#of course the plot probably interferes further then

[sunderwight]

Bingqiu roleswap where disciple Shen Yuan knows he's gay, and figures out that he has a big huge crush on his handsome Shizun, but also concludes nearly at once that he's not going to be drawing Luo Binghe's eye any time soon. Firstly, Luo Binghe is notoriously straight. Secondly, even if he weren't, he wouldn't go for his scrawny untalented nerd of a disciple! Shen Yuan's not bad looking, not before or after transmigrating, but he's neither a beautiful nor a hot manly man, and he assumes if Luo Binghe were into dudes he'd be into the same kinds of twunks that Shen Yuan likes. Guys on his own level, etc etc.

Plus Luo Binghe hated the original disciple Shen, and only started to warm up to the transmigrated version after Shen Yuan got injured in front of him trying to stop the other disciples on the peak from killing a small animal. For some reason, Luo Binghe brought Shen Yuan medicine. He got even nicer after Shen Yuan distracted the skinner demon by trying to convince it to take his skin instead of Luo Binghe's, and then again when Shen Yuan successfully fought off a demon invader -- though initially when Luo Binghe volunteered him for that job, he thought it was an assassination attempt. His heart was in his throat when Luo Binghe nearly took a poisoned blow for him, but luckily he reacted more quickly and got hit by the thorns instead. His heavenly demon blood took care of the poison, and he managed to convince everyone that he narrowly avoided getting cut at all.

Shen Yuan's careful not to read anything into it when Luo Binghe finds out about his, erm, uncomfortable dormitory situation and moves him into the side room, or when he completely messes up trying to make dinner and Luo Binghe takes over cooking and bans him from the kitchen (he swears he's not actually that bad at cooking, he just never had to use a kitchen without a microwave or an electric hot plate before...)

After all, it's not like Luo Binghe is cooking for him, he's just making food he likes and letting Shen Yuan eat it too! Because he's nice! He's way nicer than the book gave him credit for being, see, clearly Shen Yuan was correct in signing up for his defense squad, "top ten worst villains of all time" his ass that poll was nonsense...

Unfortunately, though, the plot's still gotta plot. Shen Yuan is heartbroken when the Immortal Alliance Conference rolls around and his shizun stabs him and throws him down into the Endless Abyss. Heartbroken, but not surprised. After all, it was always going to go this way, wasn't it?

But at least, now that it's done, he has some agency in how he reacts to it. He's changed the story enough that he doesn't need to go get revenge. Maybe Luo Binghe's still the villain of his story, maybe that was inevitable, but some heroes let the villains get away. Don't they? It's all part of that noble, breaking the cycle of abuse type stuff. He can be that kind of hero. He can let it go. As long as he avoids Luo Binghe altogether, it should be fine, right? It's not like he's obligated to turn people into human sticks. He asked the system, he's definitely not!

Technically he's not even required to conquer the demon realms. He just has to get out of the Abyss and the be sufficiently cool and/or tragic. Conquest is just one means of doing that, and not even Shen Yuan's preferred, since he doesn't exactly want to rule over anybody. Going around the demon realms beating up some jackasses and rescuing some damsels in distress and becoming sworn brothers with Shang Qinghua, one of the current demon kings, is suitable. He definitely doesn't want to marry any of the damsels he encounters (thank fuck the system lets him off the hook for that!)

But eventually he has to go back to the human world. Not only is it mandated by the system, but he also misses living there. The demonic realms are in many ways better than expected, plus a lot of the monsters are really cool, but he misses the weather and plants and the people he's more accustomed to being around.

He misses Qing Jing Peak, if he's being honest with himself. Shizun's cooking and the bamboo forest and the crisp mountain breezes, the comforts of home.

Not that he can actually go back there in specific. Of course not. If he did that, Luo Binghe would try to kill him, or else the system would try and make him kill Luo Binghe. Bad ideas all around. No, he can't go back to Qing Jing Peak, but he can go find someplace nicer than the demon realms at least. He just has to keep a low profile, which shouldn't be hard since the original goods did that even while actively scheming to kill his former master!

Except.

Everywhere he goes, suddenly Luo Binghe is also there?!

Good thing Shen Yuan thought to take a page out of the book of Luo Binghe's actual love interest, Liu Mingyan, and start wearing a veil. He just didn't want any randos who might have seen him at the Immortal Alliance Conference or on any of the other missions his shizun sent him on to recognize him. But one minute he's investigating a strange case in Jinlan City, and the next the streets are full of Huan Hua cultivators (Shen Yuan has no intention of joining them, that's the path the original took to getting revenge! He doesn't want revenge!), and then Luo Binghe and Sect Leader MBJ and Peak Lord SHL show up, and SY is ducking down alleys and hiding behind columns, just trying to stay out of the way until the lockdown on Jinlan lifts and he can leave.

Except...

Luo Binghe really isn't acting like himself?

He looks like he hasn't been eating or sleeping well. There are dark circles around his eyes, and something almost melancholy in his countenance. And he's dressed entirely in white, none of the usual Qing Jing greens and blues anywhere to be seen. Of even greater concern, he's being reckless. Shen Yuan can't stop himself from rushing out when he sees his former shizun get infected by a sower demon.

Luckily, it's been some years since the last time they saw one another. Shen Yuan's gained a few inches in height, so he's almost at eye-level with his old master now, and though he's still more slender than bulky he's picked up some totally new styles from training the demon realms. He doesn't move the same way he used to. With that, plus the veil, it's enough for him to quickly swallow back his words as he grabs Luo Binghe and quickly administers a cure for the sower infection.

Well, he has one of course. He wouldn't need it himself, heavenly demon blood and all, but his time running around playing hero in the demon realms meant he rescued a lot of humans from such fates. Which is hard to do if you don't have a cure to their afflictions, but between him and Shang Qinghua, sourcing such things was almost easy.

Luo Binghe looks at him like he's just seen a ghost. The other Cang Qiong sect members are alarmed by SY suddenly accosting one of their own and of course find him suspicious, so he runs away right after, and then he has to lose Sha Hualing's pursuit in the city.

But what else could he do? He manages to evade the system's attempts to railroad him into meeting Gongyi Xiao, avoids the rest of the Cang Qiong crowd, and drops some of the cure through the current Qian Cao peak lord's window to get the incident sorted out. Then he flees and puts a good amount of distance between himself, Jinlan City, and every righteous sect he can think of.

The only problem is that after this point, Luo Binghe is everywhere.

Any time Shen Yuan stays in one place for longer than a few days, Qing Jing disciples start turning up. Any time he takes a job hunting some cool-sounding monster or pursuing some interesting tome of knowledge, the better to satisfy the system, it seems like Luo Binghe has selected and gone after the exact same target! Which is especially annoying because back when SY was a disciple, Luo Binghe was always assigning him to do this stuff. Since when does his chronic homebody master have an interesting in six-tailed scorpion lemurs or ancient spiritual kilns?

What's weirder, though, are the rumors.

It seems like any time SY stops at some well-populated place and asks for the latest gossip, he has to hear about how the Qing Jing peak lord lost his beloved disciple during the Immortal Alliance Conference, and mourned like a widow, and now wanders the earth in search of solace for his grief. Seeking something, possibly even the ghost of his dear disciple.

What nonsense! Luo Binghe threw SY into the Abyss himself. He had to do it, it was the plot! And also his obligation as a righteous cultivator, confronted with a "dangerous" half-demon. Does it sting? Yes it stings! That's why SY wouldn't just forget it! Despite logically knowing it's pointless, is there some part of him that wishes his master would have chosen differently? That thinks he should have known that no matter what kind of power Shen Yuan had, he would never use it to hurt people recklessly, or harm innocents, or especially not harm... well. It's pointless, his blood condemned him, and if there is some part of Luo Binghe which regrets what happened, it's doubtless just that he unwittingly harbored a monster for so long.

Which is fine and Shen Yuan would leave it at that, if the guy would just let him!

But no. Instead he has to deal with Luo Binghe turning up and asking him questions, trying to get him to talk (SY has no hope of disguising his voice, if he says anything he's not even sure it won't crack as he comes perilously close to tears instead, so he just stays silent), and then asking for his name, asking if he's mute, asking about his background, his sect, his kin. Is his a righteous cultivator? Where did he get that sword? (NOT Xin Mo, thanks, he used that thing once and then tossed it back into the Abyss before the portal finished closing behind him -- he knows a poisoned chalice when he sees one, although knowing the plot twist about that sword from the novel sure helped.) Where did he learn those forms? Is he... does he have a safe place to go home to? Someone to tend his injuries? Make sure he eats his meals?

SY, of course, stays silent. But it's difficult. Not only because Luo Binghe asks, but because he still looks... bad. Sunken, sorrowful, desperate almost. Shen Yuan can't figure out if he knows or not. Maybe he's unsure, maybe he's looking for SY to give him a sign, so that he can figure him out and then flip a switch and try to finish the job he started.

That can't happen. If they fight, SY will win, and he doesn't want to hurt Luo Binghe.

But even if Luo Binghe's not a heavenly demon, he is a highly accomplished cultivator, and it seems he's got his own breaking points to reach. Eventually he corners SY and gets a hand on his veil, and for a moment SY is sure he's going to rip it off, see his face, and confront him all "I knew it was you, you twisted evil demon, you won't escape justice a second time" and he feels a deep, icy terror close around his lungs--

Luo Binghe lets go of the veil before he can lift it.

But then something even worse happens. Because Shen Yuan's handsome, peerless, noble master breaks down. He falls to his knees, begging forgiveness, sobbing, clutching at his head like he's being driven to madness.

It all spills out of him, then. How he pushed his own dearest disciple into the Abyss, which obviously SY already knew, but also how he was apparently qi-deviating the whole time, and his senses could not differentiate between one kind of demonic "threat" and another. How he realized what he'd done only after he regained his senses hours later, and rushed back to the place where the tear to the Abyss had opened, but could not find a way in after the one he lost. How he had betrayed and thrown away the only person who cared about him, and couldn't even explain that he hadn't intended to. How he would accept anything, any punishment, hatred, penance, or revenge, if only he could see his disciple's face once more.

SY is stunned.

Apparently, Luo Binghe hadn't rejected him for his demon blood?

Not only that, but beforehand, he seemed to have valued Shen Yuan a lot more than Shen Yuan would have credited.

Is it a trick? Is he lying? SY would have guessed so, would have assumed that Luo Binghe's plan was to lull him into complacency only to turn on him once he finally had confirmation. But somehow, he just... doesn't think this is an insincere display. His old master is too cool for this stuff! He has too much dignity to just throw it away on a scheme! There are other ways to get what he wants.

Even if it is a lie, Shen Yuan is tired of running. He's the hero. He won't actually lose, and if it comes to it, it's still in his hands to decide if he wants to spare Luo Binghe or not (he does, of course he does, even if this whole spiel is an act). Plus he's got a backup plant body in one of Shang Qinghua's greenhouses if all goes to shit.

He takes the veil off himself.

Luo Binghe, teary-eyed, stares at him as if his face is the most beautiful he's ever seen.

Shen Yuan nearly puts the veil back on. His cheeks heat up. Dear Shizun, aren't you an immortal master? A noble peak lord? Isn't it your calling to vanquish demons? Get up off the dirty ground right this minute! Where did your dignity go? Shen Yuan did not spend all those nights doing the laundry to watch his teacher dirty his knees for no good reason!

There's a quaver in Luo Binghe's voice as he points out that Shen Yuan was terrible at doing laundry. Luo Binghe had to redo it the day after, all the time.

Shen Yuan chides at him that he should have made one of the other disciples do it then.

Luo Binghe just laughs, and stays on the ground, until finally Shen Yuan has to physically pull him up. Muttering about how he's being ridiculous, what's he crying for, why's he been moping so much, doesn't he know that handsome face should never look so bereft? Then he realizes what he's saying and shuts his mouth, but Luo Binghe just looks happy for the first time in years. Since the Abyss. How is it possible that SY, who actually had to slog through that awful place, can still smile more than Luo Binghe, who didn't?

They're standing so close. Holding on to one another. Almost as if... as if the scene's tone is... well...

Oh what the hell!

Shen Yuan closes the last little bit of distance between them, and kisses Luo Binghe.

[monocle-teacup]

Hi! I am glad that someone is interested in my posts! I think it would be more comfortable to respond to your reblog this way, if you don't mind, of course.

- On the lack of a first name

I agree, this was most likely the original plan, but it seems to me that by the end of the season the authors decided to make a completely black-and-white morality, so they had to dehumanize Meridian, and revealing the name and the emotional scene between him and Alex would not help this new idea. I don't blame it on the need to develop the plot quickly, because literally one or two lines of dialogue would fix it. So it was the authors who probably decided to go this way.

-The circumstances around him losing his arm

I understand this, and what surprises me is that there was not a single flashback or further details about this fateful event in the character's life. For example, at the GHOST base, in addition to working for Croft, he was looking for a cure for himself. The viewer could be shown some kind of screen with X-rays or diagrams in the background, where we could see some additional structures that were added by Arachnamechs. That would be an interesting little detail.

-The deal with him and Croft

Yes! I really like the way Meridian worked at these moments, his emotions and attitude towards Croft are obvious, as is her attitude towards him. My problem is that it looks like a puzzle with about 1/5 of the pieces missing. We understand what kind of picture should be in front of us, but the key point is missing. Meridian has been drafted and is supposed to hate the entire organization, not just Croft, but he's not trying to destroy the GHOST or kill other employees. Croft treats him not just as an employee who needs to be exploited to the last, until there is no replacement, as the head of a large villainous organization would behave. No, she does not feel such a level of inner hostility and does not show it towards other employees, only towards Meridian. I got the impression that there must have been a personal conflict between them, some specific event or series of events that made them hate each other. But here either the authors did not want to delve into this additional plot, or they did not come up with a reason.

I'm always up for chatting about Mandroid and other aspects of ES! It's actually quite nice to be able to actually discuss Mandroid's character deeper since IMO there's a lot to talk about.

The thing that gets me is that in the show's Production Bible, Mandroid's character description outright refers to him as a tragic villain. It's like the writers were afraid to actually explore this concept fully since that would go against the show's obsession with making humans that hate Cybertronians automatically terrible people.

There really needs to be a Battle of the Bay flashback not just for Mandroid, but so many other characters as well. Dot lost her leg in that conflict and it's when Megatron switched sides. But nope, the show was too busy bludgeoning the audience with the whole importance of family thing.

The thing about Mandroid is that from what's been shown he only goes after humans if they interfere with his plans (the Maltos) or in Croft's case, treat him like garbage. I see some fan content where it has him going after random humans when he just wouldn't do that. His main concern is Transformers not people.

I've made a post about this before, but IMO Mandroid and Croft are good foils to each other. If Mandroid is fire then Croft is ice. Croft is a very frigid person in general going by her interactions with Schloder and when she tries to arrest Dot and Alex. As ridiculous as her master plan of conquering Cybertron is, it does fit in nicely with her control freak tendencies. I mean, she has a personal army of mindless robots while Mandroid went out of his way to give the Arachnamechs personality. I have this headcanon where the two just instantly disliked each other upon first meeting.

[dandelion-wings]

this isn't actually plot because the actual plot, insomuch as this has one, is "everyone bodily wrestles Jean to the ground every time she tries to get back to work," but it is always fun to have Someone Else's Adventure going on in the background:

Jean smiles at her, then turns to Kaeya. "What were you saying about Eula? She and her company were supposed to be on leave."

"She'd probably threaten revenge on you for implying she'd stay idle while the Acting Grand Master was incapacitated," Kaeya says, in a reasonable if raspy imitation of one of Eula's more indignant tones, then drops it and shrugs. "Lisa was concerned about the potency of that samachurl's magic. She was worried that it might have gotten its power from an unusual source, so Eula volunteered to track that group back to their tribe and make sure they haven't gotten their hands on something they shouldn't."

It's a reasonable concern--or rather, Jean doesn't know enough about that sort of magic to judge, but she trusts that Lisa is knowledgeable enough that it isn't groundless worry. Of course Eula had stepped up to help, leave or not, and Kaeya is right that she would be offended by any implication otherwise. Jean is grateful for her dedication. Guilty to have made it necessary through her own infirmity, but grateful all the same.

"If they have, we'll have to find a way to get it out of their hands," she says, thinking aloud. Her words come slowly, as do her thoughts; she should be able to summon the resources she has to hand without any effort, but instead it's like groping through fog. "Lisa's said that you shouldn't exert yourself for a while, but perhaps... no, I don't want to interfere any further with the Reconnaissance Company's leave...."

"Don't worry about it, Jean. You're going to be out of commission for a while, so that will be our problem, not yours. Isn't that right, Sister Barbara?"

[relaxxattack]

here by popular demand, wof books ratings

i haven’t read several of these in quite a while-- i might do an updated version of these ratings after i finish my series reread :] also obvious disclaimer is obvious but this is PURELY my opinion. my taste. lol

the dragonet prophecy: wonderful setup to the world, surprisingly dark and graphic on a reread (how was this for children), really interesting and cool worldbuilding in both the sky and the mud kingdom. clay is also a great protagonist, with a nicely done emotional arc, and peril is here in her prime weirdgirlness. introduces queen scarlet, most iconic villain of all time. 9/10

the lost heir: this used to be one of my favorite books due to the murder mystery aspect, and i would reread it a lot. tsunami has a neat emotional arc here about learning maturity, which i enjoy. however the constant coral apologism, the annoyingness of everything to do with riptide and webs, the bland hetero romance, and the upsetting stuff that seems to get brushed to the side constantly, especially in regard to anemone, has caused this book to become way less enjoyable to me as an adult. 6/10

the hidden kingdom: also used to be one of my favorites for reasons that are probably obvious (kins glory). there’s a fun kind of “girl power” message to the way that glory has to fight to be taken seriously by literally anybody in this book. there’s also interesting mystery aspects again. looking back on it, though, the fact that the prejudiced carictures about rainwings turn out to be true is... weird? and of course, don’t even get me started on how this book used to include the one straight couple i didn’t find annoying, until several years later tui decided to retcon an age gap in. now reading this book feels just all kinds of weird, when it wasn’t before and really didn’t have to be. kind of a mixed bag. 7/10

the dark secret: i have no idea why people constantly rate this one so low. sure, starflight’s obsession can be grating at first, but i find the setting and atmosphere writing in this one to be incredible, all the island characters the interesting and fun kind of terrible-- and not to mention this book contains the two biggest plot twists in the whole series. the tension in this one is as palpable as the smoke in the air, and i think it’s really fun and full of a ton of iconic and memorable scenes. 9/10

the brightest night: this one is fun and camp. i enjoy it a lot, and sunny is such a great character to have as a pov. my only problem with it is how it feels kind of rushed-- there’s a lot of emotional legwork done in only the span of one or two thirds (specifically regarding thorn, i think she would have been a stronger character if shed been introduced in a prior book so we had time to be attatched). i like the solution that the dragonets came up with, and enjoyed them putting it all together, and i kind of wish they’d gotten to actually see it through as they planned-- at least a little further than they got without needing magical interference. aka let’s stop using magic as a deus ex machina. 7/10

moon rising: this is probably my favorite wings of fire book. moon’s quiet and anxious pov is wonderful, and the masterful way her abilities were used to give depth and atmosphere to her surroundings and peers was so enjoyable. it feels like you get a bit of everyone’s pov instead of just hers, for obvious reasons. this one also has some of the most iconic scenes, including the introduction of a soon to be infamous villain, and of course some of the most fan favorite characters out there. not to mention the younger characters and the school settings is very fun, there are so many super well-described scenes that hit hard. all in all this book is slightly spooky, slightly sad, but incredibly enjoyable. the best possible start to a new arc for the series. 10/10

winter turning: it’s fun to have such a zuko-esque character take center stage here. following winter’s journey through coming to terms with his abusive upbringing is emotionally cathartic, even if some scenes make you grit your teeth in annoyance at him. winter’s feelings are complicated and confusing, and it’s really cool to watch him slowly begin to change his opinions about things in real time. it’s such a shame his character gets shortchanged later on. also icewing society is very dystopian main character energy, but, it’s a fantasy series for children. and it’s fun and interesting, so i like it. 8/10

escaping peril: yandere characters have never been my thing, and peril seems to ocillate between that and between a sassy weirdgirl. and to be honest, i’ve never been sure how to feel about that. i find the yandere stuff creepy, but when she’s being a normal weirdgirl i find it strange to just pretend all the murder didn’t happen. she’s a complicated but enjoyable character who i don’t have a very definitive opinion on. aside from peril herself, though, her emotional arc in this book is fun, and the peril-turtle duo is something i never saw coming but something i need infinitely more of. they’re hilarious. several points in this book had me gasping and on the edge of my seat when it originally came out. overall a fun book. 8/10

talons of power: this book mainly seems to exist to move characters around and get plot pieces in motion for the next book. i really enjoy turtle as a character, however, and his family dynamics are interesting and tragic. there’s more coral apologism in this book, although in a different tone-- like they figured out she’s shitty, but not all the reasons yet. darkstalker is extremely creepy. the anemone twist is fascinating, and turtle and qibli’s dynamic is a treasure. 7/10

darkness of dragons: they had me in the first half. 😐 in this book they give you like twenty chapters of qibli and winter flirting and cool backstory reveals for qibli before they decide that they’re actually going to wrap this arc up in the most annoying way possible by saying that qibli learns no lessons ever, winter gets completely fucked over by both his friends and the narrative, moon sympathizes with a genocidal overlord and then is disappointed when people don’t agree with her, and then one of the kindest characters in the series commits Brain Destruction on said genocidal overlord. and also the 20 chapters of queerbaiting gets completely ignored in favor of drawing out the annoying as fuck love triangle and then picking the most boring option. i do Not like how this book ended the arc. what a sad way to wrap up the brilliant thing moon rising started. 3/10

darkstalker: a prequel with absolutely RIVETING worldbuilding, fun characters, cool atmosphere, extremely tragic circumstances, and worst of all you know how it’s going to end. we all know how it’s going to end. and yet we all sit there and watch. hoping and begging and pleading that they’re able to change the course of a story that’s already set in stone. wonderful, fantastic, show-stopping, brilliant. i love fathom and whiteout. this story manages to make every touching moment heartbreaking when you know it’s all in vain and all you can do is watch the slow descent. incredible. 10/10

dragonslayer: a prequel where there’s. humans who talk i guess. 😐 who thought this was a good idea. the only redeeming quality is sky, which isn’t surprising considering he’s the Only Dragon. 4/10

[spitblaze]

More Braindead Panic 1 thoughts heehoo

I'm percolating! Thoughts are percolating! Nothing is set in stone I'm just brainstorming here.

So like. I DO wanna pare down the roster now that we don't have to get Every Single Camper in there. We can at least like more easily relegate some characters to background status. Elton doesn't need to be here all the time. Nils is barely ever relevant. Its fine. They don't have to go they can just have greatly reduced roles.

Anyway like. Idk. Everyone is at a university probably, how they are brought together is...slightly unclear. Maybe they're all in the same Psychic Studies class, maybe they're in the same dorm building, maybe they're in an extracurricular together, maybe they're all participating in experiments for the psychic science program (willingly, like psych undergrads), maybe they're brought together by happenstance. Whatever. What I'm sure of is that it's not because they all have the same major. Koschei is undeclared (maybe history or wildlife management actually?), Rue is botany/biochem, Not Vernon is doing something in either English or film. You get it.

So what's the plot. Good question! Like I mentioned before my brain took some stuff from Gideon the Ninth and ran with it but I didn't really have much else until I got back into octopath and started thinking about Cyrus Albright's story again, which. I will not spoil but has influenced my ideas here

So there's either an old psychic studies building or a door in the current building/labs that nobody ever opens, right? It's always closed, it has a sign that says 'do not open', and as far as most of the students and faculty are concerned, the sign is put up because there's something maintenance or campus IT will yell at them for messing with otherwise. The only people who would suspect something is fishy are those who notice the door is lined with something to prevent psychic observation and interference in an area other than the labs.

And then one day one of the students goes missing. A psychic one. A lot of rumors abound- did they drop out without telling anyone? Did the stress of college get to them? Were they kidnapped? Was it a hate crime? Nobody knows. And nobody knows until Koschei finds himself on the other side of the door a few days later. Idk why he's there. Maybe he was invited to a trial, maybe it was open late at night and their curiosity got the better of them, doesn't matter. The point is that what's on the other side of the door isn't a maintenance room, or a server room, or anything else sensitive but normal. It’s a staircase into a huge underground facility full of weird labs and archive and test chambers. And in one of the labs is the desiccated husk of that missing classmate. Someone notices Koschei and he barely makes it out alive. But like- holy shit, what WAS that?? What can he do??? Who will believe him???? He could go to the campus cops, but he knows they won't do shit. He could tell the faculty of the university, but would they believe him, or would he invite further danger on himself??

So he ends up telling his two closest friends (and maybe study partners? [Who will become his Romantic Partners over the course of the story]), Rue and Vernon (new name pending). And then it becomes a whole thing, going on expeditions into the facility to find out what happened to their classmate, what's being studied down there, and why other psychics around campus are disappearing as well.

[episodicnostalgia]

Star Trek: The Next Generation, 106 (Oct. 31, 1987) - "Lonely Among Us"

Written by: D.C. Fontana Directed by: Cliff Bole

The Breakdown

There’s a lot going on this episode so I’m gonna have to break this up.

Plot 1 – The Enterprise acts as host for two warring species (Lizard-ish people and pig-ish people) as they travel enroute to a peace summit. Along the way each species tries to kill each other using methods that one might expect to be employed by rival college fraternities in a wacky summer comedy, while Riker plays interference.

Plot 2 – Picard mentions something about solving a mystery just like Sherlock Holmes would, which piques Data’s curiosity. And boy does he get INTO it. For the remainder of the episode Data walks around cosplaying as Sherlock Holmes.

Plot 3 – Okay so THIS is where it gets weird.  Amidst all the chaos, the Enterprise crew scans a nebula and accidentally gets infected by one of those space-entity-consciousnesses (you know the ones).  From there, the entity starts jumping from one crew member to the next, taking over their bodies in the process, until it ultimately ends up inside Picard.

Dr. Crusher and the senior officers are savvy enough to figure out Picard’s LITERALLY not himself, but unfortunately too inept to do anything about it.  With the approval of the entire senior staff Riker & Crusher both tell Picard that he needs to be medically checked out because they think he might be possessed, but he deftly parries their blow with a devastating “No, YOU seem possessed!”, and that inexplicably works.  Having met their match, the crew have no other  choice than to follow body-snatched-Picard’s orders to return to the nebula.

It turns out that our resident Space-ghost (no relation to the cartoon) hates it here and just wants to return home, but has decided to bring Picard with it.  The Entity reckons that since Picard is a natural explorer, he would probably leap at the opportunity to explore space as a joined-discorporate-entity (courtesy of the transporters), and then successfully enacts that plan.  Of course this is Star Trek, so we find out that following the beam-out, the joining didn’t take, and Deanna is conveniently able to sense the Captain’s presence enough to help the crew retrieve their captain using the power of technobabble and plot armour.  Since the only person who died wasn’t a main character, there’s no need to reflect on these events any further.

The Verdict

This episode tries to be too many things. Body-stealing-space-entities, tense diplomatic relations between two warring factions, and Data becomes a Sherlock Holmes stan. Any one of these things could have made a decent episode, and at certain points each story arc is almost compelling, until they all fall apart because none of them are really connected to each other.

2 stars (out of 5)

Additional Observations

Data’s fascination with Sherlock Holmes is easily my favourite part of ‘lonely among us’, because as silly as it is, Brent Spiner fully commits to it and the physical comedy. This is the delicate line Star Trek regularly has to straddle, camp vs drama, and Spiner balances those two elements expertly.

The two warring races (I’ve already forgotten their names) are mostly pointless, and easily the least interesting part of the episode. Obviously they’re introduced as a Red herring, but there’s too much tension and build up surrounding them, which ultimately leads to nothing.

Star Trek has always employed liberal usage of Deus Ex Machina, but Picard was rescued from being a space-ghost far too easily.

Picard’s an asshole: Everyone knows Picard has been possessed because he’s suddenly nice. Someone needs to talk to HR about that guy.

[sugarcupes]

𝑅𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑜 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐶𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑎／ロメオとシンデレラ

for your information: i chose this song as the first song to post about on this page, since this is the song that got me into vocaloid and because it’s one of the OG vocaloid songs that is still carrying the fandom with other songs like world is mine

i haven’t done song analysis’ for a while so please don’t judge

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The song Romeo and cinderella is a about a teenage girl who is deeply in love with someone who she claims as her romeo.

it is already made really clear that their love is probably in a pretty fragile state in the first line“私の恋を悲劇のジュジュリエットにしないで” / “don’t turn my love into a tragedy like juliettes”. especially with with the tragedy it is clearing up the fact that their love is not a easy love thing to deal with. we still dont know why exactly their love would turn into a tragedy but it at least tells us that theyre not having an easy time with their love.

the first few lines after the first line dont tell us much about why their relationship isnt in an ideal state but they are showing us a sneak peek into their sexual activities.

you can already guess that it is going to have some sexual content in it by the time you reach line 6 “大人はもう寝る時間よ” / “its time for adults to go to bed” and by the time you reach line 7 you’ll eventually know that it’s obviously about sexual inter course.

line 7-18 arent that important for us RIGHT NOW but we’ll look further into them later but in line 19/20 she says “魔法よ時間を止めてよ 悪い人に 邪魔されちゃうわ” / “oh magic, please stop time villains will interfere” by “bad people” she probably means her parents who do not approve their love (in line 34 “パパはでもねあなたのこと嫌いみたい” / “my dad doesnt seem to like you that much” it is literally stated that her dad does not approve it that much) when she said “villains” since they’d be the ones to control her love life.

in line 20 “逃げ出したいのジュリエット” / “i’m a juliette who wants to run away” she claims to be the juliette of her story so now we have both romeo and juliette which she is projecting her love story onto but the thing is. she doesnt want to be the juliette. she doesnt want to be in a tragic love story like romeo and juliette, she wants to have a happy ever after like cinderella with her own romeo. all thats stopping them is her parents.

now that we have the main plot the rest if the lines arent that important anymore but there is still an important question why her parents dont approve of their love which is why we need many lines including sone old ones.

often you’ll hear her say “パパとママ” which is just dad and mom BUT if romanize it its “papa to mama” and you’d usually only hear little children call their parents パパ and ママ and by only i mean ONLY LITTLE CHILDREN if youre not a little kid you’d say お父さん and おかさん or sth else but not パパ　ママ. there is also that one line that says “ママの作るお菓子ばかり食べたせいね” / “its because i’ve been spoiled with the sweets mom made me” first you can find the ママ again and second the line itself is just something thats reminding me of little kid. if you read further into the text you’ll read many lines where she’s acting more childish and immature. A line thats also a big red flag for their relationship is “私のためと差し出す手に 握ってるそれは首輪でしょ” / “youre holding your hand out for me but isnt it the collar youre holding me onto?” which shows how he is not treating her like a lover should. at the end she says “嘘つきすぎたシンデレラ” / “cinderella lied too much” “オオカミに食べられたらしい” / “looks like she got eaten by a wolf” “どうしようこのままじゃ私も” / “what should i do?” “いつかは食べられちゃうわ その前に助けに来てね” / “some day i’ll get eaten too, save me before it happens”. with all these lines i’d say the real villains arent her parents but her “romeo”. hes probably taking advantage of her (especialky since has doesnt have a mature mind) and is making her depend on him which is why her parents dont approve their “love” this could be an explanation for why it isnt called “romeo and juliette” or “prince charming and cinderella” because her “remeo” is the tragedy while she dreams of being cinderella.

i really hope you guys enjoyed my analysis and i hope you understood my point of view

song: romeo and cinderella by doriko feat. hatsune miku

original title: ロメオとシンデレラ

[tsuzuruchipalace]

consider the following: what if merlin decided to control lancelot when he first met him instead of king arthur and mordred

oooh this is a really cool idea!! i think this could make for an interesting alternative storyline! As much as I love the story of KniRou IV, I also want more Merlin and Lancelot interactions lol

forgive me for the details since I just skimmed through KniRou again, but in the original story, I believe Merlin started targeting King Arthur even before Lancelot showed up because he was trying to usurp the throne and take over the kingdom. Lancelot didn't seem to be in his sights at all. Then, because Lancelot defeated him and stopped his plans, their cross-game rivalry began (to our assumption, anyway)

Since Lancelot is a child blessed by the fairies, Merlin would've had a much harder time trying to control him. (I assume this since Gwen's fairy magic seemed to be effective against Merlin's demonic magic in the fight.) That's why he sent Lancelot and Gawain away to find the Holy Water while he was slowly taking control of King Arthur in the guise of illness, probably to make sure they wouldn't interfere with the process. Realistically, I think Merlin was not counting on Lancelot to be so loyal to Gwen or as strong as he was, so he didn’t consider him a threat until he was defeated.

-

BUT, if Merlin were to use Lancelot to take over the Kingdom, I think he'd have to emotionally manipulate Lancelot in order to lower his defenses. Merlin recognizes that Lancelot is blessed by fairies and sees Gwen from the moment they meet. The first step would be to separate them, either by force or by turning them against each other somehow. Of course, Lancelot would try to find or mend things with her, but I’m sure Merlin could keep Gwen hidden somewhere for a while.

The second step would be to turn Gawain and Lancelot against each other. Based on the actual play events, it would not be hard to stage something to make Gawain hate him, such as hurting/killing Gareth and blaming it on Lancelot again. Since Gawain is an established knight and Lancelot is new, the King would probably side with Gawain, maybe even casting Lancelot out of the kingdom if Merlin still had some control over him.

Finally, Merlin, still posing as the wise and mild-mannered king’s aid, would step in pretending to be Lancelot’s only remaining ally and emotional support when he feels like everything has been taken from him. In that moment of weakness, Merlin could attempt to take control of him. If he succeeds, then Merlin could frame it as Lancelot acting out in revenge and nobody would wiser as to the real reason. But Gwen could still escape and bring Lancelot out of the mind control, still ending in a happy ending for the heroes and continuing the story.

Of course that’s only one way to reinterpret it! and perhaps a bit dramatic as well lmao. Merlin could also slowly befriend Lancelot and manipulate him behind the scenes without magic. The power of friendship is strong and, in some cases, can be used to make people do things they normally wouldn’t. Lancelot could do things in Merlin’s favor that he wouldn’t realize are harmful until it’s revealed much later. It would cool to see them getting along, yet knowing that Merlin’s intentions are dark and for personal gain despite the seemingly good friendship. With a reveal of betrayal, it would add conflicting emotions between the two.

This approach gives Merlin more screen time and depth to his character. It also explores a would-be friendship more, giving more of a character dynamic-driven story than a plot-based one. I personally think this approach would really interesting in driving the emotions and motivations behind the actions of these two characters in other games further down the timeline. While I really like the idea of this approach, it seems just a little outside of the realm of reality since KniRou IV is supposed to be a more simple and theme-grounding installment of the series.

Overall, I really like the concept of Merlin controlling Lancelot! (perhaps some of that is my tsuzuru and tsuzuita bias talking...) It could go a lot of ways. And ultimately, it would reframe a lot of the series moving forward. (I say when we have no confirmed direction as to how the other KniRou stories play out). Personally, I get big Cloud-Sethiroth vibes from them, which I’m sure is partly intentional, so I’d love to see Lancelot and Merlin having a more complex and hateful relationship than what is shown to us so far. (crossing my fingers for tsuzuita knirou sequel play)

Of course, that’s just my interpretation of how I think that’d go down. I’d love to hear other takes on it!

-

Hope you don’t mind the long answer anon! I didn’t expect to go on for so long with a whole alternate plot, but I just really like KniRou haha. Thanks for the ask! I had fun thinking of these ideas 💖💕💕

[ceejaykayess]

Kagepro x Persona AU Idea that won’t leave me alone, so I’m gonna try and talk about it to exorcise it

Alright. There’s a non-zero chance you’re one of the 8 or so people that noticed my initial Kagesona (ha, ain’t that witty) post with an edgy-ass Shintaro back like a week or two ago. And maybe you’re one of the 3 or so people that noticed the follow-up to that post featuring his Persona Mimir like three or four days ago. Now, here I am actually explaining the slapdash plot that’s been slowly building up and coming together in my head for the last like half a year, oh God I want it out so I can focus on my fic. 

So, first, as a story I’m personally conflicted where it should start. I’m between following the modern Persona formula of having it set in high school, presumably during Shintaro’s first year, or if I should do it as per canon and just refer back to events from high school in big-ass flashbacks or something. Regardless, putting a pin in that. 

So, let’s start at The Beginning. The birth of our lord and saviour, Azami. Since this is a fusion with Persona lore to a degree, there are other “Gods” that exist, such as Philemon and Nyarlathotep. But, since we’re gonna say YHVH doesn’t exist and other “Gods” didn’t really exist until humans became a thing (probably, don’t quote me on that), Azami sorta just reigned as an elder god amongst them all. Like, unaware of the fact. She would have probably come across some of them during her non-physical and physical existence. Hell, maybe she even no-selled a babby YHVH before he could be a bitch. Regardless, amongst these deities she’d meet would, of course, be Philemon and Nyarly. They’d both be pretty respectful and would give her their own opinions on humans, and while she would tend to Nyarly’s opinion through her own experiences, she can’t discount Phil’s. 

So then she meets Tsukihiko and canon plays out. She doesn’t ever really meet Phil again for a long while, but she does end up crossing paths with Nyarly a few times, and each time he tries to sway her further against humans. But his BS isn’t much use against the soft-spot Azami had developed for Tsukihiko. But, he does manage to convince one aspect of her, who Nyarly would end up speaking more to later. 

Canon keeps happening and Saeru convinces Azami to make and enter the Daze. She does and is then very upset with her decision because man that place sucks. Saeru a bitch, and even a bit more of one than usual. Eventually Mary and Shion die, and Azami passes Combining Eyes on to Mary, sending her back and leaving the Daze open for anyone that dies on August 15th. No longer being the Queen, Saeru takes his chance to distance himself a little bit from Azami, and meet up with, wouldn’t you guess it, Nyarly. 

Nyarly, having already made his deal with Phil and wanting some easy wins in his belt, proceeds to lie, cheat, and steal with Saeru, assisting him to learn how to leave something like proxy snakes to possess people that die on August 15th, to push humanity further towards despair. This is, obviously, a blatant breaking of the rules he and Phil set to not interfere in the games beyond setting up proxies to assist, but this won’t come up until later. 

So, time continues until the modern day. Kido, Kano, Seto, and Momo all died and were lucky enough to not only have a strong enough wish but to also be “close” enough, however distance might work in this somewhat altered Daze, to get this non-shitty extra life. Well, arguably non-shitty, but the alternative is worse. 

Here, I’m a little confused on how I would make it all work, since I want this first loop to be like Manga Route 2, with Ayano being our Wild Card in this route. But, I wouldn’t be able to use the high-school background as backstory material, since none of the Yuukei Quartet went to, well, Yuukei. Whatever, I’m getting a bit ahead of myself. 

How the whole Persona thing would work would be like this. Personas can only be summoned in the Daze. The only way to access the Daze is either via canon’s way of dying on August 15th or the Persona 5-type way of the Wild Card getting an app that can spread to allies. I wanted the app to be unique, so I wanted it to function based off of songs. When you’re near a person’s location of death, I guess, the app will start to pick up a transmission of a Vocaloid song, not necessarily a Kagepro one but I’m not knowledgeable enough about Vocaloid songs to pick good ones. Should you follow the location and input the name of the person, you enter that person’s part of the Daze, where that song plays in the background. From there, it acts more like Persona 4′s TV World, where you can find the relevant person’s Shadow but can also explore the Daze and enter other people’s parts of the Daze. It’s just more difficult without having entered from the outside before since there’s no signal to lead you or anything. In this AU, a bunch of people would have died on August 15th over the years, stretching back like maybe over 30 years, and they would act as bit-villains possessed by the proxy-Saerus. Let’s call them Snakes of Crawling Eyes, in honour of The Crawling Chaos. 

In Ayano’s route, on her lonesome, she’d get the app maybe a little before she meets Konoha, so before Haruka dies. She falls in accidentally, and is besieged by Shadows. Since she’s already got the Snake of Favoring Eyes, the Crawling Eyes will leave her alone. Now, time to mention Persona acquisition. You need a Snake to get a Persona. Which means you need to die. For someone that gets a Snake and leaves the Daze in the normal way, they get a free Persona. They’ve already accepted their true, deepest wish, so now they just have to feel again those feelings attached to their death. The fear, the anger, the acceptance, the frustration, the relief, whatever. But, for people that get into the Daze for the first time through the app, they just gotta fucking die in the Daze. Or, rather, be put close to death, since technically in canon no one that entered the Daze properly dies, just got swallowed up moments before death. If they don’t get taken by a Crawling Eyes, and attract one of Azami’s legit Snakes, they’ll be filled with a bookmark. You can’t die in the Daze, so your life won’t be supplemented by the real deal, but you’ll be given a proxy-snake to give you a Persona but no eye powers. Sound familiar? Because this’ll come right the fuck back around later, after Ayano’s route. 

So, Ayano gets into the Daze, awakens her Persona, gets out, and has been having dreams of the Velvet Room for a hot minute. It takes the shape of her place in the Daze, originally. Not the sunset-lit classroom, but the suffocating darkness bound. Er, probably more friendly than that. No Attendant, though. They all busy. Just Igor. Eventually, she meets Konoha, brings him home, then drags him into the Daze with her, being her Sun Arcana. Then, I guess... two years pass? The plot of Manga Route 2 happen interspersed with Ayano dragging the whole group into the Daze at some point and awakening Personas across the whole squad sans Shintaro, who doesn’t have a Snake. Probably in groups of two or three at a time, extending the search for Hiyori by a day or so. As per the manga, everyone starts to get picked off and Konoha gets possessed, his Persona morphing to suit Saeru’s whims. Shintaro makes his plans as per canon, gives it a good run both in the Daze and outside it, but can’t stop anything until Mary gets enough Snakes to just eat Saeru and put him somewhere far enough away that he’ll reasonably never return. Ayano makes the suggestion to become Yaki, and Mary makes a new timeloop. 

Here, we go into the regular version and what the majority of the story would presumably cover. Yaldy and Phil are aware and can remember the timeloops, and Phil kinda unhappy Yaldy cheated. So, he counter cheated by going with Yaki’s ideas and setting up some shit for Shintaro, like making Yaki a part-time Velvet Attendant, giving her the Velvet look while Shintaro’s in his own Velvet Room, which takes the shape of an empty lake under an overpass chock full of clockwork and gears, a subtle reference to his mind space in the anime and his place in the Daze in the LN. Phil pushes a little more to make it so the game doesn’t count as a loss for him until the whole group gives up and Mary doesn’t bother to reset the timeline after Saeru wins. 

Shintaro’s story begins in highschool, his first year. From the beginning. He starts to dream of the Velvet Room and Yaki starts up her “do you remember” stuff, but of course he doesn’t. We wouldn’t have a plot, otherwise. Well, not such a crazy one. He falls into the Daze accidentally, probably with Ayano, maybe the same way as Ayano did in her route for that narrative symbolism. He awakens into an outfit similar to but different from the first pic, not reversed and without the black stains. Since he already has a Snake, all he has to do is feel the frustration associated with Yaki, and he’s in. His Persona, Mimir, would appear as a whole person with a head, looking generally healthier and with the addition of red strings surrounding the head. 

He barely makes it out, taking whoever was with him out. He freaks the fuck out about it and tries to put it out of mind. Whether Ayano was with him or not, she would eventually get involved and drag Shintaro back in, following her sense of justice but knowing she can’t do anything herself. This then leads to the turn where people without Snakes have to almost die and resonate with a Snake to get a proxy and a Persona. Ayano almost dies, but doesn’t, and Shintaro undergoes a crisis. As this happens, they grow closer as Ayano acts as Shintaro’s Hanged Man, in the same way Shintaro acted as Yaki’s Hanged Man in her timeline. Ayano also drags him through more iterations of the Daze, and he starts to grow closer to Momo, his Star, and Yaki, his Hermit. Eventually, Haruka and Takane get pulled in, almost die, and awaken. They become his Star and Magician, respectively. (Thank you, Kagepeople and daniople for the Kagetarot which only contributed to this brainrot) 

So, they grow closer over time both IRL and in the Daze, having random and close conversations and making important memories. Eventually, Ayano finds proof that Kenjirou is planning something fucky and, debating it over with herself heavily for a week, decides to go to her friends with it to try and remove what she assumes is the Snake of Crawling Eyes that’s possessing her dad. They agree to help, and go into his Daze. His song is Dead and Seek. 

They go through it, find it really hard, but keep pushing through. Eventually, they bump into Saeru himself, who kicks their fucking asses and really rubs it in. Eventually, he starts to actually kill them, starting with Haruka who covered for Takane, then Takane, then Ayano who covered for Shintarou. Their blood stained his clothes across both shoulders, his jacket’s pockets, and his coat tails. As they faded away into the Daze, consumed by the black effects that surround their Personas, Shintaro is taunted by Saeru before finally being killed himself. 

He awakens outside of where he and the others had entered the Daze, being shaked by a worried Ayano. He gets up and clutches his head, his eyes burning, before he remembers what just happened. He gets all panicky and asks if they’re all alright, to which they all express confusion. He talks about what just happened in the Daze with Saeru, but they’re only more confused. They don’t remember a thing at all. And, upon further probing, Shintaro finds they don’t remember a thing about all their time spent in the Daze. All that time that had been so precious to him. His desperation is obvious, but none of them can remember at all and are only worried for him. He decides to shrug it off and leave, leaving them all worried. This marks a change in their relationship. With most of their memories together being taken and smoothed over, Shintaro was stuck being the only person that remembered why they were all as close as they were. Eventually, he becomes more bitter towards them, halting any progress in their Social Link, and putting him on the cusp of reversing them. Igor and Yaki advise him to try and bring them back in, or to continue on his own, but Shintaro refuses both, not wanting to endanger once again the people that so deeply entwined themselves in the person he called Shintaro Kisaragi, but also not having any personal motive in continuing to remove Crawling Eyes without his friends by his side. He begins to emotionally withdraw from them, which then leads to the canon of that important August 15th that there are like 3 songs about. This reverses his Magician, Hanged Man, and Sun. 

Shintaro enters his hermithood, stalling his bond with Yaki and Momo and almost reversing Momo’s. Canon continues. He meets Ene and manages to unreverse the Magician, but it’s gone dormant now. Canon, canon, canon, the terrorist attack. Meets the Mekakushi Dan, and... I’m not sure how much of this should be the canon events and how much should be an attempt to dip into the Daze accidentally again and drag the Dan in. Anyways, afterwards, the usual deathloop shit starts. In some loops, they all enter the Daze, in others they don’t. When Shintaro meets Konoha he can unreverse the Sun, but none of his bonds will continue until he re-enters the Daze. He also starts to form bonds with the Dan, The Emperor for Seto, The Chariot for Hibiya, Strength for Hiyori, The Wheel of Fortune for Mary, Justice for Kido, The Moon for Kano, and Judgement for the whole Dan. 

A good run would be one that lasts for a week at least, but probably closer to a month. So if that means they all meet up before August 14th, because Shintaro fucks something up with his beloved soda early probably, then so be it. They resume the original removal of Crawling Eyes, enter everyone’s Daze to get their super weapons a la Persona 4 (after beating something like a Shadow for each of them, though), and eventually shape up to target Kenjirou once more. Entering the Daze, though, they run into interference in the form of Lost Time Memory, and enter an unfamiliar part of the Daze. It’s a familiar sunset overpass, and on the other side of it stands a familiar figure. Shintaro’s Shadow. He appears as Shintaro’s IRL self, and starts to get pissy at Shintaro, about being a bad friend and also about his inability to remember his power and the loops, even though there’s already hints as to its existence. He intends to kill Shintaro as he deserves, but would rather not hurt the Dan. He transforms, donning an outfit similar to Shintaro’s original Daze outfit but all black and red rather than white and red, and causing his Daze to become occupied with corpses that can be vaguely identified as Shintaro’s. He fights Shintaro and the Dan intervenes. Boss fight ensues. He asks if Shintaro is “the boy, 18, that continued waiting, or the one now cold and rotting”.

Once phase one passes, Shintaro’s Shadow summons a Persona, Mimir’s disembodied head with the red strings that Shintaro’s own Mimir lacks. Doing this leaves Shintaro stunned and nauseous, leaving the Dan to fight without him. I never mentioned but, Shintaro’s role in the Dan is similar to the P3 protag’s, that he’s essentially the strategist and combat leader but not the actual leader of the group. Shintaro’s Shadow is reluctant to hurt the Dan but resigns himself to such, apologising for being so pathetic the whole time. When he puts them all down for a bit, Shintaro starts to get up, but his Shadow is sick of it. He pulls out a pair of scissors and impales his throat. This causes Shintaro to begin coughing up blood and collapsing before his Shadow. The hands of his past corpses begin to reach up and grab on to him, preparing to drag him down as the Dan watches on in horror. During this whole fight, LTM would be playing and would now have reached that bit where the music totally breaks down and Azami stands in front of Shintaro. When that would reach its refrain, a figure would appear before the fallen Shintaro, back to his Shadow. It’s the Velvet Yaki, whose Velvet colours faded away to her original palate, red eyes ablaze. She asks if he remembers, and he says he does. She reaches for him and he takes her hand, the one so similar to the one he never wanted to let go. She pulls him up, fading away, and behind him Mimir appears next to Ayano’s Persona, Gullveig. The two fuse into Shintaro’s Ultimate Persona, Mnemosyne, the Goddess of Memory. Shintaro’s outfit shifts as this alignment of himself shifts, this knowledge and development from hundreds and thousands of loops both good and bad. His coat tails and hoody burn away leaving him in his classic windbreaker. The black stains burn away and the white part runs red while his seven inverts back to its original position. The flames all culminate in a red scarf that wraps itself around his neck, flowing behind him. He answers that he’s the one that kept on praying as the final chorus of Lost Time Memory plays. He hits his Shadow with his Ultimate Skill, Black Viper, and wins. His Shadow congratulates him, tells him to win, then fades away. The view of Shintaro’s Daze clears up, becoming pleasant once more, and letting a familiar Velvet trill echo from below. The ambient music of Shintaro’s Daze becomes replaced with Remember Blue. 

Stairs appear that lead Shintaro and the Dan to the Velvet Room below the overpass, where Shintaro can talk with Yaki as herself and Igor for a bit. He tells the Dan to go on ahead down the road without him and that he needs to go do something first. They split up, he leaves the Daze to go pick up Ayano, now remembering the name to place to the song Additional Memory. He picks Ayano up, the Dan fights Saeru, Shintaro goes to visit Haruka as he remembered the path (can’t think of a Haruka song and not a Konoha song), the Dan exit the Daze right into the lab, Saeru follows and possesses Konoha, doesn’t kill them for some reason like in the anime, Shintaro and Ayano appear, do the memory transfer thing, Mary sucks everyone into the Daze, then hits Saeru with her own Ultimate Persona, crippling him super hard. Then we follow how the anime goes, Saeru gets lobotomised into being Hiyori’s Snake, everyone in the Dan leaves the Daze alive, and they all hang out. The end. Yay. 

Free me.

[thefanficmonster]

Noodles

Emma Langevin x Reader (Female)

Warnings: Swearing

Genre: FLUFF, Humor, RPF (Real Person Fic)

Summary: As a member of the Amigops,  Y/N’s known for many things: for her Among Us skills, for her witty sarcasm, for the crazy make-up looks she’s probably the only one who could pull off...However, now she’s known for two new things due to a lucky coincidence.

Requested by Anon. Hi dear! Thank you so much for your wonderful request darling, I absolutely loved writing the plot and turning it into a full fic. So sorry for the long wait you had to endure but I still hope you come across it and give it a read! If so, I hope you enjoy it! Love, Vy ❤

“So much for a clean kill, I say the knife going into his throat. I saw it!“ If someone is gonna quarrel with the almighty Y/N, of course, it’s gonna be Charlie. Sarcasm fights sarcasm, wit battles wit, snarky comments flying left and right. Seeing as how he’s the only one to openly oppose her, he takes each and every opportunity, sometimes even creates his own just to mess with her.

And, surprisingly enough, it’s successful 9/10 times.

For instance to use as an example to showcase the aforementioned occurrence, we needn’t look any further than the argument they’re currently stirring - Charlie claiming he saw Y/N kill the body that was just reported by her no less.

“What in the name of fuck are you even on about, you weren’t even in the room! The body was there when I walked in!“ She counters his claim with far more fire than he’s offering. That’s the classic sibling dynamic between the two: one is super casual with their side of the argument, while the other is highly heated. “For all I know, you could’ve killed him and vented!“

“There isn’t a vent in that room, sill Y/N/N.“ He chuckles like a smartass while spewing complete nonsense. He hadn’t run into Y/N for the entirety of the game let alone see her commit a kill.

“Yes there fucking is!!!“ She exclaims, face reddening to match her lipstick.

“Hey guys, how about we just skip.“ Corpse interferes, clearly holding back laughter, “I mean..it isn’t going anywhere...“

“Oh, no fucking way!“ Y/N replies before Charlie could even open his mouth, “I’m not gonna pass as possibly-guilty because someone...“

Y/N’s voice is cut off by the sound of the streaming room door creaking open, a figure peering into the room, another female voice now speaking.

“Babe, want noodles?“ The voice, oddly familiar to many of the people in the call and the viewers watching the stream alike, “You haven’t eaten all day, you sound hangry.”

Practically forgetting she’s on camera, Y/N spins in her chair to look at her visitor, aka her girlfriend of about nine months, “Nah hun, I’m not hungry. Thanks for the offer though.”

“Emma is that you?“ Corpse calls out, startling Y/N who is suddenly reminded that people heard this brief but very self-explanatory interaction.

“Oh!“ The voice yelps, a few steps echoing before the person’s full body and face are exposed to the camera lens and are shown for all the viewers to see. “Hi Corpse!“

“Pretty sure he can’t see you, Em.“ Y/N says, rubbing the back of her neck nervously. Her and Emma had been keeping their relationship on the down low since the beginning with the agreement that they would make it public on their one year anniversary. Never did either of them think that the reveal would go down like this. Truth be told, they wanted to make a whole stream dedicated to it but well this can work too probably...

“No, no, I can see her. And I can see your red-ass face too, Y/N.“ He chuckles, “I opened your stream the second you and Charlie started going at it.“

While Y/N’s face is getting even redder, Emma, with little to no care whatsoever, plops down on her girlfriend’s lap seeing as how there are no other seats in the room. “Ohh, that’s what all the yelling was about.”

“Charlie, the raincloud above Y/N’s existence.“ Charlie introduces himself, proudly announcing his role, “Pleasure to meet you.“

“Emma, Y/N’s girlfriend.“ She responds, pinching Y/N’s cheek, “I’d suggest knowing your limit. She’s likely to skin you alive if you catch her at a wrong time.“

“Yeah, I know. Corpse has warned me.“ He replies with a chuckle.

“Of course he did.“ Y/N mutters under her breath in somewhat displeasure of what has been said.

“Well, if not your best friend, who will warn people of how lethal you can be?“ Corpse says in his ‘defense‘ clearly still stifling that laugh from before only stronger this time. “Oh, and speaking of which, how luck am I that two of my best friends are dating!“

“Let me tell ya - hella lucky. You need to thank us and fortunately for you we only accept gratitude in cash form. No credit.“ Emma retorts with a friendly fire much like the one which is common for Y/N. 

“Noted.“ Corpse salutes.

“Yay.“ Y/N says and probably now holds the world record for the least enthusiastic ‘yay‘ in history. Who can blame her though - she wanted a romantic reveal of her relationship with the love of her life and yet she got something worse than if she had ordered it online: she got a relationship reveal over an offer for noodles. Imagine that.

[sinisterexaggerator]

Cad Bane Headcanons Part 4 -  NSFW

While Cad Bane’s hat protects his sensitive eyes from too much light, it is also lightly armored, as well as his breathing suit beneath the armorweave duster and the Nashtah-hide tunic. If you notice, Bane’s metal headplate is ABOVE the skull cap, which means it is not a modification, but perhaps meant to guard his “soft spot” or the injury beneath, which I assume at least his skull was fracture after Boba’s blaster shot was diffused throughout the material shielding him, including his hat – otherwise, he would be dead, just as Boba would have been dead without his helmet, yes? As mentioned previously, I believe he gets massive migraines on occasion and has to go into hiding to ride them out until he feels better or uses some kind of medical aid to deaden the pain.

Cad Bane has binocular vision like that of any human, though his pupils are possibly slits; he is a tetrachromat, seeing beyond the rainbow, colors that weren’t present to other species – he can also see well into the night, along with heat signatures – though he is able to take up a combination of infrared, ultraviolet, and natural light, making him an avid hunter. This is another reason he would never wear a helmet, besides not liking to hide underneath them. Interferes with his expert eyesight.

Cad Bane at one point did a paid job for the Ohnaka Gang, and part of his reward was a “Pirate Speeder Bike” that he has until this day. This idea comes to me from the Cad Bane toy featuring said speeder bike, where there is an explanation on the back of its origin. Quote: “Cad Bane avoids his pursuers on a pirate's speeder bike. The bounty hunter forms a temporary alliance with a pirate gang to further his own selfish interests. When his business with the gang is finished, he takes his leave of the thugs and also takes one of their speeder bikes as part of his payment.”

Cad Bane may have tried to groom Boba Fett to be labeled the “best bounty hunter in the galaxy” so that when he finally took him out his title wouldn’t be in question, as Mace killing Jango didn’t give Bane a fair shot at taking the title from him fair and square. He knew Boba had it in him to be great and wanted to use that to his advantage.

Though Bane in the beginning took jobs from the Empire, later on he refused to work for them because of what happened to Duro ( the Empire stole its resources and forced his people to flee off world ). This makes me think, in connection to the plot of BOBF, that Bane instead took up working for Darth Maul again and Crimson Dawn / The Shadow Collective, as The Pykes were also a part of that group. After Maul died, he worked for Q’ira, as Q’ira had plans of her own to take down Darth Vader and Palps, which I am sure Cad Bane was more than happy to help in that regard considering.

I think Cad Bane hates it when women cry, but more so because he doesn’t like the sound of it and because he doesn’t know what to do in a situation like that. He may yell to make you stop, but of course that doesn’t help. “Yer spinnin’ a loop pastry with all dat whinin’!” “Quit havin’ kittens by de litter! Nothin’s wrong with you!”

In “The Box” arc, Anakin came very close to killing Bane, as he did not have his usual weapons and tricks up his sleeve as they had broken out of jail. He at one point throws his hands up and is about to be murdered by Skywalker when Kenobi as Rako saves his life. He tips his hat to him briefly, and I believe this is also the reason he goes onto save him later from Eval, stating “If you’re gonna kill him, do it like a man.” because an eye for an eye.

Still, Cad Bane has a code of honor. He probably hates the whole Order 66 thing and that the Clone Troopers are killing all the Jedi. It’s dishonorable. He probably thinks Kenobi is dead and that sort of depresses him, because he didn’t get to be the one to kill him.

Bane may very well take on jobs that involve hunting down Inquisitors.

If Boba did kill Bane in BOBF, he went out the way he wanted to go out: Guns Blazing, and with his title in good hands.

Duros have green blood, so therefore their tongues and other body parts should be green/blue, BUT in CW and BB we see Bane with a red tongue, so I am confused about this.

Cad Bane loves being touched, especially along his hands, face, and neck, but he will never admit this and try to hide it. I think they could be erogenous zones somewhat, and he is a little bit of affection/touch/attention starved, mostly by choice as he doesn’t let anyone get close to him – too risky. I like to say his love language is a hand massage, he just doesn’t know it yet. This may also tie into the fact his parents were most likely neglectful and he was made to mostly fend for himself during his time on Duro / New Tayana. He took up bounty hunting because the government screwed the poor folks over, and he didn’t want to work in the factories. Hated the law and criminals equally, most likely. Anyway, he most likely never received proper affection, so it kind of confuses him when he does receive it, and he may try to convince himself he doesn’t care or doesn’t like it, when he actually very much does.

Cad Bane took up his current dress/attire simply to stand out and make a name for himself regardless of him telling Rako Hardeen “I don’t like to stand out.” LIESSS. To an extent he does like to stand out, just not when he’s in the middle of a job. Maybe he got the idea from observing other Outer Rim Gunslinger types, or from watching old holomovies.

That oral fixation he has with the toothpick makes me think he would be an expert at cunnilingus.

I think if he ever starts to “catch feelings” for someone he goes out of his way to avoid them until he can’t stand it anymore and it nearly eats him away inside.

He will very much indirectly answer direct questions in regard to things that involve him having to talk about his feelings. “Do you want me to leave?” “Ain’t nowhere else fer you t’go is der?” “Do you love me?” “I don’t hate you.”

Having any real feelings, being emotional, wanting to share things, all of this makes him SO ANGRY! If he does love you, he’s going to be unhappy about it and take it out on you on purpose. “Kriff woman, why are you so clingy? Mind de hat.” And you can bet your ass he will never do pillow talk/ tell you what he’s really thinking. Again, actions speak louder than words.

To add to that, Bane is a cruel tease to you, while also having a small moral compass that leans in the direction of hating the same things he also likes because he doesn't like feeling things in general.. so “ he hates that he loves you” essentially.

Cad Bane loves hair - it’s soft and luxurious. Down “there’” / everywhere.

Bane is cool with a quickie, or one-night stands, but if he likes you, it’s like chasing a bounty – locked on target  - one track mind kind of guy.

Corey Burton, Bane’s voice actor, once said in an interview: “Bane is a cold-blooded ‘Spaghetti Western’ movie bounty hunter – an unflappable contract mercenary who goes about his assignments with ruthless steely-eyed disregard for the damages inflicted to life and property,” says Burton. “He has a stoic tolerance for pain and Jedi mind-control tricks, and tireless reptilian patience. But he is not a particularly sturdy or athletically powerful creature, relying on mechanical aids and sharply honed wits for endurance and safe survival outside of his native environment. Bane is definitely an all-time favorite for me – from his striking design to his iconic and potent personality. There’s such a playground of speech characteristics in his palette that make him a continuing series of spontaneous discoveries. It feels like a very personal original co-creation I can feel proud to be a part of.”  - This makes me think Bane IS considered officially to be Reptilian.

I assume Bane’s dick, like a reptile, has “spines” or “spicules” though I do not think they are sharp per se, but sort of pliable and that it can feel like getting an inside massage at the same time you are getting railed.

Cad Bane told Rako/Obi “ Something smelled wrong about ya from the start”. which makes me think Cad Bane has a very good sense of smell in general.

[baoshan-sanren]

So thanks to your metas I've finally read SV in like 3 days and now I'm back with a question. Let's say if hypothetically SJ and YQY talked things out and by some miracle SJ wouldn't abuse LBH, do you think that LBH would fall in love with SJ as well given that he'd always thought his Shizun was beautiful, elegant and untouchable. Do you think his feelings would grow into something more with time? I'm living for your takes on blnovels. Thanks in advance

Idk if you can start with SJ not abusing LBH, I think you would have to start with Qiu Jianluo not abusing SJ, or maybe even earlier than that, before he was sold into the Qiu household by human traffickers. To me, there’s no conceivable way where the same SJ who walks away from the carnage at Qiu's Mansion with Wu Yanzi, and later enters the Cang Qiong Mountain, would turn out to be some type of kind and benevolent shizun on par with SY. We don’t get a lot of detailed descriptions of his time with Wu Yanzi, but there is no indication that he enters Cang Qiong Mountain with any intention to give up his festering resentments, regardless of whether YQY can give him a reasonable explanation for never returning or not. 

Look, SJ found himself in the shitty situation in Qiu household because he had been trying to protect YQY. That, on its own, shows he was not yet the heartless villain that the later events would forge him into. But this particular rant of his is also very telling:  

“Of course it’s all your fault! I blame you. We weren’t close with those newcomers, so what if we were stepped on a little? Why did you have to play hero! Are you afraid that people like us with such lowly lives can’t bear it?! If you hadn’t played hero, why would I have helped you? If I hadn’t helped you, how would I have provoked him, and how would that Qiu guy have ended up buying me?! If he hadn’t bought me, how would I have become like this?! Every two days I get beat up a little bit and every three days I get beat up a lot━he plays me like I’m a dog!”

SJ is very young here, but the difference between him and YQY is starkly obvious. MXTX makes use of this dynamic, this clash of personalities, in both SVSSS, MDZS, and TGCF. “Why did you have to play the hero” should be familiar line to readers of MDZS too, and despite some fan opinions, it’s just not... what the so called “good guy” in the narrative would think, let alone say out loud. (Btw, TGCF is the only one of MXTX’s novels in which we see this type of character actually grow and change with time). Right off the bat, we see this very young SJ as someone who only values (and is willing to protect) those of immediate importance to himself, while YQY, as the typical “hero” of the narrative, tries to protect everyone and ends up harming the person he cares about in the process. You will find these two personality types thrust in these types of situations in 90% of danmei (and wuxia/xianxia) stories for a reason. You are supposed to know that YQY will end the tortured hero and SJ will end the blackened villain, the only differences being other related plot lines and their eventual downfall/redemption. (Or in MDZS’s case, absolute stagnation, which flies in the face of typical development for someone like SJ and apparently, confuses a lot of readers as well).

The second part I think is important to mention about that little rant up there is that SJ is already a person who takes no responsibility for his actions. YQY had “acted the hero” so SJ was forced to act as well, therefore his action is YQY’s fault. He is very young at this point, so no one expects him to be a paradigm of magnanimity, but at the same time, he never grows and matures out of this way of thinking. So SJ who enters Cang Qiong Mountain is already proficient at holding resentments and shifting all the blame for his misfortunes to others. At that point, even if YQY had explained how his haste to cultivate quickly had resulted in a qi deviation and the subsequent confinement, there is no indication that SJ would have found him any less guilty for failing to return in a timely manner. (Don't forget that one of the last admonishments SJ gives to YQY before they part is to stop being so brash. YQY doesn’t listen, which results in qi deviation, which results in SJ being stuck in Qiu household for years. It’s unlikely that SJ would find YQY blameless).

However, if you go back further than all the misery and abuse SJ suffered at the hands of Qiu Jianluo and change things (perhaps the human traffickers sell him into a different, better household, etc) then his path would probably diverge too drastically to continue onto the trajectory towards the Cang Qiong Mountain. 

Basically, I see two paths where SJ does not end up the exact heartless scum villain he is in PIDW:

SJ escapes with YQY and they enter Cang Qiong Mountain together. From their earlier relationship, we can infer that SJ is prone to guilt-tripping YQY for his decisions, and seeing himself as the wronged party whenever the situation doesn’t go his way. Would YQY still end up the Sect Leader with SJ by his side? If YQY had never qi deviated and SJ had never started his cultivation so late, would there be a noticeable difference in their skills and strengths? If SJ was more powerful, would YQY not willingly cede the Sect Leader position? And if he didn’t do so, would SJ hold resentment for it? Would the same level of resentment between SJ and LQG still exist? 

YQY manages to go back for SJ before the slaughter at the Qiu Mansion. At that point, SJ had been suffering abuse by Qiu Jianluo for years. Would he blame YQY for not coming for him sooner? For the fact that YQY’s tardiness meant he started cultivating late and may never catch up? If SJ’s resentment is the same and YQY’s guilt is the same, would their relationship be any better? People seem to think that SJ would have held so much gratitude for YQY’s (attempted or otherwise) return that he would wipe the slate clean between them, but this is the same person who had blamed YQY’s heroics for his own situation in the first place. Does that seem like the kind of person who would just... feel so much gratitude to let everything else go? 

And since only that SJ, the one who had lived with Qiu Jianluo’s abuse, who had slaughtered all of Qiu Manor and was further twisted and warped by Wu Yanzi, since that SJ took LBH on as a disciple out of jealousy and resentment and spite, wouldn’t it make more sense that a less villainous SJ would not give LBH a second glance? Rather than being a better shizun, is it not more fitting that he would have allowed LBH to go where he is likely to have gone without SJ’s interference, which is Bai Zhan Peak? 

To me, any possible scenario where SJ (at the moment he is watching potential disciples digging holes) happens to be a better person, is a scenario in which LBH does not become his disciple. 

So no, I don’t see any possible scenario in which LBH falls in love with SJ. I believe that SJ was meant to be seen as flawed from the very beginning, from the moment he had blamed YQY for “playing the hero,” and I can’t imagine any twist of circumstances that would make him similar to the type of person (SY) that LBH would fall in love with. 

[emmys-grimoire]

Lesson 52 analysis + 53 predictions

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

Y’all like my ramblings.

Things guessed correctly from prior lesson

The House of Lamentation was an illusion produced by the fairies

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

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

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

Things guessed wrong

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

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

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

Still ???

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Satan the Memory Thief

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

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

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

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

The chat between Lucifer and Simeon could also be consequential.

“Do you *really* mean that?”

There is a parallel at play here!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Guardian Angels

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

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

Old version.

New version.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Seven Brothers Constellation

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

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

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

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

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

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

Predictions

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

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

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

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

Am I now? Really?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[mittensmorgul]

As Above, So Below

I’m still trying to pinpoint exactly why the focus on “heaven is fixed and actually a paradise now!” is just so deeply unsatisfying to me. And I think I need to preface this with a bit of backstory about me, because I think that gives the rest of this essay some relevant context.

I know this isn’t relevant to my main point here, but this is a metatextual and thematically identical example of the exact thing I’m gonna lay out, because context is always helpful. So please forgive this seemingly irrelevant detour, because I promise it will be relevant by the end.

(plus, would it really be an Essay By Mittens™ without at least one baffling tangent? no, it would not!)

Tangent time!

I think everyone that follows me knows how skeptical I was... or should I say how WARY I was of the way Eileen was returned to the narrative this season. We were warned in the PREVIOUS EPISODE how much Chuck was attempting to interfere in their lives. I was accused of some very nasty things, of hating the ship, or hating the character of Eileen, or of hating Sam and not wanting them to be happy. No amount of pointing at obvious warning signs in the text, no amount of yelling about Sam’s God Wound or the absolute klaxon warning that the wound had become “quiet” and his Chuck-O-Vision Nightmares had apparently stopped seemed to matter. I was declared “wrong” and told to shut up.

And then 15.09 happened, and basically everything I’d been wary of was shown to be what actually happened, but there were still unresolved issues. Eileen doubted her own feelings and walked away. She doubted what was actually real. And at the time, I said many times that I would be thrilled to see those issues resolved by the end of the season, and for her to truly know that what she’d felt growing between her and Sam was real. And by the end of the season, despite my personal horror at her previous situation (and having that personal horror compounded by the fandom literally gaslighting me and attempting to bully me into ignoring this basic actual plot detail of this specific growth process which... in the context of what my personal objection was to accepting her return at face value in the first place having been personal trauma associated with gaslighting and manipulation...) by the time 15.18 aired, I was 100% convinced that Sam and Eileen had fully chosen each other, and felt the traumatic pain Sam suffered during that text conversation with her during the snap. She NEEDED to come back, because she had been set up to be part of Sam’s Win. They were clearly each other’s future.

The show literally put in all the work to make even *me* feel this to be True and Right and Good. And then after that point we never even hear Eileen’s name again. We never were told that she was even returned at the end of 15.19. Sam, who had been so entirely devastated by her disappearance in the previous episode that he couldn’t even process it was apparently hit with an amnesia hammer and just... never even thought about her again through a long greyscale life with a blurry baby Dean factory vaguely in the background of a single scene of his life. I can’t credit or justify how after an entire year invested in making us all truly care about Sam and Eileen and the happiness they found in each other if only the cosmos would allow them to choose each other in the end would just... erase all of that in the series finale.

Which brings me to the second tangent, which is specifically about *me,* and how I feel about the cosmic order in the television show Supernatural. Because I feel a lot about it. Probably more than most people ever did. And this is also important to understanding the main underlying point I need to make here.

Something I’ve been most looking forward to, for YEARS, about Supernatural eventually ending someday was writing a book, or a thesis, or even just organizing and compiling all my observations into a cohesive narrative specifically about the cosmology of the Supernatural universe. I’ve been cobbling together my observations and realizations about the nature of heaven, hell, purgatory, the empty, the alternate universes we’ve seen, and yes, even the cosmic function of the mundane level of the story as told by events that transpired on Earth. So of everyone watching this dumb show for the last 15 years, I don’t actually know anyone who cared more that I did about finding a satisfactory resolution and transformation of every plane of existence-- the mortal world AND the “afterlife realms” we’ve experienced on this show. And in the wake of the finale, I feel cheated out of that. Because in the end, it wasn’t about the triumph of free will and a flip of the script, it was just more of the same.

And now that I have those two preliminaries out of the way, I’ll finally get to the point. :’D

(hooray, it didn’t even take 1k words to get there for once!)

The “main stage” of Supernatural has always been Earth. It’s always been “Humanity.” At the very start, we meet two men whose lives had always been dictated to them by higher powers. At first, that “higher power” was their father who raised them in his vengeance mission, who trained them to hunt the supernatural. It was the inciting incident of the entire series, after all, their realization that forces outside of their control had irrevocably altered the course of their lives. It had forever torn down what they’d trusted in family, in personal safety, and would become something they couldn’t outrun or fight back against for long before another wave of cosmic discord would settle over them once more.

We watched this story play out in ever increasing spheres of cosmic significance, until Gabriel laid it out on the table for them in the simplest possible terms (in 5.08).

GABRIEL: You do not know my family. What you guys call the apocalypse, I used to call Sunday dinner. That's why there's no stopping this, because this isn't about a war. It's about two brothers that loved each other and betrayed each other. You'd think you'd be able to relate. SAM: What are you talking about? GABRIEL: You sorry sons of bitches. Why do you think you two are the vessels? Think about it. Michael, the big brother, loyal to an absent father, and Lucifer, the little brother, rebellious of Daddy's plan. You were born to this, boys. It's your destiny! It was always you! As it is in heaven, so it must be on earth. One brother has to kill the other. DEAN: What the hell are you saying? GABRIEL: Why do you think I've always taken such an interest in you? Because from the moment Dad flipped on the lights around here, we knew it was all gonna end with you. Always. A long pause. SAM and DEAN look down, then at each other. DEAN: No. That's not gonna happen. GABRIEL: I'm sorry. But it is. GABRIEL sighs. GABRIEL: Guys. I wish this were a TV show. Easy answers, endings wrapped up in a bow...but this is real, and it's gonna end bloody for all of us. That's just how it's gotta be. ***

And isn’t that all even 1000x more painfully ironic that it all still happened even 10 years later? It was always going to end with them. And lol, “I wish this were a TV show” because if it was then it wouldn’t have to end bloody.

But this… was a Major Acknowledgement that the meta level of this story was consistent, and was telling us something important. It demonstrated that the Cosmic Structure Itself was the cause for Sam and Dean’s “destiny” in this story. But that’s not what the point of this story has ever been.

Nobody (including me, who is literally obsessed with this aspect of the story) has ever invested themselves in the narrative of Supernatural because they cared about the fate of the cosmic order over and above the fate of the characters who had committed to overthrowing it all, to “tearing up the pages” and writing their own destinies. I mean, we became invested because Sam, Dean, and Cas as characters took us by the hand and invited us to come along with them as they battled against fate for the good of EARTH and HUMANITY.

And certainly, Heaven being a horrific sort of eternal replay of the “highlights” of individual souls greatest hits, where free will didn’t apply as everyone was just boxed away into their individual holodecks to serve as some sort of giant Heaven Battery powering the furtherance of this narrative, this “cosmic order” that had become so powerful it dictated the events and manipulated the lives of people who still existed in the ostensible realm of free will and human life on Earth… that couldn’t stand in the end. But what the narrative (and people I’ve seen attempting to justify the finale as narratively sensible) seems to have forgotten was that all of that was Chuck’s construct to begin with. That without Chuck holding his kingdom in Heaven together, the walls of all those soul cubicles ceased to even be relevant.

After spending their entire lives to this point constantly fighting their way to the absolute pinnacle of the As Above, So Below narrative and pulling the plug on the original creator himself, Humanity should’ve triumphed. And I’d argue that it DID, through Jack restoring the missing essential “humanity” to the divine condition. And, silly me, I thought they’d achieved the promise of “paradise” heralded by Jack’s birth at last, and truly “flipped the entire script of the narrative.”

Ever since they thwarted the original apocalypse, I had hope that they would continue to achieve the same result right up the ladder. Metatron trying to fill the role of Chuck Junior hit his own narrative wall in TFW, while Dean’s battle with the Mark of Cain, and Cain telling him he was “living my life in reverse” and would succumb to destiny by killing his loved ones in the “reverse order” to Cain’s own path to downfall cemented this for me. Dean not only failed to kill any of his loved ones (you didn’t kill your own brother. why?), he SAVED them. He didn’t fulfil the prophecy in reverse, he subverted it. He UNMADE it.

Perhaps I was thinking on too grand a scale, that the ultimate inversion wouldn’t be “God is overthrown and replaced by more of the same,” but “God is overthrown and the entire order of the universe is restructured from the bottom up rather than the top down.

I’d hoped against hope that the conclusion of the narrative would be “As below, so above,” with the fundamental power of human love becoming the new foundation of the cosmic order. It never even occurred to me that “taking back the narrative to rewrite it for ourselves” was not the ultimate goal of Team Free Will, or the ultimate expression of their biggest win.

This whole “well heaven really needed to be rebuilt, there was still work to be done!” seems… irrelevant to me if they’d truly won free of the cosmic narrative. The entire structure of the universe-- including Heaven and Hell-- should’ve defaulted to the paradise state that Jack was literally born to bring to fruition. Wasn’t that the point of his entire role in the story, ultimately?

And if that wasn’t the case in the end, why did we never learn the fate of Hell? Was it just… irrelevant and unchanged after this? Or just… abandoned as a concept entirely? It’s just strange to me to put such a focus on heaven being the sole sphere of import in the end that it undercuts the essential humanity of the narrative for me.

The story itself had kept Heaven on a back burner for years, only occasionally mentioning that the structure of the place was falling further and further into disrepair with a dwindling force of angels struggling to keep the walls in place at all, that it seems like it could’ve been an afterthought at the end of the series rather than a focus so large it required the death of both main characters to make sure we all understood that Heaven Had Changed Now. Because TFW had never been fighting to make Heaven right. They’d been fighting to save the world itself, for humanity to all have a chance to live their lives as their own.

And we didn’t need to see that in the final hope they might get their own lives on Earth to explore. In the end, the fundamental narrative that Life On Earth was dictated by the cosmic structure of creation was never fully subverted. And for me, that’s the main reason I just… can’t accept the finale. It wasn’t a victory of free will and humanity, in the end it was just more of the same.

I appreciate the attempts to take the essential bones of the story we did get and apply a different polish to the surface of the skeleton, but to me it still feels like we’re looking at completely different beasts in the end. Like… to me this was as jarring a revelation as those drawing of modern animals reimagined as dinosaurs entirely based on their skeletons. Like, all along the narrative told me I was looking at a swan. They told me this skeleton they’re building out from is definitely a swan, without a doubt.  I know what a swan looks like-- a graceful feather-covered bird with magnificent wings. I trusted that in the end it would be at least remotely swan-looking. And then the finale ended up looking like this

and I just don’t even know where everything went so wrong. Or maybe all along I just assumed they actually knew what a swan looked like, but weren’t sure they could actually pull it off and settled for whatever the heck this is instead. Either way, I’m actually kinda grateful to the finale for being so entirely disappointing on every level, because otherwise I probably would’ve tried to adopt the monstrosity of it anyway. And I’m really, really glad I don’t have to.

[personasintro]

Hi hello Mimi, because I am so sick of all these insulting anons on my feed, I just wanted to brighten your mood with one of my theories (it is not necessarily a big one, but my sister and I actually talked quiet a lot about the possibility):

Since Haechan appeared in one of the earlier chapters and we got to know yn‘s thoughts about his „new appearance“ as a young adult, we are of the opinion that she will end up with him again. I mean, that does not sound that ridiculous/exceptional and it also wouldn’t hesitate the story by them getting to know each other because they already were in a relationship, so it would not take that long to rebuild their trust for each other (I would actually ship them ngl).

So the story will go on with their relationship etc. and then there will be a meeting or sth like that again with the whole group and they‘ll find out that Haechan is the one Kiko cheated with. But because he doesn’t actually know that Kiko was in a relationship when they did the dirty, he‘ll be quiet comfortable around the group - before the reveal, of course.

These are some other points, why we think our theory is realistic:

- When they first met again in the supermarket, Haechan mentioned his „nice“ friends who told them to bring sth … his friends could be Hobi, Seokjin, Namjoon …

- Also Jeongguk was quiet irritated when Yn stole some dirty looks from Haechan. That’s why I think, he will be really angry that he was Kiko‘s affair and maybe he won‘t even like him as Yn‘s boyfriend.

That’s how we think the story will continue after the come-out:

- There will definitely be a tension between the group, particularly between the 4 lovebirds, but Yn would not break up with Haechan because of the mess Kiko caused, not even for Jeongguk. So the will fight blablabla and probaby not talk to each other. That, however, would lead to them being depressed, sad and angry etc. and Kiko may notice that, which is why she considers to break up with Jk or something. I am not sure about the consequences of the fight Yn and Jk would have, but I think they wouldn’t talk to each other for sure. At least I would like it that way because that means more drama hahaha.

Well, that was our theory and we actually are quiet proud of it, but we also know for sure that you will probably catch us by suprise in a much better way, just like always. We look forward to the drama!!!

Also I have some random questions about the further course of the book and also a personal one (I hope it isn‘t too personal, since I know you like to keep your privacy):

1. Your writing is seriously sooooo amazing and we are so impressed by it. Your skills are genuinely incredible, we‘re so immersed in the story. And because we think your writing is a level too high for wattpad, we wondered if you‘ve ever planned on writing a „real�� book to sell and to become a bestseller? Because it’s not just your writing style, but also your creative and realistic plots. And we are serious when we say that you really take us by surprise in each chapter. We think a lot of people would actually like them so much. At least we would buy any of your books (This was actually the personal one; I hope we didn’t interfere your privacy).

2. You said we are very close to the highlight of the story you are so exited to write about - even before you began to write the story - and you also mentioned that it won‘t be just one chapter but kinda like a chapter-series. Now, will we reach the „beginning of the highlight“ in one of the forty-chapters or more like after/during the fiftieth chapter? If u know, what we mean.

3. Ok, so we know Jeongguk turned 26 during the book and Yn will turn 23 soon. And we actually thought that they got to know each other in school, but i guess not because of the age gap (it is not that much lol, but I am confused because I don‘t know other people in school who know others that are 3 years older or so). My question is if we will ever find out how they became friends. We are sorry if you already explained once on tumblr or if that was already told in the book. We might just overlooked it, but we really don’t know how and when they friendship happened.

4. There’s certainly a tension between Yn and especially on Hobi’s side. We just wanna know, if there is something behind it, because it seems like Hobi is hinting at something? I guess we are just making a big deal out of it hihihi.

5. Is there the slightest chance of Sope happening? I mean Yoongi is bi, wasn‘t he? Or maybe pan, idk? So why not :)

I feel like I forgot something but if I‘ll remember it again, I will write another ask. And I‘ll apologize beforehand if I messed up some scenes. I sometimes forget things.

We’d be very thankful if you’d react to our theory in any kind of way (a simple reaction to it would already be enough; maybe an emoji or gif?) and answer the questions (If u don’t mind and we hope we are not urging you to give us spoilers; these are mostly questions you could shortly answer with a no or yes to avoid spoilers). Sorry for the long ask and if we take away your time :l

Anyway, luv u Mimi <3

Btw we’re leo besties :*

That's very interesting theory actually!👀 not many people have mentioned Haechan being involved in this

1. You've probably seen me answering this question but no, I don't plan on publishing any books. This is just my hobby and honestly, I don't think I'm nowhere near of being a good and big writer to do that!

2. The highlights of this story started ever since NYE trip and the drama, hopefully it'll only get better from now on :)

3. I've answered this too by now (I'm sorry, I know I'm late to answering your asks🥺) and they met when Jimin and Taehyung introduced them. I've never thought of it as being an important information, so I never put that much attention to it.

4. They both didn't get along at the start because they were both protecting their best friends and actually, they're quite similar in that aspect haha

5. Yoongi x Hoseok? That's random!! How did you even come up with this?😬

Since this is an older ask, I've already shared a few spoilers by now so if you'll excuse me, I won't add another one since you guys would probably figure out the whole chapter hahahh

Thank you for your ask and kind words♡

[shihalyfie]

02′s themes in relation to its finale

By “finale” I don’t mean “epilogue”, but rather the final battle and confrontation that make up 02 episodes 48-50. Generally speaking, 02 is a series that is much less about progression of plot events as much as it’s about theme and message, and my feeling is that this becomes increasingly so the deeper you get into its second half and approach its ending. Narratively speaking, we need a big, bad enemy to beat up in a fight, but if we shift our perspective a bit, what does this finale say as a close to 02′s themes and concepts?

The thin boundary between good and evil

Our major enemy for the first half of the series was the Digimon Kaiser, who was later established to be the very naturally kind Ichijouji Ken -- which is a pretty massive swerve, considering that most series with “reformed villains” would usually make them a bit of an edgelord who happens to be a little nicer. But instead, the series goes very deep into the psyche of what could make such a kind child be tipped over the edge, and, even though it’s all revealed to be accelerated by supernatural interference, it’s made very clear that his own trauma and insecurity was most of what did it.

So, anyway, it’s revealed in the end that the “final mastermind” behind it all was none other than Vamdemon, an effective midboss from Adventure. Vamdemon’s popularity aside, this initially seems like a very strange choice. But looking at some statements about 02′s initial planning is somewhat revealing: the original planned concept for the final boss was a Digimon that would ultimately be reduced to only “an idea” (and was rejected on the grounds of being too gory for the Sunday morning kids’ timeslot). When you think about this original concept of “a Digimon that had been reduced to only an idea,” that explains the initially odd-seeming combo of defeating a Digimon with the combined power of idealistic positivity, because it’s a plot point that would certainly make more sense if said Digimon had been reduced to a spirit of malice.

However, the interesting part about this is that the replacement for this original final boss was not Vamdemon but Oikawa and his lackeys, which means that, substantially, the real “final enemy” of this story is actually Oikawa, and the ideological questions he poses for the Chosen Children and those around them. Vamdemon may be the “mastermind” from a plot perspective, but, ironically, his important role is actually to define Oikawa’s narrative -- and, as if to drive this in further, he’s not even voiced by his original voice actor from Adventure (Ohtomo Ryuuzaburou), but Oikawa’s own, Morikawa Toshiyuki (and this voice change is actually pointed out in the series proper, too).

So why Vamdemon and not just a random spirit of malice? Well...

Vamdemon’s presence specifically establishes the precise moment in time Oikawa lost complete control of himself -- and, more widely, establishes the connection between himself as a “Chosen Child who could never become one”. Prior to this episode, we knew that Hida Hiroki’s death and their shared childhood had some relevance to Oikawa’s downfall, but the August 3 “Odaiba fog” incident in 1999 is the exact moment where everything could completely crash down in front of Oikawa’s eyes, with Hida Hiroki having just died, and Oikawa personally witnessing Digimon, the Digital World, and the Chosen Children (and boy, the way this scene is framed with him right next to the waterfront, you might even wonder what he might have done with himself had Vamdemon not interfered...). The Digital World didn’t have a huge amount of contact with the world before then -- in fact, Oikawa not being able to make much contact is a huge part of his character arc -- which basically leaves this as one of the only moments you can have this exact moment of Oikawa being ready to go over the deep end in this way. All of his regrets, of never being able to make proper contact with the Digital World, of Hiroki having died and left him alone, are ready for him in this exact moment -- as his own lackey Archnemon had said earlier, “human weaknesses are easy to manipulate.”

Moreover, of all of the “entities of malice” that made up Adventure’s villains, Vamdemon’s the only one who brought it all the way over to the real world (where the majority of 02′s conflict is set). This brief moment of contact with the real world was established in 02 episode 14 to be the defining moment of “contact” that would lead to Daisuke and Iori becoming Chosen Children. Particularly in the case of Iori, you can see the parallel -- Hiroki’s death and the resulting incident here would shape Iori’s strive to become a model citizen and a hero as a Chosen Child, whereas the exact same incidents shaped Oikawa’s descent into villainy.

Oikawa’s “sacrifice” in the end is not really a sacrifice in terms of sacrificing his life -- it’s said outright that his body is deteriorating, and so he would have died either way. What Oikawa does sacrifice is the ability to take one more step and make proper contact with Pipimon -- it is explicitly stated that he has to use the power of the dream world to grant his wish, meaning that he would never be able to take a proper step into the Digital World as a human, and therefore would never truly be able to have his initial wish granted in the way he originally wanted.

Thus, Oikawa leaves off with one last “regret” -- that, perhaps, if things had been different, he could have been just like the Chosen Children, going on “adventures” like them. But Iori points out right after that he did achieve his dream in some sense -- he got to reunite with the Digital World, and he did get to meet his partner, and so: it’s all about mentality. All of what happened to Oikawa was because of his own closed-in way of seeing himself and his place in the world, instead of being able to move on productively from his perception of what he “could and couldn’t do”.

In the end, Iori, the one who had once been so cold towards the idea of anything remotely associated with evil, is the one to guide him to that answer, and the other Chosen Children, who had previously not been very sympathetic towards him, still grieve over his death because they understand what it means to have a partner, and the sense of loss it would entail to be separated from one. It’s the one commonality they all can understand, and in the end, none of them were really all that different; it was just what they chose to do with what they had.

This is especially because we see extensive flashbacks of Oikawa in 02 episode 47, and his design is that of a completely average adult in 02, nothing like the “look at this instant villain!” design he had during the course of the series. Oikawa was, for all intents and purposes, a completely average person who had dreams that he shared with his friend, dreams that they carried into adulthood -- it took this little to push Oikawa over the edge, and yet the things that did it were the exact same things that, in a different context, Iori took to become a Chosen Child who fought him on the other side.

False happiness and pointless fixations

Tying into Oikawa’s fixation with “regrets” and an unhealthy mentality about his own position, Oikawa blames his inability to go to the Digital World in 02 episode 48 on himself being a “tainted adult”, not recognizing that it’s his own having fallen off the deep end that’s the likely reason he’s being rejected. Oikawa is, effectively, maintaining a fixation on “regrets” and a past he can’t get back; he’s still stuck on the image of his happy childhood playing with Hiroki, and all of the things he “couldn’t do” as a child after having his initial contact with the Digital World cut off. The ending reveals that he had met Pipimon before, and so you can interpret everything he’d done beforehand -- including creating two Digimon that are ultimately his “minions” more than they’re his actual “partners” (and were ultimately ripped away from him by the very same malicious spirit that represents his nihilism) -- as an attempt to reconnect with that partner, even if it resulted in him forgetting his actual purpose.

Beyond that, the Chosen Children themselves are momentarily sidetracked by a “fixation” of sorts --

02 is a series about “accepting things and moving forward”, so each of the illusions presented by BelialVamdemon have to do with a fixation that’s holding each respective kid back:

Takeru’s idea of seeing his family together again might not be completely impossible, but it’s probably not happening anytime soon -- and, as far as 02 episode 17 and 47 showed us, relations are at least improving and everyone else is doing a much better job of actually moving on and accepting the current state of affairs than he is.

Iori’s fixated on the idea of being able to please and be with a father who’s long dead (again, his issue is technically the same one Oikawa’s fixating over).

Hikari’s fixated on a future idea and dream that she wants to see pass, which won’t happen unless she can proactively work towards it now (and the 02 epilogue itself establishes that getting there won’t be all sunshine and roses).

Miyako’s fixated on her surface mood of stress and a desire to escape it, only to be confronted with the fact that it doesn’t actually make her all that happy either.

Ken’s fixated on ideas of “punishment” and “forgiveness” that ultimately won’t get him anywhere.

In the end, the one to avoid it is the most “forward-thinking” of all of them, Daisuke, who’s least likely to get caught up in such fixations. But even he has this to say:

Daisuke understands that not everyone is as simple-minded as him, and that’s not inherently a bad thing -- it’s just that when you need to go forward, you need to go forward (and people who exploit others’ weaknesses against them are still unforgivable jerks). You need to accept that things are the way they are at current, and use the information you get from it to keep moving forward and do something productive with it rather than clinging onto things you can’t have to the point you can’t do anything. Nobody was giving anyone shame for having those internal worries that BelialVamdemon plagued them with -- it’s just that staying in there forever, instead of moving on with important things they had to do, wouldn’t be good for them either.

Hence, that’s what Oikawa actually sacrificed -- he had a choice to use his final moments to spend his remaining short time with his partner that he’d spent so long unconsciously chasing after, but he instead decides to do something to help the Digital World and reverse some of the damage he’d personally caused instead of continuing to fixate on that regret. At the very least, he can continue to be with Pipimon in some other sense, even if it’s not what he originally wanted.

The pressure to be a “perfect person” as imposed by society; the conflict between that and pursuing one’s own happiness

In the last section, I mentioned that Oikawa was the kind of person who fixated on regrets about what he “couldn’t do” during his childhood. You can identify a bit of what was leading up to this in the prior episodes:

We learn in 02 episode 47 that Iori’s grandfather Chikara made the mistake of barring Hiroki and Oikawa from getting too deep into their connection with the Digital World, considering it “nonsense”, which led to the two of them becoming disconnected from it and continuing to wistfully chase after it -- which also led to Oikawa being driven further over the deep end when Hiroki, the only person who understood that, died.

Moreover, Oikawa ended up developing a complex not entirely unlike the Kaiser’s fixation with being a “perfect” person in the first half -- and, just like how he blames his inability to enter the Digital World on being a “tainted adult”, he fails to have the self-awareness that it’s this exact nihilism keeping him out of it, taking even further offense at the idea of him being a “tainted existence” (because of what he’s embracing) and deciding that his reaction needs to be sinking even deeper into it. And while he implants the Dark Seeds into the children with the intent of exploiting their power, he also indicates that he thinks he’s doing them a favor by enabling that ideology of “becoming a perfect person” within them.

Remembering that the final battle in this series is not necessarily about the physical fight as much as it’s about the ideology that Oikawa espoused, in the end, what Oikawa really “implanted” in these kids along with the Dark Seeds was the pressure that they should sacrifice their happiness to be “perfect” people. The Chosen Children reach out to them by asking about their dreams, and the children list off careers that have certainly gotten their parents scorning them for not being “good enough” for them, or gotten them mocked by other people (Hiroshi says that he gave up on his manga artist dreams because people laughed at him for it). In the end, “the pressure to be ambitious” is pressure in itself -- what if what you really want isn’t ambitious as much as it’s something that makes you and others happy (like, for instance, ramen making)? And especially when you’re a child -- shouldn’t this be the time when you enjoy yourself to the fullest?

This is even alluded to in Ken’s Spring 2003 track, in terms of how he and Osamu weren’t able to enjoy their childhood because of that pressure:

You were demanded to grow up fast, weren’t you, Brother? Because we were always being evaluated and compared by someone, we didn’t get a chance to have more freedom. We didn’t have any chances to run down an alley because we felt like it, or pull up weeds, or tumble around… meaningless things, things that didn’t bring any value to us at all. Just like the cat napping on the roof… we weren’t able to fully enjoy any everlasting freedom.

Like Ken and Osamu, the Dark Seed children accepted the Seeds because they decided that it would be better to trade in their happiness in exchange for getting closer to that ideal of “perfection”, only to destroy their own selves in the process. Which is accentuated when acknowledging their own selves is what leads to them meeting their own Digimon partners.

Takeru had said, earlier, that the Digimon will appear if you wish them to -- and given that a Digimon partner is a metaphor for the inner self, it says a lot that the point here is “the key to connecting with your partner is to connect with your actual self”. Like how Ken managed to reunite with Wormmon in 02 episode 23 by accepting everything about himself and resolving to live with it, and how Oikawa will later meet Pipimon after having come to terms with what he was actually looking for the entire time.

And in the end, what we see of Vamdemon isn’t really all that different from the original “reduced to an idea” concept we got from the original 02 final boss concept -- remember that BelialVamdemon has effectively become the incarnation of Oikawa’s own nihilistic ideology; perhaps he took on a lot more than just a voice actor! Actually, the whole sequence in 02 episode 50 with everyone listing off their dreams and destroying BelialVamdemon part by part is relatively similar in substance to the original proposal (the staff must have been really attached to that idea). And, hence, why what destroys him for good is the combined feelings of everyone together, resolving to move forward instead of chasing after meaningless things.

Oikawa ultimately recognizes that what was holding him back was his own mentality -- everyone here, Ken, the Dark Seed children, and Oikawa himself, all thought they were becoming “strong” and “perfect” people by ignoring them, but instead ended up as pawns for others, and all of these people could have found better ways to cope with their problems through embracing themselves and finding support, and would have come closer to those “dreams” while they were at it. Instead, Oikawa exploited others and clung onto shallow symbols because he thought that kind of straightforward idealism was an impossible route for him, and locked himself out of all of it. But in the end, he’s able to do something -- he’s able to use his “dreams” to have the Digital World healed -- and with that, is able to have his last moments in happiness.

Incidentally, back in 02 episode 49, Daisuke had even outright said that there’s no inherent issue in striving for self-improvement (after all, both Adventure and 02 were about people slowly getting past their insecurities and becoming better people). Daisuke himself is a person who’s improved a lot over the course of this series! But that’s something you need to do on your own terms and in a way you’re comfortable with -- not forcing yourself into the mold of an “ideal person” at the expense of losing everything about yourself, like Ken, the Dark Seed children, and Oikawa all did at some point.