#because morally standing by and doing nothing as he attacks a defenseless person is Wrong

[thek1ngtalks]

Hate being morally torn by a fictional setting that bears no weight

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

Is it okay to ask you questions about leech in the rain? I know it's cowriten (I think?) feel free to ignore if not and sorry if so. Why did the tribe exile Jacob? I mean, if I remember correctly, there was already a shapeshipster in love with a child, and it's not like a woman hasn't been attacked before, additionally in the last chapter it was confirmed that she was hurt when she refused her imprinted's advances so, is Jacob's behavior (terrible yes I know) not.... Normal? For them at least? To my eyes it just feels like they are all equally morally reprehensible (except for the fucking Bella because she looks like her daughter, what in the actual fuck).

On that same note, in what world does Bella live? And can I get the coordinates so I can go there myself and hit her with some truths (and a baseball)? I love you guys' fanfic so much, it's killing me and I love it.

Anon is referring to Leech in the Rain, a fic by myself and @therealvinelle. A post explaining how the wolves could leave Jacob.

First, look @therealvinelle, praise!

What's Up with Jacob

It's a little different than what's been happening with Quil.

No one's happy about Quil, at all, but they're trying to work with it. He's limited to seeing her only once a week and in the capacity of a babysitter. We're presuming in this story that he never tries to see her more often as she grows older, he's a fairly distant figure now that she's in elementary school, and that there are very clear boundaries.

Jacob... never did that even from the little we see in Breaking Dawn.

Day one, he's over at the Cullens non-stop and even telling Bella when she can and cannot see her daughter. He doesn't live at their house but it's a pretty close thing and he's spending A LOT of time with Renesmee.

In @therealvinelle's fic Bleach on the Brain, this persists as Renesmee has grown into what her species is adulthood and he's making it very clear that he intends to make advances on her sexually when she's deemed ready, probably by Edward or the moment she turns seven.

Already we're in a very different world than Quil that has made Leah, Seth, Quil, and Embry deeply uncomfortable.

Still, there was no helping it and all of them knew that. The only thing they can do as shifters is make the best of these potential situations and if the Cullens see nothing wrong then surely they're also blowing it out of proportion and it's not as bad as it seems.

Well then they have an interesting day.

They learn that Jake has intentionally mauled his imprint, a little girl no matter how old she looks, so as to prevent her from escaping him. Sam unintentionally mauled Emily, but the key word there was that it was an accident.

What Jake did, and presumably accidentally revealed off screen via shifting, was that his was... not accidental and that he had intended to hold her hostage in La Push.

Not only has what Jake done is terrible and against what they stand for but he's actively putting the tribe at risk just to get what he wants. By attacking Renesmee and kidnapping her to tribal territory, he's breaking the treaty in the most flagrant way he can and sparking a war (as presumably the Cullens will come to take her back).

Then Jacob starts demanding they go after the escaped Cullens with Renesmee to kidnap her back to La Push (again, treaty issues there), and oh by the way they're going to have to confront the king of the vampires to do this.

This is not the same as what happened last time, where the Volturi were coming very close to La Push territory and threatening their people, and where they were all but assured this wasn't a fight.

The person the tribe originally made the treaty with is gone leaving Edward Cullen as their presumed leader. And Jacob wants to drag them to Africa where they may all very well be killed and leave their land defenseless just so he can get back Renesmee who it seemed like did not want anything to do with him.

Jacob does not back down and effectively leaves the other wolves, and the tribe itself, no choice but to excommunicate him and deny him all resources to enact any of this.

But yes, that's the reasoning of why Sam and Quil are cool but Jake is suddenly not.

What World Does Bella Live In?

Planet Bella, a place made of doublethink.

To explain what's up with Bella a little, she's one of the characters who has the least information (tied, perhaps, with poor clueless Emmett) and has made up her mind based on the information she has and those things she absolutely cannot lose faith in.

She wasn't there for Carlisle's initial attempts to use medical equipment to save Renesmee's life and believes he started in on the venom. Given the nature of how it was deployed, and how much time he'd been spending with her, and how Renesmee had changed during the past week, and what Jacob was telling her, she believes this was sexual in nature.

Carlisle then tells her that Edward's face is burning in the living room.

To Bella, Carlisle looks far more unhinged than Edward, as this strange story of Edward suddenly sexually assaulting Carlisle, conveniently while Jacob is out randomly mauling his imprint in the woods, is unbelievable to her.

She believes that what Jake did had to be an accident or at least not intended to hurt her (as he can't hurt her, she's his imprint) and that Carlisle is trying to manipulate the entire family and that he's just a deranged lunatic.

Now, of course, much of this is supported on Bella's desperate need for her marriage with Edward and her friendship with Jacob to work, but to be fair she wasn't around for most of it and this all sounds messed up from every angle.

Her perfect family fell apart in a week. SOMEBODY'S GOT TO BE RESPONSIBLE.

[daggryet]

c!quackity and c!dream’s want for power through the last two seasons have been fascinating to watch.

now, i want to start of by saying: there’s nothing inherently wrong with wanting power. 

in a sense we all crave power and more than that, we all need power. power comes in many forms: from the power to decide, the power to do, the power to demand, the power to rule, the power to stay in power - just to name a few.

both c!quackity and c!dream start off more or less morally right, but their motivations are at the complete opposite ends of a spectrum. c!quackity fights to gain power while c!dream fights to keep power.

i have to put it under the cut because it got really long

c!quackity starts by wanting power for the people, he wants the people to have the power to have a choice in the election. an election where people only have one option isn’t an election, and it isn’t about choosing who is best qualified.

 once he established himself as a viable candidate for the presidency, it was a fight to actually gain power for himself. that was his goal now, which is also why he refused to combine votes with pog2020 because they'd planned to use him purely for votes and thus wouldn’t give him any power. he piled his votes onto c!schlatt’s because he thought they’d have power together, but schlatt2020 wasn’t any different to pog2020. he was used for votes, but his opinions weren’t actually listened to. he had no real power despite being the vice president. 

when he joined pogtopia, he was joining the fight for power over manberg back; and though they won the war, that power was shortlived, and c!wilbur and c!technoblade made sure that though l’manberg still existed, it would have to re-establish not only its power but its entire foundation.

as a member of the new l’manbergian cabinet, his goal was always that l’manberg had power to resist those who threatened it. he argued against c!tommy’s exile because it meant that c!dream had power over them, that he could decide their political decisions, and that meant l’manberg wasn’t independent at all. he proposed the butcher army to defeat their enemies so they would never be in a position where they would be powerless again. where they’d be controlled by outsiders. it resulted in doomsday where c!quackity said: “the thing we feared losing the most, has been taken from us.” 

el rapids is about having the power to contest their enemies. they wanted political power, and they wanted to undermine the power of their enemies. c!quackity’s entire plan with c!eret was undermining their right to be king and their neutrality by staging that c!eret planned a terrorist attack. this was also the time that he stood up to c!dream, face to face, where he was in charge. and had it only been about political power, then c!quackity and el rapids would have won. but it wasn’t about political power at the end of the day because c!dream’s military power wiped the entire country out.

this theme of wanting power, being so close to gaining it, and then it being taken away from him is reoccuring throughout c!quackity’s story. and each time the stakes have been higher, each time it’s been more and more important to actually gain power, each time c!quackity has been at the forefront of trying to avoid another defeat; and every time c!quackity has lost. each time c!quackity has become more and more unscrupulous in what he’s willing to do in order to gain some semblance of power.

meanwhile c!dream’s character has never fought to gain power, he starts the story in a position of absolute power. everything hereafter in his story has been about keeping that power. and every time he’s lost, he’s rammed up what he wants power of, and every time he’s become more and more unscrupulous as well.

the war against l’manberg where he fought to keep power over land that was ‘rightfully’ his, as it belonged to the lands of the smp, is the first time he’s been properly challenged in our story. this is a war that he ultimately loses as l’manberg gains independence (through opening a new possibility for power) and even after c!wilbur blew it up, l’manberg stood. but not as strong as before.

the next time he tried to keep his absolute power was by figuring out that as long as you can identify what means the most to people, what they don’t want to lose - what they fear to use, then you can control those people. during this arc, he also figures out trust is fundamental to how people act. if you can make someone trust you, value you, depend on you, then you can control them. this, as well, ultimately fails.

the third attempt at keeping his power is trying to get control of life and death. if you can control whether someone lives or dies, you possess the ultimate power. and if you also have the skills to carry your threats out so they’re not just empty, no one can stand against you. but c!dream has hurt so many people at this point, he’s locked in a prison - defenseless - and his jailor hates him, so he has to escape. as he said, “if respect is the only thing keeping you from a knife in the back, respect is nothing.” if the promise of him being able to bring people back to life loses its value, then there’s nothing keeping him alive anymore.

he’s not only become more and more willing to cross moral boundaries to be able to keep some semblance of power, however abstract, but he’s also moved further and further away from his humanity. he doesn’t value people’s attachments, people’s lives; they’re merely tools for him at this point, so he can win the game he’s playing.

the biggest and most important difference in the two characters is that c!quackity has always been forced to punch above him, while c!dream has always punched down. this means that c!quackity has needed to become stronger and stronger, and because he’s bad at pvp his strengths have to come from somewhere else. he needed to become a stronger person. c!dream, on the other side, hasn’t ever been actually challenged by someone who was stronger than him, who was smarter than him.

so that’s why c!dream crumbling in the presence of c!quackity is so interesting. they’ve had parallel arcs, but because of where they started c!quackity holds the upper hand. he’s prepared for c!dream, but c!dream has never been prepared for c!quackity.

[yzkhr]

For the entirety of his 20 years of existence, Kudo Shinichi finds himself in one of the most difficult situations.

Everything was going so smoothly. He already had enough clues to figure out who the suspect was. All he needed was evidence to prove his surmises. It was all according to his plans.

Not until the suspect kidnapped Ran.

He should have seen that coming. After all, when the Conan incident ended with his name plastered all over Japanese Television for defeating one of the most notorious criminal organizations in the world, stuff like this happened afterwards.

If they can't target him to shut him up, they'll target the ones he care for. It happened more than once already, but everyone Shinichi knows can defend themselves(he's actually the easiest one to attack).

Hattori Heiji is a fellow detective who can swing a sword really well, Tooyama Kazuha knows Aikido, Masumi Sera is a Jeet Kune Do specialist, his parents are out of the question—or out of the country—, professor Agasa has his inventions, Ai with her scary scientific knowledge, the detective boys' unbeatable luck, Suzuki Sonoko with her boyfriend being the world's strongest security, the FBI and first division are a no go, and even the british detective Hakuba Saguru and phantom thief Kaito Kid can easily fend attackers off.

But the one who's always been the primary victim would be his girlfriend, Mouri Ran. Most of time, he doesn't worry one bit. After all, he knew more than anyone else just how much impact she can do with her karate—the Conan aftermath was proof of his girlfriend's ridiculous strength— and would even be afraid for the criminal, feeling sorry for their battered bodies afterwards. But today was a different matter. Ran was sick and couldn't possibly defend herself in her bad condition.

He believed himself to be a forgiving and understanding man. Being Edogawa Conan taught him a lot of things, including little compassion and sympathy towards even to the most horrible of culprits.

But this man was different. Not only did he involved Ran who had no idea of what's going on, he didn't hesitate, even after knowing she was sick and defenseless.

Shinichi was a kind man through and through, but concerning his innocent and ill girlfriend was a different matter.

Now, he stood on the rooftop of the criminal's twenty floor apartment building, anger barely contained. The man was grinning in that deranged way of his, while holding his girlfriend with a small but clearly sharp knife at her neck. What makes matters worse, was that they're at the very edge, one wrong move and both of them could be flat at the ground, bones broken.

Just from that alone, Shinichi was itching to shoot the man with his pistol but restrained himself. What almost pushed him to doing so however was his girlfriend's tired and pained expression, from her fever and the current predicament.

With the wind blowing furiously, it doesn't take a genius to know that Ran was freezing, specially with her condition.

He blocked out his primitive reaction of shooting the man for now, and willed himself to finish the issue faster, for Ran's sake.

"Listen, you can still go back from this! Just drop the knife and walk away from the edge!"

He shouted, taking two steps towards the two of them. The man only grinned even wider, as if finding something funny about his words.

"Why would I go back there? To just go in jail!? I'd rather die!"

'If you wanna die, then die. Don't take my girl with you!', were the words he wanted to say but decided against it.

Instead, he treaded nearer, trying to look as innocent as possible to not alarm his target.

"You knew what you did was wrong! You'll just have to repent it in prison for a few years! You can't go back from dying!"

The man wasn't having it. He gripped tighter against Ran's neck with his knife getting dangerously close. Shinichi's initial thought was to sprint, but managed to catch himself on time.

"That bitch deserved it you know! She cheated on me when I gave her my everything! I only did what was right for her! What she deserved!"

The man was going crazier by the second. Not that Shinichi could blame him. For all he knew, the suspect was a respectable man who loved his wife very much but it turned out she was cheating on him with another man.

Shinichi couldn't even imagine that happening to him. Even back then as Conan, Ran's faithfulness was so strong that something like cheating or attraction to other men didn't even cross his mind(except with Araide's case, Okita's case and many others).

Still, murder is murder. The husband could have dealt with it in a more rational way but he didn't, causing him to spiral downwards to madness.

Well, Shinichi will most likely go towards the same path as well if he would be unable to save Ran.

"You shouldn't have killed her! She was wrong! Cheating on your partner is stupid and unforgivable! But what you're doing right now is the same! You're only commiting murder! So please, turn yourself in. You can still change."

It seemed to have worked, with the culprit's grin dissipating and his hold on Ran loosening. Shinichi fasten his pace, while the man was still contemplating. But before he can even reach his end goal, the suspect looked at him with vicious but hurt eyes, tears forming.

"You're right. I shouldn't have done something so terrible. But I can't go back now. I can't go to jail."

All the detective could do was to stand there, disheartened by this man's irrationality. He was so close, just a few more steps and it would had been over.

Seeing as the suspect's humanity slipping away, Shinichi tried to take one tentative step at a time.

Before he can even put his right foot in front of him, the man violently shakes Ran, causing Shinichi to froze at his spot.

All his girlfriend could do was slightly whimper, still weak from her fever. The wind wasn't getting any calmer and it was bad for Ran.

"Stop this! Please! Give Ran back to me!"

The desperation was leaking but he didn't care. He was too worried for her to even think of something like pride right now. It wasn't helping that the man was slightly getting unstable from their spot at the edge.

"I'll give your girlfriend back to you in one condition."

The man eyed Shinichi with determined eyes and he didn't like it one bit.

"Call the police right now and tell them that the culprit is my wife's other man."

The detective thought he didn't hear him correctly but the expression on the culprit's face was telling him otherwise.

"Why would I even do that? I'm a detective, my job is to reveal the truth!"

The suspect laughed and the tip of his weapon was now touching his girlfriend's neck. Ran tried to wiggle out from the pain but the man kept her still. Shinichi couldn't do anything but widen his eyes and tried to run at her, only to be stopped by their culprit's daring looks.

"Don't come any closer or I'll slit your girl's throat!"

Seeing his pursuer's conflicted reaction, the suspect's smile was back, even more disturbing than before, lacking of any human compassion he might have had left of him.

"If you know the truth, then you can easily twist it right? You're the great detective Kudo Shinichi! Everyone will believe you!"

"I can't possibly do that!"

Hearing his resolute answer, the culprit slowly averted his eyes towards Ran.

"Not even for you lover?"

He couldn't answer. Because how could he? Choosing between the truth he valued and his most precious person was impossible.

Seconds passed but Shinichi didn't let a word out. He only stared at his girlfriend, with contrast beliefs and emotions swirling in them. The man was getting impatient but before he could speak, a new voice entered.

"Don't do it."

For the first time, Ran spoke. Her voice was hoarse and guttural, but she made sur eit can be heard.

Everything in her body hurts. From her legs that's been almost dangling down the edge, her arms weakly flailing on her side, her stomach wanting to throw up, her entire being physically burning and being cold at the same time. She felt horrible and wanted nothing but to karate chop her kidnapper.

But right now, her focus was on Shinichi, like it has always been whenever they were together. He looked tired, running all the way here from her house where he found out about her disappearance.

He was in deep thought and his eyes were conflicted on what to choose. She knew just how important she was to him, specially after knowing the lengths he had gone through as Conan to protect her. But, she's also aware of his morals and love for the truth.

Ever since they were kids, being a the greatest detective in the world like his idol, Sherlock Holmes had always been Shinichi's biggest dream. It started off as something silly but as they grew older, his dream didn't looked so far away. From all his struggles and successes, Ran was there. She knew all the hard work he put in his job just so he can achieved his childhood wish. She was present in all the steps he took to be this great. To be the Sherlock Holmes of the modern era.

Now, that dream was on the danger of being crushed. If he were to do what the culprit wanted, Shinichi would also lose his chance to achieve his goal. And Ran didn't want that.

"Don't do it."

She said, line more vivid than before.

He didn't know what to say. He wanted to asked her if she was fine, but she clearly wasn't.

"Ran, I-"

"Don't. Please, Shinichi."

He wanted to apologize, because he'll disappoint her with his answer. Yet, he wasn't able to, with Ran not letting him.

She wanted him to choose his morals, but he would lose her. He don't want to—can't—lose her.

However, her next words were what really made his decisions clear.

"Don't lose your dream for me. Please."

Ran wanted to cry but held it in. She needed all her energy for her last move and crying won't save her or anyone.

The man was getting more and more impatient. He waved the knife around blindly, making Shinichi stepped back a little.

Ran wished from the bottom of her heart a distraction could come for her plan to work. But since she didn't have any time, she'll just make one herself.

"You're trying to kill someone innocent. You're not right about anything at all. You're just a killer."

The culprit's attention went to her almost in an instant, fury present in his eyes.

"Silence, woman! Girls like you are all the same with your pretty faces thinking you can get any man! Not being contented with one man who would give his all! Vile! That's what women are! They're vile!"

She wanted to protest, because she's not the same. She'll never be the same. Just the thought of cheating on her lover already makes her want to puke. She would never cheat. After all, Shinichi was enough.

But she had to pretend he wasn't.

"That's right! We're cheaters! Vile people! We never cared about you men at all!"

'What is she doing?'

Shinichi was extremely confused. Ran was obviously lying, trying to provoke the man holding her at a knife point.

'Why would she even try to make someone aggressive when they're in the literal--'

As his mind reached it's conclusion, Shinichi didn't waste any time to move. However, it was a little too late.

The man was already losing his balance himself, making him vulnerable. Ran, with her remaining strength, wished to all gods her plan would work.

Albeit her left arm was tired, she steeled it with everything she got, elbowing the man's stomach and making him instinctively let go of her.

He stumbled forward, while she inevitably stumbled on the opposite direction. Down.

She closed her eyes, succumbing herself to the fall. However, a familiar presence force it to open, and she did.

There, falling with her was the love of her life, who was supposed to be at the rooftop arresting the man. Instead, he was reaching out to her, ready to die.

Suddenly feeling all the pain and tiredness, against her mental protest, she blacked out.

-

It was a good thing Hattori was there when he went back at the office temporarily. His best friend noticed his strange actions and decided to follow him.

Knowing that they were in a pretty tight spot and seeing Ran and the culprit at the edge, the Osakan detective dashed to find a trampoline, in case of the worst case scenario. Fortunately, he managed to hugged Ran's unconscious form and guide her through the unexpected trampoline while falling down.

Shinichi truly owed Hattori this time.

As they walked out the police station hand in hand, Ran looked uneasy. She managed to regain conciousness when they were already at the station, making a witness report. He didn't wanna do it in Ran's condition but he knew he caused enough trouble at them already.

He squeezed her hand, letting her look at his direction.

"Is there something wrong? Don't worry we'll get home soon and you can get some rest."

Ran's eyes slightly widened at his words. She then smiled, but it was strained.

Worry taking over him, he put his forehead on hers, feeling her hot one.

Ran instinctively blushed and tried to pushed him away. However, being stubborn had always been Shinichi's strongest points, so he didn't backed down. Instead, he asked.

"What's wrong? Did I do something wrong?"

With such a soft and gentle way of questioning, Ran couldn't help but give in and let her hands go to both sides of his handsome face,feeling his skin under her warm—felt cold to her—fingertips. Then, she breathed heavily before speaking.

"What you did was reckless. You shouldn't have jumped after me."

Shinichi regarded her a confused look.

"What wouldn't I? I didn't know Hattori was there. So I thought you would really--"

"Still, you shouldn't have done that. What if Hattori-kun wasn't there?"

"Then we would both die."

He spoke in such a calm and nonchalant manner making Ran annoyed at him not getting her point. She bunped him lightly,making Shinichi backed a little bit away.

"Ouch! What did you that for?"

"Because you were being dumb! You could have died back there Shinichi!"

He returned his forehead against her, leaning again. He closed his eyes this time, looking peaceful, like they weren't in the brink of death just a while ago.

"I could have. But so were you."

His voice was laced with pain, specially at the last part. Tears gathered around her violet irises but she willed for them not fall.

"You have a dream Shinichi. You had it since you were little."

He nodded at her words, still looking unbothered even with the confirmation. Frustrated, she continued on.

"You would have killed yourself back there. Why didn't you listen to me? I told you didn't I? Don't give up your dream for me."

He smiled, catching her off guard. It was so sincere and bright that Ran wanted to step away. When she was about to do so however, he encircled his arms around her waist, pulling her closer as much as possible.

She opened her mouth, ready to reason out but was beaten by his answer.

"You told me to not give up my dream for you but,"

His next words left her breathless, tears finally cascading down her soft cheek.

"You are my dream, Ran."

-

I wrote this instead of sleeping, forgive me for its lameness.

[fatesdeepdive]

Entry 52: Moron the Idiot Does Something Stupid

So, it’s time for Conquest. I started up a new playthrough, this time as a boy Corrin named Moron, a fitting name for the sheer stupidity we’re about to view. I replayed up to Chapter 6, this time using Rinkah and Sakura as disposable meat shields and stealing their weapons. In case you’ve forgotten what happened at the start of the game, because it’s been a few months:

Unexplained future vision! Corrin is the prince of Nohr! His siblings and servants love him! King Garon is very very evil! Garon’s minion Hans tries to kill Corrin! Corrin is actually from Hoshido, which is awesome and perfect! Garon turns Corrin into a suicide bomber and murders his mother! Garon invades Hoshido and Corrin is forced to choose between basic morality and standing by his family!

Five months ago, when this blog first reached Chapter 6, I mocked the very idea of choosing Conquest. And I stand by that mockery. Garon is an evil, abusive prick who attempted to kill Corrin twice! He murdered a crowd full of civilians and Corrin’s mother a single chapter earlier! Setting aside the moral problems with fighting for a brutal group of imperialist invaders, joining Garon is suicidally stupid.

And yes, not joining Nohr forces Corrin to fight their loved ones. But that’s messed up by having the Hoshidan family. If this choice was between protecting your family and doing the right thing, then it would be interesting. Instead, it’s a choice between your family and your family except they’re evil and keep trying to kill you. The core conceit of this game simply does not work. Choosing Nohr is an idiotic, suicidal, amoral, and quite frankly cowardly decision.

So anyway let’s side with Nohr.

Conquest Chapter 6: Embrace the Dark

Moron arrives at the battlefield where Xander is leading an invasion because his daddy told him to. Moron, in the first of many idiotic decisions in this route, chooses to join Xander. Ryoma points out that the Nohrians are evil invaders who murdered Moron’s mother like an hour ago, but Moron still decides to side with Nohr because he won’t abandon his family. Xander says that he’s happy Moron has returned. Ryoma tells Xander that Garon tried to murder Moron a fucking hour ago and Moron says he wants to hear Garon’s side of the story.

Ryoma attacks Moron and says its good Mikoto is dead so she doesn’t have to see Moron betray her. Damn. Xander protects Moron and begins fighting Ryoma. Moron begs Xander to just go home and Leo says that Moron has to fight and kill innocent people to prove he’s loyal. Camilla says that they’ve done nothing wrong, because Camilla is a terrible person. 

The battle begins. Felicia shows up to assist us. To win, we need to take out four of the following: Yukimura, Sakura, Ryoma, Takumi, and Hinoka. Cool.

Each of them has unique dialogue with Moron. Ryoma begs Moronto to come back. Hinoka begs him to say he's being tricked. Sakura begs Moron not to fight her and Moron tells her to take a nap before stabbing her. Takumi says that he knew Moron would betray them. Yukimura says that Mikoto would have respected Moron's choice before shooting him.

I personally chose to spare Sakura, because beating up a defenseless medic is a war crime and we’re going to be committing too many to count in this run and I’d rather avoid that one. After the battle, Azura approaches Moron and tells him they will meet again. Fucking ominous weirdo. The Conquest intro plays; its similar to the Birthright intro, but Azura wears a purple dress and it’s more focussed on the Nohrians.

Now time for Supports. Normally, I’d do Supports for characters we have, but right now that’s just Corrin and Felicia. So let’s do some Birthright Supports.

Support: Jakob/Sakura

C: Sakura is worn out after healing a bunch of people. Jakob tells her to take care of herself, but Sakura argues that it's our army's fault that people are hurt and she needs to do something because no one else will.

B: Jakob tries to convince Sakura that she cannot save everyone, but Sakura says she feels guilty and must keep working herself to death.

A: Same thing, again.

S: Jakob says he loves Sakura. Sakura says she doesn't want to drag him into her depressing life and Jakob, who is also a healer, promises to walk her path with her.

Review: This is the same Support three different times. And it’s a fantastic Support that gives great depth to Sakura, but it’s also repetitive.

Support: Kiragi/Shiro

C: Kiragi, with his ridiculous eyesight, spots a lost pegasus from far away.

B: Kiragi and Shiro go hunting. Kiragi spots a deer from far away and Shiro carries him through a river so he can shoot it.

A: The cousins talk about how they're a good team.

Review: A very lackluster Support.

Support: Saizo/Subaki

C: Subaki is nice to Saizo, but Saizo assumes it’s some sort of facade. Saizo challenges Subaki to a duel with real weapons.

B: Saizo and Subaki duel.

A: Corrin stops them from killing each other. They reflect on how they're both strong and loyal retainers.

Review: This one is fine, but not great. It suffers a lot from the fight being told through dialogue and the lack of a strong ending.

Support: Dwyer/Rhajat

C: Rhajat rips out some of Dwyer's hair to use in a dark ritual. Rhajat explains that she's hapiest when doing evil dark magic.

B: Rhajat, who is apparently a 17th level Wizard, offers to cast a Wish spell fo Dwyer. Only problem is it required her to cut out his eyes.

A: Rhajat asks if she creeps Dwyer out. Dwyer says she's fascinating and quirky. Rhajat orders him to get a bunch of rare ingredients for her.

S: Dwyer asks Rhajat to cast a matchmaking spell for him so he can get together with the woman he loves: her.

Review: To be honest? This one was genuinely really fun. Rhajat asking for Dwyer’s eyes, then realizing that she’s being ridiculous, then saying she only needs one eye is hilarious.

[fathersappointed]

The World has fallen for it!

I guess I’ll just step right into it!

They never saw the mighty Empire built destroyed long before they showed up. The decimated remains emerging from the Ashes. All they saw was the Devil’s spawn Savages that never evolved and never would.

This information was recorded, but they destroyed all records of it when they wiped out the Mayan Olmec and Aztec people. It was their museum of the past South America they build upon what was left. They spoke now in a different tongue. They were told of God’s and God’s to come. That was the reason for the mop-up operation to wipe out all recorded literature of the event. Those that were sent were extremely dedicated in faith and they used diligent thoroughness and religious dedication they thought though they were doing it for a totally different reason. It was reported as a mighty ball of Fire as a great flood. The World was told it was for a different reason truth with a wink.

The World was told it was because they were sinners a bad mutation they were called Atlanteans. They were the true possessors of your fabled Atlantis! Atlantis was their CERN.

When I came the first time, they rejected me (a chance maybe). Everything you’ve ever been taught about Christ is a lie. A Group of cold-blooded intent that’s who you’re on your knees praying to. Do you still think they can be reasoned with?

Understand they believe they’ve corrected last times miscalculations?

How long would it take long enough for Europeans to figure out how to build ships. And now you have a history, but you know none of this. The knowledge of this great past lost unknown to them. That they were worshipping their Destroyer as we are worshiping our Destroyer as divine love. This is our time now down the road we will be deceitful stories myths and legends. Our cities wiped out nothing left of the ruins. What we will witness history will tell a different story. Want will they believe (what have they been taught) when they read our story? This is old school for them we’ve been here before. Wiping out lives means nothing to them. One at a time 10 billion of them. Whatever it takes to accomplish the objective. As they figure it doesn’t matter how they treat you they’re going to wipe you out of existence anyway.

Understand a thing about this they work in reality. I’ll use the earthquake scenario to try and explain there’s a lot of talk about earthquakes. A lot of scientific work, they understand the science of faults line they know their effect when they move. So any earthquake, that happens they’ll say it’s a natural cause. Meanwhile, spokesmen for God will be saying he’s the cause. You’ll see one reality unfolding explained in the guise of another, and both will be wrong you see how they work deception, misdirection the rule.

You want the truth? You can’t handle the truth!

You worship a God of love that’s taught you to hate! You hate me for sin, you say you attack sin, but it’s me you attack! Telling me, you’ll roast marshmallows with God while I burn. And you don’t even know what it means. But there is an out all I have to do is drop to my knees begging forgiveness. Professing my unworthiness and say I will obey with unquestionable absolute obedience.

Can you see the trap it’s diabolically cunning? The world has fallen for it!

Maybe not I get a lot of hate talking about this group of cold-blooded intent.

I’ll tell you another truth you’ve got a group whoring everything in your head. Your thoughts are their, thoughts your words are their words.

Have you figured it out do, you know what I’m about? You’ll know it is inevitable. This is their catalyst, In a speak, but they really are not too concerned with what I say they know I’ll say it. They play it any way they want. It would go down one way or another. They don’t have total control they do but not in the way they want it. They control your mind to a degree. But they don’t have (and you don’t have) a total technological lock-in. This is their Achilles heel this is where they must be stopped.

Understand a horrible truth we might not succeed if, so humanity is lost for all eternity. And a mentally sick, morally empty group, will Control humanity forever, never again having to pretend to love. You cannot see my words, just like you can’t see the destruction in the solar system for what it is.

We cannot fail! That’s the bait that brings me in. And gives them a concrete storyline. And that’s the bait that exposes them to failure. And that’s why I won’t have to tell you that there here.

Time is ticking scummy tick, tick tick! Maybe they found a way to cut corners? Tick, tick tick!

And what do I have to fight with you wonder? I have a pathetic government. So you see what I must somehow overcome a losing hand in a crooked game. Wish me luck! If I have any say and I will the worthless ones will be replaced. If there’s time? Time is an option I believe fate has not allotted us much of. And time is wasting away why you idiots debate which God has a better-looking enemy. I need Stretch and General Patton, and History’s Greatest leader, not the garbage that I see! This is serious, and I need the real thing! I want to point out this is this isn’t a defenseless family that you can just drop a bomb on. (Which is about all you good for) Those egotistical losers can’t handle the truth that’s who’s got your back. What do you think of my odds improved? These are things that are beyond their essence it’s not, their fault but I don’t have time for niceties to make an important point. Understand a horrible truth? You were put in Power by these Creeps and the World needs better than you. As for me, I already told you I’m a chess piece that doesn’t feel well guarded.

I could make a Comment about your criticism but you’d still be an empty man. I fear idiots will be the demise of me. I’ve walked a road no man has walked I don’t speak with frivolousness. We are in a lot of trouble. You want to keep sucking up the garbage that they are pumping into your contained limited life. While the other guys sucking in, the garbage they’re pumping them there ain’t a lot I can say to you.

Let me ask you if you were planning to wipe out a country and you had the ability to put any persons in positions of power importance in that country’s government. Who would you pick? But let’s make it the world? Yep, you got it, they’re idiots and that’s what we’ve got to defend the planet with. You’re being play, for an idiot or maybe a useful one.

You see the thick of it no secrets here. One of my games is to teach. somebody has to equip those who will stand with the tools to defend themselves. They’re not here we got, to go get them. I could go on but there’s not much space and it’s hard to articulate a coherence of understanding in this maze. I understand your hostility, anger, and hate but you have to rise above it. It’s a horrible truth people are going to have to somehow overcome this painful reality.

They have dummy people down so much they can’t see what’s unfolding right in front of their face.

They’ve brought you down to the point where you are a disgusting group of ignorant and thoughtless self-important, selfish, unconcerned lazy, uncaring people, shallow superficial justifying your patheticness as a reason to hate lashing out when you think you can victimize with impunity. You are short on honor.

This is designed to take us down.

I keep an action figure of Archer on my desk. To remind me, you’re just mutants.

Seeing how I can’t use my preferred speech, you can run away and go back to shoving your head in the sand now.

So there you have it, class dismissed.

Pleased to meet you, hope you guessed my name, mm yeah. But what’s puzzling you is the nature of my game?

Woo, woo Oh yeah, get on down Oh yeah Aah yeah Tell me, baby, what’s my name? Tell me, honey, can ya guess my name? Tell me, baby, what’s my name? I tell you one time, you’re to blame.

So if you meet me, Have some courtesy

Have some sympathy and some taste.

Use all your well-learned politeness

Or I’ll lay your soul to waste, mm yeah

[trensu]

Episode 21: The One where the Siblings Know Things

So you know how when you grow up with siblings, they get to know you in really annoying and inconvenient ways? Like, they can just look at you and Know Something is Up when really you want them to mind their own business

Apparently this is a thing even for cultivators in Ancient Fantasy China

It’s pretty great!!!

(for us, not for the siblings in the show)

(they probably just want their siblings to shut up about it already)

BUT WE’RE GONNA TALK ABOUT IT INSTEAD LOL

The yunmeng sibs are reunited it’s all teary and happy and kind of hurt-y

Jyl: we’re all together again. Together forever, the three of us!!

*HYSTERICAL SOBBING*

IT’S A LIIIIIEEE

And NHS interrupts bc ofc he does and he gives us a little hint of wangxian

He reaches out to pat wwx’s shoulder in welcome, but wwx pulls back from it so hard there’s an awkward silence for a minute there

But wwx and nhs are bros so nhs just rolls with it 

Nhs: oh, we were all so worried, everyone’s been looking everywhere for you especially jc and LWJ~!

And here jc drags him out bc god forbid anybody mention him having feelings to anybody yeesh

Wwx ends up alone in the room after that and suddenly ~THEIR SONG~ starts playing at a very slow, melancholic tempo

Wwx grabs his flute and gets lost in his head for a bit

And as he’s lost in thought, lwj walks by and sees him sitting all alone in that room

AND HE JUST STANDS THERE

observing him for a bit

lwj why are you just standing there?? 

LWJ DO SOMETHING

And we get the return of the Bichen Death Grip 

You know the one

He does it every time he’s experiencing Emotions over Wei Ying. 

STOP DOING THE DEATH GRIP OF GAY YEARNING AND GO TALK TO YOUR SOULMATE ALREADY GOD DAMN IT

(spoiler alert: he doesn’t)

(nobody in this show ever listens to me, what the heck)

Then we cut to the evil wen lair

Boring Plot Stuff happens.

Now we’re back at Qinghe and everyone’s at a dinner party!

NMJ is doing a whole toast to like, honor wwx’s return or smth

And wwx doesn’t even notice bc JK NOT EVERYBODY IS THERE

GUESS WHO’S MISSING

LWJ. LWJ IS THE ONE  NOT AT THE PARTY

Yeah, so wwx is getting honored by a sect leader and everybody’s faced towards him to like, take a shot in his name

And wwx is totally oblivious 

wwx is ignoring the opportunity to take a shot of alcohol

wwx is ignoring ALCOHOL bc he’s too busy STARING AT THE EMPTY TABLE BEHIND HIM

THE EMPTY TABLE THAT SHOULD HAVE LWJ

LITERALLY EVERYONE JUST CHEERED FOR HIM AND HE WAS TOO FOCUSED ON THE LACK OF LWJ TO NOTICE!!!

Eventually jc gets his attention and they finish the toast and we have nmj interrogating wwx about the lack of suibian

This Becomes a Thing

Ppl are like super offended he doesn’t have his sword

We meet Sect Leader Yao here (and we immediately hate him bc he is the most obnoxious person ever) who starts to gossip about this with everyone else

SHUT UP YAO NOBODY CARES ABOUT YOU

And jin zixun chimes in

SHUT UP JIN ZIXUN NOBODY CARES ABOUT YOU EITHER

GOD THEY’RE BOTH THE WORST

Anyway, the only reason any of this is mentioned is bc ppl are already turning against wwx and it causes a Moral Quandary later on for lwj

Moving on bc we don’t want to spend more time on those jerks than absolutely necessary…

We cut to lwj!! He’s alone in his designated room playing the guqin

He’s so focused on playing it well 

His concentrated expression is pretty~

I think he’s playing the song of clarity or whatever it’s called (idk, it’s some kind of Magic Music)

Which would explain why he’s so intent on playing it right

BC HE WANTS TO PLAY IT FOR WWX SO WWX CAN GET BETTER

We cut back to the dinner party where everyone’s still gossiping like high school kids, ugh, but we’re tolerating it because jyl starts to give us some wangxian pie

Jyl: where’s lwj? Haven’t you two been getting along well? 

JYL KNOWS WHATS UP

Wwx: is that so? (he says bitterly)

(wwx, this is your own fault. If you hadn’t been so mean to him before, he’d probs be there rn)

Eventually wwx gets fed up with the gossiping, snags a wine jar and leaves (yao is super insulted and it’s great)

Now wwx is wandering alone, drinking wine (he’s kind of a drunkard, if you hadn’t noticed yet) and HE SEES LWJ’S SILHOUETTE

Lwj is still alone in his rooms playing the guqin (~BEAUTIFULLY~)

And wwx pauses briefly to watch him

He starts walking away but stops himself a small distance later and makes himself comfortable leaning against some fence nearby AND STAYS THERE LISTENING TO LWJ PLAY

As he’s listening to lwj play, he flashes back to LWJ telling him that his wicked tricks will hurt him

EVERYBODY IS HURTING RIGHT NOW

LWJ IS ALL ALONE PLAYING HIS GUQIN

WWX IS ALL ALONE DRINKING HIS WINE

AND WE’RE ALL ALONE WATCHING THIS GO DOWN

AND THEY’RE BOTH HURTING BC THEY DON’T KNOW HOW TO TALK ABOUT THINGS 

AND WE’RE HURTING BC THEY DON’T KNOW HOW TO TALK ABOUT THINGS

Now JC shows up to demonstrate that thing siblings do where they pick up on each other’s moods and get obnoxious about it

Jc: why do you look so gloomy? Is it bc of lwj?

JC KNOWS WHATS UP

Jc: he’s been avoiding you since we split up

Jc: why did you come here to be disliked by him?

WHY DID YOU COME HERE, HE SAYS, WHY DID YOU COME HERE OUTSIDE HIS ROOMS AND THEN JUST LOITER LIKE SOME CREEPY STALKER

Wwx: maybe i’m just bored

(his smile here is NOT his sunshine smile, it’s a very SAD smile. it gave me Depression™ )

Other stuff happens that are plotty and unimportant

There’s a scary bit where jyl get attacked by wwx’s flute but she handles it with grace bc she’s awesome

She’s like, ah, so i guess it recognizes you as its owner, you better name it then

And now wwx’s demon flute has a name. Chenqing

After that, wwx is looking at chenqing thoughtfully as ~THEIR SONG~ starts playing

And we cut to LWJ who grabs bichen and also starts looking thoughtfully at it

LWJ THEN STARTS A FLASHBACK TO WHEN THEY WERE IN SCHOOL TOGETHER AND WWX TALKED ABOUT HARNESSING RESENTFUL ENERGY

LWJ LOOKS SO UNHAPPY HERE

We cut to the evil wen lair for some bizarre reason bc obvs we’re not here for evil wens, we’re here for wangxiantics

After THAT nonsense is done, we cut back to wwx and get to see him fail at meditation. After this he disappears for a bit.

We know this bc there’s a strategy meeting and jin zixun throws a hissy fit bc wwx isn’t there

Lwj is there and is stoically silent throughout it.

Nothing else of importance happens here

We find out wwx is out and about and sort of loses control of the resentful energy when he sees defenseless wens (the good ones!) getting bullied and whipped

It’s scary

Wwx plays his demon flute but doesn’t seem to be doing it by conscious choice

THIS IS BAD NEWS GUYS

IT WILL LEAD TO SAD TIMES FOR OUR BOYS

But for now we cut back to the strategy meeting where nothing happens but we do get some shots of lwj’s face so it’s not TOTAL waste of time

AND THEN WWX MAKES HIS ENTRANCE

DOORS SLAM OPEN WITH A STRONG BURST OF WIND

ROBES BILLOWING AROUND HIM AND HIS HAIR FLOWING MAJESTICALLY

I LOVE MY CHAOTIC BI

LOOK AT HIM 

Wwx: yeah, don’t worry about the Plot Device,bros, i got this

Lxc: what are you planning to do?

Wwx: you’ll see in a month~!

After the meeting the lan bros have a scene

We haven’t had lan bro time in a while, and this lan bro time is definitely worth the wait

Lxc: why is wwx so confident he’ll be able to handle the Plot Device?

LXC JUST ASSUMES LWJ WILL KNOW THIS

BC HE KNOWS HOW CLOSE THEY ARE

BC SIBLINGS JUST KNOW THINGS

Lwj: I don’t know

AND IT KILLS HIM THAT WWX WON’T LET HIM CLOSE ENOUGH, WON’T LET HIM IN

Lxc: the deaths at yiling, were they related to the Plot Device?

Lwj: No, lxc. He’s not like that.

HE’S NOT LIKE THAT

DID YOU HEAR HIM?

HE HAS FAITH IN HIS SOULMATE

EVEN AS OTHERS ARE STARTING TO DOUBT HIM

And now our lan bro time gets INTENSE

Lwj: lxc, are there rules already set for everything in the world?

Lxc tells him no, there are no set rules in the world, right and wrong are not always clear

Lwj: if people can’t be judged simply this way, then how do we evaluate a person?

Lxc: what makes us human can’t be judged simply as right or wrong. As we evaluate others, we shall not label them black or white but know their intentions deep inside

SUCH AN INTENSE CONVERSATION

SO VERY IMPORTANT

IT WILL SHAPE BASICALLY EVERYTHING LWJ DOES FROM NOW AND FOREVER

ESPECIALLY WHEN IT COMES TO WWX

(who are we kidding, this whole convo was obviously about wwx from start to finish, lxc knows this)

Oh, and now the yunmeng bros show up. They’re walking along the same path as the lan bros and they pause when they see them

More specifically, there’s an awkward pause as lwj and wwx notice each other

AND IT’S SO FUNNY BC JC LOOKS AT WWX AS SOON AS LWJ COMES INTO VIEW

AND LXC LOOKS AT LWJ AS SOON AS LWJ NOTICES WWX

BC JC AND LXC KNOW WHATS UP

THEY BOTH KNOW THEIR BROTHERS ARE HELPLESS FOR ONE ANOTHER

IT’S LIKE THEY’RE WAITING TO SEE WHAT THEIR BROTHERS WILL DO

The awkward pause ends and the two pairs of brothers reach each other and do the formal greeting bow

Once they’re that close to each other, wwx’s attention immediately goes to lwj and lwj’s attention goes to wwx bc ofc it does

BUT THEY SAY NOTHING

NOBODY SAYS ANYTHING TO ANYONE

WHAT THE HECK

COMMUNICATION, EVER HEARD OF IT BROS??

Then wwx drops his gaze and looks away

And then he proceeds to WALK AWAY WITHOUT A WORD????

Lol jc gets kind of flustered here. 

He watches wwx walk away and is like ‘?!?!?’

He looks awkwardly at the lan bros, dithers for half a second, and then follows wwx

Now we’re alone with the lan bros again, And lxc is still trying so hard to wingman his bro!! Bc lxc knows whats up

Lxc: lwj, if you’re worried about wwx…

Lwj: not a bit.

And then he walks off! Just walks out on his brother again!!

LWJ I THOUGHT WE WERE PAST THIS ALREADY

THE WHOLE ‘NO OFC I DON’T CARE ABOUT WWX’ AND STORMING OFF

WHAT HAPPENED LWJ

STOP REGRESSING

THAT’S NOT GONNA HELP 

Now we’re with the Yunmeng bros

Jc: be honest with me, you and lwj decided to cut ties just like that?

(jc still knows whats up)

Wwx: he’s the one who cut ties, not me!

MAYBE IF YOU HADN’T BEEN SO MEAN TO HIM BEFORE WWX, HE WOULDN’T BE AVOIDING YOU

We cut to lwj who’s walking alone now. Some time must’ve passed but it’s unclear how much tbh

Lwj walks towards a door

wwx’s door to be exact

And he almost knocks on the door

but he chickens out

HE WAS SO CLOSE!! SO!! CLOSE!!!

HIS FIST WAS RAISED AND JUST A COUPLE INCHES FROM THE DOOR

AND HE STOPS HIMSELF???

He just stared at the door and then didn’t knock on it

I’M SO FRUSTRATED WITH YOU LWJ

AND HE JUST TURNS TO WALK AWAY LIKE NOTHING???

Thank god jyl shows up and stops him bc jyl still knows whats up

Jyl: are you here for wwx?

Instead of answering, lwj bows politely at her and turns to walk away AGAIN

(which, rude, don’t leave your future sister-in-law hanging like that)

Jyl: wait, i have a question for you

We cut to wwx who is walking to his room and he overhears lwj and jyl talking about how wicked tricks hurt the mind/body

wwx interrupts and he’s very cold about it

Wwx: lan zhan, what are you telling jyl?

Lwj: wei ying

Wwx: i remember telling you to stay out of our business

GUYS YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND HOW ICY HIS TONE IS HERE

HE’S COMPLETELY FREEZING OUT LWJ, HIS SOULMATE

Lwj’s eyes flicker down for a second bc 

THAT 

SHIT 

HURTED

Then he just turns on his heel and walks away

He walks away quickly

He was fleeing the scene bc it hurt so damn much

Jyl comes to lwj’s defense and tells wwx that lwj was only answering questions she had asked him. 

Wwx asks her if lwj mentioned anything about what went down in Yiling, and she tells him that lwj didn’t say anything about that.

We cut to a courtyard or smth and we see wwx chasing down lwj

Wwx: lan zhan, lan zhan!

IT’S SUCH A RELIEF

HE ALMOST SOUNDS NORMAL HERE

And then lwj ruins it by attacking him with bichen

Wwx blocks him with his demon flute (and that works??? for Magic Reasons, i guess??? Pretty sure the flute should’ve been sliced to pieces but whatev)

After a brief scuffle, lwj manages to get bichen at wwx’s throat

Wwx freezes, eyes closed, and waits for the hit to land

Like he really thought lwj would cut his throat open just like that??? WHY DO YOU THINK HE’D EVER HURT YOU?? WHY?? HE LOVES YOU SO MUCH

Lwj obviously doesn’t let the hit land

But the tip of his blade stops only a hair’s width away from wwx’s throat

(it’s kinda hot, and i couldn’t even tell you why…)

(actually it’s probably bc of all that exposed neck wwx is showing)

(so open…and vulnerable…)

(…uh, moving along now)

Once wwx realizes he’s not getting beheaded today, he gets all playful. PLAYFUL!! WE HAVEN’T SEEN THIS SINCE BEFORE LOTUS PIER’S FALL!! it’s beautiful, i’ve missed it so much

Wwx: all these months, and you’ve only improved!

Lwj: it’s you who hasn’t improved at all! Where is suibian?”

And for a change of pace, we get to see wwx doing a Death Grip on Chenqing

That’s the end of the episode

SO INTENSE

SO MANY FEELINGS

SO MANY KNOWING SIBLINGS WHO KNOW THINGS ABOUT THEIR BROTHERS AND THEIR GENERAL INEPTITUDE WITH FEELINGS!!

20/10 stars for Siblings manning the Wangxian Ship.

Return to Masterpost

[stopbullyingatschools]

THIS MUST NOT BE REPEATED!

Open letter

To the Prime Minister of the Federal Republic of Germany, Angela Merkel.  

Dear Angela Merkel,

My name is Margarita Kornilova. I recently became interested in the topic of bullying. Bullying is the use of force, coercion, or threats to abuse, aggressively dominate, or intimidate. The behavior is often repeated and habitual. Children of several categories often turn out to be the victims - children from dysfunctional families, low-income families, physically disabled, shy, or even with bright talents. Violence takes many forms. These are extortion (money and things), psychological bullying (blackmail or insults), and physical violence (slaps, blows).

I was especially interested in Russian schoolchildren abroad being bullied in schools, and I started reading stories of Russian parents living abroad who talked about how they deal with the bullying of their children. I was very impressed by the story of a Russian boy who lives in Germany. In Germany, bullying of Russian children has become a constant practice and that’s because of television propaganda. And I ask you for to pay attention to this and stop the persecution of Russian children in this country.

There is an example. Russian boy, Daniel Tuvier, is 11 years old. He is forced to endure constant attacks from other students who are aggressive towards him because of the material they see on TV about Russia.

Usually, children from school are greeted with the words "What are your grades?"; but, in the Tuvier family, the first question is completely different: "Were you not bullied today?" 11-year-old Daniel is a 6th grade student in the city of Schönevide. The boy got used to the attacks from German children, but the boys quarrel not because of football or girls but because of Russia. Tuvier says, "I have had cases when I was called 'stupid Russian.' I was kicked. I was held by two boys, and another boy tried to pee on me. Other children did not want to sit next to me on the school bus."

At the age of 11, the boy learned to be brave; he knows how to stand up for himself and to avoid fights. His father Denis says that teenage quarrels build character, but what is happening has begun to cross the line. The man assures that the family tried to struggle. They complained to the director, met with the parents of the boys’ parents. Tuvier’s parents even went to court, but this did not help solve the problem. It turned out that the reason why German children openly say that they hate their Russian peers originated from the ProSieben TV channel, Daniel's father explained. In particular, the ProSieben TV channel released a report in which the journalist states that children in Russia are taught about war from childhood. Offensive, explicit and violent content impacts young minds. This content can shape their minds in the wrong manner, or cause them to become mentally disturbed and more aggressive.

The father wrote complaints to all German media, but there was no response. Denis says that, for the sake of his child's peace of mind, he is ready to give up everything and start a new life - to return to Russia and to obtain citizenship again. He is confident that, in a Russian school, his child will think about how to gain good knowledge but not how to defend himself against attacks from his peers.

I, Margarita Kornilova, want the chancellor, Angela Merkel and the German state to stand up for the Russian people and their children and also pay more attention to the problems of families from abroad. Many parents are afraid to send their children to German schools, and sometimes they do not even know where to go if the child is offended or experiences psychological terror.

The school system is obliged to resist bullying in the toughest possible way, but the German system has a huge gap in this regard. I agree that a system for countering bullying in schools is currently being created but, unfortunately, it does not sufficiently take into account the multicultural aspect, which leads to dire consequences. In addition, sometimes teachers become witnesses to verbal and physical bullying by their charges of children from multicultural families, but they choose not to pay attention to it or pretend that nothing special was happening. Such indifference is tantamount to tacit approval, which only fuels the persecution. It is not uncommon for teachers themselves to have a negative attitude towards a child from a foreign family. Both from a moral and a professional point of view, this is an unacceptable, irresponsible position! School administrators often prefer not to disclose these kind of facts because incidents with elements of bullying damage the image of the institution. Until school bullying becomes a tragedy, they prefer to ignore it. Only later, the price of such an attitude may turn out to be too high.

The case of my compatriot, Daniel, is an example of such indifferent, insufficient prevention of bullying in schools. In this regard, I, as representatives of the Russian-speaking community and as a caring person, earnestly ask you to hold the following urgent measures in Russia.

The work of the relevant departments:

1. To organize in all schools of the Federal Republic of Germany lessons on tolerance in all classes.

2. Organize meetings and group discussions with all parents about bullying.

3. Conduct courses of lectures and seminars for school teaching staff on the prevention of school violence.

4. Provide all schools with professional psychologists specializing in the prevention of bullying in educational institutions.

5. Create a series of social videos for teenagers on the rules of protection in various situations of school violence (in all languages).

6. Develop and distribute booklets to parents that include information about the inadmissibility of school violence as well as specific instructions for schoolchildren who are the victims of bullying.

In conclusion, I want to say that I am addressing not only the chancellor, but also the Federal Republic of Germany and entire German society. I'm sure Daniel and his family truly love Germany. They live and work here and want to live in peace and harmony. Parents should not be afraid while their children are at school. They don't have to worry about the psychological state of children every day. After all, it cannot be that smart and strong adults cannot protect weak and defenseless children. It shouldn't be so! This must not happen again!

[duhragonball]

Dragon Ball Z 184

Last time, Cell wanted Gohan to get angry so he’d power up and be a more challenging opponent, so when beating him up didn’t work, he pooped out a bunch of blue clones of himself and sent them to attack the other Z-Fighters.   That is a real sentence that is an accurate description of what happened, astonishingly enough.

I don’t want to spend too much time on the Cell Juniors’ beatdown, but to cover the highlights... Goku never ate that senzu bean after his match with Cell, so he’s too worn out to defend himself properly.

Piccolo notices this and he helps out Tien and Yamcha so they can run interference for Goku.     

This is a pretty cool scene, although it’s kind of hard to square with the Cell Juniors beating them up later.  

Case in point, Vegeta’s fresh, and probably the strongest guy in this group, but a Cell Junior repels his ki blast like it’s nothing, and works him over pretty good.    I don’t think they ever take him or Trunks down, but it’s hard to understand how the others could put up much of a fight when Vegeta and Trunks are having this much trouble.

At this point, Gohan’s horrified, because they’re all going to die, and Trunks is the only one who could be wished back with the Dragon Balls.    And he can’t stop it, not because he doesn’t want to, but because he doesn’t know how.   

Meanwhile, Mr. Satan’s group convinces him to withdraw from this battle, but before they go, Android 16′s head speaks, and asks Satan to take him over to Gohan.   

Jimmy Firecracker insists that this would be madness, since these people are clearly monsters, and Mr. Satan has nothing to prove to the likes of them, but 16 appeals to Satan’s pride, and he agrees to help.

As he puts it, all these guys we’ve never heard of are laying it all on the line to fight Cell, including a child, so if he--the champion-- ran away now he’d be a laughingstock.   Would he, though?   It’s pretty clear that Jimmy wouldn’t think that, and he’s maybe the biggest Mr. Satan mark around.

The truth is that Mr. Satan would be disappointed in himself if he failed to act now.   16 isn’t asking for much, but he seems to think it’ll make a difference, and that’s why Mr. Satan came here.   Beneath all the gloryhounding and shameless self-promotion, he really does care about being the world’s hero.  

So Satan tosses him over to Gohan, just as Cell is ordering his kids to finish off the Z-Figthers.  

16 appeals to Gohan’s morality, telling him that it’s not wrong to fight in the service of good, because some opponents can’t be reached with words.    I don’t know if this was really Gohan’s problem here or not, but it makes sense.   Gohan doesn’t enjoy fighting the way the other Saiyans do, and maybe his gentle nature is holding him back.  

As 16 begs Gohan to defend the nature he so loved, Cell walks up and stomps on his head, destroying him for good.

Okay, here’s my favorite shot in this episode.    We see pieces of 16′s head land on the ground, including this microchip with an LED light, and it flickers a few times before fading out.   I assume this is supposed to be his brain or something, or maybe it’s just meant to symbolize it, but it’s clear that he’s gone for good this time.

And then....

Aw, snap!

No one was entirely sure what would happen if and when Gohan lost control, but this definitely seems to qualify.

As he cries out, everyone stops what they’re doing and looks at him, because they can feel the awesome ki he’s putting out.  

The insert song for this scene is “Unmei no Hi - Tamashii VS Tamashii”, or “Day of Fate - Spirit vs Spirit”    Take a listen.

I didn’t hear the song myself until I was downloading music off the internet in 2004, and came across a “Japanese Super Saiyan 2 Gohan Theme”.   Later, I found out it was an insert song actually used in the show, and when I bought a DVD containing this episode I was able to see how it was used in the Japanese version.   

Funnily enough, on the Orange Brick DVDs, you can watch the Funimation Dub with the original Japanese score, but the music is cut out of that version.    From what I understand Funimation never got the rights to use the song that way, which is weird because they apparently had the rights to put it in the original version on the same disc.   

For my part, the most chiling part of this is when the music is playing, and no one is speaking, and we see Cell wondering just what he’s unleashed, and the narrator finally says “At last...”  Well, he says it in Japanese, but it still works.    It’s really all he needs to say, because we all knew it would end up like this.    It was just a matter of time.  

Even Goku looks amazed, and he was the one who expected this to happen.   So where do we go from here?

Oh, yeah, and the last shot is on Gohan’s face, as his tears evaporate away in the winds kicked up by his enormous aura.    You can cry and still kick his ass.

So what was it exactly that pushed Gohan over the edge?    Personally, I think he needed to see something as shocking as 16′s death.     The sight of a defenseless robot head, selflessly asking Gohan to defend birds and trees, and then he gets snuffed out by some heartless monster who had already taken everything else away from him.    Well, maybe that was the last straw.  

I sort of wonder if 16 realized that it would take someone’s actual death to put Gohan in the mood, and he decided that his life was a better sacrifice than anyone else’s.   Or maybe it was blind chance.   The problem with Gohan’s outbursts in the past was that there was no real way of knowing when they’d come or how long they’d last.    Maybe if 16 had waited this would have happened anyway.    

In any event, it has happened, and now the game has changed.     Z stands for the end, but not yet.

[kylohhh]

Finished product!

Here’s the finished scene I was tinkering with last week… I hope you like it! I’m planning to get started on AO3 soon so I can organize my work. As always, let me know if you like it, hate it, or just want to chat!

**********

“-and by the time we landed, they were gone. GONE, Finn! Chewie and I were so close to saving this girl, I could practically see her force signature!” Rey’s voice fell from the heights of indignation to the depths of despondence, brittle with unshed tears. “Some Jedi I’m turning out to be. I can’t even keep one force sensitive child from the clutches of First Order. How am I supposed to bring balance to the force or whatever that weird glowing green troll said?”

Finn’s eyes roved over the girl seated shoulder to shoulder with him on the floor of his room. He chewed his lower lip, gripping the knees of his flight suit a little tighter to keep his body from betraying him by crushing her to his chest and telling her all the ways he loved her and believed in her still. Rey slumped back against the durasteel bunk, her glassy, unseeing eyes staring at the ceiling.  

Finn tentatively reached out to lay a reassuring hand on Rey’s trembling shoulder, only to quickly ball back his fist as if stung. No. Nope. Don’t do it. She doesn’t like to be touched. Nuh-uh. He reached for another beer from Poe’s stash beneath the bunk instead.

“I thought there was still some little piece of humanity left in him,” she whispered like a confession.

“WHAT?!” Finn’s train of tender thoughts crashed into the wall of emotions Rey had just built around her. Jumping up, he began pacing the tiny barracks room. “Kriff, Rey! What in the entire known galaxy would lead you to believe that? Let’s think back. Hmm. Oh, I remember, was it how he led missions wiping defenseless villages off the map before I even left the First Order? Or how he killed his father right in front of us? Maybe it was how he practiced his filleting skills on my back or how he led the attack against us and his own MOTHER on Crait? Some little hand-holding by firelight doesn’t make him anything less than a lunatic and you’re crazy too if you believe-“ Shit. Oh shit. ohshitohshitohshit. Finn broke off his sarcastic tirade as his best friend flinched. She tentatively stood, roughly raking her knuckles across her face to dry her tears. A quiet sniff escaped her, before she nodded once in acknowledgement. Way to go laserbrain. I really hate you sometimes… and I am you. “I am so sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just I got so caught up a-and you know-“ Rey nodded again.

“No, you’re right. I’m sorry I said anything.”

Finn jumped up, kicking himself for screwing up an evening alone with Rey. Thoughts just started clanging around in his head and falling out his mouth whenever Ren came up between them. Rey had told him months ago about their connection and their conversations, including a firelight hand-holding session that made a muscle in his jaw twitch just thinking about it. Of course, hold his hand why don’t you… STOP. Stop that right now. We will not go down that path. Haven’t you kriffed up enough today?

Before he could ruin the night any further, Rey mumbled something about being tired and practically sprinted out of the room. Smooth. Real smooth.

 **********

Later, Rey would kick herself for not recognizing the signs sooner, blaming the warm beers pilfered from Poe’s stash and the exhaustion that she should be accustomed to by now. At the time, she was too wrapped up in her most recent failure to notice the prickling sensation at the base of her neck and the background noise fading to a hum, just like it did years ago. “I thought there was still some little piece of humanity left in him,” she whispered.

“WHAT?!” Finn bellowed. “Kriff, Rey! What in the entire known galaxy-“

The rest of Finn’s indignation fell to deaf ears, as a voice only she could hear growled, “You actually think I am murdering those children? I’m giving them a chance to be free of the lies and hypocrisy of the Jedi and the Sith. And you dare to cry over me? Weeping over my humanity, as if I didn’t lay my heart and the galaxy at your feet and watch you reach for a lightsaber?” He thumbed his own saber to life, bringing the crackling blade to rest just over her right shoulder. Rey flinched, but didn’t move to defend herself. Her eyes took in every inch of the man she had been both longing and dreading to see for two years before locking onto his, the tears tracking down his face a mirror image of her own. How does seeing him still do this to me, after all this time? Her thought echoed through the bond and lodged itself in his chest. Biting his cheek, Kylo powered down his blade, but his stare still burned brightly. His voice cracked, and Rey could feel a maelstrom of conflicting emotions that were not her own, “Why, Rey? Why did you give up on me… just like everyone else?”

Rey slowly stood, hoping to stay her trembling hands by wrapping her arms around her shoulders. She swallowed roughly, her eyes cutting over to Finn. Kylo snarled impatiently, raking his hand through his hair and pacing out his fury. “Start talking. You owe me an explanation, if nothing else.” Catching her eyes glancing to the side again, an idea struck him, “Someone is there with you. Is that why you won’t even speak to me?” She quickly dried her tears and nodded once, not trusting her voice. “It’s the traitor, isn’t it?” Rey nodded again. He whipped around, closing the distance between them, “You talk about me, about us, with the scum of the Resistance? I bared my soul to you and you betray me to my enemies? Was I wrong to think that there was something there between us, even if just for a moment?”

“No, you’re right. I’m sorry I said anything.” She looked away, willing the tears welling in her eyes to stay put for a little longer.

Kylo could hear his voice playing on a loop in Rey’s head…there was something there between us… there was something there between us… there was something there between us… A hopelessness too close to his own heartache seeped from the bond. He wasn’t sure he could forgive the girl whose betrayal hurt more than the neglect of his parents, Skywalker’s treachery, or the years of abuse under Snoke’s tutelage.  He wasn’t even sure he wanted to forgive her, because she was the first person to really try to understand him. The others only saw the darkness, but Rey truly saw him. He begged her to take his hand, his throne, his love, and she drew a weapon. Despite it all, it still hurt to see her tears. Lost in the depths of her betrayal, he sometimes forgot that the fierce fighter with her own particular brand of morality was not much more than a child with a decade less experience, lost and unsure. He wished she would allow him to be there for her, to give her the guidance and reassurance he so desperately needed at that age.

No longer able to face the onslaught of questions flung at her in stereo by Kylo and Finn without crying in earnest, Rey mumbled some excuse about being tired and sprinted out of the room. She couldn’t bring herself to look back at the twin expressions of hurt etched on the faces of the men that mattered most in her life, unknowingly standing side-by-side.