#novamber

As for Fyodor (my November 11 lol) and Amber, I never thought of them as a pairing, much less what sort of interactions they might have. but ever since I read your idea, I have been chewing it over in my head! it's super interesting, and omfg this line punched me right in the gut:

someone living on borrowed time while the other seemingly has unlimited time

I mean, think about this scene:

smth smth by the end, both of them realizing they are at the end of the game, both are out of moves, finally Amber betraying(?) Fyodor (can you call it betrayal if he already knew it was coming?) where she stops time for one last heart-to-heart, and then in the present stopped time, since only she can move, she stabs him to kill while he can't move nor react (probs not feel any pain either), and when time starts flowing again, he would reincarnate into her body; but her time has run out beyond remuneration, so no body for him to reincarnate--smth smth an actual double/lover's suicide ❤️😭😭

they were both agents in MI6 and plenty of other intelligence organizations (February and November 11), annnd double agents while at it. nobody knows their exact nationality cuz they are so good at their work and native proficient with languages they can pass off as being from anywhere. (maybe, except for Japan lol.) they worked on many missions together before they went their separate ways (lovers to exes to enemies?). Amber as pro-contractor rights, and wanting to make contractors the norm. whereas Fyodor longs for the era before the Gates opened on Earth, and wishes to return it to the time when there were no abilities. He is deep into the whole Syndicate business, and has a finger in every pie across the world. same as Amber. so, they knew no matter how they kept their distance and didn't interfere in each other's business, in the final showdown, they will have that inevitable death match, for whichever philosophy (pro or anti-contractor) to come out at the top.

I dunno what his remuneration might be-- maybe, sing a song after the contract is done, so he sings a hymn for the soul of the last owner of the body he took over after they murdered him. that'd be eerie, no?

(so uhh can turn a bit problematic here, any romantic relationship she forms would be very short lived)/// hmmmmm I might be remembering this wrong, but if Amber never rewinds time, she is going to age normally, right? she was using her ability recklessly toward the end, she was on a do-or-die mission after all, isn't that why she aged beyond remuneration? like, let's say she is 22 when she uses her ability, she loses a year in remuneration and turns 21. If she doesn't use her ability for a whole year, then won't she age normally to 22 again? (even if this is not how her ability works in DtB canon, it does for me in this little au lol)

and you are right about how contractors are probably dehumanized probably worse than ability users in BSD. cuz even in the last episode, this is what they are saying, like um, okay, ig?

honestly, I didn't ship Hei/Amber when I watched DtB then (I didn't ship Heiyin either, but it was very in-your-face and I didn't like it. I preferred Hei, Yin, Hwang and Mao as a found family of....contract killers? idk lol)

I made rendered versions but I felt that they weren’t as impactful

my personal hc is that in DtB universe, he knows to play most stringed instrument and maybe, a little piano? piano is all but impossible to carry around, so maybe he carries his violin? in BSD, I doubt there will be any musical instrument he won't know to play. if he loves music in all forms, and if he has indeed traveled far and wide for hundreds of years, he'd make it a point to pick up the musical instrument of that country.

on the topic of remuneration, how the hell did they figure it out??? Jack Simon, take for example, his ability is liquid manipulation or smth, and his payment is smoking cigarettes? he doesn't even like smoking, so how did he know this?? (i am sure some explanation is given, but I forget)

otoh, imagine if BSD had some sort of payment to use the abilities as well? Fyodor will have a musical payment, but Dazai?? hereby, I hand him the stupidest remuneration: wrap his whole naked body in bandages every time he uses No Longer Human (this is payback for 129) Atsushi's might be: eat 10 bowls of chazuke (cuz he is best boi) Akutagawa's: rip up a bundle of sheets into strips (I hear he does smth like this in Beast lmao), Kunikida's: doodle 50 stick figures in his notebook. ghdkgjkl it'd be fun having silly remunerations, it fits BSD style! Darker than Black was all so dark and gritty that they couldn't bring out the sheer absurdity of some of these payments. Ranpo says his is eating candies (which is a lie, he doesn't even have an ability. all he has is a sweet tooth!). However, I want Yosano's remuneration to be something more serious and bloody. so that we see all types of abilities and remunerations, not just silly ones.

Also, do you remember what happens if they don't pay it up as soon as they finish using the abilities? can they just accumulate it and pay it off all at once later? if so, then Fyodor can have one hell of a concert at home after being murdered by 20 different snipers lol. And like I am just realizing this, in DtB, most of their remunerations are external activities, right? is it only for Amber it involves her own body? it isn't fair or is it because she was the first contractor?

Fyozai is def my sunk Titanic too, but I knew for some time it was gonna be a shipwreck. cuz it was becoming slowly clear to me, that even tho two peas in a pod, Dazai wanted nothing to do with Fyodor, and only ever saw him as an enemy to be defeated. "to save the Agency" he says, but honestly, I believe he realized he was sinking back into how he used to be in the mafia with closer association with Fyodor and probs feared the guilt of breaking Oda's dying promise. all in all, he wanted to be done with Fyodor as soon as he can return to the Agency and stay true to Oda's words. like, people say it is taboo to ship Oda/Dazai, but you can't deny he was sorta obsessed with Oda. in Beast, he does everything for Oda's sake too, right? (isn't the question whether Oda would have tried saving Fyodor or would he have just given up on him as a 'bad' guy like what Dazai thinks he was asked to do? i have so many thoughts abt Oda's dying words and the way Dazai seems to be interpreting them, but I digress)

But Fyodor, he actually truly enjoyed Dazai's company, and in his own words, he was able to forget all his plans and enjoy himself albeit for a little time. but just like Amber, turns out all of this was one-sided.

I saw someone point out that Fyodor's reaction here was real:

her eyes are really catlike, amber, aren't they? cat and mouse parallels right off the bat (re: watch me stretch this ship out like a chewing gum) and they both seem to like fluffy material around their neck. I think she would love wearing his beloved ushanka. oh, so that only she knows his true nationality as he kept it a secret throughout his MI6 days (as I said in the og post he was a double agent for Russia before the outbreak of abilities). what nationality do you think Amber is? even in DtB, her real name is unknown. I bet she joined the Intelligence before Fyodor, cuz she is coded February and he is November.

I have been reading Amber's wiki to refresh my memories, it is short and mostly unedited, but turns out she was already an MI6 agent before the events of South America, and the Heaven's Gate. in this universe, so she knew Fyodor before she came across Hei and Bai. so, I dunno what relationship she'd have with Hei here.

oh and about Hei, looks like I really don't have any ships for Hei in the show. Ah, Misaki. Hei/Misaki is a good ship, buuuuut I am realizing that the problem is with me, and turns out I didn't enjoy Hei much? I found him rather boring over the season for some reason. I liked him in the earlier episodes, but later, I found the rest of the cast much more interesting. His fight scenes were cool, but characterwise? He is too much like the emo protagonists of 2000s, brooding, aloof, badass. but yeah, what I really loved about him and the series in general was that his moral ambiguity didn't give him a self-righteousness over other 'evil' characters (*cough* D/zai) and all the contractors are treated the same way whichever side they might be on. Another thing I couldn't understand was what Hei was trying to accomplish. Was he working for the Syndicate, aka anti-contractors? or he just didn't care if contractors lived or were wiped off and worked for them as the only means to find his sister? (ok but this might be on me. I forgot many details and this probs was explained idk)

anyway, back to Amber and Fyodor. they became contractors at around the same time, and initially joined the Syndicate together. later on, realizing the true nature of the Syndicate, she defected to form EPR. but for Fyodor, his interests secretly aligned with the Syndicate's, and he continued to sink deeper into the Syndicate. then as you said, she invited him to join her team and he accepted it but betrayed her when the time was up. his betrayal cost her a lot of members, and that's how her resistance against Syndicate failed 5 years ago. they bitterly separated to go their own ways, never to cross paths again. oof the angst gdkglk,,

Amber wants to make the world more accepting of contractors, and tbh I never felt the contractors are so 'hardhearted' and 'rational in their killing' as they were described. most of the contractors cared about their team, just like normal humans; but dehumanization goes brr, right? Except for Fyodor, he really takes it to heart that contractors should never have existed, they can never help their coldblooded nature, humans should never have mutated the way they did after the HG incident. and she had hoped she could show him that the Syndicate's method is not the only out for contractors. but after The Betrayal, she realized that he is too deep into self-hatred as a contractor, that he can't even imagine a normal world if contractors be in it. He really wants the world to return to the way it was before the contractors and the gates appeared, and feels he and Amber are the first to transform, aka they are the original 'sinners' (BSD) Adam and Eve core??

in the present, Amber has so far realized that taking down the Syndicate also meant defeating Fyodor, cuz he is their key strategist and most capable agent. And Fyodor realizes too, despite his betrayal and destroying much of her team five years ago, Amber has laid low underground and gathered more contractors on her side + with the ideology of making contractors the norm gaining traction, she has come up like a thorn in his side again. cue both of them assuring their respective members that "don't worry. you take care of the rest of their group. leave February/November 11 to me, I will be the one to defeat that one", because they know each other too well and are the only ones to read each other's moves the best. the whole "I know he/she will do this, cuz that's what I will do" shtick, yk? Novamber final showdown is amazing, great, world-shattering (in my head) (somebody write a fic for me please!!!) no any unnecessary prison games, but straight up stabbing to finish off their foe but also themselves, so their ideology can live on. it's like Sherlock Holmes and Moriarty falling off the cliff in an embrace?? hehehe that was the original double suicide <3

lol in any case, DtB ending was veryyy confusing and went over my head, with all those pseudo-quantum mechanics jargon. I was so lost. even Hei/Bai's ability: it was electricity (unique and cool!) but then it was smth at molecular level??? it felt like DtB was trying too hard with the concepts, it became an utter muddle by the end. similarly, the Syndicate is quite mysterious, bc they use contractors and dolls to carry out their tasks, yet they want to rid the world of them?? sounds contradictory. oh well, whatever. my imaginary fyoamber final showdown is all I am replaying in my mind now hahaha

but also imagine how much richer BSD could have been, if abilities were more hush-hush like contractors in DtB or vampires in VnC?? then maybe the readers would be able to understand that ability-less humans in the universe are the norm, and pro-abilities and anti-abilities gangs are two sides of the same coin; they are fighting for their rights in a way (like fyoamber's clashing ideologies) cuz fyodor believes he will only be accepted as a human if he sheds the part of him possessed by his ability (like hiding a mental disorder yk?), whereas dazai is accepted in an ability users' group, so he has found his sort of people and is able to change for the good? (aka fyodor is never invited to their depression therapy group chat lol)

the biggest casualty in all this has always been his own heart, and it would be cathartic for Amber to recognize this and put an end to his suffering...to make him stop punishing himself by continuing on this path.

ough what a line! you are so correct! here too, look at how tired Amber looks here. and Fyodor too. they were trying so hard and so misunderstood for so long to make the world better ever since they became ability users, but they were denied the companionship they longed for so long. Ok, Amber maybe had some bit of reciprocation from Hei, but it was still so awkward and robotic on Hei's part. (I was just watching this episode, and he says 'Goodbye Amber' so emotionless I am just *sobbing*) for Fyodor, the lesser said the better lol

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other random fyoamber hcs:

Amber was 27 during the events of the HG, and awakened her ability. It was Fyodor who noticed she was aging backward (as part of her remuneration) during their time in the Syndicate. At the time, they were partners so, worked around her ability and she was able to maintain her age in her twenties. She defected to form EPR and invited him, but Fyodor was ofc still working for Syndicate in deep cover. He was tasked to kill all of the newly fledgling EPR, but he couldn't bring himself to kill Amber, she was badly injured from the Betrayal, still he couldn't finish the job. she stopped time and escaped, later went deep underground to recover both from her injuries and betrayal from her trusted partner. the rest is as you said, going up against Fyodor means she'd have to use her ability recklessly. and she has been aging backward for so long. She timed her weakness (remuneration) so well that the final showdown will have no other outcome except Fyodor being killed by her, taking over her body and dying bc she has rewound herself to nothing.

Fyodor was in deep denial that he had any sort of feeling for Amber. it was all part of the plan, he was just leading her on for The Betrayal, she too would be better off without an ability, once all the contractors are dead we will meet again in the Promised Land, etc.etc., were all the lies he told himself. yet, every time he was body switching, he would be swallowed by the memories of the host, that he started finding it harder to anchor to his original self. at the time they were partners, he was less reckless about wasting his life and his body, but afterward he was super careless. staking everything for the mission, yk? cuz his mission is all he had to live for now that he had cruelly betrayed his longtime partner he had become a contractor *denial denial*.

(also, this fyodor is quite different from bsd!fyo cuz he has been burdened by his ability only for the last 15 years and knows well the world was before the gates opened on earth. He also makes a lot of mistakes, such as the time he accidentally let down his guard and answered Amber in his sleep in Russian which is how she came to know of his true identity lol)

First time my doing this, and I am not sure if I understand all of these questions right lol

I was so conflicted over the 'who confesses first?' question? my impression is that they kinda fell for each other over a long time of working together, developed from work partners to friends to fwbs to actually missing each other when they had separate, no-contact-for-long missions, and finally realizing they were in love with each other when they come out unscathed from a mission that upped its stakes to almost like a do-or-die. Even then, I would say Fyodor would rather die than confess his feelings. He was all ready to take his (wasteful for mission) feelings to grave, when Amber decided to take matters into her hand, and finally he relented in confessing at the same time that he too had been in love with her all this time.

Fyodor being overprotective or relaxed is also something I cannot decide upon, especially in DtB universe, where he is a contractor only for past 15 years and less jaded and worldweary. I think he'd be protective, but not to the extent of being yandere or being a hurdle to Amber's independent missions during their MI6 days. he will just be marinating in worry all by himself, or drown himself in more work so he won't. aka cancel out overprotectiveness with overwork lmao

oh btw, all of the above is before they turned contractors, and even before The Betrayal. Afterward, Fyodor just buries deep inside himself that he ever felt anything for Amber under his top-critical mission of destroying all the contractors, and tells himself that once he has become a contractor, no way he would still "love" her because contractors are cold-blooded and rational killers blah blah (lying to himself)