Indigo Writes... And the Void Spectates

happy pride month!! some aro ace Phantumps to celebrate!

Turns out that there's this ancient society of wizards who perfected the means of telepathically linking up two individuals. While early uses included stuff like espionage and such, early on there was an incident where a wizard accidentally synced the wrong targets up. It just so happened that instead of syncing the crown prince to the intended informant, the mistaken target was a young lady who was a shrewd political match, and both their parents had been looking to arrange the matter (but were struggling with the reluctance of the relevant parties).

With sudden telepathic bonding on the table, the couple took it as a sign from the gods that they were meant to be, and got together of their own accord.

The wizards realized the potential for matchmaking as a means of manipulating the political landscape, and abandoned their prior attempts at subterfuge (a limit of the telepathic bond is that it's two-way, so the target also gains your secrets, which meant a lot of them had to be assassinated after the fact.)

So the wizards converted their lair into an ostensible temple of the Goddess of Love, where people could come to pray to find their soulmates. Wizards were also sent out to arrange matches that would advance the interests of their cult, as well as some random ones just to help cover their tracks. As the influence of the Goddess of Love grew, new branches of the temples sprang up. The cultists were soon divided into two categories: wizards who still knew the truth and pretended to be priests, and actual priests who weren't in on it and genuinely believed they were helping soulmates find one another.

The culture around it goes something like this:

Not everyone has a soulmate, and not all soulmates are destined to be together in every lifetime. But if they are, the Goddess will bless you with the ability to hear one another's inner voice, if it is your fate and/or if you pray hard enough. Some soulmates know each other from their first meeting, but others take time to recognize the bond and open their hearts to the possibility of connection. If you're wondering why it took like eighteen separate meetings with someone before the bond manifested, do some introspection and consider why you might have closed your heart off or whatever. Like it's definitely a you problem, and it's rude to blame the Temple of Love, which is only trying to help people and has no other agendas whatsoever.

Also consider donating more money to the temple next time. Higher donations mean more priests can petition the Goddess on your behalf, and she's a busy lady, sometimes it takes a lot of petitions to get her attention. 👌

How would this factor into a plot?

My thinking is that a pair get setup as soulmates, and they are just absolutely both adamantly convinced that they are not. Like not in an enemies-to-lovers sense or anything, they just get the psychic bond thing and it's like, no. I don't know what's up but the Goddess of Love has definitely made a mistake. So they set out to gain an audience with her, but along the way they uncover the truth about the cult and its manipulation of generations of political marriages and business alliances.

It could be a metaphor for amatonormativity. Like some of the priests argue that even if it's a con, it's one that's been running for so long it's already steeped into the culture. How could the main characters bring themselves to expose it? To tell people who think they've found their soulmates that it's not really the case? Think of all those bonds they'd be threatening!

But then like, wait a minute. That's bullshit. This whole format for relationships has so many problems, and it's all working in service of manipulating and controlling people anyway! Why should they let the cult go on hooking up individuals that suit it? Shouldn't people know that it's possible to CHOOSE to make a telepathic bond with someone they actually want to? Shouldn't they be able to decide to manage their own relationships as they see fit, without some misleading pressure of fate or gods? And what about the ones left feeling excluded and unlovable because they don't "have" a soulmate? It's not like people are going to stop loving one another or finding themselves if they aren't being led around to do it this specific way!

So they upend the whole thing, and upset a lot of people, and then have to deal with the fact that they're still telepathically bonded until one of them dies.

Ugh.

tdl is terrified of tsc but doesn't want anyone to know it, you can't convince me otherwise

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“SAI”

(original post on twitter)

Inagaki-sensei, the original creator of Dr. STONE, is an excellent artist! When I read his storyboards (ネーム), I often thought, “He could draw the manga himself!” Because of his strong drawing skills, his storyboards communicated everything with remarkable clarity. I could immediately understand what he wanted, and there was never a moment when I thought, “What is this supposed to be?” He also occasionally sent character designs. Of course, I rarely used them exactly as they were, but they were incredibly helpful references. A creator’s design contains elements essential to the story, so I always approached them with great care.

For Sai, he sent a rough design along with something unusual—photos of a Bollywood actor, saying, “Sai is this is the kind of feeling.” In Sai’s case, I followed both his design and the reference photos very closely, adding only a few symbolic elements of my own.

(Archivist's note: This actor's name is Vidyut Jammwal. Boichi has previously mentioned this in this youtube video.)

These were the elements I added: 1. Since he is Ryusui’s brother, he shares some of Ryusui’s qualities 2. A sense of the “coolness” associated with Indian figures 3. Black and white to symbolize computer circuitry 4. The petrification marks on his arms representing circuit diagrams 5. Simplified hands (for a reason that will appear later) 6. Symbols of 0 and 1 on his belt, along with “C+” as a reference to programming languages

Some people ask what inspired SAI’s first appearance. It is, in a way, my tribute to Indian culture. I’ve loved Hindu philosophy and Indian thought since high school, and I think I’ve read around 50 books on it—Hinduism, Tantra, Kundalini, Yoga, and more. I often draw inspiration from them when building fantasy worlds, and also when developing science fiction concepts. Not just me—many traditional sci-fi and science enthusiasts are fascinated by Hindu and Indian philosophy. Even in films like Avatar, you can see Sanskrit influences and names like “Garuda” used for a flying vehicle. So when I heard that Dr. STONE would include India, my “This is exhilarating!” button immediately pressed.

As a sign of admiration and respect, I incorporated the image of Lord Shiva into SAI’s first appearance. In the referenced image, the upper left is Shiva, and the upper right is his consort, Goddess Kali.

The image of a many-armed deity was not just for his first appearance. I had planned to use it in his key scenes. When Sai, a mathematics and computer genius, performs calculations, I imagined him gaining multiple arms like a Hindu god. That’s why his hands are black—because I knew I would have to draw many of them. To meet deadlines, you need strategies that consider workload.

In those scenes, you can also see multiple hand gestures—these are inspired by MUDRAS from Hinduism and Buddhism. They represent that Sai’s programming and calculations are something spiritual and mysterious. That is also why the circuit-like petrification patterns on his arms extend outward. This is how I approached Sai’s design. And once Sai appeared, the story moved into “build the computer.”

ava13 spoilers

They never approach Joe and Cherry like 'we need to know the TRUTH about Adam' because they're too busy dapping each other up in an abandoned skate park. Reki gets hit by a car by someone connected to Adam and when Snake goes projecting all his issues he's like 'okay whatever, unrelatable'. Langa brings up 'I wonder why Adam skates' ONE TIME, and they're like 'it's probably because he enjoys it, no other possible reason'. They don't care about his shady past with Cherry and Joe. They don't care that he's a politician. They simply have two priorities and it's each other and skating.

Batfam head turn around

Full image under cut