#if all parties know all the context and make a decision based on that I don‘t see what‘s wrong

[mystic-myrtille]

„Lukanette wasn‘t good because Marinette was still in love with Adrien“

or rather

„Despite Marinette still having a crush on Adrien and Luka knowing this, her and Luka still had mutal feelings for each other and made the decision with all the relevant context on the table to explore their relationship and see where it goes because teens are in fact allowed to test the waters and figure stuff out ��

[lightandfellowship]

The Sewer Squad's designs are fine, actually

If you ask me, the Sewer Squad from KHUX are a really great visual example of Kingdom Hearts' approach to writing and design.

That approach being: it's fine to make design and writing decisions that come across as silly, campy, unbelievable, or "cringey" if those choices are meaningful in context and contribute something significant to the story.

On the whole, the Sewer Squad are a mess of character designs. Minus the Leader who just kinda looks like a normal character tbh, the remaining 3/4ths of the group don't look particularly cohesive or even...aesthetically pleasing? At least for me. If you were to judge these designs purely on a visual and technical level, using commonly accepted character design guidelines, I personally don't think they would score very high.

Function has been thrown out the window with their accessories, with a lot of said accessories looking either bulky, heavy, face/movement obstructing, or just plain uncomfortable, despite them presumably fighting Heartless on the daily.

Color palettes are all over the place, especially with the Gummi Girl who's sporting three different hues of pink all conflicting in one design. Themeing is likewise all over the place—using the Gummi Girl once again as an example, she's pairing futuristic Gummi ship wings with a ninja outfit and a modern-looking frog hat. Which like, normally you can marry vastly different themes/time periods together into one character design just fine if you do it well, but here these elements are just kinda pasted all over the design separately with no blending/discussion between them. (Yes I know this makes perfect sense given the lore; I'm getting there.)

And then characters like Fancy Bowtie Boy are wearing gimmick-y clothing pieces based off of canon characters, such as Ansem SoD and...Halloween Town Goofy, for some reason. Which makes the design look derivative and nonsensical. (There's a way to justify this in canon thanks to the Book of Prophecies and the medals, but it's still kinda weird and offputting to see one of the Big Bad's gloves on a silly side character.)

It also doesn't help that their outfits/hair/facial features weren't designed specifically with them in mind, and instead are comprised of various disparate, pre-existing Player assets slapped together haphazardly. And not being able to give these characters more thoughtful, bespoke design elements means losing the opportuntiy to communicate who these characters are more precisely.

They do have recognizable silhouettes though (along with some much needed diversity), so I'll give them credit for that.

But, everything I just said and criticized above? THAT'S ENTIRELY THE POINT, BABY!!!

They're not supposed to represent a typical character with a typical character design that follows typical character design rules because they're not typical "characters"—rather, they're supposed to represent the average, real-life players playing KHUX. The people who buy random outfits with whatever Jewels they have and then mix and match the pieces together regardless of whether or not they actually look "good" together or logically connect. The people who are just having fun with customization.

And this distinction is meaningful because the whole idea behind these characters is that they belong to the same party that the Player belongs to. They're not like Player's other friends such as Ephemer and Skuld who are main characters in the plot and thus require more visually pleasing and thought-out character designs; they're not "generic" NPCs that Player runs into only once or twice like the "my friends aren't my power" guy who can just wear one of the basic default outfits and it'll serve its purpose just fine; they are, specifically, Player's fellow party members. And if the Player themself is wearing a silly costume too, well, they'll just fit right in with the Sewer Squad, won't they?

Thus, they're meant to mirror the visuals and dynamics of real KHUX parties comprised of real people, hopefully making it easier for the person playing the game to relate to them (if said person belongs to a party themself) and intuitively understand the role these characters play in Player's life. And despite how unrealistic their outfits are (considering most of them are running around fighting in outrageous, cumbersome costumes), I would argue that their closer resemblance to the actual playerbase gives them the potential to feel more real, paradoxically.

This also just demonstrates KHUX's commitment to its story and gameplay integration. It doesn't matter how "silly" a gameplay feature might look or feel in practice, it is going to be properly represented in the story regardless. Lux, Guilt, Power Bangles, Spirits, Shift Pride, player costumes, it doesn't matter, if it's a part of the gameplay, it's going in the story somewhere. The game takes a risk and trades a little bit of immersion/suspension of disbelief for pure gameplay and story synergy. Perhaps it doesn't work for everybody, but in general it works for me, and I respect it.

[shootingmorningstar]

Was inspired by bambygourl’s fanart and a TikTok I saw. Dressing up as Roger and Jessica Rabbit for a costume party with Lucifer. I think he’d be all pouty and grumpy about dressing up as such a silly character and not a suave charming character. Especially since he’d take a look at the white button up, red trousers with suspenders, and blue bow tie with yellow polka-dots and see it as a fashion nightmare XD. And don’t get him started on the bunny ears and tail. Tho his mood is sufficiently uplifted when he sees the reader dressed up as Jessica Rabbit. Low cut red dress with a slit and all. Just imagine pulling on his suspenders or bow tie for a kiss, getting lipstick on his mouth and face, and cooing over how adorable and handsome her honey-bunny is.

I've been meaning to get to this request ever since I saw it because it is just so good. I'm definitely biased for anything Lucifer related but god this is just so cute. Anon, your brain is outstanding. I love pouty Lucifer. If you still have that tiktok on hand or ever come across it again, do you think you could send it my way .ᐣ

You didn't include what kind of request you wanted though, and my default is HCs -- but I couldn't help but throw in a little drabble based on them, too. Or, at least I intended it to be a drabble .ᐣ It got away from me, haha.

⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀Lucifer and Female Reader Dressing

⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ Up As Roger and Jessica Rabbit ~

Lucifer is initially thrilled when you bring up wanting to attend a famous yearly costume party in Pride with him. A chance to show you off sounds amazing, and he's great with costumes. Just the thought of you two matching is enough to get him excited.

You seemed just as excited as he was -- in fact, he was even more excited when you told him you'd already had something in mind .ᐟ He's pestering you to tell him just what the costumes were as soon as the plan leaves your lips, but much to his displeasure, you refuse, saying you want to keep it a surprise.

You'd even managed to resist the very strongest puppy-dog eyes and pout. Impressive. He usually succeeds in getting his way with that one -- who could ever say no to that face .ᐣ Having exhausted his options, he sighs his defeat.

Well, nearly exhausted his options. He was entirely too ready to pretend that you'd won and snoop through your closet the second you walked away. Apparently his quick glance at said closet had given him away though, and with a quick deadpan stare alongside a scary sounding ❛ don't you dare. ❜ has his feet rooted to the floor.

Did his poker face really suck so bad .ᐣ He's definitely practicing it in the mirror later.

Ultimately, though, he trusts you completely and your choice in matching outfits is no exception, so he allows it to drop for now. There's still a few more days until the party, but that time could be spent much more productively by your side rather than whining about clothing.

That is, until the day of the party comes around and you bring out his outfit. You'd never seen Lucifer's jaw drop quite like that before and it takes iron will to stop yourself from giggling at his present state.

He doesn't understand the reference. Lucifer regrets his past decision to give humanity free will. It's obvious, even if he never seems to say it outright. He had given out such a precious gift and so much of humanity chose to abuse it, to be nothing but cruel. Looking at sinners and by extension humanity is just a terrible reminder of what he'd done, so he prefers to avoid it whenever possible. This quite often includes the media of the living realm -- he's never even heard about the movie, forget seeing it.

So without the full context, all he knows is that you've just handed him an absolutely atrocious outfit -- and to make it worse, you expect him to go out in it .ᐣ Seriously, he whinges, red overalls with a blue bow .ᐣ Rabbit ears .ᐣ And to make it worse, you won't even show him your outfit until he gets dressed .ᐟ He can't believe you're laughing.

He sounds completely and totally ridiculous, in your defense. Seriously, has he seen his regular outfit .ᐣ He looks absolutely stunning, sure -- but he also looks like he walked right out of a circus.

It says a lot, though, that despite the complete and total pity party he's currently throwing himself, he's beginning to shuffle into the costume anyway. He's grumbling the whole way, but the fact that he just doesn't have it in him to say no to you warms your heart.

You had been so, so eager about this party, and the way your eyes had shined like stars when you told him had long since burned itself into his heart.

wc ; 1.2k

His seemingly endless complaints had tapered off ever so slightly when you shimmied his grasp off of the ruby red suspenders sagging unbuttoned over his chest. By the time you take the fabric into your own hands his protests faded to little more than a mumble under his breath, and with the very first snap of a button in place under your gentle touch he'd quieted completely. Where a look of exasperation had reflected off his face seconds prior, in its place now is that of silent awe, his gaze trained on your every action. The gesture of intimacy is enough to leave Lucifer somewhat choked up, his heart still not used to receiving such acts of adoration and kindness. You tie the cornflower blue fabric adorned with tiny yellow spots into a bow to accentuate the costume and cover his hands briefly with your own as you slip the gloves onto his fingers.

Not twenty minutes had passed, and he finds his attitude regarding the ensemble shifting with every second you take to assist him into it. Each and every part of it looks ridiculous at best, but the thought of you picking it out solely for him has him warming up to the idea.

Declaring your work complete, you raise your grasp ever so slightly, palms holding each of his cheeks close, your thumbs rubbing soft little circles below his eyes. Your affections are sufficient only when finished with a kiss placed on his forehead. ❛ I'm going to go get dressed, okay .ᐣ No peeking. I promise I'll be right back. ❜

The way his wrists on instinct dart out to catch yours to bring you close to him again as you pull back nearly got you. He's extended his lips in a pout once more. You hate to leave him quite so sad looking but you know he'll appreciate what you have planned enough for it to be worth it.

Bathroom door shutting closed behind you, there's the smallest bit of lingering regret that he can't help you to get dressed like you had for him. The outfit itself takes you barely a few moments to slip into -- it's the makeup that requires precision, time and effort. His pacing around the bedroom is audible, impatient steps sounding into stomps, the sounds causing you to choke on a laugh. You need a steady hand for your eyeshadow and that's hard to maintain during an act quite as cute as this.

Nonetheless, your look is finished within half an hour and therefore Lucifer is put out of his misery. It's not a second after the door clicks open that his attention is caught, snapped to the light peaking out of the doorway. Stepping into the small hallway, your eyes are met with his own -- and the way his pupils widen as soon as he gets a glance of your dress makes both your efforts and his complaining worthwhile. His gaze takes you in from top to bottom, each detail enchanting him further. The dress so perfectly hugging your curves is crimson to match him and absolutely breathtaking -- and are you walking towards him .ᐣ Your strut does well to accentuate the slit stitched into the leg, your thigh tantalizing in its display.

Finally reclaiming your place beside him, one of your fingers reaches out, finding purchase under his chin -- and when you tilt his head up you swear you saw his eyes flash red. ❛ Hello, my darling husband, ❜ you coo, sending his already overloaded brain into a frenzy. Husband . . .ᐣ You wanted . . .ᐣ With him, really . . .ᐣ And although he's beginning to put the pieces together and clue in that such a term of endearment was part of your match, you seemed so happy to say it. He snaps his focus back onto just how stunning you look tonight, but the idea has firmly implanted itself into the depths of his mind.

Back into the present time, his hands have begun to roam -- he wants to commit every detail of you to memory, and that includes the feeling of your dresses fabric under his fingertips. His grasp is met with your own, for it's not long before you're pulling the straps of his suspenders, tugging him forward into a kiss. By the time he's recovered from his surprise enough to reciprocate, though, you're already beginning to pull away. He chases your lips with a whine but you've already moved on, pressing a kiss first to his cheek and then to his forehead. It's only when you offer him a small compact mirror does he understand -- each of your kisses has left behind a little bit of the lipstick you oh so painstakingly applied. Your marks on his face have left him entranced, desperately craving more.

A gasp rips itself from those same cherry red lips in surprise -- you weren't expecting him to summon forth his tail, much less wrap it around your midsection and use it to bring you closer. ❛ Kiss me again, ❜ He pleads, desperate and breathy. ❛ Anything for my honey bunny, ❜ you chime, matching the mark on his left cheek with one on the right. ❛ You just look so cute, ❜ between each kiss is another offering of praise and compliments, the blush left in your wake matching excellently. ❛ Who's my handsome bunny .ᐣ ❜

Your multitude of kisses has left Lucifer stunned and looking nothing short of angelic -- even more so than usual. You're fully intending on giving him several more, leaning in to do just that when the wall mounted clock besides you chimes a new hours arrival, alerting you to the time. ❛ Oh, dear. I'm very sorry, Mr. Rabbit, but I'm afraid we simply must be going. We don't want to be late, do we .ᐣ ❜

Fixing your lipstick takes all of a few seconds, leaving you free to grab a makeup wipe off the pouch resting atop your vanity and wipe all of the stains you'd adorned his face with away. A snap of his wrist catches yours just inches from his face, however, halting your plans in their tracks. Confused, you look to him for an explanation, a soft ❛ leave them. please .ᐣ ❜ being all he offers you. ❛ You're going to go to the party like this, love .ᐣ ❜ to which he nods sagely. He can't bear to part with them -- not when the lipstick marks are yours, not when they declare proudly that he is yours.

❛ If you say so, honey. ❜ You can't deny that the prospect leaves your heart fluttering. A grand, golden portal appears with a simple snap of his fingers and he takes your arm, now linked with his own in an attempt to usher you forward. He can't wait to show you off, to watch as other demons eyes glow green as they stare his way. You stay still, though, prompting him to look back at you with an air of confusion. It's then that you lean close, whispering ❛ be a good bunny and there will be more where that came from. too bad we'll have to wait until we come home, hmm .ᐣ ❜

Suddenly Lucifer can't wait for this party to be over.

I still can't believe I'd originally intended this to be 100 words and it ended up over a thousand. I can't help it, I'm so weak for anything Lucifer related. I'm half tempted to write an absolutely filthy post party part 2. If there's enough demand for it .ᐣ I just might.

As always, let me know what you think .ᐣ Hearing back from you guys keeps me motivated ~

[bairdthereader]

Nick Asking Charlie Out: Intention

The differences between the show and the comic in the scene where Nick asks Charlie to come to Harry's party are striking and, I think, are Alice's brilliant way of adding intention into this evolving relationship in a way it hadn't existed before.

In the comic, we get a panel that shows the boys' notebooks and their hands, but not their faces, as Nick says "Are you going to Harry Greene's party on Saturday?" Though Nick is obviously deeply interested in Charlie's answer, this is still a passive inquiry; the stakes are low when the question is framed this way.

In the show, on the other hand, we first get this moment of intense, silent struggle while Nick works up the nerve to ask a real question, a question that he knows is weighty. There's a second where he checks in with himself--you can see it in his eyes (Kit is brilliant here)--where he's asking himself if he's actually going to do this.

And, yes, he decides, he is. This is easily the most nervous we've ever heard Nick to this point. The words rush out, squeezed together and slightly high-pitched: "Do you want to go to Harry's party?" This in and of itself is still not a particularly loaded question; it's the fact that Nick managed to ask it at all that lends it consequence. He thought hard about it. He knew what he really meant when he asked it. He's still incredibly, intensely confused, but he also knows he's taking a concrete step toward exploring a romantic relationship with Charlie, even if he's still completely unsure of what that really means for his own identity journey.

And Nick wants Charlie to have a clear understanding of what he's really saying, too (as is Nick's way). So then comes the bit that really scares him, but about which he's undeniably most hopeful. This is where this scene deviates most noticeably from the comics, in which Nick never specifies that he wants Charlie to go to the party with him. I love that Alice made this change, because we get to see Nick, for the first time, making an intentional decision not only to act on his attraction to Charlie (in a seemingly small but for him really quite monumental way), but also, importantly, his intention to make Charlie aware, on some level, of his changing feelings.

In the comics we get Charlie's reluctance, and then Nick's admission that he doesn't want to hang out with his own friends. Then "I have you now, so . . . so will you come?" Again, Nick is asking Charlie to attend the party, and clearly wants him to say he will, so there is some kind of intention behind his ask, but he frames it safely in the context of wanting someone there to hang out with whose company he actually enjoys.

In the show, Nick is very purposeful and decisive in the way he responds to Charlie's reluctance. "I want you to be there." This is not passively allowing closeness to happen under the guise of friendship. Yes, Nick carefully walks the line between a platonic ask and a romantic one by not actually calling it a date, but this is still a critical point for him. This is intention, purposefulness, acting toward a specific, desired outcome.

I love the panel in the comics that appears after Charlie says he'll go to the party, that it will be fun if Nick is there. It's adorable, and Nick is clearly flustered and excited that Charlie changed his mind about the party based on Nick's desire for his company.

But in the show we get This Face. ⬇️ The I can't believe I just did that face, immediately followed by the thank god he said yes face (along with a tiny little sigh of relief that he managed to say what he wanted to say). This whole interaction is basically a preview of the rest of their relationship. Nick constantly acting in a very considered, purposeful way, pushing himself and surprising himself . . . in part because Charlie promises to be there, is happy to be there . . . and Nick not believing his luck.

[Side note: Charlie's face says a lot here too. It says "I think, maybe, that might have been an actual ask out!" Then it says "But maybe not, don't get too excited." Because despite Nick's intention, Charlie's past experiences and pain--not to mention everyone around him--have been telling him there's no way Nick could mean his question in the way Charlie wants to interpret it. Charlie's uncertainty even after this interaction makes Nick's next really purposeful, intentional, purely internally motivated move--taking Charlie's hand after their first kiss--that much more important.]

[budd-ie]

Desperately need to break down two people and one cup of water because I have like 10 drafts about xianle trio that I Can't Post because they all feed off of conclusions from each of their answers, except we haven't established what those conclusions are yet. So this is where that starts.

I once had a wake up in a cold sweat realization (the first of many) that the three of them represent three different paths in their respective answers, and how these answers give us so much insight into who they really are and how they typically act. And I realize this is probably a very basic and prevalent thing (especially come book 3) but I haven't seen it broken down recently, so I'd like to. But mostly I need it as my context and support for my other future claims or else they might not make any sense haha. So I’ll be relating these answers directly to events in book 3. Let's get into it.

“Two walked the desert, about to die from thirst, and there was only one cup of water. The one who drinks lives, the one who doesn’t dies. If you were a god, who would you give that cup of water to— don’t speak yet, I’ll ask the other two and see how they answer.”

Mu Qing's answer:

“May I ask who those two people are, what their natures are like, and of their merits? A decision can only be made once all the details are known.”

Feng Xin's answer:

“I don’t know! Don’t ask me—tell them to decide amongst themselves!”

Xie Lian's answer:

“Give them another cup."

TLDR:

When faced with a choice such as this...

Xie Lian will try to save both parties at all costs, even if that cost is himself. His sense of justice is the strongest above all and believes that innocent people should never have to suffer.

Feng Xin will put someone else in charge of the choice and act on their behalf. He isn't as good at making decisions, and feels most comfortable standing behind someone else he trusts.

Mu Qing will choose whatever option brings the best/most desirable outcome that is within his control without sacrificing himself. He is a logical thinker above all else and is used to making moral sacrifices to find the optimal yet most realistic outcome of a situation.

(Book 3 and some book 6 spoilers ahead)

We know that Xie Lian's desire to expand the resource is beautiful but impossible, and we know that giving equal amounts of half the cup of water to both people will still leave them both as dead as not giving it at all. We also know that he learned his lesson the hard way and doesn't stop learning it even 800 years later. We know how Xianle fell and we know that it was doomed from the beginning; there was no saving it, but even if there was, he would have to choose between Xianle and Yong'an. Finally, we know that when he has nothing left to give, he will give himself up for the outcome he desires. We spend so much time with Xie Lian that I won't focus on trying to prove what's already been proven. Instead, I'll focus on the other two.

Mu Qing's answer is unpalatable to most people, because it sounds like he accepts being put in charge of answering the question "who deserves to live and who deserves to die?" It's easy to judge him for his willingness to make these kinds of sacrifices, but this is the exact nature of the question, and the exact situation they find themselves in so often. By both this answer and patterns within his actions, I think Mu Qing can best be described as an extremely logical thinker who will choose whatever option brings the best/most desirable outcome without sacrificing himself too far. That doesn't mean he'll never push his luck, but this is the algorithmic way we most often see him thinking.

By the terms of the riddle, the most logical option is that one person gets water and one person doesn’t, and the giver will decide who gets it to avoid conflict. And Mu Qing doesn’t choose randomly, either; he wants to choose based on their characters, their backgrounds, their merits, etc. So the other two may be treating everyone equally, but sometimes that’s just not within your control. Mu Qing is an incredibly logical person, so to optimize the good that can come from this action, he will make the choice. It’s not easy, and could end either way, but at least someone is guaranteed to live. In fact, this is the only outcome in which someone is guaranteed to live. I'll summarize some other examples of his thought process in the future, but I'll focus on the most relevant example for now.

In book 3, Mu Qing is the first one to suggest cursing Yong’an with human face disease in order to save Xianle. A "despicable" choice as they conclude, but Xie Lian, I will add, does thoroughly consider his suggestions before declining, and while the persuasion is ineffective, it isn't 100% ineffective. In the end though, Xie Lian is weighing the option of “people in the capital probably live and the people of Yong’an as well as the dead suffer for it” and he isn’t willing to make this bargain in the end. He doesn’t know if it could backfire and isn’t satisfied with the amount of bad that could come from it. Mu Qing, on the other hand, is adamant about this decision and gets frustrated that Xie Lian won’t make it. He's even excited about his answer, not because he wants people to die, but because he found themselves a viable way out. It feels so easy to him, because he’s weighing the net good of “we fucking live” and “we fucking die.” Turns out living is a lot more appealing than dying, especially for a character who canonically loves his life and is terrified of death. Isn’t this the same mindset as the rest of the common people?

I've established before that Xie Lian is not the common people. Growing up poor though, Mu Qing is like, common people extraordinaire. Unlike Xie Lian, he’s long since accepted that not everybody can be saved, not everybody can be placated, some people are good and nice and some people suck and are not. Mu Qing is used to making sacrifices for the greater good, ignoring morality to a digestible extent, because it’s something that common people have to do to get by. This situation reminds me of this quote from when the townsfolk are getting admonished for mutilating themselves to get rid of human face disease:

“Your Highness is invincible, so of course you'd call us foolish. But aren’t our conditions so desperate that we had no choice but to try foolish methods?!”

And maybe we fixate a lot on “not everybody can be saved” but I think what matters to Mu Qing is more that some people can be saved. Why are we dawdling doing good because it’s not enough good? Don’t we learn from this that just one person enough? Mu Qing understands that in order to have a chance at saving themselves a decision must be made, and he tries to make his point clear when he says the following:

“Before they reach their bad end, we will have already perished! You don’t have a third path and there is no second cup of water. Wake up, Your Highness! You’re running out of time.”

The amount of suffering the common people have endured until now allows the average person to surpass the moral debacle and choose life above all else. Why did Xie Lian try to steal during his first banishment? Because he was so desperate to save himself and his family that morality became the lesser merit. When faced with the threat of human face disease and the solution of killing just one person to save themselves, the people who stab Xie Lian live, and the one who refuses the decision dies a horrible death. Does Mu Qing make a little more sense now? He saw not only a way to survive, but the expected solution to the problem, and he jumped at it. We as the audience can fixate on the moral implications of his decisions because we aren’t the ones making the decisions, nor are we affected by either outcome.

Speaking of a person not making decisions, this is where Feng Xin becomes relevant. His answer is to make no decision at all, leave it up to them to decide who drinks and who doesn't. While he's absolved from the moral quandary, this path doesn't really solve anything. There might be a chance where they choose peacefully who should drink, but it's much more realistic to expect them to slaughter each other over the resource before either of them have the chance to drink it.

So when faced with a major decision like this, what is Feng Xin most likely to do?

Entrust it to someone else, like Xie Lian.

As much as I love him, our poor boy's arrows are a bit sharper than he is. What’s he doing while Xie Lian and Mu Qing talk about curses?

At first, Feng Xin had listened to their argument glumly, and because he couldn’t contribute any better ideas, he didn’t join in.

Not a whole lot. Actually, he stands silently until Mu Qing insults Xie Lian. After that, he shoves Mu Qing back and suddenly starts going off on him, saying things like

“With an apathetic person like him, you don’t usually see any sign that he actually cares about the Kingdom of Xianle. But now suddenly he’s anxious?”

and especially:

“You really think I can’t tell that you think His Highness is a fool? I can tolerate your sarcasm and those rolling eyes, I can tolerate you always standing where you shouldn’t in the Upper Court. You like to show off and it’s hardly the first time you’ve pulled this shit, so fine, go show off, you’re not good enough to wow the heavens anyway. His Highness doesn’t mind, so I don’t give a shit either. But since you’re gonna cross the line, I’m not gonna hold back. Listen up! I’m not surprised you’d leap at the chance to use despicable means, but His Highness is His Highness—no matter what he decides, you better respect it. Don’t you dare be so critical, and don’t forget who the fuck you are!”

This is only an excerpt of the rant because the first part isn't as relevant but this whole scene is so crazy. Crazy because it's so raw (that last line is so jaw dropping to me like actually. If someone said all that to me I’d go rogue) and also because it tells us so much about them.

First, "despicable" is actually a word Xie Lian used earlier when he said the following:

“Absolutely not! Don’t forget what we called them when they attacked the innocent civilians of the capital: despicable. If we do the same thing, won’t we become just as despicable? How would we be any different?”

Which means this isn't completely Feng Xin's own judgment. Right now, he's just using Xie Lian's opinion as an in to justify his own personal rage. Xie Lian isn't even calling Mu Qing despicable; he fully believes in Mu Qing, understands how he came to his conclusion, and doesn't blame him for having a temper (he already knows he's sensitive and prone to it, he defends him saying he’s “just anxious over the current situation”). While we do know it definitely reflects Feng Xin's moral opinion on attacking innocents (“If it really was them, then I’ll lose respect for them. Fight honestly on the battlefield if you have the ability; don’t use shady tricks to harm innocent civilians!”), it's less reflective of his intentions in this specific instance.

Second, this whole rant is fueled by nothing but pent up rage that was sparked by Mu Qing insulting Xie Lian, giving him a hard time, and going against his decision. Feng Xin judges him hard for his "despicable" choice, but Feng Xin doesn't even have any other opinions on how to solve the actual problem at hand. His opinion is whatever Xie Lian decides, for his highness is so smart and virtuous, clearly that must be the right one, especially when compared to that of a humble servant.

But what would Feng Xin do if Xie Lian decided Mu Qing was right? What if Xie Lian decided that they desperately needed to curse all Yong'an citizens to die so Xianle might be able to live? Would this still be a despicable decision to Feng Xin if Xie Lian decided it wasn't so bad? I have reason to believe that his sense of morality, though great, may be slightly lesser than his sense of loyalty (assuming the person he is loyal to is virtuous and acceptable to him, such is Xie Lian). This is supported by how in the revised book 6 scene, Feng Xin doesn’t leave because he’s questioning Xie Lian’s morality, he leaves because Xie Lian relieves him of his duty and he obeys the order. He’s surprised when this happens and seems hesitant, despite it all. While we don’t really have any specific instance testing this hypothetical, my hypothesis is that any moral complications he could have would come after acting on his highness's word, and if Xie Lian said this was the right choice, he would rationalize it (I also think there’s a graph with an intersection between his morality and loyalty after which morality will start surpassing loyalty when the situation is pushed far enough to warrant it). In any case, the consequences of their actions will not fall on Feng Xin's shoulders, so he doesn't think too hard about the implications of the actions, he just excels at following orders from the boss; that's why its so easy for him to make these judgments.

I also think this explains the way he acts during book 1 where he always looks like he has something to say and never chooses to, always looking just a little lost at what he’s supposed to be doing. He’s given a choice of talk to Xie Lian or not talk to him, but he genuinely doesn’t know what he’s supposed to do and can’t figure it out on his own, so he chooses the safe option of doing nothing. He’s always looked towards Xie Lian to make decisions, but he doesn’t have that anymore. We actually see him start getting more confident in decision making as the book goes on, like when he congratulated him for his 3000 lanterns (I like how he doesn’t question where they came from though!).

Anyways, I forgot how important book 3 was for characterization of these three because everything they do can be drawn back here. The number one reason I like this story is the way every single character is so individual and has very specific motivations and personalities that can and will clash in very specific ways with other characters, which is how a lot of the conflicts arise in the first place (instead of throwing people at a plot and hoping they can carry it). It makes it so interesting when you know why they act the way they do. Also, this isn't a complete character summary by any means, there’s obviously more to these fellas that I didn’t talk about. I can think of other instances that support these conclusions, but because this is already such a long post maybe I'll make a masterlist or something and link them when I finish them (thanks!)

[idolcollect]

Nights Like These- Aquakane🥂‧˚｡⊹ ˖

-☾ ｡🍸｡⋆ ⊹₊| genre-…Fluff

-☾ ｡🍸｡⋆ ⊹₊| context- … Tokyo blade has finally come to an end and the directors put together an after party for all the cast and crew’s hard work. Unfortunately for him, Akane and Aqua prefer quiet company.

-☾ ｡🍸｡⋆ ⊹₊- … In preparation for my analysis on Aka and intimacy, here is writing based on Veil, a comic masterclass in writing a two people with chemistry in a way that is subtle show not tell. My writing is not at Veil's level but it is a personal favorite

-☾ ｡🍸｡⋆ ⊹₊| For your reading experience- I recommend sitting down comfortably, pouring your juice of choice in a wine glass, and aimlessly reading while pretending to be a nepo baby.

Tokyo Blade’s incredible show has run it’s course, ending with a standing ovation and thralls of new fans. With the show complete, director Sumiaki spares no expense on a party to celebrate. While some take the chance to network, two of the plays stars decide each other’s company should be enough for the night

Psychology. The scientific study of behavior and mental processes. The understanding of everyday actions, thoughts, and emotions that can be applied, if necessary, to abnormal or clinical cases. This broad scope captures everything from how we perceive the world, make decisions, and develop relationships to how we cope with challenges.

Akane found that the pages of textbooks, worn between her fingers, were the best friends a girl could ask for. There was a certain comfort in understanding herself and others—why she reacted the way she did, why people could be so good or evil, why the world felt the way it did. Knowing was a form of armor. If she could understand things at their core, she could believe, even for just a moment, that nothing would catch her off guard again.

With that in mind, Akane also found that knowing so much about people was a curse in its own way. Especially at parties.

Tokyo Blade’s after-party was far fancier than Akane had expected. Director Sumiaki had thrown together a soirée that would make The Great Gatsby proud. The room buzzed with conversation, bursts of laughter, and the soft clink of crystal glasses.

It was all so polished, so perfect—and so completely overwhelming.

This wasn’t like the after-parties she was used to. Normally, they were intimate gatherings, just cast and crew swapping stories over takeout containers, with the occasional karaoke machine blaring in the background. This? This was a spectacle. A grand production. And really, what else could she have expected from Director Sumiaki?

She sighed, her hands sliding up her face to shield her eyes. “This is... too much for me,” she muttered under her breath. The dazzling lights and the swarming energy of the party made her head spin. For a moment, in the soft darkness behind her fingers, she could breathe. She had faced countless emotions in others and dissected their layers with precision, but tonight? Tonight, her emotions were the problem.

Tokyo Blade was by far one of her best accomplishments. Playing Sayahime was a gift, and acting alongside Kana as an equal was incredible. But despite that, she still found herself being a critic.

I misstepped during Sayahime’s speech, what if someone noticed?

Himekawa really stole the show the first few nights, should I have tried a similar approach?

Maybe I should have spoken more to Abiko-sensei. Sayahime is her precious character.

Akane didn’t let tears spill from her eyes. At the end of the day, she was a professional now. It would be embarrassing to cry at an after-party full of happy people.

She lowered her hands as Mr. Sumiaki approached with a group of people she could only assume were the investors for the show.

“And this,” he announced, “is one of the stars of the night herself—Miss Sayahime!”

Akane mustered a soft smile, dipping her head in greeting. “It’s a pleasure.”

The investors beamed at her, their compliments a blur of polished words. Akane responded on autopilot, laughing lightly at their jokes (which she didn’t understand), offering answers without truly listening. She shifted subtly, inching away from the circle, and passed the dessert table with a quick swipe before her back eventually pressed against the cool glass doors leading to the balcony.

A breath of relief left her lips as she spotted a familiar blonde figure standing there. She couldn’t help but smile as she pushed the doors open.

The cool rush of wind greeted her, followed by the still night. It was cold but somehow more inviting, with the moon being more welcome than the blinding chandeliers inside.

She paused at the sight of the figure leaning against the railing. Aqua, with his ever-calm expression, turned slightly toward her.

“Aqua,” she breathed, relief flooding her voice.

He held up a glass. “Mock champagne?”

Her lips quirked into a smile. “How did you know to grab two?”

He shrugged. “You don’t like parties. I don’t like noise.”

She stepped closer, taking the offered glass. “I hate it when you’re right.”

“I know.”

The two stood in comfortable silence for a moment, the night air settling around them. While it might surprise others, Akane and Aqua were rarely silent around each other. The many fake dates had resulted in a million conversations, but somehow, silence still held its own charm.

Akane broke the silence first. “Are you happy, Aqua?”

He tilted his head, brow furrowing slightly. “What do you mean?”

“Your performance,” she clarified, leaning her elbows on the balcony’s edge. “Every night, you put your heart and soul into your acting. You were in pain and then bliss over and over again. You called out Kana’s acting, but yours is truly exasperating.”

Aqua tilted his head, mirroring her gesture. “That bad?”

“No, it’s incredible!” Akane asserted. “That level of intensity... some would say your ability to maintain stability afterward is a medical marvel.”

A gust of wind swept by, and Akane instinctively shivered, rubbing her arms for warmth.

“Who said I’m stable?” Aqua sighed, shrugging off his suit jacket. Without waiting for her response, he draped it over her shoulders. “No one in our industry is.”

“How wonderfully depressing,” Akane quipped, tugging the jacket closer. She held up a plate she’d swiped from the party. “Good thing I brought these. Otherwise, the mood might have been permanently soured.”

Aqua raised an eyebrow. “Chocolate strawberries?”

“There were about a million on the table,” Akane replied, popping one into her mouth before offering the plate to him.

“So, you swiped them,” he remarked dryly. “How humble.”

“Do you want one or not?” she asked, arching an eyebrow.

“Depends,” Aqua squinted at the plate, his gaze scrutinizing the assortment. “Why are there different kinds?”

“Fancy people love variety,” Akane explained with a shrug. She began pointing to the various types. “There’s the classic milk chocolate, chocolate raspberry, white chocolate, and—ooh—salted caramel!”

“Gross,” Aqua said immediately, wrinkling his nose in mock disgust.

Akane gasped, clutching her chest as if he’d just insulted her entire existence. “You won’t say that after you try it,” she declared, plucking one of the salted caramel strawberries and holding it out between her fingers. “Here.”

Aqua eyed the strawberry like it was a trap, but ultimately sighed in defeat. He leaned forward taking a bite from between her fingers. He chewed thoughtfully, his expression going from curiosity to blank

“Well?” Akane leaned in slightly, watching him expectantly. “How is it?”

“…Do you have more?”

Her face lit up with triumph. “Just as I thought!”

Aqua sighed. Two wins for Akane. Stage plays and strawberries.

“Did your family come with you?” she asked as he finished, swiftly taking off his gloves to wave them dry

“Mhm, Miyako came for networking reasons, but Ruby’s here too.”

“I see” Akane taps her finger against her lip :Somehow, I never run into your sister. It’s been what, six months since we started this?”

“Consider it a blessing,” Aqua said flatly, reaching for another strawberry.

“Don’t be mean,” Akane scolded, swatting his hand from the plate.

“It’s not mean,” he replied, his tone unchanged.

“You complain so much about Ruby, but really, you love her like any brother would.”

“Spoken like a true only child.”

“Surely you guys are a little similar, right?”

“That depends,” Aqua said, leaning closer to her face. “Do you think I’d make a good idol?”

Akane blinked at the unexpected question, then tilted her head as if seriously considering it. “I think so…”

“Akane,” Aqua groaned, a conversation with Ruby about the same topic playing in his mind.

“You have the face for it.”

“I can’t sing, Akane,” Aqua said, deadpan.

“If you smile enough, some girls will definitely be able to look past it,” she countered.

“Would you look past it?” he asked, raising a brow at her.

“If you can dance,” Akane shrugged, turning and leaning against the railing as she smiled. “I’d be your number one fan.”

“Ah,” Aqua said with mock solemnity, “but then I’d have to compete with Kana for your attention. What’s the use?”

Akane chuckled softly, shaking her head. “I don’t think Kana-chan sees me as her fan. I’m afraid only you would acknowledge me.”

“Does being a fan mean you have to be acknowledged?” Aqua asked, tilting his head.

“Mm, no,” Akane admitted, her voice thoughtful. “But it’s preferred. If you hated me like Kana-chan does, I think I’d cry.”

“I don’t think she hates you,” Aqua said, his tone matter-of-fact.

“Oh?” Akane arched a brow. “What would you call it then?”

“Strong dislike,” Aqua replied without hesitation.

“Oh, I feel so much better,” Akane said, rolling her eyes with a dramatic sigh. “Thank you, Aqua.”

“You’re welcome,” he said, his lips twitching into a faint smile.

Akane placed the plate of strawberries on the railing beside her glass, the clink of the dish barely audible over the gentle rustle of the night breeze. Aqua mirrored her, setting his glass down as they leaned against the cold metal, their arms brushing lightly.

He stared out at the moon, his lips moving as he spoke, but Akane didn’t catch the words. The sound seemed to dissolve into the stillness around them, as though his thoughts were meant for the sky alone. Her gaze lingered on him, her hand propping up her chin as her thoughts wandered.

There’s so much I want to ask you, she mused, her eyes tracing the soft contours of his profile. Are we friends? Are we allies? Could we even be something closer than all of that?

Her eyes drifted down to their hands, their fingertips resting so near that the distance felt intentional, like a silent promise neither dared to voice. A soft smile curved her lips as a warmth settled in her chest.

Or… could it be that it doesn’t matter?

“Aqua-kun?” she said softly

He turned slightly, a quiet hum of acknowledgment escaping him. “Hm?”

“Let’s stay like this”

Aqua didn’t turn to her, and his expression was masked. But at the very least, his hand rested on top of hers

“Okay”

[loveislandthegame]

thought's on todays volume ! the bar is at the earth's core and FB still can't clear it

obviously sonya steals the guy you want (or the guy you don’t want, for the people who decided to game the system lmao) i think it’s way too late in the season to be pulling these kinds of shenanigans, but whatever. for real though, where is the final recoupling ??

next up is kiss or diss ! absolute snoozefest i tell you. jace saying MC is playing games with dominic just shows how much this season is on rails. i’ve pied him off at every opportunity, i have not picked a single flirty option, to the point that i've been mean even though it makes me feel bad. if dominic still wants to go all in on MC, & not bother connecting with anyone else, that's on him !

reid exposes MC for eavesdropping on sonya and whoever she brought to the hideaway (apparently this still happens even if you don't actually buy the scene ? tf) i don’t get why kane is mad about MC eavesdropping on him. it wasn’t just a date, or a challenge, anything that would justify calling out MC for being possessive or not trusting her partner. it’s the damn hideaway 😭

next up is the heart race challenge. but first, esme has a chat with MC that’s just having us lock in our LI. i chose kane over dominic (he’s been pissing me off but i don’t want to deal with dom), then ruby over maisie, and then ruby over kane. hopefully the game actually acknowledges our decision.

here’s ruby’s diamond outfit ! ngl i prefer the flower outfit i’ve seen in some other ppl’s screenshots, but it’s not bad. it's supposed to match MC’s carnival ? vegas showgirl ? outfit

zac’s outfit lmaoooo. werk that dino romper, king 😭 (if the theme for everybody's costumes actually is vegas, i wonder if they were trying to reference piff the magic dragon lol)

for the most part, i like everyone else’s outfits (some are kinda boring but i see the vision) with that being said, i can tell they gave up on jace. it’s giving “he tried to make a costume out of his undies that got dyed pink in the wash”

next up is some spontaneous recoupling based on the heart rate scores. first of all, what the absolute fuck ? maybe this makes more sense if you aren’t romancing ruby. i know they have an enemies to lovers vibe going, but they barely interacted in the heart rate challenge (so much for our decision in the esme convo actually making a difference)

yet another piece of “we would be coupled up if the game let us!” dialogue to rub salt in the wound -_- that kind of thing could slide in season 1, but season 11? mind you, all ten previous seasons could have a wlw couple as the winners depending on how you play. there is no reason for us to not be able to couple up so late in the game

on the bright side, ruby pulls a hot tub date out of thin air !❤️

next up is the PDA awards, i have no idea how all these events fit into one day.

the new party wear is ridiculous, i don't mean that in a bad way but for a second i thought they accidentally released the prom outfits early 😭 (i still have my doubts) i’m not complaining though, i need a dress like this irl and i don’t even wear dresses

oh dear, that unskippable film countdown that's longer than the clips themselves is back. anyways, this is just the jace and esme show. MC somehow came out unscathed, she just got an award for everybody in the villa being obsessed with her. i'm actually surprised that they didn't take some out of context scene to make us look bad

MC’s prize for winning the "most wanted" award is her and kane driving away from the villa in separate cars…? 😭 i'm guessing it's gonna be a date, but i hope we’re going to the airport. send ! me ! home !

overall...

1. wlw players are screwed over once again. this isn't anything new but it just keeps getting worse. not even talia's route in season 1 was this frustrating, and it was actually a part of the plot that they weren't sure if two girls could couple up

2. the whole jace/esme/kenzo/maisie drama took up half the screen time once again. almost every challenge is even more boring than usual because they all revolve around this love square. these 4 will still be arguing at the finale, i swear

3.) our LI is once again forcibly kissed and harassed by a rival. plus that horrible scene in the heart rate challenge where sonya tells him to "loosen up" when he's clearly uncomfortable. what is the purpose of including this, especially when we can't call these rivals out for being predatory. not only is this so uncomfortable to read, it’s such a nosedive from season 2 where there was a whole conversation about consent ☹️☹️☹️

[carionto]

A Proper Welcoming Party - Epilogue

Always Rig to Blow

Parts 1 2 3 and extra context

Jumping short distances with an emergency activation is generally safe due to the simple fact that the universe is so vast that 99.9999% of the time you'll end up in empty space.

This group of Big Thrashers raiders - Gobsmack's Gobbers (Big Thrasher named everyone and objections meant death) - found themselves in a nightmarish cluster of icy planetesimals, heavily illuminated for some reason, and criss-crossed with makeshift installations and contraptions whose purpose one could only guess at.

Alarms rang out of imminent collision as one of the ice rocks was hurtling towards their general direction. Barely composing themselves, the crew managed to fire up the engines and perform evasive maneuvers, but only just. And only for a brief moment - they were in a navigational nightmare, the likes of which even the most hardcore simulations only ever run as an example for places you never, ever, EVER fly into.

To add to their distress and confusion, the raiders were hailed by a lone Human vessel, which was darting with unbelievable agility through the impossible and ever changing field.

"Howdy there, names Abigail, you boys are lost I'm guessin'. Keep moving for a bit more, I'll turn off the Intermediate track config."

The Gobbers were stunned and blinded by a sudden outburst of hundreds of massive jets streaming immense propulsion force from all of the moving icy objects. Viewed from afar, a magnificent sight to behold - cascading lights, reflections, fiery cones, and sparkly clouds from escaping ice particles. Viewed from within, pure terror, a torturous miasma of fire, ice, dust, and raw force of power emanating from whatever is powering all these massive engines.

Merely a few seconds later though, complete silence. Peaceful even.

"So... bad jump, eh? It happens. Real poor luck ending up here though, gotta say. You should buy lottery tickets beating the odds like this!"

Abigail snort-laughs.

"If ya want, hook up to any of the track-layer movers, those things you just saw that, well, move the track pieces around. I hear our generators can fill up your wee batteries or whatever you got in minutes. Sorry I ain't got much else to offer, still working out the logistics for food and drink stalls here. Hard to get any sponsors so far out, you know?"

The raiders did not.

The more quick witted of the crew had already scanned the whole... mess of whatever this was, as well as Abigail's vessel, and realized something - all these engines mounted on some useless rocks, and her craft in particular, were extraordinarily powerful and tough, and most importantly - not attached to things with giant rail cannons. Big Thrasher wasn't here, so they were allowed to speak up and convince the others using evidence based facts and to make decisions as a group.

The pack of about a dozen ships had made a decision - they would plunder this area, take the Human as a trophy, and form a new Pirate Fleet with their soon-to-be enhanced ships. Abigail did not respond how they expected her to when they made their statement.

"Ooh, so like, you wanna have a competition, eh? See who's gonna be on top of the food chain. Alright."

An excited grin forming on her lips with that last word. A second later, every engine fired a searing jet of energy to once again engage the race track. This time on Expert difficulty.

Two of the Gobbers' ships were instantly crushed between colliding ice rocks, sending a shower of dust and debris all over the place, the rocks bouncing around (with the aid of the engines) to create a true chaos field of death.

It was a struggle to find any valid escape vectors in this ever changing vortex, but a few of the crew were working on a plan. The pilots just needed to keep the ships alive long enough. Meanwhile, Abigail was practically dancing around the field in her customized vessel, named Victor in bold neon lettering on its left flank. Whenever she spotted an opportunity, she manually fired off certain engines to make life for these pirates just a tad more unsurvivable than it already was.

Just as she had split three more ships in half with a particularly slim and sharpened icicle (the size of a small container ship) Victor came to a halt. All systems fried - it was a targeted EMP. Due to the prevalence of shielding technology, electromagnetic pulses were generally not that useful, unless you could generate one powerful enough to overwhelm the entire shield system, but that would be the equivalent of a star shooting one off, so they were rarely fielded. But as ramshackle pirate fleets go, you mount and use whatever you can get your hands on.

One of the more tech-savvy of the crew remembered that they had yet to encounter Human craft with shields, and that one of their ships had an EMP cannon. Being able to put two and two together at a greater pace than their former "Admiral", this one cleverly found a way to quickly defeat the Human.

Another crew member, who liked to dabble in the digital realm, initially dismissed their surprisingly easy access to the engine systems, thinking only a poorly set trap would use "Password" as the passcode for full system access. Once the excitement was slightly lesser from Abigail no longer making it worse every second, did they think to give it a try anyway.

And it worked. The UI was comically simple, again, most would dismiss a screen that just had five buttons on it labeled - [Beginner] [Novice] [Intermediate] [Expert] [Reset] - as a trap, but getting the sense this Human liked things simple, they pressed the Reset button, and once more the fireworks of engines and particles illuminated the area before halting the movements of the race track entirely.

Relieved beyond belief that the nightmare was over, the pirates, formerly know as Gobsmack's Gobbers (they'll come up with a new name soon, they just wanna get rid of Big Thrashers legacy as quickly as possible) set about to strip the place for all it was worth.

All of the pirate ships had indeed taken Abigail up on her previous offer and one of them was the first to finish recharging their hyperdrive, and was about to set out to go and retrieve Abigail's craft, when it suddenly burst back to life and a modified looking escape pod shot off to a fair distance from the track and the pirates who had all latched themselves to it. She opened a comm-link to the pack of raiders:

"Ehmps are annoying, but we got redundancies for a reason fellas. Also, you didn't think this place wasn't set to blow if I couldn't deal with ya'll in a bit more controlled way, did ya?

Well, cuz it is.

Rule #1, buckos - Always rig to blow."

With the flick of a switch and the brightness of a star, Abby's Action Asteroids (trademark never made it through), alongside a half-dozen of the remaining Raider ships, was no more.

Victor, or what's left of him, a shabby escape pod. Hector, sound asleep, she'd just given him a can of wet food before the whole... excitement started. And Abigail - miffed, scuffed, and a little drained, was looking to see what she hadn't "modified" or outright removed from the pod for her other "ideas". Fortunately, basic life support is intact, thrusters and quantum comms though... not so much. There's enough to cobble a regular transmitter and the cryo-stasis module appears intact.

"Welp, looks like it'll just be me, Victor, and Hector, ain't that right? (Oi, at least turn one of yer ears at me). Fine, then it'll be me and Victor. A-hem:

Dear diary, I hope somebody is less than a light-month out from here, cuz I got a fair to attend. They'll be showing off the newest burst jets. Imagine - you're going 0.002C, full stop, 180 turn, then back to 0.002C in under 10 seconds! Sure, any organic'll become a puddle, but at race-track speeds - think of the cornering we can do with that! Anyway, there's food for maybe a week, so imma join Hector now. (C'mere ya bum, we're sleepin' together). The end.

P.S. If you're the popo, it was totally self defense, I got the footage right here, I am not responsible for where the debris goes."

[directdogman]

Hello, oh great dog!

Since today is canon dsaf 3 endings day, i wanted to know if you already had important parts of the story/endings planned way ahead or not while making the series. (Such as stuff with Henry and everyone's backstories)

Sorry if I'm asking something you've already answered at some point.

I also wanted to say Happy Halloween and that i really love both of the incredible game series you've made!! :]

yeah! henry is name-dropped by Dave in one ending of DSaF 1 (he refers to himself as a 'helpful henry' when he helps jack get into a springlock suit) and the shit about Henry taking Dave's heart is foreshadowed briefly in DSaF 2 when dave refers to himself as 'heartless' in a conversation about Henry. Both could probably pass as lucky coincidences, if both usages weren't directly linked to springlock suits and henry specifically.

Basically, when I wrote DSaF 1's basic story, I did what I always do and kept coming up with ideas, which i wrote down. i adapted elements from FNaF 2, 3 and 4 (and later in DSaF 2 production, SL) into DSaF lore and basically wrote pages and pages of paper notes. It's why every expansion of the story felt really natural. Most of it was already in my head from very early on.

I didn't know then how many games I was gonna make and DSaF 3 was actually an amalgamation of 3 DSaF game drafts, hastily reworked to fit FNaF 6's tycoon context (most of the salvaging content was gonna revolve around Jack setting up Fazbear's Fright, originally) and a partial tycoon game set at Fredbear's, where the company makes Phone Guy, Jack and Dave all serve as managers with equal stakes, with a voting mechanic that allowed you to side with dave or phone guy (and gain leverage, which allowed you to get them on-side for certain decisions, like getting to expand the diner in a specific way, akin to the dsaf restaurant!)

the absolutely bonkers thing is that i never used up all of my material. there's references to fredbear's + SL stuff in DSaF 3 that was a lot more fleshed out on paper, a whole epilogue AU that's a parody of Underswap + It's a Wonderful Life that features Henry as the main character, and explores the question of whether Henry is capable of being better by showing him exploring a timeline where everything is jumbled, thanks to him never existing in it before his arrival. Also, it shows the end of his research into the origin of life.

I showed a few collaborators ideas from this weird AU (most notably Dave throwing Foxy into the grand canyon after a bomb is rigged inside him, saving a birthday party and prompting the company to promote him to manager, and a version of Legacy Jack that's based on a wolf (he was a cannibal before his death) and tries to get Henry to kill Dave for abandoning his nature.) Probably sounds really strange without context, but it's immensely detailed.

[mcyt-rarepair-tournament]

please tell us how Brutus is a c!Karl song i would love to hear you out

Okayokayokayokay. So I understand that a lot of people never watched c!Karl’s lore pre-TFTSMP however there is a really good analysis video of him on YouTube that explains it really well, and it was made before doomsday even happened.

But to sum it up: c!Karl really wanted to be involved in the lore. He was always trying to be a part of the big stuff, and he even comments on it during c!Niki’s birthday party, when c!Wilbur is about to blow Manberg up (You can actually hear him say ‘wait, am I part of a big event for once?’) Sad-ist’s meme animatic Dre Smp was made because there was a whole bit about Karl wanting to be included.

Later, c!Karl made Rutabag-Ville while the Pogtopia war was going down (this is actually the context in which c!Techno chased c!Quackity and gave That Speech) and eventually annexed it to c!Schlatt. Why? Well, he’d wanted to join Pogtopia, but had been turned down, I believe it was even specifically by c!Quackity.

Later, c!Quackity and c!Tubbo confronted him over this decision, and he eventually said that he sided with c!Schlatt because he felt welcome and c!Schlatt was nice to him. Now, obviously, we all know this was manipulation, and it’s my own little headcanon that c!Karl knew subconsciously what he was doing, but wanted to be accepted so badly he didn’t care.

This also extends beyond the Pogtopia war. I think not a lot of people actually know that Karl was part of the New L’Manberg government as its creative head, but he was left out of every discussion by the rest of the cabinet (we got ROBBED of butcher army c!Karl). He expresses bitterness over this readily! One thing I forgot to mention earlier is that he actually did try to get people on Manberg’s side back in the war by giving them gifts, but they always burned them when he left.

He also founded El Rapids during this time with c!Sapnap, c!Quackity, and c!George. Some drama happened, and in order to assert their nations independence, Karl sacrificed one of his lives by blowing up part of his country in order to frame Eret for it.

(side note, but fun fact; c!Karl was the one who snitched to c!Dream about c!Eret helping Pogtopia, which is what got c!George on the throne. Just a little fun fact.)

Of course, his lore does kinda peter out after that. His CC began streaming TFTSMP, and we know how that went. Not to say he never streamed at all, but they became a lot rarer since a lot of the server began to think they needed more scripted lore, thus their standards for streaming became higher.

I also agree with the headcanon that he has FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) and while you could say that this was just his CC wanting to be in more lore, you would be right, but if we brushed off character’s lore because the CC wasn’t 100% in-character, we would have very little characterization left. A lot of Karl’s characters comes from before the 4th wall had really solidified on the server, plus it comes from late-2020, while a lot of newer fans got into the smp around early to mid 2021.

Basically, Brutus is a song about envy, hatred, and a whole lot of mixed emotions based on the assassination of Julius Caesar. While c!Karl never went to the extremes Brutus did, it’s not really hard to see how closely the song echoes his treatment on the server.

I tend to divide c!Karl’s characterization into three parts; first is his more immature and young personality that is set during the Manberg to El Rapids era, second is his transitioning phase between that and someone a bit more mature, which I put from Doomsday to The Pit (the eighth TFTSMP episode), and third is his more mature characterization, where he is burdened by his time traveler duties and has grown into his own person, past the need to be important and make an impact, though the shadow of Manberg and El Rapids loom over him.

In short, c!Karl is a nuanced character who faced the curse of fanon and lost. But hey, so did everyone else. I’d argue he got some of the worst of it, though C!Ranboo is a tough contender. So is C!Sam, actually. And c!Fundy. Just… a lot of characters got the short stick by fanon.

This is my first shot at making an essay, so it’s a bit messy. A lot of this can be found on vod channels, however, so if anyone wants to give links feel free to do so! Also you can correct me if I got anything wrong, it has been a hot minute since I’ve watched a DSMP vod.

That’s my two cents, anyhow. I just really like c!Karl and feel like he got done dirty by a lot of fans. They really did take a nuanced character who was both selfless and selfish, kind yet a bit of a sadist, loved to mess with his loved ones but also hated when anyone touched them, and turned him into a little soft boy who can’t defend himself against anything or One Of c!Quackity’s Mean Crazy Ex-Fiancés. No, I am not exaggerating, I saw someone legitimately call c!Karl crazy because of the Kinoko argument. Y’all…

That’s pretty much it! My fingers are getting tired so I’m sorry if it got a little messy at the end or I got a bit off topic. If anyone needs more clarification I will happily oblige. There were even a few details I left out because I wanted to cut down on this post’s length. C!Karl is a fascinating character and he’s been my No. 1 for nearly two years at this point. Thank you for listening!

[darkfictionjude]

If i where to rank my hated (too numerous to count I would put half of the entire town of Croun but it would be too long) characters in WWC based on opinion and known info and theories.

1. Dad Crown and Nia's Dad: Scums of the earth their lucky MC isn't me cause I would have killed them with my barehands (and also because Nia's Dad probably made everyone think his wife was crazy before making her dissapear/killing her and burying her in the woods or near his house).

2. Orla: Traitorous Bitch, cause you would think she would have a brain to realise MC doesnt do the things they do because they want to its because they have no control.

3. Mommy Crown: she's should know better I'm more disappointed at her than angry if she raised her kids properly and took the Smart decision and left with Nia's mom or murdered her husband and made it look like an accident things would be different.

4. Sally: Love and Hate slowly will turn into hatred if he doesn't straighten his ass out with his obsession like dude you don't know MC you are the person that cares the most about MC but you ruined them and hurt them the most.

5. Irme: Fake ass mothafucka with his ulterior motives and only wants to use my ass bruh your lucky MC doesnt use you as a living dildo to get off and aliviate the stress of dealing with you, Sally and everyone into who keeps looking from problems with MC.

6. Lorcan: you are one guillable mothafucka i should beat you for the shit at the party and all the other shit you did listening to that evil bitch.

7. Nia: I pray your my real friend if not I'm YNW Melly (context: YNW Melly got convicted to life in prison for double homicide of his friends).

Also i saw the insane Nia hate and got them a song I found (It's a AI joke song by the way): Don't Test Me B*tch (1964) by Hard Archive.

alright let's breathe 💀

I do find it interesting that you have a mundane theory for Yasmine disappearance. Obviously domestic violence is awful but it's sadly common and for a supernatural game it's fun that that's a theory you're going with it's also the most obvious thing since he's weird

Although I don't understand the use of traitorous here when Orla never betrayed Crowny because she never promised them anything. Although I will say not believing Crowny has no control is not a brain-dead take (a few characters in the story don't believe it either) because even if it's true it's a flimsy excuse

I love how you think it's simple to get away with murder 😭 especially given how important the crown family name still is

4-7: huh

[championofravens]

Tali’s thoughts/analysis on CSM ch. 151

Or: How you haunt the narrative in a story with no afterlife

(Spoilers abound)

Makima’s death has always been very interesting in the context of Chainsaw Man and its greater world building, something not typically touched upon often by other folks in the fandom. As mentioned by user @Jelimore when they approached me to write this, there is no afterlife confirmed within the story’s canon (at least not with the sort of certainty the population accepts other facets of the divine). It’s a fascinating implication in a world where Hell is real and already populated by denizens who are born and resurrected there. Based on what Makima describes of her time in Hell with the Chainsaw Devil, it is not a metaphorical place of suffering but almost has its own societal structure completely alien to humanity’s. So it seems safe to assume it is not widely believed in this world that a damnable soul can descend to Hell after it dies.

Heaven is much more nebulous. Heaven is implied only through hallucinations at the time of death (think Aki and Yuko’s final moments of peace) or a comforting word given to those at death’s door (the Angel Devil soothing a dying woman). This makes sense as the narrative works hard to neither confirm nor deny the existence of a singular God ruling the world. The story has never invoked divine intervention or any other godlike acts. If anything, we are rapidly approaching a junction in which a God Devil is more likely to arise as we see the looming shadow of the Death Devil and Nostradamus’s prophecy. 

I believe both of these decisions are what really helps the story have such impactful and painful deaths- the mundanity of it all in a fantasy world that death could just be a black nothing as far as we know.

The idea of death becomes all the more interesting as we look to Devils, who can be completely destroyed to the extent that they are eradicated from existence and their very influence ceases to remain. It goes far beyond human death. In one of my all time favorite chapters, Makima lists a number of Devils who have been destroyed so completely (eaten by the Chainsaw Devil) that whatever concepts were born from them- or vice versa- are no longer even within the human consciousness. I think the first example she brings up to Kishibe is especially telling: Nazism is something that had to exist prior to its Devil, and when the Nazi Devil was eaten, it still wiped out that political party from the fabric of reality. Though the Nazi Devil did not create Nazism, its destruction assured it was as though it had never even existed. 

So. Let’s talk about Makima’s death and Chapter 151.

Barem foolishly attributes a possible reasoning for Natuya’s inability to control him as the fact his body remains under the control of Makima even beyond death. Though this is something contradicted in all we know of how Devils work, Makima is not forgotten. Makima is not erased. Makima’s physical body and arguably her “soul” have been as thoroughly killed and buried as they can be and yet we do not forget her like other Devils. This is because Makima was destroyed. Not the Control Devil herself. He is still attributing an amount of divinity to a corpse however. His second idea that his inability to be controlled comes from a pure loyalty to her… well, I think that’s wrong as well.

Makima’s power of Control is forged from a feeling of superiority, a feeling cultivated and encouraged and fed throughout her life until she had innate control over all humanity. I believe Makima was encouraged in her position to see those around her as less than, which is a task that is already easy for Devils to follow. Natuya, raised by Denji, is saved in part by the love she has for him but also the average life he gave her. Though she has a strong Devil nature that has her putting an amount of distance between herself and others, we just finished a chapter in which she retracts those feelings for the sake of continuing her life with Denji. Even though she says it should be acceptable for her to hurt and kill as a Devil, she is more bound to her happy life than to following her instinct. We know it is not an indomitable force, or rule of nature, that she has to follow and we know it is not something encouraged by those around her.

So in that aspect, a man who just so easily destroyed her happiness and took multiple gunshot wounds without faltering, a man fused with a powerful Devil, it makes sense she may falter and lose that superiority. Her powers in ch. 151 seem to stem clearly from grief and rage as opposed to the calm certainty with which we’ve seen her use it before even when she is upset (think: Asa). It’s for this reason that I think Natuya fails in controlling Barem. 

An irony of this is that Barem is blind to the intricacies of Makima’s power and how it works, unlike the readers, despite his devotion to her which is what leads him to think he is being protected by a more romantic notion. He was, after all, just a puppet during his time with her. His devotion is to a Devil that no longer exists and a woman with no power beyond that of anyone seeing ghosts in the throes of grief.

I think this chapter paints a very interesting and first time distinction between what Denji killed and didn’t kill at the end of Part 1. In the simplest words- Denji killed Makima, a human woman. That is what she became when Denji ate her and prevented her healing and resurrection and allowed her to die in a way no Devil ever has. She is as dead as any other human is within the story… and that is how she haunts it. It is what gives her power even still. Denji did not eat the Control Devil. He ate the first woman he loved. That is why Natuya is alive and why Makima gets to have a surprisingly human hold on the story in death.

(Tune in for Tali’s unhinged fanon explanation about Ahashi’s role in part 2, including the effects of Makima’s eyes in his skull and his puppeting by the Public Safety Division)

[walpu]

YAY!

(for context the game is twisted wonderland it's a Disney game with a spin on old Disney animations' villains)

back story because it's needed: the character in question is malleus draconia, the character which is heavily based on maleficent. (which is ironically the main antagonist of the current book/update series of the game)

so the story of this story series revolves on lilia vanroug, another character and (not really mentioned up until late in the story) malleuses godfather figure, after his father disappeared and his mother passed.

lilia, even though attending highschool/collage alongside the rest of the cast, is quite old (300ish if I remembered correctly)(malleus and lilia are both fae, another character is a half-fae)

so nearly at the end of the school year, lilia unfortunately has to drop out because he's nearly dying. he's running out of magic, and a fairy / mage loses all their magic, they'll end up dying.

malleus, having horrid abandonment issues, asks if he can do anything for him, which lilia said he can't. malleus then had a walk on campus encountering the mc (one of the few people he'd call a friend or say he cares about) in the process and learning that they might leave their world too (I have to explain the whole game if I delve into that sorry😭)

with the pressure of losing two of his loved ones, malleus comes up with a masterplan. on the day of lilia's goodbye party, he crashes the said party and goes on spewing maleficent's lines from the time she crashed aurora's birthday party "what a glamorous gathering, yada yada"

he then uses his unique spell, also goes into overblot mode (think Stellaron's but in a magical world. when a mage uses too much magic and accumulates a lot of negative emotions they go into overblot, which can end their own and many other peoples' lives)

before he can cast the spell, lilia asks him why he is doing what he's doing, and malleus replies that he doesn't want to lose him/the people he cares about. he then puts everyone into slumber, he sings them a lullaby (once apon a dream from the sleeping beauty) and says that in this dream, everyone can become the protagonist of a fairytale

the arc isn't over yet so I can't say how it's resolved and how they snap everyone out of the eternal sleep malleus puts them into. but when seeing what Sunday did, I was reminded of malleus most of the time, it was nice actually we're getting to see a lot of the characters' back stories and dreams and aspirations.

but even in the dreams, in everyone's dreams, malleus dictates them. he tried to put himself into them so he'd make sure no one would snap out of the sweet dreams.

Sunday, too, shared a lot of views with malleus. they could even be the same character for fucks sake

but, I don't know, trying to achieve a good result by taking and doing all the wrong decisions and actions is actually a very interesting view.

I don't know I was yapping but I'm glad someone wanted to hear it <3

-🐙

I KNOW THIS GAME has never played myself but I really want to, now even more

The concept sounds really interesting and yeah, Malleus does sound a lot like Sunday

The story sounds very interesting too, I guess I'm really a huge sucker for the escapism-related storylines 😭

[awoooooooooooyoung]

how do you view the whole 'leader/captain' thing and the 'maknae' and the eldest hyung type of interpersonal hierarchy they push a lot in kpop boyband reality side content?

First some context: The Netherlands has a pretty non-hierarchical culture even when compared to the countries around us. It wouldn't be unheard of for me to go up a couple layers of the chain of command at my company and directly talk to someone there about an issue or some other. We also don't have a strict division by age, an older person is not necessarily afforded more authority than a younger person especially if they're only a couple of years apart. The preferred method of conflict resolution on a governmental level is different parties talking everything to death until no one is happy but also no one is unhappy, so the spirit of cooperation/compromise is pretty deeply ingrained.

(That isn't to say that I live in some perfect egalitarian society btw, all the biases and phobias you would imagine show up just sometimes in different or more insidious ways.)

I can see the sense in having a designated leader for your team, the same way you would have a team captain for your sport's team or a team lead at work. I wouldn't say that it's necessarily always the oldest person who should be the leader, but if age is something that holds a lot of societal weight or corresponds to the number of years someone has been training it makes sense. And I mean with Ateez, we see that Hongjoong is one of the oldest, but not the eldest in the team. He's got more leadership qualities than just age. All in all I think having a strong and decisive leader for your team in an industry that's so cutthroat and so demanding makes sense; internal conflict seems like a quick way to Not Make It so better that there's one person who has the final authority.

But! I don't really "get" the point of having a 막내 in the same way. As in, as I understand it 막내==being the youngest, so by virtue of how age works there will always be someone who is that? (Or now I'm wondering, in a group of people all born in the same year, is the one who was born latest still the 막내?) I don't directly see a benefit of the 막내 as a specific position someone in a team should occupy.

I do think it's interesting to contrast the Jongho of Ateez and I.N of SKZ with each other. I think they're both a year younger than the next set of members? As far as I know they're both afforded the same respect as their fellow group members, but they're doted on a bit? And it's interesting to see how each of them fit (or don't fit) themselves to that role. With I.N I get the impression that he's happy to be babied a bit and to be gushed over by the older members. Like he's certainly not a pushover but when e.g. Hyunjin ruffles his hair x10000 or Felix says "our boy...... has become a MAN!" he maybe acts a bit grumpy but he's not going against them. I skipped a year in primary school (brainiac i know) so I was always the youngest up until late into my uni career, and it gives me a bit of that same vibe where classmates will be like yeah we have this girl in our class.... She's a WHOLE YEAR younger!!!! But all that to say I think I.N plays the role of 막내 well and seems to suit it.

Now if we look at Jongho, I think he has such a strong personality and doesn't really take well to being the uwu baby of the group. It seems to me as if he sees himself as an equal to the 99-liners and sometimes chafes at being set apart from them? It's hard to describe but an example is that he's absolutely not afraid to resort to mild violence basically as a first resort to any of the 99-liners (cough Wooyoung cough Mingi) messing with him. If the role of the 막내 is to be both coddled a bit and doted on but in exchange you're taken slightly less seriously it seems to me as if Jongho would rather not be coddled and be taken more seriously.

It's so interesting to think about! Because like, if more authority is afforded to you based on age, and that's just the way things are, then it will probably feel natural to you if the eldest in your team is also the leader. And if you're the eldest, you may be encouraged to develop your leadership skills more. So even though a strict role division like in kpop groups would seem restrictive to me, I can envision what it would be like to feel totally at ease with it if that makes sense?

[fireangel]

I'm curious

It seems like you believe that CE is means to have bigger purpose in life, but it still depends on his choices and how he deals with his problem. Weither he could get out of this problem or just stuck in it. Do you ? Or am I reading your older post wrong ? Those dreams and reading about him.

Hello anon,

All I know is that I get lead in a particular direction for a reason

The energy can change depending on choices

I had those three prophetic dreams back in 2020, (that's nearly four years ago, it led me here)

The first dream was clearly Gaza,

The second this fandom

And the third political events

Here's the annoying thing: I don't completely understand my own purpose or how that affects anything else or what it is I'm supposed to do so I'm out here blind interpreting things the best I can but I have no context for how it is on his side which is why I just kind of launch it out there and hope it makes some kindof relevant sense to whomever come across it

Now with Gaza we the people of the world have managed to collectively put so much pressure out there that countries governments are walking out on their support for both the US and Israel and theres no going back to the way things were before

That required a change to happen and I do believe it will be resolved in Palestines favour

Death and rebirth; Its the egg cracking in my visions

The same thing is yet to happen in regards to the other situations because of decisions not being made or being held off on, the longer it takes the worse the outcome will be for those holding off the decisions being made

To change a pattern you have to do something different

To let go of something you have to have something to replace it

Chris has ended up as an inadvertent "piggy in the middle", I think if he had a proper understanding of just how greedy, corrupt, and morally bankrupt his own government is he may have stayed out of politics entirely and his agency wouldn't have sabotaged him because of it

This won't change until he makes a better choice but he has to do it himself

The democrats are going to end up fucking themselves as badly as the republicans have if they don't change, maybe the backers here would actually prefer it if a woman of colour eas never president of the USA and thats the whole point, even her own party would rather have Trump than her because of their own racism and they won't treat her as anything but a token for PR

The Democrats will lose unless they make a better choice and they won't get it back again. The USA will not exist as it does now in ten years based on what happens next. I've repeatedly warned that the USA will be struck directly if it continues along this path.....

I do hope people can understand how those three dreams are truly related to one another:

The US government has been arming a genocidal maniac to maintain an Islamophobic stronghold in the middle east while attempting to spin doctor perspective through the manipulated press and wouldn't want independent fact checkers or websites like A Starting Point involved in outing them for blatantly lying to the public

Its all about making better choices

[holdingforexo]

I'm the anon that wrote the novel on the exo separation btw, but I also want to throw it out there that it's entirely possible that I may be in the minority for feeling like Luhan & Zitao's departures were sudden. And I don't want to assume that my perspective was/is the same as most other exo-ls at the time.

Thank you for sending this in! I attached the first part of your message below—and I added some comments below that. It’s nice getting accounts from someone who was around during that time. I know this blog primarily serves as a countdown project, but I’m glad it’s also a place of safe discussions for EXO-Ls ♥️

I don't want this to come off as arrogant and "well I was there, so I know better" in any way, so I hope it doesn't. And admin please feel free to ignore this if you think my commentary on all of this is unnecessary. There is also so much personal conjecture in all of this. I clearly wasn't there with them in the room when they made their choices to leave, and it was so long ago. But this is just how I interpreted their decisions to leave as a fan of the group and them when they were a part of it. But for context, I've been following exo since predebut, and from what I remember, when Luhan left, it was pretty sudden. At least from a fan stand point. It hadn't been long since he-who-doesn't-deserve-the-time-it-takes-to-type-this left, and they were in the middle of a tour. Overdose was relatively new too. But with that being said, it wasn't exactly a secret that Luhan was struggling with his health, and it's entirely possible that he had talked about it with the exo members before making his decision to leave. To me, it always felt like he left because he felt like he had to for his own sake and not because he really wanted to. Like the potential for hard feelings there feels lower to me than Zitao per se. But that's just my own opinion on it. And with Tao, it kind of felt like he stole away in the middle of the night. I don't know if that makes sense or not. And I don't fault him for leaving either. It's no secret that SM has always treated non-Korean members of groups worse than their Korean counterparts. I think he just maybe saw a better, more successful future for himself apart from the group and apart from being a Korean based idol. And obviously he is doing well for himself now. I think making that choice for that reason has the potential for hurt feelings between him and the exo members though. Almost like he was using exo as a career stepping stone, if you will. But again, pure speculation on my part. And I wouldn't quite be able to blame him if that were his reasoning either. As for Lay, it's like comparing apples & oranges. He made a different choice, so some awkwardness between them makes sense to me. I think you said it very well that it's just about the relationships you choose to invest in. And I know fans don't really like talking about it 1) because it happened so early on in all of their careers and all parties involved became successful in their own right. 2) it was genuinely so heartbreaking to be a part of and watch go down. You could see how much it hurt the exos. And they had to just keep moving forward with the public watching their every move as they were dealing with whatever emotions they were feeling about it. It was... it was a lot. And 3) a lot of former exo-m enthusiasts/exo fans still have a lot of love for Luhan & Zitao and what they meant to the group and members back then. And I know most wish nothing but the best for them and their individual careers. But ultimately, it just makes the most sense to talk about them, 99% of the time, as the separate entities that they are and not in relation to each other or what when down nearly a decade ago.

I absolutely agree with you—that of the departures, Luhan’s felt more like a “need” rather than a want. I remember seeing a concert clip of Luhan’s last show with EXO, and the OP stated noticing everyone looked a bit sad, and extra attention was given to Luhan by the others. I think it was assumed everyone knew it was going to be their last show with Luhan. This, in part, is why I’ve thought Luhan’s departure was discussed among the EXO members. While probably not as close as EXO is now, I do believe Luhan was genuine friends with everyone—especially Minseok—so I can’t imagine he didn’t discuss things with them.

I obviously was not around when Zitao departed EXO. But, from going through content released during that time, it actually seemed, to me, like Zitao was the one with the most internal struggles about leaving. I don’t know how reliable this is, but I read Zitao prepared for CMB on a strained ankle, and continue to do so until his father had to come to South Korea to bring him home to China because Zitao was continuing work while extremely ill. EXO was in the middle of a comeback, and I think some people just assumed the lawsuit was for publicity. So when Zitao actually did depart, that’s why there was shock. Again, hearsay.

I think when the first departure happened, Zitao was probably the most upset and frustrated. I think it’s safe to say Zitao was closest to Sehun, and I find it hard to think Zitao didn’t at least discuss things with him, if not with everyone. Because of how Zitao responded during the first departure, I want to believe he wouldn’t do the same to the others.

Your mentioning of the departures hurting EXO makes me think about the statement they jointly released when Jongdae announced his marriage...

“Before officially announcing member Chen’s marriage plans, all of the EXO members took time to discuss the matter critically, and as all of the EXO members have previously suffered the hardships of losing members in the group, the team as a whole relayed their wishes to continue with the current members without changes. We also respected the members’ wishes in this matter, and so we again notify that there will be no member changes in EXO.”

If I’m remembering correctly, this was the first time they publically acknowledged the previous departures. The sentiment of wanting to stay together was from the members themselves, not the company. I think some people, especially solo fans, want to believe EXO are just colleagues, that there are no emotional attachments. But these men literally grew up together, and share experiences that no one else can relate. We only know what EXO wants us to know, and I think assuming anything about how real or fake their relationship and bond with each other is, is incredibly presumptuous. As you said, the events happened nearly a decade ago. I like to think time helps heal wounds. So, even if there were bad feelings, I hope time and hindsight provided everyone with clarity on what’s important to themselves.