Hello hello! A very long time ago (Doujima 2023???) I bought your Octopath II poster and two stickers… They were extremely cute and I was so happy to find someone in Singapore selling Octopath merch! I have many regrets about not being able to get into the second game before I went Tokyo and saw the Octopath cafe… (only ended up buying merch for the first game) so I was so happy to find some at your booth!

I would like to know if you plan on attending any other SG cons in the future with more Octopath merch! And if perhaps, you’ve ever considered helping host an Octopath fan cafe… I’m very unsure about the Octopath community in SG; I don’t know if it’s feasible/you have enough fellow fans you know well to even begin to plan a cafe with, but just know you will have my eternal support if you do!!!

-🧊

I THINK THE WORST PART IS THAT ALMOST EVERYONE HIKARI HOLDS IN HIGH REGARD EITHER VIEWS HIM NEGATIVELY OR HAS COMPLICATED FEELINGS ON HIM FKDGDKHSJ o|-< how is hikaris life to the point where his antagonistic relationship with his biological brother is the most straightforward relationship he has. me with my self indulgent hc where hikari is a disney princess because if he cant be liked by people he needs to be liked by all manner of animals (delusionally spawned from that one cutscene at the start where hikari rides a horse. horsegirl hikari is real. TO ME)

i do like to hc that hikaris ch5 is one of, if not the last chapter to be done in an order that makes most sense sequentially...... cause ironically enough. his final chapter is actually one of the least urgent FKDHKHDS everyone else aside from throne has a very clear deadline (even agneas dance off 😭) or an active threat for their final chapters which cant be put off so. once everyone elses business is done and dusted hikari just brings the entire gd cavalry to take back ku. oboro watching from his perch as a multicoloured rainbow group of travelers crest a sand dune and approach threateningly

i fr thought that hikaris story would end with him accepting his shadow cause of yin yang imagery ykno..... needs to be balanced..... and methinks it would be more compelling if hikari embraced that part of him which also reflects all of kus atrocities and still does his best to carve a new path forward for ku..... and also how that might affect his final confrontation with oboro who was consumed by the shadow..... but whatever i can be delusional and pretend thats how his arc Did conclude in the 8path 2 longfic that exists solely in my brain

oh my god i was only thinking of older!ritsu from his perspective BUT YOU MAKE A VERY GOOD POINT WITH HIKARI CLINGING TO RITSU AS AN ELDER BROTHER FIGURE TO FILL IN THE VOID MUGEN LEFT...... (has been converted to an older ritsu believer) this really shaping up to be one of those brain chemistry altering homoerotic friendships that scar you for life. regarding hikaris ch4 banter with throne, i think def a part of his competitiveness came from his childhood rivalry with ritsu, knowing them ritsu would Hate for hikari to pull his punches and hikari himself doesnt want to disrespect ritsu by holding back
FUCK hikari being jaded after his mom got killed in part to two of his elder bro figures actions, but seeing ritsu and mikkas relationship and the lengths they go to to look out for the other helps him restore his sense of hope
ritsu growing up with hikari who is this unattainable ideal he can never reach or surpass, even though he is the older one, and then years down the line finding out that all this time hikari had a natural inherent advantage due to his birthright that he has always been rejecting..... 🫠

honestly yea i wonder about how genuine temenos' faith is.... most times it seems like hes super flippant about it but then other times he sounds like he means it, and ofc how he actively always tries to rely on his own ability and look at things from an objective standpoint..... i was thinking that maybe unlike the majority of adherents who find strength and hope in religion, temenos draws those same things from the sense of community derived from having the same belief???? so he himself doesnt really put too much stock into the practice but still uses it as a means to connect with others?? which would kinda explain why he tends to sound more earnest when invoking the sacred flame stuff to other people..... idk lol but ofc growing up in a church he will still feel the religious guilt creep in no matter how detached he might be from it all LMAOOO i would know as a person who spent a decade in catholic schools and still experiences religious guilt despite not having a belief 👍
👀 hikari who gives thanks both at the start and end of his meals getting curious about temenos' meal rituals since he is also the only other traveler who has such habits 👀

HELPPPP [ku npc vc] why does the king of ku/that strange proselytiser call you babygirl FKFHDKGSF...... im just thinking about how hikari is probs too busy to know too much of the rumour mill but temenos who comes and goes often and mingles with the townfolk is just subjected to all the harassment first hand..... him and his ambiguous relationship with the king is the hot topic amongst middle aged and elderly gossip circles at teahouses and they are NOT shy about it. every day temenos gets subjected to gossipmongering in ku then is ran circles around by beastling children who poke at his prone body lying in the dirt when he collapses from exhaustion (he is content)

REALLLL idc "doubt is what i do" / "then let trust be what i do" is so canon to me. i was kinda disappointed temenos' banter with hikari didnt touch on that betrayal at all, and that throne didnt even Have a banter with him..... would have wanted to see one of them warn hikari pre rai mei and the other advice him post rai mei but whatever its fine. wanted to see a therion/cordelia esque convo regarding trust between those three but ITS FINE.
YEA FAIR ochette didnt escape unscathed either 😭 stormhail (derogatory)
FKFBDKDBS one never truly escapes the haikyuu trenches <- person who got dragged back into it during the height of covid
osvalds vidania dialogue was really short but it felt genuine, like he def ended up in a vastly better position than when he started his journey and hes truly reignited his sense of hope and it shows..... on the other hand temenos sounds so bleak, as though he doesnt truly believe what hes saying, and hikaris being centered around oboro is so 🫠 they have been through the Horrors^TM
and that really lines up with temenos' character doesnt it...... taking on the dirty work to pave the way for someone brighter, like he did with roi, trying to protect the people he sees as the embodiment of light and hope..... throws up and dies

yea i really would wanna know more of what happened during the timeskip in hikaris ch1..... im sure ritsus resentment built up for a Long time but i keep wondering whether there was some straw that finally broke his back in those three years..... i can kinda excuse that maybe ritsu just spent all his time in the castle but its kinda strange that hikari didnt even see mikka either, whos still been living in castle town this entire time

FNDBDSHDM youre so real for that. hikaris ponytail can stay on during sex if hes lying on his front [i am forcibly pulled off stage] this reminds me but ykno of those posts where men say they started developing a pavlovian reaction to their girlfriends pulling their hair back into a ponytail? that but temenos when hikari lets his hair down fhdjshsds [i am forcibly removed from the room] i still think it was a missed opportunity to not get more hairstyle variation for hikari (osvald too), i wanted to see him in a bun. or a braid. or half up half down :( i really liked seeing the different hairstyles primrose and ophilia got (apothecary primrose my beloved) so i was hoping the long haired men in 8path 2 would get that same energy

in pursuit of elena doesnt quite have the same ring to it but it reminds me of haanits for master..... and yea hikaris motif being for home is so 🥹 his goal was the one that def snagged my interest most pre release. for kingship works too but i like to think of his home as encompassing both ku itself, which he does love dearly, and also the people he loves..... calling back to his promises to tsuki, his father, and ritsu to make ku a better place once he takes up the crown.....
I SAWWWW YOUR FLOWER ARTWORK you are always so correct 🙏 it really is interesting to think about how the 🌼🗝️👁️🏯 quartet in particular have such close and diverse relationships with death.... hikari and throne both bring death but for hikari its a personal failure whilst for throne its a mark of success, castti tries to prevent death or at least make peace with it, and temenos usually only arrives at the scene of death and works with corpses. considering the roles they play with death, throne and temenos can separate themselves enough from it to not be extremely affected by the deaths that dont personally involve them, but yea for castti and hikari they both see every death as a preventable thing they simply failed to stop.... i think castti in particular is self aware enough to know that its unhealthy to think that way (esp post trousseau) and that as a professional healer she needs to have that sort of boundary but she clearly still cant help but feel guilt over all the people she couldnt save, whilst for hikari its very much like a. 'my ideals werent enough to convince them' self flagellation thing....

👀 omg.... 👀👀👀 its not even entirely unfeasible either cause the moonshades ultimate goal in ku is to get ahold of mugens darkblood blade and after kuras death it seemed like no one aside from rai mei would have noticed hikari disappear. oboro wanted hikari to turn traitor and overthrow mugen, so he also purposely fanned the flames between mugen and hikari, in an effort to embitter hikari completely..... maybe also advised jiro to stay distant from hikari in order to protect him from mugen, and tried to isolate hikari completely before the unexpected appearance of ritsu and mikka foiled that plan..... me, looking at any aspect of hikaris backstory: how can i make this about oboro

seeing hikaris ch1 gang interacting with his shadow will fix me (a lie) (i would have become more insane) cause all three of them would have such different reactions to it..... oboro in particular intrigues me cause if we're going by the delusion that his initial plan was to try and turn hikari over to the moonshade orders side, he probs would looked at hikari and went "i can make him worse" fkfbdldbds
i also think it would have been so cool and epic (read: traumatising) for hikaris shadow to make a proper appearance in his ch4 tbh cause rai mei having to come face to face with the shadow again but this time without her brother protecting her, especially in this time of uncertainty for her where she has to choose between placing her faith in hikari or submitting to mugen...... giggles insanely
EXACTLY temenos' appeal is that hes just Some Guy..... hikaris everything and hes just temenos /j but fr i think a lot about how temenos could have probs lived out his whole life in peace as an ordinary cleric but he chose to take on all the burdens the dead left behind and suffered for it...... he may act soooo aloof but so many of the major turning points in his life was him acting out of love o|-<

FJDVDKGDNDHS THEYRE SO FUNNY i think for hikari sparring is an honest measure of skill, and he feels uncomfortable having to deceive others which is a needed skill in poker..... even tho he himself is perfectly fine being the deceived 😭 me pairing up the most dishonest ass travelers with the most painfully honest traveler and studying their interactions like lab rats. but it really was such an unexpected surprise that hikaris earnestness somehow managed to break down temenos' and thrones walls LIKE THAT IS CANON. THEY WERENT EVEN LIKE DRUNK OR ANYTHING WHAT THE HELL. lives in my mind rent free

fnfhdkdhks yea thats fair, i think of hikari and agnea purely in a platonic/familial kinda dynamic, never really vibed with them as a romantic pair even tho its obvious there was a lot of art and text hinting at them. then again tbf i am Extremely picky about my m/f ships and get easily annoyed when it seems like im being pushed to like a specific one ehe.... side note the idea of agnea and hikari becoming in laws once pala and mikka officially get together is hilarious to me FJDBDKBD i think hikari king of ku should have formally invited the travelers down to the mourning festival when almost every single one of them lost someone of importance in their journeys to kickstart the epilogue but hey thats just my opinion!!!!

ARGHHHHHH the fact that theyre both so covered up makes me even more insane when i think about those accidental fleeting touches against the small exposed bits of their skin..... (fainting at the sight of a victorian maidens ankle energy) i indulge in the thought of temenos having to get close to heal a head wound on hikari and accidentally brushing his fingers against hikaris neck when he pulls away [dies]
temehika hivemind real⁉️ it really is so funny that theres such a common recurring theme in temehika works fmfdkdhss we have a Type 😔 something something about how both temehikas nighttime path actions are specifically about getting more information when theyre both individually hiding so much hehehe (just ignore how hilarious hikaris bribe would be in universe) not to mention how temenos coerce could specifically interact with hikaris shadow

also RAAAAAHHHHHHHH🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️ @ the spyxfamily temehika art i was the one who sent that ask fkdbdkdhs im not even a Huge sxf fan but the thoughts been living in my head ever since i noticed the similarities both character and design wise..... they are so gorjus 🫶 the yuri throne addition is so cute too fjdgshgs They <3

Hey here's the sentinel and guide anon! 🙋‍♀️ This setting is very variable, based on the author's own tastes. Basically the sentinels are very sensitive in their feelings and may go berserk when they couldn't control themselves (this time they may even have no self-awareness), and guides can help them calm down. When the situation is very dangerous, the guide need to enter the sentinel's mental picture, find and solve the core problem inside the sentinel's mind.
You know. I want temenos meet shadow hikari by this way. I want it badly...!

cant wait to see another chart thats going to look absolutely deranged <- person who 😦ed at the vertical axis on your 8path2 siblings chart FHDKGDJVS OH MY GODD??? hikari was the devs hated child..... or maybe fave child depending on how you look at things. gee hikari how come mom almost let you have TWO homoerotic enemies/lovers relationships?? and yea after hearing about how in jpn hikari refers to people as "comrades" i wish that had carried over to eng translation. him calling everyone his friend kinda cheapens the moments he has with the ch1 ku gang who are his Actual friends, and this is def an unintentional side effect but it also makes hikari so disingenuous cause at the root of it all, hes not looking for friends, hes looking for allies in a war effort fkdhkdhfdb me when i lie fr
RIGHT?? for the character whos very much metaphorically meant to be the light and hope, he sure doesnt have a lot of direct positive impact on his cast of supporting npcs (sorry hikari) its even worse too when you consider that unlike him, partitio and ochette arent like. Really actively trying. most of their redemptions were more of a byproduct of their actions, but the genuineness of that shone through to inspire others, which then also leads back to how a lot of hikaris actions contradict his words..... anyways im very insane over the ochette/partitio/hikari combi
the way i immediately went to learn sp steal for throne when she got 30jp, realised it wasnt there, then later found out that fucking temenos got the sp steal skill instead 💀 which ig is fair, i always thought therion was the most op 8path1 starter cause of steal, but also because he can self sustain both his hp and sp in the early game

therions good at acting and knowledgeable on discerning value, and partitio is a lot more tolerant of his respective thief traveler than tressa (esp considering he has experienced poverty before too) so....... wow partheri real /j btw the contrast between therion/tressa and throne/partitios relationships has always been so funny to me, i was expecting a lot of conflict between the thief/merchant again but throne and partitio actually get along quite well
the castti journey devastation effect is so real.... i remember seeing all the ch3 reactions on twitter, congrats to her (and temenos) for destroying the fandom HIKARIS BRIBE IS SO UNSERIOUS 😭😭😭 which is a shame cause i really wanna inquire info about ritsu and mugen in particular...... you set a poll about ritsus age before and i voted him being the same age as hikari then, but thinking back on it, i think ritsu being older would also make for an interesting dynamic cause then thatll feed even more into his inferiority complex with hikari 🫠 ritsus an overprotective big brother type, but i imagine growing up it was probably hikari protecting ritsu more than vice versa due to hikaris greater strength and high position in society

i really keep flip flopping between Emotionally unavailable temenos who distances himself as a defence mechanism vs Desperation fuelled temenos who doesnt hold back anymore to avoid piling on more regrets post canon characterisation...... but i can have both my slowburn and quickburn angst [me standing behind temenos with a bat labelled 'extreme internal conflict']
OH YEA NO i always get so excited weaving together the little hints 8path drops to map out the overarching plot..... its just so interesting how tonally different 8path 1 vs 8path 2s protags journeys end for the most part. it really feels like homecoming for 8path 1 protags (or. as close as it can get anyways. like with therion and primrose) but for 8path 2 i really did not get that sense at all fkdhksbs
THE WAY THIS ALIBINO ASS WHITE MAN STICKS OUT LIKE A SORE THUMB IN KU TOO hes never finding peace. local inquistor gets a taste of his own coercing medicine

"then let trust be what i do" HIKARIIIIIIIII 👹👹👹👹 stormhail is so hilarious to me cause its not even a final chapter location for anyone its only purpose is to traumatise hikari and temenos (and ochettes there to ball) and the temehika delusion that sprung up from that is so real..... FMDBDKDBS its giving that one haikyuu panel where kuroo and daichi shake hands whilst smiling but theyre just simultaneously thinking Ah. this guy is the crafty type. IM. IM GOING TO FUCKING EXPLODE the subtle way he challenges oboro with that too, with the knowledge temenos learned from hikari about their relationship in travel banters oogh o|-< temenos' vidania dialogue is so temehika coded fr (delusional) i remember you once pointed out before that his dialogue sounds more like hes referring to hope as an external source like a person (hikari/castti) rather than something he himself has, and youre so real for that actually.....

FKDVDKHSKGSJS CLOWN TO CLOWN COMMUNICATION tbh ritsu reassigning himself to work under mugen really was such a do or die move.... he would def get a lot more upward mobility and opportunities to raise his standing compared to when he was working under hikari, but if he fucks up at all Thatse It. whether he falls in the line of duty or he fails and mugen kills him himself. but then to ritsu he probs thinks its worth the risk that even if (when) he dies, he can at least secure mikkas future o|-< LMAOOOOFBDKHDS as an eldest sibling i can understand. we are very annoying

satsu ceo of nun hikari and EXACTLY.... its the loss of inhibition.... plus i will always just eat dog/fox x cat dynamics the fuck up love those fucking creachers
ochette did us all a national service cause esp in regards to hikari, i personally dont really like the look of long straight hair worn loosely, he looks way cuter with his hair all messed up..... but yea fkdbdkhsbs ochette looked at the two most orderly and well groomed men of the travellers and was like holup..... let me cook

yea thats interesting to think about esp cause obviously most travelers have goals outside of their main goal, but usually their "for/in pursuit of [thing]" is such a marketing staple and its cool to see that osvalds story actually ended up abandoning that goal..... it might have been cool to see osvalds "in pursuit of revenge" change to something else in his ch5 but i guess the only way we could see that change being reflected is in the ost names which would have been confusing.....
REAL UGH im so obsessed with the dual hope vs despair that embody so much of casttis and hikaris arcs..... castti being an apothecary who saves lives and hikari being a symbol of change for ku are literally such huge on the nose metaphors for hope but both their journeys are so hounded by grief and anguish i o|-< i really like the flavour of 'matyr who tries to save everyone' + 'pragmatist who just tries to save them' in my castthrone and temehika dynamics cause of that
AUUUGGGGHHHHHH ku places such weight on martial prowess that it makes me wonder whether even amongst royalty literacy and wisdom isnt that valued or prioritised.... it doesnt make much sense to me that oboro taught hikari specifically to hone him against mugen cause even in their final confrontation against mugen oboro was the one handling all the strategy and details..... at that point this just reads to me like oboro unwittingly got too attached to hikari and spent more time than absolutely needed with him haha god knows oboro has a habit of picking up strays haha throws up and dies
FKDHDKDHSJDH jiros retainers are basically just hikaris eccentric neighbourhood asian uncles who doted on him when he was young

we were robbed blind to not see hikari truly go apeshitt even ONCE!!!! the cowards wouldnt give the people what we want..... tbh that could have made for a more nuanced narrative in hikaris story, or at the very least would have made ritsu a more impactful character in the fandom.... you know youve written a good character when people wont stop fighting over them haha [stares in fire emblem fan war flashbacks]
temehika soulmate behaviour fr (foaming at the mouth) my first playthrough i kept noticing how at every chapter their journeys kept mirroring each other and i was just like. are yall being deadass rn? right in front of my delusional ass who will twist any canon material to fit my agenda?
oh interesting, never realised there was such an interpretation out there..... i can def see the similarities temenos has between throne and her story npcs, esp with their matching talents, which is p noteworthy cause even amongst other crossed path pairs none of them have similar synergy.... but yea personally not a headcanon i buy into.... i think its funnier (and also thematically more fitting and tragic) that temenos was just Some Guy that got accidentally swept up into everything fkdhdkbsvd

i generally have a Problem with getting too attached to my 8path starters (idiot who chose therion three consecutive times) but hikari really feels so connected with the endgame and overarching plot that its genuinely hard for me to deviate from him now fndbjdbdvs his protagonist energy is too strong 😔 AND YEA the thing that struck me as strange was how hikari Specifically went out to pay respects to ritsus dad. we know that oboro still had some means of contact with rai mei even after they all went their separate ways so whos to say he didnt also help stoke the flames between hikari and ritsu too. idk how ritsu would have fit into oboros plans in the grand scheme of things but its fun (devastating) to think about oboros manipulations going that far back 🫠
FHFJDHDKHS you know what..... thats fair...... partitio adopting all these newly unemployed depressed fuckers and giving them a new lease on life. mayhaps post partitio influence, when hikari and ori first properly meet face to face she wont even try to stab him

due to how honourable and straight laced hikari and also how different his station in life is from thrones, i assumed at first that him and throne wouldnt really see eye to eye, but they actually have this sort of mutual understanding and its really nice..... i think esp in regards to how violent and cutthroat thrones environment is, hikari is probs one of the only other travelers who can understand her on a more personal level. also something about how both of them were honed to be weapons, both for the sake of their respective affliations which value power, and, unbeknownst to them, also by specific individuals for the purpose of revenge..... mayhaps i just have a soft spot for them as they were my first two travelers but idc hehe throne hikari friendship 🫶 king hikari of ku and his secret shadowy companions who support him in subtle underhanded ways

my want for silly romcom fluff/horny dicks out scenarios vs my need to keep everything as canon compliant as possible and make sure that the characters remain true to themselves coexist in a Very strained peace...... modern aus really do scratch my itch for brainless wish fulfilment even if it means like. stripping temehika of most of their interesting aspects (the Oh he just like me fr trauma)

FUCKED UP HOMECOMINGS FKDHDKDBDS slap that onto the list of uncanny similarities between temehika right below 'dead exes' and 'endgame big traitor reveals'
REAL 😭 i honestly do like agnea and hikaris dynamic but agnea feels so removed from their crossed paths storyline, esp cause it was so focused on ku and...... agnea really cannot relate much to the absolute trainwreck going on in it 24/7. i get why the devs did it cause agneas def the traveler who represents hope most and boy do the residents of ku need that! and also for the dancer/warrior tradition but idk..... aside from temenos i would have also liked to see castti in hikaris crossed paths, cause she, like agnea, is also another traveler who embodies hope but since shes also gone through so much loss she can empathise more with the tragedies in ku. osvald would have also been interesting cause of the whole thing with yomi, and im curious to see how he of all people would have reacted to that, esp since he starts off his journey driven by vengeance but gave up on it by the end. tbh just all the tragic travelers should have just gone to see the mourning festival lol maybe throne and temenos would have lost it (person who thinks a lot about that one banter where they cried after hikari sang a ku song)

TOUCH STARVED AND REPULSED TEMEHIKA REAL i do think that because of their occupations they get exposed to some degree of contact but they use it mainly as a purely practical tool to offer comfort to others, whether as a clergyman acting friendly and approachable to the townspeople or a soldier building rapport and providing support to his brothers in arms..... but then privately both shy away from physical contact. temenos' aloofness also extending to his physical boundaries and hikari growing to associate touch with harm plus his distrust in himself, and them losing their families early on in their lives..... i need temehika to learn how to truly be vulnerable to each others touch in a way that isnt them emotionally distancing themselves from the act is what im saying

ALSO YOU 🫵 THE MULAN SCENE. DJDVKDBSFHDHS benkei is trying so hard, temenos' expression in the second panel is so cute..... thank you for drawing the sillys..... saw the art when i suddenly got sick whilst travelling and it temporarily healed me