#very philo-like which i love

[fashionlandscapeblog]

Supriya Lele Fall 2024

#very philo-like which i love #supriya lele #fall 2024 #fw 2024 #ready-to-wear #rtw24 #rtw #minimal fashion #leather jacket

[winged-self-indulgence]

Why Do People Like Yanderes?

Hi everyone, my name is Diya, and this was going to be a YT video-essay-type-thing but I'm too poor to afford a mic and too busy with college to learn how to edit videos, so here's my vague exploration of the psychology behind why people like yanderes so much through the lens of my favourite Visual Novels.

TW for uh. yandere content. Mentions of sex, gore, and non-con, particularly in the last topic. This is more like the first draft of an academic paper so while it's not explicit, I do go into some detail.

Introduction

If you’re a fan of anime or visual novels, then you’re probably already aware of what a yandere is, or at the very least you’ve seen that one picture of Yuno Gasai. Still, for the sake of thoroughness, let’s take it from the tippy top. The term ‘yandere’ is a Japanese portmanteau of ‘yanderu’ – the progressive form of ‘yami’ – meaning ‘sick’, and ‘deredere’ which roughly translates to ‘loving’. Together, the word refers to someone who is – in short – extremely lovesick. Obsessive to the extreme, and with little morality to spare, the standard yandere is characterized by a dangerous fixation on a chosen target, often appearing shy and caring at first only to flip the script and become violently aggressive towards perceived threats (Kroon, 2010).

It should be noted that yanderes are not a strictly romantic or sexual trope. The Ancient Greeks classified at least six forms of love, from familial (storge) to guests (xenia). Modern psychologists may distinguish love as either Companionate or Passionate (Kim & Hatfield, 2004) or consisting of three dimensions of Intimacy, Passion, and Commitment (Sternberg & Sternberg, 2018). Realistically, possessiveness shows up in a variety of relationships. However, people are generally primed to view certain dynamics as inherently amorous. Societal norms tend to encourage the idea that romantic bonds ought to rank above all others, and therefore if Person A is bizarrely fixated on Person B, then clearly there must be an element of sexual interest involved regardless of the actual relationship between the individuals in question.

Regardless, yanderes remain quite popular in fiction. Many dismiss it as a fetish, which it can be, but that isn’t the case for everyone. While there is nothing wrong with indulging in kinky fiction, not all of us get horny at the thought of being chained up in someone’s basement, no matter how hot our captor may be. So why is it so pervasive? Why is this trope so appealing that most writers cannot help but include at least a single line of dialogue implying that – if circumstances had been ever so slightly different – my wholesome shoujo romcom might have turned into a psychological horror?

Hybristophilia

‘Hybristophilia’, also known as Bonnie and Clyde Syndrome after the titular criminal couple, is a word is derived from the Greek word ‘hybridzein’ meaning ‘to commit an outrage against someone’ and ‘philo’ which means ‘a strong preference for’. Sexologist John Money reportedly defined it as a paraphilia in which an individual is sexually aroused by a partner who has a predatory history of hurting other people (Money, 1986, as cited in Matuszak, 2017). In his book, Serial Killer Groupies, true crime and crime fiction author RJ Parker distinguished two forms of hybristophilia: passive and aggressive. The former is when an individual contacts a criminal with the intention of striking up a relationship with them, allowing themselves to be seduced and manipulated but having no interest in committing a crime themselves. The latter are far more dangerous, as the individual not only derives sexual pleasure from their partner’s atrocities but are active participants in carrying out or covering up the crime. To quote Griffiths (2013, as cited in Pettigrew, 2019):

“[They] help out their lovers with their criminal agenda by luring victims, hiding bodies, covering crimes, or even committing crimes. They are attracted to their lovers because of their violent actions and want to receive love yet are unable to understand that their lovers are psychopaths who are manipulating them.”

In some ways, hybristophilia is the nearest thing we have to a realistic understanding of why people love yanderes. I mean, much of the fantasy surrounding such characters and their media tend to be filled with posts begging to be spat on or calling the rightfully terrified main character ungrateful for being a teeny bit upset about finding surveillance cameras in their ceiling. However, enjoying fictitious immoral activity does not predict real perpetration, so what does? There exists little consensus amongst psychologists as to what sparks this particular predilection, and that was strange to me. You would think there would be more studies into this topic, in spite of or perhaps because of its controversial nature. Heck, that one dude wouldn’t shut up about white women’s obsession with Bundy and Dahmer, and I assumed he had gotten that information from somewhere, but it turns out that was just him using modifiers to justify sexism.

However, I believe that we can hedge a few guesses, and over the course of my research, I’ve organized the main rationalizations under four umbrellas which I will explore through the lens of my favourite yandere-themed Visual Novels. Please keep in mind that most of these games are rated as mature due to sexual scenes and/or gore. Additionally, in the spirit of transparency, this ramble will be focused exclusively on male or masculine yanderes. So, without further ado:

Call Me Bob the Builder Because I Can Fix Them

If you’re familiar with DC Comic’s Batman, or just happen to have attended any costume event held over the span of the last 20+ years, you may be familiar with the character of Dr. Harleen Quinzel, better known as Harley Quinn. Initially created as the Joker’s one-off sidekick in Batman The Animated Series, she was so well-received by audiences that she became a recurring character in the cartoon and was eventually given a proper origin story in the form of a one-shot titled Mad Love.

Harley’s origin story has seen some alterations over the past decades, but the core aspects remain largely untouched. In the beginning, Harleen Quinzel was a promising young woman who wanted was a degree from the university’s prestigious psychology department, which she gained through…less than scrupulous means.

(Listen, I’m not sure if the authors were leaning on the Dumb Blonde stereotype, or if they simply thought that casting her as a genuinely bad student would make her later actions more believable. Either way, the idea of Harley as someone with a legitimate PhD came later)

After landing an internship at Arkham Asylum – a half-hospital and half-prison straight out of the 1870s that might as well be built out of one-ply tissue-paper soaked with gasoline and left next to a crate of fireworks – Harleen set her sights on the then incarcerated Joker. At the start, her fixation on the criminal wasn’t remotely sympathetic. She didn’t want to help him, she wanted to use him. Harleen Quinzel wanted piggyback off his infamy and write a tell-all tale detailing what sort of messed up childhood resulted in Gotham’s Clown Prince of Crime. Yet the more she interacted with him, the more the Joker took advantage of her empathy. By the end of their sessions, Harley no longer saw him as a violent serial killer with a clown schtick, but as a “lost, injured child looking to make the world laugh at his antics.”

But Diya, you may be asking, what does this have to do with the video? The Joker never loved Harley, and it could even be argued – as Shehadeh did in a 2017 essay – that her obsession with the pasty-faced clown is more akin to Histrionic Personality Disorder. While that may be the case, I believe that Harley’s story provides one of the reasons yanderes are so popular: their backstory.

Whether they were abandoned by their family, bullied by their peers, experimented on by evil scientists, starved on the streets, died under mysterious circumstances and then trapped in a haunted VCR tape for decades, or are simply so impossibly inhuman that they frankly do not understand why it isn’t socially acceptable to imprison their crush in a pocket dimension made of meat and non-Euclidean geometry, yanderes often have fairly sympathetic or at least understandable explanations for why they are Like That. Your mileage may vary significantly depending on how much you sympathize with these motives, but the point is that yanderes always make sense to some degree. Their morality and priorities may be twisted or even completely incomprehensible, but the audience almost always knows the reason, and that can be comforting. In the real world, other people aren’t always straightforward, and we never really know what they’re thinking, but narrative coherence demands a semblance of internal consistency lest the audience end up frustrated and confused. So yanderes are not only easy to sympathize with, but also fairly predictable. In-universe they may be unhinged freaks with a blood fetish, but to you watching from behind the safety of the screen they’re just acting out the script written for them based on a prototype. And if you understand the why behind their loose gears, then you might just be able to put them back together again.

The concept of rescue romances or “I Can Fix Them” has been around in our stories for thousands of years. The Epic of Gilgamesh detailed how Shamhat essentially ‘civilized’ wild man Enkidu through ritual lovemaking, and a concerning number of religions push the idea that women are dutybound to save men from the follies of sin. Yet men are not exempt either, with one notable example being the German fairytale, King Thrushbeard. Call it what you will regardless: Knights in Shining Armour, the Florence Nightingale Effect, or a plain old case of Because You Were Nice to Me, studies have shown that human beings generally like helping [DA2] others, even when the reason doesn’t necessarily stem from pure altruism. I will delve deeper into this later, but care and compassion are deeply ingrained in human nature, and arising from those roots is the appeal of this mentality: You can save them. You can change them. You can make them better. You are special, and the way you treat this person carries a weight that has not and will never be matched by anyone else for the rest of their mortal or immortal existence.

The illusion is a delicious one, especially if the person you’ve helped turns out to be a billionaire CEO with cash to burn, a super powerful ghost king willing to raze continents to dust for you, a demon having fun on a Friday night, or just your average hot creep with a knife. Moreover, different people have different ideas of what ‘fixing’ even means. Maybe you want to single-handedly rehabilitate your yandere into a functional member of society. Maybe you’re cool with the incessant stalking but would like them to stop slaughtering your friends, family, and local service workers. Maybe you want to make them much, much worse.

Not only do yanderes provide immediate proof that your actions have a tangible impact on the lives of others, but the fantasy also includes the desire of being seen as special. Of being admired and adored by someone whose life you inexplicably made better by virtue of simply being yourself, or an idealized version of yourself. In this fictional world, in this imaginary setting, the person you are is so uniquely, impossibly irreplaceable to someone. And if that’s the case then they can’t risk losing you, can they?

The Allure of Obsession, or ‘Til Death Do Us Part (Literally)

It shouldn’t be necessary, but here is my obligatory disclaimer anyway. Ahem: obsession is not a good thing in real life. Fixating on another human to the detriment of your own wellbeing and that of those around you is dangerous, as is encouraging someone else to obsess over you. You might think you are being worshiped, but real life is not a visual novel. The outside world doesn’t come with an age rating, the author’s guiding pen, and a convenient fade to credits sequence once you’ve reached an ending. The consequences will still be there in the morning, so don’t do it. Just don’t.

PSA out of the way, it’s natural to want to be wanted. Maslow’s Hierarchy places it just above physical safety, but I’d argue that it could easily be compared to baser drives. According to many psychological and anthropological studies, much of humanity’s continued survival and environmental dominance is largely attributed to our ability to form groups, cooperate with one another, and maintain complex interpersonal networks. Social support, intimacy, and a sense of belonging are linked to emotional and physical benefits, such as more optimistic health perceptions, higher subjective well-being, increased creativity and innovation, and greater self-efficacy (DeWall & Bushman, 2011; Harandi et al., 2017; Wang & Sha, 2018). Therefore, it’s perfectly understandable that rejection of any sort would be construed as a threat.

But if someone is obsessed with you, then you have no reason to worry about that, right? No more nights spent agonizing over how they feel about you, asking yourself whether your last text made you sound too desperate, or if you’re boring them because you spent the past hour info-dumping about Stardew Valley farm layouts. With a yandere, there will never be any doubt that they care about you. Sure, they might go about it in weird, manipulative, and insidious ways that violate your physical and mental autonomy, but you can’t deny their loyalty. They do love you in their own bizarre way. You are the sun around which they orbit. When you’re in the room, no one else exists. Every single messy flaw is just another bullet point on the mile-long list of why they adore you.

In essence, yanderes are not only attentive, but their love can be virtually unconditional. A yandere might know everything about you, and still revere you. It’s unhealthy as hell and you might genuinely question their taste, but it can be tempting to pretend that all of you, right down to the ugliest parts of yourself – the traits and choices that you would never share with another living soul even at gunpoint – are worthy of understanding, if not open praise and affection.   

Attractiveness, or Okay but Have You Considered That They’re Hot Though?

.

.

.

I mean what am I supposed to say here? They’re hot, what do you want from me?

No, but in all seriousness, fictional media paints an idealized version of the world, and most yanderes are hot because they have the freedom of existing purely behind that screen; artfully arranged and edited to forever appear compelling to anyone who happens to enjoy their particular style. And there are a lot of styles to choose from. Whether you want them pretty faced and disarmingly cute, or scarred up and big enough to pin you like a butterfly, yanderes come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes that are meant to pique your interest and draw you in like a naïve little fish being lured towards the mouth of an angler fish, unwilling to believe that anything bad might happen to us when the bait is this pretty.

This is often referred to as the Halo Effect, a form of cognitive bias referring to the tendency for people to assume that a single obvious positive trait must be associated with other positive traits. The go-to characteristic is typically physical attractiveness, but a nice voice, good humour, and cooking skills are also factors which serve to influence our perceptions.

So, conventional physical attractiveness is one thing, but that’s only skin deep. What about beyond that? After all, the yandere still has to talk to you before they enact their master plan of tying you up in their basement until Stockholm Syndrome kicks in.

When I showed my friend a picture of John Doe from the game John Doe, she told me that he looked like a creepy slob, and she’s far from the only person who’s ever thought so. Look at them. I feel like if I tried to comb that hair it would simply eat me, and some of the CGs really put the scopophobia in Scopophobia Studios. I love Doe, but he is not hot, and he doesn’t behave in a normally appealing way either. If the player chooses not to take a bath, Doe will immediately comment that you “smell good” before following you home, breaking into your house, and leaving a bloody organ on the floor for the player to trip over. Many yanderes can at least fake a veneer of normalcy, but from the get-go Doe doesn’t even bother to pretend he’s anything less than an otherworldly creature stuffed into a vaguely person-shaped meatsuit. In an effort to find out why so many people had latched on to Doe – including me – I shopped around social media and YouTube for answers, and what I found was a widely unanimous sentiment.

While some were drawn to his fun design and goofy personality, most simply thought that he wasn’t inherently malevolent, just very confused. In addition to being a supernatural being with a completely alien axis of morality, Doe’s meta-awareness and unbridled attempts at winning the player’s affection lends him quite a bit of support from the audience, especially if you yourself also happen to struggle with social cues and relate to his pure earnestness. In Ending 7 of the extended version, the player character has the option to tell Doe – who has altered himself to pass as more ‘normal’ – that they prefer who he truly is, at which point he grows visibly flustered and sports an adorable pair of literal heart-shaped pupils.

Whether they’re charismatic, seductive, cute, sweet, funny, nurturing, or generous, the best yanderes have engaging personalities. Even while they’re committing truly heinous crimes against God, man, and your guts, you still kinda want to hang out with them, and you want them to acknowledge you as being just as interesting. And this is all fine in fiction because you’re the one in charge, and if you ever get bored or uncomfortable or busy with something else, then you can simply close the tab or window with zero consequences, which brings us to the final and most important reason.     

Power Dynamics and Consent in Fantasy (I Couldn’t Think of a Joke Here Guys, This Is Kinda Serious)

Once again, I feel that I must preface this section just for the sake of my own peace of mind: sexual coercion and assault are vile and disgusting crimes that should never be emulated or tolerated in the real world. We are speaking purely of fictional media, specifically adult-oriented media in this case, so please be mindful.

In 2009, Bivoni and Critelli conducted a study on 355 undergraduate women with the goal of assessing the reasons behind fantasies of non-consent. At the time, there were two leading explanations of this phenomenon. One stated that women with high libidos but repressed views of sex used these imaginary scenarios to alleviate the guilt they had grown to associate with sex. Because the simulation was a purely mental exercise and they themselves were cast as helpless victims in the scenario, they were able to remain blameless while still finding sexual gratification. The second stated that these fantasies were an expression of liberation by women who were adventurous and comfortable enough with their own sexuality to engage with taboo ideas that they weren’t at all interested in performing in real life. Which do you think was more common?

.

.

.

If you guessed the second option, you’d be right. The study found that of the 220 women who had experienced such fantasies, 45% found theirs erotic, 46% were mixed, and only 9% reported pure aversion. One justification for this outcome relies on psycho-biological theories, for example masochistic preferences or the unintended activation of the sympathetic nervous system and subsequent mis-attribution of arousal. Other reasons have to do with higher order thinking and are tied to the power dynamics within such fantasies. On the surface is the appeal of being so desirable to someone that they simply cannot control themselves, but then there is a deeper impulse, which the researchers referred to as Adversary Transformation. To quote the article: “[fantasies] involve a struggle between an assailant and a potential victim in which it is relevant to consider who is the winner and who is the loser. At one level, it is a struggle over sex, but the woman's non-consent may be feigned or token. At another level, the woman may be seeking a victory that is not about whether sex occurs, but about what happens emotionally between the protagonists.”

Basically, the imaginary perpetrator may have ‘won’, but the self-character need not have ‘lost’.

Media provides an extra layer to the illusion, one that you as the viewer have absolute control over. If you are choosing to engage with a piece of media that explicitly labels itself as including R18+ yandere content, then you clearly have some expectations, and that background awareness goes a long way in reducing long-term discomfort and allowing audiences to make informed decisions. If you don’t like the plot, you can simply turn it off it with the click of a button, and when the screen goes dark it’s not like the yandere is going to punish you for saying no. Strade isn’t going to break into your house with a drill, there are no homicidal clown ghosts hiding in your TV, and no suspicious pink-haired hackers watching your webcam. They aren’t real, and the consequences aren’t real either. You have all the power here.

Conclusion

In summary, Yanderes are appealing for a variety of reasons. Whether you want to save them, think they’re attractive, wish to indulge in a dream of being utterly coveted, or simply enjoy a bit of spice in your me-time, it’s obvious why the trope has persisted for so long and will likely continue to do so. If you enjoy yanderes but are worried that having a taste for the less wholesome side of things might imply something about who you are as a person, don’t be. The notion that fantasies and media preferences directly reflect subconscious desires is not only painfully out of date debunked nonsense but also indicative of restrictive ideologies wherein bad thoughts = sin. This isn’t 1984. You haven’t committed a thought-crime by having a weird kink. You aren't going to superhell for fantasizing. The human mind is hardly ever so mathematically rational, and the point of fiction is to allow us to safely engage with and explore various ideas, provided the everyone involved is mentally, chronologically, and emotionally mature enough to do so.

Thank you all for listening to me. If you learned something or were just a little bit entertained. If you're curious about knowing more, I've listed my sources below

REFERENCES

Bivona, J. M., & Critelli, J. W. (2009). The Nature of Women’s Rape Fantasies: An analysis of prevalence, frequency, and contents. Journal of Sex Research, 46(1), 33–45. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224490802624406

Critelli, J. W., & Bivona, J. M. (2008). Women’s Erotic Rape Fantasies: An Evaluation of Theory and research. Journal of Sex Research, 45(1), 57–70. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224490701808191

DeWall, C. N., & Bushman, B. J. (2011). Social acceptance and rejection. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 20(4), 256–260. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721411417545

Flynn, F. J., Reagans, R., Amanatullah, E. T., & Ames, D. R. (2006). Helping one’s way to the top: Self-monitors achieve status by helping others and knowing who helps whom. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 91(6), 1123–1137. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.91.6.1123

Harandi, T. F., Taghinasab, M. M., & Nayeri, T. D. (2017). The correlation of social support with mental health: A meta-analysis. Electronic Physician, 9(9), 5212–5222. https://doi.org/10.19082/5212

Hazen, H. (1983). Endless rapture: rape, romance, and the female imagination. https://openlibrary.org/books/OL3161300M/Endless_rapture

Kroon, R. W. (2010). A/V A to z: An Encyclopedic Dictionary of Media, Entertainment and Other Audiovisual Terms. McFarland.

Matuszak, M. (2017). Hybristophilia White Paper. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/55dfd21ee4b0718764fb34cc/t/5cb7cabee5e5f00ab13be58b/1555548863275/Hybristophilia+White+Paper.pdf

Oarga, C., Stavrova, O., & Fetchenhauer, D. (2015). When and why is helping others good for well-being? The role of belief in reciprocity and conformity to society’s expectations. European Journal of Social Psychology, 45(2), 242–254. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2092

Parker, R. (2014). Serial killer groupies. RJ PARKER PUBLISHING, INC.

Wang, T., & Sha, H. (2018). The influence of social rejection on cognitive control. Psychology, 09(7), 1707–1719. https://doi.org/10.4236/psych.2018.97101

#reference list is completed! #yandere #sunny day jack #my dear hatchet man #mdhm #stnaf #ddlc #john doe #boyfriend to death #tpof #degrees of lewdity #your boyfriend #14dwy #br<3ken colors #camp willowpeak #br0ken colors #obey me #favour vn #binary star hero

[exactlycleverpirate]

(Over) Analyzing the Love and Deepspace Theme Song

“Some long for longevity

Before fading to dust

Some long for eternal sleep

And eulogy chanted by stars

Into that serenity

Their lost time forever buried

She rambled a thousand times

And million miles

Searching for her light

Free from the rule of death

Now seem so dull

Time goes by but memories rewind

Here she prays again

Back when things began

Where to go

Where they meet and grow old

Where no rivers would flow

No woods would grow

No life would never be ceased

Or somewhere they could start again

Where they would never be the same

Where rains everyday

Fain they would stay

Some forsake longevity

Then fading to dust

Some fall for eternal sleep

Their eulogies turn into gleaming stars

Will they meet in stars again

Or gone with the wind”

Spoilers under the cut.

Some long for longevity

Before fading to dust

I think this line could be a reference to the people of Philos, especially the ones on Earth. The Backtrackers are trying to find a way to prolong Philos and their lives with it. When Xavier cuts down the man in the alley, he dissolves into dust. The planet is dying and has no oceans. The whole planet is described as being dustier than Earth was. The imagery during the video for these lines is of the galaxy. 

The Wanderers also fade to dust when they are cut down. In fact, the first scene we see of Xavier in the game is him cutting down Wanderers and them dispersing into light.

Additionally, there are people on Earth who are trying to achieve immortality, particularly those who are using Lemurian blood to prolong their lives. Meanwhile, in Fragrant Dream, Rafayel dissolves into sea foam to save MC. (But this could be a bit of a stretch.)

Some long for eternal sleep

And eulogy chanted by stars

Eternal sleep is a common theme throughout this game. Zanye falls into eternal sleep in his myth. Rafayel will also fall into eternal sleep in his myth if something doesn't change. Meanwhile, Xavier is suspiciously tired all the time. 

Particularly telling is that these lines coincide with a silhouette of Xavier in the video, as well as a starry expanse. The implication seems to be that Xavier is longing for that eternal sleep. Which wouldn't be terribly surprising. He has been living and fighting and losing the person he loves over and over for a very long time.

A eulogy is something written or spoken to remember those who have died. In this case, the stars themselves are the ones speaking the memories. It makes me think of old mythology where great heroes and demi-gods would be immortalized in constellations when they died.

I think this segment is also connected to Wanderers, and Xavier's story is particularly tied to Wanderers. I think it is very possible that whatever humanity remains in the Wanderers wants to be at rest, finally. I think there is likely relief when Xavier (and Zayne in his 3rd Anecdote), set them free to finally rest in peace.

Into that serenity

Their lost time forever buried

Here, the video shows us a silhouette of Zayne, and behind him is Mt. Eternal. At the end of his myth, Zayne has slipped into the serenity of eternal sleep, buried under a snowy blizzard. Additionally, at the end of the Main Story chapter 8, we see Zayne interacting with something buried under ice.

Even before this, in Zayne's Myth, they lose time again and again as their memories are erased, and they are reset. Additionally, there is some time weirdness going on between Doctor Zayne and Dawnbreaker Zayne. 

She rambled a thousand times

And million miles

Searching for her light

The video shows planet Earth rotating and a sun rising over the horizon. This is clearly about MC, traveling worlds and times, resurrecting again and again, searching for her love(s), her freedom, her memories. Particularly poignant is Queen MC at the end of Xavier’s Myth, thinking about how her star is gone.

Free from the rule of death

Now seem so dull

Time goes by but memories rewind

This section is paired with Rafayel's silhouette in the video. It is hard to make out the background, but I think it is an underwater city, presumably Lemuria. Lemurians are naturally eternal/immortal. As far as we have seen so far, they are the only people in the game who come by this naturally (unless this is a result of that ancient Lemurian technology, but either way, immortality is literally in their blood).

Rafayel may die, but the implication through his content seems to be that when he does die, he will merge into the waters of the ocean and one day be reincarnated. He is free from the rule of death, but over and over in his stories and behavior, we see that he is bored. Life has become dull (particularly without MC). He talks of death as a blessing for Lemurians in Whalefall Lament.

Something that is an important reoccurring theme throughout Rafayel's content is memories. MC has forgotten him, which he is very frustrated about. In Fragrant Dream, she has forgotten him as well, and restoring her memories and humanity costs Rafayel his life. In his myth, Rafayel tries to erase her memories to protect her, but she remembers anyway, and tells him she is not someone who easily forgets (which seems a little ironic, given how much she has forgotten across times and tales). 

Rafayel also seems to have the potential to have the oldest memories with her. Where Xavier’s memories are primarily in the future, I think it likely that many of Rafayel's are in the past (though not the myth). If I were to have each man represent an aspect of time, I would say Xavier is future, Zayne is present, and Rafayel is past. And I think we see that connection here with memories rewinding.

I will add that MC has lost memories of all 3 men throughout her various stories, though I would argue that current day MC has primarily lost memories of Rafayel, as she only met Zayne after the Chronorift Catastrophe, and most of her story with Xavier is set in the future, but present day MC has only just met him (aside from a brief encounter during the Chronorift Catastrophe).

Here she prays again

Back when things began

The video at this part once more shows a galaxy/starry expanse. 

I'm inclined to say this is also connected to Rafayel's story, though I'm not sure. There are two different gods we see mentioned in Love and Deepspace, the God of the Sea (Rafayel) and Astra. Though this could refer to praying at the shrines and things of that nature just in general, praying for luck, well being, help, etc. 

But I do think it is interesting that in Rafayel’s myth, there is a suggestion that she is/was a follower/devotee/worshiper of the Sea God. Adding to that my thoughts that Rafayel has the oldest connection, and the “back when things began” is a good fit too. However, Xavier’s Anecdote 3 can also be seen as a beginning, particularly of the time-loop they seem to be trapped in now.

Where to go

On this line, the video flashes through the locations of each of the myths. First the city in the Golden Sands of Rafayel's myth, then the castle in Philos where Xavier is, and finally the Tower of Thorns where Zayne is trapped.

Where they meet and grow old

Where no rivers would flow

Here, we again see Rafayel in the video. Of my experience going through the content, Rafayel is the most blatant and consistent about wanting to spend his life with MC, and even refers to her as his bride in the myth. Thus we have connected with him the longing to grow old with MC. To have her beside him throughout his life. Indeed, I think he gave her his heart because he knew otherwise they would one day be separated by her truly dying, and he wanted to make her immortal like himself, so she could live on with him, over the course of their lives.

Rivers flowing is a plain reference to the city in the Golden Sands that is the source for 64 rivers, yet the land has no ocean. All water, at least in that area, flows from the city, which happens to be where MC is essentially imprisoned in order to protect the immortality of the people of Philos. The people of Philos, at least in the Golden Sands, hoard the water, MC, and immortality, all of which they have essentially stolen from Rafayel.

No woods would grow

No life would never be ceased

Here we go to Zayne. Honestly, I would have expected “no woods would grow” to be connected to Xavier and Starfall Forest. And while that may be a part of it, the video seems to make a direct link to the thorns in the Tower of Thorns instead.

“No life would never be ceased” is particularly interesting for Zayne. It works well as a connecting theme between Doctor Zayne, Dawnbreaker Zayne, and Myth Zayne. 

Doctor Zayne is haunted by every patient he loses, keeping a tally of them to remember. He is particularly haunted by the death of William on Mt. Eternal. And he is frantically researching to find a way to prevent MC’s life from ceasing as well. Additionally, Zayne has an underlying anxiety of protecting MC from himself, and he seems to be a ticking time bomb with whatever is going on with his Evol.

Dawnbreaker Zayne ends life after life rather than allowing these people to devolve into monsters. However, he longs for Doctor Zayne's life, where he could save others instead of simply putting them out of their misery.

Meanwhile, Myth Zayne has watched MC die again and again and again, failing to save her each time, until he finally breaks the loop, sacrificing his life for hers.

Or somewhere they could start again

Where they would never be the same

Here we come to Xavier. He and MC fell in love when they were young (comparatively), but it quickly ended in tragedy. When he is reunited with her in his myth, it looks at first like they might have a chance of being together this time. But then he learns the truth behind Philos, Wanderers, and MC’s connection to it all, and all his focus and energy goes into saving her, rather than their relationship. Indeed, even in Anecdote 3, Xavier sacrifices his precious remaining time with her in a desperate bid to find a way to save her life. 

This appears to be true in the Main Story as well. Rather than prioritizing a relationship with you, he is trying to find a way to save you, both current you and the Queen he left behind on Philos. If only there were a way to break from this cycle. To start from the beginning, without the fighting, heartache, and loss, and just be together. Where he didn't have to say goodbye to her in a desperate bid to keep her alive.

Where rains everyday

Fain they would stay

This takes us back to Rafayel. Rafayel loves the rain, forgoing umbrellas to enjoy being soaked. And deserts, such as the Golden Sands, desperately need rain. So where is a place where the rains would be glad to stay? Where water is abundant, life giving, and free, rather than hoarded, trapped, and closely guarded? Somewhere the Lemurians can live freely without being hunted or enslaved? Where MC is not trapped in a fancy cage to be used as a battery for a whole planet?

“Fain they would stay” also goes back to Zayne in the video. Where is somewhere that he and MC can stay together, where he doesn't feel the need to pull away to keep her safe? Where they aren't pulled apart by divine or cosmic forces?

Following this is an instrumental section where we see the Deepspace Tunnel, then Mt. Eternal (Zayne), the coast of Hat Island (Rafayel), and Tracback II (Xavier).

Some forsake longevity

Then fading to dust

Some fall for eternal sleep

Their eulogies turn into gleaming stars

During this segment, there is a galaxy in the background that slowly grows into the distinct shape of an eye. (Such as the eye MC sees outside her window, the eyes of the drones around the city, the red eyes of the raven in the forest, the eye of Astra given to Zayne so he could see through time.)

And now we come full circle. We started with those wanting longevity rather than becoming dust, but here we come to those willing to give up their longevity to fade to dust. Similarly, we started with those longing for eternal sleep and eulogies in the stars, and here we have those who fall into that eternal sleep, and their eulogies are in fact etched into the stars.

I think all of this is an indication of how all three of these men, Rafayel, Zayne, and Xavier, are willing to give to their lives, their longevity, their immortality, for MC. And their heroic sacrifices are of the sort that are etched into the very stars, like those mythological heroes of ancient times.

Will they meet in stars again

Or gone with the wind

We see Xavier interacting with what appears to be a wrecked Traceback II or similar machinery. We see Zayne at Mt. Eternal under an aurora, either freezing or excavating something (a protocore?) buried in the ice there. And we see Rafayel working on his painting that seems to depict a mermaid tale in an underwater city, then he vanishes, leaving the painting covered in a bloody red.

These are the final scenes for these characters at the end of chapter 8.

Meeting in the stars seems particularly connected to Xavier, as he has a consistent star theme throughout his stories. Connecting to the earlier idea of constellations and mythological heroes, there are a number of versions of loved ones who could not meet/reunite on Earth, but were able to find each other as stars (i.e. Gemini, Vega and Altair, Andromeda and Perseus (less tragic), and some others too, I think.)

What I find particularly interesting is the reference to the wind. In the prologue of the Main Story, the voice on the radio tells us the winds are at 5 km/hr. In the epilogue of Chapter 8, the radio voice says the winds are at 7 k/m. In both the epilogue and the song, the mention of wind coincides with wind blowing through Rafayel's house as he works on his painting and then vanishes. Gone with the wind. Leaving a bloody sea behind.

Give me your thoughts, corrections, additions, what-have-you in the comments or PM me!

#love and deepspace #rafayel love and deepspace #love and deepspace rafayel #rafayel #zayne love and deepspace #xavier love and deepspace #love and deepspace zayne #love and deepspace xavier #xavier #zayne #lads rafayel #lads #lads xavier #lads zayne #l&ds rafayel #l&ds #l&ds xavier #l&ds zayne

[yuri-is-online]

Love and Deepspace Timeline: MC, Philos, and the Aether Core

Look I finished Xav's myths card. I don't regret waiting until I was done with it to post his timeline because the last two nodes have more to do with MC than him, but I am in a state so we are making this to cope.

This is all speculation and should not be taken as fact, I have done two other posts, one on Zayne and one on Xavier and I will not be doing one on Rafayel please see this reddit post by u/joonmin for relevant information about his myths card blah blah blah.

This post is less of a timeline and more here to answer questions you very likely have if you: A) decided to browse reddit and saw people saying Xavier feels like the "cannon ro" [this is a gacha game there isn't one] but have never read any of his memories, moments, or dates B) read chapter 8 and went "none of this makes sense I feel like I am missing something" or C) just generally are confused about L&D's world building and what's up with MC. I have answers for you. Wibbly wobbly soupy answers. This post also has a TL;DR in case you don't want to see me break out the string board and just want the relevant bits of information about MC you won't get from the msq.

SPOILERS FOR ALL IN GAME CONTENT UP TO CHAPTER 8, VARIOUS MOMENTS, AND ANECDOTES RELATED TO ALL 3 ROS, PROCEED WITH CARE.

Current Timeline MC (i.e. The one we are playing as)

The game starts with MC's graduation from the Academy and first day as a fully licensed hunter. We learn a few things in this first chapter, namely that MC is combat trained, has a rare heart condition known as Protocore Syndrome that has no known cure, and that her decision to become a hunter has something to do with what she experienced fourteen years ago during the Catastrophe when the Deepspace Tunnel opened and Wanderers started invading earth.

Specifically MC describes something burrowing itself into her heart. She feels helpless, like prey, and has a strong desire to never feel anything like this again. Which is unfortunate because I have a feeling a lot of someones are going to be on her trail sooner rather than later.

In Chapter 5 it is revealed that MC has an Aether core fused to her heart. This sort of human experimentation is highly illegal and it is unknown who did this to MC other than our beloved Grandmother was directly involved. Grandma appears to have taken MC away from wherever this happened after the tests started to threaten MC's life.

This is known to Dr. Zayne and Dr. Noah, though neither seem to know more than what Grandma told them. Neither of them seem to fully understand what an Aether core is or what it is doing to MC's heart. Zayne in particular seems to find this extremely concerning.

Uncovering the mystery of the Aether core seems to be what will be driving the first arc so we will not be discussing it at length here. I do want to note that Xavier absolutely knows what it is, while Zayne does not but does seem to know more of the technical aspects of how it is effecting MC, and Rafayel is at least aware of it being valuable and maybe why exactly the people in the N109 Zone want it.

At some point in the past MC met and made a promise to Rafayel. It is my personal theory that this likely took place on Hat Island during the field trip MC talks about due to some of the comments made in Chapter 7.

MC and Caleb were friends with Zayne in childhood. MC's exact age is a bit fuzzy, but the game does seem to suggest she is younger than Zayne. She does not know why Zayne disappeared from her life or what led him to become a doctor.

Comments in Chapter 4 suggests that Caleb encouraged MC to become a hunter. He seems to be very supportive of her, but Grandma seems more interested in trusting MC's protection to Zayne.

On the surface MC seems pretty normal. Her memories from before the Catastrophe seem to be gone, if she had a mother and father or other blood relatives, she doesn't remember them anymore.

Philos MC (i.e. What is Going on in the Myths)

It is revealed in Xavier's When Shooting Stars Fall anecdote that Philos is Earth in the distant future. This has confused numerous people in the notes of my Xav's timeline so I am going to be insufferable and attempt to assist with a graph:

The MC you play belongs to the game timeline, the MCs (plural each myths card features a different one) in the Myths cards come from the Philos timeline. I have tagged the Game timeline as a "potential tangent" as the events that take place in game are entirely reliant on the existence of the Deepspace Tunnel, which is created in the Philos timeline.

At some point in the Original/Philos Timeline, Earth's core ceases to function. Humanity replaces it with a new, artificial core that causes noticeable weather changes and fuses all of the tectonic plates together, and begins a new calendar counting forward from the years since Earth ceased to be and Philos was born. As a result, we don't know what exact year Earth's core giving out happened in the Original Timeline. The artificial core allows almost all humans to "live eternal." They seem to be like Tolkien's elves in the sense they can live for an eternity but they start to get tired after a while and give up on life. This is why there is a royal family that needs a line of succession. Xavier is the Crown Prince of Philos, he meets MC in school and learns she has a rare disease called Protocore Syndrome which will not allow her to live forever. He attempts to cure this by finding a specific protocore she mentions, but fails to reach her in time and is forced to watch her die. This all happens in the year 214.

At some point MC is reborn and assigned to the same teacher as Xavier. She is to train to become his knight and serve as the leader of the Lightseekers, an order tasked with killing Wanderers. At some point during or before Xavier's coming of age ceremony, he learns the truth about Philos: the planet is dying due to the artificial core never having been meant to sustain the planet this long. The Royal Family's solution for this is to occasionally feed humans to the heart of Philos in Starfall Forest. When they do this, it creates Wanderers. As if that wasn't bad enough, Xavier learns that his father and the royal family have found what they think could be a permanent solution: there is a girl who has achieved true immortality. She is the only person on Philos who can die and be reborn constantly, and while they don't seem to know why she does this, the royal family believes this girl is the life force of the planet itself.

This girl is MC and Xavier does not want this to happen. He has a plan that he does not explain to MC, but it involves traveling back in time. He says they have specific places in time picked out, but we know from Xavier's Passing By anecdote that something went wrong with his team's attempt at time travel and now there is no guarantee that the MC he left on Philos as its Queen is still there.

So now we have two timelines: Original/Philos Timeline and Game/Tangent Timeline. But all of that is just taking Xavier's anecdotes and Myths card into account... so what happens if we try to plug in the other two ROs?

Rafayel

In u/Joonmin's reddit post they mention two very important bits of information: 1) It has been 30,000 years since the sea dried up and 2) MC is a member of the royal family of Philos, not by birth but because "she has a heart that’s been blessed by the gods" and has "awoken from the depths." If all three myths cards take place in the same Philos timeline as the one Xavier leaves, we can reasonably place Raf's myths card after Xavier's backtrack mission.

So the Philos timeline would look like this. I have a note for Zayne's card there as well, but if I had to get picky with it I'm slightly tempted to place his Myths card between MC's first death and her being reborn to meet Xavier again. The other explanation would be that there are three separate Philos timelines created because the MC was successfully scarified to the Heart of Philos. In Xavier's Myths 6 MC briefly takes a dip in the space time anomaly at the center of Starfall Forest which could also explain MC scattering across different timelines, but the in game spacepedia makes a point to say that there is a chance that life still exists on Philos:

So it could simply be that MC over there has been stuck in the exact cycle of death and rebirth that Xavier was trying to prevent. It could also mean that when they add that mystery fourth love interest there is an explanation for a fourth possible myths card. Anyway all this information leaves us with a set of timelines that currently look like this:

This still leaves a lot of unanswered questions. For example, if the Philos timeline is where this all starts, what version of it is? What caused Earth's core to give out in that original timeline? Is Rafayel and Lumeria's existence the consequences of clashing timelines or are mermaids cannon to this universe? What effect on the space time continuum did Xavier's actions have? And how much of this is actually going to be answered in game?

TL;DR

Philos is Earth in the future with an artificial core that started running out of power, and never should have been made in the first place.

The royal family fed some of their long lived humans to the anomaly in Starfall forest to keep the planet running, but then they found out about a girl who could constantly be reborn each time she died and had an idea.

An idea Xavier wasn't very keen on but who cares. They thought that "when the time was right" they would sacrifice her to the rift and leave her there to die and be reborn forever. They also did not think to ask her.

Oh yeah when they fed people to the rift they turned into Wanderers. So wanderers = people as mentioned in Zayne's Still in the Dark anecdote.

Whatever makes MC reincarnate might have something to do with Lumeria, or at the very least the Lumerians in Rafayel's myths card seem to think it does.

In game MC, current timeline MC knows none of this, and has no memories from her lives, past or future. This is consistent across all her incarnations.

Final Thoughts

The only reason why I think this way about timelines is because I watched Donnie Darko in a college theater class. People like to argue about that movie and how it is supposed to be interpreted, but generally speaking they all seem to think that Tangent Timelines and the Tangent Universes they spawn get deleted very quickly, so maybe that's why the game starts by talking about "being able to leave this loop" and why Xavier seems to think something bad will be happening to Linkon City soon.

Chapter 8 ends with Xavier attempting to send a message back through the Deepspace Tunnel to make contact with someone. Interestingly enough he calls this "Traceback II." This sounded familiar to me and sure enough the game starts by mentioning that exact same thing, it is going past a black hole and is what says that line "we are stuck in this loop."

I thought in previous posts that the Aether Core is what could cure MC... but now I think the Aether Core is likely what Philos's artificial core is called... so who created it in the first place? ｢(ﾟﾍﾟ)

The Deepspace Tunnel is a spacetime anomaly likely caused by Philos's existence since it was "never meant to exist." So why was it created? And by who?

#love and deepspace #l&d #love and deepspace xavier #love and deepspace zayne #love and deepspace rafayel #as a side note i hate how the reddit girlies are like #“just finished this myth card! can anyone tell me what to think of it?” #if you gave me the details of what happened yes i could otherwise please do not waste my time #i am autistic and cannot make you a spreadsheet without the data you are denying meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

[wutheringmights]

Hey out of curiosity, I know most of the main cast in CTB is pulled from either Legend of Zelda game canons (Princess Zelda, Lana, Ganondorf in name, etc) or Linked Universe, but out of your original characters (especially Kat, Marigold, and the various Knights of Hyrule), did u give any of them symbolic or referential names?

Oh boy do I got the fun post for you:

Lincoln is straight up my Linksona. Just think of him as another version of the character Link

Marigold is supposed to be the typical red-headed love interest for a Link-like character; even her name is meant to fit right in with characters like Malon, Marin, and Midna.

Warriors's last name was originally going to be Warton, but I changed it to Walton when I learned that it meant "noble."

Meemaw is a reference to the Bertolt Brecht character Mother Courage (from his play Mother Courage and Her Children; I had just finished reading it for a seminar class when CTB first came to me). The characters even share a first name: Anna

Similarly, Kat is based off of Mother Courage's daughter, Kattrin; a famously silent-due-to-truama character

Kat's siblings also share names and fates with Mother Courage's sons: Eli is Eilif, and Cheddar is Swiss Cheese (yes, that's his real name)

Orlanda was named for Virginia Woolf's famous character Orlando; originally, I was going to have Orlanda be nonbinary, but changed my mind when I realized it wouldn't be a good idea to make your sacrificial character your nonbinary representation.

Shigeo's name was originally just going to be Shig, as a reference to Shigeru Miyamoto, but I changed it when I started to rewatch Mob Psycho 100. Shigeo is meant to be a homage to a common original character type I kept reading in Warriors-centric fics: the young Sheikah guy for Warriors to have a romance with. However, Shigeo was never envisioned with a romantic relationship in mind. He was always meant to be this cool, older guy type. However, I did almost have Warriors have a crush on him, then deleted that concept for space.

Gaudin was named after a French criminal for no reason. Genuinely, I just liked the name.

Anders was originally going to be named Betolt in honor of Brecht, but that felt heavy handed.

Jakucho is just meant to be the old woman version of the general Impa character to match the badass young woman version that is actually in Hyrule Warriors. Her name means "silent, lonely listening." I liked how it related to her role as Warriors's mentor/therapist.

Impa's real name, Chiyo, means "thousand generations, thousand worlds." I like how it related to the idea that she's always wanted to assume the same role as her ancestors.

I originally picked their surname Miyashita because the site I was on said it translated to something like "temple below the earth," which would reference the Kakariko Well. Checking now, it actually means "(one who lives) below the shrine," which makes way more sense in retrospect.

Ayane has no special name meaning, but her character... you do realize she's just Mask, right?

General Whitestone's name came from me asking myself what would a highly suspicious white guy in charge be called?

The name Nephus translates to "a God's son who will also become a God." Do I mean that literally? Who knows. At the very least, I wanted a snappy, but impressive-sounding name.

Vasileios means "royal or kingly". His middle name, Orionides, implies that he's the son of a great hunter.

Icarius's name is meant to be reminiscent to that of Icaurs, the famous mythological figure.

Philo means "lover or friend." A very cute name for a not-so-cute boy.

You probably have realized that the House of Nephus characters are heavily Greek/Roman coded. Originally, they were going to be Russian coded, but then the line about Faovaria being unable to attack some other kingdom due to their harsh winters would have fallen into question.

Faovaria's symbol being an octopus is a reference to how the octopuses symbolized immortality in ancient Greece.

Both of those were super off-topic. Sorry lol

I'll end with a fun fact you shouldn't look too deep into: the empire name Faovaria is derived from Farore. This was due to a concept I changed my mind about. Genuinely, it's not relevant anymore. Do not incorporate it into your theories, or something.

#i don't make it my policy to give every character special name meanings so if i didn't bring someone up... #...it's probably because I just liked that name to begin with #but fun fact I was looking at one of my old fanfics and i also used the name Marigold for a throwaway character and it gave me whiplash #me rambling #lu ctb #ask #linked universe #shoot-i-messed-up #ctb lore #ALSO the reason why Faovarians in general were going to be russian coded is SO STUPID that I don't even want to mention it. like it's super #embarrassing and I'm a little ashamed that I almost did a whole plot point about it #ALSO I know that Greek and Roman is not the same and there are people who will be mad that I conflate the two #but consider this: I do not care

[letstalkassassinscreed]

Book Review - Assassin's Creed Daughter of No One

In this spoiler-free written review, co-host Declan gives his thoughts on the new Assassin's Creed novel Daughter of No One, written by Maria Lewis:

Before I start this spoiler-free review, I want to thank Aconyte Books and NetGalley for allowing me to read the book's review copy. Daughter of No One is due to be published around November 7th 2023, plenty of time to finish Mirage before you dive into this essential piece of reading.

Daughter of No One is an intriguing story filled with love, loss and deceit; your typical Assassin's Creed formula. However, continuing the recent trend of transmedia published by Aconyte Books, this story has enough new flair and take on the formula that it can draw you in and keep you invested from start to finish. This isn't an exaggeration. The start of the book throws you right into the deep end, and throughout the first chapter the author has managed to paint a vivid picture of the world that Roshan lives in. 

The book is also unique in the fact that it not only wants to give the reader a deeper understanding of all the trials and tribulations Roshan has faced, but also the current dilemma that has drawn her into the hidden conflict of the Hidden Ones. The way the author manages this was very clever. Instead of creating a single narrative that runs from 824CE, there is a second narrative that exists through a jump back in time to 819CE. The chapters flit between 819 and 824. What is interesting is that each time the author jumps back in time she also moves the past narrative forward, so that this past narrative from 819 to 824 ends just before the main narrative set in 824 begins in chapter 1, creating a very satisfying loop. By doing the story this way she can push the main 824 stories ahead with small callbacks to the past. To me this gave the author more room to play around with the main narrative without any worries that they had missed any details that would flesh out Roshan's past. I did enjoy this style of story as each time skip back dragged me more into Roshan's story and life, and I started to feel I understood the character on a deeper level. I am curious how this early read will impact how I see Roshan when Mirage launches in October.

The story we see in 824 is an odd Assassin's Creed story as it presents the idea that the Hidden Ones need something and they enlist Roshan's help, but that's where they stop. There are only 2 Hidden Ones mentioned, but after a few chapters they are no longer involved in the plot which was interesting because when I reached the end I started to get bad feelings about how this type of Brotherhood operates and it made me wonder if they have good intentions at heart. But even with the Hidden Ones missing from the later narrative Roshan makes up for it. She is a natural-born assassin with an inherited ability to see things that can't be seen by others, and her tenacious and hard-working nature has turned her into the perfect assassin, who is not only skilled in combat but also in movement. There were also a good few moments where we see Roshan's mental reflection on what Philo says of the Assassin's enemies and it sets up the idea that Roshan makes the perfect assassin.

Overall Daughter of No One is an essential read for all fans of Mirage, it felt more like a DLC story than a companion novel. and upon finding the book I had a lot of respect and admiration for her character and I hope we see her feature in more works. I was expecting it to be a little longer as there was a few things I would have liked to see but I do feel its pace and ending were great and made for a read that I just couldn't put down. I also like how Daughter of No One is the latest Aconyte book that not only creates a fun tie-in to the games but also helps reshape the transmedia into a world that Ubisoft should expand. I would love to see Daughter of No One and The Engines of History translated into a live-action mini-series or even animated.

#ubisoft #assassin's creed #roshan #basim #ac mirage #assassin's creed mirage #podcast

[llliiinnnaaa]

Reprisal | Chapter Nineteen

coriolanus snow x gaul oc

Summary: Ten years after the Tenth Hunger Games, Coriolanus Snow is under Dr. Volumnia Gaul’s wing as a Gamemaker alongside her niece. Unbeknownst to either of them, they’re both being prepared for a much greater task.

Warning: This story will contain explicit violence against adults and children alike (I mean, it’s Dr. Gaul AND Snow) as well as explicit language, and sexual situations.

***This fic is in no way, shape, or form, me endorsing or co-signing the horrific shit Snow does, nor am I trying to romanticize it. Also, apathy and will be the main driving force of any remnants of a relationship between my OC and Snow’s character. So if you’re interested in something very romantic and fluffy…it’s not gonna be this.

Thank you for reading, I hope you like it!

     Livia Snow watches solemnly as her husband hands off his bag to Philo, his blue eyes meeting hers once they’re left alone in her bedroom at her mother’s house. 

Sitting up on the plush mattress, legs crossed underneath her, fingers nervously wringing at the floral comforter. . . 

“It will only be for a little over a week, Darling.” He assures her, hands in his pockets as he slowly steps closer to her. “I’ll be back before you know it.” It’s added with his finger tips grazing her chin, a sweet smile spreading across his lips. 

Her face is more painful today, bruised more than it was the night of the incident. 

He wants to wince each time she has to move her mouth, knowing she’s in pain. 

Livia doesn’t try to speak, just as she hadn’t the last three days since losing so many teeth. 

So, she nods. 

Kissing the top of her hair while reminding her, “I love you,” he leans down and kisses her pregnant stomach, “Goodbye, dear.” 

Again, she nods, not wanting to try to speak. 

Not wanting him to see how horrid she looks now when she speaks. 

Truth be told she doesn’t mind not speaking to him at the moment, anyway. 

Frustrated and hurt that he would leave her side now of all times. 

She tries not to let it hurt her feelings or bother her too badly as he shuts the door behind as while he goes, a few stray tears trickle down her swollen cheek. 

     Philo and Snow arrive at the train station after Tawny, her father already handing her bags off to the luggage attendant as the two men step onto the platform. 

Snow grows frigid when unwanted memories slip through the seams of his mind, his lip threatening to curl with its intrusion. 

“You have everything you need, right?” Tiberius asks his daughter, clearly worried senseless about her traveling to the Districts. 

“Yes, I do.” She tells him, a small smile coming to her lips before she’s hugging him tightly. “I’ll be perfectly fine, dad. We’ll have security at each stop, and we won’t be mixed with the public at all. These are merely discussions with Mayors and whatnot.” It does little to ease his concern, but he nods, kissing her cheek. 

“I love you,” he says, next, to which she replies, “I love you, too. I’ll see you in a week.” 

“See you in a week.” He mumbles as she and Philo head toward the train cart, leaving Snow and Tiberius. “Keep an eye on her.” He adds to him. “They have yet to release Dr. Pinnacle. She’s getting more and more frantic over it as the days pass. . .I took her cigarettes out of her bag but I’m sure she has more somewhere. If you see her with one please take it. She’s been smoking quite a bit more recently, and was coughing and hacking yesterday morning.” He continues, his words bringing a slight furrow to Snow’s brows. “My father died with a tumor the size of a grapefruit in his lungs. Volumnia said it was more than likely because he smoked so much. . .me and Mini have lost so much already between our boys and our granddaughter. . .if anything were to happen to our Tawny Owl, they’d have to put us down like mad dogs.” Tiberius explains, honestly.  

Snow nods, assuring him, “I’ll take care of her, sir.” 

“Thank you, Mr. Snow.” He pats his shoulder, turning to go, but stops himself to say, “I appreciate what you said at that debate. So many people suffered just as much here as we were in the Districts. Thank you for reminding certain people of that.” 

Snow accepts his compliment from someone he actually respects, saying, “I’m glad I could do so, sir.” 

With one last smile and nod from Tiberius, he’s leaving the platform. 

Snow enters the rather lavish train, the last time he had traveled to the Districts, it was mere benches and wide windows — though he supposes those are for public citizens, not potential Presidents. 

This one is laid out like a regular living room, a sofa and leather parlor chairs, rich, mahogany side tables that match the coffee table, a thick, fluffy area rug that’s beautifully woven. 

A gas fireplace is the finishing touch. 

“. . .The dining room is through this door,” he points to the door along the wall in front of them, sleeping quarters are here,” he motions to the door in the wall behind them. 

“What about bathrooms?” Tawny asks, raising a brow. 

“Each bedroom has a private restroom.” The attendant informs her. 

She only nods, glancing around their living space for the next week. 

She and Coriolanus both feel the room spinning at the idea of being In such close confines with one another for so long. 

“Who gets what room?” Tawny asks, next, crossing her arms. 

“All the rooms are the same, so it doesn’t particularly matter I suppose, Dr. Gaul.” He replies. “If you’d like me to take your luggage, I can—”

“That won’t be necessary.” Snow interrupts him. 

Her eyes flicker to Coriolanus to see he hasn’t broken his gaze, her throat going dry. 

“Thank you, Mr. Siphon.” Snow extends a bill, a generous tip that the attendant gladly accepts. 

“You’re more than welcome, Mr. Snow. Do ring anytime you need me.” He motions to the phone on the wall beside the window, and takes his leave. 

The three of them are left in an awkward silence, Philo more than observant of his boss’ attention toward Tawny.

“I’m going to my room.” Philo clears his throat, grabbing his luggage. 

Neither person acknowledges him, glaring at one another, instead. 

Once Philo goes, leaving them be, Snow’s stepping closer to her, leering down his nose at her.  

“I expect we will keep this trip civil, Dr. Gaul. Which means bickering, petty comments, ugly looks and smart remarks stay to a minimum—and don’t happen at all while we’re working.” He says plainly, sternly. “Don’t fuck this up for me.” He adds. 

She looks at him, her tongue running across the inside of her bottom lip before she says, “‘Don’t fuck this up for me’.” She quotes him. “The first time I’ve heard you acknowledge there’s nothing left of mine to fuck up.” 

“The actions of Crane and Pinnacle and your blind devotion to them has nothing to do with me.”

“My husband, who you framed for murdering the President, and my fiancé, who you deliberately pushed at publicly—on national television—until he snapped.” She states. “Do you see the common thread the disintegration of my personal life has been woven with?” 

“I did what had to be done for the sake of Panem—”

“Oh, fuck Panem!” She outbursts, anger clenching at her fists that curl up until her hand shakes. “You do not snuff out every relationship I’ve been in for the sake of the country—you do it all for yourself !” 

“It’s my fault that you just so happen to crawl into bed with treasonist bastard after treasonist bastard.” He harshly states. 

“Pias didn’t commit treason by having an opinion different than yours!”

“He committed treason by bombing that arena and killing Capitol children!” He barks back. 

Her brows furrow deeply, her beautiful face twisting in disgust at his words as her stomach drops. 

“What?” She asks just as he adds, “It was a plan to shift the layout of the arena in the tenth games—to make it more challenging—” 

“You’re lying.” She shakes her head, feeling lightheaded as she stumbles back, turning from him. 

“It worked, but not without killing Tullia Gaul, Felix Ravinstill—”

“—Enough.” She holds her hand up to get him to stop, but he continues with, “Your aunt knew about it, Pias Pinnacle knew about it—”

“Enough!” She screams, tears falling to her cheeks as she squeezes her eyes together as he shouts back, “—Because they planned it!” 

He watches the realization wash over her face, the confusion following, all mingling with tears. . .he watches her for minutes it seems, the time dragging by, slowing down. 

Eventually, she hears him leave once she turns her back, and with the closing of the door behind him, she’s allowing a quiet sob to rack up her throat. 

     Over a day passes before Coriolanus sees her.

She’s pushing her breakfast around her plate as Philo goes through the itinerary. 

“Tonight we arrive in town in Nine, and then Eight by noon Tuesday, then Three Wednesday evening, and Six by Friday morning, and then—” He stops reading off the paper Dr. Gaul had left him with, his eyes catching on the last District to visit. 

“Then what?” Coriolanus presses. 

“This one was written it, it seems. An annotation—”

“What does it fucking say, Philo?” Tawny spares no feelings in her hoarse tone, tired of the bullshitting and dancing around corners. 

Tired of the lies, the coverups and the sugarcoating. 

“It appears the order is Nine, Six, Three, Twelve, and Eight.” He reads off the edit made by hand in Volumnia’s handwriting. 

“ Twelve .” Snow repeats, realizing why Philo had hesitated to say it, his fists tensing as he restrains from throwing his glass of orange juice at the wall and pitching a fit. 

It’s a sick joke that Gaul’s making at his expense. 

“Three, Six, Eight, Nine, Twelve.” She repeats, pushing her unkept hair out of her face. “The districts plotting rebellion are the ones my brothers and your father got murdered in.” Tawny dryly says to Snow, eyes watering, anger once more rising within her. “After all those ungrateful bastards have taken from us, yet they still feel entitled to peace separated from the Capitol.” She grimaces. “And it’s us they send out here to endorse that peace when all I want to do is blow them off the fucking map.” She kicks out of her chair, ringing her hands as she stomps out of the dining cart to her room. 

“Excuse me one moment.” Snow tells Philo, clearing his throat. 

“Of course.” He replies, watching as the blonde follows after her. 

As soon as Tawny shuts the door of the cabin only big enough to fit a full sized bed and small chest of drawers, the door opens without a knock. 

“I want to go home, I shouldn’t even be here.” She shakily tells him, her voice low and thick with the attempt at keeping herself calm. 

“Tawny—”

“—This is not what I signed up for. I agreed to accompany you and make you look good, I did not agree to a great tour of soils my brothers got gunned down on.” She 

“And that’s all you’ll do.” He raises his brows. “Just smile and play nice with the other children and we’ll be done with this entire. . . production , before we even realize it.” 

“ Production .” She mutters, turning from him to sit on the bed. 

“That’s all it is.” Snow steps closer. “Pairing us together–you accompanying me as if you’re going to be an integral part of my Presidency. . .it’s for show. Spectacle .” He informs her, piecing it together in his mind, thinking the way Dr. Gaul and her ring of bureaucratic politicians think. 

“‘ As if ’?” Her dark brows drop, nostrils flaring slightly as she repeats him. “If the goal is for me to be Head of the Department of War when my aunt is gone, and the goal is for you to be President, then there is no ‘if’ about it, Snow. I will be a rather integral part of your presidency.” She argues, only for him to roll his jaw, his expression giving way to the thoughts in his head.

Her face falls flat.

“The position is for me to appoint when Dr. Gaul’s time in it ends.” He reminds her.

“And you won’t let me see the light of day in it.” It’s said more-so to herself, taking in a deep breath. “Yet another man I’ve shared my bed with that winces at the thought of me having some control.” 

“It has nothing to do with—”

“Yes, it—”

His palm is covering her mouth to shut her up, his forehead almost pressing to hers as he outbursts, “You were just throwing around wanting to incinerate five districts, Tawny!” 

Her chest heaves with each breath, while he calms and continues, “You think I’d trust you with our War Department?” 

She refuses to admit that he’s right, that she can’t be trusted with such a responsibility. 

She’s not a big enough person to stand for the greater good of the Capitol without him holding her hand to the flame of peace .

Soft fingers gently rest over his hand, pulling it from her lips, but he doesn’t make a move to back away from her from where he’s leering over her, still so close.

“Believe or not, I have been trying to figure where you’re going to fit in all of this. . .I want you to fit.” He admits quietly, his eyes scorching hers as he speaks. “Not as my mistress, or someone I’m taking along to secure people’s support, but as an indispensable asset. Because you’re good at what you do, it’s valuable to the Capitol , and it’s valuable to Panem .”

Her eyes play tricks on her, she's sure of it, when she sees blue flicker down to glance her lips for a split second, before once more meeting her eyes in the amount of time it takes to blink.

“But not you. . . Mr. President. . .” She whispers bitterly, long, black lashes framing her watering eyes, a lump forming in her throat.

It’s quite clear in this moment, to him at least, that she’s not well-rested. 

Her words sound as if she’s had a bit too much to drink in a sense, though he knows she hasn’t. 

She’s not drunk, only exhausted. 

He can’t tell if it’s due to the shambles of her personal life, or him merely exhausting her.

Irritation bubbles in him at the latter.

If anything, he should be the one crawling to the finish line of this madness, begging for it to just be over with—under far more pressure than her and concealing it better.

“Stop trying to figure out where to put me in your circle.” She tells him in a rasp. “Because I’m going to smile and be cordial, and do my damndest to sell the shit out of you as President, and then as soon as we get back home, and I’m released from this torture chamber on wheels, I’m staying as far away from you as humanly possible. And I will stay as far away from you as humanly possible until one of us dies .

They look at one another once she says it, staring, his features hardening again as if to protect his ego from her relentless words. 

Pulling away from him, she’s reaching behind her pillow, pulling her cigarette compact out from under it, along with her lighter. 

It’s fitted between her lips, the flame flickering as she strikes it before it’s catching. 

Before she can even inhale, he’s snatching it from her lips, grabbing the compact of them. 

He ignores the daggers she shoots at him with her eyes as he steps to the door, not saying another word.

#coriolanus snow #coriolanus snow x oc #coriolanus snow smut #coriolanus snow x gaul oc #young!coriolanus snow

[hawkherps]

Sigma's new enclosure is finished!

well, mostly. I want to get another branch or tube or plant or something in that top right corner to fill in the empty space, assuming the monster dracaena doesn't realize it now has an extra foot of vertical space and decide to conquer it. i'll give it a month or two and see how the dracaena adapts before putting something above it. I also want to see how the new pothos grows in, and how the old philodendron adapts. i actually removed two vines from the philo and cut the remaining two down to size a bit since they took over whatever space the dracaena didn't in the old enclosure, so i'm confident the philodendron will help fill in some of the currently empty space even if the dracaena and pothos decide not to.

for the enclosure itself, it's a Leap Habitats 22"x17"x36" enclosure and hoo boy it has its pros and cons... mostly cons. i haven't seen many reviews for these enclosures that aren't from popular youtubers or reddit threads from over a year ago, so here's my opinions below:

i've moved several times so i greatly appreciate how light the enclosure is even fully planted, and being able to screw branches and tubes and other things into the walls instead of having to use spray foam (and then either silicone or the grout method) to mount them is really nice. both are pluses over the glass exoterra 18"x18"x24" Sig has called home since he was given to me. i loved that enclosure but after moving three times with it (once before i made it bioactive) i was not a fan of the weight.

this doesn't apply to me right now, but i do see it as a plus that they included the little spots in the corners of the top that you can pop out to easily install mister nozzles through. i don't know if these holes fit non-Leap misting systems without modification, but it's certainly simpler than some of the setups i've seen for getting misters installed in traditional enclosures like exoterras.

Sigma is... not a great hunter. his method of hunting black soldier flies, for example, is to slam his face as hard as possible into them. this is another big reason i wanted him out of the glass enclosure-- i'm genuinely worried about him injuring himself with the force at which i've watched him bounce his face off the walls and door of the exoterra enclosure. so the softer, less rigid walls and acrylic door are a plus for that alone.

now for the downsides...

i'm really not a huge fan of how flimsy the acrylic door is. if it was a liiiittle thicker i'd probably like it more. the very simple method for the door hinge also means that when open, the door is misaligned, so i have to remember to slightly lift it when i go to close it so it will fit back in its space and close properly. this could be related to the low quality control that i've heard other people report regarding Leap (and experienced myself further below)

the base also leaks. they do sell external water catch trays in case of leakage, but i feel like they should come with the trays instead of the tray being optional, since the design of these things is basically guaranteed to leak without modification.

i didn't encounter this myself because i'd already seen warnings about this and didn't bother trying, but silicone and expanding foam won't adhere to the sides without help. Leap recommends using wall anchors for the foam to hold onto, but there's no real solution for silicone. this is annoying, because being able to seal the damned thing with silicone would GREATLY help the above leaking problem because you could just silicone around the rivets and internal plastic liner so that the leaking wouldn't be an issue. sealants that do bond to polypropylene don't strike me as being safe for use inside a reptile enclosure, especially a bioactive one.

it was also a BITCH to put together. i sort of expected this because a couple reviews i read before buying stated that the quality control is not the best. Leap has several videos on their youtube showcasing how to assemble the enclosures straight out of the box, and the provided instructions in the box are simple enough to follow, but i had to make some minor modifications in order to get the enclosure together due to ill-fitting pieces (for example, the screen top, which also keeps the walls in shape, did not actually fit on top of the walls like it was supposed to and i had to pry some sections open wide enough to actually get the damned thing in place). the alignment pin that goes in the front right of the base also did not want to be flush with the base like it's supposed to be.

all that being said, right now i would still be willing to get another, smaller Leap enclosure in the future for my mourning geckos or another gecko species. whether i actually do get another of their enclosures will really depend on how this one for Sig holds up. the lightness and ease of customization were the entire reasons i ordered this enclosure instead of a similarly sized (24x"18"x36") glass one, so we'll eventually see if that's truly worth the troubleshooting and outright downsides to these enclosures or not.

#reptiblr #herpblr #leap habitats #bioactive #crested gecko

[skynapple]

Budding Romance | Ch. 12

Love and Deepspace | Jeremiah x MC / slow-burn / friends-to-lovers

warnings: none

Multi-chapter | A03 link

Beginning | <- Prev | Next ->

"Barriers | Part 1" Building and breaking barriers

For a while, nothing happened. Social media updates, a cordial text message here and there, never a phone call, never too much, never too far. She would stop by the shop with some new dead plant. Not too often. Not too suspicious. He would always try to be the wingman. That's how it was then, and to him nothing should change. He certainly wasn't picking up on her hints to tell him she wasn't really interested in Xavier. She couldn't stop thinking about the dead azaleas in her kitchen, which she had taken great lengths to attempt to revive.

Maybe they're just dead. Maybe there wasn't even anything there worth salvaging. 

She still didn't want to be the one pursuing, but feelings often had a mind all their own. Feelings couldn’t be helped.

Be careful. Take it slow. Be careful. Take it slow.

After a long day of work, slightly bruised and wanting to comfort shop, she headed to Philo, only to see that it was closed for the day.

Maybe it's a sign from the universe.

Frustration bubbled within her at her own sailing thoughts, when she knew she could be spending better time elsewhere, doing things that were more productive, or trying to make new friends. At the very least, there was still a video game level she just could not get past. Even so, the desire to comfort shop outweighed her dejection and she decided to walk around the area, angrily telling herself she’d get rid of those azaleas once she got home. 

The road nearby lead to a few boutiques and interesting businesses. For a while she wove in and out, browsing aimlessly in search of something that would be worth her trip. It was almost to no avail, when a stationary set caught her eye. It had little flowers on it, with a matching floral pen. It would at least serve some use on her desk at work since she only really had the impersonal office pens to utilize. After exiting the store, she finally realized that she was in a less familiar part of town. While she knew the decent majority of Linkon like the back of her hand, there were areas and streets that she had no particular reason to visit - or memorize the way home to. After some mild efforts, she managed to find the nearest public transit station.

To her luck, after boarding she got distracted reading a new chapter of a comic she loved and missed her exit. She has no choice but to exit and wait for a the next train in the opposite direction.

As she waited, a sudden Beep, beep from her hunter watch spurred her attention.

Metaflux spiked and cold feeling shot through her veins as the screen on her watch indicated a wanderer was nearby, calling for nearby hunters. She tapped to accept and rushed into action, glad to still be in uniform for once, leaving her items under a bench at the station. The marker on her watch showed the wanderer was on top of her, although as she glanced around the station, she saw nothing in the area. The first and proper action was to evacuate people. It was second nature now, like putting on a mask, immediately launching into professionalism as she raised her voice above the busy crowd. These moments her resonate evol came in particular use, utilizing it to grab people’s attention, command them to remain calm, and guide them to safety. When it was clear that it was likely outside, she ran out of the station, pistol raised and ready. 

The wanderer was bigger than the ones she was used to seeing sneaking around barriers, such as pumpkin magus. This one stood on two hind legs, snarling ferociously. The shots she took with her pistols had little effect. In fact, it looked excited and raced right toward her. It wasn’t her first time fighting wanderers alone, but it was still nerve wracking against her tired and bruised muscles with how energetic this one seemed.

I can do this.

Just then, the flash of a gleaming sword cut through it, making it stumble down. Her first thought was Xavier! but as the monster fell forward revealing a masked swordsman, she realized this was not someone she knew. 

Or... is it? 

The man didn’t look at her, completely focused on the wanderer, who, despite the aggressive cut, still wasn't down. The swordsman wore dark clothing, and a mask over his mouth, but to her the resemblance was unmistakable. It was none other than Jeremiah. His elegant movements attacked in a way that she had previously only ever seen one other person do. With a few more swipes and aided by her continued barrage of pistol fire, the wanderer disappeared into shimmering smoke, leaving a glittering protocore behind. Quickly he grabbed it, observed it, viscerally hesitated, then tossed it to her. 

“Jeremiah?"

For just a minute, he turned away from her, appearing to be type something on a mobile device. Her watch flickered and the wanderer warning returned to normal, as if nothing were ever there. He turned back, meeting her eyes, sword poised away from her, eyebrows drawn together. Any softness she had grown to recognize was gone, completely cold and serious, an entirely different person. The mask was adjusted and she suddenly had a sense of deja vu, as if she knew he would leave without a word.

Rushing forward in anticipation, she reached her hand out and blurted. "Don't go!" This stopped him, though he glanced around, and then at his device.

“Shh. There are other wanderers nearby."

The abrupt tone was unnerving, though she drew closer still. Although the sound of it confirmed its owner's identity, however seeing this different side of him felt like being introduced to a total stranger. Hunter training had prepared her for the unexpected, to keep her emotions and her actions controlled. Yet, to realize that there was so much –so much– about him that she didn’t know, and be confronted with it in this manner, was almost overwhelming. Although she’d known that from the start that he was no ordinary florist, given Xavier’s sudden introduction without explanation as he had Jeremiah assist her with tools and a disguise. This much though? It terrified her. 

“How do you know that?” She asked, taking a shaking breath, trying to be cautious. A feeling of distrust waned in her heart. “My hunter watch just said it was cleared-”

“-The association doesn’t know everything. Yet." He interrupted. "Wanderer activity has picked up at an alarming rate in this area. It’s...unusual. I’m trying to pinpoint the break to report it.” It sounded believable. It also sounded like a believable lie. She wasn’t sure what to think.

Rather than press it, she adjusted a setting on her gun as an excuse to look away. “Ok… what’s your plan?”

He didn’t respond immediately, just stared before he said, “Go home. I can handle this.”

The frustration from the day and the situation caught in her throat, making it hot and vaguely she could taste something metallic on her lip, not realizing she was biting down hard in anger. “This is my assignment. I won’t let you disappear when I'm not looking.” A sharp bolt of determination and assertiveness made her step forward, standing her ground. “I’m the licensed member here. I have an obligation to keep ordinary citizens safe. Like yourself.”

Now he looked at her fully, pulling the mask down, and it was the sternest she had ever seen him look at her. She would have been chilled, if she wasn’t so wasn’t so worried about who he really was, or why he was acting this way.                                                                                                                                      

“On your orders then, ma'am.”

--

They walked in silence along the barrier on the limits of the city as she used her scanner to search the area. He'd added something to it, said it amplified signals and could better pinpoint direction. 

She was trying to focus, but couldn't stop replaying the image of him in her mind, like monster in his own right tearing into the wanderer. 

"What's the matter?" She heard him ask beside her.

"You." She said with bitterness. "You come out of nowhere, dressed like this, and nearly take down a wanderer? With a sword?" 

"Look, you weren't supposed to see that." His tone was softer than before, but still colder than she wanted it to be.

"I know that. That's what terrifying."

He didn't say anything in reply, so she continued. "I know you said you and Xavier studied together, but for some reason I thought you ended up studying to become an analyst, or something tech related. I didn't think you were actually..." She had so many questions, but she left it at that for now.

Then he said her name, and she had to look at him, face hot with anger, shoulders clenching with emotion she didn't know how to process or what to do with.

In the forrest near the barrier, the sun had long-set leaving gleaming stars above, and gentle wind that rustled everything around them. Disturbed leaves ripped themselves from branches to settle around them. Between them, a dangerous quiet, and in the distance, birds seemed to call warnings to each other.

"I don't know how to make you trust me," He said, pulling down the mask and tucking it away in his belt. "But we're on the same side."

"Anyone can say that." She responded flatly, returning her gaze briefly to her watch, mindful of the fluctuations. 

"Then..." A gleam of light in his palm revealed a sword that shimmered like starlight, its unique metal leaving a ringing note that disturbed the setting around them. It looked like Xavier's, but there were notable differences in the intricate design on the hilt. It was no ordinary sword. It certainly was no hunter's sword.

"Hold on to this." He handed it to her, keeping the blade pointed down away from them. 

"Why?" She asked as she took it, skeptical, but not missing the opportunity to  confiscate his weapon.

"Because I'm defenseless now. If another wanderer appears -as you said before- you'll be the one protecting this ordinary citizen."

"So, your life is in my hands. Got it."

"Something like that."

She scoffed and turned on her heel, not entirely sure what to do with the sword as she walked. It felt clumsy in her hand, and heavier than it looked. It was a delicate weapon, but she knew the level of dedication it required to train with it to master it well. At the hunter academy, she had learned a variety of weapons. A sword wasn't entirely unfamiliar to her. It just so happened that she became an expert marksman and chosen twin pistols as her weapon of choice. 

What unnerved her was that Jeremiah could have had an easy explanation, or an easier one considering she already knew of his past as a possible hunter. Yet, he hadn't. She had thought Jeremiah was a terrible liar. He wasn't - not entirely. What else was he hiding?

Before they could resolve the tension and questions between them, a blip in her watch told her wanderer activity had picked up again.

"The break. It's there." He said behind her. There in the digital enhanced mechanism atop the barrier were scratches  as if something had been clawing at it. Something big.

"There's no way anything could have escaped from the no-hunt zone." She said, with a little fear in her voice.

"They always think that." He sighed, then pulled a device from the tool hilt in his belt.

He crouched down, removing more tools before glancing up at her. "I had a feeling one of the mechanisms is damaged. I need to repair it." There was no lack of confidence in his tone as continued, "Cover me. When I disable it... they might come."

She made no move to stop him but crossed her arms, displeased. "This... this isn't your job. I need to report this."

Jeremiah scoffed a little, no longer looking at her as his eyes were transfixed on the digital barrier mechanism. "So they could take 5 business days having a meeting about allocating resources to a repair person who might do the job in time? I'm here now. Report it later."

"That's not how it-"

"That's exactly how it works." 

Despite the disagreement, he had a point in that he was here and ready to repair it now. With wanderers already slipping by as they'd encountered earlier, she knew it was imperative that it be repaired as soon as possible. 

"Fine!" She grumbled, keeping watch on the barrier as he began climbing up the large tower that it was attached to.

The digital mechanism connected for several meters, creating an extra barrier of protection for occasional wanderers escaping the no-hunt zone. However, with a digital field glitching, every time it glitched became an opportunity for one to slip through. The moment Jeremiah began to work on it, the barrier glitched again, before the section in front of them finally shut off with a crackling sound. In slight discomfort, she looked ahead and behind to make sure the rest of the barrier was still all connected. Seeing that it was settled her a little bit. She would only have to watch this area.

It seemed for a long time that nothing happened. He was too high up for her to converse with him any further. Occasionally she would watch him, not able to really see his face from far below. No wanderers came.

Restless, she would pace the margins of the disturbed barrier area. When her watch indicated a call, the sudden break in silence startled her so much that she jumped. It was Jenna. Briefly she explained that the situation earlier was handled, leaving out Jeremiah's involvement, and then explained that the barrier should be investigated, attempting to leave it as vague as possible. When ordered to head home for the day, she answered in the affirmative and hung up. 

She returned to the bottom of the thin tower and called up to him, "Hey!" not wanting to use his name. 

"Almost done." He returned, and said nothing else, then got her attention again, asking, "Aren't you watching the barrier?" 

Irritation coursed through her. "Yes!"

"Something's coming." He called out, making her worry suddenly. Nothing seemed to be on horizon, but he was higher up. "I need a few more minutes."

"Ok." She responded, guns already in her hands.

What came up in front of them was an A-class wanderer, definitely one of the larger ones she'd seen. She could feel a protofield forming around her. She knew better than to enter a protofield by herself, it was a rule for a reason.

Not good.

In a split second of anxiety, she glanced up at Jeremiah. He had asked her to buy him time. 

Maybe it'll be fine.

Tightening her grip around her pistols in resolution, she went to step forward into the protofield barrier when his voice bellowed behind her. 

"Stop!" He called, leaping from where he was already climbing down from the tower.

"What are you doing?!" She yelled back, beginning to lose the sound of her own voice in the fields fluctuation and winds. "You're supposed to be fixing that!"

Jeremiah held his hand out, now at her side. "My only concern is making sure you're not fighting alone."

With no time to argue, she stepped forward, letting him follow her. It was too late to back down now. She could only hope no more wanderers would slip through while they were in the protofield. She handed him his sword, and refocused her attention on the wanderer.

---

For the next few minutes he fought at her side. It was like before, he had a masterful skill, almost like Xavier. She wondered where in the world he'd learned to fight the way he did.

He didn't know her movements, but he soon fell into quick step with her, calling commands to use her evol that she instinctively understood. She realized she had to instruct very little. He knew the very length and width of her steps. It was almost like they had been fighting side-by-side for a long time already.

The enraged wanderer beat its chest, lifting a large boulder of pure ice to smash at them. He dove in front of her, pressing her to the ground as it shattered within centimeters of them.

"You ok?" He asked frantically, helping her up. The look in his eyes was fierce, but just for a second, she saw a genuine care there that comforted her.

"Yeah." She nodded at him then rose her pistols once more.

"I'm going left-" "I'm going right-"

They said simultaneously. Then he grinned, full toothed and bright and twirled his sword, giving her a two fingered salute.

When the wanderer was finally beaten down, the protofield shimmered out of existence leaving them exactly as they were before at the edge of the barrier. There was no time to celebrate. He left her to collect the protocore and scrambled back up the tower to finish the repair. It took just a few minutes more, as predicted.

"Got it!" He exclaimed when it was accomplished, leaping down in cheer as the barrier flashed to life.

She wanted to hug him, she wanted to cheer with him and celebrate, but she couldn't. Something about the whole day twisted her stomach in knots. 

"Is it a good one?" He asked, eyeing the glowing cerulean protocore in her hand.

"You can't have it." She retorted squarely.

He laughed, for the first time seeming more similar to the man she knew before that day. "I didn't want it, but gee thanks for offering." Then his voice softened. "You alright? You're quieter than usual."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" She said, teeth clenched, and she didn't mean to say it that way. She didn't mean to sound so bristled, but the emotions in her wanted to spill out, hot tears of anger moistened in her eyes but she would not allow them to spill.

"Are you mad?" He asked, then sighed, shaking his head. "Let me ask you this... Has Xavier ever lead you astray?"

She squinted, wondering what that had to do with anything. "No... He's my partner."

"Ok, well. If I tell you Xavier trusts me, is that going to change anything? We're... working on the same team. I may not be a hunter, but the one thing you can count on is that I'm working on things to help you."

She wanted to yell at him again, tell him he wasn't making sense, tell him that she wanted the truth, she wanted answers. Nothing right to say came to mind. All she could do was clench the protocore in her hand, a reminder of the way he'd fought at her side, protecting her and making sure she wasn't fighting alone.

"Jeremiah, I need you to tell me the truth."

He was quiet then looked off into the distance. "Not here... let's get a drink."

#jeremiah x mc #lnds jeremiah #love and deepspace jeremiah #jeremiah love and deepspace #love and deepspace xavier #lnds fic #l&ds #l&ds jeremiah #l&ds mc #love and deepspace #lnds mc #love and deepspace mc #budding romance #madi writes #the girls are fightinnngggg

[solarisgod]

📻 - does your system have any type of in system relationships? (familial, romantic, platonic etc.)

˖ ✰ . 📻 - Does your system have any type of in system relationships ? ( familial , romantic , platonic etc . ) [ CW : Mentions of ableism & child abuse + neglect ]

The Chimera Cluster : There's this alter who most of us have a familial - like relationship to them; it's very sweet and playful which makes us form that familial bond with them the more we interact with them. I have two good in-sys friends! One of them is Hughie who just showed up on this blog to say hi to everyone a few days ago, another is Daimon who writes Myster Strange on here with us. There are few who I had a familial connection with, including therapist alter, which I really was weirded out by this fact, but─ to say this simply, I think it's normal for people who were heavily neglected / abused when they were younger to seek familial connections whether they realize or not, so I did eventually feel that familial connection with this therapist alter who had helped me immensely. Most in the system sees each other as friends! My most prominent in system relationship is me having a significant beloved, @lunarisdog, with our second anniversary coming this June! We have been through so much together and even if I only discovered Paroxysm for a few years, we both have always felt as we had known each other for so long and our relationship just became so special so quickly. We made a lot of memories that we're bound to lose easily / have already lost because of our ongoing amnesia, but the knowing alone that we can make each other so happy and even be grateful of existing means everything to us. I love Paroxysm forever so dearly much, and so do they to me. A lot of people didn't / couldn't believe she's my significant partner and we had an anon in 2022 just few hours before my birthday essentially saying our DID and Paroxysm weren't real, and, you know, sometimes when I had really fun or serious moments with Paroxysm, my mind goes back to that anonymous ask before I'd think they'd never believe in what we have, but in the end, we're just extremely happy and grateful that we exist so we can be together. Paroxysm is the sun of my life as I'm the moon of their life, and our love is real enough like me and them. What could matter more? The Starwake System : Micah is in a romantic relationship with Phoebus since summer 2023. It's the same case between Philos and Phobos, although when they got together, it's likely when the system was in bodily twenties, but their relationship status wasn't known to the system until summer 2023. Micah's relationship with Phoebus and Philos are extremely close, and this can draw over not only platonic, but also the romantic and sexual aspects at times that none of these three really notice to discuss about them because them having a romantic and sexual relationship feels somehow natural. Micah have familial connections with the younger Starwakers who were formed after xyr past counterparts ( Mike, Mimi, and M ) and vice versa with each other, as well as with Cryael, Micah's relationship with it is more professional than personal as Cryael is essentially an alter who focuses on professional work with the investigation and exorcising, but there are occasions when they have personal interactions.

▌┊ ASK GAME FOR SYSTEMS ／／ : ANONYMOUS , ACCEPTING !

#ABLEISM CW #CHILD ABUSE CW #ANONYMOUS #/// #// #𓁹 ༑ ࿐ྂ ⩇⩇ : ⩇⩇ ⚠︎ [ 𝙴𝚇𝙸(𝚂)𝚃 : 𝙶𝙾𝙳 ] * ‹ OOC . › #𓁹 ༑ ࿐ྂ ⩇⩇ : ⩇⩇ ⚠︎ [ 𝙴𝚇𝙸(𝚂)𝚃 : 𝙶𝙾𝙳 ] * ‹ ANSWERS . › #𓁹 ༑ ࿐ྂ ⩇⩇ : ⩇⩇ ⚠︎ [ 𝙴𝚇𝙸(𝚂)𝚃 : 𝙶𝙾𝙳 ] * ‹ CANONS . › #𓁹 ༑ ࿐ྂ ⩇⩇ : ⩇⩇ ⚠︎ [ 𝙴𝚇𝙸(𝚂)𝚃 : 𝙶𝙾𝙳 ] * ‹ STARWAKE SYS . › #[ saw this first thing in the morning and seeing how sudden receiving this ask mentioning my cluster ] #[ I genuinely thought this was a hate anon sdjnfJSLJF ] #[ BUT THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS Q ; this is such a good question we love this! have a lovely day! ♡ ]

[gentlyjimin]

“If I could chose my dream, I just wanna stay right next to you.”  - kim namjoon, tokyo 

words: 1.3k

warnings: n/a, mention of religion 

work is unfinished, i am posting to see how well it is received.

------

“You know,” you started, eyes locked on the same person that your friend couldn��t help but glance at for the past half an hour, “for someone so confident, that guy sure does render you speechless.”

Unamused, Jimin turned to look at you.

“He’s not just some guy. He’s the guy.”

“The guy?” You repeated, brows raised. “What does that even mean, the guy?”

“Do you know who the guy is? Jeon Jungkook.”

You couldn’t help but roll your eyes.

“No-no,” he scolded after catching your eye-roll. Jimin shifted in his seat and moved closer towards you, “he not only led our lovely rugby team to victory the moment he joined it, but he also-“

“Got rid of all the dickheads and makes sure the team takes care of drunk people at parties.” You finished for him, unable to suppress a smile at Jimin’s unphased expression. “The Vatican should make him a saint.”

Jimin’s huge crush on Jeon Jungkook was evident the moment the sport star turned the entire team around. You’d argue that it existed the moment Jimin saw Jungkook, but your friend was adamant that it didn’t. He was also adamant that he didn’t suit short hair, but everyone knew Jimin could very well pull off being bald if he wanted to.

Jimin continued to deadpan you.

“What,” you laughed, “Jungkook’s a good person, nobody has ever said otherwise. He may be the guy to you, but-“

“Oh?” A light voice suddenly cut you off. 

Speak of the devil and he will arrive. 

“The guy to you? Do you have anything to tell me, sweetheart?” Jungkook continued. He directed his question at Jimin as he sat down and stole one of the fries that sat in front of the other man.

“Nothing that you don’t already know,” Jimin answered with a wink, to which Jungkook laughed while continuing to munch on the fries.

As the two fell into a hushed conversation, you shifted your gaze away from your two friends. Although the three of you sat together, their conversation felt too private to listen to, even as a friend. Instead, you moved your gaze to where you last saw your own crush. He was still there, still working away. He was wearing a dark brown, long sleeved shirt that you noticed kept getting in the way as his fingers glided across the keyboard in front of him. The long sleeves kept shifting the pages of his book. He didn’t seem to mind, though. You found that admirable about him; not only did he look good in brown, but he was patient. It may seem silly, but you found that small things like pages moving when you don’t want them to move was big enough to irritate a lot of people, including you.

Not him, though.

Last week you saw a girl trip and spill her coffee all over his jeans and notes. You could feel your heart break as you watched the pages soak up the dark liquid, but he didn’t even look at them. He jumped out of his seat to help the girl the second she fell. You could faintly hear her apologize to him, but he told her to not worry and that they were just notes.

If you didn’t know better, you’d say you were in love with him. 

Jungkook was one thing, but the Vatican should consider Kim Namjoon a saint.

You couldn’t help but internally cringe at yourself. If you rolled your eyes at how in love Jimin is with Jungkook, Jimin would straight up vomit if he heard what you were thinking right now. 

“You know,” Jungkook’s voice brought you out of your thoughts while you considered what you could possibly wear to a saint-decleration, “I could introduce the two of you. He tutors me in Philo, we take the same class.”

You sighed, wishing so very badly that you could take him up on the offer, but you were too afraid that it would all go wrong. Although you considered yourself to be a fairly confident person, you were not blissfully ignorant. You and Namjoon have never spent time alone together. All that you know about him, you know because the two of you are close to the same person. 

Min Yoongi. Both of you were also familiar with Seokjin and although you considered him a friend, you knew that he was closer to Namjoon than he was to you. 

“Listen,” Jimin started, picking up on your hesitation, “Taehyung is throwing a party this weekend. I know for a fact that Seokjin will be there, which makes it more than likely that Namjoon will be there too.”

Jungkook nodded, “which makes it a perfect setting! You guys won’t be alone. If you hit it off, great. If you don’t, we can come rescue you.”

“Exactly,” Jimin continued, “but either way you’ll get to know whether this is something you want to pursue, or if you should leave it alone and move on.”

You gasped in fake-offense, “move on? How could I possibly move on?”

It was Saturday, 7:36pm and you were halfway through getting ready. You had been texting back and forth with Yoongi, who had confirmed that Namjoon would be there tonight. You had also reassured Yoongi that if he needed an out at any point during the party, you’d be there for him. 

You were aware of his social anxiety, and how much it took for him to attend events like the one tonight. Although you didn’t know the ins and outs of what he had to deal with, you knew enough to offer support and reassurance. When the two of you were 14, there was one particular school event that Yoongi had to attend, a school concert of sorts. He was forced into doing a piano solo, but his set was delayed and cancelled because he was unable to breathe from the nerves. That was the first time you saw the extent of what your childhood friend was dealing with. Since then you promised to be his rock, his stability if and whenever he should need it, if it would be helpful. Sometimes your presence was helpful, sometimes it wasn’t. But Yoongi never shoo-ed you away. Not once. So you stayed, each and every time. 

By the time you finished getting ready, Yoongi had already texted you that he would be there to pick you up in 10 minutes.

This is good. You told yourself. You’d finally get to talk to properly talk to Namjoon, see what he’s like. You loved spending time with Yoongi, and he loved spending time with Namjoon, so surely you would love to spend time with him too?

Of course you will. 

Why were you so nervous? You were never nervous to meet people. You looked hot, felt hot. Why were you nervous?

A horn sounded outside. Has it already been 10 minutes?

“Ooooooh,” Yoongi scanned you up and down as you slipped into the passenger seat, “you dressed up just for me?”

You laughed, “you like?”

“I do,” he laughed, pulling out of your driveway, “and I’m sure that he will too.”

Yoongi knew. Of course he knew. How could he not know? Your interest in Namjoon was clear when you interrogated your friend after each time the two of them hung out.

“Do you have a plan?”

“Ah yes,” you mused, “I will show up, seduce him and hook up in your car. You’ll leave the keys inside for me, right?”

You saw Yoongi roll his eyes.

“I don’t have a plan. I just hope it all works out, that’s all.”

“Why wouldn’t it work out?”

“What if he doesn’t like me?” You hated how that sounded.

Yoongi clicked his tongue.

“Why wouldn’t he? Not only are you hot, but you’re interesting. And as far as I can tell, that’s what he’s after. He likes people with substance. You have plenty of substance.”

You almost blushed. Compliments from Yoongi were not a common thing. This one you’d cherish.

“Can you just repeat that, I didn’t get a chance to record it.”

“Oh ha-ha. Save that attitude for Joon.”

Joon.

#namjoon x reader #shy namjoon #namjoon fic #namjoon #writing

[deadlydelicious]

The Vignette Problem and a Potential Fix - An entirely Undirected Frustration Ramble

OK- Preface, this is a ramble in the key of meta, NOT a well thought out considered meta in inself. please read accordingly

Lets be honest, Vignette was a shit MC for this story

when measuring Vignette up against the other MC’s (Philo, Tourmaline, Imogen, Agreus), she comes off as infantile and naive, framed by her very teenage rebellion, her obligatory hetero romance with Philo (which is at least passably developed if lacking chemistry) and her poorly developed ‘childhood sweetheart runner-up’ romance with Tourmaline. her convictions never really felt like core values, but rather exorcises in reactionary frustrations. She is not a mover and shaker of this conflict, she is someone caught up in the motions. To be more unkind, Vignette is a plot drain, fixated on moral absolutes and flipflopping between personal/romantic allegiance in a way that makes her seem like a child, when compared to her firmly grey counterparts( namely Tourmaline and Philo). scenes with her and Tourmaline or Philo almost border on uncomfortable because of how emotionally immature she is in comparison to the two of them- where they deal in complex moral quandarys, she deals in snap judgments and ultimatums..

characteristically, Vignette doesn't read like a 1st gen war refuge (in the fantastical sense). not that there is a right ir wrong way to behave as a refugee, but there is a notable gap in her understanding of Fae relations to the Burge that make no sense for her age, education, previous relationship with a half fae Burgish soldier, and plot relation to the conflict (as a member or Tirnanoc academia and later as a director of refugees to safety) Tourmaline does read as a 1st gen refugee- she comes across as that mixture of scarred, ferrety, grateful, and yet cyclical persona that makes sense. Philo as a scarred veteran also fits with Tourmaline’s generation in this sense- he’s haunted, jaded, empathetic, hunting for belonging as a mixed species person caught adrift between his heritage and his socialization. Touramline and Philo read like they are from the same generation of a conflict. its frustrating we don’t see more of the two of them because in a non-romantic sense they bounce really well, and I would love to see a world without V where the two of them have to team up and come to see each others worlds- Philo’s hidden ancestry, and Tourmaline more brutal dark connection to fae magic

Vignette reads like the next generation. That’s a powerful story in its own right- the frustration and restlessness of a person born outside their heritage, acutely aware of the rich cultural heritage they are owed, but both unable to access it, and dammed and ridiculed for embracing it. its a valid story BUT a very different one from that of a refugee. This 100% wouldn’t automatically make her a bad character, but when placing her against Tourmaline and Philo,  her reactions and understanding of her political situation often read as hopelessly simplistic, and idealistic of the idea of what should have been. if you separate her by generation though I think they would have been more nuanced- a display of nationalistic frustration in the place of complacency. Vignette comes across like the child of refugees who feels cheated out of their rightful identity, angry about being forced to live a small life on the fringe, when she knows the beauty and power of her for-bearers. Its a characterization that works, but not in the context of placing Tourmaline and Philo as her contemplates

I think it would have worked better if Vignette was Philo’s daughter, her mother being Philo’s lover and Tourmaline's bestfriend/lover. That would account for her dissonant perspective from the war generation of Philo and Tourmaline, while also making space for her difficult personal connection to the two

#carnival row #vignette stonemoss #tourmaline larou #rycroft philostrate #i'm not saying tourmailine should have been the main female character #....but i'm not disputing

[exactlycleverpirate]

Why Did Rafayel Do That?

My theory on what could have motivated Rafayel's actions, one in particular, in Chapter 7.11.

Spoilers for Main Story, Myth, etc, below.

So, why does Rafayel consider leaving MC to drown?

One possible explanation is that he thinks MC betrayed him, which I touch on in my post What Happened to Lemuria and Rafayel.

However, I find this explanation lacking, and given what we see in his myth, I posit another explanation.

In both the Myth and with current Rafayel, they meet MC as children, and Rafayel makes a vow to seek her out again. And both Rafayels do seek her out late as adults.

In the Myth, Rafayel is conflicted. The God of the Sea has protected the Lemurians since time immemorable, but Rafayel is no longer the God of the Sea and the Seas have dried up. Given how connected Lemurians are to the sea, I don't think it is a stretch to say that without it, they will eventually all die out, or at least fall into eternal slumber.

This is what we learn will happen to Rafayel if he does not get his heart back. He gifted it to MC, but for some reason or other, being disconnected from it appears to have caused the sea to dry up and is causing Rafayel's power and life to fade away. Possibly this is magnified by the fact that all of Philos appears to be leaching immortality off of Rafayel's heart. (Just take a moment to consider with me the possibility that Xavier would not be alive if not for Rafayel.)

So the only known way of resolving this and returning to being the protector for his people that he is supposed to be, is to reclaim his heart from MC, by killing her.

Now, given some of the other parallels between the myth and current Rafayel, let's extend that out.

This Rafayel does not refer to himself as a god, but he does feel responsible for Lemuria and its downfall, as well as for avenging it and protecting the survivors. Louis refers to Lemuria as the Siren's (read Rafayel’s) kingdom. I think it very likely that he is at the very least a prince of Lemuria. I don't think his role has changed from what it was in the myth. He has always been and will always be Lemuria's protector in every life.

But he failed in his current life, and Lemuria has all but been wiped out. I speculate that this is because MC already has Rafayel's heart, and that he has therefore been weakened, leaving Lemuria vulnerable. (Perhaps Lemuria has been is decline in the shadows for hundreds or thousands of years, ever since he first gave her his heart.)

So just as myth Rafayel must contemplate, so too must current Rafayel consider that to save Lemuria, MC needs to die and relinquish his heart. Myth Rafayel seems to genuinely consider whether or not killing MC is the right path, rather than dismissing it out of hand. Perhaps the current Rafayel also is wrestling with this. Maybe if he just let go, just swam away and let nature take its course, maybe he could return to his rightful role and save Lemuria.

But in the end, he cannot do it. He is bound to her and loves her dearly, so even though the cost is high, he is determined to find an alternative.

(Also, MC in the myth has to give her heart to him willingly. Perhaps this is what Rafayel is alluding to when he says that this is MC's "choice" when he rescues her from drowning.)

TLDR: Rafayel has two loves, MC and Lemuria. For both current and Myth Rafayel, these loves come into conflict, and he wrestles with who to save.

What do you think? Does this theory hold water (pun intended)? Am I cookoo for coco puffs? Have your own theory? Let me know in the comments or PM me!

#love and deepspace #rafayel love and deepspace #love and deepspace rafayel #rafayel

[beardedmrbean]

Oh here some that I didn’t know until I played ac games. I mean I pointed out I didn’t the Iroquois was a confederacy. Though there were two Npcs in game arguing about it

But also

I didn’t know Argos is a real place in Greece

Or how most Greeks myths we know are Mycenaeans rooted and the Mycenaeans are more like….uuuuh…probably another better idea. But the Mycenaeans are to the classical Greeks what the Pilgrims are to Americans

Or that London is actually a city founded by the Romans under the name Londinium until a saw it name from a sidequest

Okay ac Valhalla England is very bastardized (as in the Brit’s are annoyed but hey it from a French company lol) and they heavily cheated with this one where a lot of Roman structures are still around despite realistically they should be gone. Because they want to have post apocalyptic feeling of England after the fall of Rome where everyone is fighting to survive and you’re in the ruins of a great empire

I also didn’t know Ellis Island is named after the region Ellis where the og Olympics took place until I saw it

I also did know Philadelphia and Memphis are old names-wait a minute

Alexandria= Named after Alexander the Great

Constantinople: Named after Emperor Constantine no?

Is Philadelphia named after King Philip? Man I’m dumb

But I interested in how they will do Japan like pointing out the pre feudal era and how it lead to the warring states. Oh maybe they can shown me what books they used for inspiration in the discovery tour

Ya most native groups worked as a loose alliance of people that spoke the same/similar language, it's wild how little they actually teach about all of that, but there's a lot to learn and we now have the internet to help.

I didn’t know Argos is a real place in Greece Or how most Greeks myths we know are Mycenaeans rooted and the Mycenaeans are more like….uuuuh…probably another better idea. But the Mycenaeans are to the classical Greeks what the Pilgrims are to Americans

Guy I knew from Macedonia, fun to ask things about Alexander the Great and such since they're totally different places.

If you want extra fun, look up the history of Anatolia, all kinds of ethnic fun there, might leave you asking the question "where did the Turks come from"

Or that London is actually a city founded by the Romans under the name Londinium until a saw it name from a sidequest

Ya lots of England is like that, one of the more foolish things any roman emperor did was Hadrian's wall, you're an empire you don't build something that's supposed to be a permanent barrier and line on the map about where your empire ends, did save Scotland from getting roman names tho.

On of my pet theories on why the British empire got as big as it did is looking at how many times that island has been conquered, each subsequent group that conquered it had to be better at conquering than the last, right up till there was nobody better at conquering, and it's not like that's a skill you're going to abandon so time to branch out and conquer other places.

Okay ac Valhalla England is very bastardized (as in the Brit’s are annoyed but hey it from a French company lol) and they heavily cheated with this one where a lot of Roman structures are still around despite realistically they should be gone. Because they want to have post apocalyptic feeling of England after the fall of Rome where everyone is fighting to survive and you’re in the ruins of a great empire

That last bit is still modern England too

I also didn’t know Ellis Island is named after the region Ellis where the og Olympics took place until I saw it I also did know Philadelphia and Memphis are old names-wait a minute

Is Philadelphia named after King Philip? Man I’m dumb

it's not, it's for the Greek philos and adelphos which when joined, translates to Brotherly Love, sometimes it's even more simple than we thought. Pholos is loving adelphos is brother it's still backwards but ya there's a reason it's the city of "Brotherly Love" even still after Big Willy left for Bel Aire.

Closest England has had to a King Philip was Philip II of Spain, co ruler with Mary I (tudor) AKA Bloody Mary if you weren't Catholic, and Prince Philip who was the recent Queen's husband and never would have been king to begin with and is also too young to have Philadelphia named after him.

New York was New Amsterdam since the Dutch settled it first BTW.

Georgetown on the other hand, as well as the other two you mentioned, that and the 5700 different places and or things in this world named Victoria or some variation of.

So ya you're good.

But I interested in how they will do Japan like pointing out the pre feudal era and how it lead to the warring states. Oh maybe they can shown me what books they used for inspiration in the discovery tour

Was looking to see if Yasuke and William Adams (Miura Anjin) would have crossed paths irl, does not look like it, still possible since there's no actual date of death for Yasuke just says after June 1582 Adams would have been 18 then, so not in Japan but still no definite date of death it could happen, especially in fiction.

I do hope they get all the links to inspiration that there are too, I think that would be one of the more rewarding, for me, outcomes if I were making a game like this.

That and stacks of cash

#zoomer huey anon

[confessions-official]

heyyyy, I am actually sorry for dumping like four of these novels onto you ppl who run official-confessions, I dont have anyone to ramble about all this too and its nice to just anonymously dump it and have a couple ppl acknowledge it lol. I also feel kinda lame for just how much I love plants now like it feels a lil cringe but also im having fun.

BUT its happy almost a month anniversary since I bought my first plant and uhhhhhhhhhhhh I am now known as the person who loves plants at school. the friend said recently "oh yeah you love your plants dont you", which feels like such an acknowledgment of my new passion lol, I've painted plants for class and the teacher asked about mine, I spoke with that other person about that neglected monstera again that they honestly should just take home fr, My dad drove me to a bigger and far better plant center that was genuinely the first time I actually enjoyed myself when leaving the house in like 6 years, my dad and his girlfriend spent the weekend digging up plants at her place to bring home just for me to pot up and care for. I am so much happier. I make an effort every now and then to get out and look for plants I can take home, my dad and I actually have something to bond over now, his thumb is kinda green and he's also bought some new plants for inside! I get genuinely excited about plants,,,, I got to watch my monstera and pothos's leaves unfurl during the week ive had them AND both have new leaves on the way, Ive been taking photos so I can look back at those leaves when they were babys, ALL of the spider plants are fucking thriving, all of my philo cuttings are rooting as are the string or pearls cuttings (tho the main plant is very dead whoops). I feel like I've learned so much and gained a lot of experience in just a month, even tho its really not been long enough at all these lil guys have just taken over my life and I couldnt be more pleased, I have so many plans for them, when the philo cuttings root enough to be potted some of them are going in the living room and my dad said he'd help care for them, i just put some spider plants in there and it looks so nice... dads also going to install another shelf in my room just for plants and !!!! I have ideas for what ones Im going to get next month, if i can find them. It genuinely has been so rewarding watching these plants grow, like that monstera has an entire new leaf!!! that wasnt there a week ago!!! how cool is that!!! and those roots on the philo cuttings!!! who am i.

 

#confession

[deletarius1893]

random OC ask: if your OC inexplicably had access to real-world media, what character would be their favorite? what character would they unreasoningly despise? why?

Solus would be very into fantasy, sci-fi and most things nerd culture. I suppose a list of franchises and characters within them he'd be drawn to. I'll try not to make it too long, but he'd be into a lot of things.😅 Given his military background and heroic tales he was read, he would steer towards comics/manga, fantasy, action adventure and even have a sweet spot for hopeless romantic novels and the like. War & Love.

- Warhammer 40k & Fantasy (Lore & Tabletop) Solus likes strategy and tactical rpgs.

Favorite characters would be Eldrad Ulthran, an immensely powerful Aeldari psyker in 40k. He'd be one Solus' favorite characters as well as part of his favorite faction which would be Aeldari. His main armies would be mostly Eldar, his secondary army collection would be Vulkan legion army. His tertiary would be the Eldar Harlequins, Eldar overall are his favorite faction, because Space Elves thought not really elves...

Another favorite character would be Sangunius, admiring the feats, heroism and sacrifice.

Least favored character or despised would be a wild guess "Erebus", however without this character the heresy era of 40k wouldn't exist, so it's a love/hate or love to hate.

Another form of media he'd be interested in and what is the comic book series Invincible, favorite characters would be Invincible (Mark Grayson), Omni-man (Nolan Grayson), Atom Eve (Samantha Wilkins) and the Mauler Twins due their comedic banter on who's the original and the parts they play in the story. He would like how invincible takes an alternate approach on the consequences and what it takes to actually be a hero in that world. Mark being a favorite and relatable character, starting off as not-so invincible and developing overall as a character and hero from there, being unveiled by what he thinks or thought being a hero would be like. Solus can relate deeply with this, seeing as he was once wearing rose tinted glasses in being a hero or war hero of sorts, the excitement of adventure and duty only to be brutally exposed to the reality of it all. However, he still kept his hope and optimism, just a rational amount, approaching things with caution and purpose. Solus can also relate to the physical struggles of pushing past the limits of his body. Nolan (Mark's father) is a favorite by simply being a well written individual, how he went from apathetic to compassionate and showing that he has feelings and does care for his family.

Atom Eve is a favorite for Solus as she goes through the necessary character development that would later complete Mark's perception as a character. Her being the love interest as well as her own seperate goals and evolution as a person. Seeing as being the traditional hero is not what it's cracked up to be.

Lord of the Rings is a another piece or media he'd be interested in, very much so. Characters of this he'd be drawn to would be Aragorn, Legolas because of course and Gimli. Pretty much he main party if heroes he'd drawn too.

As for disliked or hated characters Gollum would be one, despite his inner conflict, it would be difficult for Solus to like him. Gothmog that orc lieutenant would make Solus' hated list as well. The torturous methods and needless desecration is something Solus is pretty "blegh" and "meh" towards.

He'd be into Star Wars as well, it's a tale not too far off from stories and lore his mother would read or tell him during bedtime. Tales of heroism, fallen heroes and redemption, which is something Solus is drawn to the most since he feels he has failed those he loved and lost due to him not being capable enough. He would enjoy the music and group of friends Star Wars would establish as the characters would venture fourth through the story. His favorite characters would be Luke (Young hero set to save others and his father, develops own philosophy in being a jedi), Leia, Han, Anakin (To Fall so far, yet turn back to the light in he end), Obi-Wan, (a jedi who wasn't as talented but still managed to learn as much in his studies to compensate for his lack of force sensitivity). Solus likes stories on underdogs and feels for those characters deeply. He'd like Count Dooku as a character, seeing as Count Dooku wasn't necessarily fully engulfed by the dark side, but instead used it as a means to further what he thought was right on the political front. A different outlook than the restriction and limitations of the Jedi order which grew too involved in politics and in the wars at the time of the Republic.

As for a hated character or one he despises would be Darth Sidous (Emperor) cause of course, highly manipulative describing him as a character does no justice. But he also likes how campy the character is written in, appreciating the manipulation of both sides as a good villain. Solus wouldn't like him as a person but as a villainous character he appreciate it. Solus has been manipulated and tricked before by someone close to him who he saw as a father, but was used as a pawn to further something devastating and unforseen, so villains like this he would hate with a passion. Solus' life was wiped clean of close friends, family and good innocent acquaintances so this would hit home.

He'd be into some anime, one that comes to mind I can see him liking a lot especially while growing up is classics like Dbz (r.i.p. Akira😔) Favorite characters would be Vegeta mostly, started out as a cocky proud villain, was humbled time and time again as the story progresses and learned to care for others while still training hard to try and surpass Goku. Solus can appreciate such dedication and grind of a mindset. Another character would be Piccolo a close second and Bardock (Goku's father).

Naruto (fave characters: Kakashi, Might Guy, Rock Lee, Hinata, Tsunade, and Shikamaru) Bleach (Rukia, Yasutora Sado, Retsu Unohana and Toshiro) Fist of the Northstar, Berserk (he'd like Guts a lot) and Claymore.

I won't get too far into those character I don't want to spend too much time on them individually.

Solus would of course get into Dragon Age and Mass Effect. His favorite characters in Dragon Age so far would be, Alistair, Varric, Morrigan, Sten, Zevran, Dagna (Inquisition), Solas (compelling character, he'd also be good friends with him if they resided in the same universe. However his methods going into Dread Wolf Solus would disagree with). Cullen, Avelline, Shale, and Cassandra (would be his Inquisition romance option also a relatable character, a warrior who still has or makes room for love). Fenris, Merrill and Bethany (Hawke's sister). Dragon Age is pretty huge there would be more I'd list but they'd go on for a while lol. Solus would definitely be a fan of the Bioware games, specifically DA & ME.

Mass Effect would be David Anderson, Garrus, Dr. Chakwas, Urdnot Wrex, Tali, Liara, Mordin Solus, Thane Krios, Jack, Javik, Ashley, Aria, Shiala and Samara.

Halo franchise would be The Arbiter (Thel'Vadam) his most favorite character, second is Master Chief, third would be Rookie from halo odst reason being something relatable about the "strong silent type loner". Fourth would Jorge 052 from Halo Reach. Other honorable mentions would be Kat from Reach, Sergeant Johnson, Cortana, Guilty Spark, Rtas'Vadum, and Atriox. Would be some favorable amd memorable characters he'd like alot. Other than all that, I can see him getting into stuff like that as well as much more with character he loves and hates, or not like as much.

Apologies for the hefty answer, I had to really think about this one since I had a lot on my mind about what he'd be interested in.

#solus #bg3 oc thoughts #oc thoughts #Solus Aximand #deletarius answers #about solus aximand #bg3 oc questions #oc questions #oc: solus #oc: solus aximand