u/AriIsDone

Finally watching season two of wan and am crying. He's such a cutie. I want to squish his cheeks and bite his face off, in a cuteness aggression way. I can't believe my port mafia boss is that cute. I need me a man like him in life, to keep me going and balance out my usual dramatics (with an occasional mutual indulgence in them, of course). Or maybe I need a plushie. Maybe both. Any mafia doctors out there looking for love? I can draw and spin tales for your amusement /j

Ah. I've missed bsd so much, I'm glad I now have the time to actually watch the episodes!!! All of my favorite chapters are finally getting adapted, I'm so glad. (Like the Rashomon umbrella...Im so happy we have it animated now.) Wan and mlp are my go-tos whenever I feel even a twinge down. There's just something about seeing my favorite characters in comical peril, rather than their usual, serious, dramatic setting.

And ah, they're just all so cute as dogs!!! I'm glad Mori appeared to be a black Labrador, it honestly suits him quite well. I do appreciate that it wasn't a Doberman or a German Shepherd, I feel like those options would've been a tad more predictable. Him being a Labrador is an excellent choice. Those ears 😭💜. Cutest creature in the world for sure, and Elise looked so adorable too, like a fluffy little princess.

Made me wonder what my main oc, Charles Baudelaire, and I would be like as a dog. For my oc I'm thinking an Irish setter. He does have long crimson locks, and his overall tall lanky nature demands a long-legged canine. As for myself, I'd probably be a Papillon, lmao.

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Haven't been posting here for a bit, since my probation period was drawing to a close and I had to lock in. I've attended several company events and socialized ect. Despite my best efforts and being worked to the bone, I still got called into office today (worked from home) and got told that I'll be let go by the end of august, lmao. And then immediately got an offer to become a contractor instead. I guess they really don't like paying worker benefits and dealing with legal issues when it comes to potentially unlawful termination of their employees, huh. Kind of a surprise, since I've only been getting praise for my work, but whatever. I've gained so many cases for my portfolio and a positive recommendation letter, so meh. I shall sail to another sea, free as a bird. It's for the best.

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Hopefully you guys are doing well! At least now I can have some free time to write. Thank gods for that. I'm actually thinking to post oc lore soon on Marcel Proust before Theodore de Banville, since I'm still switching things up for the latter. I want to make his fate a tad bit worse, for the drama of it all. Think lady stoneheart from asoiaf. Of course, that requires a whole other oc and an expansion of O'Connor's character arc, so it will take some time.

Marcel, however, is pretty set in stone, and I do so love my living archive of a man. So I will write on him soon! Now that I don't have to bust my bottom off to keep my employment, I can actually deal with my portfolio, resume and have time to write. And sleep. And cook. There's a silver lining in everything.

Have a good day/morning/evening/night! ✨

This particular illustration from Harukawa is so pretty. It says so much in a single image. How Mori is drenched in near-angelic light, while clearly handling some exceptionally tough negotiations. How nonchalant and seemingly relaxed he appears... while Elise is quietly fuming in the foreground.

Considering how she is an extension of Mori's own self, I like to think that he uses her as an emotion regulation tool. He may be secretly fuming, possibly irritated by his opponent beyond belief, but he cannot allow himself to show it. So he just reroutes his annoyance to Elise, which might help him express these feelings, instead of suppressing them, while not damaging his own image. A little girl being bored of, or mad with how long the negotiations are taking isn't something that the other people would ever take note of.

It does make me wonder just how much life had damaged him, however, considering how Elise had taken on a child-like form after the great war. It could be a reflection of personal internal regression, in a way, a retreat to an inner child self, something that does occur in some cases of trauma. And seeing as he does still feel guilt and aches from his decisions (he just has to hide it well, to survive and not hinder his duties), I wouldn't be surprised if her age is reflective of Mori's own inner self devolving to a child-like state, with his own mind nearly collapsing under all of the pressure that he is under on a nearly daily basis.

Could explain why she appeared to be a bit older in Beast. (Beast spoilers) >!Mori was no longer the boss there, and instead ran an orphanage. Successfully so, at that, with the children thriving under his care. He was the most at peace we'd ever seen him in that role, and Elise is a bit older in her appearance.!< She was also older during the war, when Mori had essentially shut down any emotional side of himself to push through with his attempt to make the government see that there was a need for utilizing ability users in battle.

But when he is at a relative ease, yet not entirely at peace, perhaps just calm enough to allow himself to face the pressure of the world, to feel his emotions, in those times, she is taking a form of a little girl. It could also be that Elise was older during the great war, solely due to the fact that Mori was in the thick of it then, and it was her appearance from before the war as well, and she had only changed it once Mori had been essentially forced onto the streets, as a war criminal and a disgrace. When he had to face his repressed guilt and the emotional downpour of what he had done.

With him having failed to make the government of Japan heed to his pleas right away, I have no doubt that thousands of men wound up dying as the result of said government refusing to deploy ability users to war for far too long. Many of those dead souls might weigh heavily on his conscience (in a 'I haven't done enough to prevent this' kind of way), but also, the lives of those in his regiment were now lost for nothing as well. Along with Yosano's mind being broken. There was a whole lot of carnage, and not much to show for it. Regular men were still thrown into battle against ability users, leaving them with no chance to survive, let alone emerge victorious.

His own mind wasn't entirely faring any better, considering how, in the wake of having to kill the old boss, his first best idea was to take him on in physical combat. While having no men of his own, no proper power or influence, he was still thinking that he could defeat the boss of the port mafia through sheer brute force... one that he did not posess. Just having Yosano's ability as the only thread he had left, the only chance he believed he had to beat the old boss. To me, that attempt to recruit her again seemed manic and desperate. As if he couldn't come up with any other way and was running out of time, with the old boss growing more deranged by the hour, which led to him making that, frankly, panicked and idiotic decision. Thankfully, Fukuzawa set him straight, and Mori ultimately took a deceptive, more subtle approach. A lesson he had kept close to his heart ever since, considering the kind of man he wound up becoming.

So I do wonder, if her being childish isn't just a conscious design, but rather, an external expression of Mori's own inner self and the state that his mind is in, the internal child made almost flesh. One that he soothes and entertains to maintain his own sanity.

Anyway. Hopefully you guys are having a good day. I'm kind of having a shitty one, but that might be my pms talking, hehe 🥀✨🕺🧎‍♂️☠️⚰️👻

I hope I get to keep this job of mine, but we're making another large catalogue, and there's a new third assistant who is being given a test assignment, essentially. And I'm not certain if that's my future replacement, or if its just a temporary contract worker aiding us in our work. Technically, I'm meant to, once again, tie it all together and apply fixes in the end, and said end is supposed to take place in September, way past my job probation period, and we did have another designer assist us last time as well (she came out from maternity leave for a bit, the poor woman) but my hormonal self is too eager to spiral, lmao.

Oh well. I should just relax, drink some lemon water, and play tomodachi. And let the current of life take me wherever it pleases, while doing my best to swim along.

Speaking of Tomodachi, I've finished the shipment container zone, the commercial districts and the long pier, and now need to make the Moby dick, work on the forest and the park. And then, I'll handle the city districts. And I need to add Suribachi city too.

Also. Charles and Mori are having yet another child. Lord have mercy. They're the rabbit family of my island, I can't 😭

So many married couples haven't even had their first yet, but they're on their fourth now. And seeing as Marcel had moved out to kive with Anatole, they now have even more room to fill. Half the island will be related at this rate. KuniKatai!!! HiguGin!! Get busy!!! Where're your children? We're not in the game of thrones, I can't have Targaryen dynasties suddenly occurring on my island 🥀

Hm, might have to make their next child older than Mori, lmao. My other younger ocs are planned for other canon character couples. Imagine them giving birth to a seventy year old man ☠️. Oh well, mii number limitations are to blame for this

Okay, now toodles

He has aged quite well, like a fine vintage. He is so gorgeous. Speaking of, while not vintage at all, I am enjoying a rose on this glorious sunday afternoon. Hope you guys are having a great day as well!

Currently playing with my Tomodachi island and trying to figure out how to make a stack of shipment containersin such a way so that I could place them really close together. I have almost figured it out, lmao, because having random single containers just doesn't vibe with me. I'm thinking I'll turn one into a home and put someone there for the time being, since Dazai had already moved in with Chuuya. Maybe Lovecraft? Then again, I also want to make moby dick and have it docked next to a long rectangular pier. Slowly building up my island with the basics, so that I can get into better detail later on.

Ah, I'm also mulling over Anatole France's ability. I'm currently basing it off of either 'the gods are athirst' or 'the revolt of the angels'. I'm more inclined to base it off of the latter, seeing as the enemy fraction is very devout and hyper theological in their motivations. And having someone as a rebellious figure that goes against the very heavens themselves would be quite fitting. Especially with how he continuously attempts to defy fate throughout his entire life. But since I already have an ability destabiliser on the seven virtues' side, his will need to do with destabilising the order of something other than abilities. Tech? Weaponry? Anything human-made? Or perhaps, laws of the universe? Of physics? Or commands and laws? (Making his targets turn on their allies or disobey their commands, so, crowd control) Ah, I need to ponder over this a tad bit more.

I'm so glad it's finally the weekend, y'all don't even know.

I love Mori's hands. He's so expressive with them, even when he is alone, there is an element of graceful theatre to his person. And that pinky...he is holding a phone the way* a Victorian noble child would hold a teacup. I love him, your honor.

Decided to rewrite some stuff for my Theodore de Banville OC, since I need his passing to be a specific shade of tragedy. Will cook something up, because I didn't quite enjoy the original direction. I need it to be more of a 'you have almost talked him off the edge, and then he dies anyway, to an unforeseen circumstance.' Kind of an ordeal. Perhaps making him unaware of O'Connor's re-writing of his soul would be the best way to achieve this. Have him 'escape' the facility he was in, giving him an illusion of hope and normalcy, dres of the future, while he keeps forgetting what he does when not fully consciously present, losing hours of the day. Keep him utterly unaware of his own actions until the very last moment. Tear him away with exceptional violence.

Originally, I meant for him to be aware of O'Connor using her ability on him (re-writing of one's soul or core 'truth' of a person) and having him purposefully pursue Charles only to orchestrate his own demise and Charles’s rise within the mafia. With the entire Mishima incident being his own doing. But that isn't nearly as dreadful as him being utterly unaware of the strings that he'd been strung up on, up until the very end, perhaps granting him some clarity and an understanding right on his deathbed, which he wouldn't be able to fully articulate. That, would feel more like a gut punch, and would make for a great O'Connor introduction as well, narratively speaking. Switching POV after his death to the seven virtues would then make most sense.

It would make his brotherly reunion with Charles all the more heart-twisting in the aftermath. And seeing as it would be the first major loss in that conflict, even before it outright began, perhaps marking the beginning of it, since Charles would surely aim to pursue vengeance afterwards, it needs to be a shocking event. I will still keep their fight sequence similar to my original vision, the mental image of Charles attempting to flee, not wishing to engage Theo in combat, and initially refusing to defend himself, despite getting utterly massacred, is too good to let go of. But I will re-write a lot of that incident for sure. And I do think that Charles needs to kill him with his ability, adding fuel to the fire of his hatred of it. Plus, his ability kills in a morbidly beautiful way. Bodies turn to ashen wood, blossoming with flowers. To have Theo's body be that twisted in death would make the grieving process that much worse. Not even leaving a proper body to bury, just ashes and flowers to hold onto. How would Charles carry him? In his hands? Would he be able to at all? The bodies grow roots, so he'd be able to only bring some of the ashen bark, perhaps. I need to think. Having his hands stained with ash would be excellent either way, that's the one think I for sure sill be keeping.

Also, still debating on whether or not Mori would be present there. Most likely not. The final confrontation with Mishima he'd probably use as a test for Charles’s capabilities. Theo's demise would be unexpected. And ironically enough, it would become tvery thing that would make Mori take note of the young man.

As for Mishima, Theo would still collaborate with him, but without even knowing it. So his rebellion and ability user supremacist movement will be a whole thing of its own.

Excited to change things up.

Anyway, have a great weekend, guys!

I want to swaddle this man into a fluffy blanket, make him some tea and soup, and kiss him on the forehead as he drifts off to sleep, while I read him a fairytale.

Huh? What's that? Oh, must've been the wind.

I have decided, that to be cringe is to be free, so my oc Charles Baudelaire will, in fact, pursue a relationship with Mori in my seven virtues arc. Although I will make it the slowest of burns imaginable, most likely.

Their relationship will have a turbulent beginning full of mistrust from Mori's end, and an intense growing obsession from Charles’s side, and will most likely not be entirely healthy once it finally kicks off in earnest, long after the dagger incident. If anything, I could see them developing an emotionally codependent relationship that wouldn't yet be an actual romantic entanglement with one another sometime after Marcel Proust's recruitment, which will take place after three major crises. And the actual romance would probably start only after Dante's defeat, closer to the middle of the story arc.

Pairing up an emotionally volatile, adequately disturbing self-hating man with someone like Mori would take a lot of buildup. One yearns to be seen, yet his ability prevents him from it, another refuses to let others see him. This will be a delightful mess to properly plan out and write. But I am a sucker for an older, emotionally constipated boss and his youthful, emotionally volatile protege trope. Nothing beats two lonely souls beginning to orbit one another against their own wills. For Charles would deny his own growing affections to himself for quite some time, especially after the dagger incident. I should probably write out their romance dynamic and weave it into the seven virtues arc storyline more organically.

I do wish to keep Charles quite unsettling and unpredictable throughout their entire liaison. Bringing in flower arrangements that grew from the corpses of mafia's fallen enemies, like a cat that drags dead mice to its owner, is a form of courtship too, after all. So is depicting Mori amidst a sea of decay and death in his sketches. So is staging a slaughter of their rival fractions' leaders at a lavish underground event. So is wrapping Mori's hands around the dagger as Charles drives it through his own heart. But so is keeping Mori's supplies and Elise's sweets in stock. And so is seeking Mori out for treatment of his wounds, despite having many an underground doctor available. And so is resolving Mafia's troubles to relieve Mori from his burdens

Anyway, I'm off to bed. Have a great night, everyone. Will hopefully produce something more coherent later on

Mori looks near angelic here. I do so adore how Hoshikawa draws the man.

50th post, hey 🫡🎆🥂. One step closer to a hundred. I hope to keep going for a whole year at least. Things are bound to get ridiculous at some point.

For instance, I've always wondered which dynamic would suit Mori best in an omegaverse au. On one hand, he could most certainly be a beta. It would suit him, something neutral, something that still provides a challenge (I'd imagine the underground is rife with alphas.), yet keeps him away from the instinctual mess that the others are burdned with.

However, my personal favorite take on him in an omegaverse au, is him being a secret omega. He does restrain himself and his emotions to a ridiculous degree in canon, not even allowing himself to fully process them. He redirects such duties to Elise, regulating himself vicariously through her, and he is the kind of man who prefers to control as much as possible about his person.

I feel like him being a secret omega, hiding his scent, suppressing his instinct, to his own detriment, and only indulging in nurture and nesting through Elise would work perfectly for his character.

Add to that an additional layer of his usual crippling fear of the truth about the old boss's death being discovered, and it's just pure poetry. Not only would he have to hide that rancid truth to maintain stability within the mafia, but he may also need to hide his secondary gender for the same reason as well.

Him keeping others at an arm's length would, too, paint his canon tendencies in brand new hues. Seeing as an omega, part of controlling and hiding his instincts would most certainly rely on him keeping away from all the others to the best of his ability, lest he becomes too complacent, comfortable and attatched.

I'd imagine he probably has an underground contact for high grade scent supressants, and he may use perfume to fake being a beta. He would most likely take something to supress his heats as well, never building nests even within his own home, sacrificing both physical, and mental well-being, all for the sake of keeping the mafia stable, as he already does in many other ways.

That makes for a more compelling take on him in an omegaverse au, at least for me. It aligns quite well with his canon self, and simply adds a little alternative edge to his previously established story and self.

Ah. Have a good night/day/morning/evening, everyone! I'll go devour some chocolate and play tomodachi before going to sleep.

Speaking of Tomodachi, Ace and Kouyou broke up yesterday 🥀. And Akutagawa fell in love with Atsushi. I swear I don't make them interact by force, I just introduce them to everyone once they're made, and that's it. I followed Aku around and he just...got bewitched by Atsushi smelling the roses, I suppose.

But then...not even a minute later, Atsushi fell in love with him as well 😭. It was the butterfly cutscene. I could not make this up. Where are all of my nonsensical ships? The only thing close to it was Ango falling for Albatross (he gave up after two rejections) Why are the most common pairings the ones that keep sticking 😭. Is my game sentient. I have everyone set to be pansexual for the probable chaos, and yet, every couple I've had thus far is every shade of gay, except for one, and it's the most common ships, too, lmao. And the only straight couple I had, had broken up ☠️☠️☠️

On the other hand...maybe OdaKou can happen now that Kouyou is single 👁️‍🗨️👁️‍🗨️. We shall see. Yosano is single also. Curious to see what will happen on my telemiivella.

Anyway, have a good day now for real, I'm off to smoke, drink tea and relax before bed.

Pigtail Mori supremacy.

I really should sleep, but I'm all too happy to check on my miis, and got distracted remaking Anatole France. Still wonder whether or not he'd get a metallic jaw or half of his face, seeing as I wish for him to experience a regression, where he refuses his own humanity to a degree which results in his pursuits of science consuming him, quite literally, via many a cyber upgrade. Removing his human body and replacing it with something of his own make. Oh well. I'll sleep on it a bit.

A bit of a nothingburger post, since I'm sleepy.

It is quite sad, in a way, the only way Mori allows himself to be so relaxed when connecting with others is through Elise. Seeing as he himself is quite guarded.

I do wonder, if Elise wanders off, or if she, say, operates on a patient, while Mori is handling other things, does she possess a degree of independence, or does Mori fully control her even then, seeing what she sees, and hearing what she hears.

I'm thinking she might be a more independent reflection of his subconscious at times. That is to say, she can act on her own will, but since that will is still a reflection of Mori's subconscious anyway, she isn't entirely independent from him regardless. Like whenever he is restless, or trying to focus, she'd start drawing, or whenever he's bored, she'd start playing with his hair. Not entirely because he ordered her to, but because he's bored, and his subconscious simply goes in that direction on its own. And Elise just automatically does something to express the suppressed emotion, and resolves it, without Mori outright telling her to do so. Could explain the moment when she disappears and tells Mori that she'd wait for him on the other side, with that being a simple expression of his subconscious desire for comfort in the face of death, and not entirely something he had willed her to say with purpose.

Anyway, hope you guys have a good evening/night/morning

As you might've guessed, today had not been that great a day. I have a wicked headache, and as such, have been quite in a pissy mood throughout the entire day. And I've been wicked busy and stressed. But this too shall pass. I'll just distract myself with cheese as if I were some kind of anxious rodent

However, look at my equally exhausted pookie. I do find it interesting, how in part two he will most likely have to face almost the exact same challenges that he'd dealt with at the beginning of his rule. I wonder just how much stress he is going to be under this time around. I'd assume way more than back then, considering the overall state of things is much less favorable compared to the past.

Oh, sensei, I fear you're going to gain a few grey hairs now, if you haven't already.

Come to think of it, in my OC story, which would take place approximately two years after the beginning of the main manga, I did grant him with a few silver strands, which he initially dyes. And he does gain a thin scar across his eye during the encounter with Mishima. I'd figured some dynamic changes were inevitable. And wished to, perhaps, bring over the eyepatch detail from Mori's old concept art. Although when it comes to my own interpretation, I'm still wondering whether or not his eye would get seriously damaged. But I digress.

I did finally settle on the condition that would trigger my Oc's Marcel Proust's memory theft ability. Instead of direct eye contact, like in my drafts, I'd wager it would be much more interesting to activate it via engagement in active dialogue. That is to say, if he were to speak to someone, and that someone responded, or if he responded to an inquiry aimed at himself, it would immediately activate his ability. Which isn't entirely controllable by him, seeing as it is inherited (alongside thousands of lifetimes worth of memory, hence the living archive moniker)

It would limit his social avenues, despite the volume of lifetimes inside his head, and make him more reliant on writing, since sign language, too, would count as a dialogue (it is a mode of immediate reactive communication like any other, after all). But writing can be utilized, since*, while still a dialogue, it is not exactly immediate and active. And, the words aren't received from his mouth or hand. But rather, from the paper that he had already finished inking.

So I'd imagine he'd learn to keep himself quiet. Perhaps developing a way of speaking that targets no one, yet speaks to all present. Until Anatole, that is. Since my Anatole France is not exactly human, and as such, Marcel’s ability would not apply to him. Could you imagine, their first encounter, it would be the first proper conversation this man of a thousand minds would've had in centuries. The lustrous joy, crushing relief and the immediate, intense interest. The dam finally breaking on thousands of voices*, held still for far too long.

Anyway.

Hope you guys are having a good evening/night/morning/day

Listen, this screencap is frying me, I had to share it with the universe. Like goddamn, sensei, this seat right here is freely avail- (I was then stabbed a hundred times)

Had an excellent rest today and had a cashier ask for my license when i was buying cigarettes, lmao. I guess I'm not looking nearly as old as I thought I did, at my big 28

Have been thinking about Mori's identity and how I perceive it. I do think he's firmly on the ace spectrum, although in my eyes, he'd most likely be demisexual, and perhaps,demi and biromantic as well. He does strike me as the kind of man that requires a very long time of having known someone before any attraction begins to develop. I'm talking a year minimum. I do think his libido would also be on the lower side, but still present. He is, after all, a man of great restraint on top of it all, and I could see him refusing himself the indulgence of any attraction that he may wind up developing towards anyone.

Regardless, I think as such, he rarely, if ever, gets infatuated with anyone. He could also be sapiosexual to a degree, I'd imagine he'd find those able to keep up with him to be quite intriguing for his person.

Anyway, hope you guys have a good day and that you've rested lots! Tommorow I will post Theo's lore*, hopefully on my break, but who knows, might be a late night post on my end, depends on how everything goes.

Still on a mayoi streak, I did like that Mori was so enthralled with the scenery, that he felt compelled enough to write a poem right then and there. I do share his sentiments, where I grew up, we've had quite a few wild peach trees that blossomed quite beautifully. Perhaps not exactly the same as the cherry blossoms, but still a captivating sight nonetheless.

I've been wondering how Mori would be like in an established relationship. I'd imagine his childish, whiny side would make itself somewhat known at times, perhaps whenever he is exhausted. I could also see him trying his best not to get too attached, although he'd definitely fail miserably at it if he ever does allow himself to indulge in a relationship.

He does strike me as a sentimental man, so I could see his romantic side to be quite touching in how it is expressed. Although he could definitely become quite obsessive, perhaps, or rather, emotionally dependent on someone he'd let near him, considering how he usually isolates himself, preventing himself from forming too close of a bond with anyone, even if he himself still grows attached to his closest confidants, despite his efforts to keep himself detatched. He does rely heavily on Elise for emotional regulation, and he is certainly quite lonely without her, and if he ever wound up with a partner, I could see him becoming emotionally reliant on them as well, although he'd probably never admit it to himself.

He does tend to isolate himself willingly, despite clearly not exactly enjoying the loneliness, and craving a human connection. He is married to his duty, but this self-isolation of his almost feels punishing, in a sense. I wonder what he is punishing himself for. Hope we'll learn more on his backstory, but this could just be as simple as sacrificing himself and his human basic needs for connection for the sake of his duties. Or it could be an attempt to keep himself from hurting too much whenever he'd have to make some hard decisions at the cost of the people closest to him. Perhaps it is a combination of all of the above.

A short post today, for I am sleepy as of this moment.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Still on a Mayoi streak, seeing as the game had shut down its servers today. I've always enjoyed the illustrations and the short, drabble-adjacent snippets in the cards' descriptions. Especially the ones that covered the regular daily life, like this Tanabata card. Some slice of life is good for the soul, once in awhile.

Traditional clothing looks so good on both of them. I love the blues on Mori's yukata and how he tied his hair into a small bun. What he wished for, I wonder

Will miss the art terribly, but at least we have some people trying to get the game running on private servers again. Will take a long while for it to come to fruition, but I will eagerly await any new developments. But at least we have everything archived on the wiki.

Finally, the weekend is here!!! Today had been so strange. I finished working on the e-mail design, and all of a sudden got told that I should be the one to send it out? Through the service that we've been using to build the design... I'm just a designer, not a communications gal, but okay. Then again, I'm not a web designer either, and they got me dealing with html, so lol and lmao. Adding that to my resume as 'I have experience with managing communications for a sizeable company'

Ah, I'm so excited to sleep!!! It's been so long since I've had a moment to relax, now I can rest, write and revisit tomodachi life. I gotta finish the basic layout of my island, with default decor at first, but laying the groundwork for future custom buildings. Made the coastline somewhat resemble Yokohama’s, but since it's a small island, i had to borrow other random coasts of the city to make it look more natural, instead of making it square

I'm thinking Mori, Charles Baudelaire, their two children, Marcel Proust and Renee Vivien, and Elise will all live in the pm hq building in the future. I'll put Skk and their kids, Theo de Banville and Kobo Abe into one of the pm towers as well. HiguGin will be in the third, and RimLaine, with their offspring, Anatole France and Franz Kafka, will occupy the fourth. Who will be our fifth mafia pairing to occupy the final tower, I wonder. I had KouyouAce going, but they were not getting along at all the last time I've played.

Have a great weekend, everyone! I will hopefully post about my oc, Theodore de Banville, soon, now that I have free time to finish writing his life story synopsis. 🐺

&#x200B;

I got the day wrong twice in title. kill me now, I'm so tired.

Going to be on a small mayoi streak, since the game had announced EOS 🥀. I'm quite upset, seeing as I've only recently began maining Mori and started collecting his cards, but oh well. At least we have the illustrations and animations up on the wiki.

This attire of his has me in a chokehold. I feel like a Victorian boy gazing upon his exposed forearms. And Elise's dress is so very cute in this too, this shade of green suits her so well.

When it comes to Elise, I wonder, since abilities may begin to gain a persona due to extensive overuse, is there a chance that Elise may gain a persona sometime in the distant future. Mori tends to keep her around a lot to both sustain his sanity, and as a security measure (I believe most people in the mafia are unaware that Elise is Mori's ability, and most wouldn't suspect a little girl to be a threat to watch out for, so she is quite useful as a bodyguard). So if he winds up overusing his skill, for literal decades at that, there could be a potential for it to develop a persona eventually. Much to think about. And I wonder, is that development of a persona gradual, or is it immediate. Would he even notice if its gradual. Is it already happening. Had it already happened? I wonder.

Anyway, working after work again today, that portal for E-mail stuff has its own letter builder, and I am suffering! I've never dealt with web design before, and now have to adapt my desktop version to mobile and its so shit! Someone save me, because I'm about to start tweaking. And this portal is so terrible with how you can't even move the pngs around freely, they're just stuck in container blocks, and to move thsm you have to use sliders, can't do it with a mouse. Who designed this. I need to talk

I'm starting to think my bosses have no clue how much work goes into all of this, lmao. Oh well.

Hope you have a great day, guys!

This has got to be my favorite card of his. Everyone looks positively marvelous here, and the purple chrysanthemum is a nice touch. A regal flower for a regal man. I suppose the mafia indulges in lavish events once in awhile. But that ahoge is haunting me. It just refuses to settle down. I'd imagine no amount of hair gel can keep it in place.

It will probably be a long time until he can relish in his success again, considering what had transpired in the main story. But I am looking forward to seeing how a mafia recovers from losing its influence. This is going to be quite a challenge to Mori's rule. Hope we'll get to see more of him in part two!

Gotta work a bit overtime today (I know, I know, Ango kinnie coming through, do not scold me). It feels like this particular job is uh, always overloaded with work. Good for me, I suppose, that portfolio will now be stacked up something fierce. And I get to learn new skills, so hey. It ain't all that bad.

Shorter post today, since Im tired with a capital t, but I hope y'all have a great day!

Wah, I fell asleep after work and didn't post. Took a little nap, I guess I was exhausted 🥀

Regardless, I do wish to learn more about BSD Mori's backstory. Did he also live and study in Germany for a time, like his irl counterpart? And if so, can he speak German then. Does he also know a bit of french, thanks to Rimbaud and Verlaine's presence? What kind of a family did he fair from? Had they turned away from him after the great war, or had he cut off contact himself? Are they even alive? Did he have siblings or was he an only child? So many questions. I doubt we'll ever get an answer to all of them, but it is fun to ponder.

Personally, I feel like he may have come from a long line of doctors. Perhaps an only child, with his imaginary friend keeping him company. I wouldn't be surprised if he had kept Elise a secret throughout most of his life, from everyone, including his family. I'd imagine he may have come from a strict household, the kind in which children are rather seen, than heard. I doubt he had a great many examples of nurturing in his life.

Maybe his parents passed during the great war, and he had nowhere to go to in its aftermath, especially after his reputation had been tarnished.

Anyway, have a great evening/day/night, everyone. Theodore de Banville's lore is still cooking, seeing as my work had been a little overwhelming as of late, since all of us are playing catch-up now that the catalogue business is over. I hope it will quiet down eventually, but for now, I need to focus on resting my brain after work to stay functional, hah. Charles’s short version of his lore was apparently 22 pages long, lmao. And I didn't even cover the second act of the story he's in. Theo's will be a bit shorter, since he passed in the first act of my seven virtues arc, but still, I'd like to do him justice and not rush it. I think I'll have him change his mind about the whole dying by Charles’s hand thing last second, and then have O'Connor's rewriting of his soul thing take over him for maximum emotional carnage. But I'm still thinking about this.

I do also wish to self-indulge in oc x canon ramblings, but for now, I'll keep that to myself. I do enjoy how tropey the whole Charles and Mori thing is. A young dashing protege and his older, jaded boss, an artist and his muse, a perpetual patient and his doctor. The secret dating aspect as well. The turbulent slow-burn of it all, the developed mutual codependency. Perhaps I'll write more on their overall relationship development and dynamic some other time.

I'd like to think that Elise was particularly fond of braiding his hair and drawing with him from early on, I could see Mori indulging in such an emotional connection vicariously through her, long before he himself would partake in Charles’s company. He would also be quite disturbed by this development, I'd wager. Charles’s ability is very useful for excusing any probable OOC moments, seeing as his ability enhances already existing feelings and emotions of those around him, including affection. And suspicion. Which may make people behave towards him in ways they otherwise wouldn't have. As you can imagine, Mori in particular wouldn't exactly appreciate losing control over his own emotions. He doubts himself enough as it is.

And then there's Verlaine. Seeing a ghost of his late defacto lover in his new charge's face must've been quite an experience for him.

You know what, let me stop myself there, before I accidentally throw up twenty pages again. 🥀

Gotta go play hozy to unwind, and devour a whole bar of chocolate with some jasmine tea before trying to go back to sleep. And I should check on my miis, I haven't played in a week and a half, wonder how they're doing

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Boo.

No, but I love when Hoshikawa draws our guys in a creepy manner. I'd love to see a horror manga illustrated by them. I should probably look into it and check if they've done anything like this. My man looks hollow, petrified and tense, but also terrifying. Gotta love it.

Wah, today is a slower working day, which I'm grateful for. So i will most likely write on Theodore de Banville next, and tomorrow will post his lore on a moripost.

Have a great day, y'all, Imma go eat while my break is still on

I do so love the plague doctor mask on him. I wish we got even more creepy artwork such as this. Love the contrast between modernity and the old times in this image. (And of course, his rebellious overgrown ahoge)

It is finally time to cover Charles Baudelaire, an oc of mine that had started my journey in developing the seven virtues arc. Truth be told, initially I wished to produce a solid foundation for his backstory, and had gotten carried away. I do essentially ship him with Mori, but when it comes to the actual seven virtues story arc, I am not yet certain as to whether or not I will develop such a relationship between them. I am inclined to indulge, but we shall see.

As for Charles, the seven virtues arc begins two years after the start of the main BSD story. I am operating on the assumption that part one had transpired over the course of a single year, while part two would likely cover another. This can be adjusted quite easily if necessary, especially since AUs are an actual thing within BSD's universe.

He is twenty-five years old at the time of his arrival to Yokohama and escape from Milton's facility. A weeping willow of a man, carrying a certain melancholic air about his person, that is, of course, until one hears him speak. He is a man with a sharp, judgemental gaze, and a sharper tongue, that remains unsheathed at all times.

He carries himself with a practiced confidence and is quite graceful in his expressions. He is, however, exceptionally calculated in how he strives to present himself to any particular person, and as such, leaves behind quite varying impressions of himself. He becomes whatever he thinks is most beneficial to his situation, and uses this theatre in tandem with his ability, to achieve the most desirable outcome. A man of velvet and silk, moving through rooms with a grace of someone who had learned to make himself beautiful for survival.

This continuous performance and his insecurity surrounding his ability and its impact on his relationships with others does prevent him from forming long-term attachments. Since he continuously doubts the sincerity and purity of any entanglements of his, he finds it easier to set up a carefully orchestrated vision of himself to the people around him, so he could, at the very least, have some kind of control over his otherwise uncontrollable ability.

But beneath that theater lies something hollow. Something hungry. Something that has been broken so many times, that it has learned to find beauty in the breaking. It is there in his art, in the sketches that capture the decay and rot, the slow death of things. It is there in his fascination with the flowers that bloom from corpses, with beauty that rises from destruction. His interest in death isn't inherently perverse, he is intrigued by it, not out of a morbid fixation, but because it's something true. He sees the rot and decay that await anything beautiful, and finds an odd comfort in it, a validation of his own belief that nothing lasts, nothing is permanent.

He is emotionally volatile, almost painfully stubborn and far too independent. A creature driven mainly by his feelings in most of his pursuits, he is quite a sensitive fellow, easy to wound or offend, and just as easy to delight. His mood shifts with the moon, and he is as prone to catastrophizing or going blank with his emotions as he is prone to an almost manic, near-delusional joy. As such, he is at times seen as erratic or highly unpredictable, and difficult to read.

He values high intelligence and finds people with a strong passion or sense of purpose fascinating. Part of the reason as to why he harbors complicated feelings about his upbringing within Milton's facility. He essentially grew to admire the dedication to the old man's theological pursuits, and in part, understood the necessity of his methods. However, seeing as he wished for independence, he sought to escape it, but ultimately, harbored no ill will for Milton, at least not until much later. Not until his close friend's, Theo's, death.

Many of his ideas are unorthodox, or high-risk, but he somehow manages to see them all through, no matter how ridiculous or near-suicidal his plans sound. He has little care for authority, and is used to finding loopholes in the orders that he is given, that allow him to resolve anything he is tasked with with as much flair as possible. Technically operating perfectly under the jurisdiction imposed upon him, while simultaneously approaching things in his own way. He is extremely effective, however, and as such, his quirks are usually overlooked. With one singular exception.

He craves to be known for who he is at his core, to be seen and understood, and accepted, valued for his person, the ink scripture and the stains alike. He is terrified of the future prospects of never-ending loneliness that had followed him throughout most of his life. He had only ever developed one close relationship, with Theodore de Banville, and had latched onto it with a desperation of a drowning man, even if he doubted its sincerity. He seeks validation and care, wishes to be valued for himself, and not just the things he does.

But his insecurity, tied to the nature of his ability, tends to make him suspicious of the validity of other's feelings towards him, which makes it difficult for him to form and maintain any relationships, platonic or otherwise.

He stands at an impressive two meters in height, his build is birch-lean, and he moves with a ghostly, yet fluid grace. His skin is sickly pale enough to match his netherwordly exterior. His eyes are pitch black, a hollow, intense gaze, unnerving in their contrast to his overall bubbly and dramatic demeanor. His hair is a deep, rich red, a river of crimson that reaches his waist, his most valued trait that he cherishes, in part, due to Theo's appreciation of it.

He tends to adorn himself in simple, yet dramatic silhouettes, his initial signature attire involved a billowing poet sleeved blouse, a dark underbust corset, which cinched his waist to a ridiculous degree, a pair of dark pants mostly covered by thigh high boots, his daggers sheathed on his left thigh. A preferred choice of weapon, seeing as it gets him up close and personal in battle.

He wears his mafia coat off the shoulder, or draped over them, never quite wearing it as is usually proper, more of a fashion statement that he plays with, rather than a testament to his allegiance. A flirtation with the weight of death that it carries.

His ability, Fleur du Mal, has two primary components to itself. An artificially made ability, that was initially based on his own, simple botanical manipulation, which had been turned into something else entirely.

The passive component of it is uncontrollable, always active, enhancing the strength of any feeling people experience in his vicinity. If someone were mildly annoyed moments prior, once they approach him, that annoyance blossoms into rage. A small suspicion turns into paranoia. A mild attraction develops into intense lust.

As such, the first impressions have a large impact on how his relationships develop with others. In negotiations, he at times leans into a role of a charming rogue prince, while at other times, he presents himself as something threatening and hollow, the initial feelings of either fascination or fear that people experience upon speaking with him becoming much stronger, thanks to his ability. He used this to his advantage constantly, making interactions more predictable. He had always been either reviled or adored, and rarely had he ever met someone who could do something in-between.

This aspect of his ability Charles finds most devastating to his person, since no matter how hard he may try, once someone felt a certain way about him, his ability intensified these feelings, making it near impossible to change other's opinion later on. It also makes him doubt the sincerity of other people's feelings towards him, since some part of it would always be a result of his ability, and not necessarily something that would've otherwise naturally developed, had he not possessed it.

The active aspect of his ability also revolves around a similar mechanism, except that part, he can at the very least control. Once his target experiences a strong emotion, negative or otherwise, his ability latched onto it, and created a personal heaven or hell, intensifying said emotion via an enforced hallucinatory trance, until the target ultimately dies from either a stroke, heart attack or plain shock.

Upon their death, the target's body turns to ashen wood, and flowers begin to bloom from their withered corpse. Charles gets to see those personal heavens and hells, almost sharing the feelings with his targets, which does take a toll on him. So he uses his ability rarely, preferring physical combat, mostly woth daggers, as he prefers to get up close and personal. A twisted part of himself is fascinated with seeing life draining out of his target's eyes, and he had painted such a scene many times over.

His ability does require for him to be close to his targets, and is only attaching itself to intensely strong emotions. The passive side he has no control over, and he can only capture up to three people at a time within his active skill.

Charles Baudelaire was taken into Milton's facility at age three, four years before Milton had joined Chesterton and founded the seven virtues. Milton's original facility essentially acted as an orphanage for ability users. On the surface, it seemed decent enough. The children were cared for, provided with entertainment and education. Some of the children that had aged out of the facility never left it, becoming employees of the facility. As such, no one exactly suspected that Milton had been conducting experiments in his pursuit of creation of artificial abilities. He studied them, seeking the answers to their nature, their origin, in hopes to replicate what he saw as a gift from god.

Charles was the first successful experiment of his. The young boy had already possessed an ability of his own, but it served as a mere base for an artificial creation of Milton's own making. Unfortunately, controlling the exact manifestation of an artificial ability had proven to be near impossible, and in order to prevent any probable disasters that were sure to come out of playing God, Charles had been kept in isolation. He was still catered to, at least at first, allowed to venture out to socialize before the experiments approached their final stages, but he had always struggled socially, preferring to keep to himself, and as such, his sudden disappearance from communal events went largely unnoticed.

His original ability revolved around simple botanical manipulations, stimulating plants growth, an innocent enough of an ordeal. The artificial construct that got attached to it had overwritten this original ability, taking its place, and modified it into something else entirely. But none of Milton's men knew exactly what they had created, and as such, they had observed the young boy, exposing him to various stimuli, conducting numerous tests in order to determine just what exactly they had created.

Charles killed someone for the first time at age four.

It was an accident. A researcher, a kind older woman, who had cared for him, who had brought him toys and read him stories and treated him like a human being, had tried to take him in for his lab work. He had been upset, crying, hysterical. His ability had activated, the passive effect amplifying her emotions, and then the active effect had triggered.

She had been dragged through her personal hell. And he had watched. He watched as she relived her worst memories, her deepest fears, her most private regrets. He had watched her scream and beg and break. And he had not been able to stop it. When it was over, she was dead. Flowers bloomed from her flesh, beautiful and terrible, a mockery of the life that had been extinguished.

Charles didn't quite understand what had happened. He only knew that the kind woman was gone, and that he had done something terrible. He was too young to process the guilt, but the memory stayed with him. He learned to associate death with beauty, violence with art. He understood that his ability was a weapon, a curse, a thing that could destroy the people he loved. And he learned to hate himself for it.

For a time, he had been completely isolated. Researchers were not allowed to approach him, especially after a few others had killed themselves after spending too much time in his vicinity, their own guilt over what they were doing overwhelming them, carried back home, and festering, even in private. He received food and drink and was cleaned while sedated, just to protect whoever had to take care of him on that particular day. He surely wasn't allowed back to join the other children at the facility, his ability deemed too volatile and unpredictable.

Theodore, a boy five years older than he, had been close to Milton, aspiring to follow in his footsteps. He had always wondered about a particular lab that had no proper label, yet always had people coming and going. And, unlike most other residents, he had noticed the minute disappearances. So naturally, he was curious. He crawled through the vents, once he made sure the lab was empty, and stumbled upon Charles, still dazed, a familiar face that he had once attempted to encourage to play with other kids his age, mere months ago. He should've left, perhaps, but something within him urged him to stay. The sight suddenly too pitiful, and the subtle need to fix it growing more intense.

So he had stayed. He'd spoken to the boy once he awakened, and began to sneak in from time to time.

They got caught, of course. However, instead of punishment, Theodore had been assigned as Charles’s personal ward instead. The two seemed to be getting along, and Charles clung to Theo like a duckling does to its mother.

With time, Charles had gained better control over his active skill, and his passive ability wasn't exactly as dangerous as it was initially assumed. The young boy simply steered clear of anyone in a foul state of mind, and his skill had proven to be quite useful under the right circumstances.

His first purposeful kill took place at age sixteen. He was used for negotiations and intel gathering by Milton, retrieving any and all information about abilities and their origin that the old man could find. One such negotiation over an ancient theological text had gone awry, and Charles used his ability to defend Theo, and himself, for the first time.

However, instead of disgust or horror that he expected to feel, he felt...nothing but fascination. He had watched the flowers bloom from the corpse and found himself captivated. He studied the delicate petals that rose from destruction, admired the artistry of death, the beauty that could be born from violence.

And then he got sick. He vomited, trembling, horrified by his own reaction. He realized that something was wrong with him.He had killed someone, and he found it beautiful. He couldn't quite look at his own reflection for several weeks in the aftermath.

With Theo's reassurance, he had slowly grown to blame himself less for it. He channeled that fascination into his art, finding the practice medative in a sense, making it less real for himself as he had put what he had witnessed to paper. A part of him still perceived himself as something inherently tainted, and as such, he strived to excel at everything he did, in an attempt to redeem himself in some capacity.

He became quite codependent with Theo, the two being essentially inseparable, and as he grew older, he became less resentful of Milton, and the facility that housed him.

Theo, however, wished for him to have a different life. As such, he had spent years planning their escape, but unfortunately, only one of them made it out during it. Leaving Theo behind, in the rubble of the western wing of the facility, while Charles was sent off in a shipment container, lost at sea.

Charles awakened on a shore, spending a full week in the vicinity, waiting for Theo's return. And once it became clear that he wasn't going to show, he ran. One lead that Theo had given him, spoke of some other experiment subjects that seemed to find a safe harbor in Yokohama. So that's exactly where he went, hoping that of Theo were alive, they could find each other there, in the future.

He spent some time on the streets, gathering intel, learning the language, understanding the scope of that place and how it functioned. It didn't take him long to realize that the two main organizations that housed ability users were the ADA and the Port Mafia, but he wasn't yet sure which of them exactly housed said experiments. He needed their attention either way, and thus, began his vigilante justice quest.

He pursued a series of deaths that seemed disconnected upon the first glance, but he could almost feel the lingering intensity of emotions surrounding their corpses, as he looked on the investigation from the sidelines, acting as if he were simply a morbidly curious tourist. He checked the scene of the crimes after the bodies were removed, and no one was around to prevent him from walking past all the tape, and came to a conclusion that the deaths must've been somehow connected, perhaps the victims were murdered by an ability. He visited ADA with said hypotheses, but it wasn't entirely heeded to, and the procedure involved far too much red tape for his liking.

His search led him to an abandoned opera house, which was located within port mafia's territory. The placd itself felt quite heavy, seemed recently used, but he couldn't connect it to a specific person. Seeing as it was within the ports territory, he had figured that the mafia must've had something in their archives about this place, it's current owners and history. So, he did what any reckless wannabe vigilante would do, especially since he had already decided that ADA was not a place for him anyway, leaving him with only one other option.

He had broken into the port mafia's archives, and was caught red-handed by Verlaine, who had dragged him straight to Mori's office

Charles had explained his reasoning behind the break-in,mentioned that those murders had already taken lived of a few key mafia operatives, and that he simply sought to end it, and take that problem out of their hands. He claimed he was looking to join, and as such, aimed to present himself with something useful, other than just his self. He presented his current theory, explained how some of it was quite similar to his own ability and its effects, and how he believed he knew exactly who was responsible. The opera house possessed no current owner, but the previous one surely had an ability that was rumored to drive people to their deaths, upon hearing the music that the previous owner had played. Hence why it had been shut down, after a particular mass casualty event, which ended in a murder suicide of sorts.

Charles claimed the previous owner of that property had most likely ordered his ability to stick around his corpse, which was still located within the opera house, nothing more now than mummified remains, and seeing as his death was quite recent, and most of the people he had killed were criminals, the place hadn't exactly been cleaned, standing abandoned for quite some time. He believed the ability still clung to the now decaying remains, or that perhaps, it may have possessed a conscience at this point, sticking to the opera house, and cursing anyone who was unfortunate enough to pass by and overhear its song.

He proposed to check that theory himself and put an end to it in exchange for his life and a place within the port mafia. Mori had accepted. They had indeed been losing men sporadically to seemingly suicide or freak accidents. And to have a potentially dangerous rogue ability on their own turf was less than ideal, after all. The young man was not yet affiliated, and if anything were to happen to him, it wouldn't exactly be their concern. Besides, sneaking into their archives required some skill. And the young man possessed an ability of his own, as he claimed. He could be a useful asset.

Charles had resolved that situation himself. Seeing as the only requirement of that now sentient ability derived lifeform was to use music as a conduit for its power, rendering the musical instruments unplayable was his primary focus in battle. Instead of outright killing them, he had, in fact, offered them a place within the port mafia, despite not yet being its member, assuring them that they could keep the opera house, so long as they had only played their songs at boss's will.

The lifeform had agreed, revealing its name as Ujō Noguchi.

As such, Charles had returned, alive, having resolved the crisis, and bringing in a potentially useful recruit. Of course, he himself had been taken in, albeit having to suffer through a month of low-level labour as a punishment for his earlier transgression, alongside Ujō. Charles was essentially assigned to train under Verlaine, seeing as the two shared the country of origin, had some similarities in their backgrounds, and simply because Verlaine was the one who discovered him.

His ability, however, was always a point of concern. Verlaine had seen shadows of Rimbaud within him, and the two became close over the course of Charles’s first half a year within the mafia.

Finding information on Charles proved to be difficult. But the young man had provided whatever information he knew about Milton and his facility. Unaware that it was a part of a larger organization. Of course, he was regarded with suspicion in the beginning. His ability was useful in negotiations, but it also posed a risk. While according to Charles, his ability only enhances those feelings, which were already present, there was no guarantee that he may have been lying about it, and that his ability allowed him to conjure new emotions instead.

Mori had witnessed the aftermath of his active ability during a conflict with one of the lesser gangs. Charles brought in a head of the leader, as if he were a cat bringing a dead mouse to its owner as a gift. While he seemed to have meant it as a gift and proof of his competence, it was also quite threatening. But Mori took note.

After Mishima's rebellion, Theo had shown up in the city. Naturally, Charles had tracked him down, and the two cooperated while working together on the Mishimia crisis. Unfortunately, Theo had been compromised by the virtue of O'Connor's ability, and sought to pursue death by Charles’s hands, before the rewritten truth of his being forced him to take Charles’s life or to drag him back to the very prison they were once raised in. He had visited both due to O'Connor's ability, and because he wished to make sure that Charles was indeed doing well enough for himself outside Milton's facility.

And he was. Or so it seemed. Theo cooperated with Mishima in secret, hoping to drive himself and Charles to a point where they would be alone, and Charles would be forced to kill him, lest he wished half of Yokohama went up in flames. Explosives that Mishima had set up around the city were ready to go off. The map highlighting their location in Theo's possession. He had taken care of Mishima himself, leading Charles along under a guise of them pursuing the mad man, only to wind up stuck together, alone, inside a glass factory.

Charles had suspected this, of course.

But he didn't quite understand as to why this was occurring. Unfortunately, O'Connor's ability had an irreversible effect. And as such, Theo saw no way out other than death. And, because he was selfish, he wished to die by his hands. Ensuring Charles would get credit for taking down Mishima and Theo, improving his standing in the mafia. After all, to kill one's brother for the sake of the organization would prove that Charles not only understood the ruthless calculus, but also enacted it. That he was loyal to his new home, and was ready to sacrifice anything for it, even if it hurt him. Mori would certainly take note of that.

Theo left Charles with a cut to his throat, and the two had barely fought in the beginning. Charles attempted to flee, and refused to defend himself against the blows, making Theo essentially threaten to set off the explosives if he hadn't finally fought back against him. To prove he wasn't bluffing, he set off a few nearby, and Charles had no choice but to drive his blade through Theo's heart.

He returned with Theo's body in his arms, leaving him at the morgue that wasn't mafia-affiliated, seeing as traitors usually received less than a burial. Instead of stitching himself up, he came straight to Mori's office to report on what had transpired, and the older man had to fix up his throat, while bearing witness to the sheer emotional devastation that Theo's murder had brought upon him. Just as Theo had predicted, Mori had taken note of this. And Charles became a more frequent visitor to his office after that incident. He had, in fact, presented Charles with a dagger to replace the one he had driven through Theo's heart, which Charles had gladly accepted.

The two had spent some time discussing both art and strategy, and Charles’s company had slowly grown to become part of Mori's routine. Mori was essentially testing the truth of his ability, by getting to see for himself how his own emotions have changed, depending on their proximity. He had also noted his effectiveness in securing allies, recruiting useful assets. Charles did tell him of what Theo had shared with him before his passing, of course, revealing that Milton's facility was merely a part of something bigger.

But since they weren't yet on Yokohama’s soil, they were not of immediate concern. Still, Mori had begun gathering whatever intel he could find about this organization. When he asked whether Charles would seek to leave the mafia, the young man refused. He seemed to blame Milton and O'Connor for Theo's demise, and aimed to ensure his late friend's death did not go to waste. He had also claimed that he understood why Mori did what he had done in the past now, more than anyone, and that he, in turn, was the only person that understood what Charles had gone through. That kept Mori's interest for awhile longer.

Charles persisted with small acts of care, little, yet useful things, like restocking Mori's wine and Elise's sweets, ensuring the office remained spotless, the air fresh. He held the doors for the boss, indulged Elise's requests to play with his hair, provided unorthodox solutions to the mundane crises that Mori would bring up at times, and what was worse, seemed to take note of the little things Mori had mentioned in passing. He knew how the boss liked his coffee, what he ordered from the local shops, what plays he wished to attend, and what boutiques he frequented for Elise. He left food and drink on Mori's table after particularly lengthy meetings, tickets to plays Mori missed out on buying would emerge of his desk.

The young man had taken on a habit of bringing flower arrangements to the office, calling it dreadfully dull, lifeless, and 'frankly, an abomination against one's good spirits'. The flowers, of course, were quite morbid in their origin. He had also taken to sketching the boss quite often, and had seemingly become attached to him, valuing his praise and attention higher than that of others. He was still close with Verlaine, but now spent more of his time with Mori, whenever able.

He had noticed a ghost in their systems after the Mishima crisis. A fallen operative continued to execute his assignments, and, according to Mori, was previously employed by the french government, tasked with eradicating any living evidence to the ability weapon experiments. Unfortunately, the man failed to comply, and took the result of said experiment along with him as he fled to Yokohama, where he was intercepted by the mafia, and offered employment and cover-up in exchange for intel.

Charles had approached the living ghost, who called himself Anatole France, and the young man had seemingly spent most of his life stuck indoors, in fear of being discovered. Assuring that he would take over ensuring his safety, and having informed the young man of his adoptive father's death, Charles had officially recruited the young tech prodigy into the mafia, taking him under his wing.

He had always been on the lookout for any intel coming in from the neighbouring cities, preferring to be aware of any issues to come, and in part, out of boredom. A peculiar series of art auction murders had caught his eye. Survivors seemed to suffer from immense mental decline, confusion of identity, unaware of what time and space they were in. Those that were killed seemingly had nothing in common other than their attendance to the auctions, and the murders seemed to be moving in Yokohama’s direction.

Convinced that something would most definitely transpire on an upcoming event at Yokohama’s museum of art, Charles looked into it further, tracking the murders down to their origin in Osaka, at Jo's auction house. A member of the Abe family had been murdered, the presumably last surviving member. The entire family had been wiped out upon the resurfacing of their connections to a local cult they had been running, and some had theorised that the murders were tracking down anyone who held any connection to said cult all across Japan, most likely conducted by a vengeful family member of one of the cultists that had recently passed in an act of ritualistic suicide.

The theory had merit, and had given Charles a lead, but strangely enough, none of the recently departed had any ties to that cult. The suspect in question, however, was without a doubt, missing Franz Kafka, a young man who, along with his sister, had been adopted into a wealthy family decades ago. His sister had recently passed, and Franz had gone missing. The timing lined up, the motive was clear as day. However, it seemed like he was looking for someone still. Someone he didn't know. Otherwise, the recent murders made little sense. They seemed like estimated guesses, rather than pointed strikes.

Upon further research, Charles, along with Ujō and Anatole, had discovered that the Abe family had a son, who had been disowned and erased from most family records, Kobo Abe. He used to be close to his older brother, who had been murdered back in Osaka. And Kobo seemed to have been in attendance that evening, albeit under a different name. That explained the ruinous state of any art auction the two had attended. It seemed to be an ouroborous chase. A man seeking vengeance for his sister, pursuing someone whose face he did not know, being chased by that very man who sought to avenge his brother.

Judging from all available records, Kobo wasn't in the know about the cult operation, seeing as it picked up long after he had been cut off.from his family. Perhaps his brother approached him for safety, after the rest of their lineage had been murdered, only to die himself that very same evening. Somehow, Kafka hadn't seen Kobo that day. And it looked like Kobo hasn't seen Kafka either. But they both had clearly used their abilities, most likely involving time loops and pocket space logic, if the survivor accounts were to be believed, and it may have produced a singularity.

The level of reality torsion left in the carnage was far too great for it to be the result of a regular ability. The sporadic nature of those loops causing survivors to suffer from bleeding memory and a lost sense of time and space. Which Charles had seen for himself in person, at the most recent antique event in Kamakura.

So the two potentially powerful ability users were chasing after one another, wrapped in a pointless vengeance spiral, not even knowing exactly who they were pursuing. A perfect disaster.

Having presented what he had gathered to Mori, Charles requested to attend the auction himself, intending of recruiting either both of those ability users, or at the very least, one of them. Franz supplied a cloud server at the port mafia HQ, that would ping Charles at 19:00, the start of the auction, sending in any messages that he had previously uploaded to the server. That way, he could keep track on his progress and keep his memory, despite being sent back in time. Another assumption of his was more dangerous, since it was purely theoretical.

Since the abilities involved had a pocket dimension component, he alleged that perhaps, his own ability, which had a similar effect, would come in conflict with the two already engaged abilities, resulting in a triple singularity, giving him, perhaps, more control over the chaotic scene. He aimed to identify Kafka and Kobo first, then keep the loops running for as long as possible, both to exhaust the two ability users, and to ensure the fabric of time and space tore enough to cause the aforementioned bleeding memory effect. He aimed to unveil the absurdity of this fruitless chase, and to bring either both of them, or one of them, alive to Mori's office.

He had also suggested to ensure a few of the old guard members that aimed to attend the auction remained uninformed of the threat, seeing as they were a source of anxiety for Mori's rule anyway. The aftermath, Charles expected, would render them either dead, or utterly ruined. He didn't speak of himself, however. It was far too risky of an endeavour, but he was given permission, provided that he had some of their men waiting for him outside of the museum as backup. And Charles was instructed to get out if possible, if anything went wrong, or at the very least, to try and survive it with his mind intact.

Charles had spent approximately a year within that singularity. The time outside of the museum had went by differently. A mere hour had passed outside of the museum. This was the longest loop by far, mainly fed by the third ability joining in, causing a triple singularity to form. Just as Charles had predicted, the fabric of time and space had begun to tear, visions of pasts and futures of his own and those of others mixing together inside his mind, making it difficult to focus. No approach other than the endurance strategy had worked, the loops continuing forth for far too long, approaching dangerous exertion levels.

Ultimately, Charles was successful in his recruitment of both Kobo and Franz, but just as they braced themselves to flee from the absolute mess they've left behind, they were attacked by an unknown group.

Having used his ability on a few members, Charles had come to realise that the attackers were operating on Milton's and Chesterton's orders. A second name that Charles vaguely recognised as a frequent visitor to Milton's facility. The seven virtues were now interested in Yokohama, thanks to Charles leading their attention there. He wasn't yet certain just what exactly they were looking for, but they had now officially set foot on Yokohama’s soil, and attempted to interfere with the port mafia's business. Although from what he had observed, they were mostly invested in Kobo and Kafka, rather than himself. His presence was not expected here on that day.

His mind was reeling still from a subjective year spent inside the melting space. His memories were now warped, altered by the experience, although part of the effects had been reversed in the aftermath of their final loop. The loop itself had also reversed some of the damage caused, but many surviving parties had suffered the same fate as Charles, and some tears in reality produced ghostly visions.

Charles had initially expected to be granted praise for his efforts, along with some thorough scolding, no doubt. He had introduced the two recruits to Mori first, sending Anatole away with them, to show them both to their shared living accommodation. Once alone, he had delivered his report, citing his logs.

But instead of praise he had faced an interrogation. You see, almost every single recruit he had brought to the port, showed loyalty mostly to Charles. Almost every calamity he had resolved had no unbiased reliable witnesses. The opera house he haf handled alone. Mishima and Theo's death held no living witnesses, mafia's men were fighting Mishima group's remnants far enough away from where the fight with Theo had transpired.

Mori's agents that were sent into the Ouroboros singularity had perished within it, and the rest of Mafia's men were waiting outside. There were no independent witnesses to Charles’s claims, and the organization that was seemingly tied to his origins had now followed him here. And somehow was aware of an event that no one, other than Mori and Charles, knew was going to occur. Wasn't all of that interestingly convenient?

Wasn't Theo's death responsible for improving Charles’s stance within the mafia? Hadn't he gotten a little to close to the boss in the aftermath? Didn't he pursue the mafia to begin with, thanks to the rumors of powerful experiment survivors being housed within its walls? How was it, exactly, that the most recent incidents seemed to occur so suddenly, and played in Charles’s favor? And to top it all off, with his growing influence, Charles had been gathering quite a personal entourage.

Besides, Mori's observational experiment on Charles’s ability produced inconclusive results. He still wasn't entirely certain whether Charles’s ability could manifest new emotions into existence, or if it had indeed simply enhanced those, which were already present. And how could Mori possibly trust someone as cunning and calculated as he, to not either use the mafia for his personal vengeance quest, or to perhaps aid the place that he came from, in whichever endeavour the seven virtues had clearly aspired to enact as soon as possible?

Unfortunately for Charles, he didn't have strong enough of a rebuttal. The suspicion was understandable in part, and in part, enhanced by his ability. His mind still weak and shattered from the year spent within the singularity, his mood shifting to something hollow, he had come to realize, that thanks to his ability, no proof would ever be enough. So long as his ability could interfere, any minute suspicion of him would turn into something far greater than any of his rebuttals ever could be. He didn't have any independent witnesses. His recruits were indeed very close to him first, Mori second. And his arrival did drag a new threat onto Yokohama’s shores.

He had ran out of things to say. And as such, took out Mori's dagger, the one he had gifted him, presumably, as a sign of trust, and seeing as there clearly was none between them, he returned it to the older man, hilt first, while holding onto the blade.

I suppose it was quite shocking for Mori to have his hands wrapped around the hilt, as Charles drove the blade straight through his own heart.

He does ultimately survive, of course, his absence covered by a tale of a European excursion, pursuing intel on the seven virtues, while he recovered inside Mori's residence.

What followed after the recovery, was his promotion to executive status, establishment of his as a defacto advisor for Mori on the European threat, and the pursuit of the seven virtues on their own soil, starting with the interception of Marcel Proust's recruitment. The living archive that the virtues sought to capture for themselves.

But that is a tale for another day.

Phew, now I shall go make some soba noodles. Have a great sunday, everyone 🧙

The exact kind of angle that I like, thank you for the food, Mori-sensei 🫀

I am finally free! Free from the shackles of that infernal catalogue, I have finally finished it. I've had like a gazillion other last minute fixes, and we had to replace a few images, but I have finished this beast that tortured my team for the past month* and a half!!! Now things will return back to normal! Thank god! It turned out to be 120 pages, wah

I even managed to finish two banners and online store infographics today. Hell yeah, quite a productive day.

Anyway, I will post info on my Charles Baudelaire OC tomorrow. I've missed writing about my ocs so much 🥀

Have a great friday, y'all.

Rimlaine's number one, as it should be.

Did this to unwind, since I saw it flying around

My babygirl, your radiant smile is the only thing that keeps me going 🥀

A late post today, my work is literally hellish right now. Basically, I was supposed to take different catalogue segments from the other two designers on our team, and unite them into a singular book, and add page numbers and titles and such, as well as the table of contents. I did it. And then...

All of a sudden we had to fix 'a few little things'. One of the other designers was late to submit their fixes, so I had to do that part. Then we sent the entire thing to our manager.

Apparently no one had been showing them their work (yet again, I didn't make the content, I was there to simply unite it all into one book, so I wasn't aware of this, and I'm a damn newbie here, I don't manage nobody, I'm just a designer 🥀). So the manager only saw the fully completed version.

And because I had already made some minor fixes to that thing, believing this would be it, I now have to, and get this, align every image of our goods to be on the same height and placement in relation to the description texts, and make sure everything is perfectly straight. The entire thing. All 115 pages of it. And it has to be done by 12 pm tomorrow. Im gonna die!!!!! Yippie!!!!

Some fixes included removing unnecessary commas, and I had to dig through the entire catalogue to spot anything awry. Now I have to suffer because someone didn't think to show their work to the manager BEFORE the final stitching of it all into a catalogue. Being a meguka is suffering. I had smoked two packs of cigarettes today!!! This is crazy. I never do that, but I was freaking the hell out.

And get this, they wanted to give me even more work on top of this ☠️☠️☠️ replacing every image (30 of them) in one item collection. Thank god it turned out to be unnecessary. I would've perished.

This man cannot act for the life of him, that smile is as strained as it can be.

Awkward family reunion will do that to a man.

Still wonder who he will bring in via the exchange. I am firmly in the Atsushi will get transferred camp. It would make sense to showcase the darker side of humanity and how truly grey everything is in the main story, considering how the dark era wasn't actually in the main manga. And how in beast au Atsushi is an entirely different person. And how we have already seen how the innerworkings of ada function. So to see the internal works of a mafia up close would be interesting, as well as getting to know some of the mafiosos better, plus there's a European connection there via Verlaine. And the narrative seems to be slowly pointing towards the order of the clock tower.

Not to mention that Atsushi already works great with Akutagawa. And is one of the most competent members of the agency, despite his youthful age. Then there's the whole connection to the book thing. Idk, if I were Mori, I'd pick him. (Plus it would be interesting to see their dynamic in the main story, since it was quite interesting in beast)

But I think Atsushi will actually volunteer as tribute regardless of whoever he picks, so eh. I suppose we shall see.

Even though it was covered in beast, I think our main story Atsushi is too different a person compared to his beast counterpart. So his development within the mafia would, too, be quite different. And it would make sense to have the protagonist experience such a major shift, rather than a secondary character. But idk.

Could also be Tanizaki, but then this story beat wouldn't be nearly as interesting.

And I hope Dazai will not be returning either. Regression is great and all, but he clearly does not wish to return himself. And Mori isn't foolish enough to force him back. It wouldn't be as narratively satisfying to me. Like okay, he's back and...what. Like yeah, let me betray a promise I've made to my late friend to become a better man to aura farm real quick. Idk, I'm thinking he's stuck in Meursault anyway, perhaps in part, to avoid the transfer, hence his abscence.

I could see him aiding the port to help them recover from everything, perhaps, but meh. That's like, the most boring option to me. I've seen this before, and we know how he is with Chuuya and Mori, and Aku already, as in, present day.

I'm also thinking that Sigma may have been taken in by the mafia, but who knows. I just hope he isn't left behind in meursault. Imagine waking up from a coma, and you're in the mafia. Poor guy just keeps getting involved with criminals against his will.