#compared to that people were barely interested in the previous act

[marchessa]

I make a separate post just to separate things

Because I ramble

[give-some-lemons]

“Accidents happen”

Pregnancy headcanons with Silco

Tags: pregnancy; unplanned pregnancy; older man/younger woman; topside reader.

~ when you first met him it was an interesting and pleasant surprise for you to finally see how the famous and so fearful Eye of Zaun looked like. A man who aged like the most expensive wine from your family’s collection with a sharp features, a few grey strands in his hair and, of course, a red eye, which you could compare to a comet drifting in a night sky.

~ everything about him was nothing like you expected it to be — his clothes, behavior, manner of speaking was more similar to a topside one and that… intrigued. A man who hates Piltover and its citizens but wants to live and look like them? You let an evil chuckle out, while he pressed his scarred lips to the back of your hand.

~ for him you were an exotic exemplar, a topside aristocrat who’s father was probably his age, but despite that fact you were still showing interest in him, keeping your sight on his face and body much longer than etiquette allows, saying ambiguous things that a young lady of your status should not even think about, trying to get under his skin.

~ at the late nights he dreamed about those gaze looking at him from the bottom up, those lips on the most intimate parts of his body and this silk hair in his hand while he guides you in a way he needs the most. You were driving him insane, leaving him without any thought except the sinful ones where lust was completely taking control of him

~ it was only a couple of nights between two of you, when your fingers that ran along his shoulder or chest was turning a peaceful evening into an act of passion and pleasures. When his previous meeting was so unsuccessful that the next second you walked in his office you were finding yourself on his desk with his lips on the soft skin of your neck. When you felt an arousal blooming in your lower abdomen just because of the way his fingers moved through his hair or loosening his tie.

~ you loved teasing him especially in the most inappropriate places like his office, filled with people who came for business reasons, and then watch how he slowly succumbs to his lustful desires, making every possible effort for the meeting to be over as quickly as possible. After his partners left the room, you were literally thrown onto a nearby sofa with his slender posture looming over you and his teeth biting into the softness of your skin.

~ after some time, there were certain signals that you wished to ignore: weakness throughout your body, feelings of nausea at the most inconvenient times of the day and mild, barely noticeable pains in the lower abdomen. You were scared, more to say terrified by the fact that a tiny life was already growing inside of you.

~ sitting in his office and discussing another topic, related to your family business you could feel his hand caressing and squeezing your thigh wanting nothing more than to take you right there, leaving all of the stress he had during the day behind and forgetting himself in the softness of your skin. That’s exactly the time when you tell him about the consequences of your passionate nights that already came to life.

~ at first he freezes, studying you with his piercing gaze, most likely searching for any signs of deceit or the most terrible joke he's ever heard in his life. Covered with a mask of indifference, that he mastered for a lot of years deep inside he’s shocked, in the greatest disbelief that it’s even possible in his age. Only when the man lightened a cigarette and inhaled the soothing smoke into his lungs, he broke a heavy silence with his hoarse voice.

— Are… you sure?

A young woman in front of him sighs slightly raising her eyebrows in annoyance, as she always did.

— I called a doctor this morning, how do you think?

An older man emits another puff of smoke with a dark chuckle. Raising a child he doesn’t even wanted with a woman he had in his bed a few times was not something he planned to, especially knowing how hard it is. He already has a kid, a stubborn young woman who he loves with all his heart and he really wishes to just shrug, leaving aristocrat at fate’s will along with his seed growing inside of her, but he hesitates for a split of second.

— What are you planning to do?

She nervously purses her lips into a thin line trying her best not to lose her face, her confidence before him even tho a man can tell the truth just by how her body language changed. She was frightened. An heir of a noble family, an arrogant piltie and a young girl who’s future was brighter than the sky over her head is now sitting with a head of the biggest criminal organization, who probably was suitable for her as a father discussing his child in her belly.

— I’ll keep it.

Of course, what else she could say now, when there’s not so much options left for her. Deep down she probably knows the answer to her own question — he will not help, she’s on her own now and it feels as if the whole world had fallen with an unbearable weight on her shoulders.

— I’ll take care of everything you’ll need.

She finally raised her gaze to the man across from her after a long starring at a smoldering ashes in a bright painted ashtray. Despite that her face didn’t show any emotion her heart skipped a beat fulfilling chest with warmth.

~ in the next days he already was in your family’s mansion talking with your parents about your current situation and you could see that judging look on their faces, mentally returning in those times when you was a little guilty kid who broke something or get a complaint from your teacher. At first they even tried to completely ignore your whole existence without saying a word or giving any glance at your side, but it seems like over time they reconciled with the idea that in a short amount of time they’ll become grandparents.

~ you both reach an agreement that you better to stay in Piltover, to not let rumors spread all over the undercity and to interfere his enemies to use you in their hatred and plans about him. That was the motive of why you needed to stop paying him visits no matter of the purpose. You stayed in your family mansion with his loyal people almost always keeping an eye on you and ensuring that your wishes and orders are fulfilled.

~ even tho he cannot be with you by obvious reasons during your hard times he regularly visits you to make sure that you’re doing well often fulfilling whims of his dear girl and the tiny creature, that develops inside of her. But mostly first one, massaging slightly swollen areas of your body, talking you through nausea and frequent dizziness in your head and, of course, spoiling you. Anything that slips through your conversation be it some kind of jewelry, hobby or food you can later found delivered right to your room with a beautifully written note that makes a smile on your face bloom leaving cheeks painted pink.

~ despite the fact that he doesn’t show it he really cares for your child and you can tell it by his hand that sometimes rests on your belly and suggestions about how it would be better for the baby to listen to your voice or music even if it didn’t form into an embryo yet. Also was the one who insisted on a complete change in your diet consuming more plant foods and animal protein even if you struggle with one of it he’ll make sure you eat it.

~ secretly he wants and honestly waits for another girl, thinking about how Jinx will take care of her younger sister, protecting and spending time together, even tho he’s a little bit afraid of her influence. In the end one hyperactive kid who likes to get into troubles is enough for him. But he hopes that mostly you’ll be the one to frequent with a child at least because he’s too busy and, for his own taste, too old to mess around with a noisy little creature who needs to be watched all the time.

~ when the childbirth finally comes he’s informed immediately after the water broke, by your maid, a woman who had worked for him for lots of years and as soon as this man is free from his duties as the ruler of the whole city he’ll rush to you to be by your side during the parturition. He probably will not be allowed to come near you so he would just sit there waiting for your pain and screams of suffering to be over as soon as possible.

~ holding a little boy on his hands he feels range of emotions while the child surprisingly calmly looks at him studying with its curious blue ocean eyes, just like his own. As if for a split second the whole world had shrunk, leaving no one in it except him and this little one just to observe, figure out how exactly to feel about each other: fear, concern… love? But after a moment passed he was already standing there, holding the small, fragile creature closer to his chest.

~ despite him not loving you in a conventional way, it seems like he developed really warm feelings towards you as one of his closest people, the one whom he values. You were his business partner, a mother of his child who mostly had the same goals as he — protect his son for any cost and give anything to raise him properly, as a person he himself could never be on the streets of his city. Sometimes, while sharing so rare and precious moments of your child peacefully sleeping together, you’d understand him better often comforting him even if he didn’t ask for it, while your head rests on his shoulder or your fingers find his.

~ it took a lot of efforts, mostly from your parents’ side, to finally arrange the marriage appealing on the fact that many people, including other prominent families that was respected by yours, won’t accept this child as an heir without an official confirmation. Through his discontent, annoyed sights and frowning eyebrows he ended up signing all the required papers making you his dear wife, as he often called you. And although it did not give any benefits to either you or him, many from the Council and Chem barons wanted to find leverage and establish control over the other side, but so far without any success.

Few years later

Man was sitting in his office overwhelmed with a pile of papers on his desk and a boy on his lap, who was drawing something in his own notebook which cover was painted and signed with his name with his favorite crayons. Pink and blue. Of course, following his sister in every way possible, but at least his fears were in vain. Even tho boy wanted to imitate his older sibling in many things he was calmer and much more sensible than many children his age, probably thanking to his father’s genetics and education, but it didn’t mean that sometimes he wasn’t capricious just like his mother.

— When will mom return? — the boy asked raising his big-eyed gaze to man’s face.

He sighed on this question. His dear wife was attending a meeting which was related to the family business, now fully belonged to her after her parents’ retirement. As was planned from the very beginning she was the one who took care of their child, sometimes resorting to Jinx’ help who was more than happy to assist. She perceived the girl, who was supposed to be her stepmother as a close friend, often visiting mansion and lingering there for a long time hanging around with her, to his own astonishment and relief.

— I don’t know. — man answers honestly. — Why? You don’t like it here?

Kid continued to stare at his father whom he looked so much like, with his dark hair and light blue eyes, looked at everyone around them inquiringly and at the same time warily. After some time spend with his older parent he even started to emulate man’s behavior and expression, ordering around to a bunch of his nannies which left his mother in touching awe. His blood, his heir who, as he sincerely hopes, will never see his people, people of Zaun in poverty, the one for whom he and his darling partner have to work even harder to achieve their common goals before these child’s eyes could see a cruelty of this two-faced world.

— I like being with you and mom.

He felt his heart melting from such a simple words of his child, this innocent little one who loved him with all heart. Smiling, he leaned over to boy’s forehead leaving a kiss and pulling him closer to his chest. His little family, people for whom he could easily give his life away if he’d need to, who cared for him no matter what, that’s something definitely worth fighting for.

[eccentrcks]

I'm not afraid of you now I'm not afraid of you now villain and violent infant and innocent baby both arms cradle you now I'm not afraid of you now. - "Forwards Beckon Rebound" by Adrienne Lenker.

"Russell Adler, I've been expecting you." He hears her cold voice, thickened with disdain and perhaps resentment, which was ironic that he should be displaying such... dislike towards her instead of the way around for giving him so many emotional scars than his time in Vietnam had given him. "I see we bear similar scars now," Marlene, the little terror who's been a painful thorn to his side, simply sat in front of him on some wooden stool as she nodded at his neck.

Just the opposite sides, kid...

"I wasn't expecting a warm welcome, but..." He stated blankly and tried readjusting his restraints. "I would've expected to be somewhere more reclusive... instead of the same room you entrapped me."

"Don't worry, this isn't my safe house. It's just... temporary." Those empty brown eyes of hers bore into his cold blue ones. His sunglasses remained on the creaky wooden floor. "So, I just removed the tracker from your pocket what you intended to put into me and put it in some fishing shop into fish bait. That's gonna be an interesting trip for your little jarheads." She chuckled dryly and played with the sharp edges of the silver blade.

"You never intended to kill me." He broke the silence after a moment of Marlene staring at him. As if she was inspecting the insect caught in a harmless trap.

"Why should I? Getting rid of you doesn't really benefit me," She leaned forward with her knife, the point end flipping to downwards with the handle in her grip. "You're just an CIA officer with not much value for me. Just one of those... potential casualties. I'd rather just let your job do it for me. I learnt a lot from my mother and the organization that taken me in."

"Astraea."

Marlene just stared at him and an unsettling smile dipped onto her features. "Of course, did you know that mercy isn't always a good thing? Especially the one receiving it? That's the lesson I learnt as a child and relearnt it the year after we first met. So, sparing you wasn't an act of kindness. Otherwise, it would've been nothing more a waste of my time." She reached over to fix his hair and paused to grip the scalp. "It's something you should consider learning for yourself."

Adler almost wants to laugh at that and not out of genuineness. More like sarcastically. It made him think these people were creating a merciless killer more than some obedient soldier, he doesn't really want to know if her mother was worst or not.

Marlene Monroe obviously knows what she is doing, and of course, he'll immediately believe she grew up like an seasoned field operator. What kind of mother teaches their child to be a soldier and to withstand torture in a long capacity? And Adler once believed he could've controlled her like he did with Bell a year ago.

He would've been easily compromised like now.

She let go of his scalp and went back to fiddling with the knife in her hands. "My time with them... made me realized we're not so different each other, although there was one difference that stood out. I had more freedom... and then when they took me in by force, it wasn't long before I felt true isolation. You and my previous interrogators in the past made me feel like I had an opportunity to leave the black hole before, but with them..." Marlene slowly leaned in again. "It was like there was no hope for me at all. Just absolute no way out until they just put you to better use. Nothing can make you feel that way compared to their ways."

Adler stayed still and barely budged from her intense gaze. "So the next time we meet and we will... perhaps I can show you what hell is truly like. It's nothing compared to your little MKUltra methods and all. Then maybe... maybe we'll see that little facade of yours break. Soldiers like you break eventually. They always do." She nodded with a little hum and lightly tapped his chin with the end of her knife.

"What happened to going home?" He had to ask since the last time he'd seen her, she was determine to do Astraea's dirty work in exchange to going home. Yet she was still here, continuing to be the war criminal he's hunting down.

Marlene tapped the knife on her own chin and looked thoughtful before rolling her shoulders. "There's nothing for me to go back to. You'll know the feeling of being seen as an actual villain someday, Russell Adler. Trust me, there's no worser feeling than your loved ones seeing you as the bad guy and eventually becoming one." She stood up from her seat towards a silver briefcase to unlock it.

"Now, I have very important matters to attend to than to entertain you and your whack jobs. So... until then, Russell Adler." Marlene finished before putting on a respirator and some little canister inside released gas. "Nighty night." Those empty brown eyes intently stared straight at his face to watch the drug take effect on him.

Adler felt his vision blurring and breathing became heavier. Little dots that slowly turned bigger filled his vision and it wasn't long before he completely blacked out.

Until then...

-

a.n: Beautiful artwork goes to the lovely @sleepyconfusedpotato and on my god, I loved this piece so much! This is more of a concept on how Adler tries to reach and confront the rotting apple of his eye who gave him fresh scars as she explains how she was taught and etc while he was restrained. This wasn't proofread either, so I apologize for any bad grammar detected.

[aeternallis]

One of the many things about Kim that sticks out to me in the show is the fact that he's not actually introduced to the audience as the love interest for Chay right away. Like, it wasn't a full introduction like how we see with Kinn or Vegas, where we were able to see their faces and some semblance of their personalities off the bat, yknow?

Nah, Kim was introduced in parts: first as a random name drop Pete says in passing when he's explaining who the three brothers are, then as a silhouette, then as WIK, then the reveal that WIK and Kim are the same person.

The audience is introduced to him in "proper" order; we get an idea of how most people probably see him (somewhat as an afterthought, but considered Not As Normal as Kinn, haha), all the way to how his own family treats him: Korn acts fatherly enough, but is suspicious of him. Tankhun is at ease with him and wants him to move back home, and Kinn sometimes forget he has a younger brother because of his absence.

I've mentioned before in a previous rant that it's actually much easier for the audience to see how Kim fell in love with Chay, rather than the other way around, but now I can't help but also ask myself:

I wonder why it is that BOC decided to show more of Kim regarding who he truly is (at the very least, as a member of the mafia) to the audience, rather than to his love interest?

Why did Chay get to see more of WIK, but the audience saw more of Kim? One would think it should perhaps be the other way around, right? Is the audience supposed to see Chay as some sort of vessel to self-insert themselves into?? Lol

And before I go any further, I’m not saying that what Chay saw of Kim was entirely false. Not at all. It’s not as if Kim wasn’t genuine when he was with Chay; at least when it came to his enjoyment of spending time with Chay, for the most part, he probably was—if the Polaroids were anything to go by.

And yet, we barely see them together during the Polaroids Era, as I call it. What Chay sees of Kim during their time together is purposefully kept elusive, from both Porsche and the audience.

And when Chay confronted him in front of his apartment, what we see of Kim isn’t entirely correct from either the audience’s perspective, or Chay’s. We know Kim has felt some measure of guilt in keeping the truth from Chay, we see it multiple times in the show.

And yet, despite that confrontation, Kim still keeps the facade on—he doesn’t admit his guilt, but rather creates the narrative that he never cared at all. For the audience, this shouldn’t come as too much of a shock, as we know Kim is capable of lying on the spur of the moment.

But Chay isn’t aware of that, not until Tankhun unintentionally gives Kim's deception away, in any case.

Getting back to the original question, however: why is Kim shown more of who he truly is to the audience, more so than to Chay? Why is Chay's perception of who Kim is (at least 3/4 of the way into the story) so different from the audience's own?

And I would answer that as: the audience knows more of who Kim is, in order to demonstrate how he stands on equal footing with Kinn and Vegas.

When you compare Kim to Kinn and Vegas, it's not obvious right away as to what makes Kim dangerous. Kinn is dangerous, because of his distrust of most people around him and all that that entails, as well as his position within the mafia itself as the heir; we see this throughout the majority of the first half of the show through Porsche's eyes. Vegas is dangerous, because of his capriciousness, his willingness to do anything to further the agenda of his father, his own, and the Minor family.

But what about Kim?

Kim is dangerous, because of his natural ease with committing deception—but more than that, the extent to which he can keep the lies going, how difficult it can be to understand his intentions because of that. That is what makes him stand on an even pedestal along with Kinn and Vegas. Not only is Kim introduced to the audience and to Chay in parts, even what he's capable of is also shown in bits and pieces; it's no accident that Kim's fighting ability and preferences for combat isn't shown until literally the last episode.

And even when he wasn't necessarily trying to hide from Chay, it's astounding that even the simple act of him walking away as soon as he was done killing off the goons in the bar, is yet another lie he imposes on Chay. How is that a lie, one might ask?

In the end, Chay is not aware of who killed those goons and who protected him.

See what I mean? XD Kim is a natural liar, even all the way to the end! LOL Sure, we can argue that Chay would have probably figured it out on his own down the line, but at the end of the day, that's not what's shown in the aftermath of that fight.

While I would argue that Kim is no strategist, he is a good liar, if nothing else. In fact, I would even go so far as to say that Kim is the epitome of a wolf in sheep's clothing in KPTS, and I will stand on that hill 'til my dying breath!

I used to think I would have loved to have seen more of the Polaroid era in the hopes of having gotten more Kimchay scenes, but now—I've changed my mind~ I'm actually quite satisfied that they didn't show us! I'm happy they didn't—because it allows for Kim's character and the audience's impression of him within the world of the mafia—to stand stronger, to really drive home the fact that he's not one to be underestimated, that no matter his gentleness to Chay, his love for Chay, Kim is a product of his environment—of the mafia.

And what perfect way to show that, other than by showing the audience more of the truth, rather than what Chay knows in the show.

[inherlight]

Zemali / Lore / Blissful but Frail

Except for their hardened limbs and heads, Zemali are really fragile and cautious people. They live, move and think slower because their bodies can’t endure too much prolonged pressure and stress that are normal for sistren of other Tribes. Even internal bodily fluids are slow and thick.

Zemali bodies are synthesis of flesh and fungal trama – puffy parts are lightweight and squishy-soft on touch; thick skin isn’t very elastic and can be easily damaged physically (much less thermally), smooth, covered in very short and soft trichomes and weakly fluorescence; skeletal structure in their torsos is mostly made of something similar to cartilage rather than bones; even nociceptors are simplistic, to reduce plausible discomfort or pain. Muscles are stiff and tight but easy to grow and hard to lose mass (though Zemali stay relatively weak compared to other tribes), moreover their bodies are very low on any kind of fats. On a good side they have really strong immune system, and not many common viruses or parasites are interested in Zemali, as well wild animals and most of insects ignore them, which is attributed to calming earthy-tomatoe odor; they hardly susceptible to long-term low-level emissions and many toxins; can rapidly regenerate tissues in response to injury. It seems like Zemali are also never in danger of starvation: during primal aridification and consecutive famine decades Zemali were falling into hibernation, surviving for years without food, yet barely active even to think and realize when famine season ends.

Being closer to trees not just visually, but mentally too, Zemali incline to have eidetic memory and strict circadian rhythm. For unhurried nature they never had adventurous spirit, and for their vulnerabilities – they are still least dangerous warriors. They are neither in a daily chase for personal glory, nor seek great life goals to attain. Zemali take pleasure in humble life of tranquility and familiarity.

Very polite and benignant, they can easily take offense as small as at improper language, but will keep genial composure even with people they greatly hate. No matter what others do – Zemali are gentle and benevolent towards them. For aggressive tribes thy look like cowards – easily forgive old enemies, very few of them have any desires to experience anything extremal, and in general act overly-pacifistic. As Aspect of Grace teaches, Zemali too feel pity for criminals and traitors: not in desire to forgive them, but because they can’t be forgiven anymore and deserve punishment, though even more pity is shown to sistren who now must deliver these punishments.

However this fragile state don’t last forever. A process similar to transdifferentiation happens when Zemali reach elderhood: skin and bones get harder, muscles – denser; they grow bigger and heavier; mindset become belligerent, cruel and competitive. Such Elders can’t be considered weak even by standards of other tribes. Today, as the result of an all-directional progress and social stability in Meority, Zemali can live safer and therefore longer than in previous generations, thus much more of them surviving until becoming Elders. There is no strict limit on how much Zemali can grow, but eventually their bodies shut down when even Elder’s powerful immune system can’t maintain vastly progressing internal malfunctions.

Zemali don’t bury nor treat bodies of deceased with funeral rites like other tribes do, partially because decay of their flesh is odorless and drying: deceased just laid open on the ground deep in forests, head against a tree foot, to feed its growth. As a result you should be wary that some thickets you see from afar might be Zemali Cemetery Forests.

***

Elderhood of course is not the first time in Zemali’s life when they transform: when born, their leaflings look like cute leafy four-legged caterpillars. After a few months of proper feeding little body overgrow with even more leaves which start to glue to each other, forming a cocoon. Inside that cocoon for another month, through metamorphosis, little Zemali grow proper bones, limbs and heads, until old leaves fall off.

More than a half of Zemali are under condition of vocal cords being either dysfunction or don’t exist at all, but those who still can speak are perceived by sistren tribes as monotone and plane. Because Zemali learn sign and hip language first, it is now used in their culture more often than spoken language even by kin without vocal disabilities. Zemali are in general not fond of noise (and big artificial lights), so almost all of them live away from big cities and rely less on recent flashy technologies.

Zemali Biology is heavily affected by surrounding environment and growth conditions during childhood. That, horn shape and color of leaf-hair depends on a biome where Zemali grew up, as well as developed tolerance to local climate, while adults can show only slight changes in coloration after decades. Peak height as well affected by childhood’s local environment, but even more by a balance of hydration and nutrition level relatively to that environment during growth.

Surprisingly, Zemali prefer raw animal meat and insects in their died, but even more they enjoy… fish… likewise they savor for a cup of fresh animal blood instead of juice. Most of plant-based food tastes bland, they say, unless fried almost to the black. Though any heavily burned meal is appealing to Zemali tastes, its funny that they dislike fire.

Talking about fire: as all true children of Meora should, Zemali retain artistic love for gorgeous bodies and erotic poses, but sex drive is very low among them – Zemali view it only as a reproduction purpose rather than physical pleasure; yet experience of romantic love is in high regard, and mating ritual possesses great importance for them, providing mental enjoyment from the fact of doing rather than physical sensation.

***

Before Paleolithicc period begun and even First Settlements were drowned in the Sea of Birth, most of Zemali ancestors, together with the Giants, migrated to a southern Thigh region of Her Gorgeousness, more fertile and stable lands where Crumbling was less common or stressful. There they were able to save knowledge of agriculture given to us by Meora, long enough for it to survive first Crumblings, and later be perfected with a help of sistren tribes. However, for being soft in mind and body, after the Giants left to yet Cursed Islands, villages of Zemali would be very often invaded, plundered and conquered during primal wars and in continuous centuries, though during Hegemony reign Zemali were the only subdued Tribe who had at least some peace, which is ascribed to the fact that [REDACTED] didn’t even consider Zemali as living beings and therefore had no interest in their suffering as long as they kept plowing on fields and feed their Empire.

Although Zemali population now spread and live in every region of Her Gorgeousness, thousands of years later many descendants of first migrants still inhabit Thigh region, spiritually inrooted here and never thinking of leaving ancestral home. Massive farmlands and orchard of The Empire of Hips and Thighs belong to many houses of Zemali, for they are the ones who heed to needs of plants and earth unrivaled. Zemali fingers can perceive chemicals produced by vegetation – a sense through which they understand current condition of plants they care about, while feet can perceive soil amenities. Through this comprehensions Zemali can aid trees and crops with natural means in precise ways, or find better fields for young plants, hence achieving greater harvest than that by agriculturalist of other tribes. Although help of sistren tribes is still required to efficiently gather results of this work. After which Zemali assemble for Feasts of Harvest and holy celebrations they do in the name of food and fertility, always welcoming outsiders to join. They don’t speak nor laugh there of course, but soft music and reveling sounds are present. Often Zemali houses celebrate together under the nearest Temple of Fertility, where remains of previous Angels of Grace are sheltered, and on some marvelous days anew Angels of Grace would join to contemplate results of previous lives.

Because of these abilities Zemali regularly assist Remedy Forces even if not blessed with the Gift of Creation. Some are actively assigned around the Crus, where they help to heal and pacify wild vegetation of Her Plagued Wound, bringing closer a day when the Infernal Malady will be extinguished and Allmother will stop suffering pain from this ancient bite.

[blackghostm2o]

I was reading the Hays code out of curiosity and it made me think of why PotO ‘43 and ‘62 aren’t really compelling adaptations.

Let’s look at this excerpt:

“That evil is not presented alluringly. Even if later on the evil is condemned or punished, it must not be allowed to appear so attractive that the emotions are drawn to desire or approve”

“evil and good are never confused and that evil is always recognized clearly as evil.”

“That in the end the audience feels that evil is wrong and good is right.”

Now let’s take these 2 Phantoms in consideration (both of them become the phantom because of some acid got on their faces: in ‘62 an accident while committing arson, in ‘43 they throw it at him after he murdered someone):

The ‘62 one (Prof Petrie) is the more ‘gentle’ of the two: he acted “evil”, but he wasn’t the one making the killings (a mute was)

The ‘43 one (Enrique Claudin) went on a murder spree (consider that during the movie he killed more people than ALW!Phantom during the musical).

Both of them get punished (showing how evil is wrong and recognising evil as such), but with a difference:

- Petrie got killed in a self sacrificing act to save Christine (was this here name here? Maybe Maria?… Idk). The chandelier was falling on Christine (let’s call her like that) and he shoved her away getting crushed by it. So maybe this man was not completely bad (remember that he doesn’t kill here).

- Enrique Claudin gets crushed when the cellar crumbles on itself, while the 2 heroes and the damsel in distress run away. No redemption and a pretty horrible way to die (they recognise his musical genius tho, iirc).

You could argue that Petrie got his redemption, like Lerik did, but the thing is that they made him “more chill” (notice how slapping Christine was not a really big deal here), because otherwise they wouldn’t have been able to redeem him, his actions would’ve been too heinous to do that.

Now bear with me a little… Ik that PotO 1925 was pre-code (it has started being seriously enforced in 1934), but the Erik shown there (a demented criminal, who killed multiple people) got an ending that is very in line with these policies. Was it because the test audience were probably people like the ones who made the code? Maybe some higher ups of Universal or other influential people who had to ‘uphold morality’ etc ? Idk, but it makes me wonder.

Now… The alluring part… The musical surely shows that (maybe the novel on a lesser extent), here is totally absent:

- On ‘62 there’s no element of love between the Phantom and ‘Christine’, no romantic triangle (one of the key elements of the story they were adapting) and the Phantom is such a jerk to Christine, full on slapping her when singing like shit etc…

- On ‘43 he’s just plain creepy (ik that you could say that Lerik is creepy too, but this has a different vibe, especially considering that Claudin was living normally before the acid) and his interest for Christine are barely elaborated on. On ‘43 you could also argue that the multiple changes to the story didn’t help.

Maybe the restrictions of the code made these 2 adaptations fall flat compared to others.

(This doesn’t really have anything to do with the previous stuff that I said, but I want to point it out)

In the Hays code they were making sure to cancel every instance of sexual freedom, or, for example, having something like an independent and strong woman; this makes me think about the ‘43 ending. In PotO ‘43 Christine decides to pursue her career, Anatole and Raoul decide to go out for dinner together arm in arm.

Was it a way to safely (during the film they mostly have the typical male/female roles and this is at the very end) stretch the boundaries of the code (being a bit against the whole family and woman/men roles thing)? Or was it just for the shits and giggles? The same 2 questions go for the relationship between the two men throughout the whole movie.

Idk… Just wondering

[parkminijiminie]

First of all, welcome back!!! I missed you so much!! Your blog is a gem!!! -and are you gonna be back permanently or are you taking another break? Second of all, I haven’t watched the travel show but I saw a lot of clips and honestly, they just seem like friends. Yeah there is some moments where you’re like wow wtf is going on here but if u look at it from a different lense, it seems like friends enjoying time together because of them were busy with their own lives. I also didn’t expect jungkook’s personality to be like that. Obviously idk him in real life so I can’t really know how he acts in real life but idk he just seems weird? But I don’t think there is anything between them. Most jikookers were excited for this how because it was gonna prove that they are in a relationship but honestly they are just grasping at straws at this point, and so am I guess. All the big fandoms had band members ships like on direction and many kpop fandoms ship two members on the group too like winter and Karina from aespa although she was dating that actor💀 and finally I would just like to say that jk was hanging out with tae more than jimin although I think that jk’s friendship with tar isn’t really anything special except for bros having fun but yeah, seems weird. Sorry my thoughts are all over the place lol.

Hi! I am sort of back. I lurk around and react when I have the need to discuss smth with other people. Otherwise, I just long on and read what other people are saying. I think I will never be active full time because I simply don't have the time, but I love this space a lot, so I'll never really leave either.

To me, JM and JK look so far as people who were once a romantic item but no longer are, but remained in each other's lives just more distantly. The whole show looks to me like them, trying to deepen their bond and friendship again. I think during the time the US episodes were filmed, they were both single and probably spending the most 1:1 time for months, so some of their usual old tendencies resurfaced, like old habits. I am very curious to see the other episodes. I know lots of people are waiting for the show to give answers about the nature of Jikook's relationship, but I don't think we will get them but we could at least maybe see that made them enlist together after barely spending time alone in the beginning of the year.

JK definitely spent a lot more time with Tae in 2023 compared to previous years, but I don't think their relationship is especially deep. They're buddies and share similar interests. They were also free at similar times, but I'm not sure there is any deep emotional connection there. The fact that JK called Tae definitely surprised me, but then we all saw how rudely JK hung up on him. I'm finding it hard to say where JK's head was in the first half of 2023, and I sort of can't really connect to JK of Jan-July 2023 like I did in the past. It seems to me he was very determined to be this cool, successful man at that time. It's also interesting that JM didn't spend time with neither him nor Tae up until July last year. That's also unusual.

Shipping aside, these two episodes really made me appreciate JM even more. I've always known how gracious and sweet he is, but he was such a good sport even when very sick, so appreciative, mature, yet fun and light and emotionally present. My standards when it comes to him are always high, and he somehow always manages to surpass them. I think he would be a great influence on anyone, and he especially well balances JK. It's sort of sad how I am already seeing people using JK's words to attack JM when Jimin was such a supportive friend for JK during this whole trip. I appreciate JK saying he is "obviously grateful" that Jimin came. Maybe he already had told that to JM many times, but it was important for the audience to hear it as well, considering how JM gets hate for "forcing JK to go on the trip" 🙄

[wiltking]

finished my ARC of Reclaimed by seth haddon. full official review under the cut if you're curious but tldr; that was a rough one.

enjoyed the intro and setup and concept, and Saba's sopping wet misery for the most part. but most of my experience was considering whether or not I should DNF once the romance got started, side characters were introduced, and the plot spun apart. and even though the trans focus was the most interesting part of the book for me i cant recommend it on that alone, because Saba's self loathing is pretty miserable for 90% of the book, and there were some glaring inconsistencies... with his own inconsistencies.

At first, this had all the makings of a 4 or 5 star book. There was so much going on in the beginning that struck so many of my personal interests. I liked the story setup: both the gravity of the situation and Saba's conflicting emotions regarding it, especially his 'selfish' motivation that lead to the catastrophe at the heart of the book. I will go to bat for messy transgender characters any day of the week, and throughout the book Saba's inner turmoil regarding his body, sense of self, and his drive to change his body at the expense of everyone and anything else -- all tied up with his guilt, anger, grief and ambition -- was my favorite element by far. Even when it was painful and depressing to see him struggle with his body as a trans reader myself. His motivation was a great catalyst for the story and I was very interested in the mystery/investigation vibe the book opened with. And of course the size difference between him and the love interest was an immediate draw as well.

However. Despite Saba and Zek being interesting characters on their own, their romance struggled to captivate me. Which is hard to say, because they had some genuinely good moments throughout the book. But too many scenes came off as the author nudging them together rather than it feeling like an organic connection between the characters themselves. And too much of it felt rather juvenile, given the circumstances and the heavy tone introduced from the beginning, and the stakes at play.

For the remaining 2/3rds I frequently considered DNFing due to this loss of interest in the romance, but also because the plot itself lost its edge, with pacing and plot decisions that felt awkward, and even inconsistencies in the writing itself (one example: where characters were described as climbing out of a gig only to be inexplicably seated in it again a few pages later).

There were also several pet peeves prevalent: from an overabundance of winking, to numerous side characters acting way too invested in Saba and Zek's relationship, even when they were barely witness to it or weren't exactly friends to either of them. As well as the casual and frequent use of the word 'slut' to describe Saba's pretty normal feelings of desire. Which brings me into another issue regarding Saba's past experiences with sex, which is only briefly described towards the end of the book and really threw me for a loop, because of how casual his sex life apparently has been up to this point when so much of his anxiety is rooted around his body and how others gender it under every circumstance. Anxiety around sex and intimacy is a real and complex thing among some trans people, but his past experiences felt wildly overlooked and dissonant compared to where we meet him as a reader. I would have liked more insight into how he overcame these anxieties with previous encounters when his anxiety has such a major grip over him through the course of this book. Especially when it seems (by implication) he might've been having sex early in his transition, or even before it. It was either a missed opportunity to add further depth to Saba's complex feelings on sex, or a very huge contradiction, to write his past in this way. But with how briefly this point was glossed over, there wasn't enough to work with either way, and that makes me very sad.

Overall, I can't say I enjoyed this book outside the first 20% or so. But I appreciate Saba's character -- for his complexities and motivations and messy emotions. I appreciate the attempt made to tell an interesting trans story heavily focused on an unconventional means of transition. I appreciate that Zek had his own (perceived) bodily imperfections. And even though the execution didn't land its mark, and I'm not sure I would really recommend this book, I can at least walk away with these positives.

[orangeypopsicle]

Mount Rageon Headcanons

I've been having a rough week, so Mount Rageons have been on my mind. I'm not well versed in science, but I've been thinking of a few concepts about them. Bare with me and click the "read more" button to read it all because this thing is pretty long!

First of all, I'm not sure what kind of animal species they would be. Like, is that just me wondering that? While they're humanoid, I thought it was interesting how their hair and skin were rendered. Their hair doesn't seem to be how hair would be on regular animals, where each strand is enormous and has a similar texture to their skin. I'm wondering if what we're describing as hair, isn't actually hair? Also, their proportions and body structures are interesting. The large head-to-body ratio and the flexibility of their limbs remind me of reptiles or marine life. Like, I feel that a species with a large head, skinny body, and hyper-mobile limbs would have a problem staying upright, especially at a high elevation with all that gravity acting on them.

While we haven't seen any adults, I thought it was really interesting how they're completely physically genderless but have gender aesthetics. On another contradictory note, wouldn't a developmental stage compared to a teenager (especially considering we see a wide range of teenage characters) at least look somewhat close to how an adult would look? If you look at the Mount Rageon characters, you'll notice that they're all universally built the same and even the eyelashes aren't universal in female characters. I'm actually wondering if that's supposed to be a gender indicator at all or if it's a cosmetic choice. I want to believe that they're completely indistinguishable gender-wise and choose what they want because I think that would just be really neat!

While nothing is supporting it in canon, I believe that Mount Rageons may not be native to the region we see in the show. The extreme color variance stood out to me because the official map shown outside of the movie indicates that the plant life in Mount Rageous is either non-existent or dead. Wouldn't the coloring imply the environment they lived in, like how animals in the real world are? The ground in this region is colored with a pink-gray hue, which looks like an intentional choice given that other regions have specific variant colors used. While I may not be ruling out that Mount Rageous may have once had lush plant life and the environment was polluted too much, it's at least established that the phrase "Mount Rageons" specifically refers to the teenage population that has moved up to the higher elevation of the mountain. I personally would like to refer to other age groups in their species as "Rageons" for this reason. They also aren't built like they naturally would survive in a mountainous region. Mount Rageons have very spindly limbs and they all lack body fat. I think that they may compensate for their lack of natural body heat through their thick jumpsuits. While it may be a wacky fashion, it also may be practical as well.

On the subject of body types and Mount Rageons, I'm also thinking about the flashback scene with Velvet and Veneer. Perhaps they eat fat and sugar in larger amounts as part of their regular diet because of a really high metabolism. It might explain why the foods in that scene are so strange looking. If I were to combine the previous idea with this current on here, maybe they're expending large amounts of energy by not being fit to be living on a mountain and are burning calories quickly. If I'm going to pretend that the scenes exist on their own and are not made by people who might default to thin body shapes, it might also explain why we don't see any plus-sized Mount Rageons in the cast.

Here's the million-dollar question: Why are teenagers separated from their parents and made independent so early? While it may be easier to say it's just cultural, I like to think that the large amount of people who live in Mount Rageous combined with how desolate the environment is means that it may also be for survival. When children reach the age where they're not as easy to watch carefully and are more likely to sneak off to potentially get themselves killed, they may be sent off to Mount Rageous because it is safer. Their parents may be giving them money to live on their own until they can grow up to face whatever the hell is towards the bottom of the mountain. To shorten what I'm saying, it's both cultural and for safety. I'm not sure if there will ever be a confirmed reason, but it sure is fun to speculate!

Thanks for reading if you got to this point!

[imtrashraccoon]

This is a lighter chapter compared to the last one but I still put a little lore in it just for you, dear readers.

@scrambledmeggys

First Day, Previous Day, & Next Day.

Day 17: Languages

"You Know What I Find Interesting?" Papyrus asked out of nowhere one afternoon while you were sitting together on the couch.

You looked over at him quizzically. "What's that?"

"It Is Interesting How You And Frisk Can Communicate So Well Just By Making A Few Gestures With Your Hands," he said thoughtfully. "Is It Something All Humans Can Do?"

You chuckled softly and shook your head. "No, we had to learn and most humans don't know the language because they don't need to."

"Do Humans Have Multiple Languages Then?"

"So many," you said. "I couldn't even begin to tell you how many there are. I only ever learned sign language in order to communicate with Frisk but I'm still a bit rusty at it compared to them."

Upon hearing their name, Frisk glanced up from the drawing they were working on at the coffee table. They smiled warmly at you and Papyrus before going back to colouring.

You smiled back at them. After a few minutes of silence, you spoke again but in a slightly lower voice this time. "As far as I know from what little I've talked with their parents, Frisk just doesn't talk, even though they know how. They were put in special classes at school which is where they learned sign language. When we first met, Frisk was still learning but they didn't have many people to practice with. That's one reason I learned actually, so they could practice more."

"That Is Admirable," Papyrus hummed thoughtfully. He shifted slightly closer to you so he could put his arm around your shoulders and hold you close. "Do You Think Their Parents Miss Them?" he whispered in your ear.

You didn't answer at first as you considered his question. "Probably, it's only natural to miss someone once they're gone, especially if they're part of your family," you finally concluded.

You could feel Papyrus' eyelights on you. Turning to look at him, you could see he could tell you hadn't been entirely truthful. He didn't press further but his eye sockets were slightly narrowed as if he was silently judging your vague answer.

You sighed and glanced away. "I really don't know, Papyrus. I hope they do, but...they always seemed to act like they didn't care. They seemingly made no effort to learn how to communicate with their own kid and for crying out loud, they let them hang out with a complete stranger."

You chuckled and ran a hand over your face before continuing. "I tried to communicate my concerns with them but they always brushed me off. I tried not to get involved at first but I couldn't shake the feeling that something awful could happen to them. So, I started spending time with them and we became friends."

Papyrus nodded quietly, "Wow... I Can See Why You Care So Much About Them."

"Yeah, I want them to be alright but there's only so much I can do." You sighed, "I wish I could do more some days."

He squeezed your shoulder in a comforting way. "You Are Doing A Good Job All Things Considered," he said.

You smiled slightly at him. "Thanks."

After a moment's silence, you had a question for him and wanted to talk about something more positive anyways. "You and Sans seem to have no issue understanding Frisk. How do you know sign language?"

"Oh, I Do Not Actually Know Sign Language. I Can Understand Them Though Even If I Do Not Remember How To Replicate The Gestures." He thought for a moment before adding, "It Is Just Something I Know, But I Can Also Read Their Intent And Get An Idea Of What They're Saying That Way."

Sans teleported into the living room just then and after glancing at the three of you, he stepped into the kitchen.

"How does that work? Is it like magic based?" you asked, barely registering Sans' presence.

Papyrus looked thoughtful for a moment before answering. "Sort Of? Monsters Are Made Of Magic So Most Things We Do Have To Do With Magic. Intent Is Like Reading The True Desires Of Your Soul And Is Quite Useful In Communicating With Others," he explained.

Sans came back into the living room with a mustard bottle in hand and you motioned for him to come closer. He tilted his skull curiously and walked over to the couch. " 'sup?" he asked.

"Papyrus just told me he can understand Frisk, despite not knowing sign language himself. Are you able to as well?"

Sans hummed in agreement, "yep, i think there's two reasons for that. intent, as paps mentioned, but the way i see it, sign language is just similar to wing dings."

"Wing Dings?" you asked, but Sans just shrugged and started to walk away. He was apparently uninterested in explaining it to you.

Papyrus seemed a bit surprised. "I Had Not Thought Of That," he murmured thoughtfully. Seeing your visible confusion, he smiled and decided to elaborate a little.

"You Would Not Be Able To Tell As You Cannot Read Intent, But All Skeletons Speak In Unique Tones And Are Traditionally Named After Typefaces Or Fonts To Reflect This. I Am Named After The Papyrus Typeface, While My Brother Is Named After The Comic Sans Typeface."

"That's interesting. So what is Wing Dings then?" you asked again.

"Wing Dings Is An Old Tone, However There Is No Record Of Anyone Being Named After It, At Least Not That Either Of Us Could Find. It Is Almost Like A Separate Language And Heavily Relies On The Listener's Ability To Read Intent In Order To Understand The Speaker. While We Understand It Regardless, The Strange Thing Is That Neither Of Us Can Remember Learning It."

"Languages aren't normally something that you can suddenly just know, unless I'm wrong and it works differently for Monsters?"

"I Do Not Believe So. Monsters Do Not Have Nearly As Many Languages As Humans Do, So While It Is Curious That We Know This Language, It Ultimately Does Not Matter."

You frowned slightly, "You mentioned before that neither of you really remember much of your early childhood. Maybe you learned Wing Dings but forgot about learning it?"

Papyrus sighed and shook his skull. "There Is No Way Of Knowing Now As We Are The Only Skeletons Left." He said it so casually, as if he hadn't just dropped a bomb on you by saying that.

You stared at him in shock. You couldn't imagine being the last of your kind, let alone having never met any of your own.

Seeing your concerned reaction, he patted your shoulder reassuringly. "It Is Alright. Sure, We Have Often Wondered Why We Were Completely Alone And Without Memory Of Our Parents. But, The Main Reason Seems To Be Because Almost All Skeletons Were Wiped Out During The War And There Are No Records Of Any Surviving Skeletons In The Years Afterwards."

You didn't know what to say after all that. So instead, you snuggled a bit closer to him and he responded by gently nuzzling the top of your head.

It suddenly occurred to you that it had been almost a full month since you'd even considered leaving to try to return to the surface with Frisk. While you knew that it was currently impossible, you'd also started to feel at home here. What with everything that had happened and then Undyne finding out about you two, there was no way you wanted to leave any time soon.

You found yourself wanting to be there for not just Frisk, but Papyrus as well now that you'd come to understand him better. You wanted to open your life to him and make more happy memories together. You wanted to tell him how you truly felt about him too.

You wanted to love again.

[highfantasy-soul]

NATLA Episode 7 - The North (1/4)

[Masterlist of my NATLA thoughts]

An explanation of what I'm doing here and my history with ATLA.

Of course, full spoilers ahead.

<previous/next>

Opening with Lt. Jee, now loyal to Zuko, warning him about Zhao's fake plan was incredible. Before last episode, Jee would have let it happen and never warned Zuko about the (fake) soldiers coming to arrest him. But it's Zuko's own honor that leads his men to now be dedicated to him and allows Zhao's ploy to work. It's also interesting that at least Lt. Jee also knows that Zuko is the Blue Spirit - I don’t think this breaks the world at all because if Zuko isn't the one to turn in the Avatar, the crew doesn't get to go home either. They're both in the same boat (lolz) if Zhao gets the Avatar instead, so it's in Lee's best interest to aid Zuko even in his subterfuge. After all, it was Zuko doing things against Fire Nation protocol that saved their lives. 

Zhao's claim that Zuko was looking out for himself above all and was a traitor is technically true. To the Fire Nation, it doesn’t matter WHO gets the Avatar, it only matters that he's captured. But the Fire Nation's own beliefs are what leads to the Avatar getting away yet again: just like with the orcs in the Lord of the Rings, what evil people prize is usually what brings them down independent of the actions of the 'heroes'. Evil will always destroy itself. The Fire Nation prizes individual strength and being of a higher ranking above everything else, so of course Zhao and Zuko are going to vie for that, BOTH of them ending up working against the Fire Nation's best interest because they're chasing that status: cooperation isn't rewarded, individual acts of valor are. Individual acts that encourage them to work against each other and ends up hurting them both while letting the Avatar go free.

I can see the argument that Aang's arc has gone back and forth a lot - him wanting to save the world with his friends, everyone else telling him he has to do it alone, then him going back to wanting to save the world with his friends, then others telling him to do it alone. I think though, that every episode has built upon each other to show that connection isn't weakness, but each subsequent challenge has become more and more dangerous. Sokka and Katara were almost lost in the previous two episode arc - they got sucked into the Avatar's world (due to a spirit angry over something it seems the Avatar should have prevented) and if Aang hadn't saved them, they'd be lost forever.

The stakes keep going up and Aang keeps seeing the cost of an Avatar's failure, leading him to have a totally normal reaction of going from welcoming his friends into the fight to being afraid to lose them and wanting them to sit it out. After all, when he channeled Kysohi, his friends were safe - she took care of it all. When he thinks Kuruk can do the same thing, that he has the 'trump' card of the Avatar state being controlled by someone who knows what they're doing, he's ok with his friends fighting - but when it's solely up to him to protect them and he doesn’t think he can, he balks. Until, of course, his friends set him straight.

In love with Agna Qel'a's design and the fact that they actually gave it a name!! Apparently that happened in one of the books, but for the animated series, it was always just 'The North Pole' or 'The Northern Water Tribe'. I like that it gets a name now - and it's beautiful! It's so good to see Katara and Sokka get to connect with their sister culture in the north and how it must feel to them to see a community of the Water Tribe thriving so much compared to their own coves that are barely hanging on.

And again, something that comes up with Aang a lot - people wanting him to immediately jump in and be the perfect weapon for them to use against their enemies. The show does a great job of always reminding us the massive responsibilities everyone places on Aang, seeing him first as a weapon, and only second as a person. Katara and Sokka's dynamic has gotten so good by this point in the season. Their little back and forth with Katara telling him ppl will think something is wrong with him if he keeps staring at Yue is too cute!

What they've done with the Royal Family of the Fire Nation is really great. It is sooooo interesting that Ozai doesn't even speak to his daughter directly about her training, he has someone else do it - very much like the Blood of the Seanchan from the Wheel of Time who always use a Voice to speak for them because those not of 'The Blood' do not deserve to be spoken to by someone so high. But to have Ozai be staring right at Azula as his 'voice' critiques her 'trial', it speaks volumes. I love, too, that Mai calls it out for what it is - that Ozai is playing games with her because he knows she's the best, he just wants something more from her that he refuses to say.

I've seen people say that the last shot of Azula lasts a few seconds too long, but I think they're missing what's being shown - not just what's being told through her last line of 'that I'm the one'. Azula is desperate to be her father's favorite, she's so certain she should be next in line for the throne, and in the animated show, she pretty much is from the jump. I'll need to rewatch season 2 and 3, but I can't remember Ozai every criticizing a thing Azula does - she's just the golden child who's perfect and his shoe-in for heir. Here, he's making her work for it - fight and prove that she's better than Zuko. He thinks that pitting his children against each other will make them both stronger, then the strongest will win out and they'll be that much better for it. We don’t see cracks in Azula's mask until the end of season 3 of the animated show, so I like that here, that lingering shot on her face shows that her expression goes from angry and determined, to almost a frightened desperation. She tries to put on a good face, but she is concerned that her father won't see the truth she does, that she'll be 'treated like Zuko' and punished for not being good enough.

[beauty-and-passion]

FSS3 Episode 6: Being a villain

Things cannot go well, not like this.

Updates every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

What is FFS3 - Introduction - Season 2 finale - previous episode - next episode

AO3 link for this episode

DISCLAIMER: As said in the introductory post, Fanders Sides Season 3 (season 2 finale included) could have triggering themes/scenes. Please keep that in mind before reading.

_______________________________

Thomas is driving to Nico’s bar to pick him up after the end of his shift. The plan is to go together to his place, play some more songs, plan a new video, and have dinner together. Possibly, not in this order.

But when Thomas arrives, he sees Nico is already outside, talking with a handsome man. Thomas is a bit surprised: he gets out of his car and walks to them, then he asks Nico if everything’s okay and he’s good to go.

Nico is surprised by his sudden appearance, but he still looks calm. He greets Thomas, asks how he is doing, then introduces him to the other man as “his friend”.

Thomas is hurt by this and he instinctively replies that he’s not his friend, but his boyfriend.

The other man looks a bit surprised: he didn’t know Nico was gay, he says. Nico replies that he hopes this won’t change anything.

The handsome man reassures him and tells him he will call next week. Then, he gets in his car and leaves.

As soon as the man disappears, Nico turns around and confronts Thomas: what was he thinking? Why did he introduce himself like that? 

His words hurt Thomas even more: what was the problem with him introducing himself as Nico’s boyfriend? He is his boyfriend. They are a couple. They shared their stories, talked about their feelings for each other, kissed and now Nico is all nice and friendly with that handsome guy. Thomas is the one who should be pissed, not him!

Nico sighs. The guy was an old friend, who recently became the head of administration of a publishing house. He was telling Nico about a newly available position as a copywriter and Nico was interested, because the working hours and the salary are much better, compared to his bartender job. They were just planning a job interview for him, before Thomas jumped in and introduced himself like a jealous, weird boyfriend.

Thomas feels a bit ashamed now. He apologizes: hopefully he didn’t mess up too much, didn’t he?

But Nico is still a bit frustrated. This is not the first time he acts like a jealous, possessive boyfriend, he retorts.

Well, they’re boyfriends, of course Thomas is a bit jealous!, he replies. He cares about Nico! He wants and needs him!

Instead of reassuring him, these words worry Nico: he’s not Thomas’ property and Thomas is not his property. They are a couple, sure, but not joined at the hip. They have their own lives to live.

Thomas knows that, but what’s the problem if he worries a little? Nico introduced him to this new guy as a friend, as if he wanted to hide him! Why? What was the problem? Is Nico not happy with him? Is Thomas not enough for him?

Nico replies that he barely knows the guy and he knows absolutely nothing about the company. Is it a problem if he wants to keep his relationship a secret from people he doesn’t know? It’s his personal life, he has all the right to keep it hidden. He’s not as quick as Thomas, in divulging his personal life around: heck, he revealed their relationship to everyone on the Internet, kissed him after a couple of dates, dropped a love confession, offered him to work together… it’s been a few months since they’re a couple, but it seems like Thomas is speedrunning their relationship! Even though Nico asked him to take things slower! What will the next thing be? Suggesting him to move to Thomas’ house and live together?

What would the problem be?, Thomas asks. We’re happy together, we love each other…

Nico stops him. They’ve been together for four months. Four. Months. It’s too early to truly know each other. He doesn’t really know Thomas and Thomas doesn’t really know him.

Thomas’ voice sounds even more hurt.  They don’t know each other?! Thomas told him about his old job, his family, his friends and his current job! How can Nico say that they don’t know each other? He knows basically everything about him!

Nico is perplexed now. Is Thomas joking or what? Knowing each other is something that requires years, not days, and definitely not four months.

Oh, so that’s what you think?, Thomas asks. In that case, since you do not know me, then have a nice day and go home by yourself.

And after that, he gets into his car and drives back home.

°

Once Thomas slams the door closed behind him, Roman appears and starts accusing him, with a hysterical tone: what the hell is he doing? Is he insane? What was all of that?!

Thomas apologizes, the last remnants of anger disappear from his expression: he doesn’t know. He was just too angry, he lost control…

He can’t even finish the sentence, because he notices someone on his couch: it’s a black and orange figure, sitting sideways, his punk boots against the armrest. He’s examining his gloves, when he asks Thomas: “Gone wrong?”.

Roman notices him and rolls his eyes: he really, really doesn’t like this guy. Zero style.

You’re not that good either, Anger says to Roman and he gets from him the most offended expression ever.

Thomas steps in: so it was Anger who made him so pissed at Nico! He made a mess! What if things go bad now? What if they break up? He must call Nico immediately!

Anger scoffs. Sure, come back crawling to the same guy who friend-zoned you in front of his friend/possible future boss. You don’t have a shred of self-respect.

Virgil appears and immediately attacks Anger: what is he doing here? Is he on his way to ruin Thomas’ life? Well, not anymore: if he wants to keep doing it, he will have to go through Virgil first.

Once he sees Virgil, Anger gets up. Oh, look who’s here!, he welcomes him with open arms. Virgil! The Side who was a fighter, confident, proud of himself and his job! And look what he’s now: a barking little dog that doesn’t scare anyone anymore.

Anger gets closer, until he’s standing in front of Virgil. He’s livid. You were cocky, you were strong, he says. Now you’re nothing.

Before Virgil can reply, Patton appears and asks them to please, calm down and be kind to each other. They can talk and have a proper discussion about what happened and what to do next.

Anger dismisses Patton’s request: he doesn’t take orders from him, he says.

Virgil, on the other hand, accuses Patton again: now that he’s bestie with Janus, even Anger is good! First he approved Remus, now he approves Anger. What a hypocrite.

Look who’s talking, Anger accuses him. You were our brother! We were a family! And then, you decided you didn’t like us anymore and threw us away like trash.

The tension rises, Janus appears. He firmly orders them to calm down and take a step back and they both do it.

Anger turns to Janus and says he was just doing his job. (His tone is calmer and more polite while talking with him.)

Virgil accuses Anger: that’s bullshit! He was ruining Thomas’ life!

Anger immediately grows frustrated again: sure, now we’re the bad guys, aren’t we? Now you’re the perfect hero and we’re the enemies to defeat. Is this why you dumped us? To play the hero with Remus’ stupid brother?

(Hey!, Roman protests)

It’s because I couldn’t stand your attitude anymore!, Virgil yells. You were always so proud to be villains, so confident in your idea that being horrible was right and good!

Why, what’s wrong with that?, Remus asks. He’s eating a bag of cockroaches, sprawled on the couch. Good and bad are just made-up nonsense, after all.

It is wrong!, Virgil insists. Because it sucks to not be appreciated! But of course you don’t understand, you don’t care about anything! And you (pointing at Anger) don’t care either. You just want to bring chaos and do whatever you want.

Anger shrugs and rolls his eyes. Oh please, don’t be so melodramatic, he tells Virgil. And don’t act as if no one ever appreciated you.

Janus diverts his gaze. Virgil notices it and shuts up.

Thomas notices and asks what’s going on. In return, Janus changes the subject: Virgil knows why Anger is necessary and he knows why they need him around.

Well, Roman intervenes, Anger can’t be that useful, if he ruins Thomas and Nico’s relationship. He made Thomas too jealous over nothing!

He makes everything funnier, Remus replies. He lifts a hand and Anger gives him a high five.

Patton cautiously admits Anger is useful and gets a dirty look both from him and Virgil.

Virgil scoffs: he insists that this is all stupid and Patton is a huge hypocrite. Anger laughs, then gives him a pitiful look: it really sucks when even the hypocrite is better than him, mh?

Virgil is on the verge of jumping at his throat, but before he can do it, Logan appears. He steps in, stops Virgil from getting closer, and says that Anger is fundamental and what he’s doing is good.

Silence falls after his words. Virgil and Roman are both shocked.

Roman asks how is that possible: what utility would this Side bring, if the first thing he does is mess up a perfectly good relationship with jealousy and impulsive actions?

Virgil, on the other hand, turns to Janus immediately. What a manipulator, he accuses him. All the private conversations he had with Logan… did Janus think no one noticed? Well, Virgil noticed. He knows they met in private. And he knows Janus used those moments to manipulate Logan into thinking Anger was good.

That wasn’t manipulation, Janus defends himself. Logan is just clever enough to understand we need to work all together. Anger included.

Logan himself takes a step back and looks at Virgil with an outraged expression: does Virgil really think he’s this gullible? He’s goddamn Logic, not the first stupid, impressionable Side! He can perfectly think by himself! He’s grounded in reality, he’s the most clever Side! He’s not as volatile as the emotional Sides or Creativity!

Hey!, Roman protests again 

It’s the truth, Logan replies, pointing at Roman. Sometimes you’re here, sometimes you’re not, you do everything as you please and we should all be at your disposal! But once you see a new Side you don’t like, you immediately start complaining.

Roman is offended: he doesn’t act like that!

You did the exact same thing with Virgil, Janus and Remus!, Logan replies.

Roman admits that fine, he was stupid in the past, but now he has all the reasons to mistrust Anger, considering the problems he just caused between Thomas and Nico!

It’s because you can’t see past what benefits you only, Anger replies. And that’s probably why you and Virgil bonded so well: you are both huge egoists who just think about yourselves.

Virgil points a finger at him, accusing him of being the egoist, while protecting Roman. On the other hand, Logan stands between Virgil and Anger and he accuses them of not being rational. Their voices overlap, Patton intervenes to ask everyone to calm down, but his voice gets drowned: the other four Sides keep discussing, their voices get louder and louder, insults overlap until there’s nothing but chaos all around Thomas, chaos that pushes him down, weak in front of his Sides arguing.

They become so much, so overwhelming, so huge to fill the whole house. And all Thomas can do is turn around and run outside.

°

Thomas parks in front of Nico’s house and runs out of his car. He repeats what he wants to tell him: that he’s sorry, he was stupid, he will be better, everything will be okay.

He pushes the door’s handle down and, to his surprise, the door is open.

When he opens it, he sees Nico smiling and laughing with Hugo, who has an arm wrapped around his shoulders.

A sudden rush of jealousy blinds Thomas, anger gets the best of him: Thomas runs in, grabs Hugo’s shoulder, forces him to turn around, and punches him right in the face.

Hugo falls to the ground with a cry and Thomas snaps back: he immediately realizes what he did and falls next to him, checking if he’s okay. He apologizes, he says he didn’t mean that, he wasn’t thinking, he apologizes even more.

Hugo says it’s okay, he clearly mistook him for someone else: that’s fine, he’s good.

But Nico intervenes. He asks Hugo to sit in the living room for a little while, then he turns around, grabs Thomas by the arm and accompanies him outside, then closes the door behind them both.

Thomas keeps apologizing: he really didn’t want to, he just… lost control. But now he knows why and he will solve the problem. So it’s okay, it’s nothing actually, he’s fine now and everything will be…

Nico lifts a hand and stops him. One thing is if you want to introduce yourself as my boyfriend to strangers, he says. Another thing is you punching my friend because you think he was hitting on me. Hugo isn’t even gay, so your jealousy makes no sense.

Thomas apologizes again. He knows, that was such a stupid move! It was just a little bit of jealousy, nothing too serious. It’s just that he cares about Nico so much…

And that’s why we need some time alone, Nico says. Thomas cannot be so dependent on him. He needs to gain his own balance. Only then, they will be a proper couple.

But I need you, Thomas insists. He has so many things going on in his mind, he needs someone who makes him feel better and he feels so better with him… Nico can make everything better.

But Nico shakes his head. Thomas is the only one who can help himself, not Nico. Thomas should take some time to think about himself, explore his emotions and learn how to be self-sufficient. Only then, they can talk again and move things forward with their relationship.

Thomas nods. Sure, he can do it, he can do everything Nico asks him to do. But please, he begs, stay with me. I cannot deal with myself all alone. It’s too much. It’s too overwhelming. It’s too confusing. There are so many conflicting feelings… I need you. I need you to be happy.

But Nico, again, shakes his head. He cannot give Thomas the peace of mind he needs. Only Thomas can solve Thomas’ problem.

And so, he asks him to leave: he needs to take care of his friend.

All Thomas can do is stay outside, while Nico comes back into his house and closes the door behind him.

_______________________________

END CARD

Roman is crying, sitting in the field of his room. Janus approaches him and sits next to him, in silence. Roman keeps sobbing for a little while, then he asks Janus if it’s really his fault, like Virgil said. Did Janus want to introduce Anger, to mess everything up in Thomas’ life?

Janus explains that things are a bit more complicated than that. So Roman asks him to explain.

Janus looks around: he fumbles that it might be too complicated for him to understand, but Roman interrupts him, still with tears on his face, but a determined expression in his eyes. Janus told him he wanted to prove to Roman that he’s better than he seemed. Well, now it’s time to do it.

Janus sighs: he explains that growing up is a painful process. It requires a shift in perspective and a shift in behavior. And changing all those things you’ve grown up with and have taken for granted for all of your life isn’t easy.

Roman confirms: it’s not easy at all. He himself is still trying to understand who he is and who he should be.

Thomas is doing the same, Janus explains. The only difference is that his process takes longer, because while we’re single aspects of him, he’s a multifaceted human being. So it’s like your personal growth but multiplied by ten.

Roman ponders Janus’ words: he thinks he can understand a little bit better. Still, why should Anger mess everything up like that?

Because it’s necessary, Janus says. Just like it was for your change.

Roman thinks about it: he can understand. But that’s painful. Does it have to be this painful?

Janus nods. That’s life, he says. You have to go through some pain.

Like a battle, Roman says. You have to do bad, before doing good.

Janus confirms that yes, it’s a bit like that.

Roman wipes his tears. He can understand better now. Still, he has one question: is Janus really sure Anger cares about Thomas? Is he really sure he’s not just an evil villain?

Janus turns to Roman. Was any of them a villain?

Roman shakes his head and gets up. Then, he thanks Janus for talking to him: maybe he really is better than he seems, he jokes.

Janus gets up as well and holds one hand: he promises Roman he will do everything he can to improve Thomas’ relationship with Nico.

Roman is a bit surprised: wasn’t Janus the Side who didn’t care about Thomas’ relationships at all?

I don’t, Janus replies. But you care about it and if you care, that means it’s important for Thomas. So I will do my best to take care of it as well.

Roman thanks him with a smile and shakes his hand.

_______________________________

AUTHOR’S NOTE

Oh well, time to start messing things around <3

First of all, Anger and Virgil: until now, none of the dark Sides ever said anything. Janus is just very sarcastic (and clearly hides something), Remus doesn’t hold any grudges. We need someone to look at Virgil and tell him he’s a hypocrite and a traitor. Why? Because a story without drama is boring and because if no one ever brings up Virgil’s past, how are we supposed to know more about it?

About Thomas and Nico’s relationship: these two needed a pause. I purposely enhanced Thomas’ canonical reasons to start this relationship (his need to have someone in his life because he doesn’t want to deal with his own shit), to reach this point. Why? Because with another person around, Thomas will never truly face his own shit. With Nico, he always has an excuse to run away and postpone.

Now it’s time to take that excuse away from him. There is a lot of stuff going on and Thomas must deal with it. Also because with Anger, as you noticed, there’s no way to postpone stuff: it’s an instant fight.

About the endcard: Janus and Roman needed a post-season-2-finale moment. First, to show again Janus’ character growth. He needs to learn how to cooperate with others and talking to Roman instead of keeping him in the dark is a good start.

And then, to show how Roman is growing as a character. He’s still thinking about love, he still needs it, he’s still Ego. But also, he can better understand what’s happening and why. And thanks to the awareness he reached in episodes 1 & 2, he can even give the benefit of the doubt to Anger, even if he’s still far from trusting him.

( Support me on Ko-fi )

_______________________________

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[gabthehistorysimmer]

A stable boy

Warnings: This time, nothing I think. If there's something I missed, don't hesitate to reach out.

"My lord, I wish to speak to you of the child you brought to my care." The boy looked quite nervous, as they stood beside her.

"Hmm, yes. What is it you need to speak of?" He looked serious, worried that perhaps they'd already gotten in trouble? Was it a mistake to bring this stranger to their home?

"Ah well-" She stopped her train of thought, as the boy beside her suddenly spoke.

"Who are you?" They pointed towards the sudden guest to their conversation.

"Ah, this is my eldest son, Aethelbald. He doesn't look too impressive, as he's wearing his nightclothes" He said, pointedly with a glare towards his son.

The boy was stunned for a moment, realizing it was the heir to this settlement. He smiled awkwardly. "Ah.. sorry, my lord"

"If I may return to the issue at hand," Sighed, Lady Leoflaed. She wished to get this matter resolved at once, for she was busy.

"I thought perhaps it would be good for the child to become our stablehand. We lack one right now, and they seem capable enough for the work. How old are you again, Skye?"

"I'm eleven." The child spoke, puffing out his chest.

"Ah.. so that is all? Yes yes.. you may train the child to be our farmhand. "

Skye took the job of a stablehand seriously, as he wanted to stay here. The people were nice, and they gave him a warm bed and food everyday.

For now, he was living alongside the Nero family. It was awkward at first, but they made do.

Maximus spent most of his time in the gym, training. So much so, Skye barely met the boy.

Meanwhile, Hyacintha seemed to kind of run the entire household, being the only girl. Still, she managed to get time for herself.

Skye observed how strangely the girl seemed to act whenever the young red-haired soldier came around.

"Oh um... hello!" Waved Hyacinth towards the young warrior. "Hey?" "My name's Hyacinth. I live on the cottage right over there, and my dad's the lords scribe. Actually, I know how to write myself." She kind of boasted, maybe hoping the boy would.. be impressed? Her cheeks went red with embarassment. Stupid crush.

"Really, huh?" He smirked. "I guess you're the smart type"

"I mean, I do love reading. Writing too, but.. I am certainly no genius" She scratched her head. "Anyways, you didn't tell me your name?"

"Winfred, that's my name." He spoke, curious. "I'm part of Landen's warrior guard." "Ahh, so that is why you have such a cool, fancy outfit!"

"Umm.. Red looks good on you" She spoke, before she could think too much on it.

"Forward, aren't you?" He gave her an easy smile, but his eyes seemed to narrow in interest.

"Just trying to be nice!" She tried to wave it away, but her heart raced nonetheless, the conversation more exhilarating than anything she had before. To be honest, she barely left this godforsaken village, and this was the first time she talked to a boy her age, that wasn't related to her.

"Do you wanna go on a walk with me? Maybe we can go down to the river?" "Oh yeah! I love going on walks, I could show you our best trails, our hills here are beautiful!" "That's a high praise. Though, I think nothing can compare to the highlands from where I come from" She looked at him curiously. "So you come from far?" "Mhm" He nodded in affirmation. "Perhaps you can tell me about it tomorrow"

Their little date ended up going better than expected. And they seemed to get caught in a whirlwind of romance.

PREVIOUS - NEXT

[toaarcan]

Okay, so I got linked a post questioning why people like to undo Fiona Fox's heel turn and make her into a protagonist again, stating that, from their perspective, her being evil and awful was what made her interesting, and insinuated that it's rather sexist to deny her agency in the turn she makes early in Ian Flynn's run.

I'm not gonna directly respond to that post or @ the person who made it, they probably won't even see this, but it made the cogs start turning and I want to go off.

Gonna get the sexism angle out of the way first. I don't buy it. This is a fictional character being written by a dude and her villainous incarnation exists almost entirely as an accessory to her male partner. Even when they're separated, all she's doing is building a team so she can get him back. She's a satellite to Scourge, and her own stated personality and morality are completely removed in order to get her there. She retains zero of the (admittedly thin and underutilised) traits she exhibited before her turn once she turns evil.

Onto the bigger things.

My problem with Fiona's heel turn is that it is an inherently broken story, and it is built on a prior inherently broken story. Ian Flynn's version of Fiona is built on Ken Penders' version of her from the Hell Run, whom is herself incompatible with Karl Bollers' version of her from around the same time.

Of all the characters in Archie, Fiona is the one who suffers the most from Bollers' plans being scrapped and the handover between three different writers. She was left in the lurch with nothing to do until Flynn showed up, and it means that a lot of people view her turn to villainy as a vast improvement over the previous white noise, and that's fair. In many ways, it's a microcosm of the Sonic fandom thinking that Ian Flynn is a writing genius, because their only frame of reference is Ken Penders or Pontaff, and he compares much less favourably to writers who are actually good.

Back on topic, none of those three writers were particularly interested in her as a character. They are far more interested in her as a love interest. For Sonic and kinda-sorta-Tails under Bollers and Penders' pens, and for Scourge under Flynn's, and her own traits are largely ignored in favour of making her a Sally Clone.

Don't believe me? Bollers outright stated in his plans that he brought her in to replace Sally as Sonic's mature and grounded love interest, whom he wanted to write out. Flynn writes her as straight-up the Sally to Scourge's Sonic, and her own traits barely come up. All the ones she had before her turn are gone. Her medical knowledge? Never referenced again. Her connections with the other members of the group? Non-existent. Her history as a treasure hunter? Irrelevant. Everything she has now is just a reflection of Sally.

Flynn's Fiona isn't driven by her anger at Sonic, she challenges him twice and little comes of it, because she's constantly hanging around one of Sonic's actual rivals, who gets the primary focus. Fiona trades barbs with Sally more often, and with more success, because she is framed as Sally's rival on account of dating the evil version of Sally's love interest.

Flynn's Fiona spends the vast majority of her existence glued to Scourge's arm and acting smug. And that's kinda it.

And it doesn't work out well for the other characters involved either.

Scourge absolutely comes off the worst, just because... well, it's rooted in Issue 150. That Flynn based so much of Scourge's early appearances on Issue 150 baffles me to this day, I'd have thought any sane person would distance themselves from that trashfire as much as possible, but nope, Flynn decided to make that sonofabitch load-bearing.

Because the Scourge/Fiona pairing, and thus Fiona's turn, are rooted in Issue 150, there's an inherently creepy aura to the whole thing. It started because Scourge was pretending to be the real Sonic in order to try and score, and she was just one of his potential victims.

The origins of their relationship were only ever told, and not shown, and I think that's because there's no way to write it in a way that doesn't come across as incredibly skeevy.

And going back to Fiona herself for a hot minute here, why does this work on her? Scourge is everything she accuses the real Sonic of being, and her first impression of him is dishonesty. That is a crimson flag, and a character with her specific trauma should be outright repulsed by this.

The heroes aren't looking too hot either. Getting Fiona to the point where she doesn't trust them anymore kinda requires them to act like dumb assholes for a hot minute.

Fiona's backstory not being revealed to the group until Flynn's run requires Sally to be titanically stupid about who gets to join the team that she leads. She is not only the leader of the most famous and effective Freedom Fighter unit on the planet, she is the de facto leader of the Freedom Fighter network as a whole, and the heir to the throne of the nation Eggman spends most of his time trying to conquer. And Flynn is asking us to believe that they don't do background checks. Eggman could hire/build an assassin and send them to "Join the Freedom Fighters", in order to get close to Sally and kill her, and it would actually have a chance of working.

The idea that Fiona could get on the team without Sally knowing who she is and where she came from is, frankly, intensely stupid. Especially when three of the four people who know her backstory already are already in the city and on the same team. Even if Fiona herself didn't spill, Sally should've been able to get at least some of that information from Sonic, Mighty, or Ray.

I honestly and firmly believe that Issue 130-159 were written under the assumption that the FF knew Fiona's deal already, and Flynn made Sally much stupider in order to break the heroes' trust in her.

Also, it's just never made any sense that "I was a small-time thief and I didn't tell you because I was afraid of not being trusted" is so horrible a secret when they have no issues at all trusting Rouge, who did all the same things (but was actually successful), did actually work with Eggman (which Fiona never did), and will eventually be willing to let Blaze's universe die rather than give up a Sol Emerald (Yes, that was also bad writing, but one shit story at a time please), and Shadow, who tried to destroy the world. Why is this a bridge too far for Sally? Oh, because Flynn needs Fiona to be on the rocks with the FF so she can turn evil.

And then there's Sonic himself. Sonic's already looking fairly dodgy before that point. He doesn't end Penders' run smelling of roses. But Flynn manages to make it worse.

We're told in Issue 172 that Fiona tried to find a spark with the real Sonic, but he was boring to her. And then in Issue 179, we find out why: He was never into her to begin with. On his end, their entire relationship, which lasted 17 issues IRL, was actually a harebrained scheme to try and force Tails to move on from his crush on her.

This is, in full honesty, the stupidest plan ever conceived by anyone in any Sonic story, ever. Plans concocted by Scratch and Grounder in AoStH are smarter than this idea. All of them. This is eight consecutive Natural 1s on an Intelligence check. He's making Scott Pilgrim look like a sensitive and mature person.

Hey, Sonic, have a look at your friend Amy and ask yourself whether "My crush is in a relationship with someone else" is actually an effective deterrent to crushing on that person.

Also, the person you are putting in this sham relationship has a history of not trusting you, and has unresolved trauma from the last time you (inadvertently) fucked her over. Maybe consider not using her affections for a harebrained scheme to help your friend, who neither asked for nor appreciated your 'help.'

Literally all Sonic manages to achieve from this plan is making two people angry at him instead of just one.

And that's a giant stumbling block for me, because I look at this story and I don't say "Sonic and Sally fucked up in how they treated Fiona and thus she turned on them," I say "But they wouldn't act like that."

The root cause of Fiona losing her faith in the FF is a "He would not fucking say that" for me, and if I can't retcon it, I'm gonna try and ignore it. It may have happened, but for the purposes of writing further, it does not exist.

The hand of the writer is blatantly fucking obvious in this particular story. Sonic is being an ass and Sally is being an idiot and Fiona's trauma applies only to her anger at Sonic and not to her reaction to Second, Even Shittier Sonic, and Scourge has appreciable qualities besides "Is a Sonic." None of these moving parts work, and said Hand of the Writer is looming so large that I have to fight every urge in me to not justify that Hand by actually making it a "Hand of This Villain with Something to Gain from the Outcome", who is somehow causing all of this OOC behaviour.

If I write a scene where Fiona goes off at Sonic about how he hurt her, then Sonic's response, his first response, is going to be to apologise to her, for all of it. Because yeah, it's really fucking weird that he hasn't already, so that's what he's gonna do.

And then what? If Fiona accepts it, she's not exactly a villain anymore. If she doesn't, then she's become fully one-dimensional. She got what she wanted and she's not accepting it because... reasons.

Furthermore, I have a hard time viewing Fiona's end-of-canon normal as an improvement on her situation from before. Yeah, Scourge accepts her shittier side. Great. He's also an egomaniacal nutbar with genocidal intentions bubbling under the surface, who has cheated on every partner he's ever had, and definitely verbally and probably physically abuses her. The best thing for her is to get the fuck out of there and find someone who won't decide to blow up the planet she's standing on just because he can. And yeah, she could go and live her best life as a villain, but... what is she going to do, what's she going to achieve, and how is that actually going to work? Flynn didn't give her any goals outside of being with Scourge, I don't have a lot to work with here!

If she decides she wants to get even with Sonic, she's going to win that immediately, as I said above. If she wants to beat him physically for it, that's only going to happen if he lets her, because he is much, much too fast for her to even land a hit.

The other thing is, to take an even more external perspective for a minute, I am never going to be in the position of writing for an ongoing comic that is designed to last forever. I will only ever be writing a story that is designed to end. Every villain in anything I write is going to eventually lose permanently, or at least, they'll be planned to do so. And I don't like leaving loose ends. So every last one of those villains is going to end up redeemed, imprisoned, or dead.

I'm a firm agreer with the "Banality of Evil" as a concept. Ain't nobody going to actually be able to live their best life by being a shit. Evil is unfulfilling, and villains do not prosper, because you can't build something great if all you do is destroy things.

And that's why I'm not going to write something where Fiona stays evil and still has a good time of things. It's just not happening. I can have her stay on the path Flynn put her on, which will only ever end badly, break away from that but stay antagonistic and fall because of it, or heal. And of those three, I find the latter the most interesting to explore with her. I already got a dozen villains who will fail and/or die because of the inherent self-destructiveness of their actions, I don't need another.

With characters like this, I'm more interested in healing than I am in stasis.

That's also not to say that Fiona can't be interesting as a hero. Someone with actual, legitimate grievances with the main protagonist, who has every reason to hate them, but finds a way not to? Fascinating stuff. I will loudly and proudly say that pre-evil Fiona is one of the most underutilised characters in Archie, in a way that post-evil Fiona just isn't. I want to know more about the character Bollers was writing after his original plan got scrapped, and before he got shoved out the door by Penders' bullshit. I can't say the same of Flynn's version, she's basic.

And heck, exploring a redemption arc for her can be fun too. Just because she's returned to the light, doesn't mean she's going to automatically get better. Especially if part of it involves seeing Scourge for what he really is, perhaps painfully so. There can still be a bitterness, an anger in her.

I didn't get particular far with it before the burnout hit, and I haven't done anything with my Sonic fic for like five years now, despite often saying that I want to go back to it, but my take on Fiona in that story was mending bridges with her old friends, finding common ground with Bunnie and Amy as former targets of Scourge, discovering a new connection with Sally through both of them escaping from abusive situations, albeit with deep scars in the process (because I had Sally finally acknowledge that her father was abusive), and most importantly, reconnecting with Nic, another character that Archie did dirty. She also has a building new friendship with Emerl, and is heavily involved in the efforts to resolve the mystery of the Gizoid's origin. I built that idea on an extrapolation from her backstory- my version of Fiona is kind of an amateur archaeology buff, she can read ancient languages, and she's familiar with the fall of the Fourth Great Civilisation, so she knows more about Emerl than most others.

And that's not to say that she's wholly good now. There's still a darkness in her, her amount of trauma has only increased and her first instinct is to lash out at the causes of it. Her newfound allies might be opposing that course of action, but that's only causing her to get sneaky about it. Sonic won't train her to fight someone with his abilities? That's fine, she can ask Emerl. And her less-heroic ideals aren't just lip-service either. The Mecha Sally saga changed things, and Sally's own recent heaped serving of trauma has pushed her in a less Lawful Good direction. Fiona's less-pure ideas have a seat at the table now, and I do plan to eventually address some of the bad writing that her villain stint was founded upon.

Of course, there's still a lot that I'd change about the parts I've already published, but that's old writing for you.

TL;DR: Fiona's heel turn and motivations are rooted in a giant case of "They would not fucking say/do that" on the part of Sonic and Sally, and are shaky at best when it comes to Fiona herself and Scourge. I cannot appreciate it as a result, and even Flynn's version is more of an accessory for Scourge than a character, so I don't feel remotely obliged to honour it. I'm also much more interested in healing and I do not tend to have villains prosper in general, because I view evil as inherently self-destructive, and I also write with an ending in mind and don't like leaving loose ends, so "Riding off into the sunset to be evil another day" is not on the table.

For a less serious answer, stapling a new personality onto Fiona is something everybody that ever touched on her in canon did, who am I to break the trend?

[spinningbuster98]

Metroid Zero Mission Part 3: No Ridleys were harmed during the making of this video

So Zero Mission is an easier game that tries to be more beginner friendly, that part everyone knows. However I don’t think people realise to what extent it makes things easier

See, even beyond the whole Chozo Statues debacle, if you think about it the sheer act of finding the way forward in ZM is comparatively easier than the previous games

In Metroid games you will often gave to shoot or bomb certain floors or walls in order to proceed (not to mention finding secrets). Often the games (post Super) communicate to the player which things can be destroyed and which can’t in a number of ways

In Super we can notice a sort of increasing complexity in what the games asks you to do in order to find the way forward: at first breackable blocks will be graphically distinct from all the other ones, either having clearly visible cracks or having a design that clashes with the rest of the foreground. But as you progress the game will start to no longer use visual cues and will actually ask you to pay close attention to the map: for example in Norfair, in order to reach the room with the Speed Booster, you will be tasked with figuring out that you have to destroy the ceiling of a seemingly empty room to proceed. The catch is that the ceiling looks perfectly normal, the clue lies in the fact that on the map the room looks like it extends upwards, as if it had no ceiling. By the time you reach the Wrecked Ship the game largely stops giving you visual clues, most likely because it expects you to use the X-Ray scanner on any potential dead end

Fusion is an oddball, because it almost never features any real clues as to which surfaces are destructible or not, without even having an equivalent to the X-Ray scanner until you get the Power Bombs. However that game will regularily trap you in a strict set of rooms when this happens, so the number of potential solutions to these tasks are greatly limited, which means that even the most bumbling of players should figure out the solution eventually by just bombing everything. For example in Sector 6 you will, at one point, bust through a couple of Speed Booster blocks which will regenerate right after, thus trapping you in 2 small rooms, with the only way out being bombing the floor of the eastern one

Zero Mission is closer to Super’s way of doing things but it’s actually toned down in terms of difficulty, as 8 times out of 10, knowing which surfaces to break is made really obvious because you can often clearly see the path continuing on the other side, or maybe there’s a clearly destructible block, or even a combination of both

Take obtaining the Wave Beam for example: you’ll stumble upon the fork in the road leading to it while on your way to Ridley’s Lair, it won’t be possible to go through the next room without first grabbing it, the floor that separates the main path from the one leading to the Wave Beam very blatantly features objects beneath it and one of the blocks making up the floor is much bigger and squarer than the rest, pretty much screaming “shoot me!”. The only somewhat tricky part is the fake lava, but even then Kraid’s Lair had the same obstacle once so it shouldn’t be an issue here. This is a (roughly) mid-game item, by this point Super was already asking you to look at the map for clues rather than for cracks and stuff, by comparison ZM is pretty much still at early game levels of complexity.

Kraid’s Lair however is an interesting case because it actually features some more complexity: there’s the aforementioned fake acid path which is tricky the first time. At one point you’ll have to bomb a spot in a narrow corridor to drop down, with that spot featuring a clearly visible shaft underneath. A bit later the game will ask you to do the same, only there’s no shaft this time, only some barely visible cracks that you can easily miss if you’re not paying attention

In Brinstar getting the Varia Suit without help from the Chozo Statue can also be interesting...kinda

The visual indicator that it uses is a bunch of bugs crawling inside the floor of the room you have to shoot in order to reach the Varia, which is cool and unique! However the bugs will only spawn after you beat Kraid for some reason. What this means is that should you happen to pass by that room before then (which is very likely) you won’t notice anything weird about it, so when it’s time to actually get the Varia to proceed you won’t know to go to that room, nor will you get the idea by looking at the map as it will show you that you’ve already been there and there doesn’t seem to be anything special about it at a glance, thus pretty much forcing you to use a Chozo Statue. So much for giving the player the option to figure things out for themselves eh?

Aside form these few instances however the game is always pretty obvious on what you should shoot to proceed: gotta get the Power Grip? There’s a clearly visible passage beyond its breackable wall. The floor in the Norfair shaft? Pretty clearly the shaft keeps going down beyond it

Let me be clear that I’m only talking about having to find mandatory items: optional expantions are generally harder to find and will require more effort, in fact Zero Mission has an absolute truck load of secret passageways, some of which are there to allow low % runners a way to proceed through the game even without all of its others, while others are a lot of shortcuts that have you use the Speed Booster, which sees a much greater and original use than in Fusion, though it still feels limited and situational since you still have to run a long distance before triggering it due to the lack of a run button. If you like finding these sorts of secrets then Zero Mission will be your favorite game in the series by a mile, since not even Super is this chock full of them

However, on the topic of expansions, the game is actually very generous with those as well...

Super Metroid tended to serve you a couple of Energy Tanks and Missile Tanks for free at first. You could find them on your way to your next mandatory destination sitting in the open. They were there to get you started, but after a while the game would pretty much stop: most of the expansions needed to be found on your own, either by backtracking to previous locations by your own initiative, or through meticulous use of the X-Ray Scanner. This essentially meant that you had to look for most of your expanded arsenal yourself, and if you didn’t put in the effort then stuff like Draygon and Ridley could get really hard for you

With Zero Mission there’s a shift: the game is far more generous with expansions. The game places a shit load of Missile Expansions out in the open for you to easily nab, and Energy Tanks are either something you run by as you progress naturally (for example: there’s one in the room where you get the Varia, as soon as you drop in the vat of acid the camera will pan down showing you the little spot where the Tank is, so the game ensures to inform you of its presence and it wont’t take long to find the entrance by simply bombing the floor). Some may be hidden but indicated on the Map by circles but it’s usually as easy as shooting a block in the room to reveal it. There are only 2 Energy Tanks in the game that are truly hidden in a hardcore way and they’re booth tied to Speed Booster puzzles, otherwise more than half of the game’s tanks can be comfortably collected as you go through the game’s intended path.

The reason why I called this a shift is because pretty much every single game afterwards will do things this way: Prime 3 pretty much just gives you Energy Tanks like candy, Other M speaks for itself, Samus Returns has the Scan Pulse which makes finding stuff easier in general and Dread pretty much does the same as ZM, except it makes things even easier is some ways, since at least ZM has Super Missiles as a seperate resource, and their Tanks are actually a bit more interesting to search for, while Dread goes the Fusion way and makes Super Missiles the same as normal ones.

The effect all of this has is that it further pushes pure, player driven exploration to the backburner: while in the original trilogy (and also the first 2 Primes) you had to look for expansions on your own in order to ensure your survival, now the games just give you most of what you’ll strictly need as you proceed normally, so the games can be sure you’ll be ready for the next threat. This means that you can mostly just cruise along as the game does most of the important exploration for you. This doesn’t mean there still aren’t expansions that are more interesting and even straight up difficult to find, but they’re relegated to completely optional stuff that you’ll in no way truly feel the need to collect if not for a 100% run

Wanna know the real kicker for me? I’ve noticed that AM2R does all of this too! Many Missile Tanks are out in the open, most Energy Tanks are, again, out in the open and not that difficult to find etc. I find this case interesting, because this is a fan game not tied down by the need to be as accessible as possible for a market, yet it still adopts these simplefied design choices.

Anyway to get back at the game proper: I always laugh when I think about Ridley in this game XD

After beating Kraid the game tries to hype him up so much, showing you these glimpses of him travelling to and landing on Zebes, having him ambush you in his boss room, knowing that by this point him being responsible for the death of Samus’ parents has been canonized etc

...then you fight and he keels over in 5 seconds, especially if you’ve managed to get all Super Missile Tanks on the way. He’s SO pathetic! Which I guess is pretty faithful to his original fight but godDAMN!

I swear the more I think about it the more hilarious it gets: this is his first battle against Samus, he approaches it all smug and sure of himself, all Alpha Predator and shit...and then Samus just unloads decades of pent up PTSD induced rage at him and he fucking croaks before he can even blink lmao

And then by canon the Pirates had to pick up what was left of him and stitch him back together with cybernetic implants, forcing him to live as a cyborg for YEARS. No wonder he always looks so pissed at Samus!

About his Lair: I had never noticed that it pretty much locks you in as soon as you defeat the Larva, only being able to get out once you beat Ridley, which unlocks the room with the cannon. It not only feels unneccessary, but can also fuck up any player who decides to sequence break to do Ridley first.

Tourian is pretty interesting: these are my favorite versions of Larval Metroids in the whole series, they are fast, drain your health super fast, are hard to shake off, don’t stay frozen for long and the area likes to pull pranks on you by having you drop in front of multiple Metroids at points. These guys feel genuinely dangerous and I love them for it

You know what? I actually don’t mind Mother Brain!

Listen, say what you will, all opinions are valid yadda yadda...but if you think the NES version of the fight is better you’re out of your goddamn mind XD

That fight lagged like a motherfucker and if you fell in the pit of lava in front of her you were almost guaranteed to be screwed

This fight doesn’t lag, you get more space to maneuver and Samus controls better. It’s still a bullet hell, but, especially with the Screw Attack allowing you to destroy her projectiles, it actually feels like you stand a consistent chance if you just pay attention! (Can’t say the same during low% runs though...)

I have only one issue with all of this though: difficulty inconsistency

Zero Mission has been an easy game up until now, where, between the Metroids, Mother Brain and the following stealth sequence, it suddenly jacks up the challange and it starts to feel like a different game

I like the challenge, but there’s absolutely no sense of gradual change whatsoever, the game just flips a switch and then suddenly you’re in hell until the game decides to go into easy mode again, with no in-between. I think this is the only game in the series to have this problem

[thegayhimbo]

Stranger Things Into the Fire Review

WARNING: The following review contains MAJOR SPOILERS from this comic and Season 4 of Stranger Things!

If you haven't yet, be sure to check out my other Stranger Things Reviews:

Stranger Things Six

Stranger Things Halloween Special

Stranger Things The Other Side

Stranger Things Zombie Boys

Stranger Things The Bully

Stranger things Winter Special

Stranger Things Tomb of Ybwen

Synopsis: It's Spring of 1985, 7 years after Ricky/Three and Marcy broke out of Hawkins Lab. Constantly on the move for fear of being caught, the duo attempt to find closure by locating any other special kids that might have also escaped the lab. When their search bring them to Kali/Eight and her gang, they discover a dark secret: Jamie/Nine, Marcy's sister, who was presumed dead, is actually alive and locked away in an institution where she has gone insane. As Nine's powers begin to reawaken after years of suppression, Ricky and Marcy must now find and rescue her before it's too late.......

Observations:

I'm in two minds about this comic.

On the one hand, it's a big improvement from Stranger Things SIX. The artwork is vibrant, the story is more focused, the characters and their motivations are better fleshed-out, and there's more of a personal stake here compared to its predecessor.

On the other hand, the main issue I had with SIX which prevented me from fully enjoying it is unfortunately present with Into the Fire as well.

I'll start with my thoughts on the story and characters.

Unlike with SIX, where I found myself indifferent to Francine/Six due to her lack of a distinct personality and her bare-bones backstory, I was a lot more interested in Ricky and Marcy during their journey here. I enjoyed their sibling dynamic, with Ricky acting as the protective big brother to Marcy while Marcy acted as the impulsive yet supportive younger sister. Their interactions during the comic were sweet.

The plot with Ricky and Marcy discovering Jamie/Nine's survival and trying to rescue her was emotionally investing. The story is personal and smaller-scaled compared to the overarching arc of Stranger Things, but it works better than what they tried to do in the previous comic where they shoehorned in huge mytharc pieces from the show (i.e. the Demogorgon, the Upside Down, Terry Ives failed attempt to rescue El from the lab, etc) which not only screwed with the show's continuity, but also was poorly tied-in to that comic's story. Neither Ricky, Marcy, nor Jamie know about the Upside Down, and even Francine/Six who had brief visions of the Demogorgon while at the lab died before she ever found out what it all truly meant. The clumsy way those plot elements were incorporated into that comic made it feel out-of-place for a story focusing on minor characters who were never going to have a major role on the show.

Here, it's a lot easier to care because Into The Fire does a better job focusing on the relationships between the characters and how much they mean to one another. It doesn't need pieces of the mytharc to be interesting or relevant. The ending especially with Jamie and Marcy's reunion was one of the best moments, both visually and story-wise:

The core theme of Stranger Things has been about the ties that bind and finding people who will accept you for who you are. Whatever my mixed feelings about this comic are, they captured that theme well with Jamie and Marcy's reunion.

Adding onto this, the artwork is beautiful, especially in regards to Jamie/Nine's hallucinations, which convey a creepy gothic mood:

Kali is present in this story (as indicated on the cover), but unlike the previous comic where she and El were glorified cameos, she actually has a plot-related reason for being here: It's revealed she (inadvertently) served as the catalyst for Nine/Jamie's descent into madness. When Jamie/Nine became depressed after believing Ricky and Marcy abandoned her at Hawkins Lab, Brenner forced Kali to use her powers on Nine to create a fantasy world as a way of distracting Nine from what happened. Unfortunately, it worked too well, and an already mentally/emotionally fragile Nine bought into the illusion to the point she believed it was real, and any attempt to snap her out of it was met with hostility:

There's a depressing theme in Kali's arc, both in this comic, the show, and the novel Suspicious Minds, of Kali being used by other people to further their own goals. Is it any wonder she became embittered and angry later on in her life?

I am curious where Kali is currently on the show. Last time she was seen was in season 2 when her gang ran from the cops in Chicago. This comic has them hiding out in a barn elsewhere while they continue to hunt government employees who worked at the lab. At one point, Kali even offers Ricky/Three the opportunity to join them on their revenge quest. While he initially refuses, the ending of the comic where he compels Dr. Morris (the doctor who hid Jamie/Nine at a different facility) to commit suicide suggests he might end up taking Kali on her offer:

But that's in the comic's continuity. In the show...........it's unclear where Kali's story is going.

Something I've wondered about since season 4 is whether Brenner ever found out what Kali had been doing since she escaped. He was likely aware she was alive, but did he have knowledge of Kali's revenge quest against him and his colleagues from Hawkins Lab? I'm assuming he did since Brenner knew some of the orderlies and other personnel from the lab that Kali targeted and killed. On top of that, Ray Carroll (the orderly from "The Lost Sister") told El and Kali under interrogation that Brenner was alive, implying he was still in contact with him at that time. It makes me believe the top-secret silo where Brenner and Dr. Owens housed the Nina Project wasn't just off-the-grid because they were hiding it from Colonel Sullivan and his cronies, but because they were also trying to evade Kali and her gang.

However, this is just speculation. Whether or not the Duffer Brothers are going to bring back Kali for season 5 is unclear. I've expressed before in previous posts that I hope she comes back and her story gets the closure its been lacking since season 2. She's an interesting character, and I'll be sad if the writing lets her go to waste.

Speaking of Kali's story in this comic vs the show..............let's talk about the deviations in the Hawkins Lab arc.

I have mixed feelings about the way Hawkins Lab has been handled on the show vs the comics. On the one hand, I'm disappointed the show never truly expanded on any of the other psychokinetic kids besides El, Kali, and Vecna. Part of the reason I took an interest in the comics was because they did this with characters like Ricky, Francine, and Jamie. It wasn't perfect, but it was nice seeing different characters with a variety of unique powers. While I wish Kali had been given a bigger role (or even her own comic/graphic novel with a story centered on her), I am happy she wasn't completely forgotten about in supplementary materials.

On the other hand, I prefer the set-up for Hawkins Lab on the show. The backstory of Henry/One/Vecna, his imprisonment at Hawkins Lab for 20 years, his subsequent massacre of the other special kids, and his banishment by El to the Upside Down is one of the best story arcs in season 4, if not the entire show. Even before the reveal of the massacre, there had been implications that the other kids were no longer at the lab by the time El escaped. I didn't even mind the backstory of El being bullied by the other special kids when she was growing up since it's hinted at in her conversation with Mike in season 1 when she confronts him about being harassed by Troy and James:

From "Holly, Jolly" (Season 1, Episode 3):

Mike: I was tripped by this mouth breather, Troy, okay? Eleven: Mouth breather? Mike: Yeah, you know…..a dumb person. A knucklehead. Eleven: Knucklehead? Mike: I don’t know why I just didn’t tell you. Everyone at school knows. I just didn’t want you to think I was such a wastoid, you know? Eleven: Mike�� Mike: Yeah? Eleven: I understand.

There was foreshadowing in the early seasons for the big reveals in season 4, which is why I accepted them when they happened.

While I'm not happy about Kali's limited screentime on the show, I still believe the Duffer Brothers plan to bring her back for the final season. Maybe my faith is misplaced and I'll be eating these words later, but considering they specifically went out of their way to spare Kali from Vecna's massacre, as well as how the Stranger Things writers recommended a few days ago that fans rewatch season 2 in preparation for season 5, it's implied she still may play a role in the final battle against Vecna.

And finally, there's the way Brenner ran the lab on the show vs the comics:

In my previous review of SIX, I mentioned there was a strong possibility that said comic wouldn't count as canon due to the way season 4 was written (as well as some major continuity problems in the comic itself). This sequel all but confirms that with the way they wrote Jamie/Nine's backstory.

In the comics, Brenner decided that because of the progress Eleven showed during her time at the lab, the other participants in the program were redundant and were straining resources. As a result, he ordered the staff at Hawkins Lab to dispose of the other special kids. One of the faculty members, Dr. Morris, worked closely with Jamie/Nine, and in an act of consciousness, had Nine transferred off the books to an institution where she was kept under a strict drug regimen to suppress her pyrokinetic abilities.

As of season 4, we know this isn't what happened on the show: Vecna is the one who killed all the special kids. Brenner was a monster and wasn't above manipulating the kids under his care to get results, but he never considered them liabilities, and he didn't "put all of his eggs in one basket" (as Dr. Morris accused him of doing) just so he could focus on Eleven. It wasn't until Vecna slaughtered everyone else and El was the only special kid left that Brenner turned his attention exclusively to her. Even then, it's later revealed that Brenner was using El to try and locate Henry/One/Vecna in the dimension El banished him to.

Personally, if it's a choice between Brenner's motivations on the show vs the comics, I prefer the show since his motivations there make more sense given the circumstances. They were also pragmatic compared to his short-sided decision in the comics to get rid of the other test subjects for not living up to Eleven's potential.

While there are things that could have been improved, I will take the Hawkins Lab arc from the show over the comics.

Overall, I would recommend this comic with some asterisks: If you're looking for something with pretty artwork and an emotionally gripping story set in the Stranger Things universe, then Into the Fire will meet your expectations. However, for reasons I've just described, the comic likely isn't canon due to how parts of its mythology differentiate from the show, and it should possibly be viewed as an alternate continuity because of that.