#he’s having a job crisis . and a identity crisis . and a memory crisis . Lots of crises

[lenjaysdp]

jay “rogue” if the designers weren’t COWARDS

[linkons-most-wanted]

Zayne, Astra, and star-crossed romance

Buckle up my jasmine flowers, because today's impromptu LaDS meta essay is about Zayne!

I've been going back through the Timelock Key event, transcribing the text for my lore project. This got me thinking about Tower of Secrets, Snow's Embrace, Death and Rebirth, and a random reddit post about how Zayne doesn't really have any memories to hide from MC (but ohhh boy he does!).

Zayne's story at first seems to lack an external force interfering with it. Xavier has the Backtrackers, Rafayel has the other Lemurians and the Sea God, Sylus has *gestures wildly at everything* and Caleb was also an Ever experiment and now he's controlled by the Fleet.

But Zayne's, like, mostly a normal guy, right? It seems that way. But I think this is just because the external forces in his story are subtler, and only now are things coming to a head. So let's dive in...

Zayne's predicament

Zayne is the Emissary to the divine, whether he knows it in a particular life or not. What this means has been pretty unclear so far, and Nero specifically notes in Death and Rebirth that if the gods aren't being active, an Emissary might have no idea what they are. (In that convo he and Tara might as well have been talking straight to the camera but I wasn't mad about it, lol.)

Forgive the goofy analogy, but Zayne's "destiny" is more or less to be a Jedi--foresake all attachments, serve the Greater Good (or, at least, divine will and the heavenly principles of fate), and exist as an emotionless being outside of time. Ofc what this is actually pointing at is more Buddhist and Taoist philosophy, from which the Jedi also borrowed.

But he has one crucial attachment that he won't let go of. MC. <3

Wtf is Astra?

Astra is the god that Zayne is the emissary for in Tower of Secrets. Astra exerts active influence in that myth, punishing and imprisoning Zayne for daring to glimpse at his own fate.

I see a lot of people eager for Astra to influence other LI's story branches, or the main story timeline, and imo that's not the right interpretation.

This really clicked for me now that the Cosmic Convergence chapter made it 100% clear that in the myths that mention Philos by name, we're seeing alternate versions of the same planet in parallel timelines--some longer, some shorter--each with their own corresponding Aether Core. (The core for Tower of Secrets is the Creatio Core.)

So, I think it's best to understand Astra as being part of this Philos's "what if". Zayne's storyline asks, "What if the gods were real and fate was a force with very specific rules" just like Sylus's story asks "what if dragons are real" and Xavier's asks "what if immortal humans could time travel" and so on.

Zayne's purpose and principles

Zayne's job is to be a guardian and to uphold his duty to the divine. MC is a threat to this job in every timeline they share together. She is always the inciting reason for him to abandon the very principles he holds most dear.

In Snow's Embrace, Zayne is a fate diety who violates the rules of each life's fated end in order to give MC a longer life.

In Tower of Secrets, Zayne is an emissary to Astra and the one thing he's not allowed to do is look at his own fate--but he does so for MC, again to save her life.

Now, this is where it gets interesting. In the main story timeline, Zayne is adamant in his principle that the XHeart tech is morally wrong, and resurrection is a violation of the natural order that will have dire consequences. However... he admits that if MC were to die, he would do everything in his power to bring her back, including using that forbidden tech. So again, he's in a position where he knows he'll violate his principles to save her, if it comes to that.

This is of course an identity crisis for him, and this is about how far I've gotten in my analysis so far. But then I was thinking about Astra...

What Astra does

In Tower of Secrets, Astra punishes Zayne by causing thorns to trap his body and ice crystals to pierce his chest. The intent is that this discipline will set Zayne back on his "correct" path, i.e. the one where he has no attachments and serves Astra faithfully.

Note this passage from the first page of Fates Entwined, which is referring to when he hurt MC:

The scene before him collapses into a vortex deep within his gaze as gods look down upon the mortal world. Upon weaving the first connection with that youth… Icy thorns pierce his palm.

One way to look at this is another "punishment" from the gods. And why? Because Zayne is developing an attachment to MC! So Astra--and/or the other named or unnamed gods at play here--intervenes actively in Zayne's life, causing his Evol to harm MC even as icy thorns punish Zayne.

And yeah, it's pretty effective at driving a wedge between them and putting Zayne back on his "correct" path! From the second page:

Until he finds redemption, he shall willingly imprison himself within this pain. Like a traveler with a lamp, he cannot let the faint light die out before he escapes the darkness.

"He shall willingly imprison himself within this pain" evokes his punishment in Tower of Secrets, where he peers at MC's fate, knowing the consequences for himself, in order to save her.

Zayne and withdrawal

Zayne withdraws (in heartbreaking ways) at the end of each of his myths, and at the end of Death and Rebirth. In some ways, this seems to speak to an avoidant element of his personality. (And that's certainly there.) However, thinking about the gods being active external forces in all of his lifetimes changed how I think about his.

While all the other LIs are fated to be with MC in some way or another, Zayne's "fate" is to not be with her. It's to leave the attachment behind.

Their love is star-crossed--forbidden by the gods. A divine emissary is not supposed to fall for a mortal. And yet, his love for MC remains an integral part of who he is, creating a tension that causes Zayne to defy his fate and even his own deeply held principles.

Zayne knows that there are violent consequences for doing this. This is another part of the "what if" of his myth lore--what if those gods can and will wreak punishment and destruction upon those who defy them?

It's interesting to think about it less as Zayne withdrawing due to his personality, and more as the gods actively intervening to force him and MC apart. And he knows this will happen, so he does as much for her as he can before their paths are forced to diverge.

Identity = purpose

Zayne's identity is his job. That's pretty clear in Snow's Embrace and Tower of Secrets, where he's literally a diety of sorts, but we see it in the main timeline too with how strongly he identifies with being a doctor, and the workaholic lengths he goes to. Until MC rejoins his life, literally every second of his day is dedicated to being a doctor.

This creates a compelling contrast to Dawnbreaker, who likewise fully identifies with is "job"/role: killing the abominations. Together, Zayne and Dawnbreaker comprise the life/death yin/yang duality.

There's a lot more to be said on that, but for now I want to focus on how Zayne's sense of identity interacts with fate...

Fate and identity in crisis

It's especially interesting to contrast Zayne's perspective on fate with that in Sylus and MC's story. Sylus and his MC see fate as something that can be conquered. They refuse to accept it, even if it kills them--and they succeed at subverting fate, at least in a sense.

Since I love that kind of story, tbh on the surface I felt like Zayne didn't fight hard enough to defy his fate in his myths, ultimately seeing abandoning MC as the better option because he didn't understand how much she needed/wanted him. And I think that's still a fair interpretation and element of tragedy to their story.

But a key difference between Sylus and Zayne is that Sylus never has to go against his own identity or principles. He has always done his own thing, he has always been seen as evil by others--so who cares if he pisses off the gods? (Or a few random ppl die along the way, etc)

But for Zayne, defying fate requires him to go against is identity, his duty, his principles, even his vows.

Zayne's inner conflict is made most clear by the main story timeline dilemma. He has access to a version of immortality that he knows is wrong, he knows is dangerous. He's able to leave behind the ability to resurrect the dead with no regrets--except the haunting knowledge that he would throw away those principles in a heartbeat if it was required to save MC.

I think it's fair to think of the versions of Zayne in Tower of Secrets and Snow's Embrace as also facing similar crises of identity when it comes to defying their duty to help MC. In-context, breaking those rules is as much a violation of the natural order as resurrecting the dead. There's an element of darkness, selfishness, shame, and failure to the lengths Zayne is willing to go to in order to save MC. He would even break his most sacred oaths, like the Hippocratic oath.

Zayne's themes are pointing in the direction of the question: How many people would you kill to save the one you love?

And more than that: How much of your own identity are you willing to shatter for the one you love?

And dude, that hits me right in the feels. Especially because we know Zayne counts every single life he's ever been unable to save, and each death hits him so hard.

Doing what needs to be done to protect MC ultimately ends up threatening to fracture his entire identity. And as the Emissary of the Divine, it's unclear how many other lives might be affected by his choices also. So, his choices are either to leave after she's safe (as he does in Snow's Embrace, Tower of Secrets, and tries to do in Death and Rebirth) or to rebuild his entire sense of self brick-by-brick--and that's assuming that the gods aren't waiting in the wings to kill/punish MC anyway should he deviate too far from his fated path.

The looming question

If you're a sucker for star-crossed lovers and noble sacrifice, you can happily stop there. But if, like me, you crave defying fate and killing gods, you're left with a central question for Zayne and MC:

How powerful are the gods, really? What are the actual consequences of them being together, as opposed to what Zayne thinks the consequences are? Do the gods over-represent their level of power to Zayne? To what extent is Zayne fighting against active divine agents vs. fighting against his own inner beliefs about those agents?

In conclusion

Really, this whole essay was inspired by the realization that the gods were directly intentional in causing Zayne's Evol to nearly kill MC as soon as they saw he was falling for her, in order to drive them apart. That is incredibly cruel and incredibly effective. And all his nightmares of Dawnbreaker and her dying over and over serve to reinforce the will of the gods: For Zayne to leave MC behind, forsake his attachments, and be a good little Emissary.

So, instead of the driving conflict being Zayne's tendency to abandon MC to ease his guilt, the driving conflict is actually Zayne struggling to not abandon MC, even as the literal gods try to torment and torture him to the point that he'll finally push her away.

Being close to him puts her at risk, not because of some false belief he has about himself (that could be addressed in, say, therapy) but because the gods are actively trying to kill her to get him back to doing the job they have for him.

Idk if it's just me, but it hits different. I'm big into subtext and metaphors so understanding whether a conflict is internal or external is key for me. And realizing this is an external conflict for Zayne, with a diety (or dieties) actively intervening, made so much click into place.

If you'll forgive me one last comparison to Sylus's story, I think in Sylus we see a character who knows that the only way to defy fate is with MC's help--so he actively recruits her to develop her strength. ("With you here, I only need one plan.")

In Zayne, we see a character who doesn't yet understand all that's possible when he and MC stand side-by-side to challenge the gods. So, I hope this is the development arc we get to see with him. 🙏

Or, perhaps Zayne knows something we don't, and the gods truly are too powerful to defy, and he's right about the best possible outcome. But I don't like that because it makes me cry. 😤 So I will continue to believe there's another way until proven otherwise.

(So help me god, if Sylus and MC need to hop timelines to go all dragon rage and murder Astra to fix everything I WILL WRITE THAT FUCKING FIC)

[avelera]

Plot bunny idea but… what if Hob has an identity crisis after he and Dream have dated more than 30 years?

Like his relationships have always had an expiration date when he has to fake his death and leave or otherwise abandon the other person. Maybe there were a few exceptions where he stays with someone who “knows” until they get old but even then the relationship changes, inevitably.

He’s never been with someone as unchanging as him.

Would it be a little terrifying? A lot terrifying? It’s as close to “actually grow old with someone” as he can get, with the whole “not growing old at all” thing. They’re aging at the same pace, something he’s not even had to think about as an option in almost 700 years.

Suddenly it’s not about making the most of your brief time together, it’s a marathon not a sprint. It’s continuing to be interesting. It’s accepting the change in someone else when it’s a much slower to near nonexistent change and it’s not defined by aging the way the others were.

Even if Hob is resilient and bounces back quickly or even sees this as a good thing, an amazing thing, that’s gotta hit hard at some point, right?

Edit: I should add, what if it’s not just being with the same person, it’s being the same person with that person? Like, every 10-30 years, Hob becomes a new person by necessity, one would assume (this is admittedly somewhat more fanon than canon but it follows logically that any immortal with a day job would have to switch it up from time to time to stay under the radar).

On the one hand, I’m the first to say that Hob is probably overjoyed to be with someone who knows who he is and who has constantly known who he is through all his eras and personalities.

But even then, those were for very brief meetings.

Does Hob have an identity crisis when he’s Hob and he’s still Hob with Dream 30 years later? When he can’t escape from himself, when the joy of having that one person with whom he can always be himself, his literal self without lying about his age or accomplishments or failures, is great and wonderful but also really uncanny valley strange for him all of a sudden? He could always escape his old baggage, except at the centennial meetings but those were so brief. (Heh, get it, brief lives oh no…)

Hob hasn’t had to deal with someone knowing his embarrassing childhood memories in over 600 years. It’s great but also must be so weird to have a partner who knew you back when and back when is the 1380s. No one alive knows he was called Hobsie once except Dream. There is no escaping the Hobsie allegations the way he once could in a few decades minus the occasional centennial meeting. It’s great but it must be so weird.

[cupcakeslushie]

i love that you said each of the bois have unspoken themes to them, that makes characters so much more deeper and interesting.

if you wouldn’t mind can you say what unspoken themes Leo, Mikey, and Raph have?

some are more obvious than others, and while i have a decent idea of what they are, i want to hear them coming from you ✨

adore your work btw, your storytelling and style enraptures me

This might be a big post just so I have everyone all in one place im going to reiterate what I said for Donnie

@aduckmurder

Donnie: Identity/Depersonalization

When Donnie's first introduced Draxum doesn't even consider him a person, and hadn't even given him a name. And then, later Donnie's got too many names to choose from. That alone would cause someone to have an identity crisis. Personality wise, he enjoys making tech, but aside from that, Donnie is never sure of which emotions he should be feeling, or what his likes and dislikes are. A lot of the time he's mirroring how his brothers are emoting, or he's just smiling to cover up the fact that he doesn't know or trust his own feelings. Future Donnie will have a horrible time with depersonalization after merging with the Technodrome and the Kraang, which will cycle around to impact present timeline Donnie during the movie.

Mikey: Worth

While Donnie was treated like nothing, Mikey was treated like an object/accessory by Big Mama. When she threw him into the Nexus, Mikey imagined it was something he did or didn't do well enough to meet her high standards. After he's reunited with Splinter and Raph, Mikey finds the little roles that neither of them have filled very well, such as cooking, and cleaning, and makes sure he excels at them almost obsessively out of this fear that if he's not useful, then he will be discarded. Future Mikey works tirelessly as the only brother with his mystic powers still intact, to the point that his body is so overworked by the time of the movie, he looks like he's moments from shattering apart, only held together through his own force of will.

Leo: Doubt

Leo has lived his life being ordered around and having his memories and personality altered. Even once he is free, his emotions are almost as erratic without Kitsune's influence, than they were while he was under her control (at least until his own cleansing ritual). His instinctual gut reaction to use most violent tactic first, clearly makes his family uneasy. So when Raph tries to get Leo to act as co-leader, Leo is very hesitant. He doesn't think he should be trusted with such a responsibility, but learns he can trust if he goes too far, his brothers will stop him. Future Leo has a really hard time with raising Casey. After Raph's gone, Leo doesn't trust any of the decisions he's now having to make solo, and he certainly doesn't think he can be a guiding force for good for a young child. Casey needs a teacher who will shape him into a strong warrior. Leo learns as Casey grows, that being the boy's Sensei is not the same as being his Master.

Raph: Regret/Guilt

Raph blames himself for almost every horrible thing his brothers and father have gone through. He's recounted the night that Leo and Mikey were taken, and gone over it a thousand times in his head, trying to work out how it could've gone differently. All the amazing things he's done by bringing his family together--being the stable bedrock that they can grow into a true family under--none of that feels like it'll ever make up for the times in the past where he failed to protect them. Raph takes on the job of shield because he wants to make sure nothing else ever hurts his brothers again, and doesn't care if hurts him instead. Future Raph is constantly putting his brothers' lives before his own. Unfortunately, doing it one too many times results in a devastating loss for the Resistance, when their Leader sacrifices himself, and the chain of command practically falls apart for months before it can recover.

[ladyblueberrymuffin]

I feel like people haven't really understood The Lost Hero, because like... "I think the reasons Piper and Jason broke up make sense. Their relationship is based on fake memories and blah blah blah"

THE LOST HERO IS LITERALLY ABOUT PIPER HAVING AN IDENTITY CRISIS, BECAUSE SHE LEARNS HER MEMORIES ARE FAKE AND SHE HAS TO LEARN TO ACCEPT IT.

The whole crux of Jasiper in The Lost Hero is they're slow and shy and even ashamed to a degree about their feelings, because they are afraid it'd be those fake memories pushing them into this.

Like, I feel like The Lost Hero couldn't be more obvious about the fact that they like each other for real, and they're the only ones who can't see it.

Piper already learned this lesson in The Lost Hero, why is this treated like a new development in The Burning Maze?

Also,

Aphrodite smiled. “Because you are my daughter, Piper. You see possibilities much more vividly than others. You see what could be. And it still might be—don’t give up."

It wasn't Hera, or Aphrodite who gave Piper the memories of dating Jason. It was Piper. Like, the way I think about it, it's like when you meet this boy, and you develop a crush, and you start making up all these fantasies about dating him in your head.

In other words, all Hera did was "introduce" Jason to Piper's brain, and because Jason is very sweet, and nice, and funny, Piper's brain was like "Yes, this guy, more please."

I dunno. I always found it cute. She's basically just dealing with an unrequited crush, just dressed up in a magic packaging.

I do think there should be more emphasis put on the fact that there are differences between how Piper "remembers" Jason, and what he's really like, and over the course of the book, she realizes that she likes real Jason more than her idealized version of him.

No one gaslit no one into liking each other. Jason and Piper actively gave each other time to process things. The Lost Hero even ends with this:

Across the green, her cabin mates looked disappointed that they hadn’t witnessed a kiss. They started cashing in their bets. But that was all right. Piper was patient.

The patient bit was always the most important to me. Piper isn't rushing things.

I think Rick heard fans complaining that Jasiper is based on fake memories and how messed up that is, and course corrected. They wanted a major character death, more representation, a different personality for Piper, not having Piper constantly think about Jason, they didn't really like Jason...

And you know, I think he's valid. Like, this is a job to him. He's feeding his family. He doesn't have to care about these fake names on the page just because I do. He wanted to accommodate the fans, he probably wanted some more meaty character stuff after the last couple of books were kinda boring with Callypso and Leo and so on, he probably thought this would get people hooked and interested.

It's fine. I'm glad he's still making books, and getting work, and helping other creators. I don't think other writers are that invested in their characters either, but when I read like a Kami Garcia schmaltzy romance, it feels like it was written with the mindset of "How would I feel if my friend stopped talking to me? How would I feel if my loved one died?" and it makes the actions of the characters feel less cold and detached.

I'd have a panic attack if I was friends with Leo and he moved on a whim, and didn't seem all that broken up about not seeing me again. I'd feel like I am not worth a lot to him. Hell, I am 23, way older than they are, and I still cry, because my friend moved away this year. I pass his house, and I realize I feel nothing, and I don't wanna be there, because he's not there, and I cry. These characters don't cry about anything, unless someone dies. And even then, a few minutes later, it's back to normal.

I dunno, is this what makes it more accessible to middle-schoolers? I feel like middle-schoolers would be even more terrified of the prospect of a friend moving away and not even feeling that sad over leaving them behind.

EDIT: Furthermore, if you think Hera put fake memories of a relationship into Piper's head... TO WHAT END?! To what end?! How does that benefit Hera in any way? Why would Hera care? Rick has done a pretty interesting thing with Hera lately by making her actually love Jason like a son, but that relationship was a lot more reserved at the time of HoO. Why would she care if he gets a girlfriend? Why would she think Piper is a good match for Jason? I feel like the last thing Hera would want for Jason is a relationship with Piper, like, common, Hera hates Aphrodite, they're like polar opposites, and the Trojan War started because of their argument (Athena was involved too, but Hera has different reasons to dislike her). Hera is the goddess of marriage, who has stayed loyal to a man who cheats on her daily, do you think she would hitch her boy with the daughter of the only woman who's body count rivals Zeus'?

[neptuniadoesstuff]

Juno Beezlebub/"J.B. Darksun"

(Do warn, I do talk about death & the dark things Juno occasionally goes through, so be warned if you do read it)

New OC lol. Or ig a OC who's a Jack Bright Rewrite. Yeh no I'm not kidding THIS IS GUYS IS TECHNICALLY A DR. BRIGHT REWRITE/REPLACEMENT (Not Canon but meh).

So this is Juno, or well thats what's he's referred to (I say he btw, Juno actually uses Any/All Pronouns including Neo Pronouns considering anytime bro dies, they have their soul implemented into a new body). Juno was never his real name. His real name was Jacklynn Brelskae, but he died after being crushed during a containment breach while carrying an amulet (aka the blue thing with the weird soul in it). Juno always had it on her neck. (Bcs honestly to Juno, carrying it in hand is just a way to lose it, lol) , but when a random personnel found them, this personnel have been possessed by Juno's conscience. Juno finding out he was in a new body he had a identity Crisis. However he.... couldn't remember his old name... Like it was erased from his memory...

Juno was given the nickname "Juno Beezlebub" by a member of staff who was a higher level of him at the time, but he eventually adopted this name since that's all he remember of having as a name, well yes it wasn't his REAL NAME, but to him, "I rather have this than be associated with my father... God I hate him..." Oh yeh speaking of Juno's dad, his father [REDACTED] was a important member of the Foundation at the time (in my SCP universe, not canon) so Juno was forced to work at the foundation, also Juno's dad...... Was a pile of trash! Like this frikin man was DISGUSTING (now I'm not gonna say what Juno's father did..... But they are very... disturbing to the least....

Over the years Juno has kinda had a distain for most of the personnel, especially Clef, but he tries to be upbeat & goofy, even it does mean he accidentally gets himself hurt. He also was in many different relationships with different genders over the years of him just... Existing w/o his permission. He's also a trendsetter & whatever year/era it is atm, he wears what is there.

Juno nowadays randomly leaves the foundation & comes back randomly, no one knows why he does, but then again dude doesn't really like working there but due to his importance (& of course him occasionally just frikin dying for no reason other than his own bad luck, mostly from being crushed). He's still traumatized by his father's actions & the time he first died that those emotions, including his Immortality (as his soul is LITERALLY binded to his glowing amulet) makes his emotions change.... A lot.... So one point he is calm & collected, next he's being a goofball, & then like a hour later he is literally sobbing violently. But for the most part he's the smug Fella who has a weird obsession with chainsaws & has a list of things he can't rlly do (like leave the foundation/his job whneevre she wants or insult ppl he doesn't like or he'll, have chainsaws or any sharp object in his vicinity, but bros's like old, he doesn't frikin care, they alreadybeen through shite) (Also bcs to me, a jack bright rewrite must at least have those like 2 things primarily. Again at least to me)

Outside of the foundation, his name is redacted & is rlly only refered to as "J.B. Darksun" due to his familiar ties to the Darksuns (Markham Darksun & his father Danny Sparksvale, both OCs of mine who are also apart of my SCP Universe). (Juno is actually Markham's Grandparent)

(Also a frend of mine whom i call Alt says Juno looks like the type of guy to bite pplmat gae bars, now I won't confirm nor deny this, idk yur guess lol)

Btw uh... if you wanna learn more about Juno, you can ask me in my ask box thing. Hell I might even post more about my OCs from my SCP Universe. (Rn there's only 4-5 atm, their designs tho are old)

Character belongs to me.

Art is mine.

Program: Ibispaint x

Bubs' TOS: Plz don't repost/steal, trace, or recolor my art WITHOUT MY PERMISSION! If you do, I'll take yur femur and pelvis.. SO, DON'T THINK ABOUT IT! (The PNS on my blog's pinned post clearly means "Please No Steal" plz follow that rule.) If you do post my art on anything like yur blog or somewhere else (With my permission) PLEASE CREDIT ME!

[magixfairyix]

When the Trix gain my version of Disenchantix during Magical Adventure/pre-Magical Adventure (by having to kill someone from their home planet):

Icy: Kills Sapphire because in my rewrite, she basically views Belladonna as GOD. Her faith starts slipping at this point, and she starts to doubt if this is the best thing for she and her sisters. At first, she questions if possibly winning against the Winx would be worth it. But Belladonna convinces Icy that she's too far gone to even try to save Sapphire and restore Diamond.

Stormy: Kills her father. He was an ass anyways. She killed her mother (also an ass) accidentally when Tharma gave Stormy all of her magic, and she lost control of it (Tharma had enough restraint to give it to Stormy then, so she'd kill someone she didn't like). So to kill her father, who yelled at her a lot and berated her for her magic, wasn't too hard to do.

(But then Stormy proceeds to get wracked with crippling guilt where she is so afraid during the fight against the Winx to kill somebody again. Because now she is truly a murderer and she starts having no fucking hope for life or having a chance at a good future).

Darcy: Oh, my sweet summer child. She DOES NOT want to do this. Liliss comes to her with the order, and Darcy protests before yelling, something she never dared do to Liliss (being sent night terrors helped quite a bit for that). But then, Liliss sends her nightmares to the point where Darcy doesn't sleep for a week. She and her sisters are hiding out in Blackmud Swamp, and Darcy (from sleep deprivation) collapses into one of the ponds and almost drowns.

Darcy ends up killing a random person, and she is just glad Liliss didn't make her kill her mothers. (She does lay awake at night crying, though, and is DEALTHY afraid of Liliss. More than she was. To the point where she doesn't even dare look at Liliss/not bow her head when near the Ancestor.

The Winx and Iorda (Happier version of my Winx rewrite where the Trix still gets trauma and my rewrite personalities, but Iorda doesn't get thrown into a cell from season 1 until season 6 and then used for info) defeat the Ancestors, and Iorda (who did most of the work) falls into a canyon and 'dies.'

Icy, after the possession, realizes that her entire life was a lie and that she KILLED her sister (Sapphire) for Belladonna, who didn't even CARE.

Stormy is just like: "Wtf do I do with my life? WTF DO I DO?"

Darcy takes a long-ass time to heal from Liliss. She has trouble sleeping, is jumpy (surprisingly), and doesn't do well with conflict. This was found out when she had a very harsh fight with Grizelda or Musa or someone (Darcy clearly on edge but still argued back regardless) until they said an insult quite similar to the ones Liliss used, and then Darcy uncharacteristically shuts down and becomes more docile.

(Riven talks to her about this).

Icy, Stormy, and Darcy go to heal in Light Rock for a little while. Stormy gets released first, and she ends up going to Earth. She needs to start over in her life, otherwise, she'll go insane.

Stormy ends up renting an apartment with this girl named Carey (sound familiar), and the two get along well. Stormy hides that she has magic, and things are great. She has a job, a life, so what could go wrong?

But the thing is that Iorda DIDN'T die. Almah (ghost mentor bitch) didn't let her die, and she lost her memories. Her middle name is Fey-Carey. But she does have a diary of all the events written up until she lost her memory.

So Iorda/'Carey' recognied Stormy from the entires she wrote, and her plan is to subtly get enough information, and if that doesn't work, maybe attempt to kill Stormy/threaten her for information.

Stormy: Darcy. Hey. My roommate is creeping me out

Darcy: How? She's human

Carey: *sipping her tea silently*

Carey ends up pulling a knife on Stormy one day, and then the two have a heartfelt conversation about everything that has happened. Carey goes to Magix, and has to deal with an identity crisis (she also sets Riven and Darcy up, because Carey/Iorda and Darcy are just close friends who traumadump on each other and help each other with magic shit.)

I have so fucking clue what Icy does after healing.

Darcy takes the longest to be let out of Light Rock, mainly due to having to heal and not because she's still dangerous to the public. She ofc is dealing with sleeping issues again and guilt over killing someone from her home planet.

Darcy and Icy eventually get along well with the Winx, and Darcy and Riven begin to reconnect. Darcy laughs for the first time in a while with him, and truthfully, she feels safe. Riven also feels comfortable with her.

(Mainly slice of life shit?)

[flamingpudding]

Posted Prompt Ideas / One Shot List

>> Masterpost

Organisational Post to List all posted Prompt Ideas or short writings that are not listed in the main Masterpost. For anyone interested feel free to use them as inspiration! I would love to see what people can come up with! I only asked to be tagged so I can get to read it too :D

Also I highly recommend to check out the reblogs and comments of some of them. You guys on tumblr are awesome!

Gaming Pal Prompt

New Power unlocked: Shapeshifting

Inherited Driving

Camping Trips

Danny's new Ghost Water Friend

Nice Costplay, dude!

UNO reverse B-

Teenage Dad Tim (the reblogs with this one are especially awesome!!!)

Student exchange program, no thank you.

Summoned from his Exams and Batkids betting (doesn't really have a short title....)

Gala Pals

Reincarnation is a tricky thing

He's my clockwork appointed babysitter, not dad.

Ghost Kitten

I am keeping him B

The Stand-In Job

Phantom home alone

Message to the past

Danny, the 'twig' Bouncer Part#2

Cats are liquide, so is Daniel

That's my baby brother you attacked

Lost in Memories

Brucie abducting Danny from a gala thinking he is Tim

How to Human

Time for some time shenanigans?

Wailing for attention, chirp when it's given

*hisssss* My comfort human!

Substitute City Ghost

Glitterbombs for rogues

You need an adult. - I am an adult!

A lot can happen in 1 minute

His son's children

Guys it's just merch

Hotel Fenton

How to NOT find out you're adopted

Klarion's (Dan's) mother meets his fake friends Part#2 Part#3 Part#4 Part#5

Damian wants Phantom as Robin to his Batman

Not my Circus

That's our baby hero

I have a theory

Cujo, Beast Boy. Beast Boy, Cujo.

Klarions are like Robins Part#2 Part#3 Part#4

Son from a doomed timeline

Clone Double Wamy

Triple Identity Crisis

Bat dad meet Ghost dad

Jail Buddies

Code: Ghost

Cursed through generations

(Un)fortunate Courting (Request)

DPxDC Week 2024 Day 1 (Sadly didn't have the time that year to really take part...)

Overshadowing in the worst way possible

A Nightingale Family Reunion

[quietwingsinthesky]

hi, this is a completely random thought but- what would Even be up to during all the new stuff going on with 15 (and 14 I guess) (oh, and the master being I'm a tooth)

-🌺 Anon

akdhfksjkd i think i decided at some point that Even dies during thirteen’s run. it seemed appropriate, thematically. HOWEVER. if they did stick around. for one, fourteen can’t exist, there is literally no room for him in this timeline because that space is already being taken up by tentoo, who remained in this dimension with rose to stay with donna. not that that was all smiles and rainbows, but that’s another story. point is, in this timeline, we go straight from 13 -> 15, with donna recovering her memories while tentoo mirrors the doctor’s choice about their own past, taking her fobwatch back from Even but not opening it, because she’s her own person and not the doctor she came from.

it’d be interesting too to have torchwood around in a new incarnation that’s explicitly against UNIT’s new policies, with companions past and present being divided up. and that gives the Rose of this timeline something to do as well, heading it up. they’re now completely off the grid, responding to “the alien threat” with fewer resources, fewer guns, but a hell of a lot of experience of doing more with less. Martha should be there, she wouldn’t go back to UNIT. so now there’s a divide between the doctor’s friends, who do you support. can you choose not to choose a side. companion support group suddenly gets a lot more tense when you disagree with what to do with the knowledge you gained while working with the doctor.

but moving on to what’s Even up to. A lot of what they’re there for during 13’s run is to function as a grief she can’t ignore. Even is what remains of her life as 12, the only “survivor” of it, in a sense. And how much of Even is still Even is arguable, both mentally and physically, since post-hanging with the Master, more of Even is. let’s say not human. than is. a hodgepodge of forced regeneration energy on a non-time lord body and various Replacements for the parts that couldn’t be regenerated. Even’s identity is ever in crisis <3 but anyway, moving forward into 15’s era. Well, for one, Even gets the tooth. Non-negotiable, Even is taking the tooth. Even just lost the fobwatch they’ve been protecting for Tentoo for longer than they knew the Doctor before it happened; they’re taking that goddamn tooth with them.

(potentially the tooth goes into their own mouth. potentially. even does have a false tooth already. so. it’s not. impossible.)

So, maybe this version of 15’s run is about identity, the Doctor’s, Even’s, Ruby’s. Are you where you come from, who made you, or are you what you choose to be going forward. Do you need to know your past to know yourself. For Ruby’s benefit, having an older companion around might help her deal, you know? Let me figure out Belinda’s role in this. Hm. In a version of this story where she isn’t so happy to befriend the Doctor, Even is the cautionary tale, the TARDIS ghost, but Even and the Doctor’s connection to other companions, to this wider network of friends, family, that’s comes with this, too. Traveling with the Doctor isn’t good or bad, it’s what you make of it as much as what it makes you into, you accept that or you choose not to. You aren’t wrong either way.

There are no wish babies in this version, though, I’ll tell you that right now. There is a lot of UNIT overreach, and the Doctor and Even loudly Not Discussing The Master, and because it’s my TARDIS and my rules now, I say Ruby gets back onboard at some point so she and Belinda can have time together and compare their experiences of the Doctor to better understand who he is as a whole, something they think they’ve done a good job of until Even mentions things off-handedly that remind both of them that they don’t know him. Which is also fun because it now positions Even in a similar role as the Master in terms of knowing the Doctor’s history, only they really don’t even know that much, relatively speaking.

And uhhhh the Rani can be there because she’s hot. Major change for the Rani storyline in this timeline: she and Mel have explicit lesbian hate sex in the wish world. to uh. to cause doubts.

[danganronpasurvivoraskblog]

A2-5 being so low down the list? Colour me surprised because a lot of people enjoy this chapter quite a bit. Sure its not the best and the fact its sandwiched between two bad chapters doesn't help matters but for what it does it does a decent job. Well A2-6 isn't bad per say but we get there when we get there.

Yeah this chapter really suffers from the very weird relationship the Another series has with the West since with Another 1 being not easiy available and the fact it has aged quite poorly on the graphics side leads little wonder why we have a remake of it coming out. If you don't know about Akane and Utsuro, then you are gonna be very confused during this chapter whilist if you do it will be much better.

There isn't any trivia I can give out for this chapter so let's just jump into my opinions and start with the character conflicts. I do want to pin the whole Sora and Akane relationship for when we get to A2-4 because trust me, there was ideas going into that could have made things much better then what we got. But I will say its very interesting that Sora goes through a severe identity crisis during this Chapter as the memories of Akane Taira are flowing through her and as such she doesn't know if she's Akane or if she's someone with her memories. And its also where Yoruko makes a major fuck-up since her paranoia has reached fever point at this point since she tried to kill Yuki due to realising what Void's goals were and while she didn't agree with Nikei's methods last chapter, she did get the general idea what he was aiming for. Of course this was stopped but this leads then to a major fallout between Sora and Yoruko as Yoruko is mad at Sora for not telling her about how she intefered in the last murder, especially with how much faith she was placing in Sora. Which seeing as Sora was going through a lot of shit at the moment, was the last thing she wanted to here, and its little conidence her identity crisis gets worse shortly afterwards. To be fair, Yoruko does realise she overstepped her mark and apologises to Sora afterwards but this is just the fact the Killing Game is really getting to people and tensions are mounting.

Teruya and how he's handled in SDRA2 I also will save when we get to A2-4 since it becomes more important there, but I will say I don't get why he is adopting Tsurugi's viewpoint, given how much he opposed him in Another 1, its kinda like if Yasuhiro became more like Toko or Byakuya it doesn't make sense. I'm of the opinion that Teruya shouldn't have been in SDRA2 in the first place, well until the very end when the Kisagari Foundation comes in ala like the DR1 survivors do, and we have some other original character in the 16th place. The reason is I feel the way he's handled is the fact LINUJ wanted a returning person but also considering everything Teruya has gone through in Another 1, he would have stopped the Void conflict too easily. But we don't and we have Teruya and again, we have a returning character and I do give LINUJ props for actually having the guts to kill him off since I got so mad during Danganronpa 3 for all the fake-outs we got about the DR1 survivors being killed off. It would have been one way to really raise the sakes of the game, and while Aoi's fakeout might have been kept, I'm unsure if Kyoko should have been killed off or not due to the way her fakeout death was handled is very much fridging.

When Mikado announced there were 3 other hidden Void members in Chapter 1, my guesses at the time were Emma, Kanade and Nikei. My logic is due to the way they behaved is very suspicious and their talents could have been used to help a terrorist organisation. Now the obvious plot hole is why Kanade is a Void and how does Hibiki not know, but since I didn't know what the motives behind Void were at the time, I assumed maybe Kanade was trying to protect Hibiki and saw Void as the only way to keep her safe. While I got Emma and Nikei right, I completely missed the mark on Kanade and didn't see Iroha as a Void coming at all. It really was a massive HUH from me as I didn't see any signs she was a Void. Maybe her ditzy behaviour was played up so that it would throw off suspision but no she is as dumb as a Void as she is normally. Given how Iroha is easily LINUJ's favourite character he's made, I honestly believe the reason she was made a Void was due to his need to make her feel important. Would also explain why she's also the Void member who escapes the most severe consequences contrary to some of LINUJ's beliefs.

I know every evil group needs that one dumb member who constantly makes mistakes and is there to explain why they keep failing, but even if you think of Iroha as that kind of member, she...really doesn't fit within Void. I can understand her being pushed around by Mikado because she's really not the kind of person to stand her ground so her being an accomphile does fit the character in question but again I have this feeling in the back of my head that the reason Iroha wasn't the flat out culpirt was because LINUJ couldn't under any circumstances find it within him to kill Iroha off.

Mikado's plan was brilliant and I have the complete opposite view of you on Mikado, as I see him as the best mastermind. But that's mainly because my main beef with the masterminds is that we get barely anything about them until Chapter 6 where its an info dump to explain the motives, and I just really don't like Junko. Mikado is the one of the few masterminds who's motives isn't tied to Junko in some way because as brilliant as Akane is, unfortunately the Despair bitch's influence is lingering in the background, and I'm honestly sick of every single mastermind having to trace their evil back to Junko. The fact that Mikado isn't tied to her, plus the fact he's exposed at the beginning means we have the entire game to show how evil he is, is a major selling point of SDRA2. And I do love how normally Chapter 5s is where the Masterminds start to lose control and they act out of desperation to get back control, Mikado already had his loss of control in the previous chapter yet he overcame it and he was fully in control this Chapter leading to the fact this is the only time a incorrect verdict has been delivered which to my knowledge this is the only fanganronpa that's brave enough to do this.

You mentioned an issue with the trials is the fact everyone blames Mikado for everything and yet the one time he is to blame for something he isn't accused. Well, if you look how the SDRA2 trials are run, most of the cast is...actually quite stupid as they can't really work out how to problem solve and the ones who can problem solve are elimanted one by one. Chapter 1; Yuri dies who was quite the insightful person as he noted some holes in Mikado's plans and was the one who realised the only way to get out is for the Killing Game to start, and in that class trial Koroko basically solos it, though unlike a certain guitiarist, she does allow the others to come to the same conclusion and only jumps in when they are going off track. Chapter 2; Koroko herself becomes the victim since Void aren't stupid and realise she is a threat, which leads to Kanade taking up the reins as the one figuring shit out. Chapter 3; Kanade herself kills and Syobai who has been sleeping the last 2 trials wakes up and does shit, and he repeats this in Chapter 4. But while Syobai is around in Chapter 5, he mysterious vanishes at one point without any knowledge so when the class trial starts, all the smart people are gone and we are just left with the idiots. Its little wonder why they come to a wrong conclusion because the general IQ of the group has been decreasing as time goes on until the end where you have people either going through mental breakdowns or aren't very intelligent. And given how the Killing Game is set up, I do imagine this was by design as Mikado didn't want anyone intelligent sticking around by the endgame.

Yeah now when you think about it, this chapter is very much a forgettable one as the others are rememberable abet not for the right reasons while aside from a few beats here and there, not much can be remembered. I guess because of the serious writing issues the other chapters suffer, this one doesn't and so comes off as decent by comparison. However having to come off two bad chapters in a row means we could have had a lot better going in.

I will say one thing though; Mikado deserves hell for creating Higa City. Seriously if you haven't watched Weeby Newz streams, watch how she reacts to Higa City because that's the most despair I've ever heard from a person's mouth.

Overall A2-5 isn't a bad chapter at least when compared to what the other chapters in SDRA2 are like, but the terrible writing preciding it doesn't help matters as it does dampen what twists could have been done, and the weird availability of the Another series in the West does hurt this chapter but that's on us more then anything since South Korea wouldn't have these issues and yeah LINUJ is capable of doing things that Spike Chunsoft wouldn't dare to do such as kill off a returning character or have one of the trials give an incorrect verdict. Plus the idea that Sora might be tied to Akane Taira is a scary thought due to the fact if you know who Akane Taira is, you should be very frightened because she means business. Overall its okay with some golden moments but it could be a lot better.

//Look, largely the reason why is because it's just another example of a mystery that exists for no reason other than to fuck with the characters, killing game be damned.

//Also, I'm not gonna lie, this might be a bit of a spoiler for future entries, but holy shit, I did not realize that I generally dislike the 5th cases as much as I do, lmao. Most of them (except one very obvious one) are really close to the bottom XD.

//Mikado just kind of decided, "yeah, maybe I be a little silly and get everybody killed using the rules that I can bend" and I generally hate when that happens, because if the Mastermind needs to break their own rules, or if they weaponise them to eliminate a particular person, it kind of makes them look far less intimidating or powerful.

//Narratively, this can be a good way to show that the Mastermind isn't invincible, but it never quite hits for me.

//Something I find that's kind of ironic about this case, and something I very briefly eluded to, is that Case 5 in Game 1, V3, and Another are all standout moments where the Mastermind/Monokuma looks very incompetant, because they are forced to step in and break their own rules because they need to eliminate one particular student. But Mikado here is the inverse because he's made to look so hypercompetant instead.

//Which is ironic because Mikado to me is generally the most incompetant Mastermind besides maybe only Tsumugi.

//Also, I don't know if I mentioned this before, but I actually like Chapter 4 and 6 of Another. I get why you don't like them because there are some character moments there that suck, and they really show LINUJ's negative mindset with some of them, but I think the general mood of Chapter 4 is still in line with the general mood amongst the cast in the original series, at least in Game 1 and 2 with the traitor reveal and the funhouse.

//But more on that later.

//Generally, while I do know that Yoruko ultimately didn't do what was best for Sora at this point, I think the fact that both of them were in the wrong is one of the standout moments of the later game. It's not nice to watch it happen, but in a realistic situation, it's very easy to say the wrong things to people when EVERYONE is extremely tense, and I think it was handled well. The fact that Yoruko was still willing to be there for Sora in the end is what's important.

//I know we always shit on LINUJ for the way he thinks of people, and the way he presents the idea of growth and redemption being a non-factor, but at least these kinds of fallouts and moments make sense for the current context.

//I think the stuff that was going on with Teruya and how he adopted Tsurugi's way of thinking would have made more sense if it became apparent that he had wasted all of his options. The sad thing is that, if you look back at Another 1, despite Tsurugi's very backwards way of viewing crime, his plans to bring the group under a single umbrella WORKED for a time. And it's clear later that it's not just Teruya who thinks this way; it's most of the Kisaragi Foundation. In the scene where Midori is being held hostage by Syobai, Keisuke actually considers sacrificing her if it means getting to him before Yuki saves her.

//It's all or nothing with Tsurugi, and the whole point of his character is that he's this terrifying presence with bad morals and a demented way of thinking, but he's also insanely powerful and influential from beginning to end, which is what makes him such a good antag character.

//Also, DRA and SDRA2 have a few years between each other. You don't know what kinds of things Teruya has seen in that time to the point where he finds Tsurugi's actions morally justifiable. You don't know for sure how the Tragedy and the state of the world has affected the Kisaragi Foundation. And Teruya himself isn't nearly as strong as Tsurugi, or as logical as Rei, which is why he falls back on them so much.

//So in general, I GET it. It doesn't feel so nonsensical for Teruya to act this way to the point where it actually makes me dislike him.

//And also, I will clarify, I don't DISLIKE Iroha, but you can just tell that she's only a member of VOID because she serves LITERALLY NO OTHER PURPOSE in SDRA2. But it's better than someone like Hiro who legitimately served NOTHING.

//In regards to Mikado, the reason why he's such a letdown to me is the fact that him being outed as the Mastermind immediately was such a good twist, but at the same time, the main threat of the game is still the other members of VOID. What's the point of having the Mastermind reveal when Mikado spends most of the game up until this point doing basically jack nothing?

//Junko, Utsuro, and Tsumugi do only get screentime at the end of the games that they're in, but in Junko's and Utsuro's case, the character moments they do get in the final trials of Game 1, 2, and Another, eally show them off as spectacular villains; at least Game 2 does with Junko. Tsumugi...admittedly misses the mark by a long shot, but I would rather have an hour or two of a cool villain doing insanely evil shit than a whole game of a villain being a complete inconsequential side character.

//I do unfortunately think that one take away from this is that we likely aren't ever going to see any other Fangan attempt an incorrect verdict in the future, because most Fangans look towards what Another 2 achieves and how it set itself apart from the original games; and it managed to pull this twist off so goddamn spectacularly that you could not top it even if you wanted to. Especially if it's in Chapter 5 and you need to come up with an excuse for how the game continues from that point on.

//Alternatively, do you know what could be a really cool concept for a Fangan? A game that begins with you as the protagonist managing to get away with your murder, everyone else gets executed, and you get let outside as promised, only to find the world is in a post-apocalyptic state. Then the rest of the game plays like Ultra Despair Girls trying to navigate it. Wouldn't that be kinda sick actually?

//The stuff about the groups decreasing IQ is also interesting to think about, I'll give you that, but at the same time, Mikado wasn't in control of some of that stuff. Yeah, he could have told the VOID's to pick off the smart one's first, but Kanade was a factor that even he didn't account for, and she kind of stupidly took herself out. Had she not done that, his plan wouldn't have worked out as well, and I think that he just got lucky there.

//Also, this is kind of hilarious, because I shit you not, when I was going back to use Weeby Newz' footage for one of my future entries, I found a short of her reaction to Higa City.

//It doesn't piss me off that much, because my initial reaction is "Ah, that's a nice nod." And it's not like SDRA2 doesn't do this with other characters from the first game. But at the same time, of all characters to get a city named after them, why is it MITCH!? Why not fucking AYAME!? She was far more relevant to Utsuro and Akane than he was.

//But yeah, in general A2-5, solid...5/10. The incorrect verdict really just carries this case.

-Mod

[katarinas-redemption]

Liz: And how should I look at this? Red: Like a criminal. May come easier than you think. Shall I show you? The Blacklist.

PART ONE

🕵️‍♂️

This line makes a parental connection between Liz and Red.

Episode 4.22

The second crucial line in the pilot that showrunners confirm was an Imposter clue is the “Everything about me is a lie” line.

Parental connection via the criminal parallel +

Red is not her father but an imposter of her father. =

Red is The Mother.

Wild ass speculation:

The mother died of WEAKNESS AND SHAME as per what Red told Liz in the pilot. Interestingly, that line about weakness and shame was different on the draft pilot script dated 2012 that somehow made it online and fans have decided to dissect it carefully. LOL.

In the original draft, her mother worked two jobs to keep Liz in school and out of juvenile court. Some anti-Redarina fans say this is evidence that Red was originally not supposed to be the mom as the mom would have raised Liz until she was 14. That same draft has Liz's age as 36 later changed to 29/30. Liz: There was a fire. I was fourteen. Mr. Kaplan: You tell people you got it when you were 14. Why is that? Liz: To hide the truth?

I disagree that any of this disproves Redarina. It is possible that her mother still could have disappeared and re-emerged as the imposter.

Liz's age was changed to 4 because maybe they realized that if Liz was 14, she could've remembered Red or saw something in him like his eyes. Changing her age to four years old IMHO, would've made it less likely for Liz to remember details, like Red's eyes. In the Luther Braxton Conclusion episode, it seemed Liz recognized that Red was at the fire by his EYES. She saw her mother in Red's eyes in the season 8 finale so. Add in the fact that Red had her memories erased.

And anyway, if they had kept it that the mom worked two jobs, etc, etc.. She still went somewhere and was out of the picture> Liz told Cooper she raised herself so both parents were out of the picture. Liz: Like most kids who raised themselves, I can display narcissistic behavior. I can be withdrawn, disconnected.

THINK LIKE A CRIMINAL. The showrunners talk about Liz’s darkness and how she's becoming more like Red.

SEASON 3 - THE AU REVIEW

(When Liz and Red went on the run)

John Eisendrath: In terms of where Liz is heading, I think she’s struggling with this notion that there’s a piece within her that is criminal. Red told her in the very first episode of the show ‘think like a criminal, it may come easier to you than you may expect’ and I think that sort of haunts her, and now, even though she has whispers of a criminal past that we’ve alluded to, now that she’s being confronted with actually being a criminal, she’s had to rely on these instincts that she wants to ignore and pretend like they’re not there – and now she needs them.” So, not only is Liz forced to embrace a darker side that might be within her, we’re also getting to go out and travel with Red and to see him take the reigns and see how he operates and where he goes and stays in ways that we haven’t really seen before. Liz is going to take the audience by the hand and go into Red’s world a little bit more and learn about how he moves and operates which is going to be a lot of fun.

SEASON 5 TV GUIDE - SEASON 5

Daddy issues. If you thought the discovery that Red is her father would put an end to Liz's identity crisis once and for all, think again. "Her father is essentially the devil," Bokenkamp says. "She's confronting some frightening questions about who she is and what's in her DNA and that fight between good and evil. ... Liz is going to be combating that instinct to perhaps break the rules and fighting a darker side of herself that she knows is probably right under the surface." But in some twisted way, embracing her true nature may make Liz even better at her job. "Is she like Reddington?" Bokenkamp wonders. "He told her early, 'Think like a criminal. It may come easier than you think.'"

SEASON 5 ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

How is Liz dealing with the truth that Red is her father?

Jon Bokenkamp: It’s going to be interesting to watch it play out, because I think she’s secretly terrified, or maybe not so secretly terrified, that the devil is her father and that she may have some of those instincts. He told her in the pilot, “Think like a criminal. It may come easier to you than you think,” and we’ve seen aspects of that. She murdered the Attorney General and has been on the run in the past. And so, I think she’s going to plant her flag early on that she’s a cop first and that is probably going to be a season-long struggle for her.

Elizabeth Keen No. 1 on The Blacklist.

SEASON 8 ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

Megan Boone: I was definitely hoping it would be Liz at No. 1, but I didn't want to presume," Boone says. "I have to say… it's an honor.

SEASON 8 ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

John Eisendrath: From the second Reddington walked into her life, a dark path was always a possibility for Liz. "One of the dramatic questions from the beginning is how this master criminal's desire to connect with this innocent FBI agent would change her life," Eisendrath explains. To find Blacklisters, Reddington has encouraged Liz to understand the mindset and think like a criminal. "She's learned at the feet of a master," he adds. The FBI agent's key moments, including learning she has the Warrior gene in her DNA and covering up a murder she committed, coupled with what Reddington has been teaching her, have been leading her to this place. Now, she's been pulled far enough into the dark side to be at the top of Red's list.

Red told Cooper that what Liz did by betraying them in this episode and kidnapping Dom was her “destiny.” What does that mean?

SEASON 8 THE WRAP

Bokenkamp:

I think what Red was talking about goes to the core of who Liz is. Is she fundamentally good? Is she fundamentally bad? Has she reached a tipping point that she can’t return from, or was this meant to be because it’s in her DNA? We’ve seen Liz dip her toes in the dark waters over the years — she’s certainly not that innocent, young FBI agent that we met in the pilot — and this season is going to explore her darker side. I think the real question lies in seeing how she navigates these dark waters and, if she does survive this, how she looks when she comes out the other side.

Eisendrath:

This has been a question since the pilot. First when she thought Red was her father; later when she realized Katarina Rostova was her mother — how much of a parent’s behavior is a child destined to repeat? In Liz’s case, how much bad behavior?

The murder of Attorney General Tom Connolly (Reed Birney) was more about Liz than it was about her executing him. "It reflected to the audience about how far Liz is willing to go," Bokenkamp says. "That murder is very telling of who she was, and perhaps even who she was in the process of becoming." It got at the core of a debate the writers had for years, which was whether she's destined to embrace her darkness or it was free will that she chose to do these things. Liz's desperate action was not just a considerable character turn, but it sent her on the road with Reddington. Spending time with him meant seeing that she was more like him than she wanted to admit. - Entertainment Weekly

The Warrior Gene - Dr.Linus Creel Episode 2.04

The episode did not confirm that Liz had the warrior gene though it was implied. In later interviews, the showrunners confirm that Liz DID possess it.

Samar: I received everything Creel had on file at the hospital patient records, test results Including yours. We logged everything else into evidence, but I thought perhaps you would want that. It’s probably meaningless, right? Do you think Reddington could have known, when he gave you this case, that you’d find out?

Part two

[ark-inkweaving]

Character File R008: Reyenn

"I don't think I was ever meant to have a chance. But if I had it, I think I'd like to spend it like this"

Basics

Legal Name ✵ Rijanikta [Tzazalqe]

Age ✵ 25

Pronouns ✵ he/him

Orientation ✵ omnisexual

Skin ✵ Dark

Build ✵ Lithe

Height ✵ 1.89 m / 6' 2''

Eye Color ✵ [] [Magenta] Reddish-Brown

Hair ✵ [] [Bright Lavender Fade] Light Blonde, Wavy, Roughly cut Above Shoulder

Occupation ✵ Personal Assistant | Alcove Administration | Undercover Rebel

Notable Features ✵ [White Curled Horns above Ears, Velifean Marks] [White Curved Horns from Forehead, Rune Tattoos] None

Work Specific

Species ✵ Deri-Shirevi (Livi Ancestry)

Elemental Resonance ✵ Crystal

Citzenship ✵ Izerko, Reiki

Base Location ✵ Adenireziet

Alias ✵ Vidre {Helper}

Allegiance ✵ N/A

Personality

Reyenn seems to exist in a permanently tired state, no matter which mask he dons or which role he fills. He's known as being helpful and resourceful among all his identities, able to fix or plan for most problems that are brought to him. However, this helpfulness goes to the point of self-sacrifice, and it is not unusual for the people closest to him to call him a stubborn reckless idiot

Likes ✵ runology, languages, ancient magic, history, whittling, the quiet, the dark

Dislikes ✵ his job, powerhungry people, bureaucracy, fake politeness, blood

Speaking Style ✵ prefers to listen, but very attention-grabbing when he speaks. politely inquisitive but can break out a commanding voice during crisis moments. doesn't swear as Rijanikta, very much swears as Vidre, but never around kids. uses nicknames a lot, as well as petnames on occasion, usually as a persuasion tactic

Clothing Style ✵ varies greatly between the three identities he assumes. as Rijanikta, wears lighter outfits both in fabric and color, often airy too. as Vidre, covers up as much skin as possible and goes for darker neutral tones and sturdy fabrics. in his little personal time, softer and larger outer layers, while the inner layers are formfitting. doesn't wear jewelry unless he has too, the only exception being the necklace that holds his glamour

[backstory and taglist under the cut] [TW: Murder (mentioned), Domestic Abuse (including SA), Extremely Toxic Relationship]

Backstory

Reyenn remembers very little of his earlier years, and they are all hazy memories of his parents and older sister before something happened and he had to run. he was maybe five or six when he arrived in Adenireziet, nothing more than a scrappy street girl, and got trapped there. and as any scrappy street kid, he got in trouble. instead of punishing him however, the then-governor decided to pay him (a miserable pay) to take care of dirty jobs and some minor sneaking and spying

Reyenn entered himself into the graces of the governor's family under the identity of Rijanikta, position from which he could see the disregard for the city that the governing family had. he began to gather information to help the city, establishing the identity of Vidre while playing along as Rijanikta, until eventually he was trusted alone in their library or with either of the governor's children. however, when alone with Reyenn the governor's son — Drarnomok — often just brought him along out of the city to go watch arena fights. Reyenn made friends with the arena fighters, among which there was Nievleiv, and often offered to heal and help them. as he did so, he began to notice Drarnomok starting to turn violent and paranoid. upon sharing with Nievleiv his plan to stick close to Drarnomok's side to figure out what was happening, the two had a huge argument that devolved into a fight. soon after, the arena was caught and shut down Reyenn stuck to his plan and inserted himself into Drarnomok's close circle, still as Rijanikta, and Drarnomok fell for it hook, line and sinker. as he became more and more paranoid, his certainty in Rijanikta's support turned into obsesession. when Rijanikta stood by him after he killed his father, that obsession turned physical. Rijanikta got fully trapped, living with Drarnomok and his violent outbursts, leering and coercing. it became rapidly necessary for Reyenn to hide and separate as much as possible the identity of Vidre, who was becoming more and more well known in the city and attracting Drarnomok's ire. even stuck juggling two extra identities, he makes use of both to find a way to bring down the current government while working within the system

❊

✵ Revolve Taglist ✵ @corinneglass @aalinaaaaaa

[indirectcomedian]

introducing my fallout ocs in more detail

valentine (“val”, blue) (she/her) (30 somethingish)

-she was an attorney pre-war, married and outwardly successful but not satisfied with her life. though still outspoken and tough (as her career required), she was more resigned to going through the motions of life before the bomb dropped. cared for her husband as a person but later found out that it wasnt really in a romantic way

-scar on her face is from fighting the deathclaw outside of the museum of freedom. turns out throwing a noncombatant into a life or death scenario with a giant mutant lizard isnt the safest idea, power armor or not! got cracked open like a tin can and stimpacks could only do so much

-became friends with preston through this incident, leading to him advising her to check out diamond city

-getting absolutely wrecked and then being in a city all alone in the post apocalypse was the beginning of her realizing “oh, no one really cares what i do here… i can kind of do whatever i want because everythings crazy anyways”. end of the world bringing on end of comphet

-fully romanced piper, both piper and val kind of have something with cait that they need to work out (piper thinks cait is a bad influence and she is kind of right) (things are much more functional between all parties once they help get cait clean).

-high agility and high charisma. knows shes hot and uses it to her advantage to get details out of people. rbf, but is actually quite helpful and empathetic.

-minuteman general and railroad agent (callsign bullseye). railroad holds more priority than minuteman tasks.

-keeps synth shawn, though the decision was definitely not easy (lots of conflicting feelings, but ultimately hes just a kid and its not his fault he is the way he is).

lu (short for lucky) (she/they/whatever) (24ish)

-grew up with brahmin farmer parents who did odd jobs to make ends meet. semi nomadic upbringing traveling along trade routes. parents passed away as a teenager, leading to her taking up the courier job as she was already going along routes anyways

-getting shot in the head left her permanently disabled and physically changed. her left eye is atrophied and completely blind due to damage from her orbital bone shattering. entire left side of their face had to go through major reconstruction, put back together for functionality and not cosmetics. right side of her body is uncoordinated due to brain damage from the gunshot. walks with a limp and talks in a slightly slurred manner.

-deemed “a lucky son of a gun” by doc mitchell and adopted the name “lucky” from this (tbi led to some amnesia, her original name is lost to her). spent significant time rehabbing in goodsprings (months, possibly), though she doesnt remember a lot of this time clearly. built good innate trust with sunny smiles despite the memory loss because sunny would check in on doc frequently. sunny started to call lucky “lu” for short, and this stuck. lu shoots primarily with a modified varmint rifle because its what sunny first helped lu fire with once she was well enough to be up and outside.

-poor charisma but high speech. very direct and blunt in an uncharming manner (out of necessity as well, due to her tbi affecting her language skills and movement of the right side of her mouth). high intelligence in “street smarts”. high luck, obviously.

-no particular faction alignment outside of being part of the kings. partially sympathetic to the ncr but ultimately for an independent new vegas

-on and off casual relationship with rose of sharon cassidy (repressed bisexual who has a minor identity crisis every time she hooks up with lu, the most genderweird butch lesbian this side of the mojave). they dont travel together often- they just tend to meet each other in bars by coincidence. could be more committed if lu could settle down and cass could get herself together generally.

-good friendship with veronica. acts as her rock because of her stoic, “take things as they come” attitude.

[miloscat]

[Review] Halo: Reach (PC)

I’m seeing double here… six Master Chiefs??

I have a lot of good memories of playing through the campaigns of Halo 1 and 2 in co-op with my brother on our Xbox Zero (and even more of messing around and breaking the games in hilarious ways). So when I pitched the Master Chief Collection as our next online game he was on board. Reach happened to download first so we went with that to start with (it's also presented first on the menu, I guess because it's a prequel?).

One of the earliest Halo novels told the story of the fall of Reach, a military base planet second only to Earth in importance. After Halo 3 and managing to escape from Microsoft ownership (and while a B team worked on the standalone expansion ODST) Bungie took to this setting themselves for their next game on the 360, and what would turn out to be their final Halo game overall.

From what I know of ODST, this has a lot in common: telling a more grounded, focused story about a team of non-Master Chief supersoldiers, being set mainly in human locations, it even carries over the wave-based firefight mode (which affects the campaign since various areas in the story mode feel like they were designed as multiplayer maps first).

The central characters this time are Noble Team, a ragtag group of Spartan-IIIs, which are like the homebrand version of Master Chief's Spartan-IIs, cheap and mass-produced. They do still have super-strength and high-tech armour, and make for fitting power-fantasy space marines. Your character can be customised (even to the point of picking one of two genders and voices), and joins the team as the "Johnny No-Name" Noble Six. The rest of the team are shallow military-movie stereotypes: the wisecracker, the team dad, the boring leader, the token woman who is also the tech-head, the forgettable one (I think he's meant to be the silent violent one actually)… they don't get much opportunity to make a big impression—even though the story has basically no other characters aside from a few flitting in and out—maybe there's too many of them and they start dying off too quickly?

One thing I do love is just expanding the scope beyond ol' Mister Chief John Halo being the sole lone solo chosen-one super-guy, the only one who could possibly save the universe. Also having such a big range of customised and coloured armour among the team to give them distinct looks is great (spinoffs and comics prior to this often have Spartans looking identical to the Master Chef which gets boring quickly). When Microsoft's new Halo team 343 Industries took up the mantle after this, they did run with these aspects which are good choices when turning Halo from a trilogy into a franchise.

Anyway, as the Covenant start to invade humanity's safest space, the crisis escalates quickly. I think they did a decent job making your actions feel increasingly reactive and desperate, although the steps along the way can feel disjointed as cutscenes race through justifying the next gameplay segment and then suddenly you're somewhere else. Sometimes there's a moment of poignancy, a feeling of [contextualised] chaotic scrappiness, or Kat (the techy one) outlining a bold plan which work well. But this whole scenario is doomed from the start, which the player knows but the characters don't. It becomes a Rogue One situation then as your team starts dropping like flies, some in overwrought heroic sacrifices, some unceremoniously shot from offscreen (they killed their best character Kat this way??) because they needed to exit the script… and none of them feel very impactful.

The story also suffers from prequelitis as in the final act you're suddenly tasked with ensuring that all events lead directly into Halo 1, which picks up seconds after this. Another Rogue One moment and just as contrived as that film felt at times. You have to retrieve Cortana and make sure she gets to the Pillar of Autumn, and by the way she is also now incredibly important and special instead of just happening to be the resident AI on a ship that stumbled across the ringworld. (The aforementioned novel also establishes that she navigated the ship there on purpose because she figured out where the Halo was, which is also a stupid and unnecessary retcon.)

So much for the plot. The moment to moment events are still exciting and varied as ever in these games, big combat arenas with lots of space for player expression. The open spaces and marvellous skyboxes contribute to the epic scope, with vehicles to traverse the larger zones. Even though in *the lore* this is the same Covenant fleet you encounter in Halo 1, they took care to rethink and redesign the aliens to make them feel a bit fresh, adding a new variant or two like the Kig-Yar skirmishers (and of course including Brutes, Drones, and Engineers who didn't exist in the first game).

This also goes for the weapon set that swaps out Halo 2 staples the carbine and beam rifle for new ones with similar roles, and fills out the roster of alien guns with things like a heavier plasma rifle and several grenade launchers. Not all of them are winners and many feel oddly lacking in punchiness, although part of that was the brutal difficulty and enemy sponginess on Legendary mode, which we played in for about half the campaign; we had a lot more fun when we turned it down to Heroic. They also removed dual-wielding (as of ODST, carrying over to this game) which makes the lower tier weapons feel less useful; a silver lining is that the pistol was finally buffed back up to Halo 1-level effectiveness.

The campaign manages to consistently deliver memorable setpieces, whether it's defending an underground base, flying between the tops of skyscrapers, or jetpacking through buildings. Being almost entirely set in human structures and environments is a bit of a letdown compared to the variety and grandeur of prior games, even though they stretched to make it compelling; this goes for the enemy forces too, a simple human vs Covenant conflict without the dimensions that the Flood, Sentinels, Heretics, etc. add to the equation. My favourite sequence was crash-landing after destroying a big Covenant ship, starting from nothing and scrambling to defend civilians in malls while disconnected from your team. There are outright stinker sections though, like the level built around the new space fighter vehicle; I think spaceship combat is pretty boring at the best of times and this didn't do it well.

We played this through the Master Chief Collection, the Reach DLC being a 2019 remaster of the 2010 360 game. It looks and feels great for a 360 game, but Cameron felt that it was dated by modern standards. The Collection itself was deflating to me, lacking in presentation. It felt more like a flat menu-based launcher than a celebration of the series, more focused on the multiplayer modes and unlocking cosmetics, with the campaign selection a perfunctory parcel of content rather than a grand sci-fi adventure. Also, it gave me the option to launch without using anti-cheat malware; I took it, but was then locked out of earning achievements or unlocking armour customisations… meh.

Despite all this the game of Reach itself was a decent experience, and I have to admire its ambition even while disagreeing with many of its choices. It was refreshing not to have the Chief appear at all, even though it would have made sense if he did, and Six is almost as much a boring cipher as he is. The Covenant are charismatic and varied enough to carry a game on their own, even without offering any kind of viewpoint or complexity on their end, it’s more a testament to the other games that they had even more going on, more complexity in the gameplay and story, while still feeling cohesive. Reach just occupies a weird place in the series, fine as a spinoff sidestory while also being odd as Bungie’s big sendoff. Oh well, maybe one day they’ll make another space shooter with a decent story…!

[saunne]

You know what I'm gonna ask, I know what I'm gonna ask, it was never going to be anything else, give me xingren. There is an agenda to spread!

I just did my nails so you can't believe how careful I am while typing this in order to not smudge anything lmao. ALSO I KNEW IT ! It was obvious that you were going to ask XingRen but still, thanks to do so 😌. There is indeed an agenda to spread.

Let's face the fact, this ship being a selfcest, it doesn't make ANY FUCKING SENSE. However, I'm good at living in my little dream bubble and my first job as a writer was to erase the word "impossible" from my dictionary. If I want it, it will happen one way or another. And happily for me, there is a LOT OF WAYS to fuck around in HSR that I can use to make sense lmao.

First of, it's actually the first time I ship a selfcest so hard. But beside Yingxing making me feral in a way almost no other character made me (and my big bro @kanraandchrome can attest, I did have some really loose screw with some of my blorbos and he had to listen to me yap about it), the thing that really sold me to this ship is the whole work around their dynamics that I can do.

I like XingRen where Yingxing sees Ren, this shadow of himself, this broken Blade who thinks of himself as a tool for Elio's goal before thinking of himself as a person. I like the idea of Yingxing, a Furnace Master, a craftsman going like "well, look at me try and succeed fixing him". For this type of dynamic, as you know, I like to dehumanize Blade, make a separation between a it/its Blade seiing itself only as a weapon, where the coping mechanism and trauma became the mask, the personality in its entirety.... and a he/his or they/them Ren, softer, clinging to shreds of humanity, still hopeful for salvation, still aching because of feelings letft to rot on themselves.

I like RenXing where Ren goes back in time or jump through dimensions and is so feral to protect Yingxing's humanity, to be sure Yingxing never ever becomes like Blade. Where Blade is all "I will see you die", but not in a threatening way but in a caring, a "you were born a short life specie and I will ASSURE you'll die as one and never become me". Where Ren is the strange stalker, the interested customer, the shadow knight until revealing himself or Yingxing giving the chase.

I love XingRen in the more crackside of the dynamic (I have WIPs about that), where Yingxing was recognize in the HCQ as "the person who would fuck his clone if given the opportunity" to the point there were bets on it (and Baiheng won when Yingxing introduced him his new boyfriend looking like a carbon copy of himself with inverted colors and a scowl bad enough to put Yinyue's Preceptors to shame). Where Ren existence and "how the fuck did this happen" is burried under the "I KNEW IT YOU WOULD FUCK YOU, AH ! PAY UP MORONS" global reaction and Ren would be just 🤨.

I love RenXing where Ren hates, despise, loathes Yingxing. Where Ren's memories are fragmentary and if he has the general idea, he doesn't possess the whole picture. I love RenXing where Ren's idea of salvation is turning back time to go murder Yingxing before the Sedition in order to erase himself... only to be unable to do so in the end, faced with the whole truth of what it was, of what happened.

I love all the philosophical bullshit this ship imposed on me, all the reflections about identity, permanence of identity, identity crisis and trauma, permanence of memory. All the angst I can produce, all the fluff I can produce, all the crack I can produce.

Also, I'm sorry, but you saw @aratribow XingRen art she made for me (Unne is so well fed, Unne is a happy writer) and I'M SORRY, THEY'RE REALLY AESTHETICALLY PLEASING TO THE EYE. I'm looking everything but respectfully and none of my thought belong anywhere near any type of divine scripture and there must be a special place like a super-horny hell somewhere in the afterlife with my name on it at this point lmao.

But anygays, XingRen is a 100% YES ABSOLUTELY YES PLEASE DEAR LORDS YES- from me.

[badpersonboogie]

☕️ anon here, and I did not mean to give you a heart attack. While Yes Jayce is wrecked with grief, but also Ximena is there to help him out! Like how a mom should, despite said son is actually a Typhon clone suffering through heart ache AND an identity crisis, which all results with him going by the last name instead of his first name, Talis.

And why wouldnt viktor be protective over Jayce and Talis? Jayce died from one of these things and Talis was made to help a grieving mother, who he doesn’t blame for Talis issues and more importantly creation, as those blames are pointed at the scientists and especially singed.

Seriously, viktor questions why singed put him in the simulation, besides being a voice of reason to Talis, it seemed that whatever experiment they were working on involving with Talis worked extremely well as Talis is a emotional person.

(Also I find it funny how viktor finds out Jayce is a Typhon is when he asks Jayce to grab him something from a really high shelf neither of them could reach, and watch Jayce limb turns black and easily grabs it, returning to normal when he retracts it, and gives it to viktor.

Viktor spent the next twenty minutes processing what he just saw, as Talis tries to explain it to him…)

————————

“WHAT DO YOU EXPERIMENT JAYCE!?” viktor yelled, making the man flinched inward on himself

“It happened like a couple years ago, it wasn’t that ba-“ talis tried to explain, only to be cut off by viktor.

“YOU WERE INJECTED WITH THE MEMORIES OF A DEAD MAN!” He hasn’t seen viktor this animated before, taking a step back as the Czech man paces.

“Let me get this straight, you are a Typhon that they managed to somehow pacify with the memories of Jayce Talis, and from a hell scenario where I was the guiding voice to your escape to prevent you from going into a typhonic rage?” Viktor paced, stopping and pointing to Talis.

“You were more, uhh, there than just a, uh, voice?” Talis stuttered out, watching viktor study his face with an eye twitched.

“I am going to kill singed, than himendinger for getting me this job.” Viktor bluntly replied.

————————

Basically, Viktor was really unhappy when he learned of Talis origins.

Also he got to have a lot more hands on experience with Talis Typhon form as Talis feels really uncomfortable doing anything sex related in the form of a dead man.

viktor is so-so angry. because this is-this is unethical and harmed someone. even if talis is actually a typhon, he's still a person they've hurt. and that's unforgivable. viktor hugs talis and talis tenses then slowly wraps his arms around viktor. i promise that they won't hurt you again, viktor says. talis' eyes widened then turned teary. his human form slowly fell away and the typhon clung to viktor. it can trust viktor, it can and it will.

and after that, talis is in his typhon form more than in his human form. (love that this is opposite of arms a shallow grave)