#Like could it have been better executed? Yes absolutely I am not arguing with you on that front | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

nerdy-talks · 1 year

Note

I agree with your opinion and thoughts about Solomon and him asking us to side with humanity... I love solomon, and his ideas and priorities are admirable, really! But I'm pretty sure his ways of execution to reach those ideals and fulfill his goals, for humanity to be seen as a race worthy to be seen as an equal, isn't the only plausible way.

Not to mention that humanity can still be seen as a strong race without us having to hover at each other's throats and without instigating into an all out war. We can still reach a middle ground through our peaceful and understanding approach. Like us giving the grimoire to Lucifer, man was seething at Mc out of worry and fear for his brothers, which was completely understandable, but us handing out the grimoire could possibly give us brownie points into regaining Lucifer's trust back. I'm pretty the MC isn't THAT stupid.

So maybe the MC's approach through peace and trust is better than any of other race's approach, which is guided by their own power, biases, prejudice and preconceived notions, etc...

And sure let's say that Solomon is 100% on our side, the way he acts with us sometimes could really tip off our perspective towards him from good to bad and vice versa. And this man has the balls to warn us about time paradoxes and shi when he chose to make a pact with Asmodeus early than supposed to... you're the strongest sorcerer... just use ur powers to kill the spider bro or summon Barbatos instead early on instead💀 (Lesson 7?)

I apologize for my late response, precious anon! Yesterday was a little hectic, so I didn't see your ask until now ^^"

But I have a LOT to say, so hopefully this long-winded reply makes up for the delay lol

Let me start by saying that I genuinely appreciate your insight and I also agree with you 100%

I feel like there's still so much that hasn't been revealed to us yet, especially regarding Solomon's past. I've already given my own theories thus far, but I am particularly curious why Solomon thinks that war is even a viable option. What makes him feel this way? What exactly caused the last war he fought pretty much on his own?

Potential Spoilers

What I do find interesting is the information we have been given, though.

In 9-A, some of those prejudices and biases are shown when Solomon ends up in what is clearly an illusion of sorts.

And personally... I would absolutely love to debate and counter all of these assumptions and misjudgments.

In comparison to demons and angels... humans may be more prone to illness, injuries, and death. But that's literally what makes us human.

Despite this, I argue that it does not make humans fragile or weak. We are resilient. We rebound and recover from all sorts of terrible experiences. We survive and overcome trauma. We suffer loss yet do our best to keep our heads up. We fight and push forward through life. We may be human, but we are not to be pitied or underestimated.

I also argue the point of humans needing angels to "protect" us. Yes, there are humans who believe in guardian angels because that is what many of us were taught growing up. Humans want to believe in an afterlife, of a peaceful paradise after this life.

But what about humans who don't share those same beliefs? What about tragic events that occur every day where humans end up dying through no fault of their own? What about humans who feel as though God has forsaken them for whatever reason, whether it be due to illness, loss, or other unfortunate circumstances that have negatively impacted them? For those humans, it seems like no angel is looking out for them or "protecting" them.

My first argument to this mindset : What could a demon possibly understand about a human's path in life? That's like us telling Diavolo how to run the Devildom. It's a topic we are completely ignorant of, therefore we have no business calling the shots.

Not only that, but every single human being is different and unique in their own way. While one path may be good for one person, it may be detrimental for the next person. Also.... I believe that sometimes, humans need to lose their way in order to grow and become wiser.

Speaking from personal experience, I became "lost" more than once to the point where I used to cry and wish that it was possible for someone to come save me from the pain I was experiencing at that moment in time. But even if a demon magically appeared and offered to lead me someplace where I'd be able to find happiness... I would be highly skeptical. What is their definition of "happy"? How do they know I even have a chance at finding happiness? Where exactly would they be leading me? What would they want in return?

For argument's sake, I will admit that I may take a demon up on that offer even now. But it would be out of pure curiosity, not because I actually think I'd be able to find happiness. Which leads me to my next point : demons deceive humans with sweet words in order to drag them into the darkness

I have heard this saying and similar ones numerous times before (Luke even said something along the lines of demons using honeyed words to get others to do their bidding), and I feel like it is perfectly accurate in this scenario too.

Diavolo would be promising a lost, confused, and more than likely desperate human the chance to be happy, and all they would have to do is follow him to some unknown place. Seems way too good to be true, in my opinion.

So that's not "helping" humans.... That's confusing them even more and leading them further away from their path in life (at least within the Human World, since it sounds like Diavolo would take them to the Devildom/Hell. Though I'm just speculating there)

Then in 10-A, it is revealed that this illusion was conjured up by "Nightbringer".

Side note : since this is where Barbatos sent Solomon when he teleported him, it makes me question if Barbatos has connections to Nightbringer... or is somehow Nightbringer himself?

Either way, I found this question interesting :

Solomon is convinced that we share his beliefs and viewpoints, that we'll agree with him and help him fight for the sake of humanity despite saying that he is "not trying to make an enemy" out of either demons or angels .... Which as Nightbringer pointed out, is an awfully overconfident statement to make.

I found this both interesting as well as funny.

Solomon is against demons and angels judging humans, yet he is acting like he knows us inside and out. Don't get me wrong, I love Solomon too. But isn't that a bit hypocritical?

He may have a very close connection/relationship to us, but he obviously doesn't know our heart well enough if he honestly believes that we would turn our back on the brothers and support the idea of a war against them.

As you pointed out, anon... Solomon's delusions beliefs definitely tip the scales when it comes to us wondering if he's genuinely on our side or if he has some kind of hidden agenda that he needs our cooperation with in order for it to come to fruition.

And I absolutely agree with you! I don't know if Solomon has become senile in his old age or what, but he really went out of his way to warn us about the dangers of potentially altering the present if we do or say anything untoward.... Yet he goes and makes a pact with Asmo WAY sooner than he was supposed to. Uh, Solomon? What's with the double standards, buddy?

I really hate to say this, but it honestly does make me question if he used the whole "time paradox" spiel as an excuse to precipitate a conflict with Diavolo, Lucifer, and the others... Because Solomon must have known that if any of them found out MC was lying to them or keeping secrets from them, they would react accordingly (and yes, understandably so).

The latter was pretty much proven already, considering Solomon arrived right on time to save MC from Belphie once the brothers found out MC is actually human, then immediately proceeded to take them to a place where he thought they would be safe. It almost seems like it was planned from the start, if you ask me.

Another side note : And let's not forget where Solomon brought us. He was conveniently in reach of a grimoire that could successfully control Lucifer. Who has been wanting to make a pact with Lucifer for a very long time? Solomon. So I'm curious to know if Solomon did indeed plan all of this. If not to start a war, then maybe to try to force a pact with Lucifer? Because Solomon obviously knew that Lucifer was going to pursue MC and himself, hence why he brought MC to the Reaper's Cave (to get a bargaining chip... AKA the grimoire)

Side Note Number 3 : I find it especially interesting that the brothers threatened Solomon to bring MC back safe and sound. Is that because they suspect he might be up to something, too? Maybe they're worried that Solomon may try to use this opportunity to appeal to MC and have them side with him to escalate a war in the past, and that's why they basically used the promise of bodily dismemberment if he doesn't return with MC in the same condition they both left in.

Anyway, onto the next very important part :

I firmly believe the peaceful and understanding approach is the absolute best way to prove that humans are just as formidable as demons and angels.

My main reason for this belief is in regards to something Lucifer said :

It was my own decision that precipitated the war.

MC knows the brothers better than anyone else. I'd even argue that at this point, MC knows the brothers even better than they know themselves.

MC can reach them in ways they aren't expecting, because MC can use their knowledge of the "present day" boys to properly handle them now. This has been shown numerous times already when MC helped them, encouraging them, and comforted them.

Even when MC gave Satan a few little tidbits about cats, it was a special moment between the two. MC knows that present!Satan loves cats, so they knew past!Satan would instantly be fascinated to learn more. Plus... What better way to quell the Avatar of Wrath's anger than an adorable, fluffy, purring little kitty? ^u^

MC also knew that Lucifer wasn't angry when he cast his spell and was lowkey threatening them. Instead, MC knew Lucifer was scared and worried about his brothers, that he didn't want to risk their safety because of some human who's intentions are currently unknown to him.

But I'm starting to get a little off topic here.... Let me go back to the statement Lucifer made.

It was my own decision that precipitated the war.

MC can choose to blindly follow Solomon and side with humanity like he asked them to do, which may potentially lead to a war between humans, demons, and angels.

Or MC can choose to do things their own way.

As I said before, MC knows the brothers better than anyone else. So MC can reason with them and help them understand that MC only wants what is best for them.... Because MC loves them and cares about them (whether that's romantically or in a familial way is up to you, but it still remains true regardless).

And if MC chooses to do things their own way, which I predict is what will happen especially after the whole grimoire incident.... if that choice means that MC will have to go through a series of trials and tribulations, overcome obstacles and hurdles, and use every ounce of energy and effort to find common ground between the three worlds while avoiding war at all costs.... Isn't that the perfect way to prove just how strong, driven, tenacious, and capable humans are?

MC can open the eyes of both angels and demons to exactly what they, a human, can accomplish through sheer determination and willpower.

It can also be a wonderful opportunity to show both Simeon (an angel) and Lucifer (a demon) that MC (a human) is able to accomplish what neither of them did.

It was my own decision that precipitated the war.

Lucifer made choices that resulted in war. MC can make choices to avoid a war.

Simeon regrets not speaking up back then, not reaching out and actively trying to get through to Lucifer. MC can do the opposite. MC can push and fight to prove their loyalty and dedication to the brothers, they can strive to enrich everyone's lives in a peaceful and nurturing way.

Knowing those two, I am absolutely positive that MC will unequivocally earn their respect this way if they choose this path. And if so... Not so weak and fragile after all, eh Simeon?~ ;D

Most importantly :

If MC makes their own choice to deliberately avoid a war/conflict because of their genuine love for the brothers, it will prove that being a human, demon, or angel is completely irrelevant when there is a mutual level of respect and understanding between two (or more) individuals.

Because let's face it.... We all know every one of the brothers is weak for us and will support us in any way they can. Even Mr. GrumpyPants Lucifer has a major soft spot for us. We just need to work towards rebuilding our relationships, strengthening our bonds, and reforging our pacts with them in this timeline.

But I'm sure MC will accomplish that, in their own way, on their own terms ^ᴗ^

67 notes · View notes

lelanida · 2 years

Text

Finally solving Beckoning Ruler (mini theory)

More than a year has passed since the end of the season of the Little Prince and the official confirmation that everything we saw in it is canon. Yes, for a long time we argued with foam at the mouth whether the little prince was really here or it was just a group hallucination. But no, that's it. The Starlight desert is on the map, shards from Eden fall there, there is an wind path there, so this is a real place. And along with the prince and the desert, of course, spirits living in this area became canon too. There was nothing particularly difficult here, places in the general lore had already been designated for the whole gang. The Star Collector is a traveling merchant. Narcissist is the champion from the Colosseum. Soldier - warrior from the Wasteland. Lamplighter - ... lamplighter. Geographer is a monk from the Vault. But there were some problems with Ruler. What place could such a spirit occupy in the kingdom? Where did he get these monarchical habits from? And I decided to make it clear.

Ruler is a rather strange spirit. All other representatives of the season with their outfit or location clearly show belonging to one of the kingdoms ...but not Ruler. His cosmetics and the island are so neutral that by himself he couldn't be attributed anywhere. But by the method of exclusion (and viewing concept art), we establish that the Ruler hails from the Isle of Dawn. Great, there is already something to move from.

Now let's look at his costume. He doesn't have a cape, but he has a hairstyle and a mask. Let's start with the mask. Yes, with the one that absolutely everyone hates. As far as I know, the mask is a reflection of the face of the spirit. So, we will divide the mask into two main parts. A beard and... a frog-shaped upper part? Should I call it that? With a beard, let's say everything is clear, but what the frog is for is a mystery.

Next comes the hairstyle. The ruler wears long curled hair on his head and, logically, a crown. How could a spirit have a crown? After all, he wore it during his lifetime, and wasn't there already a king in this world? And then the realization hit me like a truck. Do we even know how the spirits lived BEFORE the appearance of Alef??? Life didn't start with the king (it ended with them, if we're honest, ahEM-). What if Ruler is really the oldest spirit from the Desert, not by the years he lived, but by the era when he lived?

You can consider this an attempt to justify my favorite character, I don't care, but I really don't see a better place in lore for such character. We know that before the appearance of Alef, the kingdoms were divided.And there was some kind of government, wasn't there? Do you understand where I'm going? What if the Ruler is not just a crazy grandpa who talks to statues, but really a member of the old royalty? I am sure that the unexpected appearance of Alef was a surprise for the previous rulers/senators/chancellors or whatever they had, and not everyone wanted to take off their duties. And not all people, I believe, wanted to turn their lives upside down at once, for the sake of some prophecy. And what happens when the old regime is demolished against the will of the inhabitants? The Civil War. And the memories of the spirits of the season of Remebrance confirm this. The spirits really fought with each other for the unification of the kingdoms. I can't say what exactly happened to the aristocrats who refused to accept Alef's lead. But the proof that the Ruler was overthrown is the fact that his crown is BROKEN.

Take a closer look, it wasn't made like this. And before you tell me that the Ruler made it himself or found somewhere, I will throw a part of the frog from his mask in your face. This thing is also made of stone, but it is perfectly executed and not damaged. So, these attributes were made by a professional craftsman after all, and then the crown was broken. I assume that the Ruler did not die during the revolution, and remained to live out his life without a title. He kept his crown as a reminder of better times and since he was used to living in the past, after his death it was reflected on his island in the Desert.

The fact that he talks to statues can be explained by his prolonged loneliness, I mean, all the spirits in the Desert are strange (I bet Narcissist also talks to his reflection). So that's where I can finish my theory. I hope I raised this character in your eyes at least a little, because, to be honest, no one but me likes Ruler in the fandom. Thanks for reading.

#sky children of the light #thatskygame #sky cotl #beckoning ruler

25 notes · View notes

tinycurlyfry · 2 years

Text

Early morning One Piece binge because I wanna see Yamato dammit! Rambling liveblog thoughts contained in ‘Read More’ like last time

Episode 990 -

THERE HE IS! GO DOGBOY GO!

GJKLSDFJ Luffy just standing there as Ulti yells at him like “.....Huh?” even though he’s not T-posing he has such confused t-posing energy

Luffy, regardless of situation, regardless of who asks, will always answer “Who (the hell) are you?” with “I’m Luffy. I’m going to be pirate king” Love that about him. Yes you are babe, you tell ‘em!!!

Him seeing Ulti come at him with a headbutt and he’s just like “BET.” and meets her headbutt with his own haki-d forehead. Reasonable person would’ve moved, or knock her away but of course not Luffy.

“THAT HURT!!!” Yeah I bet it fucking did, stupid! Luffy what happened to not making risky moves to save your energy for Kaido lmaoo

I love Yamato already oh my god what an entrance. What a first impression to make on Luffy. Striking Ulti with the same attack his father used and then immediately turning around going from intimidating AF to fanboying over Luffy in 2 seconds. “YOU’RE MUGIWARA NO LUFFY, AREN’T YOU?” Luffy extremely confused that his instinctive response of “Yes, it is.” kicks in as he just stares, trying to process- OHP!! HE’S BEEN SNATCHED! JUST GRABS LUFFY AND RUNS! Yamato Ily oh my god

Luffy just letting himself be carried as he continues to try to piece together what the fuck is happening lmaooo

Episode 991-

“It’s like an all you can assassinate buffet!” Robin oh my god. YESSS! KILL!!!

Jinbe with a big smile on his face “You scare me.” JGSKLDFJGG YEAH ME TOO DUDE.

Luffy I get it but oh my god stop wasting energy and just listen to what he has to say!

Yamato recognizing Red Hawk is made to resemble Ace’s powers ;;;n;;;

Episode 992 -

gjklfdg them arguing over how long Yamato has to speak before Luffy runs off to fight Kaido. Children.

Bless Robin and Jinbe being the only ones with restraint and actually keeping up the façade in face of the beast pirates, even while they’re getting ready to execute Momo.

HEART PIRATES SCREEN TIME AGAIN!!! Law is such a good captain. The way his confidence is reflected by his crew. His steadying hand on Hakugan helming the ship, leaning in close as he guides him. Am I going to gush about every gesture, every action he makes with his crew? Absolutely. Yes.

The blue eye effect as he activates room? STUNNING. I will never tire of Law using his abilities. It’s so fucking cool.

YESSSSS MARCO GANG ARRIVES!!! REUNION TIME ;;;;v;;;;; Oh my god this scene is beautiful I’m going to sob. The SNOW, Oda!? Bless. Thank you for giving the siblings the fucking best setting for their reunion scene. The Red Scabbards deserve the world. Also Marco is so good. I love one phoenix who hasn’t loss his smile after all that he’s been through. He’s such a sweetheart.

gjskdfg thank you for allowing Yamato 5 minutes instead of 1 minute. Truly you are the pinnacle of patience, Luffy.

Episode 993 -

Luffy looking down so his hat covers his face when Yamato says Ace spoke of him a lot - I’M GONNA SOB! HIS EXPRESSION TIGHTENING AS HE TRIES NOT TO CRY NOOOOOOO OKAY I AM SOBBING NOW.

Oh?! Law’s not going to join the samurai to take down Kaido? Huh! Okay! I wonder if he’s just going to give them their chance to take him down first since this is for their revenge. Law knows about revenge. He is not one against getting vengeance in the least bit. I could believe he wants to let them have the first chance at killing him. This is important to them. He’s there for support if they need it and to keep the plan going.... as smooth as it can gjkslfgf

Oof, Izou didn’t know till now that Kanjuro betrayed them ;;; Him still complimenting Kanjuro even in the face of betrayal, saying how skilled his drawings are. But he knows that while he was ‘on their side’ his drawings were awful. He’s got to be realizing Kanjuro’s creation could have been LEAGUES better than what he was giving them. That he was faking his poor ability to draw in using his powers. The subtlety in Izou’s “What a great actor” comment/compliment. He is angry but still can’t completely shrug off that bond they had. That he thought they had. My god I love the red scabbards so much.

God I’m so proud of Momo ;;; He really is trying to fight back. Kanjuro fucking snapping when Momo draws blood in striking at him with the knife. A member of the Kozuki family drawing his blood that sends Kanjuro into a brief craze. God this is so good.

Awww nooooo Kiku tearing up and wanting Kanjuro to say it to her face that all that time together, the bond they built as a family, that it really was all a lie before she attacks him. God Kanjuro’s betrayal has hurt them so deeply. They loved Kanjuro. They all mean so much to each other. Kiku darling, sweetheart, I’m so sorry. But also Kanjuro saying he IS full of emotions again. God, I wonder if he really does feel that love for them. He feels that bond. But he’s so detached from his emotions that to him it is just that person is his role. That person is a performance. But that person is also real. Kanjuro says he sees their tears as compliments of his acting, but I wonder if deep down, beyond his own awareness, he wants them to mourn him.

OH SHIT! Kiku those were some of the coolest fucking lines ever oh my god. GO OFF, BABE!

My god, MORE EXPLODING CUFFS?! If I had a dollar for every father that put exploding handcuffs on his son to keep him prisoner and keep him in line I’d have two dollars which isn’t much but weird that it’s happened twice. I want Sanji and Yamato to interact now. I want them to bond over having the absolute worst fathers alive.

Yamato: “Because what kind of parent would blow up their own son?” Luffy like ‘This again? Oh HELL no. Okay hand them over, I’m taking these off right now immediately.’

#FryTalks #One Piece #Wano #Taking a break for Breakfast and then I need to get some work done but then my god I want to jump back in

6 notes · View notes

droughtofapathy · 28 days

Note

rank every production of: company and follies, then rank every performance of

- not getting married today

- ladies who lunch

- being alive

- losing my mind

- could i leave you

- (anything else.)

What do you *mean* every performance? There's unhinged and there's batshit unstable because fuck's sake, how is this even possible? I'm putting it all under a cut. We're going to be here a while.

Okay, so given that I've only ever seen the recent Broadway revival of Company live, and otherwise only have a passing familiarity with the original and the two other subsequent revivals, I'll say that the real answer is Elaine Stritch best Joanne, Katie Finneran best Amy, Jennifer Simard best Sarah, and objectively Raul Esparza best Bobby. And that's all I have to say about that.

Follies: 1. Encores! 2007 for that sublime trio of Donna Murphy as Phyllis, Vicki Clark as Sally, and Christine Baranski as Carlotta. However, points off for not being a full maximalist design (y'know, being an Encores! and all). 2. Original 1971. Yes, there have been more talented performers, yes there have been better sets, yes it was kind of a nightmare to put together. But I've read Everything was Possible and I am deeply besotted by what was. 3. NT 2017. For the design and some of the background direction, full honors. That set is everything I have ever wanted from a Follies set. Gorgeous costumes. Love the execution of the ghosts. The actual performers...? Well...let's just say I can count on one hand how many West End performers I actually respect. 4. 2011 Broadway revival. Jan Maxwell, my beloved. The design may not have been as grand as it should have been, the casting of Bernadette might have been a little underwhelming, the drama backstage might have been harrowing, but Jan Maxwell may well be the best Phyllis we've ever had in a full production. 5. 1998 Papermill Play House. There were rumors of this transferring to Broadway but that got axed, alas. Instead, we got the 2001 production (starring neither rumored Donna Murphy nor Jean Smart, so what was the point?). But Dee Hoty is one of the great Phyllis performers. She did "Ah, But Underneath" instead of "The Story of Lucy and Jessie" and you know, I'm not mad about it. Honorable Mention: the Follies concert this past June at Carnegie Hall. It's been enough time that I can make up a laundry list of what I didn't like. But what I did like made for a magical night.

As for ranking the songs, you're getting my top three-to-five and you'll be happy about it:

"Getting Married Today" 1. Madeline Kahn Hands down, no question, zero contest, everyone else pack it up. This is it. The pinnacle of the song. She is everything and her "I'm not well" runs on constant loop in my head. 2. Katie Finneran Truly an ideal role for her, and this rendition is as nerve-wracking as it should be. Extra points for being post-partum and leaking breastmilk into that white dress. 3. Veanne Cox I've seen her do this live, and it's an impressive feat. She's got the neurotic panic down to a science. 4. Julie Andrews Do I think it's anywhere near the best rendition ever? No. But am I endlessly entertained? Absolutely. Julie Andrews, my beloved. 5. Marin Mazzie (technically) You never said it had to be the Amy part of the song. Marin Mazzie as the soprano Wedding Singer deserves a spot on this list, and while the video I'm thinking of seems to have vanished into the aether, there are a few clips of her doing it at different concerts, and I think of them fondly.

"The Ladies Who Lunch" 1. Patti LuPone But not the one she did for the recent Broadway revival. It was fine and all, but not her best. I do like the 2011 concert version, but I'm going with the Ladies in Red version specifically here. 2. Elaine Stritch The original. The blueprint. The ideal. 3. Christine Baranski, Meryl Streep, Audra McDonald It's iconic and feral and I don't think anyone's going to argue. 4. Debra Monk and/or Barbra Walsh I don't listen to them often, but solid takes either way.

"Being Alive" 1. Marquee Five I've said it before, and I'll say it again, but this song was only ever just kind of there for me until I heard an alto woman sing it. Now I get it. Obscure choice, yes, but argue with the wall. 2. Raul Esparza Okay, so I did hear him do this live during an unexpected appearance at a 24 Hour Plays event, and okay yeah, I get it. I understand the hype. It was incredible. Other than that, I don't really listen to others aside from Marquee Five.

"Losing My Mind" 1. Marin Mazzie This is everything to me. The gown, the silhouette, the sheer size of her mouth. And the little gasp at the end? I am in a puddle on the floor. 2. Kate Baldwin The pause at the climax of the song is one of the singular most transcendent moments of live theatre I have ever experienced. Total silence as nearly three-thousand people witnessed utter perfection. I am haunted by this performance. 3. Victoria Clark The best Sally, and I'll die on that hill. She gets it. And her costume, hair, and makeup for the 2007 Encores! concert has me so in love. Almost enough to make me overlook how delusional she is and propose marriage. 4. Liza Minnelli Yes, in case you didn't know, there's a Liza Minnelli disco version of this song, and I just... I... yeah, you're going to have to see for yourself.

"Could I Leave You?" 1. Donna Murphy Shocker. Who would have guessed that DroughtofApathy would put Donna Murphy's definitive rendition of this song at the top slot? She goes somewhere during this number, and I haven't seen a performance come close to touching what she does yet. 2. Jan Maxwell My beloved.

But let's be honest here. I'm not listening to any other version aside from Donna's. So here's just a few I think are very good, but given the choice, I'd never voluntarily listen to any of them if Donna is also an option: Julie Andrews, Dee Hoty, Emily Skinner, Alexis Smith, Janie Dee, Lucia Spina, Bonnie Milligan. Basically any woman. (Though I'll be honest, I didn't really care for Beth Leavel's during the Follies concert.) No man ever. Every time a man does this number at a cabaret, just know that beneath my mask, I am hissing and spitting in disgust.

And that's all she wrote.

#sondheim #follies #company #i could keep ranking things all night but it's after midnight and i want to be asleep

0 notes

sapphicvioletssss · 3 months

Text

Ooooh. Controversial opinion. Every time I think back on ofmd season 2 I get upset about how badly it was executed.

Like just absolutely obliterating the characters from the previous season (I'm looking at you Jim and Oluwande)

Giving Izzy the most shallow, surface level character growth/redemption that was built on absolutely nothing in-universe and heavily relying on fanon interpretation of his character (legitimately the switch up between the season 1 finale and the first episode of season 2 makes it seem like he's an entirely different character. Obviously things happened off screen but the change is SO drastic, it's just bad writing I fear) like why are they all coddling him immediately in season 2, that man a) was awful to all of them and b) even though they don't know izzy pushed Ed back into his blackbeard persona (nobody could've predicted it would be THAT bad but the point still stands that he did threaten his life), Izzy was still extremely excited at the end of s1 with how things were. AND even if we are just expected to accept that they've all bonded over their circumstance, why is the part of the crew that was away immediately cool with Izzy? Should they not still hate/dislike him? Like they were going to kill him and then he left them for dead. The crew all loving him so much makes no sense. And all of it just to kill him at the end? For what?

Dropping the ball SO. HARD. on Zheng Yi Sao. She's an incredibly intelligent strategist, super powerful, and could have been such a cool and interesting character but they reduced her down to "hehe oluwande <3" and having her entire fleet get defeated because she trusted Ricky?? Why would she do that??

Speaking of Ricky, the fact that he was barelyyy seen, one of the few times being his introduction showing us he's naive and not especially bright, yet we're somehow meant to believe he's a very formidable antagonist? Yes, he ran off to the navy for power but iirc he was the brains behind taking down Zheng'z fleet/the republic of pirates which is not something we were given any inclination he would be capable of given his only other major scene was making a fool of himself and getting got in the RoP/Spanish Jackie'z. Like, sure. It doesn't need to be completely spelled out, but am I missing something here? It's such a major leap and absolutely none of his capabilities are even implied besides "I'm powerful because I'm a minor prince and have the navy behind me"?

I feel like season 1 did sooo much better delving into the psyche of its characters and it did them justice! We understood their conflicts and motivations so well! And then we have season 2 and it's just....eugh. For example: stede had so many issues around violence/killing in season 1 and we see none of that expressed in season 2 except for a tiny bit after he kills Ned Low? Maybe it can be argued he's overcompensating in 2.07? But the conflict is vague at best. Or it's SO on the nose it's just :| (group asking frenchie how he handles the BB crew situation so well, Ed making Jim and Archie fight - not even going to get into how I feel about Jim and Archie being so forced together it's not even funny., half of what Pete yelled at lucius during their 2.05(?) fight) there's just not much depth to the characters' emotional conflicts/motivations in the second season and it makes me sad seeing how much love was given to them in season 1. "I'm angry because you can't get over yourself lucius. Oh it's resolved because you proposed!" / "everyone hates blackbeard, he needs to atone. Oh! He threw a party for us :) maybe he's not so bad!" It's just so flat and lifeless.

All the stuff with Lucius's time away/separated between seasons. Especially the SA "joke".

Despite my love for the episode, having a wlw couple and making one of them sexually harass stede and at their emotional climax having them going for a kiss and then swerve to a hug? I do not understand the point of how that scene was choreographed it was strange and absolutely ripped me out of the moment. If you're going for a hug, go for a hug! Don't make it seem like they'll kiss and then swerve. it just looks so awkward and clunky and it makes me question why we've had all kinds of kisses in the show but we can't have one between two women?? Like legitimately all kinds. mlm, wlm, nblm, nblw, but not a wlw kiss? They have to hug? And from THAT couple? Make it make sense :)

Stede and Ed's ending :( they would NOT settle like that, and I firmly believe that. They both love the sea (Ed hated how infamous BB had become and I think he'd gotten tired of pirating like he had been at the beginning of the season but we've seen how much fun he has) and they hate monotony and a life running an inn on land? Seriously? It doesn't make any sense for them. Literally any other ending would have been better I stg.

I understand there were budget cuts and the season got slashed two episodes but it felt so much like the love and care for the story was tossed away in favor of fan service. There was sooo much I liked about the season and I think it had so much potential but so much of it just felt hollow. Learning that the show runners knew they almost certainly would not get renewed put the whole season in a new light - like they didn't really need to try all that hard because it wouldn't matter anyway, that they could just "give people what they want to see" and the decline in quality would either not be noticed or wouldn't be cared about. We got a mermaid dream sequence to Kate Bush, who cares that Jim's whole character was massacred! Who gives a shit about the vaguely misogynistic undertones to this season, Buttons is canonically a witch!

Idk :) probably super unpopular opinion(s) but I have them. And there is a lot I love about the season, I could probably make an equally long, if not longer, post about those opinions, it just genuinely upsets me sometimes how such an incredible first season was followed up with a mediocre at best second one even though the potential was so obviously there.

#will I get ripped to shreds for this....#hopefully not #our flag means death

0 notes

almondmilks-posts · 3 years

Text

C!schlatt- executed

I got lots of DMs asking for more angst so here

* You and schlatt get into an argument about him being president and executing tubbo ect, in a drunken rage he stabs you.

*Woah this is the longest thing I've ever written.

It all started when Fundy tipped you off about schlatts plans of executing tubbo for helping Wilbur and Tommy out,which you knew about ofc. You treated tubbo like one of your own and even sometimes helped him sneak out the Whitehouse without schlatt knowing; but killing tubbo over that broke you. You had to say something to hopefully put a stop to your husband's madness and his drinking. God did you hate how much he drunk, it drove you nuts.

You- he's just a boy. (Get the reference...)

Schlatt- I. Don't.give a fuck. He's. Traitor

You- do you blame him schlatt? Him and Tommy are close brothers even he probably felt terrible about what happend you know when you-

Schlatt- oh well should of thought I'd that before helping that that CHILD. HE'S MY RIGHT HAND MAN HE HAD ALL THE POWER AMD NOW and now he's going to pay the price and it's an expensive price to pay.

You walked over to the window and stood looking out into manburg. Just thinking about how you can save the poor boys life. How could warn him without schlatt finding out? you came to nothing. You and schlatt were married you were first lady, wherever you went he went. You were in a deep thought about tubbo and what his death would mean to the server when quackity quietly Knocked on the dark oak door.

Quackity- uh boss I hate to interrupt but you have a meeting in 20 minutes down at the twitch prime church.

Schlatt sighed. Stood up off his chair and walked over to you, but not before grabbing the bottle. Schlatt got super close to your face, so close you could see the little wrinkles that had developed around his eyes and forehead since becoming president, your nose scrunched under the smell of alcohol from his breath or from his clothes you honestly couldn't tell anymore.

Schlatt- we will no longer speak on the matter. I AM THE PRESIDENT FOR MANBURG WHAT I SAY GOES.

He slaunted away from you pushing past quackity. Quackity gave you a sad smile as you both knew how mean schlatt could get when he drank, and recently he had been drinking alot. Quackity turned towards the open door to make sure schlatt was outta ear distance.

Quackity- go.

You- huh?

Quackity- I told Phill that you would be seeing him thecno Wilbur and Tubbo in the bunker. Go warn them.

You- i- hhhh thank you quackity I love you so much man.

Quackity- I know I know. Hurry because it looks like we are going to be in for along night if schlatt messes up this meeting

You- he's so drunk he can't even walk straight of course he's going to ok I'll run along I'll take the horse to speed things up.

Quackity quickly shut the door before running to where schlatt would be waiting downstairs for the meeting while you grabbed your axe and saddle. You made your way out the escape hatch in your office and found your horse (name your horse here pls comment the names I wanna see what y'all name your animals)

Horse- neyyyy

You- heyyyy boy shhh it's just me ok ok steady ok I'm getting on 3...2...1... And uppp fewww ok not so bad is it (horse name) ok off to warn Tubbo.

Your horse stamped it's hooves and took off for the bunker. You had ridden this path hundreds of time so it was easy for you and the horse to get to, quackity said he already told Phill about your arrival do he should be waiting for you to turn up. You were right because Wilbur was waiting outside for you to arrive. His usual green jacket and black Beanie on his head.

Wilbur- hey y/n in here look you can rest (horse name) in here Niki built it.

You- Niki joined? Awesome o haven't seen her in so long, well since she messed up the soup and schlatt fired her

Wilbur- how is he by the way y/n? Come inside and we can talk about him later or should I say rant

You- true true.

You walked through the entrance carefully, you had fallen down the rails the first few times Wilbur took you here. Over his presidential campaign you and wilbur had actually been pretty close and luckily kept in contact even though schlatt won. SBI was a group you practically grew up with just not enough for Phill to adopt you, but you don't blame him, you wouldn't fit the dynamic plus your parents didn't really like the idea but they never really liked anything you did.

Phill- oh hey y/n were all down here what do you want to talk about quackity said it was urgent so I called a meeting.

You got to the bottom of the steps to find everyone waiting on the floor for you to arrive. By everyone I mean: Phill, Tubbo, Tommy, Niki, thecno. You waved at Niki who had changed her hair colour since you saw her last she waved back with a huge smile on her face but a hint of sadness in your eyes. You had changed so much, you just look exhausted which was not wrong.

You- oh um yes hi everyone, sorry to be so blunt but uhhh there is no better way to say this. Tubbo is in grave danger. Schlatt is planning to...

Your hands started to shake vigorously, you felt dizzy, you wanted to throw up. Almost as if your body is warning you about doing this right now it's screaming at you to not betray your husband of four years like this but you have to.

Tommy- planning what y/n spit it out?

Niki- hey, y/n it's ok shhh Tommy what schlatt planning in doing to Tubbo?

You- he's PLANNING TO EXECUTE you tubbo. He knows, I don't know why or how but he knows about all of this and your his right hand man he's going to kill you tubbo, hang you for tertiary. I'm so sorry I-

Tommy- Tubbo? No? You can't die not now

Thecno- all our plans. Just gone.

Phill- he can't hang tubbo he's just a boy.

At this point you were sobbing now. Full on ugly crying. Your heart physically hurt from all the angst and the possibility of Tubbo dying. Your knees gave out on the floor as you wept for the young boy and he was still alive. The others argued in the back as to what to do. Tommy grabbed Tubbo and hugged him, Wilbur was crying over the threat of danger even thecno was a little on edge.

You- I'm sorry. But I must go I can't I can't stay im sorry.

Phill- it's ok. Thank you for warning us sport.

With that you climbed the stairs thinking about nothing honestly. You were numb. Your husband was going to murder someone you looked as your brother for years what did this mean for you? You were also helping them did he know about that? How did he know about tubbo's tretariy? You got on the back of your horse and rode back to manburg.

Climbing up the shoot to your office was miserable. You felt miserable, confused and alone. You had no idea how long you were sat in your chair looking at the chipped desk until the door was slammed open hitting the wall with a lud bang. You didn't need to look up to know it was your husband. Even before marriage he always slammed doors open like they were nothing.

Schlatt- what's got you all down in the dumps? HM sweetheart?

You- you know what and don't call me that.

You crossed your arms still refusing to make eye contact with the ram hybrid. This really pissed him off. He however pissed you off more by calling you sweetheart which to some would seem sweet but you knew schlatt better. This time was dripping in sarcasm because he was mind fucked drunk by now not caring about anyone or anything. Schlatt waddled up to your desk and stood right on front of you, still not looking up at him you pulled out some paperwork and started to mindlessly sign it.

Schlatt- me YOUR PRESIDENT just signed a huge deal with badboyhalo.what is wrong with you recently huh? Cats got your tounge ok what about pig hybrid got your tounge? Or angel of death got your tounge or exhild child got your tounge?

You froze. He did know.

Schlatt- AHH struck a nerve, don't stop signing MY papers dear you are my wife after all.

You- no. Fuck you schlatt you can't hang the poor boy he's so young and innocent what was he supposed to do? You know I have to sign paperwork before you do anything and I won't sign off on it.

You threw your pen at schlatt in a rage. You didn't see if it hit him to enraged to care, papers were ripped, you there everything off your desk onto the floor. Schlatt just stood there blank expression not saying anything to you.

You- fuck you schlatt you don't control me.

You picked up the photo of you and schlatt on your wedding day. You ponderd on it for a second before stomping up to schlatt and shoving the picture on his face.

You- look at it. LOOK AT US LOOK HOW HAPPY I WAS NOW LOOK AT ME? DO I LOOK HAPPY TO YOU? OR DO I LOOK EXHAUSTED? STRESSED? because I am all of them things being married to you schlatt you are a terrible president and you have no power you're a pussy and won't face your problems like a real man.

Schlatt picked up the bottle of vodka and downed the whole lot you just stood there absolutely raging over this man's attitude and willingness to just disregard everyone in his life.

Schlatt- I DONT CARE HOW YOI FEEL I DONT CARW ABOUT ANYONE NOT EVEN QUACKITY OR MY WIFE. I AM THE BEST PRESIDENT MANBURG HAD EVER SEEN AND YOU WILL OBAY THE RULE OF SCHLATT. I KNOW YOU HAVE BEEN HELPING THE FUCKERS AND YOU WILL SUFFER JUST LIKE TUBBO, JUST LIKE TOMMY, JUST LIKE DREAM YOU WILL PAY THE PRICE FOR YOUR CRIMES. AGAINST. YOUR COUNTRY. AGAINST. YOUR PRESIDENT.

With every word schlatt got closer and closer to you. Terrified of schlatt, becoming increasingly more angry to the point his horns have grown pitch black out of pure hatred. You moved back as far as you could against the glass in your office. Schlatt pressing you up against it with his body but this time shoving a finger in your face and still yelling about how incompetent you are as a wife and as a person.

Suddenly you felt a stabbing pain just above your heart. You look down to see a black colour sword through your chest and red blood gushing out onto your clothes and floor ( ok the sword is still in so in irl not a lot of blood would actually escape unless the object was removed top tip but for theatrics blood eveywhere) you weakly reach up to grasp the blood covers wrist of schlatt to pull the sword out but to no avail as you suddenly feel super dizzy and everything goes black.

Quackity- she's.... She's.....y/n's dead

Quackity heard you and schlatt yelling in his office when silence happend. He knew this was a bad sign and anxiously walked to schlatts office with shaky hand. He got close enough to hear a loud thud and XP drop on the ground. He ran back to his office to think when schlatt walked by ( in this his office is made.of glass) staring at his hands, suit all covered in blood. His heart dropped and ran back to the office to collect your stuff, running on adrenaline he ran all the way the he bunker to tell the others. No time for him to cry yet he was still in shock over what just happened.

Niki- no no no no pls say your lying pleas no no not y/n

Niki dropped to her knees sobbing and rocking backwads and forwards much like you did less than three hours ago when you came to warn the crew. You were her friend and was the only person who helped her when she was working for schlatt at the white house.

Wilbur- no no why how? Pls no?

Wilbur and you were probably the closest, he found you in the forest over 12 years ago chasing after foxes and collecting berries Wilbur always wanted a younger sibling as this point Phill only had thecno and Wilbur.

Phill- oh no poor y/n.

Tommy- what the fuck how?

Phill when he first saw you recognised you emidiatly looking much like your father. However he knew the man and knew what he was like so he had no problems when you visited them for tea many nights a week. He did think about adopting you right after Tommy arrived as you looked after him so well. Crafting him many clothes and many pumpkin pies. So so so many he always asked Phil if he had the recipe as he knew you couldn't make them as frequently as you used to.

Everyone was going to miss you greatly they just didn't expect to see you at the festival but now as ghosty/n. All your tries and efforts were in vain. Manburg still got blown up. But you did make good friends with Ghostbur. Glatt knew off you but was too embarrassed to see you.

Ugh ok this took me over two hours to write non stop. I just got this idea and ran with it omg I got so carried away. As of now probably my fav story.

#jschlatt #dream smp #Tubbo #villain wilbur #wilbursoot #mcytumblr #mcyt #dsmp glatt #mcyt x reader #tommyinnt #philza #manberg vs pogtopia

107 notes · View notes

whump-a-la-mode · 3 years

Text

Villainsicle - Part 14

Thanks to everyone for all the comments on the last part, and especially to @the-polari-person for the memes they made. Everyone really wants to punch Medic, and I think this part will reinforce that. I hope you enjoy!

Taglist:

@whatwhumpcomments

@sola-whumping

@professional-idiocy

@trappedgoose-in-a-writblr-room

@literally-just-kirby

@the-polari-person

@teachunks

@daydreamed-snippets-2nd-blog

@sunflower1000

@lightdrinker-blog

@regalwritten

CW//Whumpee liking whumper, pet whump, dehumanization, conditioned whumpee, orders, implied past torture, mentions of death, mentions of execution, arguing, conspiracy

Traitor ran their fingers affectionately through Villain’s hair.

“An Asset can be far greater than any weapon you may have ever yielded in the past. I am sure you have all heard of the incident suffered by our late former Asset Coordinator, but any equipment can malfunction.

I assure you, the risk is worth it. May they rest in peace. But, a well-trained Asset is just as dangerous as a well-maintained gun. With the right care, it will only harm those who must be harmed.”

The somewhat sorrowful expression that had begun to show through disappeared, replaced by a sharp smirk.

“But words can only do so much. Demonstration is much better. Cadet!”

Villain drew back, nodding firmly their acknowledgement. There was a notable strangeness to their gait, a refusal to put weight on their leg.

“Circumspicio.”

Another firm nod, before they closed their eyes. For a few moments, tense and quiet as they were, their hair rose about their head, writhing like an inferno of serpents. When they at last opened their eyes, their hair did not calm.

“Eight soldier on deck, move left. Two plane on deck. Most soldier sleeping, in dorm. Supervillain talk to Department Head. Assets in kennel.”

“Where is Ali Silica?”

“Ali Silica, in kitchen, drink water.”

“Maximilian Kesim.”

“Maximilian Kesim, in dorm. Sleep.”

“Ella Jacklin.”

“Ella Jacklin, on deck. Has weapon. Guard door 24.”

“Good.” Traitor’s gaze returned to stare forth. “My Asset may not be particularly useful in situations of combat, but it is invaluable for recon and scouting. They can see through our cameras, our computers, all of it. And in an enemy base? Every enemy movement can be mapped. I can’t count how many times it has saved my life.

It is the most valuable Asset we have. Usually, we would not be doing something like this. But, my Asset is currently off duty due to an injury. And thus, welcome to the course.”

Again, they laid their hand atop Villain’s head.

They smiled.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Villain looked at the camera.

That was all Counselor could look at, all they could notice. The other action on screen was immediately rendered irrelevant to them.

No. They could only see those eyes.

The same eyes they’d spent the last weeks gazing back at, in person and picture alike. At the very least, they were the same eyes, on the same person. In every physical sense, Villain was the same.

But...

They were happy. Maybe they weren’t, maybe it was just a trick of the light... But, no, no matter how Counselor squinted, what they told themself, they could not ignore that fact. Villain’s eyes glimmered with contentment, pressing their head into Traitor’s hand, who stroked their hair affectionately.

There was nothing fake, nothing practiced, about that warmth. It was just as real as the sorrowful or fearful expressions that Counselor had seen on Villain’s face so often. The only ones they ever seemed to show.

They were happy. Why were they happy? Ordered about, spoken about like an object... And why were they talking like that? They were generally rather quiet, but they never seemed to struggle with their speech.

It wasn’t until Hero spoke up that Counselor realized their mouth had been hanging ajar.

“I...”

Hero was at just as much of a loss for words as they were.

“I don’t know.” Counselor shook their head, frowning. “P-Pause it. Please. I don’t want to see it.”

They did so.

For a long, tense moment, the two sat there, one in the computer chair, the other with their legs dangling off the bed. It was Counselor, who managed to clear their throat first.

“Where did you get this?”

“The flashdrive?”

“Mhm.”

“Leader. Leader gave it to me.”

“Leader?”

“I didn’t... I don’t know. I guess it makes sense?”

“It does, but...” Counselor gripped a clump of blanket in their fist, knuckles quickly turning white. “I, Hero, what the fuck! I don’t know what I expected. Some sort of backstory, certainly, but... What did Traitor do to them?”

It wasn’t the type of explosive tone that they often took, but they couldn’t help it. Couldn’t help but release the furious flame burning in their chest, its smoke scratching their throat.

“I don’t know.” Hero shook their head. “What is the, the Asset program? That wasn’t a thing when we worked for them, was it?”

“No. No, I don’t think so. I certainly never heard of it.”

“Me neither.”

“You think...”

“Do I think that’s why Leader looks like they’re about to faint whenever you so much as mention Villain? Absolutely! You’d think they would have told us.”

“I- I guess. What is there even to say? What was that even about?”

“It certainly wasn’t meant for an uninformed audience. Something about... training? Training assets?”

“That’s what Villain was, weren’t they? An... Asset.”

“I think so. A... A forced soldier. Traitor was treating they like a fucking dog.”

“Yeah.” Hero nodded.

“And...”

“An incident. What were they saying about an incident?”

“Someone died. The way they were talking about it, I think. Someone died. Whoever tried to make videos about this beforehand? An... Asset Coordinator?”

“That’s certainly what it sounded like.”

Counselor tried to release the grip they held on the blanket, but found themself unable. Tension and fury kept their muscles clenched, blood pounding their ears, even as they did little more than sit.

“Were they ever really a villain at all?” They finally whispered. “In the video, it was all orders. They were just following orders. We’ve been treating them like a villain this whole time, but-”

“I think we need to see more.” Hero interrupted. “We need to- We need to know. How long until this flashdrive mysteriously goes missing?”

“I don’t know.” Counselor bit the inside of their cheek. “I can’t. I’m sorry. I can’t. I need to-”

“You really should. We should.”

“I know. I know. But I need to see Villain.”

“Oh.”

“You watch, okay? I’m going to talk to them.”

“About... it?”

“Yeah.” They nodded, before frowning, their gaze becoming downcast. “How long until they mysteriously go missing?”

“Fair enough.”

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

“Are you hungry?”

The Asset- no, dammit, Villain looked up as Counselor entered the hospital room. The thoughts, the words of the video refused to stop swirling in their mind, twisting even their inner monologue, now.

The blankets on their bed were turned and tossed about-- either they had tried to get up, or they had not slept well. Neither option was good.

But they were awake now.

“Are you hungry, Villain?” Counselor repeated themself, approaching the bedside. An impulse to straighten the bed linens ran through them, but their hands were full-- they placed the platter down on the table beside the hospital bed.

They took a moment to reply, as if they were unsure whether or not they were expected to speak. They decided upon the former.

“Yes.”

“That’s good. I made you some lunch.”

“Lunch?”

“Y’know, when you eat at noon.”

“I- I know. Sorry. Don’t usually eat lunch.”

“You don’t?”

“Medic says I only need dinner.”

“Oh.” Another wave of furious warmth ran through them, but they let it burn out. It wasn’t the time. “Well, if you’re hungry, I have food for you.”

“Y-Yes. Sorry. Thank you, uh, thank you.”

“Of course.”

Villain sat up, taking the platter from their bedside table. It was a simple arrangement-- with little to no knowledge of what exactly Medic was up to, Counselor had decided to play it safe, making whatever was least likely to upset Villain’s stomach. A sandwich, some yogurt, and some carrots. Simple and small, but food.

Yet, as the former Asset gazed at the plate, they looked almost confused. Genuinely perplexed, staring at an abstract painting.

“Is everything okay?”

“Yes! Sorry, I’m sorry.”

“You have nothing to be sorry for. What’s wrong?”

“It’s just... This doesn’t look like what Medic has me eat.”

Counselor frowned.

“What does Medic have you eat?”

“Um... Don’t, um.” They furrowed their brow, looking for all the world to be trying to do mental calculus. “Don’t know word, um, I don’t know what it is called. It’s white, and dry. Tastes like chalk.”

At that point, Counselor would have believed it if Villain had told them that Medic was making them eat actual chalk.

“Well... This is something different, for today.”

“Okay.”

Still, the food before them put a confused expression on their face. Eventually, after considering it for a long moment, Villain began to tear pieces off the sandwich, eating them in that manner.

“Villain?”

“Yes?”

“Can I ask you a question?”

“Y-Yeah. Yeah. Of course.”

“Do you know someone named Traitor?”

Villain’s hand stopped, halfway through bringing a piece of food to their mouth. They put it back down.

They nodded.

“They didn’t call them that.”

“What did they call them?”

“Trainer.”

“And they called you Cadet.”

Villain’s teeth snapped together, gritting hard enough that they seemed about to crack.

“Yes. I didn’t... I didn’t think you knew.”

“I...” There was no reason to lie. “I didn’t. Not until just a minute ago.”

“Oh.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry.” Villain shook their head. “It’s okay.”

“Is it okay if I... Is it okay if I ask you about it?”

Villain frowned for a moment-- looking as though they were actually considering the question. Even as much as Counselor wanted to hear a yes, even the fact that they were thinking it through made them swell with hope.

“Yes. Yes, it’s okay.”

“Okay.” They weren’t sure when their voice had grown so quiet, so placating. As though they were whispering in a far larger room. “They called you an Asset. What is that?”

“Um... We were weapons, I think.”

“There were multiple?”

“Mhm.” They nodded, ever so slightly, like their head was locked in place. “Not many made it... They kept us prisoner, for a long time. Before the collapse. Before your rebellion. Said we were useful only as lab rats. Then... Something changed. They decided we were useful. Started training.”

“Training?”

“We didn’t want to fight for them. So we weren’t given a choice.”

“You were... You were there, all that time?”

“When you rebelled, I guess- You didn’t know about us, did you?”

“No.”

“No one did.”

“And then they wanted your help.”

“They didn’t give a choice. I guess there was a choice. You could obey, or...”

“Or?”

“Or kill your handler.”

“What did they-”

“They shot the ones that acted up like that. Said it wasn’t worth losing soldiers over.”

“But you...”

“I-” Their voice hiccuped, catching in their throat. “I didn’t want to. Not at first.”

“They hurt you?”

“Some. I guess. Trainer had a whip. But that wasn’t their style. They needed us intact. They had other ways.”

“Oh.”

Villain turned the conversation about.

“How did you find out?”

“A video.”

“A video?”

More cautiously, this time, Villain ate another piece of sandwich.

“Some kind of training video. We found it on a computer. We took it, from Organization.”

“Oh.”

“You...”

“The one I was in.”

“Yeah.”

Villain’s lips pursed into a thin line. They picked up their plate, putting it back on the nightstand, before throwing aside their blanket.

Their hospital gown was thin and wispy-- they moved aside the fabric covering their lower leg.

A hole. That was the only word that would be in any way appropriate to describe the wound-- a hole, dug out of flesh. Healed and faded, so much so that the scar tissue had turned white, but it was still there. Still horrid enough to make Counselor’s stomach twist with nausea.

“What is...”

“A gunshot.”

“A gun did that?”

“Yeah. Really close up.”

“Oh.”

“Mhm.”

“You were hurt, in the video.”

“Yeah.”

“It was...”

“It was this. I got hurt. Got shot. I couldn’t walk for a long time, couldn’t fight for a lot longer than that. Was stuck in the med bay. But I could walk, so they figured I could do the videos.”

Counselor nodded their understanding, as best as they could manage. Villain recovered the wound.

“Villain?”

“Yeah?”

“You left. Did you leave? On your own?”

“Um... It was more complicated than that.”

“You were rescued?”

They seemed to consider for a moment, before nodding.

“Leader.”

For a split second, Counselor thought they had imagined the word.

“Leader?”

“They saved me. By, um, by shooting me.”

“They...”

“They shot me in the leg.”

“I’m not sure I understand.”

“I don’t know if you can.” Villain diverted their gaze quickly. “Sorry, that was mean. It’s just, I mean, things were different back then. You have a choice. You left because you wanted to. Because you didn’t believe in what you were doing.”

“Yeah.”

“I didn’t know what I was doing. I guess I had some idea, but, not really. I just did what Train- Traitor said.” Their head lurched upward. “They’re okay, right?”

“What?”

“Trainer. They’re okay, right?”

“I- I guess I don’t know. We haven’t done anything to harm them.”

“Okay. Okay.”

“You... You liked them?”

“I miss them.” They drew their legs to their chest, hugging them. “A lot.”

“You miss them?”

“Mhm.” There was somehow a terribly sorrowful tone to the humming. “I left them. But I miss them.”

“Did you... Did you escape? On your own?”

“I guess.” They straightened their legs back out. “The longer I was in the med bay, the less security there was. After a while, I think they forgot I was there. They just left me there, in that bed. Leader... Did they ever tell you?”

“About what?”

“About what they told me.”

“No. They didn’t even tell us they shot you.”

“They said it, right before they shot me. It was, um, it was an address. They said if I went there, I could get help. Then they shot me.”

“An address?”

“In Oregon. It was the first anyone had spoken to me in, I guess in years, at that point. They spoke around me, but never in English?”

“They didn’t speak English? They did when I was there.”

“Yeah, before they went all evil. Decided they wanted to speak Latin. I didn’t even know that that’s what it was, at the time. I never understood a word of it, still don’t. Then Leader came along, and spoke to me. In a language I knew. And it made me think, think like I hadn’t in such a long time.”

“In the video, in the video they were speaking English.”

“Mhm.” Villain nodded. “That was the second time I’d heard a language I understood. It’s like I woke up, like I’d been sleeping for forever. Like I remembered I was human. And, when the ship got close enough to the West coast...”

“You jumped ship.”

“I almost drowned doing it, too. But I didn’t. And I made it to the address.”

“And that was six months ago.”

“A year ago. I collapsed on a stranger’s doorstep, and they took me in. And... that’s it.”

“That’s it.”

“Mhm.”

They again took the platter, beginning to again pick at their food. Counselor let them eat in silence.

In the end, it was Villain who spoke up.

“Counselor?”

“Yeah?”

“I know Leader wanted to do good. I know they wanted to help. But... if I had the choice. If i could do it all again, I never would have left.”

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

“Of course they wouldn’t have. They’re an Asset.”

Medic spoke the words before the door was even fully open, yet Counselor heard them loud and clear, looking up and spinning around.

“Cadet, sedeo.”

The Asset fell without resistance. Medic could not help but clench their fists as they closed the door behind them, approaching their patient’s bed.

The smell of food permeated the room. Real food. Unregulated and unweighted and breaking the rules, breaking the pattern.

“What the actual hell do you think you’re doing?” They spat, turning to Counselor, sitting at Villain’s bedside like some kind of grieving idiot.

“They were hungry.” The response was firm, their adversary’s eyes narrowed. “So I fed them.”

“Did I not tell you that they have very specific feeding requirements?”

“You did.”

“And you don’t care?”

“Not really, no.”

Medic gritted their teeth.

No matter what this idiot excuse for a therapist thought, they weren’t stupid. Allowing them to see Medic’s patient had been a gesture of good will.

They should never have allowed it. They should have known this would happen.

Their plan had been going so goddamn well. Their patient responding to stimuli, to altered variables, as had been expected. As had been planned. As had been rigorously calculated.

And this piece of shit had ruined it. They had thrown off the experiment, the results, all of it!

The symptoms were showing as expected. Every single one of them. They were so damn close to starting the final phase, and now...

“What are you trying to do, Counselor...”

“They were hungry, so I fed them.”

“No, not that. I know you did that. But... all of this. Trying to help them. Trying to fight me. Why?”

“Because you’re hurting them.”

“We already went over this.”

“Well, at the very least, you aren’t helping them.”

“I’m treating them.”

“You’re keeping them alive. That’s it.”

“And what are you trying to do, pray tell?’

“What?”

“Counselor, what the hell is your end goal, here?”

There was no way this excuse for a social worker would see the right side of things, see the same way Medic did. But, at the very least, they could try to make them open their eyes, for once in their goddamn life.

“My end goal is making them better.”

“And then what?”

“What?”

“Say Villain gets better. One hundred percent healed. Then what?”

“Whatever they want.” Counselor drew back their upper lip. “You called them an Asset.”

“Yes, I did.”

“You knew.”

“And I see you do now, as well.”

“You should have told me.”

“You never asked.”

“You still should have told me! How could you have known and not done anything about it?”

Medic clenched their hands into fists.

“Because I was part of Organization. So were you. And Hero, and Leader, and everyone. Remember that were a rebellion. A splinter group.”

“I was part of Organization, and I didn’t know.”

“Well, I did.”

“And you didn’t do anything.”

“Is that what you’re going to bemoan me for, now? Because I didn’t leave as quickly as you? Because I was a department head? Because I didn’t have a chance? Because-”

“Shut up.”

“If this is what you’re going to get on my case about, now?”

“Maybe I am.”

“What about Leader, then? What about-”

“This isn’t about them!”

“They were married to Supervillain!”

“We all got over that a long time ago. If you want a fight, let’s at least do it over something that matters. When Villain is better, and I mean when, I will let them choose what they want to do.”

“Will you?”

“Yes.”

“You said it yourself, they’re a villain. When they were free, on their own, they were hurting people.”

“We can talk about it. Find out why. Help them.”

“And if they don’t want to stop? Are you really planning on just letting them go back out there? Because, what, it makes you feel better about yourself?”

“N- No. I wouldn’t.”

“Then you’d keep them prisoner.”

“Maybe.”

“And they’d stay sick.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because they’re an Asset. How often do you use your powers?”

“I- I don’t know. Once or twice a week?”

“Exactly. They spent months of their life going on daily missions, using their powers. Now they aren’t using them. Now they’re sick.”

“You’re saying...”

“What we’re doing, it’s like trying to keep a Border Collie as a lap dog. They need to use their powers, because they were an Asset. It’s what their brain has gotten used to. We can’t change that. We can’t change the past.”

“They aren’t going to be an Asset again. We aren’t like that. We aren’t Organization.”

Of course, the soft one would say that.

“That’s not what I’m saying. But it’s the only theory that makes sense to me, at this point. And if they have to use their powers anyways, they may as well be helping us.”

“Shut up.”

“I haven’t-”

“Just shut up, okay? You’re talking about them like they’re not even there.”

“They can’t hear us.”

“Wake them up.”

“I will in a moment.” Medic sighed. “Look. I can’t see the future. I don’t know what’s going to happen. But I do know that their training starts tomorrow.”

Counselor gritted their teeth.

“So.” Medic slumped their shoulders. “From tomorrow onwards, you may feed them as you wish.”

It was a sacrifice. Another gesture of good will, of trying to gain trust. They were giving up one variable in their experiment, turning it from a control to something wild, something they couldn’t control.

But, maybe, that was a good thing.

Handing over the experiment to another scientist-- as much as Counselor could be considered a scientist. Passing on the blame. Turning the causation into correlation.

Counselor nodded.

“Okay.”

#villainsicle #villain whumpee #hero villain whump #whump community #whump

65 notes · View notes

just-an-aussie-fandom-hermit · 4 years

Text

Another midnight thought

Honestly, peak homophobia/queerphobia is DC not letting Batman, Superman and Wonderwoman just,,, be homies.

They would be best damn friends. Siblings, even! They fight like you wouldn’t believe, but like any true sibling, they’re usually over it by the next day, or are at least able to poke their head in to each other’s Watchtower quarters/cities and be like “hey you wanna go fight an eldritch horror? Get ice cream later? Put the fear of the Gods into the oil executives trying to mine in the Great Barrier Reef?”

But because DC doesn’t like making heathy, platonic same-sex or opposite-sex relationships happen, we don’t get that.

Like, are you kidding me?? Pathetic! The power they hold! Unmatched! The iconic trio. The Trinity. The world is like, “yeah, they are just Like That. Weird as hell. We love them. Do your thing, strange entities.”

Gossiping about their partners and their families and the wack endeavours of their villains.

Jon and Connor will be arguing about whether they’re eating too much junk food and be like “I bet Uncle Bruce would let me get ice cream!” and Clark will whip around like “Uncle Bruce regularly injects himself with poison to develop their antidotes. Uncle Bruce is not a reliable source.” So, of course, the boys call Aunt Diana, who arrives with two tubs of ice cream. “Bruce would probably lecture you on the nutritional value of ice cream and about balancing your diet, anyway.” Lois is in the back cackling like the Wicked Witch of the West. Two days later Bruce sends over a fact-sheet he’d drafted about Kryptonian nutrition (based on already collected data) and a freezer box full of ice cream just to piss Clark off.

Bruce and some of his kids are arguing (about something trivial) and Bruce grabs his phone like “that’s it, i’m calling Diana” and there’s this overwhelming chorus of “you snitch!” The children recieve a firm but loving talking-to. Alfred makes her tea.

Donna just vibing at an independent art exhibit or a show when this procession of Entitled-Rich-People™ lead by Brucie Wayne just appears and starts throwing their money into the donation bins. “How did you even know I was here, Bruce?” ... “I knew this place was at threat of being shut down, and Diana mentioned your penchant for this type of art. Deductive reasoning. Also your location services are on. Give me five minutes and this gallery will have millions.” Donna just nods. She knows better by now. Not like the people he brought with him are lacking in funds. And when she sees the small piece written about the exhibit and its gallery penned by Clark Kent, well, that’s just how it is.

I want one of the JL members to enter the Watchtower mess hall at like 1 am and see all three of them sitting at a table covered in like,,, pink glitter and what may or may not be ichor. “Oh yeah we got sent to the fae realm; Underhill, Tír na nÓg, what have you. Fought some beasties. Nearly died. Came back. Batman may or may not have been knighted by their Queen. Yes that means he is actually a ‘Dark Knight.’ Yes we are eating cereal at 1 am, what are you going to do about it, Harold?”

Like, the Founders of the League are considered to be “special”, not because they’re the most powerful beings in the universe, but because they just,,, are special, (the best way i’ve seen this articulated is in the Justice League and JL Unlimited animated series). That goes double-time for the Trinity. Have they tried to murder each other? Maybe. Probably. Did they also binge watch The X-Files in like two weeks so they could undertand all the memes? Yes. Did they immediately go and start watching Criminal Minds for the same reason? Absolutely.

Diana asks Hippolyta if Bruce and Clark can visit Themyscira and she’s like, “ah, those males are Strange. I like them. I shall battle with them to convey my respect.” ... “Mother nO.” ...

Bruce can and will talk for actual hours about the architecture and the design of the island. Weapon construction. Armour forging. Clark just stares at the ocean and the sky and all the creatures milling about. Diana convinces Hippolyta not to battle her friends (because they all know the guys would lose), instead suggesting they observe some art made by her sisters and experiment with the food.

Their relationship is 100% platonic, maybe sometimes people mistake them for being a polyam trio but they’re just vibing with each other.

The potential. I take personal offence, honestly.

182 notes · View notes

idiots-in-black · 4 years

Text

Hot Take: Dazai and Chuuya are friends in canon (1)

I love all the Enemies to Lovers content when it comes to soukoku, I really do. But I will admit, I’m one of the few people in this fandom who actually believes that Dazai and Chuuya do not hate each other.

Now, before I start to explain myself - I don’t want to argue they are romantically involved in canon or that there is a chance they could be (though I wish I could). Also, I’m only talking about events in the canon timeline, so no talking about Wan, Mayoi or anything out of the loads of promotional content. That sadly means I don’t have too much to work with but we’ll see how this goes.

1. Chuuya can see through Dazai

I vaguely remember this being stated in an interview. But that’s not the basis I want to argue on.

Dazai is ... crafty. And manipulative. Was and is in canon. And on first glance, Chuuya seems to be fooled by that, too. Stuff like the comment on his shoes, for example. But this is small, innocent stuff, why would Chuuya even bother to think about it in more detail.

But we do see him more perceptive when it comes to the deeper stuff. The first thing Chuuya says to Dazai after his introduction (and a bit of bickering) in the dungeon is “This smells fishy. You may be able to fool the inexperienced Akutagawa but not me. I am your old friend, after all.” (Yes, that last sentence is also canon). The situation in Dead Apple is similar - he knew, Dazai was up to something and he was absolutely sure, Dazai wasn’t dead but had precautions in motion. Even though it is pretty clear they did not talk to each other about this beforehand.

Chuuya is not able to figure out all the details to Dazai’s plans. Of course he isn’t, he may not be as stupid as people like to pretend but Dazai’s brain is on another level. But that’s not the point - he may not be as smart as Dazai but he knows Dazai and knows when he is up to something.

I imagine, for someone this intelligent but also so guarded like Dazai, it must be terrifying to realize there is a person who gets you. And this is a topic for another day but I do believe, this can also be a relief. It can lift a burden.

2. BuT THey HAtE EaCH oTHeR

Do I believe they annoy each other to no end? Absolutely. Does this mean they actually truly hate each other? Absolutely not.

I’ve seen people arguing that Dazai and Chuuya feel genuine hate for each other and nothing else. This really baffles me because while this may be something they say, their actions contradict this statement pretty much with everything they do.

Chuuya had tons of opportunities to kill Dazai. He wouldn’t even have to do it himself, he could just ... not save him when his life is in danger. We have seen two instances in canon so far where Chuuya could have just left Dazai to die (Dragon’s Head Rush and the Dead Apple incident) but he didn’t. On the contrary, he literally risked his own life in Dead Apple to save Dazai even when Ango told him he was probably dead. You do not do that for someone you genuinely hate.

And I know, Chuuya says in the dungeon “if you were that incompetent, I would’ve killed you a long time ago”. But I don’t think he said this because he actively tried but because he would not have accepted Dazai as his partner if he was.

Same with Dazai. He literally has Chuuya’s life in his hands whenever he uses corruption. It would be child’s play to just leave him but he doesn’t, instead he comes for him time and time again.

3. Chuuya isn’t Odasaku

I feel like people tend to compare Chuuya and Odasaku too much. It’s easy to make that mistake since Odasaku is to this day the one person who is actually in text confirmed to be very dear to Dazai. But the thing is - you can have multiple types of friendships and this doesn’t mean one is better or deeper than the other. They’re just different.

And I think, this is the case here. We know, Oda was a good friend and very important to Dazai, this is fact. Chuuya is very different from Oda and his relationship with Dazai is also very different than Oda’s relationship with him. However, that does not automatically mean, that Chuuya and Dazai can’t be friends.

Plus, do not forget - Dazai actively sought Chuuya out when he got captured, he did admit as much. Sure, his main objective was finding information about Atsushi’s bounty but it is also canon he foresaw Chuuya coming there and anticipated it.

4. Together they can be the children they were never allowed to be

They met at the age of 15, both of them at a point in their lifes where they had to mature way earlier than they should have. We’re not privy to a lot of details to Dazai’s life prior to meeting Mori. But it can’t have been fun when you look at him and how at 15 he is already obviously twisted in an unhealthy way. We know a little more about Chuuya but while he may not be as broken as Dazai was at 15, he was pretty much alone with the heavy burden of carrying Arahabaki inside himself and protecting the sheep kids.

At that time in Fifteen and I’d bet even for a long time after that, they’re the only people in each others lifes close in age and of similar status. They’re completely equal to each other, even when they get promoted to executives (btw, it seems to me and there are still too many people out there who don’t know that Chuuya was promoted at the same time as Dazai (or maybe even a little earlier?) and Dazai only got the title of youngest executive in Port Mafia history because he is younger than Chuuya by two months).

And you can see them just being children together. When they’re playing in the arcade and nearly every interaction they have as adults just screams childish antics to me. Which leads directly into:

5. The Fucking Bickering

They are just so incredibly ridiculous. I just cannot believe, people acutally think they hate each other. They talk to each other like old friends. Well, with a little more violent touch but I don’t think this is surprising considering the environment they grew up in. When they meet in the dungeon, the first thing they do is bicker for 20 pages before Chuuya proposes a duel (who even does that).

Then they fight for literally 3 pages, before Chuuya starts taunting Dazai again with words instead of beating him up like he said he would.

Now we got through the general stuff, but I will get into more detailed scene analysis in the second part of this post (yes, there will be a part 2). Because even looking directly at their scenes, they don’t read like scenes about enemies. So stay pumped!

#bungou stray dogs #bsd #bsd nakahara chuuya #bsd dazai osamu #soukoku #dazai osamu #nakahara chuuya #meta #canon material #headcanon #?? can you call it that??#anyways this took me waaaaay too long #but i wanted to get this out there #i hope i'll have the next part ready soon but no promises #work and my thesis are killing me rn

352 notes · View notes

lockthespirits87 · 3 years

Text

I wanna compare c!Tommy and c!Tubbo real quick because frankly I am getting tired of people saying "Tommy has went through more than Tubbo did!! Tubbo exiled him!!" Lemme just remind y'all of some shit.

L'Manburg Revolution + Disc Saga

Both of them lost a canon life in the same control room, and fought for the same country. They were both child soldiers, they were both treated like children, they both watched their country blow up for the first time. Tommy got his disc stolen, yes, but Tubbo helped him get them back and nearly died for Tommy (and this is only one of those times). Tommy has nearly died for Tubbo. They both helped get any disc back because they both cared about each other and the discs. Tubbo literally almost died for so Tommy could keep his discs, he was even ready for death; mans literally WALKED TOWARDS DREAM who was holding a fucking AXE in full netherite. Not too mention, Tubbo kept the disc Tommy gave him before Tommy went into exile (which I will mention in a second). The only reason he gave Dream the disc is because he was mad at Tommy, and Tommy was mad at him too (he said his disc were worth more to him than Tubbo ever was). They both did something bad in that situation, it was resolved, the Disc War continued and ended.

Exile

Just to get this one of the way. THEY WERE BOTH MANIPULATED IN THIS TIME! Tubbo got very heavily manipulated by Schlatt and Quackity (yes, Quackity did help Schlatt in a lot of his crimes and bullshit, argue with the wall), and Tommy got manipulated by Wilbur. They were both basically equally affected in this time as well (I would argue that Tubbo's spy thing made the Pogtopia and Manburg era more traumatizing for him than Tommy but I won't get into that). Also, Tubbo and Tommy both lost their home when they went to fight the war for Manburg vs. Pogtopia, they both saw a family type person die (Tubbo is technically Wilbur's brother as well, actually even longer than Tommy since Tubbo was adopted as a young child, not a teenager), then they both rebuilt it and had to deal with that trauma, and Tubbo had to immediately go into presidency when he knew basically nothing, and Tommy was still dealing with Wilbur's death, burning down a house isn't the best way to cope, but he was coping. They were both governmental figures trying to deal with their brother's death.

Exile

Tubbo, and I cannot stress this enough, DID NOT BETRAY TOMMY. Put yourself in Tubbo's shoes for a second; your country just got blown to smithereens and you, a 16 year old president, know that you're priority right now is the safety of everyone who lives under your power. But, your best friend just burnt down a house, which specifically belonged to the best friend of the most dangerous rival near you, that both you and your best friend (who is the vice president) have beef with. Said rival threatens your countries freedom, which would jeopardize your people, unless you exile your best friend. All logic in Tubbo's case, would be to protect the country that needs protection; Tubbo didn't know that Tommy would get hurt or manipulated, all he knew is that he needed his country to be stable. While Tommy was in exile, yes Dream manipulated him, but Quackity got into Tubbo's head too! The Butcher Army was Quackity, the execution was Quackity, the whole thing about searching Phil's house? Quackity. Tubbo probably followed along with Quackity because he had the most presidential experience near Tubbo; Tubbo probably felt like he didn't have a choice but to follow Quackity because, as a traumatized 16 year old who previously was not in a governmental position, most likely assumed that Quackity knew best. And Quackity knew this, because as soon as Tubbo said no to him (saying that if Quackity executed Ranboo it would be treason), Quackity left. Then Tubbo went to see his friend, and Tubbo assumes he's dead and probably blames himself for that. And over all of this, Dream has been making seem like he cares about L'Manburg, so he manipulated Tubbo as well. Tommy was very clearly manipulated then had a kind of break ish when he was with Techno (even though it was more like a sad but relieved thing), then they met up, Tommy left Techno, and him and Tubbo watched L'Manburg blow up for the last time, which finishes with the Disc Saga and prison era.

Prison Era (mostly Tommy's death according to y'all)

Tubbo didn't replace Tommy. I swear some of y'all don't know how friendship and marriages work. Tubbo is still best friends with Tommy, but he also just has a husband that will tag along because he's protective of both of them. Tubbo didn't react as sad as most people think because he is so used to death of his loved ones (especially since he saw Tommy come back from the dead once and mostly thought this was one of those times before it settled in) that it doesn't affect him as much. It made him more angry than anything, because when you have a child and a husband that you have to protect (especially after you started another nation when your last one got blew up), you don't have time to be sad in this universe. Everyone's priorities is to keep the things and people you love safe; emotions will always come second and I dont think enough people in this community have come to terms with that. Emotions and trauma don't affect things as much as attachments and family does. Would Tubbo help Tommy in a heart beat if he needed it and was in danger? Absolutely. Would Tommy do the same? Yes. But Tubbo getting married and adopting a child isn't a replacement, it's an act of trying to focus on positive things rather than letting his emotions get the better of him.

So, in my case, I think that c!Tubbo and c!Tommy have both nearly the same or the exact same amount of trauma since they have been there through almost everything and have been affected in the same ways. Also I wasn't sure where to add this but both lost their second canon life for their country AGAIN so yeah.

Please please PLEASE stop saying C!Tommy has more trauma. They have an equal amount, they have both done bad shit, they have both made up for it with each other, and for the love of God stop saying c!Tubbo replaced or betrayed c!Tommy. He isn't in a mentally well state for multiple decisions. Leave Tubbo be.

#they are the same #and i dont get why people dont understand that Tubbo has had to make some very hard decisions that affected both of them #not just Tommy #community critical #dream smp #tommyinnit #tubbo #/rp #/lh #c!ranboo crit #c!quackity crit #just to be safe cause im not sure

34 notes · View notes

sprawa-przybyszewskiej · 3 years

Text

I would like to present (extremely briefly; it's more of an invitation to their thoughts rather than anything else) two approaches that touch on a creative technique used by Przybyszewska, which has been spotted by some of her scholars, albeit each in its own way. Ewa Graczyk maintains that Przybyszewska did not write a historical drama in any way, but rather described a completely different reality, an universum in which the same events happen, but which doesn't take place on Earth, with us in it. She describes, then, something which I call The French Revolution', taking after mathematics' nomenclature. Kazimiera Ingdahl, on the other hand, spots traces of gnostic and manichean ideologies in Przybyszewska's writing, which, as we all know, are based solidly on the contrast between Heaven and Hell, knowledge and numbness, soul and mind. I mention them here solely to point out there is a dualism in her works, it is important and easily recognizable.

I have nowhere near the amount of erudition these scholars do, so I will constrict myself to some more visible matters. In my previous post about Antoine, I've made a remark that stuck with me for far longer than I had expected, and so I decided to elaborate on it.

The passage I'm talking about is this: because it could potentially reveal Saint-Just as another Danton-like minded individual, looking for power for himself through sacrifices of others. I want to explore whether Przybyszewska really did construct both of them alike?

To me it appears very probable, as crazy as it sounds. First of all, ALL of the personages are created in some reference to Robespierre. He is the only singular, original mind amongst them all, not to mentoin an axis around which other revolve, and so all of them, whether we like it or not, are somewhat similar to each other. Second of all, she clearly went in the direction of mirroring certain scenes, ideas, expressions (which I personally love to track down and compare them later), and it's exactly the same when talking about certain individuals. The two pairs (Robespierre – Saint-Just and Danton – Desmoulins) come to mind right away. They are constructed as parallels at least in some aspects and at least to some extent.

Wouldn't that, however, put Saint-Just and Desmoulins on the same/similar level, aren't they the ones who creat a parallel pair? Well, yes and no. I think they are a unit when it comes to personal matters, for rather obvious reasons. But I also think they are both put in similar situations, and yet their thinking is polar opposite of each other. They are both allowed to Robespierre's most personal sphere, and yet their reactions are completely different, which is one among the reasons as to why one of them meets a sad end by all accounts, and the other can die somewhat happy (as I will always mantain: if Przybyszewska managed to finish Thermidor, I am one hundred percent sure she would depict Antoine as one dying boldly and proudly, if only beause he died for a great cause and alongside Robespierre). On the other hand, spiritually and mentally, Camille resembles Maxime way, way more than Danton. They are both... maybe not exactly soft, but emotional. The main difference between them is Maxime is able to rein his feelings in when necessary (again, not always, not completely; vide his late night visit at Desmoulins', vide his attempt and saving him from the Luxembourg Palace), but as far as differences go, this one is actually minor. They are put in different positions, but their reactions are similar.

I would also wager to say Saint-Just and Robespierre don't have that much in common with each other in the plays, leaving out their political stances and their relationship. They are very different in terms of character traits: Maxime is more forgiving, calmer, quieter in all aspects. Antoine is more of a quicksilver, and also is regarded more as a tool in Maxime's hands, which I mean in the best way possible. While he has his own opinions, sometimes quite different to that of Robespierre's, he only entertains them in Maxime's presence, so that no one can put a splinter between them and turn them against each other. When they are turned against each other (during their quarrels, yes, but also during Thermidor, which is a beautiful study of such a case), he defers to Maximilien humbly and holds no grudges against him. This is pretty much the only soft side he ever presents to the audience, for when facing any other characters, he is sarcastic if not downright hostile, the only exception I can think of being Eleonore. He's not gentle, not even with Robespierre whom he respects so much. (I cannot get over how badly Wajda interpreted this in his movie, where in his very first scene Antoine brings Maxime an apple-tree branch in full blossom; while a sweet gesture, it made little sense, for the director not only didn't establish their special bond in any way, cutting their very important scene in Act II and a lot of their exchange of words in Act V out, but completely ignored the fact that in the play they did talk about trees blossming, but it was Maxime who pointed this out to Antoine. Honestly, it would make much more sense if in the movie he was the one giving Antoine flowers; altough I don't trust it would be executed well, so perhaps the best scenario would be to drop it altogether.)

This leaves Antoine and Danton as the unlikely pair. Here I wouldn't necessarily say they are put in different positions (following my train of comparison), because – depending on if you believe the confrontation between Danton and Robespierre to be honest or not – there is enough evidence in the play to mantain both of them want to establish power over nation through Robespierre. Danton is the villain of the play, but he isn't blind, he too wants to use Maximilien as a face of the dictature, as a tool to obtain more "normal" power for himself (normal power here would equal to money, respect, high office; the "abnormal" power is what Robespierre sort-of-dreams-of, an influence over people to direct them into doing what is necessary for the good of the whole of the nation, or better yet, the world). And Antoine wants more or less the same thing, the exception being he doesn't care at all for personal gains. He doesn't necessarily believe in Robespierre's visions of the future, one could even argue he doesn't understand them (this is clearly shown in Thermidor, where he reacts with a headache once Robespierre unfolds his plan in front of him: Stop it, Maxime. I can't keep up with you anymore.); he does, however, see the neccesity of establishing the dictature or some other extraordinary mean to obtain the total power over the state. Both he and Danton are blessed with a far-fetching political vision, the only thing differentiating them from Robespierre is that he's a much more brilliant chess player than any of them, when they can see few moves forward, he's already seen all the possible outcomes of the match. And all of these outcomes are bad, for Maxime is characterised as a pessimist, while Antoine and Danton are, generally speaking, optimistically inclined. Youthful foolishness indeed, except Antoine is not foolish! He's just optimistic. In Danton, the optimism takes a form of boldness and bravado, in Saint-Just it manifests as an unwavering faith in the one he considers to be so much more superior to himself, and also a certain amount of contempt for the ones he considers to be inferior. This is another trait he shares with Danton, and we have to admit, Przybyszewska did a really good job at presenting the same trait in them both in such different ways, that we like one, hate the other.

There is also the matter of how they treat Camille and what they think of him. Here, both are jealous, I think. Jealous of the special place Camille has in Robespierre's heart, scornful of his abilities as a politician and a journalist, disinclined to him as a person. Danton cares for him as far as his utility in being a leverage on Robespierre goes, but I don't think he hoards any warm feelings for him personally, and I don't say it only because he was willing to sacrifice Camille purely out of spite. A much better example to show what I mean is that Danton seems to have a much better functioning, more honest and professional relationship with Delacroix than with Camille, whom he keeps in the dark about absolutely everything from start to finish. I don't know if it was meant to be a symbol or not, but in their very last scene in the jail cell, Camille has to beg Danton not to snuff out the candle, which Danton does, albeit very reluctantly. In turn, Saint-Just talks about Camille in language dripping with contempt and jealousy of purely personal kind, offending him left and right, right to Robespierre's face – not to hurt Maxime, but to "open his eyes", so to speak. In one particularly harsh sentence he compares Camille to a dog, a child and a prostitue all in one breath. He not only doesn't regard him as an opponent, but barely recognizes him as a human being worth respect, in which he is sadly very similar to Danton.

Weirdly enough, they both regard Maximilien as human, which I think is interesting to notice. It would be really easy to write them in such a style that leaves way for them to see Robespierre as something more, something almost extraterrestrial, somebody who posseses abilites greater than normal humans do. And yet:

The first image is from The Last Nights of Ventose, my own translation, and it's directly from Antoine's compassionate speech. I didn't include Robespierre's response, because he just deflected, but deflection does mean he doesn't fully agree, so it's yet another similarity.

One more thing that comes to mind in a comparison like this is that Danton threatens Robespierre with the ultimate power. He doesn't think that Maxime will be able to live with it, with himself, if he ever decides to go this one step futher and become a dictator. Is this is because he wouldn't be able to live with himself, or does he truly underestimate Maxime, or he simply wants to make sure Maxime would not go in this direction precisley because he knows he would then be ustoppable? How very telling then, that in Antoine's mouth the very same thing is not a threat, but a promise! This ultimate power is born out of necessity, and it's a grace for the whole nation, because no other person could bear the weight of this "crown", but Maxime.

The main difference between Saint-Just and Danton, I think, is something which we have to believe, it's not written clearly anywhere, and this is also the thing I briefly touched uppon in the aforementioned post: we have to believe that Antoine has pure intentions, because we sure know Danton does not. These were the embers fueling the suspiscion in Maxime when he couldn't understand why Antoine would possibly push for the dictature so much – is his heart pure? This sounds overly dramatic, perhaps, but I think this dramaticism aligns perfectly with Maxime's overall characterisation. I think all readers believe in his good intentions, and the parallels constructing the characters help immensely in this judgement, for if Danton is rotten to the core, Antoine is as steady and pure as a marble column. Robespierre even calls one a pig, while the other deserves to be named an Apostle of liberty.

There is, however, another similarity between them, too. Both Antoine and Danton are willing to be dishonest in order to achieve their goals. This is this one thing that's hard for Robespierre to swallow, for he – like Camille – values honesty really highly and if he could, he'd always act honestly. Saint-Just, not to mention Danton, has no such scrupules. He sees the greater necessity as something erasing all other circumstances, and for this greater picture he is willing to sacrifice some of his integrity as a human being. With Danton, the situation is even less complex, for I don't believe he would be sacrificing his integrity in any way – this dishonesty lays at his very core and comes natural to him.

The arguments Saint-Just presents, and which differs from Robespierre's point of view, are also different from that of Danton's. Danton's vision of the present is filled with contempt for the people, for the masses who are less brilliant than him and few others are. It is worth noting that Przybyszewska really did think like this, this is something she believed in and while reading Danton's speeches in Act II Scene 3, what we actually hear is her own train of thoughts. The only difference is that she didn't disdain the people they way he did. She thought that being a mass, an unnamed pulp of flesh is not a bad thing (it was perhaps unfortunate, and I am sure thinking she was a genius like Robespierre helped her in maintainign this view). Base material is a nourishment for those who will lead these masses. We – the lesser people – are absolutely necessary for them – the greater ones – so that they can lead us out of the night and into the new epoch of enlightement, and there is nothing humiliating in being this nourishment/tool/base. Danton understood it only partially, for he wasn't ready for the greatest sacrifice of all: to be a genius, one has to get rid of everything personal, all needs and desires must be kept aside, and never again spoken of. Robespierre understood it, and I think Antoine did too. I think the best evidence for it is that he said, that he doesn't consider himself to be Robespierre's equal. Recently I hoped to prove it was a silent declaration of love; now I want to point out it is one because it showed Robespierre that Antoine understood this great sacrifice one has to make in order to be a leader, and in his own way, he has already done this. He has brushed aside personal vain and glory, his amour-propre, he degraded himself in order to magnify Maxime's importance. Danton may say: It's you whom I adore, but it is Antoine who shows it through his actions as well as his words.

#do you think they are constructed as parallels or am i delirious?#sprawa dantona #the danton case #L'Affaire Danton #Stanisława Przybyszewska #stanislawa przybyszewska #Maximilien Robespierre #maksymilian robespierre #antoine saint just #Antoni saint just #georges danton #jerzy danton #frev #french revolution #literary analysis

12 notes · View notes

hafanforever · 4 years

Photo

Tyrant Terror

So I know it’s no surprise to my closest friends and fellow Disney fans on Tumblr that I have a strong, deep affinity for villains, including those by Disney. And over the last several months, the more I wrote about King Runeard in my Frozen II analyses, the more I realized what made him a tyrant, albeit a secret one, and that led me to think about other villains in the Disney animated canon who were tyrants.

The thing is, while most historical tyrants were people of royalty, you don’t necessarily have to be a monarch in order to be a tyrant. The definition of a tyrant isn’t limited to being a KING or QUEEN who is openly cruel, hostile, harsh, uncaring, oppressive, persecuting, and unjust towards the people they rule. I mean, that is one way to express tyranny, and probably the most famous way it is and has been done. But what it really means for a person to be called a tyrant is being in a position of power, authority, and/or control over other people and MISUSING, to the point of ABUSING, that position, and often for that tyrant's own selfish desires rather than in the best interest of the people being ruled by the tyrant.

So from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to Frozen II, there are a handful of tyrannical antagonists who are indeed monarchs, such as the Queen of Hearts, Prince John, and Scar, but also plenty others who are not. There are tyrants who are corrupt government officials, such as Governor Ratcliffe, Frollo, and Bellwether, and even those who wield magic, such as Maleficent, Ursula, and Jafar. And like the villainous monarchs, the non-monarch villains prove themselves as tyrants all because they abuse their positions of power, magic or non-magic power, and authority that they have over other characters. In fact, there are even a couple of heroic characters who start off more as protagonist villains because they display tyrannical behavior before they become better people. On the contrary, the main antagonist enemies of these tyrant heroes serve as darker reflections of what the latter characters could have become had they not learned the error of their ways.

Below is my list of all the villains from Walt Disney Animation Studios that I perceive as tyrants, from monarchs to government officials to sorcerers, and what scenes in their respective movies depict them displaying tyrannical behavior. I even listed villains that would have become tyrants had they succeeded in their longterm goals.

Monarchs

The Evil Queen: Though we never see her actively governing her kingdom on screen, the abuse that the evil queen displays in her authority over Snow White by dressing her stepdaughter in rags and forcing her to work as a maid in an attempt to make her (Snow White) unattractive makes her a tyrant for sure. Furthermore, the way she mocks the skeletal remains of a prisoner in her dungeon suggests the queen is indeed a cruel, tyrannical ruler.

Queen of Hearts: If we want to consider the epitome of a true tyrant that is a monarch from Disney, it can be safely assumed that that role belongs to the Queen of Hearts. While every resident of Wonderland is insane in some way, the Queen is the most dangerous one of all by being the ruler of the land. An egotist extraordinaire, she loves to get her way, insisting that “All ways are MY ways!” and enjoys hearing the words “Yes, Your Majesty”. The Queen outwardly abuses her authority and power over her subjects by becoming furious over even the smallest of matters, during which she loses her literally explosive temper and flies into violent rages. She is also extremely irrational and unjust in making decisions, primarily by utilizing executions as her only and immediate solution to any problem, especially whenever she feels someone has wronged her, while also refusing to let the individuals she wants beheaded explain their sides of the stories. Enraged upon seeing her white roses painted red, when she misses a shot in croquet, and when she becomes the target of a prank caused by the Cheshire Cat, the Queen sentences those she deems responsible to death by beheading. All of this proves just how much she persecutes and oppresses the residents of Wonderland, instilling only fear and intimidation into their hearts. (A pun that is VERY much intended by me, the Queen of Puns! 😆😆😆)

Prince John: While possessing a short temper that isn’t nearly as explosive and violent as that of the Queen of Hearts, Prince John is displayed to be extremely incompetent as the ruler of England during the time that King Richard is off fighting in the Crusades. Stingy and greedy, the prince continually finds ways to rob and swindle his people in pursuit of wealth for himself. John shows absolutely no care that the harsh laws he decrees to gain more money drive the citizens of Nottingham into poverty and starvation, and he even cruelly mocks them on their poor states by saying, “Rob the poor to feed the rich!”. After the villagers start making fun of him with the song “The Phony King of England”, John punishes them by further increasing the tax payments. Soon everyone in Nottingham is stripped of their money and they are put in prison due to their inability to pay their taxes.

Horned King: Even though the Queen of Hearts projects herself as the ideal example of a royal tyrant, she is far less evil and scary than the Horned King. A skeletal creature with green, rotting flesh, the Horned King is completely frightening in appearance and in personality. Malicious, cruel, malevolent, sinister, power-hungry, megalomaniacal, ruthless, and merciless, he is the epitome of a tyrant who is nothing but purely and completely evil. His goal is to find the infamous Black Cauldron and use its powers to unleash an army of immortal warriors called the Cauldron Born in order to become immortal and conquer the world.

Scar: Denied a legitimate chance to succeed Mufasa as the King of the Pride Lands once Simba is born, Scar schemes to have both of them killed to become king. After murdering Mufasa and believing that Simba has been killed as well, Scar ascends to the throne. However, because he allows the hyenas unrestricted hunting rights in the Pride Lands, their overeating leads to a shortage of food, and a drought leads to other animal herds moving away. Ultimately, these events turn the kingdom into a barren wasteland under Scar’s reign, leaving it completely devoid of green vegetation, water, and food sources. Incredibly lazy and incompetent as a ruler, and caring about nothing except the power and authority that being king gives him, Scar refuses to accept that his allowance of the hyenas overeating is what leads to the destruction of the Pride Lands. He instead blames it on Sarabi and the other lionesses since the hyenas complained to him that they refuse to go hunt. When she suggests they leave Pride Rock to survive, Scar obstinately rejects the idea, not at all caring that he has essentially sentenced them to death. He argues that his place as king puts him in the right for whatever he decides to do: “I am the king! I can do whatever I want!”

King Runeard: In his life, Runeard openly presented himself as a peaceful, generous leader to the people of Arendelle AND the Northuldra. But Elsa discovers from his snowy manifestation in Ahtohallan that he did not trust the Northuldra just because they followed magic. Despite his kingdom having seen him as a benevolent ruler, the face the figure of Runeard makes as he sneers "of a king!" implies that only really cared about himself as well the power and authority he had in being a king. Therefore, he secretly misused and abused it whenever the opportunity came along. This is displayed perfectly when Runeard had the dam constructed in the Enchanted Forest, presenting it as a gift to the Northuldra. He claimed that it would strengthen their land, but admitted only to the second-in-command that the dam’s effects would be just the opposite. This was all part of Runeard’s subtle plan to destroy the Northuldra, as he feared they would try to usurp him and take over Arendelle using their magical ties.

Government Officials/Authority Figures

Lady Tremaine: Like the evil queen before her, Lady Tremaine has control and authority over Cinderella once the latter’s father dies, and misuses it by turning Cinderella into her servant. Day after day for ten years, Lady Tremaine orders and bosses Cinderella around, forces her to do every single bit of housework and menial task for her and the former’s daughters, and subjects the poor girl to an endless cycle of abuse and torment. When Cinderella is accused by Anastasia of putting Gus under the latter’s teacup, her stepmother refuses to let her explain the truth and unfairly punishes her with extra chores. Later, Lady Tremaine falsely promises Cinderella she may attend the ball if she finds a suitable dress and finishes her chores, but gives her chore after chore to do to keep her from working on her dress. After Cinderella appears wearing the dress her mouse and bird friends fixed up for her, Lady Tremaine subtly and cruelly manipulates Drizella and Anastasia into destroying it so that she can appear to be fair in her side of the bargain (”If you can find something suitable to wear”) while simultaneously keeping Cinderella from going to the ball in the first place. The following morning, when she realizes Cinderella was the mysterious girl who danced with the prince at the ball, Lady Tremaine follows her stepdaughter up to her room and locks her in to prevent her from trying on the glass slipper when the Duke arrives with it.

Sheriff of Nottingham: Despite not being the main antagonist of Robin Hood, the Sheriff of Nottingham is as much of a tyrant over the town as Prince John is to it and the entirety of England. This is because he is abusive, ruthless, and completely unsympathetic towards the people’s poverty and continually demands that they pay their taxes, regardless of what other problems they may have that hinders them from doing so. It is because of the Sheriff’s harsh decree of taxes, and then by that of Prince John once the latter takes up residence in Nottingham, that the town’s citizens are driven into poverty. The cruel, immoral way the Sheriff collects taxes includes forcing out the coins Otto had hidden in his leg cast, not caring that his act was causing the blacksmith pain from his broken leg, confiscating the one farthing Skippy had been given for his birthday and insincerely wishing him a happy birthday, and taking the single farthing that was in the Friar Tuck’s church's poor box and laughing as he did it.

Ratigan: A notorious crime lord, Ratigan is the leader of a gang of thugs comprised primarily of mice, but also including a bat named Fidget, who is his second-in-command. Although they willingly help their boss with his crimes, they also participate out of fear for their own lives. Ratigan is an abusive tyrant to his minions and threatens to feed them to his cat Felicia if they ever do something that angers him, even if it occurs unintentionally. This is shown after one of his drunken thugs calls him a rat during "The World’s Greatest Criminal Mind”, and Ratigan threatens his other minions with the same fate if they do not keep singing. Ratigan’s latest scheme is to take over London by murdering the Mouse Queen during her Diamond Jubilee celebration and secretly replacing her with a lifelike robot. He and his thugs (who are disguised as royal guards) infiltrate Buckingham Palace and kidnap the Queen, who is taken to be fed to Felicia by Fidget. As the Diamond Jubilee takes place, the Robot Queen names Ratigan as her new "Royal Consort", and Ratigan, dressed in an ornate robe, immediately presents himself in front of the gathered citizens of Mousedom, terrifying them. He then proceeds to read over his long list of tyrannical laws, one of which is a heavy tax policy for people he deems "parasites", including the elderly, infirm, and children.

Governor Ratcliffe: A completely unscrupulous and greedy man, Ratcliffe leads John Smith and other sailors on an expedition to Virginia to find gold, but he secretly plans to keep all discovered riches for himself. Upon their arrival to America, he forces all of the settlers to dig around their encampment, but refuses to do any manual labor himself out of his own sheer laziness. When no gold turns up in the searches, Ratcliffe becomes greedily convinced that it is because the Native Americans are hoarding it. He refuses to believe John's claim that there is no gold around the land, claiming that the Powhatans’ land is his land for the taking and that he makes the laws. After John is captured by the Powhatans, as they believed he murdered Kocoum, Ratcliffe takes it as the opportunity to take the non-existent gold from them, but claiming to his men that it is a rescue mission.

Judge Claude Frollo: Perhaps the darkest and most malevolent of all Disney Villains in animation (aside from the Horned King), Frollo uses his position as the Minister of Justice in the city of Paris to enrich himself and persecute anyone and everyone he considers inferior. He especially holds a deep-seated hatred for the gypsies and plots to eradicate them from the city. Despite his dark deeds, Frollo refuses to find any fault within himself and he truly believes he is a good person who is only trying to rid the world of sin and malice. Any time he commits a crime or is about to do one, he makes excuses to justify them, saying he is doing it in the eyes of God and that his victims are the ones who are really at fault. After chasing and murdering Quasimodo’s mother since he believed that the bundle she was carrying was stolen goods, Frollo attempts to murder Quasimodo since he believes the latter’s deformity makes him an unholy demon. Years later, after trapping Esmeralda in Notre Dame and upon discovering that she has escaped, he launches a ruthless manhunt around the city to find her, burning down the houses of anyone suspected of sheltering gypsies (including an innocent miller and his family, who survive thanks to Phoebus’s intervention) and interrogating gypsies who are captured. During the climax, Frollo makes the excuse that Esmeralda has proven herself to be a witch and will be executed by burned at the stake as her sentence.

Hades: The reluctant ruler of the Underworld and Lord of the Dead, Hades abuses his authoritative role by subjecting his lackeys Pain and Panic to harsh mistreatment whenever they fail a task assigned to them and any other time they do or say something that angers their boss. The two imps only put up with Hades’s abuse not so much out of loyalty to him, but out of deep fear for him. When he discovers that the two did not succeed in killing Hercules as a baby, Hades furiously grabs both Pain and Panic by their necks and chokes them as he demands they explain themselves. Later, after Hercules becomes a famous hero in Thebes, Pain and Panic adorn themselves with some of the hero’s merchandise, much to their boss’s complete ire.

Shan Yu: The ruthless yet respected leader of the Hun army, Shan Yu is an extremely dark, merciless, and dangerous individual determined to take control of China. His thought-to-be impossible feat of getting through the Great Wall to invade China soon makes him notorious and feared throughout the entire country. In his journey to the Imperial City, Shan Yu and his army destroy one village, then slaughter the entire Imperial Army and residents in another village at the Tung Shao Pass in the mountains. He and five of his elite soldiers are the only ones who survive a snow avalanche caused by Mulan. When the group arrives at the Imperial City and take control of the palace, Shan Yu orders the Emperor to bow to him, and decides to kill him when the latter adamantly refuses to do so.

Turbo: Initially believed to be the ruler of the game Sugar Rush, King Candy is secretly Turbo, a racer from the old game TurboTime who was believed to have died after his game was permanently unplugged. Having stolen the throne from Vanellope Von Schweetz, the true ruler, Turbo turns her into a glitch and makes himself the ruler of her kingdom. While he is viewed as eccentric and flamboyant, yet jovial and benevolent, to his subjects, Turbo is extremely obsessive and possessive of his new royal status. He continuously lusts for power and authority and goes to great lengths to secretly abuse his position, not just by allowing the other racers to ruthlessly torment Vanellope, but especially by keeping Vanellope from racing so that she cannot regain the role he had stolen from her.

Bellwether: The epitome of the famous phrase “a wolf in sheep’s clothing”, Dawn Bellwether pretends to be sweet, meek, and friendly to successfully hide her true prejudiced, ruthless, embittered nature. Initially the overworked assistant mayor of Zootopia to its mayor Leodore Lionheart, Bellwether secretly hates him and all predators, viewing them as nothing more than savage, dangerous monsters. In her scheme to overthrow him, take control of the city, and drive all predators out of Zootopia, Bellwether becomes the leader of a secret organization of sheep terrorists who create a serum from night howlers to turn predators feral. This would give the illusion that they were biologically reverting back to their "primitive savage ways" and eventually be regarded as too dangerous for society, allowing only prey animals to take up the entire population. However, in her goal to become the mayor of Zootopia, rather than subjecting Lionheart to becoming savage, Bellwether instead develops her plot to ensure that he is removed from office and his positive reputation amongst the citizens is ruined, allowing her to rise to power in his place.

Magic Users

Maleficent: Known as The Mistress of All Evil, Maleficent is a ruthless tyrant who rules her own subjects at her home, the Forbidden Mountain. Using her dark magic, she continuously abuses her power and authority over her minions, particularly whenever they display incompetence and stupidity. This is shown when Maleficent flies into a rage and attacks them with her magic upon realizing that, over the last 16 years in their search for Aurora, they were only looking for a baby, not realizing in their idiocy that Aurora would be growing up.

Ursula: Known for her dark reputation as a sea witch, Ursula was banished from Atlantica by Triton. She explains in “Poor Unfortunate Souls” that she uses her magic to help merfolk attain their deepest desires and only imprisons them if they can’t keep their side of the bargain. However, after she takes Ariel’s voice away and turns the latter into a human to try and win Eric’s heart, Ursula reveals she has no intention of letting Ariel follow through with kissing Eric to remain human. She proves herself to be a tyrant because all she really does is backstab the merpeople with whom she makes deals in order to ensure that only HER desires are met! When she bargains with Triton so he will surrender himself to her in exchange for Ariel’s freedom, Ursula steals his crown and trident, then grows to giant size, declaring herself the ruler of the entire ocean.

Jafar: Unbeknownst to the Sultan of Agrabah, his Royal Vizier Jafar plots to take control of the kingdom, and he needs the Genie of the lamp from the Cave of Wonders to pull off this feat. Once the lamp is in his possession, Jafar succeeds with his first to become sultan. But after Jasmine and her father refuse to bow to him, he wishes to become the most powerful sorcerer in the world to have an even greater amount of power. During his brief reign, Jafar proves himself to be a tyrant by turning Agrabah into a dystopian wasteland, dressing the Sultan as a living marionette and allowing him to be abused by Iago, and making Jasmine his own slave girl.

Tyrants-Turned-Heroes

The Beast: From the time he is cursed and until he finally starts to soften, the spoiled behavior the prince had before his curse remains. He is aggressive, rude, impatient, and frequently and easily loses his temper when something annoys or irritates him. Primarily due to his short temper, the Beast acts like a tyrant towards his servants because he is mean and cruel to them as he gives them orders, which makes them deeply afraid of him. Only on some occasions do they openly rebel against him or talk back to him, such as Mrs. Potts ordering the Beast to act more like a gentleman around Belle, and both her and Lumiere deciding to feed Belle despite being told that she was not allowed to eat unless she ate with the Beast.

Kuzco: In the beginning, Kuzco is very arrogant, lazy, selfish, and self-absorbed, viewing himself as superior to all simply for being the emperor. He rules his empire completely without the best interest of his people and always seeks to have his way, never showing any concern over the chances things could turn out badly for other people involved. This is shown when he sets his sights on building his summer home of Kuzcotopia on the top of the hill where Pacha, Pacha’s family, and other villagers reside. Since the plan will only benefit himself, Kuzco shows absolutely no care or concern that destroying Pacha’s village to build Kuzcotopia will render the residents homeless.

Would-Be Tyrants

Gaston: From what I described about him in “Bride and Prejudice” with his growing obsession with Belle and his low, inferior views of women, there is no doubt in my mind that, had Gaston succeeded in marrying Belle and starting a family with her, he would have run his household like a tyrant. He would be very controlling to the point of being physically abusive to his wife in order to get her to obey every single one of his commands and orders. Like many of the tyrants I listed above, Gaston would undoubtedly use fear and intimidation to keep his wife in her proper place of being beneath him, and he would instill these same feelings on to his own children.

Yzma: Her ire drawn after Kuzco remorselessly fires her, a furious Yzma decides to kill him so that she can take over the empire. While Kuzco is initially selfish, callous, and uncaring towards his staff and people living in his empire, he learns to change his ways by the end of the film. Had Yzma succeeded in her goal, she would have been far more of a selfish, ruthless tyrant than Kuzco was at first. This is evident during her introduction scene, which is one of many times she governs the empire whenever Kuzco is not present. As a peasant complains to her that he and his family are suffering from limited food sources, Yzma spitefully says his problem is of no concern to her, and that the man should have realized this ahead of time.

Hans: While taking over as temporary ruler of Arendelle in both Elsa and Anna’s absence, Hans wins the hearts of the people by acting as a kind, caring, benevolent ruler during the harsh conditions brought on by Elsa’s magical winter. Though he reveals his true, dark nature to Anna and his plot to take control of Arendelle, the fact that he earned the trust and respect of the Arendellians suggest that Hans could truly have been a very worthy ruler. However, now that we have Frozen II and it revealed that Runeard was actually a malevolent tyrant behind the same kind of benevolent facade that Hans used, there is no doubt in my mind that had he succeeded in stealing Arendelle’s throne, Hans also would have become a ruthless, power-hungry, selfish tyrant in secret.

217 notes · View notes

lov3nerdstuff · 4 years

Text

Voluptas Noctis Aeternae {Part 7.8}

*Severus Snape x OC*

Summary: It is the year 1983 when the ordinary life of Robin Mitchell takes a drastic turn: she is accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Despite the struggles of being a muggle-born in Slytherin, she soon discovers her passion for Potions, and even manages the impossible: gaining the favor of Severus Snape. Throughout the years, Robin finds that the not quite so ordinary Potions Professor goes from being a brooding stranger to being more than she had ever deemed possible. An ally, a mentor, a friend... and eventually, the person she loves the most. Through adventure, prophecies and the little struggles of daily life in a castle full of mysteries, Robin chooses a path for herself, an unlikely friendship blossoms into something more, and two people abandoned by the world can finally find a home.

General warnings: professor x student, blood, violence, trauma, neglectful families, bullying, cursing

Words: 1.3k

Read Part 1.1 here! All Parts can be found on the Masterlist!

______________________________

A glimpse into the seventh week of travels (or the second week of August):

After the Spanish heat a week ago, it honestly shouldn't have come as a surprise to Robin that Greece at this time of year would be no better. Indeed, it proved to be even worse in terms of both the scorching sun and also the tourists it attracted. The islands obviously were a preferred destination for tourists from all parts of the world, but Robin hadn't known just how many people were willing to squeeze themselves onto a tiny speckle of sand merely because the water was supposed to be the bluest there. Neither could she understand what some people liked about lying in the sun all day, which was exactly what the majority of people were doing here. Undoubtedly, this made their mission a whole lot more difficult, as literally every place Robin and Snape went to was already crowded with muggles. After checking the seventh and final location –Robin had researched multiple options to search for today's object of study in advance– only to find it littered with people as well, she honestly had enough of humanity for crossing her plans like that.

"Why the hell are there people everywhere?!" She groaned under her breath, trying to keep her voice down as she looked at Snape in sheer frustration. They were sitting in the soft sand of a small beach in the most secluded bay imaginable, shielded by rocks and reefs and cliffs, and yet they were surrounded by a crowd of vacationers. "How are we supposed to do the thing here?!"

"As it seems, there is little to no possibility to follow through with the plan. The means to prove your theory rely on 'the thing', as you so eloquently called it, and I currently see no way around it." He replied in equal annoyance about the people screeching and laughing and running all around them, but at least he understood the problem Robin saw here. With a group of muggles around, it was practically impossible to go through with the spells she had come up with to acquire the clam-like thing they were here about in the first place. Not without some serious consequences at least. They were huge creatures, these clams, and that usually meant high efforts as well as lots of unwanted attention.

"I didn't come all the way to Greece just to be stopped by bloody tourists now!" Robin protested, even though there was little use in it. It wasn't Snape's fault after all, nor was there anything he could change about their unfortunate situation. "We've never let anything or anyone stop us before…"

"There is a first time for everything."

"Nope, I'm not having it. I'll get this stupid thing, with or without magic." She said, and in the utmost determination to see this through indeed, she got up from where she'd been sitting in the sand. There always was more than one way to do something, and if the easiest one didn't work, she would have to get her hands dirty after all.

"What, pray tell, are you doing?" Snape asked, sounding slightly alarmed as he looked up at Robin with a frown while she halted in her movement to return the gaze.

Seeing him sitting there, dressed all in black as always, in such a contrast to the white sand beneath them… Robin just had to smile. He'd actually let her show him how to put his hair up indeed, the way Robin had done it with her own occasionally ever since the new year's ball, by twisting it into a bun and fixing it with a wand or pen. And good gods it did look way too good on him, which meant that Robin had to remind herself not to stare from time to time. Times like now. Her eyes snapped back to the edge of the water a few steps ahead in an instant.

"I'm doing what everyone's doing. Going for a swim." She sighed in defeat, then took off her sunglasses and put them down on her backpack.

"No, you're not."

"Yes I am."

"Not if you're planning to do what I think you're planning to do."

"And what do you think I plan to do?"

"Diving down the part of the cliff that is underwater to find the clams yourself, then try to detach one from the wall somehow and bring it back to shore." He stated in obvious disdain for the idea, which only served to amuse Robin, even as he spoke on. "I will not let you do such a stupid and dangerous thing. The current would undoubtedly throw you against the ragged stone, especially underwater, and trying to separate one of the clams' shells from the wall also is nigh impossible without the… method you had originally planned."

"That's why I'm not doing that." Robin shrugged almost easily. Almost. "I mean yes, I will still need to dive down the wall of the cliff, but I'm not separating the shell from the wall. All we need is a few of the leaves that grow inside the clam, and I think I can get it to open up while it's still alive. Then I can take out the leaves underwater and leave the shell where it is."

"You clearly must be joking." He scoffed and finally got up to his feet as well, leaving him to look down at Robin once more with that ineffably intense expression. "You were the one who told me just this morning that this… creature can literally bite your hand off when it isn't stupefied before the leaves are taken out! And the dangers of nature alone you obviously disregard entirely."

"Well yeah, I will just have to be careful then." She argued back, but her words lacked the conviction she'd still had moments before. Perhaps it really wasn't the best idea. Both, the strong currents that far outside of the bay and the clams themselves were a serious risk, especially in combination. A risk that, if she really thought about it, wasn't necessary. Her pride wasn't worth risking her life for.

"Don't do this, Robin. Please. Think about it, at least."

"I just-... No. You're right. I won't do it, it was a stupid idea." Robin replied quietly, and she couldn't help averting her eyes for a moment. It really had been a beyond thoughtless idea to dive down the cliffside; there was a reason why she had come up with a theory and a strategy to avoid having to take those risks after all. Gods, she felt stupid now. "I was just being an idiot."

"You would have been an idiot had you gone through with it despite better judgement. Admitting that an idea is too dangerous to be executed however has absolutely nothing idiotic to it."

"I could've done it though, you know…" Robin said after a moment of silence, as she put her sunglasses back on against the insufferable brightness of the beach. "It would have been unreasonably dangerous, but I could have gotten those leaves."

"I know." He replied calmly, and picked up Robin's backpack before she could. "But instead of risking lives and limbs right now, we could also find a quiet place in the shadows and wait until dusk to return here in the hopes that the people will be gone once night falls."

"You would seriously suffer through this heat for five more hours just so I can be stubborn and prove my theory after all?"

"Obviously."

"How about some old-fashioned sightseeing?"

"Don't push it."

"I would never." A pause. A smirk. "We could send Dumbledore a postcard."

"Now you are just being sarcastic."

______________________________

Tags:

@ayamenimthiriel @chibi-lioness @t-sunnyside @alex4555 @purpledragonturtles @istrugglewithphilosophy @meghan-maria @hidden-behind-the-fourth-wall

General Tags:

@wegingerangelica @dreary-skies-stuff @wiczer @lotus-eyedindiangoddess @theweirdlunatic @caretheunicorn @kthemarsian @lady-of-lies @strawberrysandcream @noplacelikehome77 @theoneanna @mishaandthebrits @i-am-a-mes @nonsensicalobsessions @exygon @hiddles-lobotomy @rjohnson1280 @annwhojumps @spookycatqueen @salempoe @headoverhiddleston @fanfiction-and-stress @createdfromblue @thecreatiivecorner @themusingsofmany @kinghiddlestonanddixon @scorpionchild81 @crystal-28 @adefectivedetective @lokis-girl-in-mischief @booklover2929 @iamverity @lovesmesomehiddles @akk4rin @whitewolfandthefox @stuckupstucky @kassablanca13 @delightfulheartdream @hayalee8 @bluewneptune @lemonmochitea

53 notes · View notes

morganaseren · 4 years

Note

🌹

Right, so the only AUs I’ve yet to reveal (besides the new ones I haven’t outlined yet) are honestly sad/dark AUs. Since the existence of this one is your fault to begin with, I’m going to leave you with an AU scene, where Niamh is turned Tranquil just as the events of What Pride Had Wrought come to a close. >:) Essentially, the Red Templars found a method to perform the Rite of Tranquility almost instantaneously over the course of several months, leading to numerous reports of Tranquil mages being found across Thedas. Niamh was well-aware of all of this before she took her team into the Arbor Wilds, but as the trek through the forest was so arduous, she was running on little energy by the time she defeated Samson. The Red Templars managed to separate her away from the group, and well... She was made Tranquil. Niamh’s team made their way through the Eluvian in the hopes Corypheus wouldn’t discover what had happened to her, and this scene takes place some time after that.

Cassandra watched as Leliana paced soundlessly across the Inquisitor’s personal quarters, her face set into an impassive mask—the same one she had seen her wear for years during their respective duties as the Hands of the Divine.

…at least until her reunion with Lady Cousland, and it was like watching the other woman slowly come to life again as they fell in love.

Still, even the grim resolve she saw here was better than the absolute devastation she had seen on Leliana’s face when she saw Lady Cousland’s condition for the first time upon returning from the Arbor Wilds. The Spymaster had nearly ridden her mount ragged in her haste, especially when Cassandra had sent a message out to her, stating that something had gone wrong in their mission and the Inquisitor’s position had been compromised.

It had been a severe understatement, of course, and Cassandra couldn’t help but grimace as she saw the radiating, curved lines of the Chantry Sunburst branded—albeit haphazardly so if the imperfect embossment was any indication—across the woman’s forehead.

As had been her norm upon their return, Lady Cousland continued to sit eerily at the foot of the bed, staring into the nothingness beyond the balconies. She never spoke unless prompted, and even when she did, there was a dullness to her voice—a sunken stone buried in depths long forgotten—that was a far cry from the woman’s usual quiet warmth and benevolence.

She was little more than a sentinel as she sat there—back rigid and shoulders set—as if waiting for instruction. Waiting to be commanded.

…Waiting to serve.

Cassandra had to swallow the bile that had gathered at the back of her throat.

“Besides abject failure, this was the only thing in all the world that absolutely terrified her,” Leliana said apathetically, hands behind her back as she continued pacing before the fireplace. “That, or the idea that we might succeed, and the Chantry would’ve seen reason to chain her and take away her magic in the most abusive way possible, ensuring that it would never again have a rival to its power.” Blue eyes seemed to burn with more than just the firelit reflection within them. “What does that say about us, I wonder? What does it say that she helped us and agreed to be Inquisitor even with the thought that she’d still have every last shred of her autonomy taken away?”

While the question was an uncomfortable one, Cassandra could only be thankful it was far better than the reaction Morrigan had received, especially when Leliana had discovered the woman had abandoned Lady Cousland in order to chase after the ancient elf responsible for guarding the Well of Sorrows…

---

Leliana’s eyes had been a steely blue as they gleamed beneath the moonlight—a glimmer of a knife’s edge and with all the danger that it implied—as she pulled the mage forward by the lapels of her outfit almost to the point of choking her.

“The only reason my blades haven’t sunk into your neck or that I haven’t thrown you from this very tower is because you told me the knowledge you obtained from the Well of Sorrows might prove useful in overturning what has been done to Niamh,” she said coolly, never raising her voice. “I do not want your apologies or your meager reassurances. I want progress. You and I have nothing to say to one another until then. Am I understood?”

Morrigan’s eyes had narrowed, but even Cassandra could see the guilt that had settled there—a common sight these days—as she was reminded of her own part in Lady Cousland’s current state. As such, the woman could only nod, allowing Leliana to slowly release the strangling grip on her clothing, which Morrigan resettled idly before making her way toward the stairs.

“And Morrigan?”

The mage looked over her shoulder to see Leliana there, standing tall with her hands behind her back—a cold ruthlessness exuding from every pore of her body. Although they weren’t directed at her, Cassandra felt the chill of reproach and threat in that icy glare.

“You may have evaded Flemeth over the years, but make no mistake: if I find you’ve given anything other than your absolute best in helping Niamh—if I find that you’ve abandoned her again—there will be nowhere on Thedas where you can hope to hide from me…”

---

Cassandra sighed. “It was not the Chantry that did this to her, Leliana.”

“But they never argued against the Rite’s use in all its existence, have they? What is the purpose of it if not to chain mages to them with fear?”

“It was originally a preventative measure against the outright execution of mages.”

“Mages they thought might be useful to them alive as pets and mindless servants than dead, Cassandra!” Leliana retorted, whirling on her with fury as the flames from the fireplace outlining her form. “The last Inquisitor warned it could have abused, and nothing was done to prevent it! A thousand years later, and the Chantry is no better than when it first started! Niamh had every reason not to trust in it!”

“Leliana—"

“Do you not see what this world has done to her?! It rejected her, and it denied her very existence as a person! She has been abandoned at every turn the moment her magic manifested! She had very nearly given up by the time she came to The Conclave because she was so desperate to see if it could change one last time for the better, and she ended up bound to the Chantry again as part of the Inquisition instead! Despite everything, despite how much she was hurting, she still sought to try and help us, and this is what she received for her goodwill!”

“Leliana, what more do you want me to say?” Cassandra implored desperately. “I know now how deeply the corruption ran. I know why Lord Seeker Lucius abandoned his duties and why he gave the tome to me. I swear, we are doing everything we can to reverse this, and if it works, I promise I will spread knowledge of the cure all across Thedas, but…” She hesitated. “From what I’ve read, she might not be as she was before.”

Silence.

“You’re telling me that even if this does succeed, I may only have a part of her back?”

“Yes. We have asked her, but her answers remain tied to our desires. She will agree to it if we feel that it is necessary, but she…” Cassandra paused, choosing her words carefully even as she averted her gaze. “Lady Cousland no longer has the will to fully agree to this. Given your relationship with her, I felt you might know her wants better than us. As the reversal has been documented so very few times, it’s possible we can negate some of the more concerning side effects, especially with so many mages here openly helping us, but—”

“Then proceed,” Leliana said without hesitation. “Because I’m not letting her go again.”

((This does have a happy ending. I might write more about it once I get to the Arbor Wilds part of OtSttCA, so there’s still time before I hit you all with a load of sadness and angst. Lol.))

#Dragon Age: Inquisition #leliana #female cousland/leliana #female inquisitor/leliana #My writing #OTP: What If We Rewrite the Stars?#lee's au ideas #Rite of Tranquility #Tranquil AU #theherowarden #late to the party as always eh? :P #i always feel a little guilty writing these darker AUs because Niamh deserves so much happiness :'(#writer stuff #writing meme response #lee's inbox

31 notes · View notes