#and committing the same acts on everyone else so I would never feel powerless again | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

ladyonfire28 · 5 years ago

Link

Adèle Haenel: "And the fight against racism, is that a black thing?" (March 1, 2016)

Her raw talent and her unique personality are shaking up French cinema. With two Césars in her pocket, the actress from Les Combattants became an icon of auteur cinema in Les Ogres and soon with the Dardenne brothers. Interview with a thoughtful and shady feminist.

The first vision we have of Adèle Haenel when we enter the hotel room, where she has just been photographed, is that of a tall girl in denim and worn-out suede boots looking for cotton to remove her make-up. She says that it's too much, that it's not her, that we have to take it all away - this sticky femininity - and right away.

She announces her color: strong, fierce, temperamental, a little prickly, when, during the interview, she frowns and throws your questions back to you - always with great relevance. She is beautiful and abrupt, her adolescent brusqueness (even though she is 27 years old), gives the impression of robustness: a sportswoman with the shoulders of a swimmer but the face of a femme fatale from the inter-war period, green eyes and a pulpy mouth. This is an unprecedented combination in French cinema, which tends to be dominated by young first-time coquettes looking for contracts with luxury brands. We have never seen Adèle H. at the front row of fashion shows, her appearances on the red carpet - the playground of her fellow female cast members - did not stick in our memories, and that's good.

We've been keeping an eye on her since Water Lilies (2007), by Céline Sciamma, to whom she declared her love at a César Award ceremony. She won two of them, hands down: for Suzanne, and then, last year, for Les Combattants, an emblematic film that created a new image of a virile heroine in French cinema. Adèle Haenel, an icon of auteur cinema, was thrown at the heart of the system: she is the most coveted actress of the moment and has just finished in Liège The Unknown Girl, by the Dardenne brothers, who will inevitably be screened again at the next Cannes Film Festival.

You have to hear her talk about cinema, with her eyes fixed and uninterrupted flow, to understand how incandescent this girl is. In Les Ogres, a choral film by Léa Fehner that talks about the daily life of an itinerant theater that performs Chekhov, she plays Mona, actress and pregnant. The diary of this tribe that travels from city to city, a tent on their back, also draws a universal portrait of actors, truculent monsters full of love and violence.

Madame Figaro - Since the success of Les Combattants, you intrigue people...

Adèle Haenel. - I can see that the demand is stronger, but I'm not chasing after advertising and I don't intend to invade the public space. I think we have to remain discreet. Notoriety hasn't changed anything in my life and it certainly won't change my desire to make films following the same line.

What is that line ?

I make a film to carry a message. I can feel when a director has something to say. I feel something, a desire, a vibration. There is a thread, an intuition, a truth that imposes itself on me. I know what I have to do, I can feel it. It is both mystical and very rational. What is interesting is to come out of a navel-gazing, to rise up, to talk about people, to talk about the world. I like the idea that everything fits together collectively: feelings, economics, politics. A film is a common story, and I want to be part of that dialogue. A film must be in direct resonance with its time: cinema is today. I do things for now, and it's not up to me, to us, to decide whether a film is going to stay, whether it's made for eternity. I feel extremely responsible.

You feel very inhabited when you talk about cinema...

I have many other reasons to live, but, yes, I am deeply interested in the representation of things. How does cinema fit into society? Who is it for? Cinema is obviously a political act. For example, even the latest Star Wars is political. I was really relieved to see so many women and different skin colors: it means that everyone can be a hero and that feels good.

It is said that in the movies women are taking over...

It's an evergreen content. They make a big deal out of it, but if you look at the numbers, it's not so true: women are still in the minority. I can't be satisfied with that.

Do you feel the prevailing machismo that is associated with cinema?

I'm not going to waste my time and energy educating these people.

Is it easier to succeed in this job when you are a man?

Your question is a strange one. Either we point out superficial phenomena - the decision-makers are men, they have the money and therefore the power - or we debate a broader question: in what world are we evolving? And there, it's always the same thing. The world is cut in two: on the one hand, there is the man, the virile, all linked to superior qualities, and on the other hand, the lower part, the woman, the secret, the moods. Of course, all our representation is linked to this division. I often ask myself the following question: in a fair world, without discrimination, what is art? Art today is in dialogue with its time, so it does not abolish anything but is involved in the fight.

As we can't classify you, you have been labeled as virile...

I'd like someone to explain to me why people should always be defined. To be a woman, you would have to be a feminine woman, right? For me, it's redundant. I don't maintain any posture, I am myself. But the way people look at me doesn't bother me: make up your mind, there's no problem.

However, you embody a renewal at the antipodes of actresses on their first red carpets...

I don't know which ones you are talking about, but I will never be against other propositions from women. After all, they also are undoubtedly dealing with their inner truth. But then again, I don't want to comment on something that escapes me completely: the gaze of others. I realize that everything is complicated for actresses who are so solicited that they end up participating, willingly or unwillingly, in a kind of general cacophony.

Are you one of those ogresses that Léa Fehner describes in her film?

I've just eaten about twenty-five croissants, isn't that a clue? In Léa's film, there is an energy close to the one in Les Combattants: action as a solution to an era in crisis. Here, it's laughter and gluttony facing a personal anxiety and an era that values suffering. I think we need to wake people up, to make them understand that fatality is a terrible and disarming discourse. We are told that the planet is warming up, that people are being massacred, that entire populations are on the move. I am not saying that we are not powerless against this, but feeling concerned and responsible is already a first step towards action.

Are actors monsters?

I don't know and I don't care. I'm not here to tell people: I'm like this, I'm like that, I'm better than you. I don't have to deal with that. Why me? I don't know.

Yes, why you and not someone else? Actor, it's an elective profession...

What is an actor? Their hypersensitivity should not be overestimated. The key is courage. That's the most difficult thing, courage and sincerity: not hiding, committing yourself with what you have, with your face and your body, with everything, with no escape. We often say: "To be an actor is to be someone else" but above all, you have to accept being yourself. It's not the most well-balanced job on earth, but a healthy actor would be weird, wouldn't it?

Precisely, you are sometimes compared to... Depardieu.

There are worse critics. What I like about him is his poetic sensitivity, which is not fake at all. You can sense his love of texts. And then, come on, what an incredible freedom of acting!

Can you play everything?

I don't know. What I do know is that the feeling of comfort is dangerous. It would turn us into a small factory. As soon as I start a film, I don't sleep anymore. The first scenes are hell.

Is shooting naked a problem?

It annoys me. In all films, there's this double injunction from society or the audience: we actresses are asked to get naked but to feel guilty about it! But no guys, I'm not going to feel guilty so you can be fully satisfied that I hold this assigned place of the whore and the well-bred girl! The commitment I make when I make a movie is much bigger than that.

Your feminist side...

I don't have a feminist side, I'm a feminist simply because I want to exist.

Today, not all women are feminists…

So feminism is a girl thing, then? And the fight against racism is a black thing? It's not a power struggle or lobbying, it's not Pepsi against Coke. No, it's a fundamental question about humanity.

#adèle haenel #adele haenel #madame figaro #2016 #it's been a while since my last interview translation !#i've always loved that interview #don't think it was translated before but who knows aha #here you go anyway !#sometimes i translate things #les ogres

256 notes · View notes

wlw-lovestruck-fiction · 4 years ago

Note

How about a sequel to the Naida/MC? When Nadia invites MC on a heist with her, the Poppy is worried for MC so they test to see if Nadia really cares about MC by making it look like MC’s will be caught (but it’s one of them as a fake guard) to see if Nadia stays to help MC and she does. When MC realises it’s the Poppy she’s upset bc they didn’t trust her judgement and leaves with Nadia, but Nadia convinces her to talk with them bc while she’s angry about being tested they were looking out for MC

Written by @an-awkward-ghost

Flashpoint’s heists were different than the Poppy’s. Nadia, back when she thought she was infatuated with Vivienne, had spent days studying their methods. They truly had the best combination of abilities and talents someone could ask for, and Nikolai knew how to put everything to good use. Nothing was wasted, any chance of failure would be immediately squashed before it could so much as exist. And if something unexpected did happen during a heist, well, they knew how to improvise. It was annoying, yes, but something that Nadia could respect – they were the best for a reason, after all. Part of that was remaining untouchable.

And while Nadia was aware that safety should be top priority, there was a unique thrill in doing things more freely that she would never give away. Flashpoint preferred to go all in, figurative guns blazing, taking what they wanted while everyone watched, unable to do anything.

She loved committing their expressions to memory, all stunned fear and enraged surprise. It was much better than imagining their reactions to a calling card, in her opinion.

When she had invited MC to work with them on their next heist, she knew the Poppy wouldn’t approve of her methods. They were like one big, stubborn, overprotective family she had to win over – the most disapproving “in-laws” in the world.

Fine, that was fine. Nadia could have Flashpoint play it safe for one heist. She’d never let Karina come to any harm, and hell to anyone who believed otherwise – she’d show the Poppy she can be trusted.

Thing is… she didn’t quite think she’d have to prove it this way. She expected a talk, maybe a heated debate, but nothing this dramatic nor extreme. Weren’t the Poppy supposed to play it safe?

And everything had happened so fast.

Karina had been telling her about her recruitment, high on adrenaline, laughing freely and warmly like the wind in spring. The whole experience had been invigorating, even if the heist wasn’t as crazy as Flashpoint usually preferred.

“I wish it had been me who discovered you,” Nadia had told her, in one of those moments where she didn’t feel the need to be dominating, in control. Karina had softened at the admission, had looked at her as if she were an undiscovered treasure she was itching to commit to memory.

They walked together to the back exit of the mansion Flashpoint had infiltrated in. Nadia wasn’t concerned about the rest of her crew – they were probably already waiting for them, since Karina and her might have gotten a bit… distracted… during the heist.

Just as she was reminiscing, feeling proud delight bubble in her chest and a spark of delicious heat, the Poppy had sprung into action.

Or, well, a “guard” did.

He came out of the literal shadows, unexpected like rain in September.

Nadia had been walking ahead, already out of the mansion. If this had occurred before Nadia had become aware she had feelings for Karina, she might have snorted and continued on to safety, glad to have gotten rid of Vivienne’s little toy.

But that’s not what happens at all.

The first thing Nadia hears is Karina’s surprised yelp. All rational thought leaves her at that moment. Before she can even blink, she’s already turning around, heading inside again like a demon let loose, hand moving towards her knife.

It takes her a moment to understand the scene before her, but the moment she does she sees red. Karina is caught in the guard’s grasp, expression open in honest surprise. Nadia can detect a tinge of panic twisting alongside ever eternal frustration, and understands this situation has happened before, and Karina had been as powerless then as she was now. Everything shifting with volcanic rage in her expression, Karina stomps on the guard’s foot with vigor.

The guard curses and yelps and flinches and Nadia instantly sees her opening. She pounces, eyes zeroing in on the spot that would guarantee a kill. It was second nature at this point.

True, she had promised to change for Karina. To hold back. To search for other methods, for other solutions. Nadia had grumbled and accepted it, but the instinct was never gone, not really. It’s the first thing that came to mind when something went wrong.

It’s the first thing that she was doing now, falling back into old habits.

The guard blocks her, still holding to Karina. She moves with him, a harsh tug that sets his balance off. That’s everything Nadia needs. Her knife is light and sure in her grasp, hungry for vengeance. She won’t miss.

“Nadia, wait!”

Against her better judgement, her body freezes mid strike, automatically responding to Karina’s yell- no, to her order. Unable to do anything else, she fixes the guard with a fulminating glare, daring him to do anything.

Karina continues. “I know that voice. Leon?”

The guard remains tense, though now thoroughly non-threatening.

“Leon?” Nadia repeats, with a huff. She can see it now, in his wide shoulders and tall frame. The knife would have been ineffective against someone like him, a mere bee’s sting. She huffs, relaxing her posture, still somewhat wary. “Explain. You didn’t betray them, did you?”

“Us,” Karina corrects, eyes narrowing. “And he’d never…”

She trails off at the same time Leon lets go of her, moving to take off the mask covering his mouth. His expression is filled with silent, thunderous determination.

“You guys planned this, didn’t you?” Karina asks, quietly. “You wanted to see what Nadia would do if I was in danger.”

Leon doesn’t shy away from her, which Nadia has to give him credit for. Karina could be scary when she wanted to, eyes dark like the deep end of the sea, where you couldn’t do anything else but drown.

The Poppy was hellbent on believing she was only deceiving Karina, weren’t they? After all this time? All of this?

Indignation burns away all other feelings. She distracts herself playing with her knife, frowning.

“Do you really trust me so little?” Karina explodes. “Do you- do you think that I don’t have a brain to make decisions or something? I know Nadia is dangerous. I’m not blind. I’m not a poor judge of character. I just- what were you guys thinking? Doing this- this… this test! What the hell were you trying to do? Provoke the inevitable? Nadia wouldn’t have abandoned me!”

Karina turns around, hand grabbing Nadia’s and dragging her off without another word. Leon remains where he is, resignation clouding his face, but even from here his relief is evident.

“I can’t believe their nerve! God! What if you hadn’t stopped and ended up stabbing him?”

“We are talking about Leon here. He can tank a knife.”

“I mean, yeah, but this could have been worse! It could have drawn in real guards, and then what?”

Nadia shrugs, knowing silence is the only option. Karina needs to vent.

“And I can’t believe they don’t trust me. I’ve told them about our dates, you know, you’d think they’d see-” She cuts herself off, quickly switching topics without really ending them. “I just know Remy and Jett must have driven all the other guards away. If we run into them, I’ll- oh my god, the maid we saw on the third floor! That’s it, I’m yelling at Vivienne too. I’m yelling at all of them.”

Nadia squints, vaguely remembering the maid Karina is referring to. The Poppy had clearly taken measures to ensure Karina wouldn’t be in any real danger whatsoever. This little test of theirs…

She sighs.

“Angel-”

“And don’t get me started on Zoe, she probably-”

“Angel.”

“-was watching the whole time! The moment I see another camera, I am-”

“Karina?”

“-so flipping her off!”

“Angel. Darling.”

That seems to make the trick. Karina whips around to glare at her.

“Don’t use darling. Please.”

Nadia nods. “Yes. I apologize. You weren’t listening.”

“Listening? Oh! I’m sorry, Nadia, I didn’t consider how this would make you feel… they are just acting like complete assholes, I know you would never-”

“No, no. It’s fine.” It’s not. Nadia is a woman of her word. She had told the Poppy that as soon as Karina and her had started dating, and to have her word so quickly brushed off…? It irked her. A lot. But she sucks it up and faces her girlfriend with the most neutral expression she can manage. “They are your family, Karina. I understand why they are worried.”

“They shouldn’t be.”

“But they are. As much as I dislike being tested like this, I’d say it helped win their favor. We should have no further problems from them.”

“But to go this far… they really crossed the line this time. I won’t forgive them.”

Gently, Nadia tugs Karina’s hand so she’ll stop walking. “If only humans weren’t this emotional... but the fact is they have a right to feel worried, just like you have a right to be angry.”

“We. Just like we.”

A small smile curls up her lips. “Just to be clear, I’d have done the same.”

“Huh?”

“If you were dating Vivienne. I would have tested her, too.”

Karina’s eyes go wide. “Hold on. That day, on the rooftop. You came to test me.”

Nadia swallows the fact that she had originally intended to kill her and just nods. The memory of her past self’s plans still made her skin crawl, even after all this time. She can’t fathom why she’d ever want to harm this woman, this angel. At least those thoughts are long gone, now.

Her girlfriend huffs and shakes her head.

“Am I the only one that would just choose to have a talk?”

“A shovel talk, you mean.”

“Hah. Maybe. So, your point was… I should forgive them? Really? Are you sure?”

“Oh, no, you can still bring them hell. Actually, please do. I was just trying to make you see things their way.”

Karina’s smile is downright predatory. “Oh, I’ll give them hell all right.”

#Anonymous #answered #lovestruck #women of lovestruck #queen of thieves #qot #lovestruck qot #lovestruck queen of thieves #nadia x mc #qot nadia #lovestruck nadia #continuation

29 notes · View notes

burnedbyshoto · 6 years ago

Text

Revenge

Kinktober Day 28 ~ kink: voyeurism

pairing: bakugou katsuki x fem!reader

warning: smut, cursing

word count: 4,825

a/n: .........so this is a part two from my other bakugou piece entitled Tease because why not :) as seen from the title, you get your revenge :)

✩✶✩❇✩✶✩

Bakugou Katsuki did not enjoy being teased.

Never once in his life did he enjoy having the lower hand. He hated feeling powerless, unable to act on things he needed. Bakugou was a dominating person and no one on this planet could say otherwise.

Bakugou was also eighteen years and very much in love -- shocking to everyone -- with y/l/n y/n.

You were the ray of sunshine to his bitter lightening and grey clouds. You were able to calm him with a simple touch of your hands. Your words a prayer to him that always switched his worst of days to the best of days. You completed Bakugou and he completed you. Bakugou made you more reassured with yourself. Always helping you commit to your opinions and didn’t let others overpower you. He helped you study for tests and you were not assaulted as Kirishima told you he was. Hell, he even helped you go to bed at a semi-normal time! Eleven at night instead of three in the morning.

But oh god, what Bakugou could not bring himself to understand was why you were sitting on Midoriya’s desk.

His eyes kept glancing back as he heard you talking with Midoriya and Sero. He couldn’t make out what you were saying because your hand was on his shoulder. Your fingers massaging soft circles into his skin. Your body leaning on his every other minute as you laughed. Bakugou didn’t think of himself as needy or desperate. He was a strong-willed individual who didn’t succumb to dumb needs.

But there was something that he didn’t like about the fact that you were laughing prettier than tiny bells. The way you pressed the side of your breasts into his back whenever you laughed. The way your fingers dragged his shoulders and back as you talked as if you were unaware of what you were doing to him.

Bakugou felt like he was under your spell despite you not doing anything.

His hand reaches up to grab your hand, and you slip your fingers through his. It warms Bakugou’s heart feeling your soft and smaller hands between his own. He can't help it as he presses a kiss to the back of your hand; your lips press against his cheek.

The classroom door slams open, and Aizawa walks in. He informs everyone to head to Ground Gamma while in costume for Hero Training class. Bakugou stands up to move, Hero Basics was for sure his favorite class, and he was punctual. So, it surprised him as he felt you hold him to his chair as everyone else filed out.

“What the hell are you doing?” Bakugou questions as the two of you are now the only ones in the room.

You slide off of Midoriya’s desk and wrap your arms around Bakugou’s lean waist.

Bakugou wishes he could glare at you, but can only get himself to roll his eyes and look away.

“Kiss me, ‘Suki.” You say as he feels you lean up onto your tiptoes.

“Shitty woman,” Bakugou groans, but still, his head leans down to press a kiss to your mouth. It’s short and sweet, but it’s enough for you it seems as you sigh contently as you pull away. Bakugou lets you slip your hand back into his as you walk to the wall. His eyes trail down to the slightly opaque black tights you were wearing. It wasn’t the standard stockings you normally wore. “Those tights are new.”

You glanced back at Bakugou who pulled his box from the wall. His vermillion eyes were now locked on you as you walked backward to your own box. His eyes narrowed at the coy look in your eyes.

“They’re actually stocking.” You say, as you turn around and bend over to grab your issued box.

Bakugou Katsuki could count on his hands the number of times he’s lost his breath. So far, you made up eight of eight times he forgot how to breathe. This made nine.

As you bent over, the small skirt that barely passed the curves of your ass exposed to Bakugou what exactly you were wearing.

What he thought were black opaque tights, were, in fact, black opaque stockings. They ended centimeters from the swell of your ass. They connected a lacy black garter, the thick material running up both legs. They smoothed over your ass. Disappearing to what Bakugou could only imagine being a high waisted garter belt. Then in between your delightful ass was the laciest black thong that Bakugou had ever seen you in.

Bakugou recovered quickly, as he always did, and his eyes flashed over to yours. You were still bent over, looking over your shoulder and grinned.

“Pervert.” You say as you arch up, and you swear you can hear a whine in Bakugou’s throat. You saunter over, your lips pressing a lip gloss stain against the corner of his mouth. “I do need to go, the girls will worry, and well… I need to get changed without them noticing my little treat for you.”

Now there was nothing in the world that should have Bakugou Katsuki speechless. But all he was able to do was stare after your retreating figure as you ran out of the room.

Bakugou Katsuki felt like this day had just gotten terribly longer.

✩✶✩❇✩✶✩

Bakugou groaned as he was launched onto his ass by you again.

For some goddamn reason, this class was not going his way.

You laugh as you rise above him again, your arms pinned to your sides.

Today was leg day.

Leg day meant you were only able to fight with your legs.

Bakugou was a bit dependent on his arms and fists, so you were -- to put it kindly -- killing him out there.

You were smaller than him and were often forced to use your entire body to even battles, so it was no big surprise. It just didn’t make him feel all too great. There was also the fact that whenever you would duck under his kick, his mind remembered the terrific panties you were wearing. Then he’d choke up.

Grunting, he got back up, sweat pouring down his face as he glared at you. Thankfully, everyone was running through these exercises or else he would have felt a million times worse. Bakugou groaned as he saw you sink low, his own stance lowering as he tried to not fall for yet another trap of yours.

Unfortunately for him, you sprang towards him suddenly, your body outmaneuvering his own. All Bakugou could feel was your feet pressing into his gut and then he was on the floor. Your ass landing hard on his torso as you had him pinned to the ground. Now Bakugou was always grateful for the calm head-- at the very least when it concerned you-- on his shoulders when placed into situations like this. But you shifted back to stand up and your ass dragged against his crotch and he stiffened completely.

“Y/n…” Bakugou hissed as you snapped your attention towards you. Your face feigned innocence, but he saw the spark in your eye that told him you knew exactly what you were doing. “Don’t. Fucking. Do. It.”

“I can’t get up, Ground Zero.” You look offended by his words. Bakugou trembles slightly at the sound of his hero name expelling from your lips like that. “My legs are stuck in a weird position.”

As if to prove this horrible detail, you shifted again. Your ass further grinding into his crotch.

“Shitty woman!” Bakugou yelled. His sanity slowly crumbling as you continued grinding into him in your attempt to stand.

“Bahaha! Aizawa-sensei, Bakugou and Y/l/n are stuck!” Kaminari yells and Bakugou feels as if his skin is on fire as he pants.

Bakugou glares at you as you've been helped to your feet by your teacher, and Bakugou stumbles to his own feet. His breathing erratic and not at all calm.

“I need to go to the fucking bathroom!” Bakugou snarls as he storms off, the earth quaking with every stomp.

You stare at his retreating form. A coy smile on your face as he yells at Kirishima for asking about the binds still around his arms.

Phase two was complete.

✩✶✩❇✩✶✩

Bakugou sighed as his hands shoved deep within the pockets of his pants. Nothing new at all.

His eyes low and head down as he walked through the busy hall. It was after lunch and he had eaten alone on account that you had ditched him today. He didn’t mind, Bakugou enjoyed eating alone!

After becoming friends with people like Kirishima and Kaminari he was never allowed to be alone. Those two idiots were always near him! Then when you became his girlfriend, the two of you always ate together. Of course, it was not the same as Kirishima and Kaminari; he enjoyed having you by his side as you ate. But today, you had run off with the other girls in the class leaving him alone.

Wanting to get back to the room to relax his mind for a bit, Bakugou had eaten quickly and walked back to the classroom.

What he expected was to walk through the hallways. Avoid people as normal, ignore the scared squeaks of first years as he passed them. Finally, get into the room and place his head down. What he didn’t expect, when rounding a corner into an empty hallway, was for a pair of hands to wrap around his wrist. The hands pull him into the janitor’s closet.

Bakugou's quirk went off immediately. His mouth pulled back into a pre-rage scream before a pair of lips pressed themselves over his own.

Bakugou knew every little thing about your body, and he knew exactly how you kissed.

“Shitty fucking woman!” He growled into your mouth.

While explosions still emitted from his palms, Bakugou kissed you back. The darkness of the closet and the oddly pleasant smell of bleach sinking into his nose as he kissed you.

“What? Expecting someone else?” You tease as your lips trail kisses up his neck.

“Like I want anyone but you.” Bakugou groans as your tongue licks against his skin.

“Good answer,” you murmur as you pull away before crashing your lips back against his own.

Your fervor lips press against his. Your fingers tangling into his unruly hair as you shoved him into the door. Bakugou’s eyes widened in pleasant surprise, he did enjoy the few moments where you were dominant. Allowing you to keep him by the wall, Bakugou’s hands settled on your waist. His fingers trailing down under the skirt. Bakugou grunted at the feeling of your supple skin and the lacy lingerie you wore.

What a fucking minx.

Bakugou hates how reactive he is to you. His lips moving with vindication against yours. His fingers pulling at the string and letting it snap against your skin. The resulting moans from your mouth make it worth it.

Your mind spins slightly at what you’re doing. Making out in the janitor’s closet was the most cliche thing you’ve done with Bakugou. Yet it makes your body numb with pleasure from the shivers running down your spine. Bakugou’s hands move to grope your ass. Your flesh molding under his hands as you shove him even further into the door.

His lips are a drug to you, addicting and have you longing for more as your tongue trails his bottom lip.

Bakugou growls as he opens up his mouth, his tongue shooting out and entering your mouth. You let him take control of your mouth, the dominance alluring as your hand trails down his chest.

Bakugou's eyes fly open as your hand palms him through his baggy pants.

“Y-Y/n!” He snaps as your lips reattach onto his neck.

“Yes, Ground Zero?” You sigh softly as your hand slips through his waistband.

Bakugou’s head slams back onto the janitor’s door as your hand grasps onto his cock.

It’s not erect or hard, but feeling your hot hand around his girth has Bakugou expelling harsh breaths through his nose. Trying desperately not to be affected.

“Fuck, Ground Zero...” You whine as your mouth peppers hot and wet kisses against his neck. Trailing down to his exposed neck as he still chose to keep the top button undone and wore no tie. Bakugou curses as your mouth sucks against his chest. Your hand stroking his length as he becomes harder with every touch. “You’re getting so hard for plain little me.”

“I’ll show you just what else you do to me,” Bakugou growls as your teeth nip at the same spot you had been sucking at.

“You don’t have it in you to fuck me in school, you fucking nerd,” you tease as the bell rings.

Bakugou’s eyes widen as you stare up at him, your eyes fluttering with unseen emotions.

“Y/n, don’t you fucking dare.” Bakugou threatens, his eyes wide.

He could get you both to come in less than five minutes if he tried his best. It would be the amount of time needed to get the two of you back to class.

“Sorry.” You apologize with a faux pout that he felt against his chest.

With a small pop, you disappeared.

Fuck your fucking teleportation quirk.

You shuffled between the crowds of students, your sudden appearance having gone unnoticed. But you swore you could hear the most guttural scream coming from the janitor’s closet as you scurried away.

Phase three was complete.

✩✶✩❇✩✶✩

Bakugou was stalking back to the dorms.

The top button of his shirt was fastened because you had left a fucking dark hickey on his chest that was very, very visible.

Worse yet, you had left the classroom before he could stop you. Only seeing your retreating figure holding onto Uraraka’s hand as the two of you raced away.

You had left him needy, desperate, and horny.

It had been a miracle no one noticed his boner. It was a miracle he had even managed to sit through the rest of school, his body on edge as he looked over at you by your desk. You sat diagonally in front of him, and he swore -- no he knew you were shifting as often as you were on purpose.

Then stupid fucking Raccoon Eyes talked to him for twenty minutes. She had gone off on a nineteen-minute tangent to see if she could wear his gauntlets one day. All because she wanted to see if she could create an “Acid Bomb” and of course Bakugou denied the thought.

But now, Bakugou was feeling completely insane. He would go as far as to say that he would fuck you in the common room if that’s where he found you.

So as he stepped into the dorm, everyone looked over at him as the door slammed open.

“Where the fuck is y/n?” He growled.

They all pointed upwards.

You were in your damn room.

Bakugou didn’t even hear their pleas to not explode on you as he stormed up the staircase. His quirk going off to get him to the fourth floor as quickly as possible.

Bakugou didn’t wait to even knock, choosing instead to throw open the door and storm in. His eyes locked on your form. You were by your desk. Your body now out of your uniform, wearing the same damn lingerie but you also wore as his fucking black t-shirt.

It flowed down your body, his shirt enveloping you within its fabric as you merely glance over. As if you didn’t know what was wrong. Bakugou snarled as he locked the door. His jacket throwing off his shoulders and backpack on the ground.

You turned towards your angry ash-blond boyfriend, welcoming his impassioned kiss as he had his way with your lips. His lips clashing against yours without mercy.

His hands trembling with suppressed emotions, with a greater need as he shoved you towards the bed.

“I’m going to fuck you until you can’t fucking walk,” Bakugou snarls against your mouth.

“Really?” You ask, sighing softly as his mouth attacks your neck. His teeth sinking into your flesh in multiple areas without mercy.

“Making me fix my outfit to look like some fucking dumbass extra!” Bakugou hisses as your fingers ghost over the exact area where you sucked his skin.

“I wanted every person to know you’re mine.” You laugh as his hands grip your ass as he picks you up and he sits down on the bed. You smirk as he forcefully grinds your hips against his.

“Like hell, I’d ever want anyone of them!”

“I know.” You giggle as your hands press against his chest.

While pulling away from his assaulting lips, Bakugou can only watch in horror as you teleport the two of you towards the corner of the bed. Bakugou’s head spins slightly from your quirk. In that moment of his disorientation, your hands snapped forward. Handcuffs snapped around his wrists.

“Y/n!” Bakugou yells as you roll off his lap.

You watch as Bakugou thrashes against the handcuffs. You grin as you sit out of his grasp. His chest heaving as he continues staring at you, desperation in his eyes as he continues staring at you. Your eyes travel over his body, how fucking good he looks with his hands over his head, how vulnerable he looks.

“I’m mad at you," you admit as you crawl back over his lap.

“Why the fuck are you mad, shitty woman?!” Bakugou snarls as you press your ass against his crotch. You slightly moan as the friction you desired from him was finally there. His own anger dissipating with your rolling hips.

“You had me on edge for the entire fucking day,” you sigh. A sadistic grin overcoming your face as Bakugou’s mouth flattens. You lost a competition and now, here the two of you were, now exacting your petty revenge.

Bakugou watched you, his nostrils flaring as you removed his shirt from your body.

“You know,” you sigh as your hair falls down onto your collarbones. You wear a black lacy bra that is most definitely showing off your aroused nipples. “I think the best part about you being into the entire voyeurism is that this is going to be the best, most painful thing for you to watch.”

Bakugou can feel his cock twitch at the meaning behind your words, and he watches as you lean in close again. Your lips press against his again, your hips rolling in a large circle against his hips. You smirk as you feel Bakugou resist his moan, his jaw trembling as you grind your cunt into his hips.

“I really love that you’re always so responsive to me.” You sigh as you pull away, your ass brushing against Bakugou’s hardening cock. “Now, you’re going to watch me fuck myself, and maybe… just maybe you’ll get to fuck me when I’m done.”

“Y/n…” Bakugou’s voice is low, it's a warning, and it only stirs you further.

Your hands move behind your back as you scoot back onto the mattress. Bakugou’s vermillion eyes are locked on you, his pupils blown open as you drop the bra from your breasts. His tongue licks his lips as your fingers trail down your breasts. They stop below the curve of the tissue as you sigh. Your fingers tease the bottom of your breasts as you close your eyes.

You imagine instead of your hands that they’re Bakugou’s. Strong and weathered, but unbelievably soft against your skin.

Your fingers tug at your nipples, rolling the skin between your pointer finger and your thumb as you moan. Soft electrifying sensations shooting through your body as you shift. Your hands continue massaging your breasts. Groping them between your fingers as a possessive groan escapes Bakugou’s lips.

Your eyes snap back open, amusement heavy in your eyes as your hand cups your right breast. Bakugou’s boner is restrained through his pants, but his arousal is very evident. Keeping your eyes locked on him, you lower your mouth to press gentle kisses against your supple flesh. His eyes flash in fury and lust as you do so, and the smile on your face only widens as he watches your tongue push out. Teasing the skin of your breasts as all he can do is watch on.

Dropping your breast from your hands, you feel it bounce, and you see Bakugou’s eyes follow the movement. His stare is so intense you could have thought he was trying to figure out the calculus behind your bouncing breasts.

“I was really excited to show you this new set,” you inform Bakugou as you remove the high waisted garter belt. The stockings on your legs immediately sag, and you take your time in removing the fabric. “I’m trying to find the perfect orange, black, and green set. But they only really have black,” you fake pout as you toss the stockings to the side. Your bare legs coming into contact with the cool material of your comforter. “I mean, I guess it’s okay that I can’t find any lingerie related to Ground Zero when I got him wrapped around my finger.”

Bakugou’s eyes narrow as your fingers hook around the lace thong.

“I’m just so happy that you’re going to enjoy watching me fuck myself.” You say as the thong comes off, joining the rest of your clothes on the floor. “Now, I hope you won’t tear your eyes away from me.”

A giggle erupts from your mouth as Bakugou whimpers softly as you lean back. Your legs spreading out to expose your dripping cunt to him. Your fingers run down your abdomen, your nails teasing rises against your body. All while looking at Bakugou you sink two fingers into your awaiting cunt.

“F-Fuck!” You gasp, your head already leaning backward from the intruding sensation.

It had been a while since you’ve last masturbated, and you sure had not had your fingers in your cunt in awhile. Your walls are hot against your fingers, your walls contracting softly against them as you pump in and out at an easy pace.

“‘Suki, you make me feel so good,” you whine as your hips rut against your fingers.

A needy sigh forms in your throat as you curl your fingers.

The new angle makes your body tremble as your fingers pick up their pace within your walls.

In and out.

Your fingers brush against your walls making you fall onto your back, your chest arching off the mattress as you imagine it’s Bakugou doing this to you. That it’s Bakugou’s teasing fingers curling inside of you as you cry out his name.

Faster and faster your finger pump into you.

Your moans and cries are melodic as your other hand trails to your clit to rub circles into your puffy bundle of nerves.

The smallest touch to your clit nearly sends you off the high end. His name coming out as a harsh curse as you sob. Your legs nearly snapping together as you continue your assault on your pussy.

“Y-Yes, Bakugou -- ahhh that feels so fucking good -- I’m so close,” you sob. Your hips are coming off the mattress at this point as your juices slather against your hands. Your clit throbbing as you apply even more pressure. “Fuck, fuck, fuck!”

The sounds of your fingers driving into your soaked pussy is unbearable for you. The shooting pleasures ramming throughout your entire body as you quiver uncontrollably on the bed. Your jaw wide open as your eyes are screwed closed. Your fingers are not yours but Bakugou’s and you jerk up as the pressure within you snaps.

You come hard around your fingers, your body twitching in its wake. A resulting stammering breath rattling in your ribcage as you try to get your breathing back to normal. Your eyes heavy as you stare at Bakugou who’s staring at you. His eyes nearly emotionless as you chuckle.

Sighing you pushed your still twitching body off the bed, and walk to your desk. You grab the key and unlock Bakugou who is slow to rub his wrists that are somehow red and bruised.

Was he trying to get out the entire time you were doing that?

You squeak as Bakugou grabs your wrists and puts them into the handcuffs now. His uniform covered crotch grinding into your wet pussy as he snarls in your ear.

“I hope you had fucking fun imagining that it was me fucking you,” He snaps, his fingers sinking into your cunt and you cry out. Your pussy is still sensitive from coming off of your high. “I’m going to fuck you so well now, you’re never going to be able to use your goddamn fingers or toys again. I’m going to ruin you from everything else in this world except for my cock.”

“I -- shit ‘Suki -- find that hard to believe.” You challenge as your eyes lock onto his angry red ones.

His lips are over yours, possessive and angry. His fingers leaving your cunt as you hear his belt unbuckling and before you know it, his cock is teasing your entrance.

“I’m motherfucking Bakugou Katsuki,” your boyfriend hisses at you. “What I say is the goddamn truth.”

Before you could think of something witty to say, his cock slams into you and your eyes roll to the back of your head as he begins ramming into you. Your head throwing back as you cry against his throbbing hard length.

“And you better be fucking quiet,” He warns as his hips begin hammering into you without a second thought.

Unforgiving and relentless you stayed handcuffed for the rest of the evening. Bakugou Katsuki kept to his promise and made sure to permanently ruin everything entering your damn pussy for the rest of your life.

#bakugou x reader #bakugou imagine #katsuki bakugou x reader #bakugou katsuki x reader #bakugou smut #bnha writing blog #bnha x reader #bnha #bnha bakugou #mha #mha x reader #mha imagines #mha bakugou #burnedbyshoto does kinktober #bnha kinktober #mha kinktober

1K notes · View notes

houseisekai · 4 years ago

Text

House Isekai: Shadowbringers Act 2, Part 1 - Withering Flower

House Isekai Shadowbringers AU Masterlist Here

—

“I don’t know if anyone will be seeing this message, whether that be myself or anyone else who comes into this godforsaken tower but...My name is Byleth Eisner. Son of Jeralt Eisner.”

“And my name is Sothis. Goddess of Fodlan...evidently.”

“We’re leaving this here in some hopes that this cycle can be broken, and to fix this mistake before it could ever happen...Our memories will be wiped after this, so we want to say everything we can before...before we forget.”

“And if anyone else besides our future selves sees this message, please give them to Byleth at Garreg Mach Monastery.”

“Now that the pleasantries are out of the way...We need to start at the beginning.”

----

[’Neath Dark Waters - Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers OST]

Byleth looked at the reflection of himself in the tower. It was a floating crystal and after taking a deep breath, began speaking into it.

======

“Our journey-

No.

Your journey.

It is your journey that we are banking our hopes in.

It is your journey that will give you a different experience, and prevent you from committing the worst atrocity this world has ever seen.

And so, it falls to me to tell you how you got here...

Your journey began when you and Sothis woke up from a dream that had been reoccurring. A dream of a battle at Zanado.

You two did not have any memory of partaking in the fight, yet it was clear as day, despite the fact it had happened centuries ago.

Right as Jeralt was ordering you and the other mercs to prepare for another grueling march, is when your fate would change forever.

You, Sothis, and Jeralt saved three students named Edelgard, Claude, and Dimitri.

They were part of Garreg Mach Monastery, and when the Knights of said monastery came to retrieve them, they convinced Jeralt to take up his former role of Captain.

Something he had never told you until then.

On the way, you exchanged some colorful conversations with them and tried to convince you to join their side.

All of them were next in line to their respective lands, the Adrestian Empire, Leicester Alliance, and Kingdom of Faerghus.

After being informed that you would become a professor, you were to choose your class to teach for that year.

Either out of instinct, or a wild guess, you went with the Blue Lions, led by Dimitri.

Throughout the course of the year, you fought and bled with your students as you accompanied them to various locations across Fodlan, doing the tasks of the Church.

According to Sothis and many others, you did not display any emotions whatsoever. Yet, as the year went on, your wall broke little by little.

And by the end of the year with them, your bond with your students was unbreakable.

...But tragedy would soon strike.

No matter how much time has passed, it is a memory that will never leave you. Everything else will be a blur, but this?

It will be the catalyst to your journey.

Your father was killed saving the students from a Demonic Beast attack in Garreg Mach.

Killed by an Agarthan named Kronya.

In the following month, you march for their known location, eager for revenge. With your class right behind you, refusing to let you fight this alone.

Getting caught in a trap set by Solon, you and Sothis had no choice but to fuse together in order to escape.

Although you would not hear her for a very long time, she would never leave your side.

After successfully getting revenge and fusing with your friend, it is then everyone begins to show their true colors.

You journey to the Tomb of the Goddess and sit upon the very throne Sothis once did by orders of Rhea.

When you sat down, nothing happened, confusing everyone in the room.

But it is here when the Flame Emperor ambushes you and your class, and begin to fight Imperial forces.

And it is here where the Flame Emperor’s identity is revealed, alongside Dimitri’s true self.

Upon seeing that Edelgard was the Flame Emperor, he snapped and became unhinged.

Something that was consistent as the month passed on to your next confrontation, when the Adrestian Empire invaded and the battle’s outcome was a stalemate, both sides losing far too many men to occupy the Monastery.

However, during that battle, you fell into the canyon, where you went missing for five years.

It was only thanks to the intervention of Sothis that you were alive when you awoke, though she sent you five years into the future.

And with another year, you singlehandedly turned the war around against the Empire.

And became the saving grace to Dimitri’s grief-fueled madness.

After months of slowly pushing back the relentless tide of Imperial forces, you brought the war to a final showdown at Enbarr.

And it was then that Edelgard had finally met her match, and was killed by Dimitri.

A few days later, you and Dimitri swore to help repair Fodlan and its wartorn lands together.

Although, there was some part of you that wished to fix this outcome. To see if you could do anything different in order to prevent the war from happening.

Sothis had granted you a power known as Divine Pulse, which allowed you to turn back time.

Although it could only be used as a way to restart at most a day back, you called upon her power, and sent yourself back to where it all began.

The day you met Edelgard, Dimitri, and Claude.

Instead of choosing the Blue Lions, you taught the Black Eagles.

Although you had knowledge of prior events, such as Jeralt’s death, nothing you said could stop it from happening.

When the fated day arrived at the Tomb, you sided with Edelgard.

To find out why she did what she did in the previous timeline.

To your surprise, you found a much softer side to the brutal dictator.

She held compassion and love for her fellow man.

And unending loyalty to you.

The same could not be said for Rhea, who had shown her colors as a ruthless and hellbent on getting her lost mother back, Sothis.

After defeating Claude and Dimitri, you and Edelgard killed Rhea in a burning city.

When that battle was over, you began to question who was right or wrong.

Who held the moral high ground in this conflict?

Calling upon Sothis again, you went back in time once more and sided with the Church to defeat Edelgard.

What had driven Rhea to similar madness like Dimitri?

You were confident about the answer until you finally found the real side to Rhea. A side she dared not show anyone but family.

Rhea harbored similar feelings, though it came after a near fatal conflict between you and Church forces.

She was nothing more than a daughter wishing to see her mother again.

Feelings you could sympathize with.

Rhea was alive but broken, Dimitri and Edelgard were dead, and Claude was missing.

This was not the ideal outcome you had wished for either.

That meant going back to the beginning.

Although this next attempt would only be your fourth time going back, you and Sothis had lost track of how many years had come and gone since you first met the students.

Going back this time and choosing the Golden Deer class, something new happened.

You met the Ashen Wolves, the secret Fourth House of Garreg Mach.

You discovered what happened to your mother, Sitri, and what Rhea was doing to get her mother back at any cost.

After saving the class, they went their separate ways and the year went on as normal, powerless to stop the events that had already been set in motion.

The journey with Claude did not have the outcome you desired either, although at the very least you now knew what he was doing the entire time in all the previous timelines.

You had put an end to the Agarthan agenda together and worked together to unite Fodlan under the banner of the Leicester Alliance, with Edelgard and Dimitri dead, with Rhea broken.

This had happened again.

And again.

Nothing you were doing could stop their deaths.

It was beginning to drive you mad.

So mad, you went back one final time.

[The Decision - Xenoblade Chronicles 2 OST]

Choosing the Black Eagles once more, you did everything you could to change anything. Even the smallest thing.

But by the time Jeralt’s death had occurred for the fifth time, you had chosen the final option.

You would unite all four against you, by becoming something far worse than the Empire and Church.

You would destroy this cruel world by forming the Knights of Nemesis.

Recruiting the help of Alois, Leonie, and Shamir, and your original mercenary group, you escaped the Battle of Garreg Mach Monastery and pursued your own agenda.

Little by little, you destroyed the bases of Those Who Slither and stole their technology.

Finally avenging Jeralt by killing Thales, you had become the most dangerous group in Fodlan.

And it was there, where you made your biggest mistake.

Creating the Javelin of Liberation.

Many years would pass in your war against Edelgard and Rhea as your Knights built the Javelin, and you had forced the entire war to a standstill.

But due to your brutal tactics and unforgiving nature, forged by four timelines worth of loss and death, you would alienate your very own allies.

Leonie was the first one to act by revealing your plans to the Leicester Alliance, calling a summit to Derdriu.

And when you and your escort reached Gronder Field on the way to the Monastery...

---

(Edelgard) “Years ago we fought here as classmates…”

(Dimitri) “And now, we stand together against someone who was once a friend.”

(Claude) “As far as big class reunions go, this one’s got to be the worst one in history…”

(Rhea) “There is to be no mercy for these heretics. Do I make myself clear?”

(Catherine) “Crystal.”

(Seteth) “Loud and clear.”

---

After a bloody battle with heavy casualties on both sides, you retreated back to the Monastery, with all three nations hot on your heels.

Rhea was killed by having the Javelin fired prematurely, and as a result, you had lost your connection to Sothis...For a time.

The final battle approached and you stood near the top, awaiting your fate.

If you won, then everything would be blasted into oblivion. Your struggle would finally end.

And if you didn’t, well then your goal was mostly accomplished. To have everyone alive and united.

But things didn’t go as planned either way...

---

(Claude) “Think about this! Do you think blowing us all to hell is going to solve every problem that we have?!”

(Byleth) “Do you not think I haven’t thought of this? I don’t know the answer, nor will I ever. But, we’ll just have to have faith in the next generation once it fires.”

(Dimitri) “Are you hearing yourself right now?! What about the hundreds of innocents you’ve put down to get here?! And the millions you’re about to kill today!”

(Byleth) “It’s for the greater good.”

(Claude) “The greater good?! What do you think Jeralt would have to say about this greater good?! The people and students you swore to protect?!”

(Byleth) “You will not lecture to me of what he would have wanted! Us as a species are a blight! We will never have the will to move forward and change things for the better!-”

(Edelgard) “PROFESSOR!”

Everyone turned to Edelgard, who was stepping closer to Byleth.

(Edelgard) “Professor I’m…I’m so sorry for what I have done.”

(Byleth) “…!”

(Edelgard) “I…I understand where you’re coming from. I do. All my family is dead, and I wanted to destroy everything the Church stood for because of the crests, Rhea, everything…But…

I never wanted this war to happen. I never wanted any of us to fight each other! I never wanted to fight you, my dear professor! 5 years ago, you showed me just how beautiful and how tragic this world is!

I’m sorry for all the pain I must have caused you back then. Please, stop this madness and…and we can find a way together to make the world a better place!”

(Byleth) “Edelgard…”

(Edelgard) “Yes?”

(Byleth) “…Nothing would make me happier than to accept your hand, and leave this all behind but…I can never be forgiven for what I’ve done to everyone…To you.”

(Edelgard) “…I understand.”

She unsheathed her axe, Dimitri and Claude moving to her side.

The battle was one sided since you no longer could properly wield the Sword of the Creator.

However, you did not care.

The battle was decided when the Javelin of Liberation finally deployed.

(Edelgard) “Professor…It’s over.”

Byleth looked up to the spell that was displaying the status of the Javelin of Liberation, and smiled.

(Byleth) “You’re right…it is.”

The three looked up to the spell, and saw the meter was full.

(Dimitri) “SHIT!-”

...

(Leonie) “D-Don’t worry about us, the core…!”

They all looked to the core which was pulsating faster and faster.

(Shamir) “Shit, it’s about to activate!”

(Alois) “Y-you-agh! N-Need to overload it with magic! HURRY!”

Dorothea, Linhardt, Lysithea, and Annette all started to cast their strongest spells and aimed it at the core.

(Shamir) “NOW!”

Right as they aimed their hands at the core, it was too late. It was flashing a bright white that enveloped the entire room.

And in the distance, the Javelin fired into the air, and made contact with the ground.

Dimitri, Edelgard, Claude, and you were sent flying backwards.

You had expected nothing would be alive after that hit, but you were wrong.

You looked back to the world, and it was still very much alive.

Although, the skies had darkened to a sickening white and grey hue, the temperature dropping fast.

It would not be long before the world turned into a frozen hellscape.

And much to your horror, the Javelin had not killed everyone in one fell swoop.

You just ensured everyone would die a slow and painful death.

You had overestimated what the technology of the Agarthans were capable of. Not even they could create a world ending device, and your carelessness and overconfidence costed you the world, and those you called friends...

When you turned around, Edelgard, Dimitri, and Claude were killed from the fall, while the forces under your command were engaged in a civil war.

Several hours later, you did not see any of your former students or faculty member which meant one thing: they were killed too.

It was just you and the men under your command.

Not having the option to turn back time, you and the Knights of Nemesis did everything they could to find any device to turn back time with the technology you had.

The Knights carried the technology back to the area with the most magical readings: Zanado.

And there, you all had created the tower, half out of the materials you had brought, and the materials there. It was crude, but it would get the job done.

And...It was here you could finally reunite with an old friend. And gave a final message to yourself.

I don’t know when or how you’ll see this message but...Find us. Before it’s too late. Don’t do what I did. And forge yourself a path that can save everyone, truly.”

======

[’Neath Dark Waters - Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers OST]

Byleth put the crystal down and took a deep breath.

This would be the last thing he would record before the timeline was reset yet again.

But this time, he had no idea what was going to happen. Sothis was here, yes, but her power had greatly diminished by now.

She was only visible thanks to the Zanado Tower.

He looked outside an opening out the tower, and stared at the graves he had made for the Knights of Nemesis.

They stayed with him until the end, whether out of pure loyalty, or wanting to reset what they had done.

Byleth would never know the answer.

(Byleth) “...WIth the tower restoring your power, you should be able to reset time once more with your Divine Pulse.”

(Sothis) “Hm...”

Sothis raised her hand and began drawing energy as Byleth sat down.

(Byleth) “...Thank you. I don’t expect forgiveness for my actions-”

(Sothis) “Don’t apologize to me. I said I’d be with you no matter what. And this is no exception. Apologize to those we have lost.”

(Byleth) “...”

(Sothis) “Do you think it was a good idea leaving that message? Perhaps this is something your...next self needs to know.”

(Byleth) “It isn’t but he will have to. Otherwise we’re doomed to repeat these exact mistakes. And maybe they won’t be so lucky to get the technology we have right now.”

(Sothis) “I suppose that’s true.”

They both remained in silence before Sothis finally lowered her hand and turned to Byleth.

(Sothis) “Child. My powers in combination with Agarthan, Goddess, and manmade magic...This could be a catastrophic reset.”

(Byleth) “I know-”

(Sothis) “There is no telling the amount of damage we can cause.”

(Byleth) “I know!”-

(Sothis) “And we could possibly tear apart reality itsel-”

(Byleth) “I KNOW!...I know, Sothis...”

Byleth’s back slid down the wall and his head looked up at the ceiling.

(Byleth) “I know. But I have to try something...Hah, even though I had the hindsight of how Dimitri and Rhea acted, I ended up becoming exactly like them...”

Sothis floated over to Byleth and attempted to hold his hand.

To both of their surprise, they actually managed to feel something, and it was then Sothis held his hand tightly and took a deep breath.

(Sothis) “...Goodbye, Byleth. And thank you, for everything.”

(Byleth) “...See you around, Sothis.”

Byleth closed his eyes as Sothis invoked the Zanado Tower.

...

Byleth slowly opened his eyes and saw Jeralt standing over him.

Sothis yawned obnoxiously, and Byleth tried to do his best to ignore her and not weird his father out.

(Jeralt) “Were you having that dream again?”

(Byleth) “Yeah...something about a war.”

(Jeralt) “Massive armies clashing on a vast field, right? There hasn’t been a battle like that in over three centuries. In any case, just put that out of your mind for right now-”

As Jeralt began to explain how dangerous it was to let your mind wander, Sothis as if on cue yawned even louder as she floated over to Byleth.

(Sothis) “Ugh, we’re up already?”

(Byleth) Not now, Sothis.

(Sothis) “Why? What’s he explaining to you that you don’t already know?”

Even though Byleth couldn’t express much, he was certainly feeling annoyed.

SLAM!

(Mercenary) “Jeralt! Sir! Sorry to barge in but your presence is needed!”

(Jeralt) “What’s happened?”

Outside...

(Dimitri) “Please, forgive our intrusion! We would not bother you were our situation not dire!”

(Jeralt) “What do a bunch of kids like you want at this hour?-”

FWOOM!

A black and purple portal appeared behind them, spitting out four screaming people as they landed with a violent thud.

(Sothis) “Woah.”

(Jeralt) “Oh, what now?!”

(Byleth) “Hm?”

(Boy in green cloak) “Ack, get the hell off me!”

(Girl with blue hair) “S-SHUT UP! YOU LANDED ON ME!”

(Girl in red) “I...hurk! Might be sick from that!”

(Girl in yellow) “P-People!”

(Edelgard) “What in the?”

(Claude) “Today just keeps getting interesting, doesn’t it?”

The four of them quickly got up in a panicked manner.

(Boy in green) “WHO THE HELL ARE YOU GUYS?!”

(Girl with blue hair) “Hey, don’t piss them off, you idiot!”

(Girl in yellow) “H-Hello there! We are adventurers and...We appear to be lost!”

(Jeralt) “Clearly.”

(Byleth) “Who are you?”

(Boy in green) “...Well uh...That’s Aqua, Megumin, and Darkness. And I’m Kazuma, I guess.”

...

[More than Truth - Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers OST]

(Byleth) “And that was our first contact with someone from another universe...”

Sothis nodded.

(Sothis) “So then...Six years later, they help us end the war in Fodlan, then we send the four of them home.”

Byleth looked at the nearby crystal walls.

They were replaying memories when Kazuma and his group first arrived in Fodlan.

Kazuma and Darkness went with the Blue Lions, while Megumin and Aqua had gone to the Black Eagles and Golden Deer respectively.

They caused some chaos in Fodlan with their stupidity, but they saved lives. And when they finally went home, Byleth went to sleep that night, and when he woke up...

...

(Byleth) “D-Dad...?”

When Byleth turned to his left, his eyes became wider.

(Sothis) “...W-wha...?!”

(Jeralt) “Where’d that come from, kid?”

(Byleth) “You’re both alive?!”

Jeralt was taken aback by how suddenly expressive his son was.

(Jeralt) “Clearly you’re still out of it. Come on, get up.”

(Sothis) “B-But we’re fused together aren’t we? How am I-”

SLAM!

(Mercenary) “Jeralt! Sir! Sorry to barge in but your presence is needed!”

(Jeralt) “What’s happened?”

Outside...

(Dimitri) “Please, forgive our intrusion! We would not bother you were our situation not dire!”

(Jeralt) “What do a bunch of kids like you want at this hour?-”

FWOOM!

A black and purple portal appeared behind them, spitting out at least a dozen people with a violent thud.

As it finished, a massive iron golem was teleported behind them.

(Boy in red) “What in the world...?!”

(Woman in yellow and blue) “Crap, is everyone okay?!”

(Small girl in green) “Y-Yes, Instructor Sara!”

Byleth and Sothis looked at each other.

(Byleth) “Doesn’t this seem like-”

(Sothis) “Kazuma and his group!”

After a wave of confusion among the group, they got around to introducing themselves.

(Boy in red) “My name is Rean Schwarzer of Class VII.”

...

(Sothis) “Then came Class VII.”

Byleth nodded as their memories were displayed on the crystal wall.

They could both hear their words almost clear as day as they walked down the hallway, but did their best to ignore it.

(Byleth) “After Class VII was sent home, we were reset back to the beginning yet again...”

(Sothis) “Then it was...The Phantom Thieves.”

(Byleth) “Right. Then, Megumi, S.E.E.S, the Investigation Team, Denizens of Nazarick, Slayer, and lastly the School-Living Club.”

They reached the end of the hallway.

Each time they had finished their journey with the newcomers, they were reset back when they first woken up by Jeralt, and the following group would take their place until last time.

Before the reset could happen, they chose to reset time themselves with Divine Pulse.

They had no idea if it would work, but they had to try something to break out of this loop.

It resulted in the creation of House Isekai.

Instead of the groups appearing one at a time, they all showed up at once.

And it was now that they all went back to their respective homes together, but Sothis and Byleth could already feel the timeline about to reset once more.

And it was only now they discovered a tower had formed in Zanado.

They had no idea what was inside, but after walking through it, they were starting to get an idea.

Byleth saw at the end of the hallway, a small crystal laying on the ground.

(Byleth) “What is...?”

The crystal displayed a small window, showing the two the contents.

(Byleth) “Is...this a mirror or something?-”

(Crystal) “I don’t know if anyone will be seeing this message, whether that be myself or anyone else who comes into this godforsaken tower but...My name is Byleth Eisner. Son of Jeralt Eisner.”

Byleth and Sothis looked at the Crystal that was playing the recording, and let it play all the way.

Once it was done, they were speechless.

(Byleth) “I...I caused all this?”

Byleth was absolutely horrified by this revelation. He looked at the tower and the crystal mirrors around him, struggling to get his mind wrapped around it.

And it was then the crystal mirrors began to display the routes he had taken prior.

Before the memories of his past were wiped.

(Sothis) “So, this tower is why we keep getting sent back and brought the others in?”

(Byleth) “There’s...There’s no way I would do this! I wouldn’t do any of this!”

(Sothis) “I do not think we can deny what is in front of us. How do we prevent this? No, no. How do we prevent being sent back in time again?!”

(Byleth) “They reset time with Divine Pulse while also using the tower. Perhaps we could try-”

(Sothis) “What?! Child, you heard what that caused, it caused us to lose our memories and rip apart dimensions!”

(Byleth) “Well we have to try something! We did EVERYTHING we were given, fought and bled with our students! WE EVEN HAD OUR DAMN PERFECT ENDING! AND STILL! STILL WE’RE GOING TO LOSE EVERYTHING!”

The memories began to overwhelm the two, hearing echoes of their past finally catch up to them after so many years and timelines.

(Byleth) “...Sothis. We have to. We have to do things right and save everyone.”

(Sothis) “This is a terrible idea.”

Sothis sighed as she began to draw energy into herself from the tower.

(Sothis) “It could barely handle one time, I’m not sure if a second time will-”

KABOOOOOOM!

The entire tower shook violently, forcing Sothis to stop.

(Byleth) “What the hell?!”

The tower began emitting an almost ear piercing screech as everyone’s voices became too much to bear.

(Byleth) “SOTHIS, DO IT NOW!”

(Sothis) “R-RIGHT, HANG ON!”

Sothis raised her hand once more and everything began to turn back in time.

All they had done was reset once again.

Byleth opened his eyes and reached for his head, it pounding in pain.

(Byleth) “Ugh...”

When he looked around, he noticed that everything around them was still the same.

(Sothis) “Did...Did we do anything?”

(Byleth) “I’m not sure. We’re not back at Jeralt’s so maybe we need to-”

Before he could finish his sentence, they heard someone break into the tower.

The reflections in the crystal walls showed multiple men in black robes walking into the tower, seemingly examining it.

(Sothis) “Agarthans?”

(Byleth) “Wait a second isn’t that...?”

The Flame Emperor teleported in and looked around the area with the Agarthans.

(Byleth) “Edelgard?”

(Sothis) “She isn’t supposed to be here! We resolved everything with House Isekai so does that mean?-”

(Byleth) “We’re back in time again. But if we’re here then...who’s in our place?”

One of the Agarthans made their way up to the tower and was completely alone, getting closer to Byleth’s location.

Byleth and Sothis hid near the stairs as they heard the Agarthan walk up.

When the Agarthan made their way down the hall, Byleth stabbed him in the back with the Sword of the Creator and took his robes.

(Sothis) “What are you doing?”

(Byleth) “Improvising. We don’t know what’s going on, and I’ll be damned if I’m getting us caught.”

After Byleth finished getting dressed, he took the mask off the Agarthan and put it on himself.

(Byleth) “We’re gonna need a name as we figure this out.”

(Sothis) “Hm...I think I know one.”

...

Lahabrea made his way to Remire village and saw Dimitri, Edelgard, and Claude run to the entrance.

(Lahabrea) “So that seems to be correct, so all that’s left is-”

The gate opened, revealing Jeralt, Byleth, and Sothis.

(Lahabrea) “What in the hell...?”

And as if on cue, Kazuma and his group emerged from a portal behind the students.

(Sothis) “Why are there two of us?”

(Lahabrea) “We must have done something to the tower and we used it for the second time...”

Kazuma’s voice echoed through both of their heads, slowly joined in by the rest of his group.

(Lahabrea) “...We need to go back to the tower and figure out what’s going on.”

(Sothis) “Right.”

Sothis disappeared and before Lahabrea started moving, he took one last look at the Byleth in his place.

...

INTERMISSION

#House Isekai Shadowbringers #House Isekai #fire emblem three houses imagines #fe3h imagines #byleth eisner #jeralt eisner #sothis #dimitri alexandre blaiddyd #Edelgard von Hresvelg #Claude von Riegan #satou kazuma #Rean Schwarzer #evil!byleth #crossover #fanfic #writing

17 notes · View notes

lucarioisinthevoid · 4 years ago

Note

What would everyone think of king Afton?

After many years of the animatronics killing nightguards, they finally caught William and killed him. But as you know from my ask about Goldie and Cassidy, Cassidy lied saying it wasn't him. When humans found out the animatronics were sentient, they locked all animatronics underground, including all the nightguards that were stuffed. Which meant Afton was still around to mess with the animatronics and the dead kids. When animatronics started getting the hang of having a society, springtrap (as how he went by in his suit. It became common among stuffed humans to make up names for themselves instead of using their human names) became the town nuisance. He basically caused trouble just get reactions, everyone just ignored him and pissed him off.

A few years later, about a week after Golden Freddy's and Cassidy's death, the guards were waiting for orders from king Fazbear, Bonnie was subcoming to guilt and depression seeing the situation with Goldie and Cassi as his fault, the Marionette was mourning the death of another child in her room, and Freddy was in his palace thinking. He honestly didn't know how to feel in the moment of their deaths, so he just kept thinking about it knowing the should feel something, like sad or angry.

Springtrap snuck inside the palace, almost too easily. When he was sneaking in, a human fell down. Freddy went to investigate, with springtrap following behind in the shadows. The human that fell sorta looked like Cassidy, except she had gold blonde hair, but that was the only difference. It was like the world wanted to play a joke on Freddy, "hey look!!! A little girl that looks like both of your now dead friends!!! Isn't that funny?!!?!" How dare the world. Before he could even think, all the feelings he should have felt flooded through him, the sadness of loosing the people he loves, the guilt of being unable to prevent their deaths, and the anger towards humanity for killing people he held close to his soul. Without thinking, he projected his anger towards humans on the child, and mercilessly killed her.

He was brought back to his senses when William started laughing and applauding the show before him. Freddy then attacked him, nearly killing him before realizing in this moment he was no better than him. After this realization, he declared war on humanity. The Marionette ran away back to the ruins never to be heard from again, and springtrap was made into the new royal adviser. Freddy hired him as royal adviser in hopes that maybe Afton could teach him to be more merciless.

The only reason why he was so merciless as a killer was because Chara made him think he was insane, and he was a player's puppet. He lived his own life so many times, why would it matter if he killed people if he knew they were going to be fine when he wakes up yesterday? Now Chara became dormant, and the players stopped controlling him. Kinda ironic how he's now feeling powerless despite now having complete control of his body.

He began to feel regret for everything his done. The many people he's killed, the many people he let stay dead. He was no longer above his actions. He was no longer above consequences. This made him fall into despair and depression.

After years of being royal adviser, Freddy gave him a title of king, trusting him enough to rule beside him as brothers. After he was crowned, him and Fazbear became closer, like actual brothers.

But they had disagreements, like all siblings do. Except their disagreements had to do with life and death. Freddy would argue with Afton over killing humans, he'd say that he needed to kill humans and collect their souls in order to set them all free. Afton would argue saying that everyone had already suffered enough, and that more children didn't deserve to die. When ever human children fall down and leave the Marionette's protection in the ruins, he would try and protect the children from Freddy, in hopes that he might be able to talk him out of killing them. Usually the kids flat out give up and let themselves be killed. Afton stopped trying to protect the kids after a 5 year old gave up her life to Fazbear.

King Afton, with the help of doctor Bonnie, removed his suit, and rebuilt Springbonnie and Fredbear. Fredbear remembered how Afton used spring for murder, but thankfully Springbonnie didn't remember how he was used. He didn't even remember the surface, he just knew who he was, who his brother Fredbear was, and that Afton was one of the people that made him. Afton talked with Fredbear privately about how times had changed from 1987 to now, when Fredbear was shut down to when he was rebuilt. Fredbear didn't remember the bite of 87, and his memories of the surface weren't any better. All he remembered was kids, the layout of the diner, and the stars he'd look at out the window.

Once Afton explained everything, leaving out the bite incident, Fredbear to forgive the poor corpse for everything he's done. He didn't trust him, he just forgave him. Fredbear and Springbonnie then left Afton's room where they were rebuilt and started living their own lives.

This Afton is a more forgivable, and melancholy version of Afton.

What would everyone in your AU think of King Afton?

First up, very interesting take, though now all the pressure of the “why did you kill” are put on Chara. The concept of Afton getting EXP from stuffing children into suits is wrecking me with laughter to be fully honest- this man must be buff- Everyone is a big number, but I can give you three main people, I think.

Marionette hates him- like all Williams. He doesn’t believe in redemption; he doesn’t believe in the concept of regret. Nobody ever regretted what happened to him, thus regret must be a hindering emotion at best- a liability at worst. Useless and hurtful. This William is pathetic! How can you go around killing children because of some fucking spirit?! And then being all regretful about it, as though it makes a difference?! Devaluing these murders even MORE! How much must he hate these children that he admits openly that his murders were pointless and soulless and now after decades something he would be taking back?! HOW DOES THAT HELP?! WHO?! HE DOESN’T DESERVE PITY. AND YOUR FREDDY, HE SHOULD HAVE KILLED HIM FOR GOOD! SO WHAT IF YOU ARE “EQUALLY” AS BAD?! IF TWO WRONGS MEET AND ONE KILLS THE OTHER, THEN WE HAVE AT LEAST ONE RIGHT! There is nothing more appalling to him than regretting the evil deeds, because then you say you did those evil deeds out of weakness and selfishness and nothing else came from it. Marion doesn’t regret killing the guards. Marion DOESN’T regret killing the guards! (My Marionette would make a much more ruthless ruler of the underground than both William and Freddy combined…) Fredbear is actually somewhat happy. He feels terrible for everything that happened until then and that the Marionette had to leave home because of William returning and becoming an advisor- and of course, he’s agonizing about the fact that another child had to die. But in the end, there’s some reassurance in William just being another puppet, suffering the circumstances and now working for redemption. The children are still here in some way after all, with this new technology- once it is perfected, everyone can live the life they wanted. All he hopes is that William will be a force of good this time around and for good this time. He shouldn’t have crumbled to the timeloop, but… … things like that are mindbreaking, certainly. Not being yourself is extremely scary. And how can you be sure you ARE yourself? If he would have the chance to say anything to Afton, then it’s to not give protecting the children. They need you. They need someone to stand up for them. No matter how pointless it seems or how often you fail, continuing to try is what matters. Stay determined. You owe them this after all- you have proven your ability to use what’s inside of you for destruction, make sure that it will become good permanently. You need to wake up every morning and choose to do the right thing. They need you. Both the living and the dead. Old Sport thinks he’s a funny fucker. As someone in the same shoes as him- well, without that evil spirit thing, but still- he sees his acting out and then doing a 180° as pretty hilarious. Like, sure, you go dude, reinvent yourself as this regretful somebody who wants to help, Old Sport gets it, he has done stuff like that too- but being all mopey and melancholic about it? Just move on! If you were in a loop, what does it matter? Reset and restart. You didn’t feel bad doing it, right? So why feel bad now? What’s the point? Genuine question. You did the deed, you committed the crime and that was okay. And then you stuck to that timeline. Sorry, not sorry, you have nobody to blame but yourself. And that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be able to move on and change and make peace, that’s totally fine, but the way Old Sport sees it from the outside, there’s a lot of misplaced guilt. This is a story, right? … … even if Old Sport doesn’t like, part of him feels jealous. Afton lacked control over his body, but at least he had a soul, right? At least he HAS a kind of personality and sense of self. He can make himself into a consistent character, unlike Old Sport who has to pick and choose and never knows what to do- In his opinion, Afton needs to get a grip and be less ungrateful for the things he actually DOES have. Save the kids, kill the kids, whatever, protect your sense of self… but then at least be satisfied with your choices that came out of that sense of self. Guilt is a choice. Either regret and act or don’t and stay back.

#NOT my AU

5 notes · View notes

shay11a · 6 years ago

Text

New Rules, an overly long review

Alright, let’s do this.

I’ll just start with a little disclaimer that english is not my first language and although I’m usually fluent-ish some of my sentences might not translate very well from french, so please bear with me. Also this i like barely edited so sorry about the mistakes.

I’m here to talk about my favorite fanfiction, not only in this fandom, but in all fandom (and trust me, I’m a part of a lot of fandoms), and of all the fanfictions I’ve ever read (and trust me I’ve read a lot) : New Rules by the amazing @tayegi

The first time I read, I binge read it, but make no mistake, I don’t mean that I rushed though the story in one day, oh no, I mean I couldn’t do anything else, every minute of my day that I wasn’t in class or adulting, I was reading it, but it’s one of those rare fictions where I knew I was reading something just that good that I needed to make it last as much as possible. Imagine my struggle, balancing the need to know what was going to happen next and my visceral need to make it last as much as possible because I knew I could never experience this first reading again.

That’s how much I love this story.

Unfortunetaly, there came a time I caught up.

So I re-read it.

Again.

And Again.

To this day, I often come back to it, re-reading entirely or picking up at any point to enjoy again a moment that I particularly like. I do this often with fiction I particularly liked, but one thing that I find amazing with NR is that, contrary to most fic, no matter where I pick up, I know what is happening, what happened before that, because the plot is just so wonderfully crafted that everything has consequences, every character is relevant and their actions have consequences that they are held accountable to by the plot (dunno is this makes sense but it does in my native language sorry) I regret not posting a review under every chapter as I read, it was selfish on my part, but I needed to continue, I have some notes from this review at the end but they lack the specificity of first impressions, I apologize for that.

I also have to mention that this review is NOT spoiler free so if you want to read it please, PLEASE New Rules before that there is absolutely NO way that you won’t thank me (and Tayegi of course) afterwards, and don’t ‘I don’t mind spoilers’ me this story DESERVES to be read spoiler free.

Alright, buckle up kiddos, let’s do this.

I. The writing

The way the plot unveils is downright cathartic. I recently re-read it entirely to make this review and going back to the first chapters and seing how everything just MAKES SENSE and how a small thing happening has consequences over everything later. Just HUH brilliant. (I’m thinking about OC’s crush on Jimin here and how through the prism of Mijoo we later see that her crush was her projecting // Jin, now THAT’S WRITING)

The smut, how do I put it, is bomb but it doesn’t feel like smut smut, it feels like actual sex described, not idealized and in my opinion it just adds to the quality of the story, because sex is an essential part of the story, not something added to satiate the hormones of horny readers (as an ex-horny teenager, I want to thank people writing this kind of smut and say that there is nothing wrong with writing this kind of smut) or just for the sake of it because apparently having sex is the culminating point of a relationship. Sex scenes tell a story as much as argument scenes, if not more. First, because as a sex friends to lover AU (smh) it is inherently part of the story but also because the characters don’t just stop having a backstory, emotions and emotional baggage when they have sex, all those things are still present and they influence the way they act in bed. And THAT is satisfying to read.

On many occasions, in the fanfic writing community, you can hear (read?) people saying, « this fiction could / should be published like an actual book » I’m not here to further the debate on real literature, fanfiction and so what not, but this fiction is one that, more importantly than it being published, I feel like I could study in english class, take an extract and study the amazing characterization, how the scene furthers the plot, what are the literary devices used to do so. I feel like I could study the running metaphors, the sub plots and how they correlate so well to the main plot and further the characterization of a character, the plot itself or something else. Everything feels like a neatly knitted masterpiece.

In that aspect, one scene that I particularly liked was the one where OC is hidden listening to JK and Hyejin, and as she hears what he says, she crushes the rose in her hand. It’s such a simple and yet telling idea: her bourgeoning love and hope for a romantic relationship symbolized by the ultimate romantic symbol : a rose, and JK’s words make her try and crush those feelings, but she hurts herself doing so, because the action itself is a painful one — trying to refrain hope / trying to suffocate feelings — but also because love, just like roses has thorns that may hurt, that’s why JK is so afraid of committing it seems, and the irony is that he is doing exactly that to someone else. (My explanation is so messy plfnmesdmflfmqf sorry)

One recurring idea/plot device that I have noticed is the one of misunderstanding / misreading each others. OC and JK constantly misread each others (I’m thinking about the scene in the bar where she rubs his back affectionately and he interprets it in a sexual way) and idk but something about this really hits me hard, because it’s human, so inherently human, this makes the characters feel like human beings not fictional archetypes. Because in real life, we can’t take a step back and have a view of the bigger picture the way we can as an omniscient reader who remembers very well what one said or did earlier that explains their behavior. In real life we dont know and cannot guess why people act a certain way based on some hinted at tragic backstory that would explain their commitment issues.

On a lighter note, the writing is just so freaking FUNNY, like I can’t count how many times I cackled like an idiot reading. + Tayegi has a way of cutting from scenes to scenes or from dialogue to dialogue that is just so FUNNY (if it was a movie I would talk about editing because it’s exactly how it feels, like when you got A saying ‘I will never do that’ and it cuts and the next frame is A doing exactly that)

More on the writing in the notes for every chapter further below.

II. Feminism, social justice and me relating to everything

Ok this part is going to be a bit more personal but I had to address how much main girl and her struggles resonated with me. As a feminist myself I VERY often struggles with the same problem : that is when my beliefs come brutally crashing with the social constructs I have internalized and have yet to deconstruct as well as the people surrounded me who don’t necessarily share the same belief. And the way Tayegi portrayed this is spot on not to say borderline genius.

Her mixed feelings when facing Hoseok « not like other girls » comments or the conversation where she struggles to explain why she is fucking the notorious fuckboy despite her talks about hook-up culture were punches in the guts to me, because feminists are always the ones to be criticized the most easily (I am aware that my phrasing here is horrendous but I don’t know how to word this differently again sorry English is not my native language) and the slightest slip-up will be pointed at by people who aren’t even feminist but see an easy way to gaslight them. So, to read this, to read another woman facing the same situations and being as utterly upset and sometime powerless as I felt, god was it cathartic.

And don’t get me started on the way she always ALWAYS sticks by her principles of sorority, even to the women that have been nothing less than mean to her and how hard it is to support other women when we live in a society that always pit women against each others. I FELT that. But nevertheless main girl tries to, she compliments Somin on her dress, Hiejin as well even though they both have been openly hostile (and even mean sometimes) to her. I truly felt this, all theses little moments, just a sentence here and there, but I felt them in my guts.

III. The characters

The characters, oh god, the characters. OC ? Marry me. JK? Marry me (also I want to slap him but it’s another story). Taehyung ? Marry me. Mijoo? Marry me.

The relationship between OC and her BFF is in my opinion one of the best thing about the pic and one that really remarks it from other, the twist about twist alsmot made me believe it would be like every other pic where oc ends up with virtually no friend (especially female ones because like everyone know girls cause drama riiiight ) but it happens so early ? How could it ooooh it’s not like that, OC and her BFF and mature enough to discuss it, it still has consequences, the scene where OC accuses BFF of pushing her onto Jk to make herself feel better about jimmy still gives me chills because, yeah, it makes sens that she would, and it kinda feels like she did with how insistant she has been, but again, we are told the story from OC’s perspective, so obviously she feels bad when BFF insists that her and JK are meant to be bc she knows that JK wouldn’t date her, but again, as readers, we can kinda see from BFF perspective, they indeed look perfect for one another and only misunderstanding and insecurities and Jk’s past seems to be in the way (okay granted when you say it like that it seems like a lot), but in the end, Mijoo also seems genuine in the way she pushes them together, even though, yeah she might have, consciously or not done it for that reason.

i don’t know if I want a happy ending for OC and JK, I want one because they are so good and sweet together and after everything they’ve been through I feel like they sort of deserve it, but after everything they’ve been through, especially the way JK has behaved, it seems hard for a happy ending to happen. I feel like it’s going to take a lot of time and talking (including his backstory that has been hinted at a few times wink wink) for them to work things out, if they work things out.

I’ve mentioned that before but : THE SORORITY oh lord where do I start? OC standing up for Hyejin and Somin even when they had a few rough patches, sign me the fuck UP. OC not turning totally on her best friend Mijoo (my girl btw) and overlooking their friendship and what she had done for her in the time of Jin because Mijoo made a selfish mistake ? Yes please, MORE.

Hoseok is, in my opinion, spot ON. It took me some time to exactly pin point who he reminded me of but then I realized he is exactly what I call the 'apolitical guy’, who is convinced to not have controversial opinion and would deny ever having prejudice when he clearly has (i.e. the scene where Oc calls him out on his misogynie

I have to admit that Hyejin and Somin are amongst my favorites because even though the plot (and the fact that we are basically supposed to be on OC’s side as the story is told from her perspective) makes them very unsympathetic, your writing allows us to understand their actions and empathize with them. Learning about Hyejin’s past with JK makes her look like the character of a fan fiction where she could have been the main character unfortunately for her, this is OC’s story so Hyejin can’t get the guy in the end. But truly, her backstory feels like an entire other ff in the story and to be honest basically every other character’s backstory as well as the subplots feel this way. And Somin, well Somin is basically going through the same thing as OC but with Hoseok so how can we mock her for it while crying for OC ? That’s impossible and that’s why your writing is so powerful, there is no clear ‘bad guy’ (appart from J*n but who cares about that roquefort face) and everyone is in that gray, humane area.

Every character has so many layer (I don’t count JK and OC in this because at this point we can’t talk about layers anymore it’s a damn millefeuille) and getting to discover more about them is amazing.

Basically, every side character reflects something on OC and JK and further the plot, the themes while feeling like their own individuals with their own complex thoughts and problems and I think that’s fucking brilliant.

And now onto my notes for every chapter (it’s low-key very messy sorry)

Chapter 1 :

Lord to thing that it started with a simple friend request :’)

I love how in the very first line, OC telling Mijoo how she knows JK instantly characterizes him to the reader, it’s smart BUT also characterize OC as someone quick witted and serious/professional but also very sarcastic, funny and taking no shit from anyone. Incipit done well here. I mean, so much exposition is crammed into the very first lines but it just feels soooo natural!

I also love how the dynamic between Mijoo and OC can appear « basic » but will later be revealed to be so much more complex and profound and that’s basically how everything in this fic just keep getting better and more complex as you read.

Also, I love how OC and JK’s first encounter is because they are both trying to help their best friends, I missed it in the first reading but it’s so telling of their characters. Also I appreciate OC not hating on JK just because she hates him from afar and he suddenly notices her and gets turned on by that (like in a lot of ff let’s not lie, I love myself some bad boy!AU but it’s getting redundant), she genuinely seems to not give a fuck about him and it’s so funny to me somehow, my girl just minding her business, getting her straight A’s and doing charity work, we stan. Also, the entire part where they complain about Jimin and Mijoo is downright hilarious

I really like the way JK says the poetry assignment is easy, hinting at the fact that he is, in fact, not a stupid fuckboi cliché (+ what happens with their presentation and him working his BUTT of)

The entire part where OC and Jk act like they are together is so DAMN FUNNY but at the same time it just shows that they have great chemistry from the get go and I love that. (But seriously it’s so f*ing funny)

I love they way OC’s crush on Jimin is brought up, it’s not outwardly said, but the way he is described form her pov makes it obvious and her helplessness when looking at him and Mijoo is just so heartbreaking (+ getting to me on a personal level since I’ve been in a very similar situation for years so :))) like, you can feel that she doesn’t want to be feeling this way, and is obviously trying to help her BFF and be selfless but cannot help but feel jealousy.+ JK immediately catching up on her crush, showing he is more observant than you’d think.

JK and OC being dumb & dumber AND partner in crime is everything I’ve ever wanted

The description of the feeling of loneliness post-parties is so accurate, and the way she feels is so relatable and heartbreaking.

The part about anguish and the way she feels suffocated by her feminine attire got to me and honestly I got really close to cryingThe end of the chapter upsets me in the best way, to see JK be so oblivious to how vulnerable and lonely OC is, man it really makes the entire thing so much more gutswrenching.

Highlights (basically lines that made me laugh or that I find particularly well written) :

“then I don’t know why he’s friended you”

“should I block him too?”

“can you get you get more obvious without tattooing ‘Park Jimin’ on your ass? It’s obvious he owns it anyways”

“why does this kid has so many shirtless selfies”

“it’s like this boy is like a walking cliché of the world’s most basic fuckboi” I see what you did here ;)))

“Ah… you knew?” The way I laugh EVERY time at this line

“Would you be really mad at me if I poured this all over your boobs?“ alkfnenfmefnkgjh Mijoo is my queen

“try her ass instead” JK you absolute moron genius

“Mijoo as been trying to get you laid since freshman” I looove how this just sounds so random and plays into the cliché of the extroverted BFF trying to drag OC to parties and get her laid but with OC’s backstory // Jin it makes SO much more sense

“I won’t feed you lies” he, said, you know, like a liar.

“Your worth as a woman isn’t defined by your purity or whatever bullshit” love the hint at the later reveal that JK is, indeed, a woke king. We stan

“But unfortunately, you aren't the altruistic saint you wish you could be. You suffer from the same human emotions that plague everyone. And they aren't pretty.Despite what the artists and poets claim, the world works in a logical way. It's a simple mathematical formula. Girls like Mijoo end up with their princes. And you remain a bitter stepsister, helpless but to watch their happily ever after from a distance. One that you'll never achieve.” God that part....

“Here is a man who actually wants you. Not you, but your body, a little voice in the back of your head reminds you. But it doesn't matter. All that matters is that someone might actually desire you… ... He feels so thick inside of you that for a moment, the hole in your chest is filled” This is what I mean when I say that the smut in this story makes SENSE

“You wish you could cling onto this feeling forever so you'll never feel empty again.” The way this scene is supposed to be all smut sexy time but it is actually one of the most emotionally packaged and heart wrenching scene, really I can’t with your writing </333

“He grins at that, "I thought you knew me better than to take anything I said seriously?“Jk you manipulative mf I hate your fuckboi ass

"Ugh, please don't tell me you're a cuddler," you grumble as you twist in his embrace. "I'm not," he denies, but the way he buries his nose in your hair says otherwise, "And don't think about asking me to stay the night, because I'm not that kind of guy." The dynamic of the entire duo summed up in one paragraph

Chapter 2 :

The moment she reassures Mijoo and see what she is missing is :((

I remember than the first time I read new rules and feminist JK came clean I was honestly shocked (years of being guarded around men’s misoginy and fake feminism I guess) but re-reading it, it’s so nice to see the hints everywhere that he genuinely is and it warms my heart.

The convo JK and OC have about relationships and meaningless sex is not only such a good foreshadowing of the problems they will face later when it comes to coming clean about both their feelings (looking at you JK you moron) but also such a relatable feeling of ‘I know I said men are trash but I’m still vaguely heterosexual and would really like to believe that some aren’t and I know it sounds like I’m reassuring myself and honestly I am because it’s starting to become hard to really believe that’

The twits oh god the TWIST!!! The heartbreak it gave me, I was going to put some sentences in the highlights but honestly I almost ended up putting the entire scene so I gave in but it’s just so well written and nerve wracking to see what could have been and to realize that the friend that OC has been putting so much effort into helping betrayed her. Like, I can emphasis enough how much I cried reading this, considering I have been in a very similar situation, and that’s probably why this struck a chord so powerfully but wow.

The blowjob scene is simply another brilliant double meaning smut scene, the way OC is trying to regain control over something, someone, even if it’s not the one she wants, the way she makes him beg to hear compliments, heartbreaking (I know I’ve said this word like a million time and we’re just on chapter 2 but your writing really is something else)

The scene where she confronts Mijoo is in my opinion one of the BEST I have ever read, the way you can feel her heartbreak and her powerlessness but also the maturity she exudes, the way she tries to be the bigger person and do what’s right, lord I see myself here and it fucking hurts.

“He really likes you, Mijoo. Don’t let him slip away… You’ll only regret it.” The double meaning that applies to OC here is killing me

“On any other day, this is the kind of party you would protest, running around with a half dozen other of your feminist friends as you collect signatures for a boycott.” <3

“Wait… what makes you think that we’re supposed to be the hoes?” <3 <3

“Yeah. You really do.” Jk sometimes I really like you

“No, sweetheart. You’re the childish one for not being able to accept grown up emotions. Why is falling in love and caring for someone outside of their physical appearance so shameful to you? You need to grow the fuck up and realize that feeling for another human being does not make you weak.”<3 <3 <3

“Frat brothers are despicable…except this one, of course.” Absolutely love how first reading makes it sound like her crush is speaking and second reading shows her idealization of him here

“You swallow the lump in your throat. It would be one thing to see them wildly making out or grinding in the mosh pit like all the other horny kids. But to see them so enveloped in each other, content to just hug for the rest of the night… It hurts you more than you can express. You’d rather walk in on them fucking. This display of the purest affection… No one has ever held you like that before.You’re jealous. It’s shameful how horrendously jealous you are.”</3

“You need me?” you repeat in a small voice.” OC baby I get you I love you and you deserve th world ;(( </3

“You feel like such a villain, grilling this angel and making her upset. It’s such an irritating feeling, but you can’t choke it back.“It’s not like I liked him anyways…” Lord what have you done to my heart and I think it’s my favorite sentence in the entire story !

Chapter 3 :

OC protecting and looking out for Yerin is just so adorable I CAN’T

The discussion with Hyejin, the foreshadowing!!!!!!!

The way OC is self-aware and thinks JK only wants her body (and at the time it was highly likely) just makes the scene that much more heartbreaking, which makes me realize that all the smut scene up until now have been that way.

The entire chapter feels like a BIG call out to me thanks for that I guess. (I’m kidding it was wonderful and actually got me reflecting a lot on my habits and self deprecation)

“the ugly cage around your heart loosen a bit”

“Wow, your fungal cream is so nice. I hope you get that infection checked out." We love a considerate and caring man

“You would take this over the hollowness in your chest. You would gladly take the meaningless sex, the hard pounding of your pussy without a single gesture of affection. Who needs an emotional connection when you can have the pain beat out of you? Who needs someone to like you when you have someone to use you?” No words.

Chapter 4 :

I don’t know if I said that already but I just looooove the way you sprinkle hints here and here about everything ! Foreshadowing events and future revelations it’s just so nice to read and makes second (and third, and fourth) reading sooooo much more entraining and satisfying <3333. Like Oc and Mijoo are drunk and we get a snip at what happened freshman year, there were other hints previously but this just makes the reader WANT to know what the f* went down. And it makes up for Mijoo betrayal, it’s a nice way of explaining why OC « brushed » over her betrayal, we know that she was there in such a hard time for OC and yes it really builds the suspense around that whilst portraying Mijoo as more than the fake BFF who betrayed, I love that.

I love the way you use the word ‘ugly’ and how it’s very often associated with jealousy.

I want to address how much I adore your side characters and sub-plots. Like all of them are so likable (even Somin) and feel like genuine people with their own complex thoughts, seriously your characterization is out of this world! (special shout-out to Yoongi who is spot-ON imo). Like, I want to hangout with these people and be their friends.

ALso I feel like we are really starting to see Jk and OC’s chemistry (unrelated to being evil little matchmaker) and it’s SOOOOOO good, it feels so natural and seeing them slowly slide into a romantic relationship (don’t tell Jk) seems like the most natural thing (+ everyone thinking they are actually together and honestly they are)

"Hey so you like kick around a ball or whatever?" I love your humor I genuinely laughed at this

"Balls?" he says pointedly.” Same here

"Who are you talking about?" Jungkook asks in confusion, "I don't have a—ah you mean ___?" You sure didn’t think for long jk 👀👀and you didn’t even deny it 👀👀👀and you came as soon as being asked 👀👀👀👀👀👀sus

"Beats me," he whispers back, "I didn't even know we had a soccer team until this week!"LMAOOOOOOOOO

Chapter 5 :

The foreshadowing with Bang telling JK he is worried about his performance !! That’s why I love this fic so much! EVERYTHING is here, nothing happens out of the blue, you just have to pay attention to things to see things coming and not in a predictable but rather gratifying way.

The scene where OC hugs JK ? a masterpiece. I don’t know what more to say about it, it’s one of those things that touch on such a level that deconstructing it feels impossible and would break the spell, the intimacy I felt between the two of them and the stark contrast with Hyejin are perfect to characterize their relationship. Feels natural behind closed doors but lacking the words to clarify what they are, especially when faced with other people, and themselves. I L O V E it.

“you watch Taehyung roll around in the grass with his high-tech camera” don’t know why this is so funny to me but it is

"Are we not speaking the same language right now?!" Jungkook barks into the receiver, "Are you fucking high?" The fact that he barks it makes it even funnier

Chapter 6 :

Oc’s conversation with Taehyung about hookup culture (and her behavior at large) just SCREAM ‘I have had such a terrible experience with love before that I cannot even begin to think about letting it happen again otherwise I will never love again’ and it HURTS. But! The way she approaches things with such maturity and is so in touch with her feelings is simply admirable.

When OC is caught between Hoseok and JK at the party !!! It’s so frustrating but in the best way possible because they got soooo close to actually talking things out clearly and making things better but their pride and whatever got in the way and we know it! JK and Oc I love y’all but also you’re so stupid. (Also it’s exactly what I was talking about in my ‘misunderstanding each others’ part. I feel like this is during this chapter that they really start to fuck up the communication because that’s the chapter where it becomes abundantly clear that feeeeelings are starting to get into the mix, they both try to distract themselves (unconsciously or not) with someone else, HYejin and Hoseok, and miserably fails.

Also the domesticity!! That’s cute and fluffy and I’m blushing like I’m 12 year old again.

“You’re right, » he says « I have to get more creative” I have said that Taehyung is hands down the funniest character here ?

"I want someone to choose me," you admit in a small voice, "I want someone to fall for my personality—to love me because of my hot temper and annoying disobedience, not in spite of it. I want this person to be surrounded by prettier, nicer, sweeter girls, but still seek me out… I'd rather them fall for my personality first, then settle for superficial traits like my lacking appearance… Is that really too much to ask?" Once again, thanks for calling me out also I’m crying this is one of the best paragraphs you have written

“He's like a character from a 1950's romance novel stepped off the page” Oc sweetheart remember something else about the 50’s 👀👀 Like ... the sexism ?

“The moon is high in the sky at this point of night, not shrouded by dark clouds for once, and illuminating the entire rooftop with its luminous silvery gleam. But for some reason, it seems like all the moonlight concentrates into a single beam on Hoseok, surrounding him in a brilliant white halo. You swallow tightly and drop your gaze as though burned.” The imagery here is beautiful and I like that you associated him with the moon when he is usually the sun

"Oh, honey… You don't have to pretend to be strong in front of me." And there goes my heart.

"Did you think I was going to let her sleep on the streets or something?" is his sarcastic reply.You roll your eyes, "Thanks, Yoongi." We love character development (their friendship is so endearingly funny)

"Right… But um… what happened after the game on Saturday… uh…" A blush suddenly suffuses his cheeks, coloring his skin a lovely shade of rose, "I… I just wanted to—""Ah, that's right. There's another game next week," you hastily steer the conversation away, terrified by what he might say. "Don't worry, I'll be there too. I really need to start writing this article.""Oh, right… That's exactly what I was going to say," he says, awkwardly scratching the back of his head.” I want to slap some sense in these idiots’ heads

"Yeah, but the problem is that I don’t want to." I am S C R E E C H I N G

Chapter 7 :

The scene where they wake up together and he smiles and calls her pretty and the misunderstanding scene makes me want to slap them you belated idiots

SO MUCH things happen in this chapter and I think it’s one of my favorite!! I have to say that the scene where OC protests against the date auction and faces the resistance of her sorority hit close to home. It’s always so heartbreaking to see fellow girls complying to sexism.

Also also, feminist JK keeps me up at night. Fuck yeah. (You know the lisa simpson meme with the orange juice, that’s me with feminist JK, give me MORE of that.

Also, her performance : I C O N I C

"You're just exclusive fuck buddies… Even though you don't do casual sex and Jungkook doesn't do exclusive. It totally doesn't feel like you're hiding your feelings." My thought exactly Mijoo

“Staying so guarded might protect you from pain… But it'll also protect you from any happiness." *Slow clapping*

“Why would you go for someone who doesn't see your worth? You deserve to be with someone picks you out in a sea of people. Who likes you the best." 👀👀👀

"…Do not resuscitate… Got it," you solemnly note.” You’re so funnyykekzldk

“You aggressively bid from backstage, even as Taehyung motions for you to get lost” I laughed out loud at this

« sold » HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIJIfhehfqenfoneqlfnqdkfncqefnlmzfkbnrdbfksvm kjnefkenfe hAAAAH ????!!! flefnekf HIIII ç!!!!ç!uj

Chapter 8 :

I’m sorry there is not much commentary about this one but I can for the life of me read it with a critical eye since I’m too caught up in the suspense and the fact that a million things are happening, the only thing I can think about is that your fiction, although it is a college AU is so versatile and you touch on so many other genre (here : sport) and manage to successfully make every single one enthralling and further your plot!

“Maybe if I had lost, you would've hugged me again." HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIJZKELMLDIZPEKDLEBDLLDKKEJ

"Please, ___. Please don't go."But sheer panic flashes in his eyes when you attempt to shake him loose. "Don't leave me," he croaks out in desperation, "Please, ___. Don't leave me…"Not like she did." Don’t think I’m not seeing what you’re doing here 👀👀

Chapter 9 :

I feel high-key stupid because that’s like the 6th time I read New rules but I just realized that there might be a parallel going on between Jk and OC’s story, it’s obvious with the hints that you’ve sprinkled that something bad happened with JK’s past girlfriend but it’s just now re-reading Oc’s backstory with Jin that I realize that JK might have been in the ‘fucking around to get back/over his ex’ stage of his breakup like OC in the summer Freshman year, which led to him having his fuckboy reputation despite not ‘really’ being one (i.e. him saying that he hates hookup culture when Oc talks about her story)

Also, empathetic, feminist and understanding men make me w*t.

"Yes," he says, a smile tugging at his lips, "Yes, you did." I sEE YOU

"I don't know what goes through that fantastical imagination of yours” This might be my favorite line ever

“But you don't move one inch. Because you know Jungkook better than that.” Aaaawwwwwwww

Chapter 10 :

This is some greek tragedy shit right here. Mijoo trying to push OC and Jk because she feels guilty about JImin (she way you write it makes it seem so believable but I can’t decide if it’s true or not because we are seeing Oc’s perspective here and she knows she actually crushed on Jimin while Mijoo doesn’t, which would be a huge factor in her pushing OC towards JK) and also because she is the only one with a brain? Oc refusing to believe it and opposing semi-logical semi-bullshit arguments to convince Mijoo and even more herself that this isn’t happening because she heard JK talking to Hyejin ? Jk saying that because he’s an insecure asshole (and also very probably because of his ex girlfriend wink wink) whilst acting like the most belated man, ever ? Na a TRAGEDY!!!!!

Also, the entire speech that Mijoo gives, everything she says ???? A punch to the GUTS! ! !

THEY NEVER UNDERSTAND EACH OTHER THEY CONSTANTLY THINK THE WRONG THING I WANT TO TIE THEM TO A CHAIR AND FORCE THEM TO ACTUALLY COMMUNICATE THIS IS SO FRUSTRATING (in a oh god HOW are they going to fix this and finally come to an understanding of each other kind of way)

He finally breathes when she says his name I’m :(((((((((

“it wasn’t fun” Love how this simple line implies that Mijoo and Jimin have problems and arguments of their own and makes them feel like human beings who have a life outside of the story.

“Or was your image of him so perfect and unrealistic that you couldn't tolerate these humanizing details?" Ouch!

"You're only pushing Jungkook on me to ease your guilt for stealing Jimin away from me!" I don’t have the words to explain the way I felt when I first read this line except : oh fuck. Goosebumps. Literal goosebumps.

"I like him," you abruptly confess, your soft voice breaking through the tense silence the same way the brilliant meteors abruptly burst across the darkness of night. "I like him so much." Masterpiece

“It's equally horrifying and an absolute relief to finally admit this deeply harbored secret after so long. After all these months of repression, it feels like a dam has burst with the way your emotions come tumbling out, threatening to choke you and sweep you underwater.” I said MASTERPIECE ! !

“Mijoo," you gasp, "What do I do?" Im crying. This isn’t a figure of speech. This isn’t an exaggeration. I’m crying. This entire scene is so powerful

“You know your role. You're just the side character—the best friend or comic relief. You have no right to even dream about a life by Jungkook's side—much less to feel this amount of pain and jealousy seeing him with another girl” .... talk about being relatable

“The loud electronic beat is pulsing through your veins with the same painful intensity of the tequila beating against the soft tissue of your brain. You feel like you’re being consumed by the powerful sensations… and yet, it's not enough to protect you from the helpless thoughts drifting across your mind, no matter how much you try to ward them back.” You really shine when it comes to making me cry

"Can't you just let me be petty and sulk for once?" Baby :(

“How could you have misinterpreted the situation so horrifically?” Well we have this saying in French that goes : love makes you fucking blind

“At this point of night, the moon has fully risen overhead, and its silvery rays cast down across the ocean, illuminating everything in white-gold. Awed, you can't help admiring the way the moonbeams kiss the top of Jungkook's black hair and the angles of his face, sheathing his figure like a cold halo.The waves continue to beat against the sandy beach like clockwork, and you sway with them, as though lost in a rhythmic dance lulled by the force of the moon. Your thundering pulse acts as a metronome in this dance, pounding away at a dozen beats per each drag across the shore. You are cold. So cold that you've lost all feeling in your hands and legs. But for some reason, you don't feel the need to shiver anymore.” <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

“Could it have possibly been a defense mechanism? Was he just trying to protect himself in advance?” We are making PROGRESS

"Why is everything about sex with you?" HE SAID! AS IF HE WANS’T ABOUT TO DO WHAT HE IS AVOUT TO DO AND MAKE IT ABOUT SEX I HATE THIS MF

Chapter 11 :

My heart is non existent.The way Oc swallows her feelings to protect Yerin and stands up for her ❤️

I want to thank you for introducing a gay character in your story also Yoongi is one of the most interesting character in the story.

The way everything is slowly coming to a conclusion and every piece of the puzzle settles in the right place is so damn satisfying UGH

The scene where OC confronts Jk is so fucking satisfying, a masterpiece, 10/10, everything I wanted to hear come out of her mouth, my girl knows what’s up and won’t let this fucker get away with it.

"I've told you since day one that I'm not that kind of guy. God, can you even imagine me in a relationship?" he says with a derisive snort that feels like a punch to your stomach, "Did you honestly think that you could trap me into one with sex, ___? Or with a kiss? Come on. Get real." Your insecurities are showing asshole

"I hope you get over this soon, ___," he tells you in a sincere tone, "So we can get back to the way things were." Fight me in a parking lot salopard de merde

“Well, at least you've learned your lesson now.” I had to take a pause after this part

"What if they were my parents?" he asks in a quiet voice, "My siblings? My community back home? The people I love most in this world? What would you have me do then?" As a closeted bisexual this one hit close to home

“But Yoongi turns to you with an incredulous look, "You can't be serious. Anyone with eyes could tell that Kook is completely whipped for you. Where is this coming from?” Yoongi is my man

"You're a fucking coward." My thoughts exactly

Chapter 12 :

Getting through this chapter without crying is genuinely hard..All the girls standing up for themselves and not taking shit for the shitty men in their lives ???? YES PLEAse. And thank you for not only that but also including the girls that the story pushed us not to like that much up until now like Hyejin and Somin when really they were going through the same things as the holy trinity of best girls OC, Mijoo and Yerin.

I have… mixed feelings and I feel like these feelings are exactly what OC has been feeling all along with the conflict between her beliefs and her heart. I wanted them to go through this and by being « willing » JK would have eventually just realized everything and stuff because I love romance and shit. But I also want OC to get what she deserves, and it’s not that. I want them to have this happy ever after end but I feel like we won’t get that before long because as Hyejin pointed out, JK clearly needs to grow the fuck up.

"Oh, ___," she sighs your name.” Don’t mind me I’ll be crying over there

“For a split second, you consider feigning ignorance. It would be so damn easy to laugh along with him and continue living this lie of being the cool, sporty tomboy who doesn't care about stupid "girly" things. After all, Hoseok isn't a bad guy. He's so handsome, popular, and kind. And he likes you. Someone actually likes you. Isn't that better than being alone? For a split second, you're tempted to grab his hand and flash him an award-winning smile. For a split second, you contemplate giving up all your morals and living a life of comfort with this lovely, charismatic man.” I love you so much for writing this

"Sexist?" he repeats in horror, "The fuck are you talking about?! I'm no sexist!" You’ve perfectly channeled the and OC’s entire speech to him should be taught in school

"We're just in different places right now," you inform him in a small voice, "It'll never work out, so please don't make this harder than it needs to be." I’m dying but also proud, producing

"I think I'll channel Somin and cut the toxicity out of my life." Attagirl

To wrap up this overly long review, I want to say thank you to Tayegi for writing this piece and feeling generous enough to share it with us, reading this story and seeing the plot unravel, characters be introduced and developed was a true privilege. I rarely connect with the « reader » in reader fics and just say a random name in my head (or even 'your name ») but here, here… Never have I been so close to actually feeling like I’m the one in the fiction, not for the romance but for the way she is portrayed, for her ideas and how hard it is to stand by them sometimes, for her past and traumas. New rules is a masterpiece, and the fact that I connected to it on such a personal level, which, arguably could cloud my judgement, doesn’t make it any less.

#BTS jungkook #jeon jungkook #jeongguk #jungkook #jk #bts fanfic #fanfic review #New rules #god I finally finished this #I feel strangely nostalgic because I read this ff when I was in a really bad place and it resonated with me on so many levels #like it brought me comfort and to finish this feels like closure even though it's not even finished #it's like finishing harry potter all over again gosh #please read it :(((#I never see Tayegi and her amazing work in people pic recs and like recommandations it makes so sad she is the most talented person #I have been a silent reader for too long it was my way of compensating for that #Tayegi if you're reading this tags don't stress over updating this isn't about making you post faster this is me thanking you

168 notes · View notes

writteninsunshine · 4 years ago

Text

The Killing Moon - Carver/Ellis Lynch - SFW

Title: The Killing Moon

Author: Reno

Fandom: The Blair Witch Game

Setting: The Black Hills Forest

Pairing: Carver/Ellis Lynch

Characters: Carver, Ellis Lynch, Bullet, The Blair Witch, Jess

Genre: Romance

Rating: T

Chapters: 1/1

Word Count: 629

Type Of Work: Drabble

Status: Complete

Warnings: Gay, Slash, Yaoi, MLM, Possible Spoilers For The Bad Ending, Carver-centric, Third Person But Carver POV, Suggestive Language, Pining

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything.

Summary: Ellis was the moon, and Carver was drawn to him for more reasons than just the Witch wanting him.

AN: Hey guys, it’s me again! Just thought I ought to say, if you want vague updates and to talk to me more, I have Twitter and Tumblr, too! Twitter is Sunnywritings, and Tumblr is Writteninsunshine! I also have a writing Discord that is currently pretty dead. xD I can PM it to people who want it on FFN, for everyone else, it’s here: https://discord.gg/FyaWw25

I really needed to write this. I might be the only person that writes for this ship but I don’t know for sure. Regardless, I still love it so much. I hope you guys enjoy it!

Blair Witch Game Fic Masterlist

The Killing Moon

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Ellis was the moon.

His light came from a different source. Love, duty, a sense of purpose, these things drove him, and they lit him up like a full moon in the dark. There was never any light in this forest at night, nothing real like natural light. Ellis brought with him the one thing Carver craved the most, something to look forward to.

Ellis was a fickle thing.

He lived in phases that could change at the drop of a hat. Indignation, aggression, restricting, desperate, terrified, hopeful, these emotions could come and go as quickly as he felt them. There was no telling what he would do next, what emotion would drive him to commit any kind of atrocity or act of creation. He could be placid, or he could be a force to reckon with, and Carver loved that about him.

Ellis was beautiful.

His skin looked like marble carved into the shape of a person. He glowed in the light of the trees, he let off this air of beautiful destruction that couldn’t be stopped. Carver was powerless to his desire to be close to him, even if he knew that Ellis was doomed to be him in a matter of hours. They were one and the same, but Carver knew he wasn’t pretty; not like Ellis. Sometimes, he missed seeing his reflection in the man he was trying to con into taking his face. At one point, he, too, had been beautiful. Now, he was nothing more than a man of the earth, loamy and filthy and as ugly as the forest around him.

Ellis was magnetic.

Like the moon commanded the tides, Ellis moved the world around him with his charm and wit. He didn’t take to change very well, but even in his terror, he was something to be admired. Carver guided him through to the tree he needed with care not only because he needed him, but because he was drawn to him as if he’d never be complete without him. Maybe it was love, but he wasn’t sure he could do that anymore. It felt like a foreign language he had known but left it unused so he didn’t remember a thing.

Ellis was lonely.

With only Bullet to keep him company, Ellis craved any attention he could get from another human being. He wanted his ex-wife, he wanted his friends. He wanted to be loved and treasured, but nobody was willing to feed his needs. Carver wanted to cradle him, to keep him close and never let him go. If he wasn’t so embedded under the influence of the Witch, maybe he would have kept Ellis to himself. Selfish as it was, he needed to see the look of pleasure on his face when he finally gave himself to him. He was starved for the feeling of taking him apart and putting him back together in a way only he could. After all, he knew Ellis best. Why wouldn’t he? They were still the same, even if he was much more grizzled, much less empathetic.

Carver didn’t know when he’d developed these feelings, but he wanted to see them through. All he could hope for was to get Ellis alone again and to at least consummate his feelings with the other. It drove him mad with desire to watch him stumble through this forest alone, pleading for his life amid the chaos. There were things in Ellis that Carver couldn’t fathom anymore, and one thing that drew him in was that need to be forgiven, to be loved, to be cared for, and to have someone to just give himself to.

Carver was going to have the moon in the palm of his hand before the night was over.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

AN: I know it’s a little short, but I really needed to get this out. I was listening to some calming atmospheric music when this came to me out of nowhere, and I wanted to get it out. Hopefully, it’s good, I hope you guys liked it!

#blair witch game #Blair Witch Game Fanfic #Blair Witch Game Fanfiction #Carver x Ellis Lynch

3 notes · View notes

dabistits · 5 years ago

Note

im super conflicted abt hawks atm but i was thinking abt his parallels with shigaraki and i was wondering kinda why there's a difference between wanting 'redemption' (i dont think this is the right word but i cant think of a better one 'want better' maybe?) for shigaraki but not for hawks? is it bc he made a permanent decision to kill twice as essentially an agent of the state?

Just to preface, I don’t think I’m objectively right for just wanting Hawks to eat shit immediately in the next chapter. I’m just complaining because a lot of people who “love both Hawks and Twice” and “think Hawks was wrong, but…” are hard to get away from without going in the other direction toward a group of people who have shitty fandom behavior, whose opinions about the Hawks/Twice situation are (unfortunately) much closer to my own. I don’t think there’s necessarily a “correct” way to feel about Hawks, but I feel differently than a lot of people I see around (who, ironically, are the ones insisting that there’s a “correct” way to feel about Hawks), and that’s frustrating. I want to be done with Hawks. I don’t want him to get any more focus in canon, I don’t want to see more posts about how Hawks committing murder is an indication of inner turmoil instead of him choosing a side, I don’t want to keep running into posts that tack on “but Hawks is also sad/a victim” in discussing what’s pretty clearly a tragedy for Jin and the LOV that Hawks was completely and 100% solely responsible for.

But, yeah, sure. I’ll also explain what I think is the difference between Tomura and Hawks:

1. Part of it is emotional and not logical for sure. I love Jin a lot. He embodies the person who has faced incredible adversity, and still comes out on the other side ready to love and open his heart to others, moreover to protect others. I’m not like that at all, but I think it’s very admirable. So in that sense, it hurts on a personal level to lose him over anyone else, and I can’t not associate that with Hawks, since he’s the killer.

2. Jin is a significant death. The nameless minions that Tomura has killed (many of whom were active “Quirk supremacists”) don’t mean anything to me compared to Jin, and?? Through the lens of narrative, I think that makes Tomura more forgivable, because I genuinely have no interest in there being any plot “resolution” with, like, the dead anti-mutant cultists, because I just do not care about them.

3. Tomura, especially early Tomura, has threatened to go places that are unforgivable, like leaving All Might’s students dead and forcibly bringing Bakugou over to their side (whatever terrible procedure that may have entailed). The difference is that the narrative never actually allowed him to cross that line by actually killing the kids, who we do care about as characters, so while the intent in itself is pretty awful, he was never allowed to complete the action that would take him over to the point of no return. Hawks, however, did cross the line by killing someone who we care about and who is narratively established as a “good person,” who even Hawks concedes is a good person.

3. a. I don’t like the MLA ideologically and I don’t like the decision to have the LOV team up with them. But, again, their takeover plan has been stopped in its tracks, which I’m actually fine with to prevent the LOV from crossing the moral event horizon, but that’s, like… completely irrelevant to me thinking Hawks shouldn’t have killed Jin.

3. b. Though there’s still a chance for Tomura to cross the moral event horizon, and I’m not going to convince myself that it won’t happen. If it’s going to happen, I think it’s highly possible that it might happen in this arc, because now Jin is dead and we know how Tomura and the LOV have historically responded to their friends getting hurt. I, and many others, have called Jin the “heart” of the LOV (his name is also literally written with the kanji for “benevolence”), and now without him, there is no remaining heart nor goodwill.

4. Although both Tomura and Hawks are, on one level, fighting on behalf of the ideals that they were “raised into,” their fights happen in very different ways. The MLA arc in particular made clear that the villains are, in part, fighting for their very survival in ways heroes just aren’t. The threat that the LOV were living under was constant—when it wasn’t heroes or other villain groups, it was trying to find money and shelter and essential upkeep. Hawks may not be “free” from the HPSC or the occasional villain attack, but he’s free from those constant material struggles. He’s not an “underdog.”

4. a. Tomura is also, in part, fighting to protect his marginalized friends. It’s for sure not on behalf of every marginalized person, but it’s certainly more than we’ve seen any pro hero fight for. The people Tomura is surrounded with are people who have never been protected nor cared for before, because they were not deemed “innocent” enough to deserve that care and protection, and Tomura continued to care for them even when it was troublesome for him to do so, when they disagreed with him, when they threatened him, and when they fucked up very, very badly.

4. a. i. Eri is an example of a victim who the heroes fought for, but she’s an easy case to want to love and protect: Overhaul was inarguably an abuser who wanted to elevate the yakuza, she was being used in extended torture-experiment sessions, she killed her father on accident, she’s a child, she’s innocent, she’s selfless, she’s well-behaved. It’s basically not even a question whether or not she “deserves” help.

4. b. It’s people who are difficult who get overlooked. Hawks and hero society are completely unprepared to protect and care for people who don’t behave as they’re supposed to. Hawks did not care for the LOV who didn’t personally befriend him. For the one he did, when Jin didn’t cooperate the way Hawks wanted, he went for the kill. It’s either being easy and “manageable,” or die.

4. b. i. Tomura has specifically spared two people who tried to kill him or actually succeeded in killing his ally, people who he explicitly hated or did not care for. So make of that what you will, I guess.

5. From a leftist perspective, it’s just impossible not to account for the fact that Hawks helps maintain a social structure that creates so much suffering. The question isn’t really whether AFO’s teachings to Tomura are better (they’re not, and I want Tomura to break away from them), but it can’t really be ignored that Hawks is enforcing an ideal that’s wildly popular. Why this matters is that Tomura doing the wrong things will be roundly condemned, and he’ll probably be “punished” for them; but heroes are very unlikely to be punished or held accountable for committing murder, especially if it’s “justified.”

5. a. This is problematic because it allows heroes, and the state, to define what a justified “emergency situation” is, and who can die in those emergencies. The people who are deemed killable “in an emergency” are usually those who are already marginalized; hence heroes can wait until those marginalized people get desperate enough to commit villainous acts, and then they can swoop in to arrest or kill them to widespread public acclaim.

5. b. Heroes (and law enforcement IRL) don’t address the roots of crime that lie in overarching oppressive structures like misogyny and capitalism. They don’t prevent theft by bringing people financial stability; they arrest people who were desperate enough to steal, and use those people to send a message to poor people everywhere. They make these conditions of desperation more permanent by punishing the most vulnerable people when they slip up, while doing absolutely nothing until the slip-up happens.

5. c. Heroes are punching down, and villains are punching up. That may not be the case with AFO, but I believe it with the LOV specifically, and I believe this matters because it’s exemplified between Hawks and Twice. Hawks targets someone who reached out to him, despite being hurt over and over again by types like him, who has dealt with poverty and fantasy mentally illness completely on his own, and kills him in defense of the very society that allowed all those things to happen to Jin. Hawks was given a choice: sympathize and relate to Jin, and acknowledge his well-founded grievances toward a dysfunctional society, or prioritize the safety and security of that dysfunctional society by permanently removing Jin from the equation. The choice he believes in is the choice he made.

5. d. In order for Tomura to make the same choice with the same implications, they’d have to be living in an alternate universe, in the Kingdom of AFO, where Tomura is a respected noble who infiltrates a rebel group who were going to “commit atrocities,” kills the one person who offered him a way out of AFO’s control, and possibly screws the rebels altogether, but everyone is happy that the rebels are gone. Even if you think Tomura is capable of that, it’s irrelevant because canon!BNHA has completely different power dynamics. Because Tomura’s violence will always be unpopular and persecuted, rather than justified and glorified by the state, he physically cannot replicate a choice like Hawks’. Tomura can approximate it, but even if he does, he’ll be hunted down by heroes for doing so. The circumstances and consequences for making such a choice are totally different.

So. That’s why I don’t think Tomura and Hawks can be equated. Suggesting that this is a level playing field is essentially believing that criminals and law enforcement exist on level playing fields, and they absolutely do not at all. Hawks is particularly abhorrent because he’s already followed through with his choice. He holds power by being part of the policing class, and regardless of how he came into it, he behaves exactly the same as everyone else who “freely” joined, and in his position of power he made the choice to eliminate someone who was socially powerless.

#ask #commentary #long post /

38 notes · View notes

florbelles · 5 years ago

Note

5, 10, 27, 42 for Lyra, and B, D, and I for you?

tysm legend 💕 sorry this took a minute!

05. how easy is it to earn their mistrust?

this was sort of answered here; the same is true of mistrust, except it’s more immediate. if she has a bad feeling and you, she's going to trust it, and, depending on the stakes, it could cost you your life; she’ll be watching you for confirmation, and, the second she has it, she'll act.

10. what lie do they most frequently remember telling? does it haunt them?

lyra doesn't lie without reason, but she’s had plenty of reasons. when she was a girl, her father would continually bribe her to keep up appearances -- her first kind of blackmail, and one she did not wish to participate in; to this day she won't accept extravagant gifts, especially not jewelry, not even from john. they were lies of omission she told (or rather, didn't tell) for her father, and her heartsickness over it impacted her deeply.

the lies she told the men she robbed (or conned or, in extreme cases, killed) were largely hints and insinuations that their own hubris filled in: i want you, i need you, i love you. she doesn't feel remorse for any of those, since she always believed it was justified, that she was balancing the scales; why should the dishonest deserve honesty?

the most repeated lie of her life was, of course, that she was a member of the resistance (or, at the very least, a confused city girl stranded in town by a conflict that had nothing to do with her whose sympathies were with locals). in addition to playing the part to the citizens of hope county, she used it in loyalty checks within the project, particularly those who seemed likely defectors who were uncomfortable with the realities of the reaping. yes, she’d tell them, of course her loyalty is to john, he’s her husband, of course she still believes in joseph, but! aren't you having doubts? don't you hear that whisper in the back of your mind that this is wrong? don't you feel guilty about hurting your neighbors, stealing and burning their livelihoods? and john, aren't you worried about him? don't you think he’s spiraling? cracking? misguided? don't you wonder if there’s a better way? you can tell me, darling. i feel the same way. i can help you. i can get you out. please, please don't tell anyone. it would ruin me.

if they went straight to john, they passed; the ones who kept silent were watched; the rest, the ones who agreed, who accepted her offer, were rounded up -- the ones who sought to actively betray the project were made an example of; she sent the more passive doubters to faith.

no, it doesn't haunt her. it was her job; she did that and worse to protect her family, and she's do it again.

27. what causes them to feel dread?

the revelation that the espresso supply’s gonna run out eventually & so will her mascara & marlboros

lyra dreads powerlessness. she dreads surrendering control. she dreads acceptance of what she can't change. she dreads the future because joseph has seen it, and she always makes it to new eden, always, but that isn't true of john. john he worries about, and so she worries, too; they're doing everything right, it should be fine, it should all work out according to plan, she’s there, she’s not going anywhere, and wasn't she the great variable? isn't that what joseph said? but she’s still consumed by it, every second of every day, she’s filled with dread, sick with it, until it’s a crushing weight in her chest; it's brought her to her knees. she bargains with god, begs god to grant her this one thing, this one thing and nothing else, don't let him die, don't take him and not me, don't take him before me, never without me.

later she won't dread anything. the worst has already happened; whatever else comes no longer matters.

42. how badly do they want to reach their end goal?

lyra’s the determinator; if she’s decided something is to be done, it will be, even if she’s dragging herself towards half dead with bloodied fingers and broken ribs (and she will). she’ll die for it, kill for it, commit any number of atrocities to reach it; there’s not a limit on what she’ll do to protect her family and the project.

she makes it to new eden. she gets joseph there. she saved her chosen and gathered every member of the flock in holland valley that was left. it isn’t enough, of course; she failed in what mattered most, and it breaks her.

but then the voice comes back, and she claws her way out of despondency and back to the surface, scrubs the blood from her skin and dons her silk and lace and asks joseph what’s next for them. she finishes what she began. she fulfills her duty to joseph and new eden. that’s how far she’ll go to reach her goal and serve her purpose; she’ll live 17 years longer than she does as meant to, until release comes in the form of poppy bellefleur, the shepherdess joseph promised -- she secures new eden’s legacy, her family’s legacy, and then it’s over. she’s free. joseph is gone and ethan is dead and poppy leads the county; she can rest. she can go back to the ground where she belongs. that was her goal, really, in the end.

b. what inspired you to create them?

i mention this here, but lyra's actually a revived & repurposed character from a long-dead original project. she was influenced by the femme fatales of old noir; lyra was a conwoman and serial killer with a moral agenda to punish those the world would not before she was anything else (she was always pretty dark tbh, think amnesia: justine, saw, and then there were none). she’s also always been a woman on the run -- most of her original story (which, yes, incidentally featured a murder cult) was set in south, very american gothic, and so when fc5 came out i quite liked her for it. obviously she’s evolved from her original form, but much of her backstory remains intact, and the initial inspiration is the same.

d. have they always had the same physical appearance, or have you had to edit how they look?

answered here! 💋

i. do you prefer to keep them in their canon universe?

mostly, yes -- cultist lyra is canon lyra, she’s never deputized a day in her life. i do have one cult wins/everyone lives au where she’s thriving and living her best life, but i like her narrative and character arc best in her main angsty verse xx

#answered #chyrstis #oc: lyra fairbanks

15 notes · View notes

ghostmartyr · 6 years ago

Text

SnK 117 Thoughts

Action scenes!

All the wrong people achieving minor victories!

Fist fights that are Eren’s only means of honest communication anymore!

Brotherhood.

All this and more in another edition of Eren coming closest to checking himself while he wrecks himself.

-tosses confetti-

To be honest, the most worrying thing about this chapter to me is that Zeke shows up at the end. I figured that’s how this battle kept going, but I thought that would be the last ‘surprise’ of the volume. A next month thing.

If he’s already here, signs point to the handshake that breaks the world happening at the end of next chapter.

Even having no idea what Eren’s up to, but full confidence that he’s not a hundred percent on board with Zeke’s ideas for what they should be up to... Do Not Want. Zeke and Eren are like bulls in china shops (disregarding what Mythbusters says about that). Whatever’s coming, it isn’t going to be a tiny thing like brainwashing an entire island into forgetting their history. These are young men of vision.

That’s next month’s problem, though.

This month, we get another chapter that makes me think I’m going to go back to my Return to Shiganshina motto of wondering how pretty the anime is going to make all of this.

When we’re once again in Shiganshina. And Eren and Reiner are once again brawling.

This is not a critique, it’s just me pointing out that action scenes in this series are not the fastest way to any of the ongoing trauma elsewhere in the series being resolved. ...And my natural reaction to action-heavy chapters when I’m writing these posts is to kind of gesture at the chapter and be all, “you saw it, didn’t you?”

But that’s, of course, underselling all the emotional drama we still have to sort through. Starting with Eren’s upgrade to not just confusing his friends and the audience at large, now even Yelena is probably wanting to put her head in her hands and just wonder why the fuck.

With the answer apparently being that Eren feels like beating up Reiner.

Let’s put all that in the Later tab, because Eren and his problems of being Eren deserve a little more pondering before I say anything. ...Besides one reminder remark that Eren’s inherited the Attack Titan, and we haven’t yet really delved into hat it means that Titans seem to have their own outlines of a personality. With Paths moving to the forefront, that might be changing.

Or Eren just feels like beating up Reiner.

Moving on, it’s time for everyone’s favorite topic!

Fuck Marley.

This is one of those story elements I will be much less hissy at once the story is over. Unless the story does something stupid. But for now, every single time we focus on the non-Warrior conflicts of Marley, my only regret is that Zeke and Eren’s massacre in their country was so limited.

Hyperbole obviously in effect, but

Let me try to start somewhere that isn’t mindless screaming about how Marley can just go fuck right off, and how being relieved that a child soldier you’ve crafted has made it back to safety doesn’t actually make you a better person, you absolute fuckwit.

As the narrative stands, the people from Marley are the only ones with power who aren’t fucking over their personal allegiances. Zeke’s screwed over everyone. Eren has actively damaged his friends. The 104th is powerless unless they want Armin to start really making things explode.

The Warriors and Magath have a very straightforward mission, and they’ve kept to it. This is their military operation, and there’s a plan. It makes sense that they’re kind of rolled into the protagonist role of this battle. Eren’s being fucking Eren, the Warriors have legitimate grief, they’re trying to save a child behind enemy lines...

Here, as ever, is the problem.

Fuck Marley.

Just... just to try and find some words to my indignation that only this particular set of characters can capture so well, Helos. Helos the hero. The untainted, hollow hero.

The hero who secretly made a pact with both sides to end the violence and spend a century lying about how they found peace, leaving an immeasurable mark on the state of Eldians until Willy strolls up one fine day and decides, you know what, maybe we can cool it with all this lying, but we absolutely need to go after the same targets all that lying created.

Willy was willing to die for his beliefs.

His belief was that throwing Paradis under the bus was perfectly acceptable.

Marley is full of stubborn people determined to see their missions out, but every single time we approach their point of view, it drives me nuts that we are spending any time humanizing the desire for Marley to come out the winner here.

Galliard, you have a legit beef with Eren. He uses you to kill someone you could have counted among your comrades, and the trauma alone would make any desire for vengeance immediately acceptable.

But ah yes, your home town.

I know Marley keeps their people in ignorance. I know Eldians considering that their grandest aspiration in life is to die is possibly more dangerous than simply living that fate out. I know Galliard’s mostly been involved in wars that are about fighting people they’re at war with, and protecting his people.

Unless I’ve been paying even less attention than I think, they’re in Shiganshina.

Marley cracked the walls open like a nut. They used children to do it. They committed genocide without once getting their hands dirty in order to maybe drag out the Founding Titan.

All of this built on the backs of Eldians. Having the Founding Titan means having a compliant Eldian. Having Titans at all means having Eldians.

Eren’s assault on Liberio is awful. It mirrors the horror of Shiganshina, and nothing about how the plot progresses is going to make me okay with what he and Zeke went for there.

But in terms of the devastation caused?

Eren’s willingness to kill children to accomplish his goal of wiping out the top brass is disturbing, and can’t match Reiner, Bertolt, and Annie’s naive willingness to kick down a door when they’re 10-12.

Liberio is still only one town.

Opening up the walls kills a lot more than one town. Some of it through Paradis’ own tactics, but as much as I like Galliard, and understand how much he’s lost...

Marley destroys a third of Paradis because it can.

No declaration of war, no warning. They treat Paradis the way they treat all Eldians: As a resource Marley is so entitled to they have no need to recognize them as anything more.

What Eren does is appalling and wrong.

But Galliard’s continued focus on that is its own kind of sickening. These people have never been confronted with the horrors they’ve participated in. Your home town, Galliard? Your brother?

How about your home town, your mother, your friends, a third of your country, and watching your own government send out a further 20% of the remaining population on a suicide mission so the rest of them survive.

All from a completely unprovoked attack.

Eren at least waits to hear Willy’s declaration of war.

Galliard’s motives are honestly very understandable, but compared to the history we’ve lived through with the Paradis side, it’s nothing. It’s a whining child who hasn’t realized that a world beyond him and his exists.

Then there’s Magath, and his line about putting an end to a hundred years of resentment.

What, resenting the island? Thanks to a lie your hero agreed to?

Resenting titans? After using them as your primary military force since the second you were given back your autonomy?

You people fucked up your own world! Marley policy has kept the fear of titans alive. Marley’s current strategy is bringing the hatred focused on them back to an island that, as far as they know, hasn’t had any interaction with the outside world for a hundred years.

Paradis isn’t perfect. Entire essays written solely about how fucked up Paradis is would be very easy to write. Armin’s probably written about thirty, in-universe.

What they’ve done is still not comparable to what Marley’s done.

The characters might feel the emotional weight similarly, but the crimes are not anywhere close to the same.

So having these guys arguing that they’ll claim the Founding Titan and save the world? The world they didn’t think twice about breaking whenever it was convenient for them? The world they only now care about because the strength of titans is turning obsolete?

Fuck Marley.

Reiner’s honestly my favorite part of this chapter, even if he continues to cling to the wrong theme. He’s upset over Gabi and Falco, but he looks at Eren, and he actually sees Eren. Reiner is someone who has stopped trying to find a moral high ground in this fight. He has his mission, he has his people, and trying to work out the rest is insanity.

They’ll all be dead soon.

They’re all miserable.

“What do you get... from living any longer?! Eren... I’ll end this for you.”

I said a few chapters back that this is a series about suicide. It’s Zeke’s entire motivation; getting the rest of the world to the place he is. It’s time for them all to end. Here, Reiner, despite theoretically being on the anti-Zeke side, is expressing the exact same sentiment.

They’re all going to die anyway. They’ve all suffered enough. It can be over. Ending it can be an act of kindness.

Eren agreed with that once, too.

“At the very least… I want you to end it all for me.” --65

The answer he got then was very simple.

“When I see someone crying, saying… no one needs them… I want to tell them… It’s not true.”

What do you get from living any longer?

Whatever you want. It’s your fucking life. No one else has the right to decide when it should end.

Now we get to the fun stuff, because that look Eren has comes directly after Reiner spouts his big brother’s entire philosophy. Mentally, but this is a story. Eren’s most furious look comes from something he once asked for. Reiner trying to bring him to a peaceful end.

That thing Zeke wants for all Eldians.

That’s what comes before Eren’s emotions rise back to the surface.

Yelena and her merry crew don’t understand why Eren goes ahead and starts this fight, and really, neither do I. As a beacon for Zeke to follow, it’s a seriously dangerous one, and Marley knowing exactly where Eren is means they don’t have to worry about accidentally killing other human-sized bodies on the ground. Hiding and recollecting probably would have worked out better.

But we’re far enough into this arc that I’m really mostly fine with Eren doing things that don’t make sense. If the answer is just that he’s emotionally fragile enough that seeing Reiner meant he had to fight Reiner, I’d accept that.

Then Zeke shows up, and. Siiiigh.

I don’t know what happens next, but Eren looks so young when his big brother steps in to help. Eren’s been fighting alone this entire time. He doesn’t seem to like Yelena or Floch. He’s taken steps to make sure his friends stay away from him. He accepts the assistance freely offered, but his mission is his own.

My personal opinion is that Eren has very different plans for the Founding Titan’s powers than what the narrative has told us. His furious fight for life in this very chapter is a point in favor of that.

But whatever it’s used for, there’s one other person in the world who’s trying just as hard to reach him.

Zeke and Eren are doing, and will do, horrible things. Eren’s motives might not line up with Zeke’s, but Zeke is still his partner in this. Zeke knows what it’s like to cut off everything else except their mission. He knows what it’s like to be alone without an ally he can fully trust with his vision for the world.

They might have different visions, but Zeke understands everything Eren has gone through, and in Eren’s most desperate moment, he shows up.

Until the end of whatever happens, his big brother is fighting to make it to his side. He’s here to protect Eren and change the world with him.

Eren’s a disaster, but the look on his face sells how hard all of this has been. Since he was fifteen, he’s been shouldering the fate of humanity alone. Now, he has someone in his corner who’s held that burden for even longer.

It probably won’t go well. Even this bond might fall to pieces if their philosophical differences come out.

But for right now, Eren has his big brother.

Oh and in other news, Gabi paying attention to all the wrong things means that Marley knows the requirements for making the Founding Titan go zoom.

Next chapter is just going to end with Eren and Zeke’s hands finally meeting. The last page is a blank white one that says ‘the heart’.

...I do kinda love that while this is going on, everyone in the cells just assumes that the Wall Titans are now walking around. SURPRISE! you’re at war. That’s going to be fun to cope with when your building inevitably suffers a hole.

Next month is going to be... a lot.

#Shingeki no Kyojin #SnK 117 #Eren Yeager #shingeki no spoilers #SnK spoilers #spoilers #tl;dr #chapter post

108 notes · View notes

yennefer-fan · 7 years ago

Photo

youtube comment about book Yennefer by Chief Purrfect

“She’s not what she seems” is actually a very spot on thing to say. It really baffles me to see people who have read the books completely miss the whole point of Yennefer’s character and go on about how evil and overall terrible she is. Honestly, if that’s what you think her character is then you don’t quite get not only what her character stands for, but also what the books themselves stand for. And no, I’m not saying you have to like her, prefer her over Triss or choose her for your Geralt in TW3, what I’m saying is you have no excuse for not understanding what the character is about if you’ve read the books. TW3 is a different story, mainly due to the fact that CDPR’s adaptation of the character could have been better, but still, don’t let CDPR’s misstep predispose you to not appreciate a well-written, complex character in a different medium.

Before I get into Yennefer's character though, I should probably talk about the most common misconception people have about the Witcher as a book series first. In book reviews, I've repeatedly seen people say that they preferred the short story collections over the saga because “that’s where Sapkowski’s inability to write high fantasy shows”. Well, they couldn’t possibly be more wrong. Not because they didn’t like Sapkowski’s writing, but because this entire time they were under the impression they were reading high fantasy. The Witcher- despite clearly belonging to the fantasy genre- was never meant to be a fantasy epic. In its very core the Witcher is first and foremost a parody, a critique on the genre, THEN an epic adventure. It takes every possible cliché and trope that appears in those books and first ridicules it- by showcasing why it would never work- to later subvert it in a way that makes it work. This contrast between expectation and reality is the core idea of the Witcher. Sapkowski couldn’t possibly be any clearer when asked. He said that while reading the polish folk tale of the poor cobbler who defeated a dragon all he could think of was how silly it was, because if you had a dragon problem and you wanted the job done, you wouldn’t be sending a cobbler to take care of it. In order for this tale to work, he had to create someone who is a professional at killing such monsters- and so he created witchers because he saw them as a necessity in a world of monsters and mythical beasts. My point is, this contrast of expectation vs reality also applies to the characters. The characters of the Witcher are primarily stereotypes and archetypes, if not occasionally caricatures. At first glance Geralt is the overly manly man, Yennefer is the evil witch, Ciri is the bratty princess and Dandelion is the overly manly man’s side-kick with an inability to keep his wee-wee in his pants because he exists in the story for the sole purpose of being the comic relief.

But are they those things really? The answer is a hard no, but they are definitely and deliberately introduced that way at the beginning of their character arcs. Geralt first appears as the typical stoic, emotionally unavailable and badass dude-bro protagonist but as we keep on reading, we realize he has an impressively rich and vivid inner self that he’s simply not comfortable externalizing. Ciri first appears as the spoiled princess who threatened to execute Geralt in the first few minutes she knew him because in her opinion he did not treat her appropriately according to her status, but learned humility by losing her status along with everything and everyone else. Dandelion appears as the superficial, cowardly friend who can’t see beyond himself and yet time and time again he puts himself in danger because he refuses to let Geralt face his problems alone and displays genuine and wholesome affection towards other characters, from Essi Daven to the Hansa.

Essentially, the pattern is that each character’s first appearance is a false and misleading one. And so, as with the rest of the cast, you can bet the same thing applies to Yennefer. She was introduced as the cold and sarcastic witch, the archetypical dominatrix with ulterior motives who uses her sexuality as a weapon. As I said however, the catch with the Witcher is that appearances always deceive. In reality, her sarcasm isn’t token of her being inherently mean and evil but a defense mechanism to cope with her past trauma. So is her being initially self-centered even in her relationship with Geralt. When your whole life has been people who are designed to care for you (like your parents) abandoning you and all you’ve ever had is yourself, it’s difficult to suddenly put someone else above you and accept that said someone genuinely cares for you overnight. And it DID happen overnight. See, another trope Sapkowski wanted to poke fun at was the insta-romance. In the last chapter of the first book, Geralt and Yennefer fell head over heels for each other and rode off to the sunset to their happily ever after less than a week after their first meeting.

And then Sapkowski was like “Ha! You seriously thought this was gonna work out? WHEEZE “.

And so the first two chapters of The Sword of Destiny happen, and coincidentally, these are the two chapters people use to justify oversimplifying Yennefer’s character to “evil” and “bitch” thereafter, despite them being two of a great many chapters and extremely early in her character’s journey. Yennefer’s deepest desire was to have a family, so she sought commitment but clearly wasn’t ready for what it entails. On the other hand, Geralt was unable to give her the reassurance she needed in order to open up to him because at that point of his character arc he still had the emotional IQ of a teaspoon. In the short story collections their relationship was unhealthy because that’s what Sapkowski had to do in order to get his point across- point being insta-romances are stupid, they suck and they don’t work out. After he was done poking fun at the trope it was finally time to subvert it and find a way to make their relationship work out.

Now introducing something more aka Ciri.

Apparently, there are people who believe that Geralt and Yennefer are together only because of Ciri. I believe they are onto something, but are looking at the right things from the wrong angle. Simply put, their relationship wouldn’t work out because neither of them was willing to face their insecurities and immaturity. When Geralt ended up with Ciri at the end of The Sword of Destiny however, he had no choice but to pull his shit together and act as parent figure to her, developing and maturing through the process. On the other hand, when Ciri was send to Ellander to apprentice under Yennefer, Yennefer for the first time stopped trying to find a way to cure her infertility to think that maybe she might not need a cure because- maybe- she already has a family. Letting go of her obsession over her infertility was a huge step for her character because it helped her focus not on what she could gain, but on what she has to lose. It’s not at all random that in the saga Yennefer and Geralt do not reunite until they have individually spent alone-time with Ciri and have grown to be better people first. Only then their relationship took a turn for the better and became functional ever since their reunion in Hirundum. So it isn’t really that they are together because Ciri is in the picture, but rather because of the people they became thanks to Ciri.

Last thing that I feel is very essential to understanding Yennefer stems from the themes of her character. Destiny, infertility, humanity- the very first chapter of The Sword of Destiny features both her and Geralt as two very powerful people, powerless in front of their inability to lead normal lives. However, one theme that for some reason tends to fly under the radar with Yennefer is sacrifice. It’s ironically fitting, considering Yennefer starts off her character arc as a pretty self-centered person- albeit having her reasons. Sacrifice was relevant to her character since the very first book- in The Last Wish Nenneke pointed out that when Yennefer became a sorceress, she sacrificed one of her gifts (maternity) for another (magic). In The Sword of Destiny we see how she deals with the consequences of the sacrifice she made and most of her problems with Geralt occur because she is not willing to sacrifice anything anymore. It’s only when she matures during the saga that she was willing to sacrifice her reputation and pride when she bargained with Philippa, asking her to save Geralt’s life in exchange for her dying as a traitor in his eyes. Later she lost her freedom when she was caught by Vilgefortz but preferred being tortured half to death instead of revealing any information. Like seriously, there’s a whole chapter in The Tower of Swallows where she has this epic argument with - arguably- the skelligan goddess in Hindarsfjall who is asking her just how much of herself she is willing to sacrifice for Ciri and Geralt, how do some people miss this in her character development, the book ain’t trying to be subtle. In the end of the books she made the ultimate sacrifice and gave her life for a chance that Geralt’s might be saved.

And despite all that, somehow some people still consider her “a selfish bitch who doesn’t even love Geralt” when the whole point of her character is that she went from the textbook femme fatale to a selfless and caring mother and wife. No one is arguing against the characterization “bitch” because it's often accurate in terms of attitude. Yennefer can be mean and cold, no one denies that. It’s just that there is so much more to her than this, that the problem with people characterizing her that way is that it’s dismissive and it simplifies a well-rounded character who was meant to be viewed very differently in the beginning of her journey compared to the end. So I guess what I want to say is, don’t just read a book people, make sure to also read into it. And again, if you understand all that and still dislike her that’s perfectly fine. Just make sure to understand. Don’t dismiss and don’t simplify.?

#yennefer of vengerberg #personal opinions about yennefer #artwork: unknown artist

611 notes · View notes

ganymedesclock · 7 years ago

Note

Your meta is singlehandedly responsible for all my opinions and characterization of Shiro tbh and I kinda just realized something. Tell me if I'm wrong but I get the feeling what you're trying to say about after-s2 Shiro is just: This is Shiro, except now all his stressors are Worse.

I mean, Shiro’s not the same person he was in the first two seasons just as much as none of the other paladins are the same person they were in the first two seasons, but, I definitely think Shiro since then has built on what was established as his essential character that’s growing and changing.

Part of it is he’s under a lot more pressure. Part of it is, when Shiro first came to the position in s1 he basically took all of his trauma and survivalism and tried to stuff it back into the mold of the Garrison’s Golden Boy. And ironically, I think it’s s1 Shiro who’s a lot more callous- look through the early episodes and see how many times Shiro interrupts, corrects, shoves or silences Lance in particular.

He’s determined to make a good impression early on, and, frankly, Shiro’s first impression of Lance is not favorable- he seems to regard him as just fooling around when the paladins need to be serious, they need to commit to this.

He’s also the one to chew out Keith for demanding Pidge can’t leave and was about to make, frankly, a very bad decision by letting Pidge wander off alone into the universe without even questioning how even a very resourceful and clever fifteen year old intends to survive in a hostile spacefaring empire they know almost nothing about. And it’s pretty clear, I think, rather than fair judgment, Shiro’s letting his personal sense of guilt, believing he failed the Holts, rule in this context.

Yes, people shouldn’t be shackled to paladin duty, but given Pidge’s custom jet booster had a good chance of making the pod explode (and by good, seemingly as high as 50% since it was used twice and the second time it detonated) on top of everything else, it’s clear if she’d gone off alone the way she meant to, she would have died.

Shiro in s1 is trying to be a perfect leader for everyone and frankly, who he’s become since then is better. It stands that he’s come a long way that Hunk, Lance, and Shiro himself all agree it’s unlike him to snap at people and bark orders.

At a glance, Shiro might seem as if he’s doing worse, but to me, I think it’s an incredibly heartening sign that Shiro’s character development appears to be an exercise in learning to ask for help.

Because while Shiro’s not a tyrant of a leader the way Zarkon leaned alarmingly close to in s3e7 on multiple occasions- it stands that Shiro, too, especially early on, suffered from that disconnect. He kept his own problems incredibly close to his chest. It’s obvious that he desperately latched onto being Black Paladin as a way to cope- as a way to redefine himself by something other than what had just happened to him.

Shiro in s1 is a tight-coiled spring. He’s uptight, he argues with Lance over the littlest things, in s1e1 on two separate occasions he breaks up arguments just by yelling for them to stop or “Stow it, cadets!”

Shiro’s growth as a character involves climbing off the pedestal he was sitting on at the beginning of the show. And he’s not the only one who was enforcing it, either- Lance flat-out says Shiro was his personal hero.

In the comics, Pidge can’t conceive the idea of defeating Shiro at all even though he’s really not that much a better fighter than the other paladins- before she gets her head in gear and is able to knock him out, she just reflexively looks to him as an invincible paragon which is a pretty big cognitive slip in an issue all about Pidge’s ability to gather and keep data.

In s3e1, none of the team can really see themselves conceptualizing Shiro and a lot of their overtures seem to suggest, more than none of them are suited to the Black Lion like Shiro is (fair!) that... not a lot of them really understand what Shiro was doing. Even Keith, the closest to Shiro, leads as a Red Paladin. He says he can’t do this like Shiro can but he never seems to clarify what that entails.

What I personally think began in earnest in s3, though there were small things building towards it all along, is the systematic demystification of Shiro as the perfect leader, as the team’s paragon.

There’s kind of a point that, as Zarkon’s specific counterpart, enemy, and successor, Shiro is going to be called upon to succeed where Zarkon failed.

And Zarkon’s failure, what led to his death and downfall as a paladin, was twofold: he failed to listen to his team when they had valid points, and he kept all of his personal suffering privately away from them.

Zarkon gambles everything to rescue Honerva in s3e7, and it goes disastrously because he lies to his team the entire way leaving them completely unprepared- so when he ends up outside of his Lion and faced with a devastatingly powerful opponent, he’s surrounded and killed while the rest of the team is not in a position to do anything to help him.

Shiro in s1e11 leads the team in an equally desperate gamble to rescue Allura, and it works out. It works out because Shiro has the team’s consent beforehand, and even people who disagree (Keith) still consent to go. So when Shiro ends up outside his Lion and faced with a devastatingly powerful opponent on two fronts, it’s not his personal skill as a fighter that keeps him alive.

It’s Keith going toe to toe with Zarkon to buy Shiro time to get back to the Black Lion.

It’s Lance, Pidge, and Coran holding off the majority of the empire’s forces.

It’s Hunk smashing in to break Allura out, and it’s her and him together that come to save Shiro’s bacon from Haggar who had already seriously injured him and could easily have killed him in that moment.

It’s pretty obvious that Shiro being honest and transparent with his team is what’s keeping him from getting killed. They’re his saving grace, time and time again, Keith especially- which is a big deal, when Keith is Alfor’s successor, and while Zarkon broke with the entire team, it was his refusal to listen to Alfor that was the nail in his coffin.

And in s5e3 and s5e6, what’s steadily moving into position to save his bacon from Kuron? It’s not just Lance being the team’s interpersonal Heart as usual- but rather, that Shiro is finally, decisively, opening up and connecting to the person he’s been at odds with from the start.

And while a lot of people take that as a “boo hoo, poor Lance”... it’s really more to Shiro’s detriment than Lance’s. After Shiro and Lance argue, Lance is the one who has multiple people verbally taking his side (Hunk, twice, and Allura personally talking to him about it with her concerns, and Shiro himself apologizing)- while Shiro clearly is falling back on bad habits and withdrawing from the team about his issues.

Because Shiro, in a very catlike manner, starts avoiding people when he’s feeling awful. Which is why I think it’s such an unsung glorious moment when in s5e6, when Lance hasn’t even brought it up again or prompted it- Shiro is the one to bring it up and basically tell Lance to keep looking into this because something’s really wrong.

S5e6 is a glorious day for Shiro’s character because, some time before the car has set on fire, Shiro’s actually rolling down the window and telling someone “hey, the door’s locked and I don’t know where this thing is going, and this is kind of a problem. Can you... get help, please, I’m terrified”

So in that sense, much as I purport to be take it or leave it about clone theory, that’s why I really hope this is the original Shiro at hand... because everything he’s learning here is incredibly good and important for his long term emotional health and I’m pretty sure what we’re gonna get out of Kuron is a strong positive emotional arc for Shiro and Lance.

Shiro’s moving away from being the team’s perfect leader, but that’s nothing to mourn, because instead of a perfect leader he’s becoming an honest, emotionally healthy person who knows he can actually trust his team. And my multiple posts talking about how Shiro really wasn’t that perfect once you take the rose-tinted glasses off isn’t dunking on him or calling him lame-

it’s pointing out that he really wasn’t doing anybody a favor by pretending to be ideal leader. In s1e9 he had a full-tilt panic attack and immediately jumped into realizing Allura was still in danger and they had to act fast to prevent them all from being destroyed- which is fine, except the part where... he didn’t unpack or process any of that afterwards.

Sendak dug up a huge volume of Shiro’s insecurities, trauma, and frankly fear of himself, of the idea of being irreconcilably changed by what the empire did to him. This is a big problem. The implication is on some level Shiro is genuinely not comfortable in his own skin and that... wasn’t the only allusion to it.

S4e4 is basically a whole exercise in the paladins and how they relate to image (and how they really don’t) and with Shiro, the main thing Worm!Coran focuses on is Shiro’s body.

Shiro’s body, that, seemingly, he prefers to keep covered as much as possible given even though he prefers pretty close-fitting attire, he’s also pretty consistently one of the most modestly dressed of the paladins. That, as mentioned, Sendak was able to maliciously play on the fact that Shiro has some lingering anxieties of what was done to it, and that pervades his flashbacks and reactions to his missing year- the repeated implications of medical torture emphasized less by pain (sedatives are frequently shown) and more that things were done to him, that he doesn’t know the extent of, and he was powerless to stop.

And Shiro- perfectionist, anxious about how people see him (s1e6 for example), with these very serious insecurities about bodily autonomy and the aftermath that he’s been living with...

(he has a large facial scar, lost color in part of his hair, and is missing an arm, to say nothing of any other scars he might have that we as an audience haven’t seen, and, personally, his body type to me suggests that he lost weight in prison and his super-defined musculature is less about athletics and more a lack of proper subcutaneous fat)

...has Worm Coran repeatedly telling him to show off his body. The relatively innocuous (before Coran gets brain-wormed) start of it all even has the script make a joke about how Shiro only has one hand, that he gives a “really?” aside look at.

I can’t help but feel like the implication there, when all of the other prompts poke at existing insecurities-

Allura feeling like she’s just an ineffective replacement for the person no longer with the team when she was one of the loudest unhappy voices about him drifting away, Hunk being relegated to his gastrointestinal problems and his genuine quick wit and keen sense of humor ignored, Pidge being ignored because “nobody cares what you’re saying anyway!”, and Lance the actor basically spending the entire time indulging the fake, flashy casanova persona he uses to cover all of his own insecurities

-that there’s something significant that, again, all of s4e4 for Shiro is talking about his body, especially his muscles, which is seemingly another change after the missing year- he doesn’t seem nearly that built in the Garrison pictures, though it could be that he’s just wearing more modest clothing, it’s still very suspicious especially when Haggar’s endeavor was to turn Shiro into her personal fighting machine.

Shiro’s got a huge amount of things that have been quietly eating him from the start, and the good news is, they’re actually starting to bubble to the surface- he’s actually breaking down and talking about them with less and less impetus, which is important, because back in s2e7, Shiro made it clear that his connection with Black, that any ideal connection, needs to be rooted in trust. And while he’s heavily spun that as, he needs to be trustworthy to others...

If Shiro never talks to the team about his problems, no matter how he might spin that as not wanting to burden them or that he’s able to deal with it on his own, he’s not trusting them.

And again, that Lance is seemingly the catalyst for this is amazing to me, because Lance?

Lance is the trust guy. Lance is the feelings guy. Lance is the uncrowned king of literally every thing Shiro has been struggling with the absence of here.

Lance is both the guy who genuinely gets in Shiro’s face when he feels like Shiro isn’t listening to him, but he’s also the guy talking about how Keith needs to trust the Black Lion because Black wouldn’t ask him to do this for no reason (when Black is Shiro’s Lion, and Keith draws many obvious explicit parallels between Shiro’s requesting him to fly Black and Black taking Keith as their replacement paladin).

Lance is the one who tells Allura that Shiro is ultimately not their enemy, that they’re on the same side, and who’s vindicated when Shiro is now clearly working with Lance against Haggar, telling him that something’s wrong and that he doesn’t feel right, hasn’t felt right for a while, which is the last thing Haggar wants Shiro to do.

Lance trusts Shiro, but not blindly. He’s compassionate, but not to the point of self-neglect. He is exactly the head that Shiro needs on his team right now. And that experience is gonna mean a hell of a lot to Lance, as well.

#voltron legendary defender #vld #Shiro #Lance #readmore #guess who's pumped for Shiro and Lance in season 6 #this guyyyyyy #Anonymous

165 notes · View notes

bibleteachingbyolga · 4 years ago

Link

You don’t need to grow up in church to know that murder is a wicked offense. Murder is treated nearly universally as a heinous crime. And it ought to be. God makes plain his hatred of murder the moment it appears in Cain’s slaying of his brother Abel (Genesis 4:8). God legislates death as the appropriate punishment for those who unlawfully put others to death (Genesis 9:6).

Yet for all of our hatred of the murder out there, we can fail to hate the murder in here. But Scripture, and the words of Jesus in particular, will not allow us to hate murder at a safe distance. The sixth commandment, “You shall not murder,” exposes a universal problem and a universal need for forgiveness.

Different Kinds of Killing

The word used for “murder” in Exodus 20:13, Hebrew rasah, denotes the unlawful, premeditated, or immoral killing of another human, while also covering the unintentional causing of human death through carelessness or negligence. Of its forty-seven uses in the Old Testament, this verb is never used to describe killing in war, nor is it thought to apply to slaughtering animals or defending one’s home from invasion.

God’s law differentiated between willful and involuntary killing. Exodus 21:12–14 clearly states that the premeditated murder of another person was deemed worthy of capital punishment (see also Numbers 35:17–21).

The accidental or involuntary causing of another person’s death, however, carried a slightly lighter penalty. Though it was not grounds for the sentence of death, the guilty party was banished to an appointed place (which later God would reveal as cities of refuge, Deuteronomy 19:1–13). This place offered sanctuary from the vengeful relatives of the deceased, but it was also away from home. The banishment often lasted for life because the guilty party would not be released until the death of the high priest (Numbers 35:25, 28).

So while discerning between consequences for different killings can be difficult, we all know it is a great evil to unlawfully take another’s life.

Why God Hates Murder

God shows his hatred for murder the moment it appears in Cain (Genesis 4:8). But why does God hate the act of murder so much? Two reasons stand out in Scripture.

1. The act of murder is an assault on God himself.

After God made a covenant with Noah never to destroy mankind by a flood, he set up a system to protect human life. Any man who unlawfully took the life of another would have his own life taken, “for God made man in his own image” (Genesis 9:6). Here we see how precious and valuable human life is to God. To murder another human being is to murder what is most like God in creation. It is tantamount to an attack on the Creator of all life. This is why abortion is so grievous to God and Christians.

The Bible is clear that human life begins in the womb and not at birth. David declares that we were fearfully and wonderfully made in our mother’s womb (Psalm 139:13). God says to Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you” (Jeremiah 1:5). All human life is precious in the sight of God, and it is evil to think of any human life as disposable — whether the unborn, the elderly, the disabled, or the sick.

2. Murder assumes the authority and right reserved for God alone.

Only God has the right to give life and to take away life (Deuteronomy 32:39; 1 Samuel 2:6). Job declared that life belongs to the Lord to give and to take away (Job 1:21). Consequently, the one who murders another human being is guilty of assuming the right and privilege that is God’s alone. He is guilty of rebellion against God and attempting to put himself in the place of God. In this way, murder is the offspring of the very first sin and breaks the first commandment by having a god (self) before the Lord.

A Sin Not So Easily Escaped

Now, one may say, “Well, I have never — nor will I ever — commit murder!” But two considerations give strong reason to take heed to this command and see it as relevant to all of us.

Carelessness or Neglect

As stated earlier, the Hebrew word employed in the sixth commandment would include causing someone’s death from carelessness or neglect. This command would have instigated a holy fear in the community to strive for caution and prudence in the affairs of life so that no one would be guilty of unintentionally taking someone’s life through recklessness.

There is a reason harsh penalties are given to people who drive under the influence of alcohol. Or consider a carelessness closer to home: texting while driving. We may put others’ lives in danger more often than we assume.

And then there is the issue of negligence. The principle of the watchman of Ezekiel 33 comes to mind. The Lord painted a picture through the prophet Ezekiel of a watchman who was put in position to warn the city of the coming sword against it. If the watchman failed to blow the trumpet and was negligent in his duty, then the blood of the people would be on his hands (Ezekiel 33:7–9).

We can be negligent in failing to warn others of danger or to speak up on behalf of those who are vulnerable and powerless. It is easy to condemn the silence of so many in Germany who did not speak out against the murderous atrocities of the Nazi regime during the Holocaust. But are we equally vocal against the murdering of so many unborn here in our own country? Are we willing to speak up for the marginalized and the oppressed in our own culture?

Anger as Murder

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus challenges his disciples to live according to the standards of the kingdom of God and not the standards of the world or even of the religious establishment around them. He tells them that their righteousness must exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees (Matthew 5:20), who sought merely outward conformity to the law instead of inward transformation of the heart.

Jesus displays this exceeding righteousness by using the refrain, “You have heard that it was said, but I say to you . . .” He is not saying that what was written in the Old Testament is not true. Rather, he is correcting what they heard the Old Testament saying and giving them the correct interpretation of the Scriptures, especially in the light of his coming.

You have heard that it was said to those of old, “You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.” But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, “You fool!” will be liable to the hell of fire. (Matthew 5:21–22)

The world understands that murder is a crime. The religious establishment focused on this outward nature of not murdering anyone. But the standard of the kingdom of God is not merely to avoid the shedding of blood. To be focused on the mere act of murder is to miss the heart of the command.

Jesus insists that it is not enough to not murder someone; we must eradicate hatred from our hearts. Murder is not merely an action without any reference to the character of the murderer. Something more fundamental is at stake here. The sinful anger and wrath that lurked behind the deed itself is blameworthy and will be subject to judgment. John writes, “Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him” (1 John 3:15). The stakes could not be higher.

Repenting of Heart Murder

Do you feel the weight of this? Jesus is saying you are not safe from punishment just because you have not shed blood. If you have harbored anger, contempt, or malice toward someone else, you are guilty. Have you ever wished someone harm or, even worse, wished they were dead? Have you ever rejoiced over someone’s misfortune? Have you ever put someone down in your heart? Then your heart has known murder.

Again, the radical righteousness that Jesus demands is not merely a refraining from outward sin but a transformation of the heart by his love and grace. Our only hope is Christ, who fulfilled all righteousness and offers it to us as a free gift to be received by faith. So what must we do?

1. Confess.

Turn to God and confess the sin of anger. Make no excuses for it. The story of Jonah is instructive.

In Jonah 4, Jonah is angry with God because God didn’t destroy Nineveh. The Lord asks him, “Do you do well to be angry?” (Jonah 4:4). In other words, God is calling Jonah to look at his own life and his own heart. Is his anger justified? Does he not depend on the same mercy from God that God has given to the Ninevites? Does he have the right to decide who receives mercy and who doesn’t?

We too rarely look at our own hearts to see the root of the problem. But it starts here with a confession: I am sinfully angry.

2. Receive the gift of God’s grace in Jesus.

Abel’s blood cried out to God for justice. But Hebrews 12:24 tells us that Jesus’s blood speaks a better word. The blood of Abel speaks a word of condemnation: the murderer deserves death. And we are guilty as charged. We break the sixth commandment with the anger in our heart.

This is why Jesus came. He lived a sinless life, died on the cross for our sins, and rose so that we could have life in him, now and after death. For those who believe in him, the blood of Christ speaks a word of forgiveness and acceptance. By faith, receive this gift of grace!

3. Reconcile specifically.

So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. (Matthew 5:23–24)

Jesus calls for a specific action here toward a specific brother. And notice that it isn’t someone that you are angry with. No, this is someone who is offended by you. You have done something to offend him, and God brings it to your mind. The first act of worship is for you to make it right with him.

God calls us to sensitivity in our relationships with others — not a vague sensitivity to imagined offenses, but rather dealing with real offenses that the Holy Spirit brings to mind against specific people. Seek to reconcile quickly with others. Replace hate and anger with words that give life and bless others.

And when we reconcile, we can go forth and resolve, God helping us, to “let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you” (Ephesians 4:31–32).

0 notes

nyangibun · 8 years ago

Text

GoT S07E05 Thoughts

Fuck me.

This might have been my least favourite episode to date and we had Gendry!!! Okay, in all fairness, it wasn’t a bad episode. There was just one particular conflict that I am not looking forward to seeing continue.

And no, it’s not Jon3rys. I couldn’t give two shits about that right now.

But let’s begin, shall we?

For anyone who still believes Dany to be a good person, I honestly suggest going to an optometrist or retaking high school English because how much more obvious can this show get? I didn’t get to write down her full speech, but following this:

“I’m not here to murder...”

With this:

“Bend the knee and join me or refuse and die”

You’re kind of a hypocrite and a really obvious one at that. War is horrible, I get it, and good people do atrocious things in war, but that’s why we, as modern somewhat enlightened (although questionable) human beings, have war trials. People may die in war, as that is inevitable, but there are certain acts that no decent human should perform even in the midst of war.

I know I’m quoting Wikipedia here, but whatever:

Examples of war crimes include intentionally killing civilians or prisoners, torture, destroying civilian property, taking hostages, perfidy, rape, using child soldiers, pillaging, declaring that no quarter will be given, and serious violations of the principles of distinction and proportionality, such as strategic bombing of civilian populations.

Do you think a man as concerned with portraying war as a clusterfuck of morally grey characters would place an entitled figure with weapons of mass destruction which she uses indiscriminately, who commits war crimes, as the main protagonist? Do you think that is a good conclusion? And this is simply going by this episode and not the mess Dany made in previous seasons.

She had Randyll and Dickon Tarly as her prisoners. There was no need to execute them, or at least no need to execute both of them. If she wanted to make an example, she could do so with Randyll, but fine, let’s concede the fact it had to be done. She burned them. A slow, horrible, agonising death. She could have beheaded them, as was customary in Westeros, but no, she chose to burn them because you know why? She likes it. She’s done it before. Burning her enemies gives her great satisfaction of her power, but also it spreads fear into the hearts of everyone there because she knows it’s the only way to get them to submit.

If she allowed them the third option of becoming a prisoner of war, she knows they’d choose that over her. She even says so to Tyrion, because guess what? The people of Westeros doesn’t like or want Dany as their queen. Cersei may be a Grade A Bitch, but she’s the bitch they know. She doesn’t have dragons to burn those who defy her at her will. Yes, she’s powerful and could still easily execute people at a moment’s notice, but they’ve seen her humiliated and frightfully human when she was made to walk naked in shame through the streets of King’s Landing. She is human and she can fall. To them, Dany wields her power like a god and not the kind they worship out of love but out of fear. What kind of ruler is that?

And let’s talk about execution in general here. We’ve seen a lot of it over the seasons, and what we always come back to as a code of honour and true morality in this grey world is this quote from Mr Honour himself, Ned Stark:

“The man who passes the sentence should swing the sword. If you would take a man's life, you owe it to him to look into his eyes and hear his final words. And if you cannot bear to do that, then perhaps the man does not deserve to die.”

Mr Honour Jr aka Jon Snow lives by this rule like a life motto. If he must sentence a man to die, he will swing the sword himself, and throughout the show, we’ve seen Jon do this and we’ve seen how this weighs upon him, though the culprits may be deserving. Yes, people die in war and Jon has killed on the battlefield for survival, but executing someone is a deliberate act. It’s taking the life of a human while they are powerless to stop you. Jon doesn’t take any pleasure in it.

But Dany... She’s executed people left, right and center. Burning them in the most unnecessarily cruel way because she can and because it instills fear. Feeding them to her dragons which is even worse. That’s not at her hand. That’s cowardly and sadistic.

You know who else rules through fear?

“The only way to keep your people loyal is to make certain they fear you more than they do the enemy.”

Cersei bloody Lannister.

Yeah, let that sink in. And let’s move on.

Jon meeting Drogon. I hated this scene, although I see how it’s important in establishing Jon as a Targaryen. I didn’t like it mostly because I was still reeling Drogon burning the Tarly’s alive, and yet right after, they have Jon bonding with Drogon like some special moment. But do you think Jon would even touch that dragon if he knew the horrors Dany had made Drogon do? Or the fact that she just executed Jon’s best friend’s family in the worst way possible? Yeah, Sam hated his father, but he didn’t hate his brother. And no matter what animosity there was between them, Sam is a good person and he would still be devastated by this. Not to mention we weren’t given all those Dickon scenes where the man acted with honour, kindness and bravery, just to dismiss him as another faceless enemy of Dany’s. He was Sam’s brother and so much like Sam in a way. I think that’s what made his death in spite only knowing him for 2 episodes so heartbreaking. Also, why this meeting between Jon and Drogon made me angry and disgusted.

Of course, it also establishes some Jon3rys bonding, although more so on Dany’s side. Let’s face it, the Dragon Queen wants familial Dragon D. Her heart eyes for Jon throughout this episode was at least 100x more convincing than previous episodes between them. Jon, on the other hand, has moments where he does seem to think Dany is alright, but I still don’t see the same level of affection on his end at all. As always, he has a one-track mind and that’s the war up North.

And I’m sorry but Dany’s attraction towards Jon seems to predicate on her notion that he’s as heroic and powerful as her. I get that he is and that’s a wonderful reason to fall in love with him, but it’s still falling in love with the idea of him and not who he is, because who Jon is, isn’t that person. He doesn’t want to be a hero or to be powerful. I know Show Jon doesn’t go into this, but Book Jon wants a family, to settle in Winterfell and live peacefully and honourably like his pseudo father. But Dany will never know that about him because she doesn’t know him. Take her asking Jon about whether he got a knife to the heart, the wonder and awe in her eyes as she asks him. She wants him to be just like her (or her delusional perception of herself as some kind of prophesised princess that was promised). Jon is who she thinks she is and she’s attracted to that, which is basically some Game of Thrones version of Narcissus. When she realises he’s a Targaryen, she’ll feel threatened more than relieved she’s not alone, because if she thinks he’s her then she’ll think he wants the Iron Throne and he’s a threat to her ambitions.

There’s a reason why after all that Gilly discovers the Rhaegar and Elia annulment (which btw is such bullshit but whatever). Jon has more right to the Iron Throne than she does.

What’s funny about this episode that even Dany’s Second Biggest Fan struggles to support her. Yes, he still will, but that entire conversation he has with Varys just sounds a lot like he’s trying to convince himself that ‘yes, all rulers burn their prisoners like a sadistic pyroqueen, and yes, Dany is so not like her father’. And the fact that her own loyal subjects are questioning her? Yeah, tell me again how she’s a hero.

Now onto the main reason why I hate this episode: StarkBowl. But oh ho, not Jon and Sansa StarkBowl but Sansa and Arya.

I’ve always loved Arya. She was my favourite character for so many seasons, until I fell madly in love with Sansa, although Arya remains in my Number 2 spot. But this episode, I felt such a burning anger towards her. After all they’ve been through, everything Sansa’s endured, Arya would still hold her accountable for the beliefs Sansa held as a young child. She’s changed and grown so much on account of her experiences yet she will not lend her own sister the same courtesy. It pisses me off because what Arya is doing (judging and accusing Sansa of things she didn’t do or for who she was when she was a child) is exactly what Anti-Sansa’s have been doing for years. And her own short-sighted, ignorant inability to grasp that this woman before her is not the same Sansa she once knew has now led her to being manipulated and conned by Littlefinger.

What I can only hope is that Sansa is smarter than Littlefinger. Bran wouldn’t give Arya the dagger if he foresaw Arya using it on Sansa. And I feel like it is so uncharacteristic of Arya, who has longed for so long to be reunited with her pack, to suddenly break down by childish prejudice at the first miscommunication. Sansa is far more cunning than anyone gives her credit for and I feel that this could all be a long orchestrated con on Littlefinger himself. Arya’s not that stupid. I refuse to believe she’s stupid enough to underestimate LF that way and let herself be manipulated so easily. I feel like perhaps that fight between Sansa and Arya was for LF’s benefit because it felt so contrived, so out of nowhere. I know this speculation is also heavily biased by my refusal to believe that the Starks would fight amongst themselves after all they went through, but I do believe that LF will die this season. It won’t be at Sansa’s hand but it will be because of Sansa’s machinations.

Now, onto Gendry!!!!!

The happiest part about this hell episode because fuck, he’s so hot still. That cropped hair, those muscles, that smile... Yeah, swoon. He’s also hilariously bullheaded (very like a Baratheon) when he ignores Davos, hits those soldiers with his hammer and immediately tells Jon who he is.

In fact, there was this instant spark of chemistry between Gendry and Jon in their first meeting.

“You’re a lot leaner.”

“You’re a lot shorter.”

The gentle ribbing of two strangers is adorable, but it also reminds me of Ned and Robert’s first scene together:

"Your Grace.” "You’ve got fat.”

Now the parallels of Jon as Ned is nothing we haven’t seen before. Gendry as Robert is newer, and Jon and Gendry together as Ned and Robert is so satisfying to watch. It also makes me, a trash shipper, so happy because you know if Jon is being paralleled as Ned in this episode, you know who is being paralleled as Cat?

Yes, that’s right. Strong, confident Sansa, who was called only Lady Stark in the Great Hall meeting.

I know I’m crazy but I’m still not worried about Jonsa. That scene in the Great Hall just kept making me think of Sansa as Penelope. She’s there holding onto Winterfell for Jon’s return as he gallivants off on his many missions and overcomes his many trials. She’s there, always loyal and true to him, and maintains his kingdom for him.

Boatbang may happen (likely), but Odysseus also slept with Calypso, before ultimately returning to his lady love. I believe the same will happen for Jonsa.

Also, who thinks Cersei’s not actually pregnant? I think she’s beginning to question Jaime’s loyalty and needs to firmly hold him in place. And I think when he finds out she’s not after all he’s done for, all the sinful things he did, it might make him plunge that sword into her heart prophecy-style. Or not a sword. I don’t know.

But that’s it for me. My head hurts. My heart hurts. And I maintain that I hate this episode because fuck StarkBowl. And fuck disrespecting Sansa like that.

#game of thrones #jonsa #anti-jonerys #anti-daenerys #asoiaf #got s7 #spoilers #game of thrones s7 #got s7 thoughts #got recap #got review #got meta #long post #anti jonerys

1K notes · View notes