#he wants to serve someone else's interests with the clear understanding he's uniquely able to serve those interests and they both know it

[antisocialxconstruct]

oooughfhfg in my head about Maksim tonight folks

[eveningstar1516]

Rise of the Demon King ~ Chapter 11

Rise of the Demon King

Fic: Multi Chapter Paring: MC x Everyone (Mostly Lucifer) Type: Angst with a Happy Ending Total Word Count: 26,758 TW: Major Character Death, Reader gets stabbed with a sword through their chest so..., Abusive Parents, Past Child Abuse, Demon Hunters, Loss of Control Summary: You’ve done it. You’ve finally done it. You’ve managed to anger the demon king. Now you hold your head high as he hands down your sentence. AO3 Portal: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27065362 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~A/N: I gotta Discord server guys! It's primarily Obey Me but other fandoms are welcome as well. It's kinda baby and dead so me and the other members are looking to revive it and we'd love for you to come join us. A roleplay area is included :) https://discord.gg/F3YEmDZCPS Please remember to read and accept the rules once you join for access to all the channels. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Previously:

After that day, Beel would take responsibility for waking the youngest whenever he slept for too long and Belphie took responsibility for making sure Beel ate whenever he was awake. From that day forward, you’d never find one twin without the other close by. Their relationship strengthened, one relying on the other. Always being there when needed. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CHAPTER 11 - 2 Realms, 2 Families (2003 words)

Making my way up the palace steps, I took notice of the lack of angels tending the gardens or palace. Oh well, I thought to myself. It is still too early for any of them to get to work. Michael led me through the castle towards the throne room. It was the same route we took on my first day here, only this time, I had a sneaking suspicion that it was about to be my last. Stopping in front of the door, Michael announced our presence and waited for the angels inside to open the doors for us. I’ve been in the throne room a small handful of times since my first day. Today, however, the atmosphere felt a little off. Normally, one would feel a sense of dread walking into this room, as it usually meant punishment. All ceremonies took place in the garden, the throne room being deemed as an unofficial courtroom. Today the atmosphere felt almost, denser than usual. Michael and I made our way towards the throne and kneeled before Father.

“Rise”

Both of us responded with a “Thank you Father” as we stood. God turned to face me.

“I apologize for calling for you this late. I do hope I didn’t wake you.”

“Not to worry Father, I was actually up finishing this week's work when Michael came to get me. If I may ask, why did you want to see me?”

“I called you to make an offer. I have observed how you ran the council this past millennium. I’ve seen your leadership and your dedication to your job. I’d like to offer you a permanent spot on the council.”

“Father, I’m sure-”

“I’m well aware of our initial deal. Bear in mind that this will not impede on your ability to see the Sins again. As head of the council, it will be your job to oversee business in the Devildom as Michael had been while you were here. You will be able to travel between the realms for business and visit the brothers while you’re there.”

“But I’d have to return and continue serving you, won’t I?”

“That is correct. You are a unique individual Y/N. You are a human with the blood of a fallen, you accepted the demons and was still elevated to the Celestial realm. As such, you have experience from all three realms. This is a powerful tool to have.”

“For you. I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I am not interested in staying, nor am I interested in allowing you access to this “tool” as you so crudely labelled my experience. I made it abundantly clear that I serve you under the condition that I return once Lord Diavolo has been crowned. As the Father of the Celestials, I expect that your promises would be kept. Unless that is your telling me I’d have more luck trusting a demon if I wanted promises kept?”

“Y/N! While you’re here, you still serve Father. You cannot speak to him like that!”

“I’m not wrong though am I? If that is all, I’d like to get some rest before reporting in. Good evening, or should I say morning?” I didn’t wait for a response as I bowed to Father and walked out of the throne room without so much of a glance back.

“I apologize Father. I will see that they don’t speak that way to you again.”

“That’s quite alright Michael.”

“Father?”

“I find it to be one of their more enduring qualities. They don’t take anything from anyone, regardless of their position. It’s a valuable trait to have, if used correctly.”

“Father, you weren’t really going to cement their position as the leader of the council, were you?”

“No, I knew they wouldn’t have agreed anyway. I wanted to test them. By offering the position permanently, they would have gained an abundance of power and authority.”

“Instead they turned it down to be with Samael and his brothers. I still don’t understand what they see in them.”

“It would be wise to re-think your opinion on Lucifer and his family. Contrary to what you think, they haven’t changed much. If you looked at it from an outsider's perspective, perhaps you’ll find that they’re still very much angelic.”

“Are you seriously telling me that with a straight face? I appreciate your suggestion Father, however, I highly doubt my opinion on them could change.”

“I am not telling you to change your thoughts about them overnight.” Standing up God stepped down and put a firm hand on Michael’s shoulder.

“I’m just reminding you that Pride is a sin.” God exited the throne room towards his personal chambers leaving a perplexed Michael standing in the throne room.

“I’m not prideful.” Somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew he was wrong.

~3 Months Later~

“That is all for today. Does anyone else have anything that needs to be brought to attention before we leave?” I looked around the council table and took note of Azrael's continued absence. The angel of death was called for a quick meeting with God before the start of this meeting and had yet to return.

“Alright then. This meeting is adjourned. If anyone has anything they’d like to drop off, I’ll be working by the fountain." The council of 7 stood and started chatting amongst themselves as I packed up and left. A few weeks into leading the council, I found that much like the Devildom, I couldn’t find much peace anywhere indoors. As such, I turned to the gardens, in particular, the stone fountain. It reminded me of the one in my old village square back on earth and found a sense of peace here. I’m guessing the other angels got the hint of me needing some peace and quiet to complete my work as I’ve never been disturbed while I worked here. Anywhere else though, and it’s anyone’s game.

About halfway through my work, I decided it was a good time to take a break and get something to eat. Making my way to the makeshift kitchen area in the council building, I passed by Azrael and Michael conversing with each other. We exchanged some polite hello’s when something Azrael said caught my attention.

“I apologize for not making the meeting. There was an issue with a soul’s candle that was fluctuating that I had to deal with.”

“Fluctuating? I was under the impression that a soul’s candle can only slowly burn until the soul’s time runs out and the candle burns out or someone snuffs them out. How can a candle fluctuate?”

“It’s more like the candle was shifting, evolving. The flame itself is fine but the stick itself was changing. You see, the flame is just that, a flame that will never burn out until its designated time, or if as you put it, someone snuffs it out. It’s the stick that holds most of the magic. The type of wax used identifies the soul, its nature, and where it’s destined. Only angels of death, or reapers, can tamper with the stick and alter it, however, it seems this stick is changing itself without outside interference from myself or another reaper.”

“The stick is evolving on its own and this is a cause for concern because this type of thing shouldn’t be possible and has never happened before?”

“Essentially.”

“What did you do about it?”

“For now, nothing. We’ve tried manually altering it ourselves but it keeps rejecting the change. I have a junior reaper watching it now. He’ll update me if anything changes. That is all I can tell you for now.”

“That understandable, thank you for sharing anyway. Good luck with the candle.” At that, my stomach rumbled.

“Go enjoy your lunch” Azrael replied, walking away with Michael.

“Why did you tell them all of that?” Michael demanded of Azrael.

“They have a right to know. Besides nothing would be gained by hiding it from them. It’s best they are aware of the situation.”

“That’s not your call to make Az.” Michael responded angrily as he stopped. Azrael turned to face him, a calm mask slipped on.

“Yes, it is Michael. It’s my call as the leader of the reapers and the overseer of their candle. What isn’t right is how you keep insisting that they be left in the dark, blissfully ignorant. Despite what you may think, they are a bright soul and have brought much light with them, even to the brothers. I understand why you feel about them the way you do, but times have changed. They have changed, and so have the rest of us. Everyone but you. It’s time you change too before you do something you’ll regret.” With that, Azrael left, leaving Michael standing there thinking about what the reaper had said and thought back to what their Father had said 3 months ago. Threading his fingers in his hair, he made his way to his office, hoping to distract himself from these thoughts with some extra work.

~7 Years later~

“Y/N'' I woke up realizing that I fell asleep at my desk again. Looking up, I saw Uriel looking down at me. His hand on my right shoulder shaking me awake.

“Father would like to see you. Go get dressed please. I’ll be waiting outside.” Uriel left, closing the door behind him. I leaned back thinking about why God would want to see me, especially this early in the morning.

Not wanting to Uriel waiting for too long, I tidied up the papers at my desk, and sleepily made my way to the bathroom to take a quick shower and get ready. Once I finished, Uriel and I set out except this time, instead of heading to the palace, we headed for the gates.

When we arrived, I found that the rest of the council including Azreal and Simeon were already there and waiting for us. We landed and bowed our respects towards Father. Uriel joined the council in a semi-circle behind God.

“Y/N, as I’m sure you realized, the time has come for you to return to the Devildom. I offer you one last chance to stay here. You should know that once an angel falls, they’re not allowed back. Y/N, if you through with this, you will be cast out from the Celestial realm. Are you ready to make that sacrifice?” Looking to the council standing behind God. I recalled the past millennia I spent with them. While I tried to keep a professional relationship with them, they ended up growing on me and we became a little family of our own. I realized that I was going to end up missing them. None of that matters though, not anymore. I’m finally going home, to my real family. To the brothers. Ignoring God, I addressed the angels gathered behind him.

“Thank you, all of you. Despite our differences, you all still accepted me and let me into this little family of yours. I’ll be sure to remember all you’ve done for me and I hope we could meet again someday. Oh and Mike.” Michael looked at me, surprised that I singled him out. “You don’t belong down there. Don’t forget that.” I turned back to God giving him my answer.

“Yes, I am willing.” Giving me a nod of affirmation, God addressed me for the last time.

“Y/N, Virtue of Loyalty and former leader of the virtues.  I hereby strip you of your angelic status and cast you out into the Devildom for the sin of misplaced loyalty.” I faced the edge, ready to jump when I realized I had forgotten something. Turning around, I looked God straight in the eyes and threw the strongest right hook I had ever thrown in my life before jumping backwards, tucking in my wings and closing my eyes. A content sigh leaving my lips as I let the darkness engulf me whole.

I’m coming guys. Wait up for me

[ms-indifferwnt]

Anagrams

Taeyong

Mafia!Taeyong x genderneutral!reader

“Please don’t leave me. I’ll do anything. I’ll stop. I’ll quit but please just stay. Please, I have to make this right”

Warnings: Blood, Cursing, Angst, Groping, mention of Strippers, Suicide and Murder, Death, Suggestive

Word Count: 6.7k

Note: Enjoyyyy

Oh this is just great, Y/n thought as you ran into your building, you stopped by the door, to compose yourself, you’re ten minutes late, its fine its doable

Calming your nerves down you enters the bar and slip into the bathroom, it was quite easy the sea of people being a great distraction, you enter a stall, there you stand still after finally counting to ten you make your way out and see your boss, perfect, you think and grin

“Sir,” You jogged and smiled “Sorry there was an emergency, I was in the bathroom and I,” you even made a show of making random hand movements to emphasize your point “I couldn’t hold it in, but that’s not the point, I’m here, where do you need me?”

Your boss just nods not bothering to question the younger “Just help the others serve the drinks, quickly Y/n” he reminds and you nod, leaving to assist their work mates in serving

Taking a couple of drinks far the bar, serving them around, sure you get groped and wolf whistled and yeah its disgusting to be around people like this but it pays well, you may not be a stripper but serving also has its perks

You didn’t know it at the time, but a man had notice your late arrival and your quick thinking of going into the bathroom, you didn’t know this but he kept close eye on you, he was intrigued by your quick thinking and how you handled the situation

The day was ending and so was your shift, happily serving the last couple of people, going through the sea of people yelping once a firm slap lands your butt

"Oh we got a firm one over here" the man snarls and you glare at the man, moving to walk away, only to be grabbed by the arm so you will collide to their chest

"Let me go," You warn and attempted to pull away from the man only for him to wrap his arms around your waist

"Why in such a hurry, pretty?" he asks and reaches out to cup your cheeks when you moved to step on his feet

"I said let me go" You said angry and walked away, this is exactly why being a server in a strip joint isn't exactly admirable either

"You bitch!" The man yelled and Y/n spun around and everything was in slow motion, you could see how the man had his fist raised ready to hit you only to be stopped by a man, gripping his wrist, tilting it upward and landing a punch on the man's face

His hair was dyed red, you could tell the black roots also dead give a way. his maroon suit being slightly messed up by his activity and he sighs and fixes them. He looked powerful, like the type to walk all over someone but that surely isn’t the case, right? 

"They made themselves clear," The newcomer reminds and glares at the man "You're disgusting" he notes and takes a handkerchief out of his pocket to wipe his hand, and looks at you with chilling eyes that made your skin crawl "Go"

You bow and moved to walk away

The second time you have met with your savior was a couple weeks later, It was a normal day, went to work, served customers, thought about your mysterious savior. For the past couple of days you couldn’t stop thinking about him, why had he helped you? 

You woke up from your thoughts once the bartender calls you over for a new batch for the gentlemen in table fifteen, taking the tray you walked to the assigned table only to be greeted by a familiar red hair, it was the man, and he was with his friends, they all looked close by the way they were able to laugh and joke around, you placed the drinks on their table and looked at the man only to see his eyes on you

“Um,” you bowed, making everyone on the table, stop talking and looked at the server who had bowed “Thank you for saving me” you said once you gotten a good look you realized how familiar he seemed but that was probably cause he saved you

The man smiles, his serious expression melting away and looks at her “Oh, i knew it was you, how are you? The man ever returned?”

“No” You shake your head “Thank you for that-”

“No need to bow,” He interrupts

You straighten “He hasn’t returned ever since you showed up”

“I’m glad” He smiles softly and waves everyone away and just like that they all returned to their conversations

“I really wanna thank you-”

“It’s alright, you don’t have to”

“I insist”

He chuckles and nods “Lets go get a drink then, on you”

You shake your head, “I can’t,” you said and lead him to the bar “I’m working, I can’t drink”

“It’s fine” he replies and waves the bartender down

If there was one thing you know about this bar, is that its absolutely hard to get the bartenders attention, you have to have pretty legs, breasts and eyes to get there attention or you’re someone important. You watched as the man ordered a drink for himself 

“I’ll take a Mojito,” he says and looks at you “What about you?”

You shake your head and smiled politely “No I’m good, I came here to get you your drink. I’m not supposed to be drinking”

He laughs “come on, It’ll be fine” He points to himself “I won’t say anything, “ he looks at the bartender “Will you say anything?” which he earned a shake of the head “See? come on”

You bit your lip, this really isn’t a good idea, but the again your boss will understand if you were drinking only because a customer wants to, right? You’d rather drink then get a complaint, again

“Um, a cosmopolitan” You replied after a while and the bartender nods moving to fulfil our orders

He smiles triumphantly and nods “You like sweets don’t you?”

“Why would you sat that?”

“A cosmopolitan? its sweet”

“I don’t judge you and your mint”

He laughs “You know I haven’t had anyone talk to me like that in years”

“Well, I don’t think want to, you kinda look scary”

“So you thought I was scary?”

“Still do,” You answered honestly “You just punched a man when we met and he went reeling, your friends on your table literally obeyed the moment you waved them off, The bartender-” you nod and smile at him as he places both of your drinks down “Thank you” You looked at the man across from you “The bartender doesn’t easily come when beckoned.” You noted and took a sip “You must be really important”

He blinks and takes a sip of his drink “You,” he tilts his head “Don’t know who I am?”

You shake your head “No, should I?”

He took another sip “No, I’m not really important” He replies and sees two people from his table nod towards the door and he subtly nods "Thanks for the drink we should do this again sometime"

You laugh "I don't even know your name"

He stops and looks at at you as if debating something, well in reality he was taken aback y your laugh, he loved it, something about it made him want to keep hearing it, and he’ll make sure to hear it again "When we meet again, I'll tell you" He winks and leaves you on by the bar

The man sat between two of his colleagues as they spoke and laughed together. The Red haired man not paying ay kind of attention to his friends as they spoke, he had his eyes everywhere as if searching for something

“You know Taeyong, we’re starting to worry about you” One spoke his bluish-black hair matching his dark blue blazer

“Worry?” He asked and that when the blonde boy by his left side spoke 

“Yes, Worry” Mark answers “You have been distracted lately, Hyung. You of all people can’t be distracted”

“I get that Mark” Taeyong nods and smiles at the younger and assured “and I’m not distracted, I’m interested”

Mark shrugs taking his drink and taking a sip 

“Kun,” Taeyong calls and looks at the blue haired man “You don’t think I’m distracted, right?” Kun just looks at him and Taeyong sighs “I’m not,I can still carry on our plans”

“We know you can Taeyong,” Kun assures and places his hand on Taeyong’s back “but if Mark and I think you are, you better bet other people might think so too. Becareful, ok?”

Taeyong opens his mouth to tell them both off when he hears a familiar laugh that made him swerve his head towards the sound, only to see you in your normal clothes. It may be a coincidence but your eyes met and he smiles softly

You didn’t know that he was there, you were finally done with your shift and ready to go home when you spot him and he beckons you over, slowly making your way towards him he grins “Heading home?”

You nod “You kind of missed me” you teased “looks like we’ll have to drink next time”

“So there is a next time?” He asks

You shrug “who knows?”

Taeyong moves forward from his seat a bit, extends his hand and offers it to you “Do you still wanna know?”

You stare at it and thought for a second on what he meant, before taking it and nodding “it might be nice to call you something else then My red haired saviour”

Taeyong could feel Mark and Kun look at each other from the corner of their eyes. Taeyong laughs “its,” he pauses and clears his throat “My name Agi Lyeton” 

You tilt your head “How unique” you replied and smiled

“I have unique parents”

“I can tell,” you said and shook his hand, pulling away “Nice to finally meet you Agi Lyeton, see you around”

“Aren’t you gonna tell me your name?”

“maybe next time” You winked and bowed before walking away

“Why did you lie?” Mark asks once you were gone “They probably know who you are”

“They don’t” Taeyong replies “and I intend to keep it that way”

“Its an anagram isn’t it?” Kun cuts in and Mark and Taeyong looks at him “the name you gave them?”

Taeyong nods and Mark grabs a tissue writing down the letters, when Taeyong confirmed “A-g-i L-y-e-t-o-n” he tilts his head “None of them spell Taeyong Hyung’s name”

“Sound the letters out not by spelling” Kun suggests and Taeyong watches as Mark gets to work

Just then Taeyong was reminded how much of an advantage he has thanks to these two, with Mark’s memory and Kun’s intelligence, he was thankful these two were on his side

“A G-e-e L-y-e T-o-n” Mark wrote once again and then nods “Oh, yeah, I see it now” he says and rearranges the letters “L-e-e T-a-e-y-o-n-g” he wrote and then grabbed his lighter to burn the notes on the tisue

“You should work on your anagram skills Mark” Taeyong says and Mark looks at him in shock

“Hey” He starts “I can think of 300 anagrams in one word, my skills are fine”

Kun chuckles and Taeyong nods “now, down to business?” he was greeted with a nod “Go on” he motions

Kun starts “The last shipment should be at WayV Headquarters by tomorrow afternoon”

“Why not today?” Taeyong asks and Mark takes his phone out to look at the texts

“Winwin and Hendery got a little sidetracked” Kun answers “but the delay shouldn’t affect our plans”

Taeyog nods and looks at Mark “All witness’ are being taken care of by Dream as we speak” Mark assures “No Witness, No Crime” he quotes

“Good” Taeyong nods approvingly, “then we will proceed as planned by the end of the month”

“Oh Hyung,” Mark calls “I’m gonna need to borrow Haechan”

“What for?”

“There’s something he and Jaemin need to crack so we can find the other witness

Taeyong takes his phone out to contact the boy without another word

You ang Lyeton met again after a day, you came to work and he was speaking to one of the servers, or atleast you think that was Lyeton

"Lyeton?"

"Hey" he greets and smiles

"You," you made a face

"what?" he tilts his head "is there something on my face?"

"Um your hair"

"Oh," he smiles "You like it?"

Like it? you asked yourself, you are absolutely baffled, he looks beautiful his now dyed black hair was eye-catching he looked beautiful that you didn’t realize that you had your hand out and ready to touch it

“So,” he starts “is that a yes?”

You nod “You’re too handsome it’s not fair” You pout

He laughs “you say that as if it’s legal to be you” he starts and fumbles with his words

“was that supposed to be a line?”

“depends did it work?”

“No?”

He frowns “then no it wasn’t a line”

You couldn’t help but laugh “you should work on it” you suggested “I’ll be more than happy to hear the finished product Lyeton” you teased

And he rolls his eyes “I would tease you back but I don’t know your name yet”

“yet?”

“Cause your considering” he grins

“Y/n!” your boss’s voice calls and you spun around “I’m not paying you to flirt with customers!” he stops once he sees Taeyong and Taeyong shakes his head at the man with a glare as if telling him to keep his mouth shut “Go get ready” he says voice softer and leaves

“I gotta go” you murmur and bowed apologetically

“When do you get off Y/n?” He says and stands up to grab you by the sleeve

“Why?”

“I wanna spend time with you, is all”

A smile leaves your lips “really?”

He nods “so,” he trails off “When do you get off?”

“eleven thirty” you answered and smiled “See you around”

You giggled once you arrived home, Lyeton waited for you and drove you home with the excuse that someone as pretty as you should not be going home alone. So you sat in the passenger’s seat of his Mercedes-Benz and you guys drove. The drive wasn’t awkward like you thought it would be, it was cozy and the way you both conversed was as if you two were old friends catching up and Lyeton eagerly and oh so obediently listened to everything you would discuss, anything you were willing to share, from what’s your favorite thing about the seasons to why you don’t eat beans

It was dumb, all of it, but he kept your words locked in a chest in his mind, he makes a metal note of everything, he remembers that you subconsciously pick your nails when your upset, or that you can’t eat chocolate with bread, or that you like salty and sweet foods, he doesn’t know why but he keeps the information about you close to his heart

Neither of you noticed or even cared but he was already parked outside of your home, you and him were still still talking, and neither of you realized how close you were until you could see the way his adam’s apple bobbed with his gulp

“Can,” he whispers softly “Can I kiss you?”

A blush covers your cheeks and you stared at him for a moment before nodding “Yeah” you whispered back looking down 

He reaches up and locks his fingers under your chin so he can take your lips in his. Softly moving your lips in sync with his, you couldn’t help but have your eyes close, his touch was soft and caring, giving you the option of pulling away but you didn’t, he was intoxicating, his scent and his taste. He moves to cup your cheek with one hand keeping you in place.

Slowly and reluctantly you pulled away, chests heaving as you both looked at each other “I’ll see you tomorrow, ok?” he promises “I’ll take you out to breakfast?”

You nod shyly and he smiles as you stand to leave his car, offering one last wave before you entered

That was how your relationship with Agi Lyeton began. You and him have dated for a little over a year now and going strong.

One time he took you out on a date to a spa cause quote on quote “You need to relax and take a breather, you need a spa day, Cranky”

He has oh-so-lovingly given you that nickname when you kicked him off the bed that one time he ate all your cookies, so he called you cranky and kicked him again and now that’s his term of endearment for you, along with beautiful and puppy, which he decided to call you after your love of dogs

The cake of the spa date was that he joined you, the massages, the facials, the body treatments, the manicures, he let you experience the shebang that day and you were thankful

Except he saw something, the thing you’ve been trying to hide from almost everyone in your life

“Are these self inflicted?” he asks after the massage, when you finally returned to your hotel, and takes your hand to see the scars on your wrist up until your forearm you bit your lip only to pull your arm away, pulling your sleeve down and looked down 

“It’s nothing Lyeton” you replied and moved to look at your wrist, you weren’t proud of it, these scars and sometimes you like to pretend they don’t exist, people don’t like the scars on a you

“You’re ruining yourself”

“a person is ugly with scars”

“You’re doing this for attention”

“I don’t understand why you would even cut yourself?”

Will Lyeton leave you after seeing the scars? Will he despise you? Will he- 

You woke up from your thoughts when you felt Lyeton hug you from behind “Don’t do that,” he whispers “Can I see?” he asks and hold your hand

You shake your head

“That’s fine,” he whispers again as he kisses your finger tips “Its ok, show me when you're ready ok?” he whispers again then kisses your palm “I’ll wait till then,” He kisses your covered wrist “Don’t feel pressured in showing me” he moves to up more, landing one affectionate kiss on your shoulder “I’ll still be here with or without your scars,” he assured and landed a small innocent kiss on your neck as a small sob leaves your lips

“I’m sorry,” you whimpered and he slowly pushes you down on the bed so that he is hovering over you, holding you close to his chest as he hugs and holds you close 

“Don’t be sorry, you’re absolutely perfect to me” he says and slowly leans in to kiss you, swallowing you sobs in the kiss, keeping you close and pouring out all his feelings into the kiss

Slowly he pulls away and cups your cheeks as you spoke, grabbing his sleeve so he’ll stay close “Please don’t stop”

He looks at you “Y/n-”

you shake your head “tell me,” you looked away “everything you find perfect about me” you whisper and he smiles 

“Do you really not want me to stop?”

You nod “don’t stop”

He nods and happily complies to your words, he kisses you again, whispering loving and sweet words against your lips and skin, leaving marks on your neck and chest as he tells you everything he finds perfect. You didn’t realize that both of your clothes were removed and scattered in the room ‘till he trails his kisses and sweet words lower and lower ‘till all you can think about was him, and how much he cares and notices every detail about you. 

You slept soundly that night, in his arms as he whispers praises and words of affection into your ear.

You woke up the next morning by yourself and fear ran through your veins. Where’s Lyeton?  Did he leave you? Was last night just a way to get his way with you? Was he faking it all those words?

You can feel the tears in your eyes when his voice tore through the open door “I need that meeting scheduled Jaehyun,” he sighs “I don’t care what you do or say, get me that meeting. And don’t bother calling me unless you’ve scheduled it, understand?”

He ends the call and takes a deep breath, before retiring inside the room only to see you awake and on the brink of crying, his breath catches in his throat, did you hear the convo? Did Y/n figure out he isn’t who he says he is? Is Y/n angry that he lied?

“I thought you left me” you whispered and Taeyong visibly relaxed before kissing your hair 

“Never,” he assures “I’m sorry, I had a call from work”

You nod “sorry,” you relied “I’m a bit emotional”

He laughs “It’s cute” he moves to go under the covers and cuddled you from there

You blushed and pulled away “No, wait I’m still sweaty and sticky from last night” you looked at him “and you’re all dressed and ready and clean, and I’m still naked”

He laughs and pulls you closer to his chest “I don’t mind getting all sweaty and sticky again” He grins 

“Lyeton!” 

He laughs again “How about I ready you a bath, you bath, then we cuddle?”

You nod 

“Can I shower with you then?”

You blushed and shook your head “Lyeton-”

He nods “I’m kidding, I’ll go ready you a bath” he says and stands kissing your temple and walking to the bathroom

After you’ve taken a bath, Lyeton was on the bed watching TV his eyes twinkled his eyes twinkled in delight “Come cuddle” he calls out and opens his arms in which you were more than happy to comply

“Where do you wanna go next?” He asks after a while

“What?” 

“Next week?”

You chuckle and pinched his cheeks “I can’t next week”

“Why not?”

“I have to go home,” You answered and moved to face him “you know,” you motioned “my brother’s death anniversary”

Taeyong nods, “sorry”

You smile “you didn’t know” You smile and kissed his cheek “It’s alright”

“Can I ask, how?”

You nod and lied down “Suicide” Taeyong looks at you “Its alright I know he’s happy now”

“You need any help? I can book you a flight-”

You laugh “It’s fine, I got it” You smile “Just wait for me when I get back ok?”

Arriving at your home town after a long time gave you a sense of nostalgia and pain, you remember everything you and your brother did

That sense of dread only worsened once you stood in front of your childhood home

You missed your parents, you did, but the thought of not hearing your brother’s laugh or voice. You didn’t realize it but your standing in front of your brothers grave

You just sat there, talking mindlessly to your brother’s tomb stone “Don’t orry about me, ok?” you spoke and smiled sadly “I’m doing great, I still work at the stripper bar-” you paused as if listening to his reply “as a server you perv” you said with disdain and you could practically hear him laugh, it only made your heart ache

You spoke more, imagining your brother beside you rather than his grave, and for a moment it seemed like he was beside you

”Ok, Ouch” He laughs and takes a deep breath “Are you ok? You’re not being used? mistreated?”

You shake your head, “I’m fine, actually I was groped at some point”

He blinks “What-”

“No no” you quickly spoke “It’s ok, someone saved me” He nods and looks at you, waiting for you to continue “He’s my boyfriend, and honestly, he’s so perfect”

He laughs “Nobody is perfect” He says and points at you “He could be a murderer or something”

“Stop” You laugh

He laughs as well then sighs “how long are you gonna keep this up?”

You looked at him “What?”

“I’ve been dead for three years, move on”

“Hansol-” you called once you noticed him start to fade 

“I’d rather you live your life” he murmurs “then blame yourself for the past”

You reached out to hold his hand only to wake up “Hansol!” you called and sobbed once you realize you fell asleep on his grave “I’m sorry” you whimper and hugged your knees

You and your parents have been avoiding your brother’s room ever since then, it was closed not locked, everything and anything that ever reminded any of you about Hansol was placed in a box and hidden in his room

You never thought about his death, you were too scared to, but here you were in front of his room cause maybe your brother was right, you had to move on and in order to do that, you have to enter his room.

You swallowed, entering his room, almost immediately you wanted to run away, it looked exactly like it did that day, except some of the boxes of his belongings by the corner. You could almost see his last minute with you, like a movie, you see him gathering his stuff and a younger version of you standing by the door way with a pout “You promised to play Uno with me, Hansol”

He laughs and looks at you, patting your head “When I get back, this is important, Taeyong is counting on me”

You huff and crossed my arms, making him smile “I promise, when I get back, lets play, ok?”

you nod “Promise?”

“Promise”

You sobbed and fell on your knees once, you remembered that painful memory “You promised you Jack ass” you cried “You fucking liar, you never came home” you think this was the first time in years you’ve ever mourned your brother’s death, you wished he was here and you hated the fact it took you so long, you hated him, you hated yourself

You sat on his bed after your breakdown, wrapped in his blanket as you looked through his stuff, spotting one of his old laptops you grin and taking it out of the box

There was a password and you sigh. You and your brother were close surely you could guess his password, right? so you started off with the basics, his name, his name spelled backwards, your dogs name, the dogs name spelled backwards, his girlfriend’s name, the girlfriend’s name spelled backward, his, mine, the dogs, his girlfriend’s birthday. You rolled your eyes ready to give up when you remembered, your brother is an idiot that forgets all of his passwords, you moved to the bedside table and looked for a notebook he could possibly have hidden there

You were right, there was a a notebook and, you opened it up, it has all his passwords, finding the one for the laptop you typed it out

NeoCultureTechnology

What the heck is that? You thought and pressed enter, his last opened app on it was photos, what could he have been looking at?

You blushed, it was pictures of you and his girlfriend, you smiled softly and sadly at the pictures he’s kept overtime, reminiscing every memory it holds, but there was one that made you freeze

It was a picture of your brother, he was smiling and you can tell he was happy, what concerned you was the man beside him, Lyeton, I mean it can’t be your Lyeton right? You looked at the other men you recognize them too, The blonde boy Lyeton was with when he gave you his name, he had black hair in the picture but it was definitely him, the last man was the blue haired boy, he had glasses and blonde hair here but it was him

It could just be a coincidence right? You looked through more pictures seeing other pictures of your brother with different men, with Lyeton, what is going on? 

You opened a new folder of pictures and you saw more of Lyeton, youre head is starting to spin, you’re really confused till you stopped a t a photo of Lyeton that had his name “Lee Taeyong”

Youre breathing was getting heavy as you continued to get more and more confused. Lee Taeyong, that’s a different name, it’s not your Agi Lyeton right?

You froze, “Agi Lyeton, Lee Taeyong” You grabbed paper and wrote it down “A-g-i L-y-e-t-o-n” Your heart was picking up speed, growing up one thing your brother loved doing was make codes and riddles while you grew up cracking them, It can’t be an anagram, right? writing down every anagram you could think of to Agi Lyeton “ Elating Yo” No “Gelatin Yo” No “Ligate Yon” No “Legato Yin” No “Agent Oily” No “Ale Toying” No “Lea Toying, Leant Yogi, Aloe Tying, Teal Yogin” No, No, No “Li Taeyong” you frowned, right Lyeton’s name is two letters off

You took a breath, thankful, so you were just being dramatic “Ok, better get some fresh air Y/n or yo might loose it to Li Taeyong” you slid off the bed only to stop mid way, saying it out loud “Li, Li, Lee” You stared at your paper bfore slowly starting to write it out “L-e-e T-a-e-y-o-n-g” No, you refuse to believe that and threw the paper away.

Moving to shut the laptop off you saw the email icon on the laptop have one unread message and it came from none other than Taeyong, it made your blood boil

Hansol,

Are you sure you wanna join us on this mission? you have a little sister man. Think about her. You might not come back, I don’t want your family to suffer

Mail me back, ok?

-Taeyong

You have been absolutely Distant and of course Taeyong has noticed that, you would pull away whenever you get, you must’ve been upset to see your brother, he understands, but why are you being so cold to him?

He tried, different ways, to make you smile but you only seemed more distant and sadder. You’re midnight cuddles always ends with you sobbing softly and whenever he would ask why you wouldn’t answer

One evening, a week later, he was at your place, like usual, taking a shower happily humming to himself, he left his clothes here for times like this so he can change and stay the night here

You sat on the sofa, picking on your nails as you do, the sound of the TV being drowned into the background as you stared at your boyfriend’s phone a notif rang and you wanted to see the notif but its wrong right? He trusted you that’s why he left it. But he was lying. The voice points out and you reached forward to wake the screen being greeted with a message from Jaehyun

Hyung, the meeting is scheduled

10 am [address inserted]

Ive already informed everyone and the plan is set we just need you to show up

Good Luck

You swallowed, God please let this all be fake and me overexaggerating, you begged to no one in particular ‘till you heard your bathroom door open

Taeyong walks in seeing you sitting on the sofa watching TV “you ok?”

You nod “Yeah”

The next day, he leans in “See you tonight for dinner?” You nodded and smiled a small tired smile, he leans in more to kiss you, you looked to the side making him kiss your cheek and he frowns “and then we talk? I need to know what’s wrong, ok?” You nod and watched him leave 

You stared at the printed pictures of Lyeton, Taeyong, er whatever his name really is, I can talk to him tonight, I don’t need to worry about this 

You looked at your phone to see the time nine forty-eight, you can ignore it right? just ignore

Hansol,

Are you sure you wanna join us on this mission? you have a little sister man. Think about her. You might not come back, I don’t want your family to suffer

Mail me back, ok?

-Taeyong

You blinked the tears away, you have to know, what happened to your brother, cause now you have a feeling it isn’t suicde

Going to the address you spot Taeyong, you take a deep shallow breath as you slowly walked up to him

He blinks once he sees you “Y/n?” he asks “What are you doing here?” he looks around and grabs your hand “Its dangerous here” he drags you to the side

“Please,” you begged and gripped his collars like a life line as tears pricked your eyes “Please tell me I’m making this up, that I’m delusional”

He hugged you despite the fear that was crawling through his veins, he knows this a dangerous place for you, but your stressed and you need him, work is important and getting this group on his side is important but all that flew out the window when he saw the tears at the corner of your eyes “What happened?” He asked voice soft and warm to help calm you

It worked. You felt better, his presence, his scent and his voice, you feel better. You wanted to lie, surely you weren’t willing to loose him in exchange if whatever knowledge you might gain. You’d rather be in the dark than loose him. Yet the nagging feeling at the back of your mind and the heaviness of your heart forces your mouth open and say “Please tell me you’re not Lee Taeyong” You begged “I cant- I refuse to believe it, I’m over thinking right? It’s just my imagination?”

He looks at you in shock. How did you know? Did somebody tell you? Did you figure it out on your own? He has to answer you, he needs to answer you, anything, you were begging him to lie, he is Lee Taeyong, lying shouldn’t be this hard. Not when your last thread of hope and the color drained from your face when you pulled away from him once he looks at you apologetically “Y/n-”

“Why?” you breathed wrapping your arms around your waist as you take a step a way “What-, When-” You closed your eyes and fresh tear fell your eyes “Why? Why would you lie?”

He looked at her “I’m sorry”

“Why!?” 

He flinches and bows his head “I didn’t want you to be scared of me,” he licks his lips “I can’t loose you, I didn’t want to see you in a world like this”

You stared at him as he spoke, your head was spinning and you wanted to throw up, your fingers picking on your nails and he reaches out to hold your hand to stop you from hurting yourself only to get pushed away “I trusted you, I gave you everything. Everything!” you sobbed “Were you ever going to tell me?” He looks away and your blood boils, you moved to hit him across the chest “You fucking ass! No?! Were you planning to hide this from me forever?!”

He grabs your hands to stop you “Y/n that hurts-”

“Good! You’re an ass! you deserve it!” you cried and kept trying to hit him

“I’m so sorry” He whispers and hugs you only for you to cry more and attempt to pull away from him “I’m so sorry”

“Let me go!” You yelled and pushed him away again “let me go, justlet me go, please, just let go” you whispered and stopped moving “Let me go Taeyong”

He looks up to stop the tears and slowly pulled away “Please”

You shake your head, gathering every ounce of energy on your body to ask “was Hansol part of your group?”

Taeyong’s eyes widened “You’re Hansol’s sister?” He took a breath and took a step back “I-I didn’t know... What have I done- Y/n”

“Is he?” you asked and looked at him, Please say no, Please, Not my brother too, Please, Please, Please, Please

“I’m so sorry” He says again and just like that you felt your whole world shatter, your knees were weak and heavy when Taeyong tensed “Y/n you have to leave”

“What-” You asked but you felt his hands holding yours tightly

“Please, I’ll tell you when I’m finished here, but it isn’t safe with you here. You can still blend in with other people”

“No, I’m not yet done-”

“Y/n, I’ll tell you everything and anything you want but you need to go home-”

“No, you’re not making me leave! I have the right to ask you this, you lied, my brother lied! I want answe-”

Taeyong never saw it coming, he hated himself cause of it. A sniper from across the building aiming to hit, to kill Lee Taeyong did a fucking sloppy job, cause it did nothing but graze Lee Taeyong by the waist, making him hiss and turn to see where it came from, he held his hand on his waist

His men came out from where they were hiding to cover their leader, protecting him from any possible gunshots “Suspect is on the move,” Jeno calls and runs ahead “Yuta hyung, Winwin Hyung” he calls the men nearer to him and they run in pursuit, Taeyong spat orders to his men, making sure that all of them understand only to freeze when he hears a small ragged and desperate breath

“Lyeton?” You call desperately, tears pricking your eyes, the pain was unbearable, your hand  pressed against your stomach right under you left rib, desperately trying to stop the bleeding 

Taeyong kneels in front of your body, as he places pressure on your wound “Fuck” he exclaims and takes off his belt to help him in applying pressure, you’re vision started blurring but you were unsure if it was the tears or the pain “Y/n,” he breathed and tightened the belt “ hold on, ok? You’ll be ok, I promise you’ll be ok”

You clenched your teeth, your breathing ragged ad heavy as he glares at his men “What are you all staring at? get them help! If they die, you’ll pay with your life”, you choked out a sob both at the fear of dying and the fear at Taeyong’s words, he shushes you and cups your cheeks 

“Deep breaths with me my love,” he assures and smiles a pained yet hopeful smile “Please? Take deep breaths with me?” he took slow deep breaths and you tried to follow along only to cry out more, it hurts everything hurts. You wanted it to end, you wanted to finally close your eyes and take a short nap, but Taeyong begged once he notices your droopy heavy eye lids

“No, No, please, don’t close your eyes, don’t ok? keep them open, listen to my voice, I’ll tell you stories, I’ll tell you what happened to Hansol” He says and ushers you awake, you tried to fight the drowsiness and listen, you really did, “Like that, keep them open and deep breaths ok” You only cried more once you felt the pain and he cries along with you, begging  “Please don’t leave me.” He starts and holds your hand “I’ll do anything. I’ll stop. I’ll quit but please just stay. Please, I have to make this right” he pleaded “Please!  I’ll quit NCT I’ll stay with you, just stay with me. Y/n, Y/n!”

You breathing was becoming shorter by the minute and the only one left was you, Taeyong and two of his men who looked away as tears pricked their eyes. You were mad at Taeyong, but what was the point, he’s here now and he’s crying and pleading for you to fight, but you were tired and you couldn;t even think straight. You wanted the pain to stop. 

Taeyong watched in horror as your short breaths ceased and he hold on to you tighter “Y/n?! Y/n No! No! Don’t leave me Please! Wake Up, Don’t Give in!” He moves to cup your cheeks to kiss your lifeless lips as a way to rouse you from your sleep like normal days when he’d wake you from your sleep and he finally broke down “I love you” He said in-between breaths “I love you so much, I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry”

“Hyung, Jeno said they got the sniper” Mark whispers

“Everyone else has the gang under custody” Kun adds aswell

“We have to go” Mark says

“I’m not leaving them here”

“You have to Tae,” Kun says softly “You know we do”

[padme-amitabha]

Is Anakin a Mary Sue?

Now it may shock you to learn this but it turns out that Disney Star Wars is kind of a contentious topic. The fandom's been more or less divided between those who like the sequel trilogy and those who like good movies but both groups spend a great deal of time slinging [ __ ] at each other over every form of social media known to man and truly no battleground is more fiercely contested than the protagonist of each trilogy. People who hate the Disney trilogy tend to criticize Rey for being an overpowered, flawless, perfect, invincible and unrelatable character for whom everything just kind of happens with no real struggle or difficulty a Mary Sue if you will.

Meanwhile supporters of the sequel trilogy are quick to leap to her defense usually with one of two potential counter arguments:  1. You just hate strong women 2. So what if she's op as [ __ ] Anakin Skywalker from the prequels was a Mary Sue too and you don't criticize him. You just hate strong women. This argument was brought into sharp focus for me the other day when I was perusing twitter in search of calm, logical, rational discussion about the merits of the sequel trilogy and I chanced upon this little gem of a comment. Ah yes that famously perfect protagonist who wins everything, always makes the right decisions, has a selfless and compassionate personality, and is universally loved and respected by everyone. Well random twitter [ __ ] as it turns out, I am ready to have that conversation right now. So saddle up y'all because the drinker's here to round up this [ __ ] and put an end to this argument once and for all. Let us journey deep into the world of the Star Wars prequels and see if we can figure out whether Anakin Skywalker really is a Mary Sue.

Now in order to do this, we have to nail down what exactly a Mary Sue is. Well according to the dictionary definition it's a term used to describe a fictional character, usually female, who is seen as too perfect and almost boring for lack of flaws originally written as an idealized version of an author in fanfiction. Now the finer points of what makes a Mary Sue can vary depending on who you talk to but after consulting multiple sources and drawing upon my own experiences as a writer, there's a few common traits that I think most people would generally agree on:

1.      Mary Sues usually possess skills and abilities that are not consistent with their situation and personal history. They can do stuff they shouldn't realistically be able to and they can do it better than anyone else.

2.      They usually possess flawless idealized personalities that no real person could measure up to they never give in to negative emotions like anger, greed, jealousy, selfishness or arrogance.

3.      They're universally loved respected and embraced by every good character they encounter even when there's no logical reason for this to happen.

4.      They never get seriously challenged, fail at anything or get beaten by anyone, success and victory come easily to them.

5.      They always make good decisions and strive to do what's right in any situation so why is this actually a problem.

Well I think the answer should be obvious, Mary Sues are boring as [ __ ]. If a character has got no flaws or weaknesses and never really gets challenged or tested by anything then what is there to get invested in?

It's the flaws and failings of a character that make them interesting in the first place and their struggle to rise above and overcome these flaws that make them so compelling. If these things are missing from a character, then there's nothing for the audience to latch onto or care about. There's nothing to like or root for. That's the essence of a Mary Sue and that's what we're going to be looking at here. So, with that in mind let's see how Anakin stacks up against this list shall we?

Point number one: Being overpowered and having abilities that he shouldn't. Now this more than anything else is what people tend to latch onto when they criticize Anakin and who can blame them really? On the surface it seems pretty ridiculous to see a nine-year-old boy doing stuff like this autopilot but let's put it into a wider context, shall we? When we first meet Anakin in The Phantom Menace, he's a slave living with his mother on Tatooine. He's spent most of his life salvaging junk and using it to make new stuff that can marginally improve their quality of life. As a result, he's become pretty good with technology. Well that makes sense, I guess. He's even applied these technical skills to pod racing where he's been fairly successful despite suffering at least one major crash that we know about. Again, this kind of makes sense when you consider he's strong with the force which would likely give him heightened perception reactions and understanding of the world around him, you know qualities that are important to high performance racing drivers. Anyway, his racing abilities allow the main characters to win an engine part that they need to repair their ship as well as enough money to buy his freedom. Sensing his importance Qui-Gon Jinn takes him under his wing and begins to teach him about the force. Remember when older mentor characters were allowed to teach the protagonist things? I miss that. He also takes part in a space battle that destroys an enemy mothership at the climax of the movie. Now as goofy as this scene is in its execution, it's not actually inconsistent with Anakin’s abilities and experiences. If you've worked around technology vehicles and ships your entire life and you can pilot a racing pod to a high standard then it stands to reason that you could probably operate other types of spacecraft as well, particularly if you have a droid on board to manage most of the ship's systems for you. However, for the sake of argument let's concede the Anakin in The Phantom Menace is indeed more skilled competent and capable than your average person.

So, what kind of effect would this have on a young man from an impoverished background suddenly thrust into a much larger world of power, politics and opportunity? Well that brings me neatly along to point number two: Mary Sues are supposed to have flawless personalities never giving in to anger, jealousy, resentment, vengeance or ambition. All throughout the second and third movies in the prequel trilogy, Anakin displays an increasingly severe set of personality flaws that begin to undermine his position in the world and his relationship with other characters. He's impetuous and hot-headed, frequently rushing into dangerous situations without waiting for backup or considering the risk to himself particularly when someone he cares about is in danger. Keep that one in mind because it'll be important later. He's ambitious but also impatient, feeling like he's been unfairly held back by other characters, particularly Obi-Wan Kenobi, and this resentment causes a growing rift between the two men that eventually spills out into open conflicts. Rather than taking the longer and harder path to wisdom and understanding, Anakin wants everything right away. He also cares deeply about people close to him and this attachment often manifests in explosive bites of anger and jealousy when he feels that they're being threatened like when his mother gets kidnapped and killed by Tusken Raiders, causing Anakin to go on a violent rampage that escalates into wholesale slaughter. Afterwards even he's shocked by what he did or when he believes that Padme has turned against him by Obi-Wan Kenobi, causing him to lash out violently against both of them. By this point he's been totally consumed by uncontrolled jealousy anger resentment and betrayal. All of the emotions that lead to the dark side of the force. The point here is clear: if you [ __ ] with someone he cares about then mercy and compassion go right out the window.

All of his skills, abilities and potential which seemed so overpowered and unnecessary in the first movie in fact serve a very important purpose for his character development. They've generated a sense of superiority, arrogance and overconfidence, and a reluctance to listen to criticism or advice no matter how well intentioned they might be. These are dangerous flaws in his personality all by themselves but combined with his overwhelming emotional attachment to people he cares about it creates a potent cocktail of reckless ambition and deep-seated insecurity that makes him uniquely vulnerable to manipulation something which will later prove disastrous because while Mary Sues are universally loved respected and trusted by everyone, Anakin certainly isn't in the first movie. Obi-Wan Kenobi, Mace Windu and Yoda are all against training Anakin to become a Jedi despite his obvious potential because they know he's already too old to be inducted. This lack of early discipline in his life would leave a dangerous gap in his personality, making him unpredictable and less able to control his emotions, two factors which are extremely dangerous for Jedi. These misgivings would carry over to the next two movies where Anakin is elevated to the Jedi high council on Palpatine’s orders but the council itself refuses to grant him the rank of master because they feel he hasn't earned it yet. Now a different man would see this as an opportunity to prove himself by working hard and earning their trust eventually winning them over and gaining the recognition he deserves but Anakin takes this as a personal insult from the council which drives a deeper wedge between him and a Jedi order which he believes will never truly respect or accept him. Wow it's almost like Palpatine knew this was going to happen and engineered the whole thing to pull Anakin closer to him portraying himself as the only one who can help Anakin realize his full potential. It's a surprisingly smart piece of characterization that's completely consistent with everything we know about both men. The higher Anakin rises the more it stokes the fire of his ambition and superiority and the more he comes to see anyone who doubts or cautions him as a threat to his success. This arrogance and overconfidence also causes him to test himself against powerful opponents before he's actually ready for them and unlike Mary sues who easily win every battle they have to fight, Anakin’s recklessness causes an escalating series of losses like here where he tries to take on count Dooku all by himself and it ends with Anakin getting his [ __ ] arm sliced off. But his desire for revenge against the man who defeated him ultimately causes a more powerful and better prepared Anakin to execute him in the following movie, again proving his willingness to give into vengeance and anger even against helpless opponents or here in his climactic confrontation with Obi-Wan where his enemy has the advantage but Anakin presses the attack anyway and well I think we know how that turns out. Just as a side note I love how this carries over to Return of the Jedi. See Luke’s taking the high ground here just like Obi-Wan did.

What we have here is a clear pattern of behavior from a man whose ambitions consistently outstrip his abilities. Rather than demonstrating patience and restraint and taking the slower and harder path to lasting wisdom and fulfillment, Anakin’s inherent character flaws cause him to push himself beyond breaking point with increasingly disastrous consequences which brings me neatly along to the final points: whereas Mary Sues consistently make good righteous decisions and always strive to do the correct thing, Anakin on the other hand demonstrates a consistent pattern of mistakes and misjudgments that ultimately cost him everything. As I've already shown you the flaws in his personality are exacerbated by his powers and abilities making him easy prey for a ruthlessly ambitious man that knows exactly how to flatter his ambitions and prey on his weaknesses this eventually causes him to commit terrible crimes like murdering an entire tribe including unarmed civilians murdering children, executing a helpless opponent, helping to kill a jedi master, trying to murder his own wife, trying to kill his mentor and best friend, joining forces with an evil dictator to overthrow the republic, delivering this scene…

What I’m trying to say with all this is that Anakin Skywalker is the very furthest thing from a Mary Sue that you can get. Trying to label him as a Mary Sue for no other reason than because he's good at lots of stuff demonstrates a complete misunderstanding of what a Mary Sue is and also of who Anakin is. The reality is that he's a powerful but deeply flawed man whose unique combination of circumstances and abilities have created a dangerous personality that's vulnerable to manipulation and corruption his greatest strengths ultimately proved to be his most terrible weaknesses with consequences that echo across the entire galaxy. Now I have my own thoughts on the prequel trilogy as a whole and I’d be lying if I said they were great movies but fundamentally I think the story they tell is actually pretty [ __ ] good and I’m just gonna say it: Anakin’s rise to power and fall to the dark side is a damn good piece of character work that Disney would have done well to pay more attention to. Anyway, that's all I’ve got for today. Go away now.

I would argue the prequels are great movies but he makes some very good points. I have seen so many Disney fans claim Anakin is a Mary Sue, when he’s anything but a Mary Sue. 

[kiradaxx]

Critical Care

This idea jumped into my head soon as I saw the scene with Tuvok and Janeway holding hands on the bridge in the episode Critical Care. This is definitely not a criticism of that scene because I loved it and found it hilarious and Janeway and Tuvok are bros for life. Tuvok's reaction was priceless and both actors crushed it. But I couldn't help reimagining this scene with a J/7 twist, cause, of course. So here we go, enjoy my brief, goofy J/7 rewrite of this episode's fake dating trope.

Also on AO3 here

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A powerful headache was throbbing in Janeway’s temples as she waited for the communications link to be picked up by yet another Delta Quadrant inhabitant in the long line of fruitless interviews she’d been conducting all day. Patience was a virtue she did not possess, but diplomacy she had in spades. So she’d been smiling and charming and biting her tongue down on more acerbic comments all day as she attempted to track down the scam artist who had managed to steal their doctor’s program right out from under her nose.

After hours of chasing down contacts and bouncing from one rumor to the next, from one unhelpful, frustrating source to the next, not only was Janeway tired, she was bored out of her mind. However, they had finally found a workable lead in Gar’s current girlfriend. They had just concluded a call with her husband- a sad, weepy man with little dignity left to his name. He had divulged far more information about his wife’s adultery than Janeway cared to know, but at least they had learned something to go off of. Now, they were hoping this woman could give them Gar’s actual whereabouts, rather than just tell them yet another story of how he had conned some unsuspecting soul and made off into the ether.

Janeway leaned heavily against the railing of the main command stage of her bridge, staring at the still empty view screen. Her chin rested in her right hand, her elbow on the railing, and as she stared out into space, she suppressed the urge to tap her fingers restlessly against her cheek. Waiting for the call to be picked up was about as thrilling as watching paint dry, and while she hoped for a more productive conversation this time, she wished she could be doing just about anything else at the moment.

Finally, their hail was answered, and the view screen displayed a pale woman with a large forehead of unique ridges sitting luxuriantly on a couch in what appeared to be a sunroom of some sort. Making quick work of her initial assessment of the woman and the necessary introductions, Janeway wasted no further time in explaining who they were looking for. This held little interest for the woman, though, and rather than offering any information about Gar, she instead asked how they had found her. When she was informed that her husband had given them her name, a look of vague disgust overtook the woman’s features. Janeway lamented internally as she realized the moment the woman opened her mouth that she was about to be subjected to still more details of this couple’s relationship problems.

“You’re a woman, you saw my husband with your own eyes.” Her tone carried a distinct distaste as she continued, “Overweight, depressed. You would have left him too.” A playful spark and a vapid smile lit up the woman’s face next, and she added, “Especially if you had met someone as exciting as Gar.”

Nasty comments about the man’s size or emotional state were hardly necessary, but Janeway couldn’t afford to lose this lead now. Not when they’d finally come so close to getting the scammer’s location. So for the sake of her missing crew member, once more she bit down on the inside of her cheek and held back on her criticism of the woman’s shameful attitude. She was only just able to restrain an eye roll when the woman began extolling Gar’s seductive qualities. But her day had been long and exhausting and filled with some of the most inane conversations she’d ever entertained, and when she offered a placating agreement to the woman’s assessment, she didn’t bother to muster any more enthusiasm than she would have for extensive dental work.

Chin still in her hands, posture slouched, and boredom leaching through every syllable, she said, “Yes, he’s very exciting.”

Somehow, unfathomably, this woman managed to interpret her words as genuine interest in Gar. As a threat of competition for her lover. She stiffened, growing defensive and accusative, throwing a glare through the screen while asking, “That’s why you’re looking for him, isn’t it? You want him for yourself.”

Janeway stared at her incredulously for a long moment, at once both insulted at the implication that she would be attracted to a sleeze like Gar, and baffled at how dense this woman must be to believe her lackluster agreement had constituted any actual desire.

Her patience had long ago run out, and even her dedication to diplomacy was wearing thin at this point. Her battle against the roll of her eyes continued to be hard fought, but not fully won as she felt herself blinking rapidly through her exasperation. She lifted her head off of her hand but changed little else about her posture, and replied, “I assure you I have no romantic interest in him whatsoever.”

The woman’s eyes narrowed and her shoulders remained squared, clearly still offended. “Why, not good enough for you?”

“No it’s not that, it’s just-” Janeway began to reply earnestly, but cut herself off. This was maddening, and she did finally allow herself to roll her eyes then. How did they even get this far off track, and why was she continuing this ridiculous topic? She exchanged a quick glance with Seven, who was serving a duty shift on the bridge and standing not too far from where Janeway was leaning against the rail of the main command well. The quirk of Seven's ocular implant and the amused but critical gleam in her eyes told Janeway she was not alone in finding this woman impressively asinine.

An idea occurred to her then, an absurd one. A ridiculous solution for a ridiculous problem, she supposed. She needed to get their conversation back to the matter at hand without angering Gar’s lover or drawing out this argument any further, and when she looked to the woman standing to her right, she saw a method to do just that. With an expression that made little effort to hide how unimpressed Janeway was with this whole situation, she reached her hand out expectantly towards Seven. She was completely bemused, but understood what Janeway was asking for and, albeit hesitantly, she placed her hand in the outstretched one the captain offered. Their fingers interlocked, sliding into a comfortable position without thought, and Janeway made sure to hold their hands up in clear view of the screen. She squeezed Seven’s hand in silent reassurance, and thanked the universe that she had played along without spoken question, even if she could feel Seven’s confused stare burrowing into her profile.

She intentionally allowed a little extra husk to fill her voice, a smoky lilt accompanying the suggestive look in her eyes as she said, “Gar’s not really my type, if you catch my drift.”

The woman observed them for a moment with no reaction at first, her defensive demeanor unchanged. Tom Paris turned from his position at the helm in surprise, and Harry Kim chuckled to himself while Tuvok merely lifted one eyebrow in their direction. Janeway ignored all of them; allowing herself to be embarrassed would hardly be conducive to getting the information she sought, and she didn’t have the intention of giving any of them the satisfaction. She had nothing to feel embarrassed about anyway. She was dealing with con artists, a little misdirection was necessary. After a few more seconds, she saw the understanding dawn on the alien woman, illuminating her expression. She observed them more curiously now, fixating on their joined hands and seemingly sizing them up. Her hostility deflated, and she appeared to be appeased by the insinuation that Janeway’s interests lay in a decidedly more sapphic direction.

Relieved that the ruse had worked, Janeway tried not to think too hard about the pleasant warmth suffusing her skin where her hand remained cradled by Seven’s. She hadn’t expected Seven’s touch to be quite so gentle, almost tender, and she wasn’t sure what to do with this information now that her brain was aware of it. But this was neither the time nor the place for her to feel a fluttering in her stomach that she wouldn’t want to analyze too closely even in the best of circumstances. She wasn’t actually attracted to women after all, she was simply skilled in the art of deception when the need arose. So, she pushed the thought aside and refocused.

“We have a business opportunity for Mr. Gar.” She said, resolute professionalism twice enforced now to maintain her composure. “One that will expire if we don’t find him soon.”

With all of the fight in her posture vanished, the woman released a slight sigh and finally, finally gave them Gar’s current location. “He’s on his way to the gambling tournament on Selek IV.” She paused, then in a softer tone, she added, “When you see him, tell him to hurry home.”

Janeway bit her tongue down one last time for that afternoon and refrained from saying that there was very little chance Gar considered their affair to be more than a quick romp in the sack, let alone his home. She hoped the look she gave the woman wasn’t too pity filled, but as the connection was terminated and the star filled vacuum of space retook the screen, she indulged in one last roll of her eyes. Just a small one, well earned after having had to insinuate herself even peripherally into the marital drama of several random civilians.

In the next moment, she remembered she was still holding Seven’s hand. Her skin tingled at the comforting warmth still present, and she looked to Seven with a slightly sheepish expression. Seven, for her part, was staring rather intently at Janeway, brows furrowed deep in question. Janeway was about to apologize in case she had made her uncomfortable, but the other woman spoke first.

“Are you sexually attracted to women?”

Well, at least Janeway could count on Seven not to beat around the bush. She fought the flames of embarrassment licking at her heated skin, and instead quirked her lips up in what she hoped was a confident grin.

“I was just trying to get Gar’s girlfriend to focus on the question. I needed to mislead her a little, make her think you and I were an item.”

Seven studied her another moment before replying, voice devoid of inflection. “I see.”

Janeway couldn’t shake the peculiar feeling that she had disappointed or upset Seven in some way, and she returned to her original plan to apologize. She still hadn’t let go of Seven’s hand, though she wasn’t sure why. She squeezed the hand in hers lightly, and said, “It seemed like the easiest way to get the information. I apologize if I made you uncomfortable. Thank you, for playing along.”

Seven nodded but said nothing, leaving Janeway to feel like she was still missing something. She offered Seven one more crooked smile, one more small squeeze of their hands, and finally dropped her hold on the other woman. While Seven returned to her normal work, Janeway strode over to her command chair, sinking into it with purpose. She put aside the seed of worry digging into her mind for the sake of focusing on their task. Crossing her legs and assuming her authoritative positioning, she commanded Tom to lay in a course for Selek IV. She would apologize to Seven again later if she needed to, perhaps find a way to make the offense up to her if she were still upset. But for now, she had a member of her crew to rescue.

[umishiqu]

Spoilers for TWST Chapter 4!!

This is just a made up interaction I made because I thought it would be nice. As much as JadeJami would make a good hate ship, I also want some comfort too...

This is kind of based around my own ideas since nothing is confirmed in totality yet, but #KalimIsNotUseless2020. Forewarning there.

After the overblot aftermath, Jamil asks Jade what exactly Kalim told him to allow them to figure out it was Jamil who masterminded the whole plot. Jade listens, and answers truthfully.

Jamil and Jade are sitting on the couch, watching Floyd and Kalim play a game of Mancala while Azul has fun feeding Grim some crackers for each time Grim wins. (A suggestion from Kalim, which then makes Azul lose as many rounds as he can just to see Grim eat the crackers. Don’t ask why, it’s funny and a good contrast from their last Mancala games :p)

JAMIL: Hey.

JADE: Hmm?

JAMIL: I’ve been wondering something for a while now.

JAMIL: ...you and your friends only suspected me once you came here,

JAMIL: but something happened while you were alone with Kalim to confirm it, right? Or else… whatever you did afterwards, wouldn’t have reaped any benefits.

JADE: Why, yes. I did get to know a lot of things about Kalim while we were alone.

JAMIL: *straight up fuming on the inside because of the possibility that Jade got intimate with Kalim* Then, out with it. What happened?

JADE: ...well, I guess it’s safe to tell you this. It’s not like you’ll ever become less cautious of me or less magically adept anyway.

JADE: My unique magic is “Shock the Heart”. It allows me to get a person to tell the truth, but it can only be used once. It can’t be used against anyone who is overly cautious or has a high magical resistance.

JADE: I had wanted to use it on you, but I think you can see how I’d run into problems with that. I should thank the stars that Kalim is as gullible as he is, no?

JAMIL: ...of course that’s what happened. Shouldn’t have expected anything more from him, I guess…

JADE: However.

JADE: He didn’t mention you at all, even when I asked him to name the person who knows how to use hypnosis.

JAMIL: …?

JADE: Of course, he fell for my magic at first and easily admitted that he knows someone who can use hypnosis.

JADE: But the only reason we were able to confirm our suspicions,

JADE: was because Kalim said that he couldn’t say who knew how to use hypnosis,

JADE: because of a dear promise he made to someone a long time ago.

JAMIL: …!

JADE: My unique magic can override all boundaries and walls a person has made to protect their deepest secrets,

JADE: but it seems to me that Kalim’s kindness and fondness for you was even stronger than that.

JADE: If it weren’t for Kalim’s long-held relationship with you, we would have never figured out who he beheld that promise to.

JADE: ...Then again, if it weren’t for that relationship in the first place, he would’ve never had any reason to keep your abilities a well-kept secret in the first place, hm? How truly interesting…

JAMIL: …

JAMIL: He’s been trying to get me to open up to him for a while now.

JAMIL: While we were at home, it would’ve been out of the question. What type of master listens to his servant’s troubles?

JAMIL: But ever since we came to Night Raven College, all he’s wanted to do was help. Sometimes me, sometimes his dormmates. Even if he can be terrible at it.

JAMIL: I could never understand why he changed, so I never let him…

JAMIL: But now, you’ve made something clear. Thank you.

JADE: I’m glad I could help. But now that I’ve told you my unique magic, it’s only fair you tell me something in return, no? You shouldn’t leave a poor thing like me pitiful and helpless to your whims…

JAMIL: ...of course you’re like this. I’m getting a headache…

JADE: Fufufu, I’m just interested.

JAMIL: …I’ve never talked to anyone about how I felt about being Kalim’s servant. And talking to Kalim won’t end well for me once our parents hear wind of it…

JAMIL: But it looks like he can show his competence when it truly matters to him.

JADE: ...This is Night Raven College. I doubt if you pull Kalim aside for a second and tell him your woes, he’ll tell anyone about it. And your parents? Even less likely they’ll hear it from him now that you won’t see them as much.

JADE: I’m sure he doesn’t want you as a servant as much as you don’t want him as a master.

JAMIL: ...the problem is that he might think it’s personal, at this point. He thought I truly wanted to serve him for so long... so how do I make him understand this?

JADE: Talk it through with him. He’s not as hopeless as you’d think, from what I’ve seen and what I’ve told you, no?

JADE: ...but if your conversations lead to a talk with your parents about your service, then I might suggest Kalim doesn’t mention anything about a promise this time, fufufu…

JAMIL: ...we’ll work on it.

JAMIL: ...I’m more than sure that advice wasn’t for free, was it? What exactly do you want…?

JADE: Well, there are some costly repairs at the Mostro Lounge done by Kalim’s magic carpet that we can’t possibly pay on our own…

JAMIL: I’ll talk to him about it.

JADE: You do that, then, fufufu…

[the-trashy-phoenix]

Supernatural season 5 review (part 1)

Link to part 2:

At the end of the previous season, as you remember, we were left speechless by all the plot twists happened in the last episode, leaving us on a cliffhanger. Of course we already know the aim of the entire fifth season will be stopping the Apocalypse, but we don’t have a clue, and neither do Sam and Dean at first, about how they’ll manage doing it, and that’s the whole point of this part of the show. As always, stopping the evil forces is not the only obstacle the brothers have to face, as there’s also a relational problem between them. This one is maybe the biggest so far, considering Sam himself caused the whole mess, to use an euphemism, they have to clean and will surely cause unpredictable tragedies all over the world (through the episodes, characters often refer to natural disasters). Sam’s guilt is nearly unbearable, and if we consider how considerate and kind he is we can assume it’s deadly painful for him, but that’s not the worst part. That’s not the reason why Dean can’t forgive him. Deep but not so deep inside he’s mad at his brother and can’t trust him because he refused to follow him and his advice and decided to trust Ruby’s plans. As always they’re both right: no one could say how evil Ruby was as she did a very good and long-term job in hiding it, and Dean himself trusted her, but the point is Sam made a choice and Dean can’t bare the fact that the only person he could really rely on chose someone else, especially because Sam’s choice proved to be extremely wrong. So paradoxically the real problem between them is not the Apocalypse, as Dean knows Sam would have never cause it on purpose, but the lack of trust, which is very difficult to restore (especially because they never maturely talk about it and they just do when they explode with anger and resentment) and which by the way prevents them from focusing properly on saving the world.

Moreover, the villain the world must be saved from is the worst you could imagine, Lucifer. This brings the fight on a superior level, as hell forces, now on earth, fight with heaven creatures, the angels we’ve met in the fourth season. The brothers are in the middle of this epochal war in the deepest sense, as both angels and demons want them on their side. Sam and Dean don’t know what to do, but they’re sure they will never ally with anyone, which is quite complicated because they’re deeply connected to both sides in an interesting way. As a matter of fact, in season four we've found out that not only Sam began the Apocalypse breaking the last seal, but also that Dean unintentionally started the whole thing breaking the very first seal when he accepted to torture souls down in hell. This makes Dean feel so guilty as well, and should make him consider Sam less responsible of the Apocalypse, and at some point he does, making it the real turning point in his view, as he realises they’ve been both cheated by angels and demons who made them their puppets assuming they would obey without arguing. Also, the brothers get to know they’re even more involved in the fight: Sam is Lucifer’s vessel, which means he’s the strongest human being able to carry the demon, but of course he has to say yes and he won’t, and Dean is Micheal’s vessel, which means he’s the only instrument angels have to make the archangel powerful enough to fight Lucifer and hopefully win the war. Sam’s choice is easy, as there’s no doubt Lucifer is evil, but still he has to bear a lot of pressure from Lucifer himself and his faithful demons who keep bothering him, Dean and Bobby the whole time.

Dean’s position is a lot more complex: he knows he’s the only hope to defeat hell creatures, but he’s also learned to be suspicious towards angels and would rather die than do what Zacharia wants, as he is not quite the type of person who easily forgives someone who’s been so mean to him. Somehow their only choice is quite clear, breaking free from both angels and demons and begin their own fight against all of them to stop the Apocalypse and save as many people as possible, as they seem to be the only ones caring for them. I think they know it from the beginning, but it’s a great step to take and before jumping into it they have to go through a process of inner growth, understanding how wrong it would be to take a side and how they just have each other to count on, even after all the lies and misunderstandings they’ve been through. After some time they’re ready to start their own fight, choosing carefully their soldiers in the people they trust the most and making an exception just for Castiel. He himself also went through a deep process of growth during which he becomes more and more human, both physically and spiritually, and brave enough to follow what he thinks is the right path despite the pressure from the angels, who are his family, and even if Sam and Dean’s idea of fighting against all supernatural creatures is desperate.

Of course Sam and Dean’s decision is sometimes not so firm: I’ll mention Dean’s temporary choice to say yes to Micheal, because it gives a great view of Dean’s inner self. He knows saying yes to Micheal means dying, so before leaving his body he goes to say goodbye to Lisa, his ex-girlfriend he met again some seasons ago, and tells her that she’s the only one he would imagine to be with in an hypothetical happy life. This scene really broke my heart because it’s one of the rare occasions in which Dean admits he dreams of a normal life, which could seem boring if he hadn’t experienced all the pain his life as a hunter brought him, free from the fear he constantly feels (and tries to hide in every way) and from all the burdens he has to carry every day. Dean seems even somehow happy to die, and it’s clear he hates the hunter life more than Sam, even if it’s the most important part of him. I appreciate so much Dean’s constant growth and development through the episodes and the increasing insight of his personality (which is, together with Sam’s, the most complex in the show) moving from the prototype of the narcissist and sexist guy to a deep and grown man.

In this season we also meet several times the other hunters who always keep in touch with and help Sam and Dean. Of course Bobby is still part of their team, and his storyline is developed as he has an accident that makes him lose the use of his legs. Castiel can’t help him because he’s lost his powers and Bobby cedes to deep depression. He feels more useless than ever and would do anything to have his legs again, considering how this is a huge handicap in his fully active hunter life, so he solves his problem the only way every character seems to know, making a deal with a demon. This one is particularly important as he’s a complex character whose intentions are not completely clear from the beginning, Crowley. He of course is a demon, and a very powerful one, but happens to help the Winchesters apparently without any reason giving them the Colt, the only weapon that could kill Lucifer (but it can’t, and the brothers will find out too late). I think this character will be a great source of satisfaction going on with the show.

Talking about hunters, I can’t but mention one of the saddest moments of the season. During the first attempt to kill Lucifer with the Colt, also Ellen and Jo get to help the “team free will”, as they’ve become full-time hunters after the destruction of their Roadhouse and are committed to the fight. Things don’t go as planned and the two women get killed by hellhounds aroused by Meg. Their death arises Sam and Dean’s guilt for all the good people dying to help them (and eventually they didn’t even manage to defeat Lucifer this time), because they refused to serve as vessels and chose to fight their own way. They still think that’s a good choice, but they have to constantly live with the burden of all the deaths they cause.

One of them keeps on tormenting Sam from the first season. He could never forget his guilt for Jessica’s death, but it becomes even more painful when he finds out she was meant to meet and love him and to be killed by demons from the start. Even his college best friend, who had presented Jess to him, was a demon, so that Sam was never destined to a normal life, even though he had tried so hard to build one, and everything that ever happened to him was meant to lead him to his predestined future, to become a hunter just as the father he had always wanted to break free from. This shocking revelation makes Sam cut once for all the hopes he had to stop being a hunter and to have a family one day: he now knows for sure he’s cursed (like his brother, who on the other hand can’t really let go that idea of a family) and understands he has to face his destiny without running away ever again.

I particularly liked the character of Chuck, the prophet, who can see in advance what will happen to Sam and Dean and help them, and Becky, the most dedicated fan of Supernatural, the series of books Chuck has written about the Winchesters. They also come together with the metanarrative of Supernatural itself, as Chuck wrote the books before knowing the whole story was real, and even after knowing it they keep on organizing events, such as the convention involving Sam and Dean themselves in episode 9, to bring together fans. At first it’s a bit of a shock, both for the protagonists and for us, but you get easily used to this mechanism of the show reflecting upon itself and it’s quite fun. I’m not a TV series expert, but I found this feature so original and kind of self-ironic I think that’s one of the elements which makes Supernatural unique.

Supernatural also touches kind of theological and philosophical themes through the narration about heaven and angels, focusing on their ambiguous morality, but in the fifth season also God has a space. At first he’s mentioned to justify Castiel’s resurrection (he had died at end of the fourth season) and at some point he seems to be the only one who is powerful enough to stop the Apocalypse and the war, but no one has seen him in years. The archangel Raphael says he’s dead and, when Sam and Dean go to heaven (which by the way wasn’t how I expected, as it’s just a place where you relive your happiest memories), Joshua tells them he’s alive but he doesn’t care anymore about his duties. That was quite predictable, but still it makes the brothers even more angry and hopeless, knowing that the angels are following orders from this God and that he has created humanity and forgot about it straightaway. This perspective about God is clearly made to make people think, and reflects how most of them feel about religion and Evil, which cannot be satisfactorily explained by the traditional idea of theology and free will (which by the way is the evocative name the brothers and Castiel give to their team). Sam and Dean need to find a way to reach their purpose to save the world and by doing it they can’t count on God or a good superior creature, but as always they can only count on themselves and do better than God himself did (which shouldn’t be too difficult).

Just when everything seems to be lost, an unexpected character, the Trickster, reveals himself. After giving us the last of his extremely funny and weird episodes, the brothers find out he’s the missing archangel, Gabriel: he’s an outsider in his family who broke free not to fight against his brothers, like Lucifer did, but to live a peaceful life far from all angels and demons’ issues. He’s neither good nor evil, because he doesn’t want to take sides, but it’s so clear he has a preference for Sam and Dean and kind of mirrors himself in their desire to follow their own path outside what heaven and hell have decided for them that he helps them explaining how they can defeat Lucifer. They have to collect the rings of the Four Knights, War, Famine, Death and Pestilence, to re-open Lucifer’s cage, but to do so Sam has to say yes to him and hopefully succeed in leaving it before falling down to hell. Of course Dean is not sure about the plan and doesn’t want his brother to do that, but they both know it’s the only way to stop the Apocalypse; also Sam is well aware of all the risks, but somehow feels it’s his chance to redeem and clear up the mistake he made. In one of the last scenes of the brothers together, Sam makes Dean promise the sweetest thing: he will not try to bring him back if he fails, and he will live a normal life with Lisa and Ben. The final fight ends really badly, as both Lucifer in Sam’s body and Micheal in Adam’s body (he’s the closest relative to Dean and the brothers, even if they tried, couldn’t protect him from angels, as another proof the Winchesters are cursed in their blood) fall and go back to Lucifer’s cage. I thought Dean would have never respected his promise, but the season unexpectedly ends with a peaceful scene of an ordinary dinner table where Dean, Lisa and Ben are happily eating as a proper family. But just when I thought the shock couldn’t be worse, the camera shows us we’ve seen this scene from a particular point of view, Sam’s. How can he possibly be back? What will he do now? We will surely find an answer in the next season…

- Irene 💕

[phantom-le6]

Episode Reviews - Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 4 (6 of 6)

To round of my look into season 4 of Star Trek: The Next Generation, here are my reviews of that season’s last two episodes.

Episode 25: In Theory

Plot (as adapted from Wikipedia):

Lt. Commander Data and Lt. Jenna D'Sora are in the torpedo room configuring several probes with which the Enterprise will explore a nearby nebula. D'Sora explains that her ex who she just split up with has asked her to dinner, prompting Data to remind her why they broke up as part of a standing agreement between the pair of them. Later they play together in a chamber concert along with Keiko O'Brien. D'Sora complains of her abilities as a musician, but Data insists that he could not hear anything wrong.

 Later, on the bridge, Data is reviewing the information from the probes sent into the nebula. He theorises that life might have evolved differently in the nebula because of the volume of dark matter detected. Captain Picard orders the ship to the nearest planet within the nebula. Data and Jenna configure further probes, when she kisses him on the cheek and then on the lips, before leaving the room. Data seeks the opinion of his friends, specifically Picard, Guinan, Geordi La Forge, Commander Riker, Counsellor Troi and Lt. Worf. Data decides to pursue the relationship and goes to Jenna's cabin with a bunch of flowers, where he informs her that he created a romantic subroutine for the relationship.

 Meanwhile, the Enterprise is approaching an M-class planet within the nebula. Picard enters his ready room and finds his belongings scattered on the floor. He calls in Worf, who cannot explain their displacement. Jenna arrives at Data's cabin where he is painting. She tells him to continue, but is then annoyed when he does so, causing him some confusion. The ship arrives at the coordinates for the planet but finds nothing there. Then it suddenly appears as the ship's computer warns of a depressurization in the observation lounge. The crew investigate and find all the furniture piled in one corner of the room.

 Data visits Jenna, but she seems unhappy and he is acting erratically in order to find an appropriate response to make her happy. It becomes evident to the crew that the nebula is causing distortions in space; Picard orders the ship into warp to leave the nebula as quickly as possible but this speeds up the distortions. Whilst investigating them, Lieutenant Van Mayter is killed when a distortion embeds her into the deck. Data discovers that dark matter is causing the distortions. The ship can detect the pockets at short range, but not in enough time to move out of the way. Worf proposes using a shuttle to lead the Enterprise out, and Picard insists on piloting it alone.

 Picard pilots the shuttle through the field of distortion pockets; he is initially successful, but the shuttle is damaged near the perimeter of the nebula. Chief Miles O'Brien transports the Captain back to the ship before the shuttle is destroyed. However, the Enterprise is now near enough to the edge of the nebula to no longer need the shuttle to scout ahead, and they quickly depart. Afterwards, Jenna reveals to Data in his quarters that she broke up with her boyfriend because he was emotionally unavailable and then pursued Date because he was the same. Data realises that she is breaking up with him and explains that he will delete the subroutine. Jenna departs and Data is seemingly unperturbed, although his cat, Spot, jumps into his lap as if to comfort him.

Review:

This episode was Patrick Stewart’s directorial debut on the show, following on the heels of fellow cast member Jonathan Frakes taking a shot at directing during the previous season.  Like Frakes, Stewart was handed a Data episode to do, and in some respects it’s a good episode.  In others, it’s less brilliant, specifically having a techno-babble B-plot thrown in because TNG was very much enslaved to the idea that the character always had to have an enemy or an anomaly putting them at risk, regardless of whatever else might be going on.  This plot doesn’t inter-connect with the A-plot except for both things happening in the same episode, and it includes Picard playing shuttle pilot when he’s not really the TNG character of note by way of piloting skills.  In fact, TNG and DS9 never really had a definitive helm officer in the way that the original series had Sulu and Voyager had Tom Paris, which when you have to do an episode with this kind of B-plot is a bit of a must.

 However, the meat of the episode is Data making forays into the world of romantic relationships, and to some degree I appreciate how some of his behaviours in this area are quite autistic.  His asking around the majority of the main cast and Guinan for advice, his inability to pick up relationship skills ‘on the fly’, and his emulation of stereotypical romantic interactions rather than just being himself are all things I can see someone on the spectrum doing.  Hell, I’ve done them all in my own unique way, and I can’t help but cringe a little reflecting on that.

 However, Data is only able to go so far both with his relationship and with his representation of the autistic mindset in this scenario because he lacks emotion.  I understand that this was meant to be the point; according to Memory Alpha, a lot of original series fan mail for Spock was from women who felt they could reach the character’s suppressed emotional core.  This episode was born of a fascination with this aspect of fandom, only it was written to see if a romantic relationship could work with a being who was hard-wired not to feel any emotion, to really explore the ‘ghost in the machine’ concept through Data.

 This, for me, is where the episode’s main plot really loses efficacy, because by definition a romantic relationship requires emotion, and as such Data was never going to succeed.  Frankly, I’d rather have seen them hold this plot off until the films when Data is finally given license to have emotions.  It would have been great to see Data have a romantic relationship then, because it would have been a more complete, well-rounded exploration of his status as an autism metaphor within the world of Trek.  As it is, characters like Voyager’s Doctor and Seven of Nine end up serving better in this capacity.

 It’s also disappointing to see that, not unlike some of my own early experiences in romance, Data isn’t being approached out of a genuine romantic interest on the part of Jenna.  To her, he’s basically a re-bound fling; she’s struggling with being single again, keeps having to be reminded why this is so, and tries to make something happen with Data to ‘fill the void’.  It’s not unlike how some girls used to pretend to go out with me to test, and mock, my gullibility, and for me it’s right up there with people who go out with someone just to avoid being single (done that), or to get something else like a roof over their head or cash.  To my mind, no one should ever do anything like this; if you want a romantic relationship with someone, it should be real romance or nothing.

 If you want a fling, a rebound or anything similar, then you seek out something more casual like friends-with-benefits, and you say that’s what you want up-front.  Leading people on is never ok, and it seems to me it only happens because of neurotypical selfishness and unwillingness to talk about you want before anything happens. The model of discussion-first-action-second is something that already exists within certain forms of sex play, and it’s probably going to gain wider and wider use over time for consent in general, and it’s exactly the kind of thing that would not only make all relationships more autism-friendly, but it would also vastly reduce the potential for being misled.

 What would have improved this episode, aside from Data actually having emotions, would have been to see the female guest character seek him out just from general attraction with no recent ex being mentioned, and perhaps having the B-Plot put the A-Plot characters in danger more directly.  That would have helped the B-Plot gain some additional worth and would have created a dramatic scene that would have more conclusively answered the ‘ghost in the machine’ question around Data.  As it is, it’s a middling episode and a poor showing for something Data-centric; I give it 5 out of 10.

Episode 26: Redemption (Part 1)

Plot (as adapted from Wikipedia):

Captain Picard and the Enterprise are asked to attend the installation of Gowron as the Leader of the Klingon High Council, as it is Picard’s final duty as the Arbiter of Succession. Gowron intercepts the Enterprise en route and informs Picard that the House of Duras will challenge Gowron's position, which may lead to a Klingon civil war. Picard states he cannot intervene beyond his role as arbiter, and asks Worf to escort Gowron to the transporter room. There, Worf informs Gowron of the truth about his discommendation; Gowron thanks Worf for killing Duras, but explains that he cannot clear Worf’s name because he needs the support of the council, many of whom are loyal to Duras. Worf then requests a leave of absence from Picard to visit his brother, Kurn, who controls a small fleet of Birds of Prey, and to urges him to back Gowron. Worf plans to use this support as leverage so that once installed as the Leader, Gowron can reinstate their family name.

 Interrupting the ceremony, the Duras sisters present their deceased brother's illegitimate son, Toral, who has the lineage to challenge Gowron. Picard is called on to determine Toral's candidacy. Relying on Klingon law, Picard comes to the conclusion that Toral is too inexperienced to be Leader, and secures Gowron's candidacy. This, however, prompts a majority of the council members to abandon Gowron. Gowron returns to his ship to meet with Worf, who offers his brother's fleet's support in exchange for the return of his family name to honor. Gowron initially refuses, but they are attacked by two ships loyal to the House of Duras. Worf and the arrival of Kurn's fleet dispatch the attackers. Picard completes the rite and installs Gowron as Leader; Gowron restores Worf's family honor.

Gowron and the Enterprise crew learn that the Duras sisters are assembling a fleet to incite a civil war. As the Federation cannot get involved in internal affairs of the Klingon Empire, Worf resigns his commission from Starfleet to assist Gowron and Kurn. As the Enterprise evacuates the area before fighting begins, Toral and the Duras sisters consider Picard a coward, but their Romulan ally, a woman bearing an uncanny resemblance to the late Tasha Yar, emerges from the shadows and warns them that Picard may return.

Review:

Apparently, this episode was originally planned as the season 3 cliff-hanger finale, but had to be delayed because those working on the show who wanted this episode really had to fight for it.  Apparently, Gene Roddenberry didn’t want to do any kind of war stories, even if that war was internal to the Klingons and not something the Federation got involved in.  Granted, I don’t think this episode could be as good as it is without everything leading up to it, and part of that groundwork lays here in the fourth season as well as the third and second.  Nevertheless, it seems that once again Roddenberry was taking his idealism one step too far, and I’m guessing him having to step back from production of the show due to increasingly ill health around this time was the only reason we got this episode.

 Being only one part of a larger story, of course, the episode loses out a little for not being quite as self-contained as it otherwise would be as a one-part episode.  However, it delivers a lot for part 1 of a two-part narrative; we finally see Worf get his discommendation lifted and Gowron take command of the Klingon Empire, only to then see Worf resign his commission when Picard won’t wade into the civil war, even though we all know by now Picard should realise it’s not even remotely an all-Klingon affair.  Picard and Worf are well aware that the Duras family are thick as thieves with the Romulans, and they’ve had the recent events of ‘The Mind’s Eye’ to illustrate to them that dividing the Federation and Klingon Empire is high on their agenda.  Surely Picard should have been able to put 2 and 2 together in this part and sided with Gowron outright, rather than appearing to cling to the Prime Directive.

 This is where TNG, and Trek as a whole, falls down a little; it can’t seem to come up with a consistent approach to the Prime Directive.  Some episodes it gets broken, others it gets adhered to, and at times you’ll get a non-adherence for a situation that in a later or earlier episode saw the rule being upheld. Back in season 1, Picard was willing to dare the wrath of the Edo’s ‘god’ to save Wesley Crusher from execution, but in this episode, Picard won’t act to save Worf when Gowron’s ship gets fired upon. Both times someone from the Enterprise was in danger, so surely Picard should take the same actions, but he doesn’t. I can’t tell if this meant to be a follow-on from ‘The Drumhead’ and they stupidly cut out some exposition where Picard says ‘we have to be extra careful now to avoid another Satie-style witch-hunt’, or if it’s just a lack of attention to continuity.

 For me, this episode really relies on Worf and Gowron to carry it, as Picard’s so-called ‘tightrope walking’ just makes him look decidedly unheroic and not a little ruthless.  Honestly, this episode would have benefited from a more Kirk-ian/Sisko-esque style of captain.  Overall, I give it 7 out of 10.

[iwillhaveamoonbase]

We Could Be Heroes ch. 7

Runaan gripped the steering wheel as he and Ethari drove to the office of the Xadia Dispatch. “You’re sure your friend’s sister is going to be acceptable?”

Ethari shrugged. “Honestly? I don’t know a lot about her. My friend seems to think so and she’s got the best reputation on that whole paper. Did you schedule an appointment?”

“Aye. I’m not taking any chances to let anyone fuck with my kid.”

Ethari side-eyed Runaan for a moment. Ever since they had told Rayla to move in with Callum, Runaan had been silent on the subject. “I like Callum. I can see that he’s good for Rayla.”

Runaan sighed before running a hand through his long hair. “I do, too. I’ve been keeping tabs on him ever since Bandlr sent that first email. Doesn’t party, doesn’t dabble in dark magic, is known for being respectful towards women and elves. I know it was Rayla who fought telling us when they got serious and he still took half of the blame.”

Ethari was quiet for a moment. Rayla had always been just as stubborn as Runaan and her parents. It was both one of her best and one of her worst qualities. “I just don’t like the world he lives in. I have nothing against King Harrow and everything I’ve ever heard about Queen Sarai was positive. It’s just, Rayla’s been taught to live in the shadows and the sun is going to be on her from now on.”

“Trust me, Ethari, I don’t like it either. No one should live the way he does. Every little thing is picked apart, even his relationship with the King. No wonder he’s tried to keep a low profile since he entered the university. Yes, he lives in the lap of luxury and has never wanted for anything, but if that’s the price, I wouldn’t take it.”

Ethari kept an eye on the map as he hummed in agreement. “It’s coming up, get ready to turn left.”

Runaan moved to the left lane and turned on his blinker. “Got it. Now, if they refuse to let us in, I will run my blade through them until we get to the top floor.”

“You can’t be serious.”

“I’m more serious than I am making cake for Rayla’s birthday.”

“Have you talked to Lain or Tiadrin?”

“No, and Rayla hasn’t either.”

“I wonder if they even know.”

Runaan was silent, his fingers minutely clenching the steering wheel. It bothered all of them that Rayla was not in contact with her parents. Lain and Tiadrin had missed far too much and communicated far too little. Perhaps, the honor of being part of the Dragon Guard came with a price far too steep for anyone with a family.

Runaan pulled in to the Xadia Dispatch office, a stylish building that obviously had some human influence if the giant windows and bright white walls with no greenery was any indication. Ethari gently squeeze Runaan’s hand before they parked. This was not going to be easy.

Getting to see the editor-in-chief was, shockingly, the easy part. The moment they stated they were the parents of the elf dating a human prince, the whole office seemed to be in an uproar. There were people coming up to them begging for the chance to interview Rayla. How on Earth any of this got so big so fast was beyond Ethari’s comprehension. It all seemed too fantastic and easy.

When Siobhan, a Tidebound elf, came into the editor-in-chief’s office, he realized just how easy their path had been so far. “I thank you for the opportunity, but I must decline,” came her even and slightly detached answer to their request.

Runaan clenched his fists again, though his face showed no sign of the turmoil Ethari could feel brewing in himself. “Why?”

Siobhan sighed. “The truth is, I don’t approve of their relationship. I don’t think I’ll be fair during the interview. I understand you want someone with integrity, but I’m not the person for the job.”

Ethari jumped in before Runaan could do further damage to the situation. “Then who do you recommend?”

“Everyone here is chomping at the bit for this opportunity.” A nonchalant shrug and a gesture towards the office accompanied her words.

“We don’t want just anyone. This is our niece. How this first interview goes is going to have a big impact on her life from now on. People will remember this. Who do you recommend?”

She looked down and shuffled through the list of reporters that the editor-in-chief had been so kind to give them. “None of these guys. Not her. Definitely not him; he has an anti-human agenda.” After a few minutes of this, she groaned. “It looks like I’m your only real bet. Everyone else has fudged interviews, has an anti-human stance, sensationalized something or other, or is just a bad reporter in general. This is…this is big and you need someone who isn’t going to treat it like a circus or an opportunity to spread their own agendas. I’ll do it, but I can’t promise anything. Once I go down there, I’m not going to hold back. I may very well insult your niece or her boyfriend. Are you alright with that?”

“Can’t you do this without your own bias?”

A snort and a head shake was her answer for a few moments. “See, everyone says they can, but no one does. We all come from places and experiences that have shaped us and our opinions. Emotions can run high during things like this. Not only that, but you have to understand that anyone who sees them is going to be judging something or other. They may judge Rayla’s clothes or Prince Callum’s knowledge on the sky arcanum. They could be judging if they sit too close to each other or not close enough. It’s going to happen and judgements can be placed in the opening and closing paragraphs that we are allowed to have. Not only that, but the editor-in-chief is able to make changes to fit their own rhetoric if they really want. It’s not ethical, but it can happen.

“But it’s even more than that. You said that you’ve met Prince Callum, right? Well, if it was as an introduction as her boyfriend, that means that this relationship is serious. It is possible that this could lead to marriage. And everyone is going to grab a hold on that. Your niece is going to be entering a world, perhaps until the day she dies, that is not as sparkly and shimmery as it appears. There is nothing like it in Moonshadow or Tidebound culture, not even Silvergrove, but I’ve been to a few events held on the border by the nobles of Katolis. It seems like they want for nothing, but they are held so strictly by decorum that any little thing that goes against it reflects not only on them, but on their families. And the world eats every little thing up and twists it until it’s something completely different.”

Ethari turned to Runaan, a tense look on his face. Runaan looked back and nodded, a silent agreement to whatever Ethari decided was best. Ethari sighed before turning to Siobhan. “We’ll take whatever you can give us. Just…try to be kind.”

Siobhan looked straight at them both, flickering her eyes between them. “I swear to be honest; nothing more nothing less.”

Runaan stood and crossed over to her, hand out. “Deal.”

-------------------------------------------------------

Harrow looked over at Ezran as they adjusted their clothes. The rest of the Pentarchy had called an emergency meeting following Callum and Rayla’s announcement. A part of Harrow hadn’t wanted Ezran to come. He knew that there was going to be a lot of tearing down of Amaya and Callum. Ezran had insisted, calling it his duty as the future king and as a member of their family. “Are you ready, Ezran?”

“I’m not. Are you?”

“I’m never ready for a meeting with the Pentarchy. Queen Aanya’s mothers were excellent queens and good people, but it’s not about that. You have to understand that every ruler in there is not just thinking about what they want. They also have to think about their people and how best to serve them. Because Katolis and Duren are the border to Xadia, we are in a unique position and we have to respect that we are a group of five kingdoms trying to find reasonable answers that all of us can live with. Not necessarily like, but live with.” Ezran nodded, still looking a little scared. “When my father took me to my first Pentarchy meeting, he told me that I didn’t have to say a word. I could simply be an observer. It’s up to you if you want to talk or if you want to listen.”

“What did you do?”

“I listened. But this is far more personal than talk about trade. This is about our family. I’m going to have a hard time holding my own tongue, so I’m not going to tell you to hold yours.”

A guard came in, looking annoyed as he saw the two before putting on a neutral face. “Your Majesty, Your Highness, it’s time.”

“And so, it begins.” They walked from Harrow’s room to the meeting room. There were two extra chairs, one for King Ahling’s son and heir and one for Ezran. Harrow stood in front of his throne and gestured for Ezran to stand with him. “We do not sit until everyone has come. King Ahling is a little older and his knee has started to give him trouble, so he is the only one allowed.”

The kings and queens slowly filtered in, Queen Aanya stood the tallest of them all despite her youth and short stature. Prince Kasef tried to stand proud and acted like he belonged there. Instead, he looked like a child that still didn’t know what he was doing. After their greetings, they all sat and looked straight at Harrow and Ezran. It was silent for several minutes, fidgeting galore among the normally to-the-point royals. Queen Aanya shrugged before standing. “No one else wants to breach the topic, so I’ll do it. King Harrow, Prince Ezran. It has come to our attention that Katolis has not only one, but two members of its royal family in relationships with elves. We understand that Katolis and Xadia share a border and its position makes this far more likely than say, Evenere having the same situation. However, it does not change the fact that Xadian influence could start seeping into Katolis and then make its way into the rest of the human kingdoms. In full-confidence, and as clear as possible, we would appreciate answers you can give that will let us know that Katolis still has the Pentarchy’s interests at heart.”

Harrow nodded and turned to the others. “Anyone else have anything they would like to add to the matter?”

King Florian stood up, his arms behind his back. “Yes. Your step-son, Prince Callum, already has too much influence as a member of the royal family and his efforts in becoming an archmage without dark magic cannot be replicated. He continues to spout nonsense about how he accessed sky magic and it has led to nothing. Moonshadow elves can cast illusions, can they not? How does even he know that it’s not all a ploy to get him to the border and this Rayla isn’t there to influence him?”

Harrow waited for someone else to speak up, but the rest of the room fell silent. He stood, letting pride for Callum’s accomplishments seep into his voice. “If I may, I would first like to address my son, Callum. Callum unlocked the sky arcanum by chance when he was seventeen. He had been practicing with a primal stone and got very good very fast. He had grown up around dark magic due to my former councilor, Viren, and his former girlfriend is a dark mage herself. My departed wife, his mother, Sarai, had detested dark magic and her influence caused him to reject it and call it what it is; a short-cut that takes lives that are not the caster’s to give. Viren launched an attack at the castle and Callum had no choice but to break the primal stone to protect Ezran. In a moment of necessity, he took away his one shot at continuing to do magic.

“Viren had sent shadow wolves to in revenge the next night, attacking Callum in his sleep. My son fought the dark magic in him for several days. When he awoke, he talked about sails, and wings, and how the wind and sky relate to everything. I couldn’t understand what he meant, but he drew a rune and used ‘aspiro’ without the primal stone. You’re right, Callum can’t fully explain to anyone exactly what he has done or how he has done it, but he is making efforts to. He’s trying to unlock at least one other arcana so he can. You must all remember; my son is a nineteen-year-old young man who is still learning about himself and the part he plays in Katolis now that he is no longer a child. He is doing his best and I believe he will get there.”

“And what of my second question? How do you know this isn’t all an illusion?”

“Moonshadow elves cannot hold an illusion for more than two years on this grand of a scale. It would be possible if Callum wore something imbued with Moon magic or had a rune forcibly put on him. We already checked for those possibilities. When Callum came with me to visit you two years ago, Queen Fereeda, that was because it was going to take him as far away from the border as we could get. He was stripped of his clothes and checked by healers for any signs of runes, unusual markings, or something lying under his skin. He was then made to replicate every spell he had learned since he began using the primal stone. Callum was still capable of doing magic to the exact same degree he was when we were in the castle back in Katolis. I understand your stance, which is why we had it done in the first place. We couldn’t be too careful, because Viren could have made an illusion as well and was trying to take control of the Pentarchy through Callum.”

King Florian nodded his assent, clearly placated for the moment. Queen Fereeda stood, locking eyes with Harrow. “I remember that trip. It is how King Harrow says it is. Prince Callum spent much of his time on the furthest possible reaches away from Xadia. He also told my own mages to stop using dark magic and try to use the sky arcanum. There was no result. Should my mages have been infected with dark magic, King Harrow? Or perhaps breaking a primal stone is the answer?”

“I can’t answer that question for you. Neither can Callum.”

“It’s been long enough,” the frustration they all probably felt was clear in Fareeda’s voice. “He should have an answer. I have heard rumors that he has officially been labelled as a potential threat to Xadia. My mages think he is a threat to humans. Why should we believe he isn’t? I understand that he is your son, so I ask you not to think of him as your child, but as a king would his subject.”

Harrow leaned back, stroking his chin. Ezran was practically humming with nervous energy, but Harrow saw that there was so much understanding brewing within him. Ezran would make a good king if he continued to have his good heart and understanding nature. “I’m not discrediting your stance, Queen Fereeda, but I must ask: does any of this have to do with the fact that Callum does not come from nobility? It’s not a secret that his mother was from a military family and his father was a poor artist. And this would not be the first time someone has given Callum less credence because of his parentage. Would you trust him more if he was of my blood?”

Queen Fereeda looked like she wanted to say ‘no’, but quickly stopped herself. There was silence until Prince Kasef stood up. “With all due respect to Your Majesties, may I interject?” Harrow nodded his assent with the others. Prince Kasef was not known for being sharp and was more well-known for his hot-headed behavior. But, the point of these meetings was to give everyone a chance to say their peace. “I would trust him more if he was of your blood, King Harrow. He has no real ties to you beyond his mother’s marriage and she passed long ago. He could very well be conspiring with the elves in Xadia and has been this whole time. As for the time in Evenere, what if there was a Moonshadow elf on board who cast an illusion on everyone? Frankly, your step-son shouldn’t have even been in the palace all these years to start with.”

Harrow was about to give a rebuttal before Ezran stood up. “With all due respect Your Majesties, I would like to say something on my family’s behalf.” The nods of assent were all Ezran needed, but he still looked to Harrow for permission. Harrow gave him an encouraging smile. “You say that Callum has no ties to our father. That’s not true. Callum is my half-brother, we share the same mother. His first tie to our father is through me. His second is through our mother, who loved our father and stood by him. His third tie is through the official adoption that took place a mere month after our parents were married. His fourth tie is the familial bond he and our father share, even if it is not by blood. His fifth is through Callum’s loyalty not only to our family, but to Katolis as a whole. I get what you’re saying, but I respectfully disagree. Callum would never act against our father, the only father Callum has ever really known.

“Questioning Callum’s loyalty to the good of Katolis, of human-kind, and all of the efforts our father and mother made is the same as asking anyone else here if they are loyal to the Pentarchy. As for the magic, I understand what Callum says when he talks about it. But I also know Callum better than anyone. There is a method to what he says. Perhaps that time when he was free from all distractions was what was needed for him to understand how it works and there are distractions everywhere now that he’s awake. Everyone is pulling him in a million directions and demanding answers. And when he gives them, they aren’t good enough. He hasn’t even graduated or been able to use any other primal magic. Give him time; he’s getting better at explaining it. This is new territory for the world, not just him. I would never go up to you, Prince Kasef, and demand to know exactly why horses in your country are paler and taller than most in Katolis without giving you time to do your research. And even then, it’s not equivalent. That research has already been done; this hasn’t.”

Kasef glared at Ezran before giving a stiff nod, finally sitting back in his chair besides his father’s throne. Instead of being upset, King Ahling laughed. “Well said, Prince Ezran. Between you and Queen Aanya, I feel like the Pentarchy is going to be in good hands.” Harrow noticed Kasef grit his teeth a bit at the praise.

“Thank you, King Ahling. I will admit that it is selfish of me to want to protect Callum. He isn’t just my brother. He’s my best friend and the one person I’ve always turned to when I’m scared, nervous, or simply so happy I could burst. We are a pair and, when I take the throne, I plan to have him right by my side. There is no one else I trust with my life more. He gave up magic, his destiny, to save my life without a second thought. That speaks more for his character and his devotion to peace and our family than anything I could ever say in this room.”

Queen Aanya stood, slowly looking around the room. “If everyone is satisfied with those answers, then I must ask that we turn to the subject of General Amaya and General Janai’s upcoming nuptials.” Kasef stood up quickly, taking a step towards Aanya. “Why are you the one in charge?”

Aanya raised a brow before slowly looking Kasef up and down. It was painfully clear just how unimpressed she was by his actions. She tilted her chin up and met Kasef’s eyes. “Because I’m the one that called this meeting. My people have benefited from Katolis’ help, but I will not pick a side based on that. I will also not stand back and let a war happen if I can help it. Technically, our war with Xadia has been at a standstill for generations. Battles have not been fought, few killings have been done in revenge, and the Dragon King, as well as the royalty of the Pentarchy, have not been assassinated by either side. I don’t know what’s going on in Katolis, nor do I understand Prince Callum’s ability to use magic, but I do know that I want peace. My people want peace. If Katolis already has two members of their royal family in relationships with elves, then they are closer to reaching an understanding with Xadia then the rest of us. I want answers first, but I would not be opposed to standing behind Katolis and King Harrow if it meant even a simple alliance. We must look past our prejudices and all the hatred that has been spread throughout the centuries and realize that all of this could finally come to an end.”

Kasef looked at Aanya and then at Ezran. “What of dark magic? The elves will not stand down until humans have stopped using it. We will not ask our mages to stop using our best means of protection!”

Aanya snorted before raising a brow. “That’s the most intelligent thing I’ve ever heard you said, Prince Kasef. My mages also do not want to give up dark magic, but Prince Callum’s abilities give us hope. IF he can explain it and it can be replicated, they are willing to give up dark magic. Only a fool ignores the damage dark magic does to the mind and body. If they aren’t willing to use primal magic and the elves are willing to come to an understanding, then they will no longer be under my protection. King Harrow, you are the most aware of the dangers dark magic presents. Please, share your thoughts.”

Harrow waited for Ezran, Kasef, and Aanya to sit before standing. King Ahling was right about Ezran and Aanya, but something about Kasef was not sitting right with Harrow. ‘Maybe he’s trying to prove he can be king when his father dies.’ “You all know the story of how we saved Duren from famine using dark magic. You also know that that story ends with the Queens of Duren and my wife’s deaths. After that day, Viren, my most trusted advisor at the time, continued to offer ‘creative’ solutions using dark magic. I picked and chose which ones to use, but I began to see what my wife had always seen.

“It was starting to twist him and we relied too heavily on magic instead of coming to a decision sooner. Queen Aanya, I apologize for what happened to your mothers. The blame for that day rests just as squarely on my shoulders as it does Viren’s. He suggested it, but I chose to do it. Sometimes it is tempting and there is no right answer. I can’t tell you what to do concerning your mages or dark magic. What I can tell you is that I no longer want it in my kingdom. The only person who is legally allowed to perform dark magic, currently, is the Lady Claudia because she uses it to keep her brother walking. Even then, my son is making efforts for her to discontinue her use of dark magic and she knows that if she uses it for any other purposes, she will lose my support.”

Everyone seemed satisfied with his answer, but Harrow wanted to nip the issue with Amaya and Janai in the bud. “As for General Amaya and the General Janai; they have both spent a lot of time on the border. Through peace talks and mutual respect due to their combat skills, a friendship was formed. Both Amaya and General Janai are private people and have kept some information to themselves, but I have no reason to believe that it is part of some plot to invade Katolis. General Janai has already come to Katolis and has been respectful, kind, and understanding. The Sunfire elves, due to Janai’s high position in their military and her sister’s position as leader at Lux Aurea, have agreed to pushing peace talks beyond the border and as deep into Xadia as possible.”

Aanya nodded. “Anyone else have any other matters?”

King Ahling raised his hand. “I, personally, am all for peace and for the potential future that has been presented to us. King Harrow, my one concern is still your step-son. I respect Prince Callum. He has been quite pleasant, if not quiet, every time I have met him. He understands that Prince Ezran is your heir and has no desire to go above his station.” Harrow gritted his teeth a bit. He knew that him being king was a mere accident of fate. Callum was just as much the future of Katolis as Ezran and it seemed like the world preferred to imagine Callum as a potential usurper or as a shadow. He had taught his sons that they were no better than anyone else because of their stations and to use their stations to help make the world into a better place. Perhaps, the rest of the Pentarchy needed the same lesson. “He needs to either explain the sky arcanum, and human mages need results, or he needs to unlock another and explain that one. Otherwise, I’m going to have to wonder if all of it is an illusion or a carefully crafted ruse. As to how it’s been going on so long, I’m not sure.”

Harrow locked eyes with all of the rulers, paying careful attention to Prince Kasef and Queen Aanya. He would need to talk to Kasef as soon as possible. “I understand and will pass on the message. When I have an answer, I will be sure to call the Pentarchy to meet. Until then, please have faith in my son’s efforts.”

A call to lunch led everyone to leave the hall. Harrow quickly called for Kasef, causing him to stall. “Yes, King Harrow?” His voice was taut and his jaw squared.

“Prince Kasef, I noticed you were upset with your father’s praising of Ezran and Aanya. You must understand, Queen Aanya needs positive influence from the rest of the Pentarchy. She is surrounded by sycophants who would destroy Duren if she let them. It does her good to hear from her peers that she is doing well. As for my son, it’s his first meeting here. I’m quite proud that he has spoken well, but you have spoken well yourself.”

“For a spoiled brat? I know how everyone sees me. I won’t deny, I’m not as intelligent or strategic as Queen Aanya and speaking like Prince Ezran does not come easily to me. My father admires both of them, and your other son, greatly. The last time he came back from Katolis, all he could talk about was the great future mage, Prince Callum, and how Prince Ezran will never have to worry about the same things Queen Aanya did as long as Prince Callum is around. Even if he’s nothing more than a step-prince.” That last word was sneered as Kasef made full eye-contact with Harrow. He must have known how it upset Harrow to hear that word. Yes, Callum was his step-son, but Callum was his son in his heart. He never appreciated the term ‘step-prince’ and had frequently tried to quash it. Unfortunately, the press got wind of it and refused to let it go.

“My sons will not follow my path and are already questioning what is thought to be truth. I admire them myself. Prince Kasef, please, be wary of those who try to whisper in your ear and tell you what the truth is with no evidence.” Harrow gave a quick bow to Kasef and left to join his son and Queen Aanya for lunch. He needed to be around those who saw reason after that headache.

[comicbookuniversity]

Dragon Ball Super and the Future

by Bunnypwn Gold

I am a huge fan of Dragon Ball, as I have stated here before and as I have written about in the past. My love and knowledge of this franchise is deep, and I will always be ready to enjoy what it has in store and wrestle with the ideas in it. And right now, it’s a great time to be a fan, because Dragon Ball Super is going strong. The anime has come to a conclusion and/or could come back in the future, and the manga is approaching the climax of its newest story, the Galactic Patrol Prisoner Saga. It’s amazing for a lot of reasons that I’ll discuss as I respond to this article by Kofi Outlaw, which praises the saga for going back to DBZ style storytelling as a “course correction.” While I agree with several points in this article, I also disagree with the basic premise and argue that the author is only saying these things about the saga because he has not been paying attention to how consistently better the manga has been than the anime of Super. I am using this response to organize my thoughts on how Super has gone so far, the divide between the anime and manga version of events, and the future of the series as a whole, not as a pro or anti stance against Kofi or his article, to be clear.

At the beginning, Kofi criticizes Super for having low stakes and focusing on making Goku and Vegeta the sole focus, increasing their power levels dramatically and leaving other characters to languish. He also said that there were a lot of gimmick fights. Overall, the story structure had changed to reflect this change in character focus and the villains were weak and unmemorable. This new arc, featuring fan-favorite villain Planet-Eater Moro and a range of great battles with his bandits for the Z Fighters to show their stuff, is a return to the DBZ structure, and it features all the brutality and high stakes of the old days. Best of all, it lays the foundations for a new future focusing on other characters.

I have to say, I agree with much of this. The focus on Goku and Vegeta as “Gods” and their super-special Saiyan-ness in the meta canon is really annoying to me. Elements of this were seen in DBZ, as the humans and Piccolo stop trying to catch up to the Saiyans, and it was all GT was about, making that series a big disappointment for me. The first three stories of the Super era are notably low stakes, as well, and I would have liked a little more tension. There could have been more focus on other characters and a larger cast in general, and that certainly would have been enjoyable. And to finish it out, I am very excited for what the Moro story means for the future. The whole thing has a “last chance to shine” feel for the old guard of characters we’ve known and loved for years, Goku is probably going to master Ultra Instinct and thus complete his journey as a martial artist, and it still opens up a lot more about the history and lore of the series to explore in the future.

Beyond that, I have a lot to disagree with. For starters, if you look at the Tournament of Destroyers and the Tournament of Power and just see a bunch of “gimmicky fights” and no stakes, you’re missing the point. I always loved the tournament stories in Dragon Ball, and both of these Super tournaments deliver on that joy. The manga had a lot of important differences with the anime in how these tournaments went, too. Before the Tournament of Destroyers, the manga went through a condensed version of the Battle of Gods events, only offering one extension in the opening to give an actual benchmark on Goku’s strength so we know where we’re starting as a series, an important gift the anime and movie fail to deliver. It then time skips past the Resurrection ‘F’ story, which I think is sad, but ultimately serves the manga’s purposes. After Goku got his God form, the next thing we see, before the Tournament, is Goku training with a new master, showing that he’s back on the path to martial arts excellence. By skipping the Golden Frieza fight, the manga passed on a story that only shows off how cool Super Saiyan Blue looks (a term, by the way, the manga invented because it’s better); outside of showing off this new form, the Golden Frieza story adds nothing. As Goku and Vegeta enter the Tournament of Destroyers, they build a team entirely focused on power, and lose one of their strongest members because of a test of intelligence. To further drive home the point, Goku’s final battle with Hit ends with him realizing that his strength allows him to outmaneuver an innovative and amazing fighting technique, Time Skip. He then forfeits the match so he can have a real fight with Hit later, where Hit can try to kill Goku and has time to train beforehand, which sounds a lot like a DBZ style story. It’s the first step in Goku relearning that technique matters more than power. In the manga, they also gave more love to Piccolo. In the anime, they had him be effectively useless, barely able to fight Frost, a Frieza parallel. The manga had Piccolo fight evenly with Frost, who later shows that he’s almost an equal with Super Saiyan Goku; Piccolo lost because of poison, not because he “could never hope to beat a strong person.” It’s not as cool as it could have been, but it’s more than Piccolo ever got in the anime.

Now, I have to vehemently disagree that Zamasu was a weak, forgettable villain who existed solely as a gimmick. The Zamasu story carefully builds and delivers on the many themes of the franchise that I identify as atheist. Throughout the series, Toriyama repeatedly introduced gods of varying kinds and levels of divinity for the sole purpose of tearing down the illusion of their importance and special qualities. Gods in this world are a verifiable fact, and not only are they just people with a particular job, but every time Goku and Vegeta meet a god, they treat them like anyone else and show them no special respect or deference. Goku and Vegeta are the best exemplars in the series of treating deities like normal people, something the series itself does regularly. It’s one of my favorite parts of the series, as an atheist myself.

So, here we have Zamasu, a deity who believes that he’s uniquely capable and qualified to rule all of existence and that mortals aren’t worthy of life. In the Bible, on more than one occasion, God decided to wash the world clean of humans because they had become too sinful; similar stories exist in other religions and cultures. In this case, Zamasu is motivated by intense and literal hatred of mortals, who he sees as not simply having “become too sinful,” but fundamentally incapable of being anything else. He extends this hatred to other gods who want mortals to exist and do as they please. His rise in Future Trunks’s time to be the almost-almighty God with a Capital G is the antithesis of what the series has said about gods and divinity on every level, and that’s exactly why he’s such an amazing villain. He also checks a lot of other boxes. He uses the power of a mortal who made himself into a god, Goku, to kill the gods and overpower the mortals. He also relies on a mortal, Trunks, to develop his power and another, Dabura, to create the opening he needed to start his plan. In working to bring the downfall of all mortals, Zamasu in effect worships at the altar of mortals and relies on their miracles to succeed, just as Goku has trained with several deities on his path to success.

Trunks is also notable, because growing up, Trunks didn’t have any gods to look to like Goku did. The first “god” in Trunks’s life was Goku, as both his mother and teacher would talk about Goku as their main inspiration for hope. Goku was made into a mythical figure that could have fixed everything, and that’s exactly what Trunks used time travel for, both times he employed the strategy. That’s why Zamasu taking Goku’s body was so impactful, because “hope” came to kill him. Goku’s ultimate failure to defeat Zamasu also tears down the idea of Goku’s “divinity” in the same way as other gods were taken down a notch. This results in Goku calling on Zeno for help. The development of Goku and Zeno’s relationship is interesting and important in setting up the conflict of this story. They become friends because Goku is the only person who treats Zeno like he’s not special, which seems to confirm that Goku’s relationship to divinity is proper. At the same time, Goku doesn’t like Zeno, because he knows Zeno is just a bored shut-in and likely doesn’t understand Zeno’s role. And really, Zeno doesn’t have a role like the Gods of Destruction and the Supreme Kais. He’s in charge because he’s the most powerful and can destroy all of existence with a thought. That’s exactly what Zeno decides to do when he sees Zamasu and the multiverse he had been ignoring, getting rid of everything because he didn’t like how it turned out. Not unlike Zamasu with mortals; in effect, Zeno is the thing that Zamasu wanted to become, and that story ends with his vision of reality being carried out. It was the ingenuity of mortal time travel that made some form of happy ending, because like in every other Dragon Ball story, you can’t rely on the gods for most anything. So yeah, Zamasu is an amazing villain and his saga was brilliant. My main criticism of the manga version was that the setup was rushed, so the death of Future Bulma happened off panel and the death of the rest of the mortals in existence was breezed by. Plenty of brutality and high stakes, if you ask me, though yes, I wanted to see it with my own eyes more.

Then we get into the Tournament of Power, a great tournament story that really drives home the point of the god-centric Super run. The Tournament of Power, if you didn’t guess, isn’t about power. It’s about teamwork, strategy, and skill. In the manga, this is made absolutely clear. The downfall of everyone in the tournament is that they rejected this basic premise or were wiped out by someone who would later meet their downfall for rejecting this basic premise, setting up their incorrect view to be knocked down in the end. Goku brought Frieza onto Team Universe 7 because he feared they would need his raw power, ignoring the possibility they bring in Yamcha or Chaozu for a friendly face that works well with their team. Hit reappears and shows that he has gotten way stronger. However, he loses to Jiren, Goku’s main opponent, in the opening of the tournament because he was relying on that raw power and abdicated the potential of his famed fighting technique. Multiple times, stronger and more arrogant solo fighters regard those fighting as a team as being weak and no threat. The main exception to those relying on teamwork being weak is Gohan, who was very strong and wanted to work as a team. In the anime, Gohan was made inferior to Frieza and ultimately lost trying to beat a lesser opponent. In the manga, Gohan, in his Potential Unleashed state and not as a Super Saiyan of any form, fought evenly with Hybrid Super Saiyan Kefla, who I suspect was the second strongest person on the field, and double-KO’d with her. In the fight, it’s implied that Gohan could go Super Saiyan while using his Potential Unleashed state, but chose not to so he didn’t have to rely on that kind of gimmicky power. It’s incredibly badass and satisfying.

As the fight with Jiren nears its climax, Goku uses a strategy that could kill him in an attempt to overpower the foe who’s stronger than any God of Destruction. This prompts Roshi to step in and admonish Goku with the single most important line in Super. When Goku says he needs more power to beat Jiren, Roshi says, “Hmph…Power, y’say? Plain old fighting strength? Who the heck taught you that? Vegeta? Frieza?” This is a great moment, because not only does it push Goku to go for Ultra Instinct and focus on bettering himself as a martial artist once again, but it pushes back on the worst lessons fans take from the franchise. Goku isn’t cool because of his strength, and he’s not so strong because he can transform. It’s all about that martial artist’s journey, baby. Goku grew up constantly learning new ways to become a better martial artist than he was the previous day, and it was pure passion driving him; he got to where he is because he took every opportunity to better himself, with his transformations just a convenient way for the story to keep upping the stakes. Jiren is the pursuit of raw power incarnate, with indifference and constant dissatisfaction his reward, and all he wants is his dead master to tell him he’s finally a good fighter. He’s everything Goku was becoming, and Goku overcame him by returning to his roots. He was able to fight Jiren evenly with a technique that anyone, theoretically, could learn if they reached the same heights of martial arts mastery, as proven when Roshi uses an imperfect form of Ultra Instinct to trade blows with Jiren. The manga anchors this lesson because it focused on technique the whole time and built towards this moment: Super Saiyan God was just another technique that showed Goku he had a lot left to learn; the Tournament of Destroyers showed how boring life is when you’re so strong you can’t actually test yourself; Zamasu showed how power is corrupting and how the pursuit of it changes you; and the Tournament of Power shows how damaging and literally suicidal pursuing raw power over personal growth is.

And to put the nail on the coffin, Goku doesn’t beat Jiren with Ultra Instinct, but instead beats him by briefly working with Frieza; you can’t master the path of a martial artist in one fight. Android 17 wins the tournament for their universe by playing dead, an age-old strategy, and uses the Super Dragon Balls to wish back all the universes destroyed by Zeno. While that can be seen as lowering the stakes, it’s no more stake-lowering than any other time the Dragon Balls have been used this way in high-stakes stories, and the stakes in this case were the destruction of eight entire universes. That’s pretty darn high. Also, it’s a good time to point out that Zeno was the real villain of the Tournament of Power. He was going to destroy eight universes out of boredom, and then remembered he could instead let one survive by having them Hunger Games for his amusement. There are no stakes, no reason to fight, without Zeno. There’s going to be conflict with Zeno in the future, I’m sure of it.

The anime followed a very different route than the manga, focusing entirely on Goku’s raw power and how cool he is. They added a lot of filler moments to both increase the number of gimmick fights and silly, campy fun, too, which made the whole thing lower stakes and less brutal. As described in regards to Piccolo and Gohan, the anime also made other characters weaker compared to Goku and Vegeta to amplify the impact of their unique transformations. In the Tournament of Destroyers, the anime introduced the idea of Goku using Kaio-ken while Super Saiyan Blue, for no other reason than to let Goku use a bunch more strength after he proved he could win. I won’t get into it, because it’s a tangent, but the entire concept of Blue Kaio-ken is BS, and the DBZ anime is where the proof lies; the Super manga actually touches on that exact thing, since Goku trying something like Blue Kaio-ken against Jiren is what nearly kills him and prompts Roshi to step in. Anyway, the anime also elongated the Zamasu story with a series of gimmick fights meant to show off how cool the three Saiyans were, even though they knew from the start that none of them would beat Zamasu. That story featured a bunch of secretly alive people, too, lowering the stakes and overall brutality of Zamasu as a villain. The time between Zamasu and the Tournament of Power, including the lead-up to the tournament, was spent showcasing filler side stories that make the other characters, ignored for most of Super, look way cooler and stronger than they actually ended up being. For as much as I wanted to see more from Krillin, Tien, and Piccolo in the manga, at least Toyotaro didn’t jerk us around acting like they were going to be way bigger players than they were. And the way the anime presented Goku achieving Ultra Instinct was focused entirely on strength and treating it like a super cool new transformation, which it isn’t. So if you were watching that story, I could see how you come out of Super thinking that it’s less intense, more gimmicky, and glorified one or two characters to the detriment of others. That’s why I think you could only be as impressed with the Moro arc as a “course correction” if you’ve been paying attention to the anime and only just now got into the manga.

This brings and end to what I’ll call Phase 1 of Super and to a time skip past the battle with Broly (which I would argue was for the same reason the Golden Frieza battle was) and into the Moro arc, which I agree is a great story that brings back a lot of things Super wasn’t doing enough of. It even brings back the meta story structure of the Buu Saga, since the first part is a very Phase 1 storyline and the second half, after Goku and Vegeta are defeated, is much more of a DBZ storyline, just as Kofi described. It’s like saying, “Yeah, we want to pivot away from this, we’re done making that point.” Looking at the first part of the Moro arc, you can read it as a way of reinforcing the grand statement of Phase 1, that the constant jockeying for power and strength and the glorifying of a couple people to the detriment of others is a bad way to write a story. The reason that’s important to say is because that’s the way a lot of the meta canon has been going for a while, at least it seems to me; all the fun, original video game stories are about Saiyans and their super special Saiyan-ness and how super cool strong they can get. It’s why GT was such a disappointment to me, and as I said, it stopped several great characters from trying to become better during DBZ. I think Kofi is right to say moving away from that model of storytelling is a good and important shift in the right direction, though I can’t say if it’s for the same reasons. That’s because, if it’s not clear, I think that what Super did along the way in Phase 1, at least in the manga, was better, more important, and more complex than the simple glorification and valorization of Goku and Vegeta, loaded as it was with themes arguing against that model and continual demonstrations of why they need to switch back to a focus on their martial arts journey. The structure of the Moro arc only serves to reinforce and finalize this thematic argument. As it continues, we are undoubtedly in store for some truly amazing fights and a satisfying, climactic battle with Moro for the entire Dragon Gang.

I also want to make a very important point for how the series is moving forward. Kofi says that Toriyama is switching back to this DBZ style story because he “has learned a thing or two from his mistakes.” For one, the massive success of Super doesn’t really seem like a mistake for anyone to learn from. For two, it’s really in poor taste to imply that Toriyama is changing how he’s writing a story because of negative fan reaction. Allegedly, that sort of thing happened with the Buu Saga, which is why Goku came back and we saw Super Saiyan 3, the perfect continuation and parody of the Super Saiyan form, all because the fans didn’t like Gohan’s high school adventures. I don’t think that’s happening again, allegedly, and in my opinion it’s not exactly a good look to say that it is. For three, that almost literally can’t be what’s happening, because Toyotaro has much greater control over the narrative by now. For those who don’t know, the way Super is being created is that Akira Toriyama writes plot summaries, and then lets the different creatives develop it from there, free to add and subtract and move around what they will. The anime team decided to focus on power and how super cool Goku is, and that version of events reflects that. Toyotaro, artist and co-author of the manga, kept his eye on the martial arts journey while executing this long vision of Toriyama’s to introduce new levels of grandeur and warn against getting lost in it, and that version of events reflects that. Over the course of the series, each creative team was given increasingly greater control over the narrative, leading to greater divergences; the two Tournaments of Power might as well be two different stories. By now, in the Moro arc, with no competing anime version of the story, Toyotaro has much more authorial control than when he started, and that will only increase until, as I hope and predict, Toriyama officially hands off the series to Toyotaro’s capable hands so he can write new stories for the foreseeable future. So no, I don’t think it’s very accurate to say that Toriyama learned any lesson because Toyotaro is the one making the important changes in how the story is told, not Toriyama. Keep your eye on the prize, you know; forgetting Toyotaro’s role means forgetting that we can and probably will have new Dragon Ball that isn’t a video game or video game-related story after the passing of Toriyama. I think the long hiatus of the anime reinforces this: Toriyama has said that if the anime team followed Toyotaro’s lead, they wouldn’t make so many art mistakes, and allowing the manga to develop lead time could be a strategy to follow the manga as a source material in the future, rather than continue this confusing dual path.

So yeah, the Dragon Ball Super manga is better than the anime in every way, and judging the series by the anime alone is setting yourself up for disappointment. The Galactic Patrol Prisoner Saga showcases an amazing villain for the franchise, and it sets up more to explore in a future that values the contributions of the full cast. It also, to my eyes, foreshadows the end of the road for the Dragon Gang we’ve been following so far, and thus a potential new beginning with their successors; I mean, there’s no more time after this between Beerus and meeting Uub to use, and meeting Uub is the moment Goku passes the baton to a successor. This is a time to look forward to that bright future and reflect on the themes the manga has been developing as we head into it, as well as what the two versions of Super mean for the franchise as a whole.

[latent-thoughts]

I Will Always Test You (Chapter 2 - The Proposition)

[Co-Authored with @emeraldrosequartz​]

Rating : 18+ (there be lots of citrus here; kinks galore).

Warning: Forced Marriage; Dubious Consent; Nonconsent Touching; Use of strong language and terms.

Pairing: Loki/Original Female Character

Summary: Loki and Iona Trygvedottir have never gotten along. She is a headstrong lady-in-waiting to Queen Frigga, and Loki is… well, Loki. The simmering animosity between them begins to boil when Frigga chooses her to make regular visits to Loki in the dungeons, bringing him luxury foods and items of interest. She takes the opportunity to give him a piece of her mind. Meanwhile, he’s set on paying her back for all the insults and slights she insisted on lobbing at him while he was locked up - in the most vindictive way possible.

[Thor: The Dark World AU; No Ragnarok; Enemies to Lovers, Arranged Marriage]

A/N: Loki is now the Allfather, and Iona knows that she's in trouble. But not the kind of trouble she had expected.

[PREVIOUS CHAPTER]    Ch-1   [NEXT CHAPTER]

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IMPORTANT NOTES:

Bold Text = Loki’s POV

Normal Text = Iona’s POV

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Iona paced about in her chambers, awaiting a reply from the queen. She had sent her a small missive this morn, asking after her wellbeing. It was really an opening for more interaction that she had sought, but the queen hadn’t bitten.

After the Allfather had fallen during the first Dark Elf attack, the Allmother had been grief stricken and near inconsolable. Hence, she had secluded herself in mourning after King Odin's funeral, refusing to see anyone but her eldest handmaid or her sons.

Now, the kingdom was in a flux. Against all expectations, Thor had abdicated. And that left only one person to ascend to the throne of Asgard--Loki.

Never in her life had Iona expected this to happen. Yes, Loki had been king regent for a short few days, but no one had expected it to last. It didn't last.

Now, he was king by succession, pardoned by Thor before he had renounced the throne. It all reeked of a deep conspiracy, but how could Iona blame Thor in all of this? He was supposed to be noble hearted, he wouldn't put someone ruthless and unkind on the throne, would he?

The answer was uncertain, and hence, Iona was plagued by anxiety. More so for herself than for all of Asgard... for Loki was sure to make her a target of his ire.

She had certainly spent the last one year pulling the tail of a caged tiger, assuming that she was at a safe distance. Now, that tiger was free, prowling all over the throne of Asgard and possibly looking for his vengeance against her.

For a bit, she entertained the thoughts of going back home to her family estate. But there, she was sure to be pressured into marrying some craggy old man of riches. Her mother would not let her live it down that she couldn't secure the hand of prince Thor.  It'd be an embarrassment.

No, she couldn't go back home. Not right now. Her only hope was that she'd be able to convince the queen to relieve her from her duties. That would allow her to leave Asgard altogether, and put some distance between her and Loki.

She needed that to happen soon... for she knew that whenever Loki saw her next, he was going to torment her somehow…

Her restless thoughts were interrupted by a respectful knock on the door of her chambers.

“Lady Iona?” a small, rather mousy female voice asked from behind the closed threshold. “His majesty, King Loki, has requested your presence in the throne room. I’ve been sent to escort you.”

Iona stiffened, almost wanting to run to the bifrost instead of heading to the throne room.

The wretch didn't even give her the grace and courtesy to come on her own. No, he had to send someone to make sure that she immediately heeded his command.

Clenching her fists, she opened the door and nodded to the servant.

"I'm ready."

She was most certainly not ready.

Finally, when they reached the entrance to the throne room, the servant took her leave and left her alone. Alone to face Loki…

With her heart in her mouth, Iona stepped inside the throne room, trying her best to keep up her facade of noble sangfroid.

Loki leaned back on the throne.

HIS throne. He leaned back on HIS throne.

He held HIS Gungnir, in HIS throne room. In HIS palace.

And he watched Iona like a predator as she walked through the massive doors into the enormous empty hall, her footsteps echoing throughout the chamber. He didn’t speak until she was at the foot of the golden dais, bowing to him in deference.

“My dear Iona. Please, stand.” His voice dripped with sadistic delight.

The familiarity with which he spoke her name made her shiver with dread. She didn't like the tone of his voice either--so conceited.

He was most definitely mocking her, sarcasm flowing like a brook from his notorious silvertongue.

She rose and stared up at him, clutching her hands together, trying to appear unperturbed. Her heart, however, fluttered against her chest like a hummingbird.

"Your majesty, I was told that you wished to see me. I'm curious as to what purpose I can serve for you."

She tried her best to keep the sarcasm from dripping into her voice. That wouldn't do. She had to tread carefully, for Loki now literally had the power to make her life utterly miserable.

Loki huffed a chuckle and sat upright, leaning his weight on the arm of the throne as his fingers slowly twirled the golden staff in his hand.

“Yes...you’ve always been a curious little thing, haven’t you? I do so love curiosity. It makes life that much more interesting, wouldn’t you agree?”

His words confused her, and hence, she stared at him blankly.

"I... well, yes. There would be no progress without curiosity, sire," she stated in agreement, a bit hesitant as she saw a wicked smirk forming on his lips.

Oh she hated it when he smirked like that. That expression was the harbinger of trouble.

She watched him apprehensively as he lifted the Gungnir slightly, pointing it in her direction. She knew that he could very well kill her in that moment, and it made her knees wobbly with fear.

However, he didn’t use the power of the magical staff against her. He simply placed it right next to the throne. It stood upright on its own, glinting in the bright firelight of the room, looking like a silent observer of their tense interaction as Loki opened his mouth to speak again.

“And would you also agree,” he said as he stood and began walking down the stairs toward her, gaze locked onto hers, “that, given this curious turn of events, you might find yourself in a position to be especially accommodating to the newly crowned Allfather of the Nine Realms? Perhaps a touch remorseful for past slights?”

He stood in front of her, still several steps up, which gave him a significant height advantage. The horns and full formal royal garb added a great deal of gravitas and--he knew--intimidation to his stance.

"What?" she squeaked, embarrassingly high pitched and nearly shrill.

In all honesty, his words terrified her. What sort of accommodation did he want from her? For a moment, her thoughts were filled with the possibilities of turning a noble into a thrall. It wasn’t impossible for the king of the Nine Realms to do so, no matter how shocking or unheard of...

Forcing her composure back somehow, she cleared her throat and tried to speak again.

"I do not understand, your majesty. If it is my apology that you seek, then I will give it to you with the utmost respect and depth of sentiment. I deeply regret causing you any distress with my conduct in the past."

She even clutched her heart in a show of humility and remorse, dearly hoping that he’d buy it.

“Mhm...” he hummed as he closed the distance between them in a few long steps.  He reached down and gently lifted her chin with his knuckle, staring down into her amber eyes. “I forgive you, dear Iona. For all the spite you showed me while I was imprisoned. For every unkind word you spoke behind my back. For all the gossip you started and propagated at my expense. I forgive you for all of it.”

He bent down and gently kissed her forehead, holding her chin up firmly with his hand. When he pulled back, his eyes danced with mischief.

“And now that we’ve moved on from that dreadful part of our history, I have a proposition for you. One I’m fairly certain you’ll be unwilling to refuse...”

Iona desperately wanted to take several steps back to escape him. But it would be an insult to the throne and the Allfather, and she couldn't afford to make that kind of a social gaffe. Already, she was in so much trouble...

His lips on her skin... Norns, she did not like how they made her nearly jump out of her skin.

"Sire, I'm in no position to take up another job while I'm serving the queen," she explained hurriedly, hoping that the mention of the queen would stop him in his tracks. "I'm bound by my duties."

Loki just laughed darkly and shook his head. “My dear, I’ve already spoken with the queen. She is delighted to release you from her service for this… unique opportunity. And your parents are positively thrilled...”

With one final grin that made it seem like his dark mirth might bubble over into a genuine evil laugh...he bent down on one knee.

“Iona...” he said, his voice gravel and silk all at once. “Beautiful, faithful, loyal Iona...”

When he looked back up at her, it was decidedly NOT a look of love or affection. His face was lit with nothing more than mischievous glee and long-awaited vengeance.

“Be my wife… my queen.”

Iona stumbled back, eyes wide and disbelieving. Loki despised her. His spite for her was so clear in his eyes right now. What was he trying to achieve by proposing marriage to her?

"Wha-" she croaked, unable to even form a full word in her shock.

This was a nightmare. It couldn't be anything else. Why else would Loki be doing this?

What trick of his was this?

For a moment, she felt light-headed, and she feared that she'd faint. She had to take a few deep breaths to remain stable on her feet. Fainting in front of the cruel king would only add to her woes.

"Is this some kind of..." She broke off mid-sentence, taking another deep, fortifying breath. Her heart was thudding against her chest. "Are you making a jest?"

That last question came out, despite her best efforts, as a shriek.

In mock offense, Loki brought an open hand to his heart in a gesture of wounding.

“Iona! Surely you don’t believe that I, the Allfather, would jest about something as important as selection the next Queen of the Nine Realms? I’ve always admired you - I said as much when you so graciously visited me in secret while I was in the dungeons. And I would love nothing more than to have you by my side. The time I spent locked up gave me such an appreciation for your beauty, your grace, your talents… and your discretion.”

He smirked again as he stood, and took her hands in his. Everything in his body language was genuine. Everything in his expression was malignant.

“And now we can be together… forever.”

Iona stared at his hands gripping hers, certain that they'd soon turn into coiling snakes. They certainly felt like manacles. His grip was a vice, strong and unrelenting, and she couldn't pull out of his hands at all.

"Sire," she gasped, shaking her head. "I..."

Swallowing thickly, she tried to gather her thoughts. They had all been scattered all over the Yggdrasil, it seemed.

And the absolutely menacing look in his eyes wasn't doing anything for her poor, overworked heart. This was most definitely a trick, but she didn't know what exactly he was planning to do here.

She couldn't reject his proposition either; no one rejected a proposition from the king. Not without a great and potent reason. She had no pretext for a refusal.

"I... I need time to think about it, sire," she finally managed to say, her voice trembling with the effort.

Loki looked at her with a closed-lip smile, like an adult watching a child about to throw a tantrum. That was to say, smugly and degradingly.

“There’s nothing to think about, Iona. Your parents have already approved. In fact, they’ll be here tomorrow evening for our betrothal ceremony.”

Loki revelled in the thrill bursting in his chest. Even though he was planning to make her life less than savoury, she was the perfect solution for some of his problems--none of the other kingdoms would try to foist their eligible daughters at him in hopes of garnering some political alliance; no need to go through the tedious social gatherings that preluded royal courtships.

Iona was of… acceptable noble heritage. And the story he had told her parents about how he had fallen in love with her during his imprisonment, with a twinkling tear tracking down his face at the sheer emotion he felt for her… ah, it was a delight to watch them take the bait, leaving her to him with hardly a question. After all, they had always aligned with the royal family in the past, in the hopes of getting close to them. Now was their golden chance...

Loki reached up and ever so gently stroked her cheek, practically daring her to move away from it.

“You will make a most beautiful bride, my dear.”

She closed her eyes as he stroked her cheek, her mind nearly swimming in different, scattered directions in order to escape reality.

"Why?" she whispered, feeling so helpless. "Why are you doing this?"

He waited until she opened her eyes, then brushed away the tears that began to fall down her cheeks. “Because I love you, Iona. Why else would I be doing this?”

With that, he bent down and planted the most gentle kiss on her lips, lifting her face with his hand to meet his.

A shiver ran down her spine as he pressed his lips to hers. The kiss was gentle, sensual even, but she knew that the intent behind it wasn't. Still, his lips were surprisingly soft, and her body reacted to them before she could tell it not to.

Her hand came up to rest against his chest, his armour cold against her skin. Weakly, she clawed against that armour in whatever defiance she could muster. It was all that she could do to protest…

Oh, how easily he could lie. She wondered if he had lied to the queen too--his own mother. Was there any line that he was not willing to cross to get his revenge?

Slowly, she tried to pull away from him, to break the kiss.

He didn’t let her.

Loki deepened their kiss, even moaning in pleasure as he slid his tongue between her lips and began to partake in the sweetness of her mouth. This wasn’t the eagerness of a passionate lover here--it was dominating, controlling, overpowering… and it obviously wasn’t going to stop at mere kissing.

He practically lifted her off the floor as he pulled her close, taking her mouth with all the skill of a great warrior and the ferocity of a predatory animal.

Iona was well and truly afraid now... of what he was doing, or what more he might be planning on doing.

She now had both of her hands against his chest, pushing against it with great effort. Loki, however, was not budging even a bit. His tongue stroked hers repeatedly, making her gasp and squirm at the sensation. It was all very feral and dark, and she wasn't prepared for it at all.

When he lifted her off the floor, she began to panic.

Turning her face away from him, she pried her mouth from his, at last, taking a deep breath to fill her lungs.

"Let me go," she mumbled weakly, her voice unsteady. "What are you doing?"

Loki stopped, but did not let her go. He kept her close to him, feeling her supple little body trembling against his chest. The feel of it was maddening… how long had it been since he had enjoyed the pleasures of the flesh? He allowed himself a moment to indulge in it, taking a long, deep, shuddering breath.

By the time he looked back into her eyes, he was fully in control.

“Iona, I’m giving you everything you’ve ever wanted. A life of royalty. Status. A crown. THE crown, my dear--Queen of Asgard, Allmother of the Nine Realms. You will never be called a mere lady again; you will never lift a finger in service to another… except me, of course.” He grinned at her, feeling her breath on his face. It was intoxicating, this rush of power and triumph. His hands began sliding around her waist then, tickling her skin through the soft fabric of her dress. “And I ask for so little in return...”

"You've never been so benevolent to me," she said in a small voice, wiggling against him as he slid his hands around her waist.

Despite her misgivings, his words were beginning to affect her. All of what he had just mentioned, she had wanted. She had been groomed to want it.

How could she resist such a great temptation?

Norns, because he was most certainly going to do something unsavoury to her…

Yes, she had wanted the crown, the luxuries...all of it, but she hadn't imagined it all with Loki as her king and lord husband.

"I've never been kind to you. You want s-someone who loves you back, don't you?" she asked, looking at him with wide, silently pleading eyes.

With a simpering grin, he put his forehead against hers.

“But my dear… you already do.”

He slowly lowered her to her feet, then took her hand and began leading her up the stairs of the golden dais… towards the throne.

“All that past unkindness was simply your way of trying to process your feelings for me. I understand now, darling. At first, I was greatly insulted--and perhaps I did not react in the most becoming manner. But I see now what your actions truly meant, and with that knowledge I find my own feelings for you are too strong to ignore.”

The words came so easily, like pouring water from a carafe.

They reached the top of the dais, and he pulled her to the throne, seating her on the wide armrest. “Now that we have both realized how much we care for each other, all that is left for us is to marry and lead the Nine Realms. As spouses. As lovers. As everything we need to be… for the people.” He smirked again, his emerald eyes burrowing into her soul, watching her as she struggled to resist his inveigling.

“I love you, Iona. And all you must do is love me in return.”

That was the facade of their bargain. And he knew that she was hungry enough for the title of the Allmother to accept it.

Iona felt so utterly vulnerable, with nothing protecting her from Loki’s clutches now. Her parents had consented, the queen had consented... no doubt moved by his smooth lies.

He was so good with the lies that she herself was getting pulled into his charm, little by little. It was akin to slipping into quicksand.

Oh, but the thought of being with him constantly... of being in his bed as his dutiful wife… was a daunting, intimidating thing. She didn't know if she'd be able to handle him.

But... did she even have a choice?

All she was expected to do was to accept this ‘great honour’ graciously. Not one person had thought to ask her first--or even tell her, for that matter. Her fate had been sealed without her consent or knowledge.

What else could she do but accept it with grace?

It wasn’t even that bad, was it? She’d be the queen of Asgard, after all. The Allmother. She’d get to have her own powers...

Swallowing thickly, she looked up into his brilliant green eyes and nodded slightly, silently begging the Norns to show her some mercy.

"I'll... I'll try my best, sire."

With a victorious grin, he took her in his arms and moved her onto the seat of the throne, insinuating himself between her suddenly spread her legs. He was absolutely sure that she could feel his raging hard manhood pressing against her most intimate parts, their clothes the only barrier between them.

“There’s my good girl...” he purred as he reached down, gathering the fabric of her dress and pulling it upward toward her waist. “Now...show me how grateful you are.”

_______________________________

[magaprima]

Lilith Origin Headcanon Part 2

Note; Just as a reminder, these posts are my origin story headcanons for specifically CAOS, compliantly entirely with what they have shown us so far. I will be writing a concise origin headcanon for my generic mythology verses at a later date

After healing Lucifer, enough that his wounds stopped bleeding, though the scars there show that they’ll never completely heal, introductions are made between the fallen angel and Lilith and Stolas. The witch and the raven are able to explain who and what they are. Stolas explains that is a raven sent by the Goddess Hecate herself to serve as teacher and friend to Lilith, to help her grow as a witch. Lucifer learns that although Stolas may look like a raven, as any creature that walks the earth, he is something else entirely, that his appearance is an illusion that hides the power he comes, that he was created by a Goddess in the same way Lucifer was created by a God, as something with power in their own right. The only difference is Stolas has never been commanded or punished or denied his freedom and Lucifer feels the smallest spark of jealousy and resentment over this. 

Lilith explains that she originally came from the Garden and that she became a witch, came into the very powers that had healed him, when she defied her own Creator and his rules. Lucifer is immediately entranced by the idea of another who had questioned and challenged his Father. He says he remembers God making her (and Adam), but he had never seen her, and confesses he never imagined she would be this beautiful or this fiery and interesting. He tells her he has seen Eve and the Garden and Adam and that he knows now that Lilith is var too unique and powerful and fascinating for something as limiting and ordinary as Eden, that she deserves a much more impressive kingdom. Lilith is, undeniably, flattered by the flirtatious compliments and finds herself attracted to Lucifer in a way she never was to Adam. She is also drawn in by the idea of someone seeing her this way, of someone seeing her as powerful and fascinating and deserving of better. 

Lilith admits she sometimes still thinks about the Garden and Adam and what could have been, even though she knows now that he never wanted an equal, and she knows that a witch could never be in paradise, that the angels told her so. And she’d much rather be a witch in the wastelands than a mortal in paradise. In that moment Lucifer realises they are of like minds, kindred spirits, and that he might have found someone who is his equal. 

But he doesn’t want anyone else to have her. He immediately begins to think that the False God or Adam will take her back, that they’ll come for her and she’ll accept their offer. After all, she admitted she thinks of the Garden sometimes, the fact Adam treated her so foully might mean nothing in the face of an offer of paradise. After all, she’s only human. So Lucifer starts sowing discord, whispering in her ear, telling her that Adam has been saying that she kills children, that she eats them, that she’s a clawed foot winged beast. Lilith is understandably offended and horrified, and worries that Eve will believe the things Adam says. They’d only spoken a couple of times, but it was enough for Lilith to feel a bond to her, a sister of sorts. Lilith wants to clear her name, but Lucifer convinces her not to return to the Garden and confront them, he convinces her that all that matters is that they know the truth, all that matters is each other. 

Over their time together in each other’s company, Lilith continues to use her magic (learning more from Stolas’ mentorship), but now Lucifer provides her with his own teachings, showing her his own gifts and joining them with hers, and, with the help of Stolas, the three begin to thrive in their own little Kingdom, and Lilith begins to think that this is what she was meant for, that this is the world she was seeking when she left the Garden. She grows curious about Lucifer’s magics and wishes to learn more, to add his powers to her own that she has from Hecate’s teachings and gifts. Stolas questions this, but Lilith reasons that all magic is magic regardless of it’s origin and she loves all of it and yearns for all of it. The power is something she thrives on. She reasons that while Hecate made her a witch, gifted her, she was created by the same God that created Lucifer, so shouldn’t she also harness those magics too?

Lucifer encourages Lilith to show him more of her Hecate magic, and she shows him her mastery of elements, her healing gifts (of which he already knew), the way fire doesn’t touch her, the way water can bend for her, the way food grows for her, with a single touch, how her own voice can lull creatures to her, even Lucifer himself finds himself entranced by what Stolas calls her ‘siren song’ (he’s only partly joking). His susceptibility to Lilith’s magics, essentially making him feel less than what he is, makes him want to discourage her in his own subtle way. He compliments her magics, but  in such a condescending way as to make Lilith feel self-conscious, as if her magic is perhaps embarrassing or too simple, something not to boast about. 

Yet, Stolas, her truest friend and companion, reassures and builds her confidence, sweeping away any insecurities Lucifer inadvertently caused with a kind, supportive word and the touch of a wing. Stolas reminds Lilith that her magic, her witchcraft comes from a source much more ancient and powerful than a fallen angel, that she should never forget how powerful that is, no matter how young she might be, and how new to the craft. 

Lucifer realises how close Lilith and Stolas, how tight their bond is, and how she will never be fully reliant on him, fully loyal to him, as long as she also has Stolas, and wonders if she loves the bird more than him. That night, as they lay in each other’s arms after making love beneath the starlit sky as always, Lucifer decides that he loves her and tells her so, and asks her if she loves him too. Lilith says that she does, but he finds that isn’t enough. He wants her all for himself, he wants her love to be for him and him alone.

So, he begins to talk to her of Kingdoms, of new realms, of a realm entirely for them. He talks to her of crowns and thrones, of new worlds, where woman and man are equal, where she could rule by his side as his Queen. Lilith is entranced by the idea, almost intoxicated by it, this idea of a realm that didn’t have God’s rules or Adam’s beliefs, where any woman could be equal to any man, where she could rule at the side of Lucifer rather than submit as his servant as Adam wished. Lucifer encourages her dreams and hopes and is pleased to see how happy she is at the idea, how attached she is....but it still isn’t enough. So he decides he can only be certain of her love if there is no other to distract her. He says, casually, in a throwaway comment, that ‘while Stolas might not think you should be a Queen, I certainly do’. When Lilith questions this, Lucifer dismisses it, claiming Stolas didn’t mean it in that way, only that she’s a witch, not a Queen, that he’s stuck in his old world views,’he can’t see the future as we can, Lilith’.

Lucifer is so apologetic and innocent when he confesses he never meant for it to come out like that, that he would never want her to think ill of Stolas, that Lilith is sated, accepting this, and assures the Morningstar that it’s fine, that she knows what Stolas must have meant, and she knows that Lucifer meant no harm by his comment.

Yet, the first hints of distance between the once inseparable Lilith and Stolas begin to grow. 

[redfire-blackash-whitegold]

Communication

There’s more than one way to communicate. Not everybody realizes that. The Fakes did. The Fakes saw the importance of communication in all its forms, verbal and non verbal. Communication was the difference between life and death in the field. It was how heists were planned, carried out. It was how every little skirmish was organized, agreed upon, in the moment or planned ahead. It was how the Fakes stayed alive where everyone else fell apart.

The Fakes had always had issues with verbal communication. Talking. There were a hundred, a thousand different ways to start an argument over the smallest given topic. And of course certain pairs of them were far, far worse than others, almost completely unable to open their mouths without starting shit of one kind or another. Ryan and Jack, for example, were both very well organized in their own way, both in the world around them as well as their thoughts. A way that just so happened to be completely opposite from one another. They could never agree on how something should work, how something should be shelved, when it mattered to take time out now to make something neat and tidy or when it should be left for later when there was more time. Then Gavin was of course a special case. The way his mind worked was creative and critical, clever in a way no one else could fully understand. And so understand them, they couldn’t. Michael could get pretty close, learning with time how to interpret Gav-speak and translate it for others. What started off as Ryan constantly getting into science-based arguments with Gavin quickly turned into him being able to predict what Gavin actually meant by his terrible wording and stop the fight before it happened. Of course, the two also had a vastly different way of thinking about problems, with Ryan rooted in the math and Gavin rooted in the instinct, the intuition that guided his arguments even when he had no vocabulary for what he was discussing. It took a while, but with time they came to make each other better, create better arguments, ask better questions. 

Of course coming from a group whose main form of initiation was getting into a big argument with one of the core members, the Fakes understood their failings at verbal communication. So they never relied on it. 

Non verbal communication was where the Fake AH Crew shined. Early on Geoff had decided they needed a way to talk without talking. So he developed a system of his own, a kind of cheap sign language that couldn’t be picked up by rivals. It wasn’t so elaborate, just an “all clear” here and a “ambush” there, but it served here and there in a tight spot, where silence was necessary or talking simply wasn’t feasible. It took a while for everyone to become fluent in the signs, which made for some interesting moments both in the field and in the penthouse on “no talking allowed” day. The signals also came in handy during other times, like how Lindsay lost her voice when she got hurt enough, or how Geoff got quiet when he was really truly mad. 

Of course that wasn’t the only way to speak without words. The best, and by far the best way of communicating was with body language. 

Facial expressions were important of course, but they never told the whole story. Especially not with Ryan’s mask and face paint, or Jack or Gavin or Trevor’s fake smile. It was an art, learning when a look was real or deceptive. An art that became easier and easier as the Fakes became more comfortable with each other, came to understand each other better. 

Because that’s what it was all about, understanding one another. Knowing how everyone feels, what they’re thinking, predicting that chaotic, erratic creativity that they became known for. 

Body language was a language all of its own. It could say far more than any sign language could, far more than English, far more than all other languages combined. And the best part was it was entirely their own. 

There is no one dialect when it comes to body language, no one single interpretation of any one gesture. Everyone had their own language, as unique as themselves. An outstretched hand could be an offer of help, a welcome, a demand for money, a request for a gun. It could be consistent within one crew member, consistent between a couple, or completely random and ever-changing. 

It was the silent conversations they had, the way Alfredo could boot up the Xbox and five minutes later four of them would be silently playing Halo. It was how Jeremy knew instinctively to flank right when Michael started going left. How Ryan showing his face was a demand for someone to die, how a simple lean forward in a dangerous situation meant that Trevor wanted the same. How Jack could talk with only her cargobob, that a simple sway forward could mean she was going in for the hook, a sideways jolt meant she was going to try again. Hovering meant that the crew needed to stop the target, or drive into a better position. And swaying backwards meant danger. 

Pointing a gun at someone could mean “target” or “I’ve got this one” or even “this one is clean” depending on the situation. Everyone understood that a jerking gesture meant follow, be it crew or poor sap on the street. It was the code, the convention, the unspoken rule that no one knew they knew until it came up, beaten into their brains by a lifetime of movies and stories and paranoid thoughts in the middle of the night. It was the way people mirrored one another, wave when a stranger on the street waves. It’s how you learn to speak, by listening to others, by watching them. And it’s not something that ever stops, that learning, that watching. That is how the Fakes learned to communicate, by listening to what everyone was saying, wether or not they knew they were saying anything at all. By trying. By understanding. 

[comicteaparty]

March 23rd-March 29th, 2020 CTP Archive

The archive for the Comic Tea Party week long chat that occurred from March 23rd, 2020 to March 29th, 2020.  The chat focused on Puppeteer by Eightfish.

Featured Comment:

Chat:

Comic Tea Party

BOOK CLUB START!

Hello and welcome everyone to Comic Tea Party’s Book Club~! This week we’ll be focusing on Puppeteer by Eightfish~! (https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/puppeteer/list?title_no=290620)

You are free to read and comment about the comic all week at your own pace until March 29th, so stop on by whenever it suits your schedule! Discussions are freeform, but we do offer discussion prompts in the pins for those who’d like to have them. Additionally, remember that while constructive criticism is allowed, our focus is to have fun and appreciate the comic! Whether you finish the comic or can only read a few pages, everyone is welcome to join and chat with us!

DISCUSSION PROMPTS – PART 1

1. What did you like about the beginning of the comic?

2. What has been your favorite moment in the comic (so far)?

3. Who is your favorite character?

4. Which characters do like seeing interact the most?

5. What is something you like about the art? If you have a favorite illustration, please share it!

6. What is a theme you like that the comic explores?

7. What do you like about the comic’s story or overall related content?

8. Overall, what do you think the comic’s strengths are?

Don’t feel inspired by the prompts? Feel free to discuss anything else that interested you!

eli [a winged tale]

Ooh exciting! I’ll try and get to this soon!

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

Yes yes, I had started reading this last week, want to continue and get in on this convo!!

Joichi / Sarah

Oh I'll take a look at reading Puppeteer!

shadowhood

Ditto. Time for another art binge

eli [a winged tale]

1) I love the colours and lighting! As for the story, the banter really drew me in and when J offered freedom, that was my hook 2) My favourite moment was when J tore Eli out of his body! That was a very striking moment. 3) I really like J and Sam They’re both characters with a strong voice and motivation. 4) I enjoy the friendship chat between Sam and Eli. They really ground the whole college experience and the comic world for me. 5) Let me find it! 6) I think the themes of feeling lost in life or directionless after regimented high school are very relatable. It’s one thing to know where you wanna go and want to be but often we feel we’re just floating in reality. 7) I love the aesthetics! Very unique style yet also clear in storytelling! 8) I would say the strengths tie into the fast pace and great characters. I’m not sure where we’re headed in the comic but I’m sure we will get to know why beings like J and the Ocean lady exist and what roles Eli/Sam would play in the story great work Eightfish!

Love this shot! Great paneling!

sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)

The artwork is so beautiful!

shadowhood

Yeah, the flow of motion is amazing here that's really good gesture drawing

Feather J. Fern

I have to say I love the way you do the limited palette for the first few pages, it's really cool!

mathtans

Oh! From setup to where some f/f romance is implied. I shall read more. (Nice when the ships are verging on canon, if not there...)

Wonder if J is going to set things up such that Eli has to possess one of them.

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Aaa, thank you all for the compliments about my art, eli, sssfrs, shadow, feather. I'm really trying to make this thing look good and I'm glad you guys like it.

sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)

It looks really good!!

eli [a winged tale]

Love it Eightfish! Can’t wait for more!

RebelVampire

What I liked about the beginning is just kind of how jarring it is (in a good way). You get thrown right into a semi-tense/suspicious interaction, and it really kind of sets that tone for the rest of the comic. Which is actually what I like about the story all together. There's always this kind of laid back atmosphere to it where you're never really sure if you should be concerned or not. So it's got this right beat where you aren't always screaming but also aren't ever able to fully relax cause it feels like danger is around the corner. Coincidentally, the beginning is also probably my favorite moment in the comic as well, just cause again, I really love the tone here. My favorite character at the moment is probably J cause I can't figure J out and would like to know more about J. Cause J is just like this chaotic entity who I can't decide is good or evil and it's a complicated mess that I love. As for favorite interactions, definitely Eli and J. I like they're kind of friends, kind or enemies, kind of maybe sort of abusive relationship, maybe kind of sort of cut from the same fabric. There's a lot of levels to their relationship, so I do like seeing where it's going to go.

What I like about the art is just the overall style combined with the color experimentation. I think this in of itself really helps with the tone I keep mentioning, because it'll go from normal colors to suddenly very jarring, dark contrasts. So again, there's always this hint that something just isn't ever right in the world. I also think these features are the comic's strength, since it's a very interesting style that draws the eye.

Lastly for today, themes. I really like that the comic kind of explores ambition vs. lack of ambition. As someone who is more similar to Eli and would be kind of happy to just be people watching mush sometimes, I really relate. However, there are deep questions about whether this is good, whether ambition is better or whether ambition can go too far. So it's kind of good to see this explored and just kind of show that inevitably, people are different and not everyone has the same sorts of drives (or drives at all).

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Oh my god, you have no idea how happy I am to read that. Everything you said was exactly what I was going for and this is very validating

(also, can we just appreciate Rebel for a moment. They take the time to write these in depth analyses of every comic here and I always enjoy reading them. Even if I knew rebel was going to be the only one in this book club I would still be jumping to sign up.) (Not that I don't appreciate everyone else, those comments were lovely as well haha. So interesting to to read eli's thoughts on the characters and what will happen next)(edited)

BriDanann

Also!! Eightfish!! Your comic is so freaking gorgeous! I absolutely love the color scheme and the surrealist feel the art gives off. It really feels like it's otherworldly, but also familiar. Kind of how old Noir movies felt! I've only read the beginning so far and I am loving the tone.

Comic Tea Party

DISCUSSION PROMPTS – PART 2

9. Will Eli actually be satisfied with his decision to just float around away from responsibility in the long term, or do you think that will change? Additionally, what do you think caused Eli to run away from life so much?

10. Do you think Sam will ever come to accept Eli’s decisions, and how will the situation change the two’s relationship? What will Eli teach Sam about trying to fix everything, and how will the two change each other through their interactions?

11. What do you think J ultimately wants in life, and what does that have to do with giving Eli powers? Why is Sam so convinced that J is a demon? In general, do you think Eli, Sam, and Lily can put a stop to J’s mayhem?

12. How do you interpret the story’s title in terms of its significance to the events of the comic? Also, what significance do you think it has towards the theme of beliefs and how beliefs go stronger the more people believe in them?

Don’t feel inspired by the prompts? Feel free to discuss anything else that interested you!

mathtans

(This week is kinda kicking my ass but I have finished the read and will find time for some comments in the next day or two. Just putting that out there.)

Okay, just a couple quick thoughts in case anyone else wants to react to them... I think Eli felt like there wasn't much of anything left to him. Didn't seem like he had family checking up on him, and major events like breaking your arm are the sorts of times you learn who's rallying around you. Sam distancing herself was probably the last straw.

I wonder a bit whether Vanessa (the one massively possessed by J, only name dropped in the author notes if memory serves) had a similar path. Or whether she's just off the deep end (maybe she pushed J into the arm breaking on some level).

Also think that Lily's pleased to have someone who can finally do something about the visions she's presumably been having all her life (unless it's a puberty awakening thing), though it does seem like her romance with Sam goes deeper than that. I wonder about her romantic history (but then I wonder about that with all f/f ships). And could Sam be bi? Or is she not straight, and part of that is what pulled her from Eli?

As I say, couple quick thoughts.

RebelVampire

@mathtans Those are some good points about Eli's family. I have to say I did kind of where they were at, cause at the very least I do get the impression Eli doesn't feel like they can be relied on. But I do think isolation is playing a big role in Eli's decision making right now.

Do I think Eli will actually be satisfied with his decision? Yes and no. I kind of feel like Eli would be fine with it overall but that inevitably extenuating circumstances will ruin the whole thing. Otherwise I honestly think Eli might be content if people around would accept it. As for why Eli is causing to run away from life, probably social pressure and isolation. It's hard to deal with life if you have no one around you, and also hard to deal with society when you really just don't have ambitions, cause society is very much about ambition. As for Sam, I think this is also a yes and a no. I think Sam will blame herself for Eli's choices as she comes to understand them more, but at the same time learn to let Eli live as Eli sees fit. I do think Sam will learn a valuable lesson though that not everything she thinks is broken is, and even if it is, sometimes people have to learn for themselves. So I think it'll bring Eli and Sam closer.

As for what J wants, I think it's probably friends. I think J fell in with Eli because they're both just kind of lonely souls. And while Eli expresses this in further isolation, J acts out and does everything possible to get attention. I do think the group will put a stop to J's shenanigans though, but I'm also feeling that it won't be a defeating of the villain (but this may be wishful thinking cause I do sympathize with J). I kind of get the feeling the title is meant to reflect both literally that J is turning people into puppets but also the complicated relationship people have with the concept of control. Like Sam for example. Sam clearly wants to fix and "control" things to suit them to how she wants. Also, in the Eli/J relationship, there's a question of who controls who to a degree. As for its connection to belief, I think I'd argue the strong our beliefs are in something, the more those beliefs have control of our lives. And I think that's something we once again see with J a lot in that J is literally controlling people while people seem convinced they control themselves.

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Oh Rebel, mathtans, your comments make me just want to just spoil the entire story and blurt out everything right here. It's been so good seeing that so much of my intent was coming through.

@mathtans Sam is indeed not straight. I wonder what made you see her as bisexual specifically?(edited)

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

I don’t think Sam had any malicious intent in keeping her distance from Eli, nor was it a case of “I’ve got a girlfriend now so I don’t need to talk to my other friends”. To me, Sam very much sees herself as the only one with the power to protect people, and because of that she feels it’s her duty to control what people get involved, where everyone goes, etc. Sam can keep this city under control, and thus she must. And, yeah, I agree with @RebelVampire that control is one of the main themes of the comic in general. Like J is constantly egging Eli on to control others, and one of their main points is that ordinary people often are looking to delegate control to someone else. And this current segment is the perfect lesson on how it doesn’t have to be one person in control - Eli and Sam can both be in control at once.(edited)

One thing I feel like should be mentioned though - the factor of Eli potentially being nb factoring into his decision? Like, when he first becomes a puppetmaster, one of the first things Eli says is “how come I still look like me” (i.e., rather than androgynous like J?), and one of the things Eli does to practice out shape shifting is try on dresses.

mathtans

@Eightfish (Puppeteer) Oh, nothing specifically made me see Sam as bisexual, but nothing made me see her as exclusively lesbian either. I've learned not to take that stuff for granted and wait for it be be spelled out (I'm also not the most observant though). In fact I have a f/f relationship in my writing where one of them is stated bisexual.

Also, good point snuffy on the androgynous aspect, never occurred to me there.

Comic Tea Party

DISCUSSION PROMPTS – PART 3

13. What are you most looking forward to seeing in regards to the comic?

14. Any final words of encouragement for the comic?

Don’t feel inspired by the prompts? Feel free to discuss anything else that interested you!

mathtans

Okay, let's address some questions to the best of my abilities. ^.^ Regarding the start, as was mentioned, the muted colours and dark character seemed to fit the tone. I thought the cutaway was a time skip but it made sense when we came back later.

My favourite moment was actually when Sam and Lily spent the night in Eli's apartment. Aside from helping to confirm the f/f relation (a personal taste), it was subtle (like, just a friend wouldn't necessarily go along with things for that time) versus making out or something (which wouldn't fit the tone). And at the same time, it showed that Eli was separating himself from his past life, not even going back to check in... Sam honestly seems to be his only tie. (And I kinda wonder where his original body is, if it even exists?)

Favourite character is tough. Honestly, maybe Lily because she seems so innocent, having been drawn into things... and I wonder if J ever approached her to get to Sam? Or has the focus always been on Eli? It's not that I dislike the other characters, it's more that one of their flaws seems to be a lack of communication. The sort of thing that makes me sigh, even though it fits with what we've seen and is helping motivate the plot.

That said, yeah the Sam and Eli interactions are really good, right from the moment of "don't touch me" and Sam totally respected that as they got caught up. They obviously do care for each other in the friend way. (I wonder if Eli wanted more? Could that be why he shifted female, to be closer to Sam?)

I'm not good with art or themes. -.- The way the being in the harbour was drawn was good though from what I recall, helped to show the scope of the supernatural too. I guess a theme of belonging? Or friendship?

I haven't said much about J yet, but I think that is a something I like and a strength, the plotting... trying to guess the next move. And maybe they want to become as popular as the larger demon? Definitely drives the other characters forwards. And reminds me of Rebel's comment about ambition being a theme... makes sense in retrospect. (And yes, much appreciation to Rebel. ^.- )

9. I think Eli will eventually be satisfied, though I think he's realizing that he's becoming a bit of a pawn in a larger game, not having considered the scope of his transformation. And I already mentioned about his family. And Rebel made good points there too.

I think Sam's starting to accept the change, though not necessarily the reason for it (and I'm not sure she or we truly know what that is). What with her trusting him to possess. In fact, another reason why Eli might have done this was to be of more use to Sam, though that may not have been a conscious decision. The dynamic will be interesting.

Here I'm diverging from Rebel in that I think J wants to be recognized as a more important demon (though that's similar to having friends, it doesn't need to be). Maybe others have tried to take over beings like Sam without success? Or like Ocean Lady are so far above that they don't care? Maybe there's a clue somewhere in why Vanessa isn't enough for J lately.

That's a really interesting point in terms of the title... at first I figured it was the idea of Eli jumping into bodies. But of course, he's not really into that, and it's more J... who is perhaps puppeteering even beyond that, pulling the strings of people that aren't possessed. (There was mention of squid too, I wonder if the tentacles of a squid could be like the strings on a puppet?) Anyhue.

Will be interesting to see Lily's reaction to what's going on, as I have a suspicion that she'll show up... and perhaps blame herself for not being there when Eli was (even though Eli was brought in later). Or she could misinterpret the situation and think Eli's gone evil! Who knows. (How long has she been going out with Lily again?)

I think that's all for now. Best with it!

shadowhood

Yoooo sorry for the late response. Alright I'll try to answer the prompts as succinctly as I can. 1. The art style is very aesthetically pleasing! I love how you use mainly black against a lot of other bright colours like tan/light blue/gold; it gives it almost a Grecian vase vibe!

2. I have two actually!

The first one because it hit a really close hit to home. I loved seeing a real, down to earth conversation between friends and it felt...real. Seeing concerned friends talking about an abusive relationship and not....exploding is very refreshing.

The second one because I absolutely love that last panel, where J plays around with her words and follows through with a similar action. It felt like she was toying with Sam and it reminded me of the scene in Aladdin, where Jafar was toying with Aladdin with his words. Probably my favourite villain scene of J.

3. Funnily enough, I really like Sam. She's that one friend who's shown to be concerned for Eli, but she knows that she can't force him out of the abusive relationship. She respects his boundaries and is overall a good friend. That's rare and usually underappreciated in real life.

4. The interactions between Sam and Eli were the best for me, because they were very heartwarming and the care they show for each other resonates with me

5. The two moments I mentioned were my top favourites, actually!

6. The idea that you can't save everyone is one I really like. Sometimes you have to let the person you love make difficult and maybe even foolhardy decisions in life, but that's to let them grow up and mature.

7. Like I said earlier, it reminded me of Grecian vase paintings, which I love! Another thing I love about it is how free the gesture drawings are; drawings such as the hand drawings are testament to that

8. I think the strongest part of Puppeteer is its use of motion; my eye is always drawn to the line of action and it almost felt like a film at some parts. The story is heavily action oriented, which I like

shadowhood

9. Honestly, I don't know. Like @mathtans said, he doesn't seem to have family who check up on him, but he DOES have friends who do! Maybe someday he'll want to change, he'll see that he stayed stagnant while his friends keep on progressing in life. Either he'll go deeper into his isolation or he ultimately decides that this isn't for him. 10. I think it's a sad case where she's going to have to learn to let Eli make his mistakes and grow up. If she's constantly there to fix or solve everything for him, both characters suffer in that no one will learn everything. But hopefully, like other people have said, it brings them closer. 11. From what she's said, I think she wants control and power. But if you want a more indepth answer, I think she wants absolute control and worship from individuals. She wants to be put on a pedestal (wanting to be higher than other people?) and she wants that rush of feeling, that feeling of being dedicated to. But seeing @RebelVampire 's answer, maybe it's a twisted form of trying to keep people from leaving her, similar to how abusers try to keep their victims close. Heck, she could even develop a form of Lima syndrome and sympathize with the victim. I think Sam's and co. can put a stop to it, but ultimately, it's up to ELI himself to do so. 12. I agree with @RebelVampire on this one; Puppeteer can be a reference to how much we let others and their beliefs control us, and how the characters each covet control in some shape or form. Maybe Eli feels like he's lost control of his life and is trying to escape responsibility in a desperate effort to regain it?

13. I'm really looking forward to how this whole Eli/J relationship will affect Eli and his relationship with his friends. I'm also wondering what J's character development would be, if any; would she start sympathizing more with Eli? Learn something new from Eli? Or even become increasingly antagonistic towards Eli? 14. @Eightfish (Puppeteer) I really look forward to reading more from your webcomic, your art and conversation exchanges between your characters are top notch! Keep up the good work

RebelVampire

What I'm most looking forward to in regards to the comic is finding out more about J I think. I'm interested to learn more about the driving force behind J's actions and how those might cause the characters to rethink what J is. As for final words, I really just still enjoyed the atmosphere. So few comics can nail it, but this one really managed to capture that feeling of dread that really keeps you reading. So I can wait to see that be used more throughout the comic.

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Thanks @mathtans , @shadowhood , @snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights) for the recent long comments you've posted! It was wonderful reading what you thought about character motivations and themes. And I'm glad so many people said they were looking forward to learning more about J, because that's what I'm most looking forward to writing as well.

Comic Tea Party

BOOK CLUB END!

Thank you everyone so much for reading and chatting about Puppeteer this week! Please also give a special thank you to Eightfish for volunteering the comic and creating it! If you liked Puppeteer, make sure to continue to support it via some of the links below!

Read and Comment: https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/puppeteer/list?title_no=290620

Eightfish’s Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/eightfish

[fanficcritiques]

‘My Inner Life’ - Fanfic Commentary Part 1

Sometime in the late 90′s, early 00′s, the internet was graced with a Legend of Zelda fanfic that would become the stuff of infamous legend. A fanfic largely serving the purpose of the author’s wish fulfillment indulgence, its reputation of having contained things like “tiger sex” and a possible watersports kink continue to precede it even to this day, some 20-odd years later. 

As with a lot of online fan media and history, this story has long captured my attention and imagination. It’s difficult to say why exactly, as I don’t believe there is anything in this story that makes it especially unique in today’s landscape of fics, nor is there anything I find especially outrageous (at least by modern day standards). I suspect it’s due to the fact that said fic actually has a lot of potential and, therefore, becomes a draw for inspiration in its own way. 

Recently I chose to revisit this fic, somewhat in the spirit of ‘MSTing’ (a sort of commentary style that endeavors to be mocking in the spirit of humor). However, I wanted to approach this commentary with a more balanced view, no derisiveness, and overall, as if I was leaving editor’s notes for how the story might be improved. I believe we’ve moved past the era of making fun of fan works and insulting their creators, and for good reason, but I don’t think that means we can’t continue to study and comment on them. 

Before I continue on with the commentary I wanted to make it clear that this story has a special place in my heart, that I have endeavored to show both respect and consideration for the work itself and the author behind it in the notes I’ve made along the way. I realize there are elements of the ridiculous about this fic, but my goal is to show respect in my constructive criticism and I would appreciate that anyone who comments along does the same.  

I want to also add that I haven’t focused too much on spelling, grammar, or general construction errors this time around. This commentary focuses more on the plot, characterization, dialogue, things of that nature. 

So, without further ado...My Inner Life Part 1, prologue and author’s notes. My commentary is in italics and parentheses.  

Author’s notes: Hello. Thanks for choosing to read my story. As you might know I have become a major Zelda fan in the last year. Ever since I played OoT I have grown a fond interest in Link. I started to notice that after I got really into it, I found that I have a strange gift. A gift to Lucid Dream. I started having dreams about Hyrule, and about Link. In a Lucid Dream you can control your dreams. The dreams became very real, kinda like a second life, and almost every night I would have another. Starting from where the last left off. Even to this day I still have them. I find that they help me get through life. I know this may sound queer, but for me the dreams sure help me out. I have shared this story with many other people and so far all has liked it. Now as you read this it is told from my perspective or first person view.

(Some people choose to criticize LinksQueen for not understanding what lucid dreaming is, but given my own research, I think she’s actually right; lucid dreaming is, simply, an awareness while dreaming that one is, in fact, dreaming, and may be able to gain some control over the events that take place. It’s entirely possible she could return to her subconscious every night and make up this story as she went along. However, my theory has always been that some measure of self awareness dictated she needed to have a scapegoat of sorts to explain away the weirdness of what happens in this story. With the blame of a ‘dream’ -albeit one she can control- being to blame for what goes on here, responsibility falls from her shoulders. No, it doesn’t particularly make sense, but I feel that’s probably where she was coming from)

You will find that it is very detailed since I remember it all very clearly to this day. The story takes place after OoT. Nothing after that ever happens. No Majora's Mask. No LttP, or even Oracle of Ages and Seasons. And there is no love relation between Link and Zelda, Link and Ruto, Link and Malon or Link and Saria. Because of my feelings about Link, the person that he gets involved with in this story is myself or actually is my persona. A persona is for those of you who need to know, a representation of ones personality, or in dictionary terms is, (Persona) n. In biology, same as person. So for all you future readers, this story is based on Jenna, a char that is a representation of my personality.

(Again, she’s gotten a lot of flack over the years for this note of choosing to ignore Link’s possible chemistry with the flanking female characters, but I don’t think this is worth criticizing her for. It’s her fanfic, she has the right to disregard, rewrite what she pleases. Why else does fanfic exist if not for that purpose? I also don’t think it’s worth coming after her for writing herself a self-insert, wish fulfillment fantasy character to live vicariously through. Fanfic exists for a reason. It’s more...how this placeholder is written that deserves some amount of further inspection, but we’ll get to that in a moment) 

But if you think this might be too queer then you shouldn't read this. THIS IS NOT THE TYPE OF STORY FOR THOSE OF YOU THAT DISLIKE, OR CANNOT HANDLE SUCH MATERAL AS THE CONTEXT OF THIS STORY. But if you seriously believe you can handle the content of this story, then read on. If your squeamish about sex, then you should not read this, since this story is a REAL LEMON and there is a lot of that, heavily detailed. (Between Link and I that is) Especially during the bonding ceremony. There is also some blood content and strong adult language. So if that’s too much then you should turn back now.

(Responsible and thoughtful of her to put warnings, though I do believe she should’ve also warned for the slight watersports kink that happens in said Bonding Ceremony. It might have saved her some trouble along the road, anyway, as it wouldn’t have come as an interesting surprise to the reader in later chapters. Maybe she didn’t want to spoil it? But anyway, I’m putting one now; urine drinking happens- and no, I’m not being intentionally judgmental about it, I know there are real, consenting adults out there who enjoy that sort of play and as long as one is being safe I don’t think it deserves any ridiculing, but it IS the sort of thing that I would consider ‘not everyone’s cup of tea’ and worth warning about in advance)  

Now I have not finished it as of yet. I have to catch up, since the last dream I had was just after Link and I had the blessing ceremony for our twins.(Our 3rd and 4th kids) Right now there is about 100-150 pgs worth. I'm expecting it to reach at least 300-350 probably even more. I will try to up date as often as possible. I hope that some of you like this. I do not mind sharing it. But please understand that this is very PRECIOUS to me, as well as Link. So like I said, if the content of this story sounds, too queer to you, TURN BACK NOW! But to all who wish to continue, happy reading. Thanks,

~*~ Link’s Queen ~*~

Rated R for strong adult language, sex, violence and blood content.

AGAIN AS A FINAL WARNING: THIS STORY CONTAINS HEAVY SEX, ABULT LANGUAGE AND TALKS ABOUT MY PERSONAL ENCOUNTER WITH LINK. THIS STORY IS BASED ON DREAMS, DREAMS ABOUT MY LIFE WITH HIM. IF YOU FIND THE CONTENT OF THIS STORY TO BE OFFENSEVE, QUEER, OR PLAIN OUT OFF THE WALL, THEN DO NOT READ ON!!!!!!! I HAVE GOTTEN WAY TO MANY FLAMES ABOUT THE CONTENT OF THIS STORY WHEN I HAVE PLACED SEVERAL WARNINGS!!!! I WILL NOT ACCECPT ANY MORE FLAMES, RAMBLINGS, CUSSING OR EXCESSIVE LASHING OUT ABOUT THE CHAR JENNA, OR REVIEWS ABOUT THE CONTENT OF THIS STORY, EXCESSIVE LASHING OUT, VICIOUS ATTACKS AGAINST MY PERSONALITY, OR NON-MATURE CONSTRUCTIVE CRITISIM!!! ANY REVIEWS SUBMITTED THAT DO NOT FOLLOW THE ABOUVE GUIDLINES, WILL BE DELETED IMMEDIATELY! THESE WARNINGS ARE NOT THERE TO LOOK PRETTY, THE AUTHORS PLACE WARNINGS FOR A REASON!!! IT IS TO TELL YOU WHAT THE CONTENT OF THE STORY IS SO THAT IF THE READER FINDS THE CONTENT OF THE STORY OFFENSIVE, THEY WILL NOT READ ON!!! MANY AUTHORS HAVE BEEN COMPLAINING ABOUT UNWANTED, EXCESSIVE, VIOLENT AND JUST PLAIN NASTY REVIEWS THAT HAVE BEEN SUBMITTED BY READERS ABOUT THEIR STORIES, CAUSING FANFICTION TO GRANT AUTHORS THE ABILITY TO DELETE UNWANTED REVIEWS AND BLOCK CERTAIN READERS!! I WILL SAY THIS FOR MYSELF AND FOR ALL AUTHORS ON FANFICTION. NO AUTHOR TWISTS YOUR ARM OR HOLDS YOU AT GUN POINT OR FORCES YOU IN ANY WAY SHAPE OR FORM TO READ THEIR STORIES!! ALL READERS HAVE THE RIGHT NOT TO READ A CERTAIN STORY!!! IT IS YOUR RESOPONSIBILITY TO READ THE WARNINGS AND DECIDE FOR YOUSELF IF THE CONTENT OF THE STORY IS OFFENSIVE TO YOU, AND TO MAKE THE CHOICE TO READ ON OR NOT!!! AND IT ALSO IS THE READERS RESPONSIBILITY TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY ON HOW THEY HANDLE THENSELVES WHEN LEAVING A REVIEW FOR AN AUTHOR!! LEAVING A REVIEW THAT IS VIOLENT IN NATURE ONLY MAKES YOU THE READER LOOK BAD, AND IS VERY IMMATURE. IF  ALL US HERE ARE SUPPOSED TO BE ADULTS, WELL THEN, LETS CONDUCTIVE OURSELVES LIKE ADULTS AND NOT LIKE LITTLE KIDS! I ONLY EXPECT THE VIOLENT LASHING OUT AND VICIOUS ATTACKS TO COME FROM TEENANGERS, NOT ADULTS! IF YOU PEOPLE REALLY ARE ADULTS THAT ARE CONDUCTING YOURSELVES IN THE MANORS I DECRIBED ABOVE, YOU PEOPLE REALLY ARE SCARING ME!

IT’S A DAMN SHAME TO KNOW THAT THERE ARE ADULTS OUT THERE WHO CANNOT CONDUCTIVE THEMSELVES IN THE SIMPLEST MANORS THEIR PARENTS HAVE TAUGHT THEM! ALSO LEAVING MALICIOUS REVIEWS IS ALSO A SIGN OF LOW SELF-ESTEEM. IF ALL YOU PEOPLE KNOW HOW DO IS ATTACK SOMEONE VICIOUSLY, IT’S A SIGN OF SELFISHNESS AND NO RESPECT FOR ONES-SELF! I SUGGEST TO ALL READERS WHO ARE THINKING ABOUT LEAVING A MALICIOUS REVIEW FOR ME, PLEASE GET A HOBBY AND LEARN TO CONTROL YOUR ANGER, BECAUSE YOUR ONLY HURTING YOURSELF, NOT ME! ALSO LEAVING A NASTY REVIEW ONLY MAKES YOU LOOK STUPID, NOT ME!

I FIND IT VERY RIDICULOUS THAT I HAD TO LEAVE A WARNING THIS LONG, BUT IT IS BECAUSE OF THE VERY IMMATURE READERS THAT HAVE SUBMITTED NASTY CHILDISH REVIEWS!

AGAIN, PLEASE READ THE ABOVE CONTEXT BEFORE READING ON!!!!

(It’s at this point that Link’s Queen obviously reached the end of her patience with scathing reviews and felt her only line of defense was putting yet another note about the content of the story, albeit a rather didactic one...entirely in caps lock. But I get it, I do, and I think she does have a good point in that the plot and themes of the story are made clear from the outset -apart from the watersports, mind, but I already addressed that- and that there is nothing about this particular fanfic that warrants cruelty in the comments. Of course, this was published during a less conscientious time for the internet, a time when I also was in the infancy of my writing and received reviews of similar ilk lmao. It still doesn’t make it okay, nor does it make any of the threats or insults that came after okay either, but that’s kind of why I’m writing this commentary now)  

Furthermore, I have realized that this story needs some heavy grammar corrections, and that the plot needs some work. Also under the advisement of my friend who had just recently completed two literature classes, has stated the reasons why people had classified Jenna as a “Mary Sue” char and labeled her as “flat”. She has come to the conclusion that most people do not know or understand Jenna’s history, so she has advised me to create an origin story to explain about her history before she met Link. That way she will become more rounded and give people a reason to care about her. It was never in my intentions to create Jenna as a “Mary Sue” char or to make her conceited, because I’m not really like that. Jenna is a persona char, one that resembles my personality while this story is being told from her perspective. This story is not something that I pulled out of my head like my drawings, it came from my dreams. So I understand that revising this story is going to be hard work and will take time. Since this story is being told in the exact, or close to exact order it happened in the dreams, changing how fast Link and Jenna marry isn’t going to be easy. Even changing how fast they have sex and revising the Lemon parts also won’t be so easy to do. But I’m currently in the process of revising this story, also I have received a college grammar book from my friend and I will be investing in a Beta-Reader. I’m also considering taking to literature classes at JC to help boost my writing skills. But now I say this, if you people, the reviewers really have the intentions to help me, them please do it positively and like a mature adult. I’m telling you that it is a proven fact that negative motivation NEVER motivates someone to change. It never has and it never will. I’m pretty sure your parents have taught you that people only respond to positive motivation and not negative.

(We’ll start with the beginning of this paragraph. I don’t think the issue with Jenna, as a character, was ever that she was conceited. In fact, she might have been more well-rounded and interesting if she had been conceited; moreover, I think the weakness in her as an OC is that she doesn’t really have much of a personality to speak of at all. Jenna is defined by her relationship with Link, some attributes that are thrown out as afterthoughts within the dialogue and have no real bearing on the plot (at some point she is characterized as “spiritual” though we are never given any evidence, before or after, that correlates to her being a particularly spiritual person at all). She is a traveling merchant when the story begins, though that fails to carry over anything worth noting. She’s an orphan and has been without her parents for a good bit of her childhood- again, this fails to provide any character attributes, issues or consequences at all, much less anything that affects the story in any real way apart from giving her some sympathy from the King and leading him to more or less adopt her, at least when she’s in Hyrule. A backstory means very little if it has no effect on the development of the plot or character.

She also mentions the dreams here again, cementing my aforementioned theory in the line “this story is not something that I pulled out of my head like my drawings, it came from my dreams” as dreams, here, are being used as an excuse for why the story is the way it is and why it cannot, apparently, be easily changed. But again, I would assert that the main issue is not really in how fast Link and Jenna have sex and get married, but rather in the lack of character Jenna has, the lack of insight given to the reader about why Link and Jenna like each other, why that lead to them falling in love. I understand that this story is wish fulfillment first and foremost and in such a fantasy story it’s a given that the placeholder character will win the heart of their affections, but not providing any real relationship growth or insight can leave readers feeling out in the cold, so to speak. We don’t know Jenna as a character, we don’t know why she and Link should fall in love so completely. We need to see it. 

But anyway, good on her at the time for wanting to better herself with further education, I hope she was able to achieve that.) 

I’m not close-minded, I NEVER have been. I have always been open to other people’s thoughts and opinions, its when its done in an inappropriate manner that I turn my nose at it and look away. People have to understand that when you’re an adult, you need to conduct yourself like one and learn how to address other people like one. You cannot just act childish when you come across something that you DO NOT approve of, you’re only making yourself look bad and that can affect you later on in life. Acting childish and ranting and raving is something I’d expect a little kid would do when he doesn’t get his way. When an adult acts childish over stupid things, that’s looked down upon, and considered to be unhealthy. I have seen far too many reviews left for me where the reviewers are just ranting and raving like little kids over this story because they do not like it. It is only making them look stupid and is very unhealthy. I fear that these people have some serious emotional problems if they get that upset over a story. People in control of their emotions and have also obtained some sort of common sense, NEVER let little things get them all riled up. It is very sad when one that is supposed to be an adult, cannot handle them like one. I was NEVER angry with the reviewers not liking the story, it’s how they handled themselves when leaving me the reviews. Getting riled up, ranting and raving, screaming and spitting nails over this story is what has caused me to get upset, not the fact that they didn’t like it.

Also as a side note, I NEVER physically hurt ANYONE with this story. I got one reviewer that said. “Oh God please stop writing, your hurting everyone.” Now I want to know where I physically touched that person. I want to know how I’m twisting anyone’s arms to read this. I have never done anything of the sort in any way, shape or form and I DO NOT appreciate being accused of that! If you’re emotionally hurt over this, its your fault not mine. I’m sorry if it did, but I have placed several warnings describing the content of this story and if you know what it contains and you do not like this type of material, then why are you reading it? I do not appreciate getting accused for other people’s actions. It is your choice as the reader to read the content of this story and it is not my fault if it upsets you when you knew from the gecko what it contained. So please DO NOT flame me about it.

I also feel like a schoolteacher teaching a bunch of little kids. And I find that this really wasn’t necessary and shouldn’t have had to come to this, but it is very hard when your reviewers have forgotten how to conduct themselves like adults.

If you honestly think that being malicious is a good thing and that you’re not wrong in doing so, well then your blinded by your own selfish pride. People with common sense learn how to take responsibility for themselves and are able to admit when their wrong. I have found that many of the reviewers that have left me malicious reviews honestly believe that its appropriate behavior for an adult. When it really is that they are too self-absorbed in themselves to admit their wrong. Again that results from selfish pride. One to scared to admit in front of others that they just might be wrong. Also, how can any of you hold any right to call Jenna conceited when in reality, your contradicting yourself by being conceited as well? Being conceited is again selfish pride and being self-absorbed. And yes, it is and always will be a fact that most of the reviewers have been conceited and very contradictive. Please DO NOT leave me a review that only contradicts what you are trying to preach. You should in reality, take your own advice.

Again I find it very ridiculous that this had to be as long as it is, but it is due to the fact that people not conducting themselves appropriately. Also if I do receive any more malicious reviews, with screaming, spitting nails or ranting and raving over this story because you do not like it then are to self-absorbed to admit that acting like that is wrong, well then you have proven my point! All of this is very self-explanatory!

 Now PLEASE DO NOT READ ON if you DO NOT plan on leaving me a review appropriately!

(She more or less repeats points she already made here, but again, I agree. The summary and numerous warnings should have clued people in to the fact that this was going to be a fantasy, wish fulfillment, placeholder type story and to expect the kind of thing that goes on therein. It also shouldn’t have given anyone free reign to be cruel or leave threatening reviews, etc)

Prologue

    Dreams come in many forms. Some good, some bad, some very realistic, even ones that feels very real. A dream may come to us from happy events, or even stem from bad events in our lives. Some come to us as a pleasure dream and some come as nightmares. Some become vague memories after time, while some stay very rich in our minds. This is a story about a dream that I had. A dream that became more dreams. A dream that would end one night then resumes the next. It became like a second life. Ever since I became a Zelda fan, I grew an interest in Link. I thought of him as the perfect man. One that you could not find of this world. I thought of him as a man that should have been. The more that he attracted my attention the more I became more attracted to him.  I felt like there was a connection between him and me. Then he became a part of me, and after that I fell deeply in love with him.

     I know that may sound queer to you but love is a mysterious thing and should not be taken lightly. Love is a very strong emotion, an emotion that should be treasured. Love comes from the heart, but when it takes hold, it’s got you. I quite don't understand it myself, but I do know that when I first laid my eyes upon Link I fell in love with him. My heart just told me it was right. Told me he was the one, the one I had been searching for. Ever since then I have felt that it was destiny that has brought me to him. Even in my mind it feels the same. I don't consider myself any different from anyone else. Though I have love for someone that is not really there, he will always remain very real to me inside my heart and in my mind. Even to this day I still love him. He has kept me very happy. He has made me happy when I was sad. He has made me feel stronger about myself. He has even taken care of me in ways that no one else can. Even though I have feelings for him, I'm not any different from the rest of you. I will always hold him close to me in my heart. He is still on my mind and I still have dreams. The connection stills remains strong, and the dreams very real.

     I lived an entire life with Link in Hyrule. All stemming from a series of dreams. Dreams that I want to have. Dreams that I make happen. From the first day I met him, to the birth of our first child, to even the days when Link and I prepared our family in the event that Gannon should return. This book is based on my inner life. A second life lived in a far away land in another time line in another dimension. A tale of love, passion, despair and hope. I enjoyed my inner life. I looked forward to going to sleep to it every night. And I look forward to ones that will come, because LOVE WILL NEVER DIE.

(Again, this is one of the points of the story that the writer gets a lot of flack for, but I think it’s pretty harmless to project on a fictional character and use their likeness to fill a sense of loneliness. Nothing wrong with it, and I’m not here to judge. I think we all probably did something similar at a point in our lives- I used to privately pretend Legolas was my boyfriend when I was like 10 or 11, so yknow, glass houses!!!) 

[greensagephase]

The Brightest Darkness (Michael Langdon X Reader)

The Brightest Darkness (Michael Langdon x Reader)

Summary: The arrival of Michael Langdon to Outpost 3 changes the reader's life forever.

Word Count: 2,003

Warnings: None, yet.

Hope you enjoy Chapter 1 💕

《《 Chapter 1 》》

You enter the dining room after Emily and Timothy, and take a seat next to them, ready for dinner. You all were wondering who was in Ms. Venable’s office since the alarms had gone off but it seemed like no one had the courage to ask. The helpers, as you called them because you could not call them Grays, serve the food and finally one brave soul asks.

“So, who’s in your office?”, Emily asks Ms. Venable, all eyes on her as you wait for her response.

“I beg your pardon?”, Ms. Venable replies.

“The alarms went off before someone came inside”, Emily answers her.

“Who else is here?”, Timothy joins in as you notice Ms. Venable’s expression. She’s clearly not happy with the questions.

“All questions will be answered in due course. Eat”, she instructs you, hitting her staff on the floor to command you. You proceed to lift the lid of the soup bowl, remembering that you are suppose to have snake soup. All of a sudden snakes are crawling out of the bowls and all you hear is people gasping in frightness at the sight. You can’t deny it, you were not expecting that but somehow you remain calm even when the snakes slithers down the table.

“What the hell?”, several people exclaim as everyone stands back from the dining table, afraid.

////////

You hear the steps in the silent room, your heads turning to look that way. The steps are heavy with power and determination. You feel excitement, tension and other emotions in the air as the person that you have all been waiting for finally enters the room. You all watch the man with eager eyes. The man walks confidently, his long, silky-looking hair seems to almost bounce as if he was in some sort of hair commercial so much he could make any girl jealous. His attire is clean and put together. You couldn’t help but think that this man looked like he could be found in the front cover of a magazine. Once you saw his face, you had no doubt. His chiseled cheekbones and jawline made a statement but his eyes even in the dim fire of Outpost 3, seem to hold thousands of oceans in them. You watch as he nears Ms. Venable before he stands right in front of her and she is forced to give her spot of dominance in the room before he faces everyone.

“My name is Langdon and I represent The Cooperative. I won’t sugarcoat the situation, humanity is on the brink of failure. My arrival here is crucial to the survival of civilized life on Earth. The three other compounds - in Syracuse, New York, Beckley, West Virginia, and San Angelo, Texas have been overrun and destroyed. We’ve had no contact from the six international outposts, but we are assuming that they, too, have been eliminated”, Langdon says to you all.

“What happened to the people inside?”, Timothy asks what all of you are probably wondering.

“Massacred. The same fate that will befall almost all of you”, he answers Timothy’s question, as for you, you feel shivers down your body. The thought that this people here, are pretty much all that’s left of civilization leaves you speechless.

“Almost all of us?”, you hear Mallory ask.

“In the knowledge that this very moment might occur, we built a failsafe - The Sanctuary”, Langdon continues.

“The Sanctuary?”, Coco asks confused.

“The Sanctuary is unique. It has certain security measures that will prevent overrun”, Langdon explains as he looks around at all of you.

“Excuse me, sir. What measures? Why weren’t we given them?”, Ms. Venable’s right arm, Ms. Mead, asks him.

“That’s classified. All that matters is that The Sanctuary will… survive so the people populating it will survive, so humanity will survive”, he answers Ms. Mead’s question.

“Who are the people who are populating it?”, Andre asks.

“Also classified. However, I have been sent to determine if any of you are worthy and fit to join us”, he says which causes everyone in the room to start murmuring, excitement clear on their faces. “The Cooperative has developed a particular and rigorous questioning technique we like to call… “Cooperating.” I will use the information gained to determine if you belong”, he says.

“What is this, The Hunger Games? This is bullshit. I paid my way in here, and that is the only cooperating I plan on doing”, Coco tells him and you instantly know that her statement isn’t going to be answered with something nice.

“You don’t have to sit for questioning”, Langdon responds to her.

“What happens if we choose not to?”, Andre asks.

“Then you stay here and die”, Langdon says as he makes sure that you all understand the outcome of not “cooperating” with The Cooperative.

“I volunteer to go first”, you hear Mr. Gallant announce.

“And so you shall. The process should only take a me a couple of days, so you won’t be kept in suspense forever. For those of you who don’t make the cut, all is not lost. If the worst should happen and feral cannibals come knocking, down one of these. One minute later you fall asleep and never wake up. I look forward to meeting each and every one of you”, he finishes with somewhat of a smile as if he didn’t just told you to kill yourselves in case that cannibals overrun the outpost.

With that though, he makes his exit and leaves you all to yourselves. The silence that followed his explanation seems to leave with him for as Coco soon opens her mouth to complain about Mr. Gallant volunteering to go first. Ms. Venable hits her cane on the floor, announcing to the grays that their break is over. You sigh and leave just as you hear Mr. Gallant’s grandmother say that Mr. Gallant’s move is that of an actor: you either go first or go last. You wanted to say that the thought of being one of the few people on Earth and being stuck here (with what’s left of humanization), made you crave the contact with them, to feel assure by their presence but the truth was that you craved silence. You longed for your apartment and the company of your sweet dog, Balto. The sound of your music playing in the background either lowly or loudly as you cleaned the place up or graded papers as a teacher. You wanted your own space. You missed waking up in the morning with just a bit of sunlight, not too much but just enough to wake you up. You missed the rainy, gloomy days. You missed being able to look outside your window in the late evenings, cuddle with Balto as you drank tea or coffee and read a book but unfortunately, all of that was gone, including Balto, your sweet golden retriever. No longer could you take walks to the park or head to school and teach nor say good morning to your wonderful neighbor. All of what you knew was gone, again. You shake your head, trying to clear your thoughts from those memories. Those days are gone and this is your life now. No matter how much you think of them, it will not turn back time. You sigh once again as you enter the library, one of the things to be thankful for in this place. You really were thankful as no one really liked to read here in Outpost 3 besides Ms. Venable, so that meant that you had the library to yourself most of the times. You chuckle by yourself as you remember some of the other residents coming by to get a book, in hopes to get sucked in a fictional world and forget yours but gave up because they didn’t like reading. You take a seat in one of the chairs and take the book you left in the table, finding the page you had previously stopped on and got sucked into another, far away world where you are not part of the last of humanity living underground.

////////

It had been days now since the man named Langdon had arrived but the fuss for him wasn’t over. Over the days, multiple of your companions had given an account of their interview with Mr. Langdon and some of the questions he had asked. You were tired of listening to Mr. Gallant and Coco talk about him the most. Mr. Gallant had gone as far as to allude that something had happened between him and Mr. Langdon hence why you made your escape to the library often where you enjoyed your silence. And loneliness that you filled with fictional characters far more interesting than people here. You didn’t mean to be judgemental and it wasn’t that you couldn’t be friends with them or didn't want to. You could see yourself becoming friends with Timothy and Emily or Mallory or even Evie who was now dead but your fear was always in the way and they always seemed to be arguing about something or someone which wasn’t in your nature at all. So you hid in your special little space, the library.

“Miss Y/N”, you hear someone, interrupting your thoughts suddenly. You look up in surprise to find Ms. Venable standing by the doorframe of the library. You stand and greet her, grabbing a book you had pulled out from the shelves earlier.

“I have your book ready. You said that you had enjoyed last week’s book. This one is similar so I thought you’d like this one”, you say offering her the book to which she takes with a pleasant smile.

“I do thank you Miss Y/N and I did enjoy last week’s book but I come to tell you that Mr. Langdon has requested your presence”, she tells you just before she reads the cover of the book.

“Oh, right. Alright, well thank you. I will go now. I hope you enjoy this book”, you tell her nodding your head to her and once again she gives your a small smile, which was rare for anyone else. Because you followed rules, stayed on the low and caused no problems she seemed to somewhat tolerate you. You definitely did not think you were a favorite of hers but you knew that she thought different of you at least and that you didn’t have to worry about having any of her people on you. You were out of trouble. Trouble, you think. Your thoughts are suddenly bombarded with the realization to where you heading now: the interview. You are going to an interview and it’s not to get a job but rather an interview that will determine whether you continue living on what’s left of this Earth in months from now or die in the hands of feral cannibals. The thought alone sends shivers down your body and nervousness spreads through your body like poison, slowly, as you make your way to the office in which Mr. Langdon resides in. You feel your hands almost tremble with fear as you see the doors and then take a deep breath as you stand right in front of them. You tell yourself that you got this and that you will nail the interview but all the information you heard over the last days from the others seems to have enter one ear and left through the other because you don’t remember anything in order to prepare yourself. Fuck it, you think and knock on the door quietly. You wait patiently for a “come in” but instead the doors open and you come face to face with the man that will decide your fate, Mr. Langdon.

“Well, well, well Miss Y/N, my last interview. Come in”, he says with a smile as he moves to the side to give you some space to step in. With that you take one quiet but deep breath and enter the room, the doors shutting right behind you.

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Make sure to like and reblog please. It will be greatly appreciated! Stay tune for chapter 2!