#//the potential is there with Shadow and I strongly believe they were going to become an end game in XC

[dragonofdarknesschaos]

I've been thinking (because I'm quarantined and bored, sorry )..how it could be possible for Jack to form a good friendship? ...I mean even if a person shows affection, good intentions or a real interest on his stuff... the chance of Jack's betrayal is still there. I don't know I'm wondering ..if he can have a healthy friendship.

*cackles*  Jack Spicer, as he is in XS, is not capable of forming a stable and healthy relationship, despite the fact that he desperately wants and needs one.  And if that ain’t the tragedy of the whole series.

The Jack of Showdown

Just when Jack finally starts to actually warm up and be open and honest about his feelings with others, he either gets grossly mistreated (“The Deep Freeze,” “The Apprentice”) or is presented with the choice of being loved and accepted, despite who he is and what he’s done, or giving in to his baser instincts and double crossing his new would-be friends to get praised by someone who could not care less about him (“The Apprentice”).  It’s difficult to tell if Jack feels he doesn’t deserve to be happy for some deep and personal reason, or if he’s so focused on being seen as EVIL™ and not good; that he believes he must take any and all opportunities to prove his evil worth.  Whatever the reason, the Jack in XS would need someone that will stick by his side no matter what decisions he makes, or what actions he takes to push that person away.  Someone who unconditionally supports him and wants to be by his side.  The problem is, that’s more of a pet and has the potential to become quite toxic.

The Jack of Chronicles

As for the Jack of XC, he has some boundaries, and he’s not quite as ruthless.  He knows he’s kind of a loser, but he still really wants a girlfriend to help boost his sense of masculine ego.  But more importantly, he just wants a friend, to the point that he was willing to pay people to hang out with him (just like in XS “Something Jermaine,” “Judging Omi” and XC’s “Magic Stallion and the Wild Wild West,” “Buddy Blue Ray and the Golden Bunnies,” and “Heal Me”).

Jack enjoys Wuya’s company, but she gets frustrated with his lack of action in favor of building capital or just having fun (the Golden Toilet arc, “Super Cow Patty,” “Tokyo Madness,” and “Omi Saves the Holidays” among many others).  Jack seems to have moved out of his parent’s basement, and is now in his own warehouse/factory, so he’s really trying to focus on starting up his Evil Business idea and often refers to himself as an “evil entrepreneur” throughout the series.  While Wuya appreciates the “go get ‘em” spirit, she still feels that Jack isn’t doing enough to help her, which is the whole reason they teamed up in the first place.  Because of her nagging attitude and matriarchal approach to the relationship, Jack often feels smothered and refuses to act.  However, he still has boundaries and refuses to do certain things if they are not in his interests as well (“Back in the Flesh Again”).

Jack and Shadow

With Wuya as Jack’s pseudo-mother, he needs a datemate to call his own.  Gone is his curiosity in Kimiko (though he does seem to think she’s still cool), but if it’s any other girl, he will do his best to impress her.

Case in point Willow--who he tried to ask on a date if he won the Showdown Trio in “The Fall of Xiaolin.”  She strongly states that she isn’t interested in him in the least, and because the two never see each other again, I would assume Jack dropped the pursuit.

Shadow on the other hand, he likely sees a lot of himself in her.  They’re both evil, admire Chase, they seem about the same age, and... that’s about where the similarities end.  Shadow’s actions say that she is repulsed by Jack, but she never pushes him away, and even praises his “doo-hickies” (“The Laws of Nature,” “Rocco”).  With the use of camera drones, Jack witnessed a lot of the private behavior and abuse between Chase and Shadow, and even some of the abuse in person ( “Tigress Woo,” “Rocco”).  Even the cold open of “Who Shrunk Master Fung?” features Jack being very careful not to harm a strange bird, who is later revealed to be Shadow.  Case in point, the Jack of XC has a streak of kindness in him, and it is unclear if Shadow sees that and resents Jack for having it, or if she admires that aspect of him.  Regardless, after the events of “The Laws of Nature,” where Jack effectively double crosses Chase (and her by extension), Shadow likely made the choice to never trust Jack completely.  She double crosses him at the end of their wonderful team up in “Back in the Flesh Again.”  And Jack doesn’t even get upset or angry about the loss and betrayal.  He’s even more smitten and tries to brag to Omi and Ping Pong before realizing they aren’t into it and flies off.

Overall Jack and Shadow have feasible grounds for a relationship--even a romantic one--if they could both create some honesty and trust between each other, but neither is willing to do that, despite Jack’s over sharing (literally every time he opens his mouth around Chase).  For further reading on Jack’s relationship with Shadow and Chase, check out this post.

Jack doesn’t interact with Tigress, Kimiko’s older sister, much, but he does bother to keep tabs on her and warns Kimiko about her sister’s more nefarious activities (“Tigress Woo”).  It’s unclear if he did this in an effort to get closer to the Monks as a friend, or if he was stalking Tigress because he was attracted to her.  In either case, Tigress is never seen again or mentioned by Jack.

Jack’s Other Interests

There are a handful of episodes in XC that revolve around Jack seeing or meeting another evil-doer and fixating on them, often trying to model himself after them in some fashion.  He does this with PandaBubba to a lesser extent in “Magic Stallion and the Wild Wild West,” then goes full blown fan for Super Cow Patty (in his self-titled episode) and later Le Mime in the same episode, making fan videos and full costumes with personas for both his fixations.  In both instances with the truly evil characters (PB and Le Mime), Jack was looking for a sense of acceptance by an Evil Businessman and entrepreneurial peer, and a sense of belonging to a larger community with Le Mime and his henchmen.  That desire for belonging to a larger community is reiterated earlier in the series with “Heal Me” and Reverse!Jack’s cult.

However, when presented with an actual fan of his, Tiny Sim, Jack is actually somewhat reluctant to have the fan tag along with him.  And maybe that was for the best, as Jack soon discovers that the fan he inspired to become Evil is actually a lot better at it than he, himself, is (“Drawn to be Evil”).  In retaliation, Jack confines the fan to being just a creative idea intern.  Jack is essentially taking credit for all of Tiny Sim’s ideas, and not paying the kid a thing.  Sim, either because he’s doing what his idol taught, or because he feels cheated, makes it a priority to take a Wu or two when he can out of Jack’s stash (“Mark of the Dragon Spirit”).  Sadly, the series ended before the relationship between these two could be further developed.  It wouldn’t have been healthy, but at least it would have been something.

Another important note, Jack does make the clear distinction in both series that the gallery of sellswords he pays to be around him are only in it as long as there’s money for them to be had.  They are not his friends, they will never be his true friends, they’re just people he pays until the money runs out (“Something Jermaine,” “Judging Omi”).  So Katnappe, Tubbimura, Cyclops (after their initial debut), and to a lesser extent Vlad will never truly be Jack’s friends.  Vlad does make a return in XS’s “The Demon Seed” to try and cheer Jack up (not that he’s very good at it), but he doesn’t seem to want anything from Jack other than to do evil things and pal around.  This is a bit of a departure from their first encounter where Jack was presumably paying Vlad to be his hired muscle and inside man (“The Deep Freeze”).

Jack’s Robots

Jack’s relationship with his various Jackbots and other robots is an interesting one.  It’s possible that he created them out of a sick sense of wanting to have friends that he could control, but it comes back more to how the bots are presented in both series.

The Jackbots of XS seem to have a hive mind of sorts, as they will blindly (and sometimes literally) follow their master’s commands.  Those that fall are replaced as if nothing happened to the fallen Jackbot; their numbers are legion.  The bots are later programmed with emotions and feel sadness, but not fear.  This is interesting, because Jack is shown having temper tantrums from time to time, but he doesn’t break things, only tosses them around (“The Journey of A Thousand Miles”).

Jack’s relationship with the more “custom” humanoid robots is split into a binary.  On the one side are the bots that went rogue and have tried to annihilate him or simply want nothing to do with him: Chameleon Bot, Robo!Jack, and the patent-pending Shen Gong Wu Detect-o-bot.  On the other side are the bots he grew very attached to: Yesbot, his Cheerbot squad, and the Shen Gong Wu Detect-o-bot before it went rogue.  Both Yes~ and Detect-o~ allow Jack to be more of a child, as he is depicted being held like a scared child with both of them (if I remember correctly.  “Oil in the Family,” “The Demon Seed”).  He treats them like the parent he doesn’t have around.  The Cheerbots are his hott Barbie dolls that he gets to dress up and maintain.  He doesn’t go much farther than projecting personalities and life problems onto them.  Eventually they are absorbed into the Jackbot hive.

Remember how Jackbots don’t show or know fear in XS?  XC opens with Jack having a tantrum, and many of his various designs of bot run away from him.  Jack is left cornering Chefbot, who has darts sticking out of his chef’s hat.  Rather peculiar for robots to be afraid of their master, especially since they are meant to be hoards of drones.  As Chefbot is developed as a character, Jack comes to respect his creation more, but Chefbot says he has no interest in hanging around someone like Jack; he wants to go places and be a real chef!  He can’t do that if he’s making paltry snacks for Jack.  Chefbot’s last appearance in the series is on a cooking show (either on TV or YouLook) making pizza, while Jack follows along from his RV.  Jack seems quite relaxed and at ease, even using the Banyan Twister Shen Gong Wu to stretch his body and the pizza dough.  It is never stated, but perhaps Jack is proud of his creation accomplishing it’s dream.

Thank You for Being a Friend

In conclusion, the Jack of XS is incapable of having a healthy friendship with anyone, either because he thinks he doesn’t deserve it or because he really is just a terrible person and pushes everyone away.  He would need someone to stand by and support him no matter what he does and no matter how horribly he treats that person.  Such a relationship has the potential to become toxic if boundaries are not set and if Jack doesn’t grow as a person.

The Jack of XC is desperate for a single friend, but 98% of the cast sees him as a pathetic loser, and not worth a second of their time.  Those that do see value in Jack’s companionship have all been hurt by Jack’s betrayal and lack of trust, or have betrayed Jack, because they have no trust in him (often from a previous encounter).  For this Jack to form a stable friendship, he needs someone who he can talk to honestly, openly, and not be judged for his feelings, and he seems to want someone who talks the same way to him.  He’s ready for a relationship, he just doesn’t have the rapport or trust built up with anyone.

TL;DR

Jack lacks basic trust in all his relationships.  He would need someone he can constantly count on, while also setting healthy and reasonable boundaries with that person.  If honesty and trust--ABSOLUTE TRUST--is there, Jack can have a friend, maybe even something more.

[lollytea]

My fun spooky scary OCs, the Santos-Umbra family!! Designed by @ask-artsy-oncie who made them look SO cool!!

I took a lot of inspo from the Addams family and the Munsters (obviously) but also stuff like Billy and Mandy, Edgar and Ellen, Scooby Doo and the Ghoul School etc. Anything with weird monstrous kids just living day to day lives.

Some info about each family member 

Paul Santos - What can be said about Paul really? He is a simple man. As mentioned above, he likes to grill and mow the lawn and he probably plays really old Rock n’ Roll in his car way too loud when he pulls up to the kids’ school. He collects 70s-80s memorabilia and is currently learning to knit. He is not very good at it but he figures he’ll improve some before winter when he’ll need to start churning out a bunch of little hats and mittens. His family knows full well that these garments will be terrible but they also know that they will be wearing them anyway as not to hurt Paul’s feelings. 

Paul strongly believes that the reason to be alive is to find joy and help others along in finding their joy, whether it be through humour, affection or an ear to listen. This was the disposition that convinced his wife, Venus, that he was a keeper. 

He’s always wanted a big family but he never expected....a family like this. But hey, life is all about taking left turns and he couldn’t be happier with how things turned out. Paul doesn’t always understand his non-human kids. He doesn’t know much about vampires or werewolves or any of that stuff but he knows about love, so he’ll live and he’ll learn and he’ll love. And hopefully he’ll do a halfway decent job. 

Venus Umbra -  A true lady of mystery. Is she a vampire? A ghost? A witch? Something far more frightening entirely? Nobody really knows for sure. (Except her lovely husband of course but he’s not gonna go blabbing about his wife’s business.) Some believe she dresses herself in shadows, that she eats the hearts of men to keep herself alive, that she was summoned to this world via some taboo ritual. If you ask her about any of this, she’ll just smile secretively, shrug and say “I’m a mom~” and she’s not wrong. 

One thing for certain is that Venus is not human and this has certainly had an impact on her life. She spent her entire childhood being passed around the foster care system but never managing to find her forever home. Potential families found something so eerily off about her that no one ever wanted her in their house for long. Venus promised herself that when she was grown she would take in children that were like her, so they wouldn’t have to feel that sort of rejection and over and over again. And she did just that! :)

Venus is a lot more equipped to handling her childrens’ “monster-y” problems than Paul but she still struggles when it comes to their “kid/teen” dilemmas, which Paul excels at. She’s not much of a people person and isn’t very good at making friends in this squeaky clean suburban neighbourhood. But she’s in the adapting phase. 

Killian (Age 15) - The oldest kid, a baby grim reaper with some crazy levels of power over death. When he was younger, he was an absolute terror. He really sold the whole “hellspawn child” thing and was constantly raising the dead and scaring the absolute fuck out of his classmates. 

But now that Killian is a teenager and he’s calmed the FUCK down and has basically decided “Ok enough being evil I want to be loved now” so he’s trying his absolute best to keep his head down and fit in at school and be a normal kid but obviously he’s still very eccentric and naturally spooky and now that he’s not actively trying to use his death powers, it’s become harder to control it so he’s struggling a lot with this whole “being a normal kid” thing. 

And also his little siblings keep dragging him into trouble because OF COURSE they need his powers for their shenanigans.

Killian is very insecure about being seen as scary and it’s sort of affecting to ability to be the person he wants to be. Fortunately, he has Elroy, his best friend who is scared of everything remotely creepy. But not of Killian, he would never be scared of Killian <3

Zosia (Age 12) and Nikolai (Age 11) - A baby werewolf and a baby vampire respectively. 

Zosia is prim, proper, sophisticated, studious and is absolutely hell bent on causing as much problems in this town as she is capable of. A Disney Villain in the making. She’s training to become a witch and her spells are coming along excellently. (There is very little Zosia is bad at. Except being nice.) 

She is usually the one behind and in charge of most of their evil little plots but she is also a very fluffy little puppy dog girl and her dad has a very hard time staying mad at her. Even when she commits atrocities.

Zosia has naturally acidic tongue and uses it on everyone, even her own family. She can be dismissive of them at best and outright disgusted by them at worst. And yet, by this stage, her family has come to understand her strange love language. She is furiously loyal and protective of her siblings and still likes to have Venus sing to her and Paul read her a story every night. And that’s not even mentioning Nikolai, her best friend in the world. 

Nikolai is just a very fun very very energetic vampire who likes to dye their hair wild colours and talk about anime but also they are here for the chaos. They don’t have the same diabolical drive that Zosia has but they’re prone to boredom so they’re often like “Yeah, sure, I’ll help you summon an eldritch abomination to unleash on the town. That sounds wild and I wanna see how that plays out.”

They are very much the sibling that deliberately pesters the others the most. Nik is annoying all the goddamn time but especially with Zosia who they annoy to the point that she’s screaming at them. And yet for whatever reason Nik and Zosia are constantly a duo. They’re just as much of a trouble maker as her so they work as a team. Together they are fucking unstoppable. 

Nikolai has a fascination bordering on obsession with humans depiction of monsters, especially vampires. They have gathered as many forms of media as possible, from the original Dracula novel to Twilight. They are a walking encyclopedia on the topic. Please ask them their opinions. Please for the love of God they are dying to talk about their opinions. 

Lizzy (Age 5) - The most stereotypically “creepy child” who is unnervingly polite, speaks in a monotone voice, stares at you with huge unfathomable eyes and tells you the time and date you’re gonna die and shit like that. But that’s just her way of making conversation. 

She means no harm whatsoever. She’s probably the sweetest of all the kids and doesn’t have a lot of evil in her. Unless it’s stuff like not wanting to eat her vegetables or being picked on at school. Then it’s like the fucking exorcist. Horrifying screaming, shit flying all over the room, the gates of Hell opening up. But that’s just Mog'drannel (Age ???) the demon who channels itself through Lizzy, either using her body to communicate or choosing to take up residence in her doll. They don’t really mean any harm either but they don’t like it when anybody is mean to Lizzy. They can usually be pacified by peanut butter sandwiches.

Cobra (infant) - Paul and Venus don’t know exactly where Cobra came from or what he is but he has snake eyes, a forked tongue and venomous fangs (which he has had since he was born weirdly enough) so they thought the name was charmingly fitting. 

There are allegedly prophecies all over the place about this child being the anti-Christ but his parents are all like “eh maybe? It’s too early to tell. We’ll see. Maybe he’ll be a dentist, who knows. We’ll support him in whatever he decides to do.” And people are like “he is LITERALLY an abomination. His bite has killed people” and they’re like “that doesn’t prove anything.” 

Be nice to Cobra. Sometimes he plagues the neighbours with terrible misfortunate if their loud music or leaf blowers wake him up from a nap. (Allegedly. It can’t be proven that he was responsible for anything.)

[makeste]

Do you think Deku will ever get mad at All-Might for keeping so many secrets from him? Deku has been giving All-Might free passes on things he should have known about like AFO, previous holders of OFA and now that Tomura is Nana's grandson. It feels like AM needs to be held accountable at some point.

I think it’s likely; he’s gotten fairly mad at him about this before, back when All Might hid the truth about his falling-out with Nighteye.

and he’s probably going to feel a bit betrayed at the realization that All Might is still keeping things from him even after this conversation. and it’s not like it’s just small things, either; these are some pretty major things that Deku is still getting blindsided by as a result of All Might’s secrecy. it feels like AM hasn’t really learned his lesson at all and is still Dumbledoring his way through this mentorship.

but the thing is, I can understand All Might’s point of view here as well, and I get why he keeps doing it, even if I don’t agree with it. I’ve been meaning to write a post about this anyway, especially since it ties into the matter of the Fourth OFA User and his quirk, so let’s take a look at All Might’s ever-growing List of Secrets, because there’s a pattern there.

1. OFA

starting with the big one. now obviously Deku is very much in on this particular secret. however it is still a secret from just about everyone else, and it’s probably the one secret that All Might has been the most adamant about keeping, going to increasingly elaborate lengths even as it becomes more and more obvious that all of these efforts are eventually going to prove futile.

the thing is, it’s pretty obvious why he’s been trying so hard to keep the truth of Deku’s quirk hidden. OFA paints a huge target onto Deku’s back, one that would attract notice not just from the villain side, but from the hero side as well. OFA is basically the ultimate prize. it’s probably the most powerful quirk in existence, aside from AFO. and once word gets out that this power can be passed on to literally anyone simply at will, things could start getting very ugly.

Deku would suddenly come under pressure from all sides, with people trying to use and control him (well, I say “people”, but mainly I mean the HPSC sob). that’s if they see him as a useful tool and a weapon in the battle against the League, mind you. but if they decide that he’s not, or that he’s not ready, there would instead be pressure for him to give up OFA to a “worthier” candidate. either way, Deku himself isn’t going to be taken into account. his thoughts, his feelings, what he wants, what he deserves; none of that is going to matter to these people.

and these are the good guys, mind! that’s not even mentioning the villains, who have already destroyed an entire city in pursuit of him. Deku is in a lot of danger now. and so far, Tomura/AFO have been surprisingly honorable in their attempts to get ahold of OFA, in that they’ve been targeting Deku directly. but AFO is a notoriously underhanded guy, and it concerns me that there are a ton of more underhanded methods still on the table for him to try out. because we’ve already established that Deku is notoriously self-sacrificing. I mean literally notorious, as in both his friends and enemies alike have all picked up on this trait and made a note of it. so imagine if Tomura ever decides to take hostages, for instance. “give me OFA or I’ll kill so and so.” then what?? jesus.

so yeah, all in all it’s pretty clear why All Might has been exceedingly careful about keeping OFA a secret even from most of Deku’s allies. this isn’t even getting into the whole U.A. traitor thing as well, but I mean, you get the idea, right? the reason All Might has gone to such lengths to keep OFA a secret is to protect Deku.

2. AFO

and now we get to the first of many things that All Might kept hidden from Deku himself! and these are generally going to be a lot harder to defend. like yeah, you probably should have told this barely-pubescent child that that the quirk you were giving him came prepackaged with a built-in mortal enemy, All Might. might want to actually lead with that part next time.

so why didn’t he tell Deku about AFO? well first of all please understand that I’m not trying to justify this decision, lol; I’m just trying to rationalize it from All Might’s point of view. he was less than six years removed from his fateful battle with AFO in which the both of them were gravely injured. and yes, he said that he believed AFO had died from his wounds; but if he really thought that was true, why didn’t he listen to Nighteye and pass OFA on to someone else back then? why did he stubbornly stay in the field for as long as he could? his actions just don’t line up. if he really thought AFO was dead, you’d think he would have been able to retire in peace, as there wouldn’t have been such a great need for the Symbol anymore.

so honestly, what I’m learning towards here is that he didn’t really believe it, deep down. but once his powers really started to wane, he felt like he had no choice but to pass the quirk on to someone else and just hope for the best. and then, once he met Deku, I think he really started to want to believe it was true. because he empathized with Deku and he saw himself in him, and he wanted to give him that chance. Deku wanted so badly to be a hero, and All Might saw that he had the heart and the spirit of one, and only lacked the physical ability. and there All Might was, with a quirk he could bestow on him that could potentially make his dream come true. he wanted to believe he could do that. he convinced himself that the threat of AFO really was nonexistent -- after all, it had been six years! -- and that it wasn’t a burden he was passing down onto this child anymore, but a gift.

and so he didn’t tell Deku about AFO because he wanted to believe it wasn’t something Deku needed to know. so in this case it wasn’t just Deku he was essentially lying to, but himself as well. so yeah, not the best rationale in the world, but a very human mistake for him to make, and one that once again has its roots in wanting to protect Deku. or more precisely in this case, wanting to protect Deku’s dream. he wanted to believe it was all right for him to hand down this power which he so strongly believed that Deku deserved.

3. the Vestiges

honestly it’s a bit up in the air whether or not this one was really a secret, because All Might genuinely didn’t seem to realize that the Vestiges were conscious inside of OFA. or so he says at any rate. regardless, I’m going to include it in the list because he was definitely acting pretty cagey about the subject back during the sports festival, and I’ve never been fully satisfied with his explanation.

if you ask me? I think one of the reasons why he didn’t want to discuss this more in depth with Deku back then was because he was afraid it might inadvertently lead to some other topics that he wasn’t yet ready to discuss.

the idea of the previous OFA users living on inside the quirk is comforting in some ways, but that’s also a conversation that inevitably leads to the subject of AFO and AFO’s brother just for starters. not to mention Nana, whose death was deeply traumatizing for him and which I don’t think he was emotionally prepared to bring up just yet.

but I think the biggest factor that led to All Might being mum about this was the fact that he himself was included among the Vestiges. because I’m thinking he might have been a bit paranoid about avoiding a conversation like this:

All Might: “hey Midoriya-shounen, I just wanted to let you know that those weird little shadow figures you saw during your fight were the ghosts of the previous users of OFA, who are all living on inside of the quirk. my master once told me, 'even if I die one of these days, we can always meet again inside One for All.' so you know, that’s nice.”

Deku: “huh okay, so you’re telling me I have the souls of eight other people trapped inside my quirk, well that’s pretty trippy but I’m a weird little boy who lives for this kind of wild quirk shit so I’m okay with it! but it’s not like it matters though anyway since you’re still here to guide me haha! it’s not like you have any reason to suspect that might not be the case in the very near future, right?”

All Might: “...right.”

so yeah. once again, the reason for All Might keeping this a secret is because he doesn’t want to burden Deku. spoiler alert, the next two secrets also have the exact same reasoning behind them. in fact I’m just going to go and lump them both together.

4. Sir Nighteye, and 5. Sir Nighteye’s prophecy

so #4 is the one that actually finally set Deku off in the scene I posted earlier lol. and yeah, All Might should have told Deku, especially since it was inevitable that Deku was going to find out anyway. once he learned about Nighteye and All Might’s falling-out, him finding out about the prophecy was a given. and so once again I want to stress that I’m not actually trying to defend All Might’s decision here lol. just trying to relate to it.

anyway but that said, the reason why he didn’t tell Deku is pretty straightforward: he didn’t want to burden Deku with that knowledge. he knows Deku looks up to him. he knows that Deku looks to him for support. and All Might has spent his entire career doing everything he could to be that strong support for everybody, for the entire nation. he wants everyone to feel secure and safe. he wants nothing more than to be able to keep them safe. and it’s so hard, when you have that mindset, to let yourself show weakness and allow the cracks to show and to admit and accept that you can’t protect people from everything, no matter how bad you want to.

how do you tell the kid you’re mentoring, the kid who’s come to depend on you for so much, that there’s a good chance you might not be around much longer? that there’s a good chance he’ll be left to deal with everything all on his own, the same way that you were? how the hell do you even begin to approach that conversation? especially knowing what kind of person Deku is, on top of everything else. for a hero, someone who’s dedicated their whole life to helping and protecting others, nothing is more devastating than being told that something terrible is going to happen, and that no matter what, there is nothing you can do to change that fate. that alone would have been reason enough to not want Deku to know. he didn’t want him to experience that kind of helplessness.

and Deku is still just a kid!! Nighteye, a fully grown man and a hero with years of experience, completely fell apart after that prophecy. meanwhile Deku just started hero school less than a year ago. he’s only sixteen. he is far, far too young to have to deal with all of this. yes, he needed to know, both as a matter of trust and as a matter of practicality. but the fact that he needed to know is pretty fucking cruel on the universe’s part, and I get why All Might was so reluctant to tell him. I get it.

side note!! I feel like it’s worth mentioning that this one is still a secret as far as a certain other person goes. like, I feel that’s pretty noteworthy. pretty much every other person who knows about OFA also knew about Nighteye’s prophecy, including Rat Principal, Recovery Girl, Gran Torino, and Nighteye himself. (although it’s not clear whether or not Naomasa knows, come to think of it. but it’s likely, since All Might probably physically can’t lie to him lol.) and of course, Deku now knows as well.

but aside from Naomasa, there is one other person who’s notably missing from that list.

Kacchan knows about OFA and AFO, but neither All Might nor Deku have told him about the prophecy. even though Katsuki has firmly elbowed his way into the OFA Scooby Squad and knows about all sorts of other things including SIXQUIRKS and the Vestiges and all that jazz, and he’s been helping Deku train and has been included in pretty much everything for months now, he still doesn’t know about this.

and honestly, this might be the one time where I actually agree with All Might’s decision. I say that as someone who loves Katsuki to pieces and very much wants him to find out about this, because I’m mean and because I love angst. but once again, I get it, though. because you probably don’t want to tell the kid who was thinking this...

...that at the time, when you came to save him back at Kamino, you were thinking something like this:

yeah. I’m just saying. I don’t think it does Katsuki much benefit to know that All Might originally went out to Kamino fully expecting that it would be his last battle, and fully prepared to die the horrible death that Nighteye foretold. like, on the one hand there’s definitely an argument to be made that Katsuki should know about the prophecy just so that he’s prepared in case anything does happen, because he would then be the one to have to step up and replace All Might as Deku’s primary support. (and this is something All Might already seems to have been grooming him for in recent months, which is a bit of a red flag as far as All Might’s mortality prospects are concerned, but that’s another discussion for another day.)

but on the other hand, Katsuki is a pretty smart kid. and if and when he does find out about this, there’s a good chance he’s going to connect the dots and realize that Kamino was actually a hell of a lot riskier than All Might ever let on. and there’s close to a 100% chance that he starts blaming himself all over again if he ever learns that. I don’t think it would set him back too much, because he’s made a lot of progress, but I do think that even now it’s still something that he feels a lot of responsibility for. and so really this is just an additional burden that he doesn’t need to be carrying on his shoulders. Deku’s not the only one who’s still just a kid.

anyway! so tl;dr this is yet another case where All Might was keeping something a secret because he didn’t want to burden Deku. and is, in fact, STILL keeping it secret from Katsuki because he doesn’t want to burden him, either. basically just trying to protect both of these kids here.

6. Nana’s relation to Tomura

almost done with the list now! for real though, it’s crazy how many of these there are. how can one man have so many secrets. like seriously, calm the fuck down, All Might.

so! again, Deku should arguably have been told this as soon as it became clear that the responsibility of dealing with AFO and Tomura was going to fall to him. except, I guess, the thing is they didn’t think it was going to fall to him. or at least they hoped it wouldn’t. AFO was in Tartarus, and Naomasa and Gran were planning on hunting down Tomura and the League themselves. and Deku is just a high school kid with an internship. so in an ideal world, he would have never gotten near Tomura, and vice-versa. the adult heroes in BnHA may be inept as fuck, but I’ll give them credit where due: none of them wanted this kind of responsibility to ever fall on any of the kids until they were ready. even during this arc, the kids were all originally assigned to the evacuation teams, and the handful who were on the front lines were there because it was essential to the mission. and even then they pretty much had assigned babysitters (Midnight, Fatgum, etc.) shadowing them the whole time and ready to haul them back out as soon as their tasks were accomplished. like, don’t get me wrong, the child soldiers thing was and is still very fucked up, lol. but they were clearly trying to keep them out of harm’s way.

anyway! and so of course this applies to Deku as well. never mind that he’s All Might’s heir and well on his way to becoming more powerful than anyone could have ever dreamed. he’s still just a teenager. and we don’t send teenagers out to hunt the bad guys. we leave that to the adults, supposedly. and so in these guys’ minds, there really wasn’t any reason to tell Deku about the whole Nana/Tomura connection, because even if it was true, in their minds it’s not really relevant to Deku. they weren’t planning on him and Tomura becoming arch-nemeses. and so it was really just another thing that All Might presumably didn’t want to burden him with at the end of the day. “by the way, Midoriya-shounen, you should know there’s a possibility that Shigaraki Tomura is actually the grandson of my late mentor whom All for One killed.” that’s basically just a very unfun fact that Deku can do absolutely nothing about, except feel bad about it. it doesn’t change the fact that Tomura is still a mass murderer who’s eventually going to have to be captured or killed. so in All Might’s mind there’s really no benefit to telling Deku about any of this.

anyway! and so now finally, last but not least,

7. the Fourth OFA User

so now we finally get to the one secret we don’t actually know yet! OFA IV, and his whole mysterious deal.

All Might, after doing all that research on the previous OFA users and their quirks, suddenly changed his mind at the last second and decided not to tell Deku about this one specific user and his quirk (and notably, his cause of death). why is that?? “I don’t want to speculate and talk about things I’m not sure of...” really?? so you think the better option is for him to be unprepared and to not have any idea of what’s coming, then??

no, seriously. I’m seriously asking that. does All Might, in fact, think that it’s actually a better option for Deku to not know anything about the fourth user than for him to be aware of it. I am genuinely asking that question, because I truly suspect that this might actually be the case.

because, you see, that’s the pattern. if you look at all the other things he’s kept hidden either from Deku, or from others on Deku’s behalf, that’s the one thing they all have in common. he kept them secret in order to protect Deku. either to shelter him from the burden, or to keep him safe from people who might try to do him harm.

so I think it’s safe to say that even though we know absolutely nothing about this particular secret yet, it’s still going to follow that same pattern. All Might isn’t telling Deku about the Fourth yet either because he doesn’t want to burden him with something, or because he thinks there’s some other reason why Deku is better off not knowing.

here are a few other things we can extrapolate here:

All Might’s next line after this is “because I’m worried for him”, so yeah. whatever the reason, he’s trying to protect Deku somehow.

All Might has a history of avoiding truths he’s not ready to face yet, such as AFO still being alive. so even though he says here that he’s “not sure of” whatever it is he found, it’s very possible that he is in fact pretty sure of it, but just doesn’t want to believe it.

the fact that he wrote something down but then crossed it out would seem to support that as well. he says “not yet”, but I’m definitely not convinced that’s actually the case.

whatever this secret about the fourth user is, it’s something All Might isn’t willing to tell Katsuki either, even though Katsuki specifically presses him about it. this makes me think that it’s not just something shady or unpleasant about the fourth user’s past (like him being a villain for instance), because if it was just something like that, I don’t think he’d be so insistent on hiding it from Katsuki as well. and also that wouldn’t explain why he’s keeping the quirk a secret, especially since he knows Deku is going to manifest it at some point.

so my thinking is that it’s not something about the Fourth’s history, but rather something about his quirk. and after all, the Vestige storyline is mainly about the SIXQUIRKS anyway, so that tracks. and so if it is something related to the Fourth’s quirk, and this something also convinced All Might to hide the Fourth’s cause of death, I think the most likely explanation is that something about the Fourth’s quirk ended up killing him, and All Might fears that this quirk could potentially harm or kill Deku as well.

“but if the Fourth’s quirk is potentially dangerous, then wouldn’t it make more sense to tell Deku about it so that he can be prepared?” well, yeah. definitely it would. unless, of course, All Might has somehow concluded that the danger to Deku is actually GREATER if he knows than if he doesn’t know. in other words, the risk of the quirk manifesting with Deku unaware of what it is, is outweighed by the risk of Deku knowing and manifesting it on purpose.

and this, I think, is where the rest of Katsuki’s conversation with All Might in ch 284 comes into play:

All Might has no doubt observed the same thing himself. and so what I’m thinking is that this must be some kind of super high-risk, high-reward quirk that Deku, if he knew about it, would be tempted to use while battling someone like Tomura, even knowing there was a risk of it hurting or even killing him as well. this is Deku, after all. Deku, who takes himself out of the equation. Deku, who is ALREADY pushing himself to extremes with OFA and has been doing so from the start. Deku, who barring a miracle will be lucky to have even 1/10th of the normal function in his arms when this arc is said and done. and that’s just with normal, everyday OFA and Blackwhip and Float. if you were to go and add some sort of super-self-destruct quirk on top of all that?? jesus christ. they’d be picking up the pieces of what was left of him, probably.

so yeah. if this really does turn out to be the case, and the Fourth’s quirk really is a potential suicide quirk? I could absolutely understand why All Might would keep that hidden from him. once again, it’s all about protecting him and keeping him safe.

and it’s problematic though, for sure! and most likely futile just like all of his other secret-keeping efforts have been. at some point he’s just going to have to start trusting Deku to handle this stuff, and letting him know these things. like it or not, he’s not going to be a kid forever, and Destiny is currently being Thrust Upon Him at a fairly alarming rate! pretending like all of these threats will just magically go away all on their own is not it. if you didn’t want peril lusting over him at every corner then you shouldn’t have chosen a motherfucking Shounen Protag as your motherfucking heir, my dude.

anyway! so those are all of my thoughts about All Might and his secrets. I do think Deku is gonna call him out on it again soon, and I think All Might will be apologetic for not telling him about Tomura and Nana, but I don’t know if it will be enough to finally get him to change his ways and reveal everything else. he is an overprotective dad filled with anxiety over his trouble magnet son and his arm-exploding ways, and it’s a tough position for him to be in, knowing that either way there will be pain that Deku can’t avoid. it’s rough. anyways, maybe I’m too soft, but while I don’t necessarily want him to just keep getting free passes on everything, I kind of hope they don’t rake him over the coals too badly for it either. he means well!! he is doing his best. hopefully they can manage to talk it out, sob.

[khentkawes]

"You ridiculous bureaucrats will not dictate how my story ends!"

"It's not your story, Mr. Laufeyson. It never was."

OMG. That line was...perfect!

I've been feeling nervous about how this stupid TVA bullshit would play out. Even thinking about how they would use the TVA and its “sacred timeline” to  justify Thanos doing what he did, to justify the Avengers use of time travel, and to justify a timeline in which all of my favorite characters have died...that they were going to use the TVA to say that all of that was “supposed to happen” while things like Loki surviving to become more than a foil for Thor or Tony surviving and putting aside his guilt or Natasha learning to be the leader the Avengers need and to know that her worth isn’t defined by her past...all of those things are not “supposed to happen” no matter how much the fans want those things or how much the characters deserve them... well, it's dampened my enthusiasm for the this show. Until this. I should have trusted Tom not to do this if it wasn't true to Loki's character. Because this! This right here! This is the core of Loki's story. It's what I've wanted to see Marvel tackle for so long.

Who says that it's Thor's story and not Loki's? Who says that Thanos gets to kill half the universe? Who says that Tony's death was "the only way we win"? Who says who gets to be called a hero and who is just the sidekick or the antihero or the villain? Who says that only certain types of people get to be leaders or heroes? Who gets to decide?

Loki's rage at that resonates so strongly with me. It always has. It's what Loki raged against in the very first Thor movie. He was enraged that his story and his identity was a lie, that he'd been cast in a role he never consented to as "Thor's shadow" and then as "Odin's stolen Jotun." And then in Avengers, it happened again. He was cast as the villain, in a film that never explained his motives at all. Of course, fandom has decided, reading between the lines, that it was because Thanos was manipulating Loki. But that just adds to the overall point: Thanos cast Loki as in the role as his minion. Loki tried to re-cast himself as the villain--and then the Avengers took him down.

And we see it again and again. In TDW, Loki is cast as the criminal until he chooses to cast himself as the protector, the one who saves Jane and saves Thor. And then he picks a new role for himself... until Thor comes to take it away. Because someone else is always trying to rewrite Loki's story and defining him in relation to other people.

I want to help Loki burn the TVA as much as I want to slap the Russos for what they did in IW and Endgame. People don't get to decide that there is "only one way" or "one sacred timeline." Free will has to exist and there has to be more than one way to win... otherwise what is the point of superhero stories? What is the point of this modern mythology if it tells us that only certain people are allowed to win and that certain people are destined to die? What’s the point of superheroes if their actions don’t matter? Why would we tell stories about heroes if we don’t actually believe that the actions of everyday people can matter? If it’s all just determined by what’s “supposed to happen” or the “correct timeline” or the “one destined way to win,” then our choices never matter, and then there are no heroes. Because we can never win. We can never overcome destiny then. We’re just trapped by some set of nebulous forces and predetermined circumstances that dictate our status and our potential and our lives.

Nah, screw that bullshit. Screw the TVA. Screw the sacred timeline. Screw the "only way we win" out of 14 million futures. We get to write out own stories.

Fandom certainly has. And we'll continue to do so.

I hope that's where this show is going too. I hope that's what Loki learns: that he gets to write his own story. He gets to decide what part he plays. No more being forced into someone else's shadow. No more being forced to play the villain to someone else's hero.

We get to choose.

Come on, Loki. Let's burn the TVA to the ground!

[novantinuum]

On the corrupted!Steven theory...

So, originally when I mused on this yesterday I was just playing around with random possibilities.

After combing the series for info about corruption, though, I’m mildly spooked at the increased potential for this to... perhaps be a thing? I’m not saying that this is what I for sure believe will happen- to be honest, I’m not even sure Crewniverse would go this direction at all- but just for funsies, let’s see what kind of “evidence” or “foreshadowing” exists that might support this potential story path in the context of canon.

(EDIT: 10/7/19 

I honestly no longer think this creature is a worm at all whatsoever, it’s either more akin to a horned caterpillar or potentially has limbs. Either way we can see so little right now that it’s hard to tell. I’m not editing the rest of this post because I want it to exist in its original form- but do keep this in mind reading the rest! XP)

1) The design of this worm creature.

Let’s start simple. Let’s start tangible. 

For future reference and simplicity, I will be henceforth be referring to this creature as... “Wormy Boi.”

So, let’s see what we’ve got here. I’m definitely not the first person to point out this fella’s pink nature, and the jarringly human-like nose they’ve got. (Compared to other corruptions, which have had distinctly non-humanoid features.) In the photo above, we also have Wormy Boi sporting glowing pink eyes, which then send out a flare of pink light/energy. So, seemingly a powerful entity.

If you watch the short segment before they sit upright, you’ll see that Wormy Boi is super, super big. They’re in the background, but BOY do they loom. The shadows cast upon them especially push that sense of size. They’ve also got a whole bunch of spikes on their back and framing their face.

So, then. What evidence could be made for this being a corrupted!Steven, as opposed to some other run-of-the-mill monster?

Steven Universe Future is a limited series, described as ‘tying up loose ends.” To me, as a viewer, it would make far more sense for the antagonists/conflicts to deal with big concepts that have already been established since there’s such a limited amount of time we have left with this world. Introducing a completely alien species in the last act of the show would feel offbeat from both a writing and a viewing perspective. Corruption- on the other hand- is something we don’t have full answers to yet.

We don’t see any gem, yes- but Steven’s gem is- of course- on his belly. If this theory were to be true, that would translate to the gem being on Wormy Boi’s underside, far out of our sight in this shot, due to how massive they are. As an addition to this, not showing the gem gives an air of mystery to this creature’s true nature- which makes it seem like there’s something surprising to discover here.

A corrupted diamond would surely be MASSIVE. Also, very powerful. The beam of pink light hints at Wormy Boi being quite a powerhouse.

The spikes on Wormy Boi’s back and around their face highly resemble rose thorns. We all know how much the Crewniverse loves their rose symbolism, and design wise, this aspect would make a lot of visual sense for a corrupted Steven. Running off of that:

The face/nose shape and the five horns on this creature’s head give off a very Steven-like silhouette. 

The nose, of course. The face has a very Steven-like shape to it, overall- although noticeably more angular and sharp. The mouth is reminiscent of the Watermelon Stevens’ mouths. And as for the horns, there’s five of them positioned equidistant around their face, just as Steven’s hair is always formed from five lil’ bumps at the same positions.

Okay, moving on.

(Read more under the cut!)

2) We do not yet understand the true nature of corruption.

“I guess it’ll take more than a kiss to heal damage from the Diamonds…” -Pearl, Monster Reunion

Corruption is still- bafflingly- a huge mystery. The Gems we’ve watched the CGs bubble since season one have been healed, yes, but there are still many gaps in our understanding of it. With Steven Universe Future’s promise to address some lingering story threads, it would make sense if corruption was on the plate for further discussion. So, what DO we know?

We know it’s something the Diamonds can do. Interestingly, it doesn’t seem to require all four diamonds. Three of them together were able to cause all the damage to Earth. There’s also no statement made that more than one Diamond is required to cause effects like that. 

In Legs From Here to Homeworld, Blue and Yellow Diamond weren’t actually aware the corruption was something they were capable of producing. They seemed to assume they obliterated the Gems on Earth. Corruption is then, even a mystery to them. That’s... odd, isn’t it?

Pearl states that it’s “something nearly impossible to describe.” Garnet goes further to say... “It’s sorta like... if MC Bear-Bear didn’t tear the fabric of his arm, but the fabric of his mind.”

"A sound… A song?” There’s a lot of association between corruption and music.

It causes Gems to lose touch with their usual forms, instead warping into a more outwardly "monstrous” version of themselves that appear to be “just a bundle of fight-or-flight reflexes and survival instincts.” As seen by Centipeetle in Monster Buddy and Monster Reunion, it appears as if corrupted Gems try to regenerate with their original forms if unbubbled, but are simply not in a state where they can maintain that.

As seen with Jasper in Earthlings, extreme emotional distress very much seems to speed up corruption’s effects. This is less of a stated fact and more of my read on that episode, but I believe it to be an important tidbit, especially since Garnet states that corruption’s damage is mental rather than physical, at least at its core. This can also be seen in Monster Reunion with how Centipeetle’s partial healing backfires when she remembers the trauma of being corrupted and reacts strongly.

Now, when it comes to healing corruption, Steven tries to heal Centipeetle himself, and does make some nice progress... helping her regain a hold on herself as he treats her with love and compassion and understanding... but it’s ultimately not a healing that can occur in isolation, helping her on his own. She needs more support before she can heal from this corruption to a state where she can truly be herself again.

And that eventually comes in the form of the other Diamonds. So, all four diamonds can help relieve the corruption if they help these Gems all together. 

3) How could this theory potentially fit into the story anyways, you nutter?

Well, here’s the part of this post where I make some broad conjectures. I honestly am shooting fish into a barrel here because again- we know barely anything about how corruption actually happened initially, and my thoughts are very jumbled. Please forgive me.

"I don’t really know how the corruption works. It’s like they’re sick. They don’t remember who they used to be.” -Steven, Gem Hunt

So, corruption seems to be a mental ailment of Gemkind, turned manifest. It also seems to have a deep connection to a Gem’s emotions, with Centipeetle growing smaller and slightly calmer upon feeling more secure in Steven’s presence, and corruption speeding up as Jasper grew more and more emotionally overwrought and self-deriding about herself. 

When it comes to the Diamonds and how they perhaps caused it originally- without fully realizing- we know that at least Blue and White have abilities focused on causing others to act in certain ways. Blue has sway over one’s emotions, and White has a knack for forcing her thoughts and self upon others. (I’m not sure how Yellow’s ability would play in here.) Mayhaps, mixed with their grief and guilt and anger, their power simply pressed all of that hurt emotion onto all the Gems on Earth in one whole fail swoop...? Tearing their minds in the process of it all?

The question I still have, though- is whether a single diamond could produce effects like this. And whether a diamond could turn that ability on themself.

Could Steven accidentally corrupt himself? Why might that happen?

Well, let’s look at our boy here. 

He’s got a wide circle of support at this time in canon, but notably, he’s notorious for bottling up his emotion and not letting others in to help him- instead dropping everything to help them with their problems. Just to name a few examples (a few):

The Test. He feels betrayed and hurt at the Gems for a moment about the way they’re babying him with the rigged test, but instead of admitting the hurt he feels about the scenario, bottles that up to help them feel more like good guardians.

Joy Ride. He opens up to the Cool Kids about deep, incredibly troubling stuff that’s long been on his mind, but he’s never once talked about it with his family.

Mindful Education. The perils of bottling one’s emotions is literally the whole plot of the episode. The kid has a full out sobbing breakdown while he’s plunging to his death. Connie gets through to him a little here, but later episodes show that the resolution we see here is merely the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Steven’s internal issues. 

Storm in the Room. Externally, Steven tries so hard to put on a guise of content and positivity, but once alone in Rose’s room feels safe enough to let the full brunt of his emotional trauma come out in an almost explosive manner. Geeze, get this kid some hugs. 

Gemcation. Steven actually fails bitterly on putting on his customary smile in this episode, simply because the weight of his problems have become such an impossible burden to him. When the other Gems are trying to help him open up, he isn’t immediately responsive to their efforts. 

What’s Your Problem? Amethyst spends the whole episode trying to cheer Steven up and find out how he’s doing, and instead Steven downplays his own feelings on the matter and ends up helping her sort out her own emotional issues.

So to sum: Many an Emotional Issue, a chronic tendency to avoid outwardly addressing said issues in favor of helping everyone else instead... and to avoid accepting other people’s help.

Even if he’s surrounded by all these people who love him, the fact of the matter is that Steven still feels as if he has to face his own inner demons alone.

Now, let’s look at the lil’ teasing synopsis that was given for Steven Universe Future:

“After saving the universe, Steven is still at it, tying up every loose end. But as he runs out of other people’s problems to solve, he’ll finally have to face his own.”

Blatantly sounds like we’re gonna finally get some addressing of Steven’s emotional state, now doesn’t it?

4) A concept on what could, theoretically happen

“Maybe… it IS a guy in a monster costume. I don’t mean literally, silly! What I mean is... there might be a conscious Gem still inside there, somewhere. What if the monster is turning back and forth into its original form? If it is, it might not be as corrupted as we think! There might still be a chance to save it!” -Steven, Gem Hunt

Suppose Steven- by some as-of-yet unknown means- ends up accidentally corrupting himself. His sorry emotional state only further amplifies the effects of this corruption, and makes it really hard to retain control. Wormy Boi as a form could be like... all his inner demons made manifest, a metaphoric mirror into his current mental state. But- as he is half-human- he’s not entirely unaware of what’s happening. Perhaps... as the quote above could be sneaky foreshadowing for... how he’s turning back and forth between this corrupted form and his normal form. 

He likely wouldn’t want everyone to see him like this, doesn’t want everyone to visibly know the sheer depth of how much he’s hurting. But just like the corrupted Gems were only able to be helped in community, with the support of the CGs and the Diamonds in preparing the fountain, Steven can’t fix this on his own. 

He can no longer face the dark alone.

At some point, everyone has to take a brave step. Reach out. Accept help. 

Steven’s helped so many people, and surely he deserves that same love and care in return, too.

And perhaps, when he’s eventually healed from this- and has gotten the opportunity to be open with his family and friends about the hurt he’s facing- he’ll be left with “corruption scars” as well. I think it’s an important thing to address, that no one goes through experiences like these without lingering effects. Stuff stays with you. Healing is not always linear. But life is a continuous journey, and with the support of people who love you surrounding, you too can make a change... can continue to live to the fullest at every moment possible.

I think the above would be a lovely moral for Steven Universe to tackle in its last run of episodes, no matter how they approach it- daft corruption theory or not.

Now, in the end- a reiteration. This is just a wild theory. I’m not trying to be any authoritative voice saying that this is for sure what will happen, because in reality I have no idea what Crewniverse is cooking. However, I do think it’s fun speculation, and I am kinda spooked at how well things fit. 

Whatever happens, I’m sure it will make me weep like a baby, though. Hoh boy. Grant me sanity in these coming months as we wait for answers.

[threeminutesoflife]

What Matters Is Our Plan

Pairings: Bane x Reader, August Walker x Reader Summary: The Reader is known for selling secrets and having connections. She’s worked for The League in the past and moonlights in Bane’s bed. For an upcoming deal, Bane enlists her when The League and The Apostles work together for the first time.  Warning: mercenary business, new world order goals, colleagues with benefits- smut/fingering Word Count: 2.9k

a/n: had this idea in my head for a drabble and then it grew legs. Right now, not sure if it’ll go further but it was fun to get out what I did. This isn’t meant as a cliffhanger or tease- it’s just a spot of fun with writing. (I refer to League of Assassins/League of Shadows as simply The League here).

 -Barsad heard about your past transactions from a former acquaintance who detailed how his former (piece of shit) employer’s bank account was lightened significantly, and Barsad grew more curious about you as he listened to the story of bereavement and the victimized events. The longer the story went on, the more Barsad thought that a light touch like yours could be useful in acquiring funds and easily moving key pieces across a chessboard. When he heard your name mentioned again in a different circle, he told Bane.  

-You became interesting to Bane. The more he looked into your past dealings, the more he was intrigued on how you picked the targets. The only pattern to be seen was on the surface, superficial at best. A shared connection that was overly obvious- all your marks had skeletons in their closests and they were willing pay your fee to keep them there. Bane didn’t see a pattern of you extracting personal vendettas from them either- once they paid the amount you set, you left. Their secrets and incomes were all different, so perhaps you merely picked them since you could?

It first started as a small enjoyment for Bane, surveilling you and watching you grift a room to size up unsuspecting players. It seemed you’d have several potential points of interest before deciding which target to pick. Sometimes he saw you line up one mark and then coyly keep your next intended hit interested as well. Even through a camera lens, Bane could see the enjoyment you gained from plotting and deciding which goose to eat. 

Bane was easily imagining how best to use your communication and collection skills. And when the opportunity came, he sent Barsad to encourage your decision to join them at a future event.

___

Barsad waited for you outside the hotel, throwing the cigarette away when the familiar taxi pulled up. 

You exited the cab, the long beaded gown hitting the wet pavement as a polite looking gentleman with a red scarf offered you a hand out of the vehicle. You quickly thanked him and moved aside, offering him the open taxi but your smile thinned when he leaned in and introduced himself instead. He shut the car door and offered you his elbow, asking for your time to discuss potential business dealings with his leader. 

Barsad took pride when you flinched at Bane’s name. Knowing who he was aligned with would make this discussion move faster. You weren’t foolish enough to believe you had a choice in declining the offer of employment. The correct answer to accept was reinforced when your cab driver and Barsad nodded knowingly to one another before the vehicle pulled away. 

So here you were sitting at a table in your posh hotel suite, discussing your life choices with the mercenary. 

“You extort them,” Barsad stated, taking another bite of the meal room service provided.

“I deal secrets,” you corrected casually. “It’s up to the person if they wish for those secrets to remain as such. Cover charges still apply even if you don’t drink.”

“Deal secrets, trade secrets, blackmail?” Barsad laughed, enjoying the banter. 

“You make it sound so unappealing with that last word.”

“For someone who’s evening was taken off rails, you recover well. You are an extortionist, one with many connections. It pays you well. Don’t deny, we checked.” 

“I like to think of it as-” you paused, taking a sip of water, “...helpfully tilting their hand. A donation to a charity, you could say.”

“Purposefully tilting a waterfall into your pocket, no?”

“They decide if they want to give or not,” you rolled your shoulder carelessly. 

“Forced charity?” Barsad’s lips pulled to a slow smirk.

“Strongly encouraged charity,” you replied, returning the grin. 

___

You tried to not show any disappointment when Bane woke you today. At least the temporary shelter was a bit more hospitable than some of the other locations. You smiled against his broad chest until your sleepy mind fully cleared. A thin blanket covered you both and you curled into his bare chest to hold off the morning’s chill. 

He always ran warm; much to your annoyance when you worked together in desert climates, but also to your delight when you were in snowy ones. His fingers trailed along your back, foretelling a change was about to come. 

Sunlight forced its way through the chipped, blacked out warehouse windows- Bane let you sleep longer than usual. Your smile slipped and your body stiffened when realizing he gave you a favor. 

Biting your lip, you closed your eyes and concentrated on the feel of Bane’s hand as it ran slowly along your skin. Soft touches were rare, a sign that you’d soon be separated again. It was his usual give away. The lighter the touch, the worse the news. 

It was a tell of his you weren’t entirely sure he knew about, but you’d never ask in fear of ruining these shared moments. But since it was Bane, he probably intentionally left a hint along your spine with every touch. And you weren’t sure which you preferred.

Bane felt your body awake and lock along his side, your awareness giving him a cue to begin talking. He told you to be in his office for a briefing within two hours. You grumbled against him, but you both knew you’d be at the doors five minutes before you were due.

Sighing in compliance, you dragged your leg up along his thick thigh and settled it between his. You had only reunited a few days ago and weren’t in a rush to learn about a new assignment. 

Moving your hand along his chest, you admired how your fingers looked splayed out across his pec. Licking your lips, you pressed your core against his thigh.

“Bane…” you tilted your mouth towards his warm chest and slowly grinded yourself against his thigh.

Several kisses along his skin, you reminded yourself again that this was a working relationship, not a romantic one. Despite the benefits- orgasms shouldn’t encourage romantic feelings. Even if mind-blowing ones made you yearn for him and muddled your head, making you wish he’d solidify future plans that included you without the use of weapons. You groaned in disgust at the white-picketed fence ideas and shook your head clear of them. 

In your haze, Bane flipped you easily onto your back and pinned you under him. His large hand snaked over your tummy and dipped slowly towards your core, while his other traveled along your arm and tightened around your neck. 

The cool air over your exposed body made you shiver as your legs parted, welcoming him closer. The pad of his thumb grazed your nub and had you grasping the thin mattress.

“We have limited time,” Bane rasped behind the mask, his stare weighing down on you. 

A sour feeling drenched you when you caught his expression, his wording making you frown.

Bane’s fingers pressed against the column of your throat before dragging them down to your breast. He pressed his calloused palm against your mound, “You’ll have at least three.”

His thumb circled your clit more determined this time, his pupils widening at your moans. You were always a vision to him. 

Your head fell against the pillows as your chin jetted out. The column of your neck on full display- long, vulnerable. He pressed his erection down against you, wishing he could kiss and bite you like how you deserved. 

Shaking the longing thought from his mind, determination flared through him as he ran his fingers along your slit, teasing and sliding his fingers inside. Hooking them, he felt your warm, tight channel squeezed around him. 

He could always make you unravel without the use of a mouth and he wouldn’t stop now. He’d make you sing despite the mask. Bane was steadfast, burning your body with his memory. He would make you remember him until you shared another night together.

“...One,” a mechanical voice vibrated in your ears as your body shook under him.

____

The upper-level warehouse office was dimly lit. The desk lamp made Bane’s mask look even more severe if that were possible. Or perhaps it was the new mission’s orders that painted him more severely in your eyes now. 

You were not a fan of this new assignment for several reasons. One being that he gave you no time to prepare, they would be here shortly and the mission would begin. Another reason was the coming weeks of separation. Possibly longer if Barsad wasn’t sent out to call you back to whatever location Bane might be residing in. Your main grievance? You now had a partner.

Barsad shut the office door behind the small group of men who left with their orders. The sound of boots hitting metal faded as they descended the platform’s staircase. He didn’t move from the door until the noise stopped completely. Rounding the room, Barsad swept it again out of habit before standing next to you.

He watched your earlier reaction when Bane told the handful of men what he expected from you all. Barsad had become protective of you and he wasn’t sure what Bane was trying to accomplish by assigning you to this mission. The orders he gave weren’t ones you normally received.  

Barsad knew you were not a fan of this plan and he had a feeling Bane knew also. You didn’t object or speak out in front of Bane’s men. But despite trying to stifle your distaste, Barsad saw the subtle hints of it in your body language. You remained quiet and took the orders as if you were a member and not an acquaintance to their cause. 

As silence filled the office among you three, Bane walked around the desk to stand before you and Barsad.

“Any questions?” Bane asked, the hiss of his mask echoing in the room.

“Yes,” you answered. 

He waved his hand, motioning you to continue.

“Which persona should I be?”

Barsad stifled a laugh, quickly morphing it into a cough when Bane gave him a pointed look. 

Barsad knew you well enough to know- you were about to pick the character that annoyed Bane the most. And he knew Bane well enough to know, he’d allow it. For you.

_____

The humidity in the warehouse climbed quickly in the afternoon, the body heat coming off the collection of Bane’s men didn’t help. 

August Walker loosened his tie and attempted to hide his annoyance for having to wait. Particularly for the part of the plan that would undoubtedly give him a migraine- a temporary partner. He had already been on edge enough with meeting Bane, although he’d never admit it.

Shortly ago, Bane and August reminded one another what was expected from each of their parties, both agreeing to be in touch. Before leaving Bane’s office, August was informed to wait on the lower level and his man would find him to do the exchange.  

Now, standing below the platform and out in the open of the warehouse, August schooled his features and resisted clenching his fist.  

Barsad climbed down the stairs and handed August a suitcase before eyeing him, “From Bane.”

“Name’s Walker,” August introduced himself as he took the suitcase and set it down by his feet. Reaching into his jacket, he pulled out an envelope for Barsad. 

“Wait here for your counterpart,” Barsad instructed without offering his name in return. 

Snatching the envelope out of August’s hand, Barsad climbed back up the platform and looked out over the warehouse floor. He agreed even less now with Bane’s plan after seeing Walker up close.

Five minutes passed and Barsad smirked at Walker’s subtle discomfort.

Another five and Barsad leaned further on the platform’s railing, snickering at Walker’s mounting irritation.  

Barsad grinned at the thought of Walker cursing to you for being kept waiting and Bane allowing him to shoot Walker.

The sound of heeled boots clicked in the distance across the warehouse floor. August noticed how the sound quieted the men slightly as they continued to work. His head snapped towards the platform when he heard the office door open and saw Bane stand next to Barsad. 

‘What, did he come for a show?’ August laughed to himself. But what August saw next was not a partner expected.

“How long do we have the honeymoon suite booked for?” you inquired, sticking your hip out and cocking your head to the side. Your question silenced the room quicker than it took for your teeth to snap and crush the pickle between your lips.

Bane’s eyes raked over you and your attitude of indifference towards Walker. The half-eaten sandwich on the plate you held was a nice accessory, he thought. 

Bane knew you weren’t thrilled about the idea of The League sharing work with The Apostles, but both organizations could benefit from each other for the time being. It was by no means a long term partnership but a brief connection. But he wasn’t certain if your air of indifference was just for show or not.

Your abrupt question caught August off guard and Barsad shot Bane a look of amusement.

“...Excuse me?” August’s forehead furrowed. Was this a test to see if he could improvise? Had he waited all this time for you to make a sandwich? His migraine was growing.

“You… me…” you clarified, pointing to you both with the pickle in your hand. “Honeeeymooooon.”

August blinked and blinked again, “Honeymoon?” 

“...Oh.. you’re not a shy one, are you?” you pouted. “Will we need to discuss the birds and bees? I suppose we’ll have time while travelin-”

August’s heavy exhale cut you off. You could tell he was trying to gather his thoughts, so you let him. 

Biting into the pickle, you licked the liquid that ran down your wrist and winked at him, "So juicy."

August eyed you uncomfortably. This couldn’t possibly be the woman assigned to him as his partner. You, you were supposed to be there to collect and keep secrets? You could barely keep your breasts covered with that buttoned blouse. There was too much at stake to have this happen to him. You could not be the same person August heard about, your reputation didn’t match.

He hated being tested, “Listen-” 

“Wait!” you squealed and jabbed the pickle into his chest. “Did you get me a ring? Cause you’ll absolutely need to get me one. A good one. My others aren’t big enough to be believable.” 

“I don’t hav-”

“Oh! What’s my married name?”

Barsad noticed Bane shift his weight at that question.

“Name’s Walker,” he grunted before giving into the game. “We'll go over the fake IDs later… and get a ring before arriving at the hotel.”

You tossed the remaining piece of pickle in your mouth as August harshly wiped brine off his jacket.

“Rings. You're mine now, hubby. Gotta stake that claim," you stated, sucking the last bit of juice off your fingers. "Mrs. Parker? Yeah, I guess I can work with that.”

“Walker. Walk-er,” August reminded himself to stay calm. “...You’re doing this on purpose aren’t you?” 

“Come along, Parker,” you tapped him on the chest as you breezed by.

“It’s Walker,” August corrected, sour and exhausted.

“Congratulations!” you flippantly exclaimed. 

Picking up the sandwich, you randomly handed the plate over to one of Bane’s men with a thank you. Heading towards the door, you waved the sandwich over your head as a goodbye without looking back.

‘Thank you? Now you have manners?’ Walker thought, stretching his neck as the migraine clawed around his head.

The scent of brine juice on his jacket burned his nose as he watched your fading form leave the warehouse. The prideful swing of your hips mocking him with each step. 

He looked towards the platform and found himself pinned by Bane’s stare. August wasn’t sure what Bane thought about the scene you just created, but he noted Bane allowed you a large amount of freedom.

“Gentleman,” August nodded towards Bane and Barsad. He wasn’t expecting a verbal response, nor did he receive one as he picked up the suitcase. “We’ll be in touch.”

Bane waited another moment and watched August uneasily grip the handle of the suitcase before returning the nod and dismissing him. 

August sighed internally, at least he didn’t completely screw up the start of this deal with the person he needed to win over the most. Now he’d have to figure out how to work with you. You already seemed too eager to gleefully push his buttons.

As August was about to follow you, he noticed Bane glancing at the empty warehouse doors. That gave him pause, maybe August didn’t initially identify the person who mattered most here. But if that was true about you, August would need confirmation before playing an angle like that. And why were you so ungodly annoying? Why were you there?

The Apostles wanted more boots on the ground and The League could offer that number. Different teams, similar causes. August was more than willing to put in the time to pave the groundwork between the two organizations, but he didn’t need a freelancer like you upsetting long term goals.

While it was helpful to have someone who specialized with connections and secrets, people underestimated just how much venom secret sellers like you could carry and inflict. Especially ones with more freedom than others.

If you meant something to Bane, annoying as you were, August now had a new angle to ripen and harvest if needed. The possibility of you moonlighting for The Apostles entertained him as well, personality aside.

But August would need to tread carefully, he didn’t need to receive a broken back from Bane. And he certainly didn’t need you selling whispers about him that’d lead to his own demise, especially when your reputation for only selling the truth was known. 

August hoped you never realized how much power you carried.  

Risking another glance at the platform, he noticed Bane was gone but Barsad remained there, watching him intently.

 August noted that as well.

[keiossance]

Okay, so I had this thought:

Although we can also agree that Bell was not innocent for sharing the same ideals with Perseus, it makes me wonder why all of a sudden they can be easily convinced to side with the Americans instead. I mean sure it was eventually made known to Bell that they were willing to detonate the nukes to wipe of half of Europe back then but, why the change of heart?

Might be because they mostly got convinced that the motive of CIA was to go against Perseus', which involved exposing the Operation Greenlight that was created by the CIA themselves and was then authorized, and also having the thought of Perseus' disregard of ethics and morality to ending lives for his 'New Soviet Era'. This could be it, until something clicked.

Maybe because they were 'too young'.

Technically, they may not be as young as to be called a teen but they may only be few years apart from Helen Park's age.

But in terms of how they were growing up: they may have been in this environment where, at a very young age (say maybe early childhood), they were taught/educated onto the ideas of how great it is to serve one's motherland and by serving their country it is a way to show how much they hold dear of it. They may have also instilled the thought of 'their country's enemy, will also be theirs and the young generations' to come'. Feeding into that mindset, they may have decided to fully dedicate into serving their own country and to show love for it by enlisting in the Army at maybe their Late Teens. While still serving in the Army, this may have been a time when Perseus piqued interest and saw potential to our lovely Bell. Probable potential Perseus saw is not their brute strength and skills in fighting in the field (maybe Bell really tried but it just wasn't it for them), but rather their skills in cryptography which not everyone mostly recognize in Bell's skills during her service. So with that in mind, maybe Perseus used his string of connections to take Bell under his wing to be the one to train them instead.

Now that Bell was taken in by Perseus, with the help of the older man's charisma, he probably swayed and convinced Bell that the two are of equal footing with shared ideals that shouts: "Our country will benefit from it. Promise"

After that, he eventually honed their skills in cryptography and fighting. They were the became known as Perseus' trusted shadow and most importantly, right hand during their early 20's.

Throughout that time frame, they were molded to become this other type of persona that was heavily influenced with biased morals at a certain point of time where they were still at an age where they are finding their true standing/purpose in this world and understanding how the world works. And because of it, they may have strongly believe and held on to the thought that those ideals that were ingrained to them are the whole truth and nothing but the truth of it, until they were found by their enemy bleeding in the car at Trabzon Airfield and the rest is history of course.

(Also wanna add how I suddenly thought that this could be another way to show how Bell and Adler may truly be at two sides of the same coin while growing up as well. Being recognized by known/high-ranking professionals due to their great potential at a very young age)

But, this is just a thought that I am not sure sounds and make sense still.

[khoicesbyk]

Dark Pleasure.

A/N: This AU is between my two all time favorite books Bloodbound and The Royal Romance! It is the crossover to end all crossovers.

A/N 2: This fanfic will be dark! And sexy! And violent! And delicious! And will quickly become your guilty pleasure.

Rated: Mature. | Contains sexual content and strong language. (You know? The usual from me. 😁) | Bolded and/or italicized words are conversations and thoughts of the characters. | Main Characters: Tristan Rys (LI) and Latisha Tucker (MC) x Adrian Raines and Tiana Reynolds-Raines | All Characters and names: (except MC and original characters created by me) are property of Pixelberry.

Current Word Count: 1,210 words. (more or less. I stop counting after editing and re-editing. 🤷🏾‍♀️)

Prompt Time! Today I’ll be using @wackydrabbles prompt #87 “No offense, but I'm not interested.”! It’ll be in bold in black.

If you’d like to be added to my tag list. Just reblog or dm me and I will gladly add you! 😁😘

Series TW: drug use, violence, murder, mentions of torture, prostitution.

This series is rated Mature. It is NOT reading material that is safe for those under 18. Reader discretion is STRONGLY advised!

(MAJOR SHOUTOUT TO @secretaryunpaid!!! SHE GAVE ME THE KICK IN THE ASS THAT I NEEDED TO START THIS SERIES! I DON’T THINK I WOULD’VE HAD THE BALLS TO WRITE THIS IF SHE HADN’T HAVE PUSHED ME IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION!)

Chapter 1.) Into The Shadows.

Tristan Rys has everything any man could ever want. Money, power, cars, girls, homes you name it, he’s more than likely got it. As President and Chairman of Rys International Group, it’s his job to provide his clients with every luxury their hearts desire. After all he’s known all around the world as The King Of Cordonia.

His late father Constantine started the company with just one small hotel and when he turned the business over to his youngest son, Tristan turned it into a powerhouse that rivals Marriott and Hilton. He has his Le Roi de Cordonie hotel group, his Lotus spas and The Underground nightclubs all over the world.

And now he’s looking to expand to the US. After scouting possible headquarter locations in California, New York, Miami, Boston and Chicago, he settled on Washington D.C. He took a liking to the busy city vibe. With D.C. being the home and hub of American politics and the potential growth of his client list, he was sold on the location. Because what better way to grow his true business than to be in a city that thrives?

What is his true business you ask?

Tristan isn’t just the owner of Rys International Group, he’s also one of the biggest drug lords in the world. No one has ever been able to touch him.

And right now he’s about to have the biggest investment meeting of his life. If he’s able to make this deal it would mean he’d truly be unstoppable.

He’s about to meet with Senator Adrian Raines.

Adrian has known Tristan since he was a kid. He and Constantine were great friends and eventually Adrian became one of Rys International’s biggest clients. After all, they hosted Adrian and Tiana’s wedding. So when Adrian heard that Rys International was coming to D.C., he had to see what brought Tristan to town. Although Adrian doesn’t run the day to day of Raines Corporation he was still willing to meet.

Both arrived to an empty Ocean Prime Steakhouse for their meeting.

“Adrian! It’s good to see you!” Tristan said as he stood to greet Adrian with a handshake.

“It’s good to see you too Tristan. It’s been a long time. I haven’t seen you since you were a kid.” Adrian replied, returning his handshake.

“Thank you for meeting with me, Senator.”

“Please you know you can always call me Adrian.”

“I know but I want to respect you and your new position.”

“Thank you. What can I get you? Scotch?” Adrian asks.

“Whiskey if you don’t mind.” Tristan replies.

Adrian signals for the waiter to bring them a couple bottles and glasses.

“Now before we get down to business, I gotta ask…how’s that spitfire wife of yours?” Tristan asks.

Adrian snickered.

“You know how she is about you. She won’t shut up about the new spa you opened up in New York. I can’t keep her out of there.” He replies.

“Yes I know. Still the best sex I’ve ever had.”

“You’re a liar but I’ll take the backhanded compliment anyway.”

The two shared a laugh as the waiter brought them two bottles of whiskey.

“I don’t know about you but I’m starving! So shall we order?” Tristan asks him.

“Of course let’s order.”

They placed their orders and while they waited for their food to be delivered, they started to discuss business.

“So let’s get down to it. Why am I here Tristan?” Adrian asked.

“I have a business proposal for you Adrian.”

“Oh? And what is this business proposal as you put it?” Adrian asks.

“Consider it a bit of a ‘you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours’. I’m new to town and I know how cutthroat D.C. can be. And I’m a small fish in this very big pond.” Tristan replies.

“Meaning?” Adrian asked with an eyebrow raised.

“Meaning you give me protection here in D.C. and I fund your entire senatorial re-election and future presidential campaign.” Tristan replies.

Adrian scoffed.

“No offense, but I'm not interested.”

“Come on Adrian! You can’t seriously be passing this up!”

That’s when their food arrived.

“Need I remind you that you are one of the biggest drug dealers in the world? You’re a danger to my campaign!”

Tristan shrugged.

“Suit yourself Senator. I was actually looking forward to working with you but I’m sure your opponent in New York will be happy to take the deal.”

“You wouldn’t dare.”

“Oh no? Why not? Because you’re an old friend of both me and my father?” Tristan asks.

Adrian smirked.

“You’re an asshole. You do know that right?” Adrian asks.

“High praise!” Tristan replies.

“If I agree to this, what do I really get out of this?” Adrian asks.

“Like I said, a fully funded re-election and future presidential campaigns. On top of the perks of being a valued member of Rys International’s platinum club and a few other personal perks and favors, of course.” Tristan replied.

“All while you get to set up shop here in D.C. and run your legal and illegal business, correct?” Adrian asks.

“A win-win situation if I do say so myself.” Tristan replies before pouring himself a drink.

“And how would we go about this…business?” Adrian asks.

“Very simple. Your head of security Jax will meet with my head of security Drake Walker and coordinate.” Tristan replies.

“Jax won’t agree to that.”

“Why not?” Tristan asks.

“Jax doesn’t like working with people.” Adrian replied.

“Neither does Drake. Unless it involves sex and liquor.”

“Oh well in that case, they’ll be great together. They’re both brooding, moody and love liquor and women.”

“Now you’re getting it.”

“What about your brother Leo?” Adrian asks.

“Simple. While all that happens my brother will work with Raines Corporation on the business side of things.”

“And what about us?”

“Just two old friends working together to make sure that you are re-elected and my business flourishes here in America.”

“And no one will know about your cartel?” Adrian asks.

“Nope. Hell I’ll even throw you a cut of the profits…and a few of my finest girls.” Tristan replies.

Adrian sat back and thought about Tristan’s words.

“Come on Adrian. I know you’re considering it.”

“You’re an egomaniac!”

“And you’re the vampire who is married to the most powerful woman in the entire universe. And together you and I will become the two most unstoppable men on the planet!”

Adrian just shook his head then grinned.

“Damn you’re good…”

“That’s the nature of my business. So what do you say? Do we have a deal?” Tristan asks.

“This goes against everything I have believed in! I am better than this!” Adrian hissed. “And yet…this is too damn good for you to pass up.”

Adrian took a deep breath and Tristan rolled his eyes.

“Just say that you accept the damn deal old man!”

“Fine! You’ve got a deal! I can not believe I’ve been talked into this.”

“Wonderful! I’ll have my legal team contact yours and we’ll hammer out all the fine print.”

“You truly are ruthless, Tristan.”

“Jay-Z said it best. I’m not just a businessman, I’m a business…man.”

Adrian snickered.

“Here’s to a very lucrative partnership.”

“Finally!”

The two toasted to their new deal.

[robotslenderman]

Dove character analysis

An analysis on Dove, her Nictuku traits, and how they ended up making her resembling the Cappadocians so strongly that her own sire thought she was one somehow.

I always assumed Dove and Modian were close because Dove was clearly distressed when she saw Modian in the condition he was in in the video.

But I was going through the VTMNR code to see the things she tells you about herself that I missed when I was playing that scene, and got to this bit:

"But when he saw my face, he thought he had been tricked," Dove says, her tone bleak. "He said I resembled one of the extinct clans, and treated me like a red-headed stepchild. Imagine that: too ugly to be a Nosferatu. I made my own way then, met up with Jasper Knowles, the Warlock, while he was digging through ruins for old magic, and through him ended up becoming a respectable member of the Camarilla. I didn't see Modian again for a century, when I came to the New World." 

So this started out as an analysis on how Modian must have recognised Nictuku traits in Dove (they are descended from Nictuku, a bloodline of Nosferatu that are blood bound to Absimilliard, the Nosferatu Antediluvian, and sworn to destroy the Nosferatu. If you trace Reremouse’s family tree, the Methuselah they’re descended from was a known Nictuku defector). The Nictuku are said to be particularly hideous, like Dove --

Imagine that: too ugly to be a Nosferatu. 

And a lot of people don’t believe they exist.

He said I resembled one of the extinct clans

So I thought that the Nictuku blood came out really strongly with Dove, Modian realised it, and freaked the fuck out.

But the “one of the extinct” clans didn’t quite fit (people either believe they exist or don’t, but they never talk about them being extinct), and there was a mention of the Giovanni wanting to put Dove down:

"Jasper was interested in another act of diablerie, the one that birthed Clan @{(clan = "Hecata") Giovanni. This was way before you all joined back up with the other necromancers|Giovanni—this was before the death clans all reunited to form Clan Hecata}. He was interested in me because he wondered if I wasn't a Nosferatu at all, but one of the now-extinct clans. Of course, I had been Embraced by Modian in the normal fashion, my dark arts were those of my clan, and Jasper's hypothesis came to nothing…but that wasn't before a bunch of Giovanni learned about me and tried to destroy me because they thought I was a harbinger of their destruction. To escape them, we jumped onto the Simplon-Orient-Express in Constantinople, and there we ran into this Polish Gangrel…anyway, that was all a long time ago."

So I thought. Huh. Maybe the Giovanni have links to the Nictuku?

Then I remembered what clan the Giovanni are descended from. Cappadocians. Whose bane were that they looked like corpses.

Boom. Turns out the Nictuku to the Giovanni’s Nosferatu are the Harbingers of Skulls, whose weakness --

The Harbingers of Skulls clan weakness is an extension of the Cappadocian clan's weakness. Regardless of the quantity of blood a Harbinger of Skulls consumes, their skin maintains a deathly pallor. Additionally, the Harbingers' skin shrinks to make these Cainites appear skeletal, with bony limbs and faces frozen into an immortal death's grin. Because of this decidedly unwholesome and morbid visage, Harbingers of Skulls have Appearance Traits of zero. All Social rolls involving the Appearance Trait automatically fail for Harbingers of Skulls. 

 -- are that they look skeletal. Just like Dove.

And like the Nictuku with the Nosferatu, they want to fuck Giovanni shit up. They’re pissed about what the Giovanni did to the Cappadocians.

So the Giovanni see this Nosferatu with a skull for a face, freak the fuck out, and try to murder her.

Modian Embraces a childe, the Nictuku genes come out strongly --

Additionally, age is difficult and transforming on the bloodline. For every hundred years since their Embrace, the Hungry become more monstrous in appearance. But their physical bodies also grow stronger, until they reach the peak of human (and vampiric) physical potential. They grow slowly but decidedly bent, twisted, and ever more deadly, slowly aging grotesques that blame the Nosferatu for their condition. 

-- but to the extent that happens to resemble a Cappadocian. Modian freaks out, is like “what the fuck, you’re clearly not mine” even though he was there, so poor Dove gets basically orphaned.

The Nictuku weakness doesn’t quite fit Dove. Nictuku need Cainite blood to feed, not kine. Dove might have been feeding on Cainites this whole time and kept it secret, but a Nosferatu courier doesn’t make any mention of having to do that, so I think it’s safe to assume Dove doesn’t. Also, there’s no mention that Dove gets uglier each century in spite of being Embraced ~1830. But she’s definitely Nictuku because she’s descended from Melachoate, which we find out in the Reremouse chapter.

But who knows. Maybe that weakness gets weaker as your generation gets higher. Maybe Jasper was feeding her the vitae of his victims -- she knew he experimented on wights, there’s a flashback where she’s casually chatting to him while standing over an entire pit of them. But that still doesn’t explain why her childe doesn’t seem to have that weakness either.

So. Dove has Nictuku blood, it came out stronger in her than Modian (and presumably Reremouse), Modian freaked, and it basically caused a rift between them so she ended up raised by Jasper instead.

Which is... interesting. Because she is visibly upset at seeing what Jasper did to Modian, but not upset at seeing Jasper get destroyed.

But it might explain why Jasper chose to wight Modian. Dove never trusted him, and maybe he was far from magnamious when he wighted Modian.

But I dunno. Maybe he was pissed off that Modian basically rejected his own childe.

And it makes me wonder -- Dove often speaks about how restless she is and how trapped she feels. Another Nictuku weakness, beside the hideousness and the inability to take sustenance from kine blood, is what might be claustrophobia:

The Hungry will not haven where they cannot see the moon when they rise and leave each night.  [...] They loathe the underground and will not haven there. Ever. This may be related to, or the cause of, the Nosferatu desire to dig.

Dove gets really edgy about not driving, about not getting to leave the city -- essentially about not getting to be in wide open space. We never see her underground, or see any mention of her ever being underground.

She also seems to have a very lowkey manifestation of the Nictuku hatred of the Nosferatu, in that she’s constantly at odds with them.

Firstly, she’s at odds with Modian. Sure, that’s because of his rejection of her -- but Modian is also at odds with her. He was present at her Embrace, there’s no reason for him to think she’s not his, but he does.

Secondly, the way she talks about the Nosferatu is nothing but critical.

"Back in the '80s, some of the younger Nosferatu discovered the internet, and found a new place to hide and hoard secrets. [..] They got online by the dozens, and then by the hundreds, establishing a shadow internet for the undead. I warned them not to do it."

The Nictuku despise the Nosferatu. Dove, who has their blood in her veins, although very diluted, doesn’t hate them. But she doesn’t respect them, either.

"But those Nosferatu, they'd look at themselves in the mirror and see the same ugly, unchanging face as when they were first Embraced. And they'd tell themselves, 'I still have the edge."

She’s like this even with her own childe. You can save her life when you last see her, but when you show up at Elysium she is all but obvious with her dislike of you. She sees another Nosferatu, even a Nictuku one, and seems to have this instinctive, lowkey revulsion of them that she attributes to other things. (She claims the Courier abandoned her, but made no effort to reach out to them despite knowing where they were, and the Courier being completely ignorant of where she was.)

And it’s just. fascinating. And so very sad. She’s this lost little chick who knows, deep down, that her bloodline isn’t the same as other Nosferatu, and it comes out in such subtle ways. And yet it comes out in one glaringly obvious respect -- her face.

[addictedtostorytelling]

Hi! Do you think grissom would’ve reacted as strongly against the fbi plot in the strip strangler if a random cop/fbi undercover was used? or was he only that mad because it was Sara? what if it was catherine- would he be just as aggressive? He seemed okay with using a police bait for the miniature case in s7; yet the culprit seems just as dangerous

hi, anon!

short answer here: 

while grissom undoubtedly would be upset were any of his employees in danger (see episodes 05x24 and 05x25 “grave danger,” pts. i and ii, for instance), i think the extremity of his reaction in episode 01x23 “strip strangler” is very much due to “the sara of it all.” 

he doesn’t like either agent culpepper or agent culpepper’s bait plan from the beginning, but it’s only after sara becomes involved with the operation that grissom’s response goes from “i strongly disagree with you on a professional level (and, also, you’re an ass)” to “i’ll knock your fucking teeth out if you so much as even look at my wife, you bastard.”

i mean, you can pretty much pinpoint the exact instant the switch flips:

*insert kill bill sirens here*

were it catherine being the bait, he’d certainly be upset, but i believe he’d go about addressing the issue very differently. in that case, he might skip over culpepper and try to reason with catherine herself more directly, talking her through the reasons why he was opposed to the operation on a logical and professional level.

but with sara, he can’t be reasonable.

he tells her no up front but then once he realizes she’s volunteered herself anyway, he turns downright imperious, trying to scare her into backing out—better to have her pissed at him for embarrassing her than dead because she charged into an unsafe situation, yeah?—and then after he sees that she won’t be dissuaded, shadowing her like a hawk, even drawing a gun to protect her though he won’t carry one to defend himself later on in the same episode.

though he couches most of his arguments against the bait plan in professional terms (and he is unquestionably annoyed that culpepper is going to jeopardize the integrity of the investigation overall), his primary concern is for sara’s life, and he’s reacting from a place of fear that he might potentially lose his one true love and is powerless to stop it.

his recklessness throughout the episode is indicative of the fact that he’s responding to what’s happening from a deeply emotional place.

anyway.

thanks for the question! please feel welcome to send another any time.

[paranormalreasearche]

Causes of a haunting.

Time for a bit of speculation. Time for a bit of theorizing.

So everyone has their theories regarding what causes a place, person, or thing to become haunted.

Personally, I have four theoretical potential causes for hauntings so I'll go over them.

Human events:

People die either peacefully or tragically. Depending on the circumstances their soul might become bound to a subject of a haunting or the death of them leaves a vibrational imprint that echoes on forever until that epicenter is gone.

Otherworldly entities:

I'm really dubious about this one, but some people believe that hauntings are caused by things that were never human or any animal known to man. Demons, angels, even shadow people get pulled into this regard. These entities arrive via pathways created either naturally or through the opening of ways by humans.

Human belief and folklore:

This fits as a sort of side effect into the human power of manifesting one's reality. We will believe in something so strongly that it comes true. Get enough humans together that believe in an old woman that is faceless and eventually you will start hearing people coming into contact with said spirit. You might even get video evidence of them.

Quantum Temporal spatial Nonsense:

This is way out of the left-field but another theoretical potential cause for hauntings is nonsense involving how quantum mechanics are so wiggly. Ripples cascading across time into the present from the 4th dimension or higher. Spaces between realities where the walls are kind of thin. That sort of thing. Merely putting it out there as a theory.

Excluding the final theory, I usually stick to the first three. More lean on actual dead and human belief being the primary causes of hauntings than otherworldly entities. The reason is that the type of entity at a haunting seems to be regional...almost like it's impacted by human belief.

[irandrura]

Third and final post: what were my other thoughts?

 Let’s talk about the game’s mechanics first.

I am overall very pleased with the battle gameplay. On the battlefield itself the gameplay is more-or-less unchanged from the past, but the character advancement and customisation system is significantly improved. Moving to a single overall character level and giving every character the ability to change classes at will is a much more fluid and elegant system than in the past, and the ability to choose the specific combat arts and abilities each character takes looks like it adds a lot of depth. It’s probably appropriate for the overall ‘teacher’ theme of the game that you have much more power to mould each character’s skills and talents, but I’d like to see it in other games as well. There’s an important balance to strike: on the one hand, characters should not be infinitely malleable, and should all have their personal strengths and weaknesses. On the other, so much of the fun of the game is in developing characters and watching them grow that it’s really good to be able to specialise them.

Speaking of battle gameplay, divine pulse is great. The Fire Emblem series has always struggled a bit with accessibility, and while casual mode definitely made the series easier, it also felt to me like missing the point. Casual mode is too easy, and by removing any risk of permanent death, it felt like it removed a lot of the game’s tension. Divine pulse is a much better way to make the gameplay a bit easier and less frustrating while still keeping the same feel as classic FE gameplay. It gives you just enough room to survive a lucky enemy crit, or a small misjudgement on your part, without totally removing the need to be careful. I approve. That said, I did feel that by late-game you probably had access to too many pulses and it removed the need to conserve them. With a dozen pulses, there isn’t much risk any more, whereas if it stayed capped around three to five, each individual pulse might have felt more precious.

 (Apparently Mila’s Turnwheel in Shadows of Valentia actually did the mechanic first, and I totally forgot about it. Oh dear…)

Other gameplay innovations were more hit-and-miss, for me. Battalions were fine, but I don’t think I would have missed them if they weren’t there. They helped make the battlefield seem busier and more populated, but they don’t seem to have had a massive impact on the game. Similarly, monsters were mostly fine (Cindered Shadows boss notwithstanding), but again, I don’t think I’d mind very much if they didn’t come back. They rarely actually felt like the most dangerous enemies on the battlefield, and just required a slightly different strategy, and… well, maybe it’s just me, but it feels weird for FE to have boss monsters like that. I suppose arguably it’s been a tension in the series going all the way back to the original game? Marth was supposed to fight monstrous dragons, but his entire game was about enemy soldiers, and dragons didn’t stand out as the terrifying beasts they ought to have been. Still, I’m not sure I’m sold on them here.

When I started playing I complained that exploring the monastery was tedious. You can get into a routine later on, but for the most part, I did think it could have been streamlined more. Having lunch with students or going for special training or browsing the marketplace are all fun things to do, but a bit less sprinting all over the map to talk to everyone and return lost items would have been appreciated. The lost item mechanic in particular feels like busywork. A bit of exploring is nice, but only as long as it doesn’t get tedious. It might have been lovely to explore other locations as well – Enbarr, Fhirdiad, the army camp outside Gronder, etc. – but I can understand that the amount of work required would not be practical.

Speaking of tedium, though… I really could have done with a few more maps. Maybe this is my fault for constantly choosing battles, but I found myself replaying the same forest, plains, beach, or volcano map too many times for comfort.

I might also have liked for crests to be a bit more mechanically impactful, given their important to the world and the plot. I regularly forgot which of my units have crests, and what any of the crests do, since most of them have so little effect as to not matter. The only one I did usually remember was Felix’s Crest of Fraldarius, and that was mainly because it makes him do more damage and sometimes made him kill people I’d hoped to leave on one or two HP. I don’t think crests should have been overpowering, but a little more power would still have been nice. It should not have been so easy to forget that they exist.

Similarly, by the time I finished the game I realised that I had never used a Hero’s Relic, even once. I would like to say that this was a principled decision on my part, given that they turn people into monsters (and it looks like I was right about them being made from bone?), but it was mostly just the BUT-WHAT-IF-I-NEED-IT-LATER effect. They all have quite low durability, and while I understand that infinite durability, as with relics in previous games, was not an option due to breaking how combat arts work, it was still enough to discourage me from using them. Perhaps on a higher difficulty they would become necessary? I always feel a bit sad when for mechanical reasons I never let characters use their most iconic weapons.

 Moving on from mechanics…

There is technically a shipping mechanic, with an S support for the protagonist, but it really felt like an afterthought to me. I don’t think the game would lose anything significant if you just removed all the S supports. Compared to a game like Awakening or Fates, where the second generation makes it mechanically important and the plot seems like it works best with a bit of romantic drama (f!Robin/Chrom and m!Robin/Lucina looking particularly intended), Three Houses is surprisingly chaste. I suppose picking a character to be your waifu might be part of the culture now, perhaps looking also at the growing influence of waifu gacha games, but for me it felt tacked on. I can imagine potentially rewriting the game to make romance a more important theme – perhaps talking about Jeralt and Sitri a bit more? – but to be honest I think that that would have been worse for the game overall.

In particular, it stands out to me as sitting a touch oddly alongside the teacher concept. One of the things that stands out to me about Byleth as a protagonist is the way that Byleth is in a superior position relative to the other units. You are a professor, in a position of authority, and you have more life experience. Your job is to teach and mentor these younger characters. This contrasts strongly with Robin, who I think was presented as the equal of the other Shepherds (your relationship with Chrom is that of comrade and friend), and with Corrin, who was presented as an inferior or junior (your siblings are older than you, and they start off with higher status). Because of that superior position, then, I found the game suggesting a feeling of responsibility towards them, and a feeling of pride in their accomplishments.

This might be a bizarre comparison, but in some ways a game that Three Houses reminded me of while playing was Princess Maker 2, a weird little DOS game from 1993 about raising a girl. The core loop of choosing activities to raise the stats of a character in your care, punctuated with occasional outings to fight monsters and get loot, felt quite similar. Similarly, the emotions that seemed to be evoked, to me, were emotions of care and pride: perhaps not paternal as such, since Byleth isn’t that old, but certainly the satisfaction that comes from nurturing a younger and less experienced person.

For the most part that actually worked, and I certainly applaud it for feeling less icky than Fates. If I compare tea parties to that weird Fates mechanic where you could invite characters to your room and touch their face, it is vastly less creepy. So I’m glad that the romance has been toned down.

And speaking of things that I’m glad aren’t prominent…

I’m deliberately burying this part in the middle of a long post. Tumblr is famously ruthless on issues like this, but fortunately I have a very low follower count and you’re all nice people. Basically, one of my worries going into the game was that Three Houses might be the ‘woke’ Fire Emblem game. I am glad to find that concern averted, at least so far. A person could perhaps make some pretty cringeworthy interpretations of Duscur to do with racial politics, but the game itself does not push you in that direction. Tumblr and AO3 love slash shipping, but as far as I can tell that remains as canonically unsupported as ever. Interestingly, while Three Houses has a small handful of same-sex romantic S supports and endings, as far as I can tell they’re all for Byleth and they’re all simply copy-pastes of the opposite-sex versions. It’s enough for me to genuinely wonder whether they’re in the original Japanese at all, or if they were added. I know translations of FE games have played around with character sexualities before, so it’s possible. At any rate, part of me was concerned that this might be the Dragon Age: Inquisition of Fire Emblem, and fortunately it isn’t. (I mean, I did actually enjoy Dragon Age: Inquisition, but at times it did get to be a bit much.) I’ll take this as a valuable lesson when it comes to not believing posts I see on Tumblr. You’d think I would have learned from previous games: popular fan interpretations of a character are often completely wrong. Three Houses seems for the most part to be a very traditional Fire Emblem game.

In terms of the overall series trajectory, I take Three Houses to be an overall positive sign. Awakening and Fates seemed to be taking the series in a direction that I didn’t care for as much, with heavy use of player avatar characters, much more fan service, and more trope-driven plots. Three Houses seems like a return to deeper worldbuilding and characterisation. The cast of characters overall has definitely been a high point: in Fates I sometimes struggled to build a team of characters that I felt truly fond of, but in Three Houses there were usually more characters I wanted to use than I had space for, and there were no recruitable characters that I truly disliked.

Really, the biggest disconnect between me and Three Houses, in the end, is the fact that Three Houses is built for replayability, and I don’t like replaying games very much. However, I don’t think I can in good faith call that a flaw or poor design: obviously there are a lot of people who love replayability, and considering that I got a good eighty hours of gameplay out of my first playthrough (DLC included) and enjoyed it, I’m not really in a position to complain.

So in the end, then, I think that while Three Houses is not my favourite Fire Emblem and does have some places where it could be improved, for the most part I think it’s quite a good outing and a significant improvement on the last few. It is not designed entirely to my tastes, but what is here is mostly good. Three Houses leaves me feeling much more optimistic for the future of the franchise than Fates did.

[allywrites360]

Treasure Planet Analysis

I recently watched this video talking about some of the visual storytelling evident in this movie, and thought I’d rewatch it a little more closely, and add some of my own thoughts!!

So firstly, there are two really prominent examples of this type of storytelling with Jim (who’s going to be the main subject of this post; he is the protagonist after all, huh?). The first is his wardrobe itself, starting out made of entirely dark colours, and the second being the shadow between his eyes which is animated at key points during the movie.

At the outset of Treasure Planet, the shadow is shown constantly, for the first fifteen minutes at least before the slightest change. This symbolizes the shadow of pain that was left when Jim’s father abandoned him (oh, and spoilers for the movie in this, obviously).

The first minor change in this shadow is the moment when Jim’s passion is ignited in something for the first time in a long time; the prospect of travelling to Treasure Planet, which Jim hopes will allow him to prove he’s worth something to his mother (a doubt that’s created by him entirely), and have a real shot at something other than resigning himself to a rebel. This spark of hope lightens the shadow for the end of that scene. This might also be a good time to mention that the shadow could be symbolic for self doubt as well. This one may be not as clear to see because of the difference in lighting, but you’ll notice if you rewatch the movie carefully.

Jim then opens up a bit, starting to let go of his past hurt as he warms up to Silver, him acting as the new father figure in Jim’s life. This is shown not through the shadow, as Jim still hasn’t fully let go of his past, or fully bonded with Silver at this time, but through the change of his clothes into a much lighter, more natural tone.

Directly following the above scene id the first time the shadow makes its’ disappearance from Jim’s face; the moment when Silver takes Jim with him on a boat ride, a parallel to the way Jim’s father left him behind. Silver, however, waits for Jim to jump in, and proceeds to bond with him by teaching him sailing (is it called sailing?).

The black coat and shadow return, however, as Jim’s guilt casts it upon him at being blamed for a crew member’s death after being accused of failing to properly fasten his line. The coat here serves to act as an emotional barrier that Jim has used since the outset of the movie as he’s moved to sit alone on the edge of the ship.

The shadow disappears later in this scene, however, as Silver encourages him, and eases his guilt. He tells Jim that he believes there is greatness in him, and hopes that one day he can “catch some of the light that’s comin’ off [Jim] that day.” the day in question being when Jim finally achieves the greatness Silver knows him to be capable of. This introduces the light and greatness motif, which continues throughout the rest of this film, showing they go hand in hand, and once Jim is able to finally step fully into the light, he’ll be able to be free of his past, and reach his full potential.

The coat remains, however, until the next morning, when, with some encouragement, he leaves it behind. This may seem just a little gag to show Jim with morph, and it could be, but it could also demonstrate that change isn't instant, depending on how deeply you want to read in to individual scenes.

The shadow comes back once again when Jim’s trust in Silver is broken, and when he’s hurt by the older man, in this scene, it’s in the form of his lamenting to his pirates that he never cared for Jim, and was merely trying to keep him off their backs. This brings back the feeling of betrayal Jim felt when his father left, as the man he cared for and trusted portrayed the fact Jim meant nothing to him. Again, brief scene, and this was the best shot I could get.

The coat notably does not make a reappearance after this scene, nor for the rest of the movie, showing that despite the hurt Jim experiences here, he has grown as a character, and is more confident in himself than he was at the start. This change remains, and is not undone, even by Silver’s selfish actions.

The shadow finally leaves a few moments later, when Jim is entrusted the map by the captain. This gives him purpose, and a goal, which allows him to move past his hurt and do what’s right, which he knows will ultimately help others. This also shows his character has grown, as he moves past his pain to take on the responsibility without hesitation.

The shadow’s returns for the remainder of the film are nearly exclusively when he is reunited with Silver, or at the very least related to him in some way. All of this ties back to the light motif I mentioned earlier, as when Jim is given encouragement by his friends (captain, doctor, Ben, etc.), he is able to step up confidently, and take on responsibilities, reaching more to his full potential. This is contrasted by Silver’s presence, the man destroying that self esteem and bringing feelings from Jim’s past up despite personal growth.

Later in the film when Jim leaves his hideout on Treasure Planet with Ben, he quite literally steps into the light to help the others (in this scene, namely to retrieve the map from the Legacy to stop Silver from reaching the treasure and harming his friends). This shows that Jim’s selfless nature will eventually be his greatest strength (and already prominently is), and will be the thing to lead him to ‘greatness’.

When the shadow is missing, in scenes such as this, Jim’s face also seems to be overall more relaxed; brow less furrowed as he lets go of the past, and stops the aspects of the shadow (such as self-doubt) that he had been casting himself.

Jim’s gun flying away during the fight scene on the ship is also symbolic of his growth; his freedom moving just beyond his grasp (as he’s dragged down by memories through Silver), but him finding a way to keep fighting and continue triumphing anyway (as shown through the inconsistent shadow).

Silver’s influence on Jim (at the moment negative, as it is directly tied to the visual element of the inclusion of the shadow), is shown vividly through the scene where Silver’s pirates restrain Jim and take the map to Treasure Planet. The shadow only appears when Jim glares at Silver, but lightens when he’s focusing on doing what’s right (fighting the pirates) rather than his hurt.

Jim assertively telling Silver that if he wants the map, he has to take him along also serves his character growth really well. He's standing firm in his own decisions, despite losing the approval of his father figure, finally becoming his own person outside of others’ expectations or notions of him, and making these decisions based on what’s right, rather than simply rebellion.

The light from the doorway to the treasure gently lightens the shadow, symbolizing Jim's belief that his pain will be dissipated by gaining the treasure, and that he will gain his mother’s pride (which was already present) as well. This is a falsehood that Silver must face as well, both accepting that the treasure was meaningless overall, and would not give them what they wanted.

This recognition is clear to the audience well before it is to the characters, which is achieved subconsciously through the scene where, while all of the pirates are gazing towards the treasure, Jim looks back at Ben and morph, his friends meaning more than the treasure he’d searched for.

The next piece of symbolism is my personal favourite from the film; Jim falling while they are with the treasure. He works to pull himself back up, but needs that final pull from someone who cares about him (Silver). This symbolizes Jim trying to move past his father’s abandonment, and step into the person he’s grown to become. But he can't do it on his own, to fully make the leap, he needs the support of a father like figure, who in this case, is Silver, choosing Jim’s life over the treasure.

The shadow, which was likely present throughout and after this scene (there were few clear frames of his face, but let’s assume it was) darkens again at Jim’s realization that Silver may leave him, which comes when the captain comments about him being put to trial. This brings up strongly his final moments with his father; this may not seem like much now, as it is a very brief scene, but it strengthens the conclusion of his time with Silver, which we’ll get to in a minute.

The shadow then disappears once and for all as Jim relies on his strengths, both internal (selflessness), and external (knowledge of mechanics), to build a solar surfer to allow him to save his friends and their ship from being destroyed. This shows him finally reaching that confidence in himself and his abilities that Jim has sought after his entire journey, and, as a result of this, he is not negatively influenced when he interacts with Silver in the form of the pirate helping him with the construction of the solar surfer. He has, at this point, nearly completed his arc, and moved past his insecurities.

Jim then falls again, in a similar way to the previous time near the treasure, however this time, he is able to keep a level head, and manages to save himself. This symbolizes more than anything his character growth, able to rely on himself to help others. He’s finally achieved that light and greatness Silver told him was inside all along. This ability to stop his fall, and confidence as a whole, is due in no small part to Silver helping him earlier in the film. He needed someone who believed in him to push him to become the fullest version of himself, and recognize the greatness he was capable of.

The solar surfer was introduced at the onset of the film, when we were reintroduced to Jim as a teenager. The source of rebellion at the start is now a means he uses to help others, and once he’s safely back on the ship, he lets it go. He’s no longer using it as a means of escapism; his friends now mean more than that did, and he literally lets his past go for them without regret, as his developed character no long has to rely on those methods of rebelling.

This time, when Jim sees Silver preparing to leave, he’s confident enough in himself, and the connection they shared to let him go without memories of the past tearing him down, and visually, without the shadow returning. He lets Silver go, because his self worth no longer lies on the approval of a mentor, but rather on who he is.

Silver also notably turns to wave to Jim as he sails off, for the first time making himself, and this event, entirely separate from his father in Jim’s mind, showing the contrast between the means of support in these figures.

The light and greatness motif comes back in their goodbye, when Silver tells Jim he’s “glowing like a solar fire.”, showing the growth he’s seen in Jim, and, unlike the first time he said something similar to this, Jim genuinely believes him. Not just in a temporary comfort naive way; Jim believe that Silver is speaking the truth, and that confidence pushes him to take a shot at a future he never believed he could have.

This motif makes one final appearance at the conclusion of the film, when he is shown wearing all white, yet another lighter change in his wardrobe in this film. This demonstrates his freedom from any burdens of the past as he finally accepts and learns to love who he truly is, and take daring shots to reach his potential, the one his mother had seen in him since ten beginning. His character  arc is now complete, and he can live happily ever after.

[heccapeach]

Here’s another TED Talk starring NiGHTS and crossovers again. I might as well just call it “NiGHTS into Crossovers” or something like that:

Luigi would make a great visitor for the Night Dimension regarding his personality, especially in Luigi’s Mansion and in the Mario and Luigi series. Maybe Luigi’s dream would be set at the time where Luigi was still living in his brother’s shadow and had struggled to remain in the spotlight for as much as Mario. This would be the internal conflict that would set up the dream, thus setting up the game. Since these plots within NiGHTS mainly occur due to internal conflicts. His Nightopia would have this aspect to it in which the scenery would look dim, not too bright, but also not too dark. Just...dim, I suppose. And it reflects on the fact of how much he’s been living in his brother’s shadow for a while and how it affects him. This is only just one aspect of his Nightopia. After all, the Nightopia of a dreamer reflects more than one aspect of their character connected to the element of the ideya that shapes one of the areas of their Nightopia. Or maybe his version of the dream gate should be rather shaded, as if it’s engulfed by a large shadow. Perhaps it’s Mario’s shadow. I mean, who else would it be?

A nice story introduction could be along the lines of this: (Note: I haven’t come up with the nightmare scene for Luigi at the beginning but it does involve his frustration about being in his brother’s shadow and his brother going on adventures without him, leaving him behind and got the most attention in the end. Just like any other visitor having a nightmare, Luigi soon gets chased by ghastly nightmarens but eventually escapes by running towards the light.)

Luigi is lucid dreaming and he comes across the dream gate for the first time, he’s unfamiliar with the area and walks around in a slow and cautious manner. The dream gate at first is pitch black but a big yellow spotlight from above strangely lights up the center of the dream gate itself. As he notices and slowly approaches the light, he stutters and calls out Mario’s name to the darkness. A voice that isn’t Mario responds to Luigi’s call which slightly makes Luigi start to tremble. The being in which the voice belongs to reveal himself to Luigi and it’s none other than Owl. Startled, Luigi jumps away from Owl. Owl introduces himself to Luigi and the scenery around them lights up....but only a little bit. Owl notices the dream gate being rather dim and gloomy and says that he’s never really come across such a gloomy dream gate. He continues by explaining the concept of Nightopia to Luigi and he follows it with a line that he had claimed to have heard about someone like him and says that he looks quite familiar to that person. Luigi responds with “Mario?” Owl goes all like “Hoo! Yes, that’s right! His name is Mario! A few visitors I’ve met before have talked about him. He seems to be a famous person among the waking world. But I’ve heard one visitor mentioned that he has a brother...” Excited, Luigi jumps up and responds with an “Oh yeah!” while raising one fist up in the air. “Hoo, you’ve heard of him too?” Owl questions. Luigi nods and explains in his Italian gibberish that he is the brother of Mario that the visitor mentioned. Owl is astonished and says that he is honored to meet the brother of the famous Mario. NiGHTS suddenly flies in out of nowhere and does a few loops around a confused Luigi going “Whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa!” in response. NiGHTS introduces themselves to Luigi and asks for his name. Luigi exclaims his name in his signature joyful tone. Owl explains to NiGHTS that Luigi is the brother of the famous Mario. Excited, NiGHTS mentions the last visitors mentioning Mario and goes as far as to claim that they spotted Mario in a dream once. Luigi, in his gibberish speech again, asks NiGHTS if they know where Mario was and if they could take him to where Mario was. NiGHTS tries to remember where Mario was but gets cut off by a sudden red light radiating from Luigi’s palms. Owl, exclaiming with a “Hoo!”, notices that Luigi possesses the ideya of courage. Owl then explains to Luigi about the five ideya. NiGHTS believes that maybe they can find Mario if Luigi allows them to borrow the dream energy of the ideya of courage by dualizing together. Luigi is confused on what dualizing means until Owl explains it to him. Luigi is still confused and Owl tells him that he “understand it by trying it”. “Now, go ahead and touch NiGHTS. That is, if you’re into that sort of thing.” Luigi touches NiGHTS and the two dualize. The tutorial level begins and the dualized NiGHTS and Luigi make it through the tutorial level. Afterwards, NiGHTS and Luigi find the black sea and NiGHTS warns Luigi to never go near it and that whoever falls into it never comes back up. Luigi trembles in fear. NiGHTS attempts to lighten up the situation by claiming afterwards that it’s “just a myth”. The two head back to dream gate.

(End of introduction)

Regarding Luigi’s combat in his dreams that don’t involve dualizing with NiGHTS, I’m thinking that he find the poltergust vacuum that he wielded in Luigi’s Mansion somewhere in his dream. Speaking of which, just like in Journey of Dreams, Luigi would enter through doors in order to reach an area of his Nightopia. If Mario was a visitor, he would jump through paintings in order to reach an area of his Nightopia, just like in Mario 64. Speaking of paintings, I wonder if NiGHTS themselves, would get imprisoned within a portrait frame at the beginning of each level because more references to Luigi’s Mansion. But even better would be Luigi obtaining the dreamy form that he had whenever he was in the dream world in Mario and Luigi: Dream Team. He could possess certain objects via “Luiginary Works” like a tree, a whirlwind, a constellation, a giant pinwheel, a sun, a planet, a drill, a clock, and even a patch of matter itself. He can make exact duplicates of himself called “Luiginoids”. When he’s in a crisis, he fuses with his duplicates to become giant. Luigi makes for a pretty powerful dream being. Which means having his dreamy self and NiGHTS dualize would create a force to be reckoned with. And you what, I also want some of Luigi’s moveset from Smash to be represented here too. But I was mostly just thinking about his kick taunt that could spike an opponent that’s clinging onto the edge of a stage or just do really small knockback. Moves like the “Green Missle”, “The Luigi Cyclone”, and “The Super Jump Punch” would be pretty effective against nightmarens to be honest, unlike his dash attack, which I imagine that he would only really do out of panic and desperation or when he’s cornered. Then again, “The Super Jump Punch” and the kick taunt could also be done for the same reasons. For example, if Luigi were to just so happen to be snatched and grabbed by Reala, Luigi could just wind up doing “The Super Jump Punch” without realizing it, therefore unintentionally KO’ing Reala up to the blast zone in the style of the Smash Ultimate KO screen.

However, there is a secret Konami code in the game which upon entering the code, unlocks a cheat where Luigi could win by doing absolutely nothing. The player requires no controller input, as Luigi can fly through through all of the stages, collect all of the ideya, get all high ranks, and defeat all of the bosses all while in his idle stance. Like Pauline, Luigi proves to be a horrible threat to Wizeman. Thanks to this secret cheat, Luigi can instantly sweep all oppositions under the fabric of his own Nightopia. Luigi overcoming the nightmares in his Nightopia was the very key that had made him achieve his final smash ability that he had expressed in Brawl called “Negative Zone”. He emits a green-tinted void where all the colors of the environment, the opponents, and himself become inverted. Opponents fall for all sorts of random afflictions within the void. According to the trophy description of his final smash in Brawl, it states that this special ability of his is a reflection of the dark side that he embraced while in his brother’s shadow. Thanks to this ability, he can express this part of himself that he’s had within the depths of his Nightopia into reality itself, which is quite a feat within the universe of NiGHTS, I believe. But the “Negative Zone” cannot overwhelm him, for it shall be balanced by the radiating light that is the ideya of courage, which he strongly possesses despite his usual cowardly nature. So of course just like the “Negative Zone” ability can slip its way into reality, the ideya of courage can do just the same. Luigi also embracing his ideya of courage had also became the very key to achieving his new final smash starting in Smash 4 and continuing onwards to Ultimate. The “Poltergust 5000” and the “Poltergust G-00”! He sucks up his opponents and nearby items in his vacuum then shoot them out diagonally, which can potentially shoot them straight towards the blast zone and the items get shot out like projectiles. The ideya of courage not only helped him achieve this final smash, but also allowed to overcome the odds of his haunted mansion and hotel explorations.

Now after you have entered the secret Konami code, unlocked the secret cheat code where Luigi wins by doing absolutely nothing, you unlock a special boss battle made specifically for Luigi. The context behind this special boss battle is that Wizeman has discovered, well, let’s just say an interesting individual who can pretty much be considered the inner demon of Luigi. You may be familiar with him. Yep, that’s right. I’m talking about none other than WALUIGI HIMSELF. The fight is very much akin to the NiGHTS and Reala fight in the first NiGHTS game because the “””””fight”””” in Journey of Dreams is boring, boring, BOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIINNNNNNNGGGGG, I SAY!!! Flinging dirty balls at each other just doesn’t cut it! The boss fight begins with a cutscene where Luigi is searching for NiGHTS and he spots someone purple. He thinks that it’s NiGHTS and he approaches the purple figure. He calls out NiGHTS’ name as he approaches. The purple figure lets out a silent “wah-heh-heh....” which confuses Luigi. The purple figure slowly turns around. He says: “You expected NiGHTS? Too bad, Waluigi time!” Waluigi reveals himself and the fight begins. During the fight, the song “Destruction Dance” from Dance Dance Revolution Mario Mix plays. (To be honest, the NiGHTS and Reala song and Destruction Dance would make for a great mashup remix.) After Luigi defeats Waluigi, Waluigi claims that as a rival, he will always be lurking in Luigi’s own shadow and says that he will return whenever Luigi is hiding in Mario’s shadow again. Or rather just: You might be gettin' better, but nobody cheats better than me! You got that?!" Waluigi vanishes into nothing but shadow afterwards, leaving a treasure chest. The area brightens up and Luigi approaches the treasure chest. He humps it, the treasure chest opens, and a big key jumps out of it. Luigi grabs the key and does his signature victory pose whenever he grabs a valuable item while the boss key victory jingle plays. Don’t worry, Luigi does eventually find NiGHTS again.

Thank you for reading this TED Talk.

[magnuslightwoodbane]

in bloom

written for @skullgirl808 in the malec secret santa 2019, ~2k words, read on ao3

It is a universally accepted truth that all humans have soulmates.

They can be platonic, romantic, or even antagonistic; some have marks, or words, or initials on their skin; they can be present from birth or appear when two fated souls meet – or worse, when they part. Whatever the circumstance, all humans have them, though whether you meet is purely up to chance.

In the Shadow World, however, it’s… less so.

It’s not impossible for half-human hybrids to have soulmates – they are, after all, half-human. The fae, as angel and demon, don’t, nor does it bother them in the slightest. Nephilim have a higher rate than most species, owing to their angel blood, but it’s still not guaranteed, hence the parabatai bond – much like their very creation, why let nature run its course when you can force it into shape?

With werewolves and vampires, former humans, it’s slightly more traumatic. Vampires always lose their bond whether formed or not, given they have, in fact, died – however, if a connection has already formed, it’s possible for it to be restored in the first 24 hours after resurrection with a powerful enough warlock.

Magnus has attended more re-bonding rituals than he can count, at this point. But sue him; he’s powerful, and a romantic.

Werewolves have a sixty percent chance of losing theirs due to the demonic infection & mutation; those cannot be restored. Those who are lucky and keep them are strongly warned not to flaunt this.

And warlocks? Their chance of having a potential bond is one-in-a-thousand. For the children of Princes of Hell, it’s an impossibility.

Magnus had been fascinated by the concept of soulmates as a child. His mother had Javanese edelweiss adorning one of her hips, running up and over into the small of her back – it had been buds, she explained, until it had blossomed upon meeting a young and handsome foreigner at a Jayakartan market stall.

His father was harsh on him sometimes, always pushing him to do and be better, but Magnus was glad that he loved his mama, that they were soulmates, even if sometimes it felt like his papa didn’t seem to be that invested in Magnus’s own life.

Even much, much later in life, the idea that they had been soulmates that had defied the odds at the time by crossing half the world to meet, and that Magnus’s very existence had caused their partnerships’ tragic end, was one that hounded him in his darker moments.

Asmodeus, posing as a father who loved him, was the one to tell him he would never have a soulmate and why. Magnus, who had still been barely 10 at the time, had been brought to tears by the loss of something he’d wanted so desperately – prompting Asmodeus to become truly angry at him for the first time.

Magnus, who also wanted desperately to not make his father angry at him again, never mentioned soulmates, instead pouring his energy into fulfilling his fathers’ wishes.

But that never stopped him wishing, or lamenting on alcohol-filled evenings, alone in wherever he was currently calling home.

He did come to learn that any relationships he pursued, no matter what type, were in no way inferior for his lack of a soulmate – he was, after all, not alone in this. He made friends, made rivals, took lovers and paramours and taught himself to live in the moment.

He couldn’t help, however, the fear whenever a romantic relationship began to develop deeper than surface-level attraction, the constant fear that his partner would leave him for their own soulmate one day. It was a different fear than the one that others would leave him for who he was, or what he’d done – both of those he could cover up, could change himself for the benefit of his partner and hope that that would make him actually become better. This was something he couldn’t change.

Camille, in wreaking her havoc on his heart, at least stopped him feeling that way – simply because he refused to allow himself to feel anything.

But oh, how he felt anyway.

Alexander had been a revelation. Four hundred years and he was continually surprised by him; a Shadowhunter in his early-mid-twenties redefining values Magnus’d held since he was barely a century old; a man who’s very core was burning bright with passion and justice that his people and culture had tried desperately to smother.

Being with Alexander… it hadn’t fixed Magnus, hadn’t solved all his traumas and anxieties, but for every new one it dredged up it seemed to soothe two. Magnus was meant to love – and here was this impossible man who loved him straight back. And yet.

The soulmate question.

Magnus had seen a mark on the left side of Alec’s ribs, the first time they’d made love. It fit in with the rest of his runes, stark black, but it didn’t look like any rune he’d seen before. It was almost like a lowercase a, but with an embellished tail, and a circle over the top.

He would have asked then, but Alec pressed a kiss to his forehead.

“Beautiful,” Alec murmured. “I’ll tell you every day until you believe it.”

“It might – ah – it might take a while,” Magnus whispered back.

“That’s okay. I don’t mind.”

And the strange rune slipped his mind, to be replaced with only Alec for a night.

Then things sort of went to hell, and it wasn’t until after they’d confessed their love that Magnus spotted the strange rune again as Alec was dressing for work. Alec was rushing around, in no small part to them having spent the morning entangled in the duvet and each other; Magnus found he couldn’t summon a single ounce of regret as he sipped his tea.

But, curiosity built and eventually got the better of Magnus.

“Alexander,” he called out as Alec began to step through the portal Magnus had made. Alec hummed through his mouthful of toast, looking back, but Magnus waved him off.

“I’ll text you,” he said. It wouldn’t do to distract Alec in a portal and have him end up in Siberia, or something.

M: Alexander, that rune on your side

M: By your heart

M: What does it mean? I’ve never seen it before.

A: It’s my soulmate mark, it just looks like a rune

M: Oh,ok

A: You okay?

M: Yes, darling. Just curious

A: okay. I love you

Magnus knew he’d fallen for Alec far too quickly; his defences crumbling in the face of earnest smiles and bright long-lashed eyes and honest words. He could hardly help it – Alec had been a lot of things Magnus had hoped for without any kind of pretence on either of their parts. They simply worked, and Alexander loved him back, and it… it may not even be enough.

Because Alec had a soulmate out there, and it wasn’t Magnus. It could never be Magnus.

He put a brave face on; attended all his meetings and saw clients without betraying the cloud eating away at his heart and mind, until the evening found him without distractions, nursing a glass of whisky in his own loft.

“Hey, Magnus?” Alec called out, pushing open the front door with his recently given key. Magnus didn’t respond, too lost in thought, until Alec came around the back of his armchair, resting a gentle hand on his shoulder. Magnus startled.

“Alexander! You’re early,” he exclaimed, standing far too quickly in order to kiss Alec on the cheek.

“It’s 9pm,” Alec said, accepting the kiss with a frown.

“It is? Oh, too late to go out for food then, we’ll have to order in. Or I’ll cook! You must be famished.” Magnus waved his hand nonchalantly, heading towards the kitchen without breaking his speech or indeed, making any eye contact.

“I came over to see if you were alright. You haven’t responded to any messages today and even if you’re busy, it’s not like you. Are you… you know… okay?”

“I’m perfectly fine, my dear. Now, drink first? Or dinner first? I alw-“

“Magnus.”

Alec’s firm, yet pleading tone cut deeper than Magnus had expected it to, and he halted in his tracks, shoulders dropping as though their strings had been cut. He exhaled slowly, turning around to face Alec, stood tall in the centre of the room.

“Will you tell me what’s wrong?” Alec said, quietly.

“If you promise to hear me out?” Alec nodded. “It’s about… it’s to do with soulmates. I don’t – can’t – have a soulmate. While it is possible for warlocks, my lineage is… it means it is physically impossible. And you have one anyway. Alexander, if you… if you found your soulmate, and if they were… if your connection with him was of a romantic nature, I would never hold it against you, and I want you to know that, okay? You deserve that connection, and I- I-”

Magnus had noticed but hadn’t fully comprehended Alec moving towards him during his speech until he was stood barely a foot away, his eyes soft in a way that reminded him of when Magnus’s glamour had first dropped around him. Alec reached out for the glass still in Magnus’s clutches, gently setting it aside and replacing it with his own hand.

“Magnus,” he said, voice gentle. “I promise you, it’s okay, you have absolutely nothing to worry about.”

“I will not be the thing that stands between you and that potential, Alexander. I won’t do that to you.”

“No, you’re not listening. You won’t be because my soulmate is platonic, and it’s Izzy. Izzy is my soulmate, Magnus. That’s one of the reasons why Jace and I became parabatai, because then the three of us were linked through me. Look-“ Alec used the hand not holding Magnus’s and began unbuttoning his shirt clumsily.

“It’s getting remarkably easier to get you naked,” Magnus murmured, making jokes despite being still somewhat dazed. Trapped within his own insecurities, he hadn’t really dwelled on Alec having a platonic soulmate, his mind too eager to rip itself apart and bring him down.

Alec grinned at him, shrugging off one shoulder of the shirt. “You see? It’s a lowercase a, and a lowercase i. That’s what it means.”

“Ah. I fear I have made myself a bit of a fool.”

“No,” Alec shook his head, before leaning in to press a kiss to Magnus’s lips. “You’ve just been through more than most, than I can even begin to understand. But, Magnus – you know what this means for us?”

Magnus quirked an eyebrow at him.

“It means the universe doesn’t decide for us our fate. It means that while the universe has decided that Izzy and I choose each other, and protect each other - I get to decide, with all my, my heart, and my soul? I chose you. I’m choosing you, Magnus. And it means that you can choose me too, if you want.”

A tear escaped Magnus’s eye, his glamour slipping away with it. Alec raised a hand and wiped it away, and Magnus smiled for the first time since he’d learnt of the soulmark’s existence. His other hand, the one not still holding Alec’s, pressed over the bare skin above Alec’s heart, his palm spreading and feeling its steady beat.

“I love you,” Alec whispered.

“I love you too,” Magnus whispered back, and leaned into Alec.

As they held each other in the opening to Magnus’s kitchen, the only light from the outside city, Magnus revelled in what it was like to feel chosen by someone for no reason other than because they wanted to choose him.

If he was being totally honest, Magnus thought it felt a little like Javanese edelweiss, finally in bloom.

[ofravensandgenesis]

The Investment of an Antagonist - Part Three

Entry 04 continued. [Trigger warning content: post contains discussion of Far Cry 5 details for the main villains including violence, brainwashing, torture, child abuse, neglect, emotional manipulation, dark backstories, drug use, cult content, etc. Spoilers for Far Cry 5 inherent. Part 03 of 03.] [Link to part one here.] [Link to part two here.]

— Faith —

Lastly we have Faith, née Rachel Jessop, the youngest of the Seed family. The easiest themes to assign to her are unsurprisingly drug-use and escapism. She is an intriguing and complex character with some very beautifully done layers, in particular playing with gender expectations of behavior both in-world and on the meta in what may have been either intended brilliance of foresight or fridge brilliance by the dev team.

Thematically speaking though, as with the other Seeds, she is projecting her past experiences onto others and turning into the abuser in the recreation of her trauma. In this case, it could be taking up the role of a manipulator using soft-coded presentation and masking shaming techniques with positive wording and oblique expectation-pressures to get people to go along with what she’s saying...as well as making them more pliable via the Bliss. It could be that part of her escapism theme manifests as disassociation, separating one’s self and in this case Rachel from Faith, her followers from their worries and problems, and at the most extreme end the Angels from essentially their entire personality and past. In contrast to John, Faith seems to be much more so about forgetting/burying/separating one self from one’s past problems, sins, unhappiness, etc rather than facing it head on. In a way, it could potentially be interpreted as a denial of those aspects of a person, and herself, through the Bliss. This could be a better parallel to how Jacob also breaks the unwilling down in his Trials, albeit for more specifically war-like purposes than Faith. We don’t get to hear if John has opinions on how the “new recruits” up in Jacob’s neck of the woods are treated well or not, but he doesn’t include Jacob in his jab. The absence could be used to infer that John has either separate issues, less issues, or no issues with how Jacob runs things, but that’s the problem with this kind of absence: it lacks definite, concrete matter to build with. We hear only a very vague telling of the details of Faith’s life from Faith directly, which in this instance is going to be presumed to be true, albeit perhaps glossing over the details and told from a carefully crafted perspective for a desired end result. Others also have their own opinions to fill in on the details of Faith as she is and was, and her life before, including but potentially not limited to Tracey and Sheriff Whitehorse, as far as I’m aware at this time. What’s really interesting is the almost split presentation we get at times with Faith: in some moments she is the epitome of her title the siren, bright, friendly, seemingly warm and enticing. Other times she has some lines that cast very long, dark shadows. Three of the phone calls one can find in the Henbane are particularly dark, if one assumes the call with the sounds of a crying woman on the other end to be Faith. Even disregarding that third one, the other two show more of Faith’s darker aspects, as noted below: “Rachel’s so sad and alone. Once was lost, never found. She lead a faithless life and it brought her low. Faith rose up in her, but Rachel stayed low, down. Faith flies divine, and Rachel...Rachel gropes around in the darkness. I left her there, a long time ago.”

The second phone call text:

“A baby is a sack of screaming, shitting, crying impulses with no personality, no thoughts, no understanding of the world beyond feelings. It has no soul. You have to give it one. The only soul we ever have, we receive from others. And it is only others, who can take it away.” One possible interpretation from these two comments from Faith would be that she was very strongly shaped by her family and friends before she ran away with Tracey to join a commune out west. Not into total obedience without personality, but perhaps instead placation and appeasement behaviors, attempting to make the other people in her life “happy” as a form of self-protection coping mechanism to deal with living in an abusive home environment, and later on refined into intentional choices as these lines from her might strongly suggest: "All my life I dealt with people like you. People who underestimate sweet, innocent Faith. You see what you wanna see... a playful butterfly, a delicate flower... a child with childish thoughts. It's easier to disregard a child. Tracey made the same mistake as you. While you all ignored me, I walked right through every one of you." From Faith’s wiki page, it also states that Sheriff Whitehorse talked about “Tracey and Rachel, who were friends, 'joined a free spirit movement in the west, smoking doobies, banging on drums’. But Rachel and Tracey fell on harder drugs and fell out of favor with their community. Tracey searched for a new home and found the Project at Eden's Gate, and Faith decided to return with her to Hope County to join the cult.” From there, with Rachel going through the painful and dangerous process of withdrawal symptoms while attempting to end her addiction, it might be that she also felt that her new self, Faith, or Faith-to-be, was shaped by Joseph and the Project. That this new self was a new soul, and that her old soul, her old identity, Rachel, had been cast away. Perhaps that was another motivation for her to possibly split with Tracey, staying with the cult over staying with her best friend whom she had left her home behind with once before—the friend she’d run away with into the unknown at what was likely a rather young age. Perhaps staying with Tracey, Faith felt too much of Rachel remained. Rachel, the addict. Rachel, the powerless. Rachel, the abused. Perhaps those reminders were too painful for Faith, and she wanted to separate from them as much as possible. If she wanted Tracey to stay though...perhaps she had also hoped Tracey would have a fresh start. That Tracey would be “happier” at the Project. That the two of them would be born anew and cleansed of their sins, as the Project promises. All of the Seeds are in this interpretation trying to cope with their traumas. Faith in this aspect is perhaps the one closest chronologically in time to her trauma, being the youngest, and thus perhaps still emotionally rawer at times underneath it all. Rawer in a more youthful sense, not related to the innocence she tries to project as a front, so much as how she cries out in panic and fear during her boss fight’s finale, when the Deputy strikes the final blow, and how her tone changes when she’s threatened during the fight, talking about how Joseph threatened her and plied her with drugs. In this regard, it is very easy to read Faith as still placating, still coping, still appeasing the powers that be in her life, in this case the Project, Joseph, and the other Seeds to a degree. With being Faith, and not even the first and only Faith but at the very least the third in a series of adopted “sisters,” the danger of being killed, cast aside, or deemed unsatisfactory for whatever reason is very real, and could echo possible fears she’d harbored of her parents, other friends, and community members in her past. How much danger she was in from her parents is unstated as far as I’m aware, but that she was abused and likely was afraid is enough. Fear itself is real enough and a weighty factor in any situation where it exists, as it was meant to be by biological design. So in recreation of that potential trauma-build, Faith placates all of her followers with the Bliss and gentle words, making some members of the Resistance note in commentary that they feel special, loved, cared for. Drawn in to become a part of Faith’s idealized dream of everyone being predictably calm, and open to suggestion. While it is still technically appeasing behavior, with Faith being in control of the Bliss’s drug production and seemingly also the hallucinatory effect it has on people, she is also master of the realm and thus the one with the keys to the kingdom, and I daresay enjoys her power with how she mocks the Deputy upon their return to the Jail after the cutscene of her reasserting control over Burke and the ensuing happenings. Her methods on the surface are soft and appealing seemingly, but she is ultimately now able to control those in her region and under her power with a far more beautifully beguiling and insidious form of puppeteering. She makes a splendid contrast in that regard with how Jacob brainwashes people, with making Angels versus the brainwashed fighters of Jacob’s. Another piece of interesting dialogue regarding the Angels as mentioned by Faith in I believe the Whistling Beaver Brewery is as follows: "Have you seen their faces? On the Pilgrimage? Oh, you should see it. To see the sin fly from their heads and their faces slacken to peace. The vanity shaved from their heads, evil taken from their lips. Never to speak a sinful word, any word, again. It gives me life. Every time a bell rings..." Combining that with the above comment about how Faith believes people don’t have souls until given them and shaped by the others around them, Faith certainly seems to have grabbed the reins on shaping who people are, with the intent to “smooth out” any disagreeable parts. To the point of perhaps erasing a person’s individuality entirely, thus producing an Angel. She like her brothers is also driven by purpose, as she mentions in her first cutscene of being given purpose, and from the random encounter line below: “I’m going to tell you a secret... Eden’s Gate is not here to fix your life. That’s your own selfish dream... No! Eden’s Gate exists to save something greater than you and me. It is here for the Father to bring salvation to the world’s very existence, and you’re trying to destroy that. I put so much hope in you. I thought you’d be special. Was I wrong?” That first bit about not fixing one’s life feels like a potentially open admittance that the Project is not trying to fix people at least in her region, so much as to re-purpose them to the Project’s own ends, and Faith fulfills that with a gentle kind of at-times-gaslit brutality that she selectively applies more forcefully when someone isn’t playing according to Faith’s own preferences. While the doubting may also be real in her case in the later lines, it also serves as shame-based social pressure to not disappoint her, directed at the Deputy as an attempt to erode any resistance they have to conforming to doing the “right” or “sympathetic” thing—as defined by Faith anyway. Its a good bit of manipulation, leaving it blurry whether its outright just intended to influence the Deputy or if she indeed has any doubts. I lean towards the latter for added nuance of emotion, though I do think she’s more than capable and willing of violence and brutality when desired. One minor example among others that comes to mind would be the signs of violence and likely death in the Chan residence, with the implication that Faith sent some of her people to deal with Jasmine and likely kill her, per the blood on the floor and the unsent note contents: “To whom it may concern, Thank you for addressing my complaints about all that noise coming from that Eden’s Gate construction site. One of your representatives (I think her name was Faith, not sure) passed by and said she’d have a word with the people building the statue. She even said she’d make them come by to apologize in person. Although we may disagree on some philosophical matters, it’s nice to see some neighborly etiquette. I look forward to resolving this amicably. -Jasmine Chan” Aside from that, there are also other mentions such as Ethan Minkler overdosing on the Bliss (while that may be a possible accident, the point likely remains that he either died or became an Angel, much to the mayor Virgil Minkler’s grief,) comments by Resistance NPCs about how forced-pilgrims on the Path are sometimes made to crawl on their hands and knees until they bleed, the ones made to jump from the Statue of Joseph and land among the littered bodies of those who did not survive, etc. Ultimately what all of that might be mirroring is her own treatment at the hands of her family and other people in her past, as well as perhaps what Joseph, the Seeds, and the Project asked of her: not to be fixed, but re-purposed. It was never about her, but what she could do for someone, be it her family, friends, or the Project. In that, the Angels are an elegantly simple solution: they are obedient to the wishes of the Project, and are loyal to a fault without any chance of wanting anything to the contrary than what is asked of them, provided they are provided with a steady supply of Bliss (presuming they require it as a continued addiction, though that is purely speculation.) The Angel’s Grave in the Horned Serpent Cave seems to be a lake of boiling muck that is implied to be a mass grave for Angels, per the Grieving Note found therein: “Lana. Christ in heaven what they did to you. The fact that they could make you believe all that nonsense, make you forget yourself so hard. Forget your own name? How, Lana? What did he say to you? What kind of fucking dirtbag blood ritual could make you think your name was “Faith”? Doesn’t matter how, I guess. He told you you were special, but in the end he threw your body in here to disintegrate in the boiling muck, like a common Angel.” This certainly shows the Project has little to no respect for the dead, or at the very least those turned into mindlessly loyal Angel minions. It echoes back to the lack of individuality Faith may struggle with internally as a theme—it may also be that her parents abused her through the unrealistic-expectations archetype of wanting and pressuring her to be what they wanted, without any regard of who she was as an individual or what she wanted out of her life. Perhaps during her life she was treated as nothing more than a commodity, trying to forever appease and live up to her parents’ expectations. I sadly have very little on the Jessop family as a whole, so this is all once again pure fabricated speculation. This lack of personal worth through individuality does thread through the recurring instance of there being multiple Faiths before Rachel, and it is shown in the notes to the two known previous Faiths, Lana and Selena (both referenced from Faith’s article the wiki.) “You’re not the first one, Selena. You’re not the first woman he’s used up and thrown away. For years I’d been hearing this Faith Seed was tall as her brother, with black hair. Couldn’t miss her. And then I saw you in one of their trucks last week, yellow hair in the breeze, and heard them calling you Faith. He thinks he can just SWAP YOU OUT. Like you don’t got a brain of your own. God knows who you are, and so do you. Selena. I love you. Don’t lose yourself to this.” Both of the above notes have mentions to identity issues with taking on the new name of Faith, of losing oneself or forgetting oneself. With the note to Lana and the last note from one of the Faiths there is also the double mention of “being special.” “I just wanted to be special. When Joseph came into my life, I felt like you’d given me a true gift, Lord. That a man who talks to you would bring me in on your holy conversation..? And so I too the name that you gave me, Lord, through Joseph: “Faith.” And I am a woman made anew. But now, I’m ashamed to say, even though I carry this name, my devotion to the Project is..plagued. By Doubt. What do I do? I know you will forgive me, dear Lord. I don’t know if Joseph will.“ The above note titled “A Confession” on Faith’s wiki page is possibly from Rachel, though the wording has me contemplating that it’s likely from someone a bit older, and the style I’m uncertain if I’d attribute to Rachel though I acknowledge that writing and speaking can present very differently. I would expect her to write with a more direct style of wording since presumably she had internet access and was familiar with texting, speculating off of Tracey’s note in the convent that mentioned Tracey being “tired of this 19th-century-ass writing shit.” The pauses via commas and more formal-yet-casual feel of the written cadence, along with more talk of God feels like someone else’s voice rather than Rachel’s, but I could be wrong. But that’s also fitting with the theme of uncertainty of who’s who beneath the name of Faith. Therein lies the loss of individuality and lack of clear denoting of which Faith this was, or is.

—  Conclusion —

What I find absolutely fascinating about all of these villains is how they tell the story of the trauma and past experiences through their actions, dialogue, beliefs, and all while moving the main story forward. We do have some direct story telling in the sense of them telling us about those key moments that lead to their revelation and some backstory details, but the fact that even afterwards in a lot of what they do if not all of what they do we can potentially draw more inferences of how they came to be who they are? That is some very beautiful story and character construction in my opinion. In how the past influences their present and relatively speaking future events, so too does their present and future come circling back to tie to their past. This possible feedback loop of influence is just so neat in my opinion and is particularly pronounced here with the Seed family and how they are presented in-game. I feel it works exceptionally well for antagonists but could in theory also work for any main character. The sheer weight of how their past influences them so profoundly is really interesting, and while we all are shaped by our past, it’s particularly highlighted here with the Seeds. Often the trope of a character having a dark backstory is presented as the reason they’re doing X, or are prone to behaving in a certain way (one such popular demeanor being say brooding,) and is particularly common for villains. What I think makes the Seeds for me more interesting in that regard is how individualized their processing of their traumas is. It’s not just out to do evil because they are simply evil and have a backstory to facilitate handwaving as to why they are evil, they’re going about it in a particular way, and have all developed a nuanced system of belief relating to that and likely significantly influenced by those around them as well, with the Seeds all I would say influence each other to varying degrees. Them being a group of villains is part of that complexity with the layers of them having a family dynamic, the cult hierarchy, significantly different styles of managing their affairs while still sharing some core elements, and being such diverse personalities. The Seeds in their entirety as a group are what make or break the story in my opinion, since to have really good conflict I would say you need excellent villains or antagonists, and the Seed family fits that bill in my personal opinion very well. It feels like there was a lot of time and care put into each of the Seeds in different ways and in crafting their stories as well as fitting those stories to the main story of Far Cry 5. The speculation I personally take away from this in terms of developing interesting characters is that sometimes having a very detailed background and having it influence a character heavily and actively both in-scene and on the meta of writing the scene can be really interesting. Obviously sometimes not knowing a character’s past and leaving it a mystery works very well too. But if there’s been care put into how the character is developed and there are in-world, albeit unknown backstory reasons for their actions, words, and beliefs? Then even if we the audience don’t know the reasons, that can make for a very compelling character for audience members to speculate and fill in the blanks about. Obviously there are other builds and exceptions and such for making compelling characters and in particular villains and antagonists, but I do think this style of character construction in relation to the overarching plot is honestly quite gorgeous as a story infrastructure element in its own right and worth taking a look at should it appeal to one to examine it. It’s a really lovely echo of how much investment the dev team’s put into the characters themselves that those characters in-world also care and are heavily invested in what they’re doing and saying too, as an added accent to it all. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk, hope you all have a good day/night! [Link to part one here.] [Link to part two here.]