Eimmet High...temmiE high. OMG!

Part 28 || First || Previous || Next...

--Full Series--

Next update may take...much longer! I have finals and an internship and not to mention I have to draw- A LOT :')

The show currently on had a bunch of stuffed shirts sitting at a round table. ["...my esteemed colleague, Professor Newell, gives too much credence to the ex-Avengers' education. I simply don't believe they all read and fully comprehended the document they were rejecting. Steve Rogers had a high school diploma and one year of art college."] Steve curled his lip. ["That doesn't mean he's illiterate," Newell, a brown-haired man with glasses, said. The other man, his tight coils of hair salt and pepper gray, raised an eyebrow. "As a lawyer, I'd be the first to say legal documents are needlessly complex, but no lay person can just sit down and read a 1000-page legal agreement and absorb the intricacies with nothing more than a high school education from the 1940s. Not without help." Newell ceded the point with a nod. "And Wanda Maximoff is a street orphan and doesn't even have that. Ditto Clint Barton, who grew up in a traveling circus. The Ant Man has an engineering degree, which makes me think he would have ample education to comprehend the Accords, but he had little time to do it in—only the flight to Germany, and investigators say he was likely shrunk and in Clint Barton's pocket, as there's no evidence of him on the passenger list, but he suddenly appeared at the Leipzig/Halle airport. It's questionable he bothered to shrink the Accords with him or bring the necessary resources to decipher all the legalese."] Scott got up and left the room. Wanda curled up and hugged her knees to her chest. Steve remembered the hasty conversation he'd had with Scott before the battle. Scott had no idea about the Accords back then. He thought they were there to fight over killer assassins. Steve rubbed his forehead. ["That leaves only Sergeant Sam Wilson, a man well-educated by the armed forces. I wondered what made him reject a document that his own government and one hundred and sixteen other countries supported, and then I read up on Lieutenant General Ross' record. Any man who has served in the military and heard of Ross' abuse of his own forces and how he used his own daughter as bait in pursuit of The Hulk would have zero respect for the retired general and Secretary of State. Ross was spearheading the US support of the Accords. Whether or not this influenced Sergeant Wilson's decision to reject them, I cannot say."] "This is bullshit," Clint said, obviously fuming. "I didn't need some stupid diploma to tell me the Accords are a shitty idea." ["You haven't said anything about the Black Widow," the moderator said, shifting his papers around on the big desk. "Ms. Romanov is an interesting case. Raised and educated by the top-secret Soviet training program called the Red Room, the Black Widow supported the Accords at first. She appeared to recognize their necessity, but then during the fight at the airport seemed to run into an issue of allegiance in fighting her friends. Understandable, I think. It's why the Avengers should never have been sent to contain the renegades. But who else could battle that sort of might? "In any event, it appears to be no coincidence that the Avengers who sided with the Accords all have master's degrees or higher." "Or much higher," the mediator said, abandoning neutrality. "Lieutenant Colonel Rhodes as a master's in engineering as well as officer's training, Stark has multiple doctorates, and the Vision is said to have access to the sum of all human knowledge. The King of Wakanda obviously has the finest political education as a leader of his nation, and I understand he is also an engineer." "Nothing is known about the Spider-Man," Newell said. "No, that's true. He'll have to remain an enigma." "But it's your contention that education had something to do with renegades choosing not to support the Accords," the mediator said. "I think it's obvious."] *** ["Hello, all. Thank you for time. "As Mr. Sjöberg mentioned, I recently came into some information regarding The Winter Soldier that I felt was of international importance, especially since he had the protection of some very powerful people. The ICC is just the place to turn when the State is unable or unwilling to carry out an investigation and prosecute the perpetrators."] Steve drew in a shocked breath. ["I found this information at a Hydra bunker in Siberia, where Rogers, Barnes and I had an altercation about whether suppressing this information was cool or not." Stark gave an acid grin. "In the course of this disagreement, Rogers disabled my suit and left me in the Hydra bunker to freeze, unable to radio a rescue team."] Sam sank his head into his hands with a curse. ["However, Rogers' 'leave our teammates behind' policy turned out to be useful, because while searching for a way to communicate with my rescue team, I discovered a trove of records spanning back decades on the Hydra supersoldier program. I looked through all of it, hoping to save it and get retrieved before Hydra returned. "What I discovered was more than enough: movies, photos, and detailed plans to assassinate political heads of state, industrial leaders, diplomats, prominent artists, radical leaders and activists, all of whom were murdered by The Winter Soldier. Included in these documents were the names of the ones who ordered the kills, the criminals behind the deeds. For the last three weeks, with the assistance of the Joint Terrorism Task Force, that's what we've been up to—rounding up the bad guys with a vengeance." The murmurs grew into a roar of approval. "Most of the Hydra operatives still living have been arrested for their complicity in murdering countless important figures who stood against Hydra's core principles of racism and fascism. Despite the unnecessary delay introduced by Rogers, who could have put us onto Barnes and thus the location of the bunker that much sooner, the loved ones and family members of the deceased will at long last know, and hopefully find peace in knowing, just what happened to their loved ones, and why."] Tony's voice trembled on the last part, and Steve felt a pit growing in his stomach that he couldn't shake off. ["My only regret is whom I have to thank for this. The man behind the Vienna bombing was the one who revealed the truth to me by showing me the video of my parents being murdered by The Winter Soldier. The man who told me the truth is a criminal. But then, the man who kept the truth from us all is a criminal as well. "Thank you all for listening. There will be no questions."] *** Tony lifted his hand and smacked away the letter he was writing as Rhodey walked in. "Sour patch! Look at you. How're the legs feeling?" "Better now that I tweaked the timing on the left one. Feels more natural now. But, Tony..." "Awesome. You should totally patent that port thing. That was really good work." Tony pulled up the schematics of Rhodey's braces to take a look at the timing adjustment port Rhodey had added. "I don't have time for—that's not why I came in here, Tones. Vision got a call—" "Time, shmime. I'll have Friday draft up the diagrams and application for you." "It would be my pleasure, Colonel Rhodes." "Yes, fine. Thanks, Fri. Tones, listen. Something's happened with the renegades." Tony stopped fiddling and gave Rhodey his full attention. "Tell me." "It's weird as hell." Rhodey dropped onto a lab stool and rolled over to join him. "Wanda contacted Vision to tell him she delivered Rogers to the US Embassy in Nairobi. I checked, and sure enough, according to embassy officials, she made him walk in like a zombie, then directed him to 'Wait here until Tony Stark comes to arrest you.'"

Into the Weeds by truet

This is literally the best Team Iron Man fic I read till now, and it includes all the things I missed from the other ones: acknowledgment of Rhodey’s smarts, acknowledgment of the education Rogues had, acknowledgment that Wanda may actually get angry at Steve when she learns what he did and what it means to her, acknowledgment that Hydra agents who ordered the murders should be arrested, acknowledgment of Tony relying on other people to actually accomplish or polish the things he engages with (JCCT, braces).

The only thing it doesn’t have is acknowledgment that Shuri doesn’t need BARF to help Barnes, but it’s only because the fact that the story never reaches that point, but damn, so many Team Iron Man fics mistreats other charas and I know it is not malicious, that it is because the authors love Tony and want him to fix the issues himself, but Tony isn’t omnipotent god of science and I would like people to get that Shuri is as mart as he is and can definitely handle helping Barnes and making his arm without Tony’s help, as much as Rhodey can fix his braces and doesn’t need Tony to constantly do it for him, because he has proper education to handle that, and also he is the user, so he knows best what is wrong and what is right and what works.

I also tend to like the stories which don’t demonize Wanda more than the ones which do, because I think she was radicalized, but not evil and those stories, where she is an evil Hydra agent or actually went mad long ago and nobody noticed, as much as interesting and enjoyable don’t really get what it means to be radicalized and then trying to de-radicalize and also heavily fall into the trap of demonizing a woman in the same way misogynist media creators usually do and the only thing I can blame is the fact that we all are raised in the society which hates women and even if we don’t actively believe in it some of it stays with us, in our subconscious and affects what we write and how. Everybody is capable of evil as long as they believe something very much and Wanda is more prone to that due to her background. Not to mention that those stories also usually infantilize her and I like to see her actually being treated like an adult she always was, who understands the consequences of Steve’s action for her and who would do something, albeit something stupid mind you, to mitigate her case, because she is an adult, and she like any other adult person would want to help her case somehow.

Oh, and author also knows how the whole “who arrests who” system works, so their stories actually show that nobody in the MCU creator board of creators, including the Russos, does a goddamn research about Europe. Most people don’t have this knowledge, so movies don’t seem off to them, but to people who do have this knowledge movies are weird and illogical.

✨ chara. study #1 — keqing & her first kiss .

Keqing had her first and only kiss when she was fourteen.

Picture this: it was a Tuesday night. Her father was out, meeting with Snezhnayan financiers to take shots and talk business. Her mother was two rooms over, gossiping with the wife of another businessman hailing from another prestigious Liyuean family. Based on previous findings — all garnered by way of prompting and eavesdropping — this family was successful, second only to her own flesh and blood. It was likely that her parents wished to forge some sort of partnership with them, hence their rapidly increasing visitations. But for once in her life, Keqing couldn’t care less about that.

What she cared about was soft, sincere — blue-eyed and brown-skinned, ringlets of blonde hair enshrouding her like a waterfall ... or perhaps a halo. She couldn’t help but stare every time they were in each other’s company. It didn’t matter what they were doing, either. Whether it be folding clothes or spinning fabric or destemming flower bouquets, the focal point of Keqing’s attention remained there and true.

On that day, they were seated beside one another facing a too-big desk in Keqing’s too-big bedroom. Cradled in each of their arms was a book detailing Liyue’s social customs, namely the Flower Ball. Both sets of parents had suggested they study its contents together. “After all, it’s befitting for a proper woman to be versed in social etiquette,” Keqing’s mother had perked up, much to her chagrin. She would much rather be reading about Roald the Adventurer, or perhaps about the ruins scattered across their country ... something more becoming than the proper way to smile and wave before casting a glorified paper weight off a cliff.

So, naturally, Keqing had untrained her eyes from the book and, instead, kept them trained on the subject of her care. It was strangely calming to observe her leaf through page after page, forehead crinkling in concentration as she attempted to make sense of every word.

She pursed her lips. Keqing made note of how plump they were.

“Jia.” Despite the intensity of her stare, she addressed the other girl plainly. And although it took a moment, Jia eventually acknowledged her companion, closing her book and gingerly placing it on the desk. 

“Hey, thanks for that,” she chirped. Her plump lips fixed themselves into a smile. Something tightened in Keqing’s chest. It was the same way a clenched fist felt but somehow ... different. Somehow ... better. 

“Did you lose track of time again?” Keqing moved to discard of her own book. She then extended both of her arms upward in a lazy stretch. “You tend to do that ... not that there’s anything wrong with it. Diligence is a good trait to have.” 

Jia let out a laugh. “Okay, okay! If you say so!” She mimicked Keqing’s pose, allowing her legs to go slack, as well. “I liked what was in that book, though. I felt all grown-up reading about what it means to be a lady.” 

“Is that so?” Keqing lowered her arms, opting to fold them over her chest. “I guess I wouldn’t know. I wasn’t really paying attention.” 

Another laugh. That tight sensation seized Keqing’s chest again. “Hehe! It’s okay. I can give you notes! That way, you don’t get in trouble with your parents.” 

At that point, Keqing swore her heart would explode. Aside from just looking nice, Jia also always did nice things for her: drawing her pictures, picking flowers for her, and of course, handwriting study notes for her. She couldn’t help but wonder what drove Jia to act in such a way and so constantly at that. Was this behavior reminiscent of something relayed to them in that book? Or perhaps the other books she refused to touch?

“No, it’s alright,” Keqing dismissed with a wave of her hand. “But thank you. I really appreciate it.”

Jia nodded, adjusting her posture so that her heels were planted on the seat of her chair, her lean brown arms hugging her legs to her chest. A few beats of silence swept over both girls. Truth be told, Keqing imagined that the other would revert to continue reading her book, seeing as she enjoyed it so much...

...Until —

“Keqing, how do you feel about love?”

Had she actually obeyed her parents and done her share of reading, the question wouldn’t have jostled her as much as it did, but alas ... there Keqing sat in stupefied ignorance, chills coursing down her spine and chest tormented with the prospect of a heart palpitation.

“Like —” Jia continued. Looks like Keqing had been unresponsive for too long. “ — What are your thoughts on kissing?” She rocked back and forth all the while, forearms flushing a pale red thanks to the friction of her movements. Keqing found herself wanting to run her fingers through those very spots — to gently quell the reddening flesh.

“I don’t know. I’ve never thought much of it,” she finally chose to answer, if to just distract her wayfaring mind. Violet eyes dropped to behold the suddenly interesting marble tile of her floor. She then pretended to be captivated by her own hands, twiddling her thumbs in vain. “How about you?”

Ever oblivious, Jia giggled. “I guess I’m the same way ... but you know what my mommy said? She said that you only kiss someone you really like ...” Keqing considered that, mid-thumb twiddle. “ ...And the book said that, too! When the bride and groom make their vows and swear to live happily ever after, they seal the deal by smooching!”

Keqing considered that, too, humming in thought. On the other hand, her parents had taught her that marriages were but a strategic maneuver — orchestrated like some grand scheme for the sake of maintaining power and financial prosperity. They were transactional arrangements, not arrangements founded in an intimate respect and understanding of each other. 

So, naturally, Keqing was speechless. And she remained that way — quiet, contemplative — for a moment before she at last dared her eyes to glaze over and meet Jia’s.

“Well ... ” she simpered. “Isn’t that nice?”

The pair then spent the next half hour or so in an amiable silence, simply enjoying each other’s company. Jia unsurprisingly continued to read her book. Keqing, on the other hand, was thinking up a storm. 

As their time bordered an hour, they transitioned from sitting casually a few inches from each other, to Jia scooting her chair closer to Keqing’s, to Jia laying her head on Keqing’s lap, to a beet red Keqing resting her legs on Jia’s lap. They stayed like that for ... archons know how long. It was a miracle that it hadn’t been time for Jia and her family to leave yet.

By this point, exactly one hour and fifty-five minutes had passed. Jia’s book now lay abandoned at the foot of her chair. She instead intertwined her fingers with Keqing’s, whose head was perched comfortably on the crook of her shoulder.

The physical contact was a pleasant surprise. Keqing acknowledged this by squeezing the other girl’s hand. It’s funny because, well, Keqing had never been the affectionate type, let alone really had a friend before. There had been her parents’ servants and the occasional child of business partners from abroad, otherwise Keqing had always been a pretty lonely kid. 

That being said, she wasn’t particularly sure if the tightening that had been seizing and releasing the organ in her chest was from the contentment of having someone genuinely appreciate her ... or if she was just severely allergic to intimacy. 

Either way, when Jia turned slightly to look at her, probably to tell her some joke, Keqing moved up from her shoulder and pressed their lips together. Their teeth clinked and their noses mashed, which, well, ow ... and Jia tasted like the giant fried shrimp balls they gorged on for dinner which wasn’t bad as a dish, but tasted a little funny coming from someone else’s mouth. Not that Keqing’s breath reeked of anything better ...

... But all in all, no, that was ... not good. That was far from the most romantic first kiss in existence. It couldn’t even be considered romantic, really. Keqing recoiled as if she had been scorched, her entire face lit aflame. She searched Jia’s doe eyes and was on the brink of mumbling out an apology when, in that instant, Jia seized her face between her hands, an unreadable expression contrasting that of Keqing’s.

Without further hesitation, Jia drew her closer for another kiss — one that was soft and sincere just like her. 

It lasted for all of a couple of seconds. When Jia pulled back, it had been her face’s turn to heat up, its hue shy of scarlet.

Having lost all composure, Keqing dragged both hands through her once neatly plaited pigtails. “I apologize for, uh, attacking your face.”

Jia beamed, but not before flushing an even more telling shade of red ... ah yes, now she was scarlet. “No, uh ...” A girlish giggle leaked out from her awkward grin. “ ... Don’t worry about it.” It then dawned on her that Keqing’s lips were still but a hairsbreadth from hers. Jia quickly uncupped Keqing’s face and sat on her hands. 

“Sorry,” she mouthed.

Keqing tilted her head, picking at the nape of her neck in confusion. “Why are you sorry? I’m the one who kissed you first.”

And it was as if saying that word aloud is what made it real. Kissed. Keqing kissed Jia. Her friend. Her only friend.

She was tempted to completely shield her face with her hands, but she decided against it, in the off-chance that the gesture would traumatize Jia and inhibit her from ever talking to any guys (or girls ...) ever again, let alone getting wed to one.

The once amiable silence between them had descended into something tiptoeing the fine line between “awkward” and “grave”. Fortune seemed to favor both girls that fateful night, however, and it only took another minute or so before Jia’s mom had swung the door open, calling for her to say her goodbyes and head home with her.

And here was the awkward part: should Keqing see her out? And bid her a proper goodbye at the front door?

Alas, her body settled on a decision before her mind could, coercing her legs into walking down, down, down the spiraling staircase alongside Jia. It was only when both girls stood face-to-face at the door that Keqing was able to wrestle herself out of autopilot.

Jia’s mom had already begun her trek down the path leading to their home. Jia, however, hadn’t made any effort to budge from her place. She continued to stand there with both hands clasped behind her back, her aura an interesting mix of stalwart and shy.

Keqing smiled slightly in spite of herself, her own gaze glued to the floor. Only then was when ...

“Uh, good night!” Jia’s voice rung in the air an entire octave higher, causing Keqing’s eyes to lock onto hers like a magnet. The former flicked her fingers stiffly in a sort of cursory wave.

That wave. It was the wave that did it. Keqing inched forward and dipped her head to press a quick kiss to the corner of Jia’s mouth. She then guided her closer to the door, coaxing it further open.

“Good night,” she finally murmured in return, closing the door before Jia could muster a response. Oh, if only Keqing had stayed just a moment longer.

Because then, she would have caught the dopey look on Jia’s face. She would have seen Jia fondly graze her lips with the pads of her fingers. 

Keqing should not have shut that door so quickly.

Because they didn’t talk about it after that.

In fact, they didn’t talk at all.

The giant goes to rest. More than two years, 130 000 words and many screams and tears since its start, Lavender Jade is complete.

Let me start off by thanking you all for supporting this fic! When I started I had no idea it was going to receive the love it has. Before Lavender Jade I was known for more overall lighthearted works (Mint and Poppy in the Monsta X fandom, Stray Romance for ASTRO). All your constant love and support has been a huge help. Thank you so much! Words cannot describe the joy your comments and messages gave me ♡

I’ve made so many amazing friends and spoken to so many beautiful people because of this work, but this fic is dedicated to Monsta X ♡

Okay, enough sappiness! Time to move on to the trivia and extras. This is my 4th trivia post (you can find Mint and Poppy here; Stray Romance here; Wrong (Right) Number here) and longest yet, so it’s in 3 parts:

basic tidbits/extra info

regarding the vei, the card divination system

some personal rambling regarding my character motives (entirely skippable)

If it’s not obvious, there are going to be major spoilers, so if you haven’t read the fic yet but plan to do so, I advise not reading this ^^

If you need, you can always reference the character list here

Okay, so let’s get started! Rest of the post is under the cut

1. Basic Trivia

Most of the extras in the fic were original characters this time, with a few exceptions. Even these exceptions are not exactly based on the idols they’re named after, but I imagined them while writing. These are:

Sojung, Jooheon’s bodyguard - WJSN’s Exy

Sewoon, Kihyun’s manservant - soloist Jeong Sewoon

Seungwoo, another of Kihyun’s servants - soloist Yoo Seungwoo

Dawon, Hyunjung, Jiyeon, Luda, Soobin, Juyeon, the girls mentioned as being part of Jooheon’s people in Eigak - WJSN’s Dawon, Seola, Bona, Luda, Soobin, Eunseo 

Along with the ones living, there were those who lived in the past. Mentioned in-text:

Hoseok II, a previous king of Yishin - BTS’ J-Hope

Seokjin, a consort to Hoseok II - BTS’ Jin

Kim Namjoon, prime minister of Hoseok II - BTS’ RM

Hakyeon, the first king of Yishin - VIXX’s N

And those referenced only in the snippets in the chapter summaries:

Jungsoo, a previous king of Yishin - Super Junior’s Leeteuk

Kyuhyun, a historian - Super Junior’s Kyuhyun

Yoongi, a consort to Hoseok II - BTS’ Suga

Taekwoon, high prince to Hakyeon - VIXX’s Leo

For some reason which I still cannot fathom, I’ve been praised for the worldbuilding in this fic. The capital city of Yishin doesn’t even have a name. 

The basic geography of the peninsula is Yishin, Eigak to her east, a number of tiny states to her west, the sea to her south. The western side of Yishin is more fertile. The stretch of border between Yishin and Eigak is a rocky wasteland.

Yishin was named as a mix of Wonho’s two surnames: Lee and Shin

The concept of snippets from literature and media from the universe as chapter summaries was inspired by Steven Erikson’s Malazan Book of the Fallen saga. The vei deck (more on it later) was also very heavily inspired by his Deck of Dragons in the same books. 

A lot of fics focus on Hyungwon’s looks (something I’m guilty of as well) so I wanted to write a world where he wasn’t considered handsome. I understand why all the shows set in alternate worlds have the same beauty standards as us—it makes for prettier TV—but I decided to set a different one for the world of Lavender Jade. Somewhat arbitrarily, we have:

considered very handsome -  Hoseok, Minhyuk, Changkyun

considered somewhat handsome - Kihyun

considered plain/regular - Hyunwoo, Hyungwon, Jooheon

Han Jehan, obviously, also falls in category 1.

Han Jehan was my first time writing a proper villain in my fics, and I don’t know how well I succeeded but I enjoyed it immensely. I went out of my way to add all the traits I like so that I wouldn’t end up hating him, even going so far as to give him the surname of one of my favourite idols (sorry Hyuk). 

There are two main things I’d change in the fic if I could turn back time:

tighten up the front end. I’d combine the first couple of chapters 

Yeon Hu would be a woman. By the time I realized the awesome power of a badass lady general, it was too late

All court members—Jo Senmi, Yeon Hu, etc—are original characters. They’re both basic archetypes you’ll find in sageuk dramas. I think it’s worth mentioning both of them really do love Yishin, they just had very different, more conservative ideas of what would be best for the country.

I’d thought of using all the proper Korean names for the clothes especially, but decided that would make things difficult to read and binned the idea.

The opening note says the world is inspired by the Joseon dynasty. Regarding the initiatives to improve people’s lives, yes, but the hall/court system is more inspired by (what I know of) the Goryeo dynasty system.

I’ve been asked this before, but I’ll answer it here again: I’d never finished a sageuk drama before Flower Crew (very recently, and only because I was watching it with my sisters), and definitely not while I was planning this fic. Don’t judge me. The one I would recommend is Six Flying Dragons, most like Lavender Jade in tone. The others I’ve made headway into are Moonlight Drawn by the Clouds, Ruler: Master of the Mask, and The King and the Clown. 

I’m surprised no one brought up the foreshadowing I did near the end of chapter 16. Seven stars, two possible fates. The final fate of the two lovers (Kihyun and Changkyun) turned out to be a mix of the two stories: there was a fire, and the heavenly king was pulled from heaven (Kihyun from his position) to live the rest of his life with his lover.

Unlike my other secret couple (myungjin in Stray Romance) there are no hints of Hyunwoo and Minhyuk. They never did anything that would show. Minhyuk attempts to fluster Hyunwoo, but he does that with everyone.

Changkyun’s final card from the reading in chapter 8 is the two of Knives. It means a sacrifice. 

My favorite parts of the fic to write were Kihyun’s various descriptions of Changkyun’s beauty :)

This is, undoubtedly, the fic that has required the most work from me. I will say the most difficult scenes to write were Minhyuk’s fight with the assassin and Hyunwoo’s with Kim Sungil. Action scenes are not my forte. 

If you don’t know, I have written a romantic one-shot set in the same universe, titled Only One

2. The Vei

I don’t know how obvious this was, but the entire vei deck concept was inspired by and based on VIXX. The idea itself came from the Deck of Dragons in Steven Erikson’s Malazan Book of the Fallen saga. 

There are 84 cards in the deck: 72 cards in six suits, and 12 Unaligned. The Unaligned can be paired off, where each card is the opposite of its pair (with the exception of the last pair). The Unaligned cards are:

Fountain and Grave - a beginning and an ending

The Open Hand and The Closed Hand - generosity and miserliness

The Lord and The Lady - bad luck and good luck

The Centaur and The Fox - someone proud and someone crafty

Magnolia and Crown of Thorns - misery in success and happiness in failure

Pyramid and Mirror - stability/instability and karmic justice/unfairness 

The six suits, along with the member they represent, are:

Stars - N

Rings - Leo

Shells - Ken

Scrolls - Ravi

Flowers - Hongbin

Knives - Hyuk

Each suit, like our playing cards, has a king, queen, and knight (jack). The king of each suit is based on a VIXX member, and has some particular qualities along with being very rare. All visual cues for the kings come from VIXX’s masterpiece MV, Shangri-La. 

Stars - King: the Emperor, Queen: Sloth, Knight: the Page. The Emperor is the rarest card in the deck, and is represented by a crowned man with no features, only darkness in place of a face. The Page is the icon of diligence (and was in Minhyuk’s hand in chapter X). The theme of the suit is mystic fates, technically the uncategorized cards. In the natural half of the deck.

Rings - King: Death, Queen: Envy, Knight: the Messenger. Death is a card of finality (like Grave). The theme of the suit is secrets. In the manmade half of the deck.

Shells - King: Life, Queen: Gluttony, Knight: the Fool. Life is a card of possibilities. The Fool denotes absolute luck--essentially the card of negation. The theme of the suit is environment. In the natural half of the deck.

Scrolls - King: the Mage, Queen: Greed, Knight: the Apprentice. The Mage is a figure of knowledge and learning. The theme of the suit is motivations. In the manmade half of the deck.

Flowers - King: the Elf, Queen: Lust, Knight: the Handmaid. The Elf is an elusive, hidden figure with hidden motives. The theme of the suit is happiness. In the natural half of the deck.

Knives - King: War, Queen: Wrath, Knight: the General. War is a decisive figure, one who brings final consequences. The them of the suit is decisions. In the manmade half of the deck. 

I’ve been asked about the game played with the vei deck as well. It is a game of my own invention, yes. It’s based on trick-taking games like Hearts, where the object is to win the least cards as possible. It’s played in alternating rounds, one where the Unaligned are not used, the next where they are. I didn’t hash out the details beyond some basic motifs, but it is technically playable. Only if you have a vei deck though. The whole gameplay hinges on the fact that some cards are less likely to appear when picked from the stacked deck. 

I’ve heard from more than one person that I got them into tarot as a hobby. That’s great! But the truth is I know next to nothing about tarot haha

3. Rambling

I might suggest skipping this. This adds 0 value to the post and fic aside from giving me a space to ramble and whoa it turned out long

First: King Hoseok. He’s copped a fair share of criticism in this fic regarding his passiveness and his acceptance of the unfair consort system. I will defend my handling of this character to the ends of the Earth. I’m not saying he’s perfect (obviously! the only character that comes close to that is Hyunwoo) but I think he did right by what he had.

A neat indication would be to flip back to chapter 14, the Hyungwon POV chapter. When Hoseok says that the two of them are alone even though the room is filled with servants, Hyungwon forgives it as a result of his upbringing. He’s undoubtedly biased, but he has a point. Hoseok was raised as king. Certain things that are so obvious to others don’t even register to him. The consort system, where they have to swear loyalty to him but he doesn’t to them? He was raised as seeing this as normal. They all were. He never even fathoms a consort would want to leave their position. When Kihyun tells him the truth about the affair, Hoseok is stunned. He doesn’t understand Hyungwon calling his old life of poverty a life of freedom.

Basically, Hoseok is just trying his best after being raised (and still living) in a life of absolute privilege. He expects loyalty, love, because he hasn’t been exposed to anything different. His situation is completely different from Jooheon’s, who’s grown up in a much more volatile situation. Jooheon had to learn early on to really open his eyes, to listen, and he’s much more observant and understanding. By the end of the fic Hoseok’s had a wakeup call, and he’s going to get better. 

Second: the consort system. Yes, it’s cruel. It wasn’t what Hakyeon had envisioned when he had his companions instated formally. But in Yishin this is the norm. No one thinks it cruel. It’s a position of huge honor (Kihyun thinks of it a few times).

Even though there’s no homophobia, misogyny etc, Yishin is a conservative society. They haven’t had a change of regime in 23 generations. They’re used to the norm, and consortship is the norm. Also, if you look at most conservative societies, you’ll see romantic love isn’t considered a prerequisite for marriage (which is kind of what consortship is). In many societies (including my own) many people would jump at a chance for consortship, no matter their relationship with the monarch. 

Third: the fic had a lot of subversion of typical historical expectations and standards. I still consider myself primarily a fantasy writer. Typical fantasy and historical works have a strong focus on honor, dignity, truth and justice and all those values.

Lavender Jade does not. Kihyun and Changkyun are oathbreakers, they are traitors (by Yishini law). Every insult flung at them is true. The king breaks his country’s laws to help them escape their deserved punishment. Even Hyunwoo, the honorable and admirable commandant, defeats Kim Sungil using an underhanded move, and gets his happy ending with another consort breaking his oath.

At times I seriously considered ending this as a tragedy. It felt fair. Kihyun and Changkyun had broken laws, broken promises. All that happened did as a result of their own actions (even Han Jehan’s targeting of Kihyun was, from what we see, brought about by Kihyun digging into his affairs). A sad ending would be deserved. But then I thought, hmm, why? Why should it be fair? Why should they be miserable because it is deserved? 

So we got the ending we got, and I hope you’re all happy. I know I am. 

Thank you for reading to the end of this (unnecessarily) long post! It’s almost as long as the fic itself haha If you have any questions or messages you can shoot me an ask or pm here, or on my Twitter or on CuriousCat ^^ 

So what’s next? I’m writing Wrong (Right) ID, an epistolary fic for ASTRO in the same style as Wrong (Right) Number, and A Match Made in Heaven, my VIXX karma officer fic (it’s an unusual concept! you should try it). Both fics will end soon, maybe even before the end of the year, so you won’t have to bear much waiting ^^;;

I’m also writing Blood, Water, a vampire fic with a strong emphasis on family for ATEEZ, so you can check that out too! This one’s going to be long and angsty and quite self indulgent ^^

I’ve been asked if I’m going to continue writing in this universe. The answer is, yes. I will be writing White Carnation, the book referenced in multiple chapters of this fic, as a novella. I might write a short story on how Hoseok and Hyungwon met, but that’s undecided. I’ve hashed out ideas for side stories involving VIXX (and the founding of Yishin) and ATEEZ (and the change of regimes in Eigak) in this CuriousCat ask and this Twitter thread, but those will probably only remain as threads ^^;; 

And in the future? I have Monsta X one shots planned, and perhaps another long fic too. All possibilities are open! I hope you’ll stay with me for them ♡

Again, and as always, thank you. I hope you enjoyed Lavender Jade ♡

hey, guys!! i’m sora and i’m happy to be here. i just want to start off by talking a bit about myself. such as having a love for anime, disney movies, doggos, and uhh, i’m also recently binge watching stranger things s3. anyway, this will be a super mega intro post as i’ll be putting all my charas into one intro, so here’s info on julie tran, layla evans, frankie sullivan, and dylan grayson!!

edit: i also have a general plots page, but i’m open to anything outside of it!

if you want to go through a specific chara, all you have to do is ctrl+f and type “--chara name”

--JULIE TRAN

* lana condor. twenty-three. female. she/her. | did you see julie tran this morning on main street? i heard they were heading towards the protests. they’ve been in ballard for all her life and last time i spoke to them, they were a sales associate. if i remember correctly, they’re a scorpio and they remind me of colorful striped tops, lazy sundays, sunbathing probably because they’re sociable and prim.

about

things seemed like a picture perfect image for the girl when she was young. she helped her family with chores, worked hard in elementary and middle school classes, etc. however, by the time high school rolled around, her relationship with her parents weren’t exactly the same. she realized her dream of becoming a fashion designer, which they didn’t approve on due to how they wanted their daughter to work in the medical field.

at first, she agreed on dropping the dream and went on with doing well in her classes. except, she never gave up on her dream. when she finally graduated high school, she moved out of her parents’ place with saved up money and hardly talked to them since then. she felt guilty for not being who they wanted her to be, but being away felt better than trying to be someone she didn’t picture herself as.

soon, her parents decided to move away too and the relationship between her and them became more estranged. now, she’s in the process of improving her designs while working as a sales associate.

tl;dr basically a girl who wants to be a fashion designer someday and has an estranged relationship with her parents.

details

pinterest

character aesthetic + inspo

disgust (inside out), wendy darling (peter pan), tori vega (victorious), lara jean covey (to all the boys i’ve loved before), jane sloan (the bold type), lady (lady & the tramp), mabel pines (gravity falls), cher horowitz (clueless).

traits

insecure, loyal, motherly, organized, passive, picky, prim, self-righteous, sociable.

personality

she’s basically a mom friend. anything you’ll need, she’ll more than likely have it. she’s also always there for her loved ones no matter what, whether it’s early in the morning or late at night.

she tends to think of her friends and others before herself. adding onto this, she tends to not say no to others because of how helpful she wants to be, so at times, she’ll feel overwhelmed or exhausted.

the reason why insecure is added is because she feels as if she’s quite bland. that there’s really no unique trait about her. sure, she cares about others, but she feels there are so many people in the world that are also caring and it’s not exactly something different.

julie can also be quite self-righteous because she thinks she knows what’s best for people and just doesn’t realize she may bring harm.

aesthetics

colorful striped tops, lazy sundays, sunbathing, single-colored sunglasses, ponytails with ribbons, white blouses with collars, cup of tea, clothes organized by color.

style

she’s known to wear black mary janes, neutral colors or single-colored outfits, and is usually seen wearing blouses with skirts or dresses. once in a while, she’ll wear a patterned top or bottoms.

headcanons

she’ll always have necessary things in her bag. such as snacks, band-aids, tylenol, tissues, etc.

as she dreams of being a fashion designer, she has sketchbooks filled with clothing designs.

she has a small orange kitten named oliver (because of oliver & company)

--LAYLA EVANS

* danielle campbell. twenty-eight. cis female. she/her. | did you see layla evans this morning on main street? i heard they weren’t heading towards the protests. they’ve been in ballard for all her life and last time i spoke to them, they were a worker at twice new and housekeeper at horizon suites. if i remember correctly, they’re a leo and they remind me of matching lace bras & thongs, waves crashing against the shore, piggyback rides probably because they’re adventurous and stubborn.

about (tw: mentions of death & abuse)

one would think she’s the happiest girl alive with her parents. they would spend a lot of time together, watch layla during her ballet recitals, and eat dinner at the dining table every night. things were immediately different the moment her dad passed away when she was nine years old. since then, her mom began ignoring her because of how much the girl reminded her of her husband. layla learned to take care of herself soon enough.

things were spiraling down from there. once she was in middle school, she started rebelling and causing trouble. she destroyed properties, stole from stores, etc. when she became a high schooler, she started failing classes and took summer school, partied almost every night, drank a lot, and almost got expelled. the only reason she didn’t was because her advisers and teachers gave her a second chance to improve. she ended up taking it. by her junior year, her behavior was improving gradually and worked harder at bringing up her gpa. the reason why she took the second chance was because of her dream to be a best-selling author and to go to college. which she was accepted into.

nonetheless, she may not be a writer at the moment, that doesn’t mean she plans to forget her dream. she just wants to use up more time to improve on her writing. she’s talked to multiple publishers and is just continuing to grow for now.

tl;dr she’s had a rough past and just wants to be a best-selling author.

details

pinterest

character aesthetics + inspo

n/a

traits

adventurous, childish, impulsive, obstinate, promiscuous, valiant, vulgar

personality

layla’s very outgoing and sociable. she loves hanging out with people, whether it’s going to a party, drinking, going out for food, road trips, or just having a simple picnic or laying on the ground to look at stars. she’s just always looking to have fun and definitely a party animal. almost any party you see, she’ll be there. 

she also stands up for those who are close to her heart and can be reliable as she’s there for them no matter what. 

nonetheless, once in awhile she’ll get an idea and quickly act on it. and even though she can be wrong at times, it does take her a moment to admit it.

aesthetics

a journal full of words, matching lace bras & thongs, waves crashing against the shore, piggyback rides, the comfort of someone being there, wanting to hear the words ‘i’m proud of you’, hands gripping bed sheets, police sirens, worn out ballet shoes.

style

basically her fashion consists of all kinds of shorts (mainly booty shorts and ripped ones), crop tops, oversized hoodies and shirts, spandex shorts, tops that show off cleavage, fishnets, and occasionally skirts + denim, ripped jeans. 

she has a few very nice dresses too.

headcanons

she has this tattoo on the back of her left arm and this tattoo in the same area.

she’s bisexual and proud of it.

other labels that can define her: the dirtbag, the halcyon.

one of her most prized possessions is a necklace her dad gave her.

--FRANKIE SULLIVAN

* chloe bennet. thirty-one. cis female. she/her.  |  did you see frankie sullivan this morning on main street? i heard they weren’t heading towards the protests. they’ve been in ballard for 2 months and last time i spoke to them, they were a ceo of a florist company. if i remember correctly, they’re a virgo and they remind me of a hot cup of starbucks coffee, plants scattered throughout the bedroom, reading alone in a library probably because they’re generous and reserved.

about

a girl who was born in las vegas, nv. she had wonderful parents that divorced when she was fourteen. however, she didn’t mind it at all. she was happy as long as they were. plus, she wanted a bigger family, so if they were going to remarry to other people, she was oddly okay with it too. mainly because of how she always wanted a bigger family since she’s an only child. eventually, that was what happened. five years ago, her dad remarried and soon, frankie had a step-mom and step-sibling. at first, she cared about them due to how much family already meant to the girl, but as months became years, she soon grew suspicious over the relationship between her step-mom and dad.

years ago, she was betrayed by her closest friends and now has a cynical view because she wasn’t able to forgive them. she was told multiple times to get over it, but couldn’t. she continued to wonder how people can be so close then do something harsh to another. it still astonishes her now and from that point on, she didn’t really let anyone into her life, thoughts, or feelings.

tl;dr one who prefers being with plants than people

details

pinterest

character aesthetics + inspo

n/a

traits

adaptable, distant, generous, grouchy, reserved, responsible

personality

she tends to be pessimistic because of her past and doesn’t want history to repeat itself, so she tends to not get too close to others. she may have two or three friends, but that’s about it. plus, she can be quite rude and cold-hearted to push others away.

however, she’s also very giving when it comes to charities because with so much money, she still wants to be kind to others, especially those who are in need.

when things change in her life, however, she faces them head on and is just calm about it.

aesthetics

walk-in closets but wearing the same 5 outfits, walking through trails, smelling fresh air, having polaroids of flowers, black hair ties, not needing glasses but wearing them for fashion, stacks of books that were actually used and read, a hot cup of starbucks coffee, plants scattered throughout the bedroom, a person reading alone in a library, being the wallflower at a party

style

most of her style is denim and single-colored tops with a lot of neutral colors. she tends to leave her hair longer than her shoulders and mainly leaves it down, but will put it in a ponytail once in a while.

headcanons

can be labeled as the anthomaniac or the recluse.

she comes from old money from her dad and new money from her mom.

the idea of frankie was originally from wanting to play a flower child, but not in a stereotype way.

she owns a florist company, but wants to place a shop in ballard.

she has this tattoo on her side.

her whole apartment is filled with plants, real and fake.

she has an ex who cheated on her when they were dating.

frankie prefers to use her time indoors watching movies/tv shows, taking care of her plants, reading, or simply going on the internet. 

if anything, she’s mainly the type to have a one night stand, but has kept only three or four friends with benefits all her life. and has one or two close friends.

--DYLAN GRAYSON

* rose park. twenty-four. cis female. she/her.  |  did you see dylan grayson this morning on main street? i heard they weren’t heading towards the protests. they’ve been in ballard for five months and last time i spoke to them, they were a voice actress & influencer. if i remember correctly, they’re an aries and they remind me of red lipstick, dealing with chaos behind doors, uploading youtube videos probably because they’re driven and shallow.  

about

since she was a baby, she was already adopted by mr. and mrs. grayson, a well-known old money family. past generations owned a huge company for properties and built malls across the country. which didn’t seem like such a big deal to the girl growing up. all she cared about was belonging somewhere and being with a family. she was even happier to have grown up with siblings. even her biological parents hardly came to mind because she was happy where she was. however, the older she became, the more chaotic her family seemed. there would be scandals written in articles about her family, secrets being revealed, and it felt dramatic fights happened almost every week. nonetheless, it didn’t matter to the girl. she was extremely loyal to her parents and siblings. she swore she’d do anything for them.

for her childhood, she grew up in ballard and she’s loved the town deep down. she thought about how cute the place was and cherished everyone. a reason why when she left during the beginning of high school, she was quite sad for a while. soon enough, she got over it though. she attended a private school, made friends with multiple people, and eventually graduated. moving onto college, she went to nyu then later on received both bachelor’s and master’s in business. during her time in college, however, the town centre mall was already built and didn’t hear word of it at the moment. eventually, thinking she was mature enough and able to handle it herself, she was given the town centre mall as a gift at the age of twenty-four.

tl;dr she was adopted from a rich family, that she loves very much, and now owns the town centre mall

details

pinterest

character aesthetics + inspo

the carringtons (dynasty 2017), fallon carrington (dynasty 2017), serena van der woodsen (gossip girl), stella (winx club)

traits

ambitious, cautious, driven, loyal, protective, shallow, materialistic

personality

she’s very determined and hard-working. when she wants something, she’ll do better than doing her best and work on getting it.

with being materialistic and shallow, she tends to think about appearance first. during her high school years, she 

aesthetics

microphones, red lipstick, dealing with chaos behind doors, uploading youtube videos, studio booths, scripts, shopping bags with expensive brand names, diamond necklaces, family portraits

style

80% of the time, she’ll be seen wearing a dress or matching 2-piece outfits. the other 20% are filled with patterned tops, jeans, faux fur coats, and skirts. a bit less than half of the dresses she own are sparkly too. while her shoes are mainly high heels and knee boots. as for her hair, she mostly leaves it down. she’ll also be seen wearing jewelry everyday.

headcanons

the girl just loves to go shopping. she’ll take anyone to go shopping with.

the reason one of her occupations is voice actress is because during her summers in high school and college, she took up jobs in voice acting since she wanted to go out into the entertainment business for a while, but didn’t quite feel comfortable singing or acting for tv shows and movies. she just preferred being in a booth and saying lines.

as for influencer, it started during her high school years as she mainly gave fashion advice and worked on make-up tutorials.

y’all know this mans? yuh.. really gets ya thinkin that men might deserve rights after all huh? i mean they dont but it makes ya think! anyway.. i’m urayai ( uri for short ), eighteen, she/her, and from bumfuck nowhere usa over in the est timezone. we livin in a winter wonderland over here rn issa nightmare :) if ya feelin the vibe now then check out my statistics page yuh maybe i went the extra mile MXDDDN! anyway if ya poppin ya p*ssi to nct, love wastin time playin the sims, or are prayin for both taes scalps then smash that heart! we need validation in order to live in this economy laid ease!

basic details

( wong yukhei, cismale, he/him ) — meet jaxon wu, the nineteen year old sophomore at washington state university. i heard that the hedonist is a literature major who spends most of their time either practicing on the soccer field or interning at dorrance publishing two days a week. if you ask around, you’ll find out that the scorpio was born on october 28th, that the last song they listened to was uncomfortable by chase atlantic, and that they currently live in the kappa zeta nu fraternity house. ever since the death of carter hayes though, the only thing anyone can seem to recall when it comes to them is that they used to share a room with him at the frat house.

+ smoke-filled lungs, constellations in his eyes, denim jackets, disappearing acts that rival houdini, heart-shaped boxes, thumb rings, lazy grins, broken promises, and rainy mornings.

full sleeve on his right arm plus a chest piece in progress

ears and nose pierced but he doesnt always rock the nose

emotionally stable? no. financially stable? also no.

on an athletic scholarship for soccer but he loves hockey more so its #emohours

plays soccer, hockey, and baseball

loves the finer things in life but can barely afford the free breadsticks at olive garden ja feel

hes a snake who loves that 5 finger discount

selfish but also too invested in people he cares for

impatient as hell like.. chile

middle child ya he was dealt only the best cards in life

loves space and conspiracy theories #wow so original amirite

gets super obsessive over projects hes def a perfectionist

bisexual / bitter / bilingual

mom is a bank tell and dad is a professor at boston u

not very close to his older brother since hes off gettin his doctorates degree

very close to his little sister tho they’ve always been best friends

enjoys goin on hikes to clear his head

other than writing he also enjoys all other things creative like painting, drawing, sculpting, photography, etc

he attends a weekly art class in the city

he def dabbles in drugs so if ya lookin he can probs hook ya up

he was carters roommate 

ADAMANT — stubborn as shitttttt like fr. once he sets his mind on sumn and believes hes completely right cant be wrong then theres no changin his mind! at all! even if he realizes later that he was wrong he’d rather lower himself into the grave than admit it. he’ll also argue with you til the ends of the earth until the bitch literally dont have vocal chords anymore!

CONFIDENT — if i could’ve picked an alternate label for him then it woulda been the bellwether. he always carries himself with confidence which he gets from wearin nice clothes and accessories plus always bein well groomed ig? like his hair is always done, you’ll never find a speck of dirt on his shoes, that type of shit. even when his hair is messy it was done that way he would never go outside lookin like a wreck so jot that down!

IMPETUOUS — this bitch reckless af! he does things to benefit himself and only himself most of the time without taking into consideration other peoples feelings or how it might impact them. thats not to say that he doesnt regret it after the fact but lbr he normally? doesnt? see: selfish. hes just tryna get ahead tryna get dat coin tryna get him sum gucci slides!

PETULANT — sulky, bad-tempered, etc is jax thru and thru! and he aint afraid to take everyone down with him either. hes def the type to stir up drama ngl but he’ll back it up too and he aint afraid to throw hands! hes been in his fair share of fights and with his shiny new fake id y’all been knew hes been in more than one bar fight with more to come i’m sure!

plot ideas

MUSE — pretty self explanatory i think? this person just ignites fuckin inspiration for him whether it be thru takin pictures of them, writing about them, filmin them, drawin them, etc etc. jax always knows that when hes in a slump he can find them and that shit will come back as quick as flippin on a light switch!

RIDE OR DIE(S) — y’all already know wtf it is! we love those friends who just talk shit with each other, those that’ll go to bat for one another, but also arent afraid to be like “yo step back ur gettin a lil outta line” ja feel? literally gimme all that!

ANGST — i live for anything angsty tbh like im one of those bitches that gets bored when things are goin too well for my chara so i need someone to fuck that shit up fam!

RELATIONSHIPS — im here for it all! im talkin enemies, friends, rommates, party buddies, smokin buddies, fwb, exes, partners in crime, etc etc! im here and ready to snatch em all up!

TEAMMATES — jax plays hockey, soccer, and baseball so if ur chara does too then? uhhhh we def gotta plot cause we could go any way with the teammates thing like imagine teammates who hate each other and purposely try to hurt one another durin practices.. ugh we love pettiness!

ADVENTURE BUDDIES — hiking, goin to abandoned / haunted places, spontaneous road trips, etc! need someone or multiple people who’re down to just drop everything and go. doesnt even matter where tbh they’re just always up for a lil adventure.

SEESAW — lemme be basic for a sec ok just hol on! i rlly want a plot based off of yoongis song seesaw where maybe the two of them were together and at first it was great but then they just fell out for wtvr reason and obvs didnt wanna be together anymore. neither of them wanted to let go tho maybe it was like a comfort thing? so they just kept repeatin their same old shit and actin like everything was cool until one of them finally took the step and ended it just.. ik there’d be angst ik it and i need it!

PARADISE — the new song by chase atlantic! bitch! i felt it in my soul maybe i cried? jax dabbles in literally everything hes truly a mess so havin someone who just checks on him would rip my soul in half? someone who gives him a call randomly in the middle of a sunday night and is just like “hey ya been ok? not fallin back on bad habits are u?” shit like that. it would def be a thing where he falls a lil bit in love with them because its smth hes not used to tho that def doesnt mean at all that they feel that way about him! it can unrequited i dont rlly care tbh.

ik i forgot sum shit and ik this is a damn m e s s but if ya wanna plot then just lms and i’ll hit ya up! we can brainstorm or pick from one of our wcs idc just give this h*e sum plots i’ll literally die without em? im def the type whos down to prettymuch™ fill anything so if ya got a plot that ur rlly wantin but no one seems to be takin then give it to me i’ll 100% take it lmao! ya im desperate what about it?

Caretaker Chara and their love for monsters

butterflygon submitted: Heya! So… after seeing people questioning Chara’s care for monsterkind, I wanted to try and make an analysis of my own.

Okay, for starters, let’s look at all the interactions Chara has had with the rest of the cast. So far, Chara has interacted with, in order of story appearance: Frisk, Asriel, the Riverperson, Dogamy and Dogaressa, one unnamed background monster on the way to the castle, Asgore and Toriel, Gaster, Thess and Sessi, and Officer Fien. Keep in mind that all these are characters that Chara has interacted with directly, so let’s break ‘em down:

Frisk- It’s very darn obvious by now that Chara and Frisk don’t like each other in the slightest because the former wants the latter dead, and it certainly doesn’t help that Frisk is a human and Chara absolutely hates humans. However, it’s interesting to note that when Frisk and Chara first met, Chara was very polite, almost kindly, towards Frisk, and didn’t immediately act with hostility as soon as they saw the kid, even though as far as Chara knew, it would have probably been perfectly safe to attack Frisk right then and there; there were no monsters nearby to witness the prince going stab crazy on a helpless child, and yet, Chara chose to act as a kindly guide and have the puzzles of the Ruins do the dirty work for them. It wasn’t until Frisk and Chara reached the end of the Ruins that Chara decided to finally drop the act and go for the direct approach, and even then Chara still offered Frisk some pie as a reward and talked a little with them before the stabbing occurred. I think this is important to consider because it indicates that Chara is perfectly capable of acting nice and friendly even towards people that they despise, although Chara will still reveal their true feelings eventually.

Asriel- Chara’s interactions with Asriel are probably the most enigmatic and ambiguous in the story: there’s plenty of evidence that Chara does love for Asriel, and Asriel loves Chara back. I mean, the two have known each other since they were young teens, and they have been married for a little over a decade. And it should be noted that Chara has shown genuine concern for Asriel’s wellbeing, such as when they warned Asriel to not get too close to Frisk (monsters are physically weaker than humans, and Frisk had already proven that they aren’t shy of defending themselves with physical force if it is needed, so Chara had a very good reason to be worried). Chara also seemed to be sad at having to kill Frisk in front of their husband, whom Chara knows is very sensitive, even telling him not to look. Heck, Asriel is even able to convince Chara not to kill Frisk for the time being, so in a way he could be considered Chara’s moral compass. Granted, it is made clear that Frisk’s execution was merely postponed, not cancelled, which is probably what facilitated Chara agreeing to imprison Frisk. But on the other hand, several people have already noticed several subtle but concerning red flags in the way Chara behaves towards Asriel: Chara seems to be somewhat controlling of Asriel, giving the latter little to no say in most things, and sometimes the way Chara talks to Asriel seems less like they’re addressing a friend/spouse and equal and more like they’re talking to a subordinate, and there have been a couple of times where Chara seemingly threatened Asriel. The first time was at the prison, when Asriel hit his head on the doorframe and Chara used this as an excuse for him to stay outside, but when Asriel tried to refuse Chara glared at him with a very forced smile that clearly startled Asriel into complying. The second time is at Asgore and Toriel’s home, where Chara accidentally reveals too much about their plan; Asriel tries to prevent Chara from storming out of the house and wants them to explain themself, but Chara just screams at him to get out of the way, which Asriel promptly does. Finally, we have the interaction in Memory: Bonds, where two monsters refer to Chara and Asriel’s bond as a bond of siblings, something that Chara seems to take a lot of offense to, leading them to accidentally hurt Asriel’s feelings, causing him to cry and try to leave. What’s interesting is that Chara’s reaction to seeing Asriel in this state is not one of concern, but of frustration: Chara doesn’t see how their words could have possibly hurt their best friend. Chara does reassure and comfort Asriel, but doesn’t apologize for hurting his feelings, and instead makes an appeal to their status as Asriel’s best friend. I mean, yes, Chara didn’t intend to make Asriel feel bad, but they could have said something like “Sorry Asriel, that’s not what I meant when I said you are nothing like my brother, I should have been clearer”. This is all very subtle, but it shows signs of possible emotional abuse and manipulation from Chara to Asriel, as the way Chara behaves is very reminiscent of how emotionally abusive partners behave in real life. Now, this doesn’t mean that Chara’s love for Asriel isn’t genuine; after all, it’s not uncommon for abusive romantic partners to justify their own behavior towards their loved ones and even themselves (i.e. saying things like “it’s not that big a deal” or “I only do this because I care about you”). And we should also keep in mind that Chara’s past on the surface, which obviously played a huge role in shaping Chara’s current persona, is still largely a mystery, so for all we know the reason Chara behaves the way they do is because they genuinely don’t realize that the way they treat Asriel is wrong.

The Riverperson- Chara only talked to the Riverperson to get a ride to the New Home Prison, and giving rides to people is literally Riverperson’s job. There’s really nothing of significance here.

Dogamy and Dogaressa- These two are the guards that Asriel called to prepare Frisk’s prison cell. And Interlude: Patience also shows that Chara called them to pick up a sleepy Asriel and escort him home. On both occasions, Chara was reasonably polite towards them, and seems to find them reliable.

Unnamed Background Monster- It’s very brief, but in page 63, when Chara and Asriel are on the way to the castle, the first panel shows Chara waving to a black, octopuslike one-eyed monster, who is also waving. Presumably, the monster is the one who waved first and Chara simply returned the greeting. There’s not much else to say here, really, but I wanted to cover all the bases. It does show that the monsters do hold Chara in high esteem.

Asgore and Toriel- the first time we see Chara interact with the king and queen of the Underground is during Interlude: Patience, at the Old Home Hospital. Toriel and Asgore are concerned for Ribbon Kid’s safety and hope to save the child’s life, Toriel asks Chara for help, but of course Chara knows nothing about medicine, so it’s not like they could do much even if they wanted to. But then Chara asks about Ribbon Kid’s soul, which visibly makes everyone in the room uncomfortable, and Chara has a small argument with Toriel due to both having different priorities; Toriel is more concerned about saving Ribbon Kid’s life, while Chara only cares about their soul. Asgore tries to put Chara’s mind at ease by telling them that a plan has already been made, but Chara continues trying to press the discussion further, which leads to a harsh reprimand from Toriel. At this point the interaction between Chara and the monarchs seems very much like that of a child with their guardians, with the scenario here being that of parents trying to deal with a stubborn and somewhat insensitive child. Flash forward 21-ish years later and we see that Chara is nervous about having to tell Asgore and Toriel about Frisk, fearing that “their emotions will dominate their senses”, immediately followed by Chara offhandedly calling Toriel “stubborn”. When the princes finally arrive to the castle it is Chara who tells the news of the captive human, though the way they reveal this is what is interesting: it seemed that Asriel was going to deliver this news first, but Chara stops him and asks for ice and a first aid kit, and then reveals the wound Frisk inflicted on them. Next Chara recounts how they met Frisk, but they twist or leave out numerous details to make it seem like Frisk was a deliberately malicious intruder who attacked Chara unprovoked instead of a confused and scared kid who only attacked Chara in an act of self-defense. This is another example of Chara being manipulative, and in addition an example of Chara being insincere. Chara probably does care about Toriel and Asgore, but the events of chapter 3 prove that Chara isn’t above lying to them.

Gaster- The first and last time we saw Gaster was in Interlude: Patience. It was from him that Chara learned what Asgore and Toriel’s plan for Ribbon Kid’s soul was. Gaster also offered Chara to assist him, to which Chara agreed to after brief hesitation. But what is more interesting is what happened after Gaster’s accident: the lab is destroyed, Gaster is missing, and the one human soul the monsters had is also gone forever. Chara is notably less concerned about Gaster’s wellbeing than they are about the fact that Ribbon Kid’s soul is gone, heck, Chara even calls Gaster a failure for losing the soul. And later, Chara saves right before talking to Asriel, and many have noted that that save looked very deliberate, and an indication that by this point in time, Chara is aware of their determination and what it can do. It’s not confirmed yet, but if that is indeed the case, then it’s extremely worrying that Chara would chose not to save Gaster (even if only for the sake of also saving the human soul) despite having the power to do so.

Thess and Sessi (god I hope I’m spelling these correctly…)- These two did a pretty good job of ticking Chara off; their innocent comment about Chara and Asriel being like siblings accidentally offended Chara, which earned them an angry spiel, leading the two to quietly leave. Chara was rude to these gals, but that’s most likely just because they accidentally pushed the wrong button, so to speak.

Officer Fien- A very quick interaction, occurring at the start of Interlude: Power. The good officer tries to stop Chara and Asriel from entering a quarantined area, but Chara simply shows her their badge and carries on, even though she still warned them that it wasn’t safe.

And that just about covers it. These are all the interactions Chara has had as of this writing. So, what can we gather from all these? Well, as you can see, most of Chara’s interactions with other characters have some degree of negativity to them. Frisk’s case is self-evident, but even Chara’s behavior towards monsters is kinda worrying: they manipulate towards Asriel and his parents, they get outraged at Thess and Sessi’s comments, and they didn’t even attempt to save Gaster despite having the ability to do so. Now, what is interesting about the negative interactions with the monsters is that almost all of them involve humans to some degree: Chara tries to manipulate Asgore and Toriel, but it’s for the purpose of getting Frisk executed; they get outraged at Thess and Sessi’s comments, but it’s implied that it’s because Chara doesn’t see sibling relationships as positive, which could be a hint of what happened to them on the surface that lead them to become a misanthrope; and finally we have poor Doctor Gaster, who was done in by his own experiments and took a soul with him, and whom Chara does not even seem to contemplate saving, presumably because they don’t want to risk Gaster being a “failure” again. 

Based on this, my conclusion is that Chara probably does care about monsters and has an unhealthy way of showing it. But beyond that, it seems that Chara could very well care less about monsters than they do about hurting humans. Chara has some really messed up priorities if that’s the case.

Well, I hope you enjoyed this analysis, and sorry for the wall of text!

EMPATHEOREM NOTES

    First of all, there’s a lot of information over on (Asriel’s about page) so go check that out! A starter call will come later, but if anyone wants to swap, dm me! I’ll send you icons if we swap!

Physical Features & Ailments

asriel has white fur, usually wears a striped sweater, and he has a locket that is almost always tucked under his sweater and rests against his chest. there’s a scar on the left side of his chest, it’s missing some fur and occasionally hurts. there’s also a scar on his back from being stabbed. he has self-harm scars on both arms, but they’re mostly covered by fur, and you wouldn’t see them unless you went looking for them. his arms have less fur there because of the scar tissue. for more details on build, check his about page.

asriel doesn’t have a functioning soul, which monsters kind of need, considering how it’s the very culmination of their being. he’s also going through worse symptoms than usual right now. on a physical level, this means your muse may experience fatigue and general weakness, a hollowness in their chest, and they might occasionally shed dust or have a dusty feeling on their fur. you expect a kid full of life and energy? just kidding, he actually just wants to be in bed most of the time.

he can cast up to five fireballs a day, but it only really works sometimes.

Memories

oh boy. here we go. asriel has a lot of memories. like, a lot. they can run together and some of them are much hazier than others due to the nature of his existence. 

a lot of them are violent, from his eyes, killing innocent monsters, laughing. the first time he woke up in the garden and called out for his parents, only to find asgore, broken and alone. finding his mother, and being unable to love her. there are some that haunt him more than others. being killed by sans multiple times over and being unable to beat him is one of them. the photoshop flowey fight is one that comes up a lot, with the sight of frisk’s body before reloading being quite gruesome. being killed by chara in a genocide run. finding the belongings of the fallen children and killing his mother for the first time. feeling the emptiness of the underground near the end of one of his runs, absolutely covered in dust. collecting buttercups for chara, holding their hand as they died and absorbing their soul. watching them die a slow and horrible death. refusing to kill the villagers and ultimately adopting his “kill or be killed” beliefs. his worst memories can be distressing, to say the least. 

there are good ones too, and some from the last city. expect memories before the death of him and chara, playing with them, getting picked on by them, hugging his mother and running around taking videos. coloring at the table. he was a pacifist at first, so there are some memories of playing the good guy in the underground there, but none of him being attached to anyone or feeling any joy in the process. in the last city, you may find memories of him frequenting the garden he tended to in zeta. honestly i have memory loss and i can’t remember much from his interactions in citta but feel free to go through his old blog (here) if you’re committed enough. tw for, uh, citta stuff on the first page. 

feel free to message me if you want to know my personal headcanons or take on his memories from a specific experience, or want to know more of his memories in general. his is absolutely just a fraction of what can be remembered. 

Personality/Status Changes

stick around long enough and expect flashbacks. asriel has c-ptsd, so keep this in mind. things like vines, blood, and empty hallways may cause a panic response. because (this) is still going on with asriel, you may start to lack compassion. asriel has a hard time understanding how time works and moves. expect withdrawal-like symptoms and genuinely cravings for what you might consider an adrenaline rush. some violent intrusive thoughts might come about.

overall, he’s a goofball, you might find yourself laughing at stupid jokes a lot more than you did before. when he’s not in an awful state, he’s loving and affectionate, but carries a tremendous amount of guilt. he’s constantly checking himself and his tone, and has to make an effort to maintain relationships. interacting with others isn’t his strong suit. asriel stims, and you may suddenly realize that you’re rocking or flapping your arms or chewing on your sweater. you suddenly have an extensive knowledge on snail facts and severely lack in creativity when naming things.

I know you have answered a similar question, but it is paramount for my soul to confirm this! Are Azazel and Lucifer related as brothers? Not only do they resemble each other, plus Lucifer caring quite a bit more about Azazel than he should compared to the other demons, but the official Bahamut fandom wiki has been stating they are brothers for a long time, long before the skit they recently performed at the end of the latest episode. So is the wiki wrong? Just want to straighten my ship out! :o

Keep in mind that wiki is written and edited by fans; no wiki is ‘official’, so to speak. Also, try to double check the source if it’s possible. I looked up Lucifer’s page in snb:g wiki one day and once I read that azazel’s brother part, I just… never went back there.

Also, since I’m answering your question, I might as well make this since it pretty much covers all the bases (I think).

Behold:

LUCIFER/AZAZELSHIP MANIFESTO: GENESIS EDITION

(aka no, really, they’re not actually brothers.)

I’ll be separating the source into two: the actual ep, and the extra contents.

1. THE ACTUAL EPISODES

The actual episodes include, well, the actual episodes content; as in, canon things that really happen in the actual eps.

Firstly, they have ZERO canon interaction in the anime.

Nothing

Nada

No talking, no looking, not even a glance.

In fact, they have never even been in the same frame together.

No, seriously.

But never fear, even if they never interact in canon, they at least know each other! And other ppl know they know each other!

Cerberus keeps reminding Azazel of their ‘order’ and implies that said person who has given their order may not satisfied with the result (ep5)

Bacchus describes Azazel as Lucifer’s right hand man (ep5)

Martinet confirms that Lucifer’s Azazel’s superior (ep6)

Gabriel and Michael talking about Azazel in relation to Lucifer (ep8)

Azazel mentioning Lucifer in canon:

Lucifer’s the only person in the entire series who he calls with honorific: Lucifer-sama (ep6, ep8)

For Azazel who looks down on humans and demons alike, this is a big thing, bcs it means Lucifer’s the only person he respects.

In ep8, when Belzeebub attacks him, he thinks of Lucifer first and foremost: “What are you scheming, betraying Lucifer-sama like this?!”

Not why are betraying *me*, but why are you betraying Lucifer-sama.

It just shows how loyal he is to Lucifer.

Meanwhile, Lucifer… lmao

The only time Azazel gets mentioned to him is in ep8:Lucifer: It’s been a long time, Beelzebub.Beelzebub: Azazel has failed miserably. We can afford no more blundering, Lucifer.Lucifer: A pity. I’ll just send someone else, then.

All the while, Lucifer never looks up from his book.

Looking at that conversation, it looks like Lucifer doesn’t actually care about Azazel.

(But then in the commentary he’s described as worried. So it’s possible he just doesn’t show his worry in front of Beelzebub.)

Aaaand that’s it; that’s all the canon mention of Lucifer/azazel.

2. EXTRA CONTENTS

Extra content includes everything official that are separate from the actual episodes, such as episode previews, character commentary from BD bonus, official site description, official twitter content, as well as the official artbook.

2.1. Episode 10 preview

English translation:Lucifer: I’m Lucifer.Azazel: I’m Azazel.Lucifer and Azazel: We’re the Fallen Angel Brothers.Lucifer: Hold on. You’re my subordinate, aren’t you?Azazel: Your white feathers are beautiful.Lucifer: Yours are beautiful, too.

This is the original Fallen Angel Brothers skit. It can be seen here that Lucifer both 1) reminds Azazel they’re not actually brothers, and 2) emphasizes his and Azazel’s relationship: “you’re my subordinate.”

So no, Lucifer and Azazel are not brothers at all.

(Also, this skit was such an oasis for Azazel’s fans at the time bcs when this aired, it was still unknown whether he lived or died, since the last time he was seen, he was being burnt by Beelzebub and losing consciousness in ep8. Him sounding so fine and energetic in this skit gave fans hope that he might still be alive after all.)

…and that he and Lucifer’s relationship might not be as one-sided as one might assume from watching the eps, bcs, wow, weren’t you two quite friendly??? Doing a skit together! Praising each other’s wings! Lucifer’s gentle voice at the end! Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh

Ahem.

2.2. Character commentary

There are two character commentary eps that touched a bit on Lucy/Azazel’s relationship:Ep05, commentary by Favaro and Azazel

Even though Favaro never even mentions or asks anything about Lucifer, Azazel still manages to bring up Lucifer’s name without being prompted. “What, did you feel Lucifer-sama’s male presence?”

(also him asking favaro that means *he* himself actually *notices* Lucifer’s *male* presence.)

Which is just awwww

Azazel (to Favaro): “About your relationship with that hammer head (kaisar). Are you guys brothers? Aren’t you thinking it’s okay to die for his sake?”Azazel: “I’m a bullet (鉄砲玉). If it’s for the sake of my brothers, then I shall die anytime.”

Also, he calls himself a teppoudama (鉄砲玉), which literally means bullet. In yakuza term, this is similar to that of a messenger who goes out and never returns; as in, his role is to be the bullet, be the sacrifice, the pawn, the messenger who executes and never returns.

(pls note that yakuza members often call each brothers even though they’re not related by blood. Brothers here is meant as comrades.)

Similarly, when he asks if Fava/Kai are brothers, he doesn’t mean by blood; he was the one who indirectly caused the death of both of their fathers, after all. He knows very well they’re not related. He’s asking if they’re ‘comrades’ or ‘nakama’.

It seems to him, the term brothers (comrades) refer to ppl who are considered to be important, enough that one would offer own life for them.

Adding that Fallen angel brothers skit he does with Lucifer (where they’re ‘brothers’), and how dutiful and loyal he’s to Lucifer, it is assumed he’s indirectly talking about Lucifer here.

Ep12, commentary by Favaro and Kaisar

For the parts that mention azazel, pls take a look at my translation post here. But to summarize:

According to Cerberus, Lucifer tells her to go save Azazel.

Not only that, but Lucifer himself even comes bcs he’s actually *that* worried about Azazel who goes missing a while.

Favaro describes them as: “And after that, [Azazel] and Lucifer *intimately* go away together.”

I’m just… Favaro, is it really necessary to describe them as *intimate*?

What did Favaro see that made him use such an adjective to describe the way Azazel and Lucifer go away together?

Favaroooo I need details dammit

2.3. Official site description

Azazel’s page: http://shingekinobahamut-genesis.jp/character/character_08.php

“Following fellow fallen angel Lucifer’s command, using moving castle Gregor. he’s looking for the girl who stole the God’s key from the Land of the Gods.”

Lucifer’s page: http://shingekinobahamut-genesis.jp/character/character_18.php

“He commands Azazel & co. to investigate the God’s Key that’s missing and stolen from the Land of he Gods.”

Based on that official description above, it’s made clear that while they both are “fellow fallen angels”, considering Lucifer gives “command” to Azazel, their relationship is either superior/subordinate, or master/servant.

2.4. Official twitter content

Firstly, please look at both Valentine and White day illustration from snb:Gofficial twitter. Each illustration shows couples (Fava/Mira, Kai/Rita) but then in the Valentine’s part we also have a broken heart looking azazel being alone, only to be paired up with Lucifer and smiling so brightly in White Day.

Conclusion: Lucifer/Azazel is also a couple now.

Or, more accurately, they’re treated as a set somehow.

Valentine illustration: https://twitter.com/bahamut_genesis/status/566166402801750016

White day illustration: https://twitter.com/bahamut_genesis/status/576322764233056257

2.5. Official Artbook

The character profile description is more or less the same with the ones written in official site, just more detailed. This book also includes commentary by character designer Onda and director Satou. Notable comments include:

2.5.1. Lucifer“I remember the director instructing me to ‘please don’t make his under nose long’.” Onda Nobuyuki (chara designer)

(Notes: basically, he’s saying the director’s telling him to make Lucifer beautiful, since the part from under nose to upper lip is believed to decide whether one’s face is beautiful or not. )

They made Lucifer sits and never moves bcs it’s troublesome to animate his enormous six wings.

He’s drawn as a beautiful demon.

His horns have two different colors.

Onda already designed Lucifer’s giant ass sword just in case, and even compared to his whole body proportion and this giant sword, his wings are just so, so enormous.

2.5.2. Azazel“’He has that delinquent feel about him,’ is what the director instructed me, so his facial expression’s range is expanded.” Onda Nobuyuki (chara designer)

Azazel was supposed to die early (around ep8 possibly), except the staff loved him, so they changed things a little and included him in later eps.

The main reason Azazel’s lower horns got cut was bcs they were a pain to animate.

Similarly, his wings are made to be smaller compared to the illustration on his cards to make it easier on the animators.

Just like Lucifer’s horns, Azazel’s lower horns have two color tones.

Also according to the artbook, Azazel’s around 190cm, Cerberus 170cm, and Pazuzu 250cm.

2.5.3. MartinetMartinet’s original design is supposed to resemble Grigori, except then his look would overlap with Lucifer and Azazel, who are supposed to look exceptionally beautiful and are in a league on their own; so they scrap Martinet’s prototype design and make him uglier.

Comment: Looking at the chara design’s comments, it’s pretty evident that design wise, while both Lucifer and Azazel are supposed to be beautiful look wise, expression wise, Lucifer’s ‘just’ beautiful, while Azazel’s delinquent and very expressive.

It’s probably meant to show that unlike Azazel, Lucifer’s much, much, MUCH calmer. Since his expression is very limited, Lucifer’s also probably hard to read in general.

CONCLUSION

The thing about Lucifer/Azazel’s relationship is that, in genesis, if you only watched the actual eps, then yes, their relationship is quite one sided.

Despite Azazel showing loyalty and respect toward him, Lucifer doesn’t seem to care one bit about Azazel in return, even though Azazel’s supposed to be his right hand man.

This is esp when confronted with Azazel’s failure, Lucifer’s only reaction is, “A pity. I’ll just send someone else, then.”

No worry about why azazel hasn’t come back, no nothing. He acts like azazel’s dispensable.

But if you look at the extra content, then…

…it’s pretty much still one sided lmao

No, hear me out here.

The thing about Lucifer/Azazel in the extra content is that, Azazel pretty much thinks his feelings are one sided, when in truth he just never notices.

In ep5 commentary, about the “I’m a bullet” comment; Azazel thinks his life is dispensable, that none would actually stop him from dying or that none would ever worry about him.

But from ep12 commentary, we know Lucifer cares; Lucifer worries; Lucifer actually goes out himself to save him, after he also commands Cerberus to go save Azazel.

I’m starting to think the real reason Cerberus complains so loudly is not bcs she’s told to save Azazel, but more bcs Lucifer makes her involved in his and Azazel’s affair lmao

No, srsly, favaro, I really, really need details on how and why and what part exactly about Azazel and Lucifer going away together that makes you described them as ‘intimate.’

Also, I’ll be repeating this once more: nowhere in the official materials state that Lucifer/azazel are actually brothers related by blood. srsly.

//////////

*i’ll be editing this post to tidy up the links and pics and whatnot. But for now pls bear with this.*in my ep12 translation post I wrote nakama, but a much better headphone later, it turns out it’s actually nakamutsumajii (中睦まじい), literally means harmonious or intimate.

*lmao I thought describing them as nakama is already pushing it since they’re officially just superior/underling, but turns out the real one is even more outrageous.

“Intimately” favaro says. I mean. well.

Do you think that Jellal's character might have focused a bit too much on Erza? It's something I noticed with fellow blue-hairs Levy and Juvia. His vigilantism against Dark Guilds is completely offscreen, and he never even sees Zeref in the final arc. Plus, he abandoned his guildmates after August thrashed them to simply go after Erza?

I will never compare Jellal to Levy and Juvia. 

Firstly, we don’t and can’t separate Erza from Jellal’sdevelopment. Their common past shapes who he (and she too) becomes nowadays.Erza’s not merely a love interest to Jellal. A large part of his sin and guiltoriginated from Erza. And she represents “goods” in the world to him when heconsiders himself “bad”. She is a key part in forming his character.

And to me the focus of Jella’s chara is both insufficient onErza but can also be more on other things.

I actually want more details on how Jellal thought it was okay forhim to go to Erza’s side, to see how he had accepted that he could fight withErza side by side and realized that they were not walking on different paths. Somethingmore than simply “I want to protect Erza”. Mashima didn’t develop theirrelationship enough in the final arc to show us that Jellal was moving forward.

On the other hand, I do agree that Mashima also hasn’t givenJellal much chara development in the final arc. The ideal development forJellal is a balance between accomplishing his CS mission, finding closure and advancinghis relationship with Erza. But what can I say? It’s a manga about FairyTail, not Crime Sorciere. So we didn’t get all these things. Mashima decided itwas enough to focus on Jellal’s feelings for Erza (but which still wasn’t written good enough). 

I agree that Mashima made Jellal leave CSto go to Erza after the fight with August was not a good arrangement when there wasn’t any deliberations on Jellal’s decision. It did make Jellal look bad. But Jellal’s action wasn’t totally unreasonable given the conversation he had with August. Just that it could be handled in a better way. And whether it was Jellal abandoning CS, I think it’s subjective since we never getto know how Jellal parted ways with CS which happened off screen. It could be something they agreed. 

As for Zeref, I have never expected Jellal to fight him. And Idon’t know what Jellal could do if he met Zeref. But defeating Zeref is never aboutrevenge for Jellal. It’s more for preventing more people to fall into darknessand to find true freedom. So even Jellal didn’t defeat Zeref with his own hands,I didn’t think it means a failure for Jellal or makes Jellal’s chara meaningless.

Last thing I want to add is that, even Jellal’s focus was mostlyon his concern about Erza’s safety in the final arc, it would be unfair to say thatJellal’s chara is all about Erza simply because of what happened in the lastfew chapters. He did have independent goals as a chara throughout the series,and he wasn’t always all about Erza. Remember in GMG arc Jellal did hisinvestigations most of the time instead of sticking around Erza. In Tartarusarc he was fighting OS and never once did he mention about Erza and only showedup at her side to comfort her in the very end. Even in the final arc, after he foughtNeinhart Jellal didn’t stay with Erza but kept on fighting.

There are really many things that could happen to Jellal todevelop his chara but Mashima just doesn’t have the time and pages and heart todevelop them further.

BeyondFell: Part 16

I know you're still here right? So much happened while you were away! But let's take up our story a few months later ... What? Do you REALLY want to know what happened during these six months? Since I tell you that there is not much to know !! Ok, ok it's good. You have won ! But I will remember it! Well ... During the first month no one saw Chara again, still looking for clues to Gaster. She then returned to see Sans, and since then they meet for a few hours a day in his laboratory to do more advanced research. The couple became even more in love, caring for each other. This dear Papyrus had to work hard to impress Undyne. In the second month there was only one notable event. Frisk was pregnant. Yes, she is a human and he is a monster. However the monsters know the magic I remind you. Anyway, I will not give you details see! Nothing but perverts! Pfffft. In short, she is pregnant. In the third month nothing new except that Frisk had to do a Reset. Fortunately she had gotten into the habit of backing up every day thanks to a star not far from their house. Alas the fourth month ... The monsters discovered the existence of Frisk. However, Sans's presence prevented them from doing anything. In the fifth month, they understood that she was a nice young lady. She could walk around without any monster hurting her. This girl is really amazing! However at the end of the last month .... A jealous monster of the relationship between Sans and Frisk told Undyne of her presence ... Today, Frisk will discover for the first time the beauty of Waterfalls ... Sans and his brother had decided to make Frisk discover the beauty of the Waterfalls at the personal request of Papyrus. All joyful, the young lady was running in all directions. The only way to suspect that she was not a kid was her stomach, which was starting to get bigger, welcoming the fruit of their union with Sans. "Princess, you should be careful ... You never know what could happen. - Don't worry ... I already cherish this little being with all my heart. I will not let anything or anyone hurt they! " Papyrus seemed rather uncomfortable as the couple spoke to each other. He stayed behind, listening all the same. "Mouahahah, have fun in this case" She gave a beaming smile before disappearing behind some stones. Feeling that his brother was not on his plate, Sans looked at him. "If you need to empty your head, I'm here you know?" -WELL ... FRISK IS AT RISK .... - (Sans worrying, after all Papyrus had promised to help them) What do you mean? -UNDYNE ... SHE IS AWARE OF HER EXISTENCE ... I ... I WAS OBLIGED ... SHE FORCED ME TO TAKE YOU A VISIT TO THE WATERFALLS ... SHE IS GOING TO GO AROUND FRISK !! ! " The instant after a human cry was heard, it was not a cry of pain, but indeed a cry of dread. Sans's "blood" only turned once as he teleported to where the cry came from, his face marked with concern. Papyrus meanwhile stayed a moment looking at the ground, then started to run in the direction where his brother, his sister-in-law and the murderer must have been ... Undyne. Frisk had moved away from the brothers who were protecting her: she had come to a pontoon which made it possible to pass from one side to the other of a waterfall larger than the others. She sat on the edge watching, the water calmly waiting for her two companions. Thoughtful , she wondered why Chara had stayed alone at their house. She seemed curiously addicted to reading at the moment. Sans even made an object so that she could turn the pages by herself. However, she had noticed that she had seemed happier recently. What could have happened between Sans and her? No matter how much she thought, nothing came to her mind. Suddenly she noticed a shadow in the water, she turned around and cried out in fright when she saw a person in full medieval armor just behind. She got up, stepping back a few paces in front of the monster who was three heads taller than she was. He even had to be taller than Papyrus. Seeing that the monster was only watching her for the moment, she tried to speak to him. " Who are you ?... " The monster stood in front of Frisk without answering his question. When Frisk was going to ask the question again, he began to speak. "You are very human, aren't you?" If it is the case I should eliminate you and recover your soul. -We can resolve this conflict without fighting right? " The voice seemed feminine despite the husky tone given to him by his helmet. At the end of Frisk's sentence, a spear appeared in the monster's hand and the human moved back a step further. Just before the armored creature stepped forward, a bone passed right by his helmet and crashed into a rock behind Frisk. "If I were you, I would think twice before tackling her ... Tuna head. " It was Sans who had expressly provoked the creature in armor so that his attention was focused on him. His helmet turned slightly just enough to observe the skeleton that had interrupted it in its execution. "So it was true," said the monster. A skeleton that becomes infatuated with a human until committing the irreparable act. Your child will be an abomination, a hybrid half monster, half human. He will be condemned to suffer! In addition, the king ordered to bring back all human souls. This is the last we need and I will not miss my shot !!! " Without even giving the two lovers time to react, she rushed to Frisk launches the first, ready to puncture her belly. In an instant, Sans teleported between the two and smiled Frisk one last time. "Forgive me, Princess. " Frisk saw the scene in slow motion. The monster which was approaching at high speed, spear aimed straight at Sans. She who was trying to run away and Sans ... Who was going to take a fatal blow. Why? ... The human's tears began to flow while she saw the death of her favorite skeleton ... It is always when you least expect it that an unexpected event occurs. Suddenly Papyrus came out of the shadows with a huge bone in his hand. He knocked with all his might on the monster's helmet, sending him flying down the waterfall. His helmet had broken due to the violent shock. The three individuals watched the monster at the bottom of the waterfall, not knowing if it was still alive or not. Frisk threw himself into Sans's arms, in tears. "Sans! .... I thought I was going to lose you ... -Mouahaha, we can say that I have more than one bone in my sleeve! -FRISK ... YOU SHOULD LEAVE. THE ONE I JUST SENT TO THE WATERFALL IS OTHER THAN UNDYNE! SHE WILL KILL YOU IF YOU REMAIN HERE. SANS ... (He looked his brother in the eyes) I WOULD NEED ... OF YOUR SUPPORT TO OVERCOME. " Sans stroking the hair of his princess, then, after kissing her forehead, he told her to run deeper into the Waterfalls. "Don't worry princess ... we'll get out of it." (He turned to Undyne, who was hardly getting up, but far from being defeated.) I'm ready Papyrus. Frisk ran into the Waterfalls as fast as she could. Of course she was worried, but she would only have been embarrassed. Knowing that she did not know and did not want to fight, she therefore continued to run hearing the muffled sounds of the combat in the distance. Running without really knowing where to go, she found herself in a house. Closing the door quickly, she quickly observed the place: there seemed to be only two rooms. She looked at a portrait on the kitchen table before having a chill down her spine. It was the armor of the monster which had attacked her ... There was no longer any doubt: she had entered the lair of her enemy ... Beginning to feel uncomfortable she nevertheless noticed what which looked like a diary on the table. Her sickly curiosity took over and she approached the table, sitting down before starting to read: “We have been stuck here for several years now. So I decided to write MY story, I am a little perplexed as for the continuation of the events. The king summoned me to introduce myself to the person I must protect now. I wonder what a royal scientist can look like. I'll see tomorrow! '' '' I didn't think you could afford to be this beautiful while being a scientist! I was as hypnotized by it. I will protect it by any means necessary. Besides, she asked me to provide her with a lot of materials ... I'll see what is available at the landfill. '' “I have been protecting her for several months, some people want at all costs to appropriate the research she does. I had to eliminate two or three far too pretentious. I may be a girl, but above all I am a monster. She will soon finish building the laboratory defenses. It's crazy what she can do with simple debris, sometimes I feel like she would like more than a simple on-call relationship with a scientist, but I have to make up my mind. '' '' I have nothing more to do in the laboratory. She doesn't want me to set foot there again. I just knocked over a few tools that broke on the ground! And to say that I can never confess now !!! Oops, I said it ... I'm in love with this scientist. Finally I should forget it '' '' My new apprentice's training, Papyrus had almost made me forget. Until the day I received a letter ... It was HER !! I thought that this day would never come !! She gave me an appointment this evening in the hotel which she had built in the likeness of her new "toy" as she calls it '' ''I do not expect that !!! She made advances to me for the duration of the meeting !!! Well, I'm still forbidden to stay in the laboratory, but it looks pretty good for me !!! I am not yet able to admit my feelings to her, however. I hope it will allow me to see her again '' The following pages were filled with photos of the scientist. On one of them was marked with red felt "Alphys". Frisk therefore deduced that it was her first name, noticed that it looked very much like a humanoid dinosaur. However, she was no longer paying attention to her most dangerous problem: Undyne. The door opened gently, startling Frisk, who quickly hid under the table. She was back, but at the sight of her armor and the blood oozing from her wounds, the fight had been tough. She limped and before she even reached the middle of the room she collapsed on the floor. Seeing that Frisk did not hesitate for a moment, she went to fetch a rag in the kitchen to take care of it. She couldn't leave her, even if Undyne had tried to kill her just before. Removing the armor with difficulty she nevertheless managed to clean the wounds of the monster. Frisk took advantage of the situation to observe what type of monster she was. She had a humanoid appearance but on closer inspection her body was covered with blue scales. Two fins hung on his cheeks, magnificent flamboyant hair now trailing on the ground. Aside from her sharp teeth and the eyepatch she wore Undyne was quite beautiful. Frisk then went to search this house a little more in search of bandages. After a while she finally found some and returned to the unconscious. She applied the bandages to her around her belly, as well as another on her head and one on her right leg. Not knowing when she was going to wake up Frisk began to cook, using the kitchen of the chief of the royal guard. She made a simple dish, lasagna, with what she found in the cupboards, she had plenty of time to finish before the fish monster woke up. Undyne finally opened his eyes. Feeling the scent of lasagna, she turned her face before seeing Frisk. Her only valid eye shot the human, she tried to get up too quickly and screamed in pain. "HEY !! Slowly ! I treated and cleaned your wounds but they are far from being healed! exclaimed Frisk before coming to help her get up. -... Why are you doing this? I tried to kill you, you should let me die. " Frisk sighed before bringing her to a chair at the table. She served her a portion of lasagna before answering her sincerely. "Just because people jump off a bridge doesn't mean you have to jump too." Sometimes thinking for yourself brings more than being guided by the herd ... Eat while it is still hot. " The rest of the meal continued without an ounce of speech between the two individuals. "... I can no longer accomplish the task entrusted to me, you looked after me, it would be dishonorable for a warrior to attack you ... - You see, finally I made the best choice. Ah and ..... I read your diary. It was open on the table and my curiosity took over ... -... Nghhh ... (She sighed wearily) Anyway, nothing matters anymore, I don't even know why I'm keeping it up to date. Nothing is going as I hoped. " Seeing Undyne's distress, Frisk got out of her chair and approached her, taking her hand. Undyne looked up to see the human's sparkling smile. At the same time, some noises were heard outside. Papyrus and Sans opened the door to Undyne's house. Unfortunately Sans misinterpreted the scene and launched an attack against it. Frisk seeing this did not hesitate a second to place herself before the attack ... He could not stop the bones which was heading straight towards his princess ...