#and this just leads me to a larger concern about the way that power relations between races will be handled

[vakarians-babe]

i have a lot of thoughts and feelings about ROP but tbh i will likely not be posting about it much bc for me Tolkien has always been so deeply personal and i want to experience it with as much privacy as i can muster? idk if that sounds weird lmao but i'll summarize some of my early thoughts in the tags and probably promptly not speak about it until it's finished airing.

[n0-eyedtaissa]

thinking about how taissa’s best friend is clearly shauna, who’s best friend is jackie. it’s one of the subtle, more relatable cruelties shown on yellowjackets: the thin line between competition and alienation that comes with three-girl friendships. in every three-girl friendship, there are the two girls who walk side by side on the sidewalk, then there's the girl who's a few steps behind them. one’s always the leader, one’s the follower, one’s always the scapegoat. “jackie’s not gonna like it…” “well then we probably shouldn't tell her". shauna goes along with the plan, yet condems taissa as soon as the Allie Thing goes awry.

girl #3 defends #2 from the 'best friend' that overshadows her, but now that she's not the furthest in the shadows, girl #2 finally has someone to be cruel to. “i admire your resilience, tai. cant be easy knowing you fucking crippled someone today” when the traits that made jackie powerful at home aid in her resistance to the wilderness, shauna leans into the qualities that taissa has that are useful now but previously lead to the general understanding that she’s (to quote akilah here) “not THAT much of a bitch”: her directness, her decisiveness, the way she snaps to action and can take control.

girl #3 relishes in the power because she knows it’s slipping from girl #1. “thanks for having my back during the vote” “i didn’t have you back it was just what i thought…” taissa knows this. its what shauna thought herself, not what she mindlessly agreed to because of jackie’s influence. girl #2 and girl #3 bond over #1’s shortcomings. taissa and shauna get upset with jackie for not pitching in, for attempting to raid Dead Cabin Guy’s pantry for food and for how she recoils at shauna’s attempts to teach her how to butcher the deer.

when the girls have their seance, jackie wants to deny that they had any responsibility in conjuring the darkness: she called for it and shauna was the conduit, so she feels that guilt for the both of them and chooses to appease the darkness by not letting taissa be alone in the attic that night.

that moment jumpstarts the brewing rift between jackie and shauna, because it shows how shauna can and will choose somebody else over jackie. “what’re you doing?” “i was just gonna keep you company, if that’s okay…” it’s here when taissa revealed that she knew shauna was pregnant (because girl #3 is never in the spotlight so she pays extra close attention to those around her). when taissa finds out that not only is shauna pregnant, but she’s pregnant with her best friend’s boyfriend’s baby, she reserves her judgment because she knows that for shauna, that same fear of judgment is why she would rather die in the wilderness than tell jackie how and why she slept with her boyfriend.

when taissa figures out that shauna is trying to terminate her pregnancy (because katie lindstrom did it with the underwire of her bra last year), taissa tears through the woods trying to find her so that shauna wouldn't have to do something so risky by herself. “you’re not gonna do this alone, okay? i’m gonna help you, if you let me”. she realizes that she’s Not Jackie, she's not girl #1 with her power and her influence. she’s not who shauna would normally turn to...and that's the whole point.

girl #1 always panics when her second-in-command starts attracting more attention to herself: jackie can feel the space between herself and shauna growing larger and she knows that tai has been filling that space... the Best Friend space. but despite what shauna seems to think, jackie knows her too and can recognize the lies that even shauna herself believes. jackie knows that things aren't normal and nothing about what they're going through is remotely okay.

"i see you sneaking around and whispering with taissa, not to mention you acting all distant and weird for weeks." jackie isnt concerned with the fact that they survive a plane crash, or that she and her team are starving, all she's worried about is shauna. when jackie asks "when did you stop wanting me to be your best friend?", it seems like what she really means is 'when did you start wanting taissa as your best friend instead of me?'.

shauna may have started confiding in taissa more because she had a secret to keep from jackie and she needed anyone to be there for her...but from the very first episode (at least to ME), it's clear that taissa has been there for shauna before the plane crash, through her pregnancy, eighteen months in the wilderness, and even twenty-five years later. in no way am i insinuating that taissa's friendship with shauna is one-sided, either! shauna exhibits a very different kind of softness and affection with taissa than she ever was shown to do with jackie. it's very innocent, there's no envy, they have nothing to withhold from one another when they're hiding away in Dead Cabin Guy's attic.

shauna and taissa slept side by side up there, away from their team and the expectations that were unfairly placed on each of them and suddenly they both can breathe easier. they shared secrets and their fears and it brings them closer together, though it drives jackie and shauna further apart. with girl #1 further out of the picture, #'s 2 and 3 realize just how nice it feels to be understood. when taissa expresses the immense amount of guilt she feels about being the reason that van went on the ill-fated expedition, shauna reassures her that it's not her fault that van got hurt. that if taissa was too scared to sleep, shauna would stay awake. that she wouldn't let her go anywhere.

despite everything, though, taissa seems to understand that shauna would pick jackie over her any day. and she respects that, defends jackie's resistance to the wilderness and its offerings. when shauna (then mari and the rest of the team) start to gang up on jackie, taissa STILL defends her because she's girl #1...shauna's best friend. "c'mon jackie, don't go outside..." "don't pretend like this isn't what you wanted the entire fucking time." because jackie knows that taissa likes to win and isn't afraid to play dirty in order to get what she wants: the role of being shauna's New Best Friend.

once jackie is exiled from the cabin and shauna is watching her struggle from the window, it's STILL taissa who's saying "just go talk to her" ... just bring her inside, go and make up with her because she;s your best friend and you love her and i'll still be there for you. and taissa always is. in the morning when the find jackie, all alone and frozen in time, taissa's there to hold shauna as she cries and screams and curses the world and realizes her own capacity for cruelty. taissa's there for shauna. she's not letting go and she's not going anywhere.

[kaythefloppa]

Wild Kratts - Our Blue and Green World: Part 1: Review [Spoilers]

Welp, here it is, the Wild Kratts TV movie (not to be confused with the feature film they've been teasing us with since 2021). There's been a lot of hype around this special and season, especially with how much the latter was being hyped up during the hiatus. Let's see if the blue and green bros were able to deliver: Spoilers under the cut

Well, this is certainly an attention grabber!

This entire live action intro is shot and edited like an animated Wild Kratts episode, it's glorious.

Woah, intro change!

They said the thing! They said the thing!

HELP THIS IS SO RELATABLE. Also, THE BOYS ARE FIGHTING

Lmao I don't think they do it very often, but using animals/nature in their insults is very creative.

Also, whooping crane episode when?

This entire song is mercifully short. Like most character sung songs in Wild Kratts, it's not good, but this at least is clever in its lyrics and its visuals. It feels like a Disney reference at best and I am content with that. I also ADORED seeing the Draco and Walrus Suit return again. It's arguably the best musical number in the series. No, that is not saying a lot.

MARTIN WHY ARE YOU THE ONE WHO'S MIFFED YOU NEARLY MUFASA'D YOUR LITTLE BROTHER

CHRIS WHY ARE YOU MILDLY INCONVENIENCED YOU GOT ACRAPHOBIA FALLING FROM THAT HEIGHT

When I first saw the clip, I thought that they were going somewhere with this, like they'd activate Peacock Powers at the end when they recognized the compatibility and blue and green. But nope. Wasted potential is an understatement.

Also, where the fuck are they right now? In a previous shot there was Target the Chameleon, implying that they've been to Madagascar, but that is an Indian peafowl, and as far as I'm concerned, they don't live in Madagascar. Were they just having an off-day? These animals have little to nothing to do with the plot when they really shouldn't have, so I don't see why they couldn't have just shown a projector image or something.

Remember when I joked about the Wild Pony Power Suit returning in S7.... fuck you Apollo.

Man, they are eating it up with the animation here. It's hard to tell with screengrabs but man, is it fluid.

The first half of this episode is mixed. While it feels like the brothers are incredibly stubborn, it also does make sense for them to be this fixated on their favorites. So I can totally buy this. It could've been insufferable to watch, but it wasn't.

As if YOU haven't spied on them since the first time your dorito-headed ass showed up on screen

Did you find that funny? Because not only do they do a similar joke like that later on, but they follow through on that joke in the most unexpected way you will shit your pants when you first ingest it.

Oh my god if they make a Creature Power Suit off of that bird, I will take back any diss I've made, that is so beautiful.

Good to know that Aviva put the button near the chest and not near the back.

Maybe it's just me but this is kinda pushing it. Chris is literally getting his organs crushed, I think that should matter more than A) being right or B) trying to get 2 people to stop fighting.

I'm loving the callback and what this leads up to but ew, all this does is remind me about how ugly bright the color pallatte in S6. Really glad they fixed it in S7.

HELL FUCKING YES

This episode finds really unique ways of showing how the two different biomes are interconnected. It's like Rainforest Stew's (very brilliantly handled) message only to a larger degree. Kids can learn a lot from this.

I fucking love this episode, man.

Honestly, the way they write Paisley in the first half of the episode is very in-line with her character. Most shows that do what this episode does has them be out-of-character as a set-up, but here, she's just roasting the fuck out of Zach. Once again, recontextualized entirely in the climax.

HOW THE FUCK DID HE GET TO MADAGASCAR FROM THE GODDAMN AMAZON IN ONE AFTERNOON THAT IS LIKE MORE THAN 1,000 MILES AWAY?? ARE ANACONDAS THAT FAST?????

Also, INDRIS!!!!! :D

I was frankly expecting this to horribly backfire but spoilers, it doesn't. This actually winds up working. Common Aviva W.

To be continued.... will the blue and green rivalry end? Will one prove superior over another? And will they be able to stop Zach and Paisley and save the planet earth? And will this change the adventures of the Wild Kratts team forever? Stay tuned for part 2!

Pros:

The live action segments.

The animation of the earth's model.

The musical number not being ass.

Paisely's catty behavior.

The Anaconda Suit.

The inventive ways they show how the stability of the Earth is complex. There are a lot of ways it functions and thus a lot of ways it needs to survive

The comedy.

Cons:

The villains do not do anything until the second half of this episode. In fact, they're left completely in the backdrop. I expected them to make their prescence known and for Aviva to invent the discs to get them together for the SAKE of fighting the villains. But no. It makes the stakes feel hollow, which is the opposite of what they should be gunning for in an hour long special that they hype the shit out of.

CONCLUSION:

It was an "okay" set-up. It did live up to some of the hype it had, but not all of it. Honestly if it wasn't for the second half of this episode, this movie would be mediocre or slightly above average, but no. They do pick themselves off the ground and... they do jump the shark. But we'll get to that next time

[whoredmode]

My personal least favorite thing about SRIV is how they handled Johnny Gat tbh. He's my favorite of the core side characters up through three, but in four he's just... kind of obnoxious. I would've thought it would be cool if the aliens had brought him back to try and infiltrate the gang, and then he turns back to their side when he realizes how much the Boss and the others really do care about him and didn't forget about him, but the whole "Wow! Look at Johnny Gat! He should be the real leader of the saints!" bit that carried over into GooH was just unfunny at best and outright meanspirited at worst. We've had three games up to this point that've established why Johnny isn't the leader of the gang and respects the Boss as a person. I know his character isn't exactly the deepest well in the universe but there was something interesting in that dynamic, where despite his capability for violence and charm he wasn't suited to actually leading the gang. Why ruin that for jokes that just didn't land. But that's just my personal take on it, obviously others are allowed to feel differently!

i think you’re onto something and it’s not just a johnny issue, it’s a larger problem of the actual handling of all the characters in sriv. johnny gets it pretty bad tho. we get the most banal, surface level introspections on characters who have had 2-3 games by now to have gotten this exploration. the idea of simulations is reflecting their fears/regrets/etc is a good idea when done well, but the game can’t even be bothered to give everyone that much. pierce, kinzie. i’m so sorry.

and what you bring up about johnny i 100% agree with—the game feels more concerned w being quippy and referential and painfully unfunny rather than like. giving us any of the apparent reflection it wants to give. you’re right, johnny isn’t better equipped to handle things than the boss, and i think it’d actually be interesting if there was conflict related to that. the boss got them into this mess, and if others think johnny would be better whereas johnny doesn’t feel that way or is unsure, it could’ve made for interesting, long-lasting tension. or even the idea you brought up w him being primed and used as a mole could’ve been fascinating. in the original drafts of sriv, it was gonna have (a clone of) johnny be the antagonist. and while i don’t think that route would’ve been…..ideal, i do think setting up johnny and the boss against each other makes for engaging conflict. ofc it would be resolved bc we know johnny respects and cares for the boss immensely, and instead of just bad jokes about it we could have the space to show and explore that connection. sr2 works so well for the boss and johnny’s dynamic bc we really see that love come into play w the lengths they’re willing to go to for each other.

it’s why the idea of undercover w there being an actual schism within the saints is interesting. why the conflict between pierce and shaundi in srtt is one of its strongest points. why dex and troy have one of the most interesting dynamics. why the reboot’s “power of friendship” angle fell flat for me. bc saints row’s cast works best when there’s conflict between them that means something. instead of just wasting it on bad jokes and problems that get resolved by the time the cutscene is over.

maybe i got away from the original point but. yeah. johnny deserved better in that game. also imo i do still think the boss is the worst written character of sriv. but i think i’ve talked about that before so i won’t repeat myself. but everyone got it bad. at least sriv let us kiss johnny gat tho right😭

[s0ym1lk]

I finished Disco Elysium last night and have come to the conclusion that it is, ironically, about learning how to honor history while also letting it go.

Disco Elysium is set in a world drowning in history. You spend the whole time walking through a bombed-out city, exploring walls where people were lined up and shot, bunkers filled with propaganda, and monuments that were put up and torn down and put up again. The layers upon layers of history that you dig through in every encounter just overwhelms you.

Harry Du Bois is likewise drowning in his own personal history. When you start the game, you literally wake up in the 'ruins' of Harry's own personal country - the room he'd wrecked on his multi-day bender prior to starting the game. He clings to an outdated music style and an outdated celebrity that he models himself after. He worships his ex so much that his brain turns her into a god.

It's no surprise that the most joyful parts of the game are ones in which history is erased or made irrelevant. Harry's relationship with Kim, for example, has no history to it at all. While Kim knows that Harry is a self-destructive asshole, based on the aftermath of Harry's bender that he's able to witness, Kim also begins his relationship with Harry from a point where he's fundamentally a different person, who can and does make different choices than old Harry would havea. Every time Harry's past comes up, Kim is able to relate to him in a different and more positive way, simply because the old Harry and the new Harry are different people. Contrast this with Harry's interactions with his old partner Jean. Those interactions are really depressing, because they're so one-sided - Jean is left to shoulder all of the pain Harry caused to him, but when he tries to lash out, Harry doesn't understand. For example, when Jean tries to pull a mean prank by dressing up as the reporter Harry drove away, the joke goes completely over Harry's head, because Harry doesn't remember his past OR his old partner. Jean is stuck in a cycle of trauma and abuse that he's trying to perpetuate with his actions. Harry literally can't remember enough about himself to be a part of that anymore. That's why his relationship with Kim works so well in comparison - he can leave his past behind and become a better person who has healthier relationships.

Another place you see this quite well is in the storyline for the dance club at the church. The church itself reeks of history, and not in a good way. It's abandoned, worn-out, broken, and it has a giant stained-glass window of a woman who blanketed Elysium in terrible history and destroyed it, then convinced everyone that she was a saint. The history in that stained glass literally towers over you and forces you to cower beneath it. When you help the teens turn the church into a dance club, you disrupt all that. The power and sanctity of the church's history doesn't totally disappear, because the church is still there, but it fades into the background as it's overtaken by a new history. That new history extends to everyone present. It covers the teens, all of whom are either running from a bad past or leaving the people they were behind(you'll notice Disco Elysium has a lot of characters who have become different people than they used to be). It covers Harry, who has struggled to let go of the cool person he was in the days of disco, but ends up not just writing the new anodic music but busting a move to it. It covers Soona the programmer, who's trying to essentially come to terms with her history at Fortress Accident and move on from it. It's a really powerful image, to find the seed of the world's destruction in the church and to be concerned about that, but to then turn it into a bass track and dance to it joyfully anyway. Sure, the end of the world is coming. That kind of sucks. But in this joyful moment, who cares?

Look at Harry's former relationship with Dora. You spend all this time being triggered by things related to her, like chewing gum, the Dolores Dei references, and near the very end of the game finally have a dream where she turns into a god and leaves you. Harry is obviously an obsessive person. He obsesses about Dora and turns her into something larger than life, even though she tells him frankly that she's just a regular woman. Harry tries to cling to that history by getting her back. He gives her figurines that he remembered she would like. He tells her he's a better person and that they can make it work. He can try to kiss her. He can beg her not to go. She leaves anyway. Despite Harry's desperation, you can tell as the player that this is an unhealthy relationship, and that it's good that Dora left him. You can also see how her leaving triggered Harry's descent into brokenness, and how he never truly recovered from it because he couldn't let go. I don't think it's a coincidence that Harry only manages to face this history after he loses his memory. Some of that past had to be scraped away before he could face the truth and overcome it.

Finally, the reveal of the killer absolutely drives this point home. The whole game follows the traditional detective novel arc, where every detail is a Chekhov's gun leading to one big conclusion. The footprints, the eighth Hardie boy, the drugs, the smoker on the balcony, all of it. And the kicker is that it does all come together - but not in the way you want it to. Because most of the clues are smoke and mirrors. The killer is a sad old man you've never met before hiding on an island, clinging to (you guessed it!) the past. He's drowning in history and can't let go of it. If he feels totally irrelevant to the rest of the game, that's because he is. He doesn't matter! The world let go and moved on without him. The game strongly implies that it was this moving on, and not the old man's politics, that cause him to commit the murder. When he pulled the trigger, he wasn't really thinking about moralintern supremacy or being loyal to the communist revolution. He simply couldn't watch two people steeped in history choose to let it go and find happiness together in moving on. So he killed the merc in a fit of jealousy. Everything else you track down in the game is just people trying to mitigate the consequences of that murder by protecting each other.

History is important, and paying attention to it is how we learn from our mistakes. But what Disco Elysium doesn't want people to do is to get so obsessed with the past that we get stuck in it. You can't live in a bombed-out city or a trashed hotel room forever. You have to let it go.

You may ask, what about the pale, and the end of the world? To me, the game is literally manifesting existential dread as a parallel to the player's own understanding of our world and our limited existence. We know the world will end at some point. Elysium knows it literally - it's being slowly swallowed up bit by bit. We as the players know it metaphorically. We know that we get 100 years, give or take, to live. We know that the planet is slowly being destroyed. In a way, that's our history too. And so the game says to you, it doesn't matter. You should care, but don't get so caught up in caring that you forget to live. Ultimately it doesn't really matter that the world is ending. What matters is something smaller and more personal - that you care about the people around you, that you try to help where you can, and that you dance to anodic dance music while you have the chance.

[skellebonez]

Because I'm sure this is going to be inevitable, how about some angst for the Chaos Trio (Mei, Jin and Yin)? With 61 and 52

Oh I have been looking forward to Chaos Trio angst since you sent me this, anon. Despite how they act in show... I think Jin and Yin are not exactly harmless. Especially if you mess with people they start to consider family.

The Cursed AU and the Chaos Trio in it come from @winterpower98!

Warning: blood and head injuries, enemy demons limbs (not detailed).

That is not a good hiding spot./I am a really bad actor.

Things had been going pretty well, all things considered. Jin and Yin had no problem getting Mei to join them in a little bit of... let's say "competitive insurance" as it were. They had to make sure they were secured in their own little tech related ventures, and after some financial setbacks they needed extra fallback. They’d planned the whole thing out with her help, more than 2 steps and everything! She was good at that.

The problem was that someone got a lucky hit.

They would have made it out with no problems, if they all hadn't decided going on Mei's motorcycle as a group (which, now that Yin thought about it, was probably incredibly dangerous and illegal with 3 of them on it... not that they cared about legality for themselves but somehow when it came to Mei that suddenly made them concerned). But nope. 1 bike. 3 people.

One lucky shot to the rear tire.

The three of them went flying, Mei landing very impressively on her feet whole Jin and Yin bounced on a bush and thanked anyone listening that demons were sturdier than humans. They didn't thank anyone for the pieces of bike that came flying at them all, and they were certain that they heard a piece make contact with something hard, maybe the nearby light pole, but couldn't be sure.

By the time they looked up they just knew they had a group of very angry demons that were pissed they stole and then wiped their code for... something, didn't matter to the twins what it was. They just wanted their competition out of the way. For solely selfish reasons. Nothing else. Not like they wanted it to see what it was and maybe figure out a counter attack so that certain overpowered people with monkey motifs would have an easier time in the future.

Not a chance.

As they fought off the attacking demons they insisted to themselves they didn't care that much.

"That is not a good hiding spot!" Jin yelled across the battlefield as Yin ducked behind crates. "Just chuck it for now and beat em with the blunt end of something else!"

"Just give me 2 seconds, I can fix it!" Yin yelled back, trying his best to reassemble a part of his sword hilt that had broken off.

"Come on, these guys ain't so tough!" Mei laughed out, easily dodging projectiles and backsliding and slicing and dicing as she went. No one was actually killed, but they were lucky because the only reason for that was the young woman wasn't exactly out for blood. They'd be feeling every single hit well into morning though! She was doing much better than the two of them. "Grab a pipe or something! Wish I had MK's magic building power though, I'd rather not be here all-YIN!"

The younger twin looked up from where he had been crouched, eyes widening as he saw the form of a much larger demon hulking over him and ready to batter him with a club.

Things had been going well. All things considered. Then someone got a second lucky hit.

Right as Mei dove in to push the younger silver twin out of the way.

For a second the fighting stopped. There was just the sound of wood hitting hard plastic and fiberglass as the club was sliced in half by her sword and the lopped off half continued it's trajectory and slammed into Mei's head to lead to her crumbling on top of Yin. Jin stood on too of a pile of crates, watching as a line of red seeped through a crack in her visor and stained the white of her suit.

And then his entire vision was red as he lunged at the demon and sliced, sending his arm flying in the opposite direction.

The demon screamed, holding the stump that was his arm from the elbow down, backing away as quickly as he could. "W-what the hell!?"

"Mei," Yin said softly, carefully clicking the emergency release button to make her helmet digitize away. Her eyes were closed, blood dripping from a slice running along her scalp... but as far as he could tell it was from part of the helmet being cracked and cutting her. She was most likely knocked out from the impact, breathing odd but steady in her unconscious state. "You... we're going to get you to the hospital."

His tone hardened as he carefully laid her on the ground, standing tall as he grabbed his broken weapon and a nearby piece of broken steel.

"You. Are going. To pay for that," Yin said coldly, stance no longer lose and half playful as it had been the whole battle. His stood tall, eyes wide and cold and the demons surrounding them felt a chill run down their spines.

Jin stood in front of him, blood from the other demon splattered across his face and chest in a stark contrast to his orange visage.

This... this wasn't the pair of Gold and Silver Demons they had heard about before. They were known for not taking almost anything seriously, making bad deals and pacts and weird blood oaths they wasted on bizarre favors. They were known for being good at tach but not much else, most demons in the area knew vaguely of their history with the Monkey King but even that ended in failure. Their plans were half baked, goofy, and lately they'd heard they'd gotten roped in with the Monkey King's successor and renewed flame of the Six-Eared Macaque.

The two standing before them did not look like the demons they'd heard about.

Mei hadn't wanted to seriously hurt anyone. The demons heard her yelling as much on the battlefield. But now Mei was hurt.

And the twins did.

It happened fast. They wanted to get it over with quickly. Mei had also not wanted to kill anyone at the very least the twins could do was keep up their promise from earlier in the day to avoid that. And they did.

That didn't mean there weren't lost limbs. Hands and arms. A leg or two. More than a couple eyes were lost. Someone lost an ear. Another a tail and horn.

Injuries they could recover from meant as warnings.

All it took was 3 minutes and the entire storage area they crashed in was a mix of grey and brown and red. Demons holding their injuries or running off.

The one who had attacked Yin and hurt Mei stood in awe and fear, looking down at the smaller twins who has decimated an entire group so fast.

"I-how!?" He yelled, backing up slowly. "This isn't possible, you're not this strong!"

"Who told you that?" Yin asked slowly, tilting his head and watching as the demon realized... he'd never heard they couldn't fight. "We don't fight like this because we don't want to. Never meant we can't."

"Why?"

"We are really bad actors," Jin said, wiping the blood off his weapon on an unconscious demon's shirt. "Why bother trying to hold back when we can just hide it by not trying?" He turned to the demon, glowering coldly as he watched his brother pick Mei up carefully. "Tell anyone who asks nothing. We'd like to keep it that way. Unless you want a round two where someone else doesn't hold us back."

And then they were gone.

~

"What in the actual hell happened?" Macaque asked in an even tone. Practiced even. A dangerous even.

"Well-" "You see boss-" "we kinda-" "-there was-"

Jin and Yin tried to think of a reasonable excuse, faltering as everything they thought of sounded worse and worse in their heads.

The two sat in Mei's hospital room, towels draped around their shoulders. They’d been smart enough to stash Mei's bike somewhere safe and wash off in the ocean before coming to the hospital, less covered in demon blood meant less scared humans when they rushed in with Mei in tow, and it was easy to make the nurses believe them.

Simple bike accident, friend hurt, help please.

With Macaque staring them down with his patented death glower, shadows growing and warping around the room in response to him, it was infinitely harder.

Of course Mei's emergency contact was MK. Of course MK could call Macaque before her parents (who were apparently on their way back from some kind of dragon family business trip when they learned). Of course Macaque would show up almost immediately and begin asking questions.

"It was my fault," Mei chimed in, voice slightly off from having awoken with a nasty concussion. "I thought it'd be fun to go on a joy ride late at night, I've done it before without issues! But, uh... I've never had two passengers before... and we hit something. Don't be mad at them?"

Macaque looked like he believed Mei as much as he believed Tang would lose interest in the Monkey King and switch his field of study to obscure methods of basket weaving. Which is to say: he didn’t. But he sighed, giving Mei a small smile as the shadows returned to normal.

"Ok," he said softly, tone much more gentle with the dragon descendant as he reached out to brush loose hair out of her face. "I won't be mad at them. I'll be very disappointed-" his tone hardened for a second at those words as he turned to the twins with a glower again. "-but I won't be mad. Do you need anything?"

"Maybe a candy bar from the vending machines outside?" Mei asked with a smile.

"Sure," Macaque laughed and shook his head, moving to the corner of the room. "I'll be right back."

He sunk into the shadows, a cool trick that the twins would always be impressed by, and they breathed a sigh of relief at knowing they were alone. For now.

"You didn't have to do that," Jin said, frowning at Mei in concern. Maybe it was just because he was now the eldest in the room, but some kind of protective feel pulled at him.

"I know," Mei said with a tired laugh, laying back into her pillow. "But you guys are like... my bros. I gotta stand up for my bros."

And that made both Jin and Yin pause. They looked at each other, eyes widening as they both came to a realization that was probably a very long time coming at that point.

"Yeah..." Yin said, a soft smile forming on his face. "We'd do the same for you... you know, if you didn't take that hit for me you probably would have kicked everyone's ass way better than us! We barely got out by the skin of our teeth!" A full truth and a blatant lie, but he hoped Mei wouldn't pick up on that second part.

"You know it, boi!" She didn't.

It was odd for him in particular. Yin had never really thought of himself as an older brother before.

First time for everything.

[bingoluka]

Need You

Summary: After a case gone wrong, and an injury left unattended, Loki realizes that even Gods need somebody.

Notes: Includes wound depiction and good ole' angst! Also a lil' Wowki but I'm a little bitch baby.

...

When he said it hurt like hell, it hurt like hell.

Each case tended to go wrong in its own unique and terrible way. Whether one of them leaves with a torn shirt and headache, or a deep gash and a broken spirit, one thing was certain; that Mobius and Loki looked out for each other.

Though, Loki would hardly admit he had grown quite fond of the man he called his partner.

Beyond that, he would hardly admit when he really, truly needed his help. He was independent, he knew this, and sometimes asking for the help or pity of another more than once seemed too much mental strain- for both him and whoever had the bad fortune of being alongside him. He hadn't realized the severity of the injury at the time, as a large piece of metal tore away at his abdomen while swimming from an impending tsunami. His magic had already begun to heal him, fixing the initial trauma while the freezing water numbed him.

He has assumed the blood in the water hadn't been his.

Now there he was, wandering aimlessly along the TVA corridors, wishing desperately he could lay his inhibitions to rest all the while sparing his friend the worry. Though, he knew it was unlikely.

The air felt cold against his skin, each step sending a fiery blast of pain across his stomach and up to his back. He grimaced. Pathetic, he thought to himself weakly. Who are you without your power?

"Loki? Loki!"

His voice sounded distant at first, so much he grew concerned he had never heard it at all. A sharp exhale left Loki's mouth as another pang sent shockwaves through his body.

"Oh no- oh no-!"

He stumbled, his legs crossing wildly over each other and he fell into the wall next to him. He began to sink to his knees, the pain becoming overpowering as he fought to stay present. How was it getting worse?

He realized then the wound no longer felt cold. It felt hot, burning as fresh blood spilled from the wound. Loki realized then how little healing had taken place.

"Loki? Hey, hey look at me."

Mobius's voice was soft, calming as it was fearful. Loki wanted to melt into the other, hide from the agony.

"I-I'm sorry," he gasped. "I thought it had healed- I thought- I thought it wasn't this bad-"

"Shh," he whispered, keeping a steady hand on Loki's back. "Loki, can you walk?"

Loki stopped for a moment, his eyes falling to the ground in shame. His breathing was already erratic, jumbling his thoughts and rationality to the point he wasn't sure of anything. He looked up at Mobius now, his eyes scanning his for a sign.

"Come on."

Loki hadn't realized how many people were there with them. Maybe it was adrenaline, or his partial loss of vision from the wound, either way, the voices began to filter in at that moment. Agents and hunters, some workers he had never seen all gathered around them. Mobius had taken one side, while a hunter had him on the other, leading him out of the hall when his body began to go limp. He fought against it, begging himself to stay upright just long enough to prove he was capable. But he wasn't, and they knew this. His knees buckled beneath him, sending both him and the other two staggering forward with an "oh-!"

He could feel them ease him to the ground, pain shooting through him again as he made contact with the floor- causing him to cry out.

"We need to address the wounds here," Mobius said, his voice sharp and heavy. "He's deteriorating, either we let him use magic or we heal him ourselves."

"We can't just let that happen, we have to be outside of the TVA," someone said. "We need to take him somewhere else."

As they spoke, others had taken to pressing against his wound to suppress the bleeding. At first, it was agony. But after a while, he felt a warmth come over his body, a peace he had never felt as the pain melted away. He knew it wasn't supposed to happen, Mobius frantically calling his name being a sure sign, but the relief was something he couldn't deny.

"Loki! Stay with us, come on-"

Before he slipped into sleep, the last thing he saw was Mobius over him, eyes wide and brimming with tears. God, he was tired. But he regretting falling asleep all the same.

...

"If I would've known he was hurt, I wouldn't have taken my eyes off him, what more is there to understand?"

Mobius looked at Renslayer for a moment. Defiance wasn't typically in his nature, though he'll admit his actions spoke otherwise. He was more a calm deviant, not driven by a harsh nature but rather a calm and collected one. She sighed, resting her pointer and thumb on the bridge of her nose.

"I know, I know. But we can't have events like that happen, Mobius. Half our team was distracted, imagine if the variant had struck then?"

"You know I respect you, Renslayer. I really do, I admire you and you know that. But this just seems wrong, he's still a person," Mobius said, frowning. "I know in the grander scheme of things we have a lot to worry about but I saw humanity out there. A collective force of good working toward an unspoken goal."

"Which is?"

"Making sure variant or not, we're taking care of each other."

...

Loki woke on the couch that night.

Wait, couch?

He had expected to still be on the floor. Though he knew Mobius would never, it wasn't out of the picture that another agent might let him stay on the ground. After all, they weren't too fond of him. He went to stretch, the sharp pains from his stomach stopping him in his tracks as he remembered why he was there.

The room was dark, dark enough that beyond his fixed point on the couch, Loki could hardly see a thing. A voice pierced the air, causing him to jump.

"Hey, how are you feeling?"

As Loki realized who it was, he sank back into the couch.

"Fine," he mumbled. Mobius raised an eyebrow.

"Really? You didn't seem too fine back there when you were bleeding out in the halls of the TVA."

"Well, I was," Loki snapped, staring up at the ceiling. He realized how foolish he sounded, but at that point, he didn't care.

"Loki, what happened on that mission?" Mobius asked gently, ignoring the other's outburst. Loki sighed a bit, trying to shift his position.

"I didn't-" he cut himself off with a wince as he moved wrong, the pain burning at first, then turning into a dull ache. Mobius looked down at him worriedly.

"I didn't think it was that bad," he said hurriedly. "I was so cold from the water I didn't feel it. I just assumed the blood hadn't been mine."

It was grim. The idea of the blood in the water was so common for that moment, so anticipated that he had nearly bled out yet speculated it was from somebody else. It brought into focus the severity of even human apocalypses.

"But the blood," Mobius said, frowning. "I should have been able to see it on your shirt when we got back. I didn't see any."

"My magic had healed it for the most part," Loki said. "Just not enough. Once I returned it must've begun to reverse."

As Loki spoke, he noticed Mobius reaching for the hem of his shirt. He quickly blocked his hand with an offended "Hey." Mobius chuckled, shaking his head.

"I'm just trying to see it, come on."

"You don't need to," Loki glared. But of course his efforts didn't deter Mobius, who kept his steady gaze.

"Loki," he said gently. "Come on, let me see."

Loki sighed, wordlessly lifting the hem of his shirt to reveal the array of wounds, accented by the much larger wound that ran across the bottom of his abdomen. He heard Mobius's breath catch.

"Geez..." He murmured, gently brushing a finger across the uninjured skin, which even then was sore.

"Why didn't you say anything?" He asked sadly. Loki cast his eyes to the side.

"An unspoken rule amongst warriors in Asgard was to each their own. It wasn't uncommon to receive wounds in battle, it was seen as noble to keep them to yourself."

"Well, that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard," Mobius said with raised eyebrows. He added a hasty, "No offense."

"No, I agree. They were all morons," he said lightheartedly.

Mobius laughed now, bowing his head as he did so. Loki smiled a bit, still somewhat troubled by the pain but not enough to mention it.

"This is your apartment, then?" He said, trying to initiate conversation so Mobius wouldn't see as he began to sit up.

"Hey, not so fast," Mobius said, placing a hand on the small of Loki's back. "Your powers may be back, but you have a ways to go."

"I'm alright, really."

"I'm beginning to think that phrase holds less ethos each time I hear it."

Loki huffed, barely managing to sit all the way up. He looked around the room as his eyes adjusted. It was a small apartment, most of his items being placed in the living area. Books, dusty empty bottles, wooden furniture accented with water stains and loose change. The carpet was plush, he noticed, like something you would see from the nineties. It was all very cozy and welcoming.

"Sorry about the mess," he said, assuming that's what Loki had been looking at. "I didn't really have time to clean."

"Mess?" Loki frowned. "Mobius, you bring me into your home and you really assume I'm going to judge the state of it?"

"Well, to be fair, I don't get a lot of visitors," he smiled. "Now you need some rest, alright?"

If Loki had just an ounce more strength, he would've shot back some snarky response. This time, however, he found himself too tired to think of one, so instead, he flashed a quick smile.

"I'll be here if you need me."

If you need me.

Loki pondered on the words for a while. Maybe it was the way he said it, or the weariness finally catching up with him. Before he never would have admitted he need someone, much less someone with no relation to him. But in that darkened room he gathered he had a change of heart. As he felt himself slowly fading into the warm embrace of sleep, he felt a hand run across his head, gently brushing his unkempt hair back in a stroking motion. He wanted to open his eyes, to see Mobius, but he stayed still just long enough to hear the words,

"Glad you're alright, Lokes."

Before contently falling asleep.

[amysubmits]

Reading some of your posts, it looks like you started by having specific rules. How did that turn into what seems to be a rule of general obedience, and did you, CD, or both of you want that first (or how did you grow into that)? (I saw a post where he told you to peel potatoes and you were supposed to obey, for example). How often does he tell you to do something, is it lots of little things every day or just if he wants something?

Hello!

Sorry I'm late to reply to this, my life has been crazy.

This is a good question, but one I have somewhat of a messy answer to.

When we started power exchange, it was without having a clue what D/s was - we only knew of domestic discipline (DD). What we knew about DD was rather limited too, really - as we didn't know of any active DD communities, we just found some dead forums that we browsed.

So, we created some rules, but we also had this general understanding that DD usually isn't just rules, it's usually a relationship style where there is a head of household who generally 'wears the pants'. We didn't really know how to create that part.

If I were to advise someone who was new to all of this, I'd recommend to them that they talk about everything in great detail.

We didn't really do that, though. We kind of went into it with a couple of specific rules, and then this general idea that we wanted to embrace him being 'in charge'. While not exactly ideal, it worked out and was safe enough because it was less 'official' than the rules were.

What I mean by that is...he would ask me to do things like cook a certain meal, but I wasn't obligated to obey. So if he tried to take charge in an area that I wasn't comfortable with, I could just say so. Using the dinner example, I could say "Oh, I had taken chicken out this morning thinking we'd have X." or whatever.

I guess over time, with experiences like that - of him sort of attempting to lead and seeing how I reacted in different areas, we both gained an understanding of the areas that we were both comfortable with him having control. It started to feel 'wrong' or 'bad' if I neglected to obey in a area where we both knew I was comfortable with him taking control. A lot of it wound up being domestic things.

At some point (unfortunately I really can't recall when at all!) we specifically discussed and agreed to general obedience being a rule. However, it remained a rather 'gray' rule, not real black and white. Our old habit of me being able to express that his request didn't work for me, and why, still stood. So perhaps rather than saying the rule was that I needed to obey, it could be more accurate to say that I wasn't allowed to deliberately disobey, and I was always able to refuse to obey if it involved communicating a limit/boundary. When I've been sassy/bratty about being less-than-obedient, it's always been significantly different in tone than when I'm expressing a concern or problem...so despite this being a 'gray' rule, it's not usually confusing at all to determine if my disobedience is sass/disrespect or if it's me communicating a problem with an instruction.

I guess my larger point was, this was never a strict 'rule' and maybe it is a bit silly to even call it a rule because of the way we handled it...but it was as close to a rule as we personally feel we could get with something like general obedience. We aren't fans of TPE or unquestioning obedience, etc.

To the last part of your question, how often does he ask me to do things and is it daily or just when he wants something....

I'd say for the most part, obedience is when he specifically wants something. Most often it's things like asking me to start dinner, or to bring him a drink, to help him find something, or sex/play related instructions, etc.

When we have few rules, we rely more on instructions and obedience as he'll give me tasks/chores he wants me to do when he wants me to do them rather than having them on a set schedule. So he'll ask me to clean something or organize something, etc in the moment rather than it being on a set schedule.

But it all also depends on what we have going on. If he's assembling furniture he might ask me to do a lot of little things to assist him, for example. I guess my larger point is, it all ebbs and flows depending on our circumstances. Some days he asks very little of me, other days he asks a lot.

I hope this all makes sense somewhat. Obedience is definitely an area where things are less black and white for us, than other areas of our dynamic. So it's a bit hard to summarize but I hope I did okay.

[queenofnohr]

Twisted Wonderland: Malleus Scary Outfit (SR) - Voice Lines + Personal Story

Voice Lines

Summoning Line: Halloween is a festival that can be enjoyed by those of all races and species, whether living or dead. You, too, should enjoy it to your heart’s content. Groovy: I blow a mere puff of flame and everyone trembles in fear. Watch. Set Home: This costume is not of a dragon. It is a Long. Home Idle 1: The other Diasomnia students seemed to like the costume. They all cheered in happiness. It was worth troubling myself over. Home Idle 2: Lilia is familiar with how Halloween is celebrated in many different countries. Long ago, rather than singing a lullaby, he would tuck me in with stories of such traditions. Home Idle 3: I saw two pumpkin knights on campus. The smaller one was floating, so I assume they were the Shroud brothers. Home Login: I’ve experienced Halloween many a time, but it seems this year is going to be more boisterous than usual. Home Idle Groovy: Trick or treat. How was that? If you don’t give me sweets, I’ll play a trick on you. Whatever will you do? Home Tap 1: The red Long, that hails from the Far East and serves as inspiration for our costumes, can play folk instruments. Hmmm…… they just get more and more interesting. Home Tap 2: I saw al-Asim practicing howling like a wolf. It lacked power, but was charming nonetheless. Fufu. Home Tap 3: Halloween in the Valley of Thorns is exceptionally magnificent. It’s a bit different than how other countries celebrate, but…… I do hope you’ll come to see it someday. It’s very beautiful. Home Tap 4: Even if you hear a strange noise, it would be jumping to conclusions to assume it was the work of a ghost. Fae love mischief year-round, after all. Home Tap 5: My tail? It isn’t part of the costume, it’s real. Even if it interests you, don’t get too close. If you bump into it carelessly, I’ll send you flying. Home Tap Groovy: I’ll bestow flame appropriate of a Long unto those that would try to harm your dormitory. I happen to be fond of that place.

Personal Story

That Certainly is……Interesting : Chapter 1

-Diasomnia Dorm - Lounge-

Lilia: ……So you were here, Malleus. I was looking for you. Malleus: Lilia, what is it? Lilia: Actually, I have something to ask of you. Will you choose Diasomnia’s costume for this year? Malleus: Me? Why? You’ve chosen it for the past two years, Lilia. Lilia: I’m especially busy this year with Organization Committee work. I can’t even turn up for club activities. Malleus: But I don’t know what to do. I think there are others more suitable than me…… Lilia: No, it must be you. Deciding on a costume means deciding on Diasomnia’s theme for this year. It’s an important decision that affects the dignity of our dorm……. Because of that, if not me, then our Dorm Leader must decide. Malleus: Is that truly your reason for turning over the costume selection to me, even though you’re the one who looks forward to Halloween the most every year? Lilia: Kufufu…… No, there’s another reason. It’s boring if I choose the costumes every year. But if you, the next king of the Valley of Thorns, chooses all our students will take a keen interest in it. Of course that includes me as well. So what do you say? Will you do it? Malleus: ......Okay. If you want me to, I’ll choose. Each dorm dresses in ghost costumes with various monster motifs. I’ll go to the library to search for any books that might be useful.

-Library-

Malleus: ……Now, just what kind of costume should it be? The chosen motif must embody Diasomnia. Something with a noble existence would be preferable...... If I suggest a dragon, Lilia will complain and say I should think harder about it. It should be a creature that even I, myself, have never seen. If so, we’d be able to set ourselves apart from the other dorms. If I research local legends, they may contain information on monsters even I don’t know about. However, searching for such books would be incredibly difficult. I’ve heard that you can use the computers in the library to search for the book you need...... …….No, those machines work in complicated and mysterious ways. I’ll be upfront and have a look around the bookshelves directly.

Some time passes……

Malleus: ......98...... 99...... And that makes 100 books. There can’t be 100 books related to local legends in this library….... Ortho: Wow~! That’s a huge amount of books! Malleus: You are…… the small Shroud. Ortho: Oh! Malleus Draconia! What are you doing with such a huge pile of books around you? Malleus: It falls to me to decide this year’s Halloween costume. I was gathering reference material, but before I realized it I was surrounded by this many books. Ortho: Hmmmm. Maybe I can help you look? I’m able to access a much larger database than just the books in the library. Also, if you use the Olympus search engine, you can perform a semantic search that takes into consideration the user’s purpose and intentions. How does that sound? Malleus: In brief………… what does all of that mean? Ortho: Basically, it will identify what you, Malleus Draconia, wants to find out. Malleus: Hmmm…… I understand. Ortho: Activating voice recognition functionality. Begin semantic search. Malleus: ............ Ortho: ......U- Um? Malleus: What is it? Ortho: Errr…… Even if it’s fragmentary, could you tell me what you want to search for? Malleus: Me? Ortho: Of course. Malleus: Then……What I’m searching for is information on monsters to use as motifs in Halloween costumes…… Ortho: Searching…… Malleus: Well? Ortho: Can you tell me again without being so concerned with your wording? Malleus: ……Understood. What I want is information on a noble creature that suits Diasomnia.………… Ortho: Search completed. I found something, Malleus Draconia. I’ll project it onto the wall right away! Malleus: Hou. That certainly is……interesting.

That Certainly is...... Interesting : Chapter 2

-Library-

Ortho: Is this the monster you were searching for, Malleus Draconia? Malleus: Hmmm…… So this is the king who presides over the demons of Bald Mountain. Ortho: He has a giant jet-black body and huge wings. And besides that, his pointed gaze…… is really cool! There shouldn’t be any costumes with this motif in the history of Night Raven College. Malleus: He certainly does have a noble existence…… But if the body is all black, it won’t stand out. Lilia will probably complain that it’s too plain. Ortho: Refining search…… Search completed. Take a look at this. It’s a headless knight, dashing through the valley at night. He’s swinging his sword while his horse sprints forth! His red cloak is also cool, isn’t it? Malleus: ......No, we can’t. Ortho: Huh! Why not? Malleus: The costume becomes too complicated when it comes to replicating its headlessness. Aside from that, it would be difficult to obtain horses for all our students. Ortho: I see…… Taking your previous comments into account, the next image is of…… this! Malleus: ……Hm? It’s quite small, but the red one…… is it a dragon? Ortho: Huh? You’ve already seen dragons before, so they should’ve been omitted from the search…… Oh! This isn’t a dragon. It’s a Long. Malleus: A Long…… It seems to be a creature that inhabits the Far East, which humans sanctify. Embodying both strength elegance...... it is a noble existence, similar to a dragon…… Any more than anything, it’s a creature I have never seen before…… Alright, it’s decided. Diasomnia’s costume will be a Long. I need detailed information about the Long in order to create a costume for my dorm. May I request that? Ortho: Yes! Leave it to me!

-Ramshackle Dorm-

Malleus: ……I’ve kept you waiting. This is the Halloween costume Diasomnia students will dress up in this year. Sebek: Y…… Young Master! What a dignified figure you cut! Silver: It suits you well. Malleus: What do you think, Lilia? I want to hear your opinion. Lilia: Even though it’s a sophisticated design, it’s also very colorful…… I like it! It seems like I was correct in having you decide on what our costumes should be, Malleus. There’s no way I would’ve thought of using a dragon from the Far East as a motif…… Malleus: It’s not a dragon. From the presence or lack thereof of wings or beards, shape of the horns, and abilities, despite their similarities, dragons and Long are very different creatures. Lilia: Wah ha ha! It’s certainly as you say. You did a lot of research in a short amount of time. You always were prone to throwing yourself wholeheartedly into things. Malleus: It’s thanks to the small Shroud. He did a good job. The method he used…… I didn’t understand it at all. Lilia: Well, the costumes are perfect. Let’s distribute them to the students immediately. Malleus: Let’s. This Halloween, we’ll provide more horror than usual.

The day of Halloween—

Malleus: Trick or treat......! Fufu…… We shall burn the majestic image of the Long into your memory……!

-

*The references were pretty obvious, I think, but just in case! The first thing Ortho suggests to Malleus is Chernabog from Disney’s Fantasia. The second is the Headless Horseman from Sleepy Hollow. Which leads me to believe...... especially from Malleus’s “small” comment, that the red-scaled Long in question is Mushu, from Mulan.

[ruby-whistler]

Srry but i noticed in one of ur dream posts u Referred to tommy's cat as hope. I must correct u, that cat was born pussbou and died pussboi. /lh Also tommy killing that cat was nothing compared to dream killing mushroom henry in exile btw just wanna say Also for ur posts about dreams trauma or wilbur manipulating him can u provide links to vods or other proof? Srry if i seem rude i mean that in a "genuinely curious way"

Aaa sorry if my ask came off as rude im just genuinely curious :(((

hi! dw, you don't seem rude at all, and i'm extremely happy someone with a different perspective has found my blog! i really appreciate that sort of attitude and am happy to answer :]

/dsmp /rp

the cat was called pussboy by tommy, but dream only called it "the cat" and then said that "it was hope", which is why it sort of became a symbol (his hope is dead, basically) - that's why i kind of made its name capitalized, because it was more of a metaphor than anything.

most c!dream fans call the cat hope because it's just really nice and really symbolic, and also really sad when you think about it. that's why the name was used in the essay, just to clear up the confusion!

tommy killing that cat was nothing compared to dream killing mushroom henry in exile

i don't really think so? mooshroom henry was entertainment more than anything, and even if it was bad, when watching the stream i don't remember seeing him mourn that much - on the other hand, dream was very quickly and very obviously attached to the cat, with it being his only companion in months of isolation, along with the hope that even when tommy left it would keep him company.

keep in mind c!dream has been deprived of stimuli and human contact for so long it's officially classified as psychological torture at that point.

i don't mean to compare trauma or even compare deaths - because honestly, what c!dream and c!tommy have gone through individually is incomparable and i think neither should be diminished in favor of the other since they're both terrible situations.

that's why i disagree that it "was nothing compared to" - it had an obvious effect on c!dream, and was still c!tommy killing an animal specifically to hurt him, no matter what reasons he had.

when i'm talking about effects people's actions have had on c!dream, i'm not talking about those people. i'm talking about him. :) /lh

as for the trauma, a lot of people agree that a lot of the things he says or does are trauma responses, and hence it's very possible that he's had trauma before he went into prison!

this includes being repeatedly called a tyrant via propaganda by about half of your friends who decided to betray you, trying to keep peace and being pushed deeper into villainy instead, repeatedly being put in between a rock and a hard place in order to make sure the people you care about don't start killing each other, then being betrayed by your closest friends after merely trying to keep peace (sapnap & george) and just in general having no control over your life or image and grasping at straws to gain it back.

i know a lot of people with trauma who heavily relate to certain trauma responses, which aren't always just shaky breaths and flashbacks, but trauma often also manifests itself in extremely ugly and destructive ways, both inwardly and outwardly.

trying to control the people around you is also very often a response to going through trauma, as well as emotional repression which is... rather evident on c!dream during season two. it only seems to get worse with repeated abandonment.

in the end, during the vault scene, the way he acts really just isn't at all the way a healthy person would act, and a lot of his really bad mindsets come from the way he was taught by the world around him.

the character is very reserved however, and since we don't have his pov we can't really say for certain - a lot of people claim it in good faith because they have a lot of evidence for it, and i think they're certainly valid in that.

that is just before the prison, however. from what happened during the prison arc? there is no denying he's traumatized at this point.

he's been emotionally and physically abused by c!sam since the very beginning of being imprisoned, and being in solitary confinement for over two weeks is generally considered psychological (and maybe also physical?) torture. that alone shows up in a lot of symptoms of his mental deterioration while in pandora's during people's visits, and quackity's "sessions" just absolutely drove the point home.

what he's gone through during this arc is absolutely incomparable to anything others charactes have faced before, and it's just plain suffering being endured by someone who is, despite everything, still a human being.

as for the wilbur manipulation thing!! it's talking about the whole vassal scene (though even beforehand a lot of their interactions are pretty iffy), and here's a post about that :]

I also have a small question about the analysis u last reblogged cus it says "why dream needed lmanburg gone rightfully" and like. The house analogy is poor because for one cus the land is infinite. And 2 cus punz's yard was literally larger then lmanburg. And also stuff about dream being a mediator? Can u provide examples?

i wouldn't say it was poor. dream's said a lot of times that he didn't care in the slightest about the land - a lot of his problems with l'manberg arose with the fact that wilbur basically built it on lies and tried to disallow half of the server to come there. c!dream was mad about the division and the fact that wilbur wanted "freedom" to have authority in his lands - over others, as can be seen in this post also.

the table analogy was fitting not because dream was some overlord, but because these were literally friends he invited to hang out and live in a place he wanted to call home. claiming a part of it for yourself and saying people of a certain nationality can't come in is directly opposing those goals.

in the early days of the smp, dream's always been a mediator between his friends - sapnap and george, who would often get into fights and go around killing each other! he would always do his best to stop the conflict, which continued after tommy joined when he took him to court and then later tried to mediate conflicts he was a part of, which resulted in tommy killing him unprovoked, stealing his gear, and starting the disc wars when dream was trying to get his stuff back. later, during pogtopia, he is also most concerned with peace over everything, and this seems to continue indefinitely after.

Today i was thinking about how messed up the final control room was. Like. Dream arranged the betrayal and punz and sapnap killed tommy and tubbo who like. Were literal children and their pals (because the author, wilbur soot, is dead/j but srsly if u take the streamers words tommy said he was 9 during the revolution sooo)

Sorry im gonna ramble about how dumb canon ages are for a second cus like. Streamers can say the characters are one way or another (wilbur saying he is mentally 30-something, etc.) But in the end the characters act like they(or at least their streaming personas) do.

i... honestly don't find it that bad? they were in a war, and the final control room was basically just supposed to end it quicker. the l'manbergians made it clear they were going to fight to the death, so they really left c!dream no other choice. and it's not like he didn't give them chances to give up.

also yeah the 9 year old thing was retconned, because in that case c!dream would've been 14 and i don't think that's true.

c!tommy and c!dream were both young and once again, in a war. the final control room was an attempt to assure victory, which both sides would've taken if possible, but only c!dream saw he had the option.

i do agree the whole child soldier thing was bad but... complain about that to c!wilbur, methinks. he talked naive kids into fighting for his personal power. however, the age argument isn't really valid either way. they had enough agency to sign up for it, and whether or not c!wilbur pushing the intense nationalism onto them had something to do with that is another debate entirely.

Bacl to final control room cus like??? Also fun fact punz took 2 of wilbur's canon lives. And like that probably is what started wilbur's paranoia which later lead to his spiral and i. Many thoughts full of lmanburg today.

i'm pretty sure cc!wilbur said what lead to c!wilbur's spiral was a "dark, twister view of possessions" and "disregard for his fellow citizen whom he claimed to love so much", but i really wouldn't say it was the control room; if anything the sudden loss of power after the elections seems to me like the trigger for his spiral.

I watched the exile arc live and. I feel dirty almost for feeling little to no sympathy for c!dream (srry ive been forgetting to add that aa) because of his actions toward c!tommy and like. The whole probation was so humiliating and unfair and c!dream was planning to frame him for the crimes he and puffy did under the the guise of "pranks" and c!quackity was planning to seize the vice president role.

i mean... to be fair, if you didn't watch the prison arc much yet or only watch tommy's perspective i understand not feeling that sympathetic - however, i encourage you to maybe watch a few prison visits, since they could help you see the whole picture better!

i also watched it live, and i also thought it was terrible, but i share very much the same sentiment for the prison arc because. absolutely no one should have to go through either of those things, you know?

i don't think probation was that humiliating? he was just. being asked to not start conflict with the other factions for two weeks. of course, what happened as a result is in no way justified, but i don't think probation itself would've been bad at all. either way yeah the framing and c!quackity's behaviour was. very yikes, i agree.

Also c!tommy antis are dumb because they say "he deserved exile angry emoji" i dont see u saying that about ranboo. Just say you hate cc!tommy and go. Also people say c!tommy was just as toxic to c!dream and i??? No. One is the victim and one is the abuser and like. :/// man. This part is rambly srry

i wouldn't say they hate cc!tommy? cc!tommy has a persona who people think is annoying at first ( but then they subscribe because he is super entertaining big man! ) but a lot of c!tommy's actions are straight up toxic to certain characters, such as c!funndy and c!jack. he has a very dismissive attitude towards others and their trauma and it does affect the people around them very negatively.

examples; his repeated bullying and behavior towards fundy:

Tommy: “Fundy, I’m just here to kinda let you know that I – if you weren’t Wilbur’s son, you would be out of L’manburg, alright? Just remember – you need to keep that relationship with your father. I saw how asshole-y and bratty you were acting in the courtroom the other night. You need to pull your shit together young man.”

......

Fundy: “I’m wearing glasses…are you making fun of my eyesight?!”

Tommy: “Yes.”

Sapnap: “Your father would be very disappointed.”

Fundy: “Wh – disappointed for wearing glasses?!”

Tommy: “You got glasses, like what are you wearing…”

Fundy: “What do you mean?”

Tommy: “Sapnap, Sapnap, over here. Fundy, Fundy, Fundy, I’m really sorry to say this – I’m just here to publicly denounce you.”

Fundy: “…What?”

( credit for transcript: @/findingjoynweirdstuff )

he's also responsible for a big chunk of c!jack's trauma, both with actions and words, and that's why i think certain people might dislike the character, and i don't think that's wrong of them. anyone can dislike any character they want if they don't attack people for liking them, in my opinion.

also c!tommy was most definitely toxic against c!dream in the cell. it's of course understandable but that doesn't change the fact he was constantly hitting and insulting him (without dream doing anything back for a long while until he snapped) which is toxic behaviour.

i wouldn't say he was "just as" though, so i agree with you on that. they're different and they behave differently.

i made a dream blob keychain today. Is it possible to send images if u wanna see? Idk cus i havent used tumblr before. I think that's all for now. Thx for letting me talk :D peepoShy -curious anon (but fr a connoreatspants c!dream redemption arc would be cool)

yooo that's cool! i don't really,,, know if it's possible to send images? try it out and if it isn't i'll try find a way to turn it on.

also, no problem! just please remember this is a c!dream sympathetic blog, and me as well as my followers are uhh,, oftentimes emotionally attached / personally relate to the character, so if you could avoid sending hate on the character (not that you have or that i expect you to, just a friendly reminder) in the asks that would be great! we already see a lot of it unwillingly so, i'd rather not see more, but as long as the discussion is civil i'm absolutely ok with you asking more and with me answering more questions if you'd want to! :)

if anyone else would like to reblog this and add some things i might've missed with my answers, feel free to, just go easy on her (she uses she/her pronouns!) and keep it factual.

i hope u had a good or at least ok time at school today :D

thanks! i gtg now because exam tomorrow but i'm going to try write the redemption essay tomorrow as well because ohhh boy i have a lot of ideas about what all i could write around the concept.

also sorry this was long, i can't keep my tongue on the leash :[

[tanoraqui]

okay I have to do this today because even I wouldn’t do it after the godforsaken finale airs, and it’s basically my specialty and I did spend like an hour thinking about it last night while washing dishes. Definitely partly inspired by @words-writ-in-starlight​‘s insightful post on everything Supernatural did wrong, and apologies in advance to all the characters for dragging them into anything related to Christian mythology:

Wei Wuxian’s parents die in a house fire when he’s 6(? I refuse to look anything up) months old

Jiangs are a hunter family I guess? That whole disaster of a family dynamic, except WWX dips out at some point to be idk an environmental activist bc at the time, that seems like the larger threat to the whole world. “Mom and Dad went on a hunting trip and they haven’t come back”, “bitch” “jerk”, 2 brothers in a beat-up old car, you know the drill

Jins are also an old hunting family, but more Men of Letters energy - they have a fancy bunker and do research and avoid getting their actual hands dirty. Jiang Yanli ducked out of the active hunting life a few years ago to be happily married to her peacock and settled down with a baby and she’s fine. We’re not going to bother Yanli. She’s safe and happy and doesn’t need to involved in any of this

so, WWX is the demon blood child developing exciting new abilities like telekinesis, mind control, exorcising demons by sheer force of will...etc, and Jiang Cheng is the Righteous Man. Lucifer, Michael, etc.

s1-3 probably proceeds more or less as spn canon...which I more or less remember...by the time they find their parents at the end of s1, Jiang Fengmian is...ugh, we probably shouldn’t kill him offscreen, I mean, we should probably meet him before he dies. I guess. Madam Yu lasts longer because I’m way more interested in her. But we do know that both Jiang parents are totally inclined to fling the boys into a metaphorical or literal escape boat and go hold the line for as long as possible, so...that’s spn energy...

Xue Yang is the one who’s like “fuck yeah, demon powers” and opens the gates of Hell, because I want him to have nice* things

*nice for Xue Yang

from characterization rather than memory, I’m 90% sure that Dean tried to hide his crossroads deal from Sam, but Jiang Cheng does it...better. I think it does come out, though. Right before the hellhounds do.

here’s where it starts to go farther off from spn canon. Jiang Cheng crawls his way out of the grave, gets stalked by a menacing presence that explodes windows for an episode, incidentally can’t find WWX...*Lan Wangji voice* “I’m the one who gripped you tight and raised you from Perdition” (a baller line then and a baller line now)...and then the next episode starts with them all awkwardly standing around, and JC is like, “ok well let’s go find my brother then”, and you think there’s going to be an mdzs-riffing JC+LWJ Roadtrip To Find WWX...and they’re immediately attacked by like a dozen demons

in fact, the first time we see WWX in s4 is here, wherein he goes toe to toe with an angel and...holds his own. that’s new and terrifying! also is leading a squad of demons??

because here’s the thing: for the last 3(?) months, there’s been war in hell

because unlike Some People Mooses, upon finding out that his brother’s soul was legally nearly-owned by a crossroads demon, heir-apparent-to-Satan!WWX went, “actually fuck that” and kicked open the door of Hell (metaphorically, not loosing any demons this time) and was like, “who do I have to beat the shit out of to get a specific crossroads contract around here”

this did not work, obv. He didn’t know until it was too late, Lilith had already snapped up the contract, etc. etc.

obviously he also tried to offer himself instead, and got rejected for some reason

Since Jiang Cheng died, however, there’s been a war for control of Hell. Leading one side, Lilith, the Original Babe, who wants to break all 666(?) seals keeping Lucifer bound and in the meantime, break the Righteous Man so Heaven won’t even have Michael’s destined host ready for the Final Battle. Leading the other side, Wei Wuxian, infamous upstart, who wants to rescue the Righteous Man and restore him to life, tear Lilith’s guts out through her nose, and also stop her from doing the Lucifer thing because Wen Qing explained that yes, that’s a Thing, and it’s Bad.

Wen Qing! I’ve decided to combine Bela and Ruby’s roles and let WQ be both the cool badass example of how demon deals can go Bad and the demon deliberately leading our heroes astray for most of s3-4. Wen Qing is a very new demon; she used to be some sort of herbalist/witch but then she sold her soul in a crossroads deal to cure her brother of some lingering illness. 10 years of happiness and then boom, hellhounds. WQ is so obviously competent, though, that they (Lilith, I guess?) immediately offers her a job, with the promise threat that gee, that’s a nice brother you’ve got there, even with his Designated Chronic Health Condition getting all relapse-y. It’d be such a shame if something were to...happen to him...

we find this out at some point in last s3 I guess? some Monster of the Week case involves WN as a witness or something, or possible next victim, and WQ shows up to be A Normal Amount Of Invested In This, while desperately trying to avoid actually interacting with her brother (who thinks she’s dead). YES, the truth comes out; YES there’s a tearful reunion

now in s4, Wen Ning is fine actually, health-wise, bc he maybe made a crossroads deal with Wei Wuxian personally, and Wen Qing may or may not have admitted that she’s supposed to be working for Lilith to get WWX ready to host Lucifer? Or potentially that comes out later, idk. Either way, she’s 100% his top lieutenant in this exciting Hell War they’re waging

[insert whatever the hell (ha) happened plot-wise in s4 of supernatural]

we obviously mix up the relationships, too, bc it’s like, *LWJ internal monologue* I’m too young to remember my brother Lucifer as he was before he Fell, but surely Wei Wuxian is his Heir and Destined Vessel in truth, for he is Charismatic and Charming and Makes Me Feel Things, with his Clearly Feigned Righteous Drive and Compassion for All God’s Creatures and - why does heat keep pooling in the lower abdomen of my vessel when I look at his lips, which I am definitely doing a Normal and Not-Weird Amount - I’m just keeping an eye out for the famed Silver Tongue, and not in any way wondering how it would feel in my own mouth -

it’s actually DEFINITELY plausible for Lucifer to still be released even if our designated Heir Apparent is using his demon powers to his full potential and no one’s lying to each other about their motives. You just need to let Lilith be more scary too, and especially bc by “no one” I mostly mean Wen Qing; the angels are still totally hiding the fact that they, too, want to jumpstart the shit out of this apocalypse.  LWJ decides at the last minute that that’s a bad idea actually, gets himself discorporated to send JC to intercept WWX because he accidentally releases Lucifer, etc. etc. Oh yeah, the boys were def fighting before this, bc JC has actually fairly reasonable concerns about the sort of things WWX is getting up to in his quest to become King of Hell...

SO

...I neither know nor care what happens in s5

it does end with both Lucifer and Michael locked in the cage probably, bc I rather liked that solution. Fuck both of ‘em, basically.

I was toying with the idea that WWX also found Madam Yu in whatever hellish torment she was suffering after making a deal so her idiot son(s) would survive, and she was leading forces for him in the war against Lilith as well. If she came back to life somehow, body and all, it’d probably be compelling if she offered her own body to Michael - bc it’s her lineage! - and we’re all led to believe that she’s, uh, being a bitch and actually wants to risk destroying the world in order to destroy all demons...but then she seizes back control and flings herself/Michael and Lucifer into the Pit, because she’s just That Hardcore?

which means we’d actually have had her around and having characterization for most of s4-5, too, which would be fun

More importantly, it ends with newly crowned King of Hell Wei Wuxian appointing Wen Qing as Queen-Regent and ditching to go on an indefinite honeymoon with his new angel boyfriend (they’re going to fuck for like three weeks straight, then roll up their sleeves and go conquer Heaven in the name of free will), and Jiang Cheng gets to live out his hitherto-unknown-to-himself life’s ambition to be the sugar baby of the Queen of Hell. It’s very Hades/Persephone, except he goes back down to the underworld at least once a month. He gets his own demon squad whom he trains up in all the hunting techniques and it’s gr9. Wen Qing is reforming the crossroads deal process to make it more fair to the humans.

the end

Addenda:

it should go without saying but Jiang Yanli is definitely a recurring character, like, at least once a season there’s a filler episode where they go to Jiang Yanli’s for dinner and have to get along as a family, and also do the much easier job of defeating some sort of terrible demon that gets loose in the bunker and turns the evening into a horror movie. She’s their main research/emotional check-in person, a la Bobby, more often appearing in later seasons when there’s, uhhh, more to emotionally check in about.

Jin Zixuan is actually a perfectly competent hunter; he’s just a priss and we don’t Like him

we like Mianmian, though. Oh, I guess the official Hunter’s Guild or w/e tries to declare WWX a public enemy on account of the whole “King of Hell” thing and she’s like “actually what if you’re morons and assholes?” and joins hte team in s4 or 5? Yeah.

idk how the 3zun disaster happens in this ‘verse but I do encourage it to be happening in slow motion as a recurring subplot for several seasons. NMJ is a hunter, LXC is obv an angel, and JGY is...I wanna say one of the more human monsters, like a vampire? Or, you know, something that could be born from JGS sleeping with someone/something he shouldn’t have

[boldlyanxious]

None the Wiser 5

Masterlist

All fic masterlist

Bio-dad Bruce -meeting there Justice League

Marinette and Bruce walked around for a bit but they ended up at a different park. During the walk they kept the conversation very light. He made a phone call when they sat down to have food delivered after checking her preferences. She didn't even know that places would deliver to a park but she still was under the impression based on everything she knew about him that money wasn't a concern for him. He did seem to put her comfort as to priority, including eating outdoors where she wouldn't feel trapped by the location or too near her house where they might be seen and people wanting an explanation.

"From what I gather, Damian made an attempt to see you earlier and hopefully apologized." Bruce said.

"He came by my lycée as I was heading to lunch. He's a real sweet heart."

"Damian? Never thought I'd hear him described like that."

"Yeah. Like those candies for Valentine's day. You get really excited that you got candy but when you bite into it you realize it's chalk."

Bruce probably shouldn't have chosen that moment to be taking a drink. As she finished her statement he let out a laugh when he was attempting to swallow and it took a moment for him to regain his composure and stop coughing. He spoke once he was able to.

"Damian came to me 7 years ago. He was raised much differently than many. He was not taught to consider the feelings of others unless it presented him with an advantage."

"He told me he was there to apologize."

"That's great!"

"That was his apology. He didn't have anything else to add."

"Okay, less great." Bruce said. "Perhaps we should focus on something else. You looked very excited earlier. Did you get news? Can you tell me?"

Marinette's eyes lit up when she spoke, "I did. I entered a competition a few weeks ago. I just heard back that I'm a finalist."

That's amazing. Was it a fashion competition?"

"Yeah. Put on by some of the fashion schools in the city and open to lycée students in Paris and the surrounding areas. They are having a fashion show as part of the competition."

"Is it open to the public? I would like to be there."

Her pause before she answered hung in the air. But after considering she gave him the information about the fashion show. He told her he wasn't planning on connecting her to him unless that was something she was ready for. But even then, he very hesitantly asked if he could take a picture with her before they headed in their separate ways. They got together close as he took a selfie of them that he promised wouldn't go beyond his immediate family.

---

Marinette was floating in a cloud when she headed into school. She had kept her results secret but told Alya she had news. She arrived very early for class but Alya was already there waiting. Marinette was actually surprised by how many people were there more than 20 minutes before classes started, maybe that is why she always seemed to be behind in the gossip. She usually only showed up soon enough to get to her locker and say hi to a couple people as she headed to class.

As Marinette was rushing over to the group she did a quick twirl to show how elated she was. Luckily she didn't fall over after but the delay made Alya impatient to know her big news, even if she suspected the topic. Marinette held up her envelope but it wasn't immediately recognizable as from the fashion competition because it was a much fancier envelope.

"What is it? Are those your results? Lila's didn't look like that. She showed me hers yesterday. I didn't even know she entered."

"This is it." Marinette said. "I'm a finalist. It says there were over 500 submissions and they chose 50 finalists that have a chance at the summer program."

"That is great. Lila's said she was chosen but they might have to do it remotely for her since she is traveling over the summer. I hope you are chosen for it too."

"They didn't mention that in my letter. They showed the category breakdown for the presentations. Do you know what time she is presenting hers on the runway?"

"It didn't list a time. I kinda thought that the fashion show was for the people who didn't get into the program."

"It says in my letter they will announce at the end of the show. It makes it sound like it should be the 12 who were accepted being announced at midnight."

They walked on to class but Marinette wondered how Lila was going to fake the rest of the winning entry. She probably didn't even enter or got in the lowest group. Marinette had long since given up questioning anything Lila said. She still thought Adrien was wrong about the approach that he was taught to use with the press but being in a larger school with a larger variety of students took the pressure off and Marinette was able to deal with her easier or less often anyway.

---

Ladybug and Chat Not met at the Eiffel Tower, but this wasn't a typical meeting. They had heard from the Justice League again and they wanted to make adjustments to their previous arrangement. Their first contact had been after they had been using their miraculi for a few months. They were given a way to get ahold of one of the members in Paris but they were staying out of it unless requested since they were using the same variety of magic.

They traveled together across the rooftops so they would arrive together as partners. This meeting was not with a low level go between like they met before. They brought in Batman and Wonder Woman. Whatever they had said before about trusting Ladybug and Chat Noir to handle the situation had changed drastically. They split up as they arrived and did a sweep of the rooftops. Ladybug waved to the lookout across from her who gave a little wave back. Chat Noir blew a kiss to another but the recipient was not amused.

They landed on the ground near to an exit by foot and way to get to a roof top easily. They did not expect the Justice League to be a danger to them but being prepared and having a plan was their only safe play. The Justice League group had 4 teens introduced and Ladybug and Chat Noir introduced themselves.

Wonder Woman took charge of the meeting explaining that while they had initially planned to leave them as they were, news had reached them that their mentor, the Guardian, was no longer around and many of their allies had been publicly revealed.

They talked for a time recommending that the 4 younger members, Kid Flash, Robin, Wonder Girl and Superboy, join them to assist for the time being and that they would reassess later. The Miraculous users were grateful for the help, Ladybug especially had felt overwhelmed by the addition of the guardianship. They did draw the line at revealing themselves as requested.

"I believe you when you say you are here to help, but secrecy has been out to priority aside from recovering the misused miraculi." Ladybug said.

"We think there could be many benefits to knowing more about each other than the mask you wear." Batman said.

"I'm gonna have to follow her lead on this one. I would love to know who she is but you guys are all new and we know nothing about you." Chat Noir weighed in.

"You do not even know who your partner is?" asked Wonder Girl.

"That seems excessively unwise," Robin said.

"I have considered changing that since taking on the guardianship. I think many things could have been done differently." Ladybug said.

"You question your mentor?" Wonder Woman said.

"It's hard to determine whether changes would have been an improvement. But for now we will consider revealing ourselves once we know you better. The magic is too powerful to take such a risk with a new friendship."

That answer seemed to appease everyone. It was agreed that they would take turns working with other members on different nights so they would have an idea how they worked and thought before there was the idea of a battle. The Parisians also guided then to the best apps for alerts and places for additional information they might want.

**I have no plans to go super anti-Lila or lie reveal but mentions of her behavior send to fit. Actually I have very little plan for the characters/active that aren't directly related to the next few prompts. I'm just making it up as I go and hoping it works

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[border-spam]

Does troy really have a split jaw or is that fanon?

It's total fanon!

The design of the split lines across his cheekbones and chin coupled with the cheek clips and v shaped hinge outline next to his ears lead to a lot of people coming to that same outcome, that there is something up with his mouth from a prosthetic/mod standpoint.

So much of his design is never mentioned once or referenced in any way (hightech spinal rig with tattoos under it, neuro connector, mech arm that's much older and doesn't seem related to the spine and neuroport, implants on bicep, face mod etc) that like Tyreen's scars and possible lower body Siren markings, fandom took over when it came to coming up with logical explanations for 'em.

This actually touches ground with some Ao3 comments I wanted to share as they are all Leech Lord compliant, so I'll list them here alongside links to the fics they were related to (note warnings!)

You leave no avenue for characterization unexplored. Troy's facial prostheses finally receiving backstory is amazing

- Maw (Gore/Bodyhorror)

I LOVE the idea of it being not just decorative shit on his face, but my MO for any content I make is always based around asking why, over and over, and trying to make sense of what material I'm using in the first place. The modded mouth is a popular piece of fanon but you know... why? Why would he do that shit to himself. WHY would he want to be grotesque, why would he be chasing the reaction people would have to it when canonically he seems to really not be interested in fan attention the same way Tyreen is, what's the difference to him between being adored as his persona or being lusted after as a monster, etc. I just love deep-diving into the logic behind character and world building? It's what adds meat to the bone for me.

Big 'ol character and worldbuilding / lore responses list under the cut -

He could afford better robots but these ones UNDERSTAND Ty, don't you get it?

- Good night in (tooth rotting fluff)

Hey just because it's mangled and broken, and can't perform its intended function to a degree expected of it by everyone around it... and it's got rusty sharp bits it accidentally hurts you with sometimes... and it's cranky but it doesn't mean it... and sometimes it errors out in a way that's mildly disturbing in a way you can't place.. uh.. doesn't mean you should just GIVE UP ON IT you know? He can fix them :) They will be fine :) No one should just throw away something that's trying so hard just because it's damaged... haha... :')

It's so hard seeing how much they tear each other down when they're the only thing they have left. And what a poor self-image Tyreen has beyond all that glitter and bluster...

- Wolf in sheep's clothing

The twins function well enough as a unit till tensions rise, and I was trying to seed in The Leech's influence on them in earlier work like this too - towards anyone else Ty would become MORE aggressively confident, more assured in her complete and utter dominance of the situation, her flawlessness, but against Troy who see's her for what she is, it turns inwards and eats at her instead of lashing outwards. He switches from relatively submissive around her to almost surgical levels of dissection, he knows exactly how to go for the jugular with words, and doesn't hold back. She's The Leech's mouth but he's its eyes and it's only when they lose control emotionally enough for it to claw to the surface of their psyches that you get an idea of how much it really affects them individually. GB had an absolute goldmine on their hands here of cosmic/body horror and the concept of toxic family when all you have is each other, there's so much to work with, and I figure it's a factor in why some people still really enjoy messing around with Calypso content.

I like how you allow Troy to be a disabled character, how his congenital defects and prosthetics colour his outlook and appear in ways big and small in all these vignettes. It's easy, I think, to see him as largely untroubled by his health apart from when he needs a charge from Tyreen in the game, but you allow him to struggle with his weakness.

- Chronic (Drug use)

I'm really glad to hear that's coming through in the writing because it's something I noticed a lot too. Very often when Troy, or other characters canonically disabled / chronically unwell are written it's "told" and not "shown". Chronic pain, illness, it's not something that is just a little tickbox in a life or some descriptive terms added to a character synopsis, it's something you live and deal with. There are bad days. There are times it is a negative that has to be worked around or faced in ways that aren't pleasant. It doesn't make you lesser or weak to have times where illness does leave you unable to function to a level you want to, it's not a failure for you to be unable to perform tasks when a disability or flair up means it's not viable. I feel personally that by showing scenes like this where his health and body issues do have a very visceral and impossible to ignore the effect on his ability to function, and going through his mental processes of dealing with and managing them, it brings the character across as stronger than if he never seemed to be shown dealing with symptoms or weaknesses. People are more than their disabilities and conditions, those aren't just kinda taglines to add onto a character's description and then never address. I feel like doing that in a way undermines what people deal with who manage chronic illness, pain, and who have disabilities that affect their daily lives negatively. Appreciating the effort it takes to manage them is important.

What I really like about these is that you can really understand as a reader how their dynamic must have evolved. How even before Leda's death Tyreen would have felt demonized while Troy got the attention because of his condition, because he was less willful.

- Starlight, Moonbright

Ah man, absolutely - and that shit stayed with them. It wasn't his fault and he never wanted it, but of course their parents would have had their extremely ill child at the forefront of their thoughts, especially during weeks when he was.. bad. Tyreen by nature even without The Leech's influence is a little attention seeker, she'd be the life of any party and she BLOSSOMS if she's got the spotlight, but as a little kid who's got literally no one but her parents and her brother, and who all three of which can't give her nearly as much time as she deserved? That's rough. That's really unfair. That coupled with The Leech's warping effect on their egos as they grew up and the bitterness and resentment they harbored in different ways created a reverse dynamic. She'd never be out of the Galaxy's attention again, and he'd have no choice but to take his rightful place in her shadow.

I love how you illustrate both how much more, and yet how much less Troy is now. How the blameless child, full of potential, is inextricably linked to the brutal, larger-than-life avatar he fashions.

- DeLeon ( Graphic Violence / Gore / Hallucinations)

He's molded the monster he is now out of the bones of the man he should have been - there's no going back really. There's nothing left to go back to. He broke Troy DeLeon apart to build the persona that acts like an iron lung now, suffocating him breath by breath while forcing him to still take them. That life is over, he killed it before it had a chance, but the idea of it is still there in his subconscious. Somewhere in the absolute trainwreck of Troy's brain is the tiny, flickering belief that maaaaaybe one day this will all be over and he can shuck off the bracer and spines, peel off all the shit he's covered his skin with, and just go back to not being Calypso. DeLeon here isn't some aspect of his mental state or his sins haunting him - it's The Leech, spitting venom at a host it loathes in something that's not sound or comprehensible language. His subconscious has just translated it into something it can understand - his greatest regret.

On if Borderlands Humans originated on Earth -

There's a really tenuous link between BL verse and rEarth, but it's there and can't be ignored. The cultures, accents, terminologies, so many are Earth specific despite these people being spread across galaxies, so hell yes - Earth as an emergence point makes total sense. The next question then, is why is it never mentioned - and you can cover for that with a lot of things like say, tt was so long ago that it's not relevant to anything that would ever be discussed, or it could be a mass evacuation from a catastrophe there is little record of now. I like to go with something along those lines, that the first human Siren host emergence on earth just absolutely decimated the planet. Like, we were doing fine till this random woman somewhere in the ass-end of nowhere develops weird markings overnight, then goes apocalyptic. The first Leech maybe, not understanding her powers and having them rip across continents in a spread of crackling electric death that only left husked shells of plants and animals in its wake, or the first Firehawk who went nuclear and burned the sky, or the first Voidgrasp who lost control and began to collapse the planet's core - some extreme shit that had humans fleeing en masse with barely any preparation and HUGE swathes of history and knowledge left behind. That would cover so many social things surviving into the BL verse, cultures, accents, cooking, that shit comes with us regardless of what we were able to throw into escape ships. Like so much data would be stored on any tech and data arrays within the vessels people would use to leave a dying planet even in an insane rush, but that shit waters down over time - if you're farming barely edible plants on some planet that smells like farts, are you really gonna be that stressed about teaching your kids history from a lost planet when your current concerns are not being eaten by something with 19 legs and 4 buttholes? Don't think so.

On if the other Siren entities are as influential to their hosts as The Leech -

I touch on it a wee bit throughout LL, but the others are FAR more passive and meld more to their host's whims. The Firehawk Siren wouldn't.. like.. care? If the host was burning down a planet or fighting off an evil corporation? They are removed from any nonsense happening on this side, they might not even really be able to tell, it's like asking an amoeba or a collection of sentient atomic particles what its opinion is on Brexit. That's not really its priority. The Leech is so aggressive in its control of the twins and desperation to drive them towards an outcome it desires only cause it's split, broken, removed from the song, and completely lost. We're talking a caged, half-mad animal removed from its natural environment and left totally isolated from its own kind for millennia. It's in pain, it's confused, it wants to find its way back to the song and the others and where it belongs, but it's stopped by a barrier it can't comprehend ( the twins and being ripped between them), so in its impotent rage it feeds back that hatred onto them. It's not really sentient in the way we would describe functional intelligence, but it wants, and craves, and FEELS. And it feels very, very angry.

Big thanks to @undergoingcalibrations for talking through so much of this with me!

Asks are Open!

[atsunflower]

Hospital for souls — Intro

Rated: SFW

Author note: hey yall! This is the first chapter for my "Throne: the series". Remember, it's a yakuza!au, so there will be lots of mentions of dark themes. This chapter, thought, is safe and kind of plain, but totally important to the start. Please, enjoy your reading!

Warnings: cursing and slight mentions of anxiety and OCD.

I — Intro

Previous || Next

You walked down the aisle sandwiched between two bodies clad in Armani suits. Even though they knew you woudn’t dare to, they held you like you were about to run away from this whole circus.

There was no bridal march, neither a suntuous decoration. The Elie Saab gown you wore was heavy on your body, making you feel like you didn't belong; the harsh glares thrown at you didn't help either.

You felt helpless.

In the end of the red carpet, a man stood tall and stoic. His hair wasn't combed so the wavy locks were free to frame his face; the harsh glare he gave you three did nothing to diminish his beauty — at least, you tought, he's not a creepy old man. But this fact don't made you feel any relief.

Your head then hung low, as if you were trying to vanish away from this ceremony. The blond man by your left tightened the hold in your arm —not for support, but as warning— while the gray haired one only clicked his tongue; their implicit threat made your skin craw.

Two months ago, you'd never imagine your life would change completely, considering you weren't given any options.

Two months ago, a tall brown haired man would escort you out of the hospital you worked and then, take you to your doom: from a fatherless daughter to a bastard of Inarizaki and then, a bride for a man you never saw before. A whole arrangement that lasted 60 days and took you away from everything you had, from everything you knew.

Lost in thoughts, you didn't feel when your steps halted nor when the two figures who held you let go of your arms to take their seats. The man waiting for you don't bothered to acknowledge your presence by his side, but you saw his features hardening once you reached for him.

In shades of orange and black, the venue pretty much looked like a courtroom, its aesthetic doing nothing to ease your nerves. In the pulpit, an old man stood proud, sporting a wise aura only the time could give him.

The elder cleared his throat and everyone in the room stood on their feet.

"Good evening ladies, gentlemen and the distinguished people from the families" his voice sounded loud and mighty, even if he wasn't using a mic. "Tonight, we are reunited to celebrate an unprecendented moment in the history of our kind: the union of Inarizaki and Itachiyama households"

A minute of silence was made; everyone in the place held a solemn face, waiting for the man to proceed.

"I, Ukai Ikkei, the elder of Karasuno, feel honoured to lead such important event" He said placing his right hand on his chest "Assuring you all that, Karasuno, the household responsible for all the bureaucracy and diplomacy related to our activities, is still commited to keep a neutral eye over families matters only to officialize, document and inspect the agreements between the families. That being said, the ceremony shall begin."

His raspy voice dragged the boring speech until a men with bleached hair walked to where you and the groom stood, with a huge book in his hands. He carefully placed it on the desk in front of you, grabing the leathern material of its cover and opening it.

"Tonight, a new chapter is added to the Book of Deals. With clauses that concern only the involved parts, we witness the signing of this agreement by the main heads of Inarizaki and Itachiyama, as well the bride's signature. But first, shall we hear the marriage votes and the exchange of rings"

A man from Itachiyama's side stood and came to you both, holding a black velvety box. He opened it, offering its contents at you first; you took the larger golden band and started:

"I, [L/N; Name], daughter of Inarizaki, give you, Sakusa Kiyoomi, this ring as a symbol of my commitment to you and Itachiyama, manifesting my will to this alliance between our families" surprisingly, your voice sounded steady while reciting the speech you knew by heart, paying no mind to the snickering behind you.

Sakusa looked at you with distaste, his body going stiff the moment you held his hand and slipped the golden band to his ring finger. He then took the remaining jewel and turned to you:

"I thee wed" and you felt even more humiliated, the jiggles only adding more weight to the diamond ring in your finger.

To your relief, Ukai cleared his throat again, proceeding with the formalities

"Now may the newly weds to sign the Book. I also summon Inarizaki oyabuns to officialize the deal." Atsumu and Osamu were by your side, eager to finish this. Sakusa went first, smoothly running the pen over the page. Then, Ukai handed him a glistening object.

God, you hated it here.

Using the lancet, the tall ravenette punctured his thumb, smearing the blood between his fingers and then pressing the red fingerprint onto the blank paper.

Before handing you the fountain pen, he fished a tube of hand sanitizer from his pocket, rubing the alchool as if his life depended on it.

Did the man suffer of OCD? You almost pitied him. Almost.

Then, it was your turn. Scribbling down your name next to his, you sealed your fate.

Sakusa [Name].

You flinched when you felt your thumb getting punctured, Atsumu doing you the favor and smirking at your reaction; why the man hated you so much?

The blood stained the beautiful dress you wore, before printing your mark on the paper.

Almost a metaphor, as if you were now tainted too.

When the twins were done, the old Ukai was more than ready to wrap the event.

"With both consents and the power vested in me by the families, I now pronouce you married. May peace prevail among Inarizaki and Itachiyama"

"Aren't the newly-weds supposed to kiss now?" You heard Atsumu whispering to Osamu. The latter merely scoffed at his brother's stupid antics.

Everyone got out of the room, since Karasuno would host a reception in honor of the wedding.

During your time in Inarizaki, you learned that the place worked as a hotel for the Yakuza.

The Crow, as it is called, was supposed to be a neutral space where the most important matters to the families were held. With a glamourous western architecture, it looked like one of those luxury mansions from the movies.

In the ballroom, soft piano melodies were being played and waiters offered booze to the guests.

The champagne tasted stale in your mouth.

You were now sitting alone in a table on the corner, observing the other people mind their own business, too absorbed in their bubble of power and crime.

You would never get the way they acted so nonchalant, when everything they had was made of blood. This coldness was scaring.

"Why are you so sad in your big day?" The snarky question almost had you spitting the champagne. The brunette sat by your side, his mouth doing a soft curve as an apologetic smile.

"You tell me, you little shit" your reply came in a joking tone, trying to ease the bad sensation on your guts, but he got what you meant.

"You know, it could've been worse." he let out a breath, looking around the saloon "You know how Atsumu is. Also, Osamu shares that weird twin bond of theirs, so it's hard to tell what he's thinking. But it definetely could have been worse"

"I figured it out by myself, Suna-kun. It's just hard to accept the fact I was dragged to this against my own will." a tear rolled in your left cheek and the man by your side wiped it with his thumb.

"Yeah, but the former lady wanted you dead back then" always blunt, he never held back when stating the facts "Things work this way between the families. You were lucky you haven't to face a bigger mess" he held your hand over the table, while propping his chin on the other palm.

It was Suna who brought you into this life. Though, you never resented him because you knew he was just following strict orders. Besides, he was the only one who was nice towards you; never knowing when it happened, you both agreed on this weird friendship a couple of weeks ago. Now he was the only person you cared about.

"But it's not that bad. You are going to live in that huge ass mansion of your husband" the playful tone and the way he wiggled his eyebrows was comical. "You also can see the weird faces he makes first hand. Man, the way he looked constipated during the ceremony was fucking priceless." You accompanied him on a snort, almost forgetting the circumstances.

"I'm going to miss your antics so bad" and you would have said more, if it wasn't for the shadow looming over you.

Sakusa was standing behind your chair, with a face mask covering his features.

If stares could kill, you'd be dead on spot.

"Time to go" was all he said, waiting for you. You bid goodbye to Suna and followed your husband out of the hotel, a sleek sports car waiting for you two while you made your way towards it.

He stopped dead on his tracks, taking a hold of you arm.

"Listen. Itachiyama is famous for respecting our women." You frowned "But know your place and don't even try to make a fool of me or of my household, got it?" His voice was slighty muffled by the mask, but you still understood every single word he said.

"What do you mean?" You asked, ignoring the way he tightened the grip on your arm, resuming his steps.

"Simple. Stay out of my way or you'll deeply regret it, you fox runt."

❥ tagging: @kenmamazing, @keekee-732, @chiibichann, @shinguchi, @captain-shittykawa, @fortheloveofbakugo, @daisyjaebae, @jihoonspout, @floodinginstars, @fl4mepillar, @trash4sportsanime, @translucentthoughts, @kemochie;

[kendrixtermina]

The “Genocidal Edelgard” Shallowtake

I was not going to make a post about this because it’s most likely futile and not going to convince anyone nor do I believe in dinifying the purity police with attention, but maybe it will let some ppl know that they dont have to let themselves be shamed for liking the wrong video game character

Whatever might have been the case in the distant past when Nemesis was around, by the “present day” the Nabateans are not at all some commonly oppressed stereotyped minority - the setting is chock full of characters that fit that bill a lot better like Dedue or Cyril. Characters that are ordinary humans not magic dragons. 

And even that is more founded on general purpose xenophobia than from the specific, relatively new early modernity construct of racism. (the dedue situation probably comes the closest)

Sure, Seteth and Flays have to hide from their old enemy the Agarthans, I see how some might find that relatable etc. but most of the population isn’t aware that they exist at all. They hold high status positions, are worshipped by the local religion and Rhea all but rules the entire continent (and says so herself to Byleth in that speech about how she was just “ruling this wayward country in your stead”, “you” being Sothis) - though that is mostly Rhea’s doing of which Seteth and Flayn are relatively innocent. 

The interviews pretty much confirmed that the Nabateans constituted the local aristocracy and that many humans genuinely saw the Elites as liberators - though there was definitely also an element of ppl going around killing random Nabateans to gain superpowers, not to speak of Nemesis’ very obvious very unambiguous mass murder. Not wanting to be ruled over by foreign powers is understandable, though obviously killing them all down to the last civilian was just flat out evil - its certainly not a simple situation, we can all agtree Nemesis & the Agarthans were evil but there is no clear defined good guy. 

There are historical conflicts you could compare this to, perhaps some conflicts in Africa or the middle eastwhere different groups took turns being the ruling class after the latest war,  but it’s not at all like the modern USA or early modernity colonialism, and forcing every real or, in this case, imagined scenario inherently dependent of fantasy elements, into this one framework from the present or near past isn’t conductive to understanding at all. 

And in the present day, by the time Edelgard is alive, we are talking about three specific people that she has good reason to dislike individually. Not any sort of group at all. 

She calls Rhea a cruel beast because that’s all she’s ever seen Rhea to be. She’s the shadow tyrant who rules her world, who created the crappy world Edelgard grew up in. It’s no different Cubans thiking badly of the castros after suffering through famines - or, no need for such extreme examples really, ppl call their least favorite politicians monsters all the time. 

She’s wrong to assume that Seteth & Flayn are wholly on board with this, but on the other hand, it’s not at all a far-fetched assumption to make: They hold high positions in the church though they ostensimbly just appreared out of nowhere one day. Do you have to be an evil bigot to assume that the brother and right hand man to the tyrannical god-queen is condoning & supporting her actions?

The truth is of course that underneath her pseudo-parental facade Rhea is sort of a scared girl, very lonely, very afraid, and ashamed, in a shallow, childish way, for “breaking the rules” just because they are rules. She says she can’t trust anyone, that she feels lonely & isolated... and while no one can blame her for distrusting humans after the slaughter of her people, but the reason she can’t trust Seteth is that she’s keeping her bad deeds secret from him. He wasn’t there the whole time, he just showed up a few decades earlier. 

She sees herself only as filling out for Sothis and doesn’t quite grasp that she’s in charge, very much a follower personality bent on stasis & regularity. 

Is Edelgard obliged to try & unravel the complex psychology of the tyrant who rules her home to correctly deduce why she would deceive even her own family? By all intents and purposes, Edelgard is the one getting rid of an oppressive government that doesn’t let ordinary humans let a say at all. A government where ppl of others faiths and nationalities are typically oppressed unless they work directly for the church.

It’s like having a disdain for, say, Ivanka Trump. She holds a high position in her father’s administration despite having no obvious qualifications, she appears to be profiting & making bank from her father’s atrocities, she certainly hasn’t done anything to stop him or disavow him the way that, say, her cousin Mary did - if you suffered under Trump’s regime you’d be very justified in assuming that Invanka is probably a bad person.

Flayn only looks young (She might not if we saw her in other clothes). I mean, Kronya could badly impersonate a schoolgirl. At the very least they’ve supported the regime by refusing to question their own side and they show some however benevolent belief that it is their duty to “guide” the people. Leaving her to the Agarthans is certainly questionable, but no more so than doing it with Rhea herself, under the assumption that she’s guilty and that it’s a sacrifice that will prevent larger chaos. The agarthans had their plan long before they created Edelgard as we know her, and she couldn’t stop their plots all on her own. 

You could say that it’s callous, distasteful or a deal breaker - as the death knight is her direct subordinate & she makes a personal appearance in mask, I would argue that she definitely knew & sanctioned the kidnapping - but she’s no more callous towards Flayn than towards anybody else. 

Of course, that doesn’t mean they’re evil, or that they deserve to die.... and Edelgard would agree with me.  She doing all this to prevent death – flipping the lever on the trolley problem so it crushes one person instead of five so to speak. She always gives her enemies the chance to surrender, unwilling allies the chance to leave, and jails enemies whenever leaving them alive wouldn‘t lead to further death… even the ones she has the most personal reason to hate, like the PM.

As servants of the church who have chosed to back her enemies, she’ll certainly kill them if she has to, but not any more than any other enemy. At no point anywhere in the story does she say anything like that they need to die on principle. Nowhere at all. Indeed there is much evidence to the contrary.

The church paints her as being completely against the religion or even wanting to set herself up as a satanic godess cause it‘s good politics & they don‘t get what she‘s doing – to an extent her own credibility & messaging is compromised by her secretive and at times unscrupulous actions, no one said she was perfect. In truth all she wants is to have the church out of politics, you know, what we have in nearly every modern country outside the vatican and saudi arabia.

You can absolutely let Flayn & Seteth go on CF and there is no word, no fuss about it anywhere. No „make sure to kill em all“ which would certainly be there if the narrative wanted to portray Edelgard that way. It requires the mediation of Byleth as someone they would talk to & not immediately assume the worst of, but, they see the church as the embodymet of all that is good & fighting its enemies as their sacred duty so of course it wouldn‘t be possible for just anyone to talk them down. It‘s framed as Flayn letting Byleth go cause they saved her life once, even if we know from behind the screen that she wasn‘t going to survive a fight to the death against the player-controlled faction.

Heck, even when it comes to Rhea, the one most guilty that Edelgard has the most reason to loathe, she‘s ultimately surprisingly gracious. She gives her the option to surrender – and this is not a lie, she discusses this with Byleth in a lecture question, and seriously ponders the possibility. Here Byleth gets a range of options like „stab her in the back“ and „keep the church under imperial control“ but you know which one nets you the support points? „Strip her of her authority so she can‘t interfere in politics“. She wasn‘t gonna mess with the religious folks & their religion at all, just make it so it‘s separate from government. Rhea could even keep being pope, if she could be satisfied without having complete supreme authority (and ripping her precious artifact out of Byleth‘s chest) – even when she puts her down she‘s not 100% without pity, telling her that „Your duty is done“ (the translators mucked this up)

Couldn‘t be any further from „lets kill them all on principle“.

What really annoys me is how ppl go and twist everything Edelgard says out of context to ascribe a motive to her that just isn’t there.

Common examples:

„If you have Flayn or Seteth fight her she‘ll say they need to die because they‘re nabateans“

Actually what she says is this: „You are a child of the godess. You must not have power over the people!“ Not getting to be privileges rulers anymore =/= being opressed. Stay out of politics =/= Diediedie. Also, this is from the VW/SS boss fight, where they have literally come to get her in her own capital.

„Linhard & Leonie don‘t tell her & hubert about Indech, probably cause he expects that she‘ll go & kill him„

What he actually says is: „Lake Teutates is a place that concerns the saints of the Church of Seiros. It may become bothersome should the two of them find out...“

„It may be bothersome“ as in, „we might get in trouble“, for doing the possibly very inadvisable thing of waltzing into what could possibly be an enemy location to satisfy personal curiosity. If it‘s something related to her agenda she might take over and Linny wouldn‘t get to investigate as he pleases – at very most you might construe it as Linny fearing that they‘ll be accused of consorting with the enemy, but „bothersome“ suggest possible annoyance not imminent murder.

The whole scene ends with Linhard telling Byleth to fill her in later. Doesn‘t sound at all like he expects her to go back with a harpoon.

„She said Claude isn‘t fit to be a ruler cause he‘s a foreigner“

What she actually says: „I understand your ideals are not so far removed from my own. But without knowledge of Fodlan‘s history, I cannot entrust its rule to you“

Now without the additional contexts that Claude won‘t get until after the fight, it might easily feel a bit like the former with the raw spots he‘d have from his backstory, but what she means is that he‘s ignorant of the Agarthan threat – which he is. Edelgard is all for making peace with Almyra and sees fostering isolationism & prejudice as one of the many faults of the church.

Once Claude basically kills Edelgard for information, he winds up having to take care of the storm she had been holding back. But to his credit, he DID „finish the job“ and get the info. But he didn‘t have it at that point.

And I don‘t mean any of this in the least bit as a diss of Claude - He is the smartest character, so there would be no plot if he got easy access to the info.  At this point, they both think they can probably do better, and more importantly, both their backstories have made them so that they won‘t let down their guard far enough to cooperate in this scenario.

That‘s also why the outcome in CF is contingent on Byleth‘s choice. - You‘d sort of have to trust that he will also act so as to minimize casualties.

Very disingenious since many players wouldn‘t necessarily trigger these dialogues.

I guess because Adrestia got a vaguely central-european aesthetic (partially; all the countries are hodgepodge mashups and there’s more than enough spanish or ancient roman vibes there) and central europe existed only for those 12 years of tyranny I guess, even though many other places have had similar BS happening, including the US that delights in making craptons of movies about their faraway victory because their governments haven’t added much of value to the planet as of late. -.- 

Faerghus (vaguely french/ russian - not at all places where nothing bad happened ever) has actually annexed some territory from their northern neighbors in the recent past, not to speak of the whole Duscur atrocity - but no one seems to go around laying that at Dimitri’s feet, because it would be nonsensical - he was a child at the time and as an individual he is super against it and champions a policy of reconcilliation if he gets to rule. after all, there wouldn’t be much of a plot if the characters inherited three perfect faultless problem free countries. 

Edelgard, too, is completely against the previous administration under Duke Aegir (which was in charge during the Bridgid war). She deposed him and is plotting to do the same with Arundel once she can politically afford to do so. For all that one can understand why she would chose the other path  (depending on how much she knows about what Edelgard’s doing and why) it makes all the sense in the world for Petra to support her on CF or if not recruited, because again, she got rid of that previous administration. 

[ottomanladies]

A big greeting.! Could you tell me how was the rebellion against Sultan Osman II? Who was involved? What did Sultana Kosem do about it?Merry Christmas.! many blessings!

Thank you for the Christmas wishes. I’m a little late with this reply because it got longer than I expected.

I have already talked about the rebellion against Osman II: here and here.

As I said in one of those asks linked above, the rebellion had multiple causes:

a small glacial age (that actually crossed the entire continent) destroyed crops, provoking a shortage of food

the Imperial treasury was almost empty because of the frequent accession donatives that had to be paid to the troops

connected to point 1, an economic crisis had begun around the 1590s (when Safiye was accused to pay the Janissaries with debased coinage)

the disastrous campaign in Poland which exacerbated the difficulties that the Imperial treasury had: not only were military campaign expensive but the Ottomans didn't manage to capture Hotin even though their army was ten times larger than the Polish/Cossack one.

Osman II's distrust for the kul (the Janissaries + the Imperial cavalry) and vice versa: Osman II was said to go incognito in coffee houses at night and punish the kul members he found there. Moreover, he blamed them for the defeat in Poland; according to him, they hadn't done enough to capture Hotin. Vice versa, the kul thought that they were under inspection because Osman II hated them:

Like the other historians, [Peçevi] identifies the Hotin campaign as an occasion that worsened the already edgy relations between the sultan and the kul. But what Tuği presents as an arbitrary decision on payments, Peçevi exposes as an attempt by Sultan Osman to make the janissaries undergo a yoklama (administrative inspection) under the pretext of granting donative. This, Peçevi observes, annoyed them. It should be clarified that the yoklama in this context was an administrative device whose application might be a political risk, for in it the payrolls were checked against names to make sure that only active and serving soldiers, and veterans entitled to pensions, were paid rather than members of the janissaries’ civilian networks. That the yoklama did not rank among the janissaries’ best preferred leisure activities is not surprising. Peçevi adds another incident that contributed to these acrimonious relations. During the siege of Hotin, Karakaş Pasha, apparently a charismatic and bold commander, was “martyred;” this prompted the sultan’s reproach of the sipahis (imperial cavalry), who were already in low spirits, and they were deeply distressed. — Gabriel Piterberg, An Ottoman Tragedy: History and Historiography at Play

the revival of fratricide: Piterberg says that contemporaries were shocked that Osman II had executed his younger brother Mehmed.

The Ottoman historians, from Tuği to Naima, are so deeply shocked by this event that one might be misled to assume that fratricide was unheard of in Ottoman history.  — Piterberg

his marriage to Akile, which was deeply unpopular and seen as a breach of tradition:

At first, Esad Efendi refused the sultan’s intention to marry his daughter, because such a marriage would constitute a serious break in the Ottoman dynastic tradition. The bailo Giustinian notes that [...] these marriages were seen as new practices that could harm the well-being of the empire. Meanwhile, the government viziers were concerned in that the sultan’s marriage to the daughter of the mufti could disrupt the delicate balance of power in the imperial court for it would enable Esad Efendi to exert more influence over the sultan, thus emergence of an alternative focus of power among them. — Fikri Ciçek, An Examination of Daily Politics and Factionalism at the Ottoman Imperial Court in relation to the Regicide of Osman II (r. 1618-1622)

As Piterberg explains, Osman wasn't trying to create a new faction at court, he was simply emulating the first Osman:

the union of a sultan named Osman and a woman of an exalted ulema lineage evoked an inevitable memory for Ottomans. Some three centuries earlier, the eponymous founder of the Ottoman dynasty, Osman Gazi, had reportedly married the daughter of a foremost Sufi sheyh (head of a religious order), Ede Bali.

linked to his revival of the Gazi image through the emulation of Osman I (and the first Ottoman lords), there's Osman's "austere appearance":

... plain clothing and on a horse whose trappings were unadorned. Naima captures the mood of his earlier colleagues when he notes that Sultan Osman’s public appearance was “like that of a vagabond;" he also observes that for this reason the Istanbul folk rejoiced at Sultan Mustafa’s outfit in his second accession ceremony. [...] [Sir Thomas Roe] observed that the collapse of Osman’s reign and his personal tragic end stemmed from the fact that he lacked majesty. — Piterberg

Then, in May 1622, the tension reached its climax when Osman II allegedly concocted a plan with the Chief Black Eunuch, Süleyman Ağa:

the present body of kul—lest we forget, the janissary and imperial sipahi corps—would be done away with, a new one would be recruited in Anatolia, Syria, and Egypt, and the throne would be transferred from Istanbul to either Bursa, Damascus, or Cairo. Sultan Osman himself would lead the way and “cross over to Anatolia with the pretext of performing the hajj. The seriousness of Osman II’s intentions is evinced by the series of orders (emirler) he dispatched to some Anatolian ümera (provincial governors) whom he had deemed faithful. These orders, it is reported, contained instructions that would facilitate a successful realization of the plan. However, by setting the preparation in motion Sultan Osman divulged his intentions. There commenced a concerted effort, headed by the sheyhülislam Esad Efendi and the grand vezir Dilaver Pasha, to make the padishah abandon his venture.” — Piterberg

Osman II, though, was convinced that he had to go on because of a dream he had one night in early May:

In it he was sitting on his throne reading the Kuran. Then the Prophet appeared, snatched the Noble Pages away from the sultan’s hands, stripped him of his gown, and gave him a hard slap. The padishah fell from his throne, only to realize that his efforts to prostrate himself at the Prophet’s feet were to no avail, at which point he woke up. Sultan Osman first ordered an interpretation from Ömer Efendi. He told the padishah that the dream’s meaning had been to reproach him for having resolved to perform the hajj and then neglecting it. Therefore, and especially since he was already a gazi, the padishah must go to Mecca and become a haji too. This interpretation did not satisfy Sultan Osman, and he requested another opinion from the eminent Sufi sheyh Üsküdari Mahmud Efendi. [...] According to Tuği, Üsküdari Mahmud Efendi wrote in response to the sultan’s request: “The Kuran represents the authority of the Noble Şeriat [Islamic Law], and the gown represents the world of substance. The padishah ought to obtain divine companionship through repentance.” It might be possible to understand this interpretation as implying that the dream conveyed the message that Sultan Osman was divinely rejected as both a political leader (the gown) and the imam of the community (the Kuran). — Piterberg

(highlighting is mine)

Finally, on Wednesday 18 May 1622, Osman II ordered his belongings to be transferred to Üsküdar to cross over to Anatolia. The kul erupted: they assembled at the Süleymaniye Mosque and there drafted a petition to the sultan. He was to abandon his plan to cross over to Anatolia and he needed to punish the counsellors who led him astray. Osman II agreed not to leave Istanbul but refused to punish his counsellors (he also refused to substitute them). The next day, the kul's restlessness exploded when they realised that Osman II would not do what they had asked: they, therefore, marched to Topkapi Palace, reaching the harem.

Pausing in front of each of the three gates, and for longer pauses as the gates were becoming less publicly accessible, they finally faced the imperial harem (Harem-i Has or Harem-i Hümayun). The pause there was even more hesitant and further prolonged; some rank and file rushed to the imperial kitchens (matbah-i amire) to equip themselves with more weapons, just in case. Finally, after brief encounters with some pages and eunuchs, the kul found themselves, bewildered, within the harem. They began to echo a voice that called, “We want Sultan Mustafa.” Eventually the kul located Sultan Mustafa’s kafes, pierced their way through and pulled him out. At this point, Tuği, at least in some of the extant manuscripts, seems unable to restrain his emotions and inserts a narrator’s call to the audience: “In truth, being fair, wouldn’t you say ‘well done’ to the heroes who on that day hacked through the roof of such a big dome [that of the kafes], tied themselves with ropes, and descended toward Sultan Mustafa?” — Piterberg

At this point, Osman II surrendered both the Grand Vizier and the Chief Black Eunuch, who were immediately killed by the mob. Threatened, the ulema was forced to declare Mustafa I sultan and depose Osman II.

Mustafa was brought to the Old Palace to his mother but the army was afraid that Osman would retaliate, so they moved them in the janissaries' mosque, Orta Camii.

In the meantime, Osman II had been advised by his new Grand Vizier to take refuge at the house of the Janissaries Chief and, through him, try to regain the kul's support with bribery. In the morning of May 20th, Ali Ağa tried to follow the sultan's orders but was killed. The new Grand Vizier was killed too.

The kul, therefore, took possession of Osman II, who underwent unprecedented humiliation during his transferral to Orta Camii:

He was brought out and, mounted “on a workhorse,” was led to Orta Cami. His head was uncovered, he looked “wretched with disordered locks of hair,” and “tears dropped from the eyes of  that sinless deceased.” A sipahi called Pazanoğlu felt sorry for him “and put his own turban on the padishah’s head.” Things got worse for Genç Osman. The historians stress the extent of public exposure, and along the streets he was constantly abused. “Had the nonsense and filthy abuse uttered on the road been told here, it would have brought grief to men,” Tuği remarks. He continues nonetheless: Only this much can be told [from what was uttered]: “Is this the precious Osman Çelebi who raided the coffee shops and put the sipahis and janissaries on galleys?” When one vile, disrespectfully nasty [person] named Altuncuoğlu pinched the foot of the blessed padishah and uttered some nonsense, the oppressed deceased wept: “O [you] bad-mannered, am I not your padishah? Are you not through with youth?” — Piterberg

Inside Orta Camii, Halime and the "ringleaders" of the rebellion were discussing who to appoint as next Grand Vizier:

The valide sultan began to consult us [a group of seven or eight janissary officers] as to who should become the grand vezir. We surmised that she was inclined to her son-in-law Davud Pasha. [So] we also said, “This is reasonable.” — Peçevi

There was bad blood between Kara Davud Pasha and Osman II; contemporaries said that the sultan had undermined Davud Pasha's career. According to Piterberg, appointing him as Grand Vizier "was tantamount to signing Genç Osman’s death warrant". And indeed, Davud tried to kill Osman inside Orta Camii but was prevented from doing it. He, therefore, brought the former sultan to the fortress of Yedikule and had him strangled there, on the evening of May 20th, 1622. After it was done, he famously sent Osman's ear to Halime. Mustafa's second reign thus began.

As you can see, nowhere during the rebellion Kösem's name is mentioned. That's because she had nothing to do with it. While it's true that Mustafa I was brought to the Old Palace at some point, and Halime probably waited for news there before being transferred to Orta Camii for her security, Kösem may have just witnessed the whole thing. Of course, Mustafa's reinstatement on the throne benefited her too: first of all, it removed Osman (and possible descendants of his, had he reigned longer), but she may have also realised by 1622 that Mustafa was not going to sire any children or that his second reign would not have been particularly long. Murad was therefore first in line to the throne from May 20th onwards.