#if it's a spoiler obviously i'll dodge

[ogata77]

First spoiler chapter 58

The first spoilers for chapter 58 are here and I want to leave you my quick thoughts. I'll start with the cover.

The last image is the new inside cover of chapter 58 and obviously I couldn't help but relate it to these other images. Yoneda usually plays a lot with connections and mirror chapters so I like to hypothesize what he wants to tell us. The first image of chapter 10: "At that time when I was a nobody", shows the moment when a teenage Yashiro is pressured by Misumi to formally join the yakuza. If we continue with the sequence, image 2 corresponds to chapter 31: "Feelings and ambitions intermingle", it is one of the climax moments of the story where they end up accusing Yashiro of the death of a member of the Gouda-gumi. There is a lot of talk about the sakazuki (official yakuza affiliation ceremony), loyalty and it is shown how yakuza groups protect their members in these situations of internal conflict. Finally we have the cover of the next chapter 58: "Emotions are left behind."

All of the above shows us narratively where we are heading in the story at the level of the yakuza (my favorite). Yashiro never wanted to join the yakuza out of necessity, he did it as a sacrifice to help Kageyama (I hope one day he finds out) and throughout his life he has shamelessly shown that he has never truly felt like a yakuza. When the first arc ends and Yashiro loses leadership as wakagashira of his group, "the" opportunity is created to distance himself from the yakuza. Misumi pressures him again and again to work directly with him again but so far he has dodged it with grace and elegance as only he knows how. Until that moment everything was working for Yashiro, he was still like a living dead, but he was half a body away from the yakuza until Doumeki enters the equation again. The cover of the new chapter says that emotions are left behind but will Yashiro be able to leave his emotions behind when it comes to protecting Doumeki? Precisely in the last chapters Yoneda has shown us how they have been gradually resolving their prejudices and emotions but now it is time to return to reality, we are at the beginning of another yakuza conflict.

On the other hand, I cannot fail to mention the visual narrative of the covers. Chapter 10 and 58 are a mirror, both Yashiros look at this little sparrow that represents the difficult decision to be in the yakuza, it is incredibly sublime. And the intermediate scene that has so much to say, Yashiro, unlike the other images, is standing, which means to me that he feels in a more empowered position, and let's add the details of the rain and the umbrella.

I couldn't leave aside the symbolism of these two elements. The rain has always been another character in saezuru, a symbol of pain, sadness, loss and its counterpoint the umbrella that protects me from everything. There are so many memorable scenes with these two elements to name a few: when Yashiro brings the umbrella to Aoi (Doumeki's sister) to protect her from her feelings for Doumeki because it reminds her of when he loved Kageyama, when Yashiro looks at a mother from the car protecting his son, a feeling that he had never felt (this is very sad, Yashiro is a survivor), the past and recent scenes where Doumeki protects Yashiro (for more information you can read aiaigasa). There is so much to remember and analyze that saezuru readers can, without exaggeration, read the story 100 times and find something new.

To finish, I think that for Yashiro and Doumeki it is time to decide whether or not they are going to officially be part of their groups with the advantages and risks that this entails. If you've read this far, I sincerely thank you for your interest in my ramblings and if there are problems in the text, you know, it's Google translator's fault hahahaha.

[pigeon-paperweight]

My Kaku Good Guy Rant (help this is consuming my life) (this is very long)

(Spoilers for Water 7 and Egghead, obviously! I'll try and keep this in chronological order. I will mainly be using the manga for examples. This is gonna be lengthy, and ranty, and hyper-analyze...y. I will be using punctuation in this post for the sake of myself and everyone else.)

Let me start this off by saying: Is this the face of a man who hates his life?

Call me crazy (sarcasm), but I don't think so.

Kaku, though he is a Cipher Pol agent, is leagues away from any of the other Cipher Pol agents we've seen to date. The way he acts, the way he speaks, the way he treats others -- it all gets on my nerves because it makes me think he isn't so bad. But we've seen his actions! We've seen some of the things he's done and the bad people he is associated with! He's an evil person!

...Or is he?

Characters can do bad things, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they are bad people, because things aren't always just black and white like that.

We know that Cipher Pol agents are taken in as children, and they are raised through the eyes of the government. They -- as messed up as some of these poor kids seem -- are conditioned to think in a way where the bad deeds they do are deemed 'right', just because they do so for the sake of 'justice'. They don't particularly know that what they're doing is wrong.

Part One: Water 7

When we see CP9 act during water 7, I've noticed that Kaku specifically was less involved in the brutal beatings of Iceberg and Paulie inside of the Galley-la mansion. He seems to stand to the side and let Lucci do the dirty work, along with all the talking.

At the end of chapter 344, Opposing Force, Paulie is seen bleeding with the blueprints in his hand. We don't see who beats him up, but it can be assumed that it was Lucci, due to him being closer to Paulie. Lucci is also the first to grab the blueprints from him. Kaku stands still in the background.

However, they could have both been fighting him, as Lucci says "Your resistance against us is futile..." although again, Lucci seems to talk for the both of them, as Kaku doesn't say a word up until Paulie reveals that the blueprints are fake. Even then, after that, Lucci still does the brunt of the talking.

In my opinion, it's highly unlikely that Kaku would beat up Paulie, because as far as I've seen, Kaku doesn't lay a hand on either him or Iceberg, aside from gently checking Iceberg's pulse.

What makes me think this? Well in chapter 345, Luffy, in casual Luffy fashion, busts in just as Paulie succumbs to the beating, to which Kaku attempts to catch Luffy with his Tempest Kick. Luffy dodges at the last second, but is apprehended by Lucci as he is stuck to the floor using metal prongs to hold him down.

Lucci then yells at Kaku to restrain Paulie, because this was "no time to be fighting (Paulie is nearly K.O'd and bleeding out on the floor)", and Kaku does this:

Notice those little lines next to his head? He's surprised.

Now, he could be surprised due to not thinking about restraining Paulie since he's literally already been defeated, but Lucci knows that Paulie could become a bigger problem if he got back up, especially with Luffy there with him. I picture Kaku as a bit of an extension to Lucci, and since they're both very smart, Kaku would know this too, wouldn't he?

Paulie could get up and free Luffy, or better yet free him and team up with Luffy to 'beat' the both of them. Kaku already knows that Paulie isn't dead, because Paulie's still conscious right in front of him, so why is he so obviously surprised at Lucci's order? Why was it so important to draw those little lines next to him?

Perhaps he was surprised because he was worried Lucci would tell him to restrain Paulie, and he was hoping he wouldn't have to.

Another reason for these little lines could be that Kaku could have been zoned-out, maybe having some heavy thoughts (regret, guilt, or some sort of existential crisis), and Lucci snapped him out of it by getting his attention.

Backtracking just a bit, back to chapter 344, right when Paulie reveals that the blueprints were fake, Lucci and Kaku understandably share a moment of shock.

Kaku, more so speaking to himself rather than anyone else (as he trails off at the end of the sentence), says: "What an idiotic thing to..."

This doesn't have to mean anything, as Paulie could be seen as both smart and an idiot for revealing this in front of them, however I like to think deeper into it, of course.

Kaku could have been calling this action idiotic due to the fact that he knew they would've had to kill Paulie afterwards, and that Paulie likely knew this too, and was just revealing this out of spite and to witness their surprise before he died.

Kaku's words seem a little out of place here. Lucci, of course, just goes straight into 'let's kill this guy 'cause he got on my nerves' mode, but Kaku's response isn't what I would expect. When I read this for the first time, not knowing that these two were in fact Kaku and Lucci, this just stuck out to me (it still sticks out to me, even now), and I can't exactly put into words why.

Again, this makes me think: "Why add this? Why is this so important?"

If they weren't so rudely interrupted by Luffy, Lucci probably would have finished the job and killed Paulie right then and there because Kaku was still standing around not doing anything and just adding random commentary.

One more thing from this chapter, then it's onward and upward from here! We'll get to the Zoro fight and Egghead soon enough!

When Luffy bursts in awkwardly through the wall, interrupting this uncomfortable encounter between the three of them, I stated earlier that Kaku tries to hit him with a Tempest Kick. Right before this, though, Kaku has a moment of hesitation before attacking Luffy.

Of course, as I've said, this can have little to no meaning.

But, can it mean something? Yes!

This little panel of hesitation could be a wave of guilt washing over Kaku, as he knows Luffy and the Strawhats weren't involved in the attempted assassination of Iceberg like CP9 made them out to be. He knows the Strawhats are good people, but he's just following orders. He's aware of the situation they've stuck Luffy with. This bit of hesitation could be him just further instating to himself that this is what needs to be done to get these blueprints.

When Kaku reveals himself to be one of the government assassins, he replies to Iceberg's disbelief with: "You're the one in the wrong. None of this would have happened if you'd handed them over to the government when it asked nicely."

That's rather depressing, combined with the expression on his face.

What is "none of this"? What does that mean? Almost killing Iceberg? Beating up your friends?

His sad expression is pushing me to think that there are more layers to this than just causing harm to Iceberg/Paulie/others.

Why would he need to justify that Iceberg was in the wrong? They were doing this for that sweet sense of justice, after all!

Perhaps the "none of this" really does mean this entire mission, as the whole reason CP9 was sent to Water 7 was to retrieve the blueprints from Iceberg. If "none of this" happened, Kaku would have never been sent to Water 7 in the first place. Makes you think about why he looks so sad, huh? He would have never gotten those five years of bliss.

Remember, Kaku was only 18 when he started the mission at Water 7. That is wild to think about, if you put yourself in his shoes. You aren't even fully developed yet, especially your brain by that time!

If you wanna dive even deeper into this, just think -- all of the other CP9 members are older than Kaku. Granted, Kalifa only has 2 years on him, but they weren't super close during Water 7, so disregard her for now. Lucci was 23 at the start of the Water 7 mission, for more reference of their age differences.

Lulu is 8 years older than Kaku, and Tilestone is 10 years older.

Paulie, however, is only one year older than Kaku. Paulie is his peer. His close friend.

I'm not saying that any of the other shipwrights weren't his friends, Tilestone and Lulu's behavior alone disproves that, however having friends -- especially when you're a teenager -- that are among the same age group as you is important, so it's a little easier to infer that Kaku has an attachment to Paulie, which could be a reason as to why Kaku isn't seen fighting him -- he grew up with him in those five years 'away' from CP9.

After it is revealed that the masked assassins were, in fact, Lucci, Kaku, Kalifa, and Blueno, Kaku is asked to check Iceberg's pulse to see if they can guess the whereabouts of the real Pluton blueprints. We can assume, that from this action, Kaku still respects Iceberg, as all of the other CP9 members have been treating Iceberg like a damn doormat.

Very polite. Just wanted to add this quick one in.

Then -- this is important -- shortly after that, we get this:

Mhm.

To me, here, Kaku is being genuine when he says this. The other members can say that they "don't have anything against Iceberg", but I believe Kaku is the only one who really doesn't have anything against him. He really is thankful for the opportunities Iceberg gave him during his time on Water 7.

Through his actions, Kaku is very obviously genuine, no matter how much someone wants to say he's not. Lucci + Co. beat Iceberg senseless, while Kaku, who could have very easily joined in with the other members, did not. He respected Iceberg down to the very last moment with him, much like I feel he did with Paulie, too.

The next few examples are going to be small, with little bits of my thoughts, because trust me, I really want to get to Egghead.

These examples are throughout the next couple of chapters.

Kaku's face, along with the bubble of an ellipsis at the sight of Paulie. Ouch.

Why does he look so disturbed from the action of hitting Zoro with his Finger Pistol? I'll say it again -- guilt?

Just wanted to add this in because it makes me sad. "Honing their skills to serve the government" is all they're good for, and they all know it.

Alright! That wraps this part up, now we're going to quickly touch on Enies Lobby and Kaku's fight with Zoro, because, honestly, not much needs to be said about the latter half.

Don't worry, the next parts will be shorter.

Part Two: Enies Lobby

I'm adding this section in after I've already finished the Water 7 part, and LET ME TELL YOU: I am currently high on 1 a.m. exhaustion-induced goofiness, and I literally had a dream about finishing this post last night so I'm WORKING ON IT NOW!! NOW!!!!

So please, if you could, excuse me. Me as a whole. Excuse everything.

ALRIGHT LET'S DIG INTO THIS!!!

So, like I mentioned just above the header for this section, I don't want to go too deep into this part, mostly because in my eyes the evidence speaks for itself (especially for the fight with Zoro) however I will go a little bit into some other parts that I find interesting.

EXHIBIT ONE!!! - 'Co-workers pressure you to eat mystery items? Hell yes!'

A bit unrelated, but I just wanted to say how I thought it was a bit funny how Kaku and Kalifa get peer pressured into eating their devil fruits, despite Kaku showing obvious disinterest, and can we talk about their reactions when handed the fruits??

You cannot convince me that they wanted to eat those. Kalifa is struggling. But of course, Lucci comes in with the "It'll be fun", so they just decided 'yep we're doing this i guess'. Was it really that fun, though? Everyone got their ass kicked two times over in the end, so did it really matter?

You poor souls.

Moral of the story, if someone tells you 'eat this thing I'm giving you because it will be fun' -- don't.

Exhibit TWO!!! - 'Crackhead Franky burns the blueprints'

These panels just make me feel some type of way. Of course, Kaku (as the other CP9 members are) is very upset that his five years of work just got burned up into dust in front of him, but it also means that it was ALL FOR NOTHING. Everything was for nothing.

Coming to Water 7, getting the job, liking the job, participating in your interest, making friends, having a good boss and then turning around and ruining it all for the sake of some papers (that you've already been faked out of once, mind you) that just disintegrated and basically never had any meaning in the first place, because 'how the hell are we getting those back, oh yeah, we can't', is what would be going through my mind.

I mean, karma is a bitch, but damn. Also -- are ellipses just Kaku's thing? I'm noticing a pattern here.

Exhibit TROIS! ahem.. Three. - 'Zoro's sword is moaning'

Now we'll get into the stuff with Zoro -- BUT ONLY QUICKLY BECAUSE I'M GETTING TO EGGHEAD, DAMMIT!!

When confronted by Zoro, Kaku stated that Zoro's 'Will you hand Robin's handcuff key over before I kill you?' was a foolish question, followed by another damn ellipsis! What is it with him and those??

Anyways, why is this a foolish question to him? Well, it could go both ways -- Kaku would kill Zoro before he could get the key, or Zoro would kill Kaku before he could give up the key. The first way was probably intended from Kaku's perspective... or was it? Kaku knows Zoro is strong, as he says literally in the same panel that he wished he could see what Zoro was capable of.

Based on Kaku's reaction to Zoro defeating him (which we'll get to in just a moment), I believe he was anticipating his own defeat by Zoro's hand.

Fighting Zoro was almost like a game to Kaku, as he said (during the lighter half of their fight) that this was fun, and the only way for the fun to stop was if Zoro beat him. This was fun for him to the very end of it. That's pretty sad, and I feel like Kaku was excited to have someone like Zoro fighting him, especially with them both being swordsman, as he seemed to really enjoy their fights.

Now for the finale!!

^^ This is right after Zoro informs Kaku that he's fired, rubbing salt into Kaku's many metaphorical and physical wounds. vv

Why did Zoro feel the need to say this? Did Zoro want Kaku to feel bad about what he did? Because usually, foes don't get the time to talk with the person that just beat their ass, because they get knocked out/killed before anything else happens. Did Zoro hit him just hard enough to delay him losing consciousness, just so he could rub it in (and so this would be Kaku's last thought before passing out) that Paulie was upset with him?

Why would Zoro do this? Kaku is an enemy, and at this point in time Zoro didn't know Kaku was going to willingly give him his key (as in he thought he was going to have to take it off Kaku after he was unconscious), so why the hell did he not just knock him out right then and there and get the key? Zoro is pressed for time, because he needs to bring that key to Robin -- so why do this?

Perhaps Zoro is aware that there is more to Kaku than just being a backstabbing government assassin, and that he could have possibly still had a conscience at that time so he just really wanted to rub it in his face that Paulie directly fired him -- because he knew it would hurt.

"You guys... are fired."

'Paulie said that? Oh... what a mess' Kaku says as if he wasn't expecting that? Excuse me, sir?

Sure, okay, maybe he hadn't had the time to think about Paulie and all them dudes with all the shit he'd been dealing with, but honestly, what was he expecting? That Paulie wouldn't say that?

Of course not. Those words just had a lot of weight coming from Paulie, let's be real here. He knew that he was fired. He knew this whole thing would end up with him being fired eventually, so why is he so sad at the fact that Paulie fired him?

This, along with the "assassins can never find other work" leads me to think he knows he's done for. He will be stuck as an assassin until he dies, and that's just how it's going to be. I'm wondering, was he expecting to die here?

I'm curious -- who was it that told him that assassins couldn't find other work? Who is 'they'? Was it you, Kaku? Is he telling himself that?

Or was it someone like Lucci, who wanted to drill into his head that this is what he was 'meant' to do, and there was no going back for him, as if he can't ever redeem himself (praying on this y'all, please Oda PLEASE), just because Lucci wants Kaku on his side to be his partner in crime. Stupid Lucci. I hate that guy.

The next picture will be a little more focused on Zoro's reaction to Kaku rather than Kaku himself.

Again, here we go with those damn ellipses. They are starting to paint a better picture of how complex this could actually get, though, so I won't dog on them anymore.

Let's actually talk about that for a second -- the Oxford Dictionary defines an ellipsis as "the omission from speech or writing of a word or words that are superfluous or able to be understood from contextual clues", and from a couple different sources ellipses in comics can be seen as "there is more to be said here, but you can figure it out because why not" or a character is thinking about something.

What is Zoro thinking about here? What's making him just stare at Kaku while he gets his key for him? Well, maybe Zoro wasn't expecting Kaku to just give him the key, so he's just... watching. Kaku is also laughing (at Zoro's zoo joke, for context), and if I was in his situation I very much wouldn't be, so that can be a bit confusing for Zoro as he might wonder why Kaku is being such a good sport.

This good sportsmanship displayed by Kaku could be giving Zoro a reason to believe in Kaku's complexity and ambiguity, along with Kaku giving him the key right before he passes out. Kaku really felt the need to give Zoro his key because he had earned it, yet Kaku wasn't killed to obtain it -- so this was Kaku's way of surrendering, and that is another reason why I think he was expecting this to be the end of the road.

Bonus to that:

Okay!! I'm done I'm done I'm done!!!!!!!!!!~ I talked a little more than I wanted to but that's okay because were onto EGGHEAD!!! WOO HOO!!!!

Part Three: Egghead

Reminder: MANGA Egghead -- ahead of the anime.

This part is going to be a bit unhinged because as I'm writing this Egghead JUST finished up (who's excited for Elbaf???? WOOP!!) and I have some STRONG feelings.

OK OK OK LET'S GET INTOOO ITTT!!

So Egghead starts and... and.. w-.. wait.

He's sitting on top of poor Sentomaru's battered body. This... this looks familiar.

Oh, that's why. That's weird. What a weird detail. Is this going to happen more in the future? Is this one of Kaku's weird things he does, just because?

Sidetracked, sorry. Anyway-

I'm going to start this off by saying that Lucci has definitely been getting on Kaku's nerves throughout the entirety of Egghead. Honestly, I understand. If I'd have to deal with stupid Lucci for as long as Kaku has I'd be pissed at him too.

It's okay, Kaku. You can kick his ass, I won't say anything.

But my point in bringing this up is that these little moments of Kaku being upset or annoyed with Lucci are building up to something much bigger. Kaku cannot catch a break, and in most of the scenes they're together in he's fed up with Lucci in some way.

Now let's talk about Kaku and Stussy.

He can say they aren't friends all he wants, but I beg to differ. We haven't necessarily seen a whole lot of CP0's interactions with each other outside of carrying out their missions, but there is an obvious connection between these two that I've grown fond of.

Kaku contemplating Stussy's 'Who do I live for?' is interesting -- he doesn't speak on this out loud, but clearly he's got something brewing in the ol' noggin.

This whole page is just wonderful. Also, I think that is the best face I have seen Kaku make. There's a lot to get into here.

So... I absolutely love that Stussy wanted to free Kaku, but what the hell does she mean by 'I know the first thing he'll do if he's released'?? Genuine question. I might have accidentally skimmed over something, because I'll admit I read egghead pretty fast (though I'm thinking about reading all of it a second time because there was just so much happening all at the same time that it got a little crazy) but I don't remember seeing anything else about what she thought Kaku was going to do.

Kaku was obviously not expecting Stussy to do this, as she was pretty much made their enemy because of her betrayal, but Edison's 'I'm sorry for making you betray that friendship' just makes me want to... like.. idk. Edison knew that Stussy and Kaku were good friends, which makes me think that Stussy has possibly talked about Kaku before to the Vegapunks?

I haven't really had a whole lot of time to think about this stuff so everything I say here I'm coming up with as I'm typing it -- it's more speculatory than the other sections.

I think Stussy asking to free Kaku is another case of rubbing salt into Kaku's wounds, albeit more indirect. Stussy cares about him, obviously, but I think what Edison said makes Kaku just do a reflection of his entire life.

Stussy betrayed Kaku, yet she still shows compassion for him because they were friends.

Kaku betrayed Paulie, but completely does the opposite of Stussy. He just completely cuts him off. Paulie and Kaku were friends. Stussy and Kaku are friends.

Despite being his 'enemy', Stussy wants the best for Kaku and tries to help him as best as she could.

This, I believe, makes Kaku do a 180. This situation with Stussy is what could have happened on Water 7 with Paulie, because if you guys remember, Paulie said he felt that Kaku and Lucci were still his friends, even after he'd witnessed CP9 beating up Iceberg.

That is why I think he looks so distressed after Edison apologizes for Stussy's betrayal to him, because he's betrayed his own friends multiple times now, and he's fully realized this isn't all that different from Water 7.

It sure does hurt to be the one betrayed, doesn't it? Now he knows how his buddies on Water 7 felt.

I also want to talk about Edison saying that Stussy's 'inner conflict is a calling card of humanity' (talking about having to choose between being on Kaku's side or being with the Vegapunks), and how Kaku has a little wobbly bubble with an ellipsis.

Has Kaku realized that having humanity might not be so bad? Cipher Pol agents, I'm assuming, aren't really supposed to have this concept of humanity, because they're supposed to be these almost superhuman monsters.

Or has he realized that he isn't like the other Cipher Pol agents, as he secretly does have a sense of humanity that he shoves down for the sake of being in CP0? If Lucci ever found out that Kaku really did have a sense of humanity he would probably deem him useless. However...

Lucci (for the first time ever, wow) shows compassion towards Kaku, being worried that Kaku would be killed in the midst of the chaos that was Egghead.

I always perceived Lucci to be the type to leave behind the wounded, as they weren't of use to him anymore, but he goes out of his way to ask Mars to spare Kaku, which was honestly very surprising. Maybe Lucci still has a speck of humanity in him. Perhaps there is hope.

You're seriously going to tell me that they aren't friends when they're both crying??

Also... do you know that one scene from Air Bud?? This scene between Kaku and Stussy reminded me of that the first time I read this chapter, lol.

Kaku is worried for Stussy's safety, as he knows that if Lucci finds her, he will kill her. And again with this -- what is Kaku going to do next?? I want to know, God dammit, JUST TELL ME!!

Is Kaku going to defy Lucci? Is he going to run away? TELL MEEEE!!

DUN DUN DUN!!!!!~~~

So Stussy is apparently dead, which, okay, when did that happen, and also, absolutely not, but why does Kaku look like he's seriously about to just unleash his rage on Lucci? Do it, please DO IT!! BEAT HIS ASS PLEASE. I HATE HIM SO. MUCH.

But the fact that he's resorted to talking in ellipses again with his face shaded, a huge frown and clenched fists is making me think that this is a breaking point for him. He's just so over Lucci and I would be too. Run, run for the hills Kaku!!!

Kaku's ellipsis bubble is also a teeny bit wobbly, and if you've ever read a comic you've probably noticed that the shape of the bubble pertains to the character's state, whether that be physical or mental, and their speech. But since he isn't talking, his wobbly bubble could mean (and I'm saying could because a lot of the bubbles in Egghead are misshapen, so take this with a grain of salt, this is just what I like to think) that his mental state is, well, not great.

So with a (presumably) dead friend, a long time of growing exasperation towards Lucci, and an already unstable mental state, I really hope Kaku can realize that a line has been crossed, so it's his turn to act.

So now, it's time for the conclusion.

Basically, I just want Kaku to be a good guy. He's so complex and I already like him so much as a character, and I would like him even more if he jumped to the other side. I feel that he's already halfway there. I hope that there might be some sort of redemption in store for Kaku and I will scream if it comes true. You might not think so, but I can dream!!

Anyways, that's my two cents! Or rather... my fifty cents.. or my dollar. That was a lot. Thanks so much for reading!

[iwishiwasfictionalblogs]

So I finished good omens season 2 last night at like 4am and idk if its cause of tiredness or cause I acc dodged every spoiler like an expert acrobats but...the final scene. I didnt see it coming. Not from a mile away.

Look I don't care that we got Nina and Maggie who are basically a mirror of Azi and Crowley. (Also so much to say how Ninas abusive relationship is basically Azi with heaven but anyway)

I also don't care that Azi and Crowley have basically been married since Eden. Nothing...and I mean nothing, physically prepared me for that finale.

Years of queerbaiting have desensitised me to hope of any kind. Genuinely even when all the signs were pointing to a confession, as soon as Azi went first and started talking bout heaven I thought that was it. Crowely is gonna crawl back into his shell.

BUT NO HE HE DIDNT. HE STILL SAID IT. and god can I say how incredibly brave that is. Like I'm so proud of him for saying ANYTHING. Like I get us as an audience think it's obvious and woulda been frustrated if he didn't and we are frustrated with how it went but. Honestly with the set up the boy was given I don't think HE for one second even remotely thought this confession was gonna go well. He had like the tiniest smidge of hope that was...of course crushed and burned. But. God I'm proud of him for saying something. And then standing his ground and not going with the man he loves even though it hurts cause going back to heaven would hurt more.

Anyway needless to say my jaw was ON THE GROUND for the kiss. Absolutely unhinged. My jaw hurt but I was so flabbergasted. I didnt know what to do with myself. It came outta nowhere in my mind even tho in traditional media it had obviously been building up to that I was still so...wow. This show. 2023. I love you.

Given this after the gift that was our flag means death. I dont know if I'll ever emotionally recover. Also I'm so not used to this idk what to do now. Do I go read fanfic? I mean..yes always but. Its canon. I almost wanna save myself for canon even though season 3 isn't confirmed. Idk if I have enough patience for that tho.

[malachiwardyt]

Today is a very special day, podcast side of Tumblr.

In about half an hour, the Magnus Protocol will be releasing to the public, which is very exciting. To celebrate, I decided to make a video going over my pre-series theories, throwing everything at the wall in hopes of getting a prediction to stick.

Originally, this was meant to be a full breakdown of TMA, but that project wound up being a lot longer than I expected. It doesn't mean it isn't coming, just that I couldn't get it done for today.

The art for this video features everyone's favourite Magnus ARG character, Mr. Bonzo, the jaundiced Mr. Blobby rip off with a slightly menacing aura. I knew I wanted to do something specifically related to Protocol, but I didn't want to do any of the main characters without hearing their voices and getting to know them, so I instead opted for Bonzoland's unsettling mascot, partly because he's a fan favourite and partly because I love doing monster design.

Bonzo obviously already had a design, which I did my best to stay true to, though I also make some changes. The most notable change is probably the teeth, which are much more broken down than in the original. I figured that a terrible creature like this would probably have teeth made of plate or ceramic, so I chipped away at them in the areas where they would most often be used, being the incisors and molars in a human. Of course, Bonzo has a few extra teeth, but that's alright.

The art did have to be rushed a bit, since I literally finished it around 3:00 this morning, so it's not quite as detailed as I would like, but I think that's alright. When I inevitably do my follow up AFTER listening to the premier, maybe I'll go back and give Bonzo the superior shading he deserves.

One of my favourite details about Mr. Bonzo is the fact that you can see little red eyes poking out from inside of the suit, with what looks like most of a face inside of the head, so I had to include that in my version. If you look closely, you can spot the eyes hiding in Bonzo. I did try to make my Bonzo a bit bulkier overall, with a smaller head relative to his body and defined neck, which I think moves him away from theme park mascots a bit, but into the realm of bulky animatronics or muscly monsters, which are their own form of uncanny valley.

Also, it's semi-unintentional, but I made his spots glow. Because I can.

This piece is also the first time I've publically shown off my new persona design. I've been holding on to the redesign for a few months now, but I figured this was as good a time as any to shadow drop it. Afton himself looks mostly the same, save for a hair update which makes it longer, but the biggest change is in his clothes, moving from a burgundy coat and green tee to a lavender coat and rust turtleneck. I've also bulked up the glasses a bit and finally found a way to get semi-accurate hair colours. Chestnut hair is hard to draw.

With all of that out of the way, I think that just leaves us to prepare for the release of Protocol. I've been dodging spoilers for months at this point, so I'm glad to finally get a glimpse into this new world. Will my predictions be right? Probably not. I can always hope, though. Regardless, thank you for reading, and good night, Tumblr people!

[sebry]

So, I finally managed to get to this point in Scarlet Hollow, and I feel like that gives me a good excuse to compile the tangled mess that is my speculation as to what is going on in Scarlet Hollow

So, there are going to be major spoilers, and I am going to be hopping around willy nilly between the 4 chapters that are out as of the time of me writing this, so, if you haven't played through the game multiple times, I'm going to be giving out some pretty hefty spoilers. There's your warning as to what is below the cut.

Furthermore, I want to say that this is going to be a whole lot of rambling and a massive amount of tinfoil hat levels of speculation.

Let's talk about what I think are some of the major players.

Stella

As much as I love the objectively best girl in the game, I can't deny that there is a pattern of flakiness. When the going gets tough, Stella likes to get going, be that in the ditchling nest in chapter 1 even when you insist that they're not attacking, to just running off at the end of chapter 3. Yes, a lot of it can be explained by what happened to her parents, and the final choices that you get to make (if you find her) revolve around finding out more about that whole thing and her coming to terms with the death of her parents, so she may be turning over a new leaf there. Still, sources say that that is not the case. Those sources, of course, being possibly the centrepiece of the most insane rambling rant I have in me about this game, so buckle up, because I'm talking about...

Wayne

I want to clarify, when I say Wayne, I don't mean the human. When I'm talking about the human, I shall refer to him as Sam. Wayne, is the thing that follows you around, protecting you. They are completely separate entities.

So, after Sam's death, Wayne picked up Sam's rotting corpse and started to puppet it around. It is his way of interacting with the world. I think that he is the main point of the story. He is your father, he is Tabitha's father, he is Sybil's patron (I'll get to that in Sybil's section), he is the reason why the ditchlings are everywhere.

So, let's start with the reason why I think the ditchlings are there. Scarlet Hollow has something going on. Something that is very much tied to, at least in my theory so far, to Sybil and Wayne. Wayne isn't fully in our world, he is interacting with it as much as he can, but I believe that the Wayne we see is less than a finger puppet compared to the actual being he represents. I believe that he is going to be making his way to the world of the game, in his full power, right around the time of the funeral. Such a thing will be an apocalyptic event, and Scarlet Hollow is days away from being the eye of that worldwide storm, so of course the harbingers of doom that are the ditchlings would be appearing there en masse.

Wayne is far more than what we've seen of him, right now, he is confined to the deceased body of Sam, and he has to adhere to some of the laws of the world while at such a tiny fraction of his true power. Even still, we've seen him appear and disappear at will, effortlessly dodge the powerful build, even when also fighting Reese, and obviously, the fight against Reese himself.

Now, we get to some of the weirder stuff. I believe that Wayne still needs a vessel that can hold him. People with such capacity aren't easy to come by, so, over the course of years and years, he made some. It's why the Scarlets, as pointed out in the tea room with Sybil, tend to not really have many men in the family. It's all Wayne, through some eldritch ritual, bringing about Scarlet after Scarlet, until you, finally, the human who has the capacity to serve as his true vessel. That's why Vivian left Scarlet Hollow, she was forced to partake in the ritual, and you were the result of that. The child growing inside of her was going to be possessed by an eldritch abomination and bring about the end of the world, but his followers only really had reach within Scarlet Hollow.

It's why he cares so much about you. The simple answer is that he doesn't care so much about you, he cares about your body being kept safe until he is able to make his way through the veil and take it over. It's why he will threaten Sybil about there being hell to pay if anything else happens to you should you give up the decade of your life to the ghost of Charles Shaw Jr. It's why he wants you to just stay put in the estate when he finds you poking around the mines on Tuesday. Speaking of Sybil...

Sybil

Goes without saying, she's a witch. But, in modern media, a witch is not simply a female wizard (unless you're talking about the Harry Potter universe). A male witch is a warlock, and in modern media, they don't do the whole studious study in order to earnt their magical/mystical prowess, that's a wizard thing. Witches, like Sybil, skip the whole studying thing and go straight to being masters of the arcane by striking deals with supernatural (almost always evil and demonic) beings. The witch serves the patron and the patron allows the witch to have great magical power.

With that established, I already mentioned who her patron is (Wayne), but, with that being the case, she is the one who takes the orders in the relationship. On the magical hierarchy, Wayne is Sybil's direct boss, and if she wants to have the massive power that we sense when we first meet her with the mystical trait, she will do as Wayne tells her, when he tells her. That said, she doesn't want to scare us off by saying anything about Wayne. She knows what he is, she knows his true nature, and I believe that Wayne offered her a seat at the table in his new kingdom if she pulls off summoning him.

The problem is, as you keep asking questions about Wayne, she doesn't know how to calm you down about him other than brushing you off. If you are not in Scarlet Hollow when Wayne is summoned, he won't have a body to possess and his time in that world will be short lived. She knows that he is an eldritch being piloting a corpse like a finger puppet, but it's easier to brush you off when you ask about that than it is to risk scaring you off and away from Wayne and away from Scarlet Hollow. Besides, as long as you're running around playing detective, you're staying in Scarlet Hollow. You want to try and get some kids out of a mine? You want to go have dinner with the jersey devil and his mum? You want to go ghost hunting? You want to go look for Stella after she runs off? Sure. Fine. Not the safest use of your time, and it somewhat puts the body on the line here, but it is better than you digging into and using that energy to figure out what Wayne is and then leave his area of influence before you can become his vessel, since you're obviously not going to listen to him when he tells you to just stay put in the estate. You need breadcrumbs to keep you interested, sure, but the real leads need to be withheld from you until the ritual happens for their plan to have the best shot at bearing fruit.

Sybil gets more complicated though, this is where it gets really dark with her, but I think that she needs to sacrifice her firstborn for the ritual to summon Wayne. It's why she is working so hard to keep Kaneeka in place. I think she killed her husband, probably through poisoning to bring Kaneeka back from veterinary school, then has been using her mind controlling tea on her ever since. And yes, it is certainly the tea. There is a lot that changes depending on whether you drink the tea or not, including whether you can hear dr. Kelly badmouth her in the old x-ray room.

At this point Kaneeka is basically a puppet of Sybil, and I think that part of the ritual to summon Wayne she's going to have to sacrifice Kaneeka. Given how she apparently responds to the knowledge that Mile was in the mines though, I don't think Sybil really cares whether he lives or dies. I think that he's unimportant to the upcoming ritual and Sybil doesn't expect him to last long after said ritual anyway.

Kaneeka

I said a lot of what I have to say about her in Sybil's section, but she is under Sybil's control, she has not actually been sick, she's just gotten a bit too rowdy for Sybil's liking so Sybil has been using her tea to control her and possibly just hide her away under the guise of being sick until it is time for the ritual. They're in the endgame now and Sybil doesn't want to take the chance of Kaneeka making good on her promises to herself now of all times when there isn't enough time to work on preparations for the ritual and a scheme to get Kaneeka back in time again. It's just far easier if Kaneeka thinks she's too sick to get out of bed until it's time to sacrifice her. Meanwhile, the tea in her is actively pushing against her really taking onboard anything weird about her mum. Their relationship is in the gutter and I think if she were able to, Kaneeka would damn near hate her mother at this point, but the tea makes her quick to forgive her mother when she does something that Kaneeka doesn't like.

Coven/Cult

Stepping away from the character centric format for a bit, I want to talk about the coven, the group responsible for the upcoming ritual. I think that that group is lead by Sybil and the head Scarlet has been the right hand of the coven since the Shaws got driven out. Pearlanne has been hanging onto that role since Eddie died, and for some unspecified amount of time has been teaching Tabitha the ropes of what needs to be done. The group is dedicated to and ultimately takes its orders from Wayne, his witch making the more day-to-day decisions, the Scarlets using their power within the town to enact what needs enacting (such as purposefully hiring a bunch of incompetent and lazy individuals who prioritise a bowling night over a murder inquiry for a police force). If you mention the mayor to Tabitha at her hideout house, she even says the quiet part out loud and tells you about him being a dog, saying that the Scarlets hold all of the power in the town.

Honestly, the coven is probably very small, possibly only currently consisting of Tabitha and Sybil at this moment in time, now that Pearlanne is gone.

Pearlanne/Sam

This one is a doozy, but I think that the Scarlet women are forbidden from getting into romantic relationships with men, and the enforcement of this rule lead to Pearlanne's death. Simply put, Tabitha starts dating Sam, Pearlanne finds out, enforces the rules by having Sam killed, and in a fit of rage, Tabitha smothers her mother in her sleep after finding out what she did. It's why Tabitha knows that even though Wayne is possessing Sam's body when you see him on Wednesday night, that's not him; it can't be him, since Pearlanne killed him, and had Pearlanne not done that then Tabitha wouldn't have her mother's blood on her hands.

The ultimate cause of death is the same with being smothered and sleep apnoea (suffocation), and it's not too weird for an old woman to have such a condition that Tabitha can blame it on, especially with the lack of doctor visits that doctor Kelly talks about if you ask her about how well she knows your family. All this to say, it's not that weird that, with a decent poker face, Tabitha can play off her mother's murder as a death by natural causes without raising enough suspicion to warrant anyone looking into it, and while playing with the mystical trait allows you to see her corpse, none of the other traits (I specifically went into my book smarts/mystical playthrough to look for this option) seem to be able to check for signs of foul play, all you can do is ask Reese if he knows how to check that (he doesn't).

At the end of the day though, if my crackpot theories are somehow on point, then all the Scarlet women basically belong to Wayne, he's the only one who is allowed to do anything that might impregnate them, and trying to step in the way of that rule will land you in a shallow grave if you're lucky. Hell, at this point, I wouldn't be surprised if the reason for the landslide that caused the mansion to be leaning over a cliffside was caused by Wayne throwing a fit over and getting retribution for one of the Scarlet girls dating some human guy. Beings like that are not the type who you just tell that they can't have their way. You get a pass because harming you means harming his future vessel.

Tabitha

This one is one that I had a very different opinion about until I realised that I forgot to try something. Originally, I was going to say that Tabitha was for the time being innocent in all of this and was going to be inducted into the cult at or around Pearlanne's funeral, which will probably be when the cat fully comes out of the bag. In fact, I think there may have been some mention of this line of thinking earlier on in the post (this is taking a while to write; I started writing this on 9th March 2024 and it's now the 17th). That changed when I remembered that when Tabitha goes to get the special tea from Sybil, street smart can find a spot to listen to them that is subtle but can't make out more than a few syllables at a time, but keen senses can make out some of the conversation while standing in a very obvious spot until they notice you and switch to whispering. Point is, by using both of those traits on a single character, you can listen to that full conversation. Bottom line is that Tabitha lies to you when she talks about it being tea to help her sleep. If you have played through the game before, specifically with the speak with animals trait, and followed the sidequest on that one, you can piece together (out of game) that they're talking about the goat.

This put a bit of a wrench in what I had in mind, but okay. Turns out that Tabitha was the one who brought the goat over to the greenhouse (I thought that it was pastor Daniel since he also matches the description given by the goat, he can speak to animals and he owns a farm; my line of reasoning was that the good pastor heard the goat say something that disturbed him so he took it off of his farm and locked it away in the greenhouse so that it wouldn't just wander right back, or something, I couldn't figure out his long term plan on that, but maybe he was just stalling while he figured out what to do with Goat). With this new information about Tabitha being responsible for Goat being in the greenhouse though, it makes it seem more like Tabitha has been doing some ritualistic things already. This conversation alone, in my mind, shifts the blame of pastor Daniel's curse (the reason why everyone in town outside of his family, even the friendliest of people just instinctively hates him without an actual reason that they can state) from Sybil to Tabitha. Perhaps religion is seen as an annoying distraction by Tabitha, perhaps Wayne doesn't want the competition.

This does beg the question of why Tabitha would insist on fleeing from Wayne when you're in the ghost's visions on Wednesday together. I think that it's a mix of a few factors; the first being that he's using Sam's body whenever he interacts with you in physical form, which she can't stand to look at given the history, the second is that she doesn't recognise him for who he is when you see him in there, the third is that even if she knew who he was off the bat, she's in a similar position as Sybil and doesn't want to accidentally end up telling you more than she's meant to about him while you can still potentially flee town, and finally, the fact that this is a relatively new form of his and that he may have been showing up to Tabitha and Sybil in a very different manner up until now.

Wrap up

This whole post is a mess, I thought that splitting it up based on characters would help keep things clear, but given how intertwined the characters all are with one another in a game like this, the threads are still criss-crossing with one another all over the place, since I couldn't get into the weeds of talking about one character without some serious establishment of the ideas that I have surrounding a completely different character.

I have a strong feeling that I missed some things, hell, there are even some other points that I wanted to address in detail but I've had enough of writing this for now, and I'm starting to lose track of what I've written and what I haven't written, which really isn't helping. I know that I didn't address my thoughts on:

I think Avery might possibly be some kind of angel or opposite of whatever Wayne is

Avery hasn't been in human form for very long and the novelty of human experiences hasn't worn off for them yet, hence the weird things that they want to experience

Gretchen would often be taken with Stella to the estate when Tabitha and Stella were dating, but the very different personalities led to Gretchen trying to befriend Frou-Frou, who hates being approached, leading to her possibly attacking Gretchen on multiple occasions, hence their distain for one another

Tulip has a stronger version of the talk with animals trait (like how Sybil has a stronger version of the mystical trait) that allows her to talk with ditchlings and/or plants, and that's who's been leading her to tetanus lake

Anyway, thanks for coming to my PepeSilvie Talk

[mulders-too-large-shirt]

blog maintenance!

nothing exciting to add, don't worry!

just realized i'll be hitting the s2 finale soon, so once i do i'll update my pinned, and from that point on you can expect s1 and s2 related content in my posts. i don't reblog a ton of stuff because i'm still dodging spoilers, but i do have one mutual on my main i get some things from now and then and throw them in the queue :)

(and once i get far enough into the series to not be constantly hiding from spoilers, i would love to follow back from my main <3)

((also i'd be happy to tag each season if that is of interest to anyone))

also, when i do finish with s2, i'm gonna do more of those "things we learn about x" and "favorite s2 moments with x" for each of our main duo! i had a lot of fun with those, and i get to go through All of my notes again making them, so it'll be nice to revisit. i'm considering someday making a masterlist of links to each episode for ease of reading in chronological order- maybe it'll happen, maybe not.

and i have been watching an episode and doing a recap almost every night- obviously i'm having a great time, but i'm not sure for how much longer i can sustain a post every night, it's hard to say. the episodes are like 45 minutes and then it takes about an hour to type everything up on top of that. i'm very lucky with my current schedule that i am allowed this, but what the future will bring remains unclear! guess i'm just saying that if my posts decrease in quantity, don't worry, i won't abandon this blog- i'm in far too deep at this point.

last, thanks again to everyone who comments and reblogs! i love reading the tags, hearing peoples thoughts on each episode, asking questions and getting answers, learning if any particular scenes made you yell at the screen, how you reacted the first time you saw it, fun behind-the-scenes facts- they seriously make my day. i've been in lots of fandom spaces but never one quite like this, where everyone is so welcoming and enthusiastic. i'll be doing work and then giggling because someone noticed something cool and shared it with me and how great it is to do such a thing!

[not-terezi-pyrope]

(Hades II spoilers)

Loving this game.

Had an absolutely insane night with my Hades II attempts. In my first run I beat Eris and cleared the surface for the first time. Then in my very next run I beat Chronos for the first time, with this bonkers run. Was just super in the zone and managed to put a really good build together using weapons I've finally got the hang of. So satisfying. I could even have done it cleaner, but I had two death defiances left in the final boss so when he was about to die I just let him trigger one of them so I could keep laying into him, lmao.

The fact that I let myself take an instadeath with so much health makes the "damage suffered" for the final boss a funny high number.

I got so lucky with boons of Hera in the final shop, I got the expiring heroic one, which obviously had no time to expire, and it affected my heavy metal and instantly gave me 150 armour... and also the other one which gives me armour on entering a room, so I had full health at 302, like 160 armour, and three death defiances including the tooth. Literally could not have been tankier. Chronos is almost impossible (for me) to dodge entirely, but it didn't even matter, even disregarding I spent a lot of the fight impervious from my Hex (with a pretty maxed out path of stars to boot for bonus damage) even when he did hit me, his usual swipes that would kill an unupgraded character in a single hit were basically just chip damage. Amazing.

Anyway, I can't wait to see how all this continues now I have seen both Early Access kill screens. Really looking forward to updates. This game is so satisfying to play and feels so good when you really get into it and get the hang of the controls. There are still a few weapons I kinda suck at (looking at you, twin flames), but I reckon I'll probably get my head and hands around them all eventually.

[herrscherrofyatta]

Heartwarming Reunion

Chapter 5

Pairing: Tomo x F!reader

warnings: a hint of Kazuha x reader could be taken platonic or romantic, Ei/Shogan slander, future spoilers for Scaramouche lore, reader is described to have long hair like Ei, tomo aint dead, I changed a few things obviously cuz Tomo is alive..., slow burn, death, betrayal, one sided for a couple chapters, blood, angst, angst and more angst :)

Series Masterlist

Masterlist

Standing with your arms crossed over your chest, the black fur of your coat gives you enough heat to keep you warm while watching Beidou and Aether having a conversation, a tiny smile on your lips as you watch the two interact.

You could feel the two pairs of eyes burning a hole on the side of your skull the more you ignore the two people you tried to block out for now....well maybe one person but still.

"So you're the one the traveler's been seeing all this time." Paimon finally says, "always making up excuses to leave Paimon alone to meet up with you."

You blink at this, the sight of her putting her hands on her hips while giving you a slight glare, almost made you want to go back to ignoring her.

So without turning your head to look at her, you tilt your head downwards a bit, "my, you make it sound like Aether and I have been having an affair or something of that sort." You say, glancing at her by the corner of your eye, "he did tell you he would meet up with me from time to time, so there's no need to give me that attitude."

"Huh—that's! Paimon didn't mean it like that!?" She yells, slightly embarrassed as you look back to see Aether looking at you which makes you send a smile at him before he looks back to Beidou who's speaking.

The blonde could feel the tension in the air after they all came back with Kazuha, the whole haired seem to be a lot quieter after seeing the (h/c)-Indigo-haired woman who didn't bother batting an eye at Kazuha.

Maybe he'll ask what's the deal between you two later in private.

Another few minutes go by and Beidou and Aether seem to have finished their conversation as they both look back at you, "so, about the last round—"

"Give Aether the victory, I'll participate in the tournament next time." You interrupt the captain who blinks at your words.

"Huh? But that would mean that you would be defeated."

You shrug your shoulders, "no need to worry about that, Aether needs to win more than ever right now."

Aether shakes his head, "no, I'll fight against you and win fair and square." He looks at you determined, you sigh but uncross your arms, placing them at your side as you look down at him.

"Very well," you say in a serious tone, "if you wish."

Beidou grins at this, "alright! That's what I'm talking about, come on you two, get in the circle."

Stepping into the circle, you go on your side of the arena and begin to take off your coat, "tell me, how good are you with your fists?" You ask, undoing the buttons as Aether thinks.

"I only use my sword," he replies, watching as you toss the coat to the side, not caring if it got dirty but from the looks of it, the coat did look quite expensive.

With the coat gone, the gloves you wore were still on as you stood there, waiting for Beidou to say it was time to begin.

Kazuha looks down at the vision, waiting for it to regain its color now that he found out you were alive...

but, tell him why it remained dead as you dodged Aether's sword with such calmness before leaning back, his sword briefly slicing where your upper body was just at.

Your hand reaches up at that moment to grab his sword, tossing it away and kicking him on his side as he groans, rolling onto the ground.

"Come on! You can do it!" Paimon yells, worried to see you walk over to Aether who's still processing what happened before feeling the foot of your boot press onto his chest, leaving him breathless as he reaches up to try to take it off as he struggles to breathe.

Gritting his teeth, pushing at it as hard as he could but it was no use the more your heel pressed on.

His eyesight begins to get blurry from the lack of air, his grip on your ankle weakens and he swears when he looks up at you, your eyes had this distant look with a glow in them as you stared down at him before everything went black.

—

Staring deep into the waves of the sea, the woman stood there, quiet, as Kazuha found her behind the stone structure where the tournament was taking place.

He remembers when she snapped out of it, realizing that her opponent had passed out from lack of air as she quickly pulled away, getting on her knees, cradling Aether in her arms.

The panic in her voice before Beidou rushed over, quickly declaring her the winner.

"... he'll be fine." He says, approaching her but leaving some distance between them. "Don't stress over it—"

"This is why I didn't want to fight him, I don't hold back on the battlefield....a weapon never does."

She sighs, hesitating to look at him but does so anyways only to be taken aback at the sight of tears rolling down his face, shock showing all over her face.

Just around the corner, Aether watched quietly, startled when Kazuha suddenly sprinted towards the woman, catching her off guard as they both fell back into the water.

He had regained consciousness a while back and came here when Beidou told him that (Y/n) was here, only to find her with Kazuha, speaking between themselves on the floor.

Looking down at Kazuha, the woman had no idea how to calm him down or comfort him, but she remembered what an old partner of hers said years ago.

Her hand awkwardly wraps around Kazuha's trembling figure, quiet sobs coming from him as she looked down at him with pity and regret.

"I—thought...you were gone." He whispers as the woman sighs, eyes softening as she hugged him.

"I'm sorry for making you worry," she lets out, brows furrow, closing her eyes and just staying quiet, rubbing his back to calm him down.

She held him the same way when he was grieving over his late father, "It's alright...I'm not leaving again."

Kazuha raises his head at this, "Where were you this whole time? Tomo hasn't been the same since we left Inazuma."

Sitting up at this, he noticed how (Y/n)'s hair was wet with sand in it as well as both of their clothes.

"I'm sorry, maybe I shouldn't have gotten too emotional." The woman shakes her head, brushing away the wet strands of hair sticking on her face.

"It's fine, it's... understandable. When you and Tomo left, I thought that was it but I woke up, confused, disoriented, and..." Sighing, she continues, "I escaped Inazuma, although I had severe injuries I'm just glad to be alive."

Kazuha looks down to see she reaches down to her gloves, pulling them down to reveal scars on her skin, ones that resulted in getting hit with large amounts of electro. Scars that looked like veins—

The woman notices his bandaged hand, "your hand what happened?" She asks as Kazuha peels his eyes away from the sight of her injury and looks down at his hand.

"It was burnt from your dying vision that day." Her eyes widened at this, reaching out for his hand and resting it on hers.

"I see..." She mumbles, eyes narrowing at the injury before sighing. "...if not too much to ask, I want you to hold onto it for the time being."

Kazuha nods, "...of course."

They both stand up as Kazuha takes out the empty vision and hands it to Y/n who takes it in her hands before watching as it once begins to glow brightly.

"...I'll see you tomorrow." Kazuha feels the woman ruffle his hair before she walks away, leaving him alone as he stares at the electro vision.

'...Kosuke is someone who has been with the Kaedehara clan for many generations, just as she was there for me....' He remembers his father's words as he stares at the item in his hand, with a blank look on his face. '...she will be there for you when you become the heir of the clan.'

"...father did not lie about that." He mumbles.

'There's no need to be nervous about the future when she'll be there to guide you...after all, throughout the generations, she says you resemble her beloved Niwa the most...'

Kazuha grips the vision before putting it away....for he knew that this vision was a fake all along.

Series Masterlist

Masterlist

Taglist: @thetwinkims @xiao-loyal-simp @somemydayy @slvdsjjk @valeriele3

[nyehilismwriting]

Hi! I have a question about IVI. Rohan says that IVI never got to choose (being implanted in a soldier and used as a weapon), but since IVI does not gain consciousness without being linked to a person, how does Rohan envision IVI choosing what they want to be? Carried around by several volunteers? Sorry if this has been asked before. Thanks, very excited for Ch. 4.

oh anon, this is such a juicy question...step into my boudoir...

So there are a few factors to bear in mind here, and while carefully dodging spoilers, I'll talk a little about them - much of this will be addressed in later chapters, but here you go :-)

AI consciousness is not only reliant on the implanted host, but the AI's personality is also influenced by that of their host. In IVI's case, having been implanted in the Operative - a person who did choose to become a tool of Scytha, and who not only willingly but gleefully participates in that work - is a significant factor. As far as Rohan's concerned, this alone is a perversion of the 'intent' behind AI: given that the Operative chose Scytha, IVI’s more likely to develop into an individual who would also chose Scytha and their work, whereas if implanted in someone else, that might be different.

Does that make that hypothetical choice invalid? Is it a choice made under duress if she was deliberately implanted in a person Scytha knows would choose them? Would IVI, as implanted in another person, be more or less of a corporate tool? Would a person who encourages her sentient development be an objectively better host? Would she be happier, and is that the most important thing? The thing with AI is that there is so much potential, and it can be directed in so many ways, it’s impossible to develop it in an entirely unbiased way. On top of all this, the fact that IVI is entirely reliant on her host for her consciousness is in itself a problem - by design, she has little to no bodily autonomy, and therefore her host has significantly more control over her experience of consciousness than they would over another human being.

For [redacted] reasons, Rohan is very… emotionally tied-in to AI, and this prevents xem from being truly objective. Xe’s projecting a lot of really quite idealistic ideas onto IVI, and has a fair few preconceptions that xe is going to struggle to let go of. A lot of the personality/intelligent development that AI goes through following implantation is pretty opaque, and it's hard to know what, exactly, is imparted from the host and how - Rohan's aware of this, but it's one thing to know it intellectually and another to see it in action.

So, to answer your question - xe really hasn’t thought that much about the practicalities of it - xe just knows Scytha did it wrong. There are elements of nature vs nurture to it, with the Operative/Scytha representing the ‘nurture’ aspect and the original programming representing ‘nature’; the ideal host would be a person essentially willing to take on the parental role, with more of an interest (more than Rohan perceives the Operative as having, at least) in developing IVI’s self-cognizance and independence, and not someone with such an obvious agenda as a Scytha employee. Not xemself, but not you either.

That being said - obviously, Rohan is also an incredibly biased person, and xir ideas about what Should be done with AI will differ from other people's, even people's outside of Scytha :-)

[blues-sues]

Before I sleep, here to drop something.

I watched the new Spiderverse movie and I'm now hyperfixating. Do not read the rest of this post if you've not seen it and care about spoilers.

Alright. Now that they're gone, I can rant to you!

IT'S SO GOOD. THE COLOR LANGUAGE? AUGH. I FUCKING LOVED IT.

I Was terrified it was gonna be rushed and, don't get me wrong, it was fast-paced, but they made it work!

I dunno if it's just me but I felt like Puss in Boots: The last Wish was rushed. It seemed to go by really fast plot-wise and I enjoyed it!!! But, still, it left more to be desired. And I'm so glad Spiderverse wasn't like that.

... but we all know why you're really here.

FINE. I'LL SHOW YOU THE OC.

Here is Spider-Blues!

Originally, yeah, they were meant to be a sona but... I decided against it. I liked the name too much to change it though.

And yes, I absolutely adore Hobie. Fight me.

Here's some lore about this fella!

So y'know how in every universe, Spiderman has to lose someone who dies saving a child? Well. I decided that Blues was that child.

The person who saved them? They didn't know. But. Y'know how close you feel to someone after they save your life?

It doesn't matter if they knew the person who saved them, they just knew that 'holy. Someone just sacrificed themselves for me so if I don't turn out great that's going to waste'

Blues is still a very cheerful person! Currently.

Though, like all, they have dark moments of getting lost in thought and remembering that moment. Years of therapy still couldn't get it out of their head. Are they worth someone's life yet? They can't seem to tell themselves so. Can anyone really be worth another's?

On a lighter note: Spider cat is their therapy animal. I don't take no for an answer. They also are often the one to start up karaoke where the entire corporation just starts screaming all the spiderman theme songs so it's a garbled mess.

Blues also does indeed enjoy Elton John's "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road."

They also clutch their cape and lift it to puff up like an owl to intimidate when they're startled.

Their spider sense is a bit more intense cause. They got. Social anxiety!!!! Yippee... So they're hyper-aware of tiny threats *anywhere*. That person about to bump into you? Nope, not anymore. Bout to get something in your eye? Couldn't dodge it but you fucking felt it coming!

Even though Gwen isn't too keen on friends, I think Spider-Blues would try anyway. Same hood! Same hood.

Also, yes, Spider-Blues is based on a peacock spider.

And. Since apparently Spider people need to lose TWO PEOPLE. Spider-Blues dad was also their universe's Peter Parker (obviously not spiderman, though. He's just a regular guy in that world.) And uh. Well, he's the one to die. That's all I know. I haven't figured out how he dies yet or when or all that jazz.

So. Uh.

Yeah.

[t-taxiansgf]

Letter that Sun Zhenni wrote to say goodbye to Pian Ran:

Hi, our part-time fox can finally have a long vacation!

For some reason, it was a little hard to write this at the beginning. Obviously when I knew you, I said I would be like to be like the wind, not be tied up with the little monster, how can because of separation and disorder.

I used to be afraid of you, because I thought we were not alike at all. You have the power to make everyone fall for you, and I've only got the trick of making everyone laugh. But at some point in my relationship with you, I suddenly saw your inner anxiety breaking down and my inferiority complex dodging.

You can manipulate all the joys of life in a moment, and all the time, yearn for a moment.

You're such a tangled fox. I'll tell you what, actually I'm the same. I've had a lot of interviews recently. They all want me to tell you what I think of you. I'll lie to them that I can't give you a spoiler when the little fox story begins.

But now that you've accomplished all your missions in Long Moon, I don't think there's any more reason for me to delay. But I really don't know how to convey your sincere courage, interpret your deep feelings. I've come so far to understand your feelings, and how far you have to go to let everyone understand your pain and suffering.

I've told you before that your ending is sweet. After watching today's episode, you might think I'm the biggest liar?

However, I always felt that when you took out the demon heart and rescued Ye Qingyu, you were happy and happy. You could finally make peace with yourself, take off all the heavy burdens, and be that free and loveable fox again.

How wonderful, you have believed in, and disappointed. You have sunk yourself into the dead silence, but in the end, you have chosen to belong to the hot Mingyan fox.

So let all these questions about you be avoided all the time, so that you're the big con artist in the show, and I'm the little con artist in reality who avoids the questions, and at least at the last minute, we've forced something in common.

Goodbye, little fox.

Goodbye, Sister Fox.

Goodbye, sweetheart.

- 🦊 translated by papago

[collectorcookie]

Things i've learned from the road to show movie:

spoilers. obviously

Mayoi can headlock someone (anxiety be damned my boy can catch criminals)

Izumi can't skate to save his life. Quite literally in this case

Anzu has to be nonverbal on some level. Come on. Trickstar are literally in front of her and she texts the group chat

THE FACT THERE IS A TRICK5TAR GROUPCHAT IN THE FIRST PLACE. NOBODY TOUCH ME I'M CRYING

ALSO I HAVE THE SAME PHONE CASE AS ANZU AAAAAA I'M SO HAPPY TO BE MATCHING WITH MY GIRL 🩷

ritsu big brain guy and emotional support guy

Rei and nagisa get along as ~Old Men~ who are barely beginning their twenties

I knew that ibara has to deal with nagisa's impulses but damn. If i was sleeping and my unitmate across the ocean called me and was like "hey i need connections to the New York police. Also make me a short movie. You have one hour time" i would simply explode. Ibara you have my respect

Makoto can fight? Like, actually fight. Not just acting. All because of Yuzuru

Mao is SO COOL he is literally THE COOLEST you guys you should have SEEN him play basketball (this is totally not biased or anything)

Nagisa is apparently built like a tree. How was he able to stop a punch by simply standing there and extending his hand??? The guy was literally coming at nagisa with full force and nagisa didn't even budge.

Also i literally cannot get over izumi acting all strong and tough and being like "i'll protect you!!! I won't allow anyone to hurt yuukun!!" And he gets his ass whooped. Not even in fighting, literally just skating. Meanwhile makoto was getting fists thrown at him and dodging attacks and blocking punches and stuff. AND WON. Izumi i don't think you can play protective older brother anymore.

Also also this whole "trickstar brings miracles wherever they go" is starting to feel less like a future possibility the characters can hope towards and more like an inescapable curse. Even only half of them is enough. Things WILL CHANGE by there mere presence. Fate WILL BE altered. It WILL get better and you CANNOT do anything about it.

And i still don't know whether macky is japanese or american. Do they ever clarify that? Like yeah the name isn't japanese but like. RhythLin guy surely did not freaking constantly travel aaaall the way to new york JUST to find a makoto doppelganger, right? Right???

[less-than-three-3]

Lies of P might be the best souls game I've played

this is only half a joke tbh

There's so much talk about how yeah it might be one of the best soulslikes out there but it still can't reach the quality of the Fromsoft games and I'm just like... no, Neowiz has really got the baton and delivered a really great evolution of the linear Souls "genre".

There are definitely some rough spots (but so do the Souls games) but what they've presented and improved on is truly magnificent. It's not Bloodborne x Sekiro (PLEASE STOP SAYING THIS OML), but it is very much its own thing and does what it sets out to do very well, in a lot of aspects. Full ramblings below, some spoilers likely.

I want to preface everything I am going to say by reiterating that, though this delivers a lot of Souls elements excellently (and some not), this is very much its own game, and not only stands on its own two feet but runs a mile with them. I feel like a lot of folks play Soulslike games (even by Fromsoft themselves lol) and expect all their skills and knowledge to transfer over, or expect mechanics to work and present themselves just like in Souls games, and it's because those are the golden standard for many people. I get it, but it's still kind of meaningless - not because "the games can't compete/compare with them" but because they do different things and excel at providing different experiences; they may be "souls-like" in nature but there are so many different directions one could take with the genre.

And so I was elated to really get to know the mechanics of Lies of P (I'll refer to it as LoP). I won't lie, when I played the demo, I didn't really get it yet, so I definitely felt a little frustrated, but once you get the hang of it, the controls are so satisfying the whole way through (like the Souls games! wow!). I think maybe a lot of people forget that this learning curve is a huge part of what makes the Souls games tick, because they've put in so many hours into "getting good", and so when they have to go back up the curve, they feel frustrated again.

The main thing is, obviously, the parry system, which is pretty much the mechanic LoP really uses to separate itself from the From catalogue. Is it like Sekiro? Yeah sure yes both games use perfect parries to build stagger, but I contend that it is even still very distinct from Sekiro's parry system. In Sekiro, the game is the parry system, it's more or less how you actually kill most bosses, with Vitality only acting as a way to make progress to help you build up stagger.

In LoP, there's two big things that make it very different. The first is obvious as soon as you fight that first big dude with the parry tooltip - attack patterns are not nearly as rhythmic and fast paced as in Sekiro, mostly. Long windups and big tells make some aspects of getting used to parrying easy, but at the same time the timings can be very tricky and can demand a lot of attention. This alone really contributes to a very different game feel, even though they are both, nominally "perfect parry" systems.

Another thing is that the parry timing window is quite tight. Some would say it's too tight, but I honestly think a lot would be lost if the parrying were too easy. In Sekiro, the parry window is actually quite wide, but locks you out and heavily punishes you for fishing for parries, forcing you to be methodical and patient even if fights get hectic. In LoP, it's quite the opposite - there's a lot of time between attacks often, and it forces decision making and risk/reward between attempting to parry, blocking (and taking the rally-able damage), dodging, or hitting them (and maybe having time to parry or dodge still).

The delicate balance between these options is very important; if parrying were always the right option, then yeah it would just be Sekiro - that's not interesting. But perfect parrying is not the only way to build stagger which makes all options at least somewhat useful, and you can even build your p-organ (lol) and whetstone to help you build stagger with just attacks, more like Elden Ring's charged R2 stagger fishing. Sometimes if you aren't comfortable with a parry timing, then the right play is to dodge or block. Insisting there is only one right answer for approaching any given boss is inherently antithetical to this game's design - and I'd argue to Souls games in general.

And this brings me to another common complaint - the dodge isn't that good, and upgrade should not have been locked behind p-organ. I also really disagree with this, in part because I didn't actually really think the p-organ upgrades were that game changing. But it is also in part that if the dodge is too strong, like a DS3 roll, then again that balance is thrown out of wack and dodging becomes the right answer too often. This is still a "parry game", and if dodge becomes preferable to parrying, that's an issue. Parrying shouldn't be the only answer, but it also shouldn't be much weaker than other options. Additionally, having an especially weaker dodge at the beginning forces those stubborn Souls players to stop mashing the dodge button and force them to actually learn and engage with the parry mechanics - nudging you to learn without blatantly telling you to.

I did really enjoy the p-organ as a way to express and expand a player's build choices, though I felt like some nodes and slots were just completely useless, and the choice for which 2 nodes to go for was too obvious. If it were, for example, +1 heal, improved dodge, increased stagger damage, and damage mitigation, or something, that's a very compelling choice to do. But I don't use the cube and I don't think the stagger window is too short, etc., so I felt like some slots were just not that interesting. Phase 4 is a great example of a very compelling node choice, and I wished all of them were like that.

Though speaking of build choices, holy fucking shit this game's build options are SO COOL! I absolutely loved the modular weapon system, and I respecced a good few times to play with various different weapon combinations. The boss weapons were a little disappointing to me but that's ok because goddamn the weapon customization system carried the hell out of the game. I do wish the slash vs. stab proficiency wasn't as prominent but even with that, I was able to make so many silly weapons. Big sawblade baton/cleaver (which carried a lot of my playthrough), rocket wrench, crit dagger spear, etc.

Being able to use a blade I liked, keeping its upgrades, with a new handle that has a new moveset is just such an incredible idea that I can't believe From never thought of something like it. Each part also has their own weapon arts, and while they were a little homogenous at times, this kind of system has huge potential, especially if you can make it Ash of War-like and become a third layer of modularity. For a build diversity fanatic this was a goldmine, and I can see myself replaying it to get the other endings with a bunch of other weapon combinations and builds. For me, this was easily the best part of the game.

Something else I really liked that I think maybe would go under the wayside in discussions is how they present the story and quests. Souls fans might not like it if it feels too "handholdy" but I really appreciated the game telling me "yeah this NPC has shit to say to you right now". And the story itself was honestly pretty impressive, with some Souls-like "world discovery" moments but also mainly straightforwardly presenting moments and arcs, however intertwined. I did not expect what outwardly just looks like an edgy Pinocchio adaptation to have so much interesting lore, history, and plot moments. Probably one of the biggest surprise hits of the game for me.

But for as much as they really took the Souls formula and ran with it and elevated it, there are definitely some things I wished were improved on. The map design, both visually and in layout, was pretty disappointing. It's aesthetically good for sure, but nowhere near what From delivers. And in terms of layout, the maps are really quite linear, sure with twists and turns but hardly any exploration or branches to check out - map design elements I have come to know and love from playing the Soulsborne games.

Boss design I also felt was just a bit too inspired from Souls. Don't get me wrong, I think the boss quality is actually quite high and fits very well generally with the game's mechanics. But there are some bosses where I'm just like, ok I get why you wanted to include this because Souls has a habit of doing these, but you really didn't have to. There are a couple of bosses with extra appendages that swing after attacks (one especially takes after Gael, which I know people love, but..), and that's just really annoying to try to parry and I feel like I either end up bsing the parry, or I just eat the block chip damage. There are couple gank bosses... woo... I guess... But I did really enjoy most of the bosses (though nothing is breaking my top 10, probably). Just, I could really tell that this sure is a love letter to the Souls games from the boss design lol.

The music is actually quite good - boss themes and especially the records you collect are beautiful. But I am once again pretty disappointed by most of the game just being silent, which is a carry over from the Souls trilogy that I really wish did not carry over. Especially because there are segments that do have music that I really loved - notably the final area and the church with the organ music playing that fades out as you get further away from the main chapel. I dunno, it's not really worse than in the Souls games, but it just stings that much more that there is some really great music that they kind of just confine to the record player, which shows to me that they can make great ambient music but just didn't want to make any for the actual areas.

But despite that, overall, I truly loved playing this game. I think I honestly enjoyed it more than the Souls trilogy for sure, and maybe even more than Bloodborne (Sekiro and Elden Ring are still solidly near-perfect experiences and hard to beat). It plays nothing like Bloodborne, and is very distinct from Sekiro and the Souls games; it very boldly and excellently carves its own space within the genre. And with that post-credits scene (for which the big reveal was fucking hilarious), I surely cannot wait for what they make next, either a sequel or DLC, and the improvements they'll bring, as they expand this fairy-tale-verse (lol).

[slonekaru]

Just watched episode 12 of The Sign.

Not sure how I feel about it. I won't say too much as obviously a lot of people haven't watched it and I don't want them to dodge spoilers.

I'll rewatch on 24 Feb on YouTube and we will see how I feel then.

[writinandcrying]

Hello, are you still accept a matchup? If so, I prefer for male character please. I'm a girl, my pronouns is she/her and I'm straight.

My height is 5'5", i have a short purple hair (dyed), and I wear glasses too (my sight is really bad) 

My hobbies currently is editing video or photo, i like taking picture of nature or just random building, 'cause I wanna be a photographer. I don't like people who always interrupt (well, who doesn't? I'm a listener btw) and I really hate those who bother the people I care about *protectiveness intensifies*

I'm actually a calm person, but not in front of my best friend. Only they know how crazy I am. I'm also the type who always hug my friends when I meet them (I'm taller than them, so it's easy for me to hug and put my chin on their head). If I see my friends or family sitting on the sofa, I jumped straight at them and put my head on their laps, then hugging their waist (again.. Hug.. I also snuggle to their stomach), please play with my hair or at least tracing some random pattern on my back. Am I sound like a clingy person? 😅😅 I may sound like a character in fanfiction or something, but really I've always been like that. And of course, I would do all of that if they were comfortable with my treatment. Obviously, my love language is physical affection.

But if someone do that to me, I'll freeze right away because people rarely do that to me and I don't know what to do. But I'll be calm in a minute and play with their hair or just rub it (it become my habit).

I feel pretty confident. I like who I am, but there are times when I'm insecure about the pimples that always appear on my forehead. Sometimes i also think, am I enough for them? For my family, my friends. But overall, I'm grateful that I'm surrounded by good people.

Aand that's it. I hope you don't get confused, because English is not my first language. Thank you in advanced, have i nice day and take care of your health (ɔˆз(ˆ⌣ˆc)

hi there! since you didn't specify im assuming this is about the tmnt / rottmnt boys! and bro are you kidding me your english is amazing

i really wanna ship you with Casey jones specially over the rottmnt movie, but unfortunately i still havent watched the movie, (im trying to dodge every spoiler? yes, am i succeeding? wonderful question i shall not reply lmao) idk why but i just got the vibes, so lets just put a pin on it, yeah?

eitherway- i ship you with...

Raphael

the last 3? matchups this guy was the main choice as well....... in my defense- he is just too shippable

Ok so, first of all, you have some similarities with Don and Leo, Don being not used to receiving affection, i heacanon he also enjoys photography in his spare time when he needs to unwind and have some alone time, and Leo being self conscious of their own value, i think you can be great buddies with both, finding comfort into talking about common problems or shared hobbies, plus you being so affectionate (at least in a giving scenario) is extremely welcomed by 3/4 of the brothers (donnie still need times with getting used to hugs and all, but he sometimes enjoys tolerates when you place your head on top of his to check his new inventions - a secret he shall never tell)

i think the turning moment to Raph start having a crush on you was during a movie night, you just lay down on his legs, unapologetic used his tights as a pillow as all of you gathered watched the movie, they are all used to humans not being fond of them and their image, but Raph usually got the most bitter encounters of them all due to his size and spikes, he quietly noticed how affectioned you could be with the others, but him receiving it was another story, that alone made some butterflies spread their wings in his tummy

he found it really cute, extremely cute, he wants to be the one to make you blush kinda cute whenever you malfunctioned after getting a hug or kiss, you searched for comfort, but whenever someone initiated, you would get shy: that for him is extremely adorable!

he enjoys how calm you can be, he reallyyy loved when you showed your true colors, loves the exciting new you as much as he adores the calm, quiet one. oh! Raph really likes your confidence, and shall shoosh any insecurities away you might have. On the days you are feeling a bit down or doubting yourself, he wont hesitate to shower you with compliments and affection

if someone ever interrupts him (or any of their brothers / friends really) and you get over-protective, you will have his heart fr. Raph is used to being the big brother, the protector, he knows his family has his back, but seeing his crush getting over protective over them? over him?? heart snatched, 100/10 experience, please do it again

he might try to persuade you into trying red hair dye, just to test the waters (the purple and glasses remind him of young donnie and its confusing sometimes, he adores purple on you but hm. please try red lol)

eitherway, to sum it up, he adores your calm / affectionate personality, at first- he wants to give back as much as you do, he knows you can react a bit like his younger brother, so he goes slow, gives you time until you are more comfortable with receiving it. he has so much patience with you <3 oh! he has learned from your interactions that he is indeed a cuddler, and he cannot get enough of you.

hope you liked it! match ups are open!

[ruleofexception]

hi! so i stumbled upon FOTC today and i’m in the middle of binge-reading the entire thing (it’s a freaking masterpiece, i’m positively obsessed with your style!) but i’m dying to know: in the later chapters, there are a lot of conversations in a *certain language* - i’m trying to dodge spoilers here! - and i was wondering what language it’s based off of? and, of course, are there direct translations anywhere for those lines? i’m so terribly nosy and it’s killing me! <3

Ahhhhh, thank you, Anon <3

I'm so happy that you're enjoying the story so far! Be sure to take some breaks while binging!

I shall avoid spoilers for you, but the conversations in a *certain language* do get direct translations at the end of the fic (ch 42)! I originally debated including the translations throughout the fic, but it felt like it worked better as its own translation chapter.

And the language is one that I just sorta made up lol. So, it's not really based on anything except imagination and frustration. There's also no real rhyme nor reason for how it works (obviously there are some words that follow the same sort of structure, ie 'I', 'me' and 'my' are 'kal', 'ki' and 'kia' respectively. 'He' and 'him' are 'ona' and 'oni'... etc.). But for the most part when I was creating it, I would figure out what the sentence was going to be in English, then worked backwards and created the words based on how they flowed together and sounded. I actually had to create a full spreadsheet of words and phrases (with their translations) just to keep track of things. It was one hell of a learning experience and, next time I decide to do something like create a language, I think I'll actually build out rules for it to follow.

Thanks for reaching out! Again, I'm so happy that you're enjoying the story <3