Both of my kiddos have an interesting relationship with the gods. DJ is from a world where gods DID interact with the common folk, pulling things from different realms and causing trouble quite a bit above his pay grade. But it did happen

So he got to ryslig and was basically like OH. Fuck okay that sucks for me i guess. He doesn’t like it, but hes.... adjusting. Slowly

Of course he misses his family. Of course he misses his friends. Of course he doesnt like it here

So fog alliance is out on the curb, hes got no interest in staying or the kind of deals she might offer thanks

But Elias... is a kid.
And the one thing more dangerous in his mind than a deal making eldritch unknowable being that tried to manipulate you.... is a child, hurt and abused given more power than they could ever handle

So he is neutral, is staying neutral, and will talk your ear off about it if you ask. Nobody just has yet, bc well. Why would they? He knows hes an idiot

So hes just focusing on the positive aspects of this place. His job, his friends, and putting the rest aside

Which is wonderful to play!! I love having a character who looks at the god conflict and says “dude i just live here”

Celeste has complex feelings BIG SHOCK i know. But in the end is going to ally with the fog, but simply out of power greed!

She doesnt like the fog at all!

She’s strange, and manipulative, and extremely inhuman. She rings so many alarm bells that Celeste has lived her whole life trying to watch out for

Her/her followers insistence that the monsters of ryslig were “chosen” because they were special reminds her a LOT of hopes peak rhetoric and NOOOTHANKS

But, that being said. The fog is useful and celeste likes not being dead thank you very much

And Celeste. Wants power

And she doesn’t under any circumstances want to leave ryslig bc to her that’s literally just... death

More than that. She H A T E S Elias (sorry. I promise i like him!) she doesnt like the wsy he conducts himself, she doesnt like his arrogance, and she thinks his followers are by and large quite selfish

Because every one of them shes talked to has been very focused on what THEY were doing and what THEY have waiting for them. And shes like cool.... you wanting to go home actively fucks up everyone else. She can actually totally understand the want to go home

But if you jump ship, whos to say elias isnt going to start trying to nerf people??? You have no way of knowing what effects your actions will cause

She loves reira tho

We are all stan reira

Anyway this is the part where my hands hurt and im just gonna point at triska’s plurk bc they had an Excellent breakdown of yoki and other creatures and why a japanese character would have an overall different perspective on the fog

golf clap excellent meta

And they’ve basically broken down all my own thoughts as well

LMAO thanks

*YOKAI FUCK i swear to god

its so neat how people's like.....religious/cultural context informs how they see the gods

that's always interesting!!

spartabitch: Its SO interesting!! Its one of the things i love about playing both Celes and Deej

But yeah. Shes slowly slipping in the foggie direction because more than anything she wants to be able to protect herself. And because a lot of Elias’ followers outright refuse to meet her on the level of “I understand YOUR circumstances but what about everyone else?”

so. Spite lol

She likes being able to crow that shes neutral though, at the moment. Because she has so many fog aligned friends and she can be involved with things like the cube

And then wave her hands and be like HEY!!!! I DONT LIKE OR WORSHIP THE FOG!!! Anywone wanna talk it out with me!!???

Shocker fucking Not A Single person crying religious terrorism interacted with her

WOW I WONDER WHY but you know. Okay

So shes still holding neutral for at least another month or two juuuust in case it circles back

Because “i dont like her at all actually” is a lot more believable if she isnt pledged

honestly if anyone tries to start shit with celeste about it gabe will stop ignoring the people crying religious extremism

it'll be ok. clearly you want to have an argument and i am actually the fucking nuts religious one lets go

LMAO gabe just standing behind her with a knife like “don’t”

he's so happy being people's scapegoat for arguments because it's evening entertainment. he shows monty the messages and they have a laugh and some whiskey

She just is sitting here like “why. Are people so stupid” lol

celeste and souda: we're not foggies and we helped
lots of people: RELIGIOUS-

DEADASS lol which just makes her constant instinct of “okay u call me something enough times ill show you how much of a menace i can be” just like. ooooooh its tempting

Shes like look. Im not religious. In fact im extremely ANTI religion bc of my own trauma. I will discuss that if you keep being shitty at my friends

And no one is literally paying her ANY mind

Which turns to “oh. Well okay guess i better get the bat”

celeste is horatio's +1 to fog brunch because it's very much yes we talk SOME shop but mostly this is a hang out

GOOD SHIT

YES GOOD

Yeeeee

So of all the foggies she might actually be one of the better ones to talk to in the end. She has a VERY cynical approach

And she’s going to be extremely shameless about it

good for her

mukuro and celeste handshaking over "yeah yokais are just like that tho"

“You all think the fog is your mom-“

Celeste “nope. Try again.”

“We have a mutually beneficial business arrangement”

triskahyena: FORREAL

shakes head @ american religious punishment system culture,,,

kabunevermind: ^^ same
I play celeste as growing up in a shitty religious orphanage so she’s got a bit of the punishment thing but now is trying very hard to move past it. For several reasons from her v little canon

we love a girl who is punished via religion and decides to lean into it by going fine i AM the devil now

Plus Japanese catholicism IS quite different

triskahyena: DAMN RIGHT

like i did a similar thing for my characterization with teen titans jinx (except it's american baptist)

(which: Oof)

^^yeah!!! I remember you telling me which YES 100%

YEAH

highfives

American baptist......../stares into middle distance

i don’t have Riley as particularly religious buuuut it’s like..... growing up in the northeast with particularly pressuring parents doesn’t help

also like, you know, overtures of the negative parts of Christianity in basic society, etc

even if you aren’t religious it’s not a stretch to be like, yeah, you’ve absorbed some of the harsher This Is Because You Are Bad ideas, esp if that’s what you hear in other contexts

there’s a lot to think about and i’m glad i am finally starting to feel comfortable delving into it and reading about what y’all do too

kabunevermind: yeah man!!!! It can be really cool to just touch and examine with a character

Like how DJ has no self esteem bc of classism racism and general religious undertones in America telling him he is A Bad Person literally his whole life

deej...

dj ;0;

fitz and jules need to conspire to build him up, clearly

working on it rn in a tag but yes. eys

Im losing it i love yall