#dargonics

[nemesis-is-my-middle-name]

Just want to add to your mv x er madness that I think the Millicent questline would also be an extremely impactful one for both Arthur and John (if they could even survive to do it). Just the thought of another young girl that is cursed by forces out of her control. Dying. They would attempt to aid her in a heartbeat after talking to Gowry. Then later trying to take control over her life and learn about her mother only to be turned on for some predestined ascension and rebirth. One she did not choose. That would hit pretty hard I think. Then her pulling out the needle in the end...There would be no argument about killing Gowry in the end if they find out his part in that.

GOD, FUCKIN... YEAH...

they'd be so fucking pissed about the worship, i think. i mean, everything about the situation, but it's the fact that she's infested with this thing that is slowly destroying her and causing her so much agony and they want to prolong it. they think it's holy. that hurts them both SO badly in different ways, i think. the second they hear about that they're like oh we NEED to get her out of there.

i can't decide if they would be sympathetic towards or suspicious of gowry. like, on the one hand, the guy seems to be... trapped in his home? maybe? and claims to be her father, or as close to one as she has, and seems to worry after her and, outwardly, be much more motivated towards her safety than any of the rot worshippers do. but. there's just. there's just Something about him.

god, also, his dialogue after millicent visits and leaves the shack. "Please make certain that little Millicent goes unharmed. Like her mother, she has the stuff to be a great warrior, but commands only one arm, and is yet preciously young." how much further can we twist the fucking emotional knife into arthur here. she's so young and small and fragile and has suffered so much and won't you keep her safe? won't you promise? please? please?

and the end of the questline... the overwhelming sense of failure. wanting to honor her choice and not force her onto anyone's path of fucking godhood but torn against the knowledge that the only other path she can choose is death. that she'll die either way, in some capacity. they tried so hard and in the end all they did is give her some different kind of final suffering.

i feel like arthur would ignore the risk of rot, just to hold her as she died. if that's the only thing left he can do.

also they totally cheese o'neil into the rot geysers right there's no way they fight that dude fair and square

[evtraininguniversity]

I have been infected by the brainworms all morning since you posted that chunibyo post. All I can think of is how a plot like that could be so ridiculously ambiguous. Like the twins could 100% be telling the truth or 100% full of shit and the plot would not be any different.

Kid Ingo: Miss Elesa, as we bring you into our fold as our true friend and rival we must inform you of our secret true mission. There is a shadow agency that lurks in our society like a slow acting poison corrupting the ideals of those unsuspecting.

Kid Emmet: Yup! Spreading false-truths. Verrrrry bad. We must stop them.

Ingo: You must help us uncover their nefarious plans!

Emmet: Help us!

Elesa: Uh ummm....

[ Meanwhile the beginnings of a proto- Plasma group is just beginning to build it's backbone but won't be a real threat for many years because that takes a lot of time and resources. ]

The real reason why they never helped during BW/BW2 is because they were so utterly and completely flabbergasted at the fact that the organization they invented as teens turned out to actually be a Real and Dangerous Threat to Unova.

[thelemonsnek]

So apocalypse DS gets passed around. Is that DS the link to Ingo and Emmet returning? Is that their twisted world, is it a mirror to theirs or are they from a completely separate one?

Also I imagine galvantula line in the apocalypse DS is under the control of the Web. So they will encounter and mess with you according to the Web's desires. No longer just found in charge stone cave.

With regards to the ds, nope! Ingo and Emmet get through on their own, using their subway systems :) though the idea of it effecting their universe is an interesting alternate timeline idea 👀

Ingo and Emmet getting back: heyy guys wow you really redecorated huh

Then Jon getting to the battle subway in the game and they're just there like hiii <33

And CURIO had the idea of. So y'know how part of the beholding mark means that the player character looks uncomfortably like you, the player? I'm just gonna copy paste what they wrote

"if its like a gradual shift with jon’s becoming as his strength grows so does his mark on the game, hilbert gradually becomes jon, that's so wildly fucked up from the ingame perspective"

LIKE ?? Tmauau would be so awful :)

And OUGHHHH web!galvantulas is SO fun!!! A guest for mr galvantula..... And then Jon wracking his brain trying to figure out when he encountered a web avatar that could've possibly done this to the game, and is this it? Is this all the web has done? Surely it can't be, right?

[quirkle2]

I saw your tags about Teru possibly being an apprentice to Ingo. Which made me think of Teru in the highlands. Where Melli is. I can't help but think this is a disaster waiting to happen with how similar those two are (at least before Teru had his character arc). Cat fight. Ingo has to literally drag him away by the scruff.

NO THAT'S FUCKIN HILARIOUS they would hate each other they would maul each other daily. ingo is already dealing with enough and now he has some scrappy kid to look after that keeps looking for a fight with the Only other person in this entire mountainous region. melli has a goddamn skuntank. do u know how pissed off teru is at the mere idea of being beaten by a skuntank

[blazichu]

I really love your fics and snippets with special emphasis on how you write Ingo and Emmet. You are very consistent with giving each of them interesting emotional development without diluting it into just sad times for sadness sake. I'm not saying it's bad to write things just to feel a strong emotion, but those emotions are more interesting and compelling to explore when characters get to feel them and come back stronger or even just learn from them in general.

I know I probably touched about this in the fic comments on AO3, but MHIMH was a wonderful example of this. I thoroughly enjoyed the ups and downs of Ingo's learning process where he has to push forward in an unfair situation. In the end he not only survived, he is now stronger and more in tuned with his ideals than ever while still holding his emotions and resolve to go home close to his heart.

I am so excited to see Emmet's side of this story in AGAS. I love the start and how it talks about how, while the pain is still there, he manages as well with life even if it is with a heavy heart. Emmet is also a very strong person and I will enjoy seeing his emotional development through his side of the story. As he learns of his brother's trials and resolve.

It is so rewarding to see that even when they are so far apart they will find strength in the other to move forward.

Oh, thank you! It's really kind of you to go out of the way to share your thoughts, and I'm very happy to hear that you enjoy my writing enough to break it down like this!

I agree that there's absolutely nothing wrong with a fic where bad things happen just because that's the story someone wants to tell-- and frankly, I see shades of that in one of my own pieces-- but in general, I believe that the depth of angst, horror, or what have you will always be enhanced by giving the piece moments of levity and hope. I think that probably contributes a lot to characterizations, too-- allowing them to fall into both extremes.

Admittedly, I do get a bit self conscious about my interpretation of the twins, because there are certain fanon conventions that I've started pulling away from in the past year. I feel like it's more visible with Emmet than Ingo, and that's going to be coming up in AGAS. As to your hopes for seeing him develop as a character, I think that definitely does happen, but I'm not going to go any further into that for now.

Ingo in particular… it's funny. I know you described Emmet as an "unstoppable force" in an earlier comment, and I see Ingo as being very similar, just in a more subtle or gradual sense-- like an inevitability. They have two very different connotations, but at their core, are very alike; it's an interesting interplay and part of what makes the characters fun to work with. Idk, maybe I'm being pretentious again xD

"It is so rewarding to see that even when they are so far apart they will find strength in the other to move forward." Just wanted to repeat that, because I love the way you worded it. I absolutely agree!

[nemesis-is-my-middle-name]

I was thinking about how ironic it is that an astrologer that once studied the stars can no longer see them. Of course, I'm pretty sure it is more of a self visualization when performing magic as so many of the great sorcerers have a more spiritual connection to their discoveries and relation to the primordial current. Makes me think about Arthur's relationship with the stars. Obviously he is proficient, but fancied himself more of a musician at some point. That being said, art is all about inspiration and it wouldn't surprise me if he decided to study alongside his practice because he gained some inspiration from the stars. Music of the stars and all that. The sorceries we see from different conspectuses are so different and reflect on their creators. And, of course I can't help, but think of Thops and his barrier spell. It's the only one like it (other than carrian retaliation, but it is meant to use as a counter attack for other magic users) and is just so like kind, humble Thops to create such a passive protection spell. Not saying that Arthur would necessarily create spells, but that I think relation to the stars is very personal. Also it still makes sense that he can fathom them even when blind.

OH I LOVE THIS SO MUUUUCH! love love the idea of him taking more of an artistic than strictly mathematical tact with his sorcery. i feel like much like with thops' experiments, that's something that would not exactly be looked highly on, "oh, so you're just not smart enough to follow along the proper way, is that it," but could actually be an entirely new field of research in its own right if it were given serious consideration. like yeah the idea that the stars/planets make music or can be expressed as sound is definitely a really common recurring concept/theme, enough that i could have sworn it made it into elden ring somewhere, but i can't find it now so i must have been misremembering lol. welp that just means we get to put it in now ourselves

this also puts me in mind of the description of the starlight spell- "Even during the blackest nights, sojourns underground, or imprisonment in gaol, the stars are never far from a sorcerer's side." like yeah he probably hasn't seen them in ages even before he was blinded, and he's never seen them from the angle they're at in the lands between period, but he doesn't need to! he can still hear them and feel them no matter where he is. and i love the idea of arthur, who has so little faith in. anything really, still having this connection to something celestial that is for him probably not even about divinity or belief. it's just the beauty/harmony of the natural world, which he clearly already finds a lot of comfort in imo.

i would LOVE if he invented his own spell too tho. ooooh i wonder if it would be a sort of. reckoning by star positions type thing? something that he can generally use to guide/orient himself without needing to see or be directed. hmmmmm

[nemesis-is-my-middle-name]

Just some unimportant ponderings for your mv x ev crossover. You mentioned them possibly going after Astel as a false lead and I got caught in a spiral on how tf they get there without the ranni quest. So if we want a fun detour we can say they are looking for mentions of a fallen meteor. Arthur, who has dabbled in Carian magic, makes a logical leap that a place of astrology and knowledge would be a good start. No academy key so that's not an immediate option, but the Carian study hall may have information. Perhaps they do get info there, maybe not. Their proximity to Ainsel river and the fact that it sits down there and is accessed only through the Ranni quest really can be stretched to there being some sort of lead to find in either there or the manor. They head to Ainsel river pursued by runebear. Ants. Void creature throwing rocks. Stumble their way accidentally to lake of rot overlook. Arthur falls down as a plot device. Back in the rot... again. Fight some fucking rot cultists. Fall down in the coffin. "Arthur! There is a huge fucking Void monster! Arthur! It's about to sh-!

PURSUED BY RUNEBEAR WHKJWHWJH also the amount of falling into things arthur does. incredibly correct. falls the whole way down from the overlook and gets another rot bath™ and somehow survives. trips into an open coffin and it turns out to be the lands between's only public transit vehicle. that's arthur for you. or maybe he was just so fucking exhausted from fighting/running from the dragonkin AND the tree spirit AND the cultists that he was just like john, listen, i'm gonna fucking, i'm just gonna take a nap. in the coffin. it looks so comfy. yes i know i can't see it you described it as comfy. well you said it could physically hold me which is basically the same thing. fucking. shut up, i need this. and then they fall off a cliff Again this time in a coffin. or, possibly more believably, the pests in the area knock them out and put them in the coffin for some ritual purpose known only to them. or to say 'get out of our cloister you weren't even invited.' OR they have to hide in the coffin from the pests. idk why i'm so hung up on getting him into the coffin but i guess we have a lot of options now

ok wait more Plot Thoughts about this. the astel in ainsel is already so like, Barely overtly relevant to the ranni questline as it is, that i almost feel like it would make More sense if they were pursuing astel on purpose rather than just running into it completely accidentally while helping a living doll take over her step-mom's civilization. i think caria almost definitely has a connection to the eternal cities, so maybe while they're in the study hall they find references to the ill-starred monster from the void that totally wrecked one of them. and obviously they're like oh shit, a monster that came in on a meteor and destroyed a city?? this has GOTTA be what kayne wanted us to kill. it's a slam dunk!! and then it's. still. the wrong. fucking. meteor monster.

[evtraininguniversity]

An alternate, more chaotic reunion idea for recipe lore au was bouncing around in my head that I had to discuss.

So in the original one it was Emmet going to Sinnoh and deciding to take that step, but I was thinking of a timeline where they let it marinate a bit longer to the point they are even more insistent on being there for each other.

Emmet has friends in his life, but a lot of them probably started as friend-in-laws from Elesa or are majorly work friends. Not saying those are bad or anything, but I know people can get judey when your circle seems stagnant for 15 years (says from experience). And it can get even more frustrating when you say that you have an online friend(s) and they are like "well that's nice sweetie, but we also think that maybe you should go out more and meet some new people outside your life." We have all been there.

In this scenario Emmet goes on regular outings with Elesa and their friends maybe once a month (he probably gets dragged there a few times). The most recent one had one of those conversations and Emmet finally just let it slip that he does, in fact, have friends that they don't even know about mhmm. And someone says "reeeallly? I've seen how busy you are and when you are off you are mostly at home or running errands. Where would you hide this mysterious friend?" And he zips up because that's really none of their business and he doesn't really want to desecrate the sanctity of his relationship this one friend he has gained away from the rest of his life. That is the plan, but a couple drinks in and a bit more prodding he does let it slip he has an online friend. A couple people are super happy for him. Some are a little weird about it. There is a bit of ridicule meant to be fun, but it just makes him feel bad. There is also this air of semi-disbelief from some people and a bit of a condescending tone that insinuates some don't think it counts. Things cool down, but the damage has been done.

[Emmet, of course, is internally fuming about it the next day. He knows it shouldn't let it bother him and regrets letting it slip, but Warden has become such a huge part of his life at this point and is a huge reason he is doing as well as he is this past almost year(?). How dare those people even insinuate that Warden's friendship is any less valid because of how they met.]

Sitrus has an uncharacteristically huge rant about this one day when he speaks to Warden on their now weekly scheduled DM time. The venting helps him get over it somewhat. Warden is his usual understanding self. "I'm so sorry that they were like that about our friendship. I hope you know that you are a very real friend to me. Irreplaceable even!" A lot of soft and mushy stuff like that. Sitrus calms down. Warden then asks "When is your next outing with your friends? What are you planning to do?" Sitrus responds (day) in three and a half weeks. They are going to be (bowling or something) in Castelia (idk if he actually relays the location or not, but for this let's just say he's still a bit out of it from the venting so he doesn't realize). Warden replies with a simple "Oh how fun!" They say their good night/day and log off.

[ What Ingo didn't say was that he ended that conversation the other night just as, if not more, furious than Sitrus had been. He was appalled that people would make his good only friend, Sitrus, feel that way. That they had dared insinuate that what they had wasn't real. It had to be. He hasn't been this angry in a very long time. He knows it may be overreacting, but he can't just let this slide. He wants -no needs to be there for Sitrus. There is this gnawing in his chest that makes him want to go over there right now and be a shield for any doubt that he is cared for (brother instincts ignited), but it's not like he can just sail on over there to the other side of the ocean... right? ]

A couple days later on an off hour there is a message from Warden.

Warden: I know this is during your early work hour so you will not respond now, but I will have no other time to contact you for a while. I have managed to gather enough savings to purchase a spot on the soonest ship from Sinnoh to Castelia. It just so happens that this voyage is set to land just in time for your gathering! What luck! I apologize in advance as the ship I will board does not have internet access so I will, unfortunately, be unavailable during the trip, but I look forward to seeing you and fulfilling my duty to you as your good friend!

[ The ship spot Ingo has purchased is not a typical commercial cruise liner, but a bit more of an under the table deal with a trade ship. He paid for transport and will aid onboard to cover food. He informed his case worker leaving a message that he will be gone following his own lead about his family (a lie. but actually not). He then packed and left. ]

SitrusPieCrustle: is this a joke? are you joking?

Hello?? Warden???

oh dear

What am I going to tell them???

I guess we are doing this.

[Emmets internet friend crashes a party uninvited]

That's all I got in me for now :)

What a cool alternative scenario to explore!! (I got these two asks nearly back to back I thought that was so funny XD)

Been there Emmet about getting judged for having close online friends, woof. Don't worry, you and Warden both know that your friendship is real and true.

But I also love so much how the immediate "Only I can Tease them" sibling instinct rose up within Ingo and had him boarding a ship asap so that he could prove that his friendship with Sitrus is not any lesser than irl ones. (I bet his case worker is pulling their hair out at the impromptu vacation as well but luckily for them they won't have to worry about him after it since, well, he will have found his family by then XD)

Emmet is probably incredibly excited the entire three and a half weeks until Warden arrives and trying to keep it in. For one, it is verrry unexpected but to know that soon he will get to meet the person who has been his closest friend for so long... can anybody fault him for counting down the days to the very minute until the ship arrives?

Oh boy, will everyone at that party be surprised when Warden shows. For more reasons than just the fact that Emmet's online friend decided to crash the hang out.

Thanks so much for sharing this with me!! I will be rotating this scenario all night. ♥