#this is why there's never going to be a war and peace adaptation that works for me

[anaktoria-of-the-moon]

At work plagued by thoughts of a mech bigger than you can imagine.

She starts like most of them do, a Titan excavator rig modestly sized for their line: maybe a house or thereabouts, a big house. (Doesn’t matter why she signed up - perhaps a breadwinner, a lone mother or eldest sister, a daughter of aging parents nobody else will take; doesn’t matter what site they sent her to, Earth or Enceladus or Venus or Europa. She’s there, and she lets them strap her in and adapt her for the piloting interface and pump her full of protein ooze and electrolytes and hyperstimulant cocktails as obediently as the next laborer.)

Upgrades come, from big house to bigger, with shovels like hillsides and treads like highways. Still she remains in the cockpit, out only for one day every six months to say hello to her burgeoning family, who have moved nearby to make it easy on her, to meet the baby nephews and nieces whose names she doesn’t yet know.

War comes. The facility hunkers down. It just makes sense to retrofit their biggest digger with shields, to expand her arsenal a little more, give her a better engine, pour all their leftover resources into making her a great guardian, and she rises to the occasion, shielding them from orbital rays, absorbing the energy and taking the pain of it up into her own engines. When the corporate rats who own the site finally turn tail and run the workers and their families band together and do the needful repairs themselves. Her nieces and nephews grow up learning engineering by the light of oil lamps from stolen Old Era textbooks and jailbroken datapads. She hardly ever now glimpses their faces with her own two eyes from within her steel shell but it is a worthy sacrifice to her, to them, for both parties know she is still there, still with them, embracing them in a great steel hug and watching through a thousand glass-lensed eyes.

Years pass. The brightest of her nieces works out how to modify the nutrition cocktail going into her cockpit so she will never age, never die, never fall sick. Somewhere in there all the metal and ceramic encloses her ever-sleeping body like a lotus flower around the benevolent, immortal form of a bodhisattva.

The outpost survives the war, somehow. Refugees hear of the little town on the colony that could, guarded by a goddess the size of a temple, and flock there. It makes sense to add to her control, among her array of sensors and actuators, the new city’s power generation and delivery system, its wall defenses, its waste management, its communications mains. Nowhere is anything safer than with her.

With all these new additions come techs and custodians to keep her in good care. They build modest crew cabins nestled amongst her treads (now rusty from disuse) so they can be close to her, the better to help her.

Slowly more and more falls under her purview, new cabins, then mezzanines and stairways and platforms between them; each generation has their own superstitions that they add to those of the last before them, so paintings crop up on her metal panels now, in nooks and crannies, often crude symbols that promise good oil changes or swift code updates, or simply depictions of their goddess, of the war she survived. Still she watches.

Her nieces and nephews are all dead now, and their nieces and nephews look on through rheumed eyes as the city attains new heights, heralded everywhere on every planet that still lives as an oasis of peace and prosperity. Still she watches.

A new company comes, enticed by the stories. They want to buy her. Buy her! The people scoff. As if you could just buy a person! - A person? asks the representative from Acher Spaceways, perplexed. - We heard she was your goddess.

She is both, of course, the goddess who lives, the goddess who is one hundred percent flesh and one hundred percent machine.

Acher doesn’t like this. They send machines - zero percent flesh, entirely drones - screaming down from the stars for a more insistent negotiation, one phrased in metal slugs and incendiary fire.

So your goddess rises up to meet them.

It is over in a short day. The drones lie in pieces; Acher, from orbit, licks their wounds, and the goddess rebukes them with a single laser blast, modified from her very first mining waymaker photonic drill.

The blast is precise and surgical. It tears apart the whole platform, spinning central axis to annular habitat space, which supernovas into a blossom of shining proof in the night sky at which the citizens below cheer.

But the pieces are falling, and soon they will pepper the surface below with molten debris, kick up dust into the atmosphere and make it all but unbreathable. The people could leave, the goddess advises them through short-wave radio bursts. They could use her emergency shuttles to escape gravity before it is too late, or they could go underground and salvage her rarest and most precious resources to survive until the surface is safe again.

Here is the thing - every pilot is augmented, and most augments are for the benefit of the plainly physical, for strength and speed and stamina and sharpness of perception. When her people augmented her, they augmented something else entirely. With every new module, every sensor upgrade, every painted symbol and hidden shrine, they gave her a superhuman capacity not for stamina or speed or strength, but for love.

It is her love that saved them, so they must save her back.

For two days they work tirelessly, the whole city, while above them the shattered pieces of Acher Spaceways looms ever closer. When they are done the treads are gone, the cabins dismantled, only the little drawings carefully preserved under coats of abrasion- and heat-resistant paint. And under her, their city, their Haven, lie rockets, ten of them, repurposed from the old all-ore crucibles, fit to move an asteroid.

She’s out there somewhere by Orion now, they say, the fourth jewel in his belt. And she has only grown: from three thousand then to three hundred million. Creatures from all over come to pay her their respects, or to visit lovers, or to live there themselves. There is always room in a body that is ever expanding, like the cosmos itself. Over all of them, she watches, eternal.

Among all the stories they tell of her, they repeat this one the most - how she tore apart a whole space station for the sake of her people, knowing she would die if she failed, for how can a whole city hope to flee? She guards them, and in turn they do not abandon her. They are two halves of the same whole, they say reverently, love manifest - the people and their city; this pilot, this great machine. This Haven.

[crossfandomslut]

At Peace in Your Fire pt. 3

part 1 and part 2

Summary: Hewn City bs and lots of Eris screen time haha

Pairing: ErisxArcheron!reader

Word Count: 4k

Notes: I am so so excited that people are liking this story so far !!! I love all your comments and am so appreciative of the likes and reblogs ! For this chapter, I did use a big chunk of the direct dialog from ACOWAR for the Hewn City meeting with Eris, because I think its important context and I wasn't about to rewrite SJM's mastery. So disclaimer, I do not own any of SJM's characters or speak for her or them in anyway ! This is just for shits and gigs and I hope y'all enjoy this chapter ! Also please let me know how we feel about the Eris POV :)

Amber eyes and a pale face littered in freckles, framed by fiery red hair,  stared wildly at her. Eyes full of fear and confusion contorted his beautiful features. He was stunning, truly. Rakish, almost lanky, but toned muscles rippled under his well-fitted clothes as he fell to the ground gripping and clawing at his throat, trying to force air back into his lungs. Y/n did that to him. She made another being feel that pain and suffering. But he was hurting her sister. He was hurting Feyre. Y/n didn’t know why she had to remind herself of that fact so often to justify her actions that day on the frozen lake, but she had fallen asleep thinking about the male every night since.

Now that Feyre was home, things started moving pretty quickly. Hybern was making moves in the Spring Court to bring down the wall to the human lands, and thus putting Prythian on the brink of another war. Everyone was hard at work planning, coordinating, and scheming, but Y/n was told to just keep training. She wanted to be useful when the time came, so she was going to need to hone her powers and her physical abilities. She finally got to be a part of the plans when Rhys announced at family dinner that everyone would be taking a trip to Hewn City.

Y/n wasn’t afraid per-say, but she wasn’t sure what to expect. Feyre had told her that Amarantha’s ‘lair’ for lack of a better term, was designed after the city. She wasn’t sure she wanted to see that firsthand after hearing about everything that Feyre and Rhys went through. She was going to put on a brave face though. It’s not about her. It was about helping this court, her new family, and potentially the fate of the world as they knew it.

She studied herself in the mirror after selecting the right dress. Rhys had told her to wear whatever color she wanted, but she knew that this visit to Hewn City was all about appearances and she needed to help show that they were a united front. She had never been fond of black. It always looked so good on her twin, but Y/n preferred softer, neutral tones that helped her blend into the trees and underbrush. Tonight however, she would step out of her comfort zone. Adapt. Her constant mantra. So, she studied herself in the mirror, eyes gliding along her body that was no longer too thin, but now tones and showing real muscle. Her hips were wider, her arms and thighs thicker. A body to fill out such a fine dress. It was a floor length gown, as black as obsidian. It had see-through long sleeves and a modest neckline. Nothing flashy, she didn’t need to draw attention to herself, she just needed to blend in and help silently from the dais. But as she looked at herself, she thought that she looked quite pretty. She always thought she was the most plain of her sister, even now as Fae, but tonight, Y/n would try to wear this dress with confidence and that casual coolness that came so naturally to all the others.

 Eris’ POV

 That beautiful female on the frozen lake haunted him every waking and sleeping hour of Eris’ life. The way she literally took his breath away. If it weren’t for her power actually stealing the air from his lungs, her beauty alone would have stopped him in his tracks. She was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen in his many centuries of existence. He could help but laugh when she stormed up to him in the Winter Court wearing little more than pajamas. He shouldn’t have laughed. If the Illyrians thought she was important enough to bring along, he shouldn’t have underestimated her. He saw her face every time he closed his eyes. Her y/e/c orbs staring straight into his soul. It ratted him, which not much did anymore.

Eris hated Hewn City and he hated Keir. He was so tired of playing these court games and scheming behind the scenes. He knew Rhys liked to make an entrance, but he was growing bored and restless. Until he saw her. She was just as beautiful as the first time he saw her, but now, dressed in a night court black gown, she didn’t glow like she did when she was comfortable in her chestnut brown pants and a forest green sweater. Who is she?

Y/n’s POV

Stood atop the dais behind the single throne that Feyre and Rhys shared, Y/n scanned the room. Doing her best to keep her face carefully neutral, she stood there while Rhys addressed the court introduced Feyre as their High Lady, and coolly demanded that they kneel. After a long pause, the whole room on their knees before them, he released them to enjoy the festivities.

A man with blonde hair, that Y/n identified as Keir, Mor’s father only by blood, approached the dais. Then, the last person she expected to see approached as well. The male from the lake, with the glowing amber eyes and hair that reminded her of a maple trees falling red leaves. She swore her heart stopped beating when he made eye contact with her as he bowed. Not to Rhys or Feyre, but to her.

“Keir. Eris. So kind of you to join us. But don’t be so eager to get our meeting over with, go enjoy the evening. Azriel’s shadows will find you when we’re ready.” Rhys slid his bored gaze over each male and waved a hand in dismissal.

Eris. That was his name. Eris Eris Eris. The name clanged around her brain, and she had to choke back the desire to know how it felt on her tongue. She knew his name now and it made falling asleep to picturing his face feel like she was violating him in some way. She knew she shouldn’t have been thinking about him in the first place. He tried to kill her sister, or bring her back to his father who was a known tyrant and took brutality to another level. She should definitely not be thinking about him. But there he was. And gods damn he was even more devastating than she remembered. For starters, he wasn’t covered in blood, and she wasn’t choking the daylights out of him. But more than that, he had this air about him. He exuded a confidence that was purely Fae male and came from centuries of a life lived. Then she remembered the way that fire had danced from his fingertips. He could wield flame like an extension of his own body. It was beautiful. Y/n once again had to reprimand herself, because those same beautiful flames coming from his long, calloused fingers, were causing harm and pain to her own sister. That light and radiance that fire had was diminished in the context of it’s use. How dare he make Y/n fear something she loved so dearly? How dare her use fire, which is the root of all life, use it to hurt and destroy?

Y/n was snapped out of her daydreaming by the sound of someone clearing their throat. She realized Eris had not broken eye contact with her and was now starring at her expectantly. With no small amount of embarrassment, she realized she was probably just standing here gazing into his eyes while her whole family stood there and watched. He cheeks heated and Eris’ smirk grew.

“I asked you for a dance, lady…?”

“Y/n, you do not have to dance with him. Honestly, you don’t even have to talk to him.” Rhys said.

“Y/n...” She hated how much she liked her name falling from his lips. “Just once dance, Lady Y/n, and I’ll share what I know of the Spring Court in our meeting this evening.” Still smirking, he held out a hand.

“Fine.” Y/n unceremoniously slapped her hand into his. Just because she was practically vibrating with anticipation of being so close to the male, didn’t mean he needed to know that. And neither did her family. For all anyone else knew, she hated Eris as much as they all did. She certainly should if she knew what was good for her. Gods, what was wrong with her!?

That smirk turned into a cocky grin as Eris led Y/n to the dance floor. He tugged on her hand still held in his and pulled her close to his body. Not pressing against her, but close enough that she could feel the heat coming off his body. He was unnaturally hot being a fire wielder, but Y/n never minded the heat. Even found herself having to hold back from pressing every inch of her against the warmth. He stood close to a foot taller than her, and she had to tilt her head up to lock eyes with him. She was met with amber eyes dancing with amusement, and he was met with a cold hard glare.

Eris blew out a soft laugh and asked, “why, little dove, do you hate me so much? We don’t even know each other yet.”

Y/n tried not to linger on the ‘yet’ as she leveled him an incredulous glare. “You mean aside from the fact that you chased my sister across a frozen lake, blasting fire at her and then restrained her with said fire?”

He had the audacity to laugh again. “Yes, Y/n, aside from that. I would very much like to know you. You hating me makes that slightly difficult.”

Gods that smirk. Y/n was trying to think straight as he floated her around the dance floor like it was nothing. She hoped he didn’t realize she was using her magic to keep herself from tripping over her own feet or stepping on his. He was such a beautiful dancer. And the truth was, she wanted to know him too. But instead she said, “you use your gift of fire to hurt others. You use that delicate flame to inflict pain and fear.” She desperately hoped her voice was staying steady, but then he scoffed at her and the leash she had on her temper slipped from her fingers. She feels her voice raising and her cheeks heating as she goes on. “Fire is not meant to cause pain, Eris!”

He halts their movement. That was enough to make her blink and remember where they were. Her eyes and her voice soften as she tries to look straight into his soul and speak directly to it. Her hands drift to hold both of his in her much smaller ones. “Fire is beautiful and lovely and soft and warm. Fire is nurturing and breathes life into everything. Fire is a gentle protector and a kind companion. I am so sorry someone told you otherwise and that you’ve been told to use it as a weapon.” He just blinked at her for what felt like an eternity. Suddenly the music stops, and the room erupts into applause for the musicians. “Eris…?” Y/n sys his name as gently as she can, but he pulled away from her so fast and muttered an ‘excuse me’ before he turned on his heels and practically ran out of the ball room.

Y/n stands there until someone accidently bumps into her and jolts her out of her head and back into her body. Slowly, she makes her way back to the dais staring at her feet, still not totally present. She looks up when she reaches her family only to see them all with a hand over their mouth to choke back a laugh. “What?” Y/n’s brow scrunches and she tilts her head in confusion.

Cassian is the first to break, laughing so loud a few partygoers jump and glasses shatter. The next is Mor, and finally, Feyre asks through tears in her eyes and a barely concealed giggle, “What the hell did you say to him!?”

Y/n just took her spot on the dais next to Feyre and Rhys as they laughed and laughed together and resumed staring at the floor trying not to be eager to see Eris at the meeting later this evening.

Eris’ POV

He had to get out of there. Had to get out of that room that felt too similar to under the mountain and away from that female who was far too gentle and kind to be anywhere near him. ‘The Mother must really hate me’ he thinks as he reaches the city’s edge and can finally breathe again. He knew the shadowsinger would find him soon and call for the meeting, but before then he needed to regain his composure. Y/n didn’t need to use her power to stop his breathing and make his heart race.

He took a few deep breaths and the shaking in his hands and the ache in his chest eased slightly. His mind drifted to the feeling of her in his arms, how well they danced across the floor together and how lovely her hands felt pressed to his chest. ‘Fire is not meant to cause pain’ Y/n had said. The words had come from her mouth with such passion and determination that he almost believed her. He wanted to. Gods did he want to believe her and her kind words and her cold calloused hands that soothed his burning skin. There was no way for Y/n to have known his father had struck him across the chest just this morning. A show of power after his father bested him during sparring. The punishment for winning would have been far more gruesome. Y/n’s cold unassuming hand placed directly over where his father’s had left the flesh raw and painful. Her lovely hand placed there while she looked him in the eyes and told him that fire wasn’t meant to cause pain and that she was sorry. He couldn’t believe she was real, and his need to know her just grew tenfold. But he wasn’t good enough for her. He wasn’t good. He should keep his distance and save her the misery of his company again.

Eris was dreading the mask he would dawn in this meeting and the monster she would think of him as afterward. A shadow wrapped around his wrist and tugged. It was time. Eris schooled his features into the calm, bored, arrogant heir, winnowed back into the halls of the palace, and sauntered his way into the meeting.

Y/n’s POV

The meeting was nothing of what Y/n expected. Eris came in, and straight up avoided eye contact with her. She couldn’t lie, that stung a bit.

He sat across from Rhys, but looked to Mor with a knowing glint in his eye and said, “you look well, Mor.”

“You don’t speak to her,” Azriel said softly.

Eris gave a bitter smile. “I see you’re still holding a grudge.”

Y/n was so confused.

“This arrangement, Eris,” Rhys spoke, “relies solely upon you keeping your mouth shut.”

Eris huffed a laugh. “And haven’t I done an excellent job? Not even my father suspected when I left tonight.”

Feyre glanced between her mate and Eris. “How did this come about?”

Apparently, Feyre was just as lost as you were.

Eris explains that he caught Azriel’s shadows snooping around the Autumn court after they returned from the frozen lake, and that his brothers ‘mysteriously’ forgot about Feyre’s powers. He said that he had taught himself a few things about daemati powers and how to block them out. He says that he didn’t tell his father because he knew that Baron would want to hunt Feyre down and kill her for his belief that she stole part of his power. He doesn’t believe that Baron knows just how much of a threat Hybern is, but that he wont join forces with them if he finds out about Feyre’s powers.

“So what’s the asking price for you silence then, Eris?” Mor demanded. “Another little bride for you to torture?”

All the blood drained from Y/n’s face as her eyes darted between Mor and Eris. Her head hurt from trying to put this puzzle together without having all the pieces. She knew that Mor’s father had tried to marry her off and Mor took control of her own fate by sleeping with Cassian, but she hadn’t known the male she was sold off to was supposed to be Eris. The pounding in her head did not cease.

Something flickered in Eris’ eyes. “I don’t know who fed you those lies to begin with, Morrigan,” he said with vicious calm. “Likely the bastards you surround yourself with.”

A sneer from Azriel. And a sharp intake of breath from Y/n. If he had looked at her she would have seen the brief flash of guilt in his eyes.

Mor snarled, rattling the glasses. “You never gave any evidence to the contrary. Certainly not when you left me in those woods.”

“There were forces at work that you have never considered,” Eris said coldly. “And I am not going to waste my breath explaining them to you. Believe what you want about me.”

“You hunted me like an animal,” Feyre cut in. “I think we will choose to believe the worst.”

Y/n didn’t know how to feel. Couldn’t think of anything to say or do, so she just dropped her gaze to the floor. She shouldn’t come to Eris’ defense. She just met the male and apparently her gut feeling about him was wrong. Her family hated him and he hurt Mor. Something didn’t feel right, but what would she even say? There were literal centuries of bad blood between her found family and this male who for some gods forsaken reason, she couldn’t stop thinking about. This arrogant, spiteful, male who attacked her sister! Not just Feyre it seems, but Mor as well. Even if he didn’t have direct hand in harming her, he didn’t help her. Why didn’t he help her? Her head was still spinning trying to sort through all these conflicting feelings. She felt like she needed to come to Eris’ defense, but why? Maybe because she felt deep down in her soul that no one ever had. She could feel that he was good, so why were his actions such the opposite? The pounding in her head wouldn’t stop and she felt as if she might faint. The conversation starting to sound like they were underwater.

“I was given and order. And sent to do it with two of my…brothers.”

“And what of the brother you hunted down alongside me? The one whose lover you helped to execute before his eyes?” Feyre accused.

Eris slammed a hand on the table, which did nothing to help Y/n headache. No one seemed to notice her flinch and start to sway. “You know nothing about what happened that day. Nothing.”

“Indulge me,” was all Feyre said in response.

“How do you think he made it to the Spring border,” Eris’ voice had returned to its normal low and sharp nature. “I wasn’t there- when they did it. Ask him. I refused. It was the firs and only time I have denied my father anything. He punished me. And by the time I got free… They were going to kill him too. I made sure they didn’t. Made sure Tamlin got word- anonymously- to get the hell over to his own border.” Eris picked at a stray thread on his jacket, “not all of us were as lucky in our friends and family as you, Rhysand.”

Sharp, stabbing, shooting pain ran through Y/n’s head and it was so surprising that she let out a yelp as she dropped to the floor, and everything went black. The last thing she remembered hearing was the voice of Eris’ panicked voice crying her name.

Taglist: @abysshaven @myromanempiree @lilah-asteria @96jnie @ivy-34 @minaethrym

[least-carpet]

Making Shit Up About Sect Demographics in the Yunmeng Jiang

I had all of these notes about this for the ningcheng fic (and other potential projects), and then I saw @whumpbby's post go around, but I didn't want to sidetrack the discussion, so: Yunmeng Jiang sect demographics. What might the composition of the YMJ be like under Jiang Cheng?

Survivors from other sects

For my purposes, I decided that the Jiang probably absorbed some of the survivors of the smaller sects that the Wen wiped out. It's pretty hard to guarantee no survivors every time (and Wen Chao never seemed particularly, uh, detail-oriented) but one or two people on their own, scattered, possibly recovering from injuries, aren't threats. A whole bunch of these people, with golden cores, nothing left to lose and a new sect to serve, is another story. They at least have some idea of how a sect works and if they can learn the Jiang style fast enough to teach disciples themselves, they are worth their weight in gold. The representative of this group in my universe is Feng Jia, who brings with her a variety of organizational skills (being the third daughter of a sect leader), as well as the remnants of her sect and a bunch of horses. Let's say the Wen have wiped out 3-4 sects, with an average of three survivors capable of combat each: 9-12 people, out of whom optimistically maybe a third or a half (?) can learn enough of the Jiang style to teach the basics during Sunshot.

Rogue cultivators and their disciples

They also probably picked up some rogue cultivators, either looking to join a great sect or because of a grudge against the Wen. Some of them could bring a disciple or two, who at least might be closer to achieving a golden core than a random guy off the street. These cultivators are going to probably vary wildly in terms of skill, but you might be able to get a bunch of them. Hu Lei, whose adopted son briefly appears, was originally the disciple of a rogue cultivator who ate it relatively early into the Sunshot Campaign. (Farm boy who accidentally became a rogue cultivator > rogue cultivator who followed his master into the Jiang > panicked stray disciple who was taken as Feng Jia's first disciple > a senior disciple of the Jiang who impressed her sister, a Real Lady, and married into a cultivating family. He doesn't know how he got here either, but he's not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Only guy in this entire universe whose life inexplicably Just Kind Of Worked Out Okay.)

Non-cultivators during and post-war

It's possible non-cultivators also joined up, but how could these people be put in the front lines against cultivators without training? If they had potential, knowledge of specific environments, and/or adjacent skills, maybe they could be scouts, spies, or archers until they formed a golden core. Cheng Zhihao, a merchant's son (who I ended up not needing) started out spying for the Jiang before successfully cultivating a golden core. Because he's educated, adaptable, and (apparently) nonthreatening, he eventually serves as one of the sect's liaisons with the Jin.

The largest group of disciples with absolutely no prior training probably entered the sect post-war. A victorious sect at peace, no matter how reduced, is much more appealing than one actively at war against a stronger enemy. If the Jiang sect opened their doors for recruitment, they might have been appealing to groups who would have needed to find work anyway. If you're a young person coming from an enormous peasant family, and you're being sent out for work anyway, why not try out? They'll train you, they'll feed you, and there's a lot more prestige. On the other hand, you're going to have to fight ghosts. Depends how scary you think ghosts are, I guess. And they probably didn't account for the intersect politics. This group included orphans like Ye Wan, who was brought in as an assistant to the elderly doctor they found for the sect, and who begrudgingly cultivated a golden core to be eligible to succeed the older doctor when he or she died.

The Yu

I had to cut Yu Anqi, a Yu sect cultivator sent by Jiang Cheng's grandparents to reinforce the Jiang. Probably if a bunch of them turned up, they eventually went back to the Yu sect, but it's possible that a couple of them stuck around? Yu Anqi, fierce but loyal and talented, fucked off to the Jiang to get out of a Suitable Marriage. She heard about what happened to Madame Jin AND Yu Ziyuan, and she wasn't interested! The Yu have simply given up on getting her back. She's the Jiang's problem now.

OG Jiang sect survivors (all 10 of them)

The Jiang sect was definitely massacred, but maybe Jiang Yanli had a couple of disciples with her in Meishan, and, again, Wen Chao sucks—despite the overwhelming number of Wen cultivators, I think you can get away with up to maybe 10 survivors. This is my explanation for Chang An, former Jiang sect kitchen servant, current medical scholar, and also for giving Jiang Cheng a surviving (though disabled from an injury sustained during the massacre) younger cousin in Jiang Ping. I think it's plausible for one of the survivors to be a servant who literally can't defend the sect, because then she's not going to fight the Wen! She simply doesn't know how to do that! She's going to jump into the water and hide under a pier! If she accidentally rescues a Jiang clan member who gets stabbed and chucked into the river with her, that's a bonus. This is also my explanation for why Jiang Cheng doesn't appear to be worried about an heir: Jiang Ping can't fight anymore, but he can have kids. And he has! Problem solved.

The next generation

Some children would have been born into the conflict. On top of everything else, Wen Chao was a creep who happily tormented others; him holding his men to a higher standard doesn't seem likely. Feng Xinyi, Feng Jia's daughter, is a child of wartime rape, which is why she has her mother's family name, and is one of many reasons Feng Jia never married*. Her friend, Ji Siyu (who may or may not make an appearance), was abandoned as a baby at an orphanage** and eventually taken in as a disciple because of her strong cultivation potential, which could have occurred randomly, or... not. This age range is likely relatively small and under-represented within the Jiang. There's a more normal class size of disciples, slightly younger than Jin Ling, born after the new Jiang sect stabilized and people started having kids on purpose.

Notes

* The likelihood of the horrible cultivation world being super chill about an unmarried woman of the lesser sects unwillingly having an enemy's child is... not high? She also has a visible facial scar from the attack. Plus, she's the head of her remaining family, raising a whole kid, teaching disciples, etc. Girl is busy, and no one could make her get married anymore except Jiang Cheng, and he's not going to, so... I think she's surprised by a pleasant middle-aged romance eventually, with someone who would never dream of asking her to leave the Jiang or have any more children. This person could be Yu Anqi, Cheng Zhihao, one of the merchants in the nearby town***, or even Wen Qing—as you like.

** I tend to think Jiang Fengmian was the patron of at least one nearby orphanage, and at some point after the war, whoever was in charge of it came over like "hey :) we have all these new orphans :) money please?" and Jiang Cheng was like "AAAH I DON'T HAVE ANY MONEY RIGHT NOW BUT THE ORPHANS (complex Wei Wuxian feelings) (complex feelings about doing what his father would have wanted) (furious night-hunting trying to make some cash) (STRESS)" and ended up maintaining the relationship and occasionally acquiring a disciple out of it. Maybe they were like day students until they were old enough to stay in a dorm? This would allow the Jiang sect to source a larger class without a bunch of overworked cultivators trying to take care of an overwhelming number of little kids.

*** I am now laughing at the idea of, like, a younger dumpling-seller nervously working himself up to ask Feng Xinyi if her big sister is single, and Feng Xinyi being like, "I don't have a big sister?... do you mean my mom??" And the guy just being like, "I guess? Is... is your mom single?" And Feng Xinyi being like, "Actually yes. If you can get her to give you the time of day, I'll be very impressed." And then Feng Jia spends three months just like, "Why am I receiving increasingly beautiful and elaborate dumplings? Why is that nice young man red all the time? What is happening??" while Feng Xinyi giggles in the background.

**** Obviously, these characters reflect the questions that I personally was interested in, such as "Where are all the women?" and "What happened to the people disabled or permanently disfigured in wartime? Like, maybe the golden cores mean that there would be fewer of them, because they could recover more function, but surely there wouldn't be none?" and "Who would be willing to slaughter the Wen Remnants in order to secure the Jiang? Can I make that person coherent and interesting and sympathetic (to me)? Can I make that person Wen Qing's dark mirror and the stone in Wei Wuxian's boot?" and "What is the new spirit of the Jiang sect? How are people interpreting the motto in the aftermath of violence, chaos, and political compromise?" and, finally, "Who are the people willing to be utterly loyal to Jiang Cheng and the idea of the new sect?" And Feng Jia is the answer to most of those questions. Sorry for the tall order, Feng Jia. That's a lot of backstory for her to show up for 15 seconds in a silly ningcheng fanfic.

[gwenllian-in-the-abbey]

Ironically i thought F&B was the worst thing Grrm has ever written, however watching hotd has made me appreciate F&B alot despite how terrible it's compared to other Grrm's good stories. it's still better than whatever Condal came with. The fact that book!Alicent& Rhaenyra despite being historical figures have much more agency than show!Alicent& Rhaenyra who are pov characters is so funny to me.

I do like F&B, but I like it for the faux history aspect of it, not the story. The story is nothing special. There are some cool bits, and I think most of the characters have the potential to be really fascinating, but they are bare bones at best.

Ultimately though, the characters in the F&B do generally act in a consistent way, and if you work backwards from their actions, you can arrive at a characterization. I feel like the show has done this with Aegon and Aemond for the most part, and even with Daemon, with a few hiccups along the way. But with Alicent and Rhaenyra they did the opposite and it shows. They started with the characters they wanted to portray, and then went about forcing these new characters to perform book events, when those events were not written for a pair of estranged ex-friends, they were written for a stepmother and stepdaughter whose relationship has always been contentious at best. The actions that Alicent and Rhaenyra take in the book are not the actions that people love each other would take. If George had written them as close friends from the start the Dance would have played out very differently!

But that's not the story he wrote, and adapting actions written for people actively antagonistic towards each other to characters who are meant to love each other forces the showrunners into certain corners. Making Otto and Daemon the masterminds orchestrating the violence (remember, in the book Otto never suggested murdering Rhaenyra and her children, and Daemon was the one who urged caution when Rhaenys wanted to go straight to war), inventing a prophesy and deathbed misunderstanding which fundamentally alter the nature of the conflict, these things are done to soften the impact of the canonical actions of these women, but it also absolutely takes away from their agency. You get a really odd situation where the showrunners simultaneously want us to believe that the women should be in charge because the men ruin everything, but the women themselves are both unable to take direct action for fear of harming each other, but also unable to retreat, because the story demands they come to a certain end. Rhaenyra cannot accept the peace terms Alicent sends, or any future peace terms she proposes, and for all that they might come into conflict, Alicent cannot actually join team black and betray her entire family, the children she spent her whole young adulthood keeping alive. Ryan Condal has said that even after Luke's death he still believes there is hope of reconciliation but we know that fundamentally that can only be true in theory because the ending is a forgone conclusion.

There are people who say that Alicent is fundamentally caught between duty and desire, and that is why her character is inconsistent, but I cannot help but think that the reason why her actions are inconsistent is because half of them were written for another character entirely.

[sadsongsandwaltzes]

I am not a psychologist so I have no clue if this is just my own crackpot theory or what. And my apologies if I’m speaking out of my ass here.

We were not made for a fallen world. We were made for Eden. Since we have to live in this world corrupted by sin, the brain does what it has to in order to survive.

A toddler doesn’t know what “hot” means, until one day you warn the child not to touch a plate because it’s “hot,” they touch anyways, they feel the sting, and now they understand what “hot” means. The brain, now acknowledging this is something that can be a threat, has an immediate response to “hot.” Anytime someone says “hot,” we immediately recoil and make sure we don’t touch whatever is believed to be hot. The brain is simply trying to survive.

I think there’s a similar thing happening with trauma response. It’s the brain doing the same thing, but to such an extreme degree that it’s almost impossible to function. If someone survives a near fatal car crash, they may panic when they go near a car. Why? Because the brain has learned this thing to be an immediate and serious threat. The brain is now trained to fear and recoil. If you lived in a war zone and learned to sleep with one eye open so to speak, the brain is now trained to sense danger at every turn, especially when you’re in such a vulnerable state as sleep. You’re living in a constant state of anxiety because you expect a fatal threat. It’s why sudden noises and movements can trigger anxiety.

The brain is doing what it does. It adapts to perceived threats for survival. This heightened state of anxiety is deemed necessary by the brain, but we were not made to live in such a state. We cant. So the brain is, ironically, slowly killing itself. The brain is rewired and burned out and always looking for that next serious threat. It’s always reminding us that the threat looms. It’s where the subconscious lives. It’s why there’s constant anxiety, why there’s nightmares.

Of course, this can be exacerbated if the trauma is accompanied by severe grief or guilt.

This brings me to my point. If you would not tell someone to just pray the cancer away, I don’t think you can tell them to just pray the trauma away. We’re talking about a real physiological problem happening.

I think grief and guilt can be assuaged by the gospel. But the brain’s inner working itself? It’s a medical problem the same as any other. God absolutely can heal trauma same as cancer, but sometimes he doesn’t. Faith can absolutely bring about peace in hardships and give us the strength to carry on, but it’s not a guarantee that God will remove the hardship. That would be prosperity gospel.

And with all of this we can also recognize that certain treatments or habits may help relieve symptoms without fully curing, it exists on a medical spectrum.

And I think this is true about a lot of mental illness.

For the record, I think most mental illness in modern America is actually spiritual illness. And I think most psychologists are looney tunes. But people abusing a certain field of study and being stupid and misdiagnosing doesn’t negate the field of study as a whole.

If every sick person who walks into a doctors office no matter the symptoms gets diagnosed with cancer, it means the doctor is a quack and we have a problem of over diagnosis of a disease. But it doesn’t mean the disease isn’t real and that a certain percentage of the population doesn’t actually suffer from it. That would be a downright foolish thought.

Hormones, brain function, all of it can affect the mind. The brain is a complex organ. We still can’t fully understand it. And I don’t think we ever will. We know the brain can affect the mind. If it didn’t, people with TBIs would never suffer from sudden mental illness or personality shifts.

It seems wholly unchristian to deny the reality of both our body and the fallen state of the world.

[19blackbutterfly97-blog]

Twisted Bonds - Part 13

Word Count: 2097

Warnings: Language, themes/talks of mass destruction/extinction/eradication, talks of feelings

A.N.: Hey ya'll! I finally finished this part! I'm working on wrapping this fic up. Thank you for the likes, comments and reblogs! Happy Reading!!!!

Twisted Bonds Masterlist

Divider by: @k1ssyoursister

“Well, Miss. Belova. I must say that I’m surprised that you’re here.”

“Yes, I understand and again, I’m sorry for not calling before but this isn’t about me and we’re running out of time.” Alice says, doing her best to keep following the professor through the halls of the old mansion turned school, her tired body screaming at her to slow down as she dodges students of all ages.

“Hm… You’re scared.”

“Yes but again, this isn’t just about me. It’s not even about my potential Alphas.”

Charles sighs a little. “Humanity has the potential to survive. With or without my help.”

“Respectfully sir, I’m not asking for your help or the help of your team. I’m requesting to look at whatever files you have on the Shi’ar.”

“Which is still asking for help.” Charles answers before stopping and turning his chair to look at her. “They don’t know you’re here. None of them do.”

“Please, Professor. They need this information. We all do.” Alice pleads, fighting back the tears in her eyes. “Life as we know it is on the brink of disaster. Extinction from a single species that you’ve defeated multiple times before. I need to know how you did it.”

“My dear, we have never truly defeated the Shi’ar. We merely created alliances to keep peace on the planet.”

“Then why are they threatening us now?”

Charles hummed slightly as he thought about his answer. “The man you work for, Stark, he’s an innovator. A man that pushes creativity to its limits more often than not.”

“They’re targeting Omegas specifically.” Alice interrupts him.

“The world is a better place with you in it.”

“I still don’t understand what that has to do with anything. How does my designation correlate with creativity? Why does it matter?”

“After all that you’ve learned and you still don’t understand it?” Charles asks with a knowing smile before turning his chair again and motioning for Alice to follow him into his office. “Alphas in every generation have done what they can to protect their Omegas, to make their lives better. Why do you think that is?”

“Love and devotion.”

“Close but you’re still missing a piece of the puzzle. Omegas are the reason Alphas strive to do better. It’s instinct; primal, raw and ancient. It’s in their nature to advance technology and security.”

“I know that.” Alice huffs and practically collapses into a chair. “I just don’t understand why the Shi’ar have such a problem with it.”

“The Shi’ar have always been against creativity. They look at it as a disease. Dreams, innovations, in a way happiness. They found peace and civility in the advancement of technology without dreaming.”

“How does that work? I mean seriously, what does their war on creativity have to do with our societal structure?”

“You’re asking the wrong question again.” Charles laughs. “Their society as a whole was able to advance and adapt without secondary genders. They believe that our society would be better off if we did the same.”

“So, they’re just totally fine with wiping out billions of people in the name of progress? How do we stop them?”

A small smile graces Charles’ face as he looks at her. “You’re finally asking the right questions. Take the elevator at the end of the hall to the basement. Ask for Jean, she can help you.”

Alice nods and stands up, pulling her bag strap up tighter on her shoulder. “Thank you, professor, thank you so much.” She smiles before bouncing out of the office and rushing down the now empty hall to the elevator. Once downstairs Alice wasted no time in tracking down Jean Grey who helped her get started on going through files in Charles’ private study.

Hours passed by like minutes as Alice immersed herself in research. Page after page of battle recounts, mission reports and the most helpful, recordings of negotiations between the X-men and the Shi’ar. It was like a goldmine to the analyst; whispers of newfound knowledge already forgotten were jotted down and memorized by Alice who was beyond determined more than ever to find a peaceful solution. The data only proved what she already thought, that there was a chance for a non-violent end. With any luck this whole thing will blow over without incident, she just has to figure out how to make Tony and the others understand. Bucky especially when she thinks about it. He’s been the main one panicked and on edge. At first he didn’t want to let Alice leave his side and she let that happen until her heat hit. Now, she’s left confused.

“No, no, we’re not going down that rabbit hole.” She mutters to herself tiredly and shakes her head before turning her attention back to her notepad. It’s her favorite distraction but it doesn’t help one bit when a cool breeze flows in the room and her skin chills. She finds herself missing the warmth of not only Bucky, but Steve too.

The way they held her safely between them, nestled deep in their protective embraces. They kept her safe, warm, satisfied and satiated whenever she needed them and right now, whether she wanted to admit it or not she needed them. Or she wanted them at least because she finally gave in and turned her phone on, allowing the location to ping off the nearest cell tower, giving them the first indication of her location in almost six hours. She didn’t even realize how long she’d actually been gone until now as she stared down at the barrage of missed calls and unanswered texts, each more frantic than the last. She didn’t allow herself to believe that the team would ever in a million years care about her enough to blow her phone up this much… Or that they’d bother to already be suiting up and speeding across the state to get to her as soon as they could.

Alice didn’t realize she had even fallen asleep until she felt the soft weight of a blanket being tucked around her shoulders. “Wh-what?” She mutters to herself as she sits up more, wiping a trail of drool from her chin.

“Sorry, you looked cold.” The man said, smirking as he leaned a hip against the table’s edge. “I’m Logan. Don’t freak out, I sort of live here.”

Alice nods a little, slowly blinking the sleep from out of her eyes as she looks up at him. He’s tall and muscular, not quite as big as Steve but he could easily touch the top of a bookshelf without a struggle and the saddest eyes she’s ever seen on anyone besides Bucky. Judging by the scent on the blanket wrapped around her, he’s definitely an Alpha. “What time is it?”

“Almost four in the morning.”

“Oh, gods.” She groans and stands up, stretching her limbs. “I didn’t mean to stay this long. I’m- I’m so sorry. I’ll uh, I have a room in town. I should go.”

“Calm down. Nobody’s asking you to leave. There’s an extra room upstairs you can stay in. No point in leaving in the middle of the night.” Logan says.

“I don’t want to be a bother. I really have no problem with-.”

“Don’t worry about it, sweets. You’re not imposing.” He insists, letting a smirk tug the corner of his lips. He straightens up and heads for the door, expecting her to follow. Alice hesitates for a moment before gathering up her things and following a few paces behind him. She’s wary but the thought of being in a bed instead of curled up in a lounge chair sounds too appealing to turn down. Logan’s scent wraps around her in the elevator but instead of the comfort feeling he hoped it’d bring her, it just put her further on edge. She has no real reason to, he hasn’t touched her, hasn’t said anything rude or out of turn but his aloof politeness is enough to make her question.

“Is uh… is everything okay?” She asks as they step out on the main floor of the mansion.

“Yes? Why wouldn’t it be?”

Alice shrugs a little. “I know how crazy it sounds but I’m an unbonded Omega and you haven’t tried to flirt with me once. You’re being very cordial.”

“You don’t smell it?” He asks, pausing halfway down the hall.

“Smell what?”

“Leather and beach air. You smell like an Alpha. I assumed you were scent bonded.”

Alice practically freezes midstep. Her shoulders tense along with every muscle down her back. She hadn’t thought about that, didn’t even notice the way Alphas had been treating her the same as a Beta since her heat. She smelled like a perfect mix of Steve and Bucky, their scents subtly accompanying her own. “No, I’m- Well, I guess… I mean…” She sighs and shakes her head. “It’s not official.” She finally manages to mutter out as the mansion door swings open.

Logan catches the movement and his adamantium claws push through the skin between his knuckles as he moves to stand protectively in front of Alice. Three silver claws glint in the moonlight as he squares his body, ready to attack if needed. “Who are you?” He calls out as figures begin to file in the open door. Panic fills Alice, being in a new place there’s too many new scents overpowering the hallway and in that moment she really can’t move. She moves a bit to hide behind Logan, working up the courage to help if she needs to. She focuses her breathing the way Steve taught her to and balled up her fists like Bucky drilled into her. She’s ready and pivots to look at the potential threats as Logan turns to tell Alice to run but doesn’t get the chance.

The moment Alice catches sight of a familiar figure in the darkness she calms instantly. “Bucky!” She squeaks happily and rushes past Logan.

“Lil’ Bit.” Bucky says, dropping his gun to the floor just in time to wrap his arms around her waist, pulling her to his chest and spinning her around. “Do you have any idea how worried we’ve been?”

“Alice.” Steve scolds and secures his shield to his back as he joins the pair. “Are you insane? Do you know how dangerous this is? You could’ve been killed.”

“But I wasn’t.” She mutters, burying her face in Bucky’s chest, ignoring the bite of the buckles of his tactical vest on her cheek. “I needed to do this.”

“Running away to do it wasn’t the answer.” Steve says.

“I know, but I did find out a lot of information and-.”

“And you haven’t slept right in days.” Bucky cuts her off. “I’m willing to bet you haven’t eaten enough since last week and we all know you’re avoiding us.”

“Damn Barnes, we just found her. Is now really the best time for this?” Yelena chastises him, pulling Alice out of his grip to look her over. “You’re alive.”

“Obviously.” Alice rolls her eyes.

“Don’t get smart with me, little sister. You’re still half useless in a fight.”

“Um, excuse me, is anyone going to introduce us?” Sam says, pointing to a still defensive Logan who’s now backed by more of the X-men.

Alice drops the insult she was preparing to throw at her sister and slowly turns to look at the new formed group. “Easy, that’s Jean, Scott, Storm and Logan.” She shrugs and leans back against Steve’s chest, giving into her instincts. It catches him off guard for a moment before he gives in as well and wraps his arms around her waist and buries his face in her hair, breathing in her scent. It’s muted but he assumes it’s due to stress.

“Making new friends, Omega?” He teases and kisses her neck.

“Mhm.” She smiles up at him, barely catching Bucky’s gaze before looking away quickly. Something is off about this entire situation and he knows it. He just can’t quite place what it is yet. Could be the X-men he had run-ins with as the Winter Soldier. Could be the way she drifted towards Steve and snuggled up to him so easily. Could be the way she stifled that insult to Yelena, since fighting with her sister is one of her favorite pastimes… It could also be the way she shys away from him without a second glance. It hurts, he can feel anger and jealousy bubbling in his chest with a low growl. The feelings mix with uneasiness, something he’s familiar with but never when it comes to Alice.

[maknoty]

Maknoty and Lyla where in Maknoty's office, when the war started lot of adult died due to lot of them removing part of their defence system in the name of religions and peace, so now with the war still going civilians camp where formed, most of them having mostly teen and child, and this was one of them.

Maknoty had taken the role of leader and organizer and Lyla had taken the role of trainer and hand girl.

Xinomie are a pretty basic looking species, some shade of grey for their skins, eyes of only one colours, most commonly blue or pink, pointy ears and hair that was rarely short due to its ability to take electricity and contain it even though most adult don't have the ability to uses said electricity, but for the people who could use this electricity they use it has power bust or to get energy back, they sometimes even use it to fight.

Maknoty had a serious look on their face, "Look, Lyla you know your brother is being a waste of resource, he's going to die soon anyway, there is no need to keep him here, we should kill him, it'll be painless, just overcharging him with electricity."

"He's my brother! I won't just kill him!" Lyla argued, she had killed multiple other that way, they didn't have the resource to heal them, their overall survival was more important, everyone knew that, that why no one argue as they watched her kill their loved one, sure she wasn't the only one that was assigned this task, but still she killed multiple one of them.

"You don't have to be the one killing him. We are living in fear, fear is what make them, make us so careful, what made us adapt so easily, if they see Tom they'll start thinking we have enough resource, they'll become reckless or maybe even start a revolution because how came does Tom get to stay alive?" She explained with a calming expression, they can't risk it, Tom won't wake up with their limited resource and limited medical knowledge, it's sad, but she can't let her be in deny, Lyla is strong, she'll recover from losing her brother.

"I don't want to do this, I don't want him to die.." She responded as tear started streaming on her face, Maknoty directly took her in a thigh embrace.

"I know, I know, but he's going to die anyway, making his sufferings longer is cruel." She said with a calming tone.

Lyla dried her tears before letting go of the hug. "You're right." She said quietly.

"I know it hard for you my flower, but I promise that I'll always be there for you." Maknoty said looking at Lyla pink eyes.

"Thank Ty, I'm going to go tell him goodbye." She responded, looking in the other's girl eyes, her purple eyes always had this shine to them when they were together, she wonder if her own eyes do that too, but now wasn't the time for this, she had to say goodbye to her twin.

She left the room and went downstairs, opening the door of the med bay, she ignored the people there, directly walking to Tom's bed, he hadn't woken up, not since what had happened, what was her fault.

She was the one who made the team, they where supposed to be out looking for food, but they got attacked instead, only two of the six on the team had survived, they used electricity to have a speed and strength boost and get back to the base, loosing the attacker at the same time, she knew the zone they were send to wasn't safe, yet she only send one team.

She took her twin hand, she'll never see his turquoises eyes again, she'll never hear his laugh, his reassuring words, or his annoying talk about outer space culture, she'll be a lightbulb with no power, a coin with only one side, a twin without the other twin, she hugged him, he didn't hug back, he never will hug her back, because of her, this is her fault.

Fotinin, one of her most trusted soldier looked at her, he had a battery, she know well enough how overcharging work to know what he was waiting to do, she kissed her brother forehead one last time before nodding to Fotinin and walking out of the room,

She went in hers and Maknoty room and just let herself fall down in her bed, Maknoty stopped what she was doing to hug her, Lyla ended up crying herself to sleep in her arm.

In the morning she woke up to sound of screaming, they were attacked, she could see Maknoty fighting two people, she was about to get hit by a lethal blow, before even thinking she stood up and shielded her, she was not about to let someone else she loved die, even if that meant dying, the pain that overtook her body was strong, it's hurt so bad, she screamed, everyone in the room froze.

Maknoty looked as Lyla took the blow for her, her scream was filled with so much pain, she watched as the most important person of her live since the war fallen to her death, "Flower?" she asked the girl, she could hear her heartbeat in her ear, the room was like frozen in time, Lyla didn't react, "Lyla?" she tried again, no response, she took the girl body and shook it gently, "Please wake up. Please.." she said desperate, Lyla was death, she sacrificed herself for her, she was scared, she was filled with rage and sadness, she looked at the two enemy in front of her, promising to make them pain, she collected a maximum of the electricity that was around her, taking it from the two enemies, no one dared to move until Maknoty said "You killed her, and for that I'll make you pay." with rage, the two didn't take her seriously. She used the electricity she had collected to create a an electrical mace.

"Since when is this possible?" one of the two enemy asked the other, but before they could answer the mace hit them, again, again, again and again, the blue blood was spilling from their head, members of her camp and members from the attacker both had come to see what was going when Lyla screamed, some where disgusted at the scene, other where shocked, some where scared, she stood up and looked at the other enemy that was in the room, still holding the mace that shouldn't possibly exist, they backed away, trying to get out of the room when Fotinin pushed them back in, she's hit them hard cracking their head like an egg thank to the mace, she could hear people crying, people telling her to stop, people telling her she was scaring them, but not anyone fighting, if for Xinon to be good again she'll need to use controlled fear then so be it, she stood up and said "If you don't want to end up like them, obey me, don't fight, we're going to make Xinon a new and better planet, starting by us, if you want to live, then obey me order." She said.

A yellow ring floated until it was in front of her, "Maknoty Tunoc from the planet Xinon. You have the ability to instill great fear. Welcome to the Sinestro Corps." It said, Maknoty took it and put it on.

"We need change, let's start with our hatred of the rings, it isn't necessary. Now I'm going to give you all a choice, Stay here, or leave, the old members, show the new members around, understood?" She said.

[agentnico]

Master and Margarita (2024) review

Oh when in Soviet Russia…

Plot: Based on Mikhail Bulgakov's novel "Master and Margarita". 1930's, Moscow. A famous writer is censored by the Soviet state: his novel is banned, and the theatrical premier of his new play about Pontius Pilate - canceled. In just a few days he becomes an outcast. Inspired by these misfortunes the writer conceives a new novel in which the devil, named Woland, satirically revenges all those responsible for the writer's downfall. He knows this novel can never be published in the USSR, but Margarita - his muse pushes him to write it no matter what.

I truly believe Master and Margarita is one of the most powerful pieces of literature to come out from Russia. Yes I am aware War & Peace is more talked about, but look, I read all of its 1000+ pages and though it is an epic in every sense of the word, it does drag quite about. As for Master and Margarita, Soviet writer Mikhail Bulgakov created a satirical, quasi-biblical allegory that represents themes that are crucial to the human experience, such as struggle between good and evil, corruption in government and high society, human fragility, religion and prophecy, and the endurance of love over all. It’s a masterfully written piece of work, and one that is truly hard to adapt to screen, due to how much happens through its pages. However I’m all for directors giving it a go, with Michael Lockshin taking the challenge with a motion picture that was originally a co-production between Russian studios and Universal Pictures, though the latter pulled out following the Russo-Ukrainian War, even though most of the filming was already complete. Nevertheless after multiple delays the final product is here, so let’s digest.

Let’s talk through the positives first. It’s nice to see a Russian production of such grand scale, that even gives Hollywood a run for its money. There are some truly spectacular set pieces, and also interesting visuals, especially of a futuristic post-modern take of the Soviet Union, that reminded me a little of the recent Atomic Heart video game. Also the inclusion of August Diehl who plays the central Satanic figure Voland. This casting choice was a truly inspired one, as Diehl both looks and feels as if he came out straight from the pages of Bulgakov’s novel. There’s just this presence to him, as you can tell the power behind his eyes, yet he can also be really charming and witty. Whenever he was on-screen, the movie fully came to life, as he managed to perfectly balance the damning mocking tone with a deep inner understanding of things beyond the human mind. Look, there’s a great reason why they casted an actor outside of Russia for this part, as Diehl honestly was incredible. Funny how this is the same guy who got his testicles shot off in that WW2 Tarantino flick. Evgeniy Tsyganov as the titular Master too felt perfectly apt for the role, in some ways personifying Mikhail Bulgakov himself. The Master is a character that can so easily come off as dull, as he’s generally very stoic and constantly deep in his own thoughts, so it was a nice interpretation with Tsyganov breathing more life into him.

Unfortunately this is where the positives end. Look, I think it is truly impressive for the entire novel to be transferred into a 2hr 30min film, and of course I expected certain parts to be rushed. However the movie shoots itself in the foot by trying to approach the source material in a different way. Messing with various realities and reorganising the events of the novel in a completely different order, the result is messy and all over the place. I can say with full certainty that if I haven’t read the book before that I’d be so confused as to what the hell was going on in this movie. From the way it jumps from one place to the other in non linear fashion made it so difficult to be engaged and feel connected with the characters. There was a lot of extra narrative elements added to an already overstuffed plot (with a lot of creative choices being outright baffling) as such causing the movie to need to rush even more certain other key plot points that again, it was really disorganised and jarring.

Also, I know that ever since Batman it’s now cool to go dark with everything, but The Master and Margarita is a novel that doesn’t shy away from raising a few eyebrows. In fact it goes out of its way to be as weird and ridiculous as possible, with the inherent horror and tragedy that befalls each of its characters being felt only later, after the laughs have died down. The humour in the book, especially the dark stuff - that’s sort of famously the Russian novelists’ coping mechanism against, uh, being a Russian novelist. Yet this new 2024 film hardly allows a single joke, and instead tries to cover everything with a dark dramatic tone, and I feel that really takes away from the charm of Master and Margarita. Heck there are even sequences in the film that are supposed to be played for laughs, like the Behemoth cat’s shootout with the KGB cops that screams for physical comedy potential, yet the movie kind of glosses over it in a very monotonous way.

Aside from August Diehl and Evgeniy Tsyganov, the casting left a lot to be desired. Yulia Snigir made for a really bland Margarita. Voland’s entourage of demons, who in the book are a cause for some truly entertaining if silly shenanigans, here are completely wasted, and in fact are borderline annoying. Yuri Kolokolnikov as Korovev, the main member of his entourage, was actually horrendous. In the source material Korovev is a trickster, yet there was still wiseness within his madness. Here however Kolokolnikov plays him as if he were some kind of deranged clown, screaming every single line and maniacally laughing for absolutely no reason. The talking cat, who is one of the book’s best characters, in here is just a CGI cat who says maybe only two lines of dialogue in the whole film, and even then it’s a lazy mumble courtesy of actor Yura Borisov. Claes Bang as Pontius Pilate looked bored out of his mind. To be fair, the whole biblical side plot of Pilot and Jesus suffers the most here by being downgraded to maybe 5 minutes, which at this rate I feel like they should have cut the whole thing out entirely as the 5 minutes added nothing to the overall film. But yes, Claes Bang was evidently there to collect a pay check, and part of me wishes that instead we just had James McAvoy reprise his comedic take of Pilate from The Book of Clarence that came out earlier in the year.

It was never going to be an easy feat adapting Bulgakov’s epic into a movie. The narrative lends itself so much better to a TV series format, and in fact there is a wonderful 2005 limited series adaptation from Vladimir Bortko, and now that right there is how you make Master and Margarita work! That series featured great music, amazing performances, and plenty of breathing room to give every nook and cranny detail of the book its proper time. 2024’s Master and Margarita doesn’t come anywhere close to it, and though I do admire Lockshin’s ambitions, in the end it all falls flat on its face. August Diehl however is truly phenomenal in this, and honestly I really need to watch more of his acting work. I hear A Hidden Life with him is supposed to be good. Adding that to my watchlist as we speak.

Overall score: 4/10

[ninja-muse]

Last month I clearly posted my wrap-up a day too early because I ended up DNFing a book that same day and therefore starting another. I don't think that'll happen again, but I'm making sure to schedule this for the first just to be sure.

Anyway, this was an all right month of reading—some greats, some simple okays—and a very good month for not acquiring books. Only one ARC came home with me, I offloaded three, and I'm almost certainly not going to buy any books in the last day of the month, but I still have 12 hours. That might change, in which case this post will also and you'll never know what I originally typed. Yeah, that worked well. Darn used bookstores!

You already know how much I liked The Briar Club. My other top reads were A Desolation Called Peace (anyone surprised?), Wandering Stars (outside my wheelhouse but good), and Nicked, which is also out in the summer and was my solo ARC haul of the month. If anyone thinks "gay medieval heist novel" sounds like a good time, they should pick that up. Also, anyone who likes cats and picture books needs to pick up Floof.

And my lows might as well start with my DNF from last month, I'm Afraid You've Got Dragons. I was really hoping it would pick up and I could push through, but it was just the wrong sort of silly for me. (I ended up going home without a book, then binging Most Ardently over the next couple days after my Libby hold came early.)

I also found The Deerfield Massacre to be odd—less rigorous than I'd have liked, a little wobbly on its thesis, doing a poor job of balancing "this must have sucked for the survivors" with Indigenous perspectives and an awareness that the Europeans were, in fact, colonizers. And A Letter to the Luminous Deep sounded so good, but I found it slow and couldn't quite connect to the characters or world.

I don't know how May is going to go, in terms of reading, so this book might end up being my review of the month, but I'm enjoying it so am going to rec it now: Evelina! Frances Burney was one of Austen's favourite authors and I can absolutely see why, and how she influenced her. If you like Austen's novels, you should 110% pick this up, because it's got romantic troubles, a highly embarrassing family, a number of awkward balls and parties, and all manner of drama. Why hasn't this been adapted? It should have been years ago.

Lastly in bookish and/or life news, my store's latest Indie Bookstore Day party was a rousing success and I don't think my legs have recovered yet from all the walking. My ability to socialize almost certainly hasn't. (It's been three days.) Thank goodness for book lovers and my fellow booksellers. Couldn't have done it without all of them.

Click through to see everything I read this month, in the rough order of how glad I was to have read them.

A Desolation Called Peace - Arkady Martine

The war with the aliens is not going well and Mahit Dzmare and Three Seagrass are called on to help. Which won’t be easy, but it’s harder because politics.

8.5/10

🏳️‍🌈 main characters (bisexual, sapphic), 🏳️‍🌈 author

library book

Wandering Stars - Tommy Orange

150 years in the life of a Cheyenne family, before and after the events of There, There.

8/10

largely Cheyenne cast, 🏳️‍🌈 secondary characters (multisexual, nonbinary), Cheyenne-Arapaho author

warning: genocide, alcoholism, addiction, drug use, self-harm

library book

The Briar Club - Kate Quinn

A new boarder moves into Briarwood house in Washington, D.C. in 1950, upending the dull day-to-day. Four years later, someone dies. Out in July.

8.5/10

🏳️‍🌈 POV character (bisexual), 🏳️‍🌈 secondary character (sapphic), Black secondary and minor characters

warning: domestic abuse, murder, race riot

reading copy

Nicked - M.T. Anderson Brother Nicephorus accompanies the saint hunter Tyun and his piratical crew on a mission to, erm, liberate the bones of St. Nicholas. Out in July.

8.5/10

🏳️‍🌈 protagonist (Achillean), major 🏳️‍🌈 character (Achillean), major Central Asian character, Muslim secondary characters

reading copy

Nanny Ogg’s Cookbook - Terry Pratchett with Stephen Briggs and Paul Kidby (illustrator)

A collection of Nanny Ogg’s recipes and thoughts.

7.5/10

gifted/off my TBR shelves

Most Ardently - Gabe Cole Novoa

Oliver Bennett yearns to live on his own terms, under his real name, and kiss boys. Unfortunately, the first boy in question, one Fitzwilliam Darcy, might like him as Oliver but hates his “other self”.

6.5/10

🏳️‍🌈 main character (trans man), 🏳️‍🌈 secondary characters (gay, bisexual women), 🏳️‍🌈 author

warning: deadnaming, misgendering

library ebook

Slippery Creatures - KJ Charles

When various threatening men appear in Will Darling’s bookshop seeking information he doesn’t have, Will turns to the first helpful person he meets—an aristocrat named Kim.

6.5/10

🏳️‍🌈 protagonists (bisexual man, achillean), Black Welsh secondary character

library ebook

A Letter to the Luminous Deep - Sylvie Cathrall

In 1002, E. and Henerey begin a correspondence. In 1003, her sister and his brother begin to piece together what might have happened to them.

6.5/10

POV character with anxiety disorder, 🏳️‍🌈 POV characters (lesbian, bi man), 🏳️‍🌈 secondary characters (sapphic, achillean), brown-skinned secondary character

reading copy

Hansel and Gretel - Neil Gaiman with Lorenzo Mattotti (illustrator)

An illustrated retelling.

7/10

off my TBR shelves

The Deerfield Massacre - James L. Swanson

The story of an infamous raid in 1704 New England, and the way it’s been mythologized since.

5/10

warning: racism, violence, murder, murder of children

library book

Picture Books

The Pie Reports - Hayley Lowe

Noor and Granddad love pie, but there’s an ocean between them, so they meet every week to eat pie on video chat. Then one day, Granddad doesn’t log on—he’s having a blue day.

🇨🇦

Floof - Heidi McKinnon

A day in the life of Floof the cat.

DNF

I’m Afraid You’ve Got Dragons - Peter S. Beagle

Robert doesn’t want to be the country’s dragon exterminator on the best of days, but then Princess Cerise meets Prince Reginald. Out in May.

Currently reading

Evelina - Frances Burney

Evelina travels to London and learns that the only thing more distressing than suitors is her newly discovered family. Inspired Austen.

off my TBR shelves

The Demon of Unrest - Erik Larson

The story of the six months leading up to the American Civil War.

warning: racism, slavery

reading copy

Music from the Earliest Notations to the Sixteenth Century - Richard Taruskin

A history of early written European music, in its social and political contexts.

The Penguin Complete Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle

Victorian detective stories

disabled POV character (limb injury), occasional Indian secondary characters

warning: racism, colonialism

Monthly total: 10 + 2 Yearly total: 42 Queer books: 5 Authors of colour: 2 Books by women: 4 Authors outside the binary: 0 Canadian authors: 0 Classics: 0 Off the TBR shelves: 2 Books hauled: 4 ARCs acquired: 1 ARCs unhauled: 4 DNFs: 1

January February March

[centrally-unplanned]

I have begun watching House of the Dragon btw - it is fun! I like it just fine. I think the core cast is very good - Emmy D'Arcy & Olivia Cooke imbue a ton of pathos into their roles while keeping everything grounded, and Matt Smith, I mean he is Matt Smith I don't think anyone alive holds a candle to him when it comes to bringing aggressively compensating levels of caustic superiority to a character. They work these scripts really well.

I think the core of the changes are right. The Dance of Dragons, in the books, is a Madness of War story; everyone is an asshole. Rhaenyra is a murderous autocrat, Alicent is a scheming backstabber, both sides are run by awful people. Those awful people sometimes do glorious things, but their glory or loves are in service of foolish ends that destroy the Targaryen dynasty and ruin the country for the common man. It is told as a history book after the fact, and I really like it - I know some don't, but I think as a match to the medium it works well.

That was never gonna work on TV. There is the idea of doing the "everyman" approach, where the main characters are commonfolk soldiers trying to survive or the like. Not saying no one could make that work, but it is a problem of adaptation; the source material gives you nothing to work with there. It is a story of queens and battles, it would tonally be a mismatch to the previous Game of Thrones show as a brand, as an audience expectation, but (unlike say the Hobbit) a mismatch with the source material as well. And doing like a high concept "historian's tale" ehhhh again someone could do it but that is a risky bet. Telling a period drama is what the market can bear, and the story's details are amazing for a period drama; it just needs protagonists.

So you change up the characters. Rhaenyra is now motivated by justice and a desire to rule well alongside ambition, Alicent believes Viserys changed his mind at the last minute, miscommunications and the chaos of war cause the most heinous early actions as opposed to pure malice. I think this works well because the core darker elements are also preserved; the fear that Rhaenyra must kill Alicent's sons to preserve her rule motivates Alicent to roll the dice, her character doesn't matter so much for that dynamic, and so on for other changes. The story's core is still there, but now it has more depth to it, more realistic political dilemmas causing the level of tragedy.

I do think they are going a bit too far on a few of these tracks though? The latest episode (S02E03) screams of modern morality mucking things up as Rhaenyra, despite the fact that she murdered the King's son and the opposing faction is openly mobilizing armies to attack, is not only saying "let's give peace a chance" (that is fine) but refusing to do anything proactive to prep for the alternative. Her counselors propose flying around via dragon to make houses join her cause, and she is like "no, we can't use them, it's too violent"...then don't use them. Just threaten to use them, fucking bluff, get people on your side. Burn just one little household, as a treat. Be trying to make deals with Lord Paramounts, be gathering sellswords, show us something active so you don't look incompetent.

I feel the same way about Viserys deathbed statements to Alicent that trick her into thinking he changed his mind - why do you need this? You already did all that work showing me that Alicent felt she had to put her sons in power to protect them, that most of the council was already planning to do it, and all that season of buildup. Just let that good, justified stuff happen without a silly name mixup from a dying guy. Let Alicent be a little evil.

There is more than one whiff of "boys rush to war while women in their wisdom counsel restraint" in this show, and it is a bad look. For one it is a little sexist, and for two by mixing it with modern sensibilities, they look like rubes in their non-modern war. God forbid a woman do a single coup, that is my gender equality.

Hopefully they get this out their system as the war ramps up - I do think they will.

[malsfefanfics]

🤝📚🥪🔪

Alrighty! Let's do this!

🤝 Does your OC have someone they want at their side when they are scared? Who?

For Tancred, when he's scared, he wants only his family by his side at first. It's not until he meets the others at Garreg Mach that this expands to people like Ferdinand, Dorothea, Mercedes, and Manuela. Almost anyone from the class of 1180, really.

Rosamund doesn't really want people by her side when scared. She doesn't like people seeing her afraid. But I imagine that, aside from Hubert, she would trust Petra, Caspar, Ferdinand, Felix, and Bernadetta to see her scared. So she might seek them out, along with her brother.

Medee wants her siblings. But that can never be.

Before the tragedy, Davi would reach out for his brother Rui or grandfather when he's afraid. These days, he would reach out to Graham, who kind of took Rui's place as that pillar of strength for him. If you manage to recruit him, then that person would become the Professor.

📚 Your OC has to improvise a 10 minute lecture about a topic of their choosing. What do they chose?

Davi would immediately jump to a Duscur History lesson, focusing on the mining village he came from, along with the God of War and God of Earth from Duscur's pantheon, as those two were particularly of focus in their village.

Tancred would do a small lecture on how certain spells, while combative, can be adapted to be used in more creative ways with a little skill.

Medee will either be giving lectures on potions or making you write essays on why every ruling government on the continent sucks in a "This is why its Ronald Reagan's fault" way and it's a 50/50 chance on which you'll get.

Rosamund basically is a survivalist course. So many of these noble kids wouldn't last 10 days away from home with nothing but a knife and a sewing kit, so she's going to make sure they will.

🥪 On a scale from ‘burns water’ to '5 course menu’ how well can your OC cook?

Tancred is still a kid, but I like to imagine he eventually learns how to cook enough to pack a picnic lunch.

Medee could easily do a five-course meal. She just prefers to do smaller meals because of how much time she takes up in her labs and caring for Tancred.

Rosamund is much the same, but she's more skilled at cooking in the woods than in a kitchen. Probably the best cook out of the Vestra siblings. Would be the one in modern AUs to storm into your apartment, reprimand you for only stock piling instant ramen and beer, and then set to work making a proper dinner with the groceries she brought.

Davi is just passable. He is skilled if it's Duscur cuisine and could easily cook a fantastic feast if you gave him a kitchen, but anything you'd find at Garreg Mach? It's rather unseasoned and bland. And in the case of noodles, a little overcooked. But that's only because he hasn't learned it yet. Give him time, and he'll be on the same level as Ashe with Fódlan cuisine.

🔪 What does your OC think how they’ll die? 

This one is worded weirdly so I'm going to assume it means "how does your OC think they'll die".

Tancred was pretty convinced he'd die young due to his chronic illness. As he gets older, he starts to wonder a little, but doesn't really focus it. He probably wants to die in peace, in bed, with a smile on his face.

Rosamund hopes for the same, but thinks she'll probably die in battle. Most likely to an axe or a sword.

Medee is certain she'd be assassinated. There's enough people who want her dead, and those that don't currently will soon.

Davi was sure he was going to die of old age peacefully in bed before the Tragedy. Now he's just waiting for the day someone slips something into his drink or stabs him in the back.

[regaliasonata]

Do u have any unpopular PR opinions?

Ooh some fun

-Power Rangers does not need to be as big as Star Wars or DC etc. it can be bigger sure but realistically it’s never going to get that huge, plus it’s probably for the best as bigger franchises tend to attract some crazy individuals and then the people working on the show try to appeal to fans and let me be honest a lot of fans don’t know what they want when watching shows or movies. Take it easy and make the show enjoyable first before branching out.

-Megaforce is bad but it had some concept that I did enjoy like Vrak, the introduction to the Sentai exclusive teams for the comics and gave us Gia and Orion.

-Liking Samurai or preferring it over Shinkenger does not make you a weirdo or racist, yes Samurai could’ve done way better with some of its choices like the casting for Lauren and Jayden but it seems as if some fans treat others wrongly for enjoying the season, Always piggybacking to the Sentai with every conversation and like…some people need to shut up, there was a conversation on Twitter about how PR failed to market Samurai due to the fact that it had a big impact back in the day and could’ve been marketed to be as huge as MMPR and people brought up Shinkenger for some reason and it was just UGH. We can all share criticism about the show but stop being assholes to people.

-Ollie really isn’t that bad imo, I think he’s pretty cool tbh.

-A lot of the seasons that haven’t been adapted since Gokaiger and up to Zenkaiger can be adapted in some way but the company doesn’t have a wide thought process and only thinks on a surface level when making reasons why they can’t adapt. LuPat is understandable from both sides because SPD exists and you can root it to that but also with police etc in the west it’s understandable why they can’t adapt it. But things like ToQger not being adapted due to trains is stupid…also tell me this…how are you going to say trains aren’t marketable to children when you yourselves don’t make toys for Cosmic Fury🤨😭 answer me that.

-To anyone complaining about the series being “woke” or whatever go screw off somewhere, where have you guys been for the past 30 years? PR’s been inclusive throughout the franchise are y’all blind?

-Shipping is fun, hell I partake in it from time to time but let’s all respect each others pairings. I guess that’s more of a fandom thing then a PR thing but if we disagree on something let’s call it a day and keep it pushing, I’m on the side of hey you do you and leave me out of it if it’s nothing that interests me. I’m only really making the dude characters kiss each other anyway so it is what it is😭 but seriously let’s all just be peaceful and enjoy the show and characters without arguing.

-This has been said many MANY times but the inability to market anything outside of MMPR is the reason why the franchise continues to prioritize it. They really need to branch off, hopefully say if a new comic run happens and it’s Zeo or In Space we can go from there. “Oh but what about the fans” not everyone wants to see the original team all the time, the zordon era isn’t really that much of a thought to me outside of in space and stuff, the least they could do is show the Canyon Trio or Tanya off.

-The way they treated Hayley along with those gross fart jokes with Victor and Monty in Ninja Steel needs to be studied as things that should never touch power rangers again. Haim Saban should stay the hell away from the franchise(horrible person and a few other reasons) cause if this was all apart of him then yeah screw off somewhere.

-Amelia being red was a nice concept in theory, though do I really see her as a leader? Not really, I kinda picture that roll could’ve gone to Aiyon or even Izzy for the team. Like don’t get me wrong Amelia is alright but just on more consideration she’s not really a leader to me, that’s just how I feel, but was happy that we got a more prominent role with a female red ranger, I just hope we get a season eventually that full explores that instead of ten episodes.

-When I mean THE red ranger I’m not talking about Jason, I’m talking about Carter Grayson because that man was crazy in a good way. They need to be plastering him around instead that dude, Jason is okay I guess but he doesn’t have much to offer show wise, comic wise he seems better…also to any fans that are against ASJ being blacklisted from the fandom cause “he’s your fave” y’all need to go off somewhere cause that’s clown behavior, YOUR FAVE IS JASON AND HE’D BEAT THE SHIT OUT OF THAT MAN.

-The Jenna Frank situation, look I’m all for conventions allowing for her to go. Like if she wants to honor the legacy of her father and such that’s totally fine, I’ve seen people against it, I guess my own issue would be if events try to take advantage of this keep the Tommy appeal going for money and such, that’s very scummy if they ever go down that route but from the looks of it she seems pretty happy and stuff being at events so as long as it’s all fun then I’m alright with it.

-I’m down to watch the 2017 movie but I’ll be honest with you in the fact that the suits and zord designs are not appealing to me…I bet the film is good but I cannot get behind those designs at all.

-I’ll be honest in saying power rangers doesn’t need to be mature to be a good show but the directing and choices behind the scenes needs to change. It seems as if they keep holding back in what they can show kids or in where they can be more experimental, I know having to compare Sentai can be annoying to people as I know some demographics are different with children here and overseas but you can manage to make a fire season with 40ish episodes. That being said we need more of the Disney era directors back PLEASE.

-I don’t hate Simon Bennett as much as a lot of people do, I have my disagreements on a lot of things that he’s said or stated in interviews about the series but we have to remember a lot of things made by the show were done by Hasbro(like giving CF 20 episodes, or the fact that the writing room thought it’d be offensive to have Zayto as a white ranger which…Who’s working in the room🤦🏾). That being said we need people passionate about the series working on it.

-The hate that Samuel Benta got for the accusations of that banner being stolen all those years apart needs to be studied, people were so quick to demonize him and blacklist him from events but ASJ’s stupid ass gets on camera doing the most wild shit imaginable and he gets a pass? Even Lucas’s actor gets to go to cons after the stuff he did????…I just find it very questionable, and a little racist with how some of the crazy people in the fandom just climb out of the shadows to defend ASJ…, anyways yeah I think they should bring Benta back to PMC, throw out ASJ’s table and give him a spot.

-The did not need to demote Jack at the end to SPD, could’ve had three reds or said that Jack went to be a red on standby while doing his own thing. Sky really shouldn’t have become red in the end but that’s just me 🤷🏾‍♂️

[call-me-apple]

10, 22, 28 !!

10. What do you think c!Dream’s life was like pre-DSMP?

I wish the search function fucking worked on Tumblr because I literally had a post about this that I now can't find.

This is obviously headcanon territory, but I think he lived a life of constant danger and instability. It would explain why all his living spaces have been so frugal, and why he would walk around overprepared and consistently overestimate his opponents. He fights for peace as if he has barely known it and is desperate to regain the little slice of it that he had. So I imagine him as an orphan, vagrant or even child soldier who found a family in people with similarly disadvantaged lives and chose to build a home with them, only to have that home be taken away by war and conflict once again.

22. If you had all the time, resources, and skills to create your ideal piece of c!Dream fan content, what would it be?

Torn between two options here.

I had a vague outline for a Syndicate AU longfic but I never had the writing skill nor the commitment necessary to turn it into anything. It would have been a redemption story revolving around c!Dream adapting to post-torture disability and trying to find a new place for himself in the torn world as he realizes the path he has been so committed to is not one that will lead him anywhere. The ideal part of it would have been that I wanted c!Dream to be a bit more of a manipulative asshole w/ the Syndicate than how people usually write this kind of AU, but have it come from a place of fear rather than malice.

The second option is something that has even fewer concrete ideas, but if I was basically God capable of manifesting a perfect coherent plot of my desires, I'd write a No Nukes AU fic where c!Tommy and c!Dream go about trying to save the server while also suffering through cutting themselves on the shattered pieces of each other. I'd just really love to explore a dynamic where two characters have hurt each other terribly, with one being in a more obvious position of victim than the other, but try to work through it for the sake of something else no matter how messy and painful the process is.

28. What do you think is c!Dream’s greatest weakness?

This is something that has been said before, but the thing he suffers from the most is overestimating people's fairness (the most obvious example of this being c!Sam's betrayal). I think it's a really interesting flaw for such a character to have. Dude has a stick up his ass and is surprised everyone else doesn't. His brain works in funny ways in general but this is the first thing that comes to mind.

[otakween]

They Were 11: Horizon of the East, Eternity of the West

This is the sequel manga to "They Were 11." Another one shot with even fewer chapters than the first (nice). It honestly felt like highly condensed epic. Moto Hagio packed so much into a tiny volume and I salute her. This seems ultra obscure to me in 2024, but it got its own stage adaptation, which shows it had staying power in Japan. Glad to be introduced onto this hidden classic :) (see, going through all of MAL blindly has its perks!)

Ch. 1

Damn that was one chonky chapter! Really good though. I think a true sci fi aficionado would laugh at me if I called this "high sci fi," but it was very lore heavy for me. And I love lore so I was riveted lol

I think this was a really smart direction to take for a sequel manga. The scope feels somewhat narrower since they're focusing on one of the eleven's planets. If this series was bigger I think I would have enjoyed other such spin-offs on other planets. Learning about space culture is fascinating haha.

This chapter was religion and politics heavy and they're intertwined on King's planet because it's theocratic. It's funny because most of the characters don't actually seem to believe in their own religion? They kept mentioning that the phenomenon that decides their ruler is probably just a natural occurrence rather than a sign from God. It seems like they play along when it benefits them...oh wait, that's just how it works in the real world LOL (jk, I know some people actually believe in their religions wholeheartedly IRL)

Lots of talk of progressives and conservatives which felt too real 😭 This fan translation was really good by the way! I can tell that some lines were localized really smoothly (like injecting slang and English expressions very naturally).

Funny seeing that Tada and Frol haven't changed much (well, not much time has passed). Frol's personality kinda reminds me of Miss Piggy or something. Very hot headed. I found them annoying in the OG manga but at this point, I see their appeal. They started this chapter as she/her and ended as he/him. It was really funny how much more popular they were as a boy. Accurate 😂

Why does Tada and Frol's pilot school just casually have a Goddess in their faculty? This series seems a little confused about how mystical it wants to be.

The thought of two planets wanting to go to war but both of them are too poor to do so is kinda a funny image (yet they found a way to go to war anyways I guess)

We get some Tada x Frol fluff and while Frol is in boy-mode no less :D <3

Frol declaring "we're here to pick up babes!" was really cute.

Ch. 2

The drama, the intrigue!! This chapter was mostly the gang on the run as fugitives but with also a big war-inciting incident. It honestly reminded me a lot of the current season of Arcane which I've also been watching as I read this. They both have this "point of no return" moment where it looks like there will never be peace between the two factions.

Although he's the "masculine one" I noticed that the mangaka puts Tada in some pretty girly looking outfits. It is a classic shoujo after all! Everyone looks ~fabulous~

Frol saying "YOLO" and crashing into the side of the academy building cracked me up.

I feel like the vibes of the Fourth being forced to poison the King feel very Shakespearean tragedy

We get another silly name with a woman named "Chu Chu" (how am I supposed to take her seriously? lol)

They nerfed Tada by making him instantly fall asleep after he uses his powers. I didn't really think they were OP enough to need nerfing, but okay...

Ch. 3

That was so majestic! Honestly, I didn't completely follow the (somewhat convoluted) plot but I don't think it mattered. All I really needed to know is who was bad, who was good, and that some corruption was goin down. Other than that, the vibes and the beautiful art did most of the heavy lifting.

This was kinda like the Fantastic Beasts sequels where the protagonists don't really have a reason to be a part of the plot, but they're there for the audience lol. Honestly, we could have probably just had this story just be all about King and his people, but I understand the desire to bridge the two stories with familiar faces.

Some of this gave me Game of Thrones vibes with the various kingdoms and politics. It takes place in space but felt smack in the middle of fantasy and sci-fi. Maybe because things were more planet-side this time around?

I really liked the design of the Priestess. She had an almost masculine look despite her really long hair. It was refreshing.

King marrying Chu Chu in the end was a little cheesy. Not everything needs to end with marriage -_- (well, it is shoujo...)

[mzannthropy]

Peeta was a pacifist and manipulator. He didn't want to fight, and was more willing to adapt to the Capitol. He comes from privilege, he didn't starve, and he worked in a bakery, unlike Gale. Gale fought for an ideal, he wanted to go to war to be free from Snow, and from all oppression. He wanted a better world, and he knew that he would only achieve this through conflict, through revolution. Peeta didn't want any of this. Neither him nor Katiniss. If she had told Peeta to run away with her, he would have said yes. They both don't care about anyone. Katiniss only gets upset with Gale when she finds out that Prim died, she didn't care about the other children. If it wasn't for the stupid romance, gale would have been an interesting character. That's why Joahna is better than Katiniss, she goes against Snow in front of everyone, she had reasons to fight, she lost everyone she loved, and she cared about people. If I were someone watching the games, I would be willing to fight in a revolution led by Johanna.

I still like Gale, it's the author that ruined it with her love triangle. I think he deserved better from the series. I don't mind that Katniss got together with Peeta, I don't even care, but how hard was it for Suzanne to come up with a female character for Gale to end up with? You're a freaking writer, create characters then! And that Gale wants to fight, of course he wants to fight, you're not gonna bring down a regime like the Capitol by playing nice! Extinction Rebellion once tweeted that peaceful revolutions are the way to achieve one's goals and they got piled on for it (sorry I can't provide the tweet, frankly I can't be bothered to look for it, there are several XR accounts and I don't remember the exact wording, just trust me that I don't tell lies). I mean, non-violent revolutions are a thing (I actually lived through one, and remember it, although I was a child--the Velvet Revolution in then-Czechoslovakia) but you can't do that in the world of Panem. Sometimes you have to choose violence. Suffragettes had to resort to it too. And countless others.

I rewatched Rogue One at the weekend and I think they did it much better. I remember when I first saw this film, I messaged my brother, who is a Star Wars fan, that Jyn to me is what Katniss is to most people. She was apathetic in the beginning and was not bothered about the Empire, but did fight for the rebels eventually, and even lost her life for it. And she has a better love interest. And hotter.

I liked Johanna from the start, much like Finnick. There should have been more of her. But then, the story is narrated by Katniss who doesn't give a hoot about anyone but Peeta.

I've never thought of another character being the leader of the revolution, I suppose it could be anyone who cares enough. I prefer my idea of the Mockingjay being a mythical hero, like a mask or a suit that can be worn by more of them. Like an Iron Man suit, you get me.

[slettlune]

alright paris the musical liveblog let's gooooooo

FIRST HALF! watch me lose all principles whenever i think a melody is nice

like idk man the poster for this gives me that HE ONLY DID IT FOR LOVE thing with paris that doesn't appeal to me, that's why i haven't checked it out before. i feel they're gonna turn him into a hapless but sympathetic hero. bet there won't be an oenone. but here we go

IT'S SO EIGHTIES. I DIDN'T KNOW IT WAS THIS EIGHTIES. oh this is good actually

when homer (!) is dramatically presenting all the main players, in my mind i can't help but see them strike sassy poses as the spotlights hit them, their sequins flashing. "agamemnon! of mycenea!"

"ulysses! of ithaca! / longs for peace and security" i don't know if i like that as the main trait he's introduced with but okay let's see how he works in this paris-centered narrative

'head without a heart' IS SO GOOD. ohh it's just the kind of eighties' vibe i like.

oh this this framing might place the blame of the trojan war more at paris' feet than helen's, which i like, but also that he's just a stupid youngster, and that's interesting too: "Not some mad messiah of destruction and fire / Just a lovestruck youth"

ohhh and i LOVE paris interacting directly with cassandra! he never seems to do that in any adaptations. "Sister, please don't grieve / I've learned my part to the letter"

'straight ahead': HOLY SHIT GET HYPE. it's so extremely "cool protagonist is finally gonna live his life" opening number. it's weird to have paris be that kind of protagonist. but also it makes me think about how this poor shepherd boy was the WORST guy to make an ambassador, like cassandra IS right about that.

ugh i don't like when they put the weird histrionic plot stuff in the middle of a cool-ass song.

i'm dying at the others screaming at paris while he's like "the sea and sky :D my friends and i :D what could go wrong, what could -AAAAAAAAHHHH!!!"

paris falls in love with helen at first sight and assumes she's aphrodite. does aeneas know paris is weird about his mom. oh my god i just realized EVERYBODY'S weird about aeneas' mom, that's gotta be exhausting for him

"i married young, in love with power" oh it's one of those where helen's unhappily married. sigh. okay.

OH the way 'business' takes off after agamemnon's evil laugh. i'm appalled at the characterization but i'm just gonna have to roll with it because the music in this thing rocks

THERE HE IS! QUAST-PATROCLUS. who's like "ummmmm wHY are we having a meeting without my bestie achilles here"

OHH AGAMEMNON TRICKED ACHILLES SO HE WOULDN'T APPEAR AND BE VOTED COMMANDER. okay if we're doing evil agamemnon at least he's clever

oh this is a rum tum tugger-ass achilles omg. ohh i hate this but it's so funny. weakest character song so far

ahahaaa ulysses looking at paris' rags and telling him "To gain entry by disguise is an excellent ploy / I shall remember that, prince of Troy"

i enjoy helen being kinda exhausted by the whole thing. "Stop your adoration, I don’t need complications / I'm not a goddess, I am king Menelaus’ wife"

evil agamemnon using the abduction for his own political gain. hm. that makes sense actually (as long as he's evil i mean)

oh now 'thief in the night' establishes that menelaus really loves helen, i didn't expect that from this kind of framing. how is this gonna end now

HELEN HAS SUDDENLY KILLED SOMEONE? WHAT HAPPENED BETWEEN SONGS??

"I love her / I believe she loves me" I WISH SOMEONE WOULD ASK HER. I THINK IT WOULD BE GOOD TO MAKE SURE.

jon english who wrote this also plays hector and does NOT give himself enough songs to go ham on, god his voice is so good when he's PUSHING IT