereabouts through GPS but just gets an error message. Something is OFF.

And no one is answering their text messages or calls...

Me: Mary feels the other's snakes slowly return to her (throughout the day) while they're still in the base, and goes, "What is this......? I suddenly felt..."

And Ene gets concerned when Mary's hair starts to fall off and she grows snake scales on her, and just goes like, "…Mary?"

Me: And then Ene eventually just thinks back on Saeru’s decision to go scout for the other members alone, "Why did he insist on going alone... A group of 3 would've been better!"

F:

Mary: He probably wants to go alone—

Ene: But why? Does he not want to be included? It's odd...

Me:

Ene: But the killer is on the loose...! It would've been better if everyone all stayed together...!

Ene: But I guess he’s always been a solitary person...

[marcusrobertobaq]

Detroit: Become Pricks

[quaintcy]

TYSM YALL FOR MAKING WB FUN !! ⸜(｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )⸝♡

Didn't expect the list to be full isnt that a surprise?

Made me so happy to see y'all's names hehe

@gatioxd @stitch-slash-pebbles @juno890 @sealedchasm @charbles @ketsup-toyo @danysaurbutnot @fropishness @idiototheinternet @kyuuuu 🤍🤍🤍

[ashtonisvibing]

omg lads it's cwimas

i feel obligated as an artist to draw at least a little something (even if it's a colored sketch) festive

and i wanna draw a fursona and leif, but i am,,,,,, indecisive-

the shortest i can leave this is 1 day, but in actuality i'm gonna leave this going until... 3pm EST (of course i'll end it sooner if i look and see that votes have pretty much stopped)

:3

[paulmccartneyexplodingonstage]

~More sketches from today and yesterday~

[aibouart]

btw that photo of my fursuit my sister took on halloween, and she submitted it to a fursuit group as an entry for a contest for your photo to be featured as the group's banner and it fucking won and i had no idea she did it at all she was like "hey uhm i didn't think it'd win but your suit is the banner of this group now" and i was like wHAT ???

[redxx95]

[aria0fgold]

Central Country Wizards: Oz, Arthur, Cain, Riquet.

Northern Country Wizards: Snow, White, Mithra, Owen, Bradley.

Eastern Country Wizards: Faust, Shino, Heathcliff, Nero.