Pecha (Orihara Izaya) (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
best_ended) wrote2012-10-08 01:45 am
best_ended) wrote2012-10-08 01:45 am
(no subject)
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
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
no subject
And it was only Allen. /handwaves, handwaves
THE STABBING INCIDENT IN JUNIOR HIGH--ah, well. It's hilarious. It's mentioned in a couple of places in the novels--Shinra actually threatens Izaya that he will tell everyone the truth of it when Izaya was in the hospital after getting shanked and was bored so he was blowing up Shinra's phone when Shinra was trying to have a date-thing with Celty. (Only it turned out Izaya had given the PD Shinra's phone number, so Shinra was actually yelling at the PD... and then after that, he accidentally yelled at Celty because Celty then called Shinra's phone, haha, it's a cute scene!) But we're left going "...??? what incident?" for a good while.
IN VOLUME 9, which is basically AAAAALLL about Izaya, the incident is laid out.
Essentially, Izaya was just as I stated at the beginning of the essay. He just sat back and watched the people around him and was perfectly content doing so. Enter Shinra. Shinra demands that he start a Biology Club with him. Izaya is full of, "... who is this weirdo and why is he bugging me?" feelings but Shinra IS INSISTENT because his honey commented that he needed a hobby like a club after school or something stupid like that and Izaya seemed like an interesting guy since he introduced himself to the class as someone whose hobby is people or something like that.
Izaya basically goes, "... no. gtf away."
Shinra is sad.
Shinra continues to pester Izaya until Izaya eventually agrees to being vice president of the Biology Club (SIGH).
As vice president, he ends up doing something as shady as running a gambling circle in the clubhouse room. Shinra constantly, half-heartedly keeps telling Izaya NOT to do such shady things, especially in the clubhouse (half-heartedly because really, he didn't care he just knew it was something Celty would want him to say and it was morally right but he never really did anything to prevent Izaya from running the gambling circle, either).
So it went until some guy who made a bad bet came in demanding Izaya hand back over his money. Izaya flippantly tells the guy to accept his loss and if he's having such monetary trouble, he should stop making stupid bets or something like that. SHINRA IS THERE THE WHOLE TIME WATCHING--and decides to throw himself in front of Izaya when the loser-guy goes in with a knife for a shank-attempt at Izaya.
Izaya, understandably, is completely stunned.
He knows that Shinra doesn't care about protecting him. He did something THAT stupid because he thought Celty would think it was impressive. It had nothing to do with the world around him--this guy was completely in his own little world and he didn't care about the people around him and basically risked his life for some insane, out of this world reason that Izaya can barely wrap his head around the idea of it!
Loser-guy flees the scene of the crime and Izaya gets ready to call the hospital, but pauses, because Shinra is explaining why he did such a stupid thing and there's this feel. This really weird feel that is cropping up and Izaya's not sure what to do with it, so (in a small voice), he asks Shinra if they could say he was the one that responsible. (Shinra is confused and losing blood and who the hell thinks up something like that when someone's practically bleeding out in front of them?)
Izaya swears to Shinra that he'd make sure that loser-guy Nakura would pay for what he did.
10 years later... Izaya is still making Nakura's life a living hell, having bought his name to use for his own means and starting shit like gambling and drug rings with the guy in university and then later bailing him out when the big bad yakuza look like they're going to hunt Nakura down. Nakura's life and well-being is COMPLETELY in Izaya's hands and Nakura was the one who made it that way. :'D
Oh, and that weird feel Izaya had during the incident? He was--is JEALOUS of Shinra. He has been so for some time because Shinra is at a level sooooo far beyond Izaya that it's simply... hmmm... UNFAIR. :'D And this is why Shinra is his only friend and why he has feels later on in the novels when he comes to the understanding that he'll do something that Shinra will hate him for and thus lose him as a friend, probably :'D;
Explain Julia-Robin's canon to me!
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WHAT DO YOU WANT EXPLAINING? It's basically the DGM pilot chapter and she is proto-Allen, do you want to know the differences or a basi blurb or what?
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Also in Vol 9, Izaya purposefully lets himself get caught by a torture artist just because he was curious to see what that was like. SPOILERS: He was underwhelmed since the torture artist actually followed the Do Not Damage Him order. The whole volume is him sitting in a chair with a bag soaked with lamp oil over his head and him thinking idly about the past. This icon is actually from the reveal of WHO IS UNDER THE BAG? IT WAS A VERY ENLIGHTENING EXPERIENCE. HE CRITICIZED THE TORTURE ARTIST'S WAY OF INTERROGATING HIM :'D
But yes! Differences and uuuuuh. yes. gimme Julia feels.
no subject
Skip forward two years and we find that it is not a case of Allen's master sending him to the Order to be a proper Exorcist, but Robin is tracking her Master to the Order because he left to get a precious ancient weapon restored and... Forgot the weapon. MASTER o9" That's another difference, Robin doesn't wait 100+ chapters for Crown Clown, she has her epic prophetic power up from the start. So Robin is on her way to Japan, which instead of being overrun by akuma beause of it's small size and isolated geography, is actually akuma-free and the war hasn't reached their shores yet.
Robin still has Allen's HORRIFIC luck, and loses her wallet and tickets and gets thrown off the boat she was on, washing up outside a tea shop where Japanese waitress Lenalee is working. Lenalee is not an Exorcist and doesn't have trauma or a brother, but her boss is just as overbearingly protective of her :D Robin gets forced into working as a waitress (because as if her gender wasn't ambiguous enough, they have to stick her in drag for half the story), and here we see that Cross does not heap piles of debt onto her shoulders, working it off is a new and embarrassing experience for Robin. I am sad Cross never got a chance to put her through this in Thusia :( From there Robin develops a crush on Lenalee, talking about how she's like an angel (and remember, she's seen heaven) but Lenalee already has a fiance. EXCEPT THE FIANCE IS AN AKUMA OH NO, so there's a battle in a church wherein Robin reveals she is fighting for the akuma, not humanity, and her motivation is different than Allen's even if it's the same goal because she is fighting for her kind. Robin doesn't just see the akuma crying in pain and despair, she's felt that and hurt like that and decided instead of letting herself be killed and saved, she wanted to save the rest of them and fight back before she rests in peace. Robin is a death seeker aiming for that after she's completed her mission, whereas Allen is fighting to live on.
There's a difference in their Innocence as well; Allen was born with his arm, but Robin's originally belonged to Cross and was transplanted onto her when she said she wanted a weapon. It's a constant drain on her seal as opposed to her life, unlike Allen she's already dead. But if she uses her arm for too long, her seal breaks and she'll revert back to an akuma under the Earl's control. Luckily she has Abaddon to feed her seal energy in desperate times, but she's still a ticking time bomb. Which she knows and has a pact with Cross to kill her for good if that happens.
Robin is a lot ditzier and more of a punching bag than Allen, she's easier to push around and bully and make a fool out of, she won't act heroic and shonen unless she thinks it's needed, she deliberately hides her cool side on a day to day basis. She has a much more maternal personality, she's always had to take care of her little brother and then Cross was very high maintenance, her relationship with him is a lot different.
Also she's French, not British.
And Izaya honey you are the least healthy omg. How would he reat to actual torture pain then? WOULD IT BE WORTH IT?
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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?
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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?
no subject
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