#'get mad. kill something. the world has ended!' 'I'll end you.' i mean. it has an effect. | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

a-998h · 7 months

Note

I’m so sorry if I’m like bothering you😭 But like I just have so many questions-

So what if in the same scenario where (Reader) is like really strong and kills monsters like the ask from before

And once they find out that some of the Archons/other people are really old they’ll make soo many jokes about it-

Like if Zhongli was like “Please (Reader), I don’t mind if you see me as a father-figure, I won’t be mad if you call me Dad,”

And (Reader) who’s like 12-14 years old is like “You’re too old to be my Dad, you’re more like a grandpa.” And then they just walk away, and Zhongli just lays on the floor, heartbroken

And if (Reader) beefs with Wanderer, and he’s being mean they’ll be like “Shut up old man!” Or like “Your still this immature at your grown age?”

And for Nahida, they would just hold her in their arms, she would be the only few people that (Reader) doesn’t actively make fun of, and they’ll show genuine interest on how she’s so old but looks so young, and they would like sit with her and talk about their world

But suddenly everything takes a turn when (Reader) is sitting with a character (One who’s thousands of years old) and (Reader) just turns to them and’s like “Y’know, I realized if I stay in this world, that means you and a lot of the others are still gonna be here when I die” and then they’ll just calmly turn back to look up back at the starry night-

You pick which ones would be bawling their eyes out or how each character would react-

And then reader would go up to characters who aren’t thousands of years old and would assume they are and they would be like “You look old” or like “I feel like your actually an old person”

Like they would say this to Itto, Cyno, Diluc or any other characters of your choosing (Hopefully those three aren’t thousands of years old from what I know💀)

Have a good day!

-🍉Anon

🍉 Anon you never fail to inspire me and my devious little mind, and for that I thank you. I'll start with the mocking age headcanons then move into the existential dread the Creator inspires.

(Included characters: Venti, Zhongli, Ei, Nahida, Itto, Wander, Diluc, Cyno, Xiao, Neuvillette, and Xianyun)

Age jokes

Zhongli

“Please (Reader), I don’t mind if you see me as a father-figure, I won’t be mad if you call me Dad,”

“You’re too old to be my Dad, you’re more like a grandpa.”

Your response/ jab at his age makes him pause

At this point no one in Teyvat besides Traveler and Paimon know that Zhongli is Rex Lapis

Is not surprised the great Creator knows things, but he wasn't expecting you to know that

Uses the jokes to mess with you in small ways

Whenever you ask to do any monster killing he'll pull the deaf old man bit, just to annoy you

Will also make you do harder chores by pulling the old man = bad back

It's funny... to him, he also uses this as a teaching moment

Venti

Laughs it off

Another that uses your jokes to mess with you

When you ask him to do something, he'll hold his hand to his ear and say "I'm sorry little windblume, I didn't hear you. My hearing must be going at this age,"

But jokes on him, you use his perceived old age to try and limit his wine drinking

That fails, but you tried kid

Whenever you run around Mondstadt or do monster killing, he sighs and talks about when he was young

You both annoy each other and it is glorious

She is shocked

She knew you liked to joke, but she didn't think she was that old

Because you're talking to the Riaden Shogun puppet most of the time, you don't get a reaction

Your jokes don't get turned on you

It's kind of boring

Nahida

Only one who doesn't get age jokes

You are genuinely curious about how she looks young but is really hundreds of years old

You both talk about the advantages and disadvantages of being physically young but mentally older

Still unnerved by your monster killing and has her friend Wanderer watch over you

Furina

Huffs of annoyance

she then scolds you herself before snitching on you to Neuvillette

In the ends she'll forgive you, once you bribe her with sweets

Wanderer

“Shut up old man!”

How dare you!

His face turns shades of red no one knew were possible

Will respond by calling you brat and saying how cute you are in a teasing tone

Will be petty

“Your still this immature at your grown age?”

Turns even redder

You both beef with each other and it makes other worried

Will granny pinch your cheeks

Still smug about your monster killing, if bribed he'll help you

Your beef is both worrying and entertaining

Xiao

Silence

He doesn't really understand the ages jokes

Thinks that you're just being mean

He'll snitch to grandpa Zhongli

Once it's explained to him by Zhongli

He just is confused

Why are you joking that he's old?

Just a really clueless when it comes to these jokes

Itto

Tears

He thinks it's because his hair is white

Now, he'll try his best to be the cool young uncle to you

He also doesn't want to think about how old he is

Will try and go monster killing with you

When he sees your strength... proud

Will carry you around and be like "Look at my awesome friend!"

So yeah, like a grandma showing off pictures of her grandkids

Cyno

Is surprised

It's probably his grumpy face and his voice

Whenever you make ages jokes he tries to scold you about it

Whenever you run into the desert to do monster killing he'll chase after you to stop you

Try and pull this in the rainforest and he'll have Tighnari case you do to stop you

He thinks you make jokes about his age because of his hair color

Proud of your strength but still worrys about you

Diluc

This is the face he has on the inside

His voice and resting bitch face is probably what makes you think he's old, at least he thinks so

Think Kaeya is the one who is telling you he's old

He canonically 22 so this hits him hard

Tries to keep you in the manor at night

When he sees you sneaking out to kill monsters.... dad mode ™️

The more he scolds, and tries to act like a dad the more you call him old

You'll be the reason he ends up with grey hair, eyes bag, and wrinkles

Neuvillette

Grandpa number 2

He already deals with Furina, so he's prepared

Whenever you poke fun at his age, he'll scold you for it

He'll never say it in public but you and Furina are his grandbabies

Your monster killing worries him, like a lot

So much that he has the melusine spy on you and report back

You often get scolded for reckless behavior

He is the more strict of your grandfather figures

Glares and scolds you whenever you call him old

He thinks your jokes are very disrespectful

Would be upset if they started rubbing off on Furina

Xianyun

Considering she tells Paimon to "respect your elders" when Paimon made her mad

She doesn't really care

To her, age = experience

She will act unaffordable by you monster killing, but it scares her

When you joke about her being a grandma, she plays into it

It's not to annoy you either, she just thinks she's your grandma

Will do standard grandma things

Whenever you try and get her to stop, she just responds with "nonsense!"

Now time for existential dread

“Y’know, I realized if I stay in this world, that means you and a lot of the others are still gonna be here when I die”

Crying on the outside and the inside

Nahida, Itto, Venti, Furina

Cries on the inside only

Neuvillette, Zhongli, Diluc, Ei

Doesn't know how to properly talk to you abut it

Cyno, Xiao, Wanderer, Xianyun

#genshin fanfic #cult au #sagau #creator!reader #sagau lore #genshin x reader #genshin impact x reader

173 notes · View notes

hollowed-theory-hall · 4 months

Note

Any HC's on what's going on with Luna?

Hi, so I really like Luna as a character, and I've seen various theories about her being a seer, which at least used to be popular in fic, but I never got that impression from her. Personally, I don't think there's anything magical going on with Luna. I think she's just a girl with imagination, a sense of whimsy, and some trauma of her own who chose to handle it through her internal little world rather than anger and other more externalized ways to cope.

So, this kinda ended up being a bit of a character study on Luna...

Pandora Lovegood & Luna's Trauma

One of the major moments in Luna's life that really changed her worldview and approach to people and the world was her mother's death:

“Have you . . .” he began. “I mean, who . . . has anyone you’ve known ever died?” “Yes,” said Luna simply, “my mother. She was a quite extraordinary witch, you know, but she did like to experiment and one of her spells went rather badly wrong one day. I was nine.” “I’m sorry,” Harry mumbled. “Yes, it was rather horrible,” said Luna conversationally. “I still feel very sad about it sometimes. But I’ve still got Dad. And anyway, it’s not as though I’ll never see Mum again, is it?” “Er — isn’t it?” said Harry uncertainly. She shook her head in disbelief. “Oh, come on. You heard them, just behind the veil, didn’t you?” “You mean . . .” “In that room with the archway. They were just lurking out of sight, that’s all. You heard them.”

(OotP, 863)

I want to talk about her mother, her death, and Luna's general outlook on death and tragedy which explains a lot of her characters.

So Pandora Lovegood experimented with spells and one went badly enough to kill her in front of her 9-year-old daughter. This is why Luna can see Thestrals and hear voices from beyond the veil like Harry and Neville. But Luna, at her soul is an optimist and a very brave one at that. This is something that she doesn't share with her father, which I'd get to, so I think her outlook on life and death is actually something she learned from her mother.

Luna prefers to look at the half-full part of the glass. She is choosing not to get too sad over things or bothered over her bullying (which I'll get to). The main point is that Luna's way of dealing with the hardship and trauma of watching her mother die is to feel the sadness of it, but not let herself wallow in it. She keeps pushing herself forward.

I headcanon Luna took her mother's death to embrace her mother's outlook on life. That things will always be fine, that they'd always work out. I don't think Luna knows for certain everything will be fine, but she chooses to believe it will be and you see it with her later in the books as well.

“I was saying, what are those horse things?” Harry said, as he, Ron, and Luna made for the carriage in which Hermione and Ginny were already sitting. [...] “It’s all right,” said a dreamy voice from beside Harry as Ron vanished into the coach’s dark interior. “You’re not going mad or anything. I can see them too.” “Can you?” said Harry desperately, turning to Luna. He could see the bat-winged horses reflected in her wide, silvery eyes. “Oh yes,” said Luna, “I’ve been able to see them ever since my first day here. They’ve always pulled the carriages. Don’t worry. You’re just as sane as I am.” Smiling faintly, she climbed into the musty interior of the carriage after Ron. Not altogether reassured, Harry followed her.

(OotP, 198-199)

Again, this shows her way of dealing with death and loss that ended up helping Harry. She sees the Thestrals and instead of being discomforted by them and the loss they remind her of (like Neville and Theodore Nott), she tries to smile, to take comfort in the reminder of her mother. "It's sad that she's dead, but it's okay, things will be okay", it's not a direct quote, but I feel it summarises Luna's outlook on loss and negative life experiences in general.

Xenophilius and the Quibbler

As I mentioned above, Xenophilius is much less brave and optimistic than Luna, hence why I think she learned her positive outlook from Pandora and not him:

Xenophilius gulped. He seemed to be steeling himself. Finally, he said in a shaky voice difficult to hear over the noise of the printing press, “Luna is down at the stream, fishing for Freshwater Plimpies. She . . . she will like to see you. I’ll go and call her and then—very well. I shall try to help you.” He disappeared down the spiral staircase and they heard the front door open and close. They looked at each other. “Cowardly old wart,” said Ron. “Luna’s got ten times his guts.”

(DH, 347)

I understand him, I really do. He lost his wife, and his daughter is all he has, of course, he's scared of helping Harry. He doesn't want to lose Luna too. But, I headcanon Pandora was like Luna in that regard. She wouldn't have let fear stop her. I mean, she had to be brave to experiment with the kind of dangerous spells that'll kill her.

The other thing I want to note about Xenophilius and Luna is how close they seem to be whenever we see them:

Bidding the wizards farewell, he turned to his daughter, who held up her finger and said, “Daddy, look—one of the gnomes actually bit me!” “How wonderful! Gnome saliva is enormously beneficial!” said Mr. Lovegood, seizing Luna’s outstretched finger and examining the bleeding puncture marks. “Luna, my love, if you should feel any burgeoning talent today—perhaps an unexpected urge to sing opera or to declaim in Mermish—do not repress it! You may have been gifted by the Gernumblies!”

(DH, 124)

They seem very affectionate and close, both with words and I'm sure also physical affection. Luna even mentions she still has her dad when she explains how she handles her mother's loss. I think both of them grew closer and more dependent on each other after Pandora's death. And I think that's what really pulled them both through it. Each other.

I write about it more later in this post, but Luna tends to comfort a lot of characters. Hermione, Ollivanders, Harry, and I think the first person she practiced this with was her father. She is a very empathetic person and she watched loss affect her father first-hand. I think, that after they lost Pandora, Luna did more of the heavy lifting in terms of emotional comfort rather than Xenophilius, who was probably a bit of a wreck.

Now, the third major thing I think Luna learned from her father is his various odd beliefs. To name a few Quibbler article titles from the beginning of OotP:

How Far Will Fudge Go to Gain Gringotts?

CORRUPTION IN THE QUIDDITCH LEAGUE: How the Tornados Are Taking Control

SIRIUS - Black As He’s Painted? Notorious Mass Murderer OR Innocent Singing Sensation?

We all know they have some odd ideas, and are both very convinced of them. Luna never strays in her belief in the things her father writes about:

Yes, he’s got an army of heliopaths,” said Luna solemnly. “No, he hasn’t,” snapped Hermione. “Yes, he has,” said Luna. “What are heliopaths?” asked Neville, looking blank. “They’re spirits of fire,” said Luna, her protuberant eyes widening so that she looked madder than ever. “Great tall flaming creatures that gallop across the ground burning everything in front of —” “They don’t exist, Neville,” said Hermione tartly. “Oh yes they do!” said Luna angrily. “I’m sorry, but where’s the proof of that?” snapped Hermione. “There are plenty of eyewitness accounts, just because you’re so narrow-minded you need to have everything shoved under your nose before you —”

(OotP, 345)

She actually shows a dislike and anger toward Hermione at first because of how Hermione treats the things she believes in. Luna doesn't get angry often, but when her beliefs are ridiculed in the way Hermione does so, is one of these few times. She doesn't mind being called "Loony", but she cares about her, and her father's beliefs are aggressively questioned. She wouldn't have minded it if Hermione just didn't believe her (like Ron and Ginny) what bothers her is that Hermione doesn't even entertain the possibility of these creatures being real. What angers her is Hermione's closed-mindedness, not that she doesn't agree with her. Luna doesn't mind being alone in her beliefs, she minds closed-minded people who think they know everything, that's what gets her annoyed with Hermione, I think.

Now, I kind of want to discuss why Luna and Xenehpilius believe what they believe. Well, more Xenephilius than Luna, because he taught her most of it and gave her all the evidence she is basing her understanding of all these creatures and conspiracies come from.

Because that's what a lot of these are — conspiracies — and mostly about the Ministry of Magic. These article titles are somewhat like farfetched conspiracy theories like: "NASA hiding a second sun at the center of the Earth" or "Did you know the Earth is actually flat but the government doesn't want you to know" or anything to do with Area 51 and aliens. The articles from the Quibbler sound awfully a lot like that. And it seemed the main reason Xenophilius and Luna believed Harry was because the ministry didn't.

Xenophilius and Luna also believe in miracle cures like gnome venom (as quoted earlier), Gurdyroots and Plumpies:

“May I offer you all an infusion of Gurdyroots?” said Xenophilius. “We make it ourselves.” As he started to pour out the drink, which was a deep purple as beetroot juice, he added, “Luna is down beyond Bottom Bridge, she is most excited that you are here. She ought not be too long, she has caught nearly enough Plumpies to make soup for all of us. Do sit down and help yourselves to sugar.

(DS, 348)

They are essentially wizard conspiracy theorist hippies.

Basically, Xenophilius and Luna distrust the ministry (rightfully so, as the ministry sucks) but they took their distrust to the extreme. Essentially believing any information from the ministry, or ministry-sanctioned textbooks and newspapers to be false (some of it definitely is false, but not all). If it comes from the ministry it's false in their eyes and therefore everything the ministry doesn't live in is true, even if it doesn't make sense. So what I think is going on with the Lovegoods, and what they are supposed to be, is just conspiracy theorists, who rightfully distrust their government, but took this distrust too far beyond common sense. It doesn't mean all they belive is false, they are actually correct often enough, but not always.

Now, I think, as I said, they have a good reason to distrust the ministry, they just took it a bit far. I actually have a bit of a headcanon about how Xenophilius came to the conclusion that they can't trust ministry.

My headcanon is that it has to do with Pandora's death. We don't really have any indication that Xenophilius believed in everything he did before her death. Neither do we know how exactly the spell killed Pandora. I think the ministry either hid information about Pandora's condition, used some spells she created in their books without giving her credit, or the ministry never sanctioned her spells (we know the ministry does approve spells, Hermione mentions as much in HBP). I'm not sure what exactly went with the ministry, but I headcanon Xenophilius has a personal reason related to Pandora to distrust them.

Loony Luna

We know Luna gets bullied. Her belongings get stolen, other students call her "Loony". And it isn't surprising she gets bullied. children are mean to anyone who is weird and different and Hogwarts has no anti-bullying measures. Literally none, the faculty doesn't care.

What is more interesting is Luna's outlook on her own bullying. It's the same optimistic acceptance of how she treats death.

“How come you’re not at the feast?” Harry asked. “Well, I’ve lost most of my possessions,” said Luna serenely. “People take them and hide them, you know. But as it’s the last night, I really do need them back, so I’ve been putting up signs.” She gestured toward the notice board, upon which, sure enough, she had pinned a list of all her missing books and clothes, with a plea for their return. An odd feeling rose in Harry — an emotion quite different from the anger and grief that had filled him since Sirius’s death. It was a few moments before he realized that he was feeling sorry for Luna. “How come people hide your stuff?” he asked her, frowning. “Oh . . . well . . .” She shrugged. “I think they think I’m a bit odd, you know. Some people call me ‘Loony’ Lovegood, actually.” Harry looked at her and the new feeling of pity intensified rather painfully. “That’s no reason for them to take your things,” he said flatly. “D’you want help finding them?” “Oh no,” she said, smiling at him. “They’ll come back, they always do in the end. It was just that I wanted to pack tonight. Anyway . . . why aren’t you at the feast?”

(OotP, 862-863)

Other Ravenclaws steal her things and hide them, they call her "Loony" and at no point is Luna angry or scared. She is calm and serene and she declines Harry's help because she believes it will all work out. It's the same outlook on death and sadness: "Everything will be fine, just keep your chin up and believe things will be good" That just really seems to be Luna's life philosophy. She faces every problem with optimism and serenity.

Instead of being concerned over her own situation, she actually goes a step further and ask how Harry is doing. Luna goes out of her way to brighten up other people's lives and help them see the good in situations like she can. She is really sweet.

“I enjoyed the meetings too,” said Luna serenely. “It was like having friends.” This was one of those uncomfortable things Luna often said and which made Harry feel a squirming mixture of pity and embarrassment.

(HBP, 138)

“Oh, it’s been all right,” said Luna. “A bit lonely without the D.A. Ginny’s been nice, though. She stopped two boys in our Transfiguration class calling me ‘Loony’ the other day —”

(HBP, 311)

These are two more examples of Luna's being bullied. She is lonely and didn't really have friends before the D.A. But just like with her missing things, while it makes her sad, she doesn't wallow in it. She looks at the good parts. The happy memories, the fact that Ginny defends her now. Honestly, it's a healthier coping mechanism than what we see with other characters, I'll give her that.

The other interesting note is how honest she is with all of it. She always says things exactly how she believes they are. She doesn't lie or hide information from people, even for their own comfort. I think this has to do with the distrust in the ministry her father and her share.

Essentially, she was raised being told how awful the ministry is for lying to everyone and how it's horrible they hide information from the wizarding world. I think this is part of why she is so honest and straightforward. She really sees hiding information and lying as awful things to do. And, I mean, she's a Ravenclaw for a reason, she likely believes information should be accessible to know and learn, not hidden in the bawls of the ministry. It's all part of her honesty.

Luna's Empathy

Luna is one of the more empathetic characters in the books. I mentioned before how she goes out of her way to encourage and comfort others, and here are some examples I picked up:

“Are you sure you don’t want me to help you look for your stuff?” he said. “Oh no,” said Luna. “No, I think I’ll just go down and have some pudding and wait for it all to turn up. . . . It always does in the end. . . . Well, have a nice holiday, Harry.” “Yeah . . . yeah, you too.” She walked away from him, and as he watched her go, he found that the terrible weight in his stomach seemed to have lessened slightly.

(OotP, 864)

Luna is the first person to make Harry feel better after Sirius' death, to tell him life goes on and actually convince him of it. She can empathize with people really weel and tell them what they need to hear.

He finally tracked her [Hermione] down as she emerged from a girls’ bathroom on the floor below. She was accompanied by Luna Lovegood, who was patting her vaguely on the back. “Oh, hello, Harry,” said Luna. “Did you know one of your eyebrows is bright yellow?” “Hi, Luna. Hermione, you left your stuff. . . .” He held out her books. “Oh yes,” said Hermione in a choked voice, taking her things and turning away quickly to hide the fact that she was wiping her eyes on her pencil case. “Thank you, Harry. Well, I’d better get going. . . .” And she hurried off, without giving Harry any time to offer words of comfort, though admittedly he could not think of any. “She’s a bit upset,” said Luna. “I thought at first it was Moaning Myrtle in there, but it turned out to be Hermione. She said something about that Ron Weasley. . . .”

(HBP, 310)

Even with Hermione, whom Luna tends to argue with most due to Hermione appearing closed-minded to Luna, when Luna hears crying her first instinct is to go help. And she actually seemed to have made Hermione feel better, she found the right things to say.

Her mention of Moaning Myrtle makes it sound like Luna knows the ghost well. My headcanon is that in Luna's first years, when she was lonely and had no friends, she sat and chatted with Myrtle, and they had a cute little lonely friendship.

“That’s right,” said Luna encouragingly, as if they were back in the Room of Requirement and this was simply spell practice for the D.A., “That’s right, Harry. . . come on think of something happy. . . .” “Something happy?” he said, his voice cracked. “We’re all still here,” she whispered, “we’re still fighting. Come on, now. . . .”

(DS, 548)

Encouraging Harry to cast a Patronus when they need one.

“I’m going to miss you, Mr. Ollivander,” said Luna, approaching the old man. “And I you, my dear,” said Ollivander, patting her on the shoulder. “You were an inexpressible comfort to me in that terrible place.”

(DH, 437)

And even comforting Ollivanders.

Luna just brings comfort to everyone she meets. Knowing what to say to make them feel better.

About her supposed seer-like abilities

As I said, I don't think Luna is a seer or anything like that. I think she's intelligent, open-minded, incredibly empathetic, has some extreme distrust in the ministry, and has an overall life philosophy of looking at the full half of the cup.

When I searched for scenes that had "extra-magical" potential I found only two:

The girl beside the window looked up. She had straggly, waist-length, dirty-blond hair, very pale eyebrows, and protuberant eyes that gave her a permanently surprised look. Harry knew at once why Neville had chosen to pass this compartment by. The girl gave off an aura of distinct dottiness. Perhaps it was the fact that she had stuck her wand behind her left ear for safekeeping, or that she had chosen to wear a necklace of butterbeer caps, or that she was reading a magazine upside down. Her eyes ranged over Neville and came to rest on Harry. She nodded. [...] The girl called Luna watched them over her upside-down magazine, which was called The Quibbler. She did not seem to need to blink as much as normal humans. She stared and stared at Harry, who had taken the seat opposite her and now wished he had not.

(OotP, 185)

I think this is more Luna being awkward because she never had friends more than anything. I think she is just honestly shocked and confused that Harry and Co. want to sit with her; of like, their free will, and not just to say mean things.

As much as Luna holds her head high, she is hurt by her bullies and loneliness, she just chooses to not internalize any of it and never stop to be herself. Honestly I really appreciate this aspect of Luna, I adore her ability to stay afloat.

The second scene:

He led a party of warlocks into the marquee as Luna rushed up. “Hello, Harry!” she said. “Er—my name’s Barny,” said Harry, flummoxed. “Oh, have you changed that too?” she asked brightly. “How did you know—?” “Oh, just your expression,” she said.

(DH, 123)

I don't think this is being a "seer" or anything like that. I believe this is an extension of Luna's intense empathy. She says she recognises Harry's expression. Also, she's smart and he acts around Ron the way he always does, Luna would be able to recognize it...

So, yeah, these are my thoughts about Luna.

#harry potter #hp #hp meta #asks #anon asks #anonymous #luna lovegood #harry potter meta #hp headcanon #hollowedheadcanon #hollowedtheory

67 notes · View notes

misc-obeyme · 7 months

Note

what are your thoughts on the cheeky lil cow boy (belphie)

Ah yes, Belphegor, a bit of a polarizing character in general, I think. People seem to either really love him or really hate him.

Generally speaking, I think he's deceptively cunning, but not in a malicious way. He's pretty chill most of the time, but he'll do stuff like manipulate his brothers to get them to do his chores for him. Except for Beel, of course. And really they are a unit. Belphie is always ready to fight for Beel and vice versa. But I also really like how they just quietly support each other. Someone will say oh Belphie fell asleep in this weird place and Beel will immediately be like I'll go get him. Or Belphie will be like we need to make sure we bring food to this thing because Beel will get hungry. Like they're just always thinking about each other and I think that's really sweet.

Belphie will also call people out if he wants to. If he has no reason to keep it to himself, he'll straight up tell you if he thinks you're doing something questionable. And his issues with Diavolo indicate to me that he has a problem with authority, like he would be more defiant if he wasn't also lazy lol.

Inevitably, though, we can't really talk about Belphie without discussing the Lesson 16 Incident. At this point, I think most people are aware of those events, but just in case, I'll put the rest of this under a read more. And also it's kinda lengthy, so be forewarned lol.

First of all, I have to say that I was honestly so confused about what was happening in Lesson 16 that I didn't fully understand that Belphie had killed MC. I had to read it multiple times and then read what other people were saying about it. So I never had an intense reaction to it.

But to be fair, it wasn't like we didn't know there was something weird going on the whole time. I knew it was the youngest brother locked up there and it seemed like it was wrong, so that made Lucifer out to be the bad guy of the situation. Then it turns out that wasn't the case at all.

Belphie is manipulative. That's just part of his character. And when he has something that he's trying to do, he's going to use that skill to get it.

Some people are still mad at Lucifer for locking Belphie up at all. Some people are obviously quite upset that Belphie killed MC.

But here's what I think.

It isn't that black and white. Aside from the confusing time travel shenanigans, this event is one of the most realistic things that has ever happened in the story.

Belphie shared Lilith's love of humans. Together they wanted to learn more about the human world. It would be easy for him to blame himself for her interest and what ultimately led to her death. But even if he didn't, he saw the way that it tore his entire family apart.

It wasn't just that his dad got mad at his sister and they had an argument or something.

It was that his dad was going to end his sister's existence and in defiance, his older brother rebelled. And there was a war. This was not some squabble. This was siblings fighting siblings.

Belphie watched his brothers and sisters fight and hurt and kill each other and it all came back to Lilith falling in love with a human.

And then he fell with his brothers, cast out of his home, losing everything he's ever known. His brothers are changing and suffering just like he is.

They don't talk about it. They clearly all keep secrets regarding it still, things that don't come out until MC comes along. Which is supposedly thousands of years after the fact (at least in OG). That means Belphie has had all that time to let that trauma fester. To let it twist inside him. To let it morph into the one thought that became most dominant: that humans are bad.

Is that a fair assessment of what happened? No, of course not. But we're dealing with a war traumatized fallen angel that clearly hasn't worked through any of these feelings in thousands of years.

And then he defies Diavolo and Lucifer panics.

Yes, Lucifer should have found a better way of handling it. But remember what happened to him when he defied authority? He is trying his best to protect Belphie. He is trying not to lose another sibling. He is also still traumatized and therefore overreacting out of fear.

And so was Belphie.

Imagine being locked up like that and a human comes along. A human is free among your brothers to do whatever terrible things humans do while you're powerless to stop them. Of course he's going to try to manipulate that human into setting him free. Of course he's then going to eliminate them because humans have been historically bad for his family.

I read this situation as Belphie being both afraid and angry that a human - the thing he's convinced himself was the main cause of his sister's death - has become so close to his brothers and has the access to his family that could cause another rift among them.

You could say that it was Belphie's idea to get MC to have all the pacts, but that isn't really true, either. By the time MC meets Belphie, they already have a pact with two of his brothers. He sees them already starting to worm their way into his family. And he knows that the only way to get out of the attic is to encourage it. He doesn't really have a choice.

Maybe everyone can now call me a Belphie apologist. But I'm always coming at this from an outside fictional standpoint. I'm like listen he's a flawed character and it's actually pretty realistic of him to react this way considering the circumstances.

However, he did kill MC. And that's why my own MC, Ciaran, has issues with Belphie for a while. It's also traumatic to have someone kill you, so it isn't like I'm saying MC should just forget about it or forgive Belphie immediately. I think it probably should have taken a lot more time for MC to trust Belphie again. Certainly that part of the story was a bit rushed.

But they're dealing with lesson format constraints and also it's a silly otome game so I guess fully formed character arcs can't be expected. Especially since we aren't dealing with routes and they have to cram everybody into the same set of lessons.

In the end, I think Belphie is an interesting and complex character. I think there's a lot of space to explore more about this particular aspect of him, but due to the format of the media and the lack of routes, his more in depth character arc just doesn't exist.

I personally have no problem with Belphie as a character, but I also understand why people don't like him. I am always of the opinion that everyone is free to love or hate or have any emotions at all about fictional characters lol. This is just my personal opinion.

#sorry I didn't mean to get into Belphie character analysis #but it all just kinda came out and once I started I couldn't stop #I don't normally write essays like this about characters that aren't Barbatos lol #though I could probably write essays about all of them if I wanted to #obey me #obey me belphegor #obey me belphie #om belphegor #om belphie #anon asks #misc answers

93 notes · View notes

inkren · 3 months

Text

Metroid dread has consumed my life for the past 2 days. Its now one of my favourite games ever made. There's a few problems with it mainly the world not being as memorable and easy to navigate as tallon IV in metroid prime but it doesn't matter given how amazing the game is.

I could rant about it for ages but I'll just talk about my 3 favourite things. Massive spoilers for merroid dread.

1. Whoever came up with the idea of letting Samus smack the shit out of your enemies and parrying them didn't get paid enough. Once you learn how to parry basic enemies basically become energy and missile dispensaries. Its so satisfying to parry something especially emmi's since its so hard to parry them. Its also extremely cathartic to parry a boss and start a cutscene where you can just pump missiles into them. Which conveniently leads into.

2. Spectacle. Most bossfights are so cool especially when you parry them and get a bunch of free shots in as samus in the curscene that plays does a bunch of cool flips or rides a massive monster and holds her blaster to their forehead to pump endless missiles into them while they writhe around trying to toss her off. The only thing that could make it better is if the music was more hype like metal gear rising revengeance (which is another game I have to get around to)

And how could I not mention the final bossfight too. The fight with Ravenbeak is so damn cool with it being like a dance with samus and him doing cool flips around each other. He summons black holes and stars and the climax as.... this actually goes with point 3 as well so we'll get to that.

3. Samus is portrayed so well in this game and conveys so much personality even though she says like one sentence in chozo near the middle of the game and at the end of the game she starts screaming madly.

When she meets kraid she is so clearly sick of him that as soon as he roars she shoots him in the mouth. Basically just saying "let's get this over with"

Her conversation with the friendly chozo in the middle of the game as we get a hell of a lore dump and the only words she says in the entire game being "don't worry I'll finish it" pretty sure i paraphrased that but it conveys so much. By having no other words in the game spoken by samus it gives these words so much power. She is legitimately concerned for this chozo and when he is killed she is genuinely sad but it has to wait. Because she has a job to do....and an annoying enemy to kill. (Seriously those chozo bots that jump you are so annoying. )

There's so much more I could say about her characterization in the game and that one scene alone but I wanna talk about the final fight again.

My jaw dropped when she was nearly dead as Ravenbeak choked the life out of her and then she just started screaming like a mad woman and drained the power from the flying fortress making it crash down onto the ground as she beat him up and continued to scream. It was so badass and yet so funny and I was just saying holy shit the entire time. Peak character.

And then the final bit against raven beak where he gets infected with the x parasite. And samus has her new metroid suit which looks freaky and organic and thats the point. She was pushed to this point and now she's basically an energy vampire. Also nothing quite like obliterating your foe with a massive fucking laser to the face.

Of course the cool escape sequence where I barely got back to my ship on time with like 10 seconds to spare. (BTW samus keeps hitting the self destruct button every planet has for some reason. Isnt this like the 6th planet she's destroyed? Why do they keep having to be destroyed and by what?)

Samus gets control of her metroid powers again before escaping and this actually brings me to a point i like about the game. It doesn't reveal there was actually more metroids because they're the series namesake. They stay extinct. All except for samus. And its revealed that metroid means ultimate warrior in chozo. So samus is the metroid now in all meanings of the word. She had metroid dna and is the ultimate warrior of the chozo. Taking the name if the franchise for herself. So next time your grandma sees you playing metroid and points to samus saying "that man's metroid isn't he?" She's half right now.

Anyway my three simple points ballooned way out of my control. Go play metroid dread. Go play every metroid game you can. Which isn't much if you only have a switch but the two metroid games it has are peak.

#metroid #metroid dread #samus aran #raven beak #peak fiction #characterization #badass #samus mercilessly slaughtered her father #he had it coming

31 notes · View notes

roguemantis · 2 months

Text

md episode 8 predictions

(THIS IS JUST WHAT I THINK WILL MAYBE HAPPEN AND ISN'T PARTICULARLY BASED ON EVIDENCE.)

Will be called something along the lines of "Absolute Zero" (i already said that on twitter but shhhh)

We'll see a comeback from V in some form; if she is dead, she'll probably have tried to leave some impact in order to help the team in the long run

NUZI KISS!!!!!! I'll be honest, as much as I want a season 2, a nuzi kiss would be much more impactful if ep 8 closed off the series as a whole (in my opinion) since it'd be their first and only kiss ever... I dunno, it just feels more intimate that way, but that's just me.

We find out more about Nori, her past, and form some kind of relationship between her and Uzi

Expanding on the last bullet (and if a season 2 does come), khan's development as a good father could continue, and nori's development as a good mother could start and mainly continue throughout the second season.

Uzi goes kooky insane!!!!!! (inevitable tbh)

J does something!!!! as much as I love this show a lot of characters get wasted, J being one of them, and I want her to have some sort of impact on the series, especially if they do decide...

...that they're gonna kill J off. I'll be mad if this one happens, but I have a gut feeling.

N snaps. We've seen a small peak of him getting mad in episode 7, and it will be so satisfying if he fully snaps in episode 8.

J finds out the truth about her entire existence and is absolutely crushed by it. Think about it: J has based almost her entire being on serving a company and devotes a good chunk of her loyalty (at least) to one person, that being Tessa. You mean to tell me that the show that likes screwing around with its characters' emotions isn't going to eventually make a character like this find out that not only is the purpose she devoted herself to a lie, but the woman she sought validation from most has actually been dead for years with her skin being used as Satan's human cosplay?

Small easter eggs/parallels to the pilot. Some examples I thought of are: j being given a branded pen by another character as a gift, uzi healing another character's nanite acid injury (maybe n's), v making balloon animal shapes with sentinel parts, the railgun blows up and kills lizzy, or khan euthanizes uzi with a wrench.

Anywho, that's all the predictions I can think of right now. I'll probably come back to see if I was right.

Regarding season 2, though, whether or not I can anticipate one coming is largely going to depend on the ending of the finale. If the world frickin ends or something, then there's no way liam wouldn't be planning on ending the series there. If there's some sort of godforasken cliffhanger, though... that'd be a different story.

#murder drones #serial designation n #serial designation v murder drones #serial designation j #uzi doorman #md episode 8 #episode 8 predictions #murder drones season 2

28 notes · View notes

opoki · 1 year

Text

I love this RoyAi art. Not because it looks amazing: The artstyle, the colors, poses(even when Riza's right arm looks weird lol), it is beautiful. But because of the meaning, which I don't know if it was intended or accidental.

The first time I've seen it I was like: „wouldn't they kill themselves if they decides to shoot the other?“, and yeah that's true. And that's what makes it beautiful. Both exist in an unhealthy dependency. They can't live without the other. Their hearts will always beat for each other. Though, they wouldn't hesitate to kill each other if one gives into their madness(example: the iconic 'don't go where I can't follow' scene ; in the game prince of dawn, Roy was ready to attack Riza, if she actually was going to kill the prince of Aeurgo.). I think the reason for this dynamic is that, even though they both love each other so much, they're not blinded by that feeling. Both are tactical, rational and have their own moral. Unable to be shaken by anyone. Also I think the guilt is driving them forward. Riza feels guilty for the actions of Roy in Ishval, she was the one that gave him the flame alchemy after all. And Roy? He feels guilty for dragging the woman he wants to see happy into hell.

Roy is an idealist, wanting to change the world. It's his purpose in an otherwise meaningless life. He couldn't be happy with a family with an other woman than Riza, but for this he has to give up the promise between these two. The promise that gives Riza her purpose in an otherwise meaningless life. (Who could guess that I'm a nihilist?)

Also, the series shows us that this promise is the only thing that could stop Roy from madness. From making an second Ishval, when the wrong people have to much power. He's a lapdog of the military after all.

Roy wants to get high up, just not without Riza.

And since they're so depended on each other, they couldn't live with the other dead.

So if Riza would've killed Roy, she would've killed herself, like she said.

And if Riza would've gotten killed by the weird doc, Roy surely would've gone crazy, more than when he executed Envy. No one who could lead him on the right part again. Finding his death maybe by the hands of father? I'm 100% sure that Roy could've burned Bradly, if he was in his rage mode he showed earlier. But I stop going into this maybe-thing.

This dependency isn't something that a real humanbeing should crave. Nevertheless it's my favorite trope, since even though I'm aromantic, I've fallen in love with the idea of love. Only needing that person, I'll never have. That's why Hannigram and RoyAi are my favorite ships. Both are unhealthy, both are destructive, they're beautiful. But only as long as you aren't a part of them.

When your love is killing you, is it a good death?

If you've read until the end: thank you for listening to my pointless thoughts about two fictional characters lol.

#fma #fma brotherhood #fma manga #fma 03 #fmab #fullmetal alchemist #riza hawkeye #roy mustang #fma fanart #royai au #royai #royai fanart #fma royai #young royai

270 notes · View notes

amazing-spiderling · 5 months

Note

For the character ask game, Scott Summers and/or Kurt Wagner, #7 & #12

7. What’s something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you like?

Scott: People making jokes about Scott yelling "JEAAAAN :00000" all the time will never not be funny to me. IDK there's just something about people who end up marrying their high school sweethearts that's a little wacky. And as much as I enjoy ragging on the guy, I am glad that the fandom has come around and is appreciating his character development, especially from the last 20 years of comics.

Kurt: I've literally never met an X-Men/comics fan that doesn't like Kurt. Like he may not be their FAVORITE, but he's kinda the unproblematic fave of the fandom, so if you bring him up, the odds of people having something positive to say are pretty high. If anything, I think people are better about criticizing a bad writer or bad production decisions for any wonky characterization, rather than jumping to, "this is why this character sucks" like I've seen them do for other characters in comics.

12. What’s a headcanon you have for this character?

Scott: Wow, my feelings about Scott are kind of a jumble. I haven't read that many comics that focused on him specifically, so I feel like I'm drawing from all of the various media interpretations... I hesitate to make a claim about comics Scott because I'll say something like, "he writes a blog about baking" and someone is going to come in and be like, "X-Factor explicitly stated that he writes about gardening".

Okay, upon a little thought, I do have one. After he was resurrected following whatever the hell was going on between the Inhumans and Mutants in "Death of X", Scott felt REALLY BAD about what happened to my boy Alchemy, and we didn't see it, but offscreen he made sure that Tom was at the front of the line for Mutants to bring back to life on Krakoa. He yelled at Emma about it, too. (That last part probably was elaborated on, but I want to imagine that he was mad about that death in particular, since she used his voice/commanding personality so heavily and ended up getting Alchemy killed without a second thought.)

Kurt: I guess I'm not really sure if this is a headcanon or just like, a gut feeling- but... I don't see Kurt ever settling down, getting married, having kids. Which is kind of a wild thing to say because the man is HUSBAND MATERIAL THROUGH AND THROUGH and Marvel writers who get to take a swing at future versions of the X-Men love giving him a family... but he's always married to some rando who showed up in one (1) forgettable comic from 30 years ago that nobody remembers. It's sort of the problem of having chemistry with everyone, but then maybe not having a "spark" with one person in particular.

My use of the word "spark" here is intentional- as those familiar with his arc during the recent Krakoa era of X-Men comics might have picked up. Kurt creates the idea of a "spark" as a universal concept for Mutants of any/all faiths to embrace, a means to protect the sanctity and respect for the miracle of life. He was one of the few to recognize the need for Mutants to have something outside of themselves to pursue, and it came at no small cost to himself. In fact, he became something of an outsider, observing the community he loved, so that he could better serve them- and that I think is the crux of the issue. His "true love" is not another person, it's the preservation of a dream, and providing hope to all mutants. Even in the alternate world where he married Wanda and they had TJ, the couple lives apart from one another, each a part of their own respective teams because while they loved each other, they realized they could not focus on their duty when they were together. The mission still came first. I don't know that I mean he should join the conventional priesthood (if only because time has shown not enough comics writers are well versed enough in organized religion to write convincing and compelling comic stories about it) but his devotion to the Legionaries was close enough for me.

It's a bit of a double edged sword- I think it's something that makes his character unique, and I could turn this idea over and over in my head endlessly, but it comes at a bit of a cost from a meta perspective. I think part of the reason there's not as much fiction for the poor boy is because he doesn't have really solid canon ship fodder (NightWolves shippers have all my respect, mind you, but somehow it seems to draw a niche crowd?), so he tends to sit in the background like charming blue set dressing. It's okay though, we all still love him.

#scott summers #kurt wagner #nightcrawler #yes i have feelings about way/legion of x how could you tell

20 notes · View notes

shadowofroses · 6 months

Text

story idea maybe series I'm thinking of right now...

Jujutsu Kaisen x Trigun

No pairings, Reader just has a fictional crush on Vash. Gojo and Reader is Platonic at least yet, I'm still plotting it out and wanted to share this part so far. No idea when I'll get around to put it online however. I've seen way too many fanarts with both Gojo and Vash together lately. and it's helping to fuel this, a very rough draft cut and paste. Reader has hair I'm trying to remember to make note of that.

But Something got you curious as you gazed off into Gojo’s direction who was sitting right beside you. “What is it? Popcorn in my teeth?” He instantly went to lick around his teeth to see if he could find the kernel.

However you shook your head. “No….I have a question….might be a dumb one. But, Have you ever, attempted to like jump universes with your Limitless before? Or Attempted to jump into a universe where Digimon or Pokemon were real?” or stated throwing out an example.

Gojo hummed. “I played with the idea before, but as you brought up…” He raised his hands and wiggled his fingers in response. “A total misuse of Cursed Technique! OOOOOOO~~”

You picked up a throw pillow and threw it at him, which didn’t hit him of course, he caught it with his hands and laughed. “har har, I was just curious, cause well, your Limitless is well Limitless in theory…”

He moved to hug your throw pillow to his chest as he leaned forward on it In thought. “I….think you are a bad influence on me.” He stated to flick your forehead causing you to huff a little.

“ME a bad influence on YOU?” you rolled your eyes. “Was curious.”

“Didn’t you know Curiosity killed the cat?”

You lightly chuckled. “Satisfaction brought it back.”

Gojo pressed his sunglasses up with a finger as he paused in thought. “I think so…However I doubt I’d be able to bring you with me…but only one way to find out, and they can’t get mad at me if I’m doing sciency things. Worse comes to worse I’ll say something curse -like happened and I dealt with it.” He moved to point at one of your Vash figurines. “instead of Digimon or Pokemon, how about your Beloved Vash…comes here?”

Your brow furrowed for a moment. “Wait a second...you gotta think of the conse…..”

you barely got out what possible consequences that might cause to the Trigun universe, or to the modern day world. When a blue flash happened. Your eyes crossed as a blond man in a long red jacket ended up landing upside down on your couch crying out “OW!” especially when his gun went flying and landed on his ass as he landed.

“Dammit Satoru, I was speaking hypothetical!” you went off to lecture him, “what is this going to mean for his universe that he is missing, what’s it going to do to ours?!”

Gojo how ever pouted and went over to pinch Vash’s cheeks together “But look how adorable he is!” causing Vash’s eyes to cross and lightly blush. “Besides! This is great! He’s never seen Earth or the Ocean? This is perfect we can show him around!~” Gojo then grinned, “Lets take him to the Zoo! All the Sea animals will blow his mind! Then we can send him back!”

You felt like pulling out your hair even if your heart skipped a beat seeing Vash in the flesh. "Satoru...this is a 150 year old man….”

“Independent Plant Man.” Gojo Corrected which made Vash’s eyes narrow in shock. Wondering how he knew.

“We are not treating him like a fucking child that we are babysitting, sugaring up and sending him back home hyper!”

Gojo’s eyes widened at that. “OH! True, we need to get him some sweets."

#Jjk #trigun #tristamp #jujutsu kaisen #gojo satoru #Vash the stampede #Reader insert #x reader #fic idea #crossover #trigun stampede

27 notes · View notes

epickiya722 · 8 months

Note

Kiya, you're the first person who I follow, who are a Yuuji & Sukuna fan but not shipping them. Like, it's so cool....Most JJK fan that I know are people who love either one of them, hate both of them, or love both of them (and must shipping them romantically)....Do you think in the end, Yuuji is the one who will kill Sukuna for good?

Thanks @epickiya722 for sharing your fanfics and many reviews and analysis (especially for BNHA & JJK). Love reading them 💐🌻🌷

I prefer tumblr then twitter. I sometimes tired to see many negative comments around fandom. You're right, Kiya,.there are many people who love to talk negatively about a certain fandom, like if you hate it that much, why not just stop watching or reading them (yes 'a certain fandom' that I mean are BNHA & JJK)......

Is that rare?! To like both characters and not ship them?

Anyways!!

To that question, I do!! I'll be honest, I think out of all the characters, it would make sense if Yuji is the one to land the final attack and ending Sukuna for good. It honestly frightens me a little that this makes it possible that some of the other characters may be put out commission. But! Let's think about it!

I apologize beforehand because I know this is going to get long!

It makes sense to me that Yuji is the one to kill Sukuna because out of the characters, who annoys Sukuna the most? Who does he view now as his "main dish" because of his unbreakable resolve? Yuji Itadori!

This kinda plays into some thoughts of mine I'm working on.

For one, I think of Yuji and Sukuna's relationship as more twisted version of Yugi Muto and Yami Yugi (to an extent, Ryou and Yami Bakura).

A while back, in this post, I talked a little about how JJK share some similarities to YGO, which apparently Gege likes, I don't know, I read a post. I believe so with the references thrown in there and again, similarities that could be coincidences.

Yuji and Yugi have similar names, spiky multicolored hair (black, pink and blond... Yuji used to be blond), they're high school students who wear blue uniforms, raised by their grandfathers who also happen to look like the spirit possessing them in some way, they stick to their morals, got possessed by a spirit with a "King" title through a cursed objects...

Both stories involve something about souls, Kenjaku rocked the Bandit Keith special, in the anime, you can see Gojo hold a DVD that looks like Bonds Beyond Time (I have a post here showing so)...

That's all I can capture, but thinking about all that I wondered "well, how funny it would be if Yuji turns out to be Sukuna's reincarnation? Like his soul reborn just like Yugi is to Yami/Atem?"

If that's the case, then for sure it would be possible for another similarity to be thrown in.

At the end of YGO, guess what happens to Yami and Yugi? Spoiler, Yugi beats Yami in a duel for Yami to pass onto the afterlife.

In a way, it was like he was putting his past self to rest.

So couldn't it be possible for Yuji to do the same to Sukuna? Put the King of Curses to rest as he should be? Sukuna was reawaken into an era he does not belong to. It's something I don't see talked about a lot. A clash of generations.

Think of Gojo and the Higher-Ups. Gojo doesn't like their ways of handling the Jujutsu world. Another example, Kirara's technique is more "new age" which the HUs don't care for.

With Sukuna, in 248, he's used his opponents being people who fight him to prove something or fearing him. Now? Yuji breaks that mold. He's not someone fighting Sukuna to entertain him or even fears him. He's mad at him, he hates him and doesn't seek for his praise or to please him. He has accepted that he is a Jujutsu sorcerer.

Sukuna was used to his "old" ways, that he didn't account for Yuji to come at him with a different or "new" vibe.

So yeah, Yuji being the one to kill Sukuna would be fitting in my opinion. He was created to be Sukuna's vessel, but who says he couldn't also have been created to be Sukuna's threat? I mean, it is funny that Yuji was able to suppress Sukuna with ease.

Okay, that was long! 😆

Seriously, it's like do some of these people ever enjoy anything and want to talk about those things?

I get not enjoying something, but the endless cycle of complaining that "this chapter is too short", "that wasn't how I wanted it go", even "break again"!

Like, damn! Is there anything in the chapter you did like? Oh, now writers and artists can't take breaks? Wonder why we have strikes...

I'm not always optimistic, but I like some enjoyment in my life, too. Post some funny memes, write about why you like a character, ramble about a ship fic you like ans trust me you will feel so much better, folks.

Also, thank you, Anon!! 🌸💜💫

I don't think of myself as a bigtime blog with analysis and theory posts, but just someone who likes to share her many thoughts. I don't except anyone to agree with me or anything. I just have thoughts that I just post.

#kiya answers #kiya answers questions #jjk #jujutsu kaisen #itadori yuji #yuji itadori #yuuji itadori #itadori yuuji #sukuna ryomen #ryomen sukuna #ryoumen sukuna #sukuna #sukuna ryoumen #jjk manga spoilers #jjk spoilers

27 notes · View notes

adarkrainbow · 5 months

Note

Since you've explained the differences between the verse and prose versions of "Donkeyskin," I was wondering how Perrault's original verse version handles the issue of the king being "cured of his madness" and the princess forgiving him in the end. Based on the prose version, at least, it seems slightly astounding that father and daughter can so easily reconcile after his attempted incest. But knowing Perrault, I'll bet we can read an element of satire into it. At the very least, reconciling with her father has practical benefits for the princess – it confirms her royal heritage, so no one can object to her marriage to the prince, and it presumably gives her a dowry.

A most fascinating question!

Now, I have to say I haven't done the most thorough research when it comes to Donkeyskin (I can eventually go check some French scholar articles if you want), so I might very easily miss something.

In the prose version it is the prince's parents that insist for Donkeyskin's father to come, so that he can agree to the wedding (again because of this ancient rule according to which a daughter couldn't be wed without her father's consent) [Another interesting detail: in the prose version the Lilac fairy appears within the prince's palace BEFORE the parents insist for summoning Donkeyskin's father. Interesting when compared to the verse version, you'll see.] As a brief recap of the situation: the king is first invited, even though by an order of the Lilac fairy the invitation does not mention the identity of the bride. In the prose version the king arrives, and it is said he "forgot" his own disordered love and just married a "beautiful widow queen". And this is the prose version's solution for the "cure" of the king's madness: because remember, in the prose version, while he did felt a desire for his daughter, he was "excused"/"justified" by a pressure and manipulations from the political and religious power... As such the solution is easy: find a queen who is indeed more beautiful than the daughter, so as to "reorient" the desire towards another woman.

[The fact the prose version mentions that the king married in-between, thus "smothering" his incestuous desire, explains the basis of the final twist of Demy's movie, where the character of the Lilac fairy and the "beautiful widow queen" become one and the same, and thus her actions to protect her god-daughter become doubled by her own desire to seduce the king and become his wife.]

Anyway, let's check Perrault's original prose... In this version the whole "We MUST invite your father" is not present. After the wedding is decided, we are simply given a majestic demonstration of all the kings from all the four corners of the world being invited - Donkeyskin's father almost comes by accident, simply because the prince's father invited all of his neighbor-rulers. And unlike in the prose version... He never remarried. We still have a single king here. The fact the king never remarried brings an element of danger here - even if we admit he "killed" his incestuous desire, it means he still doesn't have an heir, except the prince of another kingdom, which means his crown will go to his family-in-law... And else, it also means he is still "available" and that the danger is not fully done. All in all this is one of the reasons the prose version decided to add a "widow queen" to the story, to avoid the worrying possibilities Perrault left open.

Now, about the actual topic of the incestuous love, Perrault writes that the king did get rid of it... Well almost. Not quite. Again with Perrault nothing is as easy as it seems. On a first glance it SEEMS it is done with because he writes "The father of the bride / Who had once been of her in love / But had time to purify the fires / That had burned his soul / He had banished from it all criminal desire / And of this odious flame / The few that remained in his soul / Only made stronger his paternal love". A casual first-time reading seems to go: The guy had time to wait, without his daughter in sight. He fought against his own incestuous desires, he purified his soul, and he rather focused onto his fatherly love in a healthy way. Aka, the incestuous desire was converted by the guy's willpower into a healthy fatherly love. Okay... But if we read closer, we see that there is still a possibility of danger because Perrault choses the metaphor of the father's "fatherly love" being fueled by "the few that remained of this odious flame". Aka yes, her father smothered the incestuous desire and converted it in a regular fatherhood... But he still has a tiny bit of the perverse desire within her. AND overall it just shows a full cycle. Already before it was his fatherly love that turned into an incestuous desire. Now the incestuous desire it reconverted into a fatherly love. But we see that within this guy's soul, the two are intrincately linked, and they are just two facets of a same coin: so there is still the danger of it returning... Especially since he doesn't have a new wife like in the prose version.

And this danger seems highlighted by another interesting change: the fairy godmother only appears AFTER the father and the daughter were reunited to tell the entire story. Or rather she arrives at the exact moment the two reunite... Which leads to quite interesting implications. In the prose version we can imagine this being sort of a private revelation that only the prince and his family know about ; but here, the fairy godmother makes the tale basically right in front of everybody on the wedding day... The poem only mentions the fact that the fairy godmother, by telling the story of Donkeyskin, "completes Donkeyskin's glory" (which is a meta-textual pun, as in story she makes the girl admirable by telling all that she suffered, but in a meta-textual level she is the storyteller who is telling the Donkeyskin fairytale and thus making it a "famous" story.) But when you consider how the things are organized, the fairy godmother (who always worked to prevent the incest to happen, even if she kind of failed pretty hard at her job) literaly pops up as the king and daughter "embrace" each other (in their arms) to start telling the story "Oh yeah, and do you all recall when your old man tried to marry you?". She is almost embarrassing in public the king, she is warning directly the parents-in-law of Donkeyskin about her father, and also seems to remind the girl to not so easily forget what she had to go through...

Mind you, I am definitively reading way too much into this. I am not saying this did not exist - no, these underlying texts did exist certainly, because again those tales were meant to be read, and re-read and re-re-read, and since they were really short each sentence was carefully crafted. But what I am saying is that these underlying texts were never meant to be the final end or the obvious message of the story. They are meant to be little asides and disquieting implications you notice afterward. But the main message is that Donkeyskin is now safe - because she is married. I haven't really stressed that, but in the worldbuilding and aesthetic and mindset of this tale, we are speaking of an incestuous MARRIAGE. I think it is important to insist because we are not in a Basile tale where sexuality exists as a thing in its own right... We are in a galant, courtly, noble poetry here - we speak of weddings as the very symbols of love and sex. The incestuous king isn't like a real-life incestuous father: the king was seeking his daughter as a bride for a wedding, and can't "touch" her or harm her in any way if she doesn't agree to be his bride. I think it is a fact we tend to forget due to how real this subject is and his grave it is in the real-world... But it is a fairytale world, a literary 17th century fairytale world, and so here we have almost Barbie dolls-like characters that don't have much of a sexuality, and where all sex is replaced by marriages. (In "folk" fairytales sexuality does exist since we are in an uncensored storytelling, but in the "salons" and classical 17th century fairytales, all sex was reduced to double-entendres or innuendos, if not completely removed - we are in a Disney logic where it is the wedding that makes the children.)

As such, Donkeyskin is meant to be "safe" from her father when he arrives because he might still be alone... but she is married. To the prince. She is "taken" and thus the king can't marry her as he intended - and since he can't marry her due to a union already existing, his lust can't touch her, even if it still exists, because again the old king lusts for a "bride" not just a random woman. If he can't marry her, he is not interested in her - at least not in a romantic/sexual way - and as such, it explains why the old king's incestuous love can turn/be converted into a fatherly love. He doesn't see her as a potential bride anymore, only as her daughter he must act as the father of during her wedding to another. (It is truly an oversimplified, censored Disney-logic, and yet when you think about it with modern eyes it becomes a twisted psychanalytic Oedipian mess equalling how deeply psychofucked-up Snow-White tends to get in modern media when it comes to familial relationships)

So long story short - yes Perrault slides cynical jokes and a touch of darkness. Not by saying Donkeyskin is still in danger of being raped by her father, no, her finding her prince (and her working hard to make sure the prince would marry her) means she saved herself from her father's incest by becoming someone else's wife and preventing any wedding. (In fact there is something to say about how the fairy godmother fails at protecting the princess from the incest by suggesting extravagant gifts and repulsive disguises ; while the princess herself finds the only actual way to truly save her, by winning the heart of another prince and marrying him) And again, we are not working within the real-life workings of incest, we are here in a fantasized, simplified, childish "fairytale" working of incest where it all relies on a wedding and outside of a marriage ceremony nothing can happen. But the cynicism and satire of Perrault here lies in the fact that he still points out how the king basically only "returned" to being a good father because he was frustrated in his incestuous desire. The dark joke is that Perrault points out how basically any father who is too loving can become an incestuous predator if they don't control their own passions, and how in those men dominated by their own desires, fatherly love and incestuous love are just two sides of the same coin. Hence the dark irony of the king using "what little remains" of his "incestuous flame" to "rekindle the fire" of his healthy fatherly love...

Perrault was part of the Jansenite world of religious thinking. There's a lot of studies about Jansenite messages throughout his fairytales, but one of the recurring trends in it is how he depicts a world where humans turn into monsters because they are dominated by their emotions and desires to a point of destruction of all norms. This is why we have the predatory figures of the Wolf or of the Ogre(ss), and the vile figures of the wicked mother in "Diamonds and Toads" and wicked stepmother in "Cinderella". It is the whole point of showing what happens when men let their lust and gluttony turn them into beasts, and when women become abusers and self-destroyers when they allow pride and greed to dictate their behavior... But I digress.

A final point I could make about the verse Donkeyskin and how there's an implicaton of the king still being the hypocrite that he is... When the king sees her again he shouts great cries of emotions "Blessed be the Heavens who allow me to see you again, my dear child!", and he has this very obvious gestures of affection - he runs to take her in his arms, and he "cries with joy". This is of course meant to be placed in parallel with the beginning of the tale where the king is also depicted as having great cries of emotions and lots of tears and gestures of pain, in front of his wife's deadly sickness. Except in the beginning the narrator explicitely points out that when a man is grieving so hard and so intensely, it is usually because he wants to be rid of the chore as soon as possible and make all the needed rituals as fast as can be, to move on to something else... Which is proven when he also immediately wants to marry again once his wife is dead and buried. So here, Perrault implies a sort of same "fakeness" of the emotions by having the king be so expressive and dramatical in his reunion with his daughter... The same way he promised to his dying wife with teary eyes he would never be able to love again....

#ask #donkeyskin #perrault fairytales #donkey skin #french fairytales #charles perrault #mother goose fairytales

15 notes · View notes

bassettmemes · 2 years

Text

THE LOVE HYPOTHESIS. ↳ quotes from the love hypothesis by ali hazelwood. some quotes have been edited for clarity or usability.

"carry yourself with the confidence of a mediocre white man."

"i'm going to kill you."

"i wish you could see yourself the way i see you."

"i'm starting to wonder if this is what being in love is. being okay with ripping yourself to shreds, so the other person can stay whole."

"you can fall in love. someone will catch you."

"i'll come find you, and i'll take care of you."

"did you... did you just kiss me?"

"expiration dates are for the weak."

"i think about you before falling asleep. then i dream of you."

"it's fine. more material for my title ix complaint."

"this might be inappropriate, but, you are really extraordinary."

"i know it’s scary, being vulnerable, but you can allow yourself to care."

"everyone likes tall, broody, sullen hunks with genius iqs."

"a good kiss will do that: make a girl forget herself for a while."

"i liked you when i didn’t know you, and now that i do know you, it’s only gotten worse."

"you could stay mad, and we could go to your lab and throw test tubes full of toxic reagents at each other until the pain of third-degree burns overrides your shitty mood? sounds like fun, no?"

"my heart may be broken, but my brain is doing just fine."

"i'm fine. i mean, i wish i were dead, but aside from that..."

"i've never been surer of anything. except maybe cell theory."

"hypothesis: the more i mention an attachment in an email, the less likely i will be to actually include said attachment."

"are they deporting you back to canada because we've been sharing a netflix password?"

"tell them we didn't know it was a federal crime."

"i think that somewhere along the way i forgot that i was something. i forgot myself."

"academia takes a lot from you and gives back a little."

"not having a life came in handy sometimes."

"i do reserve the right to comment on your abysmal taste in men."

"pumpkin spice is satan’s dandruff, harbinger of the apocalypse, and it tastes like ass—not in the good way."

"hypothesis: if i fall in love, things will invariably end poorly."

"you just had to go and make me fall for you."

"a heart will break even more easily than the weakest of hydrogen bonds."

"there will only be one bed. it doesn't matter what it says; it's always one bed."

"i must say, the line between excellent career choice and critical life screwup is getting a bit blurry."

"you probably don’t like ice cream anyway, because you don’t enjoy anything that’s good in life."

"i have access to your google calendar, asshole. you're not busy. if you don't want to hang out with me, you can just be honest."

"to be fair, i don't like people in general."

"how much do you hate this, on a scale from one to ‘correlation equals causation’?"

"hypothesis: any rumor regarding my love life will spread with a speed that is directly proportional to my desire to keep said rumor a secret."

"approximately two out of three fake-dating situations will eventually involve room-sharing; 50 percent of room-sharing situations will be further complicated by the presence of only one bed."

"i'm never going to get used to the fact that professors are real people and have first names."

"that’s the thing with science. we’re drilled to believe that false positives are bad, but false negatives are just as terrifying."

"maybe so many years alone has warped me in some fundamental way."

"did this fortune cookie just throw shade at me?"

"based on the available information and the data hitherto collected, my hypothesis is that the farther away i stay from love, the better off I will be."

"i had financially rich, but emotionally poor, parents."

"talking on the phone is the hardest, most stressful thing in the world."

"no. i don't want to fake break-up."

#sentence starters #sentence prompts #sentence starter #sentence meme #roleplay prompts #rp prompts #rp prompt #writing prompts #writing prompt #romance starters #romantic starters #romantic rp meme #the love hypothesis sentence starters #the love hypothesis rp meme #the love hypothesis starters

104 notes · View notes

ameagrice · 2 years

Text

Capsize

chapter sixteen | this is how it ends

percy jackson x fem reader

Truth be told, coming up out of the water was like breathing a whole new day. Something in the air felt different, the skies peach and yellow, and you watched the saves as a coast guard boat came to pick the four of you up.

With a towel around your shoulders, dripping wet, they dropped you off at the Santa Monica Pier, leaving you to wonder what next.

Percy met your gaze and you looked away quickly.

“So what do we do now?” You asked briefly, sighing.

Annabeth blew air out of her cheeks. “I…don’t know. I can’t believe we came all this way just for—”

“It was a trick,” Percy cut in with a firm stare. “A trick worthy of Athena.”

Your head snapped his way. “Excuse me?”

“Hey—” Annabeth warned lowly.

Percy turned from her to you. He held his hands out, palms up. “You get it, don’t you?”

“It might have been clever, but—”

“Yes,” Annabeth snapped. Her eyes warned you. No more arguing. “I get what you mean.”

“Well, I don’t!” Said Grover. “Would somebody explain?”

“Percy,” Annabeth said. “I’m sorry about your mom.”

“The prophecy was right," Percy ignored her comment. “You shall go west and face the god who has turned.’ But it wasn't Hades. Hades didn't want war among the Big Three. Someone else pulled off the theft. Someone stole Zeus's master bolt, and Hades's helm, and framed me because I'm Poseidon's kid. Poseidon will get blamed by both sides. By sundown today, there will be a three-way war. And I'll have caused it.”

Grover shook his head, mystified. “But who would be that sneaky? Who would want war that bad?”

Percy laughed harshly. “Gee, let me think—”

As you looked around, you elbowed Percy. Your breath caught. “Look.”

The others turned their attention to where you looked. Further up the beach, stood Ares. In his black leather and sunglasses, he looked straight out of a nineties suspense movie. A baseball hat sat on his broad shoulder. You couldn’t see his eyes behind his sunglasses, but he looked right at you. You clenched your fists at your side, letting go of the towel that slipped off your shoulders, and rounded Grover to your right, storming up the beach.

“Hey!” Annabeth called. “Don’t!”

“B, come on!”

“Hey, kid!” Ares voiced, sounding genuinely pleased to see you. He grinned wickedly, a toothpick sat to the corner of his mouth. He was much taller than you, but even so, you got close enough that the days events began to build in your chest furiously. “You’re still alive!”

“What was all that about?” You fumed, shaking your head twice, shortly. “You send us after the masterbolt only for it to turn up on Percy? What shit is this?!”

His face changed instantly, a hand coming to your sopping shirt, twisting it to pull you to him. You faced him straight on, face hard, nose slightly crinkled, jaw clenched. On your toes, you dared to reach a hand out to grab his wrist. Under your skin his own burned like a heater, and he was bigger than you to the point your hand only covered half his wrist.

“Your dear mother didn’t pass on her genes, did she?”

“Sorry about her, Sir. She’s—”

Ares dropped you suddenly, sending your heels slamming into the hard packed sand. He turned his attention to Grover, who shut up.

“You set us up,” Percy added, coming to your side. “You stole the helm and the masterbolt.”

Ares grinned. “Well, now, I didn't steal them personally. Gods taking each other's symbols of power—that's a big no-no. But you're not the only hero in the world who can run errands.”

“Who did you use? Clarisse? She was there at the winter solstice.” Annabeth called it.

The idea seemed to amuse him. “Doesn't matter. The point is, kid, you're impeding the war effort. See, you've got to die in the Underworld. Then Old Seaweed will be mad at Hades for killing you. Corpse Breath will have Zeus's master bolt, so Zeus'll be mad at him. And Hades is still looking for this…”

From his pocket he took out a ski cap—the kind bank robbers wear—and placed it between the handlebars of his bike. Immediately, the cap transformed into an elaborate bronze war helmet.

“The helm of darkness,” Grover gasped.

“Exactly,” Ares said. “Now where was I? Oh yeah, Hades will be mad at both Zeus and Poseidon, because he doesn't know who took this. Pretty soon, we got a nice little three-way slugfest going.”

“But they're your family!” Annabeth protested.

Ares shrugged. “Best kind of war. Always the bloodiest. Nothing like watching your relatives fight, I always say.”

“You gave me the backpack in Denver," Percy said. "The master bolt was in there the whole time.”

“Yes and no,” Ares said. “It's probably too complicated for your little mortal brain to follow, but the backpack is the master bolt's sheath, just morphed a bit. The bolt is connected to it, sort of like that sword you got, kid. It always returns to your pocket, right? Anyway, I tinkered with the magic a bit, so the bolt would only return to the sheath once you reached the Underworld. You get close to Hades…Bingo, you got mail. If you died along the way—no loss. I still had the weapon.”

“But why not just keep the master bolt for yourself? Why send it to Hades?”

Ares got a twitch in his jaw. For a moment, it was almost as if he were listening to another voice, deep inside his head. “Why didn't I…yeah...with that kind of fire-power…”

He held the trance for one second…two seconds…

You exchanged looks with Annabeth. It seemed for the first time, you were agreeing that he was acting strange.

Ares's face cleared. “I didn't want the trouble. Better to have you caught redhanded, holding the thing.”

“You're lying," Percy demanded. “Sending the bolt to the Underworld wasn't your idea, was it?”

“Of course it was!” Smoke drifted up from his sunglasses, as if they were about to catch fire.

“You didn't order the theft. Someone else sent a hero to steal the two items. Then, when Zeus sent you to hunt him down, you caught the thief. But you didn't turn him over to Zeus. Something convinced you to let him go. You kept the items until another hero could come along and complete the delivery. That thing in the pit is ordering you around.”

“I am the god of war! I take orders from no one! I don't have dreams!”

“Who said anything about dreams?”

A beat of silence.

“Let's get back to the problem at hand, kid. You're alive. I can't have you taking that bolt to Olympus. You just might get those hardheaded idiots to listen to you. So I've got to kill you. Nothing personal.”

He snapped his fingers. The sand exploded at his feet and out charged a wild boar, even larger and uglier than the one whose head hung above the door of cabin seven at Camp Half-Blood. The beast pawed the sand, glaring at Percy with beady eyes as it lowered its razor-sharp tusks and waited for the command to kill.

Your body shivered, from tiredness or anxiety you couldn’t tell. All you knew was any weapons were in your backpack, and there would not be enough time to turn and dig through for them before this thing charged.

Percy stepped into the surf. “Fight me yourself, Ares.”

The god laughed, but an edge tainted it, and you couldn’t place exactly what that edge was.

“You've only got one talent, kid, running away. You ran from the Chimera. You ran from the Underworld. You don't have what it takes.”

“Scared?”

“In your adolescent dreams." But his sunglasses were starting to melt from the heat of his eyes. “No direct involvement. Sorry, kid. You're not at my level.”

Annabeth said, “Percy, run!”

The giant boar charged.

You could do nothing but watch the boar that charged at Percy. He sidestepped swiftly, well-timed. His sword made a metallic slinnkkkk sound as it appeared and simultaneously cut off one of the boar’s horns. It screeched so loudly you jumped. The disorientated animal ran past you, narrowly avoiding standing on your toes, and straight into the sea.

Percy raised his hand and forceful waved it. “Wave!”

As if he’d commanded it, a wave did in fact raised high into the air, taking over the boar and sweeping it away.

Well. That was short-lived.

“Are you going to fight me now? Or are you gonna hide behind another animal?”

Ares's face was purple with rage. “Watch it, kid. I could turn you into—”

“A cockroach,” Percy suggested with a humoured tone. “Or a tapeworm. Yeah, I'm sure. That'd save you from getting your godly hide whipped, wouldn't it?”

Flames danced along the top of his glasses. “Oh, man, you are really asking to be smashed into a grease spot.”

“If I lose, turn me into anything you want. Take the bolt. If I win, the helm and the bolt are mine and you have to go away.”

Ares sneered.

He swung the baseball bat off his shoulder. “How would you like to get smashed: classic or modern?”

That's cool, dead boy," he said. "Classic it is." The baseball bat changed into a huge, two-handed sword. The hilt was a large silver skull with a ruby in its mouth.

“Percy,” Annabeth said. “Don't do this. He's a god.”

“He's a coward.”

She swallowed. “Wear this, at least. For luck.”

She took off her necklace, with her five years' worth of camp beads and the ring from her father, and tied it around his neck. You could feel your expression changing, flames licking in your chest.

“Reconciliation,” she said. “Athena and Poseidon together.”

Percy’s cheeks reddened. "Thanks."

“And take this,” Grover said. He handed your friend a flattened tin can that he'd probably been saving in his pocket for a thousand miles. You barely held in your snort. “The satyrs stand behind you.”

“Grover…I don't know what to say.”

Finally, Percy turned to you. Your hands were in your pockets, and you looked firmly at him. Those green eyes were determined, his cheeks still pink from Annabeth’s necklace hanging around his neck.

“Pack this in,” you murmured. “Just give in.”

His face hardened. “No. He’s not winning after all we’ve done.”

You stood face-to-face with him. His breath hit your mouth. Your eyes were level. Your heart was a butterfly flitting in your body.

You leaned in and kissed his cheek. His warm, soft cheek under your lips. Just as quick as you placed it there, you moved away, clasping your hands behind your back.

“Then,” you cleared your throat. “Good luck. Have fun.”

“Enjoy the, uh, show.”

“You guys done?” Ares sauntered over. “You finished saying your goodbyes? I’ve been fighting for eternity, kid. My strength is unlimited and I cannot die. What have you got?”

Quicker than you could blink, Ares’s double-sided sword created a slim line in the damp sand. You yelled, backing up. Eyes wide, heart thundering, you looked at where Percy had stood—

He wasn’t there.

You looked away, around, and found him in the sea, calf-deep. A grin tugged at the corner of your mouth. Ares swung again, and the sea pushed Percy into a flip over the god as the water hit Ares in the face. He spun his sword in his hand and laughed without humour.

“Not bad,” he nodded slowly, advancing. “Not bad.”

He slashed again and Percy was forced to jump onto dry land. He tried to sidestep, to get back to the water, but Ares seemed to know what he wanted. He outmaneuvered Percy, pressing so hard that he had to put all of his concentration on not getting sliced into pieces, his eyes viciously fighting to keep up with Ares’s movements. Percy kept backing away from the surf. He couldn't find any openings to attack. Ares’s sword had a reach several feet longer than Anaklusmos.

Sirens wailed, growing louder and louder. You turned to see. Cop cars were pulling up. “Percy!” You turned back to him. “Cops!”

This is it, you thought. We’re done for.

Percy looked at you, a panicked look in his eyes. Ares kicked him in the chest and sent him flying easily thirty feet away into a sand dune. The golden grains rained upon him, dusting his dark, dark hair like snow.

“There, officer!” somebody yelled. “See?!”

A gruff cop voice: “Looks like that kid on TV...what the hell?…”

“That guy's armed,” another cop said. “Call for backup.”

I rolled to one side as Ares's blade slashed the sand.

Percy sprinted for his sword, scooped it up, and launched a swipe at Ares's face, only to find it deflected again.

Ares seemed to know exactly what he was going to do the moment before he even attempted it.

Percy stepped back toward the surf, forcing him to follow.

“Admit it, kid,” Ares said. “You got no hope. I'm just toying with you.”

Percy stepped further back into the water, up to his knees. You stepped forward, frowning. His eyes were flickering everywhere. From Ares to the ground, ground to you, Annabeth to the cops, back to Ares.

Ares barely had to move. His sword swung down on Percy, slicing open his jacket and arm. Blood poured and pattered in to the sea.

“Drop the guns! Let them go now!” A megaphone called.

Guns? You couldn’t see guns. They had swords. So…what?

Ares barely turned. “This is a private matter! Be gone!”

He looked furious. He raised his hand and waved it—a wall of red flames blew up in front of the cop cars, sparking yells and sirens even more.

Ares laughed awfully. “Now, little hero. Shall we add you to the barbecue?”

They fought and fought. Percy was nearly to his shoulders in sea water, Ares barely to his thighs.

It wasn’t in Percy’s favor.

Until it was.

A wave of air like physical hands pushed you back to the sand. On your back, and winded, blinking at the brightening sky, you barely acknowledged the scream of fury Ares let our. Somehow, you heard it.

Annabeth was at your side. She helped you up, hand on your shoulder. The first time you’d even remotely worked together. Grove came to your other side.

You all watched as golden blood and blackness tainted the sea surrounding Ares.

“Did he…did he get him?” You asked, referring to Percy hitting Ares.

Annabeth hummed. “Looks like it,” she uttered faintly.

Things began to change.

It was as if a cloud covered the sun, but worse. Light faded. Sound and color drained away. A cold, heavy pres-ence passed over the beach, slowing time, dropping the temperature to freezing, and making me feel like life was hopeless, fighting was useless.

The darkness lifted.

The air changed.

You watched quietly.

Ares looked stunned.

Police cars were burning behind you. The crowd of spectators had fled. The three of you looked down, watching the water flood back around Ares's feet, his glowing golden ichor dissipating in the tide.

Ares lowered his sword.

“You have made an enemy, godling,” he told Percy lowly. “You have sealed your fate. Every time you raise your blade in battle, every time you hope for success, you will feel my curse. Beware, Perseus Jackson. Beware.”

His body began to glow.

“Percy!” Annabeth shouted. You flinched. “Don't watch!”

As if to protect you, too, knowing somehow you didn’t quite get what she meant, still trying to will air in your lungs, Annabeth turned you around, Grover grabbing you as the three of you practically huddled together.

The light died. The heat was gone. And things began to shift again, quickly.

The waves of blue rolled out.

The tide rolled out to reveal Hades's bronze helm of darkness. Percy knelt and lifted it from the sand, before standing and beginning to head back over to you.

But before he got to you, the flapping of leathery wings could be heard. Three evil-looking things with fiery whips drifted down from the sky and landed in front of Percy, cutting him off from you guys.

The middle Fury, the one who had been Mrs. Dodds, stepped forward. With her back to you, you had no clue what was going on.

“We saw the whole thing,” she hissed. “So…it truly was not you?”

Percy tossed her the helmet, which she caught in surprise.

“Return that to Lord Hades,” he said. “Tell him the truth. Tell him to call off the war.”

“Live well, Percy Jackson. Become a true hero. Because if you do not, if you ever come into my clutches again…”She cackled, savoring the idea. Then she and her sisters rose on their bats' wings, fluttered into the smoke-filled sky, and disappeared.

As if it was a normal ordeal, Percy walked to you, casually. You blinked, mouth agape. At your side, Grover was almost the same. More nervous and flirting.

“Percy…”Grover said. “That was so incredibly—”

“Terrifying,” said Annabeth.

“Cool!” Grover corrected.

“You almost gave me a heart attack!” You smacked his arm.

Percy didn’t say anything about that. “Did you guys feel that? Whatever it was?” He sounded exhausted. His shoulders slumped.

“Must’ve been the furies overhead,” said Grover.

“We have to get back to New York by tonight.”

“That’s impossible,” Annabeth shrugged. “Unless we—”

“Fly,” Percy finished.

You blinked wordlessly. “I’m sorry?”

“Fly, like, in an airplane, which you were warned never to do lest Zeus strike you out of the sky, and carrying a weapon that has more destructive power than a nuclear bomb?”

“Yeah,” Percy’s teeth chattered. “Pretty much exactly like that. Come on.”

—

Poor little Percy Jackson wasn't an international crimi-nal after all. He'd caused a commotion on that Greyhound bus in New Jersey trying to get away from his captor (and afterward, witnesses would even swear they had seen the leather-clad man on the bus—“Why didn't I remember him before?”). The crazy man had caused the explosion in the St. Louis Arch. After all, no kid could've done that. A concerned waitress in Denver had seen the man threatening his abductees outside her diner, gotten a friend to take a photo, and notified the police. Finally, brave Percy Jackson had stolen a gun from his captor in Los Angeles and battled him shotgun-to-rifle on the beach. Police had arrived just in time. But in the spectacular explosion, five police cars had been destroyed and the captor had fled. No fatalities had occurred. Percy Jackson and his three friends were safely in police custody.

The reporters fed you four this whole story. You just nodded and acted tearful and exhausted (which wasn't hard), and played victimized kids for the cameras.

Your dad would be in contact soon, you knew. He knew you were alive. And for once, you wouldn’t mind his nagging when you got home.

Percy had to do an interview for the cameras. “All I want,” He said, choking back his shiny tears, “is to see my loving stepfather again. Every time I saw him on TV, calling me a delinquent punk, I knew…somehow…we would be okay. And I know he'll want to reward each and every person in this beautiful city of Los Angeles with a free major appliance from his store. Here's the phone number.”

The police and reporters were so moved that they passed around the hat and raised money for three tickets on the next plane to New York.

Takeoff was the best part of a flight. It always had been for you. That feeling of being forced back in your seat, being weightless for a second as the plane evens out…

Percy didn’t quite think so.

“It’ll be fine,” you muttered, walking down the closed in walkway to the jet waiting for you. “You’ll be okay.”

He eyed you like you were crazy.

The seats were yourself and Percy by the window, Annabeth and Grover in the middle with two other adults. Percy didn’t let go of the armrests the entire duration of the flight.

You had a nap.

Percy woke you up, pale and shaking, when you were about to land.

At the airport, cameras waited with security and reporters. Annabeth lured them away with her invisibility hat before joining you at the baggage claim area.

The taxi rank was the hardest part.

The four of you spent days working together. You’d gotten into trouble, fought for food, and become stuck in a casino for days.

“Guys,” Percy breathed, looking at the ground. “We can’t all go. This is something I need to do on my own.”

You protested instantly. “WHAT?!”

“No way!” Annabeth exclaimed. “You’re not going on your own!”

But he got his way. The three of you took a cab back to Halfblood Hill. Percy waved you off gently.

All you could do was pray.

The sun was up and the sky brighter when you arrived back at camp. With your Lotus Casino card you paid for the taxi fare.

You all but ran in to camp.

The weather was summery and warm beyond the camp borderlines. Kids yelled and laughed down in the hill.

“Right,” Annabeth said. “Who’s explaining,” she asked as you sprinted down the hill towards the blue house. Outside, there Chiron stood, and it jarred you to realise this didn’t phase you now.

She did. After you practically began to yell, she took over. You thought you’d shy away from something unusual, but Chiron’s hand on your shoulder as you all listened to Annabeth, was a comfort. You weren’t alone or struggling out there, now. You were in a safe place. Camp was strange, but safe.

Annabeth explained all of your trip. Ten days you’d rushed and panicked and fought and thunk. And now, you sat together in the big blue house’s living room, smelling bad and munching on food. You hadn’t wanted to sit down like this, so opted for standing and leaning against the wall in the sunshine instead, eating potato chips. You nodded along absently as Annabeth talked.

When she finished—and most of the food was gone—Chiron sent she and Grover to clean up and rest.

“There is nothing we can do but wait for him,” he had reasoned softly. They’d begrudgingly agreed. “But I would like you to stay, please.” He looked at you. Even if he hadn’t, you’d have known who he meant.

You knew the inevitable was coming.

You didn’t move from leaning against the warm wall, staring out the window, unfocused, as he began.

“I don’t think I need to say that what you chose to do was a very immature thing to do.”

No, but you will anyway.

You hummed gently. Here, your brain was beginning to relax and tire.

“Why did you go with them?” He asked. Chiron stood on the other side of the table. You could just about see him in the window reflection.

Why did you?

You shrugged your shoulders. “I came here with Percy and I didn’t want to be left somewhere strange while he got to go out galavanting.”

“You knew only three were supposed to go—”

“Yeah,” you pushed off the wall, facing him. You laughed humourlessly. “And I still went. And I still came back. So your rule is shit—”

His face changed. “I won’t stand for disrespect or the blatant ignorance of ignoring rules—”

“Then sit—”

You were reprimanded for a further ten minutes. It was because he cared for you all, he said. Campers were important. You were young. And needed guidance. Here, he explained, there would be no running amok or playing up. You were twelve years old, and it was time to grow up.

—

You burned your burial shrouds that night. Annabeth’s was practically the same as yours, woven with grey silk and tiny owls for Athena.

You watched Annabeth and Percy talk opposite you. Grover ate a leaf at your side.

“Hey, Mary Jane.”

You looked up instantly, turning. The warmth of the fire traded to your left side as you did so, and came face-to-face with Travis Stoll, whose brown eyes shone in the firelight.

You smiled, and he laughed breathily.

“You just ran away,” he tilted his head, spoke a little quietly, like it was something sad. “You didn’t tell anyone. People thought you were definitely dead, not these.”

You thought back to Chiron’s words. Irresponsible.

You sighed through your nose. “It was tough stuff, but, uh…I just wanted to get out. I think I’ve realised now, though, that this is the safest place I can be.”

“Yeah,” Travis reached out for the silk on your wreath, and you watched him. He looked a little lost. “Probably is.”

His meaning hit you, like a thought popped in your head—out there, you could have 100% been killed. Here, there were no risks.

“Just glad you’re back safe, Mary,” he dove his knuckles into your hair and you yelled, leaning down and trying to back away. In the crowds of people, you backed into someone who exclaimed in annoyance.

Travis placed his hands on his hips to copy you, and you smiled, looking away.

“Good to see, dude. Can proudly say I’m not dead.”

The night consisted of singing around the campfire (which you sort of joined in on), you sat with Percy and Travis. Grover showed around his new badge. The council had called Grover's performance on the quest “Brave to the point of indigestion. Horns-and-whiskers above anything we have seen in the past.”

You’d shoved him and told him he was a loser. But he smiled. He knew you didn’t really mean it.

On the Fourth of July, the whole camp gathered at the beach for a fireworks display by cabin nine. Being Hephaestus's kids, they weren't going to settle for a few lame red-white-and-blue explosions. They'd anchored a barge offshore and loaded it with rockets the size of Patriot missiles. According to Annabeth, who'd seen the show before, the blasts would be sequenced so tightly they'd look like frames of animation across the sky. The finale was sup-posed to be a couple of hundred-foot-tall Spartan warriors who would crackle to life above the ocean, fight a battle, then explode into a million colors.

You floated between Annabeth and Percy, and a couple of kids from the Hermes cabin. Their humour was where you found a home.

August 31st came quickly.

You got your first bead and necklace. Pitch-black with a glowing green trident. Percy.

“Suits you,” Travis whispered at the fire that night.

When the camp applauded, and Travis raised you on his shoulders while you rolled your eyes, to join in on the applause, Annabeth was pushed forward by your siblings as well.

—

Dear______ Barbie Whatsaname_______ ,

If you intend to stay at Camp Half-Blood year-round, you must inform the Big House by noon today. If you do not announce your intentions, we will assume you have vacated your cabin or died a horrible death. Cleaning harpies will begin work at sundown. They will be authorized to eat any unregistered campers. All personal articles left behind will be incinerated in the lava pit.

Have a nice day!

Mr. D (Dionysus)

Camp Director, Olympian Council #12

You couldn’t help laughing. Clearly, he must have heard someone call you Bambie. But Barbie?! You shook your head, setting the paper down on your bed.

Cora still snored above you. You were tempted to shake the bed a bit and convince her there was an earthquake. She probably still wouldn’t wake up.

You got permission to leave camp and wander down the road for a telephone box.

Your dad was furious.

You got an ear load of shit.

He’d booked a one-way ticket to Australia.

The camp’s shuttle bus waited for you.

You dropped by Travis, first. He was a year-round camper, so you weren’t surprised to see him laying on his bed when you finally located him in the mess that was the Hermes cabin. You tiptoed around people’s belongings as they either packed or got ready for dinner.

You stopped next to his bed, and he grinned up at you with his arms behind his head.

“I’m leaving,” you told him. “Came to say bye.”

“You coming back? Camp isnt camp without you, Mary.”

You rolled your eyes and laughed under your breath. “Shut up. Maybe. I don’t know. Dad’s booked me a one-way ticket to Australia. I’ll give you his number. You better call now and then.”

“Without a phone?” His eyes shone with mischief. “How could I do that?”

Percy was in the training ring when you went to say goodbye. He was warming up with Luke.

“You off?” Luke asked, heading over. He’d thought you to fight during your first few days. You hummed. “Back next season?”

You shrugged lightly. “We’ll see. I don’t know yet.”

You turned to Percy, who worked up a light sweat. “You better be back,” he joked.

“Yeah, well,” you turned away, smiling. “Keep an eye out.”

You’d bid Annabeth goodbye. It was short, more of a ‘I might see you, but if I don’t, good luck with whatever you do’ sort of thing. At least you were cordial now.

One of the Aphrodite kids’ Gucci handbag was digging into your side as you sat on the window side of the bus. It was weird to be part of something to abnormal, just observing the world beyond the window that you’d once been a part of.

You stepped down off the bus. With only a small tote bag over your shoulder and your backpack of clothes from the Lotus Casino and camp, you walked into the airport.

You smiled to yourself, walking through the terminals.

Maybe you would be back next year.

We made it to the end of the first book! How are we feeling, guys? Any predictions for the next part? We start properly with Titans Curse for the next book.

Thank you all for reading!

The next chapter shouldn’t be too far behind.

Taglist:

@bl6o6dy @embersparklz @lilyevanswhore @rottenstyx @hawkeye12 @rory-cakes @i-am-scared-and-useless-bisexual @marshmallow12435 @luckydragontriumph @lantsovheiress @distinguishedmakerpandapatrol @bugsys-bubble @twsssmlmaa @gayandfairycore

#capsize #percy jackson #pjo #leo valdez #annabeth chase #heroes of olympus #trials of apollo #hoo #jason grace #nico di angelo #percy jackson x reader #pjo x reader #leo valdez x reader #pjo series #reader insert #fluff #angst

157 notes · View notes

gothicprep · 7 months

Text

so glad that AI video is here! sort of. kind of. you ever want to see a screensaver that looks like it was designed for windows 2000, where fish are flying through the air across village streets? sora can do that with one easy prompt! you ever wanna see a woman lying in bed, roll over, and watch her arm turn into the comforter? sora can do that too! it's amazing! do you ever want to see a POV of an ant's tunnel that looks like something worse than what you'd see on bbc's planet earth? sora can do that too!

i'm sure we've all seen these videos and many more at this point. the ai evangelists swear that this is a game-changing revolution in its ability to turn simple prompts into movie quality video. assuming that movie quality means a late-stage mcu movie, or madame web, or a direct to video dreamworks knockoff from the early 2000s. really? none of those things. it's not as good as any of those things. and yeah, yeah, i know, "it's going to improve", "this is the worst it's ever gonna look", "it's gonna get more realistic". but there are some who will tell you that this is the beginning of a brave new world. a whole new era! we've got a whole movement that's going to unlock creativity that's been untapped, trapped within people who have no actual talent but, um, some ideas i guess. there's a deep reservoir of those people who society has been wasting for all these years.

let's be real here. more likely, the AI is probably going to be used to much more boring ends than new great works of art when it's not being used for more nefarious ends. on the more boring side of things, you'll have people on the internet say "what if you had batman fight the straw hat pirates from one piece? that's something an ai could do!" fanfic kind of stuff. "what if goku fought superman? who would win? i'll bet ai can show us that!" another thing it can bring to life? sex tapes that you didn't make, but you're going to be starring in! get ready for the future where someone gets mad at you online, and five seconds later, you're in a bondage orgy! have fun at the bondage orgy! that's what ai promises :)

but that's not the worst of it, believe it or not. the real problem with ai is that it's going to give bad actors the ability to create international crises by ginning up phony videos. want to spark a riot in the urban center of a country you don't like? fake a video of a cop killing a kid. it'll go viral and the gas stations will be burning before the city can prove it didn't happen.

wife & i were watching the second season of tokyo vice last night while we were waiting for true detective: night country to come on, and in the premiere episode, there's a video of a sex worker being beaten to death while a gov't minister looks on. when presented with the video, he pulls the shaggy defense and just says "it wasn't me". the denial doesn't wash because the technology at the time couldn't have faked it, but in short order, we're going to be in a future where we won't be able to prove it was or wasn't him. "oh, it was ai". welp. no one will know.

the ability to circulate low-quality, unverified information has real downsides. and if anything, the decades during which i've grown up with the internet prompts me towards a lot more wariness of ai than unbridled enthusiasm. if the best case scenario for ai is what the internet did to the information environment already, we're all fucked. the speed with which things can spread and proliferate is frankly terrifying. the prompts people are using now are dumb, and the programming is not very good, but the ai evangelists are right when they say it's going to get better. and as it gets better, it's going to be more tempting to use it in ways which absolutely are negative for society. i'm sure there are cgi artists working at major studios who will be able to use these things in good ways, but i sit here and i hear people talk about "oh, the great wave of creativity is going to be unleashed by ai!" and i'm just like. what kind of future are you living in, where the technology always works out the way you want, and everyone is happy, and there are flying cars in the sky and rainbows?

#oppenheimer ending but he doesn't understand the ramifications of the nuke so he's just smiling

15 notes · View notes

8bitsupervillain · 3 months

Text

Higurashi When They Cry Hou Ch. 3 Tatarigoroshi pt. 14

blblblblb

I don't know what it says about me as a person, but I just find it so odd how quick to trust Keiichi is of literally everyone. The last time he saw Irie before the clinic just now was the time he was scoping out Satoko's home to see if her uncle really was an abusive creep. That particular exchange ended with Keiichi realizing he couldn't trust Irie due to his "there's nothing we can do for Satoko" stance. So I can only presume this sudden change in attitude is because of the fact the world seems to have turned itself on its head and is driving Keiichi faster and faster into madness.

Something I've noticed is the sheer number of times Keiichi has addressed himself in the narration of this chapter. Every few paragraphs he goes "hey Keiichi Maebara" and it's something he's only really done in this chapter. I don't remember him doing this in Onikakushi or Watanagashi. Or if he did, I don't remember him doing it to the degree he does in this one. Anyway, he goes back to the scene of body disposal and tries to dig up Teppei's body to confirm that he definitely one hundred percent for realsies killed him. When, wouldn't you know it, turning on the lantern he finds that a group of people are watching his incriminating deed.

I can't help but wonder if this is closer to Ooishi's true personality. With the way he acted in the prior chapters just being a cover for his true nature of being a more villainous corrupt figure. Ooishi in the first two chapters acted more kindly than the one here in chapter three, maybe the way Keiichi acted in their first interaction caused him to drop the relatively kind persona and be more actively aggressive with his handling of Keiichi.

The voice acting for this bit is funny. You have aggressive manly Keiichi, and equally aggro Ooishi who for some reason makes a dog barking noise when mentioning the story about the dog digging for gold.

Eventually you gotta accept responsibility Keiichi, you can't just keep blaming every Tom, Dick, and Harry who shows up in your life as being the harbinger of discontent who ruins your life utterly. You could keep going backward, if it weren't for Irie, if it weren't for Shion, the list goes on. Eventually you'll blame every person you ever crossed paths with as ruining your peaceful life. Then where will that leave you? Trying to blow up teenagers with your weird pink cat man?

But then, just like with the dead bodies of Takano and Mion from chapter two, the body of the man Keiichi killed seems to have wandered off. It's just rude is what it is, dead bodies not staying put when killed.

In the TIPS section we get this little interlude where Satoko states that the man who looks like her uncle clearly isn't him, and is in fact possessed by some sort of entity. It's an interesting inclusion, because this means that Satoko is aware that there is some sort of spirit or being interfering with her life and making it absolutely miserable for her. Which might just be a survival mechanism for the abuse she's going through, sort of like how Maria in Umineko views her mother Rosa's violent outbursts as her being possessed by an evil witch.

But remember, he's not going to become a cutthroat killer after the other day.

Not the worst euphemism for morning wood I've ever heard.

I'm torn between going with a Guinea Pig, Tomie, or The Prestige reference here. I'll leave it to you to decide which one's more appropriate. Probably Tomie since that series at least is a horror about violence caused by others and not just a splatter fest, or a movie about fighting magicians.

The fact these occur so closely to one another amuses me to no end.

The lazy theorizing is coming from within the visual novel! Which, yeah, I suppose it is entirely possible this entire episode Keiichi has been going through the past few in-game days could indeed be a coma dream. I've never once entertained the idea because of how lazy I find such analyses. The idea that the entirety of a given piece of media is happening inside someone's either comatose, or dying brain is such a lazy cop-out argument that I can feel my eyes glaze over whenever it gets trotted out. Final Fantasy VIII is not Squall's dying dream, the entirety of Spectre is not happening inside James Bonds recently lobotomized noggin, Far Cry 3 is not taking place in the main character's dying brain after he killed himself in a drug vision. One of the other reasons I never entertained the idea that this interpretation is correct is because there hasn't really been anything to support the notion that this is all in his comatose head.

So Keiichi arms himself with a hatchet to take care of Teppei Houjou once and for all, and this time he's going to chop him into bits regardless of witnesses, up to and including Satoko herselfe if that's what it takes!

#higurashi #higurashi when they cry #higurashi no naku koro ni #higurashi playthrough

7 notes · View notes

oluka · 1 year

Text

Invincible Iron Man #10: Tony Stark and Emma Frost get married! Or do they?

It's Iron Man week again! And here are my thoughts about it.

Sorry, but I needed everyone to see this slightly disturbing panel. It's way better in context, though.

Issue #10 starts by giving us an update on Rhodey! It was a pleasant surprise for me, because I thought he would be kept to the side during the wedding plot. But no! The issue does not follow chronological order, so I'll make a not so quick detour to explain the current situation: issue #9 ends with Emma arranging a meeting between Tony and Wilson Fisk. In issue #10, Tony asks Fisk for help, and gets it. Why? Because Fisk's wife, Typhoid Mary, is a mutant, and she was forced off-world along with like 99% of all mutants during Orchis' attack at the Hellfire Gala. The thing is, the ones who were left on Earth think that the others are dead. In addition to the mutants and humans who were actually killed by Orchis, that means there are very few mutants left, and they're all out for blood. Fisk is too, since he thinks his wife is dead. So he and Tony come to an agreement: Fisk protects Tony (and Rhodey), because Tony promised he will defeat Feilong. But, well. It's Fisk. It probably won't end well.

Back to the present: Tony's the Black King of the Hellfire Club (to Fisk's White King), is desperately trying to build a new and improved suit of armour while pretending to be drunk all day, and scheming to defeat Feilong. Rhodey is still in prison and he's still being targeted by other prisoners on Feilong's orders. This time, Feilong even arranges a phone call between Tony and Rhodey while Rhodey gets attacked.

That's not very nice. Tony gets understandably mad, runs up to Feilong, about to do something very stupid like punch him in the face, but Fisk stops Tony and reminds him of their arrangement. Turns out that Fisk hired Sandman and the Living Laser to protect Rhodey in prison.

We get this nice panel of Rhodey telling Tony to win:

Nice! Tony and his allies are all determined to turn the tide of the war around, and they're doing all they can to get there.

So, what does Tony need to win? He needs a stronger armour (the stealth suit isn't powerful enough to beat sentinels), and he needs information from Feilong's mind. Which is why killing Feilong isn't a great idea right now. Unfortunately, Emma Frost (disguised as Hazel Kendal) just stepped foot in the Hellfire Club, and dreams of only one thing, revenge. So when Tony tries to stop her, this happens:

Ouch! Emma drops her ring, ready to kill Feilong and damn the consequences, but Tony begs her to reconsider.

Which is the exact moment, of course, when Feilong steps inside the room. And sees Tony on his knees in front of Emma with a ring in his hand. I think you know where this is going.

There isn't much choice for Emma and Tony: they need to get the inhibitor ring back on her finger so that the sentinels don't find her. And in front of Feilong, the only way to do that is if they make it look like a proposal. It's a desperate play, and very much unplanned. When I heard the news about the Stark-Frost wedding, I thought it would be some kind of political move on their part. I was wrong. This is a lot funnier, though.

And there you have it! Context for the panel I showed you back at the start of the post, and a very fake wedding! Between Tony Stark and Hazel Kendal. But the issue isn't finished, far from it. Tony and Emma now have to pretend. A lot. And smile at the cameras. A lot.

Tony has a nice sleazy chat with Feilong:

Look at this! This is every bad thing Tony could say about himself in ONE conversation! First: he pretends that he was only iron man for the adulation. That he didn't care about saving people. Second: he pretends to be drinking again, because "an addict gotta addict" and "booze is tastier". And third: he pretends he married Hazel (his assistant) because she was a potential HR nightmare, playing into the idea that he's just a jerk taking advantage of her. In one fell swoop, he implies that he isn't a hero and doesn't care about anything other than money and getting the next high (from alcohol).

I love it when Tony leans into the wrong assumptions that people have about him, but this is a lot. Ouch.

It gives us some very funny panels, though:

I need more of their banter, please and thank you. Look at their big fake pained smiles. I love this.

They decide to get married THE DAY AFTER. In Las Vegas. Where they go on fake dates. And then have a torrid night... of going out to do secret illegal stuff.

Tony steals some tech things from Zeke Stane's secret lab (nice cameo, Duggan), which is why they went to Vegas in the first place. And then the day of the wedding is finally here. Behold!

A literal red wedding! I have to admit, I love how committed they are to their bit. They're going full evil mode. I can't help but think of Tony Stark in the first Iron Man movie, at the casino scene, wearing his red shirt and sunglasses, looking every bit the douchy self-centered billionaire. Which he was, at the time. And here, we have Tony pretending to be all that. Down to wearing sunglasses indoors. I don't know, I really like it.

Let me make a comment about what Tony writes here: that this is the first and last time that he'll ever be married, and that Emma will break his heart. About the first part: this can either mean that he and Emma will stay married, or that he doesn't think he'll ever marry someone. The autobiographical notes are interesting in that sometimes they tell us what Tony thought in the moment, and sometimes they give us potential hints about future events, like we've seen in this issue. Will Tony stay married to Emma afterwards? I don't think so, but you never know. But if this is Tony telling us that he won't ever marry someone, then it's interesting too. I tend to view Tony as somewhat of a hopeless romantic: he falls in love very easily, and half the time it's with a woman who is only there to deceive him, or who turns evil. Think Sunset Bain, Indries Moomji, Cassandra Gillespie, Kathy Dare, etc. The other half of the time, his relationship doesn't work out because of his superhero life conflicting with his personal life. The biggest example is with Rumiko Fujikawa, one of his longest relationships. He couldn't commit enough because of his secret identity. And when it was revealed, it got better between them, to the point that he was about to propose. He had a ring already! And then a villain killed Rumiko while wearing the Iron Man armour. She died in his arms!!!!!! It was extremely sad, and no subsequent writer at Marvel ever mentioned Rumiko again. Which is baffling to me. She was one of his longest relationships. He was ready to spend the rest of his life with her. And her death isn't even mentioned once in all the years since then??? It makes me so mad. In my opinion, this should have been treated as the traumatic event it was. And in my personal canon, this is one of the reasons why he hasn't really dated people who aren't superheroines, since. With the exception of Amara Perera, but that didn't last long. Because Tony faked his death. Anyways. The two recent relationships Tony has had are with Janet and Patsy, both heroines. And he proposed to Patsy. To me, Tony really wants to have a lasting relationship, but both external and internal factors hinder him. His life is dangerous, and his non-hero friends either turn into superheroes themselves or die, so he can't really safely date. He has few friends, and almost all of them are part of the hero community (I could make a whole post about how Marvel has put aside most of his support cast and reduced it to essentially only Rhodey, but this post is already way too long). Which means he almost only interacts with heroes. Duggan made that same comment in issue #3, I think. It's sad. Give Tony more friends! Or make him interact with his existing supporting cast! We've seen what happens otherwise: he gets shoehorned into a relationship with someone he doesn't even know (Patsy...). But. Back to the proposal: Tony is someone who wants stability in his love-life. He never gets it, not for long. And now, he's married. But it's all fake. And he knows it, he knows it's just an arrangement, but he also knows that he's going to fall for Emma, and that she won't reciprocate. And he's okay with that. Because it has happened so many times already, that he cares more about the person he is with than they do about him. It's quite tragic. And also a fun inversion of what he's supposed to be, aloof heartbreaker playboy. God, I love all the intricacies of Tony's masks and armours vs who he really is.

Back to the issue. Tony and Emma/Hazel marry each other! They break into Feilong's mind to steal his secrets! Tony watches Howard's message to him and momentarily forgets all about his childhood abuse! We get a reference to Iron Man 2! Boo.

"You were my greatest collaboration" is somehow worse than "you were my greatest creation". This is possibly the only thing that I didn't like about the issue, though, so it's okay. The issue ends with Emma and Tony going on their "honeymoon", which is probably code for "secret mission to find the mutant metal mysterium". I really hope that Tony will build a kick-ass armour with it. It apparently has anti-magical properties, too.

And that's the end of the issue reached! Finally! Two random thoughts to go: 1. Tony is surprisingly okay with killing Feilong here.

There is this interesting comment about killing, a bit earlier in the issue:

Tony usually doesn't take a life if he can't help it, but he has indeed killed before. I do think he wishes he didn't "have to", though. But clearly he doesn't care about keeping Feilong alive. Is it because of how heinous the things Feilong has done against mutants are? Is it because Tony has been dealt one blow after the other, each more personal than the last, and he's lost his cool? I'd be interested to hear anyone's thoughts.

2. We get a Tony and Emma cameo in Ms. Marvel: The New Mutant (2023) #2. It's a cute reunion where Tony saves Kamala from Orchis drones, and also makes a lot of bad married jokes. Some not very appropriate for the audience.

Kamala, just turn this into a fanfic. And try not to think about it too hard.

If you've read this far, give yourself a pat on the back. See you for the next Iron Man week!

#wednesday spoilers #tony stark #emma frost #Invincible Iron Man (2022)#iron man #oluka's comic thoughts #is my tentative tag. let's see if I keep doing this or not #long post #(extremely long. in my defence the comic issue is also bigger than normal)#as always: do tell me your thoughts! and reblogs are appreciated <3. i read every tag!

46 notes · View notes