#and I think Claire would be the same. she's very easily manipulated or at least she has been so far. | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

nerd-chocolate · 1 year

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Lucien’s Cousin oc idea:

Renée Claire Lyron

Age: The same age as Lucien.

Pronouns: She/Her

Sexuality: Lesbian

Personality: She is a mythic bitch. She is a popular ruthless girl like Heather Chandler or Regina George. She can charm any girl she wants whether she truly loves them or not. But once she starts dating them, she treats them terribly and would take advantage of them any time she gets them. She would play with their hearts, making them believe she is interested in them and when they confess they like her, she breaks their heart while she and her friends laugh at them. Just like Lucien, she is very manipulative and can be very possessive of the things she wants. So yeah, she is just as bad as Lucien is.

Some fun facts about Renée:

Both Renée and Lucien are Taurus and were born in May.

She plays ice hockey and is the captain of it.

She got the gold necklace from her grandmother alongside Lucien, so she and Lucien both match each other. Just one is silver and the other is gold.

She has weird gap teeth because of “an ice hockey practice accident.”

She and Lucien have a surprising but good relationship and she is the only other person that Lucien thinks is just as perfect as him.

She lives with her dad, Jorge Rebois, who is the twin of Lucien’s mom and her mom, Esmee Lyron. She has a good relationship with her parents even if her parents spoiled her a bit too much.

She is a tall girl, to say the least!

And lastly, she loves rom-coms, yes even the ones that are bad.

Now that's out of the way, let’s begin with a story I came up with! Enjoy!

💔StoryTime🩷

When Cosette was in middle school (at least for the 6th grade through 7th grade), they went to an all-girls school and they didn’t have the best time there. It didn’t have any friends and most of the other girls found them strange not only for its appearance but also its personality, Cosette got used to it by now since it already experienced that from its previous schools. That suddenly changed one day during lunch, Cosette was just eating her lunch until Renée came to the table she was eating at and sat next to them. Cosette was confused at first since they only knew Renée from some conversations they heard and some classes they had been in together but other than that, they didn't know her that much. Cosette asked why she came over, Renée said that they looked lonely and wanted a taste of their lunch. Cosette joked with her a bit by stating its lunch can’t be tasted that easily but it wouldn’t mind a trade of something to taste some of it. Renée smiled and said that sitting with it would be enough too often since she looked cute from what she was sitting at and wanted to get a closer look. Cosette thinks for a few seconds and then says yeah no then leaves to eat her lunch somewhere else leaving Renée shocked but intrigued.

For the next two weeks, Renée kept being nice to Cosette while Cosette slowly grew less annoyed with her antics and jokes. Until Cosette said they wouldn't mind if they and Renée are friends and Renée said great, I’m glad that we’re friends now with a cheeky smile on her face. In the next few months, Cosette and Renée grew to be great friends as they hung out together. Cosette smiles at the fact that she has a friend now after not having one for the longest time. But it ended up having a crush on Renée after she kissed it on the cheek one night and gave her a wink before going home, making Cosette blush like crazy. Cosette at first didn’t want these feelings at all since Renée is at this point it’s only a friend and didn’t want to lose that. So they try to lose these feelings but Renée is a bit of a flirt with them and gives some hints that she likes Cosette in a romantic sense.

So a few weeks passed and it was almost Valentine’s Day, Cosette was at her locker getting her books for her next class then Renée came to her locker and asked if she wanted to go to the amusement park together on Valentine’s Day. Cosette was surprised and a bit flustered at first but said yes with a hint of blush on its face. Renée with a grin on her face, kissed Cosette on the cheek and said, can't wait to see you and left, leaving Cosette stunned while they were screaming inside.

The night before Valentine’s Day, Cosette spent it baking Renée’s favorite cookies for this occasion, Raspberry with Chocolate chip meringue cookies. When Jordyn saw Cosette baking cookies, he asked what she was doing and Cosette said something you don’t need to know about, Jordyn. Jordyn rolled his eyes and told them that it was for their crush, then they should know that no matter how hard they try, no one loves someone like them and they should give up before they get crushed by them since no one loves a freak. Cosette doesn’t say anything and Jordyn gestures dismissively and leaves to go to bed while not noticing Cosette crying for a bit from wiping its tears and going back to baking.

When Valentine’s Day came around, Cosette wore a short slip dress with a candy heart pattern on it with their favorite bracelets and Valentine theme makeup like hearts shaped eyeliner and two heart-shaped hair clips on the side of their hair. After putting the cookies in a little bag, it heads off to the carnival to hang out with Renée. When Cosette got there, everything was great at first, she and Renée went on many rides, played some carnival games, and even took a picture in the Photo Booth. Cosette didn’t know when to confess her feelings towards Renée until Renée suggested they go through the tunnel of love. Cosette thought that would be a good way to tell her, so it agreed and got on the ride. When they got on the ride, Cosette was a bit nervous at first but mustered up the courage to do it. They gave Renée the cookies they made for her which Renée thanked them for and say the cookies are amazing. Cosette said you're welcome but that is not the only thing I want to do tonight, while Renée looked at her to listen to what she had to say. Cosette finally said the thing they wanted to say “I love you and I wanted to tell you for so long. You don’t have to answer right away, I just wanted to tell you that all.” Cosette didn’t know what to expect but probably not what Renée said next. She just smirks at them and cupped one of their cheeks and says “Well thank you for telling me, I appreciate it. There is something I need to tell you as well after we get off this ride, of course.” Cosette a bit stunned, managed to say “Oh okay.” Renée said, “Don’t worry, I love you too, it just needs a better place to say it you know?” Cosette was unsure for a minute until Renée smiled at her again, it made her feel relieved since she could trust her, right? It then says “Yeah, I know. Just promise me that you’ll tell me okay?” Renée put a smirk on her face and said: “I promise with all my heart.” It was officially, Cosette was love stuck and it felt amazing. They just kept thinking about all the times they hung out together and how it led up to moments with a blush on their face, they were happy.

When they got off the ride, Renée took it somewhere away from the crowd and told it to close its eyes and she’ll tell it when it can open its eyes again. Cosette was curious why they had to do that but not enough to question it and closed their eyes. It takes a few minutes until she feels Renée holding both of her hands. Renée starts talking again. She thanked them for confessing to her and that she appreciates them… for being such a fool and letting go of their hand. Cosette was shocked by that reply and opened its eyes when it got worms and dirt poured all over it and saw Renée’s cheeky smile which came off as more malicious than endearing. Cosette felt like its heart was breaking into pieces as Renée and her friends laugh at it so much that it doesn’t notice the two of them filming this whole thing. Renée told her the real reason she would ever talk to her is for a bet that the other friends came up with to see if the school freak would easily get a crush on her by just giving her the basics of attention and Cosette proved it to them. Renée just finished it off by saying it would be some miracle for someone to fall in love with them and just laugh about it some more with her friends.

Cosette just ran from the situation, not even saying a word to her, running. It is the only thing that makes sense in their brain right now. It hid somewhere to get out of its system before going home since it didn’t want its brother to be proved right and rubbed it on its face even if he was right. That someone wouldn’t love some freak like her and that she should have given up on love, at least it wouldn’t hurt as much as it does now.

A few days passed after Valentine’s Day, and Cosette had to experience the embarrassment from the video that Renée’s friends posted of scenes from their classmates and siblings making fun of it. Well at least, the siblings were doing it as much and just let it go after a few days, the classmates however would rather have it known as long as possible. Cosette was just lucky to survive to the 7th grade and was happy that she was moving again at least she would never see any of them again. But before she left, Renée decided to tell her one last thing, which was about how they could have become a couple if Cosette just looked and acted differently so that she could have a better chance. Cosette felt disgusted by that comment and before Renée left, they gave her a punch that gave Renée a gapped tooth. It was the last time they ever saw her and honestly, that made them feel nothing and a bit lucky it was the beginning of summer and somewhere that no one was around to see.

It pushed those memories of the event and Renée down and brushed them off so much that it sometimes joked about it time and time again. But it doesn’t mean it had a part to play when Cosette started covering their white streaks in the 9th so at least people would make fun of their appearance that much. Though, she is surprised that she never developed a fear of worms or getting dirty from that.

The End

These are some things I want to clear up before I end this post:

Does Lucien know about the thing Renée did? The short answer is yes and he does find it funny as much as her.

How did Renée feel after getting punched in the face? She may have developed feelings for Cosette which is pretty stupid to anyone else with common sense but she is Lucien’s twin cousin so don’t expect much from her.

Does she and Marc know each other? No, especially to Marc since he only heard about her a few times from Lucien or seen pictures of her and Lucien as kids. As for Renée, she only heard of him from Lucien and that's just it and she doesn’t care about the relationship, to be honest. But as long as Lucien is happy then she is fine with it.

Also, this is what she looked like in middle school if you were wondering.

And that's it. I would like some feedback on this character and the story I came up with. Also if you’re wondering where she comes from then look at this post to see. I hope I did a good job and I would love to hear about it in the reblogs and replies since I want to improve my writing skills so these would help me to do so. Also since I’m mentioning Lucien in this, I’m just going to tag @artzychic27 , sorry if I’m disturbing you.

#miraculous ladybug #miraculous ocs #marc anciel #mlb ocs #Lucien Rebois #mlb season five #mlb season 5 slander #oc idea

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sapphire-weapon · 1 year

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Jumping straight to a 1:1 remake of 5 doesn't make sense to me because that game was the big final confrontation with Wesker and most the people who only started playing with the remakes don't really know who he is. Separate Ways ending on a confrontation between him and Ada makes a lot of sense to me. They should use it to set up a more Ada focused game with Wesker continuing to hunt her down. She could manipulate Chris and Jill to get involved to take the heat off her creating an alternate RE5

This was also my thinking. It makes absolutely no sense to go straight to an RE5 remake without at least remaking Code Veronica first. I would probably say that about 30-40% of the people buying these remakes haven't played the originals. There are so many new fans that have been brought in by these games that it's kind of insane. It'd be stupid for them to just go into RE5 and be like "sorry new fans you should've been keeping up with the MYRIAD OF STUPID BULLSHIT this series has been doing for 25 years!!!!!"

But, on the same token, I don't actually see them remaking Code Veronica. I don't see that as a thing that's going to happen, because I don't see them going backwards in time. Or -- if they do remake Code Veronica, they're going to drastically change it, and instead of the game taking place in early 1999, it'll probably take place closer to RE4 -- because the point of remaking Code Veronica at all would specifically be to lead into RE5, so it'd be stupid to retain the 10-year gap between the two stories.

And, in that case, you could probably tie Code Veronica to this whole thing -- assuming that Ada actually gets away from Wesker somehow. After all, it never really got explained how Claire got the information she did in order to go to Paris at all, much less how she was able to get into an active fucking Umbrella facility. And, considering the fact that RE4make did not at all say that Umbrella was finished the same way OG did, chances are that Umbrella is actually still around, and they could very well make a change like that to CV. (Okay, well, I know Luis says "Umbrella's done for; you don't have to worry about them anymore" but boy does he not sound confident at all when he says that. Will be interesting to see if he's aware that Wesker was the one who sent Ada to retrieve the Amber, and if that has anything to do with Luis's change of heart.)

If Capcom was smart, they'd flesh out Lost in Nightmares and turn it into its own game. And that's something that Ada can be slotted into pretty easily if/when she gets caught by Wesker at the end of Separate Ways. She could be the prototype for what Jill eventually becomes in RE5, instead of that shit just kind of... coming out of nowhere and everyone being like "okay that's a thing, I guess." oh my god imagine an infected Ada hunting you down in a game Lisa Trevor style I'D SHIT MY WHOLE FUCKING ASS, BRO

But this is all just spitballing and speculation. We won't have any idea what to expect until Separate Ways actually comes out and we see what Capcom actually did with it.

I'm gonna put money down that we're going to see Separate Ways at the Playstation Showcase on Wednesday. So, let's see what happens then!

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ellewriteswrongs · 2 years

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tw: SA

honestly, I think the best way for them to handle the allison and luther SA situation in the next season is for either a side effect of the rumors or the reset of the universe to cause him to have no memory of what happened. I think the only way the move forward with it would be for allison to be the one to not only make an effort to make things ‘right’ with him, but to show that even if he doesn’t remember it, she is willing to come clean about it on her own and show that she knows it isn’t right to sweep it under the rug. just like luther’s confession of his physical assault and abuse towards viktor that he apologizes for in the beginning of s2.

I think she needs to come clean and let him look at it objectively, no tears, no siblings present, no outside influence. she has every right to decide not to forgive viktor and luther should be able to have a choice whether or not to forgive her and have her be forced to accept whatever that decision may be. her getting everything back that she wanted would be kind of a cop out if there wasn’t at least some things that she couldn’t fix. she chose her family with ray and claire over her siblings and she has every right to make that choice, but she should face the consequences.

I just think the most important thing would be for her to admit to it as exactly what it was. that she used him and she committed a horrific invasion of his body, but she didn’t do it to be cruel to him. that doesn’t excuse it, but the writers should acknowledge that she didn’t do it because she wanted to be malicious towards him. was it cruel and undeniably inappropriate? absolutely. is it luther’s decision whether or not it’s unforgivable? yes.

I can’t personally imagine myself forgiving someone who manipulated me into SA, but I’ve also never been in that situation, I’ve never known someone who went through that kind of trauma, and I can’t predict what allison’s acknowledgement of what happened might mean to him. im acutely aware, however, at the permanent effects severe trauma can do to someone’s logical reasoning and I think it’s very critical that they acknowledge that allison’s state of mind was not the same as it was prior. not that she didn’t have control over her actions because she very much did, but that her mental capacity both for emotions and logic has been brutally impacted by what she went through.

I do think there’s a way to move on with the show in a way that’s very reflective of real family trauma in which you can harbor very legitimate resentment towards a loved one while acknowledging that you might still care about them in your own way. it’s very real that a single traumatic experience doesn’t always wipe out every good memory you have towards someone and it wouldn’t make him any less valid if he did have the desire to repair their relationship because of the love that he has for his family. bringing up the concept of not forgiving someone while still caring for them as your family is something a lot of trauma sufferers go through and I really think they should keep as much of the aftermath between the two of them as possible, even if the others find out about it. I would really hate to see the others pressure luther into any sort of feelings towards/opinions of allison when it should unanimously be left up to his reaction alone and the others could easily influence his feelings all over again even if they meant well. luther deserves to have control over the situation. he deserves to be the one calling the shots.

but it needs to be acknowledged for what it is and what it meant from both sides.

#I don’t want anyone bringing up the rest of her actions in the tags or comments #this is specifically about her SA and if I see any racist bullshit in here I’m deleting it #tua #the umbrella academy #umbrella academy #umbrella academy allison #allison hargreeves #tw: sa

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the-blind-geisha · 2 years

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awww, that's so sweet! but tbh I don't wanna be just Pandemonium's anon for you, not when we used to have blog-to-blog relationship (does this even make sense?). Alright then, I shall make preparations to expose myself fully. But it has to be grand, it has to be breathtaking! So, we will see. Glad to hear that, then! You could say Cheshire is a different form of Emmett in a different universe!

Oh my God, no! Stay away from these pieces! They are ama-effing-zing. They don't need to be changed! <3 (my edits, on the other hand, could look better or maybe I could put more time into them xD)

Yes! Exactly that! At the same, I wonder if Nazarick's residents would be villains (at least, that fast) if Demiurge didn't kinda overthink what Ainz said about wanting "the chest of jewellery" or sth when they were looking at the night sky XD. Man, I absolutely love Demiurge for that, he's VERY intelligent, but sometimes, he can act a bit dumb? and overthinks everything? XD But I also absolutely love when he analyzes the supposed Ainz's plan and Ainz is sitting here being like "Yes, yes, good Demiurge, you saw through me (WHAT THE EFF DOES HE TALK ABOUT? DID I REALLY SAY THAT? AND MEANT THESE THINGS??)". Seriously, Ainz having to act tough and intelligent all while he screams inside because he's so lost with all stuff doing around is so effing good. But holy eff, Renner, that girl is just creepy. I didn't really know she wanted to end her self, but, considering her intelligence and people around her, I can imagine she would do that XD. And I really don't have a thing for yanderes, but at the same time, her character is just so great. Glad to see that humans in Overlord also have their twisted side. The way she manipulates everyone around her and the stuff she does later, in LNs is just *chef kiss* go slay queen, even if I don't really like you.

No doubt Tuare wouldn't want the innocents to be hurt! She gives that innocent, heart-of-gold vibe XD. So yeah, she would definitely care. I think it's more about not wanting to be around humans right now, which is understandable. That's a bit funny too cuz when she's done with her training, she's supposed to be a head maid of human staff in E-Rantel residence XDD. But I can see her doing that because it would be considered doing it for Sebas. Which is mood, I'd also do everything for him (Tuare and me being besties, simping to the same man au <3) But IF Sebas and Demiurge shared a woman, oh man. It would be like having mean and soft dom in your bed XD Also, they would absolutely argue meanwhile, like about which thing to do next. Poor woman, I think the argument would be so serious, she would easily get forgotten XD

I don't exactly read LNs now but I know spoilers? And don't worry, Demiruge will have a bit of a spotlight soon. Well, at least I think so. <3

Oh, Leon and Claire huh? I see you're a person of culture as well (dang, I know a person who would absolutely love to talk to you about Leon XD). I also love RE but I've never beat RE 1 so I feel you </3 Not only it effing lags cuz my computer is shit, but also, the puzzles:tm: and having to go back all the time, is tiring me so much. XD The only game I nearly finished was RE5 and damn, I really enjoyed myself. (Also, Chris could strangle me with these huuuuge arms and I'd thank him lololo).

Not gonna lie, the ability to sense through anon sounds absolutely sick and I'm kinda jealous. But I'm glad you have that ability XD. Oh well, then, time to make preparations to show my true form! (or more like, new form cuz I made yet another blog!... and, yeah, im so damn stupid cuz I had no email left so I deleted the blog I used to post a fanfic for you... so don't change your account without telling me where are you going! cuz this time, I don't think I'll find you XDDD

hope you're having a nice but peaceful day! <33 - Pandemonium

I completely get it, hon. And tbh, it's just my autistic side showing, where everything has to have a place and everything in that place where I label you as 'anon'. X”D But, deep down, I know you're more than a gray-face. Trust me there. ♥ But oooh, you have my attention! :O

LOL kinda! I mean...Cheshire is going to be a lot more 'forward' when it comes to his Creator Demona; whereas Emmett was far more reserved in that thought unless pushed to be so. XD Maybe a reincarnation where they're not the same emotionally (and even physically as Cheshire is going to be a wink/nod towards the same cat idea of Alice in Wonderland LOL) but same in other ways. X3

HAHA. I mean... I do still have them on my PC and they've not be trashed. XD Promise. ♥ I never was someone to toss old art I couldn't stand. I just redraw them. X3 But I am glad you loved those pieces! (I still won't tarnish your edits either, my dear. =P So HAH!)

Oh yeah! The 'glittering box of jewels'? And Demiurge is like 'OMG, HE SAID WE CAN TAKE OVER THE WORLD!!' I swear, it makes me heckin' curious the flavor text Ulbert gave him to have Demiurge look for any and every sign of 'it's okay to take over the world'. X”D I think that's what's going on there where the devil is concerned. If you look under 'my screenshots' tag, you'll find a photo I took of where Demiurge does it again and at vol 15? I wanna say? Forget which one it was from... Ainz has caught onto 'that look' Demiurge does before he goes off the deep end thinking about Ainz's ideas. Ainz even told Demiurge to 'take a damn shower' in his head, basically. LOL

Omg, Renner is like...such a breath of fresh air where the New Worlders are concerned. XD All of the others are either boring or creepy in other ways (IE: hints of being child... 'lovers'... *shivers in disgust*) She's SO creepy too but in a good way! So I'll be happy when Ainz takes over the world and eradicates the idiots and gross people.

I can now see the 'Do it for him' meme with her looking at a collage of Sebas pics haha.

I'd gladly accept that dynamic! LOL

Ooh yes, the movie is going to be about Demiurge attacking Roble, so that'll be cool af!

//Grins big// Yessss. Also, I cannot get over Dead by Daylight Leon's moaning sounds of injury. X”D But the voice actor who did them had 'a good time' he insisted on Twitter... He knew what he was doing... the bastard. ♥

I am so glad you enjoyed one of the games from the series! I adore the series so much, and weirdly enough while it wasn't my first one, RE: Code Veronica holds a weirdly special place in my heart. Even if I never beat it either! I just really loved the atmosphere and everything. ♥

Bolder punching Chris Redfield. Heck yeee! ♥♥

Hah! Oh, when able, I'll tell you on DM how I got this 'super power'. XD It's too long a story to post here.

FOR ME?? Well, shucks!! I won't, I won't! I promise! ;^; I'll be super excited to read it whenever you post it! I know I will!

All my love, dear! I hope you're having a lovely day yourself!

#and yesss i get to have 2 days off in a row now #so i get to relax #it was a busy day but i'm home now #mod answers #anon #anon: P #anon: pandemonium

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rechoired · 4 years

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A problem with the Tales Of Arcadia community

First and foremost, I’d like to ask anyone taking the time to read this to please read the post all the way through before commenting on the matter. There is a lot of dirty laundry to unpack here, and some points will be building off previous ones.

I’ll get right to the point. Most everybody in the Tales of Arcadia fandom will have heard of the blog imthegingerninja / ginger-le-gay. She is one of the most well-known ToA-centric blogs, after all. (If you’re wanting to avoid her on Twitter as well, her account is Margaret Bell, or @The_Book_Bell.)

This is your PSA, TOA fandom: Ginger is a toxic, manipulative person.

This is not a claim I like to make lightly, but it’s long overdue that this issue is properly brought up within the fandom.

I’ve seen so many people wonder why the Tales of Arcadia fandom is so small. Well, I and many others very strongly believe that Ginger is one of the main reasons for that, if not the main one. To make matters easier, I’ve tried to break this down into some main points. So let’s take a look at how Ginger falls under this category.

Disclaimer: Please DO NOT look at this post as an excuse to harass Ginger or any other blog mentioned here. This sort of behavior is NOT acceptable. The point of this post is to educate those who may not know the extent of her harrowing behavior, nothing more.

1. Dishonesty and Death Threats

[EDIT: Shortly after this post went up, she started blatantly lying about me to try to cover for herself. You can see those lies being easily disproven here]

Ginger has been kicked from at least three Tales of Arcadia servers, all for similar reasons of violence. While I cannot provide screenshots as I am no longer part of the servers they were in, there are multiple witnesses that can verify the disgusting behavior she engaged in. The one I saw specifically was her saying that certain members of the fandom should be gathered up and hunted for sport, among other gross things. (Elaboration of why can be found in point 3, though it still doesn’t excuse this kind of talk)

Here is some points made by another blog that also sums up similar issues with Ginger, though:

While there were multiple instances of her inciting violence towards others, this is unfortunately one topic I cannot provide specific screenshots for at this time. But I will add them in as I can find them. That being said, I want to move to the dishonesty, something I do have a screenshot for.

While you could argue that people sometimes notice the similar things, this is far too close together to be considered an “original find”. The reblog button is there for a reason, but she instead decides to steal the OP’s premise and present it as her own original thought.

There have been a couple other blogs that have confirmed that their theories and analysis posts were often stolen and presented as Ginger’s own as well, to the point where they stopped bothering even making such posts, as the above blog points out. (Out of respect for their privacy, I will not be naming these blogs. Say what you will about that possibly weakening my point, but if she’s willing to so blatantly steal from that person shown above, it shouldn’t surprise you that she’s so willing to do it to others.)

Theory-making and analysis posts aren’t as solidly “original content” as a piece of art or fanfiction, sure, but it’s still common fandom courtesy to give credit where it’s due. Ginger has intentionally avoided extending that courtesy far too many times.

2. Hypocrisy

Most of this is going to be about past Merlin vs. Morgana drama, though there are also words to be said for the incredibly shaky relationships she forms with “friends”.

But first let’s talk about those wizards.

This is a topic I’ve tried to approach with Ginger before, but she borderline refused to acknowledge any of the points I was trying to make, and when she did, I don’t know if I just wasn’t being clear or what, but it honestly looked as though she was purposefully trying to misunderstand what I was saying in her bizarre responses. (To be fair, I was sending messages out of anger because she vagueposted about a blog I admired, calling them a “disgusting creep” because of them simply saying they’d hoped Jim and Merlin would be able to actually bond at some point... Not really a justifiable reaction to such a harmless thought, in my opinion. But my point is, I recognize that the circumstances may have clouded my ability to vocalize my thoughts clearly.)

That aside, we should first acknowledge this post Ginger made to save face after having gotten some backlash about hate-train related things (Side note: I couldn’t find the original post, so this is a screenshot I got from someone else. I did not add the writing. The text underneath it should still be slightly readable, I hope.):

Taken at face value, this is a very reasonable post. I think everybody would and should be able to agree on it. Hate-meme him for fun, sure, but don’t actually harass or insult others over a fictional character. Simple, right?

Apparently not, because Ginger’s done loads of that to others. Probably why the “LOL” was added in, I bet.

This post confused me. First of all, exploring dark topics (”angst”, as you put it) has never been a rare occurrence, every fandom has that content, most in heavy abundance. I’ve noticed no staggering difference in volume of this fandom compared to others I’ve been in. People enjoy angst not because they think the character “deserves to be in pain”, they enjoy a fictional blow to their own emotions. There’s lots of different reasons people like angst, but it’s barely ever been out of a genuine hate for whatever character’s the focus, from all the things I’ve seen. Your own friends have indulged in Jim angst and body horror posts before, does that mean you think they’re awful people? I feel like I shouldn’t have to explain something like this.

Also, way to basically admit you think all Merlin stans get off on child torture. So much for “If you like Merlin as a character, you’re valid”, am I right? God, what a mess of a post. (It’s been very recently deleted, which makes me wonder if she got more backlash on it, but just... wow.)

Let’s look at another one.

Again. Vagueposting about someone specific, I’d wager, since most of the people I’ve seen comment on this topic either think both characters are morally gray, or hate both.

But of course, when it comes to Morgana, suddenly excusing bad behavior can be justified. Ginger can call someone a disgusting creep because they want a familial bond between Jim and Merlin, that’s just wrong, but pushing the Mom-gana narrative with the genocidal abuser and Toby is completely fine, folks.

(Note: I would like to point out that I really don’t care about what theories and hopes people have for Morgana. You should be allowed to love that character in any way you want, same as I would say for Merlin. My issue with these examples is the completely brazen hypocrisy in which these two characters are treated. You’re obviously allowed to love Morgana without consequence, but the same should be said for any character of the show, and yet it’s not.)

The most obvious instance of this double-standard is well observable here, I believe:

... I think this mostly speaks for itself. Sorry, but this is very blatantly trying to excuse Morgana’s actions, here.

Oh hey, remember that post about Ginger saying that liking Merlin must mean you want to see Jim in horrible pain?

Say anything similar about her with Morgana, and suddenly she takes issue with this line of reasoning!

I’m sorry, but if you can’t take this sort of thing, then you shouldn’t be dishing it out. One of your own friends is still getting hate over the simple fact of liking Merlin, and all this mentality is exactly why.

Let’s look at one more.

Fun fact! Morgana horrifically abused somebody for centuries, tried to kill multiple kids, took horrible advantage of Claire (probably traumatized her), and canonically wanted to genocide humanity, not to mention all the OTHER murders she's committed, both directly and indirectly.

But somehow pointing any of this out “doesn’t count”. This is why the fandom keeps saying more and more things like this:

And this:

I could be going through her constant hating on Merlin and people who like Merlin for days straight, but I hope you all get the idea by now.

Again, I would like to just reiterate: You can like whatever character you want for whatever reason you want. The problem with this case is the hypocrisy and mistreatment of others, not your taste in characters.

Now interestingly enough, she’s lately been singing a different tune about the guy, switching from the “I hate Merlin I hope he dies!!!” mentality to “Oh he should get a redemption arc too :)” sort of thing.

I’m highly convinced that the only reasons for this “change of heart” is because of the constant backlash she was getting for the obnoxious amount of hate posts being thrown around all the time, but also because Aaron Waltke keeps tabs on the fandom more lately, and has spoken himself about Merlin not being a villain.

I could go on about this point forever, but I think I’ll just leave the Merlin topic with this post going through the hypocrisy of the Merlin Hate Train. In fact, here’s two just for fun.

Now onto more real-world focused areas of hypocrisy. One such instance can be found in Ginger’s Janus Disorder server.

Just take a look at this post.

While the offender in this case isn’t Ginger specifically, it still takes place in her server, and she made no moves to enforce her “No discourse” rule. All over... what? A random kudos on a fanfiction that’s not even about anything controversial since all characters involved are adults? I immensely don’t understand the point of why this ever had to be an issue, or why nobody spoke up about how ridiculous this is.

I’d also like to point out a certain user called firecat17. For some quick context, waaay back in the Kung Fu Panda fandom (around 2018), this user had been harassing people and saying incredibly vile things, a person of which Ginger had a bit of a feud, but firecat’s anon threats had gotten to the point where Ginger ended up having to block their IP.

Obviously, the user firecat was the one in the wrong, here. (Also, the irony in this comment is through the roof...)

Interesting point there, Ginger. Sure would be nice if you practiced what you preached.

Why am I bringing this random old drama up, you may ask? Well, it just strikes me as strange that someone who was so vile to Ginger is suddenly on her okay-list again, sending her asks and getting casual responses as if nothing ever happened.

To be fair, there is the possibility that they worked out their differences in private. But given the severity of the kinds of words being exchanged, I would still find that rather suspicious.

When someone who’s said things so vile can be so easily forgiven, yet something as harmless as leaving a kudos on some random fanfiction is considered grounds for harassment, it’s obvious there’s no stability or room for trust among this group of people. Unsurprising when there’s been several instances of this “friend group” turning on each other.

If you think you’re somehow different, that your “friendship” with Ginger or the others is more valued than that, then I’m sorry to burst your bubble but it’s likely not true. She’d throw you under the bus at the hint of you doing something she deems problematic, as it’s happened to multiple blogs before you.

3. Demonization of and insensitivity towards s*xual abuse victims

(This topic is one that’s hard for me to talk about, being a victim of CSA myself, so I’ve gathered some different sources to do most of the main talking for me. I tried to form more commentary on this myself, but I get too emotionally charged in my responses, and I don’t want that to cloud any reader’s perception of what I’m trying to communicate here, so I’ll try to keep most of my comments brief on this one.)

One thing recently brought to my attention about Ginger and her squad that especially bothers me is their rashness in labeling people p*dophiles and p*do apologists. If these claims were true, then I wouldn’t have a problem with it.

But these people are accusing others of these horrible things and threatening them on the sole basis of fictional content.

Now before you fly off the handle at me, let me be very clear: I absolutely understand that there are gross people out there who use the “It’s all just fiction” argument to hide their actual, pr*datory behaviors. (We’ve all probably seen at least one or two neckbeard memes of that caliber)

But like it or not, exploring traumatic themes through a fictional lens is something that has been studied and proven to be a genuine coping mechanism for some. It’s not something that works for me, but I knew a few people from past therapy groups that it worked surprisingly well for. Bringing a trauma into a controlled environment and processing it through fictional means can and does help some victims deal with what they went through.

It’s important to understand that not everyone processes their experience in the same neat, little boxes you have laid out as the only “acceptable” ways of coping. Trauma fiction and expressive arts therapy are commonly used by victims, and it does help some people, whether you like it or not.

I’m already dragging this on too much, so here are some sources for better-worded information on the topic (Warning: Most of these deal with highly sensitive themes such as gun violence and s*xual abuse.)

Source 1 - Source 2 - Source 3 - Source 4 - Source 5 (pages 61 onward, specifically) - Source 6 - Source 7 - Source 8 - Source 9 - Source 10 (and believe me, if those all don’t satisfy you, I can easily supply more.)

And this quote from source 9 I think sums it up best:

“Fiction works differently. My imagination gives me a framework to process the grief and terror and the consequences, even when I myself have not found any resolution. It allows me to enter my own traumatic experiences sideways and linger inside them, if I know I can give them to characters who might be lucky enough to find the antidote: love, connection, community, family. In other words, I can enter — and exit — the trauma loop through stories that are not exactly the same as mine.

This goes for the reader also. Recent studies periodically assure us that stories — literary fiction, hardcover books, even the simple act of reading — promote empathy. We rarely have identical experiences, so fiction is how we practice linking our similar or parallel realities so we can feel them. This seems particularly useful in our current society, where we are all so separated, and are working so hard to block the violence that keeps happening to us from our minds.

Fiction connects us, and it can also contribute to our healing. When we see ourselves in worlds we don’t live in, like The Handmaid’s Tale or The Color Purple, sometimes, that very different violence helps us finally process our own. Because as much as our memoirs and testimonies are brave and validating, fiction does not just mirror our truths so they are safe to experience; it also helps us endure the aftermath. Because long after the immediate experience is over, survival struggles onward, in every moment of our daily lives.”

While most professionals have in the past advised that victims keep their trauma-related works more private, to only show it to your trusted friends or family, the fast-growing use of the internet has led more people to sharing it in an online platform, which is not unexpected behavior.

I unfortunately don’t have the screenshot of the original post, but there was a post made some time back literally telling a fandom member to go and hang themselves over this garbage. A survivor of s*xual abuse, no less. And to top that off, one of Ginger’s squad @emmy-puff commented in support of that violent post, as well as blatantly misgendering the target of it. While, again, I was unable to get screenshots, there are multiple witnesses to this instance, one Anonymous even having called them out on it back when it happened. (I suspect that Emmy deleted that answer due to how bad it made them look.) If anybody reading this has screenshots of the initial post or the ask that came of it, please feel free to share.

I don’t care who you are or who you’re talking about, if you use misgendering someone as a way to hurt them, then you are an insult to the trans community. That is an awful thing to do, and you lose so much credibility if that’s the only thing you can fall back on when getting in a fight with someone. While this post isn’t about Emmy specifically, this is exactly the kind of hateful rhetoric that’s being encouraged in the environment Ginger’s made.

Another thing I would like to point out on this matter is an instance that happened in the ToA fandom a couple years back. I, again, don’t have screenshots available (I believe the original post ended up deleted) but the post in question caused enough of a fuss that I’m sure a few people must remember it...

A while back, there was an artist that posted uncensored, untagged r*pe art of Aaarrrgghh, Gunmar, and Jim in the main Trollhunters tag. As you can imagine, this infuriated many people. Many of which are among the list of those who’ve been labeled “p*do apologists”. Almost the very minute that post showed up in the tag with no trigger warnings of any kind, the fandom immediately got on OP’s tail about it, because they all shared that basic understanding of “This is a traumatizing subject for many people and they should have the ability to avoid it”. If the people you’ve labelled as pr*dator supporters were really as awful as you say they are, they would’ve jumped to that person’s defense, too. But they were completely against OP’s horrible lack of consideration of survivors, right alongside the rest of the fandom.

Am I saying you have to like trauma fiction? Absolutely not. Are there people that make trauma fiction that are actual pr*dators? I’m sure there are. But those people would be that way whether trauma fiction was out there or not. Gross people have existed and will always exist regardless of what media is out there.

I deeply understand the controversy, uncertainty, and stress that surrounds this topic, I promise you, I do. But the fact of the matter is, some people actually do use trauma fiction and expressive arts therapy as a way of coping, as has been observed in people even from ages as young as 5. To say otherwise is blatantly untrue. This isn’t a matter of opinion or morals, this is plain, studied facts that you cannot change about human psychology.

Nobody should ever have to go through something as horrible as s*xual abuse of any kind, and I know how deeply upsetting it can be to see certain images or stories with those themes in play. Those users with a sense of decency and understanding for fellow victims will tag their posts with the appropriate warnings. After that, it’s up to you to filter out what you don’t want to see. You curate your own internet experience, and it’s just plain irrational to try and harass everyone into conforming to your rules. While it’s an 18+ blog’s job to make sure to tag and label their content appropriately, it is your job to block the things you don’t want to see, whether you’re an adult or a minor. It is YOUR job to blacklist content that you know will upset you, because it is always going to exist on the internet, and any internet user needs to know and understand that. Multiple times I’d seen people going off about posts that were already appropriately trigger-tagged. If you don’t have those upsetting tags blacklisted by now, then the fault is mostly on you in that kind of case, not the OP.

Before I end this topic off, just one more example of blatant disrespect towards victims:

I’m sorry, but the absolute nerve of comparing some random fictional character you’re petty over to an actual pr*dator who’s terribly hurt real children is just awful. Imagine how insulted one of Onion’s victims would be if they saw that. Lord.

Ginger claims to care about victims, but she’s made it abundantly clear that she only cares about those that behave the way she think a victim should.

4. Ableism

I’m going to just show a couple posts here and let them mostly speak for themselves.

Just... my God. You looked at the definition of psychopath and decided that was enough to give you qualification to speak like this about it? Do you realize the extensive work and study of human psychology goes into the diagnosis and understandings of psychopathy? Not to mention, you just admit to thinking people deserve hate because of a mental disorder they legitimately have no control over? I’m sorry, but that is just cruel. Demonization of the mentally ill is not cute or funny. Next.

While I’m still annoyed with Emmy’s transphobic treatment of another user mentioned earlier, they make a very solid point in this instance. (The first post they referenced has since been deleted, but here’s the second one speaking out against the ableism.) I feel I don’t need to add much to this, as these points have already been argued very well by users better qualified to speak on the subject than I.

5. Manipulation tactics

This part is more observations of two kinds of abuse tactics Ginger appears to demonstrate, using the above as points of reference.

First, there’s DARVO.

Then, less formally, there’s this good point about online cult mentality.

Before you say anything, obviously I don’t think Ginger thinks of herself as some sort of deity. While it could be argued that she considers herself a point of authority within the TOA fandom maybe, I haven’t seen enough of this to say for sure how far that goes. So that point can be ignored, because it mostly doesn’t apply in this case. (The “Dictating parts of your online life” might also not apply, but I can’t say for sure as I haven’t gotten any confirmation of that sort of thing in Ginger’s group.)

But there are grains of truth in the other four points, especially that last one. Plain and simple, she’s made people afraid to speak their minds about even harmless things such as character analysis.

Ginger is someone who can’t seem to comprehend different viewpoints and life experiences. She’s extremely unsympathetic towards people she doesn’t understand, as can be observed in above examples. Assuming malicious intent from everybody you can’t understand is a dangerous and hurtful mindset to have, for both you and those who you unnecessarily scorn.

There are a few outcomes I’ve speculated should she ever come to see this post.

1. She will ignore this post completely, pretending as if it doesn’t exist

2. She will dismiss me as being some sort of horrible person, a p*do apologist or something of the sort (despite being a victim of that myself, clearly she doesn’t care about who’s actually been hurt by real p*dos or not if they don’t conform to her narrow worldview), and claim nothing I’ve said bears any meaning, despite the extensive evidence I’ve provided.

3. She will get people to try and attack me.

4. She will actually address these points in a tactful, mature, and serious manner instead of her usual act of trying to dismiss everything at the slightest hint of non-conformity. (The least likely outcome, but one can dream.)

I could add to this post all day, but it’s long enough as it is and my focus was on getting the main points out of the way. I understand that I lack some of the receipts necessary to back myself up in a few parts, but I know that many other fans have bared witness to those things, so I know there will be at least some people who’ll know what I speak of is true, and that’s good enough for me.

That being said, if anybody has screenshots of the instances I wasn’t able to provide for, it would be greatly appreciated if you could add them into the conversation.

!!!-If you have screenshots, but are too uncomfortable to get involved in this, then you can private-message them to me and I would be grateful and more than happy to add them in while keeping you completely anonymous.-!!!

(I've removed the section with all the tags, as I recognize it was probably going overboard. My goal was just to spread information, not to try and involve those tagged, but I understand how that may have gotten lost in translation and made people uncomfortable. Also, it apparently was showing up multiple times in people’s notifications when I only tagged people twice, so I’m not sure why that glitch happened, but I apologize for that annoyance as well.)

Now, to end us off, my responses to questions or angry comments I’m probably going to get:

You don’t even have all the evidence! How are we to know you’re not just lying about some of this?

Admittedly, I don’t have as much screenshot proof as I would like, that’s true. But for most of the instances I couldn’t provide for, there were other witnesses to her bad behavior. I don’t really have the need to lie when there’s already a lot of knowledge out there of the bad stuff she has done. Nor do I really have the emotional investment in this fandom anymore to lie for the pointless reason of causing drama.

Why post this on a throwaway account if you think people are on your side?

I just don’t really want my main blog associated with TOA anymore, to be frank.

You tagged a bunch of people, so you must be trying to get them to attack Ginger!

No. I tagged a bunch of people because I think this information should be heard on a wider scale, considering the position Ginger has in the fandom. I don’t want her or anybody else to be attacked, but her negative impact on this fandom deserves to be acknowledged.

Again, I don’t think Ginger or any of the others deserve harassment or cyberbullying or anything of that manner, that’s kind of what this whole post is against. And it just hurts the situation more than it helps it. What bothers me is how she’s never apologized for or even once acknowledged the gross way she’s treated people. While she might be more low-key about it now, she still treats people who don’t deserve it like garbage. There are still several people upset about the damage she’s caused to this fandom, rightfully so. I wouldn’t be so loud about making this post if I didn’t think it was something worth drawing attention to.

Thank you for reading.

#TrollHunters #3Below #TOAwizards #Tales of Arcadia #TOA

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holyhellpod · 3 years

Photo

Heyoooo, it’s another episode of Holy Hell! This one is dedicated to the manchild himself, Dean Winchester.

Apple | Google | Spotify | Instagram | Patreon

Transcript below!

CW: discussions of child abuse, child death, suicide, alcoholism, family trauma, mental health

[Music]

Dean Winchester is, in a word, my soulmate. I started kinning him when the show aired in Australia on Fox8 and I have not been the same since. From his devil-may-care attitude to his undying love for his family that pierces the veil of death to save the day, he really is the most. I have to say at the beginning that this episode of Holy Hell will not include discussions of Dean’s sexuality and gender. I’m saving that for its own episode, so stay tuned my pals.

What we know of Dean as he develops over the course of the first episode is: he’s been hunting, and hunting alone, he’s 26 years old, he drives a sweet ‘67 Impala, he wears an old leather jacket, he listens to 1980s metal, and he has an arsenal of weapons and supernatural fighting talismans in his trunk. He’s also a smartarse, one of his most endearing qualities. He gets defensive about their mother and her death, and he defends their father over and over. He’s a loyal son and brother. The impetus to bring Sam back into the hunting life, after Sam decided for good that he was going to leave, is to bring his fambily back together.

The quality that defines Dean Winchester is how much he loves he loves his fambily. In the first episode, he is so worried about his father that he recruits Sam to help look for him, even though Sam and Dean haven’t spoken in two years, and Sam ran away to college rather than continue to live with their father. He spends most of the first season defending their father, but when John comes back and starts arguing with Sam, Dean protects his brother from John. It’s one of the most significant examples of character growth Dean undergoes throughout the entire series, and it’s where his loyalty shifts from John to Sam.

In the episode of season 2, “Croatoan,” Dean decides not to shoot Sam when Sam contracts the Croatoan virus which turns people rabid and makes them kill. In the next episode, “Hunted”, Dean reveals that John told him to kill Sam if Dean couldn’t save him. But Dean doesn’t. He says that John begged Dean not to tell Sam, but it’s not John’s words that keep Dean silent. It’s his love for Sam and Sam’s wellbeing. And this brotherly love slash codependency is used by characters throughout the entire series, from the demons in season 1 to the literal character of God in season 15, to manipulate Dean and Sam. As many characters have pointed out, including Dean and Sam themselves, they are each other’s weak points.

At the end of season two, when Sam dies from a stab wound in his spine, Dean trades his own life for Sam’s. He makes a deal with a crossroads demon—his soul for Sam’s life—and subsequently dies and goes to hell at the end of season 3. Dean literally dies a gruesome death and spends forty years being tortured in hell because he couldn’t live without Sam. At the end of Season 8, Sam is dying from the effects of the trials, which he undergoes in order to close the gates of hell, and Dean convinces him to stop because, again, he can’t live without Sam. Sidenote: this is where I stopped being interested in their brotherly dynamic to the point of losing interest in the show. It became clear to me that the showrunners were more concerned with rehashing the same tired storylines between Sam and Dean than focus on characters who could expand the world and make the show better. In fact, they killed a lot of the interesting side characters in order to keep the show solely focused on the brothers. The exception to this is Castiel, and the reason they kept Cas around is because when he died in season 7 the ratings tanked. If that wasn’t a clear enough sign that the showrunners needed to open up the show to more than just Sam and Dean’s caustic dynamic in which they die and kill for and then betray and lie to each other over and over, then I just don’t know what the fans could have done to convince them. Nothing, apparently, because they ended the show with just Sam and Dean.

Dean’s relationship with John is fraught with insecurity and codependency. Dean has so little sense of self that what he does consider to be his carefully curated list of likes and dislikes were inherited directly from John: his car, his leather jacket, his hunting abilities, and his music taste. He also throws himself into hunts without any regard for his own safety, because he doesn’t believe that he is worth saving, or that his life is worth living. His personality is crafted from both John’s reliance on him as a son, hunter and partner in crime, and the woman he assumes Mary to be. Dean’s sense of self-worth relies on how many people he can save. This is why, in season 2 episode “What is and what should never be,” Dean’s dream reality is one in which he’s a low life loser who disappoints his family—because without John pushing him to be a hunter, Dean doesn’t save people, and because he doesn’t save people, he isn’t worth anything. Bear in mind that this is the best reality Dean’s mind could conjure for him: one in which his father is dead, and he himself is not worth saving.

In one of the most famous exchanges, he asks Cas why an angel would rescue him from hell, and Cas replies, “What’s the matter? You don’t think you deserve to be saved.” Twenty-nine years of bluster, insouciance, and a give-em-hell attitude crumbles in two sentences, wrought by a being Dean refuses to believe exists because, again, he doesn’t think that he deserves to be saved by them. He says, “[Why me? I don’t like getting singled out at birthday parties, let alone by God].” He thinks of himself so lowly that he accepted a one-year deal in exchange for Sam being alive. Dean cares so much about his family he lets it kill him.

But it’s not just Sam, Mary and John. Dean’s family grows to encompass a number of side characters: most notably Bobby their surrogate father, Charlie Bradbury the hacker, Claire Novak, Jack Kline, and Lisa and Ben Braeden. Even Mary makes another appearance in seasons 12 to 14. Unfortunately, because the show is the way it is, Dean puts Sam above all of these side characters, and then these characters are written out of the show. I should specify that Cas is not a side character; in most seasons, Misha Collins is billed as a main cast member, with his name appearing after Jensen Ackles in the credits. But he still dies in the third-last episode in order to have the show stay about the brothers. Even Jack, inarguably Cas and Dean’s son, is written out of the show in the second-last episode after dying multiple times. I say inarguably because I am not gonna argue with anyone about this. Claire and Jack are Dean and Cas’s kids. Dean and Cas are great parents who chaperone Jack’s prom and buy Claire her first hunting bow. They’re all one big happy, queer, neurodivergent family.

Dean loves the people in his life with reckless abandon. The times he’s excused Cas’s behaviour after Cas has done something ridiculous or foolish are too many to count. He grieves Cas’s multiple deaths, often succumbing to his alcoholism and entropy whenever Cas leaves him for more than a day. In a truly beautiful scene, Dean wraps Cas’s corpse in a curtain and watches, utterly and completely devastated, as his body burns. By this point, they have done so much for each other that it’s impossible to even envision the show without Cas, and indeed imagine Dean without his love for Cas. And we don’t have to for very long, as he always comes back a few episodes later. Even knowing this, the episodes where Dean mourns Cas are so heartbreaking and haunting that I cried for days after watching them.

Dean is great with kids, and every time he’s not is completely the fault of whoever is writing him in any given episode. We see him bonding with Lisa’s son Ben in season 3 and 6, Jesse in the season 5 episode “I Believe The Children Are Our Future,” and Lucas in the season one episode “Dead in the water”. With every child he meets, Dean gets on their level, empathising with them in a way most adults can’t. Like Claire and Jack, Dean has a complicated relationship with his father, who dies in the beginning of season 2 after bargaining his soul for Dean’s life to the demon that took their mother. Just like anyone else’s life, right? Must be Tuesday. This means Dean can relate to most children with traumatic backgrounds involving their parents, as a victim of parental abuse and having his mother die at age 4. I can’t find any sources to back this up, but a theory that rolled around in fandom was that Dean became mute after Mary died, which is what happens to Lucas after his father drowns. He says in “Dead In the Water” that he loves kids, and it’s true. As one tumblr user put it, Dean wanted to be baby trapped.

Dean carries the deaths and pain of his loved ones with him like Atlas carrying the world on his shoulders. When Claire is bitten by a werewolf, the characters administer blood of the sire wolf that bit her in order to cure her of her lycanthropy. Dean has to leave the room while she’s in pain, because he can’t bear to watch her die. The same goes for when Jack dies. Thankfully, Claire lives and Jack comes back a few episodes later.

When thinking about Dean being a father, I’m reminded of that scene from Scrubs when Dr Cox says he’s worried about being a father because his own dad was an abusive alcoholic. The difference between Dr Cox and Dean is that Dean doesn’t have his reservations about raising kids. He fits into Lisa and Ben’s life easily, at least for the first year, and we see a montage which includes him teaching Ben how to fix cars. When Claire lets her guard down enough to hug Dean, he hugs back just as hard. When he finally deals with the trauma of Cas dying in season 13, he accepts Jack into his life, and even grieves Jack when he dies. Dean escapes the intergenerational trauma that plagues his family by being a fantastic dad to the random kids who happen into his life by chance. He was born to be a father, and the fact that this show took that away from him and us as the audience makes me want to kick the showrunners into the sun.

Until season 6, Dean’s family only included men. The concept of the nuclear family—two sons, a husband and a wife—was ripped apart in the prologue of the first episode when Mary dies. Dean doesn’t know family for the first 5 seasons of the show outside Sam, John, Cas and Bobby. I do consider Ellen and Jo to be important to the story, but they’re only in a handful of episodes and die in season 5 for a reason that is plainly ridiculous. Did the Winchesters have to lose every single person in their lives to the fight? Clearly Kripke thought they were going to be cancelled after the fifth season, because it shows. And honestly? Maybe they should have. Let’s retroactively cancel the whole show. It can’t hold power over us anymore, because it’s dead and we cremated it.

But when Dean moves in with Lisa and Ben, he discovers a new type of family he didn’t have before, and new family dynamics. Instead of the 28-year-old son that Sam is to him, he takes the opportunity to teach Ben about cars and spend time with him and Lisa without the need to hunt. He gets a job, he makes some friends, and he lives the safe, apple pie life he begrudged Sam for in the pilot episode. It’s only when Sam reappears in his life that Dean’s codependency strikes again and he realises that he can’t live half in the normal world with Lisa and Ben and half in the hunting world with Sam. Sam says this himself in the first episode of Season 6, “Exile On Main Street”. Despite the ways Dean tried to settle down throughout the rest of the 9 seasons, the showrunners ultimately decided a man who was healing from trauma and alcoholism, who had adopted two kids as his own, and was learning how to bake cakes for his son’s birthday, deserved to die at the ripe age of 40, a week or so after he’d learned that his best friend was in love with him. You gotta laugh. Instead of getting the ending both Dean and we deserved—which was Dean settling down, opening a bar, and living the next forty years in relative gay peace while he got fat and watched Cheers reruns—well, we got something else. And I will always be bitter about that.

While it’s clear from the first season that he has reckless and suicidal tendencies, he doesn’t stop fighting to the bitter end. Even when faced with his own impending death in the season 2 premiere, “In my time of dying,” he fights to stay alive for Sam and John, while working the mystery that is overcoming his own death. Devastated as he is by Sam diving into hell at the end of season 5 and seemingly gone for good, Dean still gets up everyday and makes a life for himself in Lisa’s home. While season 6 was overall a bummer of a season, just god-awful in every aspect, saved from my complete vitriol only by “The French Mistake,” it did show us how great a dad Dean can be, and readied us for what was to come—being Claire and Jack’s dad. The lengths he goes to for his family are immense and all-consuming. As Cas says in “Despair”, Dean is a being of love. He loves everyone else, even when he can’t find it in him to love himself. He really thinks that he’s just a killer, not a father or a husband.

I’ve never subscribed to the idea that we have to love ourselves before we can love anyone else, or before anyone else can love us. Sorry Rupaul, you old bitch. We are all deserving of love, because love sustains us and helps us grow. And when we don’t know how to, it’s through loving others that we can learn to love ourselves. If Dean knew what a great father and friend and husband and brother he is, if he could see himself the way others, in the show and out of it, see him, I think he’d burst. You don’t like getting singled out at birthday parties? Well tough shit, Dean Winchester, because I’m gonna devote an entire podcast to you.

I talked about Dean’s carefully curated list of likes and dislikes before but I’ll go into more detail now. Things he likes: guns; rock and roll; nice cars; women; fighting; scamming people at pool; back alley blowjobs, probably; pie; driving across the country; Ozzy concerts; cowboy movies; being in control of every little thing in his life. His dislikes are: flying on planes; hair metal; angels and demons; anyone who harms his brother, his best friend or his kids; boredom; and being jerked around.

Okay I literally cannot talk about the cowboy movies without mentioning that he makes Cas watch them with him, in his Deancave, and the implications of that make my head roll off my body and into the dirt. Like they literally have gay little movie nights and watch their gay little cowboy movies together and Dean says all the gay little lines. I said I wasn’t going to talk about his sexuality, but mentioning cowboy movies leads to Cas wearing a cowboy hat and saying “I’m your Huckleberry.” This makes me insane. Excuse me, I must have my daily scream.

Okay, I’ve collected myself. Have I? Let’s just move on. In the Winchester tradition of inherited family trauma, Dean gets all of John’s interests, and Sam gets all of John’s mistakes. Dean’s personality throughout the show is basically quippy remarks, pop culture references, laughing with food in his mouth, and grouchiness. In case you haven’t realised, he is amazing to me. Every time he fires a rifle or pistol? Couldn’t be better. Eating a burger made of out donuts? Fucking incredible. Even when faced with beings with untold power, he doesn’t lose his cool. One of my favourite exchanges is when Zachariah comes to Chuck’s house in the first episode of season 5, “Sympathy For The Devil,” and starts soliloquising at him, Dean tells him to “cram it with walnuts, ugly.” Cram it with walnuts, ugly. It’s been ten years and that still makes me laugh. Top ten Dean lines for sure. Like all of my main characters throughout the years of writing original fiction are just “Dean Winchester but girl,” and I’m a good writer, but I can never come close to the level of hilarity that he achieves. And every single writer on the show seems to get that. The only times I can think of where Dean’s characterisation has irked me on a writing level are in season 6—basically the entire thing—and the way he treats Jack in the later seasons, specifically late season 15. But it’s really rare for me to watch an episode and not enjoy Dean. Even throughout the Mark Of Cain era, which I loved, when things were very serious, he had such style and panache and held himself so confidently that I was like, wait maybe he made some points? Maybe he should kill everyone?

Dean is a hunter and a killer, but that’s not all he is. He’s very skilled in hand to hand combat, weaponry, and tactical manoeuvres. Even when something doesn’t go exactly to plan, he’s usually able to improvise something to end up with a win. Because he is the main character, his choices and reactions, while sometimes extremely problematic, are never questioned, and that’s to his detriment. In the last episode of season 14, “Moriah,” Dean is unable to kill Jack, but in early season 15, he treats Jack’s betrayal as Cas’s fault, because he can’t take it out on Jack. Cas leaves, but it’s framed as a good thing because Cas is Jack’s father, and has to take responsibility for what Jack has done. In this instance, I don’t blame Cas at all. Okay I rarely blame Cas for anything, including the things he’s done wrong, because no he didn’t and you can’t prove it. But he especially didn’t do anything wrong when Jack killed Mary, and he didn’t do anything wrong by killing Belphagor. But by the middle of the season, in the episode “The Trap,” Dean admits his wrongdoing in taking his anger out on Cas, one of the only people who loves him without conditions. You’d think this would be a defining moment of character progression, but then Dean chooses to act exactly the same way by throwing Jack under the bus. Like, throwing him harder, under a bigger bus. So what was the point.

Anyway, those are choices the writers made, and not Dean.

Going back to what I was saying about being neurodivergent, Dean has adhd. I know this because I have adhd, and I’m Dean-coded. He’s wildly creative, impulsive, has a touch of OCD, and he has a hard time making long-lasting friends, although this is mostly due to how all his friends die. His best friend is an autistic angel and the only reason they’re still friends is because they’re obsessed with each other, in like a really unhealthy way. One of the funny things about his and Cas’s relationship is that every time you see them in the same shot, Cas is standing perfectly still and Dean is constantly moving. They are almost complete opposites, aside from their queerness and neurodivergence. But then, I haven’t met a single queer person in my entire life who isn’t neurodivergent or disabled in some way. That doesn’t mean we can’t live perfectly functional and normal lives, it just means we’re better than everyone else.

Dean also exhibits black and white thinking—to him all felons are redeemable and all monsters should be killed. Felons are redeemable because he himself is a felon, and monsters should be killed because they all do monstrous things. When faced with the possibility of angels being real, he refuses to believe it for the first two episodes, because, as he says, “he’s never seen one.” Eventually he learns how to see in shades of grey and not kill every monster he meets, but this is because of his time in purgatory with Benny, his Cajun vampire boyfriend.

Another sign of Dean’s ADHD is physical sensitivity. In the season one episode “Bugs,” he comments on the shower’s water pressure. Like it’s a big deal to him, when he’s only ever used 1-star motel room showers. In the later seasons, he’s also seen to wear a fluffy robe and soft pajamas with hotdogs on them and socks that say “Send Noods” but noods spelt like noodles. And so he should! Dean deserves comfort! He’s a special boy.

ADHDers often have problems with executive function—remembering appointments, cleaning up after ourselves, showering, eating, even going to the toilet when we need to pee. The hunting life excludes Dean from the normal functions of usual life, such as dentist appointments, dropping the kids off at school, meal prepping for the week, or turning up to a job on time. These were only factors in Dean’s life during the gap between seasons 5 and 6 when he lived with Lisa and Ben, and it’s not shown how his executive dysfunction impacted his suburban, settled life, but Lisa does mention that Dean drinks a lot. It’s another thing he inherited from John, much as I did my alcoholism from my father, and my adhd too. But Sam doesn’t drink to excess more than a handful of times over the entire 15 seasons, whereas Dean subsists on alcohol to get through the day. At one point in season 11, I’m pretty sure, don’t fact check me, he is shown to be drinking a beer at about 10 in the morning, because, as he says to Sam, “You drank all the coffee. What do you want me to do? Drink water?” Dean your liver must be quaking.

Excess is a common problem for people with ADHD. We have problems with limiting ourselves—because our dopamine machine broke, anything that gives us a little bit of high—such as sugar, sex, alcohol, stimulants, any kind of food that is bad for us but tastes real good—we usually have it in excess because we can’t help ourselves. In the season 4 episode “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester,” Dean eats the entirety of the candy in the Impala. The only reasons I don’t eat everything in my fridge every day is because, one, I don’t have the money, and two, it’s all ingredients I have to prepare and not ready-made food. Whereas Dean has only known fast food for the first 10 or so seasons until he starts cooking and baking and settling into domesticity. Like anyone who gets UberEats every day instead of cooking for themselves knows how expensive that is. He also engages in meaningless sex, although people have pointed that Sam actually gets more on screen action than Dean. But I know a lot of amab people who engage in casual sex with randos because it satisfies a base need. Dean could be classified as hypersexual in some regards, but I know what hypersexuality feels like and it’s like this overwhelming miasma where you can’t think about anything except how horny you are, and I don’t think Dean has that normally. Maybe when he was a demon in season 10, but generally I think he can control himself.

His settled life in the men of letters Bunker is a far cry from his flashbacks in season 8 to Purgatory. From what we know of purgatory, the land of gods and monsters, it was a year-long monster hunt, but without any of the boring paperwork. Dean got to fight and kill as many vampires, ghouls, leviathan, etc as came his way, which is why it’s absolutely ridiculous that he died by rebar in a vampire fight. He spent an entire year spilling blood and chopping off heads, day and night, and he dies by metal bar to the spine? And he’s not even coughing up blood? Andrew Dabb, I’m coming for you. Of course purgatory is the perfect place for Dean because it’s constant adrenaline, constant excitement, constant stimulation, which is what every day life lacks. Even Dean’s every day life is like, 20% monster killing and the rest is leg work. They go weeks or months between cases, and sometimes don’t find the monster at all. So I’m not surprised he gets bored easily and drinks. Would if I could too, my pal.

Which leads me onto Dwelling. Dean dwells on the horrors of his life in a way I do and my carefree older brothers don’t. In the season 4 episode “Heaven and Hell,” he reveals to Sam that he remembers his entire forty years in hell, and there are flashes of his memory littered throughout the season in creepy, split-second increments. He dwells on the people who die, doing his thousand-yard stare into the funeral pyre of everyone they cremate. In the most egregious display of dwelling, he rewrites history TWICE to deal with his grief — in season 8 he makes himself believe that it was his fault Cas didn’t come back from purgatory with him, and again in season 13 he invents the story of Jack controlling Cas to deal with his grief over Cas’s death. His PTSD twists the truth until it becomes another way to torture himself, because if someone gets hurt it’s on him; everyone who loves him is just one more person to disappoint.

On a lighter note, Hyperfixations, equivalent to Autism special interests, are a common trait of ADHD. Some of Dean’s hyperfixations include: hunting in general; cowboys and cowboy movies; the musical Rent; the movie Braveheart; larping. He loves dressing up and acting, and what is putting on a monkey suit and lying about being a Fed if not larping? Oh god the meta of that coupled with the season 4 episode “The Monster At The End Of This Book” is making my head hurt. And actually, the next episode of Holy Hell is on the subject of meta-textuality so stick around if that’s something you enjoy.

One of the amazing things about ADHD is creativity. Since we’re easily bored and easily amused, we’re constantly pushing the boundaries of our curiosity. In season three episode “Bloodlust,” Dean decapitates a vampire with a miter saw, something that even veteran vampire hunter Gordon Walker comments is a thing of beauty. Dean creates a Ma’lak box in season 14 episode “Damaged Goods” as a way to contain Michael if he ever inhabits Dean’s body again. Dean is always making up words like “were-pire” and “Jefferson Starships,” and he has an almost encyclopaedic knowledge of pop culture, which he references in almost every line of dialogue. Like tv and movies raised me, but even I don’t understand a lot of his references. It’s almost like he’s a character in a tv show being written by dozens of people. But that’s not right. He’s a real person and my friend. My friend Dean Winchester, who shouts me burgers and passes out on my couch.

Also, I’m bragging now but as of the day of writing this I got my ADHD diagnosis and it feels so good to have a doctor, a psychiatrist in fact, confirm my belief. After about three or four years of figuring out I have adhd and then trying to make everyone else believe me when I say I do, it feels like a huge weight off. Dean deserved to feel that. He deserves to put a name to his differences and be in charge of his life instead of letting his anger, confusion and impulses control him. If anyone is worried that you might have something and don’t know whether to pursue a diagnosis, my two cents are that it has only improved my life. I was diagnosed with Bipolar Affective Disorder in 2014 and it allowed me to go on medication, which snapped me out of the worst period of anxiety I have ever gone through and also a psychotic episode that featured talking walls and a swarm of Christmas beetles. Trust me, we all need help sometimes, and some people like me need more help than others, but you can take control of the forces in your life that hold you back. As my mother used to say to me when I was a child, the world is your oyster. It really fucking does get better, and since I started on the right anti-depressants for me my life has improved so goddamn much. The world is fucked right now, and it’s impossible to even function on most levels. We all need therapy. I myself have a gp, a psychiatrist, and a psychologist and they keep me relatively sane. I would not be alive if I didn’t have years and years of ongoing therapy and good drugs. Plus I journal everyday and practice gratitude. I’m still crazy but the craziness is contained and doesn’t hurt me anymore.

Despite never going to therapy, Dean grows from being a loner with one friend (his own brother) to someone with a wealth of connections and family. He picks up new people to love like he’s velcro, and when he goes in he goes all in. He would die for the people he loves. He’s constantly putting himself in danger to protect his loved ones. In the Season 6 episode “Let It Bleed,” Dean captures and tortures demons in an effort to find out where Crowley took Lisa and Ben. He then has Cas wipe their memories so that they don’t remember him and can live their lives without him, at his own great distress. In season 5, he goes to Stull Cemetery to impinge on the fight between Lucifer and Michael, just to be there for Sam. As Dean says, he’s “not going to let him die alone.”

That being said, I do have to talk about Dean’s very few, but ultimately life-ruining, flaws. His emotional dysregulation makes his moods unpredictable at best. By virtue of his black and white thinking, he forces the people he loves to choose sides between him and other characters, such as Sam and Ruby, Cas and Crowley, Mary and the british men of letters, and Cas and Jack, and when they don’t choose him, he passively aggressively, and sometimes just aggressively, tortures them until something else usurps their betrayal. His anger issues are par to none, and often get him in a lot of trouble. But since he is the main character, he never really faces consequences for this, and neither does he mature. Even in the final season episode “The Trap,” while Dean admits how angry he is and how wrong he was for taking it out on Cas when Jack died, mere episodes later in “Unity” he turns Jack into a nuclear reactor to take out God, and Jack dies again. His characterisation in the last few seasons, especially in regards to Jack, is all over the place. I would have to start a murderboard to explain how Dean feels about Jack and how he reacts to what Jack does in every episode. Like, pictures and red string and everything. And even then I would not be able to comprehend exactly what the writers did and what they thought they were doing.

But unlike me, Dean always believes the best in people until proven otherwise, and he does always come around to the people who atone for their sins. Even when Sam refuses to get his soul back in season 6, Dean keeps trying until Sam is put right. Between seasons 7 and 8, He spends a year in Purgatory looking for Cas despite how Cas sent Sam insane, ingested billions of monster souls, and became God. When the people he loves choose him, he chooses them back.

But even when they betray him, lie to him, deceive him, and hurt the other people in his life, he can’t stop loving them. He never stops loving Sam or Cas or Jack or Mary or John or Bobby. He loves with everything he has. He is, as Cas says, a being of love.

Oof. That was a lot of words and I feel like I only just scratched the surface. Like realistically I just talked about fambily and ADHD. There is just so much to Dean Winchester that maybe I’ll make another episode sometime. But I am definitely making an episode purely about Dean’s gender presentation and sexuality in the future. You can find the show at holyhellpod on Tumblr where I post transcripts for the episodes and Instagram where I post memes.

I don’t see myself doing an episode about Sam any time soon, Not because I don’t like Sam, but because I can’t stand Jared Padalecki. He’s done some things that I can’t support, and I’m really bad at separating the art from the artist. Especially when it’s something like Supernatural, which is not art. Supernatural is an experiment. It’s not Johnny B. Goode by Chuck Berry. Like Jared Padalecki didn’t invent rock and roll, you know what I’m saying? However, if you really want me to do an episode about Sam, you can pay me 101 Australian dollars and 50 Australian cents at patreon.com/holyhellpod. I’ll talk to you next time.

Links

http://www.scififantasynetwork.com/dean-winchester-has-adhd/

#supernatural #spn #supernatural podcast #dean winchester #holyhellpod #transcripts

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nobody-wants-ice-cream · 4 years

Text

Everything Wrong With The Umbrella Academy. Episode 8, I Heard a Rumor.

This episode is particularly brutal. Warnings include child abuse, domestic abuse, suicide, rape, gore, and manipulation. Keep yourself safe.

We Only See Each Other at Weddings and Funerals

Run Boy Run

Extra Ordinary

Man on the Moon

Number Five

The Day That Wasn’t

The Day That Was

Disclaimer: This is all in good fun! I wanted to do a really nitpicky re-watch of the series and found some really cool and interesting things I didn’t notice before. This is meant to have a Cinema Sins-esque tone. However, I did take off a lot more sins than Cinema Sins would have because I do genuinely like the series and the people that made it possible. So all of the good things got one sin off and all the bad things got one sin added. This is a really long post, so grab some popcorn. If there’s anything that I missed, feel free to add it!

I would also like to add that normally you wouldn’t watch a show this way. I am purposefully looking for mistakes, easter eggs, and other things that we’re not supposed to notice. I am watching not with the goal of entertainment, but for analysis. So most of the things that I sin, I am seeing for the first time.

Also, no I can’t do better. I am in no way qualified to give this level of criticism about anything. I am not taking this seriously. At all.

I Heard a Rumor

Stormy Weather by Etta James. I adore this song. When I first watched the show I was so happy when this song came on.-1

I am also taking a sin off for the Emmy Raver-Lampman version -1

It looks like Allison genuinely adores her daughter. And Claire’s bedroom? I would want to have that room now and I am at least ten years older than her. -1

Speaking of, how old is Claire? Sin until we have answers. +1

The animations for the story of The Umbrella Academy defeating the robbers at the museum. -2

“While your Uncle Klaus got a little distracted.” What did Klaus do on missions again? +1

Allison carefully censors the mission so she is still telling the truth but doesn’t actually say that Diego used knives or that Ben used the horror to (presumably, we don’t know how much control Ben had) kill four people. Good job. See Reggie, this is how you don’t traumatise your kid with violence. -1

“Their leader.” Looks suspiciously like a villain from the comics. -1

“I wanna hear the one about the Eiffel tower.” Me too, Claire. Especially since the magazine clips we see suggest Five was there this time. -1

Mind control. ON A CHILD. This is what bothers me the most about Allison as a character and I am glad that she is moving past it. However, in no universe can I let this go. Depending on how Allison used it, Claire’s emotional control could be fucked for life. +40

Patrick behaves like a rational human being and doesn’t blow up at Allison for this in front of their child. He also divorces her in order to keep said child safe. Good. -1

“I heard a rumor you love me.” Who did she say this to? It doesn’t matter who, it’s still disturbing, but oh dear God who did she say this to? I think this is the second most fucked up thing we hear Allison say after the rumoring Claire scene. +10

Allison is going 120 kmh, or 75 mph, in the rain. If you have ever driven a car in the rain then you know exactly why I am sinning this. For those who don’t know, google hydroplaning. Allison could have died here very, very easily. +3

Title screen on a billboard! I forgot how cool the episode 8 title screen was. -1

Allison doesn’t bring her proof with her when going to confront Vanya, who has been shown to be irrational when it comes to Leonard. +1

Bird jumpscare. +1

“They want me to come back tomorrow be fitted for a prosthetic eye”. Leonard places emphasis on the words “prosthetic eye” to remind the viewers that Leonard is bad news. Good acting choice. -1

Leonard’s clothes look freshly bloody when the blood should be several hours old and therefore a more rusty brown color than a bright red. I think. I don’t know if that’s how it works with such large amounts of blood. +1

Luther’s bed is now magically big enough to fit both him and the rave girl. +1

Luther’s reaction to the rave girl. Rewatch this scene to get such a laugh at Luther’s face. -1

How out of it was Luther vs the rave girl? Consent issues on both sides. +3

Luther treated the rave girl to some wine? Or cranberry juice? How thoughtful. -1

I really, really hope they were safe though. There is no evidence to imply they were safe. (If you don’t know what I’m talking about then you’re too young to be watching TUA). +1

Klaus is such a little shit. “Wakey wakey! Eggs and bakey!” while ringing the bell. Peak sibling culture is doing this sort of thing while knowing that the other sibling is NOT going to appreciate it. Also, Klaus deserves his revenge after last night. -1

The little wave the rave girl gives Klaus. -1

Go back and watch this scene. Holy shit this is so underrated. This is the funniest thing ever. -1

“He popped his cherry! Now you’re gonna have to marry her” -4

Klaus doesn’t remember his first time. Consent issues. +3

“No dilly-dallying, alright?” I love Klaus. -1

Klaus makes french press coffee for Luther and Ben. Klaus is a good brother. -1

I would kill to see Ben’s reaction to Luther and the rave girl. +1

Five snatches Luther’s coffee and not Ben’s, ya know, the guy who can’t drink the coffee. And is invisible. Five is a dick to Luther or Five wanted to be a little shit to Luther after having to hear him and the rave girl. Either way, +1

He steals the coffee and he complains about it. +1

Ben! -1

“This is a bad idea” no shit. +1

The awkward pauses where Ben is presumably speaking don’t make sense here. +1

The camera trickery used to make Luther look like a giant compared to Five. -1

Five knows where the aspirin is “top shelf next to the crackers” because he was also hungover. I think. I can’t remember if FIve stopped back at the house, but presumably he and Luther had to go there to get the car. -1

Luther still isn’t getting up to get the aspirin even though he can listen just fine while getting it. +1

Ben adding to the dramatic tension of the scene in a uniquely humorous way that only this show can pull off. -2

Luther doesn’t believe Klaus about Reggie’s suicide. What reason would Klaus have to lie about this, Luther? +1

Five believes him right away. -1

Convenient Pogo backing up Klaus is convenient. +1

This has nothing to do with this very dramatic and important scene, but the mismatched chairs, while cute, don’t appear in any other scene. +1

Five calls Reggie a “sick bastard” under his breath. That’s one way to describe him. -1

Pogo kept this secret for a long time. Not telling the kids was a strange choice and I’m not sure why Pogo made it. On one hand, he would be respecting the wishes of his creator and friend but on the other he would be helping these people come to terms with their father’s death. Pogo’s character motivations are strange and I don’t understand them. +1

Luther said it best, “there’s always choice.” +1

Random thought I had, where was Harold’s grandmother when he was being abused and then going to jail because he killed his abuser? +1

Leonard says some nice things in this scene. If we didn’t know how manipulative he was I would give him credit for this line. +1

Agnes looks adorable out of the Griddy’s uniform. Costume/hair people, you did good. -1

Agnes keeps saying things like “we aren’t in a rush” and talking about seeing three years worth of stops to remind us that there is no time. Hazel looks heartbroken by it. -1

Allison abandons her vehicle. Do not take driving advice from The Umbrella Academy, ever! +1

Allison sees a random scarf from several cars away and immediately connects it with Vanya. Does she also have super sight? +1

The first time we see Allison get recognized by a random stranger for her acting is eight episodes in. +1

Cheddar (the cop Allison is talking to) is so enamored by Allison that he stops doing his job correctly. +1

“Jackpine cove” who named these towns? +1

Allison and Five have the same little shrug when they finish telling terrible lies. -1

Allison is a terrible liar. +1

Diego is still in jail. They’re talking about transferring him upstate. This is really bad news. +1

“Did she use that word? Contentious?” The definitions of contentious all say the word argument. Beeman says that Diego and Patch had an argumentative relationship. This matters to Diego. Why? +1

This conversation was written by someone who doesn’t understand the connotation of the word contentious. +1

Beeman encourages Diego to escape and go on the run. Are all the cops incompitent on this show? You have Patch, who hasn’t pinned Diego for obstruction of justice despite the show implying that Diego has touched evidence he wasn’t supposed to many times, Cheddar, who is so distracted by Allison freakin’ Hargreeves that he forgets that taking her along to a murder case is unethical at best, and Beeman who straight up encourages Diego to escape from jail. That last one is definitely illegal. +10

The parallel between Five and Leonard reading something they aren’t supposed to have in the bathroom. Both the apocalypse file and the journal are red, too. This means something but I don’t have the analysis skills to really go into it. If anyone wants to take a crack at it, go ahead. Sin removed because I know this is smart even if I can’t figure out why.-1

Vanya’s training implies that Reggie has been training these kids hard since they were at least four years old. +7

Current Sin Count: 73

Reggie doesn’t praise Vanya for breaking the glass, he just demands that she does it again. Say it with me now, Reggie is a dick. +1

Leonard straight up uses the word extraordinary. Sigh. +1

The description for how Vanya’s powers work (concentrate on a constant sound until that’s all you can hear and then use an emotional connection to target) is surprisingly good. This is the best description of somebody’s powers we’ve ever gotten in this show. -1

Klaus is attempting to get the yarn on the needle and failing miserably. This is one of the simpler, if tedious, things we do in knitting. Therefore, it is completely understandable how a beginner can’t make heads or tails of it. -1

Five is still injured. The old man walk gives it away. +1

Five treats Klaus like a second in command. I want more of this duo. -1

“So how’d the crazy bastard actually know to kill himself a week before the end of the world?” We would all like to know the answer to that question. Five would be excellent at cinema sins. +1

“Don’t answer, that was purely rhetorical.” Nice cop out, show. +1

Reggie used The Apocalypse to make his kids do the dishes. Checks out. +1

Five and Klaus bond over hating doing the dishes and the person making them do the dishes. Sibling culture. -1

“Where have you been?” “Jail. Long story.” The looks on Klaus and Five’s faces! -2

Vanya breaks the monocle. Good job, kid. However, if you know the comics then you know why I am mildly concerned about this. -1

“That will conclude your training for the time being.” Meaning the next 25 years. Reggie, you suck. +1

Now Vanya’s powers are a bit more vague and imply that she has super hearing. +1

Leonard’s training routine actually includes some praise, which is a step up from Reggie. However, a step up from Reggie is still someplace in hell, so it’s still a sin. +1

It’s also a sin because it’s uncontrolled and Vanya is afraid of it, yet Leonard keeps pushing her. +1

Leonard uses the kind of language Reggie would use to describe Vanya’s powers. Checks out because he read Reggie’s book and is using his ideas to train Vanya. +1

Helen Cho’s missing person poster reminds the viewer that Leonard is bad news. +1

Vanya plays for the St. Pluvium Chamber Orchestra. First of all, no they have a conductor. +1

Second of all, “Pluvium” means of or relating to rain. The Umbrella Academy fights against the leader of the rain orchestra in episode 10. Who came up with that pun? That is absolutely hilarious. -1

Based on a post by @seven-valid-libras I think Griddy’s is across the street from this bar? I am not 100% sure. If it is then that’s a sin off because Agnes definitely has a bunch of drunk people coming in for doughnuts every now and then. I lowkey want to write this fic. -1

“Maybe they’ll brood each other to death” Is this a reference to the fact that Luther and Diego were both too emo for umbrellas in episode 1? -1

I feel so bad for Luther right now. Reggie really fucked with his head. +1

After hearing that Vanya’s boyfriend is a convicted murderer, Luther is more concerned for Allison than he is for Vanya. +1

Diego’s face when Luther says “you should have led with that!” [the fact that Allison went after a convicted murderer alone] -1

Luther is right. Diego should have led with that. +1

Luther breaks the door in his rush to get out of the bar. Checks out. -1

Mary J. Blige. -1

The shop is closing because Agnes is leaving? Who owns Griddy’s? +1

And if the shop is closing, then why leave doughnuts on the shelf? Are they gifts for the other waitresses who are now out of a job? +1

Agnes keeps a flamingo (presumably, scented) candle in a bakery. +1

Cha Cha was way too close to that explosion to not get some scratches at the very least. +1

Sergeant Cheddar is letting Allison stay in the room while he interrogates Mr. Luntz (the man that survived Vanya’s powers). +1

What kind of person allows themselves to be hired by some guy in order to beat him up in front of his girlfriend? Who does that? Are there people like that who exist in real life? +1

Allison doesn’t get pissed off when Luntz says that they started to hurt the girl (Vanya) too. +1

Sgt. Cheddar finally gets pissed off with Allison after she starts leading Luntz. This took way too long. +1

“What I really need to do is practice,” said every musician ever. Including me. As I’m typing this I’m putting off practicing. Vanya is calling me out. I deserve it. +1

Also, Vanya just got first chair and so far she still hasn’t learned the solo the day before the concert. That is such a mood. -1

The cracks in Leonard’s personality are finally starting to show. If Harold was smart he would let Vanya do this without attempting to manipulate her into more practice. +1

Vanya left her violin propped up in the middle of a sofa. That is a broken violin waiting to happen. +1

Where is her rosin? Don’t tell me she reuses the same rosin and doesn’t clean her instrument. Please. +2

Leonard doesn’t tell Vanya where he will be going. He just sort of leaves without a note. This would be fine if this universe had cell phones, but it doesn’t. Leonard is a dick. +1

Agnes would like to spend her (Hazel tells her it’s hypothetical but we know it’s not) last two days on Earth with Hazel. That is so sweet. But also, they met less than a week ago. +1

This is the turning point that makes Hazel an active character that wants to stop the apocalypse. Finally some character motivation that makes sense! Whoop! -1

They Call Me a Fool by Damon is another one of my favorites from the soundtrack. What can I say, I’m a sucker for jazz. -1

There is a parallel between Five leaving Vanya’s apartment and Leonard leaving her at the cabin. Her brother (whom I assume she loves) and the man she is infatuated with both leave her at some point without warning. The people who Vanya loves keep leaving her. +2

Vanya puts her violin down on a chair and lets the bow fall. Bows are expensive. +1

“I made a secret place just for you. None of your siblings get to play there.” Of course Reggie is framing it this way. He’s scared of her. +1

The further away from Pogo the camera is, the less real he looks. +1

Reggie and Pogo locked Vanya in this cage. +1

Vanya’s violin bow fell down but in the next shot it’s propped on the chair. +1

Sgt. Cheddar tells Allison to stay put but has no way to verify that she actually will. Also, if he’s such a fan then shouldn’t he know that she used to be a superhero? +1

Allison kept her proof about Leonard/Harold in the car again. +1

“I love you. And I wanna be here for you as your sister.” -1

“I love him.” Vanya you met him less than a week ago. +2

If there was ever a wrong time to bring up the fact that you took Vanya’s powers away and left her with a horribly low self esteem due to the poorly worded “I heard a rumor that you think you’re just ordinary”, it would be now! Now is the wrong time to bring this up! +10

Reggie used Allison to make Vanya powerless. Reggie is a dick. An absolute bastard. A complete scumbag. Etc. +20

Reggie has also been drugging Vanya since she was FOUR YEARS OLD. +50

Insert Reggie insults here. Feel free to come up with your own in the tags. Fuck this guy repeatedly with a rusty chainsaw. +20

Vanya is not in the right state of mind to understand that Reggie is the one that made Allison rumor her. +1

The final fight between Allison and Vanya is heartbreaking. Emmy Raver-Lampman and Ellen Page are excellent actresses. -5

Vanya’s skin keeps getting paler and paler. Foreshadowing. -1

This is the only time Allison attempts to use her powers in the show. To save her life. I would say that it is pretty justified. -1

Violin bows are not sharp enough to cut human flesh. Is this another part of Vanya’s power? +1

Gore warning! This is super fucked. Not gonna lie, I gag a little every time I see this.+4

Vanya is freaking out and then Leonard walks in. Vanya’s mental state is completely out the window at this point. +4

Leonard manhandles Vanya into letting her sister die (as far as they know) on the floor of the cabin. +10

Allison has definitely lost enough blood to kill her, yet she survives this. +1

Leonard went out to kill Luntz. +10

Nobody in the car (Five driving, Klaus shotgun, Luther and Diego in the back) is wearing a seatbelt. +1

Also, of these four people, Five is the most qualified to drive right now? Diego is sitting right there! And we saw Klaus drive the ice cream truck! Luther would have some trouble driving because he’s so large. But really?? +2

“Can you go any faster?” “Ask me again and I’ll burn you with the cigarette lighter.” The comic relief doesn’t really land here because the scene before was so dramatic and the music is still playing. To change the mood, the song would also have to change. +2

Independently, that is a pretty funny Grandpa Five line. -1

Including Ben in the scene where they find Allison bleeding out on the floor is a subtle reminder to the audience that if Allison was dead, Klaus would be able to see her ghost. The lack of a ghost means she is still alive. +1

Also, this scene has all the original members of The Umbrella Academy in it. Look how far they’ve come from the bank robbery. +6

No one is checking for a pulse right now. They’re just assuming that Allison is dead. +10

Overall Review: It goes without saying that this episode is fucking brutal. When I first watched it I had to stop and go do something else for a while because of the rumor reveal and the throat thing. That was really, really concerning. Props to Emmy Raver-Lampman. She fucking killed it this episode. If anyone was wondering if she was a good actress (ya know because of all the “come look at this” lines she kept getting) then this episode made it very clear that she can act and she does it very, very well.

So, Vanya’s sanity is out the window, Allison is down for the count, and no one cares about the apocalypse right now. That last one is understandable because of Allison’s situation, but damn it really isn’t looking good for the Hargreeves siblings.

Also, I want to talk about something. This is the last episode in which Allison and Vanya are both capable of speech. And in the eight hours we have known these two women, they have had multiple conversations. All of them have been about a man. Their brothers, their father, Patrick, or Leonard/Harold. Seriously, the two women in this show that are main characters never have a conversation that isn’t about a man. There is no excuse. With the fridging and this, you have to wonder if the writers on this show hate women or something? I don’t normally add sins post analysis, but I think I will make an exception for this one. +100

Total: 283

Sentence: Serious gore.

#The Umbrella Academy #all in good fun #luther hargreeves #diego hargreeves #allison hargreeves #klaus hargreeves #five hargreeves #ben hargreeves #vanya hargreeves #leonard peabody #harold jenkins #show warnings apply #this episode is brutal

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slo-liveblog · 4 years

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hmm, that’s a good question! i know you probably just mean “how did you feel about that scene because normally you don’t like ashe”, which could probably be answered in a sentence or two, but im going to go into excruciating detail about this anyway.

i guess the exciting thing about the star-shaped carrots scene was how completely out of left field it was for ashe. of course, it’s not like him performing nice, cutesy acts of courtesy for the rest of the group is anything new. that’s his default- when he’s not out to murder them, of course. but for one thing, his overzealous kindness... usually only extends to claire? i could be wrong but he really only seems to go out of his way to make claire specifically happy, probably because of how he mentions that she’s gullible and could easily be strung along to his benefit if he earns her trust. he did interact with leon before, and the way they got along well was definitely interesting, but it was only for like one scene and really only extended to showing they had some chemistry as conversation partners. so suddenly, when we’re pretty safely accustomed to how ashe acts- cheery, nosy, talkative and kind (even more so with claire) when he’s manipulating someone, then erratic and violent when he shows his true colors- he completely flips the script. as ive mentioned a lot, his reactions to leon’s breakdowns are almost uncanny compared to the way im used to seeing him behave. it immediately begs the question of why? what could make him act so completely differently, as if he’s lost and no longer in control of the situation, because of leon of all people? of course, it quickly becomes apparent that it’s because leon reminds him of his sick sister, but that raises even MORE points of interest.

i think the biggest elephant in the room for me personally is, leon and claire... are very similar. like, there’s definitely a line being drawn between ashe and wilardo VS claire and leon (sirius is a whole other story but that’s for another post) in terms of their priorities and what they’re willing to do for their goals. leon and claire are both constantly chastised for being easily fooled, naïve, softhearted, small minded, etc. etc.

so we see ashe completely fall apart over leon being sick, right. the important thing about the star shaped carrots is that ashe didn’t do it intentionally, unlike most of his kind gestures that seem to be done specifically to earn people’s trust. of course, we don’t have an internal monologue for ashe during that part of the scene so we can’t know for sure, but judging by everything else going on (his expressions, his flashes of memories of lilia, he’s clearly distracted when he’s talking, how he realizes later that he didn’t even get info out of leon when he talked to him) i think it’s safe to assume he was being genuine when he said he was distracted and only did it out of habit. so a question that popped into my mind was what if CLAIRE, who’s very similar to leon, were to get sick? like, what kind of batshit reaction would he have to THAT? and would he still be able to kill someone that reminded him so strongly of his sister? but then, there’s another alarming thought right there- we ALREADY know that claire probably reminds him at least a little bit of his sister. the kaleidoscope scene... and how he is reminded very strongly of his sister, but then immediately recommends they give it to claire.... sure is something. the biggest difference between claire and lilia that we know at this point, maybe something that’s genuinely made him feel more comfortable with killing her, is her health. she’s active, fit, and fully capable of taking care of herself- probably traits that allow him to distance himself from her to some degree, but i do think there could certainly be the angle of “this is what lilia could have been like if she’d had the chance” if the game wanted to take it there. not sure if it will though. but i definitely believe her kind, innocent personality contributes to why he’s so nice to her. whether it’s conscious or not, i don’t believe anymore that it’s solely for the purposes of manipulation, for a whole host of reasons.

so now we have reason to believe that claire could resemble lilia, at least in ashe’s eyes (throwback to when i thought they were the same person lol), and the main factor separating them is that claire is incredibly tough and healthy. but then... ashe kills her. so it’s like... he can’t be completely distancing himself from this. we KNOW he has the capacity to recognize the similarities between other people and his family members, that they’re living their own lives with their own goals and aspirations, and then still decide that his family’s lives are worth more. he’s trading claires life to give lilia the things she has now. but it’s not even just passing recognition of that fact now, because ashe is having a full blown emotional reaction to leon. and the idea of that eventually rippling out to how he views claire is... a lot. like, it makes me think of wilardo- he recognizes that his wish, aspirations and life aren’t inherently more important than anyone else’s. he apologizes to claire when he kills her, because he knows he’s making a conscious choice to prioritize what he wants above someone else’s life, and thus robbing claire of her own chance to get what she wants out of life. but honestly, i still don’t think ashe is quite there yet, let alone far enough down that thought process to actually decide not to kill anyone. he’s probably very firmly rooted in the belief that whats he’s doing is worth the sacrifice of others, so im not sure if i actually expect his hesitance with leon to bleed into the actions he takes. we might have to wait for his conclusion to see that hesitation fully realized, to go beyond an inconvenience and into straight up self doubt. but the humanization is there and super fucked up to see happening to a character that’s been almost entirely unflinching in his goals so far.

so uh, i guess in short, the star shaped carrots scene caught me completely off guard and makes me super interested to see where they go with the ideas they’re setting up. it made ashe easier to connect to, definitely. and it’s also just a fucking cute and heartbreaking interaction between two characters i was really excited to see talk more

#i just have Lots of feelings about the direction theyre taking with ashe and leon okay...#witchs heart #slo talks #slo lbs bonus stage #ashe #leon #snowdrop34

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tvdversefanfiction · 4 years

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Canary Carnage

Chapter Thirteen: Killer Carnage

Warnings: I don’t own any of the rights, content or characters belonging to any of the DC content I use within the story along with not owning any rights, content or characters within The Vampire Diaries, Originals or Legacies.

18 Rating: Moderate/Graphic displays of violence, sexual innuendos, sexually charged scenes, SMUT, strong language and potentially triggering scenes.

Pairings: M/M, F/F, M/F.

Elijah Mikaelson couldn’t help but to be left feeling uneasy following Laurel Lance returning to New Orleans permanently although he definitely enjoyed having her back he could help but feel guilty for wanting her back in a city that held so much pain for the both of them.

However it was Lucas Lance’s return or rather the arrival of his Earth X doppelganger Lucas Wayne that Elijah was much more concerned by and so he wasted very little time in getting to know the infamous Blue Canary, quickly discovering that Lucas Wayne was a far cry from Lucas Lance.

Although there were similarities between the two doppelgangers other than their looks: Both Lucas’ were smart and calculating with a determined drive to stay alive, both had complicated relationships with their biological mothers and both had managed to capture the attention of Elijah’s brother Klaus Mikaelson much to everyone’s worries considering how bad the original hybrid’s curiosity with Lucas Lance ended.

“I see your settling into New Orleans rather well Mr Wayne.” Elijah greeted the Earth X doppelganger after vamp speeding into Rousseau's, speeding over to the bar counter to find Lucas Wayne serving drinks to customers with Josh stood by his side. “I believe your also living with the Lance sisters at their hotel.”

“I’ve got this,” Lucas told Josh before walking over to face off with the noble original vampire, leaving Josh to tend to customers as he spoke to Elijah. “The pristine suit which looks pricy as hell must mean you’re Elijah Mikaelson. I’ve met your brother Klaus he’s what I call an original stalker of sorts.”

“My brother Niklaus is merely being cautious you see your doppelganger Lucas Lance proved himself rather troublesome for everyone including himself and we don’t want a repeat of that for everyone’s sakes…especially your mother’s.” Elijah informed the Blue Canary.

“I get it Lucas Lance was the villain in your story but in mine people like you, your siblings and god even my mother were the villains.” Lucas replied to Elijah. “I’m here because I have nowhere else to go and I’m beginning to believe I’m here to save this city.”

“What is it you think that this city needs saving from?” Elijah scoffed at him as he took a seat at the counter.

“First guess would be the vampires who treat humans like walking snacks, the wolves keep themselves to themselves so they’re not on the agenda and the witches are pretty hit and miss.” Lucas answered him before going over to pour the original a glass of straight whisky before walking back over and serving Elijah his drink. “I’m not coming for anyone in particular but I won’t stand by if anyone or anything comes for the few innocents around here.”

“Are you threatening me Mr Wayne or are you threatening my entire family?” Elijah asked him before taking a drink of his whisky, only to smile at the taste of this whisky. “I guess you’re the kind of bartender who knows their customer’s drink.”

“I like Sara and I’m even fond of Laurel so when they tell me somebody’s good I’ll accept it until they prove otherwise however nobody has anything nice to say about Klaus Mikaelson and his stalking of me isn’t helping me think otherwise.” Lucas admitted to Elijah. “As for your drink consider it on me as a thanks for putting your brother in line…unless you want me to do the job for you?”

“My brother Niklaus isn’t someone who is easily handled especially considering how fond he was of your doppelganger…personally I didn’t see why.” Elijah informed Lucas before downing his drink and placing the empty glass onto the counter. “I much prefer this Lucas standing in front of me however morals are a rare thing around here and they tend to get you killed.”

“I’ll keep that in mind Mr Mikaelson.” Lucas responded with a sincere smile on his face before Elijah vamp sped out of Rousseau's and out of sight.

“Declaring war on the Mikaelson’s doesn’t end well for you trust me my friend Marcel once thought he could survive that family and let’s just say you won’t see him in New Orleans anymore.” Josh warned Lucas as he walked over to his new employee. “He was considered family to them as well.”

“I’ve dealt with murderous mothers, overbearing fathers, endless superhuman enemies and literally Nazi’s in my time I’m sure I can handle a vampire or two.” Lucas boasted to his vampire boss only to be met by Josh laughing at him.

“Funny your less evil than your evil twin but your just as foolish.” Josh scoffed at the Blue Canary. “Forgive me for my advice I’m just the only person in this city that doesn’t seem to have a death wish.”

Josh Rosza was far wiser than his years but hid behind an adorable yet admit-tingly dorky personality which had served him very well as a vampire especially considering everyone around him had died and yet he continued to advise his friends to follow suit only to see them take different paths.

His first greatest loss was the love of his life Aiden who fell victim to the Mikael’s ruthless aunt Dahlia before he found himself losing his best friend Davina several times before losing her for what seemed like for good and in the last five years alone he had lost his close friend Marcel Gerard again due to the Mikaelson’s.

When Davina first returned to New Orleans five years ago Josh’s biggest fear was losing her again to a doomed fate but instead, she gave up her need for vengeance against Klaus as she fell back in love with Kol and got married.

Although the wonder witch still lived in the city their friendship had changed and became strained as Josh made clear his distaste over their handling of Marcel Gerard. Josh was determined to find Marcel being the only one who hadn’t given up on the updated original and that put a strain on his relationship with Davina Claire-Mikaelson.

However, in the last five years he had found himself forming a new friendship with the Black Canary keeping in touch over his mission to find his friend and her mission to save the world and now he had her son, or at least some version of her son, working for him and feared Lucas Wayne would either follow the same path as his doppelganger Lucas Lance or his estranged friend Davina.

Five years earlier Klaus Mikaelson had found himself growing rather close to Lucas Lance despite a determination to do anything considering the Red Canary was selfish, reckless, manipulative and calculating, all the things Klaus used to be before he became a father. It took him time to realize that what attracted him most to Lucas was how much the canary reminded him of himself.

Of course it grew more complicated as he learned more about the Red Canary realizing the meta-human was nowhere near as heartless as he’d have liked people to admit and far more troubled than even he realized unleashing Klaus’ need to want to help Lucas find his way like his siblings and his daughter helped him but unlike Klaus’ long and immortal life the Red Canary’s life was cut short.

Lucas Lance was never a great love of his life and Klaus doubted he would’ve been had they been together longer but his memory did serve as a painful reminder of a time he failed somebody he actually wanted to help and therefore the arrival of Lucas’ Earth X doppelganger Lucas Wayne only served to remind the original hybrid even more and for that reason he had been avoiding the Blue Canary like a plague until he was told to do exactly that and Klaus Mikaelson never did what he was told.

“Listen up Klaus because I’m only going to say this once under no circumstances whatsoever are you to come near Lucas. The last thing we need right now is your undead ass fucking up my sister’s chance of getting to know her son.” Sara demanded as she walked into the compound to find Klaus stood waiting for her.

“Just because my sister has grown fond of you doesn’t mean I’m not going to tear your head off for the nerve of trying to make demands of me besides the last Lucas found more danger with you than he ever did with me.” Klaus snapped back at the White Canary.

“That was different…we had just lost our mother…we thought there was no going back for him.” Sara replied with a clear sense of regret in her voice. “This is our chance to do right by him.”

“The only problem with that logic is Lucas Wayne isn’t Lucas Lance which means he’s not your nephew or your sister’s son. You’ve just let some stranger straight into your home because he looks familiar.” Klaus told her with a hint of judgement on his face, knowing Sara, Laurel and Rebekah were to blame for Lucas Lance’s demise.

“He is Lucas though or at least the way Lucas used to be until everything went to shit. This version of him is kind, loyal and heroic just like the baby brother I grew up with.” Sara admitted to the original hybrid as tears formed in her eyes. “He may have a different history and he may not know me or Laurel but he’s so much like the Lucas I used to know it makes me feel…”

“Guilty that you gave up on the original?” Klaus butted in, all too eager to make the canary feel even more guilty. “He’s not your second chance Sara and he’s not going to make it right how you and your sister plotted to murder your own blood all because he had an episode or two.”

“He murdered our mother that’s not an episode or two!” Sara reminded Klaus, furious that the original would dismiss her mother’s death like it was nothing, also furious that she gave up on her adoptive brother so easily and that he was reminding her of how she failed him. “Please just stay the hell away from this Lucas!”

“I’ll take it into consideration Miss Lance.” Klaus lied, knowing damn fine he was now going to make himself well known to the Blue Canary.

Klaus Mikaelson initially had no intention to have any contact with Lucas Wayne following their initial meeting weeks ago but after learning how much Sara Lance wanted him to stay away he just couldn’t pass an opportunity to put the White Canary in her place still loathing her for murdering his elder sister Freya Mikaelson and holding her just as responsible for Laurel in the parts they played in Lucas Lance’s death.

In fact, Klaus genuinely believed he had moved on from Lucas Lance’s death but the idea of his family being so quick to embrace a purer version of him angered the original hybrid far more than he thought it would and now he wanted to teach the Lance sisters a lesson for dishonoring the memory of a man they helped murder.

Caitlin Snow was a powerful woman long before she discovered she was a meta-human working as a well-respected bio-engineer at S.T.A.R. Labs alongside her fiancé Ronnie Raymond who was a structural engineer for the company but everything changed for her upon her fiance's mysterious disappearance eventually turning her from a loving and caring woman to someone with an ice cold heart as Killer Frost was born.

Caitlin chose a life of villainy following her heartbreak after discovering her powers of thermometric cryokinesis taking on the villainess mantle as Killer Frost leaving Caitlin Snow and all she worked for behind which led to her becoming enemies with some of the most powerful heroes including the Black Canary.

Killer Frost had a long and complicated history with Laurel Lance having once been best friends with the canary only to later become obsessed in bringing her down always failing until the death of the multiverse gave her an opportunity to arrive on Earth X, a world which followed none of the rules that the other worlds did in the now dead multiverse.

The realization that the Black Canary currently residing within Earth X wasn’t the Black Canary from her world hadn’t stopped her obsession especially with Killer Frost’s new friends, all of which were determined to destroy at least one if not all three of the canaries within New Orleans.

“In such a big and busy city, it’s quite remarkable to find such peace in a quiet little place like this.” Frost stated as she walked into the quiet Rousseau's bar to find Lucas Wayne stood behind the bar wiping down the counter. “Either you’re a really bad bartender or people are scared to come into this establishment.”

“I guess you’re officially stopping me from having to close anytime soon.” Lucas greeted the long white-haired woman as she walked over to the bar and sat down at the counter. “You look strangely familiar…have we met before?”

“Nope you don’t exist in my timeline or my world which also doesn’t exist anymore.” She replied, making it clear to the Blue Canary that she was from the multiverse. “This world is quite intriguing, but the only downfall seems to be there’s one too many Lances around here.”

“I’m a Wayne not a Lance but I’m more interested in who the bloody hell you are?” Lucas wondered just as Laurel walked into the bar looking horrified to see Killer Frost, who instantly rose from her chair and turned around to face the Black Canary.

“Killer Frost…you’re supposed to be long dead not to mention the world itself died after you!” Laurel said in shock, clearly uneasy to see an old foe.

“I’m not exactly the Killer Frost you know but I hate you just as much if not more.” Frost revealed to Laurel, as she found herself stood between both canaries. “If you think your Earth X son was the only one to jump ship before the death of the multiverse than you thought wrong.”

“You should leave now before you wind up just as dead as your other doppelgangers!” Laurel warned Frost, with a look of hatred in her eyes, a look Lucas had never seen from the Black Canary but had seen from the Black Siren one time too many.

“My father told me all about you, you were long dead on my Earth too but you were quite the formidable foe before that…in my world you were my twisted mother’s closest confidant so it only makes sense you hate the good versions of her.” Lucas piped in, once again showing a vast knowledge about the multiverse.

“You’re so much more than just a looker if only you were a bit redder instead of blue we may have got along!” Killer Frost told Lucas before lifting her hand in his direction shooting out a large ice blast from the palm of her hands as Laurel released a canary cry in her direction, the ice blast hitting Lucas and throwing him into the glass cabinet filled with alcohol destroying it before throwing Lucas down to the ground, as Laurel’s canary cry sent the villainess Killer Frost flying across the bar before hitting a wall and crash landing onto the ground.

“I warned you to get the hell out of here Caitlin!” Laurel shouted at the doppelganger of her nemesis. “Now I’m going to have to teach you a lesson.”

The Blue Canary and Killer Frost both rose to their feet at the same time, the Blue Canary ready to charge at the villainess white haired woman while the white haired woman had all eyes on the Black Canary but before anyone could attack Klaus vamp sped into the bar, speeding all the way over to Lucas before grabbing a hold of him and vamp speeding out of Rousseau's with the Blue Canary leaving a confused Laurel Lance standing alone in the bar with her nemesis Caitlin Snow.

“Well I was planning on killing you both, but I suppose I’m not totally pissed it’s just you and me now!” Killer Frost told the Black Canary before raising her hand to release another ice blast in Laurel’s direction, just as Laurel released a large canary cry in the direction of the villainess.

If Laurel was going to win against Caitlin Snow’s ruthless alter ego Killer Frost then she had better get her head in the game but with the doppelganger of her son just being kidnapped by Klaus Mikaelson she couldn’t help but worry about Lucas Wayne and what the original hybrid had in store for him.

Klaus Mikaelson had learned a lot about the canaries during the five years in which Sara and Laurel had clashed with him and his family and although his siblings had built friendships with the Lance sisters he had kept wary of them deciding to instead study the canaries and learn their weaknesses.

Klaus was forever paranoid about betrayals and potential feuds after all his family’s worst enemies tended to be close allies at some stage before turning against them and so he found it wiser to study all that came into his life knowing how best to take them both down if he needed to, which he always did.

He knew Laurel’s canary cry was pretty powerful so much so that it destroyed the hollow and their blood was special enough to restore Elijah’s memories and he also knew the canaries could die just like Lucas Lance died or be turned into a vampire like Sara Lance.

The canaries were powerful but only as powerful as their cry or at least that’s what Klaus believed and thanks to a brief alliance with Nyssa al Ghul he knew exactly how to deal with a canary cry putting the Blue Canary exactly where he wanted him.

“This should give us some proper time alone!” Klaus stated after vamp speeding into Lafayette Cemetery with Lucas and putting a power dampening collar around the son of batman’s neck. “Don’t want you getting any advantage over me with that damn canary cry.”

Lucas wasted no time in grabbing a hold of the original hybrid’s arm as he bent himself over and threw Klaus over his back until the vampire hit the ground with force while Lucas twisted his arm, popping the arm out of its socket before harshly stomping his foot down on Lucas’ throat, easing off just enough to let the hybrid speak.

“I don’t need a cry to kick your ass Klaus!” Lucas shouted at him before Klaus grabbed a hold of the Blue Canary and flung him over his body forcing the canary to land on the ground next to the vampire, as Klaus popped his arm back into its socket after a series of groans.

“I hate you!” Klaus furiously stated to Lucas as he climbed on top of his body, preparing to strangle the canary only to be headbutt in the face by Lucas, followed by Lucas kicking the vampire upwards, before Klaus finally found his footing as Lucas stood up to face him.

“You don’t even know me!” Lucas snapped back at Klaus before the original hybrid sped towards him, only for the Blue Canary to deliver a series of punches across the vampire’s face before Klaus threw him to the ground, Lucas grabbing a hold of Klaus, making the vampire fall on top of the canary.

“I…” Klaus said before pausing as he looked into the eyes of the Blue Canary, as hidden feelings began to rise and suddenly the vampire found himself kissing a stunned Lucas only for Lucas to respond by grabbing the vampire and throwing his body over his own, making Klaus hit the ground harshly once again as Lucas rose to his feet.

“What the hell do you think your doing?” Lucas questioned Klaus, as Klaus quickly stood back up, both looking as confused as the other.

“You just look so much like him…” Klaus reluctantly admitted to the canary. “I guess the only reason I want you dead is because your forcing me to feel something I don’t want to feel.”

“I surprisingly understand where you’re coming from I mean I’m not going around trying to kill then kiss people but it’s not easy seeing a doppelganger of my mother whose nothing like her so I can only imagine how hard it must be to see a doppelganger of somebody you were once in love with.” Lucas replied to Klaus, surprising the original with his kindness.

“I was never in love with Lucas Lance…I cared for him, but I never loved him.” Klaus revealed to the Blue Canary, admitting not only to him but himself. “I don’t normally try to be a hero, but I really wanted to save him and not because I loved him but because he reminded me of him.”

“Sara filled me in on how you used to be a lot worse than what you are now which is saying something if this is the filtered down version.” Lucas joked with Klaus as he sat down on a nearby wall. “I guess my doppelganger reminded you of just how bad you were, how far you’ve come and how much better your life is because of it. You wanted that for him because if he could get it someone who was probably nowhere near as ruthless as you once were then in some way it’d be like you deserved the life your living but instead he got took down and you can’t help but think maybe you should’ve been taken out too.”

“Are you seriously trying to psychoanalyze me because I can promise you, I’m nowhere near as deep as you’re assuming, I am nor do I regret any action I’ve made in the past.” Klaus argued with Lucas, refusing to admit there was some truth in Lucas’ words.

“Sometimes heroes last long enough to become villains and sometimes villains find their way back to heroes once more but that’s not on anybody if they don’t find their way back least of all a thousand year old vampire whose actions are morally questionable on a good day.” Lucas explained to Klaus, as Klaus sat down next to the Blue Canary, listening to him despite looking like he wanted to be anywhere else. “I’m not Lucas Lance but I’m not some pillar of purity and goodness either we live in a grey world Klaus although admittedly redder here on Earth Blood. I can’t say what happened to my doppelganger was the right way to handle him nor it was the wrong way but what I can say is he’s not me and he’s not you either…it’s time to let it go.”

Lucas was right about Klaus holding onto the past righter than he could have possibly known as Klaus realized the words coming out of this Earth X doppelganger were wise and if he was wise, he’d take the Blue Canary’s advice.

It was in that moment for the first time since Lucas Wayne had arrive on Earth Blood that Klaus Mikaelson had started to see the Blue Canary for who he was and not just who he reminded him of.

Laurel Lance’s history with her world’s Caitlin Snow was very different to the one she had currently found herself coming face to face with: they had never been friends just enemies and it wasn’t the death of Ronnie Raymond which led to the birth of her world’s Killer Frost it was the death of Barry Allen which was her world’s first flash before Wally West took over the mantle.

Laurel may have never seen a good side to Killer Frost but she knew people who did such as Cisco Ramone and Wally West and it was those friendships that constantly put her at odds with the villainess making the Black Canary very wary of the manic meta-human but not fully unaware of her potential to be redeemed.

The Black Canary and Killer Frost’s fight lasted for a long time much to the expense of Rousseau's which had been destroyed from the inside out with broken tables, chairs and bottles spread across the floor with planks of wood and glass scattered everywhere as Laurel found herself beaten, broken and bruised while laid on a floor covered in the ruins of Rousseau's as Killer Frost stood above her looking victorious.

“I’ve always wanted to kill Laurel Lance, but I never thought it would be this easy.” Frost said while taunting Laurel, ready to kill the Black Canary. “It’s just a shame you’re the one who made it here but oh well every Laurel’s practically the same even the not so pure ones.”

“You are better than this Caitlin! I may not know this version of you but every version of you becomes like this because you lose someone you love.” Laurel told the white-haired woman, hoping to appeal to some humanity within her. “I lost my son my actual son and it broke me more than I ever thought it would but what your doing isn’t going to bring them back it’s just dishonoring their memory and what they meant to you.”

“Yeah here’s the thing I no longer care about anyone or anything.” Killer Frost replied as she magically formed an ice pick above her hand from out of thin air before Lucas sped into Rousseau's and clipped the power dampener collar around the white-haired woman’s neck before throwing her to the floor much to Laurel’s relief.

“You’re not going to believe me when I say this, but Klaus Mikaelson actually comes in handy from time to time!” Lucas declared as he walked over to Laurel, offering his hand to her and helping her get back onto her feet.

“Funnily enough I do believe it he always did have a soft spot for that face.” Laurel admitted to Lucas before the both turned to look at a pissed off Killer Frost whose was slowly getting back on her feet as her white hair turned brown.

“What are we going to do about little miss frosty?” Lucas asked Laurel who surprised him with a smile on her face as she watched Killer Frost’s hair turn completely brown.

“We’re going to help Killer Frost find Caitlin Snow once more.” Laurel revealed to a surprised Lucas, who was in awe of this version of his mother’s sense of forgiveness and kindness.

“Okay…but we’re going to need a cage or something to keep her in the meantime.” Lucas suggested just as Klaus sped into Rousseau's with a sinister smirk on his face.

“I may have a prison or two I’d be willing to lend the canaries…pending negotiations of course.” Klaus was eager to inform them all.

“Of course, you do!” Laurel scoffed while rolling her eyes, as she noticed Lucas and Klaus sharing a smile that made her feel very uneasy.

Laurel Lance had to deal with a lot since arriving on Earth Blood firstly the Mikaelson’s, then her twisted brother, then the Mikaelson’s and her brother only to then find out that baby brother of hers was actually her son before having to watch him meet a grizzly end but as she stood in the ruins of Rousseau's feeling the chemistry between Lucas Wayne and Klaus Mikaelson she had finally realized this was her all-time low.

The Black Canary was never a fan of the original hybrid, but she couldn’t argue with his weird sense of loyalty towards her son Lucas Lance even if it did confuse her she was happy someone was on his side especially considering she couldn’t be. However the Earth X doppelganger of her son Lucas Wayne was kind, honorable and loving, everything she believed Klaus Mikaelson wasn’t and the last thing she wanted was for the Blue Canary to end up just as bad if not worse than the Red Canary.

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unordinary-analysis · 5 years

Note

Totally here fangirling over last chapter but also wanted to run this by you, I really really want Sera to get her powers back before John fight Arlo. Because if she does I have no doubt in my mind she’d get involved to protect her new friends and end “Joker” once and for all. Her fighting John with all of he skills he taught her + her powers + John not wanting to hurt her = Sera demasking Joker and I just think that would be beautiful

(This was the ask i lost an 1000 word answer on R.I.P.)

Sorry this is so late btw

I really like this take. It’s completely possible and would be really fun to read. When I imagine how this current saga is going to end, it’s usually something like this.

Also thank you for this ask because it lead me to realize how much I need a proper Sera and Arlo friendship.

Ok 4 things i want to address:

1. Seraphina getting her powers back

2. Getting involved with the Joker situation

3. Fighting against Joker

4. Aftermath

1.) so this theory (?) is very reliant upon one main thing: Seraphina getting her powers back. This could easily be solved because I mean, it’s pretty likely it’s going to be actually canon soon in the series. Leilah’s appearance was obviously put in where it was so that she would learn about Seraphina. Then, Leila having (supposedly) worked with EMBER or at least the company supplying them, will have the knowledge and resources to heal her sister.

Some things that are unknown, however, are Leilah’s intentions. We don’t really know what her point of view will be. We barely know her, having actually met her character once. Something else to consider, she ran away from home years ago. She will not be as close to Seraphina as she might have been once. We don’t know if Leila’s will prioritize her sister over her work, another thing we know little about. Though likely, us readers are very much guessing that Leila’s works with an organization affliliated with EMBER (which is why I said “supposedly” above). We don’t know if Leilah even actually works at a place that would give her the tools to help Sera. Her reaction at the restaurant may have just been because it was her sister, not that she knew the reason behind Seraphina’s ability loss. Even if she really worked close to EMBER, Leilah could totally be loyal to them. I don’t know. Her character is just so unknown for me to rely upon her to bring back Sera’s powers. Though, that probably is what’s going to happen because lmao why bring back Leilah at all if not for that. So that’s settled lol.

I don’t know how Leilah would bring back Seraphina’s powers. I don’t know anything about EMBER or the drugs they use, that’s the whole point. So I can’t really explain anything there, we just gotta wait.

2.) Okay, now that Serpahina has her powers back, something else I’m wondering about is why and if Seraphina would fight against Joker.

Ask just assumed that she would, to help her friends, but it really goes a lot deeper than that.

She has 3 separate groups of friends: High-tiers, low-tiers, and John (lol)

Most of her high-tier friends have already been defeated by Joker

She said she wanted to see Joker kick Arlo’s ass

She seemed to accept it when John said that he was just climbing up the ladder

But, overall, I agree with ask. Seraphina is going to fight Joker if she is able and that list is a shorter one:

Remi

Low-tiers

Though many of the high-tiers can be considered as fake friends to Seraphina, it’s been clear from the beginning that Remi has always been genuine. They might not have been the best of friends, but Remi and Sera respected each other and didn’t pretend to like each other. And guess what. Remi’s going to get beat up soon. Well, maybe. Depends on what this Remi and John conversation meant to John. Let’s assume things end badly. Remi’s a goner okay. Seraphina is a goodish person. She’s not going to let her just get k.o.ed

A problem with this is that by the time Sera supposedly gets her powers back, it’ll probably be after the whole john and Remi fight. And that’s why I have reason #2

Sera’s low-tier friends are afraid of Joker. They have told her that he’ll be able to do pretty much everything because he won’t have to face the consequences. I don’t know. They just spooked. They won’t be able to even attempt to fight back if Joker wants to duke it out. Seraphina, like I said, is a goodish person. She knows the low-tiers gave her true friendship even after she was an unbothered god-tier that couldn’t care less about them. She’ll be grateful and at least her perspective will have changed.

So if Seraphina finds herself in the position to fight back, she’s not going to just stand back like she did before. That was the old Serpahina: untouchable and uncaring. New Sera is aware of what her actions do to the lives of those around her. She knows that she is one of the only people that can do this, that can stick up for the low (and every) tiers. She gon do that.

So yeah, Sera’s fighting Joker.

3.) When Sera does fight him: I’m wondering a few things. First: things that ask mentioned:

Fighting how John taught her

Her abilities

John holding back

I’m not sure if Seraphina will actually use the tactics that John taught her when she’s fighting Joker. It could go either way. Initially, I thought that she obviously wouldn’t use them. John taught her fist fighting tactics. She learned how to throw a punch, how to block. Now, tell me why she would use those when she has her powers back and she is fighting against someone with an ability?

Then I remembered John’s ability. Aura manipulation. If Sera uses her power, he’d be able to use it too. And we have all observed by now that the stronger ability he borrows, the stronger John is. Remember, we haven’t seen John borrow an ability stronger than his, we don’t know what will happen. But, using her ability in general would be a major hazard. So using fists to fight is a good idea (in theory only because she doesn’t know how good Joker is at that too).

I personally think she would use her powers the most if the author went through the trouble of giving them back. Sure, she’d throw a punch is Joker got close, but I don’t think her type of ability will really suit close range fighting (i think, her ability confused me lol). So yeah. This isn’t really important to the whole of this idea, but I mean it was in the ask and I wanted to address it.

So that was the first and second points.

Now, onto something else ask said. They seemed to think John would hold back on Seraphina. I think it’s a little more grey than that.

Things to remember:

John was allied with Cecile and still went to far

Joker’s whole brand is merciless

The reason the high-tiers want him gone is because he doesn’t know where to stop, he keeps fighting even when the fight’s done.

Other things to remember:

Seraphina is John’s closest friend

Joker only exists because John wanted to protect Sera

Joker’s most common motive is to keep Sera safe

Cecile was more of a partner than a friend: he doesn’t care about her

So basically, I’m confused and I don’t know what John will do. Like ask thinks, John loves Seraphina (platonically, calm down). But he also is feared because he is completely merciless. Dark John’s character can be described by that one word: merciless. Let’s go down memory lane, k? Back to New Bostin. Remember Claire? Remember Claire? Same thing, guys. John’s best friend betrays him and turns on him and he crushes her into pieces.

Like I really don’t know what John would do if fighting Seraphina, and that includes whether or not he would hold back.

I’m going to skip the details of the fight and who I think would win because, like I said above, Sera’s ability vs. John’s would be too new for me to predict the outcome. And why bother. This headcanon kind of relies upon Sera winning so let’s just assume that for now.

4.) aftermath. Do you even understand how dramatic that reveal is going to be? How traumatized both of them are going to be afterwords? For Seraphina, she’s discovering that the guy beating people up and trying to beat her up is her best friend. Beyond that, he has an ability, which ultimately means everything she knew about him and respected him for is a lie. For John, he’s basically reliving the events of New Bostin, reliving the thing that ruined his life. Reliving what he tried to move on from for over a year.

How I think they’ll end up:

Seraphina: I think that Seraphina and John will cut ties with each other. Seraphina will want to hate John, but can’t help wanting to talk to him and laugh with him. She can’t seem to forget the person he was when he was with her. The humble and nice guy. She knows he doesn’t exist now. That he never did. The thought makes her sad, and she hates it. John did this to himself, brought this onto himself. He had dragged Seraphina into his mess, never confiding in her. It’s not her fault that he turned out to be such an asshole.

Seraphina becomes good friends with Arlo. After the fight, she feels he is the only one that understands her. She feels bad because she didn’t trust him when he tried to tell her the truth. She hasn’t apologized, but hopes Arlo knows that she’s sorry. They start spending lots of time together. It reminds her of the old days. When Seraphina first arrived at Wellston. Arlo had been king and she was queen. They were forced together because of their power and they bonded through that. They both had ambition, goals, a want to make things better for the students at Wellston and a need to prove themselves. They had been young then, and Serpahina had considered Arlo a friend. Then John came along and changed everything. Seraphina cant be ashamed of who she became because of him. If not for John, she would’ve remained ignorant about the mistreatment of low-tiers and EMBER. If not for him, she would’ve never learned how to laugh or how to reward herself. If not for John, she never would’ve stood up to her mom...

Now that Seraphina is back, all of her, her ability and rank, she feels whole again. Seraphina may have gotten used to the cripple life, but she never realized exactly how much her ability was a part of her. Now reinstituted as queen, Sera is with Arlo again. Nowadays, it feels like he’s the only one who knows what she’s going through. Seraphina realizes that he’s changed too. In the past year, he’s turned from the cold and ruthless leader she knew him as into a thoughtful, logical, and surprisingly kind person. He’s humbler too, which is new.

Sometimes they just lie on the roof together, not talking or saying anything, just enjoying each other’s company. It’s comforting not being alone. Seraphina finds it hard to trust him sometimes, but it doesn’t matter much. Though they like to spend most of their time in each other’s company, they don’t talk much, don’t tell each other things. They’ve known each other for so long, they don’t need to. And it’s nice. Seraphina... she’s happy. She may have lost her best friend, but she gained an old one. Her sister talks to her every so often because Leilah’s always in town visiting her boyfriend. Everyone is nice to Seraphina at school.

Seraphina knows she can’t ignore John forever, can’t just forget that he exists, but oh she wants to. In a perfect world, she could lie on this rooftop forever, carefree and forgetful, but she knows she can’t. Because this is not a perfect world. Seraphina tries to help the low-tiers defend themselves and tries to bring awareness to EMBER. Remi aids her in her ambitions, having similar ones herself, and their bond also grows stronger.

Seraphina is finally making a difference. It hurts to know that it’s because of John, but at least she’s trying. She’s better than she was before. Kinder. Stronger. Healthier. Seraphina realizes that for the first time in her life, she really has the chance to truly be completely happy. She’s not about to let someone’s memory ruin it for her.

John: After the fight, John was a wreck. He barely ate for a week, barely slept. Everytime he closes his eyes he sees her. And everytime, John breaks down because he can’t tell who she is. Can’t tell if she has pink eyes or blue ones. Can’t tell if she even exists.

In the end, it doesn’t matter. Claire, Seraphina... it ended the same. Ended with him sitting in these rooms, hands in chains, head pounding.

John isn’t really sure why they bothered to get him into these classes again. The authorities didn’t seem to care when he wore the mask. They didn’t bat an eye at a student climbing the ranks. John supposes he’s only here because of his past. And he can’t blame them. He’s really fucked up.

The classes are better than they used to be. They go faster. John knows all the right answers this time around. And Keon hasn’t returned, something John appreciates everyday. Instead there’s this strict lady running his classes. She’s not great, but so much better than Keon. She seems like she has a good heart.

When John got in here, he made a promise to himself. He promised himself that he wouldn’t forget. God he wanted to. He wanted to forget Wellston like he forgot New Bostin. But he knows how that ended up last time. He forgot too much. Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.

Everyday, he listed in his head: Claire, Arlo, Blyke, Isen, Cecile, Remi, Seraphina. He won’t let himself forget them. What he did to them. What they did to him.

When John gets out of his readjustment classes, he is more than surprised to find Cecile waiting for him. She doesn’t say much about what happened, and isn’t all that friendly, but he can’t complain. He treated her like trash. But for some reason, she sticks around. She visits his house. She talks to him about his new school. They text. It’s weird to have her. John realizes he doesn’t know anyone else quite like Cecile. Something he never really realized about her before is her genuineness. Yeah sure, she would keep secrets, but everything she did and said, everything screamed Cecile. She never put on a show to talk to him or a new personality that others would. It was refreshing. Cecile wasn’t instantly nice to him and it was great. She reminded him a lot of Seraphina... John wish she didn’t.

Seraphina... John wants to talk to her so badly... but he knows she won’t. He lied to her for the entire time she knew him. They were best friends. John still gets shocked sometimes as he remembers what he hid from her, all the secrets he kept. It never seemed like a lot at the time, only a little secret at a time. He hadn’t realized until recently that by the end, he was drowning in lies. Small ones and big. They had wrapped and choked him like a snake..

John stays silent at his new school. He’s friendly to everyone and greets people when they greet him. He doesn’t lie here. At a regular school, John is basically guaranteed the king spot. He doesn’t shy away from it. He tries not to embrace it too much either. It’s a difficult balance, but he manages.

He manages. And he remembers.

————————————————————————

After all of this, I think they’ll kind of hate each other but also kind of not because of how close they are and still remain despite (Sera) wanting to hate the other. Then when ember starts becoming near future, they will be forced together to solve something or whatnot as the two strongest people. I can’t even express how much I want this now. Sorry for super long post. I get carried away sometimes... oof. Sorry for that weird story thing at the end. I probably could’ve written that more generic and narrative, but eh

(comment “arphina” if you read the whole thing) :)

#webtoon #unordinary #unordinary webtoon #uruchan #uru-chan #line webtoon #webcomic #john doe #seraphina #official

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tigereyes45 · 5 years

Text

Should Be

Entry for @infogremlinmelise ‘s contest.

Prompts used: Dark prompt Lost, and slightly some Injury

Ship: Angor Rot/Draal

Draal doesn’t remember waking up. He also doesn’t remember how he ended up above all the water in the crystal cave. Why the cave was almost filled completely with water was another question. Where the others were, was his largest. He sits alone, hugging his legs to his chest with his remaining arm. The cave was filled with the echoes of air from outside. It almost sounded like humans moaning. When they get loud he thinks of them.

He thinks of training Jim in the backyard. Of Toby always trailing right behind the trollhunter. Even when he didn’t have a weapon. He thinks of Claire and how easily she impressed Trollmarket. He thinks of Blinky and Aaarrrgghh!!! watching after the humans. They did so with such an air of care. He knew they could be gentle. Draal had just never seen so much of it from other trolls before.

He misses his family. Searching the filled-in cave for his arm was slowly driving him insane.

____________________________________________

Angor Rot woke up in darkness. It wasn’t the first time. He had been locked in darkness for so many years before. His soul trapped inside of Morgana’s grasp. Angor flinches. He isn’t sure if it is at the thought or the neverending quiet. Now he knows that his soul is no longer hers. He became his own again. Whole, with just a sliver of her power that he had asked for in the beginning.

This isn’t The Shadow Realm. He knows that much at least. It doesn’t feel like he’s swimming. The dark is there, but there is no substance in it. He couldn’t really move. There was nothing. Angor tries to move his limbs. Stretching was all he could manage. This place was an absence. A black hole where anything unlucky enough to fall in is sealed away. It’s not where Morgana went. So at least she was somewhere else. He knows it could be worse.

He should be dead. The trollhunters must believe he is. So why wasn’t he?

____________________________________________

Draal doesn’t know how long it was before he got up. He never found his arm. So he climbed out alone. He fell into the water a few times. Even as he left he could still hear the sounds of his splashing vibrating off the walls. The water sings a song as he runs into a caved-in entrance.

The water forms a beat along with his moves. He would throw a rock away, then a wave would smack the wall. Another rock more waves. It almost lulls him into a trance. The only thing that keeps Draal from falling into a dull sense of living was a bit of sunshine. It caught on his horns before ever gracing his eyes. Yet the flash was just enough to pull his attention away from his work.

It was at the very top. Just a little crack at the top of the cave in. It was the first time he had seen natural light. The glow of the crystals had begun to feel normal. Now Draal remembers how ethereal they were the first time he saw them. When he realizes what the light means, Draal’s chest falls. He would have to wait for nightfall, or else he would die as soon as he escapes.

He sighs out of frustration. If he had both hands he would have slammed them together. Instead, all Draal can do is slide his back down a wall, and the back of his arm into it. He was trapped.

____________________________________________

Angor Rot covers his eyes when a bright light appears. It was as bright as the sun on a hot afternoon. He would never understand humans. The light grows larger. It replaces all the darkness in this realm. He thinks to run from it, but remembers he could not move. The dark was empty. Angor Rot was sure the light would be just as empty.

As it engulfs him he burns. His skin grows hard as the light swallows him whole. He has no idea what was happening, but this must be his way to die. This would finally kill him.

____________________________________________

Draal crawls out of the cave as soon as there was enough space. He wouldn’t say it was slipping out as much as scraping his body over the pile of stones. Besides a few sparks, scratches, and his teeth aching, it was over quickly. Relatively painlessly. Blinky would have something for him. If the pain even lasts that long. Draal imagines it is a long walk back to Trollmarket. Especially since he has no memories of how he got here.

Days were spent wandering around aimlessly. He chose to go opposite of the waterfall. Following the stars he recognized. They were just as strange as this place was.

____________________________________________

Angor woke up in the middle of a forest. A leaf landing in his empty eye socket startled him up. He threw his arm out. An attempt to push back any enemy. The leaf falls gently into his lap.

It was an ugly crusty brown. There were small holes scattered throughout it. It was dead and decaying. Just like him. He had been the leaf for hundreds of years now.

A crash through the trees and Angor was back on the ground. Pinned under a large blue troll he is stuck on his back. He reaches for his knife. Grasping at empty air he realizes it must have gone where Morgana had.

"Who are you?" He asks cautiously growing still. He could not fight if he could not get up. Already his strength refused to move the giant troll.

The troll shifts slowly above him. Careful to avoid the sunspots breaking through the leaves. His large horns have speckles of grey in them now. He was burnt.

The apologetic look on Draal's face quickly changes to disdain.

"You!"

____________________________________________

Draal was angry. How had he found Angor Rot here? Did the assassin stay behind to make sure he was dead? The caves were a few days travel away now. If that was his job he was doing poorly at it.

Draal pins the ancient troll's hands down. He would have no tricks from him today. "Why are you out here Angor Rot?"

"I could ask you the same thing, but I assure you I have no idea."

The confusion he felt must have been clear as a full moon on his face. Angor's eye rolls in its socket. "You've been gone for a while. Were you lost little warrior?"

He squeezes his arms tightly. Once he hears the slight cracking Draal lessens his grip. The other troll looks unbothered. If anything he was only slightly annoyed. “Do not talk down to me,”

“Hard to do from on the ground. If you want to get back to the trollhunter then get off.”

“You know where Jim is?”

“Last time I saw him, he was in Arcadia.”

“So do you know where we are?”

“No,” Angor Rot admits looking mildly bored now. “But I have ways to find out.”

Draal sneers and pushes his face closer. “How do I know this isn’t one of Gunmar’s tricks?”

“Gunmar is dead.”

That was enough to cause Draal to lax his hold. He falls back a little as the news settles in. Gunmar was dead? How long had he been trapped? How had he survived Angor Rot’s poison? Draal’s world felt as if it was collapsing in on him. He needed to get back to his friends. Now.

____________________________________________

Angor jumps out of Draal’s hold. The larger blue troll looks stun. He brushes off some of the dead forest remains. The troll must have been lost and alone for days at least. The last time he had seen him was, wait.

“How did you survive?”

“I woke up in the crystal cave. It was filled with water. I spent so much time alone, watching my reflection in the water, trying to find my,” his words drift off as he looks at the stump.

“H-how did Gunmar die?”

“The trollhunter killed him.”

“He did?” A bit of pride slips into his voice. His body straightens up a bit. Draal seems to forget all about the fact that they were enemies.

“Yes,” Angor looks around the forest. The sun was beginning to sink. “Where are the caves from here?”

Draal gestures towards the SouthEast of them. He looks up at the setting sun with annoyance. With how many sun poison spots he had, it had caused him plenty of grievance today.

“Why did he not kill you?”

It was a reasonable question. Angor had expected it to come sooner. “I betrayed Morgana.”

His eyes grow wide and Draal once again grabs Angor with his good hand. “Morgana! She was freed? Jim, was he-”

“Fine son of Kajingar. Jim was fine. The girl, Claire, sealed her away.”

A smile spreads over Draal’s face as light fills his eyes. He wraps his arm around Angor and lifts him up with ease. “Great news! That, that is just great news!” He drops him and cheers. “I must get back. The trollhunter has had quite an adventure during my absence.”

With curiosity he watches Draal cheer. “Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why do you need to get back? The trollhunter is doing fine without you.” He didn’t know the changes Jim had gone through. Or how Arcadia has changed. Would any of them still be there? After all, neither of them know how long they had been away.

“It doesn’t matter if he needs me. I swore to protect the trollhunter. So I will return to do just that.”

“Do you have any idea where you’re going?”

Draal’s silence answers all of his questions.

“You would never make it back. The sun would take you before then.”

“I must try!” There was the temper Angor was used to. It was the first familiar thing he had experienced since returning. Maybe the light had a reason for freeing him. Perhaps some greater power wanted him he. Or this could all be another trick from Morgana. If she had found a way to still manipulate the world with her powers from the Shadow Realm then she truly was unstoppable.

“Do you know the way?” Draal asks watching him suspiciously now.

“Yes,” he lies.

“Then show me.”

“Why?”

Draal looks down at his arm. He couldn’t think of a reason.

“If I help you back then I want a guarantee.”

“A guarantee?”

“From the trollhunter. A guarantee that I can go and be left alone. I don’t want to fight anymore. WIth Gunmar dead and Morgana sealed I have earned my peace. You are his guardian. You can convince Jim to make the promise.”

“How do you know he will keep it?”

Angor raises an eyebrow. The trollhunter was a lot of things but he had only ever broken his word once. To simply leave someone alone, well that was a simple task for him to keep.

Draal laughs. “True.” He had said nothing, and yet Draal knew the truth. Jim was honorable. More so then most of the trolls he surrounds himself with. He holds out his hand.

“We have a deal?”

“Yes.” Draal agrees and Angor pushes his hand down.

“Follow me son of Kajingar. Or else we will be lost in these woods forever.”

Without argument, he falls behind Angor. Silence fills the air between them as they move from shade to shade. They had until sunrise to find safety. As well as several days journey to make it back. It would be agonizing, he is sure. He had never known the warrior to be quiet save for when he was under Gunmar’s control. He would have questions. After all, Angor had been the one to try and kill him. He was also the one who betrayed his own side at the last minute. Draal had no idea what happened after the cave.

He knew nothing about Merlin or Morgana. Had no idea of Gunmar’s defeat or Jim’s change. These days would be filled with Draal asking questions. With Angor deflecting most of them. In a way, he was looking forward to seeing the other trolls face. It would be interesting, to say the least. If he survives the long journey ahead with Angor.

#Angor Rot/Draal #I know this is almost late #I kind of forgot about the contest #Sorry haha #But I'll use any reason to write these two #I love this ship #Angor Rot #Draal #Trollhunters #toa #Tales of arcadia #fanfiction #fanfic #ff #ao3 #Draal/angor rot

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sablelab · 5 years

Text

Covert Operations - Chapter 54

DISCLAIMER: This is a modern AU crossover story with Outlander and La Femme Nikita. LFN and its characters do not belong to me nor do those from Outlander.

SYNOPSIS: In the White Room, Madame Cheung is now in the hands of Madeline and defiantly awaits her fate.

*N.B. Some text alludes to violence in this chapter

THANK YOU to all the lovely people who are reading and liking my story. Much appreciated. As promised Chapter 54 is the first instalment in the White Room xox

Chapters 1 - 53 can be found at …https://sablelab.tumblr.com/covertoperations

CHAPTER 54 (V)

Madeline closed the White Room door behind her and stopped for a moment. A Mona Lisa smile enigmatically but fleetingly bowed her mouth as she softly began humming. The melodic sound echoed in the stark room bouncing off the walls a strategy she knew would unnerve the stoic figure of Madame Cheung who sat shackled in the centre of the room. Section One’s second-in-command, a specialist in psych analysis, interrogation and pain techniques enjoyed matching wits with the targets and eventually breaking them by any means necessary and now, this woman was her latest victim.

Within Section, Madeline was the primary person responsible for analysing and predicting the behaviour of the enemy and she didn’t flinch at using torture in this capacity. In contrast to Operations, she was calm and methodical; when she wanted to, she could be charming and gracious, but the warm façade could drop in an instant to reveal an arctic iciness. The White Room was her domain and Madeline knew she was going to enjoy this grilling of her latest victim. Her skills were unique and beyond belief but she always got what she sought … eventually and Madame Cheung would reveal what she wanted to know regardless of how long it took.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Known by Section operatives as the “ice queen” and the “high heels of death”, she was a cold-hearted bitch, as calculating and humourless as her partner Operations. She was also unemotional and ruthless. Her cold intelligence coupled with her brilliance as a shrewd strategist, could manipulate everybody without any feeling of remorse or hesitation. Madeline was an outstanding psychological puppet master whose mantra was to get the job done no matter what. The level of emotional and mental cruelty that she inflicted on terrorists boarded on sociopathic but extreme measures were often necessary in her job prescription. Information is what they required at Section One and Madeline merely carried out the Section mandate to its logical conclusion.

The woman however, was an enigma.

Emotionally, she was detached, analytical, and almost shockingly unsentimental. She would literally do anything to further Section One's interests, no matter what the sacrifice, and she expected the same effort from others under her command. If they wouldn't make those sacrifices willingly, she had no compunctions about manipulating or even coercing them to do so. Her recruitment to Section One, her background or her life prior to Section was unknown and the only thing that anyone really knew for sure was that Madeline had been in Section for a long time. Beyond that, people knew very little and that’s how she liked it.

The main thing that was known about her background served to make her even more enigmatic and the few details from her past held clues to the woman she became. When she was just a child, she and her sister Sarah fought over a doll they both wanted but neither was willing to give any ground until Madeline made the deliberate choice to push Sarah down a flight of stairs killing her. “I wanted the doll,” … was her emotionless statement about the incident. This was a clear indication that the accident was indeed malicious and that perhaps it was always in her nature to take what she wanted from others regardless of the consequences. However, that event wasn’t what brought her into Section One. There were rumours that she repeatedly stabbed a lover to death after suffering years of physical and mental abuse which would partially explain her uncanny gift of doing the same thing to others.

Although she could manipulate anyone into revealing their deepest motivations, Madeline herself was the most secretive Section operative of all. What made her tick? No one knew, not even Operations to whom she was so closely allied. Colum from Oversight referred to both of them as Siamese twins because of how the two worked in lockstep. She is always by Operations’ side to help him make vital decisions including who lives and who dies. Dougal Mackenzie could rely on Madeline and her counsel but that didn’t mean he understood her, and that was likely the way she preferred things.

Madeline is the most elusive of the agents at Section One whose power flowed from the perception that the limits of her knowledge and abilities seemed infinite. Always with a secret agenda, her modus operandi involved stepping back, assessing the captives and using her keen insight to pry deeply into their minds. She is cunning and beautiful and deadly and those traits are what make her formidable. In some respects, Section’s second in command is more ruthless than Operations himself, for it is difficult to believe that she had any respect for human life when she appears to think everyone is expendable.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Alone with her thoughts, Madeline quietly observed Madame Cheung strapped into the chair in her foreboding domain before proceeding towards the target. Walking across the cold, unadorned floor her footsteps echoed with each step she took.

With a self-belief that she would do what she had to do in order to extract the information about the Rising Dragons for Section's benefit uppermost on her mind, Madeline approached the lone figure of their latest incarcerated triad member. Now at long last Madame Cheung was her latest victim. From what she had observed so far, she knew that this woman would be interesting to say the least and there would be no holds barred. She’d read Jamie and Claire’s debriefs and had viewed the mission tapes. Therefore, Madeline was well aware of Madame Cheung’s strengths but her forte was finding weaknesses. She left no stone unturned in her pursuit, for it was in so doing that she gained the higher ground, and she had every intention of finding Madame Cheung’s Achilles’ heel.

Although the triad member had proved to be ruthless, little did she know that Section One’s chief strategist was more so. Madame Cheung was in her domain now, and there would be no escape from her fate there. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The target sat manacled in the metal chair lost in her thoughts. Reciting the Rising Dragon’s mantra in her mind in some way gave Madame Cheung comfort and strength.

“Death with Honour” its way of life With motto “Strength by Dare” Once you yield fear nought … but When it seeks you, beware! The Rising Dragon! She had been in this stark room for some time, but how long she did not know. There was little she could do except wait to see what would happen next. It was obviously some kind of interrogation room as it was devoid of colour and furniture. Her hands were shackled and she had little chance of escape although she’d tried to loosen the restraints on her wrists but to no avail. No one had entered since two men had placed her in this chair. So, she had little choice but to play the waiting game ... then she would know where she stood and what, if any options she had. Madame Cheung’s steely resolve was exacerbated, particularly when she relived the duplicity of her protégé Claire Beauchamp. She had been betrayed by Claire and her bitterness at her treachery knew no boundaries. Le Comte St. Germain too had deceived her. They had totally fooled her after having won over her confidence. To think that her uncanny wiles had let her down was unforgivable. She had failed to see their subterfuge ... and at no time had she suspected them of being anything other than who they were pretending to be. They had ingratiated themselves into her world of the Rising Dragons for ulterior motives. She had trusted them but they had betrayed her. Now because of their ruse, she was a captive in this place. She had meant every word uttered to Claire when she’d been captured. Not only would she need to be wary but Le Comte St. Germain... James Fraser ... would also need to be vigilant. When Sun Yee Lok found out about her betrayal at the hands of these individuals, as she knew he would all in good time, then he would seek vengeance as only the triad could ...the triad way. It was her one consolation for her stupidity in being so gullible and being deceived by this slip of a girl who had got under her guard. As another consequence she had lost face ... not only with herself but with her leader. When Sun Yee Lok found out, he would be merciless in his retribution of her, so whatever she was dealt here in this place of incarceration, would be nothing in comparison to what he would do to her if they should meet once more. She was after all part of his trusted inner circle. How had she been fooled so easily? Betraying the triad was reprehensible and because she had been duped this played more heavily on her mind. It was now perfectly clear that other members of the triad had gone before her and had met a similar fate at the hands of these mercenaries. Sun Yee Lok had been most displeased with the death of Tony Wong but his suspicions had led to another rival triad rather than other foul means. The other deaths had not been suspicious, however, knowing the ruthlessness of these people perhaps they were suspicious after all. Now it was she who was on the receiving end ... one that found her in a predicament ... and one that she may have trouble getting out of. What was this place? Who were these people and what were their motives? As her thoughts reverberated in her head Madame Cheung felt a wave of doom course through her body at what her fate might hold. Although she would never show it, she was afraid. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Unable to see when someone entered the room because her back was to the door, Madame Cheung was aware she had company. She listened to the sound of the creaking hinges as the door was pushed wider and wider, then came the closure and the clack of a bolt moving into the locked position. Shackled in the chair, she wondered who had entered. The unwavering gait of light footsteps resonated on the flooring as a woman, most probably, came into the room. Then she heard the humming sound. Her eyes narrowed as an expression of determination crossed her face not dissimilar to that of other Triad members who had been Section One’s guests here in the White Room before. Hearing the footsteps draw nearer, Madame Cheung steeled herself for what may come. However, little did she know, but her fate had already been sealed … a fact she would soon discover. Madeline stopped behind the target and addressed her back. “Hello, Madame Cheung ... Can I get you anything? ... Some water?” The woman’s voice chillingly reverberated in the quietness. Madame Cheung’s body tensed. She opened her eyes slowly and focused on the voice that had spoken to her. Saying nothing in reply she just stared down at the floor in defiance. A wry smile crossed Madeline’s face at her noncompliance. Circling the chair in her usual interrogation manner, her next verbal banter began to increase her advantage over Section One’s victim by destroying the subject's defences. “I've looked at your file. ... You present similarly to our other detainees from the Rising Dragons triad. Bright ... well connected ... very attractive, but ruthless ...” Madeline stopped talking and stood in front of Madame Cheung resolute, determined and unflinching. Brown eyes as cold as steel never left the woman in her sight and watched her straight-faced and emotionless. They missed nothing. They saw everything. Neither woman flinched as steely looks passed between the two women. Two pairs of cold eyes appraised one another as they sized each other up. Although one woman was in control, the other would never admit defeat and she waited to see how things would pan out with the formidable woman dressed so austerely. With bravado and venom Madame Cheung hissed in reply, “The triad will seek vengeance.” Madeline smiled her Machiavellian smile letting the target know in no uncertain terms who indeed had the upper hand. As she studied her opponent too, she knew without a shadow of a doubt that she did not like to be bettered on power games. Her greatest talent was her mind, so if Madame Cheung wanted to play mind games with her, she would come off second best.

“Interesting ... but I think not. Tony Wong, Alain de Marillac and Oliver Chan ... have been our guests ... All were members of the Rising Dragons ... All are dead!”

“The triad is much bigger than the individual. It will atone for the deaths of its members,” Madame Cheung retaliated with as much audacity as her inquisitor now realising that her earlier thoughts had been confirmed.

“Perhaps ... then again ... How will it atone for yours Madame Cheung?” A cold, piercing stare angrily held Madeline’s gaze.

Section One’s head strategist scrutinised the hostile watching for any facial movements that would betray that her words had hit a nerve. Bravado by the victim was the first stage of capitulation and Madeline relished the chance to pit her wits against this new adversary. Bit by bit she would wear her down as she always did. Some targets were more obstinate than others but, in the end, there would only be one winner. After she had finished messing with her mind, acting on her fears, Madame Cheung would wish she had never been born. Not only was she the one in control, but the White Room was her domain after all. No one bettered her perception about people and she had Madame Cheung figured out. The woman was a carbon copy of herself. As Section One’s resident torture expert she definitely had the upper hand. Madeline knew exactly which buttons to push, when to push and how to push them to get the required results. Her cold demeanour allowed her to torture people for information without batting so much as an eyelash. Her methods were succinct, purposeful and she got the job done with as little fuss as possible. Given her confidence in the face of adversity, Madame Cheung may prove to be difficult. Madeline, however, relished the thought of matching wits with her for there was nothing she liked better. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Reciting the Rising Dragon’s mantra in her mind had calmed Madame Cheung’s nerves and given her the burst of courage and confidence needed to face her foe. Although she was unable to see her adversary at first, she had known the very moment that her interrogator had stood in front of her. She’d felt her presence while the woman’s words had cut through her with the underlying cynicism of someone who had the upper hand. The humming had obviously been a ruse to unnerve her, but her training in martial arts had prepared her for such tactics. Nothing much fazed her and a little humming certainly hadn’t. As the attractive, brown haired and well-groomed woman approached, she’d observed her more closely and had seen a cold and calculating opponent. Neither of them had flinched when their eyes had met. Madame Cheung had known immediately that this woman, who showed no emotion, was composed, stoic and unflinching, and ... she was used to winning. Unequivocally she’d seen a mirror image of herself. Her bravado was an effort to diffuse the situation and catch the brown-haired woman off guard, but her boldness had backfired. She was a bit taken aback when the woman had mentioned the members of the Triad who they’d thought had met their demise by natural causes. Little did they suspect that Alain de Marillac and Oliver Chan had met with foul play. Sun Yee Lok had blamed their rival triad group the Black Panthers for the death of Tony Wong but now she knew it was indeed these people. What were their motives? Who were they? Perhaps they were some kind of anti-terrorist organisation. Did they want to see the triad implode in order to eliminate the Rising Dragons? Or were they taking down its hierarchy one by one in order to destabilise the triad? Would another less powerful triad better serve their purposes? There were too many questions that she could only hazard a guess at. One fact that was obvious though was that she was at their mercy and had little prospect of finding a way out of her dilemma. She was conscious that any facial movements would be a sign that the woman’s words ... “How will it atone for yours Madame Cheung?” ... had hit a cord with her. However, it had taken all of her willpower not to flinch as the meaning hit home ... Her death! She’d swallowed the bile that had risen in her throat ... So; she was to die at their hands if she refused to cooperate? For a moment she’d been afraid ... not of death, because death didn’t frighten her. She wasn’t afraid to die ... there were always others who would take her place within the triad. She had meant it when she’d said that the triad was bigger than the individual. It may suffer for a while but like the Phoenix it would rise stronger and more defiant in its adversity. Sun Yee Lok was astute enough to work out that there were forces working against it and take affirmative action against the perpetrators. The triad would indeed rise up. These people would do well to take heed and be cautious of its merciless ways for when the triad sought you out there was no escape from the wrath of the Rising Dragons! No ... she was afraid that the rhetoric she’d espoused may be for nought, unless there was a way that Sun Yee Lok would indeed piece together the chain of events that had occurred to the triad over the past months. If there was no escape from this place of incarceration for her and her death was inevitable, how would he know that she too had met her demise by subterfuge and deception? She was afraid of what may come and the pain they would inflict to make her give in, but she hoped that she had the steely reserve to counterbalance whatever they may do to her. The woman in brown had scrutinised her features watching for any sign of capitulation that her words had unnerved her ... but she would not show her any fear. Fear was a weakness that was to be exploited ... a means to an end. If she showed them no fear, then she would in turn unnerve her interrogator.

Madame Cheung wondered what this woman had in store for her, but whatever it was ... she had the resilience to offset it. And so, she waited for one of them to strike the first blow.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Madeline moved closer, deliberately moving into Madame Cheung’s space yet watching her surreptitiously. Her next statement to her, however, was cause for alarm and the matter-of-fact way in which Madeline spoke sent chills up and down her spine. Her tone indicated to Madame Cheung that she was indeed a fearsome and cold-blooded opponent. “Trust me ... you do not have the strength to withstand the pain our technology can inflict. The question is simple: will you cooperate now ... or will you force me to modify you?” Madeline watched and saw a slight flinch in the target’s eye at her words, but raising her head even higher in defiance, Madame Cheung said nothing but merely stared her down. “Madame Cheung ... you have a business relationship with a man named Sun Yee Lok.” “So that’s why you got me here? Sun Yee Lok?” She laughed. “Ha! Classic! Sun Yee Lok!” “Yes Sun Yee Lok ... the supreme head of the Rising Dragons’ triad.” “Now why would you want him?” As Madame Cheung’s insolence continued, Madeline decided to shut her up once and for all. Without any warning, she grabbed her by the throat closing off her windpipe. She gasped as the last vestige of air began to escape her lungs leaving her spluttering and choking unable to breathe. Leaning in to the target and with eyes that were merciless Madeline whispered just loudly enough to be heard. “Now listen carefully. We have our reasons for wanting Sun Yee Lok, and you will help us. Usually, I’d extract what I want and you’d be disposed of. You’re a very lucky woman, Madame Cheung.” Madeline released her fingers from her wind pipe so that she could respond. Coughing, Madame Cheung moistened her throat but her eyes showed no other emotion other than contempt. “Oh? How do you figure that?” “You should be dead by now. It would only take one slight movement to your carotid artery and ...” Gasping for breath she managed to say, “In other words, you’ll keep me alive until you get what you want.” Looking Madame Cheung in the eye, while playing her cat and mouse tactics, Madeline replied. “Actually, we know that you are a member of the Rising Dragons and Sun Yee Lok’s inner circle. I have a much better offer for you.” “Oooh. I’m afraid.” “I think there’s an opportunity here for someone with your skill set.” “Really?” “Yes ... seduction techniques are always in demand for luring unsuspecting targets. Don’t you agree Madame Cheung?” “I don’t want to work in your organization.” “I disagree. I think the work here will appeal to you; after all you’re very good at seducing clients. But I digress ... we’re getting ahead of ourselves. First things first.” “What do you want me to do?” “Tell us the whereabouts of Sun Yee Lok.” “Go to hell!” “Very well, if that’s how you feel ... you leave me little choice.” Madeline turned her back to her and smiled inwardly. She had plans for Madame Cheung ... plans that included Henry and Elizabeth, Sections One’s pre-eminent torture technicians. They had yet to pay a visit to her but when they did, she would know it. They were so good at applying that extra little persuasive pressure that was sometimes needed to tip a terrorist over the edge. Madeline knew that Madame Cheung would “enjoy” their little session. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ No sooner had the words had left her mouth than the sound of a door opening filled the eerie silence of this cold white room. Madame Cheung heard two pairs of footsteps in unison approach to where the interrogator stood. Glancing up she noticed a man and a woman carrying what looked like a suitcase each. The be-speckled pair was dressed sombrely in dark suits, but it was their demeanour that unnerved her. She had seen their likes before ... people who specialized in interrogation through the use of torture techniques and who were indifferent to their victim’s pain. This deadly duo had evidently been called to the White Room in order to acquire information from hostiles swiftly and efficiently and Madame Cheung knew that that meant her. Obviously, they had a variety of medical equipment and devices in their cases that would persuade their victim to relinquish information quickly. The Rising Dragons also used such people and Madame Cheung knew what awaited her because of her insubordination to comply. Her fate was now in their hands. “Madeline?” “You know what to do.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ to be continued

#jamie and claire #Jamie Fraser #claire beauchamp #jamie and claire fanfic #covert operations #crossoverAU

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kaette-kita-slayers · 6 years

Text

Slayers Special 3-5 - Currently In Training

I thought I'd go back and cover this one, since it's related to the SFC game. Most of the novel-only characters who join your party in that game have fan or official translations of material related to them, but Claire, as far as I know, is the one exception. So here's her story from Slayers Special!

Currently In Training

"Ooh <3 Hey, you two are traveling sorceresses, right?"

The excessively chirpy greeting had come from a girl with long, black hair. Probably just a little older than I am, she was beautiful, with wide, expressive eyes. Judging by the clothes she wore, she was most likely a sorceress in training.

Lina and Naga are seated at a restaurant, Lina finishing off some cheesecake while Naga downs an enormous stein of vodka. When Lina answers in the affirmative, the girl introduces herself as Claire and asks for their help, ramblingly telling them that she has a difficult paper to write and was looking for a capable sorcerer to help.

Naga warns her that it will be expensive to hire the two of them, as famous, top-class sorceresses. (Annoying Lina, who doesn't want to accept the request, regardless of the pay.) On hearing that they are famous, Claire thinks for a moment, then realizes...

"Wait, could you be... Lina Inverse?!"

"You got it. I'm impressed." My eyes went wide.

"Well, of course. I've heard all about you, and you look exactly like I imagined. I'm a big fan! Can I get your signature later? <3" she said, grasping Naga's hand tightly.

You're a little off there.

"Um, hello...?"

"Oh gosh, I'm so sorry for ignoring you! Lina, is this your assistant?"

"Heh, she certainly is my assistant."

"Yeah, right! Listen, Claire, I'M Lina. That's a bunch of goldfish poop called Naga."

Claire is disappointed that Lina isn't actually the way she imagined her.

"You know, according to the rumors, you can tell just by looking at Lina that she has an awful personality, and she wears pointlessly skimpy clothing, and she has that evil sorceress look, right?"

"Do you seriously expect me to agree with that?!"

"In what way do I look like an evil sorceress?!" Naga spit out the words without the slightest bit of self-awareness.

"Don't get so mad! ... I'm sorry if I offended you. I'm just so honest, I say whatever pops into my head."

Claire goes on to say that she really is a big fan of Lina's, and she especially liked how Lina burned Cruasal City to ash with lighting. Lina angrily protests that no such thing ever happened, and Claire is disappointed.

Not wanting to help a trainee with her schoolwork, Lina lectures Claire, telling her that the real value of a paper is in the work you put into it.

Which really is true. All members of the Sorcerer's Guild are given ranks, and in order to go from "trainee" to "sorcerer", a student has to submit a number of papers and have them approved by their master. After that, depending on accomplishments, they can further raise their rank, which comes with privileges such as being allowed to access more of the guild's library. In Claire's case, she may still be able to get preferential treatment within the guild, but access to esoteric works on magic will be meaningless if she hasn't learned enough to understand them.

Claire tells Lina that she doesn't need help with writing the paper itself; the problem is that her assigned topic is a nearby castle that's rumored to be occupied by a vampire. Lina is surprised, since vampires are the strongest and most intelligent variety of undead, physically and magically far stronger than humans.

Then again, they have plenty of weaknesses, particularly the fact that sunlight reduces them to ash---Lina personally thinks they're kind of wimpy. Naga echoes that sentiment, saying that Claire is a pretty poor sorceress if she's afraid of a vampire. While it's true that Lina or Naga would have nothing to fear, Lina thinks, a vampire would be a tough opponent for a trainee.

Lina disapproves of Claire's master assigning her something so difficult and wonders why. Naga suggests that it must be some kind of harassment, or an attempt to manipulate Claire into something. Claire looks away and tells them that Master Graham has been sexually harassing her, trying to get her to spend the night.

Lina reflects that there are a lot of utter disgraces to the profession who use their teaching positions to take advantage of students, then, if publicly accused, claim it was all just a "trial" for the student to overcome. Angered, she tells Claire she should just start lobbing Flare Arrows whenever that kind of thing happens, and even offers to go give her master a beatdown right away.

Claire turns her offer down, at least until her paper is finished, since she'll be only be accused of resorting to violence to cover up her inability to complete her work. She seems to be expecting (hoping?) that Lina will burn the whole city down.

She says that she'll guide Lina and Naga to the castle tomorrow morning, and Lina reminds her that they never agreed to her request in the first place or discussed a fee. Claire tries to insist that Lina had agreed to help for free, but Lina shoots her down. Claire then gives them an initial payment of all of two copper coins.

"Come on! Who in the world would march into a vampire's lair for that kind of money?!"

"Whaaaaat?! But they say that Lina Inverse would destroy a city for a single copper coin..."

"Who says?"

"Oh, well, I think so... Am I wrong?"

"Completely wrong!"

On hearing what I said, Claire's face fell, and she said, "Aww... that's no fun..."

Protesting that she's only a trainee with no sponsors, Claire next tries to offer six silver coins. Lina and Naga are ready to leave, but Claire stops them by telling them that she's heard the vampire has some kind of treasure. Lina is doubtful, thinking that she'd be better off going after some bandits, since vampires are typically weirdos who hoard useless junk. Claire assures her that this one was originally the human lord of the castle, who became a vampire after developing an obsession with magic.

Lina finally agrees, but Naga reminds her that they've never once managed to profit from these kinds of jobs, because something ridiculous and stupid always happens. Lina realizes she's right, but...

"You said you'd take the job! You can't say 'no' now! If you do... I'll write mean things about you inside some book and leave it in the reference room at the Sorcerer's Guild!"

What are you, a little kid?

"Claire... just curious, do you happen to have a relative named Mina?"

"Yes, one of my cousins... How did you know?"

"Oh... no reason."

The next day, Naga is nowhere to be seen, and Claire, upbeat as ever, leads Lina to a musty, overgrown old castle. Lina is less enthusiastic about the idea of having to explore the entire place from top to bottom.

If we were here on a simple vampire-exterminating expedition, I could just douse him with some oil or something and set it on fire, then have some lunch and enjoy the view, but today, I'm only here to loot the---I mean, help with the paper.

She asks Claire if she's afraid, and Claire replies that as long as she's dealing with some type of undead with a physical presence rather than a ghost, she's fine. (Irrational as it might be, Lina feels the same.) Besides, Lina is there to deal with anything that might attack them.

As they pass through the gate, they are greeted with the sight of countless skulls covering the ground, all the way up to the castle entrance. Claire is somewhat less than frightened.

"THIS IS SO AMAZING! What an incredible view! Looking at this kind of thing makes me feel like my soul's being cleansed, or like I've just come home! <3"

Lina picks up one of the skulls and bashes it into the ground, breaking it. Claire protests, but Lina picks up one of the fragments and shoves it in front of her face, showing her that it's brown on the inside---a fake made from painted pottery. Lina points out that if the vampire had really killed this many people, there would have been a serious effort to eliminate him.

As they continue toward the door, they keep hearing a strange clattering sound, and a dozen or so skeletons assemble themselves from the bones on the ground, all in an instant. Lina easily destroys all of them, and she and Claire enter the main hall of the castle.

Unsurprisingly for a vampire's lair, the windows are all carefully covered up, so Lina casts Lighting. They encounter some Living Mails, but they're no tougher than the skeletons.

"Wow, you really are awesome. They don't call you 'the enemy of all who live' for nothing."

"Who, exactly, uses that nickname for me...?"

"Me me me! <3 I came up with 'the world destroyer' too, and I made sure everybody knows about it. <3"

"Please just stop... or at least don't say anything to other people..."

I wonder... Could my bad reputation all be the result of her spreading rumors...?

They are interrupted by a male voice coming from directly above them, but before Lina can even look up, the air fills with countless small explosions. As the smoke clears, a familiar laugh rings out, and Naga appears, surprised to see that the intruder she's after is Lina.

Behind Lina, Claire mutters to herself, calling Naga a "traitor" and an "old lady", which Naga naturally takes exception to. Naga protests that she'd only accepted a request to protect the castle from intruders, when the man showed up at her room the night before. (Said "man" is hanging upside down from the chandelier like a bat, very clearly a vampire---to anyone who isn't Naga.)

"Look, Naga, I don't know how much he paid you, but..."

"Fifty gold coins up front."

"Fif---?!" I cried out unintentionally, then without any hesitation, I turned around to face Claire and said, "Heh, heh, heh... You fell for our trap, Claire."

"Don't betray me!"

... Oh well, so much for that...

Lina demands to know how the vampire found out about their plans, and he reveals that he had a spy at the inn they stayed at. Lina and Naga start firing spells at one another, but when Lina refers to the man a "vampire", Naga appears shocked.

"It can't be---you're a vampire?!"

Oh, come on.

"What...? Yes, of course I am..." the man replied, with a confused expression.

"Oh, no... So you tricked me, then?!"

"'Tricked'...? I wasn't trying to..."

"Don't even try to give me some shameful excuse! Did you ever once say to me that you were a vampire?!"

"That doesn't matter! Normally, if you saw a bat turn into a person right in front of you, you'd at least figure out, 'Oh hey, that's a vampire'!"

"I wouldn't! I just thought you were a little strange!"

Lina forcibly ends the conversation with a Hell Blast, annihilating the vampire, thinking to herself that Naga might make you miserable as a friend, but there's nobody more fun to have as an enemy.

As the group prepares to look around the castle, a group of about a dozen vampires appear from the shadows. Lina is shocked, but Claire is unfazed.

"Huh? Didn't I tell you there's not just one vampire in the castle?"

The vampires attack, and Lina yells to the others to retreat. They're at a severe disadvantage against so many opponents, and Lina can't use any big spells like Dragon Slave unless she wants to bring down the castle and crush everyone.

Hearing Lina, one of the vampires blocks the door and fires off a number of Flare Arrows, which Naga blocks with a wind barrier. The rest of the vampires begin chanting spells, and Lina quickly begins casting Vu Vraimer. Naga yells at her, since a golem isn't going to be much use for fighting vampires, but that isn't Lina's plan.

In order to form the golem, the spell draws stone from the walls, splitting them open and letting sunlight stream in, killing the vampires and creating an escape route all at once.

"Just what I'd expect from you, Lina!" Claire cried out in admiration.

"Hmph. I'm not like Naga."

"But I was kiiinda hoping you'd do something a little more showy to slaughter them all."

"Request granted! One Dragon Slave, coming up!"

"Ooooh!" Claire said, applauding.

Lina demolishes the castle with Claire egging her on, the paper entirely forgotten until it's too late. Not having any other options, Claire accepts Lina's earlier offer to beat up her master.

Lina ends up hiding behind a tree outside Graham's house, waiting for Claire's signal to rush in, accuse him of everything he's done, and beat him to a pulp. (Naga had wanted to help, but Lina felt the fewer people involved, the better.) She can hear the two arguing inside, beyond the terrace window, and then Claire yells at the top of her lungs, the signal Lina was waiting for.

Lina casts Diem Wind, forcing the window open, and makes a dramatic entrance, leaping with a flourish to land in front of the window. She stops short once she sees who's inside---Claire, of course, but also a silver-haired, twenty-something woman.

Claire introduces Lina as the one who destroyed the castle, and confirms to a bewildered Lina that the husky-voiced woman really is "Master Graham". Graham wastes no time trying to seduce Lina, who turns and literally runs, leaving Claire behind.

Notes

Mina is from the story "Villain Fight" in volume 1. She's a self-centered and rebellious priestess who keeps a literal diary of all her grievances, complete with (terrible) illustrations. She also appears in the SFC Slayers game, where her diary functions as your save system.

#slayers #slayers special #slayers special v.3

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