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auroracoriolis · 2 months ago

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[Fanfiction] Romance of the First Captains

A tale of when Forrix and Ahriman finally got together

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This is the full Forrix / Ahriman romance arc from my fanfic series Red and Iron. I have taken the relevant parts from several chapters and edited them together here, cutting out everything else.

If you want more Forrix content you can read his introductory chapter first, it takes place just a couple of hours before the events below.

Tags: Romance, mutual pining, love triangle / jealousy, angst with a happy ending, eventual smut, drunkeness, Magnus being rather annoying.

8000 words. NSFW! There is some explicit smut.

This is set during the first half of the Great Crusade. The Thousand Sons and the Iron Warriors have just finished a compliance together, and now there is a victory party on the Photep. Ahriman has discovered that someone has been stealing bottles of rare and expensive wine from his personal stash. Also, for a moment it looked like a fight between the Primarchs was going to break out right before the dinner started, so Ahriman is a bit stressed out.

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As Ahriman reached the head table and noticed that one of the missing wine bottles of his favourite vintage was being casually popped open by Magnus, all of his nervousness turned into rage. He decided that he was not going to talk to any of the Primarchs at all for the rest of the evening. There was no way he was going to keep his head cool enough to have an even halfway civilized conversation.

He refused to sit down in his assigned chair at the right side of his sire. Instead he walked past Magnus and past Perturabo. Next to the Lord of Iron sat his first captain Forrix, and the chair after him was currently empty. Ahriman swiftly stole that seat, grabbed the glass of wine in front of him and emptied it.

“Rough day?” asked Forrix, and put a hand on his shoulder.

The warm, steady touch was surprisingly soothing. Ahriman allowed himself to calm down and just breathe for a moment.

Soon the serfs came out and started serving the food, and the great feast finally began.

They had been through most of the courses by now. Ahriman had just finished eating the first dessert, and the second dessert was soon to arrive. He had lost track of how much wine he had drunk, and all his previous anger had faded away. In the background Magnus was being annoyingly loud and animated but Ahriman was able to tune him out, relax and focus on Forrix.

Ahriman enjoyed speaking with Forrix.

They had met during the compliance of course, but this was the first time that they could talk to each other while not in the strategium or in active combat. It was also the first time in a long while that Ahriman had seen Forrix without his armour. Forrix had clearly grown bigger. Based on the parts of his bulging muscle mass that were revealed by his formal-wear he was starting to look more and more like his genesire, but thankfully Forrix did not take after Perturabo's demeanour. Forrix was actually very kind, at least to Ahriman.

Suddenly Ahriman felt Magnus' soft but overpowering presence intruding in his mind.

+He likes you. You should keep him company tonight.+

+What?+

+I suggest that you stay close to first captain Forrix and ensure that he leaves this party with you and no one else... Perhaps you should invite him to your room for a drink.+

The sheer audacity of this allowed Ahriman to remember what he had been angry about before.

+I would have no drinks to offer him, since someone keeps stealing my bottles from me,+ he retaliated.

+I'm sorry about that. But my point was not about the drink. My point was that you should invite him to your room. Alone.+

His room, alone – just the two of them?

Oh no.

Ahriman could hardly believe this was happening. When he looked over at Magnus, his Primarch did not meet his gaze – outwardly he was still keeping up some other conversation.

+Are you commanding me to seduce an officer of another legion?+ Ahriman demanded.

+There is no need for that – as I said, he already likes you.+ Magnus' tone was full of amusement.

+But is this an order, sire?+

+Merely a suggestion. Ahzek, I'm trying to help you – I strongly advice you to take the chance before someone else does. Because I assure you, there are plenty of others who would.+

As always, Magnus' psychic voice was warm and reassuring, and also extremely convincing.

Ahriman did like Forrix, after all. He was not opposed to the idea of, at some point, being alone together. A part of him longed to be held by Forrix's strong, beautiful arms. Perhaps he should just give in and obey this inappropriate demand. It would make him happy.

But all his rage and resentment towards his Primarch had suddenly resurfaced. This request was so wrong, so outrageous, that he had to refuse it out of sheer principle.

“What's the matter?” Forrix asked.

“I'm sorry I... I need to go check on something.” Ahriman excused himself and scampered off.

As it turned out, Ahriman could not handle the enchanted wine as well as he thought he could. He ended up sleeping long into the following day, waking up with a terrible headache.

When he eventually picked up a data-slate and started groggily checking the latest status updates, he found several things that confused and displeased him. The first and most obvious one was that the Iron Blood had not yet departed, and shuttles were still going back and forth. Second, there appeared to be around a hundred Iron Warriors lingering on the Photep without any obvious purpose. First captain Forrix was among them, and as he would be the appropriate person to ask how long the Fourth Legion were planning on staying, Ahriman decided to go find him.

Still suffering from nausea and a headache, he reluctantly got up and got dressed in his duty-robes, and then headed out.

He went down to the hangar bay and had a look inside the feast hall. There were no longer any legionaries sleeping there, but he found that the serfs were setting the tables for dinner yet again, and that several large, heavy boxes with the insignia of the fourth legion had appeared in the room.

Later, in a corridor, he passed some serfs pushing carts loaded with unopened wine bottles that he did not recognize.

Ahriman had been told that Forrix was currently in a room, close to the gym, that was often used for physical therapy. Once he arrived he saw that a number of massage tables where setup in the room and that most of them were occupied by Iron Warriors being tended to by members of the Pavoni.

Embarrassingly enough, Ahriman did not find Forrix by looking for his face or his aura. It was extremely easy to notice Forrix because he was the biggest body in the room – laying shirtless on the table in the centre with his broad, well-muscled back on full display.

Hathor Maat was standing right next to the table, leaning over Forrix. He was wearing sleeveless robes and his hands were glistening with oil as he was in the middle of giving him a back massage.

Maat made telepathic contact as soon as Ahriman entered the room.

+Ah, first captain, so you are finally awake.+ There was an air of amusement in his mental tone that Ahriman did not approve of.

+What is going on here?+

+Did our lord not tell us to take good care of the Iron Warriors while they are here?+

+I don't think he meant for you to go quite this far,+ Ahriman answered, +and they were supposed to have already left by now.+

+Well, you will have to ask him about that.+

As Ahriman approached, Forrix noticed him and was about to get up, but Maat pushed him back down.

“There is no need for you to get up, first captain. Please stay, I am not done yet.”

Forrix did not fight it, instead he stayed on the massage table and simply turned his head to Ahriman. “First captain,” he greeted him, nodding politely.

“First captain,” Ahriman greeted him back, using a formal tone in an attempt to offset the awkwardness of seeing Forrix so exposed. “Would you please explain why your legion has not departed yet?”

“There was a change of plans. Lord Perturabo has postponed our departure until tomorrow.”

“May I ask for the reason why?”

“It was because of logistics.”

“Can you give me any more details than that?”

“Unfortunately, my Primarch did not give me any more details either,” Forrix answered with a bashful smile, “but I am sure he must have had good reasons.”

Maat was smirking widely, seemingly trying to hide it by keeping his face down, focusing on his work. He had not stopped massaging Forrix. If anything, he was increasing his efforts as if he wanted to make Ahriman as uncomfortable as possible. He did not look up as he spoke:

“Isn't it lovely? We get to spend even more time with our dear cousins. Did you hear that we are hosting them for another dinner tonight?”

“Wait, what?” Ahriman sputtered. “Another dinner?”

That would be unacceptable, and impossible – they literally did not have enough supplies left onboard to do anything even remotely similar to last night. Not to mention that the Thousand Sons would soon have nothing left but combat rations until they could resupply.

“Yes, it is already being prepared downstairs,” said Maat.

Ahriman stood silent and blinked twice, too dumbfounded to speak. Then he turned to Forrix.

“I'm sorry, but this kind of arrangement needed to be approved by our legion's leadership.”

“I was told that lord Magnus approved it,” Forrix answered, nonplussed.

“This is what happens when you stay in bed until noon, Ahzek,” Maat interjected in the most snide voice possible, ”decisions are made without you.”

Ahriman's eye twitched.

Forrix appeared to have noticed Ahriman's discomfort. “Don't worry, we are bringing over supplies from our fleet so that we won't deplete all of yours. Your ship still has the nicer venue, so it makes sense to be here.”

“We will get to try out Olympian wine, isn't that great?” Maat said, still smirking. “It turns out the Fourth had quite a lot of it in storage.”

Ahriman was frustrated about this turn of events, but he was also very distracted. He found it increasingly hard to keep his eyes on Forrix's face. All the muscles on the back of the Iron Warrior's impressive torso were visible, the massage oil and whatever Maat was doing to him were only making them even more obvious, and the many armour ports in his skin formed a mesmerizing symmetrical pattern. At this point in his career Forrix was wearing Terminator plate and you could tell just by looking at him – he was so large that he likely would not fit into any smaller armour. His body was a work of art, an exemplar of the rugged, powerful beauty of the fourth legion, and Ahriman found himself involuntarily salivating just from looking at it.

+He is handsome, isn't he?+ remarked Maat. +Though I must warn you that tonight, he is mine.+

+What?+

+I have been given a special mission, to take care of first captain Forrix today. To make sure he isn't lonely, if you know what I mean.+

+Did Magnus put you up to this?+ asked Ahriman with quickly rising ire.

+He was the one who asked me, yes.+

+Do you not find such an order deeply unethical?+

+This was no order,+ Maat stated, again keeping his eyes down on his work. +I know the difference between an order and my Primarch simply asking me for a favour. And the exact wording was to 'keep him occupied and prevent him from dragging Perturabo home too early again'. Anyway, I was not inclined to say no. I am simply taking some liberties in how I carry out the mission, and I am finding it rather enjoyable.+

Forrix looked between the two of them, seemingly confused as he was not privy to their telepathic conversation. To him it would look like Ahriman was silently staring at Maat, becoming increasingly agitated.

Maat pushed down harder on a muscle knot, making Forrix close his eyes and groan loudly.

+It's not like I plan to force myself on him,+ Maat continued, +but he hasn't said no to anything I have done to him so far.+

Suddenly Maat looked up and deliberately fixed his gaze on Ahriman.

+I saw the two of you sitting together yesterday. Ahzek, if you want this task for yourself, you should speak up now, before it is too late.+

Ahriman blushed. He could not confess his true feelings, not to Maat, one of his most obnoxious brothers – he would never hear the end of it.

Also, he knew he had no chance, as Forrix was surely way too proper and by-the-book to harbour such feelings as Ahriman did. He was logical and professional like all Iron Warriors, not plagued by any irrational emotions. His friendliness and kindness were certainly only politeness. Ahriman knew he would be rejected and would end up the laughing-stock of all the legions.

“Very well. Carry on then,” he blurted out as he turned around and then quickly left the room, a multitude of conflicting emotions threatening to overwhelm him.

A part of him was still wishing that he had done what Magnus asked of him last night. Now he had truly lost his chance.

Forrix slumped helplessly on the massage table. He wished he had said more, though he could not find any suitable words. The things he truly wanted to say were impossible to utter, for they were deeply intertwined with a terrible truth that he was forbidden to ever speak of under penalty of death or worse.

As far as Ahriman seemed to be aware, this was the second time that the two of them and their legions had been on a mission together, but Forrix knew that in truth it was actually the third time. There had been two shared compliances – and these had both been rather routine, all things considered – but the very first assignment had been different. It was a rescue mission, or at least it was supposed to be. It had ended in tragedy, as they were forced to sacrifice the remaining population of the planet to prevent a horrifying corruption from spreading to other worlds.

But the important thing was that he and Ahriman had worked together on that mission. They had been in great danger and they had both saved each other's lives. It was sad that all their work amounted to nothing in the end, but both the Primarchs and their legions seemed to have grown closer, at least. Forrix thought that he and Ahriman had grown very close as well.

A few years later, the next time the legions were slated to meet up, his lord had come to him with a strange but very specific order.

“My brother Magnus has asked a favour of me,” Perturabo had said. “I am about to issue a new decree to our legion, and it is imperative that we never fail in upholding it. You know how much my brother cares for humanity... What happened on Morningstar saddened him immensely, and he says that it is a source of great pain for his sons as well. He has asked of me that from now on, whenever our legions are together, that planet or that mission is never to be mentioned again. It must be as if it never happened... I will honour the favour my brother has asked of me. It does not matter whether I agree or disagree with how he wishes this to be handled, I will see it done. The order will be disseminated to the entirety of the Fourth tomorrow. Now, Forrix, I want to impress upon you how important this is to me personally. I will not look kindly on anyone who, through disobedience or negligence, makes my brother sad. Do you understand?”

Forrix had seen his Primarch's icy blue stare and immediately understood how serious he was about this. Lord Perturabo was known to hand out swift and severe punishment for wrongdoings far smaller than someone hurting the feelings of his favourite brother.

Luckily, the Iron Warriors were not a legion inclined to talk unnecessarily. As far as Forrix knew, no one had ever broken that decree, and Morningstar was never mentioned again.

The true reason for Magnus' favour only became evident to Forrix once the legions met. As the two Primarchs embraced each other in greeting, Forrix had gone to embrace Ahriman, but Ahriman had seemed confused, as if he did not recognize him at all. As if this was the first time they had ever met. And then Forrix had understood – Ahriman's memory was gone, and there was nothing he could do. He was not allowed to ever speak of the time they had shared or of what they had lived through together.

As they embarked on the mission at hand, Ahriman was polite but cold and professional, clearly seeing him as nothing more than a fellow captain. They had no issues working together, but Forrix would never forget that they used to be so much closer. Ahriman was the most brave, brilliant and beautiful of the Thousand Sons, and for a short time, Forrix had dared to dream that his feelings would be returned. But he had lost his chance, forever.

The massage had been a somewhat overwhelming experience from the start, and by now, Forrix was so overcome with emotion that he felt tears welling up in his eyes. Embarrassed, he hid his face behind his arm.

“What's the matter?”

It seemed impossible to hide anything from the sorcerer who had his warm hands all over him.

Hathor Maat, this other captain of the Thousand Sons, who was not Ahriman but who was equally impossibly handsome. Who for some unfathomable reason was suddenly giving Forrix an undue amount of attention, and who had not allowed him to be alone for even a minute since he arrived on the Photep today.

Whatever magic of the flesh Maat was using, it was making Forrix melt to his core. It made him feel totally defeated in the best way possible.

“I simply don't understand why you are being so kind to me,” Forrix said. “What have I done to deserve this much attention?”

“You have worked so very hard for a long time,” Maat cooed, “we know you all have. We just want to give you a chance to relax for once.”

“Thank you.” Forrix did not know what else to say.

He did have an inkling that there had been a battle of wills between Maat and Ahriman, and clearly not all of the Thousand Sons were happy about the altered arrangements for the day. But there was nothing Forrix could do to change any of it, and it was not his business to try to figure out exactly what was going on.

He surrendered to Maat's pampering and allowed himself to relax.

If he could not have the heart of Ahzek Ahriman, he just had to accept it and focus on appreciating the good things that did come his way, even if he did not always understand them.

This night's dinner was a less formal and more relaxed affair than the one yesterday. Since there was no specific entertainment planned, both the legions had brought all boardgames and party games that they had. It had turned out that the Iron Warriors had a lot of pork and potatoes in storage, so that made up the bulk of the main course while the Thousand Sons provided apples and vegetables. There was still plenty of wine to drink, as the Iron Warriors had contributed several shuttle-loads of Olympian wine, but the Pavoni had only had time to enchant about half of it.

The seating at the head table had moved around slightly compared to the night before. Forrix was sitting next to Perturabo again, but on the other side of him was Hathor Maat. Forrix was telling Maat about why the pig was the best animal for meat and Maat was listening intently, smiling and laughing. Ahriman was quietly watching them from across the table, sipping on his wine and looking absolutely miserable.

After the dinner, the tables were cleared and the games were brought out. There was everything from regicide boards to the large and elaborate war simulation games that the Iron Warriors liked to make, complete with beautiful and surprisingly detailed miniatures of space marines, tanks and titans. However, the night would end up being dominated by a tournament of the tower game.

[ The tournament ends with the Primarchs playing against each other. It results in Perturabo losing the game, and he then leaves in silence. That seems to make Magnus upset and he runs away as well. ]

After the Primarchs left, seemingly on bad terms with each other, tension and unease spread among the members of both legions and the party died down somewhat.

Ahriman realized that the responsibility of playing host might now fall upon his shoulders, and he knew that he should act to salvage the situation but he was too miserable to figure something out. As he watched Hathor Maat climb up on the platform he was grateful to see someone else rising to the occasion (but he was also jealous of Maat's boldness).

“Brothers, cousins – calm yourselves,” Maat spoke, his voice amplified to reach everyone as he had connected his personal vox to the hangar deck loudspeakers. He threw out his arms in a dramatic gesture as he said:

“Forget about the Primarchs!”

That was shockingly brazen, but hopefully Maat would follow it up by making a rhetorical point that justified him saying something so irreverent.

“They will be fine,” Maat continued, “we know they will both calm down and be friends again in the morning.”

There was truth in that, even Ahriman had to admit. Surely it would take much more than a game of collapsing tower to cause a true falling out between Magnus and his brother.

“We can't let their absence ruin the night for us. The party is far from over – there is still plenty of wine to drink and games to play! We are here to celebrate and enjoy ourselves, because we have all deserved it, and celebrate we shall! Now, who gets to break this tower? First captain Forrix, come, get up here!”

Forrix climbed up on the platform and stood next to Maat, studying the tower. It seems that no one present could dispute Perturabo's claim that the game was over, but Forrix had been given the honour of making the next move in his Primarch's stead. After some consideration he chose to pull out one of the game-pieces near the base, which made the tower collapse in on itself a spectacular but clearly deliberate fashion. The crowd closest to the platform had withdrawn slightly, but this collapse was so measured, so controlled that not a single piece fell over the edge. It was destruction, but it was orderly and it was beautiful.

Once the clatter of cascading steel pieces ended, the crowd started cheering. Maat toasted with Forrix and they patted each other on the shoulders. As they stood there smiling in front of everyone they seemed to embody the warm unity and friendship between the two legions, like their genesires should have done if they had still been there.

The mood in the great hall was instantly much better again, and the party resumed. Ahriman seemed to be the only one who was not happy.

For a while, Ahriman tried to distract himself by watching two of his brothers playing a game of regicide, but he found himself unable to focus.

He was angry. He could not stand seeing Forrix seemingly enjoying himself with someone else. His ire toward Hathor Maat was quickly growing, but mostly, Ahriman was angry with himself... Angry for being too much of a coward to make a move when he had the chance.

He drank the last wine in his glass and stared blankly ahead. He was overwhelmed by an aching loneliness and a longing that he could no longer ignore. Something, a new feeling that he did not fully understand, stirred deep inside him and it finally gave him the courage to act. He desperately needed to feel Forrix's arms around him, at least once, while they both still lived.

Ahriman scanned the room and soon found the place where Forrix was standing talking to some Iron Warriors, and he started walking towards him with newfound determination. It might already be too late, but he still had to try.

When Ahriman reached Forrix he gently grabbed his left arm. The heat rose quickly in his blood as he felt the firmness of Forrix's muscles, and he leaned in close and whispered:

“First captain, would you like to...” he trailed off.

It was not until now he saw that Hathor Maat was already holding Forrix's other arm. Maat was looking back at Ahriman with the bile of someone who just spotted an intruding enemy, while Forrix seemed surprised and confused. They all stared at each other for a moment, then Ahriman and Maat moved simultaneously to hold onto their respective sides of Forrix more firmly as if they were going to start pulling him in different directions.

+Please... I need him,+ Ahriman pleaded, feeling pathetic.

+I need him too. You had your chance, Ahzek! It's too late to change your mind now.+

“Please don't fight,” sighed Forrix.

One extremely large Iron Warrior suddenly appeared before them. He was as wide as Forrix but much taller. There were only a few Astartes across all the legions known to be this huge. Both Maat and Ahriman stood still and looked up as the newcomer greeted his first captain:

“Good evening, Triarch,” he said politely, “you appear to be outnumbered. Would you like some reinforcements?”

“Yes, can you take my right flank?” Forrix answered, indicating the side were Maat was clinging on to him.

“With pleasure,” he answered, grinning widely. “I was hoping you would give me the blonde one.”

The large Iron Warrior bowed down with surprising grace, pried loose Maat's right hand and took it.

“Hello beautiful,” he said, “my name is Barban Falk, but you can call me Warsmith.”

Falk then elegantly brought Maat's hand to his lips and kissed it, making him blush.

Falk possessed a rugged handsomeness not too dissimilar from that of Forrix. He had dark hair and a short beard that was neatly groomed. There were almost no scars marring the fair skin of his face (probably because he was so tall that it was hard to reach it).

Maat looked at Falk and breathed deeply, then once again sent his thoughts to Ahriman:

+Fine, you can have Forrix. I will take this one instead.+

Ahriman could feel Maat's unabashed desire through the telepathic link. He realized that the same feeling also burned within himself, but only now was he able to name it.

Maat let go of Forrix and focused all of his attention on Falk.

“Well then, Warsmith,” he said, and his voice was effortlessly seductive. “I am Hathor Maat, Magister Templi of the Pavoni. You can use my title as well. I hope you can endure some thorough examination.”

He reached up and greedily felt his bicep, and Falk obediently flexed it for him.

“A Magister, eh? Examine as much as you like,” Falk chuckled.

Meanwhile, Ahriman and Forrix held hands and gazed into each other's eyes. Finally, there was nothing keeping them apart.

“Kydomor...”

“Ahzek...”

“Let's get out of here,” Ahriman whispered, his mind too foggy to be more eloquent.

“Yes,” Forrix answered, smiling.

The four of them started slowly navigating through the crowd, holding on firmly to their chosen lovers.

Ahriman led Forrix to the corridor where many of the captains of the Fifteenth had their personal quarters. There were several other couples walking the same path, and even though Ahriman tried his best to ignore them he could not stop hearing their whispers and feeling their presence. Only once he closed his door behind them could he truly relax.

His quarters were relatively humble – there was the sitting area they were currently standing in, a small office and a bedroom – but these chambers were his and no one would disturb them here. Ahriman was immensely relieved at finally being here, alone just the two of them. He turned to Forrix and they both moved at the same time, rushing into each other's arms.

They had embraced in greeting before, while armoured, but that was nothing like this. Now, as they stood there wearing only their fine robes – Ahriman in sky-blue and Forrix in black – no eyes upon them and no bulky ceramite between them, they could embrace for real. Ahriman leaned his head on Forrix's broad shoulder. To feel those massive arms holding him in such a tender, protective way brought tears of joy to Ahriman's eyes. He wanted Forrix to hold him forever.

But as he relished in the warmth of the Iron Warrior's powerful body, Ahriman soon noticed a flowery scent lingering on Forrix's flesh. He remembered when he had felt it before – earlier in the day, when he had been forced to watch Hathor Maat touching Forrix. This was the fragrance of the massage oil that Maat had been using, and he recognized it as honeysuckle. Insecurity welled up in him, and he was forced to break the silence and ask:

“What happened between you and Hathor?”

Forrix shrugged. “As soon as I arrived here today, suddenly he was showering me with attention... It did seem like he was coming on to me.”

Ahriman bit his lip. He had to admit that, despite being supremely annoying, Maat had acted honourably when it mattered. He had been kind enough to step aside (after only a brief moment of conflict), letting Ahriman have Forrix for himself, and now Ahriman felt obligated to honour him in return.

“He had been given the task to take care of you,” Ahriman said, “by our Primarch.”

“Is that so?... Does Magnus usually interfere with your love lives?”

“Only sometimes.”

They were still embracing and Ahriman could not see Forrix's face, but he could feel the breath pause in Forrix's chest.

“I can't believe it, but you just made me appreciate my own Primarch more,” Forrix said, baffled. “At least he doesn't play games like that.”

Ahriman was uncomfortable, as even a subtle critique against Magnus put him in a position where he felt forced to defend his genesire.

“He only meant for someone to keep you company, and he tried to give the task to me first... but I refused.”

“Really?... Did you not want it?” Now Forrix sounded insecure.

“Yes, but not like that!” Ahriman quickly answered. “I was stupid, too stubborn. I regretted it as soon as I saw Hathor with you... Did... did you want him?” Ahriman felt self-conscious, guilty for how he had wavered for far too long and then rudely inserted himself between the two of them.

“He would have been nothing more than a consolation prize for me,” Forrix said. “You are the one I truly hoped for... but I thought you didn't want me.”

“What? I thought you were the one who didn't want me!”

“I have wanted you since...” Forrix's voice drifted away as he caressed Ahrimans hair. ”... Always,” he whispered. Suddenly, Forrix's large shoulders were subtly shaking.

“What's wrong?” Ahriman asked, and he withdrew so he could see his face.

Forrix quickly rubbed his eyes before he met Ahriman's.

“Nothing is wrong,” he said and smiled softly, “not any more.”

Ahriman almost gasped at the intensity of seeing Forrix this close.

Forrix had the same ice-blue eyes and pale skin as his genesire, and his handsome face could certainly look stern when he needed it to, but yet in this moment his visage was warm and kind – at least that was the way he appeared to Ahriman. Forrix touched Ahriman's cheek and gazed at him as if he was looking at the most beautiful thing in the world.

“Your eyes are magical,” he said, “both deep and impossibly bright, like the sky on a sunny day... and there are stars in them.”

There was a deep pain in Forrix's aura that Ahriman did not understand, but he wanted nothing more than to soothe that pain.

“Your eyes are like ice crystals... like sapphires,” Ahriman said, trying to return the compliment, but the words felt small and inadequate. Instead he tried to echo the earlier sentiment. “I have also always wanted you,” he said and let his fingertips caress Forrix's face, “for as long as I can remember.” Then he leaned in, bringing their lips closer together, and they finally met in a kiss.

It was slow and tender. One of Forrix's hands lovingly dug into the dark curls of Ahriman's hair as the other arm tightened around his body, still only showing a fraction of the true power those beautiful muscles held. Forrix was being so very careful with him, as if he was afraid to hurt him.

“I won't break,” Ahriman whispered as soon as their lips parted.

Then his sight suddenly darkened, his knees buckled and he collapsed in Forrix's arms as a vision took him. Ahriman saw Forrix, sometime far in the future, and a flash of terrible light.

He came too after only a short moment as Forrix was effortlessly carrying him into the adjacent bedroom.

“What's wrong? Should I call an apothecary for you?” Forrix said as he carefully placed Ahriman on the bed, clearly worried.

“No, it was only a vision... It happens sometimes. I will be fine, just give me a moment.”

Forrix sat down on the bed next to him and held his hand, still seeming concerned. “What did you see?”

Ahriman would rather not speak of it. It had not been a happy vision, but he found himself unable to keep quiet, as tears – of sadness, this time – gathered in his eyes.

“I saw you die,” he said. “If I allow myself to love you, one day I will have to live through losing you.”

Not until he had finished speaking did he realize that he had said love, and he was immediately embarrassed. They had not known each other long enough for that. Well, it had been decades, but the actual time they had spent together had been only a few days here and there, spread out many years apart. He felt so silly for using that word... but there was nothing else that felt more right.

Forrix now held both of his hands. “That is the risk we all have to take,” he answered solemnly. “All the more reason to allow ourselves to live fully while we still can.”

Ahriman saw the truth in that, and as he sat up and wiped his tears away he decided to let no more time be wasted. He threw himself at Forrix in all his desperation and hunger, showering him with kisses and letting his hands find their way beneath his robes. Forrix returned his affections with the same passion, and he allowed Ahriman to climb on top of him.

Ahriman became acutely aware of how thin the layers of silk between their bodies were. He could feel Forrix's heavy breaths as well as hear them, and the way Forrix's muscles flexed as he moved to touch him. Ahriman also felt an unmistakeable rising bulge beneath him, and he blushed as he realized that he, too, was getting visibly aroused. But he did not withdraw – instead he tentatively grinded his hips against Forrix, and he was thrilled as the normally so stoic Iron Warrior shuddered and moaned. Ahriman was usually never this bold, but it was obvious that their desire was mutual and he did not want to hold back any longer.

Forrix soon figured out how to make Ahriman's robes fall off his shoulders, and started undoing his own robes as well. As more of their bodies became exposed Ahriman felt increasingly inadequate. He was slightly slimmer than the average Astartes, and his body was almost completely hairless – a very common trait among the Thousand Sons, despite their diverse origins (likely a quirk inherited through their geneseed). He felt so small compared to Forrix's tanky build, and almost intimidated by his plentiful chest hair. As if he had noticed Ahriman's nervousness, Forrix reached up and lovingly touched his pecs.

“You are so beautiful,” he said, and Ahriman no longer felt any shame or uncertainty.

It was not long before all of their clothes were discarded on the floor. Ahriman feasted his eyes on Forrix's magnificent, muscular body, and as he looked further down, he could confirm that the Iron Warrior had an impressive girth that truly matched his broad chest and shoulders.

Ahriman was under the assumption that Forrix, as well as the rest of the fourth legion, had very little experience in lovemaking, possibly none at all. Ahriman himself had way more experience than he ought to have, and he did not mind taking the lead – he was only happy for a chance to give Forrix pleasure and maybe even teach him something.

He made Forrix lie down on his back while he once again kissed him on the lips, playfully running his fingers through the dark hair on his chest, and then he moved his kisses further down. It was all too easy to make Forrix gasp and moan by licking and teasing his nipples. As Ahriman continued further down to kiss his sternum and his stomach, he could both see and feel how every single kiss, even the smallest touch set Forrix's aura ablaze with glittering shock waves of stimulation. How strangely powerful Ahriman felt as he made this mighty warrior turn to putty in his hands – the feeling was unfamiliar, but maybe he could get used to it. He continued traversing downwards until he reached his destination.

Forrix's cock was already fully hard, and Ahriman eagerly took it into his mouth. He pressed his lips and his tongue against the thick shaft and gently cradled his lover's balls as he started moving his head with a determined rhythm. He was pleased to hear Forrix starting to completely unravel, giving him the loudest moans yet. It was not long at all before he could feel the salty taste of pre-come, and he was taken aback by the intensity of the emotions it carried – a strong protective urge, and such a fierce, desperate longing.

Ahriman did not want Forrix to finish quite yet – he wanted to feel him inside himself first, and he realized that he might have to hurry up with the logistics needed to get to that part. He continued the blowjob but slowed down his pace while he used telekinesis to open a drawer in his bedside table, making a bottle of lube levitate to his side. He applied the lube to the fingers of his right hand and reached down to start preparing himself, but Forrix interrupted him.

“What are you doing?”

Ahriman, unable to speak with his mouth full of cock, was forced to stop and lift his head to answer. “I want you inside me,” he said in a hoarse voice, “down there, I mean”.

“Are you sure?” Forrix sounded hesitant.

“Yes, and stop acting like you are afraid to hurt me. I want it.”

“Then at least let me do that for you. You should not have to prepare yourself – you have done enough already.”

Forrix sat up and gently lifted Ahriman off of him. Then he took the bottle of lube and poured a generous amount on his hands and on his hard, leaking member.

“Now you lie down,” he said, and Ahriman obeyed, lying down on his back. Forrix looked at him with a hungry smile.

“Your lips are very red... you are pretty like that. The only thing that would make you look even better would be my seed all over you.” Forrix's expression then became more hesitant as he backtracked and asked for permission. “Would you be fine with me coming on your chest?”

“Next time,” Ahriman answered, “this time I want you inside. Now stop dallying.”

Forrix nodded in affirmative and then reached down between Ahriman's legs. He turned out to be surprisingly skilled with his hands. As he slipped a slick finger inside Ahriman, he immediately found the right spot to rub, and he applied the perfect amount of pressure around the entrance. He must have quite a bit of experience after all, or he simply possessed an enviable natural talent. Once several fingers of his right hand were safely inside, his left hand started taking care of Ahriman's already half-hard cock. He was making it feel way too good, too quickly.

“Oh, Kydomor,” Ahriman moaned, “how did you learn to do that?”

“Practice, I suppose,” Forrix said, as casually as if he was talking about weapon maintenance, while both his hands moved back and forth in a well-calculated rhythm.

Ahriman's hips buckled involuntarily as he felt pressure building steadily inside of him.

“At this rate you're going to make me come before you even... just get inside me now! I need to feel you.”

Ahriman's voice was commanding and Forrix did as he was told, but not before adding even more lube onto his member for good measure. Then he repositioned himself and gently held Ahriman's hips to align their bodies together.

Ahriman's breath hitched as he felt himself being penetrated. Forrix was huge, but he was also very careful. He thrusted slowly and deeply at first, carefully exploring and observing his lover's reactions for any sign of discomfort. Only once he was confident in how far inside he could get did he pick up the pace. He slightly adjusted their positions until he found the perfect angle.

“Yes, good, like that!...” Ahriman panted, his eyes closed in delight.

He relished in the feeling of being filled, the intimacy of it and the delirious intensity of the sensation. He let his hands roam on Forrix's back, scratching gently near his armour ports, wanting to give back at least a little bit of the pleasure that he was feeling. But Forrix already seemed to be lost in overwhelming bliss, his Iron self-control finally breaking, his breath ragged and his movements getting more and more desperate the closer he came to his climax.

Ahriman held him harder, pushing back against the thrusts, and he could hear how Forrix's breathing got faster and faster. His control of biomancy was limited, but he was able to make his muscles constrict around the cock inside him, as if he was sucking on it, trying to pull Forrix even further in. Forrix's large body shook as he was brought over the edge, and he made a deep grunting noise that sounded feral and almost painful. Ahriman felt a great warmth spreading inside him, and it made him even happier than he thought it would to know that he had made Forrix come.

Once Forrix came down from his orgasm he wiped tears from his face, but he looked only joyful as he leaned down and kissed Ahriman again. They remained like that for a short while as Forrix recovered. Ahriman enjoyed feeling the weight of the heavy body on top of him, and he complained when Forrix finally pulled out.

“No, stay...”

“I would be neglectful if I did not let you finish as well,” Forrix answered as he moved.

Once again Forrix brought his right hand to Ahriman's entrance, totally unbothered by the seed that was leaking out, and put his fingers inside, applying a steady pressure to the prostate. His left hand grabbed Ahriman's cock and started stroking it like he had before. It had received quite a bit of stimulation from being caught in between their moving bodies, and now the focused attention was quickly bringing Ahriman close to the edge.

Once again Ahriman was astonished by the skill of Forrix's hands. Were all Iron Warriors so good at this, or was it only him? Was the transhuman body close enough to a machine that they could use their legion's rumoured ability to intuitively find its weak points?

Ahriman allowed himself to whimper and moan loudly to show exactly how much of an effect this treatment was having on him. Then he gasped as Forrix suddenly took him in his mouth and proved beyond any doubt that he had experience in that as well.

It was not long before Ahriman came, and Forrix held firm and swallowed repeatedly, seemingly determined to not spill a single drop. Only well after Ahriman had stopped trembling did Forrix swallow one last time and then let him go, as he once again crawled up to lie next to him.

“You didn't have to swallow all of it,” Ahriman said, somewhat impressed.

“It is the closest I can come to reading your mind,” Forrix said, “so I will relish the opportunity to even the playing-field just a bit.”

“Oh... Just to be clear, I can't exactly read your mind. It's not how it works, and it's not my strongest ability anyway.”

“Oh well,” Forrix shrugged, and a sly smile was growing on his lips. “Do you think you can go again? For I also wish to feel you inside of me.”

Ahriman was astonished at Forrix's endurance, but he soon felt that he too had a lust for more after all.

“Yes, just give me a moment to... reload.”

They ended up going a few more rounds until they were completely exhausted, then they both went into the shower to clean themselves up before returning to the bed in a less messy state. They slipped under the covers and lay down snuggling close together. Ahriman rested his head on Forrix's chest, listening to his heartbeats and slow breaths.

“Ahzek,” Forrix whispered as he gently ran his fingers through Ahriman's hair. “What would you do if we were free?... If the legions did not exist, if you could choose any life you wanted?”

“Well, I have this idea that once the Crusade is over, I will grow grapes and make wine. I think I could turn it into a business... though I will probably hire someone else to take care of the sales and the actual business side of things, so that I can focus on the growing and production.”

“I think I want to build things,” Forrix mused, ”something that is useful, but not weapons or armour. Like... will you be needing a greenhouse for your grapes?”

“I suppose I will,” Ahriman answered.

“And a watering system, I guess? I could build things like that. And you will probably need a spacious library for everything you have collected over the years.”

“Now it sounds like you are suggesting that the two of us live together after we retire.” Ahriman was only half-joking.

“Why not? There is no one in my own legion that I would rather live with.” Forrix sounded completely sincere.

Ahriman was not against the idea of living together with Forrix one day – in fact, it was feeling more appealing the more he thought about it. There was something heartbreaking about an Astartes not wanting to be with his own brothers, but in the case of the Fourth, Ahriman could understand it.

“But it will be centuries until then,” Ahriman said, ”and we have not known each other for long... How can you be so sure of that already?”

“True, I don't know what the future will bring... I can only know what I feel now, in the moment – but I feel it as strongly as any conviction I have ever held. Can we make each other a promise that when the time comes, we will meet and see if we both still feel the same?”

“Yes,” Ahriman agreed, “that is a good promise.”

Forrix pressed a gentle kiss to Ahriman's hand. “I only hope that you will not forget me before then.”

“Why do you say that?” Ahriman asked in disbelief. ”How could I ever possibly forget you?”

Forrix did not answer the question, he only kissed Ahriman's forehead and held him more tightly as tears ran down his face. When Forrix eventually spoke, his tone was solemn but determined:

“Ahzek, I love you, and I will be yours for all the time that we are given, however long it shall be. Will you allow yourself to love, despite that ominous vision of yours?”

Once again, tears welled up in Ahriman's eyes as he silently raged against the inevitability of fate.

“Yes,” he answered, ”I will love you, and be yours... And I will never, ever forget you.”

#ahriman x forrix #romance fanfic #ahzek ahriman #kydomor forrix #warhammer shipping #warhammer fanfic #astartes shipping #warhammer smut #hathor maat #barban falk #magnus the red #warhammer 30k #warhammer 40k #warhammer 40000 #wh40k #40k

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theghostbunnie · 8 months ago

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hi, i saw your post answering nick deactivating all their profiles and i want to admit this since i feel kinda responsible but i think i mightve been the reason why they deactivated, you dont need to post this if you dont want to but consider this an admission of guilt of some sort

because nick had all xyr profiles still up even after the alligations happened for a good month or so, i spontaiously remembered their existance one night and realised that, by locking their profile on twt (i didnt follow xem back) and noticing that most of their art wasnt on there ment that alot of people wouldnt get to enjoy their art, and me being big on archiving content i like i decided to start up a blog on archiving their art since they were semi-big in the fairly oddparents fandom on twitter

since ive ran two previous art archive blogs before i made sure to check that nick had been completely inactive and not on any other account, making sure not to post any of their art already on tumblr since the blog was still up at the time and i had planned on saving those as drafts if something happened, and i had set up a small queue on whatever art i could find searching their username on google, and most importantly i let them know in the pinned post that if they wanted this archive taken down then i will 100% take it down

the next day after i made that blog ive noticed i had recieved two dms from nick telling me to take this down, i didnt actually read them fully, all i saw was "may you take this archive down?" and sprinted to deactivate the entire blog (i would be lying if i said i wasnt curious to know how exactly they found the blog, but thats me being nosey someone probably told xem, not very relevant to the conversation)

it wasnt untill i was scrolling through my main blogs post on a tag that ive noticed that they deactivated, and at first i thought that maybe it just showed them as deactivated despite changing their url or something since ive noticed it would sometimes happen, but nope, fully deactivated

i personally, as ive mentioned, wasnt mutuals with xem nor would i have really considered us accuaintences, more of a 'people who happened to be in the same soup isle in the same store' shtick, but they would sometimes send funny replies, i wasnt very big into the ship they were posting at the moment but i liked their art and they had shared some wc crossover art that made me happy since that was my special interest and it was sorta stuck in my head as a special little conversation ive had, and while digging i admitibly got sorta fascinated by masha / sasha in general inspite of the fact ive never watched camp camp before (trying to fight the demons rn)

i hold absoloutly no grudge against nick for telling me i should take it down as they have a right to and i explicitly said in the pinned that i would , i just feel very bad about the fact that ive made them extremely uncomfortable to the point where xe felt like xe had to remove their two only platforms they were active on in general, and again i feel very strongly about preservation of media for others to enjoy and it backfired and now no one gets to enjoy it, including the fact that they had made alot of fanart for a rarepair

(since the blog didnt really exist for more then 2 days and if you do want proof of the blogs existance heres a link to a reblog i happened to notice from someone i know -> https://www.tumblr.com/coolmika745/765034471884029952?source=share)

I'm gonna be so honest Idk how Twitter or archiving or alot of the stuff you just said works but maybe this information will be important to somebody so up it goes/gen

I still think it looks suspicious being accused of what they are they just go radio silent but everything is still just allegations at the moment

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rei-hunt · 10 months ago

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Hi, previous post get few more likes than i had expect. I really thankful for yours observe to same character which getting my eyes too. But here is two moment that confused me.

First. i'd liked one post which i can't find in likes of account. and i been glad if that person just blocked me. its bc i don't wanna be a trigger to self censoring for someone. This will been important in second.

Second. I was sight a repost with historical hetalia's tag. After it i have mood up cause my interest with history and culture as if has been recognized. And later i was seriously become to mind about how deep will should my research for being accept by me like historical/cultural hetalia. And which medias could been relatably as historical. Then if dig deeply, which referencies would been actual for an historical accurate and which shall not been use. By what rules should selecting all this. And would am i want fit it all on my works, even i delighting by autors of historical content. And then i beginning to mind of my role to my works, why i want creating, about roles of character in my fiction, why they are matched as it.

It's good loaded me. And in final i been to get an art block with anxien of being actively in hetalia's fandom. But i don't want becoming to ghost and painfully expecting on content with wales definitely.

And first step to not transform in sad potato will be my explanation for random users seeing my blog:

I'm inspirited by history and culture of Wales. But i'm not creating an historical/cultural Hetalia cause my feels and individual get in works. I'm confident that welsh is can representing they self. And if you want learn somewhat about Wales and welsh, you are welcome to blogs and other mediacreators that popularizing history and culture of them. Don't address to me with this even i'm not bad drawing.

Also i want to say, due to fact that my feels and relevant for me themes get in my works, the characterization of brit bros is not fit in events of real life. And for don't been mad by my fiction add a #loosely historical AU by rh tag to filter tags in settings of your account.

As well, i'll post with sourse and other information in sideblog from now on and add link to info-post under art. And there i'll post some stuff about welsh culture or history/ All my sourses from internet. Usually i haven't access to archives and history books.

AUs will be taged like '___ AU'. If i'll use materials from other fandoms for allusion or pastiche i'll to tag it like 'materials from ___'.

All my incest ships art will be hiddened under a cut and have tag with cw. In incest ships will taked ALL pairings with brit bros, without keep on or not by incest plot. Reason in canon where brits are brothers. If in art will be keeped incest plot in precut will has been added incest plot

sorry for long post. russian ver here for them who knows russian this is preferable bc i can mistake in english

#long post #notice #loosely historical AU by rh

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theangryjikooker · 3 years ago

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TAJ 🔍 Run BTS! • #7-10

Disclaimer Please note that this is for entertainment purposes only. What I comment on is purely observational, and there is no way for anyone to know the true nature of these dynamics and what motivates them without actually being a presence in their lives or a direct confidant(e). Any statement made that inadvertently comes across as "factual" should be understood as an implication within the boundaries of my perspective.

Introduction The first time I thought about doing this, my goal was to focus on the interactions and development of Jungkook and Jimin. This "miniseries," if you will, went through several iterations as I was watching Run BTS, and I decided to be a bit more inclusive about how the group behaves/interacts with one another with an emphasis on Jungkook and Jimin, when applicable. I believe doing it this way provides a better context and contrast.

Also, my observations won't really take their other content into account that was happening around the same time. I might say something that contradicts a Bangtan Bomb that was released roughly around the same time, for instance, so just be advised. Anyone is more than welcome to chime in with interesting tidbits from other content (if it's relevant).

If the episodes are short enough, or I don't feel like there's much going on, I'm going to fit several in a post.

Episode 7

I think it bears mentioning that when I first got into BTS and started watching Run, I started watching the later episodes. I initially skipped the earlier episodes because they weren't as long, and the setup was quite different as the series progressed. I watched it eventually, of course, but I was watching to be entertained and not really paying attention to anything.

But right now, as Taehyung and Jungkook display their elaborate and customized handshake, they're obviously close friends. I'd seen other interactions between them at this age, and they have a tendency to act more like same-age friends (which they still act like to this day). It's an interesting contrast against Jimin and Jungkook a lot of the time because you'd think the dynamics would be somewhat similar because Taehyung and Jimin are both two years older, but there is an obvious distinction between them that starts to arise the older they get.

Around the time that I was first watching this series, I always wanted the team that Jungkook was on to win. Part of my adoration for him was because he was so competitive (which I relate to) and excelled at a lot of physical activities. It's funny rewatching this with my current mindset where I don't have a vested interest in any singular person.

I mentioned this in the previous installment, but Yoongi really is an interesting character study. Watching him in action perfectly displays how unlike people generally perceive him.

Hoseok is so lovable and animated in everything he does. It's easy to see where he gets his nickname, and why he's always this source of optimism for the group. Fun fact that no one asked for, but it’s funny how I wasn't drawn to Hoseok immediately when I got into BTS because I am probably the most like him in real life: I'm extremely social and extroverted, my disposition is similar to his despite how I might come across online, etc. Anyway.

Red Team wins, as expected. Maknae line congratulates each other. Jikookers know this is the special episodic arc where Jimin allows Jungkook to do whatever he wants to him (see E10), and he seems to have all the patience in the world for him. It's easy to want to celebrate this if you have no real context to any of the other dynamics, but keep in mind that Yoongi is actually the same way with Jungkook. As a Jikooker, I don't put too much stock into this particular interaction, but it's cute to watch nonetheless. The difference between Jungkook’s method of attack with the other members vs. Jimin is that he was essentially pestering Jimin to get a rise out of him, which obviously went nowhere. It’s hard to say if Jimin would’ve been as receptive if it were anyone else and if he would’ve retaliated, or if his demeanor was specific to Jungkook. If anything, it does cement a certain baseline/tone to how Jimin receives Jungkook's behavior.

Episode 8

Jin and Jungkook unequivocally display the most brotherly antics of the group (which extends beyond the series). It's not really limited to their actions, but it's also in the way they respond to one another. In a lot of these games, Jungkook has a very cutthroat style of play if it means he gets a leg up on everyone. It's easy to see why, later on, his behavior is seen as significant when he's more lenient where Jimin is involved when he usually isn't or has no reason to be.

Taehyung is cute. He wants to goof around on the ATVs and is relying on his pact with Namjoon and Jimin that they'll share with him. It reminds me of the much later episode where he takes a break to play with a cat rather than to focus on his mission. It's easy to see why his behaviors will throw off the members at times because he does act according to his own whimsy. I think it's the most likable thing about him. I've always found him to be the quirkiest of the members, and I think it was a lot more apparent when he was younger. But I do think his offbeat personality is the catalyst for his creativity. It tends to be unanimous among the members that Jungkook is the most creative/talented, but I do think Taehyung's creativity is underrated. His interests and aesthetics in the present day is a consistent hallmark of who he always has been.

Naturally, Jungkook gets his comeuppance when he loses a flag that Yoongi picks up.

Anyone can say what they want about big corporations because it's not like they're without fault, but Big Hit/HYBE producing Run and Bon Voyage was one of the best things they did for BTS, in my opinion. The boys were free to interact with each other in the most comfortable and natural way, they were able to experience things that might not have been possible if they were backed by a major production company, and most importantly they were able to have fun. I'm sure it was difficult at times when their schedule was jam packed, but I do think their series gave them the opportunity to feel some semblance of normalcy–to just be boys, to act their age, to have this outlet.

Taehyung and Jimin really are an adorable pair. I have different thoughts about their dynamic as full-fledged adults and how that's changed, but I can definitely see why they got along extremely well as young adults and how they played off each other.

It's amusing how Jimin offers Jungkook a flag "because he's cute” and how Jimin engages with Taehyung. I don't believe this disparity is necessarily significant, but I would say that it's a little noteworthy how Jimin acquiesces easily over Jungkook because of appearance/behavior-based factors. Obviously, this is something that he does throughout his life, but this dynamic becomes more interesting as it benefits Jimin later when he starts to embody cuteness according to Jungkook. This will be interesting to see how this evolves later on, and I'll at least have an opportunity to see how that plays against the way the other members treat Jungkook as well (and vice versa).

Episode 9

It's only in snippets and based off of the editors' commentary, but I think this is one of many insights we're given as to how Jimin really does cherish the members and his experience in the group. All of them obviously value each other, but I do stand by my own belief that Jimin is a little more uniquely sensitive about it. And he's consistent about it too as he grows older, how sentimental he is about the members. This moment doesn't come close to the beautiful things he says and does for the others, but it's easy to get a smidge emotional when seeing how impacted Jimin is by the members. I think when you put into perspective his initial onboarding (and the uncertainty of it), to where he was when this episode happened, as well as the personal issues he’d struggle with in time, it paints a distilled picture of Jimin’s relationship to the group.

It’s moments like these that make it hard for me to be sympathetic or nice to anyone who talks badly about him.

Episode 10

Yoongi would prefer to starve and give the last piece of food to his members in a zombie apocalypse, no question. It's these little tidbits you get about the individual members that provides further depth and confirmation about why BTS were able to overcome major hurdles as trainees and post-debut. Yes, they're all very talented and worked hard, but I firmly believe that who they innately were as individuals was also significant to how well they would succeed as a group. I think I've talked about this before (but with more emphasis on Jin), but the hyung line were fundamentally responsible for how BTS could've turned out. That is to say, growing up in their enclosed environment makes the kind of role models you have vital, of which they were great ones.

Jungkook is revealed to be the spy in this arc (E7-10). I've already touched on what I think of Jimin being unaffected by Jungkook's behavior.

I'm on the fence as to whether this deserves any commentary because it's the kind of content that you could overlook, but at the same time it's a little like doing a double-take. In this interview with Jungkook, he follows this quote up with the fact that he got to bungee jump and that he enjoyed being a spy/hoping he gets another chance to be a spy in the future. He enjoyed the secret mission, but Jimin giving him a flag was not at all influential to his success or experience in this arc and yet he gives that moment a shoutout anyway. He is food motivated, however, which might be why he refers to that act of kindness. And yet Yoongi and Hoseok, who were at the bottom of the rung, got to reap the rewards of the dinner regardless, so was it really worth mentioning at all in the end? I suppose it’s what he's prioritizing that's amusing (?) because given what we know happened in this arc and who he is, clinching the win for the Red Team and actually succeeding in his mission overall would be the highlights of his experience to me (apart from bungee jumping).

––

I don't know if I really have to say this, but please keep in mind that I'm writing my observations during the time these events were happening. What I'm saying about Jikook in this series doesn't reflect how I feel about them today, but some of the things that I am saying are influential in my personal narrative for them.

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#TAJ posts #TAJ series: Run #bts #run bts #kim seokjin #min yoongi #jung hoseok #kim namjoon #park jimin #kim taehyung #jeon jungkook #ot7 #jikook #kookmin

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comrade-heather · 3 years ago

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I Did Some Super Scientific Data Analysis to Determine Which of these Shows is *Statistically* the Most Niche

why these shows? bc they’re ones that I like that I thought might actually have a chance of being the most niche. want me to analyze a show or include a new metric? Let me know!

Methodology

Spotify Listens (average): How many people are listening?

I consider this to be the most important metric, since it shows interest beyond just hardcore fans interacting with fandom content or hyper-focused broadway metrics (ie BroadwayWorld and show runs). Some outliers were excluded (ie short tracks where Spotify has faulty tracking of listens).

Spotify Listens (most popular): Does this show have at least one song that is known beyond the show itself?

Some shows have a song that’s well-known in the theatre community, outside of the context of the show. I consider this to raise name recognition of the show, thus making it less “niche”

Ao3 Fics: Are fans interacting with the show?

This is the easiest way to measure total fandom output. For shows based on previous media, strictly the musical fandom was counted

Tumblr Posts (last 3 weeks): Is there an active fandom?

I did a basic search to try to estimate the total volume of posts about each show in the month of Feb so far. Tumblr is the main gathering place for most of these fandoms, plus this also captures how relevant the fandom is currently.

BroadwayWorld Articles: How much press has the show gotten?

This turned out to be a less useful metric than I’d hoped, and as such it’s weighted pretty lightly. Shows that ran on Broadway (as opposed to off-broadway) in the last 5-10 years got more press than those that didn’t. Go figure.

Number of Performances of the “Highest” Level Run: Did the show do well with a general audience? Did it stick around?

Again, this is an imperfect metric. Broadway is a wild industry, and general interest doesn’t perfectly correlate with length of run (see: Be More Chill’s Broadway run). And Carrie’s swing-and-miss Broadway run arguably makes it more famous. Weighted lightly.

Least Niche: Bonnie & Clyde (21 points)

I think we have Jeremy Jordan to thank for this one. Bonnie & Clyde far and away has the most Spotify listens, and it’s got mild fandom engagement on Ao3 and Tumblr.

Bare: A Pop Opera (20 points)

Bare wins the award for most dedicated fandom on this list! Combine Tumblr and Ao3 activity with solid streaming numbers and Bare takes second-to-least niche.

Bandstand (20 points)

What Bandstand lacks in Spotify listens and a Tumblr fandom it makes up for with plenty of gay fanfic and a decent 2017 Broadway run. It got pretty good press and even won a Tony (although we all know it deserved more). If you know anything from this show, it’s “Love Will Come and Find Me Again.”

Assassins (19 points)

note: I included both cast albums in the Spotify listens stat

A solid Sondheim bop that’s gotten some interest recently for its 2021 Off-Broadway revival. Major points for the existence of “Unworthy of Your Love,” which is by far the most popular song even without counting the Ben Platt cover.

Carrie (16 points)

Wins the award for "notable for sucking ass at the beginning.” There’s very little Carrie content relating to the musical specifically, and it’s dwarfed by online interest in the book and its movie adaptation. Notables from the cast album are “The World According to Chris” and “You Shine.”

Amélie (14 points)

Starring the lovely Phillipa Soo, Amélie has decent Spotify hits, and renewed interest due to the increasing popularity of the West End production. Major points for “Times are Hard for Dreamers” (which tbh is singlehandedly inflating the Spotify stats)

Most Niche: In Transit (6 points)

I can now back up my opinion with evidence that In Transit is very underrated. Written by Kristen Anderson-Lopez of Frozen fame, it’s the first acapella musical to run on Broadway (which it did for quite awhile, by this list’s standards) This could maybe be a reason why the cast recording has very few listens, and as a result there’s basically no fandom.

TLDR: you should listen to In Transit, the Bare fandom is awesome, and lmk if you have suggestions to expand this data!

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margarethx · 4 years ago

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The Sambucky fandom spends a lot of time and energy on calling out writers for using problematic, often straight up racist, tropes in their fics. And rightfully so, because some of said tropes are not only unplesant to read for many readers, but also harmful if they help to perpetuate some awful stereotypes. That being said... I feel like we need to show the other side of the spectrum more often and sometimes focus on people who don’t make these mistakes.

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So here is my personal THANK YOU! to all the writers who have never used these offensive stereotypes in their Sambucky fanfiction and who:

1. Give as much attention to Sam’s side of the story as they give to Bucky’s and do not focus solely on Bucky’s emotions about their developing relationship when it’s a mixed POV.

2. Acknowledge Sam’s trauma and all the loss he experienced in the past (not only in the context where his pain is used to help him better connect with another person who’s hurting).

3. Show other characters (Bucky or not) helping Sam go through his more diffucult moments (bad days, nightmares, painful flashbacks).

4. Show Sam having these more difficult moments.

5. Don’t act like Bucky’s traumatic past is enough of an excuse for his unpleasant behaviour towards Sam. (E.g. they don’t write a story where Sam forgives Bucky every mean, ignorant comment without thinking, just because Bucky’s sad.)

6. Show Sam experiencing variety of emotions - not just frustration and adoration towards Bucky. Show him being sad, happy, disappointed, confused, hopeful, dejected, relieved, terrified, confident etc.

7. Show Sam being the more vulnerable one in the relationship (in general or just in cerain situations)

8. Write scenes where Sam is shy or a little awkward (about his relationship with Bucky or about something else). Also write him being insecure sometimes.

9. Write just as much about Sam’s appearance as they do about Bucky’s. (Both as a narrator and through a character’s compliments or thoughts.)

10. Mention how beautiful Sam’s eyes are... especially if there is more than one line about them. (Plus mention their colour like... at all.)

11. Describe Sam’s appearance focusing on something outside of his smile or muscles. (Not that these are not nice, but there are other things to compliment and they’re hardly ever pointed out.) (Very much including hair or skincolour.)

12. Write Sam making mistakes, but not in a way that insinuates that he’s stupid or incompetent, but in a way that shows he’s a normal person who can sometimes be wrong and own up to it. (Unless he’s the only person in the story who always messes up...)

13. Show Sam being very competent. And show Bucky appreciating Sam’s competence, skills, and knowledge in various fields. (Also write Sam being a badass.)

14. Write about Sam’s background in pararescue, his medical training, skills in combat, flexibility, speed, ability to fly, ability to fix his advanced equipment, strenght, the fact that he’s pretty stealthy etc...

15. Write about the importance of Sam’s relationship with Steve even when Steve’s past connection to Bucky is not relevant to the story at any point.

16. Write Bucky being openly grateful for all the things that Sam did for him and write Bucky helping Sam back even when Sam didn’t specifically ask, because they genuinely care about each other.

17. Write about Sam’s past as a therapist not in the context of him helping Bucky get better, but because it’s relevant to the story and it’s something he has a lot of experience with. Or simply because it’s a significant part of his previous life journey.

18. Show Sam being frustrated or angry without falling into bad stereotypes. And show why his anger was justified and he had the right to react like that, because he doesn’t have to be polite and dyplomatic about everything if other people (Bucky very much included) don’t act respectful towards him in the first place.

19. Acknowledge that Sam is AJ and Cass’s actual uncle. The kids might like Bucky, but they’ve known and loved Sam for way longer... and I rarely see that mentioned.

20. Write about Sam’s past romantic relationships without focusing only on Bucky being jealous about them.

21. Show Sam’s interactions with other characters - not just in a romantic context, but also in terms of friendships (MCU Natasha was closer to Sam than Bucky and fics rarely talk about that), professional cooperation, rivalry and so on.

22. Mention the social commentary brought up in tfatws without brushing it to the side or downplaying the importance of Sam’s race in the formation of his character and storyline.

23. Acknowledge that Sam is human and his body is not enhanced in any way... without making it sound like he’s too weak to do the job.

24. But also... write about Bucky using his super strenght to carry Sam around and to pick him up all the time (for whatever reason), because it’s cute. Sue me.

25. Point out that Sam is slightly shorter than Bucky without always making Sam weirdly insecure about it.

26. Write Sam as Bucky’s first choice... not a second option he picked for the lack of a better candidate for a boyfriend.

27. Understand that Sam has a life outside of Bucky even if their friendship and romantic relationship are obviously very important for him.

28. Write Bucky touching Sam in reassuring, delicate ways. (Holding his hands, cupping his face, touching his hair, kissing the tip of his nose.)

29. Let Sam make harmless jokes, be charming, and be actually a nice person even when he’s not actively helping anyone. Just let him have a complex, but pleasant personality.

30. Let him be sarcastic without making him mean.

31. Add Figaro (Sam’s cat) to the stories about pets. Or show Sam’s emotional attachment to Redwing, even when it’s still a drone, not a bird.

32. Don’t forget that Riley died. And Sam’s parents died. And his close friends died. And other close friend left him without saying goodbye... etc. (Also don’t forget he himself died at one point...)

33. Mention and discuss Sam’s sexuality and romantic orientation (both in the tags to the story and in the actual text). ...I feel like it’s often unspecified for no reason while Bucky’s identity is clear from the start.

34. Give Sam little hobbys and interests that are unrelated to his work or his ability to make other people’s lives better.

35. Write about Sam’s fears and doubts while not forgetting he’s generally a very brave, mostly confident person.

36. Make the audience feel like Sam is a necessary part of the story. Not just a character added hastily at the end of writing just so the author can tag his name, because the ship he’s a part of is currently more popular than before and showind him at last minute will attract some readers to click.

and... 37. Do the things mentioned above in all of their Sambucky stories and use more than one of these ideas at a time.

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To people who wrote stories with these tropes... You guys are doing a great job and I appreaciate your work a lot. It’s easy to focus on complaining, because the Sam/Bucky tag on Ao3 was always kind of a mess, but my day genuinely gets better every time I find one of your stories. So thank you again and keep it up :>

(Side note: if you have any recommendations for fics that use the ideas I wrote in this post feel free to link them in the comments. Because the bar is hanging pretty low at this point and some authors still wouldn’t be able to cross a single point from my list if they examined their - allegendly - “Sambucky” stories... so we should promote the content that is actually good.)

#sam wilson #samuel thomas wilson #bucky barnes #james bucky barnes #captain america #captain america sam wilson #the falcon #white wolf #winter soldier #sambucky #sam x bucky #winterfalcon #tfatws #the falcon and the winter soldier #mcu #marvel

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kinogane · 4 years ago

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Meditations on Playing as Earthlings in Dragon Ball Xenoverse, Part 2

(previously)

The Dragon Ball Xenoverse games allow you to play as five races: Earthling (the default selection), Saiyan, Majin, Namekian, and the elegantly named "Frieza Race", with the first three races having an additional choice of gender. Compared to the Dragon Ball games mentioned in the previous post, Xenoverse probably differentiates the most between race/gender combinations. Each has a drastically different basic moveset that will be extremely relevant in combat, especially for strike-oriented playstyles, each have different stat spreads (and sometimes mechanics) that incentivize different playstyles, and arguably most importantly, each have their own unique techniques, the centerpiece of which is the race-specific Awoken Skill.

For context, in the first Dragon Ball Xenoverse, there were two problems with transformation skills like Super Saiyan and Unlock Potential. First was that they counted as Super Attacks, so you would have to give up a skill slot to make use of them, and second was that the transformations available to your character consisted of Kaioken, Unlock Potential, and variants of Super Saiyan. So like past Dragon Ball games, you weren't especially rewarded for playing a non-Saiyan character, since it meant you had to run Unlock Potential (or run a gimmicky Kaioken build), while Saiyans could at least nominally choose between that, and multiple variants of Super Saiyan that suited their playstyle.

This was remedied in the second Xenoverse game with the addition of Awoken Skills, which were transformations that occupied a separate slot. More importantly, Xenoverse 2 also added race-specific Awoken Skills, which meant that there was actually a compelling reason to pick races besides Saiyans.

In theory, at least. In practice?

Frieza Race characters probably gained the most in the sequel. Their Awoken Skill, Turn Golden, is relatively straightforward, both from a gameplay standpoint and an aesthetic standpoint. Your ki blasts are stronger and you do the Golden Frieza thing. Much like the form in the series proper, it's a bit dull and uninspired as a body recolor, but it is identifiable as a powerful transformation.

Namekians gained the ability to Become Giant, hearkening back to King Piccolo in the original Dragon Ball (and I guess Lord Slug in the movies), which as I understand was a fun transformation to use before it got nerfed in subsequent patches. Currently, it's a neat gimmick that's fun to mess around with and can be effective in bursts, but the stamina drain means it can't see the extended use that just about every other Awoken Skill can.

Majin gained the wildly unpopular ability to undergo Purification, which translates into becoming a Kid Buu with a special moveset. A Kid Buu that, mind you, only changes its skin and eye color as appropriate; regardless of how you customized your character before the transformation, your Purified Majin is going to look basically the same as any other Purified Majin, which is kind of a problem in a game where a significant portion of the userbase's interest in the game is at least partially in coordinating outfits for their player characters.

Earthlings got to ride on a Flying Nimbus and use the Power Pole.

The race-specific Awoken Skill for Earthlings is riding around on a cloud that kinda already loses a lot of its luster when, by construction, all characters can fly, and wielding a weapon/tool that hasn't been relevant since the original Dragon Ball. It's a nostalgia play that basically no Earthling character is going to use extensively, since you can't use your own skills and are limited to a moveset that loses its visual and gameplay novelty in minutes, at most.

It should be mentioned that Saiyans, as of the time of this writing, have access to five variants of Super Saiyan.

(Caveat that I can't speak for the PvP side of these evaluations, and quite frankly, I couldn't be bothered since Xenoverse PvP seems thoroughly unappealing, but I digress.)

So yet again, even when concessions are explicitly made to make playing non-Saiyan races an appealing alternative from a gameplay standpoint, Saiyans are still the clear winners and Earthlings are still clear losers. Furthermore, there's at least an argument that the non-Earthling Awoken Skills at least invoke an image of power as understood in Dragon Ball. For all the shortcomings of the Namekian and Majin Awoken Skills, you can at least point to King Piccolo and Kid Buu as signifiers of strength. If anything, the image of Goku on the Nimbus with the Power Pole is reminiscent of a time when Dragon Ball was significantly less concerned with displays of power, which is kind of counterintuitive when it's invoked as a method of attaining greater power.

Put reductively, it's kind of a bummer, but then again, isn’t this dynamic, of Saiyans being given the lion's share of power and relevance while Earthlings get virtually none, the most Dragon Ball shit ever?

Hindsight has only made Videl's presence in the early parts of the Buu Saga all the more fascinating. For that run of episodes, all the way up to the World Martial Arts Tournament, the degree to which Videl is an active participant and outright combatant in the action is kind of surreal. It's not entirely without precedent, since Chi-Chi had her moments in the original Dragon Ball and the occasional moment in Z, but unlike Chi-Chi, it really does seem like Videl's perfectly content to be this active for as long as she's around. What's more, the show explicitly makes reference to her being wildly more powerful than her dad, who himself is established as of legitimate world champion caliber, and it even goes out of its way to have Gohan teach her to fly. While that scene is absolutely primarily meant to set up her true purpose in the series writ large, there's a pretty good correlation in Dragon Ball between "people who can fly" and "people who can at least fight a little".

Then, of course, Spopovich happens.

I'm not particularly interested in litigating post-crisis Videl here, since it's been discussed plenty, and yeah, I also think it's more than a little bit of a bummer. But knowing the trajectory of post-Z Dragon Ball, especially Super, it makes Videl's irrelevance on an action level kind of an inevitability? Like, yeah, maybe if she bounced back harder and played a larger role after the Spopovich fight, you maaaaaaaaaaaaaaybe could draw a line to her at least being comparable to the likes of Krillin, Tien, and Yamcha, but given the reality of modern Dragon Ball, would that be anything more than a pyrrhic victory?

So really, when you consider that the frankly ridiculous power scaling of Super is really just the logical extension of the scaling in Z that was already well underway by the Buu Saga, it naturally raises the question of why they bothered to even make Videl this much of an active force in the first place. From square one, she's arguably destined to be relegated to Gohan's love interest and future wife, so why go through the effort of showing the audience that she's stronger than every Earthling that's not a Z-Fighter? It does parallel Chi-Chi's strength in Dragon Ball to help further foreshadow her pairing with Gohan like Chi-Chi with Goku, but then why make her be that into fighting when Chi-Chi was always clearly content to be a housewife?

And like, Jesus Christ, all that only to be that definitive with that Spopovich fight?

I bring Videl up because my main created character in Xenoverse 2 is a female Earthling. Ever since I booted the game for the first time, there was no doubt in my mind that I was going to primarily play as a female Earthling, because with it came the knowledge that I was going to control a female Earthling doing and achieving some frankly wild shit, like going toe-to-toe with Final Form Mira, literal deities, Jiren, and Ultra Instinct Goku(?!?), sometimes back-to-back in certain Parallel Quests.

And of course I can, because that is the entire reason for the Xenoverse games' existence. The game has always been an unabashed power fantasy all about defeating some of the most powerful entities in Dragon Ball history with your own created character on your own terms.

And yet, as I do all of this with my female Earthling, the knowledge that in canon, the most powerful analogue to my character is Videl, a character who almost literally gets the relevance beaten out of her in a brutal and unforgettable manner, makes the experience feel almost rebellious. It feels like everything from the godawful Awoken Skill to the subpar race/gender stat distribution for a strike-oriented build to the very nature and history of Dragon Ball itself is working against my character becoming a ludicrously powerful force of nature, and yet I not only can, but literally must push through and go even further beyond.

I cannot emphasize enough that this sense of transgression has no basis at all when it comes to the game. Absolutely nothing about the Xenoverse games explicitly suggests that Earthlings, female or otherwise, are somehow destined to be strictly lesser than Saiyans or any other races. Again, the game is an unabashed power fantasy; it's going to let you achieve that power fantasy regardless of race or gender, because to do so otherwise is completely antithetical to the entire reason people play the game in the first place.

But looking at past Dragon Ball games, at least to me, makes clear that they really didn't have to include the option to play as an Earthling. They clearly feel no obligation to do so, since they've excluded it in previous games. They completely dodge the need to include a human-like race option with the existence of Saiyans, who aren't even differentiated by the presence of a tail. I genuinely don't think any significant number of people would have even batted an eye over the exclusion of Earthlings. ‘Cause, you know, it's Dragon Ball, why would you play as an Earthling?

But they did. They let you choose to play as an Earthling, a race that Dragon Ball has essentially been drilling into your head, for years, is a strictly less powerful and less interesting version of Saiyans with practically no upside. They gave you the option, and I took it, all because it effectively let me play out an extended Videl what-if by proxy and stretch credibility into complete, unrecognizable nonsense.

I recognize that this absolutely reflects more on me and my relationship with Dragon Ball as a whole than it does on Xenoverse, but when it’s the only Dragon Ball game that embraces customizable characters to the extent that it does, it’s necessarily going to be the only game that actually lets me grapple with that tension between the source and the spin-off, and reckon with how that can shape the audience’s experience and perception of the bigger picture.

#dragon ball xenoverse #dragon ball xenoverse 2 #xenoverse #xenoverse 2 #dbxv #dbxv2 #xv2 #dragon ball #dragon ball z #dbz #videl #videl satan

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chicoriii · 4 years ago

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Season 4, Episode 14 - Sentibulleur (Sentibubbler)

I just seen the episode today, because I wasn't looking forward for another Alya-centric one, I'm already sick of it. I did it only now when have more free time. It's the first time, since I'm a Miraculous fan, when I'm starting watching a completely new episode without feeling even a bit of excitation. I'm not gonna lie that I enjoyed it, I don't, because it's not my cup of tea. This is why this post is more about why I dislike Alya favouritism than Sentibubbler itself. But I need to clarify that I didn't enjoy the episode mostly because of personal taste, I'm not trying to say it's "objectively" bad (though opinions are never objective, only facts could be). If you love Alya's arc, it's completely understandable that you probably love this episode as well.

I thought it would be a DjWfi episode (to be clear, I haven't seen any trailers of it, only one screenshot, which was said to be from this episode, but I don't remember seeing that moment in it at all, and the ending card), but poor Nino was just a background character. This is literally an "Alya is amazing" episode in which she is saving the world with a very little help of Ladybug and even less of Chat Noir, who is treated more like an offending trash. After watching it, I see fan edits like that are even more accurate to describe season 4 (not made by me, I just stole it from Cartoon Apocalypse's video).

Adrien was supposed to be a deuteragonist and a second main character, but Alya is much more like ones than Adrien has ever been. He has never gotten as many episodes focusing on him as much like those with Alya in a season (and we can be sure, it's not the last one) and he has never be as much the main hero in a fight against villains in any of them. Instead of giving him more screentime, he's putted even more in the background than before, because Alya needs to shine. Why they can't do it without treating Adrien that much unfair? I'm not gonna hide that I hate it and it makes me feel that maybe I should stop watching the show, since it looks like it's not something I really enjoy anymore. Adrien is my favourite character, so I'm really pissed of that Alya is stealing his role. We will see, but once I will be sure that Alya favouritism is gonna last forever, I would consider stopping watching the show seriously. Especially that doesn't go hand in hand with good writing. In this episode nothing as much absurd like in Optigami happened, but I still have one big issue.

It's not a problem with Alya herself. I'm used to like her, even if she's been annoying me sometimes before S4. But I don't know what to think about her this season, since I have some issues with her writing. I just don't like the idea of as much favouritism any of the characters who are not the original main ones, especially if Adrien is treated that bad by the writing at the same time. I would say the same if it was Kagami, who is my third favourite character in the show, after Adrien and Plagg. As you see, I like the Japanese girl even more than Marinette, but I still don't think that making her more important than the protagonist would be okay (it would make no sense, but you know what I mean).

Besides, I've seen people speculating that Alya is going to fuse the fox with ladybug Miraculous in an episode in which Marinette is akumatised (if one will ever happen). Don't you see how much unfair to Adrien/Chat Noir it is? Alya is already getting much of special treatment, more than a character who was supposed to be the next most important one after the current Guardian of the Mother Box. An episode with Marinette as an akuma should be the one in which Chat Noir is saving her without help of any other heroes, just like she has saved him alone in Chat Blanc. If there was a fusion of the fox and ladybug, it would mean that's not a story mostly about Marinette and Adrien anymore. It would make it clear that the writers are not even try to hide the fact that's now it's Alya the second most important character. Adrien could be the third one at best, Chat is only a sidekick of the Ladies, not really a hero equal to Ladybug anymore. Besides, episode like that is most probably the only chance to see Tikki using her power without a wielder. Wouldn't it really interesting to see what bad happens when Tikki is using Lucky Charm all by herself?

And to be fair, this season has really way too much Alya generally, I'd like to see more other heroes, not just Rena Rouge and Rena Rouge over and over again. I want more new Miraculous wielders and since Ladybug is calling the old ones (though she definitely should not do it), I want to see them in action too. We need to get a full transformation sequence of Ryuuko at least once. But the more episodes they are released, the less I believe it would ever happen. Good thing that they found few seconds to show Chat's sequence (only a second time in 10 episodes!), but still no Cataclysm. I wonder if they are even going to show it after season 3.

I have no idea what writers are planning to do. If they're want Alya to be a permanent Miraculous holder who is treated like co-guardian by Marinette forever, why they write her that way? Why isn't she really noble and careful? Why all those red flags she's giving Marinette (those she always ignore anyway): like letting Mr. Ramier know that Ladybug's the Guardian now, though she asked her to keep it as a secret, or stealing a Miraculous that almost made Ladybug's identity exposed. Are any of those events be relevant later? Are they there to show that saying Alya everything about the Guardian things and giving her the fox Miraculous permanently are bad decisions? If yes, what's the purpose of Sentibubbler? This episode doesn't seem to be really significant, it's more like another one fan service for Alya stans. The previous ones were actually important, this one could be missed without much a loss for the plot. The only reason it could be seen as significant is to make Marinette letting her guard down even more. But isn't she extremely careless already? After revealing her identity, she immediately started to tell Alya all the Guardian secrets, gave her a code for the Miracle Box, as well as the Miraculous permanently, despite her identity being exposed and all the wrong things she has done. Marinette is already dealing completely reckless with Alya, there's no reason to make her even more. Besides, that dream can't be a prophetic one, right? I remember that adult Bunnix really believed that exposing Ladybug's identity is something what Alya is able to do (from her time at least), but I think it's impossible to happen in real. That's why I see this episode as the most "fillerish" from all of this's season those have been released till now. Other ones introduced new characters or Miraculous wielders at least, nothing really new and crucial happened in this one. There's nothing bad in fillers, but why another Alya-centric one? Why not focusing on a character who hasn't been favoured this season instead?

The most stupid thing in this episode is that Rena Rouge made an illusion in which Ladybug says that she won't give the Miraculous to her anymore, for two reasons. One is that Gabriel bought that very weak lie without questioning it at all. It's clearly a plot armor. I know that they tend to make Gabriel very dumb when they need it from the beginning, but it's extremely stupid even to him. Hey, Gabriel, you know Rena Rouge's identity for some time now and Ladybug has been already giving Rena the fox few times before after her identity being exposed. Why that sudden decision? Isn't it suspect? Second is that it's been portrayed as a clever thing, while it makes Alya unable to be Rena Rouge anymore, if they don't want to show to Shadow Moth that was a lie. I'm not talking only about the battles, Rena can't be seen in public, since Ladyblog is not the only place which is showing content about the heroes. So then there's no reason for Alya to keep the fox anymore. Unless I interpret it wrong, and Marinette doesn't think it would make Gabriel stop going after Alya. But to me it looked like that and that's also make Marinette dumb anyway, because she is still unable of seeing how dangerous it is for her best friend. Alya's plan worked once, but it doesn't mean it would work again, once he discovers the lie, it would make him even more suspicious of a bond between Rena Rouge and Ladybug. Marinette is risking not only safety of Paris and the whole world, but also safety of her best friend. Why everyone is able to see that obvious thing, not only the girls but also all of the Kwamis? I'm not going to change my opinion that they are dumbing down all the characters who are involved in it and that's just bad and lazy writing.

And where's Su-Han when he's needed. I've been working on the English subtitles for the French dubbing of Furious Fu recently and now I remember that he said that he's going to observe Marinette and take the box from her is she makes a slight mistake. She's keeping making bad decisions, but he still isn't showing. That was a lie? Because if he doesn't see anything wrong in how's Marinette is dealing with her guardian duty, I'm gonna to lose the rest of my faith in the writers.

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I'm so sorry. I wanted to be active on Tumblr at least a bit after seeing this episode, but I still don't feel motivated. It's painful to say that season 4 is mostly a disappointment to me, especially that I hate the biggest story arc of it.

#miraculous ladybug #ml sentibubbler #ml season 4 #ml spoilers #ml spoiler #ml season 4 spoilers #chicoriii about S4 episodes #chicoriii #original post

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centrally-unplanned · 3 years ago

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Didn’t want to be critical on the reddit too much since the author is active there but the latest Pokemon: Origin of Species chapter is such an archetypical failure mode for ratfic. A chapter 90% devoted to a discussion about meta-honesty norms that will only ever have 1% of its content be relevant to the plot and arcs is...not actually as bad as that sounds. Fiction has no rules, only guidelines, and tons of great chapters are about oddball tangents.

However those tangents pretty firmly belong in the first ~half of your story. When the stakes are lower I learn about the characters through these kind of digressions, a discussion about meta-honesty with Red autism-ing all over it while Blue rolls their eyes teaches me who they are, and there are no stakes yet so I don’t have a vision in my mind of what that chapter *should* be.

But P:OoS is right smack in the middle of an absolute pyramid of secrets, revelations, and apocalyptic stakes with characters who we have spent literally one million words with. The previous chapter was set up for one of the biggest secrets of all (Mewtwo’s existence) being revealed to Red! You cliffhangered me, author, and if you expect me to pay attention to anything but that I have news for you about how well I can skim text. As an author, particularly a serial fic author, understanding those expectations is a crucial skill

It definitely comes off as “man I just went down this cool intellectual rabbit hole let me put it in my story” moment, which again is just peak ratfic error. And also a serial fic issue - chapters like these are what editors are for after all!

#pokemon origin of species #ratfics #still a great story every tale has weak chapters is nbd

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maxwell-grant · 4 years ago

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What would a spider man: life story look like for the shadow?

Now that I've actually read Spider-Man: Life Story I can give this one a response. I'm gonna obsess about this question for a while because man what a ride Life Story was.

To those not in the know, the premise of Spider-Man: Life Story is: "In 1962, in AMAZING FANTASY #15, 15-year-old Peter Parker was bitten by a radioactive spider and became the Amazing Spider-Man! Fifty-seven years have passed in the real world since that event — so what would have happened if the same amount of time passed for Peter as well?" and basically it tells the story of Spider-Man as one continuous narrative spanning 57 years, from his beginnings to a potential future, allowing Peter Parker and his cast and world to age in real time and factor in elements from the character's major stories over the decades.

And it's got a lot into it that the premise doesn't convey and there is no way I can even begin tackling a project like this for the 90 goddamn years of The Shadow's history without seriously just writing an entirely different fanfic continuity (and I already have 5, plus multiverses, possibly more) and tipping off way too much about my own plans for the character. Even I have my limits.

So instead, what I'm gonna do is go over the broad strokes of The Shadow's history as it would look like if you could try and condense it all under a consistent narrative, if you could focus on each decade's highs and lows, what kind of story would arise if a deranged Shadow maniac like me were to try and build a basic skeleton for a The Shadow: Life Story story.

Basic rules first: I'm sticking to the idea of Life Story and spanning every decade from the beginning of the character's life to the end of it. The aging and death parts are important so I’m sticking to those. The character's canonical birth date is 1892, so he's not making it intact to the 2000s. We're capping this off in the 90s, although it doesn't mean no further stories can be told. I will avoid mentioning specific historical events like Vietnam and 9/11 for this post to instead focus on The Shadow's trajectory. I will also not be including other characters, only somewhat referencing whatever aspects I deem relevant. I'm not sticking to any continuity, I'm pulling literally everything I can for this one

And putting this one below the cut

The 1930s: The golden years. In 1930, after a long line of life experiences in the Great War and traveling around the world under dozens of names, the man formerly known as Kent Allard has taken to fighting crime in the Great Depression. This chapter would be more of a standard narrative showcasing the trajectory of The Shadow's 30s career, how he's started off as a urban myth fighting gangsters and then progressed to urban avenger with dozens of allies fighting spies and supervillains. Despite being in his home element, he is restless. Another war is on the horizon. We gotta know where he starts, to get a clue of where he's going.

The 1940s: Despite it being the "family friendly American hero" Shadow era, shit gets very, very chaotic in the 40s, way more so than The Shadow could have anticipated. The pulps were relatively tame for this period, by this point instead you have the radio with it's constantly rotating writers and sensibilities, and comics that had far less reservations about either being really boring or really wacky. Far more encounters with the supernatural than before and with supervillains like Devil Kyoti and Monstradamus and Solaris, plus Khan is still around. The Shadow is forced to spend a lot more time traveling the world to deal with the war, spending a prolonged period establishing headquarters in Japan to aid Japanese underground organizations opposing the military. The agents perform rescue missions on concentration camps, and this is the period where you could have the "real" Lamont Cranston start filling in for The Shadow a bit while he's overseas.

There's a particular blurb that got released during this period that explains The Shadow acquired the power to cloud men's minds not by training, but by journeying to Tibet in an unrecorded adventure that forced him to beg the monks to grant him assistance in saving the world. I have some very mixed feelings on this whole backstory but I think there's something to this idea. Some shit went down in the 40s that was way beyond what The Shadow could have anticipated, and to protect the world from it he had to tap into forces that perhaps should have been left untouched.

The 1950s: The Shadow has dissappeared from America alltogether. He gathered up his agents and announced he wouldn't return for at least a decade, and left them with enough money to last a lifetime and retire should they feel like it. Burbank and Cliff Marsland dissappeared with him, and this chapter would probably be told from the Agents's perspective as they face the 50s while we get snippets from Marsland on what The Shadow's been up to. Some of it involves The Shadow helping protect Tibet after Mao's takeover of China. The real Lamont Cranston doesn't put on the costume anymore and instead operates as a fairly regular detective, although he's training on the skills and powers he's picked up overseas. Whatever fantasy madness haunted the 1940s is all but gone.

The 50s had basically nothing in Shadow content other than the last legs of the radio show, which are 200 episodes from 1950 to 1954 that currently don't exist anymore outside of a few scripts. During this time, The Shadow's sole appearence in US content was a parody in MAD Magazine. Overseas however, there were original Shadow novels published in Norway (a story for another day), as well as a Mexican radio and film series, which also featured Cliff Marsland. I have little information on either.

The 1960s: The OG Shadow is still embroiled in conflicts overseas, but the rise of the criminal organization CYPHER forces him to mobilize Burbank and agents old and new alike to deflect CYPHER away from where he's at, although most of them have retired by now. He still cannot return, but he has been secretly instructing Lamont Cranston on furthering along his own latent abilities if he intends to take over in his stead, and Cranston's powers have grown and developed to a point that, although he is pushing 60, he is able to do things even the original Shadow could not. He also invests a lot in merchandising and costume changes, which...doesn't pan out. Nothing in this era really pans out. It's just a really, really frustrating period of bad luck and supervillains that the aging superpowered detective Cranston is able to stop. Lamont Cranston seems to die in this decade.

The 1970s: Inspired by The Shadow's DC series, and most importantly Michael Kaluta's spiffy redesign.

The original Shadow returns to a crime-torn America, intent on starting anew, and sets to rebuilding his network. But something is off about him. He's leaner, meaner, less compassionate and trusting. Just as what happened the first time he returned to America following years abroad, what happened in his sojourns overseas has fostered something inhuman in him, another sacrifice of his own identity for the sake of a world where the weed of crime has only proven more insidiuous. His powers have grown and so have his resources, but despite that, he's bordering on 80 years old by now, and cumulative trauma deep within his bones hampers his effectiveness. He's doing a lot better than he should, by any rights, but he can't keep this up and he knows it. And so, as before, he starts planning for it.

The 1980s: This was the decade where Walter Gibson died with his final Shadow story incomplete, all the movie plans from the 70s were canned, and Howard Chaykin happened, plus the other DC runs. It's the SHIT decade, basically, where everything goes to hell. Whatever plans The Shadow had blew up, dipshit copycats start ruining everything, his network crumbles, and this is probably the ideal decade to kill off Kent Allard.

But this is also the decade where something weird started happening outside of the story: The Ghost of Gay Street hauntings, where visitors on the hotel Gibson wrote the stories in repeteadly claimed to see a ghostly visitor looking exactly like Lamont Cranston, and Gibson himself claimed that to be a tulpa he created by accident.

Kent Allard may have died. But death can never claim The Shadow.

The 1990s-onwards: Somehow, The Shadow is still active. Still elderly, in a much more limited fashion, but still as sharp as ever if not more so. His powers have grown more so than ever before, even blossoming into a limited form of telekinesis. Is he a ghost? Did he somehow survive the events of the previous decade? Somehow, both Lamont Cranston and The Shadow linger on, but is it Kent Allard or Lamont Cranston? Is it someone else?

Who knows?

This is the decade in particular where he's going to be interacting with more prominently with a new generation, whether it's descendants of the original agents, or new heroes that have found themselves in his orbit. Inspired mainly by the Dark Horse Shadow comics, Ghost and The Shadow, and Peter Straub's Mystery and modern takes on the character like Batman x Shadow and the 2017 mini that play up the miserable immortal and ghost teacher aspects, also inspired by my recent realization that The Shadow's ideal future in-universe may be getting to age and mentor the next generation in some capacity.

Anything beyond that, only The Shadow Knows.

#replies tag #pulp heroes #the shadow #pulp fiction #visual art #comic books #lamont cranston #kent allard #spider-man life story

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analyzingadventure · 4 years ago

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I’ve wanted to write about this for ages and Psi has kind of made relevant so

I always thought it was weird if we saw a Digimon die and then come back as the exact same species of Digimon.

(This isn’t specific to any series though I do use Adventure a lot in this discussion. May also contain spoilers for Psi)

Now admitedly there aren’t too many examples of this in the franchise (Patamon and Leomon being one of the few notable ones), but that is mainly because deaths are fairly rare, and even deaths we do see, it’s even rarer to see them come back (even when we know the mechanics of the world should make it totally possible)*. But nonetheless, it always felt weird to me when it did happen (or when us fans assume the Digimon would come back as the same species)

To properly explain why it feels weird to me, I first need to ramble about Digimon as “persons” and evolution as a whole

The thing that makes people who they are, are their memories. It’s their life experiences and their feelings of those experiences. It’s not where you’re born, the community you live in or the culture you’re raised in- of course these do affect who you are, but all they do is influence your life experiences and feelings about everything. They are incredbly imporant, and they play a factor in making you “you”, but those things aren’t “you”; “you” are your memories. And an imporant note here, is that who you are changes as you grow older, as you gain more experiences, feelings and memories. That’s why the “10yo you” is different from the “20yo you” or "40yo you” (etc), and why you will continue to change, even if it was ever so slightly, as you get older. Hell, the “you” who started reading this essay minutes ago is already a different person from the “you” who is reading this sentence right now. “You” are everchanging, ever-evolving.

So what makes a Digimon “them”? Or, more specifically, what makes each Digimon the species they are? Yes, this is a deeply related question for me, because we humans (I swear I’m not a robot) do express “who we are” outside, through our actions, our interests and how we appear to others, though not just what clothes we wear but also stuff like how we do our hair, tattoos, bodymods etc, not to mention things people don’t have control over from eye color, race, bodytype, height, all the way to disablities.

So if we as humans express so much (and so little) of “who we are” through how we appear, how would Digimon do it? How do Digimon express who they are?

It always just made sense to me if that was through evolution. That just as a Digimon experiences things, their evolutions will reflect the person they are, their feelings, memories, who they want to be.

Honestly this is one of the main reasons why I’ve always hated strict, Pokémon-like evolution lines (not even trees, just lines!!) in Digimon, the idea that these non-physical, A.I. data monsters can only appear a certain way through their lifespans based on whatever they were born as is just depressing to me. And while one might argue “it’s just how they are”, that rule only exists if you specifically go out of your way to write it in, otherwise there’s no reason for it to exist, but I’m getting super sidetracked ranting right now

Like just as an example of the kind of freedom I like to think Digimon could and should have, I want you to picture in your mind an Agumon.

Just a regular ol’ Agumon, living in the Digital World, minding their own business. This Agumon starts travelling for fun, enjoying seeing the world and whatever. During this time they realize they’re not really built for travelling and while their stamina increases as they go on and they get better at hiking, they still kind of wish they were more “built” for this type of activity so that they could enjoy their life more- And eventually they evolve into a Centarmon! Now they can move faster (etc) and enjoy their travelling life more, and they do just that! Life is great! Until one day they come across the ocean, a beautiful, vast “world” of its own, but one... they can’t explore, at least not any longer than they can hold their breath. They still spend their time exploring what they can, near the beaches etc, until one day their wish to explore the ocean is fulfilled and they evolve into a MegaSeadramon! And now they have great access to the oceans!

Like this example is very extreme, but you get what I mean, with the idea that the evolutions reflect the type of person the Digimon is, what they enjoy and who they want to be. It’s the ever-evolving reflection of their heart that I love

**(Sidenote at the bottom)

And this is why I think it'd make sense if Digimon came back as a different species entirely.

Because while death may have reset their evolution stages back to zero, if the Digimon retains all their memories from their previous life, all their experiences, hopes, wishes and dreams, all of their feelings... Then why would all the growth the Digimon had gone through in their previous life be reset? Shouldn’t their new life continue their previous growth and take different forms to reflect any new paths the mon might take in this life?

Just to use the Agumon from above as an example, if this mon died after spending quite some time as a MegaSeadramon, loving being a sea serpent and living in the ocean, wouldn’t it make sense they came back as a Sangomon instead of an Agumon (and yeah I think the Baby forms could be different too, depending on what they were but I’m skipping these)? Now of course, if they were happy living in the ocean and just totally content there, it’d make total sense if they then evolved to Seadramon and finally back to MegaSeadramon, I’m not saying they can’t come back to where they started at. What I do think is that it’d be weird if this mon went through the same Agumon -> Centarmon -> MegaSeadramon lifespan all over again if they wanted to be a sea-dweller from the get-go. And of course, as I alluded earlier; what if this Digimon, while living in the ocean as a Sangomon during their second life actually felt like they had seen what the ocean had to offer? What if they started hoping they could explore the skies? What if that wish helped them evolve to Airdramon instead, and they never go back to being a MegaSeadramon? This is what I mean when I say the second life would be a continuation of their life and their growth, it shouldn’t reset those things.

Now of course, from a simple writing point of view, it’d be confusing if a Digimon we were previously familiar with died and came back as a totally different Digimon, and even more confusing for kids. It’s easier to keep it simple and leave the Digimon the same species as they were in their previous lives

Additionally, most of these characters that we’ve seen die have always been minor characters with limited to non-existant histories; characters like Leomon, Whamon, Scumon+Chuumon, Piccolomon etc, while they’re all really well characterized with distinct personalities, they don’t have histories, backstories, they’re not deep characters. And making this many minor characters with deep backstories for a kids show would be really hard to pull off when you have deadlines to meet and no budget. So showing “the growth” these Digimon have gone through is not really do-able, not with these characters at least.

The Digimon with the most potential here would be Orgamon (the best developed minor character in Adventure) but he never died, Nanomon for sure, and possibly Wizarmon (esp. since his data could be like mildly busted, due to not being a Digimon originally and then dying in the Human World; if anything I think it’d be fun if Wizarmon could “come back” but as a Bakemon or something)

And as far as Patamon goes in Adventure, I do think with him it’s fine he came back in the same Digimon forms. Like my previous examples with “the Agumon”, this would be like natural evolution that happens over long, looong periods of time, years upon years no doubt, as the Digimon grows as a person. But the partner Digimon, they don’t really have the time to grow naturally, their evolutions aren’t really reflections of their growth. Rather, their evolutions are just powered up versions of who they are, with some reflection from their human partners. So with these partner Digimon (especially the Adventure-type “soul fragment” Digimon, less so with other series like especially Xros Wars), the evolutions being super linear does make sense and work just fine. And as an extention of that, these Digimon dying and coming back in the same species works out, like with Patamon in Adventure

Psi however, makes things a lot more interesting, because in Psi, the partner Digimon have backstories of their own.

Now for the most part, since the partners had lost their memories of their time fighting Mille as the Warriors, their growth being totally reset and them going through the same steps all over again does kinda make sense, it’s maybe a lil dull but that’s probably just my bias from being overly familiar with these characters.

But then there’s Patamon and Tailmon, two Digimon who retain their memories from their previous lives and the growth they’ve gone through. That growth, was own their own, from their own lives without any influence from any humans. But now, they have human partners, who influence them and their growth. And Psi has seemingly kind of spoiled the endgame for us, at least to some capacity?

We know in their previous lives Patamon and Tailmon were a Seraphimon and an Ofanimon, but based on the new key visual/poster, it seems Psi wants to use Goddramon and Holydramon as their final evolutions instead! And honestly, even if these evolutions didn’t come as a result of all the stuff I’ve rambled about in this post, it’ll still work for me for those reasons.

Additionally, while we know Patamon was only temporarily taking the form of Pegasmon because he lost his power and was literally unable to evolve to Angemon, for previously mentioned reasons if they had kept the Pegasmon evolution for the rest of the series it still would’ve worked for me, as it could’ve been seen as Pegasmon being a reflection of Takeru’s childlike innocence influencing Patamon’s evolutions

But yeah. I can’t remember if I had like a bottom line when I started writing this but it sure as hell is gone from my mind now, point is, I kinda wish Digimon’s evolution was seen slightly differently and written slightly differently, and explored more, especially through the Digimon who had previously died (who I would also like to see come back when the rules of the universe allow it instead of just ignoring the fact that they should be alive and well). And generally speaking I wish Digimon were written with more depth. Thank you for reading this incoherent mess

*Sidenote; arguably I think this could’ve applied to tri. as well, the Digimon who had their memories wiped completely could’ve totally evolved into different Digimon and maybe even should’ve

**Sidenote, this wouldn’t mean there’s NO limitations to what species a Digimon could evolve into; for example, just because you want to be a super powerful heroic Digimon like Omegamon it doesn’t mean you CAN evolve into Omegamon; if being valiant and heroic at heart were requirements to evolve to Omegamon, then unless you’re truly valiant and heroic at heart then you probably wouldn’t be able to evolve to Omegamon, if anything you might end up as Omekamon instead. Similarly if a certain species have other specific requirements, be it like Jogress requirements or Digimentals etc, then unless those requirements were met the evolution wouldn’t be possible So what I’m getting at is that limitations/requirements could totally still exist (depending on the rules of the specific setting), but being “the right species” to go from A to B wouldn’t and shouldn’t be one, at least not in my heart, but I digress

#Analysis #Analyzation #Holy shit I wrote an essay for this blog #This is like the first one I've written here for YEARS

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miloscat · 4 years ago

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[Review] Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 (PS3)

Despite being generally maligned, I liked this a lot better than the first game! Spoilers and content warning for self-harm.

It’s no secret that this game had some difficulties. People who worked on the game have talked about a messy development cycle, an overbearing director, lack of support from Konami, and mass layoffs. The game itself can feel a bit disjointed or rushed at times, but on the whole the gameplay improvements, the new structure, and the setting won me over and I had a great time. Well, except for one thing I should mention up top.

About halfway or two thirds through my playthrough, I experienced a game-breaking glitch so bad I had to make a new save file. You see, I wasn’t sure how to trigger an autosave in the game as it’s easy to lose progress with a careless shutdown. So I pushed forward to the next plot-relevant area before backtracking to find optional stuff. When I eventually returned, none of the enemies had spawned in the new area, including one I needed to progress. I tried reverting to my last checkpoint in the menu, hoping that would jog the triggers; instead, the game locked immediately after I spawned and nothing could be done to advance. This is such a huge bug to happen after 12 hours of play that it speaks to the game’s troubled development, but it also just sucks as a user. I powered back to that point in 3 hours by turning down the difficulty, skipping cutscenes, and passing up collectibles, but it certainly put a cloud over the experience.

Luckily I overcame this and I had a better time than with LoS1 or Mirror of Fate. Gabriel/Dracula is at his most sympathetic, the combat has been tightened up with upgrade mechanics to incentivise trying out a broad variety of techniques, and traversal is more fun thanks to a more acrobatic protagonist with vampire powers. I got on better with the overall game flow too, as it’s now a more Metroidvania-esque thing in 3D, with maps! They also cut out most of the puzzles, which I don’t mind too much.

The open world is broken up by loading zones, masked by Star Fox Adventures-style busywork. It takes place in two distinct settings: one a near-future metropolis, built over the remains of Dracula’s ruined castle. It mixes modern trappings with gothic architecture and thus ends up feeling like Batman’s Gotham City, or at times the Warhammer 40K Imperium. The other is a dream version of Dracula’s castle, populated by embodied memories like a young version of his son, his dead wife, and his previous minions such as Japanese horror movie versions of the Gorgons.

The plot is a bit all over the place but basically involves the return of Satan 1000 years after his defeat in the last game. His demonic minions are using biochemical agents to turn people into ghouls, weapons to corrupt law enforcement, and false faith to mislead the populace and summon monsters. Zobek (with Patrick Stewart reprising his role) enlists a decrepit Dracula to stop them, regaining his powers along the way. You mostly get them from the dream castle, where the cursed blood, a representation of Dracula’s inner struggle with his dark nature, possesses creatures to try and stop him from abandoning his role as “Prince of Darkness”. As an excuse for exploring these settings the story works, it’s just handled a bit messily.

Along the way you meet some colourful characters, although many don’t stick around long and end up dying after a few minutes. The game can be abrupt about this, especially towards the end where a boss gauntlet rushes things to a conclusion. The DLC is an interquel where Alucard does some table setting for the events of the main game; in terms of plot it’s inconsequential but he’s fun to play as, there’s some new locations and enemies, and they bring back puzzles; I’d recommend it.

It’s worth noting an element that I found offputting: the game earns its R rating, not just with the copious volumes of goopy blood, the cigarette smoking, and I think one swear; the real actual thing that bothered me was the self-mutilation that Dracula does as a matter of course. To activate various mechanisms in the game world he has to give up some of his blood (they introduced this in the first game’s DLC, but here it just happens all the time without loss of health). Often this is accompanied by him tearing his own flesh or forcibly interacting with sharp objects. I get the purpose of this thematically, or maybe it’s just being edgy, but I often had to look away from the screen. There’s also a scripted scene early on where you’re forced to graphically slay and feed from a protesting family of innocents that Zobek has arranged for you to regain your vitality from your desiccated mummy-man state as seen in the first game’s epilogue scene. It’s unpleasant to say the least.

So aside from some issues, I had a great time here. The forced stealth sections and rat transformations are brief diversions, not game-ruining missteps. The story is not any more muddled than its direct predecessors. And they added a menu options to entirely disable QTEs! Apart from anything else about the game’s cool environments and smooth mechanics, this is a huge thumbs up from me and reason enough to recommend this one, although it’s hard to suggest it on its own given how much it references and builds on the other two games in the sub-series. Overall the three games are a fascinating and flawed but successful alternate take on Castlevania, and I’m glad I played them.

#Castlevania #Castlevania Lords of Shadow #castlevania lords of shadow 2 #MercurySteam #review #ps3

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coralstudiies · 6 years ago

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SURVIVAL GUIDE & STUDY TIPS

hello everyone!! this post is a collab with the lovely and amazing @boinkhs because we've both reached 2k followers :D she'll be doing study tips for college students and i'll be doing study tips for high schoolers. check out her post here!

i've split this into part 1. survival, which concerns how to study & learn better in general and just tips on how to get through high school. part 2. is on specific study tips for each type of subject, namely sciences, maths, languages and humanities.

Hope this helps <3

1. Don't snooze please

you just end up snoozing 5 times then you’re late for school

2. If you find you have difficulty getting out of bed, just keep in mind ONE TASK you need to do.

for example, making your bed. then you just gotta focus on that! it should help fight the sleepiness because you’re forcing your brain and limbs to be active.

3. Do the necessary things like brushing your teeth, putting on clothes and eat breakfast

i don’t know why but some people don’t eat breakfast before coming to school like ???? excuse me ???? please eat at least a small snack, or a fruit or something. your body doesnt function on an empty stomach! also, drink some water to hydrate yourself

4. On the road, you should do something that puts you in a good mood.

for me, i go straight to spotify and listen to my playlist. you should also review the previous day’s learning so that you refresh your memory before going back to class. personally this is my fav part of the day HAHAHA

5. If you like, you can choose to read a book.

just make sure you’re calm but ‘warmed up’ to focusing in a sense.

1. Hydrate frequently

idk man it just keeps you awake + i dont feel so icky if i drink enough water

2. Learn actively

if the teacher asks questions, try to answer. sit at the front row. offer to help give out the worksheets or notes. clarify your doubts after. when they speak, copy down notes. don’t worry about the aesthetic; i mean you can but you need to write fast and neat which unfortunately doesnt come together very often. i suggest you spend more brain power digesting and understanding the content.

3. Don’t over highlight

ONLY KEY POINTS that are stressed by the teacher. you can tell when their tone changes, expression changes, when they use more hand motions, or they keep repeating a few key words. yes , that. highlight that. stare at it while listening to them speak. make sure you understand. if you don’t please ask. but make sure you don’t have a fluorescent page because that’s not ideal study material!

4. Write down any questions you have

if they’re answered in the lesson, cancel them off. if not, ask after the lesson. dont be scared! *sends virtual courage*

5. Use whatever free time you have to finish homework

because you’re gonna thank yourself later. you should spend more time at home revising than doing homework. ( doing homework isnt equivalent to revising PLEASE I KNOW SO MANY PEOPLE WHO SAY THEY REVISED FOR 3 HOURS BUT ALL THEY DID WAS HOMEWORK ) also it feels better knowing you have one less thing to worry about

6. Record down all assignments, due dates and test dates

do it in a planner or your phone. doesn’t matter just keep them somewhere. it can be demoralising to see an entire entry of shit to get done but still it’s better than not knowing what needs to be done. ignorance is NOT bliss. try to color code or symbol code them, for example • for assignments (due date behind), - for tests etc. act on this when you go home (see below)

7. Have a file/binder some form of organisation to keep different subjects’ worksheets, tests, notes, reading etc.

you can have one massive binder, one binder for each subject, one folder file for each subject or anything that suits you. for me, i clip all materials of one subject together with a binder clip. the materials i use most are at the front for easy reference. then put those bundles into zipper files, perhaps one for math and sciences, another for languages and humanities. or whatever suits you best! make sure you have everything in one place so you don’t panic and dig through a pile of dog-eared paper.

8. If you can, when it’s near the exam period, don’t stay back after school unless it’s to study.

i used to stay back for training and to play volleyball with my friends and i kid you not we would play from 2pm to 6.30 pm and get nothing done but it was fun. and i’m not saying deprive yourself of that fun but when the exams are near, you should be studying somewhere quiet/ somewhere you can focus. you should go somewhere (preferably home) where you can focus and get things done.

9. Decide if you’re a lone wolf or if you need a study buddy/study group

personally i’m a lone wolf because i hate distractions and i don’t want to distract others. but when my friends ask me for help i don’t mind staying back a little to teach them and/or study with them. Personally i find that for subjects like english which require you to write about an array of topics, studying with someone else can help in generation of essay points and to just broaden your understanding of the topic. so yeah it really depends, just do what suits you :)

10. Take notes in class

try to understand while copying, and if you didn’t understand something, you should raise your hand and ask for the teacher to repeat so that you hear it again. also, it gives you more time to take notes as they re-explain the content. read them after the lesson is over to help internalise some facts. you can create your own method of organisation for your notes, e.g. colour coding.

1. Review the day’s learning on the way home.

if you take public transport, try to flip through your notes and worksheets to review new content for the first time.

2. Eat lunch, have a snack, take a shower, everything that’s necessary.

if you use your phone while eating, make sure you don’t eat slowly just to use your phone because that’s wasting time.

3. If you’re super tired, just have a 15-20min power nap

nothing more otherwise you will NEVER wake up until the dead of night. just take a nap to get some energy back. doesnt matter if you wake up feeling more tired, because you’ll shake that feeling in a while. keep a glass of water beside you so that you can drink it once you wake up!

4. Look through your ‘list’ that you made earlier in the day. (in class, pt. 6)

you might want to spend max 10 mins updating your schedule. then stare at the dreaded homework. start with the easiest and least time consuming to build up momentum. this could actually be the remainder of what you’ve finished in school. then look at the due dates. do them in order of due dates. unless it’s a huge project or assignment, you might want a head start on it!

5. With the remaining time, you should start revising

review the day’s learning AGAIN.

make notes/mindmaps/flashcards whatever works for you. you should prioritise the subject or chapter that you were most confused about. quickly revise and try to clear up any questions you have about the chapter. if you have additional time, go ahead and make notes for the next subject! another way is going through corrections and clarifying your doubts with friends/teachers, and summarise the day’s learning on a post-it or two. if you’ve already taken notes in class, look at other sources e.g textbook and combine what you’ve learnt before re-writing or re-organising your notes.

1. Pack your bag!

remove unnecessary materials, and pack the necessary one. make sure your bag isnt too heavy. you can choose to hand carry some files or binders if they’re too bulky, but make sure you’re all packed before the next morning

2. Have a meal & clean up

again, basic necessities. don’t go to bed hungry or feeling icky because thats not how you treat yo self!

Before class:

if you’re going to continue on a chapter, review the content that came before it. Try to make your own connections between the already learnt and to-be learnt content so that you’re mentally ready for class.

In class:

take down notes, highlight, annotate and DRAW DIAGRAMS. you can’t do sciences without diagrams. for physics or chemistry which require more calculation, copy down the problems your teacher goes through and solve them along with him/her. write the formulas on a post it note so you can stick it onto the page where you’re writing for easy reference. if the teacher plays a video which is MOST DEFINITELY NOT GOING TO WAIT FOR YOU you have to write only the relevant points in the most abbreviated form possible.

Note-taking:

I find that linear notes help me most in sciences. for chapters that involve lots of interconnected processes, for example o chem, then mindmaps or flowcharts will be helpful. also if you tend to forget something, post-it that stuff on the front page of your notes where you are FORCED to stare at it. yes. write down example problems and their steps, then write explanations for each step so that if you’re confused you can always refer back. again, draw any required diagrams.

Answering techniques:

if there’s a ‘standard’ way to answer it then you have to make sure you follow that way even in your homework because it’s muscle memory. when you get to exams, your hand will automatically write in the same format so you don’t lose marks or spend time recalling the correct format.

imo sciences are quite logical so as long as you remember and follow the flow you’ll be fine!

In class:

copy key terms, facts and examples and write all examples that the teacher has gone through. write all formulas and definitions on a post it, then shift it around the pages as needed. if there’s a type of problem you particularly suck at, ask your teacher for help IMMEDIATELY because it’s so easy to forget the steps to a problem.

At home:

do your homework, do additional practice, correct your mistakes, clarify, and repeat. memorise formulas and definitions (perhaps using flashcards or post its) then practice more and make sure your concepts are strong. there’s no easy way and sadly this is all i can comment.

In class:

copy down notes, think actively, and if you’re given a sample essay you should annotate the heck out of it and keep it somewhere safe.

For essays:

read up more and write up. befriend the best writer in class and ask for their essays. write essay plans and consult your teacher. brainstorm possible approaches with friends. read the news, and copy the links of interesting online articles for future reference. have a go-to list of examples and quotes you can use, for any and every topic. read these like your bedtime story and never forget to keep updating them.

For comprehension passages:

read the questions first. then you’ll be more sensitive to what you need to read in the passage and how you need to analyse it. try to question yourself about how and why the author does something or makes you feel something. do not rush-read the passage or you will fail horribly (personal experience). do one or two extra comprehensions and ask your teacher to mark them.

In class:

ARROWS TO LINK EVERYTHING and annotate any class notes given. write down new examples provided by the teacher. if there is a link you ‘can check out’ go check it out. it’s probably something thats gonna be on the exam.

At home:

you have to rely on mindmapping and flow charts because everything is linked in some way and you cannot ignore those links!!!! although i do my humanities notes in linear form, my in class notes are all in the form of mindmaps. and actually i revise from those in a pinch because i can see everything at one go. watch vids on the concepts, for example plate tectonics. those things are so hard to see when they’re deadass sitting on the page and not budging. watch a video where they really move instead of being frozen.

If you’re so frickin lost:

watch more videos on the concepts, watch more videos on the events, search up interpretations online and ask your teachers!!! for everyone who gets equally lost as me when i’m faced with a new chapter, another way is to pre-read before the teacher starts teaching. if you’re lazy to read just watch a couple clips on it so that at least you have some background. even if you wake up the next day with 0 concrete memory, which you won’t, you’ll already have the flow of things which will help you if you’re usually the straggler.

(disclaimer i study geography although i've tried history and english literature but i think that they're similar to some extent, especially on how to study them)

#study #studyblr #studying #coralstudiies #revision #study motivation #notes #study tips #study advice #studying tips #studying advice #high school #lectures #tips #advice

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pokkop15 · 5 years ago

Text

(Ok so I was a fool and had had a lot of this meta written up yesterday and instead of saving it as a draft while I watched critical role, I, like a fool, just left all the tabs open and then went to bed after the episode. Then firefox crashed in the night and everything was lost. Press F to pay respects I guess cause here I go again.)

First off, Aradia is best girl and I am so happy she's RELEVANT again. I had a whole preamble the last time I wrote this post, but I can't remember what it said other than mentioning that this is gonna be a long post beneath the cut and that I have other metas that will kind of overlap with what I'm saying in this one so I will try to keep my discussion of the narrative styles of the The Prince and The Muse to only what is relevant to this post and to what is RELEVANT. Also previous metas should be reblogged directly before I post this to make it easier to check them out before hand or to reference them more easily.

The main points of focus will be: The differences between how the two Time gods interact with The Muse and her narrative, as well as the general level of metatextual awareness of characters within Candy. | The juxtaposition of the Knight and the Maid. | The possible suppression of the Ultimate nature of The Knight, and by extension The Seer. | The Muse's unique state of power and presumed Awakening | I swear there was more but I flat out don't remember what they were.

One last thing. I am a rambly motherfucker so if you haven't read my previous metas, here's your warning to expect a very long and very chaotic mess of a post beneath the cut. Also for anyone confused anytime I emphasize someone as 'The Class' it's referring to their actions as a potential narrator and as an Ultimate Self. For example, the difference between The Muse and the Muse is that 'the Muse' would be for character moments like when the dead cherub possessing Jade's corpse in Candy is just talking with Davebot and Aradia, while 'The Muse' is for when talking about her influence over the narrative. (There's a lot of different ways I put emphasis on words or phrases, but “The Class” was the one I felt really might need clarification)

I find it interesting how Davebot acknowledges and shows distaste for The Muse interjecting her narration and thus inhibiting his ability to live in the moment. I find this interesting because as an Awakened god of Time, he is simultaneously living in every moment but as a Knight, and as The Knight, he is also intrinsically separate from those moments as he is the Ultimate One who Wields Time. Aradia on the other hand is the Maid of Time, who while almost assuredly having reached the pinnacle of her god tier after the hundreds of years we now know her to have lived, is not ascended to her Ultimate Self. As a Maid, Aradia literally embodies her aspect. As such she doesn't worry about living in the moment because she is the moment. Because of this Aradia is more prone to just accept, agree, and repeat the sentiments The Muse dictates in her constant exposition. However, despite acknowledging the narration, Davebot still ends up being incredibly passive in the face of it. Even though he has an Active class and is a dreamer of the Active moon, Dave himself has always come off as an incredibly passive character to me in a lot of ways. (Even the aspect of Time itself and its heroes are specifically denoted as incredibly Active in the {official and Canon} extended zodiac test [which means its contents are NECESSARY, RELEVANT, and TRUE]). Always acting under the direction of other characters, subject to The Lord's rule over Time, and constantly struggling with his seeming lack of control. Here, even after reaching his Ultimate Self, he still only makes passive-aggressive remarks instead leaving the flow of the story and the big decisions to others. (In my last post I went into deeper detail about the nature of, and relationship between Aradia and Dave's classes and how that affected their sessions, but I can't remember what the tie in was unfortunately so for now I'll leave it at this and move on)

Among the human players of sburb, the Strilondes have always been the most genre savvy and possessed the most awareness of the narrative and its' influence, (although Dave was never near the levels of Dirk and Rose). But up until this upd8, direct interactions with the narrative have been few and far between in Candy (at least as far as I can recall). I mentioned this in my previous meta as being a result of The Muse being the type to inspire characters to action whereas The Prince is far more heavy handed in is dictation and rarely attempts to hide his presence in the narration these days. But we see here once again, that not only is The Muse bad for the people under her influence, she's also just really not good at constructing a story. She relies too heavily on tropes and cliches, on plot contrivances; she tells too much and doesn't show enough, (something that should literally be her greatest strength as a Muse). Yet despite this, Davebot and Aradia are seen multiple times to interact with her dictations directly and Aradia even points out on page 284 that she is aware of The Muse “observing (their) every action and noting its relevance : )” (the emphasis on 'relevance' being mine). As such we can infer that it doesn't take an Ultimate Self to recognize The Muse's narration. But if not that, then what? If it was just pre-disposition of character that let them notice, then between her own abilities and self awareness, surely Candy!Rose would have by now, but she hasn't. Then is it proximity? Maybe The Muse is getting complacent and starting to unknowingly imitate The Prince and his methods? Or is it because both Davebot and Aradia are Heroes of Time? The aspect opposite The Muse's. After all, The Muse did express that the way (either Aradia specifically or that the both of them) experience time is “woefully unfamiliar” to her. Perhaps that makes it difficult for her to write a story that resonates with them fully. Whatever it may be, all the information up until this point doesn't come to a head so much as it is something that I believe to be RELEVANT.

With that, let us switch gears while keeping the previous information in mind. As I said before, in spite of all the active components of Davebot's Mythological Role, his character has often been passive. And the precise story beat I want to focus on right now is his Awakening to his Ultimate Self. Candy!Dave was out on patrol with a wife who he loved, but who also had very much always been the driving force of their dynamic. He was pulled to the ancient bunker by the narrative where a hologram of Obama expertly guided him through a conversation like a true politician, somehow knowing a lot about Dave while at the same time withholding “classified” information as if that word had any meaning without a country or government holding Obama accountable. (Unless of course Obama was still answering to someone... *Cough cough*the authors*cough cough*). Look, all of this is me saying that Obama was a leftover contrivance of The Prince that The Muse utilized for her own means. Dirk was a skilled programmer and engineer. He had a deep understanding of how to build AIs that could easily impersonate someone. He had an even deeper grasp of how to manipulate Dave. Dirk built the bots. The Bots. The bots that are supposedly NECESSARY for one to Awaken to their Ultimate Self and survive. And yet even if that is TRUE, it isn't true. The Prince claims he was a special case but his powers are of the soul, not the body. And it is the body that breaks down. And we know that Rose really was suffering in her path to Awakening, but I will remind you that her poor condition was first established through narration that we know was under the control of The Prince. Further more it happened prior to the Meat/Candy split, in which the Canon still possessed TRUTH, which is why it still remained RELEVANT in Candy (and it was obviously NECESSARY in Meat for reasons about to be discussed). Both Rose and Dave ultimately played a passive role in their Awakenings, guided to their Ultimate Self by another even though they are both Active players. I believe that The Prince established these rules about Ultimate Selves and built the robot bodies as a way to give him an upper hand against the two characters most likely to overtake him. Because to reinforce a point from a previous post, Rose is the only full on published author among the players and Dave himself has written comics and presumably screenplays for his films, making them the two people who might not only do a better job than The Prince or The Muse, but just do a flat out GOOD job. The Seer especially, which is why The Prince went through the extra effort to disrupt her sense of self as she was coming into her Ultimate Self. If these two had played an Active part in their own Awakening and without The Prince’s influence I think they both would’ve been quite capable of giving The Prince a run for his money. But the humans are not the only players in this game...

As I've already alluded to, Lord English (The Lord), was almost certainly his Ultimate Self. Awakened and Empowered by the treasure (a juju so powerful that it enabled John to retcon things in a way that overrides the timeline instead of splitting it, and it did so without even granting him its actual power). When The Knight awakened, The Muse described it has having all of Time flow through his consciousness, allowing him to experience every instance of his own self. Conversely Jade described that her Ultimate Self would be “like... one ultimate self distributed across multiple bodies. so in multiple places and states at once. every jade that exists is like a light being shined through a thousand cracks in the timeline.” (Hey remember those cracks in the universe that had light peaking through them? Idk, seems RELEVANT if you ask me.) So if we reasonably assume that ones aspect heavily affects how one's Ultimate Self first Awakens and how it operates than that means there will be similarities between those who share aspects. If Awakening for a Hero of Time is an experience of everything that ever has, is, or will happen to a version of themselves, and Lord English possessed a juju that allows one to retcon and not split, than the combination of those powers would make it so he could be the singular instance of himself while at the same time always be “Already Here” than there is truly no difference between Lord English and the theoretical Ultimate version of himself. And since the Muse consumed Lord English at the end of Candy, granting her the power to punch a wormhole in the black hole. This is also presumably where she gained the power to “...exist in several narrative structures at once” (pg 286) (also see the above explanation of Jade's Ultimate Self for why that is RELEVANT). Because of this, we can assume that The Muse is just as indistinguishable from her theoretical Ultimate Self as The Lord was. But these powers and this simultaneous existence is not without consequences because the Muse's collapse at the end of this chapter is almost assuredly a result of Meat!Jade's rebelling against The Muse in chapter 6 (specifically the action on page 167/168). And finally, to tie this back to the imposition of bodily destruction to those who Awaken their Ultimate Self, it is worth noting that The Muse does not possess a body of her own to be destroyed. Instead inhabiting the body of various Jades.

Alright, so once again sorry if you thought there would be some big culmination to this post, and hey, what pumpkin?

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