#I thought all the torches were meant to be part of the plot and activate another door

[space-cat-in-a-teacup]

What IS it about the Triplicate Space that’s so GOOD and makes the entire place feel so Unsettling and Otherworldy?? It’s just. So good. 

I love that little hidden ending(?) of the game as a whole (the parellels set-up by the strewn about recordings, making it feel almost as if you are talking to Alegander and making your connection to them more personal, the puzzles as you unlock more and more of this bizarre space, the dedication to TRIANGLE, the fucking church-thing-area where you can see Megamaki swimming outside the window...) and the soundtrack is 100% a huge part of that.

It also raises several questions, but I honestly like that. A lot. Leaves room for more if they do end up making another game, but also answers enough questions/leaves you satisfied if there is all there is.

[seyaryminamoto]

hii, can you tell me more about why you’re anti sukka?

... Okay, now, that’s an inaccurate statement.

As per current internet terminology, I’m not ANTI Sukka. These days, an anti is someone who obsesses with the ships they hate, and spends an insane amount of time harassing fans of the ship, attacking other shippers, making content to disparage the ship and pretending they’re on some sort of superior moral high ground by doing all these things. While I’ve made occasional posts on why I don’t ship Sukka, I don’t think I’ve made any since AGES ago. I don’t get in the way of anyone who does ship it and I wouldn’t even say I HATE the ship. In truth, I just don’t care for it. I won’t read or look for content about it, but that’s not the same as hating a ship, let alone the same as harrassing its shippers: so I’m not anti-Sukka, I just don’t ship Sukka.

Now, since your question’s intent was to figure out why don’t I ship it...

... Warning: long, long essay that won’t sit well with any hardcore Sukka shippers right under the cut. I would be using a truncated term like su*ka throughout the whole post if only the anon hadn’t already used the actual ship name, but regrettably, it’s likely to show up in your tags all the same. I am sorry, preemptively, if it does: please ignore it for your own good and go on your merry way without letting me ruin your day.

I haven’t talked about this for ages tbh. But anyways, here we go.

When I watched The Warriors of Kyoshi for the first time, I actually liked Suki plenty. I liked her initial conflict and chemistry with Sokka, though I wasn’t big on how she made him wear the Kyoshi Warriors uniform when it clearly made him uncomfortable, but all in all, I liked how their relationship had shaped up at that point and I even looked forward to Suki returning in future episodes.

On my first watch of ATLA, I seriously saw nothing wrong in Sukka. I didn’t think a lot of things through during that first time I watched the show, I was just binging the whole thing like a maniac (like a lot of people are doing at the time), so I found their relationship perfectly acceptable as it was, for the show I was watching.

And then later rewatches, even before the Sokkla bug bit me as hard as it has, I realized maybe that wasn’t entirely true.

One of the things I really, REALLY don’t like about Sukka to this day is how unequal their relationship is in terms of how the characters are written in the show. Basically, the same complaint I have about Asami in LOK applies to Suki ever since she reappears in Book 2, but ESPECIALLY in Book 3: her character ends up revolving almost exclusively around Sokka.

Meanwhile, Sokka appears to forget about her surprisingly often and easily.

Instance #1: there’s no sign of Sokka holding a torch for Suki when he first develops a crush on Yue. Implying that, while Suki impressed him, his feelings for her weren’t necessarily romantic despite she outright kissed his cheek... whereas he is crushing, HARD, on Yue. In contrast, Suki was so affected by Team Avatar’s visit to her island that she took off to help people around the world to follow their example. Sokka (and his friends) have a huge impact on Suki’s life... whereas Suki’s impact, sure, taught Sokka to set aside his sexism, but he’s never even seen reflecting on how much Suki has changed him because of this? Neither is Katara portrayed mentioning how much nicer he became after meeting Suki? There’s not a single sign through the rest of the season of how much Suki has meant for Sokka, whether as a teacher, friend or potential love interest.

Instance #2: after initially hesitating to kiss Suki in the Serpent’s Pass, Sokka finally kisses her once they’re about to part ways before she returns to the Kyoshi Warriors. It’s soooo very romantic... until, a mere episode later, Ty Lee openly flirts with Sokka and, instead of reacting as he does later in the season (with a comment along the lines of ”Uh, I’m with someone else”), Sokka merely WAVES AND SMILES. I... don’t even understand why the writers did this. They spent the entire season featuring Sokka avoiding Ty Lee, or being fully hostile with her, but somehow RIGHT AFTER establishing his relationship with Suki, he’s shown behaving like this? It doesn’t make any sense to me. It basically says either he’s not taking his relationship with Suki all that seriously, or he’s just blatantly disloyal, and considering how devoted he was to Yue, I can’t bring myself to believe it’s the second thing. A writing oversight? Eh...

Instance #3: when Toph talks about the moon turning mean, Sokka rages and rants about how nice the moon is. Why do I bring this up? Because Yue is out of reach. Yue is gone: he still feels the need to defend her from someone who isn’t really insulting her despite that. MEANWHILE... Suki’s fate, at the time, is unknown. Sokka has no idea if Azula captured her, left her for dead, tossed her in a river, sold her to a traveling circus...? He doesn’t. He seriously doesn’t. He can’t KNOW what Azula did because the last thing he knew, Mai and Ty Lee were masquerading as Kyoshi Warriors. Implying them, and their leader, did something to the group his girlfriend was part of. And yet, for an entire season finale AND the first half of Book 3, Sokka betrays zero intentions of wanting to discover what happened with Suki, or guilt about not being able to save her UNTIL AZULA BRINGS HER UP. I know it’s very sad for Sukka fans to see Sokka crying over Suki as he did when Azula taunts him... but why haven’t we seen the slightest sign of how affected he is by Suki’s presumed capture/murder/whatever he was imagining happening to her, when Book 2 features Sokka suffering over failing Yue in the Swamp, as well as rejecting Suki initially over guilt because of his lingering feelings for Yue, paired with fear of failing to protect those he cares about? And then in Book 3 he’s even standing up to Toph when she makes a careless comment about the moon spirit...? Why is it so easy to bring up Yue, but not Suki? Is this really just another writing oversight? So we’ve had TWO writing oversights about this relationship already, both of which suggest Suki is barely on Sokka’s mind at all? Is this oversight... or accidental characterization? :’)

Instance #4: Sokka and Zuko travel to the Boiling Rock. Sokka is determined to save his father. It’s a really cool, absolutely acceptable, very important decision for his character... but here’s the kicker: Sokka knows now, at this point, that Suki might still be alive and a prisoner of the Fire Nation. Azula outright said Suki had been WAITING FOR HIM AND GAVE UP BECAUSE HE NEVER CAME. This is what drives him to tears and to shout at Azula while wasting time during the Eclipse! :’D And then? Then he goes to Zuko, to ask him about Fire Nation prisons, and my gullible, first-watch self thought “oh, he wants to save Suki now that Azula said she’s alive! :D” ... only for his intent to be exclusively about his father. I’m not saying it’s WRONG for Sokka to privilege Hakoda over Suki, I mean, he is his father and Sokka really cares about family. It’s one of his main priorities, always has been. But isn’t it WEIRD that after Azula taunted him SO BAD about failing Suki, after saying Suki GAVE UP ON HIM, Sokka makes zero moves to find out if she might be alive and within reach? He could ask Zuko about her, maybe, seeing as he was on Azula’s side in Ba Sing Se and may have known a thing or two about any prisoners she captured in the Earth Kingdom? Sokka could have mentioned he wants to save BOTH Hakoda and Suki, and it doesn’t harm the story in the least for him to say something like that. It doesn’t make his efforts for Hakoda any lesser, and it shows Suki is a priority for him too... But no. Instead let’s feature him bumping into Suki by sheer luck, because that’s truly what it was, and instead of feeling any guilt for not helping her sooner, he’s just lovestruck and attempting to put moves on her when she doesn’t even know who he is yet. Super funny. Super romantic. Super lacking and I can’t understand why, WHY, someone would ever think this is how to write a quality romantic relationship?

Instance #5: connected to instance #4, actually. When traveling to the Boiling Rock, Sokka and Zuko have an awkward conversation. During this awkward conversation, Sokka asks Zuko if there was anything he left behind in the Fire Nation that he might have missed. Zuko smiles and talks about Mai. Sokka is surprised that the “gloomy girl who sighs a lot” was his girlfriend, and Zuko looks genuinely fond of her as he smiles and thinks of her. And then Sokka brings up his own romantic experience... WITH YUE. Instead of bringing up the girl who taught him girls can fight too, instead of bringing up the girl he hasn’t been able to save yet, the girl who MIGHT BE in the prison he’s headed towards, Sokka brings up the girl he absolutely CAN’T save anymore. He brings up the girl whose death most clearly scarred him, deeply, and I’m not trying to lessen the blow Yue’s sacrifice takes on Sokka... but Suki literally, LITERALLY, has something to do with the plot of this very episode? While “My girlfriend turned into the moon” “That’s rough, buddy” is a well-loved hilarious scene and line, I’d have sacrificed that IN A HEARTBEAT if the writers had thought to feature Sokka talking about Suki instead. He could’ve said Azula took her! He literally KNOWS this now, for a fact! Zuko could’ve told him “Hey, maybe she’s in the Boiling Rock too!”, and the plot of the episode wouldn’t have changed in the slightest, beyond featuring Sokka actively looking for BOTH Hakoda and Suki! But no. Again, no. Again, the writers choose to privilege Sokka’s bond with Yue over Suki. With Hakoda over Suki. With anyone else over Suki.

... whlie Suki, most obviously, has no one else she cares about more than Sokka. Why? Because she hasn’t even had enough screentime to establish any other significant relationships, and after the Boiling Rock, she doesn’t establish them anyways.

This causes Suki to feel like a Sokka satellite: SHE revolves around HIM. But Sokka? Sokka doesn’t revolve around Suki IN THE LEAST. Would it be healthy for him to be completely devoted and crazy over Suki to the point of disregarding his ties with other people over her? Hell, no! But it’s not healthy to feature Suki as good as doing that for Sokka either! :’D Suki doesn’t even have a solid, established friendship with any of the other Gaang members. She has POTENTIAL for it, but ever since she joins the Gaang she is most frequently shown interacting with Sokka and only on occasion with the others, but in no memorable, meaningful way with anyone but Sokka. She even joins Katara while searching for Aang in Sozin’s Comet, and we don’t see the slightest sign of unique, important bonding  between them. She saved Toph from drowning once, found out Toph has a crush on the same boy she likes, and it’d have been interesting if she, for instance, had refrained from seeking an openly romantic relationship with Sokka out of respect for Toph’s feelings? They could’ve had a conversation about it? With Toph telling her to go for it, maybe, because Sokka liked her too? Suki saying she doesn’t want to hurt her? A perfectly nice bonding situation for these two girls, showing quite a lot of respect between them, as well as respect for their personal relationships with Sokka?

But no. That doesn’t happen. 

The second important character Suki bonds most with is Zuko, and in the show, it’s exclusively because they’re with Sokka in the Boiling Rock. Once that’s over you can’t really say there’s any relevant, personal dynamics between them in the show. Heck, Suki tells him she wants a rematch with Azula in the Boiling Rock: Zuko could have offered her a chance to come with him to the Fire Nation and get that rematch, instead of offering it to Katara :’D Why doesn’t he? Because they DID take their time to establish a relationship between Zuko and Katara, even derrailing the show for a whole episode to ensure they would convince Katara to forgive Zuko for all the wrong he did, in the most absurd and contradictory situation possible. Meanwhile, a simple “sorry” from Zuko is enough for Suki to stop holding a grudge. You absolutely CAN interpret this as Suki not being the type to hold a grudge! Which, great! But you also CAN interpret this as the writers being way too lazy to give Suki as much time to forgive Zuko as she could have/should have needed. And sadly, while story-wise I’ll choose to read it the first way, I think, realistically, what happened was the second thing instead.

Suki doesn’t even have a meaningful relationship with Aang. AANG. I’m not saying she should have been his best friend, but Oyaji outright says “you kids had a big impact on her”. It’s PLURAL. It’s not supposed to mean “Sokka had a big impact on her”. Hell, Aang is Kyoshi’s PAST LIFE. Kyoshi is, in all likelihood, Suki’s hero! :’D And yet... nothing. Not even featuring Suki as a Kyoshi fangirl who knows all sorts of random facts about her, such as her favorite foods or the habits she enjoyed most, and Aang saying “oh hey, I like doing that too!”, so that they both could rejoice in this unique, curious shared common ground!

Nay. Nothing. Literally nothing. Her only serious, meaningful relationship is with Sokka... and like I said, whenever Sokka is asked about meaningful relationships with girls, his brain goes “Yue”, immediately, even when the plot would benefit from him saying “Suki” at least ONCE. He’ll sit out at night watching the moon, but he can’t be bothered to bring up how frustrating it is for Azula to have captured Suki whether before or after the Invasion. Yes, Sokka is shown to be the kind of guy who grieves quietly: why is it so much easier, then, to see his quiet grieving for Yue than his concern for Suki?

The truth is, it’s a writing shortcoming. It’s not even something I’d blame on Sokka’s character because, as I always have said, his relationship with Yue really highlights what a wonderful boyfriend he can be when he’s seriously interested in someone. He takes Yue out on dates, gives her gifts, fights for her people, fights the fiancé who only objectifies her, tries to protect her from fulfilling a destiny that will kill her? This is all top-tier romance hero behavior. It is. Why the hell isn’t this behavior seen with Suki too?

It’s not a matter of Suki being a warrior rather than a Princess so she doesn’t need him to act the same way he did with Yue: the show outright, literally, explicitly states Suki is a girl and a warrior, implying Sokka could easily enough woo her the same way he does with Yue, if he cared to. But he doesn’t. It’s Suki with the initiative when their actual romantic relationship begins, and later on Sokka can forget Suki is his girlfriend whenever it suits his fancy, to absolutely no consequences.

So... does this mean, then, that Sokka, in canon, only tries really hard when he’s chasing after someone he can’t be with? That he slacks off and drops the ball when the girl is already his? Well, that’s... not good. Not healthy. Not pretty.

This doesn’t mean that there’s nothing good about Sukka altogether, there are a few things about the ship that aren’t bad... but even then, scenes like “Sokka makes a gross sand sculpture and says it’s Suki” aren’t really that heartwarming to me. It’s not only a comedic relief scene that tries to feature these two as super romantic dorks... but it only reinforces one of the main shortcomings in this relationship for me:

Sokka doesn’t even have to TRY.

He doesn’t. He can make a gross-looking statue, say it’s Suki, and she won’t even make suggestions to improve it? She just says it’s perfect this way. It’s basically the kind of coddling Ursa did with Zuko when Zuko messed up in his firebending display and Ursa said it was wonderful. In the case of a couple, it feels like a mix of cute and condescending? Suki accepts Sokka as he is, sure, so she doesn’t challenge him, doesn’t try to make him do better, he doesn’t need to improve his work... because she’s fine with whatever she gets from him. 

This is complacency. It’s a relationship neither one needs to make efforts for. Suki will always accept Sokka’s occasional romantic gestures, even if he leaves so much to be desired in his relationship with her, as opposed to his relationship with Yue. And I’m not saying Sokka DOESN’T care about Suki, but he doesn’t need to do better with her, and while that’s just what Sokka may think he wants/needs for the future, in truth, that’s not what makes his character thrive.

What makes Sokka’s character grow amazingly is CHALLENGE. And I don’t mean that he needs a girlfriend difficult to be with and out of reach (like Yue): I mean that, when faced with a love interest who keeps him on his toes and makes him continue pushing his boundaries, Sokka would genuinely develop and grow further as a man, warrior, leader and love interest. Look at how fast he develops into a quality swordsman while training with Piandao: why? Because it was a challenge. Because it was an opportunity to hone his skills. Because he had to rise up to prove himself, and HE DOES. In the Invasion? He feels he can’t measure up to Hakoda, but in the end? He winds up LEADING the whole operation. People FLOCK to him as he draws out the battle plans and strategies they’ll follow so they can figure out where Ozai is and take him out before the eclipse ends. Right after thinking he couldn’t do it, when the situation DEMANDED that he stepped up, he did and he goddamn EXCELLED at it, proving himself well above these challenges indeed.

THESE are the moments where his character shines the brightest. And a relationship that wasn’t so complacent would do this kind of thing for Sokka’s character just as well: a challenging relationship would promote his GROWTH. He wouldn’t be stunted in simplicity with someone who doesn’t give up on him when he spends MONTHS disregarding her circumstances. Because the truth is, I see Sokka as an overachiever in denial: he wants to go the extra mile, to do things no one else has done before, but because he’s stuck in a world where he doesn’t have the crazy powers his friends do, he wrongfully assumes they’re the ones who’ll do amazing things and he’ll just lag behind them, so he figures it’s better not to bother trying to stand out at all. Yet look at him, figuring out the perfect plan to take down Ozai’s fleet: look at him, making such an impression on Piandao, epic swordmaster, that Piandao even says “If you stay on this path, I know that one day you will become an even greater master than I am.”

Sokka has incredible, extraordinary potential as a character. He has huuuuge anxieties and sources of anguish and insecurities, and those only make his potential greater. He has flaws that can be worked on, there’s so much room for growth...

And the true reason I can’t support Sukka, on Sokka’s end, is because I don’t think that relationship will encourage him to grow any further.

Meanwhile, I can’t support it on Suki’s end because I don’t think she deserves to be an afterthought for a boyfriend who has so much going on in his life that she’s a secondary or even tertiary thing in his life unless she’s right in front of him. And even when he doesn’t have that much going on (meaning, during the first FOUR comic trilogies), he’s shown traveling the world with his friends instead of spending time with her. And heck, where Suki SHOULD have arrived in the South Pole with Zuko as his guard during North and South, Suki doesn’t show up at all. Why? Seriously, what sort of logic explains that the Fire Lord’s appointed BODYGUARD would stay behind in the Fire Nation while Zuko travels halfway across the world, with hell knows how many dangers ahead? If she HAD gone with Zuko, she would’ve had a chance to spend more time with Sokka and it’d even be a point in Sukka’s favor. But that doesn’t happen. To make matters even worse, Sokka doesn’t even tell Aang to say hi to Suki for him when Aang leaves to the Fire Nation by himself in Smoke and Shadow? There are TWO WHOLE PANELS as Aang takes off on Appa with NO DIALOGUE. Sokka calling after Aang to ask him to say hi to Suki literally would’ve fit PERFECTLY, right there! But no. Suki doesn’t even get that much from her boyfriend.

Seriously, it’s NOT THAT HARD to show a healthy long-distance relationship. It’s not that difficult to feature Suki and Sokka longing to see each other but having too much going on to meet up. But that’s not what we got with Sukka, not in the comics, not in the show. Fans ARE free to believe otherwise, and I’m not going to trample on someone who thinks we just conveniently never get to see the healthiest aspects of their very positive relationship... but there’s no genuine evidence to back up this belief. It’s just wishful thinking and hoping that things are far better behind the scenes than what we’re genuinely shown.

Again... I blame the writing. Especially seeing as Yang’s writing of Sokka is DISMAL. But it doesn’t erase what’s already there. It doesn’t do away with the very obvious problems in this relationship.

The positive moments Sukka gets are offset, for me, by all the negatives. The meaningful relationship they could have developed feels underdeveloped instead, something we should take for granted is there and nothing more. And even those positive moments and episodes aren’t necessarily that positive?

In particular, I point to The Ember Island Players: there are soooooo many messed up things about Sukka in this episode I have no idea how people aren’t more bothered by them. First of all: the episode features Sokka crying about Yue’s staged death scene, and Suki is shown amused, saying she had no idea Sokka had made out with the moon spirit. First of all: SOKKA DIDN’T TELL SUKI ABOUT YUE. Her initial reaction here is amusement, for some reason...? Yet as we already saw that there’s no real bad blood between her and Toph despite she, of all people, KNOWS Toph has a crush on the same guy she likes, there’s no real reason to think Suki would behave like a jealous fiend if she knew Sokka had a relationship with someone else before her. Yet Sokka doesn’t tell her about it: this implies he either doesn’t trust her, or doesn’t know her well enough to realize she WON’T be a jealous fiend, and outright assumes she will be one because of mistaken preconceptions about how relationships work.

At this point, Sokka and Suki have been officially together since Book 2, episode 12. Book 2 happens in spring. Book 3′s conclusion is at the end of summer. This means Sokka has had about four-five months of a relationship with Suki. Out of which, yes, she spent the majority of those months in prison :’D but then he rescued her! And... apparently proceeded not to tell her about his experiences while fighting in the war? To not share his biggest failure to protect someone he cared about? So... to NOT open up to Suki about anything that genuinely mattered?

Considering he’s willing to snap at Toph when she brings up the moon could be “mean”, considering he’s willing to tell Zuko that his first girlfriend turned into the moon when they’re only starting to trust each other... this unwillingness to tell Suki about Yue feels OFF. It doesn’t make any sense. His relationship with Yue was far from something to be ashamed of. It meant A LOT to him. Why the heck hide it from Suki, when all the reasons sound either condescending or distrustful as hell?

Ah. Because the writers thought this scene would be funny, that’s why.

And the funny scene gets even BETTER when Sokka shushes Suki and proceeds to cry about Yue’s death: he’s shutting her out. And hey... Suki doesn’t like this. She turns her face around and looks pretty irritated, whether by being shushed or by his unwillingness to share his past with her or BOTH THINGS...

... And then the show doesn’t acknowledge this OBVIOUS, SIZABLE, IMPORTANT shortcoming of their relationship ever again.

We’re supposed to assume Sokka explained everything later just because? Hell, he looks like he has absolutely no intentions of doing that. If you ask me, it even could feel like he thinks his relationship with Yue is none of Suki’s business? And that’s not pretty. That’s not good romance writing, no matter how you look at it.

This, of course, is not everything: there’s another two unpleasant situations in this episode alone! :’D

The second one is a slightly smaller one, but bears mentioning all the same: Aang is annoyed when the play makes a mockery of Zutara, so he gets up and leaves: Sokka tells him to bring him snacks. After his initial request, Sokka wraps an arm around Suki and they’re shown surprisingly cuddly now, DESPITE their previous impasse. At first, Suki smiles fondly at him. But then he turns around and asks Aang for more snacks. And then Suki outright looks ANNOYED, while Sokka looks like he doesn’t give a single crap.

This, I feel, ties in with what I mentioned earlier about how Sokka doesn’t even have to try with Suki: Suki isn’t merely a happy girl who thinks Sokka can do no wrong. She CAN be annoyed by him and his behavior, but for some reason, she chooses not to bring up her grievances with how he’s acting, even if it doesn’t sit well with her?

So while there’s supposed to be something so very cute with the monster blob sand statue, her approval doesn’t feel genuine to me. I simply can’t see it as genuine. Because when you feature Suki smiling in that strangely motherly way, saying the statue is “sweet” (instead of, I don’t know, saying she actually sees the artistic merit of it (if she did) or saying he just needs to put in a bit more work), she’s focusing exclusively on making SOKKA feel better about himself. And when Suki is annoyed? He doesn’t have to show remotely the same amount of consideration or compassion she displays for him. Why? Because she sweeps her feelings under the rug and lets him get away with everything he does, even things she’s not happy about. She lets him get away with keeping important secrets, lets him get away with annoying her in the middle of the play, AND...

... lets him get away with rubbing in Suki’s face that Azula kicked her ass :’)

Look, I’m not even being my biased shipper self here. The third unpleasant thing in Ember Island Players is that Suki decides to point out that Team Avatar keeps getting out of deadly pinches by sheer luck and that they lose a lot! She doesn’t say this with concern: she looks sardonic, like she’s legit mocking them. It’d feel completely out of place if she hadn’t been annoyed by Sokka earlier, so it feels (to me) like she’s just taunting him because she’s already not in the best of moods and expects to feel better by making fun of him. Not a terrible crime, but a rather strange one to commit too, considering she’s making fun of her boyfriend damn near dying all the time. You’d think, maybe, that kind of possibility should worry her a little more...?

... But then Sokka retaliates with: “You're one to talk, Suki. Didn't Azula take you captive? That's right, she did!”

Isn’t it goddamn WEIRD that Sokka would bring up what, according to a large amount of Suki’s fanbase, must have been a terribly scarring experience for Suki... just to win an argument with her? Just to piss her off because she’s making fun of him? They’re BOTH shown being remarkably inconsiderate towards each other and the struggles they faced in their respective journeys in this scene. It’s supposed to be lighthearted bickering, but the subject they’re choosing to talk about isn’t lighthearted AT ALL.

According to some Suki fans, Suki could have even been tortured, tormented in thousand ways, by Azula when she took her prisoner. There were whole posts going around about how heartwarming it was for Suki to still be waiting for Sokka, no matter what...!

And THIS is how Sokka reacted to Suki’s patient waiting for him? THIS? By telling her “lol loser Azula caught you anyhow so your argument’s invalid”? If Suki HAD gone through some serious torture, beyond getting stripped off her uniform, how on earth would it be healthy for Sokka to use this allegedly mentally scarring experience AGAINST HIS GIRLFRIEND?

Now then, it WOULD BE fucked up, but the truth is, Suki wasn’t tortured at all, so the whole delusional, tragic “Suki is so emotionally strong because she believed in the man who would come save her even in the darkest of moments!” is honestly nonsense in the end: a girl who was tortured, tormented and anguished by the memories of whatever she experienced in Azula’s hands wouldn’t have retorted to Sokka’s comment with an irritated: “Are you trying to get on my bad side?”

Yet again, Suki is annoyed.

They’re both annoyed by each other’s arguments. 

But their discussion ENDS at this point, and goes forgotten, again. 

Suki isn’t even a quality bickering source for Sokka, because as soon as Sokka rebuffs with a counterargument she doesn’t like, she turns things personal and takes offense. Where he may not have taken her initial taunt as a particular, personal attack, she does interpret his words that way.

AND THEN THEY PROCEED TO FORGET ABOUT THEIR ARGUMENT AND ITS IMPLICATIONS, YET AGAIN :’)

Now then... is all this so terrible? Am I making too big a deal out of small things that shouldn’t be inspected so closely, especially as they were likely written with humorous intent and nothing more? It’s entirely possible!

You see, I don’t exactly love the way romance is handled in ATLA because it’s frankly always flawed and faulty beyond belief. People often have said one of the three canon relationships is better than the others, but at this point I disagree altogether: they’re all written to be flawed and have huge gaps of logic in the behavior of the characters involved. The girls are always shown as prioritizing the boy above everything else ever, and the boys are too often shown leaving them behind, forgetting about their love interests alarmingly frequently, being outright FORCED by the plot to let go of their attachment to them, whereas there’s no such conflicts or situations with the girls, in the least! Implying that it’s fine for girls to be completely devoted to a relationship, to the point where their whole LIVES revolve around the boy they like, but the boy shouldn’t behave the same way and must learn to leave the girl behind or put her aside instead?

... The implicit sexism in this consistent writing element in ALL THREE CANON RELATIONSHIPS is honestly pretty disturbing. I don’t think I need to say much more about it, do I?

Now though, I will, however, point out that it’s relatively good for canon NOT to show Kataang, Maiko or Sukka as perfect relationships because it IS realistic. It’s not pretty, but it is realistic. These characters are children or teenagers who quite often didn’t even have good role models of romance in their parents or peers, let alone even slightly decent childhoods, so for them to be 100% healthy in terms of romance would have been utterly absurd. Therefore, these kids would be expected to make mistakes and then learn from them so their relationships improve over time.

Sokka and Suki’s relationship is flawed, which only lends MORE believability to it, because the characters aren’t warped to fit the narrative, to play them as unmistakably perfect, ideal partners for each other. But those flaws do lend for problems like the ones I pointed out above...

And you see, the ultimate problem is that these characters DON’T learn from those mistakes. They don’t. Mai and Zuko are shown making the exact same blunders in the show and the comics, hell, sometimes even worse ones in the comics. Sokka and Suki still act like they’re totally in love ONLY when they happen to be in the same place and even then? Suki outright ignores Azula’s zapping attack at Sokka in The Search! SHE’S IN THE SAME COURTYARD! But it’s the THREE BENDERS who come to Sokka’s “rescue”, despite he doesn’t even NEED rescuing, since the attack was goddamn meaningless anyhow. 

The point is, however, that Suki is right there, damn it, taking care of APPA. And she’d sooner look after the sky bison that than check on her boyfriend, who was just “attacked” by her WORST ENEMY, WITH WHOM SHE WANTED A REMATCH???

Seriously. What logic is this. What kind of ROMANCE is this. It doesn’t make any sense to me, and if I were a Sukka fan I’d be beyond outraged by watching my favorite relationship written so carelessly.

So, because Yang’s writing isn’t even ALLOWED to move anything too far forward, because Bryke don’t want that, none of these relationships have developed in any interesting ways after the show. AT BEST you could say Kataang definitely act differently in the comics than they did in the show, for better or for worse, so you can say there’s some changes in their dynamics, though those changes aren’t necessarily related to genuine character growth. But Maiko? Same old story. Sukka? Same old story.

What exactly does Sukka do for Sokka at this point? He has someone to make out with whenever they cross paths? Yeah, okay, cool. And? That’s it? For that matter, he could be making out with anyone else just the same. What kind of room for growth does she offer him? Going by how she doesn’t even need him around her, by how she has never needed anything but mediocrity from him, I can’t say there’s anything to be found. Their relationship already dealt with its biggest possible hurdle WHEN THEY FIRST MET. That’s the main growth Suki offered Sokka, and now she can’t give him anything else because he’s way too efficient and learned everything she could teach him right away :’) Paired with this, Suki wasn’t developed enough as a character either, so if she has other regards in which she can teach Sokka a thing or two, we simply don’t know it, and the comics refuse to show it to us too, so up to date, Suki is severely underdeveloped by canon and will continue to be, as far as I can tell.

Which, of course, factors in the next question: what does Sukka do for Suki? Honestly, nothing. If this relationship did something interesting for her character, we’d have tons of things to say and discuss about her, but the truth is all Suki-related discussion tends to have nothing to do with Sokka (her past and growth as a Kyoshi Warrior, her future post-canon, whatever the heck happened to her by LOK’s time... I’ve never seen anyone genuinely pondering anything about her relationship with Sokka beyond “did they stay together or not?!?!”). Suki is at her best when she’s with the Kyoshi Warriors, because it’s the only element of her character that DOESN’T revolve around Sokka. Going by the plot of the Shells comic, she could go travel the world teaching girls self-defense, and kicking the asses of sexist dudes! It’s not really going to deepen her character, sadly, because that’s basically ALL we know about her since the start of the show, aside from her attachment to Sokka. And she doesn’t need Sokka to do this. She could do it by herself just the same.

Literally, just for the sake of giving Suki something else to do, not even for my personal OTP’s sake, I’d gladly see Suki breaking up with Sokka so she can damn explore who she is beyond this relationship? The Kyoshi Warriors serving in the Fire Nation Palace was probably the first interesting development for Suki in canon since she first met Sokka, and even then her role there was never explored fully, let alone was her potentially red-herring budding relationship with Zuko. 

But who am I kidding? :’) not gonna happen. For all I know, they got married in canon and had a perfectly happy life together. A perfectly happy, mediocre life, where neither one has to make the slightest effort for the other, in the least. Taking each other for granted, every step of the way!

*sigh* I can’t want this for Sokka, seriously. I can’t. I love his character a lot, but I absolutely hate how he’s written in this relationship. Most my understanding of how Sokka behaves in a relationship has come from how he behaves with Yue, precisely because, as brief as their relationship was, he seriously appeared to value her above so many other things, to fight for her, to do anything he could to help her without asking for anything in return. And that’s why I write him as I do.

Love can feel different when you experience it with different people, of course, and I’m not asking for Sokka to be written exactly the same in two different relationships... but the difference is just way too vast. I don’t question he cares about Suki, but I do question that he genuinely loves her. This is NOT how someone in love behaves. And frankly, Suki’s behavior isn’t that of a girl in genuine love either. She likes him plenty, is impressed by the things he and his friends have achieved, but is it genuine love? How can it be, when they apparently can’t even trust each other about their personal experiences (Yue in Sokka’s case, spending months as a prisoner in Suki’s)? When his behavior rubs her the wrong way and annoys her when they’re at their most casual? When the bickering he’d likely enjoy having with a significant other just falters after two exchanges with Suki because she takes offense to what he said? 

In conclusion:

Writing: the writing of this relationship is frankly really, REALLY flawed, far more than most fans are willing to acknowledge (whether fans of the ship or of the show in general). They try to make jokes with this relationship, but these jokes end up highlighting serious flaws in this relationship that are never addressed. Also, their relationship is hardly ever treated as something majorly important for Sokka, who constantly privileges his bond with Yue over Suki, which is radically contrasted with Suki, who has no meaningful relationships in the show beyond Sokka. As I pointed out earlier, the writing proposes the boy doesn’t need to revolve around the girl, but the girl DOES revolve around the boy? Absolutely appalling.

Dynamics: beyond their exchanges on their very first episode, their dynamics don’t offer anything unique to their characters. You can replace Suki with any other female character, and Sokka’s struggle to let go of Yue and accept a new love interest in his life wouldn’t change in any considerable way. It didn’t HAVE to be Suki, let alone a Suki whose original personality (sassy, demanding, proud to the point of bordering on arrogant, prone to making mistakes because of this flaw...) was completely hijacked by a new one (perfectly nice, friendly, reasonable, considerate, flirty, not demanding in the least, virtually flawless...). There’s not much Sokka can teach the Book 2-onwards Suki, or much else Suki can teach Sokka. There’s not much they can learn together either, because the writing never offers them new challenges they haven’t handled before. Their dynamics exclusively hinge on Suki being reliable in action situations, weak humor centered around Sokka being a mediocre boyfriend, and making out. That’s all their relationship provides, and frankly, they BOTH can do better than that.

Potential: I don’t think Sukka has much more potential beyond what we already have seen. Their natural chemistry isn’t anything out of this world, it’s FINE, but it’s not exactly something extraordinary that can’t be found anywhere else. And that’s really at the crux of why I don’t ship it or find much enjoyment in it: neither Sokka nor Suki appear to be at their best in this relationship. Suki is outright worse off by this relationship because she went from feminist poster child to a girl who REVOLVES AROUND A BOY. Please, let’s let that sink in? There are better possible relationships for them, relationships that absolutely could explore aspects of BOTH characters that have gone underdeveloped and overshadowed in canon, just for the sake of weak humor and make-out sessions.

*sigh*

Fact is, most the problems with Sukka are a matter of poor writing. With better writing, the relationship could be good, and would be easier to take seriously. But even then? I wouldn’t ever expect this relationship to outshine other possible ships for both Sokka and Suki. If you feature another girl as Sokka’s big, rude “girls are fighters too” awakening... what’s left for Sukka? Speaking from experience, seeing as I outright wrote that: without this factor, their relationship wouldn’t be anything particularly noteworthy. Sokka would respect Suki right off the bat, sure, maybe surprise her a bit because of how unpredictable and unexpected he can be, but there’d be no genuine reason for them to seriously develop feelings for each other. That their entire bond hinges on their first encounter, rather than the growth of their relationship across time, is far from appealing for me in a relationship. I absolutely need more than that to ship something.

I’ve already brought up most these arguments in the past, as well as others I probably forgot to mention, but I can give you one more post to look at (if you want it), specifically about how a certain ship can be a vast improvement for Sokka over Sukka :’D This, I’d hope, will clarify what I mean when I say other ships can offer Sokka far more than Sukka does. I didn’t dig into it here, since I tried to focus exclusively on why I won’t ship this, but that might help expand your understanding of my reasons not to support it. And then there’s also the ship I support for Suki... here are my arguments on that topic too. Admittedly, I was more centered on Zuko in this second post, but I basically already gave you all the arguments why Suki in Sukka doesn’t work for me :’D and there’s a few arguments in there about why Zuko would be a far more interesting love interest for Suki than Sokka has been so far, too. So... that’s that. I hope I gave you plenty to think about :’D

[weaselandfriends]

Hymnstoke Intermission

Andrew Hussie had the courtesy to drop some thoughts on the Epilogues, the full text of which can be found here. As you can probably tell, it’s dense, so I’ll summarize what I consider the key points.

1. Hussie intended the Epilogues to be “conceptually distinct” from the main narrative of Homestuck (i.e., Acts 1 through 7).

2. Hussie intended the Epilogues to set new narrative stakes and establish a way for the narrative to continue (as opposed to the traditional idea of an “Epilogue” as something that resolves what came before).

3. By labeling the Epilogues as “Epilogues” while not adhering to traditional expectations of what an epilogue entails, Hussie intended to prompt readers to question storytelling concepts and the agenda of the storyteller.

4. Hussie intended to cede his authorial control over the Homestuck story and “pass the torch” to the fandom.

5. Hussie intended to prompt the fandom to develop skills like “critical discussion, dealing constructively with negative feelings resulting from the media they consume, interacting with each other in more meaningful ways, and trying to understand different points of view outside of the factions within fandom that can become very hardened over time.”

I actually disagree with several of Hussie’s conclusions, which probably sounds hilariously presumptuous. But if Hussie truly wants the fandom to develop skills in critical discussion, and to foster and understand different viewpoints, while also ceding his authorial control over the work, then his word being “Word of God” has to be called into question. Act 6 of Homestuck already does this; Hussie’s author avatar is literally killed followed by a flash titled DOTA. DOTA, of course, being short for “Death of the Author,” a frequently-cited essay by Roland Barthes that argues that author's intentions can neither be wholly known nor taken as the sole interpretation of a work.

It’s arguable whether Hussie’s shout out to this essay is meant to be an endorsement of its thesis, and I think a claim could be made that the DOTA in Homestuck is inherently parodic; Hussie’s author avatar continues to exist and influence the story even after his “death,” and at times (such as the Meenah walkarounds) the author avatar appears to give direct statements of the author’s intentions behind certain creative decisions. In fact, the DOTA flash itself marks one of the Hussie avatar’s most direct interactions with the story, as it is during this flash that he gives Vriska the Ring of Life.

Even now, Hussie’s actions contradict his claims, at least to some extent; he cedes narrative control and promotes differing critical interpretations at the same time he dumps a tremendous block of text explaining the intentions and goals of his work. An author’s statement on “what the story means” usually affirms his or her control and quashes differing viewpoints, after all. But it’s not something new. Homestuck has always blurred the line behind author and fan. Some of Hussie’s statements I don’t take as major revelations but rather reiterations of themes that have been clear since Act 1.

If you have read my more recent Hymnstoke posts, you can probably guess which of Hussie’s points I disagree with. In particular, I think the Epilogues are too thematically important to Homestuck to be treated with the kind of “take it or leave it”/“canon or non-canon” ambivalence Hussie claims in his post. Or maybe it’s more that I wish it didn’t have that kind of ambivalence? Because his logic is sound; the Epilogues are presented in a way that sets them apart from “Homestuck Proper.” The AO3 fan fiction cover page, the prose, the way they’re organized as a distinct entity on the website, all of these elements contribute to and support Hussie’s claim of separation. Perhaps, then, my counterargument is that the Epilogues shouldn’t have been displayed this way; that they should have been a fundamental part of the story, one that is unquestionably considered “canon.”

Without the Epilogues, the ending of Homestuck is bad. Really bad. Game of Thrones bad. The original ending of Homestuck fails Homestuck on every conceivable level. It’s a poor resolution of the plot, as it relies on a deus ex machina (Alt!Calliope) while leaving tons of smaller narrative elements completely unresolved. It’s a poor resolution of the characters, as most of them wind up being irrelevant (even those given absurd amounts of screen time, like Jake) and their personal issues are resolved off-screen during a timeskip. It’s a poor resolution of the themes, as despite constant statements that one can’t cheat their way to “development,” that is exactly what happens when Vriska is revived and fixes everyone’s problems instantly. It’s a poor resolution of the structure or form, as what was a tightly-wound machine narrative that relied on innumerable tiny parts sliding into perfect order ended with a big dumb fight scene where people just whap each other over and over until the good guys whap hard enough to win. Beyond the fact that the ending is “happy,” I still can’t find much good to say about it even after years of turning it over in my head.

And during the hiatus-strewn period that marked Homestuck’s end, Hussie was noticeably scant on dropping essays about his intentions.

The Epilogues redeem so much of what went wrong with the ending of Homestuck. I won’t delve into the specifics in this post, as I should probably save it for a more comprehensive series of posts about the Epilogues. But from that perspective, it feels to me as though the Epilogues should not be divorced from Homestuck so thoroughly.

But see, my disagreement with Hussie on this point is a bit disingenuous for another reason. Because, like his claims of ceding authorial control, he’s contradictory here too. Consider these points:

1. Hussie intended the Epilogues to be the launching point of future story developments.

2. Hussie, ceding his own control, intended these future developments to be created by the fans.

3. Hussie designed the Epilogues so that the fans could accept or deny them outright, consider them “canon” or “non-canon.”

If the Epilogues are the breeding ground for Homestuck’s future, then that part of the fandom that denies them renders themselves inert. Without the Epilogues, Homestuck is over. It’s done. The window of our Pynchonian party is closed. All life has petered out; no energy enters to sustain it. The Epilogues open the window. Denying the Epilogues kills the story, and thus the fandom; accepting them leaves room open for the future. And if the part of the fandom that rejects the Epilogues withers and dies, that means only the fandom that accepts them will remain. Ultimately, the Epilogues will be considered canon by the Homestuck fandom, because those who disagree will no longer be part of the fandom, at least the active one.

That probably sounds imperious. But it’s not something I want; the people who deny the Epilogues ought to have a voice as well, and nobody is stopping them from providing their opinions. But I have a hard time imagining that people who deny the Epilogues will stick around in a fandom for a work now defined by the Epilogues. As such, many of Hussie’s conciliatory claims fall flat or seem overly idealistic. Can the fandom continue as a divided house on such a fundamental line when future developments to the Homestuck story will be based on the Epilogues? The canonical arguments for which books belonged in the Bible did not end in blithe harmony; one viewpoint prevailed and all schismatics extinguished. Obviously there will be no burnings at the stake over Homestuck canon, but in a world where there are so many options for entertainment, those who do not accept Homestuck’s active element will probably leave of their own volition.

There's also a third option, expressed by one of the commentators on the Reddit thread I link at the beginning of this post.

Here's my suggestion for you, Hussman. Big subversion, you'll like it: Make "Homestuck 2" and then not have anything form [sic] Homestuck in it at all and just make the story you actually want to make.

The Homestuck fandom might die, but the “Hussie” fandom will survive, as long as Hussie himself continues to create art. Before the Epilogues, I often expressed a similar sentiment. I wanted Hussie to get away from Homestuck, make something new, even if it was just something short and far less ambitious than Homestuck. I think Hussie is a strong storyteller and writer in his own right, and he did not merely “get lucky” with Homestuck the way a hack gets lucky when their trashily-written novel strikes a perfect chord with the culture and sells millions. If Hussie does actually intend to cede authorial control and leave Homestuck to the fandom, then what is his next move? Retirement at 40? I hope not.

Those were my hastily-written thoughts on Hussie’s commentary. While at times contradictory, I consider Hussie’s claims and actions in line with themes established throughout Homestuck. But I also question whether his storytelling decisions will be able to achieve the result he desires for the fandom.

Whether he or we can achieve it, I do agree with Hussie’s hope to create a fandom that is smarter, more willing to view the work with a critical lens, to discuss with one another, to understand each other’s viewpoints, to deal with difficult subject matter. I think a lot of people can be scared to delve deeply into a work, either because they only want their entertainment to be light escapism or because they feel gatekept by not knowing a lot about literary criticism as a field of study. Maybe escapism is fine, but it’s not the only use of art. Treat the stories you like as art and really ask yourself what you like about them, what makes them good, and especially what it means that those things make it good. Those questions will serve a fitting substitute for an understanding of postmodern literary trends of the 20th century.

[mage-cat]

A Fire to Beat Back the Dark, Chapter 3

Hey, I actually finished a multi-chapter fic! Admittedly by setting my sights low. Read on as I wrap up my plot threads enough that I can move on to other projects and wait for Season 3 of She-Ra to drop next month.

Link to the AO3 version through here.

Chapter 1 here ; Chapter 2 here.

This chapter below the cut ~1650 words

The first thing Catra was conscious of the next morning was Bow's voice. “It seems like a shame to wake them up.” Adora had made a very convincing argument that waking up to Shadow Weaver the night before made her nervous about sleeping alone.

“I know.” That was Glimmer. “This is cuter than I was expecting. I swear, when I first came in, I heard Catra purring.” As long as it was a favor to Adora, Catra would never have to admit how good it felt to be curled up next to her again.

Bow again. “Do you think she wakes up as jumpy as Adora?” That was new. If anything Adora had always been the heavier sleeper of the two of them. Though of course every cadet was trained to wake up quickly when necessary, and the Horde frequently claimed it was necessary even if it normally meant they were hurrying in order to wait for the proper officer to show up. Catra just liked feigning sleep as a form of information gathering.

“If she does, do you think her claws would do more damage than that knife wound Adora gave me her first week here?”

“They look so comfortable. I wonder if they used to do this a lot. When Adora said she wasn't used to sleeping alone, I just thought she meant alone in the room.”

Alright, that was enough. Catra stretched herself out until her face was even with Adora's. “Hey, Adora. Bow and Glimmer are going to keep speculating about us until you wake up.” She saw Adora's eyes slide open and noted that there was, in fact, a slight flinch as she adjusted to wakefulness that didn't used to be there. “Did you really shank Glimmer your first week here?”

“It really wasn't much more than a scratch,” Glimmer said, her face flushing.

Adora let out a sleepy grunt. “Turns out I don't sleep well alone. Don't knock to reflex too hard. It's part of what let us catch Shadow Weaver.”

She let the matter drop and sat up. “So, any plans I should know about today?”

The afternoon meeting the day before had quickly turned into a debriefing, slightly too polite for Catra to call it an interrogation. However briefly she had held any power in the Horde, even if she had been haphazardly piecing together the bits of the Force Captain orientation she had missed, she still had delivered more information about the Horde's inner workings than the Rebellion had had since before the first alliance had fallen apart. It had been embarrassing for Catra to see Queen Angella's expression harden as she had to admit that she had only just barely started to get a handle on the system of requisition orders and material sources that Shadow Weaver had been maintaining before her fall from Hordak's good graces, but everyone seemed more or less satisfied in the end. Now it was a matter of balancing preparation time for an attack on the Fright Zone against the time it would take for the information to become obsolete.

As soon as the sun had gone down and shortly after the other Princesses had headed back to their homelands to see to local matters, both Catra and Adora had been hit with just how little sleep they had gotten the night before. Best as Catra could now tell from the quality of the light, they had crashed early enough in the evening that the time they were now waking wasn't terribly late.

“Light Hope is expecting me for training today,” said Adora.

“We don't have anything really solid planned,” Glimmer said. “Just seeing to routine duties.”

“I'll follow you into the Whispering Woods for a bit, Adora, then activate my tracker in my badge. Scorpia's probably gotten worried by now. Unless she has explicit orders to be doing something else, she'll be looking for me. Best to give her something to find.”

“I'm staying with you until that's done. She may have the rest of the squad with her, and even if you're right about being able to win Scorpia over, I doubt Lonnie's opinion of you has changed that much.”

---

Adora and Catra sat among the roots of large tree near the Fright Zone edge of the Whispering Woods. Bow and Glimmer lurked somewhere nearby as back-up in case Scorpia did, in fact, have the whole of Adora's old squad with her.

Catra fingered in badge she was wearing. “This is what stopped me from following you the day you left, you know. Shadow Weaver didn't believe me when I said I didn't know where you had gone, and when I wasn't able to bring you back, she hauled me in front of Hordak. I thought something terrible was going to happen to me. Then he gave me your promotion and told Shadow Weaver off for ignoring my potential. I got my first taste of being out of your shadow. It was hard to think of giving that up.”

“It's kind of amazing how much evil we can ignore when we're told how good we are at it.” Adora thought for a beat. “I really never did see you as my sidekick.”

“Doesn't matter. Everyone else did, our squad, our trainers. Shadow Weaver was invested in it. The entire time I was Force Captain, she was very clear that the second you came back, I was going to be demoted in favor of you. It didn't matter what I did or what you did.”

“She's gone now. It's hard to really believe, but she's gone. Nothing but bad dreams.” Adora smirked. “Besides, I think it's safe to say that a walking torch doesn't have to worry about being in anyone's shadow.”

Catra felt a warm glow in her chest. “I guess you're right.”

Scoripia's voice began to reach them though the woods, calling for Catra. Adora hid behind the tree as Catra started to call out in response.

Once Scorpia was in view, she rushed up and drew Catra into a hug. “Catra! You're safe! I thought maybe you had gotten hurt or captured or something, but I should have known you could handle anything that happened.”

Catra squirmed her way out of the tight embrace, but she was smiling. “Sorry about that. I would have given you more warning before I left, but it wasn't safe for me to talk in the Fright Zone.” She glanced around to make sure Scorpia really was alone, her expression sobering. “Those old family legends, do they say what element the Black Garnet controlled?”

Scorpia looked puzzled at the shift in topic. “No, that's been forgotten.”

Catra held a handful of flames up for her to see. “What if I told you it was fire?”

“Oh wow,” Scorpia said softly. “I always knew you were something special, Wildcat.”

“I can't pretend to keep being Hordak's loyal soldier. I'm not that good a liar.” Catra doused the flames then removed the Force Captain's badge from her chest and held it up between two of her fingers. A red glow spread around the rim before the circuitry began to overheat and spark. Once it let out a small plume of smoke, she placed it in Scorpia's claw.

“Hordak can consider that my resignation. Tell him that if he wants Shadow Weaver on Beast Island so badly, he will have to take it up with the sorcerers on Mystacor. I won't be turning myself in to take her place. But don't tell him about me being tied to the Black Garnet. It may give him ideas.”

“Where will you go?”

“The Rebellion is willing to have me.” Adora, Bow, and Glimmer all appeared out from behind the trees. “And they're willing to listen to me when I vouch for you.”

Scorpia lowered her voice. “I told you I don't really get along with other Princesses.”

“Because of stuff your family did before you were born. That's messed up, but they admit that it's messed up, and they promise to give you a fair chance.” She put a hand on Scorpia's arm. “You're pure sunshine. You'll win them over faster than I will. I hope you won't leave me to be the only Princess at Bright Moon with a tail.”

Adora stepped closer. “The last Sh-Ra messed up a lot of things on Etheria. I'm trying to fix them. Our last clue pointed us to the Crimson Waste. What happened there may be what drove your ancestors out. I need to go there, and the land's rightful Princess could be helpful. We have to live with the mistakes of the people who came before us, but we don't have to keep repeating them.”

“What do you say?” Catra said. “Up for redeeming your family name?”

Scorpia bit her lip, making Catra wonder if there wasn't something that she hadn't known to take into account. She hoped it was just discomfort at being put on the spot.

“You don't have to answer now, but you'll be welcome when you come. Don't tell Entrapta about me and the Black Garnet either. She's too likely to slip something to Hordak if she thinks it's scientifically relevant. You could tell her that the Rebellion misses her though. Perfuma seems especially upset about how things went down. I don't want to break up the Best Pals Team any more than you do, but the Horde only exists to serve Hordak. If we want something for ourselves, we have to leave.”

“I understand.” Scorpia smiled softly. “I'll see you again soon, Wildcat. Stay safe until then.”

The rebels watched her as she retreated through the trees and back toward the Fright Zone.

“She has a thing for you. Like, a romantic thing,” said Bow.

“That's why she'll come to Bright Moon. She may even be able to talk Entrapta into coming with her. Either way, Hordak doesn't understand what he's up against now.”

[royallyprincesslilly]

Title: Late (17)

T’Challa X Black Reader

Chapter Warning: Cursing, Time Jump, Illicit substance Use and Abuse, Angst

Word Count: 3778K

Note: I know it’s been FOREVER and I’m sorry you guys. I wasn’t 100% sure where I wanted to take the story I had 90% figured out and for the life of me I could not sit and write this due to lack of FULL inspiration. I refuse to give you guys half assed work, it’s not me. So here is the long overdue chapter that I made especially LONGER.

**Loosely proofread, please excuse typos if you see them.

If you enjoyed this, please, please share it, like it, reblog it. ❤️ ❤️ ❤️

*************

“So it is with great sadness but incredible joy that we remember the life of Y/N. She was not born in Wakanda but this is where she died, which makes her part of our life cycle, part of our legacy as she resides with our panther goddess for all eternity.” T’Challa said before he bowed his head.

The residents of Wakanda followed. The torches were lit and the tribal music began. In Wakanda one’s death was mourned but by tradition it was more important to also celebrate their life. He looked up and out to his people taking in everyone’s reactions and expressions, body languages and behaviors. He slowly looked from face to face observing them for any clues and registering them to his memory. As Black Panther his memory was near perfect with a .1% for error. An added perk of taking up the mantel was the enhanced knowledge and memory, he was able to tap into the knowledge and memories of other panthers before him. He used this enhanced power often in his efforts of trying to out think and outmaneuver his opponents. He used it now to find the culprit.

T’Challa looked across the faces of each of his Dora Milaje, the ones he’d always had around and the new additions. He saw another one, a newer addition, one he had not noticed prior but one he knew. Her name was Tandra, she was Nakia’s sister. They were close in age and affection and the first one of the family to journey to America because of her growing curiosities of the foreign land. His father had the idea to use her as a spy. It was a separate program from the War dog program, it was meant to infiltrate other diplomatic settings any means necessary. The program was an elite section of the war dogs and only a select few Wakandans were selected; Tandra was one of the very few. He called the program idodoli yemfazwe (War Dolls).

She’d been stationed with the Russian president. There were whispers of him wanting to invade Wakanda for it’s vibranium he saw it as his chance at world domination. Of course this whisper was one that had long been a concern. His father thought she was the best for the task. The reports they got back were nothing short of amazing, how Tandra got the information she did T’Challa never knew but he suspected. Men talked freely under only 2 circumstances; drunk/drugged or relaxed in pillow talk. He did not ask how she got her information but he always wondered.

When she reported her hatred of countries, presidents and dictators who strove for authoritarian rule was clear. He remembered a kimoyo beads discussion between her and his father he was privy to where she clearly expressed her disdain for the deplorable inhabitants of the Earth and wished to cleanse the planet of all corruption and those who were not worthy. He brought it to his father’s attention that Tandra might becoming radicalized. His father took his concerns into consideration but they both knew that with the increasing threat of Russia and it’s growing influence with America they needed Tandra to press on. Now she was home.

He continued his decent down the line to his left of those closest to him, Zhuri , then passing to his mother’s face, moved down the line to Shuri’s innocent face and then to his most trusted Ayo and Okoye. His eyes finally made it to Nakia who was next to him. She touched his forearm in comfort before raising her eyes to his giving him a small smile. He looked to his right at the members of the council, he noticed Nakia’s father, Ma’Uchi did not have his head bowed as every else. Instead he held it high, almost proudly looking out over Wakanda. It was no secret that Ma’Uchi did not like outsiders in Wakanda so his lack of sadness for Y/N’s death was not surprising, what was surprise was the pleased, successful look that was etched onto his face. He also noticed W’Kabi of the Border Tribe also with his head raised. T’Challa took note of it. He and W’Kabi grew up together, they were close, T’Challa even gave W’Kabi his blessings to propose marriage to Okoye, a marriage proposal she accepted but a wedding had yet to take place; 3 years later. In truth W’Kabi did not know of Okoye’s conflicting feelings between he and Busihiri, next in line to lead the mining tribe. In fact Okoye herself did not know that T’Challa knew anything of it. Truth be told T’Challa was sure this was the reason for the delay with their journey into wedded bliss, a reason that escaped W’Kabi and created tension in their relationship.

After the music and chanting, T’Challa feigned grief allowing Nakia to finish the speech. A speech she delivered with conviction when she vowed Y/N’s assailant would be brought to the full force of the Wakandan law. Her conviction prompted the crowd to errupt in cheers and applause. When she spoke of using tragedy to bring the citizens together T’Challa couldn’t help but nod along with his people. He agreed, of course he did he’d written this speech himself. Normally Y/N would do it as part of her job function but this speech, was all his own. He didn’t have to dig deep for it, all the emotions and sentiments were right at the surface.

“Y/N will be greatly missed, not only for her kindness, and her intelligence but also for her loyalty and dedication to me.” Nakia read before she glanced to T’Challa pursing her lips slightly.

“To Wakanda.” Nakia corrected looking back to the crowd allowing them time to clap in agreement and murmur between each other.

“I will always consider her to be my best friend and…and…truest…confidant.” Nakia struggled to get out. She looked back to T’Challa and he saw the clench in her jaw and it piqued his interest and curiosity. She looked down momentarily and stepped back to T’Challa’s side.

He listened as the people chanted her name, over and over. She never thought she was of any significance to Wakanda and the people, she doubted that anyone truly cared for her, he wished she were there to see it, to hear it and know how many lives she touched and how many truly love her, like him. He cleared his throat of the emotion before walking back into the palace, this was all becoming too real.

***********

“Finally she is dead!” Nakia said stretching back in her chambers. She released a long exaggerated sigh.

“It was taking too long.” She groaned out.

“Keep quiet Nakia, there are ears everywhere.” Ma’Uchi chastised.

“I will not be quiet, I have wanted this for so long. I heard the whispers and rumors while I was away. I heard what everyone said and suspected. They actually suspected he would marry her. Her father, a disgusting American, over me wakanda’s jewel. “ She took up the crystal paperweight on the table and shuffled it from hand to hand.

She played the dutiful daughter an citizen for years. When the marriage agreement was entered when she was a child she was excited. She’d always loved T’Challa, always and could not wait until she were Queen, she longed for the power the title would afford her. As a child she had no power, she was the second girl child. Her sister was the prize, she became part of Wakanda’s and T’Chaka’s prized idodoli yemfazwe (War Dolls), she was always away on missions that lasted for months, months where she sent back so many glamorous items, from jewelry, shoes, even clothes. Nakia thought she was living the life and that made her join the war dogs. As she and T’Challa grew she hear more and more about his extracurricular activities. She heard about his time in America, the women, the lewd acts, she heard it all and her jealousy grew to bounds she wasn’t prepared for. He never once wrote her asking how she was doing, or told her he missed her. It was as if he cared nothing for her.

When she came home from one of her missions he found her close to one of Wakanda’s many waterfalls. It was the first time in months they’d spoken. Yet the entire afternoon she fell harder and harder for him. They spent everyday together for a week and Nakia thought he was finally beginning to love her too. Foolishly she gave him the one thing her umama told her every man truly wanted, her virginity. For the week that followed they were inseparable often choosing to sneak away back to the waterfall to do it again and again. Then he was gone, back to America and after a week so were his attentions. He had yet another model on his arm with her hanging all over him. She felt stupid, and regretted giving him that part of her. From then Nakia’s heart hardened toward him.

From then she took every War dog mission she could and used it as a distraction and to formulate her plan. She was making all the preparations until her father told her of the beautiful American the entire Golden Tribe fell in love with, T’Chaka included. She knew you would throw a wrench in the entire plot she had to act.

No one knew of her part in the attack at the accords, the attack that was anticipated to take the king’s life. An act that would make T’Challa king. Upon successful completion of the beginning of her plot she returned home to play the dutiful friend and soon to be fiancé. When she saw her for the first time in person Nakia understood how he’d fallen, she was beautiful, in an American way. It was then she knew she may pose to be a greater threat than she originally thought.

“On to the next phase of the plan.” Nakia said smirking devilishly.

**********

”Now that she thinks Y/N is dead what is to stop her?” Shuri asked.

“When one thinks they have won the game, they become lazy, sloppy.” Ramonda informed.

“Do not worry. I have taken care of one of the pieces off this chess game.” She added.

“Mother, what did you do?” Shuri asked.

“Let’s just say that the the Court Council is onto N’amibia thanks to her actions being brought to the high magistrate’s attention. He thought her actions were odd and the decisions she’d rendered on equally odd.” Ramonda nonchalantly added while she watered her flowers.

“It is as if he truly believes she is dead mother. I’ve never seen him like this. Never seen him so-broken, not even after father.” Shuri brought up off topic.

“I know. I believe sending her away was the hardest thing he has ever done. I wish I could take his pain.” Ramonda admitted. They stood there in silence thinking of everything that happened and all that they were faced with.

“We will fix this Shuri, do not worry. We will fix this so she can fix him.” They nodded in unison continuing their work in the garden with T’Challa’s well being in mind. They both didn’t voice their worry that neither of them T’Challa or Y/N would ever fully heal.

************

You sat there reading and rereading the letter T’Challa wrote you, the last form of communication you had had in now 2 weeks. He didn’t write, he didn’t call, he didn’t email, carrier pigeon, war dog message, Morse code, hieroglyphic, shadow puppets, nothing. It was silent on his end. When you read the letter and fully digested he was accepting your resignation and letting you leave Wakanda as you swore up and down you wanted you knew he meant it. You knew this was no ploy. Part of you hoped he was doing it because of the growing danger to your life, but the realest part of you said you were worth more trouble than he could handle.

You stared at his signed name for hours. When the jet landed in New York at the top of Wakandan embassy in complete stealth mode you hugged E’KeNe and D’GaBo goodbye through the tears streaming down your cheeks you could barley make out their features but they looked like they were sad. They wished you well, and begged you to take care of yourself and just like that they were gone, going back home. At that thought you realized Wakanda was your home. Yes you weren’t born there and no you did not have any blood ties to it but you were connected to it.

Knock, knock, knock.

You shook your head and brought yourself back to the present, in your office.

“Come in.” The door opened and Sabrina your assistant at the embassy walked in carrying a stack of folders.

“Ms. Y/L/N, I have the documents regarding the upcoming retreat. Everything on the Vienna accords and the current state of the matter.” She placed them on your desk.

“Thank you Sabrina, did we get a reply back from Captain Rogers on if he would be able to submit a statement from Mr. Barnes?”

“Yes, he said informed he has messengered it over and you should have it before close of business today.” Sabrina informed. You nodded and began digging into everything on the accords.

“Will there be anything else ma’am?” You looked around trying to think of anything but coming up short.

“No Sabrina thank you.” You responded looking back to the folder in front of you. She nodded and walked toward the door.

“Oh, Mr. Coral called to confirm you are still on for dinner tonight.” You paused and groaned. You completely forgot you’d agreed to dinner with him. You glanced at your watch, 4:30. You really didn’t feel like it. You didn’t feel like it when you agreed either. You closed your eyes and breathed out.

“Please apologize to Mr. Coral, tell him something extremely important came up here and I will not be able to make it.” You lied. She nodded before walking out. You sighed again and went back to the reports and it was there your eyes stayed, but your mind was thousand of miles away, in the place your heart was.

When you walked into your apartment that night it was turning 8’ o’clock. You groaned and leaned on the door relieved to be done with another day. Every day since you’d returned was harder than the next. They said time healed all wounds but that was not the case. It was 2 weeks, 14 days and you still cried. Every night you cried yourself to sleep in a ball, every night you tossed and turned for hours only to have nightmares about his face, his hands, his lips, nightmares that made you cry in you sleep until they stirred you awake. Once awake you paced your apartment for the rest of the night until the sun rose and it was time for you to get prepared for another day of work. You cried in the shower in the mornings and pulled yourself together enough to present a brave, reserved, professional face to the world by 8’ o’clock. Then throughout the day you felt like a robot, it was all routine and fake, because the cycle just repeated everyday.

Weekends were the worst, from Friday to Sunday you had nothing to take your mind, nothing to distract you-weekends were the worst. After kicking off your six inch heels and placing the folders on your center coffee table you walked into the kitchen and took out one of the many bottles of wine you had stocked. You opened the bottle and didn’t even bother with a glass, you took it to the head and took several gulps. It wasn’t wakandan but it would have to do. You drank some more on your journey to your bedroom. Once inside you unfastened the back of your skirt and allowed it to fall to the floor with a soft sigh. You stepped out of it and walked toward the bathroom. You turned on the shower and pulled your blouse over your head. Your reflection caught your eye before you passed the vanity. You had puffy dark circles under your eyes that not even your makeup expertise could handle, so much for the 230 dollar bottle of foundation you decided to try.

You rolled your eyes and walked back into the bedroom stripping the remainder of your clothes. You wrapped your hair and covered it before stepping in the shower. You had every intention of showering when you stepped in but the first touch of the hot water paused you and took your mind back to Wakanda, back to T’Challa. You sighed and hit your head on the tiled wall.

“Get your shit together Y/N.” You pleaded.

The remainder of the night was spent in 4 bottles of wine and the remaining folders. What else was a Friday night meant for if not work and drowning your sorrows and broken heart?

***********

-2 Weeks Later-

T’challa closed the door to his bedchambers and locked the secret lock he’d requested. No one really knew about it, he put it there because the Dora could easily unlock the doors using their Kimoyo beads especially if they thought he was in danger, it was sort of a safety precaution for him. He wanted the extra privacy. He sighed pressing his hands to the back of the door and lowering his head so the top of his head rested on the door. After a few moments he dug into his pocket and took out the serum he’d been highly dependent on the last several weeks.

Zhuri provided him with a small amount the heart shaped herb. He said it was not just used for spiritual purposes but it could be used recreationally. He warned it was dangerous in high quantities and only gave him half the amount a test tube could hold. After the first few days T’Challa built up a tolerance for it and it’s effects were not as strong. So he ordered Ayo get more knowing she could not refuse an order from her King. He experimented with the dosage and quickly found that he needed at least 6 vials a day to function, and that number was growing, he tweaked it with the knowledge from panthers before him using pure liquid vibranium to lace the herb, the effects exponentially rose. This was his 6th vial. He popped off the top and without though gulped down the glowing purple serum. He groaned as it’s strength coursed through him at a rapid speed. He nearly fell to his knees and it was only thanks to his grip that prevented it.

When he fully adjusted he walked more into his chambers and kicked off his sandals before he lied on his bed. He closed his eyes and felt the serum slow his heart and in turn slowed his mind and his breathing. It was an ability he had before but now with the serum it was an immediate effect. One he craved, he was beginning to crave it a little too much. His heart beat slowed to a mere 50 beats a minute. It was during this process he found he was able to find any peace, in a near dead state. His mind lagged, he felt as if everything was in slow motion. He thought of her. He wondered what she was doing, how she was doing. He didn’t trust himself to not contact her so he requested his mother handle any business with the Wakandan embassy. He told her not to tell him anything, make all decisions according to how she wanted. The only thing he knew was she was alive, alive and safe. That had to be enough for him.

T’Challa dug into the pocket of his pants and took out the small star shaped button Y/N gave him after their incredible night together. T’Challa regretted that night on many levels, he wished he would have buried himself deep inside you. He wished he would have said to hell with the council wished he would have planted his seed deep within you perhaps then there would have been a chance to outsmart the council. Children were important in Wakanda, his were paramount, or they would be.

He squeezed the button and thought of your words to him.

“You will never be lost, the balance is always going to be with you.”

He felt lost now, he felt completely lost and without the one thing that truly balanced him. You.

Knock, Knock, Knock.

T’Challa groaned but did not move. He refused to get up, there was nothing anyone could say that he cared about.

Knock, Knock, Knock.

Still he didn’t move, mainly because his limbs felt too heavy, but also because of a lack of want.

“T‘Challa, did you forget we were supposed to go to the temple an meet with Zhuri in preparation for the ceremony sithandwa sam?” Nakia softly asked. He breathed out harshly annoyed with the sound of her voice.

In accordance with Wakandan mourning traditions the marriage ceremony was placed on hold for the required time-4 weeks. This week would that hold was finished and the ceremony was expected to take place as planned.

“T’Challa?” He remained quiet. After a few more minutes he heard her steps recede. He knew he couldn’t hide from her much longer, the ceremony was in 4 days. In 4 days he would have a wife, Wakanda would have a queen, not the one he loved or wanted though. Feeling his heartbeat speed he dug into his other pocket and took out another vail of the serum and poured it into his mouth. He knew it was too much, he knew it was dangerous to consume so much, but he didn’t care. His arms felt heavy and they fell to the bed. He stared up into the ceiling of his chambers and smiled at her serene face. The face he loved, the face he missed, the face that brought him peace. His eyelids were heavy and he lost the will to keep them open, lost the will for everything.

To Be Continued….

Tags: @kumkaniudaku @brianabreeze @sarahboseman @texasbama @heyauntieeee @airis-paris14 @thiccdaddy-mbaku @wakandas-vibranium @wakanda-inspired @theunsweetenedtruth @ashanti-notthesinger @reignsxjackson @halfrican-heat @ambthegamer @simplyyamberr @dramaqueenamby @muse-of-mbaku @sisterwifeudaku @mejustme06 @stressedgyal @ilcb7 @leahnicole1219  @destinio1 @maliadestiny @drsunshine97 @blowmymbackout @purplehairgawdess @thehuntoyobun @wakandamama @wakandawinning @profilia @zxddy-panther @h-challa @babygirlofwakanda @misswakanda2018 @challaxkillmonger @ororowrites @hutchj @myfavemarvelfanfics @lavitabella87 @afraiddreamingandloving @autumn242 @purple-apricots @skysynclair19 @hersheyskissesss @blue-ishx @blublubleu @90sinspiredgirl  @tchallaswife @tchallamakesmeh0lla @turn-thy-paige @blackchickfics @blackpantherismyish @inlovewithmakeupcomicsanimelove @naturally-bri @flawlesslybeautiful14 @qweentbh @lunaerly @theoutereffect @twilight-sapphire-lover @pupyluv247 @stark-red19 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***All Right I think I have everyone tagged. Hell I may have tagged some of yall twice, it’s aight twice as nice right. :) 

[erenthecoordinate]

Any thoughts regrading the last couple of chapters? EMA, Zeke, Levi, and Yelena?

Hello!  It’s been a while since I made a chapter analysis, but the most recent one is probably the freshest on my mind so I may mostly end up talking about that.  That said, in my opinion, I believe the past couple chapters were a mixture of both interesting and frustrating, the latter mostly because so little context was revealed.  The manga is more parts mystery than it is tragedy and horror, and Isayama is infamous for leading his readers with a long, long string of questions to its solution, only to be met with more mysteries and less understanding of our whereabouts.  It’s equal parts engaging but irritating, haha!  But I’ll do my best!

Admittedly, it’s been hard to analyze chapters that give less than what you need to come up with theories.  At least the characterization made up for that, and I really enjoyed the comparison of girl-to-girl idolization toward Mikasa and Sasha from the victims they saved, as well as how they intend to pass the torch to those who want to change the cruel world they reside.  Gabi finally got called out on her contradicting history lesson, Falco (unsurprisingly) sympathized, and Louise got to meet her hero and tried to relate to her situation.  If you want to stretch it, that entire chapter really was about looking up and worshipping someone they saw ideal in leading their world to a brighter future, be it directly assisting those in trouble or taking on an entire nation for survival and vengeance.  

But talking about EMA, Levi, Yelena, and Zeke, the following chapter obviously caters more so to their dilemma.  I have lately been looking at OrganicDinosaur’s translations for accuracy since Crunchyroll and other language scans have been inconsistent and full of typos, but since OD didn’t deliver this time around, I’ll stick to CR’s version and any changes that were brought up by other translators:

EREN, MIKASA, & ARMIN

We’ve seen a couple of chapters ago that the 104th are in shock, confusion, and upset over Eren’s actions in Liberio, even going to say he was responsible for Sasha’s death.  Connie is angered and Jean is uncomfortable.  Eren’s biggest advocates (aside Zeke, Yelena, and the restorationists and…I suspect *some* other characters) are Armin and Mikasa.  Mikasa is certain Eren hasn’t changed within the 10 months of him professing his love for his friends to when he left for Marley.  Eren’s actions, while seemingly an issue for them now, are out of protectiveness and care for their well-being.  

However, with all these negative accusations, Mikasa is conflicted on how she feels about his activity and tries to convince everyone that regardless of what he did, it wasn’t to put them in danger or bring chaos to their island.  Armin wants to believe in Eren just as bad, though brings up a more realistic possibility that whether they trust him or not, it is ultimately not their decision on how to judge his actions.  He worries that if Eren comes across as a traitor, completely under Zeke’s will, the government will take action to transfer Eren’s coordinate to someone that is indefinitely loyal to them.  They both decide the best option to to talk to Eren themselves.

When they finally are given time with Zackley to schedule a visitation, Commander-in-Chief mysteriously declines their request and suggests Eren is no longer the Eren they were friends with back in the day but supposedly controlled by Zeke.  Different translations implied that Zeke was either influencing Eren with his ideas or was literally mind-controlling his actions, but whatever the case, Eren is now labeled a danger to their society.  So much distrust enough to already start selecting prime candidates for his titans.  Of course that quickly becomes a non-option due to an exploding shit machine (good riddance, blehh).

Anyway, with these events, we can speak affirmatively that Mikasa and Armin truly have no idea what Eren is doing, so it’s likely he has kept secrets from a majority of the Corps, if not all.  All they can cling to is the loyalty he proclaimed to them almost a year ago and history of his self-sacrifice for their sake.  The only thing possibly stopping that is an actual hypnotic manipulation on Zeke’s part.  So when they learn Eren escapes jail, they immediately jump into action.  Mikasa is confused on what to do, and Armin assures her than once they talk to Eren that he’ll understand.  It seems at this point they’ve already come up with an emergency plan, but what?

Judging by Armin’s words, we can assume that whatever they’re planning is something Eren will have strong opposition to.  So his friends haven’t given up on him yet.  The plan is not for Eren to get eaten.  We can guess that their carriage with Hange and Onyankopon is headed to the destination, but we don’t know where.  I think it can be one of a couple things.  They’re headed to Zeke, already foreseeing that this is where Eren will be headed, intercepting him for a chat (that may or may not result in a bitter or non-informative exchange).  Secondly, is a more active plan that involves either going to Zeke first or Historia.  I think the major worry is that Zeke is controlling Eren, and since the option to kill Eren is out the window, the next best thing is to kill Zeke.  The primary candidate was supposed to be Historia, but her pregnancy was meant to prevent that from happening.  However, I can see that in desperation they would convince Historia that Eren is not in his right mind and that her taking the Beast Titan would ensure their safety.  The baby’s life would be at risk, but since shifters heal, Historia herself would likely be fine and she’d have to try for another kid later.  Another potential option is to have a backup candidate eat Zeke and wait until Historia’s child is born or whenever she is able to, so that there is no potential risk for her and the baby.  Either way, the plan involves killing Zeke ASAP.  And judging by Eren’s insistence to retrieve him and go along with his half brother’s suggestions, this is something that would really upset him.  But surely if his friends explained the situation, he would understand their concerns.  Right?

Of course, this is also assuming Historia is not aware of Eren’s plan.  I think they’d hit a hard place with this one, because it’s already been suggested that she was advised by Yelena that her life may be spared if she extends Zeke’s life for an option that won’t require her to sacrifice herself (or at least not immediately) and guarantee Paradis freedom.  Popular theory that I agree with is that Eren personally said this to Historia.  This is also assuming the others know that Historia is pregnant, and I’m sure that Armin would have figured that her sudden conception was strategic and not a result of a night of passion.  Still, it’d be worth a shot for them to convince her that Eren was manipulated all along and if she waits any longer this could spell disaster for all of them.  This theory rides on knowledge from both sides, and we’ve yet to gain Historia’s perspective on the entire thing, so at best this is an educated guess.

LEVI

Speaking of perspectives yet unseen, we’ve finally got some words from a very bitter but mostly quiet Levi.  I’ve talked about his mood toward Eren on the blimp and how it’s more an emotion of disappointment and upset than anger, but other than that moment we haven’t had any lines aside some banter and camp times with Zeke (how sweet!).  Levi is one that communicates best through body language, so visually he hasn’t been very present either.  You can blame the plot for putting him with Zeke 24/7 until they need him for something else.  But since his relationship with monkey trouble is one of detest, we get little minor exchanges that tell very little but are, again common theory, suspicious as well.

Isayama puts as much effort into showing character body language and background presence to communicate a topic of concern (sort of like a “hey, pay attention to what this character is doing”) as he does when a character is barely present at all.  We get hints that Levi is very much not happy with the situation of keeping Zeke alive, yet he does so for the sake of a plan.  He gets especially glowering when Zeke say he wants to meet with Eren, because Levi certainly isn’t convinced Zeke is being genuine with his intentions.  Despite this we get chapters of silence and storytime around a campfire (how long have they been in the woods??).  

While Levi is a straight-faced character much of the time, he is without a doubt one of the most emotional characters and it comes across in his posture.  But we have little info on visuals like I said, and I believe this is entirely intentional.  We are meant to either question Levi’s involvement or have no clear idea of his thoughts other than he hates Zeke, doesn’t think he is genuine, but agrees that they are pressed for time.  I’m not saying Levi is in on this Yeagerbro plan, though it would be interesting if he had an inkling of an idea ahead of time.  But I believe his absence is meant to make it easier on some fans to see his opinions as a clean slate and whatever is revealed remains very, very basic, so that if and when a more complex explanation is presented it throws us back but doesn’t come off as unrealistic.

Or Levi is very secondary to this entire function and puts his decisions on someone else’s shoulders.  Which…would be kind of boring?

Whether he agrees with Eren (and Zeke) or not, I believe there will be a confrontation that requires Levi (or both) to make a choice on whether or not to trust and assist them.  I may be borrowing from discussions I’ve had with friends, but the reason I say this is because it is far more practical for the two to get Levi on their side rather than make him an enemy.  Throughout the story, Eren has been loyal to Levi and receptive of his mentorship, especially when it comes to making decisions.  I think it’s plausible that Eren will try to explain the situation to Levi or at the very least demand he make a choice to allow him access to Zeke.  I’ve seen many concerns that there is going to be a physical altercation and that Levi will die, and personally the latter is unlikely because Levi has yet to be important in this plan and a huge role in taking down the primary conflict*.  As for a physical altercation, it’s plausible, but again taking Mikasa and Armin’s words of trust to heart, I would think Levi is also among the group Eren cares enough about to not harm and especially not kill.  At minimum, any fight would be with the intent to stop the other from interfering with no serious injury.  But I believe there will be some tense words.

It’d also be an interesting development for Levi’s character to more or less get out of the rut of being unsure of his leadership and purpose*, ever since dealing with no longer following Erwin’s, perhaps not completely adjusted to Hange’s, by being personally challenged to trust his gut instinct or other people’s decisions.  It’s not that Levi hasn’t used his intuition before, but when it comes to a greater goal he has dedicated much of his trust to other people and worked according to that.  We know Levi has a hero complex and would fight for humanity above all else.  Whatever Levi does will depend entirely on whether he agrees with Eren or he sees him unreliable.  Regardless of what happens, having this conflict would revisit the complexities of his character as well as turn the moral he taught Eren in the same forest years ago hurdling back to confront him.

ZEKE

Zeke, on the other hand, has always been an enigma that beginning to assume his intentions would have one’s head spinning.  Levi has the right idea to interrogate him for more information, yet we haven’t fully seen Zeke’s stories illustrated except the Ragako gassing and his conversation with Kiyomi (which is more her memory rather than his).  Is he truly being genuine, is he working as a double agent for Marley, or is he in this for his own gain?

As far as genuinity goes, I believe whatever we see illustrated is considered the truth.  This has been a strategy Isayama has used when revealing secrets, history, and characters’ memories of an event.  While the manga constantly reminds that there is no good vs evil side, in terms of telling some facts, those moments have a clear illustration.  Whereas “hearsay” and lies, such as Historia meeting up with the farmer boy, Yelena in the background, and Bertolt “recalling” seeing a titan out his windows when his “village was attacked” are obscure, sketched, or foggy and barely cover more than two panels.  It’s possible Isayama used this to his advantage to get the audience slowly trusting Zeke’s word only to be betrayed in the future, but I think it’d be sloppy to veer away from consistency for the sake of psyching out your readers and therefore not trusting any memory that any character has.  Besides, I think the detail is minor enough that people are still unsure whether to believe in his story.

It’s also possible Zeke telling Levi “don’t claim to understand people” is a callout to the fandom that are adamant in their distrust despite lack of context– much like the callout to Levi and Annie’s popularity, reappearance of Zackley’s art, and Eren coming out of prison shirtless even though he knows how to keep his clothes on even if he completely transformed (I’m not complaining!).  Not that I blame the fandom.  Zeke has caused a lot of paranoia both in-verse and our-verse.

Anyway, assuming Zeke is at least a little bit truthful due to his lack of glasses glare and pages of clearly illustrated backstory, we learn the Ragako Village’s people inhaled gas with some of Zeke’s spinal fluid, resulting in a mass transformation of the town.  Via Falco’s words, this was to test Paradis’s defense mechanisms which resulted in Zeke discovering the existence of 3DMG and therefore a bargaining chip for Hizuru.  So there is no reason to doubt the mission’s purpose, but now we learned that Zeke and Pieck weren’t the only ones responsible for this and that other Marleyans were with them on this mission, giving Zeke the realistic excuse to basically follow their orders to feign allegiance and unfortunately creating monstrosities of the villagers that were eventually eliminated (sans Connie’s mother).  Levi isn’t convinced of Zeke’s guilt, but Zeke is a character who has few emotional attachments and does have a goal-oriented mindset.  To him, despite the tragedy, the sacrifice was necessary for his cause and Eldia’s overall prosperity.

I think we are getting semi-truths from Zeke and some fabrications with his words in his favor, though the images presented are real events that actually happened.  This story aligns with what Falco said literally a chapter ago, as well.  But of course, he is still a mystery and will remain so until Eren gets to him.

YELENA

And finally another enigma with less of a pokerface is Yelena.  At this point, she really comes across as not entirely reliable, and sadly translations of her conversation with Pixis doesn’t help foreign readers (English readers specifically) comprehend it exactly.  But basically, Yelena had wanted to meet Eren and assist in his endeavors because she wants to see her idol Zeke and his brother reshape the world.  She informed of her anxiety due to less time and not enough action, which Eren of course shared the same feelings.  Their secret meeting was purely between them and whatever escorts she was willing to wager on their side, i.e. Floch, someone who would take Eren’s message very seriously.  Otherwise, she denies convincing Eren to attack Marley as well as the construction of a cult, er, Restorationist movement.

We are given a lot of back and forth concerning Yelena and her contradicting behavior.  Pixis doesn’t believe her entirely, and limited panels of the conversation event suggest she is hiding something (see what I was talking about when I say to see what is illustrated vs what is not).  Hange is surprised to hear Onyankopon knew nothing about the secret meetings or the plan to attack Marley.  They are puzzled over Yelena, a person who punished those who went against authority including fellow Marleyans, who eventually advocated strongly for their lives when speaking with the Paradisian government.  She had put a lot of effort into complying with their conditions as well as giving additional alibis so not to be suspicious– which is ironically very suspicious.  All of this is to presumbley meet with Eren.

Though, as far as we know, Eren is still a partial orchestrator of his assault and Zeke’s plan perhaps convinced him of the option, Yelena allowing Eren to choose for himself.  I believe this to an extent, meaning Eren saw no other way to protect Paradis without having Zeke come to them, having to trust his half-brother to coin in an upcoming war between Marley (and other nations) and Paradis (and probably Hizuru), draw out the Warhammer, in order to ensure Zeke and Eren were the ones to do…whatever it is they plan to do, instead of chancing it with successors they may or may not trust.  In other words, it is their (separately or together or partially) idea and only they can see it through.  Yelena claims to be the messenger and witness of this plan, but not the instigator or puppeteer.

I think that anything pertaining to the bigger truth of this plan will begin to unravel via her own words.  She may be keeping secrets, but she seems worse at covering herself when she is interrogated.  The best she seems to be doing is keeping lowkey and quiet, but with Pixis grilling and observing her during her house arrest, I want to guess that her retelling of the conversation in the next chapters (hopefully with a flashback INCLUDING Eren’s perspective and Eren’s words) will be the first step to getting closure to this story and why Eren decided to leave for Marley and why he is deciding to conceal this from his friends.

My thoughts about the characters keep growing with each passing discussion and debate, but thus far, these are my analyses of what role they play in the grand scheme of this story.   I predict answers to be peeled back before getting a massive infodump, and we’ll soon learn the true intentions and viewpoints of each character.

Thank you for your question!  Sorry this ended up longer than I anticipated!

[*there are interviews for these, but I’ve yet to find them, will update when I (or someone else) does]

[thorne93]

Curious Conundrum (Part 17)

Prompt: You’re John Watson’s sister. One day you decide to visit your brother for lunch, only to meet the infamous Mr. Holmes…

Word Count: 1935

Warnings: language, flirtation, sexual innuendos (maybe? idfk), murder/crime/case related stuff, angst, jealousy…

Notes: Beta’d by @carryonmyswansong Not only did she beta, but I literally couldn’t have written half these scenes without her help. She contributed majorly, even wrote some parts of scenes. I am forever in her debt.

Also, this starts AFTER Season 2, episode 1. I don’t follow all the episodes, but it does follow the timeline and hit some major events : )

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 |

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The anniversary had definitely taken a backseat, what with Sherlock headlining here and there, getting awards, presents, and rewards from every case he helped. He couldn’t care less, but you knew John liked the (somewhat) glorification.

But then Moriarty had downright shocked you as he somehow managed to break the case to the crown jewels. He was, of course, arrested. But he had some form of plan. What was it? That’s what was eating all three of you alive.

You were less concerned with how, and more concerned with why he wrote “Get Sherlock” and what the end game was.

Six grueling weeks later and Sherlock was called to trial as a witness. Both you and John accompanied him.

“Remember,” you tried to say and he cut you off.

“I know.”

You let out a breath of frustrated air. “Sherlock, this is serious. Moriarty is not to be fucked with, you know this. Don’t--”

“Don’t do anything like myself. Don’t provoke them. I know.”

You closed your eyes, knowing it was useless.

Before the trial, Sherlock went into the bathroom and you waited outside for what seemed like forever before he finally emerged.

“Bloody hell, did you fall in?” you demanded.

“Sorry, had to deal with a flirting fanatic,” he noted.

“You... What?!”

But Sherlock calmed you down by shrugging it off, and of course, he had to enter court. Sherlock had asked you to tune into your deduction skills and watch all over the courtroom while he took the stand.

When it was all said and done, you three went over the facts, walking back into the flat.

“...Three of the most secure places in the country and Moriarity broke into them and no one knows how or why. All we know is--”

“He ended up in custody,” Sherlock finished.

“Don't do that,” John slowly requested.

“Do what?”

“The look?”

“What look?”

“You’re doing the look again?”

“Well I can’t see it, can I?”

John gestured to the mirror. “My face?” Sherlock asked, completely confused.

“Yes, and it’s doing a thing. It’s doing that ‘we both know what’s really going on here face’.”

“Well, we do,” Sherlock insisted.

“No, I don’t, which is why I find ‘the face’ so annoying.”

You’d been gripping your head in frustration before you finally snapped, “Oh for God’s sakes! If Moriarty wanted the jewels he would have them. If he wanted the prisoners free, they would be. The only reason he’s sitting in a cell is because that’s what he’s chosen. So now the question is why. Why does Moriarty want to be behind bars? What’s the point? What’s the end game?”

By the end of your rant, you’d begun to pace.

“Y/N’s right, it’s part of his scheme,” Sherlock agreed.

At this, the three of you continued to mull over the “why”... Sherlock the most concerned with it.

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

John went to the trial, to hear the sentence. Sherlock waited at home. You were actually doing your real job, busy at a trial of your own, but your mind was never far away from your boyfriend. You were nervous as hell, but you were sure they would find him guilty. How could they not?

But then the horrible news that he was found not guilty rocketed you into another dimension. John had called you after he called Sherlock. His voice was full of panic.

“What do you mean they found him innocent?!” you shrieked as you were on recess for your own trial.

“I don’t know. But they did. He’s coming for Sherlock, I know it. The bastard just hung up on me though.”

You tried to even out your breathing. “Okay, that’s okay. If Sherlock knows this, he has a plan.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“I know Sherlock and I know he weighed and thought about every possible outcome. If Moriarty is coming for him, he’ll be ready. In the meantime, I gotta go. Keep me updated.”

You ended the call and went back to your trial. When it was done (and you’d won the case), you raced to Sherlock’s flat where he was explaining everything to John. Apparently Moriarty had come by the apartment and had a little chat with him. Of course it was a threat, but none of you knew what the hell it meant or could possibly mean.

You and Sherlock seemed to spend the better part of two months going over anything he could be plotting. Romance, the anniversary, the relationship as a whole went on the back burner. All efforts and focus was either on Moriarty or an active case.

Then suddenly, a kidnapping case had come about. Sherlock was nearly giddy with glee as it seemed to be a rather curious case indeed. As luck would have it, you were with him when Donovan and Lestrade presented the case to him. You, John, and Sherlock were driven to the site of the abduction.

You watched Sherlock work (an aphrodisiac for you). He startled the nanny, and then graciously told her he believed her story and requested someone get her a bag to breathe into. The sheer confidence of the ordeal was enough to make you smirk appreciatively.

Donovan caught your approving face and skipped up next to you.

“You think him being a complete ass and scaring poor old women is funny do you?”

Your face lost all trace of humor, and anger ignited inside you. “I think Sherlock getting the job done as quickly as possible is good, yes. Or was that not the point? To get to the children as quickly as possible.”

“He sure has a funny way of going about it,” she muttered snidely.

“At least he doesn’t fuck around while on the job, literally. How is Anderson’s wife by the way?” you asked, turning to face her as you walked backward. A mischievous grin played on your face as you twiddled your fingers in the air at her like a wave before turning to follow Sherlock into the house.  

Watching Sherlock work, you remained silent. It was best not to speak while he was “in the zone” unless asked. He found a bottle and requested for Anderson. Anderson came and prepared the room for black light analysis. Without fail, Anderson gave a brilliant impression of a moron, to which Sherlock told him so.

He found some samples of the kidnappers boots that he said would behave like a map for them. Which would be true. Scraping some samples and the three of you rushing to St. Barts, Sherlock began his analysis, dragging Molly into it as well.

Every time you were around Molly, it was….strained. You knew she had known him longer than you had, you knew she had feelings for him -- still, and she stayed in line, not trying to cross the line of friendship with Sherlock. Yet every time you were around her, there was a touch of awkward tension in the air. Part of you respected her for being an adult, part of you didn’t like Sherlock around her because you knew of her feelings, and another part of you felt entirely sorry for her.

It must be one hell of a thing to watch the man you carry a torch for love another. Even if you and Sherlock never showed any sort of public affection, even if you kept it strictly professional while working a case, the fact remained that you were his and he was yours. This fact was glaring just by the looks you two shared, the way his gaze would linger on yours.The way he would shoot you a knowing smirk. The way he commended your deductions.

So now, you stood with John, helping him on some of the tests when Molly suddenly struck up a conversation with Sherlock that wasn’t science related.

“What did you mean ‘I owe you’?” she asked as she worked. Sherlock stopped his movements and you did too. You couldn’t help but listen in. “You said ‘I owe you’ while you were working,” she noted.

“Nothing,” he quietly said, shutting the topic down.

“You’re a bit like my dad. He’s dead. No… sorry--” she tried, realizing the social awkwardness of her statement.

“Molly, please don’t feel the need to make conversation, it’s really not your area,” Sherlock advised.

She made a face, a nervous, but bold face. “When he was dying, he was always cheerful. Lovely, except when he thought no one could see. I saw him once, he looked sad.”

Sherlock gave her a warning. “Molly…”

“You look said,” she continued, ignoring his tone of caution, “when you think they can’t see you.”

Both of their gazes flashed to the two of you, but you made quick work to shift your own eyes and make your hands start fiddling about.

“Are you okay? Don’t just say you are, because I know what that means when you think no one can see you.”

“You can see me,” he noted.

“I don’t count,” she commented, and a pang of sympathy washed through your chest for her. “What I’m trying to say is, if there’s anything I can do, anything you need, anything at all. You can have me.”

Red shot into your cheeks as you kept your face down, still pretending to work.

“No, what I mean is... I just mean... If there’s anything you need… It’s fine,” she stammered, ending her olive branch speech.

“But what could I need from you?” Sherlock asked and his tone made it clear that he would never need her.

“Nothing,” she replied, sorrow in the back of her voice. “I don’t know. But you could probably say thank you.”

Sherlock stuttered a thank you and she quickly exited the lab. Standing for a moment, you weren’t sure what to do. You wanted to talk to Molly, but on the other hand it would be best if you left it alone. Your tenacity got the better of you and you put your tools down, following her out into the hall.

“Molly,” you called, jogging to catch up to her.

She spun and faced you, not saying a word. You knew she didn’t like you, at all. She was polite to you around Sherlock because of him and John, and because she’s a nice person. But you knew if she could have a wish, it would be to get you out of the picture.

But that wasn’t the case. You were here to stay, and Molly needed to realize what her place was in Sherlock’s life.

You pressed your lips into a flat line as you peered at her, her waiting for you to say something.

“Look... I… I know you love him,” you started and she seemed to stiffen, probably awaiting you to demonize her. “I know how hard this must be for you. I wanted to let you know I appreciate you being an adult about this. And I really appreciate you not crossing that line and trying to be something more.”

Your gaze held hers for a second, a hardness settling into your eyes, while the rest of your face remained soft. “He doesn't have many friends, and it’s nice to know you’re there for him and support him.” You reached up and gripped her arm gently, a reassuring squeeze coming from you. “He and I are lucky to have you in our lives.”

Molly nodded, staying quiet a long time. “I--I--Yeah, you’re welcome.”

You smiled at her, the grin loaded as you let her go. Her gaze lingered on you a moment longer before she walked off to the cafeteria.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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[all-i-need-is-food-and-fanfics]

What do you want?(3)

length: 2900 words

trigger/warnings:  mention of death, graphic violence, blood(nothing too graphic or explicit yet), curses(because it’s Bakugo)

summary: Buddy Cop AU

a/n:  Deeply based on @soyunpochoclin idea, and headcanons for this honestly awesome AU

Honestly, you could skip this part, it’s not that plot-relevant besides the first part of it, but I had this idea and had to write it. So I hope it’s enjoyable anyway, it was fun to wirte so I hope it’s fun to read! <3

<–2nd part - 4rd part–>

***

Bakugo didn’t look up, he didn’t have he almost could feel Kirishima’s beaming happiness from his desk. Neither took Kirishima to sit on his desk.

“Morning Blasty!” Throwing a small pile of files over Bakugo’s own papers.

Maybe it was the fact another partner in the office had heard Kirishima call him that stupid name or that his butt was on top of Katsuki’s hand but anger boiled with ferocity in his eyes. He pulled his hand with forces and stare back up to Kirishima, who jumped at the action.

Once he looked up, “Sorry man, I didn’t notice.” Kirishima was smiling apologetic, almost ear to ear, eyes slightly squinted his scar standing out.

The anger reached boiling point, where it was no longer about to explode instead it evaporated only leaving smoke left to cough.

Maybe it was too early to deal with this shit.

“Just sit in a fucking chair, Shitty hair.” Bakugo finally said in between his teeth, pulling back the chair next to him that Ejirou willing ignore at first.

Kirishima bounced on the chair when he first sat down(practically jumped), “Oh come on dude! I used your nickname!” He was dangerously close to Bakugo’s face, he could basically hear Kirishima’s voice making eco inside his scalp.

Katsuki thought about blowing Kirishima’s face out of his personal face, he settled for pushing it away instead, “And I fucking told you not to.” Finally, he looked down at the files, “What the fuck are these?” He opened them, Kirishima helpfully pointed out the recognizable face.

She looked younger, definitely less crazy, a little crazy behind monotone tone that usually comes in school pictures. But similar to know it was her, “Himiko Toga” Katsuki clicked his tongue, laid back on his chair.

Ejirou opened the rest, not as familiar faces but it was hard the guys that almost killed him.

“Most of their of their information it’s here, except this guy’s name…” He pointed a blurry picture, although it was undeniable the blue matchstick, “…for his scars it’s easy to see he’s up to these days but not who he used to be…” Kirishima slowly explained.

“And the hell it’s all this information for?”

“Well, honestly…it’s not for much…” Ejirou lets the files fall into the desk again, and sits back too, avoiding the face Bakugo it’s probably making. “Most of this information it’s old, well..all but one.”

“Blue torch.” Kirishima laughed because it just amazed Bakugo’s creativity for coming up with nicknames.

“Yeah,” He nodded, Bakugo turn to him, “Again he is easy to spot. We have information from a place he seems to frequent a lot in the past weeks.”

“Then what the hell are we waiting?” Bakugo clicked his tongue, annoyed.

Ejirou’s face fell in indecision, “Well…it doesn’t really open during the day, neither it’s a cop-friendly place per say…”

Katsuki growled in response, and dig himself in his seat. He knew what that meant.

Someone had to infiltrate whatever nightclub and scrape for information.

Now, Katsuki was very good at his job. He was competent, determinate, observant and a perfectionist, which made him a very good cop and detective. But people were never his strong suit, he avoided infiltration jobs like a plague; though it seemed there wasn’t a way around this one. When he turned to Kirishima he founded a solution he wasn’t happy about either, he had to leave it in someone else’s hands. Which in his head was almost as bad.

Once everything was arranged, Ejirou was pleased with their plan. They would be connected through a microphone, Bakugo would wait in the car just in case of any unexpected situation and he would go in with a fake story and to ask around for information.

He could see Bakugo’s frustration though, “It’s fine dude, I won’t let you down.”

Katsuki looked at Kirishima’s face, he dug for insecurity or a lie, he didn’t find any. He rolled his eyes, “Don’t get so full of yourself hair for brains.”

I know, he thought but something in his stomached twisted.

“There’s a littl too much irony in that sentence Blasty.” He laughed over Bakugo’s complain, instead he took his phone out. Ejirou jumped at the sight of the hour, “I’m late!” He stood up and picked his things up fast.

“Oi…” Katsuki tried to call, but it didn’t seem to go through that thick skull, he just kept running around, “Spiky!” He grabbed Kirishima’s arm as he went to pick up the batch on the table, “What the fuck do you think you are going?”

Ejirou slowed down for a second, “Oh yeah…I forgot to tell you…I’m sorry” He gave Bakugo an apologetic smile, “I asked for the free afternoon, my little brother has an activity today at school and he needs someone to go so…I’m going!” He laughed nervously, already reaching for his neck, “But don’t worry! I’ll be back tonight, I’m not bailing.”

“Tsk.” Bakugo rolled his eyes, finally letting Ejirou go. He stood up and took the keys of the car of his pocket, Ejirou just stared blankly. Once Bakugo reached the door, he turned around, “You coming or are you prefer being late?” Kirishima smiled at him, beaming again. Katsuki had to turn around, but he felt Kirishima running behind him.

They shouldn’t use the car for personal activities, but Ejirou didn’t say anything(he doubted anyone would).

***

Katsuki knew Kirishima lived somewhat far away from the station. Mostly because it wasn’t where he worked in the first place. Katsuki didn’t pay much attention to his co-workers, but with someone as obnoxious as Kirishima he doubted he wouldn’t have noticed him at the very least. Kirishima was temporarily transferred because the case seemed to evolve both territories, also because he had been late 2 out of 3 three days they’ve been working together.

He was right, in car, it was maybe a 40 minutes drive, it was around an hour on train. When they finally reached the apartment building, it was like any other, grey and inline with others. Katsuki half expected Kirishima to leave in one of those neighborhoods that exceeded in color and noise, unlike the rest of Tokyo. That only left its own color scheme at nighttime, where it was showered with life. Not even inside his apartment, it was like that though.

It was small, filled with warm browns and deep reds all round, slightly disorganized; someone had given up on cleaning leaving toys scattered around. A couple of pieces of simple art on the walls, but mostly old familiar photos decorated the living room. But the presence of an infant was the strongest, with the toys on the floor and unfinished art projects. If the Disney song that filled the apartment wasn’t enough of a clue.

Though Katsuki only realized all of this after he had taken his attention of said infant in front of the T.V. singing with all the power of lungs, kicking, punching and twirling a broom in exaggerated movements. He had no shirt on, and his hair was bright red too, shorter but it was definitely standing in the same over-gelled style.

Bakugo was about to roll his eyes, just when he heard Kirishima singing on his right, catching up to the song.

“…Swift as the coursing river…” he started at first softly, still, the kid turned around and smiled big.

“Be a man!” He yelled as he started running towards Kirishima.

“With all the force of a great typhoon!” Kirshima received him with open arms, before picking him up and twirling him on the air.

“Be a man!” The kid was laughing, holding on to Kirishima strongly.

“With all the strength of a raging fire! Mysterious as the dark side of the moon!” They ended together in a long messy note until the music fade away in dialog.

Katsuki rolled his eyes. Once he settled them back on Kirishima, the kid was on his shoulder. They finished laughing, and stare back at Katsuki.

“Blasty, this is Haruto, my little brother” Immediately the kid’s face lit up. Beaming. Katsuki’s face twisted, they look too much alike for his taste. “Haru, this is my partner Blasty.”

The kid first opened his mouth but stops and instead, whispered it on Kirishima’s ear. Whatever it was, it makes Kirishima smile wider(it beats Katsuki, how that’s possible) and it couldn’t been good, that much he knew.

“Yeah! That one!” He nodded and his brother’s face just opens in happiness, he glares quickly at Bakugo’s eyes and goes back to whispering something to Kirishima. He simply nods this time before turning to Bakugo, “He asks if you could show him your quirk.”

Katsuki hesitates for a moment, not for the request but for the weird interaction and the overall softness in Kirishima’s voice, “Whatever,” He ended up saying. Taking his hand of his pocket, lifting his hand to let small explosions flyover.

This time the kid not only stared at Bakugo, almost starstruck but also exclaim out loud. Before he pushed his weight forward, Ejirou quickly understood and walked up to Bakugo. Who looked tense and almost ashamed, which honestly made this whole experience better for Ejirou. He leaned until Haru could touch Bakugo’s hand. He stared at it at first, for a moment then lined the creases of his hand, Ejirou smiled at the amused face of his brother and the slight pink color in Bakugo’s cheek.

Katsuki had to look away, it was uncomfortable. But sadly, and he had to learn quickly, he couldn’t blow kids off; much less Kirishima’s. He seemed like the guy to kill for his family by the stupid look on his face.

“My brother didn’t lie…your quirk it’s so manly!” He finally talked, to Bakugo, holding his hand with a little more strength than before with both of his little hands. When he turned to face the kid…yeah they looked too much alike. Just less scared, less damaged Katsuki supposes but certainly too similar.

“Yeah, I know brat.” He pulled his hand back, and turn away again, “Weren’t you supposed to be somewhere or we are just wasting time?”

Both Kirishimas straighten their backs in realization. Haru almost slides down with little of Ejirou’s help and runs off to a hall in the back of the room.

“He really wanted to meet you, when I told him I had a new partner.” Ejirou smiled tendered, then laughed looking down as if remembering, “At first he was mad, he is used to Mina…but then he got all excited when I told him your quirk and the persecution…” He looked back to the room in time to find his brother with a shirt on, running towards them. To side hug Ejirou. “Ready little man?”

“So what do you got little brat?” Katsuki knew it was the wrong thing to ask, a shadow fell into both of the boys face.

“I…I…don’t have any…” Haru barely muttered, his gaze lock in his fidgeting hands.

Katsuki’s face twisted at the sudden memories and bits of the pass the filled his head.

To his credit though, Kirishima recovered quickly, smiling again, picking back his brother up, “Who needs a quirk, when you have a brave and manly heart!” He smiled again brightly.

“Yeah!” His brother matched.

“We know it’s not common anymore but…it happens every once in a while, from what the doctor told us.”

“Tsk.” Bakugo complained, and Ejirou stared at his face. He seemed conflicted in a way, looked away to the wall, “I know someone like you,” he muttered in between his teeth, “I am sure if a nerd like Deku can stand in the same place as me, I am sure so can you.” Katsuki made sure his tone was annoyed because he was, but Kirishimas seemed to be immune to it.

Since it just went over their heads, now decorated back again with wide sharp smile, “He is a cop? Like you? Can I meet him?” Bakugo clenched his teeth.

At that moment, he looked back at his mind; his younger self, yelling about how he had fallen to talk well about Deku. He sighed as he walked to the door, the kid walking around him beaming happiness and hope. Mirror memories of shattering hope and desperate cries, but that was a long time ago. He had learned that there wasn’t any pleasure in being the best by putting down others. So instead he patted the kids head and answered his questions.

Once Ejirou left Haru on the back, he sat next to Bakugo at the front. He turned to catch Bakugo staring, just before Bakugo could turn away, he s mouthed a thank you. Which Bakugo barely took, only grumbling in response.

***

“Okay then,” Ejirou caught up to his brother, walking towards the entrance. He was surprised to find a disappointed face, “What’s up -or down- little man?”

“It’s Bakugo not coming?” He kneeled down and patted lightly his head, around the spikes.

“I’m afraid not little man,” He smiled apologetically.

Not looking forward to stay in a room with rowdy kids. He had explained when Ejirou leaned into his window.

Haru pouted and crossed his arms. Before glancing back at Ejirou’s eyes and running to the car. Ejirou tried ti call him but he didn’t stop until he was standing on his toes, next to Bakugo’s window. Bakugo looked down, tired at the kid. At first he rolled his eyes, but then he frowned down. Then he looked angry and opened the door, the taking Haru from the waist and lifting him from the side with no care at all.

He was fuming by the time he walked in front of Ejirou. “I’ll fucking show you who’s the best.” It was the only clue Ejirou got to whatever conversation they had, enough to get him out of the car, that and the pleased face of his brother.

Ejirou didn’t complain, simply followed inside. Haru gave Bakugo directions until they reached his classroom.

It was small and filled with handmade decorations, probably by some underpaid teacher. At the moment, filled with more people that usually handled; with parents sitting on little chairs or standing around an excited child, some even playing with their quirks.

At the moment, it struck him, “Kirishima, what are we doing here?”

It was a family activity, parents shared about their jobs, “But my mother couldn’t leave job, so that’s why…” He looked both ashame and proud and Katsuki wondered what the hell was he doing there?

It only took a couple of presentations sitting on a stupid red chair for Bakugo rethinking the question and regret every decision he had taken today. It only deepened when it was the Kirishimas turn. He had already left the idea of showing off, it was worth it, truly. But the kid took both of their hands and drag them to the front.

“This is my brother and his partner, Blasty…” He was going to fucking kill Kirishima, once he was out of public eyes, “…They protect us like heroes used to, fighting and punching the bad guys.” Haru punched and kicked the air with little to no technic.

“And words!” Kirishima interrupted, holding his brother by the shoulder.

“But mostly fighting and punching.” Bakugo shrugged his shoulders.

“Kirishima turned his head, in surprise, “Bakugo!”

“Oh come on Spiky, don’t tell me those muscles are for hugging.” Kirishima opened his mouth to respond, but Bakugo was smirking and Haru was laughing.

He won.

***

“Thank you again, for today,” Kirishima  was fixing his hair again, in an improvised mirror over the dashed of the car with the front camera of his phone.

Bakugo growled, and turn away. He couldn’t handle how ridiculous Kirishima looked. He was wearing a flowered shirt with no sleeves and the holes so big that its left too little for anyone’s imagination about how he might look without a shirt and a pair of black ripped jeans. Mind you, things that he already fucking owned. Obviously his hair as tall as the damn building.

“Don’t mention it. Seriously.” As always though Kirishima didn’t listen or seemed to understand Katsuki’s tone.

“When he learned was busy with work…he wasn’t very happy…he doesn’t really understand how it works…” He picked at his phone and blocked it, “How much we depend of that job…I try to help but dad…he, well, he…” The words stuck with on his throat. Katsuki watched amused, he had never seen Kirishima struggle with words before, “…he left nothing but his mistakes behind.” Debts.

“You are obligated to be fucking better than him then.” Ejirou turned quickly, Bakugo was still looking away.

“Yeah…you are right,” He shook his head. “But what I wanted to say, it’s thank you…Haru was so charmed by you…” He laughed genuinely.

“Yeah yeah…are you going to do your job or what?” He couldn’t stop laughing at Bakugo’s grumpy childish face, with a slight thirst for blood.

Kirishima let the laugh die slowly, before nodding, “I won’t let you down!” He barely opened the door when he felt a tug in his arm.

“Don’t do anything stupid.” And Katsuki hoped this time he would listen, as the twirl in his stomach grew bigger watching Kirishima walk away until he disappeared in blacks and neon lights.

[vivacissimx]

Sorry in advance, this will be so long I'll split my reply re: Jaqen in two. This has something to do with the divisive youtuber Preston Jacobs. He has a new series about Bran being a time traveller and it has so much content he's making 6 parts of it. Story short: The person Bran knows as the Three Eyed Crow is himself, from the future. That's why Bloodraven has no idea what he talks about when Bran asks if he's the Three Eyed Crow. Most importantly, future Bran also manipulates Jon's dreams.

[2/3] This is where Jaqen comes in and it's just my own theory. Why was Jaqen in the black cells? Why did he go North with Arya when he obviously doesn't want to go to the destination of Yoren's travel, the Wall? Why did he give Arya the coin that leads her to the House of Black and White which coincidentally has weirwood doors? And the Faceless Men seem to know exactly who Arya is. I think future Bran has something to do with it. Jaqen led Arya to a heart tree that spoke to her, possibly future Bran.

[3/3] Actually this is three parts. The original outline had Bran, Catelyn and Arya being denied access to the Wall by Jon and it led to their mother dying. The story that we know has Jojen and Meera going North instead which is what future Bran wants, a change from the outline. Arya and Jon were meant to fall in love which many rule out because the story we know is so different but what if future Bran is the original outline Bran who is preventing Jon and Arya meeting, moving Arya to Braavos instead?

sorry for the late reply, I had to think about this!

I'm pretty iffy on how complex Bran's magic plot is going to become because George isn't one to get into details of the supernatural and he has said he doesn't want to rely on magic. There is obviously a future Bran already present if we assume it's Bran speaking to Theon thru the trees in Winterfell, and I think the Bran-Theon relationship is going to be important somehow. From Theon's dream in Ned's weirwood bed, about Robert's feast & all the dead Starks, to the godswood saying his name, to Asha urging Stannis to kill Theon in front of a weirwood, and Bran/Theon's shared association with the crypts in Winterfell. There's something there for sure but I don't know what. In comparison, Arya's short interactions with weirwoods in Harrenhal, High Heart, and Braavos are less significant foreshadowing to me.

Arya walked around the circle of weirwood stumps with Lord Beric's squire Ned, and they stood on top of one watching the last light fade in the west. From up here she could see a storm raging to the north, but High Heart stood above the rain. It wasn't above the wind, though; the gusts were blowing so strongly that it felt like someone was behind her, yanking on her cloak. Only when she turned, no one was there.

-ASOS, Arya VIII

A cloud of ravens was pouring from the cave, and he saw a little girl with a torch in hand, darting this way and that. For a moment Bran thought it was his sister Arya… madly, for he knew his little sister was a thousand leagues away, or dead. And yet there she was, whirling, a scrawny thing, ragged, wild, her hair atangle. Tears filled Hodor's eyes and froze there.

-

It was a girl, but smaller than Arya, her skin dappled like a doe's beneath a cloak of leaves. Her eyes were queer—large and liquid, gold and green, slitted like a cat's eyes. No one has eyes like that.

-ADWD, Bran II

All this together I don't think it's set up for Bran to actively consider Arya a threat/enemy. Aside from Rickon she's the sibling he's closest to something I'm going to make a post about at some point

Bloodraven's purpose and agenda are mysteries, as well as what he's specifically grooming Bran for. He's divorced from the realm of man + Bran is the one who has "ice and fire" namedropped twice so it's likely a bigger one than just meddling in human affairs. It would make sense to me that the starkling he comes into conflict with remains Jon - the other sibling set up with a possibly prophetic arc.

This is another personal theory but imo Brandon the Builder being the one to imbue the Wall with magic and Brandon Stark being a family name is a meaningful choice. Bran has a role to play that I believe was set in motion a long time ago.

Thousands and thousands of years ago, Brandon the Builder had raised Winterfell, and some said the Wall. Bran knew the story, but it had never been his favorite. Maybe one of the other Brandons had liked that story. Sometimes Nan would talk to him as if he were her Brandon, the baby she had nursed all those years ago, and sometimes she confused him with his uncle Brandon, who was killed by the Mad King before Bran was even born. She had lived so long, Mother had told him once, that all the Brandon Starks had become one person in her head.

-AGOT, Bran IV

"A monster," Bran said.

The ranger looked at Bran as if the rest of them did not exist. "Your monster, Brandon Stark."

"Yours," the raven echoed, from his shoulder. Outside the door, the ravens in the trees took up the cry, until the night wood echoed to the murderer's song of "Yours, yours, yours."

-ADWD, Bran I

But yh I'm pretty sure we're gonna get a Stark "villain" plot or two (by that I mean plots that put them at odds with each other/have disastrous unforeseen consequences). Given that we're 5 books in so the seeds should have been sown it does seem like Bran/Jon/Sansa are going to be the lynchpins of that conflict.

Re: Jaqen I'm curious how he got locked up but would be surprised if we actually got an answer lol. I wonder how involved the HoBaW are in this plot considering their rule not to kill of their own volition, only doing so for those who ask. That's why I'm curious if Jaqen went rogue or what the deal is. It seems like his mission is to steal, not to kill, so he's an aberration from the FM's normal code. Much to think about.

Thanks for the ask!

[valkyriestrikeofthelashatterdome]

Infinity War Thoughts

In defense of this movie, it was the best possible version of itself, given what was going into it. The fact that the Russo brothers managed to fit in as much humor and character development as they did, as well as keep everyone’s personalities consistent with their previous movies, is a testament to their skills as directors. But what they were given was 10 years and 18 movies’ worth of previous material, a gargantuan cast, and a plotline from the comic books that needed a lot of work to translate given Thanos’ practical non-presence in the previous movies and which was very grimdark by nature. Given that mess, what they pulled off was no less than a miracle.

But it was also the first movie I’ve ever been in where most of the audience boo’d at the end, and there was a very good reason for that. This movie, without a sequel to immediately watch, can’t stand on its own. It is the first part of a duo, and it knows it. It has threads left horrendously in the wind, plot holes the size of a school bus, and an overall horrifically depressing atmosphere that doesn’t match any other movie in the MCU (but which would fit very well in the DCEU). When you got down to it, this movie was, in essence, a Thanos origin story movie, which he desperately needed to avoid being another cardboard cutout villain. While this did lead to him being one of the best-developed villains of the MCU, it meant that there was less time to work with the 20+ heroes in the cast. You managed to get some really heartfelt moments, but not enough to justify some of the horrendously bad choices that they had to make for the plot to happen.

My main issue, the thing that kept me up last night, is that Thanos gained 3 OUT OF 6 Infinity stones because people were unable to let their friends, lovers, or even one acquaintance die for the greater good, even if they had expressly said that they wanted to die rather than be used as a means to commit UNIVERSE-WIDE GENOCIDE. This, more than anything, wrecked my suspension of disbelief. We’ve lived with these characters for a decade, and all of them have shown that they know the cost that comes with defending the world. But now, suddenly, the fact that their loved one (or, again, AN ACQUAINTANCE) will die in an act of sacrifice that will save trillions of lives? A sacrifice that they’ve explicitly consented to? Suddenly that’s a bridge too far to cross. And despite all of their efforts, their cries of “we don’t trade lives”, the people they wanted to protect, to whom they denied the chance to sacrifice themselves meaningfully, either died anyways, or were left abandoned and powerless to stop Thanos. There were a lot of other poor strategic choices they made that made me cringe, but the fact that each time Thanos gained an Infinity stone that our heroes were actively protecting was because they were unable to let someone sacrifice themselves for the greater good made me go from uneasy to angry.

I know there’s going to be another movie in a year. I have a good idea which plot holes were left so that that movie can resolve them. But, quite honestly, that makes all of this worse, from the people who died horribly rather than being allowed to sacrifice themselves, to everyone who died in the slaughter at the end of the movie. In the end, their deaths mean nothing. There was no cliffhanger at the end. There has to be tension for a cliffhanger to exist. Everyone we watched die, everyone we cared about, are coming back next year once the good guys win. The only thing we’ve really lost is the chance to get to know them better, to see them struggle, to see them face this challenge side-by-side with the others and, perhaps, take up the torch when the old guard bows out. Unfortunately, that’s the whole point of going to see the movie in the first place. I’ll go see the next movie, I’m invested enough in certain characters to want to know how their stories end. Hell, I’ll probably go see Captain Marvel - she was one of the few characters whose comics I collected, and I love her as a character, even if this movie’s made it pretty clear that the only reason she’s getting a solo film is to deus ex machina a solution to this whole debacle. But I’m not going because I’m excited. I’m not going because I love the story anymore. I’m just going to make sure it’s over.

[zippdementia]

Part 53 Alignment May Vary: What to do About Those Pesky Dragons!

This was a short session almost entirely taken up by a single combat. I’ll get to that in a moment. First of all, some housekeeping. Before we leave the temple of Maaken, Trakki announces he has something to do. He takes Trellara and lelads her into the altar room.

Trellara is smitten with Traki, but she is not stupid. The temple of Maaken already has an evil reputation and each step she takes into the temple seems to confirm this. She lingers for a moment at the mural showing the three figures rising to rule the world, but she does not comment on it. When they reach the altar room, her doubts finally settle into fear and then a terrible sort of comprehension. This is due in part to a natural 20 on her insight roll, but probably has more to do with the giant pulsating blob of horrible meaty parts resting in the corner of the altar room, yet in clear view (the Soul Jar).

Trellara draws her scimitars but seems unwilling to accuse Traki. The thought of him betraying her is too awful. “No,” is all she says. “I am sorry,” is all he replies, though no sorrow enters his voice. Then he is on her, stabbing at her with the Dagger of Erythnul, burrying it in her shoulder. It’s evil properties drain the life from her and while she is stunned he open palm strikes her, knocking her unconscious.

A dry cackle comes from out of the shadows and the old woman with the slit throat, who once made honey cakes but whom we now know Traki previously murdered and turned into an undead, approaches. “Nazragul is pleased by your decision,” Mama Honeycakes says.

“Then ask him to tell me how to perform the ritual that made you what you are. But I want it better this time. I want her to rise more powerful than before.”

Mama Honeycakes smiles a broken smile.

Soon the ritual is set. Trellara lies with her chest and heart exposed on the altar. Over her hovers Traki, his arm slit open and the blood gushing over her form, staining her white face red. Sitting on her naked skin are pieces of the soul jar, pulsating slowly in the blue torch flame that lights this area. Traki has drawn a rune on Trellara’s chest, over her heart. Next to him stands Nysyries, supervising the work, for she is one who can manipulate the magical weave while Traki is a stranger to that world. Luck alone, and the power of the dagger,  showed him how to bring the old woman back. Now he wants something more than luck.

“Now we begin,” she says, in Nazragul’s throaty growl.

So what’s happening here is a couple of arcana rolls. DC 15 on the first one, to see if Trellara can become anything other than a slobbering zombie who will follow Traki around slowly like a dangerous pet. He passes this, but only barely and with the help of Nysyries aiding him and a fate point (+1 to any roll, remember these? We use them a lot). The second test is to see whether Trellara becomes blood crazed or maintains a semblance of control over her new powers. This he succeeds at wildly!

The dagger plunges into Trellara’s heart, piercing the center of the rune on its way there. Trellara moans, whether in pain or ecstasy, Traki cannot tell. The pieces of the soul jar suddenly move for the wound in the chest, squeezing themselves inside of it, while the blood Traki smeared on Trellara’s face and body seems to be sucked up by her skin, disappearing into it like water poured over dry sand. Trellara sucks in a breath. Her skin has gone whiter than before. Her eyes have sunken back in her head. Her teeth have become sharp points. Yet despite this, she seems to have retained her beauty, unnatural as it might now be. She looks around like a newborn. The hole in her chest reveals a softly beating heart. She demurely covers it with her clothing.

“You have freed me,” she says in wonder to Traki.

Tyrion Ragedrinker, also known as the Blue Bard, sits outside the temple sharpening his axe. He looks up when the three emerge and briefly lets his eyes rest on the new Trellara. “Well, there’s that, then,” he says, and goes back to sharpening his axe.

Trellara has become a wight, with all the good and bad that brings with it. She is pretty powerful now, if not the sturdiest fighter. Definitely more powerful than before! And Traki’s successful ritual means she retains her beautiful voice and a sense of self. She’s a little odd right now, crying tears of blood without knowing why she is crying, and tearing out the feathers of her owl as slowly as possible to see how it reacts (Nysyries has them bent to her will, using her powers to make them actually enjoy being afraid of the group... they are a little twitchy, but they obey). But eventually she will learn to adapt to her new body and will be able to fit in almost as well as any of them. She doesn’t like sunlight, though, and becomes sluggish and less charismatic under its glare. The group is going to have some fun roleplay challenges when they reach Brindol, considering they will have to hide their evil nature during that entire chapter. This just adds to the fun and gives them a powerful NPC ally to boot!

Dragon Leftovers

I have long been dissatisfied with how Red Hand of Doom handles its end game with the Dragons. I’m going to jump ahead a bit here (my players, if you are reading, I’ll keep this vague and spoiler free)... So you’re powering through Red Hand of Doom, having a good time, and then you get to the end of the adventure and, oh, guess what? Your party didn’t kill all the dragons. So now they have to fight them all AT ONE TIME. This is supposed to be a punishment for players who didn’t succeed at routing dragons throughout the adventure and to be honest, it is not an impossible fight to win, depending on your players’ levels and how many there are. But dragons are tough. Young dragons have a CR of somewhere between 7-10, depending on their type. Now, one of these may actually not pose enough of a threat to your party. But two or three of them at once?

Not that I’m saying non-legendary Dragons should fight alone (we’ve seen how that worked back at the Sunken City of Rhest) but they should be paired up with lesser minions meant to keep players from being able to focus fire on them and pin them down, maybe CR 2s or 3s or even a couple 4s if the party is really tough and needs a challenge. You’ll see this happen in the storm battle I’ve set up for Ozyrandion, below. I used Xanathar’s guide for this fight. Looking at Xanathar’s guide, five level 9 characters are said to be equal to taking on a level eight challenge, but I’m not sure I agree with that in practice. At least in my group, I’ve seen two of my party (Traki and Tyrion) take on Ozyrandion at the bridge by themselves and do okay, and that was back at level 6 or 7. At level 9 I have no doubt that all three of them would destroy a single young green dragon and honestly two of them could hold their own in a fight. Thus, I treat my players more like level 13 when using Xanathar’s guide to set difficultly. There are a lot of things that could factor into why this happens in my group, like the fact that we allow epic maneuvers like grappling in mid-air, or it could be the NPCs they travel with, or their aggressive tactics, or my poor rolls, but it seems to balance out a lot better.

Note: A lot of this is gut work more than math work. I pick my monsters for fights based on how well I know my players and how they fight, so I have a good idea of what challenges them. Xanathar’s guide is just there to give me a guideline to judge what I’m doing after the fact.

That said, three young dragons versus my three party members is almost a guaranteed TPK, even using Xanathar’s guide and treating my players as higher level.

But there are story reasons, too, to dislike the way the dragons are used. The players are supposed to believe these beasts show up for one fight in the game and if they survive it then they just disappear from the playing field to go back home. Why would they do this? Why wouldn’t they continue to be active participants in the war? Dragons are touchy beasts: wouldn’t they hold a grudge and seek out the adventurers who escaped their wrath, especially if those adventurers succeeded in getting past them to the thing they were guarding (bridge/eggs/phylactery/etc)?

My advice to GMs running Red Hand of Doom is this: if the players encounter a dragon and survive the encounter without killing it, then look for ways to work that dragon back into the plot before the battle of Brindol. You will have to adjust their fights a bit to keep them a challenge, but I think it lets all the dragons shine more as individual, willful creatures and makes them feel less like obligatory boss fights. For instance, in our game, Ozyrandion lives. I decide to have Azor Khul send him to guard the Ghostlord’s lair instead of Varanthian. Varanthian is a fine monster, and a level 11 challenge would be a decent solo monster fight at this point in the game (and I’ve got other minions in the Ghostlord’s lair who can reinforce if the Behir gets locked down with stun or the like), but I would rather the players get a shot at a reoccuring villain rather than have to establish a new one. So instead of the players fightng her, they have an intense encounter with Ozyrandion and three Manticores who accost them in the middle of a raging storm on the edge of the Ghostlord’s lair.

Here is a list of other suggestions for how to bring surviving dragons back:

Ozyrandion: the haughty green dragon is sent to hunt the players, catching up with them on their way to Rhest or at some other point in the adventure between locations (as I did above). If he fails again but escapes, he becomes obsessed and “goes rogue,” chasing the players down even after the adventure has ended, gathering more powerful allies each time (wyverns, chimera, etc).

Regiarix: if Regiarix and Saarvith both still live, then maybe they attack the elves right after Rhest and launch a side quest to hunt them down in the fens, where they will fight alongside some ghoulish minions. If that doesn’t appeal, or if they survive that, then they join in the battle at Brindol, attacking at the same time as another major event that the players are on their way to help with, waylaying the players and preventing them from reaching their goal. The players have to defeat the two here and if they don’t do it quickly enough, they fail to reach their goal in time, causing the failure of one of the major events of the battle. Note, if you do this, consider giving them extra healing options after the battle.

Varanthian: I think the Behir has the opportunity to become a much more interesting character then just a boss fight. Consider introducing her earlier in the campaign, when the players have little chance of defeating her in combat. Knowing this, she should taunt them, warning them to leave this quest to “better men.” She will continue to dog them throughout the adventure, tracking them for her own pleasure, enjoying the thrill of the hunt more than the promise of the kill, maybe attacking before a big event just to weaken and frighten them.  She will criticize and downplay their actions, mocking any other dragons they face as “inferior foes.” She will only go on the full offensive at either her original Ghostlord’s location, or after the Battle of Brindol. You may even want to consider replacing Tyragun with her in this case and removing Tyragun entirely, as using this method the Behir is a more interesting character then him. I honestly wish I’d thought of this sooner...

Abiathrix: The Red Dragon is the only one that it really makes sense to have the players meet again at the finale, if not defeated earlier. Mostly because there really isn’t anywhere else for him to go, as he’s encountered so late in the story. But having two dragons to fight may be an acceptable challenge. If not, it is very possible he defects and flees the fight altogether. I always assumed he was really a coward at heart and hasn’t run yet only because nothing has really challenged him before. Chances are he will remember the characters who defeated him, though, and will return when he is older and more powerful to wreak his vengeance on the people of the Vale.

Riders on the Storm

The players approach the Ghostlord’s Lair by night on owlback, scanning the horizon for signs of “a giant stone lion” which they’ve been told contains the Ghostlord’s lair. Nazragul says they MUST secure the Ghostlord’s services so that he can use his powers over flesh to shape the Soul Jar into something more suitable for carrying into battle. Readers may recall that the point of the Soul Jar is to release the trapped souls of Nazragul’s army into freshly killed bodies after the Battle of Brindol. The entire point of the players fighting off the Red Hand of Doom is so that Nazragul’s armies will then have the easier time of slaughtering the weakened people of Brindol and bringing the city under his control, fulfilling his age-old dream of conquering the vale and the people (descendants in this case) of Rhest. We’ll see how that goes in a future chapter. For now, the players are suddenly distracted by a massive storm which rises just as they finally think they spot the stone lion. Nysyries knows time is short for her: she has two nights left before she needs to feed again on male human souls or else risk losing her druidic powers forever, as per her pact with the lady of the wood. She is not willing to wait out this storm. Tyrion is all for flying in, too, so the group pushes onward.

The storm bats their owls around and visibility drops to what is illuminated by Tyrion’s magical breast plate and the occasional lightning strike. in this darkness hides four ambushers, who roll very well on their stealth checks... but Nysyries rolls even better on her perception, even beating Ozyrandion’s 25 to hide! So she sees the shapes flying out of the darkness at them. When she calls to her companions to ready for combat, Ozyrandion hears her and realizes the surprise is up. “MY CHANCE FOR REVENGE HAS COME!” he booms.

Combat takes us a couple of hours. There is a lot going on. The Dragon is obviously the heavy hitter, but the Manticores get to roll enough times each turn that they pose at least a threat that can’t be ignored. Complicating things is the fact that the owls pose a big weakness. Yes, as mounts they allow the players to dodge, dash, or disengage for free, but they have little hit points and if killed, the players will be in free fall. Finally, the storm itself makes ranged attacks at disadvantage and is difficult terrain. It also has a special effect that happens each round based on a d100 roll:

1-10: A new combatant is carried into the storm. Choose a flying creature of CR 4 and add them as a neutral creature that selects a random target on its turn. Roll initiative for it now.

11-35: everyone must make a DC 14 CON save or be hit for 2d8 thunder damage and have disadvantage on all attacks rolls this round. Success on save takes half damage and avoids the penalty.

35-44: The clouds gather into a thick mass. This round nothing happens. Next round, roll the dice twice and apply both effects, re-rolling 35-44.

45-55: Nothing happens this round, the storm rages on.

56-69: Everyone is struck by confusion as per the spell confusion for one round. On their turn, if they can make a DC 18 WIS save, they avoid this effect.

70-85: lightning strikes a random character in the storm for 4d10 lightning damage

86-100: Everyone must make a DC 14 STR save or be blown into the nearest character within 20 feet. Succeeding the save means nothing happens to you. Failing the save moves you as described and both you and whomever you hit take 3d6 bludgeoning damage.

My players continually roll the thunder and lightning effects throughout combat, with a round where nothing happens occuring near the middle of combat, so we miss most of these effects, but the thunder and lightning have a big impact on the combat nonetheless, usually in favor of the players, who roll much better on their saves than the monsters do.

The combat starts with Nysyries taking control of the storm through call lightning and trying to strike an approaching Manticore. Traki leaps from the back of his owl, meanwhile, and aims for another Manticore, tackling it midair and tumbling down into the storm with it, stabbing with his dagger and punching with his fists all the while. Tyrion, seeing this feat of bravery (insanery?) follows suit, but not to be outdone, he chooses to leap on the dragon! Hey, he argues, Traki already got to kill a dragon, so it’s my turn!

Ah, classic DnD. Where Dragons become equivalent to big-game trophies.

By the end of the round, things are not going as well. The manticore Traki is, er, riding gives as good as it got, using its tail to reach that “oh so hard to scratch spot” on its back where Traki is and impaling him with a critical hit here. Traki gets hurt pretty badly, dropping below half life as he takes three massive hits from the Manticore. Nysyries finds herself targeted by Ozyrandion, who chooses to ignore Tyrion for the moment (”Disgusting little flea! I’ll deal with you next!”) and instead breathes poison at both her and her owl. It’s a heavy hit. The owl dies instantly. Nysyries is knocked unconscious and begins to fall into the storm. 

Trellara, meanwhile, goes nuts, unleashing the power of her now supernaturally beautiful voice to psychically attack the nearest Manticore. Her voice allows her to either target one enemy for 10d6 damage or ALL creatures within 30 feet for 3d6 damage (halved for both effects on a save, on a DC 13 Con save). The Manticore makes the save and launch into a flurry of attacks on her, bringing her down to half life. A lightning bolt then sparks across the sky and arks its way through Trellara and her owl, blasting her off into the night sky.

Tyrion casts healing word, saving Nysyries, who mid fall transforms into her signature Quetzalcoatl and rejoins the battle. After this, things turn to the player’s favor. Ozyrandion fails a ton of rolls against Tyrion, both in trying to pull him off and in trying to just do damage to him. Eventually, he flies high above the others, heading into the storm clouds to focus on Tyrion alone. The two beat eachother with their various weapons, the dragon missing more often than not, Tyrion having the same problem. Tyrion gets the upper hand, though, when he uses his reactionary Breastplate of Chaos (which has previously had such wonderful effects as turning him permanently blue) to randomly unleash a high level magic missile on the Dragon. This turns the tide, and from here on out Tyrion hits more and more with his berserker axe, going berserk in the process.

Far below them, Traki keeps leaping from Manticore to Manticore, asking each one “Hey, do I know you,” and confusing the hell out of them in the process. He’s thinking one might be the Manticore from Vraath Keep, you see, though that Manticore is actually still lounging around in those ruins, king of his own little domain. No, these Manticores DO NOT know Traki and have regretted meeting him at all. He manages to intimidate the first one into carrying him back into combat (and then this Manticore quickly bails on the fight), from here leaping on the next one. This one has a smarmy British accent and he’s less inclined to surrender, deciding to Kamikaze in the storm instead of letting Traki have victory. Good thing Nysyries is there to save him!

The rest of the fight is easy to describe. Nysyries and Traki together make easy work of the last Manticore, Nysyries diving underneath it while Traki drags the blade of Erythnul across its exposed belly. And Tyrion finally delivers a bad enough blow to Ozyrandion that he gives up on trying to rip the annoying little man off of him and instead dive bombs into a storm cloud brimming with lightning and booming with thunder. Here Ozyrandion meets his end, struck by a lightning bolt. That same bolt rips through Tyrion as he falls, a speck in the black sky that Nysyries turns and speeds towards.

At this point, what I think would be amazing is for Nysyries to catch Tyrion but have him still be berserk. I think that would be amazing. I think Nysyries and Traki agree, they laugh a little and Traki starts to muse about how he could restrain Tyrion until they can knock him out. But Tyrion isn’t for it and since it would be a stretch of the rules to insist that it happens, we move on. I’m usually okay with bending the rules a little in the name of hilarity and fun, but only if everyone is on board. So instead, Nysyries succeeds on her “catch the Blue Bard” roll without incident and we move on to the rough landing that puts them inside the eye of the storm and directly outside of the Ghostlord’s lair (I’ve doubled the proportions on everything here for reasons I’ll reveal once we actually meet the Ghostlord):

Rising from a low mesa is an intimidating sight. A massive lion of stone crouches, as if ready to pounce on a nearby hill. The cyclopean monolith is composed of a dull tawny stone. It looks to be about four hundred eight feet in length, and the top of its maned head rises over one hundred feet from the ground. There seems to be some sort of hollow between the lion’s front paws, in the area bordered by its chest. Likewise, hints of a dark cave are apparent in its gaping maw. The lair is constantly shrouded by a flight of dozens of ghostly lions. These spirits fly in unending circuits around and through the structure’s stony body and head. They are invisible during the day, but append the following description if the PCs approach the lair at night. Dozens of translucent lion-like shapes fl y and caper about the massive lion’s head and body. The shapes sometimes even pass through its stony surface to emerge in a different spot.

As you stare at this phenomenon, suddenly a voice calls out a confused “Now what is happening here?” You turn, and see the professor’s ghostly form standing nearby, looking aghast at the spiral of ghostly forms. Suddenly he is pulled from your side and lifted into the air, making thin protests as he is quickly drawn towards the spiral against his will and joins the other souls in the vortex.

Quick Analysis: This fight was meant to replace the opening fight against the Behir that’s set up for the entrance of the Ghostlord’s Lair. Thus, the goal was twofold. First, to provide a similar challenge (something equal to a level 11 one enemy challenge) which will drain some of the players’ resources heading into this dungeon. Second, to deliver something impressive to start off this dungeon.

On the first point, I think this was a success. The fight ends up being challenging but fun. It could have gone either way for my players, but once they got the upper hand, the fight continued to go in their favor. They definitely have used up a fair amount of heal spells and Nysyries has used a valuable transformation. They will have to decide whether a short rest is worth the risk before moving on next time. Regardless, they won’t be entering the dungeon at full strength. And Trellara is gone, disappeared in the storm. Not dead, perhaps, but missing in the Thornwaste for the time being, along with the surviving owls.

On the second point, it is also a success! This was a memorable fight and set up the environment for us, too. Flying through the storm to get here and then seeing it surround them as they approach the Ghostlord’s giant lion makes this all the more ominous and impressive. If your players fought and escaped Ozyrandion earlier, then I recommend using this fight (or a similar one) instead of the Behir. Save her for more interesting encounters.

[snow-okki]

Passing the Torch

When you love Messiah so much that as you are showering you thought about Messiah and decided to spend an hour writing a rant on it instead of preparing for an exam due tomorrow.

Today’s topic is on ‘The Relationship of non Messiahs and How It Affects the Feels’ in Messiah :D

First thing. I still haven’t watched Yuukyuu in its entirety (yes shame on me XD). But thinking about the snippets that I’ve watched, I thought it was very...dark. Pitch black, very cold, it feels...distant. 

Okay, maybe that’s the intended setting, being Ariga and all that. So I thought, was it the same for other graduation installment? Hakugin was...blue, dark blue or faded blue, like a normal course of nature. Hisui was very strong green, it left a very strong impression in mind. Hagane was dark purple, the mix of Mamiya and Ariga’s color, beautiful. Akatsuki was...uh...the colors of confetti at the end? And Polor Night was grey, bleak, dull, not exactly memorable.

Messiah has always been about despair, so I understand that some things are meant to feel cold, gloomy, all the dark things, especially when it comes to graduation mission. But it hasn’t always been like that. And even when it came to the ‘graduation’ of the most despair stricken character ever in Messiah history, there was still warmth in it.

And the reason for that, I deduced, is because of the interaction between the graduating cast and those that remains. How the torch is being passed.

Let’s start with Hakugin. Gen 1 were pretty close knit, the messiah relationship is legendary (coughhakueiricough), but outside the messiah pair they’re alright. Not the bestest of friends. There’s a certain amount of gap, like one between colleagues, or that senpai in your club that you never really talked to. So when Hakugin happened it felt...normal. Souma Shuusuke graduated and Haku Eiri moved on with their lives.

In Hisui, the bond between the remaining senpai and the then new gen2 has been established over one entire freaking Eisei. But that’s not all. The entire graduation mission of Haku Eiri involved the gen2 cadets in some way or another (Mamiya’s role, Eiri asking Mamoru for advice twice, that ‘Ariga has no friend’ adlib). The events of Hisui not only marked the end of Haku Eiri saga, but also affected the gen2 in some way or another. Character development happened. The torch was passed beautifully.

To our joy, that happened again in Hagane. Though there’s no new cadets to pass the torch to (Kagami was still pretty much an outsider), Mamiya’s ‘graduation’ not only affected Ariga, but also Mamoru and Kaito. There’s this same feeling from Hisui, something like ‘We’re all in this together, and it’s now time for me to settle this myself.’ That was what makes it so heartwarming, that feeling that everyone has your back as you brace through the despair. It was why this is arguably the best installment in Messiah ever bar none. (I prefer Shibi though :P)

From then on, it’s ‘Thank you, but I have to do this myself’.

With so many side plots going at once in Akatsuki, Mamoru pretty much had to deal with his problem on his own. Sure, Ariga was there to support him, but he was preoccupied with his own problems with his own Messiah. The gen 3 have their own internal problems, but none of them are related whatsoever to the seniors. The closest thing we have to a torch being passed is from Mamoru to Ariga and Ariga allowing Kogure to touch the tip of the torch. Whereas I absolutely love the scenes in Hakugin, Hisui and Hagane where the leftover cadets send the graduating cadets off, I totally don’t buy it when they did the same with Mamoru here.

Polor Night is graduation of different cast so it’s hard to use this for comparison. Though I’d like to note how Haku Eiri’s interaction with Misu Amane really helps this installment a lot. Understandably so, since they’re the only character who has had decent amount of interaction with the graduating pair (there’s Mamoru but unfortunately his mind was ‘full of Kaito’). I wished they’d brought back Takano. He’s pretty much part of the gang already, even as a last resort butt monkey. Such a shame he didn’t even get a cameo :(

Also they tried to establish that bond between generation by having Mamoru tutor gen3. It need not be said that Mamoru’s head is so full of something else, it obviously didn’t work, both the tutoring and this bond establishing thing.

And then there’s Yuukyuu, which I won’t talk about because it’ll totally be unfair to judge before watching the entire thing in one sitting. But based on the gen3 clips that I have biasedly skimmed through, I’m guessing it’s not much different from Akatsuki. Miike and Yugi are totally in their own world. Hinamori is related to Kuroko which is a totally separate plot. Only Kogure has some semblance of relationship to the graduating pair, but he’s also too busy with his own plot and being a damsel. Instead the one that have active role with the graduating pair is...Ichijima, who was not even there during half of the gen2′s time. 

I think that’s why it felt distant. The graduation felt like such an isolated case, kinda like Hakugin, but colder. I don’t think the gen3 are affected in any way by their graduation. No one else has significant relationship with the graduating pair, except Kamikita...who wasn’t there (Just imagine if they have Kamikita comment on Ariga’s (and Kagami’s) growth at their graduation). The entire gen 3 and that stupid blue and pink pair and Souk and Salyut can all disappear and neither their stories nor the graduating pair’s would change. Yuukyuu doesn’t have that ‘sending off scene’ at the end, that’s saying something.

In short, Messiah should stop trying to cram so many plots into one installment, and build things up slowly. Not giving the non graduating characters anything to do doesn’t mean no character development. In fact, their interactions with other characters besides their partners speak a lot about their personalities. 

‘Sakura cadets cannot become friends or lovers’

While this rule is meant to reflect the depth of the relationship between messiahs, I think it speaks even more to those who dare to outright break this rule. 

[nct-dork]

The Moon’s Dagger and The Sun’s Arrow -Jaemin!soulmate au

@idontknowahaechan - oooooohh soulmate!jaemin (this is4morgan n viv)

so in that case I guess i gotta tag you two dudes as well @secretlymadeoutofcups @jaeminnana and also @jaeminniemouse

Member: Na Jaemin

Type: Fluff mostly but maybe a slight bit angsty

Warnings: Mentions of death and suicide but it’s not that bad, Blood?

Plot: In a past life you and nana were soulmates but that ended badly thousands of years later he finds you again even if he didn’t know he was looking in the first place.

A/N- I personally cringed writing this not because it’s cringy (wait it might actually be idk my cringiness is clouding my judgement) but more because of how bad I think it is

It was a myth of love and heartbreak. The myth was about two people from different kingdoms, enemy kingdoms, who fell desperately and hopelessly in love. Due to the kingdoms ban on interactions between the peoples of the two kingdoms the two were forced to keep their love secret meeting only in a pavilion surrounded in a pond, flowers and vines in the silence of midnight. The legend says the soulmate’s love for each other was so greatly powerful that with the two of them together they could summon the light of the moon and the sun combined, the lights would dance with the couple encouraging their romance.

This paradise wasn’t eternal; war broke out and the couple was separate. One was injured, with an arrow whilst the other died in battle stab through the heart with a danger. There are two versions of the myth one states that so full of grief and rage, they would rather have died than be parted from their loved one, that they drowned themselves in the pond. The other version of the myth says they buried the dagger and the arrow under the pavilion and swore they would, in another life, be reunited with their lost love.

 You closed the book and set it down, you had read it again for what felt like the thousandth but you didn’t care it was still your favourite story whether it was real or not you didn’t care, it was hella cute even if it wasn’t a happy ending.

You got up from your pillow fort and walked over to your bags which lay packed ready to go. Your friends and you were going on a school trip to a camp an hour’s drive away for an ‘education experience of myths’ which in other words means the school wanted to get rid of the troublesome kids so they could redecorate the teacher’s lounge.

A text from your parents told you to clean your room and go through your packing list so you’re ready to go when they swing by.

You gather all the pillows and stuffed them under the bed along with most of the junk on your floor, this made it look clean but what your parents don’t know can’t hurt them soo.

You grabbed you bags and opened them, riffling through them with the speed of light and closing them again. Cleaning of the room, check and making sure I’ve packed properly, check.

The camp was big, like we’re talking so big it had a Museum of Myths (you we’re freaking out about this one), a lake, group activities and enough cabins to fit two schools, which it was. Another school was there when your bus stopped, a private school.

The two schools would be competing for ‘fun’ though out events in the camp. You wouldn’t take part in any events just watch from the side-lines and support your school.

The schools were way more competitive than the teachers had probably planned. Shouting swears and going as far as to pull pranks on each other. Fish, frogs and mouldy food had found its way into many peoples’ bed from both schools. Buckets of soup, lake water and spoiled milk had been placed all over the camp sending panic and chaos through ever camper.

One of the events was badminton, not wanting pranked you sat at the back whilst the players stepped onto the court. Then it began the shuttle was launched, players hitting it back and forth. Then you spotted him hitting the shuttle on the opposing team’s side.

His hair curled the colour of hazelnuts and chocolate, a cheeky grin spread on his face gracing the world with its presence, plump pink lips and kind charming eyes. He seemed to radiate positivity and sunshine. He moved with grace and elegance trying to defeat the player from your school.

His school was winning and only had one more point to score before they took the victory for that event. That’s exactly what he did, smacking the shuttle out of the reach of his opponent reach and claim his school another victory. You didn’t care about the game or who wins it but when he got the victory you couldn’t help but feel happy for him, even though a wave of swears and hatred went through your school

He beamed a smile and did a cute little fist pump in the air. He looked over the audience and his eyes met yours, his smile faltered for a minute while he looked at you. Averting your eyes, you started to talk to your friends at your sides, but you still felt his lingering gaze upon you.

After dark the hatred remained and the schools increased the horridness of the pranks after the badminton game. Some kids had been thrown into the lake others had all their clothes hidden after showering. You had managed to stay clear of all the awful things until midnight when you desperately needed the bathroom. You were slightly terrified of the dangers but screw it you needed to get it over with.

Slipping on your converse and taking a flashlight you headed out into the dark.

You got far enough to trick yourself into believing that you would be fine but stupid universe just wasn’t gonna let it happen that way. You walked right into a trip wire and set off a chain reaction which led to the bucket of fish guts above your head. The bucket tilted ready to spill its contents all over your head a hand swooped in snaking around your waist ripping you from the danger. The figure didn’t let go after the fish guts hit the ground inches from where you both stood, instead they led you out from the cover of the trees and out into the open. The moonlight acted as a flashlight shining on his handsome features as he smiled down at you.

“Hi, found you” he smiled at you, hand still around you.

“H-hi, you were looking for me?” you timidly said confused about what that meant.

“Yeah I remembered you from the badminton and I had to find you after the game” he said giving you a cheeky little wink, he continued to speak “I want to show you something, follow me” he let go of you and walked back into the trees.

“Wait one minute boy, I don’t know your name let alone trust you, a stranger, to walk me into the forest” you half yelled, but that wasn’t completely true you did have this extremely odd feeling that you could trust him which is why when he didn’t answer you ran in after him anyway. He waited for you beside a tree and when you caught up he took your hand in his intertwining your fingers with his.

You weren’t too shocked by this because the feeling of this being so right pushed those thoughts out your head.

“My names Na Jaemin” even in the darkness you could see he had given you another smile which for first time you retuned, he then began to walk again you slightly behind him.

The walk went on for a good twenty minutes and then you saw it, light from your flashlights illuminating the waters of the pond and the white marble of the pavilion. An audible gasp escaped your lips as he led you closer. A bridge took you both across the pond and he parted the vines and pulled you in after him. This place seemed so familiar to you, Jaemin seemed so familiar to you.

Jaemin led to the centre and let go of your hand walking up to a pillar and taking matches from his back pocket, striking it and lighting a torch, the flame from the torch carried on in a line around the pavilion until the small space was completely lit. You could see the floor pattern now a Heart with a dagger and an arrow through it.

Jaemin stepped back into the centre and took both your hands.

“You know what my name is, shouldn’t you at least return the favour” you pondered what he was asking.

“Y/N!” you sorta blurted out. Then blushed. A LOT.

He hysterically laughed at you then stepped close letting go of one of your hands and brushing his thumb over your cheek. You looked into each other eyes before your eyes flickered done to his pink lips then back to his beautiful dark orbs. He moved in closing the gap connecting his lips lightly to your own his hand cupped your face while the other set itself on your hip. Your arms wrapped around his neck as you both started to move your lips. The emotion in the kiss made it seem like you were both making up for thousands of year’s worth of lost time.

You opened your eyes and immediately stopped kissing him looking down at his chest were under his shirt a bright golden light illuminated and spilled out spiralling around you both. Focusing on his chest you hadn’t noticed the silvery light spilling out of your own chest. Jaemin seemed just as shocked as you gaping open mouthed as both the lights tangled together like intertwining threads.

Your vision began to go blurry like a silk vail shielded your vision, then you remembered the war, the pavilion and Jaemin your very own sunshine. You looked down and saw a dagger plunged deep into your chest and the pain and heart break you felt knowing you were dying leaving Jaemin behind. Then the memory ended and you found yourself sitting on the floor looking at the floor of the pavilion where the arrow and dagger looked back. You looked up, Jaemin sat in front of you still in a trance, you crawled over to him cupping his face in your hands as the memories of your past life flood your brain causing your eyes to tear up.

Jaemin’s eyes opened. He reached up and pulled you to him to reconnect your lips this time he knew why he was so madly in love with you. You broke apart from the passionate kiss.

“Found You” he said a smile plastered on his face “My precious moon light, my soulmate, my dagger”

Ok, so not sure if i like this one but I’m gonna post it anyway just in case it’s not as bad as I think it is, yo does that even make sense?

[alltheworldsrpg-blog]

WELCOME TO ROSWELL, ADONIS PETYR

Admin Ais: Adonis is absolutely perfect as The Holo, and such an interesting contribution to the political game being played out in the rp. You managed to create a wonderfully complex and manipulative character, and I loved reading about his personal feelings on his position and his motivations.

You’ve been accepted as THE HOLO with the faceclaim of KIM WOO-BIN. Please follow all rules and regulations as laid out by the Roswell Town Council, especially concerning any non pre-approved biologic. All UFO’s outside of city limits must be stickered or will be towed. Enjoy your stay in the first city of extraterrestrials. 

OUT OF CHARACTER.

NAME/ALIAS + PRONOUNS:

Kael, he/him.

AGE:

Nineteen years old.

TIMEZONE + ACTIVITY:

Y’all know I go through college and I’m a human disaster–I’m at GMT+8:00 and I’d put my activity at a solid 6 for the moment because of fast paced summer classes, but afterwards? 8 or a higher probably before school.

TRIGGERS:

Removed for privacy. 

ANYTHING ELSE?: X.

IN CHARACTER.

SKELETON TITLE: The Holo

FULL NAME: Adonis Petyr

GENDER + PRONOUNS: Cis male, he/him

SEXUAL + ROMANTIC ORIENTATION: Homosexual homoromantic.

DATE OF BIRTH + AGE: November 5th + 26 years old

OCCUPATION: Protege to the current Chosen.

FACECLAIM: Kim Woo-bin

BIOGRAPHY:

Your life is not your own. It is the first lesson you learn.

You were something made to propel everyone else into the great unknowns of the future, bringing about altruistic change to the world that you’d grown up on. You were to be of great importance, your parents said, a child whose destiny was to be part of something that could give rise to a new age that would tip the fates of many. You were the promise of a Starweaver to your parents, and you were going to deliver on that, whether you liked it or not.

You learned the cost of a new world early on–an assemblage of teachers, of tutors and groomers that would make you into a Chosen that the people deserved, that Proxima deserved. They built you up and stripped you down in to be who they wanted you to be. The golden child, the savior, the foothold in politics, and when they were done, they marveled at who you were, a child scrubbed clean of his identity. After that, the dream soured into a nightmare, making it feel like servitude–forced indenture, rather than a choice you would have gladly made for yourself. But you smile, and grin, and bear it because there is no other choice to make.

At least, for now.

Like Atlas, you bore the weight of everything on your shoulders, of a destiny from a Starweaver, of the pressure from your parents to run and be the Chosen, even the people who never met you, but expected you to save them from themselves even though you wanted nothing more than to be one of the men who waited for deliverance. It was tiring, walking up to people and putting on facade after facade, only having moments to discard it and resent ever having to put a mask on before walking around and shaking hands and answering questions once more.

You felt the cracks on your face, on the carefully manufactured visage that they had constructed for yourself, weathered and worn, until the bubbling from the inside had to be released somehow, for fear you would burst from the sheer pressure. Haunting bars, haunting people in the dark of night was one of the only ways you could maintain everything thrown at you, shore up the supports for the cracks in your foundation. It was intoxicating, to say the least, always coming back for more under another name and another guise just to relax and live a life that seemed better than yours.

As the years leading up to the election went by, resentment grew and blackened within your heart because you were–you are more than what they made you to be, an obedient puppet, serving the whims of the people that you should so dearly think of. But in your bones, you knew that you were never meant to bend the knee or serve the masses, but to rule over them with sweet words and a sweeter tongue.

( You remember winning by a mere thousand votes–crocodile tears on the stand, hugging your opponent as a show of good faith, and you deliver your speech with the hammering of your heart inside your chest. It is good, you think, to show them emotion while you still have your plan in the works. Win their hearts over and they will bow down and smile when they do it.

And for a second, you feel yourself again, show through the cracks–even just for a while. )

Playing Luther’s protege did take some getting used to, the new impositions and rules chafing into your skin as if they were chaining you to the floor, but you managed to pull through, enjoying the little diplomatic acts that they had done for themselves on a regular basis. You were going to be in it for the long haul, you thought, as every board meeting, every public appearance, ever last one of Luther’s missions to some backwater place had to make you think of what to do when he was going to step down.

But this time, you control the moves you were going to set into place, the pace you were going to go, and you feel yourself return to something greater, something meant to wear a crown and preside over the masses. You smile and nod to the public as your mentor watches you at your periphery, a subtle glance, as if he hears the whispers of those in power and believes them. ( For a petty old fool, he knows how to listen, you’ll give him that. )

Though you watch as he self-destructs before you, his impartial leanings towards the masses making them walk into his arms every second he gets up on that pulpit, or consults with a foreign leader, and you barely have to lift a finger. You watch and laugh in private, for Luther was an age long past, and you are the harbinger of a brighter future.

( Once, you asked a Starweaver under cover of night, in cloak and hood, if what you wanted was going to come true. They smiled at you, a tense smile, full of nervousness and worry, and told you that if he was going to let himself be what they wanted to be, it would. If he was going to.

But if recent events have shown you, that’s not really a question for you anymore. Not really.

And with Luther, it wasn’t ever a question of if you would take the helm anymore—it was a question of when. )

MUSING + HEAD-CANONS.

HEAD-CANONS:

i. miss me, lover?

Your first tryst is with a boy you don’t remember–maybe he never was worth remembering.

You remember looking at the bright neon, the glare of the lights and the bodies, the strobing of the nearby clubs as you skulked down what was a dark alleyway into a den of vice and debauchery. It was against all they taught you, against everything that you’ve learned from sacred texts and philosophy–no leader should be attracted to the allures of the forbidden, but when did happiness and duty ever meet?

But what you remembered the most wasn’t the bright lights or the the allure of it all, it was the intoxicating power that came with it, every moan, every hitch of his breath that you made happen in a matter of minutes. He was putty in your hands, and you can’t forget about the look in his eyes, the unmistakable devotion that he gave you as you held his tenderness in your hand and made him see brightness in the skies.

( Pleasure is the most intoxicating drug you know. )

ii. moving forward.

You see glamour and technology as you walk within the streets, and you curse yourself for not coming to Earth sooner.

Technological marvels are wondrous and many-faced, and you want so badly for the future to be as bright and as gleaming as the cities that dot the Earth’s landscape, of a Proxima that rivaled that of the Luytan’s home with might that rivaled that of Earth. For an observer in a foreign land, there is much to be learned from watching and waiting at the wings, not that your mentor has any reason to want for a modern world.

But you are determined to bring this to your backwater world, a forceful renaissance in the history of Proxima, for you have grown tired of horses and candlelit houses, and seek the beauties of metal and technology. There is so much to learn, so much to do, if Proxima could just leave the past behind and walk towards the future.

( And if they resist? Well, everyone needed a little push. )

TIDBITS:

i. Adonis likes black tea and often prefers an overpriced coffee milkshake to an economical black coffee, just because he’s worth it. He also has a really long order that he sticks to most of the time, but no one could ever get right.

ii. While he has a handle on sex, he has more of an awkward time trying to actually date someone, since almost all his exposure was through seedy bathrooms and secret motels. He does try to be romantic sometimes, but it just doesn’t have the same effect.

iii. After finding out that his “protector” was not on his side, Adonis is currently trying to learn martial arts and weapons handling for fear of being assassinated in a dark alley with no one to defend him. It’s a fear he’s kept on the back of his mind ever since, and it’s not one he’s going to stop having for a long time.

iv. He doesn’t talk to his parents, not after they basically moulded him into being their perfect little pawn for political and financial gain. They’re his dirty little secret that he wouldn’t share for the world, even if it gave him the throne.

v. Though he is supposed to dress modestly, he wears his clothes with a little bit of flair for people to remember him by. He doesn’t remember visually, so he mixes and matches and it mostly looks like the same thing, though with little alterations.

vi. Adonis has one tattoo. He’ll show you where if you ask nicely.

vii. Luther is cold and unfeeling and is full of secrets, much like him–Adonis thinks that he wanted to impress him once, but not anymore. These days, he’s much too busy plotting for himself rather than caring about what Luther thinks of him.

PLOTS + CONNECTIONS:

story arcs:

i. the pieces are all set.

The passing of the torch is meant to happen sometime, and Adonis prefers having all his duck in a row when he’s made the new Chosen among his people–I’d like to see him try and curry favor amongst political leaders and the Centaurian council members to at least get them on his side. It’s going to take some charisma and political will, but he thinks he can manage that, even with the several dangers that are on all sides.

There’s also the fact that he needs to get public perception on his side if he ever wants a chance of ever taking power for himself, and so I’d like him to try to be the golden boy that the Centaurians see, though we all know it’s a facade.

ii. the fallout.

This arc could go one of two ways–success or failure.

Either way, it involves him doing damage control with the affected groups that would have him taken out of his rightful place ( or so he thinks. ) Suppression and eradication in the shadows would be done, attracting support from the populace or sympathy, if the event calls for it.

For success, keeping the throne and making plans to get to Proxima Centauri to consolidate forces are of paramount importance, as well as silencing any opposition to his rule, from council member to guards. Adonis doesn’t tolerate unloyalty when he succeeds, and he does not suffer traitors for the life of him.

For failure to take the throne, he will try to muster support to his cause to take the throne from Luther or any insurgents that may threaten his ascent. I’d like to see him combat the insurgents with any political power that he may still have and piece together his reputation back up again.

I’d like to see him use his guile to survive the new reality he finds himself in when he makes a beeline for the Centaurian leadership.

connections:

i. darling, my mouth is poison.

You’re a regular Casanova, and you know it, using your good image and blinding white smile to consistently string along a number of guys, and it is so enjoyable to have them be at your beck and call when you ask. But political intrigue and information is your main goal now, and this is why you’ve seduced–or at least tried to seduce, them. They don’t know your agenda yet, and you’re not keen on letting them know, but you’re patient and persistent, and you’ll get something out of them yet.

ii. the ties that bind.

Allies are hard to come by, and in this current political climate and the hplots against you, it’s harder to find anyone who would knowingly align themselves with you, knowing what you have in store. And yet, they are by your side, an alliance–either momentary or permanent, where both of you could come out on top, seeking higher power and farther reaches beyond your meager stations. You don’t know if they’re by your side for the long run, or if they’re going to ditch you when they get what they want, but you’re grateful to have at least one person reaching for the same goals as you.

iii. my most beloved harbinger.

A willing follower, your first, and one of your closest friends. Adoration may scare some leaders, and may even be unadvisable for most, but you see it as a tool to use when necessary. They believe in the vision you share, even if it is just fragments, and you are grateful for their utter passion to your cause, their unwavering belief in you. You’ve needed a right hand for so long, a second to throw down the iron gauntlets, as your guard and protector has chosen such a contrary side to the aspirations that you have.

WRITING SAMPLE:

Removed for privacy. 

ETC:

pinterest board: x

moodboard: x

[thegeminisage]

today’s zeldablogging which is full of spoilers:

the sight of my new sword sends a thrill into my heart tbh

if i ever replay this game, which tbh idk if i will, it's so Big, SS was only a third or a quarter of this size and i've only beaten it twice, im going to get it as soon as possible next time

anyway im back at the tower i suppose i'll crawl down and check out the enemies properly

i dont like gliding to towers i've discovered bc it feels like i've been plopped down into the middle of nowhere with no context

vs if i walk to them i know "where" i came from/am, if that makes any sense

(it doesn't)

i can see that flying thing closer than ever from here and it's DEFINITELY a divine beast no doubts left

yk tho. i dont WANNA check out the enemies. i wanna find that weird blanked out place at the top of my map!

haha i can feel it already

i'm so anxious to get to the end of the game and uncover the plot im gonna be like "FUCK EXPLORING" for the rest of it and only go to the places i need, now that i've got this map

i can always do more thorough exploration after, i've been spoiled that there's postgame content, but even if there's not like any other zelda game it'd put me right back before the final battle

god im having to go ALL THE WAY AROUND the lost woods i can't even glide over the nearby river to make the path shorter i bet there's an easier way to do this from the other side but i havent been there yet

ah, another forest covered in fog. black fog. how inviting.

ohhh, it's a shrine trial. wonderful. in the pitch blackness!

this is already worse than eventide

luckily i have the weird glowy skeleton suit i bought from the boy gerudo clothes store

i forgot to mention it bc i had no IDEA what it was for, but here we are

like. this has to be lmao

i keep dying in my first six steps what am i doing wrong??

oh, maybe bc i'm gliding in, i see a bridge on the map

ohhh god i hear a hinox...why, lord

haha im like.following the ways the statues point and. they're pointing at the hinox! wow!

lol when i realized the stone birds had torches on top i started over so i could light them all

OHHH I WOKE UP THE HINOX I DIDN'T EVEN GET A SURPRISE ATTACK IN

MASTER SWORD HELP ME

oh god this glowy armor has no defense!!

i'll just leave the helm on, then

oh thank fuck i used an atk+ elixir and it waasnt so bad

see, like, i COULD explore that upper ridge but thanks to the map i already know it's full of silver lynels. no thanks.

oh my god the yiga clan is RELENTLESS right here i guess bc i'm going around the back of (shudder) hyrule castle

oh!! a stable, thank goodness, i was starting to get wigged out

i guess all those people on the road had to have meant something

this isn't even on the map!!

oh wait lol yes it is

aww, i don't see beedle here...i was sure he'd be at everyone, i don't think i've encountered one where he isn't yet...

i'll be honest, i've grown kind of bored of combat

and know i'm biased but i genuinely i don't think it's me, i think it's the game's difficulty/"difficulty"

i used to see monster camps and think STRATEGY, is there a beehive, barrels to blow up, a place i can glide down from, this is so fun!

which gradually morphed into "okay this is gonna be a bit of a long haul but there'll be Treasure and sniping from afar is still fun"

idk if the black bokoblins/moblins/etc show up after you've done more things or bc of the area you're in but i'm noticing more enemies with more health, higher defense, and higher attack, and the barrels/metal boxes/beehives/etc becoming rarer, and when they do appear, being almost pointless to use because you're more likely to blow yourself up than do any real damage to the mobs

and like i love this game. it absolutely deserves every bit of its raid reviews, and this feeling COULD just be because i've been marathoning it for 12 straight days and i'm anxious to see the end and get back to my life

but to me, attacking a flat area full of black moblins and bokoblins isn't fun even with the stealth/snipe element bc you can't take them out in 1-3 shots, you have to stop and slash at them, and that alerts EVERYONE else, and it's just pointless

(lol i found some flat ruins by the stable which triggered this rant)

like, even the yiga clan hideout - my instinct was to snipe the enemies as i went, which would have made it a bit more fun imo, even though the stealth bit wasn't bad and i enjoyed that section quite a lot

i just don't like the—idk a better term for it unfortunately—"fake difficulty" thing where you just have to slog your way thru 1000s of random battles, i don't like it in rpgs either

kind of like almost wherever i explored at first i would run into minibosses rarely and then almost constantly

which, yeah, most of them aren't as hard now, But Still, it's the point of the thing

maybe i'm a bit defensive about "real gamer" bullshit and "women can't game" stereotypes while being super bad at games my whole life while my brother was fantastic at them

but like i just don't find that fun?? sure a good challenge once in awhile like eventide isle would be fine (even tho that was hellish and i'll never do it again) but that should be. every once in awhile, not. EVERYWHERE

anyway

frankly @ this point i'm REALY tempted to speed thru it before my surgery

bc i would hate to be laid up in bed and still have to worry about mobile browsing bc botw spoilers and tumblr's interface being awful

anyway i can;'t travel further in this direction without getting over near rito/hyrule field territory

and not only are those towers further away than i'd like but i wanted to do gerudo highlands first so back to the desert i go i guess rip

oh my god the wastelands tower goes down into NOTHINGNESS you're SUPPOSED to apporach from above

also i heard kass!! kass, buddy, where are you ;_;

oh i LOVE these cliffside structures i've been looking forward to them for so long

but i can't find kass ;_;

ALL tower shenanigans must CEASE until he is located!!

wait, he's...i see him! he's at the top of the tower! oh my god!

I'M COMIN, KASS

awww he wants to play the song for the hero who fell 100 years ago! he doesn't know it's me! ;__;

oh gross level two cold here and i didn't bring much cold food...just my warm doublet

wait

i have food AND the jacket and im STILL cold? this is level THREE? wtf wtf wtf

good thing i also have the ruby circlet but jeeeesus

i still have no food so i can't stay long

oh shit i found some guardians

still ones thank god

dude i found a HUGE cool mural for one shrine!!

yeah, this game is definitely still as full of fun secrets and as deslightful as when i first began playing it

and it came at a good time bc i just lost angela and it helped me feel Real Joy again

most displeasure i find with it now is because "AAAH ZELDA AT SOME POINT I NEED TO GET BACK TO MY FUCKING LIFE"

i'm so worried about spoilers and being behind now that some of the fun is draining away

i think after a bit of time has passed i'll either go back and finish exploring properly or straight up start a new file

and do it Thoroughly

when i can relax and go at my own pace instead of feeling like i'm racing the internet, my dashboard, my friends, my brother, etc

this region is soooo cold and i am so certain i'll get better cold gear in the rito area that im just activating the shrines and not even going inside to use my little food as efficiently as possible

im lit not even going inside

oh it's dropped to level 2 cold...thank god

THERE i got them all now to rush to ritoland

wait...i thought i read the 10k fairy wrong but i see ANOTHER on the map!

i bet SHE wants 10k and i have four thousand fucking rupees UGH

i thought there were only 4 and the horse fairy counted.......

ohh my god the divine beast is much closer from where i'm gliding...it's so big

I SEE DINAAL BUT I'M ON A FUCKING GLIDER SLKDFJGH

oh i've been typing it wrong all this time. dinRaal.

ohhh this region is so pretty so far...unlike the highlands which is miserable, i HATE snow in this game, i actually do wanna explore around here, i wish i didn't feel so hurried

oh god that divine beast is just So. it is So Big

god i passed the fairy on my way to the tower...10k! and i haven't been watching my cash bc i thought i misread something

all this time i've had 12 and 13 thousand rupees and i was blowing them on dumb shit

SILVER bokoblins...? come ON

good loot, tho

got the tower!

ohhh man. tat divine beast. oh boy. oh dude. big. so big. jesus fuck

oh hey i see rito village!! just where i wanted to go first

they better have good cold gear here :|

OH FUCK THERE'S THE BEAST SCREECHING

oh my god it's SO BIG im SO SCARED jesus FUCK

i wonder if kass will be here

IT'S RITO ISLAND MUSIC

IM GOING TO CRY

IT REALLY IS!!!! IT REALLY IS RITO ISLAND MUSIC

oh god it's BEAUTIFUL

aw omg the goddess statue here has a flower crown!

all right, fifteen heart containers...the rest will be stamina 5ever

no wait fuck i should have gotten stamina this time!! i'll get a heart from the beast

well i know you can trade them, somewhere out here i think

this beautiful too tbh this is all nice and orchestrated Damn

geez the armor will set me back even more money! not TOO much but when you're saving up for 10k...

well, against my brother's advice, i'm selling monster parts...i know i'll regret it later if i need them to upgrade armor, but i'm trying to stick to the common ones i have like 100+ of, so

aaand 10! woohoo

awww all the little baby rito in the hammocks :')

OMG the biggest rito looks like an owl! kaepora reference

oooh here comes a memory

AHAHAHA

revali and link were rivals. ok. im down with that for sure

and his specisal ability! an updraft!! PERFECT tbh

aww teba's husband doesn't want her son to be a warrior

tho i like the idea that ritos are hotheads hahahaha

zoras and gorons are both kinda collected we needed some assholes

HA i look forward to when revali gives me his special ability

i'm crying teba is such an asshole i LOVE him

wow i guess it's time to fight the beast already...? that was so FAST

omg i get to ride him!!!! yessss

oh my gosh we're up so HIGH oh man oh man the world is so tiny but i know it's really so huge oh god the divine beast is so BIG

lol i probs should have upgraded this rito armor.......

oh well too late now lmao

ohhh i love it when they talk to me

TEBA?

HE'S HURT OMG ):

nintendo would never kill him but omg im so worried about him

AAAAAH THERE'S REVALI

ohhh he's a DICK i LOVE HIM

ooh the master sword DOES glow when it's near the malice blight stuff

lowkey tempted to go back and upgrade this armor lol but i don't wanna leave and who even knows if i have the mats...

i'll just brave it thru like this and it'll be something to brag about later since apparently i suck at everything else

like doing eventide with five hearts on the blood moon

LMAO REVALI IS SO SMUG "you'll need to activate all the terminals, think you're up to it?" he's a DICK and i LOVE HIM i LOVE THE RITO

the music in this one is SO COOL?

i feel more like i'm fighting for my life/against something larger here, rather than just trying to creep through gently without disturbing anything and solve a puzzle for the others

and it's 100% bc of the music jesus christ

i LOVE how much gliding is involved this is EASILY my favorite divine beast so far

lol revali's tone of surprise in "there are two terminals remaining" i love him so much

"just one terminal remaining hmph what do you know" pls

all five down now the true test is can i beat the boss LMAO

the last 3 weren't nearly as bad as i expected, tho the lightning one's teleporting thing was almost too fast for me with my one-handed weapons

so maybe hopefully with good food this will be OK too

ok, i got level 2 cold food so i can get by with just wearing the pants :U not as much defense as i'd like but better than nothin

"it only defeated me bc i was winging this"

"can't believe i'm saying this but avenge me link!!"

ohhh there's accordian in this version of the fight song 

KASS ;_;

i wonder if kass's teacher WAS revali, or knew him

LMAO revali trash talks me when i get hit

KEEP YOUR HEAD IN THE GAME i didnt even watch that movie and im laughing at the meme

lmao "broke" the master sword with the last bow

eeeewww

DAAAAAMN

wouldn't even look at link as he left "your job is far from finished you know zelda has been waiting an awfully long time"

haha "i'll be plucked" as well thanks nintendo

"we've been ARTFULLY patient these last 100 years you won't suffer a feather over a few more moments"

geez i love him so much

that was definitely the best divine beast

tho the zora one is a close second

i gotta go make sure teba is ok

IM CRYING ZELDA JUST TOLD ME TO GO TO HYRULE CASTLE

soon i promise ok

time to go see the great fairy :U man i really thought my armor had been improved all it could be...

and 10k down the drain...

omg she's pink :3

im ALSO warping back to akkala to see if i can get any guardian armor yet i've collected a fair amt of parts!

LMAO I FINALLY HAVE THE MATS AND I DON'T HAVE THE CASH rip

ohhhh i see a new storm over hyrule field...DNW

lol maybe i SHOULD have explored it before now...too late now

holy shit i almost ran straight into a flying guardian going after this soul piece

ok, i need a plan...if i wanna beat the game before friday i gotta be Smart

i still need to finish exploring all the provinces, at least at the sursory level i gave to the highlands, but hopefully maybe a little better

i need to go back and do shrines and sidequests

and obviously i need to actually finish

counting today i have three days left so i guress i'll assign one task to each day, the last task obviously being on thursday

less than two hours left for playtime today, but i guess today i should explore, tomorrow i should shrine/sidequest, and i can do a LITTLE of that thursday if needed, and thursday i'll storm hyrule castle. ok

slkfjgh

SDLFGJHDLFKJG god. ok

aaaah the ruins music makes me so sad ):

pffft cute i got a memory where zelda was like STOP FOLLOWING ME I DONT NEED A BODYGUARD at link how adorable

i wanted to get all the memories before i beat the game but they're like ALL in/around hyrule field/castle and i'm afraid if i go there now that i've gotten all the beasts freed i'll trigger endgame events that i can't stop

so i guess i fucked myself over

i think i'll go ahead and get all the towers tho

so i can move around freely

i have time for like one MAYBE two before stream starts

aw this tower in the cold place is so cute and short

looked it up & apparently the heart/stamina swap is in hateno so im gonna go find it!

oh i came at night but that monster store guy is here!!

omg DUDE he sells DARK LINK gear?!?!

and apparently your movement speed goes up at night

the mask and bridles are pretty cool but i HAVE to have this

lmao and i just sold all my parts for that 10k...!

man he doesn't give you a lot tho...like, it has its own currency...i could never sell enough to get even one :/

ok, i can buy the tunic or the legs...but not the face. hmm

i guess the legs alone would look pretty dumb, but i have black pants and a hood that can kinda go with the tunic, so

this is kinda outta nowhere but i wish there was a recipe book for everything we've unlocked or read about, i just can't keep it all in my head

LOL omg that was freaky

okay but now i gotta quit

i didn't get all that i wanted to done, but maybe more later tonight but def tomorrow!!

playing a bit more bc bad choices

oh hmm it looks like i was mistaken and that storm isn't over the castle afterall! thank goodness

oh my god there's SO many shrines in the hebra peak range?? why???

LMFAO im thawing blocks of ice to get to this shrine and one has a moblin in it

me: stops thawing

OH MY GOD

THIS RANGE HAS AURORAS

IM GONNA CRY JFC

and i missed snapping a picture because of enemies!!! im so mad

too bad SO sad i am going back to those fires that started and waiting for night again i WILL get a picture

ugh and now it's snowing

i guess i could unlock this nearby shrine in the meantime

ooh, is that a cabin

;___; old man

end of the game and i still miss you

O: shield surfing

oh man i didnt actually wanna DO it now but

i actually dont know how to do the thing lol

lord, i had to google it. no one said a thing about pressing A

that was fun!! also i was worried i'd get lost so maybe i'll just. not do this for now

THERE! YES! AURORAS!

ooh god there's a silver lynel down there

i know i've been bitching over and over about fights but i lowkey wanna fight it to see if i can

i won't though bc my cold armor isn't very upgraded and my defense would be shot probably even with def+ food

as an aside im glad rivali's ability recharges so quickly i was afraid they'dmake me wait ages like the others

ohhh my god there's SO MANY silver lynel around here WHY

they have such a long detection range and such a scary roar )))):

thank god for rivali's gale i can fly right over him...otherwise i'd have to Run

there's another maze shrine here and im highkey like Ugh

idk if i'll quit when i get to the entrance or after i solve the maze...

i guess i'll give it a quick try and if it's horrible i'll stop until later

naturally i'm wondering if i can solve it on my map first and/or get to the top

if i could before with as little stamina as i had then: sure i'd be able to

probably there are guardians and the answer isnt THAT easy but

the entire maze seems to be one path which is absolutely useless to me like it doesn't look like a maze you solve on paper so i obviously have to find a door or go above or below all that somehow

uh

there are no guardians up here at ALL

in fact i think i even see a hole down to the shrine...

ok, what's the catch, what gives

ah no the hole only goes down a couple of feet and has a chest with a diamond in it

the devs saying "nice try but no" lol

i did find the entrance pretty quick from the top tho! and now i can warp back anytime

or no wait this WAS the challenge i can just go get my orb and ches

DUDE THE ATK+ LEGS......DUDE

ok i gotta figure out the shrine the chest is in and get it i NEED it this armor plus a def+ elixir? i'd be unstoppable, no more dodging fights for me!

well, less dodging fights

ok, so i looked it up and the chest is in a gerudo maze which i didn't even know existed bc i either missed it on the interactive map or it wasn't ther

but it looks Difficult so im gonna save it for tmrw

[ts-indonesia]

JESS’ RESPONSES

Owen’s Responses.

So first of all, Owen, you are a player who I respect so much and are arguably one of the best to play these games. I can see why you might see my game as unsatisfying because I’m not an incredibly flashy “in your face” player and I try my best to adapt to the tone of the game. Making big moves, being “unpredictable” and voting outside of my alliance, amongst other things were just not what I saw fit for my game and ultimately was not something I thought would help my path to Final Tribal Council. I can see how from an outside perspective how that might seem boring and unsatisfying but it is what best suited me.

My friendship with Trent was definitely something that blossomed throughout this game. Us knowing of each other definitely made it easier to form a connection 100%. The same can be said with a lot of people in this game. I would argue that you and I had the same thing happen to us. We knew of each other before the game and because of that it made it easier for us to talk. At the end of the day I still had to trust a complete stranger. There were several times I didn’t necessarily completely trust Trent but I knew for my own personal game it was best for him to stick around because I saw him as less of a threat.

Throughout this game I’ve made several difficult decisions which could also be linked with decisions that were unexpected at the time. Most notably the two hardest decisions I had to make in this game (and probably ever) was voting out both Michael and Olivia. They were both two people I got to know throughout the game and arguably two of the people who played the hardest, smartest, and the best this game. However, I knew if I wanted a fighting chance at the end I couldn’t be sitting next to one or both of them at the end. I had to separate friendship and game which is something I’ve been known to struggle with in the past (ex: Alyssa’s shadow).

Two examples of times I did something unexpected in this game are similarly the final 5 and final 4 votes. I don’t think anyone expected me to ever go against Michael and Olivia as we had grown close and were arguably seen as a trio throughout the game. However, they were both giant players and obvious threats to win and I truly believe they may had every intention of sitting with me in the end. However, I knew that if I sat next to them in the end I had no shot and positioned myself in the middle to allow me the chance to take a shot when I could.

Honestly, the hardest part of this game was dealing with all of the uncertainties that come along with Tumblr Survivor. With “mysterious” torches, idols, advantages, and plotting & scheming I’m pretty sure I need to go see a therapist after this game. In all seriousness, the final 7 vote was probably the hardest part of the game I dealt with in terms of this uncertainty. With my name being thrown around legitimately for the first time in the game, throwing votes at Anabel for an insurance policy, last minute scrambles, and the aftermath I was a basket of nerves. I’m typically a very anxious and paranoid person so these games typically amplify this and cause my head to spin in a bunch of different directions which is a struggle.

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Leigh's answer

Leigh, honestly I agree with you I am a very annoying player to play with. I think one of the only non-annoying things about me would be my “investment” towards the game. I was at every tribal, I was around for challenges, and was “active” within the game.

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LorelEI'S answer

First of all, as a person OUTSIDE of the game I want to say I hope everything is looking up for you in your personal life.

Honestly, I regret making that joke/pun with your name. It was meant to be a fun “world-play” with your name but I can see now that it could be seen as a defamatory to your character so I apologize. As a person you are amazing and I think EVERYONE can agree that you were a bright spot to this game.

Personally, at the time I did it because I believed you were withholding information from me. I was told by Trent what your plan for the vote was earlier in the day and when I asked you hours later.. you said you didn’t “hear” anything. Ultimately, I believed Trent so I just was hurt because of all the reasons you listed above because I truly enjoyed getting to know as a person and was excited at the potential to work with you going forward.

In my opinion, I believe that Trent deserves to be the Sole Survivor. He’s been invested into this game from day 1, he’s had his hands in a lot of the activities in this game, and from my own perspective as someone who has worked with him closely, he’s navigated this game to the best of his abilities.

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Chris O's answer

Hey Chris O! This obviously isn’t an EASY question to answer. From my own perspective, I believe the three jurors who played worst given the various circumstances and conditions of this game were Stoner, yourself, and Leigh.

I’ll start off with Stoner. In my opinion Stoner’s downfall was his fake idol. For rounds he teased and suggested he had an idol which made it kind of unbelievable that he wouldn’t have used it already. He also scrambled way too hard the round he went for someone with an idol in his pocket. When in reality if he had an “idol” he would have tried not to burn bridges for the next round and he did the opposite by leaking everything he heard to others.

Chris, I respect your unwavering loyalty in this game but in my opinion, I also think it was a major part of your downfall. Because you were very transparent about who you trusted I believe people may have thought (I know I did) that they were always going to be low in comparison to other people (Stoner, Leigh) on your “Trust hierarchy”. In my opinion, people in games are self-serving and want to know what you can do for them rather than knowing that there is a risk they’ll come third at best.

Leigh. Honestly, I think she had the potential to be a force in this game but her downfall literally was asking to be voted out of the game. Simple as that.

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Matt's answers

Having a past game to draw experience from and “experiment” with is one of the big advantages returning players have in these games. In my previous game, I guess you can say I was a “passenger” thinking I was the “pilot” or even a “co-pilot”. As the host said best “You knew how to get the end but not what it took to win at the end”.

So, obviously coming into this game I made a few adjustments. I didn’t want the same thing to be said about me this game so I started playing the game from the very beginning. I made sure I had a pulse on what was happening in the game which I did my last game. Drawing from my past experience, I knew the best way to have game awareness.... was to be able to see from all sides of the game. I knew from the past the best way to know most things that were going on were through someone on the “other side” aka: the newbies. By doing this I wasn’t just limiting my knowledge, I was expanding it to a whole other tribe. I did so by aligning with the so called “Queen and King of the Newbies” (Trent’s words not mine). We could cross-reference but most importantly, I would have eyes on a side that I might not have had otherwise. That’s how I knew you were plotting against me at Final 7. I was told by a couple of newbies.

I also was docked in the end for not cutting my best friend in the game who was a clear favourite to win. I knew from Guyana, that I couldn’t let the same mistake happen twice. This game I wasn’t afraid to make big moves even if it meant cutting a friend at the end. Did I do it the right way: no. I obviously still have some learning to do in that department. But at least this time I can sit at the end and say I wasn’t afraid to do something I was in the past.

This may sound a little repetitive but this game I actually made sure I had something on my resume at the end to avoid that same result. I made tough calls that I couldn’t in the past to ensure I had a better chance at winning at the end and avoiding the same result. I was a little less fearful with how I played the game and took some risks I probably wouldn’t have in the past. I would have never cut a friend, won a couple of immunities, and most importantly I positioned myself in the middle so this time I wasn’t being taken to the end to be beaten, I was taking the two people I think I could beat at the end.

There were actually a few amazing moments in this. I think my first was when Anabel during a Nuchaya tribe told everyone she found a serial killer hot. It was random and unexpected and honestly still makes me laugh to this day.

My second favourite moment in this game was the whole furry exchange between Lorelei and Foxxx during One World. Knowing the whole time Foxx was indeed a furry, Lorelei basically dragging fury’s while Foxx was still right there... literally killed me.

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Olivia's responses

Olivia, this is going to be a long message because I have so much to say and apologize for so buckle up.

I’m going to start off by saying sorry. You might not accept this or even believe this now or even after this game is over but I truly have felt bad every moment since you left because of the way I handled everything. I knew I fucked up almost instantly when my intentions were just to get everyone to be open and honest with you. I wanted to start a movement that I thought no one else would participate in which was telling you the truth. When in reality, I should have looked in the mirror and took a real fucking hard look at myself in that moment. I shouldn’t have strung you along especially for the couple of hours in final 4 I did but honestly, I didn’t have the heart to tell you. I was a coward and felt like a piece of shit. I knew how much you had invested into this game and when you shared your personal story I didn’t know how to respond other than with the honest truth. Everything I said in private was true and genuine and if you allow me I will still be there for you afterwards if you allow me to. Adding in the game part was just mindless of me and looking back I can see how that made all of what I said seem like a fake ass bitch. I can admit I get too wrapped up in these games and in that moment, I had a blunder. Despite what it might look like in this game, I play these games to make friends and to meet new people. Rather than use the game as a vehicle to make friends I made it the focal point of our friendship at the end so for that I’m truly sorry.

I know I didn’t play the most truthful and honest game. I know there were times where I took it too far. In the beginning, I honestly had every intention of sitting next to you at the end. That was 1000% true. Then towards the end of the game at around Final 7 I knew there was a high chance at the end you were going to win. I think we both know if I sat next to you in the end I was getting crushed. You had relationships with people I didn’t have (Matt), you were well liked by the jury, and you could beat me in a competition.

Did what I do to you happen to me in the past? Of course. But that’s part of the reason why I couldn’t sit next to you in the end. I didn’t want to sit next to my best friend again who obviously played a much better game than me and lose again.

Regarding this whole “premade” rumour, I can honestly say I never once interacted individually with Trent once before the start of this game. At the end of the game I’ll prove it but for now you are just going to have to take my word for it. Are we a part of the same circle of friends? yes. But so are Owen and I. I still had to work with someone who I’ve never played with in the past just like I had to do with others.

To answer your questions.

Am I still scared? Always. Final Tribal Council is a very scary place to be. You are under a microscope and it is extremely overwhelming.

I personally can’t justify my actions.

I’m not gonna sit here and bullshit you and say I didn’t fuck up when I did. I’ve had days to reflect and think about everything that happened and honestly, I can admit I did a shitty thing. At the beginning of the game I wanted with sit with you at the end just purely based on the friendship we began to build. But I had a reality check/moment of clarity and knew you couldn’t next to me for me to win. I didn’t know how to tell you or handle hurting someone I genuinely began a friendship with so I retreated. I shouldn’t have strung you along that hard at the end. I have no excuse there. I messed up. I’m sorry.

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Stoner's answer?

Hey Stoner. So first things first, I know it was a unnecessary to string you along for as I did in the game. But even though I believed about 90% that you didn’t have an idol, there was always that 10% I had in the back of my mind. I didn’t want you tip you off and be the victim of an idol play so I had to string you along. I’m sorry.

Now to your questions:

I know there’s a lot of mixed feelings about the gameplay of the final 3 especially since I’m here to tell you all why I played better than the other two finalists. But on the flip side.. I can see how it might come off cocky. My bad.

I know the predictable move to explain here is the Olivia vote but I think the biggest move was how I positioned myself throughout this game, specifically within the two subdivisions “The Flying Monkey’s”. From an outsider perspective, I can see how it’s not on paper your “classic move” but I believe moves can be subtle and about influence. Without my “middle woman” role working to keep things tight.. it might have self-imploded final 7 and you could have very well been sitting in my seat right now.

I was able to do so by keeping tabs on “both sides” of this alliance, feeding them each other’s tea, and knowing each and every person’s possible issues about the alliance. I made everyone feel safe with me and included in every decision that was made. I knew for my very own benefit that having this alliance going forward was the best thing for my game. They were 4 people who wanted to protect me (See final 7 vote) were 4 people I trusted. I might have not been the driving force of any of the votes in this alliance but I was at very least 2nd in command and votes never went in a way that I didn’t see as beneficial to me.

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Isaac's!

This was literally harder than I thought it would be grhebfgshx. I’m sorry in advanced for my shit songs. I know like two songs, ever.

1. “BDE” by Queen Herby: Lorelei Lorelei is unapologetically herself and honestly, I think this song reflects her BDE (Big Dick Energy).

2. “Love on Top” by Beyoncé: Owen TBH when I think of Owen I think of this big loveable personality that everyone loves and who doesn’t love Beyoncé

3. (It took everything in me NOT to use an Afroman song tqefascrgwd) Stoner: “NO HALO” by BROCKHAMPTON. He’s such a chill guy at the end of the day and I think his song choice should reflect that. This is also a bop so..

4. “IDGAF” bye Dua Lipa: Leigh. She’s unapologetic about her thoughts and could give a fuck what anyone thinks about it so #respect. This was the first song that comes to mind.

5. “MOOO!” by Doja Cat: Isaac. Honestly Isaac you are probably one of the WEIREST (in the best way possible) people I’ve ever met... and I think you deserve a song that reflects that energy.

6. “Uptown Girl” by Billy Joel: Chris O. You are a classy dude and I think you deserve a classic song.

7. “Titanium feat. Sia” – David Guetta: Olivia. Knowing a bit more about you now I know you’re a resilient queen. So why not have a song all about being “bulletproof”?!

8. “Black Betty” by Ram Jam: Matt. Now hear me out. Matt is an overall gent but he has a feisty side.

9. “Only Girl (In The World) by Rihanna: Michael. Rihanna is the queen of big personalities and not giving a single fuck and I think that’s Michael in a nutshell.

FINAL 3 (because why not?) “John Wayne” by Lady Gaga: Anabel. She has a crazy obsession with Serial Killers but she’s also a crackhead and this song is kind about being a crackhead for live.

“Confident” by Demi Lovato: Trent. The guy is the most confident/unfazed person I’ve ever met in a game before. RGHADSHX.

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Michael’s question.

By definition the “ultimate” Sole Survivor is someone who has excelled in each aspect of “Outwit, Outlast, Outplay”. I know my game might not be perfect on paper and some people might argue it didn’t excel very much, but I do at the end of the day think I played better than both Anabel and Trent (although I adore them both deeply).

From the start, I put my heart and soul (although some people might not think I have one) into this game. I spent hours on immunities and won the most immunities to ensure I was safe and others weren’t... which put a target on my back. Socially speaking, I had a pulse on this game and strong connections. I kept information flowing to everyone and was always someone who had some exclusive tea to spill. I knew each different way a vote could go, I knew about idols (fun fact: Anabel didn’t know about Trent’s) and I knew that a large part of the reason I was kept around and was given the title of “Most Trusted” was because I was a resource. My relationships were strong enough that I wasn’t disposable in a vote and I was never a “plan b”. I think that showed with the number of votes I was received all game. A large part of what sets me apart from the other finalists is... I wasn’t relying on a majority to tell me what to do because I had an active part in the final decisions in the majority. If everything fell apart, I knew I had options. I put myself in the middle of the alliance to allow me the flexibility to sway in a way I wanted to. When time came down to it I had two groups of people who wanted me at the end with them and fought for me to stay in final 7. When push came to shove, I wasn’t afraid to make tough decisions such a taking big strategic and social threats like yourself if it meant I was giving myself a better chance at the end. So at the end of the day, I have some things to learn and grow from here but I always put myself in a position that was best for me and did what I thought was best.