#but cheating in this storyline is an odd choice

[1doesnotsimplyhavejust1fandam]

So what I’m getting from Tim posting a 9-1-1!Vertigo movie poster and including Buck, not Marisol, in what is presumably Midge’s role, is that there didn’t necessarily need to be cheating for this arc to work. Please correct me if I’m wrong.

I love a good dramatic arc and Vertigo is a banger choice for Eddie’s Catholic guilt and Shannon grief arc, but as far as I know (yes, in my hour of Wikipedia and Twitter deep-diving), that movie doesn’t actually contain cheating, so I’m curious if there’s a reason for it other than drama or not making a carbon copy 9-1-1 version of Vertigo. Is it to make the audience start to dislike Eddie like the Vertigo audience is meant to slowly dislike Scottie, as he continues to make bad choices? Is it to encourage the GA to see Buddie with Buck as the pining Midge? Desperately want reassurance that Tim realizes by making Buck a part of this storyline (especially as Midge), there is no feasible way to dismiss that. Even if Buck’s feelings aren’t explicitly addressed, that poster and any potential on-screen pining aren’t going to be swept away. Season 7 paralleling season 4 regarding Buddie and it’s because The Will and the Vertigo Arc won’t be ignored by the fandom. We’re all gonna go a little crazy methinks, and I can’t wait.

[realchemistry]

About Maddie's reaction to ~the incident

One of the things I think is important to point out, because I haven't seen or read anyone talking about it, is Maddie's reaction when Buck told her the truth about the basketball incident. When Buck first arrived, she was all smiles, probably happy to have Buck there. Then she asked about how Eddie was doing and Buck said he hadn't talked to him because what happened on the basketball court was not an accident.

Buck confessed that he might have meant to hurt Eddie because he was pissed, felt left out, and he guessed he was trying to get Eddie's attention (I’m not gonna go Buddie here, but he legit literally said exactly this which !!!).

Her face started to morph, the change in her whole demeanor, the horror of it all... she was really really mad. I don't think JLH got the proper credit for it. It's truly remarkable, her face spoke volumes about everything that was going through her head at the moment. You could see Maddie thinking about her past, about Doug, about how he hurt her and the terrible ways in which he justified that behavior as she was telling Buck that you do not hurt people to get their attention and not to do it again.

The episode didn't make that connection explicit (they had her babbling about Sarahs instead, more on that in the last paragraph), and I KNOW that if roles were reversed, part of the fandom would've lost their mind, since they love to portray Eddie as violent and abusive towards Buck when there's nothing in canon to back that up, quite the opposite as of this episode actually. Since Eddie was the one who got hurt, it was no big deal, it was pretty much forgotten immediately after. I thought it was a huge deal, I thought tptb didn't really address how problematic that was. I thought the only one who reflected the gravity of the situation was Jen, maybe thanks to her character's past.

BTW, I don't think it's in character for Buck to do this, I think he does know better, and he really isn't and hasn't ever been the type to resort to violence. Having said that, that's what tptb decided to do on screen, maybe as a way to show he was struggling with his identity... But that’s kinda terrible, like, he’s confused at this point about his feelings so his first instinct is to harm his friend out of jealousy? Also, we didn't get to see anything else on the matter after. It was such an odd choice, tbh, cause yes, Buck and Eddie probably talked about it for a second and then made up offscreen, but to have a character be violent towards his friend just to push a storyline forward, a storyline about bisexuality of all things, disregarding everything about said character and then not acknowledging it... Some very bad choices were made. Once again, I think tptb prioritized moving the plot forward over making sense and that's just something I truly hate with my whole heart.

Characters cannot have their choices and actions dictated by the plot or, at least, it can't feel that way to the audience. That's just bad writing through and through. Tptb did this a lot this season, and I understand that time was pressing because of the strike and all, but they need to do better. They are professionals getting paid to do a job, the least they can do is actually make it all make sense for the fans and stay away from toxic portrayals of LGBTQ+ characters (Hen cheating, anyone?).

The whole story about the Sarahs was really kinda ridiculous, honestly, I think they just had to give Jen more to do but a follow up without it would've been much better. Of course, seeing as their intention was to completely ignore the gravity of the situation, they simply couldn't mention Doug at all cause that would've required Buck and Eddie discuss this seriously instead of completely forgetting about it.

[negrowhat]

BL/QL ASK GAME : THE UGLY, THE BAD AND THE WORST

I saw that @bengiyo did this and I would like to participate!

The categories are :

Worst soundtrack / weirdest song choice in a BL

I think some of the background music choices in Love in the Air/Wedding Plan were odd, mostly during SkyPrapai scenes. I think in one scene Itsy Bitsy Spider was playing and in their wedding scene some random ass old song was playing too. And I can't remember which BL it was where a Christmas Song kept playing in the background during random scenes.

Most cringe-inducing line (cute)

Pleum to Kevin: "You're lovely, trust me on that. If you weren't lovely I wouldn't fall for you from the first time we met." The cringe the cheese and he was always saying cheesy stuff like that to Kevin but I ate it up because he was sincere and so up front. We stan.

Most cringe-inducing line (actually bad)

Rain to Payu: "If you don't stop being angry you're going to scare your wifey." I hate how attached MAME is to the "wifey" title for her characters. That scene was cute but that line is just ugh. And the subbers like to translate it as "Darling" but we all know the truth.

Most stupid decision made by a character

Yu Xi Gu leaving to go buy salt for that stupid soup. (History 3: Make Our Days Count)

Worst plot line

Whatever the fuck the step brothers in History 4 had going on. I could honestly move past them being step brothers if every single thing else about their storyline was not so messed up. (History 4: Close to You)

The most problematic show you’ve watched

1000% TharnType and I completely own that shit. TT was a hot ass toxic mess and I ate up every single bit of it.

A show people love but you find bad

Dark Blue and Moonlight. I just hated every single thing about that series. I hated the stupid cheating plot. I hated both of the main guys. Hated the acting. But when that shit came out I remember that people just LOVED it.

A show people find bad but you will defend

En of Love: Tossara. People found Tossara boring and I just loved their lil series. I love Gun and Bar and sure the acting was a little stiff but they gave me such a warm and cozy vibe. They were honest with each other and had relevant conversations and were mostly unproblematic.

A show that is just objectively bad but you enjoyed it

The Best Twins. Like the plot made no sense and depending on which couple was on screen it felt like 3 series in one and some of the acting was not good but it was a funny lil series that featured a ton of our faves before they were our faves. Also fucking THOR??? He's a gem.

A bad show that you kept watching because you were intrigued/fascinated

History: Obsessed, because what the fuck even was that? I had to see how they made it out to the end.

A bad show that you kept watching because you were horny

Waterboyy...Earth looked really, really hot in that one, but my gawd I would never, ever watch that series again. Between them revoking that one girl's lesbian card, the cheating, the sexual assault, and Waii's daddy getting together with Waii's best friend I couldn't stomach it. Highkey glad EarthNew didn't last.

A bad show that you kept watching because of that one character

My Gear and Your Gown. That character actually being the ship PureFolk, because otherwise that series was a total snooze fest.

A bad show that you would still recommend

My Engineer. The series was quite literally a mess and almost felt like a fever dream with it's wacky characters and random happenings with the plot (also some people didn't like the main couple) but the series is so much fun and we were given a gem of a ship with RamKing/PerthLay. It's just a fun series.

The character that ruined a show the most

Fucking Wai in Bad Buddy. I just couldn't stand him outing his own best friend to the whole school. That was so fucking dirty and Pran was still trying to apologize??????? I almost dropped the series after that because I knew he would never apologize and still everything would be forgiven.

Most awful character that you hated

Tita Susan from Gameboys the Movie/Gameboy S2. Plern Pleng from Together with Me. San from TharnType. Lee So Hee from Light on Me. Fighter's daddy.

Most awful character that you loved

Type from TharnType. Ritsu from The End of the World With You.

A character that wasn’t awful but that you just don’t like

Ben from Never Let Me Go. Dome from Ingredients.

A hero that should have been a villain

Theo from Enchante. Waii from Waterboyy. Yeon Seok from First Love Again.

A morally bad character you’re into

Denis from The Director Who Buys Me Dinner.

A morally bad character you’re not into and you wish people would stop being into

The younger step brother from History 4. Day from Love Syndrome 3.

The show that disappointed you the most.

Check Out the Series and Even Sun.

The Worst Show of Them All Because of Your Own Reasons

Dark Blue and Moonlight

[thegreatyin]

Seeing your old posts and actually do want to know what did you think of the Blind Pianist plotline because it apparently affected the scoundrel A Lot

it did!!

from a meta/personal perspective, i really liked the blind pianist storyline. i knew about the dawn machine before finishing it, but only knew it was a sunless seas thing and never expected it'd make a cameo in such an earlygame quest. i don't have a lot to say on either her or the spirifer, but i liked both enough to follow along with it pretty well. this whole venture was also the scoundrel's first ever foray into parabola (and getting momentarily stuck in there). oh how the tables have turned.

i don't remember all the exact details of the ending the scoundrel got, but in the end they chose to forgo both the dynamite and hell's interests in favor of saving the pianist and spirifer. this isn't something i thought much of at the time, but makes sense for their character in retrospect. a lot of the choices you can make in early-game storylines end in tragedy (the comtessa being the most infamous example) and i like to think their early memories of neath life are... mildly scarred by it all. particularly the cherry man vs last constable storyline, which saw them take a chance and gamble (as they are wont to do) and the constable...

well. they most certainly resolved to be far, far more careful since that particular little incident. they turned down the chance to rig the odds in their favor, and look where it got them. they're spiteful. bitter. and not just because they hate to lose. they were close to her, and they left her life to chance, and now they're alone. and she's dead. forever.

so they've decided to never allow such a thing ever again. if they have the opportunity to cheat and shift things their way, they'll always take it. no matter what.

obviously, in actual game terms, the pianist's ending doesn't involve rng at all. but in-universe, the ending they got is but a product of the lessons they learned from the constable. it's a victory, at least in their eyes. they didn't take any chances, didn't risk any lives, and as a reward they finally saved her. they finally got to move on.

tldr; the pianist herself didn't necessarily affect them insomuch as being a product/culmination of their arc from the constable storyline. but i like to think they do still see and love her. try as they might, they have a few soft spots in their wretched little heart.

[phantomoftheorpheum]

on the shawn x noa x jen stuff, there’s something i’ve been thinking about.

in season 1, noa thanks shawn for supporting her and being by her side post-juvie. she implied that they had been together before she went to juvie, he waited for her, and still continues to defend her, trust her, etc.

they became official in march just after karen’s party. she was sent to juvie after. cute, fine.

but then jen is introduced and we’re told that her and noa were together in juvie.

were noa and shawn on a break that has never been mentioned? or was she in a relationship with shawn while getting with jen in juvie? if her and shawn were on a break or something while she went to juvie, i can’t imagine why they wouldn’t have mentioned that already. yikes this is so bad…

i understand that people want queer representation but the representation needs to be good. i can’t believe how many people i’m seeing ship noa x jen without even mentioning shawn. like, can she at least break up with him? i agree, even if he turns out to be bad, noa doesn’t know that but it’s repeatedly being a terrible partner. and i’d be shocked if - like you said, noa’s challenge wasn’t related to the love triangle.

Okay, so I went back to check my facts. I think the implication is that Shawn & Noa were genuinely a couple while she was in juvie (but maybe not completely official?) because in 2x02 Jen asks, "...what ever happened to that guy you were seeing when we were in juvie?" and Noa responds, "Shawn." And I don't see why they would bring it up like this (like they could have had Jen say something like, "Hey, what ever happened with you and that guy you told me you had a crush on when we were in juvie?") if they didn't want it to feel like Noa's past with Jen is illicit. So I'm also assuming Noa & Shawn's relationship is not open (seems like they would have mentioned this considering Noa's plot this season) and therefore this is just fully cheating. Also, this explains why she doesn't tell any of the other girls about this- if Jen was just a past relationship, Noa wouldn't have a reason to keep it a secret from them, but if her past with Jen means she was cheating on Shawn... Well, that's a different story.

I do think the timeline is a little muddled, because I don't think they planned any of this from the beginning, but it definitely seems like they're doubling down on the "Noa and Shawn were exclusively together when she met Jen" version of events.

And I'm with you. The reinforcement of negative stereotypes of bisexuality really bothers me, too. While, in universe, Noa cheating on Shawn (and treating him the way she has been this season) wouldn't be any better/worse if she were doing it with another guy instead (was Noa confirmed as bi or pan or anything in season 1 because I don't remember it?) the show making a choice to portray her character in a way that unavoidably (even if unintentionally) links her sexuality to her lack of loyalty is disappointing.

Shawn may turn out to be evil, but man is this storyline brutal for him regardless. I honestly can't root for Noa/Shawn as a couple at all, because if he's a bad guy, then obviously I don't want them together, but if he's a good guy then he deserves so much better. I can't root for Noa/Jen either, because this relationship is built upon lies and deceit and a serious disregard for another person's feelings. Honestly I think Noa needs to take a romantic break and reevaluate what she wants, who she wants to be, and how to proceed with a healthy relationship, but this is a dramatic tv show, so odds of that happening seem low.

[nicki0kaye]

ok ima go ahead and be public about this I think star wars fans have every right to be angry when shows like Boba and Obi-wan were less than quality, esp in relation to Andor.  I do think their anger is misplaced tho when its pointed at the artist behind those shows, including the producers and directors. We know that these are passionate ppl who care about the SW universe bc when they’re allowed the time, they do great work.  They are not getting that time. That’s just a fact. And that is not a them problem, that’s a Disney and Late Capitalism problem. 

when you run a production, especially several productions end to end to end, you have to make calculated decisions on where your resources go. That includes writers and revisions. Obi-wan felt like watching a first draft because it likely was in certain scenes. I will argue it was made with love just from how good certain beats were, but there’s a clear lack of quality control throughout, especially when compared to Andor.  I argue Obi-wan is the way it is because the people making it knew they had to cut corners somewhere, and it could not be with Andor. Because just...look at how these series are being rolled out! It’s just not humanly possible to produce shit this quickly without quality suffering. We have a team that is very good at their job, who want to put ppl in Star Wars that have been historically barred from the role of hero, and they KNOW they’re going to get push back. Those products have to be polished to a mirror shine in order to survive that blow-back. And believe you me, they understand the bar they set with Andor. They know what pressure they’ve created for themselves.

And then there’s Ahsoka, a show about characters most ppl have never heard of, finishing the storyline from a show that aired on a Disney sub-channel behind a paywall, that was entirely directed at kids. I cannot COMPREHEND the pressure Filoni is under to make that ship sail. That is his BABY, and he is up against some terrifying odds simply because he has to sell an entirely oblivious audience on the conclusion of Rebels when none of these fuckers have seen Rebels. I legit cannot imagine how he sleeps at night under that pressure, let alone help run the rest of the star wars shows. 

And this is not to dismiss ppl who just legit don’t like his narrative choices. This isn’t in response to you. If you don’t like his writing, I have nothing to argue with, you do you. This is for ppl who felt cheated bc of the lack of quality. Blame Disney, bc they are the ones who decided on this hellish marathon of scheduling. I think we can all agree we would HAPPILY wait longer between releases if it meant solid quality. Disney is not letting them do that. Disney wants money and wants to win the streaming wars or whatever. Everyone working for Disney is having to navigate a shitty system and its a fUCKING WONDER that we’ve gotten as good as we have. I’m serious, these ppl understand the politics at play and a lesser team would have buckled under it. They would not have ATTEMPTED something remotely like Andor, let alone stuck the landing like they did, if they weren’t good at their jobs as creators navigating late-capitalism. 

[owlterri]

Streets of rogue not logged into steam

Streets of rogue not logged into steam Pc#

Each randomly-designed floor in Streets or Rogue is a self-contained playground in which to test the artificial intelligence of NPCs, approach typical problems with creative solutions, and conduct research on several class types, each with their own strengths, weaknesses, and innate abilities. Luckily, the moment-to-moment experimentation and decision-making in the game is so rich and varied that it mitigates the impenetrability of the campaign. To ease the pain, Streets of Rogue offers 60+ rule-altering "mutators", including Sandbox mode, which allows players to bypass mission objectives altogether, but they feel like cheating-indeed Sandbox is described as "cheat mode". Players can increase their odds of survival slightly this way, but they're not nearly as significant as permanent unlocks, which would provide the incentive, mostly missing from this game, to tackle the campaign over and over. However, when you purchase a new ability or tool, you do not own them rather they enter into a pool of rewards that are assigned or offered at random after completing missions and levels. Now, the game does provide chicken nuggets, a black market item in the city streets (again, developer Matt Dabrowski's ironic sense of humor reveals itself) that carry over after a failed run and can be used to purchase new traits and items. Streets of Rogue, despite its successes in emergent gameplay and player choice, sometimes struggles to convince its players that repeat failure will translate to something meaningful. Essentially, the best of the genre prod, poke, and otherwise punish, but inspire confidence that one day you'll emerge victorious. A great rogue-lite manages the carrot and stick relationship artfully, doling out plenty of damage but providing enough tools and treats along the journey to inspire repeat runs. Where the game stumbles somewhat is in its feeling of hopelessness. Randomly-generated worlds and situations force players into exciting and unpredictable situations-to a point-and the ever-present fear of death makes every move and decision meaningful. Streets of Rogue nails the mechanics and the breathlessness of a rogue-lite. If you perish at any point on the journey it's back to the hub and the very bottom of the ladder. The third level of each area, in a clever twist, brings with it a unique event, e.g., a killer robot on the loose or a police crackdown. Each of the game's five main areas has three levels apiece (the sixth and final area is designed differently), with random missions that must be completed or at least attempted before players can activate an elevator that brings them up one level. Here's how the typical run goes: you'll start in a staging ground for the Resistance-a hub area of sorts-then choose one of 24 classes and head off to the bottom layer of the city, the slums. In short, the nuts and bolts of Streets of Rogue are by far its most elaborate, interesting features. While the anti-mayor campaign serves as narrative context for the game, it takes a backseat to sandbox-style open-ended gameplay, randomly-generated missions and maps, and class-based RPG elements. In the aftermath rose a resistance movement dedicated to toppling this mayoral Mussolini. The city's new mayor, elected on campaign promises of lower taxes and more beer, turned against his constituents, using their tax dollars to fund a personal army. Streets of Rogue has a flippant sense of humor that carries over to its storyline. The random nature and steep difficulty of the game translates to some repetition and pessimism, but overall it offers enough character, class, and rule options to create free-form fun outside of the main adventure. Streets of Rogue, while not nearly as impactful or sublime as Ion Storm's masterpiece, combines the experimental elements of Deus Ex with random world generation and permadeath to create a winning top-down rogue-lite where players have the freedom to tackle problems their way.

Streets of rogue not logged into steam Pc#

One of the best PC games of all time, it set the gold standard for emergent, improvisational gameplay in an action-RPG. To be mentioned in the same breath as Deus Ex is a high honor for a video game. By Evan Norris, posted on 18 July 2019 / 3,864 Views

[ashesandhackles]

Julia Thoughts: Anime & Live Action

Julia in the anime first appears as a part of Spike's sepia tinted memories - in matronly clothes, singing and caring for Spike. It firmly establishes her as a pocket of peace and innocence, "a beautiful part" that Spike thought he had lost in the violence of Syndicate life.

However - how Spike sees her is a shade of a more complicated woman, tainted by his loss and longing. It is implied that Julia cheated on Vicious with Spike (who at that point of time were best friends), and when we finally do get to meet her - we see her wield a gun, we see her drive a car in the most erratic way to shake off mob enforcers, she is not shaken by people shooting at her and will also point a gun at her former lover to make a point. She is also emphatically not in sweet girl clothes. We also get this bit of dialogue from her from Spike's memories in Jupiter Jazz: "Women are all liars."

So live action Julia capitalising on manipulation to survive in Syndicate is not an off character beat. I also understood that writers wanted to start her off from a place of innocence as a singer that both Spike and Vicious are taken by in live action - to give her more of an arc, and indicate the corruption of being in the syndicate, a corruption that affected Spike so much he wanted to leave. The problem is not the arc itself - it's how its written and executed. It's trope-y, over the top and has none of the subtlety of anime.

Also, live action Vicious is just all round terrible - the writing and acting. I could only watch him during stunts because that's the only time he is watchable. The actress for Julia does try, but she is not a strong enough actress to pull through when writing is a mess (which is not a problem with John Cho, Daniella Pineda and Mustafa Shakir - how they act their way around bad writing choices and dialogue is commendable)

The problem of rendering two characters that represented aspects of Spike's psyche in anime - Julia (his lost innocence and his idea of better life) + Vicious (being a "beast" like he is, a darker aspect of who Spike is) into fully realised people in their own right is that it does not follow the cues that makes them so compelling. There is a reason Vicious is so cold and ruthless - which were the defining aspects of him in the anime. These are qualities Spike has dialled up to 11. He is Spike's shadow. Neither the live action writing nor the actor has understood this.

I have a less of a problem of them doing this with Julia, whose cues they missed as well. It must be noted that anime repeatedly brought her up in conjunction with Faye - and indicates that we need to look at who Faye is to make up our characterisation for who Julia is.

It's in visual cues - Faye "singing off key" as Spike wakes up from his memories of Julia, both of them bonding with Gren in Jupiter Jazz, the odd Faye memory in Jupiter Jazz montage, both Faye and Julia getting the story of why Spike's eyes are different colours, the bar man telling Jet that Faye "sat in the same seat as Julia", and implies both of them are quite memorable women. Faye is brash and conniving but can go toe to toe with Spike. However, that dangerous woman is a protective layer on top of her vulnerability. In contrast, we see Julia in her "innocence" and yet we know that she was more darker than that.

There is also an undercurrent of attraction between Spike and Faye in anime - which is also the reason why these cues also exist and to also understand why Spike reacts to Faye the way he does. They share a different, less charged relationship in live action (btw the look of relief on John Cho's face when Faye comes to save him and Jet is *chef's kiss*)

Anyway, the point of the rambling is - when the source material on Spike's past is so sparse, it's best to take cues from what anime was doing with them and develop characters from there. The syndicate storyline did not work for live action at all.

[mark-dark-yance]

Damien x DA

*might have a few Actor x DA interactions*

*This takes place during WKM I may continue this to include ideas from other storylines like Damien and ADWM OR AHWM if you all would like!

__________

You arrived at the massive Markiplier Manor. Admiring it, you make your way to the entrance noticing the interesting man ahead of you. He seemed to be dressed as someone who held a high rank in military or maybe even a safari hunter. The mysterious man turns around and notices you.

“Oh, Bully! And here I thought I was gonna be the last guest to arrive. My friends call me the Colonel. You’re welcome to do the same should it please you, but uh, after you.” He states as he nods to you.

You smile small and nod to him as you enter the manor. You’re met with another unfamiliar face; however, you noticed how the man is dressed, he must be the butler.

“Ah! Bonjour! Welcome to Markiplier Manor. Your invitation, please,” he stated with an odd smile on his face.

You reluctantly hand him your invitation. He takes it and states he would fetch you a drink “forthwith”. You enter in and notice your all time friend and work associate, Damien. You met Damien during your university years in some of your law classes. You both hit things off really well and the rest is history. You always admired Damien for his caring and lovable personality. You also have to admit he was quite handsome, but do to the nature of his position as mayor, and your position of district attorney, you never adventured a romantic relationship with Damien. Even though you would hope some day that would happen.

He is also the reason you met Mark. At one of the raving university parties you drug Damien to you were introduced to the interesting character that is Mark, or Markiplier as he was also known as. He would be the always host the raging parties and was always the flirtatious type, but you could tell he and Damien were close friends. However after university ended, you never really stayed in contact with Mark, unlike Damien. Which is why you wondered why you were called to this massive mansion.

You gracefully walked over to Damien as he was talking to someone who appeared to be a detective. Damien notices you and lights up.

“Oh! There you are, old friend. How are you settling into your new office?”

“I-” you started but Damien cuts you off as if he didn’t hear you attempting to speak.

“ Now, I know it’ll take some getting used to, but there’s no one I would rather have alongside me to protect this great city of ours.

Now I’ll see you at the table soon, but please try not to rob me blind again; we’ll catch up,” he turns and heads off in another direction.

You look down and sigh. That was quite odd of him to act that way. You shook it off venturing more into this manor. Accidentally running into the angry chef and the butler coming to your aid.

“ So sorry about that; here’s your champagne. Enjoy your evening,” he nods while giving your glass of champagne. Then Mark makes his grand entrance. You find your way and stand beside Damien.

“So sorry I had to run off like that,” he whispers to you as Mark makes his speech.

“You’re fine,” as you listen to the robed Mark. You knew he was always big and loved to show out so you just smile.

“ Now, this evening, it’s not all about the poker, it’s not all about me. It’s about me, it’s about you. So drink up and be merry! Life is for the living! And who knows, I could be dead tomorrow,”

You drink your champagne and shrug off the comment of being dead tomorrow. You notice Mark making his way to you.

“Ah Y/N! I’m so glad you made it tonight! It’s so good to see you old friend!” He says as he grabs your hand and places a kiss on it.

“Awe Mark. It’s so good to see you. I wouldn’t have missed it for anything. How have you been?” You blush.

“I’ve been well but better that I have you here. Still standing by with Damien I see!”

You notice Damien looking quite tense as he turns to Mark.

“Well they are a fine district attorney Mark. I wouldn’t have chosen anyone but them,”

“A wise choice old friend. I must greet my other guests. I will see you both at the table,” he winks at you and wonders off to mingle with his guests. You turn to Damien.

“Damien are you alright? You appear so tense,”

“I’m fine Y/N. Just please be careful. I know Mark is our friend but you know how he can be,”

“I know how he can be. I promise there’s nothing to worry about,”

Because you’re the only one I want, you thought.

“Good. Now let’s go play poker,” he leads you to the table.

*

The party is in full swing. Damien did a keg stand. You joined some games of beer pong. Your head began spinning as the alcohol raged in your system. Mark threw his poker chips at you with a smirk on his face. You thought nothing of and winked back at him while laughing.

However, after it was discovered Colonel attempted to cheat in poker, the detective goes to swing at him, but hits you instead. You fall to the floor as Damien rushes to your side. Mark attempted to rush to your aid, but Damien beats him to it. You couldn’t really tell but it appeared that Mark was glaring at Damien.

“Damien you can bring her to one of the nicer rooms upstairs” he states through gritted teeth.

Damien nods to him and carries your injured and intoxicated self upstairs to one of Mark’s luxurious rooms. He lays you on the bed and turns to leave when you reach out and tug his shirt. He turns and kneels beside you.

“Damien please stay.. don’t leave me,”

He smiles. “I won’t leave you. My little monster,”

You stare into each other’s eyes as he lays next to you. He glances down at your lips.

“Y/N”

You cut him off by pressing your lips to his. He’s shocked at first but then returns the kiss. As you pull away he smiles.

“I’ve been wanting to do that for a long time,”

“Then do it again Damien,”

You two share a passion kiss that led to a passionate night.

You wake up noting the time on the clock. 8:30 AM. You sit up and stretch with a yawn. You notice your clothes on the floor then the memories come flooding back. You look around realizing Damien isn’t there. You finally notice the note next to the clock.

Y/N,

Last night with you was immaculate. A night I will never forget. I apologize for leaving you this morning, but when I awoke you looked so peacefully in your sleep. I knew I couldn’t disturb you. Meet me before breakfast my little monster.

Damien.

You smile and quickly get up and get dressed. You didn’t want to keep him waiting. You walk out of the room and see Benjamin, the butler.

“Ah, good morning. Hope you had a good night’s rest. I’ve prepared you a Seltzer with cocaine. Best thing for the morning after, if you ask me,”

You look at him confused on the cocaine part. He just winks and walks away. You set the “seltzer” down and see Damien.

“Ah there’s my little party monster,”

“Damien about last night-”

“Shh. No need to apologize or anything. I enjoyed it and frankly my dear I’d love to spend more nights with you that way. Minus the drinking and you getting attacked,” he grins.

“So what do you mean by that?”

“Y/N, will you be mine?”

“Yes Damien. I will.”

His smile grows wider and grabs your hand and placed a small kiss to your cheek. Then looks like he’s pondering something.

“Damien?”

“Forgive me my dear. I’m happy with how it turned out in our favor, but the invite to here from Mark was odd. I’m not exactly sure as to what we’re supposed to be celebrating here. I mean, it’s good to have the gang back together, but out of the blue like this seems… Anyway, now is not the time to become conspiratorial. Life is ours to choose as I always say. I have some work to finish, but I’ll meet you at breakfast. We’ll all catch up soon.”

He gives your hands a light squeeze and then walks away and you’re left alone in your thoughts. You feel.. conflicted? Mixed emotions raged your mind as you descend down the stairs. You feel joy that Damien wants to make things official with you, but also concerned with what he last stated. It was odd of Mark to host a poker night out of the blue.

You haven’t heard from him since university and didn’t expect him to even remember who you are. Either way here you are now and should enjoy what you can. You walk past a suit of armor, staring at it as if waiting for it to come alive at any moment.

When you turn a body falls in front of you. In shock you look and see that it’s

Mark

+

So I apologize for cutting it off there, but I kinda felt like I should let you guys decide if this should continue or not! Please forgive me because I am not the best writer. If you want more though let me know and I will make more (and try to make it better.)

Have a great day guys!

[hedgehogcryptid]

More Naruto rants

So, I’ve (stupidly, just now) realized that the reason I’m so fixated on Zabuza’s arc is because I got to see it like three times on TV before my country had enough spanish dub chapters to get on with the rest of the plot. So I got atached, is the one that gets me more nostalgic, and it’s the one I remember best. I also got time to properly process it before the more cult-ish bullshit started. And I thought the rest of the series would go a bit like that arc with, you know, ninja mercenaries who work for money in a world that sees them as tools but where they have their own ambitions and reasons and goals of a more or less normal human scale. The part where Gato arrives and the antagonism between Zabuza and Kakashi instantly ends when money is no longer on the table shaped a lot of my expectations for the future of the series (that I couldn’t articulate back when I was twelve, so I’m doing it now).

For starters, Gato is a fucking civilian. A rich fuck who does business and buys killers-for-hire. That’s how the system suposedly works. Where do the civilians go after the chunin exams? Where do the jobs go? Where does the money come from without them? I expected to see Naruto, with his newly decided path, clash with the system he lives in. I expected his elders (with the exception of Iruka and Kakashi) to try and coax him into the “right” path. Something along the lines of “I understand your feelings but that’s what must be done to keep the village running”. And Naruto finding ways to circunvent his orders, to find the loopholes that let him get away with it. Even if it’s just “I got the important thing done, what do you care if I didn’t kill those people?“. I didnt want to see him spare a genocidal megalomaniac but a fellow ninja who’s doing his own side of the job. Wouldn’t “If you kill my friends I’ll kill you, but if you’re done trying not only will I leave you go but I’ll defend you against my partners” be a lot more interesting and give nice posibilities for the future? Would the spared person take advantage of his kindness and fuck him over? Would they apreciate the gesture and start thinking that things can change? Would they “pay it forward” and spare someone that didn’t necesarily need to be killed? And if they did fuck him over despite his kindness, how would naruto justify his actions to his superiors? Would he be conflicted about his choices or would he be steadfast in his beliefs regardless of other people’s actions?

But with the way canon progresses after that first set up Naruto is not changing the system, he’s getting privileges. He can do what he wants because people in power like him. Veteran shinobi would have reason to hate him (”this upstart rookie gets to decide to go chasing an enemy of the state to save him while I have to bust my ass in bloody trenches to make ends meet?”)

I know the talk-no-jutsu is a joke but it’s somewhat accurate. He’s all talk. He never risked getting consecuences for his chosen path, mostly because Kishimoto made a good job making us forget we were watching mercenaries. If the world building wasn’t all kinds of wonky then at some point Naruto’s choices would’ve put him at odds with the people in power, and I don’t just mean the obviously corrupt ones. But Naruto wormed his way into their hearts for some reason and because of that they made exceptions for him, but no one is shown making significant changes to the context they live in. And about that context: they start by saying “shinobi are tools“, and sure, that’s true. But in the first arc they are tools for the people in power, who are not the five kages. The people in power are the people with money and the people who rule the countries. The Kages are just the top brass of the military, who get paid by the people in power. But later, shinobi start being tools for other shinobi with more grandiose ideas and the civilians pretty much disapear unless it’s to fill the background in cities. Their power structures lose all significance and relevance.

And because Naruto is never faced with the posibility of actual, structural, systemic concecuences to his own person then his choices lose a lot of weight. He spares the genocidal megalomaniac, the dude resurrects everyone and then dies. Everything works in the end. And no one gets on Naruto’s case about how you can’t expect all your enemies to die for you. In a military world that doesn’t make much sense, no matter how well everything worked out. The situation would be a lot more interesting if Nagato hadn’t died, and instead left to keep taking care of his war-ravaged homeland. If the super strong enemy we didn’t even defeated walks away, can we really trust he won’t have another change of heart? He seems plenty fickle, after all (he resurrected on a whim all the people he sprent the last couple hours killing. That sounds fucked up). And Naruto would have to defend him, because no way in hell will I believe that everyone in konoha would decide to let a threat of that level be. Not with the word of a sixteen year old pseudo-rebel as the only guarantee.

I wanted to see Naruto garnering support from his peers. Some would be easier than others. Hinata was on his corner from the get go. With the right conversation he’d get Neji too. Rock Lee is a ball of sunshine who’s been belittled more or less constantly, he’d be all up for it too. Sakura comes from a civilian background (if I’m not mistaken) so she is somewhat shocked at the way the world works. She didn’t get it drilled into her the same way others did. It wouldn’t be easy for her, and with some help and prompting she’d be okay with changing it.

And Sasuke. You wouldn’t even need to change his storyline too much, just get rid of the part where Kaguya had a hand in the destiny of the world, in planting misleading information. Get rid of the suposed reincarnation cycle that takes away the importance of personal choices. Basically, get rid of all the alien subplot. You’re still left with a boy who’s been wronged in all posible ways by his countrymen and government. You don’t need Kaguya’s bullshit scheme to make the shit in Konoha look horrible. They do that on their own.

You’d get Naruto finding out about Danzo (who’s covered in stolen eyes from fellow villagers, WTF) and Root, about the Uchiha masacre. He’d get angry on Sasuke’s behalf, and Sai’s, and Zabuza’s even (killing your friends as a test? Naruto knows that doesn’t lead anywhere good). And wheter Sasuke had left the village or not they would be both in the same side for this. If Naruto had been convincing people of the inherent corruption of the system then that would become an all out rebellion and upheaval of the government (instead of the assassination of one dubious character).

That would tie in with the renegade thing (are they “missing-nin” in english?). How many of them are labelled criminals for doing terrible things and how many are because of disagreements with their governments? How many are turned into scape-goats and then exiled? How many people who do terrible things keep living as respected members of their communities just because their interests align with the interests of those in power?

......and I’ve run out of steam but, long story short, I’ve always felt cheated at the what if’s

[electricea-archive]

@safaerax​​ sent - 4,5, &6 for all three ! ( Questions for Authors - Accepting! )

4. Are there any rules you find difficult, grammatically speaking?

Again not grammatically speaking but I have run into the very odd rules page where people will like, hide keywords in the different pages on their blog - and at the bottom of the rules they’ll be like - ‘now before you can interact with me, find all of the keywords and send this to me! this will show you cared enough to read through all of my blog’ and while it is admittedly creative, it’s also just???

5. Do you prefer long or short sentences? Why?

I think it depends on the person and on my current state - I think to be thrust into an immense, multi-para experience with someone who I’ve only just met is rather daunting so I do prefer short sentences for introductions and first interactions, with the possibility of the threads becoming longer.

Also some nights I’ll just be really really tired, so I’ll want to do short stuff because it’s quick and easier - other days I’ll be motivated and feel like I can write pages upon pages.

It’s also all about the content too, you know? You can give me an essay long reply but if it’s just your muse’s thoughts or backstory exposition - you know, things I can’t really react to - then it’s not exactly going to make me feel motivated to reply to you.  Likewise, if I’m trying to get something going and all I’m getting is one word sentences or no effort made on your muse’s part, not really encouraging there.

6. Do you enjoy your own writing? Why or why not?

In college, I took a writing course and every class he would assign us a subject to write a poem or a short story on, and I’ve been writing my own stories since I was a kid.

I once described writing as a purge - a way to release my creative outlet but something I don’t wish to revisit.  I find I’m too critical of my own work to be able to properly enjoy it and I become embarrassed when people admit they read it - because I assume they can also spot all of the flaws and the cliches and the contradictions.

If I ever went into writing, I’d probably want to write under an alias.

4. What is your preferences in characters?

Blonde, hyperactive, make bad choices, blonde boys as of recent, it seems lol.

5. Do you prefer magical or mundane characters, why?

I honestly feel like I’ve rarely gotten to enjoy the ‘magical’ side of writing Ryuji due to so many experiences early on with people trying to godmod and wedge their way into the Phantom Thief storyline - as a default, I’ve sort of resorted to his mundane stuff but I’ve thought of making another Skull starter call, it would be selective though.

As far as in general, it depends on how complicated the powers or the magic are, but I generally like mundane more! Feels more relatable.

6. What is your favorite show, but your least favorite character in said show?

Probably, The Office and I would say Andy - I get that he’s supposed to be obnoxious and annoying, but I still dislike him anyway and the fact that his role only grows with every season makes him harder and harder to ignore.  He’s just not funny to me and I generally don’t find myself rooting for his success - the only times I found him sympathetic were when he was trying to win over Angela in the latter half of Season 4 and when he was being cheated on in Season 5.  Otherwise he’s annoying as hell.

[autopotion]

Finished Tender!

Pros:

The text-based chats were incredibly well written, it genuinely felt like I was talking to real people online (minus a few alien-isms)

I was able to choose my typing style, which meant that my dialogue for the most part really reflected what I thought I would actually say & how I would say it

Most of the time, the pre-written dialogue choices had options I thought I would actually say

Really funny in places. The twist about finding your ex on tender and being able to go on an actual date with them was very funny

Interesting storylines! A lot of them were just jokes, but some of them were quite involved. Pretty early on I was invited to go on a second date with a polycule (and thus ending the game), which I felt bad about turning down, but I was busy pursuing some sexy mouse who was emotionally cheating with me because her relationship had some issues lol. That was by far the longest storyline, I think it took a week and a half for her to finally ask me on a date? I've also heard that if you make bad dialogue choices and go on the second date with her, she'll end up cheating on you in the epilogue. Not me though. We lived happily ever after 😏

I loved the interface. The immersive messaging elements were excellent and exactly why I bought the game

Cons:

The dates, by contrast, were very poorly written IMO. Bland, basic descriptions and limited dialogue choices. The most invested I was in a date was the one where I was running for my life from the date who wanted to eat me because I was like, I can't die now, I'm finally seeing Jackie in person in two days!

I think the world building could've been a bit more imaginative. Not too much, because I think they were angling towards realism, but it was odd to go on a date to a "human museum" while other characters referenced Whole Foods. Like am I in space or an alternate Earth here, what's up

The length disparity in plot lines meant I had either matched with, dated, turned down, and been unmatched with several women and a few men and non-binary people by the time I was finally able to date the one character I was pursuing. So for the last few days, the chats were non-existent, I was basically not playing anymore lol.

I sort of wish they hadn't capped me at 10 dates, or else I wouldn't have cancelled all the ones I did. I wasn't sure how the second date worked, so I was keeping a slot open, and by the end cancelled a bunch of dates to make sure I had space for Jackie. Now I regret doing that cuz I didn't hit ten, and I would've liked to see the content!

I loved getting messages in real time (and being left on read lol), but I think scheduling the dates in real time was a mistake. It added a little more stress to my daily schedule. I wish I'd just been able to pick a day and go out with them at any time, though I get that would ruin the immersion element of your date taking offense if you're late. That's one immersion element that didn't need to be there imo

For all my grousing I did really enjoy it, if you're looking for an immersive messenger app experience this is a great one. Worth $4 for sure. Definitely play it on your phone, not steam. I might replay it someday to see if any storylines progress differently, and get a sense of just how many characters have only one result, but that would be way down the line. I'm happy with the ending I got

[hey-hamlet]

BNHA AU Ideas : The Original Sin

Also on AO3! 

TL;DR: 

Midoriya Izuku is born incomplete, part of him lacking in a way that makes him abnormal - inhuman. When he turns nine, this changes.

( shamelessly based of the young loki storyline in marvel comics a while ago with the title stolen from there as well. Look - "I am the crime that can not be forgiven." is a baller line ok.)

Midoriya Izuku is born blue and silent. There is no gentle rise and fall of his chest, no pulse, no movement. The Doctors whisk him away in a blur of activity – they tell Inko they will do everything they can. They do not expect a happy ending.

20 Minutes later, Izuku begins to breath on his own. With no previous reaction to treatment this spontaneous respiration is shocking. They expect major brain damage, only to see the infant open his eyes and squint in the bright light of the room. He yawns. They cheer.

They return him to his near hysterical mother’s room. He’s hooked up to countless monitors, but they assure her its just a precaution. She is warned he may have some form of brain damage that will become apparent as he grows, but he is alive and healthy and that in itself they can promise.

Inko cries – her son is alive and he is smiling and that’s all she could ever ask for.

Izuku grows up strange. As a baby he rarely cries – so rarely in fact that Inko can’t stand to have him sleep in a different room, so scared her near silent son will drift away without her knowing. He never does. He seems to understand her from day one as she tells him stories about heroes and dragons. His little hands wipe her tears as she cries. She doesn’t know how, but her son is special.

He doesn’t speak a word until he goes to daycare and meets a firecracker blonde, upon which he shows he can speak far better than most of his peers.

Despite this he seems somehow – lacking – to the other children. Like he’s missing something he needs to be one of them, to be human. They hurt him and push him and take his things. He does not cry.

The only child mostly unaffected by this is Katsuki. He still admits Izuku is a “weirdo”, but he’s smart and fast, sure on his feet with dexterous hands. He seems somehow older and younger than all of the other children in a way that makes adults baby him, but children fear him. Katsuki will not be scared.

Katsuki gets his quirk first. It’s bright and colourful and everything they expected from him.

He asks Izuku about his quirk. His looks into the middle distance for a moment before smiling. It’s small but bright as ever. “Mine will be late.” He then frowns, looking down at his own two hands. They seem ever so small at the moment. “Not sure why.”

Inko asks if he wants to go to the doctor, to see if he has a quirk. Izuku shakes his head gently. “I have one – I know I do. It’ll be late though.” Inko asks him if hes sure, but she trusts her son. He’s much smarter than they remember to give him credit for.

Still, the others don’t believe him. He grows up labelled quirkless with all it brings. Katsuki stays by his side, the quiet and kind boy is something different from the extras - he knows this as well as he knows the sun will rise. They make an interesting pair. One quiet, calm, too knowing, the other brash and loud. They are both whip smart.

Izuku has an eye for quirks better than anyone, always teasing out their mechanisms and probably limitations faster than someone with decades of experience. Katsuki is convinced this will prove to be an aspect of the elusive quirk that refuses to show itself.

Izuku dreams of horrors he has never seen – blood on his hands and quirks at his fingertips. He feels powerful but oh so alone. In the dark on night when he retches silently into his bin, the feeling of hot blood still so real under his shaking hands, he vows to be nothing like the man in this dreams.

Never again.

Izuku is nine when it happens. Katsuki is dragging him through the forest excitedly, hands warm and gently crackling in his own. His head begins to ache.

What started as a nagging irritation quickly shifts into a blinding pain worse than anything Izuku has ever felt in his life. He stumbles to the ground, clutching as his head and he screams and sobs, tears hot down his face.

Katsuki has seen Izuku cry plenty – but never from pain. Not when they got their shots, not when the bully from two grades about them slammed his fingers in the heavy oak door, not when he felt from the tree Katsuki had begged him to climb; bone sharp and pink through his skin. Katsuki wraps his arms around his friend and screams for help.

The screaming stops. Izuku slumps. Katsuki panics. He can feel his friend’s breath on his shoulder but he will not wake. Katsuki can only hold his friend and hope.

All for One had known this day would come. He had known All Might would kill him – it was only a matter of time. That’s why he had a plan B.

A quirk he’d stolen nine odd years ago, creating a shell his mind and quirk would snap to upon his original body’s death. It would kill the original holder of the body, ideally leaving nothing more than an empty shell of a person he would become should he die. He felt some what bad knowing he had killed an infant before it got to draw it’s first breath, but the feeling was fleeting. He had work to do.

He watches Izuku grow. He always had a link to the boy – something about him being an extension of himself making it ever so easy to find him. The boy’s soul – because what else could it be – is stubborn. Parts of it linger in the body, only growing stronger as he ages. He can’t help be grow fond of him. The boy is almost like a son to him, in some strange and twisted way. A creature that should have died but refused to at every turn. All for One could empathise.

That’s why, them All Might’s final blow falls, he feels a flicker of sorrow. Izuku would be no more soon, simply a body he would wear as a puppet. There was no choice though. His work was not yet done.

All for One / Izuku finds themselves in a world of pain, two souls waring for life in a body that can only hold one. What astounds them the most is that Izuku is winning.

All for One plunges them into darkness – away from the pain, so they can talk. They have a time limit though, they are tearing the small body to pieces from the inside out.

Izuku doesn’t want to force All for One out – that will kill him. All for One doesn’t want him dead either. They strike a deal : Izuku will keep his own body until he dies, All for One’s quirk his to use (though the man will keep every quirk he’s personally acquired close to his chest). When Izuku dies – as he will, All for One insists, because the boy wants to be a hero – All for One will take control. They agree.

Izuku opens his eyes and smiles. What once was dull green is now bright and electric, flickers of crystalline white running through them. Izuku feels whole – normal. That makes Katsuki worried most of all.

He explains everything to his only friend – everything he knows. Its not a lot admittedly, only that there is someone else in his head now – their quirk his to use, and that when he dies he will no longer be himself. They do not tell Inko. They train – they will become heroes.

All Might meets Izuku under the bridge, a scraggly man trying to wring his neck as he screams incoherently. All Might knocks out the man before asking is Izuku has seen the villain he was looking for. Understanding blooms in the child’s eyes and suddenly the man on the floor is liquid once again. All Might feels deathly cold.

Izuku gets his autograph, the strange man sharing his mind griping idly about the “blond buffoon” as he insits on calling All Might. Izuku doesn’t mind, ecstatic to meet his hero. He doesn’t miss the flinch on All Might’s face when he lets the man’s quirk flow back into him, but he brushes it away. Everyone is scared of his quirk, its nothing new.

As All Might is distracted by memories long after the boy leaves, the slime villain slinks away

Izuku saves Katsuki, clutching the boy’s own quirk in his gentle grasp, pulling it into his own fold ever so gently, never truly severing it from the blonde. The villain recoils from the blasts as Izuku pulls his friend. All Might swoops in.

Later he asks to train the boy – revealing his smaller side. He says nothing of One for All. He is considering it but he is so scared of any possible connections to All for One he dares not mention it. Izuku takes this with a smile and open arms.

Other stuff:

Izuku is told about One for All a few months in to training because All Might sees his boy is good and kind and nothing like the monster the thought he could be. Izuku immediately goes on about all of the good someone with All Might’s quirk could do, never once assuming it would be his to use. That makes up All Might’s mind – he will pass it to him.

Izuku calls All for One Zero. For All for One it’s kind of a pun about he is One for All wielder number 0. He starts calling Izuku Ninth, or Niner just before he get’s One for All – Izuku thinks it’s a pun on his name.

Izuku can both take quirks and borrow them. Taking them severs their connection from the wielder, borrowing them is just like holding them for a second – they snap back when he stops paying attention. Borrowing is faster and easier and can be reversed without contact. Taking means he will keep the quirk even if he is knocked out or stops concentrating – he tries to avoid doing that because it hurts to give them back and he doesn’t trust himself to do it no matter how guilty stealing something would make him feel.

All for One is actually big soft on Izuku and really doesn’t want the boy dead. He chats to him a lot, offers to help him cheat on tests – which Izuku never takes – and subtly heals their shared body while Izuku sleeps. He wants to kill the children who hurt him. Izuku can’t bare the thought.

All for One and Katsuki get along like a house on fire, even if their interactions are all mediated through Izuku serving as a mouth piece, and its scary. Katsuki and Inko were the only people he told about Zero until All Might. Others in 1A find out at various points in time.

Izuku eventually finds out about the weird quirk hes a part of and has a crisis knowing he is not the Izuku that should have been born into the world. He tells his mother, expecting her to hate him, but she only smiles. "You're still my son - I couldn't ask for anyone better."

[deanisridingapolarbear-blog]

Billy betraying Teddy for/against list, kind of (a.k.a Empyre Aftermath theories)

Again this is going to be based on my personal views and options/ideas I’ve seen around. If you see an idea or thought that you have discussed with me please point it out and I’ll tag you.

Points/Clues for Billy being the traitor

In Strikeforce the Vridai guy said “Like any plague, we infect the weakest. Those among you who steal, lie, cheat and backstab for your goals.”. I’m not too familiar with the other characters in Strikeforce if I’m honest but I guess at least with some of them that makes sense but can’t say it for all. However, I have no idea how that could really fit Billy, unless it refers to his magic use. Which is what made me think (and fear) that it is some sort of foreshadowing notion on his half? This is maybe the biggest hint/clue that made me wonder that maybe it is indeed Billy afterall...

He is in the last supper frame. Yeah he’s there, that’s about it. 

His betrayal would REALLY hurt Teddy. Like no-one else is that close to Teddy. No-one else could really have his FULL trust in any situation. Also others might side with Billy if this happened. Like after all he is from Earth, and possesses a crazy amount of power. Like we’ve seen what he can do, wouldn’t want to be on a wrong side of him would you?

If this ties in with the Cotati getting their weapons, Billy has the powers needed to get those weapons I suppose. But then again why’d he do that to start with? He sees that it will lead to Teddy taking his seat as an emperor? Why’d Billy want that, he doesn’t seem very power hungry himself so yeah Cotati weapon stuff kind of put some odd light on Billy when thinking who would have the power to help them but otherwise it just raises questions. 

Magneto/Wanda approval or whatever. It’s been thrown around and yeah I guess that would be an option and there is all the Krakoa business going on and it ties to Billy too. 

Ways it would be believable in any way (personal opinions)

Mind control (un-interesting imho) not even going to think who it could be but like umh it wouldn’t then even really be Billy because he wasn’t himself. Also we kind of saw that in the NA already with that odd leech thingie. 

Shapeshifting (un-interesting imho) yeah someone trapping Billy and taking his form. Who would it be, don't know, Teddy’s granny? But yeah the storyline was used just last year for the same characters so just ugh no boring, don’t do it Ewing (if he even is in control of all this)

Billy sees the possible realities and sees that only by betraying Teddy he can reach safety of someone/most who are involved in whatever conflict is going on. Or he can wipe stuff out and do some reality warping magic. Well why do it in the first place if you are just going to erase it all? Just yeah...not a good way to go imho.

If Kaplans were in danger. Like they are his family, his parents and his brothers. He’d probably do anything for them and probably only people in the world that could be equal with Teddy for Billy. Surely he’d be torn making that decision but might end up choosing his family’s side as they are in a way more vulnerable than Teddy (no super powers, no empyre etc.). They’d need Billy more and I actually think Teddy wouldn’t see that as a betrayal as such and would understand being Teddy after all. 

Honest, I personally can’t see any satisfying way of making Billy the traitor in a believable way outside the Kaplan one. Ewing really has to pull some mad man surprises here to make this work.

Why I think it is not or at least shouldn’t be Billy

It would be a bit too obvious and a boring choice in my opinion both as a writer and a reader. Would personally avoid that kind of plotline.

Yes he is in the supper frame but then again he is not on Judas’ spot or even on the same side. Had to actually google that because well not too familiar with all this bible related stuff. Was wondering though if this actually hints that those who betray Teddy are on the “Judas” side and those who don't are on the other side? Anyone more familiar with Jesus and his follower shit? Would make sense though that A.I.M guys would be behind this after all they were turning their coats and having secret plots (excluding Billy and Teddy) during the NA run as well. 

With Magneto and Wanda related ideas, not sure Billy would choose them over Teddy. Really I see Billy’s bond with Teddy being way WAY stronger than Wanda and Magneto. And honestly Billy already has a perfect and loving family without Maximoffs’ approval and all so why’d he choose them over Teddy in any world? Don’t see him really needing them at least that much that he’d ruin his marriage and relationship with the kindest creature one can find. 

As said earlier can’t really see any way it could be done well or without going OOC and being believable. 

Just a little bit too tragic trope for a gay couple to break them up after a massive wedding hype last year. 

Thank you for your attention. Stay tuned for more shitty theories of mine for entertainment. Feel free to reblog and leave your own thoughts.

You can check the following posts for previous brainstorms 1 2 3 4 (also 5 for random Teddy stuff because Teddy’s just worth it)

[bigskydreaming]

This isn't a meme thing or anything but I was wondering if you had a top ten favorite characters from books? I actually end up getting a lot of good book recs from reading your blog so I was just curious lol.

LOL I wasn't going to do this ask because I was like ugh I suck at top ten lists because I can never pick just ten. But then I thought about it for like, five whole seconds and realized I DO have ten standout characters in answer to this so its like oh hey, learned something new about myself today! Lmao.

Anyway, in no particular order:

1) Anyanwu - from Wild Seed by Octavia Butler - Can not stress how like fucking...formative Anyanwu's character was for me as an abused kid who first read this when I was like 12. The book heavily deals with the back and forth across centuries between these two immortals, Anyanwu and Doro, as Doro basically tries to control her every which way he can, and Anyanwu just defies him at every turn, and it just....you love to see it. She's a bad-ass and I adore her.

2) Prince Corwin and Merle Corey/Merlin - from Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny - Yes I'm cheating but its me so you should have seen that coming. Another fave series from when I was in middle school, its ten books in total, and the first five are in Corwin's POV and the second five are in the POV of his son Merle/Merlin. So I maintain it counts. And is fine. Shhh, let it go, Elsa said so. ANYWAY, I actually probably like Merle better than his dad, because I mean, lbr, Corwin is a total asshole. But he's MY asshole, y'know? Wait, that came out wrong. Don't quote me there. But you know what I mean. Merle is a lot more level-headed, and quick-witted I think, and I like his supporting cast of relatives who want to kill him and he sometimes want to kill more than his dad's supporting cast of relatives who want to kill him and he always wants to kill, but like. Both are Valid. Also shout out to Fiona and Rinaldo, with a side shout out to Flora, who are probably my next three favorites from the series. Dara would be up there too but she knows what she did.

3) Elric/Corum/Dorian/etc - from the Eternal Champion books by Michael Moorcock - Look I'm already cheating so why not continue on a theme. But basically this counts too, I'm just saying. See Michael Moorcock's big project going all the way back to the 60s was he created a fantasy multiverse of different dimensions where this one Eternal Champion, meant to balance the scales between the Lords of Law and the Lords of Chaos, like, is reborn over and over again in different incarnations but who are all essentially him. So Elric of Melnibone, Dorian Hawkmoon, Corum I can never remember his last name.....they're all essentially the same guy.....but they're all at the same time very very very different, and they have extremely different storylines. But I maintain if you're gonna read one you kinda gotta just read them all, all Pokemon like and such forth, because the real beauty of these books is seeing the familiar traces of the Eternal Champion threaded through each of these incarnations but also contrasting how different they are from each other and like, looking at what makes them so different each time and how much it stems from their environment and situations, etc.

4) Civet - from the Dragons of the Inland Sea series by Laurence Yep - This is a kids' series, like for ages 10-12 kinda, but easily my favorite from when I was a kid. I reread them so many times, and I love pretty much all the characters from Shimmer to Thorn to Monkey, but Civet was always a standout. She's essentially a tragic character and her ending is bittersweet, but like.....she fully knows who she is and what she's about and makes no apologies for that, and she ends on exactly the note she wants to. Like, her story and her characterization was pretty damn dark for such a young-aimed series, but that's part of what drew me to it, it managed to capture the tone it set out to convey but in a completely age-appropriate way, and in an era when most books aimed at kids dumbed down most of their story concepts and themes, this one was refreshing for just being....real. Despite being blatantly fantasy. Also the Boneless King is one of the best villains ever, despite being deliberately over the top a lot of the times....idk what it was about him, but he was just chilling.

5) Jack the Bodiless and Diamond Mask - from the Galactic Milieu series by Julian May - These are linked as well because they're a couple and their stories intertwine so much that there's no real point in separating them y'know? That's my story and I'm sticking to it. But anyway, they're a weird choice for me because Julian May is hit or miss for me overall....I HATE her Saga of the Pliocene Epic, which is technically in the same universe as her Galactic Milieu series, but they have totally different vibes and the latter series doesn't contain any of the elements from the Saga of the Pliocene that I loathe, so it just works. Plus it has Jack and Diamond Mask, and like.....I don't actually know why I love them so much? They're just so different from pretty much any other characters I've ever read. Like, May does a lot of really high concept stuff across the board, but Jack and Diamond Mask are like.....high concept character wise? If that makes sense? Its okay if it doesn't. I'm literally just spitting words out here. Honestly, its hard to say anything specific about them because so much of their characters conceptually just doesn't make sense without knowing the in-universe concepts that led to them even existing, but like. They're weird and off the wall but still astoundingly human for all that and I love them.

6) Naomi Nagata - from the Expanse books by James S. A. Corey - I mean, if you've seen me ramble all the Naomi love in my live-watches of The Expanse TV show, this should be no surprise, but my love for her in the books like, exists manifold. She's great in both, but the books cover so much more content-wise, that her character has so much more room to breathe and be explored in all kinds of directions the TV show never touches on. The funny thing is, I actually prefer the TV characterizations overall....I think the authors of the books are actually pretty shit at characterization a lot of the time, but the basic thread of Naomi's character is consistent and the sheer abundance of story material she has in the books like.....keeps me going back to them even just for her. Her conflict with Marco in the books in particular just has so much more depth than in the show....like, I don't hate the show's version at all, anyone who's seen my posts there knows that lol, and I'm not actually even sure which version I actually like more in terms of that particular storyline.....but I just love that both versions are so different, while still being recognizably the same, y'know? I don't even know. Nobody knows. Its a mystery. Just nod and say yes, shh, its fine.

7) Locke Lamora - from The Lies of Locke Lamora/The Gentleman Bastards series by Scott Lynch. This is an odd one for me, because in one sense Locke is a very contrived archetypal character from an author that doesn't always pull it off as successfully as I feel he thinks he does.....like, what I mean is Locke is inherently that type of character that is SUPPOSED to push buttons and straddle a line between likable and unlikable....and to be fair, that is VERY hard to pull off without at least some of the time falling on the wrong side of that line and alienating at least some readers. But there's something very genuine or sincere feeling about the character underneath all that, which is ironic for a character who is an acknowledged pathological liar and hardly ever tells the truth....like I said, its an odd one for me because I can't actually put my finger on what makes this particular character work for me when so many similar characters just bug the crap out of me.

8) Damien - from Black Sun Rising/The Coldfire trilogy by C. S. Friedman - This one is a whole fucking lie because I don't actually even like Damien that much lmao, but the thing is, I don't have a particular fondness for any of the characters in this series? But I gotta put it on the list anyway because I just love the world in this series so much, and its practically a character in and of itself. Like, so this was a science fantasy series set on a distant planet in the future but otherwise steeped in fantasy archetypes about spirit creatures that only Adepts could see, and like, Fae and life energy and sorcery that had roots in scientific principles but was otherworldly all the same. And that's like.....all literally my jam, and so I can't deny that this series was very formative for me even if its not the best example of those concepts. Its just the one I tend to go back to the most in my mind, like....the world and its characters are very standout and larger than life for me, even if they don't specifically APPEAL to me? They're impactful all the same. Its another odd one. I'm odd. You just kinda gotta roll with it. Its a thing. Its factual.

9) Yeine Darr - from The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N. K. Jemisin - This was a tough one because I love literally everything by Jemisin and all her characters are just so....ooof. They're very very real, even in the most fantastical of settings. I have mad characterization envy every time I read her stuff, but like. Its so good. So really the struggle was picking one character or even two, because I mean, The Fifth Season and its sequels are easily her best known works and have a ton of fantastic characters, and I think her Dreamblood duology is vastly overlooked but in the end I had to go with The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms even if just cuz of nostalgia. Its the first of her works and when I first started reading her and so its just.....anyway, if I was gonna go with that, it had to be Yeine, because she's so central to everything and also just....fantastic. Nahadoth and Sieh are also standout characters who get mentioned a lot in talk of this trilogy, and they're both such big personalities that at times they kinda overshadow Yeine, but Yeine has such a compelling.....undercurrent to her that she never actually gets lost in the shuffle even when surrounded by all these larger than life gods, and just. You love to see it. I do anyway. And its my list so nyah. But also if you're gonna read Jemisin, read everything Jemisin. It just makes sense, y'know? Good for the pores.

10) Cayal and Arkady - from The Immortal Prince/The Tide Lords by Jennifer Fallon - All the other Tide Lords can rot, but Cayal is hilarious in a depressing way. He's a ten thousand year old immortal whose greatest wish is just to die, which is how he meets Arkady who is a historian who just wants to like....know everything he knows once she realizes he actually is the figure of legend he professes to be and is so mad at him for not really giving a shit about all the weight of history he's been present for, but Cayal's just like, umm, I LIVED it so that's why I don't care, I'm allowed to not care, that shit hurt. Did you miss the part where one of the other Tide Lords threw a fucking meteor at me? And Arkady, distinctly unimpressed, is just like....I thought YOU did that, to Jasper. And Cayal's like, no that doesn't sound right. And Arkady's just like, you literally JUST told me that story. And Cayal's like, huh. I must have been lying. I do that sometimes. And Arkady's like, I thought you never lie, that's your whole thing? And Cayal's like, ahah, but what if THAT was a lie too? And Arkady's just like, bitch I hate you so goddamn much, how are you the worst of all the Immortals while still the only one who will actually talk to me and answer my questions. Cayal's like, we may never know.

Anyway, there's my list but like there's a lot more obviously because I'm me, I don't do moderation, its against my religion, but also I have to stop some time and the ask was for ten and those were the ten that popped into my head so they must be the right ones! Probably. Until I change my mind at least.

[andsmile]

I just want to have a conversation I really love see you points of views of TV shows on general not only rvd. I kinda get it but now I'm curious why you say that they have their second best potential on s4???

thanks for clarifying! 💖 always open for respectable convos. to me, not to shade anyone, archie and betty are not romantically compatible (although they don’t really know that for sure yet) and them as a pairing wouldn’t please me personally, but i see the potential as storytelling goes, in two occasions:

- between s1 and s2, when archie was in a very new relationship with veronica and his father got shot. it would’ve made complete sense there for him to shut her out, because it was all so new, and his infatuation with her still wasn’t such a deep, strong love; it would’ve made sense that he’d try to find comfort in familiarity - betty - who would still be torn between being there for him in such moment and to fight for jughead, who would’ve been drifting away because of his new thing with the serpents. that would’ve been the best moment for a ba build-up to happen, imo, because their strong friendship and the feelings betty had were not so old - there were only three months between the season finale of s1 and the s2 premiere. so it would make sense as timing. they could be explored and maybe last a little while, only to realize how they really felt for each other or jug and ronnie. it would also be a great opportunity to play with jug and veronica as well, since their storylines were very convergent. instead, they made varchie very strong and got bughead back stronger.

- in early s4 because varchie were just out of a very painful split. things with reggie could’ve not been completely solved yet - it was a little odd from the ending of s3, even though veronica made her choice, maybe archie could still be a little insecure about it. archie’s dad died and betty’s dad also died, jughead was transferring to another school. this was the easiest set up for two alleged best friends to converge and to confide on each other -- both with trauma about their fathers dying, both with a significant emotional/physical distance from their s/o’s. the fact that the writers did not see how easy it would be to set them up in early season for just proves to me how much they didn’t...care to write that story. the way they did, after jughead died, fake dating because the only way anyone would believe in ba was if jughead was dead, have veronica and jughead being literal angels throughout the whole thing, bughead stronger than ever, archie very in love with veronica and her always drifting...it’s just very poignant. 

if they had happened after 2x08 it would be very clear that they were settling for second best, and if they happened now after the cheating they would be painted as the trashiest people to ever live. which is why they’ll most likely happen in the first episodes post-time jump to figure themselves out.