#hellguard

Don’t know which version is clearer but it does look like Zanka’s father also has eyebrow slits and I think there’s about 3 as well so I’m wondering if he’s also the youngest of his siblings or if it’s how many children he has? Also his hair is dyed red like Kyouka’s is so I wonder if this has to do with being the commander of the Red Horns?

It could be possible the four masks behind him represent the four units and maybe he’s like the fourth sibling out of his siblings making the Nijiku family responsible for all of the Hellguard which could be interesting considering this Symbol on the wall and how Corvus talks down to the Hellguard almost like he’s shaming them for how the family has changed their goals.

i would like to point out that this chapter is technically our very first proper rudo smile. the fact that ZANKA'S SISTER, way more uptight than he is, could tell that he was smiling??? and it was the cutest expression in the world??? HE SMILED. HE SMILED!!! EVERYONE CHEER FOR HIM RIGHT NOW, HE SMILED.

and it's genuinely so sweet that he didn't care that she was captain of the hellguard or could physically fight back against him, no, rudo is only actively trying to be polite because he knows this is zanka's big sister. even if zanka's probably gonna laugh his ass off when he hears rudo initially gave kyouka a hard time.

and those two??? JUST ALIKE. i'm honestly not too into zanka gender headcanons, but i have so many thoughts and such about his relationship with kyouka and the reason why he looks just like her in the way he presents himself. has her attitude, tries to emulate her authority, lord have mercy that is just kyouka but blue!!! and the fact that she still loves him, even in a really twisted way, while he hates her... her dear zanka :(

and this may be a controversial opinion, but what i'm most glad about is the fact that kyouka and rudo do end up just having a casual conversation. i never thought the hellguard would be these big, villainous, abusive figures toward our protagonist!

aside from the fact that we've been made to believe they have to maintain a certain image and reputation, they areee cops, specifically targeting giver activities. but the cleaners aren't just random givers? they're a necessary organization, very essential workers and civil servants, that deal with trash beasts; something that the hellguard can't do. and as much as kyouka and the hellguard look down on givers, what're they gonna do if the cleaners went on strike? a whole lot of suffering!!!

so they HAVE to treat these people with respect, can't be too evil with or about them, and that really shines through in how kyouka talks to rudo. she's not inherently mean, she's as stern and serious as she normally is minus her cute lil code-switching moments, and didn't treat him with any form of hostility until he did first. she's only asking him questions, even sarcastically commenting at him not dissimilarly to zanka, and it shows that she's human too!

i'm not a lore or theorizing person so i'm not gonna even TRY to speak on the connection to the sphere and the ground, just know i still think the sphere is the moon and no one will ever take that from me

something that really stood out to me was the notion that "you can't be a giver on the sphere" because, aside from the lore implications of it, i think that's due to the detached nature everyone has from objects. even rudo, someone who was essentially born to be a giver, being unable to activate 3R because everyone around him besides regto talked down on them as "just dirty gloves". that mindset, even if he didn't agree with it, seeped into everything! it also makes me think of my "chiwa got dropped too" AU and how SHE wasn't incapable of becoming a giver, but it happened very belatedly because she held onto the mentality she was raised with on the sphere

This was one of the og artist's tag but I'll of course explain a bit.

⚠️ Trigger warning for Rape

In the novel The Pandora Principle, the children of Hellguard, among which is Saavik, are born on a Romulan Colony of a Romulan parents and a kidnapped Vulcan parents, following experiments and abuse of the cycle of pon farr to conceive them... basically its rape.

or maybe even heather and eddie coming face to face (doesn’t have to be shippy—i just need to see them being haters in the same frame for sanity purposes)

Oh girl FINALLY an excuse to draw Heather! I love her so much it’s actually not even funny 😭

This is obviously not canon Heather, I love her too, but I dunno, I wanted to give some rep for the Afro-Latinas!