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nenilein · 3 days

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Am I the Asshole for Sucking People Dry?

Perhaps I should not rely on public opinion to soothe my bruised ego, but I have, quite frankly, had it up to here with the baseless accusations and slanders leveled against my respectable name, and thus I demand clarification from an objective crowd once and for all.

I (M, stopped counting at 14) happen to have inherited the legendary and historically meaningful title of the "Dark Sorcerer" from the spirit of the previous Dark Sorcerer at a young age. Of course, a title such as this bear responsibilities and expectations, namely the dedication of my life to the amassing of as grand an amount of magical power as ever possible to further the prestige and status of the title. The traditional way to accomplish this is to absorb magic energy from outside sources, an ability that is generally inherited alongside the "Dark Sorcerer" title. Now, for the most part I have always preferred to rely on helpless targets for my purposes: magical artifacts, natural nexi of environmental power, lingering magic of the deceased... But, occasionally, I have indeed, ahem, taken passing sorcerers back to my abode for a, let's say, "extraction". Not all (or most) of them willingly, of course, but it all had its purpose. The majority of them were children and young teenagers anyway. What good could they have possibly done with such impressive power on them? If you ask me, I have done them a favor for relieving them of the responsibility of such grand strength. If they do not resist it barely even hurts!

Now, one or two of them may have perished in the extraction process, but am I really supposed to take responsibility for that, when they were appropriately warned to just calmly wait in their cells? They all were aware of the dangers it entails when they began practicing the craft of sorcery, I am sure.

In any case, my collection of power progressed quite well. Until one of my vict-- I mean, targets escaped.

Let's call her "A" (F, 16+). She was a young sorceress with power she clearly was not capable of using appropriately, so I decided to swiftly relieve her of that burden. She did not agree with my assessment, humiliated me in a duel in front of the entirety of my hired staff and left, leaving my underground abode a mess. Now, as she won our battle fair and square, I would not take issue with her just having gone on her merry way until the next time I attempt to take her for my own... If that had been all she had done!

Instead, ever since our initial encounter, she has insisted on making a fool of me and spreading entirely untrue and baseless rumors about me among everyone she comes across! Branding me as a "creeper" or "skeezy" and shamefully misinterpreting my words in any way possible, just to make fun of me! Treating my every attempt to challenge her to a serious, respectable battle for her power as a joke, no, a game even! As a result, there is an entire township now where the magic-using population know me only as a weirdo and a joke and has absolutely no respect of my prowess as the "Dark Sorcerer"! I suspect A is doing this all in a sort of attempt at revenge, to make me feel as if I need to change my ways and "settle down". She has indeed insinuated things of that sort in the past. But all I am doing is living by the ancient tradition of the title passed on to me! How can she not understand that there is absolutely nothing wrong with ravaging the weak if it is to maintain the ancient order of sorcery itself?

You all agree, don't you? She is being ridiculous, isn't she! I am just acting the way I am supposed to act! And I am NOT a skeezy creeper!!

I require validation!!!

#teehee #guess who submitted this one-#Re: Puyo Puyo

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nenilein · 4 days

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WOW I suck at actually writing these when I say I would.

ANYWAY!

Blaze is a formidable opponent, but like. That won't stop me from trying to convince some more people to pay attention to our sleepy bug boy with the worst magical destiny imaginable!

So here it is. Commence the

SIG PROPAGANDA

It's impossible to convey all of Sig within the boundaries of a single tumblr post, but I will certainly try!

Heads up there ARE some spoilers for Puzzle Pop in this BUT they are only in the last chapter of this essay and are marked with a HUGE sign and plenty of space to turn around when the warning comes!

Chapter 1: The Psychology of Sig

So, the first thing you need to know about Sig is that things with him are rarely as they seem on first glance.

He's very popular among fans, both new and old, for his quiet, deadpan, laconic personality, which is often perceived as "cute", but you know what they say: "Silent waters run deep". And GOD is there ever depth to Sig's character.

Sig is introduced into the series as a transfer student in Puyo Puyo Fever 2. The game's manual immediately makes a big deal about all the mysteries surrounding him, such as his heterochromia, his demonic left arm and the fact that his soul tends to literally, visibly leave his body at times. But once you actually get to play the game, you find that Sig's own attitude seems more "tired" than actually mysterious:

He tends to fall asleep halfway through conversations, give very court, laconic answers that make it sound like he doesn't want to have a conversation at all, has a very flat emotional affect and low energy in general and as a result often seems disinterested, stoic and apathetic

-Puyo Puyo Tetris, Chapter 6

-Amitie about Sig in the novel "Sig's Secret", Chapter 2

That's the whole thing with Sig. He's like a stone wall that blocks all attempts to actually get to the heart of what is actually going on inside him. His means of self-expression are very low-key and subtle and it's often very hard to tell how he feels about a situation until he outright says it (which he often just doesn't do). The Japanese text expresses this creatively by reducing the way he uses grammar and vocabulary to the absolute basics: His way of speaking Japanese is entirely grammatically correct and valid, but he never says even one word more than he absolutely needs to say. This goes so far that he doesn't even have an official way of saying "I" in Japanese. He never says "Boku", "Watashi", "Ore", "Ware", "Jibun" or anything of that sort. The most he does is verbally gesturing into his own direction by saying "kocchi" which means "over here". This way, his speechstyle almost seems to hint at a diminished sense of self in a way; Sig seems to perceive the people around him more intensely than he perceives himself.

The one exception being when the topic is entomology, his one and only passion. He becomes significantly more verbose and outgoing when he gets to talk about insects and the science behind them.

-Puyo Puyo Quest, Arc 4, Chapter 1

-Puyo Puyo Drama CD Vol. 2, Track 1

As a result of all this, the general impression the people around Sig around him tend to get is that he doesn't really care about anything other than entomology (which, by the way, is extremely relatable to a lot of people on the autism spectrum. Heck knows, I got accused of "caring about anime and video games more than real people" a lot as a teenager.) But that isn't the whole story.

Any time his character is examined more closely it quickly becomes apparent that he actually cares intensely for the people around him and their well-being. He just has a hard time expressing it.

-Puyo Puyo Quest, Main Story, Arc 2, Chapter 1

-Puyo Puyo Tetris, Chapter 4

-Amitie, starting to realize she had a completely wrong read on Sig in "Sig Secret", Chapter 2

When taken under a closer microscope, Sig often seems almost more aware of what other people need than they themselves do, though he also tends to ignore his own needs (as long as those needs are unrelated to insects and/or sleeping). He has a history of being quiet about things that bother him just because he wants to avoid conflict, and tends to just walk away from any possible "waste of energy" rather than engaging with it, unless something or someone he cares about is directly at risk.

Amitie, thus, once again summed up how Sig's character is usually perceived within the Story Mode of Puyo Puyo Tetris 2:

...However, the keyword here is "seem".

Because, though he very successfully tries to hide it, the fact is that if there is one thing that can SERIOUSLY ruin Sig's day, it's forcing him to remember the unusual condition of his body and magical powers...

Chapter 2: The State of Sig

-Amitie asking Sig about his red arm in "Sig's Secret".

Character profiles of Sig often claim that "He doesn't pay any mind to how his arm and eye suddenly changed" when he transferred to Amitie's class.

Character profiles of Sig are LIARS. Sig is hiding it, but he very much does pay mind to the condition his body and magic have been in ever since he's transferred, and he hates it. It's just that his primary coping mechanism for dealing with things he hates is to ignore them. That is also why he rarely ever speaks to Lemres (whom he dislikes because he can sense Lemres' innate dark magic and it gives him the chills) or to Yu (whom he hates, because her humor and ghostly nature creep him out). Generally, a good litmus test for how comfortable Sig is with someone or something is how much he talks about them or it. And he avoid talking about his left arm whenever absolutely possible.

Fevavember 3rd, Sunny Class Duty: Sig One of my arms has been kinda weird lately. Doesn't hurt, though, so, whatever.

-Sig in the unlockable class journal in Puyo Puyo Fever 2

Sig: Oh, hello. Akuma: Ah, Sig, ma. Is your left hand still in this unusual state, ma? Sig: Yeah, no change. Think it's gonna stay like this forever now? Akuma: I do wonder. If at all possible, I wish to return it to normal, ma. Sig: Back to normal, huh? Akuma:It would not be an easy feat, ma. Sig: I'll give you some of my bugs if you put me back to normal. Akuma: I do not lack the will, ma. What I mean is, that healing your condition would require a special power. Sig: Do you think the victory medal will fix me, if I ask it? Akuma: Hm… That might not be enough, ma. You must wait for the right time, ma. Sig: Okay, that's fine.I'm already used to it anyway. Let's just Puyo battle.

-Puyo Puyo! 15th Anniversary, Akuma's Route

But, as seen above, that doesn't mean it doesn't actually bother him. He's just trying to distract himself from the fact that he currently hates his own body and is worried about how much further it might change.

He becomes somewhat more open about his condition to Amitie in particular after the events of "Sig's Secret" though, when the two promise to each other to keep an eye on it after an, ahem, incident, almost causes Sig to lose his soul to his demonic heritage.

- "Sig's Secret", Chapter 9

Thus, in Puyo Puyo Tetris 2, for the first time, Sig actually admits it when his magic is acting unusual, enabling Amitie and Raffina to step in in time and dispell the danger.

This is a sort of openness about his condition that Sig would never have shown before the events of the novel, when the only times he ever brought up his arm in this sort of way was in internal monologue, in thought-bubbles, secret from the other characters.

Like, this line in Puyo Puyo Fever 2 is mumbled so quietly that in context it is clear nobody except for Sig himself can actually hear it.

And this line happens in Puyo Puyo Quest, Arc 2, Chapter 4, which is set shortly after Fever 2. Sig thinks this after everyone else has already left the room.

You can tell that his connections to his classmates have slowly caused him to open up about his personal discomfort with his situation to the friends around him, little by little.

Unfortunately, this openness might ultimately not protect him from the very thing he's most afraid of, but I'll get to that in a spoiler section in the next chapter, which is...

Chapter 3: The Reasons for Sig

There's a lot one can say about Sig, even leaving all his lore aside, and in fact, I have already done so: In many ways he's just a normal kid who's a little on the eccentric side, but has many of the same wants and interests as other middle schoolers his age and, above all else, just wants to be allowed to live life at his own pace, surrounded by people and things he feels comfortable with. That is entirely what his Character Song, "Easygoing March" is about, in fact.

Unfortunately for him, you also can't really ignore his background lore when talking about him as a character, because Sig was unfortunate enough to be born into a situation he has absolutely no control over, but which is bound to eventually determine a huge part of his life regardless:

Namely, that he is the carrier of something known as the "Cyan Soul" and thus the reincarnation and descendant of a part of a once powerful demonic overlord known as the "Crimson Demon"

"The Tome of Sealing" In this book, a "monster" is sealed. I pray that none will ever lift its seal. -To the people of the future land of Arka, written on this day that the Luneflowers bloomed. On a dreadfully boring day, I happened upon a merchant trying to sell this very book. "This is quite the amazing tome," they said. "It can seal away souls. It is very simple to use as well. All you must do is open it." I found that story rather interesting. As I was still wondering whether it could be true or not, I was told the following: "Oh my, good Sir, be careful. If you were to drop the book and it fell open, your soul would end up inside!" I quickly acquired the book and consulted with my friends. Fortunately, I managed to gather all of my closest companions together. One of them then voiced an interesting thought to me: "Why don't we go to the castle where the "monster" all are speaking of lives? We should try to lock it away in this book." That idea made our all eyes sparkle with delight. It was not as if we were all convinced of the book's power yet, but rather we wanted to see the "monster" from the rumors with our own eyes. This is how our "monster extermination" began. The "monster" lived on its own, so it was quite easy for us to sneak into its castle. I still cannot stop my body from trembling whenever I remember the fear that gripped me when I first laid eyes upon the "monster". And along with that fear came the unstoppable excitement I felt in my chest when I thought of the idea that we could actually seal this creature away in the book, though I admittedly did not know what deeds it had done in its life. The "monster" loved books, and if the rumors we had heard were correct, it would always read before retiring for the night. We took our chance when it headed out of the room for a meal, and left this book, blank as it was on the inside, on the desk next to the window. With it, we left a note: "I found this book very interesting. Please, have a read." Then we hid outside, on the other side of the window, so we could escape at any time if necessary and waited for the creature to return. Would we really be able to seal away this "monster"?! Finally, the time that the "monster" would be sealed came. Disappointingly, the moment came and passed without much fanfare. The moment the "monster" laid eyes upon the note it picked up the tome and opened it without hesitating for even a moment. That was when a mysterious light rushed out and enveloped it. And from within that blindingly bright light, a crimson soul emerged and was sucked into the book. When the light vanished, there was a young boy standing there, who resembled the "monster" but not excessively so. It appeared that all the book had been able to seal was the "evil aspect of the soul". Fortunately, what remained of the monster's soul and the body that it dwelt in didn't appear to remember anything of its life before this moment. The boy just stood there, spacing out. We all entered the castle once again and took the book without exchanging a single word with the boy. Then, we left. The boy, too, didn't pay our presence any mind. I do not know what became of the boy after we left…

-"The Tome of Sealing", Puyo Puyo Fever 2, Library

The above text is part of an unlockable library book in Puyo Puyo Fever 2 and it is entirely confirmed by now that Sig is in fact the reincarnation and descendant of the "boy" mentioned in this text. Which means he inherited a huge amount of the demon lord's magic power and perhaps even some subconcious memories of their life. That is the reason why his hand mutated after he came to Primp Town (Where the Tome of Sealing is being kept). His body reacted violently to being brought into such close proximity to the other half of his soul.

Remember the demon soul I mentioned in Klug's essay a couple months back? Well, that soul is the other half of the Crimson Demon Sig descended from. And it has only one goal: To merge with Sig, assimilate him and return to their former state of being.

Doing so would almost certainly erase Sig's personality completely and for good.

This young, mild-mannered boy who wants nothing other than just to be allowed to live life at his own pace, his own way, is being forced to defend his right to even just exist. And he isn't even fully aware of it. That is why the novel "Sig's Secret" was such a terrifying experience for both, him and Amitie. He almost had his entire personality overwritten by his past life memories and would have "died" that way if Amitie hadn't managed to shake him awake in time.

That's the worst part: That assimilation by the Crimson Soul isn't even the only danger he faces, because his own magic has threatened to destroy his already fragile sense of self as well before.

SPOILERS FOR THE CURRENTLY RUNNING EPISODIC GAME "PUYO PUYO PUZZLE POP" FROM THIS POINT ONWARD!

TURN BACK NOW TO STAY UNSPOILED!

...It's happening again. Like, RIGHT now.

Sig made a mistake. ...And unfortunately that mistake was trying to use his magic, the powers he so much hates, for the sake of somebody else.

Having met Meena, a so-called "dream guide", a being that exists inside people's dreams without a corporeal form and realizes that said being was lonely, Sig decided to let Meena borrow his magic, for which he personally never had a good use, to allow Meena to materialize herself and the dreams she administrates into the physical world so she can play with all his other friends. He wanted to help. It was a pure act of kindness.

But unfortunately, doing so has caused the demonic power inside him to spill out yet again, and this time there is no simple antidote to stop it. Sig has lost control over his own soul again, and is in real, serious danger of being erased in favor of a version of the former personality of the Crimson Demon reconstructed from past-life memories again. We know that Amitie has the power to possibly stop it, but right now, this is the cliffhanger that story ends on.

That's the tragedy of the character. Sig doesn't need much. He never wanted much. He's just a kid who is happy as long as he is allowed to be comfortable in his own skin. But the more the series goes on, the more rarely he is given this luxury. He's forced to deal with a power and inheritance he never wanted and forced to fight for the simple right to even just exist and be himself - something that anyone deserves from birth.

That's what makes this character so fascinating that he's been dominating the Japanese character polls consistently since he was first introduced to the series. He's simple. He's adorable. We want to protect him. But it's getting more and more complicated to protect him, when the thing most dangerous to him is a past he never had any say in to begin with.

In conclusion: VOTE FOR SIG, BECAUSE HE DESERVES TO KNOW THAT HE IS VALID AND LOVED JUST AS HE IS. SCREW OFF, DEMON BLOOD!

Favorite Sega Character: Losers Bracket Round 9

#re: puyo puyo #Neni Writes #Puyo Puyo #Sig #Puyo Pop #sig puyo puyo

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