#manifesting for 2.2

[yuzuuu4]

(rkgk) damn gambler

[marragurl]

Look. This ain’t true. Like at all. This is so not the dynamic of this ship-

BUT

It’s fucking hilarious

So I made this on a google doc on my phone and I’m heading back to my sleep because of course, this came to me in a dream

[cheemken]

Finally got all of em😭🙏

[rekoifish]

chat ive been trying to speed run the hsr 2.2 story quest while enjoying it and uh yeah ive hit a roadblock.

[theguyinthemathexamples]

Guns and... Aeons?

May Aventurine grant his luck upon everyone's Boothill pulls!!!

— C/W : spoilers?, set at the end of the 2.2 quest, boothill is boothill ft. argenti, i forgot what his lore is so take anything i say with a grain of salt, LOTS of yapping, guns and roses sneak, very self-indulgent :3

Boothill never really had much faith in Aeons, much less worshipped any. He already lost it all when he gained the information, that darned rain of fire that destroyed everything, was deployed by a zealot.

Don't get him wrong, he still knew they existed. But he internally wished that maybe, if any Aeon took pity on him on that day, maybe he could have changed the outcome of it all.

Well, that was all in the past now. He'd be a rusted out piece of metal by now if he let himself wallow in bygone events.

A low sigh didn't fail to make itself known, inadvertently catching the attention of the knight just at the other end of the room. Boothill even forgot he was there due to how quiet he was.

"A rose for your thoughts, friend?" The knight inquired, sitting at the other end of the couch. He nearly jumped at the sudden question but was just as quick to regain his composure.

"Nothin' much, just thinkin' and all," he replied, only tilting his head to look at this eccentric friend of his.

Ironic that Argenti was a man quite devoted to an Aeon, especially to a long deceased one, when Boothill was borderline detesting a good amount of them.

"This dadgum pull I've been feelin'... D'you know somethin' about it, knight?"

It was something he'd been feeling for a while now but it's been getting stronger as of late. And the voices... He'll leave those out till Argenti mentions something about it.

To put it frankly, he was worried. Quite more so if nothing else.

"Does it make you feel like wanting to visit the Astral Express, friend?" Argenti inquired shortly after,

Boothill simply nodded, curious as to how this Knight of Beauty knew of such. Sensing his curiosity, said knight certainly wouldn't mind going into the further details.

In fact, he was more than enthusiastic to do so.

"As Idrila's reason to have ascended into Aeonhood, it is only natural that I give high praises to the Aeon of Creation for such magnificence— that THEIR creations have inspired my Goddess to reach THEIR most pinnacle potential."

If this was how he talked about his Aeon and this... well, other Aeon, the two would be here till his batteries run out. And he was just about done recharging to full a few hours ago.

It wasn't till a good amount of minutes into the topic that Boothill kinda got a little impatient. No offense to Argenti, of course.

"And it wasn't till recently that their wondrous consciousness graced the unive—"

"Alright, alright, I get it, knight. Don't mean to offend ya, but can ya get straight to why I felt the pull earlier?" Boothill interjected, looking straight at his companion,

He swore that the way this man shone brightened up even more.

"My apologies if I overwhelmed you, dear friend," Argenti said, giving the cowboy an apologetic bow while he was sitting.

"Simply put, this pull you feel is but the manifestations of the Aeon of Creation! Perhaps your brilliant self captured THEIR attention when you were conversing with the Trailblazer," he continued, yapping up another storm as Boothill thought to himself.

"Seriously? This ol' hunk of metal? Catchin' an Aeon's attention? Colour me fudgin' surprised."

"Ah, this is certainly a moment worth celebrating, don't you think so, friend?" Argenti's voice spoke out, bringing his attention back to the knight.

Yet, before this interstellar cyborg cowboy could even agree or otherwise, a black envelope materialized in front of him, the edges lined with red and gold designs.

One surprise after another, huh?

The knight was quick to encourage him to open it up, taking out a letter opener from who knows where. Well now he's starting to get excited.

A golden Star Rail Pass was the first to get taken out of it, its colour shining in the midst of the room's lights. Next was a neatly folded paper that was probably penned by the Astral Express' Conductor. (Somehow; I mean, look at their itty bitty hands) It reads as follows:

—————————✧—————————

Hello, future Astral Express member, Boothill! This letter has been written by Pom-pom to formally invite you to join the Trailblaze.

By all means, this doesn't mean that you should abandon your faith for any Aeon(s) you may believe in, so long as it doesn't prohibit the other members of the Astral Express from going about their days.

As you may have guessed, yes, the golden ticket provided inside is a very formal way for Pom-pom to ask you to join us, as well as a sign that the Aeon of Creation has taken a liking to you!

To compensate for any forms of distress or trouble their consciousness has caused you, the Astral Express will be willing to offer a living space, electricity, wifi, food, water(gasoline?), as well as any other necessities and wants you may have.

Though if you truly want to seek trouble with the IPC, as the Aeon commented, please leave the Astral Express out of association for any crime you may commit in the future.

If you're ready to take on this journey with the Nameless, as well as many others, please use the ticket once the thought of doing so so much as suggests the notion.

• P.S. : Unfortunately, you don't have much time to mull it over, much less get another letter in this envelope to choose who to cover for you instead.

• The Aeon of Creation awaits your presence. •

—————————✧—————————

As Argenti finished reading the letter aloud, the expectant lilt on his face that he looks at Boothill with catches his attention the most.

"I nearly forgot to mention, dear friend, as a faithful believer of this Aeon, one can assure you that THEY don't mean any harm," he spoke, a smile gracing his lips as he continued. "The blessings THEY give to ones that they favour are quite abundant, and your captivating self truly made its impact on THEM."

"Even THEY couldn't help but praise you endlessly for your courage and demeanor!" Argenti proclaimed, almost making the cowboy in front of him want to tune him out again. ... That last part was a lie.

With a reluctant sigh, finally agreeing with the knight, the golden Star Rail Pass and the envelope in hand, Boothill stood up from his seat and went over to exit his friend's ship— to which Argenti quickly stopped him, hand outstretched for him.

"Need me to lead you there, friend?" He asks, head tilting to his left as his eyes brightened up with that usual glow.

"... Yeah, sure. Ya won't stop botherin' this ol' piece of metal to give ya updates if I said otherwise," Boothill laughed at the end of his reply, taking the knight's hand and letting him lead the way.

Maybe making a decision with a third party beside him won't be so bad.

Note : ong this took WAY TOO LONGGGGG TO MAKEEEEEEE 😭😭

My most sincere apologies to anyone whose patience ran out while waiting for this fic to come out 💔

BUT IT'S OUT NOW SO REJOICE EVERYONE ‼️‼️

Anyways, have a lovely day to all of you !! (disappears for another month)

And yes dw my interp of sahsr/sahsrau will come out maybe around late june once my recognition finally comes to pass

[feroluce]

Not to make everything about my ship, but if I don't do it no one will, so today we are making meta analysis of Boothill's faceoff match about henghill, because the differences between Boothill's stand off with Luka and his one with Dan Heng- and what you can infer about Boothill himself and what catches his eye in a person- makes me chew concrete.

JUST. I loved the scene between Luka and Boothill so much. I love how wildly unrestrained Boothill is. He really just shoved the barrel of his gun in his opponent's face and put the fear of death into him as a way to test Luka's resolve. I utterly adore him. I hope he does it again. Anyway.

When confronted with all this, Luka freezes. His stress-induced hallucinations were already bad, but you can see how they really ramp up in this match, because before, they were always something familiar. Previous enemies became Silvermanes, or Belobogian automatons, or even Cocolia. Luka is far from home for the first time in his life, and he's so terribly homesick his brain is making everything familiar, because that is what he's desperately craving right now.

But Boothill.

Boothill is something so new, and unique, and horrific and terrifying, that he becomes something entirely unknown to Luka. His hallucination manifests as Something Unto Death, as the very fear of death itself.

And this stand off (which I love so much that this is how this match progressed, because like that's literally just Boothill's in-game skill; he locks the enemy into a one-on-one duel, so this was extremely in character for him) lasts long enough that Owlbert starts having to fill in the silence over the loudspeaker,

and even Boothill himself starts trying to push Luka into making a decision one way or the other.

Given that Boothill is a hunter by trade and is proven to have all the patience to track his prey and then some, this was more for Luka's sake than any impatience on his part, to try to shove him out of his freeze reaction.

And Boothill isn't really hard to read throughout this whole exchange, he all but says outright what he's looking for.

Boothill wants to see him surpass this test and come at him! You can see it in his face when Luka finally takes a step! And in how he congratulates him!

And then he fucking shot him snxhsjksjsn

Boothill admires courage, and bravery, and decisiveness. He admires a person's ability to put their life on the line and still fight in the face of danger and overwhelming odds. Those are the things that catch his eye.

And Luka does kind of get there eventually, but it is a stalling, halting motion that gets him there, and he fell to pieces immediately afterwards. This is his first time with this, and he's still figuring it out.

Dan Heng, on the other hand.

Boothill's stand off with Dan Heng from 2.2 is so fucking far in the total opposite direction that it is HILARIOUS.

Boothill literally breaks into the Astral Express, ambushes Dan Heng, and Dan Heng still has the balls to not only demand info out of Boothill- like doesn't even ask nicely, demands it- he also just straight up calls Boothill a liar. Right to his face! And he still isn't nice about it!!

By the way, that entire conversation? This is how it takes place.

Boothill, phrasing!!

Boothill has him at gunpoint! Dan Heng does not have his weapon with him! He does not flinch, and even stands there with his arms crossed seeming simultaneously pissed and utterly unimpressed. He looks like he should be irritably tapping his foot and looking down his nose at him. Dan Heng could not give less of a shit.

For that matter, Dan Heng even turns his back and walks away from Boothill- right in the middle of him talking, too! Not a single attempt to be considerate of the man who could decide any moment he feels like decorating the wall with Dan Heng's brains.

Dan Heng is brave and courageous and completely unflappable in the face of danger. He is ruthless and decisive in how he conducts himself, even when staring down the barrel of a gun. And through his efforts in Penacony, he shows the ability to put his life on the line and fight through overwhelming odds to save his once-in-a-lifetime companions.

No wonder Dan Heng caught Boothill's eye the way he did, no wonder the two of them were working together and bantering not even minutes after Boothill pulled a gun on him haha

[ironunderstands]

ACHERON AND DR. RATIO HAVE THE EXACT SAME PHILOSOPHY IM GONNA BITE SOMEONE

‼️2.2 spoilers‼️

If you are like me, when you got to Acheron’s conversation with the trailblazer in front of the manifestation of IX, you tried to resist over tables BECAUSE AAAAAAAUGHH WHAT DO YOU MEAN

Look, LIKE JUST LOOK

This is part of Ratios conversation with Screwllum in the 1.6 questline:

PAY ATTENTION TO THE LAST ONE BECAUSE

GUESS WHO ECHOES IT WHEN WE TALK TO HER IN 2.2:

IS THIS NOT THE SAME? ARE THEY NOT SAYING THE EXACT SAME THING? THAT YOU SHOULD GIVE PEOPLE THE TOOLS TO HELP THEMSELVES, THEN LEAVE THEM ALONE SO THEY CAN SAVE THEMSELVES AND FORGE THEIR OWN FUTURE? THAT THEY BOTH BELIEVE THAT WHEN PEOPLE ARE LEFT ALONE TO FEND FOR THEMSELVES DO THEY SHOW THEIR TRUE STRENGTH?!?

Like this lines especially are just AAAAGHH literal bar for bar repeating one another

SERIOUSLY, SERIOUSLY WHAT DO YOU MEAN THE FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD DOCTOR AS THE SAME OUTLOOK ON HUMANITY AS A LITERAL EMANATOR OF NIHILITY?!?!

An emanator of Nihility WHO SHOULD’NT EXIST

An emanator of Nihility looking to kill IX and find the Existence on the other side of them.

AND HIS VIEWS ARE CREEPILY SIMILAR TO HERS?

Fuck it, Ratio isn’t just accidentally striding the path of Nihility.

He’s accidentally striding the path of Existence.

Nous be damned the reason why this man was never acknowledged by the Erudition is because he’s striding a Path so starkly different to it that the person who resembles him the most shouldn’t even be there either.

No wonder his in game path is Hunt instead of Erudtion, if he’s this similar to Acheron than her singleminded drive to end IX mirrors that of his to spread knowledge (following how Hunt works in gameplay, a lot more like Vengance in lore).

Please please please Hoyo I’m begging on hands and knees for this to be intentional, and for you to do SOMETHING, SOMETHING WITH THIS PLOTPOINT.

Ratio figured out Dormancy somehow, all of his character stories are told from the POV of other people, so we barely know anything about his past, he’s from a planet we don’t know of yet, AND NOW WE HAVE TO CONTEND WITH THIS??

I NEED ANSWERS I NEED EXPLANATIONS I NEED SOMETHING PLEASE DON’T LEAVE ME HANGING. LET HIS LORE AND FUTURE OUT OF THE BOX PLEASE

“I bet they are going to pull an Alhaitham with him”

NO, NO THEY AREN’T. PLEASE TELL ME THEY AREN’T. I know it’s coping, but the mystery around Alhaitham got cleared away when we got his character stories, but Ratio’s character stories only make him more confusing. We have more questions instead of answers and with the 2.2 update I will spontaneously combust if we never get them BECAUSE WHAT DO YOU MEAN AAAAAAA

TLDR: let the Ratio lore out of the box and Hoyoverse pls pls PLEASE let him meet Acheron 

[love4ng1e]

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Beginners guide to manifesting!!

By love4ng1e 𝜗𝜚

Requested by @limitless180

You asked for techniques, but Imma give you the whole pack because i'm cool like that. I'm going to keep it simple so you don't overcomsume. I said this was going to take a day or so, but never mind because I manifested time to make this.

I did a separate post on some of those stuff, but this is it all together. This is the only post you need.

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1.0: What is manifesting?

By simple definition manifesting is getting what you want. There is no need to make it any more complicated.

2.0: How to manifest?

There's multiple ways to manifest and there's no wrong or bad way.

I am a master manifestor, so I'll be honest and say that I do absolutely nothing to manifest except simply just acting like a master manifestor. I'll still give you ways I used that worked for me when I was a beginner, and that works for other people, too.

2.1: Robotic affirming.

Robotic affirming is repeatedly repeating any affirmation of your choice. What that does is reinforce that you have your desire and then plays out in your 3d (I will talk about the 3d a little farther).

It's very important to persist when it comes to this technique. Your affirm until it is factual in the 3d. You do not take no for an answer. It has no choice, but to manifest.

You repeat the affirmation any time. Regardless of what you're doing. As much as you want/feel necessary. Before falling asleep and first thing in the morning are both very powerful times. If you tend to forget, you can set alarms.

If this gets tiring to you, please switch techniques. This isn't for everyone.

2.2: Subliminals.

Subliminals are hidden affirmations under music/sounds. These affirmations directly bypass the conscious mind, directly to the subconscious mind (I also will talk about that a bit farther).

There are plenty of subliminal channels out there, but not all of them are trustworthy.

Good ones are:

I want it, I got it > link (she's my personal fav)

Cee > link

Baejin Cafe > link

Moza Morph > link

Kottie > link

Eve > link

Enchanted Workshop > link

Crystie > link

The best way to know if a subliminal channel is trustworthy is to read the comments. If there's none, I would stay away.

You can listen whenever you want. Headphones/Airpods are recommended.

2.3: Vision boards.

You can use pinterest for that. You simply make a board full of pins of what it is you want to manifest. For example, if you want a cat, you make a vision board full of cats. After that, you visualize it anytime you want. You can mediate while visualizing.

2.4 The law of assumption/loa.

The law of assumption/loa, also just called the law, was popularized by Neville Goddard, It focuses on your belief system. The core idea is whatever you assume to be true will manifest in your life.

Assume the feeling of wish fulfilled - Instead of focusing on attracting something external, you convince yourself that you already have it internally. That belief shifts your reality to align with that assumption.

Step 1: Identify what you want.

Step 2: Assume it's already yours. Feel and act as if your desires is already yours.

Step 3: Persist in the assumption. Even if your external reality doesn't reflect it yet, hold on to the belief until it manifests.

3.0: The 3d and the 4d.

There's the 3d and the 4d. The 3d is your physical world/external world. The 4d is imagination. Imagination is creation. Manifestation happens in the 4d.

The 4d is the only thing you need to focus on. Nobody cares about the 3d. The 4d is where everything happens, and then it shows up in the 3d. Therefore, circumstances do not matter.

Also time does not apply in the 4d so do not wait for your desires. It is already yours.

3.1: The conscious mind and the subconscious mind.

This is my personal take on the conscious mind and the subconscious mind.

The conscious mind is the main part of your brain. It has rules and uses logic as its main principle. You live in xyz country, with xyz people, you go to xyz school, whatever.

The subconscious mind is more hidden. It's sort of like a blank canvas. It's influenced by the conscious mind. Whatever you get it to believe will show up in your reality. Logic is not its main principle, so nothing is impossible or absurd.

You do not need to convince the subconscious mind to manifest, but it can be helpful.

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I hope I could be of help! Much love.

"Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life's coming attractions." - Albert Einstein.

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[papamado]

A "theory" regarding Sampo's abilities

okay so this is an absolute mess and more of a ramble but I think it might be worth sharing so here I am Since I'm very normal about Sampo Koski, I've noticed some paralels to.. osme things... and i ended up with a concept that Sampo might be aware/know the future/what is supposed to happen, aka the same/similar thing to what Elio is using as a base to write his scripts, or is aware of the scripts that Elio creates. On Belobog we don't encounter stellaron hunters (for obvious reasons), but Sampo does end up being the one who affects the way the plot goes and actively puts it in motion, he's the one in control (to some extent) He also appears to be aware of stuff that has yet to happen and its possible outcomes (getting Natasha even before we started fighting Svarog, knowing that we will arrive on Luofu despite it being an unplanned stop, the possible future Belobog catastropy) There's 2 ways to approach this: 1. He works with how it's supposed to go, (following the trailblazer around, kinda like stellaron hunters happen to do) 2. He deliberately works against it (Jarilo VI is supposed to face destruction but he prevents it, could be for personal reasons) Theres also the whole thing about him breaking the 4th wall, which could be connected. Awarnesss of the fact that this is a game could result in him having a knowledge of what the plot of said game is.

I strongly HC Sampo to be an Elation emanator, so I thought about what being an elation emanator could mean, as in, how realistically the powers could manifest From the recent guide that was released along side the 2.2 stream, we have a small entry about Masked Fools which confirms that the path powers are DIRECTLY tied to their masks (this could mean both metaphorical or physical masks but from what i get from the context here it most likely refers to the physical ones?? the concept works with both possibilities tho so whatever <3 )

We know that sampo doesn't have his mask currently (which also works in a symbolic way, Masks represent the devotion to Elation, him not having it could represent how he wants to distance himself from what Elation is considered to be and pursue his own idea of it instead. The general description provided here for how masked fools are doesn't exactly fit him either whichmight further prove that idea, i should write a seperate post on that, anyways-) , so how the hell can he do shit that we assumed earlier was Elation-related powers? i have 2 possible explanations for this 1. Him being an emanator lets him use the path powers without a need for a mask, if thats the case - the mask would only provide a powerup 2. Elation emanator powers are something else altogether

when we look at his current power set/abilities it can all be tied to the fact that this is a game so, him bieng an emanator of elation would allow him to ignore the rules of this world/mainupulate said rules, simple as that it would also explain why he can break the 4th wall, why he is aware of the future events, what leads to them and/or how to stop them in the first place and how he can do stuff that contradicts what's been established lore vise (like how nobody should be able to cross the barrier between the Overworld and Underworld), those rules don't apply to him, he's beyond them. But there's more we DO have an in game example of people already messing with the reality in the same manner - Silver Wolf From what I gathered (with help of some friends of mine mwah mwah), the "reality editing" abilites of Punklorde people are directly tied to a technology present in said world - that combined with the world view of those living here results with them reating the world they live in as if it was a game

Adding onto that, during "punklorde mentality" mission we get to hear Leonard say this:

"Masked fools believe it really exists" so are the Masked Fools aware that someone could posses *actual* (not provided by technology) power to alter/manipulate reality and ignore the established rules of the world? We can kinda see such thing happening with Aha in stimulated universe, not only do they break the 4th wall, but according to Herta they also seem to be affecting the stimulated universe itself Aha's manipulation of reality is also mentioned in the "Glimpses into the Beyond"

So maybe to wrap it all up: 1. Sampo could be aware of the possible future events and use the reality manipulation abilities/the fact that the rules don't apply to him to achieve a desired outcome 2. Him and the Stellaron Hunters have some paralels in the narrative when it comes to the role that they play and what they do?? kinda??? 3. Punklorde people could be affiliated with Elation to some extent, even if not directly blessed by it I am probably VERY wrong about all of this but honestly I'm having fun with this theory so idc <3

[baphomimi]

PROLOGUE – ABSENCE

PROLOGUE / CHAP 1.1 / CHAP 1.2 / CHAP 1.3

CHAP 2.1 / CHAP 2.2 / CHAP 2.3

cw: lots of blood and gore that made me sick to research lmao please be careful

The Absence is not a God, as Gods are known to reside in separate planes, conveniently detached from the consequences of their actions. The Absence, in contrast, lingers in every empty corner of this Earth, whether it be between blades of grass or the hollow of our bones. Its form is invisible to us, but It is still very much a sentient being– closer to a microscopic organism than some mysterious higher being.

The human mind perceives The Absence as emptiness and loss. When we feel, inexplicably, that something is missing from our lives, this is how It guides us towards a greater destiny. When we lose a love, a limb, a child, The Absence takes its place and becomes stronger, just as we become stronger for Its company.

He watches Eli fill each chamber of the revolver with a small, gold-coloured bullet. There is a machine-like precision to his work, and though the older man has never spoken a word of his past, Trent knows he must be ex-military, ex-cop, something like that. 

“You really think you’re ready for this, tiger?” His mentor’s voice is low and smoke-damaged. Eli clicks the barrel back into place and sets the gun sideways on his knee, muzzle pointed towards the teen opposite him. The back of his palm is covered in ink up to his elbows– messy depictions of serpents and flowers– and his ring finger is missing, amputated at the knuckle.

Trent swallows, and nods. He’s not sure if he can follow through with using it, but whether out of stubbornness or admiration, he can’t allow himself to let Eli down either.

“You sure?” The man’s face barely moves; even freshly-shaven, that broad, blocky face shows nothing resembling human emotion. It was the first thing Trent noticed, when they met properly for the first time. Like something was missing. The others say that it’s his gift, a manifestation of The Absence, but Trent wonders if Eli wasn’t always like this, long before he was ever Chosen. 

“‘Cuz I heard about the last time you tried-  how your hands were shaking so bad you couldn’t even keep the gun straight.”

The teen feels his face flush red. “I’m freakin’ ready, man! God…”

The way that Eli chuckles at that makes shame burn hot in his throat, but he swallows it down. He hates how easy the guy can get a rise out of him, and won’t give Eli the satisfaction of knowing when he manages it. 

“What’s with the hostility? Someone’s not keeping their mind empty for The Absence.”

“Yeah, well why don’t you go ahead and eat my entire ass, how about that?”

Eli scoffs, as the gun is snatched unceremoniously from him. It is a sound alarmingly close to laughter, maybe even fondness, and Trent hates the way his mind sparks from the gratification.

The man eases himself off of the bench slowly; it’s hard to tell how old he is exactly, but he’s certainly still young enough to carry his own weight with grace. Trent remains sat opposite for a while, still considering the gun in his hand.

This room they’re in, it was probably intended to be the hotel’s sauna, but now it’s cool and arid and solemn, much like the rest of the building. To invite warmth is to invite life; there is no room for the Absence if one is distracted by excessive comfort and convenience.

So the manifesto goes, but that doesn’t stop Lena from sneaking them cigarettes for after Judgements, nor Eli from taking them up through the skeletal frame of the half-built hotel, so that they can drink at the top and look out at the desert. 

“Hey- mask up, kid,” Eli says, “If we leave this much longer he’ll start screaming, and I ain’t got the patience for that shit today.”

Trent stashes the gun away inside his jacket for now, and pulls the mask over his face. Once Eli has done the same they are suddenly indistinguishable from one another: alabaster faces with only the vague suggestion of features, like two weathered roman statues. Through the peepholes of his vision he follows the older man down past the lockers, and into the pool room.

The pool itself was fully constructed but never filled, so it resembles more of a vast, sloped bathtub now. Its tiles are spotless from frequent cleaning, gaudy blue, and at the deep end a thick silver chain has been drilled firmly into the wall. Usually it lies coiled harmlessly on the ground, but tonight the collar it is connected to is filled with the throat of a half-dozing stranger.

Eli says his name is Clayton: middle-aged, greying, probably someone’s father– but Trent shouldn’t to think too much about that. Let The Absence fill your mind, Old Gloria told him before he witnessed his first Judgement outside of his own. To give such precious space over to anything else is to reject Its guidance.

Trent is still trying to work out what The Absence wants from him, exactly, but he’s still fresh. Understanding will come with time, that’s what he’s been told.

“Huh...” Clayton blinks slowly at their approach, taking a moment to understand the kind of danger he’s got himself in. “The hell’s this?”

He tries to get up, but Eli set the chain short this time. The metal rattles cruelly at the attempt and the sound echoes off of the tiles.

The slightest of nods from Eli is the signal for Trent to start the rites. From behind his mask, he sucks in a breath, and then he speaks the same words that were once spoken to him, and the countless others that came both before and after.

“Congratulations, Clayton. You’ve been Chosen.”

It feels like a prayer on his tongue. His skin tingles with pride.

“The Absence feels that you may be worthy of Its blessing. You’re here now, so that we can find out for ourselves.”

At that, Eli moves closer, crouches down besides their captive– the Chosen. Clayton is starting to tremble, mouth hung open uselessly. He must be a flight-er rather than a fighter. Eli will be pleased about that– means he shouldn’t make too much noise.

“If you try to escape before your Judgement is over,” Trent goes on, “or if you don’t do exactly as we say, The Absence will deem you Unworthy.”

Eli rolls out a small bundle of black cloth across the pool floor, exposing a single, slender scalpel. This is the part where Trent has to bring out the gun. He takes it carefully from inside his jacket.

“...and I’m afraid it’s our duty to kill every Unworthy we find.”

“No…” Clayton glances at the scalpel on the ground. “No, this is fuckin’ crazy…”

“I’m going to give you your instructions now. Are you ready?” He can feel the two points in his shoulders burning, scar tissue screaming with the bitter familiarity of it all. 

"Fuck, man!” Clayton tugs uselessly at his collar, “What kinda fucked up joke is this?!"

Trent falters, unsure whether to take that as refusal to participate. But Eli nods again, so he just goes in.

"The Absence would like your nose. You can use the scalpel to remove it."

Clayton barks a laugh– it’s a demand so unthinkable that he probably doesn’t know what else to do. Under the tense, one-eyed gaze of the revolver, though, he has to at least consider it.

"And if I do...?"

The rites don’t cover questions. Trent squirms on the spot uncomfortably, but Eli is ready to pick up his slack.

"Worry about that when you get there, pal,” the older man says, “But you'll live, if that's what you're worried about.”

"If I live, I'll goddamn kill the both of you. First chance I get." Seems there's a little fight in Clayton after all.

"Okay," Eli replies, deadpan. Trent keeps the aim of the gun focused and unwavering.

With trembling hands, Clayton leans forward and takes the scalpel. The chains clink softly, as though encouraging him. He brings the blade tentatively towards his face, and for a moment it seems as though he really might give it a shot, but then Clayton yells and thrusts out at Eli with it instead, aiming for his throat.

The other man catches his wrist easily, doesn't even seem surprised. Trent watches him squeeze Clayton's wrist hard enough to immobilise him, masked expression blank.

"Oh, you'd better hope you're Worthy now, pal," Trent can hear the clench of Eli's teeth when he speaks, "Cuz' if you're not, I'll cut that beak off your face myself."

Something about that feels very wrong. They are forbidden from intervening in a Judgement, or harming any Chosen until they have proven themselves Unworthy. And even then, an Unworthy's death must be quick and clinical. It's a sacrifice, not a punishment. But Trent does nothing to dispute the threat, just watches Eli drop the Chosen's arm.

"Since it’s happening either way, I recommend you at least try." Eli’s tone is cruel, and darkly humorous.

"God...who are you people? I haven't done anything to anyone, I..." Clayton glances down at the scalpel again, and it's clear that he really is considering it this time. Trent can admit to himself a kind of sick fascination for this moment, where the Chosen must find a way to override their innate sense of self-preservation; a force bolstered by the hundreds of generations that came before.

He isn’t sure he’s really felt The Absence yet, like he was told he would. But in moments like these, surely It must be close.

Clayton reasserts his grip on the blade, and presses the point of it to the bridge of his nose. Eli immediately tuts, says, “You’ll wanna go from the bottom– trust me.”

“Fuck you.” Is the reply he gets.

Clayton sucks in a breath to brace himself and then begins to saw into his septum; makes some awful whimpering, sobbing, hissing noise that feels so disturbingly animalistic that it makes Trent's hair stand on end. The spill of blood is almost immediate– it’s already painted the man’s upper lip red. His body sucks in an involuntary breath and he splutters when blood is pulled into his throat.

“Breathe through your mouth,” Eli says, “It’s gonna get a hell of a lot messier than this.”

Clayton tips his head back against the tile. The strip lights overhead illuminate the beginning of tears, forming at the rim of his eyes. "God...fuck, I can't..."

"You’re not gonna think your way out of this one, pal. You just gotta do it."

A little encouragement is permitted during Judgements, or at least it's not uncommon– no one really wants a Chosen to be deemed Unworthy, after all. But the way Eli says it, it doesn't sound like he's trying to help. It feels a lot more like he just doesn’t want the show to end so soon.

But regardless of intention, Clayton listens to him. He returns the trembling scalpel to its starting point, presses back into the wound he's already made. His eyes squeeze shut, he steadies his breath, and then he starts to cut again; fast and frantic, compared to before. He’s screaming behind clenched teeth, mouth closed so he doesn’t swallow any more blood.

"Yeah, like that. Keep going," Eli breathes.

Trent doesn't remember his own Judgement well enough to recall if the Eli enjoyed it as much as he’s enjoying this. He hopes not.

They both bear witness as Clayton makes it further into his face, blood spilling over his hands in sickly bursts. Whipped up into some kind of adrenaline-fuelled frenzy, every now and then he puffs out a breath and it sends droplets flying in every direction. A few hit Eli’s mask, but he doesn’t react.

"Look at you go,” Eli says humorously, “Might even be halfway there by now."

The cartilage is tougher, and more painful. Maybe the stranger thought he’d made more progress, because Eli’s comment has him dropping the scalpel to the tile and clutching his nose, like he’s given up. 

"Please–oh God, I can't..."

But he's already come so far…

"You can–" Trent begins, but then Eli is grabbing Clayton by the hair, scalpel in hand, attacking the bridge of their Chosen’s nose.

"Goddamn– nnh– pathetic.” Eli is grunting with the effort of his work, “Could tell you didn't have it in you the second I saw you."

Clayton is screaming now. Really screaming. He flails wildly– trying to get away from Eli– so the scalpel is slipping and cutting great slashes into his face.

And it's not right, so Trent shoots. 

The sudden noise puts the chaos of the scene on freezeframe, with both men suddenly stuck in place; one from the shock of the gunshot, and the other from the bullet now lodged in their eye socket.

“Damn.”

Eli loosens his grip, and lets Clayton's body slump back against the pool wall. He wipes his bloody hands off on the dead man's clothes. 

"Hell of a good aim, tiger. But if you ever undermine me like that again, I'll make sure you end up ten times worse than him."

Trent gladly accepts the compliment, and discards the rest. But as he watches gore bubble from Clayton’s lifeless face, some tiny part of him wonders if perhaps it was the wrong guy who got shot.

[p5x-theories]

Crazy Theory #2 – Wonder's True Identity

Hi again! I’m the one who previously theorized that Wonder’s true identity remains a mystery, and I’m back with more ideas.

1. The Stars

1.1 Red Stars

I went back and checked P5R and P5S—only in P5X do we see a recurring red star symbol. (Okay, technically P5T has it too.) It shows up in the UI, level up screens, and even behind player’s avatar. It contrasts with the black stars frequently associated with Joker .

If black stars = Joker, then red stars = Wonder.

1.2 Stars and Mythology

Greek mythology and astronomy are deeply intertwined—many constellations and celestial terms in the northern hemisphere are named after Greek myths. This aligns with the fact that P3 and P5X use Greek mythological figures for their Personas.

Take Wonder’s Velvet Room attendant: Merope. She’s not just the wife of Sisyphus in myth—she’s also one of the Pleiades (Seven Sisters), a faint star in the Taurus constellation.

1.3 Stars and Fate

Many P5X items are named after stars or cosmic imagery. One in particular, called “Final Refrain of the Cosmos”, references the reversal of a star chart, possibly as a metaphor for Wonder’s destiny.

Even if it’s just poetic, the star motif is so deeply embedded in P5X that it feels deliberate, not decorative.

1.4 With The Stars and Us

Stars have always been a part of Persona 5’s aesthetic—UI elements, backgrounds, and even the names of spin-offs like Dancing in Starlight or the credits theme With the Stars and Us.

But oddly, stars are rarely addressed within the story itself. P5X, as a follow-up title, inherits this motif—but here, stars are no longer just visual symbols. Their names and descriptions now appear in lore-heavy items, possibly containing clues about Wonder’s true nature.

2. The Ocean

2.1 The Bottom of The Sea

The Velvet Room reflects the psyche of its guest. Unlike previous games where the Velvet Room had no defined location, in P5X, Igor clearly says Wonder’s room is deep beneath the Sea of Souls.

But this Sea of Souls feels… strange.

In P1, the the Sea of Souls looks like an infinite void scattered with glowing stars—more like outer space than an actual sea.

So—where exactly is Wonder?

2.2 Reflections

The opening animation of P5X features underwater light ripple effects. In one scene, Wonder fall into a distorted city, rippling like water.

It feels as if both Wonder and the world he inhabits are submerged.

2.3 The Trial

The Velvet Room’s “Sea of Souls” challenge gives a reward called Stardust. Oddly, this has little to do with the sea—but everything to do with stars.

Stardust refers to cosmic dust scattered throughout space, formed during the Big Bang, and often carried to Earth by comets or meteors.

3. Desire

Desire is a central theme in both P5 and P5X. The tagline for P5X is literally: “Take back your desire.”

One day, I noticed a shop bundle named: “Insight Into Wishes”. Wishes? Whose wishes?

The bundle contains items used to summon Phantom Idols . Looking into these idols’ backstories and Co-op events reveals something strange:

Their Phantom Thief forms are direct manifestations of their deepest desires:

Kotone wants to skate—her phantom thief form is a graceful figure skater.

Leo idolizes heroes—his phantom thief form is a tokusatsu-style superhero.

Mushibi wants to escape reality—her phantom thief form is a bold virtual avatar “Yui”.

Minami wants to become a nurse—her phantom thief form is a nurse.

Haruna loves puzzles—her phantom thief form is an explorer.

Runa is obsessed with Shichi-kun—her phantom thief form is a furry.

Mayumi dreams of being a race queen—and her phantom thief form is exactly that.

All their desires are granted—by Wonder.

Stars. The ocean. Granted wishes. My crazy theory is this:

Wonder’s true identity… is a star that fell into the sea.

That’s why his Velvet Room attendant is named Merope—not a Frankenstein reference (as in “made being”), but a star in the Pleiades constellation.

That’s why the navigation symbol in the Metaverse isn’t just an ouroboros—it’s a meteor with a trailing tail of fire.

And that’s why the opening animation shows Wonder falling from the sky, engulfed in flames, crashing into a city submerged in water.

Like a shooting star.

And that’s why Igor says, “You possess the power to awaken desire in others.”

After all, what could stir up desire more than a shooting star?

This might even explain why Wonder’s Persona, Jánošík, looks just like false god :

White, gold and red color

Inorganic appearance

In P5, P5S, and P5T, we’ve seen that human desires can give birth to gods—twisted ones, too:

Yaldabaoth came from lazy desires.

Demiurge came from the desire for wish fulfillment.

Samael came from desire for self-protection.

So maybe… Jánošík isn’t just Wonder’s Persona. Maybe it’s a new false god, born through Wonder—the fallen star who grants desires.

Oh, this is an interesting theory! I particularly like the connection between shooting stars and desires that you make here- that’s a really good point about how they could be related. 

I believe “wishes” is one way that the items used for gacha pulls have gotten translated, which explains (at least partially) the name of the “Insight Into Wishes” item that you bring up? Not that I think it necessarily negates that part of your theory, I just thought it was worth mentioning since you were talking about it.

I do think there’s also one connection you seem to have overlooked here. If your theory involves two points: 1) that the “Sea of Souls” Igor claims the Velvet Room to be under isn’t the real Sea of Souls, and 2) that Wonder “fell into the sea”, doesn’t that, itself, seem like it means something? It makes it sound less like Wonder fell into “the sea” as a general concept, and more like Wonder fell into whatever this Velvet Room is located in, if it isn’t the Sea of Souls. In fact, it makes it sound like Wonder might not have originated from this world at all, even if he lives here now.

Alternatively, if it really is the Sea of Souls, and it just looks different because it’s been decades since (and a different world from) P1, your theory could still say something interesting about Wonder, because what would it mean to fall into the Sea of Souls? Maybe that has something to do with his visions? It’s definitely an intriguing concept to think about!

[thatanimewriter]

i have thoughts about sunday now that i DO write for him after i finished 2.2

as mature as he is as like, a leader n stuff, and he's very logical, he's actually quite child-like?? the idea of being able to protect everyone from pain and suffering by yourself so everyone can be happy is a very uniquely child-like way to think

he obviously isn't a literal child, but his whole ena dream situation is an interesting way his inner child manifested

[oneclickangel]

so what do we think about 2.2 update? i saw some are saying flop update until they announced the garments lol. personally i have mixed feelings bc i do agree we couldve gotten more dark-skinned characters. but i found myself liking most of the new things (i'll admit im a bit biased for that shamane garment ...)

miss kimberly/anjo nala becoming a playable character is pretty cool. and white rum is literally a sentient skeleton arm! also mr duncan ... i have to mention him sorry. i wont comment on anything story-wise (which is ironic bc this is a main story update lol) bc ive been trying to avoid 1.9 spoilers

but regardless it's too early to really evaluate it accurately. i'll wait till it comes to global to know whats it about. in the meantime, lets all just manifest for dark-skinned characters in 2.3 i guess ...

[tabr1-s]

sunday rant and personal frustrations with him that i begun to write at 6am running on an entire 3 and a half hours of sleep (my cats woke me up.....)

(tldr at the end. i might be as bad as Sunday in terms of yap mileage (yappage) but i'll do one better than him and provide you with the concise version if you scroll all the way down.)

i have never felt such intense emotions about a character's moral viewpoint... Ever. and i've liked characters that were mass murderers before. morals (or lack thereof) usually never played a significant role in whether i liked a character or not (unless they did something i considered worse than plain ol murder, then i wouldn't associate with them), and 99% of the time i could find the character's motivations understandable under the circumstances that they were in.

and, technically, i can understand where Sunday is coming from too.

but that doesn't stop me from being Absolutely pissed at him.

(sunday-esque yap about myself incoming, i will eventually get to the point (which i will highlight))

as someone who has been told that i have "ocd features" Multiple times by my psychiatrist (practically each session) i understand the need for control. my obsessiveness manifests in the form of feeling the need to control practically everything - my current obsession for control being my own emotions, which extends to needing to control entire situations, and in turn makes me severely overthink all the possible outcomes to those given situations. i've also been guilty of controlling others before, and having the mentality of "i know what's best for you". hell, i still feel like that a lot, but i really try to push it back.

and this need for "control" is mainly the reason why i even find comfort in fiction. because it's oftentimes very predictable to me (it also made me think of how i do not find any interest in reading books, but i love writing stories of my own. particularly fan-fiction. and the only time i can feel comfortable enough to feel romance is towards fictional characters - because i control the narrative! it's something to think about.). if i like a character or a narrative, it's easy for me to pick apart where the writers will go with that story. and, even if the story turns out to disappoint me/be different than what i hoped for, i would still be Prepared for that possibility.

i somehow... failed to prepare for what would happen with Sunday.

i had set my sights on the wrong thing for 2.2. i invested my whole energy on trying to comfort myself that hoyo wouldn't take the ipc colonialism route (basically turning out to be capitalist/colonialist apologists) with penacony (which i Guess will be explored in 2.3? but now that i have some more context on the story and how it's unraveling i'm not as anxious about it anymore), that i overlooked a lot of other things that could've gone wrong.

namely, my favourite hsr character to be... Like that. (i'm not even being intentionally vague. i'm just dumbfounded)

i had Heard of the theory that Sunday is possessed by Ena (which didn't particularly make sense to me, and i refused to look at leaks concerning Sunday lest they upset me. either way i Really hated that theory. plus, Sunday being said to have ocd would've been an incredibly cheap way to foreshadow that he's "possessed" by the Order. you can't just create your first(?) important/playable character that has a confirmed mental illness and then go "it's okay actually he's Normal! he was just possessed". i took this very personally. and still am.), and saw a lot of theories concerning his involvement with the Order as well. i shut it all out, because i didn't like the implications of that.

which in turn made me Not think/comfort myself regarding the possibilities that he truly Was connected to the Order.

...

well, rest in pieces, me - it's always the things i don't pay much attention to/ignore/fail to think about. which is actually a bit strange because i was not expecting him to be an entirely sane person from the start - he was a politician type, a leader, and a manipulator, to name a few things. that much was obvious. in 2.0-2.1 i wouldn't have been surprised if it turned out that he was the one that "killed" Robin. again, nothing was out of the question. but, 2.1 showed a different side of him. one that cared for his sister and (seemingly) listened to her and cared about what she thought. so they became quite a comforting little sibling duo to me. tragic, yet you could depend on their mutual trust in eachother... or so i thought.

and then he... went and did all That. which just showed me how, despite him caring for his sister, he was still putting other things above her.

to conclude with my yap: in a sense, he is just my "grim reflection of the self". and although i feel sympathetic towards my past self and how naive and selfish i used to be, there are some flaws of mine i will never forgive myself for. and, Sunday, in a way, reminded me of... Everything. it was almost triggering.

(hey, writing this all down in one place helped me calm down! (it's a neverending cycle that will continue tomorrow. all it will take is seeing a post concerning him and his sister and i'll get pissed anew) yay!)

the point(s) (aka my qualms):

- how sunday manipulated robin + was planning to use her in the charmony festival to complete his plan. she was going to be an unwilling participant in creating a "utopia" that she would've been absolutely against, but he didn't stop to fucking. fill her in, maybe? talk it out? the sheer disrespect on the concept of free will and on the fact that your own sister is a human being of her own sickens me

- he should've cherished the relationship he had with her (x1000 because that's the ONE FAMILY MEMBER YOU HAD LEFT AND THAT IS SUCH A PRIVILEGE!!! IMAGINE HAVING SOMEONE CARE ABOUT YOU WHOLEHEARTEDLY AND THEN YOU GO AND THROW IT AWAY!!! YEAH I'VE ALMOST DONE THE SAME EXACT THING MULTIPLE TIMES (AND STILL WOULD) BUT THAT'S WHY I ALSO KNOW HOW MUCH OF AN ASSHOLE MOVE IT IS!!!)

- he forsook his own self and shoved down his own biases and interests (fucking rat. you can't change the fact you're human and i'm very much saying that from experience) to become something Grander than life itself and in fucking turn isolated himself and shut out the one person who actually cared and then had the Gall to complain about being misunderstood/alone. (when you're finally sitting in your unreachable throne in this "dream" that you've created, who will you blame for being lonely? who will you blame when you have no one to fall back into? no one to support you? when everybody you did this for forsakes You?)

- HE DIDN'T EVEN HUG ROBIN BACK AT THE LAST SCENE. LIKE SHUT UP ABOUT YOUR FAILED PLANS AND COME DOWN FROM THE CLOUDS A LITTLE - THE JOY YOU SEEK FOR IS RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU!

- all i hoped for was that sunday and robin would reunite and get the chance to be happy together, and the only true reason i'm mad is because i'm guilty of a lot of the same self sacrificial behaviours as him and very much understand the sentiment of "my loved ones would be better off without my negative presence and influence". but instead of empathizing with him, i feel betrayed. i thought he was better than me. i thought he was someone worthy of admiration, and that doesn't come easily from me. despite all the warning signs i fell for his obvious facade, and i Very rarely get taken by surprise - especially in a way like this.

- if it wasn't for the fact that Robin would feel sad if Sunday died i would personally go and strangle him myself

tldr; i'm just a big baby that placed a lot of faith on Sunday and his relationship with Robin post 2.1 and my ego took a Huge hit once he turned out to be just some immature emo idealist type. (come on, man - i genuinely thought you were better than me! someone worthy of respect! and i usually have a feeling of superiority over others! this was the biggest compliment/act of faith i could give! (talking to a wall (fictional character (I'M FUCKING UPSET))))

[revserrayyu]

2.7 Penacony thoughts [part 3]

**Spoiler warning** for everything up until the end of the main story. I’ll also chat about the room decorating event a tiny bit, but noting too major since I kinda button-mashed through the whole thing.

So it’s revealed that Wonweek was Sunday’s old self and seeing the both of them in his character trailer suddenly makes a whole lot of sense now. I thought having both angels play the piano against each other was just for dramatics, but it seems there was true purpose behind the decision and I love it. Also I’m gonna take this time to point out that Sunday’s old outfit has a lighter thorn design on it just like his new one has. Who knew thorns were gonna be such a big part of his design.

Thank god we’re finally addressing the halo. It was kind of odd going from witnessing story scenes without it and then walking around as Sunday for it to appear above him again with no explanation.

I forget where it was mentioned but I believe halovians are capable of removing the halos within the dreamscape because it then gets treated as an object instead of part of themselves, so Sunday could be rid of it here but not in reality I guess? I’m not entirely sure but whatever. Sure his halo is a significant part of his design and removing it would definitely help him not be recognized so easily, but then you’d also have the pierced ear wing to deal with that is uniquely special to him as well. Along with his handsome face.. and soothing voice, but not to worry when the rainbow gaslight waves are able to hide all that!

And speaking of handsome.. ohh myyy, he’s breathtaking! I wish he wandered around with his hood up like this the whole time instead. It at least could’ve helped hide his wings if he tucked them inside it.

So that try-not-to-laugh challenge that March and the Trailblazer fell victim to and resulted in four star Tingyuns multiplying all over the place.. you’re telling me Sunday failed as well?? It’s hilarious knowing that our once serious angel took part in such a silly event and this is how Wonweek manifested himself, but more importantly, I wish to hear this man laugh wholeheartedly please! I imagine he would sound so sweet and genuine!

With all the times he shouted “DiSoRdErLy NoIsE” during the boss fights, nope, I would’ve never guessed.

Yeaaah good for him learning from all his mistakes and wanting to become a better person! I’m happy for you!

Aventurine mention~ I also like the voice line Sunday has about him, seeing him as a respectable opponent and all that.

I don’t care if the intro to the fight is reminiscent to the 2.2 cutscene where he’s all “If you are born weak, which god should you turn to for solace?,” I still appreciate the callback to it.

As for the fight itself, it wasn’t anything special. If we defeated the choir once, we can do so again, and now even faster since it didn’t have a third phase.

Incoming: a Michelangelo Creation of Adam styled finger touch.

Farewell Wonweek. He made for an interesting side character when he was a pepeshi and a sassy Sunday. His voiced sounded so familiar too and I hope we learn who it was so it’ll stop bothering me by not knowing.

And it was around here when I realized.. he and Jellal (Fairy Tail) are quite similar? At least in the whole multiple personality aspect, with Jellal placing all his feelings of guilt onto a thought projection of Siegrain (100YQ ch59) just like how Sunday planned to defeat Wonweek to be rid of all his sins and start anew.

His signature halo returns and good god he’s shining as bright as Arceus.

After some more chatter with Welt about the Harmony, stellaron and trailblazing, he finally asks the question! With him being a fugitive, I wouldn’t know how else he would be able to leave Penacony otherwise without making a big scene.

Turns out his trailblazing status isn’t as permanent as we were all hoping it would be once we learned he’d be joining us on the Express. It’s kind of a shame, but since Serval ended up not joining during her quest and how Black Swan is sort of just hitchhiking with us for the time being, I guess it’s not really surprising that Sunday isn’t getting a little Astral Express ticket badge. I wonder if we’ll ever add more members at this point with how often we’re being teased with possible newcomers.

So anyways, Himeko mentions Herta and some stuff starts happening on the Space Station; employees are leaving, the Herta puppets are all falling over and some magical girl transformation happens with some mirrors to finally reveal The Herta in all her five star glory.

Oh yeah, Nous is here too. And in the voice of our beloved gambler, I shall say “Aeon.. you’re huge.”

So that’s where the main story ends I believe, but I got a couple random, minor things from doing the room decorating event that I wanna chat about and don’t wish to create a whole other post for it, so here...

We get further confirmation that Sunday’s time on the Express isn’t forever and it makes me wonder when and where he’ll actually decide to leave us.

We get a flashback of when we first joined the Express and poor Pom-Pom takes the hit for not giving us a room. It’s okay conductor, we know it was really the devs. I would never blame you!

When it came time to cheer the Trailblazer creed I was so incredibly thrilled to see that some of the lines are actually lyrics to Interstellar Journey! That was honestly such a clever touch that made this scene so wholesome and special.

Poor Welt has probably heard enough dad jokes to last a lifetime.

The options to sleeping in our own bed more amusing than could’ve imagined. One of them having you wake up back in the Space Station where our journey began, while another option actually giving you a fake ending before logging you out of the game itself.

All that barking just to say “ok.” The simplest things are capable of making me laugh, I swear. I adore Peppy.

Welt gaming arc when?? Let me see him face off against Silver Wolf for fun! She also showed up for a brief moment too, so naturally I enjoyed that.

After the whole room is finished we get another nice cutscene where Dan Heng isn’t even paying attention to the chess match against March yet still winning! Also, someone tell me why he’s got our phone? I know we don’t have the most exciting phone case but his is completely black while this one has some gold lines on it.

Mother Himeko being elegant as always and actually drinking something that’s not coffee for once.

You would think Pom-Pom would be frightened to have March all excited about dressing them up like we see on the Day One of My New Life light cone..

But sike! It appears Welt is just as big of a fan of the idea! Someone save our precious conductor before grandpa creates a mecha suit, idol costume or something else outlandish for them to wear.

Sorry I don’t have much to say about the event itself. I enjoyed the room decorating and the little game we had to do for chores was interesting, but I skimmed through a bunch of dialogue so I could gather more jades to pull for Sunday’s light cone. And I was successful! So with that, we’re all done with 2.7.

[s-b-party]

Penacony: Land of Dreams, Exiles, and Choices

****Honkai star rail/HSR 2.2/TRAILBLAZE MISSION/PENACONY SPOILERS AHEAD****

There is A LOT going on in this story & I don’t know if I can call this a continuation of my previous HSR lore thread regarding Ena, HooH, and Xipe but I am pretty much expanding on Ena & Xipe in 2.2 while also talking about important concepts present in the story

It’s hard to really know where to begin when there’s a lot going on especially between Ena & Xipe or rather, between their factions/followers

We can start with a general idea of the situation: it’s established that Xipe the Harmony absorbed Ena the Order a long time ago, the Family is a faction of Xipe but it seems very disoriented overall because not everybody knows the truth behind Penacony and/or is involved with the schemes (the Oak Family was the one mostly involved, others seemed oblivious to what was going on)

Sunday who should have been a follower of Xipe alongside Robin ended up being a follower of Ena because he was pessimistic about the Harmony due to situations like the 3 stories he presented as questions to us (Charmony Dove, stowaway who sold everything he had including his children to come to Penacony, Robin getting hurt in an accident) & as a result, he sought control over the fates of others so that everybody would only get happy endings

*Initially I wasn’t going to say this in my other thread because I wasn’t sure if I was reaching by comparing a character to an Aeon but this quest made it much more prominent to see: Sunday’s desire for control was something that I wanted to bring up previously because Herta stating how she doesn’t like Ena’s control freak behavior in their simulated universe dev log made it hard to ignore Sunday’s own issues in the previous patch; it just set off alarms in my head that he might not actually have been following Harmony*

The way Sunday explained he would achieve his goal is that he wouldn’t resurrect Ena but instead he would have people never experience hardships through Order which I guess he could have achieved from memoria (manifestations of memories & emotions) & the Stellaron since Ena isn’t physically around to enforce Order

The reason why we see aspects of Ena present at all in the story is due to their remnants; as I suggested in my other thread, Aeons can die or disappear but their paths & concepts don’t disappear easily so to clarify, Ena isn’t alive at any point of the story but we see many hints of them in the story despite being gone

For example, the area where we answer Sunday’s 3 questions has the notable open eye on the ground; the many puppets we begin to see as we go through the Penacony Grand Theater refer to Ena’s puppet appearance; note that when you try to use clockwork but are unable to change the emotions during this part of the story, on top of looking very…unsettling, Clockie gains the same eye colors as Ena’s open eye while having puppet strings attached which references their puppet strings

Boss Sunday in the 3rd phase has eyes on the rings behind him, the faces in all phases look very similar to Ena’s white porcelain face with closed eyes, the hand that comes out for the Michelangelo’s God & Adam attack looks very similar to Ena’s puppet hands but it doesn’t have the puppet joints & the thumb is purple when Ena’s hands were white with golden joints

As it is explained by the data bank, the Septimus boss is supposed to be Dominicus who is one of the Harmonic Choir (Emanators of Xipe) but due to Ena’s influence, his appearance changed; in other words, Sunday usurped their powers originally for Harmony & turned them to serve Order

I find it really intriguing how much impact Ena had in this story despite being gone (keep in mind that Ena never enforced their concept onto anybody including Sunday & Gopher Wood, these characters saw a concept that they believed in & twisted their understanding of it for their own purposes; this also goes for Sunday’s freak control behavior which was all him & not Ena even though Herta claimed they had similar behavior)

Meanwhile one of the biggest moments we witness regarding Xipe is when the Trailblazer gains the path of Harmony

There are two main details I want to point out; first is their eyes are actually open when normally their eyes are closed & the second is they are glowing very brightly which, by themselves might not mean much, but together they say a lot when we look at other Aeons

Nanook is the first to gaze upon us & acknowledge us then it was Qlipoth; in both cases some part of their forms glowed brighter than the rest of their bodies when they gazed upon us which seemed to be their eyes/head

*Sidenote: interestingly something similar happens in Swarm Disaster and Gold & Gears

When you complete everything that you need to get the paths of Propagation & Erudition respectfully (which implies that the simulated versions of Tayzzyronth & Nous have noticed & acknowledged you), the actual art of the Aeons will change; the main difference is that they glow brighter whether it be their “eye(s)”, their entire being, certain parts, etc.*

Going back to the cutscene with Xipe, it seems that opening their eyes was a sign of noticing & acknowledging us

There’s one particular line from Sunday regarding the Aeons that stood out to me which was “And through Harmony, we obtain Order” which is interesting because the same can be said of the opposite “Through Order, we obtain Harmony”

What Sunday did was try to impose Order to force happy endings for everybody but that is simply not how life works because there’s always going to be pain; if you never experience pain or suffering then do you really know the world as it is & are you truly living? Yes it would be wonderful if everybody could get along & nobody ever had to suffer, but unfortunately that is not feasible forever

It’s the reason why balance is needed; when you face suffering, it makes all the good things that happen in your life feel much better; it’s not good to have only one or the other & that’s the point regarding Ena & Xipe

Even though Xipe absorbed Ena, their two concepts are very much intertwined & they both can’t really exist without the other; Order has been there all along, just without an Aeon for some time

Also keep in mind that Order & Harmony are both forms of balance which I mentioned in my other thread; to reiterate, Harmony is the fusion/unity of many into one while Order refers to the idea of specific arrangement (under Ena, civilizations rose & fell which established a cycle to follow; they created laws that the universe followed) but Sunday takes it to the extreme which is complete control without considering how others would truly feel about this plan of his

Before I continue, I just want to say that I liked how Sunday was characterized as an antagonist because you can tell he does truly care about other people (why would he go so far to obtain happy endings for everybody when he might not even like or know them?)

We know he cares about Robin very much despite how misguided he was in taking away her voice but as we saw, he was desperate to protect her which we see in his reaction after hearing she suffered a neck injury & when he thought that Gallagher actually killed her; these two instances explain his desire for control so well since he was powerless in both cases

He definitely was wrong about how he went about things but he loves humanity enough to go so far

Moving onto concepts, when we look at the overall story of Penacony so far, we see that dreams are an important concept; after all, it is the planet where people come to experience beautiful dreams but what makes these dreams unique is that everybody has a shared dream once they enter the Dreamscape & there are 12 distinct dream worlds in total that guests can choose to visit (each one representing a moment on the clock)

However not many guests on Penacony either know about or would come to Dreamflux Reef which was introduced this patch; when compared to the more well-known Dreamscapes, Dreamflux looks more somber & there are less people living there but it still has a few establishments so it is not entirely devoid of life

It is referred to as the Land of Exiles & to enter this area, with the exception of the teleport waypoints that we use, you usually would have to get brought by Something Unto Death whose real name is Dormancy & its affectionate nickname is Sleepie; in other words, Dormancy is the guardian of the Land of Exiles as explained by Firefly

The description of Dreamflux Reef from the Family is that it’s the “Nightmare” but it’s also how the Dreamscape is supposed to look

When looking at both this dream world & the other more popular ones like Golden Hour, they appear to represent aspects of life, specifically escapism (Golden Hour & the more beautiful dreamscapes) & reality (Dreamflux Reef)

Golden Hour is designed to be like amusement parks like the ones in Orlando with a mix of casinos like in Vegas; we can see why Penacony is so popular

On top of the fun tourism aspect, while you’re in the Dreamscape, your physical body doesn’t experience many of the changes you go through inside your dreams so you could stay in the Dreamscape as long as you want (as long as you can afford a room...)

Meanwhile Dreamflux Reef is representative of the non-glamorous things in life which can encapsulate struggles, pain, sadness, etc. Its other name “Land of Exiles” is also a nod to Penacony’s darker history as a former prison planet

However Dreamflux does have its lively moments which bodes well because it means that reality isn’t completely bad, it just might not be as fully glamorous or great like how the other dreamscapes are depicted

This topic of reality vs dream is constantly brought up with Sunday whose main struggle involves wanting to provide only happy endings even if that goes against reality or what should be; in fact we face the topic at the start when we meet Acheron & she asks us questions which she repeated along with much of the dialogue after the questions at the end right before we fight Sunday for a 2nd time at the exit of the nihility realm(?)

EDIT: Tumblr wouldn't let me post more than 30 photos so there are some missing in this portion & later towards the end and I didn't want to post photos while leaving out the others that would give more context; head to the Twitter link if you would like to see the thread in its entirety https://twitter.com/SBParty_Ryusa/status/1789763474546905198

Interestingly even as an Emanator of Nihility, Acheron still sounds hopeful; in fact she reminds me of the Doctors of Chaos (a faction of Nihility) who have been faced with IX’s display of hopelessness but these members still try to prove to IX that life isn’t all that meaningless

Another interesting thing I noticed is that Acheron is the opposite of Sunday when it comes to facing hopelessness: even when faced with the idea that everything will return to nothingness, she still moves forward but Sunday turns away from the pain of reality & relies on sweet dreams that don’t truly change your circumstances in the real world

So I’ve mentioned Penacony being both the Land of Dreams & Exiles but how do “choices” come into play? Something that I’ve seen become a huge part of Penacony’s plot is the concept of choice

Aside from Acheron’s questions, we’ve seen other displays of choice being an important concept; for instance, Sunday’s plan to obtain happy endings for everybody essentially takes away the ability to choose (yes everybody gets to be happy but it’s not happiness obtained by their hands/doing)

Robin had her voice taken away by Sunday even though she wanted to continue on her path of Harmony; Sunday’s plans only would have made him happy in the end

One of the saddest parts about this is that we do see an example of somebody who was not happy with their enforced dream despite how blissful it was for them: Robin herself

We along with Acheron & Black Swan found Robin who was actually the first to wake up and she guided Acheron & Black Swan

She explained that she was able to wake up due to the major flaw in her dream which was Sunday agreeing to not cage the Charmony Dove after it got better; while it would have made her happy that he agreed with her, she also knew that her brother wasn’t like that & her painful reality still would have been the same even if she chose to ignore the discrepancy because it already happened in the past

Of course everybody is different & may make different choices from each other; you can choose to wake up or keep living in a dream (in both cases you still have to deal with the consequences whether that be coming back to reality or becoming afraid to wake up) but the important part is that everybody gets to make their choices themselves without interference

This is Acheron’s main point when she says that the answers don’t matter because you’ve made a choice & you’ll hopefully go through with your decision

I do need to talk about the Nameless not only because a lot of backstory was given in this quest than any previous ones but also because as part of the Trailblaze, choices are definitely one of the biggest concepts for this path

The Nameless is an important faction that has followed the deceased Akivili even to this day; this group includes many curious & brave characters, both playable & NPCs including the Astral Express Crew

As part of the Trailblaze, the Nameless have faced unknown futures & dangers but ultimately made the choice to move forward into the unknown; this path is definitely not easy & it is bound to be filled with struggles & pain but for many of the Nameless, they’ve all blazed their own paths no matter where they were or where those paths led them even if it meant their end

The new Clockie event has a free lightcone reward that shows Pom-Pom with Mikhail, Tiernan, and Razalina back when they were still on the Astral Express & after the trio left; this is a bittersweet memory for Pom-Pom because I’m sure they’re happy that they left to follow their hearts but it’s still sad for them because the LC mentions many previous Nameless having left the Astral Express as well (I definitely didn’t tear up reading this LC 🙃)

Even for Pom-Pom, as part of the Astral Express, they have been through a lot with many of the Nameless departing to follow their hearts & yet they still choose to remain the conductor even to this day

That takes a lot of dedication & it just reminds me of Acheron’s question “Might I ask if you fear losing these bonds?” because that definitely applies to their situation considering they’ve been around for a long time; I’m sure Pom-Pom misses them very much 😢

*This might be one of the longest threads I’ve written so far but considering how much was going on in the quest, I think I yapped an appropriate amount 😂

*I know not everybody enjoys reading extremely long text but I hope that there are at least a few who will enjoy it

*Also I didn’t know what to title this, I’m not creative enough 😭

*This quest just gave me a lot to think about, there were good parts & iffy parts for me but I did enjoy the story overall; I hope that others were/are able to enjoy it even with how long it took :3