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stillness-in-green · 1 year

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Some targeted follow-up on 383, courtesy of a disgruntled Mina Stan

(Or, Why the chapter post for 384 is late.)

Ooo-kay, @randomvongenerico, I’ll dance this time because you’re just barely on the right side of “politely asking questions” for someone who, judging by their own page, is probably pretty new here. But please know that I came very close to hitting the block button the moment I saw, “Why do you even care about heroes? Aren’t you a villain stan?” at the very top of a notification chain of twenty-seven comments on my chapter post. The next time you have as much to say about someone’s post, I strongly urge you to just reblog it and add your thoughts rather than indignantly spamming the comment section and then sending a bunch of the same stuff word-for-word via ask when you don’t get a reply in less than 48 hours. Some of us do have lives and commitments outside of Tumblr.

That said, as with last time I got a detailed reply that seemed to genuinely want to hear my reasoning but also edged over into belligerent/condescending territory, I’ll have to ask you to forgive me for being somewhat blunt at times. Digs like, “Or are we going to say Mina is being rude and impolite for having trauma now?” have not earned you the most patient reply I’ve ever put down in writing.

I’ll take your questions and points roughly in order you sent them, though I may omit points I have nothing much to say about, or rearrange them. Anyone who wants to see rvg’s full set of replies in the original order and context is invited to check the comments here, at least until such time as I deem it less of a headache to hit that block button after all.

For everyone else, for the purposes of gauging your interest, this post contains discussion of the following topics:

Mina as she's affected by BNHA's tendency to shortchange the interiority and development of its women. I hit this one from a few different angles.

How the series treats physical damage and how that impacts what I call out as problematic or don't (e.g. why Shinsou's brainwashing got compared to a war crime but Mina's acid did not).

The Sludge Villain, why he shouldn't have been involved in the second war at all, and how his return fails to address the flaws in Hero Society he was originally used to establish.

The circumstances of Midnight's death and the impact of the narrative's ongoing refusal to allow people panel time to grieve for her.

Saving villains, who that maxim applies to, what it means for the heroes' responsibilities, and what it means when they fail to live up to said responsibilities. Specifically addresses Hose Face and Gigantomachia.

Replying to wild presumptions re: which characters I should or should not care about, as well what situations I ought or ought not overthink.

A fair number of intersections between the above topics and other less substantial diversions, including a retraction on my part for a mistake I made in the chapter post that rvg brought to my attention.

Hit the jump.

I think the “pure psychological scarring” thing is just referencing Mina’s trauma from her first encounter with Machia. It’s just there to remind the readers about Mina’s trauma, since it’s been a while since the last time it was brought up. Shonen does this sort of exposition all the time. I wouldn’t think too deeply on it. Like, I mean, it’s technically not an incorrect statement. Mina was mentally and emotionally scarred by Gigantomachia. Or are we going to say Mina is being rude and impolite for having trauma now?

It’s true that the specific line about Machia embodying psychological scarring overlays Mina in a way that’s doubtlessly intended to remind the reader of her trauma. However, if that’s the only function Horikoshi intended the line to serve, he’d have done much better to put it in a text box, delivered to the reader via omniscient narrator. Instead, Mount Lady is the one delivering it, and she is explicitly thinking about Machia in relation to “ordinary people,” flashing back to the scene of carnage left in Machia’s wake, as countless civilians scream and cry for help. She’s not even slightly thinking about Mina in that moment, for all that the same sentiment applies.

When I criticize Mount Lady’s mode of thinking, therefore, my point is not that people are wrong to have trauma,[1] but that it is wrong to dehumanize the source of that trauma. Machia has feelings and thoughts just like any other human—treating him like a symbol of pain rather than a human being, something to be stamped out like a disease or a curse, is the same sentiment as Gran Torino blaming All Might’s pain and the smearing of Nana’s memory on Shigaraki’s very existence. As with Shigaraki, there are reasons that Machia turned out the way he did, and talking like he’s some kind of free-roaming trauma elemental obfuscates the chain of failures and wrongdoings that produced him to begin with.

Incidentally, I wrote a twenty-thousand-word essay on the mass arrest of the Paranormal Liberation Front, so I promise you are not going to get anywhere with advising me not to overthink this manga. If Horikoshi didn’t want his readers to take his societal issues seriously, he shouldn’t have presented them as the root cause of so many problems; if you didn’t want to read a detailed meta dive tackling the chapter’s philosophical shortcomings, you probably should have abandoned ship somewhere around the time I started waxing verbose about the ethics authors sign up to engage with when they make the decision to put their protagonists in skintight catsuits and call them Heroes.

On which note:

I have some questions about your logic about the morality of the methods and tactics here, if you don’t mind. So brainwashing and calling Machia mean things is crossing the line, but throwing acid at him is okay? You criticize Shinso using his Quirk on Gigantomachia, yet you don’t take any issue with Mina melting his claws(…). Why? I guess brainwashing is just too much of a villain Quirk, so it just can’t be used heroically?

Judging by one of your later comments, you did some archive-diving to find out if I’d ever talked about Mina before the Chapter 283 post. Judging by this question, that archive-diving did not include the Chapter 282 post. Please see it for a lengthy explanation about what specifically I object to in Shinsou’s use of his quirk on Machia, and a much briefer aside about what kinds of uses I’d have been completely fine with.

As to the difference between hurling acid at someone and brainwashing them to attack their own allies, while it’s certainly true that doing the former would be a horrific crime in real life,[2] that’s down as one of the places where I’m spotting the series its premise. To wit, physical attacks like Mina’s acid are only ever going to be as impactful as the plot needs them to be, and the plot has a history of being wildly erratic about that impact.[3]

You can call accuse me of having a double standard if you like—picking and choosing what I hold to realistic standards—but in essence, I view Mina melting Machia’s claws with acid as Shounen Battle Action Damage. There’s definitely a point at which it would stop being that—if she’d used it on his face instead of the tips of claws he could potentially just retract and grow in fresh—but if I were inclined to complain about every hero who uses a power that would cause ghastly mutilation if used against criminals in real life (acid, fire, concussive blasts, etc), we’d be here all week. Shinsou’s brainwashing doesn’t get that handwave because it’s fully and completely effective.

Btw, Kirishima hearing about Midoriya and the sludge Villain was already established. We have known this since we got Kirishima’s backstory in the Yakuza arc. So this didn’t come out of nowhere.

This is a 100% fair point. I very clearly remembered Kirishima shaking his funk because he saw the clip of the interview with Crimson Riot; I’d completely forgotten that the Sludge Villain attack was one of the things contributing to his funk. Having looked back over it, it still seems weird that Kirishima doesn’t show any sign of recognition in this chapter, but it’s certainly possible that that’s just a consequence of the breakneck storytelling. Regardless, consider that complaint retracted, and thanks for the refresher.

What do you mean we don’t get anything of Mina against Machia and overcoming her fears and previous failure? That’s literally what the chapter is all about. She doesn’t freeze under fear this time and instead jumps into action to save her friends and come in clutch to guarantee the win for her team. She’s the actual MVP here. The actual problem here is that the whole thing gets sped up and abbreviated. What should’ve been 3 or 4 chapters of this battlefield, gets presented and resolved in one chapter.

One of my longstanding issues with BNHA is the difference between the levels of interiority that are permitted to the male characters as opposed to the female ones—how much they’re allowed to dictate their own internal narratives via having their thoughts shown on-panel, and how much room the story affords that exploration. Following are some examples:

Mirko has no thoughts we’re permitted to access about her traumatic double limb loss. While Endeavor’s story of wrestling with his sins and trying to better himself as a person is a prominent, recurring storyline, carried out in the foreground to such an extent that some people complain it’s actually sublimating Shouto’s arc, Mount Lady grows from a money-hungry fame-chaser to a responsible and determined hero completely off-screen.[4] Tamaki and Mirio get dedicated multi-chapter solo battles peppered with emotive childhood flashbacks; Nejire gets a beauty pageant that takes up a grand total of four pages, exactly one (1) of which is dedicated to Nejire’s actual participation.

And so on and so forth. The only two gals we’re really allowed to get into the heads of in a consistent, sustained way are Toga and Uraraka, with perhaps Jirou or Momo as distant runners-up, though Jirou's interiority is mostly concentrated in the Cultural Festival arc and Momo's is virtually all rooted in her bouts with paralytic self-doubt. That's pretty pitiful compared to the number of dudes who get sustained attention paid to their internal landscape.

That issue is largely what I’m getting at when I kvetch about not being shown Mina overcoming her fears. When Kirishima first gets overwhelmed by Rappa, the reason he gets back up is given a backstory flashback that takes up almost two full chapters.[5] Those chapters are the one and only reason we have any context at all for Mina’s PTSD flashback against Machia in MVA. She’s not allowed to “tell” that trauma to the audience herself; we know about it because we got it filtered through Kirishima.

Likewise, when she comes through against Machia in 383, she just—does it. There’re no extended scenes of her wrestling with her fear, drawing on her experience to overcome it; we don’t get a flashback to her training with Bakugou or Shouto.[6] She just tells us about it in a single sentence, then gets a third of a page dedicated to a collage of old scenes. And then, again, she pulls through in a moment of crisis in such a way that her moment of awesome is in service of giving a dude an opening to solve the problem instead of doing it herself.

The coming-through-so-a-dude-can-pull-off-the-finisher pattern is a significant problem with the general power balance in the class: the girls do support while all the heavy-hitters are boys. And doing support is fine! There are a healthy share of boys doing support, too! Kirishima’s own big moment in the Hassaikai arc is playing support so Fat Gum can get in the finishing blow, for example. The problem is not girls having support roles at all; the problem is that while there are boy support students, there are no heavy-hitter, A-list offense-oriented girl students (at least not in Class A). And actually, Mina has always been both interesting and frustrating for me in that regard because she feels like she should be a heavy hitter, but up until this exact chapter, she’s never really treated like one.

It’s never been clear to me why fire and explosions are so much more A-list material than acid, save that Mina doesn’t have Shouto or Bakugou’s intense determination to pull her up to their level from the beginning. Acid is also the kind of thing that could so, so easily have been called a villain quirk, especially in combination with Mina’s mild heteromorphic appearance. She doesn’t ever seem to attract that accusation, however, possibly because she’s so chipper—indeed, in a narrative that had more time for her, I wonder if we’d find that her chipperness is, at least in part, a defense mechanism she maintains for exactly that reason. As it is, though, her personality keeps her as a fun presence in class without ever letting her seize a larger piece of the narrative for herself. But I’ll always wonder what she would have looked like if she were hiding negativity for the same reasons Shouji hides his scars, or if she’d had Bakugou’s burning desire to be #1.

Instead, her most significant backstory moment gets relegated to a flashback intended to advance a male character, while her big moment in the story is freeing Shinsou and saving Mount Lady more or less on the backswing. Admirable in its own right, certainly, but part of a larger pattern when it comes to the roles the Class 1-A girls play on the battlefield.

(I know Machia literally has a Quirk that makes him feel no pain, so that attack did nothing to him. Which in retrospect, makes the poor handling of Mina’s spoltight worse, because it sorta makes it seem like the biggest feat and most powerful move she has ever performed in the series was inconsequential. Yes, I know she literally saves Mt. Lady by using it, but still). + The Sludge Villain being faced by a character that has had an encounter with him before like Midoriya or Bakugo would be too obvious and on the nose. Horikoshi can be pretty basic at times, but he’s not that basic. + Mina saving Shinso from the Sludge Villain isn’t the important part, the important part is her saving Kirishima from the Sludge Villain.

I’m unclear on why that would be more basic than e.g. Muscular showing back up for no reason save to get clowned on by Deku, or the incredibly twee return of the woman All Might saved at Kamino, but to each their own basic bar, I suppose. On the matter of Mina’s biggest and most powerful move being arguably inconsequential, I agree completely. As I said before, it’s entirely possible that Machia could just regrow the claws—he clearly doesn’t have them in his “base” form, so it’s entirely down to an arbitrary call on Horikoshi’s part whether the damage to them would stick if he retracted them entirely and then regrew them. We haven’t gotten a good look at his right hand yet to see one way or the other, so the jury’s still out.

As to the Sludge Villain and who gets to face him, two things:

1) He didn’t have to come back at all. I can’t help but feel like the only real reason he does is that Horikoshi’s enjoying throwing in callbacks to bit characters from early chapters, rather than because there was any real groundwork laid for their return: the Sludge Villain, the baby in the cloud-pattern onesie, the star-head guy Deku talked to in the first chapter, Jin’s boss from his MVA flashback, etc. At least the returnees from USJ have a modicum of prior association with the League of Villains and thus, indirectly, AFO. The Sludge Villain doesn’t have that, and, honestly? Given his characterization in 383, I’m confused about why he joined up with AFO’s group at all.

It was a specific point of note that when AFO freed the prisoners from Tartarus, the only task he gave them was to rampage, to go wild. When Muscular shows up to bust open the prison Gentle’s in, he tells them they’re free, to do with their lives as they will. We even know from Kashi Kashiko (the guy in 334 who ShigAFO tries to unload New Order onto) that more than one person was freed and immediately headed to the boonies. Given that all the Sludge Villain wants is to sneak away from this fight without getting hurt, why wasn’t he one of those?

It’s always possible AFO called in favors for the jailbreaks, of course—the Warp quirk makes him an enormous danger to anyone he wants to have in his presence when he decides to call in a chip—but there’s been no indication of it if that is the case, I assume because the story doesn’t care about its shallower convict characters.

2) Another reason you might consider critiquing this as a meaningful victory for Mina is that her defeat of the Sludge Villain has literally nothing to do with who she is as a character and the work she’s done. She defeats the Sludge Villain because she just so happens to have a liquid-based quirk that can effectively be used to harm him. She only used the souped-up damage quotient to get through Machia; presumably, a much less corrosive version would have been perfectly sufficient against the liquid-based Sludge Villain.

And that’s particularly annoying because one of the key points the Sludge Villain was originally used to establish was the way that heroes just stood around not even trying to fight him because they didn’t have the right quirks, and why that was a failing of the current system. So when he returns—at the climax of the series! Almost four hundred chapters later!—it would seem the perfect time to explore how the heroes have improved. We should watch them determine that they have to fight him even though they don’t have the ideal quirks for it. We should see them use ingenuity and their surroundings to come up with a work-around, assuming we don’t see them apply the Save Villains maxim to convince him to back off.

But we don’t get any of that. Instead, Team Hero just so happens to have Mina on hand, who just so happens to have the right quirk. It’s a damn waste, is what it is. Not only does the Sludge Villain have no personal relevance to Mina whatsoever, only twice-displaced relevance via Kirishima, she doesn’t even get to defeat him via determination or wits, skill or training—she could have sneezed on him and won. I can’t imagine finding that rewarding for a character you really like.

Finally, I disagree that the important part of this scene is Mina saving Kirishima from the Sludge Villain rather than her defeat of the Sludge Villain in and of itself. She doesn’t save Kirishima from the Sludge Villain; Kirishima is in no danger from the Sludge Villain. He’s Class A’s premier defensive tank character! The only way Sludgey could pose the slightest threat to him is by trying to hijack his body, but Sludgey already has a body he seems perfectly satisfied with and is trying to use to escape. The worst he can do is smack Kirishima around a bit, which, again, is going to be wildly ineffective. He could possibly also attempt using Shinsou’s quirk, but Kirishima is entirely aware of Brainwashing’s operating conditions—note that he doesn’t say a single word to Shinsou the moment he becomes aware Shinsou’s compromised.

Mina saves Shinsou from the Sludge Villain, not Kirishima.

On regards on her developing her new technique due to training with Bakugo and Todoroki, I don’t see the problem. All of the students learn from other adults and eachother, as well as inspire one another. The only problem I have with the Bakugo and Todoroki thing is that we never got to see those interactions. There’s so much stuff we should’ve gotten to see from class 1-A during the aftermath of the first war and we never got.

You are welcome to not see it as a problem. I would probably see it as much less of one if the story cared enough about Mina to actually show us any scenes of her fretting about her strength, wanting to improve herself, and psyching herself up to whatever degree she might have needed to in order to approach Bakugou about private training.

Hell, it wouldn’t even need to be a full scene—BNHA gets plenty of mileage out of 1–4 panels of characters interacting in ways that aren’t immediately explained and then dropping the explanation thirty chapters later. Shinsou’s training with Aizawa was like that, for example. Why not make the time for Mina? Other than, as you bring up, the unseemly abbreviation of the aftermath of the first war. The story at that stage has zero time for any of the students other than Deku—Mina’s hardly the only character whose arc suffers because we don’t get to see her reactions to such a sea change in the society she’s lived in all her life, or the trauma of what she experienced the day of the raid. I’m not going to refrain from critiquing the writing just because it’s not any given character’s fault that their arc is missing huge chunks that are being papered over with flashbacks and retroactive explanations for the scenes we didn’t get.

To be fair about the Midnight thing, no one really had any actual established connection to her. With Momo, Midnight just was her hype woman like two times, and then she entrusted her with the plan to sedate Machia. With Mineta it’s kinda hard to take it seriously because their one meaningful interaction is full of the usual pervy jokes that are synonym to Mineta. I guess Horikoshi tied Mina to the plotline of Midnight’s murder because Mina is a more emotional character, so there’s more he can do with that (and then he barely did anything, but what little he did, did show some great shots from her).

All of the things you cite are things that give both Momo and Mineta more established connections to Midnight, which is exactly why I brought them up as people who should have been involved in the confrontation with her killer. I also brought up that those connections are themselves fairly thin and that Midnight doesn’t really have any strong connections with any of the students. This is in large part why I continue to believe that Midnight being the most emotionally significant hero death during the war[7] is pure cowardice on Horikoshi’s part. Mina getting the final say on that death is just the latest way the story is writing off dealing with it.

Midnight gets no funeral. Aizawa, one of her closest friends, immediately shuts down Mic when he tries to bring her up in the hospital, and neither of them ever bring her up again—for heaven’s sake, Mic doesn’t even think about her in Chapter 372 when bringing up what Aizawa has lost! And when someone finally does want to actually talk openly about Midnight’s death, who is it? Not Momo, who Midnight trusted and praised, or Mineta, an openly admitted fan of Midnight, one perv to another. It’s—Mina, who liked her classes, who is emotional about the death because she’s a good person who’d be emotional about the death of anyone in her social circle, not because Midnight was in any way special to her. For heaven’s sake, she registers her first opinion ever on Midnight the chapter after the deathblow is struck.

And then, to top it all off, there’s that tossed-off, perfunctory line about vengeance, which no one Mina is facing that chapter even brought up, and which she herself immediately shuts down. So not only do I not feel any impact from Mina rejecting revenge because she’s never been shown struggling with a desire for it, but it just feels like another case of Midnight being brought up only to get immediately dropped again. To wit:

Aizawa, who won’t or can’t think about her, chooses instead to focus on his students. Mic brings her up the once and then drops the subject at Aizawa’s request, apparently never to think about her again, despite being given an excellent opening to do so in his confrontation with Kurogiri. And Mina makes three, bringing up how much she liked Midnight Midnight’s classes only in the context of how stewing on the desire for revenge is bad.

And so the narrative just moves on. And it sucks, and Midnight deserved better, even if only in her memory.

…Also, just for the record, Mineta is an incredibly emotional character. He cries as much Deku does! He openly, habitually worries about classmates when he knows they’re in danger somewhere he can’t reach; he worries about Midnight during the war. Yes, he’s a primarily a joke character (and the jokes are outmoded and sexist), but so what if his scene with Midnight is full of the pervy jokes that define him as a character? Midnight is also a perv! She was contributing a perfectly adequate amount of pervy jokes to that scene all on her own! Indeed, that was part of the humor of it—Mineta the lech running afoul of Midnight’s theatrical sadism and being incredibly in love with it even as he runs around screaming about how he’s ever supposed to beat her.

Mineta has been a much-improved character from the war onward so I, for one, would not have any problems at all with taking him seriously if he were allowed to seriously mourn.

In regards to the Mina and vengeance part. Remember again that Mina is a very emotional character. Also remember that when she heard about Shoji’s backstory, she angrily stated that the kind of people who hurt Shoji “should be removed from existence” (I think you said Mina was 100% right in saying that, if I’m not mistaken). So while yes, Mina is a very cheerful, kind and friendly girl, we know the war and her inability to help deeply affected her. The problem is that we never got to explore that or see her go through it. Her inner struggle got resolved off screen in the background before her shinning moment.

You know, I thought about bringing up the Shouji bit in the post. I didn’t end up doing it because that moment doesn’t break the pattern I otherwise described: “Mina doesn’t hold onto anger; she doesn’t brood; she’s extremely well-adjusted in that she cries when she needs to, to get it out of her system, and then she bounces back.”

That all still applies! Indeed, as I said in the post you reference, her comment in Koda’s flashback is clearly presented as hyperbole. She says it in the heat of the moment and no one even blinks because they understand that she’s not seriously suggesting that e.g. all bigots should be murdered in their beds. No one takes her aside afterward to have a gentle talk with her about appropriate levels of bloodthirst or tentatively ask her if there’s anything she needs to get off her chest. After she says it, Shouji gently acknowledges that she might be right[8] and then moves the conversation along; within the next few exchanges, she’s joined the group encouraging Shouji about making new, happier memories for him going forward.

I’m sure the war and her inability to help did deeply affect her. Those things affected everyone. But we didn’t get to see it, so I’m simply not going to accept the story insisting on how noble she is for eschewing the vengeance she was never shown to be contemplating to begin with.[9] You’re welcome to fill in those blanks yourself; god knows I have characters myself in this series for whom I’m willing to make those reaches. But then, my blank-filled characters are mostly in prison right now rather than active in the plot and trying to do emotional heavy-lifting for which the author has woefully ill-equipped them.

Regarding Midnight’s killer. I just didn’t like that part in general. Idk about you, but I don’t like that Horikoshi wrote Mina trying to find common ground with the guy who went out of his way to mercilessly kill a severely injured woman when she was on the ground, too weak to defend herself, and posed no active threat to him. Like, couldn’t you have just let Mina kick his ass? Like, I know the story is setting up the kids reaching out a hand to “save” the villains. But seriously? If there’s one villain who should get his ass kicked, it’s that guy.

This is another clue that you definitely haven’t poked around my backlog in any depth. No. Just no. Trying to save the villains means trying to save all the villains. No exceptions. Anything less means the heroes are just picking and choosing based on personal bias. That means this guy and the rest of the PLF. It means the Tartarus escapees. It even means All For One himself, if anyone can manage it. The heroes are not arbiters of justice. It is not their job to play favorites based on who they’ve seen crying and who they haven’t; it is their job—or so Deku and the general direction of the narrative would have us believe—to save people in crisis.

Should it be their jobs to do all the emotional labor and hand-holding that’s required to talk down someone whose crisis has led them to endanger others? Maybe, maybe not, but the story has been exceptionally clear that they’re the only ones in a position to do it; God knows their justice system isn’t. But given that the climax of the series is revolving around saving villains, if that isn’t the heroes’ responsibility, then whose responsibility is it, and why aren’t we reading the story about them?

I’m sure some people would point that, in-universe, saving people is only half of a hero's job description, and the other half is defeating villains. That’s true enough in the world as it now stands. However, Deku—in what’s clearly meant to be a big inspiring moment—tells the OFA tribunal in Chapter 305 that One For All is a power meant for saving, not killing, and that he learned this from All Might. In 326, in a scene that I have some issues with but that is also obviously meant to be taken sincerely, Stain alludes to the influence of All Might on the next generation, to the embers he left behind being nurtured by the ones who don’t give up.

Thus, if All Might is meant to be the ideal because of his tireless efforts at saving people, and Class 1-A—key members of whom are moving towards saving villains—are being modelled as the collective successors of All Might, it only makes sense to assume that, yes, the series wants us to accept that villains are people who also need to be saved. That means all of them, not just the ones who look easy. What kind of successors will the kids be, if they can’t go even farther than All Might did? If they just turn their backs on anyone who they don’t have the exact right quirk inspiring monologue to save, aren’t we basically just back where we started?

Incidentally, let’s talk about this characterization of Hose Face, which allegedly makes him a villain who doesn’t need to be saved, but just needs his ass kicked: he “went out of his way to mercilessly kill a severely injured woman when she was on the ground, too weak to defend herself, and posed no active threat(…).”

Twice was too weak to defend himself from Hawks when Hawks tried to put a feather sword through his forehead. He posed no active threat to Hawks when Hawks stabbed him in the back. Shigaraki floating in tube stasis posed no active threat to anyone, certainly not Mirko or Mic, both of whom did their level best to kill him by destroying the tube and all its systems that were keeping Shigaraki alive. The PLF had their guard completely down the day of the raids, which certainly didn’t stop Cementoss from ripping the building in half with no warning—how many people do you think might have been in rooms five or six stories up when the floor ripped out from under them and sent them plummeting 50+ feet towards the shattered concrete and broken wood below?

They’re villains, sure. They were going to hurt a lot of people, sure. But aren’t heroes supposed to be better than villains?

Further, I have to contest your assertion that Midnight even was “severely wounded” or “posed no active threat.” Yes, she’d taken a few hunks of concrete to the face and fallen through the canopy, which would severely injure any normally fragile human, but again, this is BNHA, where physical damage is only as severe as the plot demands.[10] Midnight went from splayed on the ground to starting to push herself back up in a single panel, had gotten to her hands and knees two panels later, and was just getting a foot on the ground, preparing to push herself back upright, when Hose Face hit her from behind two pages later.

I can remember being unsure how that fight would go back when the chapter dropped, because, just as the scene cut away, Midnight managed to whip her head around and shoot that fierce glare at the oncoming enemy. Midnight had an AOE attack that was extra effective against dudes, and all of the people coming at her that we could see were men. It was entirely plausible to me at the time that she would win, that she just stopped answering her comm line because she had to focus on the fight.

All in all, she had recently immobilized dozens of people on Hose Face’s side and was clearly still a threat. What would you expect him to do, detour the whole group the long way around just so no one would hurt her? Let Machia get even farther ahead of them by standing back and waiting for her to finish getting up so they could have an honorable fight? Come on; she was part of an army of heroes who'd just attacked their base. Of course he didn’t stand back and hand her the opening to knock them all out with sleeping gas. And no, he didn’t go out of his way to kill her—he and his group were following Machia and just happened to run across Midnight in the path Machia had taken.

Cripes, you make it sound like he spotted her unconscious on the ground eighty feet away in another clearing and decided to run over and cut her throat before rejoining the group. No. Remember, he’s a member of the MLA, the only group in the series that explicitly styles themselves as an army. His attack on Midnight should be read as a soldier fighting an enemy soldier—it’s quick, it’s brutal, it’s merciless. Because, as far as he’s concerned, he’s at war. Both letting a hero go because she was injured (but not so injured that she wasn’t trying to get up again) or wasting time going out of his way to murder someone who’s already dealt with (because he gets his jollies from murder) would have been acting counter to the mission.

I’m not going to tell you he was morally correct—he’s a villain, a cultist, an unabashed quirk supremacist, someone who would have been on the front lines of any terrorist attacks the PLF were planning by virtue of the regiment he was associated with—but just in terms of tactics, he didn’t do anything the heroes haven’t done or sought to do repeatedly over the course of both war arcs. If you feel it’s okay for them to cross those lines but not him because they’re heroes who want to help people while he’s a villain who wants to hurt people, then it’s his allegiance that’s the real problem, not his tactics.

(And, just to be clear, the reason I’m okay with him killing Midnight but not Hawks killing Twice is because of their respective allegiances. Hose Face is a villain. I don’t hold him to a hero’s moral code because he never claimed it to begin with, so he’s not being a massive hypocrite by not adhering to it.)

Any comment on the Mina and Kirishima interaction? What are your thoughts on the “you’ve always been my hero” line?

If I had a comment on it, you can generally assume it would have been in my chapter post. I don’t have much interest in the lens on Mina that, because it frames her as Kirishima’s hero, means we see her heroism almost entirely through his eyes. Again: he gets the two chapter flashback lovingly detailing his personal history, doubts, and motivations; she gets to be a figure inside his flashback rather than ever being able to frame her own. Ochaco may not ever get two chapters dedicated to her backstory, but at least what flashbacks she does get come to us filtered through her. Though, I will say that I find Ochaco’s romance plot largely tiresome, so I do hugely appreciate about Mina and Kirishima that they legitimately are just friends and I don’t have to watch Mina’s arc get devoured by blushing and fumbling crush behavior.

Since you asked, I can think of a scenario in which Kirishima telling Mina that she’s always been his hero would have worked much better, at least for me. It’d fit right into all the post-war material we didn’t get because the story was so laser-focused on Deku.

Start by showing the readers Mina approaching Shouto and Bakugou about training with them. Don’t have them ask why (because Bakugou wouldn’t care why and Shouto would just take the request at face value, especially if she explained that they both have techniques she thinks she could benefit from learning; Shouto would understand that), but have Kirishima notice or otherwise find out about it, and have him bring it up to her later on.

Then, because Kirishima and Mina are friends and should be able to have these conversations with each other, especially in the particularly vulnerable states they’d be in after the war, have Mina actually confide in Kirishima that she’s feeling shitty about freezing up when facing Machia.

Have him remind her of the time he did the same, and expand on what she already knows. I checked back over his Hassaikai arc flashback, and I notice that, while he apologized to the other two girls that were there for freezing up and being unable to help, and while he tells Mina later that he’s saying goodbye to his old pathetic self, he never actually tells her that he admired her courage (unless it’s in some other scene of theirs I’m forgetting about, which is entirely possible; feel free to give me a cite if so). The closest they get to openly acknowledging the way Mina inspired him is her observing that his new styled hair spikes resemble her horns. Have him say it out loud to her after the war, then, when she’s in an emotionally raw place and needs to hear it.

Thus, when he calls her his hero again after the Sludge Villain encounter (if we must indeed keep the Sludge Villain encounter), it becomes a reiteration and callback to that bonding moment, and implicitly him congratulating her on overcoming her fear—like he always knew she would, because she’s his hero.

Why do you care about Mina, btw? You’re a villain stan, correct? So why do you care about Mina’s moment to shine being handled poorly and not receiving the proper care and attention it deserved, if you don’t mind me asking?

Good lord, rvg, just because I’m a villain stan doesn’t mean I’m not allowed to care about bad writing affecting the heroes. If the heroes’ writing were better, it would improve everyone’s treatment, including the villains! If the students’ writing were better, I might actually care about the kids more than I do! If the girls’ writing were better, I would have infinitely less to complain about re: the disparity in how fleshed out they are compared to their male counterparts!

Anyway, I like plenty of heroes. I have observably positive feelings for about a third of Class 1-A[11] and only particularly negative feelings about Deku and Kaminari. I love Monoma and Tamaki. On the pro side, I adore Nighteye, am a thoroughly unapologetic Best Jeanist appreciator, and want to watch way more of Rock Lock mouthing off at more people higher ranked than him. I think Haimawari Koichi is everything Horikoshi desperately wants Deku to be and is failing to write him as being. There are plenty of others I at least think are good company when they’re around (Fat Gum and the Wild Wild Pussycats, for example), and some I would be happy to embrace if the series could stop being so incredibly indecisive about how it wants us to read them (Hawks and All Might are big offenders here).

I realize this is a hyper-divided fandom—we might as well start asking all those manufacturers who made the team affiliation T-shirts for the Twilight or MCU fandoms to make us some Team Hero and Team Villain shirts—but I promise you it’s possible to like characters from both sides of the divide. You don’t have to lock yourself into one position or another.

Frankly, I think most of these characters deserve a final arc better than the one they’re in. I’m just louder about it for the villains because they’re the ones who are going to be left to suffer or be forgotten if the actual ending isn’t up to snuff, whereas I fully expect the heroes to get a lavish epilogue chapter that crams cameos and last second answers into every nook and cranny of the panel layout.

All that said, rvg, I'm not sure you'll see this at all, as I don't seem able to tag you, which I'm unsure if means you blocked me at some point after spamming my comments and also my ask box or just that tumblr is being tumblr. If you do, feel free to respond if you like, though I'd prefer a reblog and less vibrating indignation if you do. I hope I've made it clear that I really and truly have nothing against your pink blorbo. Indeed, so far as I can tell, we both think her scene was pretty poorly handled; you're just more willing to do the mental legwork on fleshing out her characterization than I am.

Which is fine, but maybe ratchet back on lashing out at people who don't make it a priority to read depth the author is not providing onto characters that aren't their blorbos. Cheers!

------------------ FOOTNOTES ------------------

[1] And way to be, like, super unnecessarily confrontational with those words you put in my mouth, by the way.

[2] And, yes, also a war crime—even more of one, actually. Forcing captured enemy soldiers to fight their own is only officially a war crime in international conflicts, but Japan is a signatory to an amendment to the Rome Statute that classifies the use of chemical agents in armed conflicts as a war crime in internal disputes as well as international ones. Give or take whether the clashes between heroes and villains meet the criteria of “protracted armed conflict between governmental authorities and organized armed groups or between such groups” anyway.

I’m inclined to say the use of licensed and regulated abilities like quirks makes the combatants “armed,” but as much research as I’m willing to give this footnote doesn’t immediately clarify how long hostilities need to drag out to count as “protracted.” Certainly the presence of the PLF makes the villain side an “organized armed group,” though.

[3] Dabi’s blue fire is my go-to example: it reduces back-alley thugs to twisted blackened husks but barely even singes Hawks’s forearms; it melts carbon fiber cables but leaves his outfit completely unscathed. Given that Horikoshi can’t even keep Dabi’s damage output consistent with itself across all of his appearances, I damn sure don’t expect consistent damage output between characters.

[4] Sure, Endeavor’s connected to one of the lead students while Mount Lady is not, but that’s all on the writing. There’s no reason that Mount Lady couldn’t have been connected to a student via a meaningful internship or a past acquaintanceship save that Horikoshi chose not to write her such a connection.

[5] That come, I might note, after he already has gotten back up. Perhaps Horikoshi had been doing this “spoiling the outcome before we see the process” thing for longer than I thought…

[6] Recall that the story managed to make time for a flashback of Deku getting training from Ochaco, Tsuyu and Sero as a lead-in to the conversation between Bakugou and All Might about the latter hiding something.

[7] Or, more cynically, the only one, given how tertiary the characters start becoming immediately after her.

[8] And for what it’s worth, when I said that she was right, I was saying that the world would, in fact, be a better place without bigotry. Obviously the answer is not, “Kill all bigots in their beds,” but I wish the group had talked more about what Mina said because it would have been a more frank, more honest discussion about how to fight bigotry than the provided answer of, “Put a bag over your head and hope it goes away on its own if you and everyone like you just act with inhuman levels of patience and calm at all times for the next hundred years.”

[9] Give or take her dramatically shaded angry face in Chapter 338—a face she is making along with the entire rest of her class sans Aoyama, so, again, really not impressing upon me that Mina particularly is a character struggling to avoid losing herself to revenge.

[10] So, you know, all those people who fell from upper floors of the Villa were probably also fine. But it’s one or the other, isn’t it? Either that kind of fall is enough to severely injure people so Cementoss knowingly enacted an opening gambit that stood a high chance of maiming or killing an unknown number of people, or people in BNHA would walk it off with nothing worse than a few abrasions, in which case Midnight was in no significant danger.

[11] In seating order, I like: Aoyama, Tsuyu, Iida, Uraraka, Ojiro, Tokoyami, and, from the war arc on, Mineta.

#bnha #bnha 383 #class talk #pink alien on parade #sludge villain #bnha midnight #(deserved better)#bnha critical #bnha damage physics #stillness talks more #randomvongenerico #spent four days working on this so I need a tiny break #but I'll get the next chapter post up ASAP

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sillyandquiteawkward · 2 years

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Tbh I think the government should allow all women the right to kill for 24 hours like in the purge for funsies. Go let the girls have some fun and go wild.

also in your opinion what was going through seestor and nihils’ minds when they first saw each other at the part if you’re comfortable writing it

girls can have a little murder. as a treat. its what they deserve.

im a big fan of the literally everyone at the party knows who nihil is, except nihil. so sister sees the guy whos a part of the unholy bloodline or whatever and is like. why is he here looking like a fish out of water? but also shes endlessly amused about how confused and lost he looks. she can tell she can easily whisk him around and away with some precise words. needless to say she also thinks hes a tall glass of water, etc. you can see her gears turning every time shes staring at him from across the room.

nihil on the other hand has just been ditched by his friend at a party he wasnt expecting everyone to be wearing skull makeup at (weird) and then he sees a pretty lady who wants to dance with him and he starts having a good time getting absolutely lost in the sauce. hes getting swept up in everything he doesnt even care hes here for a good time not a long time kind of vibe.

i think literally sister had like big brain plans going on in her head she was doing fucking trig and like 4d chess, meanwhile nihil was thinking about boobs and getting laid.

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scaryspears · 11 months

Text

Johnny: Opinions and Thoughs

These are my thoughts and opinions on Mortal Kombat that a bunch of people probably won't care about, but I thought I should post them here. Now I will be using past games as reference, even though every character's interpretation/counterpart is different, they still play part to the canon storyline.

[Warning: This post is very long. Slight mention of sexual oral practise.]

I think every single character in Mortal Kombat is prideful and egotistical, the best example would be Jade in my opinion. With that being said I think the way they treat Johnny is a bit unfair. A lot of these will fall in line with my Neurodivergent Johnny headcanons and theory post, I suggest checking that out for context. I know the intros aren't canon and are more what if scenarios, but they mean something.

I have a lot of things to say regarding his character, for starters he gets invited to a tournament and sees it as a chance to show people he isn't just some actor but is legit in his martial arts. Good for him, (I've seen posts that demonise this and say it's pretty selfish as if we shouldn't be allowed to be selfish when situations call for it. Bro didn't like that people were calling him a fake and wanted to prove that he wasn't, there's nothing wrong with that.). When he shows up at the tournament half of the contestants are wearing costumes, can't blame the guy for not thinking it was real at first. There's a lady dressed as a hot soldier (I understand that it gets retconned), a bunch of ninjas standing around, and his opponents are wearing alien makeup.

First of all Johnny doesn't know about the existence of other realms, second of all it's the 90s and he's a Hollywood actor meaning he's no stranger to makeup and practical effects not to mention stunts. He probably figured it was something comic con related (as I've said in another post) and while questioning it he went along with it. He had no reason to think that Reptile and Baraka were real creatures.

When Johnny is told to finish his opponent he responds with "Yeah, right.", and I gotta say, it took me years to find out there was a sexual innuendo to that. Dude straight up thought they were demanding him to perform 'you-know-what'. That was just an example of what's to come (I'll be using the word 'example' lot). (Hollywood must be a wild place even in fiction).

First I'll start with his interactions. He's not very good at bonding with people. In mk9 we see a lot of this. I get that Johnny has his problematic moments, but in comparison to the other characters he's an angel. I'm the sort of person to sweep them under the rug, but I have to address them.

Examples:

"And I'm taking you down. I'm taking you down. I'm taking you out. I'm taking you out. And I'm taking you out... for dinner." I genuinely interpreted this as Johnny being playful. To be fair, I first saw this interaction when I was a child (say 7-9) so the fact that I could see myself doing that probably had to do with my immaturity. But everytime I rewatch it I only have fondness and not annoyance because I found it adorable just how proud he was of himself. I also appreciate how open he is about how he feels towards Sonya, I stan an honest man. However, it seems a lot of viewers saw this as him being stupid or something along those lines. If this was any other character they would be told to go to horny jail, but Johnny is met with hostility from most of the fandom.

"Nice hat :)." Johnny to Raiden in mk9. "You should be more respectful of Lord Raiden!" Liu Kang says to Johnny right away. SonicXD commented on this in his mk9 sucks video, I don't need to say anything. Johnny wasn't interested in saving Earthrealm at first, he straight up told Raiden and Liu Kang that they should call the military if Shao Kahn was that much of a threat (he was speaking facts tho). Also, I think he was still questioning what he got himself into, so Raiden and Liu Kang approaching him probably made him think he was surrounded by insane people. And then he finds out that it's all real and that he's not allowed to leave.

There's also when Johnny saved Sonya from Kano. How that went down was that Johnny was trying to escort her. By the way, this is minutes after he realised that he was in a death match and not some comic con related fighting tournament, everyone was waiting for him to kill Baraka and it dawned on him just how serious they were. So Johnny got worried for Sonya's safety by that alone. But it's also understandable on Sonya's end: here comes this guy trying to chat her up (get into her pants) and not getting the hint that she's not interested, and then tries to convince her that he needs to be by her side.

Cyrax got annoyed just by hearing him talk, you can see it on his face. I saw it as friendly banter on Johnny's side but Cyrax didn't. "Not everyone gets to rumble with a celebrity. Ready for a beat down, Sunshine? Here it comes." I think Cyrax was gonna kill him by that alone if it wasn't for Raiden's disapproving dad stares. Every single Lin Kuei is super serious so I think Cyrax didn't take it as banter.

Next is Jax. Johnny Green, Jax Purple: "So what's the deal with you and Sonya anyway? She is smocking hot." "It's not like that. I'm her CO." "Honey like that under my command-" "You'll wanna stop talking now." "...So if it's not like that- Then you won't mind if I-" "That's it!" And then Jax proceeds to beat him up.

Now I understand that Johnny was talking too much, and was a tad bit slimy about his hornyness, but he didn't want to get between her and Jax if they were a thing. He just has no filter. Now following my Neurodivergent headcanons for him this may have an occasion where he wasn't reading the social cues. Jax says "You'll wanna stop talking now." but Johnny has no intentions to stop talking nor does he want to stop talking. Johnny doesn't answer immediately, perhaps confused about the reply and ultimately deciding to ignore it. I too choose the wrong times to start talking to people, and most of the time I don't realise it unless it's pointed out. Happens way often than I'd like to admit.

I know that a lot of the characters call Johnny a clown or see him as a joke (Spawn, Kotal, Shang Tsung) due to how he operates, but I don't see that as the case. There's one specific quote in mk9's story mode that he says to Raiden: "Sure, let's go and ruin someone else's life." This is why I think Johnny was very aware of what was going on. He's also very open about his ego, he doesn't hide it like everyone else, and yes they are hiding it.

Now don't get me wrong, he does randomly antagonise people, but he's in a tournament so he can do that. And it's not like he was getting personal for most of them. I think the only time he says something personal is when he feels like he's being personally attacked.

"We have something in common?" - Johnny

"I too was once young and foolish." - Nightwolf

"But I looked good doing it." - Johnny

What Nightwolf said sounded like a backhanded comment to me. Uncalled for. This is the same guy that intentionally risked the invasion of Earthrealm just to teach Scorpion a lesson or something. Johnny can tell that Nightwolf is like the others, very serious and tolerant, so he's surprised that Nightwolf can even manage to see himself in him.

Relationships: Even in the intros it's shown that he has a better chance at friendships with the villains than with the good guys. It's more like they (good guys) are tolerable of him, especially Jax. I think Sub Zero allowing Johnny to get away with calling him Grandmaster Blueberry Ice is out of respect rather than fondness. This section can extend to interactions, as I think a lot of people misinterpret him as a person, which extends to a lot of things he says such as statements and nicknames.

Johnny asks the other characters if he can make movies based on their stories, meaning he's (in a way) asking for permission. Johnny could've easily made a movie about their lives without asking them, make money, and get away with it because it's not like they would even watch his movies (they hate him), especially non-Earthrealm characters. But he's respectful. So I guess he understands boundaries to a certain degree.

-----

"Heard you gave Cage a shiner." - Young Jax

"He pushes every damn one of my buttons." - Old Jax

"You, me and everyone else." - Young Jax

-----

"Not surprised I have a kid, but you." - Jax

Why can't he have a kid, Jax? He's so condescending about it too.

-----

"Actions speak louder than words." - Liu Kang

"Yeah, that's why I make action movies." - Johnny

"With fake fighting." - Liu Kang

-----

"We come from different worlds, Johnny." - Liu Kang

"Aren't you from Earthrealm too?" - Johnny

"I mean I come from the real world." - Liu Kang

Liu Kang is such a bully.

-----

"The answer remains no." - Scorpion

"But you'll be co-starring with yours truly." - Johnny

"Exactly." - Scorpion

I think a true friend would consider it.

-----

"What kind of name is Kabal?" - Johnny

"Got a better suggestion, Cage?" - Kabal

"For now on you're Carlos." - Johnny

Never change, Johnny. Kabal clearly finds Johnny annoying, but was able to humour him enough to answer with a question of his own, perhaps encouraging Johnny's curiosity.

-----

"Looking forward to a kindler, gentler Outworld." - Johnny

"Why? Because I'm a woman?" - Kitana

"Well that, and you're banging Liu Kang." - Johnny

I have a lot of opinions about this one. On Johnny's part I interpreted this as him giving her a thumbs up on becoming the new Kahn, and since Kitana is supposed to be on the good side she is expected to rule fairly. You know, like a good person. But then Kitana made it about feminism, so Johnny delivered a line to counter it. I honestly think Kitana was reaching at something that wasn't there and Johnny picked up on it. I'm probably making excuses for him, but that's my take. Her response annoyed me so much.

-----

"So you were to defeat Shinnok." - Kitana

"What is with people? Is it so hard to believe?" - Johnny

"Yes." - Kitana

Kitana this is literally you:

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"If it's tail you want I can get that." - Kano

"Johnny Cage doesn't pay for it, Kano." - Johnny

"A scrubble? Note the date and time :D." - Kano

Kano is so pleased.

-----

"You stole my face for Ninja Priest!" - Kano

"Art imitates life, Kano." - Johnny

"Taking my cut outta of your hide." - Kano

A call back to what I stated in the relationships, Johnny didn't ask for Kano's permission for inspiration on a character.

-----

"Why a Russian fan club?" - Johnny

"Just going where the fans are." - Kano

"You have a showman's instincts there Kano. :D" - Johnny

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"I won't play your lackey, Cage." - Baraka

"Really? 'Cause I'm feeling a BFF vibe here." - Johnny

So this one is pretty wishy washy, but thought it would be beneficial to this post. I would lowkey enjoy a storyline where Johnny is buddy buddy with Baraka, who is reluctant to accept friendship but slowly gets used to it.

-----

"Oh, dude! I love westerns!" - Johnny

"The bullets are real, Cage" - Erron Black

"So are my fists." - Johnny

I'm pretty sure Johnny was just admiring Erron for what he is, kind of like meeting a nun in real life after years of only hearing about them... something like that. But Erron interpreted it as Johnny not being in the real world and treating everything as a joke.

-----

"Where is your fear?" - Noob Saibot

"Must've left it in my other pants." - Johnny

"We will find it." - Noob Saibot

Aww, Noob Saibot is so nice~ [Delusion] I love how Noob doesn't go out of his way to insult Johnny or belittle him, unlike some other characters.

-----

"Hey there, Tall Dark and Gruesome." - Johnny

"An apt description." - Noob Saibot

"Do you not get I am mocking you?" - Johnny

I headcanoned that Noob/Bi Han would take things literal, but he's also very analytical. I'm sure he was able to pick up on Johnny mocking him but didn't mind it, meaning he might have interpreted it as a nickname, which Johnny gives everyone. Wishful thinking, there could've been a lot of banter between these two.

-----

"You are more smug than usual." - Fujin

"I'm the new assistant thunder God." - Johnny

"Raiden should not have healed you." - Fujin

-----

"You know the evil overlord bit's played out." - Johnny

"What would you suggest?" - Shao Kahn

"Right now it's all anti-heroes." - Johnny

Is that kindness, Shao Kahn?

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

I think they did Johnny dirty in MK11, not gonna lie. To be fair, his storyline also didn't make sense in mkx thanks to discovering his new powers even though he's shown using them in mk9. If he was playable in mk9 story mode and his powers were usable, then the mkx part where he mysteriously saves Sonya because of the green light doesn't make sense. I think he should've been able to always use his green glow, that way Hollywood critics thinking he's fake has another tone to it. His green glow can be spotted in his movies, which is why viewers think he uses special effects, which led him to try to prove himself in the tournament.

I think the problem should've been that he couldn't control it, also as a call back to his mk9 ending. I think it's even referenced in an intro with Raiden. "Seek out the Wu Shi for instruction."

It also would be funny if everyone else was aware of it, but only Johnny wasn't. Like they all assumed he could use the green glow out of choice, but he didn't know or notice that he would go green. The fact that it happened during fights means it would only ignite in stressful situations or on instinct. He was also wearing shades for the majority of mk9 (because he likes shades), in fact he always wears shades so I think he's the only one who didn't notice the glow.

Johnny says "Yeah, those things are real." when referring to Baraka's blades, meaning he didn't feel that they were real. I'm not sure what that means, but it gives insight to his power level. Johnny defeated Shinnok. I get that Johnny 'softens him up' but he still defeated Shinnok, so I think he should've been able to at least handle Sindel. The reason Shao Kahn was defeated in mk9 is because the Elder Gods possessed Raiden which is how Raiden defeated Shao Kahn. They nerfed Johnny's character and I am not happy about that.

Now, with his upbringing and history. I think Johnny had narcissistic parents, and depending on who he got his powers from it was an inherited narcissism (don't know which parent had the powers, someone will probably say his father but let's not assume).

I think there was taught narcissism on Johnny's behalf. The thing about growing up with narcissistic parents is that you grow up thinking that their behaviour is normal, so he must've not seen anything wrong with the behaviour he learned. We also need to take a good look at his personality. He's a bit childish in terms of maturity, and this is common in individuals who grew up with a narcissistic parent. Johnny talks as if he's a teenager rather than the average 25+ year old man. To his credit he doesn't throw tantrums or lash out when his odd behaviours are called out (unless I missed something), but dude is childish. Only lashes out when his face is even slightly ruined and even blindly attacked some Black Dragons for getting a scratch on his face. However he is also very independent, from what I know. And he's a bubbly man, even when he changed, that's a character I can appreciate. I think him and Joey from Friends would be friends, even though I haven't watched Friends to confirm this.

Morality wise Johnny doesn't have wicked intent. In his mk9 story mode he says he's not gonna kill anyone when told to kill Baraka, realising that it's not an everyday tournament. He's okay with fighting people for sport (let's establish that tournaments are basically a sport) but not killing people. The tournament is like a perverted form of kill or be killed, one Johnny was forced into participating in some form (I'm talking about the killing and fighting for Earthrealm part). I don't think Johnny likes killing people or anything dead related. In mkx story mode he rolls a head off the helicopter in a fit of heeby jeebies and disgust.

"Have you killed anyone?" - Terminator

"Yeah, but they were all bad." - Johnny

"Why make that distinction?" - Terminator

Like a rationale of what he's experiencing.

-----

"Discard your jesters mask." - Kotal Kahn

"What you see is what you get, Feather Head." - Johnny

"I thought you merely played the fool." - Kotal Kahn

-----

"You revel in childishness." - Kotal Kahn

"Gotta stay sane somehow." - Johnny

"How are you a warrior?" - Kotal Kahn

----

"He was insufferable. Just like you." says Fujin about Johnny's great-great grandfather. Dude might've been a mega narcissist. Narcissism is taught and learned. Another example would be old Johnny and young Johnny:

Young Johnny - "Dad always said "Hungry people eat lunch, humble people serve it."

Older Johnny "Dad was an a**hole, Hollywood made us an even bigger one."

So based on those facts alone, Johnny comes from a long generation of egotistical people. Then we have Hollywood. I think Johnny got into Hollywood not just because of creative thinking, but I think there's also a sense of longing there. Narcissistic parents, ignore, abandon and degrade their children. Along with making movies being a hyper fixation, their abandonment played a part in his need for spotlight. Johnny divorcing Sonya for her neglect might be more personal because it was a reminder of his parents.

I heard that there's a lot of narcissists in Hollywood, so with Johnny surrounding himself with people like that...(yikes!) The thing with narcissists is that they are always out for themselves. An autistic person struggles with social interactions, while a narcissist will manipulate the social interaction. Johnny (and Kung Lao) doesn't do that. He very much cares about the people around him and doesn't see them as tools.

Now back to his family.

"Grandma Carlton told you my secret?" - Johnny

"(Snicker) Johnny pee pants?" - Cassie

"I had one accident! One!" - Johnny

Judging from how Johnny both asked the question and responded, I theorise it came from a place of trauma. For his mother to tell Cassie the story as if it's a funny story and give him a nickname is suspicious. I think I already mentioned this in another post but I would like to elaborate. Me personally, I don't think anyone pissing themselves is a laughing matter. People don't piss themselves for no reason, or at least most people don't. Humiliating their child is a narcissist's past time. While his mother may not have played a part in humiliating him, she still found it funny enough to tell Cassie, who also for some reason found it funny.

(I have mixed opinions on Cassie and I might get in on her in another post. I don't know how many of these I'll be making.)

Going back to the interactions between young and older Johnny, I think older Johnny hates his younger self. Movie making is something Johnny loved, cash grab or not creative thinkers like doing creative things.

I think I mentioned in another post that it's something he learned, so I'll like to continue that theory. Johnny wasn't that much of a bad person, sure he has flaws, but he's not evil or anything. So older Johnny's reaction to his younger self eagerly trying to convince him to make movies and stuff was kind of unnerving.

It should've been something he could smile fondly at, but instead he reacts as if his passion has been beaten out of him. He finds his younger self annoying, just like everyone else. Everyone else = Sonya, Jax, and pretty much everyone else. As a person who likes coming up with stories and wants those stories to be known, I feel crushed by this conclusion of analysis. Poor Johnny.

Another fact about Neurodivergent people is that no matter what they will always be the same person no matter how much their opinions and belief change overtime, they will still have the same personality. Johnny still likes making his jokes and still gives people nicknames, but he lacks creativity in creating things. I guess applying his need for action into training the Kombat kids and working with the Special Forces counts as a slight change.

I'm coming close to an end so I'll sum it up by saying that Johnny shouldn't have got back together with Sonya. I don't ship them and I'm making it clear that I hate them together. Even before mk11 I thought the ship didn't make sense and it needs to be a character that doesn't tolerate him but actually enjoys his company from the beginning. It took me everything not to write that Johnny is a national treasure that should be protected.

#mortal kombat #mortal komabt 11 #mortal kombat theories #mortal kombat 9 #mortal kombat johnny cage #johnny cage #neurodiversity #neurodivergent johnny cage #criticism #analysis mortal kombat #adhd Johnny Cage

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gyubby99 · 10 months

Text

@disneyanddisneyships a fic 😛

Summary: After the takeover of Aponi Wings on Valentino's club, Mal was honored to be the opening act.

~~~~~

It's been weeks since Valentino had been dismembered by the one and only overlord Aponi Wings. The butterfly demon figured that she would have to take over the club he once used to own.

It all came by like a blur. Aponi couldn't think straight through all of her fury. She had been holding a holy knife, staring down cold at the moth demon before blood came the next second.. after she had killed his right hand man, Linda.

It was all so bittersweet.

So she decided to do a little grand re-opening. When she somehow took over the club she took good care of her employees, paying them fairly so they don't have to beg for scraps outside of all the hard work and flashing lights. Aponi had insisted she gave all of them a well-deserved week rest while she takes care of the club, changing some of the old ways.

After weeks of changes she had looked at her own work with pride. Some were disappointed of the new rules, using the sins safely and positively rather than mixing it with pride, most demons had found something new, something akin to the happy hotel. A place where they could have fun in a much safer, positive way. Something they can only dream to see in other rings. Rings that no sinners were allowed to step foot in.

The overlord of love, Aponi Wings.. had made some changes. She strives on positivity of things.. she makes deals to better lives, ultimately leading them to the happy hotel or finding the word itself; love. She was a unique one. All of the overlords share one thing; Apathy. A desire of gaining power from other people's. Aponi wanted none of that. Eventually love found her a way in the hierarchy.

It was also, one of the many things that intrigued her lover, the radio demon himself.

To the grand re-opening of the club, she aksed for assistance from her soul sister, Mal, the overlord of Luck.. which was ironic considering her full name's purpose.

And ofcourse, Vox. Aponi asked for his assistance on better tech. Now he had an extremely small circle of friends, and luckily enough she got into that circle. Mainly because he was Mal's lover.

They had called in the demons who worked at the club, rehearsing something for when the day arrives, after they had gotten their week break. They were more than happy to cooperate with Mal's choice of song. She had to get approval from Aponi, though.

Some overlords involved were all booked and busy on this venture, all for Aponi's wishes to make a little difference in a place where that would be impossible.

Until the day of the re-opening came, and everyone were welcome to watch the shows.

"You ready?" Aponi asks Mal, who was fixing up her headset mic.

"Oh, yeah. Definitely." Mal responds. "I'm ready to blow this popsicle stand."

Aponi snorts. "Did you, Mal, just quote.. Mal? "

"Caught red-handed. Like always." Mal chuckled, half-surprised her friend had caught her reference.

Mal's phone beeped, lighting up with a message when she took it. "Vox is at the VIP section."

"No backstage kiss?" Aponi giggled.

"Atleast not until I finish!" Mal laughs, before joining in the others. "We should be ready."

Aponi nods, before getting on stage. "I'd say good luck, but you already have a lotta them."

Mal rolls her eyes as her best friend got onto the stage.

The music rolled on.

"Ladies and gentledemons! It's a pleasure seeing your faces again!" Aponi shouts out loud, watching the crowd go wild.

"I know, I know! We're in the brand new shit now, so better hold your horses and lock 'em up cause we have treats!" Aponi leaned down at the crowd, her smile evident and she was having the time of her life.

"Now, I would like to introduce the star of the night. The one, the only overlord of luck herself, Mal!" Aponi held her arms wide open as the curtains showed Mal and the dacers following behind her.

The beat dropped.

Lalalai, lalalai When our heartbeats collide I won't mind, in a place we've never been before I'm reaching out for the moon and stars beyond it

Mal sang as she had practically strutted on the stage, and the lights went wild along with the crowd's cheering.

Lalalai, lalalai Is it you I will find? Though I feel left behind sometimes When you close the door I wanna know who you are I wanna know it all

Mal grinned widely at the crowd as the music went on, like some band and the people all coming together in a party, which was kind of the thing the firefly had been going for when she thought of a song for the re-opening night.

Her yellow eyes glowed as she watched the audience, especially seeing a certain someone at the VIP section, enjoying the sight.

She began to sing again.

The moment that life hits you You can’t avoid the issue You’re disconnected from the world You thought you were a part of But if you close your eyes and let go Of the mirage you haven’t met Nobody else decides the words you see in your heart

The demons started clapping, completely forgetting the reason why the club had to be re-opened in the first place.

Mal sang the pre-chorus, the other demons on the stage joining in with her just like they practiced.

Line up, The party’s over here Come one, come all, jump into the fire Step up, We are whatever we wanna be We are free, that’s all we desire When you pass through the veil of fantasy There’s a world with a rhythm for you and me

Mal jumped, excitement for this new chapter her friend will be taking filling every inch of her.

Lalalai, lalalai How can I find a love Lost in time, there’s an answer in the stars for me All the way across the galaxy, go on forever Lalalai, lalalai I will follow the signs ’cause I know When I reach the end it’s you I’ll see Though we can’t waste our time here It’s now or never

Mal danced carelessly to the music, wondering where this freedom hid for a long time. She always had to watch her step, not missing a single one as a sadistic boss watches you from afar. Now she'd been genuinely having fun.

The relentless force of nature The visage of our future Sometimes I know it feels like fate is never on our side But as I stand inside the vortex

Mal pointed at the VIP section.

I wanna have you here beside me You’re all I need to leap into a perfect sky!

..before she pointed at the crowd once again.

Stand up, The party’s over here Come one, come all, jump into the fire Keep up, Let go of your fears Stand proud and tall, we will never grow tired Line up, The party’s right here Come one, come all, let’s follow the north star Step in, You are whatever you wanna be You are free just like all of us are

Her lyrics sent a message; no one will ever have to fear Valentino again.

Mal smirked, leaning to the audience as if conversing with them.

Dance away a world you never loved from the start It’s our ride to the future, are you ready to depart?

Mal stood back at the stage once again, pouring her heart out the way she never got to.

Lalalai, lalalai When our heartbeats collide I won’t mind, In a place we’ve never been before I’m reaching out for the moon and stars beyond it Lalalai, lalalai Is it you I will find? Though I feel left behind sometimes when you close the door I wanna know who you are I wanna know it all

The drums blared as they all danced along to the song, the butterfly demon looking at her friend with such pride; she'd never seen Mal having this kind of genuine fun on stage. It was one of the many reasons she called her up for this.

Maybe it’s a dream, I don’t wanna wake Even if a light goes up, I don’t wanna know reality

Mal spun around the stage, spotlight on her as she smirks, her eyes glowing as she had her wings on. She never even needed the spotlight. She stood among the performers because she had been literally glowing bright.

Mal finished up the song, the rush in her veins still there.

We didn’t waste our time here It’s now or never!

The music stopped and the crowd applauded.

This was a new beginning. For Aponi, for Mal, and for hell.

For the old times were now gone.

#mallory #aponi wings #I wrote this sleep deprived #Spotify

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ophelialoveshandsomemen · 1 year

Note

On the '3 things' asks:

#11, #18, and #34

Thanks so much girl!!!

(omg, you're breaking my heart with that gif!) 💖

Anyways! To the answers! I'm sorry to inform you that it has turned into an article, I cannot write about books I'm passionate about concisely. So buckle up I guess?!!?

#11- 3 books I would recommend that everyone reads!

So I'm gonna put down books that I also think most people ( if not all) Could read, because a.k.a Lord of the Rings is not easy for a lot of people, for various reasons surrounding pacing and whatnot, though I highly recommend that one as well!!!

First book would be Sastun by Dr. Rosita Arvigo. It is a woonnnnderful book about her apprenticeship with a Mayan H'men. a.k.a shaman-like healer, who reminds us that the spiritual and the physical Cannot Be Separated! A very easy read that will blow your mind when it comes to your body and how you should treat it and it will forever change your perspective on Western Medicine. One warning though, if you do not actually know beforehand about what is and isn't "allowed" in Catholicism, do not base your future knowledge of it on this, as these healers really mix together Mayan worship and Catholicism. I do not judge them for this, but please be aware that not everything that they recount doing in this book is necessarily okay for Catholics.

Second book is Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery. This entire series was my comfort book growing up, but I recommend the first as it truly is the cornerstone of the series. ( FYI My personal favourite is actually the last book, Rita of Ingleside.) :) A story about girl with a wild imagination and longing for a kindred spirit, nothing better to dive into!

Third book will be Mexican Martyrdom by Rev. Fr. Wilfrid Parsons. I was obsessed with the Cristero War as a young teen ( thanks to my mother getting me the movie, For Greater Glory, when I was 12 because she knew I liked war movies...I know, weird 12 year old girl, I was a tomboy okay...) This is a period of history that, if I remember correctly, is very rarely talked about because there's a lot of misunderstandings and bad blood surrounding it. But this book was written by a contemporary catholic reverend who was in and out of Mexico while it was happening and was acquainted with some of the "people in charge" shall we say. So it's quite reliable and helps clear some of the murk clouding this patch of history. ( Also, I highly recommend watching the aforementioned movie, For Greater Glory ( 2012), (which you will very much enjoy if you are Oscar Isaac fan btw) and another thing I rec is this short film from around the same time, called Cristeros y Federales, link is here. ( Also, this one has the ever lovely Tenoch Huerta starring! ) ;)

#18- 3 dream jobs from my childhood

Ummm I got at least two. I wanted to be a religious Sister who was also a nurse and I would go help third world countries. Then I realized that heat existed....

And then I wanted to become a famous stage actress!

There was also a bout of wanting to leave everything behind and become a mountain (wo)man/trapper in the Northwest Territories. Dunno if that counts!! ( esp. since I still wanna do that half the time...)

#34-3 people from history who inspire me!

I might stay short and sweet with these, because most have got some, shall we say 'ugly history' attached to them, through no fault of their own.

Pocahontas, the Algonquin Princess. Really inspired me to respect and love and ally myself with nature.

St. Joan of Arc. Peasant girl turned saviour of France who stuck to her principles no matter what.

Marina Raskova, founder and leader of the ' Night Witches' a.k.a the elite soviet pilot regiment who are amoung the most badass ladies ever. Check them out! Their story is so cool!

#3 things ask #lovely asks #lots of history in this!#lol!

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fific7 · 3 years

Text

Unexpected - Part 3

King Caspian x Reader

Summary: What happens if you push the respectful and well-behaved King Caspian a little too far? You’re about to find out.

A/N: The final chapter. This does not follow canon, it’s mainly a mix of fluff and angst with some lemon zest 🍋 Friends to Lovers AU.

Warnings: 18+ NSFW due to sexual content including debatable consent at first, loss of virginity and oral and unprotected* sex between consenting adults. Some drinking & swearing.

*Irl, please don’t go wild in the country without protection.

(My video edit)

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

Ever since his hasty departure from your study, Caspian had not exactly avoided you but had taken to just popping his head round the door and wishing you a cheerful good day before disappearing again. You had smiled to yourself. It certainly did seem that you had some kind of an effect on the King. You weren’t absolutely sure what that was, but it appeared to be a positive one.

You were excitedly planning an outfit for that evening as a banquet was being held to celebrate Cornelius’ birthday. No-one had mentioned how old he actually was and you weren’t sure if that was because they didn’t know or if they were just being tactful. You’d bought him three new quills as his gift, which he’d accepted gratefully as he was always snapping the tips off his.

Later that afternoon, there was a brief knock and Caspian’s smiling face appeared round your door. “You are coming to the birthday banquet tonight, aren’t you, my lady?” You nodded, “I am, Caspian.” “Well… I’ll see you there,” he grinned, and then he was gone.

Smiling, you went back to mentally reviewing the dresses in your wardrobe. Tonight you’d make sure you looked your very best for Caspian.

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

Meanwhile Caspian walked off down the corridor, deep in thought. He was sure that she’d noticed that he was keeping a physical distance between them the past few days, but it was the only way he could think of to avoid making a complete fool of himself. Again. Like he had the last time. His face burned every time he thought about it. She’d known why he’d rushed off, he was sure of it.

He would have to dance with her tonight. It would look strange if he didn’t, and he felt his stomach tie itself into a knot. How on earth was he going to keep himself under control? He would just have to figure out a way… somehow.

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

Eventually, after several changes, you’d chosen a deep ruby red velvet dress with a sweetheart neckline, your hair was artfully pinned up and you had added a sparkling necklace and earrings.

The music played, the tables were laden with food and drink and Cornelius was thoroughly enjoying himself as the centre of attention. The courtiers whirled around the room in spirited waltzes and you watched as Caspian danced with girl after girl after girl. Everyone apart from you, in fact. You had a sick sinking feeling in your stomach - it looked like you’d got it all wrong, he obviously didn’t have any feelings for you at all. You blinked fiercely as you felt your eyes fill up. Well, your mother always said pride comes before a fall, and you supposed that you’d been prideful in thinking that he felt something special for you.

Taking a large drink of your wine, you considered leaving the banquet. What use was there in staying? Just to watch Caspian dancing with all the other women, while you - a sorrowful heap of jealousy - sat in the corner by yourself? No, that was not going to be you, you thought.

Standing, you smoothed your dress and started to move out from behind the table, only for Cornelius to lightly grip your wrist. “You’re surely not going already?” he questioned you. You nodded, “Yes, my lord. I.. I have a headache and should retire to my chamber, I think.” He did not let go of you, “Oh, my lady, can’t I persuade you to stay just a little longer? It is my birthday after all!” he smiled mischievously at you. Oh, he had to make you feel guilty, didn’t he? You sighed, “Very well, my lord, just for a very short time though.” He refilled your wine cup, “Have some more wine,” he encouraged you, “I’ve heard it’s very efficacious in treating headaches!”

Laughing, you sat down and took the goblet from him. “Indeed? I confess I haven’t heard that said of wine, my lord.” Nodding vigorously, he replied, “Oh, yes - I am sure I read that recently somewhere - in a medical book or suchlike.” Out of the corner of your eye, you saw a figure approaching you, one of the Kingsguard. Before you turned to look fully at him, you saw a look of annoyance flit over Cornelius’ face, before his usual small smile returned.

“May I have the pleasure of the next dance, my lady?” asked the handsome soldier, whose name you didn’t know. You nodded and stood, taking his outstretched hand and allowing him to lead you onto the dance floor. The orchestra finished playing the previous waltz, and prepared to play the next one.

Caspian’s dark eyes met yours as he straightened up from bowing to his partner. Something flashed in them and you looked away, up at your own partner. Wasn’t he happy to see you dancing with someone? Well, that was a shame, you thought - he can just have a taste of his own medicine! The music began and you and the soldier began to dance, thankfully neither of you treading on each other’s toes. You saw that Caspian was dancing with yet another lady. Hmmm, not so bothered then, you thought somewhat bitterly.

Throughout the dance, however, any time you looked towards Caspian his eyes were on you. Continuing to look away, you’d wait a few moments and look again. Yes - still looking. Now you were confused, if he didn’t care, why was he staring? Maybe it was just a ‘big brother’ kind of thing. The dance came to an end and you and your partner bowed to each other, and as you stood straight again you realised with a start that Caspian was standing slightly to the right of your soldier, gazing at you.

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

Caspian’s heart had jolted in his chest when he saw her take the floor with one of his Kingsguard. Jealousy raged through his veins. She was only supposed to dance with him! He continued staring over at them as the dance progressed, barely looking at his own new partner, and as soon as the dance finished he quickly bowed, mumbled a thank you and hurried over to her and the soldier.

The soldier bowed his head to his King and took himself off at speed. Caspian was still looking at her, and eventually she cleared her throat and said, “Good evening, your Majesty,” bowed her head slightly and also started to leave the dance floor. “No!” he exclaimed, and her eyes met his again, a confused look in them. “I mean… don’t go, I was about to ask you to dance.” She gave him a small smile, “And are you asking me, your Majesty?” Now it was his turn to look confused, “Why, yes… I am,” he replied and extended his hand towards her.

Taking it, she followed him to a more central area of the dance floor and as they reached it he swung around, pulling her close against him and drinking in her scent. He heard her give a small gasp and realised what he’d done - the waltz the orchestra was playing required a side by side promenade at arms’ length for a few steps before traditional waltzing then took over. Hastily, he released her and they performed their promenade steps, before he was able to take her into his arms once more.

“You look absolutely beautiful,” he breathed next to her ear, “I was overwhelmed when I saw you arrive.” She laughed, not meeting his eyes, “Really, your Majesty? I didn’t think you were even aware I was here.” “What?” he said, totally confused, “Of course I knew you were here!” She still wouldn’t meet his eyes as they moved around the dance floor. “Well, it’s just that you were so busy with all your dance partners I didn’t think that you were, your Majesty.”

Caspian felt like a thunderbolt had hit him. Of course! What a damn fool he was. He’d been so busy trying to distract himself from mooning over her, that it hadn’t dawned on him what it might look like to her - that he was totally ignoring her. He’d noticed that she’d gone back to calling him ‘your Majesty’. He desperately thought of how he could explain this without giving himself away. “Oh… no, no… I’m, I’m always aware of… of where you are,” he said then winced as he realised how lame that sounded. “I thought I would save the last dance for you,” he added, hoping this would redeem him somewhat.

She finally looked at him, a slightly reproachful look in her eyes but she didn’t speak. “I’m so sorry if it looked like I was ignoring you,” he said in a rush, “I just didn’t want to seem too eager.” She laughed but he could tell there wasn’t a lot of humour in it, “Don’t worry, your Majesty, that definitely wasn’t the impression you gave.”

Caspian was panicking. How could he be so stupid? Now she was upset with him, and he only wanted her more than ever - she looked stunning in her ruby red gown. He held her even closer to him and decided to stop talking, maybe he could just show her how he felt by holding her close. He saw her eyes widen and realised that had been a mistake too. There was no doubt that she’d felt his rampant erection, even through the heavy fabric of her dress.

He made a sudden decision and danced her rapidly across the floor back to the table, hastily sitting down and tugging her into the seat next to him. He pulled his tunic down as far as he could over the bulge in his lap and leant forward slightly, embarrassed and running his hands over his face. “Are you alright, my King?” she questioned him. He looked sidelong at her, “I think you know exactly what’s wrong with me.” Then in an even quieter voice, “The same as in the orchard that time.”

He saw a blush start to rise over her face. So she did remember it.

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

Oh! you thought, your mind racing back to that encounter in the gathering dusk. You had thought about it frequently over the years with a mixture of excitement and embarrassment. You knew you’d been quite forward in your curiosity, and often wondered if Caspian ever thought about it too. And now it seemed that he had. With a frisson of jealousy, you’d also wondered what other sexual experiences he’d had since.

“I… we said we’d never talk about that, Caspian.” While dancing and when he’d pulled you closer to him, you’d felt that hard length of his against your stomach and knew exactly what it meant. But now here he was, bringing up the subject himself.

“We said we’d never speak of it to other people,” he corrected you, gazing into your eyes, “but maybe we need to discuss it further between ourselves. Come, let us leave the banquet for a while so we can speak in private.” He stood up and held out his hand so you also stood, taking it and following him as he led you out of the banqueting hall, aware of the many envious glances from the other women as you left with the King.

They could think what they liked, you thought. They will know you were childhood friends, although you’d made a point of never telling that to any of them. Castle gossip will have ensured that they all knew about it in any case.

Caspian led you upstairs to one of the empty salons and outside onto the large balconied terrace which was attached to it. He knew his castle well, you thought. Due to its position in one of the towers it wasn’t overlooked by any other window or balcony, and the size of the large terrace prevented anyone from seeing anything if they looked up from the grounds.

He came to a halt and turned towards you, his eyes blazing with something - you weren’t sure what - as he looked into yours, “I…I want,” he faltered, “I need…!”

You opened your mouth to ask him what he wanted and needed but before you could speak, he pushed you up against the terrace wall, you felt his mouth on yours and he was kissing you passionately. You realised he was also raising your dress and felt the fabric creep past your knee and then halfway up your leg.

Looking down you saw that Caspian had unlaced his breeches, just as you felt his fingers brush past your undergarments. Because unlike last time, it was he who had hold of his manhood and before you fully realised what he was doing, he’d slid his erection inside you and continued to push until he was fully sheathed. You were gasping and his dark brown eyes looked more like deepest black as he stared into yours, before he lowered his head onto your shoulder, groaning and whispering your name.

“Caspian!” you eventually managed to breathe, “what are you doing?!”

“What you wanted me to do that night in the orchard,” he said through gritted teeth, his voice rough.

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

Caspian gripped her hips through the dress fabric and began to thrust up into her. She’d wanted him to do this to her those few years ago, right? She’d told him he was a coward because he’d pulled out. So now he was only taking what he could’ve had under the pear trees that evening, wasn’t he?

He heard her voice, through her gasps, “We were children, Caspian, who didn’t know any better. Now we do. What if you get me pregnant?” Caspian stopped thrusting, she needed to hear the truth.

“I don’t care! I’ve wanted you every second of every day since!” his voice broke, “Don’t you realise I’ve always been in love with you?!” He leaned his head back slightly and looked into her eyes, “Tell me you don’t want me to do this and I’ll stop.” She hesitated and he immediately began thrusting again, kissing her and pulling her closer to him. Eventually he felt her fists pummelling his chest, “Caspian! Please! I can’t get pregnant.”

He stopped with a heavy sigh, resting his forehead on hers for a moment before straightening up and pulling out of her. Taking his dick in his hand he turned away from her, frantically rubbing and squeezing his length before finishing quickly, bending over slightly and catching his seed in the palm of his other hand.

Turning back towards her, he found he was looking at empty space. She was gone.

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

You ran as fast as your fancy dancing shoes would let you to your chamber. Throwing yourself headlong onto your bed and beginning to sob, you wondered how on earth you’d got yourself into this stupid situation. Because you teased him! your brain yelled back at you, it’s all your fault and you know it! Caspian is such a polite, shy, well-behaved boy and look what you made him do!

Eventually your tears stopped flowing and you wearily got up from the bed, struggling a little to unlace your dress at the back but eventually managing it. You’d had to learn how to do that as you didn’t have a lady’s maid, unlike at home. Having washed your face, taken down your hair and changed into your nightdress, you had just lain back down in bed and pulled the quilt over your head when you heard a single knock at your door.

You knew it was Caspian, that one knock had been a special signal between the two of you since you were children. Knowing in your heart that you shouldn’t answer it, you nevertheless got up and opened the door.

It looked as if Caspian had also been crying, his dark eyes were as wide as saucers. “I need to explain.”

You nodded and stood back, allowing him to come into your chamber.

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

He locked the door behind him, he didn’t want any interruptions during the discussion he was about to have. She’d walked back to her bed and sat on the edge of it, looking down into her lap. He followed her over there, also perching on the bed next to her.

He drew in a deep breath then said in a low voice, “I’m truly sorry for what I did earlier.” He looked down, “You looked so beautiful but you danced with him, you were in his arms and I was so very jealous! I wanted you so much. But what I did was unforgivable.” He heard her exhale then she said, “I have to say, it’s not how I imagined losing my virginity, Caspian.” His head flew up, “But that… we… didn’t that happen when we…?” She shook her head, blushing, “No, not properly. You didn’t get far enough inside that time,” and looked up at him, “but you did this time.”

Now he felt himself blushing. “Oh! I always thought I lost my virginity to you that evening,” he said, “And you? That means you haven’t been with anyone else?” He held his breath and then she shook her head, her eyes downcast again. He felt an immense sense of relief, blowing out a big breath of air. There was a short silence and then he heard, “Caspian?” He looked over at her, “Yes?” “How many women have you been with since then?”

He leapt up off the bed, drawing himself up to his full height, “None!” he shouted, then as he saw her jump, lowered his voice, “I have been with no woman except you.” Suddenly he knelt in front of her, and he met her intent gaze, “I’ve never wanted anyone else apart from you.” He noticed her eyes welling up, and a few tears slid down her cheeks. He reached up and gently wiped them away, “Why are you crying, my darling?” he asked, “Doesn’t that please you?” She managed a feeble smile, “I’m crying because I am pleased to hear that, yes.”

Caspian’s brain hurt a little as he heard this; he wondered if he’d ever understand women. He decided the wisest course of action would be to remain silent and just smiled back at her, nodding as if he fully understood. She sniffled a little and then said more boldly, “Caspian, when you were… you know… earlier, you said you’d always been in love with me.”

His mind rapidly rewound to when he’d been trying to make love to her, had he said that?! He really didn’t recall - his mind had been on other things! - but as it was the truth in any case, he nodded. He took hold of her hand, “Yes, it’s the truth. I’ve loved you since I met you.” “But we were just children.” “It doesn’t matter. You’re my soulmate, I’ve always known that. It was truly awful when I had to flee the castle as I knew I wouldn’t see you - maybe ever again - but I had no choice, and I just had to try and put you out of my mind until Narnia was safe.”

He got up and sat next to her on the bed again. “It was really difficult. Just recently, everything was starting to return to normal and I was about to try and find you, when you arrived here as Cornelius’ assistant. It seemed fated that we should be together. But you kept on saying how I was your dear friend and.. and my heart broke. I was sure that’s all you felt for me - friendship.”

She shook her head, “No, Caspian. I don’t think I realised it until I came to the castle and saw you again, but I think I’ve always loved you too.”

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

Caspian’s face had the hugest grin on it as you finished speaking. “Really? You love me?” You nodded, “Yes, I do.” Suddenly he was back down on one knee, “Then please - make me the happiest man in Narnia and marry me!” You must have looked like an idiot with your mouth forming a large O, but eventually you managed to say “Yes!” Then he had jumped up, pulling you off the bed and wrapping his arms around you, whirling you round while you squealed and he kissed you.

After the two of you had calmed down somewhat, he left to go back to his own chambers as even although you were now betrothed, it wouldn’t be seemly for him to spend the night with you, even if you just slept in the same bed. He promised that he would have a ring for you by the next day and while you’d assured him there was no rush, he’d insisted that he wanted a betrothal ring on your finger as soon as possible.

You lay awake most of the night, too excited to sleep. It seemed incredible but all of your most precious dreams had come true.

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

The next morning, Cornelius had appeared in front of your desk as usual and throwing aside his usual decorous manner, had hugged you. “I am so pleased to hear your news!” he declared. “I’ve never seen Caspian so happy. He was bouncing around like an over-excited rabbit this morning,” he chuckled, taking your hand and squeezing it while you laughed at his description of Caspian’s reaction. “I know the two of you will be so happy together,” he continued, “Now! We must start planning the wedding!”

When Caspian came to your study later that afternoon, he led you out from behind your desk, went down on one knee and proposed to you once again. This time, he produced a small jewellery box from his tunic pocket and opened it, showing you a ring with a large pear-shaped diamond as the centrepiece. It was beautiful and as Caspian slipped it onto your finger, he whispered, “To always remind you of the pear trees in the orchard,” with a small mischievous grin at you.

“How did you get the ring so quickly?” you asked him, as you were amazed that he’d managed to find such a beautiful, perfect ring in the space of one morning. He’d winked at you, “I have my contacts, that’s all I’m going to say.” You never did find out for sure, but there was one diamond merchant in the town nearest to Cair Paravel who had similar gems and you thought it might be from there.

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

One thing you did know for sure, the other ladies of the court’s eyes were out on stalks as they glimpsed your new ring when you joined them for dinner that evening. Every single one of them was praying you were going to tell them to whom you were now betrothed and eventually - when you had still said nothing and dinner was nearly over - one of them could keep quiet no longer.

“My lady… umm, I cannot help but notice your beautiful ring!” You dipped your head, “Why thank you, my lady,” you replied. She smirked at you, “But you are not willing to share the name of your betrothed with us?” You shook your head, a faux-regretful look on your face, “I cannot as yet, my lady. My betrothed has to be the one to announce it,” you went on, with a small shrug. Of course, this just meant that their curiosity ate them up even more.

But Caspian had advised you that he had to firstly tell the Grand Council, then your parents, the courtiers and the people of Narnia in that order - that was the accepted, traditional procedure and that was that. So you had to keep quiet, although in truth you were literally bursting to tell everyone!

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

When the news was finally announced, everyone showered congratulations onto you and Caspian. Although you did get the feeling that the other ladies of the court gave their best wishes through gritted teeth and with fake smiles. You knew that they were secretly devastated as you’d won the prize they had been trying to win, and you felt slightly sorry for them as you knew you’d have felt the same if Caspian had asked one of them to marry him.

In the meantime, Cornelius - much to your surprise - had indeed become almost your sole wedding planner, and very good at it he was too! He’d already arranged just about everything. In fact the only thing you had left to worry about choosing was your dress.

Caspian was getting nervous about the actual ceremony; he was worried he was going to forget his vows when he tried to say them to you. You had just told him, “Make them up! As long as you mean them, it doesn’t matter what you actually say.” He’d laughed, pulling you into his arms and kissing you hungrily, but then the two of you had to spring apart as two female courtiers appeared round the corner without warning. You’d all nodded to each other; they pretended they hadn’t seen you and Caspian kissing, and you two pretended you hadn’t been caught.

Until you were married this was frowned on in public, in what you considered to be one of various out-dated court traditions. You’d be shaking up some things once you were Queen, you smiled to yourself.

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

Caspian was super-excited on his wedding day. He was nervous, yes - but it was a good nervous. Apart from the fact that in a few moments he’d be joined together for all eternity to the woman of his dreams, tonight, their wedding night, they would finally - finally - be able to make love properly. He couldn’t wait.

Their first two attempts hadn’t exactly been stellar successes - and of course, they shouldn’t even have been trying the first time around! - but he just knew that it would be third time lucky. No guilty childish fumblings, no adult angry/jealous sex… it would be just the two of them, lying in amongst the crisp cotton sheets and deep quilts of their marital bed. No prying eyes, no interruptions, no rush - it would be just heavenly. He already felt a little thrill of arousal.

He heard the musicians begin to play the joyful wedding music and he turned to see his beautiful bride - in a gorgeous white dress and holding a bouquet of delicate white flowers - bathed in sunlight and standing in the entranceway. Would he ever feel as happy as this again, he wondered? He didn’t think he would.

She paused for a few seconds and then began to walk gracefully across the Great Hall towards him. Approaching him, through her veil she met his gaze and gave him a dazzling smile.

His smile in return was even brighter and totally blissful.

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

@paracosmenthusiast @jessevans

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————��———-————-««

#king caspian #king caspian x reader #king caspian fan fiction #king caspian fanfic #ben barnes #voyage of the dawn treader

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benevolentbirdgal · 3 years

Text

Purim: a Jewish holiday and wild ride from start to finish

So let me tell you about the absolute soap opera that is the Jewish holiday of Purim. The scene is set in ancient (appx. 4th century B.C.E.) Persia during the first Jewish Diaspora, in the city of Shushan (typically identified in secular sources as Susa, a now-abandoned ancient city in what is now Iran). I’m telling you, as a work of literature (even beyond theological implications for Jewish people), this book has everything: love, drama, royalty, intrigue, ego, plots, irony, mystery, and a strong female lead.

[some non-slur swearing below]

Ahasuerus, party-loving king of Persia executed or exiled (translations argue) his wife Vashti, and had to find a new queen. Why did he do this, you ask? Well, it really starts with an 180-day party across his kingdom for all his subjects to celebrate the third year of his reign. After that absolute rager, party-bro KA has another one immediately after for a week, this time just for the capital city of Shushan. Vashti was having a woman’s party in her quarters, presumably living her best life, when party-bro sends his top seven yes-men to deliver a message to Vashti. This sleaze-ball wants her to appear at his party in front of everyone, wearing her crown, with the clear implication being only her crown. Vashti more or less tells him to pound sand (I mean, not the literal translation, but that’s the sentiment).

KA’s advisors convince him that this is not only an offense against the king but also against all the men in the country (ah, the joys of ancient patriarchy and toxic af masculinity). KA writes a degree that women must respect their husbands so he has an official reason to get rid of Vashti. Vashti is soon thereafter out of the picture and the king is short a queen. Whether she was a Wise Lady With A Point Who Got Screwed Over or a Vicious Jew-Hating Adulteress Who Had It Coming has been a matter of furious debate for over two millennia (the Babylonian Talmud and the Jerusalem Talmud vociferously disagree on her). In any case, KA regrets it pretty quick and wants a new queen.

At the behest of his advisors (you know, since their last advice worked out soooooo well), KA had a big contest/forcible gathering of young women from around his kingdom and a Jewish woman, Hadassah, was the winner. Hadassah was an orphan raised by her cousin Mordechai in the city of Shushan. Hadassah is more commonly known as Esther, because she changed her name to hide her identity as a Jew (at the behest of Mordechai). In any case, KA decided he liked Esther best and she became queen (it’s specifically mentioned both that he loved her most and that the palace staff liked her because she was nice to them-it’s unclear how much of an influence the latter was).

Concurrently, a wicked man named Haman was the top advisor to the king and the king would basically rubber-stamp whatever Haman wanted. Haman was a raging Jew-hater-this will be relevant later.

Some time into Esther’s reign as queen, Mordechai, who has taken to hanging around the gates of the palace to keep in touch with Esther, overhears a plot by two guards, Bigthan and Teresh, to kill the king. Mordechai alerts his cousin, and she tells the king. It’s recorded in the book of deeds and life keeps moving.

Some time later, Haman decides (after a promotion to head lackey) that he wants all to bow to him as he passes. Mordechai refused to bow to Haman every single day (citing that as a Jew he bowed to no man), and that did not sit well with Haman. So despite being prime minister and presumably having more important things to do, “genocide the Jews” made it to the top of to-do list. He didn’t like them before, and Mordechai refusing to treat him like a special snowflake was something he took really, really personally (totally can’t think of any modern politicians like that, nope). He told KA, who frankly doesn’t seem to ask enough questions, that there was a people disrespecting the king and his laws throughout the land, and could he pretty-please exterminate them. As a bonus, Haman would “donate” 10,000 silver kikar to the royal treasury (modern conversion vary, but all agree this an absurd amount on money).

KA handed him the royal seal to do so. Haman was feeling lucky I guess so he decided the best course of action was to draw lots to pick the day for the massacre. [Purim is lots in Hebrew, so that’s where the name of the holiday came from]. The message went out to all the provinces that on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, that they citizens and leaders should murder all of the Jews, young and old, man, woman, and child, rich and poor and take their possessions as spoils.

As this wasn’t exactly a state secret, the Jews knew and were quite distressed. The planned slaughter was like a year out, but what the actual fuck were they supposed to do? If you lived in Persia at that point that, the empire was functionally your entire world, unless you were fabulously/ridiculously wealthy and well-connected. Having several months notice the other locals and your rules were going to slaughter you and take your stuff isn’t particularly useful when there’s really nowhere to go.

In Shushan, Mordechai (who, although not explicitly in text, is in oral/Talmudic tradition a leader of the Jewish community) goes into mourning. He dresses in sackcloth and ashes, he weeps, and he fasts at the gates of the palace, as Jews throughout shushan and the kingdom are doing. Esther hears of her cousin’s mourning behavior and tries to send along nice clothes through a messenger, which he refuses. It is then that she learns of the decree. Mordechai (through the messenger) implores her to go ask the king if the Jews not getting murdered could be a thing. Esther explains that she could be killed for approaching the king unsummoned. Mordechai stresses the severity of the situation. Esther agrees to ask the king and tells Mordechai to have the Shushan Jewish community fast day and night (as opposed to just day as prior) for three days, and she and her handmaidens will fast too (no word on what the handmaidens thought of this).

On the third day, Esther bravely approached the king, asked him if she could request something. He said anything, up to half his kingdom (which implies to me that homedude, for all his flaws, was actually into her). Esther invited him to a party, where he and Haman would be the only guests. At the party she asks if she can another request. KA is open to it and she invites him to another party the next night. Party-bro king is obviously down and Haman is tickled to death at this second invitation.

He goes home to brag to his wife, Zeresh, about the invite and also to bitch about how angsty he is Mordechai is still alive (this angst reignited by passing him on the way home). Zeresh suggests he have fifty-foot gallows built to make Mordechai an example on, with the king’s permission, ASAP. Haman orders the building of the gallows, feeling secure in the knowledge that his bestie the king will execute Mordechai on them.

Back at the castle KA can’t sleep. He demands a bedtime story from the his records, because those will presumably put him to sleep. The story that gets read, ~coincidentally~, is of Mordechai saving KA’s life. Haman had sidled on up to the castle to speak to the king about killing Mordechai, and the king called him in. KA asks Haman, if he were to honor someone, what should he do? Haman is thinking “this is obvi about me” and tells the king that the honoree should be donned in royal clothing, and ride through the streets on a fancy horse with people someone shouting how great he is. KA is like great, love it, perf, go do that for Mordechai. Haman is not a happy camper but does the thing. After that, he goes home and tells Zeresh about it, who warns him that this is a very bad sign.

Finally, that night is the night of Esther’s second soiree. Haman and KA attend. The latter offers to Esther anything she wants, up to half of his kingdom. Esther asks that her life, and the life of her people be spared. KA is like “whomst” and Esther revealed it was Haman. At this point Ahasuerus.exe stops working and he takes a walk to the gardens. He comes back to see Haman begging Esther for his life, and KA thinks Haman is assaulting her. Haman was seized by nearby guards.

One of the chamberlains is then like, hey, KA, coincidentally there’s these super high gallows Haman just had built. Why not take care of the problem that way? (The fact that the random nearby chamberlain was like yup, that dude, hang ‘em in the morning, probably says a lot about how Haman treated most people around him, even more than forcing all to bow to him). KA orders it be done.

Not that Haman was around to be sad about it, but what happened next would have massively pissed him off, as his old job then went to Mordechai. Esther then implored of the king that the degree to allow the massacre of the Jews be reversed. The king couldn’t Cntrl+Z the order to murder-all-the-Jews, but he could issue an order that they could fight back. The proclamation was sent throughout the land, and the Jews were able to prepare. Since the royal decree had been amended, the governments (princes, governors, satraps) largely reformulated their plans accordingly, but plenty of Jew-haters still wanted to use the opportunity. The ability to self-defend meant that the communities weren’t massacred. In most of the kingdom, the Jews were now safe. Outside of Shushan, the fourteenth of Adar became a feast day.

Shushan was still not safe though. Antisemites were still out and mad (and apparently had not learned from the previous day), so Esther asked the Jews of Shushan to be allowed to defend themselves once more. Her wish was granted, and the Shushan Jews were able to defend themselves once more (so Purim is celebrated a day later in walled cities).

The story ends with the decision to write it down, and although there some debate on authorship, it is traditionally attributed to Esther herself cowriting with Mordechai.

Nowhere in the book is God mentioned. Nowhere is there divine intervention (at least not explicitly). Just Jews sticking up for themselves, being brave in the face of mortal peril, and a metric fucktown of chutzpah.

#jumblr #purim #purim story #jewish soap opera for real though #purim 2021 #purim 5781 #what is purim #purim explained #jewblr

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melody-ofstars · 3 years

Text

Prologue

The night was cool, with thousands of speckled lights scattered across the sky. The slow cool breeze flew with the same delicacy as a mother stroking her child's cheek. Amid the swaying and dancing flowers lay a baby, a small baby with beautiful Y/h/c hair wrapped in a cloth of cotton with intricate embroidery of silver silk.

The baby's eyes fluttered open to reveal two beautiful y/e/c orbs glimmering beneath the moon, the baby was surrounded by a soft golden hue, her lips curled into a gentle smile.

The baby cooed softly as she kicked its legs and raised her leg trying to catch the fireflies that fluttered around it, giggling as they blinked.

Hearing the soft sound, the Magic Knight, Julius Novachrono decided to follow it, his eyes widened as he saw a baby wrapped in a cloth surrounded by very strong mana.

He stepped closer only to be mesmerized by the baby, he was awestruck by the baby, her gentle coo, her beautiful y/e/c eyes...

The baby looked at him and raised her hands, Julius then smiled and picked her up.

Who could leave such a beautiful and happy baby out in the forest just like that? Leaving her here will not be good, I shall take her back to the palace and try to find her parents...

He tickled the baby making her chuckle, she grabbed his finger and started playing with it and then bit it with her toothless mouth,

Well you are quite troublesome aren't you and your grip is strong too, your mana is also powerful, just who are you?

After returning to the castle, Julius put all of his squad The Gray Deer to work and find the origin of the baby that was now cradled in his lap, he has grown quite fond of her actually.

He liked playing with her or feeding her, she was never a bother for him and the amazing mana that she emitted only added to his admiration.

~5 Months Later~

Even after months of searching, there was no luck and Julius had decided that he will keep her with him and treat her as his child, not that he wasn't already doing it.

She was now five months old and her features were more visible now, her hair was longer too.

Lady Silva, even though she was due in two months, loved to take care of her. Even her kids Nozel and Nebra were always cooing the baby, not that Nozel would show that he liked the baby or put her to sleep.

Solid was not too gentle with her so he wasn't allowed to hold her.

Fuegoleon was a great help, he would always come by and help Julius to take care of her, he loved spending time with her and always brought his younger brother Leo with him.

His elder sister... Well she loved the baby too in her wild way, she always treated her like a cub, she always liked to take care of her and was surprisingly gentle with her,

This baby was someone that was loved by all,

"What's her name?" asked Fuegoleon once,

"I... Don't know..." replied Julius,

"Does she have a name?" he asked,

"I don't think so..."

"So then we should give her a name! It feels weird to call her The Baby and not a name," said Fuegoleon

"That is a wonderful idea Fuegoleon!" said Julius as he ruffled the red locks of the teenager, he was always surprised about how much he cared about the kids at this age.

"Okay let's see... What name would suit her?"

"Oh-oh, how about Marygoleona!!?" suggested Fuegoleon,

Julius laughed and politely dismissed it

"How does Y/n sound?" asked Julius after thinking a lot

"Wow, Captain Julius it sounds just like her!! I am gonna go and tell everyone!!"

"How about we tell all of them together in a party?" suggested Julius,

"Even better! I will go and tell my sister and Lady Silva and Lady Vermillion and everybody, we are gonna have a grand celebration for her and Leopold!"

Julius chuckled and nodded, looking at Y/n,

Since she was living in the castle and that too with Julius Novachrono, almost every noble knew her and loved her, some were even jealous.

She is going to be the key to stop the discrimination amongst the royals and peasants,

They all are acknowledging her as an equal even though nobody knows what caste she belongs to, we can all feel the mana and for these nobles and royals, the stronger the mana the higher the caste,

~6 Months Old~

Y/n was six months old now and had developed a lot,

She couldn't be left alone in a room now as she had started to roll from back to front and so on, she had even started to sit on her own which was very impressive.

Her grip was also very strong now, Julius got to know this when Nozel was holding her and she yanked his braid as it was swinging and attracting her.

Nozel chuckled even though he never let anybody touch his hair, he made this exception, however when he tried to free it from her grasp, she held it tighter, Julius laughed, and then freed his braid.

The most heartwarming development was her understanding when someone was talking to her and responding to her name and having a conversation with them.

"So, my dearie, are you hungry?" Julius asked,

"Ah? Oh, gah gah." Y/n replied in a melodious voice.

"I'll take that as a yes. Now open your mouth," he said as he scooped a spoonful of baby food,

"Ah-ah!" she exclaimed and opened her mouth,

"Good girl," he said,

She smiled and then started blowing raspberries.

"Someone's quite chirpy today, does she know that today there is a party thrown for her?" asked Fuegoleon as he and Nozel entered the room,

"Who knows?" said Julius,

"Lee-lee, ga!" she said and raised her arms towards Fuegoleon.

"Okay, well we are here to take you, Lady Silva has to dress her up for the celebration," he said and picked her up,

"Be careful," warned Nozel and they walked away.

****

It was time for the celebration and the guests were there, it was surreal to see these many nobles here for a child that was found in a forest,

There was something about the girl that mesmerized everybody, maybe her mana?

Y/n was sitting in her crib along with Leopold, who was dressed in a red suit, she was dressed in a beautiful gown that had a white lace top and a maroonish burgundy tulle patterned with white embroidery, the gown had a large bow in the center paired with a matching headband and shoes.

She was blessed with hundreds of gifts by the nobles and royals, some gave really expensive dollhouses, some gave dresses and accessories, some gave very meaningful and helpful gifts as Fuegoleon gave her a pendant that was red with a golden lion etched on it.

Shockingly, Nozel also gave a really meaningful gift, he gave her the symbolic cross of the House of Silva.

Kirsch Vermillion had acknowledged her as beautiful and gave her one of his necklaces with a dark purple jewel.

Charlotte Roselei gave her a red rose brooch which was outlined with twenty-four karat gold.

Soon, Y/n dozed off into a peaceful slumber along with Leo and the celebration went on for the night

~7 Months Old~

Lady Silva, who was crucial in taking care of Y/n passed away after giving birth to Noelle.

Y/n certainly felt the loss of her mother-like lady, she didn't know much though since she was only a baby but still she knew something was missing since Lady Silva was pregnant she was able to breastfeed Y/n, and due to that Y/n stayed healthy,

The lucky thing was that this was almost the time for her to transition from breastmilk to powdered milk,

Lady Silva's loss was deeply felt by the House of Silva, they had stopped visiting anybody and were more to themselves now,

"No-No!" Y/n said with a giggle and her eye shone with happiness as she saw Nozel enter her room, but Nozel had ignored her and left.

She was confused but soon forgot about it as she found her teether and started to chew on it.

~2 Years Old~

Y/n had started to walk and was now very troublesome.

She had started to speak more distinctively and started calling Julius, Dada, she was even able to speak a lot of words but in her jumbled way,

Once she had a whole speedy conversation using her weird words and shaking and nodding her head with herself,

She could climb up and down her bed now, which was creating a problem as people often found her running around the castle.

She was often found tugging Julius' leg, asking for food

"Cookie want me!" she said,

"Okay, my dearest, let's get you a cookie." he used to reply and get her cookies,

She had even started to carry bigger toys and heavier stuff.

However, she was getting more and more stubborn day by day, crying when not getting her way.

She was also quite fond of Yami, he was the newest recruit of the gray deer, he was also quite fond of the kid and they connected easily, so whenever somebody didn't do something she wanted, she either went to Yami, Julius or Feugoleon.

They were spoiling her and nobody minded, after all, she was the daughter of the kingdom.

She was always playing and never getting tired, she had a small squad of her own which included Leo, Noelle, and Mimosa, and she was always the one leading them.

They all were called the fiery four because of their habits,

~4 Years Old~

If Julius thought that two years old was the hardest stage, he was very wrong. By now Y/n was even more chirpy and cheerful.

She had started to read books and had quite many storybooks stacked on her bookshelf, she was a fast learner and had learned many poems and stories and counting too,

The Fiery four were always playing pretend together and Y/n was always the teacher, they even played Mom- Dad, where Leo used to the dad and Y/n, was the mom.

She also had started to stand up for Noelle and always help her when Solid troubled her, he troubled all four of them but they fought back.

The traces of her powers had begun to take place it was very powerful for someone of the age four but Julius was always happy about it,

Yami and y/n connected more as they most likely had the same type of magic.

Fuegoleon always used to spend time with her and played with her and the rest of the fiery four in the castle, whereas Nozel, well he was never around and whenever he was, he treated Noelle like she was a nobody while Nebra and Solid blamed her for their mother's death.

~6 years Old~

Julius Novachrono was now the magic emperor of the Clover Kingdom and due to that fact people's respect for Y/n grew more, since she was the adopted daughter of Julius, she was loved by everyone. She was now the magic princess of the kingdom

********

|| Next ||

A/n:-

Heyyyyyyyy!!! So uh new fanfic and I am just laying out the background and all, the upcoming chapters are going to be much better and well written.

Also, to be a part of the taglist, send me an ask!

Taglist:- @sizzlingdonutturtlemuffin @softiehawks

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cellsshapedlikestars · 3 years

Note

If you are accepting prompts--how about Sansa and Jon being on opposite sides of a political contest? Prime Minister Rhaegar Targaryen is forced to call a referendum for Northern independence, as demanded by the Northern Nationalists party. He is campaigning in the North for a United Westeros, taking his second wife Lyanna Stark and their son Jon along, toshow how hollow all talk if Northern independence is. However, this means that Jon keeps running into his Stark cousins, particularly Sansa Stark, who accompanies her parents to every debate and campaign rally...

I've been sitting on this for a while (and yes, I do see all the anon prompts, I promise!) and I've sort of been writing this on and off since I got it. The thing is, I have no point of reference for these politics, I'm assuming you wanted something like the Scottish independence movement, which I have almost no knowledge of as I am a dumb American who can barely handle American politics without spiraling into anxiety and depression. So, I've sort of talked around the specifics and hopefully I haven't gotten anything too crazy wrong.

Also, you mention his Stark cousins, but... well, I cannot do modern incest. I can handle them being cousins in olden times where it was acceptable & common (I can't even handle the sibling incest aspect in any time period), but I was writing this modern and that's a hard nope for me. I know it's a fairly predominant part of this fandom and if it's your thing, absolutely have at it! There is no kink shaming in this house. It's just not for me and I couldn't write it, sorry!

Also, as usual, this turned out longer than I intended since these are supposed to be drabbles mostly. But 'drabbles' for me always end up like 2k words

Jon sits in the window seat of the jet, headphones on and turned up. Somewhere behind him, he knows his parents are sitting, likely talking strategy. He knows dad wants him to join in, but Jon's in no mood to talk politics. It's what got him in this situation to begin with.

That stupid reporter. Jon's stupid response.

Jon! How do you feel about Northern Independence?

I say let them.

It's what he believes, honestly – if the North wants independence, why not? The rest of the SK treats them like shit anyway, why not let them break off, like Dorne did? It's not a naming issue – they're still called the Seven Kingdoms despite losing Dorne decades ago, so what if they're technically only six now? Jon knows it's about more than that – it's economics and politics and... well, pride. The SK can't lose another piece of their kingdom – nevermind that piece has been conquered and beaten down multiple times over hundreds of years. Northern Independence isn't a new concept – it's just been met with military resistance every time and stamped out. But they aren't in the middle ages anymore.

For a moment he turns his head to look behind him – to see mom with her head bowed in conversation with dad and something ugly twists in Jon's stomach.

He knows dad only married mom because she got pregnant – because his political career was just taking off and a mistress and bastard would have ruined him. And mom, she'd been so young, she's convinced herself he married her for love. Jon swears that mom used to be different. She used to argue with Rhaegar all the time about politics, he even remembers her bringing up Northern Independence when Jon was just a kid. But over the years she's had to play the perfect wife for him and somewhere along the way it just... stuck. Mom isn't his mom anymore. No, mom is what Rhaegar's political advisors want her to be.

So even though Jon had wanted to protest this trip, there's also a part of him desperately clinging to the hope that when they get North, mom will snap out of it. When she's home, maybe she'll be his mom again.

Especially since the leader of the opposition is an old friend of hers.

Ned Stark.

Dad doesn't react to much, he's a politician to his core, so seeing him get riled anytime Ned Stark is on TV is notable. In fact, there's a rebellious part of Jon that already likes Ned Stark simply for the fact that dad hates him so much. There's more to like than just that, Jon knows – Ned Stark seems like one of those politicians that's doing the job because they want to make a difference. They're rare, nowadays, but Jon's been surrounded by politicians his whole life and he can spot the do-gooders from a mile away.

He thinks it's partly why dad hates it – Ned Stark doesn't use the same underhanded tactics Rhaegar's used to, and from everything Jon's heard, there's nothing to use against Ned. The only skeleton dad's advisors had ever found tucked away in Ned Stark's closet had been that his wife, Catelyn, had originally dated his older brother Brandon, who died in a car accident. They'd begun dating and married shortly after - a minor scandal that hadn't gained any traction, considering they've been married for over twenty years with five children.

Dad was hoping to get somewhere with the youngest daughter, Arya, who always seemed more wild than the rest of her siblings (except maybe the youngest, Rickon). The problem is that she's never done anything really wrong and the North loves her. The oldest son Robb is as perfect a son as any politician could hope for and Jon sometimes wonders if dad would rather have Robb than Jon.

The other two sons are still fairly young and going after them would only make dad look like the bad guy. Then there's Sansa.

Jon remembers her from growing up – not that he'd ever met her, but they're both kids of prominent politicians and he's seen her in photos since she was old enough to walk. A proper lady, he remembers even the southern press naming her. Perfect, just like her older brother.

A hand on his shoulder jolts him out of his thoughts and he turns to see mom, who motions at him to take off his headphones.

“We're landing in a half hour and your father would like to go over your role,” she tells him with a perfect, bland smile. (She hasn't been his mother for a very long time.)

“I know my role,” he says and he can't help the bitter tone to his voice. “Stay quite, don't talk to the press. Pretty easy to remember.”

“And yet you still managed to nearly undermine my entire campaign with one flippant remark,” dad's voice calls over from his seat, low and smooth, though Jon absolutely hears the annoyance underneath it.

“Oh, he's just a child,” mom says, trying to play the peacekeeper like she always does.

“He's twenty, he's hardly a child,” dad starts, but Jon doesn't listen to the rest. He pulls his headphones back over his ears and looks back out the window and tries to pretend he's anywhere else.

…

By the time they reach Winterfell Castle, Jon is in a bad mood.

Not that he hadn't been before, but he's not allowed his headphones in the limo and so he'd had to listen to dad talk nonstop about his two favorite topics: Jon's failure as a son and how much he hates Ned Stark. And the way mom doesn't even try to defend Ned Stark like she used to infuriates Jon even more.

Jon hates his tuxedo and he hates that they barely had any time between landing and having to get ready for this dinner and he hates that he's going to have to smile and shake hands with a bunch of people who hate him on principle, simply for who his father is. For what his father represents.

When he does step out of the limo, he ignores every photographer and reporter that shouts his name, eager to get any sort of scandal out of him.

He doesn't blame them for this, he's given them enough over the years – not just his apparent support of Northern Independence, but everything else he's done to gain his notoriety. His reputation as a heartbreaker and a playboy that's mostly over-exaggerated, that time he punched a teacher (though to be fair, Thorne deserved it)... Teenage rebellion, they'd written it off as, but he's no longer a teenager and he knows he should grow up and stop doing things to piss off his father at some point.

(His favorite one had been sleeping with that investigative journalist when he was seventeen. She'd been older than him by a good few years and he'd known she was using him to write an article, but he was using her just as much to infuriate his father. His only true regret is that Ygritte's article hadn't done any real lasting damage to Rhaegar's reputation.)

Inside, there aren't any reporters but there are politicians everywhere and that's worse. He does the bare minimum to not cause an issue – he shakes hands and says hello, though he refuses to smile while doing it. They already hate him for being Rhaegar Targaryen's son. They already hate him for being Northern-traitor Lyanna Snow's son.

He keeps an eye on mom to see how she's doing and his heart twists painfully in his chest when he sees her. She has a bright smile on her face and anyone who didn't know her would think she's fine, but Jon can see how pale she is under her makeup. This is the first time she's been back in the North since she married dad and he has a sudden, sharp pang of hatred for Rhaegar – for getting her pregnant, for marrying her, for never letting her go back. For turning her into this.

He can tell the moment Ned Stark enters the room because mom freezes. And sure enough, there he is – beautiful wife at his side, the three adult children with him. Robb, Sansa, Arya. Jon's eyes scan over them – Robb with his perfect hair and smile, an easy way about him that's always come through even on camera. Sansa standing poised and almost too beautiful to believe – Jon's only ever seen her on film and somehow she's even more unreal in person. Arya, who by all accounts hates politics as much as Jon does, stands firmly by her family and Jon gets the sense she only hates the system, not her dad. Not like Jon.

As Jon scans the room, he can see other families here that he recognizes – the Greyjoys, including Robb Stark's best friend Theon. The Manderlys, the Karstarks, the Ryswells, the Boltons, the Mormonts. More families than Jon cares to remember.

There's a sense of someone behind him and he turns just enough to see that dad has come up to stand next to him. For a moment, dad just stands there before turning his head ever so slightly and bringing his mouth close to Jon's ear and he says so low Jon can barely even hear it - “if you do anything to embarrass me tonight, there will be consequences. If you do anything that makes it seem like you support this pathetic independence movement, there will be consequences. Do you understand me?”

Jon feels blind rage that winds so hot in his chest it makes him shake and his vision narrow. He has to close his eyes and take a deep breath before he can answer, and he grits out, “of course.” Dad nods and moves away, putting on his best politician smile as he goes to greet Howland Reed.

Mom shoots him a concerned look, but Jon ignores her. He can feel it building in him – that rebelliousness the press likes to talk about so much. He wants to hurt Rhaegar. For everything – for his mother, for all the people dad's stepped on and hurt. He wants to embarrass him, consequences be damned.

Just as he's thinking this, his eyes catch on copper hair and bright blue eyes.

Sansa Stark.

Darling of the press. Perfect Northern princess.

It takes root in his mind, against his better judgment. What would make Rhaegar more furious than an affair between his son and the daughter of Ned Stark?

Jon can't imagine Sansa would be amenable to the suggestion, not like Ygritte had been – there is no mutually beneficial agreement here. She would never agree to do something that might embarrass her father (and once again, Jon is reminded of the, pun intended, stark difference between his relationship with his father and the Stark children's relationship with Ned. Jon has never even met them in person and he knows this).

So he can't approach her with any sort of offer or plan. No, he'd have to pretend it was real.

He's going to have to seduce Sansa Stark.

#jonsa #prompt fic #ask #oooh boy do i know nothing of politics #and political families #do not @ me #is this boring?#probably #jonsa fic

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fandomficsnstuff · 3 years

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Little Dragon - Part 8

Summary: You were a child slave of Meereen, when one day a silver haired woman sets you free. Though your master isn’t too keen on letting you go, and Daenerys took personal action to see you freed and taken care of.

High Valyrian is in cursive

You were listening intently to the conversations going on in the war room, so many faces that you wanted to remember, their names, their houses, their history, but for now you settled on staying silent and listening, “are you really sure we can discuss this around her?” your head snapped towards the accented voice, seeing a beautiful woman with olive skin, black hair and dark brown eyes, and you wanted to look to your mother for help, but decided that you couldn’t use her as a pillar forever “(Y/N) Targaryen, Lady…?” you couldn’t help your tone, you were not a little girl wearing a collar around her neck anymore, jumping at the slightest of sounds. You were still timid and childish with Daenerys and Missandei, because you knew you could afford it, but you didn’t know these people, they were allies of your mother, but you didn’t know them.

“Ellaria” she sounded tense as she responded, she probably hadn't known you were the daughter of Daenerys, but you merely nodded “well, Lady Ellaria, I would prefer that if you are done questioning who your Queen trusts, perhaps we could get back to planning the war we are currently in” you heard a short laugh, your eyes glancing to none other than Olenna Tyrell, the Queen of Thorns, and the only living Tyrell left. “Are you sure you did not birthe her? She has the spirit of a dragon that one” Daenerys did everything to not smirk proudly at Olenna’s comment, and even Ellaria looked a bit surprised at your response “now… I agree that a foreign army would send the wrong signal, but an army from Westeros, it would show that we are not here to raid and pillage, the Dothraki will not do so unless their Khaleesi orders and my mother never will, the Unsullied are obedient and loyal, so they won’t either, but we need Westeros with us, and showing that their own houses are turning on Cercei is a good way to win quickly and without a lot of losses, on either side”, you studied the map as you spoke, unaware of the impressed looks everyone gave you, Tyrion being the first to speak up “well… I agree” you glanced at him and sent him a quick smile, one of the few smiles you had offered him, but you didn’t really know him either, so it was justified that you didn’t treat him, or Varys, as warmly as the rest of your mother’s allies.

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You stood impatiently besides Daenerys in the throne room, and Daenerys couldn’t help the amused glance she shared with Missandei “alright go, but change before you do!” you barely even heard the rest of her sentence, you were already off, heading towards your room. In record breaking time you changed from your formal dress to a special outfit you had made for you. You had been riding Rhaegal much more frequently, and today were the day of the arrival of Jon Snow, King in the North, and you had promised to stay for his arrival and then ride Rhaegal after, but you couldn’t help fidgeting, and were more than happy that Daenerys excused you. You put on your leather trousers, securing them with a harness that was connected to them, ensuring that they didn’t fall down, not even an inch, you had a tunic under your harness, pulling a shortened cloak over your shoulders and tying it to the harness, making sure the knots were tight, the cloak was warm but light, it reached just below your hips, but kept you warm. Next you threw on a pair of gloves made from cloth on the inside and leather on the outside, and then your boots, they were high, they almost reached your knees, and you pulled the laces tight, so they wouldn’t fall off during the flight.

Your room had an open balcony, just like Daenerys’, and you approached the edge, grinning widely as you waited. You couldn’t help the excited giggle you let out as you heard him roar as he came closer, and in a leap of faith you jumped off of the balcony, you let out a little huff as you landed on scales, and a few moments later you got a good grip, holding onto Rhaegal as you flew away from the castle, going high up and then soaring, admiring the landscape below, seeing a ship you presumed belonged to Jon Snow, you flew towards Drogon and Viseryon who were flying on the other side of the island. You could still just about watch Tyrion greet Jon Snow, and saw them making their way towards the entrance.

A wicked smile grazed your lips as you got an idea, and somehow Drogon, Viserion and Rhaegal knew what your plan was, Rhaegal let out an ear shattering roar as you held on tightly, flying towards Tyrion and the two men he were leading up the long stone staircase. You leaned forward as you flew closer to the ground, Rhaegal barely managing to not hit the small people below, something that made you laugh loudly and you couldn’t help but cheer, Tyrion seeing you on Rhaegal as you waved at him, and you could see him shake his head, but you also knew of the smile he tried to hide, he was probably telling Jon that he himself wasn’t used to the presence of the dragons.

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You heaved heavily as you ran into the throne room, your hair wild from the wind, your chest rising dramatically as you tried to catch your breath, standing besides Daenerys who did her very best to not smirk at you proudly, instead she tried to look as regal as ever, waiting patiently for this, Jon Snow, to arrive.

Rhaegal had barely managed to throw you off on the open balcony you jumped out of earlier, you almost bumped into a few tables on your way to the throne room, a fact that made you smile amused before trying to hide it. “Well, at least you made it back in time” her words could be mistaken as scolding, but you knew her better, and you couldn’t help the breathless giggle you let out “think I scared an inch or so off of Lord Tyrion” Daenerys let out a short, although quiet, laugh at your comment, shooting you a very poor attempt of a scolding gaze before looking back towards the large doors at the end of the throne room, making you straighten your back, your smile faltering and your hands placed in front of yourself, as you always did when you had attended any court meeting.

You watched the two strangers as Missandei went down the list of titles that your Queen had acquired along the way, something you took great pride in, she was your mother after all.

“And this is (Y/N) Targaryen, daughter of Queen Daenerys Stormborn, princess of the Seven Kingdoms and heir to the throne” Missandei finally ended, and the two men looked at you confused, giving you the impression that they didn’t know that much about your mother, and therefore you, they had probably only heard rumours, lies or other falsehoods, and therefore didn’t know of your existence, which was probably not a bad thing. You had heard of how the usurper King Robert Baratheon had sent assassins to kill Daenerys, even while she was pregnant, so who says they wouldn’t have been sent after you, back then nothing more than a little girl, had the usurper's children heard of your existence, and Daenerys’ love for you. You were snapped out of your day dream as Daenerys got up, approaching Jon Snow and his adviser, and first now you tuned in on their conversation, a small frown resting on your brows, hearing her words, but you couldn’t deny the pride it gave you, despite hearing all that she had suffered, “I was born at Dragonstone. Not that I can remember it. We fled before Robert's assassins could find us. Robert was your father's best friend, no? I wonder if your father knew his best friend sent assassins to murder a baby girl in her crib. Not that it matters now, of course. I spent my life in foreign lands. So many men have tried to kill me, I don't remember all their names. I have been sold like a broodmare. I've been chained and betrayed, raped and defiled. Do you know what kept me standing, through all those years in exile? Faith. Not in any god, not in myths and legends. In myself. In Daenerys Targaryen. The world hadn't seen a dragon in centuries, until my children were born. The Dothraki hadn't crossed the sea, any sea. They did for me. I was born to rule the Seven Kingdoms, and I will, and so will my daughter.” Her gaze turned to you for a brief moment and you smiled proudly, one she proudly returned before turning back to Jon Snow.

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You frowned as you watched your mother study the map in silence, you wanted to say something, you really did, but what could you say? The Iron Fleet was gone, Yara and Ellaria had been taken prisoner and Jon Snow refused to bend the knee and instead only wants to hack away at some mysterious stone somewhere in a cave on the island, claiming that an army of undead people and giants are the true enemy.

You couldn’t help the sigh that escaped your lips, you being the only one to actually make a sound in the entire map room “maybe…” you dared a glance at your mother, not that you feared her, but more that you knew of the thin ice you were balancing on “maybe you should just let him mine this… ‘dragonglass’... it means nothing to you after all” Daenerys looked to you slowly, and for a second everyone in the room were praying to whoever and whatever that you hadn’t crossed a line, but when you received no response, you continued, “you didn’t know it was there, no one did… there are two options here, either he’s right, in which it doesn’t hurt you or your army or your dragons to comply, or he’s mad, and it won’t hurt you, your army or your dragons either. There’s no outcome here where anything bad is an outcome, you complying will also show that yes, you are to be feared, but you are also complying and reasonable, and allowing one man, one person to mine something of no value is a sign that you are with the people of Westeros” there was another second of silence, but eventually Daenerys smiled at you, walked over to you and placed a gentle hand on your cheek, looking at you with a proud look in her eyes before walking off.

“Where is she going?” Tyrion looked at you baffled and confused, but you simply shrugged “to allow Jon Snow to mine the Dragonglass” you leaned over the map table, studying the different areas, looking at the different highlighted places, such as King’s Landing, Winterfell, all the places you’ve only ever read about, you couldn't wait to see them for real.

#Daenerys Targaryen #Daenerys Targaryen x Child!Reader #GoTFanFic

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qwanderer · 3 years

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What makes a Loki a Loki?

Loki is called upon to be a lot of different people. He’s been raised on Asgard, and that’s formed some of the more basic aspects of his personality and values, but at the same time he has attributes that have been consistently discouraged and pushed down by that culture, and we can see them step forward as he moves into situations where they are encouraged.

Throughout the canons, there are a lot of Lokis. Siege Loki, Lady Loki, Kid Loki and his murderer, Ikol, King Loki, and the God/Goddess of Stories. The earlier aspects I know only by secondhand information, but I’m very familiar with Loki from Young Avengers and Agent of Asgard, some of my favorite comics of all time. But I know some basic facts - the way the earliest Loki was a quintessential comic book villain full of pure simple theatrical mischief and ridiculous schemes, the fact that Lady Loki was a somewhat more sinister appropriator of bodies for her own use.

In my view, MCU!Loki has, at the very least, the same capacity to shift personalities depending on the circumstances, and I haven’t yet seen anything in the Loki show that’s thrown my suspension of disbelief with regards to his characterization.

I’ve seen some people rebel at the idea of Loki gleeful over the destruction of Pompeii and the causing of chaos it allowed, but it reminds me of some meta I wrote very early on in my years of meta-writing in the MCU. The values Loki was raised with, Asgardian values, sometimes treat death very lightly, especially death in battle, especially human or otherwise non-Aesir death. In the Aesir context, at least to a certain extent and certainly in terms of what we’ve seen Odin teach his sons onscreen, violence is honorable, fighting is an adventure, lives are cheap and Valhalla is the ultimate goal.

I think a lot of the central conflict of Loki’s character is that he follows some of these principles to their logical conclusions in situations that Aesir values never meant them to cover. If life is unimportant, then it won’t be so bad if I tell Thor that Odin is dead. If the throne of Asgard has dominion over all the Nine Realms, then why shouldn’t I rule Midgard?

But he also shifts the way he acts to suit the situation. He is a shifter, it’s what he does. On Asgard, he is expected to be a warrior, a dignified prince, a companion and support for his brother. The values are bravery and dignity, and so a lot of what he projects there is bravado and elegance, which are close enough for him to get by.

When he is taken by Thanos, the only things Thanos wants and values are power and death. So Loki becomes an avatar of power and death. He carries that with him to Earth, because he is still very much under the jurisdiction of Thanos. But he very quickly learns how to use and manipulate Earth values, like wit and pathos. They seem to fit him better than the others, and he carries them through the other movies and the different frameworks he finds himself in.

He also tends to carry Asgard with him, the knowledge that he’s a prince, destined to be a king, that he needs to carry himself a certain way, with that elegance, dignity and bravado.

When I see Loki in the first episode of the show, I recognize him as some of the deepest, most quintessential parts of Loki that have only been allowed to peek out on occasion before. And that is due to manipulation on Mobius’s part - Mobius makes it very clear what he expects of Loki. To get down to the very basic levels of him and find out his motivations, what makes him fundamentally himself - “What makes Loki tick?” There’s a quiet void there, and the only thing that’s being asked of Loki, for once, is that he sit down and fill that void with words - the truest and most sincere words possible.

There’s a clear and interesting divide between that phase for Loki, and the phase we see in episode two - Mobius has stopped providing that space, and in the interim, he’s made it very clear what he expects Loki to be like, what mold he’d prefer the trickster to fit into.

The hard-working, lovable scamp.

Loki is hiding his deepest self again, which we all do most of the time. Loki can’t feel that deeply and express that freely all the time. Because of the environment he’s in - which may not be any more or less free than any of the other environments he’s experienced - he expresses himself in a particular way. He is the hard-working, mischievous scamp Mobius has been pushing him to be.

I don’t think he’s any more or less himself than he’s ever been - he’s simply responding to different pressures. And the pressures of this episode press him very hard into the Neal Caffrey mold. Which is an interesting mold in itself - when I was writing White Collar fic, I made a point to distinguish who Neal was when he was with Peter and who he was under different circumstances - prison, witness protection, with Mozzie, with Kate. (I wrote an autistic Kate, and had him most freely himself when he was with her.)

Like Neal Caffrey, the Episode 2 Loki is treading a line between behaviors that will get him things because he’s useful and compliant, behaviors that will demonstrate that he’s into minor trickery for fun now and might not be getting up to anything bigger, and those bigger tricks that are definitely still running in the background. It’s the obvious balance for a trickster on a leash with an indulgent bureaucrat.

You can see that it’s a facade in the way that he is near tears when he sees the Ragnarok paperwork, but when he brings it to Mobius’s attention and Mobius expresses his sympathies, Loki says “Yes, very sad,” and then dismisses it in favor of moving on to his mischievous enthusiasm over the resulting theory he’s had.

Like all good lies, it’s built out of truth, so when I see this Loki, I see pieces of the Loki I know, just put together a little differently, which is how Loki seems to do it.

Although he’s not free as he might hope to be, and in fact threading a narrow path between a very constricting set of pressures, I do still think he’s enjoying the dropped expectations of dignity and elegance. I think he’s enjoying being in a culture that encourages him to be a geek. To go on about the things he’s passionate about and his areas of expertise. And I think that’s a lot of what unsettles people about this Loki, because that elegance and dignity have carried everywhere else with him. And I’m not going to argue that the TVA are doing anything nice for him - quite the contrary - but I still do enjoy seeing him able to be the geek he’s always had the inclination to be, in the right circumstances.

It makes me wonder, a little, how much his mother is on his mind right now, after the first episode, because if I had a guess, the last time he’s felt free to be this enthusiastic and expressive about his interests is in magic lessons with her as a child.

So. The other variant.

We know from the Lady Loki comics arc that Loki can possess other people’s bodies over the long term, and we know from kid!Loki and his murderer interacting in YA that the original occupant of a body can sometimes hang around and talk back, if only as a figment of his imagination. We know from most incarnations that Loki can go to a lot of dark places if the circumstances push him to it.

As I’ve said before, I’m intrigued by the question the difference between the two variants poses - how much different can two Lokis be before they are no longer meaningfully the same person?

We’ve got clues on both sides, of course - our scamp on a leash saying “I wouldn’t do this to myself” on the side of them being not the same person, and the vengeful goddess he’s chasing saying “I was afraid they’d found a better version of me” on the side of them being the same person.

The more I think about it, the more I’m willing to predict that this vengeful goddess is, in some way, an incarnation of Loki. But (be warned, I’m going to reference Stephenie Meyer now) it could be in as small a way as something out of The Host - a stolen body’s original personality fighting dirty against the invading spirit.

If this is something based on the character of Sylvie from the comics, it could still be anything from a person - human or Asgardian - chosen and manipulated by Loki to do his bidding, to a full-on possession, or even a body constructed for a specific purpose but developing its own personality traits.

We know this variant is a body hopper, and Mobius’s briefing mentioned that it’s an inherent ability of most Lokis to shapeshift, so there are a lot of potential explanations for this unfamiliar shape.

But the differences between the variants could also stem mostly from different experiences.

The only thing I’m at all sure of is that this variant has also been tortured by Thanos. It’s possible that she branched earlier - that the wild desperation of having freshly escaped Thanos translated into being dragged into the TVA like a cornered wildcat, on the raggedy edge and desperate enough to go all-out to get out of the collar while still in the custody of the minute men. Then, as she became familiar with the TVA in concept and execution, developed opinions and built a personality around taking them down, taking them apart the way she wished she could do to Thanos, the way Thanos did to her.

But she could also have branched later - after the destruction of Asgard, or when Thanos appeared on the refugee ship. After the worst has happened to her people. With some preexisting notion that time could have gone differently, that some things that had happened should not be allowed to happen.

I have a weak spot for interactions between incarnations of Loki in the comics, so I am incredibly eager to see the MCU’s take on this.

#Loki meta #the loki show #loki spoilers #loki laufeyson #loki #meta #marvel #comics #616 #white collar #the host #sylvie #loki s1e2

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lilchibi-chan · 4 years

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Hawks Mafia! AU x Reader

This post/series is inspired by mailorderfriend on TikTok. I love her videos and when she did this series, my mind started going WILD! Details will be inspired by her videos (obvi) but everything else will come from my head.

CW/TW: THIS CHAPTER DOES CONTAIN MENTION OF ATTEMPTED ASSAULT, SO IF THAT IS TRIGGERING FOR YOU, YOU CAN SCROLL PAST IT, I WILL ALSO INSERT A WARNING BEFORE SAID ASSAULT TAKES PLACE!!

You work at a local diner in the city and make pretty good money. Business men come in on their lunch break and even late at night when they’re working late. A few of them try to impress you and make comments about you being beautiful and how you’re “much too nice of a girl to be working in a place like this”. You know it’s just for them to show off to their friends, although you do make great tips from it. They feel entitled because they work in these big beautiful buildings and look down on everyone, but that stuff doesn’t impress you.

There is one guy that sticks out to you. He has ash blonde hair and these amber/golden eyes and always has on the nicest suits, like really expensive looking and tailor made.Not like the business men that you usually see. You could tell he was rich or at least had more than enough money he knew what to do with, but he wasn’t arrogant. He always comes in when you’re working late, which has been everyday lately (just trying to make a little extra cash). He’s always nice to you and always asks how your day has been. He insists on calling you pet names like baby bird and hummingbird, but you don’t mind them. He says them in more of an endearing way than a i’m-trying-to-get-in-your-pants way.

When you’re closing, he stays until you leave. You don’t find it weird at all. He has this aura about him that just makes you feel safe. He makes you feel at peace, happy even.

It’s been raining for the past week and you have been dreading closing, but you needed the money since your roommate had moved out. You were on the hunt for a new one, but didn’t have any bites yet.

“Excuse me sir,” you say to the very handsome,blonde haired man

“Yes, hummingbird,” he says looking into your eyes, each yours with his

“Um, we’re closing, s-so I have to ask you to leave,” you say nervously.

“That’s alright,” he says with a soft smile,“you have a Goodnight baby bird. Get home safe and be careful out there with all that rain.”

“Th-thank you sir,” you reply,still nervous

“Enough of the sir business, please call me Hawks”

“Yes si-I mean Hawks”

“Good girl,” he says in a low voice, then pats your head

He made his way out the door and towards his car. It was a blacked out Audi R8. He waved to you before he pulled off and you gave a small wave back.

You noticed there was man sitting in a corner booth. He was a regular, but he never came this late.You noticed the scent of liquor as you got closer to him.

“Sir,” you say tapping his shoulder

“Hey gorgeous,” he says drunkly

“Sir, we’re closing. I’m going to have to ask you to leave,” you say nicely, but firm

“I’ll leave... if you give me your number and let me take you out,” he says grabbing your hand

“Sir, I’m not allowed to fraternize with guests and that includes dating them,” you say pulling your hand out of his

“C’mon beautiful. You always treat me well when I come in and I see the way you look at me. You think I don’t notice, but I do. You want me,” he says standing over you

You mentally roll your eyes

“Sir, that’s just me doing my job. It’s called courtesy and being respectful. I’m going to have to ask you to leave now”

“C’mon stop denying it. You and I both want this. I know it, you know, so c’mon. Let me take you out,” he says going to grab your arm, but you back up

“Sir, this is the last time I’m going to ask you. Please leave,” you say in a slightly pissed off tone

“Look, I’m not screwing around,” he says finally grabbing you

WARNING: ATTEMPTED ASSAULT HAPPENS IN NEXT PARAGRAPH, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO SCROLL PAST IF THAT IS SOMETHING THAT MAKES YOU UNCOMFORTABLE/IS TRIGGERING!

You try to pull away, but this time his grip is much stronger in you. He pushes you into the corner booth and forces you to lay down. He lowers himself to kiss you, but the door swings open causing his attention to go there.

“Well, well, well... what’s going on here? That’s no way to treat a lady, sir” he says smiling

“Stay out of this, it has nothing to do with you,” the customer says,still hovering over you

“Oh, it very much does sir cause ya see, I don’t really care for people disrespecting women in any way, but especially if it’s her.”

“Tch. Get lost before I have you limping out of here”

“Sir, you’re the one that’s probably not gonna make it out of here”

“You think you’re tough. Go ahead and try. I’ll lay you out right here,” the customer says finally getting off you

You’re able to sit up and see that it was Hawks who came to your aid.

You see him remove his suit jacket, fold it, then he lays it over the booth closest to the door. He started rolling up his sleeves and made his way toward the customer trying to have his way with you.

Hawks grabs the man and throws him to the floor. He then joins the man and places a hand around his throat.

“How does it feel to be the bitch now, huh? Come back here and I promise it’ll be the last fucking thing you do. If I see or hear that you’ve been hanging around, I’ll fucking kill you,” he says with a smile

He meant what he said.

Hawks releases his hold and let’s the man up off the ground. He races out of the diner and doesn’t even think to look back.

Hawks makes his way over to you and at first you’re unsure if you should let him near.

“Are you alright, baby bird,” he asks with a tinge of sadness in his eyes

“Y-yeah. Thanks to you. H-how did you even know-“

“I saw him when he came in and something felt off. When I drove off, I only parked across the street. I watched just in case he tried anything and I’m glad I did.”

“Th-thank you Hawks,” you say, still shaken up by the events that just occurred

He looks at you softly. His eyes saying ‘I’m here for you. You’re safe with me’

“Get your stuff baby bird. I’ll take you home, you shouldn’t be alone tonight,” he says softly as to not startle you or make you feel any more uneasy

You simply nod and get your stuff from the break room in the back of the restaurant.

You meet Hawks in the front and you feel the sudden urge to hug him.

This surprises him, but he hugs back and rubs the back of your head.

“Thank you,” you squeak out

He smiles and lets out a small hum.

He takes your hand and guides you to his car, covering you both with a huge umbrella.

He opens the door of the passenger side and lets you get in first. He does a small jog around and gets in on the drivers side.

“Comfortable, baby bird?”

“Mhmm”

“Good, so where we headed,” he says smiling

You tell him the address and starts the car. The drive is quiet, but comfortable. Hawks even put on the seat warmer for your chair to further comfort you.

He makes it to the front of your building and wakes you up gently. You weren’t even aware that you had nodded off.

“We’re here, humming bird”

“Thank you, Hawks...for everything,” you say grabbing his hand and rubbing his knuckles with your fingers

“Anytime...here,” he says handing you a business card

You examine the nicely crafted card and smile

“That’s my cell number. Whenever you need me, don’t hesitate”

“Thank you,” you say mentally kicking yourself because you keep saying thank you,“I promise that’s not the only thing I can say, but I’m appreciative of everything you’ve don’t for me tonight”

He laughs

“It’s fine and you’re welcome. I’m bein honest though kid. In fact, how about I give you a job at my company? It pays more than you working at the restaurant and I have top of the line security, that way you’ll always be safe. You’ll even make enough that you won’t need a roommate”

“I’ll think about it. Thank you though. I just wanna get through tonight. When I can actually think, I’ll let you know”

“Alright, baby bird. Well you get on up to your apartment. I’ll leave once you’re inside.”

You get out the car and enter the code to enter your building, then you take out your key fob to enter the second set of doors and to use the elevator. When you get up to your apartment, you look out the window and see Hawks’ car still sitting in the same spot. You can’t help the smile that grows on your face.

You text him, letting him know you’re in your apartment and you’re safe. He takes a minute, but eventually pulls off.

You head to your bathroom to wash the day off and head to bed.

Art by kawaiitentacle on IG

Hope you guys enjoyed this! I wanted to give you this in the meantime while I figure out how to extend Siren Song (I hate writers block).

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bittydragon · 3 years

Text

The Problems Arising (The Spy)

First(Previous) - Next

Notes: Here’s chapter 2 of The Problems Arising! (Finally, I took way too long on getting this out y’all) Hope y’all enjoy!

Being with Schlatt was a nightmare. Everything about Tubbo’s new life with the president was terrible. He was even forced to change out of the clothes that Tommy had sewn for him, back when they had first met.

He was now forced to wear a small hand made suit, much like the one Schlatt wore, only poorly sewn.

He missed his old outfit. Tommy had made it for him because when he had first seen the borrower, Tubbo was wearing a small piece of cloth over his shoulders in a bad attempt at a poncho.

He never really did get the hang of making clothes for himself, but the poncho worked well enough. Though he never realized how comfortable a proper set of clothes would be until Tommy made him some.

And now Tubbo was forced to wear the shoddily made suit that was too big in some places and tight on others. It even made him wish for his old poncho. But Schlatt insisted and practically forced him to wear the ensemble, despite him being a secret from the rest of the cabinet, minus Quackity.

Quackity was tolerable. He was pretty funny and came by frequently to talk with Tubbo. But he never made any attempt to free the borrower and in the presence of Schlatt, any kindness he held disappeared.

Tubbo wasn’t too sure how he felt about him.

Schlatt on the other hand was horrible, through and through. At the beginning of Tubbo’s capture, he’d made many attempts to escape.

He had nearly made it to the walls at one point. But every time his luck seemed to fade out and he was met with a boot slammed down in front of him or a hand roughly pinning him down.

Schlatt wasn’t at all merciful towards Tubbo either. If he did anything the man didn’t like, he received some sort of punishment. He felt like a dog being trained to be a good pet for its owner.

Though, that analogy wasn’t too far off from how he was treated.

About a month into Tubbo’s capture, he had stopped trying to escape knowing it would be a fruitless endeavor. Schlatt had quickly picked up on that piece of information and was pleased enough to know that he could now use this tiny boy to his advantage without him attempting to run away again.

So now Tubbo was on one of his little spy trips for Schlatt. Schlatt realized fairly quickly that he was small and knew how to get into hidden spaces and stay undetected.

So every so often, Schlatt would send Tubbo out just before the sun rose to go out into Manburg and gather any inside intelligence he could and report back to Schlatt at the end of the day.

Schlatt was kind enough to drop him off at different locations in the mornings, but after that, he was left to traverse the area on his own, a difficult task for a borrower.

Tubbo was forced to make do with the situation, he didn’t want to try his luck at gaining more favors from Schlatt.

However, Tubbo was not completely under Schlatt’s thumb. While he did have to go out and retrieve information for the man, he always found a way to leave out the details that would mark people as traitors.

He had overheard a few people in Manburg state something about a place called ‘Pogtopia’ and how Tommy and Wilbur now resided there.

Because of his spying for Schlatt, he had managed to gather the fact that Wilbur and Tommy were working together in order to find a way to overthrow Schlatt.

With that in mind, Tubbo decided he would only need to bide his time until Schlatt was overthrown and Wilbur took back his rightful place as president of this country.

But now, it was time to report back to Schlatt. Today was a boring day, nobody really said anything that they all didn’t know.

There was the one lady who owned the bakery that Tubbo had overheard complaining about her high taxes and thinking about becoming a spy for Pogtopia, but Schlatt didn’t need to know that.

Looking up at the white house, he took a deep breath and walked towards the building. He had only made it a few steps before the door was practically slammed open and in the doorway stood Schlatt, who looked a bit too pissed off for Tubbo’s liking.

Schlatt spotted Tubbo almost instantly and marched over towards the borrower, who took an instinctual step back at the sudden movement. Before he could say anything else, Schlatt bent down and picked him up in a tight fist before marching right back towards the door.

“You better have some fucking good news for me, little pest. I don’t need another shit piece of news right now, so you better have something good.”

Tubbo stared wide-eyed up at the president. What bad news had he received that got Schlatt all worked up like this?

It didn’t bode well for Tubbo though, Schlatt was not against taking his anger out on the tiny boy. He needed to make sure he calmed the man down before anything especially bad could happen.

Far too quickly, they arrived at Schlatt’s desk and Tubbo was unceremoniously dropped onto the wood. He watched as Schlatt sat down and levelled him with a hard stare.

“Well? What’ve you got for me, kid?”

Tubbo cleared his throat, he had to word everything carefully as not to further anger Schlatt, even if he had barely any information to give the man.

“I did not find much out that we didn’t already know, sir. The most interesting thing I saw was that a demon and a strange person made of diamonds were walking through the country today. I have not seen them here before, so I was unsure as to whether or not this was vital information for you or not. Other than that, it was a very normal day and nothing incriminating was found.”

Schlatt almost seemed to measure him up for a minute. Tubbo nervously stared back at him, nervous at what his reaction could be. Schlatt eventually sighed and leaned back into his chair.

“Bad and Skeppy. They shouldn’t be a threat, but they aren’t exactly a friendly party with us either. The Badlands, their faction, is a very neutral faction. I don’t trust them but no issues have arisen with them, so we shall continue with them peacefully.” He paused for a second before addressing Tubbo directly.

“You did well enough, I suppose. I can’t really blame you when nobody says anything around you sometimes.”

Tubbo did his best not to allow the relief to cross his face. If Schlatt knew of just how much Tubbo was panicking then he would use that to his advantage to gain more power over him. He didn’t need anything else making his life harder.

“I am glad you are happy with the information I have found today. I apologize for not finding anything else for you.”

Schlatt actually smiled at him. Tubbo didn’t know what to think, the smile seemed genuine but the president was a master of deception so he couldn’t be too sure.

“Y’know, you’re a good kid. If you continue working this hard at your job, I may have to upgrade your enclosure again.”

Tubbo wasn’t sure what to say in response to that. It seemed more of a backhanded compliment. Schlatt may have applauded him for his work and how well he did it, but he also made sure to remind him that he was still nothing more than a pet. An obedient little pet who deserved a treat when they did a good job.

“I have an idea, kid.” Tubbo looked up to the ram. He felt a small bout of nerves build up inside of him, but he shoved the bad feeling away.

He nodded towards Schlatt to indicate he was listening, too scared that his voice would relay the slight fear he had. However, the president didn’t seem to notice as he continued on.

“Manburg is thriving right now, there’ve been very few amounts of potential betrayal and Wilbur and Tommy can do absolutely nothing against me with nobody else on their side.” Tubbo flinched at that, but if Schlatt noticed he said nothing as he continued talking.

“So I’ve decided that I should hold a festival, one to acknowledge the success of this country under my rule. There will be games and activities for everyone and I will give a speech to the people as well. This should be the perfect way to show everyone how great the country has become, don’t you agree?”

“Of course, Schlatt! I think that’s a perfect idea! A festival would be a good way to celebrate how far your country has come.” Tubbo’s voice shook a little as he spoke.

He hoped the president didn’t notice how he was struggling to lie in order to appease the man. He didn’t want to call the country Schlatt’s, but if he didn’t he would be labelled a traitor on the spot.

“Exactly! You get it, kid. I knew you were a good asset for my cabinet.” He reached a finger out to ruffle Tubbo’s hair. The borrower resisted the urge to flinch away and only faked a smile up at Schlatt.

“I’m glad you think so, sir!” Schlatt sent another small smile towards the boy, finger still on his head. Tubbo let out a mental sigh of relief when he seemed to buy his lie. He felt like he was getting a whole lot better at this whole faking thing.

Schlatt began to shift his hand to grab Tubbo, the finger slipping out of his hair. The borrower found himself restricted in Schlatt’s fist once more, but in a noticeably looser grip than earlier.

He didn’t appreciate being grabbed like this, but there was nothing he could do against Schlatt. If he attempted any form of rebellion then he would lose all the privileges he had managed to gain, and he liked the small amount of freedom he currently had.

It didn’t take long for Schlatt to reach Tubbo’s enclosure. He pat his head once more before lowering him down into the small glass enclosure.

Tubbo only stared up helplessly as the top was placed over the enclosure, trapping him inside once more. Schlatt sent one last glance towards the small boy before making his way to the kitchen.

Tubbo didn’t move, just sitting there allowing his thoughts to run wild. This festival did actually seem like a good idea, but something about the whole plan made him feel queasy... like there was a part he was missing.

And why had Schlatt conferred in him about the idea? The whole thing just sent Tubbo for a loop and he couldn’t explain why something just felt off about the idea of the festival.

A minute later, Schlatt returned with a small container containing bread, some pieces of strawberry and a bottlecap of water. He moved the lid off of Tubbo’s enclosure, putting the food and water into the glass box before closing it and leaving once more, this time towards his office.

Tubbo instantly made his way towards the food, the sight of it reminding him of his hunger that had built up throughout the day. He was glad that Schlatt felt the need to feed him, even if he knew it was probably because the ram didn’t need his pet to be dying on him any time soon.

He picked up a small chunk of strawberry and began to nibble on it while staring blankly out at the room he was kept in.

His mind wandered back towards the festival idea. Something inside of him screamed that something was wrong but he didn’t know what.

He decided it was just nerves and he chose to brush off the rising anxiety. The feeling remained but Tubbo decided to just ignore it.

What could possibly go wrong anyways?

#mcyt #mcyt gt #tiny!tubbo #giant!schlatt #giant!tommy #giant!wilbur #giant!quackity #tubbo #schlatt #bitty writes #part 2 #no direct interaction with wilbur or tommy or quackity #but tubbo has a fun time with schlatt :)#what could possibly go wrong y'all?#bringing you more angst #borrower tubbo saga

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