Question meme

[stigmateyes]

I haven't done one of these in forever and I guesssssss things have happened. Also, I'm sick and bored. :(

So here's your question meme for Ryner/Night and Zero/Thorn.

Comments

[deadofknight]

What is the nature of your feelings for me, Zero? :?

[hunting]

You suck. :(

Well, first, Zero is severely co-dependent. To the point where people ensure he has partners all throughout canon because he can't be trusted to not do something stupid and masochistic on his own. This means he attaches. In Aather, this co-dependency is MUCH higher since he doesn't have his OMG I HATE EVERYTHING shield going from him since that would be counter-productive to working with the sometimes very shaky teams. Everything is simply too unstable to allow Zero to get by with his bitch attitude. No to mention, that that attitude bothers him so he doesn't want to allow himself to become like that anyway. The result is that he is a perpetual emotional wreck because well, Zero's life sucks. He knows it sucks and he knows it's going to continue to suck and he can't do a damn thing about it. He's an aberration that's slated to go crazy. This means that when he grasps for stabilizing ground, he clutches even more than he does in canon. And lol, yes, Ace is that stabilizing ground.

Ace represents the assurance and distraction Zero needs to not collapse under the weight of his severe issues. While he's troubled that Ace is willing to put up with so much from him -- because Zero is well aware that he is VERY HIGH MAINTENANCE and more likely to get worse than improve -- he also sees Ace as a constant. And Zero needs his constants. He does VERY BADLY when those things are changed. :x But more than that, Ace genuinely makes Zero happy because he always offers other, less depressing ways to see things and Ace has a very disarming personality. It pretty much catches Zero off-guard, thus preventing him from slipping too far into his psychosis. He knows he can rely on him. And Ace is essentially his rock. I am aware this is ttly healthy. And while it does dig at him that Ace won't talk more about his memories, Zero can only call him on it so much because again, he really thinks he asks too much of him. Even when he is less than comfortable with the caginess. Though this is beginning to change, as Zero starts to have interest in equalizing things.

Also, the blood-drinking contributes because it is such a private thing to Zero, unlike other vampires. And because he only agreed to it due to Ace's wish to help him in the first place. But because blood-drinking carries a very sexual context... yeah. Zero is aware of this. And while he will always consider it wrong wrong wrong, he can't deny that he doesn't want or find peace in it. Zero likes the connection :x This is also why the idea of cup-drinking makes him secretly bothered. He doesn't want to admit or acknowledge that part of him enjoys the contact. It's also important to note that while Ace's blood is not what Zero needs since that will always be Yuuki, there is a definite aspect of want right now. To the point where anything else is deeply less satisfying.

What does all this rambling actually mean? It means that Zero actually does love his secretly homicidal buddy, though he's still very aware of his love for Yuuki as well. He's also fairly sure Yuuki loves Kaname, not him, not that this lessens his feelings for her any. She's always been there for him and all he really wants in this world is to know that she is happy and safe. I mean, loving Yuuki is pretty much part of his SOUL, even when he's being a dumbass about it, WITH GOOD REASON.

That said, Ace's behavior in Odile's game came as a bit of a shock to Zero since he especially expected Ace to say his burden was missing Alice. Then again, Ace wouldn't be likely to SHARE that with ANYONE. But yeah, Zero doesn't know how to cope with being important since he's masochistic and passively suicidal and all that. Something that has been severely affected by that game because it showed him that his death wish would actually HURT Ace. Which means he's probably going to be thinking about it more. But yeah, it's hard to deal with someone caring about you that much, especially the cavalier way Ace talked about spilling his blood for him. Zero is just like /o\.

Now the physical aspects of the relationship are a combination of vampire bloodlust and simply the raw intensity of Zero's feelings. Zero doesn't like losing things so he tends to get possessive, without even realizing it. Though he does wish he wasn't such a mess about it since he's still having bloodlust control issues and well, he knows Ace likes kissing, so he'd like to be able to do it without that little BITING problem.

I TOTALLY ANSWERED THAT QUESTION, RIGHT?

Um, your question issss tell me about Ace's thoughts on Sterling. The knights themselves and his connection to them, I mean.

[deadofknight]

YES DELICIOUS RAMBLING COME INTO MY EYES.

Ace has few thoughts on Sterling! There are a few that he considers role models in the most literal sense of the world, which is to say they are people who he considers "good people" and are therefore good touchstones for what is/is not going to be considered "good knight" behavior. This would probably be, uh... Souya, Mithos, and Lloyd. If he was in a group with one of them and they said "No, we're not doing this, that's wrong," he'd follow their lead. There are a few other people he considers vaguely interesting (Ed, Lea, Isa) but that's about it.

But on the whole he has no real thoughts or feelings on or for Sterling as a group. Turnover doesn't bother him (with the exception of Zero, obviously), though he does view anyone who's switched to Onyx as a traitor in a really non-judgmental, impersonal way. It's just a statement of fact as far as he's concerned, and not one he's all that passionate about either. It's just, Onyx is full of traitors. He respects their right to betray! But that doesn't mean they aren't still traitors.

Beyond the commonality of Sterling all having the same job, he has no team feelings whatsoever. The best way to describe his thoughts on Sterling is that they're his colleagues -- but not particularly close ones. They just happen to work in the same department as he does, doing similar things for the same boss. That doesn't mean he owes them anything or that they owe him anything in return.

Tell me how Ace has tipped Zero off to not being all fluff and light? Since obviously this is super important to him so I'm curious in the ways his performance as Good Knight isn't working quiiite as well as he thinks it is.

[hunting]

It's less not Good Knight and more Zero, being a hybrid leader and follower, can tell he follows others in their roles. Which means he's interested to learn but not likely to do things on his own. :\ Which is why Zero tends to push to DO THINGS. He's trying to teach.

His issues with caginess are more uncertainty over the lack of trust than anything. But as Zero has issues with secrecy in all forms, it tends to make him edgy. That's Zero's natural state of being. He probably would pursue it more were it anyone else. :x He basically tones it down because he trusts. |D That he told Ace he can see memories through blood-drinking is a big deal in his favor.

That said, the way Ace talks about Alice does indicate Ace's perspective is a little... skewed. Zero sees this more as a quirk to nudge in a more appropriate direction. He doesn't SUPER JUDGE it, but doesn't approve either. :\

So basically, Zero does not suspect Ace of anything MAJOR but he's mrrr about Ace's dismissive attitude toward his longer memories. >>

Ichiru comes to Aather. Wat happens?

[deadofknight]

...Ace would not directly harm Ichiru, because he knows that would be a bad idea and that Zero still loves his brother (though he thinks it is super fucked up above and beyond his own weird take on things and that Zero would be happier if he just got over himself and shanked Ichiru post-haste). But he would be wary and passive-aggressively hostile towards him and...I'm not sure there's anything that would ever be able to change that. I think the deck's already stacked too high against Ichiru in Ace's mind.

Eventually he might take Ichiru aside for a talk :) about how much Zero means to them both :) :) and how much Ace doesn't want to see Zero hurt in Aather :) :) :) especially not if it's Ichiru's fault. :)

Reverse for Zero?

[hunting]

That talk sounds less than safe...

Well, Zero has been severely HURT by Ichiru so he's not going to run up and hug him or anything like that. There would probably be distant-ish conversation since it's REALLY OBVIOUS THEY'RE BROTHERS. And he would always hang around to try to help Ichiru out since Ichiru wouldn't remember anything at first. But he wouldn't push for anything deep like they once had. It's enough for Zero just to be around Ichiru and know he's all right. And there would be stalking. A lot of stalking. Because Ichiru would likely be on a team and teams tend to get into more trouble than knights. Zero would also acquire one of those glass keys. :x BECAUSE HE'S AN IDIOT. Also, it's easier to keep an eye on Ichiru that way...

He also might tell all the people he talked about Ichiru to to not bother his brother since he doesn't remember and he's just like them.

Zero is hopeless. orz

Same scenario, only now with more Julius. o/

[deadofknight]

He would pretty much run up to Julius and be all super friendly and tell him from the start they were friends. ...And I guess Julius would tsun at him but that's okay because he'll remember eventually and Ace is cool with just making friends all over again~ And of course he would stalk Julius to make sure he was settling in okay and that he wouldn't get into too much trouble.

But there would also be an element of information control because he'd really not want Julius to tell people about Ace's homicidal tendencies. So he'd be anxious about knowing what memories Julius was getting and stuff.

And I mean there would a lot of confusion and Feelings over having Julius around but w/e he'd try not to think about that too hard, just enjoy having another one of his most favorite people in the world around again. At least this way he doesn't have to worry about whether Julius is getting hurt without Ace around to keep an eye on him.

Reverse?

[hunting]

That's adorable. XD

LOL Zero would be SUPER INTERESTED in Julius. Since he really wants to know about Ace's world and also because poor Julius sounds like the type of person Zero would get along with from what Ace has told him about him. He would also want to make sure Ace's friend is doing all right and not getting too horribly topped by Ace. But Aather!Zero is also not an ass so he wouldn't ask Julius about Ace, though he would ask Julius about Julius.

Why do you antagonize my bunny? :(

[deadofknight]

Because your bunny antagonized me, of course. ♥

Ace is Booked and/or Darknessed! What do?

[hunting]

... omg um... it probably wouldn't be... pretty. I mean, when he lost Yuuki, he still had Ace to help him deal. It is nooooot likely he'd turn to anyone else to deal with Ace being taken. So he'd probably be a wreck. Sure, he'd do his job as always, but he'd be very closed off for a while and would probably reject help, in typical Zero fashion. Oh and he might care a lot less about death. :x Again, Zero doesn't do so well with losing...

Reverse~

[deadofknight]

S...Same, pretty much. Ace's Good Knight act would take a sharp dip and he's probably spend a lot of time fucking around in the sunflowers and/or chasing after harpies and getting the shit beaten out of him on a regular basis.

If Zero was Booked, he'd probably spend a lot of time hovering over the book, looking at Zero's page. If Zero was Darknessified...Ace might actually switch to Onyx just to be a spiteful bastard in Beauty's direction because that'd be the only way he could think of to hurt her for letting Zero be taken away. If he went the spite route he might...actually...continue to be a good knight for Maleficent, just to be extra spiteful at Beauty.

Any app plans?

[hunting]

Well, I already apped Toboe and the other one I wanted to try is a no go. So we'll see how Toboe settles in before deciding. I cannot cycle like other people at all. :x

Tell me Ace and Spitfire!

[deadofknight]

There's not much from Ace's end! He thinks Spitfire is cool and kinda of hot, and there's some automatic protectiveness thanks to Ace's sorta-decision to adopt Iolite. A++ would talk to and/or make out with again.

Are you really happy that I've apparently decided to adopt Iolite? '-'

[hunting]

Well... it's good that you're getting close to the teams. :|a He would've preferred a team that makes less bad decisions and has a few more stable individuals... but it's important that knights bond with teams too. Maybe it'll help Ace understand Zero's occasional team-dere. Soooo 50/50.

Who in Aather most pushes Ace's yandere buttons when it comes to their dealings with Zero? :3

[deadofknight]

Actually, not much of anyone! Ace is possessive, but there are few people that he views as a Serious Threat to his relationship with Zero. He gets jealous, yeah, but not overwhelmingly so, and generally chalks it up to Zero being Weird and Protective and that having lots of friends is just how he is. ...Though, now that I think about it, Drift is starting to edge into yandere button territory. Whoops! :Db

Who is Zero's favorite person in Aather other than Ace and why?

[hunting]

Jaina. He wishes she didn't think her life was so doomed due to the Sword of the Jedi thing. But she also really understands what he's going through as far as with his twin and all and vice versa. He really likes talking to her. She helps him wrap his head around things, even though he usually skirts her attempts to help him. He sometimes lets her do it without telling her because that's how he rolls. But yeah, Zero sees Jaina as someone important. And she reaches out to him a lot.

Reverse~.

[deadofknight]

Neji! He feels less pressure to be taking care of things around Neji -- not that he resents Zero, but Zero is definitely high maintenance, especially when combined with the fact that Ace is not really equipped with the emotional apparatus required to be constantly empathic and such. But Neji is really cool and with-it and sort of relaxing to be around, plus he was totally non-judgmental about Ace giving up his compassion in the Green Knight's game and that won him more than a few points.

Do you have any plans for Ryner and/or Zero?

[hunting]

I rarely have plans since I just like making stuff up as I go. Though I do want Ryner to swipe LOTS OF MAGIC so when he goes crazy again, it can be SPECTACULAR. Zero will eventually learn Kaname is an ass so I look forward to that. :3

And now I shall ask you for the reverse to your first question~. Since I think that's a good spot to end on. o/

[deadofknight]

This is indeed a thing I can do, but it's going to have to wait a bit while I get some other stuff done. But I'll definitely get back to it! ♥

[hunting]

That's why I saved it for last. :3

[deadofknight]

Ace is the type who saves all his emotional investment for a very few individuals. I…wouldn't necessarily say that he's by nature co-dependent, but he tends to invest so heavily that the object of his investment occupies a hugely important place in his psyche. In canon this is Julius and Alice (and the mostly-fanon hatemance that I imagine him having with Vivaldi, to a certain extent.). In Aather, the subject of his enormous emotional investment is of course Zero. Which means that Zero is Ace's Most Important Thing.

This has a lot of effects on Ace, some negative and some positive—it's Zero's influence, or rather the influence of wanting Zero to be his friend forever and ever, that makes Ace do his best to play the role of Good Knight. It means he takes protecting teams during games seriously, it means he tries to be thoughtful about the quests he gives out and to make them helpful or useful ones. At the same time, though, Ace's investment in being a Good Knight goes about as far as his investment in being bffls with Zero forever, and so it's rather fortunate that Zero is both a pretty good role model and that Ace is incredibly invested in maintaining the level of his friendship with Zero. This is why Ace takes so many pains to conceal the bits of his memories that he considers to contain things Zero won't like—not because Ace is perturbed by all the killing and whatnot, but because he is perturbed by the fact that Zero will be perturbed, and he doesn't want that. He doesn't want to ever give Zero any cause to think of Ace as anything other than a Good Knight, which is actually Ace's desire to never give Zero any cause to ever reject him.

And…well, Ace is aware that Zero has a lot of issues, but he also just…doesn't have the emotional apparatus to always understand what those issues are! To him Zero is full of weird quirks and flaws that Ace doesn't understand and at times thinks are kind of naïve or stupid…but at the same time he recognizes in those quirks and flaws a goodness of nature that he himself lacks. And…it's not that he wants all of Zero's feelings or issues, not at all; in fact he feels pretty good with his emotional stuntedness as it is. But it's…well. You know what they say about loving your friends because of their flaws, not in spite of them? That's his attitude. Zero is fucked up and sometimes stupid about things but that's okay, because that's the Way Zero Is and also Ace will look out for him. And he's totally okay with having to do that because, even though Ace is often fucked up about friendship, and how to recognize it, and what it entails, he still takes it very seriously and is a friend to the best of his ability. There's not a whole lot he wouldn't do for Zero or for Zero's sake. His skewed sense of self-preservation does play into this a bit, of course; saying he'd die for Zero has a lot less meaning when it comes with the coda that he'd do it because he knows he'll come back anyway, one way or another.

As for the physical aspect of things…well…Ace's possessiveness plays in here because he enjoys having another way to hold and have and be with Zero. He's not thinking too hard about romance because that way lies Alice and, well, that's a huge knot right there that he doesn't really want to think about, especially when he'd rather be thinking about kissing Zero. He loves Zero a lot in a platonic bro way, but not quite romantically…? It's kind of hard to explain, and I suspect it's going to be much like his issues with friendship in that Ace isn't going to recognize/realize whether or not he's in love until something forces him to face the undeniable truth that Zero might love him.

I think part of why Ace doesn't really think of Zero in a romantic way or even a potentially romantic way is because very early on they both established that they're in love with women who they can't have in Aather—Zero has Yuuki, Ace has Alice. And Ace is very good as separating sex from romance (but not romance from sex) so while the idea of carrying on behind Alice's back doesn't bother him, he thinks it would bother Zero. Except apparently it sort of doesn't…? But at the same time because he feels that Zero is super loyal to Yuuki he feels like romansu is really off the table (and, again, Ace doesn't really want to be thinking about romance anyway). But holy hell does he love getting to touch Zero and kiss Zero and have Zero and so for now he's just rolling with what feels good. And kissing Zero feels really good.

He continues to wish Zero would get over his topping issues though. Either top or be topped, there is no constantly flip-flopping back and forth. Or at least Ace wishes there weren't. :T

Let me know if you expansions or clarifications~~~ /o/