#padpa and rutile you are the only ever

[lenateliier]

I think they're breaching the ethical standards for doctor-patient relationships?

[rin-chan32]

I feel like the thing that hurts the most about this chapter isn’t the fact that everything is all fine and dandy — it’s everyone’s relationship with Phos.

Like everyone else couldn’t care less of what happens to them. Phos could be close to death and I bet everyone would start celebrating and popping fireworks. But the people who were closest with Phos (I.E., Cinnabar, Antarcticite, and Euclase) were the people who shared some shed of emotion towards them.

For example, Cinnabar looking back at the moon and having so many conflicting feelings about Phos being on earth and not being there.

And then there’s Euclase, who is the only one who shows concern for Phosphophyllite in any way shape or form. It’s the fact that they acknowledge their struggle of wanting to be someone and to be acknowledged by everyone else. Euclase watched them grow and morph into what they are now because of that. The way that they’re so worried about their well-being even as the other gems are lurking and doesn’t care about them.

And it’s even if it’s the tiniest thing ever, it’s the fact that Antarcticite was openingly willing to forgive them for everything. After everything we’ve seen in the last couple of chapters— how Phos was treated, how everyone turned their backs on them, and knowing that no one would be willing to give them an ounce of forgiveness— Antarc is probably the minority who is willing to forgive them. Especially since Antarcticite is such an important figure to Phosphophyllite in so many ways, this gesture just means so so much.

I might be over reading these gestures due to the fact that I’m craving for content after almost 2 years of hiatus. But whether or not I’m on the head or stretching too far, I know that these 3 are the real ones, my god. I dunno what Ichikawa will do in the later chapters, but I can guarantee you that Euc, Cinnabar, and Antarc will be the driving force in what happens to Phos’ fate. I wouldn’t be surprised if Padpa is included in that group as well.

P.S- Am I the only person whose surprised that Rutile is a therapist? The last time we saw them they were absolutely feral and obviously not mentally stable in any way shape or form. Obviously, 10,000 years has past and something could’ve happened between now and then. It also could’ve been the fact that I don’t recognize anyone anymore and assumed this was Fluorite or someone else.

[industria-adastra]

Thoughts on chapter 96 of Houseki no Kuni

Haruko Ichikawa owes me a new heart. This one just up and crumpled from despair from the soul-crushingly depressing new chapter.

A more detailed list of thoughts under the cut (because there were a lot + spoilers I guess):

Back to the moon once more. I feel like it's necessary to know how the gems are adapting to Lunarian life (the answer being surprisingly fast for a race that was previously hunted down on the regular by the same beings they now are), but I really wanna know what Phos is watching as they suffer for 10,000 years.

I'm surprised Cairngorm/Welegato is so buddy-buddy with Antarcticite and Cinnabar...until I remember that in actuality, while a hard pill to swallow, Phos probably cared more about them than they did them, in the end. Antarcticite especially: Their loyalty/love was always towards Sensei/Adamant first. Their bond with Phos was, while meaningful, not as strong as their bond towards Adamant. After all, it was really only for one winter.

I sure hope Aechmea's dumb plan to make another prayer machine shoots him in the foot. Because cultivating hatred and vengeance in the person you want to pray for you into nothingness sounds like the worst idea ever. Because as they equate nothingness as their salvation, will someone who hates you so desperately even pray sincerely for you?

Also, their plan to keep Phos in total isolation is a new level of scummy. Also forcibly transforming both new Lustrous and Admirabilis is just- No. Just, no. The new Lustrous wouldn't even have any say over this (much like the previously moon-napped moon-dust gems), and the Admirabilis are perfectly fine without immortality the Lunarian way. Don't drag them. (Also wasn't this what everyone and their mom accused Phos of? Dragging people into things without real consideration? And here you are, doing the same.)

Welegato/Cairngorm, while understandable and no less of a victim of Scummea, still made active choices to be completely unempathetic towards Phos' suffering. So yeah screw them. You can be happy for all the happiness they gave you because you didn't really have to suffer any of the work required to get that happiness.

Honestly surprised there's like a "no biggie" thing between Ghost and Cairn because there was like a big ol' unresolved thing(TM) between them but...maybe Cairgorm's whole name change and their new identity as moon princess solved that individuality issue they had going on and their beef with Ghost? Maybe?

Man, I sure wonder if everyone's similarity/how hard it is to differentiate between them correlates to loss of individuality or something. I dunno might just be an art style upgrade.

Cinnabar wrestling with that guilt but ultimately sort of just accepting their newfound happiness is very bittersweet. Understandable but makes me no less mad. Euclase as well kinda just goes "Poor guy". I'm not sure if they'll really do anything about it.

Antarc, I believed in you. 95 ended with them asking about Phos and 96 started with them being completely ok with Phos having a nice trauma-dumping session from Sensei's eye.

Were Sensei and Aechmea in cahoots the whole time because if they were it leaves a really bad taste in my mouth.

Yellow Diamond has dementia. Becoming a Lunarian has not fixed anything for them. They are not ok.

Padpa...I wonder if they'll be the one to look for Phos? Likely not but I'm just hoping at least one person checks up on Phos out of genuine concern. Because Padpa being lifeless is pretty interesting. Or maybe it's their way of signaling to Rutile that they're really just not into the relationship or existing at all.

Rutile is a therapist. Good for them I guess.

Yes Euclase, baby Phos had issues. I sure do wonder where those issues came from huh.

Adamant better have a good reason for leaving Phos to their 10,000 year suffering. Although I do wonder that, as much as Sensei is decidedly loving and caring towards the Lustrous, are they still limited in understanding Phos' problems/the problem of the whole 10,000 years in isolation/banking on one mentally unstable individual to sincerely pray for the salvation of everyone.

Is the praying for one going to lead to a chain reaction to everyone being prayed away or was that just Aechmea being the moon's most unreliable narrator/source of info.

Dia and Bortz still haven't reconciled I think? Diamond seems to be completely fine with acting like they didn't have a massive freaking violent meltdown thing earlier on. Interesting that Bortz is keeping themselves in the dark though.

Will the Admirabilis's bond with Phos and the whole ice floes things ever be brought up? Will Phos get to interact once more with the race that is the most decidedly human out of all three? Ichikwaw I am begging you to let Phos keep one good relationship.

If this manga ends with Aechmea winning/being able to go away scot-free without repercussions I am going to cry. In rage.

Phos should get to die. Like just seriously die and rest. Or maybe reincarnate into a happier existence. I am tired of the suffering. It's hard to think how they'll achieve peace any other way. Unless they live out a nice existence with the mortal Admirabilis? Kinda like Jellyfish enthusiast Bort.

[kaworusboy]

"Cinnabar. At long last, I finally have a job for you."

houseki no kuni swap au one shot ^o^

this is mostly self indulgent (like everything i do) but i figured i should at least put a note on who is who and what the swaps are although im sure you can easily figure that out from reading this

they're all (mostly) the main ships so it's not that hard to figure it out

cinnabar —> phos

phos —> cinnabar

rutile —> padpa

padpa —> rutile

the last two don't really make that much of a difference to the story, but just thought it was worth mentioning aha + also other characters got swappity swapped as well

btw, the swaps aren't just character wise. everyone will be acting ooc

i.

A soft wind blew the crimson red bangs out of Cinnabar's face as two figures, one with pink hair and the other grey, ran past them, only to stop and turn around towards the brunette.

"Oh, Cinnabar. You're there," said Morganite, a meek smile on their face. Goshenite had one hand on their hip as they eyed Cinnabar who was sitting in the grass, some pieces of grass stuck on their hair.

"Sensei called for you."

"Huh?"

"Heh, it's probably a new job offer or something. You might wanna check that out, laters." Goshenite waved at Cinnabar, before continuing to run across the field, leaving Cinnabar to their own thoughts.

The mercury all around them shone silver in the almost blinding sunlight, moving according to their emotions.

Right now, Cinnabar is excited.

ii.

"At long last, I have a job for you. And that job is to make this boring ass encyclopedia or whatever you call it. I don't even know half of what's going on! How the heck am I supposed to write an ENCYCLEPOD??!"

"Yes..." Neptunite said, tone flatter than their chest.

Cinnabar huffed, finally seeming like they'd finish their hour long rant. "Now, Nepti-kun, I do believe your room is right next to Phos'?"

The purple haired gem buried their face into their hands. "We're one hour in and you choose to ask that just now. Imagine how much time I could've saved. I have a life to live, you now."

"Aren't we immortal? You have all the time in the world." Cinnabar deadpanned.

"Yes, but I also have places to go."

Clicking their tongue, Cinnabar scoffed. "Whatever, whatever. Just show me to Phos."

"Well, I didn't know I was your personal servant."

iii.

Phos' room was nothing like what Cinnabar had ever expected. The whole place was covered in... gold liquid? They flashed a look at their mercury, which floated close towards them, then back at the liquid in Phos' room.

"That one can't control the alloy, you know."

"What do you mean?" Cinnabar raised an eyebrow.

Neptunite sighed. "Well, you know how you used to lose control over your mercury and end up poisoning all the greenery?"

"And what about that?"

The purple gem shook their head. "This is like that, but instead of mercury, it's gold alloy. Phos tends to lose control."

"Wasn't... Actually, nevermind."

"Spit it out, now that you've started."

"Uhm. I just thought that... didn't everyone used to talk about how good a fighter Phos is? Or was?"

Neptunite paused.

"Yeah. They were a good fighter. But after losing Antarc, that all changed."

"Antarc..."

"Phos kept blaming themselves for the loss of Antarc. As a result they have become mentally unstable. I suggest you don't go near them, but if there's anyone who would know about the life here, it would be them."

"Were they that lonely, spending all that time alone that they just know everything from watching them out of pure boredom?"

"Perhaps. Maybe all those winter patrols weren't for nothing."

iv.

The first time Cinnabar met Phos, was with the latter's back turned towards them.

Mint-green hair. Golden arms. Striped legs. This has gotta be the all too infamous Phosphophyllite-senpai Cinnabar had heard of. But never actually met, until just now, that is.

"I know you're there."

"Meep."

Cinnabar almost jumped from the sudden callout, and stood up from their crouching position.

"Cinnabar, right? I've heard all about you. What do you want?"

The red gem took a few steps closer, admiring how the wind blew Phos' hair, and the way it looked almost magical. They clutched the clipboard in their hand.

"Actually, I was wondering if..."

Neptunite's words echoed in Cinnabar's mind.

"...if you feel lonely, being all alone like this."

Phos seemed startled at this, and Cinnabar could see the older gem slowly turn their head towards them. "What do you mean?"

The mercury floating around Cinnabar had started to slowly lose control. Their shapes started becoming random, but Cinnabar kept everything together. They didn't want to poison all the grass and flowers and little creatures again.

They gingerly set down the clipboard in their hands on the dewy grass, before walking towards Phos and stopping when they were right next to the mint green gem.

"Aren't you scared of me?" said Phos, voice lowering down a bit. Cinnabar simply shook their head.

"No, senpai. It's okay. I understand what it feels like, when everyone else is scared of you. But I'm not. I understand how it feels... to... to be feared."

Phos looked down at their alloy hands. Memories of stabbing their fellow gems with sharp, out-of-control golden alloy hit them like a wave.

"Cinnabar... I—"

"Actually, now that I'm here, can I ask you something?"

"S-sure, what is it?"

Cinnabar mentally prepared themself, before letting out all the questions they had about the species inhabiting this small, small island they were on. The first, but not actual reason they came to visit Phos.

The older gem held back their tongue from what they originally wanted to say, and patiently listened to every single one of the younger's questions while giving clear and easy to understand answers.

v.

"How did talking to Phos go?" Padparadscha asked with a quizzical look, one arm over their eyes as they laid on the infirmary floor.

"Great! They were a surprisingly good listener. I was flabbergasted." Cinnabar looked down at the pages full of scribbling and writing thanks to Phos' very, very informative infodumps, as per Cinnabar's request.

They looked over at the wooden box right next to Padparadscha, and the line of gems skillfully shaped so that it would fit holes in a torso.

"You're sleeping already? Usually you'd still be up and about, working on Rutile."

Padparadscha let out a soft sigh. "Yeah, well, I've been so tired these past few days, what with the constant accidents here and there." They paused to yawn. "If you need me, just wake me up."

"Okay. Goodnight, senpai."

"Mhm."

A warm smile found itself onto Cinnabar's face as they looked down at the clipboard once again.

[nyahuaisang]

its just so frustrating because corn gets this perfect princess identity where they dont have to make a single difficult choice handed to them under the guise that they chose that identity themselves, whereas phos is forced into this role of reponsibility where they have to shoulder the burden of all the lunarians and the gems(and hell at one point whether to kill the entire admirabili race or not), and the responsibility of praying them all aeay in the future, and thats only after they sot through the 10k yrs of watching the downfall of humanity and gaining sensei's powers. I'm sorry, this is just too unfair. Corn gets to be the all important gem representative that unites with the lunarian representative and all the bad things that comes from the entire situation falls on phos and phos alone.

Also sorry but none of the gems really gets to be mad at phos now, they fulfilled everyone's wishes, getting cinnabar a job and helping them make friends, finding something for dia to excel at, restoring all the dusted gems, curing padpa(a huge fuck you to you, rutile), freeing sensei from his limitations, and reuniting everyone. Phos got everyone what they promised they would and forgwt not being mad at them, everyone should be feeling fucking guilty and groveling at phosl feet rn. YALL ABUSED/NEGLECTED PHOS FOR BEING WEAK AND THEN BEING SUS BUT NOW YOU HAVE EVERYTHING YOUVE EVER WANTED BECAUSE THEY CONTINUED TO PUSH ON. FOR YOU. SO WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE.

[daireannx]

Vampire Prompt

Pad to Rut

"You smell too enticing to pass up"

(I hope you have fun with it!)

Okay but what if BOTH are vampires? Also I have no idea how people flirt

Vampire Starters

-

Rutile ignored the sounds of their partner approaching and leaning over the back of the sofa, instead they tried to focus on the book in their hands. To be honest, it was impossible to ignore Padparadscha’s over-exaggerated sniffing sounds.

“Will you stop that? I’m trying to read something.”

“Awww, but you smell too enticing to pass up, I fear.” their partner whispered.

“Yeaaaaah no, I’m not really into cannibalism, you know~” Rutile closed their book and turned around to face Padparadscha.

“Eh? Waddya talking about, Ruuuuti? I’m just trying to flirt with you, isn’t that obvious?” Padpa pouted.

“In what century did vampires flirt like that? The stone age?” Rutile grinned sarcastically in return, their fangs showing lightly.

“Ey, I’m not THAT old!”

“For the record, you turned me in 1349 and even then I’ve never heard another vampire flirt like that before. Although, now that I think about it, even back then, you were a TERRIBLE flirter! How did I even fall for you?”

Padparadscha shrugged, “I’m hot~”

Rutile laughed in response.

“That’s probably the only thing you have to offer. Now, If you’d excuse me, I’m going out. Grabbing something to bite~”

With that Rutile quickly got up, vanishing out the door.

“Almost 700 years and you’re still as cocky as ever~” Padparadscha grinned, plopping down onto the couch to take a nap until their partner would come back.

[houseki-no-suffering]

Pssst.... gush about some thing you’ve wanted to for so long but haven’t found the ask to do so! I really like reading your metas or off-the-wall posts.

aw ty!

mmmh usually i just crank out a random meta when i feel like it, which i havent had the energy to do in a while. so have a lot of hcs about gem language, gem society and how it resembles a totalitarian system cause why not, this is already a dystopia. 

goes from cute to shady real quick, have fun

Gem Vocabulary

gems have no gender, they dont age, they dont reproduce. the whole vocabulary about relationships, aging and sex must be completely different in gem language. they probably lack a lot of words we commonly use, and have unique words for things we dont have (like winter duty, patrol duty... i wouldnt be surprised if gem language had unique grammatical features for those)

this is one of the reasons why its so unfair of aechmea to call cairn ‘wife’ and ‘princess.’ the gems have no concept of wife-ness, we dont know if a gem equivalent of marriage exists, but its definitely much, much different from what the lunarians (and us) perceive as one.

do gems have anything akin coming of age? this could be weird bc gems can potentially live forever, but they can also be abducted by the lunarians at any time, so who’s to say how long a lustrous will live? how do you calculate being ‘of age’? is it by calculating the average life-span of a gem? 

how do they measure time and seasons? we know they have winter and summer and phos mentions ‘spring’ in chapter 20, but what about months and lunar phases? do they have words for that or are months just too small a timeframe for the immortal lustrous to utilize? how do they measure time? in hours and seconds? weeks? different units altogether?

Gem Relationships

similarly, gem relationships are codified in a completely different way. we know they have a concept of romance bc dia ships phos and shinsha and makes comments here and there about other gems being in love. 

at the same time, the relationships btw alexandrite and chrysoberyl, padpa and rutile, ghost/cairn and lapis etc are little different from ‘pure’ sibling/sibling relationships or senpai/kohai relationships.

this is not to say that they’re all romantic in nature, but the way they’re codified in canon (especially in the way the characters grief for their partner) makes me think that even if the gems have no blood/physical kinship with one another they have a very articulated system of establishing family bonds.

dia and bort are clearly siblings, but the same can’t be said, for example, for rutile and padpa, even if they were partners and even if they display a similar junior/senior relationship. this means that relationships are predicated on something else in hnk, and kinship, family and romance are all codified in a different way.

think of vulcans in star trek: physical contact such as two fingers touching, holding hands and kissing is unknown of (save for very specific circumstances). and vulcan people have a completely different way of expressing intimacy and romance than humans. 

this makes me think: just how many canonically romantic relationships are there in hnk (if any) that we’re simply unaware of bc the way gems codify and express romance is so different from ours? is romance even common? rare? perceived as weird? useless? 

what about other relationships? the gems use ‘little brother/ older brother’ but what if this is just japanese approximations? what kind of relationships can lustrous language really express and how different are they from ours?

Imagination

as @ruddy-rutile​ pointed out some time ago, the gems lack a concept of fantasy. thats why i posted that panel about alex’s original lunarian designs. sure, it’s funny, but it also makes you think: these gems are not raised to think outside the box and they can do it without being told so only under exceptional circumstances.

of the vast library of texts that ghost (and lapis) used to take care of, just how many are novels and fiction? none of them? a small amount? a decent amount? in a society thats as focused on practicality, efficiency and conservatism as the lustrous’, how is fiction perceived if perceived at all? 

is there art? red beryl’s craft comes very close to art when they express their feelings about ‘fashion for fashion’s sake,’ but it’s an exception that the other gems find hard to grasp.

phos is often told to stop fantasizing about the world and get things done, the only tale we know the gems are told is the actual story of how their world came to be. the gems always talk about real things, stuff that happened, and make and do things that have a practical use. 

even bort’s jellyfish diary is just made up of a recollection of what happened when they tried to feed them. still, the fact that bort names the jellyfish makes you think that these rocks do have potential for fantasy, theyre just not used to it

Totalitarianism and Privacy

to make this even more shady, here’s your gentle reminder that:

- gems’ rooms have no doors. the only door ive been able to find is the one in shinsha’s room (ch 2) and that is because shinsha’s room is closed off to other people and full of mercury. its like putting a patch on smth you dont want to deal with (much like shinsha’s whole character arc tbh)

- the gems have little to no free time. or their free time can be revoked any time in case an emergency occurs, sensei is napping etc. the gems’ time is rigorously managed by jade, euc and sensei. each gem has a place to be and a time to be.

this means that a missing gem can be found at all times and slackers can be identified very easily. they all have a job and they have to follow it. this is not to say that they have no fun ever, but leisure time is rare and (at least as far as we know) its not contemplated when tasks are assigned each day.

the mere fact that there is a morning assembly and tasks are assigned each day makes you think. is this communism? is this totalitarianism? but most importantly, is this a scary dystopia that hits you in the face like a brick the third time you reread ch 2?   

- sameness > equality. i already went over this in the past. gems society underlines sameness and conformity over anything else. the gems think theyre equal but theyre actually ‘similar.’

a system based on equality emphasizes differences so that every individual can do the best with what they have got and get back what they need, according to their personal needs. 

these gems emphasize sameness: everyone is upheld to the same standards, even when those standards dont match with a gem’s unique characteristics (ie phos cannot be a fighter, no reason to keep saying stuff like ‘if only you were stronger/you’re useless’ etc. they’re a rock with an imagination in a world where dull reality is the rule. just make them write theater plays and play with slugs with shinsha, wth)

It’s real 1984 hours:

all of the above means that:

- your sense of self is subordinated to the group. if you dont belong you’re simply a nothing. at times, the gems almost display a collective consciousness (a pretty hostile one too): everything must be decided together and done together

- you are what you do. gems identify completely with their job. thats why a job is so important, thats why this system is so fucked up. self worth is not inherent, it depends on what you can do. talk about a breeding ground for mental health issues 

- you dont have a saying in picking your career or deciding for you future. thats up to sensei (and maybe euc and jade). unless you have a very strong affinity with a certain task (like red beryl and alex)

- youre expected to follow orders all the damn time. no matter how much sensei wants his gems to exert free will, they still prefer to do what theyre told. ill admit, its much easier than taking your life in your hands and decide what youre gonna do with it, but damn if it isnt depressing. and childish

- euclase and sensei are the authority. sensei and euc are the powers that be. in the sense that they assign tasks, they decide on times and battle plans, on purpose etc. lets not forget that euc was the one to take on sensei’s role after he ‘resigned.’ 

i wonder what would happen if euc were abducted and the gems had no one to follow anymore, no orders. who’d be the new leader? would there be one? lets not forget that no matter how gentle euc is, phos is shit scared of them.

- thought police is a thing. to end this meta on what is probably the shadiest note: surveillance is a thing. the gems report on each other, it’s thought police, no sugarcoating this. 

there’s no privacy, no secrets. even antarc reads rutile’s diary. this goes from cute and childish (’you did this one wrong thing, im gonna tell sensei’) to absolutely fucked up (’you did this one wrong thing, im gonna tell sensei’)

[ririnpoga]

Rules: list the 1st 10 lines of your last 10 stories, see if there are any patterns, and pick a fave.

1. Kay stared at the blinding, glowing lights of the night. Each one of them illuminated her own path to glory and happiness, gloved hands slowly arranging her scarf over her mouth as she gave a faint, weak smile under it, cold wind blowing across warm skin. Even if it felt weird at the beginning, Kay has kind of got used to doing her job alone, but... 2. ‘’Hey, birdboy!’’ A grin was clearly visible on the blonde’s face the first time they met already, along the disgusting smell of blood and the uneasy darkness of the alley. Still, her own looks and voice were able to break through all of that, and he recalled her words at that exact moment perfectly ‘’don’t you ever get tired of being nice? Sometimes, don’t you just wanna go apeshit?’’ 3. Dream held a smirk on his face as he walked down the school corridor, other sexymen’s staring at him with envy, disgust, fully aware they were all now left in the past. He was now on the top of the sexymen food chain, having surpassed the legends of Bill, Sans and Onceler on just a few months. (I HATE THIS ONE TOO OK) 4. The sun rays welcomed the three of them to another day, Padpa grumbling something that, honestly? Didn’t matter for any of them as Rutile sighed, slowly trying to roll off the mess that Padpa’s hair was. Another day, another time having to somehow awake the two idiots that for some god forsaken reason they had to fell in love with. 5. Dabi quickly spiked up to the screams of two of his recently adopted children, eyes widening as Hawks snored. If it was of any help to him, he could clearly tell it wasn’t Toga because he recognized her screams from years on the league, but it also brought panic knowing it wasn’t her at all. 6. ‘’Wow, we’re finally here, huh? Dashcon?’’ 7. Keigo grunted as his eyes slowly stared at the clock, hands trembling with the fact he had passed another day fully awake and without sleep while trying to achieve his old goal. At this point he was fairly sure he could go to jail just based on all the sleepless pills he had taken, but considering the fact he was trying to bring back a dead person to life, he doesn’t think taking sleepless pills would be his worst crime. 8. ‘’What the fuck do you mean Miku isn’t at school today?!’’ 9. ‘’You really are an idiot for falling in love with some weird guy called Phoenix, huh?’’ Miles could only nod at his sister, fully aware he was, in her words, a foolish fool. 10. ‘’Why is your fursuit in my room.’’ I don’t have a pattern. At A L L ;D send help I think if I could point out something is uh... Ig most of my crack stuff starts with only a SINGLE dialogue line and nothing else? But then I know I have crack stuff that breaks this rule so uh h hhh h I also like lights apparently ngl. I’d maybe say that I enjoy using ambience to settle the tone of a story but idk??????????? help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! we dont talk about the tumblr sexymen fanfic My favourite rn is 100% the first one because I’m biased on ship hyperfixation and also because I like the mix of what could be calm ambience with somewhat melancholic thoughts heehee hahaa hlep also listen the moment i write a *but* somewhere u can be sure that the character is not doing well theyre prob dying inside ok send help to them too I’m tagging @peachygos because again only person i talk to here :))))))))))))) Thank you @soysaucemachine for tagging me!!!!!!!!!!

[juwelenstaat]

a take on euclase -- post ch. 81

a long meta that kind of debates a lot of what the fandom seems to have reached an agreement on (also titled : Why Euclase Has Always Been ‘Good’)

I guess I’ll preface this by saying I’ve always been very subjective in my view of Euclase ; in the beginning, I wasn’t crazy about their character design or role, by chapter 60 I had come to really dislike and distrust them, and as soon as the night raid chapter hit, I’ve been absolutely in love with them. Now, having reread the full manga several times, I’m to the point where I have a hard time disliking Euclase at any point (even during the chapter 60 “it’s late ; go to bed” sequence). 

A lot of meta posts that I’ve read that focus on Euclase really like to highlight their “shady” characteristics : they don’t patrol and are rather removed from harm by the Lunarians, they are analytical (and we’ve already seen the shadiness of Lapis’s analytical nature), they are so group-oriented that they are willing to overlook pressing issues for the sake of harmony, and they’ve confessed a striking fear of change. The fear of change is something that I often see coupled with their job’s lack of imminent danger : Euclase is situated in a position in society where they’ve been rewarded for an inherent ability, and it’s comfortable for them to allow society to maintain a constant for personal reasons. However, I can’t help but think there’s a little more to Euclase’s personality than a selfish drive for selflessness.

For someone who is often characterized by the fandom as taking a safe job that allows them to manipulate things without having to take credit, Euclase is characterized early on (chapter four early on) to be selfless. At the moment Phos is put into danger, Euc is fully prepared to run blindly into a fight that, as far as we know, has never had a similar encounter in all of gem history. They even do so before Diamond or Bort do so. If we take the stance that Euclase is at least partially aware of the mortality of gems (through their analytical stance on dates, they would at least understand that there is no coming back from the moon), then it’s hard to deny that Euclase is willing to take major risks on behalf of others.

Even so, a few chapters later, we’re told very explicitly by Euclase themself that they envy living creature’s ability to sense danger. They are afraid of unknown variables, they are afraid that their predictions could prove inaccurate and hurt themself or other gems, and they seem to hold a sadness in them that is very characteristic of the older gems. They hold an insecurity about their brittleness : knowing fully well that the limits of their immortality does not grant them the instincts that come with mortality. 

When you put these two very raw instances of character side by side, I think it’s very easy to understand why the majority of gem society loved Euclase as a “kind, kind” elder. They might not be as beloved as Yellow, Padpa, or Alex, but even characters like Rutile and Jade seem to acknowledge Euclase as “kind.” They confront a very real fear with both wisdom and genuine kindness.

(Most of this, if we’re honest with ourselves, is absolutely on par with Lapis Lazuli’s own history. The main difference between these two foils, however, is that Lapis always wanted to act while Euclase always wanted to wait. Lapis sees their weakness as an opportunity for improvement, and Euclase wants to hide it. Lapis sees gem society as a test ; Euclase sees gem society as something to preserve. Lapis valued progress ; Euclase valued integrity. I could go on.)

The majority of what I’ve seen on “Euclase is shady” posts refer to chapters 58 - 60 and Euclase’s constant worrying over Phosphophyllite and the admittedly creepy imagery of Euclase constantly hovering over Phos (that, on the first reading, made me dislike them, too).

I think it’s very important to note, however, that these panels are drawn from Phosphophyllite’s perspective. Phos is an unreliable narrator, Phos has been worrying over their plot and its exposure, Phos has already been unsettled by Diamond and Yellow, and now Euclase is challenging their honesty. They have every reason to be anxious over suspicion.

But consider the exchange from Euclase’s perspective. No gem has ever returned from the moon for as long as the gemstones remember : even Yellow treats it as a completely foreign concept. Phosphophyllite’s body has changed, their pearl eye is foreboding, their clothes are foreign, and the actions that Phos is partaking in all lean towards Phos being allied with the Lunarians. Even more notably : there is no aspect of kindness in what Phos is doing. Nothing about Phos would give the assumption that they haven’t been completely transformed by the Lunarians into a new type of weapon. And analyzing threats is exactly what Euclase’s role in gem society is.

We see Euc’s shadiness vanish as soon as Phos does give evidence that they have not been stripped of their original personality. During the night raid, Phosphophyllite loses every ounce of cold composure and throws away their half-truths ; they yell the plain truth at Bort, argue in the fashion they did as a young gem, and they act rashly. Yellow still obviously cares for the earth gems and Sensei, and Padparadscha is on Phos’s side. When Euclase approaches Phos in the aftermath, you can see a notable change in how Euclase is talking to Phos. There are no threats in the conversation, and Euclase - rather than looking creepy - looks gentle and upset. 

The elaborate battle that was designed to keep Phos away from Sensei must seem farfetched to Euclase at this point. After trying so hard to make earth gem society look as if they haven’t been horribly hurt by their worst fear coming true - losing beloved gems to Phos’s manipulations, Euclase now has to come to terms with the fact that they were wrong. They apologize ; they try to offer a solution that involves working together. Phos rejects this, of course, because they’ve been hurt too many times that they know it’s never so easy to move forwards. But Euclase internalizes a lot of what transpires. Speaking with the other gems, they again apologize for being horribly wrong and reinforce the same “togetherness” they had promised Phos when reassuring Cinnabar. A notable panel is Euclase smiling and telling the gems to /rest/ rather than worry, which Sensei calls wise.

That being said, their guard isn’t completely down. While the night raid revealed things about the moon and Phosphophyllite that Euclase empathizes with, three gems were still lost. Rutile, Zircon, Neptunite, and Amethyst were cut into bits. The Lunarians/Cairngorm attacked and interrupted the Euclase-Phos conversation. The earth gems still patrol. And, most importantly, the earth gems have unanimously determined Phos to be a hated enemy in the same moment that Euclase determined Phos to be horribly misunderstood and misguided.

By the time Phos returns to the earth, Euclase is shown not only to be empathetic with Phos but emotionally distressed by the earth gems’ abuse. Euclase has made their decision. They want to hear Phos out. When Phosphophyllite explains the consequences of Sensei praying and begs, Euclase is ready to listen. And it’s cut off before they can properly understand any of it.

I find it incredibly interesting how Bort’s and Cinnabar’s train of thought that is so anti-Phos is almost verbatim what Euclase had argued back in chapter 60. Euclase, despite being one of the main proponents against change, has changed the most of the earth gems. Their motives have become obsolete and recent experiences have toppled the way they used to perceive the dichotomy of the moon and earth. They are completely against the idea of hiding Phosphophyllite away, and they have come to reject their own policy of “dealing with things later.” And despite this, they’re still who they once were. They will still yield to society’s majority ruling because, much like Padparadscha in fact, they are willing to let things go for the sake of others.

This is, however, not to say that Euclase leaves things in the past. While Phosphophyllite may be buried under the wishes of the other gems, Euclase takes up the crusade of asking Sensei to pray on a daily occurrence for 220 years. They have stayed up every winter. Until, at least, Euclase backs down in chapter 79 and claims that they can no longer resist hibernation. This sort of exhaustion echoes the same tiredness with which Yellow and Padparadscha existed in the earlier stages of the manga. Euclase is becoming very much the old and tired elder of the group.

And yet Phosphophyllite haunts Euclase. Even in the chapter when every other earth gem practically hunts Phos down to presumably permanently murder them, Euclase takes no part in any violence. They don’t even move to defend Sensei in their dismay. (And, to be honest, before the leaks came out I had given up on my ‘Euclase interrupts them’ theory because the fandom made the Cinnabar theory sound so much more likely. Yes, I’m very happy that it was Euclase that interrupted them bc I love their character arc so so much.)

I think Euclase still has a very large role left to play in the series. But at some point, Ichikawa is simply going to have to end Euclase’s arc. Despite being on the Confucian side (as I like to simplify the earth gems), they’ve come to understand different definitions of harmony and empathize with different methods of achieving it. I think their reaction in the next few chapters to Rutile having Padparadscha back will be particularly noteworthy now that Euclase and Padparadscha have practically taken the same side (even though they’re not aware of it yet). I really hope that the end to Euclase’s character arc isn’t them wasting away as Yellow has ; they’ve worked very hard for others at the cost of their own happiness. They’ve earned the rest.

[pinktatertots99]

part 1; part 2; part 3; part 4

i had fun with the latter half lol.

_______________________

knock

knock

knock

the red head yawned as they walked to the front door. scratching the back of their head as they opened the door their eye’s widened at the blue haired lapis smiling to them.

“did i wake you?” they asked, padpa looking absolutely confused but shaking their head lightly. “naaah...uh...well...yeaaaah maybe a lil.” they mumbled as lapis giggled a bit. “suppose i need to remember not everyones an early bird.” they joked as padpa moved to the side allowing them to enter.

“uhh can i get ya some cof-er-tea? water?” they tried to guess as lapis amused themself to their attempts. “i’ll be fine for now but thank you.” looking around the living room they found a short haired blonde fast asleep on the couch, immediately leading them to sit on a chair closeby as padpa threw a plastic cup at them.

“ello wake up.” they stated as yellow quickly shot up. “WH-ha-how where did-” they soon found the bluenette on the chair. “...padpa i thought we were gonna wait on the whole surrogate?”

“we are dumb dumb ya gotta wake up more.” they chuckled as they took a seat. “this is ruti’s...uhh...”

“call it whatever, you’ll be close to right.” they shrugged as both looked a nodded. “riiight. so, uhm, wha brings ya over?”

-------------------------------

rutile’s heels tapped to the cement as they ran. they knew lapis was gonna do something like this but so early in the morning!? their running decreased as it got through them more and more, the feeling that they...shouldn’t stop whatever was going on.

looking to the sunrise they walked to the cemented wall next to the sidewalk, laying on it’s side as they watched the sun illuminating over the beach. weirdly feeling some sort of...relief? calm? whatever it was, it’s something they really didn’t mind despite what they knew was probably going down.

they heard a couple footsteps from behind them as they tried to sneak a cigarette to their lips. “my my, always trying to sneak that nasty habit huh ruti?” they grimaced as they looked back to find yellow, padpa and lapis looking at them.

“stole my line.” lapis whispered to yellow as padpa took a step closer to the doctor, who immediately went back to staring at the beach when they did. “don’t gotta hide from me ruti.” they smirked to them as rutile burrowed their head into their arms. “i just...didn’t want to make it awkward.”

as lapis watched the two they reminiced on the last portion of their conversation during their visit.

“rutile’s...kinda...not wanna say clingy but...they do gotta complex kinda.” they remembered padpa stating awkwardly. “i mean, our relation though is probably different from yours though.” they chuckled a little at that. it wasn’t too different. it seemed the opposite, rutile trying to distance themself for them, as if worried on getting too close.

how casually they talked with them, was much different from what padpa had said about being clingy. and to say they were jealous was an understatement. this double sworded concept of their clingy-ness they wished for atleast the good part of it. ah but every good has it’s bad they suppose. even though the darker part of themself would say it wanted that bad with it just to have the good part of it truly showed how complex this double sword is.

“i’ve always chased someone away with who i am.“

ah, how could they forget that core comment they thought. such a shame, six months later and they realized the trouble they didn’t even take into consideration. watching them hug they felt another thought pop up.

“i want to…so badly. i want…a second chance. a chance, to change.”

“…then that’s good for me. afterall you won’t chase me away so easily~.”

and here they thought that would’ve automatically saved this problem as they re-thought back to these moments. pregnancy or not it’s not much of an excuse to forget such a problem; the conflict of being too close versus too far apart. only three months left, they wouldn’t have enough time to help through this, even the nine months however wouldn’t completely fix this fear the doctor had they speculated.

as their thoughts dozed away to these unnerved feelings they were brought back by the taller hugging them so suddenly.

- - - - - - - - - -

“heh, awkward? i mean, okay maybe doing this while ya got a preggers partner is a little bit awkward but it’s not too bad compared to other things.” padpa chuckled as rutile burrowed their face a little. padpa hesitantly giving their back a pat causing them to jump lightly.

“look, rutile i get it. i get, why you were so clingy. i get, why your acting like a hermit but, ya gotta let this go.” padpa stated as rutile shivered lightly. “...how?”

“just...don’t dwell on it.”

“if i don’t, then i’ll go back to being clingy again. so much inside me is screaming to hug you right now. and i’m scared, that i’ll never let go, or that i’ll let go and it’ll be the last time i ever had you close and regret letting go.” they shivered more, choking up as they finished. “i was...so ugly like that.” they choked up more as tears streamed down their cheeks.

“hey, seeing it means ya aren’t like how ya were before-”

“still, this doesn’t fix the problem.” they looked to the red head gritting their teeth through their tears. “i’ve...i’ve built myself around you. i’ve seen, so many dead bodies, and i was desensitized, but the idea of you becoming one of them, i was so scared. and then ya got better, and i thought i’d be alright. now i’m just worried anytime a call comes in and it’s you, or them, and i...i can only get through the day trying to distance myself.”

“....has it been working well?”

“...no...but it keeps me cool under pressure.”

“wha bout your partner?” rutile’s eyes looked down to their shoes as they stood up straight. “...ruti-”

“i’m...still scared.” they mumbled lightly. “of going into either extreme. i’m scared, of losing them both.”

“your gonna lose em faster if you don’t find a middle ground.” padpa stated, pulling the bruenette to them in a hug despite them wiggling in surprise. “wh- pa-”

“ya need to stop worrying bout either extreme. if ya wanna change, if ya wanna make this one last, then just open up like this.” they stated, feeling rutile stop and hiccup into their chest. once they felt their hiccuping lessen they moved to pull them away gently. “now go hug lappy.” they stated, padparascha red eyes meeting golden yellows.

moving them physically to walk into lapis’s direction, rutile slowly took a step, another, and another till they quickly sprinted to them, slowly down enough to hug them gently, getting around their swolen abdomen.

“...huh?”

“i’m...gonna make that change. i’m sorry for procrastinating for too long.”

slowly the bluenette hugged around their neck, on their tip toes as they felt tears pricking at the end of their eyes.

“my apologies for procrastinating on helping you. but you can still not chase me away easily my dear~.”

[decorativedust]

HNK chapter 77 thoughts ✨

the more i think about ch. 77, the less angry I am at the earth gems. 

I think the initial reading shocked everyone, but after taking time to consider it, I have my thoughts on it and why its not quite as horrific as I thought originally. I know a lot of people feel very strongly about this topic, but please bear with me for a bit. 

spoilers for ch. 77 below! 

other people have covered this topic already, but I’m going to throw my few cents in about what I think. 

As soon as the leaks dropped, a lot of people (including myself) were extremely distressed. And fair enough- we saw images of phos getting shattered to bits by their former team members and allies, without any sort of context or language to go off of. It was terrifying seeing phos a splatter on the ground like that. 

It only hurts worse knowing all that they’ve gone through. 

The entire situation just sucks, honestly, but I don’t think the earth gems were entirely out of line. 

Last time phos showed up, they essentially brought a small group of fighters, and the two groups demolished each other. Gems were injured on both side, and nearly permanently, as well. (Bort cut their hair- although they salvaged it and turned it into a whip- and Paddy nearly was very fucked up, if it wasn’t for the technology of the moon to save them) 

I think their main goal, though, and the entire reason that phos had everyone’s swords thrown at them in ch. 77 is because they were approaching sensei. Judging by this panel from ch 71, it seems that one of their main goals was to protect sensei. 

its been said that the gems care and love for sensei, and I think that clearly shows. Strategically speaking, it wasn’t an unwise move either- if sensei were to perish, it would be extremely hard, if not impossible, to ever end this war or for anyone to truly be satisfied. (lunarians want to be prayed for, gems want to not be captured and ground to dust, admiribilis want food and freedom, to sum it up as simply as possible.) 

To be frank, we have no idea what phos is planning on doing here. They’ve mentioned about shattering sensei before, and while I think they’ve come to realize that wouldn’t be very helpful for their current goals.... i mean, who knows? phos seems emotionally (and literally) broken at this point. 

if the look they have here in the previous panel is anything to go by, anyways. Phos has done, really, all they know to do. they went to earth with weapons drawn, that didn’t work. they tried getting sensei to talk before going to the moon, that didn’t work. now, they’re literally on their hand and knee, begging, and they got so close , only to be told that sensei simply... can’t. 

fatal defect sounds.. pretty intense to me. Perhaps the translation is off and the word ‘fatal’ is too intense (i don’t know japanese so i can’t really say much about that) but if we trust the translation, that sounds pretty much like “I just can’t”. Not a “i won’t,” but “I cannot.” 

Even as a reader, who has access to all of the information available in the story (meanwhile the characters are limited in their knowledge) I can’t exactly say what phos would do. So if I were an earth gem? I’d have no clue. Maybe phos is going to use their gold to attack sensei. Maybe they were just going to reach out and grasp at his clothes, maybe they were going to drag themselves closer. Their gold has proven to have an extremely wide range of abilities that no other gem possesses (except maybe cinnabar, but cinnabar can’t freely touch things with their mercury because of the poison) 

so taking that into account, this panel: 

hurts a little less. 

The earth gems, generally speaking, probably weren’t very thrilled or excited to do that. But they have to protect sensei- they want to protect him. 

Nobody really gave me the vibes that they ever wanted to see phos like this, that they wanted to hurt them more, or anything to that extent. Bort was likely simply incapacitating phos- if they really wanted to, they could’ve smashed phos to bits from the start. But it was one clean, incapacitating cut. 

Phos asked for this, and their plead was met. 

sphene was simply doing their job, and talked to phos pretty casually. 

euclase’s face seemed more full of ... pity? sympathy? sadness? 

the only character that seemed angry was rutile. 

this image is going to haunt me. thank you ichikawa. 

I think there’s also something we need to consider, being human beings, that gems probably don’t see ‘injuries’ as heavily as we do. If we are physically hurt by someone in a significant way, it hurts us. it scars us. it bleeds, it leaves marks, and it affects us in a certain way that I don’t really think pertains to gems. If they’re cracked or shattered, its just another day. They just put themselves back together. We’ve seen gems lose body parts pretty regularly, and just reattach them. The idea that gems don’t really fear- or even understand- death, has been around for quite awhile now, so I won’t go into that. I think the closest the gems have to death is being taken by the lunarians. Humans often associate injuries- particularly harsh ones, such as losing a limb, or even simply blood loss- are things we associate with death. If we hear someone is injured, we are quick to wonder how badly? or will they be okay? . Injuries can so easily lead to death, especially depending on where they are, but the gems.. simply don’t have that association, or those fears. 

Not to say that attacking each other can’t still be very upsetting, because it can. Yellow grew very quiet and likely very upset- perhaps even traumatized- over watching Padpa shatter the hell out of all of the gems back on earth a few chapters ago. 

But generally speaking, gems don’t process injuries the same as humans do. Bort slicing phos in half wasn’t permanent, and phos can be put back together. It was meant to incapacitate. 

Additionally, I think the earth gems have full, justified reason to be very uneasy towards phos and lunarians. They have been the enemy for thousands upon thousands  of years, and phos isn’t exactly known for being extremely intelligent. Perhaps phos was brainwashed, maybe the lunarians are lying. They really don’t have much good and proper reason to believe anything Phos says- but they gave phos a chance to talk. They’re trying. 

Everyone is trying. Everyone is tired, and everyone is suffering. War isn’t easy or simple or black and white. Especially when 99% of the characters do not know most of the information of what’s going on in their world. 

TL;DR: I believe the earth gems were justified in their actions, and weren’t excessive. Gems do not have the same views on injuries as humans do, and that should be taken into consideration. This chapter was upsetting at face value- but taking time to think about it leaves me feeling better. (and i cannot stress this enough- in a work like houseki no kuni/land of the lustrous, it is of utmost importance we carefully think over things many, many times. hnk rarely, if ever, is black and white. the characters are all very morally grey, and most are simply trying to do their best with what they know. The only character I could pin down as ‘evil’ is aechemea, but honestly? I’m hesitant to do even that. I sure as hell don’t trust him, and he seems to be written to be very distrustful, but ... we don’t have all the info on him. not yet.) 

I think this chapter, ultimately though, should still come across as upsetting. Phos was attacked and smashed to bits, after all, but given all the reasons I’ve listed above, it is ultimately a painful necessity. 

if you got to the end, thanks for reading my rambles. Hopefully this helps to add to the discussion, and maybe make this chapter a little less heartbreaking. 

[johnny-writes]

List of muses

This is a cheat sheet of all the muses available on this blog, and it’s also a summary if you want to interact. My fandomless OCs have no verses besides the “standard” (and any verse is a variation of it), talk to me if you want to create one. Most of my main muses have their own separate pages, so if you want more details about them, click on their names.

Active muses

Marcos Grzbowski - OC, thinks he’s smart, Duning-Krüger hasn’t been nice to him, emotional guy disguised as a rational one, the “meta-guy” Rebecca Z. Mishko - OC, awkward girl, stutters, loyal like heck, rational girl disguised as an emotional one, could be a queen bee in an alternate timeline Talyna - OC, not an actual vampire, an alien that looks like a vampire, wants to go home Marya - OC, sassy fairy, travels a lot, dying is no big deal, a sun that never sets, secretively the worst tsundere ever Eagle - Ace Combat Zero/OC (gijinka of Pixy’s F-15), has a scary face, actually socially awkward, can fly and kill you in 13 different ways, tries to make friends Mara and Tojava - OC, they are as night and day, oil and water, two sides of the same coin, and yet are the same

Archive of muses

I used to play these muses. They are still open for PLOTTED threads and QUICK interactions, like one off asks and RPs with less than 10 turns.

Lumi - Vocaloid, jellyfish goddess or android with a peculiar design, either way she’s clumsy, believes too much her stories Mayu - Vocaloid, is processing 108 ways to kill you per second, actually cares for her family, yandere for fun, that rabbit is a cyborg Yohioloid - Vocaloid, depressed genius, sabotages himself frequently, needs a slap from himself Maika - Vocaloid, preciosa, can’t get sad, that can be a problem Anon - Vocaloid, shy, stays at home, Smash champion Kanon - Vocaloid, extroverted, has a job, fears she’s stunting her sister Cubi - Vocaloid, infernal creature, what was Hio thinking, tries to light him up IA - Vocaloid, cinnamon roll, can befriend Mayu Gumi - Vocaloid, romantic, can’t understand her feelings Yukari Yuzuki - Vocaloid, edgy to the circuits, cares only for IA Lily - Vocaloid, issues orders, actually a good boss, just wants a break, needs to smile Tone Rion - Vocaloid, nurse, overworked, secretly has a talent for being an idol, hates it Lapis Aoki - Vocaloid, cinnamon roll, forgetful Merli - Vocaloid, aloof, there’s a reason for that Yan He - Vocaloid, was a mistake, doesn’t care (cares a lot), please hug her Padparadscha - Houseki no Kuni, manliest rock ever, nice hair, will be your big brother, can destroy others if requested, wants to die Alexandrite - Houseki no Kuni, nerd (nerd), overbearing teacher, goes berserk, champion of self-control Rutile - Houseki no Kuni, a doctor better than the one below, hopelessly in love with Padpa (again, who doesn’t?), might be a yandere Obsidian - Houseki no Kuni, weaponsmith, behaves like a valley girl, cheerful, just don’t mess with their swords Yellow Diamond - Houseki no Kuni, smiling, depressed, survivor’s guilt, old Presea - Tales of Symphonia, a girl trying to understand what the heck happened to her, be nice with her Kazuma Satou - Konosuba, the worst hero ever, wants to be a NEET, has to get involved in wild adventures instead, wants to dump his teammates, returns to them in a co-dependency relationship Darkness - Konosuba, masochist, looks pure, is anything but, but can actually be, cares about her duty Megumin - Konosuba, chuuni, likes explosions, has a hot temper, cares a lot for her teammates Aqua - Konosuba, useless goddess, good party tricks, not very smart Mitsurugi Kyouya - Konosuba, thinks he’s the hero (spoiler: he’s not), well-intentioned, but a goddamn (in the most literal way) imbecile, thinks the world revolves around him, but he’s too imbecile to realize Izumi Makino - Konosuba/OC, Kazuma’s former childhood crush, doesn’t like him, think he’s a creep, but knows a lot about him, secretly wants to mend up things, but too proud to admit, otherwise she belongs in a biker gang Tanya Degurechaff - Saga of Tanya the Evil, magical girl who’s also a libertarian economist and willing to be morally gray King - One Punch Man, the biggest hero-by-accident case, hates his life, just wanted to play videogames Natalia - Idolm@aster, girl with a big heart and small common sense, likes belly dancing and kitchen experiments, like banana sushi Gahata Meiji - UTAU, witch, geography teacher, has no idea why, just needs Kamina - Gurren Lagann, manliest man ever, will be your unorthodox big brother, will punch you, can’t survive without his little brother Kotaro Tatsumi - Zombieland Saga, a loud idol producer, can turn anything into an idol, ANYTHING Hitomi Shizuki - Puella Magi Madoka Magica, rich girl, emotionally strong, wants to help, forgets to consider others’ feelings Dr. Danny - Angels of Death, thinks he has a good disguise, doctorate in tongue twisters, hateshateshateshateshateshateshates Rebecca Info-chan - Lovesick: Yandere Simulator, does not know recognize the meaning of privacy, sadistic, h@cker, hates hates hates Osana Najimi Yuri - Doki Doki Literature Club, smug reader, fancies herself to be smart, can be good at parties, sees people as games Donovan Truck - OC, Truck-kun personified, kind kid, believes in you, trusts you can overcome your suffering, for that reason he won’t care with them Suwako Moriya - Touhou, was tossed away, speak in enigmas, gets anime for Sanae Pixy - Ace Combat Zero, hates borders, chill, can use a gun

I attempted to write or I wrote enough to be relevant remembering, either NPC or one-off

Matcha and Azuki - Vocaloid, they are like a comedic duo Tohoku Zunko - Vocaloid, big sister, tired of Lumi’s crap Momoko - Ghost Stories, can’t fear anything, God is with her, 10 years of theological education to write this Ruby Rose - RWBY, loves her gun, tries to discover the meaning of fun Tohru Adachi - Persona 4, looks like a bumbling police officer, actually is an edgy loser that wants to watch the world burn, but can keep his word Star Butterfly - Star vs the Forces of Evil, princess from another dimension, brighten up your day, may or may not be in love with Crona Marco Díaz - Star vs the Forces of Evil, just wanted to help, almost unleashed a monster and went RULES OF NATURE Janna Ordonia - Star vs the Forces of Evil, smug, wants to star a hentai with Marco Koakuma - Touhou, flirty and cocky towards humans, wants to eat your soul, but can look cute doing it Simon - Gurren Lagann, needs his big bro, serious, Kamina’s character makes no sense without him Dokis - Doki Doki Literature Club, treated as one, the same as canon but with ultra-smug Yuri The ballpit from Dashcon - OC?, there’s a story behind it

Johnny

Oh hi Mark

[randomnumbers751650]

tl;dr: Padpa is not all the hot cake the other gems think they are (and they know very well that) and their relationship with Rutile is tragic as heck

Padparadscha is my favorite character in Houseki no Kuni. I just love them because of their kindness, their gentleness, their sincere desire to be a good elder sibling to the other gems. I see them not only that, but also as a personal role model. Like, when Rutile was blaming themself for not being able to fix Padpa, they just smiled to them and said “Isn’t my bad luck to blame?” They know that it’s nobody’s fault because they have their condition, one of the hardest lessons one can learn.

In canon, Padpa is seen as a (half-)living legend amongst the gems, a hero that is a great fighter and person. At first, they seem like the perfect gem, save for their condition, so what would be their weakness?

The answer I found: fear. Although Padpa doesn’t appear much, their presence does impact the story. They told Phos that, in their quest for knowledge, an unbridled truth will hurt and change things for the worst – and the example that Padpa used was that if they told the truth about how they felt to Rutile, they would crack them.

Here I can see Padpa’s kindness to be both a strength and a weakness: while they care deeply for Rutile, it’s this care that impedes them to tell them the truth, that they’d rather sleep forever and that Rutile should just give up and move on.

Now this is an example of showing: we know little about their backstory, only that they were partners in the past and that Rutile became a doctor in order to find a way to fix Padpa. It’s shown that Rutile mostly assumes the persona of a mad doctor who alters between “shit-eating” grin and “not this crap again” frown, but notice how they change when Padpa wakes up in ep. 10. They look concerned and even scared. And Padpa tries their best to not hurt them, even hiding the truth. HnK isn’t very fond of backstory (Sensei explaining the origins of the gems notwithstanding), preferring to show how gem’s past relationships works through dialogue and gestures (if it was a shonen, we’d have 10 chapters of backstory already).

But we can infer they were close in the past, very close. They had a friendship in the past, that may or may not romantic (I think it because of personal bias, you can ignore this). Now, for a parenthesis, the gems seem to understand romance, but their definition of romance seem to resemble more of a seven-years old, a closer affection or what Tvtropes would call Toyship (compare with Cairngorm/Aechmea, although you may discuss about its degree of toxicity, undoubtedly that must be the first time a gem is experience “grown up” romance (or teenage crush)).

The thing is that this definitely would be something overlooked by Adamant. In his innocent but misguided intent of keeping the gems innocent from civilization (a civilization he certainly saw destroying itself), Adamant must’ve never taught the gems how to deal with romantic feelings (plus, the fact he’s a robot doesn’t help), or dismissed them as most parents with young kids would, thinking that they’d forget it soon.

But in this direction their feelings changed. A line in chapter 66 indicates that Rutile was likely to be an angry hooligan and then they became a mad doctor. But why would they be a mad doctor while when Padpa was awaken? Being paired with one of the kindest gems might have mellowed Rutile out, to have them become less of a jerk.

And then Padpa’s geological narcolepsy starts to act. Rutile gets desperate with the fact their beloved partner becomes more and more ill, so they did the thing they thought it could make a difference: became a doctor. The first operations should’ve worked more but as the operations failed, Rutile became more desperate; every time Padpa woke up the smiles became rarer and rarer, giving way to concerned expressions. Nobody else could help them, and thus they dedicate themself to this task until they realized only them could and should restore Padpa. As their despair with each failed operation grew, so did their entitlement. Through the centuries, Rutile slowly became an yandere. They could not accept the fact their enemies did a job much better than they ever would (said enemies who enacted a gemnocide for petty reasons, a fact some parts of the fandom are keen to ignore) That’s why they broke down when Phos took Padpa to the Moon to the point of breaking Padpa again so they could do it themself.

And the sad thing was Padpa knew all this. They’re a very perceptive gem (they recognized which Amethyst was in the Moon). Every time they woke up, they saw Rutile changing a bit, becoming more and more different from the gem they once knew, to the point of not seeing the person they once cherished. They knew Rutile’s efforts would be doomed to failure, but they never had the courage to tell that to them. And by refusing to tell the truth, they made Rutile become like that. Imagine how different things would be if Padpa was frank towards their feelings to Rutile. There’d be a good chance of Rutile ignoring their words, but still it’d be something that would need to be said. And they shrierked from it.

They know it’s their fault that things escalated in chapter 70. Their mercury-covered expression was of regret, in chapter 71. One of HnK’s theme is not only the search for the truth, but also miscommunication sucks. We could also compare Padpa to Bort: if, somehow, Bort and Dia’s positions inverted, Bort being born with holes and Dia being the doctor, Bort wouldn’t hesitate to say “Your medical skills suck, let me sleep forever already!” – Bort has bad people skills but won’t hesitate to tell the truth for the other’s good, even if this hurt them, while Padpa has great people skills and doesn’t want to hurt them, even if it means hiding the truth.

Now let’s see what will happen, if I’m just putting my foot in my mouth with these words. Next chapter will focus on Padpa. Tragedy in relationships is a theme that permeates HnK and this is how I see with Padpa and Rutile.

[kobat0s]

jokes on me i figured out a fun way to ship padparadscha/aechmea that doesnt make me immediately want to kill myself (it only makes me want to kill myself slowly)

anyway it involves aechmea --> sensei and padpa trying to distance themselves from rutile bc “im a bad influence on you, live your own life” etc. so achmea and padpa mope together and

and im getting the urge to bash my head against the wall as i type this

anyway its not an endgame ship because nothing but padpa/ruti can ever be endgame in my head canon. i wont let it.

also heres a aechpad comic i found on twitter

[nyahuaisang]

The Grand ‘Rutile is a Psychopath’ Theory

I initially posted this in the r/LandofTheLustrous reddit but I figured I’d post it here too. Well, let’s go :3

It's not apparent until the later chapters in the manga but Rutile has a seriously fucked up view on Padpa. They appear to care about padpa sine the two were partners before but when phos proposes a way to heal padparascha, they refuse, saying it would only matter if they fixed padpa themselves. Now, we don't know how long padparascha's been awake and asleep but judging by how quickly they lost conscious after talking with phos, it's pretty obvious they're unconscious significantly more then not. And they're the second oldest gem after yellow. this means they've been in this situation for about 3000 yrs. 3000 YEARS. Padparascha has constantly been in this predicamant of not dying but not truly living, waking up to gems living out their lives but not being able to stay conscious long enough to join, and that has to be the most frustrating feeling ever. They're forced to be a spectator in their own life and they can't even choose to give up, to die, because rutile keeps waking them up. And the worst part is, rutile's not even waking them up because they care about padpa's wellbeing.  Remember what I said about rutile refusing a way to heal padpa? Rutile states that it wouldn't matter unless they fixed padpa themselves. I repeat, Rutile would rather leave padpa in this gut wrenching purgatory of not being able to truly live but not allowed to die then jump at the possibility of padpa recovering if it meant they couldn't revive padpa themselves. In episode 12, Rutile states that "if I can't save you, I'm only a doctor in name".

Note how the first time we see padpa active, rutile wasn't fazed at all when padparascha fell unconscious again, as if relieved that they still have a purpose in life. You'd think that if getting that ruby was as rare as they made it out to be, rutile would be more upset that it only kept padpa conscious for however long the conversation they had with phos went for and that they couldn't spend that time with them.

This says that what rutile wanted wasn't padparascha recovering, that they didn't care about their wellbeing, but rather the confirmation that saving padpa would bring them.  They either only want the satisfaction of saving a gem that couldn't be saved, or they saw padpa as their purpose in life, that if padpa didn't need to be fixed, they wouldn't be a true doctor and have no reason to live, thus wanted padpa to constantly be in that predicament where they need Rutile's help.

And the manga even lowkey confirms this, through a small symbolism.

As Rutile is walking to sensei for a consultation(or wherever they were going, it doesn't really matter), they are wearing their coat. When Jade tells them Phos left with the other, Rutile sprints back to their sick bay and as they run, their coat falls off.

At this moment, Rutile is in extreme fear of losing Padparascha, the one thing that ground them into their title as Doctor, their main, possibly sole, reason for existing, and this coat falling off represents them feeling their title being stripped away. And then we get this shot.

Two major things that are always associated with Rutile is missing in this panel, their coat and Padparascha. The coat Rutile usually wears is one which doctors are often seen wearing, both in media and in real life and it differentiates doctors from non-doctors. It represents Rutile's role in the gems' society and the fact that it is missing same time Padparascha is also missing implies that it and Padparascha are one and the same: Rutile's status as the Doctor in the gem's society.

I've always found this scene interesting because Rutile never puts that coat on again. Because Padparascha is gone, along with their need to be fixed, Rutile has lost what they believed to be the thing that rooted them to the title of doctor and the coat being dropped and never put back on conveys this: that in their own mind, Rutile is no longer the Doctor.

Also note how Rutile attacks Padparascha even after seeing them moving ad healthy and after Yellow asks "Padparascha woke up! Isn't that what you want?!", Rutile replies with "My own.."

This pretty much confirms that Rutile wanted Padpa in that state of helplessness and in need of repair. The original japanese that Rutile says actually directly translate out to just “my...” so Rutile’s words is probably somethng more akin to “my title..” or “my role..” but “my own..” could be them saying “it has to be by my own hands for it to matter, because it’s my role” so either way, it basically confirm the main point.

And padparascha knows how obsessed rutile is about them but chooses to prioritize rutile's feelings over their own.

Some people has said that padpa seems to be controlled because they're too much on phos' side(and that could still be a possibility, who knows what aechmea wouldve put in them) but we don't know anything about padpa before being cured. We've had one scene with them so far. For all we know, they were always like this. And can you imagine how relieved they must be when they woke up on the moon to phos? They're finally free of their eternal sleep. They can finally act on how they'e truly feeling and make their own decisions and finally LIVE THEIR OWN LIFE. And who pulled them out of that purgatory? Not rutile, not sensei, PHOS. To padpa, phos is the first person who've truly cared about their wellbeing and if that isn't enough to justify them siding completely with phos, idk what does.

[houseki-no-suffering]

do you have any headcanon or meta for Pad and Phos? As a ship or anything

im really fond of their laid back old mentor/clueless young protagonist dynamic, so this isn’t really shippy, but I have a couple of HCs (and a couple of old meta)

Padparadscha strikes me as a cool uncle/aunt (or even a big bro/sis), the one that parents (read: euclase) like but at the same time don’t want around their kids too much cause they’re a bad influence cause, even though they can be a 100% responsible adult, they’d rather be even more of a child than the child themselves. 

Basically, Padpa is the vodka aunt to Rutile’s wine mum.

to keep this dynamic (as well as canon age differences) in both of my AUs Padpa is much older than Phos. 

In the 1960s AU, Padpa was Phos’ favorite ‘senior.’ Phos was super small as a child and Padpa a literal giant, so Phos would climb on top of Padpa’s shoulders to steal cookies from Euc’s pantry. When the cookie jar was mysteriously empty, Euclase knew 100% that it had been Padpa and Phos but they never managed to extort a confession from either of them. 

Whenever Phos was in trouble or had something on their mind they’d go to Padparadscha for counsel or just to distract themselves. Padpa was an exceptional listener and very, very perceptive, but they never pried. Unless they thought it was their place to. 

As a result, Phos and Padpa shared a very special bond and Phos misses them a lot, maybe only second to how much Yellow (or Rutile) misses Padpa.

The college AU is way less angsty. Padpa is a Film Production teacher and they live with Yellow in a modern loft like a couple of laid back media junkies. 

Film Production professors have a very distinctive aura and if you’ve ever been in the Comm/Media department of any university you’ll know what I mean. Padpa is a professor but they barely look (and act) like one. They’d rather ‘adopt’ any troubled kid they can find and feed them Chinese food and pulp fiction. 

This includes Phos, who’s one of Padpa’s favorite trouble students and that more or less lives with them at this point. Padpa has no conception of appropriateness when it comes to their students and they’ll bring them home to watch movies or receive counsel without a second thought (much to Euclase and Yellow’s disapproval, even if Yellow got used to it by now). 

Being a parent is hard, especially if your child is named Phosphophyllite, but Padpa has no trouble speaking their mind when needed, especially when Phos needs relationship advice or is falling too behind on their classes.