Hi, So... Um... Who Is "megabird"? I Was Going Trough Your Blog And Saw It Mentioned A Lot Of Times.

Don't lose your wallet in the forest, young hero.

Part 1

Cale sits on Alberu’s bed.

This… feeling, of his memories and feelings all contradicting. It’s a little disorienting.

His hands are dirty, but he knows they’re clean. He could lay down and roll around on the princes bed, but his memories show a blatant disregard for what the prince thinks about what he does, yet he knows that he has respected and cared about the prince for a long time-

So what is it? Does Cale secretly respect him? Is his disregard an act? No, it’s not. Disrespect is… a way to show respect? To hide his respect?

Cale develops a headache. There’s a lot of new information in his mind, rolling around like a thunderstorm, and it’s really starting to hurt.

His hand caresses the side of his head, and he aims his face into his lap, a frown forming. It… hurts.

It hurts.

Hopelessness drags on his new and good emotions. It hurts. He- he hates pain. His hands tremble.

Alberu watches Cale, unsure what could’ve happened to cause him to start crying. With a shaky mind, Alberu walks over to the frozen child sitting on his bed, making extra sure that his footsteps create noise. God, scaring a child? Scaring Cale? That would be a nightmare. He wouldn’t know how to handle it at all.

Despite Alberu’s desperate wishes, Cale is deep in his subconscious, overwhelmed by a self-induced headache.

So when Alberu reaches over for the boys shoulder (like how Cale would comfort everyone), Cale flinches. Hard. He throws his body to the side of the bed and pulls his arms up to his chest, staring up at Alberu’s figure.

Now, the Prince isn’t stupid. He knows what a flinch means, what it implies. Then why- he fumes- why is Cale of all people showing these responses? How bad did he have it in Korea?

So, while Cale lies on the bed and stares, Alberu decides that he’s too tired to deal with this. This is incredibly annoying. This is- fucking depressing. He hasn’t slept for two days and suddenly being forced into babysitting duty is grating on his nerves.

He walks away to order the nearest servant to deliver cookies to his room, while he starts to brew tea. When the boy on the bed has a clear head and Alberu has some more strength, he’ll consider asking what’s wrong.

Bringing the tea over to the bed, Cale stares at the cups.

“Dongsaeng?” Alberu sits on the bed next to Cale, who stops laying down. “Do you like sweet tea still, even when you’re like this?”

Cale pinches his lips together. Forgoing a verbal response, he nods his head to the question and starts to reach out.

‘Dirty’

‘Careless’

‘Irresponsible’

His hand freezes, and goes through a dozen calculations. Should he ask to grab the cup? He wouldn’t normally do that, no. Should he act more like an ignorant child, not as mature as he feels? Should he ask what he should do?-

Alberu watches the emotions that flit across the young face. They are all incredibly subtle, as if he’s used to being so insecure but hiding it underneath a layer of confidence. Alberu relates to it on an uncomfortable level.

He almost expects the kid to ask if he should take the cup, but Cale firms up his face and decides to disrespect the Crown Prince anyway by grabbing the cup and taking a big sip of it.

Good, Cale reasons, looking at Alberu’s face. He’s not mad, like he predicted. He’s learning the limits of the people he trusts because, while he’s in this different body and has this smaller mind, people will react unpredictably. Anticipate violence, prepare for rejection, and accept whatever he can get his hands on. His old lessons from when he was a kid float into his mind, and they provide a comfort that none of his older memories have given him yet.

They sit in silence, sipping on tea and observing each other. The other children are disturbingly quiet, but they aren’t crying or angry. They’re just… watching. Raon seems to be the most restless, while On and Hong wait from a distance.

Those three children recognize the signs of abuse the most. Ever since he opened his eyes, they could see it all. The hesitation. The fake confidence. The awkward tense-relax-tense game that Cale is playing in his mind. Like he’s trying to convince himself that he’s in a safe place, but it’s so hard to believe that he instinctively goes back to base one whenever he succeeds.

They’re going to launch their ‘attack’ in a few minutes, but only after cookies. A servant quietly brings in a tray, keeping her eyes very specifically on the desk she needs to leave it on. Raon still turns him and the kittens invisible for the brief time she’s there, but she looked so focused that she probably wouldn’t have seen them had they been sitting right next to the crown Prince. On applauds her in her mind.

Cale keeps his mouth shut. The last thing he should do right now is talk. He knows when he isn’t welcome, and while the (fond?) exasperation from the prince is not quite the same as Cale is used to, it’s close enough. He plans to stay quiet and do nothing. It’s dangerous to think about anything else.

What if he ruins his companionship with Alberu forever? That would be- bad. For when he’s able to be big again, of course. It would be… what’s the word?

Inconvenient.

Cale doesn’t feel 7 years old anymore. His mind has been growing, in a weird way. Like he’s subconsciously fighting against the curse by maturing his mind at a faster rate. He can think a little more clearly, analyze a little more precisely.

He finishes his tea and puts it down. He’s tired.

‘Dirty’

‘Disgusting’

‘Filthy’

He looks down at his hands. He turns his palm over, examining it. He sighs in relief. Clean. He’s clean right now.

He’s startled by a red ball of fur pressing its face into his open palm.

“Hong?” His voice is soft, open just like his palm.

Hong purrs, and Cale falls for the distraction. He sets out to pet the kitten who is so innocently asking for them.

All of a sudden he hears Alberu shout from his side and a flash of black streaks across his vision. He looks up, but then On has transformed into her human form and the 12 year old body is stronger than it should be, with how easily she grabs the 7 year old and throws him by the pillows.

Cale barely finishes bouncing from being thrown when he gets crushed by Raon.

“Human!”

Cale opens his eyes and looks up at the blue eyes peering down into his soul. “Raon…”

Raon cuts him off, resting part of his weight on Cale.

“We’re having naptime! Majority vote! You have to sleep, human!”

Cale frowned. He hadn’t had any cookies yet.

Raon interprets him wrong, and suddenly Cale is being thrust into Alberu’s arms. “Adults are always the best at cuddling! We’re leaving you to our most experienced member so you get the full package! Alberu, don’t let Cale go.” His words leave a chill in Cale’s body, and he resists the urge to shudder.

Then he realizes that Alberu’s arms had really tightened around him. Cale squirms, because, what? Why can’t he just cuddle with the kids?

The answer becomes abruptly clear. Cale, smooshed against Alberu’s chest, surrounded by two human cats and a dragon who insisted that he lay on top of the pile- discovers that, while Raon could use magic to restrain him, the human with long arms is just more effective at restraining people comfortably.

Cale pouts. He didn’t get any cookies.

Ron, Beacrox, and Choi Han arrive at the princes room. Ron was worried about him, while Choi Han was concerned that he wasn’t adjusting well. Does he feel safe? Has he eaten? Is the fact that they aren’t in Korea making it difficult? Meanwhile, Beacrox is just angry at a lot of things right now.

They found the demonic worshipper, but after torturing information out of him, they realized that Cale is in the Demonic God’s hands now. Killing the demonic worshipper doesn’t even break the curse.

They had run into Bud and Glenn while investigating, naturally. The merchant king had offered all of his resources to track down the culprit, which helped somewhat in finding him. Glenn offered them a quick teleport back to the palace, and they accepted.

“Young master-“

“Cale-nim!-“

“My friend! Sob!- um?”

Ron, Choi Han, and Bud speak all at the same time. They all pause however, at the sight of Raon glaring at them intensely. A transparent black shield covers a lump of bodies, and Glenn recognizes it as a soundproofing spell. He gets goosebumps at the mana swirling around the rest of the room dangerously.

Choi Han felt stunned. It has been a long while since Raon pointed his wrath at anyone in their family. What happened?

Ron then smiles, a chill covering the room instantly. “What are you covering, little dragon?”

Raon uncharacteristically stays silent. He looks like a real dragon at this moment, all cold glares while he drapes himself over his hoard.

Then Choi Han puts the dots together. The Crown Prince is missing, documents unfinished. The kittens can be vaguely seen on the side of the pile that Raon is laying on, and if he’s correct-

Cale is in the center.

Choi Han’s eyes sparkle at the opportunity in front of him. Bud takes a careful step away from him, but he’s not paying attention to that.

Choi Han loves small cute things. What’s more cute than a bunch of his favorite, small cute people (minus Alberu, who isn’t small, that he suspects is in the back) in a big cuddly pile?

Cale murmurs in his sleep, feeling an icy chill on the back of his neck. Someone’s plotting against him.

He becomes unsettled, pushing lightly against Alberu’s arms in protest to the sensation. Alberu, who has fallen into an incredibly deep sleep, just tightens his arms. Cale decides to ignore the feeling, after getting that slight ‘scolding.’

His mind, which had become around 9-10 in the short time that he had been thinking intensely, quiets. He allows himself to be comforted, and doesn’t notice the way his mind falls into that of a 8 year old during this nap.

He breathes softly, falls deeper into his sleep, and can’t feel the curse settle over his mind.

Choi Han fails in his attempts to sway the dragon to let him see. Raon, smarter than your average 6 year old, understands what Choi Han wants and what Cale wants, and that Cale should get what he wants right now. Privacy. Raon becomes even more determined to protect Cale while he’s in this younger state.

He’s vulnerable.

The dragon in him growls at this. Everyone in this pile has been abused. He doesn’t know much about Alberu, but he saw the understanding glint in his eyes, so Raon determines that the Crown Prince is also under his protection.

Do the people outside their bubble understand that? Do they think that his human just happened to land in the middle of the pile, blocked from the world’s eye?

Raon huffs at Choi Han’s antics, ignores Ron’s vague threat, and summons a second shield over the soundproof one, this one solid and not transparent.

The human told Raon that it’s okay to be selfish. He wants to hold their little group closer right now, and he doesn’t want to share.

Cale flinches in his new, deep sleep. Raon lays his head back down on the pile, using magic to keep his human the perfect napping temperature.

He curses that he can’t do more right now.

Susie was not in a good place at the beginning of Ch 1.

I think we should try taking a closer look at where she came from to understand what her state of mind was back then.

Susie isn’t from Hometown.

Wherever she was from, she was not treated well.

And, upon coming to Hometown…things weren’t much better.

In Hometown, Susie is

Chronically underfed

Likely homeless

Hated by most of her classmates

Close to being expelled and losing her last tether to a normal life

Susie was at the very, very end of her rope at the beginning of Chapter 1.

Keep reading

//spoilers from chapter 662

ories = single-lifers (Choi family)

Immortals >> frequently called to solve problems in different dimensions because they do not impact other souls. (None in TCF) (PR: So far.)

Variables =

Reincarnators (White Star)

Transmigrators (Kim Rok Soo, Cale Henituse)

Regressors (Cale Henituse)

> Reincarnator: Pushes out the soul that is supposed to take a body and is born with the memories of their past life and the soul that is pushed out is born like a twin in a different dimension. The reason the White Star looks like Kim Rok Soo is because he pushed out Kim Rok Soo who was supposed to be in that body.

> Transmigrator: Pushes out a soul that has been living in a body and forces in a different soul; the soul that is pushed out has no choice but to go into the empty body of the invading soul. Basically, it causes chaos to the soul.

IM GOIN INSANE, PERHAPS WACKY, ONE MIGHT EVEN SAY CRAZY, IM LOSING MY MIND, MY MARBLES, MY BANANAS I AM FALLING OFF MY ROCKER SO TO SPEAK

CALE WAS ORIGINALLY FROM 'BIRTH OF A HERO' WORLD????? AND HE FUCKING TRANSMIGRATTED BACK???????? AND WHITE STAR IS CURRENTLY USING HIS BODY NOW???

Everytime i think i get used to all the bombs the author throws at me, something like this happens

Cale is so ready to take on everything.

I’m rereading the heart scene and, just- his life as Kim Rok Soo had such an impact on how he handles pressure, it’s actually sad. When he was KRS, people relied on him. Heavily. As the team leader, people saw him as a life line.

He never took breaks, he put himself in danger and sacrificed his well-being by using his abilities (for example, Instant), and as we hear later on- he had a 0% mortality rate. When people around him were weak, he became strong in order to overcome it. Nobody died when he became the Team Leader.

And in the world they lived in- yes! I’m not surprised at all that people latched onto him. No matter how much they care about him, they couldn’t help but allow him to save them. Over and over again.

So Cale had this expectation for himself too! When others give up -> he does not. In front of impossible tasks, he rises up, because that’s how it should be. How could someone who had so little as a child- no parents, no friends, no stability or safety or reliability- how could he possibly give up what he’s managed to attain? How could he let his friends get hurt when he knows that he could be hurting instead?

And then he becomes Cale, and he relaxes. His new companions are strong, and he’s not going to be with them for very long anyway. He will slack off, chill out, and take his hands off the wheel.

But he can’t- he just can’t stop helping them. Like an addiction, he helps Choi Han get a connection to Ron and Beacrox. Then he saves Raon. He helps Lock, Amiru, Mary, Alberu, Queen Litana. It’s fucking impulsive. It’s for his own benefit but he tangles himself into the story because tampering with Fate is a fucking side hobby for him.

Then he develops relationships and friends- and when he sees danger approaching he stands up against it like a solid wall. Over and over again.

And, what? He naturally expects the people behind him to stay behind that wall. To listen to him and help, but to stay safe in the long run. He expects them back off when something looks impossible. Because- well, he’s right here isn’t he? Overcoming the impossible is second nature for him!

But the people around him… aren’t standing by passively, like they did when he was KRS. When he was KRS they let him protect them for 15 years. Then he’s Cale Henituse and they don’t. They learn from him. They learn to stand up against the unpredictable and the indomitable. They see him and learn.

They aren’t happy about his sacrifices, but he tells them to be full and content and to eat well… so they listen. For a while. They understand wisdom and they take his words and learn their limitations.

Right until he stabs himself in the heart. What the fuck?! Biggest hypocrite in history right??! Can’t trust this guy to not bleed and sacrifice himself for shit!!!

So they angrily push aside his worry and their limits and they decide that it’s THEIR turn to protect him. Even against a GOD, Cale has shown them that nothing is impossible so they’re going to turn the tables and THEY’RE going to be the ones to cough blood!!

This scene is so heart wrenching, but it’s Cales disbelief that hurts the most. He’s fucking stunned. He’s someone who can’t even imagine the lengths that a person would go for him. He’s a person who protects without ever expecting to receive that same effort.

Sure, he knows he’ll be protected. He’s not naive. But he puts 200% and expects 50-100%. He goes above and beyond, but prepares for average. Prepares for lackluster.

So when everyone tries to push him aside to protect him? He- he doesn’t even notice their efforts! It’s like looking for a leaf in a forest, but he’s supposed to be looking at the entire forest. Why would he think that they would give him a forest’s worth of leaves? He’s oblivious. So he looks for a single leaf.

Then they really do push him back and protect him- they defend against the orb that’s exploding and it’s like they’re screaming “It’s the forest! It’s always been the forest!”

And he’s lost. Absolutely, utterly lost. It’s heartbreaking, how distressed he is that his friends are hurting and they won’t let him handle it for them. He’s not even hurt, after all! He hasn’t fainted, he’s still useful! He’s ready! What he’s done so far hasn’t even been too difficult! Why won’t they let go and give it to him?

Everyone is so angry at him, or busy pitying him, that he’s left alone with this. While reading this scene I’m filled with a strong disconnect. He is surrounded by his friends but everyone is far away from him. Their goals have never been farther apart than this moment.

He’s always been one step ahead.

He’s always been ready. He’s always waiting.

And then he stabbed himself in the heart, and everyone but him felt the shift in the stars.

And then the next scenes are his friends trying to wrestle the responsibility out of his white-knuckles hands. They fight for it! Yet all the way until the orb’s time to explode, he holds onto it with an iron grip. I don’t even think he realized they were trying to take it out of his hands.

He kills the White Star, he Embraces the Ancient Powers, and he even manages to Embrace the Sealed God into the book and take over the temple in one move. We get to see everyone’s reactions to his stubbornness too.

So they become twice as stubborn. They cough up blood, they faint, they do 200% of what they’re naturally capable of. Why?

Because they saw Cale do it first. Because they refuse to let him do it again.

And Cale?

He can’t say anything.

Every day I wake up thinking about how Cale's transition from hunk to twink is revolutionary.

Like, in other isekai, you get those plain dudes who turn into cute twinks sure, but it's instant. They transmigrate, and it's a new skin bag for them. They didn't earn that prettiness. They just up and died, and god decided to bless them.

Cale had to be lazy during war time and twinkify himself. He said god is useless, and he had to roll up his own sleeves for it.

I think that's powerful.

Some doodles as well!!

I was reading abralhugres ' "one last death" and "I'll save you when you're weak"

Cale is so trustworthy because he’s very good at payment. Exchanging “equal” goods, even if they may not seem equal in his eyes. He sees his own priorities as more important and naturally thinks that he’s ripping off the other person, when actually they are likely benefitting as much or more as Cale himself. Even in something like emotional stability or feelings of safety and security. He doesn’t always give visible benefits, and helping them out is usually not inconvenient for them. In a similar way, his tasks aren’t usually inconvenient, and the benefits he receives are for the future and inconceivable to anyone without context.

He has very low empathy, in that regard. In most regards, actually. He can sacrifice himself, and manipulate people, and use his glib tongue, but his actually empathy is extremely low. Even when everyone is openly concerned for him— he doesn’t recognize it. It’s “weird.” “Disturbing.” He gets put off by people looking at his with admiration, because, he doesn’t feel like he did anything amazing? He just said a few well words? Why is everyone looking at him like he just something profound?

He’s smart, but he can’t easily connect to outsiders feelings. He does and says when he wants to— and predicting the outcome is his specialty— except when it comes to positivity. He prepares for the negative, he anticipates it.

He just… doesn’t understand how to comprehend when it’s not seeing him in a bad light.

How to write a negative character arc

Here’s the simplest way to break down the building blocks of a negative character arc in your novel!

Here’s the A-Z on negative character arcs

It’s totally possible to pull off a negative character development, for ANY person in your story, whether that’s a side-character, villain, or the protagonist.

Here’s something no one tells you, but it’s actually fundamentally simple.

You can do this with a very easy formula. Typically, a positive arc means that you set out with one main character flaw/issue, which that character overcomes by the end of the story.

So all you need is:

a flaw your character NEEDS to overcome

a goal they WANT to achieve

For a positive arc, they’d succeed at their NEED. Then maybe their WANT as well. For a negative, they simply never fulfil their NEED.

This means they never overcome the flaw they are supposed to face. In fact, they ignore it so confidently, it becomes a PROBLEM. They will never truthfully own up to their mistakes.

This is where you can let it get worse, let it develop into fatal flaw, and let more issues arise from it. As for their WANT? They’ll usually put their external goal above everything else, and dig themselves even deeper into personal disarray, where they won’t recognize themselves any longer.

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it is canon that:

Noelle would mercilessly grind her Catz to get the right combination, eliminating all Catz that strayed from her path

Noelle has a morbid curiosity, and it gives her the determination to see scary and messed up things, like videogame creepypastas, despite her emotional response to cry and fear

I conclude that:

Noelle could complete an Undertale No Mercy route

Noelle would stream her No Mercy Playthrough and be an instant hit, because everytime someone dies, Noelle spends 5 minutes grieving the person she just killed