#and literally everyone on your side of the war dies for losing

[awakentrashpanda]

Do you guys remember this show?

Do you ever think about how the lore of that show was basically that there was a huge war and the winning side killed everybody on the losing side and then stuffed their corpses into a glorified lava lamp??

[sandumilfshou]

still kind of insane to me that people talk shit about jiang cheng without fully understanding what he has been through so lets just understand what his mental state is like BEFORE canon begins:

born via a dysfunctional marriage to be the sect heir

father doesnt care for him, mother expects too much from him/everything he does is not enough

has his three dogs just kicked out randomly with no notice because of some kid he's never heard of by the father who never gave him love and/or attention

said father then favours this kid more than him, to the point that the entire world basically thinks that this kid is biologically your father's son as well, which causes even more family dysfunction

despite this still learns to love this kid as his unofficial brother

works his absolute hardest but is always second-best because his new shixiong is naturally talented

nobody appreciates the hard work he puts in at being second place despite the fact wwx literally doesnt work hard for it

masks his emotions with anger as a coping mechanism to minimise the amount of hurt he feels

ok great so now lets actually take all of the above and apply this mental wellbeing to canon events FROM HIS PERSPECTIVE (keep in mind this is literally what jc is seeing/experiencing because he DOESNT KNOW what the reader knows):

brother is off being the protagonist and getting in trouble and gets their sisters marriage ruined

comes home from a year away and then almost immediately has to go and be a hostage where brother continues his protagonist behaviour

gets trapped and nearly dies in a cave with a 400-year-old monster, is in charge of finding a way out and making sure everyone else escapes

brother and a guy who maybe hates him get stuck behind in the cave so now jiang cheng has to boost it home ON FOOT, without food, to get manpower to rescue them, which takes a minimum of a few days likely without any food or sleep

no appreciation or thanks for doing that since brother was more heroic and killed the 400-year-old monster

gets scolded by his father for being annoyed by this

parents immediately get into another fight about father loving wwx more than jc

because of the above shenanigans their sect is targeted next

tries to defend brother against being whipped to death and/or having his hand cut off by mother

witnesses his entire sect being burned and murdered

loses both his parents

decides to sacrifice himself to save his brother's life, instead of dying he is tortured and has his golden core melted

on top of his inferiority issues, the ONE THING he was expected to do was be the sect leader for the yunmeng jiang. the sect that no longer exists. he is now a sect leader with no sect and no golden core. no shit he wants to mcfuckin die

miraculously gets a new golden core but loses his brother

immediately plunged into a war and he's only like 17

spends 3 months trying to find his brother only for his brother to show up doing the Forbidden Magic and necromancy which is Super Disrespectful in their culture like holy shit what are you doing

brother refuses to use his sword in favour of the Forbidden Magics and kind of keeps undermining jc's orders as sect leader which makes jc look weak in front of all the other sect leaders when he's actively trying to rebuild their sect and be respected as a leader

fights a war for [handwaves] an amount of time, certainly a few years minimum, while watching his brother descend further into Unhealthy Behaviour but brother refuses to do anything or talk about it

ends up lowkey being a war hero

the other three great sects (of which there are now only four) swear brotherhood, leaving out ONLY ymj/jiang cheng, which, what the Fuck dude

is now a teenager who has lost his parents who now has to rebuild his sect from scratch with fuck all money, supplies, and support

brother, who promised to always be at his side helping, is not helping, and in fact is actively just getting drunk and being a nuisance and STILL REFUSING TO SAY WHY

entire cultivation world starts to turn on his brother who is now looking like a loose cannon bc he has Forbidden Magics that are Terrifyingly Powerful and also it has been proven that he does not give a fuck about jc's opinion since he's constantly doing whatever the fuck he wants

literally out of nowhere said brother decides to piss off everyone, start fights, and then KILL JIN GUARDS at a camp and MAKE OFF with like fifty people who are part of the family that he just fought a war against and were responsible for slaughtering his family/sect

go to the terrifying haunted mountain where wwx and the wen remnants are and sees that he's essentially starting a new family with a kid and crops, doesn't seem to care that jiang cheng is still trying to keep the ymj afloat and look like they have any strength

brother is still doing Forbidden Magic and refuses to explain why, and now says he'll secede from the ymj so his bad reputation doesn't reflect on jc like he HASNT BEEN DOING THAT THE WHOLE TIME

so now shixiong wants to just abandon jc completely after jc has lost his parents, had to rebuild everything from scratch, while ignoring the promise he's made their whole life? ok fuck you

jc also can't defend him in public because that would turn the ymj into a target and please keep in mind he is a teenager who was expected to do this ONE THING by his parents and he has poured his heart and soul and blood and tears into rebuilding the ymj and they are So Vulnerable Right Now

uhhh what the fuck suddenly wwx kills their sister's husband ?? bro what the FUCK?

everyone rallies to go and attack wwx for this and again jc literally cant do anything about it and refusing to go will just make everyone assume he's on wwx's side and their sect can't afford to be attacked rn

bro what the fuck now THEIR SISTER IS DEAD?????

oh even better now said brother is DEAD

jiang cheng literally has NO ONE LEFT. no friends. no family. no parents, no siblings, everyone he knew growing up is dead. its literally just him and his infant nephew, who by the way, is living with the sect who are the most powerful and also most likely to be super fucking shady so jc has to tread very carefully

so jc spends over a decade raising his nephew ALONE while trying to make ymj powerful and also hunting/killing demonic cultivators that now p much only exist bc his brother invented/popularised the technique

oh yeah and also this whole time the guy who maybe hated his brother is now like EVEN colder and more antagonistic towards jc like it was HIS FAULT that wwx is dead? get fucked lan wangji you didnt even like the guy (or if this is cql/untamed canon: you literally did nothing either so where do you get off on acting like you're better than jc)

over a decade passes and suddenly his dead brother is alive again and causing more problems and acting like the things he did were not major contributors towards jc's entire family and sect dying

More Political Drama Happens and jc has to manage it

suddenly its revealed that the guy he's been co-raising his nephew with is the major villain who caused the entire world to turn on wwx in the first place oh and also it turns out that the fucking miraculous core jc has IS HIS BROTHER'S, WHO NEVER SAID ANYTHING, AND THIS IS THE REASON HE STARTED THE FORBIDDEN MAGICS AND STOPPED HELPING AROUND THE SECT, but he didnt even BOTHER to tell jiang cheng about it

by the way did i mention this was done via an entirely unconsented experimental surgery

and now the brother of the doctor who did the unconsented experimental surgery is ?? mad at jiang cheng about it ???? like he was supposed to KNOW ABOUT THIS when wwx was KEEPING IT FROM HIM ON PURPOSE???

and now theyre all nearly dying in this dumbass temple - and the ONE family member jc still has is literally being threatened with a garotte

oh cool now jc's brother is saying forget the past let's just leave it all behind !!! as though THAT ISNT JC'S ENTIRE LIFE AND TRAUMA and the ONE THING he EVER wanted was for him, wwx, and jyl to be alive and happy, and now wwx is saying just forget it! like FUCK YOU???? does jc truly mean NOTHING???????

oh and now his brother is off gallivanting with the guy who hated him - who it turns out doesn't hate him - and now they're getting married

and jiang cheng is meant to just. pretend all of this never happened and live his life normally. while wwx is out there. being happy and married.

like... if you can read all of this and still treat jc like he's the bad guy, i'm sorry, but you have literally zero empathy. dude had it probably more rough than any of the other main ensemble cast, and i am including jgy in that, because jgy Made His Choices. jc literally just had to let things happen around him helplessly

[lokisprettygirl]

I don't think many people understand that the way Daemon grieves is by instantly jumping into the action with minimum or no thoughts whatsoever. That's what he did when Viserys and his unborn child died, that's what he's doing now. Even when Aemma and his nephew died, his idea of grieving was to spend the night in the brothel and people pick on the "an heir for a day" comment even though he had seemed lost and visibly sad until the moment Mysaria had coaxed him to make a toast. He wasn't even fucking anyone, and Daemon only restrains from sex when he's plagued by something.

He is an aggressive, hot headed, impulsive man, his hatred and love equally intense, and he never had the chance in life to grow emotionally. It's just the matter of whose side he's on, he's not the man who'd cry in front of everyone and show people how sad he is about losing his stepson, no he just wants to get on his dragon and kill everyone responsible for the death and the usurpation.

If the attack was intended for Aemond (I don't care about the books literally) then good on him, that little shit deserved it for showing absolutely no remorse whatsoever and walking around with that smug look on his face.

I feel that Daemon is going to feel something (sort of guilt) when he's presented the head of the son he demanded in his rage, death of an innocent child is going to haunt him whether he accepts it or not. In the times when human rights didn't exist Daemon does what he thinks would keep his house above everyone else (that's why it pisses me off when people bring modern judgements to these characters like pedophilia, grooming, war crime, women rights etc like get out of your ass once in a while and see these characters for what they are and for not how you feel they should have behaved in 21st century, none of those things existed in those times)

[weepingtalecowboy]

A funny thing I noticed when playing Hyrule Warriors is just how much friendly fire happens anytime you use any sort of special or simply swing your weapon

And now I headcanon that it actually happens in game

The only ones with relatively small radius of attack range are the more sensible ones like Zelda, Impa along with Maybe Link and Lana and a few others if you play carefully enough

But the great fairy, toon link even Marin , definitely princess Midna and her gigantic wolf and even the hero of termina are definitely not careful as in it is nearly impossible to not hit someone on your side with the big attacks they have

Like bringing down a moon ,summoning a literal train or having a big animal stomp around and attacking people and then a god whale falling from the sky is really dangerous

And I am pretty sure that someone died from it every single time they did it

And the only reason why they are not locked up is the fact that the kingdom needs any kind of help they can find and settle for several unhinged wildcards

I am pretty sure that the only reason why they got sent back is because they were a bother and Queen Zelda wants them gone because of the amounts of paperwork she needs to do because of them

And considering that they all no doubt can’t be put near normal soldiers she actually would probably be forced to make a camp for them as far away as possible because there is no way that midna would actually accept that she can’t summon her wolves in a normal camp

And that costs money to make an extra dorm for over thirty people who all are essentially gods that often break stuff and people

The reason why link is there is to babysit all of them along with Impa because if someone is upset about something they can probably destroy the entire kingdom and that can't happen by any circumstances because they have no way of stopping them

And even worse if they decided to fight eachother then a good portion of the army would be gone from stray attacks

Considering just how easy and manageable it is to defeat Cia when you know how to play the game (mashing aggressively with all characters) she probably would be the least of their concerns but the amount of special spawning you have to do would probably be equal to several bombs going off in one place

There would be a lot of casualties in such a scenario especially if everyone is in one place (which they kind of are but luckily not too close to hit each other

But it is also really fun to consider how strategic the kingdom had to be to find ways to defeat the other side without losing their own army because of the amounts of gods they have

And then when linked universe happened I will always think that the entire city was just afraid of both Wind and time for the things that happened in the war of eras

Would be fun to see a fanfiction about it

[idkjustlemmedrownlikerab]

Midnights (Marauder's Version)

Welcome back to the new series by @marsmarauders and I. Obviously we got carried away again but here you have every single song from Midnights related to the Marauders characters :D

So we present to you... Midnights (Marauder's Version)

Lavender Haze

“The 1950s shit they want from me, I just wanna stay in that Lavender haze"

Like this song is very obviously Jily falling hopelessly in love with each other I don’t think it needs to be further elaborated

Maroon

“When the silence came, we were shaking, blind and hazy, How the hell did we lose sight of us again?"

Wolfstar, but specifically like… November 1981. The vinyl reference, "the lips I used to call home," "laughing with my feet in your lap," and "the rust that grew between telephones" signifying how they weren’t communicating well and hiding things from each other "I see you everyday now" cause Remus sees the sky and what just so happens to be in the sky? Stars. Sirius also sees the sky from his prison cell and what does he see? Oh that’s right the moon!

Anti-Hero

“When my depression works the graveyard shift, All of the people I've ghosted stand there in the room”

We had two theories for this one first being Regulus bcoz of the self deprecating vibe and “I'll stare directly at the sun (James) but never in the mirror”

But we could also see it as Mary post-war? It's hard to describe why, but everyone sees her as the Anti-Hero cause she saved herself even tho she had full right to do that

Snow on the Beach

For this one I was utterly confused and absolutely useless and Marls came up with this interpretation herself

"Can this be a real thing? Can it? Are we falling like snow at the beach?"

This song is Sirius's perspective specifically during the wolfstar forgiveness phase after the prank. "You wanting me tonight feels impossible".

You're On Your Own, Kid

"You're on your own, kid, You always have been"

Both of us agree that this song screams all the Black children because none of them chose this town (family) and dreamt of getting out, I mean the whole song recounts a young person who longs for love but eventually understands that they are on their own and always have been afterall whatever you do you can never escape the black family curse can you?

Midnight Rain

“He was sunshine, I was midnight rain”

I mean do I even need to say anything? Its jegulus bcoz they r the literal definition of opposites attract even tho they loved each other they were born on two different sides of a war which inevitably became the reason of their end.

Question…?

"Can I ask you a question? Did you ever have someone kiss you in a crowded room"

Dorlene. That’s it, like we have no explanation, just vibes.

Vigilante Shit

"I don't start it but I can tell you how it ends, Don't get sad, get even"

Both of us agree it could be both Regulus or Dorcas because canonically Regulus knew about the horcruxes, and died while deceiving the dark lord and on the way to kill him (also bonus bcoz the final blow which made him take this decision was bcoz Voldemort exploited Kreature so Reg decided to get even) Dorcas on the other hand canonically had to be killed by Voldemort himself because she was posing as too big a threat to his empire

Bejeweled

"Baby love, I think I've been a little too kind, Didn't notice you walking all over my peace of mind"

Lily about Severus and how even tho she  mourns and misses her friendship with him, it will never be worth more than her self respect and how she won’t let him walk all over her, a diamond’s gotta shine afterall ;)

Labyrinth

"Uh oh, I'm falling in love, Oh no, I'm falling in love again, Oh, I'm falling in love"

To me this song is sooo obviously jegulus coz of the chorus alone, its James realizing that he’s falling in love again, this time with Regulus after pining after Lily for years. Just how when he thought he was “unlovable” and it was all doomed this sickly, victorian looking, snarky slytherin boy swoops in and steals his heart right out of his chest

Marls has her own hc for Emmary tho where basically Mary was in love with Lily but it was unrequited and then she had a situationship with Emmaline but ended up catching feelings which is so perfect for this song

Karma

"And I keep my side of the street clean, You wouldn't know what I mean"

Again I had no opinion on this song coz it felt like too happy and too upbeat a song for any of these miserable sods (I still love them ) but Marls swooped in with a brilliant interpretation which was that its from Dorcas’ pov to the slytherin trio basically throwing shade at them for choosing to stay and join the death eaters instead of leaving and fighting for the “right” side like her

Sweet Nothing

"They said the end is comin', everyone's up to somethin' I find myself runnin' home to your sweet nothings"

Now for this song we had differing views with me being a jegulus girlie while Marls being a jily girlie (we still love both the ships tho, we just have a preference)

To me the song is jegulus coz I see it as them expecting the inevitable end of their relationship and doom due to the impending war and their family’s differing views and them just trying to tune everything out to spend their limited time together and in love.

On the other hand Marls interpreted is as to when the Potters were in hiding with only each other and Harry for company. How they could see that the war was on full ride and they were at the centre of it while still trying to create some sweet and happy memories with their son

Mastermind

"I laid the groundwork, and then, Just like clockwork, The dominos cascaded in a line, What if I told you I'm a mastermind?"

(Try and tell me the whole bridge doesn’t scream Regulus Arcturus Black.) To me the song is about Regulus because the man literally was a mastermind, while being a death eater he planned to betray Voldemort by destroying a horcrux and he was actually successful in retrieving it tho maybe I’m a little biased due to his characterization in the fic only the brave (Marls also thinks the song could be about James bcoz of the bridge "To make them love me and make it seem effortless")

The Great War       

"I vowed I would always be yours, 'Cause we survived the Great War"

Marls didn’t really have an opinion on this one but for me it was very clearly wolfstar. First reason obviously being the fact that they are pretty much the only couple who actually survived the war (the first one that is, we all remember how the second one went). "Somewhere in the haze, got a sense I'd been betrayed" being how they both thought the other was the spy and the prank

Bigger Than The Whole Sky

"Every single thing I touch becomes sick with sadness, 'Cause it's all over now, all out to sea"

Now this could go two ways one being the black brothers,

"Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye, You were bigger than the whole sky"

Basically how Sirius feels when Regulus gets the dark mark. Because his brother is too far gone

Bonus since Regulus dies literally all out at sea

The other being marylily bcoz of

"What could've been, would've been, What should've been you"

"And I've got a lot to pine about, I've got a lot to live without"

Obviously from Mary’s pov since Lily is dead

Paris

Now Marls had no idea about and I suggested rosekiller just coz of vibes and coz

"I wanna brainwash you, Into loving me forever"

This seems like something Barty would definitely say

High Infidelity

"You know there's many different ways that you can kill the one you love, The slowest way is never loving them enough"

To me this song is bartylus coded (don’t worry they then get together with Evan and James and have a happy relationship) especially coz of this one specific rosekiller microfic I’d seen if I find it I’ll reblog it with this post

Glitch

"In search of glorious happenings of happenstance on someone else's playground, But it's been two thousand one hundred and 90 days of our love blackout"

We agreed this song gives off wolfstar vibes tho we are open to suggestions

Also 2190 days is six years which is around the same amount of time wolfstar dated if we hc that they got together around their 5th year :D

Would've, Could've, Should've

"If clarity's in death, then why won't this die?, Years of tearing down our banners, you and I, Living for the thrill of hitting you where it hurts, Give me back my girlhood, it was mine first"

Now this track could be taken in many contexts I like the interpretation of it being from the Black children’s perspective to their parents

And another one being from Remus to Greyback

"And if I was a child, did it matter, If you got to wash your hands?"

Marls also suggested it being from Narcissa’s pov to Lucius or Bellatrix, regretting not going with Andromeda which also fits wonderfully

(Since it in itself is talking about the person suffering due to a relationship when they were young and it even now haunts them I feel like this song could be interpreted many many ways bcoz all of the marauders era characters dealt with a lot of trauma at a young age)

Well obviously since most of them didn’t even reach their twenties

Dear Reader

"Dear Reader, if it feels like a trap, You're already in one"

 Peter Pettigrew. Need I see anything more?

Hits Different

"In the good in the world, you once believed in me, And I felt you and I held you for a while"

Lily without Snape in her life especially when she starts falling for James

You're Losing Me

"How can you say that you love someone you can't tell is dyin'?, I sent you signals and bit my nails down to the quick, My face was gray, but you wouldn't admit that we were sick"

For this one there wasn’t even a discussion needed it is wolfstar during the first war and we won’t hear otherwise. How even tho Sirius and Remus loved each other, the pressure of the war itself was too much on them especially coz they were so young and also coz of how Peter was manipulating them against the other ("Was it because I'm a werewolf?" "Was it because I'm a Black?" I’m sorry). They could see their relationship was straining, they kept waiting for the other to take a risk, a step to fix it and how even through their suspicions, they loved each other regardless

AAAAND THAT'S A WRAP!! THANK YOU FOR READING THIS!!

Make sure to come back to see Evermore, coming soon! (To a theater near you.)

[juneisafantasyaddict]

The writers of the SaB show seem to be pulling the exact same shit that lb did in the books. because there’s no way they think ignoring everything the grisha have been forced to endure, pretending that the darkling is the beginning and end of their issues and ravka’s, making sure alina never understands what she’s actually fighting for, etc is going to do anything except make me root for the darkling even more.

The entire second season gives me flashbacks to that insane trilogy because somehow they managed to be even worse than the books. they have alina telling the darkling that he doesn’t understand sacrifice?? really??? a man who has spent centuries of his life fighting for the betterment of his people doesn’t understand sacrifice?? the person who literally made protecting grisha his life goal doesn’t understand sacrifice??? does alina realize that the only reason she wasn’t killed the moment she was discovered was because of him?? because of the work he has done??

They had time for baghra to tell stories about her crazy family and how she killed her sister, but there was no time for her to say “this is what life was like before my son decided he was going to make it better for our kind?” if anything, they just pissed me off more because how the fuck is it possible that they are pretending the biggest issue they have is the darkling?? not the monarchy that has exploited grisha and ravka, not the fjerdans who hunt and kill grisha, not shu han who experiments on them??

Sigh, I can’t even write out my thoughts coherently because I’m so irritated by pretty much everything that happened this season. I’m irritated that instead of telling a complex story, we got this dumbed down garbage that tells us nothing, accomplishes nothing beyond “guy in black is bad.” the narrative condemns him for using merzost because he was so desperate to save his people, he tried forbidden magic, but 20 seconds later the hero is using that same forbidden power to bring her boyfriend back to life??? With zero repercussions?? I want to scream!!

If the narrative is so sure they are right, if they are so sure the darkling is wrong about everything, then why are they so afraid to expose the hero to the suffering of her people?? Let her see what they have to deal with, let her truly understand then. She has been a grisha for less than a year, and somehow she knows what’s best for them?? She doesn’t even know them. The show writers literally spent this season making her chase Mal around. Look what happened when they were going after the seawhip, two people died because she didn’t want to kill it, but they moment it went after Mal, suddenly killing it was ok. Her side of the war got attacked and instead of checking to make sure everyone was ok, including her friend’s brother who was literally about to lose his arm, she was screaming about Mal. You want to tell me about sacrifice?? She only cared about one person, and he was perfectly fine at the end. What does she know about sacrifice?? Why oh why is this fucking story just so determined to make her make all the worst possible decisions??

Incase you haven’t noticed, I haven’t talked about the crows at all, because I hate their presence in this story. They are a distraction!!! The grisha are fighting for their right to exist, Ravka is in the middle of a civil war, I do not have the time to follow the shenanigans of a group of criminals from a different country. I still don’t understand their purpose in this story, except comic relief?? 🤦🏽‍♀️

I love Alina, I really do, but jfc you cannot girl boss your way out of real solutions. They have her basically serving the monarchy and the whole time I kept thinking, if I were grisha, I wouldn’t follow her. She’s the leader of the second army but she’s wearing a first army uniform, she’s more interested in protecting the Lanstov throne than she is in protecting her people. She’s so blinded by everyone saying “the darkling is bad, the fold needs to go” she’s not stopping to say “what happens when the fold is gone?” “What happens after the war?” Because surely, she isn’t naive enough to think the people who started killing grisha as soon as they thought the darkling was gone are going to live peacefully with them now?? It took 2 seconds after the darkling died for Fjerda to send an assassin on jurda parem into ravka. Now that there’s no fold to stop them, what will stop Fjerda or Shu Han from sending an army?? Ignoring everything else the crows did, Kaz was right when he said “when they stop looking at her with gratitude, they’ll start to wonder if she hasn’t overstayed her welcome.” Which is basically what Aleksander kept saying btw, they are not going to love you for long, they are going to hate you eventually because they are afraid of what they don’t understand.

I don’t even know what the point of this was, but yeah, I guess it was a rant about how Fucking ridiculous season 2 of shadow and bone was.

[cressthebest]

Crimson Rivers thoughts pt. 45

chapter 68:

1. “Some of those ashes could be Marlene.” bro wtf

2. listing out the names of the people who died in war destroyed me

3. james reacting to his father’s death by flinching away from effie had me broken. i’m destroyed. unwell

4. “The worst part is, when he says what he does next, it's not even a question. "After that, you're leaving."

Sirius' eyes flutter shut, and he croaks, "Yeah, Reggie, I'm leaving again."”

SCREAMING CRYING SOBBING IM UNWELL I WILL NEVER BE OKAY AGAIN!!! I WILL NEVER BE FINE AGAIN

5. “”Sirius, I love you more than anything. You're the first person in this world I ever loved at all. Not Mother, not Father, not James; it was you.”” STILL SCREAMING STILL CRYING STILL SOBBING STILL UNWELL

6. okay just all of the stuff with the black brothers has me in tears. their bond is unbreakable and my heart is in fact very breakable. i’m shattered over them

7. dorcas hasn’t left that spot in over twenty four hours and boy am i worried for her. she needs water. she needs to go pee, i’m sure. she needs to eat something and to rest

8. “Just not afraid to die, then?

No, I'm rather used to it, actually.”

STILL SCREAMING OVER MARLENE!!! STILL SOBBING ACTUALLY

9. “"You. Even you," Dorcas declares harshly, glaring at her. "I'd rather it be you. Instead of her, I'd rather you be dead."”

WOAH! hold up!!! i love marlene as much as the next gal, but nobody goes after my girl lily. she fought and fought and fought as well. she deserved to make it to this side of war too! she tried to keep marlene alive too. hold your horses dorcas.

10. 😧 did you just shoot my lily??? MY LILY??? holy fucking shit. she’s insane.

11. “Some of that blood must have been Marlene's. Dorcas wishes she had bathed in it; Dorcas wants to turn back time and drown in it.” 😟 i’m worried

12. “Never, through any of this, did [James] imagine losing his dad.” kill me. it would be more merciful than making me live after reading that

13. “Monty loved Sirius like a father did; Sirius is allowed to mourn him as a son would.” calling my freind again while sobbing brb

14. god I don’t know how to explain it, but every time pandora is mentioned and she’s alive i let out a huge sigh of relief

15. AROACE PANDORA SUPREMACY

16. i’m so horridly upset that lily lost almost everyone. she lost her family, she lost sybil, she lost kingsley, and dorcas tried to shoot her, so i’m pretty sure she lost her too. lily tried to not love anybody because she was scared of losing them, and sure enough, she was right

17. i get upset when everyone talks about going separate ways. i want everyone to live in one big town and live right next door to each other. i’m thinking hogwarts vibes (except better, ya know) or maybe the mansion they all lived in at the start of ahb!

18. as much as it upsets me that sirius is going to be leaving james and effie and regulus, i’m genuinely so happy that sirius is going to stay with remus

19. oh. i see why sirius has to leave. it’s best for everyone to heal a little before sirius sees his james and regulus again. because otherwise they won’t be able to heal

20. i love wolfstar, and this is so emotional but like, “Just—for right now, what I need is to be with you. I want—that's what I want.” all that does is remind me of high school musical with the “ALL I WANNA DOOOO IS BEE WITH YOU! ONLY YOU! NO MATTER WHERE LIFE TAKES US, NOTHING CAN BREAK US APAAAART, YOU KNOW ITS TRUE, I JUST WANNA BE WITH YOUUUU”

21. ““I wish I did love him that way," Regulus confesses, "because it would have been easier than this. It would have been easier to define how losing him feels, but it's not. James, it's not."”

god, i ache for him. like so badly. i so badly want him to have barty back. more than any other character. (sorry to marlene and monty and sybil and literally everyone else who died)

22. “It's still been three days since the end of the war, and Regulus wonders when they'll stop measuring the passage of time that way.” 😟

23. “Doomed to be a great, big tragedy.” *eye twitch* i’m fine. *even bigger eye twitch*

24. look, i know in the future, everyone will be together again and as happy as they can ever be. but rn, i’m sad

chapter 69:

1. “"I don't care!" Aberforth shouts. "I don't give a damn about your fucked up love story with our sister's murderer, Albus! The fact that you even came to love him to begin with sickens me, let alone that you continued to after he killed Ariana, and still do to this day!"” hell yeah put him in his place

2. “The dead sister card is a little underhanded, admittedly, but Aberforth knows a thing or two about manipulation tactics. He'd have to. Albus is his older brother, after all.” LMAOOOOOO

3. lily mentioning children and sirius and remus just locking eyes and panicking was so fucking funny. bro i’m wheezing

4. BRO AND THEN REGULUS BEING LIKE “you’ve??? never thought about kids??????? wtf??? me and james are having four you little loser??????”

5. dorcas just marching in has me so fucking scared ngl

6. oh god, dorcas became the president coin in this. she wants to make a new hunger games. oh god. oh no

7. as horrifying as it was to see sirius’ train of thought, him being the first one to say no is so fucking satisfying oh my god

8. good for remus fucking standing up for lily. everyone is blaming lily, and finally remus speaks up that the blame cannot rest on lily alone

9. 😧😧 not albus suggesting the jegulus wedding to help with the aftermath. bro he’s fucking insane. it’s so hallow-like of him to suggest that oh my god

10. oh my god dorcas has gone insane, is she about to tell everyone how albus was in love with grindlewald. that’s fucking insane oh my god i can’t wait

11. oh my god it’s even better. it’s that he came up with the rule for the quarterly quell. oh my god this is gonna be great

12. 😧 holy shit. sirius just killed albus. imma be so real, i expected one person to not leave that table, and i thought it would be dorcas, not albus. i thought she would be killed

13. minerva asking lily to be a medic and help save albus, and lily just not will forever be iconic to me

14. as a punishment they banned sirius from the hallow 😭😭😭 babes they knew they had to come up with some punishment as like a way to show actions have consequences, but they chose one that sirius would love 😭😭 that’s so funny to me bro

15. alberforth finally leaving his home is a very satisfying character arch

16. ���this story is, first and foremost, about siblings—primarily sirius and regulus ofc—like that is the whole point of this fic, the core of it over anything else. and that feels right considering the source material, like in thg, it was always about katniss' love for prim and how important that was over peeta or gale or anyone else. and i just. i really adore that, and hope i paid a good homage to that, because i really admire it.”

you did. you did pay homage to that. it was abundantly clear that this was about siblings. and i love you for it. thank you, if you see this

alrighty six more chapters to go! i’m in the home stretch yall

[a-dorin]

motherhood in star wars

this has probably been discussed before, but the theme of motherhood and being a mother in the realm of star wars media has been on my mind lately.

here is my question: why is theme of motherhood in star wars so fucking tragic?

first of all, most (not all) mothers of force-sensitive children have their children taken from them at a young age so they can join the jedi order. and the worst part is that these mothers never really see their children again because the order forbids attachments. it is so heart-breaking to have your child taken from you to join a weird, cult-like order where you will never see them again. there is a sense of loss and suffering in that aspect.

then we have a plethora of characters who are mothers and DIE (leia, padmé, shmi), who lose their mothers or lose someone close to them after becoming a mother.

padmé amidala literally loses her life to complications of childbirth. she did not even get to experience motherhood before her life was ripped away from her. it's so upsetting to me because of her eagerness to raise her children with anakin and live a life of happiness with her new family.

leia is born an orphan who has no mother (yes i know she is adopted by bail and breha) but she literally comes into this world without her biological mother because her mom dies from the complications of childbirth! then, leia loses her son ben to the dark side, only to sacrifice herself in the sequels. which, causes rey distress because she was a mentor and (sort of) a maternal figure towards her!

shmi skywalker literally loses her relationship with her son after he departs with qui-gon and obi-wan. and she literally also dies after reuniting with anakin once more in aotc. she loses the one thing that meant the most to her (ani - her pride and joy!) and does not get to fulfill her role of raising him into adulthood.

while hera does have an adopted family (zeb, ezra, sabine, chopper) she does not get to experience the life with the family she created with kanan because he literally dies. while she received the ability to be a mother to jacen, she lost her spouse.

why does being a mother in the star wars universe only bring you tragedy, loss, and even your life? what do the writers have against womanhood and motherhood? i am aware there are good portrayals of motherhood in star wars, but 75% of the mothers suffer.

it's infuriating to me, and i am sure it's just rambling, but it truly is so upsetting that we do not have many feel-good, healthy, fulfilling portrayals of motherhood in star wars. women deserve to see it. everyone deserves to see it.

[darkestspring]

Random question for during season 2 of HOTD in just about any episode, what would kind of moment would it be it Alexsander got really really REALLY pissed?

I'd say like when Aegon found out his son was dead and he said "I'LL KILL THEM!!" Or something close to that for Alex

mmmmm, aleksander is a really calm person (that murder other people for his princess but shhhh that's a secret) so it would take a lot. aleksander doesn't even react to insults directed at him, he pretty much just ignores them like he ignores literally all of his family but the second you say something about maegara it turns into "i would kill for you. ask me to kill for you."

he's very guard dog in the way he won't react unless maegara actually says something about it. he'll start to get upset and she'll just go "it's okay, let's just go. i don't care about insignificant people." and he'll let it go. but if its something that genuinely affects maegara, he has no mercy.

something that gets close to that is luke's death.

in maegara's canon timeline (like her og timeline) the dance never happens, everything goes smoothly. (granted in this og timeline, maegara ends up with jace and not aleksander) but in a closer to actual canon au, everything goes the same, luke dies and maegara fucking loses it. when she gets the news, she literally goes on a war path. she wants aemond dead, deader than dead. she wants to him rot and be forgotten. she wants everyone who knew him (other than her family) to be dead so that his name can be forgotten.

he goes about it differently, alicent tries to talk to aleksander. they're cousins, that's his cousin's son, alicent insists he should have mercy, he should be siding with her and he just fucking loses it.

"Side with you?" Aleksander stares down at alicent in complete disgust as he yanks his arms back like it's been burned. "Your one eyed fucker of a son killed my queen's son, the queen who's seat you just stole. drop the righteousness, you're nothing but a two faced bitch, alicent." Aleksander cares little for her tears.

"Either I kill your son, or I will you both. I'm sure no one would care either way so GET OUT OF MY WAY!" His voice descends into a shout, irritation filling him as he stares her down.

[unohanadaydreams]

Hi, love your header and what I have to ask is not really related to what you’ve been posting but I’m going to ask it anyway. Do you ever think that all of the quincy and then the survivors of the tybw , Yhwach, and even the one hybrid got done kind of dirty. The survivors were zombies for a bit and then just left alone without anything honestly. Those who died in the wars died for well honestly nothing because their goal was never truly completed. Yhwach who apparently had to feel all the Quincy’s die and go through several wars, is forced into becoming the soul king. Like thousands of years of effort and sacrifice just for Ichibei to hit Yhwach with “Hey, it’s okay if you kill Reio I’ll just kill your son instead.” No wonder Yhwach was so mad, Kubo really fucked the Quincy over.

Oh, for sure.

Yhwach's narrative purpose is to be the inheritor of the Soul King & to contrast Ichigo's trajectory.

Ichigo is the living soul. The human king who has the power of friendship and inner clarity on his side, the usual Shonen business.

Like, we know Yhwach is fucking wretched over how the world has been recast to support Shinigami. That he has lost innumerable people in his aim to regain what the Soul King couldn't protect. And that he has lived with this one, singular aim driving him for over one thousand years. Not only because of the shinigami, but because he views the Soul King as a traitor too, even as his father's hands and heart join him in battle.

I really hated that they added that Ichibei flashback to the anime, because it implies that Yhwach didn't even know what he was fighting for until he saw what Ichibei had done.

One of TYBWs charm points is that its the culminations of a conflict that's been going on for over a thousand years. The reapers are sowing. The quincy are so fractured and disorganized from the culling of their kind that most of Yhwach's army is fresh from the human world and can't fight side-by-side to literally save their fucking lives. Both sides have done irredeemable, fucked things in the name of maintaining/reclaiming their world.

To imply that Yhwach doesn't understand what he's fighting for or that Ichibei was seriously willing to let his army live (LMAFUCKINGO) cheapens that by a lot. Yhwach knows he'll destroy the Soul King. He's seen it.

He's been waiting 1000 years to squeeze the world back into one where his people have a chance in hell at building back up again. I will not be convinced that Ichibei handed him this information and I will Certainly not be convinced that if it wasn't for Yhwach fucking up a peace meeting that the Shinigami would've called quits on hunting down the Quincy. Get real!

And like, this struggle has ruined Yhwach's connection with his people, too. The quincy are no longer people to him (and let's be honest here, mayhaps have never been as we would view other people), but a concept. A People. The Quincy. (Really the only deviation we see from this is Jugram, who he feels a lot of kinship towards.) He treats his people with a detached benevolent attitude that you would expect from a God on high.

His entire life has been running toward where he started; without sight or smell or any senses to speak of, just like the father of everyone, the Soul King.

He's the inversion of a Comedy, where Ichigo is staying to the expected path.

And I really love Yhwach, our beloved doomed prince. Because he comes onto the scene as someone who rips through the Soul Society with ease and starts offing shinigami with his army at a terrifying rate. But in the over arching war, he has been the underdog destined to lose. Because someone has to lose. And it's not going to be the beloved protagonist, because he ripped through the Soul Society with ease and is destined to win.

tl; dr: I view Yhwach having the worst time of his life for pretty much his entire life as a feature instead of a bug. Also boo to some of these anime additions. Boo hiss.

[paingoes]

Crash Out

Leveling

(Content: drugs, death mention, hanging/death penalty mention, emotional whump?)

=================

“Daddy…” Lorelai’s voice came out as a low whine. She leaned against the booth of the payphone and she twirled the cord between her fingers. She did everything she could not to cave, “I’m gonna be fine. I am being careful. I am. Put Mama back on. I love you. Daddy? I love you. I’m okay.”

Lorelai climbed back into the driver’s seat of the craft. It was a hot day and even hotter on the inside. Paris sat up a little from where he was laying down in the backseat. He propped himself up on his elbow, taking care to remain clear of the windows’ sightline.

“How’d it go?”

Lorelai sighed, “They’re really not happy, Paris. They said your face is on wanted posters.”

“Already?” He bit his lip, “Fuck. Are they gonna call the cops?”

“No, I don’t think so. They don’t want me getting caught up in it. They just want me to come home.”

“…Are you going to?”

“No!” She jumped back as if she’d been burned, as if he might make her leave. Nothing could have been further from the truth.

Paris peeked out the window, “That’s my guy.”

He dug through the side pockets of his bag and retrieved a stack. He passed it up to Lorelai who counted through it carefully.

“Wait, how much did you order?” She asked.

“An oz?”

“This is enough for three.” 

“It is?”

“Honey…”

============

The ship was back up in deep space soon enough, far removed from any planet’s claim to territory. It was safest that back. They were all too flighty after the war, all too happy to shoot down anything that entered their airspace. 

Paris rolled up on top of Lorelai’s copy of Port-hellion - it was a long account of the author’s life at sea, considered by some to be a fringe religious text. He felt only a little disrespectful using it to do drugs with. He was mostly just glad to have something to do with his hands.

Lorelai’s own were distracted with the steering wheel, tapping at it a bit anxiously. Just as soon as he had noticed her doing it, she had already deemed the moment right.

“You’re going to tell me, right?” She asked, “Whatever happened?”

“…Partied too hard,” He said slowly, not expecting it to work. He’d already changed the subject on her five times before. She was patient, but not so much that she would put up with it again. She stared at him in silence, forsaking the route. He sighed. 

“That’s literally what happened. I got way too fucked up at the Centurion Ball and the old guard got upset with me. Made me call my own ride home. Like five minutes after I left, the party got attacked. Airship crashed into the ocean. They said everyone aboard died,” Paris rolled the filter in between his fingers, hesitating for a second, “They were mostly just upset to lose Delta.”

Lorelai squeaked.

“He died?” Her hands were white around the wheel. “Oh my god, Paris, I’m so sorry.”

It wasn’t the reaction he was expecting. “Why?” He asked before he could stop himself.

“I don’t know.” She realized, at this point, how very tired he must be of I’m sorry for your loss. “Weren’t you kind of close with him?”

There was a strange tightness in his chest. He didn’t respond.

“That’s such a shame! He was so sweet...” She was clearly devastated.

“He had a body count in the upper thousands, but besides that, totally.” Paris’s response was curt.

It’s too defensive and he knows it, but he can’t stop himself. He doesn’t know why he ever though it was a good idea for them to know about each other. Those two spheres of his life were never meant to intersect. It’s been a complete nightmare ever since. 

“Well, what’s yours?” Lorelai’s tone shifted down by degrees.

“Hm?” He pretended not to hear her.

“What’s your body count?” She asked.

“Uh, zero, I’ve never been with another girl, I swear.”

She punched him lightly in the arm, “Not funny.”

He laughed a little. Not because it was funny, because it wasn’t. Just because the whole thing was so fucking stupid.

“No, I know,” he admitted, “It’s terrible. It’s just, like, fucking stupid. It’s not like I left him in a war zone. It was a civilian event in allied territory. It was a completely random fucking terrorist attack. How was I supposed to know to be on guard for that kind of thing? It was just a party. I’ve left him at ton of parties, he can fucking handle himself. I don’t see how I’m responsible for it.”

“Yeah, you left him at your birthday, too,” Lorelai’s voice was neutral. He shot her a look, which she seemed unfazed by. He rolled his shoulder.

“So, yeah. They’d been trying to charge me with negligence for a while, just cause, well…But it would never really stick until now. I mean, it doesn’t really matter, because the war is over now. I’d be tried for treason no matter what. It’s just, it looks really bad that I left five minutes before the attack started. I think they’re trying to pin me with conspiracy too. And maybe mass murder, if they really think I had something to do with it. Really just throwing the book at me, so that’s cool. Any one of those would be a death sentence on it’s own, I mean, they can only hang me once. It’s just overkill. It’s whatever,” He couldn’t shut up and he couldn’t look at her, “Thanks for reminding me, though. Really cool of you.”

“Don’t talk to me like that,” Lorelai said.

He ran his fingers through his hair, feeling the tension building up in his skull. He was startled to see the way they were shaking. He balled his hands up into fists. It forced them still.

“You asked,” He shrugged, “You’re probably gonna leave now, so whatever.”

“That’s the plan, isn’t it? Leaving?” She leaned over a little, taking note of the way he’d drawn in on himself, “We’re going the same way.”

Paris closed his eyes. It was all too much. In that moment, he felt exactly as he had the day his dad died. Everything he’d ever known was falling apart. That was a little over a year ago. God, was it going to be like this forever? Endless destruction of all the worlds he’d come to accept?

“I’m not leaving you, Paris, if that’s what you’re implying,” Lorelai insisted, “You promised we’d go together. You said you wouldn’t get scared. You’re not trying to back out, are you?”

He shook his head without opening his eyes. Stupid question. He didn’t have a choice. 

“I think it could be fun,” she said, a bit half-heartedly, “Hey, reach in the back pocket of my backpack. There’s a folder.”

He did. The folder was purple and undecorated. Inside, the papers were folded several times over. He took out the bundle, unwrapping them on the dashboard. It was a stack of maps, each of them drawn from hand. It showed the expanse of Empire all the way to its edges. There were several routes charted out in different colors. Each of them started at Absalom and ended at some point along the border. The outermost one was in Lorelai’s familiar, neat handwriting. The innermost map was in a messy script, overfull with spelling errors and butterfly stickers.

“Oh,” she blushed, “Uh, the most recent one. You can put the others back in the bag.”

His finger traced over one of the jeweled butterflies. He wished he had known her as a child. He wondered if he would’ve worked up the nerve to leave earlier, before everything had gone wrong. 

It didn’t matter. They never would have made it far. They barely had a shot now. 

==============

Tags: @catnykit@indigoviolet311@snakebites-and-ink@vivulapom@scoundrelwithboba@whatwhump@pumpkin-spice-whump @deluxewhump @fuckass1000 @fuckcapitalismasshole @defire @micechomper

[theimperiumchronicles]

Happy STS! But oh no! One of your characters has been stabbed! What chaos does this bring about? Who's been stabbed, who did the stabbing, who yanks the sword out without thinking, etc.? ♥️

The following HAVE been canonically stabbed in @theimperiumchronicles in the past: Abriella, Cruz, Olly, Deacon, Dez, Talon, Abbadon, Leviathan, Lucifer, Leandre, Mithos, Arioch, Thinius, Yael, Phaedra, Anna, Arch, and Andronicus. We are at the beginning of a whole new iteration of Imperium stories where there is a lot of relationship building. Once this gets going, you'll see there is a lot of fighting too. So, I can tell you - except for Leviathan, and Lucifer (who at the time was on Leviathan's side), it was literal war and beings died for it. No one pulled any blade out without thinking. In fact, for Lucifer, no one but Brie COULD pull the blade out. She left him pinned to the wall for two whole years in a "hang there and think about what you've done" Queen move.

Cruz normally loses his mind of Abriella is injured, so you can only imagine stabbed in any way. Everyone else just steps back and lets him do his thing. It's going to be ugly and they enjoy the entertainment.

Everyone else just gets a healer while their friends decimate whatever force they were taking on when said stabbing happened. *dies laughing*

[2x4plank]

TWDG S1 Character Opinions

At first, I was gonna do a ranking but I soon realized how fruitless that was as I enjoyed pretty much every main character in Season One and don't wanna do any injustice any character.

Lee - Literally who doesn't love Lee (except Larry). He is a rational, patient father figure who takes it upon himself to take care of Clementine. And to the end of his life, he keeps that purpose at the top of his mind, crossing a sea of dead and devising a way to get her out of Savannah safely. He also gets points for the open sesame joke ( and his great sense of humor in general), the way he raises his hand when questioned about his interest in civil war history, being a black protagonist, and so on and so forth.

He has the unsaid sadness of losing his family and not even the chance to lean on anybody because he doesn't want his past crime to be revealed. He has to perform a balancing act of keeping the group together through starvation and their arguments. He stacks the responsibility of a child ontop of that. 111111/10 character!

Clementine - She's literally my daughter. She's everybody's daughter--you adopt her the moment you see her. She's quiet at first but has streak of mischief and resilience. When you find out she's been led on by the stranger with her parents being the carrot on the stick, you realize that the disappearance of her parents affected her way more than what she let's on. She might seem "tough" (and to some degree she is), but she's also a child and we shouldn't expect her to just get over anything. I find the stranger leading Clementine away after stalking your group to be one of the stronger horror elements in TWDG and its an aspect I think about a lot.

As time goes on, we see Clementine grow up with Lee no longer around. The man who protected her will be replaced with adults who don't treat her like the child she is. She suffers from their incompetence and toxicity and is forced to make calls she shouldn't have to make. This constant reliance on her factors into her adoption of AJ, as not only have his parents died, but she wants to take care of him just as Lee took care of her, and sees herself as the most fit to do so.

Kenny - Oh goodness. He makes me feel confused, and not even when talking about his season two incarnation. I like him lots and lots. I hate him, sometimes, also. I feel confused. He has a very funny onscreen presence, but sometimes, quite an offensive one. I'm speaking from the place of someone who would be affected by his bigotry for a multitude of reasons.

Kenny starts as a cowardly man, but someone who is willing to run into the fray for those who are on his side. He comes back to save Lee and considers him a good friend. If you agree with his decision to kill Larry and protect everyone in the locker room, he'll work with Lee to kill Danny and grow even closer to him, making him one of your closest comrades and a ride or die once his family's gone. Being there for his family was one of the caveats that kept him from coming to the rescue, outside of general self preservation. I don't think if they were still around he would've jumped down for Christa.

Another big thing with Kenny is his explosive dogmatism. You need to agree with him and do it HIS way. If you don't, it's a whole argument. I love when he starts shit in Episode Three with Lilly and then he's like, "We can work this out! Everybody calm down." KENNY!!! YOU'RE THE ONE WHO STARTS STUFF! YOU'RE THE AGITATOR!

Katjaa - I love her so much! I love her design, I love her voice, and I love the way she handles shit to the best of her ability. Not only is she willing to get sad and bloody (even before the apocalypse, being a vet and all), but her awesome bravery (is that the word I should use?) when she's holding onto Duck as he's dying. That is an incredibly painful thing to do but she remains so memorably steel-faced (like that expression she gives is seared into my brain), knowing that as a parent that she should provide Duck comfort in his last moments (UNLIKE KENNY, WHO CHICKENED OUT AT THIS POINT!) even though she has to be so close to his suffering.

She's often gentle but she can be stern when the time comes. 12/10 no notes!

Duck - Awh, he's adorable! I will never understand why people could hate this kid. He's literally just a busy body. I was personally on the other side of the spectrum, being pretty low-energy at that age, but I'm not gonna hate on the little guy. He didn't do anything wrong. I will always get a laugh at how no matter how explicit you were that they were all eating Mark that Duck will pause for only a second, look slightly confused, and then resume eating. It's so funny and I respect his disengagement with the situation at hand. He's perfect.

Carley- My favorite thing about Carley is the fact that she never dropped the reporter voice. She's locked in. She's one of the most "regular" people--and not in a bad way. She's kind, funny, and thoughtful. I don't know how she didn't figure out that there were no batteries in that radio, though. I like her lots and lots.

Doug - My experience with Doug was secondhand because one of my relatives picked him by accident. Poor Doug! Anyway, I like him a lot. He's very funny (I say that a lot don't I?) but he's got that reasonable bravery. He saves Carley and in his last moments, he protects Ben. Personally, I like Lilly shooting Carley on purpose better than accidentally shooting Ben but I think its something more interesting and scary for Ben to grapple with.

Glenn - For the short time we spent with him, he was incredibly funny. I liked him a lot and how he just always spoke his mind no matter the circumstances.

Lilly - OOH! OKAY! I LOVE LILLY!

She has obviously been treated like terribly by her dad despite how much love she has for him, and because she acts tough about it, she expects the same of others. The fact that Larry is so quick to tell her to "shut up" and that whole anecdote she tells in the fourth season does reflect something nasty about her home life. I didn't read much into the "he's probably gonna keep treating you like shit" line in reference to Larry and just thought it was funny because it's a weird thing but I soon realized that was her reaction and she just expected others to cope like she did.

Now, do I think Lilly's toughness is just a front? No. I do think she was actually tough, but too much is too much. Starvation, apocalypse management, and watching your dad be murdered while you're restrained/trying to revive him is pretty traumatizing--no matter how much of a dick Larry was. I don't think her anger, sadness, or general mental breakage lessens her toughness in the slightest, but her actions eventually run counter to morality (see: shooting Carley in the face).

Mark - lol this guy had it rough! He was introduced and eaten within the same episode. I like his smile when you offer him rations and his small jokes. He's one of the more average characters but 1) that is not a bad thing at all and 2) we don't get a lot of time with him. I really liked getting to know this guy before he got hammed.

Mr. Parker - Loved his jumpscare!

Travis - Talking all tough and he didn't even learn the rule of not tripping during the apocalypse. Better luck next time.

Ben - Jeez. I should have been nicer to this guy.

Starting out, Ben is very awkward and clumsy but that's to be expected of a high schooler. He fumbles and is not held in the kindest regard by the rest of the group, who seem to see him as incapable. He struggles to prove otherwise.

Yes, trading with the bandits was wrong, but there is a question of if his isolation from the group made the desire to have his friend back that much stronger rather than telling the group about the offer and seeing how they handled it or even if they would be concerned about his problems as a newcomer. Sure, Lee, Glenn, and Carley were willing to help that woman in the motel, but there are a lot more caveats to dealing with human enemies.

I love the shock of his initial confession and even though he picked the worst possible time to tell everyone else, the guilt of all those deaths would weigh on anybody and I don't think he was equipped to make the best decisions.

Looking back, dropping him was a terrible decision and I probably would have pulled him up if the zombies weren't so close. Maybe I was also a little jealous at how tall he was.

I'll pull him up next time. His death was also way more painful than expected and I do really believe he didn't deserve to die at all.

Andy - He's my favorite of the St. Johns which is a hard ground to clear. He is just so unapologetically evil it rounds back into comedy. Nothing is ever his fault and nothing he ever does is wrong. And he could've kept getting away with it if it wasn't for that meddling Georgia State professor.

Danny - He was so committed though! I heard they had some icky things planned for his character originally but I'm glad that it didn't make it into the game or canon because him being the "loyal dog" to cannibalism makes him a character you can love and hate. Also he talks to the cow.

Brenda - Literally all she wanted was to run her dairy, man. It's hard raising two kids and managing a farm. I love her voice and I would totally be eating like Duck because I know her barbecue was blue ribbon worthy.

She likely has the most conscious of the St. Johns which is...not a high bar but she seems to not want to be involved in the act of murder. She wants her hands clean and her men slow-cooked.

Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Joleeeene - Love her crossbow. Her story is horrifying but well told as an aside to the episode. I wish she got to see her daughter again because what happened there is terrible.

Bandits - Ew.

Chuck - I like him. I love his speech about "you're not boy, you're not a girl"--he said nb rights! But anyway, he popped in and died in like the next episode with his body discovered in like...the episode after that. Shame what happened to him but I like the time he had.

Christa - Tough but incredibly fair! I like her lots. I like how she was portraying herself as willing to walk away from the group but she's also willing to cut Lee's arm off for him after like...a day of knowing him. She was a rider.

It's hard to find the words to talk about her, but don't take that for disinterest.

Omid - Funny. I have said that a lot in this writing, but it is still true. He is very cushy and pleasant and definitely a well-placed bright spot after everything that happened in Episode Three.

Vernon - I love his name and his dry sense of humor. And also he got that devious lick in the end.

Okay, so I wouldn't give him flack for stealing the boat for his crew if not for the fact that he was leaving a child, or possibly two children, without any food.

I like the small taste of betrayal before the bigger one in S2.

Brie - I love this cheese. I like her design a lot too.

The Stranger - Bro this is why stranger danger PSAs are so important. GET OFF OF MYSPACE MAN! He was CREEPY and deranged and though I understand why somebody would think he came out of nowhere I do like his conclusion and think his part is very well done.

I think it was an extremely interesting thread of the story that I wouldn't expect in apocalypse media. To take a child away using means well known to us in current year. The parallel of a guardian who sought to protect her as soon as he met her to a man who had bad intentions as soon as he got the opportunity. Pretty good!

And also the bowling bag head reveal was hilarious. Way to respect your spouse.

[cypanache]

for the fic writer asks: 5, 12, 19

5. What’s a fic idea you’ve had that you will never write?

So this is incredibly dangerous with me because the moment I say I will never write something … I wind up eating my words (see Prodigal, which was something I literally said I’d never write)

But I’ll give you two AUs which are a long way off from ever being more than a discord campfire story. One Obidala and one more Obianidala -adjacent both inspired by Cyrano de Bergerac which is my favorite play, but wildly different in tone.

Obidala — Think 90s romcom mashup of with a bit of You’ve Got Mail, a bit of Cyrano, and a sprinkling of Sabrina, where Anakin is a self-made mid-90s Silicon Valley whiz kid and Obi-Wan is his long suffering CFO/COO/fixer. Enter Padme as the journalist/tastemaker Anakin needs impress for ‘reasons’ and winds up blowing off. So Obi-Wan being the fixer he is … fixes it (a little too well), writing Padme a thoughtful apology in Anakin’s name and arranging for a behind the scenes look at the company’s operations, etc. Anakin runs into her and is instantly head over heels and asking Obi-Wan’s help because she’s totally out of his league. Padme is impressed. Anakin is smitten. Obi-Wan, who is just trying to keep this deal together, is slowly losing his mind … and his heart.

Obianidala adjacent — a totally different vibe let’s go to a Padme lives style AU set in a sort of vague post-wwii England (or something similar). Where Anakin was a pilot/double agent for the wrong side who died in dubious circumstances. Padme is his pregnant widow who has been left without his pension or answers. And Obi-Wan … is the “professor” (read ‘spy’) who Padme tracks down after she finds a half written love letter from her husband addressed to him … and Obi-Wan in his shared grief for the man they both loved and both feel betrayed by winds up inviting her to stay. And Padme, having nowhere else to go, does. Only the longer she lives with him, the more she gets to know him, comes to care for him, the more she can’t quite shake the feeling that there’s something vaguely familiar about the way he talks, the words he uses, the phrases, the passages he picks out to read …

12. Do you have a playlist for one of your current WIPs?

I have a playlist for every WIP that isn’t just a one shot. But by far the most carefully curated is the one for A Trap of Your Own Making, which was developed with the help of the amazing @vic3456 who is my musical soulmate. And if listened to in order will follow the arc of the entire story

19. Give us a small teaser from one of your WIPs

Here. Let’s do Wires. Which is a modern post RotS Padme lives au. Where the Jedi are cops and Padme is an ADA. (Think law & order meets Star Wars). Because I’ve talked about this a bit and everything else gets a little complicated to share.

nine months after mustafar

“Anakin’s going to ask for custody.”

“He can’t.”

It’s a stupid statement. And not just because Padme has spent the past nine months coming to terms with the fact that Anakin is apparently capable of more than she ever wanted to contemplate. She knows how this works, knows how her life will be viewed by the court compared to his. No current means of income, being investigated for ethics violations, with a support network that primarily consists of, well…

She glances over Mon’s shoulder to where Obi-Wan is currently walking Leia, while everyone pretends he can’t hear every word of the supposedly privileged conversation going on at the kitchen table …

… Best not to bring her ‘support network’ up at all if she can help it.

From the look on Mon’s face that’s not going to be an option. Knowing Anakin, his old training officer’s name is probably right at the top of the petition.

[transingthoseformers]

I had a similar concept to "holding the sperm" only it is holding datasets from others they've spark merged with. They can be saved for long periods so that even if your partner dies you can bud and have them part of it. But if you don't use it for the first budding post save the temp save will delete.

Came up in a TFP Starscream fic in which he had Skyfire and Skywarp and Thundercracker saved and he'd gotten an excess of minerals and food and relaxed so his body triggered the Budding Protocol as the build up is usually done to trigger Budding and reproduction and he didn't notice in time to stop it.

It's something that happens with all Cybertronians if they don't have a stopgate but really only occurs automatically after great disasters and population jumps. Otherwise, it has to be more intentional. Starscream hadn't had it pop up in literal centuries but relaxed during the three years Megatron was gone and didn't think to update his firewalls because it was such a non-possibility in his mind and there hasn't been an accidental protoform produced from either side since the war started. He was somewhat under the impression they really couldn't anymore given how stressed everyone's systems were.

So Starscream decides to do it anyway to not lose the potential even though it isn't really a great time. KOBD are called back early to assist.

It changes some things obviously.

Hmmm! That's cool!

Oooh, so it's linked to resources! That makes sense

This war was 100% a great disaster population drop lol

Yeahhhh that's gonna have interesting consequences

[andywinter16]

Traitor!Cor Leonis AU

This one was inspired by @midgarmosquito and their game theory. There is also added picture by @risingoflights that I can literally see when I wrote the last sentence of this.  And I have an excuse to write for Titus as a big brother and father/mentor.

WARNING! In this headcanon is mentioned abuse and beating.

--

- Cor was angry 15 year boy that despised war and decisions made by King Mors, like pulling the Wall to Insomnia's ramparts (he though that it was a honor to serve king, not anymore)

-  Cor started to be more bitter and cold towards everyone ( which did not escape a certain Drautos, who shared the sympathy)

-Titus took him under his wing, which blossomed into beautiful brotherhood (both of them cherish it dearly)

- It was slow and budding relationship from rivals to friends to brothers till death (Titus calls him affectionately “Little brother or tiny daemon”, Cor calls him “ Old bear or grumpy cat”, sometimes calls him “Big brother” when he´s feeling emotionally down)

- But the greatest confirmation of their brotherhood was when Cor came to Titus all bloodied and battered. Titus helped him bandage his injuries, gave him food meanwhile containging the rage inside. “Who did this to you, little daemon?” And afterwhile with choked voice came the answer. “It was my step dad. He tried to beat mum again, so ...” Titus didn´t need to hear anything else. He let Cor crash at his apartment, while he plotted. 

- Next day, Cor recieved a news that his stepfather was arrested, for what he didn´t know. He went to Titus, because he knew the older male had something to do with it. When sleepy Titus opened the door, Cor with no hesitation huggs him. “Thank you big bro, thank you so much.”  Titus never felt more alive than at this moment.

- Few years later, Cor is dissatisfied with Regis who acts as a puppet of the nobility. Especially with decisions of the reffugees, who are threated poorly and used as pawns for a war

- Titus introduced Cor to Nyx Ulric, his troublemaker protegee. Cor in private jokes with Titus that Nyx is more like his son. “Shut up, that´s not it!” “Yeah, yeah whatever you said Titus.”

- Titus takes Cor to Cavaugh more specificaly to his village. “This is where it all started for me. My quest for revenge.” Tells him about his family and friends who have died. How from loyal soldier to Crown he became the feared general Glauca of Niflheim.

- There Cor truly meets the real Titus, broken man with nothing  else to lose. And Cor doesn´t even hesitate when Titus asked him to join in their rebellion. “ You have my sword ,Titus. Whatever it takes, I am on your side.” 

- Cor met all the glaives that joined, promising them a better future. Is took by surprise by Luche Lazarus, who thanked him for everything he has done for them 

- Cor also received information about sleeping agent placed in Prince´s retinue, Titus didn´t specified it just said “ It´s insurance if anything goes wrong.”

- when the Day of Signing came, Cor did as Regis told him with exception that he joined Glauca in the fight.

Nyx´s eyes reflected pain and utter disbelief. “ Captain, Marshall ... It was you two all along.” 

- “ Forgive me, old friend.” Cor´s the one who deals the final blow to Regis. 

-  Meanwhile Titus went to fight Nyx alone while Cor was coordinating their forces (what's left of them, anyway)

- Whole fight sequence later  Cor at last came to the side of the battle, tired disolving Nyx sitting on other side of gravely injured Titus. 

- ” Titus, Titus goddamn it! Here, take the potion!” Titus stops him, his eyelids starting to feel heavy. “It´s okay little brother, you can´t help me ... “  Cor eyes started to water. “No, don´t do this to me Titus. You´re my fucking brother, the last good thing I have left.” Cor catch him by his collar. “As you were my, Cor.”