#all i can think of of where we were attempted to be taught these skills is all a blur of confusion where ur given an assignment and go ?????

[tele-mesmerism]

is it like unfathomable to ppl on here that not everyone was taught the same things in school or were barely taught them or not in ways they could use or understand. like sorry i went to the alt school and was barely taught reading comprehension and we didnt like. finish books and a lot of where we shouldve learned to use skills was like. ok write an essay on this im not gonna teach you what ur spsd to be doing

[scara-writes]

sweetheart

Yandere Emperor X Consort! (F)Reader X Yandere Crown Prince(platonic)

милашка-sweetheart according to google correct me if im wrong!

CW: kidnapped, reader is look down upon by the nobles, infantilize, forced pregnancy, dehumanizing, mentions of attempt suicide, false rumor, power imbalance, worshipping, delusional(?)

NOTE: Crown Prince is at the age of 16(he is your first/oldest son). Reader is around 36-38. Emperor is two year younger than the reader. Also I don't speak russian everything is google (the empire is not based on irl russian empire but a fantasy world like the manhwas/shoujou isekai we read) and english is not my first language you can clearly see when you read the story. This is purely a fiction and I do not mean to offend anyone.

I DO NOT CONDONE ANY ACTION IN THIS FICTION.

MINORS DO NOT INTERACT

Running is not ideal for a 5 month pregnant woman like you.

When you tried to seek help from your parents for the first time, they never helped you because who would believe an illegitimate daughter who was frowned upon by nobles.

You are an illegitimate child of the duke and a humble maid who passed away shortly after giving birth, but despite this, you are a physically and mentally healthy child. You even managed to withstand the attempts of your stepmother and your half-sister to discredit you in the family, and didn't even find a help to your neglectful father who busies himself of taking home many women from brothel.

That was in the past but you were desperate when you ask for their assistance. However, you never heard from them ever since you bore your first child, Ize.

Ize your son. Your lovely crown prince son grew up to be like your husband with his teachings. You tried to persuade him to never listen to his father but he only shook his head and told you that all his teaching that he was learning from his old man was to protect you.

Afraid that it will stress you even more in this suffocating high walls to protect you during your pregnancy and well being, Ize-the crown prince would be willing to act like a little kid for you. He would occasionally brew you a cup of tea that you enjoy or give you a handmade gift, such as an embroidered handkerchief, to show you that he was thinking of you and that said skill you taught him when he was a child. Knowing the child, this kind of acts is for him appease the worries you have;he is different behind closed doors of your confined palace where your eyes and ears can't reach; your crown prince son is a different person who will be willing to shed the blood of others just for you.

And it seems that the morals that you taught him must have been thrown out of the window thanks to your husband.

So here you are after escaping from the hundreds gazes of a watchful loyal hounds around your palace you escape, it wasn't easy since you are carrying the emperor's second child. You heard on a passing by servants that the two tyrants had a meeting with the other nobles and the neighboring kingdom, this is a rare occurrence that the two left you alone. It took you an hour to escape the royal grounds before exploring around the town till you found a port that would take you to another country. This is your only chance to escape that suffocating palace that those two tyrants confined you in. Your Husband, Yuri can't leave you alone not when he found out that you are with his child-a second child at that. Even before you were pregnant with his first child, his wary gaze and infantilization to you had multiplied tenfold.

Your husband spread the rumors about you being mentally ill. But why would he do such a thing? You reflected to yourself and it devastate you to realize it was his scheme to prevent you from seeking help from his subjects to escape. Only the royal physician and your husband were aware of this bogus illness. It felt betrayal that he has to make that action so he can confide you more.

Your husband's scheme worked. Even your own son believed the spewing lies coming from his father, and the nobles never gossip about you as if it was a taboo ever since you were married to the emperor. Speaking ill about the emperor's consort was just as good as the reaper visiting you by the second you speak those words. Only praises coming from their filthy mouths were allowed.

No one bats an eye on you, even the servants who serves under you. They will bathe you, serve you food, refreshments, but none of them will engage or start a conversation with you. When someone last made an effort to assist your escape, a kind servant at that. The lowest mining pit, which is worse than death, The emperor bestowed upon them to be sent the servant's family, including the said servant. High ranked criminals labour in a pit there for 18 hours with a maximum 4 hour break the rest of the hour are for necessities like sleeping, with much less food and income. In short, a death torture for them.

You implore your husband to kill them rather than send them there, the only thing he said to you that it wasn't your fault they were sent there. Something along the lines of—"you were acting like this because of your condition. That servant was attempting to kill you." He told you that in front of other servants. Everyone compliments his action for 'protecting' you. His cunning red eyes looks at you that none of the servants and nobles noticed but you did. It was a warning for you to behave or he will do worse.

Yuri has never harmed you, physically. but he will harm others who want to separate you from him.

The only time you regret your decision is when you met Yuri—he was about to meet his demise by the hands of his brothers if it weren't for you stumbling to see him in the middle of the night on an alleyway of the tsvetok village struggling to breathe from the deep pools of his own blood. So you drag his half dead body into your abandoned chamber—which is rarely visited by servants—that your father bestowed for you when you were born. Aiding his deep wounds, helping him heal up, befriending him, falling in love—

You purse your lips and gave a small wince feeling your belly is starting to ache, the kick from your unborn child thumps under your long dress.

My child please, Now is not the time! you gently brush your belly soothingly before leaning on the lamp post that dimly lit the night. You sigh in relief when you felt the baby inside of you cease on kicking. Although you were a little further from the palace when you looked behind you, you still needed to move quickly. Right now, you assume that Yuri or a servant that was suppose to serve you had definitely find out that you were gone this afternoon and notify the knights and some of high ranking mage to find you immediately, but the sun had already been sunk by the evening. They must have been having a hard time finding you. A little more 18 minute walk and you'll be able to ride on the ship that will help you travel to another empire, or any nation.

"ort---s--ing!" you turn to your left to look one of the vendors of the nights were gossiping. A woman with her husband was panting, assuming he was running to deliver a news to his family. His cloth headband on his raggedy hair is soaking. He took a deep breath before repeating what he said earlier. A dread of fear rise from your throat as he uttered his next words,

"The Emperor's Consort is missing! The Emperor's knights are blocking all way out!"

You heart felt like dropping when you saw a nearby knight were looking one by one at the women nearby, specifically women who are similarly pregnant like you. Speaking of the devil, they are already here!

Knights in horses, mages running around the busy street. Some of them stopping women who has similar hair color as you to assess if they found the right person.

"Oh my! I'm hoping the consort is doing okay! She must have acted such way due to her failing mental state. The emperor must have been worried sick, I can't imagine the devastion look of the emperor especially their son!" said the woman to her husband.

You hid your hair with your cape and quickly blend in with the busy road of the night town. Muttering, "excuse me!", "Apologize!" As you force your way around the crowd. One arm around your belly to protect child, while your hand went to sling your bag with clothes and some gold coins. as you bump so many people on the crowd. You look edges of the town, at the gate, to see all the possible exits were starting to get block by the imperials knights and mages. You bit your lips frustration as you felt the hope of getting your freedom back is slipping away from your grasp.

Your plan of getting to the port has been discarded after seeing a two mage and three knights were on their way there. Even if you did go in town's gate the gatekeepers will inspect people who are exiting and entering.

But...

You look at the old man who was riding a donkey with his carriage towards to exit of the gate, fruits were laying under the cloth. An Idea quickly pop your head but you are desperate to leave this suffocating country so you have no choice but to execute it.

Your silent foot falls went behind on a slow moving carriage before climbing up silently and quickly, in your haste and desperation movement, you didn't feel as though you had torn your cape at the wooden edge of the carriage before taking the fabric that was covering the fruits that keeps them from dust and dirt. You carried a handful of fruits before slowly sitting down beside it then covering yourself with the said fabric and the remaining fruit fast enough before the knights from the gate of this region would notice you. You wince when one of the fruit hit your belly but not enough to endanger the baby.

"Have you seen this lady?" A man in his mid 60s look at the paper, he squint his eyes as he held his old lightly crack glasses to take a better look. Your (e/c) eyes look at the gapping hole of the carriage and gulp fearfully when you saw your portrait on the paper holding by the imperial knight.

"O-oh...sa-aw her!" you held your breath when the old man spoke. The two knights look at each other before listening to the next word of what the old man would say.

He lick his dry lips before continuing, his voice's struggling due to his old age, "If I-Im..not mistake-en the lady in the p-picture look like the lady I saw by the lampost o..on the rozahk street!"

You exhaled in relief since you mistakenly believed that the elderly man had just seen you, but he actually noticed you five minutes' walk from the gate to roza street. However, this would also let them know that you are actually close by.

The imperial knights gave the elderly merchant a nod as they hastily walked around the city, alerting a nearby mage to use a spell to track you. They quickly tell their subordinates for a new command.

You felt the carriage starts to move. Hugging yourself for reassurance especially at your upcoming baby that everything will be okay.

You weren't escaping just for yourself but for your second child that will be born. You don't want your kid to become like their older brother and learn from their father. Ruthless, and doesn't have a compassion to another human. You want your kid to have a brighter future, away from the blood shed. You hope that if you got caught or killed by your husband in the future. You will tell your second child to run away and never look back, when you are gone.

You ignored how uncomfortable it was to sleep in the fruits. You close your eyes and see the farm neighborhood that the carriage passed as well as the slowly dissipating kingdom that was beginning to appear as a dot on the horizon.

The abrupt shake of your ride woken you up. You hear noises outside the carriage and glance through the hole to see that light was creeping through, signaling that it was dawn but sun has yet to come in the horizon. What is happening?. You peek above the cloth seeing that you don't have enough visual on what's happening. A dusty road lay in front of you, and woods surrounded you. You turn around to look behind you and realize that the palace is no longer in sight. A sense of relief that you were indeed far from that prison.

A bunch of voices caught your ears, you turned to look to your right.

Your whole body went pale.

Your son-the crown prince was chatting with each of the roadside merchants who had just exited from their vehicle not far from where you were. The imperial warriors and mages that were conversing with the other sellers the same task as your son was doing just behind him.

You curse yourself, how did they come here to fast?

You need to leave before they notice that you are inside this carriage. Just as you swiftly escape your imprisonment. You carefully stood up, removing the fabric that was covering you and the fruits, ignoring the woozy and aches from your muscle pain for not moving too much from the entire night.

A creak was heard in your vehicle when you tried to climb down. Snapping your eyes back at them, to witness if they heard the mistake you made. To your relief, The prince and the other guards were still busy interrogating.

They didn't hear me..

You reach down and starts to stalk away from them, your hands were trembling. Stepping back to reach the wood just a 5 meters behind you. It didn't matter if you get lost in the woods, as long as they don't catch you.

No, you would rather live in a woods, in a forest where no one can reach you.

As you step forward carefully in to the woods, you didn't notice from your cautious and anxious state that your boots crack a twig, just like the cliché you previously read. The nearest knight snaps his head at the sound. He was perplexed before realizing that the woman from the paper in his hand resembles you.

"Her majes-"

You dash toward the woods. The imperial knights sought to catch up to you, as you heard him behind. You grab a nearby rock and shot it directly to his skull, and it hits him.

You ignored the yelp as he yells your honorific causing the nearby knights hear him and went for his aid, before they realize what he was yelling and starts to chase after you.

You felt the dress that was getting stuck on some of bushes and dried branches, resulting to have your dress to be ripped.

Heartbeat were thumping agressively, adrenaline were rushing around your body. One of your hands went up to your belly protecting it from getting injured despite your legs were now full of scratches and bruises from the twigs, and sharp edges of these woods. You feel your legs ache.

"Mother!" You faintly hear a galloping horses along with your son's voice behind you.

Your mistake was to look behind you while running away. You saw how your son and his guards were starting to gain just to bring you back to that hellhole. Your son Ize was reaching up his hand to take you back, his red orbs were full of concern and anxiousness.

"Mother! It's me,Ize! Please, slow down you will hurt yourself!"he yelled."Mother! Think about my sibling! Your child! Listen to me! Don't let this illness take over you!"

Poor child, he thought all of this nonsense that you are doing was because of your bogus illness.

You were about to stop when you saw a nearby cliff but a trunk made you tripped.

You screamed feeling a misstep when you realized you are falling, instinctively cradling your pregnant belly, protecting it as you roll down from the ground. A piercing scream was heard—from your son. Your head colliding to the three and it felt like your head would split open.

Your eyes were blurry from the impact. Touching your belly if there was injury. Atleast trying to feel your lower part if there was bleeding through your thighs other than your legs.

You look up at the steep cliff to see your son was sliding down, crying out your title as his mother. You saw his red orbs were full of tears as it glides down to his cheeks. The last thing you saw before your vision was consumed by the darkness was his hands reaching up to your head.

You were awoken by the sound of the chirping birds coming from the balcony.

You coughed, feeling the dryness from your throat. You eyes were blurry for a few minutes before clearing to see that you were back to the same imprisonment.

But....

It wasn't the same room you shared with your husband. Are you...even in the palace?

You took your time to assess your surroundings only to realize that the room has similarities of the royalties room that are exiled but it looked renovated, one of your husband's brothers used to live here before taking his own life. You felt grim about the thought of it.

After his brother's passing you heard from one of the maids that he turned it into a vacation palace for royalties.

It was different from the last time you saw it. It was much more cleaner and better. It looked good after it was renovated.

Wait, the baby.

THE BABY!

You eyes quickly gaze down to your belly. Hands quickly feeling around them, you exhale in relief when you felt a small kick from your stomach. You felt your tears at the edge of your eyes. It was a miracle that the heavens hadn't take your unborn child away.

I'm sorry baby...

They would have died from the stupidity you'd done!

You laid down to your right side of the bed and cradle in your stomach muttering a soft apologies and starts fluttering your eyes to go back to sleep.

But somethings not right. You felt like a pair of eyes watching you, looking at you.

Observing you.

You opened your eyes and look up only to see your pair of red eyes staring down at you.

Your husband, the emperor sitting on a wingback couch, his face resting at his hand while the elbow is resting at the arm of the couch beside him is a kettle with a cup that rest on top of the bedside table.

You feel your body tense up, you tried to get up and turn to look at your husband.

"Y-your majesty." You called but it sounded like a whisper. You don't know what he will do to you. Sure, he never hurt you physically but this is the first time you'd gotten far away from the place he imprison you in.

You gulped, will he hurt you this time?

"I-I'm... I.." you cannot come up a word,an excuse, what if he gets sick of you? What would happen to your child?

You felt your breath shorten. Tears are starting to swell up in your cheeks.

A rough hand brush on your cheeks before cupping it. You found your partner is already beside you on the bed.

He didn't speak he just let you weep as he brush away your tears. You stammer your words wanting to apologize. The emperor handed you a cup of water and you took it quenching the thirst from your larynx.

Once you drank it all, you hiccup trying to stop your tears from coming out. You felt his hands caressing your belly. "H-husband.."you gulped.

"hush,милашка."he commanded and you held your tongue and closed your eyes when he leans on your cheeks before engulfing you with his arms around you. You felt suffocating around him like a snake coiling around your body.

You feel tensed as he starts peppering kisses on your shoulders and neck before resting his lips to your earlobes, you shudder when he kissed it.

His right hand from your waist slid up under your loose sleeve before sliding it down, your emperor leaned down giving your shoulder a hickey. You whimpered trying to push him away but he hadn't budge an inch. Once he was satisfied he let your skin go with a pop before looking at the red mark he left.

The same hand went to brush your hair, tuck it behind your ear before leaning his forehead against yours. His red eyes held adoration, affection, but most of all obsession.

"милашка." He muttered closing his eyes sighing, he brush his lips against yours before deepening it.

He kept calling you, held you in his arms gently. The same arms that has full of blood that slay so many heads to get to the top of this food chain.

He laid you down before kissing every finger tips of yours and then clasping it with his rough hands as he called for you.

"милашка...."

".... my милашка..."

He pressed one kiss on your collarbone. "None of this is your fault..." He told you.

"... This illness will be the death of you."

Your heart broke for him. He really delude himself that everything you did to get away from him was because of your 'illness'.

"... Everything will be fine, darling. I will take care of you." He dampened his lips one last time onto your lips before leaving you in your new confinement.

[croquettish]

A Hans Capon Character Analysis

Part 2: Hans and Hanush

Continued from Part 1.

Hans' relationship with Hanush plays a considerable role in both games where Hans consistently tries to impress his uncle, but it isn't until KCD2 that this relationship (and the attempts to please) lead to a pretty blatant disillusionment with the nobility. Everything he learned, everything he ever thought he knew with complete and total certainty, ends up challenged in the face of the tremendous growth he experiences over the course of KCD2.

We'll start by talking about who Hans is as a person and where his personality and behaviors are coming from both before and after Henry meets him.

There's something to be said here about how growing up as part of the nobility is inherently dehumanizing and uniquely traumatizing, but I think for Hans in particular this is true. Even he realizes that his life had the potential of being just that little bit better had they been in the picture:

And let's be honest, even if it wouldn't have been better or different at all (let alone in any significant way), the fact is that Hans knows that something better could have been. It's even possible that he could have ended up with siblings to play with at some point! The idea of potential denied or just out of grasp for him is a theme that comes up quite frequently for him!

We know that Hans grew up under Hanush's tutelage if not in his love and affection. For Hans, that meant learning about how to govern a territory and learning to read and write, Latin and other languages included… but little else. I can say this with some amount of confidence because Hans wasn't taught social skills. At all. One of the most tragic visual examples of this comes from the meeting(s) at Raborsch. While Jobst makes his announcements, Hans is busy watching the other adults around him to see how they act and doing his best to mirror their behavior. This is heartbreaking.

@codeword-art made an amazing post recently about how incredibly lonely Hans is, and by god, they are correct. There are so many good points made in that post, many of which point to the fact that Hans has a LOT of learned behaviors. I've touched on this before in my Hanush meta, but @georgecostanzaatemysoup brought up the very good point that Hans most likely learned that negative behavior got him attention. But that's far from the only thing he's learned. As @codeword-art pointed out, Hans has learned that people treat him either like a "troublesome child" or like something precious to be protected. And when people default to treating him that way, even people who don't know him (!), he falls back into old habits. This is how life is, how life has always been, and how life will always be. The way Hans is treated has pretty directly affected and even shaped his personality.

This goes hand-in-hand with one of my all-time favorite meta posts in this entire fandom, which is this one by @antivanwine14. They make the incredible point that boar hunts were very social activities for nobles at the time. And that as soon as Hans finds his first actual friend in Henry he immediately goes to take him boar hunting. Hans has spent his entire life learning by watching and doing his best to echo what he sees.

You want to know where Hans got his personality from? I would bet good money that he saw the kind of commanding presence that his uncle bore and did his best to learn. Hanush is, in many ways, quite bratty himself. He's loud, boisterous, and gets what he wants. Hans got used to being called useless and did his best to be better. To be more like his uncle. Here's what Henry is told by the innkeep right before the boys start fighting:

Does that... remind you of anyone? Because it reminds me of Hanush!

Of course, that didn't get his uncle's approval either. So when that didn't work, he turned into a self-fulfilling prophecy. A kid can only be told he's a useless little waste of space so often before he starts to not only believe it in earnest but also leans into the suggestion.

@codeword-art made this point absolutely beautifully here as well where they talk about how people view him throughout Rattay and what sort of effect that would also have on him. In Hans' eyes, no one aside from Captain Bernard and Oats think he's worth anything. Yet that isn't even entirely true. When Henry is given the tour of Rattay by Nightingale, he ends up learning the following:

But there's no doubt in my mind that Hans isn't hearing "Hanush should hand over the fiefdom to you, my lord" but rather Nightingale's comment about how these people are fools. It's not surprising then that this fake persona that Hans projects is just a protective facade that he puts in place when he has to interact with the outside world.

Hanush shouldn't be part of that category, and yet he inevitably is because he pushes his nephew away emotionally at all times.

Need I remind you that when Henry goes to check on Hans at the beginning of Next to Godliness... this is how Hans responds:

Okay. Reread that.

Hanush. wouldn't. let. anyone. near him????????????

Like…… why?????? Hanush wouldn't let anyone near him except the priest who treated him like he was already dead???????? No doubt growing up in the castle must have felt a bit like being dead too! He cared about the friends he was drinking with the night he got in that fight with Henry so much that they literally never came up ever again. This boy was never socialized! He is so lonely he has no one to even spend time with, if Hanush would even let him! So whom does he even have to impress?

Hanush. Just Hanush.

And this comes up quite a lot.

Because he wants so badly to be loved by his uncle.

This is what really gets me in terms of his relationship to Hanush. Hanush is an objectively terrible parent. And even in spite of this Hans very clearly wants to categorize him as his uncle instead of just as his guardian, this far more personal thing, but still feels compelled to restrain himself from that in everyday conversation. Even if that conversation happens to be with the guy who is rapidly sliding into the position of Hans' best friend.

Moreover, we know that Hans calls him uncle when that isn't actually his role in Hans' life:

I've noticed that Henry does a lot of code-switching depending on whom he's speaking to. In a lot of ways, even despite the irreverence he exhibits at times he treats Hans much nicer than he does most people. The annoyance that comes up with others does not generally show up with Hans.

And there is a lot of variance in how Henry treats the people around him outside of that. He knows how to juggle the different worlds he traverses in his myriad social roles that he occupies simultaneously.

Meanwhile, Hans only has two settings: deep and vulnerable and personal... and everyone else.

Hanush sits pretty solidly in the latter category. In fact, I would go so far as to say that Henry's existence alone created the first category to begin with. Without him, it would not exist. Hans doesn't let down his walls until he meets Henry because he doesn't even know he has them.

Only at his most emotionally vulnerable, usually with the people he cares about most (and vice versa), does Hans open up. At the end of KCD2, while he's drinking with Godwin and lamenting the fact that his soulmate might die out there, we learn the truth of why he decided to take the message to Trosky to begin with:

I mentioned in part 1 of my analysis that he's talking about nobles as a whole here. If only he took the message to von Bergow, everyone would finally take him seriously and stop treating him like a child.

As he puts it when he meets Henry in front of his room at Suchdol:

But Hanush is at the heart of all of this.

Let's rewind a bit to KCD1 again.

I know we joke a fair amount about Clothes Make the Man and how quickly Hans starts throwing his gifting love language at Henry and latches onto him plus playing dress-up with Henry but there's a lot more going here.

The opening already gets me. It takes him 0.2 seconds to turn Henry into his emotional rock.

It's pretty transparent that this is at least in part about wanting to throw presents at Henry to make sure that he stays around (consider also the timing: he does this right before he knows they're both going to get a talking-to from his uncle... it's like he's trying to butter Henry up in advance of that meeting to make sure it doesn't freak him out. He didn't have to put Henry into his own clothes!!), but the fear of looking bad in front of Hanush isn't an excuse. That is a real fear here.

And we know these sorts of lectures are far from rare; if anything, they're a common occurrence!

So much so that it even comes up again in KCD2 where Brabant drops this line post-Maleshov:

Implying that Hans talked to Brabant quite a bit about his concerns regarding precisely this while they were both in captivity. This was clearly something that weighed on him heavily, so much so that Brabant remembered it well enough to bring up here!

This isn't particularly surprising. From the very beginning, he's genuinely invested in his uncle's opinion of him (not that that comes as much of a surprise) and ends up viewing the trip as a sort of test that he can either pass or fail:

If you look at his growth through that lens it is quite frankly heartbreaking to watch him go through all that he suffers.

At the tavern in Troskowitz, Henry suggests going back to Rattay, and Hans immediately shoots that down because they'd be a laughing stock and Hanush would never let him forget about his failure:

The fear here is net negative approval.

By the time the lads are riding out to deal with Nebakov, he's come to terms with the fact that this will right the initial wrongs and things will return to normal!

I think this is very telling. The best he's hoping for at this point is a net zero approval gain.

The prospect of Hanush having to pay a ransom for him briefly pops up while they're locked up at Nebakov. And then Godwin shows up, reminding him that he can't even deliver a letter. We're back to net negative approval.

Henry reminds him that it's fine! At least they're alive!

And then we're treated to a strangely somber look from Hans and silence, one that Henry also notices and responds to by trying to inject a spot of good news (their return to Rattay):

Hans knows how his uncle reacts to failure. Not just here, but in general. He's generally not given the chance to plead his case. Case in point? After Next to Godliness, he tries to explain the situation to his uncle:

And... Hanush doesn't believe him:

He knows that optics are everything here. If it looks like he fucked up, that's how it'll be taken. To that point, the night before Nebakov Hans points out to Henry that he suffered all of those situations just because he was "trying to do the responsible thing."

Okay, now we're getting somewhere! He's honestly been trying here, all for the benefit of his uncle. Henry can even ask if he isn't worried about Hanush will say, given that it's pretty obvious that that is precisely what he's worried about:

With that, we're back to net zero gain in approval. Which is quickly turned into a net negative again the day after when he's taken hostage. Again.

And then gets to spend at least a week (possibly several) thinking about how badly he fucked up and how much Hanush might have to pay in ransom to get him back. As we noted earlier, it's fairly obvious just how much Hans cares about that as per his conversation with Henry and Brabant after the escape from Maleshov:

At this point he tells his uncle that he fucked everything up (which just isn't fucking true, Hans, you are way too hard on yourself) and Hanush is quick to reassure him that it's fine:

Even he recognizes that Hans has grown at this point! Or... at least he says as much. I think this gave Hans a sliver of hope that he could actually earn his uncle's approval.

Of course, later on Hanush reveals how he really feels about the matter and this is, of course, what leads to the Devil's recommendation to just marry him off. My beloved mutual @audentesfortunaiuvattwrote an excellent post about how infuriating this whole conversation is, and I agree 100% with her argument and the follow-up.

Hans' real feelings on the matter are revealed after the announcement, only while he's absolutely sloshed:

Henry tries to point out to him later on after von Bergow's interrogation that he would have gotten Hanush's approval after his work at Maleshov, and it just...

... doesn't land. A part of me wonders if the announcement of the betrothal swept the rug so solidly out from under his feet that he lost any hope that he could have ever gotten his uncle's approval by his own merit. Which is also why he ends up sounding so resigned when he ends up talking to him later. Like he expected it to turn into an argument.

It's kind of heartbreaking to watch honestly. Because every time that Hanush is in the picture, you get to play witness to Hans grasping for his approval again with just that tiniest sliver of hope reawakening. While they're at Suchdol, that doesn't factor in at all. In this timeframe, Hans and Henry both exist in a space outside of society. As I stated in part 1, nobility and social stratification are meaningless in the face of, uh, hunger and despair. But as soon as Hanush returns, with him come the demands of the society around them.

All I see here is someone who desperately wants to impress his uncle. This is the sliver of hope.

Only for it to be promptly shattered into pieces.

And by the time of their end conversations, there's no repairing it anymore. Which is fucking tragic, because if you pay attention to Hanush, he clearly has no idea how to parent Hans. After giving Hans and Henry that lecture following Next to Godliness, this is his expression when Hans leaves:

These are two people that have spent their whole lives misunderstanding each other. Like, I truly believe that Hanush is doing what he thinks is best here (and, as I've said before, in many ways he's right! he's a great guardian, but he's a terrible parent; I go into that in more detail at the bottom of this post). In terms of being a good parent to Hans it just happens to be a sad miscalculation.

Part 3

[mariasparrow]

Warriors is Hyrule's successor and Artemis is Hyrule's granddaughter!

So I've been doing some thinking, and I've come to believe that after all the blood, sweat, and tears Hyrule shed for his country, the end result is the prosperous kingdom we see in Hyrule Warriors! And that Artemis is his granddaughter!

I think we have strong evidence for it as well! During Hyrule's second adventure, he reads from a scroll that only a "Great King" could. Zelda II legendary difficulty could be seen, in-universe, as a trial of Hyrule's worthiness to receive Kingship. Which the Downfall Era desperately needs after its Prince was corrupted and his sister cursed.

Through his skill and refusal to give up, Hyrule triumphs over both the monsters and the dark side of his own soul. And he retrieves the Triforce of Courage needed to awaken Aurora (the Sleeping Princess of AoL).

Judging from the kiss she gave him at the end, I'd say she's rather smittened!

(Art by Kikker-Oma for me from Fan Joy July, used with her permission- isn't she great!)

With the Triforce in one hand, his Fae-blood in the other, and Aurora at his side, Hyrule brings his kingdom out of the Downfall and into a new golden age with his power and street smarts. He is called the Fae-King and the Traveling King because he rarely stays in one castle to long -he loves traveling to much, and uses it to help expand Hyrule while Aurora minds court and their kids. She's called the Gentle Queen for bring back the old culture. Hyrule's Fae blood is why faeries are such allies in Warriors Era, in remembrance of their brother.

But of course, evil is lingering. Remember Ganon floating spirit fragments, and how they were locked under heavy duty chains all through out Hyrule Warriors? I'll bet that was Hyrule's attempt to beat his blood curse (TM), and that upon his death, he ordered his body to be split apart and lain to rest in separate locations.

Needless to say, Aurora didn't help with this, she couldn't take it. But she managed the seal to buy time...

Until their granddaughter came of age.

Art belongs to @linkeduniverse

I can't be the only one who thinks Artemis seems a little more...Fae-like than Goddess in Hyrule Warriors. She's wild, bold, hands-on and leads from the front, and has STRONG magic. I like to think a great deal of that comes from her grandfather. Maybe her parents died young, so Artemis was raised by Hyrule and Aurora, who adored her and taught her everything they knew. Aurora taught her music magic, ancient history and legends (and fashion, cause that didn't come from Hyrule). Hyrule taught her battle magic, fencing, and survival skills that come in handy when she's disguised as Sheik (he also taught her his thunder spell). That's how she can do Hyrule's sword beams with her kunai in the game. His pet name for her was "Little Fairy." She adored them right back.

It would be rather poetic, if the granddaughter of the most passive Zelda (but still interesting and one of my favorite!) ends up the most active.

When Artemis saw that Ganon's forces had defiled her grandfather's resting places to retrieve his spirit fragments she was inconsolable...and FURIOUS. She loved her grandparents and vows that evil will not destroy all they suffered and bled to build. She will defend their legacy will all the magic and will power she has. Fortunately, she has her own Hero to help her seal evil right back where it belongs.

[desktop-alt-f4]

I'm the opposite of that one ask, in that you view minecraft nothing like I do, but I am absolutely in love with the world that you've given me a peek into. Your skill and dedication to getting these feelings across, especially through a tool like mspaint, is nothing short of incredible. I love seeing things that I've never seen before, and I've never seen anything like your art before.

This is about to be the weirdest compliment, so give me a moment to explain myself, but something about some of your art, especially and mostly the speedrunning piece, made me think it was AI generated at first--not the kind of AI generated that is corporations and people trying to create something generic and marketable with as little thought and cost as possible, though.

Specifically, similar to Secret Horses (if you've ever seen that piece), where it's a love letter between artist and computer in attempting to synthesize an extremely specific feeling down to it's bare bones, leaving everything else to fall away to the uncanny valley. That's something that computers have always been very good at--human artists will naturally try and create something that makes sense even in the small and unimportant details, while a computer can only make exactly what you tell it to, which means it will often create something uncanny valley because you told it to make 'horses' and the only way it was taught to (you taught it to) make horses was these sort of shapes, so you end up with something that isn't colored like a horse, doesn't have any limbs or a tail or even a definite side that is the 'front' of the horse, but it still somehow feels like a horse. Computers, in that way, are a very good tool for discovering that uncanny valley of exposing your expectations and the reality of what you asked the computer to do.

I think the incredible part to me is that your speedrunner piece has found that place in the uncanny valley through the other direction, in more ways than one. Within the piece of art, depicting a speedrunner making a run, the player has become so intimately familiar with the game that many important parts of it have become background noise, unimportant. They've even purposefully filtered out things (like the shape of the dragon, leaving only it's hitboxes) that were deemed unnecessary for the sake of the run. Engaging with only the very smallest part of the wide expanse of the game. This world has never seen a bowl of mushroom soup. It's never had a paddock full of sheared sheep eating the grass. There will never be an enchanting table used, or a fish caught, or a dog tamed. Not because those things were unknown, but because the speedrunner knows everything there is to know about them... and then decided they were weren't useful. Minecraft, but also not. And Outside the art and the story it's telling, the actual art itself (and of course the inside and outside of the art can't be separated, but) It's instantly recognizable as Minecraft, it has the right shapes to be Minecraft. It lives in the same place in all of our heads that has come to pattern match to this incredibly popular game that lives within the grander social zeitgeist. But also the shapes aren't quite correct. The hotbar is messy, unfocused. The further away you get from the 'target' of the dragon, the most round and bubbly the ground gets, as it's not something the speedrunner will need to walk on and thus won't be necessary to look at. There are things missing that should be there, things stretched out in ways they never would be in game. And yet somehow it's still Minecraft. A synthesis of what Minecraft feels like, if not what it looks like. It feels like you yanked an image directly out of someone's head, pulling the curtain away on the illusion that our brain provides for us to live in--because we feel like we can see all the things around us, but in reality we can only focus on a very small part of the world in front of us, and everything else is just patched together by our brain in our peripheral vision.

It's just... very very cool, and I think shows the other end of the bell-curve that you can find yourself on, where something has become so intimately familiar to you that you have the capability to strip it to it's most bare bones, it's essence--except, when a measure becomes a target, it ceases to become a good measure.

All that to say that I love speedrunning and I love your art and I feel bad for Jean (who's name I only learned today, ironically from a piece of art that depicts her as nothing more than a box to be slain (but I guess that's also sort of the point of the art is to make you think about that, huh?))

holy fuck. reading this whole ask took some time (Wtflip!!! you spent time sending me an essay-length ask about my art and what you like about it????) and i don't even know how to respond. i don't know how to respond positively through words. i really like the reference to secret horses - it's not exactly what i'm going for (moreso the feeling of a memory, but i suppose secret horses is the feeling of a memory of horses you saw once years ago), but i can definently see it and i feel honoured because i love secret horses (and other images of the same genre).

gosh. i genuinely dont know how to respond to this further. thank you so much. i've never had someone describe my art, how and why they like it in such length.

and, hah. i suppose art is that way. i know jean?'s name isn't known by everyone - but the fact people learn her name because of an art piece where she's nothing but a target to be killed is fascinating :')

[yoichi-supremacy]

about the shigaraki brothers childhood development...

It still baffles me to this day how the two brothers managed to integrate themselves into society, or more like a broken yet currently being rebuilt one. Obviously we don't have enough information to make sense of how they did a few things on their own, like feed themselves right after their mother's corpse was flushed away by the rapid rivers, find an area warm enough for them, food for nourishment, moving around just days after they were born. So many questions unanswered and wacky theories.

They're feral children in a ruined concrete jungle filled with people like them yet not. Maybe that's what made it easy for them to slide right on in as adults as if they weren't incoherent beings eating trash all day😭the adults were too busy running, stealing, arguing and fighting for their lives to pay attention to two strange and contaminated kids. AFO and Yoichi had nobody to teach them basic knowledge and skills for their age like the ABC's and how to write, read, and speak.

But then yoichi is shown being able to speak and understand certain actions first in regards to afo in their early days. Its Even hinted that yoichi learned to speak first in their facial expressions and certain scenes. Like when afo beat a group of thugs and yoichi crawled out of the shadows in tears, seemingly from not only pain, but empathy as he's probably thinking those men are hurting just as much as he is, and acknowledges by getting afos attention by throwing an empty can at him and telling his brother to stop and that it hurts only for afo to kick him in the face instead of replying back verbally, or when afo approached the group of men, who, when they spotted afo, debated on helping him or just leaving him there. Afo had every chance to make an attempt at speaking to them to ask for help, etc, but didn't and just killed the group right after they turned away from him. He's a non verbal child only running on instinct, actions and survival as it's all he's ever known.

Meanwhile, yoichi is forced to be cooped up somewhere where afo hid him as to not endanger himself. Yoichi is small and weak, the runt of the twins, so there's not a lot of options when it comes to him in battle. The only thing yoichi could do was listen to the beat up radio and pick up the tattered books around him. This is how yoichi was able to teach himself how to read and speak their native language. It wasn't afo who taught him to do all those things as he was out often doing God knows what and never spoke around those times. I'll add more, specifically about AFO'S quirk when I have time but I gotta go yall

[lazarrusrising]

Another one for my anti Jock!Dean propaganda to combat some of the early seasons writers who thought he would be a jock if he grew up normal (? Even though they wrote him like That?) is the man actually hates exercise and fitness to the point where even though it would make sense for him to be a fitness bro because of his penchant for hyper masculinity, he somehow twists it in his own mind to be 'feminine' and makes fun of Sam for his health obsession and fitness kick (Sam, of course, uses fitness and health as a way to micromanage his own body into being pure on account of the violation of being fed demon blood as a newborn and subsequent trauma of thinking he is unclean and bad his whole life likely because John always suspected him of being abnormal and treated him as such. Also probably the shame associated with his demon blood spiral, which was actually another attempt to gain a sense of autonomy as it started when Dean was dead and none of the crossroads demons would help bring him back and continued when he found out he was meant to be Lucifer's vessel, he was using the demon blood to feel powerful and useful in defiance of the destiny set out before him).

Anywayyyy I think Dean's brief stint as a highschool wrestling club champion had more to do with Sonny's approval and using the skills taught to him by his father in a nonviolent and ultimately "selfish" way, much akin to Sam's demon blood, as an attempt for autonomy. John's way of life very much indoctrinated Dean into the mindset that his body and skills be used as a line of defense against the supernatural in service of the family mantra of "saving people, hunting things". His body is a tool and it should be used to help other people. Using his body and his skills to win competitions as a wrestler only really serves Dean as it only celebrates Dean's skill for what it is not what it can do for other people. In that way, I believe his one foray into jockhood had more to do with defiance of a father figure and the approval of a substitute father figure (Sonny) than with being a jock itself. He did it because he was good at it and he craves positive reinforcement and praise and because it went against what his whole life had been up until that point.

(Another Sam rant but Sam was very much shoehorned into the role as the researcher and the smart kid because John and Dean were trying to protect him and shelter him from the life as much as they were able. He grew up lonely and left out and with that feeling that there was something other and wrong about him so of course he threw himself into research as a way to be useful. And being disillusioned from a young age to the realities of being a hunter, of course he created his own path and safety net out of the life, through schooling and academics and the skill that his family had so far allowed him to hone which was his mind. All this to say the Jock!Dean propaganda is usually set up as a way to reflect Sam's nerdiness but Sam was only a nerd as an escape mechanism and as they both settle into themselves as adults and eventually as adults with a home (the bunker), it's Dean that has more of the stereotypical adult nerd/geek/weirdo traits, notably the special interests that people make fun of him for whereas Sam went in the opposite direction and in embracing the life kind of lost his sense of self a little toward the end, like the only thing we really learn about him as an adult is that he's a true crime buff and he likes the music of that one guy Lucifer possessed.)

[balkanradfem]

It was a while ago I read this tumblr post, which still comes to my mind every time I think about the future. It was explaining in an insightful way, how it's not a violent revolution that will bring forward the better future, it's slow and consistent change of our everyday life, of our habits, the resources we use and the way we go about achieving things. If we're hoping for a future where we're not dependent on capitalism, not destroying the environment, not robbed of our labour for a fraction of the money we need to survive, we'll have to slowly die capitalism out, by changing our own living habits.

If a sudden shift happened, and capitalism stopped functioning overnight, for most of the people that would be unsurvivable,  all of the resources, food, jobs and life-sustaining services would stop. And we can't afford that. But, if instead we slowly backed away from it, generated alternatives, created communities and systems that can sustain us without capitalism, then it would only be a matter of time before capitalism is fully dead, with everyone alive, everyone safe. And this slow shift would be able to happen through decades and generations, and it would still be a great positive shift, with a future in sight. Capitalism offers no survivable future, seemingly ready to last as long as it can by destroying whatever is left from the environment and people alike, for the benefit of the few.

So let's see how we got here, or how I feel, looking back, we got here.

People used to be less dependent on a global system of distribution of resources, even just a 100 years ago; survival and trade skills were passed down in families and communities, and people would be able to make inside of their home and communities, a big percentage of things that we today would buy at the store. In those times there was no other way to gain those resources but by relying on people's knowledge, skill and labour. The future, however, promised a more convenient and easy way to gain all those resources, because they would be made by machines, and thus cheaper. And things kept coming in cheaper, for no visible labour required; you just needed to have money to buy them, which not everyone had.

But this too, would change as cheaper and cheaper things arrived, and it became less convenient to make those things yourself or within your community, and more convenient to just trade some money, and have it all be done for you. For people then, it could mean less energy spent on survival, more leisure time, more health and longer lifespan – except, it didn't, because the jobs that they needed to earn that money, tended to take all of that away. So still, there was a lot produced at home or within the communities, independent workshops and artist shops, so people within in the community would benefit from each other, instead of benefiting some faceless global corporation.

And now we know where this went; conveniences started lining up to the point where not having a certain convenience meant that you were below the norm. They sometimes got mixed up with inconveniences, but those inconveniences were 'necessary'. For instance, pollution became necessary, highways, huge trucks delivering goods, the oil industry, destruction of forests and habitats, exploitation of the poor, extinction of certain animals, and by the end of it, the climate change.

When I was born, my mother and grandmother still attempted to pass some skills that their mothers taught them; I remember being taught how to knit at the age of 5, the activity which at that age, seemed awfully tedious and was soon abandoned, and my grandmother showed me how to crochet, which I also soon forgot. After the age of small child, they both looked at the world, shrugged and decided 'she won't need it', and they have stopped trying to teach me any skills of the sort.

Buying things, rather than making them, already seemed the norm. People were readily telling you that you are stupid for trying to make something, when you could get it in the store, for very little money. Having animals at home, or growing food, was slowly getting replaced by buying it cheap, or buying tons of snacks, and biscuits and cakes, which now you could get pre-packaged, readily available to consume at your leisure. If it brought lots of waste from packaging, plastic and other non-degradable materials, nobody cared, it was new, convenient, and available, and we would have it, and live luxuriously.

Soon nobody seemed to talk anymore, about what we used to do before we were able to buy anything we could possibly need at the store; nobody would tell me what were the names of the native plants, and which ones I could make into teas, I was instead told to change my priorities because this kind of behaviour will never get me any money. All of my efforts to do arts and crafts, to forage, to make things from scratch, to paint and invent stories, were called frivolous, because they would not generate the one thing that was now the only thing worth generating: money.

It simplifies things a lot, instead of making various, interesting, self-made and beloved items that would all require different knowledge and skills, a human is now required to put all of their talents into 1 thing that would generate revenue, and then do that one thing, for entire life, and this would present a normal life on earth now. This was how it was presented to me, and it was before I found out that keeping one job for the whole life, was no longer an option, that changing jobs was the norm and was not often volountary.  I did not, however, understand how doing that one job would not make someone go insane, and nobody was explaining that to me, it was just, the life.

So while the world was shifting into this new concept of 'make nothing but money', the first millionaires started to appear, the billionaire was not even conceptual, having 1 million was equal to being the richest person on the planet. That is pretty laughable to us now. Back then, it felt like heading into a new exciting world, but we know better now. We understand that lives consisting of a job and thousands of conveniences, easily sends a human being into a depression. We understand that relying on a job to keep us alive, and having constantly to compete with everyone else unemployed, to get one, has brought us to a place where others are a competition, not a resource, not a community. We understand that living in a world where we have to market ourselves as a resource, causes a lot of us to lose self confidence and the feeling of value, while it sends others into obsession with becoming popular, gaining perceived value, gathering a public image, that would later prove to be profitable.

By this time, unknown to us all, this life of convenience and consumerism had caused immense damage to the environment, and we were mostly kept in the dark about it, so we wouldn't complain. We learned about the holes in the ozone layer, but were told it was merely the fault of certain aerosols, and the rest of the stuff was fine. We would in the future get to watch oil spills and devastation of animal habitats, never fully connecting it to corporations who were responsible. Acid rains were mentioned, but we were told they caused by the new pesticides, but it was the fault of the farmers, they said, who simply used too much of it. Now we know it was the exhaust fumes from cars, factories and coal power plants. Climate change was barely mentioned, and even less believed in. And now, we can no longer ignore it.

So, what do we do in order to progress? We obviously can't go back to where we came from, but we are now made aware that the amount of energy and resources we're consuming, and the amount of toxic waste we're creating, will devastate the planet to the point where a big chunk of it will become inhabitable, millions of both people and animals, will end up dead if we keep going. But wait! How can I blame the people for any of this, when it's obviously the corporations that are doing the most damage, lobbying and hiding what is in actuality going on? And you're completely correct, I would have to say, it is corporations, and for the most time, we really didn't know the extent of damage they were doing. So why are the corporations exactly doing all of this? For profit. And who's giving them all that profit? Well, the consumers, by consuming all of the oil, energy, goods, resources and products they make. So how do we take down the corporations? By not giving them any of the profits. But, we can't do that in the current state of the world, we need cars, and food, and that food to be shipped and delivered from the distant lands, and we are all depressed and if we can't at least have our favourite snack, food we're used to, little treats and pieces of clothing that make us happy, we no longer feel like we can live!

And that's where the slow and meaningful habit shift comes into place. The thing is, we're not the same people we were 50 or 100 years ago, we don't have the skills of our ancestors, we're not used to producing our own resources, we are out of touch with nature, and we struggle to find our communities and feel valued. But we also have, so much more information and education at our fingertips. We have more scientific data, we have more access to information, we have more people creating public resources, we have the experiences and wisdom of generations back, only waiting for us to reach out, to tap into what the humanity knew  centuries ago.

We're made to do various activities! We thrive on changing our habits by season, even by weeks. We thrive in communities, with no competition for resources. We love creating art, music, crafts and beauty just for fun, and the communal value of it cannot be compared to money. We don't like being reduced into human resources or labour force, we don't like repetitive activities that don't produce results or seem nonsensical, we don't like to be stuck within one room for most of the day, we don't like being replaced when we stand up for our rights.

I can already see a lot of people valuing all of the things on this planet that cannot be exchanged for money, but have intricate value in our lives and experiences; wild animals, plants, forests, environments and ecosystems filled with life, little stories and jokes we tell to each other, making crafts just for the sake of making things, creating their own clothes or fabrics, learning how it was done in the past; growing food, foraging, herbalism, basketry, making of soap and fixing things on our own, visible mending, connections and building communities, we are remembering it's what we want and need, and we're not going to build it the way it was in the past; we're going to do it our own way, with the knowledge and experience we have, the way we think is the best. All we need to do is start small. Do one little shift that takes you one tiny step away from consumerism. Add one little enrichment in your life that doesn't have anything to do with money or purchasing. Find little ways to save on energy that doesn't make any dips in your happiness or comfort levels, that only requires a little bit of your attention or focus to do.

Big shifts are not sustainable, and are not survivable, but we didn't get here by a big shift; we got here by a series of small, almost invisible shifts that we barely felt were happening, until it was our new normal. We can do small, painless shifts too, but this time, they're going to be conscious, purposeful, with thoughts of the future behind it, and they're going to come from us. Not the corporations, not the money holders, but us, pushing the future to the direction that we want.

[buckybarnesss]

you know i've probably checked out almost every band of brothers reaction on youtube and in the comments i usually see at least one of two threads about the pacific. some encourage watching it and others either warn it's more intense than band of brothers or discourage it all together with a "it's not as good".

the most common explanation given as to why some consider the pacific to not be as "good" as band of brothers is that people find the narrative style of band of brothers easier to follow which i can see to an extent but they really aren't that different.

i consider the two shows to be companions to each other. you can watch them as stand alone shows for sure but the experience of them together enriches the other.

what i really think the issue is isn't about quality or narrative or violence or intensity ---

the real issue is western (usually americans lbr) audiences are more familiar with the european theater of war. specifically the western front of the war.

i mean, let's face it post-war pop culture in america has been obsessed with it. there's always been significant focus on the german regime, on the invasion of normandy, the battle of the bulge and so on. on eisenhower and patten and roosevelt and churchill.

the european theater is something that americans find easier to understand. the cultural traditions are similar, the warfare is more understandable to us. it's the focus of our historical educations. it's a more cut and dry good guy versus bad guy scenario that people can digest. many americans have ancestral roots in europe.

comparatively the pacific theater isn't as well known to the lay person. the warfare wasn't as traditionally european, the japanese didn't surrender and had a different concept of what was honorable, they had different cultural traditions, the language barrier was far more steep.

in the pacific the japanese are often a faceless foe that are treated like vermin. treated like rats in holes that need to be exterminated rather than an enemy to be fought. they try to combat this image with john basilone's speech in iwo jima however the image of a buck toothed cartoon dreamed up by "some asshole on madison avenue" is deeply engrained in the consciousness of the public decades later.

there are no significant japanese characters that get the same treatment as say the two german officers in points. there are no grand speeches of brotherhood or honorable offer of their sidearms with their surrender. there's no singing of christmas carols. there's no scene like the one in day of days were malarkey meets an american fighting for the germans and the audience has to sit with that.

while i think it's a purposeful story choice to keep the japanese that way to highlight how they were perceived by the marines it doesn't play into what audiences expect or are comfortable with.

comfort has a lot to do with the reception of the shows i believe. the pacific makes people uncomfortable in a way band of brothers didn't. the pacific spends a significant amount of time at the end showing the struggle that returning veterans had adjusting to being civilians again. it's a bittersweet ending where the audience has to see the trauma. john basilone dies and it's his widow lena that has to go visit his grieving family, snafu doesn't say goodbye to eugene and disappears into new orleans, the girl at the college asks eugene if the marine corps taught him any skills and his irritated response is that they taught him how to kill. we see eugene listless, haunted and breakdown when attempting to hunt because he doesn't want to shoot anything ever again. though it ends on a hopeful note it's emotionally heavy. no celebratory baseball scene here.

also one last little thing i think makes a difference to viewers even if they don't realize it:

the veteran interviews.

with band of brothers they are automatically part of the episode but with the pacific some platforms don't show them as they're optional. also by the time the pacific was done there were a lot less alive veterans to participate. robert leckie and eugene sledge had been gone for a decade by the time of the show. even though they left behind a wealth of information with their memoirs and interviews many people who watch are not gonna seek that out. which is a shame.

idk man i just think if you watch band of brothers and enjoyed it than you should give the pacific a shot because together they tell a more complete story.

[mrsrookhunt]

♟ Monster Rook Hunt 🪦

Rooktober part three! Tempting @v-anrouge in again lmaooo

Three classic monsters, one extra-extra double pickles Rook.

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Vampire!Rook

Congratulations on winning your way into this man's heart and onto his dinner table.

You're so gorgeous to him.. you make him blush, you make him stutter and gasp, you make him feel his heart flutter and his mouth water.

Absolutely thinks you're more like a creature he can't hunt, a full meal he can only have a snack from, and it is vaguely annoying to him. It's like gardening, but with the extra requirement of cuddling the plant after picking the fruit from it.

But Rook is nothing if not a man dictated wholly by his not beating heart.

Depending on whether he was born a vampire or turned, how he treats you will be different.

If he was born as a vampire: You're a snack, that's all he's been taught. He may treat you kindly but he won't fully understand human needs and love. He'll probably attempt to love you the way other vampires show love. Enjoy those blood bags he set in front of you with wide eyes and a besotted smile, waiting for you to make the first move on your shared meal.

If he was turned a vampire:

"MY LOVE, MY LOVE, I HAVE BROUGHT YOU A GIFTTTTT" and it's a 4-course meal of all his favorite foods as a human he hopes you can enjoy the same.

So extremely and extraordinarily attentive. You may be his meal, but you're also his lover, and he treats you with every bit of love and affection he's been preparing for 350 years to give.

And he's also definitely turning you into a vampire. Don't worry, he'll keep an eternity filled with his antics.

Werewolf!Rook

Very in-touch with his wild side (what's new).

You may or may not have met him at a gas station in the woods when you threw an apple core into the wooded area next to the pump, and a shaggy golden wolf came bounding back to you with wide eyes, a wagging tail, and the apple core in his mouth. Your first game of fetch. Call it a date; that's what he did anways.

Your idea of cuddles is different to his. You may like to lay on his chest and watch a movie. He may like to completely tangle all of your limbs together and bury your face in the crook of his neck, because, Rook. Don't worry maybe you can hear the movie playing.

All of your meals are hand-hunted by your one and only. In human form, he's out hunting, a good thing, since otherwise he's harassing you with incessant French. In wolf form, he just wants to lie down on the bed and be docile. Is it a show so you're not afraid of him? Maybe. I guess it's an excuse for you to stay with him for a few years forever to find out.

He would love if you were into gardening. He takes pride in hunting food for you, and would be thrilled to use some home-grown herbs to make a meal you could both be proud of.

He's very rugged. It's a fight to make him wear nice clothes. If it's not practical ripped up and some hand me down from GOD KNOWS where, he doesn't want it.

Also, shaving. I hope you enjoy stubble because he will not be getting a clean shave. He can tell you he's 'just shaved', but you wonder how many nanometers of hair he even took off.

More like a golden retriever than a wolf. If it weren't for his superb hunting skills he'd be a disgrace to the werewolf community altogether.

And we could talk about how many kids he wants but let's keep this PG

Mummy!Rook

Snuggles? Snuggles.

Rook can't speak very well like this. But he can certainly show you the depths of his affection with body language alone.

You should be honored he came back from the dead just for you. You should probably be less honored that the museum has warrants out for your arrest now because, apparently, you can't take a mummy home, even with his consent.

Have you eaten? Have you?? He keeps trying to shovel food in your mouth with every passing moment that he's allowed in your fridge. Something about 'eating like royalty'. You don't know, honestly. The gauze makes it hard to hear him.

From what you've gathered, he was a highly-revered huntsman in his time. Not high enough to be buried in a pyramid, but high enough to be buried with great respect to his body.

You're not sure what brought him back, honestly, his love for you, your being unsure of whether he was a real mummy or a replica, some cheesy artifact bringing him to life ...we'll never know. His desire to prove you wrong may or may not have been at 100%

Did I mention he loves snuggles?

Do NOT try to remove the wrap. It's not for security reasons. It will not harm him to remove it. HOWEVER HE WOULD RATHER NOT UNDRESS UNTIL MARRIAGE THANK YOU.

Try suggesting he put on clothes over his wrap. It's not comfortable. It's like when you have long sleeves and you try to out a jacket over them. But if it's comfortable for him... just buy two sizes larger and try to ignore it.

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><

Part two coming soon!

Suggestions for monsters are more than welcome!

-Oct. 16th, 2023

-Kaori

[catr4dora]

2003 TMNT Leo x reader (heavily implied that reader is mexican)

a lil scenario

imagine being Leo’s S/O who is also a well trained fighter (because of training with splinter and the turtles along with training in boxing growing up that was taught by your family to you) who’s apart of the team. And imagine seeing all the interactions between them (if you’ve seen the show you know what I mean) as Leo tries to turn Karai to the good side. And you can’t help to get jealous because of how insisting he to get Karai on your side. As you stand back and watch his attempts again you can’t help but to compare yourself to Karai, a trained and skilled and beautiful woman. Thinking how he could do better with her, be more in sync; as there were similarities between the two in fighting and elegance and the art of ninjitsu and being familiar with the Japanese culture.

——————————

You: “Mi amor, how do we even know that she’ll want to even join us? En este punto simplemente NO HAY punto.”

*even though Leo didn’t understand stand Spanish as much, he could still get a hint at what you were trying to say*

Leo: ”Listen I know it sounds like a long shot-BUT THINK ABOUT IT, if we get Karai on our side she can help us defeat the Shredder, ONCE AND FOR ALL!”

*Leo walks over to you and holds your hand while looking in to your eyes with understanding and determination*

Leo: ”Please understand that I have to at least try.”

*You looked down at him with concern and a bit of irritation and sighed. Getting your hand out of his hold and walking past him.*

You: “¿Por qué tienes que ser tan terco?”

——————————

After the conversation you had with Leo you needed some space away from him to think. He had a point of defeating Shredder but you doubted that Karai would actually betray him and help the others. But at the same time you figure that maybe Karai has some type of attachment to Leo especially after the times where she’s “helped” the team but you can’t help but to wonder if maybe Leo is a little into her too…

——————————

Translation: “At this point there just ISN'T a point.”

“Why do you have to be so stubborn?

——————————

PLEASE I NEED MORE FICS OF THE 03 AND 07 TURTLES

IF ANYONE WANTS TO MAKE A FIC OFF THIS SCENARIO PLEASE TAG ME SO I CAN SEE IT IM STARVING 😭🙏 also we don’t get enough of jealous or protective reader with their turtle S/O CUZ I WOULD BE DEATHLY PROTECTIVE KNOWING THAT THEY LITERALLY FIGHT FOR THEIR LIFES ALMOST EVERYDAY TO PROTECT THE CITY

[animalsalvationassociation]

Who is the strongest ASA member when it comes to fighting (or any type that you want to do)

That’s actually a VERY good question Anon!

Why don't I break it down? (Lol prepare for a lore drop, if you're bored go to the very end to see my conclusion)

The A.S.A. is split up into five main categories. [ Referenced Post ]

C.L.A.D.E. — Justice/Legal Department

S.O.S. — Coast Guard/Aerial Protection

S.S.Jade — Forest Conservation / Animal Welfare

R.S.R. — Animal Rehabilitation/Reserves, Search, and Rescue

The Octonauts — Ocean Safeguarding

Each branch was also assigned someone who met the qualifications for each needed role . . .

The Head of the A.S.A. is Professor Marin Kelp — A Businessman, Environmental Specialist, and an activist for Forest and Animal Conservation.

Kelp was the son of a hunter. Specifically in line with the Black Market. From a young age he was taught the in's and out's of hunting, trapping, skinning -- You get the picture. (Very in line with Ranger Marsh's upbringing except ofc he didn't hunt Crocs lol.) [ See Tweak's Headcanons ]

So you can imagine he knows his way around the bush. He never fought in the way of say, a fighting ring, or boxing. But he always knew how to defend himself if needed. However he's on the older side. Still very strong, physically, but his joints don't really work like they used to.

The Head of C.L.A.D.E. is Director Peggy Scratch — Scratch is not only a business woman herself but has quite the past in all things . . . Super Spy. Not to mention her strange skills in bowling.

If you know anything about Creature Cases you'll understand that Scratch used to be an agent herself [ " Peggy's Past " ]. It was revealed in the show that the Director was C.L.A.D.E.'s top agent back in the day. That was until she lost a suspect in a high speed chase, Roxy Raider, a highly skilled thief who was never caught or charged for her crimes. [ Wiki on the Episode ]

(Headcanon: This was Peggy's ultimate "failure", the one case she could never close. And for a long time it messed with her head. Getting in the way of her school work, her home life, even going so far as to ruin her "perfect" image in the eyes of her fellow agents. In her lowest moment Arthur--or as we now know him, Professor Inkling-- found her in the library crying over her the case file, he reached out and that became the first step in her healing journey when she accepted his friendship.)

Although despite her training and all those cases she solved in the past, I still don't think she qualifies as the "strongest". She's older, more focused on solving the issue by analyzing rather than taking the physical advantage.

Sure she could kick your butt, but with so many years under her belt and the fact that she's considered a mentor now, I don't think she has the same abilities as she did back in the day.

The Head of the S.S. Jade or Safari Solutions is Professor Emma Jade — Emma is strong willed Zoologist and knows her way around the streets. She's heavily involved in markets, trades, animal/forest activism, and reforestation projects.

Her main areas stretch across the lower half of Mexico and around the Amazon River. Most of her work is towards the people (locals) and quadrupeds, however sometimes she does aid creatures within the actual river depending on the situation.

As I mentioned before Emma knows her way around the streets. Despite growing up in Great Britain (because of the work her parents did, her father being Professor Kelp and his wife Samara Jade) she has spent several years adapting to the ways of the Amazon, taking care of its people and making sure that the forest stays where it is.

From a very young age Emma was taught to defend herself. Because her parents were both in positions of power (Billionaire Businessman / OG Captain of the Octonauts) she needed to learn to take care of herself if anyone attempted anything.

From there she became stronger and took several military programs as well as boxing in order to strengthen her skills. (She never joined the military but she went through plenty of programs in order to become the same level as any soldier within the corp.)

Emma may be a scientist and a conversationalist in the day, but at night she's the main reason why poaching and Black Market deals have gotten quieter. Em and her team work tirelessly to keep the Amazon safe. And if that just so happens to mean breaking and entering, knocking a few heads, and potentially disrupting the peace, she's on the job.

The Head of the S.O.S. or Sea, Ocean, & Sky is Freya Volpes — Freya is many things. She isn't necessarily a "fighter" but she's not untrained. Frey's main description is, Coast Guard, Animal/Ocean Activist, Lighthouse Keeper, and Seaplane Pilot.

As you can see, compared to others on the council, Freya's job doesn't necessarily need any combat training. (Except for maybe Coast Guard??) She DOES however know a thing or two about boxing. In fact she's a professional boxer, alongside her partner and fiancé Voyager (who we'll talk about in a minute).

She's been training for about five years now, first as a hobby now part of her career. She's done several major events even staring in some well named championships. She still working for the gold, but for now she's more focused on having fun with it!

(Fun Fact: Both Voyager and Emma have actually been helping her train, so she can one day reach her goal of becoming a framed name. Even if that means she takes on a few world records to get there)

The Head of the R.S.R. or Ranger Search & Rescue is Ranger Voyager Black Crow — Voyager or Black Crow (Crow for short) is a well known name in studies of Native American Tribes. Of course he's an advocate for Rehabilitation, Reserves, Nature Conservation, and works heavily in the field of National Parks or "Ranger Systems".

Black Crow is actually the first Native American to join the "Ranger Council", a gathering of Directors who oversee National Parks and the welfare of animals who aren't integrated into modern societies, and has become an Ambassador for Native voices all over the country.

Voyager is incredibly smart and has shown many times how far he's willing to go for his people (Native blood as well as those who are without voices, aka what most people consider as the "less evolved" species - Quadrupeds, Avians, Insects, Aquatic, etc. etc.) However out of all of the A.S.A. members, Crow is the most pacifist.

He sees flaws in physical approach. There are hundreds of other ways to solve a problem without the need for violence. However that being said, he isn't stupid. There are plenty of people all over the world who would disagree with him, and he knows that. He may not have military training, but he is well versed in martial arts, not excluding the art of boxing.

Black Crow picked up his boxing hobby as a way to impress his, now fiancé, Freya. Eventually that hobby turned into something more. When he's not on call, or at home with his niece/adopted daughter (Rosie), he's off in the dojo or the ring practicing. In a way its become his mediation. It relaxes him, and it gives him an excuse to practice with his partner.

(Ya'll were waiting for this one I KNOW it.)

The Head of the Octonauts is Captain Barnacles — We all know and love the captain. Otherwise most of you probably wouldn't be here. He's smart, strong, witty, and such a sweetheart. Captain Barnacles was trained in the Navy for several long years. He'd be in his forties about now and started around the age of 17-18. (Lol someone else can do the math) [ See Barnacles' Headcanons Pt. 2 ]

But his training wouldn't have stopped when he joined the Octonauts as the Captain. In order to meet the demands of what his role expected of him, Barnacles spent time relearning the basics before the crew set off. And in all actuality, Barnacles is STILL learning! By all accounts he's at PEAK health!

He's stronger, faster, and ten times more agile than most of his predecessors (and others his age) who went through the same training he did. Comparatively, if you look at Kelp or Scratch, they've got nothing on him. They stopped putting in the work years ago, focusing on other avenues and never really keeping up with their routines.

Since Barnacles is constantly jumping into action he's learning a new way to be healthy. His "Polar Bear Strength" is what's keeping him on top. It's what's helping his crew as well as himself get out of the tougher situations.

SO in conclusion I have two answers.

Every member of the A.S.A. works hard to stay on the ball. They do their best to work for what—not only their cause, but their team—needs them for. It's not the simplest answer I can give but hopefully now you understand why.

Barnacles is by far the "strongest". Like I said before, he's in his peak. He may be older but that isn't stopping him. He's working hard to put in the time and the effort to be there for his team when they need him. Even if that means protecting them at all costs.

Emma, comes in second. She may not be able to throw you on her back and carry you twenty miles, but by all accounts she would be a great contender for "strength". Not only is she the most well trained, but she's calculated and precise.

Strength means many things to me. If you were to go by statistics, Kelp would be the strongest overall with a bite force of 3,700 PSI, having Barnacles as a close second at 1,200 PSI. (That doesn't count for actual force of muscles, as in body weight measured between speed and mass, but I wasn't really getting the numbers I was searching for so they aren't included)

When you say strength, sometimes I see (at least in this instance) skill and mental stability. Emma isn't entirely stable (another reason why she's in second) mentally, only because she's under constant stress due to impending threats, most of which aren't natural (gang violence, market heists, occult attacks, etc. etc.).

Not to mention the trauma she carried over when she was first adopted and the death of her beloved mother, Samara. Not to say Barnacles hasn't ever gone through those very same things, but he's on a steadier path with constant support that he recognizes and works with to help him through his worries and anxieties. [ See Barnacles' Headcanons Pt. 1 ]

If you made it this far, thank you. Sincerely this was so fun to make. It's been so long since I was able to share something about these guys. There's so much more to come, but I wanted to make something that shed a little light on the A.S.A. before (what I call) the "big update".

(That basically refers to the shift in content, the updates, redesigns, blocking, links, the fanfic, etc.)

You all are amazing, and again a special thank you to Anon. You were very patient, I appreciate it dearly!

Asks are still open if you want to learn more about this AU and all of the wonderful characters I've made! Don't be shy, I promise I won't bite! And just so everyone knows, I'm more than happy to take Anon questions, but I also want you to know that there's no shame in putting your name on it! In fact it'll give me all the more reason to appreciate it!

Have a wonderful Valentines, and I'll see you in the next post! Thanks for reading my doves!

(If you want to learn more about the A.S.A. as it is currently stands, please visit " Welcome to the A.S.A. ")

[aylen-san]

How I Tried to Make Something Out of Clay

(Or How Not to Become Aulë in One Evening)

In this world, there are pursuits that make you feel like a part of Creation itself. You build, you sing, you wage war (not that I particularly recommend this method of self-discovery), you love—and through all this, you become a co-author of the Music of Arda.

And then you pick up clay.

Ah, clay. That simplest of materials from which your people, Men, were first formed. It seems so straightforward: take it, mold it. What could be simpler? Shape it, breathe a little soul into it—and behold! But how wrong I was. Allow me to tell you about one of the most humiliating evenings in my—shall we say—not exactly short life.

Inspired by the craftsmanship of Aulë (the great smith, sculptor, Creator of the Dwarves—and, alas, the possessor of motor skills I can only dream of), I decided to try my hand at the craft. I thought it would be a lovely form of meditation. I, Finrod Felagund, King of Nargothrond, singer, philosopher, and—as I then naïvely believed—a creator.

I gathered the clay. Lovingly. With intention. With philosophical seriousness.

Within an hour, I had gathered… a lump. A lump vaguely resembling… nothing. Perhaps, if you squinted very hard, you might discern the contours of… catastrophe.

"Well," I said to myself, "everyone starts somewhere. Even Aulë must have begun somewhere. Perhaps his earliest creations also looked like disgruntled rocks."

I pressed on.

Attempt number two: I produced an object which my loyal Elven advisor politely described as "an avant-garde interpretation of something." In other words—a crooked heap, useful for nothing except hurling it at a wall. Which, I must confess, I promptly did. Surprisingly satisfying.

Do you see the bitter irony? I am accustomed to thinking in centuries. I am used to building entire subterranean cities, shaping destinies, leading peoples. And yet, it turns out that shaping a simple bowl is a task fit for a Vala. The clay stubbornly resisted me. It clung to me, it collapsed, it turned into a monstrous parody of my noble intentions.

That’s when I began to wonder: perhaps I misunderstood something? Perhaps the problem wasn’t the clay? Perhaps the problem was… me?

Ah, what a revelation. A king, a singer, a philosopher—defeated by a clay bowl. Where is my former glory? Where are my heroic deeds? And here I am—draped in a toga, elbows deep in mud, arguing with an inanimate lump. A marvelous spectacle, surely, for the gods.

At some point, I could almost hear Aulë laughing as he looked upon my pitiful handiwork. (No doubt, he chuckled out of polite curiosity. Or perhaps, genuine amusement. The Valar have their own sense of humor—sometimes… rather direct.)

The moral? Oh, I wish I could say I learned. That I persevered and found a teacher. That I finally created something beautiful. Alas. The bowl remained a lump. The figure—a monstrosity. The clay cat I had such high hopes for ended up looking like it had just seen Morgoth without makeup.

But you know what the heart of it is?

I realized that clay is a mortal art. It is fragile, it is stubborn, it demands that you live in the moment, accept its imperfections, laugh at your own mistakes. It is like Men. It is like Bëor—short-lived. And therein lies its beauty.

You cannot argue eternity with clay. You must accept it here and now.

And so I am grateful for those ugly, clumsy, ridiculous attempts. For they taught me to let go of my own pride. Sometimes, my friends, the best lesson is not in victory—but in being able to laugh at how spectacularly you’ve failed.

I left the clay behind, by the way. Somewhere deep in the halls of Nargothrond, my first (and possibly last) masterpiece still gathers dust—a work I lovingly named “The Bowl of Defeat.”

If someone finds it centuries from now, I ask you—do not judge it too harshly. Simply know: this is the work of Finrod, the king who once tried to become a potter. And who was soundly defeated by clay.

With a smile, and clay still lingering beneath my fingernails, yours, Finrod Felagund.

[owlithere]

AU idea - One Piece #1

So I was thinking about this fic I read about a year ago (or re-read it?) -> Luffy was raised as a marine and makes it everyone's problem [An amazing read - I recommend checking it out]

And I really like the idea behind it. Using skills that may have been learned before is always cool, especially if there's a chance that they may be canonical. More than that, I think we should go even further.

So far, we don't know enough about Brook and Jinbe's childhoods to make any assumptions (so I won't touch on them in any depth here - but they are both experienced in diffrent ways), but most of them, to put it mildly, had rather difficult childhoods. And that made them perfectly specialised in the areas they chose to remain safe and survive. Moslty had one mentor or were raised by themselves. All except Luffy and Sanji, if you think about it.

The education system in the OP sucks, just like the real one. But the difference in knowledge and experience should be used as an advantage to make comedy out of this tragedy.

Nami had Bellemere, who probably gave her a basic education. She later self-taught herself out of curiosity and a desire to survive. Her time in the Arlong crew gave her more problems than opportunities to learn (but she may have picked up a few tricks here and there).

Zoro studied in the dojo. He had one sensei, one slightly more experienced rival and one older one to talk to. (Definitely not enough but it sure gave him his rather unique perspective).

Usopp only had his mum. Later, maybe some villagers helped him a bit, or Kaya to thank for the stories - but he is also mostly self-taught.

Chopper studied only under two doctors, and neither of them was sane. Maybe some reindeer instincts from his herd passed on to him before he ate the devil's fruit (but he was young, and later under stress so).

Robin grew up on an island full of scholars, but is still mostly self-taught. And apart from her special interests, everything she learned was from survivalism (so a PhD in history (and related stuff) and random knowledge, if I had to guess - well she's clever enough to learn/teach herself more if need be).

Franky, as far as we know, studied technical fields. We don't know enough about him before he came under Tom's wing, but we can assume that most of his knowledge comes from those years. (He created his own little mafia family, but we don't really know if he learned from anyone how to manage it or not).

And then we have Luffy and Sanji.

Luffy had a grandfather who tried to teach him to be a marine and to fight. Makino taught him the basics (and attempted manners). Dadan and her gang showed him by their example how to be a good bandit. Shanks and his crew taught him the basics of being a good pirate. And of course his brothers, taught him how to be a real jungle kid and a few tricks. And all this probably gave him quite mixed signals - especially with his logic.

And finally Sanji. As a prince born to a scientist (an evil sperm donor, but still the person responsible for his education, who probably with his big ego believed that his children even without modification should be as brilliant as he was) Sanji certainly had some sort of super special royal education (which he tried to perfect because it was probably easier than a physical test and he wanted to fit in somehow). He learned manners, politeness and most of all kindness from his mum. How to cook, fight and be a pirate from Zeff. And probably a few other cooking and odd skills from the various chefs he met over the years on both the Orbit and the Bartie. Working in the kitchen is conducive to conversation.

So I've come to the conclusion that I want to read a fic where both Luffy's and Sanji's upbringing has a greater impact on the strawhats' journey. Yes, I want Luffy to occasionally use his random nautical knowledge to help them escape or get something. (Like the author used it to save Ace, but also to help Robin faster etc.). Someone should also note that the style in which he manages his crew is similar to the bandits. Or they should meet some on the way and only Luffy should know how to behave to be respected. I also want Sanji to talk more about things that pirates should know. Or even about political stuff. (Robin could add more too, but Sanji has a slightly different perspective on it than she does.) Even if he doesn't want to talk about his past, the excuse that he knows everything from Zeff works and is practically undeniable, because no one on the crew knows what he went through as a pirate.

It would have been fun to see Luffy explain to his crew why this marine is bad news, but the other one isn't so bad because his grandfather likes him or something. Or if Sanji, after fighting for Nami's freedom, had stopped and asked the crew if any of them knew a bit of hooks (and Luffy realised that Garp was trying to teach him that - but, as standard, he didn't explain just went on to practice-torture).

Bonus if the only person who can immediately use this random information is Zoro. Who on everything just says: it sounds just about right. Because it perfectly balances the Monster Trio in this way.

This could also be a good idea for a larger crew fic. After the whole situation with Nami, the crew starts talking about heading to the Grand Line and a dialogue like this ensues between them: Sanji: so where are we looking for the other members? The others: We are not looking? Sanji: And what about the watch? Grand Line is very unpredictable. Since you knew some pirates Luffy, I'm sure they talked about it…. Luffy: They told super cool stories! Sanji: Then how do you think we'll be able to have a night shift with just five of us? With such a small number of people, especially with no medic on board, it will affect my cooking….

And let's not kid ourselves but the food argument has a pretty good chance of working.

Luffy: Setting out I thought having 10 members would be ideal! Sanji: For influencing the Grand Line - sure - to just look for them there with the unpredictability and adventures waiting for us there - there aren't enough of us now. We need a few more hands and a pair of eyes.

And honestly this conversation probably doesn't affect Luffy that much, he continues to be as picky about selecting his nakamas as he was in canon, but maybe enough that they select perhaps 3 more people for the lineup. Which allows us to stay fairly ok with the storyline and right away adds diversity and some power. Which may have made some of the arks funnier because we have more room to play. (This Bites! makes it look like a good idea).

I call this idea: Luffy was brought up as he was, and that makes it everyone's problem, but it is Sanji's existence that makes everyone else question it - Zoro you should have a bigger problem with that!

In a nutshell: The gray cells are working!

If anyone ever uses it, PLEASE tag me - I want to devour it in every form. I probably could have outlined it better, but well it's just an idea.

[semi-imaginary-place]

Which characters have tragic pasts that aren’t recognized enough?

I think people don't notice because Petra is very active about her situation. She's a political hostage in a foreign land that has turned her country into a vassal state from the war that killed her dad. But she's made the most of it. Petra taught herself a new language, she trains constantly, she's made herself be involved with the politics of Fodlan, and she's always seeking to better herself and hone her skills so that she's not just a prisoner but someone useful to Brigid. Petra's the opposite of passive, she refuses to just let things happen to her, and in a lot of ways she doesn't have a choice either she is an active participant in her life or she will just be shuffled around as a political pawn and hostage against the country she loves. We don't know the specifics of the international agreement about Petra but I can easily imagine it being something like "give us a hostage as a guarantee you won't attack us or we'll continue the war we won, raze you to the ground, kill all of you, and take your land".

Claude's backstory isn't tragic and uh... at least half the cast if not more has had it worse than him but I do want to talk about it since I never see people talk about the struggles Claude has had. I think a large part of it is that like Petra, Claude doesn't show the struggles he's been through nor does he really talk about himself or his past. They both show a strong front and face forward in their lives.

Claude's spent his entire life being alienated, in Almyra for being too foreign and not Almyran enough and then in Fodlan for being too foreign and not Fodlan enough. He's faced multiple childhood assassination attempts just because of his parentage and at least some of these have come from family members. Claude is a rarity among the cast in having not only both parents but having 2 parents that love him. However his parents are of the tough love approach, that what doesn't kill will make him stronger so they offer him little support, protection, or help in a world that is hostile to him at every turn. And so Claude grew up with everyone against him, with his every action used as justification that he's weaker and lesser than a full Almyran. And this has destroyed his ability to trust or be open with people. Claude is very insecure in his interactions with other people because he's used to every slip of information given being used against him. You see this in his supports with Marianne where he sees any information about himself as possible leverage against him so it has to be exchanged like a commodity so that they both have equal leverage against the other. And yet he does genuinely want to help people and cares about those around him as clumsy as his attempts are at making friends. Claude's backstory is not nearly on the level of say Edelgard's or Lysithea's but it's a shame no one is talking about it at all.

Dimitri stans screaming and crying about poor Dimitri and yeah he's had it rough (a lot of 3H characters have traumatizing backstories) but Dedue is right there, what about his pain! The hypocrisy! The Tragedy of Duscar led to the massacre of his family and not only that but he's now a genocide survivor since Faerghus decided to wipe out Duscar, take over their land, rename and settle on it. Not to mention they were wrongfully scapegoated for it. Dedue has had everything taken from him so he doubles down on this life debt to Dimitri because it's the one thing he has left. It's a trauma response coping mechanism that he's rather override his will, opinions, and personhood for Dimitri's sake. And the of course Faerghus hates him and reminds him of that every day.

At this point I'm wondering if its a racism problem that it's Petra, Dedue, and Claude whose struggles are most often overlooked.

[citrus-soju]

I already talked about it in this post, but I want to share all of my thoughts properly.

The Metal Masked Assassin (I'll refer to him as MMA) was an incredibly unlucky person when you think about it. His mother passed away right after he was born. It's assumed she either died of blood loss due to birth complications, or she might have even been murdered, due to her baby being born with albinism.

We don't know anything about his father's whereabouts, if he's alive or dead, if he would take his children in if he knew. Either way, he's not in the picture. But unluckily, MMA was "left a brother".

Logically, we can put together that MMA's brother was older than him. We don't know for sure how many years the two siblings were apart, though. Judging by the picture of them as teens, their age difference doesn't appear to be too great. Of course, MMA might simply be tall, even as a teenager, and looking older than he really is.

There's also a possibility that, while both of them are depicted as teenagers in this picture, Agent 216 was actually already an adult while MMA was still young. It would make more sense for authorities to leave an infant in the care of a relative who's over at least 16 years old than leaving two young children completely on their own.

We can only speculate about their childhood years, honestly, since there is not much known at all. They could have been adopted by a distant relative, placed in a foster family, given up for adoption... But one thing is for sure, just from looking at these pictures - Even as teenagers, they were already prone to violence, and already hiding their faces.

Perhaps they got by thanks to armed robberies, perhaps they were already training to be assassins at this age. Personally, I'm voting for the first option, just because their clothes appear to be in a bad condition, holes and all, which is not the case in the image depicting them as adults. Their weapon of choice is also quite different; the bat and axe being more commonly used for self protection or work, and the machete/knife looking much more professional.

But now to the part I've been wanting to talk about.

Let's start with what we know about Agent 216. According to General Crozier, he is a "trained killer". That means, someone, or some kind of organization, must have taken him under their wing and taught him the art of being an assassin at some point. At least as a teenager. It's never specified where the two assassins got their education from. But however and wherever they spent their youth; Agent 216 was most likely the more skilled assassin, considering he's the one the General confides in and claims to be "perfect".

Ah yes, General Crozier. At least as an adult, Agent 216 must have some sort of connection to the US Military, or at least General Crozier directly, since it's him who personally hires him, and then informs MMA about his death later. No other tribunal members are present, nor are they aware that he was hired to kill, not just to spy.

What I find really interesting is that Agent 216 has a tattoo of the FalconBack Project logo on his left arm. Whatever that means. It makes me wonder if he and Crozier have some kind of connection outside of the deal, and if the assassination attempt on Dethklok was more of a personal favor to the General instead of a one time deal. Whatever connection they have was apparently meaningful enough for Agent 216 to get involved in a top secret project led by Salacia himself - but not his younger brother.

This raises a whole bunch of questions, but that's for another day and another post.

So where is MMA in all this? Where was he in all this?

While MMA is a violent person and seemingly has a passion for murder, what stood out to me is that he is never actually seen involved in any assassination related jobs that don't directly involve avenging his dead brother in a way - besides that one time where he's introduced. The people he fixates on besides Dethklok themselves are Klokateers and Charles Ofdensen, in particular. Perhaps that can simply be blamed on MMA's lack of screen time, but I would leave it up to Brendon Small to consider any small detail.

MMA appears to be as goal driven and determined as he is violent, with only a single goal in mind throughout the entire series - avenging Agent 216, regardless of what it may cost. He's willing to dispose of anyone who gets in his way, including his allies (Magnus).

What I'm thinking is... what if he wasn't even a blade for hire before the death of his brother? What if the only reason why Crozier was able to "hire" him was because of his promise for revenge? What if Agent 216 was the "actual" assassin among them, while MMA was more or less a sick and dependent child who simply got caught up in the situation?

This sounds farfetched but hear me out.

Regardless of how they grew up, regardless of what led up to this point; MMA's older brother was clearly very dear to him. So dear, in fact, that avenging him consumed every bit of space on his mind. While MMA willingly recruited people to assist him in his cause, for the most part, he used people who felt wronged by Dethklok for his own gain. Instead of viewing them as likeminded individuals, he saw them as underlings. Even Magnus, who did most of the "negotiating" during DSR, treated Toki's wounds and fed him, was just a puppet to MMA in the end. Once Magnus didn't cooperate with him anymore (claiming that the death of Ishnifus "wasn't part of his plan"), MMA didn't hesitate to show who's the REAL mastermind behind it all ("this was never your plan").

Throughout the series, we definitely saw that MMA has a tendency to use people for his benefit, and discard them once they're no longer useful to him, without any consideration for their feelings, or even their lives. We also learn that he's not much of a "talker" and much rather a "do-er". He leaves all the talking to Magnus, who dramatically goes off to Toki and Abigail about his reasoning, while MMA is in the background only thinking about revenge and his brother.

He seems to do very poorly with things not going his way. He doesn't listen to instructions from Crozier. He refuses to let Magnus berate him. Like a child, he no longer wants to play the game if it's not by his rules.

This is acquired behavior. Which means, somebody taught him that this is the way to go through live. Most likely - his older brother.

While he clearly holds a lot of admiration for Agent 216, it makes me wonder. The contrast between how much he looks up to his brother and how much he looks down on other human beings is stark. It's almost like he looks up to his brother like he's some kind of God leading him on his path, even displaying his body during the torture of Toki and Abigail. He MIGHT just be a crazy dude with a lust for blood who saw an excuse to kill and torture. He MIGHT just be very obsessed with the only person he has a real connection with.

Or perhaps, his brother isn't the good person he views him as.

I believe Agent 216 might have always made MMA feel inferior to him, knowingly or not. Being labeled the "perfect" assassin, the older brother who was kind enough to raise an abandoned baby, the one fending for them. Plus, with MMA having some visible physical deformities, he most likely was the "better looking" one, too.

Perhaps the reason why MMA isn't seen assassinating anyone for other reasons than revenge is that his brother simply took the spotlight. In the best case, Agent 216 merely wanted to protect MMA from this kind of lifestyle, both because he's his little brother who he cared for, as well as considering Albinism comes with a long list of potential health issues, depending on the exact diagnosis. Examples are vision problems, ranging from nystagmus (rapid uncontrollable eye movements) to legal blindness, sensitivity to (sun)light in both eyes and skin, a weaker immune system, a higher risk of infections, premature aging, etc.

Or perhaps all these things were a lot of excuses for Agent 216 to treat his little brother harshly and cast him into the shadows.

Tidbits that made me put this together in my mind would be, for example, the fact that MMA is covered in scars, while Agent 216 is not. Strange, considering that his targets are mostly seen tied up, hanging from hooks or otherwise immobilized. And somehow, all these scars look the same. They all look as if they were inflicted by... a machete perhaps.

In early concept art, MMA is shown with what appears to be burn marks. They almost look as if they were deliberately inflicted on him. The spotting doesn't exactly appear like he got caught in a fire, much rather that they came from separate instances.

And one more thing, which might just be an observation I made that you might disagree with. But as someone who worked with both abused and disabled children in the past... I recognize some of his patterns and behaviors.

Looking up to the one person caring for him without even a second thought. Enduring great pain for their sake. HAPPILY doing so. Not being great at dealing with instructions. Not handling it well when someone disagrees with him or even scolds him. Letting the "adult Magnus" do the talking for him in difficult situations. Struggling to relate to people, perhaps even due to low emotional intelligence, or simply not understanding that people have feelings. Not CARING if they have feelings, possibly. Using people for his benefit, then discarding them like dolls he's done playing with once they're not useful anymore.

All acquired behaviors somebody taught him in his life.

Considering his condition, harsh upbringing and visible deformities, it wouldn't surprise me if he was a younger age mentally. His behavior is almost childlike in ways. The way he phrases things, too. Revengencers, instead of Revengers. The fact that he has these scars, yet his brother didn't have a single one on him.

This might be a reach. A big reach. But what if Agent 216 had him completely wrapped around his finger. All like "I had to endure so much for your sake, so I have a right to take my anger out on you", and perhaps followed up by an "I do this because I love you and because that's the only way you learn". I can see him making MMA feel inferior, for his appearance, for needing food, medication, comfort. Guilty for "killing" their mother. For being a burden. How dare he want love. Isn't it enough that he puts his life on the line for him every day? What is love? Baby don't hurt me

To me, he's a lost, disabled person stuck in a trauma bond with his brother until the end.