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the-cult-of-russo · 2 years

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Just Beneath The Flames (Part 14)

Pairing: Billy Russo x Reader

Warnings: cursing, smut at some point probably lmao, zombie shit, typical canon violence. You know the drill.

A/N: Okay so for the mini-arc of Reader going on her quest to find the others, I decided to do subheadings for what day she’s on in her journey for each little part. In case you didn’t know already, I’m not from the US, I’m from the UK. American geography is something I know nothing about so I consulted my trusty friend, Google Maps for this to figure out how long it would take walking, how many hours etc. I legit sat there writing down how many hours she’d travel a day, ‘cause she’d need to set up at night to be safe and all that shit, so I worked out what I thought was realistically a good amount of time for her to travel each day, allowing for any shenanigans that might happen along the way. You guys made me do math for you, I hope you're happy loooool

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Day One

It was still dark as you traipsed around the woods, your body and thumping head on high alert as you did. It felt like with every little noise you heard, your hopes would shoot up in hopes it was someone you knew, only to find out it wasn’t. Part of you had started to wonder if you were hallucinating things when you thought you heard someone talking only to find a dead one instead. Last you checked, you were pretty sure the dead couldn't talk. You were a little slower with your navigation with how disorientated you were, trying to remember the way back to the old camp. When you got close enough, you stopped still when you saw the faint glow of a campfire behind the trees, your heart picking up a little. Either your old group was here or a new one had set up, you couldn’t be too sure. With the carnage you’d witnessed not too long before fresh in your mind, you held your knife tighter in your hand as you made your way over. You couldn't hear any talking, not even a faint murmur. The closer you got, the only sounds you heard were the crackling of the fire and sniffling. You tensed a little, moving through the last of the trees to see a figure sitting beside the fire with their head resting on their arms. It wasn't just any figure though and you felt like your heart shattered and then put itself back together in one fell swoop.

“Billy…” you murmured softly, voice trembling as you felt your eyes prick with tears. Despite your voice being not much more than a whisper, his head shot up, his tearful and shocked face staring at you. For a moment, he didn’t move and just blinked at you looking like he’d seen a ghost and all you could do was stand stock still like a statue as your brain tried to digest that you’d found him. Only him. Where were the others? You wiped your face and the movement seemed to snap him out of his trance as he shot to his feet. He was on you in seconds, his arms wrapping around you so tight, you almost couldn't breathe.

“Y/N… I-I…” he sobbed brokenly, clutching you like a lifeline as you clung to him too. Your own face was tear stricken and you moved away, hands moving to cup his face as you looked him over. Despite how bad he’d been when you’d had that talk on the back porch that day, you’d never seen the man look so wrecked and devastated, tears cascading down his cheeks in rivulets as he tried to catch his breath.

“What happened?” you asked quietly, dread coating your tone as your thumbs swiped at his tears. He closed his eyes, shaking his head and his hands came to rest over yours on his face. His mouth opened and closed and you had no idea just how bad this was, no idea what he was trying to tell you. He was in no state to say anything though and you carefully guided him to sit back down with you beside him, trying to keep yourself together so you could help him. When you both sat down, he snatched one of your hands, holding it tightly like he had no intention of letting it go and you didn’t really want him to. You might not have found everyone but you'd found Billy and for the most part, he looked okay.

“I thought... I thought you were dead,” he bit out once he got his sobs under control. His voice was raw sounding, his dark eyes shiny and imploring as he stared at you like he thought he’d never see you again. His free hand moved to the blood-stained side of your head and the look he gave you made your heart break and stop altogether. You squeezed his hand and sniffled, wiping your face with your free hand as you shook your head.

“I woke up and it was dark, you guys hadn’t come for me and I couldn't get through on the radio… I went back and I… I saw the cabin. Billy, what happened?” you asked more insistently, you wanted answers, you needed to know. He nodded, seemingly coming back to himself a little more now he was in your presence.

“Me and Frankie were about to set out for you and… the other group just… It was an ambush. We heard the explosion upstairs and before we could do a damn thing, gunfire was tearin’ up the place. They used some kind smoke grenade and we couldn’t see shit. Me and Frank… we were trying to lead the charge and we got Matt to lead the others to the truck from the back, we needed to get ‘em outta there. We managed to push through the front but there was smoke everywhere, bullets flyin’ all over and then-then the dead came. Frank kept screamin’ at me to fall back, tellin’ me we needed to leave but I-I couldn’t. It was like bein’ back overseas all over again. I told him I’d be right there but I couldn’t stop until every fucker was dead. When I was done, the truck was gone, they had to leave. And I don’t know if-if anyone got hit, if they're alright, nothin’... I came here hopin’ they’d come but they ain’t been by yet. I don’t know what's goin’ on,” he rambled with a deep frown and a haunted look on his face.

“They’ll be okay,” you said firmly, making him look at you uncertainly like your words meant the world to him. It made you swallow thickly knowing you were breaking your own rule of not making promises you couldn't keep. But you couldn’t believe otherwise, you refused to think that they hadn’t made it and you sure as fuck needed Billy to stop looking like his world was crashing down around him.

“Before I came here I… I went and found the gas station you were at. You said you were hurt and you didn’t answer back when I walkied you after and I thought… I got there and the place was full of the dead, a half-eaten corpse on the floor and I thought it was you and I-” he clamped his mouth shut firmly as his tears started again, lowering his head as he shook it lamentingly.

“After everythin’ that happened, my first thought was you and I needed to get to you. And-And I’d failed. I failed my family and I failed you and I just…” he sobbed, his shoulder shaking and you moved your hand from his to wrap your arms around him. He leaned into you, face pressing into your neck as he grabbed you tightly, his fists bunching in the back of your jacket.

“You didn’t fail anyone, Billy,” you murmured soothingly through the lump wedged in your throat.

“You coulda died back there… all alone with no one comin’ for you,” he lamented with a sniffle and you stroked his hair, closing your eyes tightly.

“But I didn’t, I’m fine. You had more important shit to be dealing with. None of this is on you,” you frowned and he moved away, shaking his head with a face that told you he didn’t believe you one bit.

“This is on me! You’ve been sayin’ since this new group came up that we should head down to the safe house but me and Frankie were too proud to admit we should leave. We let our goddamn egos get in the way, made all of you stay. This is on me because I shoulda backed you up, shoulda insisted we went down there because it was safer. And now… they got out but it don’t mean they're fine. They could have bled out in the fuckin’ truck for all I know,” he sneered at himself, wiping his face so angrily you were supposed he didn’t punch himself in the face.

You weren't sure what to say to him to make him feel better when you held the same worries. They could have been hit by a bullet or got bit on their way to the truck, anything could have happened to them.

“You can blame yourself all you want and I know you will, but I don’t blame you one bit. You did what you thought was best for the group. None of us know what's waiting for us down in Virginia, Billy. We could wind up there with nothing and be at square one all over again. The only people to blame here are the ones that caused this. The ones that were fueled by greed and violence, starting a war for no fucking reason. We can’t make sense of needless violence like that, it’s out of our hands. There's always been evil in the world but it's even worse now it's every man for himself. A wise man once told me to let go of my guilt before it buried me. That bad shit just happens and there's not a damn thing we can do to stop it. That drowning it in won’t help anyone. Those words helped me more than I think he knows and I think you should take that advice,” you insisted, eyes wide and imploring as you looked at him. He blinked at you for a moment, recognition blooming on his face at the fact he was that wise man and that you’d remembered those words he’d told you all that time ago.

“I just… I just feel like I didn’t do enough,” he whispered with a frown and you took his hand once more, making him look to your joined hands.

“I know… Trust me I get that more than anyone. But right now, we need to focus on what we can do, not the shit that's in the past that we can’t change. The others made it out, that we know. They’re out there somewhere. So we wait here until tomorrow and if they don’t turn up, we make our own way down to the safe house because that’s where Frank would go, right?” you asked him, trying to sound like you were taking charge even if you felt like you had no clue what you were doing. He nodded, the movement jerky as he once again wiped his face with his free hand. Trying to keep away from the awful fear gripping you both, you opened your bag and got out a can of mushroom soup, opening it with your pocket knife before handing it to him. He gave you a weary smile before he chugged some of it, handing it back to you for you to have some as you sat by the warmth of the fire. You tried to ignore the burning in your chest at how much you’d lost. Not just the people that you were telling yourself you would definitely find, even if it killed you, but more so the place. The safety, the sense of home. You’d left so much behind back in the cabin and it wounded you deeply to have to start again like this. You felt eyes on you, turning to see Billy watching you with a look you couldn’t place as you finished the soup. It made you feel a little self-conscious as you wiped your mouth with your sleeve.

“When I saw that body in the gas station bein’ fuckin’ munched on by the dead… it felt like someone ripped out my beatin’ heart and stuffed it right into a fuckin’ blender. I haven’t… I haven’t felt that pain since… since Maria and the kids. After the shit that went down at the cabin, all I could think about was you, that if I could find you, it’d all be okay. And then… I couldn’t even bring myself to check the body, I just thought it was you and the world stopped turnin’. And I know the others got out and I know Frank’s a tough son of a bitch, I know even if someone got hurt that he’d make sure they were okay and get ‘em all to safety. But once I thought you were dead, I felt like I’d lost everythin’. I felt like I had nothin’ left and any hope I had for everyone else just… just fuckin’ left me,” he admitted in a murmur and it made your chest ache so fiercely that it felt like it might cave in. You looked away at the weight of his gaze, toying with the empty can in your hands before glancing back at him and he was still watching you intently.

“I thought you were dead too, I thought all of you were. When I got to the cabin and saw… I was devastated, just absolutely broken. But I knew I had to check, I had to see with my own eyes. I didn’t leave until I checked every body there and each time I turned one over I felt like I might throw up because it could have been you or one of the others. I’m so sick of losing people. I’m sick of grief and guilt and loss and pain. I wanted to give up so badly, I almost did, but I forced myself to get back up. Told myself you had to be out here somewhere and I needed to find you all. That's how I wound up here… with you. And no matter what happens, no matter what we find or don’t find, we have each other,” you replied softly, uncertainty lacing your words. His hand gripped the back of your neck as he pulled you over to him, placing a firm and sweet kiss to your head before his arm snaked around your shoulders and held you to his side.

“I’m glad you're here,” he breathed, leaning his head on yours.

“I’m glad you're here too,” you smiled, despite it all.

Day Three

You and Billy got no sleep that first night after how amped up you were. The whole day had been anxiety-inducing as you both waited to see if Frank or the others turned up but no one ever came. You started to think they’d just made their way down to Virginia right from the start and tried to ignore that horrible voice in the back of your head that told you they didn’t come because something bad had happened to them. There were numerous reasons why they could have gone straight to the safe house instead of making a pit stop here. They might have had to flee in the opposite direction and thought it would be too late by the time they got here, they could have just thought it was the best move to make, knowing you or at the very least Billy would know where to find them there. Maybe someone was injured and they had to deal with that first. You really weren’t sure just why they didn’t turn up, but they hadn’t so the next day at first light, you’d shared another can of shitty soup before you headed off out. Billy didn’t have anything on him but luckily, the bag you’d grabbed had a map in it from whoever used it before you. You were grateful because otherwise you’d have to go on a quest to find one and it would eat into your time. The journey would be a long one on foot and it wasn’t like you could both travel solidly with no breaks or rest. Billy had looked at the map and picked a route, one that avoided big cities because neither of you had a death wish. The usual banter you both had was nowhere to be seen. It wasn’t exactly strained between you both but the air was heavy, pressing down between the pair of you. Things were still a little too much to deal with.

“Do you think I could wash up in the creek before we head too far out?” you asked hesitantly. You were still caked in blood and felt gross but you also didn’t want him to snap at you for wanting to be clean more than wanting to find everyone. He looked at you before nodding, a thoughtful look on his face.

“Yeah, that’s a good idea. I’ll wash up too,” he murmured. You felt yourself relax that he wasn’t mad. Neither of you knew the next time you’d have the chance to get clean and you didn’t want to walk around with dried and crusted blood tugging at your skin. It was still cold but the cold bite of winter was starting to ease a little. You knew the water would be cold and with nothing to dry yourself, you’d be pretty chilly afterwards but you didn’t mind. It was a shame you didn’t bring any spare clothes, you hated putting dirty ones back on after getting clean. You both took turns much like you had in the past and you longed for the running showers that the cabin had. You hurried to get clean though, ignoring the sting of cold on your skin as you scrubbed yourself clean and then shoved your clothes back on uncomfortably. There were no cheeky remarks or playful comments this time. Billy had stood guard vigilantly and you’d done the same for him once you were done. There wasn’t time for playing around, not anymore. When both of you got clean, you set off on your journey once more. By the time night fell, your feet were on fire and your legs ached. You hadn’t dared ask for a rest and the pair of you shared a can of peaches as you walked earlier to try and keep your energy up. You were worried though. You hadn't packed too much, in a hurry to leave and find the rest of your group. You wondered if part of you hadn't thought you’d find them, you certainly hadn't packed enough food for two and you’d already gone through half of what you had. You were still in the woods and you both set up camp around some trees. It was cold enough for Billy to make a small fire, especially with you both still being damp and the air making it colder, but you were both hyper-aware of not wanting to be seen by anyone. As you both sat in front of the fire, the silence gnawed at you but you really didn’t know what to say. You were both too far in your own heads to hold a decent conversation.

“You should get some rest,” he murmured after a long while, the pair of you having some more canned peaches for dinner.

“What about you?” you asked pointedly. While yes, you were exhausted, he also looked as tired as you felt. Not only physically, but emotionally.

“We can take turns. I’ll wake you up after a bit and you can take watch,” he offered and you squinted at him, remembering the last time he’d agreed to that.

“You really better wake me this time, okay? We both need to get some sleep here or we won't get anywhere,” you warned him. He looked at you for a long moment before nodding and you had a feeling he would wake you this time because the matter of finding the others was way more important than him being chivalrous. You’d both been leaning against a large tree and not wanting to stray too far from him, you lay down right next to him, your back pressing against his legs as you lay in the dirt. You didn't have the luxury of a sleeping bag or even a blanket but you curled up, burying your face into your jacket as you closed your eyes and tried to get at least some sleep. Hours later, Billy was gently nudging you awake. It was still dark outside and you were glad he’d woken you up. You yawned before sitting up, rubbing your eyes as you leaned against the tree once more.

“You sure you don't need more sleep?” he asked as his concerned gaze pinned you in place,

“Get your ass to sleep, Russo,” you muttered, raising a brow at him that had his lips curling up a little. The sight was something to behold and your heart stilled in your chest for a moment.

“Yes, ma’am,” he smirked and you snorted with a roll of your eyes. He lay down much like you had, his back pressed against your legs and you found comfort in being so close to him like this. Your bow and arrows lay at your other side, your knife in your hand as you took guard over him as he slept. You weren’t about to get caught out, weren’t about to let anything happen to him while he slept. He was all you had left. Your eyes burned with how tired you felt but you forced yourself to stay awake and alert until the sun came up. You got out a can of tomato soup, noticing you only had one more can of fruit and one more soup until you had nothing. You knew you’d have to deviate from your planned route to try and find a store and see if they had anything. You’d also keep your eye out for any tracks you could pick up along the way.

You gently shook Billy awake, giving him a sympathetic smile as he blinked his eyes open. He hummed, nodding to himself as if trying to tell himself to get his ass up before he sat up and stretched a little with his arms above his head.

“Breakfast,” you muttered wryly, handing him the half-finished soup and he took it with a grateful smile, almost downing it in one. You’d all been spoiled for food at the cabin, even though you’d been carefully rationing it and you’d been constantly worrying about lacking in food. Now you really were lacking in food and you were kicking yourself for not bringing more with you. It was too late to dwell on it now though.

“We need to try and find a store or something soon. We don’t have much food left. I was thinking of trying to hunt a little before we head out today or even on the way. Maybe we could find something,” you suggested as you got your bag ready.

“Sounds good to me,” he nodded, giving you a small but encouraging smile. You felt yourself overwhelmed by gratitude that you weren’t alone on this journey, feeling like if you were it would be far too easy to just give up and give into the dark thoughts that seemed to always linger in the periphery of your mind.

“What?” he asked slowly and you suddenly noticed you’d just been staring at him, your cheeks flushing furiously.

“I’m just glad you’re here with me,” you admitted. He blinked at you for a moment before a bashful smile spread across his face and he took your hand, bringing it to his mouth before placing a tender kiss to it that made you feel like jello.

“I’m glad too,” he murmured, his dark eyes warm as they shone at you. It felt like all you could do was stare at him, getting sucked into the pools of obsidian as he just gazed at you.

“We should head out,” you said, looking away quickly as you realized your thoughts were heading into a territory they had no right in being. It was best to push those thoughts as far away as possible from you. He nodded, giving you a look you weren’t quite sure of before you both got up and got ready to leave.

Day Seven

“Goddamn it!” Billy yelled, angrily kicking over a stand and the sound seemed to echo off the walls of the empty store.

“Billy...” you murmured with a frown and he whirled around to face you.

“Don’t!” he warned bitingly as he pointed at you, his tone making your mouth clamp shut like a scolded child.

“We haven’t eaten in three fuckin’ days and this is the fourth store we’ve been to and it’s just… there’s nothin’ left,” he growled, raking his hands through his messy hair.

“I know you’re upset because you're hungry-” you started, once again getting cut off by the absolutely scathing look he sent your way.

“You think I’m upset ‘cause I’m hungry? I’m upset ‘cause you are! I’d be able to hear your stomach for fuckin’ miles!” he barked and you felt your cheeks heat up in shame as you lowered your head.

“We haven't been able to find a goddamn thing out there, not any animals, not any food. I don’t give a shit about food for me, I care about gettin’ somethin’ in you ‘cause you need it,” he muttered, a little less angry and now more despondent as he shook his head.

“You need to eat too,” you huffed, giving him a look. You’d forgotten what it was like to go without food for so long, only just remembering being without food for four days and how it had led you to Billy and Frank’s camp all those months ago. You’d gotten to Pennsylvania and after day four, you’d run out of food. You’d thought you’d be able to find something in the woods, even if it just wound up being a squirrel. All you’d found were the dead though and each store turned up nothing. You were worried but you tried to push on, hoping eventually you’d catch a break. It seemed like Billy was over being patient though. You knew he was feeling like a failure, you could read it all over his face. That he took some personal responsibility to take care of you and he felt like the lack of food was somehow his fault and like he wasn’t suffering too.

“Look, we can’t do shit about the store being empty. Let’s just keep going, stick to the woods and see if we can find something out there,” you said, giving him a look that told him you weren’t about to take no for an answer. With each passing day, he’d been growing more and more irritated, and while you knew it wasn’t direct at you, it made him more snappish and you were getting annoyed by it. You weren't having his personal issues cause problems for you both when you only had each other for company. It wouldn't help you both find food and it sure as fuck wouldn't help you get to Virginia. With one last look, you slipped back out of the store and walked to the tree line, not looking back but knowing he was following you.

“We’ll find something, okay?” you muttered after a while of you walking side by side. You glanced at his pensive face and he looked at you, his cold eyes softening a little as he blew out a breath and he nodded.

“Yeah,” he answered reluctantly, not sounding like he believed it much. After a few more steps, you felt him take your knife-free hand with his own and you looked to your joined hands quickly before his face. He was now looking guilty and sheepish and you knew he was feeling bad for snapping at you.

“I’m sorry for bein’ an asshole,” he frowned softly as his eyes moved back ahead of him.

“It’s fine. We’re both hungry and tired, we’re dealing with a lot. We can get through this though, right?” you raised a brow at him, a small smile toying on your lips and after a moment, a smile of his own appeared and it made you relax.

“Right,” he nodded, sounding a little more sure this time as he squeezed your hand.

You walked hand in hand for a while but eventually, you had to reluctantly untangle your hand from his as you got your bow and arrows ready, determined to find something on your way.

“Squirrel,” you murmured thoughtfully, crouching low as you inspected the tracks in the dirt. You’d been walking for a few hours now with no sign of anything but now you felt hope blooming in your chest and you tried to ignore the voice that screamed at you that hope was futile.

“That’s-That’s good,” Billy breathed, sounding hopeful himself and you shot him a smile before you stood back up. You both walked silently, him trailing behind you as you tried to track the squirrel and find it. Before long, you stopped dead, Billy stilling too, as you saw it at the bottom of a tree. While your love for animals never wavered, you’d admit the guilt you felt for killing them got less and less the longer you did it. It was just part of life now. You let your arrow fly and it hit the squirrel easily, killing it and pinning it to the tree, making you wince a little. Billy wasted no time in strolling right over, yanking the arrow out before picking up the squirrel as he gave you the most genuine smile you’d seen in days.

“Guess we got food for tonight,” he murmured wryly and you smiled. It wasn’t a lot and with the both of you needing food, you knew it would only last for dinner and nothing else. But it was better than nothing and would at least give you some energy instead of running on fumes. It wasn’t completely dark yet but with how hungry you both were, you set up camp right away with Billy making a campfire to cook the food. You demolished it in no time and it didn’t do much to quell the deep hunger that days without food had left but it did make you feel a little better and you’d take what you could get.

“Thank you,” Billy said softly after you’d both finished your food. You were licking your fingers clean as if trying to get every little bit you could when you glanced over at him.

“What for?” you asked curiously.

“The food… for not givin’ up on me and puttin’ up with my bullshit,” he scoffed with a smirk, looking a little sheepish as he twirled his knife around.

“I’ll never give up on you,” you said firmly and his eyes softened, a smile curling his lips. It made your heart pick up a little and you tried to keep your mind away from how he was making you feel. It was getting a little dangerous being one on one all the time with him like this, it was getting harder to ignore the feelings for him you had.

“Besides, I’m used to your bullshit. And Frank gave me permission to punch you once so…” you trailed off with a shrug and he snorted, looking away with a sad yet wistful look on his face and you instantly regretted your words.

“Yeah… sounds like Frankie,” he murmured wryly but you could hear the underlying hurt and you knew you’d been an idiot. Despite you both knowing exactly what this journey was about and who you were trying to find, you hadn’t outright mentioned anyone by name since you started as if to avoid the topic. You didn’t like him worrying or being hurt like this and you inwardly smacked yourself for being stupid enough to talk about Frank and opening that can of worms when you’d only just settled into a routine that didn’t involve mostly silence.

“I’ll take first watch, you get some sleep,” he said, a smile that didn’t reach his eyes on his face and you nodded, feeling guilt burrow deep inside of you.

“Goodnight,” you murmured before you curled up beside him.

“Goodnight,” he replied quietly and you frowned, closing your eyes and trying to get some sleep. You’d avoid mentioning people next time, avoid twisting the knife where you knew it lay buried in his chest. You really hoped you’d get to Virginia soon and that they’d all be there. You had no idea how you’d deal with it if they weren’t and you didn’t know if Billy could handle it. He’d been through loss before, just as you had and you didn’t want him to go through that again. Especially not when Frank was his best friend. You were terrified of what awaited you both down in Virginia and what that meant for the pair of you. You had no idea just things would play out.

Taglist: (if you’ve been asked to be tagged and aren’t here, it wouldn’t let me tag some people.)

@firexfate

@blanchedelioncourt

@on-ya

@sunshinedaisies-anddeath

@snowkestrel

@music-indie-tv

@idaofinfinity

@sweetserendipity65

@ramadiiiisme

@k-marzolf

@celestialams

@woowwwee

@noortsshift

@rainbowgoblinfan

#billy russo imagine #billy russo fanfic #billy russo x reader #billy russo

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alienturnip · 7 months

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Finished FF16 a few days ago and I do have some (long) thoughts about it, so I'm noting them down below. Reactions include the Waloed & Origin arcs.

Tagging @zadien as you requested <3 My thoughts won't be organized but I'll try my best to articulate as I go. Wall of text alert!

I think this is yet another case of "the story didn't satisfy me a lot but the characters bewitched me body and soul" so here I am at the end of the roads... with a lot of grievances toward how the story was structured & written but also impossibly attached to the cast haha, needless to say I have fanart ideas planned and incoming.

Things that I enjoyed a lot:

CliveJill's scene with the snow daisies, where she tells Clive that she wants to spread her wings after all this is over. MY GIRLFRIEND... YOU SHALL HAVE THE WORLD.

Jill being so good with acting dkfjsl <3 <3 she's so cute....

Jill being as much of a ruthless mtfk as Clive, they're soooo in tune when it comes to wrecking havoc

Everything about Joshua he brings SO SO MUCH to the table both with his personalities and the themes he represents. I would ramble if not for fear of this post's length...

Dion's contradictory demeanor hahahahaha - he insisted everyone call him "Dion" but wouldn't shut up about "Ifrit" and "Phoenix", he also refused Harpocrates' gift but then gave another to Clive 2 seconds later, then sauntered off without even checking if Clive likes it or not...

I generally bemoan the lack of discussion on Dion's relationship with his country's imperialism and his hands in that (like, everything about him was perfect to address that topic even in very brief ways?), BUT I highly enjoyed Dion's theme about the loss of personhood and to be reduced to a vessel of power and worship, his multifaceted relationship with the concepts of power & duty & hierarchy. So subtly yet powerfully done with so little screen time... I think Clive's own engagement with the theme (which is supposed to be his central theme) comes short in comparison.

Dion's side quest with Harpocrates also scratched my brain in INCREDIBLY ways, but again I won't ramble too much in this post...

(Hahaha by this point I think everyone knows who my fav is)

Dion & Joshua's dialogues are all so well-written (maybe save for Joshua's last speech...)

Everything about Mid & Gav, they're beautifully done, I love them they have such solid places within the narrative and lovely personalities too. When I watched Mid navigating the Entreprise I was just squealing and cheering for her! Her talking about the dream of flight and the danger it might entail, and her plan of turning such a weighted topic into a lighthearted treasure hunt! My gosh 💗 Gav's drinking scene with Clive is also especially touching, I felt a lot for his burdens.

Lady Isabelle may I have your hand in marriage--

Clive holding Joshua or clutching his body...... breaks me every time I love love LOVE tragic siblings

I can honestly write an essay for each of the characters (especially Jill & Dion my thoughts about them are overflowing) but they will have to be separate posts at this point, let me know @zadien (or anyone else reading this 🫣) if you'd like me to talk some more.

NOW onto the criticisms proper...

Waloed & Origin arcs were pretty underwhelming, mostly because I feel like they haven't offered anything new that wasn't already resolved in the previous arcs...? I enjoyed Barnabas' vibe but his impact on me was a big fat 0, and here comes the conundrum because, well, I'm guessing him being emotionless & devoid of a personality is supposed to be the point with his worship of Ultima, but even that was not done well... All his bedroom scenes kinda ruined all of that, not to mention the out-of-nowhere 'mother' appearances that the story doesn't even bother to explore aside from showing her naked body (Benedikta got the same treatment after her death my god I'm so sorry my beloved)...

Idk what I'm supposed to take away from the character and, in consequence, the Waloed arc? I know nothing of who he was, his dialogues didn't even match Clive's growth at that point - again, why is Clive questioning his humanity NOW of all time, when the story has been going so well? Could they have, idk, shown Clive's fear coming back to him after reuniting with Joshua & discovering Dion's descend to madness, so that they can segue into the Waloed arc more smoothly - that despite Clive's best intention he may lose all his control at the most crucial point and ruin all that he holds dear (like Dion), and that he never let go of his guilt at Phoenix Gate, and having Joshua back unwittingly brought back the nightmares he'd lived with for 13 years? Maybe that would give his identity crisis at the beach some more substance instead of "Barnabas bested me twice and now I'm wet and sat" situation he got going on... I am thankful for Mid & Dion's arc & CliveJill romance & everything about Joshua but the main villain & plot points felt so distant... MY BRAIN WAS NOT SCRATCHED

(I adore Mid & Dion & Joshua hahaha they're so colorful in 3 entirely different directions, my silly children)

I am also not really convinced by Ultima's writing. The plot reveal of him being a God who created humanity but then abandoned us all *could* have been pretty powerful and on point if it wasn't executed in such fragmented ways. If only they dig deeper into one or two specific aspects of that concept to explore...

I am especially fond of the idea of Ultima as symbolic for "the absent parent" and "the narcissistic parent" (both in the intimate familial context and the wider context of head-of-state/leader figures), which could have paralleled SO WELL with Anabella & Sylvestre & EVEN ELWIN had they not cut off Anabella's presence immediately after her death, or had they make Dion reflect deeper upon his relationship with his father beyond "I killed him I am so sad", or had they make Joshua's and Clive's memories of Elwin more complicated - maybe in how they (especially Joshua) worshipped his as their father & leader, but less so as a man, someone human & flawed? And then they can explore how the children gaining autonomy & freedom despite their parents & the circumstances that shaped their childhood as a direct mirror to them breaking away from Ultima? The frustrating thing is, I THINK they did try to do that, what with all the Inner Voice snippets and the initial buildups and all, but the execution keeps coming up short...

Ultima & the Eikons as symbols of "power that binds & enthralls" in contradiction with Clive's fight for a "free world" could've been much more relevant and poignant if maybe they allowed us to get more invested in Ultima's backstory (flashback cutscenes perhaps? more involved murals? a more multifaceted discussion around the concept of will? some attempts at humanizing Ultima's race so that when Clive says "you're just like us" we feel it a bit deeper?) instead of just having the guy monotonously narrating all the plot twists... my god. Not to mention all the on-the-nose dialogues of power of friendship & crude slavery allegories... I don't know! I think Square did NOT do it well in this one.

That's all I can pull from the top of my head at the moment! Ready to hop into replies or asks to talk some more, but yea!

#ff16 #I have both love and frustration for this game in equally intense measure #hoping that the general impression didn't come off as being too negative but yeah...#...at this rate I am just listing all my wishful thinking for things that might have happened #trying to rewrite the game in my head etc. etc.#On an unrelated note #I was fighting the Knight of Splendent Heart and was again filled with longing for A TERENCE BOSS FIGHT #for twinside arc #that'd be my dying wish...#Just-- Square #listen #just lift these moves in wholesale #or maybe even reuse Clive's later Bahamut skills #MAYBE DION BLESSED HIM LIKE JOSHUA DID CLIVE I DON'T KNOW--#jura plays ff16 #ff16 spoilers

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tiredassmage · 2 years

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13: Favorite storyline? 17: A quest(line) you loathe doing? 42: Favorite flashpoint?

Thank you! swtor asks be upon ye

13. Favorite storyline?

I want to inject Imperial Agent directly into my veins. We’re well beyond the lie that I’m fine about Imperial Agent. Any time I think I've become a little bit normal about Imperial Agent, I'm reminded of something and I am, once again, an actual wreck. That 'something' tends to be chapter two related, but Imperial Agent is just... Nothing could possibly compare. It irreversibly affected my experience of all other class stories - and I say that in a completely awestruck and admiring way. It stands on its own, but its the silent, extra drop of nuance and knowledge when you see how it touches so much else in the game in so many ways. It's almost always subtly lurking anywhere you could (and wouldn't) think to look for it.

I think I’m up to four(?) of them lurking around that actually have backstories/justifications, but do not be fooled: the matter of more agents is not if. It is when. And how.

17. A quest(line) you loathe doing?

Planetary arc for Corellia. Either side. I would rather fling myself off the Balmorran elevators than do this planetary questline again. If I even vaguely hear the “take Axial park” initiative one more time, I will combust spontaneously. I will literally do anything but the planetary arc when left to my own devices. I’ve finished off class stories at like level 47 rather than do the Corellian planetary arc. Give me Directive Seven for the last two or three levels if I slack on the planetary quests or, hell, I would even rather do Corellian heroics. And those also suck, btw. Corellia, it’s not personal, I promise, but fuck Corellia daknfsldfsdf.

Some of it may absolutely be that being so close to the end makes me chomp at the bit for that sweet, sweet, epic conclusion to the class story journey, but the Corellian arc, more than anywhere else, felt unnecessarily long, like it baited me several times into thinking we were so close to the end only to pull the rug out from under me and give me an additional twenty objectives and here's three other quests before you even know what an Axial Park IS. We've been talking about it for half of the quests, it's the Thing We Need To Do, but also no, go do this other shit first lmaooo.

(Okay... Maybe I have a particularly strong grudge against Axial Park...)

42. Favorite flashpoint?

Ohhhh, good one! I’m mostly picking from the story mode flashpoints because I’ve very rarely put a paw in the group finder pool.

I’m so sorry to everyone whose Malgus PTSD I’m about to trigger, but picking from aesthetics/surrounds primarily, I really enjoyed the Ruins of Nul and I was excited to spend a little bit more time on Elom. I am enchanted by the trees. I really haven't gone back to it outside of story runs, but it's pretty, the bonus objectives are interesting to go through. Dance Dance Lazer Floor Revolution I could probably do without and be just as happy, but I suppose it all works out when you give me pretty scenery to stare at, lol.

#answered #dot talk #dot plays the star war #swtor asks #swtor

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jennyjourneys · 2 years

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Arc 2 - Chapter 1: The Captain

Jenny’s quest to travel to the Moon to find the soul of Ginger’s niece crashes abruptly. Into the sea. That being said, the other castaway’s pretty interesting…

I lost my journal in the crash. This is the beginning of a new journal. So just to restate, my name is Jenny Everywhere and I'm an interdimensional adventuress. I got roped into an adventure with two witches that I don't know and haven't ever seen before. And on that adventure we crashed on a boat

Ginger decided to stay home after all. That was lucky for her, because we crashed the broomstick almost instantly. Now I'm journaling in the wreckage of the broomstick, still trying to extract Westwind from the debris. It seems that we have ended up in the Fall Sea. I can't tell if the crash was accidental or deliberate. I'm writing down my thoughts for now.

There's an empty, wrecked boat stuck on the same reef as us, and we crashed down on top of it. It looks like there are puddles all over the boat, as if it had rained very recently. The sky is murky, and it looks like it could rain at any moment. I don't know why, but my gut is telling me to get out of here. I don't know why, but it is.

*********

I'm still floating, so I figure I have two hours until my icky old floaties decide they've had enough and flip me over. So we'll see how this goes. The flight to the Moon seems to be a blur.

*********

The ship's captain's a scary lady with sunglasses, a sleeveless sweater, and military boots. She reminds me of Mrs. Harper from elementary school, except the captain is a lot bigger. Her voice is raspy, like she smokes a lot, and she looks like she hasn't spoken to any human beings, or eaten anything but raw fish, in a very long time. She was the one who fished me out after I ran out of strength and had to swim back to the wrecked ship. She says her name is Agatha.

The captain is making me walk around the deck, helping me get over the numbness. It's a good thing I'm wearing clothes that can stand up to being soaked, because I’m really getting wet.

I see the captain drop a scrap of paper overboard. I stare at the paper for a long time, then it hits me. I was on my way to the Moon. I have to go back!

I stand up and walk to the edge of the ship. I think about my next steps. We are probably miles away from shore now, and I could try swimming, but if I don't do it now, I'll never get the strength to do it again. I could go forward into the sea, and maybe get to the moon, or I could look for a way to get back to shore.

I don't know how I'm supposed to do any of this, but I have to try.

Go to Arc 1 - Chapter 7 - Rocket Witchcraft

Go to Arc 2 - Chapter 2 - Space Children of the Cordial Sea

#Arc 2 #Jenny Everywhere #InferKit #Old Mother Westwind #Captain Agatha

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multitrackdrifting · 2 years

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gacha game anon - not particularly talking about gacha games this time. Im really curious about your thoughts on the overarching plot and character arcs in csm.

im someone who, when i find any enjoyable manga, tends to read it all in one sitting. this has led to a very many 5 am burning my eyes while desperately attempting to finish an entire manga before 7 am because I have a good rhythm going. chainsaw man was one of many of these instances, so I read up to about chapter 108 in one sitting. due to having it all come at me at light speed but still retaining most of the information, I saw character development and plot arcs happen in their entirety in a couple of hours. going to get into light spoilers for the manga here so feel free to tag that if your followers need that. but I am very curious to hear your opinions on makimas character arc and the general ending to part one. personally i think the author massively dropped the ball and completely wrecked multiple characters in the middle of their plot development while having them die in trite and meaningless ways, especially with aki, whom I think was done the absolute dirtiest with that. it felt to me that the author lost the plot and tried to do something big and meaningful without actually knowing what they had set up, leading to a completely disappointing, rushed, and unsatisfying end to a part that could have used multiple years more development, or at least a more gentle hand in crafting the finish.

anyways, all that to say I'm interested in your thoughts on all of this since from what I have seen, you hold csm in high regard. not that I think it's bad though, haha, just good if you're in for a fun ride not a deep well crafted one.

Below the cut, csm spoilers

Chainsaw Man is a pretty jarring experience for a lot of people because the story is pretty blunt about its themes.

I'm rendering a video right now about the overarching theme of ignorance, something that all of the cast embraces in some fashion.

Fujimoto is a writer that's not really afraid to axe his characters, but he generally tells you how they're going to die well in advance, especially with Chainsaw Man.

We know from the story that Aki had about two years to live because of how liberally he has used the weapons at his disposal; and Aki has long-since stopped looking at himself objectively once Himeno passes away because it's easier to think about moving forward when you make yourself ignorant of the physical limitations of your existence.

On one hand, he wanted Denji to be cognisant that many lives were sitting in his hands: that of his co-workers, his team, and the general public sinec he worked in Public Safety. That's why he beats the shit out of Denji when they first meet. It's crude but Aki is roughly 20-22 years old since 3 years have passed before he can smoke (when the drinking/smoking age in JP is 20). He wants Denji to face the reality that he is no longer just living a life where his actions occur in a vacuum, he doesn't know much about Denji or his power at that point, but knowing that you affect others around you is important to his job. He wants Denji to face reality for what it is, beyond what he can get out of it, and he teaches Denji to stop looking at life as merely a sum of transactions i.e. you work a job and you get paid, and there is nothing else about it.

On the other, Aki stops acknowledging his mortality and human limits because he doesn't want to think about how he will die. He doesn't want to look in the mirror and think "damn I'm going to die before I'm 25 and if I die it will relatively permanent". He becomes completely oblivious to his own mortal limits because he knows that he cannot pursue his quest for revenge if he starts facing the truth of the matter, which is that he, like many other devil hunters, will probably die before achieving what they set out to do when they joined Public Safety. He sees the Future Devil laughs in his face for how awful his death is going to be, and he just, keeps moving forward in spite of that, it's not that he's willing to accept the price, it's that the cost of power is no longer something he will consciously think about.

It's near the end of his lifespan that he thinks, hmm, maybe I don't want to have Power and Denji be subject to such abhorrent work conditions and danger, and tries to get them pulled out that he gets trapped in Makima's web. He never had romantic feelings for her, and his memories, like the fiends, are manipulated. He gets forced into a contract (since Makima can do that) and becomes the Gun Fiend, forcing Denji to fight Aki and making Denji cry one of the three times he does in the entire manga.

It sucks that Aki Hayakawa gets smoked, and he dies a most painful and ironic death, but the Future Devil basically told us this was coming. The pony tail he has on his head is a little hammer of a gun, and he was getting death flagged from the moment Himeno had passed away. Does that make it any more palatable or acceptable for some people? Probably not.

But since the overarching theme of Chainsaw Man is ignorance (though only Quanxi and Denji say it out right), it makes complete sense that Makima's plan is the common thread that forces everyone to become the way that they do.

In my video for example, I write that Denji comes fairly close to self-realisation a lot of times in the story, but he explicitly states how overwhelmed he becomes when he tries to confront the facts of reality or think about processing and expressing complex emotions, that's the main reason he isn't like far more self-aware despite being very compassionate and empathetic toward other people in a general sense. The more he prods at that door, then yeah, the closer it gets to opening without Makima's help.

There are an immense amount of clues that Makima is mind-controlling people from the beginning, but it begins as coercion with Denji, but it's heavily suggested when each of the fiends explain that they have some missing memories or that their first memory concerns Makima.

Makima as a person, and as a concept, it's kind of not correct, in my eyes to measure her up as the sum of her actions, she's not really supposed to be treated as like, "oh she did like 129032019 crimes" like that part is very obvious to anyone reading it - the thing about her character is that she is completely unable to form relationships with others.

She only understands how to fall back on her power of control, and because of that she feels more isolated than ever.

The majority of her obsession with Pochita (Chainsaw Man) is because she thinks she understands him, and is infatuated with an idea of him, which forms the basis of her own ignorance.

She wants to achieve 2 things:

a utopia devoid of all the prevailing fears in existence (she gives examples which point to the other 3 horsemen of the apocalypse, 2 of which we know, which are Famine and War, Death is still yet to be seen).

To be consumed by Chainsaw Man as a fan of his

The reason she wants to create this utopia is because in her powerlessness to have equal relationships with others, she wants to change the world-order around and shift the rules around her own preferences (as evidenced by her comment about wanting to erase "bad movies" from existence).

She, unlike Denji, refuses to see herself as an entity that can change. She has a rigid belief that she understands what Pochita represents, what Chainsaw Man must be, and in the same stroke, she does not believe that she can be anything but what she is right now which is a person/devil that cannot connect to others on equal grounds.

Denji is super malleable, empathetic and adapts to pretty much any shitshow thrown his way, and is constantly changing and growing, he is the perfect foil to her absolutist way of perceiving the world.

Makima is in love with an idea of what Pochita is because it makes her feel less alone in the world, that's why she's like embracing him and disarmed at the end of Part 1 long enough for Denji to kill her.

She idealises Pochita as a chaotic force, who doesn't wear clothes, doesn't spit, and that Denji is completely incompatible with his gift/powers. But Pochita loves Denji unconditionally, those two are best friends and she can't fathom why someone she respects so deeply would be attached to someone she doesn't even consider a life worth living.

Denji, to Makima, is the image of his lowest point, a "murderer" that killed his father in self-defense, and he is only the boy behind the door. She cannot see him for what he is, what he could be, or even, what he looks like - she only sees him as this black and white concept of what she assigned him.

For Makima, the rigidity of her judgment is the basis of how she processes the world, and because of that, she doesn't look at the Hayakawa family and try to change and join them, she thinks, hm, in my new world I will have that too - completely oblivious to the fact that in an ideal utopia where nobody can have fear, reject her or do anything bad, they won't have the freedom of expression to truly like her for who she is, but instead, simply cannot deny her.

Makima doesn't understand anything about Pochita, or Denji, or even herself. She has a great power yes, but her perception of the world is built from atop a corner of isolation that makes her unable to truly perceive what people want from life. She can get anything she wants as a member of Public Safety because of the extent of people she has under her control and the numerous devil contracts she can utilise at no real cost ot herself.

She simply sees what she wants in others, and with Pochita it's just a person that will make her feel less alone, so she is like partly in love with him, but only the idea she has of him.

She can't find the strength to face her own dream and the humility to change herself, so she wants to change the world into one without fear, one that is predicated upon ignorance.

Surely, if nobody can be alone anymore, then her ideal world is perfect right?

Nobody can be the arbiter of like, deciding who's life is worthy of living, and for someone who has lived a life without social connections and equal relationships, it definitely should not be Makima because it is coloured in by her ideals and beliefs about experiences that she has never had.

Denji is her perfect foil because he dreams about frivolous things, he's still a good person in spite of his dreams to be popular with girls and have a lot of sex, because your dreams are not who you are - and being somewhat materialistic doesn't invalidate your existence as one that is meaningful + he's 17 so it's like extra stupid to get hung up on him not being a patron saint or something.

Denji losing his family was always part of Makima's plan, and the like, very obvious way in which Makima was fulfilling his wishes, of romance, attention from women, a happy family life, a stbale family job, it's all quite obvious on subsequent reads. I feel like you might come around on seeing these elements if you give it another read through with that in mind.

The idea of Chainsaw Man is that you can kind of push through life with ignorance, and sometimes you pick and choose when you are ignorant because that makes life easier (much like real life and not overloading yourself with extremely negative news) but for the most part if you stop trying to face life itself and become too rigid in your ways, you might lose everything that you had.

This isn't as concise or eloquent as my video, but everyone in CSM was destroyed by their ignorance even if it served them well while they were still kicking.

Aki couldn't face his human limits and look at himself objectively after Himeno kicked the bucket. Denji was inexperienced in a number of different ways so it was easy to manipulate him for Makima without directly controlling his mind or memories. Quanxi became a much more efficient assassin because she didn't try to actively consider and empathise with people ("ignorance is bliss, Chainsaw"). Kishibe stopped thinking about the lives of the people dying in his field and fixated on Quanxi so he wouldn't have to face the world where everyone around him dies or quits Public Safety; which is ironic because he couldn't watch her die in that arc.

I could go on, but yeah it's like, a lot deeper than it seems at first, and after re-reading the first time I realized I didn't understand shit about Chainsaw Man the first time - nto saying that's the case for you, but I definitely felt it was way more enjoyable on the 2nd read.

Makima does all this because she is infatuated with an idea of the Chainsaw Devil, and she was pretty much wrong about him on all fronts - that's why she couldn't fathom his love for Denji as his best friend.

It's pretty difficult to grapple with the fact that pretty much every character dies except Kobeni, Denji, Kishibe and the Hybrids (I don't think we've seen canon proof that any of them are 100% dead permanently given how hard it is to kill Denji). But they aren't just trauma fodder, they're a vehicle for Fujimoto's ideas of ignorance and while the manga is often like darkly funny, he doesn't just axe people for a chuckle.

Pochita is just the one she thinks is as "alone" as her that could understand her isolation, that's kind of why she is obsessed with the idea of him. Becuase he's an unfathomable concept, that is also alone.

#asks #gacha game anon #chainsaw man spoilers #this is not as eloquent as i would like but im finalising the video so yehh

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dcschain · 4 years

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BOLD OF YOU TO ASSUME I REMEMBER WHAT MEME THIS IS FROM.

@punslings said: You want to go back, don’t you?

Back. Back. Back, until his hands were small and his height not full enough. Back to when the guns were thunder in his hands and not yet instrument.

He already went back. He brought them with him. Outside the Emerald Palace they walked backwards through his heart and saw:

The body of his mother.

The skull of his decapitated father.

The hearts of his friends that he tore and he ate with remorse.

There is no back to go to. No back that wasn’t drowned, in fire or in blood, no back he can remember the word for.

Here lies the true reason. True word and true rhyme.

When you are the last to speak a tongue, time stops knowing its present and its past and becomes the self-contained microcosm of suffering. An entire language on a single man’s shoulders. The weight of it, incomprehensible. All alone, language forgets itself. Dries in the sun and bleaches until it is paper-thin. And then the miracles, the light miracles of rain, are enough to dissolve it. At the edge of the world and beyond it, in the desert, deep down he has always been searching for this: someone to share that gold burden.

He had found it behind doors. They had opened to himself and in the reflections of airplane bathrooms and department store windows he had found words he had forgotten. Like an, which in the language of his father means true-love and true-heart.

On the other side of the fire, Jake sleeps and Oy is curled on his chest. His blood-memory tells him this in seeing the fire play orange in his son’s hair: the size of his heart tripling was the same when Steven Deschain came in one night and saw his three-year-old son asleep curled by the fireplace with Ringo, old faithful, resting his great hunting dog’s head on his chest.

A little ways away, far from them but not too far that the warmth of the fire won’t reach him, Cuthbert Allgood lies curled and shivering. And when he looks at him there is nothing of the warmth. A pit opens in his belly. Dark and deep and deep and deep and deep and deep.

And at the bottom there is the smallest drop of hope. More terrifying. More paralysing.

He turns back to Eddie and to Susannah, who’s resting her head against his shoulder.

“Nay. There be no back to return to. The only way is forward, now.”

To the Tower.

“To the Tower.”

#punslings #verse. let this darkness be a bell tower. (the dark tower)#arc. good and wrecked and here and here and here. (the quest)#IIB –– CAM DINH.

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girlfriendsofthegalaxy · 3 years

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tuesday again 11/23/21

vacation problems, baybee

listening pitch black, by sencit feat. lady blackbird (deathloop soundtrack). i do not think i will be playing this game since a particular twist was revealed to me (if i had two nickels &tc) and my backlog is already...very long, but this track is a banger. i like this more than many “real” james bond movie opening songs

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youtube

reading mawrth valliis, by EPHK. the schtick is “presented in the original martian” which i think could have been a stronger creative choice if there was less dialogue? the lettering is very pretty, but it’s sort of a frustrating read. i fucking hate the character design and the twist, but the art is lovely in a very textural way, and i’m a sucker for pages like this. 126 p is not a lot of my time wasted

watching the anime otherside picnic is based off the light novel (and manga adaptation) of otherside picnic by iori miyazawa, itself based off the novel roadside picnic by the strugatsky brothers. in short, otherside picnic is a gay genderbent college AU isekai that manages to capture some of the psychological horror and financial desperation of the original. still with me? available free here (legally, even! you’re welcome).

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dailymotion

i care about these girls in a way i don’t usually with anime. part of this is bc this anime does tick all my boxes- young lesbians figuring themselves out, who grow into a well-oiled pair that also goofs around on their off time, a perpetually exasperated handler/patron, The City Is Alive And Will Get You, it’s an adaptation of one of my favorite things, jokes about the availability and type of guns in open-world RPGs that made me laugh like a hyena. there’s a bit about someone growing their hair out that genuinely gutted me. i am probably going to buy physical copies of these light novels bc apparently the POV voice is Quite Something and they’re more explicitly gay.

the animation is Fine, the sound mixing is quite good imo, the emotional arcs were satisfying, i really love halfhour shows bc it’s so easy to watch a whole season in like three days if you’re not careful. hour-long shows are Appointment Television. that’s a Time Investment i simply do not always have

this show (unfortunately) features the US military stationed at okinawa (the marines ARE the ones most likely to get themselves into this sort of situation tbh) and therefore cannot let anything really bad happen to them although i really do think they should just be left to tear each other apart in the Zone/otherside

playing still having a Time with meshes not meshing in sable (also a piece of graffiti i needed to follow to start a quest simply...wasn’t there?) but it’s very forgivable, imo. i am willing to put up with a lot for a pretty game with mysterious solar-system spanning mysteries and wrecked ships to climb around. 4/6 of the way done with the ship AI quest and i am extremely excited and also pre-grieving what i think happened

ANYWAY. BIG DISH YAAAAAAY

making found :) dead :) moths :) in :) my :) new :) sewing :) machine :) cabinet :) so that’s been fumigated to the best of my ability, please cross your fingers i did not introduce clothes moths to my house bc that’s the last fucking thing i need (sewing machine backstory here)

so i haven’t actually started sewing anything yet, and the first thing i was going to make was a new ironing board cover, so it’s hard to prep anything. am i starting with any of the half finished projects i have already cut out? heavens fucking no we’re going to do something with this dreadful flag print i picked up in the summer. setting invisible zippers, truly my beloathed

pattern companies: it’s a shift dress...with a TWIST!

me, every time: it’s a shift dress... with a TWIST!!! :0

#tuesday again #tuesday again no problem #Youtube

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cynthiaandsamus · 3 years

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Custom Toonami Block Week 74 Rundown

Code Geass: So we’ve got another one of those “wacky bullshit student activities” episodes, though this one seems to ride the hardest on “shit is going down, the world is ending but haha Shirley romance drama” though admittedly it does have a nice character arc for Milly so that’s cool. Lelouch is worried that the Knights of the Round are here to investigate him until he realizes both of them only have one braincell between them so it’s fine. Cornelia’s also murdering her way through religious fanatics so that’s cool. And last but not least we have Shirley and Lelouch finally getting together right before Jeremiah Geass Cancels her amnesia so she knows Lelouch is Zero and killed her dad and presumably the other stuff that Charles put in the whole school’s brain somehow. I’m sure this will end well and their romance will survive in a way that isn’t insanely tragic.

Inuyasha: We’re still in fillertown and it’s another SangoxMiroku episode. Man we get a lot of these in filler huh? I kinda don’t remember which Sango/Miroku moments are canon at this point. I’d kinda laugh if it was just all filler and some manga-only fans were bewildered when they ended up together in the end. Anyway, Feudal Lord has a thing for Sango because he has great taste and Kagome ships Sango/Miroku so she doesn’t want her to go, Miroku’s like “Hey it’s her choice, she’s been through enough, she can choose her own life, I’m not gonna get involved” which is pretty mature but the girls still hate on him for it. Sango’s just like “Dude even if I wanted to stay I still have this Naraku-slaying quest to go on and I’m not about to sit around all day and be royalty while my friends go kick Naraku’s ass for me.” Which is how most love confessions in this series go. Also Sango suplexes a demon bear the size of a building with her bare hands and it’s pretty great. In the end the lord doesn’t give up going after Sango but they finish the bear stuff and are on their way. I like how they don’t go out of their way to demonize this guy in the end to prop Miroku up, he’s still a good guy, Sango’s just got shit to do and is more the type to like a warrior who’s got her back. There’s some really cute shipping shenanigans here and all in all it’s fun filler.

Yu Yu Hakusho: We’ve got a three for one deal here as Yusuke and Kuwabara assblast their way through the Dark Triad in one episode, continuing their power play of beating villains with little effort while the boss man bets that they’ll completely wreck his guards which is still a pretty interesting dynamic. We’ve got cringey 90s trans commentary, an invisible dude that gets blindsided easily and a hostage ogre that gets beaten by Botan taking off her coat. Honestly for these guys being supposedly minibosses they kind of went down easier than some of the grunts. But now Kuwabara’s in contact with Yukina because his bullshit power of love connection actually works for some reason and they’re in on the final fight with the Toguro brothers. With this many people betting the GDP of countries on the fight there’s no way this isn’t rigged. I really like how YYH basically makes shonen fights just part of stupid black market deals for a large part of it, just like in real life everything’s decided by some old rich guy.

Fate Zero: Kayneth’s still fucked up and has Rock Lee syndrome and can’t use jutsu anymore so his wife’s like “Yo buddy you can’t give Lancer the magic cummies anymore anyway, lemme take control of your hunky knight manslave or I swear to god I’ll rip your arm off and jerk him off with it” which since she asked so nicely he just kind of does. With Lancer still kinda being uppity about Kayneth having dibs on his soul and Sola-Ui being weirdly horny and increasingly yandere for him I’m sure this’ll end well. Saber and Kiritsugu are still pissy with each other because Saber wants to go after Caster to stop the child murders which is fair but she’s also injured and shit and she’s mad at Kiritsugu for not teaming up with Kayneth to just take down Caster right there and I mean I don’t think he really had time to suggest a truce while getting attacked with Terminator 2 goo, he’s not really the asshole here. Meanwhile and more importantly, ISKANDAR HAS PANTS! Nothing can stop him now and they crash Caster’s child murder party and are jumped by Assassin’s Forty Thieves (they aren’t named yet but I’mma just assume) and Iskander’s just like “Yeah no I’m not fighting five ninjas knee deep in child guts.” And they just burn the whole place down.

Konosuba: So in a bizarre Interspecies Reviewers/Food Wars crossover, Kazuma goes to a succubus house and instead of just getting sex they do dreams and shit which seems more complicated but I guess it’s less morally gray. Anyway, naked Darkness and contrived hentai plots ensue. They sprinkle in some good character stuff for Kazuma which is nice, it’s always kind of hard to pin down where his principles lie. Like he’s generally a scumbag and will take the easy way out of anything but he’s not evil and will give Darkness an out on their encounter if she wants and will get his ass kicked to protect his local sex worker. The Principled Scumbag approach is kind of neat for him, I wish a few more of these moments didn’t feel the need to immediately undercut themselves with a joke but that’s the nature of the series. I feel like one or two more genuinely sincere moments throughout a couple episodes would do wonders but either way it’s still amusing.

Sailor Moon Crystal: We pick up right where we left off with Tuxedo Mask throwing himself in front of the Kamehameha for Usagi and then she goes Super Saiyan and cries pokemon tears to bring him back to life. But the bad guys are somehow like ‘yoink’ and steal him from her lap through a barrier somehow (that still kinda pisses me off) and for some reason the crystal that booped its way into his chest isn’t there anymore and Usagi still has and and Usagi’s going through a lot of shit right now between processing the trauma of a millennia-old kingdom falling that’s partially her fault, working through her romantic feelings and having a Steven Universe identity crisis about how to process her identity as a reincarnation of someone a lot cooler than she is, so most of this episode is Usagi crying, as most episodes are, but at least she has a good reason. Then we get a Girl Squad Roll Out montage because fuck it we’re going to the moon somehow.

Durarara!!: Apparently everyone knows about where Celty’s head is but her because she visits Izaya’s office where the head is just kinda behind some books on his bookshelf and she doesn’t know but Shinra’s dad has enough time to mug Namie after telling Shinra and Celty off for their weird interspecies relationship and tell Izaya to have fun fucking around with the head. Also people have shifted from being worried about the Dollars to being worried about Saika and ALSO being worried about the Dollars maybe being at war with the Yellow Scarves. Celty’s looking into it and Shinra shows some character development in just coming out with it that Saika was the sword that severed her connection with her head… I don’t know how you cut the soul of a head that’s already cut off but okay, at least Shinra’s not hiding shit from here anymore. Also Saika’s about to seriously chop up Anri and Masaomi comes to visit his girl in the hospital finally.

#ooc #Toonami #Custom Toonami Block #Code Geass #Inuyasha #Yu Yu Hakusho #Fate Zero #Konosuba #Sailor Moon Crystal #Durarara!!

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thornfield13713 · 3 years

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who woud you want to have as the 2 remaining love interests to bring MMCs routes up equal to FMCs?

...we're talking Ever After Academy, yes? Okay, let's consider this.

We’re a bit short on male side-characters who’d work for this, honestly, but the two frontrunners so far both come from Ezra’s route - Edward Berdot and Sir Galahad.

While Galahad is my least-favourite Arthurian knight, and might be a bit too close to both Lucas and Abel’s routes, given his characterisation as an honourable, duty-bound questing knight, I still like him a lot as he’s portrayed in this game and I do think there are ways to make him distinctive. Maybe emphasise his feelings of loss and disconnection at the fracturing of the Round Table, and trying to figure out how to do the duty he has devoted his life to in the face of the structures that supported it falling apart? Unlike Lucas, Galahad has already been disillusioned, so a journey of finding hope again and what to do when your plans for your life collapse around you, as opposed to Lucas’s arc of learning to choose his own path rather than accepting the future laid out for him, might be interesting. This would also put him in contrast with Abel, who has a very decided view of his duty and sees his role as woodsman as a form of redemption, as opposed to Galahad still believing in the cause he fought for, but being let down by the structures that upheld it. It might also be an interesting foil for M!MC’s own shattered plans for his life after law school, and the way that his failed relationship has wrecked his confidence, watching them figure out where they go from here together. Also - knights! Love a knight.

I’ve already talked about Edward as a potential LI, and I do think he’s very well set-up for it. However, I do think that, assuming a Galahad route, he also provides a useful foil to the other romances on offer. Edward is an amoral mercenary with deep emotional baggage about being trapped in his human form and feelings of being profoundly unlovable. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but as an exception to the rule of M!MC’s love interests being generally strait-laced, honourable types, it might make for an interesting route, and it’s definitely a good place to start for character development. Edward is profoundly amoral, and what he misses is the bestial form that let him let loose his emotional frustrations. M!MC is...generally doing his best to help everyone around him and support people, and very rarely gets to express any sort of frustration, which would also set them up very well as foils, and as two people with no real outlet for the very stressful situations they are in, but choose to deal with this in completely different ways. I think a good writer could make it work.

#ever after academy #lovestruck

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ketchup-monthly · 3 years

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Sanders Sides D&D 2

Ooh fresh take: Jan is virge’s patron and that’s why there’s beef

Also: Jan is some sort of fae related being

Jan: i need you to do something for me Virgil: no Janus: that's not how this works!! Virgil: watch me :P

Okay so I was thinking of Patton as a cleric cuz ooh healer however, Patton as a Druid makes me so happy

I want logan to have Rage

(Also that could tie nicely in an arc about Logan learning to accept feelings)

but barbarian logan is going to be a scholar again and is gonna be smort

bc hes logan. he cant be not smart

Oh I figured he’d be the bbeg that eventually joins the party (hurt/comfort baybee!)(Remus)

he was the bbeg but then joined the party as a bardbarian or just a bard

plus, actual bard who accidentally casts vicious mockery instead of bardic inspiration

Side note: please include a scene where Remus attempts to seduce the dragon

also with this second au, i can start them at like level 5 so people can multiclass

Pat as cleric/druid

gasp logan as artificer/barbarian

janus sorcerer/rogue

because basically everything but alchemist would work well with barbarian, but alchemist feels very Logan

bc mad scientist being actually mad

alchemist logan making an experimental potion and going "here im not sure what this does but im sure its fine! someone drink it"

Remus does it voluntarily, but Logan usually tries to get Roman to drink it

Virgil will occasionally drink it when he's on his last legs and is just like.....100% done with the party

remus as a wild magic path barbarian and just fucking teleporting or doing something equally ridiculous whenever he rages

Oh my god Remus with rage would be a force to be reckoned with

You gotta describe the first time he goes into a rage really dramatically

obviously virgil is trying to "escape" his patron, Janus (really just do whatever he says to not do out of spite)

Eldritch knight roman

Feywild warlock virgil

hey so in the second d&d au, should roman and remus be actual full siblings but like remus went darkside and like romans just trying to get back at him for putting a dark stain on the family name

hey hey hey what about warforged Logan? (essentially a robot)(so like "i dont feel anything" becoming real)

okay hear me out. elf roman and elf base simic hybrid remus. so like maybe the reason remus went darkside was experimentation? so like. hes elf but special

FALLEN AASIMAR VIRGIL

virgil just transforming in the middle of a combat scenario and like his eyes turn into black pits and flightless skeletal wings appear on his back and like everyone near him has to make a charisma check and like he deals extra necrotic damage

Pat is the one human stuck in a band of misfits

so with it, roman would be a full elf, and remus would be an elf that has tentacles bc octopus

So robot logan

i meant literally he doesnt feel anything

like he has all the emotions, but he doesnt physically feel the need to like eat or sleep or stuff like that

he just.....he pretend he don't have the feelings.....but he do.....he feel so much and he hides it all in his littol mechanical heart <3

plus......if he warforged, then like.....AC huge

he stands in front of friends.....he protecc...."no, i don't have feelings, i am physically incapable of affection" but he do!! he do! he take hits for them because he do!! he care so much

Bro he spouts all this and then he uses a reaction to dive in front of someone and everyone’s just like oh

LIKE ROMAN STILL BEING MEAN TO LO BC HE THINKS HE DOESNT HAVE FEELINGS BECAUSE HE DOESNT HAVE A HEART BUT HE DOES

hey hey everyone needs to grow

and logan standing up for himself and other people stepping in and saying no stop thats not right

plus if canon wont give me roman facing the consequences of his actions towards Logan......

but also Roman learning how to properly handle his own emotions and how he interacts with others

logan who doesn't view himself as anything more than a machine to be useful to others

the party giving logan love and affection until he slowly learns his own worth as a person

Roman and Logan not getting along (maybe Roman has a Lore reason to distrust Warforged, maybe not) and slowly learning to trust each other

when Logan is feeling real down or having some issue, Roman actually comes through to help him, showing how far both characters have come

Okay yes but also can we please give Roman more confidence than canon? Like I’m sooooo sick of low self esteem being played for laughs or just being really really sad

this boy is going on a mission and will slap his brother upside the head and tell him to shut tf up remus youre not a monster just come back home and he will do it alone if need be

OKAY SO WHAT IF HE ORIGINALLY WENT ON THE QUEST JUST TO STOP REMUS ONCE AND FOR ALL BC ROMAN THOUGHT HE WAS A MONSTER, BUT ALONG THE WAY, AND AFTER LOGAN, HE CAME TO REALIZE THAT NO, JUST BECAUSE REMUS (AND LOGAN) ARE DIFFERENT, THEY ARENT MONSTERS, JUST DIFFERENT

AND LIKE IN THE FINAL PUSH TO MAKE REMUS JOIN BACK WITH HIS BROTHER, ROMAN IS PROJECTING HIS OWN FEELINGS ONTO REMUS AND EVERYONE IS LIKE WOW BRO YOU GOOD THERE, BUT ITS A BIG MOMENT FOR LOGAN, ROMAN, AND REMUS

im unsure as to how, but it happened when he was an older teen/young adult. a simic scientist either picked him (read: kidnapped), or remus volunteered (potentially to escape court life, unaware what exactly the experiment was going to do to him physically

bc also, remus and roman are royalty

so like. how best to get at the nobes/royalty/rich famous people than by turning their kid into a monster

wait, wait, wait, because i'm lowkey a sucker for this trope, but i'm not sure if it fits Remus: the experiments left him with some fairly significant physical pain/uncontrolled magical reactions. through some combo of trying to deal with that and trying find a cure for his pain, he keeps like....absolutely wrecking random towns on accident but also deliberately wrecking certain places looking for either a) vengeance on the guy(s) responsible or b) someone who can make the pain stop

SO LIKE. WILD MAGIC BARBARIAN DOING WEIRD SHIT TO HIM WHENEVER HE RAGES

AND LOGAN COULD MAYBE HELP WITH THE PAIN AND SHIT

BC ALCHEMY

Yknow, for simplification purposes, we could say the True Bbeg just gave Remus lycanthropy and Remus hasn’t managed to control it yet

lycanthropy but simic shit?

Mr. I-Don't-Have-Feelings sees the poor dude in pain and also Roman in emotional pain from seeing his brother in pain and is absolutely like "i must resolve this like right now, immediately" because he definitely doesn't hate seeing his friend suffering, or his friend's brother whom he's just met

he definitely doesn't relate at all to the idea of someone else shaping your body and absolutely does not sympathize with Remus's plight

i was thinking the grappling thing and either manta glide or the ability to breathe underwater for the simic stuff, but like he doesnt have control over the tentacles yet?

Manta glide seems like we could have fun battle scenes

he just jumps off a cliff to avoid mushy talk/dealing with his actions/roman

Roman: Remus just because you're a monster and though i wish i was an only child-- Remus, jumping off a cliff: byyeeeeee Patton: Roman, look what you did! Virgil: dammit jan what did you do? Janus: why do you think i had anything to do with that? im a fae, not a genie Logan, thinking: what an asshole. i wish i could do that

oh my god Logan always being tired mentally bc he cant sleep

Oh my gosh I love that. So Remus got kidnapped super young, (from royal family) they never found him, as a result Roman had to grow up super fast (side effect: lowkey inconsiderate and forgets to ask for others input). Meanwhile, Remus was experimented on by True Bbeg and came out with some trauma and super cool additives

yep! chronic pain and ptsd and all sorts of other shit!

so like, simic hybrids are usually created when they're adults. but what if the true bbeg decided to go younger to see what would happen, and thats why remus has chronic pain and stuff

he was still growing when his genes were spliced, so hes dealing with growth plates shifting and his body maturing and puberty and body changes and stuff

Pat is going to have a lighthearted story. Im saying that now. Hes the one without all the baggage

Sure, but his parents have to lowkey be the really kind people who are surprisingly always down for violence

everyone: multiple crises Pat: y'all need help Pat: love and affection in spades for his little band of misfits

Patton (which I think would be pretty simple, honestly he might just see danger and jump in and suddenly everyone in the party has Feelings)

Logan

Mhm. So how did he grow up? Was he just poof created? Wait

What if he was created by the king?

To make up for remuss disappearance

wait, wait....angst......he was created to fight (hence the barbarian stuff) but alchemy is his real passion

wait so like. a second son???

hes there to replace remus?

Yea! (But like in a sympathetic grief way) But that causes a bit of a complex in Roman and ergo Roman and Logan have a bit of a beef

okay so like. hes there to be a companion for roman, and like take remus' place, even though hes not actually in line for the throne?

LOGAN AS A KNIGHT

and just......the conflict of being created for a specific purpose (plus being, you know, robot and technically incapable of deviated from said purpose) vs the fact that he actually does have independent consciousness and like....wants to live life for himself

the parents made Logan a barbarian in hopes that him and Roman would be safe

okay. so logan was created by the king with the sole purpose to take remus' place as romans brother/companion, and to be his like guard? protector? and fight, but logan wants to be an alchemist and study shit

wait, wait, wait.....thinks about Asimov's Laws

he.....his first operative is protect (specifically protect Roman)

oh man. so hes literally just a shield

his second level operative is just like.....care for Roman's emotional well-being, but he doesn't really know emotions because he was kinda just spawned and nobody told him how

and he just....kind of....lets Roman treat him like garbage and take all his grief out on him because he's staunchly in denial of both having feelings or knowing how they work

Anyway Yea so Logan created by royal family in place of Remus which created angst between the two “brothers” and identity issues in Logan. Their arcs are learning how to healthily process emotions plus Roman apology and Logan commits to alchemy

So big question: why did virge make a deal?

Tricked

he gave janus his name

and instead of janus like killing him or whatever the fae do to people who break the rules of dealing with the fae, jan was like. hey. i'll give you magic, but do what i say

Janus is lawful neutral, but leans towards being selfish

hes self serving, but he has a strong set of morals and rules he follows

Tho I want to Virgil to also not be pushover so let’s say loophole happened and Jan has to stay with virge (hence why Jan is a part of the party)

okay so a couple of the rules are dont give a fae your true name and don't try to figure out their true name

what if virgil accidentally gave up part of his true name, and got stuck in the deal, but then figured out janus' true name

so in the same vein that janus had control over virgil, virgil now has more control over janus

he still gets his magic from janus, so he cant break free completely, but virgil has more freedom and can occasionally tell janus what to do or when to shove it

there should a running gag where virge can explain how he learned Jan’s true name but Jan can make something loudly censor him every time

(he learned his name bc once he heard janus practicing his evil genius voice and talking to himself in the mirror and janus said his true name)

so maybe janus sent virgil on the quest to protect a town or stop something related to remus, but virgil dragged him along

he might just be trying to protect a town thats close to a ley line, or something fae-related, and they just happen upon the whole thing

janus is selfish. but lawful vs chaotic is where he comes through, in morals vs doing whatever. janus has a strong set of loyalties to the fae, and to himself

so like....Remus is just too close to Jan's stuff and he wants to take him down

Virgil is just like....exhausted and said "fine, but if i gotta do this, you're coming, too"

or at least figure out a way to protect his place, even if it doesnt mean fully taking out remus. just moving him would work for jan

Janus: virgilllllllllll hes going to mess up my magic storage locker Virgil: Jan, its empty Janus: but its mine

Yea. Remus attacks a city away from the fae: Jan: Yknow I’m gonna sit this one out Virge: oh no you don’t, get up

Janus vs Janice

so his real name is Janus, but Virgil calls him Janice

Virgil: This is Janice Janice: with a “U-S” Virgil: mhm, sure Jan

I'm a big fan of just like any of the old theory name being various aliases for Jan

Damien, Dante, Ethan, Declan, etc, etc

#ss d&d 2

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i-dreamed-i-had-a-son · 4 years

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Alright because clearly I haven't spammed my blog with enough posts about the Mandalorian, here are my thoughts written out.

The finale has left me very conflicted. The simple fact of the matter is there won't be a resolution to this confliction until after Season 3 premiers and I see what they're doing with it from here. It's in a very raw and tentative spot for me, because it could very easily go bad from where they left it, but upon further-further thought, I've moved beyond being largely disappointed and into more of a "I hope to God they do it right" stage.

Initially, I was thrilled with the episode. I, being mostly distant from Star Wars minus the original 6 movies (which I'm by no means obsessed with) and this show, absolutely did not call that Luke would show up--or R2, lol. Grogu's tender touch of Din's helmet, asking to see his face? Destroyed me. It was a very cathartic ending and an emotional wrecking-ball. But even in my temporary euphoria, I remember being confused as to why we didn't get to see the moment when Din and Grogu were reunited.

Then I thought about it some more, and I became...much less pleased. Why didn't Din ask to go with Grogu and Luke (or at least ask where they're going)? Why did he voluntarily give him up so easily? Why did he take off his mask in front of a room full of people and a literal stranger, thus seemingly turning away from a tenet of his Creed? I was frustrated that the narrative allowed these things to happen when the issues could have easily been avoided by having a reunion scene with Grogu and Din alone before going back to the main room and by adding a couple lines of dialogue. This left me worried that Grogu's story was over, that Din was no longer going to follow the religion he has thus far steadfastly adhered to, and that the next season would be spent having him become the reluctant ruler of Mandalore (another man-becomes-leader-against-his-will story when literally all he wanted, as he stated several times, was to save his son. And he just lost him). I felt that the show used fanservice to cover over the fact that they simply didn't have a narratively satisfying ending.

Looking at it again, not all of my issues are resolved, but I understand a bit more of why they did what they did with the story arc. In all honesty, for as much as I treasure the father-son bond between Din and Grogu, the whole plot of the show thus far has revolved around Din finding a Jedi to give Grogu to. Without that "transaction" actually occuring, the previous two seasons would have felt largely pointless. (Well, isn't the real point of the series about Din learning that Grogu is his son and that he doesn't have to give him up?) That's what I'd thought, but really, if that was the plot of the show, it should have ended after season two (with some changes to the ending). Din should've kept Grogu, and that final moment of "No, he's my kid, and he's staying with me," wouldn't leave anywhere else for things to really go, so the show could end with the "dawn of a new day" feeling of potential (where will they go from here?) and that would be curtains. It would work wonderfully as an ending, and I would have been happy with it, but we have another season (which I'm happy about). This means that the plot has to continue to move forward, and that also means honoring the plot that you've already set in motion.

Additionally, I'd like to emphasize what I've seen some people write about: ultimately, it was Grogu's choice to leave. Din refusing to let him go would be acting counter to all of what he had been trying to do--he was bound by Creed to deliver the child to one of his own kind, and that is what he did. Not only would Din refusing to let Grogu go ruin the trust they had established by denying him his choice, and also effectively invalidate the sacrifices he made on his journey (although he learned to see Grogu as his son, many of the sacrifices he made came as a direct result of attempting to fulfil his quest to deliver him to the Jedi, so refusing to do so would render those sacrifices useless to some degree), refusing to let Grogu go would also mean Din would be turning his back on his Creed. He delivered Grogu safely, and let him choose (as he chose on the Seeing Stone) to go with the Jedi.

And if Din were to go with them, there wouldn't really be much for him to do besides...stand around and watch? That's all he did when Ahsoka was working with Grogu--and that wouldn't leave any room for him to grow (nor make for an interesting show). He himself has expressed that he can't train Grogu and has always treated the situation as one that he can't participate in once he gives Grogu to the Jedi. Although they are ancient enemies, so it makes sense why he wouldn't want to just...hang around, I think it has more to do with the fact that in mentorship, you need to see your teacher as a parental figure, in a way (including in Jedi training--take Anakin and Obi Wan, for example). Din wouldn't want to be a distraction, nor would he fit in in that environment. His life wasn't nearly as fulfilling before Grogu came into it, but really, from both a character and a writing perspective, the only realistic choice is for them to part ways.

Also, it is a little short-sighted to assume that the show is only as good as the Din-Grogu bond is. We now have an opportunity to get closer to Din as an individual, which could be interesting, if they keep his character consistent. I think it would be a huge mistake not to bring Grogu back (preferably next season--maybe Ahsoka is right and he isn't good for training since he is too attached to Din? Luke delivers him at one of Din's lowest moments and we get a joyful reunion?? I would take that), but I don't think it's out of line to try to explore Din's character apart from Grogu.

In fact, it might ultimately be better. If the show can prove to us that we're not just there for the bond, but for the characters and their bonds, that's infinitely superior. And the show does need to avoid getting locked into just one thing. In branching out, it's trying to establish a stronger base for what it should build on later. It also keeps things varied, which makes them interesting.

The trouble is, where they go from here is what will determine a lot of the validity in that last statement. Changing the story entirely is a big risk, but that means the characters need to stay the same, at least largely, so that the audience feels that they are watching the same show. And some of the decisions made in the finale can go either way. When Din takes off his helmet, is he honoring his son's request, but thus putting love or emotion above his faith? Is he following his Creed by protecting his child (albeit only emotionally)? Is he turning away from his faith altogether and returning to the broken, lonely man he was before, but now without his Creed to guide him? Is he proving Bo-Katan right? Does he consider those he's with to be family (as they all just saved his child), including the Jedi stranger (because Din is giving Grogu to him, trusting him to mentor him and act as his parental figure), thus allowing him to remove his helmet by Creed? Did he not think of these things at all, and simply acted because his son is precious to him? Really, what does that decision mean for Din's character? The answer ultimately won't be known until next season. The same goes for the plot about the Darksaber. Will this end up being another reluctant-hero story (with the traits of the protagonist being reworked to fit into it), or will this be a refreshing subversion of the trope? We can't know until next year. (And don't even get me started on the "foreshadowing of Grogu as evil" stuff. We had better not see that. I don't need that angst...)

The largest source of my anxiety comes from not being able to imagine how they can work with the show from here to maintain the primary aspects of why I love it. I don't want any romance (but without Grogu, will they feel compelled to add some in?) and I don't want Din to become a typical tropey figure (but with the plot about the Darksaber being set up as it is, will they have the guts to avoid that?). Most of all, I want Din to get his son back, but to walk back that decision after only an episode or two would again make everything that came before seem rather unnecessary.

In summary, then, after oscillating wildly between conflicting emotions, I am just left to say: I can't figure out how they're going to do it, but ultimately, time spent worrying is time wasted. I have to just trust that they've got some ideas. The people in charge have proven that they know what they're doing before (Chapter 15 was excellent, for example) and although they aren't perfect, it would be premature to say it can only go downhill from here--they may well have a larger arc planned out that this proves to be an essential part of. It may well be horrible. It could be great. But for now, let's just make the most of what we have.

#the mandalorian #meta #din djarin #grogu djarin #star wars #my meta posts #this was a lot to type out so i hope it gets some notes at least #please share your thoughts!#kay can i just catch my breath for a second #quality meta seal of approval #not to hype my own post up i just put that on all meta posts so that i can find them #you are a clan of two

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cienie-isengardu · 4 years

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The Development of Law and Zoro relationship: Wano, Luffy & Zoro Means Troubles…

<Part I: Before Meeting>> <<Part II: Sabaody Archipelago, The First Meeting>> <<Part III: Punk Hazard: The Alliance (A)__(B)>> <<Part IV: Dressrosa, The Breaking Point (The Plan Failed)__ (Saving Law)__(Protecting Law)__ (Birdcage, Pica and Doflamingo)__ (Aftermath)>> <<Part V: Zou, The Kindred Spirits (Traveling Together)__(Searching for Nakama)__ (Reunion)__ (Ninja-Pirate-Mink-Samurai Alliance)__(The Last Moments before War)>> Part VI: Wano, Against Emperors (The Untold Journey)__(Luffy & Zoro Means Troubles…)__(...and Law Is Not Happy About That)

Somehow the alliance got into Wano without enemy notice. There, Kinemon separated his allies into smaller teams, all with their own task at hand. Surprising, during the little flashback of that moment (chapter 909), Law was not seen when the samurai explained situation to Straw Hats:

Kinemon warned Straw Hats they “must pass yourselves off as locals and quietly, quietly go about your duties”. He gave pirates an individual roles:

➣ Zoro, as ronin, Usopp as street salesman and Robin, as geisha, were supposed to infiltrate capital and gather either informations or allies there

➣ Franky, as an apprentice, worked under carpenter who built Kaido’s mansion, in hopes to gain plans of enemy fortress, so the alliance could learn its arrangement before the raid.

➣ Law and Heart Pirates (as far as we were shown at that moment) stayed with samurais in the ruins of the Oden Castle in Kuri region and were stealing food and water from the enemy.

Chapter 918 notes Law was aware about Zoro’s role, however when and how he was informed is not clear. The lack of one of alliance leaders during the meeting between Kinemon and Straw Hats raises questions such as why Trafalgar wasn’t present and did samurai decide to keep knowledge about Zoro, Robin, Franky and Usopp and their tasks to themselves? On one hand, it makes sense. Secrecy was important to secure their plan as best as possible - a matter that will play a bigger role in the upcoming chapters; the less people knew what Straw Hats would be doing, the better chance to avoid information leak. But at the same time, if Law was informed about at least Zoro’s job, why not let him take part in the meeting? Unless he did learn about Zoro’s task after Pirate Hunter became an infamous wanted man, but about that more in a moment.

We may only wonder why Kinemon decided to keep Heart Pirates with himself, instead of sending them straight away undercover like Straw Hats. There are few reasons that could have influenced his decision:

➣ Law’s powers were useful for stealth and stealing.

➣ The two Supernovas serving Kaido - Hawkins Basil and X-Drake - actually came from North Blue, the same as Trafalgar. How well they knew each other is up to debate, but since all three went to the Grand Line at the same time, it makes sense they at least had some basic knowledge about each other. Which may be a reason why Law stayed with Kinemon instead of playing a similar role to Zoro.

➣ Another possibility is that Straw Hats could be simply better at pretending to be locals and/or had needed skills. In case of Zoro, the little details presented in manga and SBS suggest he grew up influenced by samurai culture due to his (still not explored) connection to the Shimetsuki clan.

Unfortunately, Zoro - working under the name of Zorojuurou - couldn’t continue his mission, because he killed a corrupt magistrate and most likely other samurais present at that time, thus became an outlaw. Since the knowledge about “murderous ronin” was spread in the whole country, it may explain why (how) Law learned about Zoro’s secret mission.

Wandering through the wasteland, Zoro met Luffy who finally arrived in Wano.

Luffy barely got to Kaido’s country and he already befriended a local little girl, Tama, who due to poisoned water, fell ill. Straw Hat decided to take her to the nearest village, to seek help. On his way, he met Zoro who at the same time just saved Tsuru (another native person) from bad guys. Soon after that both got into a fight with Basil Hawkins and the Beast Pirates.

Once they managed to run away from pursuit and got into the relatively safe Okobore Town, Straw Hats were noticed by Bepo, Sachi and Penguin, who observed the area from a nearby mountain on which Oden Castle was built.The mentioned Heart Pirates were worried that Straw Hats could start some troubles (chapter 913).

In the end, Heart Pirates decided to not interfere… at least until they saw that Zoro and Luffy were heading into Bakura Town controlled by Kaido’s men and immediately notified Law (chapter 914).

↪ Law was chilling out lying on the ground. It seems he likes resting (or maybe napping?) in his free time, what was already seen before time-skip, when Trafalgar lied on Polar Tang’s deck, using Bepo as a pillow. Maybe Law has problems with irregular sleep (or lack therefore) and/or using Ope Ope no Mi exhausted him so much that, like Zoro, he needs to regenerate his energy by napping/lying down?

↪ The same as Zoro, Law was surprised by Luffy’s presence in Wano but the similarity ends there. Zoro was delighted when he met Luffy and although he passed on the Kinemon’s warning, he wasn’t much bothered by how they together caused new trouble for the alliance. In contrast, Law wasn’t happy at all. He literally switched from chilling out into full stress/angry mode in less than a few seconds.

↪ Law immediately and correctly assumed Luffy was going to wreck the havoc. It seems the previous experiences gained in Dressrosa have already borne fruit: Luffy and Zoro together, in enemy land, were bad news.

↪ The most surprising thing about Law’s reaction is how he called both Luffy and Zoro as “those idiots”. Mainly because at first he was solely angry at Luffy and the prospect of him ruining the plan and then included Zoro as the potential danger. Which in perspective wasn't an irrational reaction and again, Dressrosa proved these two can’t be trusted with following any plan or common sense. Yet at the same time this sharp reaction gives the vibe that Law was for some reason angry at Roronoa (about that more soon). What contrasts with the good relationship they had during the previous arc.

Law wanted to minimize potential damage done by Luffy and Zoro but was delayed by Bepo, who suddenly felt sick due to eating fish from a poisoned river (chapter 916).

↪ Law here was fully aware of poisoned food and water, he even warned his crew about it. Surprising, Zoro didn’t have any idea about the ecological situation of Wano and both men spent the same amount of time in this country. Either Zoro did not listen to the warning of others OR that matter comes after he left Kinemon’s hideout. In case of latter, it may suggest there was little to no contact between Zoro and other members of the alliance once he became a wanted man. To be fair, Kinemon himself got sick after eating poisoned food, so the revelation about poison could not be known before Straw Hats went undercover.

↪ Another little detail, Bepo felt sick after eating poisoned fish. Zoro, who ate poisoned meat most likely for days, got only some stomach ache, but nothing to stop him from fighting. Law’s tolerance for such poison is unknown, mainly because Ope Ope no Mi would help him remove the toxin from body and, in contrast to Zoro and Bepo, he has knowledge and common sense to not eat poisoned things.

↪ Also, apparently Law has a soft spot for Bepo, the only animal crewmember - another trait he shares with Zoro who himself has a soft spot for Chopper. Trafalgar let Bepo’s sickness delay him when the situation was dire, knowing full well leaving Luffy and Zoro unsupervised for too long was asking for big trouble.

Once his crew member noted that Basil Hawkins was heading to Bakura Town and there already was a fire, Law was pretty shocked by the disturbing change of events.

Despite the pledging of Bepo(?) to not leave him behind, Law finally rushed into town. He didn’t have a clue what was really happening there but attacked the just arrived Hawkins in order to eliminate the threat. As in, eliminate anyone who could recognize him or Straw Hats (chapter 917).

➽ Law actually tried to be sneaky and covered his head with special headgear/straw hat to hide his identity. What suggests he was aware that Basil may recognize him and Straw Hat Supernovas. At the same time, Law is, well, really bad at playing undercover. On Dressrosa he wore jacked with CORAZON on his back alluding to late Donquixote Rosinante but that fight was personal matter and most likely wanted Doffy to know what the fight was all about. In Wano, he didn’t have that excuse; the fight with Kaido wasn’t his personal quest for vendetta. And yet Law’s idea of hiding his own identity was wearing a kimono with his Jolly Roger on it. Very smart. What may support the theory why Kinemon kept him with himself rather than sending undercover. Law is just bad at this gig and thinking more about it, I don’t remember any time when Trafalgar even bothered to try speak like people of Wano - something that Zoro and Luffy actually have adopted to some extent.

To take down another Supernova, Law needed using Ope Ope no Mi. The characteristic power and tattoos very soon betrayed his true identity. Law planned to take down Basil, so the man couldn’t report to Kaido about the Heart-Straw Hat pirate alliance. At the same time, Law put faith in Roronoa who knew the plan that he “wouldn’t be stupid enough to let Holdem get crushed” (chapter 918). What implies that despite referring to Zoro as the “idiot” and general pessimistic attitude, Law still assumed Zoro’s presence would be enough to stop Luffy before the worst could happen.

➽ Once again, Law was addressing Zoro as “Roronoa”,instead by his name. Which departs from information published in SBS vol. 72 explaining what Law calls the various members of Straw Hat crew. Back then, Zoro and Nami were the only two allies he called by first name instead of surname or nickname:

In the case of Nami (whose surname was never revealed), it makes sense to use her given name yet Zoro was the only one male ally Law addressed in such a way. Even Luffy, who from a narrative standpoint is the closest person to Trafalgar, is constantly called Straw Hat-ya. Why the special approach to Zoro and why change it right now? The most likely reason for the switch of speaking pattern was Law’s anger (but about that more in next chapter). Anyway, an interesting detail, how Law’s way to call Zoro is related to his mood and/or stress level.

➽ Law proved to be good tactician, but at the same it seems he always assume the worst scenario to happen. Which I guess is one of the main reasons Trafalgar is always so stressed? In contrast, Zoro usually takes bad news calmly - he doesn’t like them, but he has a habit of leaving things to luck/fate instead of overthinking all possible solutions and outcomes. The difference in planning (or lack therefore) could make Zoro and Law clash with each other albeit so far, we saw little to nothing in that regard.

Sadly for Law, Zoro did not stop Luffy from beating Holdem. He wasn’t happy that Luffy did it, but didn’t regret it either. Law, on other hand, was angry and/or stressed by the situation, especially when Basil admitted he already met Straw Hats.

➽ Again, Law thought about Luffy and Zoro as “those idiots”. To be fair, he had a good reason to be angry because of course, Straw Hats wrecked havoc that was reported to Jack - the Beast Pirate responsible for poisoning Mink on Zou - and in result, exposed alliance presence in Wano.

The fight between Law and Basil was then unexpectedly stopped by a speeding cart of stolen food. Stolen by no one other than Zoro and befriended samurai Kiku. Roronoa was nice enough to call the fighting men to get out of their way… once again, Law was shocked by the turn of events.

The fight between Law and Hawkins was stopped; Law didn’t manage to eliminate the enemy nor prevent information leakage about alliance presence in Wano. He almost was run over by a speeding cart with stolen food (another “crime” against Orochi & Kaido, which Straw Hats committed in his absence). No wonder why Law was so pissed of at Zoro.

About that more in next chapter: ...and Law Is Not Happy About That

#one piece #roronoa zoro #trafalgar law #monkey d. luffy #strawhats #The development of Law’s relationship with Zoro #zoro & law #law & zoro #wano arc #i was sad that zoro and law were (again) separated #but it is nice to see law thinking about zoro #even if just to call him and luffy an idiots XD #i hate tumblr limit that doesn't allow me to write a proper long chapter #oh well somehow i will manage... maybe #zoro and luffy can't be trusted with following plan #law seems to be better than them but alas he is bad at hiding his true self as well #i mean the jolly roger on kimono? really?

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