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Okok. so I was going to essay on all three of my thusia characters but then my brain shut down like... sometimes while writing this large-ass essay. SO INSTEAD, YOU ALL GET IN-DEPTH OPINIONS OF CHARACTERIZATION OF THE TROLL FROM YOURS TRULY.

So the first thing I want to make clear is the most important thing about Izaya's characterization: HE IS HUMAN. Yes, this is the most important thing to remember when talking about one Orihara Izaya, because of all intents and purposes, he will make himself anything and everything and have people believe that he is more or less than what he is. But the fact of the matter remains that he's simply. Human. Kind of pitifully so. The thing with Izaya is that while he may have had antisocial behavioral patterns when he was younger, he was perfectly content with simply watching events happen around him rather than taking part himself. This of course all drastically changed when LOLOL STABBING INCIDENT IN JUNIOR HIGH happened.

And it's from that point that we actually see the Izaya that we all know and love today, a manipulative bastard that likes to see people in desperate situations to see what they will do. Instead of simply sitting back and watching the events around him, he very much has a hand in orchestrating the events that people find themselves in, actively nudging people in one direction rather than another to see what they will do (will they continue forward, will the circle back, will they go in an entirely unforeseeable direction?). All of this shows Izaya as leaning pretty heavily toward the sociopathic edge of the scale, acting like he thinks he's some god that can rule over humans.

The funny thing? IZAYA KNOWS HE ISN'T. And it's that fact that can drive him the most stir-crazy. If anything, the incident in Junior High essentially points Izaya to the truth that he is lamentably human. He cannot separate himself from that role, no matter what he builds himself into. He will never really be at the level of distance from world-events like someone, say, like Shinra? And this is something that Izaya has largely come to terms with in canon, though he is constantly dabbling in the super- and preternatural worlds. Going over theories and thinking about what happens after death--he is actually pretty mindful of his own limitations, though since he's human he can have the occasion where he miscalculates and-or is unable to predict what will happen next.

If anything, Izaya over the years perfected the art of coming in at the right or wrong time, saying the right or wrong thing, and then leaving at the right or wrong time in a way that makes him appear in control and having a hand in everything. Complete illusion to everyone but himself, except not really because people know that's what he's doing but then they have trouble knowing when he is doing that and when he is actually legit talking shit he knows and is factual. Kind of like those eerily accurate horoscopes people read on the occasion, he will say just enough correct information to make the vague parts of his statements fitting to the situation at hand. So while he may know a lot about the situations and threads of intrigue being woven around the humans he adores so much, he largely bullshits his way into manipulating the situation to go in the direction he can see it going.

But when something doesn't go the way he's thought it would? It goes one of two ways. 1) HE IS ECSTATIC. THIS IS THE BEST THING EVER. OMG YOU HUMANS ARE SO BRILLIANT AND I JUST CAN'T CONTAIN MY LOVE FOR YOU. YOU'RE SO PRECIOUS. ♥ or 2) he is annoyed and unhappy and scraps everything and starts over. He is a VERY methodical creature when it comes to these plots and intrigues, so woe to people who make him happy or displeased (see also: how he makes things worse for the protagonist-cast in the novels just because he was snubbed for hotpot). He never completely lets onto his schemes and he has so many names and identities and personalities that he displays for others that sometimes, it's hard to keep track of which is the real Orihara Izaya and which is something he's cultivated for show. Most people? Don't give a shit. He's the worst of the worst of people, why even bother with trying to figure out what's going on in that head of his. He really should just die.

And this is the sort of person that accepted the conditions of becoming an Ophiuchus, an enforcer for the Judges, in Sabra La Tau.

In Sabra, Izaya gets pretty much a fresh start. He's this excitable, talkative blank who is named Pecha and he generally pretty friendly and mostly exhibits kind of the childlike behavior of someone who pokes things to see what they will do. Headcanon for me says that Izaya was likely more like this with his siblings and family than he was with his classmates and peers when he was younger. Poking sister A gets X reaction, poking sister B gets Y reaction, etc etc. Which is pretty much why Izaya accepts responsibility for why his sisters turned out so weird. (The comment about how they are twins and therefore must be only half a person each also didn't help.) And it was very much a learning What Not To Do or What To Do with the blanks.

And, at first, the blanks were generally very forgiving! Because he's a new blank and he doesn't know better. So he got chided and scolded more often than not. Though there were exceptions with some teams when he would push too far. (Looking at Hydracula here.) After a while, most people were wary about but generally good-natured toward Pecha, if only because it was in their best interest to be so. The position of power and authority that being an Ophiuchus lent to that view that Pecha was at once together yet separated from the colored blanks of Sabra La Tau.

Hoooowever... Pecha was the first Ophiuchus to awaken in the coils of the Guardian. And this left a HUGE impression on him, throughout his time in Sabra and even now in Thusia. It was a very big, very real reminder that he is still very insignificant in stature and power and capability. He is a Servant of gods, he is a Tool for them to use, he is a powerless, mortal human who depends on the Judges for strength and power. And if he should go against them or their word, then his life could end and there would be nothing he could do to prevent that. THIS WAS SOMETHING THAT WAS ALWAYS RUNNING AT THE BACK OF PECHA'S MIND. It's not even really a FEAR, but more this constant thought of "I am a warm body, a slab of meat that is replaceable and possibly very tasty to the giant snake downstairs. So no fucking it up."

While Pecha is very much Izaya and Izaya is very much something of a high-functioning sociopath, these are still ideas that can effect him and his mood, temperament, mannerisms, behaviors, and beliefs. So, naturally, Pecha adapts to the situation he is in. He is not strong, but he is intelligent. Most of Ophiuchus decided not to rely on the information they are given from the start choosing to meet with the blanks themselves in order to gain and understanding for them; Pecha dives right in to the information, he asks people opinions on the teams, on the games, and anything and everything. He takes extensive notes and makes sure to mark down any sort of visible pattern or construct. He builds relationships with the blanks less from friendliness but from benevolence and trade. The blanks are naturally suspicious of most Ophiuchus so Pecha always ensured that they would have that fall back of "This is purely trade/business." It was all very subtle but noticeable manipulation of the system already in place.

And because of this, Pecha often traded more with the blanks than had them do missions. As this was the case, he didn't win back very many memories at all, because he figured "I'm likely the same person I always was and my memories won't change that much at all". (This proved to be untrue, but we're not there yet.) So he focused more on information. More on networking. More on getting to know and understanding the situation of Sabra La Tau and using it to his advantage when he could. This was how he ended up being the first Ophiuchus to take on a patron. He'd heard of colored blank teams having patrons, so when there was a Judge-thing that seemed entirely like the kind of thing he would like, Pecha asked if it were possible. And so it went.

THIS OPENED PECHA UP TO A WEALTH OF INFORMATION AT THE DROP OF A HAT. So much so that Pecha then ended up being more and more like Izaya's younger self of simply sitting back and watching how things played out. King sends Ophiuchus out to stop the blanks from running to the Pillar? Pecha gets "lost in the caves". King sends Ophiuchus out to find out more about that cave? Pecha subtly warns the blanks for being too obvious. Queen orders Ophiuchus to find something for her? Pecha and Tack fuck off and wander around aimlessly, claiming to "look around". So it went, UNTIL Pecha became very very aware of the movement behind the scenes and the power play Queen was making--largely in part thanks to Tack being very informative.

Here is where Pecha really stops being idle. And really, as much as he says it was for the blanks, that is really the most secondary thing. The primary issue that he had and acted on--was simply that he LOATHED Queen. He hated her, he hated what she represented. He despised everything she would and could do if she had gotten her hands on Messenger's keystone. The only problem was that throwback to knowing his limits and knowing that if anything should go wrong, he would be dead. Completely. And there would be nothing he could do to stop that. So, of course, he sought out allies and made some schemes and threw it all away at the drop of a hat and somehow IT ALL WORKED.

It's primarily thanks to all the information he had gathered from the beginning, the whole thing with Surgeon and the memories of the past, Tack's intel, Messenger sealing his name and thus King's influence upon him, and what limited cooperation he had from the blanks who basically did a DO NOT WANT the whole time that Pecha was even able to pull off the scheme. And it was thanks to all the work of Listening and Recording and Interacting that Pecha then aside Delphinus the tasks that would later be instrumental in ensuring things would go well (that Delphinus was the one that Queen showed her wrath too, that Hydracula would be the ones to guard the keystone until it was the right time, that the idea of where he would be hiding was completely up in the air...). Not just that but his movements and loud rebellion woke the rest of Ophiuchus up to the on-goings on Sabra La Tau and thus began the great exodus where-in Ophiuchus was steadily untangled from their vows and hid away with the blanks (really, it all started thanks to Pecha sending Parrot off as a messenger to Hydra because Hydracula had already been working covertly with Caduceus to release them from King's vow but eh...).

So Pecha bided his time until Queen's influence was removed from him and then he bailed. AND SURVIVED. SOMEHOW. ESCAPED SABRA LA TAU. WITH ONLY FIVE MEMORIES TO HIM.

This was... monumental in how Pecha perceives himself. The biggest difference between Izaya and Pecha is that Izaya was NEVER the type to get THAT involved in a plot of scheme. Izaya does involve himself more than once, but normally it is without too conspicuous an action. He stands out from a crowd, as he is warned later on in the novels, so when he does act as part of a plot, it's noticeable. PECHA, on the other hand, was largely someone who slipped under the radar of a lot of eyes and ears. He was pretty much someone with ease of movement in a crowd and was able to not only heavily involve himself in a plot but, after the statement from Red to "get his hands dirty"--Pecha does this! And he would do so again! But hopefully not, because being Queen-crazy sucked a lot.

He wasn't able to know how much good his actions and set-up would be and he would not be able to see the end result, but ah well... even an insignificant mere mortal tool of a human was able to piss off a very powerful god and make them fear the power the blanks could have over her. Made the gods start to fear the blanks--most of whom were simple mortals and humans and could do little else against the gods. And fear is a very strong power. BEST. THING. EVER. So, of course, Pecha could only think that things would either could completely right or horrifically wrong. He left it all in the hands of Fate at that point.

And then, traversing the multiverse to get to the Enterprise, Pecha was largely looking just to get home and start again. He figured he stashed information about himself somewhere, just on the off-chance that something would happen to him. (I mean, really? Who wouldn't?) Except then his "accident" happened and Pecha died in the vacuum of space. How terrible.

Now, this isn't a completely terrible thing. Because 1) while he was living under the thread of dying via giant snake noms, Pecha never really thought about what would happened when he died. It was just one of those things where you live in a murdercave full of gods and if they wanted you dead, you would die and stay dead and thus there would be no more "you" and so 2) HE ENDED UP ARRIVING IN THUSIA. :'D

Pecha is... completely elated to discover this sort of afterlife. Not only is he able to find out what happened in Sabra La Tau since he escaped, but he can watch people struggle to rebuild, survive, and prosper. Something completely the opposite in nature from Sabra La Tau which was all about trying to get the world to end as it should have so long ago. Pecha doesn't even think about how he dies again after the first few days and he quickly adapts into Thusia's way of things, digging around for information and whatnot.

The problem here... is that Pecha was so caught up in the Sabra people. He completely was fascinated by them and got sidetracked from the broader picture. Again: HUMAN FAILINGS. Pecha was a product of Sabra La Tau and therefore his focus was shifted onto them. Even though he was heavily interested in how Thusia would turn out and the new arrivals, Pecha's primary focus was on them. And that is something that is also very different from Izaya. For Izaya, pretty much all humans are the same to him--he loves them all. For Pecha, the blanks of Sabra La Tau have a special little area all of there own, just above Everyone Else. And this will prove to be something that effects his mannerisms later.

Primarily, when he gets his name back.

Since Ptou the Messenger still had the power of King from the Sabra Good End timeline, when Ptou gave back Pecha his name of Orihara Izaya, all of Izaya's memories came back to Pecha. Not only did this mean a massive migraine for a while, but it also meant a different perspective on... well, pretty much everything. But it wasn't something he sorted out for himself, at first. Instead, it would take getting taken by spiders and being nommed on for a month and being rescued from that that would enable Izaya to slow down enough to have the time to reevaluate everything. So it's really here that Izaya acknowledges that he's actually quite different from how he used to be and he DOES have a bias for the people of Sabra.

It's also here that Pecha comes out of his Watch Only state and begins to have more of a hand in things around him. So far, pretty small, things like taking in Robin and giving her the name Roku, despite Allen's protests that that is a horrible thing, why would you do that? Subtle things like telling one person one thing and then turning around and saying the opposite to another--i.e. claiming to still have only five memories vs revealing that he has regained them all. And more importantly, he does this with his names--giving the name Orihara Izaya to some, simply Pecha to others. It's not even really anything precise or thought out. It's most like Izaya is throwing spaghetti at a wall and see if the noodles stick or just leave messy, gooey substances on the paint.

In other words, while Izaya has come out of the Watch Only state of Thusia, he is still very much feeling out the state of affairs and is actively keeping an eye on the people around him. This shows also in his mannerisms with various people--with the Sabra people, he very much purposefully defaults to his familiar role as That Ophiuchus, friendly in his completely terrible way and very childish. He accepts the former-blanks' ire and all the knowledge and experience that comes with having been a fellow Sabran. With people outside of that circle, however, he does the same thing as with information--randomly goes with whatever feels proper at the time. Sometimes subdued and quiet, sometimes purposefully revealing himself (as in the case of Robin), sometimes simply letting other people draw their own conclusions from what they've heard and witnessed and following along with that.

In short: Izaya is very much doing as he has canonly done and is burying the truth of himself under the roles he assigns himself. That's not to say he's not at all honest with the people he speaks to, but he IS often lying through his teeth and-or purposefully giving out falsehoods about how he views things. In actuality, the people who see Izaya as most "himself" would be Red and Allen. And sometimes, this annoys Izaya. Because, as we stated way up at the top of this long essay, the one thing that Izaya hates the most is the fact that he is mired by his own humanity. It's something he will never really break away from no matter what role he assigns himself, and it is something he is re-accepting in a way. So while he plays the Dubious Terrible Friend or the Terrible Villain Responsible For Queen Rampage or the Ophiuchus Who Set Queen Up To Die And Fucking Walked the Fuck Out of Sabra La Tau, very simply, Izaya is a human with very little power and very little stance in the arena he's in. It's not something he's afraid of, but it's something that he can and will use to his advantage.

Though, after all of this, Izaya very much someone who knows he is not someone to underestimate or cross. He acknowledges his own temperamentalness and his own deeds and plots. So when people threaten him, when people who clearly are stronger than him, more powerful than him, has more pull than he does, has a larger network than he does--when these people get in his face and tell him they will kill him. He just. Laughs. Because. Wooooow. Haven't I heard these words before? Wouldn't it be nice if things were always so cut and dry? Come and try, I like to see how messy things can get. And, with a dash of Pecha, "why not see how dirty these hands can get"?

So really, where he goes from here is pretty much in the air, but to him, things are already taking a VERY interesting direction. :')

And now that that's done--QUESTION MEME.

Applies for Izaya, Prussia, and Kiritsugu @ Thusia and Cheshire/Kyou @ Decollage

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Cheshire is a lot more... hm... quieter? He's still very much reactive, but there's a difference between how Kyou would seek out confrontation sometimes and Cheshire simply reacts to the things around him. Largely, this is due to the fact that Kyou is full of self-loathing and forcing that self-loathing into anger and violence, especially toward Yuki. It was basically what saved his sanity after the whole trauma of Kyouko's death, being angry and hating Yuki and fighting anyone who would say anything about it. Cheshire... doesn't have any of that. He's pretty mild and generally relaxed, except in the Gallery, he's a bit jumpy and whatnot because it's unfamiliar territory--everything is. So he's skittish as hell and would rather avoid a fight than really get into a serious one.

He's also not as closed-off in some ways as Kyou is. In canon, Kyou was constantly isolated, harassed, slandered, and just told over and over again that the Cat was terrible, the Cat should be locked away, it's the Cat's fault, it's all the Cat's fault, he shouldn't be seen, he shouldn't be around people, he's not even human. This made Kyou, as a child, very lonely and thus very skittish around people. Incidents like when Kagura decided to play with him were rare and even that was marred by the whole... Kagura removing his juzu beads. So Kyou never really has allowed himself to get close to anyone save for Shishou and even then he tried to keep Shishou at a distance because he didn't want Shishou's association with the Cat and with a bad kid to effect Shishou. Now, eventually Tohru comes along and things start to change BUT AKITO. THE "I WILL NEVER LOVE..." SCENE. Kyou purposefully keeps himself at a distance because he doesn't want to hurt anyone. It's the last thing he ever wants, but most of all, it's because he's resigned to the fact that he will never beat Yuki and he'll be locked away like the Cats before him. And that would be for the best wouldn't it?

CHESHIRE HAS NONE OF THIS. While he's skittish and thus a bit reminiscent of when he was a kid, he's actually far more open and willing to be friendly and make friends. This is not an issue for him! He still gets annoyed at people, but that's mostly the tsundere and not really anything negative with the people he comes to like. He's far more willing to care about people and let people care about him. It just takes that initial getting to know them and knowing they're not immediately out to hurt him step. '-'aaa

Psychologically speaking, he's far more healthier than Kyou. But obviously that may or may not change as time goes on.

Reverse! Differences between Trucy Wright and Cowbella?

Uuuuh. Not really? I'M REALLY BAD AT GAME IDEAS. But like, I am always for really terrible games, or even not-terrible games like this first one that has a LOT of out-of-in-game-game character impact. So anything like that would be A++.

ARE YOU ALLOWED TO TALK ABOUT YOUR PORTRAIT? I r curious.

FATE/AUS YOU WOULD PLAY WITH AJ!!!!!!!!!!

ALL THE FATE/AUS.

Maybe I should have been more specific

Maybe.

Aerta offers to reopen his magic circuits. She admits it will be extremely painful and that she can hear fate mongling him in the corners. WHAT DO?

WHAT KIND OF FATE/AUS WOULD JEVA LIKE BEST!1

... I am laughing so hard at her being French. (I love French vs British rivalry okok.)

HAHA. IZAYA'S DEFINITION FOR SOMETHING BEING "WORTH IT" IS COMPLETELY... DEPENDENT! Like with the whole Queen's keystone thing. ANY OTHER OCCASION and he would probably say, "Haha, no way. That sort of thing wouldn't be in my best interest." or something like that. BUT CONSIDERING THE CIRCUMSTANCES... 8D;;;

Really, I see it more that he would go along with something like that just to see how far someone will go. He was the one pulling the strings behind the entire thing in this occasion. He was the online informant that the torture artist Earthworm went to to get intel on the informant Orihara Izaya--he could have easily given a different description or picture of someone else, but instead he provided her with accurate information. He set things up so that she would follow the Don't Damage Him because he was connected with the person she idolized (who happened to be Nakura years ago but Nakura hadn't been part of the group that Earthworm was a part of since its founding (it just happened to continue on and grow under Izaya's loving care and Earthworm herself who never knew her boss (who had a different alias) has a huge boner for her boss)) and thus was able to make it like an order that came from the boss man himself.

Mostly, I think he did it 1) to see how much information he could get directly, 2) see if Earthworm would crack and go against that order or see if she was really that dedicated to some boss person she idolizes and yet never met, 3) to set things up so that he could basically kill two birds with one stone (since there was another group that he was looking into and needed to infiltrate--he lured the second group in by planting a bugged poker chip on himself so the second group could trace him to the first group's hideaway), and 4) to see basically how much shit he could get away with without revealing that he was who he really was and seeing how much confusion he could throw into the situation (he actually had Izumii, former leader of the Blue Square gang call in, pretending to be Orihara Izaya, so Earthworm and the dude from the second group where CONFUSED AS FUCK and worried that they actually had their boss-dude (BECAUSE BOSS-DUDE OF GROUP TWO WAS BOSS DUDE OF GROUP ONE WHO IS, IN REALITY, NAKURA! 8D)).

Basically, Volume 9 is sort of magical and you should read it.

But yeah, as for torture itself. It really depends on the kind of torture. Izaya isn't the type to scare easy if at all. He's not even the type to really mind pain, but that's mostly because he's able to avoid it a large amount of the time. But even then, in the novels, he was shanked in the middle of a busy street and yet afterwards, he lay in the hospital going, "... this is lame. I wonder who's going to come kill me..."

SO. YEAH. Uhhh. Not sure if that answers that question, but basically, yeah. You can definitely get Izaya to be unhinged through pain or sensory deprivation but it won't really stop him from continuing on. And likely, it could be interesting to see what kind of torture people could come up with to try to effect him more.

One thing I can say is that Izaya DOES NOT like the cold or the dark or silence. He spent a night outside the dorms in the South Block in Sabra and it was pretty terrible. He also died in space--also terrible. But it's not really PTSD-levels or anything. I think what would effect him most, currently, would be if something like Queen's thing effected him again. And that's mostly because he's completely CRAYCRAY then and lacks control and he hates hates hates hates hates HATES HATES HATES Queen and everything about her and that sort of thing is a backwards step in evolution and no no no just no.

... of course that sort of thing would probably just involve him being a bit more of himself which is kind of terrifying if you think about it. because Izaya... is a control freak, really. 8D;;; IMAGINE IF HE WEREN'T.

How is Robin coping with being in Thusia?

IDK MAN. I still like the idea of the reverse Master-Servant AU. IT JUST SEEMS LIKE SO MUCH FUN TO MESS AROUND WITH.

AJs FAVORITE FATE/AU ASIDE FROM GURODATING?

KIRITSUGU ISN'T SURE HE EVEN WANTS TO REACTIVATE HIS MAGIC CIRCUITS.

Largely, he had this sort of discussion with Yukari after the whole deaging thing. She was bugging him about his magic (what sort it was, whether he wanted it back or not, etc...) and he basically had to lay it out: the only time he could see himself getting back his magic was if he found no reason to look after his own life. Because the way he engineering his family's time magic to work for him was to effect himself only (when originally it was made to effect their surroundings and leave the person alone). But when you double or triple speed-up the body's functions, you damage it. The same thing with slowing it down.

The end-fight with Kirei is an excellent example of what happens when he uses that a lot. Anime didn't show it much, but in the novels, it describes how basically he was literally tearing himself to pieces pushing his body to that extreme and he only survived the battle at all because Avalon was insta-healing him as he fought.

IN THUSIA, HE DOES NOT HAVE AVALON.

So mostly, he thinks about those consequences and has been deliberately not looking into getting that working again because... Iri's here. Archer's here. Archer depends on him being alive and well in order to keep from going back to the never-ending slaughter that being a Counter-Guardian pretty much is. And with Iri here, Kiritsugu has a reason to live because here, she is able to live, she's able to be happy and they can be together and bad things don't have to happen (h-haha, he tries so hard to believe this IT NEVER WORKS). Sooo... yeah. Unless he somehow lost both Iri and Archer, he currently has too much to live for and too much to jeopardize with that sort of magic. Not only that, but Kiritsugu frankly just really dislikes magic on principle (... Dead Island does that to a person).

Soooo... as unsettling as it would be to hear that Fate is mongling him in the corner, he'd probably abstain. He wouldn't say no, exactly. Because... if he did lose these reasons for living, he might just go with it and would want to keep that option open.

AERTA THOUGHTS ON WHERE TO GO FROM HERE NOW THAT DRAGON THING HAS HAPPENED?

I ABSOLUTELY CAN TALK ABOUT MY PORTRAIT YES. :3c No guarantees regarding coherency or depth though.

We haven't really worked out backstory for Salt and Pepper yet, but. BASICALLY. They're twin siblings! They probably both insist they're the older one, or something; they bicker and snark at each other a lot (oh look it's Re's character type). . . Both of them are all about survival. Law of the jungle, step on the weak to get what you need but be loyal to your own people, etc. Overcoming obstacles, making the best—and better—out of what you've got, personal strength! And the balance between independence and the ability to work as part of a team. They're both snarky assholes who won't hesitate to insult people.

Pepper's domains are physical strength (including dexterity, speed, and endurance) and creativity, whereas Salt's are mental strength and strategy. They do overlap to a degree! But yes. When Salt and Pepper run games together (which is most of the time!) they can range from creative "build x, use against other teams" games, to assassin games, to the GM game. :'D I'M LOOKING FORWARD TO THAT ONE. Pepper on her own likes puzzles with a physical component (useful for thieving and tomb raiding…), games that fit her themes in general, and. . . drinking/tattoo games.

Despite their ruthlessness, they're not. . . really malicious, per se! They can make friends if they meet the right people. But they are undeniably jerks, and they're unapologetic about it. Vvvvery little interest in weak people or saps. . . WHICH. Is important because, kinda (except not really) similar to how Mirror made it harder for certain teams in some of her games, Salt and Pepper will absolutely carry things over. They'd see nothing wrong with snowballing a team and watching them steadily destroy themselves further.

I HOPE THAT MADE EVEN A LITTLE BIT OF SENSE. If you want anything clarified just tell meeee.

... I can't help but ask this. If we did manage to coax you to app Hakuba, is there any team in particular you could see him on?

I REALLY LIKE DYSTOPIA!AU and FEELS!AU. Dystopia!AU is one where the world gets scorched to fuck at the end of the fourth war. The Matou end up ruling Japan and the Einzberns rule Europe. And it's super post-cataclysmic event AU and is greaatttttt. It's the one where Archer and Kiritsugu end up pacting |DD

And Feels!AU is one where what if the grail did give Kirei human feels at the end of the Fourth War and OK it is totally gurodate territory but!!!!11111

Would you ever app Assassin!Kiritsugu anywhere. . .

BRITS ARE BETTER and gosh one of these days I've got to pick up Durara.

ROBIN HAET THUSIA, THUSIA IS SO BAD FOR AKUMA :( It's just. It's full of revivals and fake little brothers and she has no purpose here. This is a girl who actually went to heaven and had her peaceful end and then was dragged out of it, Robin has a LOT of trauma with revivals. The dead should stay dead!! She's still upset she never got to beat the Earl and save the akuma, it hurts to know there are still souls out there suffering and she wasn't good enough and she took two of her worlds best weapons with her, NOT SUCCESS :( Robin had been waiting for the day she died to be reunited with her brother again, so to come to Thusia, where the afterlife is definitely not heaven and doesn't have her brother in it, and no hope of ever seeing him again, and still looking like him, she just hasn't managed to accept it at all. Dragged away from peace a second time!! Doomed to be forever more if these people have their way because everyone loves revivals. She's still in denial, that's part of why she refused to give her name. Because Robin had this idea that the first time she'd ever hear her real name again would be from her little brother, and telling others her name is Julia would be like admitting she's given in. She's not ready to let go.

Thusia is some bullshit, what is she supposed to do here, why do people think revivals are okay, the gods are such constant dicks, why is it full of alternate world people who don't know her and aren't her brother and there's no akuma so what is even her point, she has NOTHING to live for and for someone who doesn't know how to stop walking that's hard. She's scraping by with little things, interacting with people and right now keeping her eye on Noric's death festival, she's dragging herself on because she doesn't know what else to do. It sucks.

Why does Pecha hate Queen so much, was there a specific incident or was it just a natural accumulation of fuck this bitch?

Natural accumulation.

Basically, Izaya states in canon that the reason he hates Shizuo is because he's a beast. He's a violent brute and he's a backwards step in the evolutionary chain of events.

See, because there is a difference between when a person reacts violently in a fit of passion or even in pre-meditation. Largely because before and after the fact, people will rationalize it. People will explain it, there's usually a clear Point A to Point B in how things work. There is a rationale even if it isn't rational, so to speak. Even crazies and mentally challenged people don't ping Izaya the way Shizuo does. Because they all have their own perspectives and their own reasons, even if their reasons don't make sense to other people.

Shizuo literally has no reason. He is pure and utter violence. He simply acts or reacts. There's no flip switch from Point A to Point B. Literally anything is a trigger and that is something that Izaya finds just kind of inhuman and disgusting. EVEN WORSE is when Shizuo, despite showing himself to be this brute beast with little thought, continuously acting or reacting on instinct... SHIZUO SHOWS LOGICAL THINKING. This ANNOYS and PISSES IZAYA OFF. SO MUCH. And it's a huge reason why Izaya and Shizuo perpetually hate each other (we will get into how Izaya is a jealous possessive asshole who also probably hates Shizuo because Shinra likes him, YES THAT IS IZAYA, SURE IS).

Queen is very much the same kind of thing. She is Chaos and Passion and Hunger and Instinct just ALL ROLLED INTO ONE BEAST-THING-MADE-GODDESS. IZAYA CANNOT STAND HER. She is literally the representation of everything Izaya LOATHES. And let's remember, Izaya is also a control freak, so she basically is his COMPLETE OPPOSITE. Cannot abide. Not only that but she targetted Messenger. And really, even though Horn is so very suitable for Izaya, Messenger is also along Izaya's alignment--communication and the like. And the idea of what she would do if she were to have control over Messenger basically was the last straw.

Because he could deal with her vying for power and turning Ophiuchus into her toys and causing a mess with the blanks--their reactions would have been great and he wouldn't have minded watching! (Much like how he popcorn.gifs at Shizuo's moments of RAEG.) Buuuuuut piecing together her plot to go at Messenger was just a huge FUCK NO. And that's basically what pushed Pecha into acting against her and thus the Judges.

So yeah, there you go :'D

WOULD PERSEPHONE MIND PECHA COMING OVER TO VISIT RED? HE'S BEEN LONELY! Also how's things with Red? :x

Iiii haven't thought about it? I know I wouldn't mind playing him anywhere (I'd just feel like a huge dork for doing so. 8D;;;) but I haven't really thought about any other games since I'm technically in 3 already and have another in queue in Aather, sooo... full up on games.

But like I said, wouldn't mind playing him somewhere for lolz. But mostly, I figure he'd be boring to throw at non-canon cast... or. Something. (spoilers: Jeva always thinks she's boring as fuck with her characters)

COMPARE-CONTRAST YOUR TWO RINS. Who's doing the better or the two? Who's more likely to get with Archer? --/shot.

MAN SHE HASN'T EVEN REMOTELY PROCESSED THE DRAGON THING. Like she knows about berserkers and skin-changers and priests of Dinache but like. Her view of herself is as such a passive thing, not just a tool, but a tool for healing and. So. Like she's not outwardly denying it, but it's hard for her to really actually in her bones believe that she could be some big wrathful thing that tore up HQ. Does Not Compute. Right now she can barely get to "there was a dragon and it was my fault," which is aways away from "there was a dragon and it was me." It's going to take a little more getting out and interacting with people actually involved in the incident before she ever remotely knows what to think about it.

MAKE UP A GOOD END SCENARIO FOR KERRY IN THUSIA and also make a bad end. Be as creative as you like with either.

THEY'RE BOTH PRETTY UNHAPPY.

AatherRin has less baggage! But she also has fewer positive and grounding experiences. She is lonely as FUCK and her most positive memory is liek - telling Shirou he's DONE AND SHOULD LEAVE THE WAR DON'T COME BACK OR I'LL KILL YOU and then running off with Archer to do something. And it's mostly positive because Archer is reliable and there and yes. EXCEPT ARCHER'S A DICKBUTT :c AND GOT BOOKED. She is never quite sure what to do with her team except be on the offensive all the time.

ThusiaRin has a lot more issues. Dad issues. Mom issues. Sister issues. Failure issues. Timeline issues. Archer issues. Gilgamesh issues. But she has a lot more grounding too. She is FIERCELY protective of where she came from and where she's going. She knows she's done a lot on her own FUCK YOU GUYS IM DRIVING THIS GODDAMN CAR. She's working on issues with her dad and working on. life. in general. So. Yes.

IT'S A TIE.

Also AatherRin was gonna go on a date with Archer BUT THEN HE GOT BOOOOKKKEDDDD. ThusiaRin wants her life in order a bit more - but things are settling down with her dad and she is coming around the bend of Sakura isn't coming back so. Who knows '-'

WHAT IF KIRITSUGU BECAME A GRANDFATHER HOW WOULD HE FEEL ABOUT THAT!1

hahahaha WELP

It all started around the KIRITSUGU FED ME ;;;;; episode, as you may remember, which more or less overlapped with the flowers and Archer more or less topping her with feelings, telling her that what she was doing was dumb and Kiritsugu was being dumb too and they should get along. And on some level Saber could acknowledge that yes, this was stupid, but she still had no real wish to reach out because Kiritsugu obviously just wanted to stay as far away from her as humanly possible and she didn't see any reason to not... respect this.

And then unconscious happened which was just :') :') SHE DID THINK IT WAS SOME KIND OF NIGHTMARE, which is why she just kept quiet about it for so long, but also why she was quietly more willing to be at peace with him. Asking how he was and if he needed anything, etc. And she was kind of really quietsad with Kerry because WOW KIRITSUGU YOU WERE SUCH A CUTE KID, WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU—wait no, I know, don't answer that.

But the final blow was basically learning that the unconscious thing was actually... yes, Kiritsugu's mind and its monsters. It's not so much that she didn't expect to see those things, but the levels at which Kiritsugu blames himself for everything—that last room with the corpses and the utter resignation.

Those are things Saber can relate to, completely, and when she said she needed to see that she means it in a sense that she has now stood on the other side of things. She now understands how the rest of the world (or at least Shirou and other people who know about her past) feel about her. It's somewhat hypocritical because she still blames herself for all her failures, but at the same time she doesn't want Kiritsugu to blame himself like that. It made her look at herself, look at her choices, and start wondering if it isn't time to try and move on, to forgive herself, or at least accept that she did the best she could have at the time and there is no point in dwelling on it forever.

And... she wants Kiritsugu to do the same. Becaus even if he was a huge ass during the 4th War, she has started being able to understand him. She knows he is not a bad person and she knows how much his family loves him (and viceversa), she thinks he should get a second chance at happinesss in Thusia and she will quietly do anything she can to help make this possible. For Shirou, for Iri, for herself... and for Kiritsugu himself.

DOES KIRITSUGU HAVE ANY FEELINGS ON SHIROU BEING SABER'S MASTER AFTER HIM?

THAT SORT OF THING GOES HAND IN HAND WITH THE "... WELL. I GUESS... LEAVING AVALON IMPLANTED IN SHIROU WAS SORT OF A REALLY TERRIBLE IDEA."

But at the same time, it's kind of a relief? It was surprising to hear that that was the case--or not surprising so much as something he just didn't think about, largely because he hadn't been expecting the war to kickstart that soon. He had really wanted Shirou to not be involved in that sort of thing, but on the other hand, he probably had the feeling the Shirou was likely to get caught up in something if only because he took on the name Emiya and Kiritsugu took him in and clearly whatever Kiritsugu cares about ends up in terrible situations.

The relief of it would be that... well. Shirou himself is not a magus. He is not someone trained in battle tactics, nor is he someone who understands the world of magi and how things work in the Grail War. That someone like Saber was his Servant was reassuring because Saber is one of the more powerful Servants and not only is she familiar with battle but she is very much familiar with the Grail War. Saber is also fiercely loyal to those she chooses to serve, so that is just extra protection for Shirou all around. Except Shirou is also not that bright and gets into troublesome situations (E-Emiya family trait...), so someone like Saber would also temper Shirou's impulsiveness. Hopefully...

Overall, when Kiritsugu heard that Saber was Shirou's Servant... there was just this quiet relief, especially since Saber spoke well of Shirou. He does wonder how she felt about the whole thing and how she took to being the Servant to the boy that Kiritsugu had taken in after the war, but mostly, thinks it better not to ask.

Basically, Kiritsugu knows that Shirou was probably a better fit with Saber than he ever was as a Master.

Saber's feels about Zexion as her Master?

Edited 2012-10-09 05:10 (UTC)

............. god I crack up every time someone calls her Cowbella ajpsdifapdf

But anyway, Bella is a lot more cheerful and a lot less bogged down by the emotional baggage Trucy suffers from in canon. Trucy is another one of those kinds of people who don't like to be outwardly sad when something is really bothering her, because she feels like it's unfair to burden the people around her with her sadness. So despite her father disappearing at an early age, her helping him with that disappearance, him promising to come back to her, him FAILING to keep that promise and then his eventual murder really shooting holes into her emotionally, she always smiles and is always cheerful! It's not that Trucy is emotionally dishonest (in fact, she's pretty honest about what she's feeling, when she's feeling it), it's just that she honestly doesn't see a reason to push the burden of her sadness when there is nothing to be done about it onto others. So she doesn't :|a Naturally, without these memories Bella is overall a lot happier. It also means that she isn't quite as bad about keeping her sadness to herself (though I imagine first hardcore trauma game will change that).

Bella is also muuuuch more naive than Trucy, especially since she doesn't have memories of home to reference her experiences against. She's much more trusting, not quite as manipulative (Trucy in canon can be pretty shady morally thanks to Papa Phoenix's influence), 10000x weirder and... generally a lot more vulnerable. But she's also more difficult to take off guard because she's taking so many things in stride (the only thing to really shake her so far was Mary's game). So basically without memories all of Trucy's cheery happiness come to the surface because they aren't tapered by life experiences or anything like that. THUS WHY SHE FEELS SHE CAN TAKE ON THE NAME COWBELLA I am so sorry for her I apologize to the world for her sob sob.

So how do you think Cheshire will react when he undergoes his first cat transformation?

Does Pecha have any PLANS for Allen? Does he let his guard down at all? What are unique things you get to play there =|a

Izaya doesn't let his guard down for anyone.

Toooo be hooonest, Izaya doesn't have much plans in place aside for getting more information. And in reality, Izaya only schemes when he's looking for something to benefit him and-or he has a specific goal in mind for a person. Which Allen, he doesn't really have a specific goal. Allen is mostly... that person that he watches to see what he will do, see how he develops, that sort of thing.

Hooooweeever... the fact that Allen react so strongly about Izaya taking in and handling Roku-chan the way he is means that Izaya will likely be prodding around in that direction. Currently, it's more still feeling out what is what because things HAVE shifted and changed while he was gone.

While Izaya is mostly himself around Allen, it's still more of him acting out as Pecha than anything else. Allen has the sort of habit Shinra did of scolding him but not really DOING anything to stop Izaya from what he's saying or doing. I.e. all the scolding but none of the discipline. Not to say that Izaya doesn't believe Allen would do what was necessary should it become necessary, but it does mean he will toe the line sooooo very often. Maybe even cross it a few times.

But yeah, no current plans! But a constant want to make Allen make faces and seeing Allen have feels and see how he deals with his situation. He remembers when they first arrived in Thusia, Allen was a complete and utter mess of a thing. That Allen's so much more stable and still persevering is very cheering to Izaya because it means that there's more to play with when it comes to Allen. And really, it's not like he wants to be terrible or anything, he just wants to see what Allen would do with certain things. And it's not as though Izaya could ever really do anything worse to Allen that hasn't already been done, right? It would be silly to think otherwise.

Allen's feels about Pecha? Going from like the rescue to now. Or even before. I want to heaaar thiiings.

GOOD END IS KIRITSUGU AND IRI LIVING CONTENTEDLY IN THUSIA HAVING SOMEHOW GOTTEN THROUGH KIRITSUGU'S HEAD THAT HE IS NOT GOING TO CAUSE THE END OF THE WORLD ~~AGAIN~~ AND IDK RIN AND ARCHER ARE TOGETHER AND THERE ARE BABBIES RUNNING AROUND ~~AND KIRITSUGU IS TOPPED INTO HOLDING THEM EACH AND EVERY TIME~~ THAT THEY CAN BE DOTING ON AND SHIT LIKE THAT. GROW OLD AND DIE ALL PEACEFUL LIKE FOR REALS.

Bad end would be everyone around him getting taken by the death goddess and-or having to go through another one of those terrible ultimatums again--LITERALLY, AFTER ALL THIS BULLSHIT, IT'S VERY DIFFICULT TO SAY HE WOULD BE ABLE TO HANDLE ANOTHER ONE EVER AGAIN. And basically complete shut-down. Yeah, Kiritsugu's bad end would just be a complete shutdown and being made to stay alive regardless. '-'

Aerta feels on Chrys? And other Old Sabrans?

WOULD INSIST THAT HE SHOULD NEVER BE ALLOWED TO HOLD THEM EVER--and then probably get topped into doing so anyway.

Just. He would be really happy for them and would want all the good things for them and would completely be a derpy, doting granddad and everything, but he is SO FULL OF HANGUPS about family and how he has completely ruined whatever he has touched of his own family. He just really would insist that it's something that he shouldn't ever do. He'd be terrified of somehow ruining something innocent again. Like, even worse than the hangup he had about holding Ilya.

Of course, fully expect like Archer and Rin and Iri and pretty much everyone telling him he's an idiot and topping him into ignoring those feels. Because his feels of love and affection and happiness for family should be more important. He's just really really really terrible at knowing how to handle it at first, since experience has completely shown him that, yeah. He just. Wrecks everything. '-'

Feels Rin would have about marrying into Emiya family?

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