Tumgik
#(i lied i'm not sorry i love being insane about characters)
nepenthean-sleep · 2 days
Note
Hey hey! For the character meme Gideon!
hello thanks for the ask :)
favorite thing about them i love how she speaks. someone said once that everything she says is like the wrong option in a video game dialogue choice list. all of tamsyn's characters have incredible dialogue but gideon is so goddamn funny especially. like it wraps around from being cringe to being funny again. her narration is excellent.
least favorite thing about them i'm gonna say what i said for harrow, everything about her makes sense for her character and her role in the story.
favorite line given the first answer here you can imagine this is extremely difficult for me. however. i'm going to go with a decidedly unfunny one from chapter 25 of ntn because it makes me feel insane.
Nona had never seen anyone so sad in her whole short life. It made her nearly afraid to die. “Nobody locks me up anywhere,” said Kiriona.
she says!!! while locked in her corpse by her dad!! after being locked in harrow's brain for a year by harrow!! after being locked in drearburh for 18 years by the ninth!! ohhhhhhh my god
brOTP sorry i'm going with gideon and ianthe because they hate each other and i just find that endlessly amusing
OTP griddlehark sweep
nOTP don't really have one, just don't like when she's shipped with men
random headcanon after she goes to canaan house she starts getting freckles because it's her first time in sunlight
unpopular opinion idk i don't really see people talking about this much but like she's an asshole. she has a mean-spirited streak. and like yeah i guess if your opponent in the cartoonishly evil contest is harrow it's gonna make gideon look like a much better person but like. idk everyone was shocked by her being a dick in ntn but it's not really that different from how she was before?
also i really really hate the fandom himboification of her turning her into a one-dimensional horny fuckboi vehicle for harrow to have 36 orgasms or whatever. or the opposite where they make her a loyal idiot golden retriever. butches often have personalities that are not either of these things, actually!
song i associate with them it is 100% absolutely from hell with love and sweet true lies, both by beast in black. not only do they sound like songs i think gideon would listen to, like, the lyrics are so.
Killed my light To serve your delight Now see me ripped apart Ripped apart
Another voiceless cry Another hopeless try I wish you'd open your wings and take me inside From hell with love I write Confess my passion crime Cause to my heart, soul and mind, you are kryptonite Oh babe
like cmon.
Baby, baby tell me more of your lies Say you want me for a lifetime I believe you even when I know it's a lie Love's so blind Sweet true lies
AAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!! thank you @oceanwrath for introducing me to these songs with your tlt art.
favorite picture of them again i can't choose just one there's so much good art in this fandom but my favorites are this FUCKING STUNNING kiriona piece by @nil-elk and this amazing one by @battletailors and this incredible piece by @notedchampagne and this one by @may12324 and this one by oceanwrath and listen ok i just really really like gideon nav 😭
thanks for the ask!
22 notes · View notes
moinsbienquekaworu · 1 year
Text
Rewatched OFMD for my presentation and I don't know how I managed to be normal about Izzy for months but I sure as fuck am not normal about him right now
11 notes · View notes
twst-rose-prisms · 11 days
Note
How do you think TWST boys (the ones below 170 cm like Riddle, Kalim, Epel etc.) would act like around s/o who's insanely tall? I keep reading fics that go like "he put your head on his shoulder" even though I'm almost a feet taller than him and I just end wondering how that's possible. (I'm 17 and is 6'5)
Hi hi~ First of all, thank you for your request anon! Sorry if you have to wait long enough cuz I was a bit busy with school 😭 Anyhow, I hope you like this because I put a lot of braincells into it hehe (also anon you're so tall, like literally a head taller than me-)
Twst boys with a partner that's a lot taller than them
Characters: Epel, Lilia, Riddle, Kalim x Reader Genre: Fluff Warnings: None!
🍎Epel
- I feel like he would be conscious of how he looks and his height but doesn't act too worked up over it, so if his partner is hella tall then he probably won't be bothered much unless they tease him about it. However if his partner is both tall and physically strong then he'll be very impressed at their strength instead! Probably asking things like what's their training methods or things like how to improve your muscles, etc. - He probably thinks it's a bit troublesome that he gotta look up to you every time you two are chatting, but as long as there's no teasing at him then he won't pay attention to that much, he won't admit he's secretly jealous of your height though... Okay, he will be, just a little bit, but afterward he just thinks about how cool you are when you always appear a head taller than most people in school and how it's so easy to spot you among the crowd. He seriously wants to be cool like you! - Don't treat him like he's a small, frail boy who needs help every time, that's the top thing on the "Absolute no" list for Epel. Even when you have an advantage in height, so what? He won't let that be a thing for you to make fun of him! In fact, it just gets him even more fired up to work himself better so he can catch up to you quickly! He has a lot of room to grow and he definitely won't give up either. - He definitely boasts about how cool his partner is or how tall they are to others with a proud look on his face. He is lucky for sure to have such an amazing partner like you, no one would ever be able to look down on you (in both ways) and that's what he loves to see! You're so strong and cool... sorry, did he already say that? Well he couldn't help it, you really are in his eyes! - He gonna insist on carrying you a lot of times even though you told him it's not necessary, but he would ask things like "Are you underestimating me?" with one of those "polite smiles" of his just to get you to give up or mess around, and he always success every time he did that. Much to your surprise, he actually might be able to lift you up! And that surprise looks on your face is exactly what he wants, just because you're a head taller doesn't mean he can't be a man around you! He would look super smug about it as he ended up teasing you a bit about this or bringing it up occasionally to see your reaction. He can be a bit of a prankster as a treat~
-----------------------------------
🦇 Lilia
- Despite being fairly short, I think Lilia never gets bothered in the slightest mainly because he can teleport or float in the air like a bat he is. So even if his partner is insanely tall, he can just float up to their eye level with ease and even use their shoulders for leaning support. (he's just being the silly he is yknow) - But he would be fairly impressed for sure with how tall you're as you easily stand out in the crowd with your head above others or how easily it is to spot you. He thinks it's cool how humans can be so tall but also so short, it's really fascinating for a fae like him! - He can easily take books from the highest shelf or reach out for that one apple hanging on the tree, but sometimes, this guy would start acting like the tease he is and ask you to get it for him. "But you can just float?" "Hoho, but I'm feeling like walking today though~" and just land on the ground so casually like the prankster he is... as you just sigh and get the thing he requested with ease while the fae chuckles in the background. - He loves surprises, so don't question it if he suddenly floats up and kisses you out of nowhere when you expect it the least. That look of pure shock on your face is just priceless for him, peace and quiet is not an option if you're Lilia's partner no matter how tall you're. He definitely lives long enough to seen and talk to people that are as tall or even taller than you, so he knows how to handle it perfectly or even startle them back. - He also loves messing around, so he'll just appears out of nowhere, his body upside down as you got so startled you nearly froze when your eyes meet each other, and he laughs, like a lot. He just loves it when he can throw you off with such remarks and randomness, just because you're a head taller doesn't mean he can't scare you~ - You can try and surprise him back, maybe when he was being a bit too absorbed into chatting with you about something and you lean in, face inches away from his as both of you just stare at each other for a good second before you lean away and ask him to continue. Believe it or not, Lilia was thrilled at that attempt he ended up laughing like an idiot for a good minute, oh silly you, do that again next time! He'll only end up fascinated by you even more if you act like that, so surprising yet so exciting~
-----------------------------------
🌹 Riddle
- He's very conscious of his height and could easily get angry or irritated at the slight mention of it, so I think he would feel even more conscious if his partner is a head taller than him. He always wanted to be the cool, reliable type of boyfriend in his partner's eyes, but to think now they're the taller one, a head taller even... He is not bothered at all. Not at all! - But that doesn't stop him from wanting his partner to depend on him too, considering he's still an honor student and a housewarden, he'll try to look past the height difference between you two and act like a reliable boyfriend and offer to help you out whether with your study or other things. He knows having a tall height has an advantage like be able to reach for high shelves easily, and whenever you do so, he just tries to not get flustered over it and thanks you properly... Don't worry, he's just being a bit shy~ - He hopes that his partner, being insanely tall, doesn't make fun of his height or mention it too often. He'll try to let it slide if you bring it up in a way that doesn't sound irritating to him, he might easily get upset but he always tries his best to not get unreasonably angry at you, that's the last thing he wants after all. - Whenever you two sit next to each other and when he can easily reach your face better, he will take it as a chance to appear more "boyfriend-like" to you... not that he already isn't one, but sometimes he can't help but wish he could reach your face easier so he can kiss them or cup your face better. Occasionally, he would even lend his shoulder for you to lean on too, not only does he feel like he's doing a good job being your partner but also feels taller too somewhat... That's a secret he'll never tell you though. If only he could be as tall as you... but rest assured, he still has more room to grow. (Or at least that's what he likes to believe) - You can be a bit of a tease by leaning down and randomly giving him a kiss, he'll be as red as his hair with those gray eyes looking all shocked! He probably scolds you to not do that so suddenly the next time but don't worry, he's not mad at all~
-----------------------------------
☀️Kalim
- He's probably the one that's the most unbothered in this list since he doesn't care for things like height or appearance in general, but he'll definitely be impressed at how tall his partner is and shows it outwardly, he never holds back when it comes to compliments! - Though I think he'll love having a tall partner too as he can ask them to help him reach high shelves or just be able to spot them so easily in the crowd is enough to make him happy! Just imagine a cheery and bright Kalim running towards you from miles away while waving at you with the way your head pops up in a crowd, that would definitely bring a smile to your face for sure!! - He also isn't too conscious of his height or think too much about it, he is pretty carefree overall so it won't be at the top of his head! However, due to your height difference it would be a bit troublesome when he wants to kiss you but he can't... so he came up with a solution to jump up for that! And don't underestimate him, he's good at jumping despite his short height! (As he bounces up the air and you just so happen to lean down, both of your heads collide... Jamil questioned why both of you got a bump with a worrying look but neither of you explained it truthfully which only raised his suspicion even further... Don't tell him okay?) - Piggyback ride? Piggyback ride! Because of your insanely tall height, you definitely can lift him up and he is excited to say the least! He loves being carried around! So whenever he can wrap his arms around you as you carry him and run around the campus, he'll have a really big, happy grin on his face. Either that or you two do a jump challenge of whoever can reach that tree branch better (even though you know it's a surefire win for you) and the winner gets a free coconut juice! Kalim definitely tried his best to win every time despite his short height, and even when he lost he never appeared sad and the total opposite instead, he just has so much fun being around someone cool like you! - He also loves carrying others too, and he would also do the same to you despite your insane height. Similar to Epel, although you keep telling him it's fine but how can you say no after he give you that cute grin full of sunshine... so you just so happen to say yes, and as enthusiastic as he is, he quickly swoops you up off the ground, see, he definitely can carry you with ease! ...And it doesn't last for long as you both fall over to the ground. He felt bad for dropping you like that and quickly apologize before giving you a big grin and a cheek kiss as an apology gift, so cheeky and adorable of him~
-----------------------------------
Fun fact: Did you know Ruggie escaped this post with a clutch? He's 171cm, just 1cm away from being in this list~
164 notes · View notes
bloodynereid · 7 months
Text
Reapers & Ravens
<< prev | chapter i | next >>
pairings: jordan li x oc
tw: canonical violence and gore, allusions/talk about sex, alcohol and drug consumption and misuse (i don't condone the actions of the characters so remember to drink wisely), A LOT of mentions of death, iffy morals?? - if there are any more pls lmk
description: the story of a girl. a girl cursed by compound v to live a life without touch.
a/n: hiii and welcome to the first chapter of my new fic. I haven't written a multi-chapter fic in a while so be patient with me. some little disclaimers: as of the moment of writing this chapter i have only seen the first 3 eps of gen v so if something doesn't work plot wise with future eps i will try to come back and change it, secondly i do not support chance perdomo's actions - i felt like this needed to be stated cause his character andre will be a prominent part of the story and i would change it but he literally is the only one that really makes sense in his role in vic's backstory. vic's wonderful roommate was created all thanks to one of my mutuals (not sure if you want me to mention you by name) so all credit goes to them for gemma. FINALLY i hope you enjoy! the second chapter should be out soon and i'm always open to feedback so lmk your thoughts either in the comments or in an ask. love you and ty for taking the time to read my fic - my a/n will not be this long all the time i promise.
Tumblr media
19 years ago…
A little girl lay peacefully in her wooden cot, the walls surrounding her were painted in a beautiful pastel lilac and a snowflake mobile lay spinning above her little head. The night was serene, the wind rustled the leaves of the great oak outside the girl’s window and a soft lullaby was echoing through the room.
The girl’s mother smiled down at her perfect bundle of joy as she laid the pads of her fingers right against the soft silky skin of her daughter’s hand. Everything was perfect for another few seconds before the mother started to feel herself fade away. She deliriously looked down at her hand where she suddenly saw her skin going gray.
The baby’s eyes flew open and she let out a happy gurgle as her mother started to wither away in front of her just because she held her daughter’s little hand.
“I love you my darling girl.” Were the last words that came out of the mother’s mouth before her soul was taken far far away. Too far for her daughter to follow.
The second that the tingly feeling that the baby experienced faded away she let out a loud cry. Her mama wasn’t moving and she looked all wrong. The little girl cried and cried and cried until finally the door to her nursery flew open.
Her papa filled the doorway as he let out a horrified gasp before kneeling next to his wife. His dead wife.
“Victoria, what have you done?”
Present Day…
I pressed skip to the song playing on my phone and shifted my gaze to the flashing scenery, music resonating through my headphones as I was being driven to Godolkin. It was absolutely insane that I was actually doing it. I was actually going to GodU. The whole situation just felt so unreal. Distantly I heard a voice calling out so with practiced precision I moved my headphones away from my ears. 
“Sorry, could you repeat that?”
“Of course Miss. I was just saying that we’re nearly there.”
“Ok thanks Rob.” 
I sent him a smile and replaced my headphones before taking a moment to examine my newest pair of gloves, the carefully crafted design on top of the white leather made me smile. Dad didn’t really pay that much attention to me ever since the incident™ but at least he seemed proud of me for getting into GodU. He had gifted me these gloves after stuttering out that they had once belonged to my mother.
I promised myself that I would try to wear them as much as possible since I barely had anything to remember her by anymore… other than the power my parents decided to inject me with. Life-force absorption isn’t all that common, as my relatives put it: ‘those powers… they’re a curse!’
Everything that touches me dies basically. It’s how my mother died and it’s how I kill plants and sometimes people (by accident I swear). I absorb their energy and it sort of works like a drug - I get a shot of life. Other people aren’t so lucky, they slowly turn into a gray statue and die.
Sometimes I’m able to stop before they're totally gone but with the potency of my powers they’re kaput by just 3 seconds of physical touch. I know it sucks, I can’t even shake hands for Christ’s sake!
“Miss? Miss?” I’m shaken out of my string of thoughts when I heard Rob’s voice echoing through the interior of the car.
“Yes yup sorry.” I took off my headphones and quickly shoved them into my canvas bag before looking out the window. There stood Godolkin University, the end goal of all my relentless studying and hard work.
“We have arrived. Are you okay Miss?”
“Yes I’m more than okay Rob. Thanks for driving me.”
“Of course, do you need any help with any of your boxes?” He asked as he unlocked the car and we both stepped out into the warm September air.
“It should be fine but thanks Rob really. I’ll see you at Christmas?”
“Definitely Miss Oaks, have a good semester.” He finished placing your 3 boxes and suitcase onto one of the many trolleys and sent me a smile.
“Thanks.” I gave him a little wave as he got back into the SUV and drove off. Turning to the big metal gates I took a deep breath to steady myself. Time for the start of the rest of my life.
Tumblr media
Okay maybe I really should have asked Rob for help with these idiotic boxes. I’m a goddamn super hero. Why was I struggling so much with this? I was already regretting this as I walked past the Lamplighter School for Crimefighting, failing to push both the trolley and my suitcase. 
“You look like you need some saving from a gracious prince.” I heard an eerily familiar voice as I looked up from my tortuous task. Andre Anderson. An old friend whose friendship was sort of forced on us by our dads, who happened to have been in the same class at Godolkin.
“Andre! Fucking hell I’m so glad to see you, please help me. I’m dying here.” I said dramatically as I sunk down to the ground next to all my stuff.
“You know you should consider majoring in Performing Arts if you keep up with that.” Andre said with a smirk but he still started to help by pulling my large suitcase towards the freshman dorms.
“Haha. You know I’ll be joining you at Crimefighting, my powers will probably render any makeup artist dead.”
“Oh please become an actress I would love to see that.” I narrowed my eyes at him and lightly punched him in the arm as he took a sip of his latte.
“Hey!”
“You deserved that.”
“Ok maybe I deserved that. So Vic, what are your first impressions?”
“It’s huge for one thing.”
“That’s what she said.” I rolled my eyes at his immature sense of humor before stealing the latte out of his hand and taking a sip, only to scrunch my face.
“What the fuck do you put in this? It’s literally pure sugar.”
“Hangover cure.” He said with a shrug as he stole the latte back. “You should come hang tonight. I can introduce you to everyone.”
“Mmh sure. I think you mean getting me into trouble.”
“When have I ever done something like that before?” Andre asked as his eyes twinkled.
“Oh just about every time I hang out with you.” Stopping in front of the freshman dorm room Andre looked at me and tried to make his usual puppy eyes.
“Please.”
“Fuck fine. You need to stop doing that.”
“Why? It works every single time.”
“I’ll see you later then?”
“Definitely, enjoy being around the freshers.” Andre gave me a military salute making me roll my eyes as I started dragging all my stuff into the building.
Weaving my way through a shitton of supes was way harder than I expected, at least I had a jacket on or a few of them would be very dead right now. Finally and by finally I mean, FINALLY I found my room, I clutched the handle of the door and pushed in when I realized I definitely had the wrong room. Two girls were already all set up in the room and swiveled to look at me weirdly.
“Uh hi? Shit I’m sorry, I'm in the wrong room.”
“Wait! Are you Victoria Oaks?” asked the shorter blonde one.
“Uh yes?”
“Holy shit I follow you on Insta hi! I’m Emma and this is Marie.”
“Oh cool hi.”
“I can’t believe you’re on the same floor as us. Want to go check out the Golden Boy’s workout? We’re going to head down in a few.” Right, okay, I should make friends. So time to compromise.
“Uh sure? What exactly would we be doing?”
“Oh you’ll see.” Emma says with a mischievous smile.
“Righttt that sounds incredibly ominous but I’ll see you in a few. I’ve got to go put down all my stuff.”
“Ok see you!” I smile and retreat back into the busy hallway but not before catching Marie’s remark.
“Who is she exactly?”
“DO YOU LIVE UNDER A ROCK?” Emma replied loudly, making me snort. Taking a deep breath I once again clutch the handle of the door across the hall and push it open to see a girl lying on the bed closest to the door. She smiles up at me and bounds over to the door in an instant.
“Hi! You must be Victoria. I’m Gemma, nice to meet you.” She says before extending her hand. I carefully move my gloved hand over to hers and shake it.
“Hi, it’s a pleasure to meet you too.” I took a moment to scan her appearance, she was absolutely stunning. Her red hair trailed down her shoulders and her smile seemed to light up the very room. “You’re so beautiful wow.”
“Aww thank you so much! You are absolutely stunning as well, like this blonde totally suits the whole vibe you give off.”
“Is it a good vibe?”
“Oh definitely.”
“Ok whew I was worried for a second there.” We start laughing and Gemma helps me sort out all my stuff in the huge boxes.
“Actually with the talk about appearances would it be okay if I ever shift into you? I love being able to get to know people more through their faces and stuff but only if you’re cool with it.”
“Shifting? You mean like shape shifting.” I ask as I look over to her curiously, picking up yet another pair of gloves which I placed on one of the shelves in the closet.
“Yup!”
“Oh I wouldn’t mind at all, that's such a cool power!” Her entire face brightened as her hair slowly started to shift and match the shade of my bleached one.
“Brilliant! Thank you. So… what’s your power?”
“Oh umm here let me show you.” 
Carefully taking out one of my older plants out of the box I place it on the window sill and pull off my leather glove. Within just a few seconds of my fingertips placed on top of the delicate leaves the plant withered away and died. I could feel the zap of energy encase my being and I smiled. Life absorption feels incredible, it’s so encompassing. You quite literally feel full of life. For a second as I turned around I could see the blood and energy from Gemma’s cell move around her body but I shook off the stupor.
“Wow. Can you just do that with plants or?”
“Uh no people as well. Anything alive that touches my skin just dies.”
“So you can’t do human contact?”
“Nope, unless I want them dead.”
“What about sex?” I chuckled at her slightly incredulous tone.
“I think you need to reevaluate what you consider sex.”
“Oh okay wow” Gemma laughed and we continued to set up my plants on the windowsill and chatted about our favorite movies, surprisingly enough we had pretty different tastes but there were a few that we had in common - like our love for Clue. That was when we heard a knock on the door, Gemma looked at me with a clear question in her eyes.
“I met our dorm neighbors a few minutes ago and they invited me to go see Golden Boy train.”
“Ooo I’m so coming with you.” Gemma shifted her hair back to red and waltzed over to open the door as I finished placing my last plant pots.
“What’s the deal with his workout sessions anyway?” I ask as she pulls open the door to find Emma and Marie standing sort of awkwardly outside.
“Oh he’s like super hung, and when he blazes up his clothes all melt away.” Emma answers my question but when she catches sight of Gemma her jaw drops.
“Right, uh Marie and Emma meet my roommate Gemma.”
“Holy fuck you’re so hot.” Emma says, almost as if the words involuntarily jump out of her mouth.
“Why thank you, love, you are as well.” Gemma flashes her a dazzling smile.
“Alright then enough flirting. I have been promised to see some hot supes. Let’s go!” I exclaim as the little group makes their way towards the arena. Hanging back so I was walking next to Marie, we watched the two girls flirt.
“Oh that’s going to be very interesting. I don’t believe we’ve talked much yet, but I’m Vic. It’s nice to meet you.”
“It’s nice to meet you too. Emma gave me a full on lecture on why I should know who you are but I kind of zoned out halfway through.” I let out a laugh at her admission and gently nudged my shoulder with hers.
“Oh don’t worry, it’s kind of nice having someone who has no idea who I am or who my dad is.”
“I’m glad, everything is so…”
“A lot, I know. My dad homeschooled me for the last few years of high school so being among this many people, especially supes can be overwhelming. If you ever need to chat or just need someone to hang out with, I'm your girl.” Marie gave me a grateful smile, “So what are your supe powers?”
“Blood manipulation.” My eyebrows shot up and I looked at her with astonishment.
“Holy fuck that’s awesome. I basically drain the life force of any living being.”
“Really?”
“Yup so don’t touch my skin unless you’re covered up.” I throw up jazz hands to showcase my gloved hands which elicits a short laugh out of Marie.
“Got it. You’re really nice by the way. Everyone here seems so like aggressively in your face.”
“Yeah I know. I’ve had to live around supes my whole life, it really isn’t at all like Vought or the movies say.”
We finally arrive at the arena and I take a seat next to her, Emma is sitting next to Marie and Gemma is still trying and succeeding at flirting with the blonde. Leaning over the railing I peer out into the main arena and spy Andre making his rounds with the group.
“Yo Andre.” I scream out into the stadium making him turn around, trying to find me in the crowd. The people seated around us had now turned to look at me as I smiled down at him. He smiled back and tilted his head towards where Golden Boy and some other dude were gearing up to fight, inviting me to come down.
“You sure?”
“Yeah get down here.” I turn towards my new group of friends and say: “You guys okay if I go down?”
“Since when do you know Andre Anderson? You know what don’t answer that question go, go, go. Tell us everything when you get back.” Gemma and Emma urged me out of my seat as Marie kind of sat there awkwardly but with an encouraging smile on her face.
I carefully picked my way down the stands and vaulted over the fence to get over to the sidelines of the fight. I poke at Andre’s shoulder as I fall in next to him as I watch the fight playing out. Golden Boy was obviously winning and wow Luke Riordan really had some moves.
“Oh hey Vic. It’s earlier than I expected to see you.”
“Well I did want to honor you with my presence more than once today.” I sent him a sarcastic smile which made him respond by pushing my shoulder.
“Wow Andre I can’t believe you have more friends than us, I feel betrayed.” I turned to the source of the voice and there stood a beautiful blonde, who had a big smile on her face. Little butterflies exploded in my stomach - how was everyone so damn attractive?
“Cate, darling, I hate to break this to you like this but I have a lot more friends than just you guys.”
“Oh how will I live knowing this information?” Cate said with a dramatic gasp and pretended to faint into Andre’s arms. He just pushed her up and they stuck out their tongues at each other.
“You guys are going to be perfect for each other. Cate Dunlap meet Victoria Oaks.”
“Hi! Nice to meet you.” I say as I extend a gloved hand only to be met with a similarly gloved hand, only that it was covered in brown leather instead of white.
“Oh my god, your gloves! I love these designs, you have got to tell me where you get yours. My collection needs adding to.” She says excitedly as she quickly shakes my hand and turns it over to inspect the handiwork. We continue to nerd out about gloves as the fight finishes and Andre throws Golden Boy some clothes, before they head over to us.
“Hi sweetheart you did great out there,” Cate throws her arms around him and they make out for a few seconds as I kind stand there awkwardly with Andre.
“Do they usually do this?”
“Yes. There is so much PDA I’m surprised they haven’t had sex in front of us yet.” Andre’s voice was raised in volume a little at the end which caught the attention of the couple.
“Oh right, Luke meet my new best friend, this is Vic.” Cate said as fixed her now slightly messed up lipstick.
“Hi, it’s nice to meet you Vic. Andre has told us a lot about you.” 
I cringed but shook my head trying to forget about the many instances the idiot had nearly gotten us arrested and the one time he did.
“Yeah well, I hope it’s all nice things because any time I do spend with this guy somehow ends with us breaking a law.”
“Oh we can relate. I remember this one time…” We started making our way out of the arena as Luke started to recount one of the insane adventures that Andre managed to string them into. It felt nice to actually be part of a group again and it was easy. Way easier that I thought it would be.
Tumblr media
After a few hours of touring the grounds and eating at Vought-a-Burger, I finally trudged back to my dorm absolutely exhausted. Not that it wasn’t great getting to know Cate, Andre and Luke but the whole day had absolutely drained me.
When I finally opened the door to my room I was surprised to find Emma sitting on top of Gemma’s bed reading some random fashion magazine.
“Uh Emma?” 
The girl basically jumped out of her position on the bed and whirled to face me. Suddenly her entire body shifted and there stood Gemma, looking rather embarrassed with a sheepish smile on her face.
“Look, I asked her if I could change into her body! This wasn’t without consent and she’s just so stunning and it’s the-”
“Hey hey, Gem. Chill, I get it, you have a crush on our neighbor.” I smiled a little teasingly as I tried to reassure her. Thankfully Gemma’s panicked look faded and was replaced with a grateful smile.
“Sorry.”
“It’s all good, you guys would look great together.”
“Do you think that Emma might actually like me?”
“Oh Gem, I think anyone would be lucky to have you. From the few hours that I’ve known you, you're genuinely one of the sweetest people out there. And that’s saying something cause you’re also a supe.” I gave her a small smile before opening up my arms to signal for her to hug me. She flew into my grasp and I was careful not to let my exposed face anywhere near her.
“Thanks I needed this.”
“Hey I’m here anytime, just don't touch any skin.” I sent her a teasing smile when she finally pulled away. “How about we have a chill night in? There’s this new show I’ve been meaning to start.”
“Great! We can have our first girl’s night.”
“Fuck yeah! I’ll just get changed into my pajamas and grab some of my snacks from the stash.”
Tumblr media
After spending the night doing absolutely nothing except watching Yellowjackets and raiding snacks from the vending machine after my relatively large stash ran out, Gemma and I woke up sugar hungover. Somehow we managed to make it down to the cafe and bought some coffee, which was thankfully enough to wake us up.
“So you heading over to Performing Arts?” I finally asked Gemma after the caffeine started to kick in.
“Yeah, Marie and Emma said they were going to meet me there as well so…”
“Can you believe we’re actually doing this?” I ask as we slowly walk out onto the common, I readjust my favorite pair of black gloves, knowing that if we were doing any sort of combat sessions at Crimefighting I would probably end up damaging my mom’s ones.
“Nope, it’s still surreal that I actually got accepted.”
“What are you talking about? You literally have some of the most interesting and versatile powers.”
“Yeah but I’m on scholarship, if that somehow falls through…” I smiled at her reassuringly as we stopped at the fork in the walk.
“Look you’re super fucking smart and you have more control over your power than most of the supes I know. Gem, you’re going to be great and never let anyone tell you otherwise.” Gemma smiled at me after she thanked me and we both went our separate ways - time to see what orientation was going to be like.
I navigated through the slew of students making their way through the halls of the Lamplighter School for Crimefighting when I suddenly bumped into someone. Thank whatever entity out there that I had just thrown out the remainder of my iced coffee.
“Shit sorry- Oh.” I caught the eye of the person I had bumped into as I helped them gather the assortment of books, all Brink’s for the looks of it.
“Right yeah, it’s fine just be more careful next time.” The person just kind of ran off after I helped them with the books. Strange and kind of rude but also so very attractive. I smiled at myself, if bumping into people meant getting to meet more enticing supes then this year was going to be incredible.
Tumblr media
“Hey! Hey! Victoria. Vic. Vicky.” I finally stopped and turned to look at Andre who had been relentlessly pursuing me for the past few minutes. Orientation went well and I got to meet some of the other supes - mostly it was just for selfies but still.
“You know I hate when people call me that.”
“Well it was a last resort, you weren’t stopping.”
“You don’t think there may have been a reason behind that? Maybe my dad is dying and this is the last chance I get to hear his voice.” I remarked in an overly bored tone, I could already tell from Andre’s whole face that he was about to invite me to do something illegal… again.
“I know for a fact that isn’t real since it hasn’t been on any gossip sites-”
“Wait since when do you frequent gossip sites?” I ask incredulously as he somehow starts to lead me towards the opposite direction I was going in the first place.
“Not the point. You’re coming out with us tonight.”
“Do I get a say in the matter or?”
“Nope, go get changed into something hot and meet me in front of Lamplighter in half an hour.”
“Excuse you, but I always look hot. Thank you very much.” I say scoffing but we both know I’m silently agreeing with his plans - like always.
“Oh I know darling. Now hurry up.” He pushed me softly (as softly as a supe could push someone) and I made my way to my dorm.
“Hey Gem. Good day?” I said as I threw my bag on the bed and started to look through my outfits, I needed something that would cover all exposed skin - I really didn’t need another incidental death on my roster.
“Yup! We really should plan out more ways to- wait what are you looking for?”
“Andre invited me out with his friends you’re welcome to come if you want.”
“Nope it’s okay. I’ve got some auditions I need to tape.” She said with a smile.
“You sure?”
“Yeah I’m not really in the mood for partying tonight, orientation was a lot.”
“Tell me about it. You can use my bedroom if you need any extra space by the way.” I shouted out from behind the wall as I laid out the different materials that made up my outfits - it was a mismatch of blacks, whites and reds. Cute.
“Thank you! Holy shit you look fucking incredible.” Gemma remarked as I walked back into her bedroom now wearing my going out outfit.
“Why thank you. I haven’t been out clubbing for a while so I thought it would be best to go big.”
“Always the best choice. Make sure you don’t get too smashed okay?”
“I will try. Byeee.” Her laughter echoes into the hallway and the door shuts behind me. I flash the security guard a smile before leaving the freshman dorm building and making my way to the Crimefighting school. 
“Oh god please don’t tell me Andre has dragged you into one of his schemes.” I say when I catch sight of Marie standing next to Cate, Luke, Andre and someone I had a vague inkling that I’ve met before.
“Vic! You came!” Cate smiled and pulled me into a little hug when I was close enough to the group.
“Hi guys.” I said with a smile before turning to the stranger of the group. “I don’t believe we’ve met yet, I’m Victoria.”
“We have actually, I’m Jordan. You bumped into me this morning.” A giddy smile slowly spread out over my face.
“Oh right, you were the hot and mysterious person I nearly killed this morning. Pleasure to meet you.” A dusting of blush appeared on their face and we held eye contact which was annoyingly broken by Andre’s screech of:
“You nearly killed someone AGAIN?”
“Ok dude chill it really wasn’t that bad.” I roll my eyes at his antics and thankfully the exchange gets interrupted by Luke.
“Come on, we don't want to be late.” Luke said after removing his arms from around Cate and heading over to the driver’s seat. Andre makes a whole thing of opening up the passenger seat for Kate and I get into the back seat with Jordan sliding in next to me. 
The entire car ride was spent awkwardly avoiding whatever feud Jordan and Marie had going one and trying to get everyone better. Cate and I talked more about our glove choices, mine were black with a red heart detail and hers were stunningly sculpted brown ones. The playlist was (thankfully) controlled by Jordan, which ended up with music that could have been stolen from my own playlist.
When we finally got to our first destination, my jaw dropped - I had only been to Seven tower a handful of times. Mostly to deal with lawsuits from accidental deaths, there were surprisingly few of them for the amount of death that seemed to follow me everywhere. Luke and Cate managed to get us up on the roof, and I couldn’t help but wonder if Homelander could literally hear us up here. Better not to think about that.
So I took a hit of coke after Andre passed me his little vial - drugs were a way to kind of quell the murderous impulses my power demanded plus they were fun to do when around friends. Doing coke alone does not have the same effect - trust me.
“Hell yes! I forgot you did this stuff.” Andre said as I spied Luke wandering off to talk to Marie.
“Eh sometimes. I usually stick to weed or shrooms. The harder stuff messes with this whole thing when I’m hungover.” I said as I raised my hands to try and illustrate my point, wow okay this was strong stuff. I could quite literally already feel the haze starting to form around my brain.
“What exactly is your power anyway?” Jordan asked as we continued to do some more bumps.
“Oh well basically everything I touch dies.”
“So your skin is poisonous?”
“No, I absorb energy or rather life force. Here.” I wander over to one of the randomly placed potted plants and take off my glove, only to place my fingers on the red petals. The plant started to shrivel up and die about a second later.
“Awesome.” We were both clearly starting to feel the effects of the coke. We started to laugh as we made our way back to the main group.
The next stop on our little unsanctioned outing was some fancy club that Andre had been raving about the entire drive over there from the tower. I lean against one of the golden walls as I watch Cate do her thing.
“We don’t have one but you don’t give a fuck. Right?”
“I do not give a fuck.” The doorman leads us straight into the club and I smile widely at Cate.
“You are such a fucking badass.”
“I know.” 
After getting some much needed drinks I lean back against the red seats and stretch out my arms. This many people were making me antsy and drugs and alcohol can only settle so much of my power.
“So yeah, basically this fucking idiot decided we should have a lightsaber duel in the middle of Grand Central and someone must have called the cops cause they randomly pulled up and we were arrested for ‘disrupting the peace’.” 
The entire group burst out laughing and one of the many stories I had from when Andre and I would hang out as teens - we sort of drifted ever since he got to GodU but it felt just like old times.
“Alright, alright, enough embarrassing stories about our arrests. You guys in?” Andre asks as he holds up a bag of Molly and Jordan snatches it from his hold.
“Is that cocaine?”
“Nah we finished all the coke. It’s Molly. Vic?”
“Ooo yes please.” Jordan smiles charmingly and passes the little bag over to me. 
“Hey I don’t really fuck with powder. But I do microdose shrooms.” Luke says with an almost triumphant tone as he also pulls out another bag.
“Hey where do you get yours from? I need a good dealer now that I’ve moved from LA.” I ask Luke before passing the bag containing Molly back to Andre.
“I’ll send you my guy’s number.”
“Thanks man.”
“So, what do you say, freshman?”
“Uh-”
“Hey Marie, you don’t have to - we are not trying to peer pressure you but… it’ll be funnn.” I smile widely and wiggle my eyebrows making her laugh, Cate also joins in on my teasing and she relents.
“Yes, let's go Marie.”
“Whooo. Come on, let's dance.” 
That’s when I suddenly feel a little part of me sober up, fuck. It was a bad memory - the last time I danced was homecoming. A really sweet guy had asked me out and of course I had said yes. It was one accidental touch of my cheek against his and a few seconds later he laid dead in the middle of the dance floor. I ended up changing to homeschool after that whole incident, there had been issues across the years but overall this was one of the worst.
“Vic?” I shake out of my stupor as I look up at Cate extending her hand in invitation.
“Nah I don’t dance.” She must have seen something in my eyes cause she smiled softly and retracted her hand.
“Ok, just know you’re missing out on a great time.” She pulled Marie off towards the dance floor and I took a sip of the whiskey I had ordered.
“Any reason you’re not dancing out there? I remember all those clubs we sneaked into and you fucking killed it everytime.” Andre asked as he leaned back against the cushions.
“Andre, darling, that’s not proper club conversation. I’m going to go get another drink, you guys want anything?”
“I’ll come with you.” Jordan exclaimed as they sprang up from his seat and started following me towards the bar. I could quite literally feel the smirk that Andre and Luke had on their faces. Suddenly I heard a small pop next to me and I turned to see that Justin had shifted.
“You want anything specific?” I asked with a slight tilt of my head. 
“I’ll have whatever you’re having.”
“Wise choice.” I winked at them and leaned over to wave to the bartender. He, obviously trying to flirt, ended up giving us a bunch of free vodka shots and 2 whiskies, the top shelf stuff.
“So how are you liking GodU so far?”
“It’s greatish. There’s so many bloody supes.” Jordan just raised their eyebrows at me as she helped me carry over the drinks.
“Oh I definitely know what you’re talking about. Have you met Rufus yet?”
“No?” I look at them in question and she looks at me with relief.
“Pray that you don’t.” We dissolved into laughter for a second time that night and finally set our drinks down at the booth.
“Well don’t you two look cozy.” Luke remarked.
“You changed? Why?”
“Cause I fucking felt like it. And more free drinks.”
“Here here.” Luke agreed as we each held up a vodka shot.
“To the Seven.”
“No way.” I look at Luke in minor awe, he actually got a place in the motherfucking Seven.
“I literally just told you.”
“Yeah well you do know that I’m an open book, plus you have to invite me to the tower sometime. I crush so hard on A-train… imagine that man in bed.”
“And that is exactly why he won’t be inviting you.” I added after taking my shot. 
“It’s the least surprising surprise ever but congrats. You deserve it. When are you leaving?”
“More like when do you get to be number one?”
“Please, the trustees think I’m too confusing. I’ll never get number one.”
“They put you in the orientation video.”
“Yeah so they can suck their own dicks about how progressive they are.”
I listen to each of them debating the merits and the downsides (mostly Andre) of getting ranked number one when I start to feel it. Goddammit. Every life force around me seemed to pulse. I could see literal life running through each person’s veins and the conversation started to grow further and further away. 
Quickly fishing in the pocket of my jacket I pulled out a few tablets of the experimental drug Vought was testing out on well… just me. I place one of the cylindrical neon green pills on my tongue and wash it back with another shot of vodka. A few seconds later everything went back to normal and I watched Luke and Andre have a whole bro moment. It was actually quite touching.
“By the way I forgot to mention but you’ve looked so fucking hot tonight.” Jordan turned to look at me with a slight smirk on their face.
“Oh you haven’t seen anything yet.” She winked and I felt a blush start to color my cheeks. Okay game on baby.
We all end up dispersing after a while and I start walking around all the warm bodies, being extra careful to avoid my face touching anyone’s exposed skin. That was extra hard when you’re in a club so I decided to just take a step out onto the balcony. Spying through the doors, I took in breaths of sobering air and watched as Jordan easily flirted with a group of girls.
Fuck Vought and fuck my dad for this stupid power. I turned towards the ivy growing over the balcony railing and without a second thought I ripped off my gloves and pressed my palms to the stems. 
Life thrummed through my veins, I sucked it in deeper and deeper until I finally reached the roots of the ivy. I felt them start to rot away and die as my power crept into every crevice and cell. Stealing away vitality. Suddenly I was wrenched away from my ivy killing by high pitched screaming. I leave for a single second…
Quickly pulling on my gloves I looked into the chaos that was created over a woman’s body whose throat was punctured by a tiny metal hummingbird. Andre you fucking idiot.
Calculating how to get out of the club without actually having to go through the chaos I saw a few window sills that would easily get me close enough to the fire escape on the next building. 
Using my supe strength I jumped between each sill until I was near the fire escape. Taking a few deep breaths in and out I jumped and let gravity take over. It was a few seconds of bliss before my entire body slammed against the hard metal railing with a resounding bang. Goddamit sometimes I wish that I got pain tolerance when I was injected with V.
The next few steps down were easy and I was able to get to street level and disappear into the night without getting noticed. My phone dinged as I started putting on my headphones and I looked down to find that I had been added to a group chat:
(possibly Cate Dunlap): vic you good?
you sort of disappeared
we’re on our way back to GodU.
Me: yup all good
god Andre u need to be more careful.
A.A.: u don’t think I know that
u need us to pick u up?
Me: that would be appreciated
*you have now enabled geotracker with the group*
(possibly Jordan Li): see you in a bit!
Tumblr media
Waking up after a night out was a bitch. Carefully maneuvering out of bed without activating my headache too much was even more of a challenge.
“You good there?” I heard a shout loud enough to rattle my very soul reverberating through the room.
“Fuck Gemma a little quieter please.” Her laugh twinkled in the air but even it's usually nice sound zapped my brain.
“I thought supes didn’t get hangovers.”
“Yeah they don’t- it was all the people.” And the experimental Vought pill I felt like saying.
“Oh shit yeah sorry.”
“Right, I'm going to have a shower.” Gingerly grabbing my shower essentials I picked my way through the already busy hall. Communal showers sucked.
Tumblr media
Thankfully, 3 coffees later I finally started to feel a little more like myself. Andre had made me promise last night that I would have to help him with some power drink promotion. So off to commons I went, the sun seemed to burn my eyelids so a pair of slim blue lenses adorned my face. The shade perfectly matched my gloves.
What I didn’t expect to find outside the school of crimefighting was Luke. Completely flamed out and Andre stepped closer and closer to him. My eyes widened and I started running - the blue gloves were torn off and I nearly collided with Marie when Luke (thank the universe) stopped flaming out.
“What… Marie, what is going on?”
“I- I found him murdering Brink.” If my eyes widened any further I was pretty sure my eyeballs would quite literally jump out of my head.
“WHAT?” I turned towards Luke again to find that he had started walking away from Andre, muttering apologies under his breath. I could identify that crazed look in his eyes. He knew he was cornered and he didn’t want to run anymore.
Luke started flaming out and suddenly flew up into the sky… only to make himself completely explode. Blood, guts, muscle, bones and brains started raining down.
The ‘materials’ that managed to touch my uncovered face and hands thrummed with power. That was strange. It was as if they were still alive somehow. The cells oozed energy.
My power started to immediately absorb whatever life-force the cells had remaining and then I felt a foreign kind of ache. It felt like a cold burn spreading all over my hands and my face, bringing my palm up to my face. I was surprised to see a tiny flame start to sputter on.
What the actual fuck?
Tumblr media
did you know that human cells can stay alive for hours and sometimes even days after you die? so yes the ending makes sense - I did research. also Vic has never "absorbed" another supe before - her mom was human.... so we shall see how that affects her hehe.
if you want to be added to the taglist lmk!!
253 notes · View notes
1moreff-creator · 9 months
Text
Everything We Know About Mai Akasaki + So Many Theories
AKA, me going insane over a character with exactly nine seconds of main series screen time so far. I checked.
At this point, it's probably fair to say that Mai Akasaki is by far the most mysterious aspect of DRDT. A character we only learn about in short, cryptic bouts of information, yet one which seems intrinsically linked with the series' plot and characters. We know extremely little about her, and what we do know, it's usually speculative.
However, it's still really interesting to talk about this funky little woman, and try to figure out what exactly her deal is. Join me in insanity land, as I compile everything I could find about her, and speculate on her story! I can practically guarantee that you'll learn something new.
WARNING: Insanely long post. I reached the 30 image limit, to give you an idea of how crazy this is.
Wait, Who?
Tumblr media
Her! <3
(A lot of what I'm about to say come from this post by despairing-disaster and this one by akemiai, huge shout out to them!)
For the uninitiated, Mai Akasaki is the secret seventeenth student of the DRDT cast, hidden somehwere in this school wait no that's Mukuro. Her name can be found in the hidden quote in MonoTV's character profile, which itself is found by doing "inspect element" on said page.
Tumblr media
Her name is Mai Akasaki
(I am such a hacker)
Typing in https://danganronpadespairtime.tumblr.com/maiakasaki (or clicking there) takes you to a pretty empty page, with this text:
Tumblr media
All you have to do is ask for my hand, and I'll give it to you. Ask for my life, and I'll give it to you as well. Don't apologize for asking, I'll give you my forgiveness too.
As you'll see later, this quote is probably something Mai would say.
And this hidden quote:
Tumblr media
"Are you still searching for a secret? For some explanation that will satisfy you? There's no answer I can give you that will make you happy. Maybe I should have lied instead. I'm sorry."
Note the quotes, which as far as I can tell, aren't in any of the other hidden phrases. That said, spoilers, I don’t have any idea what this means.
You may aso have noticed some highlighted letters in that first quote. Typing those in, https://danganronpadespairtime.tumblr.com/aoaviepkro, takes you to the most important page for our purposes:
Tumblr media
(Also, you can just look it up on google nowadays)
Mai Akasaki's character profile. And yes, it's the girl Teruko remembers after being stabbed by Xander, in episode 6 of chapter 1. After that memory, Teruko thinks:
It's strange I would remember her now, of all times. What was her name again? It's on the tip of my tongue, but I can't remember. Xander always reminded me of that girl. Perhaps that's why I'm thinking about her now. They looked similar, with that same red hair and smile. And... they both wanted to help, didn't they?
Teruko and her clearly have something going on, but we'll get to it later (take a shot every time I say something like that). For now, we have to dive into the profile.
Profile of Someone Dearly Loved
Basic Info
She's listed as the "Ultimate ???", likes phone charms and dislikes silence. She's 5'8'' tall, weighing 124 lbs and with a chest sie of 30 in. I doubt anyone cares about the latter. Her birthday is February first, which you may want to keep in mind for later.
The Subtitle Quote
As every character does, Mai has a quote right under her name. In her case, "There's a way for you to be happy". Keep in mind these quotes are usually things the characters would say, and as you'll see in a moment, that fits.
However, what's interesting is that this quote was not the one originally there when Mai's page was first found. It changed. It used to be, apparently, "Anything, anything at all..."
What I don't know is when it changed, or why. The earliest reference I can find to the change is this post by stfu-sage, the 20th of March, 2023. This is just three days after the release of Ch 2 Ep 8, but that feels like quite a strange time for it to change, especially since we don’t know how many days passed without anyone checking the profile. I feel it makes more sense if it had changed either with the release of Ch 2 or with the BDA on chapter 7. Regardless, the exact time doesn’t matter much.
What do these lines mean, though? Well, starting with “Anything, anything at all”, I believe it’s related to line from the Mai Akasaki URL. You know, “All you have to do is ask for my hand, and I’ll give it to you…”, that one. When you read them together, it makes sense:
All you have to do is ask for my hand, and I'll give it to you. Ask for my life, and I’ll give it to you as well. […] [You can ask for] Anything, anything at all.
Considering the code for Mai’s profile is in the “ask for my hand” line, I think it makes sense.
Then, the changed quote, “There’s a way for you to be happy”. Considering the general time for the change, is it possible this is something Mai said to Arei, during their time at Hope's Peak? It's the best I have for now, but I feel we may need more context to know what this is about.
In any case, I can't gather much more from the subtitle quote. Although I do feel like pointing out, Mai’s quote is somewhat unique in that none of the words are highlighted. All the other characters have one or a few words highlighted (eg: Arei - secret, Teruko - no matter what), except MonoTV and Mai. Don’t think it means anything, but it’s there.
Hidden Quotes
And here we have it. The most important part of Mai theorizing. Whenever you refresh the page, a new body of text appears, which is related to a specific character via the code of the website. You can see in the screenshot I took, it says “A girl with many friends”. But here’s a full list of all the possibilities:
Teruko: Some years ago, she was searching for someone named ‘Teruko Tawaki.’ Charles: A girl who loves her family. Rose: She remembers everything that is important to others. Arturo: A girl who sees the beauty in everyone. Levi: A girl with a floral tattoo on her arm. Whit: A girl with many friends. Eden: She kept calling the number, even though no one picked it up. J: She kept it a secret, and told no one. Hu: A girl who wanted to keep everyone safe. Nico: Everyone confided in her. Ace: A girl who had a bright future. Arei: She doesn’t like it when her friends fight. Min: An average girl with nothing special at all about her. Xander: She couldn’t stand to do nothing. Veronika: A girl who didn’t foresee the consequences. David: She forgives everyone. MonoTV: It’s all your fault.
You may notice the order is somewhat peculiar, and it's for a good reason. It's the order the "bios" (name of the variable in the source code... I think that's how that works) are laid out in the source code of Mai's page.
Tumblr media
... I know you can barely see and not all of them are on frame, but just trust me. If you want to check for yourself, you can go to the profile's source code (Ctrl U), and either scroll to almost the bottom, or just search (Ctrl F) for a word like "average" or "confided" which only shows up in the "bios". There's probably easier ways to go about it, but this is how I got there. I'm telling you this because it took me like an hour to find out where the hell the order came from. I am not good at computers.
However, for now, let's just ignore the order (and the tenses of the sentences, I swear I'll get there) and focus on the main points for now.
+Mai is extremely well-liked by the other members of the cast. In particular, some of the quotes compliment her based on faults the character attached to them has.
>Arturo is extremely judgemental based on ugliness, but Mai "sees the beauty in everyone".
>Charles forgot his dead brother, but Mai "loves her family".
>Rose is absentminded and often forgets things if she doesn't see them, but Mai "remembers everything that is important to others".
>The hidden quote on Ace's page has him saying "I don't know what to do with myself anymore", suggesting a lack of control over his future, but Mai "had a bright future".
>Arei constantly causes altercations between the cast, but Mai "doesn't like it when her friends fight".
However, plenty of quotes are simply good qualities, such as Hu's "A girl who wanted to keep everyone safe". The point is, everyone seemingly adored this girl.
+Mai is good at keeping secrets, as implied by J's and Nico's quotes ("She kept it a secret, and told no one" and "Everyone confided in her", respectively). Those same quotes actually seem to imply Mai likely knew those two's secrets, and possibly a lot of the others.
+Among other things, Mai is compassionate, forgiving, friendly, and generally a positive presence.
+Mai and Teruko have a particularly strange relationship. We'll come back to this.
+Mai seemingly did... something, and it brought consequences. This is implied by the quotes of Xander ("she couldn't stand to do nothing") and Veronika ("A girl who didn't foresee the consequences"). But, what was it? Well, to get a better idea, we need to take a look at... the Bonus Episodes.
A Not-So-Unnamed-Classmate
Technically-a-Theory: Mai is the Unnamed Classmate
I say "technically" because I'm pretty sure no one actually disagrees with this. Yes, technically it's never been confirmed, but it seems likely Mai is the Unnamed Classmate who shows up in both of the Bonus Episodes we have so far. The PoV character in both of those episodes has the same voice, which sounds like a girl's, and their personality seems to fit with the very little we know of Mai.
Additionally, as you’ll see, the text boxes in the Bonus Episodes are surrounded by flowers which look very similar to the ones in Mai’s tattoo, further connecting them.
It's not much, but since we don't know anyone else who could be Unnamed Classmate, they and Mai are likely the same person.
With this clarified, let's talk about Unnamed Classmate.
Bonus Episode #1
This episode is mostly focused on Min and the history of Hope's Peak, but we can still start to grasp a bit of Mai's personality. She seems generally upbeat and somewhat bubbly, and we can see glimpses of her kind and caring qualities when she comforts Min near the end of the episode.
There's also a few lines which actually tell us a few more concrete things about her, though. I won't post them in chronological order, btw.
Tumblr media
Min: Hey! Put your textbook away! Don’t cheat!
Seemingly an insignificant joke, but it does help establish Mai as slightly mischievous/cheeky, which will be expanded upon later. Other indications of this cheekiness include Mai comlimenting Min and trying to distract her by talking about the sky and her backstory, presumably to procrastinate. I may be reading too much into it, but I really don't think Mai is as easily distracted as she makes herself out to be.
Tumblr media
Mai: Auughh, the test is too soon, there’s no way I’ll have enough time! I’m totally going to fail!
Mai: I'm sorry. I shouldn't have bothered you to help me study--
Mai: I see. That's how you got your talent. I'm ashamed that I'm only now learning something so important. I'm sorry.
(Yes, I had to bunch a few of these images together because I ran into the Tumblr 30 image limit)
A few lines which seem innocuous at first, but when paired together, they hint at something. Essentially, I believe this implies Mai doubts her abilities and actions, and may even have a self-deprecating streak. She's at the very least much harsher on herself than she is on others. It sounds like a stretch, but I swear it's not as farfetched as it seems.
Tumblr media
Mai: You're somebody who buys fish-shaped pastries and saves the chocolate-filled ones for me, because you know that those are my favorite.
Mai likes chocolate-filled pastries. Hey, when I said “everything we know about Mai”, I meant everything (that I could find).
Tumblr media
Min: I suppose for someone like you who doesn't care too much about Hope's Peak and who, no offense, would never be eligible for the [Ultimate Contest for Eminent Students] with such average grades...
Min: You might not do very well in school, but you're quite sharp.
Put simply, Mai has average grades, but is still considered smart by Min. Her intelligence is visible throughout the episodes, mainly in the form of emotional intelligence and a hint of deception (that's where the mischieviousness comes in).
However, perhaps it’s the first phrase which is most interesting. Mai “doesn’t care too much about Hope’s Peak”. Which is only reiterated by the following lines.
Tumblr media
Min: Maybe someone like you who never cared about Hope’s Peak Academy wouldn’t understand. But it’s everyone else’s dream to be an Ultimate.
Mai: Ultimates aren’t everything. As if I’m only friends with you because of your talent. There’s more to you than that.
Mai seems to have a much more laissez-faire approach to the concept of Hope’s Peak and Ultimates than what Min considers normal. By itself, this isn’t too strange, as we know there’s other people not too attached to their status as Ultimates. However, this actually may have something to do with the incident implied in Xander’s and Veronika’s quotes. I’ll get to it later (overused phrase of the day), but for now, keep this in mind.
Nevertheless, there is one more theory affected by this nonchalance towards Hope’s Peak. Except, it’s a theory I believe is actually harmed by this attitude.
Good Theory I Don’t Believe: Mai is a Reserve Course Student
Don’t get me wrong, it’s a cool theory! I just don’t think it works all the way.
Essentially, this theory is what it says in the tin. Mai is the Ultimate ??? because she’s actually a Reserve Course student, a la Hajime Hinata. There are many good posts on this theory, like this one by delightfullydiscordant, and I recommend you read them since they’re well put together! Some of the main points of this theory include:
>Min’s quote for Mai is “An average girl with nothing special at all about her.”, which could imply she doesn’t have a talent. However, there are other interpretations for this line, so it’s far from conclusive.
>Mai seems to be wearing a Japanese Hope’s Peak uniform (check out this post by laly-481), but the jacket around Mai’s waist is darker than the one worn by Ultimates in DR 3. Instead, it seems closer to a Reserve Course jacket. The issue I have with this is that… well, we know very little about what the Japanese Hope’s Peak in the DRDT universe looks like, so this feels a bit vague.
>
Tumblr media
Mai: You’re not nobody. Even if I pretend that you’re not an Ultimate and that we’re not both students in Hope’s Peak Academy, you’re still somebody to me.
I’ll ask you to ignore the lesbians for a moment and focus on the beginning of the quote. If you look at it closely, it seems to imply both Mai and Min are Hope’s Peak alumni, but they’re not both Ultimates. Thereby, Mai must be a Reserve Course student.
However, I actually have a different interpretation of that quote, one which, you guessed it, I’ll get to later. But for now, if we’re going to get involved in semantics, we also have to look at this line:
Tumblr media
Mai: The US Hope's Peak Academy takes in college-age students, and there's two of them, and we have this really weird curriculum, and there's a bunch of other things, and...
Min: Remember that we’re East Class 27, so that means that Hope’s Peak is how many years old?
Min: Look at what our classmates are doing now. They're Ultimates too. They're all doing things relevant to their career, if not actually out working.
Min saying “we're class 27" could be interpreted as her simply referring to herself and the other Ultimates, but even then, referring to "our classmates" while talking to Mai implies they're in the same class. Also, Mai saying "we have" a weird curriculum feels odd unless both she and Min have the same curriculum, meaning both of them likely attend the same classes, thus again, both are Ultimates.
But that’s only a minor problem. In truth, there are other reasons I believe Mai has a talent, and I even have a guess of what that talent may be. But the main one is what we just established: Mai never really cared about Hope’s Peak.
I admittedly may be missing some context, since I’ve never watched DR 3, but from what I know, Reserve Course students are usually characterized as people who desperately want to be Ultimates and are obsessed with Hope’s Peak, which doesn’t fit Mai at all. You could argue maybe she went to Hope's Peak to search for Teruko as Teruko's quote implies, but the problem with that is that Teruko remembers Mai, at least a little bit (see: dream sequence), which means they should have reunited before Hope's Peak, since the last thing Teruko remembers before the "amnesia zone" is going to Hope's Peak's entrance ceremony.
Not to mention, we… can’t even be sure the Reserve Course exists. For as much info as we got from the Bonus Episode #1, that course was never even mentioned. And seeing this is a post-Tragedy world, the Reserve Course may not even exist. Especially when Min also says that actually being an Ultimate is considered more important than going to Hope’s Peak in the US.
So, final verdict on this theory? While it’s quite interesting and I definitely think it’s more plausible than many of the other things I’ll bring up, I don’t find it to be the most likely, again because Mai’s disinterest in Hope’s Peak pushes her away from the standard Reserve Course student, and because I prefer a different theory about her talent.
And with that, we’re done with the first Bonus Episode for now! Let’s see what the second one brings.
Bonus Episode #2
This one, surprisingly, has fewer lines which gives us info about Mai. However, what it does give us is arguably some of the most important intel we have so far.
Tumblr media
Mai: No, it’s fine. Don’t think you’re making me come with you. I'm here because I want to be here.
Mai: [Xander reimbursing her for the trip]'s silly. I can pay for it myself. Besides, you're letting me stay at your place for a week, so if anything, you're doing me a favor.
The first just reiterates that Mai is compassionate and wants to help whenever she can. As for the second, it seems to imply Mai doesn't struggle too much with money, which is info I guess. However, she also says Xander is doing her a favor by letting her stay over. I think that just means the expenses of living wherever she's living for a week exceed the expenses of the trips? I don't see any other reason that would be considered a favor in that aspect. I considered maybe Mai could have a bad home life, but in the secret quotes:
Charles: A girl who loves her family
So, I don't think that's the case. I think it really is just a money thing, and we don't have to overthink it too much.
Tumblr media
Mai: 'Oh, speaking of Hope's Peak. I need to ask Xander if he found that document I asked him to look for.'
Mai: 'I didn't want to unload the work on him, but he's much better at digging up stuff than I am.'
Mai: 'But it's definitely not something I should bring up in a public place. I'll remember to ask him later'.
And here we are. The single biggest Mai-related reveal in the Bonus Episodes. Her and Xander were involved in some sort of secretive operation related to Hope's Peak. In particular, seemingly during their trip to visit the graves of Xander's family, Mai asked Xander to retrieve a document related to the Academy, a document they shouldn't discuss in public. In fact, right after this, Mai changes the subject to Xander's eyes so as to not talk about it, again showing she can be somewhat deceptive when she needs to.
This might be related to Teruko's claim that "[Xander and Mai] both wanted to help", but it seems impossible for her to remember anything which happened during HPA (Hope's Peak Academy, got tired of writing it out) time, so I still don't know what she actually meant by that.
Nevertheless, it's pretty obvious that whatever this is, it would be bad news for HPA. I mean, if Xander's involved, there's no way it's good for an institution. But it also ties back to Mai's critical view of HPA and the Ultimate title.
However, messing with something as powerful as HPA could be pretty dangerous. Thus, I believe this little operation is likely what's being referred to in Xander's and Veronika's quotes.
Xander: She couldn’t stand to do nothing. Veronika: A girl who didn’t foresee the consequences.
(By the way, Xander's quote in particular is why I don't quite believe the theory that the document mentioned here is only to get Teruko into HPA somehow. It's a cool theory, but Xander's quote feels a bit too dramatic for that to be the end goal of Mai's plans)
I mean, for one, it's Xander saying Mai did something, and messing with HPA could have quite drastic consequences, from what we know. Thus, from now on, I will henceforth call this vague action against HPA "the HPA Operation", because saying "that thing Mai did which Xander's and Veronika's quotes allude to" is gonna get tiring.
What exactly the HP Operation was, I obviously don't know, we're on chapter 2 of the series and this is quite clearly a mystery which may last until chapter 6 (assuming a standard DR formula).
However, I can tell you one thing. It may not fully be Mai's idea.
Tumblr media
Mai: If you set out to do something, then never give up on that, no matter what obstacles may stand in your way. Even if it's risky or against the rules, as long as it's for a good cause...
Mai: I'll trust that you know to do the right thing.
Xander: Yeah, of course (NOT PICTURED)
Xander: That's why I've come to Hope's Peak, isn't it?
The lines about the HPA document appear right after this, although Mai does seem confused at first by Xander's claim that "that's why [he's come] to Hope's Peak". So although Mai is the one who asked Xander to find the document, it's possible the basic idea to go against HPA came from Xander. After all, remember. Mai never cared much about HPA, so it seems unlikely she paid enough attention to it to notice its flaws as quickly as Xander would. Ultimate Rebel, and all that.
However, even if Xander was the one who planted the idea of revolution in Mai's head, she's clearly invested in it. She tells Xander to never give up on anything he sets out to do, even if it's risky or against the rules.
So, there it is. So far, what we know about the HPA Operation is:
>Mai and Xander were heavily involved.
>It may have originally been Xander's idea, but Mai seems to have taken the role of tactician at some point.
>HPA likely wasn't too happy with it.
>It likely had horrible consequences for Mai.
And that's all we had for a while, as Chapter 2 Part 1 didn't add anything to the conversation. Well, except maybe a thought Teruko has when Arei starts crying after her breakdown in the playground:
That pitiful crying... It reminds me of... Of...
That could be about Mai, but I really don't know what it could mean, so I'm sorta ignoring it for now.
So, yeah. Nothing new.
Until it came out.
Going (Literature Girl) Insane
Yeah, the David MV. Mai is listed in the cast list as a secondary character, though her name is crossed out. This likely refers to the portrait of her seen in the background.
Tumblr media
The portrait of Mai is labeled "portrait of someone dearly loved", while Teruko's is labeled "portrait of someone dearly unloved", the words flipped. This is one of many things which seem to imply Teruko and Mai are meant to be opposites of each other.
There is also that one image of a girl whose identity is unclear.
Tumblr media
It doesn't look like Mai, but maybe that's my prosopagnosiac ass assuming different hair = different person. Generally, people assume this is "Diana Chiem", if she even exists, though I somewhat lean on it possibly being the mysterious name out of frame in the cast list. You know, the name which vaguely looks like "Ms Naegi". However, I'm showing you the image to get a second opinion on something.
You see the hand Mystery Girl is holding? Doesn't it look like it's wearing a glove? Because of the white line in the wrist. Maybe I'm going insane, that could just be a bend of the wrist, but... I kinda don't see it? It makes a bit more sense to me as a glove. And since it doesn't seem to be cut off at the fingers like Xander's, it would have to be Mai's. Other characters also wear this type of glove, but they’re not on the cast list.
The counterpoint is that it looks like you can see the nail of the PoV person's thumb, but I'm not sure that's the case? That part of the sprite is really strange and seems to be different in all three of the Mystery Girl images, so I can't tell. Anywyas, if any of you have ideas, tell me. Again, it's most likely I'm overthinking and that's just a bend of the wrist.
Anyways, enough dillydally, let's get to the big stuff.
The Roman numeral
As you may or may not know, during the MV we’re shown a crossword puzzle which is solved with the characters’ names, and this assigns each character with a different Roman numeral. This numeral later shows up attached to some kind of phrase, which in turn relates that character back to the phrase. I made a post talking about all of them, but I'll go more in detail about Mai's in this post than I did in that post.
Tumblr media
Solution by raspbeyes
In the crosswords, Mai intersects Arei and Levi. I don't think this means much by itself, since the way the names intersect doesn't seem to be too important in general. Like, yes, if you squint you can see things like Whit only intersecting Charles, but there's also things like Min only intersecting Arei, Eden only intersecting Rose, Veronika intersecting everyone and their morther... My point is, the exact position in the crosswords doesn't tend to matter much.
What's more important are the numerals. Mai's is XI (11), a number which, from my research, is related to leadership and bringing out the best in others, as well as nobility or higher conciousness and spirituality and knowledge and new beginnings- Okay, the point is, I found mostly inconclusive stuff, but a lot of this sort of relates back to Mai, so we take it.
And the phrase itself:
Tumblr media
XI. God is dead
What could this mean? Well, in philosophy, the phrase "God is dead" refers to the breakdown of ethical and sociocultural structures as christianity and religion in general became less universal. So, loss in faith in an institution leads to changes in the status quo. One way to interpret this in the context of this numeral is that Hope's Peak is the "God", and Mai's actions involved a loss on faith on HPA, and everything which comes with it. This could even be related to the phrase which directly follows this numeral in the song, "become brainwashed: go do it!". If HPA's propaganda which makes everyone love Ultimates can be considered brainwashing, anyways.
...
But that's not what any of us first thought when we read that, is it?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Is Mai Dead?
Yeah, we gotta talk about the elephant in the room.
You'll have noticed, lots of the hidden quotes on Mai's profile speak about her in the past tense. This already had people thinking she was dead since it was first found, but the MV really drove the point home. Considering how the characters think about Mai, it's not impossible to imagine Mai is the "God" here, and "God is dead" has a far more literal meaning.
But, let's hold our horses here, no need to kill her so quickly. There is a chance she's alive.
Coping With the Quotes
Like I said, some of these quotes speak about her as if she's dead, but some of them actually talk about Mai in the present tense. Here, I sorted them out.
Referring to a past event:
Teruko: Some years ago, she was searching for someone named ‘Teruko Tawaki.’ Eden: She kept calling the number, even though no one picked it up. J: She kept it a secret, and told no one. Xander: She couldn’t stand to do nothing. Veronika: A girl who didn’t foresee the consequences.
These are phrases which can't be used to determine Mai's status, since they talk about a specific thing which she did. Even if she's alive, these would still be in the past tense. Teruko's is explicitly talking about years ago; J and Eden are talking about things Mai probably did during her time at HP; and Xander's and Veronika's talk about the HPA Operation. These are inconclusive.
Miscellaneously inconclusive
Whit: A girl with many friends. MonoTV: It’s all your fault.
MonoTV's line doesn't refer to Mai at all, so it's not useful here. And I put Whit here because... frankly, I wouldn't trust him to tell us even if Mai really is dead. "[His] mother is dead, [he] omit[s] this truth", and all that. Though his quote does seem to imply she's alive, for what it's worth.
Present Tense
Charles: A girl who loves her family. Rose: She remembers everything that is important to others. Arturo: A girl who sees the beauty in everyone. Levi: A girl with a floral tattoo on her arm. Arei: She doesn’t like it when her friends fight. Min: An average girl with nothing special at all about her. David: She forgives everyone.
Admittedly, some of these don't actually have verbs, so putting them in "present tense" is a bit of a misnomer. Still, all of these seem to imply Mai's alive. Notably, David's line is right after Xander's and Veronika's in the code, so he might be saying this after the HPA Operation fell through? Take that as you will.
Past Tense
Hu: A girl who wanted to keep everyone safe. Nico: Everyone confided in her. Ace: A girl who had a bright future.
I was surprised by how few of these lines actually speak of Mai strictly as if she's died. They are all together, too, and separated from Xander's and Veronika's by Arei's and Min's in the code. But what's even more important is that these are still inconclusive.
When Hu says Mai "wanted to keep everyone safe", she could be talking specifically about the HPA Operation, and the phrase would be in the past tense even if Mai survived that.
When Nico says "everyone confided in her", that could mean everyone at one point or another told her their secrets, and again, it would be in the past tense even if Mai is alive.
And although Ace says Mai "had a bright future", we don't know why she no longer has one. It's possible the consequences Veronika speaks of only ruined Mai's future, but didn't get her killed.
With all this in mind, it actually seems like the quotes lean on the side of Mai being alive! That's still inconclusive, and MonoTV's quote is a bit too ominous for me to say they definitively confirm her status.
Especially because... well, the quotes aren't the only part of this discussion.
The MV Killed the Hope's Peak Star
Let's start with the biggest issue, the flowers of an unknown species.
Tumblr media
As pointed out by delightfullydiscordant in this post, those flowers appear to be the same ones on Mai’s tattoo and Unnamed Classmate’s text boxes. And as the comments point out, they seem to be camellias.
The issue is that the MV confirms they’re white. And white camellias, in Japan, are popular funeral flowers and are associated with death. Yeah.
Now, let’s not bury the girl yet. White camellias also represent adoration and respect in a more platonic way than, say, red camellias, for example. They can also represent purity, beauty, and even hope. Yeah, we’re dropping the H word.
I also tried looking for literary references with white camellias, in the spirit of the MV. However, the only thing I found was that they show up in “To Kill A Mockingbird”, a book which if I recall correctly is never mentioned in the MV. And it’s a good thing, too, since they apparently represent racism in that book. I don’t think that’s related to Mai, frankly.
So, good news! It’s still not conclusive! Well, but there’s more. In particular, take a look at footnote 20.
Tumblr media
This shows up directly after Mai's numeral and the brainwashed phrase I mentioned earlier. It’s a definition of the model of the five stages of grief, with the footnote itself simply claiming it is considered by many to be outdated. Also, there’s an emoticon of someone sticking out their tongue. Don’t know what else that would be, and I don’t know what to make of it.
But the fact it’s a model of how people deal with grief, usually related to death, and that it shows up directly after Mai’s numeral, seems to imply Mai’s dead.
And then there’s the problem of her numeral! Mai has one of the only ones numerals which is colored, in this case gray. The others are mostly just white, with the only other exceptions being Xander's (translucid, "(the world of abnormal sentiment dances)") and Min's (pink, stylised as the X of a death portrait, "democratic-ly" and the rules of class trials). It doesn't bode too well for Mai to have something in common with 2/3 of all confirmed dead people, I have to say.
However, it being gray specifically could be a direct reference to her death as well. Color theory (don’t question it for now) connects gray with the depressed persona of David, though, so this isn’t very conclusive.
And finally, edging into more “confirmation bias-y” territory, you remember how I said the position in the crosswords doesn’t really matter? Well, yeah, but. Mai’s name, as it goes over the A in Arei, also happens to cross the Roman numeral IV (4), a number related to death as per footnote four. In fact, I’m pretty sure that’s why Arei has it. You know, the third dead person. Nevertheless, again, crosswords positioning is usually not important, so take that with a massive grain of salt.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So, what’s the conclusion? I think it’s still up for debate, but I lean more on the idea of Mai being dead. The flowers and the model of stages of grief are pretty damning, and I don’t think most of the quotes being in present tense can really be trusted.
Anyways, let me continue a bit with the idea of her being dead.
Sub-Theory: Shot Through the Heart, Xander’s to Blame
You remember how the MV claims there’s six bullets around? But it also tells you it’s impossible to find them all? I made a post about it, where I found the five bullets which I think are the only ones which i can be found.
My conclusion in that post, which I sort of stand by, is that if there’s six bullets, but only five are visible, the last one is likely loaded in the gun. It’s labeled “(not) a prop gun”, so it’s apparently real, but still connected to Xander.
The issue? That gun is sorta pointed directly at Mai’s portrait.
This kinda fits with the pieces I’ve been putting together. Mai (possibly) died because of the HPA Operation, but Xander may have been the one who originally planted that idea in her head. Or at least enabled her plans by finding documents. In that sense, one could argue it’s Xander’s fault Mai died. So, it kinda fits! I’m going with that.
The question now would be who blames Xander for Mai’s death. After all, I sorta doubt he’s the one who actually killed her. My original instinct was David, since that’s the guy the MV is about, but that doesn’t quite fit. David idolizes Xander a fair bit, so it feels odd to think he’d blame him for this.
Instead, if this theory is true, I think it makes more sense for Xander to blame himself for Mai’s death. Survivor’s guilt is a huge part of his character (see: the Bonus Episode and the quote on his page), so if he survived the fallout of the HPA Operation when Mai didn’t, he’d be quite heartbroken by it. And thus, he may end up blaming himself for dragging her into the whole mess.
So, that's about it for what we know about Mai's status. But would you believe it if I told you we're not done with the MV yet?
Color Theory
Color theory in the context of the MV refers to this post and reblog by accirax, where she went over every colored lyric in the MV and assigned each color a character based on the characters' color scheme and the lines themselves. I recommend checking out her whole post, it's really good and I won't talk about everything she brought up.
For our purposes, the important color is Mai's. And I agree with accirax that Mai is likely black (the color, not the skin tone). Although the color doesn't show up much in her color scheme, she's a generally cryptic character with a generally cryptic color. But the lines work with Mai better than practically anyone else:
>"You" x3: As pointed out by accirax, everyone is obssessed with Mai, so it sorta fits.
>"The track to the ideal country ->" The arrow points to a passage from "Utopia", btw. This makes sense with the HPA Operation. It's a vaguely revolutionary operation which seeks to improve the world, so you could consider that "the track to the ideal country."
However, we have to talk about the elephant in the room. Her color scheme would still set her up to be red. Maybe yellow if you count her eyes, but red is an important color for her. It wouldn't be unheard of for an important character to have two colors, since David has two. But red is a special color for color theory... because it's completely nonsensical.
Red is by far the most overrepresented color in the MV, having practically double the amount of lines any other colors do. And considering the color, you'd imagine it would either go to Mai, Xander or Veronika. However, no character fits all the lines that well, as explained by accirax in her posts. I explained in this reblog what I believe about this in detail, but essentially, I believe red is intentionally ambiguos, and any given red line can belong to any of the three characters I mentioned.
I'll quickly go over the way I would assign the red lines, but I'll only explain the Mai lines, since I already went into detail on the other ones in that reblog I linked to before. Keep in mind some may apply to multiple characters.
Unassignable: Aa, ah, isn't it?!
Veronika: whatever; go mad x3; broken; go insane?; won't change; original; you've killed so many; medicine; self-denial confessions; self-delusion.
Xander: are all just idiots (final verdict); Bye x2; Goodbye; escape!; together; are all just idiots!; ignorant; great applause!!!; won't change; original; and disappear!; 1; medicine; revolutionary; idiot; self-delusion
Mai: Bye x2; Goodbye; broken; God; and disappear!; medicine; revolutionary, self-denial confessions
I will mention, you can also give her all the "idiot" lines Xander has, as well as "won't change; self-delusion" and all that, since David (the guy presumably "singing") may be somewhat skeptical about Mai and her revolutionary ideas.
>Bye x2, Goodbye, broken, and disappear!: She's probably dead, so. I also inexplicably think "broken" works with her death, but not Xander's. I have no idea why.
>God: The biggest reason why Mai has to be included, the others just aren't as God-ish as Mai (hey, it's like that song!). Not much to say; it's connected to Mai via numeral XI, and I already explained why she could be "God" here.
>Medicine; revolutionary: She's a revolutionary thanks to the HPA Operation, and you could argue that means she's the "medicine" of society.
>Self-denial confessions: Mai works better with this line's original context (revolutionaries being coerced into going back on their ideals) than Veronika, but it still leaves behind the question of what exactly she's denying. Maybe denying the ideals of Ultimates, when she herself is (probably) an Ultimate? Something like that. I guess that could also work with Xander in hindsight.
So, there we go! Full interpretation of Color Theory as it relates to Mai. Wow, that was a lot for very little new info!
We're almost done with the MV, but first, we have to talk about the man himself.
David's Relation to Mai, and his Potential Involvement in the HPA Operation
But first, a side note.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Does David remember Mai?
There's a theory floating around that David might remember parts of his time at HPA, including Mai's existence. Check out this post by anderscim and reblog by xmicrophonyx if you want a full explanation, but I'll cover the main points here. It's a really good theory, and it's not any less plausible than some of the other theories I'll mention later in the post, but I don't quite believe it.
See, the main evidence for this theory is that the Literature Girl MV includes Mai's face in the portrait and an image of Xander with two eyes, as well as things like the morse code and possibly tally 5 which seem to reference David and Xander's relationship during HPA time. And that's my first issue with the theory, I just don't think the MV can be used for this.
Of course, it comes down to interpretation, but the way I see the MV is as an abstract form of storytelling, not a completely 1:1 view of David’s mind. Essentially, while a lot of it is spoken from the perspective of David, it’s not actually a reflection of his real mental state, but rather a representation for us the audience. It’s hard to describe :v
The main thing that I want to bring up in support of my interpretation is the youtube comments scene, I hope you know what I’m talking about. There’s no way David would be aware of these comments, such as the one referencing the J and Arei swap theory. In particular, the comment talking about (presumably, the names aren’t explicitly written) Teruko as a protagonist is impossible for David to conceive, since there’s no way he would know we see her as the protag; and the ones that namedrop Byakuya, Nagito and Kokichi are practically impossible as well, as Veronika has claimed not to remember any other killing games before the one in DRDT. Kokichi in particular would be problematic depending on your interpretation of V3.
What does this mean? This means that the MV isn’t beyond showing us the audience things outside of David’s own mind, for the sake of storytelling. It’s not hard to imagine, then, that the scene with Xander having two eyes is meant to show us that they had a good relationship in HPA, even if David doesn’t remember it. Same with calling Mai “someone dearly loved.”
There’s also a few things about other characters which don’t quite match what David would know about them in the killing game. For example, Rose’s numeral: II. Ego cogito ergo (turbatus) sum. (I think therefore I am disturbed). This only really makes sense in the context of Rose’s conversation with Teruko and Nico, where she admits to having trouble separating reality from her memory and her dreams. But David wasn’t there for that. Another example is Teruko’s: XIII. or not to be? Which seems to reference her suicidal tendencies, implied in that one thing she said to Arei. Again, that’s not something David would be aware of during the killing game. 
Either David remembers way more about HPA than implied in the theory, or those are also examples of the MV going beyond David’s mind to continue telling us things about the story.
In xmicrophonyx’s reblog, she also brings up the pre-chapter dialogue as possibly being David’s. I… don’t see it, frankly. The pre-chapter 1 dialogue seems to fit Teruko more, imo.
“Half-remembering is worse than forgetting. Her name, his face…”
We know Teruko doesn’t remember Mai’s name based on the CH 1 EP 6 dream sequence from before, and the “he” could be her brother. Prosopagnosia, and all that. 
And while the chapter 2 dialogue could fit David and his feelings towards Xander  better, there’s nothing which explicitly implies he remembers anything about HPA before the killing game.
I still miss you. I miss you so much that I wish you had never been part of my life. The worst part is, even though you left me like this, there’s nothing I can blame you for.
Also I think that’s Eden but that’s besides the point.
And finally, now that you understand why I don’t think the evidence for isn’t very good, we have to address the evidence against. Mainly, the fact that David doesn’t seem to recognize Xander during his introduction. At all. He even explicitly says, “... I don’t believe we’ve met before”, and calls Xander “sir”. There was no indication at that point that they’d be missing memories, so David has no reason to pretend he doesn’t know who Xander is. In fact, I imagine that if he did remember Xander as having two eyes, and he sees him with an eyepatch, he would react to it in some way, right?
In conclusion, although I like the theory, I don’t think it’s very likely that David’s kept any memories from HPA time.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Anyways, back to my speculation. There is relatively little reference to Mai in the MV, so it's not like we can get much here, but there is still one thing I want to talk about. And that's the morse code at the end of the MV. As translated by dav-suburbiia:
“YOU STILL BELIEVED IN ME DESPITE EVERYTHING I’VE DONE.” “BUT THAT’S JUST FANTASY, ISN’T IT?” “I SIMPLY CHOSE TO BELIEVE THAT YOU DID.” “AFTER ALL, I’M INCAPABLE OF BEING SOMEONE WITHOUT YOU.”
Now, most people assume this is about Xander, which is perfectly understandable seeing the context of the MV. However, I think there's an argument to be made that this is actually about Mai.
The main thing here is the apparent contradiction which rises if we assume this is about Xander. The "you" in this code knows what David "has done", but they also seemingly aren't around anymore. If we assume the first is referring to David's "manipulation" thing, then this would have to be about HPA Xanvid, since we've never heard of David confessing his issues to killing game Xander. However, if the "you" really isn't around anymore, this would have to be for killing game Xanvid, since Xander only died in the killing game. Am I making sense?
This isn't conclusive, mind you. You could say the code never explicitly says the "you" is actually gone, just that David can't be someone without them. Or, alternatively, that David did reveal "everything [he's] done" during the killing gmae. But it's still an odd way to phrase all this.
So, is there any evidence this is actually about Mai instead? Well, if you squint. The code is directly followed by footnote 22: "The rest is silence". Silence is the dislike stated in Mai's profile. Word association coming in clutch.
But perhaps more interesting is the phrase "You still believed in me despite everything I've done", combined with:
David: She forgives everyone.
The "you" in the code forgave David, and Mai evidently forgave him as well. It's not conclusive either, but it could be a connection.
Under the interpretation that this is about Mai, it would be related to HPA time. Mai still believed in David, or at least, at one point David believed Mai believed in him, and apparently gave him a purpose in life.
The worrying part about this code is actually the middle. "But that's just fantasy, isn't it? I simply chose to believe that you did". Apparently, it's possible Mai never actually trusted or forgave David, another reason I believe it's possible this isn't actually talking about Xander. As established, Mai can be deceptive when she wants, so it could work. We're missing a lot of information, so what exactly this all would mean is up in the air.
But in any case, it's possible that if David was given purpose by Mai or Xander, he would be involved in the HPA Operation, though how exactly is obviously impossible to know. I know this is really weak, but...
Okay, can we talk about Tally 5 yet? I kinda have to talk about Tally 5. Don't worry, I won't actually post the image.
!!!TALLY 5 SPOILERS (NO IMAGE)!!! SCROLL IF YOU DON'T WANT TO READ ABOUT THE CONTENTS OF TALLY 5!!!
If you've been living under a rock under the past month or so, Tally 5 refers to an image you get to by solving a code related to the "correct/incorrect" code in the David MV and inputting it into a webpage accessed via the QR Code in the MV's books. I won't talk about the puzzle itself here, so if you want to solve it, maybe go do that or just scroll past this part of the post.
Anyways, as I imagine you know by now, Tally 5 shows David holding Xander's jacket with the following quotes under it:
I became a villain in pursuit of your dream.
I threw away my humanity for an ideal that I couldn't understand.
But I don't regret it. To "regret" is to imply that I could have done anything else.
I never told you, but the truth is, I wasn't capable of ever becoming human in the first place.
So in the end, you're always-
Listen, I'm not gonna pretend I have some sort of infallible exaplanation of what this means. I have several theories about it, and to give you an idea of how insane it is, one of my theories involves quote 3, the one about regret, being said by MonoTV. Don't ask. I might have to do a completely different post about all this, but I'm sorta waiting until I can read some other peoples' thoughts about it.
But for the purposes of this post, this, to me, heavily implies David was involved in the HPA Operation. He's probably talking about Xander here, and Xander's dream would be the HPA Operation, since as I said, it may have been his idea in the first place. That's the ideal David can't understand: an ideal to change a world David sees as immutable.
Now, the lone jacket would imply this isn't the case. It would seem David is saying this in the killing game, after Xander's death, as holding his jacket seems to imply he's gone. However, I don't know what the dream would be in that case. Killing Teruko? It's possible, but I find that unlikely.
So, yeah. Combined with the morse code, here's a full interpretation of what this could mean in relation to Mai:
Mai or Xander somehow learnt of David's true feelings and the way he sees his own actions. She/he forgave him, or at least pretended to forgive him, and this gave David hope. Mai/Xander then introduced David to the HPA Operation, and asked him to do something which would turn him into a villain, asking him to throw away his humanity for an ideal he couldn't understand. What exactly that would be is obviously impossible to know. David accepts, and even when the plan fell through, he doesn't regret doing what he did, because he feels he couldn't have done anything else.
Am I confident in this interpretation? Not really, but it's a plausible interpretation which is related to Mai and the HPA Operation, so I wanted to bring it up. There's a lot there which is probably wrong, but it's what I have for now.
!!!TALLY 5 SPOILERS OVER!!! YOU CAN START READING AGAIN IF YOU WERE AVOIDING THEM!!!
And with that, we’re officially done with the MV! I mean, I may reference it later, but now the bulk of it is gone. Surely this means we can get to some lighter theorizing and-
Teruko Tawaki
Yeah, we gotta talk about the other elephant in the room. Mai and Teruko are clearly connected in an important way.
The first thing to note with them is that they’re generally set up as opposites. Of course, the most straightforward thing is the “dearly loved/dearly unloved” portraits in the MV, but it goes much deeper. Also in the MV, Teruko’s numeral appears right after Mai’s, if that counts for anything.
Another thing is their color scheme. Teruko is mainly associated with green, while Mai is mainly associated with red. And these colors are complimentary; they’re opposite in the color wheel. Not to mention, taking Teruko’s redesign into account, one could associate her with black and Mai, thanks to her uniform and the white camellias, to white. In particular, it’s notable white camellias actually have a white flower, but a black stem. They’re even the same height, at 5’8”! It’s so they can kiss each other in the lips more easily
Additionally, their attitudes from what we’re seeing are also opposite. Mai “forgives everyone”, which means she’s really trusting, while Teruko is (for now) very distrustful. That one’s a bit looser, but eh. May I even go so far, as to say that right now, Teruko represents despair while Mai represents hope? Alright, now I’m reaching, but it fits. Teruko is someone resigned to her horrible fate (luck), while Mai constantly fought for a better world. In fact, Xander, someone Teruko associates with Mai, calls our protag out on her hopeless view of fate… right before stabbing her.
Hell, practically all good things said about Mai? Not true of Teruko (at the moment).
Charles: A girl who loves her family.
Teruko’s an orphan, and doesn’t remember her brother.
Rose: She remembers everything that is important to others.
Well, you could consider people’s faces something important to them, but Teruko has prosopagnosia.
Arturo: A girl who sees the beauty in everyone.
If you watched chapter 2, you know this isn’t true of Teruko.
Honestly, I could keep going like this, but I feel you get the point. There’s no reason for me to dwell on this further when you can just read the quotes and figure out how Teruko isn’t described by most of them.
Well, one possible exception is Levi.
Levi: A girl with a floral tattoo on her arm.
Yeah, time to talk about this theory.
Theory I Absolutely Believe: Teruko and Mai are Tattoo ‘Bud’dies
(Get it? Because flowers and buds- Yeah, no)
So shoutout to cider-est for first pointing this out in this post, but it’s true. Teruko’s left arm is always fully covered, either by bandages or by her jacket sleeve. Which is especially odd, considering her right jacket sleeve is always rolled up.
And it’s especially odd, because her left arm is covered even in the jacket-off reference picture.
Tumblr media
And yes, there is a suspicious question mark next to Teruko’s left arm. It ain’t even subtle.
But if there’s still any doubt left in your mind, let skulemojee dispel it in this post, where they point out this image from Ch 2 Ep 2:
Tumblr media
Yep, you’re seeing that right. Those black lines on Teruko’s left arm look a suspicious lot like the stems of Mai’s tattoo. It's not perfect, since we can't see any flowers and that may just be scars, but we never get a good enough look at the back of Mai's left arm to know if the flowers are tattooed on the forearm, or if only the stems reach that far.
(Also, Teruko in this scene says she doesn’t remember that scar in her back. Part of me thinks it’s related to Mai and the time of the missing memories, but the more rational side of me tells me I need to chill and stop seeing Mai everywhere)
It's also worth noting this would explain the choice of camellias for the tattoo. Remember, although they represent death in Japan, they mainly represent platonic adoration and respect. A very pretty thing to get matching tattoos with your bestie. But since they're not colored they could be interpreted as red and thus romantic for the shippers
So, yeah. I believe they share a tattoo. Which gives a whole lot of context to the quote.
Teruko: Some years ago, she was looking for someone named 'Teruko Tawaki'
In case it wasn’t clear before with the way Mai smiled at Teruko in that dream sequence, or the way Teruko associated Xander with Mai before she got stabbed by him, the fact they possibly share a tattoo implies they knew each other for a while and had a good relationship with each other. Another indication is that Teruko's favorite color, in the latest Q&A, is stated to be red by association. Sorry Xanruko shippers, that's clearly about Mai, since Teruko associates Xander with Mai in the first place.
What exactly the timeline of this mess is, is... complicated if the tattoo thing is true. Because that would require Teruko and Mai to have gotten the tattoo when at least Teruko was 18, both in Japan and the US. In some states of the US, she would be able to get it at a younger age if she got parental consent, but... what parents? She's an orphan.
In fact, when does that dream sequence take place? Is it Hope's Peak time? Can't be, because Teruko wouldn't remember it. Actually, why doesn't Teruko remember Mai's name is Mai had been searching for her for a while?
Yeah, I can't pin down anything specific about their relationship. Obviously I can't, this is a big mystery and we're only in Chapter 2. The best I can give you is that their relationship was clearly very positive, even before HPA.
...
Which is what makes this line so weird.
Tumblr media
Mai: Hang on, "real Ultimate talent?" You're the Ultimate Student! I mean, it's not like you're a "Lucky Student" who was picked by lottery.
This line is really odd, isn't it? It seems uncharacteristically mean for Mai, to dismiss someone else's talent so readily. And Teruko's in particular, when again, they clearly liked each other well enough before HPA. This almost reads more like something Mai would say about herself rather than someone else...
Huh.
Theory: Mai, the Second Ultimate Lucky Student
As established before, Mai has a slight self-depricative streak, where she says things about herself she would never say about one of her friends. So, the fact she's so quick to dismiss the Ultimate Lucky Student as a concept could imply she is the Ultimate Lucky Student. (ULS)
Of course, the first question is how this would work with Teruko. A HPA class only has one ULS, and Teruko's there. I've seen others suggest perhaps Mai was the ULS at Japan's HPA, which is apparently still a high school, so it's possible for her to go there and then go to US HPA, which is more like college.
However, I actually think there's an easier explanation. Mai and Teruko both went to US' HPA at the same time. They just went to different ones.
Tumblr media
Mai: The US Hope's Peak Academy takes in college-age students, and there's two of them, and we have this really weird curriculum, and there's a bunch of other things, and...
Yeah! Did you forget there's two HPAs in the US?! Because I sure did! I swear, I rewatched that Bonus Episode like 5 times before I caught that. How does this thing keep spawning in information?
I believe this is why Min specifically calls their class East Class 27. Seeing as this is in the US, I imagine there's likely an East Coast HPA and a West Coast HPA. But what would be the point of splitting the school like this? There's no reason the dev couldn't just keep them as just one HPA... unless there's a reason.
Because with two classes of the same age, there has to be two ULS of the same age.
Now, of course, it's possible West Class 27 is completely irrelevant to the story, but if you assume Mai is East Class 27's ULS and Teruko went to west coast HPA, a lot of things start to make sense. Have you ever wondered how Mai could have been in the same class as everyone else, when HPA usually only have 16 students? Well, it's because one (or more, possibly) just went to another class.
This also explains why we have to get this particular detail from a Bonus Episode. Although all the characters have talked about going to HPA, no one ever mentions which HPA they were invited to. It seems like a weirdly specific detail to omit, unless there’s a reason for it. Because if most of them were part of East Coast HPA, and one of them wasn’t, it would immediately stand out as strange to the cast.
And Mai does have some connections to luck. I mean, of course she does, her story is closelly intertwined with Teruko. For example, remember her birthday? February 1st? I told it'd be relevant, right? Well, as pointed out by fuji-iri in this post, on that day, there's 333 days left of the year. 3 is a number associated with bad luck, but there's also associations to "parting ways" and the three stages of life (birth-marriage apparently-death), again explained in the post I linked. That works with Mai and Teruko splitting up... whenever that happened, as well as Mai possbly dying, but the luck thing in particular is notable.
Now, the main reason I believed this before was just that "it's not like you're a 'Lucky Student' line", but as I researched this, I may have found something else? Except, it may just be me being horrible at code and getting really confused. If anyone can confirm or deny this, it'd be great.
Here's what happened. I noticed that when you look up Mai's name in Google, the text under the link to her page had Teruko's hidden quote: "It is an equal failing to trust everybody, and to trust no one at all." So I went into the code again.
First, I right-clicked on the title (Mai's name) and clicked "inspect". I expanded the "<head>" section (God I'm bad at this), and found this under <meta name>.
Tumblr media
meta name="descripttion" content="Mai Akasaki Ultimate ??? "There's a way for you to be happy." It is an equal failing to trust everybody, and to trust no one at all. The protagonist. Despite having the Ultimate title of "Lucky..."
Now, at first, I assumed this was just a coding quirk where for some reason, I was seeing the text of the next character or something.
But, I checked some the other characters, and none of the ones I checked have the same style of text. Look, I'll transcribe some.
Teruko:
meta name="descripttion" content="Teruko Tawaki Ultimate Lucky Student “I will survive this, no matter what!” The protagonist. Despite having the Ultimate title of “Lucky Student,” it seems like the only luck Teruko has is bad luck..."
Xander:
meta name="descripttion" content="Xander Matthews Ultimate Rebel “Screw the rules!” Loud in both voice and personality, Alexander “Xander” Matthews earned the title of Ultimate Rebel through his consistent tendency to go against the..."
MonoTV:
meta name="descripttion" content="MonoTV “Ultimate TV Show Host” “I’m the most beloved character in the cast!” A strange robot with a television for a head. MonoTV claims to be the “Ultimate TV Show Host” who is in charge of an..."
I also checked Veronika, Whit and Nico, but didn't check any more since the pattern's easy to see.
As you can see, usually this section of the code just has the name, the subtitle quote, and part of the body text. None of them have the secret quote, unlike Mai's, which has the quote which is supposed to be Teruko's. But Teruko's name or subtitle quote is never brought up in Mai's "meta name" thing.
Again, maybe I'm missing something, but it really looks like that is meant to be some kind of description of Mai.
It sort of fits. Teruko's quote about trust can fit Mai, hell, is completed by Mai. Teruko usually shows the failing of trusting no one, but Mai may be meant to show the failing of trusting everybody. Mai is also important enough that calling her "the protagonist" is fitting enough.
And, if that really is about Mai, then the final portion is confirmation. "Despite having the Ultimate title of "Lucky..." If this is about Mai, then Mai is unequivocally an ULS.
Again, I don't consider this conclusive because I am an idiot and could very easily be wrong. The wording is exactly the same's as Teruko's, so again, it may be a coding oddity. But with all the other stuff I mentioned, I can at least say this is the theory for Mai's talent I believe the most: She's East Class 27's ULS, while Teruko went to West Coast HPA as their ULS.
Anyways, anything else about Teruko? Oh, yeah, a final sub-theory on her.
Sub-Theory: Shot Through the Heart, Teruko's to Blame
Take a look at the 2nd Anniversary picture.
Tumblr media
[The three frames of the 2 year anniversary "video"]
Okay, I know you can't see shit here, but I'm running out of the 30 image limit. Check out lacunasweven's post where she discovered this (to my knowledge), and stfu-sage's reblog where he solved the code.
When solved, that code translates to “It’s all your fault”, which you may remember as MonoTV’s line about Mai.
So, Teruko reaches out for Mai, then “it’s all your fault” appears for a frame or two, and then suddenly Mai’s gone. It’s not exactly hard to imagine that this means Teruko is at fault for Mai’s death, or at least whatever consequences the HPA Operation had. How exactly is impossible to know, because again, it’s a mystery we’re not meant to solve yet. I have a gut feeling it’s probably related to Teruko’s luck, but that’s all it is, a gut feeling.
This doesn’t conflict the “Xander’s at fault” idea, if you’re curious. It’s possible for multiple people to consider themselves at fault for Mai’s death. Xander for bringing her into the HPA Operation, Teruko for her luck or whatever else happened.
Although… yeah, we gotta talk about that right? The scene before the prologue.
Tumblr media
I can’t say anything definitive, because again, not something we’re meant to figure out at the moment. But I can tell you what I think.
First, the PoV character is probably Xander. There’s a bloody fork there, and while I’m not the one who came up with the idea, (see: anderscim's post about this) that’s likely the weapon which was used to take out his eye. His wounds do look suspiciously fork-like, though I struggle to explain it without images, and I’m already stretching thin to make the image limit. I’ll have to ask you to look it up yourself.
Anyways, that may be Xander, and this may be the incident where Xander lost his eye. The reason I’m bringing it up is that, since Xander is involved, there’s a chance this is somehow related to the HPA Operation. Here’s a full transcript of what’s said:
... Fuck!! Fuck, fuck, fuck, this really hurts... Ouch... I really wasn't expecting her to attack me like that. I made a massive mistake to trust them. I can't rely on anyone. All by myself... I have to end the killing game. And even if I can't do that... I have to kill Teruko Tawaki. No matter what.
So, a woman attacked Xander unexpectedly, managed to overpower him and stab his eyes out with a fork, then presumably ran away. And this all seemingly happened in some form of killing game. And Xander already wanted to kill Teruko.
I doubt Teruko was the one who attacked Xander. Because Xander calls her out by name at the end, and also because, how would Teruko be able to overpower Xander? Unless you “divine luck” your way into an explanation, I just don’t see it. In any case, it’s probably a different woman. Without knowing anything about the previous killing game, we can’t know much about this situation.
However, the fact that Xander already wanted to kill Teruko here is notable because it seems to imply this killing game happened after Mai's death. After all, Mai and Teruko had a good relationship, right? So Xander wouldn't have a grudge against her until after the HPA Operation fell through. The final conclusion here is that Teruko somehow caused Mai's death, which somehow led to the pre-series killing game. I think? Obviously, it's impossible to say anything conclusive here, and I don't even know what exactly the connection would be between Mai's death and the previous killing game.
And with that, we finish discussion of Teruko.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Quick Side Note: The Mai-stermind Theory
I’m not funny.
So, in case it isn’t clear yet by the fact I keep assuming she's dead, I don’t think Mai is the mastermind of the killing game. I’m aware it’s a possibility, seeing as she’s very mysterious and all that, but frankly, I just have never seen anyone seriously bring up this possibility, since there’s essentially no evidence. It’s also important to note, even if she is a mastermind, she can’t be the only mastermind, since we know one of the participants of the killing game is a mastermind as well.
To be fair, I did notice some connections to MonoTV while researching. Like I mentioned at one point, they’re the only characters without any highlighted words in their subtitle quotes. And the secret quote in MonoTV’s page is “Her name is Mai Akasaki”, but frankly that feels a bit too… unsubtle. Also... no, actually that’s kinda it.
I’ve also seen some people attribute the “teacher” speech to Mai, but I really don’t think that’s her. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, it’s the text in the code of the About page for DRDT on Tumblr. Here’s a post about it by delightfullydiscordant. I won't go into their theory on it, since it's unrelated to Mai. As you'll see, there’s nothing intrinsically relating the speech to our girl, and nothing in the text suggest she’s the one speaking, so I don’t think it’s related.
With what we know of Mai, I don’t think it makes sense to call her the mastermind. I’m only bringing it up now to be thorough, and because I didn’t know where else to put it :v
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Other Characters, Miscellaneous Connections
Essentially just me talking about all the characters I haven’t covered yet, to see if any of them could have a connection to Mai or the HPA Operation than what may seem at first.
Already talked about: Xander, Teruko, David
No Evidence of Connection Beyond ‘Classmates’: Rose, Arturo, Levi, Hu, Nico, Ace, Arei, Min
What this means is that while it’s technically possible these characters are related to Mai and the HPA Operation, right now we don’t have any indication of it. Sorry. That doesn’t mean I don’t have things to say about them.
Arturo is usually so mean that, honestly, the fact he says anything positive about Mai at all makes me wonder if he may actually be related. Reminds me a bit of David’s quote, I guess. But maybe I’m just biased because I want this guy to be plot-relevant.
I guess Levi mentioning the tattoo in his line could be important, but unless he has the tattoo too (which is possible I guess, but I don’t quite see it), I don’t know what it could mean.
I could actually see Hu’s and Ace’s lines implying a connection to the HPA Operation, honestly. Seeing as they’re some of the only people who actually talk about her in the past tense, I think it’s possible they were involved. Hu would want to help Mai if she felt she “wanted to keep everyone safe”, for what it’s worth. I sorta hope Hu is plot-relevant too.
Even if Mai is talking to Arei in her current subtitle quote, I don’t see much evidence Arei would be involved in the HPA Operation.
You may be wondering about my old theory about the Sleepy MV and how it could tie back to Mai, and while I still think it's a possibility, I frankly don't believe it anymore. It requires a very specific reading of the song which I don't think is entirely accurate, and there isn't actually much connecting the MV to Mai. I still think Min's line being so overly insistent on Mai being "an average girl with nothing special at all about her" could imply their relationship may have broken down because of the HPA Operation, which makes sense. If Xander engineered the plan, obviously Min will dislike it on principle. But that's probably me trying to make Min more plot relevant than she actually is.
Only Connected via “Original Killing Game” Theory: Charles, J, possibly Ace and Arei
What the hell am I talking about? In the Color Theory reblog I mentioned earlier, I described a wild theory that quite a few of the characters we know were actually involved in that pre-prologue killing game, and we can learn who those characters are thanks to the word "original". Sound insane? It is. I won't go over the reasoning here, I'll ask you check the reblog I linked.
This is the "Original Killing Game" Theory, and it's one of the most far-fetched theories I've ever enginereed. But since it's sorta connected, I thought I'd mention it. The characters involved are Charles, Veronika or Ace, David, Teruko, J/Arei, Xander, MonoTV, Whit. I’ve already talked about some of these, and don’t think MonoTV is worth talking about, frankly.
So, why am I only bringing up Charles and J for now, as well as potentially Ace and Arei since they could actually be part of the theory depending on how you interpret the colors? Well, these are the only ones in the “original killing game” theory who I don’t think have any evidence of being connected with Mai any further. Since that theory is already insane to start with, and it’s possible Mai was already dead when that killing game started, I don’t think it tells us anything.
Although sometimes I wonder if J’s quote is talking about something other than Mariabella, but at the moment, I have no clue what that would be. So that’s still the likeliest possibility.
Eden: Eden
Eden, huh? In case you haven’t noticed, I’ve been sorta dancing around Eden’s line a bit, because… like, what in the actual fuck does it mean.
Eden: She kept calling the number, even though no one picked it up.
It’s such an odd line. It’s nothing like the other ones, which you’d think would make it significant, but it’s just… cryptic. I’m sorry, but while I think this probably means something, I don’t have a good answer of what it could be.
… Well, there is the one thing.
——————————————————————————————————
Crack Theory: Mai the Girl Kisser
This theory states that Mai is the girl mentioned in Eden’s secret, the one the Clockmaker kissed.
See? Theorizing’s easy! Just grab a random character we don’t know anything about, and slap Mai on top of it like a bandaid!
I’m aware the dev has sorta poked fun at people like me who see an unknown face and instantly jump on Mai, but at least this one has a bit more reasoning. Mainly, that I just don’t know what else Eden’s quote could be referring to.
Consider this concept: Eden and Mai kiss at some indeterminate point before HP, and Eden freaks out. She gets extremely worried about how Mai’s going to react, and she runs away. Mai tries to contact her afterwards, but Eden was avoiding her. Still, “[Mai] kept calling the number, even though no one picked it up”.
Is this essentially just fanfiction at this point? Practically, yeah, but I have nothing else.
On the insane off-chance this is true, it would come with certain implications. It would mean Eden and Mai had met before going to HPA, which is… uh, something. If it helps, that would mean their relationship would have a “new beginning” at HPA, and Eden’s character has some themes of new beginnings. Her birthday is on December 31st, so New Years, and her favorite color is daffodil yellow, when daffodils represent new beginnings. It’s small, but it’s there.
(And if you know who I am, you know I believe Eden killed Arei to reunite with the girl of her secret (long story). Mai helps here because of course she would have enough rizz to make a good girl go bad, have you seen how everyone talks about her? She would get all the bitches!)
Anyways, again, this is extremely silly, but it’s sort of the only thing I can think of for Eden’s line, so for now, have it. If anyone’s got better ideas, I’m more than open to hear them.
——————————————————————————————————
A Connection is More Plausible: Veronika, Whit
In no particular order, these are the characters, apart from Xander and Teruko and David, which I think have an actual chance of being involved with Mai and the HPA based on what we know so far. Let’s go a bit more in depth.
Veronika’s Peculiar Problem of Popping Up Fucking Everywhere
It is insane how many times I’ve brought up Veronika in this post without being able to pinpoint why exactly she keeps appearing. She shares the color red with Xander and Mai in my version of Color Theory, though admittedly that may just be her hair. She’s in the “original killing game” under that theory. Hell, she’ll show up again when I talk about Whit.
But by far, the most concerning thing about her is her line in the Mai page.
Veronika: A girl who didn’t foresee the consequences.
I’ve mentioned this line before, of course, because it’s clearly related to the HPA Operation’s fallout. In fact, it’s the only line apart from Xander’s and MonoTV’s which explicitly reference it. This could easily imply she was involved somehow, either as someone helping Mai and Xander, or actually going against them in some way. Whatever is more entertaining for her, I imagine.
There are two issues with this. One, I cannot discount the possibility that Veronika got that creepy and ominous line because she’s the creepy and ominous character, and it doesn’t actually mean anything for Veronika herself. It’s a very real possibility.
Two, even if she is involved, there’s nothing we have which could help narrow down what she did. Again, she’s too unpredictable.
In other words, while I’m putting Veronika here with the vague idea that she could be connected to it all, I don’t have any concrete theories.
Though maybe I should address the one Veronika-Mai theory which exists, for the sake of completion.
——————————————————————————————————
Crack Theory: Veronika Is Mai
To be clear, I don’t believe this. It’s pretty clear to me that Veronika is her own character with her own backstory. But I still want to point out some connections to show you how insane I’m going writing this.
+They’re both the same height (5’8”) and have long red hair. This is enough for my prosopagnosic ass to confuse them if they change hairstyle. Their weights and birthdays are different, but weight can change and birthdays can be lied about. Their chest sizes are different, though, so I’m pretty sure that rules out this theory already.
+Speaking of birthdays, August 7th, Veronika’s birthday, happens to be 7 months away from Teruko’s birthday on January 7th. 7? Lucky number. Lucky Student. Word association -> Mai.
+Veronika covers both her arms, so no tattoo would be visible.
+Veronika asks Teruko if she would recognize her were she to wear contacts, a wig and different clothes. This could imply she is, and would therefore be Mai.
+Her pose in the character profiles is vaguely similar to Mai’s, but flipped. This is interesting because no other character’s pose is even close.
+She wears a small earring given to her by someone named “Alyssa Belyaeva”. This by itself means nothing, but the earring is a small green triangle she considers a good luck charm. Luck?! And triangles have three sides. 3?! That number we said was unlucky and related to Mai before? And green. Green?! Teruko! Auasfruryg- <- short-circuiting from thinking too much.
+Veronika has plain brown eyes. Come on, have you seen this cast’s eyes? Those are absolutely contacts.
+Her hidden quote about people being broken could refer to the hopeful Mai being broken into Veronika as a result of the HPA Operation’s consequences.
Yeah, most of this is pretty silly, but again, I don’t think this theory is very likely, so I’m just poking fun at how suspicious Veronika can be at times.
——————————————————————————————————
Whit and Tetraphobia
At first, it doesn't really seem like Whit is too involved in this. I mean, his quote is pretty inoffensive:
Whit: A girl with many friends.
And sure, he is the Original Killing Game Theory, but even if that's somehow true, it's no guarantee he's involved in the HPA Operation or anything. Nothing really seems to connect him to Mai...
Except the one thing.
Tumblr media
XV. Remaining ignorant, isn't that "happiness"¹⁵?
XV is Whit's Roman numeral, and again it isn't too strange on its own. Other than being the only numeral to ever show up alongside another numeral, in this case Veronika's because of course it's Veronika's.
The issue is the background text. It's hard to see, but there's faint pink text saying "subtract 4, due to tetraphobia⁴". Footnote 4 simply defines tetraphobia, which is the practice of avoiding the number 4, as it's considered a number related to death, and is seen as unlucky. Of course, the fours themselves are colored green for Teruko, presumably.
But the important part is, what does this mean? The most straightforward idea is to subtract four from the numerals on screen, or perhaps the footnote?
For the footnote: Subtracting 15 - 4 = 11, quick math, and that's the footnote which talks about being an only child and that (presumably) Diana Chiem never existed. I... don't think that makes too much sense for this scene, frankly.
For Veronika's numeral, subtracting XIV (14) - 4 = 10. That's Min's numeral, which shows up in the part of the MV most directly tied to class trials. This could simply imply she enjoys the trials and the bloodshed, and it also looks somewhat mastermind-y, but that's not really new for Veronika. You could also do this one more literally, taking out 4 from 14 and ending up with 1, connecting her to Xander, and at this point I'm not surprised.
But, of course. The tetraphobia line only shows up when Whit's numeral does, and it's colored in the pink associated to him via Color Theory, though of course, being background text, the tetraphobia line isn't actually included in that theory. That would seem to imply it's about him, right?
Well, in the same vein as before, if you subtract XV (15) - 4 = 11 (XI). And... that's Mai's numeral, attached to the line "God is dead". So, uh-
Sub-Theory: Shot Through the Heart, Whit's to Blame
The idea that maybe Whit was somehow involved in Mai's death. By the end of the series, I'm gonna end up blaming half the cast for this, apparently.
So, the tetraphobia thing is the most straightforward piece of evidence towards this possibility, but there's a bit more. For one, in the recent Q&A, it was stated that Whit's least favorite color is gray because it's boring, and that's the color of Mai's numeral. Remember how I pointed out it's actually one of the only numerals to be colored? Yeah.
Furthermore, Whit's numeral appears right before Mai's, but that may just be the way the song works out, since LGI wasn't made for DRDT. However, remember that "become brainwashed: go do it!" line I said was directly after Mai's numeral? Yeah, the word brainwashed is color coded pink, connecting it to Whit via Color Theory. And, if that wasn't enough, in the section for footnote five, the one with the Japanese characters? The word blood shows up, in pink, as the song speaks about revolutionaries. Yes, DR blood is pink usually, but there is red blood in the MV (near the snake), and the characters canonically see it as dark red (since that's the stated reason why dark red is Xander's and Charles' least favorite color). My point is, the dev could have made the blood red there, and/or just written the symbol for blood in red, but since it's pink, Color Theory ends up connecting it to Whit.
All of this could point to Whit as another culprit of Mai's death, but don't jump to conclusions. For one, since we have no clue about the circumstances, perhaps he only accidentally caused the death. We've seen that Teruko is also likely to blame in some way, probably in a similar fashion. And because it may have been accidental, this also doesn't mean Whit has to be the mastermind. It makes him look oddly suspicious, sure, but nothing too damning.
And of course, there's a huge chance I'm reading too much into things. There are other explanations for brainwashed and blood, and it's still totally possible that the tetraphobia thing refers to Veronika or even the footnote.
A Summary of Her Story, So Far
To end things off, I'll go over everything I've concluded with what we know so far, though of course I know we're missing a lot, and that a ton of this is also probably wrong. Here's how this is going to work.
Regular text means this is something we pretty much know for sure.
Italics means it's a theory I'm quite convinced of.
[Brackets mean I'm relatively unsure about something]
*Asterisks mean the theory is insanely unlikely, and it can probably just be assumed false*
{Braces are for flavor text, you can ignore this for theorizing purposes}
Closing Argument
>Mai was born February 1st, 20--, to a nice family she loved. We know little about her childhood, but [it's possible she was friends with or somehow got interested in a girl named Teruko Tawaki. However, fate kept them apart for years]. But Mai was not easily deterred, she would search for and find Teruko, no matter what.
>*As she searched for Teruko Tawaki, she met a girl named Eden Tobisa. They kissed, but Eden freaked out and ran away. Mai tried contacting her, she kept calling the number, even though no one picked it up.*
>At some point before Hope's Peak, her and Teruko reunited. *Even when Teruko couldn't recognize her and even struggled to remember her name*, Mai still remembered everything that was important for Teruko, as she always did.
>Mai and Teruko, loving each other so much, decided to get matching floral tattos on their arms. White camellias, a symbol of adoration and respect.
>{But fate really didn't like to see them together.} Soon, Teruko received a letter, teling her she was chosen as the Ultimate Lucky Student of Hope's Peak's [West Class 27]. This was uncharacteristically good luck for Teruko, who before had to hop around schools, always stealing uniforms, just to get an education.
>{The problem?} At the same time, Mai received a letter that she was invited to join Hope's Peak's East Class 27 as their Ultimate Lucky Student, on the other side of the country. Mai never really cared much about Ultimates or Hope's Peak, {but Teruko insisted it was too good of an opportunity for either of them to pass up. They decided to keep in contact,} as Mai headed to East Coast Hope's Peak.
>Alexander Matthews is scouted as the Ultimate Rebel. David Chiem is scouted as the Ultimate Inspirational Speaker.
>At Hope's Peak, despite being an average girl with nothing special at all about her, she quickly became a girl with many friends. She saw the beauty in everyone, and everyone agreed she had a bright future. Everyone confided in her, J even telling her about her mother, something which Mai kept secret, and told no one.
(Okay, maybe fitting in all the quotes isn't as easy as I hoped it'd be)
>*She even reunited with Eden, and they decided their relationship would have a new beginning*.
>However, she also met a very interesting boy: Xander Matthews. He had gone to Hope's Peak with one goal in mind: revolution. He confided in her, as they all did, his issues with Hope's Peak and the system it was built upon. Mai was revolted by the truth, and asked what she could do to help. She couldn't stand to do nothing. She wanted to keep everyone safe.
>With that, the HPA Operation started.
>They started small; stealing a few documents here and there. [But their plans grew bolder over time.]
>[Along the way, they discovered something shocking]. David, who always spoke of change and hope, was hiding his true feelings. He didn't see himself as human, not being able to relate to his peers as the others did. He saw himself as a manipulative bastard for lying to all the people he gave speeches to. He hated himself, and expected Mai and Xander to hate him, too.
>[But they didn't. Xander still saw the best in him, and Mai? Well, Mai forgives everyone. And to make him see the good in himself, they asked him to help in the HPA Operation]
>He didn't understand it, not really. The world wouldn't change, no matter what Mai and Xander told him. But even though he didn't understand, he still wanted to help them.
>As the popular Ultimate Inspirational Speaker, David had more connections and influence than a simple Rebel or Lucky Student. That meant he could offer things to the Operation the other two couldn't, even if it was through... less than moral means. But to David, that was no object. He would become a villain in pursuit of their dream, throw away his humanity for this ideal. It's not like he could have ever been human, anyways.
>*Not everyone was as receptive, though. Min in particular, after finding out about the plan somehow, got quite angry with Xander and Mai. It wasn't unusual for the Student and the Rebel to disagree, but Mai still didn't like it when her friends fought*
>Mai knew it was risky, she really did. But nothing could prepare her for what was about to happen. She didn't foresee the consequences.
>[When Teruko was visiting], the HPA Operation faced a huge issue. A plan gone wrong, a variable miscalculated. And, with Teruko to blame, [and possibly Whit] *and Veronika, who got dragged into this mess at some point*, Mai died.
>{Chaos ensued. Mai's death broke the class, reverberating through the students like the rumbling of a fallen god's corpse. "It's all your fault!" Xander screamed at Teruko,} hiding that he felt responsible for her death as well. After all, he was the one who had dragged her along. And now, he was once again left alive to mourn a death he himself narrowly avoided. Talk about survivor's guilt.
>[One thing led to another, and a killing game was set up]. Xander and Teruko got stuck in it, with Xander losing his eye as he tried everything he could to end the game, or at least kill Teruko. *Charles, Veronika/Ace, David, J/Arei and Whit might have also present in this killing game, ran by MonoTV.*
>More stuff happened, and finally, the students all lost their memories and wound up in the killing game we follow throuhout the series.
>A shattered dream, a tragic fate, a broken hope. Though mystery continues to shroud her existence and her role in the story, for now, this is my final conclusion on the story of: Mai Akasaki, the Ultimate ???
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Holy hell this was pain to write. I don't want to make another post this complicated for a while. Jesus. This broke my soul.
Anyways, I hope you enjoyed my insane ramblings, if you really were strong enough to put up with my madness for this long. I still want to hear any thoughts you may have, since this character is really interesting and cool and fun to theorize about.
But for now, I leave. Thanks for reading! If you made it this far, then just know, Mai would be proud of you! And you should know, because you should practically be a scholar on her by now. Take care!
165 notes · View notes
kerubimcrepin · 20 days
Text
Exploring dofus-le-film.com and talking about movie-related events. [PART 1]
Tumblr media
This will not go into the goldmine that is the interview Tot and Xa give about Joris. This is just a little, self-indulgent post. I hope you will enjoy it nevertheless.
Tumblr media
The first silly action I took was extracting the site's icon and enlarging it in Aseprite, so here's your daily dose of cute official Joris pixel art. Anyway.
Tumblr media
I love how the movie blurb literally lies about Khan being Joris's life-long idol.
CHARACTER BIOS.
Most of them include the information we already know, so I will only be pointing out things I personally find interesting.
Tumblr media
For example - this art here depicts Joris's bald head under the hood as very round. Very useful info for us joris enjoyers. Reblog to slap his bald head, like to slap his bald head.
Tumblr media
(Hacks up blood) Deeply caring in nature... papa poule... It is the second time, when Kerubim is called that, in his character bios, and I would like you to remember are these different explanations of this word combo:
Tumblr media
I'm insane. I love him a lot.
Tumblr media
Bakara is a pleasure to have in class :)
Tumblr media
Anyway, I love how non-specific and non-alarming these character bios are. We can't scare the hoes by saying that beneath her cool exterior she wants to kill people around her and also drink 20 gallons of vodka, so "shy and stuck up" it shall be.
Tumblr media
Again, it's hilarious how non-threatening these character bios are, considering Lilotte's whole parent thing is basically: (substitute "women" with "kids with families")
Tumblr media
Coloring pages + Crayon Contest
A part of me wanted to be "haha, I colored all these coloring pages, for the Full Understanding of The Experience of this movie."
Tumblr media
Then I realized that, as a person who is making a Joris painted music video, and had drawn at least 1:07 minutes worth of artwork of him and some other characters of this movie, I would rather-- [remembers that suicide jokes are bad] take cactus for a wife, than draw him for this blog too. I'm sorry.
Tumblr media
Not much to be said about the contest, though this is epic:
Tumblr media
This little Joris can be found at the bottom of the "win some crayons" page. It's cute.
BLOGPOSTS
Tumblr media
This image was drawn for MIFA.
Tumblr media
I want to unpack what is occurring here:
Goultard is holding his dragon boyfriend rather gayly on the shoulder. Interesting.
One of the candles landed in Nox's face?
Atcham, Joris, and Lilotte were holding the cake together. Lilotte is sitting on Yugo's shoulder, while Joris is standing on Kerubim's arms. It is reasonable to assume that Yugo turned to the camera, which made Lilotte turn as well, which made Atcham fall, which made Kerubim step away, and the only people carrying the cake who are still even a bit happy are Joris and Yugo.
Adamai is getting ready to catch Joris when in like 5 seconds all of them are going to be tumblring down Atcham-style.
Incredible. But this illustration is not the only gem that Annecy has brought us!
It also brought us more of Atcham being cool and awesome.
Tumblr media Tumblr media
I'm insane.
There's more rare art here: these t-shirts featuring designs from a fan contest.
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
They were made in limited numbers. I'm including them here because we don't exactly have copies of the artwork, and I am insane about preserving art. It might be somewhere — but that somewhere is probably 2016 french facebook, so as far as I'm concerned, trying to seek these out is a lost cause.
Exclusive Merch
Tumblr media
There were playing cards, and I am happy to report we DO have artwork for them in HD:
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
And also, here's a slightly higher definition little game sprite esque Joris:
Tumblr media
This is the future crepinjurgenites want.
Kerubim VS Atcham Rigged Pet Contest
Tumblr media
I am sad to report that Atchamheads have lost again, in this rigged contest. Imagine asking:
Would you like a fluffy guy you have watched an entire series about, or this bald guy who appears twice in the franchise?
At the very least, this gives us a canonical kitten Atcham design.
(Also, both of them were added, jsyk... Still salty though.)
Maliki Art
Tumblr media
Maliki is a webcomic not made by Ankama, but with a long relationship and connection to Ankama due to being published by them in the past.
It's cute, really.
38 notes · View notes
Text
Bye to Wind and Lightning
TLDR: I AM WHINY AND IM GOING TO MOVE BLOGS TO A SMALLER ONE WHERE NOBODY KNOWS ME. EITHER @kikuneesama FOR GENERAL STUFF OR @konohamaru-sensei FOR ANIME STUFF.
Tumblr media
Did you know that in 2020 when the pandemic held us all in a chokehold I decided to reread One Piece and Bleach, but consciously decided not to touch Naruto, as if I knew that I'd be sucked in real bad if I read it again? I was right. In 2021, I randomly thought "No, I will read it now" and then I did and boom I talked about nothing else for that summer and to channel my thoughts I made this blog right here separate from my main and not as a sideblog. I wanted to start completely over at a different place.
I had a terrible summer in 2021, constant mental breakdown. I don't want to bore you with the details because you don't care, but just being back doing the stuff I loved when I was 16 was such a blessing. I was truly happy in the first months here, especially with the discord servers and the oc talk and the friends I made. My boyfriend commented on it all the time, that I looked so very happy. And I was! But these things never stay.
The problem with me is, I want community, I want to talk headcanons and to bitch about characters I don't like and promote ships I love and cry and laugh and hug all of you for liking the same things as me and at the same time I'm terrified of rejection, of people hating me, of people spreading lies behind my back. I guess school does traumatise you in some way.
I can't survive in a cutthroat fandom like this one, I take things too personally too quickly. I don't understand that if you, a normal person with your own wishes, likes a thing I don't like or dislike a thing I like it doesn't mean you automatically hate me. You are just a different person and that is ok! It's not you. It's me. NO I'm not just saying that. It really is me.
Did you know that when I started out here I didn't tag my stuff? Especially not my OC stuff (and I still rarely tag it). The fear that someone might find it, hate on it, send me hate, make fun of it etc, sits so deep that I rather have my work not be seen at all. Yet, I need the attention to keep going because without the reblogs and likes and asks I feel like an utter failure.
My boyfriend says I am not good with the public eye on me and he is probably right. I envy those of you who can stand their ground and be self confident in their arguments. I envy those who don't care what others say, who can block and move on, who don't get a knot in their stomach when someone they had nice interactions with unfollows. I shouldn't care, but I do.
On my first tumblr blog I never looked at my followers, I never got asks either or was deep in fandom or anything, but I reblogged my stuff and posted my thoughts and was feeling good. I love tumblr, its the best social media out there for a reason. Yet, with this one, I got so self conscious about my followers, about what I can and can't say. If my presence would offend or not etc etc.
I was kinda looking forward to 1000 Followers because it is an insane number, but now at 997 I'm throwing in the towel. Isn't that like giving up before the finish line? Maybe, but I'm so tired and I want to be unknown again. I want to be nobody again. I want the naruto fandom to move on and forget I was ever here.
So I'm leaving! Sorry, I guess! At least for a good while. I might be back to finish the requests still pending on this account and then disappear again, but I don't know if I'll ever permanently come back. If you by any chance really, really really care about my presence, you can find me under @kikuneesama as a general spam blog with all sorts of things and under @konohamaru-sensei for anime-only stuff. This is also where my Naruto posting will be moving.
If you are a moot I will follow you from Kikuneesama again.
Thanks, I guess, for over two years of hanging out. I'm sorry I am such a lame loser.
One thing is for sure: Though I am moving to a blog named after Konohamaru, Kakashi will always be my love.
tschüss und auf wiedersehen, ~Nisi
PS: I'll q this a couple of times so I'm sorry if you have to see it a few times in the next few days. I swear I'll be gone after that.
38 notes · View notes
Note
Thank you, I loved your PSA. I am a minor in psychology so I certainly know about confirmation bias. Also what do you, yourself, think about Elysia?
I'm disappointed by the change in direction her character suffered from between ER ch2 and 3, because it feels like very bad writing to me. I loved her a lot as a mysterious and morally gray character, but I'm not interested in her as a shallow "perfect" girl who has never done a single wrong in her life ever.
Off the top of my head (sorry it's mostly Mobius facts) she has committed identity theft, broke into her friend's computer to look at her files, how is that not wrong? She claims she only lied once in her life but... I mean... she's lied a lot, objectively? She lied about Kalpas being restrained by Aponia to get MOTH to agree to free him, and she lied to Mobius to steal her badge, for example. That already makes two!
It just feels like the game went insane and started lying to my face!
Her entire point in the first chapter of ER was that they had lived lives full of human joys and mistakes, which is an antithesis to the perfection they also try to slap on Elysia. She was a character who seemed to hide a lot pain, but then they made her smile into her entire personality, as if they'd forgotten it was a mask. Just... who's that??
I'm also disappointed because a lot of the setup from early ER just didn't have much payoff with the change. Why the mystery around her operation and Mobius forgetting things about it? Why did she disguise herself to steal Mobius's ID card prior to getting into MOTH? Why did she decide to go kill the Second Herrscher, and how did she know she could pull it off if she didn't know she was a Herrscher? Why did she ask Kalpas to be her pawn and why did she promise him a war to get him to agree? Goes on and on and on.
None of it makes a lick of sense with the "truth" they went with. They just got waved off or swept under the rug. I was theorizing about those so I'm a bit mad.
But... it's been what two? Three years? Man, I'm over it, I just want to enjoy what I have in the game now. Not like it's going to be changed even if I hated it.
23 notes · View notes
charmac · 1 year
Text
Okay so, I got high for the first time in awhile and I'm thinking about Sunny just, It's weird that I always do, near obsessively, have since October of 2022. It's just like, my favourite thing to love and to think about, but I have been watching for a lot longer than that. I'm just gonna delve on my pipeline from casual fan of this show to stan, cos I think it's interesting and I'm high so nothing is stopping me:
For over three years I've been watching this show on repeat, whenever I didn't have a scheduled show to watch, I'd pop it on. But I just watched it casually, normally, like haha funny bad people show kind of way (I am sorry). All I did was watch it over and over, sometimes see a funny viral Sunny Tweet and like it, and then the Podcast came out.
And it weirdly made me more into the show, more introspective about the characters. So I would interact on r/IASIP but they just, didn't really get it properly.
And then S15 aired and Reddit really didn't get it and Charlie Kelly was just this massive presence in my mind, and I wrote a silly little kidfic about him because I was just thinking and thinking. And Reddit didn't get it.
So I I tried to come onto Tumblr, but everyone shipped Macdennis and I. Did Not. like Dennis. I saw him how your average r/IASIP commenter sees him. (So sorry.) I thought shipping Macdennis was fun in a, like, asking Mac to get completely used and fucked over kinda way (again, so sorry). Imagine my shock walking into Sunnyblr with that idea. Tumblr liked Dennis.
So I just kinda did the Episodes on repeat/Podcast/Subreddit kinda vibe for awhile. And then I met Meg and talked to her, and I stood two feet away from Rob and I know it's cringey, lmfao, but something shifted further. I was talking obsessively to my bestie @macdennissurvivor and Twitter started showing me Dennis edits. And then I made a silly little Macdennis edit of my own.
Then I went to the live show in Philly. And the audience was miserable and oh my god none of them get it. But there's so much to get . And Glenn, wow, weird, interesting guy. (And he weirdly kinda clarified that Dennis wasn't straight.) The show was fine but the audience was miserable because none of them get it. They throw out lines and references and it's all a joke. But it's not all a joke, there's so much to get. They're not getting it. Please someone else get it.
And so I dipped my toe back on Sunnyblr. And I got more involved with Sunny Twitter and Nat (legal last name Paddysroyco) Tumblr user @boysareouttonight's Dennis edits were like the final nail in the coffin of being a stan.
I think something shifts when you are able to look past Dennis' facade and actually see the person inside, the character they won't let you see unless you really get it.
And the obsession begins, and continues, and is good to me, keeps me happy and everything here just tickles my brain and makes me engage and talk. And like there's real, actually insanely intelligent discussion on here and meta and analysis and theories and then there's the most cracked out post you've ever seen and then there's something that's somehow both and it's just something else.
I'm at an all-you-can-eat buffet after reaching into the depths of my cupboards for a month straight. And we're getting more, and a lot, and whatever it is is more content. Every frame, every title, every crumb we find, there's other people here who get it all and make it fun, in a way that's not tiring or eye-rolling or completely off the mark, in a way that keeps me full-steam rolling ahead and coming back.
This devolved a little, as thoughts do, but I am happy to be here, I guess. I'm looking forward to this fucking season and whatever lies ahead: whether it's dry for Macdennis or overwhelmingly wet, whether we get solid character development or some weird backsliding, a mix of both, if there's strange retcons or really fucking-good ones, any unexplained moments or looks or props, or expressions, I'm experiencing it all with people who get it. Maybe in a completely unhinged way, maybe in a crazy smart way, or a reasonably sober way, but always from a place of getting it.
We're getting Season 16, it's real, more to the story, more to piece together and layout and pick and prod and compare and re-tell (and re-write if you really want). In, like, 18 days. Fuck me up.
88 notes · View notes
theheromira · 6 months
Text
Nimona appreciation post (Part 4 of idk how many there will be)
Tumblr media
Sorry that took so long, I was a bit preoccupied with farming for Rizzley (Wriothesley in Genshin Impact) I'm just drinking some Tea and watching Nimona for probably the 50th time lol Sooo… here you go: Part 4 (again: GIF for attention)
Bal waking up, noticing the blanket, looking around, seeing the tea and candles (completely ignoring the hilt of the morning star behind te cup) and just sighing kind of content as if he wakes up like this often is just precious and supptly highlights his relationship with Amb and I just kind of love it, I guess
also Bal being awake and alert right away even tho he was just about to relax cause he prob thought he's with Amb and all is good and stuff is also kind of competent again
Nimona just vibing
"Go" by Santigold is just so good, how did I never heard of that one before?
also how Bal looks at Nim (prob) destroying his kitchen is funny as hell, idk
her eyes reflecting the lightning is a neat lil detail
Nim never bats an eye while she lies like this
also Bals reaction is soooo good, Riz Ahmed nailed this roll (all of the VAs did, but honestly: without him the movie wouldn't be the same)
first time Nim tells him directly not to be so gullible, but he remains so gullible
Breakfast Tacos
She dragged him in what form tho? If his head bounced on the sidewalk it probably couldn't have been her Gorilla or Horse form, I guess. What do y'all think?
"Totally happened."
"Evil Larry" is a much better name than the german version ("Böser Tiger" = "evil tiger" because one wird for evil in german is "bösartiger" and well, they took the pun but it sounds so stupid, idk… it isn't even a name)
Nimonas lil handgesture when she says: "That's a great villain name." also her face when she gets the idea for Evil Larry
"Never gonna happen.", he says with a very much Nope-Face "Whatever, Larry", she says without a fruk to give
Sick murderwall
I will not go into much detail about the contents of the muderwall here, but damn, the really didn't need to go that hard on those details
One thing I'm gonna cram in here tho cause I just saw the portrait of the queen: I recently read somewhere that they wanted to get Dr. Blitzmeyer (I hope I remember her name correctly lol) in the movie but ultimately scrapped her buuut they kept the design/color scheme for the queen and I just… Blitzmeyer helped and supported Comic!Bal, the queen helped and supported Movie!Bal (even if it's a bit of a different relationship, I guess) and that's kinda cute ngl. I kinda missed Dr. Blitzmeyer, she was my fav character in the comic and I was a bit sad that she didn't make it into the movie
Bals face (and probably the camera movement) when he remembers what happened when they broke out of the institute reminds me of some anime protag who goes a bit insane, but I can't remember a particular anime I feel remembered of
Bal always the knight, trying to get his sword when he feels threatened, even tho he doesn't even have it on him
the hand gesture to "Meatball" lol and also: very nice line delivery by Chloe Grace Moretz, she's also a big part of why I liked the character of Nimona (even tho I also like her design and personality, without a good VA a character can be not that likeable, if you know what I mean)
again with the eyes reflecting lightning, I love the lighting in this movie so much
she is in fact a massive, fire-breathing something
Bals brain just overheated and he decided to just roll with it and ask
She's Nimona. (one of my fav lines ever and I love that she get's to say that in at least one other scene)
I have a feeling that Bals answer to "I'm Nimona." ("That is not an answer.") is maybe something trans/genderfluid people get more than me (and def shouldn't cause why do they need to even get that? Why can't everyone just accept stuff like that?)
Bal getting at least one question is actually very nice of Nim ngl
also him not asking something about her but why she's helping him is kinda neat, I think he felt that that maybe would be a bit to much in Nimonas personal space atm
Bals eyes widen for just a second when Nim answers him and he remembers what situation he is in is kinda sad (btw. much of this movie wouldn't worked for me if they weren't so damn much animated/if they wouldn't be so much little details in the gestures, mannerisms and whatnot of the people)
him straight going to thinking-mode when looking at the murder.. I mean innocence wall
Bal looking sad at Ambs portrait is kind of a mood ngl
also him kind of forcing himself to look away (down), breathing in and then looking at the complete wall again is so very human, those charcters just feel to real
best photo of Diego (the squire)
Love how Nim wants to say kill him and stops herself when Bal turns towards her, without a doubt with a look on his face that says: Noooooo, bad shapeshifter
His reaction to "Let's got get him. You and me." is priceless lol
Bals hesitation (and probably inner monolouge) is kinda fun to see but also very undertandable, I mean: he knows her how long now? And even tho he redeems himself fast enough, here he is very much and very heavy still under the brain washing of the Institute and knows now that Nim is not human, so I kinda understand why he's so hesitant but he's desperate and she can (and will) voluntarily help him
Nim just rubbing salt in the wound, cause she knows exactly that he doesn't have much of a choice
He clearly wondered how she got there so fast and I love these kind of little reactions throughout the movie, they show how vigilant the character are and it feels even more real, cause let's be honest: if you're talking to someone who is like 10 steps away, you blink and then they are right before you, you'd also not gloss over that without so much as a second glance, would you?
love that Nim already moved from Sidekick-for-a-evil-villain to clear-his-name-and-be-a-hero-sidekick
Bal still not really trusting her but debating it
the shark transformation is just nice: the fluidity, the sound effect, Nims look, the lighting, the fact that you probably didn't really expect it, just *chefs kiss*
her "I'm not a girl, I'm a shark." is also very iconic, even tho it's used just one time in the movie; still one of the best lines ngl also her face when she says "But I'm not a girl." and the lil bite animation and sound is very nice
"Hey. You ever put your head in the mouth of one of these?", that line delivery and the animation for that and Bal already being done with the convo lol
"Should've just stayed in jail." lol
That's it for this part, I hope y'all are ok with the length, it really feels a bit smoother to write ^^ Have a good one and until next time :)
36 notes · View notes
bratano · 2 years
Text
Wicked Game - Klitz x Fem!Reader (NSFW)
Tumblr media
A/N: welcome back danonationnnn <3 i've had a couple of requests to write things for klitz so i decided to deliver finally haha. this was a really awesome change of pace from the eli sunday writing. also i'm sorry for how insanely raunchy this is? the sex appeal he oozes ig damn. also all characters are 18+ in this story!!!
Summary: You and your friend Klitz have a bit of a teasing war going on, and you're determined to win. Your secret weapon? A popsicle, of course.
Word count: 3227
Warning: NSFW!!, teasing, foodplay kind of, spit, implications of oral sex, jerk-off ment, kind of just klitz being a creep in general sorry this story is so raunchy
Klitz knew he had no chance with you just by the way you teased him. Sure, you were way better looking than him to most people and you had more experience, but none of that ever stopped him from trying his luck at flirting with other girls way out of his league. Hell, he got away with a couple of feels just from how good his game is. But when you teased him back the way you did, it always threw him off. Mainly because you were better than him at it. And you were about to prove it.
Recently, he had done quite the job teasing you in the mall the other day after you asked him to drive you there. You still hadn’t gotten your license, mainly because you were scared of driving, but also because you loved having the guys drive you around. It made you feel special, and none of them ever protested being seen with you around town in their cars. This particular time you had asked if Eli could drive you out to the mall because you needed to buy some new clothes, but he ended up having something come up and had Klitz take you. After mentioning you wished you had brought one of your friends to help give you some fashion advice, he ended up joining you to keep you company and give you some of his thoughts on what you bought.
Of course, Eli had lied because he’s been trying to get you and Klitz together since you had become friends with them during Freshman year. Any chance he could get to force you two to spend time together he would take, and it was just by luck that you invited him to hang out at the mall with you. The mall was super busy that day, and Klitz was trying to make sure he didn’t lose you in the crowds and was being insanely handsy. At one point while traversing through a sea of sweaty dads and sorority girls you felt his hands snake around you and put his hand on the extremely sensitive part of your stomach, right above where your pantyline began. Under normal circumstances you would slap his hands away and playfully cuss him out for trying to cop a feel, but this time it was different. All of a sudden you felt a heat between your legs and a wave of protection from Klitz fall over you. How were you supposed to know he could be so- I don’t know- manly? After seeing how red your face got after he grabbed you like that, he spent the whole rest of the time you were out with his hands all over you. God, and the way his eyes traveled up and down your body when you held up a shirt you liked or came out of the dressing room with an outfit you tried on was almost unbearable. You wanted to grab him by the collar of the stupid hand-me-down shirt he was wearing and drag him back in that dressing room with you, letting him do whatever he wanted to you. But he wasn’t that kind of guy, and you didn’t want things to start that way with him. Plus, you were going to get him back one way or another.
You had invited Klitz over for some help with your math, since he was way better at it than you and was the only one who didn’t make fun of you for not getting it (Matt was notoriously mean when it came to tutoring you). It was insanely hot that day, record breaking heat for the middle of April, and of course you had decided to work outside in your mom’s garden despite Klitz's protest that his allergies would flare up and his backpack would start to smell like grass. You didn’t care because it was all a part of your plan, and you knew he would do whatever you said anyways.
About an hour into the session, you look over at Klitz to see his brow beaded in sweat and his glasses slipping down his face. he looked extra cute trying to keep them pushed up every ten seconds, eventually giving in to the way they slipped down to the middle of the bridge of his nose where the hump you loved so much rose.
“Can’t we go inside? I’m sweating,” he said, lifting up his arm to show the massive sweat stain he had under there. You laughed, God that laugh drove him crazy. especially when he knew he was the cause of it, even for something as embarrassing as him sweating like a pig.
“But I don’t want to move everything inside, and I need the extra sun so I can look good for the beach trip we have planned in a few weeks.” You gestured up to the glowing yellow orb beaming down upon you.
He looked down at you and his jaw dropped from how gorgeous you looked. Typically he tried not to look at you as much as possible. Well, at least when you could catch him looking. But sometimes he would accidentally get a full view of you and he could have sworn he was looking at one of those paintings they showed in that art class he had to take last year- but somehow better. You had put your hair up messily a few minutes ago and little locks of your hair were cascading down to frame your gorgeous face. Your tank top showed your collarbones and cleavage that were now slick with your sweat. in just the two second look over he gave you, he damn near gave himself a raging boner.
That’s another thing that let him know he had no chance with you- his sex drive couldn’t handle it. Everyday he had to come home and immediately lock himself in his room just to rub one out thinking about what you wore that day. Despite being one of the hottest girls in school, you never wore anything too risqué. You wore typical clothes, which made you even sexier in his mind. Sometimes he imagined what you would look like in a tight cocktail dress, or lingerie, or one of his T-shirts… But the tank tops, old band t-shirts, jeans, the occasional midi skirt or low-cut blouse were so perfect for you. And Jesus Christ, the necklaces that you wore drove him mad. He loved when you wore more open shirts and they rested on your chest, giving him a little excuse to look down your shirt for a second. they perfectly accentuated your neck and jawline that he so desperately wanted to bury his face in. He fantasized sometimes about buying you a new necklace, maybe a choker or one that would land nicely in between your boobs, and help you put it on. The thought of seeing you wear something he bought you could’ve been his jerk-off material for the rest of his life for all he cared. He knew that if he had you to himself, all he would do is think about all the dirty things he would do to you- not that he wasn’t already doing that, but the fact that he could do those things to you would make him be unable to think about anything else
He was brought back to reality by you standing up and going inside, having entirely missed whatever it was you had said you were going to get. He sat perplexed for a moment until you walked back out the door with two popsicle packages now in your hand.
Oh. No.
“These will help cool us down for sure,” You said, holding out one of the white wrappers in your hand to a now ghostly pale Klitz.
Klitz swallowed hard as you handed him the frozen treat. He muttered out a quiet thank you before shuffling in his seat and gently opening the packaging and inspecting it in his hand. He wondered how big it was, maybe 4, 5 inches? Jeez, maybe he wasn’t as small as he thought he was.
You sat back down beside him, ripping yours open and staring at it for a second. Klitz tried to pretend like he wasn’t watching you, but it was obvious from the way his eyes continuously darted from his math book up to the rather phallic object about to be pressed passed your lips.
His breath hitched as you licked it from the base to the top. Already it was trying to drip from the way the sun was hitting it, causing a sort of urgency and hunger with your movements. You continued licking, cleaning up the dripping spots before returning to the top. you put it in your mouth, letting it pop as you pulled it back out again.
At this point Klitz wasn’t hiding that he was ogling at you. You looked so desperate and, while he hated the word, slutty eating it like that. He grabbed one of the papers off the table and tried to cover his bulging crotch nonchalantly, attempting to hide the now growing boner he was sporting. He weakly broke his eyes away from you and looked down at the book again, trying to remember through his now clouded brain what question you were on.
“Klitzy baby, why don’t you take your button-up off? It’s way too hot out here for you to be covered up like this.” You stuck your popsicle in your mouth and hollowed your cheeks to keep it from moving, and brought your attention to Klitz’s shirt.
His face burned. He loved it when you called him that. Eli had came up with the stupid nickname forever ago, but when you started calling him that he started to not mind it as much. He watched as the popsicle easily slipped into your mouth entirely, leaving just the end of the stick poking through your lips. His eyes practically glazed over at how full your mouth looked. Sheesh, if it looked this full with just that, imagine how full her cheeks would look with- He shook his head lightly to stop where he was going with that. He could think about that later, not while you were right in front of his already painful cock and about to touch him with those manicured, soft hands of yours.
“Uh- no i’m- it’s fine I don’t want to wrinkle it,” he stammered out. God, he sounded like such a fucking dork. But it was no use, your hands had already found their way to the buttons. You leaned forward, your face now at the level of his chest. After removing a few buttons, you looked up at him, trying to make eye contact after feeling his gaze on you. Locking eyes for a second, his pupils migrated as soon as he realized what he was looking at. Suddenly the tree behind you seemed really interesting. Was that a squirrel? Huh, did her mom get a new bird feeder? God she would look so good sucking my dick. I wonder where she would want me to come, in her mouth, on her face, her chest... I mean- shit. You unbutton the shirt the rest of the way, and rubbed his chest now only covered by his undershirt. He clenched his fists to keep from giving you a reaction, his knuckles turning white from how much strength he was using to keep himself together. you popped the popsicle out of your mouth again, flashing a smile at him.
“See? much better. if you hang it on the back of your chair it won’t get wrinkled. don’t want your mom to think we’re getting up to anything.” you winked, the insinuation practically making him groan. He would do anything to have a little secret rendezvous with you, just having you all to himself. Sure, he would much rather prefer that everyone in the whole world knew you two were together. Late at night he often imagined the way you’d hang on his arm like you did with your other boyfriends, and kiss him in the hallways in front of everyone. Usually PDA grossed him out, but the idea of you needing him so much that you were all over him in front of the whole school drove him crazy. Plus it would’ve made Eli insanely jealous. But he would settle for a secret if it meant that he had you.
All he could do was mutter another monotone ‘thank you’ as you leaned back in your chair and he removed his shirt the rest of the way, turning around to put it behind him and holding tightly onto the paper covering his fully erect friend underneath. He turned back around and looked down at some of the problems you had been working on to clear his mind. If there was anything that could make him soft, it was trigonometry. But then he noticed the little sounds you were making. The way your mouth sounded around the popsicle, your tongue swirling around it. the sloppy sounds of spit as you licked and sucked to prevent it from getting all over you. He could’ve sworn he heard you moan a little- no, he definitely heard you moan.
That’s when he realized his popsicle had totally melted all over his hands and his pants. A huge orange stain now resided on his thigh, dangerously close to his crotch. So much for his popsicle.
“Oh shit…” He mumbled, setting the remaining popsicle back into the wrapper and rubbing the stain with his non-sticky hand.
“Did you make a mess?” You giggled, finishing off the last bit of your popsicle with a bite.
He blushed hard. “Yeah, mind if I go inside and wash my hands?” He had already gotten up to hopefully get a second away from your performance. Maybe he could go in the bathroom real quick and rub one out.
“Wait, let me help you.” You smirked, gesturing for him to sit back down. He slowly but obediently sat back down in his chair, his brow furrowed at what exactly you meant by ‘help’ him. You loved that about him. He wasn’t like other guys who always wanted to be in control, or asked a million questions. He was okay with just listening, and actually doing what you say. 
You took his sticky hand in yours, leaning forward a little. You brought one of his digits close to your mouth, looking up at him with the most innocent eyes you could muster.
“Can I?”
Klitz couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t blink. And he definitely couldn’t respond to such a question without an embarrassingly pathetic and needy Yes, please please please please. He just gently nodded, his lips slightly parted in disbelief at the idea of the sight about to be displayed before him.
You smiled at his response, knowing the redness now on his cheeks wasn’t from the sun, but all because of you. You stuck your tongue out and slowly traced it from the bottom to the tip of his index finger, just like you did with the popsicle. You started maneuvering your tongue around, trying to get the entire finger removed of the sticky sweetness that once was the popsicle you gave him. His eyes watched as spit dripped down his finger and hand, now slowly trailing down his arm. Now satisfied with how clean it was, you moved on to the middle finger, then the ring finger, and finally his pinky and thumb. Licking them gluttonously with gentle slurping sounds and plenty of lustful looks up into his eyes, this time he was unable to break his eyes away. Then, for a grand finale, you slipped his first three digits into your mouth, now sucking on them gently and letting your cheeks hollow out. You never realized how long his fingers were and almost started gagging from their reach down your tongue.
Klitz couldn’t tell if he was in Heaven or Hell. He was watching his close friend who he’d wanted since he could remember do something more erotic to him than any porno or movie could’ve prepared him for. But all he could focus on was trying not to bust in his pants at how hot you looked with spit dripping down your chin and his fingers in your mouth. Eventually though you released his fingers, inspecting his hand to make sure you got all of the mess off of them.
“That clean enough for you?” You whispered, gently rubbing the back of his hand to your cheek.
“Y- yeah. Uh, thanks- I should probably go-“ He started, yanking his hand away and shoving papers into the pages of his book before closing it with his free hand.
“But you can’t go out with a stain on your pants like that, Klitzy baby. That’s embarrassing. Let me clean that up too.” You removed the paper from his lap, ignoring his now throbbing outline, and took his now spit covered hand and placed it where the stain was, gently placing pressure on it with your own hand.
Klitz felt dizzy and sick suddenly. A familiar feeling churned in the pit of his stomach, and he knew if you continued on like this he was going to cum. Hard.
You picked up his hand, the spit just making a vague handprint over the orange shape now in his pants. He sighed a little in relief, the pressure on his thigh lifting for a moment.
“Hmm, I think we need more spit. Here, this’ll make it easier.” Before Klitz could protest your head was now buried in his crotch, your wet tongue tracing along his clothed thigh. His dick jumped in his pants, and he was unable to hold back a quiet moan as you sucked gently on the stain. He looked down at the back of your head, now gently bobbing as you cleaned him. He couldn’t hold it back anymore. Before he knew it his hand was buried in your hair as he came in his pants, humiliatingly bucking his hips as he blew the biggest load of his life.
You sat up, content with your work, and smiled at him. That goddamn innocent smile after working him up like that could’ve made him cum again right there.
“Alright, there. I couldn’t have you going out like a mess… I’ll see you Monday, I guess. Oh, don’t forget your VHS tape you let me borrow last week on the porch, and tell your mom I said hi,” you smiled, getting up and walking back inside, trying to hold back your laughter at how cute and hot he looked unraveling for you like that. 
Klitz looked down at the now two giant stains on his pants- one yours and one his. He got up after gathering his stuff, took his shirt off the back of the chair and tied it around his waist to hide it so as to not embarrass himself any further and walked through the gate of your backyard out into the street. He couldn’t wait to get home to call Eli and tell him what just happened- or wake up. It all had to be a dream, right? Jeez, he was going to have to come up with something really good to get you back for this one.
824 notes · View notes
bentosandbox · 1 year
Text
More sporadic Lone Trail ramblings/TLs
prev one here this time more about the saria/kirsten/mumu trio and fanservice and the CGs in general spoiler warning etc etc
1
(From 4-END) Silence asks Saria if she's incapable of standing against Rhine Lab because deep inside she's the same as them and when she finally answers she's like
......I'm sorry, Silence. I did think about it thoroughly, but I can't give you a definitive answer. If Kirsten's experiment does touch a law that should not have been, then I will stop her, just like all the mistakes Rhine Lab has committed over the years-- they ought to be corrected, for I have always believed, the more power one holds, the less they should act recklessly. But if I were to go back in time, to the moment where Kirsten and I first met, when everything had yet to transpire...I would not have stopped her then, nor the birth of Rhine Lab. Yes, even if I knew that Rhine Lab would create this many Catastrophes, even if I could have predicted that Kirsten, Parvis and Ferdinand would eventually grow out of control-- I would still have stood together with them as I did.
(From 5-END) Mumu:
Did you know? Back then, Saria and I even picked out Kirsten's clothes. Yup, Saria cares about fashion more than she does! (Control truly only has 1[or 2 lol] things in her brain)
Yara (HR and the one responsible for Silence2's outfit) is basically kind of a parent figure to Kirsten 🥹 (so I guess they're a parallel to Silence and Iffy...)
uhm what else. the 3 of them used to go stargazing together and in a flashback mumu picks up a (shiny) rock
Mumu: Kirsten, see that rock on the ground? What does it look like? Kirsten: ...... Mumu: It's like Saria, right? It's so hard(like, firm) and yet it shines so 'perfectly'! Kirsten: ...Like the stars.
idk how global is going to do this part but in CN (and in JP?) Rhine Lab is literally 'Rhine Life' and mumu asks if Kirsten really wants to name it that instead of something like 'Rhine Physics' since she 'just wants to fly to the sky' and she says no, RL is good, because
I want to know what exactly are the stars we see. I want to know what lies beyond the barrier wrapping around us. I want to know...to see just what kind of land do we live in, if I can really take a look while standing among the stars.......Most of the answers I want are about 'us'.
oh one last one quote out of context for you fic writers Saria (to mumu): You're the same as always. The moment you get a little nervous, you forget just how frail your body is.
2
Love the idea of mumu being doc's bestie/oomfie but her and hol's lines/whatever else have irreparably damaged the AK ecosystem fr tbqhwyf and i thought skadol was bad lol. Now we'll have triple the NTR jokes great amazing wonderful (i launch myself into space)
'But its rationalized they're all the last of their kind!!!!' Justification doesn't fucking matter the damage has been done to their (perceived) characters i want my insane morally fucked up scientists not some generic lonely gf that steals the mc from other girls or some harem bullshit forgot what the term was and i dont want to know
Tumblr media
Imagine getting a generic ass cg of 'pov mumu is so sad and helpless and needs your help to rescue her!!' (this happens after and not getting one for the extremely kino saria and mumu fight where you find out more about just how inter-connected the 3 of them were (are…?) and saria is first overwhelmed by all the water and she remarks how shes has never seen water(from mm) this turbulent before but within the waves she cant find the elf and all she finds is are sad eyes and tears…I can only feel pity for Mumu fans who don't give a damn about shipping themselves for her. speaking of CGs...
3
AK is clearly inspired and references a lot of IRL media and it shows with their graphic design work (UI, motion graphics etc) here's a link to a Lone Trail analysis but....for some reason the story CGs are quite bereft of the same energy (dare i say passion even lol) imo
ofc CGs are to immerse you in the story etc etc and they're really pretty but
Tumblr media
how immersive is a fucking practically copypasted photobashed kirsten (the CG is very beautiful otherwise I love aZling4's rendering style sm.. probably my second favourite CG after the depressing 2nd lobby one you get post-ST4 where......shes also in the same pose.........motherfuckers)
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Like man could you not have posed him any other way than hand in pocket with average cosplayer photoshoot lighting
Tumblr media
this CG of hol almost getting rekt by saria is pretty weak imo that grip is non-existent nothing much to say (atm) about hol but that i love fanart where she looks/acts like a freak instead of (90% of fanart)
Tumblr media
saria literally just fell from almost space back to earth and she looks almost unscathed lol mumu's water can't possibly be that rejuvenating
Tumblr media
Maybe it's meant to be kind of incomprehensible but uh when the story went tonight the truth is finally glimpsed by humans for the first time or something I was like ....what is even happening in this picture lol
Tumblr media
idk like doing partitioned CGs like how limbus does it would be so good tbh sometimes all they just show is a face and its like ? all that space? I'm guessing the artists have to do the concept/compositions themselves and some just have fresher ideas than others or time constraints etc basically i would just love to see CGs that are references to kino movie shots or something, they love movies so much right??? what about some good cinematography????
Dont want to sound like im flexing my useless veterans card or whatever but like. im a day 0 fan, i played their OBT, i started my acc on day 1, i remember being so excited about this game being so different from the other mobages, i didn't like how GFL was becoming way way more fanservicey then so AK was like a literal noah's ark with a whole bunch of artists ive revered from my touhou days, and now seeing it (inevitably!) slide towards GFL and the average mobage has me like 'well im glad limbus exists they let their women wear pants and be irredeemably insane(looking at you talulah 🥲)'
regardless of all that complaining this might beat italiano perros for favourite event because i was one of those kids with a space phase and something about the trio's dynamic.... (brain chugging) something about water unable to move unshakeable earth (but it can soften though...) that in turn can never reach the sky you know you know just like how a tiger can never be on the same level as a dragon 'real' animal vs mythical
44 notes · View notes
dionysus-complex · 3 months
Note
hello! I read you're "predominantly a Romanist" so I'm not really sure if you can help me but I have this question bugging me for weeks and I thought some clarity from people more expert than me could probably be insightful, so here's the tea: many generations of Italian high schoolers have been taught that Sappho was the headmaster of some sort of college (the term used in lit history books is "thiasus", but I'm 99% sure this is some wild anachronism, and that if such institution even existed it was certainly not called that); according to Ye Olde Books, this thiasus was some sort of bon ton academy to prep young girls for womanhood and marriage, and Sappho's homoerotic poetry must be therefore viewed through this "socratic" lens. Herein lies the issue, that while there seems to be no ancient evidence to prove or disprove this fact, every Italian schoolbook I've stumbled upon either in high school or university never provided a source for this (they all mention the Souda which is problematic in itself, but even there it's only said that her pupils were so and so and so, not that she was actually the head of any formal institution). Plus, looking over on wikipedia, the Italian one takes the thiasus claim at face value without even giving a source (again), while the English wikipedia goes at a length to explain that this idea has no historical grounds and it's just a xix century suggestion. I've even stumbled upon this Maximus Tyrius rhetorician from the second century and he quotes Sappho's views on love and the women she loved, without explicitly saying they were her pupils or part of an academic circle.
So, here's my question: is this concept actually still taught in the Anglo world, and is there any substantial evidence for it? Is it just a weird little straightwashing lie that is still taught in my home country to try and justify any homoerotic reading of the Lesbian, or is there possibly any truth in it?
Sorry for the long ask but I'm going kinda insane here, and i thought one thing i could do is hear from some non Italians cause it's clear to me that all Italian texts are more or less a copypaste of each other on this subject; if you could please tell me anything about this I'd be so thankful, thanks a lot xoxo
Hello! It's been a minute since I've been seriously engaged with Sappho scholarship, but this is something I am familiar with.
The short answer is, no, as far as I know there is no real ancient evidence for it and the concept has generally been regarded as debunked in English-language scholarship since the 90s. The oldest source we have for the concept is the 10th c. CE Souda, which (as you mention) is deeply problematic for a variety of reasons, and it seems probable that the idea of Sappho's thiasos originates with one of the many Greek comedies about Sappho (Sappho was something of a stock character in Greek comedy, with the joke typically being her excessive (hetero-)sexuality rather than homosexuality). The idea seems to have been picked up by 19th century German scholars, and the argument for it relies on the testimony in the Souda along with apparent parallels between Sappho's expression of homoerotic desire and the homoerotic language between women and girls in Alcman's parthenaia, which do have a context of chorus trainer/trainee relationships. However, there is probably no good reason to assume that Alcman/Sappho parallels make for a strong argument considering that the texts come from entirely different city-states and social contexts. I do know that Renate Schlesier has argued for a much less heteronormative and IMO more plausible version of the thiasos idea, which is essentially that the circle of women mentioned in Sappho's poetry is not any kind of "academy to prepare (aristocratic) young women for marriage" but a circle of enslaved sex workers/courtesans (hetairai). Schlesier cites the fact that the female personal names mentioned in Sappho's poetry are all names that would typically be associated with enslaved women and hetairai, at least prior to the Hellenistic period, and considering that the symposium was probably the main venue for the performance of erotic lyric in antiquity this seems to make a good deal of sense.
I won't recommend the article that essentially debunked the thiasos idea on account of its author being a truly awful person for unrelated reasons, but I would recommend this excellent Eidolon piece on "Re-Queering Sappho" as well as Melissa Mueller's 2021 chapter "Sappho and Sexuality" in The Cambridge Companion to Sappho (link here, but probably requires a library subscription) which covers the history of the idea very well and presents a compelling reworking of the idea of Sappho's circle in a way that embraces rather than resists the queerness of Sappho's poetry.
8 notes · View notes
jinx-on-mars-19xx · 10 months
Text
Oooooh. Roxy didn't answer this because she's very done with the insanity and I'm over it too but at the same time... I don't think people realize what it does to people. Because of the shit last night I ended up with assault nightmares because that's how my brain deals with transphobic attacks. I just want everyone to see the type of humans that follow Megan. I think it speaks so much of her character.
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
I genuinely don't even know how to cover this point by point and you know I don't like negativity but this? Go fuck yourself. This is the most fake "apology" I've ever seen.
1. You had to have seen my page and my trans flag and my pronouns to make some of the jokes you did. You knew and you did it anyway.
2. You proceed to say "suck pussy juices" which... Do I have to say how that too is transphobic? Do you think I claim to have one? I mean I'd say you can suck my dick but I don't want you anywhere NEAR me. Ever.
3. I'm the least misogynistic person around, all my best friends are incredible women. But guess who likes to throw around that word to trans people? Terfs.
4. I have never seen someone be such a bully while "helping people be better humans". You sound like a lot of Christians I've met and that should say something to you.
I don't feel like picking this entire thing apart enough to go against every point. I didn't want to give this a moment of my life again because I genuinely hate being negative but this was too much. I'm truly horrified people like this exist. You speak of human decency but I don't think you've had a moment of it in your life. You remind me of a Trump supporter the way you can't question your goddess. That's the difference here, when Kells fucks up I say so. But when he's being hurt I back him up because people like you exist who let her spread lies about him.
Genuinely no one was even attacking her. @triplexdoublex made a tiny joke. Much in the same way I made a joke about Col's hairline. See how that works? We don't mindlessly suck his cock. Although...
But guess what? No one actually has to accept any nonsense replies! That's the magic of this being her or my blog. That's the magic of the internet. It's our personal safe spaces you're invading with your negative bullshit. I don't like being angry, it takes all my energy. You could have blocked Roxy or me but you didn't because you feed off this! You love hurting others. I'm sorry for you.
At least you can rest assured in one thing- you're exactly like your fucking idol. I hope that keeps you warm at night.
Edit: also... Did they imply it was bad to support each other? Like as friends? That's... Genuinely depressing. I'm sorry they don't have anyone to have their backs (see how easy this 'they' shit is?)
I've just got a lovely group of friends who I would protect because no one deserves getting attacked like that, and they obviously support me too. Trying not to make a platonic harem joke.
Who's personal life were we attacking? We were commenting about a public picture and if you think she didn't have input about it before it was posted you're fucking delusional. You're the only one attacking people's personal lives here and we're just defending ourselves.
19 notes · View notes
bellysoupset · 4 months
Note
hii happy 2024 <3
i know i’ve been mia for quite a while, i’ve been focusing on The Real World tm and i’m Tired.
ive been lurking and reading all the new fics though and I loved them so much!! absolutely dreading vince and wendy’s future. (him being soo happy with both his families is so heartbreaking, that choice must be tearing him up i know it). also jonah and lucas are soooo very siblings, i love them 🥰
and ooh i lowkey love that kit is a bad guy, even though i was hc-ing him different? I would love to know more about veronica! luke seems to revere her, but jonah wasn’t that impressed iirc? would love to know what happened there. also love that jonah is mad on luke’s behalf, we love the brotherly-ness of it all hehe
btw, apparently making 3d apartments is very time consuming, so i’ll send them to you when I can do them justice!🍄
ohh yeah and I totally understand the writing hot people thing. but!! your characters are insanely hot . jaw-droppingly so. my bisexual brain breaks every time i think of them.so if you wanted to write that more, i’d be the first person in queue to read them 🍄
Hi 🍄! I'm sorry holiday season is kicking your ass babe, I hope 2024 treats you better and you get to Rest ™.
Oh man, the Vince dilemma has been eating me up, I cannot make up my mind on the outcome. (Spoilers: i keep bouncing between Vin leaving for good, Wen/Vin breakup with him back in Maine anyway, no Wen/Vin breakup but Rough ROUGH patch)
About Veronica, Luke's view is that he never really got to be near his mom. She was caring when she was home, but more often than not she was out at work and when she did fall sick, suddenly he got to spend a whole year with her and, while obviously taking care of someone terminally ill brought him a lot of trauma, it also made them bond like crazy, hence why he really reveres her image and misses her loads.
Jonah's POV though is that Veronica was a workaholic parent who was rarely home, better than Kit but not by much, and that she only conveniently started giving a crap about Luke once she was put in bed rest and needed a family member to take care of her. He doesn't forgive her for allowing her 17yo son to burden the sole responsibility for her well being, when that should've been on her husband.
The truth, of course, lies somewhere between these two takes.
And don't stress yourself about the apartments! Send them whenever, if you can, its totally fine if you cant.
7 notes · View notes
deathssunshine · 1 year
Text
*Jumin Han and Victor Li cross over Head Cannon*
🤍A cross over of Jumin (mystic messenger) and Victor (Mr love queen's choice)🤍
~Description: I never really saw any fan fics out there of victor and jumin crossing over. I think they would be good friends in all honesty.~
Warning: bad language, two idiots being two idiots, jumin driving 😟 and victor almost dying several times. I tried to be serious for four dot points but ended up failing on the fifth, my shit taste in humor I'm sorry if the jokes are that bad 😭, SOME INFORMATION IS PROBABLY WRONG LMAO
Genre: man I love guys tits, I'm just bored
Word count:
Game: mystic messenger, Mr love queen choice
Pairings: no pairing just them being best friends
Character: Jumin Han and Victor Li
Tumblr media
*Victor Li and Jumin Han cross over*
When they first meet it's for business reasons. Let's just say their fathers used to be good friends in university and haven't seen each other since then. They met at LFG for the first time and instantly knew they would get along. They shook hands and introduced themselves "I'm victor Li" "nice to meet you I'm Jumin Han".
From there they would go out to souvenir to get to know each other on the request of their fathers.
Earlier that day victor had made croissants that were still in the oven by the time he got back. He pulled them out of the oven and smiled at how good they looked. He then cut the croissants in half and put the best ham and cheese around and put it between the croissants. He brought the plates out to jumin and asked Mr mills to bring the coffee he had made.
They talked for a bit and jumin really admired victors cooking.
Jumin then went into a 30 minute rant about his cat Elizabeth the third.
"She sheds 3 to 28 strands of fur a minute" Jumin says proudly as he was showing victor shakey images of Elly. "... Why would you even count that? And why are you talking about her as if she is your daughter?" Victor would respond looking at the man as if he were insane. "Well first off, because she's my daughter and second of all, because she's my daught-... That reminds me of a conversation I had awhile ago about making scarves out of cat hair" "fucking what" "I should start looking into that again" "please shut up"
Jumin would then offer to drive (😟) victor somewhere, claiming he saw a nice place in the way to LFG. He would use the car driver Kim was using which was a loan and is great for city roads. At first it wasn't so bad, just a little rusty but not too bad for victor to worry over it. But then he takes a detour and drives off road onto a nature path somehow not crashing the car as he turns on the radio for it to be on a highosh volume where they have to raise their voice for each other to hear. Victor clings on for dear life starting to worry "How did you get your licence!" Victor yells as he thinks of any possible ways to get out. "Oh! It expired actually! Around I don't know.. 2 or 5 years ago?!" "WHAT" Jumin smiles as he turns the radio up even higher. The song playing is free bird specifically the "free bird yeah*guitar solo*" part which is at the very end of the song.
As the guitar solo plays jumin ends up driving off the cliff and they both end up in hospital 🤍
After recovering the two hang out again at the penthouse jumin is staying at. "I don't know anymore victor.. it just feels loose?" Jumin says standing in front of Victor, in only a bathrobe. "Why would your dick feel loose? It's not like it's screwed in. Are you missing a nut or something?" Victor says with a cocky grin. "Maybe.." he says. A nut and screw falls onto the floor then metal dick falls and all they can hear is the metal pipe sound. A rocket then shoots out of the tip and into victor sending him back to the hospital.
They become best friends and victor has this bathroom where they can shit AND arm wrestle at the same time!
Tumblr media
How sweet is that!
Their cats would definitely be good friends too. Maybe they might fall in love.
"are you gay?" "Fuck you victor."
Lol thanks for reading -etchartfan
33 notes · View notes