#And from her flashbacks I can tell she had suffered a lot | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

coolprettyleo · 2 months

Text

my soul has changed? - will smith au

wc: 1.4k

tw: depression, suggestion of an ED, awkwardness? mean girl.

will smith x oc celebrini sister!

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

lola celebrini was in a point of her life where everything felt still. she was pretty sure she was suffering from depression and it was a cycle she didn't know how to get out of.

she would wake up, go to school, go to work, and then sleep. she was lucky if she fitted a meal in between that meant she had lost tons of weight.

she had been a pretty healthy teen, she played hockey up until high school alongside her brothers; but when the time came to play college hockey, she got no offers. contributing to her depression.

it was a sport she held so much love and dedication, she couldn't understand why she hadn't been good enough? I mean her brothers were good enough, they got college offers. macklin was even projected to go first overall, so why couldn't she?

those were thoughts that were constantly haunting her mind. if she found something to forget them they would flood back in, like if they wanted her to be a lifeless doll she had been feeling like.

her family had been really worried for her. she had finally seen her brothers after a year, at the NCCAA playoffs and it only caused them to worry more.

flashbacks

lola knew that macklin and aiden were gonna bombard her with questions as soon as they were alone. they could hardly recognize her. growing up she was always a smiling person with a big personality and now she was about forty pounds lighter and was a ghost of the person she used to be.

"april what's going on" macklin said shutting the door behind him.

"what do you mean"

"cut the bullshit. I know your not okay, you barley answer my text anymore, what's wrong"

"it's nothing mack-"

"no it's not nothing, maybe I can fix it-

"you cant 'fix' it"

"and why not-"

"because I don't know what wrong with me!"

that had been about two weeks ago. she just didn't know what to tell her family. she really didn't understand why she had been feeling that way.

she was currently at work where she was a barista in a cute coffee shop. she honestly loved working there, she had got the job when she was in high school and had kept it till college. seeing as she didn’t move far away for college, choosing to stay close to her parents.

she often wondered if she might be happier if she moved away just like everyone else did, just like her brothers did. but it would always end in her telling herself; that it's not worth dwelling on.

it was currently six am and at this time of day there weren’t many customers. the cafe was always busy mid day when people were looking to find somewhere to study.

so she was surprised when she turned the open side around, to find a boy waiting outside to come in. a boy who looked a lot like will smith.

lola wasn’t an idiot to hockey, she kept up with it a fairly good amount, so she would have to be living under a rock to not know the guy who dominated the ice at her brothers rivalry school.

that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to act like she didn’t know him.

he reached for the handle and took a look at her before turning as red as a tomato and blushing,

“hey, are you guys open?” he asked nervously, mentally slapping himself because he just saw her turn the sign around, to ‘open’

“uhm yeah I’ll be with you in a sec” she told him.

will couldn’t help but think her voice was cute. she had a rasp to it that made him want to give her everything she’s ever wanted.

lola finished up, putting the coffee too brew and turned to the counter.

“okay! order when your ready”

“uhm. i actually never been here before… any recs?” he asked after a moment nervously scratching his neck.

“well I get a dirty chai, but considering my brothers hate it, you might hate it too… I guess you might like a frap?” she told him, a little too monotone.

“yeah okay” he told her again nervously. he found her to be breathtakingly beautiful.

he paid and stood back as she got to making the drink.

“you from here?” will asked hoping to make small talk.

“uhm kinda. I was born in Vancouver but moved here when my dad got a job”

will panicked. oh god was she still in highschool

lola must of saw the worry on his face because she added,

“that was a couple years ago, im eighteen now” she said smiling at his face. something she didn’t do often anymore.

“oh, i’m eighteen too”

“oh yeah, what brings you to san jose, school?” she said innocently knowing very well he was drafted here and was most likely here to work on development.

“no. I”m came to meet with some people here. I go to boston college” he answered. lola starting to not feel so bad because she saw he didn’t want to right away say he was a hockey player.

“far from home huh”

“yeah, i’m literally across the country from everything and everybody i’ve ever known” he told her wanting to slap himself. did she need to know that!?!

“i’m sorry. it’ll get easier” she said remembering her brother had been homesick too but utimatly started feeling better after some time-- as she handing him his drinks and gave him a sympathetic face.

“yeah i hope so, i should be moving here soon, if everything goes right” he said as he took a sip.

“hey this is good!” he said taking another sip as lola smiled. something that will thought looked amazing on her.

lola smiled at him remembering the fact her brothers liked that drink. boys were so typical

“i’m glad… and hey— if you ever need a friend in town my names lola” she told him as she held her hand out to him to shake.

will starred at it for a moment before he quickly met her hand.

“will” he told the girl with a smile.

they were cut out of there moment when two customers walked in.

“I should get back to work. i’ll see you around will” she told him as he smiled a nodded and walked right out.

say something! ask for my number! do anything!

lola felt really dumb after she basically just presented herself in a silver platter to the boy and he didn’t finish his part in asking for her number. he had definitely rejected her in the nicest way someone possibly could.

meanwhile will got into the Uber with a gitty feeling. she seemed really cool and having someone to hang out with other than his teammates was going to be so nice.

he was midway into the meeting with some general managers when he realized he didn’t even ask for her number.

“oh my god” he mumbled as he came to the realization

"i'm sorry?" one of the GM's said confused.

“uhh— I said I was excited to join the franchise!” he covered up, feeling like an idiot.

hopefully she was still there after the meeting.

the meeting had gone a little to long for his liking and as he raced down to the coffee shop he hoped she was working a long shift.

he opened the door to see a blonde girl who looked old but yet looked young, and a taller boy with curly hair working behind the counter.

“hi. is lola working today?” he said breathlessly

the blonde eyed him for a moment before smirking,

“I don't recall a lola ever working here...my name samantha though” she said with a face that will knew was a face of someone who was lying.

“yes there is, she helped me earlier-"

“if your here to file a complaint against her, I can totally help you then,” she said

“no she was great— wait, you said you didn’t know an lola-“

“your looking for lola?” the other barista cut in

“yeah she was here earlier, i was hoping she was still here”

“she got off like two hours ago but i can give you her number!” the curly haired boy told will. he was one of lola's friends and he wasn’t going to ruin this opportunity for her.

“you totally can’t do that!” the blonde girl said in a nasally voice.

“shutup samantha. go take candy from a baby or something” he sassily told her.

she rolled her eyes before walking away to wipe a table down.

“sorry about her, here’s her number— good luck!”

“thankyou so much” he told him as he thought about what exactly to text the pretty girl.

both lola and will not knowing the epic love story they were about embark on.

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

hi guys! i hope this is kinda good, dont feel shy to send in ask and au thoughts… i like never get any but im so open to it!!

#nhl imagine #nhl imagines #hockey fic #will smith hockey #bc hockey #gabe perreault #ryan leonard #will smith hockey x reader #jacob fowler #bc eagles #will smith hockey x oc #will smith hockey imagine #gabe perreault x reader #nhl #hockey imagine #lola x will

113 notes · View notes

elliespuns · 8 months

Text

People keep discussing why beating up Nora leaves such a deep mark on Ellie when she has, in fact, already killed a lot of other people and wasn't nearly as traumatized as after this experience.

I'd say it's because this is the first time Ellie has ever done something to this degree. She has never tortured anyone before. She has killed, yes, but it was always in the name of defense (in part 1). Here, she had been doing it for Joel. In her head, Ellie's been telling herself that she'd be able to pull it off, the torturing, the interrogation, because Joel would have pulled it off. Because Joel did these things to protect the ones he loved, to survive.

Ellie wants to believe she's doing these horrible things to make up for not being able to save Joel and because they tortured Joel first, but when she can barely look at herself after, she realizes that she isn't like Joel, not one bit. She's upset because she tortured Nora and because she basically beat her in the same way that Abby beat Joel. Something she would've never wanted to become.

Ellie has never been a great killer like Joel. She's sloppy at times and not as able to handle it as he was. So when she commits something so awful, like beating a woman with a pipe, coupled with flashbacks of Joel dying in front of her, she crumbles. It's also reminiscent of the way in which she killed David, a whole other situation that also messed her up for various reasons.

Ellie constantly grapples with the gradual loss of her humanity throughout this game, because even if this is not specified in the game, I believe Ellie hurt Nora pretty badly (even when she was dying anyway), left her to bleed out, and finally left her to turn (as she was already breating spores). Leaving her suffer as much as she possibly could. And that kind of leaves a mark on your soul if you're overall a compassionate person. The cost of being consumed by rage and grief.

And then, when Ellie's back at the theater all wrecked and Dina is helping undress, she says, "I don't want to lose you." It comes out of left field. She's saying she doesn't like who she is becoming, and she fears she's no longer lovable, which would cause her to lose Dina.

And this is so bittersweet because, as you know, Ellie fears this the most. Yet she loses everything, including Dina, at the end. All because she's not in control of her own emotions. Because she has never had to deal with anything like this in her life before.

This is, of course, debatable, but from my point of view, Ellie did good by her heart. Bad by the morals and the whole result of a situation, but good by her torn-apart heart.

#the last of us #tlou #ellie williams #ellie tlou #ellie and joel #joel tlou #joel miller #tlou game #the last of us game #ellie #ellie x dina #dina nolastname #the last of us part 2 #tlou part 2 #the last of us talk #elliespuns analyses

270 notes · View notes

bookwyrminspiration · 1 month

Note

ok not to alvar post in your inbox again but liek.

“You want to talk about being left for dead?” Alvar lunged forward, but Sandor and Ro shifted their blades to block him. “ I was left in a pod of orange goo while my brother and sister stood by watching! The same brother who threatened to carve me up with a knife earlier that night! The brother who stopped pressing buttons to try to save me as the pod filled up—did he tell you that? He let the tank fill, waiting for me to drown” (632).

this excerpt makes me want to eat concrete in a good way. we love to talk about fitz stopping pressing buttons, but the way alvar is angry at fitz for stopping isn’t really talked about as much as it could be i think.

i always thought it was so funny because alvar was given the chance to change and come back from what he did throughout flashback. and when his memories came back, he made his choice to turn his back on his family, but he’s mad when said family turns their back on him in return. but i rlly wanted to hear your thoughts on this because you’re one of the most ardent buttonsposters on this site

this is FASCINATING. Okay, so. Looking at Alvar's familial feelings, a lot of his hatred is centered on his parents. He felt drowned in unrealistic expectations he could never live up to as the only Vacker kid, and saw Fitz as a replacement, his parents saying he'd never be good enough. Whether this is true isn't really relevant, as it's how he took it

Fitz ends up in a weird cross section here where he hasn't actually done anything to Alvar but exist. Alvar hates Fitz for replacing him, but it was their parents that chose to have him. Everything Alvar hates about Fitz is a manifestation of his resentment for Alden and Della.

Fitz is the perfect golden boy. A telepath like their father, the youngest to naturally manifest at that. Replaced Alvar in looking for Sophie--actually found her when Alvar passed her by. Fitz enrages Alvar for being everything he thinks their parents wanted that he wasn't

But Fitz doesn't have to be. I think that's key. Fitz could throw it all away, stop being perfect, drown under the pressure like Alvar did, and join him. And I think Alvar wants him to. Then he wouldn't be replaced, and instead Fitz could serve as evidence of how horrible their parents were. If Fitz breaks, too, then the problem wasn't with Alvar

And yet he isn't. FItz is choosing, again and again, his family. His parents. To be on the opposite side. Which means he's now making an active choice to become the replacement he inadvertently always was, proving the problem's with Alvar. Which means Alvar can hate him for being himself now. He's just like them, and he's turning their sister, too. The little sister who was the most likely to get him--so when she doesn't? They're blinded, representing everything wrong with their world. The expectations, the indoctrination of the next generations, everything

Alvar is desperate to be the one hurting. He grew up incredibly privileged and only talks of the burden it was. Keefe said Umber was left for dead and he immediately lashes back with this quote, talking about how he's been hurt just as much if not more because he got gooed. And not only that, his family gooed him.

Which reveals he does value family to an extent. If it's worse to be hurt by your siblings, it's because they matter more. Again, everything Alvar hates is centered on their parents. Fitz and Biana were supposed to choose him, to see his pain and understand him, leave their parents behind. They're siblings, even if they're bratty and naive.

We see that in the repetition of brother before each point; he's highlighting the connection they should've had--and blaming its dissolution on Fitz. A little on Biana, but mostly on Fitz, as Fitz was the replacement and the spark to the fuel of Alvar's suffering. The last straw. He's furious. And frames everything as if its unbelievable.

Which implies, potentially, that he wouldn't do the same. That he wouldn't take a knife to his sister, or watch his brother drown. That for all his talk, he sees them as different from their parents and that they matter, deep down.

I think Alvar is desperate to have his pain acknowledged, to be seen and understood, which is a valid desire. But he has blown it entirely out of proportion in his quest to be seen--and his siblings were his main hope. Who better to understand what being a Vacker kid did to him than the other Vacker kids? But because of that blowing it out of proportion, even though they're all Vacker kids, they can't understand. Because Alvar's reaction is illogical. He's in the wrong, and he refuses to understand or realize that because there's kernels of validity to his feelings.

so he's simultaneously furious at Fitz for replacing him, being everything he wasn't, and not choosing him, and desperate to be seen and acknowledged and understood by him and Biana.

basically Alvar's a clusterfuck of complications of a man

#kotlc #kotlc character analysis #alvar vacker #quil's queries #sillyguy-supreme #also! most ardent buttonsposter <3 #ty i'm very flattered #i hope this explanation makes sense. they're all very complicated so its hard to parse to the core of it at times you know?#and i'm certain I could go on and talk myself in circles

62 notes · View notes

sinner-sunflower · 3 months

Text

A HH Lucifer-centric AU 18/?

PART 1, PART 2, PART 3, PART 4, PART 5, PART 6, PART 7, PART 8, PART 9, PART 10, PART 11, PART 12, PART 13, PART 14, PART 15, PART 16, PART 17, PART 19, PART 20, PART 21, PART 22

I've really debated whether or not I'll post this particular part today or do another mystery and have it revealed in a flashback or something.

But then I said nah I'll give it now so you all can enjoy!

Very dialogue heavy.

I appreciate again your reblogs, likes, and very especially, your comments. Something about seeing your reactions or theories motivates me even more. Nothing says writer's pleasure like the suffering of their readers <3

-----------------------------------------

Once upon a time, all Lucifer wanted was to create and be happy. To love and be loved just the same. Being the Angel of Creation and Humility, his Father often sought his counsel regarding the first creations. He was affectionately called 'my Morning Star' by his Father, reminding him that he will be the first light His creations shall see.

When tasked with guarding the Garden, he embraced that duty wholeheartedly. But with Adam's growing ego and Lilith's festering defiance, he could feel himself struggling. He had tried so hard to make it comfortable for the both of them but it was never enough. The only reason Lilith stayed in the Garden for as long as she did was because Lucifer refused to leave right away.

Lucifer: It's my duty, Lily!

That's what he had said. He loved Lilith but he was still very much afraid of what repercussions his Father may give for his disobedience.

Then comes Eve.

Eve was a lovely girl. She's Lilith but softer. She's Adam but kinder. But she has no free will. Adam treated her like a maid and she took it all with a graceful smile.

And well, you know what happened next.

An apple. A sin. A trial. A fall. Darkness. Fire. He wants to get outOUTOUTOUTOUT!-

A makeshift table with 2 chairs appear in between him and Roo. The Root of All Evil moves to sit and motions for him to join her. Lucifer hesitates but follows.

Roo: See, dear fallen, your old man damaged me enough that I can't get my original form to heal like it was before. And just when I was recuperating my power, you and your sinful lot sealed me! Low blow, by the way. Thanks yo you, my vessel is truly destroyed.

Lucifer: That's why you take on these forms?

Roo: Yoou got it! I can show you what I originally looked like but it's merely confined in this space. Like every caged animal, I crave freedom. Freedom I am not willing to have without a proper vessel.

She giggles as Lucifer's expression dawns in realization.

Lucifer: You... want me? As your vessel?

Roo: Yup!

Lucifer: But- Why?

Roo: Consider it an investment! Why, I can't think of anyone better to powerful enough to control Hell and dear enough to hold against Heaven.

It was Lucifer's turn to scoff.

Lucifer: Hold against Heaven? I don't have any value to the people up there. I am no longer an angel?

Roo had to put a hand in her mouth to prevent her from laughing too much again.

Roo: Naive, little fallen. You really think that?

Lucifer: I know that! Or did you forget that I was exiled into this god awful pit?!

Roo: Ah. But that's all, isn't it?

Lucifer: I- huh?

Roo: Your angelic status is all that they took from you, no? And this place is merely a change of office. You still answer to Heaven, whether you admit it or not. You still watch over humanity, albeit the worst ones. And most importantly, you were not stripped of your heavenly powers. You know why? Because you-

She boops his forehead and it took all of his willpower not to bite her finger off.

Roo: -are God's little favorite.

Lucifer: That's not true.

Roo: Yes it is. Tell me, Lucifer. If God was to punish you for the greatest Sin ever committed, why leave you with power to rule it? If that was you, wouldn't you take away all of their being and leave them to rot in the very bottom of the grave they dug themselves? Why would I cast them out them make them rule it? That's just absurd.

Lucifer: You're speaking nonsense.

Roo: Am I? The old man obviously loved you enough to let you keep your divine powers. He probably could not stand the thought of His beloved son suffering at the hands of some lowly human souls.

The Sin of Pride wants to rebuke but can't get the words out. He always did wonder why he still had his wings, why he could still create, why he was made the King.

'Was it really your love, Father?'

He shakes his head and leaves that thought. He may not be at the bottom of the food chain, that doesn't change the fact that he did not, is not suffering.

Lucifer: And you think saying all that will make me give your reign on my body?

Roo: Of course not! But you asked and I gave my answer.

Lucifer: And what happens if I say yes?

Roo: Not a matter of if, fallen. I know you will.

Lucifer: I need you to be more specific.

Roo: Insurance. We already established that you do not have anything else to trap me with and I'd be more than happy to consume all of Hell. It will be a nice snack before my comeback. So, really, what other choice do you have?

Lucifer: I am not just going to let you use my body to get out of here and destroy Hell another way!

Roo: Woah! Who said I'll be destroying Hell? I just want a vessel so I can explore! Plus, as soon as I enter your body, your little Ring would be back to normal.

She produces a golden contract out of the blue and lays it down for Lucifer to see.

Roo: So, let's make a deal.

Lucifer: No.

Roo: Hush. Let me finish. I get my vessel and I won't touch a single thing in Hell anymore. Your body will act as my new "container" by which, until your demise, will remain yours.

Wait.

Lucifer: What? My demise?

Roo: Yup!

Lucifer: I'm immortal. If we go through with this, you'll never see the light of day again.

This is too good to be true. Not only will Roo be sealed for good but then Hell will safe. So why-

Roo: Then what's the fuss? You trap me forever and with you being immortal, won't even have to think about the other end of the bargain. Fun, right?!

Lucifer: No. What are you not telling me? Why after my 'death'? Is something going to happen that will permanently kill me?

She just gave him a menacing smiles.

Roo: Time is relevant, fallen. There will always be slips and an ancient being like myself, I'm bound to see something in between.

Lucifer: Quit being cryptic!

He is at his wits end. The longer he stays here the worse it gets outside!

Roo: Let me put down the basics of this offer then: I get my vessel and I'll stop this little party trick of mine. I will reside inside you until your 'hypothetical death' by which I'll claim all your being, powers and all. I'll even throw in a sweet deal of letting you keep your soul or have you give it to whoever you wish.

Lucifer: .....

Lucifer: I want to add conditions.

Roo: Be my guest~

Lucifer: In the aftermath of my death, you will do everything in your power to protect Hell and its people against anyone or anything that puts it in danger as long as you reside in my body. That means I also prevent you from leaving this vessel for another to get out of that clause.

Roo: Wonderful-

Lucifer: Hold on. I'm not done. Since you said that you do not wish to have property of my soul, you are to give it to Charlotte Morningstar. She will also ascend as acting ruler of Hell upon my death, not you. But you get to keep being the most powerful demon in Hell.

Roo: Hmmm. Sounds fair. I like those odds, my friend. So-

Roo holds out her glowing red hand. She no longer wore Charlie's face but instead she is now a blob of shadows and eyes. Lucifer has to narrow his eyes to prevent him from being blinded.

Roo: It's a deal then?

Lucifer can already feel Roo's energy inching inside him

Lucifer: Deal.

A handshake. A drop of blood. And a binding contract.

The game is set.

-------------------------------------

Holy shit?? This was so long??

Fun fact: this was one of the scenes I wanted to do in my first AU post, the radioapple one with Lilith and Eve. But this is more fitting here now.

ENJOYYY

please leave what you think!

If there are some changes then it's me proofreading it after posting a;sdkla

110 notes · View notes

spop-romanticizes-abuse · 6 months

Text

Meaningless Suffering ≠ Consequences: An SPOP Rant Analysis

so one huge argument i've seen from SPOP fans, when it comes to Catra's redemption is that “she got tortured and mind controlled by Horde Prime. she almost died at his hands. therefore, she faced the consequences of her actions.”

now.. could this be considered a consequence of her actions? the important question here is: why did Catra get punished by Prime? for going against his rules and freeing Glimmer. she got punished for doing one good thing. this was the consequence of her doing something right. if anything, she would be more discouraged to do good in the future, because the first time she does something good, she almost gets murdered for it.

but i digress. i've seen this trope be used with quite a few characters in media. the other example of this i want to talk about is Marcy from Amphibia. (spoilers for Amphibia below)

in the s2 finale, Marcy is revealed to have stranded her friends Anne and Sasha on Amphibia on purpose, because she didn't want to be alone. while this wasn't as bad as any of the shit that Catra pulled, it was still a fucked up thing to do. Marcy deliberately took Anne and Sasha away from their home and their parents, for her own selfish reasons.

like Catra, Marcy also has abandonment issues. her parents had informed her that they had to move and Marcy was terrified at the idea of having to leave Anne and Sasha behind. but that was still not an excuse for what she did.

not long after her secret was exposed, Marcy gets stabbed by King Andrias while trying to escape Amphibia. she doesn't die, of course, it's still a kid's show.

but to make things worse, she gets possessed by the Core later on, which is shown to be an extremely painful and traumatizing process (which they barely touch upon later). and then they show in a flashback that Anne and Sasha used to ignore Marcy and make her feel lonely, when this was not touched upon earlier in the series. in fact, Anne was shown to be very caring and attentive to Marcy up until this episode.

at this point, it's clear that the writers are trying to make the viewers feel sorry for Marcy. if they keep adding reasons why she's so miserable and traumatized, maybe the viewers would forget what she did to Anne and Sasha. right?

there is a small scene in s3 where Sasha questions why she should forgive Marcy, but it is quickly fixed by Anne telling Sasha that she should forgive Marcy. there's also a moment of realization for Marcy but even that is done in such a cliché and lighthearted manner, where the severity of her actions aren't addressed. and that's it. Marcy is rescued, she apologizes, and is immediately forgiven.

but then again, like SPOP, the last season of Amphibia was trashfire. i refuse to believe that people genuinely liked that season, it was so badly written and ruined everything that was set up prior to it.

anyway, let's come back to SPOP. it's clear that the writers of SPOP were also trying to do the same thing. put poor catgirl through the wringer, have her almost die and come back to life and voila! she is absolved of all her crimes.

for those of you who are still not convinced, let me try to make a real world comparison. let's just say i'm someone who bullies or abuses people. one day while getting home from school/work, i get hit by a car. i get grievously injured and go through a lot of pain. heck, maybe it even leaves some kind of permanent disability or injury.

is that a punishment for my actions? you can call it karma, but let's be real, karma doesn't exist. it's just a coincidence. and you bet i'm not going to wake up in the hospital thinking “this must be my punishment for abusing people”. if i really am an abuser who has no remorse for my actions, a random accident isn't going to change my mind.

and that's what happened with Catra too. she didn't consider Horde Prime's torture as a consequence of her actions. if anything, she used that as an excuse to mistreat Adora and the others even more. it's clear that she pitied herself for what happened. and everyone else pitied her, including the audience.

imagine if the good redemption arcs were written this way. imagine if, instead of working through his issues and facing actual consequences of his actions, Zuko was just tortured and traumatized even more by Ozai, and the Gaang just forgave him because they felt bad for him. yeah, people wouldn't be praising his arc anymore. or they would, who knows. i know i wouldn't be praising his arc.

because this is not the way to redeem a villain. the only way to redeem a villain is to have them face consequences of their actions and work for forgiveness. to show them consistently trying to make up for what they did and trying to be a better person, not because they want to be forgiven or accepted by the heroes, but because it's the right thing to do.

97 notes · View notes

thefirstknife · 1 month

Text

The Observatory

I've been rotating a piece of the TFS CE lore in my brain so long I forgot to write about it. There's no transcript yet that I can find (I might do it myself tbh if nobody else does), but here's the scans with the whole text.

So, there's a lot going on in that CE, but the main gist of it is that the whole CE is written like a report from Eido. She investigated information about the Witness and the Collapse to try and help prepare us for our inevitable fight against it. Through her investigation, she found old Eliksni databanks that contain ancient records of past civilisations; main one being discussed is the civilisation that would eventually end up becoming the Witness.

There was a lot going on with them, shown to us through discussions between two specific individuals; they're only identified through code as HNW047622 and RS6243199. I'll call them HNW and RS. I've mentioned this before because we could see one of the pages in the preview of the Collector's Edition.

These individuals talked a lot and gave us insight into the Witness' civilisation. In short, they were super advanced and had something they described as the "Gardener's tools" which they apparently used to terraform other planets. They also talk about the concept of "the final shape" a lot and lead philosophical debates about its meaning and whether or not they have a responsibility to bring that concept to others in the universe. I'll probably go into their civilisation in-depth at some point, but for now I want to go off about something that appears to be a minor detail.

As part of their conversations, In the 5th image from the scans, they extensively talk about the final shape. The RS individual mentions something called "the Observatory." It is apparently some sort of a prediction machine. Full transcript of the relevant conversation and the rest of the post under:

[RS6243199]: I agree with you, in theory, but we do not exist purely in the theoretical. This suffering is already happening now, all the time, everywhere we look. Come see me, and I will show you the Observatory's readings. Such sights as we have seen, my friend, make me sick to my soul. [HNW047622]: I thought that the Observatory could only see possibilities. The future-branches of past visible-light readings. [RS6243199]: We have made improvements. The glass-minds*** trim the excess branches. What we see now are the strongest paths. And in the seeing, they become true. [HNW047622]: Then tell me what you have seen. I gain nothing from running from the truth, no matter how uncomfortable. [RS6243199]: Cities turning on themselves in a frenzy of self-destruction. Children offering up parents in superstitious sacrifice to bloodied gods. An entire people who would boil off their own atmosphere rather than let their neighbors enjoy fresh air! Great waves drowning worlds. Bodies which do not decompose, for everything, down to the very bacteria, has died as well. Machine-plagues carving their prediction-machines into moons. Your garden, destroyed. As the Observatory saw it, so it came to pass.

The footnote is a text from Eido:

*** From the context, some sort of computational assistant? There appears to be some etymological overlap with the names of Vex Minds. Something to investigate later, perhaps!

This made me instantly lose my mind when I was reading. Very early into Lightfall's release, I made a post about the Veil and the history of the universe. It's about some very peculiar similarities between a lot of prediction technology and caches of information that preserve ancient history and ancient civilisations and how they may connect to the Veil.

Mind you, this was before we knew a lot about the Veil; I wrote this pre-Veil logs and before it was confirmed that the Veil is linked directly to consciousness and memory. It was also before Season of the Deep which gave us Akashic Revelation: a lore tab in which a Guardian tries to go through the portal and experiences a vivid flashback of memory of his own pre-Guardian life. The name of the tab is important: akashic records is an esoteric concept for a supposed existence of a record of everything that has ever happened in the universe, past or present or future, human and non-human.

This is basically what I proposed in my post, before this lore tab, about the Veil; that the Veil or some source the Veil can tap into, is something similar to that. That all of the prediction machines are essentially pulling from this same source. In the post, I mentioned the OXA machine (the "black box for galactic civilisations" that allowed the Psions to see the future), Inspiral lore book (in which various civilisations and individuals left their records in the Darkness), the Device (the machine built on Vex technology by the Future War Cult in the Golden Age, led my Maya Sundaresh, used to displace consciousness and also see the future as used by Lakshmi-2), and even maybe the Sundial made by Osiris. I also mentioned how there's a possibility that even the whole scope of Vex prediction technology is somehow based on or tapping into this same source.

I am very amused at how I wrote: "It’s also interesting that Maya Sundaresh seems to be quite involved in pretty much every aspect of this." So true past me, that really is interesting! Her connection to the Veil and Lakshmi (and the importance of the Device and FWC) will later be revealed in Veil Logs. Almost like these connections were made deliberately, between all of these machines and the Veil.

With the benefit of new lore being released in the time since I made the original post, I am even more convinced that there's something going on here, and especially after TFS CE because the section I copied here mentions yet another incredibly similar machine: the Observatory of the Witness' species. It's not described in a lot of details, but from what we did get, it's quite unmistakeable that this is similar to things like the OXA and the Device.

The Observatory is clearly shown to be some sort of a machine that can see the future. Or, rather, as HNW says, it can see "possibilities." This matches what we've seen of the Device when Lakshmi-2 was using it; she was able to see different possible futures, futures that were getting increasingly narrow and biased to what she wanted to see. Identical formatting for using some sort of a machine to predict the future is shown as well with a Psion Ixel using... something (? maybe the OXA?) to do the same.

And again, the same formatting is used this season when a Psion Qorix uses her inate Psion abilities to project visions of the future into the minds of those present at Caiatl's War Council. It's worth noting that Psions have huge ties to Darkness abilities, as well as their entire species having been influenced by Nezarec to an unknown extent, but enough for them to share psionic/psychic abilities, an affinity to void, helmets that reflect his head shape and possibly more we don't know about. It's also worth noting that Nezarec was the one who was transporting the Veil on his Pyramid ship and lamented how Neomuni were not using it to its full potential. Nezarec may have used the Veil to influence the Psions.

This is important because these devices aren't exact, and the Observatory seems to share the same caveat. It shows possibilities, not certainties. Different users might see different things, painted by their own desires and experiences. However, there's something in all of these prediction machines that can lead to a real prediction of the future. The invididual RS mentions several visions, most of which are not specific enough to identify, but sound plausible given the sheer size of the universe; they must've happened somewhere at some point. There's one specific that we know: "great waves drowning worlds." And there's one mentioned by RS that also happened; the destruction of the "garden" made by HNW. This is mentioned in the beginning of the CE. HNW terraformed a planet, but that planet was later completely destroyed.

Even more interesting, the way the Witness' species used the Observatory seems to imply that they employed the Vex directly to help them manage this machine. RS explains that the "glass-minds" are capable of "trimming excess branches" and allowing only the "strongest paths" to be explored. Perhaps this was their way of not falling into the trap that the people using the OXA or the Device could fall into; by having the Vex monitor and manage this prediction machine, it stops the user from inserting too many personal variables. And yes, as Eido noted as well, "glass-minds" is a phrase that indeed shares similarity with the Vex and is almost certainly referring to the Vex.

This is incredibly interesting for a lot of reasons. First, as I've already mentioned, these sort of prediction machines are common throughout the universe and keep being mentioned. Different species at different times have been capable of creating similar machines for similar purposes. Inspiral also goes deeper into how species could use the Darkness to access memory and history through it; the Ecumene and the Qugu had these abilities and used them as part of their civilisation. Through Psions, we get a mix of these two things; the Psions have both tangled with prediction machines like the OXA, but they also posses seemingly inate Darkness abilities that function similarly. They can project futures and possibilities to others, they can merge their minds (and bodies!), and their old religion was based on ancestor worship. Emotions, memories, consciousness itself: these are part of Darkness and governed by the paracausal entity we know as the Veil. It seems like machines capable of giving insight into the past and future are connected to the consciousness of the universe.

Second, these things somehow always come back to the Vex. We don't know how the OXA was built, but the Vex could access it. The Device was build from Vex technology and so was the Sundial. The Observatory is very closely linked to the Vex as well; either built by them or simply being close enough to be accessible for the Vex to manage it. The Vex are more or less known for their manipulation of time, their ability to move through it and use it as a tool, as well as for their prediction and simulation machines and constructs.

And of course, this year revealed to us that the Vex, or at least a part of the Vex, have tried recreating the Veil in the form of Black Heart, but failed due to their inability to understand paracausality. However, it seems like the Vex are drawn to the Veil even outside of just the Sol Divisive, as can be seen from Neomuna. The Vex were a constant threat to Neomuna throughout its existence and the Vex have been trying to access the CloudArk, an alternate reality engine built on the energy of the Veil.

This season in particular has been fairly suspicious with the Vex as well, showing us a concerning evolution of the Sol Divisive and the Vex in general; their radiolaria emitting Darkness energy, Oracles appearing outside of the Vault of Glass and also resonating Darkness, their attempts to "merge with the Witness" and a strange message that seems to be implying they're still not done with reaching out to the Veil in the form of the Black Heart. I talked about this more here.

Are the Vex drawn to the Veil for a particular reason? Perhaps they unknowingly tap into something the Veil is responsible for, like prediction, through the simple fact that the Veil is the paracausal entity responsible for Darkness which is memory? For the Vex, memory could work outside of time; perhaps their prediction abilities are simply them being able to "remember" the future, because they can exist through and outside time.

There is also the even more mysterious possibility here that revolves around a few hints in regards to the Veil and the Traveler being a single entity at some point in time. If the Veil and the Traveler used to be one before becoming separated, this may be what Unveiling talked about through metaphor; the mythical Garden before the universe existed could've been this singularity that was just the Veil and the Traveler together as one. And as Unveiling also noted, in one of those parts of Unveiling that seem to be closer to the truth than others, the Vex already existed then. The reason they're so out of place in a universe of paracausality is because they appear to have come into existence before paracausality so it is foreign to them. They might remember the time when the two were one, therefore they still have an instinctual draw to the Veil; and honestly, to the Traveler too, given how close to it they've settled in our system. As the lore on Scatter Signal notes, someone told us that all Vex agree that "Sol is Salvation." It's where both the Veil and the Traveler are.

This is beyond speculative, but it's been on my mind since that first post well over a year ago because of how closely linked Darkness, the Vex and these peculiar prediction devices have been throughout the history of the universe; now added with one more, the Observatory, most likely the first one ever made (or found), by the species that would later become the Witness. I could be off on the exact nature of this connection, but I feel like there is some sort of a connection all the same. I also feel like they wouldn't have mentioned this in TFS CE for no reason, especially because we're clearly not going to deal with the Vex until after TFS.

Either way, the Observatory mention and description really got me spiralling into unhinged territory. It added such a specific little detail about something I've speculated about before and made it fit perfectly. I wonder if this will remain just like a little curiosity and background worldbuilding or if there's a more direct reason for including it; namely if this is more hints about post-TFS stuff regarding the Vex.

Until we know for sure, I will continue to believe that all prediction abilities and prediction machines are tapping into a single source; the consciousness/memory of the universe, produced by the Veil as a part of the inherent propery of Darkness. The Vex are key to this because they may be doing it in a very specific way given their relationship to time, the possibility that they existed in the universe before anyone else, and possibly because of their memory of a time when the Veil and the Traveler were one.

It could be also something simpler and not entirely interconnected. But I was very pleased to see yet another Vex-based prediction machine being introduced into the universe, adding to the existing ones that have been fairly relevant this year and mentioned several times like the OXA and the Device. Can't wait for TFS and post-TFS content to see if this is something we'll be exploring in more detail, especially as we start dealing with the Vex!

All this about a half of a single page of TFS CE. Girl help.

#destiny 2 #witness #vex #darkness #psion #the final shape #the final shape collector's edition #long post #if you click #lore vibing #this is why i didn't write anything about the whole thing yet #because all of this is just about this half a page #i would like to go more into the witness' species at some point but there's just so much stuff in the CE #anyway. me holding my breath trying not to scream about where is mercury and the infinite forest #it's just. 'glass-minds trimming excess branches' the pathways in the forest were called branches also #makes sense. because it's a forest. and the individual constructs where you entered other timelines were called trees #that's all i'm going to say about that #reading this on stream had me losing my mind live in hd #i've been insane about these connections for over a year and they just dropped another one of these shits #i heard you like the oxa. and the device. and the sundial. and the infinite forest. and inspiral. and psions. have the observatory.#well thanks. now i'm even more insane!

35 notes · View notes

zoe-oneesama · 2 years

Note

Love that once I’ve finally dropped the show they decide to upload often. Once you’ve caught you breath from the spam, do you think you’d do a review of the new episodes? I’ve seen glimpses of cursed cabbage patch kids and I’m too scared to try and watch this season, but I always enjoyed your analysis of episodes. (No pressure though)

I don't really like to do immediate reviews, especially in this season, because there is a through line in these episodes so some things won't become clear until future episodes. But I can give a super quick review with my minor pros and cons:

Evolution:

Synopsis: Monarch uses the rabbit's power to attempt to defeat the heroes in the past. By unifying with Bunnix's Miraculous, they thwart him every time despite him using multiple Miraculouses, and, with the help of the present Alix and past Dog miraculous, the Rabbit Miraculous is reclaimed with Alix finally taking the Rabbit permanently, starting her journey through time until Monarch is defeated and it's safe for her to return.

Good: Monarch is using his brain (or like 75% of it) by immediately using the time travel Miraculous and it took a lot of teamwork to stop him. I'm glad Nathalie reached her breaking point in the face of Gabriel obsessing more over defeating teenagers than focusing on what his actual goal should be. I like Bunny Noir's design (mostly. His mask gives him eye bags from up close). This episode went the way I was hoping the season would go, with the heroes one by one reclaiming the lost Miraculouses.

Bad: Alix is not my favorite and I don't really care for episodes about her. It is frustrating that when Monarch passes out from overusing the Miraculouses that the heroes don't start looting his corpse when they had the chance, or any of the other times he's tied up.

Multiplication:

Synopsis: Everyone adjusts to the new normal of Monarch having stolen all the Miraculouses and are awaiting his next move, while reclaiming their lives. Adrien tells his father he wants to quit modeling and Gabriel accepts. Since Marinette gave him the advice to speak to his dad, Adrien starts looking at her in a new light. After many weeks, an akuma finally attacks- Ikari Dozen with the abilities of the Mouse Miraculous, yet when she's defeated, she has no Miraculous. On that confusing note, Gabriel and Tomoe announce their newest product: Alliance, a ring with all the functions of a phone on one finger.

Good: I don't have much in this category since the episode is half montage. It's mostly just "not bad". I guess I'm glad that word has spread to at least Alya that Adrien doesn't want to model anymore?

Bad: Uh, it's Alya though. Marinette has explained explicitly why a relationship with Adrien is a no go but Alya just WILL NOT support her on this and I do NOT approve. And it's one thing to just be like "uh I don't believe you but whatever" and another thing to actively work against Marinette, aka holding her down so Adrien can kiss her when she doesn't want him to??? And also WHY DOES EVERYONE KNOW ALIX IS BUNNIX NOW?!

Destruction:

Synopsis: With all the kwamis at his command, Gabriel demands Ladybug's address as a loophole around the secret keeping magic and is led to Marinette, who is the first step on a scavenger hunt for the answer. This leads Monarch to the Wax Museum where a trap is waiting - Chat Noir and Ladybug, who get the jump on him and tie him to Chat's Cataclysm activated hand. They could never predict, however, that when Ladybug went for the Butterfly Miraculous that Monarch would sacrifice his own body and take the brunt of the Cataclysm just to escape. Despite suffering a growing injury, Gabriel, with Tomoe's help, destroys the Miraculouses and rebuilds them as rings which, combine with his Alliance product, give his akumas Miraculous abilities.

Good: Ladybug's plan is so thorough and to think she set this as far back as between Seasons 2-3 (they're still calling him "Hawkmoth" in flashbacks but allude to Ladybug being Guardian) is quite the contingency plan. It's funny that Chat Noir was willing to walk around with a piece of paper with an insult punchline on it on the OFF CHANCE Monarch would try this shit. It was also funny that I thought the loophole was going to be that the kwami's don't know "Ladybug's" address because she doesn't have one, only Marinette does...but the loophole was that kwami's don't know what an address even is?! Lololol. And Xuppu being innocently annoying made him MVP.

Bad: Chat Noir being so broken up by hitting the MAIN VILLAIN with Cataclysm seems so out of left field after Scarabella, Uncanny Valley, and almost Sole Crusher (and even dumber after "Jubilation"). This is the ONE GUY you don't have to feel bad about but he acts horrified, yet one episode later he almost does it to someone on purpose. This episode also has a long montage section and after "Multiplication" I was like "please don't do more of this". And them taking the first 3 minutes to try to explain the Rooster just made it more confusing to me (though it did add something things that made sense).

Jubilation:

Synopsis: Marinette discovers that not only is Damocles still cosplaying The Owl, but an old school friend is cosplaying Ladybug and they're both getting into trouble. She goes to this friend Socqueline's family store and tries to get her to confess to this "crime" while also getting her own run down of the ins and outs of the Alliance ring. After a fumble where Marinette takes Socqueline's ring with her on a Ladybug mission and having thoroughly scolded both Socqueline and Damocles, Monarch becomes sure Socqueline IS Ladybug and sicks Darker Owl on her. When she's discovered to not be Ladybug, Socqueline is used to bait Ladybug and Chat Noir into being hit by Darker Owl's "Gift" power and traps them in a dream of defeating Monarch, becoming a couple, and having a happy life - until they have to wake up. Defeating Damocles doesn't reveal any Miraculouses and the two are left confused.

Good: I like Socqueline. She pokes a few holes in what we knew about Marinette's backstory but she's pretty well rounded in just one episode. If the dream sequence was meant to make me laugh then I appreciate it for that and I like that they gave Marinette a believable reason to avoid using the Alliance other than "it has my crush/my enemy on it as AI and it's weird". I also approve of this episode confirming all the conspiracy dystopian ideas I had about this creepy ass ring.

Bad: I'm just being nitpicky but the dream seems incomplete and half hearted since there's no identity reveal - in THIS EPISODE Marinette scolds two people for not appreciating the one thing she wished she had: normalcy. Yet her entire dream sequence she's stuck as her hero self? Unless the Gift is influenced by Darker Owl's lack of knowledge about their identity, that just feels like some dissonance. Also, not Sabine using the AI model of the girl that got her daughter expelled. Also, not Gabriel using an AI model of his wife, hope Alliance never goes off IN PUBLIC and reveals THAT feature!

Illusion:

Synopsis: In an attempt to help Ladybug and Chat Noir, Nino starts a resistance and comes up with a plan to record an akumatization to solve the mystery of how Monarch is giving people the powers of the Miraculous. How? By causing an akuma themselves, with Gabriel as the target. Unfortunately Lila has discovered their plans and warned Gabriel, who uses this to his advantage by pretending to be akumatized and giving the heroes false leads. The “resistance” is expanded to the rest of the class - including Lila.

Good: Um, I didn’t really like this episode. The VILLAIN got to be the manipulative, clever one, which doesn’t make me feel good in the end, and Lila IS STILL BE ACCEPTED BY ALYA?! Make it make sense dammit!

Bad: This episode. I don’t like it. Gabriel AND Monarch’s manipulation worked and in the end Alya is apologizing to Nino for “doubting” him despite being the only person thinking through the cruelty of purposefully akumatizing someone? Why does every Nino-centric episode make him a jerk? Why did the two “heroes” go along with this? AND WHY IS ALYA STILL VOUCHING FOR LILA??!?!

Determination:

Synopsis: Adrien is letting his growing feelings for Marinette show and Kagami pushes him into a date with her. Marinette peer pressures herself into reciprocating, but brings Luka, who teams up with Kagami to give the two a push by locking them in the Wax Museum together. Meanwhile, the Mayor is threatening Veronique to shut down her new All Heroes display and is akumatized into Manipula, who controls the wax displays to attack. The heroes defeat Manipula, even with her borrowing from the Ox Miraculous, and return to the musuem. Both have a realization: Adrien is in love with Marinette and Marinette is in love with Chat Noir.

Good: Though I hated the idea of Kagami and Luka joining Team Adrienette by making weird plans to force them together, the way they went about it was pretty mild and seemed to line up more with the two's personalities, down to Kagami sticking around just because she was 100% sure Adrien would mess it up without her and Luka seeing right through Marinette's excuses. I liked Manipula's design (even if she's just an upgraded Puppeteer powerwish) and thought it was interesting that her akuma was split up so ALL the "heroes" needed to be defeated. I thought the episode would be way worse.

Bad: WHY THE WAX MUSEUM?! WHY WOULD THAT BE THE MOMENT HIS FEELINGS CHANGED?! Adrien's love language is clearly words of affirmation, wouldn't it make WAY more sense that Marinette's practice love confession to "Buttercup" would be what changes his mind, especially since Puppeteer 2 was in SEASON 3 which ended with him DATING SOMEONE ELSE?!?!

I also don't know if I should put this in Good or Bad, but damn the mood difference between Adrien bathed in the yellow warmth of the Wax Museum as he happily realizes he's in love vs. Marinette in the dark clouds and rain as she's devastated to realize she's in love. Cinematic marvel, 10/10, what a disaster.

Passion:

Synopsis: Nathalie reacts violently at Gabriel's pretend Good Dad act and Gabriel presents her with his growing 'clysm injury, which has him on a time clock, making her realize he won't stop going after the Miraculouses because his other option is to die and leave Adrien completely alone. Armed with this and videos of Emilie telling Nathalie to stop Gabriel's pursuit of the Miraculous, Nathalie plays double agent, intent to get the Miraculouses before Gabriel, and pretends to be back on his side, accepting an akuma: Safari. Adrien is all set to confess to Marinette but is side tracked by Nathalie's growing illness, which Marinette reassures him through - up until the akuma attacks. Safari's abilities lead tracking crossbow bolts to stun the heroes, but when Adrien detransforms and realizes the bolts lost track of "Chat Noir", he gets the idea to swap Miraculouses. Being Mister Bug and knowing the akuma is Nathalie, whom he blames himself for akumatizing, Adrien maintains a serious attitude, whereas Lady Noire realizes she's around her love, takes on more flirty tactics (to her own confusion and dread). Safari is defeated and Adrien makes a point to be there for her emotionally, bonding the two.

Good: Nathalie is living her best "let's save our wife" moments and I'm so glad to be back on this Doing It For Emilie track instead of For Gabriel. The Akuma x Goat Miraculous match up was really clever and the work around was equally clever. It's nice to see Adrien step up, which is also probably why he was given the "serious" Miraculous, though I'd argue he didn't need to be Mister Bug to show off an ability to take the lead.

Bad: This episode paired with the next starts this annoying trend of "Oh so it's fine when HE does it but when MARINETTE does it it's bad!" Starting with Alya accusing Marinette of running away from her feelings by going after Chat Noir - but no one is double checking Adrien for switching to Marinette? For him, he's just "taking the hint" but for Marinette it's just running away from her feelings? If that were the case, why the big dramatic "Oh god no Tikki I'm in LOVE" at the end of the last episode??

Also I'm disappointed their shooting holes in my "Emilie is just as bad" theory, how dare.

Reunion:

Synopsis: Marinette and Alya go to the Museum to (on purpose this time) look for Miraculous clues. Tikki introduces a way to use the Kwagatama to commune with past Miraculous holders and Marinette accidentally uncovers a letter from Alix, which gets Alix's father to summon (most) of the class. Jalil interrupts the Reading of the Will Letter to accuse Ladybug of tricking his sister into leaving, haven fallen for online reddit conspiracies of Ladybug being the true villain and being willingly akumatized into The Pharaoh with the power of the Turtle. Marinette communes with Jeanne of Arc for love advice, to her annoyance, but sticks around for the akuma. Ladybug relies on Bunnix through written correspondence to get near the akuma and has him use his Book of Truth to tell him if Ladybug is really the villain, which it confirms she's the hero. Pissed that Monarch "lied to him", Jalil banishes his own akuma. Impressed by how Ladybug and Chat Noir handled things, Jeanne tells her love story with her Cat Holder, which ended with them having to denounce their Miraculouses to even have a chance to be together, though it's unknown if they did.

Good: I liked the use of the conspiracy boards turning against Ladybug and Chat Noir because honestly it would probably happen and, if not Lila, Jalil is a good character to channel that through. It's nice they're bringing the kwagatama back and yay for Adrien getting his (but omigod the comedic timing of him gazing adoringly at Marinette's photo and then Plagg straight up BARFING on him lmao).

Bad: What did I say about "Oh so when HE does it-". Here Alya gets on Marinette's case by insisting the reason that the Miraculous holder's they've been finding in the museum are all SOLO is because they're focused on their JOB instead of ROMANCE. Um, hello? What show are YOU watching? We've had FOUR SEASONS OF CHAT NOIR DOING EXACTLY THAT, but NOW you wanna talk about it?! No no no, if Chat Noir didn't get flak for it in universe, neither does Marinette. Pair that with Tikki essentially making fun of Plagg for being worried because when HER holder is in love NOTHING get's accomplished, and it's like this show is getting a kick out of mocking the VERY THINGS that have kept this show going. Guess what, Tikki, if Marinette HAD been straight forward and confessed, she'd have been turned down in Season 1, so maybe don't harp on the very thing that's made you exist for FIVE SEASONS.

This is what I meant in an earlier post about the episodes being mostly okay but then there's just ONE FUCKING THING-

Even in "Reunion", Tikki suggests talking to Jeanne but then takes it back and the episode makes it out like Marinette's the immature one for following Tikki's advice by having Jeanne annoyed with her. Oh, I'm sorry JOAN, are you BUSY? Did we INTERRUPT something?? Pretty sure you were doing a whole lot of NOTHING, so what does it MATTER what kind of question Marinette has?

I’m still waiting on the “Exaltation” english subs, so news on that one.

So that's the season so far~ Most of it came out in just a week so it was hard for me to keep episodes separate.

#my opinion #ml salt #season 5 episode 1-8 #season 5 salt #an essay by zoe

441 notes · View notes

back2bluesidex · 7 months

Text

Broken heart over whiskey glass - KSJ

Part of my Milestone Drabble Request Game. Find the request here. I am still taking requests, by the way.

Pairing: Seokjin X Reader

Theme: Angst, Unrequited love au

Wordcount: 900

Summary: Your heart breaks again, this time over whiskey glass.

Warnings: unrequited feelings, Seokjin is already engaged, mentions of drinking, hints of family drama and abusive parents.

Minors are not allowed in this blog!!

A/N: Idk how this turned out @phenomenalgirl9. so please forgive me if it's not what you had in mind. Thanks to you for sending in the request. Love ya!!

Kim Seokjin is a lot of things.

He is twinkling eyes, cherry smiles, summer warmth, blossom pink and a comforting scent.

He is also dad jokes, broad shoulders, obnoxious-ear-shuttering laugh, long legs and annoyingly himself.

But most importantly….

He is the man you are in love with. Also, the man who loves someone that isn’t you, will never be you.

The realization, the acceptance, the constant reminder.. Everything is bitter. Far more bitter than the whiskey on the tip of your tongue. This brown liquid does nothing to numb your pain but you don’t complain, not when it has been your sole companion for most of the night of your company party.

Even though your eyes are trained on your glass, you don’t miss the long steps that Seokjin takes to reach where you are sitting currently.

Why does he always find you? Why does he go an extra mile to be nice to you? Why does he do all those things and make your heart flutter and make you fall more and more only to leave you stranded with your wants and desires because he is meant for someone else?

You don’t have any answers.

“She has been following me for the better part of the night!” Seokjin whisper-yells in your ear as he lowers himself down to sit beside you on a bar stool. You divert your eyes from the glass and look at him.. only to find his brown orbs boring into yours. But not the way you’d like. Not the way you want.

He moves his eyeballs in a manner of gesturing the ‘she’ he just mentioned.

It’s a new recruit.

Her name must be Dan-ri or Dan-mi, you can’t quite recall. But what you can recall is that she has her eyes set on Seokjin from her very first day.

You suppose, she doesn't know yet that Seokjin is taken. Wait till he drops the bomb and breaks another heart alongside yours.

Your ears perk at the sound of her red heels clicking on the marble floor, a perfect set of white teeth flashing at the man for the umpteenth time in the evening.

Annoying. You take a sip from your glass.

"Mr. Kim, I thought you're gonna come back with your drink and we would have a dance!" Dan-ri or Dan-mi whines at her high pitched voice.

You roll your eyes staring at another direction.

"Ah- I would love to but I haven't gotten to spend time with my favourite colleague yet." Seokjin says, pointing at you.

You smile at the girl, a fake one obviously.

"Oh?" Her eyes widen when Seokjin winds a hand around your shoulder, pulling you a little closer to his body.

You want to run away far and far from this man. You want to put an end to this suffering but you can't help relaxing at his warmth. You melt in his embrace, putting your heart at ease, telling yourself 'just this once. I will distance myself afterwards.' again and again like chanting a mantra.

"Am I interrupting something?" The girl is more determined than you expected her to be. She doesn't leave, rather settles herself down on the barstool right next to Seokjin's.

Seokjin chuckles at her question, "It's not what you think, Dan-mi. Y/N is my favorite colleague cum one of my most favorite human beings. And I am engaged."

The words pierce through your ears, hit your heart and break it into a thousand pieces all over again. Tears start prickling your eyes, so you shut them as tightly as possible.

And suddenly you're in a flashback of your life.

After suffering from verbally and borderline physically abusive parents, a broken home, multiple failed relationships, failed attempts of being in love and being loved… you finally found yourself falling for a man who was already betrothed to someone else, who can't be yours no matter how many lifetimes you wait.

Seokjin's embrace now feels too constricted, too hot to be comfortable anymore. So you break free.

Jerking out of Seokjin's arms, you sit straight. But your actions (or disappointments) seemingly have no impact on him.

He continues, "my fiancé and I have been in a relationship for 10 years now. Highschool sweethearts you know?" A sweet smile takes over his face, probably upon painting an image of his lover in imagination, "we're soon to be married."

As soon as he finishes off, you stand up from your place, take your purse and utter a small bye to the man.

This is too much and you can’t suffer any longer. Having your heart broken everyday with the reminder is one thing but him, sitting right beside you, gushing about his fiancé, while knowing nothing about your feelings towards him, hurts ten thousand times more.

"Y/N! Wait! Let's go together. I'll drop you." You find Seokjin shouting as the distance between you two increases bit by bit.

You turn back for one last time, facing him, you part your lips and say, "not this time, Jin. It's better if I move on."

You know he hasn't heard you, the music is on full blast and there's at least 5 hands of distance between you two.

But the words are for you to hear… more than anyone else.

So, you take your steps forward and leave him behind for his good and mostly for yours.

#bts angst #jin angst #seokjin angst #bts x reader #seokjin x reader #jin x reader #bts x you #bts x y/n #jin x you #seokjin x you #seokjin fanfic #kim seokjin #bts seokjin #nika's 2k milestone drabble

86 notes · View notes

sombredancer · 8 months

Text

How to be a more interesting character than the Main Hero (Pt.3)

Shangjue and his didi (pt.2/2)

Yuanzhi wants to save Shangjue from any kind of pain so badly, and not only because he feels guilt for brother's loss, but also because he is able to see brother's true personality: Shangjue is an invisible root of Gong tree.

When an assassin and didi have a conversation in the final part of the drama, she says that there are people, in front of whom Shangjue could be vulnerable, but Yanzhi smirks and says that the Martial World won`t allow it. And it happens to be true: he knows that Shangjue’s fiancée is an assassin and he knows that, no matter how much Shangjue is into her, she would not hesitate to kill him if she had a chance, so Shangjue`s soft spot for something (such as a woman he likes) would be his doom. But he needs to look invincible, because the whole clan counts on him and relies on him.

Because Shangjue is a root of Gong clan, everyone sees only thriving and green branches and beautiful flowers (which are wealth, power and secure of Gong clan), but no one sees that it wouldn`t be possible without a root, strong yet hidden under the soil (aka one hardworking man).

I often find the fate of Shangjue's type of heroes very unfair: a person unnoted takes care of everyone and is rewarded at the end only with sufferings and death. But this story is different, because Shangjue has got his didi, who doesn't care about world but eagerly takes care of him while he takes care of anything else. This scene was the second one during the drama that upset me a lot. I spoiled myself some shots of Yuanzhi crying over brother's body and I was sure he would die because he isn't fluffy and spotless enough to stay alive in Chinese drama. Fortunately, he didn't:

It works vice versa, too:

Yuanzhi is, I suppose, coded as someone like Asperger: he is kinda genius, he preferred insects and plants to people as he was a child, he couldn`t understand why people cry and felt uncomfortable with someone`s touching (he slipped out of Shangjue’s grip when Shangjue took his hand). And Shangjue did a great job socializing him.

Being an adolescent, Shangjue hadn`t problems with feeling expression. Things Shangjue taught his didi in a flashback are the opposite to those the Main Hero’s mum taught MH and to those Shangjue believes now. Shangjue told Yuanzhi that a man should cry because in that case someone would understand one's woe and this sympathizing could help to recuperate one's soul, but now he never cries in front of someone. However, Yuanzhi learned his lesson well and isn`t embarrassed to express his feelings freely.

I found this scene very weird (if not taking into account that the flower is obviously a red herring): the Main Hero and Shangjue both fancy girls, while didi fancies a magic flower. But later, as I finished the drama, I understood: didi fancies Shangjue the most. The unique and almost extinct flower isn`t some treasure for him, it matters only that this flower can save Shangjue`s life and increase his inner powers. The previous one was taken away from Shangjue, and Shangjue allowed it to happen, because his needs didn`t matter to him compared to prosperity of his clan. (Later, as we know, it was spent in vain by a villain, which made me feel terribly sorry for Shangjue). But his didi values him enough to try to take care of him once more (and for this time he has planted more than one, in order something would end up in Shangjue’s hands even if clansmen would need this flower, too. How smart of his!). And I like that his love is not in vain – Shangjue loves him, too, and believes him in any situation, and that warms my heart. I love their relationship a lot.

And the most vivid feeling that he freely demonstrates is a jealousy towards Shangjue’s fiancée (btw, I like that Shangjue understands it and pardons his tantrums):

"Go ahead, tell me what's on your mind." *opens his mouth to start talking* "Well, rather don`t. I can see it on your face." *smiles*

So, in the part 4 I will talk about Shangjue and her.

#cdrama #my journey to you #yun zhi yu #云之羽 #cheng lei #gong shangjue #丞磊 #mjty #gong shang jue #宫尚角 #gong yuanzhi #tian jia rui #田嘉瑞 #宫远徵 #SDaboutMJTY

51 notes · View notes

thecaroliner · 4 months

Text

NATLA: An Extremely Mediocre Mess

I spent the entire day watching Netflix's ATLA adaptation and oh boy was it...something.

I struggle sometimes with putting my full thoughts into words but here goes. No idea how long this will be.

Spoilers ahead, obviously.

I want to start out by getting a few things I thought were good or at least fine out of the way.

First off I wanna mention the acting (aside from Gran Gran) was fine. I think Gordon Cormier has a lot of potential and it really felt like sometimes he was being held back by the script and direction. Really hope this role opens up new doors for him in his acting career!

Not that I think ATLA needed more violence or anything, and initially I was against them adding more violence just to make it more "realistic", but I actually didn't mind it. It was way more gruesome than I thought it would be, both Sozin and Ozai literally set people on fire and burn them to a crisp. Kind of does help set in the actual horror of what they're doing. We even saw the same happen to Kya in a flashback. Again, this wasn't needed, but I didn't mind it.

The bending effects DID look a little better than in the trailers I thought. Firebending in particular I thought was decent, all the other elements were just okay, with waterbending I feel suffering the most from it. The rest of the CGI kind of sucked though which I'll get into later.

Having Gyatso be more of a presence I thought was nice, as I always felt like he could've been a little more to the front of Aang's mind in the original series than what he was. I honestly LOVE the idea of him hanging around in the Spirit World for Aang, as in the past I've thought of that idea and wished it had happened. Except....they just kind of throw this plotline away later for no reason. So that's great.

Lastly, it was neat to see Indian culture being represented in Omashu.

Now that that's out of the way....time to really dig in.

The series starts with the Air Nomad genocide, pretty brutal stuff but I don't have much to say about this aside from the moments with Gyatso being nice.

Aang can apparently just fly now, but he only really does it to show off in this first episode. Apparently it's because he's an Airbending prodigy, despite the fact that the ability to fly was established in LOK as being a very rare occurance that only comes after letting go of every earthly attachment. But sure, let's just have Aang fly now. Why even have his glider in the first place?

He gets frozen in pretty much the exact same way, which now leads us to the Southern Water Tribe, where Katara is practicing waterbending in secret in the abandoned Fire Nation ship. It's mentioned later that Sokka and Gran Gran forbid her from practicing bending in case the Fire Nation comes back and tries to kill her, which...sure, I guess.

They find Aang's iceberg, but since Sokka isn't sexist anymore, her anger at him isn't what opens the ice, it's her attempting to pull their canoe back to them and she accidentally splits the iceberg open.

Speaking of Sokka's sexism, remember when people were trying to say "Oh the show isn't getting rid of that arc, it's just updating it because a lot of moments in the original show were iffy!" Yeah, no, they got rid of that arc entirely. Which, honestly if they had just done that without making a big deal out of it in interviews wouldn't have been an issue. The issue is them trying to act as though the narrative of the show itself was sexist and not actively showing us that Sokka is in the wrong.

Anyways, Aang literally just falls out of the iceberg and it's lowkey funny cause he just slides out like he's going down a water slide.

They take him back to the village unconscious and once he wakes up, Gran Gran (who's acting was awful by the way. Not sure if it was the actress' fault or the direction, it really felt like the direction to me). She immediately recognizes Aang's tattoos and just tells him flatly that the Air Nomads are all dead. No compassion or anything. Oh, and she out of the blue begins narrating the original series' intro verbatim which was so out of place and funny. HEY REMEMBER THE OPENING FOR THE CARTOON?? THAT'S IN HERE TOO!!!!!

Weirdly enough....it almost felt like Sokka and Aang had more of a bond than Katara and Aang. Sokka was initially skeptical of Aang but then instantly wants to go save him and I swear they had more interactions than Aang did with Katara. The two of them don't even really feel like friends until the last two episodes or so.

Also, they go to the Southern Air Temple in the first episode where Katara doesn't calm Aang down from the Avatar State but rather a memory of Gyatso did. Okay....

Oh, this also had one more thing I liked, and it was Aang giving Gyatso a proper burial. I always assumed that happened at some point, whether during the series or sometime afterwards. Nice to see it here.

Okay, so my thoughts after this are just gonna skip around a bit because I was writing them down as I went. The first half the series really didn't have much egregiously wrong with it, it was mostly just mid.

It's mentioned briefly that...Aang's airbending went out of control sometimes? Like the reason he had to train with the monks was so that he would stop accidentally hurting his friends with airbending. Because why have the storyline of him accidentally hurt Katara with firebending when you could have this instead?

The like...purple and motion blur effects they used for the Spirit World scenes was such an eyestrain....

In the Spirit World, Kyoshi gives Aang a vision of the attack on the Northern Water Tribe. Before, Aang had no reason to even bother going here, because Katara is teaching herself waterbending (turns out Gran Gran had the waterbending scroll the whole time! But hid it from Katara til now). Aang also doesn't even attempt waterbending at all this season btw

The Gaang gets to Omashu, where they decide to combine The King of Omashu, Jet, The Northern Air Temple...and The Cave of Two Lovers. Despite this sounding clunky and weird, I think these storylines together actually did mesh well (except for the COTL, which OH BOY I WILL GET TO)

The idea here is that the Mechanist, whose name is now Sai (don't know if this was ever mentioned in any supplemental material or if it was just made up for this show) and Teo live here. Jet and the Freedom Fighters also live nearby, where they are trying to plant bombs around Omashu and make the Gaang think it's the Fire Nation.

One scene I wanna mention, and please correct me if I'm wrong, but I SWEAR Sai said he needed to control the "attitude" of the hot air balloon...not "altitude."

Aang ends up getting captured by Bumi's generals, and he almost immediately figures out who Bumi is. Which...I cannot believe Aang named his son after THIS Bumi. He's kind of a huge asshole and is mad at Aang for abandoning them for the past century. Like you really had to make the character angry at him Bumi???

So, um. Let's talk about the COTL plot now.

Katara and Sokka go to try and find Aang and find out that there's a series of elaborate tunnels underneath Omashu, where they run into the singing nomads. This was literally only a plotline so that they had an excuse to sing Secret Tunnel this season. They explain to the siblings the story of Oma and Shu (which is just verbatim from the original series), ending with "Love is brightest in the dark."

Remember that. They preface the storyline of the tunnels by explicitly telling Katara and Sokka about the two lovers. Very romantic.

Katara and Sokka quickly realize that the cave crystals glow in the dark and begin to follow the path. Love is brightest in the dark, right? Along they way they begin bickering because Katara feels like Sokka still sees and treats her like a child.

Eventually they get pursued by a badger mole who begins to chase them. They apologize to one another and hold hands as they think they're about to be killed but...the badger mole stops attacking.

Why does it stop attacking, you ask?

Because now apparently badger moles can feel human emotions. They don't like feeling people fight and want to feel the love between them instead.

I was LOSING IT at this part. "Love is brightest in the dark" was apparently metaphorical.

And don't get me wrong, I love seeing platonic and familial love portrayed in media...but like, to do this storyline...don't preface it with a romantic tale of two lovers????? It gives off a very unintentionally creepy vibe for the siblings. And I'm sure I don't have to explain why badger moles being able to sense love is just dumb as shit.

Moving on....Bumi is nice again. Yay.

They go to the town where Hei Bai is attacking and Aang somehow accidentally pulls Katara and Sokka into the spirit world with him because the writers also wanted to have The Swamp here. Oh, and the Koh storyline. He doesn't steal faces for showing emotion anymore either, he just captures people and eats them later and steals their faces then. Cool.

Oh, and Wan Shi Tong is there and he looks emaciated.

Katara relives the night her mom dies, while Sokka sees a mysterious looking fox in the forest. Initially I assumed this was one of Wan Shi Tong's knowledge seekers but oh no. Oh no, it is much, MUCH worse. We'll come back to it.

Aang manages to find Gyatso in the Spirit World, which again is an idea that I LOVE. Gyatso explains that after he died, he never moved on to the next cycle of enlightenment, instead choosing to stay in case Aang needed him. They have a really touching moment, and Aang promises to come find him again after he finds Katara and Sokka.........which we'll come back to.

The events of The Blue Spirit happen, not much to talk about here. Aang connects with Roku (apparently he can only connect with past Avatars at their respective shrines, btw) and finds out Roku stole a totem of The Mother of Faces from Koh and that's why Koh hates the Avatar. Why steal that totem?? Hell if I know. Roku's also a funny man now I guess.

Aang saves Katara and Sokka from being Koh food and all is well. Yay.

They finally get to the North and this is where the show really went from being mid to pure cringe for me.

The "women only learn healing" plot is still here. Katara is rightfully angry about it, but Aang's like "oh well maybe you should listen to them". Yes, really.

Here Aang is so worried about losing anyone else, which, obviously understandable. But he doesn't want Katara and Sokka, especially Katara, to fight AT ALL. Which I mean. OG Aang never once tried discouraging her from learning to fight. Obviously he loves her and does have concern for her safety a number of times throughout the show and comics, but he also knows she can kick ass and stand her ground on her own and never tries to stop her.

Katara fights Pakku, and despite literally the day before saying she still has a lot to learn and a long way to go, she's just instantly declared a master waterbender now!

And oh boy my friends, buckle in because now we're gonna talk about Yue.

First off...her wig looks BAD. Like I'm pretty certain I saw her real hair sticking through a few times. Why not just dye the actress' hair....even Shyamalan's Yue hairstyle looked better than this, and we all know what that looked like.

So right off the bat Sokka asks Katara if Yue is at all familiar. Katara says no but Sokka keeps pressing and eventually follows Yue, where we learn she's a waterbender? Okay, not like her being a waterbender or not has any affect whatsoever on the story, but sure. We also learn that she had previously been engaged to Hahn but broke it off because he "wasn't the boy of her dreams". Not sure why they bothered to write him in the first place.

So...Yue and Sokka begin talking, and Sokka finally realizes why she's familiar to him.

I genuinely had to pause the episode to laugh when this reveal happened.

YUE WAS THE FOX SPIRIT SOKKA SAW IN THE SPIRIT WORLD.

Yes, I'm being 100% serious. When Yue was healed by the moon spirit, she turned into Danny Phantom and can now just hop in and out of the Spirit World. As a fox for God knows what reason.

BTW, this has jack shit to do with anything overall. It adds nothing. It serves NO PURPOSE. Genuinely do not know what the hell they were trying to do with that.

Um, so yeah. Moving on.

Apparently in this version, Tui and La only become mortal fish once a year or something? On the night of the "ice moon". Your guess as to what on earth an ice moon is is as good as mine.

Zhao begins to lead an invasion on the north and Momo is killed in the crossfire.

Well, almost.

Again I just busted out laughing because Momo has served NO PURPOSE until now, he's just been there because he was in the og series. I'm sorry Momo, as much as I love you....why were you here.

To save a kid from being crushed by falling debris. He just pushes them out of the way and is crushed. The reason is just so that Yue can take him to the Oasis and use healing on him with the Spirit Water.

Katara and Zuko have their classic fight and Zuko says "Oh you've found a master haven't you?" To which Katara replies, "Yeah, me" because she's a master now after 2 days remember?

Koizilla happens...the tribe is saved...Yue makes her sacrifice. So now she can go be the moon instead of a fox I guess.

Also, I think Iroh killed Zhao, despite earlier in the series refusing to kill the Earth Kingdom soldier who captured him because "we've all seen enough death."

And then...Aang goes back to the Spirit World, to find that the little "house" Gyatso was in is empty now. Gyatso is just gone now, with no explanation, although he seemed to know when he met with Aang beforehand that he would be gone from the Spirit World next time Aang tried to find him. Great job, taking the only interesting storyline made up for this series and just throwing it out the window for no rhyme or reason!

Now lemme talk about Azula....

She's not even Azula anymore. She's really insecure and worried about pleasing her father. Because whenever I thought of Azula, I always thought "insecure!" Like I get what they were going for, Zhao says this honestly kinda raw line about Zuko merely being the fire to sharpen the iron that was Azula, but like....why did she have to be this insecure person now? Also why is she even an archer now? It again has nothing to do with anything

Mai and Ty Lee are there for also no reason at all other than to be like "HEY REMEMBER THESE TWO CHARACTERS FROM THE ORIGINAL SHOW?!" They just stand there and watch Azula train sometimes.

The show ends with a Fire Sage showing Ozai through their planetarium (which they have now I guess) that Sozin's Comet is returning "soon." Who knows when! Just soon!

Also, Kataang shippers do not get your hopes up. Not that I expected much Kataang here at all, but I swear they barely even feel like friends until the end. It almost seems like Katara is more interested in him than he is in her.

My expectations of this series were low from the beginning. When it was first announced this project was in development, I said it was unnecessary and couldn't improve upon the OG in any way...and I was right. Even as its own thing entirely divorced from the cartoon, it's just kind of bland and downright confusing at times.

Anyways, my fingers hurt now so I'm going to wrap this up. Apparently I've been typing for like 1.5 hr now lol

Watch the original series instead :)

#atla #atla spoilers #natla spoilers #natla #netflix atla #atla netflix

30 notes · View notes

charmolyuphe · 3 months

Text

What happened to Lilith? (Hazbin Hotel theory)

As we all know, Vizziepop kept an aura of mystery around some characters and things in the show. I think that the character that got che fans more theories is actually Lilith. I’ve read and listened a lot of theories and opinions about her, and since some time I wanted to share mines.

What do we know about her?

In the serie, exception made for other sources of informations (like instagram posts or lives) we can tell some things. We actually know that she was the first woman and Adam’s wife,even before Eve. In the first episode they said : “From the dust of Earth they created Adam and Lilith, equals as the first of mankind, but despite this Adam demanded control and Lilith refused to submit to his will. She fled the garden. Drawn in by her fierce independence, Lucifer found her, and the two rebellious dreamers fell deeply in love.” Then the two of them tempted Adam and Eve with the fruit of knowledge of good and evil. In the book that Charlie reads at the begin of first episode it’s said that ‘they wished to share the magic of free will with the humanity’, and that makes me think that this book was written with the perspective of Lucifer (we can see in the serie that he is deeply sad about the effects of free will on the humanity, he was sincere, but I think that he regrets doing it) so I think that we don’t actually know what Lilith’s purposes were, but for now we don’t have any clue that she had hidden intentions, or at leas not completely.

“But with this fruit EVIL found it’s way on Earth.” For this they were sent in Hell. But while Lucifer became more and more sad, Lilith thrived with her songs and her powers blossomed. So we actually know that she took advantage from the whole situation, and I think that she must have cared a lot about Hell’s situation because her powers depended by this. Well, she then married Lucifer and they had Charlie. But now, in the current timeline it’s said that they split up and she is now missing since seven years.

The divorce and ‘More than anything’.

As we know, her and Lucifer split up. We don’t actually know why the two of them separated, but we surely know that at least for Lucifer has been much suffered separation (considering that he still wears his ring). It’s weird, because Vivienne said that they were a canonically very close and sugary copule, and looking at all the portraits in Lucifer’s room they seemed a very happy family. I know that this means nothing, but still they didn’t even give a hint about the reasons of their divorce. I can see the first cracks of the family in the flashback of ‘More than anything’, something about this whole scene feels a bit off. I’m not talking about the fact that we didn’t see Lilith’s face (because this can perfectly be a directorial choice for focus the song on the father-daughter relationship), but in the way that they made us see her (probably with Charlie’s perspective). I don’t know, something feels wrong about how she picks up Charlie and take her away. It’s not what I think the woman that we saw in the portraits would have done, or at least she wouldn’t have been presented with this obscure aura around her. It’s like she was trying to take away Charlie from her dad, even if Lucifer doesn’t seem worried or sad when Lilith picks her up. Was it probably at the beginning of the problems in their relationship? Charlie doesn’t seem completely sure in her mother’s harms.

The differences with the portraits and…

the similarities with Eve?

I’m not saying a lot about this because a lot of creators already pointed it out, so if you want to see more differences go to check other video that compares them.

If you want to see more of it go to check other channels of blogs.

Taking up again the flashback of ‘More than anything’ I think that it’s uncanny the similarities between Lilith and Eve. I mean we don’t actually know Eve’s appearance, and why keep her hidden and mystify it? Yes, it’s probably because they wanted to make that book sound like a tale , but still… The hair, but especially their smiles are very similar. (I mean the similarities between how Eve is represented in the first episode and the woman who is ‘supposed’ to be Lilith in ‘More than anything’).That makes me think that Lilith and Eve are indeed similar, but at the same time different: like two identical twins with small differences in style (Lilith’s hair are in general slicked back, but in the flashback she has bangs) and facial features (many pointed out the nose). This make sense because in theory Eve was meant to be like a substitute for Lilith, and probably the paradise wanted another woman attractive as Lilith (or in general that Adam liked) but more submissive. I think that even the card of Lilith (in the merchandise) it’s weird. I mean, it’s not like we never saw Lilith’s canonical appearance… so it feels weird, because she resembles more Eve than Lilith. (If you want go to check the official card).

The final scene and the final theory.

So, in the final scene Lilith made her first appearance as a character. In this scene, Lute, probably not a lot after the final battle goest to her and says: “Adam is dead, your deal is done and I’m in charge now. Your brat is threatening the very foundation of heaven and if you want to stay here you are going down there and stopping that bitch you understand me, Lilith?”.

Well, let’s begin (I’m gonna make you wish that I stayed… wait no):

So, as we know Lilith has been missing from hell since seven years. Honestly, after analyzing their appearances, the differences and the similarities, I feel that the woman that we saw in ‘More than anything’ and we are seeing in this scene is not Lilith, but Eve.

We know that Eve, some time after her creation ate the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil, all under Lucifer’s temptation (who temped her with Lilith’s help) proposed the same to Adam, and for this they lost their innocence and Evil made it’s way in the Earth. We know how ended up for Adam, but none mentioned Eve (beside Charlie in the first scene). What if for being the first one that bite the fruit of knowledge she was banished from Heaven (or Eden) even after death?

Let’s think about it, that someone made Eve give into temptation, and after her death they made a deal with her. Then Eve replaced Lilith, took away Charlie by Lucifer and split up with him (for destroy the most powerful family of hell). And under the name of Lilith she made a deal with Lucifer, Sera and Adam for start the extermination. Responding to the fears of Sera (or the paradise in general?) about the increasing power of the sinners, and gaining the grace again (remembering that in fact, Lilith never ate the fruit and remained immortal). She earned under the name of Lilith the right to stay in the Eden. I have a theory that Sera or in general all the thing was manipulated by Roo (the incarnation of Evil, but still I don’t have any clue). In fact, Eve did all this for gain again the lost status, and probably for revenge against Lilith and Lucifer.

Because in fact, beside all the affection and family thing, why Lilith would have decided to damage the sinners that made her powers blossom? That wouldn’t make sense!

(P.s. I think that the fact that Alastor went missing seven years it’s related to this, but I don’t think that he made a deal with ‘Lilith’, but with Zestial, at least considering the details of the ‘deal scene’ with Charlie. Still I don’t know how.)

This is what I think happened, but, unfortunately I don’t know where the real Lilith,Igor actually be.

That’s all dears, thanks for reading!

What do you think about this theory?

#lilith #hazbin hotel #charlie morningstar #lucifer morningstar #lilith morningstar #theory #hazbin theory

20 notes · View notes

prythianpages · 4 months

Text

ACOSM Headcanons | Rhy's Sis x Azriel

a/n: This is based off of this request here. You can find the masterlist of imagines here. I actually had more planned for Val's early life but I didn't get to writing them but I was going to mention them in future parts as flashbacks. Here's a few of them/ideas I didn't get to write out:

Shortly after Az arriving to the little house in Windhaven, Val insists that he learns how to play piano, "if you won't sing from your mouth, you should at least learn how to sing from your heart, shadowsinger."

Unbeknownst to him, Val had overheard one of the camp's healers tell her mother that Azriel should exercise and stretch his hands to prevent further stiffness. He was hesitant to learn at first due to his hands but Val was always patient. She was also just happy to have a new friend as Rhys and Cas often stuck to each other more at this point. (I feel like she's the type to enjoy taking care of others, acts of service and quality time are her love languages. She's so used to being taken care of by her mother and Rhys that whenever she can return the favor, she's happy to do so.)

There's one night where Val wakes up to a shadow tugging on her arm and it guides her to Azriel, who had snuck out and was sitting on the small porch, looking up at the moon. Poor Az had to suffer through a lot at such a young age ): so he's obviously still struggling. Though Val is his friend at this point, she can sense he doesn't want to talk about it.

"She's my friend, too. The moon. You can talk to her about anything and she'll listen," Val tells him and then moves to leave to give him his space only to be stopped by Az who tells her to stay. So they sit beside each other that night in silence until her mother wakes up and forces them back inside. A couple of nights after this, she finds Azriel staring back at the moon with a smile.

It's shortly after this that Val suggests for them to fly and they all learn that Az doesn't know how. "What do you mean you don't know how to fly??" Rhys blinks back at Az. They then decide to teach him and you can read more about here.

The three teaching Az how to fly is what kickstarts his friendships with Cas and Rhys. They realize how much better and stronger they'd be as a trio and the bat boys club is formed lol.

Of course, Val starts to feel left out. She no longer has her coloring partner (bc Cas much prefers wrestling in the living room with Rhys) and now no longer has her piano partner (bc Az would rather play cards with Cas and Rhys.) They start hanging out more and even sneaking out more to fly at night without Val.

This leads to her seeking out Rhys's attention because she misses having a friend only for it to turn into a fight. "Can you shut up?" "I'm not saying anything!" "You're thinking so loud!"

Their fight spirals out of control and ends with Rhys calling her weak. "If you're so strong, then why do you still play with that ugly doll?" "She's not ugly and her name is Darla!" This fight turns physical and leads to them wrestling on the dining room floor and ends with her doll being torn. It's the first time Rhys makes Val cry and she runs into her room, clutching the pieces of her doll to her chest.

"She doesn't have any friends, Rhys," their mother scolds him. Rhys blinks back at her, "she has us," to which their mother replies "You three have been excluding her more often. She just wanted your attention."

All three boys immediately feel guilty. Rhys asks his mother to teach him how to sew her doll back together. Though he does a terrible job and the doll looks absolutely terrifying after he's done. "Umm...why does Darla have her leg coming out of her arm socket?" Val asks when Rhys finally returns the doll to her. "It gives her character," Rhys grins sheepishly and Val is just so happy to have her brother back, she can't find herself to care. Cas and Az also apologize to her and they all make a note to include her more often whenever they can.

In fact, it gets a little overbearing as whenever Rhys gets bored, he decides to annoy her. He randomly walks into her room just to look at himself in her mirror. Sometimes, Cas joins him. They also like using her lotions and often tend to steal them lol along with her books and any little trinkets she has. It's usually Az who drags them both out her room and returns her stolen items.

On one Solstice, Cas gifts Val a tiny violin (like the one Mr. Krab from Spongebob had) and of course, she plays it for Rhys when he gets rejected by a girl or loses in a sparring match during training just to annoy/spite him.

When Rhys dares Val to go find Bryaxis, Cas valiantly offers to go with her. As they approach the darkness within the depths of the library, it's Cas who's shaking and absolutely terrified and nearly pisses himself. Val is also scared but she hides it better and when they meet Bryaxis, she finds her curiosity overcoming the fear. "You do not fear me?" "My brother taught me not to fear the darkness." in relation to one of the scenes from this imagine

*mini spoiler but not really for a future part* Years later, when they're adults, Val goes to meet Bryaxis in search of some answers. She doesn’t want to go alone but during this time, her and Az aren’t speaking. So she drags Cas along but he doesn’t go all the way down. “I got your back…from right here.”

Around the age of 15, Val gets her first period. Their mother happens to be away so of course she freaks out. Cas is the one to notice her weird behavior and panics "what do you mean you're bleeding??" "Shut up and help me!"

Val is more concerned over what this means because she's of age now and not only does she fear for her wings to be clipped but also the prospect of her father marrying her off.

She asks Cas to get Rhys but much to her horror, he brings Azriel instead, who is just as clueless as Cas. But with their three brain cells, they manage to find where her mother keeps supplies and make her some tea.

Still, Val is freaking out because she doesn't want anyone else to find out so Cas comes up with the lovely idea of masking her shift in scent by covering her in mud from where Windhaven keeps their livestock. That's how Rhys finds them and when Val learns the magic of ✨glamors✨ which later comes in handy when her and Az spend the night together 😉

After finding about the Valkyries and sneaking out info from Cas, she decides to pay them a visit. She asks them to train her and they're a bit hesitant because she's the High Lord's daughter and they sense he has no clue she came to them. However, Zeila, one of the leaders, also senses her strength and determination. She decides to take her under her wing and Val asks Tanwyn to not say anything to Cas.

It's when Cas is visiting Tanwyn at the Valkyries camp, three months later, that he spots Val on accident. She usually is good about hiding from him. "Mother's tits! What the hell are you doing here, Val??" "You say anything and I'll tell Rhys and Az you pissed yourself the night we met Bryaxis." "Fine." Your deal is sealed with a tattoo.

Cas doesn't really care that Val is training. If anything, he encourages it but this promise keeps him from gossiping to Rhys and Az about on accident. He usually is the one to tend to any injury or wounds she gets from her training session until the night he's not there and it's Az who finds her injured instead.

a/n: Here are some headcanons that may have tiny spoilers for future parts so please don't read, unless you really want to! I only put a few as I'm still working out some details:

The year Val joins the bloodrite is also the same year that Lord Devlon's son does. During this week, is where Val finds out that the reason why Damien doesn't even look her way anymore is because Azriel scared him away the night Damien broke her heart. Damien is with a group of "friends" but decides to spare her the first night he runs into her because he doesn't think she'll survive much after that.

She also sees the little gravesite made of tree branches and stones the guys made for her friend, Mal ♡ (I don't know if Illyrians go back for their dead but considering the location is sacred and kept secret, I imagine they just leave their bodies there?)Val going through the blood rite is also a way of her being able to pay her respect to where Mal's body rests and she's determined to get through the week for not just her but in memory of Mal too.

It's a hard week for her, both mentally and physically, but she manages to pull through. Of course, the moon gives her comfort at night and she finds herself talking to the moon a lot. (Meanwhile, Az also talks to the moon at night, a habit that she got him into, because he's worried about her. They both realize this when they reunite after the bloodrite.)

On the last day, just as she's starting her climb to the mountain, she encounters Damien again. He's still with that same group of allies but notices their group has decreased in numbers. She also hears them turn on him. She has a little "not my circus, not my monkey" moment where she tells herself to just go on and keep climbing but she ends up helping Damien and saving his life. It's her way of giving thanks to Lord Devlon for allowing her to join the bloodrite. and below is a little snippet of a scene of their reunion after the bloodrite:

Her violet eyes scanned the faces of the three males before her. “Would you have stopped me if I told you?”

“Yes.”

“Maybe.”

“No.”

She raised a brow at Rhysand and Azriel before turning to Cassian with a look of appreciation. “Thank you, Cas. At least someone here believed in me.”

“Whatever. So what? I may have stopped you.” Rhysand huffed, giving a playful tug at her braid, earning a glare in return. “But it’s not because I doubt your skill. It’s because I’m your older brother and it’s my responsibility to protect you.”

“I’m proud of you,” Rhysand added, giving her a small but genuine smile. “Truly.”

His smile fell as his gaze drifted to something behind her. She followed it to find Damien, Lord Devlon’s son. Azriel shifted beside her and in the blink of an eye, Damien tore his gaze away and turned back around.

“What was that all about?” Rhysand asked, glaring after the younger male.

“I have so much to tell you,” Valeria replied with a sigh, stretching out her wings. She grimaced as dirt fell off them. “But first, I need a bath.”

#azriel x oc #rhysand's sister x azriel #azriel x rhysand's sister #acotar headcanons #acosm

29 notes · View notes

thisgirlnamedblusy · 10 months

Note

Sooo if this is too dark then you can totally ignore this prompt..but what about a Laurel Gates x kidnapped fem reader? What if Laurel got away but some of the outcasts kidnaps reader to hurt Laurel since everyone knows that Marilyn and mc were dating and they figured if they torture reader they could get back at Laurel in some way for killing outcasts? Plus it was found out that reader knew about Laurel's plans and did nothing to stop her. What they didn't know was that Laurel was keeping her eyes on reader and when they had the audacity to touch her, it just made Laurel murderously furious. She comes in, sees disheveled injured reader with rips and tears in her clothes and just loses it. They kidnappers didn't stand a chance. Afterwards a lot of tender love and care between 2 reunited lovers.

Thank you!

Yesss!!! Here it is!!! I'm sorry if it's too dark... I hope you like it and sorry about the delay and the language mistakes :)))))

Are you going to save me?

Pairing: Marilyn Thornhill/Laurel Gates x Fem, Student! Reader

Warnings: Angst, mentions of horrible bullying, torture, mentions of death, slightly dark reader, hurt & comfort, dark themes

Word count: 6,334

Summary: You were living a hell in Nevermore, you only had her, but the police caught Laurel and now you have to think what your next step would be…

N/A: Requests are open!!! Sorry about the delays, I’m working hard on your requests. I love you all!!! I have to say that in this one, italics mean flashbacks!!!

“Why don't you tell this to Principal Weems?” Marilyn asked while taking care of a wound you got when you “fell” down the stairs. “I know it wasn't an accident, (Y/N), you know you can't lie to me.”

You nodded and hissed in pain as she applied cream to your arm.

“It wouldn't be any use, Marilyn...” You said with a sigh, looking out the conservatory window and holding back a tear.

She tilted her head and caressed your cheek, gently placing her lips on yours.

“I don't think you should sit there letting those beasts hurt you, manipulate you...” She said with a pitiful face, without stopping caressing you. “Don't let them walk all over you, (Y/N), you can't let them win.”

“They already have...” She said, getting up from the stool you were sitting on. “I just, I just have to hold on for a few more months... A little more time and it will all be over forever...”

The redhead stood behind you and wrapped her hands around your waist, pulling you towards her, sighing and resting her head on your shoulder.

“It hurts me to see you suffer, (Y/N), you don't know how much it hurts me,” she whispered in your ear.

“Just ignore it, like I do, I don't want to cause you any trouble,” you said, moving away from her embrace, tired of the life you had in Nevermore, of your life in general.

“I can't ignore that, (Y/N), you are the most important thing in my life...” Marilyn sighed, rubbing your back, standing in front of you again. –“I... I just can't, (Y/N).”

“You should... There's nothing you can do, or that I can do, just be patient...” You said, wiping a tear from your cheek and heading towards the exit, wanting to sink into your bed and never wake up again.

“Wait, wait, (Y/N). You're wrong...” She told you with a gloomy tone. “There may be something…”

“Anything else?” The sheriff asked, while you clung to the blanket that the emergency services gave you. You raised your gaze, which you had fixed on the ground.

“No,” you said seriously, firmly.

The police officer nodded and ran a hand over your shoulder before walking away and joining another of his colleagues.

That night everything had been chaos. That horrible pilgrim, Joseph Crackstone, had managed to come back to life, and with a terrible purpose, to kill all the outcasts, everything that he and his family called: The scum of the world.

Fire, destruction, screams and cries, that was a good summary for what happened in Nevermore that night. But none of that mattered. What mattered was that the woman you loved, Marilyn, was responsible for everything, Laurel Gates, a ghost, one full of hatred and vengeance, one who had camouflaged herself under the kind and innocent botany teacher.

The same woman who took care of you, who cared about you, the same woman with whom you started a forbidden, inappropriate relationship, and with whom you thought you would go to the end of the world.

Certainly for you any place was much better than Nevermore. You were not an outcast, nor a normie, you were in the middle of two worlds. Your family came from a proud line of sirens, but you were the different, the weak link in the chain, a girl who was incapable of singing, of hypnotizing, of enchanting like your family did. You just swam well, you weren't even able to transform. You were a disaster, a stain on your family's lineage, an outcast, a waste who deserved nothing more than to study in a place where your classmates thought the same. It was like you were living in hell.

You were never particularly sociable, nor were you interested in making friends. You were a lonely, different girl, and that made you the target of all the bullies at school. Throwing you down the stairs was something that could always happen, you lived surrounded by words of contempt, ridicule and pushing.

If that redheaded normie had never helped you, you didn't know where you would be, or if you would exist. Maybe the pity she felt towards you led to your relationship, but you never wanted to see it that way. You simply saw two lost souls in a place that didn’t belong to them.

You weren't sure that she loved you, that you weren't a simple game for her, an entertainment, something that only served to forget the life she had at school.

No, it wasn't like that. You knew it, she loved you. You knew it when Marilyn revealed to you that that wasn't her name, that she wasn't just any stupid normie teacher, that she was Laurel Gates.

You kept her secret and didn't give it importance. In the world you lived in, she was everything to you, you didn't even care about her name, just about she didn't close the door at night, that you could stay forever in her bed, in her arms... That together you would heal your wounds.

You got up from the hood of the car you were sitting in and walked like a zombie towards the school building. A lot had happened that night, but at that moment you only thought about Laurel, where she would be, if the police were guarding her or if they had already locked her up forever.

You knew that thinking about it only hurt you and you could only sleep, hoping that a note would slip through the door, that she wouldn't be under arrest, that she would tell you that she would always be with you.

You stayed up all night, but you didn't hear the familiar noise of the love notes she used to slip, nor the quick, discreet footsteps echoing on the wood. She wasn't there, she was gone.

The next morning was a constant noise of suitcases and students leaving school. Classes had been suspended and most of your classmates were returning home. You don’t. Your parents told you that you were old enough to take care of yourself. You weren't surprised by that answer, it seemed like everyone hated you, hated you for as long as you could remember.

A few students also did not receive a visit from their families, either because they were too far away and it would take them a while to get there, or because they simply didn’t have a family.

The dining room was disturbing, almost completely silent. You walked through the empty tables, surrounding the only one of them all that was occupied by your classmates.

You ate in silence, without looking into those eyes that seemed to have no mercy even at a time like this. It was always the same, a dead silence when you passed by them, a lot of murmurs and mocking laughter when you walked away. You were used to it.

“Guys, guys!” One of your classmates, precisely a petulant siren, said abruptly entering the dining room holding what looked like a newspaper..

“What's wrong, Melissa?” Brad, the worst one of your classmates, asked, the one who made fun of you the most. Just hearing his voice made you stab the knife hard into your food.

“She has escaped...” the girl said, leaving the newspaper on the table. “Laurel has escaped.”

Your indifference and disgust were replaced by a sudden look at the table, one of curiosity, of surprise.

“What?” another of the boys said, picking up the newspaper and luckily for you, reading it aloud. “Laurel Gates, accused of several murders, escaped from the Jericho police station this morning, leaving several officers injured. Sheriff Galpin, still affected by the internment of his son, who served to those murders, has confirmed to this newspaper that they will not stop until they find her whereabouts...”

“Laurel...” You sighed, in a tone low enough not to be heard by them. Your eyes were wide open and your hands were shaking, making an unpleasant grinding sound with the cutlery.

She had escaped, they didn't have her. A ray of hope crossed your chest. You didn't know if that really had anything to do with you, you doubted it, but deep in your heart you felt that she was still there, possibly waiting for you, looking for the moment to take you with her far away from there, as she had promised you so many times.

“What are we going to do now?” the siren asked, sitting down and leaning over to talk to the others.

“Well, it's clear. Weems is in the hospital and the police are watching Nevermore, we don't have to worry about anything,” Brad said.

“I'm not afraid of her coming back, in fact, I want her to. The Jericho police seem like something out of an afternoon TV movie, they are never going to find her...” Melissa whispered.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, let's take justice into our own hands. That crazy Gates wanted to kill us, we can't let her get away with it, don't you see? This is our opportunity,” the girl stated.

You listened attentively to the conversation, pretending to drink some water and playing with your food. You were probably so insignificant to them that they didn't even care that you were there.

“Oh, you mean that we…”

“Exactly. We’ll find her and make her pay for her crimes. Who's signing up?”

Everyone looked at each other and hesitantly nodded.

“How do you plan to do it? No one knows where she is,” Brad said, pointing to the newspaper.

“Well, that's something we're going to find out...”

Fed up with what you were hearing, you pushed your chair back, making a noise on purpose, and left the tray in its place, leaving the dining room under the watchful eyes of your companions.

You didn't believe for a second that anyone would find her. You knew her well. She was intelligent, elusive. No one would find her in a million years.

Lacking something to do, you returned to your room, eagerly waiting for the night to come, the moment when you were sure that she would come for you, that she would return to rescue you.

“Laurel Gates? But, but that's impossible... She, she died, I heard Wednesday Addams say that,” you said, incredulous at that unexpected confession.

“She didn't die, (Y/N)...” Marilyn said, shaking her head, sitting next to you. “She never did.”

You looked nervously everywhere. You knew who the Gates family was, but you didn't imagine that Marilyn, your girlfriend, your lover, was the last living descendant.

“So... You, you lied to me...” You said, realizing the truth. Laurel shook her head again and grabbed you by her shoulders so you were looking at her face.

“Honey, I did it to protect myself from them. Jesus Christ, (Y/N), can you imagine what they would have thought if they knew who I really was?” She asked with a soft and calm tone, a far cry from what those words meant.

“I...I...” You stuttered.

“They would never have hired me, I would never have met you... Everything... This whole world of outcasts, of people who believe they are victims of society, would never have understood who I am...”

“I can, I can understand...” You whispered, nodding slowly. She smiled and took your hand, caressing it lovingly.

“It's not just about what they do to me, about the contempt I have to suffer for being normi, it's about my life, (Y/N), they destroyed it,” she explained to you.

“Your family...” You said in a very low voice, remembering everything you had heard about them, about what happened to them. “They say they died by chance, because of the hatred they accumulated towards the outcasts.”

Laurel laughed nervously, shaking her head.

“My girl... My poor little girl... They lied. Outcasts lie, (Y/N), it's their nature. They killed them.”

You looked up, horrified by those words.

“My brother Garrett fell in love with an outcast, Morticia Frump.”

“Isn't that Wednesday's mother?” You interrupted. The redhead looked at you and nodded, her face changed, a darkness slowly taking over it.

“That's right, honey. That… Whore… she cajoled Garrett, made him believe she had feelings for him only to break his heart. Garrett died defending our family, protecting the normis from the monsters that live in Nevermore...”

“I didn't know that,” you said embarrassed.

“Of course you didn’t... Everyone in Jericho made an effort to ensure that this crime went unpunished, that the culprits were not arrested, do you know why?” You shook your head. “Because the outcasts only wanted to protect themselves. Always so vain, concerned only with their own good, never with the suffering of others. That has not changed.”

“It's, it's horrible,” you said. She nodded, tucking a strand of hair behind your ear.

“What they are doing to you is worse, (Y/N)... But don't worry, together we will get through it, I promise you...”

You opened your eyes disoriented. Your room was dark, it was already night. In your dreams you only saw her, you saw her enter through that door and rescue you from that place, get you out of there forever.

You had slept a few hours, but your body still hurt, your head was thinking too many things at once and you still didn't know anything about Laurel.

“Fuck, of course...” You said to yourself, grabbing your jacket. “Why hasn't it occurred to me before?”

You felt stupid at that moment. Nevermore was already a fortress before everything happened, but now, the Jericho police guarded the place. Laurel couldn't get in without being caught. It was too risky. There was only one option in your head that sounded reasonable: That she was waiting for you somewhere, somewhere safe.

The Gates mansion was the perfect place. The police had already looked there, and no one would think she had returned. Besides, it was her house, she knew it, she knew all the nooks and crannies of it, all the perfect places to hide, and so do you.

You opened the door and the hallways were terrifying. Empty, devoid of the life they used to have. You walked through them, making too much noise with your footsteps. You didn't care too much, no one could hear them.

“Shit,” you said, hiding in a corner as you saw a police officer patrolling the front door.

“Jenkins, any news? Over,” It rang through the agent's walkie.

“Negative, everything calm. Any trace of Gates? Over.”

“No, we have built the mansion stone by stone and nothing. We'll search the neighboring towns, over.”

“Roger, good luck, over and out.”

You were breathing nervously, but that transmission you heard served to reaffirm your suspicions. Laurel was probably at the mansion, the police had left the scene.

You searched your pockets for something to distract the policeman. You found it, a pen. Looking towards the far side of the hall, you threw it, causing the noise to alert the police officer.

“Is there anyone there?” He asked, moving away from the door.

It was your chance. You ran towards the exit and with a jump that you didn't think was possible, you scaled the school wall, landing spectacularly on the grass and heading without delay to the abandoned mansion.

That place was deserted. There were no patrol cars, no police officers. Entering that house made a lot of memories invade you, memories with her.

You went through each and every one of its rooms, including hers, a place where you spent a lot of time, and a lot of cold, snuggling naked next to her while she whispered words of love, comfort, promises of a better future.

Your hopes were fading, because you couldn't find the redhead anywhere, in any of the hidden corners of the house. There was only one room left, the basement, a place that terrified you.

From above, you looked at the stairs and swallowed, turning on the switch and ready to walk down and find her, reassure your heart that she was there waiting for you. You couldn't have known it, a strong blow to the head made you fall down the stairs. You fell unconscious.

The first thing you saw when you opened your eyes was the hanging lamp in the basement. Your vision was clearing, but your head hurt and you felt something wet right where you received the blow. You went to put a hand to your head, to check the severity of the wound, but to your horror, you were unable to move, you were tied to a chair hand and foot, and you were not alone.

“Good morning, (Y/N), did you sleep well?” Melissa, your fellow mermaid, asked, surrounded by the same people who were in the dining room that afternoon.

“What?” You said annoyed, babbling, fighting against the ropes that kept you tied to the chair. “What's happening?”

“It's funny that you ask that,” Brad said.

“What are you doing here?” You asked, starting to get scared. Their gaze was dark, accusatory.

“What are you doing here?” Melissa asked back, approaching and crossing her arms. “Were you expecting someone to appear?”

You shook your head, still dizzy from the headache. You didn't understand anything, you were terribly confused.

“No...” You whispered.

“No?”

You looked at her terrified as she grabbed some papers that another classmate gave her.

“It's funny... I've always wondered why you got along so well with Miss Thornhill. You were always with her... You got the best grades... I should have realized it sooner...” She told you, showing you some papers that you quickly recognized. It was horrible. Those thugs had in their hands the love letters you sent to Marilyn in response to hers. All of them were in those monsters’ hands.

“Where did you get them from?” You asked nervously, fighting harder against your restrictions. “Give them back to me!”

“Oh no, no, no. Laurel Gates wasn't made of stone after all... She kept them in a box, in the conservatory. She probably didn't count on us finding them...” Melissa said, turning page after page, looking for something. “Oh, this is my favorite one: Marilyn, you are the love of my life… Your letter made me cry…

“Please...” You begged, when you heard their mocking laughter.

“Wait, I'm not done yet… Last night when I left your room I did it with regret, with anger for not being able to stay with you, hug you. I can't stop thinking about your kisses, your caresses, about your way of making love to me...”

“Oh, God, that's gross,” Brad said, interrupting Melissa with a gesture of disgust.

“Yes, it's quite eww,” the siren said, putting on the same expression.

You moved desperately in the chair, making small jumps while you grunted and cried.

“Stop it!” You shouted. “Stop!”

“Wow, calm down, (Y/N)... Fucking a teacher is the fantasy of many people, you have nothing to be ashamed of,” the girl said, throwing the letters on the ground and getting dangerously close to you, resting her hands on the chair arms.. “Unless that teacher is a psychopathic murderer who wanted to kill us all…”

You were burning with anger, rage, shame. You were always weak, you always allowed yourself to be manipulated, beaten. But that had been too much. They knew about the relationship you had with Marilyn, probably that's why they had tied you up in that basement.

Your body screamed to defend itself and it did so in the only way it could.

With all your strength, you moved your head forward, headbutting the siren hard. She screamed in pain.

“You bitch!” She yelled, wiping the blood that was now falling down her nose. “You're going to find out who I am...” She threatened, approaching you again. You closed your eyes, waiting for a blow, one that would surely hurt.

“Hey, hey, Meli…” Brad said, holding the siren by the arm. “Calm down, remember why we are here…”

Melissa growled and spat at the ground, right beneath you.

“It's true, I almost forgot... You weren't just a fuckable toy, right? These letters make us think that there was something else between you two.”

“You don't know anything...” You said, spitting out some blood, you had bitten your tongue when you headbutted that bully.

“Well, these letters have given us a lot of information. Information that we are going to use for the common good. We will be heroes, (Y/N), thanks to you.”

You shook your head and little by little your gaze darkened.

“If what these letters say is true, you are the perfect tool for her to come to you, and for us to catch her,” Brad said, standing in front of Melissa.

“You are the bait, (Y/N),” another of the boys said.

You shook your head and again tried to remove those ropes, without success.

“Unless…” Melissa said, reflecting. “Unless you know where she is…”

You stopped, looking serious. You didn't know, but you weren't going to give them the pleasure of denying it, not anymore. This had surpassed all their abuse, all the hell they made you live in Nevermore.

“Do you know where she is?” Brad asked.

“Wait, leave it to me,” The siren said, taking off the ridiculous amulet that she was wearing around her neck. “Tell me where Laurel is,” She whispered, making you dizzy, but nothing else. No desire to confess, nor obey her stupid siren song.

“It doesn't work,” the boy who was behind said.

“I'm half a mermaid, you're just wasting your time...” You hissed triumphantly, with half a smile on your face. You had nothing to lose by being brave, although in that moment you were just being stupid, adding more fuel to the fire around you, putting yourself more at risk.

Melissa backed away with disturbing calm and turned her back to you, laughing softly.

“Maybe I'm not using the right methods...” She whispered, before turning around and punching you in the face.

The blow was terribly painful, right in her eye. You could feel the place spinning around you, how you would have fallen back if one of the boys hadn't held your chair.

“Hey, hey, calm down, we need her alive,” Brad said, while Melissa shook her sore hand.

Tears ran down your face, you felt how the blow throbbed, how it swelled and how it hurt, but your expression was not one of pain, but of rage, of determination. You wouldn't know if you could escape from there, but you did know that you wouldn't be a rag again, someone worthless, incapable of defending yourself. If you were going to die, you would do so by giving your life for Marilyn, for Laurel.

“You stupid...” You whispered, spitting out more blood. “You will never find her… She is smarter than you, faster, better than you all…”

“So you think? Maybe Brad is right and we can't kill you, but...” She said, looking for something in her bag. “We can have a little fun, maybe that way your tongue will loosen,” she whispered between sinister laughs, wielding small scissors and bringing them to your neck.

You thought it was the end, no matter how much they didn't want to kill you, but you only heard how those scissors cut your clothes, exposing you, increasing your shame and intensifying that torture.

“You're disgusting, (Y/N)...” The siren whispered in your ear. “Hey Brad, what did that idiot Stanley see in this cockroach?”

He shrugged and smiled.

“I don't know, but he was very annoying,” he said with an indifferent tone.

Hearing that name made you shake, it made the worst memories of your life come back to your mind. You remembered that horrible night in the toilets, when you were about to suffer something much worse than bullying. As always, she saved you. Laurel noticed that you were not where you had met and she ran to find you, something you still believed was some kind of miracle.

That was too much for you. You knew that what Laurel told you about the outcasts was true, that they were vain, selfish, insensitive, liars. But the fact that your almost rape was a joke, a simple joke to them, made something in your head click.

“You bastards...” You whispered, while they had fun cutting your clothes. “You should all be dead. Laurel was right… you must be dead! If that stupid Wednesday hadn't discovered our plan you would now be suffering the worst of torture, you would be burning in hell... It's what you deserve!”

“(Y/N), you're here...” Laurel said, sighing as she found you sitting on the Poe statue. “I've been looking for you all over the academy, honey...”

You nodded reluctantly, mulling over the disturbing news you had heard.

“He... He, he's dead...” You said with a thin voice. “Stanley has died…”

“I know, I know...” She said, sitting next to you, putting an arm over your shoulders and pulling you closer to her.

“I, I don't know how to feel...” You confessed. You had nothing to hide from the redhead, and your contradictory feelings had been torturing you all day.

“What do you mean?” She asked, wiping away a tear that fell down your cheek.

“I... I should, I should feel sad...” You said, raising your knees to your chest.

“Sad?”

You nodded.

“He was supposed to be my classmate, but no, I don't feel anything...”

“He wasn't a classmate, (Y/N), he was a monster,” she told you with a dark voice, making sure there was no one in that hallway. “Don't feel guilty for not mourning his death. He got what he deserved.”

“That... That's not true. No one deserves to die,” you said, shaking your head. Laurel sighed and hugged you lovingly.

“(Y/N)... You know very well that this is not true. Tell me, do you think you deserve everything they do to you?”

You didn't know what to answer.

“Answer me, do you think you deserve it?” She asked, more insistently.

“No...” You whispered.

“Why then do they have more right to live than you? Don't be sorry, (Y/N)...”

“I can't help it,” you said, laughing desperately.

Laurel looked at you tenderly.

“I know, honey, you're so good... Too good for this place...”

“I wish I could leave...” You said, dropping your legs. “I wish I could make time go by faster and we could go, both of us…”

“Listen to me, honey,” she told you, moving you so you could look at her. “We will leave very soon, but first… First I have to do something, something important, and I need you to trust me.”

“What?” You asked, surprised by those words.

“You have to hold on, soon all the suffering will end... But I need you to help me.”

“How?”

“Just trusting me. This is not a place to talk about it… Come, let's go, I will explain everything to you in the mansion…”

“Our plan?” Brad said, speechless. “You knew it?”

You, full of anger, nodded. There were no regrets anymore.

You knew what was going to happen that night, what Laurel had planned. The divine and dark punishment that would cover Nevermore in flames, that would reduce it to ashes. At first you didn't know what to do, whether to say something to Weems, to your companions... But it only took a couple more taunts for you to stop hesitating.

You were never really into it, you just trusted Laurel, you let her do whatever she wanted without questioning her, it was the only thing she asked of you.

“Wait, are you telling me that you knew she was a crazy psychopath and you didn't tell anyone?” Melissa asked now, making a cut in your pants. “Okay, that pissed me off.”

“Wow, (Y/N), you've pissed her off,” Brad said ironically.

You screamed in pain as the tips of those scissors dug into your skin, as small cuts ran down your limbs. That wasn't a plan to attract Laurel, but rather torture, one that would end with you, you were sure.

A sound of breaking glass interrupted Melissa's cuts and everyone fell silent. You stopped screaming, looking at your wounds with concern.

“What was that?”

“I don't know...” Brad said, looking at the ceiling. “Henry, go to check it.”

The boy shrugged and shook his head. He looked scared.

“I... Why me?” He said stuttering.

“Shut up and go up,” Melissa said.

Everyone turned their back on you and you took advantage of that small distraction to rub one of the ropes in your hand against a broken part of the chair. You were weak, but you thought the rope would eventually break.

Henry slowly climbed the stairs, but when he disappeared from your sight, a loud crash was heard and the boy fell down the stairs, seriously injured in the head.

“What's happening?” Brad asked. Approaching the injured boy, who was breathing heavily, climbing the stairs. A serious mistake on his part, since with the same strong blow, he also became unconscious.

In the confusion of the moment, you managed to free one of your hands and begin to untie your feet. When you saw a familiar figure coming down the stairs, you stopped. It was her. Laurel was there to save you, carrying an iron bar as a weapon.

Melissa stepped back, but she kept her gaze fixed on the redhead, whose eyes were full of hatred.

“Laurel...” You said sobbing. She looked at you and gaped, probably impressed by the state you were in.

“My God... My love...” She said scared, staggering. Melissa took the opportunity to remove her amulet.

“Be careful, she's a siren!” You shouted. Too late.

“Throw that bar...” The siren sang, leaving Laurel hopelessly hypnotized.

At least it seemed that way, as the redhead dropped the iron bar and she froze.

With a grunt, you managed to remove the restraints from your feet and with impossible strength due to your state, you lifted the chair, breaking it on the siren's back.

Laurel blinked, reacting just in time.

You let yourself be on the floor, seeing with relief that the girl was lying unconscious.

“(Y/N), (Y/N), my love, baby... But, but what have they done to you?” She said, looking at all your wounds and your tattered clothes.

You didn't respond immediately, you simply hung onto her clothes, crying uncontrollably.

“They, they tied me up... They wanted to know where you were... They found out about us and... I, I didn't tell them anything, I promise...”

Laurel hugged you with a sigh, making soothing sounds.

“I'm sorry I'm late, honey... I've looked for you everywhere,” she said, whispering in your ear without stopping to hug you for even a second. “I couldn't leave you…”

You laughed nervously, knowing that you really weren't wrong, that she had come back for you, that she had never left your side. As she comforted you, she looked at the ground. Next to the unconscious Melissa, were the letters that you sent her. She took them and looked at them carefully.

With a serious expression, she read them over her and with a grunt she stood up, helping you to your feet.

“Damn...” she hissed, putting a hand in her pocket. “Damn you!” She shouted, pulling out a gun and pointing it at the siren's head. “You're going to pay for this!”

You were barely standing. The wounds hurt and your heart was beating too fast. For once, you wished she would pull the trigger, that she would put an end to your kidnappers, that justice would finally be served. But you weren't a murderer, you couldn't imagine seeing the life fade from their faces, even if they were monsters.

“Close your eyes, honey, this ends here,” she told you through clenched teeth.

“No!” You screamed, putting a hand on her arm, deflecting the barrel of the gun. Laurel looked at you with a frown. “No, don’t do it…”

“After what they've done to you? (Y/N), you're not thinking clearly,” she told you, grabbing you by your shoulders.

“I just, I just want to get out of here, forget everything that's happened...” You said sobbing, causing her to hug you again. “I don't want more blood, I just want to be with you…. Please, Laurel…”

The redhead sighed, but she heard you, lowering her gun and throwing it across the basement.

“My love…”

“Please... Let's go...” You begged, burying your head in her shoulder. “Please.”

“Okay, okay... I would do anything for you... My good girl...” She whispered in your ear, putting her arm over your shoulders. “You can walk?”

“I... I think, I think so...” You said, moving your legs injured by the cuts. She nodded and helped you out of the basement.

“You have to get dressed and healed first,” she murmured, evaluating the state of your wounds again. “Those beasts…”

“Laurel...” You sighed, painfully walking up the stairs. “You've come…”

You were confused, dizzy and disoriented. There was too much for you that night. You never imagined the extent of the cruelty of your companions. You believed in the goodness of people, you believed that Laurel was exaggerating, but you were wrong. If she hadn't shown up, you would surely be dead now, they would never let you escape.

“Of course I've come, honey,” she said, closing the basement door.

“No, you haven't, I'm, I'm dreaming... It's just a dream.”

Laurel sighed and gently leaned you against a wall, cupping your face with her hands.

“It's not, (Y/N), I'm here, with you, and I'm going to get you out of here,” she told you, kissing you tenderly, caressing your body, making you feel that everything was real, that she had saved you one more time.

“I want to go away...” You whispered, letting yourself fall on top of her. “Very far…”

“And we will go, honey, so far away that they will never find us.”

“It hurts...” You lamented, walking towards an old office. Laurel sat you in a chair and searched for something in a backpack while she finished removing your ruined clothes.

“I know... Hold on a little more...” She told you, taking out some bandages and a disinfectant.

Your body was shaking from the cold and shock. Outside the only thing you could hear was the rain hitting the old windows and your moans when the redhead gently rubbed your wounds.

“They are animals,” she hissed, wiping the blood from your legs. “(Y/N), listen to me.”

You raised your head, trying to stay calm, trying not to sob anymore. It was something impossible, you were so distraught, so devastated that you didn't even realize how incredible it was that she had escaped, and that she had done it for you.

You nodded.

“You have been very brave,” she told you firmly, trying to distract you from the pain of your wounds. “Now you and I will get in the car and we will go far away from her, to a cabin in the woods… That's what you wanted, remember, honey? Do you remember how we imagined that moment?”

You smiled with some concern. You knew that the police were looking for her, that all the surrounding towns were full of agents ready to catch her again.

“The police... They... They're looking for you...” You hissed, moving involuntarily due to the sting you felt.

“Very well, let them look for me, they will never find me,” she said, downplaying it, surrounding your wounds with some bandages. “They will never find us, (Y/N).”

“But, but they have arrested Tyler...”You said, remembering that horrible monster that obeyed her orders.

“He can't live without me. He's out there, in the car, waiting for us...” She told you, leaning on your knees. “You don't have to worry about anything, honey.”

“I don't want to lose you again...” You sobbed, while the redhead looked for some clothes to put on over you.

“You won’t do it. I will always be with you, my love... We will be happy, you and me,” she said, putting a coat over you, which you clung to.

“I'm an idiot...” You whispered. She looked at you seriously, shaking her head.

“I don't want you to say that again, you are nothing like that. You are the most wonderful girl in the world.”

“No... I should have known that they would come for me... It was just a matter of time.”

“Stop it, (Y/N),” she told you sharply, making you step back a little. “You haven't done anything wrong. Everything you have done it was for love, and that is precious...”

“Laurel, hold me...” You begged. She looked at you with pity. She was clearly nervous. Your companions were unconscious, at any moment they would wake up and then it would be the end. You were so scared, so nervous that you couldn't even understand the reality of your situation. You just wanted to feel the refuge of her arms, her kisses, her caresses...

She did, standing up and pulling your head towards her body, surrounding it, giving you all the love a hug could give.

“I love you, my girl,” she told you, while your tears soaked her clothes. “Oh, my God, I'm sorry for not being with you...”

“I'm the one who's sorry... It was all my fault...” You murmured, clinging to her clothes.

“Shut up, (Y/N). Everything that has happened has nothing to do with you. I don't want to hear that from you again, do you hear me? Now you are going to get up, we are going to leave this house and we are going to start a new life together. The past is left behind. There will be no more outcasts, no Nevermore, nothing to remind you of this horrible place. We are both going to live together, loving each other every day, without worries, happy, my love, happy as ever...

“Happy…” You repeated.

“So happy…”

#marilyn thornhill #marilyn thornhill x reader #wednesday #ms thornhill #oneshot #laurel gates #fluff

48 notes · View notes

viridiave · 1 year

Text

a very long post about opinions on the OT2 character themes

> disclaimer: these are the ramblings of someone who has not formally studied music or music theory and is just going off of the vibes that they got from listening to the character themes over and over. so uh please take these opinions like the opinions that they were meant to be

> also MASSIVE SPOILERS AHEAD, PLEASE READ AT YOUR OWN RISK

OCHETTE

Ochette, the Hunter

- I love this theme. The first time I heard the samples on the Octopath website I fell in love instantly and was convinced that Ochette was going to be my starter just because of how EPIC it sounded. When the full version came out, my feelings on it being epic did not change one bit because it captures the spirit of going on a grand mission SO WELL, and the theme itself feels like it represents Toto'haha as a whole more than just Ochette, reminding us every time of the gravity of their situation. Of course I have maybe too many problems with her actual story but damn if it doesn't do a great job at being cinematic. You can just tell the dev team had so much fun making scenes with the scale of the Legendary Beasts in mind

- also I'm not the only one who hears a slight choir in the background right.

In Pursuit of Legends

- easily one of the best pre-battle themes in the game - the high wind instruments just send chills down my spine no matter what situation Ochette is put in, and when we hear it for the last time in Ochette 3 - oh BOY does it feel incredible. Speaking of Ochette 3

The Journey for Legends Ends

- Out of all the Journey Ends remixes Ochette's version of it is undoubtedly one of my favorites - easily cracks the top 3. In my first run of OT2, I saved Ochette 3 for last, and having it be against the fight against the Darkling?? The high wind instrument sounded like WAILING and I can't get over how fitting that is given everything that the Darkling had gone through until this moment. The whole island is at stake but our attention is all on the Darkling's suffering and honestly? That whole sequence made me forget about the problems I had with Ochette's story and got me to cry a bit because holy shit

CASTTI

Castti, the Apothecary

- I don't have too many strong feelings about Castti's theme, but I dearly appreciate how subdued and somber it sounds. It fits Castti's journey of finding her memories so well and I just generally have no complaints.

- HER LEITMOTIF HOWEVER - the theme used in every flashback sequence incorporates it so well that I cry every goddamn time that it's used. THIS IS THE THEME THAT HER CHAPTER 3 ENDED WITH. IT'S SO SAD AND LOST THAT IT JUST AKSJAKS WHAT DID NISHIKI INJECT INTO THIS THEME???

In Pursuit of Memories

- I love For Succor from the first game. Easily one of the most cinematic-sounding pre-battle themes. In Pursuit of Memories takes everything that made For Succor amazing and TURNS IT UP TO 11 AND WOW THOSE TRUMPETS ARE SENDING CHILLS UP MY SPINE. Castti's leitmotif messes up my brain a lot it's great

The Journey for Memories Ends

- As much as I wanted Castti's rendition of this song to crack the top 3 my god the renditions that DID just made me feel way more BUT HECK IF THIS DIDN'T MAKE ME FEEL A LOT OF THINGS

- Having her theme be up against Trousseau feels incredibly triumphant. Like she's being backed up by Eir's Apothecaries as she fights like Jesus they went SO HARD

THRONE

Throne, the Thief

- I'm probably going to get a lot of flack for this but. I especially don't have strong feelings about Throne's theme. I like it enough, I'm a sucker for strings and I think it suits her well, but I feel like it blends too much into the rest of the soundtrack. It could be the instrument choice, it could be the chords? I promise I like the strings. I also love how it played in her ending. I feel nothing but happiness for Throne when I see her endcard I love it so much

In Pursuit of Freedom

- To be completely honest I have to strain my ears to actually hear Throne's motif in the pre-battle theme but I don't have a lot to say about it - definitely blends in too much with the violins.

The Journey for Freedom Ends

- OKAY THE LOW ELECTRIC GUITAR RIFFS IN THE BEGINNING OF THE RENDITION? GOD-TIER - FOR SOME REASON I ALWAYS PAY ATTENTION TO THOSE AND THEY'RE REALLY GOOD BUILDUP

- As for the rest of it it's fine I guess? Like I like hearing it and battling with it but I think the first time around I was way too confused with the bombshells that Claude dropped on us for me to properly appreciate the music

OSVALD

Osvald, the Scholar

- At first I thought this was a pretty generic somber theme that REALLY loves its cellos, but in my second playthrough I grew to appreciate it a lot more. Without changing a single note, Osvald's theme goes from somber to triumphant over the course of his story and it's kind of insane to me?? Like it fits way too well with the bittersweet ending that he has but has so much room for hope and somehow his character theme captures that so well??? Gods bless you Osvald

In Pursuit of Revenge

- Gotta say - I don't have a lot of feelings on this either. Other than to say that it's badass and imposing as all hell

The Journey for Revenge Ends

- OKAY I HONESTLY DID NOT THINK THAT THIS THEME COULD EVER FIT A FUCKING. DRAGON BALL KAMEHAMEHADOUKEN DUEL BETWEEN HIM AND HARVEY BUT THE ELECTRIC GUITAR MELODY PROVED ME SO WRONG. THIS THEME GOT ME REALLY HYPED UP

- Honestly the fact that I was maybe rooting for Osvald too hard to just kick Harvey's ass because he hurt Elena probably helped BUT STILL AWESOME THEME

PARTITIO

Partitio, the Merchant

- God. The moment I heard the electric guitars I was already sold but then the SAX kicked in and it's like 'YO ALRIGHT WE'RE BALLING'

- this post really started out with me describing actual feelings. Don't worry we're still going to talk about feelings but I don't have much to say about Partitio's theme other than it's awesomea and that people should play it in bars

In Pursuit of Happiness

- man this game is really giving me a great appreciation of the power of electric guitars. I see the appeal now. I especially see it in Partitio's leitmotif cuz man it really makes me want to end poverty. Unfortunately I don't have Partitio's business acumen OR his exuberance so I like. The most I can actually do is look into charity and volunteer work but this theme reminds me that that's good effort too

The Journey for Happiness Ends

- Gotta say? I don't have a lot of strong feelings about this rendition. Like I love Partitio and his story's ending to BITS but I think the fact that we're fighting a whole-ass steam-powered war train had the more staying power for me in this fight. Not that his theme was bad by any means because MAN that electric guitar solo goes bonkers

AGNEA

Agnea, the Dancer

- HANDS-DOWN MY FAVORITE OF ALL THE 8PATH2 CHARACTER THEMES - IT JUST SOUNDS AMAZING NO MATTER WHAT CONTEXT YOU PUT IT IN. I also love that it just ends up existing in-universe as full on diagetic noise for Agnea's encore at the end of her story? HELL I ALREADY SAID I'M A SUCKER FOR STRINGS BUT AGNEA'S THEME JUST SOUNDS SO HOMEY AND WHIMSICAL AND IT ACTUALLY MAKES ME REALLY WANT TO DANCE. AND I SUCK AT DANCING!

- Gil's piano version also just flat-out brings me to tears. God bless you Agnea motif. Why is it so good at being emotional. The evolution of this song throughout Agnea's journey just hits me on so many levels. Music and dance as a form of human expression and communication is fully on display with Agnea's story and her theme reflects that perfectly

In Pursuit of Hope

- how do I gush over Agnea's leitmotif even more without just repeating myself. it's just so good. it's so hype even if the situations themselves are relatively low-stakes. like she's just having a really intense talk with the manager of the theater and the battle theme goes HARDER THAN IT SHOULD

Song of Hope

- HONESTLY WHAT CAN I EVEN SAY ABOUT SONG OF HOPE THAT HASN'T ALREADY BEEN SAID. SONG OF HOPE BEING THE FINAL FORM OF AGNEA'S THEME LIKE IT'S A SUPER SAIYAN HAVING THEIR POWER LEVELS GO OVER 9000. THE FACT THAT IN-UNIVERSE IT'S ACTUALLY HER SINGING IT. THE FACT THAT THIS IS THE SONG THAT BEATS DOLCINAEA LUCIEL. THE FACT THAT THEY'RE BOTH SINGING IT ACTUALLY IT'S SO GOOD

- man I wish sometimes that whenever Agnea uses her EX Song of Hope we got like. a little jingle of her theme and her singing the lyrics. I love Song of Hope so much it's my second-favorite Journey Ends theme. Yes I know it technically doesn't qualify but come onnnn

TEMENOS

Temenos, the Cleric

- okay now I'm REALLY going to get flack for this. I actually don't like Temenos's theme. There's specific reasons for this and most of them have to do with his story. It was already one of the character themes that I felt relatively neutral on when I first heard it, and my first impression was that 'mmmm okay. what's throne's theme sound like-'. The demo came out and gave us Chapter 1, and suddenly it makes sense why it sounds so funky - it represents his character from Chapter 1 so well! It tells us a lot about Temenos - that he's lackadaisical, full of doubt, and that there's more to him than meets the eye. It's true to his character as a detective who likes to mess with his assistant sometimes

- But then Stormhail happened, and it's like. The whimsical tones of his theme really didn't suit the tone of the rest of his story OR his character going forward. Crick's death has dramatically changed the feel of his story, and from that moment on it's pretty clear that Temenos is out for revenge more than he is out for truth - but his theme doesn't reflect that. In fact it feels like it's acting in defiance of the tone shift, feeling almost dismissive of the emotional plot points of his story. On a meta level I think it's interesting how it reflects Temenos's state of mind, sticking to his pursuit in order to avenge everybody he lost and keeping his emotions bottled up. Emotionally however it feels incredibly dissonant - especially when it plays over his endcard.

In Pursuit of Truth

- Honestly for how much flack I gave his character theme I have to give it to his leitmotif for being incorporated in incredibly interesting ways for his battle themes. I did NOT think that the Celestas?? Glockenspiels??? Whatever those brass instruments were - they were INTENSE

The Journey for Truth Ends

- Same words that I have for In Pursuit of Truth like oh my god I didn't think they could make his funky-sounding leitmotif sound so badass but they DID and it felt immensely satisfying to kick Kaldena's ass as the music played. Savor that satisfaction because my god the rest of his story arc does not have a lot of that

HIKARI

Hikari, the Warrior

- I'm partial to Eastern instruments and chord progression! Hikari's theme sounds incredibly regal and it tells us a lot about his character - he's noble, kind, and a great leader. It's a theme that's fit for a king and honestly what more can you ask for?

- also when the bridge plays with the peaceful tones of high wind instruments my heart is just. It is at ease. All is right in the world. tHEN IT'S BACK TO THE INTENSE PARTS WAHOO

In Pursuit of Kingship

- OKAY BEFORE THE GAME CAME OUT I WAS ONE OF THE PEOPLE WHO LISTENED TO THE LEAKED SOUNDTRACK OVER AND OVER BECAUSE OH MY GOD HIKARI'S LEITMOTIF GOES SO HARD - I literally SCREAMED when I first heard the leaked version and honestly through the choppy audio and the chunky part of the video - you all know the one - this theme was the one that convinced me that Octopath Traveler 2 was going to be something special. I screamed out loud to several people I knew that this? Seamless transition into Critical Clash II?? It sounded like Latin Honors.

The Journey for Kingship Ends

- So, picture me on my first run, intending to finish the second game this time in reverse OCTOPATH order, meaning I started with Hikari's final chapters. Sure I switched Temenos and Throne around for the order but that was fine, I'm in Ku, and we're about to finally kick Mugen's ass because I fucking hate Mugen. The chapter begins with Kazan literally summoning a sandstorm to open the gates of Ku. I am already so hyped. Then Clan Mei arrives. I am even more hyped. THEN WE FINALLY GET TO KICK RITSU'S ASS, AND HEY OCTOPATH 2, WHAT DO YOU MEAN THIS IS A BOSS RUSH??? I get to Mugen. I beat his first phase. I fight Hikari's intrusive thoughts and win. Mugen does some eldritch shit. AND THEN THIS FUCKING THEME KICKS IN AND I WAS JUST THROWN BACKWARDS INTO MY SEAT

- IN MY OPINION THIS IS THE BEST RENDITION OF THE JOURNEY ENDS REMIXES - THE MUSICAL PROGRESSION FROM THE FIGHT AGAINST RITSU, THEN A TASTE OF FOR THE DAWN WITH MUGEN'S FIRST PHASE, THEN CONQUERING THE SHADOW, AND THEN THIS - IT WAS SO GOOD?? AND IT SOUNDS SO TRIUMPHANT LIKE - HIKARI IS ON THE CUSP OF VICTORY AND PEACE IS AT HIS FINGERTIPS. KU WILL FINALLY SEE THE DAWN OF A NEW DAY. THAT IS WHAT THIS SOUNDS LIKE AND IT'S THE MOST AMAZING THING AND I LOVE IT

so yeah i'd love to hear you guys' thoughts on the character themes. feel free to disagree with my opinions! I welcome it!

#octopath #octopath traveler 2 #ot2 spoilers #octopath ochette #castti florenz #throne anguis #osvald v. vanstein #partitio yellowil #agnea bristarni #temenos mistral #hikari ku #this is a long boi #feel free to disagree with me in the comments #i welcome it all

64 notes · View notes