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
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AJs FAVORITE FATE/AU ASIDE FROM GURODATING?
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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. . .
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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.
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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
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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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I DON'T THINK she would really think of it that way unless made to think of it that way. It's too weird to think of having a family, esp one that isn't 'Tohsaka.' She has a lot of... independent/dependency issues and also WHAT WOULD YOU DO WITH A FAMILY LIKE EMIYAS THAT WANTS TO BE GOOD FAMILY AND SHIT?!?!?!?!?! WEIRD.
She would think of it as liek "marrying Archer" or something and not at all that the rest of the family comes attached. Who does that! What kind of family comes attached!
Kerry's thoughts on having Rin as a daughter in law WHAT THEN