#Affably Evil Asks

[affablyevilshowdown]

How did you like Felix. Since you like the affably evil villains. What’d you think of him

I AM SO OBSESSED!

He's just such a dick perfect! Everything from his act of being an ally/ to the montage of the red and blue teams failing to take him down/and the absolute gut punch reveal/ "kill her quick, we were friends after all"/his fatal flaw being that he talks too much/ his partnership with Locus means everything to me/ his one fear (ow)/ his death, another gut punch/ the series in the anthology "We're the good guys"/ His Partnership with Locus/ I'm not crying you're crying

And how he's more evil than Locus but less dangerous bc he talks too much! Idiot likes the sound of his own voice too much (butthenagainsodoi)

And the parallels!

"I'm not doing this for the mission, I'm not doing this for Hargrove, I'm doing this for me"/"I'm not doing this for the reward, I'm not doing this because someone told me to, I'm doing this for me"

It hurts (but in the narratively satisfying way I live for)

[maestro-of-clockwork]

Are there assumptions that people have made about you that aren't true?

Oh, certainly. Usually, they were based upon other versions of myself. I've spoken about it before - many iterations were so unapproachable, stern and unyielding. You can imagine my dismay when people began to assume the same of me.

Another assumption that stood out among the rest was one that accused me of despising creativity. How could anyone hate something so crucial to not only society, but to humanity as a whole?

Even disregarding its practical purposes, creativity enriches the very soil of culture. It makes the world a better, brighter place to explore...and a world without creativity would be a dismal one.

[grapecaseschoices]

I would love to know some facts about erkan yasar, only if u feel comfy sharing. (:

What can I say about Erkan Andrew Yasar.

He's a bitch. Stay away from him.

No seriously, I can't stand that asshole. Regularly try to kill him but they won't let me! [JK he's my good time cheese. No I do actually do try to kill him tho.]

Pfft, so Andy. I'm going with my most recent RP Andy canons. My original Andys have gone through a few fcs, various ages, different points of his life, and different genres. The main thing about Andy is always: Vengeance and Loyalty. Oh, and he is SUPER Catholic. Sooner or later God's gonna cut you down.

Okay, so Andy:

Andy was born to a very loving family. His parents were in love and they loved him very much. About when Andy was ten his parents went out and disappeared. [Where are they? I don't know. They probably died, eventually. I never thought that far, I just liked the drama of them being missing and no one finding them.]

Andy's life went through two more big moves: 1. After his parents died he stayed with his dad's sister -- and that wasn't ... the best. More or less she kicked him out. Because her new husband was a homophobe. 2. But it was best for everyone that he moved in with his mom's cousin Adrian.

Okay, I'm giving you his history and not FACTS, so below:

Andy is a former marine

He smokes and drinks like it is his job.

His actual job is florist [and bail recovery agent]. He used to work with his uncle who was an event coordinator, had a popular business. But his uncle died. [Do you sense a theme?]

He had some major in landscaping, I actually looked it up but I forgot the title. He does some charity work at times tho. The concept of home means a lot to Andy. So he is good to places that were good to him, to people who cared when they didn't have to.

Andy can schmooze, he can mingle. But he is actually a very private [and paranoid] person.

He is always impeccably dressed. I don't think he has worn anything other than suits in his life. At least not since he hit his late teens, anyway. He loves pastels, actually. And is often dressed in white or light colors. He isn't against patterns either. [You might find him in something like this.]

His apartment by contrast looks like someone barely lives in it. No effort. [TWC Andy apt is def Minimal lmao]

He is divorced. He prefers one night stands, when he bothers. You don't go home to his place. No attachments please.

His platonic relationships mean the world to him. He has no living family left that he knows of [and in his aunt's case, that he acknowledges], so all his loyalty goes to them.

He is loyal like a dog.

I personally put Andy as lawful evil, because he has a Code [also he's very Catholic. I said that right?] But a friend of mine tagged him as True Neutral, and I can see it. I like it.

Andy DOES in fact go to Church. ROFLMAO. I can't remember if I've said if he goes to confession. ahhhh. anyway.

Here is AG Andy's pinboard bc now I'm filled with nostalgia. tw for weapons, blood. Sad shit.

[theredofoctober]

RUMPLESTILTSKIN— An Oliver Quick/Reader Saltburn DarkFic

Pairing: Oliver Quick/You, Oliver Quick/Reader (no gender specified, terms like pretty are used though just to mention)

Synopsis: Oliver finds You, the awkward guest at his birthday party, and takes what his dark heart desires.

Trigger Warnings (PLEASE READ): noncon, blood play, Oliver just being evil

Fic under the cut, keep reading

"Who are you, then?"

It was the small man that said it, the one with the slurring Nothern accent and eyes like ice picks, palely sharp.

You'd seen him swaying on the outer edge of the party, seeming both drunk and far too sober, all at once.

His face was odd, flat, and sleek, like a trickster in a German folk story: thief of children, bringer of gold.

You hated the boy in a moment, drawing back from him against a trellis, your hands wrapped fast through the slats. His eyes made you wish you'd drunk rather less than you had done, silver as scissor blades in the swelling night.

"I'm one of Venetia's friends," you said, though you knew Felix more, and Farleigh rather better than you liked to. "You don't know me. Who are you?"

The boy stepped around a plant pot, his balance the measure of sobriety. He wore deer antlers with an open-chested white suit, embroidered with leaves, the dress of a more handsome man. Only the slopes of his cheekbones, the soft mouth were beautiful.

His eyes made an autopsy of you. There was nothing in them but wanting, a starving colour. An absence of it.

You would have turned to run, only there was nothing then to fly from that made sense.

"I'm Oliver," said the young man. "It's my birthday party. Felix's family arranged it all for me."

"Happy birthday," you said, at once, a reflex.

You wished that he'd go away, that he would edge into the maze like a shadow thrown by the sun, and meld with the dark of the leaves beyond. Anything but approach as he did then, his compact form eating of the air between you with carnivorous haste.

He was slight enough that you thought you might push him down or aside with little effort, but the poise of him, as delicate as a barber's blade, gave you pause. He'd cut you if you touched him, you thought. Something would happen, and you would run crying as you had from a dozen birthday celebrations as a child, unwanted.

He brought that old vulnerability up out of you, somehow, though he hadn't yet done much but broach the most innocent of smalltalk.

"How come you're over here, on your own?" asked Oliver, his head at a sympathetic incline. "You're too pretty for that. You know that, don't you?"

His voice was a sing-song croon, then, all silken menace. He was trying to charm you, you knew that, yet you saw as though through the beads of a brothel doorway the hunger in him, the appetite of worlds.

You glanced right and left, realising, with an awful start, how very drunk you were, swaying and stupid with it.

"I needed some fresh air," you said, with a high, braying laugh— Oliver half-smirked at the sound of it, knowing its falseness, knowing your fear. "All that bloody champagne went right to my head."

"You'll need someone to look after you, then," said Oliver, and then he uttered your name, making a baleful ditty of its syllables.

How had he known it? Had he known it all along?

You'd glimpsed him watching you, before, an empty glass in hand, attaching himself to your heels like a stoat after a rabbit, all lithe cunning on the hunt. Likely he'd heard your name then, as Felix had bent down to kiss your cheek, all affable golden looks. Heard it, and slipped it into the pocketbook of his mind to tear free, when it was needed.

Your name was pretty on Oliver's tongue, sugar, and ribbon, and stained glass, as apt to break. Happily you'd have taken the pieces and cast them all out into the riverbed, have gone nameless rather than hear him speak it again.

"You don't know anyone else here, do you?" asked Oliver, and there was the word again, no longer ribbon, but rough as a noose, strangling as he came closer still. "Just the Catton family. Something in common, me and you."

You lurched vaguely to the right, and Oliver's arm came up against the trellis, gently, a tender trap.

"You're lonely," he said. "Haven't you always been, though?"

His face was close enough for you to note the punctuation of a mole on his right cheek, the lines at his brow, the riddled literature of him. What he saw in yours was a portal to the past, all features from the nervous mouth to the twitching eyelids telling of a once bullied child, an outcast brought in through charity from the cold.

"Go away, Oliver," you said, bravely. "I want to be alone. I can't breathe."

That was true enough. You were stifled in your plastic wings and ill-fitting garments, sweating and airless, almost wanting to be sick.

Oliver drew his face nearer, and your throat closed to the breadth of a lock in your dread of him, of those ink spill eyes.

"I don't want you to breathe," he said. "Not right now."

Then he darned his lips to yours, their heat, their softness like the death of summer blooms, and you pressed back into the trellis so hard that you thought the wood might break, so brittle did it seem.

You brought up your hands to battle his shoulders, only for them to be joined with his, your fingers tangling, a torsion of slick skin and bone.

There were no thoughts that survived the cruelty of Oliver's embrace, the insistence of his compact strength, the length of tongue, of arousal under clothing, at your thigh. You wanted to snap free of him like a spell, but he kissed you until your fight withdrew in sight of its fair winner.

No one came close enough to see you, or if they did they thought you drunken lovers, poised to consummate your pash against the fence.

At last Oliver moved back his head, the reflection of the night's obsidian in his mortuary eyes.

"Let me go," you whispered. "I don't want to do this. I don't want you."

"Well, I want you, though," said Oliver, with an authority that frightened you in its unshifting weight. "And since nobody else here does, what's the point in saying no?"

His hands, little and wicked, wore their way under clammy layers of clothes. In all the heat they were almost cold, dragging from you a series of ragged gasps that were lost in the revelling darkness.

You wished the wings at your back were feathered, those of swans; they'd have broken the bones in his arm and you out of this, far lovelier a transportation than the sticky taxi that would bear you home in the hours to come.

Yet had such pretty things hung from your back this beast named Oliver would have bitten them off and flossed their quills through his teeth, you knew it.

He touched you until his findings were of stolen treasure, watching your every tendon solidify to strands of stone through the art of such fell grief.

"You weren't what I came looking for tonight, you know," he said. "But you're mine, anyway."

You didn't answer, imagined any word drowned like a cat in the depths of him.

Oliver stepped into you with a dancing softness and kissed you again, sucking a plum welt into your lower lip, breaking it between his teeth to blood. Again you struck your hands against him, but Oliver, with liquid instinct, pushed your arms back through the apertures in the trellis, caring little for the splinters in your wrists, if at all.

Crucifixion could not be so painful, so martyring as your capture beneath him.

"Oliver," you said, and he smiled.

"That's me. The birthday boy. And what does the birthday boy get?"

He opened your costume with the hook of four fingers, touched the bruised rose of princely lips to your ear.

His breath was smoke, and champagne, and stolen blood.

"I get what I want," he said, and then his cock was an arrow at the heart of your waiting horror, his slight hips a harp played against you, moving in the strum of entry, into the gold he made of your pain.

You screamed, and the sound was devoured by the bacchanal night. Oliver took you slowly, with patient intelligence, feeling each trembling agony of your body and twisting it, by sorcery, into something else. His eyes were a witch's orbs through which he knew you, psychic, solipsistic—

You were ivy about the wand of him, a thing that would poison the man, were he not immune to its effects. He fucked you as though he thought it romantic, somehow, this violence in a friend's pungent garden, the scent of flowers and trodden grass and arousal a perfume to woo.

There was blood on both of your faces, on his bare chest, under the blazer. It frightened you, suddenly, a tarot spread of death in the summer night—

Your panic, the heaviness of lingering champagne, the attack like Zeus upon a swan; all of it made you limp, in Oliver's grip.

He paused in his taking of you to hold you upright, studying your face under the Midas yellow of a nearby lamp.

"Stand up straight for me, now," he said. "And look at me. Look at me."

He tapped your cheek— not a slap, far too soft for that, as though the concern in the vicious gossamer in his voice was real.

"You want me to make you feel good about yourself. Need me. Don't you?"

"No," you said, but as Oliver kissed you again, and a firework shrieked somewhere against your eardrum, you lost what temporary power you'd had to resist him.

Like a spindled sleeper you endured his lovemaking, swallowed his tongue like a precious key. Your body was a pulse in deep water, stirred by hands and cock into a dripping arc.

Oliver moaned against your tattered lips, his arms about you in embrace. The heat of him would follow you, afterwards, the haunting of his lust's smoke from dream to dream.

He moved away from you, aided you in pulling your arms back through the trellis. For a moment he tried to hold you, his murmuring at your hair, its comfort indistinct.

Then, as you ripped him from you like the segment of a rotten apple he wiped himself clean of your blood; the rag he used was something torn from your garments in the fury of his love, a token of it. A thread from the maze.

You sat down in the grass and stared up at Oliver, seeking some answer. Assistance from the breaker of will.

"Go home," he said, at last. "Felix doesn't want you. And now—"

Oliver shook his head, and the peat fire of his eyes was of the underworld, then, of sapphire death gone to ash.

"I don't want you either. Not anymore."

Then he turned from you, and walked away, towards the house, his fey shape a shadow puppet on the wall.

[animentality]

Gortash is such a smiley lovestruck idiot at his own coronation when Durge shows up and I have to wonder. Is it because he’s just so happy to see them again after not realising what he had until it was gone that all bets are off and, pretence be damned, he’s not wasting a minute of this second chance pretending Durge doesn’t make him the happiest evil bastard alive? Or did he ever let himself be a smiley lovestruck idiot around Durge before losing them too? Like do you think there was ever a moment before Durge went missing where Gortash was holding their face close to his and trying to kiss them but he couldn’t because he just could not stop smiling like dumbass over how genuinely in love happy this freak of nature Bhaalspawn has him. Did Durge ever have to try and process this — to look back at this guy giving them the dopiest grin and have to try and understand that it’s for them? Because of them? They, the Dark Urge, scion of Bhaal, prince of murder, are the one making Enver Gortash smile like a fool? Making someone not miserable, but happy? Or, oh god, did Gortash ever reduce Durge to a smiley lovestruck idiot themself?? Both of them, having to pause in the middle of making out to just cling to each other and laugh (or god forbid, giggle) because they BOTH can’t stop smiling? These two crazy evil fucks both genuinely giving each other nerves and butterflies and joy? Like we know they made each other insane but how much of it showed on their faces? Just how embarrassing was this relationship?????

ANON, your message had me giggling and kicking up my feet.

I think Gortash is naturally affable and warm, but to the Dark Urge specifically, he is being HONESTLY affectionate. We know he swept Jannath off her feet and was disgusting with Franc Peartree, but he would've been absolutely vile with the Dark Urge.

I would like to imagine these two laughably evil bitches being gross and soft with one another, but I don't know. They were definitely rough fucking in the alley, but were they ever sweet?

Did they ever use pet names or giggle or be silly?

I sort of lean towards no...but I can imagine them quietly, in a dignified, solemn manner, hugging each other close.

Not daring to speak aloud that which is forbidden, but they know it, they keep it between themselves anyway.

Hmmmm...

But.

But you know...

The way he greets you isn't an act. He seems to not know if you do have your memories, so I think he just acts like that towards you normally. Which means maybe he and the Dark Urge WERE very touchy feely and nasty in public.

But there is a lot of potential in the idea that maybe he did know you probably had lost your memories.

And he was relieved, because he's getting his love back, but even better, they can start over.

He can be warmer with them than he ever was before. He can present this as the norm.

He's so happy to see you because it's been too long, because he didn't know what he had until he lost you, and he needs you to know how much you mattered to him, but he's also just, so exhilarated, by the idea of a fresh start.

Hence, calling you a sight for sore eyes.

Calling you his favorite assassin.

Calling you brilliant and a genius.

Saying you'll be good for each other.

Being like an inch off from seizing you into a hug or fucking you.

It's just- ARGH.

Your entire ask rattled in my brain and I had to stare at it for a bit. Sorry for the delay.

[gayuu-the-necromancer]

Chapter 5

Grave Secret

WARNING: The following story contains mentions of some gruesome stuff.

Man with long black hair: "Welcome back! My dear cursed ones!"

I entered a spacious dining room with trepidation, and the 'Grim Reaper' greeted us with crackers.

(Cursed ones....?)

Man with long black hair: ".....and, this young lady is....?"

(This man is the 'Grim Reaper'....?)

I am a little confused by his affable frank attitude.

His jewel-like eyes and long lustrous black hair reminded me of a starry night sky.

William: "Her name is Kate. She happened to be at the target's mansion."

Man with long black hair: "Wow. That's a.....fateful coincidence."

William: "Kate, this is Victor. He is an aide to her Majesty the Queen."

(Her Majesty's aide!?)

I was about to show my courtesy, but Sir Victor with his one hand restrained me and smiled.

Victor: "Good evening, Miss Kate. If you are brought here, then I assume.....you must have witnessed everything."

Kate: "....Yes, Sir Victor. You're right."

(I can't believe this amazing person is in charge of all of this....who are these people anyway?)

The fear that remains sticky on my body is increasing and I feel as if I am about to cry.

(I don't want to be killed without understanding the situation)

(But what should I do....?)

My head was so tense that I could not even break out in a cold sweat, and my mind went numb and blank.

Victor: "....If you happened to be there, then you must have been terribly confused, not knowing what was going on."

Kate: "....? Y-Yes......"

(Yes....that's right. Anyway, I need to figure out what is going on and stay calm....)

My thoughts, on the verge of panic, clung to Sir Victor's sympathetic words.

Kate: "May I be so presumptuous as to ask you a few questions.....?"

Victor: "You're so polite little robin. Go ahead, ask me whatever you want."

Kate: "What did I see at that mansion? What is the Crown? What did you mean by 'Cursed ones'?"

Man that looks like a cat: "Oh that, sorry we didn't explain anything beforehand. You must have been worried."

Man that looks like a cat: "The Crown and the 'Cursed ones' is all of us."

Aloof man: "...Hey, Liam!"

Man that looks like a cat: "The 'cursed ones' are those who are cursed from the moment they come into this world."

Kate: "Cursed human?"

Man that looks like a cat: "Yes. We are born to commit crimes and destined to face a tragic end."

(You mean all of these people here are....?)

Man that looks like a cat: "The cursed ones have been born all over the world since time immemorial...and have sinned and died as they were meant to."

Man that looks like a cat: "For example, a cat with a curse is unable to suppress its curiosity, and in the end, they are doomed to be 'killed by curiosity."

Man that looks like a cat: "....Well, that's me."

Kate: "Killed by curiosity...what do you mean by that?"

Man that looks like a cat: "For example, records show that the last cat 'cursed one'...."

Man that looks like a cat: "He has committed arson, robbery, self-mutilation, adultery, and all manner of evil acts. Just to satisfy his curiosity."

Man that looks like a cat: "Even though he was abandoned by his family and loved ones and tortured and had his limbs torn off, he cried and laughed."

Man that looks like a cat: "Saying 'I've never seen anything like this before' in his final moments, he jumped into a bath of sulfuric acid and dissolved to death laughing hysterically."

He told us the gruesome story of his 'tragic end' as he called it, with a look of amusement in his eyes.

Man with a gun: "Various fairy tales are said to have been created based on the existence of these 'cursed ones'."

Man with a gun: "Nowadays, the cause and effect relationship is reversed and it's called the fairy tale curse."

(Fairy tales, curses....such stories)

Man with a gun: "Still can't believe it? You just saw it yourself."

Kate: "Eh....?"

Man with a gun: "The cursed ones have abilities that normal people do not have."

Best man: "Hey, that's a confidential story..."

(Unusual abilities)

Suddenly, what happened to me just a few moments ago comes back to me.

----FLASHBACK----

Man with red eyes: "Come here, poor little robin."

(No way...! Why can't I stop!? Stop!!)

----FLASHBACK ENDS-----

At that time my body moved against my will, as if manipulated by Master William's words.

(No way...that was?)

When I involuntarily turn my gaze to Master William, he gently relaxes his eyes as if in affirmation.

William: "My curse is a Self-righteous King."

William: "It's my ability to make people do what I tell them to do."

(Such a magical story that makes them do what you tell them to do....)

Though my rational mind reflexively tried to deny it, my body, which was actually manipulated by him appealed to me intensely.

Their story is unmistakably true.

Then I noticed one more thing.

(The dead man in the mansion)

I remember the look of anguish on his face when took his own life.

(I thought it was too...unnatural for him to have committed suicide like that)

(Maybe he was....)

(Did Master William order him to chop his own head....?)

Kate: "....!"

I turned away from him hastily as the dreaded hypothesis flashed through my mind.

William: "The cursed ones are usually treated as criminals or lunatics."

William: "The United Kingdom is the only country in the world today that has such a risk factor under national control and organized."

Kate: "Nationally controlled and...organised....?"

William: "Yeah."

William: "An Imperial Organisation under the direct control of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, composed entirely of 'cursed ones"

William: "That's what we are. The Crown."

William: "From clandestine surveillance to assassinations, we take on shadow jobs, so to speak, that cannot be handled by the police or the military."

(No such....and then there's that murder scene from today)

(It was an assassination mission carried out by order of her Majesty the Queen....?)

Victor: "The Crown's mission is to 'Conquer evil with evil' for the prosperity of the United Kingdom."

Victor: "....Well, as a matter of fact, 'cursed ones' that they are free to carry out their own evil."

Victor: "That's the most important thing for me."

(A group of assassins for the state, conquering evil with evil.... I)

(I've learned a terrible secret)

I should have taken stock of the situation in order to remain calm, but I was struck by further fear and stood dumbfounded.

Aloof man: "Yep. It's a bigger deal than you think."

Aloof man: "So...what are we going to do with her, Victor? Now that she has learned our secret."

Victor: "Hmm....you're right...."

Tall young man: "Do you want me to kill her?"

(Eh....?)

The worse option suddenly surfaces and I turn around in panic.

Tall young man: "She doesn't seem to be happy at all. Don't worry, I'll do it necessary."

(Huh...HUH!?)

Sweat broke out from my forehead and I looked at the faces of others.

Everyone looked calm and no one's complexion changed...

I understood undeniably that taking one person's life is a daily routine for them.

Victor: "Hmm, you're right...."

(I have to convince them somehow....!)

(If the reason why they want to kill me is because I know their secret then....!)

Kate: "I swear I will never tell anyone else what I just heard!"

Victor: "Hmmm....Eh? What?"

Kate: "I'll keep this matter confidential. As postmen, we're trained to maintain absolute confidentiality."

Victor and William: "..........."

(I guess they are still not convinced....)

Kate: "If you still don't trust me, then how about this. You can keep an eye on me until you can fully trust me. I will definitely prove it."

(So please don't kill me)

I looked at Sir Victor, with a tearful face.

Victor: "I get it! Great idea!! Accepted!"

Kate: "Huh?"

Victor: "From this day onwards, you are the Crown's exclusive 'Fairy Tale Master."

Chapter 6 - Exclusive Contract

[jihnari]

zhongchi - the ship that’s ruining my life

disclaimers: 

ship what u want. i cannot stop you. i do not care. be free. 

this post is an OPINION and you DO NOT HAVE TO AGREE. if reading about why i dislike zhongchi is going to upset you, maybe give this a pass 

i do not dislike childe OR zhongli. i just think their ship is silly. 

if you are a zhongchi shipper and you choose to read this anyway, this is not written as a personal attack. i said "zhongchi 😒" one too many times and a non-genshin friend said "why do you hate that ship so much" and then i wrote a manifesto 

ive never been involved in real fandom drama and idk how it goes but i would like to remain ignorant and free, pls do not attack me over this i am small and nervous and do not mean any harm 

part 0: the ship 

"who are they and why does this ship exist?" you might ask, if you've never played genshin. on the surface, this is a simple question with a simple answer. the two characters for this ship are in the same place at the same time and their stories overlap heavily. childe is the big bad of zhongli's story arc. (not that zhongli fights him; you, the player character, fights childe.) so they potentially have enemies to lovers, and they are actually friends before some truths come to light and it's revealed they're on "different sides". childe also pays for things for both you (the player character) and zhongli, which people read as caring. [1]

childe/zhongli is the most popular genshin ship on ao3. there are currently 132,000 works on ao3 for genshin impact and 12,735 of those have the ship tag childe/zhongli. that's only 10% of the all existing works, but the second largest ship tag has only 6,600 works, which is half as many. 

relevant as an influencing factor is another popular ship early on in genshin's inception. that other ship was the first two hot male characters to have tension and an overlapping storyline, but they turn out to be "related" and a large part of the fandom collectively dropped them like a hot potato. but these fans were already in the fandom, already playing genshin, and they needed someone to ship. so they collectively jumped over to the SECOND set of two hot male characters with perceived tension and an overlapping storyline, i.e. zhongli and childe. the story containing zhongli and childe is 1) permanent canon content and 2) presented relatively early to the player, so zhongchi as a ship is more accessible than other popular ships that don't show up for 50+ hours [2] of gameplay.

furthermore, neither childe or zhongli have many meaningful interactions with other characters, and both characters were very popular upon launch. their initial popularity caused an epidemic, and a subsequent over-saturation of the ship on ao3. [3]

part 1: the characters

zhongli is a retired ex-god who faked his own death so he could have a break and go play at being human in the most mundane way possible. he's spiritually and emotionally an old man. he watches operas and drinks tea, has very expensive taste but no money, and works the front desk at a funeral parlor. he's thousands of years old and not entirely human (more on that later). [4]

childe is in his 20s and an affable general in the evil army. at 14 childe fell through a hole into genshin hell and lived there for a few months and emerged Changed. he can also turn into a demon now, just as a fun side note. upon getting him back, his parents found him to be a very scary menace and they quickly enrolled him in the military. he is the youngest ever person to be made general in the evil army, but this is less due to him being driven by ambition and more being a violent gremlin who couldn't be controlled and who beat up everyone in his path. 

in his spare time, childe gets into unwinnable fights and pushes himself to the limit just so he can feel something. he's utilitarian, having grown up poor, and when you ask about his least favorite food he tells you that being picky about food is a bad thing and you should cut that out. he "has money" but it's not his money, it's his government's money. the budget for his evil task is very, very high, and he uses it for mission things though he tends to be pretty loose about what that includes. his mission budget shouldn't matter, but will unfortunately come up later. 

childe is diametrically opposed to zhongli and zhongli's city; or he WOULD be but childe is too friendly and zhongli secretly has a deal with childe's boss, paying them to do the evil thing so he can retire in peace. this is a slight betrayal to childe but when it comes to light he isnt upset at zhongli, he's upset at his coworker for being the literal worst. childe is still seen around fantasy china after he tries to destroy it with a meteor[5], and only the townspeople seem to have any hard feelings. zhongli and childe are not canonically depicted as having any hard feelings. 

part 2: "making it work"

past the superficial reasons listed in part 0, zhongchi makes no sense to me as a pairing. zhongli is a boring old man and childe barely seems to consider people anything more than NPCs unless they end up having fighting prowess, in which case he tries to fight them and then (if they don't die) considers them friends. 

childe is dynamic, always striving to be better, stronger, faster[6]; childe is an adrenaline addict. zhongli is static and intends to stay that way. 

the characters have undergone some personality changes to make them fit together better. 

zhongli is part dragon(?) so people give him an obsession for pretty things and a massive possessive streak. since he's "broke", childe becomes a sugar daddy type in many works. zhongli is also almost exclusively on top in sexual situations, because duh, old, powerful dragon. [7]

childe couldn't possibly be in a position of power when he's with a older, more powerful male, so he becomes very submissive and swoon-y and teenage girl. the betrayal hurt him *ever* so deeply and he may never emotionally recover. he canonically has a family whom he loves, so people come down on that hard and say he's a real family man and he wants to have a family of his own and obviously he wants to settle down with zhongli and have zhongli's babies. 

:|

part 3: losing sight of canon

the further this ship goes, the further we stray from god. [8] 

childe is now super rich and loves paying for other people's things, especially zhongli's (forgetting that the money he has was in fact part of his mission budget). the tag "battlesexual childe" is a sortable tag on ao3, but the zhongchi part of genshin has all but forgotten childe likes to fight. zhongli is now possessive to a borderline abusive degree, and childe likes being tied down (metaphorically) to his dragon husband (did i mention they're frequently and casually married? this is the erasermic[9] of genshin). 

another side effect of being auto-married by the fandom is that it pushes the domesticity angle of zhongchi. you know, zhongli, an ex GOD OF WAR who COMMITTED GENOCIDE and a childe, a dude so obsessed with fighting that his own family couldnt handle him and shipped him off to the military at 14. them. domestic. what drugs are you on [10]

part 4: dragons 

hey. why did so many people have to latch onto the dragon thing? on a personal note, i do not understand the appeal but have no room to judge. on a cultural note, zhongchi is DOING IT WRONG. 

in canon, zhongli's "dragon form" is based off of chinese dragons[11]. which makes sense, since the place he's from, liyue, is modeled after china. genshin impact is created by mihoyo, a chinese company. 

what im saying is a chinese company writing a chinese game with a character from fantasy china would NOT make this character a western dragon. 

western dragons breathe fire, are very aggressive, collect hoards of gold, and are often depicted as greedy and possessive. eastern dragons not only look different, they're associated with water (rain) rather than fire, they're cultural symbols of prosperity and good luck, and they FOSTER HARMONY. i have exclusively seen zhongli's "dragon personality traits" modeled after western dragons, not eastern ones. like. yeah. i get it. the dragons the english half of the fandom is familiar with are western dragons. maybe they don't even know how eastern, and specifically chinese dragons, are different. but that doesnt make them any less INCORRECT. 

and hey! seeing dragon eggpreg content makes me want to die[12]. there’s so much. i wish there was less much. this also further encourages the feminization of childe which is :\ must we keep returning the gender norms to fictional romantic relationships

part 5: the ripple effect

the zhongchi version of childe has escaped containment[13]. im unhappy about it. i always know it when i see it because childe is an insatiable uwu bottom who would rather have sex than have a street fight. 

because this ship is so hellaciously popular, other childe ships are relatively rare[14]. anywhere you go, if someone is a fan of zhongli or childe, they probably also ship it. i never want to see another piece of zhongchi fanart again and yet, i soldier on. this is my curse. this is my burden. for childe, i must persevere. 

in conclusion,

i dont have a conclusion actually i just hate zhongchi, thanks for coming to my ted talk 

[1] those people are incorrect. 

[2] i didnt look up this number even a little bit, but i feel in my heart that it is accurate. 

[3] "only 10%? and you're calling it an epidemic?" yes. yes i am. "don't you think thats a little harsh?" you haven't seen what ive seen. you haven't suffered what ive suffered. 

[4] sorry i know the childe section is like four times as long but i just don’t about zhongli like i do childe. 

[5] yes i know it wasnt a meteor but this was written to be read fandom blind and ff7 altered my brain chemistry. 

[6] Daft Punk, "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger", 2001

[7] there are, of course, bottom!zhongli works. the name for this ship is "chili" (dont get me started on the top/bottom dynamic wars within the same pairing, we'll be here all day and i will scream until i pass out). it's more difficult to use ao3 numbers to prove my point here, as i find the tagging of top/bottom dynamics on ao3 to be inconsistent. instead, i will use statistics on zerochan.net. at the time of writing, zerochan has 1,765 images tagged with "zhongchi" and 228 images tagged with "chili". (so, ~90% of the childe/zhongli ship on zerochan is marked as zhongchi, i.e. top!zhongli and bottom!childe.) should i be using only a single data point to definitively say that zhongchi is exponentially more popular than chili? no, i should not; that's what we call bad science. but it illustrates the skew in the dynamics and the clear fandom preference, and this is a rant post not a scientific study. 

[8] to some degree, inaccurate fanonizations involving popular characters in a large fandom is inevitable. i understand this. i do not accept this. 

[9] erasermic (aizawa shouta/yamada hizashi) is a popular fandom auto-married ship from boku no hero academia. im not a fan of erasermic either but at least it's existence hasn't left a permanent stain on the characterizations of either character. 

[10] ok so maybe zhongli could do the domesticity thing given that he's working that mundane human angle, though it would take some effort and learning and guidance. but childe? a house husband? lol. lmao. 

[11] to be specific, he's half-dragon half-qilin but everyone seems to forget the qilin part. this isn't unreasonable, given that my experience is with the english speaking part of the genshin fandom, and qilin isnt really a thing that shows up in english media. one time i was watching a cdrama with a friend and the subtitles said "he has a dragon tattoo!" and she started YELLING and we had to pause the show because it wasnt a gd dragon it was a QILIN and they are VERY DIFFERENT THINGs, and then i got a whole rant about how even a unicorn would be a closer translation than dragon and i had to look up qilin's on wiki to follow along with the rant. and thats how i know what a qilin is. 

[12] i have a visceral cringe reaction to dragons now, thanks zhongchi. from my favorite beanie baby being scorch to this, how far i have fallen 

[13] im sure the same is true for this fanon version of zhongli but i havent bothered to verify.

[14] @ chilumi shippers: ur cool, i like u, i also like ur art it's cute <3 but your fanfiction is not for me u_u 

[daylander1000]

Will you watch season 2 of HotD or you've lost interest in the show? I wasn't thrilled with season 1, but I do like some characters and I'm curious to see if they'll do them any justice in the next season(s). I'm still trying to be optimistic (which is definitely against my nature 😁), although the latest leaks from Spain (which I desperately hope to be false) doesn't sound promising.

Idk it you read Fire & Blood, but that book is often overrated imho, almost all the characters there are painfully one-dimensional, shallow and bland, while the plot is full of illogical things (especially the Dance part) . So, as you can see, I'm not the biggest book fan, and I do believe that the show did some things better and gave a bit of depth and complexity to certain characters and fleshed them out. However, at the same time it seems to me that they didn't complete what they started, like, you see the potential of the characters and understand their motivations, but then out of the blue they do or say something totally nonsensical and OOC. Take Alicent at the end of episode 8. Rhaenyra says something nice to her and she suddenly forgives everything and forgets that's the same woman who wanted to "sharply question" Aemond after her son Luke maimed him over an insult (a fact, actually), the woman her husband always favoured at the expense of Alicent's own children and finally, the woman who is married to Daemon, the sociopath who hates Alicent and her children and who will kill anyone (and apparently with Rhaenyra and Viserys' blessing) without remorse if it benefits him and his side. I mean, the guy even had the gall to look annoyed during the prayer for Vaemond. Still, according to the show, Alicent somehow needs to "misunderstand" Viserys' last words to crown her own son, and not because it's probably the only way to keep her and her children alive and safe and because her son actually has the strongest claim to the throne according to Westerosi laws avd tradition. And don't get me started on the Velaryons who are collectively depicted as "Dae and Rhae fan club". Like, what is Corlys even thinking?! I won't ask about Baela and Rhaena because they obviously don't get to think and are just unconditionally supportive of Rhaenyra and the Strong boys. Rhaenys is contradictory and inconsistent. It's frustrating, really. Also, the fact that the narrative/the framing of the show heavily favours team black is also off-putting. Nevertheless, I'm still curious and just a bit hopeful that season 2 will balance these things a little. Maybe I'll just be terribly disappointed, but oh well. Sorry for the rant :D

Anyway, as a fan of your fic, I would like to know your opinion. Does the show deserve our optimism and what are your predictions regarding season 2?

S2 predictions? 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Why would you ask me this? This is a show where someone in a professional HBO writers room said, "So what if a dragon just bursts up from the underground?" And the showrunner was like "Fuck yeah!"

I don't think they even thought to do a camera pan of the carnage. It's like they wanted to make Rhaenys look badass but did a Koolaid Man scene instead.

Tell me that this isn't Rhaenys

Predictions? This is not Leftovers where you could do a whole video essay on foreshadowing and subtext and hidden clues. This is a series where there's a horse running loose in a writer's room and nobody knows what it's going to write next.

This is the most bizarre thing I've ever seen.

My prediction for S2 is that during the time off at least one person realizes that they failed to make Aegon into Joff 2.0, that instead of having him be affably evil, he's onscreen affable and offscreen evil, and they'll try to double down on actually showing that he's evil and actually showing that he's worse than Daemon and Rhaenyra.

We've seen Daemon in brothels, grooming and marrying children, killing Rhea, killing innocent people and murdering lords at court, but we've only been told (by very minor characters) that Aegon is a baby-eating rape monster. It's all extremely "tacked-on."

I think Aegon's the biggest problem that they have to work on. Just getting at least this one character to make sense moving forward.

When Jahaerys is killed, I think they'll use that to really commit to making him the bad guy. Like he'll have to be killing a baby or raping someone or eating someone so that it's not Rhaenyra and Daemon killing a child but "Look at what this bad man was doing instead of protecting his son."

As far as predictions go, that's all I can see. If they only develop one character in S2, it needs to be him. Rhaenyra has Rockstar!Daemon, Rhaenys and Corlys on her side, so they'll have to upscale the green threat otherwise it's a bunch of grown people and veteran soldiers fighting two children who have no experience at anything because the oldest one is a 20-year-old frat boy and his brother is still a teenager. Aegon's going to have to really be villainous.

I feel like there's a reason all his nude scenes are with his mother, it's one of the few consistent things between them through the time skips and actor changes, and I feel like they're going to go fully 500% in that Commodus direction

and have him just be creepy and rapey with her in a "bad incest," how-the-turntables, "be careful what you wish for" way. Alicent's defining trait seems to be "perpetual victim," so I feel like they'll go this way and frame it as if she's getting what she deserves for slapping him around. Ten extra points if they have Rhaenyra or Rhaenys there on hand to be like "Is this your king?"

I don't see them doing anything with Rhaena besides sending her away, and I actively don't want to see Baela going out there getting her dragon killed and her face burnt off in defense of Rhaenyra.

I honestly try to not think about s2 of this.

I was a hardcore asoiaf fan but I didn't like Feast or Dance. I read Dunk and Egg, but he didn't finish that either. And when F&B came out, I got the audiobook and I listened to it for a few hours, probably less than five, and I couldn't concentrate because I kept thinking "Did this bitch seriously package his story notes as a novel for sale??? This is an insult to storytelling."

And I deleted it.

It's the quality for one thing. It's the lack of diversity, it's the author not finishing anything, it's the fandom being 20% fantasy fans, 80% trump rally...

Like, in just 10 episodes HotD has managed to give a voice to pro-rape feminists. Didn't even know that was a thing until I saw it on Twitter.

I saw some of the leaked pics of Helaena at the funeral on my feed, didn't have to scroll far to see people just casually r-wording Helaena and acting like having six fingers is a killing offense since eugenics rhetoric is apparently thriving in this fandom.

And on top of all that, the story doesn't even make sense.

I don't want to be like "dramaturgically speaking" but narrative coherence is a thing. Just from bing chat (yes, I'm using bing 😣):

Narrative coherence is the degree to which a story makes sense. Coherent stories are internally consistent, with sufficient detail, strong characters, and free of significant surprises. The ability to assess coherence is learned and improves with experience. Individuals assess a story's adherence by comparing it with similar stories. The ultimate test of narrative sense is whether the characters act reliably. If figures show continuity throughout their thoughts, motives, and actions, acceptance increases. However, characters behaving uncharacteristically destroy acceptance.

This show has curb-stomped narrative coherence.

Like, take that scene where they killed Vaemond. The way they write it, Rhaenyra has come back after 6 years of never visiting her father to drag him off his deathbed so he can support her in taking Driftmark, the seat of house Velaryon, away from Velaryon people to give it to her son by Harwin Strong. Vaemond is killed for telling the truth.

With different lighting and music, that's peak tyranny. That's some Mad King Aerys shit. In full view of all the lords at court. Every single person in that courtroom is aware that Luke is a bastard and they've just witnessed a lord like themselves get beheaded over it. This isn't Daemon killing commoners. He's killing the lords and ladies of Westeros.

But there's no fallout. Nothing. All the lords of Westeros cease to matter. It's just another Tuesday to them.

Hell, they go even further and frame the scene like Viserys is Old Theoden fighting off the curse of Wormtongue. Otto, Alicent and her goblin children all but shrivel and wither from the sunlight that Rhaenyra brings as Vaemond is cut down by noble Daemon. In that scene, Dark Sister might as well be Andúril, Flame of Old Valyria, sword of justice.

There are shows that are easy to watch that we say are "no brain cells required," but HotD is like, "No brain cells allowed. Switch them off or put them on silent so you don't disturb anyone."

I have no hope for season 2. I would never rec this to anyone or say that I think the writing will improve. The foundation is shit. You can't build a strong s2 on a shit s1 unless you're writing a procedural or an anthology where nothing that comes before matters.

You can't undo things like Alicent supporting Aegon as king because of a misunderstanding. There's a limit to how many things you can retcon without destroying all sense of continuity and they've already gone beyond that in s1.

They're past plot holes. They have whole parts of the world that are just void of all thought. Alicent and Rhaenys are characters who respawn and disintegrate from scene to scene as needed. Corlys is three lines of dialogue in a trenchcoat. Daemon Targaryen is somehow, impossibly, a less-developed Damon Salvatore.

No optimism here.

I'm that jaded ex fan who's like, "hotd is a barren wasteland, riddled with racists, ableists and toxic stans, and those are just the writers. The very fandom air you breathe is a poisonous fume. Not with ten-thousand Lindelof-level writers could they fix this shit."

But that being said, I have a really bad habit of watching shit TV.

I've seen Catwoman more than 5 times.

Waterworld, Jonah Hex, Elektra, Daredevil (Ben Affleck and Colin Farrell), Battlefield Earth, Supernova. At least 8 of the Fast movies. All the Transformers. Dracula 2000. All the old school classics of bad cinema.

I haven't watched Morbius as yet and the only reason why is because I feel like Jared Leto is intentionally trying to become Nicholas Cage and I don't want to support that.

There is something about the cringe that hooks me. And with a TV series? That weekly cringe? That is peak entertainment.

It used to take me 4 sometimes 5 hours to watch and digest a single episode of Titans because there were so many questions to think about.

I hyperfixate on bad writing. Trying to figure out all the ways it went wrong and why and what they were trying to do. Once I start, I can't stop thinking about it. I'm hoping swhhw gets it out of my system, but I don't know.

Like, anybody can make good TV. Anybody can do that if you try hard enough. But truly horrible TV isn't supposed to exist. It's like 20 million an episode to make HotD? Nobody is supposed to invest that in a show where the showrunner doesn't even know how old the characters are. Bad TV shows are supposed to be snuffed out before they see the light of day.

But HotD is something special.

You don't accidentally end up with a Koolaid Dragon busting up through concrete. A director described that scene to a VFX crew. The actors had to rehearse that repeatedly. They had to do a read-through...

Like, just think about that.

And then they announce that they're going ahead with s2 without writers?!

That is insane. Part of me says look away, and the other part of me says that s2 of HotD will be something the likes of which I'll never see again.

I really don't want to watch S2, but honestly, I might. Not because I think it will be better but because I'm dead certain it can only get worse.

[classicanalyzer]

Tales of the Empire Thoughts and Reflection

Morgan Elsbeth - The Vengeful Nightsister

The Path of Fear

"It appears your path is set, Morgan Elsebeth. I pity you, for I can see what is to come." Mountain Clan Matron

The origins of Morgan's darkness begin with a tragedy. Her Nightsister tribe (whether that be a part of the same group as Talzin's or another Nightsister group is unclear) is massacred including her mother Selena (Voiced by Morgan's actress, Diana Lee Inosanto, who also voices the older Morgan in the next two shorts). You can really feel Morgan's anxiety and fear kick into overdrive as she saw her people and her own mother die to the onslaught of the droids.

General Grievous is terrifying as hell here. This is the CIS General who strikes fear into the Republic, Jedi, and the unlucky souls who have to contend with him. Likewise, there is no humor from the usually humorous and affably evil Droid mooks as we see them ruthlessly carry out the genocide of the Nightsisters.

The Mountain Clan gives me the vibes that they're Light Side-aligned witches. On that note, it's great to see other Dathomir witch clans since in Legends there were more witch clans than just the Nightsisters. However on that note, when Morgan goes on a hunting trip with Nali, the Mountain Clan Matron's daughter, they hide from a patrolling droid gunship. She then incites fear into her about the patrolling droids, even asking her if she can stand to see he mother die.

Morgan did want to protect the Mountain Clan from the Droids perceiving their unwillingness to prepare for the worst as cowardice. However, in doing so, she with three witches (one of whom is the Matron's daughter) got caught by a patroling droid gunship. But instead of getting the untrained witches to safety, Morgan went straight to destroy the droids who killed her family while leaving the witches to be killed.

The ending of the short ends Morgan alone with the fires of her fear giving way to destruction. Fear can cause a person to do things that end up harming those around them, even if the fear is out of a genuine desire to protect others. I don't think she was fully lost yet, but she clearly let the fear consume her after that.

"Fear is the path to the Dark Side. Fear leads to anger." Yoda

The Path of Anger

"Why do you seek Imperial favor?" Thrawn.

"Revenge. Years ago, my people were all but destroyed. Our culture, our beliefs, are fading into memory. Yes, I seek power to ensure my future, to destroy my enemies. My anger gives me strength, and it is that strength that I offer the Empire." Morgan Elsbeth

"Offer accepted."

We open on Coruscant with 4 Venators and an Imperial ISD. It is revealed that Morgan is the designer of the infamous TIE Defender which makes her indirectly responsible for the events of Rebels S3-S4. Of course, the Imperials, particularly Moff Isdain, she presented it to are more interested in Corvus' resources, Morgan's disappointment and worries are felt with her facial expressions... until a familiar Captain is curious about her project.

Captain Pellaeon is disappointed to hear Morgan's response is the standard "Glory to the Empire" statement. Mogan is forced to return to Corvus with an angry crowd of people who worked hard and made her Magistrate, surrendered their freedoms, and trusted her to bring work and prosperity to them. It didn't help when Morgan referred to them from a backwater world and negatively looked down on them.

As night falls, with the angry crowd, Morgan remarks how "ungrateful" they're being and how they're not her people. This shows how Morgan is projecting the loss of her people on the people of Coruvs. However, she didn't take the time to be with the community as she views herself outside of it. She doesn't have long to think about this as she's ambushed by Rukh. The townspeople including Wing who have no love of Morgon now don't even bother to send the guard to help. With some quick thinking and skills, she was able to disarm and hold the assassin at her mercy. Pellaeon then revealed himself and stated how this was a part of a larger test.

With that, Admiral Thrawn (it feels so weird not seeing him in his GA outfit) enters the scene with his theme playing. As Thrawn acts more like his novel counterpart by discussing the Empire's shortcomings by focusing on self-interest and petty infighting over the growing threat of the rebellion. With that, he asks Morgon why she wants to join the Empire. She reveals that she wants revenge for her people being wiped out. It gives me the feeling that she wants to burn down the galaxy at this point, a feeling which is more true in the next short. As Thrawn gives her three of his ISDs, Wind solemnly notes that the Imperial occupation is not good news.

The ending of the short reveals how Morgon wanted to be in a community but she can't bring herself to truly be a part of it. Which is why she ended up rejected as people can't see her as one of their own since she chooses not to be a part of the community.

"Anger leads to hate." Yoda

The Path of Hate

"Be brave. No matter how dark things get." Nadura

"I can't." Wing

"You can. Help will come...... but you must be ready to do your part. Even if it is small. You can make a difference." Nadura

The dawn of the NR has come as Nadura, a former laborer, came back to her home for Corvus to become a NR planet. However, she discovers the town has only gotten worse and more oppressed by Morgan. She assures Wing that people can change and perhaps Morgan too. However, the truth couldn't have been farther. As Morgan talks about a vision she has and rejects any offers by Nadura (even thinking she's an ungrateful laborer despite Nadura pointing out the harsh conditions and "fair wages"), at that point despite Wing and Nadura pleading for a peaceful resolution, Morgon chose violence.

Even after killing the NR guards and Nadura, she had her soldiers burn down the forest almost out of spite (Nadura had pleaded with her to not burn everything around her... only for us to get the chilling statement of how her world has been burning since Dathomir). However, a ray of hope arrives when Wing is assured help is on the way by Nadura and he needs to be ready to help whatever he can. This really got to me as I was invested in Wing's growth, especially when we see him in Mando S2 helping to free the prisoners and alerting Djarin about the droid. He was able to live up to Nadura's hopes.

In the end, the cycle repeats itself. It's depressing and tragic to see how the sympathetic victim becomes the victimizer monster. In Morgan's quest to see her destiny fulfilled, she became just like the cyborg General who killed her people. The short ends with a seemingly downer note as Morgan destroys the communicator (Bo-Katan on the other side). However, there was a brief moment of Ahsoka's leitmotif used, a sign of what's to come in Mandalorian S2 The Jedi, where Ahsoka overthrows Morga and Wing plays his part, even if it is small.

Reflecting upon Morgan's character, her arc, and character remind me a lot of FF16's Barnabas Tharmr, both wanted a sense of belonging and were willing to do anything, even die for that. Morgan's revenge seems to be her wanting to burn the galaxy for allowing the massacre to happen. While we don't have a suffering short, the Ahsoka finale is the suffering of one of Yoda's famous lines.

"Hate leads to suffering." Yoda

Barriss Offee - The Conflicted Jedi

Devoted

"Brothers, sisters enter. Enter. Now it is time you meet your new Master. Long Live the Empire!" Grand Inquisitor

Operation Knightfall has come... and Barriss Offee can only witness the fires of the Jedi Temple in her prison cell. Even after betraying the Jedi, she didn't want to see them perish (her reason for her actions in the first place was to protest the Jedi's involvement in the war). Of course, it doesn't take long for the Inquisitorius to take an interest. As Barriss recognizes Lyn, she discovers the narrative that the Jedi tried to "assassinate" Palpatine. Under threat of being killed if she refuses, Barriss takes Lyn's offer of an opportunity.

At Nur (I prefer Fallen Order's Nur over Kenobi's Nur but this show made Kenobi Nur look good), Barriss reunites with two Jedi, Ahmar (HE'S VOICED BY HUNTER?!) and Dante (VOICED BY ROWAN FREEMAKER?!), as we get the Grand Inquisitor (Jason Issacs is back!) recapping them of the galaxy's changes (Republic to Empire) and encourages them to prove themselves to join their ranks... discouraging them of trying to leave. Interestingly, Barriss acts the most Jedi-like (meditating while waiting) while Dante (is too scared of leaving) and Ahmar (who correctly sees that the Empire is no better than the Jedi) act un-Jedi-like. As Barriss tries to dissuade Ahmar from leaving, he scoffs (he notably asked why she wasn't in prison when they first reunited) why they should listen to her as it implies he might've been disgusted by what she did.

As Dante's opinions are validated with Ahmar's bloodied gem tossed, Barriss is taken to be tested by the Grand Inquisitor. What's really ironic is that the Grand Inquisitor became disillusioned by the Order because of Barriss' speech, and now he's giving her a crash course in truly embracing the Dark Side. You can see Barriss slow reluctance to give in to her anger but as the "fight" goes on, she becomes more aggressive and gives in to the Dark Side. With the Grand Inquisitor casually dodging her moves and encouraging her to stop "fighting like a Jedi", this results in Barriss hitting his shoulder armor... but he was still able to disarm her. As the blood drips from Barriss nose, she finally uses the Force to attack the Grand Inquisitor and with blood dripping from him, he regards her as ready for the final test.

The final test is of course... a fight to the death or else both will die. Even despite tapping into the Dark Side, Barriss doesn't want to fight... but Dante consumed by his fear decides to go for the kill. Barriss fights defensively throughout until she decides to save her life by Force-Chocking Dante. This of course is how she framed Ahsoka for murder and you can tell how shocked of what she just did as she's given her own Inqusistiro mask and greeted as a sister by Lyn.

The final scene shows Barriss, Lyn, Marrok, and even the Inquisitor from TotJ's episode Resolve meeting their new master: Darth Vader. The irony does not need to be stated. As Barriss puts on the helmet, truly accepting her role as a Jedi hunting Inquisitor. Her devotion is now with the Inquisitorius. We see the journey of someone who went from accusing the Order of promoting violence and warmongering to now joining an order of hunters who will reap violence (which she will discover).

Side Note: The Clone Shock Troopers and the proto-Purge Troopers are some of the most asshole Clones I've seen.

"Long Live the Empire." Barriss Offee

Realization

"The Jedi are a threat to be eradicated wherever they are found." Lyn Rakish

"Then you have one Jedi left to deal with." Barriss Offee

Barriss and Lyn are sent on a mission to deal with a Jedi supposedly located there. Barriss rightfully questions how they can trust the intel with Lyn's blindly believing she shouldn't question orders from the Grand Inquisitor. Throughout the entire episode, we see Barriss truly believe in the Imperial propaganda that they were bringing peace and prosperity to the galaxy. However, she sees the shantytown and ruins of a world where a rebel cell operated, and she's shocked about why the Empire would allow this to happen. Lyn coldly gives no empathy to the people as they rebelled against the Empire.

Eventually, they reach the town square where we see a major difference between the two former Jedi. Lyn aggressively threatens the townsfolk about revealing the Jedi and spews out Imperial propaganda about the Jedi which only gets her nothing from their elder. However, Barriss notices a child who seem to know where the Jedi is. Barriss' approach is calmly approaching the child, even taking off her helmet to nicely ask. Unsurprisingly, Barriss' approach worked out as the child gave the Jedi's location. This shows how despite being an Inquisitor, Barriss believes the Inquisitorius is a better version of the Order. However because the Governor lied about no Jedi being there, Lyn killed all of the people in the square. I think this might be one of the most violent moments in SW animation as we see several civilians killed on-screen. Thankfully, Barriss was able to spare the child as she encouraged them to not look back... that child is going to have so many trust issues when they grow up.

We get to know more about Lyn's thought process as it's clear she believes fear will bring a projection of strength (something which comes back to haunt her in the next short). It doesn't take long for the two to find the Jedi. The Jedi managed to knock out Lyn and we get a really cool duel between Barriss and the Jedi. Barriss tries to sympathize with the Jedi about being abandoned and left alone to join a new community. This convinces the Jedi to surrender after sympathizing with being alone and tired of running. However, Lyn then nearly kills the Jedi despite them surrendering. This was the last straw as Lyn dismissed Barriss' point of their surrender and that was when Barriss finally returned to the Light, as she Force pushed her former friend off the cliff. Symbolically, Barriss then drops her Inquisitor helmet off the cliff. She then begins to heal the Jedi as she proclaims they're not alone.

Side Note: The Jedi (They/them pronouns) is also voiced by a Queer VA, Ry Chase (goes by any all pronouns) which is amazing representation to see. I'm also so happy they aren't killed.

"I won't let you die. You're not alone." Barriss Offee

The Way Out

"I forgive you." Barriss Offee

"I don't want your forgiveness. I want you to show me the way out." Lyn Rakish

"You know the way out. You just have to accept it, Lyn."

"Stop calling me that."

"But that is who you are."

"There is no way out, is there?"

"That's what the Empire wants you to think."

"I am gonna get you out of here."

As a family with their Force-sensitive child makes their way to find help, they can meet with The Healer, otherwise known as Barriss. She has once again reconnected with her Jedi roots and embraced it. It's even highly implied she reconciled with Ahsoka which is the most heartwarming thing to know happened. However, Lyn has found them all (ironically she wasn't even searching for Barriss).

As Lyn is now sunken low to hunt children, Barriss notes how fear has become Lyn's master and not her ally as Barriss like the Grand Inquisitor dodged every strike.

In many ways, Lyn getting lost in the cave reflects how fear consumes and blinds you. As you let fear dictate your life, you cannot find the way out. But when you let go of fear, the way out is quite clear, the family and the attendants were able to easily get out of the cave as a result.

As Lyn becomes more afraid and fearful when her trapped state is apparent. We see the true Lyn, someone scared of failure, and the organization she serves. Lyn's mental breakdown reflects how just like in the first episode, fear can let you hurt people you weren't intending to hurt... as she stabs Barriss in her blind rage. However, Barriss's compassion despite everything she did was enough to finally break through to Lyn's heart, and like Reva, she abandoned her weapon to hopefully help Barriss. However, whatever Barriss lives or dies isn't important what is important is she helps her friend find the light.

Upon reflection, the Lyn represents Barriss' idealism being twisted by the Inquisitorius. Barriss and Lyn thought this new order would be better than the Jedi. However, while Barriss sticks to her Jedi's beliefs (she ended up in jail for protesting the Jedi's involvement in the war but still believed in its values), Lyn for a long time embraced the violence and heartlessness of the Inquisitorius. It's little wonder why Barriss wanted to do everything she could to help her.

Despite the darkness in these two shorts, there is always a light at the end of the tunnel.

Happy May the Fourth!

[volturialice]

🥺 and 😈 and ☕️ tell meeeeeeee

🥺 what’s a truly underrated book/series you recommend and wish the whole world would read?

I already mentioned a few here, but I also think more people should read little oddities Follow Me to Ground by Sue Rainsford and Prosper's Demon by K.J. Parker

and not actually underrated but no one I know is talking about it and I wish they would: Our Share of Night/Nuestra parte de noche by Mariana Enriquez

😈 who’s your favorite villain/antagonist? are they special to you like a protagonist is?

Other than the ones mentioned here, I also love the "antagonist who truly genuinely thinks they're the hero" types like God/John Gaius from the Locked Tomb and the Gentleman from Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. I guess the pattern here is I love affably evil™ men with no self-awareness and horribly maladjusted women who knowingly and gleefully take out their issues on the innocent (I'm bisexual)

☕️ drop a HOT unpopular opinion about a book/character. be savage.

suldrun my beloved fellow Night C!rcus hater (I don't even need to tell you about that one) <33

[ok disclaimer that I wrote this at like 1 AM so it's even more savage than usual and if I flambéed anyone's fave to a scorched crisp then remember it's just MY OPINIOOOONNNNN]

some other books that make me feel like the only one brave enough to point out that The Emperor Is Naked:

Already mentioned The Cruel Pr!nce and The House in the Cerule@n Sea, but I also disliked Lone W0men, the N!nth House books (first one was ok but whaaaat even was book 2), and anything I've picked up by Sarah G@iley (has cool ideas and cannot execute them even a little bit.)

A Study in Dr0wning. don't get me wrong I love Ava Reid's prose but christ on a cracker that was a drag. I suspect many of the people who rave about it were just so calibrated to expect bad/mediocre prose in their YA that encountering decent writing bowled them over

Daughter of the Moon G0ddess is a hot mess that IMO only got all that buzz because these clowns out here don't watch xianxia and so mistook it for having a shred of originality when actually it's a frankenstein's monster of scenes from Princess Agents and Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms + 16 megapopular genre tropes in a trench coat. don't get me wrong there's nothing wrong with being tropey and unoriginal but you have to be like, good at storytelling then

my other unpopular opinion is that everyone needs to stop trying to make me read The Song of Ach!lles. fetch is not going to happen, it could be the best-written book in the world and I would still loathe every word. I hate that fictional man so much I keep 16 heel-destroying weapons on my person at all times. I think everyone who wants to rec me specifically TSOA should be forced to sit through minimum 3 different performances of euripides' The Trojan Women before they're allowed to mention it in my presence

send me bookish asks 📚

[affablyevilshowdown]

god your bracketing is so good may i ask for your hand in marriage

lol I'm glad you appreciate my sense of humor

I had so much fun making the brackets, but every five minutes the anxiety came in saying just randomize them

[superloves4]

The Flame we Held (Fëanor son of Melkor AU) - Chapter 2

Relationships: Melkor/Mairon, Melkor & Fëanor, Mairon & Fëanor, Fëanor/Nerdanel Summary: Miriel made a deal with Melkor, she'd be able to bear children but in return the dark lord asked for her firstborn. When he gets imprisoned she believes herself to be free of her promise but Melkor shall claim his prize. TW: no major tag besides the kidnapping A/N: Still some angst, we'll get the softer part next time!

Masterlist and on Ao3

Melkor never thought back to that deal, in fact he might’ve forgotten all about it had it not been for the present situation.

His anger had simmered for every year spent trapped in Mandos, he had things to do, kingdoms to conquer, orcs to rule, Mairon to return to, he couldn’t stay trapped for all three ages, he had thrown plans at his metaphorical wall but none could be used, as long as he was chained none were achievable. Well, at least he could trust his brother to keep his promises, he knew some of the others would be pleased to keep him trapped there forever, if not even happier to throw him to the Void, but dear, affable, awful Manwë, wouldn't let them do as such.

So he turned inwards, that was what Manwë had hoped for him, something about how if he simply spent more time thinking about his evils he’d realize how wrong he’d been or whatever, but Melkor was firmly set on using his time to plan for his release instead. He would destroy everything his brother had created.

He searched in himself for some insight but for years he had nothing to show besides disappointment.

Nàmo’s halls were deathly boring, he could perhaps sense a few dead elves, it honestly offended him that there were so few he was certain he’d gotten rid of more, alas.

Flames.

Small, but even when they flickered, Melkor knew they were strong.

Those flames would survive the storm. But what storm?

Melkor was highly curious about the flames, where did they come from? How had he felt them so long after his imprisonment? There was something binding him to those flames, he could feel their call, but when he tried to reach out the flames seemed ever further away. He couldn’t simply will his chains into letting him pursue the flames, however, the chains felt lighter that day.

Flames, getting higher, enveloping him.

Some days, Melkor wondered if Eru had changed his mind, if he had decided to grant what he’d desired for so long, it didn’t feel the same as the Flames Imperishable but somehow something about the flames felt familiar, like a song he’d heard once. But that was impossible, he’d Sung this world into existence, no Song was beyond his memory. He could move around.

The flames were everywhere, they burned all they found and sung for him as they moved, waiting for him.

Then they were gone. And so were his chains.

Melkor could not believe his luck, it had taken him a moment to realize what was happening after that first time he perceived the flames, they were, after all, unlike anything he’d ever felt before and he’d never been much familiar with elven fëa but when he found himself moving freely he realized.

He had a debt to collect.

Eru was fair, Melkor had asked for a price and now he was to pursue his deal.

“I don’t feel him anymore”

Manwë stared at Nàmo in horror, they had always know his brother was strong but not even he should have been able to break free of not only his chains but of Mandos itself without notice. That was the type of power only Ilùvatar could bestow.

But why? Why would Ilùvatar free Melkor?

For once Manwë felt blind, he couldn’t understand what the All-Father wanted of him, was he to let Melkor run to whatever terrible deed he would pursue now? But the All-Father would not have let Melkor leave for dark purpose, it did not make sense.

“Send Oromë in pursuit, I do not trust him”

Nàmo stared at him for an uncomfortably long time, his blank visage made Manwë look away but eventually he did bow and left.

Manwë could only hope he’d done the right thing.

No, Melkor did not barge into the castle of Tirion, he had bigger plans than that, he had a brother to repay! He went first to the darkness, to where even the other pathetic Valar would not go and the Hunter would be left with nothing to follow, to Ungoliant.

He promised her the lights of the Valar but that was not enough for the treacherous spider and he had to then promise all the jewelry he could find, it bothered him to submit to her request, he was Melkor, the greatest of the Valar, but Ungoliant was different, only she could drive the revenge he wished for, who cared for a few trinkets after that, he could bear his wounded pride. Oh, how would his brother hate him for it, he felt… giddy, at the thought, and while they were all too busy crying the trees he’d take what was his.

He watched with pleasure as the spider did her job, but didn’t stay for long, it wouldn’t do well to stay, he didn’t think he’d be granted a second escape if he let this opportunity pass. So to Tirion he finally went, hiding until the world went dark.

He saw the one who now was the elven queen, her loving smile to his prize and the terrible realization when the light she’d grown used to, disappeared.

“Well met, oh, queen broidress”

He laughed and the woman held the child to her chest, backed away from him until all she was left was to hide in the corner, clutching his prize away from his vision.

“Please, please,” she begged in tears “Don’t take him from me”

“Oh, my,” Melkor walked around “The children sure are bold now, to try and go back on a promise.”

“The deal is null,” she tried to argue and Melkor shot her a dark look “I can no longer have children, Fëanàro is the only child I shall ever have, it is not what you promised”

Melkor shrugged “That is not my doing,” it truly wasn’t, there was no reason the foolish woman could not have any children after his blessing “I kept my part of our agreement, is the queen of the Noldor less trustworthy than I?”

She shook her head, looking at the child as she sobbed, her voice shaking she made a last plea.

“He’s all I have”

Melkor looked at her.

“In music, our words are binding”

On Ungoliant’s back, Melkor stared at the snow storm ahead of him, place the sleeping child inside his robes and remembered the vision he had in Mandos. The child would survive the storm.

[horriblemanprotagonistshowdown]

Horrible Man Protagonist Showdown!

Oh boy, I can't seem to be stopped, can I?

Hey howdy, folks! Your favorite pollrunner is back again with a fresh new competition for you! Does your favorite piece of media just have the worst main character ever? Do you stand for their cause, whatever it may be, but just hate them with every fiber of your being? Maybe it's how they go about their mission, or maybe they're just not a very nice person to be around. Well, this is the competition for you!

Hi, I'm Hermann (pronouns are they/them, please!), the mod of @clash-of-the-wizards and @nichesexymanbloodbath (which, hopefully, should be getting some new life in the fall) and overall bad person in media liker, coming at you again with another fresh and hip competition! In the horrible man protagonist showdown, we pit some of these protags who you wouldn't ever want to meet in real life against each other and see who the most unpleasant one really is, or just who Tumblr likes the most. I don't know, I feel like I opened pandora's box with this one. The possibilities are endless!

GUIDELINES

This isn't really the place for anti-heroes or villain protagonists. It's basically the inverse of the Affably Evil trope-- Good is Not Nice, if you will, people with good morals or an honorable end goal who are just really mean, and overall absolute dickfaces.

NO REAL PEOPLE. Hopefully, this goes without saying!

Please don't come back and repeatedly nominate the same person. I know who you fuckers are. Save your voter fraud for the actual polls (/hj)

I won't BAR specific media, but, like, if I view it as problematic or feel I may get backlash for including it, I simply won't. So, uh, be careful, I guess.

This is specifically for horrible man PROTAGS. Those main characters you love to hate. I know every piece of media has its Good Is Not Nice character, but it's so much more fun when it's the main character

Horrible man is a gender-neutral term in this case.

Be civil and have fun!

DEADLINES

I don't feel like dealing with fucking INFINITE amounts of entries (Clash of the Wizards and Niche Sexyman Bloodbath both had 300+ entries I had to sort through), so I'm going to be cutting off either at the end of the month, aka, SEPTEMBER 30, or when I hit over 200 entries. Whichever happens first. These deadlines are flexible, though!

Got any questions about the polls or about me? My ask box is open, and I'll try and answer everything! Something about the comp inspires you to make art? I think you so should! I just ask you either drop it in my inbox or you tag me in the post!

Of course, as is customary, I shall tag my inspiration. This competition was inspired by @affablyevilshowdown , @germanboyjoust , and @bestadaptationtournament specifically, but it's mostly just because I wanted to run another poll

Think you got it? Good! Now.... SEND ME YOUR AWFUL MEN!!!!

[theredofoctober]

MANNA- Part 2

Dark!Hannibal Lecter x Reader x Dark!Will Graham fic, TW for eating disorders, noncon, abuse etc.

---

"What do you see?" asks Hannibal, forcing you, by an immovable hand at the base of your neck, to stare at your reflection in the mirror. "Speak the truth. It won't shock me, nor should you be ashamed of it."

You have already attempted to close your eyes against the glass, and were gently threatened into opening them again. Now you force your gaze to unfocus, refusing Hannibal in a way that even he surely cannot discern.

He says your name into the quiet with a subtle, yet dangerous edge. It is so rarely used now that you jolt almost guiltily, unsure whether, like Will, Dr Lecter can be frenzied to strike you.

Hannibal's threat is more of a sleek, hunting animal, you think, cunning and serene; he can be cruel in a manner of exact and elegant genius, the bruising of the psyche, and the soul.

"Don't disobey me," he says. "You will not welcome my disappointment."

A tremble of doe-like terror wreathes you in its grasp.

"Doctor," you whisper. "I want to quit. I'll pay you the money my parents sent for me to come here; I'm not a child, and I don't need any of this. I'm not playing your game. Please let me go home."

There is certainly no chance that your family are aware of and approve of this treatment; it is torture under a clinical guise, a sinister, sexual sadism.

Still you cannot deny that the longer you remain here, the more you begin to see Hannibal and Will in the roles that they take within these walls: the strict, hard-handed father, the nurturing and gentle dad.

Each are relentless in their goal to reduce you to their supplicant doll, driving you further into the same hungering madness they wish to cure.

"You cannot leave here," says Hannibal, almost affably. "Your family unburdened themselves by releasing you to more comprehending hands. They think less of your wellbeing, and more of the weight that they no longer carry. Do you believe they would accept you back if you were not cured?"

"There is no cure," you say, bitterly. "You said it yourself. No cure, just recovery and maintenance."

Hannibal strokes the back of your neck, soothing you even as you shudder in repulsion.

"And do you trust yourself to do that alone?"

You don't answer, sinking miserably against the man at your back if only so that you do not fall to the floor in your despair.

"Tell me, little one," Hannibal commands, and his left hand comes down your shoulder, across your breast, tracing your hip with the ease of ownership. "What do you see?"

Swaying, crying, you blink at the horror in the looking glass, this imperfect beast in the arms of so evil and oddly beautiful a man.

"Failure," you spit. "It's disgusting."

Hannibal leans into you, breathing in the scent of your hair, and kisses your temple.

"I see a perfect little girl. Or else one with the potential to be."

You shake your head, certain that he is taunting you. That he is not repulsed seems an impossibility; Will certainly makes no attempts to hide his disdain, even when he fucks you.

"I do not lie to my patients," Hannibal insists. "With instruction, discipline, and loving guidance, you will become everything you should already be."

Warmth under your skirt; Hannibal's fingers cupping your wretched heat, pressing themselves into a self-loathing wetness, a sobbing response to his words.

"You shouldn't do this to me," you say, as always, repeated like a prayer, all frantic fervour. "You're my doctor. You're hurting me."

"It's what is required for you to change. Why do you cling to your chrysalis when it no longer serves you? There is no sustenance in it. You hold yourself here because it is safe. Because it is known. You have grown to love the illness like family."

He circles the heart of your folds with fingers that know you with the certainty of language.

"I suggest that you exchange the subject of your affections for those that will return it."

His lips are soft against your neck, an angel come down in a romantic painting, or fallen, rather.

Your vision of the creature in the mirror disappears into a prism of tears.

"You don't love me, really," you whisper. "And Will... he hates me."

Hannibal pushes you forwards, against the mirror, bending your form in a balletic motion. You are glad that you cannot see yourself in such close proximity to the glass, only the pupil of your eye, black and endless.

"He does not hate you," says Hannibal, softly. "He is gripped by desires that anger him, for he neither wants nor understands them."

Your legs are eased apart, and you whimper as a sudden thickness parts you like a scroll.

"Sometimes he watches you when you sleep," Hannibal tells you. "He finds such beauty in you, when you allow yourself to dream."

[swordsandarms]

I sometimes wonder why certain sections of the fandom reas those.Like noone in the series is some sort of an innocent pure baby, so I don't get why Dany is get treated as some sort of the most evill character ever...The series is a dark one ane should accept no character is innocent

1. This is probably the most rational post I've about why Daenerys is so hated by fans of female characters in particular. Female power is something only to be wistful about for any others, particularly in the way she gets to have it. And it's not even like to get and keep her power is an easy journey, or is god forbid lacking in difficult concessions. Particularly, there can't be multiple kinds of women's positions of power, they need to have cat fights for crumbs, and ought to do that as per male validation.

2. For the male characters fans it's more obvious and I shouldn't have to look for a meta - how dare a girl be more powerful than them and be a threat to men always being on top.

The sexist GOT show had male leadership leaning on both of these principles. They made a mockery of a female led group of characters of note they brought together to surround Daenerys, gave them cheesy "woman power" quotes, had them make out for a minute of the two they were of one party so they can have some use for male gratification amirite, then "put them in their place" by killing them one by one.

Then they airdrop show!Sansa in, has her hilariously employing the perfidy of various men who laugh at the idea of them females wanting power ahead of male relatives (flashback to the melodramatic framing of same character being portrayed as bitter over a male relative being declared to instead - WANTING AND DENIED is where women's idea of power should reside for 7.9 seasons out of 8).

A cringe fest of how supposedly a merely being some guy with almost nothing to your name prevails over time and effort gains in your own name as a woman, contradictory to the point of the actual FAegon in the books, made to face the cold fact his aunt is the self made Dragon Queen and he is nothing, going to her as a beggar (like watching that Barbie movie part where Ken learns about the patriarchy and confidently shows up at the hospital asking to be made a doctor - except only one was meant as a parody). Then the woman has... hysteria.... because a boy doesn't like her. The end.

So it's really not about how "dark" Dany is. If she is ruthless, she has the audacity to do what men do instead of knowing her womanly place. If she is lenient, she proves she is a bad leader than any other for being a weak woman (Point 2). If there is to be a female lead, she will be a manic pixie girl of a feudal's Lord PATRIARCHAL HEART who will be condescending to other women in public and affable to men, dropping 'smartly' whispered hints in secluded corners that will make them SEE HER ❤️❤️❤️ and reward her!! She's different ❤️❤️❤️ (Point 1).

[milkywayhou]

I liked reading about her. So I decided to ask again. ㋡🥂

3. What is your OC's fatal flaw? Are they aware of this flaw?

6. How easily could your OC be convinced to do something that goes against their moral compass?

18. Is your OC more cold and detached or up close and personal?

GOSPP ANOTHER QUESTIONS!!! 😳😳

Thank you for asking more information about Snow hehe <3

Note: It's kinda long answer (again) and possibly it will be change in the future

3. What is her fatal flaw? Is she aware of this flaw?

Snow was all too painfully aware of her flaws - festering cracks in her composure widening by the day. Denial could hold back acknowledgment for only so long before reality came crashing through.

Chief among issues she knew but refused to accept was her fragility under pressure. Years of shoving down trauma had frayed nerves to a hair trigger, where any fray could rupture brittle willpower's protection. Sooner or later, breaks were guaranteed if she didn't get help.

Related was her precarious grip on identity. Every fractured piece threatened to wander off as coherent 'Snow' dissolved among disassociative alters jockeying for control. Without consistent character anchoring her, she doesn't know who would be left when the mask finally fell.

Paranoia stalked her waking moments too, whispering everyone saw through charades to unstable shells beneath. She feared judgment would find her wanting, stripped of purpose before coming apart entirely under prying eyes. Wounds left to fester inevitably gangrened without lancing truths.

Most fatal of all, she refused acknowledging inner darkness aloud, bottling festering shadows feeding her perilous decline. Somewhere, her small rational part knew confronting flaws offered her only chance at recovery. But wounded pride and fears ran too deep, leaving self-destructive denial her sole dysfunctional solace - a fatal choice ensuring fractures plunged her irrevocably into the abyss she so frantically resisted.

6. How easily could she be convinced to do something that goes against her moral compass?

Snow liked to believe her moral code as a soldier was steadfast, shaped over years facing gut-wrenching choices where an instant's hesitation meant the difference between life and death. She prided herself on making hard calls without wavering, even if afterward doubts and nightmares plagued her for the lives lost due to split-second decisions.

But at the same time, trauma chipped relentlessly at bedrock beliefs, leaving foundation shaken and foundation unsure what was right versus necessary evils to fulfill duties demanded of her no matter the personal cost.

The tightrope between duty and morality grew ever thinner, one misstep meaning shattering the fragile stability propping up her fractured psyche.

Given these frailties, persuading Snow to compromise integrity would not prove too difficult for those aware of her vulnerabilities. All it may take was appealing to sense of purpose giving her life meaning, or manipulating genuine desires to help however possible into agreeing to schemes crossing red lines when diminished decision making reigned.

Fear of failure or letting down those depending on her prowess could override conscience's calls in moments of weakness. With fractured judgment and fraying conviction, swaying moral tether became disturbingly possible if she knew which insecurities and cracks to wedge doubt deep within until she no longer recognized drifting from the person she sworn to be.

18. Is she more cold and detached or up close and personal?

Well, I portrayed Snow as bubbly, affable person drawing people in with warmth and charm. She thrived on socializing, always ready with a joke or flirty quip to liven any room. Peers saw her as laidback and approachable, eager to get close through conversation and casual intimacy.

However, while gregarious publicly, one on one she kept interactions superficial, subtly deflecting probing questions into safer waters. Rarely did she speak of private matters, and certain topics visibly disturbed her calm no matter facade's resilience.

The truth is true closeness terrified her more than any physical danger. Opening up risked others seeing broken fragments beneath masks, relying on her opening pandora's box of unspeakable memories forever changing dynamics should she lose composure's tight grip.

Emotional intimacy threatened fracturing final defenses allowing anguish consuming her very being to leak through and poison others in mental unraveling's wake. Safer to survey interactions from an emotional distance with intimate acts serving as temporary relief valves instead of genuine human connections that too risky for someone teetering constantly on sanity's crumbling edge like herself.