#arachnus flutterby

[harbingersecho]

of course, nothing could make me happier than being your prey.

[shiningdesignersreflections]

Evangelos: Sapphire Dreaming

Designer's Reflection: Sapphire Dreaming

Obtained: Arachnus Flutterby: Into the Deep Blue hell event

Rarity: UR

Attribute: Blue/Cool

Awakened Suit: Cocoon Reborn

Story - transcripts from Designer's Reflection

Chapter 1 - Fragile Hope

Chapter 2 - Endless Experiments

Chapter 3 - Innocent Emotion

Chapter 4 - Unfinished Verse

Chapter 5 - Dream Wedding

Story - summarized

Deep in the border forest of Ninir, two researchers struggle to create a new specimen. Most of them failed, leaving only one bio-pod left. One researcher wants to give up before something else bad happens, but the second researcher forces open the pod like an egg. Inside is Evangelos, living but weak and incomplete.

The cruel researcher experiments on Evangelos every day, scolding it for being independent or liking trinkets. The kind researcher would share his books with Evangelos, who devoured every word. As great as the books were, they aren't the same as the outside world - neither researcher let Evangelos go.

One day, it awakes in a cave filled with spiderwebs. A spider girl snuck into the lab and dragged Evangelos and its broken bio-pod back to her home. She wants to eat the butterfly, but all it can think of is how beautiful the spider is. It wants to feel needed by her, to make her happy.

The spider girl, Nephiliet, decides to let it live. Life together is quaint but sweet. There are just two problems standing in the way of them being happy: first, Evangelos' body is still weak, and since its pod was broken by the researcher, it never had time to develop a strong enough body. Thankfully, Nephiliet's silk cocoons are strong enough to revive Evangelos.

But the second problem is that Nephiliet pours all her power into her silk; the more she weaves, the weaker she gets. At this rate, both of them will perish soon.

Neither wants to live without the other, so Evangelos suggests they have a wedding. They will celebrate their love for each other, and then they will enjoy the rest of their lives.

Connections

-The very first experiment we've encountered in Shining Nikki was through Yexiao's memories in Deep In The Clouds. Yexiao wanted to create life, so she teamed up with a hermit in Cloud. They succeeded in bringing the creature to life, but ultimately Yexiao had to kill it to save the town.

-Evangelos is the first character to use genderless pronouns, but it's not the first nonbinary character. Ai is implied to be genderless, as she had no specific body or sex when she was first coded and only presented herself as a girl after gaining consciousness.

Fun Facts

-The bio-pods act like science-fantasy eggs that "hatch" the hybrid creatures. If someone breaks an egg or forces it to open before the creature inside is ready, it leads to a weak body at best, early death at worst. When the researcher broke open the pod, he doomed Evangelos to death.

-One of the stories Evangelos reads is a retelling of Romeo and Juliet. The two fell in love at a ball, but their families were enemies and forbade the young lovers to meet. However, Evangelos' version has the two of them get married and be happy, whereas the original ending had them kill themselves.

[shiningdesignersreflections]

Nephiliet: Lightweaving Kiss

Designer's Reflection: Lightweaving Kiss

Obtained: Arachnus Flutterby: Into the Deepblue hell event

Rarity: UR

Attribute: Purple/Sexy

Awakened Suit: Midnight Stealth

Story - transcripts from Designer's Reflection

Chapter 1 - Web of Death

Chapter 2 - Cocooned Within

Chapter 3 - Nestled Love

Chapter 4 - Mayfly Sadness

Chapter 5 - Eternal Love

Story - summarized

Deep in the Ninir forest lies Nephiliet, a humanoid spider girl who will hunt anything and everything that gets caught in her web. Even other spiders are prey to her. She doesn't know any other life than "hunt or be hunted."

Soon, she spots humans in a greenhouse not too far away. Nephiliet tries to trap one of them, but is repulsed by their stench. Still, it's rare to see so many humans here, so she watches them every day. And then, Nephiliet finds out what they were doing: conducting an experiment on a humanoid butterfly. If this many humans swarm around the butterfly and draw its blood for "research," then surely it must be the best-tasting prey, right?

Nephiliet sneaks in one night and steals the butterfly, still in its strange pod. But she quickly learns this is no ordinary butterfly. It calls itself Evangelos, shows concern for her well-being, and enjoys decorating the web. But it drains itself quickly and needs to rest on the web often.

The humans are outraged that they lost their experiment, so they find a way to repel all creatures from the spiderweb. Except when Nephiliet finds out, she sets up a trap for insects to swarm the humans there. She returns home triumphant - Evangelos is hurt and dying.

She weaves her spider silk into a cocoon for it. Evangelos fully recovers, but now Nephiliet is weak. She spun a lot of silk in such a short time. If they continue with this method, both of them will die soon. Nephiliet returns to the greenhouse, desperate to find something to save Evangelos. Instead, she finds a wedding picture. She realizes she's in love with Evangelos, and she wants to spend the rest of her life with it.

Connections

-This is the third wedding event in Shining Nikki. First was the wedding dress contest in Wintermount. Then came the Halloween-themed Dreamy Reflection with the ghost and the witch.

-Evangelos may be the first nonbinary character confirmed in-story, but it's not the first nonbinary character in the game. Most of the gods, like Arionus, Hephaes, and the God of Styling, all go by "They" and are assumed to be either genderless or all-gendered, despite having a gendered voice actor.

-Other characters in Miraland have been subjected to torturous experiments, too: Joy in Perfect Experiment, Ashley in Vol. 2, Ch. 10, and even Nikki in Vol. 1, Ch. 8 when she tries to find Joy in the abandoned lab.

Fun Facts

-The Awakened art for Nephiliet's and Evangelos' Reflections are the same moment, but from different angles. Nephiliet's art shows her draping the veil on both of them and gently cupping Evangelos' face.

-The experiments in the greenhouse were actually illegal and unethical, and it seems Evangelos is the only surviving test subject.