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cloudravine · 1 month

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🪷 The Lotus Flower in Mysterious Lotus Casebook 🪷

i. Growing Deep Roots

As noted by difeisheng, Li Xiangyi is an image more than he is a person. He’s the “symbol” and “beating heart” of the Sigu sect; “he embodies everything [the sect] stands for” and “has become one with every person he represents” in his role as a leader. As such, one might say he doesn’t exist as an individual who’s allowed the luxury of flawed, fluid humanity. Rather, he’s fixed into an object: a shield protecting those under his care, a mirror reflecting those he’s taken upon himself to be the champion for.

While a heavy burden to carry, this identity as image is also shown to be brittle, hollow, like a hazy mirage which is more dazzling appearance than substance. Even Fang Duobing introduces Li Xiangyi to Li Lianhua by showing him a painting of his shifu — ink on a page, a person turned into a hero to be worshipped and idolated.

Li Lianhua, over the ten years that pass after the Great Battle of the East Sea, works to plant and cultivate a new identity in the same way one might grow flowers. Li Lianhua forms deep roots and grows out of the mythical hero’s shell he’d been carrying as Li Xiangyi, thus developing an identity which is solid and grounding in contrast — an identity which involves “walk[ing] within a crowd instead of [soaring] above it.”

This shift from image to person is itself rooted in the lotus mantra (written by Buddhist Layman Pang during the Tang Dynasty) which Li Xiangyi first encounters after monk Wu Liao rescues him:

一念心清净莲花处处开

The heart attains peace with a single thought; Lotus flowers bloom all around.

Although the exact timeline is left to interpretation, it’s implied that the lotus mantra operates as a catalyst of change for Li Xiangyi and that he changes his name to Li Lianhua after reading it. Now what is it about it that speaks to Li Xiangyi so deeply in that moment? As noted in 《人間福報》, the lotus mantra teaches us that a pure heart will result in an open and enlightened mind. One subtle, profound thought rife with compassion is enough for a person to glimpse Buddha in a flower, a leaf, a grain of sand or a speck of dust. In short, “if you can find peace within yourself, then you will find peace everywhere.” Perhaps Li Xiangyi, at his lowest point, finds solace in the prospect of stripping his life down to its very core and searching for purity, wisdom and peace within his troubled heart.

By renaming himself 莲花/liánhuā lotus flower, Li Lianhua takes his destiny into his own hands; he empowers himself into reshaping his identity and laying down the foundations for the person he wants to become. Similarly to The Yin-Yang Master: Dream of Eternity which tells us that “names are the shortest spells in the world,” Li Lianhua’s new name functions as a spell which speaks a new him into existence. It’s a deliberate choice, a conscious attempt at breaking free from the suffocating shell Li Xiangyi was trapped in and become a person of his own choosing.

The act of (re)naming notably also extends to Li Lianhua’s abode which he dubs 莲花楼 “Lotus Tower.” In addition to this significant choice of name, it’s interesting to note that Li Lianhua starts growing vegetables inside Lotus Tower when he’s left with nothing after his demise at the East Sea and is facing starvation. As such, his home is quite literally a site not only of self-sustenance and survival, but also of growth — a growth which requires hard work, patience and faith and nearly brings Li Lianhua to tears when his hopes are finally rewarded and the seeds he planted begin sprouting. The act of physically planting vegetables and learning to cook those vegetables speaks of a refreshing and grounding simplicity — of something disarmingly vulnerable and human after playing the role of a god-like figure. Li Lianhua has sweat on his brow and hope in his heart; he plants seeds, watches them grow and keeps himself alive by his own hands.

It seems it’s not only Li Lianhus’a home, but also his very person, which steadily grow into a lotus flower. Li Lianhua wears a variety of hairpins directly linked to the lotus, and the colour coding of his garments moves from the red he used to wear as Li Xiangyi to a lighter palette filled with greens and blues — colours which are more obviously linked to nature.

ii. Life Borrowed and Given Away

The lotus, both traditionally and within the drama itself, is closely connected to the theme of rebirth. On a literal level, the exotic lotus flowers of Cai Lian Manor grow directly from the corpses of the victims drowned in the pond, thus embodying life born from death. thawrecka writes in their story that Li Lianhua is “nothing but a lotus nurtured by a walking corpse, a body that doesn’t realise it should already be dead.” On a figurative level, the lotus grows in muddy water but blooms unsullied every morning, thus symbolising rising from a dark place and growing into something beautiful and colourful despite all the odds. The different stages of the lotus’ blooming can be taken to represent the beginning, middle and end of a spiritual path in Buddhism — a parallel to the theme of 趟/tāng taking a journey which underscores the drama in various ways.

Li Lianhua’s journey, more specifically, is that of a lotus being reborn. The soundtrack piece 《一壶莲花醉》 “A Pot of Lotus Wine” emphasises this connection in the following lines:

问一句莲花的悲喜断一柄弃剑入青泥

I ask about the joys and sorrows of the lotus; A broken, abandoned sword is thrown into the mud.

Not only does Li Lianhua keep stressing at different points of the drama that Li Xiangyi is dead and all that is left behind is Li Lianhua; he even breaks his own sword Shaoshi at the end of the story, thereby physically reenacting a process of destruction—death—and rebirth. As Li Lianhua writes in his farewell letter:

剑断人亡

My sword is broken, and I will be gone.

The significance of Li Lianhua’s action is further intensified here by the fact that the sword in the song is said to be thrown into 泥/ní mud, the site from which a lotus flower grows.

Considering that Shaoshi operates as a device embodying Li Lianhua’s character development throughout the drama, the fact that Li Lianhua decides to break it in the last episode should be taken as a key moment in which he chooses how his own narrative is going to end. Li Lianhua decides to kill for good the glorious image of Li Xiangyi which has become sullied with pain and regret in his heart, so that a simple, fragile peace can begin growing in its place like a lotus flower amidst the mud.

However, the tragedy of Li Lianhua’s narrative is that the rebirth he works to achieve for all these years is not his own to enjoy and never was intended to be. After the Great Battle of the East Sea, as Li Lianhua is reborn from Li Xiangyi and starts planting seeds all around him, he has already accepted that he’s nothing but a ghost, “wandering in the jianghu to close his loose ends and finally [...] vanish without a trace, not even a body left behind.” As mx-myth remarks, even the shift in his garment colours to an overwhelming amount of white as the story progresses makes it clear that he’s resigned to go and has “already started dressing for his own funeral.”

The lotus flower symbolism permeating the narrative accentuates this bone-deep, unshakable resignation. While imprisoned by Jiao Liqiao, Li Lianhua is full of an aching, bittersweet fatalism when he recites a section of Guan Hanqing’s《窦娥冤》“The Injustice to Dou E”:

花有重开日人无再少年不须长富贵安乐是神仙

Flowers will blossom again, But a man can never be young again. Seek not eternal wealth; You only need to be content.

Independently from the original meaning of the lines written by Guan Hanqing, the words seem to take on a sad, wistful quality when spoken with a bitter smile by Li Lianhua. In this scene, while the speaker reflects that rebirth occurs outside of themselves in flowers, they acknowledge that their own reality is one inevitably bound to end in old age and decay. Instead of looking forward to a bright future, the speaker doesn’t express any dreams nor ambitions and is only grateful that they’re alive this minute, this second, without any future prospects awaiting them. Perhaps a similar sentiment is reflected in the following lines from 《一壶莲花醉》 “A Pot of Lotus Wine”:

了了心事只不负众生而已

After settling my worries, I just want to live up to all sentient beings.

Li Lianhua’s connection to the lotus flower, in fact, was always meant to be one of non-attachment. While Buddhism believes desire to be the root of all suffering, the lotus symbolises non-attachment due to being “rooted in mud (attachment and desire)” while “its flowers blossom on long stalks unsullied by the mud below.” This explains in part why the lotus is considered pure and noble. For Li Lianhua, this non-attachment takes on sorrowful connotations: it means that he stubbornly refuses to reap the seeds he sows and focuses his purest heart and will into ensuring those around him get to reap them instead. Non-attachment means allowing himself enough (a roof over his head, food on his plate) to survive, but rarely letting himself indulge in the precious luxuries of reciprocated love and care — of carefree joy and thirst for adventure.

The ten years he lives after his first death at the East Sea are, for him, only borrowed time he didn’t deserve — borrowed time not dedicated to himself, but rather dedicated to others.

In many ways, Li Lianhua’s path effectively goes full-circle by the end of the narrative. When he and Di Feisheng reminisce about the moon they remember from ten years ago, they conclude that today’s moon isn’t any brighter than the one alive in their memory: rather, it remains constant, unchanged, as though the past ten years never existed as anything other than a short pause in the story, a coma, long enough for wrongs to be righted but not for an already-dead person’s fate to be changed.

It’s interesting and particularly significant that the Styx flower (忘川花, from 忘川 “River of Forgetting” in the original Mandarin) is said throughout the drama to be the only thing capable of saving Li Lianhua’s life. In traditional Chinese culture, the Styx or River of Forgetting is part of the process of reincarnation; only by crossing it (and forgetting everything they’ve ever experienced and everyone they’ve ever loved) can a person finally reincarnate. For Li Lianhua, salvation through rebirth comes at a high cost — a price he’s evidently been ready to pay since the beginning, even if it means turning him into a ghost who must vanish from the story in order for those around him to grow and thrive further.

When Li Lianhua breaks his own sword to allow for rebirth, it’s not himself he’s saving. His sole purpose throughout his journey as Li Lianhua is to use whatever meagre strength he has left, whatever passion and drive are still alive in him, to save the world in any small ways that he can. He becomes a doctor who heals people; he looks for answers and solves mysteries to atone for the sins he thinks he has committed and rectify the mistakes he thinks he has made, so that those he has hurt can finally find peace and comfort.

The most powerful legacy Li Lianhua intends to leave behind by the end of the story has nothing to do with himself and everything to do with the people around him who he never truly admits he loves — the messy, imperfect world that’s caused him so much pain but that he nevertheless insists on saving with everything he has.

Most strikingly, Li Lianhua chooses—whether consciously or not—to leave the life and future he’s renounced for himself to his companions Fang Duobing and Di Feisheng. The only traces he purposefully leaves behind live in them: in the Yangzhouman coursing through Fang Duobing’s body; the home, dog and recipe book he passes onto him; the worthy opponent he leaves for Di Feisheng to fight in his stead after he’s gone…

Fang Duobing, by the end of the story, has grown into more than a disciple and a friend to Li Xiangyi/Li Lianhua: he himself has become the lotus flower bringing renewed life after Li Lianhua has left the narrative, thereby taking Li Lianhua’s legacy into a hopeful, vibrant future. As mx-myth mentions in their colour analysis, Fang Duobing notably wears bright pastel tones including a large amount of green/blue — a colour coding which emphasises Fang Duobing’s connection to spring and, by extension, new life and beginnings. “Life will always go on if there’s spring”; and so Fang Duobing’s youth, vitality and optimism can grow in the empty space left behind by Li Lianhua after he fades into the autumn of his life.

While Li Lianhua’s predominantly light colour palette might appear to align him with other characters in the drama who have left the past behind and are looking towards the future, Li Lianhua made peace long ago with the knowledge that he’s destined not to belong in that future. Just as the Lotus Sutra teaches us that “the inner determination of an individual has great transformative power” and “gives ultimate expression to the infinite potential and dignity inherent in each human life,” Li Lianhua focuses all his transformative efforts on creating a future which, despite having no place for him, will be fertile ground for the entire martial arts world to grow deep, healthy roots. In Li Lianhua’s own words:

幼芽生枝新木长成武林也一样这未来如何谁又能说得清楚呢

The young sprouts and the new trees grow. The martial arts world is the same. What does the future hold? Who can say clearly?

Should we say, then, that Li Lianhua’s story is one of sacrifice, self-renunciation and resignation — of drifting inevitably towards death as a flower carried by a stream? As he disappears on a boat and is asked where he’s going, Li Lianhua gives a response which echoes his first death at the East Sea in a way that feels entirely deliberate:

小舟从此逝，江海寄余生

From now on I would vanish with my little boat; For the rest of my life on the sea I would float.

How are we to understand a person being reborn simply so they can pass on that new life to others, and being convinced that their only true value lies in their death?

Perhaps, in spite of it all, we can find some small comfort in the knowledge that, no matter how sorrowful Li Lianhua’s fate, it’s at least one that he chooses — one that he has full control over, even poisoned and robbed of his life force as he is. As the lyrics of 《一壶莲花醉》 “A Pot of Lotus Wine” underline, “it’s just a matter of picking an ending that you like.” Perhaps that’s all that truly matters.

wuxia-vanlifer makes an excellent point when asking: “What would be more tragic? That he never believed he was loved? Or that he did, but vanished anyway?” While I don’t have an answer to offer, there’s one thing I can say. Li Xiangyi, Li Lianhua — they live and die by love. They can’t conceive of themselves as anything other than a sacrificial tool because, for all that they pretend to be aloof and untethered, they actually love others—and the world—in a bone-deep, profound way they’ve never loved themselves. That love is not only the true driving force behind Li Lianhua’s character and the fate he chooses: it’s the beating heart of the entire drama.

“In this life, I have loved and I have been loved. That is enough.”

Shoutout to the following authors and bloggers whose brilliant words and ideas inspire me, as well as this gorgeous video 💖

ao3: @extraordinarilyextreme @thawrecka

tumblr: @difeisheng @extraordinarilyextreme @mx-myth @wuxia-vanlifer @xinyuehui

#mysterious lotus casebook #莲花楼 #li lianhua #li xiangyi #cheng yi #fang duobing #di feisheng #it's sad nerd hours lmao 💕 now we can all suffer together 😘#i'd apologise for shamelessly referencing yym every chance i get even when it's barely relevant but.... well i won't 😌💅#also - please tell me if you notice errors or inconsistencies in any of my points ✨#although i'm always very thorough with my research i don't have a native person's knowledge of chinese language and culture #no doubt i'll think of lots of changes and additions i want to make once this is out there ssdhds 🥴 why is publishing anything so hard??#text: mysterious lotus casebook

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bbnibini · 10 months

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I wonder if it's a design choice or the devs themselves can't make up their mind, but why did Solomon's eye colour "change" in NB? The chibi sprites in the OG show his eyes are shades of grey to brown/almost gold-bronze.

The NB chibi sprite shows his eyes to be dark blue and brownish-gold.

Don't even get me started with the cards and merch that can't make up his effing eye colour

To my Solobesties (I'm calling Solomon stans this now. I think we formed a strange kinship after lesson 17 even if we never interact lmao), especially artist solobesties, hats off to you and your service to the community.

My personal HC is kinda a spoiler for uhhhh something I'm writing, but here it is:

"It's just…your eyes are like you: I can't figure them out." "MC, I-" "No! No! Solomon, I'm sorry! No…it's not like that, I promise! Look at me, won't you? Please look at me." So he did. His eyes trembled as he met with yours. How could he have hidden this part of himself for this long? How could you not notice? How could you forget? How could Father be so cruel to him and you for simply existing? You traced the corner of his lips with your thumb as you held him by the cheek. He was leaning onto your right hand, unable to maintain his gaze. He was surprisingly bashful. Adorably shy without his facades. But he looked like he would crumble even with a gentle word so you did not say anything. He looked at you expectantly, then looked away as your gaze burned onto him for too long and muttered, "You can't figure me out?"in almost a whisper, after a long-drawn out silence, weighing in his words, watching your expressions and body language. Afraid, so deathly afraid. You smiled. "It's like I'm looking at a mirror. Sometimes it's silver, sometimes it's midnight. When you look at the world around you and then look back at me, I feel like you've captured the sky and the oceans in your eyes. It's beautiful." His face was red all over, even to the tips of his ears. It was such a shame. You haven't even said everything you wanted to say to him yet. That he was the moon and the stars to your daytime; gold and silver gazes, looking after you from afar in the many branches of realities he couldn't be as honest with you as he was now. Ah. What will you do without him now? How can you give this up after remembering everything? You knew it was selfish, but you love him. Both of him. Every part of him just as much as he loved you and every part of you that existed. But now, you had to say goodbye. Again. How truly unfair.

#is this supposed to be a plot twist in NB? Like there are 2 Solomons maybe even 3. Solomon is the new Saber from FGO with his iterations lol #is Nightbringer like...a Solomon from a darker timeline? /hj has it been the Solomon we're living with for the entire time?#does that mean the Solomon we called early in the prologue is the actual OG Solomon and he's trapped somewhere dimension hopping?#idk anymore this man lives rent free in my head #obey me #obey me solomon #sorry for the spoiler jumpscare to those who know *waggles eyebrows* it won't be out in like an ice age later. I have so many passages #of my solomon brainrot. im quitting soon so i'm just posting it here willy nilly i apologise or should I say you're welcome? /s sdljflfhfgh #TAG EDIT BUT IF MY FIRST TAG IS THE CASE THIS IS JUST A NEW FLAVOUR OF ME AND LOVING SABER BUT THIS TIME IT'S A DIFFERENT TRAGIC KING #THIS IS COMEDY sjkfsdkgdsfjsdf MOM I HAVE A TYPE but anyw can Solmare make a separate game for him too lmao /jk unless

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tag-if · 4 months

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Progress Update;

DEC 2023 - JAN 2024;

Happy New Year!! i hope you are happy and healthy this fine 2024 (scary thought, can't believe 2023 went by so quickly)

i'm going to try and keep consistent with monthly progress updates this year, not only to keep you all informed with how it's going, but also to keep myself motivated lol

so!

december was a slow one, because of the holidays, but i think i got an alright amount done all things considered :)

DONE;

all of the non-ro scenes (intro to your room, meeting your personal staff, etc.)

had a fiddle with the code to try and fix up some things (that is a work in progress)

not game related, really, but started working on some more in-depth character descriptions and possible portraits (starting with the ROs but i will be doing some prominent side characters as well)

TO DO;

meet the rest of the ROs (and your first impression on them)

take on your first advisory challenge for Aleron/Alize (this one doesn't effect anything Much, it's mostly to show you how those will work)

also! under the cut is a poll that i would appreciate if you all answered :)

#tag-if #the advisor's game #twine wip #have we progressed?#think that'll be my update tag #i've been working #just slowly chugging along #i won't abandon this #even if work slows way the fuck down #i apologise for the radio silence #should be back properly soon though #i'll tackle the asks in my box when i am #they haven't been forgotten :)!!

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coockie8 · 8 months

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I don't wanna come across as ableist in anyway, but anti's delusions genuinely are not my problem. No one's delusions are anyone's problem but the person having them.

Your inability to adequately make a distinction between fiction and reality is no one's issue to deal with but yours. It is downright unhinged, and wildly unrealistic to expect the entire world to cater to your delusions. You have to cope with them; no one can do that for you, and it's blatantly entitled to expect people, strangers, to change what they create or engage in to make you, a stranger, feel comfortable.

I'm a deeply paranoid individual, with an insanely irrational fear of someone living inside my walls (y'all can try sending my asks or DMs that say "I'm inside your walls" to trigger me, but I promise it won't work. I have inside-my-walls access, and check regularly, so good luck with that👍), but that doesn't mean I expect every horror writer/director in existence to never use that trope because some random fucking stranger might be uncomfortable, or even triggered by that.

I don't expect other people to cater to my delusions, because they are my delusions. They're my problem to deal with. I've got my triggers and issues too, but you don't see me going out of my way to call complete strangers predators and tell them they deserve to die over enjoying fiction that triggers me. I behave like a mature human being, and I block tags/people.

If you have trouble differentiating between fiction and reality, or you're the type to base their entire moral code off what you see in fiction, like a 5-year-old, then, in complete seriousness, don't engage with morally grey media. Or, at the very least, don't do so without supervision, and, genuinely, you should probably seek some kind of psychiatric assistance.

"Morally grey media" includes, by the way, all horror, most romances, a good chunk of comedies, and pretty well literally any piece of media that was made for someone over the age of 10. Human beings have been creating fucked up fiction since the dawn of language, and I highly doubt that's going to change any time soon because a bunch of chronically-online puritans refuse tell the difference between a cartoon and a person.

#if I'm coming across as ableist in any way #I deeply apologise #but I'm also mentally ill #I'm paranoid #I've had delusions #and I've *never* expected *anyone* to change what they do or like to cater to *my* issues #anti bs #just anti things #proship #tw: paranoia #trash king vents #I'm running on fumes when it comes to patience #it's financial stress #we won't get into it #I just needed to vent

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moonchild-in-blue · 3 months

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This is me today. I am angry and cranky and in need to commit acts of violence.

if anyone is mean to me i will cry

#ANGRY #my insomnia has been kicking my ass lately. last night was just dreadful. it took me way too long to fall asleep even with mr token #and by fall asleep i mean the 50 minutes i could get #and i woke up way earlier than i needed to. and those dreadful bright ass church lights burned my eyes.#and just so much noise and people in general. we got food after and the amount of noise and ughhh #overstimulated and sleep-deprived #AND PMSING #i know i would feel a lot better if i took a nap but then i won't be able to sleep at a proper time yet again #so yeah. angry and cranky and bitchy it is #i apologise in advance for any possible extra weirdness #don't cross me or else 🔫🥺#darya talks to herself

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true-blue-sonic · 4 months

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on the topic of silver apologizing. do you think there’d ever be a situation in which he’d have to apologize to espio about something serious?

I can think of some situations, yes. Specifically ones wherein Silver's flaws have brought on more trouble than it is worth, or actively put a companion in danger. Silver is very stubborn, smug, and hounds targets down with relentless determination, where it's also really very hard to change his mind in full. And that works great in the Rivals games, because he was right on the money about Eggman Nega there! But I do think that there'd be situations wherein he hears what's going on, immediately decides that This Is The Way Things Are And Thus This Is What I Must Do To Make Things Better For All, and creates a haphazard plan based on solely that before jumping right into the action... which is not exactly how e.g. a detective hired to find the objective truth in a situation would handle things. Basically, I think Silver does not wait to gather all the details of a given situation first to then put them together and see what is most logical: he follows his heart and his desires to make everyone happy. I'm specifically thinking of TSR where he apparently gets the jump on Eggman to interrogate him about the Ultimate Energy Engine, without much in the way of a plan and such. He just comes bursting right in and accuses Eggman about things. And also here, he is right! One thing I like about the games is that Silver is actually just always right in his suspicions, haha. But more realistically speaking, I figure there will be moments where his heart is wrong as well. And when that happens and he's done something dangerous or irreversible in his haste, it'll be a whole issue to fix things again.

That being said, I do think Espio both has patience with him and knows this is something that can happen with Silver's personality at play. In Rivals 2, I would argue Espio fulfils a role of support and stepping in when Silver is not capable of making plans himself: like when Espio makes the decision to steal Sonic and Tails' rings, or when he urges Silver to go find the secret room with Chao in the Mystic Haunt and tells him to not lose hope then. He's not there to dampen Silver's passion, but more funnel it into a productive way that aligns with their goal, if that makes sense? And Silver treats him with respect once they begin to collaborate, plus he is grateful for Espio's help. So, if there is a situation wherein he did something dangerous, I think Espio explaining why Silver did something wrong might be enough to urge Silver into apologising for it. But honestly, I would say Silver's own feelings might play a large role in it as well. Like, I wouldn't say he was disappointed in or upset at himself at all for nearly killing Sonic twice in '06 once he found out he had the wrong guy, for example. He showed sympathy to young Elise's situation, but afterwards just went right on to his next course of action, namely recruit Sonic's help to rescue adult Elise without any form of apology. He truly just kept trucking on for the sake of the future. But in a situation wherein he does feel bad at himself for what happened, it might make it more likely for him to apologise? I find it difficult to say, because I don't get the feeling Silver ever does really feel bad at himself. His confidence in himself and his abilities can be a bit staggering at times, haha.

This got long, but my overall answer would be that it depends on what Silver actually did, the repercussions of that, and how Silver himself feels about it. But considering he's got a good opinion on Espio, having Espio explain what went wrong might be enough to make Silver apologise for causing such troubles, I do feel like. But I doubt it'd be a very lengthy apology; at best, I'd say it's a "sorry" and then just an immediate continuation of their adventure to make things right once more.

#silver the hedgehog #espio the chameleon #if we got the Espilver route... I do think Silver would be rather horrified at himself if his actions got Espio actively hurt or in trouble #I can see him apologise more genuinely and extensively then when Espio is somewhere safe once more #and also with more platonic friendships I doubt Silver would want people to actually get *hurt* by his rashness #I cannot envision him just shrugging that off or telling said friends to man up about it: he cares about them too much #also in such moments I think he might apologise to them and check in on if they truly are okay #if you're not friends with him though? he won't care haha #long post #it's 1 am I should go to bed lol #meanwhile I am having the biggest brain thoughts about how I can incorporate this into New New Beginnings-#-where a sign of Silver's growth could be that he actually genuinely *apologises* for something that went amiss

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