Cutting It Close There, Phainon. . .

eyeshadow

Was there ever another choice?

I bought this stupid mfing light cone just for this

venti outfit re-design

An existence like a bug

So I just realized smth from the new animated short (which I also posted abt because Arles hands becoming less dark when she's with Clervie is so wholesome but so sad) BUT

I think she'll have second thoughts abt making Lyney be the next head of the hearth cuz she'll realize she's becoming like the previous knave or "Mother" who forced the children to compete to become "king"

She even uses the term "King" in the trailer iirc instead of "head of the house of the hearth" or just "head" or "father" or "knave"

And we know she doesn't want to be like the previous head because instead of being a "mother" that acts like she cares but actually doesnt, she calls herself a "strict and unfeeling father" despite the fact that she clearly does care

So maybe she'll realize she's becoming like the previous knave, forcing Lyney to do things he doesn't want to so he'll become the next "king", even if those things don't involve killing other house members

She's clearly empathetic considering she held a funeral for a literal spider, so it's not like she has no feelings or emotions at all

And pierro called her "poor, mad, cursed knave" suggesting she didn't really want to be the next knave—another reason she might empathize with Lyney and have second thoughts

AND their fight also mirrors hers—she fought alone against her "mother" after all her family died, but because of Arle's changes Lyney fights his "father" with the help of his siblings

And hopefully the outcome won't be one of them dying

SCREAMING CRYING THROWING UP WTF

everyone was expecting her fight to be her testing / training the Traveler BUT THIS!?!?!

(spoilers for Lyney / Lynette / Freminet lore, it's found in their character bios / voicelines but doesn't spoil anything in the archon quests)

The siblings standing up to her and her fighting them???!??! This is so insane I—

It definitely looks serious considering that she's gone into her crazy balemoon form, and the fact that Freminet is blocking her very deadly looking strike and also going straight for her head

I know Lyney has a voiceline about having to become the next head of the House of the Hearth, and not wanting us to tell his siblings because they'll worry

Perhaps they find out here and all 3 decide to convince Arle to let Lyney make his own decision about that matter

It also seems that they got assigned a mission they don't want to complete, perhaps involving someone they know or don't want to kill (Freminet saying Lyney is hiding the person Father is looking for, Lynette asking why Arle's backed them into a corner, etc)

Judging by the opening lines of the trailer (some familiar faces not being present, etc) and details in the siblings' voicelines it's clear they're sent on dangerous missions and are always avoiding death by the skin of their teeth, and definitely aren't living normal lives

Also Freminet says that crying is looked down on / considered weak by Arle, so he always bottles up his emotions and lets them out at the literal bottom of the ocean; their childhood was definitely not great, even if Arle saved them from even worse fates

Like they never really experienced a normal childhood so I doubt they realize that the stuff going on in the House of the Hearth isn't anywhere near ideal

The special program also implies that Arle is very strict and the siblings have been affected negatively by this (stuff Daman / Lyney's VA says, etc)

I really hope that Arle sees their logic and backs down so I don't feel entirely terrible about pulling for her / liking her character because if she's willing to kill any of the siblings I'm going to be absolutely furious at her—

We do know she cares about them and gets very angry when they're mistreated or when they want to risk their lives when their are other options (her anger at people in Freminet / Lynette's past and when Lyney wants to risk his life and get a delusion to be able to perform on the same level as Lynette, before he got his vision)

ALSO I'm not going to ramble abt this as much but CYNO'S STORY QUEST!??!?!? From what I gather it seems Sethos was another candidate to receive the god's power (that Cyno has) and feels that he should have gotten it rather than Cyno for some reason?? Can't wait to see what's up with that as well

(also not Cyno and Yoimiya getting second story quests before Venti help—)

trailer link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYZW7wH3pVM&t=58s

the aglaea sunday combo is horrifying i dont even want to know what her stats will look like in sim uni

The more I think about it the more I realize that if this guys had met under different circumstances, they would have gotten along super well.

PENACONY SPOILERS UP TO 2.2 + CHARACTER LORE / STORIES

All 4 of them have lost their entire family, 3 of them have lost their entire race / homeworld (Boothill, Aventurine, Acheron), 2 of them lost these things because they were victims of the IPC (Boothill and Aventurine), and 2 of them have either lost a sibling or are afraid of losing a sibling (Aventurine and Sunday).

More specifically:

As far as I know, Sunday and Robin's parents were killed somehow, and they were taken in by the Family. Then as Sunday said Robin ended up getting shot in the neck due to trying to help others, and I think he got some kind of trauma from that and his fear of losing Robin, his sister and only remaining family, was amplified, leading to his desire to protect "the weak" no matter the cost—because to him, keeping Robin's wings "clipped" and her alive would be less painful than her being gone, and him being alone forever.

Boothill, as I understand it, was taken in by 2 people who found him as a child, and grew up in the countryside of his planet. He later found and adopted a young girl and raised her as her own, until his entire planet was destroyed by the IPC, causing him to set out to get revenge.

Aventurine also lost his sister and his entire home planet due to the IPC + his planet's own problems, and has been forced to work for the IPC ever since. It also seems like he's trying to destroy it from the inside out or at least obtain his own freedom.

As for Acheron, her entire world, as well as her memories of it, were destroyed—she's almost certainly lost people that were important to her, like the other three.

Like honestly if they all sat down and traded backstories I feel like they'd get along super well, they're all victims of circumstance and that's why they experienced so much conflict during the story

Aventurine: My father fell into quicksand and died.

Kaveh:

i love them all dearly

THE LOOK ON PHAINONS FACE IM

You didn’t come down from the sky? — This city is mine anyway.