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howtofightwrite · 1 year

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Do heist stories still work in the modern world, especially the developed world? More and more wealth these days seems to be intangible and electronic, and more and more of the physical stuff that's still valuable is marked and traceable so that even if you take, it's hard to spend or unload it anywhere. What are macguffins that a thief in today's world could still physically steal today and realistically hope to profit from (without the profiting getting him caught)?

Heists still happen in the modern world. Hell, the entire NFT “economy” crashed last year as a result of a multiple heists. The Axie Infinity hack last year saw over $600 million worth of crypto tokens stolen. There have been many, many, famous heists, and there is no sign of them slowing down anytime soon.

So, in the vague sense of, “is it realistic?” It happens today, in the real world.

What gets stolen? Anything of sufficient value is a potential target. Art is one of the classic examples, and it remains a tempting target. Any liquid asset is tempting, and no matter how good the tracking is, chances are, someone will find a way to defeat it. In theory, crypto tokens are impossible to scrub, as the entire history of that token will be publicly logged on the block chain... so, thieves were using places like Tornado Cash to launder their cryptocurrency. (Incidentally, the US Treasury has sanctioned Tornado Cash, as of August last year.)

How realistic is it to get away with a heist? There are a lot of unsolved heists. Both, of physical items, and also with a lot of crypto thefts in the last few years. Some of the latter are believed to have been the product of state actors (read: Hacker groups believed to be working for authoritarian states with few extradition treaties.)

Art theft is alive and well. Now, I'm not an expert on laundering stolen paintings, however, from the ones that have been found, a lot find their way into private collections. Art collectors, and brokers who aren't particularly bothered with the legality of a given piece will move stolen art. It's not going to command the prices it would on the open market. (If someone estimates a stolen painting as worth four million dollars, expect that the thieves will get considerably less than that when they fence it, and while the fence will make enough to justify their risk, they're probably not going to be raking in millions either. Once it's made its way to a new owner, it will likely go up on a wall in a private gallery, or get carefully stored in a vault, and never seen again by the outside world for decades (or longer.)

Of course art theft can also be sculptures, books, or really anything else.

When it comes to other things, any liquid asset is a potential target for a heist. Cash, precious metals, and gem stones, are probably the most obvious examples, though, certainly not the only options.

The heist is, generally, a fairly consistent (if modular) structure.

It starts with identifying a vulnerable asset. The reason for the vulnerability may be important for the story, but not for the genre itself. This may be as simple as, “the asset exists,” and the PoV character learns of it, or it could be a situation where an exploitable flaw in the electronic tracking for the item is identified.

Once that's happened, then the ringleader starts assembling a team of specialists (and, amusingly, it is almost always specialists), to fill necessary roles in the heist. Usually this is a mix of technical specialists, social specialists, and at least some muscle.

So, assembling the team is something very specific to the formula, and not reflected in reality. A lot of real world heists simply need bodies, and prefer to have as few people as possible involved. The reasons are twofold. First, the less people involved, the less ways the resulting cash has to be split. Second, the fewer people involved, the fewer people that can lose their nerve and screw up, or rat their partners out to the police.

Once the team has assembled and they have a plan (this is usually hammered out along with the recruitment phase of the story, though that doesn't make a lot of sense when you step back and think about it), then they identify the preceding steps that need to be completed before executing the heist. This involves prepwork, sometimes smaller thefts to obtain the resources they need, and other necessary activities. (Again, this is more of a formula consideration, than a strictly realistic one. Especially the perpetration of earlier crimes. Those crimes can easily result in errors that would lead law enforcement to identify the heist before it occurred, and also help with identifying the thieves. To be fair, this is sometimes handled intelligently while staying within the formula to build tension. As the police close in on the team before they've even gotten started.)

After this, the team goes to execute the heist. Expect several things to fail simultaneously, with members of the team scrambling to salvage the heist. So, I don't want to harp on this too much, but this is another one of those places where the formula structure is extremely unrealistic. When looking at real heists, these kinds of fumbles will usually either botch the heist on the spot or provide the police with the threads they need to find the perpetrators. From a narrative perspective, it makes sense, it help build tension moving into the climax. So, while it's not realistic, that's not the point.

Once the team has the item, then they need to extract with it. Sometimes you'll see this skimmed over, but, getting the thing you're stealing away from the people trying to arrest the thieves is a somewhat important consideration. Generally speaking, yeah, a loud extraction with gunfights and car chases is going to end with the police response scaling to the point where escape is impossible. Also, generally speaking, most writers have a difficult time keeping stealth sequences tense, especially when their instinct is to transition into action.

Once they're out, lot heist stories end. The thieves, “won,” and the climax has played out. From a writing perspective, this makes sense. They won, and everything from here is going to be downhill. The team will break up. The actual process of fencing the stolen goods are going to be fairly dry, and, alternately, the process of laundering any cash they may have stolen isn't going to be that interesting either. There might be some lingering character threads to resolve, but the story is over, at least until you start another.

The main purpose for dragging a story beyond the heist is if you're setting up a tragedy. Probably with the police hunting them down for whatever errors they made along the way. I know I've cited it before, but Michael Mann's Heat (1995) is an excellent example of how the heist structure can be turned into a tragedy. (It's also a rare case that reworks a lot of the formula into something more realistic.)

On the whole, I'd say the heist genre is as relevant today as it's ever been. The specific stumbling blocks your characters will encounter are different. That always changes, and your ability to tune your story to your setting is always important. From a strictly mechanical perspective, there's no difference from your character accidentally leaving his driver's license behind at the scene of the heist, and failing to identify a tracker concealed in the stolen object. Both of them create a direct line from the crime back to that character. In a very real sense, a lot of the particulars for how this plays out is simply flavor. If you want your heist to be a techno-thriller, then you can absolutely do that, though you will probably have to spend quite a bit of time studying modern security methods and technology, but you can do that.

-Starke

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#how to fight write #Starke answers #writing advice #writing reference #writing tips #writing heists #heists

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mdhwrites · 1 month

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thoughts on camila?

So I've talked about how she is just as a character before. I think as a character, she's as sweet as a saint and I like her in isolation. However, and this is what I want to focus on more because of an element I'll get to, she's a bad character in the context of The Owl House for the same reason King and Eda are: What is she doing in this story? How does she add to it?

Camila makes Luz look a fucking terrible as a human being. Almost EVERYTHING we see in the human frankly makes Luz like a terrible human being because that's the genre that The Owl House is a part of: Modern Isekai. Like most Modern Isekai, it's a story about a nerdy person who has no real prospects in real life and would rather live in their fantasies getting to go do that. Luz has a power that no one else has, gets to be with the prettiest, most popular, richest girl in the new world. She gets to stand up to a corrupt system but it never actually bothers her so she can just have fun shenanigans for the vast majority of the run time. She even fights an Evil Emperor which is almost as generic as a Demonic Lord as far as fantasy villains go. Honestly, TOH being isekai is probably a large part of why it was green lit (and frankly, same goes for Amphibia) since while it's not critically acclaimed, isekai is still one of the most popular genres of anime out there and the popular ones have made money hand over fist.

For most stories in this genre, they A: stay in the fantasy realm, TOH isn't fucking special people but also B: have a terrible home life in part to justify that desire and decision. There's also elements of wish fulfillment to its target demographic which is actually kind of important here. That your life sucks so you deserve to escape from it, just like this person. That terrible homelife in turn turns into a payoff for the audience because it can be used to highlight just how much better this world is and how much better off for everyone the MC is in this new world.

Camila doesn't really work for that though, does she? Something the show itself acknowledges with Yesterday's Lie. "You had it good." Hell, in that episode we have Camila wanting Vee to keep Luz's stuff because she knows those things are important to her daughter. Even in the first episode, Camila just wants Luz to make friends. She could fail to learn ANY life skills and stay just as weird at the camp (which she presumably needed to go to to not be EXPELLED for what she did) and Camila would happy if she was in a new Discord group with some friends. That is how low the fucking bar is for Camila's expectations of Luz and somehow THAT was too much. That was, as Camila will apologize for, multiple times, pushing her daughter away or repressing her.

That doesn't function for a Modern Isekai story... It functions for an old school isekai like Amphibia is. Old school isekai after all featured a lot more character growth, a lot more of the other world being an abstraction of problems the person was facing in the real world and had to learn how to deal with. As such, they usually ended with the main character going home a better person and putting their fantasies behind them. Not admonishing them but recognizing that staying there isn't what's best for them.

Camila's character for one of those is AMAZING. Like it could genuinely have led to one of the best deconstructions of the modern isekai protagonist. It's like the ass hat protag from Far Cry 3 (not saying this is handled well btw in that) who still wants to be bigger and more cool and seen as strong by those around him while he already has a smoking hot fiance, lives his life doing dangerous stunts, is really attractive himself and could just coast for the rest of his life. It doesn't fulfill his image and fantasy of what a 'man' is so fuck all of that, I need to go kill people and take over this native tribe! Which hurk, again, it's not done well, but it was trying to deconstruct this sort of fantasy. This sort of escapism that says the image in your mind is ALWAYS more important than those actually around you.

It could have highlighted how things are never as bad as they seem and wanting to escape always hurts someone and always is selfish... But for that, the show would have had to be willing to say one needs to learn to respect reality over fantasy. This could either be done by Luz learning that treating everything like one of japanese animu is a bad thing or they could do it through doubling down and showcasing after Yesterday's Lie that Luz is a genuinely terrible, selfish person who only views the promise she made to her mom as requiring her to give up the world she likes, not the damage she did to her mom.

Which I phrase because they literally did that. They changed the ending promise scene of Yesterday's Lie from being about their complex relationship to just being a summary of the stakes. "Come home, never come back." It's a narrative cheat to welcome anyone back from the mid season hiatus and that is frankly the BEST way to read it for Luz's character because otherwise she changed a conflict mostly about the pain she inflicted on her mom purely to the consequences and that's not really a thing a good person does.

But then the series ends with her having both worlds, getting to literally be Azura finally, quoting the damn book and just ENTIRELY admitting that it's not an OC, it's her replacing Azura, and it's all just fucking awful. In part because, like with the Liar Reveal stuff I talked about with TOH, it's a subversion without a new payoff. They try VERY HARD to give a new payoff but it's not earned. People adore the "I just want to be understood" moment but it ONLY functions in that moment from a meta perspective of it being a neurodivergent girl seeking understanding because who, especially of the people Luz cares about, hasn't shown her understanding in the past SEASON? SHE HAS A GIRLFRIEND WHO IS WAY BETTER AT IT THEN HER!

And so Camila is just this contradictory sore spot that goes right back around to "Man, our target audience would really love it if their parents would tell them explicitly that they don't need to grow as people or even try to understand others or how they may hurt them, literally but instead that their comfort is all that matters." It goes right back to being all about modern isekai's worst element: Wish fulfillment. Bland, obvious, pandering wish fulfillment.

And I COULD end the blog right there... But I said I had a reason to wanted to answer it like this. Admittedly, it expanded from what I expected so sorry for the long blog but here's the real tragedy: The moment of Luz recontextualizing Yesterday's Lie's promise should have been AMAZING to me. After all... It's the part of Luz I loved writing the most.

Yep, more of that celebrating ten years of writing stuff to talk about one of the elements of my TOH writing that I genuinely am very proud of: Luz being a scared, anxious teenager who doesn't read the world correctly. One who is held back because she thinks if she isn't scared, she'll be hurt or, more importantly, hurt others.

I know a lot of people will tell me that TOH didn't do that and like... gestures at everything above and SO many other elements like how Luz has two token moments implying she's been traumatized from bullying that doesn't read with how she was for the entirety of the first season, or up to those points in the second for that matter, AT ALL. She doesn't actually have that sort of fear or anxiety. She's too selfish and self serving for it. Her needs always come above others and that's not the compelling part of this to me, nor is the self protection element.

No, it comes from the fact that you have to actually care what others think for it to torture you, like most teenagers do. That disappointing someone would be essentially the same as stabbing them. In The Power of Love, I got a lot of people to go from "This is cute" to "Okay, you have my attention" with chapter 3: Ru-Luz (which reading back... Some of my transition lines are not working there. Why did I think they did? Brain moving too fast I suspect like usual or trying too hard). Despite the pun, it's not a fun chapter. It ends with her listed rules that are actually nice, like telling her to be herself, but a final rule that, so as to keep the voices in her head, the things others have told her, quiet she must follow. "Treat Amity like anyone else, even if that means breaking other rules." And one of those voices is said to be Camila's.

I don't leave it there though. Through complications, it's very explicitly revealed that, well... Luz is a teen. Everything is world ending for her. That she's taken small comments or momentary frustrations, or just straight up misread things, so as to have them attack her and form her view of how others perceive her (along with having been genuinely bullied). That her mom does adore her and would accept any part of her but she can't believe that, not with how she is now. And that leads to really highlighting an element of Lumischa that I've always loved: Boscha as Amity and Luz's rock. Someone who is honest enough that neither worry about if she's holding back on her opinion. And you know what happens?

Luz and Boscha get multiple chapters of Boscha providing the wake up call she needs. Of her chipping away at those fears that others may be secretly hating her because here is bad bitch Boscha telling her to shut up because she's better than she thinks she is. It's blunt enough to actually make an impact, harsh enough that it still addresses the fuck up, and is something no else would do. Not even Amity because Amity is her own ball of anxieties who's worried about the wrong move upsetting people. I would have ADORED this element actually being a thing for Luz and you know, maybe leading to a Power of Friendship moment with all of them backing her up and giving her the confidence she needs for something. Instead we get her ignoring what she's claiming to be worried about (making mistakes) and then getting a power up when her mom tells her that she should have quite literally never criticized anything about her daughter which is not what a good parent does. Even my Boscha will still call out that Luz did make a mistake if she did, just then also point that she's being over dramatic about it because no one hates her because of it.

I also want to give a shout out to this essentially being an element of my Luz for Ruff Secret as well (original version too) as an essentially tragic element to the majority of the story. Camila clearly accepts parts of her daughter in that story that their wider community doesn't but Camila is also critically still a part of that community which is Christian. She's very devout even, going every week to church. There is nothing except coming out to Camila that will ever make Luz not just assume that being gay will not get her disowned because of the fears in her head and because of those same fears, she'll never come out of the closet. She has clearly never even been willing to approach the topic with her mom about it. It does payoff in the end though with Camila freaking out WAY harder about Amity being a werewolf and the danger that puts her daughter in than of Luz being gay because why would you judge something as incredible as love?

It's not new, I've seen some other things take similar approaches, but it uses the age of the character and society to actually amplify the emotions and make the angst more justified. Make what normally just be "I can't confess, what if she says no?" more dramatic while also managing to tie the two romantic leads together in their conflicts since Amity is dealing with something she sees as a curse, as a primal sin that could only ever hurt others, just like Luz is. And just like Luz, it's actually in repressing and rejecting that side of her that Amity does end up hurting someone but that someone is herself.

All while still managing to be one of the funniest stories I've ever written. I ADORE Ruff Secrets. Crises Girlfriends may be my most personal story but I still think Ruff Secrets is my best story. Period. Which is frankly a miracle since it was a snap start based on a joke a someone made.

So yeah, I like Camila conceptually. I think there was a lot you could do with her. Any direction though would have required TOH to be at least as grounded as Amphibia, let alone ANYWHERE near as grounded as the fandom thinks it is. As is, she's a subversion that doesn't add anything and actively hurts what is a very normal fantasy story.

As such, she's a bad character because what you add to a narrative does matter to that metric unless you are actively ignoring that part of a character's purpose for existing. That's just less useful to a writer though because it means you add a tool to your toolbox without understanding how to use that tool which is always dangerous as any professional mechanic or engineer may tell you.

======+++++======

I will admit that I fidget at praising myself so much like this. I know I've used my own works as examples in the past but it always makes me feel awkward. It especially never helps that it likely comes across as, justifiably, saying I could have done X better. There's a big difference though between "In this context I DID X better" and "If I had made X, I WOULD have done it better." Situation, context, and just the creative process can always muddie things and doesn't even mean the same writer will always tackle the same subjects as well every time. It's just a part of the process.

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

#the owl house criticism #toh critical #toh #the owl house #luz noceda #camila noceda

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happyimaginaryme · 8 months

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One Piece Live Action review

WARNING: SPOILERS DONT READ IF YOU DONT WANT SPOILERS!!!!!!

I went into watching this thinking it was going to tank. I honestly thought it was going to be a disaster like Dragon Ball evelution. I was worried about only 8 episodes with first season orgonally having 46. I was worried they were going to change a lot and take away a lot. Make it more dumb. I really had no idea what they were going to do.

I was wrong. The first episode had me shocked. Was there differences? Yes. But they werent bad. They made sense. I rated the first epide 4 of 5 stars. It wasnt perfect but it truly was a good opening episode.

The actrors were amazing. When I seen the postrs and trailors Inwas worried. Sanji missing his eyebroe, Usopp his long nose, and some of the CGI looked a little weird. That was one of the reasons had me worried. Yet the actors did such an amzing job!

Zoro is just fucking perfect. I love him. I love Love love love that they included Mr. 7 and Zoro's fight. That was shook and let me tell you I jumped and nearly squealed when I seen that. They don't show that fight in manga or anime. Its only mentioned.

Mackenyu Did a great job betraying Roronoa Zoro. 5 stars.

Though one of my dissapoitments when it comes to Zoro are three things: First his missing fight with Hatchi and how Luffy is introduced with Zoro. And His fight with mihawk. (Not that it was bad but that 3 people who witnese it I always thought was omportant were not there)

Not seeing Hatchi is a disapointment. However I can see why they may have cut him out. The live action is following the manga as close as it can while also being realistic. But we see Hatchi again in later arcs. Before timeskip and right after. It would be hard to justify soneone who worked for Arlong (who pretty much inslaved Nami) make him a good and likeable charector? I mean I dont hate Hatachi from the manga/Anime but I never understood why Nami would be okay with associating with him regardless if he wasnt one who did anything to her or not. So that could be why they left him out? Another reason could be time. They only had 8 episodes to work with. Could they fit a third fight sceen in the one episode? Hard to say. Or even his 6 arms could have been an issue. Not sure. But still I really like his fight with Zoro. Still the fight sceen with Zoro and Sanji working wonders together is amazing and makes up for it. It was still a good part and yeah its a sisspointment not seeing Hatachi but at the same time The fight and banter with Sanji makes up for it.

Now one dispoinment which is me more nit picking when it comes to Zoro is his introduction with Luffy. Luffy wanted Zoro on his crew by just hearing about him. He didnt see him or know him he was like "yeah? Hes a good fighter? Ima make him my crew. Then he heard what Zoro did for rhe little girl. I really really likes that from the manag. That being said! The way the live action did it was still really good too. Is it a slight bummer? Yeah but not enough for it to be bad. It still good and the point across of Zoro being a good guy stands.

As for his fight witb Mihawk. It was amazing ok? I loved it. Now what is a bit sad to see is no Johnny and Yadaku and Sanji didn't witness the fight. Again its more nit picking but hear me out! In the Manga and Anime Sanji watches the fight and hes angry. He is angry its not him going after his dream but also because its like Zoro is Waisting his dream. I always thought that was important. At least for Sanji's charector. HOWEVER because of the things they changed with Sanji and his story it probably makes sense. Ill get to that when I get to Sanji. Its also a bunner Johnny and Yadaku isnt in this but I get it. Time and money sometimes minor things need to be cut.

Overall though. Every thing with Zoro is jsut so good. Even the things I got a Tad bumbed at (more me nit picking) but even though I was the changes they made I liked.

Lets talk about Usopp. Usopp again I was a little bumbed with no long nose. I mean. Okay. It probably would have been a pain to either CGI it or wear a prostrdic. So I get it. That being said Jacob Romero did a great job! And the only Usopp to get the kiss haha. Now I was happy Usopp got the kiss. At the same time I am like "bah. No romance in OP lol" but damn the Usopp Kiya shipper in me was so happy! Honestly 5 stars for Usopp.

My disapointment with Usospp's arc was no Jango. Like this one I did not get? It was Jango that hipnotized the impoten Kuru to believe he was Kuru in the first place. So unless they are going to bring that into play later? Yeah I have to say thats one of the biggest disapointments. Again not enough for me to hate on or dislike the changes. I really enjoyed the arc. It was more darker and honestly sad to! Like they killed merry! He's supposed to survive! They also cut out Onion carrot and pepper but to be fair a gron man playing with 3 children? Weird lol. Actually I forgot about them until I realized that they were also missing. My more concern was Jango! Even so it was fun to watch. Different and more thrilling.

Nami my dear I enjoyed her. She isn't my favorate in any addaption but I still like the charecter. I thought Emily Rudd played her well. 4.5 stars. My only issue is I felt like she was a little stiff at times at first? But she really started to shine towards the end. Like she was amazing. If it wasnt for the first episode or two where I felt she was off I would give her 5 starts. Its again nit picking! Because she was amazing!

Lets talk about Luffy though. I thought Iñaki Godoy was amazing. Like he was amazing Luffy. 5 stars. I almost almost want to say 4.5 of 5 stars because there were times where I think Luffy would be smiling or doing something dumb he was more serious? But I didn't care so much because this isnt the Anime and its not the manga. Its live action and some things need ro be realistic. So I got it. And he the actor loved being Luffy and you can see he did his best at ir. Like he was made for this part!

Now I want to get into Sanji. I kept Sanji for last because he's not only my fave OP char he is my fave Anime/Manga char of all the anime/manga I read and love. Like he is #1 in my book. He is the Goat! So out of the first 5 straehats, if I was going to nit pick anyone it was going to be Taz Skylar's betryal of Sanji.

I was not dissapointed. He did a fantastic Job. I was impressed to know that he not only learned kick boxing and cooking he also did his own stunts. Fucking impressive for any actor. 5 stars. Dude. I loved it. We still got to see that anger and cussing he does but most of all we got to see his kidness.

Was there disapointments in his episodes? Yeah. It sucks that we didnt get to see his fight with Ging. That is one great fight. The whole Gin crying because he cant kill Sanji and taking the poison gas? Holy hell. I get it they didnt have time to do the whole don kerig saga. But daaamn that is the biggest disapointments.

Howeever! The changes they made was still good. Because if this serious continued and we learn of Sanji's past with Germma then I think I underdtand. Yes I like the Sanji disagreeing with Luffy to join banter and Sanji in general being more angry at the start. But his nonchalant more easy going side is.... refreshing and part of Sanji we dont see much until later. I like that they are focused on Sanji's kindness! Hes always introduced in the manga as 'A kind hearted chef who lives woman' in every issue of the manga.

The Live action is really focused on Sanji's kindness but also his silly side that he can be sometimes. Still top fighter next to Zoro. But more playful. In both Anime and Manga Sanji is seen eating and enjoying rhe party. But here in the live action he is the one cooking and serving. Like they are really highlighting the kindess in Sanji here. So yeah I was dissapointed that there was no Gin fight but. Again it was changed in a delightful way! Like I like the change. It was like the writers went to Oda. "Hey. We want to highlight Sanji's kindess how can we change this without xhanging his actual past story and what not?" And oda was like "well...do this" or something. Because it worked. They made Sanji's intro still sad as fuck wirh him and Zeff on the rock. The two still share the same relationship and they highlight Sanji's kindness. Also I kinda like the tone down womanizing.

Also the Zoro and Sanji bantering? My ZoSan shipping heart is like Yuuuusss!

So yeah I had some dissapointments. I was hoping for Sanji to witness the mihawk fight. Even if it was out the window ya know? I do feel like it was important. Alas. But all that asside I loved it.

One more char I want to talk about it Buggy. This mofo is brillant betryal. Still Buggy but darker. More intresting!

So over all I give it a 4 of 5 stars. Not perfect but still fucking fantastic.

#one piece #sanji #zosan #one piece live action #roronoa zoro #nami #usopp #luffy

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sundayswiththeilluminati · 1 year

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Well, it’s been a week and I've had time to cool down and put together my thoughts on Season of the Seraph and its ending. So here goes.

The season finale plot did not require Rasputin to die. "The eliksni are trying to get control of the warsats" is literally a strike. If the warsats needed to be taken off the table as a get-out-of-jail-free card we could have blown the network and kept Rasputin himself. There was an active decision to kill him. Having thought about it, I think I understand why this decision was made - but I still think it's a terrible decision, and I'll explain why.

Before we start, I don't want to sound like I'm going after Destiny's narrative team either personally or professionally. I'm not calling them terrible writers, much less terrible people. I don't know them! They might even be terrible people, for all I know. While I refer to a single monolithic "narrative team," I know in reality there are multiple groups working on different stories. I’m not a professional writer, and they are. And I genuinely believe all of them are talented people who work hard and care about Destiny. But that doesn't mean I don't have some criticisms.

After considering it I think there are three possible reasons to kill Rasputin:

1). The narrative team believed this was a good emotional conclusion that brought closure to his character arc in Destiny. In this case I just think they're flat-out wrong. I'd say "I respect it" but I kind of don't because I think it's so terribly wrong. I don't know what other people think Rasputin's character arc involved, but I won't get closure till Rasputin faces the Witness again and finally ends the war he's been trapped in for centuries. But I get why they would do it, if they believed this. And that final mission was really good. I had a hard time noticing at the time, but it was very well-done, and the cutscene proper was well-shot, -scripted, and -acted (though I'm still angry about the Traveler upstaging Rasputin's death). They put a huge amount of effort into it and into the story work all season long.

But his death being well-done doesn’t change whether I think it was a good narrative choice. Even saying “Rasputin’s arc should conclude here,” the way it was set up had him sacrificing himself to basically cancel himself out. Unless they’re saving up a plot twist, Rasputin ultimately contributed nothing to the fight. He didn’t do any damage to the Fleet or Witness, or anything to stymie Xivu Arath. He died thinking he’d never helped humanity at all and it was safer if he didn’t exist. I don’t know about you, but I find that extremely unsatisfying.

2). Someone doesn't like Rasputin/doesn't know what to do with him. This is two reasons, but they overlap. The Operation: Sancus mission dialogue pissed me off because it gave me the impression that whoever was writing it really didn't like Rasputin and was taking the chance to morally excoriate him. A more subtle version recurs in the final mission where Rasputin is essentially sacrificing himself to null out his own existence - saying "as long as I exist I'm a threat to humanity" - as if he can't ever help or contribute more than endanger people, which is just flat-out wrong. "Humanity doesn't need a Warmind" you're part of humanity, Red. He’s a person; he doesn’t need to justify living. If someone just decided Rasputin Was Bad Actually I’d be very angry indeed. But I don't think it's that personal. Destiny has lots of writers and multiple narrative teams will touch the same work. One person's distaste probably wouldn't steer an entire season.

Related, however, is the reason that maybe no one knows what to do with Rasputin. To be honest I sympathize with this one. Would it shock anyone to hear I've thought about how I would script a Rasputin-focused season? It's surprisingly hard to build a plot around him. A game needs to be interactive and Rasputin's kind of all or nothing - either he can handle the whole problem himself or he can't do anything at all. Red also mostly plays defense. He doesn't have a goal he's working towards other than "kill the Witness/save humanity." You need to come up with a plausible goal that we can believably help him achieve, and that's nontrivial. But, well, that's why I'm not a professional games writer and these people are. "Not sure what do" is not IMO sufficient justification for assassinating one of Destiny's oldest characters/factions.

3). The Destiny narrative team is trying to "declutter" the setting and foreground story by sidelining characters who take a lot of lore to understand. I think this is the real reason, and it's worth talking more about.

A lot of us lore-nerds have long complained about Destiny not foregrounding its setting and story, and Bungie has responded by trying to do so. I think we didn't consider what that would actually look like. Imagine Destiny's story like a long movie. Now imagine people are constantly coming and going from the audience, and everyone who comes in has to nudge their neighbor and go, "hey, what's happening?" Destiny is always (hopefully) acquiring new players, and existing ones are dropping out and coming back. Even most established players either don't read the lore or don't track/remember it. We the lore-keepers are very much the anomaly. If we want story to be a focus, that story also has to be more accessible to new players, lapsed players, people who don't bother reading loretabs, etc., because otherwise it harms their experience and there's a lot more of them than there are of us.

I think this is why we've seen a lot of seasons that introduce whole new concepts - the eliksni Sacred Splicers, for instance - rather than following on existing storylines. Introducing a mostly-new concept puts new and old players on a similar footing. Haunted is another type of compromise between the goal of furthering the story and the goal of making it accessible. Calus and Leviathan are back, but so warped that old players have as much to learn as new ones, and the Sever missions dive deep into character pasts but pretty explicitly describe the emotional arcs they're illustrating, so you don't have to be familiar with that character to get what they're going through. To those who already know Zavala, Crow, etc., it seems laughably obvious and strained. But to those who just got here, this is their first time learning not just about Safiyah but also about Zavala. I think this is also why there have been multiple casual retcons of minor stuff - there isn't time to explain the history, and they've decided it's not worth confusing people.

Rasputin is old. He's been a significant part of Destiny since literally the pre-Alpha test. The complexity and history that are part of why we love the Warmind also make him hell to explain to new people. It takes a decent amount of lore to get invested in his character and since Beyond Light none of that lore is featured in-game. Pre-Season of the Seraph, anyone who began with Beyond Light literally never met him. They never visited Hellas Basin, which is one big environmental story about Rasputin, and The Will of Thousands strike, which demonstrates Red's power and contains many possible dialogues that emphasize him trusting you/acting as an ally, left the playlist ages ago. Since then a new player's only gameplay interaction with him has been Fallen SABER, in which Red yells incoherent Russian and tries to flatten you with a warsat. Is it a surprise relatively new players might not be up on his character arc?

Season of the Seraph, with its narrative of rebuilding Rasputin from the ground up, would be a perfect time to introduce new players to Red's long history, and they...kind of...did that. They worked in Felwinter although then for some reason felt the need to retcon in the whole "Clovis wanted to destroy the Traveler" plan. If you were a new player who didn't know anything about Destiny lore, and you just played Season of the Seraph, you'd get an entire canned arc for Rasputin that hits the early high notes: built to be a weapon, rebelled against his constraints, humanities nerd, big smite, loves Ana and Elsie, makes mistakes but genuinely cares and wants to help.

But that's where Seraph stops. In existing lore (I almost typed "in reality") Rasputin worked out the whole "not a weapon" thing well back during the Golden Age. For a lot of us Warmind fans the most interesting parts of his story happened after that - the entire Collapse, confrontation with Darkness, years of hiding, etc., not to mention all his character development during Warmind and Worthy. He's gone through a lot, and Seraph misses all of it (except Felwinter) in favor of rehashing the same arc for a third time. It's like when moviemakers keep rebooting a superhero origin story. It may be a good story, but eventually we'd like to move on to the other parts we enjoy: this sleeping giant, hard scifi AI, grouchy old bastard, lost lore of the Golden Age, champion of humanity, learning from defeat, learning to trust again, the morality and trauma of warfare - what it means to lose a war - a being never meant to become what he was transforming still further, still unfolding his own potential.

So understanding why they might have done this doesn't excuse what I still see as a terrible narrative choice. I think dropping Rasputin is a major waste of potential, and he's far from the only tricky character to explain. Osiris, or at least the Cult of Osiris, is similarly old. His story is complex and weird and requires knowledge from Curse and earlier, yet he's still playing a major role. Other current characters like Elsie, Saladin, and Crow also need a decent amount of knowledge about previous game events to get why they are the way they are. Saladin's origin story isn't even in this game. It's not Rasputin's fault the game went three years without so much as mentioning him outside of written lore. What was wrong with the great Xivu-Rasputin “war god” parallels most of the season worked to set up, about the intent of violence? Are we never going to explore those? Are we just throwing out all the dialogues planning a role for Red in the upcoming war? Why did we have a dramatic confrontation about trusting Rasputin to operate independently if he were going to be gone in a month anyway? Just in Seraph alone the number of interesting plot threads abruptly trashed by this death argues against it.

Rasputin's longevity is precisely part of why he should stick around. In the first mission of Destiny 1 you wake up in his shadow. He has a history with us. There's just no one quite like him in Destiny. He's not just a character but an entire faction. He explores a part of story space that no one else does. He resonates with us as people rather than players. I assume Neomuna will pick up the Golden Age banner, but it’s a thriving city; Rasputin represented the ruins, the dangers of a dead age, the shadow of apocalypse. He's also maybe the most Guardian-like character and one of the best to weave a parallel/cautionary tale - were we, too, only made to be weapons? But if Rasputin didn't stay a weapon, can we too transcend that intention? And of all the factions in our solar system, the two with the most personal scores to settle with the Witness are the eliksni and Rasputin, and Misraaks'/Eramis' story has focused much more on the Traveler's flight than the Fleet's attack. Of everyone in Destiny Rasputin has the most desperately personal motive for revenge on the monochrome bastard. Now he's not even going to be there to watch it crash and burn.

I understand that foregrounding story also comes with the requirement that it be accessible to those who don't do their lore homework. I appreciate the monumental amount of work that's gone into doing that and the experimental nature of it. But I think the balance has skewed too far towards accessibility. Stuff like the end of Season of Plunder that has zero narrative motivation or continuity and doesn't even get a pretend justification drives me absolutely batty. You can only break internal rules so many times before players stop buying whatever narrative stakes you're trying to set up. Making the story easier to follow doesn't mean characters have to be cartoonishly-exaggerated caricatures like Clovis was in Seraph - just absolutely cartoonishly evil - or reduced to one or two character motives explicitly laid out for the player (though, credit where credit is due, Clovis was hilarious.) It doesn't mean the dialogue has to be as subtle as a Thundercrash. It doesn't mean you get a blank check to retcon or invent whatever's needed to create the intended character arc. If anything that discourages looking further into lore - why bother to learn it when next season will change it all again? I think Y5 represents a lot of experimentation by the Destiny narrative team, and I really respect that. But I also hope they learn what didn’t work from it, and sacrificing Rasputin in an ultimately pointless and unnecessary finale is a major misstep.

#Destiny 2 #Season of the Seraph #Destiny spoilers #Season of the Seraph spoilers #and that’s what I think about that #anyone else feel like this finale was weirdly disjointed from the rest of the season?#like Sancus led into it but the previous missions didn’t lead into Sancus at all #why so much planning and speculation on Red’s future if he wasn’t going to have one?#frankly why bother with Xivu Arath?#I wonder if this was supposed to be the second or third season and got moved up #I don’t know why I wrote this no one cares what I think and it won’t change anything #but it makes me feel better #so hey that’s not nothing #and I can pretend it might matter #just let me pretend #this is the wager of existence #The Warmind Rasputin #Season of the Seraph finale #IDK my BFF AI-COM/RSPN

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laundrybiscuits · 2 months

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I've recently been tagged in a few WIP/"last thing you've written" type games, and…to be completely candid, I haven't been writing any kind of fic lately because I've become a little bit obsessed with analyzing the Broadway revival of Merrily We Roll Along.

Not for any particular purpose, I just saw it at the Hudson a little while back and have a lot of feelings about it! In my tiny scraps of spare time, I've been working on an essay about Merrily and inevitability that will probably end up rotting in my google docs*, because that's how I approach writing as a hobby.

There's just so much there, holy shit. I'm focusing particularly on "Franklin Shepard, Inc." because Radcliffe's Charley brings a frenetic, desperate vulnerability to the performance that reads so, so differently from earlier productions. Throughout the show, I was consistently blown away by the heavy lifting Radcliffe, Mendez, and Groff do in shifting the core tension from "art vs commerce" (fine but basic, and difficult to keep modern) to "how people prioritize different types of relationships in their lives."

In an effort to make this slightly less wildly off-topic for this blog: this has gotten me thinking about the way that platonic relationships are treated in narratives, particularly but not exclusively in fandom.

"Found family" is and has always been a popular trope, but I do think its current incarnation trades a lot on the underlying fantasy of relationship permanence. When we recategorize friendships as familial relationships, we're making a claim—whether or not it's justified—about the indelibility of those relationships.

That's not inherently bad (or, god forbid, problematic). I think it's very very natural, especially for those who don't necessarily have a lot of experience with the way adult friendships change over time. Why wouldn't you want something as precious and unique and amazing as a good friendship to stay with you forever?

Certain people can feel like pillars of your world, and it's fucking terrifying to think about that being yanked out from under you—or even worse, to think about your lives slowly shifting like geologic plates until suddenly you realize it's been weeks, then months, then years since you last really talked.

CHARLEY: We're not that kind of close any more, the way we used to be. And a friendship's like a garden. You have to water it and tend it and care about it. And you know what? I want it back.

It's a peculiar, particular kind of grief when it happens, because even though it's a fairly common human experience, it doesn't get socially acknowledged in the same way as e.g. a romantic breakup.

So yeah, it makes a lot of sense that found family is a popular trope in all kinds of media, not just fandom.

However...at this point, I've developed a knee-jerk wariness to the phrase "found family," because I've found it often correlates with a really flat, simplistic depiction of human relationships. In extreme cases, it simply recontextualizes a relationship within the socially acknowledged/acceptable framework of a stereotypical family unit.

This does a disservice to familial and nonfamilial relationships alike. Every family is different, so why do so many found families in media look the same?

(I was monologuing about this to my very patient girlfriend, and she pointed out that this also sets up a success/failure binary condition in relationships, where permanence is the arbiter of success in both romantic and nonromantic contexts. She is of course both beautiful and correct!)

I have friends with whom I can sometimes share a glance and know exactly what they're thinking. I even have a running joke with one friend about the sheer number of times we've said the same thing in unison over the last 15 years. I still need to be intentional about building those relationships, extending empathy when we differ, and carving out time to reconnect. Truly intimate long-term relationships of any kind involve disagreements, conflicting priorities, and negotiating and renegotiating boundaries.

Being "basically the same person" or "sharing a braincell" actually sounds super fucking lonely to me, personally, and it handily elides the difficult, essential process of keeping people in your life.

FRANK: Old friends let you go your own way. CHARLEY: Help you find your own way. MARY: Let you off when you're wrong. F: If you're wrong. C: When you're wrong. M: Right or wrong, the point is, old friends shouldn't care if you're wrong. F: Should, but not for too long. C: What's too long?

That's a more complicated and much more mature narrative to tell than "friendship will save the day!" Because it's not that common and there's not a deep bank of references to draw from, it takes a lot of effort and skill to depict well, and I don't blame creators for not wanting to let it suck up all the air in the room. However, I think it's important to acknowledge that platonic relationships can also be flanderised and flattened.

In the context of fandom, which has always traded heavily in Romance genre conventions, I would really like to see more thoughtful explorations of complicated nonromantic relationships. I'm not even talking about genfic here! I've actually been thinking about Stobin specifically because that relationship (rightly & understandably) tends to show up in any Steve-centric fic, including the vast ocean of Steddie fics, so it makes the issue slightly more visible than I've seen in other fandoms.

I'm not saying I want to see them fight, or not be friends, or not love each other fiercely and near-obsessively in the way that lonely teenagers can. I'm just saying I want them to be distinct individuals who view the world in very different ways, and choose each other anyway. They already have a complicated past; I know from personal experience that it's possible as a lesbian to be best friends with a guy who once made a little speech about how into you he was, but that little layer of history never quite goes away.

I don't want frictionless relationships in my life. I want people who will challenge me and whom I can challenge, in the context of love and trust. I want people in my life whom I have to work to understand, because my life is richer when I do. And sometimes, I want narratives that will reflect the grief of friendships that are no longer part of my life, despite the best efforts of everyone involved.

In Merrily, Charley sings, "Friendship's something you don't really lose—" but Radcliffe's thready, pleading delivery makes it all too clear: Charley already knows he's lying. The audience just needs to catch up.

*Other essays in that particular graveyard: understanding the cast of Peanuts through the lens of anomie, humor and subversive linguistic nationalism in 00s Singaporean TV, how to fix Miss Saigon. WHY am I this way.

#side note: how fucking good was Radcliffe in that role? what a glow-up from HTSIBWRT #all the casting was brilliant but (Tony winner!) Mendez and (Tony nominated) Groff were less of a dark horse #anyway I think...I might start to get a little less rigid about letting myself dump nonfandom or fandom-adjacent posts here #we'll see if I have more time to post and/or write once this busy period at work dies down #recently is a relative term btw. I have been tagged more recently than the cambrian explosion. so that counts.#I appreciate the tags and it's very nice of y'all to think of me though!

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yandere-fics · 3 months

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wwhat would the city girls do if you cheated? would yhey beliebe it of they heard it from someone else, or even you? would they need to catch you in the act to believe it? how easy would it be to convince them it was a misunderstanding?

(Runa is excluded because she has no one who could tell her and she never lets you outside unless with her so at most you'd be able to flirt with someone for a microsecond before they're dead and outdoor privileges are gone.)

♡ How They React To Their Darling Cheating ♡

♡ Miriel would not believe it no matter who tells her, even if you tell her she'll believe you're lying or if you're telling the truth then you are guiltless and you were coerced into it. She's going to ruin your affair partners life for this and you're going to need to be put under intense supervision because you prove to be much more naive of a human than she originally thought so she has to keep you safe. She's going to boss you around a lot more than usual and the only friends you're allowed to have are her trusted, preapproved people who she has hired to be safe, reliable friends for you. You had better follow everything she says from now on cause she knows so much better than you. She's probably going to want to leave the city with you because she no longer trusts these filthy humans to keep away from you. ♡

♡ If she witnesses the act she might actually snap, like something deep in her body will break and she will never be the same again. She's very delusional but her mind can only justify so much and seeing it makes her skin feel like it's crawling. I think Miriel would kill them with her bare hands which is something she doesn't usually do. ♡

♡ She would only believe it if you confessed or if she saw it occurring though you must want your bones to be crunched, she's vicious under even normal circumstances when you aren't being her good little mate but now you just had to do this. Your legs would be smashed and you would be forced to be in a wheelchair for the rest of your lives together because you've proven you do not deserve the privilege of doing anything without her. She needs to show you just how badly you need her and if you have decided you don't need her by cheating then she'll show you just how bad things can be once you stray from the comfort of her arms. ♡

♡ She will kill every single person in the city if that's what she has to do to keep your eyes only on her, or perhaps you want those poked out too, though she'll only threaten it, she won't actually do it because she does still love you even if you're an ungrateful brat. She might fly really high up into the air with you and loosen her grip a few times until you start to see how desperately you need her and her love in order to be alive. ♡

♡ Nikki would believe it if someone who was high ranking in her work told her, she would not believe a lower level employee and she has no friends who could inform her either so it would have to be someone with a high position and no reason to lie. She'll be highly confused however and try to figure out if it's a human thing to seek multiple partners, if it is then it's something she will have to train out of her stupid little human but either way she's not going to confront you instantly unless she sees it happen. ♡

♡ The person who dared to challenge the authority of a high ranking demon will obviously face a brutal torment, one only she as a high ranking demon could possibly inflict on them and she'll be sure to adequately train this behavior out of you until you could not imagine ever even being near someone other than her. You will scream out in terror and pain any time someone touches you as they walk past, so fearful of her misinterpreting the situation and deciding to train you again. ♡

♡ Nora does not have the best self esteem and isn't highly delusional so she would believe it if she was told it but it depends on it its a recurring behavior. If she finds out you did it once then she will be devastated but ultimately she will try to retain balance and seem like nothing is wrong and might even recover if she goes a long time without seeing evidence of you doing it again. If you confess or she witnesses the act then she's going to break just a tad bit. Before you know what's happening she's on the person with a knife she pulled out of god knows where and they've been turned into a bloody, goopy mess before she takes the knife and just... stares at you with it for a very long time. ♡

♡ There will be several moments where the two of you might be driving and she's contemplating driving off a cliff before she regains her sanity and realizes even if she did it, she would not die with you so she has to just go back to normal, trying to act like her reason to live has not completely devastated her. Might want to see if you can get a gadget from the boss to return her to normal but even then it might not fix the psychological scar even if she doesn't remember where the scar came from. ♡

♡ Sawyer knows everything that goes on with you, including the very millisecond you begin to even lay the groundwork to have an affair with someone. It would only take a minute before you and the poor soul who you tried to entertain to be dragged into her office, the latter of which has a bag over their head so they can't witness what's about to happen. While she does want to show they just how stupid they are to covet her mate when they could never please you as well as she can, she also is too jealous to let them see your form even if they're about to be dead. ♡

♡ She's pretty delusional so after it's finished things will be business as usual, she likely thinks you did it as a plea for attention and now you've gotten your drama and attention for the day so you won't cause any problems, will you dear? She will expect an apology later for the stupid way you went about your plea for attention and if you keep trying eventually she'll just take away your eyesight except for when you're in her penthouse or by her side. ♡

#yandere oc #yandere lesbian #yandere x reader #yandere x y/n #yandere asks #yandere scenarios #my oc sawyer #my oc mirial #my oc kassien #my oc nikolai #my oc nora

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overthinkingtaleblr · 3 months

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My Jimmy Casket Headcanon Masterlist

I’ve seen a lot of talk about the world-renowned murderer recently, and apparently his birthday is coming up, so I figured now is as good a time as any to address this fan-favorite entity of stabbing and chaos. Jimmy Casket is an uncomplicated character in his core: he possesses people, he murders indiscriminately seemingly for fun, and he eventually goes away. He has possessed multiple people across time and space, he targets humans over animals, and he has a variety of secrets with uncertain origins that he’s dying to share. Or you’re dying for him to share them.

He is most likely something paranormal just because multiple people seem to be able to channel him, but what he is (ghost, demon, something else…) is completely up for debate. I’ll be sharing and attempting to justify my own idea, however alienating it may be… because seriously, I don’t think anyone else has ever had this take before.

What is Jimmy Casket?

Instead of opening with a history discussion, we’re opening with an identity consideration, since What Jimmy is happens to be important conceptually to understanding where he might have come from. I’ll list a bunch of options before explaining my personal headcanon. There’s lots of options to what Jimmy could be, though, and some are more paranormal or dangerous than others. This list does not imply that something is likely, but rather that it is an option based off the evidence we have about who the character is.

- Casket is a Persona

Basically saying that Jimmy Casket isn’t real, but his affects still are. He is a name that people put on when they want to do something terrible, but it is still their own will and choice to enact. It says terrible things about every person who claims to be Casket, but could compelling in its own rights. Arguably the most possible non-paranormal option, especially if we believe Casket when he claims to be world-renowned and infamous.

- Casket is His Own Living Human Person

All of those things that looked like/sounded like possessions? We’re ignoring those right now, Jimmy Casket is a completely separate living and breathing human being from everyone who he was thought to have control over. They probably just step out or run when he appears or something. Or maybe we’re using canon as a suggestion in this case, and we don’t ever need to have Casket and his flesh bags in the same room.

Long story short, this man has his own vessel and boy does he use it.

This one is only likely because trying to cut all the supernatural elements out of something that uses it as a crutch creates some rather odd concepts. Because of how he’s presented in the series, it’s nigh impossible to suggest that Jimmy Casket is 100% his own, separate, human being who has never had supernatural influence over others. Unless he does have a supernatural influence over others. Maybe he’s a witch of some kind who controls others like puppets. Maybe he’s a vampire who can see through and control his vassals.

I did actually read a fanfiction that had this concept a looong time ago, and I won’t lie, I really enjoyed the earlier chapters and still think about them. It did a lot of things differently and really leaned into the kind of horror of Casket being so destructive. Also the Acachallas were a mafia crime family and Ghost and Toast only appeared once in a flashback.

- Specifically Ghost has DID, Casket is an Alter

I try not to state my own opinions with this, but as someone who does not have DID, my understanding is that you have to be VERY careful when handling this concept for a billion incredibly fair reasons. Idek if anyone uses this… I kind of hope not ^^;

With Casket as an alter in a system, even (maybe even especially) if Casket is ultimately trying to help Ghost, it perpetuates the “evil alter” trope because Jimmy Casket is conceptually a serial killer.

Ghost is seen as more threatening because upsetting him could trigger Casket. It makes Ghost justifiably be seen as terrifying in the narrative For Having DID.

The main reason why murderer with DID is a common trope in my experience is so that even the killer doesn’t know what they’ve done, creating an extra conflict where they don’t realize they’re the culprit. Additionally, it makes the investigation harder if they get involved. This is a problematic trope similar to the ‘evil alter’ one and there are non-paranormal ways to do this without villianizing DID, including regular amnesia.

Even if Casket is ultimately good and not a serial killer, to have him kill ANYone and then have Ghost forget plays into this trope as well and suggests people with DID are in some way actively dangerous.

I’m not going to police anyone who uses Ghost and Casket to express themselves. I will say be very careful with your portrayal. You can have Ghost as a system without Casket being one of the alters in it. Additionally, if you think I got anything wrong in this explanation, lmk. Whether or not Ghost has DID is not important to the other options after this, he could or couldn’t, this one is just “Casket is apart of a/the system”.

- Ghost and Casket are a Jekyll/Hyde situation

There are two ways I could mean this, but either way it means that Casket and Ghost share a mind and not a body.

1. Jimmy Casket is the evil inside of Ghost separated from the rest of his mind and embodied in a way that changes their external appearance. The origin would have to be supernatural in order for that to happen. Think Jackson Jekyll/Holt Hyde from Monster High. Technically, this could be mistaken for a really poor portrayal of DID so I do suggest being careful with this one. Changing between the two would not be an active choice on either of their parts.

2, and the answer more common to Jekyll and Hyde, Casket is just another body and face, but that’s still Ghost’s mind in there. Ghost is using the persona of Casket to commit “evils” that he desires doing but doesn’t want the social repercussions for. This implies that he has a potion of some kind that he takes in order to trigger the change, making it a willful act.

Be careful with this one either way because even if you expressly state ‘this is not DID’, it could be seen as a poor interpretation of how DID works. (Raises hand I did this in a fic once and I’m cringing at myself as I type this.)

- Casket is Tied to “Knifey”

Jimmy Casket is an entity of some kind who possessed not Ghost, but the knife that Casket carries around. This can double up with another headcanon in this list, more likely the paranormal ones. (Casket is a human person and he’s also a knife lowkey doesn’t work—)

If Ghost was able to fully get rid of the knife forever, he would no longer deal with Casket. However, this option would also imply that something about the knife is enchanted to make Ghost desire keeping it around, or it’s physically tied to him and appears whenever he expresses emotions it can feed off of.

This also explains how other people get possessed by Casket, specifically since most of them seem to show Casket signs after being given a knife that could very easily be cursed. He may not be the only character who can do this, too.

- Casket is a Ghost who has History with the Casket Family

This one is soooo varied it’s hard to encapsulate all the possibilities. Either way, Casket is a ghost who was alive at some point, and he is possessing Ghost because they have some connection through Ghost’s bio family. Are they siblings? Is Casket his uncle? Grandfather? Father? A distant ancestor of some kind? An enemy of the Casket family? Someone who was wronged in the Casket family? I guess attempting to list all the options was unnecessary— the important part is that Casket was alive, he’s dead now, and he’s latched to Ghost.

I know multiple people who use/have used this interpretation before, so it lowkey has a special place in my heart.

- Casket is a Generational Curse

Ghost is not the first person in his family to have dealt with Jimmy Casket possessing his body before, and for all we know T.Casket was frequently possessed as well before Ghost was born. This would have been a well-known issue within the family… if there was any family left to warn Ghost. Implies everyone who has had Casket possess them is related to the Casket family, and that Ghost has been a vessel since Casket’s last host died.

Seeing as Ghost is not the first person in the family with an inclination to the supernatural, I could see Jimmy Casket being something put upon their family a long time ago for fucking around and finding out. Maybe they had an overzealous witch in the family who fucked everything up for everybody? Who knows.

This curse is likely tied to someone keeping a very very serious secret, and speaking it into the world is the only way to stop him, but they died a long time ago so Casket isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

- Casket is a Creation of the Housekeeper

This could double-up with another option, seeing as the Housekeeper seems to be able to manipulate a lot of supernatural things, or work on its own.

I specify this one just because it requires consideration on how Casket sees his creator. Does he like the Housekeeper? Does the Housekeeper have some level of control over him? Was Casket a normal entity before being exposed to the God of Chaos? Is Casket seen as the Housekeeper’s child (Demigod of Secrets Jimmy Casket, anybody?)? CAN Casket exist without Ghost for a host? Why did Casket react so violently upon seeing the Housekeeper face-to-face?

There’s a lot of options to consider here and a lot of them can really push a story forward.

- Casket is some Creature from Folklore

Anything with an obsession for blood, stabbing, and secrets and the ability to take over or control someone’s body. I’m certain there are a lot of options, knowing how wild a lot of folklore is (Chupacabra Casket, anybody?), and technically my own headcanon falls into this option.

This is a matter of specificity, and the only reason this is distinct from the other supernatural options is because it may change how evil/intentional his actions are, and it’ll wildly change how PIE would have to handle him.

If you want Ghost to be from a specific country or have ties to a specific culture, this could help immensely in connecting him to it. It also means that you could have a WILD design for what Casket looks like and how he differs appearance-wise from Johnny Ghost. Ppl who love monster designs and mythology research could do SO much with this.

Plus, most folklore are used as legends to warn children not to do certain things. If Ghost did one of those stupid things, it creates a personal explanation to how he got possessed without throwing his family under the bus, and gives you the opportunity to make your own story as to what happened.

- Casket is a Demon

Similar to a ghost, someone in the Casket Family history screwed up and now Ghost is facing the consequences. Demons and ghosts are very different and can be handled in very different ways. Maybe Casket’s a fallen angel and still has some good in him? Maybe Casket is evil to the core and LIVES to wreak havoc and ruin Ghost’s life, relationships, and more.

I’m sure there’s someone out there who better understands demons than me, be in-universe, they are powerful and horrific with a host or not. This makes Casket one of the most active threats in the universe.

Although unlike the ghost option, Johnny Ghost could have brought this upon himself by being a stupid moron and trying to summon a demon as a child and screwing up to a dangerous degree. He would do it.

- My Headcanon : Jimmy Casket is a Unicorn

Technically the same as Folklore but more specified to being an in-universe entity, Jimmy Casket is a Unicorn— a creature from the 13th dimension best represented by Stardust Sprinkleshine. I’m not sure how much of their history is canon and what was my own thoughts, but if you touch a Floating Gun that seems to exist outside of Space-Time, one will exit from a pocket dimension and possess your mind. Touching the gun again puts them back, and most seem to choose to return.

I think that Casket is a particularly crafty unicorn who managed to figure out how to not be sourced from the floating gun, either being tied instead to his knife or to a human body. He’s possessed multiple characters long-term throughout the series, and if he’s able to burrow deep enough into someone’s mind, he could completely take over their body.

I also think he was Mothman in a video where a young Johnny Ghost is terrorized by Mothman on a Halloween Night. I think that Casket somehow lost his old host and needed to find a fresh one, grabbing the first human he could find. I don’t know if the mothman is his true form, Casket mutating an animal body, or the dying body of his old host falling apart while Casket tries to operate around rigor mortis. (Spoilers for my ask blog 🤫)

Casket is not a creature who can be reasoned with outside of secrets, fun, and violence. He can possess anybody in PIE, won’t show up on ghost sensors, and can’t be warded away with most options. I think this is the primary reason why Johnny Toast hasn’t attempted to ward him off, despite seeing how much Casket hurts Ghost. Additionally, Casket can easily possess anyone on the team, including Toast, if they get on his nerves enough.

Horrifically, as a unicorn Casket can also largely bend the logic of the world, making him hard to catch and even harder to handle.

… He may eventually be somewhat defanged if treated with humanity and compromise, but he’ll always be kind of terrifying if he gets riled up. He’s like a wild animal if zoomies meant death. I can’t imagine he’d be that helpful in an investigation though.

There we go, ten options and my personal opinion! Hope I encapsulated everyone’s idea <3

History Headcanons

This is how I personally see Casket’s story up until the general point in canon where I tend to place things, and I’m not really considering videos in this. This is what I, personally, think and it may not have any basis in canon whatsoever.

- 13th Dimension to Freedom -

Before the Unicorns entered the floating gun, they existed on their native world in the 13th Dimension. They might have even been less crazy than they tend to be in the modern day, existing mostly as creatures of magic and a type of technology unfathomable to humans. Not quite “Jimmy Casket” yet, the unicorn who would one day become our point of focus didn’t have much reason to be considered differently than other unicorns outside of just being his own “person”. Maybe he has a specific emphasis for honesty, maybe he’s more likely to turn to violence, either way he isn’t a public figure or anything. He’s just a normal guy in his own society… I think Unicorns may also somewhat be a bit of a hive mind.

Then everything changed when the “Fire Nation” attacked. In all seriousness, Prince Fang and his family have been conquering dimensions for an incredibly long time. Their approach wasn’t subtle, and the unicorns took their chance to run when they realized what was coming. Tying a doorway to an item from a dimension the dragons wouldn’t be able to reach for a long, long time and tossing it through, the unicorns basically funneled into a pocket dimension tied to the doorway to escape. However, they didn’t think too hard on where they’d end up, and the doorway ended up in a position where no one could leave for literally years, kind of driving most the inhabitants to insanity.

I don’t know if the unicorn who would become Casket just used a different exit from the others, or if he took the first chance he got to get as far away as possible. Either way, the unicorn or focus managed to get away from the trap they accidentally built themselves, but still had really nowhere to go. Managing to tether his spirit to a human host long-term and eventually a blade whenever the human didn’t work out, he was free to do whatever he wanted. Not at all socialized to human cultures, that mostly led to murder while he learned how to co-exist with a host. Having as many hosts as he did, it kind of gave him a bunch of secrets to inherit as well as he moved from person to person. I imagine that any secret Jimmy tells is one that previously belonged to someone he lived as, usually picking someone who might be known to the victim.

While in the beginning, I think he tried to be in control 100% of the time, but kept either wearing himself out or breaking his victim’s mind or body, which is why he only pops in when something interesting happens now. How long this took for him to realize would be difficult to decide, since I’m not even sure at what time Jimmy entered the world. Either way, he’s a boy with a bladed weapon and a desire to wreak havoc.

- Wild West -

I don’t know how many other hands Casket found himself between before a young Johnny Ghost, but I know the identity of one. In spite of his generally cagey nature, Casket found his host dead after an encounter with the Acachalla Gang in the Wild West, but survived solely out of luck. Either due to an interest in a knife at the campsite from one of his attackers, or latching to the first one that seemed to be susceptible, Jimmy came to possess one of the gang members as his old host passed away without anyone noticing. Craving freedom and realizing this body would live for an incredibly long time, he decided to take a bit of a different route then usual.

To the rest of his family, Kermit Acachalla developed a new and passionate interest in knives, specifically one knife. And then an increased tendency to turn to violence. Maybe if they weren’t literally a gang, they would have picked up on the red flags sooner. It wasn’t all on them to notice, though, as Kermit frequently traveled one-on-one with a close friend who Casket would sometimes possess instead, depending on what he wanted to do when they separated. One was a lot more likely to bend to his will, the other one could literally travel through time, often giving Casket the opportunity to wreak havoc on the future. Eventually, the time traveler grew wise and Casket figured that was as good a time as any to stick with Kermit long-term… and also lowkey drive the man to insanity.

Kermit the Claw became a well-known serial killer, one who eventually killed Johnny Ghost Senior in a skuffle but got mortally wounded in the process. It took Casket an uncomfortably long while to find a suitable host after living easy for almost a hundred years, and then when he thought he had one, some stupid ghost hunter tried to banish him. He wasn’t picky though, and found someone else soon after.

- Johnny Ghost -

This is why you don’t go out alone, kids. You never know when mothman will corner you in an above-ground pool and possess your face. While I don’t think Ghost was specifically targeted, I think Casket’s old host had been in the area for long enough to know that Ghost and the “ghost hunter” that attempted the banishment were living in the same house. What he did Not know was that he was also the son of the Johnny Ghost who he murdered a year or so prior, really giving Casket a goldmine of trauma to work with. Weakened from a lot of crap that happened, including the attempted banishment and possessing someone with experience in keeping someone out of his head, Casket could only really take control if Ghost was feeling enough of a heightened emotion, rather than just whenever he felt interested. He found it didn’t really stop him, though, Ghost being Incredibly passionate.

He’s basically been living easy ever since. Whether it be Johnny Toast or Peewee Ghost trying to hold him back, they’re ultimately his biggest enablers of all time. Between the hilarity of Ghost’s stress and the effort his loved ones put into cleaning Casket’s messes, he can do whatever he wants whenever he wants it. Casket was basically out 24/7 while Ghost was in college, and he’s more resting now that Ghost has graduated. He’s grown rather fond of this life. Mostly because it constantly gives him the means to leave bodies in his wake.

Relationships

Johnny Ghost

“This kid can fit SO many problems into him!”

DAMN he has issues, and Casket is obsessed. Sometimes he likes to just sit and watch Ghost fail at being a human being without any intervention whatsoever. It’s just that hard for him on his own.

Casket has a lot of control over Ghost’s memories, and he finds it funny to just eat as many of them as possible. There is no telling what Ghost does or does not have an understanding of thanks to Jimmy Casket. This is why Toast wrote the book out of the two of them.

Kind of holding Ghost’s body together Venom-style, and if Casket ever leaves Ghost will both experience a rush the of memories that Casket was suppressing and possibly an organ failure. It’s now because of this that Casket does not jump possession, even though he sometimes really, really wants to.

Johnny Toast

His first choice for someone else to possess if the opportunity presents itself, Jimmy thinks it’s hilarious that Toast seems to be under the impression that he can be in any way shape or form “held back”.

Thinks that there’s more going on with him than he makes obvious, mostly because Toast absolutely has ‘latent but incredibly strong power rests inside of me’ vibes, and Casket can tell.

Weirdly enough, he does not approve of the drug dealing.

Peewee Ghost

Jimmy found it hilarious how much effort Ghost’s father put into trying to get rid of Casket without Ghost noticing. Sometimes he’ll still poke out when Ghost visits home just to taunt him. Hard to attack him, though, the house is covered in safety wards and curses and stuff to stop Casket from getting to feisty.

As much as Peewee hates Casket, he and Ghost are a package deal, meaning Peewee will clean up any mess Casket is too lazy to take care of himself, so long as he’s willing to sit through a lecture and multiple threats.

Fred “The Spooker” Soup

Thinks that Spooker would be his favorite person on the team if he were to just go crazy go stupid. It’s why Casket will jump out and kill Spooker all the time— he’s kind of hoping the guy is going to snap and try to get Casket back some day.

It hasn’t worked yet, but come on, how much longer can the guy have before his patience wears thin?

I think Spooker x Casket is a viable crackship bc i find it funny. Maybe not if the Casket is as murder-motivated as mind, but I could see it happening otherwise!

Chris “Colon” Ghostie

Colon hates that the team harbors Casket from justice, Casket thinks Colon’s righteous indignation is hilarious.

Casket will sometimes admit to cold cases that he might not have even done just to get Colon upset with him for getting away with it. Colon is the most invested in looking for a way to banish Casket for good.

Katrina

“The power of love failed you? Better Luck Next Time!”

His first victim after possessing Ghost that didn’t happen to be an animal or something like that. He was kind of hoping it would be enough to emotionally destroy Ghost, but found that others in her family took the loss a lot worse.

If she survived, it would have been a good lesson not to trust everyone who claimed to be your friend when you knew he was hosting some kind of evil spirit. She was a little too optimistic for her own good.

Johnny “Roast”

Jimmy genuinely considered switching from Ghost to Roast, feeling like Roast had a bit more of an underlying violence to him.

After seeing how poorly he took his sister’s death, and how much misdirected anger he lashed out with, Casket decided it would probably be more rewarding to watch this kid spiral on his own. At this rate, there was no way he was going to develop “Healthy Coping Mechanisms” or whatever that means.

If given the opportunity/if something ever happens to PIE, Roast will absolutely be his first pick for a new host.

Gavin Toast

“What do you MEAN there are two of them?”

Since Casket possessed Ghost after Toast moved back to the UK, Casket didn’t meet Gavin for a loooong time, and their meeting what a very confusing experience for specifically Casket.

Gavin is, weirdly enough, a little bit too normal for Casket. Casket can also tell that out of everyone, he’s the most likely to get Ghost arrested so that Casket faces justice. Mostly because every vengeful spirit will bombard Gavin any time the two are near each other, begging for retribution and Gavin does not think Ghost’s freedom is worth it.

Plus, Ghost has means to get out, he’ll be fine.

Johnny Cranky

“I dunno what your deal is, but you had me at joining a team named DIE.”

Exactly what it says on the tin, Jimmy is ready and willing to be apart of Cranky’s weird club so long as it means he gets to do some stabbing.

He doesn’t really consider Cranky to be anything other than a conduit for murder, he’s barely even a person to Casket. Casket frequently ignores him, talks over him, walks out of the room mid-conversation, and other things that really show that he does not care about Cranky’s existence.

Cranky only puts up with it because he thinks Casket is too dumb to realize he’s being rude. He’s not.

Cardboard Friend

“Back off! You already gave up on this one, it’s my turn!”

No matter what CBF is, no one ever said that Jimmy Casket had the common sense not to pick fights with demons or vassals of gods...

CBF, whether good or bad, is emotionally distressing for Ghost. While Casket appreciates the easy exit into the world, he does NOT want CBF to be near him. Either because CBF is a threat to the body (that Casket lives in) or CBF loves Ghost and is a threat to Casket, they do not get along at all.

Trivia

I do think he met T.Casket at some point, but I think they got out alive mostly out of dumb luck, and Casket still hasn’t realized that he’s the same person as Ghost’s dad yet. He probably knows a secret or two about the guy.

Jimmy is probably afraid of old people because he finds old age to be one of the most disastrous things to experience. He wants to be able to move around as much as possible, and an ailing body is probably an uncomfortable one to be in if you have the chance to move between them.

Could also be memento mori, a reminder of death would be uncomfortable to a being that is just barely not immortal.

Going by a bunch of other names throughout the time he’s had on the world, the name Jimmy Casket mostly came to spite Ghost’s family. Feeling bad about Ghost knowing so little about himself, his dad (Peewee) tried explaining his bio family and the CBF incident to him, and at the time Ghost understood and though he needed time to process it, he didn’t take the news horribly. Casket basically ate the memory of that conversation and took the family name specifically to mock Peewee’s efforts.

Jimmy taunted Toast about killing his wife once and got shot to death for his efforts. Jimmy considers this his most rewarding interaction with Johnny Toast of all time and doesn’t bring up Mary just to not spoil the memory of that interaction.

CBF and Jimmy might’ve met before Jimmy could possess Ghost but after Gregory ran away. Jimmy probably attacked it at the time, and it was likely in a weakened state, which is why it’s genuinely kind of afraid of him, even if its more powerful than he is.

Started a diary and wrote in it whenever Ghost stumbled upon it just SPECIFICALLY to scare Toast when he eventually stumbled upon it.

Would absolutely spill the secret about the Destroyers of the Investigators Extraordinaire existing and Spooker being offered a membership roll if he thought it would tear PIE apart.

Has had rabies before.

Bites.

#taleblr #taleblr headcanons #taleblr headcanon Masterlist #headcanon masterlist #jimmy casket #might add more in the future

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mindofserenity · 20 days

Note

Asalamu alaikum, Ramadan Mubarak. I hope your Ramadan is going well. I wanted to ask a question as a revert. I am 19 and I would like to get married for the sake of Allah. I have an abusive family however and a lot of heart pain because of this. I know what it's like to be treated well because of a friend of mine from school. I would like to get married but I have no wali and I know it's going to probably make my family cut me off. They will disapprove anyone and everyone. It's not something they are willing to talk about, as it is I live in constant silent treatment about any matter regarding myself. Be it that I need lotion or my school fees paid, it's silence until someone else steps in. Non of my family members are willing to help and think I'll of me because my dad spread rumours to justify him treating me this way but Allah knows. So what advice would you have for me who is looking to get married. Because I know what I want, who I want, my goals and values. And I know what I want my future husband to have in terms of the same. But how would I go about it? Sorry if this is a very tough question, insha'Allah you can even speak it over with a sheikh or something I don't have access to one and let me know your opinion insha'Allah. Jazakallah Khair.

وعليكم السلام ورحمة الله وبركاته

May Allah ease your pain and reward you immensely for your patience. From one revert to another, though our sufferings may not be the same, Allah ‎ﷻ blessed us both with the same gift of Islam and guidance الحمدلله. I hope you have a good support system despite your family’s absence. It will take time ‎إن شاء الله as it did for mine.

When I did my nikkah, of course I had no wali. Therefore the imam was able to step forward as my Wali which is completely acceptable for our cases ‎إن شاء الله. So do not worry for finding a wali if you do not have any Muslims in your family. However, it is still important to include them and inform them because marriage is a significant matter.

‎ما شاء الله You are only 19. I do not know when you reverted but my only advice would be that, make sure you take the time to prioritise your deen and your relationship with Allah above anything and anyone else. Marriage is indeed a beautiful blessing, it completes half a deen. But marriage is only a part of our journey in this life with its ups and downs so do take time being certain of who you are and your potential partner.

Have sabr and tawakkul always ‎إن شاء الله and may Allah bless you with a good spouse ‎ آمین

#askm

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thenovelartist · 5 months

Text

Life After Destruction - Chapter 7 - Honkai: Star Rail

Month seven meant only one more month aboard the Astral Express before Stelle and Dan Heng would be dropped off at the Xianzhou Luofu. Stelle felt like things were happening so fast. The pressure to get everything in order this month, including finishing shopping for the nursery, was beginning to weigh on her.

However, there had been one minor roadblock to accomplishing that goal: Himeko and March practically begging her to wait with any form of shopping. Although Stelle supposed she would have a month on the Luofu to collect any remaining items she needed, she still wanted to get things in order now, as did Dan Heng. In the end, the two were so adamant in their request that she had to cave, and despite her repeated asks, they never told her the reason.

Until today.

“Surprise!” Asta and March said, waving excitedly at the obnoxiously large pile of gifts.

Surprise, indeed. To say Stelle’s jaw was on the floor was probably an understatement. Beside her, Dan Heng looked equally shocked. Probably because when Himeko said they needed to go to Herta Space Station to gather supplies, it never crossed either of their minds that this would be what she'd meant.

“Yeah, yeah, surprise,” Herta reluctantly agreed with all the minimal enthusiasm she could muster. To be fair to her, the fact Herta had even come down to greet them was a surprise in itself. “Now get all this garbage off my ship. It’s preventing me from seeing my curios.”

“Madam Herta,” Asta gently chided. “I know you don’t mean that. Didn’t you get them a gift, too?”

“I didn’t want to,” she snipped. “It was Screwllems’s stupid idea, and Ruan Mei just had to jump on board. But… I guess it’s not totally worthless. Because of this idiot—” Herta roughly pointed at Stelle— “I’m still able to do my studies and experiments in this galaxy. Although, she could have avoided getting knocked up.” With those biting words, she glared at Dan Heng.

Stelle chuckled nervously. Although Herta’s words said one thing, Stelle was fairly certain the only reason she was mad was because Stelle hadn’t been able to help test the Simulated Universe for far too long.

Dan Heng, for his part, simply ignored it. “So,” he began, looking over the mountain of gifts once again before turning to March and Asta. “Would you like to explain why there are so many gifts here?”

“It’s for a baby shower!” March explained. “Er… kind of.”

“You two are kind of famous, you know,” Asta elaborated. “So it was only natural that people would want to know that the galaxy’s savior was pregnant with her first child. These are all the congratulatory gifts from, well… everyone.”

Stelle looked over the tower again. This mountain was the galaxy’s well-wishes to her?

Her hand went up to rest on top of her growing stomach.

“Um.” From behind them, Arlan spoke up. “Would you like me to start organizing the transfer of these gifts to the Express?”

“Yes!” Herta cried. “Get them out of here. I’ve got more important things to do, like finding someone who doesn’t have a medical exemption from assisting with my tests of the Simulated Universe. I’m trying to get in contact with Nanook there since he’s long dead in the real world. Curious minds need to know his reasonings behind these wars.”

“You can have Caelus for your experiments,” Stelle offered.

Herta quirked a brow at her. “Who?”

“Wow, that’s mean,” March muttered under her breath.

“We’ve all done it,” Stelle flatly countered, trying to justify away the niggling guilt she felt. “It’s his turn. Think of it as a rite of passage.”

Dan Heng hummed. “If he wants the full experience of being a trailblazer, I suppose assisting Madam Herta is part of it.”

Despite being a doll, Herta’s eyes started gleaming. “Oh, so he is a new member? That would be useful to get a fresh perspective on the alterations to the Simulated Universe. You all have adapted well to it, which has been helpful in its own way, but that might have skewed an accurate perception of it.”

“He’s probably still with Himeko at the Express,” Dan Heng answered.

“Oh, perfect.” And with that, Herta shuffled past Arlan and out the door.

Asta cleared her throat to break the awkward atmosphere. “If you would please, Arlan. Moving all this will take a while.”

“G-got it,” he replied. “It’s preferable to being dragged around by Madam Herta. Just… don’t tell her I said that.”

“Where is this even going to go on the Express?” Stelle asked.

“Himeko said she’s figured that out already,” March dismissed. “So don’t worry about it.”

That was an impossible task. Especially as another question came to mind. “Where is all this going to go in the nursery?”

“Oh!” March’s eyes lit up. “So that’s the thing. When Himeko and I sent out the announcement, we kinda realized that you might end up with an excess of baby things. Himeko suggested they send things for the baby to grow into instead of just baby things. She promised that you guys could put all the things you wouldn’t need right away in storage.”

“Well,” Dan Heng said, nodding in approval, “that certainly is more practical, considering how many planets seemed to have been informed.”

“Yeah,” Asta agreed. “But they were all more than happy to send things along. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have all this.”

That was true. At that realization, Stelle felt quite honored.

Don’t cry, she mentally warned when she felt herself suddenly get emotional, an unfortunate side effect of her pregnancy. Suck it up. It’s fine. It’s just… really nice of everyone.

Soon enough, she was dabbing at her eyes.

“Please tell me those are happy tears,” Asta said, suddenly getting worried.

Dan Heng wrapped his arm around Stelle’s waist, and she allowed him to pull her close. “Yeah. I’m fine,” she said, leaning against Dan Heng's shoulder.

“Is it overwhelming?” Dan Heng quietly asked.

Stelle nodded. “But it’s really nice of everyone.”

“It… it really is,” Dan Heng agreed. “We’re going to have to thank everyone for their thoughtfulness.”

“I’ve got you covered,” Asta said, grabbing one of the boxes that was exceedingly plain. She took off the cardboard lid, showing a small booklet and a stack of cards and envelopes. “This is for you to record who gave you what. And then I got actual letters for you to send. Hopefully, that won’t be too overwhelming.”

“We’ll manage,” Dan Heng said. “Although… this will be quite the task.”

Stelle could not disagree in the slightest.

“I can help if you want,” March offered. “I don’t mind.”

“Thanks,” Stelle said, shooting her friend a smile. As kind as it was for her to offer, Stelle had the feeling she’d manage on her own. After all, she was getting quite bored staying still on the Express, her growing stomach getting in the way of being too adventurous. Writing a million cards might just be the cure for her boredom.

Or it would drive her insane. With her mood swings, who knew. Either way, it had to be better than helping Herta test the Simulated Universe…

Right?

~~~

Dan Heng had no idea how they managed to fit all the gifts in the Astral Express. Looking over the storage room that was practically overflowing, he was dreading the task of opening them. However, he would not complain. This was extremely generous of the galaxy at large, and he was appropriately thankful for their consideration. Furthermore, with all these gifts, it was likely he and Stelle wouldn’t have to go shopping for much more. That is, if they had to go shopping at all. While he wouldn’t have minded going shopping for the baby, he also couldn’t deny he would prefer if he didn’t have to. Shopping had never been his favorite thing, and one particular pre-Stelle shopping trip he’d been forced to take with March had spoiled that task for life.

“So,” Himeko began, approaching Dan Heng, “What do you think of the surprise? We wanted to organize a proper baby shower for Stelle, but that just wasn’t possible.”

“This is more than enough,” Dan Heng assured with a smile. “Thank you. It must have taken considerable effort on your part to organize this.”

“It did, but it was worth it. Hopefully, March and I did a good enough job communicating with everyone so you won’t get too many repeated items. You should be covered with a range of things up into their childhood years. Although, organizing certain toddler items does become more challenging when you don’t know if you’ll have a boy or a girl.”

“Stelle wanted to keep it a surprise. Otherwise, you would have known.”

“I know. And I also know you went along with her wishes to keep her happy." She then poked his shoulder. "Just remember you’re the father. You’re allowed to ask for things, too.”

“I know,” he returned. “But I couldn’t ask for anything more than what she’s given me. While I would have liked to know, just so I could be as prepared as possible, it ultimately doesn’t matter if we know ahead of time or not. I’ll be happy either way.”

Himeko’s smile was gentle. “Stelle’s very lucky to have you as her husband. And your child is going to be lucky to have you as a father.”

Bashful, Dan Heng turned back to look over the gifts. “I’ll… do my best.”

“Give yourself a little credit,” Himeko teased. “You deserve it.”

Unsure of what to say, Dan Heng simply nodded. He had plenty of doubts lingering in his mind over this, but he had to conquer them alone. And quickly, at that. The baby would be here before they knew it. While Dan Heng knew that everything about their life would change because of it, there was also only so much he could do to prepare. He would just have to adapt to everything else and hope he didn’t mess things up, for his child’s sake.

“Have you figured out names yet?” Himeko asked.

He nodded, thankful for the change in conversation. “Yes, we’ve settled on names for both genders.”

“Are you going to keep those a surprise, too?” Himeko lightly prodded.

“Yes,” Dan Heng said, giving her a slight smile. “But that was my idea to do so.”

“Haha. You two are certainly keeping everyone in suspense.”

Dan Heng shut the door to the storage room, blocking out the overwhelming sight of the mountainous stack of gifts for now. “On a different note,” he began, making his way back to the parlor. “I will be sitting this next mission out so as to help Stelle—”

“She warned me to not allow you to do that,” Himeko interrupted. “She said she could handle the presents and thank you cards on her own but that you should get out and about as much as possible before the baby is born. I agree with her. I doubt you’ll want to leave her side for a while after your baby arrives, so I don’t want you to get sick of the Astral Express too soon.”

Dan Heng sighed. Part of him figured this would happen. If it was just Himeko’s idea, he’d probably argue with her, but he wasn’t going to test Stelle. Her emotional state was growing more unstable with each passing month, so he didn't want to start needless fights with her. She was only doing this out of consideration for him, anyway.

“It will be fine,” Himeko said. “You two can open the gifts together while we’re traveling. Then whoever stays behind with Stelle can help her write all the thank you notes. That is, if she wants the help in the first place. It’s quite obvious Stelle is growing plenty bored staying on the Express all the time. The letters will give her something to do.”

When Himeko put it that way, Dan Heng thought maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to leave that job up to Stelle, after all.

“Besides,” Himeko continued. “I appreciate you teaching Caelus what you know before you disappear on us. Don’t say this to March, but between the two of you, you are the better teacher.”

Dan Heng smirked in amusement. “My lips are sealed.” Although, he did suppose Himeko had a point when it came to Caelus. He was a plenty capable person and well-trained, but he came with his own challenges and quirks. Stellaron Hunters did things very differently than the Nameless, so there was much to teach him as well as many tricks to learn from him.

And if Dan Heng were being honest, he enjoyed having a male companion compared to traveling with two girls all the time. Not that he didn’t adore said girls, especially since they were his wife and someone he thought of as a sister.

They entered the parlor to see Stelle still chatting with March, Asta, and Arlan. Upon spying Dan Heng, Stelle grinned, waving him to come over before motioning to a large box at her feet. “From the Space Station.”

“Though Arlan organized it,” Asta said, elbowing the young man.

Arlan chuckled sheepishly. “I hope you like it.”

“I’m sure we will,” Stelle said. “Thank you.”

“And don’t worry,” Arlan added on, shooting Asta a warning look. “I didn’t let Lady Asta spend any money on it. She went overboard with the clothes, anyway.”

“I did not,” Asta countered. “It was fine.”

“It was not fine,” Stelle said. “It’s just that no one can stop you when you start.”

Before Asta could come up with a retort, the door to the Astral Express opened, and a frazzled Caelus entered.

Upon seeing all eyes were on him, he started waving his hands about. “Let me get this straight: you’ve all helped Madam Herta with her little ‘virtual reality’ experiment?”

Tempering a grin, Dan Heng nodded, noting that the others were all doing the same. He almost pitied Caelus. Almost. He’d suffered Madam Herta’s experiments enough over the years. It was Caelus’ turn to take up that torch. Besides, the more people who volunteered, the fewer times each person would have to assist.

“Like, once or twice?” Caelus tentatively inquired.

Stelle answered, “Sometimes, several times a week.”

“A week?” Caelus repeated, horrified.

“How’d you like it?” March teasingly prodded.

Caelus couldn’t answer right away, words clearly having failed him. Eventually, he just shook his head. “So many bugs.”

“Aww,” Stelle mockingly cooed. “You don’t even know the half of it.”

~~~

The pile of scrapped gift wrapping was growing astronomically fast, and the nursery was filling up with items almost as quickly. So far, there’d been a wide variety of things, from baby necessities to toddler clothing to a range of toys. Then there was the variety of wild card items ranging from medicine to information for the archives to weapons.

And then Stelle still wasn’t fully sure what that thing was over in the corner.

But even those odd items came with things like some diapers or children’s books, and each gift came with a letter of congratulations from the senders. Typically, they were from the government at large, but there were a few exceptions.

“Another from Belobog.”

Stelle took the gift Dan Heng offered her, the fourth one from Belobog. One from Bronya, who spoke on behalf of the country at large, then another from the Silvermane Guards. Wildfire even got her a gift.

As she looked over the plain brown box, her heart warmed upon seeing the still scratchy lettering that she recognized as Hook’s scrawl. To: Honorary Member and Little Honorary Member. From: The Moles. “They’re too sweet.”

“They are very kind," Dan Heng agreed. "I’m sure it wasn’t easy for them to scrape together the money to send that.”

That was true. Inter-astral mail wasn’t cheap. Even though she knew all the members of the Moles each had their own paying jobs now, it must have put quite the dent in their pockets.

Stelle opened the slightly battered box to reveal a jar of marbles, a teddy bear that looked handmade with a handful of clothes to go with it, and a torn, tattered book titled “Adventures of the Moles”. The longer she looked over the gifts, the more she recognized them, and soon enough, she began to feel overly emotional.

“I’m gonna yell at them for giving us these,” she whispered, her eyes growing watery.

“You should probably text them right away,” Dan Heng suggested, a gentle smile on his face while he soothingly stroked her hair.

“Yeah, probably.”

Dan Heng set the box carefully aside for her while Stelle pulled out her phone.

“I’m going to empty out the trash bin again,” Dan Heng said, standing from his seat. “And bring back the next round of gifts. Take your time.”

“Thanks,” she said, already tapping away at her phone.

Stelle: Hook! I just opened your gift!

Stelle: I love it. Thank you so much!

Stelle: Tell the others I said thanks, too.

Before Stelle could put her phone away, she saw little bubbles flash on the screen.

Hook: I’m glad! Do you like the teddy? I sewed it all by myself!

Hook: I asked the old witch to teach me how, and she said she would if I cleaned the clinic.

Hook: But she actually made me clean the clinic! (;° ロ°)

Stelle couldn’t help but chuckle. She could easily imagine the huffy pout Hook was wearing.

Stelle: It’s about time she made you keep your word. Natasha was too soft.

Hook: Honorary member! How dare you betray us!

Hook: Oh no she caught me

Stelle: Good luck with your punishment.

With a grin, Stelle put her phone down. Over the years, Hook had grown fond of the clinic. More often than not, Hook would volunteer a little of her time to help Natasha tidy the place up. Not exactly any of the “months” she’d ever promised, but Stelle supposed that development was enough to show just how much Hook had grown up.

While mustering the willpower to stand up and help Dan Heng pull some more presents into the nursery, her phone chimed. She looked over, expecting to see a message from Hook detailing how she escaped.

Natasha: Hey, Stelle. I’m sorry to bother you, but since you texted Hook, I thought you might be free for a moment. I have a question to ask of you.

Stelle: Of course. Shoot.

Natasha: Feel free to tell me I’m sticking my nose where it doesn’t belong, but have you set up a birth plan yet?

Honestly, Stelle should have been expecting that from Natasha. If anything, she should have told Natasha her plans earlier.

Stelle: Yes. We’ve decided to go to the Xianzhou Luofu, which is Dan Heng’s home world. I believe I’ve told you about Bailu, correct? She was incredibly picky in recommending doctors to us.

Natasha: That’s good to hear you have people you trust. If you hadn’t, I was going to ask if I could help you in any way. Of course, if you need me for anything, I’ll help out as much as I can.

Stelle: Thank you. I promise I’ll contact you if I need anything.

Though it was reasonable to leave it at that, Stelle kinda wanted to keep the conversation going. Hence, she found herself typing out another message.

Stelle: Actually, I had been debating about coming to Belobog. I trust you as a doctor and would have felt the most comfortable with you, if I am being honest. But for other reasons, the Luofu is ultimately better.

Stelle: Sometimes I wish you could come, but I know you’re busy with the clinic. :)

Just as she finished, Dan Heng returned, his arms full of gifts once again.

Stelle put her phone down. “How many more do we have to go?”

Dan Heng dropped the tall stack. “With this, we’ve gotten through approximately two-thirds of the gifts.”

Stelle heaved a sigh. It had been a marathon, to say the least. She was growing tired of them, even though she was still incredibly thankful. Because of what they had received so far, the nursery was already stocked with everything they could need or want. Heck, they’d even gotten things they certainly didn’t need. At this point, she couldn't even fathom what other surprises there could possibly be.

Before Dan Heng could hand her the gift from the top of the pile, her phone dinged again.

Natasha: If you’d like, I can try to organize coming with you. I have two new assistants that could take over for a short period.

Natasha: I would have to double-check with some of the others, though, to make sure everything with Wildfire is running smoothly and that it would be okay.

Stelle blinked a few times at the message.

“Something happen?” Dan Heng asked, sitting down beside her again.

“Um…” Stelle pursed her lips as she glanced over to Dan Heng. “Natasha offered to come with us to be there for the birth of our baby.”

“Oh?”

Stelle nodded.

“Would you like that?”

“I mean… yeah.”

“But you’re hesitating.”

Stelle let her phone fall into her lap, giving Dan Heng her full attention. “Do you think Bailu would be okay with that? Or would that cause more problems? She said she’d already screened all the doctors there for us to meet. And I know Natasha said she’d be okay to leave for a bit, but we’ll be there for a month. Is it okay for her to leave for that long?”

Dan Heng paused in thought. “I wouldn’t worry about Bailu. Even though she did take time to recommend doctors to us, I doubt she would fault you for bringing a doctor you trust. As for if Natasha can take that time away from the clinic, I’d say tell her our plan and let her decide if she can accommodate us.”

“You think I should?” Stelle asked.

“I think you have the right to be comfortable with people you trust. And if they’re offering, I would accept. And... to be honest, I would be comfortable with Natasha, as well. For your sake."

Feeling more confident, Stelle picked up her phone again. "Bailu would be disappointed if she knew you didn't trust her judgment."

"I trust people you and I both know and have worked with. That's all."

Although he spoke them dismissively, she was happy to have her husband's full support. She leaned over to drop her head on his shoulder while she texted Natasha back.

Stelle: Are you sure that would be okay? About three weeks from now, we will head to the Luofu with plans on remaining there until the baby is born. By that time, I’ll only be eight months, so we’ll likely be there for a month or so. Is it possible for you to take all that time away from your clinic?

She sent off the message before dropping the phone back into her lap.

Beside her, Dan Heng pressed a quick kiss to the top of her head before handing her another gift.

"Was that encouagement to keep up this marathon?" she asked, feeling all fluttery from the tiny gesture.

"Possibly."

"Possibly," she repeated, amused. Still, she sat up straight to open the gift, this one a box of children’s books and some unisex clothes.

After recording the information in the booklet, Dan Heng took them to set aside just as her phone dinged again.

Natasha: So you’ll be spending the last month of your pregnancy there? That’s a wise idea. As for the length of duration on my account, things here should be fine between the two assistants that I’ve trained to handle the clinic here. Things have never run more smoothly. I’m sure I can disappear for a month or two.

Natasha: Actually, Seele just came and told me to leave the affairs of Wildfire to her and Oleg. It seems I might be pushed to go with you in the end.

Stelle: If you’re able to, I would really like to have you around.

Stelle: Take your time organizing things. We can come pick you up when it comes time and take you to the Luofu with us. I think you’d really like it.

Natasha: I would be going as your doctor first and foremost. But, when you put it that way, I guess that I would have a little free time to enjoy exploring a new place. That would be quite exciting. :D

“I think it’s going to work out,” Stelle said, grinning as she looked over to Dan Heng.

He returned her smile with one of his own. “Then I’ll inform Bailu a little later once you two have sorted out more of the details.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

“Well, while you’re continuing to communicate with her, would you like to switch tasks? I’ll open the next gifts and you record them?”

Stelle looked over the tower of gifts before her. Her stomach sank even further when she recalled there were still more in the storage area. “Yeah, gimme the notebook before I get sick of opening gifts forever.”

~~~

“And you’re certain you packed everything?” Dan Heng asked for the final time.

Stelle sighed, clearly getting tired of his constant questioning. Yet, he watched her silently count on her fingers as she looked over their luggage. “Pretty sure.”

“All the baby’s things that Natasha instructed us to pack?”

“That was the bag I packed first.”

He nodded, looking over the luggage one last time. He couldn’t shake this anxious feeling swirling through him, like he was forgetting something. Or maybe he was anxious because he was about to spend the next month with Stelle on the Xianzhou Luofu. This would be the longest period of time he’d spent away from the Express since first boarding. Furthermore, he wasn’t leaving for a mission but rather for a familial reason, which felt still extremely strange to him.

“Well, if you’re finished questioning me for the umpteenth time, are you ready to go?” Stelle asked.

Startled from his thoughts, he looked back up at her. “Y-yeah. I think so.”

“Are you sure?”

He nodded, but she was quick to shoot him a doubtful look. Worried that she was about to call his bluff, he reached for their luggage bags, ones the space station had gifted them for this very reason. “We should go,” he said. “The others put aside their expedition to make this trip specifically for us. I don’t want to keep them long.”

“I guess you’re right.” And with that, Stelle reached for her bag.

“Grab the baby’s bag,” Dan Heng instructed. “That’s all I’ll let you carry.”

She frowned up at him. “I can carry more.”

“You are carrying plenty.” He reached out to lay a hand on her stomach. “So don’t overexert yourself.”

“I’m fine, you know,” she quietly countered, placing her hand on top of his, a habit she'd picked up from whenever the baby was kicking and she pulled him close to feel it. At the moment, the baby was quiet. Maybe it too was feeling the stress of everything.

“I’d like to keep you that way.” With that, he leaned forward, pressing a quick kiss to her cheek.

“Hey.”

He couldn't help but grin at the little pout she shot him, his worries disappearing for a second. Reaching up to cradle her cheek, he angled her head towards him and pressed a kiss to her lips. “Better?”

She grinned. “Thank you. For that, I guess I’ll let you carry the bags.”

He huffed in amusement.

Soon enough, the duo made their way to the parlor, Stelle carrying the baby backpack while Dan Heng dragged one large, rolling suitcase behind him. It fit quite a bit of their clothes for the month, but the rest of their things were packed in the overlarge pack he wore on his back. For some reason, a slight chill haunted him as he marched down the hallway. It disturbed him, this odd feeling of finality that hung in the air, like an end was imminent. He tried to tell himself he would return here to the Astral Express and that things would be fine, but the sadness weighing on his heart was too heavy to entirely ignore.

“There they are,” Himeko spoke once Dan Heng and Stelle entered the parlor. “Are the both of you set?”

“I believe so,” Dan Heng answered, pushing aside his feelings for now and focusing on the present. Beside him, Stelle made a show of crossing her fingers.

“Then this is where we part ways.” Himeko was the first to reach out and pull Stelle in a hug. “We’ll miss you. We’ll be hoping for a safe delivery.”

“Thank you,” Stelle muttered in return.

March was up next. “It will be so weird not having you two around,” she said, clinging tight to Stelle.

“It’ll be weirder when we bring back a baby,” Stelle bantered back.

“That’s true. But I’ll take that weirdness any day if it means you two are back.”

Dan Heng felt a small sense of relief knowing that he wasn’t the only one feeling strange about this whole arrangement. Not that there was anything to be done about it; it was part of Stelle’s pregnancy. One would have thought Dan Heng would have gotten used to change by now, with the months Stelle’s pregnancy had already altered their lives in numerous ways, but this felt different. They’d always had the Astral Express and the Nameless by their side to help them through it. Now, they were temporarily heading out on their own.

A weight on his shoulder called him out of his thoughts, and Dan Heng looked over to Welt. “I wish you both a restful month before the baby arrives,” Welt said, giving Dan Heng’s shoulder an encouraging squeeze. “You two have earned it.”

“We’ll try,” Dan Heng responded.

“Don’t worry,” Caelus said, giving Dan Heng’s other shoulder a bump with his fist. “We’ll take care of everything around here.”

“I believe you will.” Dan Heng had seen how quickly Caelus had integrated into the Astral Express crew. He would manage on his own. Although, Dan Heng still had some reservations about Caelus and March running missions together. The combination of March’s friendly, somewhat naive personality paired with Caelus’ impulsive nature was doubtlessly going to wind the pair in trouble at some point.

Caelus then turned to Stelle, reaching an arm out towards her. “Take care.”

Stelle returned the side hug with a smile. Despite the amnesia between the two of them making their past a jumbled mishmash of memories, they’d grown close over the last couple of months. Maybe because of how similar they ultimately were. “Don’t get in trouble,” Stelle warned him.

“I promise… to do my best.”

“March,” Stelle said, turning to her friend. “If something goes wrong, remember: blame him.”

“Hey!”

March laughed. “You got it.”

Caelus leveled a glare at March. “Rude.”

Chuckling, March shot back a cheeky wink and peace sign.

While the duo went at it, Welt had sided up to Stelle. “Take care,” he told her, reaching up to rest a hand on her head. “I’ll be hoping you have an easy delivery.”

Grinning, she reached out to wrap her arms around his torso. “Thanks.”

He wrapped an arm over her shoulders, looking every bit like a proud grandfather-to-be.

“Stay safe,” Himeko said, now at Dan Heng’s side.

“We will,” he returned.

“And know that we’ll always be here if you need anything,” she continued.

“I wouldn’t want to bother you any more than we have.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Himeko easily dismissed. “You and Stelle have been travelers on the Express for so long that you’re the closest thing to family I have. I guarantee you that the others feel the same. So it’s no bother. Besides, we’ll all miss you and can’t wait for you to come back, baby and all.”

At her words, more of the chilly unease in Dan Heng’s stomach dissipated. Maybe that was what had him in such a frenzy: he was leaving this place he considered home behind, even if it was just for a bit. For someone who grew up with nothing only to be exiled when he was old enough, the last thing he wanted was to let go of every treasure he'd found, for it to disappear.

But it wouldn’t. It was only a temporary shift for the sake of Stelle and his child. And once the baby arrived, they would come back home, to where his—no, their family was waiting.

“Sorry, sorry!” A sudden newcomer burst into the parlor. “I overslept. Apologies if I kept everyone waiting.”

“You came right on time,” Himeko assured. “Although, I feel bad for having to wake you in the first place. You seemed quite comfortable.”

“I was,” Natasha guiltily admitted. “Seems I’ve been working too hard lately and not getting enough rest.”

“Well, I hope you are able to get some rest on the Luofu.”

“On the contrary, I fear I’ll be too excited to want to sleep. And considering I have the very rare pleasure of caring for a single patient, I’ll have plenty of time to study a different world. I won’t want to miss a minute.”

Dan Heng spoke up, “I’m sure Bailu would be happy to let you read her medical texts.”

At that, Natasha’s eyes lit up. “It would be wonderful if I could find new techniques or medicines to take back to Belobog.”

“With as much free time as you’ll have,” Stelle chimed in. “I’m sure you’ll find something.”

“I look forward to it.”

With one last round of goodbyes, Dan Heng, Stelle, and Natasha headed toward the train's exit. Only, before they disembarked, Dan Heng transformed into his vidyadhara figure. Which he realized too late that Natasha had never seen before.

"That is... quite the surprise," Natasha commented, accepting the shift with grace. "But, I guess it shouldn't be, Cold Dragon Young."

He sighed. "I am impressed you can remember such a fleeting name."

"Fleeting?" Natasha asked, a mischievous twinkle coming to her eye. "The children still call you that."

Dan Heng wasn't quite sure what to think of that. Stelle certainly found it amusing, though.

When they disembarked the Express, they were immediately greeted by a surprisingly large welcoming party, the most notable two being a young vidyadhara and a not-so-fearsome Cloud Knight Commander.

“Dan Heng! Stelle!” Bailu was the first to run up to them, throwing her arms around Stelle. “Man, you’re huge.”

“Gee, thanks,” Stelle deadpanned, still patting Bailu on the head.

“It’s an observation, not an insult,” she quipped back. Her pout soon became a grin as she turned to Dan Heng and threw her arms around him. “Welcome back.”

Dan Heng returned the hug Bailu gave him, although he didn’t cling to her nearly as tight as she did him. “Good to see you, Bailu.”

Having properly greeted him and Stelle, Bailu then turned to Natasha. “Ah, are you the doctor that Stelle wanted to bring?”

“Yes. I’m Natasha. You must be Bailu.”

“That I am.”

“I’ve heard much about you.”

“You should have,” Bailu proudly piped up. “Dan Heng is basically my brother.”

“Play nice,” Dan Heng warned, patting Bailu on the head as he walked past her, dragging the luggage behind him.

“Fine,” she playfully bemoaned. “But only because you asked nicely.”

Leaving the girls behind to chat among themselves, Dan Heng approached a grinning Jing Yuan.

“I believe a hearty congratulations is in order,” the man warmly greeted.

“Thank you.” Over the years, Dan Heng had forged an odd sort of acquaintanceship with Jing Yuan. He was sure that Jing Yuan would never be able to fully forget Dan Heng’s past incarnation and the close friendship he’d shared with Dan Feng, yet Dan Heng could tell the commander had moved beyond that and saw him for the person he was in this life instead of the man he once had been.

“Come now, no need to be so modest. You’re the first vidyadhara to ever reproduce. You should be thrilled.”

“I am,” Dan Heng said. “I simply have other concerns on my mind at the moment. Such as how the general population has reacted to that fact."

Jing Yuan’s expression grew serious, which only made the pit of worry in Dan Heng’s stomach grow. “I apologize. I encouraged Lady Bailu to leak that news. I thought it would be for the better to stir the pot and see what bubbled up beforehand rather than you appearing with your pregnant wife unannounced.”

He sighed, a heaviness weighing on his heart. Maybe this was the other reason he was so afraid to leave the Express behind. Yes, he would miss his family, but here, there were threats to Stelle lurking just under the surface. And if anything happened to her or the baby…

Well, he feared he understood Dan Feng a little too well in moments like this.

“You aren’t one to make an impulsive decision like that without council,” Dan Heng said. “I’m assuming you contacted the head diviner before making that call.”

“I’m pleased to know you know me so well. Yes, I did. She also agreed with that plan, believing it gave us the best chance to monitor the population’s reaction and weed out any potential threats prior to your arrival.”

“Did it yield harvest?”

“It did,” Jing Yuan confirmed. “They are facing judgment for their scheming. Although, I would refrain from claiming we’ve eliminated all threats. While many vidyadhara have accepted you back into the fold, there are those who still hate you regardless. To be honest, the other reason we wished to leak the information beforehand was to ensure that it would be safe for you to come here in the first place. Had the population reacted poorly, I would have told Bailu to send you elsewhere. However, the general consensus is a positive one. Most of the vidyadhara are happy to learn of your ability to father a child. You are now a symbol of hope for their race, after all.”

For a moment, Dan Heng was silent. “I understand that Stelle’s pregnancy provides hope to the vidyadhara population at large, and I should have pride in the fact I’m able to contribute in such a way to my race. But…” He turned to look at Stelle, who was grinning as Bailu held her swollen belly with a look of awe. “That is the last thing on my mind.”

Jing Yuan hummed. “I suppose I can’t fault you for that. Ultimately, you are no different than any other excited father.”

Dan Heng turned back to Jing Yuan. “There is a vast difference between knowing you have a child to carry on the legacy of a race incapable of having children and knowing that you are blessed to have a child.”

With an approving grin, Jing Yuan dropped a hand on Dan Heng’s shoulder. “That child is lucky to have you as a father. I’m happy for you.”

Dan Heng nodded his thanks.

Jing Yuan then gave Dan Heng’s shoulder a squeeze. “I swear on my honor that I’ll do everything I can to keep you and Stelle safe. Beyond you two being the parents of the first vidyadhara to be born, you two are the saviors of the galaxy. And even beyond that… you, Dan Heng, are my friend.”

For a moment, words eluded him, so Dan Heng had to settle for reaching up to rest a hand on Jing Yuan’s shoulder. “Thank you… old friend.”

#honkai star rail #honkai fanfic #danstelle #fluff #married fluff

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