#bc the way the argument is presented is exactly that

[potassium-pilot]

i got reminded of the scene in post-stormblood with varis and the alliance and it reminds me of this comic every time i think about it

[dmclemblems]

fr tho, gotta love how ppl bitch about “the kingdom is problematic bc ppl are willing to die for their country and king and care about their duties”

but then you’ve got ladislava who is the same thing but turned up to eleven and has no character outside of that fact but nobody cares bc she’s not from faerghus

and you’ve got lorenz who dedicates himself to the commonfolk and would die for them bc he sees it as his explicit duty to ensure the protection of commoners to the point that if a commoner dies protecting him he genuinely believes he’s failed in his duty, but nobody cares bc he’s not from faerghus

[k2ntoss]

DIRTY LITTLE SECRET

tw ⭒ swearing, angst, couple argument, mean jason todd (he's kind of a jerk with his words but uhhhh, he's cute), jason todd x fem!reader and okayyyyyy that's everything i think and some fluff sandwiched with more angst at the end bc i can't leave this just like that

a/n ⭒ song based fanfics are my weakness, i'm so sorry i just can't stop listening to certain songs just to write something related - the all-merican rejects, dirty little secret here okayyyy

i stopped counting words, sorry lmao

jason has been a nice boyfriend, so long he has never raised his voice or got angry when there was a little problem, he has taken you out on a few nice dates but there was something off.

you knew basically nothing about his surroundings, not his family nor his friends, probably seen once any of his close class mates and before you could go to say hi he was next to you, it was almost as if he didn't wanted you near them but you tried to push it away. for over three months.

you've had enough of pretty much all of that situation, dating jason for almost a year, going on one or two dates every two months and just getting texts from him, probably a short movie night if he had any time for you and it was making you feel so little and less for him, what was the problem with taking you with his family? or asking you to hang out with his friends? because he made some time to spend a few hours with them, drink something and have fun but there wasn't place for you with them, with him.

"jay... do you think we can go to the movies this weekend?" you ask him, sitting on one of the stools you had around your living room when he was spending some of his spare time with you "there is this new movie..." you trail off, trying to get his attention.

"don't think we can do that, doll, already made plans" he looks at your for a couple of seconds with a small frown and you're thinking that maybe you are the problem, maybe you're not enough for jason and he knows it, he's nice with you and the way he looks at you, how he brushes your hair when he walks next to you before sitting on your couch.

"you going out with your friends?" you ask softly, receiving a nod and a soft hum from him "maybe i could join you, i don't know your friends..." your voice is still low, calm but there's a clear intention on it and as soon as you present the idea jason scoffs.

there something in the way he does it that makes you feel like a spark ignited inside of your chest, between a bolt of anger and a sharp pain, what was that supposed to mean?

"you don't wanna know them, trust me, princess" jason trails off, almost lying on your couch as he looked at his phone "not your kind of people..." he whispers and it makes you near explode.

"what is that supposed to mean, jason?" there's an edge to your voice that makes him sit straight, he looks at you and places his hands on his lap "it means exactly what i said, my friends are not your kind of people, why?" he shrugs, as if it wasn't that much of a big deal.

"and what is my kind of people exactly? not so interesting? not as good as you?" you start, the light in your eyes replaced by something else and jason noticed it "is your family also like that? not the kind of people i am around?"

"exactly that" he says, simply and blunt, he looks at you unamused as he crosses his arms over his chest and leans back "not your kind of people either, now stop the tantrum, okay?" and for a second you are speechless because he has never said something like that.

"why can't i meet your family? it's been almost a year, do they at least know you are dating someone?" you ask, not letting go of it just like that makes him sigh in frustration.

"why would they have to know? i don't see your point, y/n." and as soon as the pet names stop you know that he's not happy talking about this "i haven't told anyone, okay? and i don't plan on doing it, i have my reasons."

"maybe they have to know because i'm your damn girlfriend" your town grows a bit louder, not longer sitting on the stool you walk until you're in front of jason "maybe they have to know because what the hell have you've been doing the days you spend here instead of with them?" the way jason looks at you isn't helping, his eyes are fixed on the ceiling and his lips are pressed on a fine line.

"i don't want to tell them, okay? i can't see a damn issue besides you wanting everyone to know i have a girlfriend and that's not a big deal" he trails off, his hand moving in a motion that made your mood go worse.

"it is a fucking big deal, jason!" when you snap at him he turns to look at you, eyebrows raised in surprise bit it quickly changes to a expression of pure tiredness "we barely have a date every full moon, you text me whenever you remember i exist and your friends don't even know i'm your girlfriend" you number with your fingers, your voice shaky because your emotions taking over were too much.

"i do what i can, i don't have that much free days to waste my time here!" he snaps back and his words hit hard but that's just the start "i still can't get why you have to make a fuzz out of it, it's enough with both of us knowing we're dating"

"wasting your time, fine" you mutter before turning around, back facing him as you walk to your room and you can make the sound of his steps following you "it's so fucking funny because no one knows i'm your girlfriend so you get a lot of girls flirting with you and i have to deal with it but as soon as any of my friends gets too touchy with me at the campus you're calling me" and it's true, jason can't stand seeing other people so close to you and so freely because that's something he can't do and he does had his reasons.

"are you really gonna make a problem out of this?" he asks, it's like he isn't able to wrap his mind around of it, how much you wanted everyone to know that someone like him laid his eyes on you, that he liked you from all of the girls it was you "you're the only one that needs to know"

"but at least give me a goddamn reason for me to be a stupid secret, jason" you are almost crying, voice struggled and eyes burning from how much you wish things were at least a little different "is it so bad it's me who you're dating? am i not enough?" your words hurt, not just you but also him because he would love to show you off but his life won't allow it.

he won't risk you to get too deep into his shit, it's enough you deal with his presence and his absence too.

"that's not a game you would like to play, you'll find out shit you don't wanna know" he warns you, jason's voice is now stern and his eyes are no longer soft, he stands towering over you as he seems to be holding back his tongue "i can't tell anyone and you don't even try because that would be so dumb of you" he sounds absolutely mad and he is, but with himself.

jason hates this, he knows that maybe he's breaking your heart and he despises his whole being for that. he loves you and that's why he can't drag you into his world, all the pain and worry it would bring to you would be a burden you don't deserve when you're the only one who brings something nice into his days.

"you're still not giving me one single reason, i don't even know if you're ashamed or what the hell is going on" your voice breaks and he sees the tears pooling on your lashes, he wants to hold you and tell you how much he loves you but maybe he has to break you a little to keep you safe.

"i don't fucking want them to know about you, that's all! is it so hard to wrap your head around it? do i need to spell it out for you like a fucking child?" he's yelling in a way that draws your tears away, wet trails on your cheeks "it's stupid, you know? i'm wasting my fucking time here when i could be doing something else"

you see him passing his hands through his hair, desperate and frustrated "i thought this would be different but you had to decide to get on my nerves and be a pain in the ass, is this what you expect me to take with my family? a brat like you that can't take a no for an answer?"

he is cursing his name in his head, he sees how your heart shatters into pieces and the way your hands fall flat on your sides, tears falling silently through your cheeks.

"do i need to get you a damn banner to announce it? take you out so you can scream it out loud? you've got to be joking" he scoffs, jason outs a show for you. a show of breaking your heart, making you feel so stupid for expecting to be important enough for him.

"get out" your words tremble and he stops to look at you, there's a brief glimpse of regret on his eyes but it vanishes in a second. "i don't want you here, get out of my place" you point every word, crying but still angry at him. the sharp pain in your chest is making it hard to breath and it shows on the gasps you let out as he walks out of the room.

"i hope that later tonight you regret everything you've said" he hears you, his chest aching because he wants so bad to erase each word he said.

"i regret a lot of things, y/n" he says harshly, looking at you intently before he leaves. just like that you're left alone in your apartment, crying and letting yourself fall onto the floor.

night falls like that, rain pouring heavily and it muffles your sobs while you lie on your couch, hugging a pillow and hiding your face because you've been crying without rest since jason left. the headache you feel is killing you but there's no will to get up to take a pill.

on the other hand, jason drives around the city. he has been around your block a few times wondering if he should go back and hold you but he shrugs and leaves, you said you didn't wanted him there so it would have done things worse. jason also looks at his phone, thinking about calling or texting you but he decides is better if he doesn't.

until he stops thinking or at least he thinks he did, he stands outside your door with his copy of the keys on his hand and it's too late when he snaps back into reality because he's already on the doorway. it's almost midnight and the lights are all off, not even the tv is on but he listens clearly to your soft sobs and the sounds of you shifting on your place.

"i told you i didn't wanted you here" you croack, voice hoarse and raspy from how much you've been crying your lungs out. his heart breaks when he turns on the lights and sees your red eyes, puffy and still teary.

"i know... but i couldn't leave you like that" there was the jason todd you knew, his voice was soft and there was a tenderness to his eyes that always made you sigh "i said a lot of shit today and you have no idea how much i hate myself for it" he starts before walking towards you.

he shakes his head when you try to sit on the couch, making you stay still as he lets his body fall sit on the floor and reaches a hand to brush a few strands of messy hair out of your face, he sighs when you pull away refusing his touch.

"i don't wanna know, jason" he wants to kiss your forehead when you snuggle yourself a little more against the pillow but he knows it's not the right moment for it. not when he was losing you.

"but i need to tell you... there are a lot of things about me that you don't know and you are different from my family and friends, baby" his hand finds a way to ylur cheek, cupping it gently as he wipes away a few tears "and that's not bad because you're better than any of them, you're better than me anf right now i'm so damn sure i don't really deserve someone like you" his words are full of meaning, that you can feel it because jason has clear eyes for you, green pretty eyes that had always allowed you to stare into his soul to let you understand his feelings.

"i could never be ashamed to show you off but you have to understand i'm not a good person and letting anyone know how much you mean to me... i can't risk losing the only good thing i have" and it makes you feel weird, part of your brain tells you to kick him out because his words are not real.

but your heart is beating fast, the way jason looks at you and his voice feeling like a warm embrace that keeps you safe from the hard world, there's no pain when he's next to you "i don't know what you're talking about, jason, this just doesn't feel right"

"i've let you into my life, everything i am is an open book for you because i trust you" trying to calm down your words sound a bit more steady, not so broken when you look up at jason "because i love you and i want to share with you everything that i am, is it that i'm asking for too much?"

"that's not– you're not asking for too much, princess... you deserve the world laid at your feet but it's hard for me to let you into a world that you probably won't like" he says, looking away from you as if he felt shame about who he was "what if i let you in and you can't love who i really am?" his eyes bore into yours again, you can see the pain and fear on them.

jason can't stand thinking about losing another loved one because of his life.

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for breaking off a plan to get an apartment with a friend that's in a bad home situation?

Basically exactly as it sounds. Recently, an old friend and I were planning to find an apartment together. This would be really big for them, as it would mean getting out of the house they're currently stuck living in with their abusive mother, and I wanna get a place sway from my family as well (they're fine, mostly, I just need space).

However, since we started looking, nearly 4 months have passed with them doing very little to actually contribute to trying to get this done. In that time, a few things have happened.

1: The job I was hoping to get where we were planning on moving to did not pan out.

2: I thought about our time living together in college and, while it was decent enough, they are not the easiest person to live with on account of them basically always having an unshakable belief that they're just right about most things.

3: That same self-assured attitude came to a head in an argument with a mutual friend last month where they were clearly the one in the wrong, and, besides hurting someone else I care about a great deal, it reminded me how many times I've kinda swallowed my teeth, so to speak, when disagreements happened with them in the dorms. It was far from the first time this kinda thing has happened, and they've still not gotten better about it despite multiple promises to do so.

These are the things, among a few others that have nothing to do with this person, going through my mind when I decided to start looking for apartments on my own out of state. Specifically, in the state I've actually wanted to live in all along anyway. I told them yesterday where I'm at with this, and the conversation reminded just how bad the situation with their mother is and how much of a financial obstacle it presents to them trying to get out of there without help.

I don't want to just hang them out to dry, but at the same time I really don't think I can live in the same space with them again, and the way they've been dragging their feet when I desperately want to and am finally ready to get my life in gear after years of putting it on hold either bc pandemic or for other people's sakes.

TLDR: My friend and I planned to get an apartment together, they dragged their feet for months and then reminded me of how they're rather hard to live with by hurting a mutual friend over a stupid argument, I'm now looking for places on my own in the state I actually want to live in, but I'm worried I'm leaving them at the mercy of their abusive mom.

What are these acronyms?

[holographic-mars]

okok so this isn't exactly coswave related, but i love your soundwave sm. would you happen to have any hcs about soundwave and ravage and their dynamic?? btw i love your art and im eating it nom nom

YES LETS FUCKING GOOO you have no idea how much I love soundwave and cassette relationships so THANK YOU FOR ASKINGGG

Cassette and carrier dynamics are very unique and fluid depending on the mechs involved. Every carrier has a different dynamic, so it’s not always a “parent/child” “boss/grunt” or etc etc kinda dynamic.

The relationship between cassette and carrier oftentimes transcends our understanding of relationships.

For soundwave and his cassettes, the dynamic is very very close and friendly! They love eachother and protect eachother but there’s no designated caregiver—the role is often stepped into, so it’s very malleable and sort of depends on the circumstances. With that being said though, that doesn’t mean there isn’t a subtle hierarchy.

Soundwave was found by Ravage, Laserbeak and Buzzsaw in the Dead End and the four (Rav and the birds were already in a mutually beneficial arrangement) eventually formed a very strong bond. Ravage is kinda the head honcho—she’s not the boss per se (that title affectionately goes to Soundwave) but she ensures safety and security for the pack. Ravage’s approval is generally a MUST for anything to happen.

Soundwave rarely goes anywhere without Ravage. If Soundwave is present, it is an almost guarantee that ravage is somewhere close by. If Ravage isn’t available, Buzzsaw and Laserbeak will be (note: rumble and frenzy also have a strong bond with soundwave but they tend to be more independent from the carrier. They still love and protect eachother, but they’re speciality is more like the horrible roommates who help soundwave blow stuff up).

Ravage is a very tactile mech, believe it or not. She’s either wound around soundwaves ankles, perched on his shoulder, or in his lap. Touch was grounding for Soundwave during their time in the Dead End and old habits are hard to break (ie ravage refuses to stop).

Ravage grooms like a cat. She’ll wrestle soundwave to the ground to groom her face. The birds aren’t safe either. She’ll grab them out of the sky and sit on them to groom them. Rumble and frenzy are about the same size as Ravage (she’s a big girl) so she tackles them easy. Nobody is safe.

Soundwave has cat tendencies bc of ravage. His tape deck whrrs when he’s happy/content and it resembles a purr (he learned early on that it’s a calming gesture and an easy way to calm ravage down, later learning that it works for the other cassettes as well. Now it’s more subconscious than anything else). They also headbutt to show affection—a rare occurrence outside of their cassettes—but they’ll bump their head against the birds if they’re on her shoulder or gently headbutt one of the twins after a particularly difficult battle.

If Ravage is pissed off she gets petty. She’ll hide your stuff, she’ll tear stuff up, try to ‘accidentally’ trip you, etc etc. and honestly Soundwave can also get petty. They’re no better than she is. When they get into arguments it’s horrible for everyone around.

Small coswave note: ravage knew soundwave had a crush on cosmos before soundwave even did. She stalked cosmos obsessively and made note of every little way he acted around soundwave. Only the best for her kit (don’t worry, she begrudgingly approved eventually)

That’s all I can think of right now but yeah they mean. So much to me. THANK YOU FOR THE ASK I LOVE THESE AND ENJOY YOUR ART MEAL EEHEHE ❤️❤️❤️🛸🛸

[vexic929]

Hi, I'm just curious about what you meant by Barry being suicidal all through season 3? Because I never got that vibe at all, and I'd like to see where you're coming from. I feel like I'm missing something.

yeah for sure! thanks to @shrinkthisviolet and @angst-is-love-angst-is-life for helping me come up with some of these because my brain refuses to brain tonight lol

specifically, he actively plans to die at least once (possibly twice?); just after the Savitar reveal he jumps to killing himself as the solution SO fast it's alarming, I genuinely don't think he'd have done so in earlier seasons especially, he might have come to that conclusion eventually but not immediately

future Barry while not being exactly the same as present Barry clearly hasn't been taking care of himself - is he actively suicidal? debatable but probably not, he certainly is passively suicidal though wasting away in the Time Vault

Savitar, again not quite exactly the same as present Barry but Barry nonetheless, almost kills Barry more than once "I want so badly to kill you" really shows the self-loathing Savitar has and Barry is capable of

baiting Caitlin to kill him - admittedly a bit of a grey area but that icicle was WAY too close for comfort and Barry knew there was a chance that she would actually kill him

amnesiac Barry is all but the exact opposite of season 3 Barry, full of life, energy, and most importantly hope, I honestly think this Barry is one of the most compelling arguments for normal season 3 Barry being severely depressed to the point of passive suicidal ideation because everyone acknowledges that amnesiac Barry is better off at least mentally

in Duet, Barry actively steps in the middle of a gun fight, smiles as he's dying, and seems lowkey disappointed or at least a bit put out when he wakes up in the real world alive

EDIT bc how did I forget: he walks into the Speed Force in the finale with a smile on his face fully prepared to never come back from it, he's not only accepted his fate but he's relieved

there's definitely more and I fully intend to make a list during a full watch-through when I have the time

[ashsostrange]

it’s stand on business o’clock, cz i know y’all sick gw*les & p*nkflower shippers + delulu gwen stans ain’t try to run my girl bree (@breeandhermunches) off her blog… you got me all the way fucked up and ima tag this in ALL the categories. you can’t do anything about it 🤣 if you’re upset, then scroll ho. if you know i’m not talking about you, then have a great day! 🫶 if the shoe fits, then wear it.

i’m getting disrespectful. ima return the energy you hoes dished out n you better take it like some mf champs. y’all wanted to fuck around so now you gotta hear my mouth and find out. read it ‘n weep. clearing you bitches gives me life.

such a shame we’re back here, but y’all are mad, mad miserable. like, i’ve never seen a fandom so chronically online. are you even trying to mask the fact that you rarely step outside anymore…? 😬

let me making it so very clear why i’m making this post in the first place, bc y’all seem to struggle with my main concerns never clicking in your heads.

y’all have the time to sit in somebody’s inbox and complain about their hatred towards fictional ships, meanwhile the people y’all complain about stay on their pages and mind their business? 🤨 those people being US. ion recall none of us going directly to YOUR pages to hate on punkflower and gwiles. if we hate, it’s on our pages. i don’t go looking for a mf fight, that’s mad childish. y’all were riding bree’s dick like crazy. at this point, her hate for gwiles must keep y’all up at night. talk to a therapist about that. it’s not healthy. i’m gna address ALL the bs y’all be on.

so now that you know why i’m posting this, let me set few things straight for y’all.

“don’t use the ship tag to hate! 🤬🤬” the day you copyright and trademark the tag, present me with an official “tumblr etiquette” rule book or, show me proof that you own tumblr is the day i’ll stop. ima do wtv i want whenever i want, please get that thru ya hollow ass heads. y’all aren’t entitled to anything. not respect, not no damn “common courtesy,” ESPECIALLY not over dysfunctional ships/fictional characters 🤣 i don’t owe you SHIT.

some of were y’all tryna go back and forth with me at the grown ass age of TWENTY. over GWILES. a sixteen yr old vs a twenty yr old, see your life 😂😂 it’s truly alarming. go get employed. if you alr are, then call your manager and pick up some more shifts bc you clearly ain’t doing enough. if college graduation rates begin to decline, i know exactly who to come to. everything’s going up and even tho you should be standing on some mf business so you can afford the cost of living, you’re arguing with teenagers online instead. a lot of you have too much free time.

“you posted this publicly under the tag, you can’t expect people not to want to argue” yes i can! block me and scroll. we don’t have to argue. i don’t remember starting an argument? i was never on your pages. i only reblog shit when it appears on my dash. like i said, i’m not searching far n wide for no damn fight. 🤷‍♀️ nobody told y’all to bitch, whine, and reblog mine or bree’s shit. your issue is that you have no self control. you don’t know when to hold yourself tf back, so you feel obligated to reply. god forbid someone has a differing opinion. my post was never even about the flaws in miles and gwen’s relationship. i was talking about how it is disappointing to see miles’ story be reduced to a love story. unfortunately, y’all forgot to put your glasses on beforehand and read “i hate gwiles.” yes, i hate gwiles!!! but that was not the point of my post. y’all are either illiterate or trying to let off some serious steam. i’m not having any of it. maybe y’all are upset i called you delusional, but you’ve effortlessly proven my point.

this is the internet. you have the tools to avoid seeing what me n bree hv to say, so why are you throwing a tantrum like a goddamn child instead of utilizing them?? you’re not special. the world doesn’t revolve around you and what you want. people are dying n you’re worried about a hate post under a ship tag?? mind you, that was the one and only “hate post” i’ve EVER put under that fuckass tag 😭 bree will make one post about gwiles, and y’all are the ones who’ll drag it out, then call her “obsessed.”we’re doomed bc y’all are doomed.

the white mfs complaining ab the term “snow bunny”… jesus 🤦‍♀️ ts didn’t even mean what you think it meant in the first place. it was originally used to refer to female skiers. some of y’all swear up, down, n all around that being “racist” to white people is the same as racism towards black people, and it’s not. let’s use “snow bunny” and the n-word as examples:

snow bunny had an alternative use before it was used to refer to white people. there’s no significant history behind it at all, unless you count tiktok as history. the n word has always been the n word. it’s always been derogatory, and anyone will a brain would know it’s mad history behind the word. it roots in deep hatred. people continue to use this word to belittle those who are black, or use it lightly around their friends nd behind closed doors as if it’s a common cuss word. y’all’s experiences with “racism” are nowhere near comparable to the experiences black people have BEEN facing and will be facing for fucking ever. white people have and always will be seen as the superior race, therefore, you face minimal to no “racism” outside of the internet, and i’d do anything to be able to say that. don’t even @ me talking about “🥹🥹 that doesn’t make racism against white people oka—“ i don’t care. at all. drink some water. you’ll be fine.

“you guys hate women!!!” “y’all hate gwen bc she’s white!!” like, you sound so fkn dumb nd all i can do is sit and stare at you.

me nd bree are black girls. people from EVERY race and EVERY ethnicity hate black people and EVERYONE hates black girls. hell, not even black men like us. why on god’s green mf earth would we ever want sb else to feel that way??

yk what y’all need to do? y’all need to quit whining and accept the fact that bree doesn’t like gwen because of what she did to miles. it’s as simple as that. stop trying to complicate things bc you so desperately want to deem her and other people who hate gwen “racists” or “misogynists.” no. i fw gwen heavy, nd me and bree are able to coexist bc neither of us are fucking delusional and regularly touch grass 🤷‍♀️ same thing with all my other mutuals.

meanwhile, you hoes get your panties in a twist when sb calls gwen a snow bunny as if she’s a sentient being who’s going to cry over ts, like, no. your feelings are hurt? take a fucking walk! nobody has to like her.

and punkflower, oh my god 😐 i’ve never been homophobic and i never will be. i’m literally queer. i’m not about that friendly fire before y’all try and call me homophobic. my thing is, if hobie was originally supposed to be a nineteen year old, n now his age is unconfirmed, why in the hell would we go and age him down to sixteen?? all y’all wna do is ship that man with miles or write smut about him. some of y’all wanna do both!! you change his age when it’s convenient to you. if you don’t see an issue with that, then i can’t help you. you’re weird. until i hear otherwise from one of the directors, he’s 19.

ghostflower or gwiles 🙃 the reason y y’all are sobbing or wtv. i thought y’all were exaggerating when you said gwiles was your religion, but it’s looking like i was very incorrect. real talk, ion like that fuckass ship. i don’t have to and neither does anybody else. just like you lames do with gwen, you dig deep in your ass for every problematic reason possible. “you have a racial bias!!!” “you hate interracial relationships!!” the fuck?? 😭 do you cunts read what you write before you post it?? “they’re more obsessed with gwiles than we are” “they must be in love with ghostflower & gwen”

…huh? covid really set some of y’all back tremendously because it seems a concerning amount of you lack critical thinking skills. in reality, just like hating gwen, the reason we dislike gwen and miles together is SO very simple. it all boils down to the fact that gwen did miles dirt. and i’ve made a separate post, i’ve talked about why they would never work imo. when i present y’all with my logical reasoning, you dgaf! so the only thing you can do now is shut the hell up, unclench, and cope. since you wna get in your feelings bout it, fuck gwiles, n fuck you too.

y’all even got some of your own people agreeing w me, props to y’all btw 👏 it’s never you i’m talking about.

i hate that y’all made it this deep bc it didn’t need to be. this is a fucking movie. none of this is real, yet you continue to harass me and bree like we murdered your immediate + extended family + the family dog that had cancer. i find myself hoping that one day y’all will realize how dumb you sound, but then i remember some of you niggas are already grown, so it’s looking quite improbable.

and also, don’t b up in my reblogs chattin’ it up about shit i’ve explicitly stated that idc about. i won’t repeat myself because you can’t read. if this post hasn’t shown you i don’t give even half of a fuck about you or your feelings regarding ANYTHING at this point in time, then i don’t really know what will 🤷‍♀️

if i made you mad, go ahead nd suck it up fa me. we won’t be going toe to toe and debating on MY blog because you’ll be actively wasting your own time, as i am not willing to hear anyone out. it’s been that way from the start and it won’t change. if you send an anon message or any type of inbox w some bs then it’ll sit there until the end of time or be swiftly deleted. if you reblog this post trying to invalidate anything i just addressed, i won’t even give you the time of day, bc i said everything that needed to said. i was very articulate and extremely clear. know that i can’t and won’t be swayed in the slightest. we’d just go back and forth until you decide to shut your mouth or block me. so block me now. ian the one.

if you don’t get it, then you don’t fucking get it, but what y’all aren’t gna do is treat people the way y’all were treating bree just because she hates two ships + gwen stacy. you complain about how the fandom sucks like you’re not the same people who make being in fandoms in unenjoyable.

you usually have to go to a therapist and pay for reality checks. luckily for y’all, i gave you one for free! you needed to be humbled and i happily did the humbling. lil piece of advice: stop trying to force people to gaf if they clearly do not. block and move on with your life. you gon get tired one day. leave me, bree, n anyone else you bother tf alone. spend your energy trying to change people’s minds on REAL ISSUES that actually matter, not fucking spider-man.

whew, ANYWAY… i hope i never have to speak bout this again. act right in the near future n i won’t have to “invade your tags” with long paragraphs in which i set you fools straight, thank yewww! 🫶

god bless!! 💗

[apollos-boyfriend]

i was watching back the binary attacks bc i was trying to figure out what badboyhalo meant by “he found out three specific conditions have to be met for codes to spawn” (i have not.) but i DID notice something interesting during dapper’s death.

an important thing to keep in mind here is that, allegedly, the codes just want the players off the island. they don’t want bloodshed, but will kill if necessary. we’ve seen that they get more aggressive when players seemingly turn to the federation (ie cellbit), and their killing of the eggs has been largely interpreted as the players’ connections to the eggs keeping them tied to the island and/or the eggs being planted by the federation, therefore being enemies to the codes. again, their main goal is for the players to leave.

so dapper’s death took place while bad and cellbit were building the satellite, right? the satellite that, as we know, is what allows SOFIA to access information/i believe connects her to the internet? either way, the satellite is a clear tie to SOFIA, who was given to maxo by an agent that claimed to be against the federation, which is what makes this attack interesting to me. because yes, an argument can be made that the code just attacked because dapper was there, but that’s still. weird. sure, dapper’s there, but the players present (bad and cellbit) are building something to get out. they’re not being complacent. they’re doing exactly what the codes want—trying to find a way out. so why would the codes choose that time to attack? a time where the players are aligning with the codes’ ideals to a T. all of the other attacks i looked through were benign moments—roier and bobby were exploring, tallulah and phil were hanging with other players, so on and so forth. none of them were done at a time the players were so obviously attempting to escape. so why was this one different?

unless the codes didn’t know. unlike cellbit’s betrayal, which was loud and in everyone’s faces, SOFIA’s presence is, mostly, kept on the down-low. they don’t refer to SOFIA by name outside of the base if they can, and the projects surrounding SOFIA (the satellite, the antenna) are kept as secret as possible. it’s very likely the codes didn’t know what they were building that for, which leads to two things:

the codes, unlike the census bureau (who’s always watching), are not omnipotent.

either the codes don’t know of SOFIA, or they know exactly what SOFIA is, and her true identity is that of a federation plant (willing or not)

that second point raises another possibility: the codes were fully aware what the satellite was for, and additionally, fully aware what SOFIA’s origins are. this theory erases the first point entirely because that would mean they’re omnipotent, but different theories and all that.

the day maxo is attacked by the codes is day 56. day 56 is also the same day as dapper’s death, and the same day the satellite began construction (i believe. the wiki says this was the day the antenna began construction, but i think it just got things mixed-up). two days before that, on day 54, he’d finished construction of SOFIA, and began to feed it information. maxo’s attack is still a huge mystery to us. he was doing everything right! he was trying to get off the island! he built SOFIA, he was gathering information to give her so they could leave. why would they go after him when he was just doing the very thing they wanted him to?

unless SOFIA wasn’t given to him by an anti-federation spy. unless SOFIA was planted by the federation, and the codes know that. unless they attacked him and dapper to try to stop SOFIA’s construction/continuation. unless the players have been playing into the federation’s hands all along, only under the false pretense that they’re getting answers, when in reality, they’re just being fed the federation’s lies in a different flavor.

[danrifics]

Yeah like saying it in past tense isn’t lying… but it also doesn’t confirm anything in the present directly…. So it’s beneficial to him. However in my mind him confirming they ever were romantic at all is a confirmation to what’s happening now bc of the usual arguments

exactly this, like if you think logically there’s no way they’d firstly live together in a house they bought together and secondly even mention the past at all if they were currently not something

like that’s why i never understand why people still question it, cos like if there was no relationship then dan would literally have no reason to even bring it up especially in the way he brought it up in BIG

[juni-ravenhall]

sso vs the concept of good gameplay. yeah its another fucking book length post >:3

thoughts from someone with a brain full of what good game design means and tons of years of studying and analysing that topic etc, bc of game design being one of my main interests.

basically the major thing i want to say about the hollow woods update aside from "yay forest kinda pretty :)" is that most of it doesn't really consist of what i would call gameplay. this is ofc something u can argue back and forth that im also open to, bc respectful analytical discussion is healthy.

the firefly stuff id personally call something more like "satisfaction play" than gameplay (idk if there's a widespread term that anyone else made up already). there is zero challenge to gathering fireflies - it's on the level of poking a glitter slime simulation app. it might feel satisfying to collect them, but there is no practised skill needed, no thinking or planning or anything. so i don't consider this "gameplay", but "satisfaction play" in itself isn't a bad thing, either. it's not that "gameplay" would be inherently better than "satisfaction play" in every case.

the puzzles are gameplay, i think - not very challenging gameplay (the answers are right there as soon as the puzzle is presented), but it *is* arguably gameplay, since we do call puzzle-solving "gameplay" in general. there is some argument there to be made about what a "puzzle" really means, and what is a simple "request and task" rather than a "puzzle", or what "knowing a real life fact" (what is 180 degrees?) versus "having to figure something out using information available inside the game" might mean for how we view what is or isn't a puzzle. but that's not specific to sso at all (a question for tons of various "puzzles" as seen in tons of various games).

there's nothing wrong in itself with satisfaction play, or with easy puzzles. sometimes that's exactly what an audience wants. but sso has a bigger issue, in that the main gameplay until now has been races (or courses, tracks, but let's say races) and that those races are not especially well designed. that there is very little of really challenging, fun, satisfying, rewarding gameplay in sso - in the terms of what people usually expect from videogames (of the gameplay-based type, not satisfaction play-based).

don't jump to conclusions here, but: i often make a comparison to mariokart, a game with a primary race mechanic. i used to play mariokart a lot because it was just really fun. it was fun alone or with friends or strangers, and it was fun to try to beat my best score, and it was fun to explore different ways of beating the same track. when you design a game, you have to think really heavily about: is the core gameplay loop fun? what makes people want to play this? to *re*play this? does it feel satisfying and exciting? is it better or at the same level as its competitors? what kind of things appeal to the target audience? and so on.

somehow sso has never felt like mariokart (except that one rainbow race, obvs), and i don't mean that sso could just "copy mariokart", this isnt the point. what i do mean is that there has to be a way to make your racing mechanic (if it is a primary mechanic of your game!) actually fun, engaging and challenging in the right way - the good game design way, not the clunky, frustrating and broken way. (yes, i know the engine is spaghetti garbage. no, i don't think that's a get-out-of-jail-free card for every problem that sse has.)

they made some progress with this when they added a completely out-of-place, more challenging race in one of the more recent story quests (i forget exactly when that was, but the race was in hollow woods). the problem then was that within the context of sso and what they have taught the players about their game, this race was thrown at us with no preparation for its challenges, which is bad game design. you want to introduce your player to different challenges and allow them to practice and learn, which didn't happen when we jump from "races with basically no skill needed to pass" to "a race with new things happening everywhere you need to react to while also successfully following a new path" out of nowhere. the intent was good - more challenging and exciting, dramatic races - the execution wasn't great.

they also made some progress with this when they revamped a few of the champs. the revamps aren't perfect, but they're good, and it was a good step towards improving core gameplay mechanics, that not only are genuinely enjoyable to many players but also *fit into the theme of the game* (as in, beating others at horse sports is a common theme within the equestrian theme). (i'm personally in shock that we don't have more champs across the map since all of these years, and that they aren't better already, since it's one of the most "regular videogame quality" content this game has and it shouldve been relatively easy to add more as well as maintaining and improving what was there).

so, back to the new valedale stuff.... sort of. there have been some puzzles in sso before, and some random gameplay (the click timing of searching for gold). the stuff we've had before: it's usually very basic puzzles and random gameplay, partially on behalf of that - for a long time - there doesn't seem to have been that much resources put into fighting with the engine to create new things that weren't in the code before, and partially because of a view held by some people at the company that games for young girls don't need to have any actual well-designed challenging gameplay, and that it's better to make it ridiculously easy so that nobody ever really loses or gets stuck on anything. you don't have to practice to beat any of the races - you might have to practice to get a top score or win a champ, but none of those are required for progress. similarly, there wasn't any real challenge that i remember to the absolute majority of non-racing quests, either. you might have to hit a thing with the right timing once in a while, but it's always easy (other games do this too - see QTE in certain AAA games!), or you might have to remember a number or a word for a minute and answer a question or type in a code correctly.

more or less everytime that there were puzzles in sso, they held your hand through it - whether you wanted to or not. the same is true for the rune puzzles, which have their solution blatantly in front of you as soon as they load. there is no changing actual difficulty level to make it more fitting to the player (which doesn't necessarily have to be a literal level setting - it can come organically, such as giving extra explanations, or slowing a timer down, after a player has failed a task 3 times, etc). yes, you can make the rune puzzles more complex in some sense - a bigger grid, or choosing the type of moves you are worse at - but the solution is always right in front of you, regardless. they hold your hand whether you like it or not, by the type of puzzle that they introduced.

races in sso have a "gold, silver or bronze" system, but we don't actually see that the races have been correctly playtested to properly reflect what a time worthy of each medal should be, and we also don't really gain anything from reaching any medal. i never feel a thing about getting this or that medal, because they mean nothing. it might be a good thing that we're never asked in a quest to "complete this race with a gold medal" or "complete this race under a certain time" or "complete this jumping course with no faults", since that could lock some players out of completing quests (while this is the case for most other games, there is also an important discussion happening around accessibility in game completion).

there are ways to make the medals in races matter, feel accurate, and feel rewarding. there are ways to make races more challenging or more interesting without just being more clunky or frustrating. there are ways to do that while keeping them more or less grounded in reality, and ways to do that while incorporating non-realistic elements that are fun and feel fitting (remembering that this is a game with magic and fantasy from the start). they could have added faults to jumping courses forever ago, they could have added dressage forever ago, and improved on gameplay like pole bending and barrel racing, and so on, and all while allowing players at all skill levels to still complete tasks and complete races, but also allowing players to challenge themselves for rewards.

if the core gameplay - around races and championships, around horse care, horse bonding and horse training - or around magic and protecting what's dear, or around rescue missions with the rangers, or tons of other stuff i can think up that would fit this game - if that stuff felt like actually well designed gameplay, something fun, not frustrating and buggy, challenging in the right ways and rewarding. if all that was done well, then adding some "satisfaction play" with fireflies or some simple puzzles with blatant solutions wouldn't be as easy to criticise.

the closest thing we got to challenging gameplay that you can really clearly *lose* at - that there is a risk and a skill involved - were some of the druid training missions. they still suffered from some clunky frustrations and non-ideal design decisions, but it was an attempt at more regular gameplay (among the non-racing gameplay). comparing the new gameplay in valedale to the druid training, you can see that the risk of failure has gone down a lot or been removed completely, rather than being built upon any more. they also didn't continue to update druid training in any way afaik or to build upon that foundation for other gameplay. (i'm open to that druid training may have been too difficult for a small subset of players, and that's a valid discussion. but i also think it was optional?)

i don't have a really nice tidy thought to end this with, and im really sleepy rn and going to bed. but the overall point is that if sso had other, well-designed and well-functioning gameplay that felt satisfying and rewarding for players, the flaws of the new valedale stuff would be less glaring. as things are, the lack of challenge and the lack of fun gameplay are really glaring problems with it, as well as the lack of reasonable rewards. (it makes very little sense that you have to purchase the items you unlock, but this is the same company that charged whatever x starcoins it was for those recoloured balloon pets, so.)

[gnomeniche]

[banging pots and pans] torment night! it's dhmis theory torment night!

TONIGHT i am TORMENTED over: the implication from 6 that duck and red were somehow created just for this world to watch over yellow, who is probably more of a real person than them

(whatever that means in this context. we don't have enough information about the nature of everything yet. bear with me please)

the evidence presented to the court (under the cut bc this got way longer than i expected):

WHY are there no versions of YELLOW on the higher floors? WHY do the big and bigger versions of his friends say they've been waiting for him to learn alongside them?

the line about them no longer being in charge of him... implying that at some point there was an assumption that those two were caretakers or watchers-over, even though they didn't act like it? they mostly acted like friends. like really condescending jerk friends who still cared about him, but mostly like friends. i know we joke about them being parents to him, but they don't really act it.

this is more an argument from symbolism but: only yellow has batteries and is thus is able to move autonomously from an electrical outlet, which obv ties in thematically to his revelations about the weirdness of the world while his friends are left behind. what does that then say about the guys without batteries? does that imply the other two are less autonomous and more linked to this world?

we do not see any replacements in lesley's drawer for anyone but duck, so DUCK at least is most likely to be artificial, given how rigid he tends to be in behavior and how he questions things least alongside this little visual tidbit.

"but op!" you're not asking, "we know that duck doesn't usually question the world and mostly just gets annoyed with it, but what about RED? doesn't he always feel out of place? what about him escaping in the original series?"

my answer: he never actually escaped in the original series. going back and watching original 6 after the new series, the "real world" that he is in... does not seem quite real. it falls away so readily. everyone in it is just another version of him. he doesn't even free the three of them; pulling the plug just resets the world. it might just be a higher layer of the world they're in.

as for feeling out of place: i think an artificial being that gains sentience can and will feel that

and now we get to what torments me so much: if yellow's tragedy is that his existence IS somehow more than the simulation but he's had that taken from him, and if the other two guys are both artificial and their existences are dependent on this world, it make both of them tragic in opposite ways. duck's tragedy is being an artificial being who simply cannot be anything more. RED'S tragedy is being an artificial being who so strongly WANTS to be something more.

and the thing! is! i think that they're gaining more autonomy as they spend more time existing and interacting with each other and yellow. if you watch the three guys' character progression from 1-5, just like in the original series, you can see the three of them start doing more and more and more stuff on their own besides just Sitting There and Receiving The Lesson. and just for red and duck's part, ofc there's That Scene between them in 6; when the lights are off and the world seems shut down, they still move, and they express more vulnerable feelings than normal. (is there meaning to how they are cut off before they can talk about how they feel about yellow? is there meaning to the fact that their demeanor completely shifts the moment a bit of light re-enters the room? probably. hard to say exactly what at this point though).

i fully accept that this theory may be wrong. compels me though. and by compels me i mean it has me on the ground writhing

[as-i-watch]

Episode 5 veredict:

5/5 Straw Hats 👒👒👒👒👒

Nothing is 100% perfect, but using decimals is for cowards bitches

The good:

Baratie is the best set so far hands down

God i love Taz's Sanji. He had three lines of dialogue but his was the first straw hat that inmediately felt like the charecter

Also Zeff, i have nothing negative to say, perfect Zeff, perfect with Sanji. Perfect duo.

Garp. I fucking love this Garp so much. Him and Luffy just screaming at eachother and throwing canon balls at eachother from their ships was so funny. I want to see where they go with it but introducing Garp this early was a really big move for the LA and i think so far it payed off.

MIHAWK. Not even necessary to point out how perfect the costume is but Steven Ward got the tone of the charecter perfectly fucking right!!

Sure they deleted Don Krieg but i actually didnt mind it in the end? There was no actual 'bad guy' but i liked it. I thought all episodes now would follow the syrup village format of stablishing the villain in the first ep, ending with a cliffhanger and the next ep had the full third act kinda battle. But the plot needed to slow down, they needed to give more time for the crew to bond and Baratie first half is the perfect moment to do that, and also an opportunity for the rest of the crew to get to know eachother without Luffy as a conduit (he was busy being a busboy). So yeah, i dont mind they didnt even introduced Krieg this ep as the villain of the arc, bc we got Zoro and Nami playing drinking games, Luffy and Sanji talking about dreams in a quiet moment at the kitched, and drunk Usopp busting some moves.

Oh god Mihawk's and Zoro's fight. It was almost exactly like in the anime, and i usualy hate frame by frame replications in adaptations of this kind, but that fight was iconic and perfect, they knew they didnt have to mess with that. But not only that, it was perfectly executed. It managed to capture the same emotion as the anime (something that other key moments so far fail to get it right spcially in backstories and flashbacks)

Again, kudos to Mackenyu for all the sword fight, holy shit they are becoming my fav things in the show

Ehh could'e been better:

There were only two moments in this ep that made me go :/

Luffy's argument to get Zeff to accept the IOU. Luffy never cared about status and what being King of the Pirates would mean, he dont care about having hand or the benefits the title would bring him. Pulling that card felt very strange, the most natural thing for Luffy was to just stare at Zeff dead in the eye and just say he's broke af

Nami not leaving. Stealing the ship and leaving them at Baratie was huge deal and what prompted they way into Arlong Park. But more of a plot point it was huge for Nami's charecter, bc she was still trying to convice herself that she hadnt become friends with those idiots, bc she still hated all pirates, bc she still tried to present a cold 'i dont need no one' kinda facade. But LA Nami had already admited not only that she was friends with the boys but also that she was part of the crew. Thats ok but now the issue is that her stealing Merry makes little sense, and even leaving at all makes little sense. Dont get me wrong, i love this Nami and i like the direction they gave the charecter, but i think maybe they neglected a bit her own personal growth and inner conficts, which is what sets te base for everything that happens to her at Arlong Park later on

[wackymaci]

Maci Wiki Snips - the entire backstory - part two!

(Part one here!) [part two!] (part three here!)

bc who tf knows if I’ll ever really finish wiki and, well, this is all written!

akaaaa

Pre-canon events & backstories: This section contains information about Maci from before the canon Elysium’verse began - events that have taken place essentially “offscreen,” but are still canonical, and even crucial, to Maci’s history. Presented as a short biography… into narrative story.

copypasted again! still very long and still an entire STORY, of course picking up in the very next section following the previous post.

CW: Thanatos. THIS IS TRULY AN EXCRUCIATING READ (it was also an excruciating write) - physical-emotional-sexual abuse, violence, etc etc etc - PLEASE PROCEED WITH CAUTION.

we (all of you allowed on this blog) basically already know the whole gist of Maci and Thanatos’ past (although I know there is one Specific Detail in this that I have NOT shared before that is going to make you all Gasp) - but since this is a very detailed summary of their full entire story it is of course horrific. s. sorry in advance. WELL.

So without further ado and wincing through reading this the entire way -

Ages 17 to 20... Thanatos.

Maci was now 17, and was being eaten alive by gnawing desperation, but she’d circled back to reminding herself that at least she was pretty. This was something she felt she could cash in on while she waited for Thanatos to realize she was available.

Without telling anyone what she was planning, that winter Maci gathered an insane sort of press conference in the Underworld and announced to the crowd that she was willing and ready to have sex with anyone who would have her. The audience of Chthonic entities did not actually seem to mind the thought of taking the virginity of a teenager clearly in the midst of a manic breakdown, but Maci's announcement was at first met with silence and hesitation, for if this was some sort of trap laid by the royal family, surely anyone who touched her would be subject to the wrath of the King and Queen. While they were slowly realizing that Maci was in fact completely serious - though again, clearly, in the middle of some sort of episode - Maci's flirty speech was interrupted by Thanatos.

Thanatos was always discreetly monitoring Maci for his own ulterior motives and he had been in the crowd that had formed. He was alarmed – not over Maci’s visibly waning mental health in this moment, but merely at the thought of “the ultimate prize” he had spent so much time carefully shaping and grooming giving herself away to anyone who wasn’t him. On the spot, Thanatos decided that he couldn’t risk anything or anyone getting in the way of everything he'd planned for years and seized the opportunity.

Thanatos appeared next to Maci and made a show of concerned outrage, beginning a hushed argument between them in front of the grumbling crowd until Thanatos told her that he’d keep her safe by sleeping with her himself. Finally stunned into acquiescence, Maci allowed him to teleport her with him back to the palace. Once they were alone, she lashed out at Thanatos for making fun of her, but Thanatos (who knew exactly how to talk to her and what she wanted to hear), assured her that he wasn’t joking. He told her that sure, doing all of this was… unhinged, but who was he to stop her from doing whatever she wanted to do? She was the Princess, after all. And if she was dead-set on sleeping with random people – sure, why not, but also… why not let that first random person be someone she knew and trusted, instead? Tearfully, Maci confessed that she could not possibly allow him to have sex with her out of pity, for she was in love with him, and always had been. And Thanatos, playing her like a fiddle, replied that he’d always loved her too - that was all it took.

Maci and Thanatos began to date, and Thanatos insisted they continue as an open relationship to allow Maci to meet her goal of sleeping with as many people as possible. The sex addiction that would follow Maci for the rest of her eternal life well into the present day (and never resolved) began here, as she was instantly intoxicated by the rush of endorphins and easy attention that came with. Meanwhile, Hypnos acted weirder than he ever had now that Maci and Thanatos were together, perhaps, in Maci's opinion, on the verge of a nervous breakdown. She chalked it up to jealousy (at Thanatos’ expert assessment) and paid him no mind.

Thanatos hit her for the first time about a month and a half in.

When it happened Maci burst into flames and threw him out; he didn't argue and retreated to his home in Tartarus. Days later, when she could no longer stand being alone, and felt that the string of anonymous sex she was having was no longer a sufficient band-aid, Maci sought him back out and demanded answers. Thanatos was all syrup sweet apologies, promising it would never happen again and swearing he had no idea what had come over him. Desperate to bury this and move on, refusing to acknowledge the glowing red flags and with no one else to turn to, Maci had Thanatos swear an unbreakable Stygian oath that he would never hit her again. He did swear this on Styx as asked. This was in fact the only time he would ever hit her through the rest of their relationship.

A few days later, Maci was with Thanatos when out of nowhere his mood turned suddenly cruel, and he began to neg her with sharp barbs and personal insults. Maci was successfully triggered into anger, her emotion-fueled powers setting ablaze again. But this time Thanatos was ready, armed with a theory he had been working his way up to testing: immortal deities did not need oxygen to function – but fire did. He strangled her until the fire went out, and Maci found herself choking literally beneath him, in a state of shock as Thanatos assumed the upper hand. As he finally dropped all his pretenses, Maci at last met the real Thanatos.

Over the next few days, weeks, months, Thanatos carefully outlined their new dynamic. He explained he was in love with her; he’d always been in love with the blind adoration and worship she held for him, though now he loved the look of fear in her eyes much more. Maci tried to break up with him – he refused. That wasn’t up to her. When Maci sought out Hypnos, he followed her to him with his scythe, and revealed, as Hypnos sobbed and bled, that Hypnos also didn’t make decisions of his own.

Maci couldn’t process the cruelty that was being inflicted upon her by her best friend, the love of her life, the only fucking person who had ever seemed to care about her. In fact, Thanatos seemed to enjoy reminding her that there was no one else beyond him. It was springtime by now, and Hades was not about to notice that anything was amiss in Maci's personal life. It was the time of year that Hades hardly noticed she even existed. When Thanatos began to wield his scythe against her too, Hades did not spare a second glance at the gory slashes Maci barely hid, proving Thanatos smugly right.

But though she was horrified to admit it, during these early months Maci was still in love with Thanatos, and she also couldn't stomach the thought of solitude. She was crippled by a fear of abandonment that had festered and grown by this time in her life. Thanatos plied her with niceties and the attention she craved, taking pleasure in the way he could easily dictate the rise and fall of Maci’s hopes, and she remained wrapped miserably around his fingers even when his faux kindness turned viciously cruel. She told herself over and over that at least he was better than no one. He also wasn't keeping her prisoner in the formal sense, and the terms of their open relationship still stood. Publicly, Thanatos still acted as the Underworld's darling, and they both knew no one would believe her if she tried to tell anyone what was happening. In her spare time, Maci numbly took solace in endless random sexual escapades, grasping after any fleeting moments of pleasure and affection that she could manifest.

This all went on, though by the next year, Maci age 18, her adoration for Thanatos had at least finally faded. Maci was far from the docile plaything that he was trying to force her into being, and she found the indignant energy to snap back; verbally, physically. Thanatos could overpower her every time, and everything was worse when he was angry, but she felt that it was worth something to piss him off, at least. The gravity of the nightmare she was living in began to sink in whenever Maci was alone with her thoughts, so she did everything she could to avoid ever being alone. When she was not with him, she distracted herself by seducing anyone across the Underworld, building a new reputation for herself that she felt vaguely proud of. She spent all her time in random beds or with Thanatos and was rarely at her home palace - and whether or not her parents noticed that she was a touch more withdrawn, a touch angrier, a touch cagier; whether they had heard the rumors about her activities; Maci never knew, as neither of them ever addressed her about it.

She also spent more time with Hypnos. He had always been a part of Maci’s life as her second best friend, but it was only now with the first spot open that Maci really started to pay legitimate attention to him. Eventually at Maci’s insistence, Hypnos admitted to her the scale of which Thanatos had been terrorizing him for their entire lives. He also confessed that he’d suspected Thanatos’ plans for her and regretted that he hadn’t tried harder to get her (or anyone prior) away from him before it was too late. Maci was stricken with the realization that Hypnos had been truly at her side while she had taken him for granted. Bonding through their mutual abuse, they began to lean on each other more and more when Thanatos was not looming over their heads. Eventually, Maci pushed their deeply trauma-bonded friendship into something more, and Maci and Hypnos began to date, secretly, behind Thanatos' back.

He found out, of course. It was at least a year later (Maci now 19 years old) that he finally acted in response, though Maci suspected he’d known for much longer before. Thanatos was always annoyed each time he caught the two of them together innocuously, but the level of anger he reached when revealing he knew their relationship was more than platonic was beyond anything he’d ever shown. Unfortunately, it was not difficult for Thanatos to twist this new dynamic back under his control. As an act of humiliating punishment, he forced Maci and Hypnos together; each terrified that the other would be hurt, they had become each other's biggest weaknesses. On this night, Thanatos used his scythe to slit Maci’s throat, nearly decapitating her.

Gods cannot die, and even what would normally be considered a grievous injury could eventually knit back together over time. In unimaginable pain, barely even able to speak, Maci was now left as prisoner tossed within Thanatos’ Tartarus cave, though he did not come or go and had whisked Hypnos away with him. Maci’s worst fear was to be alone, after all, and this was a punishment. The wound Thanatos had slashed into her healed tortuously slowly - when it was eventually “healed” enough for Maci to collect herself and leave, she disguised the horrific injury with a scrap of black fabric torn from her own chiton, tied around her throat like a choker. This black choker accessory would become part of her signature look forever through the modern day - though today that scar is only noticeable under close scrutiny, faded from time.

Not knowing where else to go, she looked for Thanatos, hoping at least Hypnos would be with him, and Thanatos promptly collected her back under his wing. During this second wave of their “relationship,” the occasional manipulative kindnesses he had sometimes tossed to her were no more. Thanatos was now bitter and cruel to Maci all the time. The resistance Maci had spit back upon him during those early years was also fizzled away - Maci quietly disassociated through each day. Thanatos' levels of physical violence escalated to include the occasional breaking of bones in addition to his ever-present scythe, and he now forced Maci and Hypnos together often. They still secretly clung to each other whenever they could, but both had numbly accepted that there would be no reprieve from this and Thanatos' constant surveillance. The passage of time was a blur. In public, Thanatos was somehow still all smooth charm, and though he was always flanked by a trembling Hypnos and an uncharacteristically docile version of Maci, no one ever guessed the truth.

The scope of Thanatos’ abuse came to a final crescendo sometime after Maci was 20 years old (maybe even beyond that, as she had reached two decades and stopped counting her immortal years). Unbeknownst to Maci, Thanatos had secretly procured a poison that he believed could strip a deity of their immortality - this had always been a long-time dream of his. Though Hypnos had grown up listening to Thanatos talk about this impossible goal, he was floored when Thanatos bragged to him exactly how his relationship with Maci would soon come to an end.

Hypnos had never stood up to Thanatos before, but he knew that he could not let this happen. As Thanatos cornered Maci alone to insist that she drink the glass he’d prepared for her, both Maci and Thanatos were equally shocked when Hypnos burst between them and shattered the poison in the nick of time. While Thanatos was frozen in disbelief, Hypnos breathlessly explained what had almost just happened to her... and Maci's state of disassociation flickered. No deity had ever died before. The sheer, insane, terrifying gravity of the Fate that she had missed by mere seconds crashed upon her as a weight heavy enough to launch her back into her senses. Then Thanatos snapped back into his senses, too.

He descended into an unhinged frenzy of rage and obscenity and lunged to hack violently at Hypnos, who was instantly overtaken. The scene unfolded before her in what felt like slow motion. Staring frozen in shock, it was here that it dawned on Maci what was happening and had happened; what Thanatos was doing to Hypnos and had done; what Thanatos had just tried to do to her; everything that Thanatos HAD done to her. Again she was snapped back to sudden reality. Maci, shoving down the fear that had consumed her for the past few years, forced herself between the twins and exploded.

Though Thanatos was in an uncharacteristic state of wild madness, redirecting his scythe wildly as Hypnos stumbled out of reach, Maci was now fueled by almost four years of her own stifled fury and she fended him off as a blazing inferno. Successfully forcing Thanatos back, Maci urged Hypnos to flee to the palace and bring back help. He returned with Persephone, who only understood what Hypnos had been trying to frantically explain in the throne room once she saw the scene of violence still unfolding. Infuriated, she peeled Thanatos off her daughter with an endless cascade of vines summoned from the underearth. The veneer of normalcy Thanatos always put on in front of everyone was shattered, completely gone even in front of the Queen herself, and he howled and fought as he was restrained. Restraining Hypnos too for good measure, Seph rushed to Maci, who now extinguished and collapsed.

And then it was over.

The immediate aftermath of Thanatos

Thanatos and Hypnos both were collected to the palace as prisoners (despite Maci’s insistence that Hypnos had nothing to do with this – they were known for being inseparable, and Seph wanted to be safe rather than sorry at this point. Hypnos did not argue), and before a court made up of the King, Queen, and the Primordial Titan-goddess Nyx, summoned as Thanatos and Hypnos’ mother, Maci finally revealed the truth, leaving no details out.

The list of shocking accusations would have seemed almost impossible to believe if Seph herself had not witnessed Thanatos at his worst. In fact Thanatos, even while held now within the constraints of thorning vines, was no longer bothering to hide his chilling demeanor. As the three elder divinities listened to Maci explain the sequence of events with Hypnos timidly chiming in when prompted, their reactions varied. Nyx seemed… appropriately horrified, but strangely did not protest the descriptions of Thanatos’ behaviors. Seph was visibly furious and heartbroken, devastated that Maci had gone through this, especially without anyone realizing. As for Hades – at first, he managed to be skeptical, but the evidence of Thanatos’ crimes in Maci and Hypnos' clear injuries could not be denied, as well as Seph vouching for what she had personally seen. Staring next into Thanatos’ unrepentant icy glare, Hades too settled into anger that such a betrayal of the royal family had occurred.

Maci had chafed at the fact that her word alone was not enough for her father to unconditionally support her, but by the end of this conference, it was still clear that something needed to be done, and all eyes turned to Lord Hades to announce the punishment that Thanatos should face. But Hades suddenly seemed troubled in a different way, and after a period of terse silence, he unexpectedly requested to speak to Maci alone. He sent everyone out of the throne room and Maci, with some anxiety, faced her father one on one.

Hades was quiet for a long time. He solemnly began to explain to her that since Thanatos was a Death God, one of only two in eternity’s existence, he did not think there was anything he could comfortably do to punish him, lest he risk the collapse of the functioning of the Underworld. Then, as Maci listened in dull horror, unable to believe what she was hearing, Hades turned on her, exasperation and frustration in his voice. He demanded to know how could she choose to get involved with this situation, knowing Thanatos was essentially untouchable? What exactly did she expect him to do to fix this now? Hades turned vicious, falling back into their pattern of relationship after all this time - had she done this on purpose to make a scene and be the center of attention again, wasn’t that just oh so typical of her? And for that matter how dare she prostitute herself across the Underworld, making a fool out of the King? He spat that he had always assumed she could take care of herself, but now it was clear that she was not capable of it, and again, what did she possibly expect him to do now that she had ruined her own life, and allowed Thanatos to take advantage of her stupidity?

Though Hades' words were callous, it almost seemed as though he had not yet fully made up his mind on what to do, or not do. For once, Maci did not respond to Hades’ provocation with matching vitriol. Instead, with another piece of her shattering inside, Maci tried to plead to Hades' sensibilities as her father and not just the King, begging him not to do this to her. But the longer Hades went on without responding, the more Maci's temper began to boil, rising in sheer desperation even while tears welled in her eyes. Finally she snapped at him that it was some move to send everyone away first, lest Persephone find out what a heartless fucking monster he was - the second the words were out of her mouth, Hades' gaze turned ice cold, and Maci knew she had sealed her own fate.

He reconvened their conference. Before Hades could issue his final decision, Nyx had the quick audacity to address them and plead for mercy for her son (just the one, ignoring the other who had suffered at his hand). Maci never knew whether Hades’ decision was drawn from this final request from the influential Nyx, or from her own last conversation with him; either way to the shock of everyone gathered including Thanatos himself, Hades formally announced that Thanatos would be free to go.

Ignoring Maci sobbing next to him, Hades issued a proclamation to serve as a restraining order, barring Thanatos from interacting with her ever again. This would serve as Thanatos’ singular punishment. Then, ignoring the furious disbelief of Persephone on his other side, Hades went on to issue a further proclamation – citing Maci’s clear inability to responsibly handle herself, effective immediately until further notice the Underworld’s population as a whole would be ordered to embargo her, and in fact anyone caught interacting with her would be personally imprisoned. As Maci wailed and screamed and pleaded to deaf ears; as Seph sat disgusted and outraged at her husband but unwilling to override him; as Thanatos bowed to the King, recollecting himself at once into his simpering, smirking demeanor; as a horrified Hypnos was ushered away by him and Nyx, still tethered to his brother with no end in sight; Hades offered no apologies, and he exited without looking back.

And with that, the saga of Maci and Thanatos' initial "pre-canon" history, and generally the overall sequence of events that inform the crucial components of Maci's character, is considered to officially end here. Thanatos would actively re-enter Maci's life after about two millennia had passed, now within the narrative of the Elysium'verse's canon storylines.

Maci would remain in Hades' forced isolation for the next eight years before circumstances (also pre-canon, briefly discussed in the following section) finally allowed her embargo to lift. She would then carry on into the rest of her life as the person this history had formed her into, the version of Maci who exists currently - all of it neatly compartmentalized inside of her, but quietly fueling absolutely everything about her personality, behaviors, and decisions.

✧*̥˚Maci literally would not begin to deal with any of the emotional or mental effects of her childhood and adolescence until about 2,000 years later, throughout the canon Elysium'verse.✧*̥˚

one more part left to finish this pre-canon up, the brief events immediately following that include Melinoe! (Part three is here now!!)

IF you made it to the end of this post- holding you I’m so soRRY.,,, but let’s all cradle Maci together because :(((((((((( AAUUUGHHHHHHHH— ahem once again questions and comments are appreciated AAHHH—

[louisisalarrie]

Hey! I’m the anon who asked how touring works. Thank you for such a great explanation! Really appreciate you taking the time.

I’m a Louis fan…wasn’t previously into 1D (am now!) but I found solo Louis first. Can I ask you what makes you so sure Louis is gay? I’m not challenging this in anyway…I guess I just wanted thoughts from someone who has been around all of this a lot longer. I saw the anon saying they read that Simon knew Louis was gay etc right from the start and you responded (beautifully, I might add) but do you really feel certain he is?

Like I say, I’m newer to all of this. I’m a Louis fan first and foremost and I honestly didn’t know about Larry until I got into Louis so this has blown my mind a little. I know there are various receipts about this and fans feel that Louis is loud at his shows but I’m just not sure!

Looking back at his early, early days when he got onto xfactor he seemed to be playing it ‘straight’ - had a girlfriend, ladding a lot with his mates. There are even reports from his school days saying he treated kids that were out at his school badly - I guess that could be part of him being confused and not accepting how he felt until he met Harry?

I’m so sorry if any of this comes across inappropriately. Your responses are always so great that I wanted to ask you…and thank you x

Hello angel!! Love to see you here and being curious on everything. I’ll pop in my two cents as well, but here are some excellent larry timelines and resources to, well, help with the whole reason we believe in larry.

Now, let’s get down to what I think from being here from the beginning.

I watched louis and Harry fall in love. Even from very early on, it is painfully obvious that they acted very differently around the other boys. The fond eyes at each other, the PDA, the full comfort at acting so domestic and touchy with each other that even I don’t look at and touch my bestie like that, and I’m a very touchy and affectionate person. So, heading down the rabbit hole, I’m gonna give you some really strong gifs for reference, and then tackle the louis notes you made. There are a heap of different larry resources on tumblr, so I won’t go through an insane amount, and just keep this concise.

Re your comment about louis playing it straight, him and Harry were immediately acting like a couple. I’ve had some lad friends, and they certainly don’t look at each other like the above, nor fake make out with each other, bc yikes, that would make you look gay, and why would he want his lads to think that? He was immediately thrown into the public eye, very quickly got a heap of fans, and wasn’t exactly keeping his guard up to make sure he didn’t look gay in front of a global audience. I’m sorry, I’ve just never seen him act like this with anyone except Harry. He jokes around with the other guys, sure, but if you go through those masterposts and videos, it’ll become very clear that he just couldn’t keep himself from Harry. Even during the video diaries and X factor, from the very beginning, he was touching Harry all the bloody time. Regardless if they weren’t blatantly kissing on camera (as advised not to), you can see the affection and how natural it looks. It just kinda happened. I just don’t see him acting like a lad during X factor as you said, and not sure where that idea came from, but I promise you that there’s a lot of proof of him being quite flamboyant and expressing himself in the manner of how many gay men do. That’s not me stereotyping, whatsoever, but the things he said and the way he acted with Harry, don’t line up with straight to me.

Now, I feel like if you’ve come into the Larry/1d world with Solo Louis being your first experience, this can all be super overwhelming and intimidating and very very strange hahaha, because he presents himself quite differently now (but the matching tattoos are still there xx) and you haven’t been here for all the stunts and the beginning of bbg and all that. Also, the Solo Louis fandom holds an overwhelming amount of people who are anti larry and therefore anti larries (including the person who took a poster to louis’ concert that said “larries mass extinction” on it… yikes), so you can often be fed a lot of misinformation. Whereas here in this beautiful community on tumblr, and even on Twitter, I never see any larries going out of their way to send horrible messages to antis. They really love coming into our inboxes though (god knows how many “you should unalive yourself”) messages I’ve received from antis since I’ve been a larrie), and actively telling us we’re trash, so they tend to try to make us look as horrible as possible, including, spreading misinformation about Louis.

Now, I don’t know where the receipts are about young louis treating gay kids horribly, so if you could provide them to me, I’d absolutely be happy to look into them and verify (to the best of my ability) if they’re real or not, but spoiler alert, I very much doubt they have any validity to them. We never knew louis when he was at school, so you’d have to just trust this person who’s saying louis is homophobic (which so many anti louis/anti larry fans do), but also, growing up in a place like Doncaster around that time, I imagine it was extremely taboo to be anything other than a straight laddy lad who played footy and had a gf.

If louis had figured out his sexuality prior to meeting Harry, and knew he was gay or maybe bi or at least curious, I highly doubt he would’ve come out in that space at that time of his life. Growing up gay is harddddd. Teenagers are so mean. And trying to fit in is important when you’re a kid just trying to figure everything out.

Now, not saying that louis did this, but in my experience, I watched a few kids who now have come out as gay pick on others in school who were out. Some of the bullying got really bloody bad, and it was all to just shut out their own feelings, and pushing away any ideas that they were anything but straight. It happens a lot, it’s insecurity, it’s feeling extremely uncomfortable with who you are, peer pressure, and maybe a family who would kick your ass if you came out to them. It’s a very hard thing to navigate.

Him having a gf at the time, Hannah, I explained about in a previous ask from an anon. You can find that on my page under #anon #answered and I think I may have tagged #hannah as well??? I probably did, but I wrote a timeline and big explanation as to what I believe happened there, and provided with proof. So jump in and have a squiz if you’re keen!

Also you didn’t come across as rude at all! You’re curious to know, and I’m here to help. xx let me know if I’ve not answered something or you want further clarification on anything, there’s a lot to cover here and I’m a bit sleepy but never hesitate to hit me up! Thanks babe!

[the-pjo-analyst]

Chapter 21 - I Settle My Tab

Theme of the day: Family

Kind of the perfect theme for this chapter, because there’s so many layers and different versions of family that appears (I can already tell this will be a long post lol). There’s the gods’ version of family, found family between the trio, Sally and Percy, and the Jackson household as a whole. Since it was very brief, I’ll start with the trio and how close-knit the three became. Percy says a line about how hard it was to send them away to CHB after all they had gone through together and it makes me so soft,,,, they’ve been through so much in those ten days, arguments, monster battles, traumatic experiences, but they ALWAYS had each other’s backs. They formed an unbreakable bond that carries over this series and beyond 🥺

The gods are a bit strange to analyze in terms of family, because it’s such a loose concept for them, but they also understand it in different ways than mortals. Like Zeus and Hera are siblings but they’re married. Kronos ate his children so they wouldn’t usurp him. Hades is exiled from Olympus just bc he got the short end of the stick. Gods and demigods call each other cousin and uncle and such but it’s really just a title. It’s strictly blood relations and obligations and not really about bonds between two people. Zeus says “for the sake of peace in the family, I shall let you live” like ok Zeus. You just accused a child of stealing your stuff, sent him on a dangerous quest to get it back, and then you say you did me a favor ig so I’ll let you live 🙄For the sake of peace in the family. The definition of someone who cares less about family and more about appearances.

I think the only god who truly has a holistic sense of family is Hestia, and interestingly the hearth is mentioned a few times in the chapter. There’s a huge hearth in the gods’ throne room and Percy talks about how he can hear the fire crackle and feel the warmth from it. I could probably go on a whole rant about Hestia and her representing the concept of home and her leaving the Olympians but that’s a talk for another book lol. In this instance, I’d like to think that Hestia is quietly supporting Percy here, and not out of some sense of duty or obligation as a “family” member, but because she actually cares.

It’s interesting how Percy knows exactly how to handle Zeus and Poseidon. He respectfully walks up to Poseidon and greets him first, and remains silent for most of the scene unless he’s addressed. When Zeus grumbles about not being greeted first, Percy doesn’t react, likely as a learned trait from all the strict adults and bullies he’s dealt with all his life. Percy specifically says he kept his head down and waited. He knows that this is either Zeus egging him on or just him complaining to complain. Reacting would make the situation worse. Like Poseidon said, obedience doesn’t come naturally to him, so this would be something Percy has learned, but part of it is probably also self preservation lmao. It’s a little sad that Percy knows what he should do in this situation, and it’s also a little jarring considering how much attitude he’s shown other gods.

Now onto Poseidon and Percy. There’s a moment when they meet where they size each other up, not knowing what to think of the other, bc although they’re father and son they don’t actually know each other. Poseidon has been watching Percy all his life, but Percy also represents a broken pact for Poseidon, something unforgivable. He calls Percy is wrongdoing and a mistake. Well he doesn’t specifically call Percy that, just the very act of the affair with Sally, but it still insinuates how Percy shouldn’t have been born. Not a great thing to hear whether you’re a child or not. I get the sense that Poseidon doesn’t regret the affair, but feels bad for the consequences it caused, i.e. Percy being the demigod of the Great Prophecy and what that entails for both Percy and Olympus. And for Percy, Poseidon is his non-present father, someone he thought had died up until a month ago, only to learn that he chose not to be part of his life. But Poseidon also helped Percy on his quest when he asked for it. His very voice stirred warm memories in Percy he associated with his father. And in the end Percy is also glad to have a frank father who doesn’t give empty apologies or promises, Poseidon doesn’t pretend if he cares about Percy or not. Which in the long run is so much better for their relationship, because it gives a more solid base for them to become acquainted with one another. In a sense, it’s kind of a clean slate; they’re not letting their past, indirect experiences form their opinions.

I think children of Zeus and Poseidon especially have it rough in terms of parental..... guidance and interaction. With other gods, they are much more free with their gifts and visits. Being the two gods with joint rulership over the cosmos, they tend to be more aloof and distant, maybe bc they need to be. Idk how to properly convey this, but being the top two gods, there’s bad implications with showing favoritism? And their domains are so large that it’s hard to always keep tabs with their children? I think this is also addressed in later books so maybe I’ll hold off on this. Hades doesn’t really have this problem since he rules over a realm separate from humanity and he’s also separate from Olympus itself, so he’s also a bit more free to have a greater presence in his children’s lives. It seems like Poseidon wants to this too but can’t, otherwise he wouldn’t have looked sad when Percy almost asked him to see Sally with him.

Circling bad to Poseidon’s comments on his “wrongdoing,” I can’t help but think about how this really wrenches a knife into Percy’s insecurities. Percy already struggles with feeling wanted and being good enough, and then in his first interaction with his father, he’s told how he shouldn’t have been born because of the potential trouble he’ll cause. BUT Poseidon also reiterates that he’s proud of him and claims him as his own. We don’t get Percy’s immediate reaction to this, but I think it’s due to him having mixed feelings, just like after he was claimed at camp. He’s bitter from Poseidon’s words of remorse, but also can’t help but feel happy from being acknowledged.

Lord I’ve written so much and I haven’t even gotten to Sally and Gabe sdfjdhdf. Tbh I don’t need to talk about Sally and Percy since I’ve already talked extensively on that, but their reunion!!! It makes my heart clench. In every sense, Sally and Percy are a family. Gabe is just a sorry excuse for a human being who’s only role was to help Percy hide from monsters. Percy’s interview with the media will never be not funny bc not only do the journalists eat up his sob story, he also managed to get a jab at Gabe with offering everything free appliances 😂 It’s really sad how many journalists don’t really care about the truth and more about what will sell. They love drama, which is why they easily accepted Gabe’s story of Percy being a delinquent, and also Percy’s seemingly heartfelt story. But the fantasy Jacksons the media ate up and regurgitated is far from the real Jackson household. I honestly forgot that it was confirmed that Gabe physically abused Sally. I think by the way Percy reacted, Sally managed to protect him from that, although you could still infer it. But this is also Percy we’re talking about lmao, he’d never mention it. I want to think that Sally would’ve drawn the line, like you can hurt me but stay the fuck away from my child. Sally and Percy are really two of a kind huh. What a fucking bastard though, for making Sally go to work to “makeup a month’s worth of rent” right after she returned and treating her like his housemaid, among other much worse things. He really deserved getting his head chopped off by Riptide. But it really shows how much Percy has grown as a person when he hesitates sending Gabe to an early grave. He thinks about how it would fit into a hero’s story, how it always ends in tragedy, and how he’d seen the terrors of the Underworld and how he wouldn’t wish that on anyone. And yet, he would still do it for his mom. Because he’s incredibly loyal to a fault and would do anything for her.

I love how Sally has this conversation with Percy as an equal. She doesn’t treat him like a child and tell him “I’m the parent I can’t let you take care of me,” she gives him the same answer she told Poseidon when he basically offered her the world: you can’t solve all my problems for me, I have to do that for myself and find my own strength. Sally gives a life lesson to Percy here, how one can’t rely on the gods for everything and blame them for everything. It’s dangerous to believe one can solve every problem with a wave of their hand because they have the power to. And this is the very reason why Percy is never tempted to join Kronos, because unlike Luke, he doesn’t form a resentment towards the gods have and haven’t done and leaves it at that. Percy looks at a problem and think how do I fix this for the better, in a way that looks at the long term and not the immediate satisfaction. It’s from Sally’s influence and especially this talk that Percy doesn’t form a superiority complex; in the end he recognizes that Sally is strong enough to take care of herself, in the same way he recognizes other people’s strengths and validates them both in this book, and future books. It’s part of why he makes such a great leader, why he could give Luke the knife in book 5, why he’s a good foil for Annabeth as her friend and partner.

Small things:

Percy being like oh that kid is cool to fictional media Percy ahaha

I wonder if Percy’s fear of flying is specifically bc of Zeus or bc he just naturally is freaked out by it. Maybe it’s a child of Poseidon thing, like they’re hardwired to hate flying.

Percy’s interaction with the Empire State desk clerk 😂 Like yes I think Zeus will want to see me immediately *shows off Zeus’ weapon*

Also Zeus is so fucking pretentious, “I have to remove the human taint from my weapon.” Ok Zeus. whatever.

Someday I would love to make a full post on the symbolism of Sally using Medusa’s head to break free from an abusive relationship

Previous: Chapter 20 - I Battle My Jerk Relative

Next: Chapter 22 - The Prophecy Comes True

[jinmalos]

Actually, XBC3 Future Redeemed Spoilers Under here to do with something noted in one of the last cutscenes/people's misinterpretations

I think the big beef about why the Pneuma/Logos cores still being around/semi-sentient enough to "help out" is a lot because it wasn't explained, but I think a lot of people are missing a few points.

Obvs bc of my brand I gotta come in and defend Logos against the Moebius allegations before I get into everything else, but a big argument about how he and Pneuma being even remotely present "just perpetuates the xenoblade 2 feud" actually misses something mentioned. Whether Logos inhabits N's Sword or his Sword's sheath specifically, I think we are forgetting:

Z actually has no clue where it came from.

If it were to be moebius specific, he would know about it and how it came to be and so on and so forth. But he doesn't. He actively comments on how it's weird that N has it and wonders How He Got Ahold Of It. But he also Acknowledges Who/What It Is with his comment on Origin being home to "those who are as gods" in reference to the sword. Again, if it were a Moebius product, Z would know about it and how it got into people's hands. Even in the main game when Noah manifests it, X is irritated with both him AND N because the sword's existence is an inconvenience to every Moebius worth their salt.

Obviously that doesn't explain jack shit about HOW it happened. But Somehow N is running amok with the "Sword of the End" aka the Endbringer himself doctor sex (Malos/Logos), and Z is not exactly pleased but mot exactly troubled by it because it isn't actively bothering him yet. How did it come to be? Is it tied to the sword or the sheath considering N was toting around a Lucky Seven of his own prior to the Agnus Castle incident? who knows. My personal theory is that the same thing happened to Logos that happened to what i THINK happened with Pneuma.

The situation with Pneuma is...a bit more complicated, because of the ending of xenoblade 2, moreso than with Logos. We would presume both Pneuma and Malos were destroyed, but that wouldn't explain Mythra and Pyra's existence beyond that point. This goes more into what little we know about blade anatomy and how the Trinity Processor Cores of Logos and Pneuma interface with them. Seeing as they intake data, record it, and output it, it's very likely that Pneuma did a bit of a black box when handing Pyra and Mythra off to Rex. She took them, their essence, and just kinda yote it into their own vessels. Like a backup. They probably no longer had the ability of an Aegis, and I doubt they were more flesh- or blade-eater than they were mortal. That in and of itself doesn't get explained much, but I'm inclined to think the Pyra and Mythra that stay behind lived normal human lifespans.

I dont know what happened to Pyra and Mythra, but I do think that Pneuma was at least partially damaged. The aegis cores aka the Trinity Processor don't exactly respond to things the same way the average blade does. It's possible that while damaged, at least Pneuma was more intact than Logos was after XBC2.

I assume what happened is they were procured by someone (likely Nia) and kept safe as weaponry, because there's no way either of them would be fully functional as Trinity Processor cores (think: youve got 3 flash drives but only 1 of them is being recognized ik this analogy sucks its the best i got rn). Thats part of why Ontos goes apeshit and reverts to Alpha, after all.

Ontos has to do all of the problemsolving and decisionmaking that Pneuma and Logos did originally. The Alpha we meet is probably the aspect of Ontos specifically responsible for the creation of the separate worlds in the first place.

BUT, Back on the topic of the two other Processors and WTF is up with them. I dont think either of them were fully destroyed, it's likely they just returned to dormant states with no extant "avatars." So they couldn't just pop out of their cores and wander about and probably still even now can't yet, but they are probably still sentient and conscious, intaking info about the world. It's also shown they CAN heal each other, it's possible that if given enough time in Origin (considering it's an extension of Ontos) they'd just finish healing themselves and beat Ontos' ass as is their preordained purpose. But Again, given that Malos/Logos talked to Pneuma at the end of XBC2, I can only assume they're primarily non-functional and just kinda. sitting around for a bit inside their funny computer homes.

We know Lucky Seven is a Melia/Riki construct specifically and thats it's own can of worms, but I like to think Logos allied himself with N/Noah because he knew exactly what their end goal was but thats bc im a Malos Good Ending Truther. I originally personally thought that perhaps Noah's sheath/glove was Pneuma's doing, and the Sword of Origin was primarily Logos (and was just being held back by Noah's refusal to hurt people), but I'm hearing a lot about Pneuma being responsible for maintaining the Ouroboros stones, so if that's the case she's the one in charge of maintaining that power and the gauntlet is just Rule of Cool, and Origin metal is just something they can interface with because it's an extension of Ontos (currently by A/Alvis depending on the chosen gender presentation of the day, with Shulk and Rex taking the place of the other two Processors for a while to help out).

Although...Even though Lucky Seven and Ouroboros and such are metaphysical concepts given form, I'm inclined to just say outright that the sword itself is Logos simply bc it does monado arts oooo spooky.

But yeah. TLDR: Logos isnt allied with the Moebius he is strictly tied to N/Noah (although whether he's lucky seven or SPECIFICALLY the Origin Blade/When it Does Monado Shit) Pneuma is tied to either Noah's gauntlets or the ouroboros stones as a whole (although I believe the former rather than the latter bc its cooler imo), and they're used not only to beat Alpha back into place as Was Their Job in the DLC, but their job is to help finish up what Rex Shulk and co. started in making sure the worlds reunite. Also Noah is in for a rude awakening when he meets the inlaws and Mythra and Malos obliterate him for launching them into the ocean ok bye