#& who ended up making her a puppet. is she to be blamed for her incompetence when all her life has been just this?

[windupaidoneus]

i'm gonna be real i don't think there's a single ffxiv antagonist i've encountered so far who was right, or there is i certainly cannot think of them. after careful pondering it's like. honestly i barely want to consider ysayle an antagonist because it was so very short-lived, she had good intentions from the start & iirc a lot of what went wrong wasn't her doing specifically & she clearly feels guilty for it. i would not afford any other antagonist this because they are, in fact, actual antagonists who do wish for destruction or whatever it is that they cause. your starting point can be as laudable as possible if you descend into unforgivable deeds it doesn't change anything of what you've done. these people are still dead. these horrors have still been committed. i adore fordola, she's just a kid & life is a nightmare, & i am glad she is given the second chance she's given, but she was an antagonist & she was wrong. many such cases & denying it will not do anyone's reading comprehension any good

[primojade]

𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄, 𝐀𝐓 𝐋𝐎𝐍𝐆 𝐋𝐀𝐒𝐓.

“ your arms are the safest haven in this chaotic world we live in. ”

𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐘 | Different scenarios where he questions, and discovers what love truly was, at long last.

𝐂𝐖 / 𝐓𝐖 | gn!reader x wanderer and albedo (separate); fluff, hurt to reverse comfort; cursing; self-hatred for the boys 😭; scara threatens to end ei in his mind 💦 let me know if I missed anything!

𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐒 | this is a very self indulgent fic I thought of when watching the 3.3 live stream yesterday 😭 I just added albedo because i'm a simp, okay xD otherwise this is supposed to be scara-centric 👀

Masterlist

The Wanderer always knew that his mother viewed him as a failed creation, knew that she never loved him the way she adored her sister. 

He even knew that the Raiden Shogun never loved him. 

His whole life, the puppet never saw true love, never knew what true love looked like, was afraid of the aspects and emotions that caused love. 

What he thought was love was so sick and twisted. What he thought was love was drowned in emotional abuse and abandonment. What he thought was love all ended up so wrong, so absolutely fucked up. How could he possibly let himself trust again?  

The thing meant to do good for the people, only caused more harm in the end. He put his trust in three people once, and nothing good came out of it. 

The Wanderer would—could—never trust again. 

(But he did trust again.)

Despite this, a closed off boy, a nearly broken puppet beyond repair, fell in love deeply. Simply craving the affection his mother never gave him. Craving physical touches and gentle words from the strange person he recently met.

No wonder the puppet feared what he never had, never dreamed of having. Feeling anything beyond pain and suffering and loss was foreign and unnatural. Allowing such feelings when hating his mother and everyone in the world by the second felt selfish and he hated himself, hated himself, absolutely despised himself over it.  

The Wanderer seemed to change by the days that passed, sometimes it felt more like merely an hour, or minutes that passed by. A boy in absolute terror who cried out for his mother in the past, wanting to hug her, to choke her by the neck, to hear her called him her son, wanted her dead, wanted her suffering in the same way he does.

He had suffered since his creation. A case of Nature vs Nurture; where nurture is superior, and the puppet is left completely alone. 

The wandering eccentric persona, his persona as Kunikuzushi, the cruel Balladeer of the Fatui, the persona he showed to the Tsaritsa and her Harbingers, the persona he showed to the Dendro Archon, the persona he showed the rest of the world…the persona he showed to you.

Among them, which one was the real him? 

Scientific theories stated that people have multiple facets, slightly different personalities that are all ours. Personalities that rebounded social cues curated by the situations and people we are around. Our need to fit in, our need for self fulfilling is what makes us have these multiplying and seemingly infinite forms. 

So, why did it feel so wrong?

On the days when missions and commissions cut a bit too close, he wasn’t afraid to die. Nahida would give him another long lecture about not being invincible, and somewhere along, you would reprimand him for being so careless with himself. He hated how much you and the Dendro Archon could see through his tough farce. 

"...Why do you even give a shit about me?"

"I give a shit about you not dying, idiot, about not having the godsdamn Fatui on our asses because you wanted to plot revenge."

"Shut up, [Name]."

Even the Wanderer knew it was a lie. You cared, Nahida cared. Even the Traveller and their annoying talking companion cared too in their own ways.

But could they really blame him? It's inevitable and hard to change, no matter how hard he tried. Worthless, incompetent beings like him were only doomed to suffer should they allow themselves to feel.

It's what he was, all he was, all he should ever be allowed to be. 

"...Wanderer, I love you."

"...A horrible decision. You could have so much better. Why put yourself in so much danger? You should be with someone safe and reliable. I am a cruel man, [Name], you know that. I could kill you if I—"

"...I know you spent your entire life listening to empty promises and hurtful words. I know it’s hard for you to believe me, but it doesn’t make me love you anything less, you know. And I certainly would never leave you for it. Wanderer, I want to be with you. And I’ll show you by staying by your side, by cheering on you, by taking care of you until the end of time.

"...Why I choose you? Because you’re clever, and extremely intelligent. You’re intuitive, you know when something’s wrong with me. When you told me the truth about yourself, I never felt afraid, it made me want to stay by you, stay with you, be with you more. You love so hard, Wanderer, that you don’t realise how much you care and how much you're hurting yourself in return. You pretend to hide it away because you’ve only been hurt time and time again. But I could see it. I see beyond that ruthless persona you painted yourself into was the real you. I see the Wanderer that Nahida sees as a son. I see the Wanderer that the Traveller puts their trust into no matter how many times he had tried to hurt them.

'"...I see the Wanderer that would put his life on the line for someone he loves, who holds me close to him while we sleep at night. The one that nuzzles his head into my neck before waking up to make the best breakfast I’ve ever had. The one who wants to sit and stargaze and take care of flowers and feel the wind, though begrudgingly.

"The one who wants a normal life, a happy and safe life. Who wants a family and warmth and love and protection. I know, I love you because I know. I love you because perhaps some higher power beyond made us destined to be together despite all the hurt and betrayal. But my free will, my own heart won’t let you slip away—even you yourself say otherwise. I love you so much."

"...I…" I love you so much, too. "...A truly horrible decision, really. You will regret sticking your nose with my business, idiot."

"...Call me whatever you like. But I know I will have no regrets being with you. So, come here. Don’t hold back those tears either, I’m here no matter what."

There was so much that the once broken puppet wished he could say, but he held back for the sake of preserving whatever dignity he had left. But he was completely floored once again by you. Left speechless, and teary eyed, crying inwardly into your shoulder as you whispered comforts and soothing affirmations. Holding him close, rubbing his back in a way that made the anxieties slip away.

This wasn’t the end. He was aware that the insecurities and anger and doubts would bubble up again soon. However, you would be there even then, providing the same stability and affection he needed, he wanted. Time will just keeps on going and turning, but surely the pain, little by little, like grains of sand in a hourglass, will fade away.

Whether this unexplainable feeling was happiness, content, love, or entirely something else…perhaps it should not matter anymore.

Because not all that wanders were lost—at least not anymore. And despite lacking a physical heart, the Wanderer felt it, at long last.

Multiple theories stated that a person is either left brained or right brainedーeither drowned in the world of alchemical codes and mathematical and logical equations, or simply buried knee deep in the latest light novels and in their wildest imaginations. Those with a left brain are logical and cynical. Right brains being artistic and emotional. 

Then, why was it that despite the hours spent fretting over alchemical codes, studying numerical equations, drowning x, y and z; Albedo developed a knack for the arts? 

Sure enough, he was good at alchemy, so much that he could be called a genius of the century, they say. He was intellectually capable of impossible memorisation and observation. So, if learning were as easy as a-b-c…

Why was there the want, the need, to indulge himself in loving you? 

The engagement to have the creative liberty and freedom to live his life with you—that wasn’t what he was known for, was it, now? That was not what he was created for. 

Alchemy and calculations tossed to the side in order to succumb to a foreign feeling like a hopeless romantic, yet Albedo should not feel. He had no right to feel. Artificial humansーa homunculusーlike himself were not meant to feel. 

But, what if he fell in love? 

So, what if suddenly he wanted to draw romantic starry sketches about someone he pine for?

Someone that, despite his numerous attempts to gently push away, only pulled him closer? 

If he were to suddenly be inspired by contemporary romance, that was no one’s concern, but his own. 

Does it feel wrong, however.

Enjoying life created deep depths of bitterness and abandonment. All the sketches, his greatest achievements, and glaringly successful alchemy experiments in the world, felt absolutely meaningless when Albedo thought about his place—where he ought to stand in this world. 

Perhaps that in itself became the reason for his artistic endeavors—emotions bottled up for so long they had been forgotten. It was common, he supposed. Forgetting memories was a consequence of heartless indifference after all, whether they are artificial or natural beings.

Albedo was not quite certain what to feel. Was it anger? Disappointment? Maybe self-hatred for his own existence? Did he feel love? Or was it merely compensation for the years upon years of loneliness and abandonment? 

If Albedo developed feelings for you, the strange person who showed him romantic affection, was it really, truly, love? Was that what it really meant to feel this so-called…true love?

He wasn't certain, that one was for sure. The alchemist could solve an array of problems that would give the seven mysteries of Teyvat a run for its money, could pinpoint the exact ingredients for his never ending experiments, but love…

Love remained the greatest unsolved mystery for him. 

Was it fair to you? 

No.

Didn’t it make him feel like a hypocrite to proclaim his love to you when he didn’t even know what love truly was? 

Yes.

The psychological repercussions of overthinking and intelligence becomes, if it comes to this endevours, a daily nightmare for him indeed.

As much as Albedo tried to be loving, it scared him—terrified him that you would one day wake up and leave him. That this whole thing was a mere fickle dream or a heartless trick of his mind to ease his burdens, and then he’d be alone again, abandoned and lost. Left alone in his strange fascination for alchemy and mysteries, pretending like nothing really mattered, an indifferent alchemist. 

It's what he was, all he was, all he should ever be allowed to be.  

"—Hey. Hey! Albedo? Hehe, you finally looked at me! Could you tell me what’s on your mind?"

"...I really should not. It would merely burden you and—"

"...Nope. Don’t start with that, silly. How many times do I have to tell you that bottling up your emotions will do more harm than good? Plus, I’m always here willing to listen to you."

That’s what he loved about you. Always caring for him. Always firm and assertive when you knew you were in the right. You never backed down, especially if the enemies came from his foreign emotions. 

"...I...I'm terrified,"

"...on the inside?"

"Yes. I just—I was wondering…how do I know if I’m...truly in love with you?"

"Hmm. When I do this, what do you feel?"

"Um…well—heh—my heart starts beating faster."

"...Your cheeks are red, too."

"...And I want to kiss you, truly."

"Why is that?"

"I'm not certain. There’s this fascinating magnetic pull inside me that makes me want to hold you close to me, kiss you senseless, and never let you stray away. I want to tease you nearly to tears, then be the person you could rely on. There's this peculiar feeling that cannot wait to give you everything you ever wanted in the world. Its strange, truly strange, but even more strange enough, I felt...very content."

"Do I make you happy, then?"

"Very, very much. You have no idea."

"...Bedo, I think you just figured out what love is on your own."

My. So, he did love you.

He loved Klee, too. Albeit not the same way as you, but the way a big brother loves his little sister should have, the way family was supposed to be. He loved his Master as well in a maternal sense, and all of his friends and comrades. The want to keep them safe, the teasing, the inexplicable happiness he felt around them, it was all love, all along. 

Albedo would say he had you to thank for helping him realise. But he knew you well enough that you would say that maybe you did help, but for you, it was all himself. You just patiently hinted it out to him to figure out on his own.

Albedo loved you rather intensely, he discovered. And being with you is love in and of itself, at long last.

TAGLIST (let me know if you want to be added in my future works!): @samarill , @maehemthemisfit , @chocogi

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Made it through chapter 4 and talked about it with my mom. And hoo boy is there a lot to unpack 🤣

First of all, she got really mad at Crowley for leaving us at school and going on a vacation. (She legit was ready to punch Crowley when he refused our call). She did find the send off cute though but felt really bad for Riddle. She hopes that he'll become his own person and not his mother's puppet.

Then there's how she feels about the Scarabia duo. She ADORES Kalim, and calls him "that little sunshine" and thinks his Unique Magic is cool. She legit CRIED when Kalim cried omg 😂.

As for Jamil. She didn't really like him at first. At first. Though she thought he was handsome and charismatic. But after his true motivations were revealed, she absolutely hates him 😂. She literally dissed Jamil when we were pretending to praise him, calling him "Medusa and Jafar's love child". BUT when she saw his backstory, she did feel empathy but not sympathy towards him. In her own words, "While I understand where he's coming from, as being told to hold back your true skills is both frustrating and will make you envious and jealous of others' freedom, to pin it all on one person (Kalim) isn't the best or healthiest option."

She says that there are multiple people who deserve blame. His parents because they told him not to be better than Kalim. "They basically are the ones who started the fire of hate in his heart." She says. The whole class system, for obvious reasons. But the one person who deserves the most blame is Crowley for accepting a bribe from Kalim's parents and making Kalim housewarden with a bullshit excuse. All of them were really unfair towards Jamil and pretty much said the same thing "You're a smart boy, you understand right?" That line alone is enough to piss Jamil, and anyone really, off. She does praise Jamil for showing his true colors and vowing never to hold back in the end. In conclusion, my mom is kinda accepting of Jamil. For now.

She also found the Octavinelle trio hilarious but threatened to turn them into sushi when they told us to pay for the damages at Monstro Lounge and when Azul tried to get Kalim in a contract. She also expressed surprise at the Tweels and Azul's relationship.

During the end of the chapter, she actually deadpanned and said "who's this condescending Queen Bee" when she saw Vil.

Overall, she thought that Chapter 4 was the best chapter in her opinion.

Now I'm waiting for how she feels about Vil in chapter 5 cause it seems like she despises him more than she did Jamil. 😂

[I think this is the same Anon from this post and this post!]

chksbskwbzks It’s been pretty interesting hearing these hot takes from your mom 😂 (I guess because this isn’t a perspective I hear from very often?)

I’m split on Crowley leaving for vacation and not answering his phone when Yuu tries to contact him. Yeah, it’s irresponsible for him to act like this, but I think we’re more offended by it knowing that Crowley is, in general, this level of incompetent (especially when we REALLY need him to come through for us in this very moment). Keep in mind that this is winter break, and teachers/staff usually also have this period off for the holidays themselves, so it’s normal to receive no responses or delayed responses during this time, no? I don’t think anyone really expected a super serious incident like this to unfold while they’re away as well.

The sendoff was really cute! 😭 It was nice briefly catching up with the characters we met in previous episodes!! I only wish we got to hear about the aftermath of the conversation that Riddle said he was going to have with his mother… I doubt that all of their issues went away with a single talk, but 🥲 just confronting her about the past is a good start. Maybe Riddle will have the chance to explore other career options for his fourth year internship (instead of concentrating on magic medicine like his mother wants him to). He could tackle law for one semester, then dabble in other areas for the remaining two internship periods.

xbsjwbksnwkw Why does your mom sound like such a cinnamon roll?? We could always use more Kalim appreciators 🥺

I think a lot of us have pretty complicated feelings surrounding Jamil 😂 Having empathy for the character rather than sympathy (the latter of which I think Jamil may actually take offense to, as this would be “pitying” his situation without truly understanding why it’s so awful for him) is similar to my own thoughts on the matter. It can feel so bad constantly being put down and having to hold yourself back from reaching what you know is your full potential, but it also wasn’t right for Jamil to blame it all on one person. However, it was the easiest thing for his young mind to do to cope with his circumstances, as Kalim embodies a lot of the issues Jamil has and is “soft” enough to be a convenient sponge for Jamil’s anger.

… Okay, but Jamil’s OB looks pretty ugly. I’ll give you that much 😂 It pretty much is a mishmash of Medusa and Jafar—

Mmm, Jamil’s trauma is unique in that it’s something deeply systemic and difficult to dismantle. It was definitely his parents who planted the ideas in him, but it was society that perpetuated it and kept Jamil down rather than encouraging him or recognizing his abilities. Crowley plays into this too, and I think his words are the ones that claimed Jamil’s last straw and set him plotting to overthrow Kalim. I really like that TWST didn’t neatly resolve Jamil’s issues at the end of the episode, but rather introduced it (and the start of his character growth) as Jamil deciding to live in his own way.

A lot of people tend to misunderstand Jamil’s issues with Kalim on an individual level rather than a societal one, and it sometimes leads to talking down the seriousness the Viper family’s circumstances 💦 I can’t count the number of times I’ve seen “Jamil should have told Kalim about his frustrations; Kalim is kind and would understand, he would set Jamil free” without the fans recognizing the consequences of it. (Ironically, this is also something Kalim does in 4; he tried relinquishing his dorm leader seat and even offers to leave school to appease Jamil, but the offers are all refused.) Jamil has to consider his family and how his liberation would affect them and ultimately their legacy and livelihood (which Jamil brings up in episode 4 when expositing his motivations); it’s akin to generational trauma because it can’t be resolved overnight. It requires difficult conversations, acknowledging wrongs, and working as a widespread collective to fix it. The blame is not solely on Jamil not communicating; it’s also in part on the society and the systems in which he and his family operate.

… I mean, regardless of the reason for it, it was still legitimate damage to the lounge so I think (even if it was scummy to do), Octavinelle had every right to demand compensation. Otherwise, he’d be eating up the costs for that significant damage, and that’s not smart for a money grubber reputable business owner like Azul to do. And hey, what’s an octopus to do when he runs jnto Mr. Moneybags Kalim? He’s got to take advantage of opportunities and potential suckers customers while he can!

Azul and the twins’ relationship is so complex, man 🤡 I could honestly talk forever about it if given the chance bisvsjwnzksiwjd (but instead, I’ll link this post to get the basics of my thoughts out—)

I find it so funny (?) when people call Vil a “Queen Bee” type because while he definitely comes off as one at first, I found that (in the long run), I see Octavinelle as acting more like the stereotypical high school Mean Girls than Vil does 😂 Like, Vil certainly gives off a strong first impression (and not a very positive one), but I do think he ultimately has a stronger moral compass than most of the OB boys we’ve seen so far.

(Note: If you play EN, it has cut out content from parts of episode 5 😣 so I’d recommend looking up “Minna de Yahoo” and the deleted ending scene to get the full episode 5 experience!)

Anyway!! Episode 4 was also my favorite for a long time, the writing was pretty solid and I loved all the character interactions 😌 but then episode 6 happened and that one became my favorite—

[joachimnapoleon]

Meet the Bonapartes--Louis (3/4)

I left off with Part 2 of this an embarrassingly long time ago, but I'm trying to make it a habit of finishing more of the things I start, so I don't want to leave this hanging. So, one year later, here is Part 3 of my write-up on Louis Bonaparte, and I promise Part 4 will not have a similar gap in between.

(Part 1) (Part 2)

***

Louis had been sincere in his declaration, upon accepting the throne of Holland, that he had "become Dutch." He immersed himself in Dutch culture, encouraged his Dutch courtiers to wear their traditional clothing at court balls, and tried to learn and speak Dutch--sometimes with comedic results, such as when he declared himself the Konijn (rabbit), rather than Koning (king) of Holland. His subjects appreciated his efforts nonetheless.

They also appreciated the initiative Louis showed when tragedy struck early in his reign. On 12 January 1807, a ship bearing hundreds of barrels of gunpowder exploded in the Dutch city of Leiden, blowing up hundreds of buildings and killing 150 people, and injuring thousands. Louis immediately left for Leiden and oversaw the recovery efforts, earning him the nickname "Louis the Good" from a grateful populace.

[Aftermath of the Leiden explosion, by Johannes Jelgerhuis]

Louis began his reign with a flurry of activity, writing to Napoleon to request a number of measures intended to favor his new subjects. He requested a reduction in the number of French garrisons in the kingdom, a new treaty of commerce with France, and the right to choose his own men for his Royal Guard. Napoleon granted these, but refused his brother's request for a loan, arguing that the expenses of France were so great that he was unable to give Louis any money.

The Dutch climate negatively impacted Louis's perpetually delicate health from the beginning, but he rarely left the country for much-needed stays at health resorts; this was especially true later in his reign after his relationship with Napoleon had deteriorated so badly that Louis began to fear that he might be deposed in his absence.

That deterioration did not take long to commence. Napoleon began finding fault with Louis's reign almost from the beginning. Napoleon had intended for Louis to play a key role in the 1806 campaign against Prussia, and was seriously disappointed with his brother's sluggish movements and lack of cooperation with Marshal Mortier during the campaign. When, towards the end of the campaign, Louis balked at attempting to seize Hanover in spite of his greatly superior numbers, Napoleon's displeasure with his younger brother was complete. But Napoleon still took care to preserve Louis's reputation; Louis's forfeiture of his command to Mortier and subsequent return to Holland were attributed to bad health, and further territory from Napoleon's conquests was added to Louis's kingdom. Returning to his kingdom, Louis received a hero’s welcome.

If Napoleon was irritated with Louis's conduct during the campaign, Louis, in turn, was angered by the retention of Dutch troops in Germany after the war, commanded by a French general; this, in Louis's eyes, was proof that he was to be little more than a puppet-king. His flagging health notwithstanding, Louis spent the winter working to further assert his independence by implementing public works projects, reorganizing his kingdom's administration and law code, and creating his own military orders, the Order of Union and the Order of Merit. A major point of contention arose between Louis and Napoleon when Louis announced that he intended to introduce the rank of marshal into the Dutch army and navy. Napoleon wrote to him scornfully on 2 January 1807:

Do you think a French general of division would take orders from your Dutch marshals? You are aping French organization, though your circumstances are utterly different. Why not begin by establishing the conscription and having a real army?

He followed it up more bluntly and concisely a week later: "There is nobody in Holland fit to hold such high rank." Louis viewed this as an insult and persisted in implementing the rank, until Napoleon finally ordered him to abolish it as one of numerous conditions to which Louis was forced to concede in early 1810 in order to retain his kingdom. On the subject of conscription, Louis would successfully resist its implementation, despite Napoleon's repeated demands, to the end of his reign.

Louis's relationship with his wife, meanwhile, remained fraught. Hortense had stayed with her mother, the Empress Josephine, during the campaign, and did not return to the Hague until months after her husband, prompting a quarrel. Mutual recriminations abounded: Hortense was upset over Louis's attentions to a Dutch lady at court; Louis, in turn, complained of Hortense's conduct. Napoleon became aware of the conflict and wrote reprovingly to his brother:

You have the best and most virtuous of wives, and you make her miserable. Let her dance as much as she likes; it is only right at her age. I have a wife of forty, and from the battlefield I write to her that she must go to balls; and with a wife who is only twenty and naturally wishes to live her life and has still some of the illusions of youth, you want her to live as if she were in a convent, or to be busy always like a nurse with her children? You yourself are too much shut up in your study and not about enough in public business. I would not say all this unless I thought so much of you. Make the mother of your children happy. You have only one way of doing this, and that is by showing her a great deal of esteem and confidence.

Louis was stung, and protested to Napoleon that he was being misrepresented to the Emperor by rumormongers. The domestic quarrels continued, as did the gossip they inspired at the Dutch court.

The estranged royal couple suffered a severe blow with the unexpected death of their eldest son, Napoleon Charles. The boy, who had been regarded by the still childless Napoleon as the heir to the Empire, had fallen ill in late April 1807. Louis frantically summoned numerous physicians to tend to the child; multiple remedies were attempted; but all without success. The four-year-old child died at midnight on the 5th of May. Hortense was almost insensible with grief and had to be taken away from the palace. Caroline Murat arrived soon to be at Hortense's side, followed shortly thereafter by Josephine. Hortense eventually left to take the waters in the Pyrenees, and Napoleon gave Louis permission to leave his kingdom to join her in early June. At the end of the summer, Josephine arranged for Hortense, who was still very unwell, to remain with her while Louis returned to Holland. Their younger son, Napoleon Louis, remained with Josephine at Fontainebleau as well. This tragedy drew Hortense and Louis together in their shared grief, but the reunion was short-lived.

[Queen Hortense with Napoleon Charles]

Before Louis's return to Holland, he had argued over political matters with Napoleon. The Emperor wanted more troops from Holland; Louis replied that he could not afford to raise them, due to his kingdom's economy suffering from the recently enacted Berlin Decree, which prohibited all trade with England. But Napoleon was unwilling to grant any concessions on this subject, and it would ultimately be Louis's inability--which Napoleon would interpret as unwillingness--to enforce the ban on English trade, that would spell Louis's downfall.

The 1809 war brought Louis's kingdom under threat from attack by the English, who intended for an expedition to seize Antwerp. Antwerp, however, was a French fortress, and as such, Louis was technically not allowed to interfere with it; but his warnings to Napoleon of its vulnerabilities went unheeded. Louis pleaded with Napoleon that his entire kingdom was defenseless due to Napoleon sending Dutch divisions off to Spain and Westphalia; Louis was left with fewer than 9,000 soldiers in Holland. Napoleon refused to reinforce Louis and downplayed the English threat; when the invasion actually occurred, he then blamed Louis for it. Invoking his title as Grand Constable of France in order to take command of the French troops, Louis set to work arming his fortifications and extending river defenses. On the 16th of August, he handed over command of the forces at Antwerp to Marshal Bernadotte. The English expedition ultimately floundered, out of a combination of disease and incompetence.

Napoleon, rather than thanking or lauding Louis for his efforts, blasted him in his correspondence. Louis was told that his office of Grand Constable was purely civil and honorary and gave him no right to command French troops. He questioned how Louis could expect anyone to respect Holland's independence when he refused to provide a larger army and navy for its defense. Without a larger army, his kingdom was a farce.

Louis protested that he was being treated unjustly. He had already heard whispers that Napoleon was planning to annex Holland to France, and garrison it with French troops. As he would soon learn, these were more than just whispers. By late 1809, Napoleon had not only lost faith in Louis, but had come to suspect his brother of disloyalty. In the Emperor’s mind, his brother was far too sympathetic to the Dutch nobility, whom Napoleon distrusted for their ties to the English. Nor did Napoleon appreciate Louis's attachment to the Dutch people and his insistence on promoting Dutch culture at every turn. But above all, Napoleon could not abide his brother's failure to enforce the blockade against English trade; this, in the words of biographer Michael Broers, "was the issue that turned incapacity into treason in his mind." Napoleon was determined that his Continental System be upheld at all costs; he was not oblivious to the suffering this would entail, as he made it clear to Louis in one particularly menacing letter:

Make searches and seize English goods, and [then] my customs men will respect your territory. If you don't do it, I will, as is my right.... The blockade will ruin many commercial cities, Lyon, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, but this state of anxiety must be got over; it must go on to the end.

The efforts of smugglers and corrupt/patriotic police notwithstanding, the blockade wreaked havoc on the commercial cities, just as Napoleon had anticipated. Writes Broers:

Amsterdam plunged into harrowing decline in every sense. Emigration caused by the collapse of commerce was compounded by the spread of diseases related to poverty, reducing its population from 202,000 in 1808, to little more than 180,000 by 1815. Its shipyards, which had employed 2,000 men in 1800, had barely 500 by 1808. Empty towns stood in ruins, while shanty towns along the canals swelled. Poverty was manifest in the city, and even the number of taverns declined. The local system of poor relief and charity that Louis had inherited from the old republic was stretched to the breaking point by the unprecedented speed and scale of Napoleon's manufactured crisis; it is estimated that between 30 and 40 per cent of the population of Amsterdam depended on poor relief by 1809.

And yet Napoleon remained displeased with his brother's enforcement of the blockade, and was convinced that Louis was deliberately acting to thwart him. When the entire imperial family was summoned to Paris in December 1809 for what would be the announcement of Napoleon's divorce and ensuing re-marriage plans, Louis suspected--rightly--that he might be walking into an ambush. He warned his ministers that he might be coerced into signing documents against his will, and that they were to only regard documents signed with his Dutch name--Lodewijk--as valid. In the event of an attempted French occupation of the country, his commanders were to offer a passive resistance, bringing their men inside their fortresses, closing their gates, and raising their drawbridges.

Napoleon welcomed Louis to Paris coldly; at their second meeting, he told him frankly that he intended to annex Holland, and that if Louis resisted, he would find himself at war with France. "Holland," he said, "is nothing but an English colony, more hostile to France than England herself. I mean to eat up Holland!"

In a bid to keep his kingdom, Louis pleaded for a compromise, and demonstrated a willingness to make concessions, including increased enforcement of the blockade and a ceding of territory. Napoleon sent orders to suspend Oudinot's march to occupy Holland, so that negotiations could proceed. But first, there was the issue of the divorce. Louis attempted to piggyback on his brother's divorce from Josephine by petitioning the Emperor for the arrangement of a formal separation from Hortense. Napoleon, instead, decided to have the matter decided by a family council. Though the two would not be permitted to divorce, it was decided that they might live apart; Hortense was permitted to remain in Paris and given an income of half a million francs. She also retained custody of Louis's eldest son, to Louis's bitter disappointment.

During this interim, Napoleon's mind had changed about his earlier negotiations with Louis. He predicted that Louis would not be able to meet the requirements they had agreed upon, and that the annexation would only be deferred. Harsher terms were drawn up--Louis was required to cede to France all his territory up to the left bank of the Rhine; he was forbidden to trade or communicate with England; he was required to build an army of 25,000 men and increase the size of his navy; and the rank of marshal was to be eliminated from the Dutch military. Louis was prohibited from returning to his kingdom until the agreement was signed. The treaty was finally signed on the 16th of March; Louis arrived back in Amsterdam on the 11th of April. Despite his earlier agreement to let Hortense remain in Paris, Napoleon had insisted on her returning to Holland as well. Hortense dreaded the return. "I wrote the Emperor a despairing letter," she recorded in her memoirs. "He did not answer me." Upon her arrival, Hortense writes that Louis "was overjoyed to see his son again but paid little or no attention to me."

Louis's unhappy queen leaves the following portrait of her life at court during this time, on the brink of her husband's deposition:

Word would be sent me when dinner was ready that the King was waiting for me. While we were at the table he would scarcely say a word. After the meal the King would thrum on the piano, which stood open. He would take his son on his knees, kiss him and lead him out on the balcony which overlooked the square. The crowd, catching sight of them, would give a few cheers. The King would re-enter the room, return to the piano, recite some French poetry or hum an air. I would stay in an armchair, not saying a word and watching what went on in the room. When a few hours had passed, my husband, becoming conscious of the strained situation, would ring and send for the Dutch members of our household and the ladies in waiting. Card-tables would be brought out. Sometimes I played also and at nine o'clock I returned to my apartments after having said good night, the only word we had spoken to one another. This is an exact picture of how I spent my days at Amsterdam.

Hortense did not remain in the kingdom for long. Her health suffered, and it was soon determined that it would be better for her to return to France. She left her husband for the final time on 16 May 1810.

The Sword of Damocles was not long in descending on Louis. An assault on a coachman of the French ambassador gave Napoleon all the excuse he needed to finally carry out his plan to annex Holland. Napoleon demanded that the perpetrators be arrested and hanged; Louis's ministers pointed out the impossibility of identifying them. Oudinot was ordered to march on Amsterdam.

Louis briefly considered appealing to Russia or Austria for help, but it was far too late. He had word sent to Oudinot that, though his troops would receive no welcome, they would also meet no resistance. Louis made some final, hasty financial arrangements, including selling some of the Dutch estates he had acquired and transferring his diamonds out of the country.

On 1 July 1810, Louis abdicated in favor of his second son, Napoleon Louis. The following night, he boarded a carriage accompanied by his captain of the guards, an aide-de-camp, and his favorite dog, Tiel, and headed east. In one last parting blow, Tiel was hit and killed at a horse-changing station on the road. Louis was devastated. "It was," writes biographer Atteridge, "he said, part of his bad luck, that now haunted him everywhere."

For weeks, Napoleon was unable to ascertain the whereabouts of his brother. "We don't know where he has gone, and we know nothing about this lunacy." He asked Hortense if she had any word of him. Writes Hortense in her memoirs, “Real anxiety as regards what had happened to the King was my first reaction. No one knew where he had retired. I imagined that he had left for America, alone, with no one to help him, no one to console him. His fate aroused my sympathy. I almost came to believe that I had become fond of him, now that he had known misfortune." Louis finally wrote to Madame Mère from the health resort of Toeplitz, that he was "as well as can be expected, and well out of affairs to which I will never return."

Regarding Napoleon's feelings towards Louis, Broers concludes that they were

an ill-sorted mixture of piercing truth and injustice clouded by the deepest kind of hatred, rooted in love betrayed. Yet, Napoleon worried about Louis' safety once 'the business' was over. He did not harbour the fanatical hatred that leads to murder. Even after his ill treatment of Hortense, Louis was his brother, and Bonapartes did not practise 'insular vendetta.' Nevertheless, in the world of high politics, Louis' end signaled the end of his faith in his brothers.

***

Sources:

Atteridge, A. Hillard. Napoleon’s Brothers, 1909.

Broers, Michael. Napoleon: Spirit of the Age. 2018.

De Beauharnais, Hortense. Memoirs of Queen Hortense, Vol I.

Masson, Frédéric. Napoleon et sa Famille, Vol I (1796-1802), 1907.

Roberts, Andrews. Napoleon: A Life. 2014.

[pretoriafics]

Therapy sessions with the devil

I'd did this request yesterday on my Portuguese blog, and I thought that you guys would love it!

Anonymous asks: Y/N is a therapist who works for Vought and is doing a few evaluations on the Super.

Word count: 1.806 Contain: Therapist!Reader x Homelander Warnings: Mention of sexual violence, mention of serial killers, mention of cases of children with psychopathy, mental disorders. +16 only Versão em português aqui  PART 2 THE BOYS MASTERLIST

Your profession was gratifying.

You loved the idea of helping people, getting to know each other better, and getting them to learn to deal with life's challenges. For you, being a kind of "confidant", where people could talk about their lives without any judgments, was an honor and your purpose. You believed that it would make the world a better place.

However, it also had its burdens. Some things were difficult to hear, even for you with all your knowledge and professional background. Patients who suffered from sexual violence, for example, demanded of you a stomach that you were not always able to have. It was something you talked to your therapist about, and you kept a mantra in mind: After all, you were still human, and it was okay to feel that way.

And when Vought invited you to work as a therapist for The Seven, you went nuts. It was the chance of a lifetime!

Or, at least, this was what you thought at the beginning.

It was not uncommon for you to hear things that made your stomach a little sick, just like when The Deep told you about the way he “welcomed” Starlight. You felt nauseous but, on the outside, remained impassive, just watching him as a silent request to continue to talk.

All of them were, simply, not only media products but also puppets of the advertising world. You already had some political patients, and in fact, you thought The Seven was a similar case: Both went to that market with the intention, many times, to help people. However, they ended up corrupted in the middle of the road, forgetting their whole purpose in helping others.

You saw a point in common between The Seven: Everyone, with perhaps the exception of Starlight, was too worried about their own egos to be real heroes. They were all too narcissistic.

But Homelander was the worst of them.

The childhood phase was the most important part of a person's life. A traumatic childhood could lead to a troubled adult, as in the case of Mary Bell and Beth Thomas. Homelander's case was no different: his non-affectionate childhood, being raised as a laboratory rat, was the bigger reason to make him that kind of man.

Although at the same time you were fascinated about to study a mind like that - since one of the reasons why you did psychology would be to unveil the secrets of the human mind - each therapy session was daunting and made you rethink your job at Vought.

In short, you were interviewing a serial killer. Easily one of the most cruel and unhealthy.

"Good morning, Homelander." Your voice was soft, just like the smile you gave to the super who just sat on the couch.

"Good morning, Doctor." He returned the smile to you, but the smile on his own way: The corners of your mouth pulled to the side in a smile that you recognized as fake.

"So..." You put your hands on your knee, looking at him with the best receptive look you could pretend. There, in that office, your sessions with Homelander made you feel you deserved an Oscar "How was your week?"

“Well…” He lay down on the couch, his blue eyes staring at the ceiling, and his hands joined in front of his stomach “Nothing new. In fact, he had a little incident with Maeve. Sometimes she is so… pathetic. ”

"What happened?"

It took a while for Homelander to actually get some confidence in you. In fact, he only started telling you things in detail when he realized he could get something out of the sessions. They were productive to him, they made him think. You didn't know if you were thanking God for getting something out of him, or if you should cursing yourself because of the horrors he tells you.

"Maybe you saw something about the 37 Flight on the news."

"The one who had been captured by the terrorists?"

"Exactly! Maeve and I had to rescue the plane. We managed to take down the terrorists, but when I killed the last one, in the Pilot's cabin, I hit the plane's controls with the lasers. And then, the flight was doomed. I told Maeve that our job was done and we should leave, but she was reluctant. He wanted me to save the passengers! ” He laughed, but a natural one. "Can you believe that?"

Oh, it was going to be a long therapy session...

"And what happened next?"

“What did she want me to do? That I fly 137 times from the plane to land? Ah, pathetic, pathetic! ” He shook his head, clearly humorous. "Now, just imagine: You are on a flight with 137 people shouting 'Help, Homelander!', While your stupid partner insists that you should do something to save everyone. I was losing patience so I threatened everyone with my eyes, and they finally settled down. I don't blame them, I mean, they are so vulnerable. They are bugs! ” He looked at you, the corners of his mouth pulled in a fake smile. "No offense."

Homelander was a cold-blooded killer. Not only, but like Ted Bundy, he was a narcissist. He liked the feeling of power that invaded his body when he saw that people feared him, and when he felt that he had the power to decide whether that person would live or not. He didn't mind if killing people just for fun was against the law. Homelander didn't care about the law or any kind of rules. Furthermore, just as Bundy believed he was fully capable of defending himself in his court's judgment and did not need lawyers, Homelander thought he was an incarnate God walking among the 'bugs', simply because he had powers.

"And how do you feel about Maeve?"

“She bothered me a little with the drama on the plane, but that's okay. I am sure that after I spoke to the journalists, near the wreckage of the flight, she understood. This is all going to be an excellent opportunity to make our presence in the army happen. ”

A sociopath.

Empathetic behaviors aren't part of him. He was unable to have that feeling. Self-centered, Homelander was unable to love. The relationship he had with Stiwell, for example, was far from loving. He didn't feel it, quite the opposite: Homelander had a feeling of possession with her. She was his, and nobody else's.

A doubt hammered in your head: Homelander was intending to drop the plane? Your stomach was upset, you felt bad about that therapy session. How could Vought leave someone like him in The Seven?

The answer was simple: They didn't care. Homelander was profitable, and that was all that mattered.

That was one of the times when you thanked God that Homelander was self-centered enough to lie on the couch and just think about your own life, instead of analyzing you and realizing that you were completely terrified. It was as if a misstep, a wrong word, was going to cost his life.

And you would end that today.

You conducted the therapy session normally. In the end, you shook hands with Homelander as you always did and closed the door. Tears invaded your face as you thought of each life that was lost in vain on that flight, and, worse, you were sure that Maeve would tell you about the flight at her therapy session, early next week. In an attempt to calm down, you took some coffee and sat down in front of your MacBook. There, sipping coffee, you wrote your resignation letter.

Alright. You were free.

Or at least this was what you thought.

 * * *

Another week has started, and the fact that you worked at Vought made you get a more comfortable office, in addition to increasing your service price. You were ending your day. Your last patient had left the office, and you were about to go home when you heard a familiar voice from your couch.

"I miss you in the tower."

Homelander looked at you with his pairs of sick blue eyes, his fake smile, and his murderous hands behind his body. He was standing next to the couch, and you felt your whole body freeze. A lump formed in your throat, and your hands vibrated in pure dread.

So he would kill you there? In your office?

Trying to take control of the situation, you faked a slight smile.

“Sorry, Homelander. I didn't saw you here. Need something?"

"Actually, I do." He started walking towards you slowly. "I didn't want to end our sessions, so I came to ask you what our new schedule is going to be."

You narrowed your eyes.

"I thought Vought was going to hire someone else to work with The Seven in my place."

“In fact, they put an incompetent in your place. I really prefer that we continue where we left off. ” He stopped in front of you with his smile, his eyes emanating pure insanity "I like our therapy sessions."

“I'm glad that you like my job and that you appreciate our results, Homelander” You gave him a smile, but inside you were still in pure dread “But I don't have appointments available. My schedule filled up easily after I came to this new office. ”

“Oh, but I'm sure you can fit me in your schedule. I can pay you well. ”

How to say no to Homelander without putting your life at risk?

You walked over to your tablet, on your desk. You took it in hand and slid your finger on the screen, analyzing awhile. You didn't need him to tell you that you would be paid well. In fact, you were fully aware of that. The point was that you could exchange all the money in the world to be at peace, without having to deal with Homelander. Without much choice, you concluded that you would reserve a single day for your therapy sessions with him. That way, your head wouldn't get so tired when you still had to deal with other patients.

“Are you available on Friday morning? At nine."

He nodded, giving the same smile he did when he achieved something. One of pure contentment.

"Of course!"

"Great so." You typed 'Homelander' in the space corresponding to the hour. You put the tablet down on the table, next to your MacBook “There, it's done. Friday, at nine in the morning. ”

“Ah, perfect! Thank you. Have a good night."

"Good night, Homelander."

He walked over to your balcony. With a jump, he flew through the sky. You lay on your couch, terrified. Would you never get rid of him?

All that was left for you now was to be the therapist of the incarnate Devil.

[fireemblems24]

Speaking as a Hongkonger who has friends wrongfully arrested and worse, killed, just for supporting the independence and autonomy of our homeland, I, along with many of the people I know who have played 3H, am absolutely disgusted by Edelgard's "your homeland belongs to me because it used to be a part of my country and what you think doesn't matter, so my war of conquest is justified because I say so" mindset. It also reminds me too much of the CCP for me to ever truly enjoy Edelgard's character

Add the oppression of free speech, secret police, art sanctioning, propaganda, demonising religions and religious persecution, scapegoating a minority race which led to the genocide of their people, hiding parts of history to justify yourself, a meritocracy with a dictator on the top who has all the power in the country concentrated on them and no term limit as well as being the one who chooses the successor, assassinations of people who oppose them, putting down rebellions bloodily, starving your people for a war of ego (let’s be real, the only reason why Adrestia wants Faerghus and Leicester back under their reign is because the Emperors’ ego is hurt by how certain people don’t want them to be their leaders), calling people of a foreign nation fighting for their country traitors, victim blaming all the defenders hurt by her war, experimenting on people to be used as weapons, organ harvesting of a certain oppressed race and writing out an entire nation out of history which destroys their culture because she refuses to acknowledge their sovereignty plus, you know, all the brainwashing Edelgard is doing to your character and all the other Black Eagles, I have to say, unapologetically, that I absolutely loathe her. From what I’ve heard and seen from the polls on the gaming forums in our parts of the world, Edelgard is immensely unpopular, if not the most hated character in both Hong Kong and Taiwan, and interestingly, China as they also have experience with Imperialism in WW2 unapologetically, especially since this game came out during the height of the political turmoil in HK, made me vomit. Ironically, seeing how Faerghus triumphs over Adrestia in the end despite being in shambles at the start, despite the hopelessness and the powerlessness the Blue Lions felt, how they manage to overthrow the tyrannical Cornelia (seriously, she also reminds me of Carrie Lam, the Chief Executive of HKSAR. I mean, evil incompetent puppet leader installed by the tyrannical conquerors?) by working together, AM actually brought me the hope I needed during my darkest times. (ask ends)

This is pretty serious and heavy and there’s a lot to unpack here. There’s a very good chance I’ll miss something, and I’m really underqualified to discuss some of this I feel. 

First off, I’m so disgusted about how people in power have treated China lately, turning a blind eye to atrocity after atrocity. I stand with Hong Kong, and I’m so, so sorry you’ve had to go through that. I literally can’t even imagine what that’s like. 

I can easily see why someone who’s dealt with what you have would have such an overwhelmingly negative opinion of Edelgard. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if countries who do most of the Imperializing have a better opinion of her overall and the ones who have suffered at the hands of countries doing the Imperializing have an overall more negative one. I think I remember someone saying there was some poll saying South Korea wasn’t a fan - and not at all surprised they’d react badly to her - written by the Japanese no less. And while I do feel there’s more to her character and beliefs, I feel it’s highly tainted by this very black/white portrayal of her conquering. 

But that’s quite the laundry list of accusations against Edelgard. I’m not going to touch on all of them except to say I’ve definitely seen her do some things (enabling human experimentation, scapegoating a minority race, etc . . . ), but I don’t really remember anything about art sanctioning or starving her own people. Regardless though, just her “I will enforce my enlightened beliefs on your country because I know better than you and it’s for your sake” getting portrayed straight-up and unironically is enough. You wouldn’t even really need any of those other things to have some eyebrow raising about some of the decisions IS made in the writing room about her. 

That said, I’m glad the Blue Lions route was such a powerful and uplifting story for you. I’m always amazed at the power fiction can have even though I’ve experienced it myself. The Kingdom is by far the biggest underdogs among all the players in all routes, and I’m so looking forward to the cathartic moments when I inevitably take down Cornelia and eventually triumph over the Empire too. Blue Lions going to such a dark place is going to make the victory all the sweeter and more meaningful.

I’m really glad you sent this ask, and I hope I didn’t leave anything out. It’s really amazing how much this game connects with people for better or worse.

[wandaposting]

wandavision: the criticisms post

tl;dr: i liked the show, but there were aspects that were annoying and dumbfounding to me and here’s the post that covers That ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

this was gonna be my comprehensive wandavision review post that had both cons and pros, but the cons kind of ran away from me lsdfjs SO YOU’RE GETTING THIS FIRST. if you find my views diverging from yours in either direction, you’re valid, please don’t shiv me. this is just how i Feel in a somewhat shitposty (as per usual) format. 😔

the big con list:

the way wanda’s actual villainy gets brushed away by the narrative: or specifically the way wanda strolls past the people she mentally tortured and traumatized for a week to apologize to monica, who then goes “gg girl i would’ve done the same :)” and then wanda leaves that entire mess—that she caused—behind her and bails lol. that scene is a microcosm of my problems with this show’s attempt at portraying what the creators have described as her ““complexity””. they want us to feel sorry for her, but not in the way that we can sympathize with walter white while still acknowledging he’s broken bad. rather, this show seemed to want to paint her as more of a victim than the people she victimized. they still want her to come out looking heroic and triumphant and rewarded from her journey with new powers, a new superhero outfit, a new superhero moniker. and that falls flat when you realize she’s basically been a self-absorbed asshole throughout the course of this show. she was confronted no less than four times, and told point blank that a few thousand people were suffering under her control. that is not something we can excuse with depression and denial. that means that at multiple times she is making at least the subconscious choice that her happiness matters more than the wellbeing of her meat puppets, which includes children, across the span of a week. i don’t see monica rambeau “doing the same thing.” the fact that they made her say it while the townspeople glared on in miserable silence just rubbed me the wrong way. if they really wanted to make her responsible for westview, while also wanting her to come out looking remotely good, they needed to invest in a much more substantial redemption arc for her than “i didn’t mean to, gonna go self-exile now.” or even holding everything else constant, they could’ve delivered a more nuanced take where westview was in dire straits before her arrival. the westview she initially drove through already looked economically depressed, so i don’t know why they didn’t just follow through with this. but they could’ve made it so that by granting herself happiness and prosperity, she could’ve spread that genuinely throughout the citizens. instead of hex vision waking norm up in horror, you could’ve had him begging to be put back under. that way, her decision to accept and face reality head on could also be reflected by the people of westview. where everyone, perhaps aided through wanda’s mind link, decides they shouldn’t let fantasy consume themselves at the expense of improving their actual reality. there’s still moral ambiguity, there’s still mistakes being made, we can still side-eye wanda for doing the equivalent of drugging people, but at least these npc’s would've gained something from wanda blundering into their lives. but no she made 3 thousand people suffer through the literal plot of Get Out, giving them life-long ptsd and trauma with nothing good, and i think that’s bad. if she has more haters after this series, i can’t even blame them. but apparently she has a shit-ton more fans after this series, so... OH WELL, IT IS WHAT IT IS sdkfjkls

TYLER: which brings me to the thought that, if this show had hayward acting like a three dimensional human person with the bare minimum intellect required to run SWORD ... instead of an incompetent jackass scooby doo villain ... a lot of us would be spamming #HaywardWasRight. tyler hayward might legitimately be the worst villain mcu has ever produced, like edging past malekith. is he supposed to be an analogue to real world tr*mp appointed deputies? unlike agatha, he’s not even entertaining to watch. he’s the ted cruz of the mcu, which is bizarre when he was introduced as the strict but not particularly vexing or unreasonable successor to maria rambeau in episode 4. it ended up feeling extremely contrived how the show attempted to aggressively signal us with “hayward bad” and “wanda good, actually” through the lens of monica, darcy, and jimmy. it’s like they had to make hayward come across as Extremely Dumb in order to make wanda come across as the more sympathetic party, when she was the one doing [gestures vaguely at wall of text above].

and SPEAKING of agatha: she also ended up being the exact kind of simplified reductive cackling “gimme ur powers wanda” evil super witch that i didn’t want her to be. that’s all.

the theorybaiting: i didn’t care about the lack of mutants/doctor strange cameo (lol what happened, charles murphy)/multiverse/blue marvel/reed richards/mephisto/nightmare/chthon (altho we did get the darkhold wink wonk) so much that it ruined my experience. ralph bohner was disappointing, but i got over it. my issue here is more that they deliberately baited a more interesting story than they delivered, and i think they shot themselves in the foot with that. the first 7, even 8 episodes had set up this atmosphere of mystery and intrigue, only for them to wrap up all these questions with the most boring, uninspired answers possible. question: what does hayward want and what is he up to? answer: hayward is simply a stupid dingus. question: who is agatha harkness and what is she up to? answer: an evil witch who just wants to steal yo powers. question: who is fietro? answer: lol boner. question: was it wanda all along? answer: yes, but no it was actually agatha, but actually yes, but she didn’t mean to and is kind of sorry and now she’s gonna fly away so have fun with your ptsd, westview. ????????? yeah they could have ... done some of that better.

the pacing in the end: i remember when they said it was gonna be “around 6 hours,” and we got 4 and a half hours of actual content instead... they should have given us that extra 1 and a half hour to flesh out the finale. the sitcom portion was fun, it feels like the sitcom portion was prioritized in the writing room, and that the overarching narrative beyond the sitcom suffered to accommodate it. when it came time to break away from the format, they stumbled. so in the beginning, there were segments that felt authentic to the era but were fairly critiqued as “dragging on” ... and in the final episode, we had... the final episode. monica and wanda’s ending conversation felt unsatisfying, both wanda’s apology and monica’s acceptance of it rang particularly hollow [also gestures vaguely to wall of text above]. the appearance of white vision should have had much more of an impact on ... everyone, especially wanda. except the dude just dips and no one mentions him ever again. i feel like hex vision being revealed as the the vision that had always been ~part of her should have also had more ... fleshing out. darcy and jimmy basically ended up having no arcs in this show. they served as stand-ins for the audience, and because they were written to feel sorry for wanda (in a situation where she was absolutely deserving of more scrutiny), the audience too gets manipulated toward doing so.

there’s probably more to add but i’m running out of brain juice BUT THOSE WERE THE BIG ONES STORY-WISE

[twoidiotwriters1]

Written In The Stars CXL (Harry Potter xF!Oc)

A/N: This gif is huge but it’s the only one I could find with detective!Erick vibes and it excels at it so enjoy -Danny

Words: 2,936 

Series’ Masterlist

Previous Chapter // Next Chapter

Listen to: ‘Black Butterflies and Déjà Vu’ (Acoustic) -by The Maine

Chapter Two: Just Friends.

HARRY POTTER: THE CHOSEN ONE?

Rumours continue to fly about the mysterious recent disturbance at the Ministry of Magic, during which He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was sighted once more...'

"Well, look at that," Mel threw the paper onto the backseat. "Looks like Harry's going to have a fun year."

"He'll enjoy it no doubt," Erick replied, his eyes fixed on the road. "Is it true, though?"

"You were there..."

"I mean the prophecy."

They'd been driving for two days and they still had no idea where Slughorn could be. Mel was starting to miss her bed and her hair was gross, she was more than grumpy.

"I can't talk about it."

"Yes or no would be fine..."

"If you want to believe it go ahead, I'm sure Harry'll appreciate one of his friends participating in the gossip."

Erick scoffed, she looked back at him with a frown.

"What?"

"I don't gossip about Potter," He grumbled. "And I don't think he'd cared if I did. We're not friends."

"After all you've done you think he would consider you a mere acquaintance?"

"You remember how he treated me last year at Grimmauld Place?"

"You remember how he treated everyone last year?" She raised a brow.

"I've spent lots of good moments with you — but him... you really think he considers me a friend?"

Mel opened her mouth but nothing came out of it, she had no idea.

"Lots of things can change in a year," She said at last.

"Maybe," Erick agreed, then he looked at her shortly and smiled. "You're still the same girl from six years ago, though."

Mel let out something that sounded like half a snort.

"Because I'm the only one that doesn't bully you?"

"You're the only one that bullies me," He laughed. "Listen, you might think that being sweet sucks, but that's not all you are. You're the best witch of our age..."

"Doubt that," She said bitterly, "if I were I'd be the one with a prophecy, don't you think?"

"So there is a prophecy?"

"I'm just saying," Mel responded promptly. "That if I were meant to do great things, the stars would've said something about it — I wouldn't be so incompetent..."

"The stars are balls of gas floating outside the planet, not deities," Erick rolled his eyes. "Don't you remember what I told you?"

"You've said many things to me, you have to be more specific."

"You can do anything, but you're afraid it won't end well. You're the only person who gets to decide your future," He glanced at her once more. "So what is it, Miss Dumbledore? Are you going to make history?"

"I'm going to have lunch," She concluded.

"You have the picture?"

"Of course I have the picture, I'm not you."

"I left it in the car once!" Mel scowled. "And we weren't close to finding him!"

"Quiet," He fixed his hat. "We can't attract attention to ourselves."

"In that case, you should stop acting like a fool," She snatched the hat out of his head. "You're ridiculous."

"No!" He pushed his hair back grumpily. "My hair looks weird today!"

"You look fine — let those poor curls breathe, they suffer under all the things you put on them..."

"I only use wax," He grumbled. "Wouldn't hurt you to brush your hair for a change..."

"I already cut it," She gestured vaguely to her bangs. "The hardest thing I've done in my life, by the way..."

"Hardest thing? The fight in the Ministry was a breeze for you?" Erick snorted.

"You know what —"

Mel froze; a small man was approaching the house across the street. Erick grabbed the photo from inside his pocket and stared at it, then nodded. They turned their backs on the man, both of them staring at the reflection of a window to keep an eye on Slughorn.

"We're eight hours away from home... what if he moves while we're driving back?"

"Don't think so," Mel watched as the man opened the door with a flick of his wand. "He stays at least four days in each place, he'll be there long enough for us to inform my uncle."

"Okay," The boy smiled. "We did it."

"This isn't over," Mel squeezed his arm, noticing the two figures ahead. "He's been followed."

"What?"

"Look..."

She discretely pointed to the other two reflections: men in dark robes were standing seven houses away from Slughorn's. Mel didn't recognize them, but no muggle would walk around wearing that kind of clothes.

"We have to get rid of them."

"You read my mind," She responded. "D'you think they know we're here?"

"They're following him, not us..." He tilted his head and eyed her up and down. "How do you feel about being the distraction?"

"You think you can take down two death eaters on your own?"

"If I can't and they kill me, I know you can."

"Fair enough," Mel grinned. "I'll lure them into the alley, wait for us there..."

The girl crossed the street, she didn't know if they would know who she was, but she was hoping her face was still unknown to most wizards. She crashed against one of them and dropped her wand on purpose.

Both men froze and quickly retrieved her wand; Mel gave them a panicky look over her shoulder that she hoped was convincing. The wizards had been taken by surprise, but they ran after her. She took a shard turn and ended up cornered in the alley.

"Bad luck for you, missy," said one. "We can't —"

A flash of blue hit him on the back, then a second one reached the other man and he fell forward too.

Erick walked into the alley. "We should obliviate them."

"Sharp aim you got there," Mel commented.

"Thanks," He replied casually, "are you all right?"

"Yeah, they were too busy giving a dramatic speech," She stared at the men and frowned. "Dumbledore said Slughorn was afraid like everyone else, but it looks like he's got a reason to be hiding, don't you think?"

Erick crouched down and inspected the men's pockets.

"Nothing," He sighed. "Can't blame Dumbledore for hiding stuff — The more we know the more the Death Eaters could get from us if they catch us."

"He told my mum I'd be safe," Mel scowled. "What does he value more than what's left of his own family?"

Erick raised a brow.

"Did you get hurt?"

"No."

"Listen, we're inexperienced, he's not going to trust us right away with all the information —"

"It's thanks to me and Harry that he's found out half of the things he knows! If that's not enough then I don't know what he wants!"

"I don't want to argue with you," Erick stood up. "He said he would tell you everything, I don't understand what's the problem..."

"I don't understand why you're okay with being his puppet —!"

"I'm not a puppet!" He replied fuming, then pointed his wand towards the men. "Obliviate!"

In less than a minute it was done. Erick fixed his robes and snatched his hat from Mel's head.

"Time to go home."

Mel threw a soft punch at him and Erick grunted, staring at her with confusion and holding the place she'd hit.

"I hate it when you act like that," She picked up the men's wands, "like a villain."

"Thought you were over fairytales," He muttered. "Villains aren't real..."

She walked past him and slammed the wands on his chest, Erick grunted again.

"You know I'm right!" He followed her out of the alley. "You would've done the same!"

"Shut up!"

They arrived at Privet Drive in the afternoon, she saw Harry move away from his window and knew he was going to ask them all about their adventure.

"Don't mention the Death Eaters to Harry."

The seatbelt snapped back into place and Erick hissed, shaking the hand he'd hurt.

"Why?"

"If he finds out I was chased down a street he'll go crazy, and I've been trying to convince him to... to stay out of my problems. Leave it to me, I can handle his tantrums way better than you."

They got out of the car, Mel opened the trunk and pulled out her bag as well as Erick's.

"Hi!" Harry greeted. "How was your mission?"

"Successful," Erick said shortly.

"How're you?"

"Brilliant!" She said. "I have to take our bags inside, so..."

"Let me help," He replied.

"Oh, I got it! Erick needs a hand in the kitchen, though..."

"I still don't know how the stove works," He put an arm around Harry's shoulders and guided him into the house. "I was thinking chicken soup, but I have no idea how to cook it!"

"Sure," Harry followed him cheerfully, Mel had the feeling he'd missed them.

"Did you find the man?"

Erick hummed.

"Cool," said Harry, grabbing three plates from the sink.

Mel was upstairs taking a shower, Erick begged for her to hurry.

"Did... er... Did all go well for real?"

"What do you mean?"

"Did you really just found the man and came back?"

"We came back as soon as we finished, yes. She was safe at all times, I promise."

"I know," Harry put the dishes on the counter. "I would've felt something otherwise... you know about the lifeline, right?"

He knew about that, whatever made them feel each other's pain. Erick didn't understand how that worked, but he'd never asked.

"Right," He nodded. "Bet you must hate that..."

Harry stared at him.

"She didn't tell you? What Dumbledore said to us?"

"Why would she?"

"Well," Harry looked down again, drying the plates carefully. "You're the one she goes to when she has a problem."

"Only when I'm available," He said quickly. "It's just... lately everyone else is always preoccupied with... well, you."

Harry hadn't thought about it, but that was true. A few weeks ago half of the order had gone to King's cross just to talk to his uncle, everywhere he went the conversation would always end up being about him.

Mel had known Harry for nine years and she'd always looked after him, with or without the connection, he understood why she felt like they didn't need it. Harry, on the other hand, depended so much on their lifeline to make sure she was safe... but was it really necessary? Would it be equally helpful for both sides? They truly needed to give each other space to think.

"I'm glad you're here," He confessed. "Don't think I'm being helpful... all the things I've done... all she sees when she looks at me is Voldemort."

Erick didn't wince, which caught Harry's attention and made him curious.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"You're from a pureblood family, but they weren't Death Eaters... How come you're not afraid of his name?"

"Oh," Erick tilted his head. " knew I wasn't supposed to say it, but I was used to hearing it. My Grandad would call him Voldemort all the time... I just never say it out loud because, you know..."

"I was really rude to you last year," He sighed. "I'm sorry."

"You had your reasons..."

"They weren't good enough."

"Listen, Harry, I know how it is... feeling like you're on your own, having one person that makes your life better and then having to walk away because you could hurt them more than you make them happy — I've been angry like that too. Actually, it also happened in my fifth year. Guess we do have things in common, huh?"

Harry had a funny look on his face. It was true, they did have a thing in common: They both wanted the best for Mel.

Right now, the best was Erick.

"You're a good bloke, Flint," He admitted. "I'm sorry I didn't listen to Mel before, we could've been good friends since the start."

"I wasn't likeable then, believe me," The Slytherin chuckled. "But she refused to take a no for an answer... She's something special, isn't she?"

"She is," Harry agreed.

"Yeah, she is," He sighed, perhaps a bit too dreamily.

This didn't go unnoticed by Harry.

"Listen," The boy began carefully. "Take care of her, alright?"

"I don't think she needs a man to look after her," Erick replied distractedly.

"No, listen, don't make the same mistakes I did — I don't want her to suffer, that's why I gave her up in the first place. You understand that?"

One thing Erick knew from talking with Hermione and the twins was that Harry never admitted that he'd dated Mel. He had no idea why he'd been chosen to be the first to hear it.

"I don't know if she — she doesn't want me that way," He'd never felt as embarrassed about anything in his life as he did now, standing in front of this sixteen-year-old who somehow made him feel like he was an idiot.

Harry stared at him carefully, he took his time to answer.

"If she says no, I know Mel will make you regret it if you bother her too much — But if she wants you... I don't mind it."

"Okay," Erick said hoarsely. "Thanks?"

"Excellent," Harry grabbed the plates and set them on the table.

Erick stared at the boy and couldn't help but wonder how much Harry had to suffer to stop fearing the little things in life like demanding stuff from an older, taller guy?

Or maybe, just maybe, Harry wasn't afraid of him because he was a friend.

Could that really be it? He'd been waiting for this quite some time, and yet he couldn't stop the thought of something else being the real reason behind Harry's serenity. He wasn't the same boy Erick could torment by pretending he was flirting with Mel, and for some reason, he found that disturbing.

"One last thing?" Erick turned off the stove.

"Yeah?" Harry looked at him over his shoulder, eyes attentive.

"My old friends used to call me Flint," He smiled a bit. "So please, call me Erick."

The boys were having lunch when she entered the kitchen.

"I hope the Dursleys didn't make you starve while we were gone," Mel said as she sat in front of them.

"Not much."

"That's not good," She raised a brow. "How long till Dumbledore comes for you?"

"He'll pick me up tonight, didn't he tell you?"

"Haven't seen him since we left..."

"You're still moody, then?" Erick raised a brow, noticing her pout. "Thought the shower would help, I genuinely believed your bad mood was thanks to the underwear you'd been wearing for —"

"We don't need to talk about that," She blushed.

The boys laughed and she stared at them, what was that about?

An owl flew in through the window and landed in front of Erick.

"Dumbledore," He raised his eyebrows. "He wants us to go with him and Harry... We must be ready at seven as well. I should pack..."

"No need — Mum took all our stuff, our trunks are waiting at the burrow. She took Grey too."

"Ah, so that's why my feet haven't been attacked today!" Erick folded the letter. "Okay then, looks like you won't get rid of us for the rest of the summer, Glasses."

"Pity," The boy replied.

"Hang on!" She pushed her plate away. "I left you alone for half an hour and now you're best mates? You can't call him Glasses — Only I get to call him that!"

"You're the only one that calls me that because it's a stupid name," Harry raised a brow. "I call you Mellow but everyone else does too! We never said my nickname was exclusive. If he wants to sound stupid then let him."

"You see? He doesn't mind," Erick smirked, then he understood Harry's words and frowned. "I do not sound stupid."

"I feel betrayed," Mel sulked. "I'm not sure I'm liking this friendship between you."

"You were the one who wanted us to get along!" Erick exclaimed. "You should be happy! Looks like your efforts finally paid off..."

"Only took us two years," Harry grinned.

"I finished with the laundry and it's your turn to wash the dishes —" She walked into Erick's room and gazed up from the basket. "Shit — You're naked!"

Mel looked away, feeling her cheeks burning at the sound of his hearty laugh.

"I just took off my shirt!"

"I came here to leave your clothes — Possibly a shirt you can wear right now..." She walked up to the bed, Erick did so at the same time.

He didn't mean to walk up to her half-naked, but he didn't step back either. He just stood there, his chest moving up and down with every breath.

Erick had freckles over his shoulders, he also had thin scars across his torso from the cuts that had almost killed him. Mel redirected her attention to his face only to meet his hazel eyes softened by the sunset, his lips were forming a tiny, yet noticeable smirk.

"I'll take that," He seized the clothes gently, "and I'll wash the dishes after my shower."

"Okay."

"And I'll lock my door from now on since no one taught you to knock first," Erick teased, she felt like he could tell how fast her heart was beating.

Mel looked up at him resolutely.

"A prince doesn't expose a lady," She said in a firm voice.

"I'm no longer a prince," He replied without breaking eye contact, "and you've never been a lady."

Mel stormed out of the room without even responding.

Next Chapter —>

Taglist.

@dee123ksha​ @vampiregirl1797​ @siriuslysirius1107​ @stardusthigh​ @mikariell95​ @vernon-dursley​ @thesuitelifeofafangirl​ @tomshollandz​ @wlwmaximoff​ @reverse-hxlland​ @hamiltonwc​ @omiwashere​ @t-rexs-world​ @just-here-to-escape-from-reality @21bruhs​ @i-am-scared-and-useless-bisexual @dielgonacoffee​ @thelastpyle​

[minalous]

nothing like us (m)

pairing: jungkook x reader

warnings: siren!jungkook, soulmate au, mentions of death, a little bit of smut, a lot of angst, jungkook is smitten

genre: angst | fluff | smut

words: 3k

This is one of the seven fics for the project “Greek mythological creatures” that I have been working on for my mutuals 💖 This is for my baby @joonsrack​ !!

♡

“I lied to you. You shall never live”

The bridge was empty, not a soul to be seen for miles but there he was. Power dripped from the tip of his tongue, words waiting to be spilled and control the woman walking on the bridge’s rails. 

“You are safe, beautiful.” he said “Dance for me, dance once more”

The woman would obey his every command with no hesitation, his power was growing stronger by the years and now was his chance to test it. When he saw her walking down the street, he immediately sensed her vulnerability, a weakness that came to become his strength, to be able to control her as his puppet. The wind kept howling as if it knew there was a life getting taken, piece by piece he was consuming her, devouring her soul. The trees were dancing along with her, following her every step, their leaves crying for her as the wind was taking them away from the tree’s embrace. 

Fingertips light as the morning breeze playfully wandered on her feverish skin, his voice was becoming the devil's whisper, the voice that will dethrone her from her crown of beauty. 

“Do you trust me, beautiful?”

“Yes” she foolishly said

“So naive, trusting so easily” 

His chuckle was dark as the night, dark as his heart and soul. Nobody would be able to resist his power, the way he could make his way inside one's mind, the way he could twist someone's thoughts and make them his own. 

Once he saw how the girl was so willing to do as he said, he wondered how far she would go, how much he could break her will. 

"Ready to jump?" he asked

He asked her to jump to her death the same way he would ask someone to sing. It was so easy for him to toy with people. And he had someone to thank for, someone who made him who he is.

"Before you jump, I want you to wake up, to wake up and see how it feels to get your life taken" his voice was cold as ice "but you cannot scream or run for your life" 

The woman came to realise how her life was about to end, the first thing she did was to beg for her life. Pointless, all of her screams for help, all of her begging to spare her life were nothing more than mere noise to his ears.

"Please, Jungkook. I don't want to die" 

A tear dripping down her face, acknowledging her fate is sealed.

"Jump" 

Jungkook did not watch her die, he did not stay to see her take her own life. He had already started walking away. Jungkook was only interested to see the agony inside the eyes of his victims. Oh how he loved to know he had the power to end lives, the thrill he would feel rushing through his veins as he feasted upon the horror of his actions. 

Because once again he had someone else to blame for everything. If he had no reason to live, nobody else should be given a reason to live.

"One by one, those who wronged her shall all die. One by one, you shall all meet her fate" 

Another century has passed, another lifetime without you. Jungkook could never forget you, could never resist the urge to hunt people down like him, people that took you away from him. Because you were too kind for this world, too innocent.

In a moment of desperation, he decided he needed to take his mind off of you and put some of his anger into good use. Some of the people that are responsible for your death are hunting around his territory, a grave mistake but to them was a game of power. Jungkook did not wish to waste any more time, he had his servants arrange a ball where the most powerful and important people would love to attend. 

"Sir, here is the list of the people who accepted the invitation for tomorrow night's ball."

He sat down in his office to read the list, to see if everything was going according to the plan. The list in Jungkook's hands proved how foolish some people are. Of course those idiot rivals of his fell right on his trap, rivals he was trying desperately to get rid of, men he despised. 

The people he came to despise were followers of his father's circle; his own kind was hunting him down only because he made the mistake of being weak to his father's eyes, because he fell in love with you. 

You were nothing more than a servant in everyone's eyes but not to him. In his eyes you were strong, smart, independent. The times he had caught you rebelling against his father's incompetent men were more than enough to make you one of his favourite people. 

Sooner or later, Jungkook trusted you enough to approach you and you felt you could trust him as much as he did. Small chats led to conversations, faint smiles led to stolen kisses and love led to lust. 

"Sir, we need to discuss about tomorrow night's wine menu"

But Jungkook could not focus in the present, his mind was focused on how your lips felt so soft, how good your warm body felt against his, glimpses of the nights you were moaning his name. He loved the way you moaned his name, you were so eager to please him that you were not afraid to let him be your first. 

"Jungkook.. please"

He almost lost his mind the moment he pushed his length inside you but nothing could compare to the next thing that happened.

"I love you"

Jungkook loved you so much, for so long. His heart could burst from happiness in that moment. That night he said he loved you too, that night you became his. 

"I will always find my way back to you. I promise" you whispered as he fell asleep in your arms 

Only if your secret was to stay hidden, only if you were lucky to run away together.

"Sir, dinner is ready."

Daydreaming about you was one of the few things keeping him sane. The ball tomorrow night could be a success and the burden in his heart could become a little easier to carry. Only if it were that easy to handle the pain inside his mind and soul.

The night of his revenge was here, the darkness covered the town with its thick veil and the monsters were out to play. Nobody was more prepared than Jungkook in this game of hunt. The men attending his ball were under the belief they were the hunters. Little did they know that their fate would be worse than his lover's. 

Jungkook is orchestrating his plan inside his mind. He is standing at the top of the stairs, his eyes stuck on his prey. The men have come here to remind him of his place and where he belongs; his place is right next to his father but it is not as easy as it seems. His father was the one who took his lover away, a crime he cannot forgive nor forget. Never. 

Thoughts travel once more in the past, his mind clouded with anger. They were planning on leaving that day, they wanted to have a new beginning together, to start a family. But his father had far too many eyes surrounding his son. He knew his every movement, his every thought, his every wish. 

"Father, please. I will not leave. Please do not hurt her."

His father was not pleased to see his only son falling under that woman's spell. He was convinced that the woman was a witch and she came to kill his son. 

"She cannot stay here, she cannot be around you"

Jungkook did not plan to lose her. He tried to run towards her but his father was too strong to fight him, he tossed Jungkook across the room like he was made out of feathers. The men holding her handed her a dagger, she willingly took it in her hands. Her eyes were dark, she was now lost under his father's spell. 

"Pierce your heart with that dagger. Do me this favour, will you?"

Jungkook's heart was beating so fast inside his chest, he could not believe his father could be so cruel towards the only person that made him happy for the first time in his life. He screamed your name louder than a thunder, so loud that he could feel he had you back for a second. 

"I love you" you whispered before piercing the dagger through your heart 

Jungkook could only remember crying for a few seconds before his whole world went black. He woke up with you in his arms, covered in blood and his father nowhere to be found. Losing you felt the same as losing his last piece of sanity. He never meant to become who he is today but not caring at all was the only way he could make it until today. 

He was missing you every day of his immortal life. He was missing your touch, your affection, your kindness, your eyes, your scent. You smelled of lilies and vanilla. Your scent felt like home. Your scent.. 

Jungkook could smell your scent. For a second he thought it was his mind playing tricks on him, the daydream being too real.

Jungkook runs down the stairs, his senses directing him towards that familiar scent, the scent of you. His steps lead him into his kitchen where he sees a young woman.

"My love" he whispers 

He can see a woman standing right in front of the sink, filling a glass of water before turning around. Jungkook's sudden presence scares her, the glass meeting the cold floor.

"I am so sorry, sir" 

It was you. When your eyes met his, he could tell. It was you.. After all this time he has found you again.

"Those eyes.. I could never forget those eyes." 

"Pardon me, sir, I cannot hear you" you say confused 

"You have her eyes" Jungkook says once more 

"I am sorry, sir, I cannot understand what you are saying" you add 

You cannot hear what Jungkook is talking about, you are embarrassed enough you have entered inside his kitchen like you own it. You are trying to carefully pick up the broken pieces when Jungkook touches your hand. 

Nothing can explain, nothing can put in words how you felt when his hand touched yours. A wave of euphoria and unbearable love filled up your heart. For a moment you forgot how to breathe, the time stopped and it was only Jungkook and you. Your eyes met and locked, the room was spinning but at the same time it stood still, it was you and him against the world. No sound could be heard except for his heartbeat. His eyes could see through your core but it did not scare you, his image was new to you and yet so familiar. How could one person make you feel so safe and happy when you do not even know them? 

You turn your eyes into another direction and try to make your way out of the kitchen. Something doesn't feel right, your heart aches to leave him behind. 

Jungkook is standing still at the same spot he was a second ago. 

"Do not tell me you do not feel what I feel right now" he tells you, his voice trembling with pain

"It is not my place to feel, I am promised to another man"

Jungkook looks at you, his eyes filled with grey skies, a wounded man walking towards you. And before he can protest against whatever it is to happen, you touch his face with both of your hands, eyes gazing into the depths of his soul.

"It is so strange.. It feels like I know you." 

You truthfully feel it, deep down you sense an emotion so strange, a newborn feeling.

 "I was waiting for you, for so long"

The new feelings are starting to become so unbearable, so hard for you to hold them inside your heart and in a desperate move you let them explode. More than anything you desire to kiss him and Jungkook senses it, he closes the space between your lips. He takes his time to taste you, a chaste, deep kiss is the beginning of your downfall inside his arms. He tastes so sweet that you ask for more, his tongue slowly swirling around yours. Jungkook is now under your skin, he has you where he wants you. 

"Do you love me?" he asks you but with no words 

Mind and soul scream yes.. Yes, you love him

"Do you need me?" 

Yes, you need him. 

That night Jungkook felt blessed to have found you, that night he spared his enemies' lives so you won't see him as a monster. He would rather wait, wait until he knows you could understand his reasoning behind being a killer. He needed you to understand how your beautiful siren ended up luring his victims into their death instead of luring them into paradise.

Days go by so slowly since you came to know the feeling of true love. Being around your fiance is nothing more than a routine to you. He is a lovely man who wants nothing more than to make you happy and it hurts you so much to betray him. Jimin has been a gentleman from the first day he was introduced to you, a truly beautiful man.

Every day you spend with Jimin, you feel falling out of love with him. The more you stay with him, the less happy you feel. You need Jungkook. The days you accidentally see him are the days you feel the happiest. The air around you seems lighter, your heart gets filled with strange emotions.  

You saw Jungkook yesterday at the library where he was reading a book. He was so far away from you, yet you had never felt closer to someone. With only one look, a sweet memory played like a song inside your mind. A melancholic song that only you and Jungkook could hear, one last chance to have you hear what his words may never be able to explain. 

The same dreams, the same memories, the same soul. Inside his thoughts, he let you walk among broken pieces of his mind, memories from when he was with someone he truly loved. It was like looking into a mirror once you saw her. The woman was crying and begging, nobody able to hear her. But she was not crying because of her fate; she was crying and begging for her lover's fate. Her heart was broken to see the man she fell in love with hurt. 

Jungkook was bleeding on the floor, so far away from her. Her mind was fighting her body but in vain. She wished she could go there, hold him inside her arms, tell him everything would be alright. She knew he was strong enough to overcome his physical pain, she was aware that her life was already over. What she wanted was to have a last chance to tell him how much she loved him, to touch him so he could feel everything was real and she never meant to harm him. 

It was true. She was a witch and she was there to kill Jungkook. Her mother demanded she ended his life with the dagger Jungkook's father made her end hers. She could not bear to tell the truth, she could not bear to see what would happen if his father's anger was to get directed towards Jungkook. 

She let go. She took her own life, willingly, no spells, no mind control. She smiled at Jungkook with her sweetest smile and told him she loved him. You could feel both of their hearts getting broken, a sharp pain into your heart breaking it in half. 

A deathless death. The immense pain Jungkook felt at that moment was enough to break the veil between the underworld and the earth. The woman was blessed with the chance to write her love into the stars, she was blessed to avenge her death and her lover's pain. Within seconds all of his father's men were lying on the floor, gasping for air but his father was lucky enough to slip from within her grasp. 

When the memories started fading away, you could feel your body giving up on you. It took all of your strength not to faint, Jungkook already by your side to hold you as if he knew you were exhausted from this experience. 

"I am sorry" is all you say before drifting off 

Sea of people, inside your dream there are so many people. No familiar faces to be seen, strangers among strangers, people passing you by and it starts being so difficult to breathe. The people around you start becoming shadows, fear consumes you bit by bit, no hope of getting out of here alive.

You close your eyes in hope of waking up from this nightmare when you feel a hand on your shoulder.

"You need to wake up" 

It's a familiar voice. You slowly open your eyes to see a woman standing right in front of you, her whole body radiating light, so bright that the shadows can barely be seen.

"He needs us. He needs you"  

The more you look at her, the more you can tell it is her. It must be her. 

She softly puts her hand in yours and you just knew, you knew what you had to do, you knew who you were, you knew what Jungkook meant to you. Her feelings are yours, you share the same soul. You had a second chance in love. All you needed to do was to open your eyes.

And once you do, you see him; Jungkook looking at you with the same look in his eyes when he first saw you. His voice calling your name, awakening your heart's desire to fall in love with him all over again. You have found your way back to him as you promised you always will.. 

Jungkook gives you his hand, offering you everything your heart has always wanted.

"Take my hand now" 

[arkus-rhapsode]

MHA Chapter 266 Discussion: The Character of Twice, His Arc, and What I think of Horikoshi’s Decision

So this is a post I wanted to wait on making. Not because I didn’t have anything to say. No, it was more that I wanted to let the recent events settle in. Because as of chapter 266, we have witnessed a big shake up in the world of MHA.

And I wanted to cover the character it concerns and discuss his history, as well as what I felt about it and if I agree with what Horikoshi decided to do.

Which is why I need to say that this is spoilers.

As it appears, Twice, one of the longest members of the League of Villains has died. Killed by Hawks in the raid on the Paranormal Liberation Front’s base. Twice was apparently a high profile target given his quirk’s power, with the hero association giving the order to Hawks to neutralize him.

Now this has... Upset some people. Twice is known to be one of the more beloved characters in the fandom. His Deadpool like antics coupled with his unabashed sincere personality had made him an easy to identify character. But he was more than that. And lets look back on that for a moment.

Twice was more than a villain, he was a character. He was more than just a obstacle that the protagonists would have to overcome. He wasn’t Muscular or Mustard, he had more layers to him.

In chapter 115, as the lead in to what would be the Yakuza arc, its Twice who narrates his own views on life and his own backstory. Why he is the way he is.

Its a gritty peak into Twice’s backstory. He’s someone who will never know if he’s real and the closest thing he has now to friends are the League of Villains.

This kinship he has and seeks plays a large role in the Yakuza arc, as Twice unintentionally causes the death of the League member, Magne. Unlike some villains who make a decision that backfires, Twice doesn’t do some “I swear revenge!” No, Twice blames himself. This was his friend and he got her killed.

He’s torn up. Hurt. Not made better by his previously mentioned fragil mental state. And in the end, gets to avenge Magne by ruining the Yakuza from the inside, leading to Overhaul’s defeat.

We next see the league in the fantastically done Meta Liberation Army arc, where Twice and the League are called out to fight the aptly named Meta Liberation Army. Twice is targeted by the Liberator, Skeptic, for his quirk. Twice’s double is powerful, but he limits himself due to his past.

Skeptic preys upon this and attacks Twice with clones of his own.

Twice breaks down as he’s practically helpless in this scenario and we see the beginning of Twice’s descent.

Twice’s fall into crime is much different from Toga and Shigaraki’s. Verbally acknowledged by ReDestro and Skeptic. Unlike Toga and Shigaraki whose destructive urges were exacerbated thanks to society, Twice was just a normal person who made wrong mistake and he just kept falling.

Skeptic’s puppets break Twice’s arms, yet doing so unintentionally answers Twice’s greatest question, he is in fact the real Twice. Twice, no longer afraid of his own powers develops the technique of Sad Man’s Parade, where he doubles himself ad infinitum. It overwhelms the Liberators and gives the League a fighting chance.

Now that Twice has finally achieved his answer for his identity, all that’s left for him is to now achieve his goal of being useful to his friends. Not only does he now have a place as one of the lieutenants of the Paranormal Liberation Front and a leader of the BLACK squad, but he has full control of his freakishly strong quirk.

He even reveals these feelings anxiously to Hawks, who he befriends in the Army.

Oh dear...

Yes, unfortunately, Twice has done it again and inadvertently put his friends in danger. He tries to fight back against Hawks but its ultimately not enough, not helped by the hideout of the PLF falling around them.

Hawks notes that Twice’s quirk makes him incredibly dangerous. Him being an enemy of society would surely be disastrous. He can either leave the PLF and reform or die. Well as I’ve pointed out, Twice is more than your typical villain. Twice genuinely cares for the people he’s with and will never betray them. Hawks is ultimately left with no choice but to end Twice.

This seems to be thrown into flux when Dabi enters the picture and gets Twice out, but Twice still has his goal. To be useful for his friends. Twice makes clones to assist Toga and Compress in the battle, yet that moment where he finally helps his friends, he is killed by Hawks.

I bring up that long recap not to remind you of the obvious, but rather to show you just why Twice would be a beloved character. Twice was more than just someone with an identifiable personality and design that the head canon community could latch onto. Twice was a character, a damn good one at that. Its easy to see how he would garner a fanbase.

Which is why I do not blame anyone for being upset at his death. He was a fully fleshed out character. And this is ultimately the reason why I was okay with his death.

Twice was a character, and like all good characters, he had an arc. Horikoshi is made quite a unique cast of villains when they seem to be evolving alongside the heroes. They were truly antagonists, an opposing force to the protagonists.

Yet with an arc comes closure. Every character who goes along the path of their arc is trying to reach a goal, their story will end when that goal is achieved. As previously seen in the first ever look into Twice’s past, he is haunted by the question of “Is he the real Jin or just a clone?”

Twice lives in a fragile state of fearing he is not real and will vanish if he’s hurt too much. This erratic thinking contributes to the his own incompetence. Making bad decisions that ultimately hurt those around him and send him downwards. Twice is clearly bothered by those kinds of mistakes, evident by his own past before his choice to become a criminal.

But when Twice finally got his answer of if he was real or not, then he was already half way down with his journey. All there was left was for him to become useful? What was Hori gonna do? Have Twice become hyper competent? Use that hideously overpowered quirk of his to constantly give the villains an edge. When they already have Gigantomachia, a Nomu creating doctor, quirk killer bullets, etc?

Or was Twice going to keep making mistakes? This gubber in the army of society toppling villains? Was he just gonna be a joke to be exploited?

Well we got our answer, Twice does finally get to be useful to his friends, but all too in character does it comes with bad luck. Twice achieved his final goal, but only through self destruction.

To me, this was the best way for the character to go out. His story was done, and instead having him hang around and take up space or force Horikoshi into a corner, he was removed. But if removal was what was called for, couldn’t Horikoshi simply put Twice in jail like Stain?

Well no. Unlike Stain who still has unfinished business, I don’t think simply Twice helping his friends but getting caught would work with the Twice wanting to be useful. He would now be a new burden. With his erratic behavior, he could unintentionally spill the beans about the PLF and put his friends in danger. And being locked in a cage would keep him from being to help them from that blunder.

I think fitting with Twice’s bad luck, the time he is finally useful, would be the time people finally were able to stop worrying about him. And the only way to do that was through his demise.

Now there are those also unhappy with the fact that this seems like Horikoshi was trying to remove him because Twice would be too much of a force to defeat in battles. This would be especially wasteful of given he had just gotten his power up. Now this is where I have to give speculation, so forgive me for theorizing against that legitimate criticism.

You’d be right, it is wasteful, yet I do believe Horikoshi has bigger plans to not let Twice’s power go to waste. In the Meta Liberation arc, it was more than Twice who got a power-up, but so did Toga. Toga had gained the power to mimic the power of those who’s blood she had taken. Not just their form.

During the Yakuza arc, Twice and Toga were paired together, with his final act being to protect Toga. It would not be a stretch that due to their connection, Toga would make it so that Twice could live through her. But thanks to her limitation of her quirk to take other forms, it would make an added limitation to Twice’s quirk.

As I said, I can only offer speculation on that, but if Horikoshi intends to go that route, then bravo. But even beyond that, I still agree with this decision. I would rather see a character I love have closure and finality than artificially lengthened to match the series run time.

But if you’re still upset or mad at Horikoshi at what he did, I don’t blame you. As I hope I made painstakingly clear, Twice was a character worth feeling something for and Hori was an author who gave that character life. People should be sombre or angry or satisfied, because Hori made a character worth feeling anything about.

Now maybe you understand everything that I’ve written already, but just because you understand what Hori is going for doesn’t mean you agree with it. That was my reaction to Deku having multiple quirks. I understood what Hori was doing and get what he was going for, but I don’t agree with it as I thought it hurt the story more than helped it. For some reading this chapter, they probably felt the same.

I can’t offer any words to change that view if you have it. It is yours. But as for me, I think Horikoshi made an incredible character, and like all good characters he had an arc, and like all good stories, Twice’s story ended with his arc. But the story of MHA is still hasn’t ended yet.

[shinobirain24]

Jupiter Vasilias Quotes

Vs. Winter Schnee

1) Jupiter: Your grandfather had made a huge mistake letting your father take over the company. He is nothing but a weak and pathetic fool.

Winter: Grandfather has regretted his mistakes. But You don't have any right to judge him.

Jupiter: I'll make sure Uranus' wishes are fulfilled when I take the whole military down.

2) Winter: Even what we did was wrong. I still believed you and your friends can be saved.

Jupiter: I ain't buying your crap. I am done with a fool of a military, Schnee.

Winter: I tried reasoning with you, but you have lost your ways as a huntsman.

3) Winter: No matter what you throw at me, you still have my respects for your pride.

Jupiter: I don't want your pity. I want vengeance on the evils your army has brought upon Mantle.

Winter: Vengeance won't solve anything.

4) Winter: You and your grandfather are nothing but kings of deception. For rebelling against the military.

Jupiter: I can say the same about you, Ice Demon. Now I can accomplish for what Grandfather Uranus has failed from the start.

Winter: If Nicholas has stopped him before, than I'll stop you as well before you can start another rebellion.

5) Jupiter: It's amazing of how your bloodline survive in this time.

Winter: Then how did my ancestors get wiped out so easily?

Jupiter: Simple, your bloodline is all snow and no ice.

Vs. Arthur Watts

1) Watts: Shame that your talents are wasted in Haven.

Jupiter: I am forever grateful for your guarantee of my accomplishments, doctor.

Watts: Then show me what you have, Jupiter.

2) Watts: Jupiter, you traitor! And to think I have erased your memories completely!

Jupiter: You are a fool to think you have us played for your mind games. I'm done being your puppet.

Watts: You'll regret this, boy.

Vs. Yang Xiao Long

1) Yang: Throwing away your own family?! To work for Salem?! That's low!

Jupiter: Trust me, having your loved ones, makes you weak.

Yang: You reminded me of the person who left me behind since birth.

2) Jupiter: So you're Raven Branwen's daughter. I could see the resemblance.

Yang: At least, I'm better off without her. She's also the reason your brother could've been killed had we not stop the traitors from blowing up Haven.

Jupiter: Trust me, I regret every moment when I threw away my past.

Vs. Neptune Vasilias

1) Neptune: First you almost drowned me. Now you betrayed us?

Jupiter: I only did it to toughen you up, little bro.

Neptune: Not an excuse for working with Salem.

2) Jupiter: Join me, Neptune. And together, we can take out any enemy that stand in our way.

Neptune: Bro, what posses you to go insane?

Jupiter: Vengeance, that's what. I did it for the good of Remnant, little bro.

3) Neptune: What did Weiss ever do to you?!

Jupiter: Her sister is part the reason I ended up in Salem's hellhole in the first place.

Neptune: Weiss has nothing to do with this. It's best if you leave her out of this. Revenge is never the answer.

4) Neptune: Jupiter, please. You don't have to do this.

Jupiter: There's nothing you can do now, little bro.

Neptune: Then as your brother. I will save you from yourself.

5) Jupiter: You and that Schnee? Really, Neptune?

Neptune: Say whatever you want. Weiss is a snow angel who I will always stood by her side.

Jupiter: This is what split our brotherhood in the first place.

6) Jupiter: You belong with the tribe.

Neptune: I belong with my team, bro.

Jupiter: Our blood goes to the tribe, not to anyone else.

Vs. Cinder Fall

1) Cinder: The son of Saturn Vasilias working under her grace. How interesting.

Jupiter: Know this, Fall. I don't take orders from you. And as a Black Viper, I bow to no one.

Cinder: You forget that I am the Fall Maiden.

2) Cinder: Why won't you stay dead!

Jupiter: Because I hope you will drop dead first. I won't be the last Vasilias alive.

Cinder: We'll just see about that, Vasilias.

3) Jupiter: Today's the day you will pay for your crimes, Fall! And this time, you will die.

Cinder: And whose going to stop me? I already killed the previous Fall Maiden. Not even Winter Schnee can defeat me.

Jupiter: Even if you're the Fall Maiden, I won't let you get away with the people you murdered. Feel the wrath of my semblance!

Vs Sun Wukong

1) Sun: I haven't forgotten the time Neptune told me you threw him into the water.

Jupiter: I did it for his own good.

Sun: How will you feel if you lost him?

2) Jupiter: I thanked you for looking after my brother, Sun.

Sun: I am more of a brother to Neptune than you'll ever be.

Jupiter: You're right. I was a terrible brother after what happened when he's 4 years old.

3) Sun: One thing I hate about traitors, is when they are deceivers.

Jupiter: Deception is one way to victory.

Sun: You Black Vipers are worst than the White Fang.

Vs. Ruby Rose

1) Jupiter: I don't have anything against you, kid. But don't get in my way.

Ruby: Stop pushing everyone away, we can take out Salem together.

Jupiter: It's like Raven said. There is no stopping Salem.

2) Ruby: What you're doing is not right. I can understand the pain you felt, but that's no excuse for hurting everyone you deemed responsible.

Jupiter: I did what should've been done years ago. Then my friends and I wouldn't be in this mess.

Ruby: Then we will stop you.

3) Jupiter: Are you in any relation to Summer Rose?

Ruby: That's my mom's name, why?

Jupiter: We have a lot to talk about, but first, a test.

Vs. Weiss Schnee

1) Jupiter: You stay away from my brother, Schnee. I won't let you manipulate him like your father has on every person.

Weiss: I would never do such a thing to him. I realized my wrongs, and at least Neptune sees me for who I am, unlike you.

Jupiter: What does my brother see in you?

2) Weiss: If anyone's to blame for what happened to the mines, it's my father.

Jupiter: Not once your sister has proven his incompetence.

Weiss: Still, be glad I put him in prison. And leave Winter out of this.

3) Weiss: You're the reason why Neptune was hurt in the first place.

Jupiter: Since when do you care? All I know is that you Schnees are heartless.

Weiss: That's because I met the people who changed my life for the better.

4) Jupiter: Don't expect me to give you a blessing for my brother.

Weiss: Would it really bother you if your future nieces and nephews are Schnee by blood?

Jupiter: Now you have gone too far.

Vs. Qrow Branwen

1) Qrow: Kid, please don't do this to your old man.

Jupiter: Dad was too soft. I got pride as a huntsmen.

Qrow: That doesn't mean you get to do whatever you want.

2) Qrow: I get where you're coming from. But I left the Branwen Tribe after seeing its true nature.

Jupiter: Raven was right. You have gotten too soft.

Qrow: I don't have to push my nieces to become huntsmen.

3) Jupiter: My tribe will reign over society.

Qrow: What has that gramps of your been doing to brainwash you?

Jupiter: Seeing me as worthy for his position as the next leader of the Vasilias Tribe.

4) Qrow: I don't even like the Ice Queen either. But this won't do any good if you keep up with this rivalry

Jupiter: Winter Schnee is my enemy, not my rival.

Qrow: Guess you're in for a rough day.

Vs. Uranus Vasilias

1) Uranus: Jupiter, welcome.

Jupiter: So you accept me as part of the tribe, Grandfather?

Uranus: Your father, my son, is too weak. But as my grandson, you never inherit his bleeding heart. You're definitely the next heir to the tribe.

2) Jupiter: I desired the position as one of your generals, Grandfather. Then we can take out the Schnees and the miliarty together and then Atlas will be yours.

Uranus: First comes first. Prove it to me.

Jupiter: I will gladly accept your challenge.

3) Uranus: Your little brother has been proven to be a weakling to embrace his lineage.

Jupiter: Geez, just take it easy old man. He's only trying his best.

Uranus: How long are you going too soft on him?

4) Uranus: Your mother was the reason your father left the tribe.

Jupiter: Hadn't been for her. I wouldn't be here to fight with you.

Uranus: How should I trust you?

Vs. Blake Belladonna

1) Blake: You Vipers are no different than the White Fang.

Jupiter: Unlike the White Fang. Us Vipers only kill criminals, not innocence.

Blake: That still counts as a crime you know.

2) Jupiter: I'll help you take out the White Fang if you join us, Belladonna.

Blake: And take unnecessary actions. No thanks.

Jupiter: If I win, you'll join us.

Vs. Mercury Black.

1) Mercury: I never killed a Vasilias before.

Jupiter: I'll make sure you this is your last day on Remnant, Assassin's Spawn.

Mercury: You're going to regret calling me that.

2) Jupiter: You just fallen into the wrong crowd, Black.

Mercury: So what? At least our queen has given me the respect I deserve. Unlike my old man.

Jupiter: Enjoy it while it last, it won't last long.

3) Mercury: I'll make sure you and the coward drown in seas together.

Jupiter: One more word about my brother, or my family, and I will send you to the same place you sent your father, Marcus.

Mercury: Don't compare me to that deadbeat!

Vs. Emerald Sustrai

1) Jupiter: Ditch Cinder and Salem, and we promise you a place with the Black Vipers.

Emerald: Then what? Use me like how Cinder did?

Jupiter: Things will be different now that she is gone.

2) Emerald: What did you do to Mercury?!

Jupiter: Giving him the punishment he deserved.

Emerald: It's his dad's fault for him being like this!

Vs. Jaune Arc

1) Jaune: What do you want from me?

Jupiter: Offering you a position in the Black Vipers to help you take your Vengeance for your friend.

Jaune: That's not what Pyrrha would do.

2) Jupiter: Vengeance will bring justice to the lost innocent souls.

Jaune: That was true once. But for Pyrrha's sake, there are other ways.

Jupiter: Then I guess you of all the students are too much of a pacifist.

3) Jupiter: So you refused to take vengeance on Cinder?

Jaune: She'll get what's coming. But I won't go insane like you are.

Jupiter: I couldn't help but feel sorry for you.

Vs. Lie Ren

1) Ren: I understand your pain and sorrow for your eldest brother, but taking matters into your own hands will not bring him back.

Jupiter: Pluto will have his justice when I'm done with Salem.

Ren: Then I guess there is no other way to stop you.

2) Jupiter: With your semblance, we can take out any corrupted soul in Remnant.

Ren: I will not use my semblance for personal gain.

Jupiter: Your loss.

Vs. Adam Taurus

1) Jupiter: You and I despise Cinder.

Adam: That doesn't make us allies, human.

Jupiter: Think of all the freedom you can obtain for your people.

2) Adam: You'll help me eliminate Cinder?

Jupiter: That woman needs to be destroyed for all the hell she put us through.

Adam: Make it soon, Jupiter.

3) Adam: You Black Vipers betrayed us!

Jupiter: And you, Adam, are next in my hit list.

Adam: I'll cut every last of you Vipers alive.

Vs. James Ironwood

1) Ironwood: Where is your pride as a huntsman?

Jupiter: That died down because of you, Ironwood.

Ironwood: I have my regret too, but what is done is done.

2) Jupiter: Look at you! The great General Ironwood, failure and the real villain of Atlas!

Ironwood: One day, I hope you can accept my apology for not realizing you were framed.

Jupiter: Your death will be enough for me to be satisfied.

3) Jupiter: You had enough brainwashing your students to play soldier for one day.

Ironwood: It was only for the benefit of my students to protect Atlas.

Jupiter: What about the rest of Remnant?

4) Jupiter: You don't deserve the ranks of General for your cowardice.

Ironwood: At least I'll die saving the kingdom I was born in.

Jupiter: In the end, people are going to see who the real traitor is.

Vs. Natalie Andromeda

1) Natalie: Come to me, you handsome criminal.

Jupiter: Sorry, not a fan of people from the Atlesian Military like you.

Natalie: Aww, you reject me, Jupiter?

2) Jupiter: When are you going to stop chasing me, Natalie?

Natalie: Not until you're mine.

Jupiter: Not a chance.

3) Natalie: Do you know what happens when handsome men like you commit a crime?

Jupiter: That I don't want to think about.

Natalie: I give them a punishment.

4) Natalie: Under Specialist Schnee's orders, you're coming with me.

Jupiter: And forever salute to that Schnee? No thanks.

Natalie: I am not going to take no for an answer.

Vs. Salem

1) Salem: So you decided to not take vengeance against the people who wronged you?

Jupiter: The only one who is going to die today, is you, you witch.

Salem: Did you forget I am immortal?

2) Jupiter: You're the reason Pluto is gone in the first place!

Salem: His semblance threatens my common vision for the end of humanity.

Jupiter: I'll struck you till you're nothing but dust and bones!

3) Jupiter: I have you and Watts played for a bunch of fools like you.

Salem: And who was it that I have taken from you, boy?

Jupiter: Pluto Vasilias, my brother!

Jupiter: Why did my ancestors disappeared from there?

4) Jupiter: You may have taken my memories, but you will never have my soul.

Salem: Hahaha, I killed your brother.

Jupiter: Prepare to take your last breathe.

Vs. Nora Valkyrie

1) Jupiter: Out of my way, kid.

Nora: Shock me all you want. Cause I am juiced!

Jupiter: You're kidding me, right?

2) Jupiter: You wouldn't apprehend a fellow huntsman, would ya?

Nora: Sorry, Lightning boy! But you're going down!

Jupiter: I can keep those up all night.

3) Nora: Get out of my way, or I'll break your legs!

Jupiter: Geez, what has gotten you worked up?

Nora: They don't call me Beast Rider Nora for nothing!

Vs. Mars Vasilias

1) Mars: Hello there, Father.

Jupiter: I never knew I had a son.

Mars: You abandoned me when I was baby!

2) Jupiter: I never thought you would stoop this low.

Mars: You will address me as Emperor of Remnant.

Jupiter: You will address me as the Azure Storm of Vengeance.

3) Mars: I freed humanity.

Jupiter: Wrong, you enslaved them all.

[creativeskullcreations]

HTaHHQ: Episode 2: The Return

Second episode of this series right here!:D

Chapter 11 of Outside will be up in two weeks, on Monday.

True to what Mortimer had promised, Stacy did not have to interact  with any of the Puppets when she went back to the studio. Instead she  swept the floors, or helped in the cafeteria. The few times she did  interact with the cast, it was the humans she talked to and did things  for.

Not that she never saw the Puppets, of course. They were  always there, and sometimes she couldn't help but watch as they recorded  their show. Not often, of course, as Lydia almost always had her doing  something else somewhere else. But sometimes, she thought could feel  them watching her, too, and it creeped her out a little bit.

But,  Stacy ignored it, and pretended that Puppets were just that, puppets.  That there were human actors controlling them, and they weren't haunted  or possessed or whatever was going on with them. It helped a little, but  she still couldn't get rid of the nagging fear that lurked in the back  of her mind at all times. So she simply avoided them.

On the  Puppets end, they did their part to stay away from the girl. None of  them were particularly happy about it, Riley especially. But they still  loyally followed what Mortimer told them to do. Just as they had always  done.

All but one, of course.

Scout, personally, didn't see  what the big deal was about Stacy. The human was cool, in her opinion,  and she didn't understand why she had to stay away from her in  particular. And so, a week after their first meeting, the small Hand  Puppet made her move.

Stacy was currently in one of the closets,  grabbing some props off the shelves to put in boxes for one of the  others to take to the sets. It was an easy task, to just grab what was  on the list and drop it in the proper box. She actually enjoyed it until  she grabbed a fake book off the shelf, to be met face to face with a  Hand Puppet.

"Stacy!" She shouted, causing the girl to give a  yell, stumbling back. The Puppet launched herself towards her, and she  dropped the book in her scramble to catch her.

"Uh, Scout?" Stacy  blinked, shifting the smaller being to her left arm so she could pick  the prop back up and put it in the box. "Uh..."

"What are doing right now?" Scout asked, voice serious.

"Uh...  working?" Stacy did not know where this was going, and wondered if it  would be rude to just drop the Puppet back on the shelf. She didn't get a  chance to, though, when she spoke up again.

"Nope! You're coming  with me. See that up there?" Scout pointed, and Stacy looked up to see a  large open vent, just a large square of darkness set into the ceiling.

"Um..!"  She wasn't sure what to say as the Puppet jumped from her arms and  started climbing the shelving unit. "Scout, wait!" With a quick glance  to the door, she scrambled up after the Puppet, groaning when she  disappeared into the vent. With a bit of work, she managed to pull  herself up into the vent, which was as dark as she'd feared.

"Scout!"  She whispered, and got a face full of light when the Puppet popped up  in front of her. She muffled a cry as she fell back, rubbing at her  eyes.

"What?" The Puppet asked, impatient. Her hands were on her  "hips", and if she had them, Stacy was sure she'd be tapping a foot. Her  eyes were lit up like a flashlight, much to the girl's surprise, though  it made sense in hindsight. The toys in the lobby were also  flashlights, and Scout did seem to be based on them.

"We shouldn't  be up here! We could get in trouble!" Stacy whispered. She went to grab  her, but was surprised when Scout instead scrambled up her arm to flop  over her shoulder, weird flashlight eyes pointed forward.

"It's  fine. I come up here all the time. Nobody's gonna know." She brushed off  the concern. "Now, come on! I wanna show you something!"

Stacy  hesitated for only a moment, then followed Scout's direction. She  clunked uneasily through the large vent, flinching away and hurrying or  outright stopping whenever it creaked. Every time Scout shouted out  encouragements of how it wouldn't break, things were fine and could you  just move already?!

And every time Stacy frantically shushed her,  worried that someone would hear. But even then Stacy found herself  having some fun with it. She even started to lighten up a little on the  shushing as they traveled, though she made sure to be quiet herself.

All  in all, the trip was going quite well, until they wandered over a  grate. As Stacy crawled, a voice rose up in a shriek that made her jump,  hitting her head against the top of the shaft.

"You incompetent  fools! Tell me now, where are my tools?!" Stacy jerked away from the  grate, scrambling back and covering her mouth to muffle a terrified  squeak. The noise it made seemed to be unnoticed by those below.

"Look,  doc, we're just waiting on the kid to get back-" Someone, maybe Bill,  tried to say, but was interrupted by the sound of rubber on wood.

"Do  not make excuses for your incompetence!" The Puppet snarled out as  Stacy quickly crossed over the grate. "And do not blame others because  your work is less than decent!"

They quickly went away from the  budding argument, Stacy struggling to crawl with one hand as the other  was clamped firmly over her mouth. She didn't move it until they could  no longer hear the shouting. Scout watched her silently, thinking back  to what she'd been overhearing.

"You know," The Puppet started. "you don't have to be scared of-"

"I'm  not scared!" Stacy snapped quietly, fear morphing to anger in an  instant. She felt a little bad when Scout recoiled, but not enough to  apologize.

"Okay! Geez! Don't bite my head off..." She mumbled,  but the girl ignored her so she didn't say anything else. Instead she  just pointed out which way to got whenever the reached an intersection,  and the two kept silent otherwise.

It went on like that for a  while, and just when Stacy was starting to get annoyed, Scout hopped off  and scrambled towards a grate. "Right here!" She yelled. She undid a  screw, and the grate swung down. Scout jumped down before Stacy could  grab her, leaving her no choice but to follow.

As she looked down  through the hole, she saw that the room below looked like a colorful  playroom. Pillows were everywhere, there was a TV, and various toys all  over the floor. A very short table sat in the middle of the room, in  front of the TV, with a few plastic dishes on it.

Stacy dropped  through, hanging briefly from her right hand so she could plan her  landing better. Even then she still tipped back an fell down into a  crumpled sitting position. She rubbed at her back with a groan. "Ugh,  Scout..."

"Who the heck are you?!" Looking up, Stacy saw in front  of her another Hand Puppet, the exact same size as Scout. This one had a  longer nose, pale-flesh-colored "skin" and blue hair pulled into  pigtails. She was also glaring at the girl, which was a little  disconcerting.

"Uh.." Was her only reply. Luckily, Scout spoke up, saving her from having to think of an actual answer.

"That's  Stacy! I told you about her, remember Canon?" The purple haired Puppet  spoke up from behind the other, holding a small stuffed bear.

"Canon" looked between the human and Puppet, then glared harder. "And you brought her here?!"

"Yeah?"  She gave such a flippant answer, Stacy almost laughed in response. She  didn't, though, as she noticed at least two other Hand Puppets watching  them from a nearby bookshelf. One had orange hair and yellow skin, while  the other had red hair and a similar, bluish skin to Scout.

It  was the second one that leapt down, yelling. "Scout you idiot! You know  humans aren't allowed in here! You're going to get us all in trouble!  Again!"

"No I won't!" Scout insisted, but Red just yelled louder.

"Yes, you will!"

Stacy  just tuned them out at that point, standing up and brushing offer her  shorts. As she straightened up, she was smacked in the face by a fifth  Puppet. This one had green hair and orange skin, and was, oddly enough,  hanging from the ceiling fan.

"Hey." He grinned when she caught  him instinctively. What ever he was hanging from was long enough it  didn't impede the fan as it spun around, simply sliding along the blade  as it went. Without even thinking about it she untied him, setting him  on her shoulder where Scout had been to tug the remainder of his...  parachute? off of the fan. As she searched for a place to put it, the  yellow Puppet jumped to her other shoulder, and Stacy had to scramble to  catch her.

"Hey." The green puppet patted her cheek. "Put it over  there. That's where my stuff goes." He pointed to a box in the corner,  and when Stacy crouched to put the parachute in he slipped off her  shoulder and crawled inside, pulling it after him.

Hey! Human!"  Stacy turned, seeing that Red and Scout had stopped arguing, instead  glaring at the floor while Canon "stood" between them. "You have to  leave. Now."

"Aw, come on sis! She just got here!" The green one  said, coming back out of the box. Stacy picked him up and brought him  over to the other three. "Besides, she helped me down when you refused  to."

"We left you up there because you're not supposed to jump  from the top of the bookshelf!" Canon hissed. She then pointed to Stacy.  "And you! Put them down! We're not toys you can just carry around!"

Stacy  quickly crouched to put the two Puppets on the floor, even as Scout  protested it. "Uh, Canon. We kinda are." Canon turned on Scout, an  annoyed look on her face.

"Shut. Up." She ground out, making the purple haired Puppet shrink back.

"I  see no reason why she can not stay." The yellow and orange Puppet spoke  up from where Stacy had put her. "Her arrival certainly made this a  very unique day."

"Yeah, what Stitch said!" The green Puppet insisted. "Come on Canon, let her stay!"

"Please." Scout piped up, somehow making puppy dog eyes. Canon did her best not to look, but eventually she sighed.

"Fine." She told them. "But if mom finds out, I am not helping any of you."

But,  she was ignored as Scout hurried back over to Stacy and the green  haired Puppet cheered. "Yes! I'm Bonzai. That's Stitch, and that over  there is Bit." He pointed to the yellow and red Puppets respectively.  "Welcome to the Playroom!"

"Uh, cool?" Stacy had no clue what to  do with this. She was hopeful they really would kick her out, if only so  she wouldn't get in trouble for shirking her duties. Then again, why  look a gift horse in the mouth "My name's Stacy. It's a pleasure to meet  you!" She smiled as sincerely as she could, and to her luck they all  seemed to buy it. "So, what do you guys usually do in here?"

"Everything!" Scout exclaimed. "It's so boring! And we're not allowed to leave until all the humans are gone!"

"Yeah!"  Bonzai agreed. "And even then, we can't go past the hallway. We might  get "lost". Pfft, lame." He rolled his eyes, crossing his arms and  looking very put out.

"Oh. Uh..." Should she offer to sneak them  out? Or would she just get in big trouble. She liked Scout, but did she  like her enough to risk trouble for her?

"Perhaps she could give  us a story? We already know all the ones here, so they're quite boring."  Stitch piped up, saving the girl from having to make an offer.

"Oh.  Uh..." Stacy tried to think of a story, but she drew a blank. "Have you  guys ever seen Star Wars?" It was the only thing she could think of,  and only because she'd watched all the movies with Danny over the course  of a week. He had loved it, of course, though he kept comparing her to  Luke, much to her own annoyance.

"No." "Nope!" "Why would stars have a war?" Okay. Stacy could definitely work with this.

"Well, you see, on a farm far off in a desert on another planet..."

And  it went on from there, with Stacy telling the small beings the story in  a way she felt they would understand. While at first she was just  speaking the words, eventually she got into it enough that she was  acting out the battles. Making the blaster and saber noises, showing off  the moves, even doing some of the voices. All while the Puppets watched  with rapt attention, like they'd never seen anything more entertaining.

"-and  so Luke comes out onto the catwalk, where he can see Kenobi and Vader  battling it out! It's epic! It's awesome! Sabers are flashing, and the  two are jumping around like crazy!" She held in her hands a cardboard  tube, covered in colorful ribbons. she wasn't sure where she got it  from, but it was helpful in showing off the light-saber battle.

"What  happened next?!" Bonzai gasped. He especially was really into it,  although she held all the Puppets' attention. Their eyes tracked the  tube as she waved it around.

"Well, Luke watched them fighting for  a moment, and for a second, it looks like Kenobi's gonna win! But then  Vader takes his Saber and he-!" She flinched as the door suddenly banged  open dropping the tube and leaping back. As one, the Puppets turned to  look at who ever had entered their room.

It was Daisy, glaring  with motherly fury at the tiny Hand Puppets. "Which one of you-" She  couldn't even get the whole question out before the other four Hand  Puppets pointed at Scout, who shrunk back from the larger Puppet. "Of  course it was you."

She wheeled forward, collapsing her stand to  scoop up the purple haired Puppet. "Aw, c'mon Mom. I wanna know what  happened next!" She whined.

"No, Scout." She raised back up and  fixed Stacy with a Mom Look. "And Sugar, if you could come out here with  me. There's something I need to ask you." And then she left, heading  into the next room with Scout.

"Oooooh, somebody's in trouble~" Bit cackled, until Canon smacked the back of her head, turning on her flashlight. "Ow!"

"Don't  be mean, Bit!" She scolded quietly. Stacy ignored that, instead  debating if she could run through and avoid Daisy altogether. But, then  again, she didn't know where exactly they were, and she'd only get more  lost if she tried that.

So, she took a deep breath, and left Scout's brother and sisters to their bickering, softly closing the door behind her.

[thetaoofbetty]

I agree with every word you said, especially about not a punishment but a gift. But I don't think writers will make Jughead forgives Betty that easy. I bet they will drag with angst to serve dramatic purpose...even if they get back together after breakup I bet there will be lots of tears on the way. BTW, did you see Ted's recent reply to fan? Sadly he's gonna be a part of season 5 again. I desperately wanted him fired from Riverdale after pulling stunts like that toward fans.

Hello you magical meringue! 

I mean, don’t get me wrong, I think there’d be dramatic purpose and angst to it. Well, as much as those writers are capable of anyhow. 

I have been viscerally uncomfortable with the anger directed towards a fictional character as if she has had any agency in her own destruction for the last few days, tbh. This is not how I want to see women responding to something engineered by men. 

If you’re mad at Betty, that’s okay! That’s valid! Be as mad as you want to be but don’t forget that in the end, she’s simply a puppet of the people behind her. Her fictional actions don’t thrill me but the blame sitting on her shoulders when Archie was right there with her but I don’t see his name in articles about it bother me just as much. 

Femininity is a punishable offense in our society. Even by other women. Sometimes especially by other women. 

Veronica’s character arcs are often dictated by the choices of the men around her. Betty’s either punished by the actions of the men around her or she’s held responsible for their choices and these are the just the two female main characters. It’s disappointing. 

I did see his response. It’s embarrassing. He should be ashamed and embarrassed of himself for acting like that and if I were his boss, I’d fire him for not only being incompetent but being so out of touch with the demographic and brand, I’d be the previous work experience he leaves off of his resume. 

Back to Betty: 

I’m not saying she’s blameless. I’m not saying she shouldn’t have to put forth the effort to earn Jughead’s trust. If Jughead said, “I want access to your phone and I’d prefer you don’t talk to Archie until I feel like I can trust you” I wouldn’t go up in arms because he wants to be in her phone or is seemingly dictating who she can and can’t talk to, she can agree to it or not. 

Her free will isn’t being dictated there. She’s making a conscious choice to show her remorse by proving herself as trustworthy to the person she wronged. There seems to be this disconnect where people either think women are the core of every problem or women are incapable of being wrong and making mistakes. They simply forget that women are, indeed, human. 

I just think there’s a line between earning forgiveness and trust. And people are treating them as if they’re in a knot tangled with revenge and that will never sit well with me. 

Thanks for the ask, lovely! 💜

[shadowtagged]

about that gaiden content :   @logicusage asked, so here we go  ~ 

disclaimer: this info was accumulated from HERE, and the OP’s source is a korean version of gaiden, so some details may have been lost / changed in translation. also, gaiden is apparently REAL COMPLICATED and big chunks / details were left out by the OP in these summaries, so i’m not entirely sure on some events and their timeline. the OP did include page numbers tho, so i’m using those to put together things chronologically. 

PS. GAIDEN SPOILERS AHEAD !!

TIMELINE THINGS

gaiden takes place 1 - 2 years prior to the main storyline.

tsu has been putting up with ayatsuji’s shit for about 2 years when gaiden takes place. 

The case of Reigo Island happened about 5 years prior to canon  ( i’m assuming that means gaiden canon, not bsd main canon ). this case is why ayatsuji fell under gov surveillance and it’s also the case involving tsu’s mother’s death. ( more on this DRAMA LAMA below ).

THE CASE OF REIGO ISLAND

The case of Reigo Island is a serial murder case, where the residents of the island apparently killed tourists for their money and somehow disguised it as the victim’s staying on the island for prolonged amounts of time. 

The case involved 17 culprits, all were said to be killed by ayatsuji’s ability -- including tsu’s mother. 

In actuality, there was an 18th culprit, who actually orchestrated the whole thing. they are called the ‘engineer’. 

Not entire sure on this point, but apparently Aya failed to deduced the Engineer’s crimes because he had already left the island by the time Aya arrived, so the Engineer remains the only living survivor of that case and tsu is out to get him. Well, mostly just to ask him a question.

and that question is :    “ If my mother was an evil murderer, I will throw her out of my heart. If she was nothing more than your puppet, I ahve to seek revenge against Ayatsuji-sensei for having murdered my poor mother under your control. Did my mother dirty her own hands? Or did she only help in your plans? “  ( my little tsuji-squared heart go brrrr )

GAIDEN STORY BITS   (  listed chronologically, i think  )

at some point  --  definitely AFTER the reaper manifests for the first time, but i think a whole ton of other stuff occurred in between  ( likely still involving tsu and her ability tho )  --  stuff happened which lead to Aya escaping the gov and go rogue. 

aya calls tsu after he goes rogue and he  LIES  tells her that he can’t stand left because he can’t stand being chained down by petty underlings of the gov and that he can’t stand being associated with such incompetent people. tsu, of course, gets all kinds of emotional about it calls him irresponsible and blames his irresponsibility for her mother’s death.

after aya went rogue, ango straight up asked tsu if she would be able to shoot + kill aya and she said  “ of course ”

meanwhile, tsu is trying to process things / put things together on why aya left and she realizes that SHE was the one with murderous intent when she apparently RAN OVER someone  ( i’m thinking technically it was her ability and not her, but i’m not entirely sure. )  and aya left to prevent tsu from being killed by his ability. 

in the end, tsu realizes that she can’t shoot aya.  cause she love him too much.

aya apparently goes to challenge kyogoku again on that same mountain + waterfall area from the very beginning of gaiden, but aya’s being chased by the gov this time, which tsu believes puts him at a disadvantage. 

tsu runs and runs and RUNS up that moutain in order to get to aya and save him. --  and to tell him something.   probably, that she loves him.

but tsu doesn’t make it in time. when she gets there, ango is already pointing a gun at aya’s head, thanking aya for his service to the gov before shooting him in the head THREE TIMES. 

tsu breaks down over aya’s death.

at some point after aya’s death, tsu gets into a life-threatening situation of her own. there’s a gun pointed at her head  ( i think ? )  and she’s bleeding out and calling out to her mom AND AYA and guess who answers her call ?? 

that’s right it’s aya. he’s not dead. he just enjoys torturing tsu. 

tsu actually confronts aya, asking him why he left the gov’s surveillance for her / to save her and of course aya is a brat about it saying that he wouldn’t go that far for her. but in the end he confesses that he knew it was tsu’s ability that was the murderer and not tsu.  ( i’m not sure if this is referencing the police force that tsu accidently killed or someone else ?? and if it’s someone else, I’M SO INTRIGUED !!  )  and he only pretended to leave the gov in order to catch the real culprit off guard. 

aya mentions something about  ‘ retraining ‘  tsu and tsu threatens to push him off the cliff again.  ( this is v important plot point, i swear. ) 

apparently aya and ango collaborated on how to fake aya’s death and they purposely left tsu out of the plan cause  ( like chuu )  her expressions are far too readable sometimes. all the time.  i love her sm.  

TSUJI-SQUARED EVIDENCE

these two idiots are in love and in this essay i will -- 

aya lost his cool when tsu was being barraged by bullets  ( and was having a momentary freak out that caused her to freeze up ) . he called her an idiot  ( which is a universal bsd symbol for love )  and pulled her to safety.  PS. She also called him a jerk, specifically saying “i started running with a jerk”  and honestly do you care them ?

aya cooked lamb and teased tsu about not having a serving for her to the point tsu.exe crashed and she ACTUALLY FAINTED. tsu is a pure cinnamon roll who apparently really loves her lamb.

when aya went rogue, he called tsu and lied to her about a whole bunch of stuff in order to get her to give up on saving his life  ( and by extension, to save her life ) .  please read more HERE cause it’s gold and i’m soft about it. 

when tsu is injured during that near-death experience and tries to move, aya catches her so she doesn’t fall on her face. T ^ T

aya apparently teases tsu about ‘training’ a few times and the specific word used in the original japanese has some s/m undertones, so excuse me while i formulate on that. :3c  specifically on how tsu is a switch and while aya talks a big game, tsu can still TOP.

i’m sure there’s a bunch more that i have yet to uncover and honestly, i’m excite 

FUN FACTS ON TSU’S MOM

tsu and her mom didn’t have a great relationship. it’s implied that they were sorta estranged several years prior to her mom’s death. 

also, SURPRISE !   tsu’s mother isn’t actually dead. she faked her death and was in hiding. 

apparently, tsu’s mom and ayatsuji have a long chat. i’m assuming it happens towards the end of gaiden, but i can’t be totally sure. 

i’m also not entirely sure if tsu KNOWS her mom is still alive and is just in hiding ??

tsu’s mom is apparently a BIG TIME agent and has been for some time. specifically, she’s the director general’s aide. 

it’s implied that ango may have met tsu’s mother. 

it’s also implied that tsu’s mom is the one who arranged tsu’s assignment with aya and specifically arranged it that tsu’s first day would be aya’s bday. 

[kendrixtermina]

SUBJECTIVE OPINION TIME re: Rhea

Me: * Finishes Empire Route * Maybe it’s just because both dogmatic zealots and quasi-parental figures than only love you “conditionally” tend to set me off personally, but man, Rhea is scary

People: “Well she goes off the deep end there, in the other routes she’s much nicer”

Me: Alright then lets see what nice Rhea is like * waits for it *

[...]

Me: ...where is it?

Rhea: *Is barely IN the other routes* *Never once talks to any of the people who are so loyal to her* *it looks more and more like Edelgard did everyone a solid by removing her from the equation and they dont even know it* 

Rhea’s support chain: is nothing but major creepo vibes (and some Jeralt backstory I guess) - you do get “personal space plz” dialogue options so this isn’t entirely unintentional

Rhea’s S support: “I fabricated a false history, deceived everyone and was literally giddy about the prospect of you becoming a meat puppet until you offered me your tits/dick”

the vibe is very much “This character was basically evil until just now, but sinse she’s somewhat (sym?)pathetic we’re letting you redeem her if you’re really comitted to it” - and why not? Video games are all about freedom. And it makes total sense that she could be swayed by someone acting as a strong protector to her since she has a very childish, self-centered mentality and basically wants her mommy. 

Just saying, none of the lords require you to screw them for them to listen to reason.  You could run off with their best friends if you wanted. 

Alliance Route: Edelgard was right about the censorship and shady meddling... actually, it’s even worse, because she’s to blame for the rampant xenophobia and closed-mindedness too!

I already suspected that Nemesis wasn’t going to turn out to actually have been good/ that there must be a bit more to it, but I’d had a lot more sympathy if she hadn’t basically enslaved 1000 years worths of humans for something their distant ancestors did. Nemesis and the elites were dead. In fact she killed them, and rightly so! But even if she could kill them again and again it wouldn’t bring back Sothis. And what did the commoners ever do to deserve this?

All while the actual Culprits go unchecked, cheerfully inflicting similar slaughter on, say, Edelgard’s and Dimitri’s families. 

They had sad backstories too. Almost the same one (”Agarthans killed my whole clan”). What did Edelgard do with it? Decide that she will uproot both the meddling shadow factions, end inequality and give power to the people even if she has to give up everything she cares about, so the same never happens to anyone else. Sure, she had a much harder time trusting or connecting with people and dealt poorly with being cornered but she recognizes that her classmates aren’t to blame for what their fathers did. What did Dimitri do with it? Well he struggles alot, but he definitely developed empathy for the downtrodden and other victims of violence and he makes an effort to be aware of his shortcomings and be a good person most of the time. He never believes that trying to do good or fight evil means that hes perfect or cant be criticised. At some point he definitely held some resentment against Adrestians as a whole (not just Arundel or Edelgard themselves), but he got over that and became a dedicated peacemaker. 

Both of them have more maturity and self-awareness at 23 than Rhea has at 23 hundred.  

Church Route:  Well, at least Mama Eisner actually DID die of natural causes and there’s no indication that she mistreated her ‘experiments’ in anyways, but it can’t have been great for Byleth’s mom, to grow up knowing that she’s considered a ‘failure’, that her mother figure would so much rather that someone else take her place and is just waiting for her to die of old age so she could repeat the process. 

And then there’s how she made all the higher ups of the church drink her blood/ crest stones

Would this have happened to Jeralt if he hadn’t died when he did? Heavens could she have monsterified anyone who disagreed at any time?!

And just to twitch the knife she just HAS to call poor Byleth “mother”to their face at the very end  after they went through all the trouble to rescue her and forgave her for the meat puppet thing. 

Kingdom Route: 

- The Ashe/Cassandra support DEAR GOD

...did she just get off scot free? 

It’s not like I want her dead, per se, just not-a-threat-anymore.. She lives in her S support but she also partially recognizes her wrongdoings and that she’s unfit to rule and even goes on to atone, so, no objections from me. Whereas here we never see her realize that she was wrong in any way. Sure she’s stepped down but she’s probably discarded and assumed new identities a bajillion times. Just because she CAN cause trouble again doesn’t mean she will but if it were me I’d want some minimal assurance that she wont...

People: “But she has a sad backstory/sympathetic motivations/characterization other than muahaha”

Me: That’s decent writing, not morality. 

By “evil” I don’t mean “cackling disney villain”, I mean that a certain critical mass of badness is present and that her motivations are mainly selfish at other’s expense. Sanctimonious delusions just make it worse.   

Like you might feel sympathy towards some guy who was beaten by his father until you find out that he then went on to beat humiliate and mistreat his own children. It’s the same principle, though I recognize that this is by naturally subjective. 

She’s clearly intended to be tragic/pitiable and I’m certainly not going to get on anyone’s case for feeling sorry for or emphatizing with her (let alone liking her - you’re allowed to like antagonists and not every opinion has to be some great act of moral value)

But wether or not one wants to use the label “evil” which by nature is a subjective emotion-charged thing, or the entirely separate question of what one would or wouldn’t view as appropriate countermeasures,  there’s no denying that the results of her actions were net negative and that she was just plain incompetent and accountable to no one. And she wasn’t ever gonna stop.

It’s hard to give her a pass for being childish when Edelgard, Claude and Dimitri (eventually) take on so much responsibility and determinedly pursue altruistic goals though they are young and inexperienced. 

As I see it, Rhea’s a “rule the world” villain whereas the Agarthans are a “destroy the world” one. Lawful vs Chaotic evil.  Out of the two you’d probably prefer to be subjugated by Rhea because she’ll act as a benevonent tyrant as long as you do not openly defy her but both view the surface-dwelling people as lowly animals. In Rhea’s case, you get to be the pet cat, and she may even protect you like a pet cat. But pet cats dont get any say in how they are governed. 

[myassbrokethefall]

I'm halfway through s2 of Sex Education. I decided to take a break cause while there are storylines and relationships I'm invested in, I have no patience for love triangles and the like atm. I remember you posting something about a disappointing twist for GA's character so I looked it up because idk when/if I'll pick up the show again and woah, I did not expect that AT ALL. I don't think it makes much sense and it does seem like an unfortunate trend for her characters [tbc]

[cont] (obviously the thing itself is not bad, and I'm sure the Sex Education writers will do it better than txf's - the bar is low in that regard anyway - but it still leaves an unpleasant taste in my mouth)

Yeah. Honestly I would not NOT be on board with it necessarily, if it weren’t for the UNFORTUNATE context of the repetitive grimness of the Scully situation. And especially the last “shock” twist of MS4 and Gillian’s apparent unhappiness with it. And even all mixed in, for me at least, with the withholding of the script and all that bullshit. Just like some ugly gendered power dynamics shit. The tentacles of CC continue to reach outwards. Sigh. 

While I enjoyed S2 of Sex Ed a lot overall, I found the ending frustrating on many levels. I felt they either fizzled/dropped the ball on some of the storylines, or went with bummer twists that didn’t really feel earned to me. I also felt like they have not completely nailed down the tone that they want for the show, and it vacillated way too hard for me between “fun raunch” and “earnest PSA,” at the end especially. And very much that they did the sitcom thing of picking certain beats that would be the plot and kind of forcing those through, and just letting everything else that they set up nonsensically fall by the wayside. 

Most egregious example for me (Sex Education S2 spoilers ahead, obviously): Jean’s confidential notes getting spread all over school (BY THE HEADMASTER, which was straight-up ridiculous to me no matter how much a mustachioed villain they are making him), and this EXTREMELY egregious confidentiality breach of dozens of minor children’s sensitive personal health information making barely an impact beyond furthering the plot of the rivalry between Jean and the headmaster in the context of his wife leaving him. Like, this would have major MAJOR ramifications for everyone, the headmaster should like, go to jail for doing that, Jean should have been WAAAAAYYYYY more upset about what that does to her professional credibility and how it affected the lives of literally every one of her advisees at the school and how many of them maybe will never trust a therapist ever again...and yet it seems to barely register with her, or with anyone else. And is more set up like, haha what a big disaster oh noes! This crazy high school. And instead the big climactic conflict with Jean at the end is...she’s upset that Otis was doing the sex clinic at school. Which is also not good? I guess? But I feel would be like a tenth of the badness of her fucking patient notes getting stolen and her being made to look like an unprofessional, incompetent, unethical therapist? To a degree far far beyond “grr that mean headmaster, what a jerk”? But they wanted an ending conflict between Jean and Otis so they like, picked that one. Thematically it makes sense since that was the start of the whole series, but in a like, stuff happening to people way, I feel the correct scale for that issue would have been a mild “Otis, I know you were trying to help and I’m sure I have myself to blame for this in a lot of ways, but, it’s not ethical to do that and certainly not to make money from it.” Instead of this BREACH OF TRUST!!! I CAN NO LONGER SPEAK TO YOU stuff that it didn’t really warrant, to my mind. 

My other beef was that so much (rightly so) was made of Aimee’s trauma and how it affected her in lingering, unexpected ways, and that was heartwarming and lovely to see her friends and her boyfriend be understanding and supportive of her and help her work through it. ...And then, during the over-the-top sex musical (here I am agreeing with the mean headmaster that this was highly inappropriate for a high school...), literal dick puppets are being dangled unexpectedly next to people’s faces in the dark in the audience, and there was no concern that THIS might be traumatic to Aimee? Or like, anyone else who might be an assault survivor and might not enjoy being startled by dicks? This is what I mean by the tone being inconsistent. And I know life is not tonally consistent, and people don’t always react in ways that others or even they expect. But after going through that whole arc with Aimee I was kinda like “no concerns at all about this eh?”

Anyway. I really like the show a lot but I wondered if they were rushed writing the ending or something. I have more BEEFS with some of the storylines but those are some of the bigger ones. 

But yeah, the pregnancy thing, while it felt sort of like cheap shock drama that the show frankly should be too good for, was not at the top of my list of complaints. At least, I do have a great, and I think justified, hope that whatever they do with that plot, it will be done with more sensitivity, intelligence, nuance, and comprehensibility of how the female body works than on XF. 

(And in general, this is a continuing series, so any issues that I have with the storylines as “resolved,” they will still have plenty of chances to elaborate on in the next season.)