[Please End] Crow Armbrust (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
filetofish) wrote2018-07-23 11:06 pm
filetofish) wrote2018-07-23 11:06 pm
Memoriiies
Just blocking off bits rn, there's a lot of shit that needs to be split or gotten rid of, much of it is plot notes rather than memories I'm gonna use, as Crow's offscreen for a lot of plot things relevant to him, but for now it's a quick reference of what happened when for me to draw on!
PRE-GAME
> grandpa stuff (can be broken up??)
> meeting duke fluffyface
> going on adventures with vita
> single-letter code names
> meeting towa/angie/george, fighting with angie
1204 MARCH/APRIL
Prologue: watching newbies arrive
April 17: meeting rean
April 25: post-chapter scene??? (idr)
1204 MAY
May 22: 50 miraaaa
May 23: free day
> first bond event (candy gambling)
May 30: post-chapter scene??? (idr)
1204 JUNE
June 15: study day
> 2nd bond event (helping rean study first aid)
June 16-19: mid-termsss
June 20: free day
> 1st bike sidequest (it's my baby too!)
June 28: post-chapter cutscene
1204 JULY
July 18: free day
> helping Rean find Elise
> ?? whining about gambling, idr if this was the 18th or the morning of the 24th
July 26:
> in heimdall at the cafe
> festival, fountains
> festival, post-dragon faito
> is there a post-chapter scene idr
1204 AUGUST
August 21:
> joining class vii
> chatting w/Sharon
> evening dorm hangouts (guess you're fated to be part of my life)
August 22: free day,
> 3rd bond event (moving stuff)
> old schoolhouse
> saying goodbye to G [C]
August 26: practical exam
August 28-29: jurai trip (think about this later)
August 30: garellia
> hanging out w/machias
> railway guns!!
1204 SEPTEMBER
September 18:
> convo with Rean at engineering building
> evening dorm hangouts
September 19: free day,
> old schoolhouse
> 4th bond event (evening classroom gayness)
September 22: practical exam
September 25: Roer day 1 stuff
> show dem titties
> hanging out with Elliot, festival prep
> illicit phonecalls
> ooOOOoo rean met up with a giiirl
September 26: Roer day 2 stuff
> rescue the miners!!
> totally not doing anything shady
1204 October
> ymir trip, last-minute festival prep
> hot springs scene (use manga)
> giving people their shit back (idr when it's mentioned but somewhere in here)
October 21:
> bike scene
> evening dorm hangouts
October 23:
> each possible festival event w/Rean
> final concert practice
> "mine's doing it too"
> loa erebonius
October 24:
> 2nd fesitval day
> concert [R]
> international bank of rean
> final bond event
October 30:
> leavingggg
> assassination
> sen1 final battle
1204 November
> whatever offscreen shit was mentioned
November 29: giving Toval the anonymous tip
November 30: my buddies kidnapped a princess [R]
1204 December (uh oh)
> nts figure out what day bullying the prince part 1 was
December 12:
> mech fite
> fish burgers
> not-mech fite
December 21: V :(
December 24: Celdic.
December 25: S!!
December 27: Vita bullying kids at the shrines
December 30: Rean got laid and I wasn't there (you get a Crow profile on this day but idr why)
December 31: UH OH
> Bullying the Prince Part 2
> not gonna happen
> TIL OUR SOULS BURN OUT [R]
> forward, relentlessly
PRE-GAME
> grandpa stuff (can be broken up??)
> meeting duke fluffyface
> single-letter code names
> meeting towa/angie/george, fighting with angie
1204 MARCH/APRIL
Prologue: watching newbies arrive
April 17: meeting rean
April 25: post-chapter scene??? (idr)
1204 MAY
May 22: 50 miraaaa
May 23: free day
May 30: post-chapter scene??? (idr)
1204 JUNE
June 15: study day
> 2nd bond event (helping rean study first aid)
June 16-19: mid-termsss
June 20: free day
> 1st bike sidequest (it's my baby too!)
June 28: post-chapter cutscene
1204 JULY
July 18: free day
> helping Rean find Elise
> ?? whining about gambling, idr if this was the 18th or the morning of the 24th
July 26:
> in heimdall at the cafe
> festival, fountains
> festival, post-dragon faito
> is there a post-chapter scene idr
1204 AUGUST
August 21:
> joining class vii
> chatting w/Sharon
> evening dorm hangouts (guess you're fated to be part of my life)
August 22: free day,
> 3rd bond event (moving stuff)
> old schoolhouse
> saying goodbye to G [C]
August 26: practical exam
August 28-29: jurai trip (think about this later)
August 30: garellia
> hanging out w/machias
> railway guns!!
1204 SEPTEMBER
September 18:
> convo with Rean at engineering building
> evening dorm hangouts
September 19: free day,
> old schoolhouse
> 4th bond event (evening classroom gayness)
September 22: practical exam
September 25: Roer day 1 stuff
> show dem titties
> hanging out with Elliot, festival prep
> illicit phonecalls
> ooOOOoo rean met up with a giiirl
September 26: Roer day 2 stuff
> rescue the miners!!
> totally not doing anything shady
1204 October
> ymir trip, last-minute festival prep
> hot springs scene (use manga)
> giving people their shit back (idr when it's mentioned but somewhere in here)
October 21:
> bike scene
> evening dorm hangouts
October 23:
> each possible festival event w/Rean
> final concert practice
> "mine's doing it too"
> loa erebonius
October 24:
> 2nd fesitval day
> concert [R]
> final bond event
October 30:
> leavingggg
> assassination
> sen1 final battle
1204 November
> whatever offscreen shit was mentioned
November 29: giving Toval the anonymous tip
November 30: my buddies kidnapped a princess [R]
1204 December (uh oh)
> nts figure out what day bullying the prince part 1 was
December 12:
> mech fite
> fish burgers
> not-mech fite
December 21: V :(
December 24: Celdic.
December 25: S!!
December 27: Vita bullying kids at the shrines
December 30: Rean got laid and I wasn't there (you get a Crow profile on this day but idr why)
December 31: UH OH
> Bullying the Prince Part 2
> not gonna happen
> TIL OUR SOULS BURN OUT [R]
> forward, relentlessly
MEMORY 1
[H is sitting in a bar, when someone resembling Phoenix walks up and strikes up a conversation. H says he's waiting on an appointment, "Phoenix" offers to hang out, and shortly thereafter, a pair of children walk in. They set up a card game on the table, and "Phoenix" comments that it's a game called "Blade", to which H starts chattering that he's been telling everyone about it lately!
"Phoenix" tells H he's surprised he cares about other people, and that he's not so bad after all. H immediately contradicts this by taking bets. He gets scolded for gambling with kids, and he brushes it off saying it's just candy. "Phoenix" gives in and they set in to play cards, and the memory cuts out.]
TAKEAWAYS
> I like kids and I feel happy when I'm making other people happy ??
> I definitely got along with people around town, and felt comfortable there
> I guess Phoenix & I are from the same world after all!
> I thought he was kind of a dweeb though
> I was happy, but also felt some kind of background negative feelings blort (sadness? nervousness??)
MEMORY 2
It's close but H and his companion win. When they do, they leave distorted space and find a large door has opened. Inside is... a giant robot.
TAKEAWAYS
> Why was I so angry??? And a little lonely, too.
> And yet I definitely liked and trusted this lady
> I also liked and trusted her bird, who's definitely a person
> I'm super strong and cool and that is awesome
> All this was a trial to obtain that "knight"
> I was working towards some kind of goal I was v passionate about. Probably in relation to all that anger??
MEMORY 3
[H, Phoenix, and a gaggle of other teenagers are walking up to a bonfire set in a school's activity field. As the rest of them walk away, Phoenix calls H and a short redheaded boy back. He thanks them for all their help with something or other related to a festival, to which the redhead is equally emotional, while H complains about the cheese.
The redhead gets called away by his family, and Phoenix & H are left to talk alone. They chat about the future of "Class VII", and how H is about to graduate and leave the rest behind. H gives Phoenix a coin, which he apparently owes.
Phoenix says H has done so much for him that "50 mira" is nothing, and H says he never pays his debts so it's a special coin! But Phoenix is charging interest -- so they have an excuse to stay friends after H graduates. H agrees to pay it back (maybe).
"Oh, the things I do for love."
Then he walks away.]
TAKEAWAYS
> It was absolutely funny.
> I had very strong feelings about Phoenix -- I was probably in love with him, but I wasn't admitting it to myself at this point.
> I still had that purpose from before, and I was still angry, but I wasn't so lonely.
> I was going to leave my friends in order to fulfill this purpose. I felt like I was betraying them, and like I didn't really want to go, but whatever it was I wanted, I wanted it so badly that I was not at all considering changing my mind.
> Even so I was EXTREMELY SAD in this moment. I was trying to distance myself and say goodbye, and Phoenix holding on was excruciatingly painful. Part of me wanted to tell the truth, but all of me thought it was pointless.
> I'm an even bigger faker than I thought!
> I really want to know what the heck I thought was important enough to hurt myself and these people I cared about like that.
> Oh no now I know I can never just stop talking to Phoenix...
MEMORY 4
The memory is covered here from 30:42 to the end, and here from start to 6:02, but it's from Crow's perspective so it'll play out differently than the video. Namely, you won't see anything happening in the classroom, but I didn't feel like getting timestamps for each little clip so see the write-up for deets.
As of this memory, names are now audible.]
[It's roughly noon and H is standing on a rooftop in a busy city, looking through a big face-concealing helmet. Below him a large thoroughfare stretches up to a grand plaza in the distance, where a large crowd has gathered in front of a podium flanked by soldiers and tanks. There's a radio at his side, broadcasting news commentary on a national address about to be delivered by "the chancellor", and the tension is palpable.
In H's hands is a gun -- not just any gun, but a massive sniper rifle, set up and aimed right at that busy scene. As the voice on the radio switches to the beautiful voice of a female reporter, he watches the chancellor stand at the podium through the rifle's sight.
The speech begins -- an impassioned criticism of unforgivable acts by the "province" of Crossbell, which has declared independence and apparently both frozen the financial assets of "the empire"'s citizens and used a weapon of mass destruction in the process. This is a call to arms, self-righteous and demanding "justice" and submission to the "firm but fair" hand of the empire. Just as the speech reaches its fever pitch, with the crowd cheering for war, H mutters to himself with steely anger.
"Go finish your speech in hell."
Then he squeezes the trigger. The chancellor falls, and the crowd erupts into screams. H seems satisfied with himself.
"...Well. That was anticlimactic. Aaaand there's our coup de grace. Now, just have to add the finishing touches."
But then he's interrupted by a female voice and the impact of a gunshot shattering his helmet. It leaves his face exposed, as he turns to see a woman in police uniform.
"It really was you all along..." she says. "To think, all the time we spent searching for the leader of the Imperial Liberation Front, and he was right under our noses... Crow Armbrust, from the Jurai SEZ."
H (No, Crow) doesn't seem to bothered. He jokes about it, about how well he hid his tracks and whether "Arundel" was the one who found him out. The police woman is furious ("How could you?!"), but Crow's bitter tone comes back, referencing the annexation of "Jurai" eight years back.
"You let your guard down, you lose. That's how your boss' favorite little game works, isn't it? Well, he lost. And now he won't be playing any of his games again. Ever."
She attempts to arrest him, threatening him with interrogation, but he's not impressed, and quickly it becomes evident why -- as the radio plays the pretty reporter's coverage of the assassination, a giant silver airship appears and drops a company of... mechs. They proceed to totally dominate the tanks and armored cars already present, and it's immediately obvious that the city will be occupied by this force with minimal effort.
The police woman asks what the mechs are, and Crow tells her they're "humanoid combat armors", "knights for a modern age", called Panzer Soldats. He backs up to the edge of the building, ignoring the police woman's threat and mentioning "Zephyr" handling "Valflame Palace".
"But I've got my own score to settle", he says, then jumps backwards off the roof. In a flash of light he's suddenly inside the same big blue mech from a previous memory.
"See ya, Icy Maiden." he says to the woman, then flies off in his mech, and the memory cuts out.
TAKEAWAYS
> I really, really hated that chancellor guy
> this is what I betrayed my friends for, and I'm sad to leave them and hurt them, but I don't regret the decision even a little
> My name is Crow!! And I'm from "Jurai". I'm also really pissed about it having been annexed, but I still don't remember exactly why or how it personally affected me.
> My codename is also "C". Haha AlcheME is funny now.
> I don't feel invested in the military coup at all. I'm not bothered by it but it wasn't my goal? I was working with whoever's goal it actually was, and they're the ones who funded all this crap, but I don't remember who that is or why. I just know all I cared about was killing that dude.
> Hmm maybe I'm a bad person!
MEMORY 5
[Crow is hanging out at a table with a redheaded boy and what appears to be Albert from zrael! He and Albert are arguing about a concert-- Crow wants their number to have cute girls in revealing outfits singing, and Albert is insisting they need to be classier than that, if they want to match up against "Class I". As Crow complains that no one wants to see dudes sing, Phoenix appears! He and the redhead talk a bit, and regardless of the ongoing argument, they decide to have two numbers -- one with girls singing and one with boys. Phoenix walks away and the three of them spend some more time discussing the particulars of the show and the songs -- the redhead is clearly a musician.
Later, Crow & the redhead are continuing with concert planning while hanging out in a very fancy room. Crow is sketching costume designs, and the ones for the girls are way over the top sexy. Phoenix appears again, to chat with them about their progress. Crow gets scolded for his designs and his notes on them ("optimal bounce vectors", "show dem titties"), and agrees to tone it down. Phoenix leaves and the other two go back to planning for awhile, til they decide to take a break for the night and split up.]
TAKEAWAYS
> oh I DO know that guy!
> how is it that Phoenix was always against my lewd agenda?
MEMORY 6
[Crow, along with some school classmates (A boy with green hair and glasses, the redheaded boy from the previous memory, a blonde girl, and a small silver-haired girl) get off the train in a port town dubbed "the Jurai Special Economic Zone".
After being introduced to a local government official and given an envelope of tasks to complete, they head off to a hotel to drop off their stuff, then go out exploring the town. From here it's a montage of a couple of days worth of sidequests (item retrieval and monster extermination type things) and time spent gambling away in a casino. Crow spends a lot of time irritating his classmates with his typical noisy, lewd, irresponsible behavior.
However, the entire time he seems to be on guard, coming up with excuses to avoid certain places and people. He's extremely crafty about it and no one notices. Eventually, they get back on the train, heading to a destination which has its name blurred out.]
TAKEAWAYS
> why am I being so shady?
> haha gambling is fun as always
> i like these kids a lot but I wasn't letting them close
> why did we have to do all these fetch quests as schoolwork? That's dumb!
MEMORY 7
[Crow is watching Phoenix and some of the kids from their other memories fight an animated skeleton dragon. Afterwards they confront a man in the glasses, who was responsible for the dragon necromancy, and a big burly man and a pretty woman with an eyepatch come in to back him up. Phoenix et all have rescued Phoenix's sister and a blonde girl who appears to be the princess. If you've seen Phoenix's earlier memories they're the same ones who got kidnapped in one of them, but this is... maybe? A different situation? It's unclear.
After a bit of confusion Crow makes his entrance, watching everything through a weird helmet that changes his voice as he talks. He says a lot of grand stuff and picks a fight with them, while they apparently have no idea that it's Crow in there. Everyone is calling him "C", and he's clearly the leader of this shady group.
He fights Phoenix, a girl with a huge sword, and the silver-haired girl from earlier memories, and utterly kicks their asses. Afterwards he introduces their group as the "Imperial Liberation Front". He also says more dramatic shit:
"In our hearts, the flames of silent anger. In our hands, the hammer of judgement that will topple the dictator." But before any more conversation can happen the cops show up, so Crow detonates a bomb and his group uses the confusion to run away.]
TAKEAWAYS
> I was SO ANGRY...
> BUT I really care about my crew?
> I was living a double life but I loved both sides of it, huh?
> so much was WRONG...
> but hey I kick ass!
MEMORY 8
[It's a classroom! The other students so often seen are being addressed by their instructor. They're getting a transfer student!!
Crow's standing in the hall listening. When the instructor invites him in he pops in with a cheerful face. The students question it -- isn't he a second year student already? -- and the instructor reveals that Crow's a big loser who's behind on class credits and is joining Class VII for awhile in order to graduate.
He has 0 shame about it.
After his intro a second new student is called in. She's a child a bit younger than the rest of them, and introduces herself as [static]. She's very energetic.
The previous Class VII members are unsure but bracing themselves for some ridiculous times.]
TAKEAWAYS
> I am and have always been full of shit
> I was super uncomfy about the tiny girl but idk why
MEMORY 9
[Backstory Montage Part 1: This starts with a series of short clips of tiny Crow playing around with his grandpa. His parents are nowhere to be seen but their house is very nice -- not quite palatial but it is a small mansion and they're clearly well off.
In this small mansion Crow seems to have a healthy childhood. He slides down banisters, gets rides on his grandpa's shoulders, eats home-cooked meals, and... gambles. Yeah. His grandpa is a whole lot like him, and there are flashes of him teaching Crow to play various card games, billiards, darts, etc, and how to do sleight of hand tricks and make dirty jokes. They're happy and everything is good.
But then things go wrong. Crow's watching his grandpa stress over documents. Visitors come over and he's listening to the discussion through the door -- about the Erebonian Empire and the railway they want to build into Jurai. It'll solve all our economic problems, surely! Although of course there's ulterior motive, it's worth it and they can handle that later. At one point there's a visit from a tall man with strong features and a streak of white in his hair -- it's the same guy Crow's previously remembered assassinating.
He's just a little taller in the next clip. Alone in his grandpa's study Crow's reading the newspaper. It's a huge front page story about the bombing of the railway bridge.
There are more clips -- more arguments between Crow's grandfather and his associates. No one knows who blew up the railway. The Empire says they won't fix it unless Jurai joins them as a "Special Economic Zone". Their security is too lax, after all. Crow's grandfather objects to the obvious power grab but his contacts say it's a good economic deal. Maybe Crow's grandfather was behind the railway bombing, then!
There's another newspaper clip. Jurai joins the Erebonian Empire, and the Mayor resigns. Crow and his grandfather are in a different, smaller house now, and the next few flashes show the old man growing more and more ill, listless.
The last clip is Crow, a tiny bit older and taller again, visiting a grave. He says a brief goodbye, picks up the single bag full of his belongings, slings it over his shoulder, and walks away.]
TAKEAWAYS
> My grandpa was FUCKING AMAZING and I love him so much!!
> Which is why, it turns out, I HATE THAT CHANCELLOR GUY
> Wow I'm sure fuckin' glad I became a terrorist and killed the fucker
MEMORY 10
[Backstory Montage Part 2: It's a series of clips of young Crow wandering through various villages, towns, & cities. At first he's doing okay -- looking for information on the Ironblood Chancellor, picking up what odd jobs people will give a 13 y/o while he moves. In one clip an adult asks him if he's attending Sunday School and suggests he look into going into a church orphanage.
But pretty quickly he's out of money. The clips descend from stubbornly washing dishes and carrying supplies to picking pockets and swindling people with card tricks. He ends up in bars and gambling dens, relying on wit and charm and being a kid to cheat adults out of their cash.
Once, the memory shows him throwing up in an alley after getting beaten for his efforts. And it only gets uglier from there.
Ultimately these memory fragments land Crow in some kind of huge city. There he does a bit more stealing -- and a bit more. He's hanging around the red light district, cozying up to influential people, asking questions clearly targeting sensitive information about the imperial government. The memories never show what happens behind closed doors but it's pretty easy to tell what he's giving in exchange.
Finally, he's sitting on the edge of a huge bed in an unbelievably opulent room, talking to a man with red hair and a flamboyant attitude. If he wants to take out the chancellor so badly, the man says, he'll help. Crow will be given lodging, and the man will help him get his revenge -- but he needs to keep quiet and out of sight. And be patient -- they're playing a long game.]
TAKEAWAYS
MEMORY 11
[This memory cuts in on what appears to be a dramatic climax. There's a red mecha screaming and letting off terrifying red light while the redheaded man from Crow's earlier memory laughs maniacally. He's yelling about it being the "demon with a thousand weapons" and the "absolute ruler" from 250 years ago and it's a very supervillain moment.
The hot witch lady Crow runs around with and one of his and Phoenix's classmates are protecting the whole class group with a magical forcefield, but it's about to collapse. Crow suggests the witch lady ("Vita") use an enhancement technique on him to create an opening for Phoenix and the rest of the class to get through and fight until Crow & Phoenix's mechas have recovered their mana. The goal seems to be less "defeat evil" and more "rescue the crown prince from inside the evil". With the help of a magical bird and cat, Vita lets Crow unleash a powered-up attack that stuns the red mech long enough for everyone else to run in and fight it.
The memory skips the fight itself, but it seems the heroes have done a good job, and Crow & Phoenix's mechs have arrived. They jump in and go to have a rad two-on-one mech battle. The actual combat is cut again, until you see Crow & Phoenix having won victory and exposed the core. Crow says he'll "clear a path" for Phoenix and charges forward to do just that.
But as he's doing so, the red mech stabs its tails into the ground, which comes up in front of Crow's -- and stabs right through it. As the hole is ripped through the azure knight, the same one is ripped through Crow. But he responds to Phoenix with a lie:
"I'm fine! It barely scratched me. You keep going! You're the only one who can save him now, so don't you dare look back!"
Phoenix goes and uses his special final attack on the red mech and rips the core out of it, which causes it to dissipate. From within the azure, as Crow's bleeding out, he watches his friends successfully save the prince and call it "mission complete".
It's only when they stop and remember he's not talking and notice the state of his mecha that he leaves it and lets them see the extent of the damage. Held in Phoenix's arms, as he coughs up blood and the witches try and fail to heal his fatal wound, Crow ruffles Phoenix's hair and, still smiling, tells everyone how much they mean to him. In the end he gives a last bit of advice:
"You're all going to be in for some... tough times ahead. I can't go any farther now... but you can... so keep going forward... Relentlessly, without looking back... Heheh... As long as you do... I'm sure..."
He doesn't get to finish it. The world fades out of his vision, and the memory ends.]
TAKEAWAYS
> god that was bad
> but... I was satisfied, in the end
> but now I've had more and don't want to be dead so maybe I don't want to go home afterall?!