#FUCK dr. sigma klim

[drizzit]

[ufo] you ever get divorced and become harbinger of the apocalypse?

#oops ik you guys don’t go to this school but I’m having a lot of feelings Abt diana #FUCK dr. sigma klim #he JUST finishes telling her about how he knows everything about her including her abusive husband and then HE HITS HER #Amanda and him are horrible they belong together #quarklol #zero escape

[glittergoats]

the good doctor

#zero escape #virtue's last reward #vlr spoilers #sigma klim #dr klim #my art #who up thinkin about termites rn #sorry i. yassified the fuck out of him #in the universe where he had some good conditioner on rhizome 9 #anyways i love him #me and diana are kindred spirits in that way i think.

[cantfuckbracket]

Can't Fuck Bracket: Group Stage Release Schedule

Alright everyone, now that Group 1 has been posted, I'm going to be a normal poll runner and post the release date for the group stage

Each group has 3 characters, and I'm going to release them in 3 clusters so there aren't too many at once

Obviously, not all characters who fit into a particular group are in it, because I needed to organize them and it would be impossible to find 32 forms of criteria that would apply to 3 characters and 3 characters ONLY in a group of 96. So if you're thinking "X character would also fit in Y group!" - you're probably right. But I made executive decisions to be able to distribute them equally

Cluster A - Groups Separated by Fandom - 29/04 at midday UTC

Some fandoms had several characters submitted, so I tried to keep those together so that 1- the same big fandom can't own half the bracket; 2- small fandoms can have at least one round of fun before they're inevitably swept by Pikachu; and 3- we can have some healthy fandom debates

CLUSTER A GROUPS:

Group 2: Mob Psycho 100 (Part 2) - Toichiro Suzuki versus Dimple versus Reigen Arataka

Group 3: Chainsaw Man Male Characters - Aki Hayakawa versus Denji versus Kishibe

Group 4: Chainsaw Man Female Characters - Asa Mitaka versus Kobeni Higashiyama versus Power

Group 5: Endless Summer Characters - Jake McKenzie versus Everett Rourke versus Aleister Rourke

Group 6: Marvel Characters - Tony Stark versus Peter Parker versus Steve Rogers

Group 7: Shadowhunters (All Media Types) Characters - Jace Herondale versus Book!Alec Lightwood versus Clary Fairchild

Group 8: The Mysterious Benedict Society Characters - LD Curtain versus Jeffers versus Dr Garrison

Group 9: Death Note Characters - Light Yagami versus L Lawliet*

Group 10: Final Fantasy XIV Characters - Zero versus Estinien Wyrmblood versus Wedge

*only two characters from this media were submitted, so this group has 2 contestants

Cluster B - Groups Separated by Genre/Media Type - 01/05 at midday UTC

Group 11: Video Game Characters - Kaname Date (AI: The Somnium Files) versus Scout (Team Fortress 2) versus Stanley (The Stanley Parable)

Group 12: Adult Animation** - Strong Bad (Homestar Runner) versus Tord (Eddsworld) versus Gojo Saturo (Jujutsu Kaisen)

Group 13: Horror and Thriller - Adam Murray (The Mandela Catalogue) versus Jurgen Leitner (The Magnus Archives) versus Jack Chambers (Don't Worry Darling)

Group 14: Children's Animation - Osmosis Jones (Osmosis Jones) versus Grunkle Stan (Gravity Falls) versus Eberwolf (The Owl House)

Group 15: Books - Jason Grace (Heroes of Olympus) versus Peter Pevensie (Chronicles of Narnia) versus Hardin Scott (After)

Group 16: RPG - Hubert von Vestra (Fire Emblem: Three Houses) versus Anduin Wrynn (World of Warcraft) versus Gilear Faeth (Dimension 20: Fantasy High)

Group 17: Visual Novels - Miles Edgeworth (Ace Attorney) versus Sigma Klim (Zero Escape) versus Duke Richards (Desire and Decorum)

Group 18: Nintendo - Ghetsis (Pokémon) versus Bill Hawks (Professor Layton) versus Toad (Mario)

Group 19: Medialess - Mount Everest (Real Life) versus The Letter W (Latin Alphabet) versus Leg Emoji (Keyboard) versus Scoliosis (Submitter's Body)***

Group 20: Big Popular Anime - Black Leg Sanji (One Piece) versus Todoroki Enji (Boku No Hero Academia) versus Touka Kirishima (Tokyo Ghoul)

**NOT porn. That's pretty much the opposite of this contest. By this I mean "animation whose target audience is not children"

***to make up for Death Note having only 2 contestants, this group has 4. I picked this one to make up for it because it, by its nature, won't have any fandom involved, so it's not particularly unfair to its contestants that they have a slightly smaller chance of going forward

Cluster C - Groups Separated by Character Traits - 03/05 at midday UTC

Group 21: Submissions That Would Have Sent 2012 Tumblr Into A Nuclear War - The Onceler (The Lorax) versus Sherlock Holmes (BBC Sherlock) versus Jean Luc Picard (Star Trek The Next Generation) versus Wheatley (Portal 2) versus Dean Winchester (Supernatural) versus Sans (Undertale)****

Group 22: Characters The Submitters Didn't Think Needed Explaining - Olaf the Snowman (Frozen) versus Lord Farquaad (Shrek) versus Goofy (Disney)

Group 23: Immortal Characters - Booker (The Old Guard) versus Edward Cullen (Twilight) versus Dracula (Hotel Transylvania)

Group 24: Characters Tumblr Loves To Hate - Scott Pilgrim (Scott Pilgrim vs The World) versus Peter Griffin (Family Guy) versus Walter White (Breaking Bad)

Group 25: Childhood Classics - James (Pokemon) versus Ken (Barbie) versus Saruhara Shinichi (Super Sentai Franchise)

Group 26: Characters From Media Tumblr Could Be Normaler About - Palpatine (Star Wars) versus Greg Hirsch (Succession) versus Stede Bonnet (Our Flag Means Death)

Group 27: Vegan-Friendly - Indoor Peace Lily (Submitter's House) versus Seedless Watermelons (Grocery Store) versus Vegan Leather (Real Life)

Group 28: Characters That Inspired Paragraphs - Jiang Cheng (MDZS/The Untamed) versus Bertrand Beaumont (The Royal Romance) versus Joe Goldberg (You)

Group 29: Canon Incels/Shitty Lays - Severus Snape (Harry Potter) versus Tim Campbell (Crazy Ex Girlfriend) versus Ace (Powerpuff Girls)

Group 30: Failgirls - Lydia Rodarte-Quayle (Breaking Bad) versus Lumpy Space Princess (Adventure Time) versus Reagan Ridley (Inside Job)

Group 31: British Men - Prince Charming (Shrek) versus Wallace (Wallace and Gromit) versus Steven Merrick (The Old Guard)

Group 32: Others - Chuck McGill (Better Call Saul) versus Neelix (Star Trek Voyager) versus Dozen Roshuto (Reigen Manga)

****since this group has 6 contestants, 2 will move forward. This makes up for Group 1 technically not sending any character forward, and maintains the chances of a character getting through as the same as the other ones

#mp100 #chainsaw man #playchoices #marvel #shadowhunters #tmi #mbs #death note #ff14 #ai the somnium files #team fortress 2 #the stanley parable #homestar runner #eddsworld #jujutsu kaisen #the mandale catalogue #the magnus archives #dont worry darling #gravity falls #the owl house #osmosis jones #pjo #narnia #after #fire emblem #world of warcraft #dimension 20 #ace attorney #zero escape #pokemon

[lightphieric]

Fluffuary Prompt #3: Trust

AO3

Fandom: Zero Escape

Ship: Dio/Luna

CWs: Robot gore

Requested by @kiichu and @caramellum!

When Dio got teamed up with a pretty girl, it was the beginning of the end.

It wasn’t about trust for either of them, really. Luna had no choice but to ally. Anything less would be risking human lives, one of them innocent. And Dio already had an inkling of what Luna really was. Brother’s briefing had informed him there would be a robot inside the Rhizome, although it didn’t mention who it would be. Luna’s passivity in the infirmary was telling; she stared blankly at the puzzles with no intention of even trying to solve them, stepping aside politely when Dio or Quark offered to help. And it wasn’t like she was stupid. She was a repository of medical knowledge and answered every question Quark had about their surroundings with teacherly enthusiasm. But she wasn’t to interfere with the humans’ progress, was she? She would have been easy BP.

So why didn’t he take that easy BP? At the time, Dio had tried to create a false memory for himself: he’d been overpowered by a child. Yeah, that was it. Something far less humiliating than the truth.

His weakness for pretty girls had sabotaged him again. A sweet voice, an adorable face, and a charming dress had made him throw his mission early. Over his extended stay at the Rhizome, he’d come to accept this. Luna could get him to do the stupidest things, from allying in the AB Game to paying a visit to the GAULEM bay. The place gave him the creeps, with all those lifeless, skeletal robots hanging off the walls, staring ahead with glowing red eyes and looking like they could come to life at any second. The fact that they all looked identical reminded him a little too much of his Myrmidon brothers, and he was trying to put that behind him.

But when he received a phone call informing him “Moony” wanted “B.O.” to meet her in the GAULEM bay, he practically bolted there. The door was open already, and he worried he’d find Sigma working inside. But it was just Luna in there, laying peacefully on the workbench with her back towards him. There was a wire poking out from her neck. Was she powered off? Dio didn’t know how to turn her back on.

Luna heard him clicking his tongue in annoyance. “Dio?” she murmured, drowsily pushing herself up to sitting. Her hair was mussed and falling from its braids.

“Were you napping?” Dio chuckled.

“I was just resting my eyes,” Luna explained. “Recharging makes us sleepy.” She turned to face him with a smile and a horrifying visage that made Dio shout and step back.

“Fuck! What the hell is wrong with you?”

The scene before him was grotesque. Half of her face was gone – not gone, but pulled away, dangling off a hinge behind where her ear was supposed to be. Underneath was cold gray skull with an eyeball still stuck inside. Even her nose was missing, revealing a gaping socket in the center of her face. The left side of her face was still there, but next to the skull it only made her look more psychotic – only one of her eyes could blink, and when she tried to frown, the right side of her mouth stayed smiling.

No doubt in his mind – he never would have allied with her if she looked like this.

“I-I’m sorry!” said Luna. The right half of her jaw chattered shapelessly as she spoke. “I didn’t mean to frighten you, I just…”

Dio turned his head. Her voice was as soft and sweet as ever; maybe if he could just hear her, then he could keep his composure. “Why do you look like that?”

“Dr. Klim had to do maintenance. There’s a control panel on the side of my head, and he needed to remove my faceplate to get to it… Are you angry at me?”

There were tears in her voice. Fuck if that didn’t make him feel guilty. “No. No, I’m not angry.”

“You don’t hate me because I look like this?”

“What?” Incredulous, he turned back to her. Seeing her again made him jump involuntarily, but he took a breath to calm himself. “Of course I don’t hate you, Luna. What are you talking about?” As if to reassure her, he stepped forward and sat next to her on the bench. Really, he was hoping it would be easier for him to just see her left side, but when he looked at her, he could still see the inside of her hanging faceplate and the mess of artificial nerves and muscles that lined it. He put a hand to his mouth to suppress a gag.

“Good.” Luna flashed half of a melancholy smile. “I’m always so afraid of anyone besides Dr. Klim seeing me without ABT. But of all people, I thought you should know what I really look like.”

“And that’s why you called me down here.”

“Yes. I love and trust you, Dio. I hoped you would be able to accept me for who I am.” She placed a hand over his. It felt warm. Even though it was clearer now than ever that said warmth was artificial, the emotion and metaphorical warmth underlying it was real.

They were far from the two AB Game opponents who allied with each other based on technicalities. That Dio would never have allied with a creepy robot skeleton, but that Dio was a shallow son of a bitch. This Dio was smart enough to see that the kind and thoughtful woman he loved existed with or without ABT.

Her appearance was still shocking, but wouldn’t it be shocking to see anyone with half their face missing? He shut his eyes in preparation before placing a hand under her chin and gently turning her to face him directly. He kissed her on the bridge of her nose, just above the seam that normally connected her two faceplates, and she giggled, resting her forehead on his shoulder. He felt both warm skin and cool metal against him. A contradiction to be sure, but if anything was a sign of growth for him, it was his ability to accept contradictions.

#fluffuary 2022 #zero escape #dio vlr #luna vlr #virtue's last reward #vlr spoilers #fanfiction #my writing

[keycrash]

misc ZE MBTI thoughts; im only just starting to get the hang of it so bear with me. also kit has taught me everything i know thanks kit. ehh general ze spoilers i dont feel like figuring out which

INFJ akane looking the most promising; Ni dom is obviously appropriate for her, and unhealthy INFJs using Fe as a means to an end/pushing ppl on the direction they need for their Goals rather than to connect personally with people fits

ESFP junpei & aoi are, once again, SO satisfying, because despite being the same type they lean unhealthy in different ways. aoi’s in a SeTe loop where he skips Fi in favor of Te— literally putting aside his personal morals in favor of figuring out and enacting solutions, which is his whole THING with the second nonary game prep. with junpei, meanwhile, you can pry his Fi off his cold dead body. when i write junpei, i make him slip into delusions when he’s extremely stressed and at the end of his rope, desperate to make ultimately fruitless connections to give anything meaning— which aligns perfectly with a Ni grip, overrelying on intuition. (additionally, unhealthy Se doms relying on indulgence as a form of escapism checks out w junpei’s alcoholism)

still unsure about ENFJ carlos, not because anything’s glaringly wrong but because i did it all by myself and haven’t had much feedback on it. a few interesting notes though are that he’d have the same functions as akane just in a different order (FeNiSeTi instead of NiFeTiSe); love the Fe dom, and i gotta say Ni really just feels like a fucking esper function. either way, it reflects his reliance on his gut instincts and tendency to jump to conclusions, even if his priority is The Group.

tossing around ideas for sigma! kit suggested ENFJ as well for him, and while im not sure yet, an inferior Ti grip does wonders to explain dr klim’s behavior; his dom Fe and inf Ti working together would give this attitude of “ends justify the means, this logical end that technically benefits others means im going to be callous about the feelings of the people caught in the crossfire”; so, see: kyle

ngl im just super pumped about drawing parallels through personality typing between akane and carlos / junpei and aoi, it’s SO interesting; akane and carlos both as ennea 1s with different wings and xNFJs, aoi and junpei as 7w8 and 8w7 respectively but both ESFPs. it’s fucking poetic.

#ze talk #peko.txt

[pomegranate-belle]

I'm having like massive fucking difficulties picking a mere 500 words from MK1-END, so I kinda want to just give you the entire section beginning 'The elevator is locked, and there’s no way out. They’re all going to die.' and ending 'What’s happening around her, around them, fades away, but she can feel soothing heat and sadness and an ache in their chest,' and let you decide how much from that you want to do, and how.

Oh boy, I have a feeling this is gonna get long but… Oh welllmao

Ok, so… This first part is sort of the first time we’reseeing into the main ZTD cast – like, before that there’s sections that shiftaway from Kyle and Maria, but they’re short and they’re still tangential to thejourney those two are taking. But it’s way, way more exciting to have Kyle-Mariashow up from a different point of view than theirs. Also I might have some CSexperience but I know -5 about hacking, I am admitting that now, that wasdefinitely part of the reason the narrative shifted away from them at thatspecific moment lol

After that, it kind of devolves into Delta, and Delta’sthought process. I’m gonna be honest with you I wasn’t really… Convinced bywhat he says in ZTD and I think that ended up reflecting here. I think I kepthis arguments relatively in line with the ones he makes in the game, but I hadthe others, Maria especially, cut in with my objections to his logic. The wholestory is about Kyle and Maria working together, sharing their strength back andforth to save their families, but when they argue against Delta in unison, thatwas the one thing I really wanted them to connect on. The idea that they’d hadtheir worlds manipulated by him and that instead of just acquiescing they wererejecting his right to do that.  

It’s sort of the climax of the story, I think. In the sensethat it’s a culmination of their shared strength and their determination tochange the timeline they’ve been put into. But the part immediately after:

“You’re lying,”Maria realizes slowly.

Her lips are numb,and she doesn’t quite know the meaning of what she’s seen, but it’s there.Something, huge, something he’s not telling them. She thinks it must be aboutLeft, but she’s never been able to learn enough about him or about Free theSoul to be able to determine now what Delta’s motives truly are.

That was actually one of the first parts of the story Iwrote. And it really reflected my own views when I reached the ZTD True End forthe first time. We never got the backstory about FtS that we were promised, soeven though I was absolutely certain Delta was lying to us, there wasn’t enoughcontext to figure out why or about what.

And then we return to the gun. It’s er… Well, I guess wecould call it Chekov’s Gun, couldn’t we… I tried not to draw direct attentionto it, but the question of ‘where’s the gun, who’s holding it, where is itpointed’ was on my mind the entire scene inside the Test Facility. Which ofcourse leads to the gun ending up in Diana’s hands. Sort of a mirror to themoment in the game where we put her in a similar situation as Delta does here.I always knew I wanted it to be her. Eric is the gun-happy nutbar, but Dianaand Delta’s relationship is too interesting not to try and play with like that.

Maria jumping into Delta’s body was also something I wantedto explore kind of from the beginning. Just because we the player (or in thecase of this fic’s canon, Maria herself) were inside Delta’s PoV the wholetime. The thought of going back to it knowingly, even though she didn’t wantto, was interesting. And the truth is that the part about him not letting go ofher… My brain was absolutely 100% on that scene near the end of Anastasia lmaosorry Delta you are Rasputin now.

And then, after all the drama, I had to insert a littlelevity. Thus the “oh no she’s hot” exchange, which was an enormous amount offun to write. And it was a good transition into the Phi/Maria from the prompts.They (obviously) don’t interact in canon, so it was tough to try and find adynamic for them and a way to parse the attraction so that it wouldn’t read astoo sudden and unrealistic. With ? being Maria, I had a lot more leeway withthat, since she ended up getting to know everyone from VLR really well bydefault. But I mean, being the big fucking romance dork I am, I had to do the Lady-and-the-Tramp-esquebit where they touch hands.

I added in my own little headcanon about ZTD Dr. Klim – I’msure if you look at my old ZE posts it’s there somewhere – being the youngSigma from VLR. I was very proud of that bit because time loops always N

I couldn’t resist Carlos scolding Maria for the cuss words,probably because that stupid “Language!!” gag from AoU was on my brain. I alsocouldn’t resist namedropping Dio because I just gd love that garbage clone.What a fucking tool.

The exchange afterwards between Dr. Klim and Diana was atough one. Not in the sense that it was difficult to imagine the exchange, butin that I wasn’t really sure how to resolve it. Of course Dr. Klim was havingthe same problem, so maybe that’s why it worked out in the end. I think Idefinitely drew on a lot of Doctor Who related angst for that exchange.Everything from the Journey’s End exchange to that phone call in Deep Breath.The idea that the version of the person that you love is gone and a strangerthat is also paradoxically him is taking his place is one that’s pretty uniquebut it fits in ZE and in Doctor Who, thanks to the power of time travel.

This part here:

He takes a moment,breathes. Flexes the fingers that are and are not his own. The way he looksdown, aside, is one Maria knows intimately because Kyle recognizes it as hisown – a nervous tic to hide his fear of rejection.

Is one I added one one of my later passes, I think. But I’mreally proud of it. There are definitely ways in which Kyle and Sigma aresimilar and I think that this sort of emotional fragility is one of them. Ireally liked the thought of expressing that similarity through a gestureinstead of words.

Originally, I wasn’t going to have Kyle express a desire toleave so soon. But after the scene between Dr. Klim and Diana, this sort ofsinking feeling hit me. Or Kyle? Both of us I guess. Because it’s true he doesn’treally belong in 2028. He could, maybe, eventually… But then it hit me that hestill had unfinished business in 2074. And maybe that was always in the back ofmy head, that need for a resolution with Luna, just because she’s so near anddear to my heart. And the reason that Kyle begins to see her differently isbecause he sees her through Maria’s eyes, so in that way she’s helping him onelast time.

Their exchange about meeting again, I’m sure I’ve admittedto this before somewhere, is absolutely based on the “End: Lost in the Waves” FEFates DLC. That, in addition to the epilogue, was added on my second or thirdpass through the fic. Originally it ended with Phi and Maria holding hands, butI wanted to see Kyle again, so changes were made.

In the same way that I wanted to hint to a Kyle-Lunaresolution, I knew I had to start mending the ties between Sigma and Kyle,which is what his exchange is all about. I can’t remember who it was that madethat comic about Sigma getting attached to his clones but they kept dying andeventually he cut himself off from them but I think that played a lot into howI conceptualized their relationship. Now that their mission is done, there’snothing holding them back, there’s no longer a wall between them. And Kyle wasnever sure if that was really the problem, or if Sigma just truly didn’t care,so that reassurance is really important to him.

And of course I couldn’t have Kyle leave without talking toDiana. But in addition to having no idea what they would say to one another, Ialso wanted to expand a little bubble of privacy to them. Playing with the waythe body-sharing works was part of it too, because I think up until that pointthe only one who’d leaned back out of control far enough to mute the outside worldwas Kyle. I wanted to see it from Maria’s perspective too, and emphasize thatat their core – emotionally – they’re still connected no matter how far theylean apart.

I guess that’s all of it lmao wow.. I hope that didn’t soundtoo pretentious, I’m sure I got a little long-winded but look….. I revised thatfic like ten times before I posted it and it’s really one of my most polishedworks and I am So Damn Proud of it!

#long post #zero escape #writing #chessanator

[zecretsanta]

To: @larvaloverlord​

From: @kiichu​

Here’s a small Bonus Round gift for my Zecret Santa, @larvaloverlord! :)

Ao3

—

“This is… a Christmas tree?” The GAULEM’s eyes practically glowed as she studied the frame of the fir towering well above their heads. The needles were a glittering emerald, brushed with the illusion of fresh frost in the form of some simple paint. A large, red contraption hugged itself around the trunk, the holes in the mechanism showing the water that pooled inside, seeping into the tree when it needed to drink like an IV.

The tree probably looked the same as any other in the forest, but Luna concluded that this was the most beautiful one. According to her, at least, this one was the best and most perfect choice for their makeshift family.

Beside her, the other participants of the Ambidex Game stood as firmly as the tree itself, most of their faces showing a bright expression. Sigma assumed the leader position once more, positioned at the front of the group. The soft wrinkles on his face gently shifted as he smiled, eyes twinkling as he nodded.

The details of how they all made it to earth - even Luna, who shouldn’t have been able to function out of Rhizome-9 - were a complete blur. She recalled the Ambidex Game ending, all of the players surviving, and the truth being revealed to most of them. Dr. Klim’s consciousness returned to his body, and she helped him return to his room to rest. The moment she did, she felt her insides shutting down, a familiar buzzing creeping through her mind. This had happened a few times before, for maintenance and other routine reasons, but she remembered feeling quite unsure, terrified that after she was shut off that final time, she wouldn’t wake up again.

However, that couldn’t be further from the truth, as she’d somehow woken up on an earth none of them recognized - an earth that was clean and healthy.

Dr. Klim, Ms. Kurashiki, and all of the Ambidex Game players had ended up SHIFTing to a world where Radical-6 was never released, and Luna had never seen such a wondrous sight. She didn’t even know it was possible to ever see such a world, one that the AB Garden severely paled to in comparison, much less live in it. Somehow, somehow, they had brought her with them when they SHIFTed - and she didn’t ask the details.

She didn’t want to know how those that did not have a consciousness in this timeline, like Quark and K and Dio, were able to arrive here. She didn’t even bother to wonder if she was still hooked up to the same computer system - the details no longer mattered to her. All was well, and she would be a fool to question things.

Some of the consciousness the humans all SHIFTed into did exist in this world, so it was easy for them to jump. Tenmyouji, for example, had a large furnished home - the Tenmyouji from this timeline had been happy and successful, and dissolved away in favor of the newly-SHIFTed consciousness. Regardless, Tenmyouji still had a house, and let everyone stay in it, citing that he’d be “a bitter old man” otherwise.

She had been more than happy just to be here on earth with everyone, but humans always did want more than they had - not that that was a bad thing in the least for this case. Yes, now they wished to bring their happiness to another level - and take Luna with them.

They proposed they celebrate Christmas, albeit a month late.

Quark was positively ecstatic. The child clearly hadn’t celebrated a proper holiday like this before, as he lived a junk collector’s life with Tenmyouji. Luna felt a comforting sort of warmth in her chest at the thought of Quark being so happy - perhaps it was her motherly programming, but she couldn’t help but want to try in any way possible to get that boy to smile just a bit brighter.

In the end, Tenmyouji and Quark decided to dig through the attic, to see if they could find any decorations.

Clover looked rather melancholy, recollecting all the Christmas traditions she’d done as a child with her brother, but decided to help collect a tree with Alice as a way to honor him. K decided to join them, most likely the strength to carry back any tree they found outside.

Ms. Kurashiki decided to make some tea, and Phi dug through some old Christmas CD albums. Dr. Klim sat quietly, keeping an eye on Dio. Their “unwelcome guest” (Dr. Klim’s words, not Luna’s) had his wrists bound for now, looking very wide-eyed and lost in a world he’d never known. Gone was the rage and hatred he showed in the Ambidex Game, in its place a look of desolation and utter confusion. If she had a heart, the sight of him like that would have twisted it.

An hour later, the group of three had returned with a beautiful fir tree, and placed it in the center of the room in a stand filled with water.

“Luna?”

A voice snapped her out of her reminiscing, turning to glance at the others standing nearby. Everyone looked rather pleased at their find, and were looking at her expectantly.

“U-um, yes? I’m sorry, I spaced out…” she murmured, folding her hands in front of her face timidly.

Dr. Klim smiled warmly - a smile she wanted to keep on his face as long as possible - and handed her a glass star-shaped item. She held it up in front of the tree, watching the green of the needles sparkle through the clear shape of the star. The sight dazzled her, sending another spark of warmth through her circuits.

“It’s beautiful…” she whispered, still in awe.

“Isn’t it?!” Quark cried, shoving Tenmyouji aside to stand in the front of the group. “Me and Grandpa found it upstairs in the attic! I think it’s the prettiest ornament he owns!”

Ah, an ornament - that was right, according to the customs she’d read in books, these were hung from the branches of the Christmas tree. But why was she given the honor of holding Quark’s obviously favorite ornament?

“You should put it on, then,” she insisted, attempting to give it back.

“No, no,” Dr. Klim’s voice was kind, but firm - she retracted her hand, giving him a curious look. “We all agreed to let you put on the star of the tree, Luna. We’ll all put up the lights and more ornaments first, but you can place the star on at the very end to complete the look.”

Luna’s eyes glittered, her ‘heart’ thumping against her chest. The blissful, merry feeling completely overwhelmed her; was this what people meant when they talked about Christmas cheer? Was it really the time of year that brought out such sentiments, or just the selfless deeds of others that created a peaceful atmosphere?

Whatever the case, Luna felt it - she’d never felt anything like it before, and she didn’t want to ever not feel like this. Her breath caught in her throat as she stared up at Dr. Klim, a film of artificial tears pooling under her eyes.

“Thank you. Thank you,” she breathed, stepping forward to wrap her arms around the doctor. He stiffened at her sudden touch, but ultimately relaxed and patted her head like a child. She didn’t care that she was probably staining his shirt - she was just so happy.

When she finally pulled back, she gazed up at the doctor, matching his smile with her own.  

A dry tone sounded from beside her. “Um, wow, Luna, way to thank the rest of us,” Phi muttered, and Dr. Klim shifted and gently grabbed her arm; Phi gave a surprised yelp as she was pulled in beside Luna. The two made the structure of an enclosure around Luna, making her feel like a protected child.

“Oh, oh! I want in!” Clover squealed, her pink curls bouncing as she hopped over to join them.

Alice gave a chuckle and casually strolled up to the group next, her heels clicking on the wooden floor. “I suppose there’s no reason not to. Everything seemed to work out, after all.”

Luna smiled and nodded - yes, this timeline seemed to be perfect for everyone, didn’t it? Her pulse sped up as she could feel two new pairs of arms encircle her, the two young women each giving her a wink.

“C’mon, Grandpa!” Quark cried, pushing his way into the group.

Tenmyouji gave a loud sigh. “My, my, we’re awfully huggy today, aren’t we… well, like Alice said, if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em, I guess.”

Two more bodies joined their circle, Quark’s wide smile enough to brighten everyone else’s expressions just that much more.

A muffled chuckle sounded nearby, K’s analytical tone following it. “Ah, I believe this is called a group hug, yes?”

And Dio’s rough hiss: “No shit. Like fuck I’m getting in on that, though.”

“Don’t be like that, Dio - Christmas is supposed to be about love and joy, or so I’ve heard. Come now,” K said, and dragged Dio by the wrist towards the group.

“H-hey! Let me go!” Dio squirmed, trying to pry the metal fingers off him. Luna softly smiled towards him as they approached, trying to get him to relax a bit more; when the blond noticed her smile, he merely grimaced and broke eye contact, but didn’t protest anymore and let himself be placed in the circle.

K stretched his large, mechanical arms around the group, squishing their bodies together in a tight embrace. He was strong enough to lift everyone off the ground as well, the eyes of his mask lighting up as he merrily chuckled. Everyone else laughed, albeit a bit nervously due to the closeness (except Dio, who grumbled), but the atmosphere felt warm and inviting.

Here were a group of people that probably had never celebrated Christmas, much less together, all hugging one another like they were close.

As they parted, Ms. Kurashiki’s raspy voice sounded from behind Luna. She glanced over her shoulder to see the woman with a gentle smile of her own. “We’ve never celebrated Christmas on the moon, so you have much to learn.”

Luna softly giggled. “Yes, I suppose I do. There are so many interesting traditions around this time of year.”

Ms. Kurashiki nodded to herself, as though she was recalling her own traditions of Christmases past. “Indeed. The tree should be decorated, of course, and the star placed on top at the end. Those are all fairly popular customs, but Luna - what do you think we need to have here?”

Tilting her head, the GAULEM asked, “What do you mean, ma’am?”

Dr. Klim stepped in. “Perhaps I can clarify. I think Akane wants to know if - despite the vast amount of traditions across cultures - there’s anything that needs to be present at Christmas. In other words, if there’s something that we can’t afford to forget, no matter what we’re doing.”

“How about a gallon of eggnog…” Tenmyouji muttered, only to get elbowed by Phi.

Blinking, Luna thought about the answer for a moment, her gaze sweeping across those nearby. Nine sets of eyes stared back at her, each holding their own lifelong story.

Quark’s excitement, Tenmyouji’s joy, Clover’s enthusiasm, Alice’s satisfaction, K’s curiosity, Dio’s reluctance, Phi’s acceptance, Dr. Klim’s warmth, Ms. Kurashiki’s approval… everyone had a distinct piece of their personalities - some mixing together well, others clashing, but every piece adding something unique to the group as a whole. It was honestly amazing that they could get together like this, and choose on their own to spend time together recognizing a holiday that was a month late.

They may not feel the same, but Luna could definitely see for herself: their group had the foundations to become something much greater, much closer.

So Luna answered without hesitation.

“Well, Christmas celebrations would need a family,” she murmured, feeling the smiles of the others warm her like a blanket on a cold winter night. “It’s a good thing we have one right here, isn’t it?”

#zero escape #virtue's last reward #larvaloverlord #kiichu #zecret santa 2017 #2017 bonus round #submission

[girlbossphi]

klims ranked

kyle (deserved so much better, only one that doesn't even qualify for a redemption arc because there is nothing that needs redeeming)

dr klim (old fuck, but he's mellowed out some and is therefore more tolerable)

sigma (bad disappointment of a son to me. out of the will. why can't he be more like his brother junpei.)

#alexi talks

[mortaveritas]

dumping some headcanons about sigma and family, huge spoilers (vlr and ztd) under the cut

first, his home life. In-game, Sigma claims that his family was “average”, he’s not rich (no great ransom), but not poor either. We don’t really get anything more than that, though.

Honestly, I’m kinda conflicted on what I think his family is like. On the one hand, I love the idea of him having a very large family, both because I feel it fits, and I feel like it makes a nice contrast with Phi. On the other, the idea of him having a deadbeat dad (and that being part of why he’s so abysmal as a father) is also quite plausible.

I do see the potential of mixing these HCs, tho. It’s possible that he was raised by his mother, but his extended family was still large. I doubt he’d have contact with his paternal grandparents/family, but his maternal grandparents would still be alive. (perhaps his mom just had a lot of sisters? potential for cousins there.)

Regardless though, I feel like while the family was large, it didn’t get together super often. There’d be a big get together at christmas, and a family reunion in the summer, but other than that? not much, really. And as well, there still weren’t that many positive male role models in his life. He didn’t really see what a dad was supposed to be like.

Sigma and women is a... complicated issue. He’s hopelessly perverted and doesn’t stop making jokes, and yet at the same time, he proves that he does know when to be compassionate, and when to shut up with the quips. He can take things too far, certainly, but he also does(usually) back off when they tell him to.

So, I feel like I’m confident in saying that he had good female role models growing up, mostly in his mother. He probably has a lot of respect for her (considering she raised him on her own). The perversion and stuff is just because he’s a dumb frat boy who talks first and thinks second, usually. he gets better with age.

for kids.... oh god that’s complicated. so fucking complicated.

first, in vlr: Sigma isn’t super awkward around Quark (when he’s awake). He’s definitely not a good role model for a kid, but he cares and he wants to keep quark safe. Hell, look what he does in quark’s ending- he lets himself get betrayed and then severs his fucking arm just to save Quark’s life.

However.... all good things must come to an end. and the good thing that comes to an end here is sigma being ok with kids.

I mentioned in a different post, but I was talking with indigocrash about just random headcanon things about Sigma and Kyle and Diana and Luna, and I really now like the idea that DIana was pregnant (and lost the pregnancy) right around when she died.

so right off the bat, we’ve got Sigma having a very upsetting experience regarding children. He loses his wife and unborn child (probably within the span of a month-2 weeks), and he knows. He knows what’s going to happen, but he pushes it off.

The next thing he does is create Luna, out of loneliness. After time he realizes that he needs to start seeing her as her own person, and not Diana, so he tweaks her personality and voice so that he has to force himself to see her as a separate person. And, it works- Sigma acknowledges that Luna is her own woman, and he starts to see her as a daughter. It’s about then when he gives her the blue bird and tells her the (albeit depressing) story that does with it. It was a symbol- he wanted to tell her that she was capable of being more than just what she was programmed for. That she was capable of becoming her own person, despite her status as a gaulem.

So, he’s got Luna, his daughter. But then, Kyle. Oh, Kyle, my poor poor boy.

I’ve mentioned numerous times about the HC where kyle dies over and over, so I won’t go more into it here. However, that’s what really screws with him, in the end. It sorta puts the final nail in the coffin of him becoming “dr. Klim”, as he distances himself more and more.

I do feel like he’d still talk more to Akane and Luna, but he just can’t bring himself to get close to kyle. In the period where Kyle works with him, I do think it makes him genuinely happy as well- but he knows it can’t last.

When Sigma finds out about Phi in ztd, I feel like he’d almost feel guilty. Because he has Phi, sure, but he’s lost Luna and Kyle.

Hell, it’s possible for him to recreate Luna, and because quantum computers it’s technically possible that he could create a ‘shifted’ copy of her personality, with her memories, and bring it to the good timeline. But kyle... oh, my dear sweet boy. My poor boy.

There’s two options to how Kyle can get to the ZTD true end timeline. One, the idea that I really like and actually do hc: he shifts with the spare carlos, the one that should be there from the transporter. That means that Carlos is “???”, I get to be happy because carlos and junpei meet up again in vlr timeline (and akane too, go to earth and see your tsundere fiance who’s too stubborn to see you), and I also get to be happy because Kyle on the true end. It’s the best-case scenario- Sigma can have his ‘family’, no matter how broken it kinda is. He could introduce Luna and Diana (lol that’d be a fucked up conversation), and Kyle could have an actual mother (although tbh i feel like he’d be really damn reluctant because a) not akane and b) looks like luna).

Now, this would still not be a happy ending- there’s no real ending where Kyle can just forgive Sigma. That’s not gonna happen, not after years and years of parental neglect. However, I do hope that at the very least, there’d be the possibility of some form of reconciliation. The idea that they could at least get along as ‘friends’, although not perhaps good friends.

The second, and far more depressing option, is that Sigma himself shifts with Kyle. There’s a lot to be lost here- depending on theories, it could almost be suicidal. (if you agree that having 2 of the same consciousness in the same timeline aware of each other would fuck things up, like a schrodinger’s cat situation. everything’s fine, until you know there’s two.)

In this case, one of the Sigmas would have to die- if the action of shifting with Kyle didn’t kill one/both of them right off the bat. It would be tragic for Diana, Phi would likely be goddamn pissed at him, and honestly? I don’t think Kyle would want that. It’s a better world, maybe, but it’s a world where he knows nobody apart from Phi. Akane isn’t the same, tenmyouji isn’t tenmyouji, and even Phi knows too much.

the hidden, best option? transporter. Clover and Alice heavily imply that they’re going to use it in the end of VLR, which means that Sigma knows where it is. And, how to still activate it.

My best idea, then? Clover and Alice go first (transporting to the early radical-6 outbreak to meet with Light and the other sois people), then ten months later, it’s Quark and Kyle.

I love this idea the most because a) Quark getting to live through an actual happy world is amazing, and also he gets to see young grandpa and just, a world where junpei doesn’t get to meet quark is kinda sad,,,, and b) Kyle gets to go to the good ending without feeling like he’s stolen anything. Plus, him and Quark can relate to each other about  things- i could almost see him sorta big bothering Quark.

I... I think I lost my train of thought along the line.

but, yeah. let quark and kyle use the transporters 2k74.

#vlr spoilers #ztd spoilers #Polling Closed『OOC』 #old headcanons #this got super long #and really off-topic #but #let my boys use an alien fax machine #let them be happy #give them a good end

[keycrash]

ze enneagram talk ayy

been into enneagram lately, mostly on twitter, not enough for me to consider myself well-versed yet but i did wanna reach out here-- i’ve been typing a few of the characters without confirmed types and wanted to see if anyone else had thoughts

carlos: 1w2. he has a lot of the ‘presentation’ of a 2, almost, being a people-pleaser and eager to help others, but at his core he’s here to do the right thing and doesn’t expect any kind of compensation or acknowledgement in return. i wrestled with 2w1 for a while but i think i was just fooled by how dedicated he is to his personal relationships; while it is strong enough to give him the 2 wing, i feel like he cares less about being needed like a 2 and more about doing Right

akane: i know she’s a 9 in canon but as i’ve said before i believe that only applies to june; i’d type true akane as a 1w9, but what’s commonly framed as a strict moral code for 1s is instead her own more complex multiversally-informed conceptions of right and wrong and necessity and responsibility. she has a strong will, is stubborn, and considers her duties her life purpose, but her 9 wing allows her to more easily take on the role of june when needed

ztd akane: obviously different than Real Akane because ztd akane is a trainwreck. assuming uchikoshi is still using the enneagram for ztd, i... have literally no idea which one ztd akane is supposed to be, because she doesn’t feel 9ish or 1ish, and 1 is already taken if i’m right about carlos anyway?

okay i obviously thought about those 2 way more than the rest, where i need help, lmao. from here on it’s just some vague ideas. i’m operating upon the assumption that in vlr tenmyouji is still taking up the 8(w7) slot and clover is still taking up the ctr-6 slot.

alice: my friends and i considered 7 for her, since she basically... gives a speech about how her goal in life is about finding love, living nicely, etc etc something like that. seemed to clear to ignore, but if anyone has another take i’m happy to hear

phi: i’m feeling 4-5 range for her; i figure 5 makes more sense archetypally (is that a word)? the thing is 4s are focused around identity from what i know, and i feel like she does have identity issues (talking about not feeling like a normal girl, not wanting people to connect to her), but presents differently from what i’ve seen about most 4s

sigma: legit i have no fucking clue. my friend guessed 1 and i mean he is pretty moral but. ???? buddy i have no idea.

kyle: also no idea. could also fit into 5? but that raises questions about phi. fuck.

dio: i guessed a 3, but i also don’t know dio too well; i figured the need for achievement 3s have would explain his desire for glory and validation in the eyes of free the soul? but i’m not sure

luna: type 9. 

mira: type 4, pretty solid on this one. centering the idea that there’s something different about her that sets her apart from other people that prevents her from relating to them

eric: same as clover, a counter-6. so averse to anxiety that he reacts to it highly aggressively. reactive and fighty.

etc: what’s sean? i’ve seen 9 suggested. if 9 is taken, then diana can’t share a likely type with luna, which i’m on board with tbh, but what other type would diana have? i have no idea what vlr sigma’s type is, but would dr. klim share it? while i do personally think the characters should stay in their same enneagram type across games (with the exception of akane because she was acting), did uchikoshi work based on that assumption???? if ztd keeps the 1 person per type model, how does delta fit in???? hewwo???????

#999 spoilers #vlr spoilers #ztd spoilers #ze talk #peko.txt

[keycrash]

ZTD gave us some confusing Akane and junpei characterizations but it completely murdered Sigma's. Like who are you??? I know you were stuck on the moon for a while but dang Sigma that doesn't explain most of your bad decisions

ngl i expected sigma to make bad decisions. i expected sigma to be a fucking dick at times, honestly, because of what we know of dr. klim he DID turn a lot more bitter over the years, and throwing diana back into the mix doesn’t just get rid of all of that immediately. but ztd just...ruined core parts of his character? like the unconditional love speech, what the FUCK was that? what the fuck? you mean to tell me that sigma klim, who basically gave his life to save a dying world, lived in isolation for FORTY YEARS, saw SO many people die and worked THIS HARD to fix it, never experienced ‘unconditional love’ until now? that he actually is selfish at heart and these babies helped fix it? that he’s ever expected anything in return for his actions? it’s just so... bizarre. sigma is one of the most selfless characters in this fucking series and i can see dr. klim changing but that speech went against his character fundamentally and it was a fucking RIDE to watch

#ztd spoilers #vlr spoilers #Anonymous

[mortaveritas]

headcanon dump: sigma and sickness (spoilers under the cut, suicide tw)

first, when he was a kid. Sigma was a healthy kid, maybe just getting the common cold every so often, but he rarely really god sick. Even when he did get sick, it would last maybe 2-3 days, his body was really good at shrugging that stuff off.

The longest he was out of commission as a kid was when he broke his arm, and even then it didn’t slow him down. (i figure he’s likely ambidextrous because irony and also he’s gotta be good with his hands for his work).

Sigma really doesn’t have any problems with disease... until the AB game.

I think the start of everything would be in clover’s ending, when he commits suicide thanks to the virus. Having the memory of slitting your own throat would be... pretty traumatic, no matter who you are. It gets worse when you consider the fact that really, any time that everyone gets stuck inside, they’re still all infected. Chances are incredibly high that he succumbs to the virus in luna’s ending (considering we see him experience that slow-down moment), and i feel like there’d be more mass suicides in bad endings where only one person escapes.

That alone would be enough to fuck you up, but then, Sigma’s gotta go back in time and now become Dr. Klim, destined to stop radical-6 from escaping.

So, to say that Sigma has a bit of a problem with diseases is a bit of an understatement. He’s not a germaphobe, however he is strongly put off by infectious diseases. They bother him greatly, and he certainly does have a bit of a fear of catching one.

The real greater fear isn’t getting one though, it’s one spreading. His worse possible nightmare would be radical-6 following him here- it caused the apocalypse once already, don’t need it again in a world that’s already post-apocalyptic. Like, even if he has no idea if he’ll ever run into anyone he knows, he would definitely start preparations for the AB project up again. He’d code Luna and G-OLM (and even see if he could find a frame so he could model her ABT), he’d start work on the bracelets and chromatic door technology, and he’d even (reluctantly) start researching biology and genetics so he could work on creating kyle.

really, really bad idea: Sigma sets up an Ambidex game here, in terminal. He just buys himself a motherfucking warehouse, remodels it to look like the rhizome, and starts kidnapping people for his fucking saw nightmare game. lets inhibit the motherfuckin virus.

now, this would never happen, tbh. He doesn’t like causing unnecessary death, and certainly at this timeline point he has yet to know how to completely disregard his own morals. Even Dr. Klim wouldn’t set up an AB game for no reason- we can question his opinions on the game, but he’s not some evil sadist. It was just a necessary evil, much like Akane’s death in some timelines.

I do wonder how some people would react to knowing Sigma’s secrets, though. Like, this ‘dumbass’ college boy is actually part of an unending time loop where he becomes a leading researcher in the field of genetics and cloning, he codes an entire family worth of robots, as well as an incredibly advanced AI that runs all the other advanced AI, and he creates a death game that kills both his closest coworker, his son, his robot daughter, and himself multiple times. I can’t imagine he’d share this stuff easily- it’s his burden, no one else’s- but if he did, i wonder how harshly it would change that person’s opinion of him.

#old headcanons #Polling Closed『OOC』 #vlr spoilers #suicide tw

[mortaveritas]

♥ ♫

♫ - headcanon about music

Sigma’s probably a classic rock kinda guy, he’d listen a lot to those stations that only play music from before 2000. Not for any hipster reason though, he’d just do that because that’s the music he enjoys.

Although, I bet he guilty pleasure listens to really upbeat cutsey pop songs when nobody is around to hear him. Even sings along if he’s 100% positive he’s alone.

♥ - headcanon about love

I touched on this a bit in a previous post, but basically: Sigma has been in many relationships, but he’s never really been actually in love. Relationships were physical first, both for him and the people he was with, and he was totally ok with that.

He was probably with his ex-girlfriend for a good couple months (which is one of his longest relationships) before vlr happens, but aside from that he’s actually pretty inexperienced in like, romance.

In terms of other loves: He understands platonic love very well, and he’s the type of person who would die multiple times to find a way to help his friends.

...that makes more sense in context, i promise.

major spoilers under the cut for vlr/ztd, this is endgame stuff for both games

As for familial love; that gets... a bit complex. He had a good relationship with his parents, however, when it’s his turn to become a parent? He kinda falls flat on his ass.

I could go on for days about the train wreck that is his and phi’s relationship, and the eternal suffering of what the fuck uchikoshi why did you have sigma flirt with phi you did that shit on purpose, and we all know that there’s probably no way he could ever have something even slightly resembling familial relations with Delta, but those two aren’t the interesting ones in this question.

No, the interesting ones are, quite obviously, Kyle and Luna.

First off, Kyle. I really like the headcanon that Sigma tried (and failed) multiple times to create Kyle, because I find it really hard to believe that he could live through the AB game, remember how much their relationship hurt Kyle, and yet still be so distant and cold. It makes far more sense to me that ‘kyle’ died many times while Sigma was attempting to create him, each death making Sigma grow more and more detached. By the time he finally succeeded, he didn’t want to be close to Kyle. He was certain that if he grew close, then Kyle would just die again.

is this acceptable? No, of course not. Is it understandable, though? Yes.

Sigma is, self-admittedly, a very selfish person. He was forced into a position where he has no choice but to become a savior for the entire world, and I honestly think that some part of him will always resent what was stolen from him. (Because, do recall, the youngest Sigma can ever be when he reaches a happy ending is 67. He will never live through these events and reach a happy ending at 22.) As such, when he realized that Kyle was going to keep dying, he decided that it was just easier to distance himself and feel nothing, rather than risk hurting himself again.

His relationship with Luna is somehow even more complicated. While he didn’t have her dying over and over, he modeled her after his dead wife. I figure that he actually originally created Luna long before Kyle, and just programmed her to stay away from him- he wanted to see Diana. He was so desperately lonely that he spent days and nights just working on her code, tweaking everything about her until she was (supposedly) the perfect replica of his deceased wife.

However, once she was complete, he realized that he couldn’t stand having a fake Diana. And so, he started tweaking code- he changed her voice, and he edited little bits of her personality data so that she would be just ever so slightly different. This led to him seeing Luna not as a woman to love, but rather as a daughter.

The complicated part, is that Luna falls in love with Sigma not as a father, but as a man.

So, tl;dr, Sigma is a fucking mess with family relationships and you should never give him a child because they’ll apparently either hate him, kill him, fall in love with him, or get sent through time and become the same age as him in the most confusing and unfortunate bootstrap paradox ever.

I hate the Klim family tree. I hate it so fucking much. I hate all of this. Uchikoshi why did you play me like this. I didn’t even ship phigma, I always thought Phi was either gay or ace, but still. You played so many people like damn fools. And you pulled that shit again with Diana. What the fuck, bro. What the fuck. You knew and you were laughing at everyone. You monster.

#ztd spoilers #vlr spoilers #spoilers #ze spoilers #Anon #replies #old headcanons #at least the music headcanon is fun and happy #Polling Closed『OOC』 #incest mention #incredibly unfortunately #tfw you unfortunately hit on the worst possible person #me; hiding tears and shoving my multiple copies of each game into my purse: i hate zero escape; actually