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rachelbethhines · 3 years

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Tangled Salt Marathon - No Time Like the Past

While I wouldn’t call this the worst episode of the series, there are several others I dislike more, I would call this the most ill conceived story in the show.

All the other bad episodes have potential but are let down by poor presentation, boring predictability, or sloppy planning. This one however, is fundamentally flawed in it’s very basic premise and so ranks in the bottom of most fans lists. Even people who are far more forgiving of season three and than I am, and are hardcore New Dream stans, still dislike this episode. That’s how bad it is.

Summary: Rapunzel discovers Old Lady Crowley tossing out Cassandra's things. She is upset and demands that they be left alone. She then has Lance and Eugene help her save all of Cassandra's mementos and personal belongings, but she becomes saddened when Eugene reminds her that Cassandra turned her back on "her". Rapunzel takes a box of her things along with, unknowingly, a mysterious hourglass. As she examines it, she accidentally drops and smashes it and she and Pascal find themselves sent back into the past. They run into a teenage Eugene and Lance who keep calling Rapunzel "Sideburns". Rapunzel realizes that she and Pascal have inhabited the bodies of the Stabbington Brothers and decide to recruit the young thieves in getting the hourglass from the castle back.

Fun Fact! That Dummy is Rapunzel’s Doing

Minor nitpick here, but Cass had nothing to do with putting Eugene’s face on her sparring dummy. Rapunzel voluntarily did that back in Under Raps. Cas never requested it nor even expressed any joy over receiving said ‘gift’.

Basically the show is attributing one of Rapunzel’s mistakes/flaws to Cassandra in order to introduce a very nonsensical plot point later. So I need ya’ll to keep that in mind as we go along.

Lets Talk About the Episode’s Ordering

We don't have production codes for season three like we did for the previous two seasons. So we can’t know for sure what order everything was originally planned in, but I would argue that this episode should have came before Return of the King.

For starters this is a “bottle” episode; it takes place mostly in the past and the only present day characters who show up are Eugene, Raps, Lance, and Crowely. As such you could potentially slot this episode in anywhere before Cassandra’s Revenge. You can’t really do that with most of the other episodes so it could have been easily moved around when airing.

Therefore, I would argue that it should have been the first episode after Rapunzel’s Return for three key reasons.

It would have given Edmund time to travel to Corona and give Raps time to start up big building projects like fixing Old Corona. In fact she’s already approving building plans for the capitol city at the start of the episode. Which could even explain why she took so long getting to the castle repairs if she was taking care of the stuff that the Saporians messed up else where.

Rapunzel’s stance over wanting to keep Cassandra’s things makes more sense early on, both in universe and in a meta context. Raps would still have hope if Cass has only been gone for a month or two instead what would now be four or five months down the line. It also makes sense that Crowely wouldn’t wait around for that long. And from a meta standpoint, the audience would still be oblivious to what the heck Cass was up to and could theoretically side with Raps better; or at least empathize with her view point more, even while disagreeing with her.

Events in this episode better explains Eugene’s decisions in Return of the King and gives the audience more context for certain stuff.

So Why Is There a Random Magical Time Traveling Hourglass in the Storage Vault?

Slowly but surely the series has abandoned all pretense that there’s any logical world building in the show. Magical things just appear randomly now without any explanation whatsoever. Worse than that, things like the hourglass and map to the cursed tomb are treated as if they were always there, unlike the magical beings that they happened to run into in past seasons.

The problem with this is a lack of consistency. You can’t have sceptics like Eugene and Varian if magic is so common and wide spread that anyone can run into it at anytime. Not to mention it diminishes the specialness and importance of the sundrop and moonstone if powerful magical items can be so easily found and stirred, undermining important plot points and the tension surrounding them.

But most frustrating of all, is that this could have been easily fixed by just stating on screen at some point that magic attracts other magic. Meaning it’s only Rapunzel herself who routinely runs into these things and not just everybody and anybody.

None of This Stuff Holds Any Meaning

Show don’t tell!

At several points through out season three, both Raps and Cass morn over Cassandra’s left behind things. They tell us constantly that these objects hold significant meaning to them, but I, the viewer, have no damn clue as to why.

We were never shown on screen what was so special about these things other than the fact that it was junk Cass collected. There’s no story attacked to these assortment of objects nor any previous indication that Cassandra valued them beyond their usefulness. As such, any scenes involving her stuff fall emotionally flat.

Eugene is the One in the Right Here.

Eugene’s right.

Any well adjust and mature adult will tell you he’s right.

If someone doesn’t want a relationship with you, than that’s it. There is nothing you can do but to move on. It sucks, but its life. To ignore that is to ignore someone else’s boundaries and personal autonomy; while also devaluing yourself and you’re own needs.

In a competent show this would be a set up for Rapunzel to learn something about letting go and taking care of oneself emotionally.

But this isn’t a competent show.

But Lobster is for Poor Folk

Food history time!

Lobster, and shellfish in general, have been considered low class food for centuries. Especially around costal areas like Corona. It’s easy to attain, cheap, and not regulated like hunting was in much of Europe. In America, specifically, lobster was fed to prisoners and there’s historical accounts of riots being started over it.

Heck, less than forty years ago, no one lived on the coast but poor people. That’s why there’s historical communities of black people living on the southeastern islands in the US and why my father grew up in the swamps of Alabama during the 50s and 60s.

The gentrification of coastal property and seafood, like lobster, is a very recent phenomenon in human history, starting in the late 70s early 80s with the booming tourism industry and increasing globalization.

So while I understand that the joke here is meant to be reflective of our current understanding of lobster being a status symbol, in universe, it’s the equivalent of Eugene getting excited for chicken nuggets instead of his usual bowl of cereal because the story takes place before the 20th century.

This means that these kids are so poor that fucking mcdonald’s fast food would be considered a rare treat compared to the slop they usually eat. Yet again what is meant to be a lighthearted joke turns suddenly dark when you stop to think about it for all of two seconds all because the writers are so flippant about their world and characters.

This Wasn’t Planned Out, So the Timeline Doesn’t Add Up Anymore and Resources are Wasted

Remember the flashback in The Return of Strongbow?

Now I need you to remember that season three is two years later from season one and the movie. Eight years ago then, would be ten years ago now.

The Eugene and Lance in the bottom picture is suppose to be roughly the same age as the Eugene and Lance in the top picture; give or take a few months.

I know teenage boys can grow fast, but not that fast.

Eugene at 16 looks the same as he does at 26. All because the writers were too lazy to preplan things out ahead of time.

We should have seen the teen models with recasted voices back during that first flashback if they were going to tell this story later. Or the previous plot point should have been less than eight years ago.

In fact the first flashback no longer makes any sense being so many years ago given Eugene’s engagement and recent breakup with Stalyan, and the later reveal that he was working for the Baron during the original movie.

Sloppy planning like this not only makes for a confusing timeline but it also wastes limited resources. I like the new models, I like the actors cast for these younger roles, and I do like the concept of seeing more of Eugene’s past. But going through all of that trouble and money for what amounts to one throw away episode is mismanagement of the budget and work schedule.

Baby Varian Is the Episode’s Only Saving Grace

I know people are divided on the deign here. Some love it and some hate it, but that’s a personal taste thing. The actual scene itself is golden either way, because it’s such a funny eater egg. Fans on both sides made memes out of this for days. It’s legendary.

Personally I’m more in the ‘love it’ camp, though I can see the issues people have with the design. My main defense of it is more the fact that we got kid designs for the other OCs in the show and it’s only fair Varian got one as well. The fact that he’s in smaller versions of the S1 clothes doesn’t bother me anymore than when Lance ran around for two seasons in the same outfit, including when he was a kid.

So if I like it, then why am I talking about it a salt review?

Cause the most memorable part of an episode shouldn’t be a throw away gag!

People bring up baby Varian way more than they do about anything else in the episode, and no it’s not just because the character popular. It’s because most would like to forget what comes after this scene.

Where is Quirin, by the Way?

Why is your six year old son running around the big city unsupervised?

This wouldn’t get talk about as much it wasn’t for the fact that Quirin being neglectful in season one was a motivating factor in his conflict with Varian. A conflict that was suppose to be resolved back in Rapunzel’s Return but we the audience have yet to visually see any difference in behavior since then.

Quirin’s absence here in the past highlights his absence in the present day and reminds the audience aware that we’ve not been given a satisfying conclusion to one of the most important arcs in the series.

Lets Talk About Wasted Potential

Like I said, I like the idea of exploring Eugene’s past. But we should have gotten that back in season two when it was more relevant. Part of why this episode fails is because Eugene has reached the end of his original character development. He’s now on an identity crisis arc which has nothing to do with this episode.

But you know who still hasn’t finished developing? Rapunzel.

Rapunzel has lots to still learn and viewing her past through outside eyes could have turned this story into something really special. Especially with the ‘inhabiting another body’ plot point.

You have no end of options here,

Have Raps inhabit Cassandra’s body for a day and gain insight into what motivates her. It could have been either before or after they met, both offers up possibilities.

Have Raps inhabit Eugene’s body and experience what he had to deal with growing up and come to see his point of view. (This could have also worked with the Sabbingtons set up had the writers not been stupid.)

And my personal favorite, send her back to right after Queen for a Day and have her stuck in either Varian’s or Ruddiger’s bodies. Force her to see what she did to him and have her acknowledge she was wrong.

And those are just the most obvious choices, there’s other more out of left field things you can do that would still work with good writing. Like exploring Lady Caine’s past, inhabiting Arianna’s body and learning how to be a real queen, get dumped into actual young Gothel and lay out clues to the future Zhan Tiri plot, or possess one of the Brotherhood and experience the final days of the Dark Kingdom; the list just goes on and on and on.

But I Thought You Didn’t Put Kids in Jail Frederic?

Remember that Raps and Pascal are possessing the Stabbingtons who are still teenagers here. They can’t be much older than Varian.

This means that Varian isn’t some special case. Teens have received harsh and deadly punishments in the past for non-violent crimes like theft.

Also teens are called kids still by the majority of the cast. They’re aren’t considered adults with the same rights as someone in say their twenties, yet they can be punished the same as an adult would. Which is horrendous in any time period.

So in conclusion, Frederic is a fucking liar!

Tangled the Series can’t decide if it’s in the far past or a reflection of the modern day. As such it winds up supporting the worst of both worlds. Barbaric practices like hanging for minor crimes and prison slave labor are treated as the norm and never called out for the horrific things that they are; treated as a joke even, but we’re suppose to accept that this world also somehow views adolescence through the lens of late 20th century sensibilities even as it forces minors to go through such atrocities.

Like what are you trying to say show? What is your message on the transition of adolescence to adulthood regarding rights and responsibilities? And don’t tell me ‘it’s not that deep’ because this is suppose to be a coming of age show! That’s the entire premise of the series!

So How Old Are Stan and Pete Again?

I was always under the impression that Pete was a newbie guard, closer to Cass and Eugene’s age than say Cap or Frederic. That’s why he screws up so much because he’s inexperienced, why he seemed to be the closest thing to a equal colleague Cass had in the guard when she was also just starting out, and why I assumed those braided girls from the movie were his sisters.

I mean there was nothing on screen previously that would necessarily contradict this reveal, it just doesn’t feel right, that’s all. I guess he could be like 20 here and be 30 in the show. That would make him only a few years older than Eugene, but still doesn’t explain why he’s so useless a decade later.

I’m fine with Stan being here though. I always thought of him being the older of the two. In fact I headcannon Willow as his mysterious wife that he talked about back in Monty’s episode during season one. (She’s Stan and Pete’s beard, and they’re totally in a open poly relationship. That’s why they’re allowed to stay in the royal guard despite being so incompetent cause they’re technically Ferderic’s in-laws and Rapunzel’s uncles. Just no one ever talks about it cause it’s a minor sandal for a princess to marry lower class and Willow’s hardly ever there.)

And Why Does Xavier Have All Those Plot McGuffins?

I know we’ll never get an answer, but at this point Xavier’s exposition fairy powers border upon ridiculousness. It’s just lazy and a waste of character.

So How Does Time Travel Work In This?

There are three types of time travel stories in fiction.

First is the ‘Changeable Past, Changeable Future’. You see this in Back to the Future. What you do in the past will change the future, i.e. your present. You may or may not remember that you did it, but be warned you could change things too much and break stuff. Like erasing yourself from existence, or ruining your love life ect. The only way to fix it is to go back in time again and change stuff again. But beware of paradoxes or you may destroy the universe altogether.

The second is the ‘Alternate Timeline’, where changing things creates new realties and it’s a matter of finding the right reality again. The tv show Sliders is a great example of this. Each new timeline is a different dimension. What you do in one won’t effect your original point of origin, only that particular world. The challenge if often getting home again because the probable diverging timelines are infinite and the changes of getting back are a zillion to one.

Third is the ‘Closed Time Loop’. No matter what you do nothing will change. The future is inevitable and whatever you do in the past was always meant to happen anyways. Gargoyles handles this really well. You can also have ‘fix points’ where certain important things are set in stone but small things can be changed like in several Doctor Who episodes. Braking a fix point breaks the universe once again, while paradoxes are often the solution rather than the threat.

So which type of time travel is Tangled dealing with here?

Scenes like the conversation regarding Pete’s and Stan’s mustache or the ones involving Eugene working on his smolder suggest a closed time loop. Yet the ending to this episode reveals a changed future. Further still the grandfather paradox revolving around the hourglass would make you think an alternate timeline yet, we’ve no indication that anything else changed other then Eugene’s opinions on Cass, and Raps shows no concern about getting back to her original point in time indicating that it actually isn’t another dimension.... so what is it then?

You don’t have to have a tightly plotted time travel story to have an entertaining piece of media. Endgame is riddled with plot holes and contradicts itself constantly, but what it lacks in coherent plot it makes for with fun characters, emotional story beats, and good pacing that manages to balance the action with the drama while hiding the cracks just enough that you don’t lose immersion.

Tangled however fails at even this because it gets the character beats so fundamentally wrong. Like you may dislike where the characters ended up in Endgame, but can’t say that those developments didn’t match the characters’ previous storylines and logical trajectory. Tony finally becomes the selfless hero by committing the ultimate sacrifice, Steve learns self care as a mirror to Tony’s arc as they were always parallels to each other, Bruce learns to accept himself, Thor processes his grief and lets go of the role he was assigned at birth but never truly fit into, and Nat becomes the leader she was destined to be rather than the sidekick.

What happens to the characters in this episode however makes no sense.

This is Another Missed Opportunity to Explore Eugene’s Past

The other problem behind the episode is that we don’t actually learn anything new. If you’re going to promise a story focusing on Eugene’s past then I expect to actually glean some new insights.

We still don’t know why he’s working with Baron or how he fell in/fell out with him, what his relationship with Stalyan is like, how he became so cynical; not just the general basics, like the orphanage, but that point in his life where decided that survival meant giving up his morals and ethics; where did he first learn his better ethics that he originally suppressed (cause it sure as heck wasn’t Rapunzel), and when did he and Lance become separated?

This are questions that series decides to raise by making allusions to them and building conflicts off of them but never wants to explain the details of where they originated from. It’s super frustrating and wholly unnecessary. If you didn’t think the story of Eugene’s past worth telling then why did up repeatedly bring it up Chris?

Why Are You Surprised by This Rapunzel?

Rapunzel you know Eugene’s past. You know what he used to be like. You were literally there in the movie and saw him being an ass before this. You didn’t start to like him until he dropped his guard down in the flooded cave back when you both where about to die.

You fell in love with him when he showed you his real self and he fell in love with you when you proved that you were accepting of that. You earned each others’ trust. This here; angrily yelling at him and judging him, when you’re already hiding who you really are from him both literally and figuratively, is a breaking of that trust.

Who the fuck are you any more, Rapunzel?

Cause you’re not the same character from the movie. You’re not even the same character from season one. But whoever hell you are now, it’s not an improvement I can tell ya that.

So How Did The Hourglass Go From the Treasury to the Basement Storage, and How Would Raps Know It Was There At This Point and Time?

I’m guessing the implication here is that Crowley put Cass’s stuff in the vault, but like why the fuck would she do that? We’re not talking about a family attic here, but the royal safe. The most heavily guarded room in the castle with the kingdom’s most priceless treasures and antiques. Nothing Cass owned was that valuable.

Rapunzel Is Full of Shit

Oh let me count the numerous ways in which this whole lecture is stupid.

Rapunzel left Varian behind. Rapunzel left Varian behind multiple times, including that time he was thrown in jail. She was not a good friend, and no, this is not a case of her learning from her past because not once has she ever admitted that she was wrong to do that. So this scene just makes Raps look like a hypocrite.

Eugene does not need to relrean a lesson on being a better a person. He did that during the movie and has progressed beyond that point. This ‘lesson’ is a waste of time and a misuse of the characters.

This reframes Rapunzel as being in the right during her argument with older Eugene at the beginning of the episode, even though she’s not. In fact this is such a counterintuitive plot point that it boggles the mind. Who structures a narrative this way? Why so blatantly point out how the main character is wrong if not to have her learn something? Why frame the story to make the person who’s personal conflict isn’t even the episode’s focus, into the one who needs to learn something? Especially if that something is already a lesson that they’ve learned on screen beforehand.

And why, oh good heavens why, would you teach children such a toxic message? Like on the surface it sounds like something you’d hear in a children's show, but the context of it is justifying harmful behavior where you selfishly ignore other people’s wishes and boundaries just to satisfy you’re own personal desires.

And finally, Eugene and Lance do not work as a parallel to Raps and Cass. Cassandra is an adult who left of own free will. Lance is a teenager who was arrested due to Rapunzel’s own actions. Eugene isn’t the one who is responsible here, its Rapunzel. Who also left them both behind in her carelessness. Secondly, Eugene’s decisions are spurned by years of trauma and a healthy fear of dying, while Rapunzel’s is wrapped up in her own need to always be right and to keep her immature and fanciful outlook of the world intact. As harsh as it seems, what Eugene did was based off a predetermine agreement and presumably Lance would have acted the same way or been pressured to act the same way by Eugene. In short, Eugene’s cynical world view as a teen is not the source of his disagreement with Rapunzel but an adult perspective back by common sense and a respect of others choices. It makes no sense for present day Eugene to ‘learn’ anything from this misadventure that he didn’t already know and for Rapunzel to not learn anything that would actually tie the parallel together.

Locking Another Teen Inside a Jail Cell With Another Adult as a Joke, Does Not Erase the Inappropriateness of Varian’s Story

The episode tries to add another joke about Shorty sneaking into the prison without the guard knowing, but that still doesn’t excuse the fact someone had to have tossed Lance in there with him on purpose. Otherwise Lance wouldn’t have assumed Shorty was a fellow prisoner if he or the guard that locked him up saw Shorty sneak in before then.

Furthermore Lance’s nonchalant response suggests this is not an out of the ordinary occurrence. Nor do any of the other guard comment upon the irregularly of teens being jailed with an adult. Now add in the fact that the show fails to clarify that previous ‘cellmate’ line from Rapunzel’s Return and now gives us more confirmation that Varian was underfed and malnourished for a year with that gruel joke and you have a horrifying picture.

Shorty might be non-threating, but that doesn’t mean Andrew, a known attempted murderer and manipulator, is too. Nor any other adult who previously was housed with a teen before then. This is still very much not okay and no amount of ‘jokes’ will suddenly make it right.

Raps, Who is an Adult, Just Physically Threatened Two Teenaged Boys and It’s Played as a Joke....

How many times do I have to say it? Humor does not fix bad writing. I’m not laughing when a heroine at age 20, threatens a couple of kids for merely annoying her. Especially when said heroine has a history of abusing children; because let me repeat once again, neglect is abuse!

This is a Lie

No you wont.

Rapunzel never tells Eugene what happens on screen. I suspect that if she ever did, they would no longer be together, because what she wound up doing here was a violation of trust and boundaries in the worst possible way.

And This is Now a Time Paradox

A Grandfather Paradox to be specific. How can Rapunzel be here in the past to break the hourglass if the hourglass that sent her here is broken?

In a competent series this would be the point of a future conflict and not the actual resolution. It’s not a closed time loop because of the paradox and the changes we’ll see in the future.

So either she’s in an alternate timeline/dimension and just doesn’t gives a shit; leaving the real Eugene, Lance, Cass, ect. to go on without her; or she’s just broke the universe and everything is slowly unraveling around her; galaxies are dying as she whines about being dumped, people in the future are being eased from existence, and God is cursing her name for ruining his creation, all the while she carries on oblivious to the destruction in her wake, as usual.

That’s it. Those are you’re only two options now. Is everyone from here on a fake copy or is Rapunzel the damned destroyer of worlds? You decide.

So This Confirms That the Stabbingtons are Indeed “Family”

Another reason why I place this before Return of the King; it explains why Eugene considers the Stabbingtons ‘family’. Though if it was Rapunzel he actually bonded with and not the real Sideburns, then how much of his feelings are real and how much of them were fabricated by her? How much agency did this episode steal from him?

So What Exactly Did We All Change?

Well the dummy no longer has Eugene’s face, but Cass’s painting of the three of them still has him ripped out of the photo, soo... Keeping in mind that Raps painted the dummy anyways and considering that Moonandra tries to kill him later on; I’m going to guess that Cass’s feelings weren’t actually altered. If anything their relationship might actually be worse now, cause Cassandra keeps acting like she’s never had friends and Eugene has taken up Rapunzel’s blind devotion.

All that development in season one is just, poof, gone. Also it’s quite possible that the first movie as well has now it has been erased from existence as Eugene got his needed character development eight years too early. How the hell that’s suppose to work, I don’t know.

Outside of the that we get no confirmation how anybody else was effected, even though a more brainwashed Eugene running around would undoubtedly have caused a butterfly effect. Don’t expect that to be explored anytime soon.

Though, it would explain why he’s suddenly such a doormat in season three, if this was the second episode as theorized.

No! This is the Wrong Lesson!!!

Let me explain narrative promises.

Everyone, on some basic fundamental level, understands how stories work. We hear them recounted to us over and over again from the day we're born to the day we die. It’s integral to how we communicate as human beings. Everyone knows innately how to tell a story even if that person couldn’t tell you how stories or structured or what certain literary terms mean, but they do it every day just through speaking. And while most audiences can’t always pin point what upsets them about a story they can for sure notice when things are off and not satisfying to experience.

Now that doesn’t mean that everyone can write an awarding winning novel, that study of a craft isn’t important, nor that every amateurish critique thrown at any given media is valid. But it does mean that people have come to expect certain storytelling practices and can pick up on narrative cues. We’ve familiarized ourselves with the language of film, novels, comics, ect, into order to comprehend what’s going on.

Rules of writing are just following that established language so that the audience can keep up. You can break these rules, sure, but unless you know what you’re doing and have a good narrative reason to do so, then you can easily lose you’re audience. And if you’re making money off said audience that’s something you want to avoid.

A narrative promise is a cue; a set up that lets the audience know that ‘hey this is important, pay attention to this cause it’ll come back into play later’. Now that the audience has been alerted to the plot point they expect fulfillment of the promise. If you break that promise, either through poor set up, lack of follow through, or by breaking an established convention of writing for no other reason then because you just wanted to, your audience is going to walk away unsatisfied.

The argument at the beginning of the episode was a narrative promise. It was a cue that set up the interpersonal conflict of the main character. For add context, I know that this is a coming of age story. Convention would dictate that the protagonist would resolve this conflict by learning they were wrong.

That’s not what happened here.

Convention was subverted. It wasn’t the protagonist who grew and change, it was the person they were in conflict with who did. And it wasn’t subverted because of any greater narrative reason, or future pay off, or even as effort to be shallowly ‘clever’; it was subverted because the author just didn’t want to hold the main character accountable for anything. Because said character has now become his avatar for his wish fulfillment fantasy and having the main character admit fault would be to admit fault in ones own self. Rapunzel doesn’t feel like Rapunzel this season because she’s just Chris in a wig.

The episode broke a narrative promise to the audience; both within the episode and in the greater premise of the story, because of ego.

I don’t claim this episode is bad just because of personal taste nor because I find it morally repulsive (even though both those things are true), I call it bad because it exhibits bad writing. Plain and simple.

Way To Undermine The Entire Point of the Original Movie, Show

Speaking of breaking narrative promises....

TTS is suppose to be a squeal to the original movie. It’s even in the title of the show; both of them. In one fell swoop, the series has managed to sabotage it’s very reason for existing, as it erases Eugene’s motivation and the inciting incident that kick started the film.

Way to fucking go.

To further twist the knife, it diminishes the duel protagonist of said film in order to prop up a series original character, who isn't even present in the episode itself.

I don’t mind Cassandra’s existence. I don’t even mind her being the new deuteragonist and one of the main villains; even though she wouldn’t have been my first pick to fulfill those roles given her lack of set up. But I do fucking mind it if she upstages other characters and/or derails their character arcs in the process.

This is the Death of New Dream

I was still in denial when this episode first aired. I honestly believed that this and The Return of the King was build up to a third “betrayal” where Eugene finally became fed up with Rapunzel’s bullshit and joined forces with Zhan Tiri. I thought the end of the series would have Rapunzel apologize to everyone she did wrong, Varian, Cass, and Eugene, in order to break ZT’s hold on them, and that true love’s kiss would reunite the sundrop and the moonstone and that would just tie everything together into a neat little bow and give us a truly daring character study of a Disney hero.

Oh dear merciful heavens, was I ever wrong.

How did we go from season one’s challenging and mature storyline, complete with Disney’s first real anti-villian, to this?!

What the hell happened!?

Rapunzel not only disrespects Eugene’s opinions, violates his privacy and trust as she manipulates him as a teen, and then brainwashes him to think like her (even if accidentally), but doesn’t even have good grace to tell him. She instead has the audacity to look all happy and self congratulatory because she got want she wanted. She, and the show at large, doesn’t care what evil thing she does to get the desired outcome Rapunzel wants.

Rapunzel in this show is a spoiled brat. And the image of her and her now lobotomized boyfriend staring dead eyed at a picture of the creator’s previous waifu OC with plastic smiles on their faces, sums up this series perfectly.

Conclusion

This isn’t even the worst episode of the series guys. I don’t know if it would even make it onto a bottom five list. That’s how much crap I have to wade through when it comes to this show. This is however the most damaging episode to the franchise as a whole.

Not even the most hardcore of New Dream fans want to acknowledge the existence of that final scene, and Rapunzel stans won’t defend her beyond, ’well she didn’t mean too, it’s the writing that’s bad.’ Yeah, the writing is bad, that’s why the character can’t and shouldn’t be defended, not here and not in other badly written episodes where she also does bad things and never makes up for it.

Anyways I’m finally caught up to where I left off, before the move, though sadly I don't think I’ll get this series done by the end of the month like I had originally hoped. But if you would like to help out I have a ko-fi you can drop a tip into if ya want.

https://ko-fi.com/rachelbethhines

#tangled #tangled the series #rapunzel's tangled adventure #Eugene #anti-rapunzel #anti-tangled

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space-girl-and-droids-art · 3 years

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Clone Wars: Stories of Light and Dark- Book Review

“Clone Wars: Stories of Light and Dark” Is an anthology of stories narrating some of the arcs of the clone wars from the perspective of the characters. It gives more details and depth to some episodes, as well as giving us information that makes us have a different view of the events.

This is not exactly a review, but mostly my reactions to reading the book. I do recommend it, if you loved the clone wars and want another perspective on some of the arcs this will be a good read. That said, this does contain spoilers for the clone wars.

#1 “Sharing the same Face” -Jason Fry (from the episode “Ambush”)

Okay this was once one of the most light-hearted episodes of the series and now I ended up crying. I did not expect an order 66 reference here. Every time Yoda addresses Dooku is painful. Seeing how Yoda perceives the clones is really heart-warming, but knowing how it all turns out in the end is really sad and during the whole text you are really aware of that. In the show you kind of forget about what’s going to happen for a while, but this text just keeps you thinking about it constantly. It was a good read, I loved it. I found it really interesting knowing Yoda approaches the clones the same way he approached his students at the temple, and knowing what his opinions on the clone army it was a good detail. Loved this one.

Did I care that much about this episode before? No. But watching it right after reading this made me cry for half an hour. (I am a really emotional person, so take this with a grain of salt.)

#2 “Dooku Captured”- Lou Anders (From the episodes “Dooku Captured” and “Gungan General”.

This was a funny read, and the fact that the events are narrated by Dooku Himself made it even more hilarious. It’s supposedly a holorecording Dooku was doing for Sidious, and you can tell by his words that he was so done. Poor Dooku deserves a meditation day after it. You can tell how annoyed he was by the whole situation and his perception of Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi. They really are bothering for the count. I’m surprised he didn’t retire after this event, man’s gotta be really tired. Also, when they were tied together, they just shared a braincell and most of the time, Dooku was the one carrying it. The love he had for Qui-Gon does not extend to rest of the lineage, clearly.

At first it was really slow, but after they get captured by the pirates it just gets funnier. Good story to read after the sadness the previous text gave me.

Also, the fact that Dooku canonically records himself venting to Sidious is hilarious to me. Like, can you imagine being Palpatine and receiving daily vlogs from your apprentice ranting and complaining about Anakin and Obi-Wan? Dude was tired, of course he would let Anakin decapitate him in the end.

#3 “Hostage Crisis”- Preeti Chhibber (from the episode “Hostage Crisis”)

For an Anidala shipper this is a must read, because you will know exactly what Anakin thinks of his wife and how he views Padmé. This text was more Anakin centric (I believe the next one is Padmé centric) and it was a delight. I haven’t read much in canon about stuff that involves Anakin’s feelings so this was really good.

The scene from the beginning of the episode? Is hotter when you read it, trust me. For a clearly SFW text, this was intense. I’m pretty sure I can guess all of Anakin’s kink only by what was implied in his thoughts. Is also really sweet to see how much she cares, but also know why everything went downhill at the end. Good retelling.

#4 “Pursuit of Peace”- Anne Ursu (from the episodes “Heroes on both sides” and “Pursuit of Peace”)

I really love Padmé Amidala. My favorite senator. If you have seen my review of Queen’s Peril you KNOW How much I love her, and even when this text was written by another author, I still got the same feeling about her. Padmé is amazing. This arc is one of my favorite of the Clone wars because it’s the arc that let you see that it wasn’t a black and white kind of situation, both sides were being played. An none of them were really worrying about their people, they were in it for the money. I love reading Padmé’s thoughts on the whole situation. Also, the way this story is written makes what went down with Padmé and Anakin in the third episode make more sense and more in character. She is a strong, good, and smart politician. But she is also motivated to see the light in the dark and preserve the light, it gave me major Qui-Gon from “Master and Apprentice” vibes. It did make me tear up a little, because when I finished it, I realized everything she did was for nothing. She was too kind in a galaxy already so corrupted.

Also, Palpatine stop calling her “my child” you disgusting sith lord, I know you are responsible for her death and so do you, so shut the f up. Padmé was doing everything right and she hasn’t done anything wrong in her life whatsoever.

“Just because there’s darkness in something does not mean you do not love it. You show it love, you show it light, and you hope it chooses the light”.

She was talking about the senate but you just KNOW she isn’t really talking about the senate.

This story re-telling broke me, just as the first one. I am not ready for the next one. Do I have to? Man, I really don’t want to go through Umbara again.

#5 “The Shadow of Umbara” -Yoon Ha Lee (from the episodes "Darkness on Umbara," "The General," "Plan of Dissent," and "Carnage of Krell”)

I was, indeed, not ready for it. It doesn’t really add much to the story… except pain. Rex’s pain, to be precise. Let my man mourn Hardcase :C I just wanted to give him a hug, him and all of the clones to be honest. Fives was as good as always, but re-reading his lines knowing what happens to him made me sad. I hate Pong Krell, get you dirty hands off my babies. I don’t think this re- telling made me sadder, but that’s only because it was just as painful as the episodes.

Dogma my beloved, you deserve everything.

I love how this arc develops Rex character and his attitude towards the war in general.

#6 “Bane’s Story”- Tom Angleberger (from the episodes “Deception”, “Friends and Enemies”, “The Box” and “Crisis on Naboo”.)

Is Cad Bane the Regina George of the Bounty Hunters?

The answer is yes. Yes, he is.

I wasn’t really excited to read about Cad Bane at first, I felt that everything that had to be said about the guy had already been stated in the show. He was just a mean bounty hunter in space. But this was actually pretty funny to read, specially because it’s narrated in first person from Bane’s perspective on what happened with Kenobi. And it’s hilarious.

He is basically re telling the events to Boba and Bossk while he is in jail again. During his story you can learn a few things about him as well, specially what his thoughts are in relation to some important topics. You would think he is only concerned about the money and blasting people, and you would be right. But he also does have an opinion on what’s happening on the galaxy at large, on the jedi, on Palpatine and Dooku. But those opinions don’t affect how he gets the job done. It was really interesting seeing him internally judging Kenobi for being a liar, and knowing something is wrong with the jedi order if they pulled that off. He knows everyone is being deceived, but doesn’t know how. That’s why he doesn’t care, and doesn’t get involved on anything unless you offer to pay him. Money moves him, but not the people who has it.

It was a good story, and I also liked to see how Bane respects Boba and sees him as the one that’s going to take his place eventually.

We know from the deleted episodes that Cad Bane was supposed to be killed by Boba Fett, but we haven’t seen that in canon yet. I really hope they answer what happened to Cad Bane in the current canon, I would love to see that in a comic, or in a book.

#7 “The lost nightsister”- Zoraida Cordova (from the episode “Bounty”)

I love Asajj Ventress for a million reasons and this story just made me love her even more. It’s the same story from the episodes but with an insight of what Ventress is thinking about. Which is unsurprisingly very depressing but the story itself turns out to be pretty uplifting.

It’s about her thoughts on what happened after the massacre of her sisters, her family, and how she deals with everything she had already lost. How lonely and worthless she feels. But during the course of the story, we see her reconnecting with who she is, and learning her value. Learning she is a powerful person, master or not.

It was also really sad to see how she compared herself to others. She was really sad and angry that nobody cared about what happened to her people, no one that cared about her. She saw how people wanted the girl in the box back and thought about how nobody would ever do the same for her and it was sad.

I also find very depressing that she couldn’t mourn her family.

But then she said this:

“What made her so special? What made her worth—No. She couldn’t think that way. This girl’s worth didn’t diminish her own. “

And like, I’m 100% rooting for her here.

Also, I love that once she realized the girl from the box was being smuggled to be essentially a child bride, she didn’t hesitate to scam the old creep. She may be an assassin, but during the course of this story you learn that she is disgusted by men who take advantage of female beings. I also love her internal monologue after the guy was bothering her in the cantina and how she just knows that if she can defend herself, she will do it with no hesitation.

Lovely story, I love knowing more about Ventress. Beautifully written.

#8"Dark Vengeance”-Rebecca Roanhorse (from the episodes "Brothers" and "Revenge")

It’s so on brand for Darth Maul to have his entire story be about Kenobi. It’s narrated by him, but directed towards you, like he is telling the reader a story. That in some stories could be like an awkward thing, but here it was well done. I love Maul and like, I could picture us having that conversation, well, me listening to him monologuing.

I really liked that he started telling the story from the events that happened on Naboo. You get to really see what happened from his perspective and understand why his hatred of Kenobi only grows over time.

Also, Darth Maul was like “I can excuse murder, but I draw the line at being rude”. Which is so morally wrong, but very fitting to his character. He is really upset at Kenobi for not caring about what happened to him. From what I gathered of the info that he let us know, he would probably like it more if Kenobi killed him instead of having to spend all those years in the garbage. Nobody cared for him enough to go and check up on what happened to him. That doesn’t excuse murder though.

The interactions he had with Kenobi let us know that it was not very jedi like the way he treated Maul, ignoring his rage and letting it consume him. Obi-wan just kept adding fuel to the fire because he was also really angry at Maul for the murder of Qui-Gon, not realizing that that would only make Maul be even angrier. And we know how that ended up for Satine Kenobi.

Final thoughts: Savage, I love you.

#9 "Almost a Jedi"-Sarah Beth Durst (from the episode "A Necessary Bond")

I thought this story was going to be from Ahsoka’s point of view. It was not.

I’m not mad at it though.

The story itself does focus on Ahsoka but it’s narrated by Katooni. It’s basically about how much she adores Ahsoka and wants to be like her, but also doubts herself a lot. She thinks she is not good enough to be a jedi. But her experiences both with Ahsoka and with Hondo Ohnaka makes her change her mind.

I want to say that I love the fact that it’s canon that she drew a poster of Ahsoka for her room because she really admired her that much it's so wholesome. It’s cute, and also let us see the perception the younglings had of Ahsoka.

Also, the bond between Hondo and Katooni is really wholesome. This also made me realize that this encounter with a young jedi is the reason he is immediately friendly with Ezra in Rebels. Ezra and Katooni do share similar personality traits sometimes.

Deep diving in Wookiepedia after reading this I found out that Hondo’s ship in Galaxy’s Edge is called “The Katooni” and now I’m sad thinking he was probably devastated when he learnt about Order 66 and what Vader did to the younglings. Great now I’m angsty about a chaotic evil space pirate.

I think it was confirmed by Dave Filoni that those kids are dead now. May the force be with them, they were good enough jedis.

#10 "Kenobi's Shadow"-Greg van Eekhout (from the episode "The Lawless”)

This is the re-telling of one of the saddest clone wars episodes. The episode just lets you think that everything’s going to be alright, that they are going to survive together, lets you hope that they take off just in time… and then it doesn’t happen. I’m still not over Satine’s death. And this made it even sadder. There were so many points their story could’ve gone differently, but their story was already at an end.

This is in third person but heavily focusing on Kenobi’s thoughts along the way. He really was close to turn to the dark side, but his love for Satine and his grief made him not surrender to it. But he felt an anger, a justified one, but an anger that I have never seen in a jedi other than Anakin Skywalker. And we all know what happens to him.

It was a good but sad reading. I won’t be reading this one again. It’s too much. I knew what was going to happen and it still hit me hard. I wish things would’ve gone differently for the both of them. I wonder if we will get flashbacks to this in the Kenobi show.

Also, I really need an Obi-Wan Kenobi and Satine book of their time on the run.

#11 "Bug"-E. Anne Convery (inspired by the episode "Massacre”)

I can’t talk openly about this story because it’s not actually featured on the clone wars. It’s a really good story, specially if you want to expand on the lore regarding Dathomir and the Nightsister in the new canon. It’s perfectly executed, and even when the story isn’t about any of the main characters it hooked me from start to finish. Definitely one of my favorite stories of the book and If I had to pick one story from this anthology to read again it would be this one.

It has more gruesome details than the others and the atmosphere is dark, and I loved it. I would read a whole Dathomirian Nightsister novel written by this author if it was in this exact same style. I really liked it a lot.

In summary, I really enjoyed reading this Anthology. I would really recommend it to anyone who is fond of the Clone Wars or the prequels era. Adults, Kids, Teens, Young adults. I think I would’ve enjoyed this book as a kid as well, and I enjoyed it a lot now in my early twenties. It contains a little bit of everything and that makes it a really complete anthology.

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sprawa-przybyszewskiej · 3 years

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I cannot claim to know about this play more than some others (Ewa Graczyk, Jagoda Hernik-Spalińska, Kazimiera Ingdahl and Maria Janion, in alphabetical order, are the official Horsewomen of the Apocalypse in this topic), with a lot to bring to the table, and so I will sometimes discuss parts of it which are - at the very least at the first glance - absolutely and doubtlessly simple; but by discussing them I hope to be able to bring into the discussion some new material, new evidence, perhaps - for the contrary of the popular belief.

I remember when I first read the scene between Danton and Robespierre, I was completely mystified, just as Maxime. To somebody who at that point knew nothing about the historical events, the exchange between them was very logical (and everyone knows how hard it is to obtain, especially in a piece of media where the author blatantly favours one of the characters over another). I am very glad then, to be able to say that while Przybyszewska did everything she could to humiliate and belittle Danton in the more visual aspects of the scene - his gestures, movements, actions, mimicry, even the sound of his voice etc. - she didn't bother making him out to be a complete clown. His arguments are populistic, but that's not necessarily a bad thing when you're n politician aspiring to be even more than that. Perhaps she thought that painting him out to be a weakling would somehow diminish Robespierre's awesomeness, which is a valid concern. For Robepsierre has little left to do in this scene - it is made out to ba a confrontation between them, of sorts, but is it one, really? I don't think so, not for the large part of it. Robespierre comes in, dishes out few sarcastic lines, looks at Danton with disgust and contempt and then crushes him in a yet another sarcastic line and then leaves. There isn't that much he can do not only to participate in the exchange, but to be visually and audially appealing to the audience as a character in a play. And even though we all know staging The Danton Case is a secondary affair, the main thing you can do with it is to read it and ponder over it, when you do stage it, a lot of responsibility rests on the actors recreating the part. Which is why choosing a good actor can, potentially, make all the difference, sometimes going as far as completely changing the way you view the very same scene you read earlier.

I have always assumed by "the same man" they meant Robespierre. It makes some sense in the light of the conversation, altough I have to admit it makes little sense in the light of Robespierre's reaction. The question thus presented to us is: do we go by what is written, do we percieve a play as a piece of fiction in a real world, OR do we immerse ourselves in the fictional world, suspend our disbelief and for a moment treat it as an alternate reality of sorts?

Polish director Jan Klata has managed to put on stage a compelling retelling of The Danton Case and I would like to present to you a scene from his version, which we're lucky enough to have on YT, with translation courtesy of @that-one-revolutionary. I've seen the play in its entirety: some metaphors were heavy-handed to say the least, some aspects I wish he'd done differently, but all in all, when choosing the main protagonist, the director casted in the role a truly splendid actor (please note that Marcin Czarnik was young. Young! It made all of the difference and it's worth watching if only for that), who brought home some of the points of character of Robespierre's which could have easily been brushed aside in order to highlight some other aspects of the conversation (the most famous example of this would be the very same scene from Wajda's movie, where the appealing and in all aspects imposing Gerard Depardieu dominantes the scene, thus presentign it in a very different ligt). While it can be read as a political statement, or a match of two great personalities, or a display of cunning on either part, Klata (or Czarnik; it's hard for me to say what the director tried to do with it, a lot of Robespierre's quirks, mimicry, gestures etc. seemed to come directly from the actor, which I can only say because I've seen him in other things and that's sort of his style of acting; all in all, I'll try to treat this not as a discussion over this particular staging, because for that I lack needed data, but it's unavoidable in the long run at least at some points, so please bear that in mind) treats the conversation itself as a minor thing in comparision to what is going on in Maxime's mind at the moment. Just look at this: there is no significance brought into their meeting, no change of the scenery, nothing indicates this meeting is special in any way. The logical conclusion is, then: it's not special. Both Danton and Robespierre seem to treat this as a step which cannot be avoided, but which bears no great weight either. The only reason they agreed to make this step altogether is - for "the same man". For Camille.

I do think Przybyszewska's intention was actually to disguise Maxime under this vague title. If this is a play about love - as I will always state it is - she wanted to underline the fact some people will be hatefully loved by those who are beneath them, who have nothing whatsoever in common with the object of their affection simply because the loved one is so great, so genius, so shining and bright it is impossible not to love them. I think this is the relationship between Danton and Robespierre (that is, on Danton's part) up until this point in the play. Danton idolizes Robespierre against his will (against both of their wills, really), because Robespierre is truly made out to be a demi-god at the very least. If you could team up with a hero like this, you should. So Danton goes through a humiliating process of trying to reconcile with Maxime, because humiliation, if everything paid off in the end, would be worth it. That Robespierre doesn't reciprocate the affection is simply a further proof that he is above Danton in every way.

Klata-Czarnik duo seems to have gone into another, subtler direction though. The man that both politicians make an exception for seems to be Camille, moreso because Robespierre loves him than because Danton has any special feelings for him. What is his relationship with Camille, anyway? They are cordial enough, but always a bit on the edge, and we know that Danton doesn't know everything that Camille thinks and feels in regards to Robespierre, mostly because he doesn't care that much, but also because he is characterised as a brute, and this simply goes above his head, it's too subtle, too delicate of a feeling for him to know it. It is also clear he knows Camille pretty well, but he doesn't know his soul, so to say. Therefore, he cannot actually love him, not to the point to make him the one and only excpetion from his otherwise coldly and precisley calculated plans.

Is there, however, a scenario in which Camille could be Danton's exception? Yes, when it becomes more about Robepierre than about Camille. When Camille is sort of offered as a mean to lure Robepierre in. Danton could make this exception only if it meant getting what he wanted (which is later mirrored by his blatant admission that the only reason he lets Camille take the fall with him is to deny Robespierre any joy in life after this point).

Robespierre, however, doesn't see it this way. He actually makes the exception for Camille and I think Danton's words – whatever he means by them, whichever interpretation we think is correct – put him on alert, for the fear of having his secret discovered. In the video linked above it is even more than that – once Robespierre hears Danton indirectly name "the same man", he gets aggressively defensive. For him to have someone like Danton talk almost openly about what he treats as his personal secret (a secret that Danton, being in great familiarity with Camille, could potentially know for certain) is equal with defiling it. I have violated your secret. Do you know what he says in the original? I have raped your secret. It really brings into the focus how much “the secret” needs to be protected, and how much it will hurt Maxime once it’s uncovered and destroyed.This is what he fears pretty much for the entirety of the conversation, his suspiscion somewhat confirmed when Danton says: No catchphrases, Robespierre. I know you.

As I mentioned earlier, the shift in my reading of the scene was prompted by the video. It is worth observing what exactly does Robespierre do when mentioing Camille by surname – he gets visibly more upset, he ponders for a split second for the best way to talk about him. His choice of words is interesting as well:

Both translations here are poor and I quite like what that-one-revolutionary did with it. "Katarynka" is a music-box, so "an instrument" fits much better (not to mention the obvious English connection to the phrase "play like a fiddle", which is adequate here). A parrots is after all a living being, something with a will of its own, if steered by more powerful handlers. But admitting that Camille, from his own free will decided to go against Maxime and everything that Maxime believes in is much harder for Robespierre than calling him an inanimate object, which can be unwittingly used by people with their own agenda. That leaves Camille almost blameless, perhaps careless and foolish, but not responsible fo anything that has transpired.Calling him names serves another purpose as well, which is to steer away the suspiscion that Robespierre protects Camille becuase he cares about him in a special way. He knows there are Danton's accomplices turning ears by the door, so he doesn't want to give himself away with his care and concern.

Ultimately, what do you believe, whom do you think they were referring to I think says a lot about what you think about Maxime's state of mind at the time. Danton's too, though, it can be used as a litmus test whater or not you believe he was honest in idolising Robespierre and offering him his adoration and obedience. In some stagings it will be presented as true, in some as a lie, and that's the beauty of adapting a piece of literature, there are so many options, all blooming from the same roots.

#sprawa dantona #the danton case #L'Affaire Danton #stanisława przybyszewska #stanislawa przybyszewska #maximilien robespierre #maksymilian robespierre #kamil desmoulins #camille desmoulins #georges danton #jerzy danton

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evilzoldyck · 4 years

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High School Sweethearts

It was hard to speak when you’re bent over the desk while your boyfriend forcefully held your head down, flipped your skirt over and tugged your underwear to the side to bring his hard dick right into your raw cunt. Nevertheless, he seemed unbothered by the lack of preparation as he started to thrust vehemently with a bitter passion, inattentive to your feelings and inconsiderate to your needs.

The sensation of Phinks’ vigorous intrusion left a burning and stinging ache on your end, this was by far the most painful sex you’ve had with him, if you even can call it that. The dim classroom you were in too offered no comfort whatsoever, the hard wooden desk beneath you and the pressure of him from above was beginning to give your chest an uncomfortable squeeze.

You think of shoving him off and escaping, but you knew that you were no match for his almost monstrous strength, had it not been for his appearance you would mistake him for another being for possessing such Herculean-like power. You also knew that he locked the door, and further beyond that stood his friends keeping a steady watch for his buddy that just wanted to have a little talk with his girl.

All because he heard rumours spreading around school that you were going to breakup with him.

“So fucking stupid,” Phinks venomously spat out. His brows furrowed furiously with his eyes pierced to your helpless form, his violent thrusts never faltered even through your stammering pleas. The sheer unbridled fury he exuded left you crippling in fear on whether you’re going to come out of this classroom in one piece. You’ve seen what he was like around others, you just didn’t anticipate that you’d be receiving the infamous temper from him so soon.

His rage that was once rigorously contained around you were now left unchained, you just pray that somebody would come through the door and rescue you before he does anything worse.

Coarse hands slid through your strands and bunched your hair together near the roots to sharply pull them. You were honestly glad you didn’t have to face him through this ordeal, you couldn’t stand seeing his face shooting acrimonious glares into your own, but mostly it’s because you didn’t want him to see you crying. You couldn’t let him see how much he hurt you, how much power he had over you for he might take pleasure in your humiliated, broken state.

Letting the tears run down your face silently, you gripped onto the edge of the desk so tightly that your knuckles turned white from the grip, biting down on your lip to prevent any sobs from slipping out. You felt Phinks’ gruff pants from behind you, his hands never relenting from squeezing down on your hips and pulling on your hair harshly. It was clear he was far from forgiving you or even listening to what you had to say; all he could focus on was exerting his emotions physically onto you.

You should’ve seen this coming. The school’s infamous social pariah showing up randomly into your class and threatening others to leave just so he could ask you out in private. Of course you questioned it, just exactly what had you done to garner his attention? It wasn’t as if you were in or even knew his tight knit circle personally. You knew that he was a bad influence, the kind of company he keeps and the reputation he carries would just be detrimental to your respectable social image.

But at that time, you couldn’t care less. His awkward and brusque confession was so endearing that it was enough to convince yourself to give him a chance. Who knew underneath that coarse exterior was something that was sweet and almost kind albeit a little unsure, however you figured he was trying. Wondering why it took him to come forward and reveal himself for you to see through his facade after all this time before.

However you knew that at this age you were not going to come close to actually know what real love is or even begin to understand it. Also, you weren’t expecting that Phinks would be the one you’d see at the end of the aisle waiting for you, but you at least wanted the high school romance experience. To have your very first boyfriend during the height of your exuberant and capricious youthful days. Something to look back at history and reminisce to.

The first week with him was great, the unwavering stares and the nebulous whispers were just what you were expecting when you accepted his confessions, though you weren’t quite used to the blinding spotlight as you stood at the centre topic of high school gossip. If Phinks ever felt the same way, he didn’t mention anything to address it. Rather he would see you after class and take you onto the rooftop where he effectively broke the lock on the door with an effortless tug just to have some time with alone with you.

To be within a close proximity with someone like Phinks emotionally and physically was a bit daunting. In the first few days you couldn’t bring yourself to look at him straight in the eyes or ask the questions you’ve been dying to know like: since when? How? Why? Nevertheless you knew it was best not to ask since you figured Phinks himself wasn’t very good at articulating his emotions anyway. You figured the small pauses of comfortable silence and shy touches would be enough for now.

You still remember that day where he stole you from gym class to bring you to a secluded corner in the back of the building. Your very first kiss was shared there and you couldn’t deny that the heart at least flickered. It was like a scene from an oversaturated romance clip ever, but the soft feeling of his lips against yours with his rough hands gently cupping your cheeks was something directors couldn’t sincerely translate to the audience.

When he pressured you to skip class one morning, you thought it would just be a one time thing. But the next thing you knew, you’d find yourself in aimlessly wondering the streets with Phinks by your side every day. Of course, the grades that you worked so hard to keep up before suffered because of your arbitrary absence, leading you to stay up late each night to catch up because you find it so hard to say no to him.

The more time you spent with him, the more you began to notice that you hardly had the chance to see your friends. They also noticed it too and though they were mildly concerned as to why you would say yes to a guy you barely knew or talked to, they were happy for your new profound relationship.

You couldn’t help but feel awkward every time you pass your small circle of friends by the hallway with Phinks close by your side. Your heart tightened as you all shoot a polite smile at each other, the familiarity that you all shared once before was diminishing slowly.

Phinks was always invasive of your personal life, the moments of time you didn’t share with him, he’d intrude and let himself in anyway. You recounted at how he would scroll through your phone with a pensive glare, looking as if he’s expecting to catch something. You didn’t like it, but you also didn’t know that this wasn’t supposed to be a normal high school relationship.

You stared anxiously as Phinks’ eyes scrutinised your phone screen, scrolling through your apps, photos, messages and contacts. While there was nothing for you to hide, you couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable letting him go through your phone. Sitting patiently across him, you fidgeted with your nails hoping that he wouldn’t find something to get angry at.

“Who’s this?” He glared at you, showing you a name on your contacts that you had forgotten. It was your science project partner from last year, you forgot you still had his number in your contacts. When you replied just as what you had thought, he returned his eyes back to the phone and pressed delete. Even though you didn’t need it, you wanted to refute, tell him he couldn’t just erase someone’s number from you like that.

And it was as if he read your mind, you suddenly perked up when he bluntly said, “the project’s over right?” While continuing his peruse on your social connections.

“Yeah,” you dryly replied, looking down at your shoes as if they’re the most fascinating thing in the world. You hated it when he got just a little bit mad, you’ve seen the extent of his anger and even if you were his, there was no telling what he’d do if you push him far enough off the edge. So you often found yourself doing mental gymnastics to justify his actions.

“Then you don’t need it anymore,” he stated, almost coming off as condescending. You weakly agreed with him.

The time he suggested the both of you study at your house that day you told him how you were falling behind on maths, you didn’t think much of it. In fact, you were excited. Throughout the relationship he’d always set the schedule for the both of you and when he finally considered to set up a time that you needed, you were touched. Though that feeling quickly fleeted when he suddenly pinned you down on your bed.

“P-Phinks,” you breathed out in between his kisses. Your body was superimposed by his while his hands that held your sides desperately roamed freely. The books that you brought were uselessly thrown to the carpeted floor and it was clear to you now that studying wasn’t his intention from the start.

You held on to his shoulder and pushed him so that there was some distance between you two. “I thought we were just going to study,” you asked earnestly, looking for some sympathy in his eyes.

He smirked smugly and leaned in to kiss you once again, “yeah?” He chuckled in amusement. “That’s cute.” You should’ve known he couldn’t give what he didn’t have. He practically ripped your uniform blouse to get to your skin, not minding the buttons that scattered everywhere. His mind was set in stone for pleasure while yours was a conundrum.

Do you want to give it to him right now? Are you ready to lose your virginity? Does this mean he was The One? Do you want to save it for someone else? Who? Is high school the time to explore these things? Were you moving too fast?

You couldn’t remember what happened during the intercourse, but you remembered him finally leaving when your parents came home.

The next day your friends lead you to a quiet corner of the school to finally talk, they strategically caught you on a rare time where Phinks was preoccupied with reigning chaos over some unfortunate student with his friends. Knowing that you preferred to stay out of it, Phinks reluctantly left you alone for the day.

They confronted you about him, how he’s got you on such a tight leash and how they missed you, wondering when you’ll be back with them just like the old times. When it was time for you to answer, you couldn’t properly structure a sentence. Instead, the next thing you knew there was tears in your eyes. You murmured out that he took advantage of you, you couldn’t help but sob out uncontrollably and fell down to the abrasive gravel.

Hearing yourself admit it out loud helped you processed the thoughts and feelings of the altercation of what happened yesterday. Your friends were immediately by your side, holding you tightly as you cried out in distress. They shot each other a bewildered look at the implication of your statement. You held on to the supportive grip of their hands, letting yourself sob into their shoulders as they hugged you tightly and soothed your back while occasionally brushing your hair back from your wet face, not telling you to stop or say anything else.

The familiar warmth you’ve been craving for all this time, they gave it to you without question. You poured out your heart that period, wept until your tears went dry and sobbed until your lungs gave out. They never left your side. You figured once you told them you’d feel humiliated and embarrassed but they never even made an accusation of the sort, in fact they prevented you from thinking such things about yourself.

When they suggested the police get involved, you quickly opposed, you didn’t want to make such a noise about it. Perhaps you still regarded some feelings for him, even though you shouldn’t and he could never deserve it, but regardless you didn’t want anyone else to know. Though it was clear that they weren’t satisfied, they settled on you breaking up with him for now.

You didn’t know who stumbled and saw you that day with your friends, but someone did. News travelled around the campus like a grapevine and soon everyone is whispering of you breaking up with the infamous Phinks Magcub soon.

When the gossip finally reached him, he threw the maths report that he waited on for some kid to finally finish it in anger, leaving the papers to fall onto the muddy ground behind him as he marched straight to the building. He was going to surprise you with the report you’ve been so worried about and to hear of your betrayal enraged him to the point that he couldn’t hear or see anyone but you.

Meanwhile you stood in an empty classroom, worried when your friends didn’t come to your class on the last bell of the day in which they promised to meet, the whispers were getting louder and you weren’t sure how you could face him alone. You looked out the window and sighed, it was going to rain again. If that wasn’t an a bad omen the moment you turned to the door where Phinks suddenly emerged from was.

You were so naive to think you can escape him without a scratch.

Phinks could hear the sobs you tried to stifle as you pleaded out when you finally couldn’t handle it anymore. “S-Stop- Phinks please...” you whispered out, squeezing out the tears stinging your eyes. Your throat felt like it was coiled with wires of barbs tightening every time you held yourself back from emitting a sound.

He let out a series of violent thrusts before he finally came, pulling your hair down harshly as you cried in pain. Once he let go of your hair and tucked himself back in, he turned you around to look at your grief stricken face. “Are you sorry?” He asked, completely apathetic to your side. You weakly nodded, casting your eyes from his.

“Good girl,” he brusquely wiped your cheek with his thumb before pulling you close to him, forcing you to lay your head in his shoulder. You feel his lips tickle your ear when he muttered softly, “let’s not fight anymore.”

It wasn’t like you had a say in it anyway.

#tw: noncon #toxic relationship #tw: yandere #extreme noncon #yandere hunter x hunter #yandere hxh #yandere phinks x reader #yandere x reader #phinks x reader #phinks magcub #Hunter x Hunter 2011 #Hunter X Hunter #yandere phantom troupe #smut #non-con #high school au

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common-blackbird · 4 years

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it’s time... for a dragon age 2 playthrough post. scroll on!

The things i loved most:

1) the frame of the game - Cassandra interrogating Varric.

What a great way to get hook the player. Like, the opening of guards dragging this poor dwarf with cuts of the title, and then Cassandra demanding answers... Whoaaa! I have no idea if that’s usually done in games or not, but it’s definitely such an amazing intro with characters introducing themselves as well as the story so perfectly, it captivates instantly. The tutorial has a charm to it bc varric is messing around. Which serves to show more of his character. Cassandra’s personality was pretty much blank here but her presence is so powerful. Something happened, something huge and they know and i was about to find out. I can’t describe how excited that intro made me feel. Each time the scene cut to the interrogation scenes, my eyes were glued more than ever. Just GREAT.

Also it makes for a very convenient scapegoat for every plothole ever with the argument “it’s just his version of the story”.

2) The story.

It’s tragic. It’s amazing! The further you play, the more you can see that no matter what you do, everything leads to a disaster. Hawke doesn’t want to take sides, tries to mediate, does not want to get involved, but just can’t stop it. For every thing gained, Hawke loses two more. Your friends come with packages that get you involved in terrible stuff. Your good intentions result in disasters. The whole game you spent time climbing the social ladder not only to reach the top hauntingly alone after losing all of your family, but also losing even that empty title and watching as the city you started to find your place in fall apart in blood. UGH! GAH! FEELS!

3) Kirkwall.

“ But, I beg you my dear readers, never forget that, no matter the subject of any story that might ever be explored between the cliffs of Kirkwall, She will find a way to steal the thunder of the protagonist. Or become the antagonist. Kirkwall is never a mere background. We could even understand it so: the challenge for you dear readers is to prevail against the smokescreens and observe to what extent our characters are players or played by the merciless black souled stone giant. Enjoy playing the dare of the ages between the lines of these humble memoirs. “

Memoirs from the Downfall - Act I. Mirage by Pfefferminze on ao3 (fic rec!)

This paragraph summs up what Kirkwall is better than I ever could. This shrouded mystery that surrounds Kirkwall keeps you on toes. From the first intro when Varric describes it (paraphrasing from memory) “Kirkwall. The city of chains. It is a free city - keeping in mind i use the the word loosely”. You already start seeing how dark Kirkwall gets. The name, that derives from its black walls (interestingly, the walls in the game aren’t black...), the history of slavery etched into every corner of that city and its surroundings - the names (The Gallows, the Bone Pit, the Wounded Coast, the pub The Hanged Man), the scenery (sculptures of slaves, the sunken ships by the Wounded Coast, slums and underground of the Lowtown and the Darktown).

I was really digging the History of Kirkwall and it loved it. Kirkwall has a history of violence, from the times of slavery of the Tevinter Imperium, to Qunari conquests and liberation from Orlais. Many revolts and uprising. And though free now, it’s suggested that, seeing that the Templars hold the most influence, Kirkwall is in the hands of the Chantry.

It’s full of cultures mixing together. I love how not one of your companions is a native to Kirkwall, and it feels like a crossroads to every character’s life. a very tragic crossroads in their life, seeing there’s nothing ever good waiting for you in Kirkwall.

Also there’s these codex entries you look for about the Enigma of Kirkwall. It was when i started digging that up that i fell in love with the city and all. Combined with the History of Kirkwall and every codex entry for every place in and out of Kirkwall, I was pulling my hair out reading about the Enigma. I..i’m still not quite sure what happened. Did the magisters use blood of thousands upon thousands slaves to unbound a forgotten one? if so, is that corypheus? And around what time did that happen?? I get that part (or all?) of Kirkwall’s mysterious violent agency is owed to corypheus slumbering relatively close to the city, but is that all? or is there something more? In either case, the Band of Tree are my heroes.

4) The characters.

I’ll talk more about them later, but in general, i just love how they oppose each other, how complex they are, and there is just not pleasing everyone. They feel genuine. They are all deeply flawed. They all have a solid background that makes their beliefs and actions convincing. The friendship/rivalry points are shaky though, and sometimes really don’t fit the character, but i guess there must be someone hating/loving your bad choices for the sake of the game regardless of characterisation. But all in all, i really appreciated each and every character, and loved how their viewpoints challenged me.

First i want a disclaimer: i love each and every character in the game, whatever i say against them doesn’t diminish my liking of them. My issues really aren’t significant. Also, i might and probably will say smth wrong bc i’ve only played it once. I’m a baby.

let’s start with Family:

Mama Hawke:

i really loved mama hawke. after reading her codex entry and an excerpt of some book on this site, i really feel for her. I mean, imagine going back to your home city where you only remember being respected and wealthy only to find out everything you remember is gone, you are forced to live in poverty, your kids are doing dangerous jobs and you can’t stop them bc you do need that money, you write letters trying to get the old connections but keep failing (at least it was implied?), it’s really been hard for her. I get why she was so obsessed with her legacy. She wanted her childhood home back. She can’t feel like Kirkwall is her home until she is home.

Also loved her antagonism towards Hawke. It seems she can no longer treat him like a child, so she criticises him instead. and honestly, hawke is doing some crazy things so he defintiely deserves some criticism. And stopping Hawke from taking carver with him is just logical to me, idk. since she knows she can’t stop Hawke from going, she will at least attempt to prevent the last kid from going into mortal danger. I’d do the same. AND AFTER HAVING CARVER DYING IN DEEP ROADS I AGREE WITH HER

All in all, i don’t think she’s a perfect mom, but there is no perfect mom, and Leandra does care a lot for her kids. The All that remains killed me too :’(

Bethany

RIP :(

Her codex is not long, but i guess she wasn’t happy with her magic :(

CARVER

My favouritest bestest bro in the game. A secondary character with an inferiority complex towards his sibling, with no sense of humour, blaming everyone else for his inability to get a life? I see a lot of myself in him. He is sooo bitter, but doesn’t even realise (or at least doesn’t admit) that he’s his biggest obstacle. He feels like it’s Hawke’s fault for Carver not getting his place in the sun, but honestly, it’s Carver’s devotion to Hawke that keeps him from getting a life. He’s just tied with that responsibility and can’t break from it unless forced to.

His interactions with other characters are so funny. Either he’s bitter or he’s awkward, i die every time ;;__;;

Anyways, he became a templar in my game and i thought it fits better thematically (throughout the game the grey wardens felt more like a fanservice material since they really aren’t connected to the story), but after reading that meta about carver and seeing the striking difference between warden!carver and templar!carver i wanna reload and redo everything ;;__;;

i mean... carver isn’t exactly a templar material. The codex entry for templars says that the wanted characteristics of templars are strong faith and utmost obedience, none of which carver really has... . But that moment when he stands up against meredith was *chefs kiss* worth it. I’m just wondering what happens after, is he still a templar? is he with hawke? is he in Kirkwall or if not, where did he go?? so many questions ;A;

Uncle Gamlen

I feel bad for him. Mostly he’s mean but i like to think it’s bc he’s so ashamed that his sister sees what he’s become. And he’s bitter about his own life. I was so happy when i realised he has a personal mission ;__; I feel bad that he didn’t come to live in the hawke estate tho, especially since Hawke is also alone there :(

COMPANIONS!

Varric

There are no words that can properly convey the amount of love for this guy. He is simply flawless. He’s a charming godfather of the dwarven mafia. I wanna have a charming godfather of the dwarven mafia in my life... He already becomes interesting with the intro, and i gotta say, out of all ~storyteller~ types of characters, he is the best. he puts a disclaimer at the beginning with that game tutorial, and during the whole interrogation he’s like “well, how do you know i’m not lying? i could be.” Also, his voice is the second best voice in the game.

As for his personal missions, oh wow, that thing with his big bro really hurt. I also gave him the red lyrium... was that a mistake? will i regret it? ;__; I know the true friend would prevent him, but i also trust that varric knows how to handle dangerous stuff...

On a side note, since i’ve read the comics (no self control whatsoever), i loved the beginning of the Until We Sleep, where varric mentions it’s easier to imagine all the people he had to kill were evil than to face the fact that those were normal people just doing their job or trying to survive. Man, it hurts TAT

*garret hawke’s voice when he looks a certain way at the family crest in the hawke estate* ISABELA!

Ok ok, so, i love Carver bc i relate, i love Varric because he’s simply perfect. But I love Isabela because she’s the most intriguing.

She just crashed in Kirkwall and really didn’t sign up for all the trouble she got. She never likes to have deep conversations, she is always downgrading herself and you just wonder, what is it that happened in her life, and you know her past mistakes haunt her, and she’s doing her best to move on. Her arc was i think my favourite. I think the comic Those Who Speak really adds a lot to her arc in DA2 and makes some of her choices more understandable. Her whole story is about her internal conflict of whether to survive or do the right thing. Her story about freeing the slaves got her ship wrecked is great and all for making her be a pirate with a golden heart, but that story about her drowning all the slaves few years previous make this freeing of slaves a big character moment for her. She finally did the right thing. And she got for it was more trouble, because she’s a pirate which means she can’t afford to just do the right thing. And throughout the game, that same story is going back and forth. She runs off with the Relic bc she’s done the right thing before and it got her nowhere, so now she decided to put her own survival as a priority, but comes back bc she’s too kind to just leave Hawke standing like that. And again, with the slaver papers, it’s the same reasoning: it’s her or the higher cause. She needs that ship. She chooses herself. It’s her biggest flaw. But hey, between pros and antis in your party, it was really refreshing to have someone who, along with varric, just gives you a break with moral high-grounds.

I only wish we actually got to see her more as a captain in power in the game or that she showed me that amazing hat she saw in lowtown. It’s cool that it’s implied that her crew doesn’t like her and she also lost most of them during the crash while the others probably left her after.

I love it when she says she goes sometimes to the docks just to watch the ships. That there is no feeling like sailing. I just want a spin-off with captain isabela’s terrible adventures (´A`)

Also, isabela’s VA is my fave, she really did an amazing job. she voices so smoothly, i wouldn’t know if i was playing a game or watching a movie. And has such a pretty way of talking...

Aveline

I’m really neutral towards Aveline. I like her personality and i like that she’s found herself a purpose and advanced in the guards, and she’s always looking out for everybody. I just wish her personal missions went in the vein of the one in act 1... i feel it would have been more interesting to see her having trouble in her position and that you can’t just waltz into Kirkwall and take command. It’s implied she’s being pressured, so i guess she’s just dealing with it herself, but i just... eh. She’s ok.

Merrill

Merrill actually has one of the if not the most tragic story-line that really challenges you both morally and emotionally.

Her cheerful and cute personality is dampened by her constant dark leitmotif of willingly practicing blood magic. And i think her story really showed well the indirect consequences of it.

Not in one instance was Merrill’s practice of blood magic an active culprit for all tragedy that surrounds her. First, it seems that blood magic is practiced in the clan, seeing there is no freeing Flemeth without it, but i’m guessing it’s seldom practiced and with great caution. So Merrill wasn’t in any danger of being prosecuted for her blood magic. It’s actually her wish to study it further with the help of the demon that makes her an outcast. That and the magic mirror that apparently is forgotten for a reason. Also, it’s made quite clear that Merrill would be welcomed back no questions asked if she at any point decided to ditch the demon and live without the study of magic mirror. She, on the other side, is driven by the higher cause, the idea that figuring out the forgotten purpose of some evil mirror might help her clan, and is willing to be an outcast if it means reaching her goal and helping her clan. Fast foward to act 3, the clan is still there when they should have moved away, and it’s only when you face the demon possessed Keeper, you realise why. She knew Merrill would sooner or later bargain with the demon again. And she sacrificed herself, trapping the demon within her, as to prevent it. And i think that is why the clan stayed so long there. She waited for Merrill because she wanted Merrill to kill her, and hopefully with her the demon. It didn’t go as planned, obviously, but i really think she had good intentions. When Merrill does manage to kill the Keeper she’s forced to face the clan and i chose the wrong option of telling the truth which resulted in a massacre. Merrill gets back and regrets everything. She, however resolves to help the alienage.

The thing is, there is no one to blame Everyone had the best intentions. Everyone is working for the safety of the clan. it’s a story of sacrifice and when sacrifice feels like the wrong choice (whether it truly is or isn’t depends on your worldview) and it’s really done well.

But here are my issues with Merrill. I love her as a character, but i don’t agree with her decisions. It’s a personal issue. Merrill is giving up everything as to help her clan by learning history of the evil mirror. And while this is a game where old things are important and significant, her mission is always explained as this duty of preserving history. And while i agree that preserving history is very important, there is a limit to it. you should never put history before the present. If your research endangers the present, you give up on that line. The other is that you need to make peace with the fact that many, many things are forgotten and will be forgotten. It’s sad, but you gotta make peace with the fact that some things are just gone.

And Merrill, who is a magic historian, fails to see that. So that kinda irks my historian moral codex. And in the end, as far as i know, Merrill doesn’t succeed in reviving the evil mirror and dedicates herself to help the alienage. It was a terrible way to learn that some things aren’t worth it.

The other, less personal issue, is that none of this had to happen. I mean, the keeper obviously didn’t think Merrill was experienced enough to actually deal with demons and therefore distrusted her and warned the clan about it. So, if Merrill was a little bit more patient she could have just studied normally under the keeper, and when she herself becomes the keeper, she could have fraternize with that demon however she wanted without much complications. So yeah... i guess youth is made of idealism.

But as i said, minor issues. Her story is really, really great.

Fenris

Fenris and Anders are my “i love you but i am soo annoyed by you but i still love you” characters. Half of the time they’re just there to make you feel guilty for being a neutral party. Which sometimes has me rolling my eyes. If Fenris and Anders actually got along with each other, slavery and mage oppression would have ended in 2 days. Which makes it all the more frustrating that they do not.

Fenris.. his voice. What a nice voice colour. So elegant, but kinda rough, sometimes he talks like he’s 80 years old, sometimes like he’s a teenager. I love it.

As for the rest, i mean, i don’t agree with his methods, but very often, the guy’s got a point. I get his experience with mages colours his view on them, so while i symphatise, it’s really hard to have him on my “free mages” missions when he’s my best tank and i want him to be on friendly terms with Hawke so this makes things... difficult. That aside, it’s interesting that fenris doesn’t see mages as evil per se, but rather victims who, in his experience, will always, always going to succumb to a demon. It’s an inevitable reality to him. And this makes me wonder if he ultimately, despite being his friend or lover, is just waiting for the day he will be forced to kill Hawke too :(

As for his missions, they were ok, it led up to culmination and i didn’t let him kill his sister bc Hawke has just lost his mom, don’t do smth you’ll regret ;__;

also, somewhere around the end of act 2 i decided to romance fenris bc i love to suffer, so i worked the whole act 3 trying to get more aproval points and also wondering why are there no romance options when i talk to him... turns out that one night stand with isabela romanced her and canceled fenris. But i never even finished the romance with her so i’m just ??? about it all.

I wish it was more explained about the tattoos fenris has? I just thought the tattoos would play a big role somewhere in the game and it just never happened. There was a banter with Merrill about how his tattoos are similar to valaslin, so i thought, hmm, interesting, maybe the two are connected. But nah they just glow in the dark and make you pass through walls. Whatevs.

also dude just goes and kills without a second thought, i’m just “mate, you gotta calm down”. But that’s his thing. He’s constantly bitter and is very bad at anger management. I can’t blame him, considering he lacks around 10- 20 years of experience due to amnesia.

He’s the only one who left me when Hawke sided with mages, and i was like, “ok i getcha, it’s been nice knowing you”, but then when i asked him to join me 5 minutes later he just went “ok changed my mind” which was so funny, like, where did all that integrity dissappear??? It would have been more impactful if the dialogue went in the line of “i want to stand by my principals but you’re a living breathing proof that not all mages are weak to succumb to demons so i’ll join you in the end” (and then side-eye “i told you so” when orsino turns into a demon)

And i wanna read the fenris comic now bc my question for every character here is what is their fate after kirkwall. I only know that isabela & varric are working for alistair and merrill wants to help the alienage. Aveline is i guess either dismissed from her job or got a pass after cullen took the command. But Carver?? Fenris?? Anders?? They never talked about long term plans...

Anders

ooh boy, here we go. there are many questions i have for him and am generally just hmmmm. First, as for his pro-mage rights - it’s like opposite fenris so i just have the same feelings: you mean well, i don’t agree with your methods, your experiences define your worldview so i let some things slide, but other things i will not agree with. Though, question: in how many circles has Anders been? He knows the kirkwall circle, he knows the fereldan circle. Seeing he has excaped 7 times, did they send him to a different circle each time or was the fereldan the last one? or the first one? Or maybe it was his boyfriend they transferred? did i miss something?

I’ll just whisper: awakening!Anders >>> da2!Anders. I just miss the old anders. Which says a lot bc during the awakening i was just “shut up anders”. I miss his bad jokes, his terrible attempts at flirting, his enjoyment of freedom, nagging all the time, and generally being more moderate in pro-mage rights. Like, in awakening, because it was not the only thing he talked about, it felt more personal and intense. Here mage-rights are the only thing he ever talks about + justice. I mean, please correct me if i’m wrong, this was just general impression. But to defend da2!Anders here, it makes sense that merging with mixed both of their personality, and i like that they did that. It’s also very sad.

The thing is, when i’m thinking about anders, i love his story and character. Just as it’s terrible that Fenris, having no memory from before being Fenris, Anders can never go back to being just Anders. And this, people, is why you don’t fraternize with spirits. He’s obviously afraid of how justice is affecting him and there are some bare traces of his old personality and i guess he wouldn’t be as radical if he didn’t have justice personality that can’t stand the injustice. And in combination with anders quite selfish personality (form awakening, and i say that lovingly), it makes him do things that justice wouldn’t condone. Anders is literally a walking bomb.

Again, same problem as with fenris, i really thought that the justice glow would have a incredibly significant culmination, and it didn’t, it was just to show that anders and justice are very bitter. Eh, ok.

Also, i let anders join after he blew up the chantry, bc he started it, so might as well follow it through.

Some minor characters that i remember

Senechal Bran for the next Viscount! He hated hawke so much but still put up with him.

Feynriel is the coolest mage in Kirkwall. I think his missions were my favourite. Dude goes from “oh no i’m a mage” to “i will just dreamwalk to tevinter and learn control the reality” to “i dream-killed bad people from thousands of miles away”. Does he appear in the next game? I want him on my side. He’s so cool.

I think the Maker is sending Cullen signs to quit being a templar. First job: evil mages that tortured you. Instead of “this job will kill you” h took it as a “never trusting mages again, got it”. Second job: your boss is evil possessed paranoid maniac. Man, talk about bad luck.

What is the story of the Lady Elegant?

Flemeth had that big great talk at the beginning of the game and i thought by the end of the game i’d realise what it meant, but nope, still no clue.

Ok so I defeated Corypheus, but there was this looong shot of Larius walking away. Corypheus possessed larius, didn’t he? He’s out there. In a madman’s body. I know he appears in inquisition.

Many thoughts

I gotta say, in Kirkwall, at least, it didn’t feel like much of a challenge to pick a side. Like, there was no mage who said “hey i actually really like it here in the circle, the templars aren’t so bad”, and having templars actually smuggling mages from the circle says a lot to say the least. Every time a mage talks to you, unless you go with “oh they’re 100% lying”, their stories invoke sympathy and of course you want to help them. And then in 99% cases they turn to blood magic bc there was no other way. Except that dude who always hanged out with the wrong people, he only did blood magic to save Carver. But yeah, that turning to blood magic was like having Fenris side-eye me with an unspoken “i told you so” bc every mage, whether in desperation or hunger for power, will turn sooner or later into a demon. Regardless, blood magic was always in the act of desperation and self-defense. The only times where magic was actually evil was the slavers and the serial killer, who is a madman.

When i was reading the Enigma of Kirkwall, there was a part that talks of a blood-mage conspiracy and i was all, oh shit, there is a reason why templars are mean to mages! maybe the conspirators are framing innocent mages on blood magic crimes that they actually commit, maybe Meredith is actually on trail of the conspirators, maybe there is a reason for animosity on both sides. After all, Kirkwall was known for having a bigger number of apostates, a bigger number of blood magic cases and far more ruthless templars. It added up.Thinking back now, i never even got any specific reason why meredith was so intensely anti-mage, other than going mad.

But yeah, no conspirators. Just sad mages and mean templars, and good templars that get screwed by desperate and mean mages.

While in Kirkwall it’s easy to be a pro-mage, i was thinking a lot about mage-rights in general so let me indulge myself: there are circles, but the mages aren’t oppressed. Rather, the circles would be educational centres and society in every larger city where one learns how to properly handle magic bc magic is dangerous. You can leave when you pass the final exam and also come back anytime to hang out with mages who decide to live there since the institution would support mages.

Also, when one gets possessed, i’d invest more into “walk into their head and free them of demons” specialists. It’d be cool if you could have a dreamer who does that bc no lyrium spent. Honestly, why don’t they ever do that? How did the keeper do that rite for Feynriel? Was it blood magic?

I guess, you’d still have to answer for your crimes, tho no death punishment and degradation allowed. Blood magic wouldn’t be punishable by death, but rather have specialists who study it, but practice with extreme caution and use of another person’s blood is strictly prohibited.

Templars would still exist but completely reformed. No more “mages are all potential disasters”, but i’d rather make it that mages can too be templars, since they both have abilities that prevents the others from casting magic. This way the control system would be much like the dalish: if the keeper(mage) is possessed, the clan (which means the non-mages and the first(mage)) need to kill them. You could argue that you don’t need templars as non-mages, since mages can do it too, but seeing that in general people fear magic and feel inferior to it (since there’s a collective memory of the great tevinter imperium), having non-magic specialists would make them feel like on equal ground. The extra-reformed templars would be under Circle, not under direct command of the chantry, and circle, depending of whether chantry is reformed, might or might not be under chantry.

(a side note, i was thinking about templars recently and i can’t recall an instance where it says who had the clever idea to chew lyrium first? i just wanna know)

I know that DA2 wasn’t about grey wardens and therefore not about darkspawn, but seeing as in legacy we get corypheus being... an evil version of the Architect(??), i was only wondering do we get more answers about the darkspawn? is there hope for them? is the Architect still alive?

And oh, to turn to the Anders question:

Is he a terrorist, or was that just activism? I mean, i don’t see why those two can’t go together. blasting a building with a symbolic significance killing and harming many innocent people to get a message of your radical activism across belongs into a schoolbook of terrorism. Does he have a good cause? He sure believes so, and i, too, agree that mages should not be oppressed for just being mages. But does that mean this is the right way to do it? Personally, i do not condone any act of violence in service of a political or religious cause. I know it’s sometimes inevitable, but i like to believe there are more diplomatic ways, or at least not including an attack on civilians.

That aside, the moment where anders goes in front and just announces that the church was gonna blow up in a minute was the best anders moment for me. Until that point i more or less just viewed his activism as a hobby since he just did it in his free time, but now he put his money where his mouth is and freaking went all out. Cool character moment. And incredibly heartwrenching. He was aware of how many innocents he killed, but just didn’t see other way to get the point across.

I still don’t agree with his idea of blowing up the church tho. Maybe if he told Hawke, they could have done something to empty the church previously and further people away from it and then blow it up?

But still, blowing up religious buildings isn’t the answer. If i was the radical mage activist, i would have gone for the open assassination. Seeing it worked in WW1, i don’t see why it couldn’t start a fantasy war.

Some random things i liked:

uniportant but lovable interractions in the house: it starts innocently with gamlen’s house, to see how you’re doing, and becomes really fun during act 2 when you see your friends have been here and left you things. In act 3, however, it feels melancholic. no more family to come back to, just ghosts of friends that have visited, Bodahn and Sandal being there for you, Orana still not getting some sunlight and your dog at the fireplace. The Hawke Family Suite is playing, and you feel older than you are, lonlier than you should be. just... ouch. I hope Bodahn adopted Orana and took her out of Kirkwall :(

t i named the dog “Maker” which is very funny to me bc every time i summon the dog i just imagine Hawke yelling “Maker help us”. Carver hates the name bc he needs to chase the dog often in the streets. Mama Hawke never ever calls the dog Maker, but she never has to call the dog anything: he’s super obedient towards her.

Fighting wasn’t as hard as in origins, i like that.

The haunted house mission was so cool.

When random people greet aveline in Hightown.

And that’s i think about it. There are probably plenty more things i loved, but i think this is already enough. if somebody told me i’d be playing so much this year, i’d laugh, but I already want to play the next game ;;___;;

#don't klick keep reading if you aren't ready to scroll endlessly #a very long post #in which i:#love everything #stan carver #cry over fictional characters #need a romance manual #form political opinions in a fictional game #give a random fic rec that is so worth your time #if you've read this you're a hero and i'm sorry #da2 #spoilers for those who plan to play #it took me a week to write this god

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makersclark · 3 years

Text

WandaVision Closes with a Heavy Sigh and Little Payoff

WandaVision turned into the worst kind of disappointing, for me, which is when a piece starts feeling lazy, or as if the creators gave up after a while. The equivalent of constructing a lovely diorama and then throwing it all onto the floor.

Except that's not quite right, because that would at least be an engaging and potent choice, rather than the staid beats and half-hearted reveals we get. The other element that makes it disappointing, of course, is that there's so much operating at a high level in the program. A wonderful cast, a brilliant design aesthetic that leaves room for an enormous amount of play. They had a great hook and kept balanced on the cusp of something really engaging, only to fall back on old tricks that just don't do the job.

It's difficult to get past, to start, how half of the characters have incoherent motivations or no motivations at all. Is Hayward really going to be arrested...for doing his job? How about what's going to happen to Monica and Jimmy for assaulting some of their peers? Darcy nearly kills Hayward, so that seems like it should levy some pretty serious consequences. But nope! It's dream logic, predicated on both the creators not caring enough nor thinking the audience is capable of thinking beyond any given moment of what is happening (Note: this is a terrible idea anyway, but particularly in a regards to something constructed for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which people love to pick apart). There's an enormous amount of assumed empathy on the part of the script. The creators want the audience to root for Darcy, Jimmy, and Monica because they are the supporting cast, not because their characters have done (or even end up doing!) anything to earn that support.

The construction and execution of the storylines for everyone outside of the Hex were some of the most shockingly shoddy writing in the MCU to date. So much so that despite the entire show feeling, to it's detriment, like a backdoor pilot for Monica, her storyline feels begrudgingly tacked on. The show continually insists that Monica is right and righteous about everything going on, and that Hayward is somehow nefarious and up to no good, except very little happens that reinforces this. Monica is wrong about everything, basically. She's wrong that Wanda isn't to blame for the Hex, and she's even wrong that the children are real. And when she finally gets back into the Hex under her own power to try and stop/help Wanda, she fails at that, too. If she were entirely excised from the show then the events would hardly be different whatsoever, which is about the most damning thing you can say about a character and storyline that takes up the amount of screentime she does.

One of the biggest issues for MCU films to date has been their predilection for telling instead of showing us character moments and stories. In WandaVision, we're told a handful of times that Monica is grieving her mother, which gives her insight to the grieving Wanda, but this is so rarely backed up by the actual filmmaking on display that it's easy to forget it's even supposed to be the essential ingredient for her character and for her purpose in the story.

Meanwhile, Agatha Harkness (the wonderful Kathryn Hahn, who gets wasted in these last few episodes with some unfortunately typical MCU villain business) being revealed as a movie-of-the-week villain who wants more power is about the most boring interpretation of the character I can think of. And it's hard to even parse what the purpose of the Ralph/Fake Pietro reveal is (and then two entire scenes of him interacting pointlessly with Monica), since it's equally unsatisfying and incoherent. The casting of Evan Peters is a delightful red herring, so much so that it's real-world insinuations undercut whatever it could possibly have been revealed to be on the show. Agatha used a charm, I suppose, to give him powers and also used the somehow public knowledge of the Sokovia event to give him passing knowledge of Pietro's life? But what was in it for him? And was he the person in Witness Protection that Jimmy mentioned way back in Episode 4? It probably doesn't matter, which is fine, of course, except that the show sprinkles nuggets like this throughout production that never amount to anything. Another example: Who was the aerospace engineer who helped Monica out, and was given several eyebrow raising mentions? Guess it doesn't matter all that much! Which means all that emphasis and build-up was wasted time.

To the larger endgame plot, that Agatha is not manipulating Wanda for some further end, like to help corral her abilities with some tough love, or that she's working for a sinister master like Nightmare or Mephisto, is shocking. The show is clearly invested in setting up further stories and tying into the larger MCU in other ways, but it's trepidation about committing to a larger story within itself an immense let-down. We're told that WandaVision was supposed to lead directly into Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, and yet the good Doctor doesn't show up. He's not even mentioned!*

A lot of these criticisms fall into the realm of nit-picking for me, but they are indicative of the overwhelming problem I mentioned at the beginning: there's an air of laziness to the whole affair. It's as if they came up with the beginning and trusted it would all sort itself out, or went with the first idea that popped into their heads.

It's not all bad, I should say. The Vision on Vision combat is some of the best in the MCU to date, and that Vision ends up out-smarting himself with logic puzzles and empathy rather than violence is the kind of cleverness I root for in comics. Paul Bettany, the cheeky bugger, told press that he had a scene with someone he's been "waiting to work with his whole life" who ended up being, of course, himself. Wonderful stuff.

I felt very cool about the MCU after finishing Endgame, honestly. It felt like the whole affair had reached it's point of diminishing returns, where anything going forward wasn't going to satisfy or delight me the way so many of the Phase 1-3 films had. Then the first episode of WandaVision knocked me over. It was surprising, precise, tightly done and with a very particular and specific notion of what it was about. The intimate setting, clever application of powers, and low-stakes were just what the doctor ordered after the universe-shattering events of the last several movies.

But the beast must be fed, it appears. The beast here being what filmmakers seem to think general audiences want and only want from their stories: The same thing, time and again. I said this after Episode 4:

[...]if there was one thing I was looking forward to with it's new horizons on D+ with it's TV shows, it was that the creators would have more freedom to remove themselves from the trappings of contemporary blockbuster writing. This episode is an indication that rather than removing themselves from those trappings, they're actually just exacerbating them to an egregious degree.

Unfortunately, Episode 4 turned out to be a tone-setter even moreso than the pilot, as the rest of the series slowly trudged towards the finish line and into the same failings that made that episode feel so slapdash and unsatisfying. WandaVision ends up being a disappointing finish to Marvel Studio's TV beginnings.

*The Sorcerer Supreme gets a mention, but that was just in reference to the position, not Strange in particular

#WandaVision #MCU #Marvel Cinematic Universe #Marvel #Marvel Studios #Spoilers

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nocturne-inuyasha-ff · 4 years

Text

Chapter Twenty Three: The Human Condition

~ * ! * ! * ! * ! ~ = Flash back

o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o = Scene/POV change

Nocturne - Chapter Twenty Three: The Human Condition

Rated - M (for suggestive adult themes, references to some violence, and coarse language)

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha.

Kagome jumped at the sound of the deep, familiar voice and slowly turned to see Sesshomaru standing in the doorway. She melted and felt fury all at once. It had not even been an entire day, and he'd come, but not when he was needed.

Setsuna battled with an urge to run up to and hug her father, instead, wearing an ear-splitting grin upon her young face and exclaiming, "Father!"

All had turned to witness his arrival, though none had noticed him, nor sensed his yoki.

Sesshomaru gave his daughter a nod of greeting but did not display any semblance of emotion outside of that. He was not one for public displays of affection. Even to greet her first was a significant indicator of her status in his eyes.

Kagome more than made up for any of Sesshomaru's shortcomings in that area. But while he lacked in that area - at least in Kagome's opinion - he more than made up for his affections through doting on his child through different means.

He had initially disapproved of Kagome kissing every cut and bruise, stating that would spoil and entitle her.

It was Sesshomaru's thought that by coddling Setsuna, she would be weak. To that effect, Kagome cleverly asked if he also thought her to be weak. It only took a couple of days for him to relax his view of "coddling."

Sesshomaru's eyes then glided over Kagome in an appraising manner that held a deeper meaning. She quickly turned her head to subtly inform him that she was still angry.

Inuyasha wore a confused grimace at the appearance of his elder brother, looking none too pleased. "You learn some new tricks? Hiding your scent so I can't smell you sneaking up on us?"

Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes at his brother's idiocy. He looked pointedly at Shizuka and sneered, his lip rising up in slight disdain.

"To think you have not noticed after these years," he chided coldly. "Yet, you are ignorant, preferring to allow the fox roam freely in the hen house."

Inuyasha stood up with a jump, placing a hand on the hilt of Tessaiga. He had made sure to retrieve the weapon after the recent episode of events. "The fuck is that supposed to mean?!"

Sesshomaru ignored his brother's barely veiled act of insolent aggression. He looked around the room, resting his gaze on Kohaku longer than any. "You have all exposed yourselves and your number when you have laid unnaturally hidden from our enemy for years, thanks to your foundling."

Inuyasha would have none of it. "This is all your fucking fault, you goddamn hypocrite! You led them here through all your damn schemes and tangled us all in your mess."

"You still trust it, even knowing where it comes from and the risk you place on all here. It is to her they were drawn," Sesshomaru explained. "The fact that you place its life above that of your own brethren speaks volumes about your character. Though, it is unsurprising to this one."

Shizuka withered under the scrutinizing gaze of Sesshomaru, which caused Inuyasha to become even more incensed. "She never hurt anyone, you fucker! I dare you to say another word!"

Kagome had seen and heard enough of their brotherly squabbles. It was becoming ridiculous and not something she wanted her daughter to witness. "Enough! Both of you! Take it outside, so Setsuna does not have to watch her father," she looked to Sesshomaru, "and her uncle," she looked to Inuyasha, "prattle on like enemies."

Both aggressors looked over at Setsuna, who sat on the ground with her legs crossed and an amused smile on her face. Kagome noticed the girl's grin as well and groaned in disgust before stomping out of the house. The girl had too much of her father's blood running through her veins, always looking for her father's approval and a good fight. Even at nearly six years old, Sesshomaru had exposed their child to pride and prowess. Of course, she'd done nothing to stop it either. As if it were a bad thing to learn in the Feudal Era when the world would only go through strife before settling into the future she knew.

Kagome rushed out and walked away from Miroku and Sango's house, knowing her presence would not be missed with all that was happening. She felt frustrated with everything and herself. She had come to escape the lies and recent revelation that still weighed heavily upon her, yet she'd brought nothing but pain to her friends and family in the moments she'd arrived.

She felt bitter and downtrodden, her grief only spurred on by the discovery that Sesshomaru had not disclosed to her all he knew. And now here he was again, likely come to take her and Setsuna away for their own protection. As if she was not capable of protecting herself, she fumed. Her use of spiritual powers may have diminished, but she was more than proficient as a marksman, something she did not tire of practicing.

There was now a fairly decent distance between Kagome and the others. She would not stray beyond the village's perimeter just yet, but she was far enough away from Shizuka's strange ability to hamper the sense of demonic auras and would sense if any came upon her.

Kagome sat on a bridge that spanned over the gently flowing stream where women of the village came to wash laundry. No one was out right now, as the village reeled from the news of the recent attack. Despite the circumstances, it was to Kagome's liking as she rarely was afforded time to herself anymore.

She swung her legs back and forth, pointing her toes so that they barely touched the water below and kicked the cold droplets to spray in front of her. Kagome could feel his aura approaching at a slow and steady pace. She knew he'd come after her eventually. He was like his brother in ways he would be offended to know, stalking after their women like puppies with tails between their legs. It was a cute notion if she bothered to think about it, but her sullen anger was too great to allow such a thing.

His steps echoed on the wood of the bridge, announcing his presence. Kagome ignored him. She'd come here to get away from him after all, and it had not even been an entire day!

"Beloved," he began with an uncharacteristic tentative tone.

Kagome whipped around with a glare, daring him to call her another endearing name when she could not find one for him for the life of her. "No!" she hissed. "You don't get to follow after me and apologize. I am not ready to forgive you yet."

His gaze was cool as he regarded her, and Kagome seethed that he was still, after these years, so challenging to read. "This one has done nothing wrong in protecting what is his."

Wrong! Kagome's eyes widened. "So I am a possession now to do with as you please?!"

"You know this not to be true, miko," he said, resorting to calling her by her title. "You are mine, that is true, but only in so much that I am yours."

His gruff but tender words caused her to waver for a moment. "Yet, you treat me as a fragile piece of glass, ready to break with the slightest touch. Am I not enough as I am? You changed me, without my knowledge nor my permission."

"Had you the choice, would you have refused?" he questioned.

"That is not the point! I didn't have a choice! You took that from me."

"I fail to see why this upsets you so. You have been given the gift of countless years, beyond what any mortal should ever be inclined to live. You spit so carelessly on what others would kill for."

"It seems so unnatural," she said with a shiver and crossed her arms. "At what cost? All things come with a cost," she asked. It was a valid question. Nothing as profound as the gift of immortality came without a hefty price.

"I shall not see you die," he told her simply and unmoving.

"Death is natural. Humans aren't meant to live beyond their years. Am I something unnatural now?" she asked aloud, beginning to question what she now was. She hadn't given it much thought since arriving in the village. But now faced with the reality of what had been done, Kagome was gripped with a new insurmountable reality.

"Dying is only part of the human condition. Something you no longer have a claim to, miko. To think death is natural is merely a coping strategy for something inevitable to humans. Take joy in what you have been given."

Kagome was still too angry to feel joy, not when Sesshomaru had so carefully tiptoed around the fact that there was a price involved with her' gift'. "But there is a price, is there not?"

He sighed with resignation. "Not one that you will bear."

"What does that mean?" she demanded.

"Simply that you do not need to concern yourself with it."

She fumed. "Am I incapable of comprehending the price? Just like I am incapable of understanding the severity of the situation we are in now?"

His calm features did nothing to belie his innermost thoughts, an infuriating trait for Kagome, who wore hers on her sleeve. "You seem to already be aware of the fact that there were Fan Tsenpo's scouts probing the area. Otherwise, you would not have known to come so quickly."

"I was apprised of the fact after you left abruptly," he accused.

"But that doesn't explain why you're here," she retorted.

Sesshomaru made a resigned sound 'hnn' but did not offer an answer.

Kagome crossed her arms beneath her breasts and narrowed her eyes. "Just as I figured. You already knew it was bad, but you didn't tell me."

"This one would not have you fear for nothing," he defended. He felt no wrong-doing for his actions whatsoever, feeling wholly justified. There would be no apology from him.

She glared at him as she stood up and brushed past him making her way back towards Setsuna and her friends, shirking away from his touch as he reached out to her. If he would not explain, she had no time for him. By the rate of his actions, he would step over anything and anyone in his attempt to 'protect her' from whatever he deemed a risk, suffocating her with his protection until she was a compliant, good little woman, or so she imagined.

Sesshomaru did not follow her right away as she had expected he would. Good, she thought. She still was not ready to forgive him, though she ultimately knew she would and even without an apology. Kagome groaned inwardly at her inability to stay mad at those she loved. It was better if she stayed away for just a little longer so that words spoken in anger did not sully what they had.

~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~

They spent the night in the village. Kagome and Setsuna bunked with Sango and her boys. Their residence was the only one large enough to host guests anyway, but with Miroku and the twins still away, there was plenty of room.

Kagome knew Sesshomaru would not leave his woman and child, but he was astute in staying out of sight. Kagome was not sure where he would spend the night, though she knew it would not be far from her. She felt some ease knowing that.

After retiring for the night, Kagome grew restless. She could not sleep, tossing and turning on her borrowed pallet. Her mind would not shut off for anger and worry. Really she felt conflicted, a strange desire to seek him out and give him another piece of her

Mind only to be waylaid by the fear of the inevitable retribution, they were to be paid by their enemies. Kagome kicked her foot out and sighed.

Sango whispered over the gentle crackle of the hearth, "Why do you punish yourself? Just go out to him."

Kagome responded in silence, not bothering to acknowledge her friend's sage words. She laid on her back, staring at the ceiling for what felt like hours, though probably only minutes crept by.

Setsuna breathed gently beside her, a subtle reminder of why Kagome was angry in the first place. Her conception had started all of this, and Kagome thought back to those years ago in a dark cave, lit only by moonlight.

As stealthily as she could muster, she rose and made out of the house. If Sango had heard her, which was likely, she did not utter a word, and Kagome walked out into the warm, humid night.

The village was quiet and eerily so. Many of the villagers had bunkered down for the night, fearful of an attack from a powerful enemy. They were right to do so, but Kagome held little worry that Fan's army would attack tonight. The daiyokai was across the sea, and it would take more than an evening for him to receive word and rally his forces to move on them if he were inclined to do so.

Kagome had no idea where Sesshomaru would be, so ultimately her plan was to let him come to her once she'd gotten far enough from the village. She scoffed at the thought, knowing he would make her work for it, like always.

It was darker in the dense forest surrounding the village, but she held no fear. Even though she had no weapon, Kagome knew that a deadly being lurked nearby, ready to pounce on any who so much as looked at her threateningly.

She came to the stream that cut through the village and followed it west. It was this course that she had returned six years ago and, despite not knowing exactly where she was going, she knew it was the way.

She continued walking and continued to do so, counting as she paced along the stream's bank. All to keep her pace and track of the time in the dead of the night. Sesshomaru was very likely watching her but gave her no notion of his hidden presence.

After Kagome had trekked a couple of miles into the woods, she stopped and looked around. There was a fleeting feeling in the air around here that barely struck the peripherals of her memory. It hung heavy in the air, and as if forming a discernible trail, Kagome followed the path away from the stream. She had not gotten far when she saw it, the barely visible outcropping of rock that jutted up from between trees giving it a natural hiding spot.

Vines covered the mouth of the cave-like tendrils of mossy-green hair waiting to be parted. Kagome bit the inside of her cheek, reminiscing over an act committed long ago, not from love, but lust. She reached up to grasp one of the vines, but a voice startled her arm back to be clutched against her body.

"It is an unnecessary risk to bring yourself so far from the protection of the village."

Kagome swiveled on her heel, finding Sesshomaru leaning against a tree facing the mouth of the cave. "What worry do I have when you're near?" she responded with a weak smile.

"I am honored for the great faith you have placed in me unquestioningly. Yet it astounds this one that you do so now, but cannot find it within yourself to do so on other occasions."

She felt her heart drop a little, and in her hesitation, he took a step forward. "I trust in your ability to protect us, but I cannot help but feel inadequate if you cannot trust me."

o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o

This woman, the miko, his woman, was infuriating and intoxicating all at once. Her words said one thing while her body said another, and Sesshomaru, who was forever in charge of any situation, felt at a loss.

Sesshomaru had gone through great lengths to obtain the ningyo that the miko had consumed. The miko was correct when she had guessed at the price being insurmountable. To kill a ningyo would place a curse upon the murderer should they consume its flesh, which is why humans could never obtain ever-lasting life as they desired. If a mortal successfully slew a ningyo, which was an incredible feat seeing as how the ningyo were rare and crafty, they would gain eternal life at the cost of their own sanity. The ningyo flesh would corrupt and twist any who consumed them without mercy. That was the legacy of the ningyo and why they were not preyed upon.

However, Sesshomaru had learned a secret about the ningyo. The secret had been kept by his most honored father's last living retainer for centuries. Had Sesshomaru known this secret but 50 years ago, he would have exterminated the ningyo without mercy. The secret his father's retainer kept was that of true immortality without the price to the mortal. Sesshomaru had felt perplexed at first, wondering why his father, InuTaisho, would need such information before it dawned upon him. InuTaisho had planned to use the secret on his mortal woman. Fate, though, would not allow that to come to pass, and both his father and the hime had perished long ago.

Of course, immortality was still reliant on the consumption of ningyo flesh, but the trick lay in the way the flesh was obtained. Sesshomaru learned that if a ningyo gave its flesh willingly, the consumer would be granted longevity. But there was still a price, though not one so horrible as what was promised should he slay the creature outright.

FInding the yokai proved to be a feat all on its own, but nothing Sesshomaru could not accomplish succinctly. He had no need for immortality, so once he came upon the ningyo, the creature was unprepared to face him. The beast had implored him, pleading and promising him unimaginable power for sparing its life, but Sesshomaru was not one to be led astray by things he already possessed. He tactfully bartered with the ningyo for a pound of its flesh.

~ * ! * ! * ! * ! ~

"Whats ye gots to trade?" the creature had asked through needle-like teeth.

"This one has much, name your price, yokai." Sesshomaru had little respect for those beneath him, but he must treat the ningyo with as much courtesy as he could muster; otherwise, the trade may be void.

The ningyo grinned widely if it could be called a grin for one whose mouth was unable to close around its angler-like maw. "Youse has nothing I want, nothing worth even one of me golden scales."

Sesshomaru had to be tactful with the creature, lest it return and hide away in the sea for a century. His chance of finding another ningyo within the miko's lifetime was slim. "I offer up a part of myself intangible."

The ningyo's large yellow eyes narrowed in skepticism. "The price to be paid must be equal to what is given, lord daiyokai. I canst tells ye what to give, but like me flesh, it must be given freely. Tell me what ye will part with."

The great lord Sesshomaru had already assumed there would be such a price. He knew that his father was willing to pay the price, and he would as well without question. "A year from this one's own life for each year given."

Now those yellow eyes burned with an unknown hunger, bulging within the deep-set sockets. "Lord Daiyokai! A steep price ye shall pay, indeed. Be it the lass worth it, me hopes."

The creature had accepted the trade, though Sesshomaru did have uncertainty about what the small yokai gained from it. The ningyo used its razor-sharp claws to carve out a pound of flesh and surreptitiously handed it over to Sesshomaru. It nodded it's bulbous head and looked about before swimming off into the murky depths from which Sesshomaru had retrieved it, likely off to hide until the flesh grew back.

~ * ! * ! * ! * ! ~

Sesshomaru would never admit, even to himself, his fear. He had gone through great lengths to make certain those worries were never realized. That was why he had not explicitly informed the miko of his intentions. Those fears would make him weak, and weakness was not an option. Especially now that the circumstances were precarious. He knew that if she had known of the ningyo, she would have inquired on the price behind it, and if he were honest, she would refuse the gift; deny him. The miko would state that the price was too high and not something she would willingly accept. He knew this to be true for his woman was as selfless as they come, which was one of her intriguing qualities.

When the miko learned of the ningyo flesh through his treacherous mother, he inwardly knew that she would react in anger. He had prepared for that, too. He had not prepared for the army of Fan Tsenpo breaching the perimeter he had so precariously set so quickly. The man, Fan Tsenpo, was a tenacious one, indeed.

He closed his eyes in a rare display of acquiesce. "Truly, you must know that I am not as perfect as I would aspire."

The miko smirked at his admission. "There are some things about you that measure up to perfection, lord."

The miko's scent was a mixture of sensuous fury. She stepped closer, her arms still crossed but with a sultry look upon her face. Sesshomaru looked her up and down, attempting to understand whether this woman was angry or not. It was difficult to tell at times, even for one as astute as himself. It was enough to drive anyone mad.

A gentle breeze blew through the area, buffeting her scent into him. The fury, the joy, were palpable, but something else was there as well. His eyes turned ravenous, and an inner voice spoke to him, egging him to become something else entirely.

o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o

The way he looked at her, hungry eyes roving up and down her body, spoke volumes. Kagome felt her insides do somersaults from anticipation and wetted her lips. She could feel her heart begin to pound heavily in her chest, and she wondered vaguely how someone could make her feel so giddy and desirable after so many years.

She glanced behind, over her shoulder with her sultry smile, and felt another wave anticipation course through her veins. It was very ironic to end up where it had all begun years ago. She scoffed to herself once she figured that Sesshomaru had led her here intentionally, somehow.

He stepped closer and leaned forward, inhaling her sweet scent from the crook of her neck while running his deft fingers through her hair and along the side of her neck.

He hesitated for a moment, pulling back and looking into her eyes. Kagome felt her breath catch and her traitorous heart skip a beat. "Is something wrong?" she asked softly, hoping like hell he had not finally grown tired of her.

His jaw clenched, and he seemed to be at war with himself rather than anything else. "It is your fertile time," he told her in a whisper.

His words were meant to be a caution, but his words tickled her ear and made her feel reckless. They had been careful, or rather Sesshomaru had been careful. Always calculating the time to be away when she was likely to beget a child. Kagome had not once questioned his frequent trips, sometimes seeming spontaneous, even for him, but her own monthly cycles had always been sporadic and unreliable.

Maybe Sesshomaru was afraid, if that were even possible, of a repeat. Kagome knew that he had revived her with Tensaiga and she also knew that the feat could only be done once. Could he be worried that she may find an untimely demise at attempting to bring a new life into the world? She pushed it from her mind, other more scintillating thoughts taking precedence.

It seemed that a similar thought process had taken place with him as well once he ultimately ground his teeth and placed his forehead on her shoulder, his silver hair falling over her in argent waves. His left hand gripped her shoulder tightly, holding on to maintain control, but the rest of him worked autonomously.

Kagome groaned once his hand found its way under her shirt and began to fondle her breast, caressing her nipple. His head still rested near her neck, where he waited for her consent. His tongue worked expertly upon her ear becoming more encouraged by the breathy exhale. She could barely make out his golden gaze appraising her from her peripheral vision and looking at her lustily.

Her fertile time was delicate in terms of lovemaking. Sesshomaru could smell it on her, and the demon within him wanted to take her by any means necessary. Her scent drove him wild with barely contained lust, and it took every ounce of control to contain himself, which is why he usually took great pains to be absent during that time.

Kagome secretly enjoyed it. The idea of being ravaged was intriguing and frightening, especially when it came to her daiyokai lover. Now, knowing that he could be a little rougher was an aphrodisiac all on its own.

He was growing impatient and pulled her kosode down, exposing her breasts. She gasped, feeling the cold air on her bare skin and then gasped again once the cold sensation was replaced by the warm ministration of Sesshomaru's tongue. It seemed he would not be waiting for a response, but she had never denied him, so perhaps it would even out. Besides, if he stopped, she would only beg him to continue.

His left hand released her shoulder and made its way down her skirts, delicately touching her legs, stroking closer and closer towards the cleft in between. Sesshomaru was always careful of his claws, but that made it difficult to live in the moment. He snarled softly in frustration, removing himself from her momentarily.

Kagome pouted from the lack of contact but watched him curiously. He looked at her from lowered lids and carefully and meticulously bit off his long claws. They would grow back, and he needed them blunt for what he planned to do.

While she watched, he crushed against her, crushing his lips to hers in a quick, almost desperate motion. His hand shot back down her skirts, and he gave a soft gasp of his own when she reciprocated with a firm grasp on his hardened member through the heavy folds of his outer layers. His brow clenched, and his hardened gaze now softening like butter under her grip. With a moan that was more like a growl, Sesshomaru turned her body and pinned her against the tree where he had waited outside of the cave. His own clothes had become a nuisance and barrier between them, so he deftly removed them in a matter of seconds.

Kagome stood against the tree, portions of her body exposed to him and her breasts heavily swaying up and down with each panting breath. Sesshomaru took a moment to compose himself, knowing if he continued, he would not be able to stop without possibly hurting her. "You are no longer angry, miko," he asked, despite the words coming out more as a statement than anything.

She crossed her arms in front of her breasts and gave him a level look. "Keep it up, and I will leave you here, high and dry," she warned.

Her scent was too potent for her words to hold any truth, and Sesshomaru felt his control slip at the slightest notion he would be denied at this point. A guttural sound erupted from his throat, and he all but pinned Kagome to the tree, snatching her hands up and away from her chest. Once he'd removed the barrier there, his hand plummeted back down to continue touching her cleft. A glorious smell was emanating from that region, soft and lustrous that begged to be lapped up.

He brought his hand, dripping with wet fluids up to his lips, and licked his finger with a lapping tongue. "Exquisite," he purred with a smirk.

Kagome felt her cheeks burn, and she turned her head to break the sensual contact that was nearly overpowering. Sesshomaru grabbed her chin and brought her back to face him and then licked her bottom lip to entice her to open her own. She relinquished, opening to his kiss that beckoned for more.

She felt him push up her right leg, grabbing behind the knee to place her in an easily accessible position. She continued following his kiss with a fervor of her own and used her hand to find the soft, hard length that brushed up against her hip. She wrapped her fingers around it, barely able to encapsulate the girth with her fist and relished in the moaning sounds he breathed into her from his barely parted lips so close to her own.

Kagome's enclosed hand stopped running up and down his shaft once his blunt fingers entered her, gently at first, then with a pumping frenzy. It was a rare, exquisite feeling she was often not granted, so she enjoyed his handy work. She stopped moving all together once she felt the build in her core, the thought of doing the same to him forgotten with this new sensation. Her head lulled back a little to rest against the tree's bark behind her, and she could see through passion-slit eyes that Sesshomaru's own began to bleed red into the sclera of his eyes.

She snapped rigid, hyper-aware, and nearly forgetting herself. She was not afraid, but concern made her pull her leg down slightly from Sesshomaru's grasp. This action elicited another low growl from him. She placed her hands upon his chest and looked up into his crimson gaze. The gold iris still held a very carnal look to them, beckoning yet frightening at the same time.

He allowed her leg to fall and pushed down her skirts and used the other hand to free her from the remainder of clothing to leave her just as exposed as he. Sesshomaru fell to his knees before her, grabbing her around the middle to pull her closer to him. Kagome gasped and put a hand behind her against the tree to brace herself, but it was not necessary. The grip he had on her was vice-like, and she could not move had she wanted to. She let out a tiny gasp once his tongue brushed against the most sensitive part of herself. He continued to weave his tongue in deft motions back and forth, taking the time to part her tender folds with his fingers, pushing her leg back up and out of the way with a firm hand.

Kagome drug in a ragged breath and twisted her hands into his silver locks. The build was rising up, and she could not stop the moans that escaped her lips. She began to call out his name between her panting breaths, "Sess...sho…ugh…"

"Please!" she yelled, despite herself, once she was nearly at the apex of a climax. All sensation ceased, and Kagome felt herself fill up with a different torment. "No!" she cried, almost pathetically.

"No?" he grunted with mirth from his knees. Sesshomaru rose to his full height, looking down on her with the red, gold eyes.

Kagome was desperate, and repaying the favor seemed an optimal idea to continue, so she now dropped to her knees and grabbed his member before placing the tip in her mouth. She'd barely touched it with her tongue in a sweeping motion before his jaw went slack and his hands gripping her shoulders. She had not given him this pleasure often due to her own inexperience and embarrassment, but his reaction encouraged and emboldened her to continue.

With hollowed cheeks, she lowered her mouth as far as she could and sucked as she moved back. The motion became repetitive, and she had to assume she was doing well judging by how he bit his bottom lip and pierced the flesh of her shoulder with his one clawed hand. She cried out in pain with him still in her mouth, but it wasn't all bad, and she did not want him to stop making those dirty faces.

His grip became tighter, and she knew that he must be close to the same precipice she had been on before. She began to suck harder and more vigorously, but Sesshomaru barked aloud, "Stop." His voice was low and commanding, authoritatively clear.

Kagome looked up at him and released his member, pausing to moisten her lips with her tongue. She saw his eyes widen, and the sanguine color nearly envelop his gold irises. He released his grip on her and fell back, her buttocks resting against the ground with her legs splayed out beside her. She was sure she looked very sultry in this position, but her own jaw went slack when she saw Sesshomaru lift his blood-soaked claws to his face for further scrutinization. He let out a mirthless chuckle and brought his fingers to his mouth to sample the taste of her. "Invigorating. Your blood is just as enticing as the fluids that now drench the sides of your thighs."

She looked down for a moment with a new wave of embarrassment, seeing that she was dripping wet. In a moment of self-consciousness, she squeezed her legs shut, but her modest thoughts were cut through once Sesshomaru enveloped her with his warmth and placed his mouth on her shoulder where she was openly bleeding from the wounds he had inflicted upon her with his razor-sharp claws. His tongue lapped at the blood, and the feeling was strange and exhilarating all at once. She moaned beneath him and absently wondered if daiyokai drank blood like vampires of lore.

His knees pushed hers open, breaking her from ridiculous thoughts and bringing her back to the present. Her legs were splayed open before him now, and he was poised over her like a predator poised to strike. "You are mine," he growled, his eyes glowing.

Kagome said nothing but trembled beneath him. Her silence seemed to infuriate him, and he barked, changing from sensuous to dangerous in a second. "Say it!" he commanded. His voice was loud and imposing, daring anyone to state otherwise. Those who dared would meet a swift demise.

Her breath hitched in her throat, and her body betrayed her, opening like a flower to be ruined. "I am yours," she whispered, not in fright, but in agreement. She was his and had been since that day, not ten feet from where they lay six years ago. A spell may have brought them together, but it had only uninhibited them both to their own subconscious desires.

He seemed appeased, and a lopsided grin replaced his dangerous gaze. His lips moved down to hers, and he thrust into her with a hard, splitting force. Kagome moaned into his mouth, and he plunged in and out with needy thrusts. The man was frenzied and assaulting with his need that was nearly overpowering to her frail body in comparison. She was pushed back against the base of the large tree, between two of its overgrown roots jutting out to hide their bodies from view from the rest of the forest.

She grit her teeth and moaned into his broad, muscled shoulder. Her arms were holding onto him to steady her body for his encroaching thrusts. Sesshomaru seemed to be pushing her into the tree to achieve deeper thrusts. His hands gripped her buttocks and guided her up and down on him, constantly hitting the spot deep within that made her groan.

He was incensed by her groans but was unsatisfied by their position. His desire to fill her overcame him and ran him with primal purpose. Sesshomaru pushed her towards the opposite direction and flipped her over in a quick, smooth motion. She was like putty in his claws anyway, so soft, subtle, and delicate yet yielding to his predacious needs.

Kagome let out a tiny yelp when he pushed her to her knees and thrust into her from behind. Her arms gave out on her, but her rump remained in the air, caught in Sesshomaru's grip. His clawed hand held her hip firmly, but he leaned over her back, planted his hand on the ground beside her, took his still blunted hand, and held her from a different angle. From this angle, he rubbed at her most sensitive spot. She bucked from the touch, but he held her in place with his swift finger motions, and she began to sway back and force with his thrusts and gliding over his tantalizing fingers.

How could he be everywhere? She vaguely wondered as her thoughts became clouded with erotic pleasure. Even as he had given in to his primal need to claim her, he was still able to give her the most excellent feeling. It began to blossom between her legs and radiate through her entire body as a wave of orgasm coursed through her due to the simultaneous thrusts and constant teasing to her tender pearl. Kagome screamed out a breathless cry to the forest and spasmed slightly beneath his touch.

A triumphant grunt could be heard above her and Sesshomaru grabbed her hips once again to reach a climax of his own. Kagome was still riding out the ebbs of her own pleasure, moaning loudly with each thrust, and her eyes widened once she felt one great final thrust that released everything inside of her. He gave a few more lazy thrusts as if to ensure his seed had been sown within her, but there was no need.

Kagome sighed once Sesshomaru pulled himself from her, leaving her momentarily cold. She relaxed once he laid next to her, resting on an elbow and looking down on her sweat-sheened face. She dared to peek at him with a tiny smile and found he wore one of his own. His hand trailed down her arm, causing her to shiver, and she scooted closer to his warm body.

They both lay quietly, basking in the post-coital sensation, and neither wanted to break the silence. Kagome gave a contented smile and rolled to her back so she could look up into his eyes properly. The red she had seen before was now gone, his usual serene look taking the place of the former feral one. "Your eyes had gone red," she commented absently.

"Hnn," was all he responded while staring at her different features, toying with her hair and running lazy circles on her skin.

"I've never seen it before," she added, hoping he would elaborate.

"Your scent is tantalizing," he told her. "I cannot control myself, especially now that I can smell my own seed within you. It is making...this one...see through red gauze." He leaned down and kissed her gently, and she gasped when she felt his fingers entering her swollen cleft.

She tried to push him away, "Have you always been this needy?" She smiled and let out a small laugh despite herself.

"This one is not 'needy' as you so basely put it. If that were even remotely true, you - miko - would find difficulty walking for months, if not longer."

Kagome sat up a little, rising on her elbows. "Oh, so what your telling me is that Lord Sesshomaru is a relentless sex hound." She smiled and laughed, "If that were the case, I'm surprised you've been so gentle with me these past few years."

He rolled on top of her, enclosing her between his two arms. "I have adopted a method of moderation, but since you have called my virility into question, perhaps that fallacy should be rectified."

She tensed a little once he slid into her wet folds, her body readjusting to the full feeling that could be nearly registered as a feeling of completeness.

This time, he was more sensual and gentle, enjoying every bit of her for as long as possible and marking her with his scent along as much as he could. Kagome relished, in his keen appreciation of her body, and, at some point in the night, fell asleep from sheer exhaustion.

She awoke the next morning, a slightly chilly breeze rousing her from her contented slumber. Kagome moved her arm to rub her eyes and felt the soft, velvet fibers of Sesshomaru's pelt. It was warm and comforting, indicating that he had spent the night next to her. It also meant that he was relaxed enough to allow himself to slumber, which was something he seldom did. He claimed that yokai needed next to no sleep, but Kagome figured otherwise. Every creature sleeps, she rationed. But Sesshomaru chose not to sleep often, only sharing their bed to share in lovemaking.

Kagome moved her legs, but they were sticky, and she groaned, knowing she would have an uncomfortable walk back to the village.

Sesshomaru pulled a stray hair from her face but laid back with an arm behind his head. "It would fill this one with content to awake next to you every morning, seeing you refreshed and smelling of me." His golden eyes flickered as he regarded her.

She smiled lovingly and moved to kiss his lips. As she did, he gripped her bottom and squeezed, causing her eyes to bulge. "You lecher! Have you no shame! It is daylight, and anyone could see us!"

"You only have yourself to blame, beloved. Your fertile time drives me to take you to your wit's end," he said huskily.

Kagome could feel him harden beneath her, and she gave a little squeal before jumping up and snatching up her clothes to shield her body. "No more! We must get back before everyone starts to worry."

"Why should they worry?" Sesshomaru asked innocently.

"Because we've been gone all night, and it's nearly late morning now."

"Your cries last night were loud enough to alert them to your….plight," he teased with a straight face. Kagome hoped he teased and blushed before turning away.

o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o

He regarded himself in the tarnished mirror, sneering at his reflection. The tarnished half, inflicted in his rage, hide the part of his face, which was permanently marred into a smirk. Fan touched at the puckered skin that would never heal and allowed a strange sense of calm to wash over him. The mangled reflection usually drove him to fits of angry outbursts leveled at any unsuspecting person that may cross his path, which meant that everyone avoided him as much as possible. However, it was difficult to avoid one as powerful as Fan Tsenpo, who commanded respect and unwavering loyalty of so many, despite his violent tendencies.

They had increased as of late, those eruptions, and there was one person in particular whom Fan enjoyed tormenting the most. Fan swiveled away from the mirror in his private rooms and made his way towards the gardens.

Rebuilding the palace had not taken much time, anyone new to the grounds would never know that half of the area had been nearly destroyed. All looked fresh and new. It was there he found her, his twin, his other half.

"Dear sister," he called out.

Despite knowing he approached, she shrank when he called out. Tsering turned and acknowledged her brother with a false smile. It angered him that she would pretend all was well, but he needed her. He needed her to fear him and appease him in whatever fashion befitted him.

"Brother," she said in a dull yet cheerful voice. Tsering stood from her perch on a bench where she had been looking out over the flowering grounds, passing the time contemplating over womanly things. "You seek me out?" she asked tentatively.

Her cheeks had hollowed, and her skin turned pallid. The woman was confined in a gilded cage, no longer free to roam alone after the travesty that had befallen Fan at the hands of his Nippon enemy. Fan blamed her, but could not bring it upon himself to kill her just yet. Now that he knew her demise would not harm him, he often mulled the idea over, but that would leave him alone. The woman could still prove useful.

Fan eyed her up and down, slightly annoyed that she would allow herself to become a shell of her former vibrant self. No matter, he thought. "I only wanted to see my beautiful sister." His hand went out and clutched her by the throat, and his unscathed lip pulled up into a nefarious smile.

Her eyes bulged, and tears threatened to spill. To cry in his presence would have only sent him over the edge. Fan loosened his grip only slightly and caressed her chin with his thumb. "You startle too easily, sweet sister."

"I am sorry," she whispered from beneath his grasp.

He released her and turned his back, locking his arms behind him. "You are so much more than sorry," he told her. "I have plans for you, my dear. Plans that will rectify what you have unleashed upon our family and the DaiOzuko."

"The DaiOzuko have charged you for your callous behavior. You know what they threaten." Tsering challenged. Her switch to a defensive position was amusing, and Fan only allowed it because it played into his plan.

Fan turned around to see a fire in her eyes. How quaint. "You know I am unfazed by those old fools. They've grown complacent, and the only reason they've continued to thrive is that I have no desire to usurp their supposed power. They are nothing but a pair of haggard figureheads, withered, and ingrown. We shall see what they think of my next move."

His sister knew the truth of his words. She probably had hoped that he would heed their words of warning, but the DaiOzuko was nothing more than a name. Fan relished in her trembling figure. "Of course, brother," she whispered.

A loud screech was heard overhead, announcing the arrival of Fan's messenger, the Zhenniao. The large bird circled lazily, making its way down to land before his master. Its talons scratched at the earth, and its wings spread out in a broad span as it bowed low in reverence.

It eyed Tsering suspiciously upon rising. Fan usually received his messages alone, always dismissing his sister to her own devices. Fan gestured for the bird to continue.

"Masssster, I bring newsssss of your army," the Zhen bird clacked.

Fan subtly eyed Tsering, basking in her pronounced shock. She had no inkling of any such thing. It was almost insulting how little attention the woman paid to him, he determined.

"Feng hassss ssssent word that all isss ready. He warnssss of the child and her unique prowesssss."

He chuckled at the news. "I would expect no less from such an extraordinary specimen. I'm inclined to do the same." Fan deliberately glanced at Tsering with an innocent look upon his face. She must be piecing together where her brother had raised an army, and it was a sight to see when it clicked for her.

The Zhen bird turned its head to look upon its master with one of its eyes, waiting for instructions.

"Advise him to proceed. We shall strike while the anvil is hot. I cannot imagine that Feng would be able to contain his excitement enough to stay concealed," he sighed in feigned annoyance. "No matter, they will not expect us to rally so quickly. I've sown seeds throughout that land long enough, it is time to reap the harvest."

The zhennaio nodded and pushed its large body off into the sky, flying away to spread the message. Fan placed a hand over his eyes to see the messenger off, feeling his sister's consternation behind him. "It looks as though the time for your usefulness has come, sister."

o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o

Fanfiction.net - Chapter Twenty Three

#Chapter Twenty Three #Nocturne #Sesskag #Fanfic #Sesshome #Sesshomaru #Kagome

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roadtohell · 4 years

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ok here are my final bbc les mis thoughts... i know i’m v late to the party but if anyone also has thoughts i’d like to hear them!

it’s probably not gonna sound like it, but i DID actually quite enjoy it as general entertainment. most of my complaints come from my interpretation of the source material as well as the 2012 film (which is impossible not to compare to)- if it was an original story i wouldn’t have nearly as many reservations.

things i really liked include:

absurdly cute baby marius, who i would die for

happy fantine :) for a bit

the handling of gillenormand and his relationship with marius, which i felt was v book-accurately sad and screwed up but also sweet when the time came

the thenardiers- the fact that they still retain a bit of the comedic edge only adds to the repulsiveness of their deeds imo.

things i really disliked include:

most of valjean’s character- he was generally angry and unlikeable. i think davies intended to highlight his struggle to do good, which isn’t an inherently bad goal, as book valjean totally has questionable moments followed by rackings of guilt (see: his attitude towards marius). the problem with the series portrayal is that what should be mostly internal conflict instead manifests itself in actively poor treatment of others throughout the whole story. sure, bbc valjean gives out money like it grows on trees. he also angrily fires fantine for lying while he himself lives a lie, stiffs gavroche on delivery money and tells him to buzz off, and makes cosette watch a chain gang to prove a point. it’s... an interesting angle, no doubt, but it misses the whole point of valjean’s story- the transformative power of kindness- by a mile.

a lot of adult cosette’s portrayal and especially her relationship with valjean. i get it, people often consider her tricky to write, boring, more of a symbol etc. etc. and feel the need to jazz her appearances up a bit. davies does not do a good job of this. her curiosity and idealism is framed as being frustratingly naive, as if to justify valjean’s overt possessiveness and control over her. he ends up physically restraining her over their “i want to see the world-” “well, the world sucks and i’m just protecting you” fight they spend most of their time having, which isn’t even resolved one way or another. the last episode does treat her better, thank god, but the cosette=love thing is less impactful when she’s literally pulled out the “i hate you” line. 😬

javert’s absurd level of valjean obsession- he honestly becomes a bit of a joke, eventually assuming valjean is the leader of the rebellion for no reason other than it involves crime. besides diminishing his competency, it’s actually easy to forget that he’s guided by his rigid sense of justice, not just his VPS (valjean positioning system). one day an adaptation will really take the time to explore how javert’s worldview applies beyond valjean, including to himself (i’ve always loved the brick scene where he asks mr madeleine to fire him), but it’s definitely not this one.

the sexualisation, jfc. frankly i think davies should be guillotined just for his interview statements on this topic. of all people, he decided to sexualise eponine and cosette. no i will not elaborate. there are also countless unnecessary implications, including between valjean and fantine, valjean and MARIUS, and a random convent girl onscreen for 0.2 seconds just to say she was looking forward to sex. but at least there was no santa sex scene, i guess?

thenardier straight up says he’s going into the slave trade and marius still gives him money... tf

the two boys gavroche looked after, starving in the street, is the final shot. because we all needed another dose of misery.

while i adore the musical, i can imagine why davies doesn’t enjoy it- it has no subtlety whatsoever with its messages about god, love, the LAW, revolution, death and everything else. add that to tom hooper’s dutch angles and extreme closeups and you have something that could easily be considered way over the top. davies presumably wanted to create a story that, as well as containing more plot than the musical, felt less preachy~ and more grounded in reality. in this, i think he succeeds- events are fairly book accurate, and a lot of the changes he does make, regardless of whether i like them, would certainly check out in the real world.

but hugo was one opinionated writer, and so treating les mis like a historical event comes at a cost. davies might despise the musical’s “doggerel lyrics”, but they are true to the novel’s message of compassion and love. in this series, the hope that shines through now and again is always quashed with little reflection; discussion on social justice, so clearly outlined in hugo’s introduction as the book’s purpose, is kept at arm’s length. therefore davies’ more cynical storytelling and characterisation, which also minimises hugo’s religious and political ideas, ultimately loses touch with the heart of les mis.

nobody who benefits this much from the musical’s success has the right to be such a dick about it, especially when the end product isn’t even better. to be clear, i think it’s a good series, and as an adaptation it could be a lot worse. but it’s hard to ignore questionable characterisation, sexualisation, and general steering away from the central ideas of its source material. i’d prefer to sit through russell crowe’s stars any day.

#such is life #24601 #bbc les mis #this got long #i was trying to be balanced #and not be too [knife emoji]#pretty much everything i don't mention #i thought was ok #anyway watch les mis 2012

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spaceybot · 4 years

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The Lunar Sanctuary: Part II

Following the Operator’s small confession, Simaris flaunts the Sanctuary. But it's not like he cares about the Operator's well-being.

It doesn't matter: the Operator has a field day with it.

[PART I]

No sooner had Cephalon Simaris finished speaking did the misty sky tear itself open before their eyes to reveal a starscape of violet and magenta. They can barely even register the rapidly shifting datascape. Not waiting for their senses to catch up, the new world extinguishes the brightness of the old. The Operator rises to their feet in fear of falling blindly. There is no ground anymore. It’s dark save for the two pitchers and the sky with its glowing stars hanging overhead. But it doesn’t stay dark much longer.

One by one clusters of flowers burst from the ground, all glowing the same blue-white of the Lunar Pitchers. Despite their uniform color, the flowers and leaves are all different lengths and shapes and sizes. Soon the original two Lunar Pitches are completely lost in a thick field of endless digital blooms.

They’re standing in a flower field of light. A garden without border.

The Operator looks in every direction, pivoting on their feet in disbelief. This place. It almost seems too much for the computational limits of Sanctuary: the tips of the digital flowers occasionally glitch and then chip off, ascending into the fake sky like a microscopic lantern until the light dies. They reach down in curiosity to pluck a flower from the ground by its stem, and to their surprise the ground yields, granting them a blossom with open petals and a hair-like stem.

“You’ve...outdone yourself.” They say, their voice incredulous beyond control. “Why?”

“Is it not obvious, Hunter?” Simaris says, taking care to sound extra inconvenienced. Though he is physically nowhere to be found, his words seem to come from everywhere at once. It makes sense: this is his realm. “It is you I now study and must preserve. Allowing you to fall from top efficiency ratings does not fall within my interests!”

The Operator makes a face at that. A very Simaris answer, but they’ll take what they can get. Besides. This place is beautiful. Unreal. Not too cold. And to think Simaris, hater of music and fun, had created it. They’re grateful for this. Before they know it, the Cephalon’s voice is starting up again, a touch quieter but just as grating.

“You have served Sanctuary well...recent performances withstanding. Now let it aid you, so that you may return to our shared endeavor!” He lectures. “This is a privilege.”

They sigh. Cephalon Simaris is many things, most of them negative, but even the Operator can’t deny that he is no slouch in the gratitude department. Compensation, reward, pay. All of it was a must for Simaris.

When they sense that he is done speaking, they begin to explore. It takes everything to not just dart off in a random direction like an insect. Instead they walk, constantly looking around them at the lunar field.

Soon they find a dense cluster of wildly diverse flowers with long, thin stems. They inspect the patch with wonder, and then with barely, barely contained excitement, the Operator lowers themselves to pick more and more flowers with long stems, until they have a bundle. It's an entire quest. Bringing the bouquet up closer to their warframe’s face they find that it has no scent. Instead, they placate themselves by imagining a sweet perfume, one that grows stronger with every flower they add to their growing bunch. Gather them all, their brain commands.

This flower picking task takes them several meters in different stretches across the gently glowing field. When they have enough, they flop down on their back. They know Simaris is watching, or rather irritatedly supervising. It doesn't matter. Here they are exposed to everything, everyone, not least of all Cephalon Simaris, and they don’t particularly care. With great determination, they get to work weaving the stems together.

“I lied, you know.” They tell him, flat on the ground with their hands raised to their eye level. They are too focused on their job. “Fighting’s not the only thing I know how to do. I can also do this!”

After a few seconds of silence to tie off the loop, the Operator triumphantly lifts their creation high into the air: a shoddily-made circlet comprised of of digital flowers, the stems woven together. It might fit a wrist. They slip it through their warframe’s arm and hold their hand out, exaggeratedly inspecting their new accessory at every angle.

It’s quiet here. They can easily pretend that there’s nothing wrong with the world. If they had a choice, they’d stay here forever: force the Sanctuary to live up to its name. The Operator brings their hand back down to rest on their stomach, and settles for stargazing, surrounded entirely by data flowers. They nearly lose track of time, until they suddenly remember something. They paw at the ground in search of it. Here.

“I made an extra one.” The Operator calls, shooting their hand up from the ground where they lay with a matching circlet in their fist (their first failed attempt). To anyone standing up it would like a hand coming off the floor out of nowhere. “Want it?”

Simaris actually grumbles at them, or at least as close to a grumble as he’s willing to go.

“What use do I have of such meaningless things?”

They assume that that’s the end of it. They don’t actually expect Simaris to manifest, contrary to his words. But in the corner of their eye they see a flash of orange light weaving itself together into a coherent form. The Operator scrambles to a sitting position in mild alarm.

It takes no more than three seconds for Simaris to take a humanoid shape. His proxy has no features. It is just a tall, orange ghost of a person. His face is a blank, empty visor. His body is made of threads of moving light. They watch as he inspects his own hands for a moment before folding them behind his back.

“A primitive form. It is a curse to exist in a frame so...limiting.”

Simaris approaches, rigidly, moving to meet them where they sit, though he stands six feet apart for some reason. When he’s as close as he wants to be, they scrutinize him from afar. They can register the ever so slight tip of his head, as if he were taking in their surprise and dare they say, smugly reveling in it.

“Do you see now, Tenno?” He asks, patronizing them. “This is the Sanctuary. It is capable of even more.”

“Really? Is that why you chose such a basic and ‘primitive’－” they punctuate the word with air quotes. “－form?”

The question seems to catch him off guard.

“No. It is only because I had a desire to experience the vantage point of my synthesis targets.”

They glance around once more at the impressive picture around them. Was the Sanctuary capable of more? The sky, the field of moving flowers, the simulated breeze and constantly moving particles. It takes up memory and space. And then there’s Simaris: standing in probably the simplest form he could render with what’s left of the Sanctuary's processing power. The scene he had set here was likely just as taxing on the systems as a full battle with a million projectiles and objects to track, collisions to monitor. He must be trying to maintain efficiency through conservation. That’s their theory, anyway.

“I dunno. I think I know by now that you have a flair for the dramatic. You could have chosen anything” They tease, regardless. “Look around. All I was hoping for was a few planter boxes.”

“How predictable of you, Tenno, to think within the confines of a box. ” The sneer comes from the mouthless Proxy now instead of from the unknown, diminishing the harshness of it all. They don’t take his words to heart: a box is all they’ll ever know.

Despite it all, the Operator chuckles, mockingly holding up their circlet as a peace offering; a thank you gift. The Cephalon gives no indication of acknowledgement of the truce until he reaches out with one hand, as if to accept it...despite still being several feet away. They bite down a remark and nearly jump out of their warframe when the circlet begins to leave their hands to levitate towards Simaris’. The silky petals brush against their fingertips on their way out, though they can hardly feel the texture. It floats to Simaris’ palm like a magnet, and once it is there he closes his fist around it, still looking at the Operator all the while.

He finally peers down at the circlet, already simulating a crumbling state due to the graceless force of Simaris’ hold. The Proxy opens its grip and lets the circlet rest around the base of its fingers.

“...Fascinating.”

The words come out betraying nothing. No sarcasm, but nothing genuine either. Just pure neutrality. The Operator sighs.

“This is all amazing but...I’m ready to leave now, Simaris.” It’s a lie, one they forced out only because they just didn't want to make him sustain this place for them any longer. A tiny frown slips onto their feature. In fact, this whole thing? Probably just a parlor trick to extol the “virtues” of Sanctuary, to restore his Hunter’s efficacy. He probably doesn’t care. Not Simaris－

The Proxy shifts its gaze to look at them.

“Heed my warning, Hunter: you are not to participate in Onslaught until a sufficient period of time has passed.”

They blink in their transference seat.

“What?” The Operator says. “Are you...forcing me to take a break? Are you serious? This is a joke.”

“A joke? Spare me this nonsense.” Simaris scoffs. “I have no humor precepts.”

Sure, maybe they could use a break, being burnt out and all, but work is how they relax! Right? In desperation, they push themselves up to their feet just to see Simaris’ shell still in the same position, not backing down whatsoever.

“But－”

“－Enough. Every other task remains open to you.”

The Operator raises one finger both in protest and to tell him to “wait just a moment.” They even open their mouth to strike a bargain, trudging closer to where he stands. But soon they slow down: their body is being pulled from the simulation, collapsing in on itself in order to reconstruct outside. Simaris is booting them from the Sanctuary! The nerve. His Proxy stands the same as before, but now somehow radiating an inexplicably smug aura.

The. Nerve.

Simaris tips his head in faint acknowledgement of their struggle. In horror, the Operator realizes that it had also been a parting gesture. He folds his hands behind his back.

“Hunter. Return to me when it is finished.”

With that, Cephalon Simaris ejects them from the datascape.

#warframe #cephalon simaris #simaris #warframe fanfic #warframe operator #heck yeah I wrote Simaris like an OOC tsundere

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fyeahbatcat · 5 years

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Just finished Batman: Hush the animated movie. What are your thoughts on it?

Alright, everyone. Here we go:

Batman: Hush Movie Full review

To begin, as I’ve stated here previously, Batman: Hush is a very important story to me. It was the first Batman comic that I ever read many years ago. In the sixteen years since its original publication it has undergone at least nine different editions and is still one of the most recommended and critically praised Batman stories of the modern era. It was the starting point for many people in the Batman fandom, and I still believe that it is the most pinnacle story regarding Batman and Catwoman’s relationship. The fact that it’s still so influential, nearly twenty years later, in indicative of its importance and merit.

When DC Comics announced last summer that they were officially making Hush into an animated movie I was happy, but I cannot say that I was excited. This was due to unrelated factors that were happening simultaneous to its announcement that obliterated my faith in DC Comics as a whole. You can imagine my dismay when I learned that instead of creating a direct adaptation, in the same vein as Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns and Year One, they would be changing the story to fit in with their current New 52 inspired animated universe.

As anyone whose been following me for a while may have observed; I’m highly critical. I can usually find the good and bad in something and when I’m giving my take on things from my perspective it’s pretty fair and balanced. I was fully aware that the Hush movie made changes to the story and knew going in that I would have to temper my expectations, but I still gave it a chance.

Many will say that the film should be viewed on its own merit, and I generally tend to agree. If not held up to the book the movie is watchable and very easy to enjoy. But it’s an adaptation. An adaptation of one of the best and most popular Batman stories of all time. An ambitious and operatic year long event from Jeph Loeb, and one that I personally hold in the highest regards. Completely divorcing the movie from its source material is unfeasible.

With that said; as I review this movie I will be critiquing as loosely inspiredimagination of the Batman: Hush comic, and only making comparisons to demonstrate potential compromises of the story or the characters.

***Obvious spoilers ahead***

THE GOOD AND THE BAD

After many years of begging, pleading, rumors, and teasing the Batman: Hush animated film was finally released during SDCC weekend. The basic plot remained intact: a mysterious new villain named Hush targets Batman’s crime fighting career as well as his personal life, which is further complicated by his burgeoning romance with Catwoman. While making concessions that range from minor to pivotal the movie manages to be different while maintaining a degree of familiarity. All the most iconic scenes are there in one aspect or another, with only one notable exception; the Jason Todd graveyard scene.

There’s not much to say about the general plot. It for the most part, stays true to the essence of the story, while being different in execution. Most changes were traversable, while others were pointless and baffling. The first questionable change occurs early in the movie, when Catwoman delivers the stolen money to Poison Ivy; Ivy kisses Catwoman, which she does not reciprocate. In the original script for the book, I believe, that Ivy did kiss Catwoman, but Jeph Loeb was told by editorial to remove it, because it was “too much.”

It was clear in the comic book that Ivy was using her powers to mind-control Catwoman. In that context kissing her would have made more sense. In the movie the extent of her influence over Catwoman is unclear. It appears that she is blackmailing Catwoman. Catwoman’s coldness and irritation afterwards implies that she has maintained some degree of self-awareness. Her use of coercion rather than force renders the kiss pointless, and its intention to merely be salacious.

Other needless changes involve swapping out characters. Bane, for some reason, has taken the place of Killer Croc. Damian Wayne has taken the place of Tim Drake, and Amanda Waller makes a token appearance, but both proceed to only have one scene.

As Rick Austin from FortressofSolitude put it:

Some changes to the original story are surface-level questionable, making you wonder why they changed them at all – like substituting Killer Croc for Bane, for instance. Presumably it was done for recognition and name value, and barely has any relevance to the story. Huntress is replaced by Batgirl, probably for the similar reasons, but that’s more important and naturally means Oracle’s role in the story is gone. Slowly but surely, the small tweaks begin to have a big knock-on effect. Important lines of dialogue have been jettisoned, some elements have been removed and some characters replace others just to make this fit with other recent DC animated films.

The movie takes a more action/adventure route rather than a character driven mystery, chugging along at breakneck pace making several plot concessions along the way. What it does manage to improve from the book, as far as a Batman and Catwoman shipper can see, is it beefs up Batman and Catwoman’s ill-fated romance, by way of a montage depicting adorable, if at times out-of-character, domesticity that even involves matching his and hers robes. Its inclusion was more fan-servicey than plot driven, but the ship isn’t doing well right now so I’m not about to complain about that.

What I will complain about isn’t what was added to the romance, but what was excluded from it. The film cuts out all the most important scenes that demonstrate why the dynamics of Batman and Catwoman’s relationship works for them. Yes, we get the rooftop kiss that has graced a thousand screensavers and Batman ultimately making the decision to reveal his identity to Catwoman, but everything in service of Catwoman’s perspective are removed entirely.

The scene from the book when Catwoman admonishes Batman for saving her instead of going after the Joker after she is shot at the opera, is changed to Catwoman merely telling Batman to go after Harley Quinn.

If you ever choose to rescue…me again over catching the bad guy…I swear I’ll scratch your eyes out. I’m not some kid you took in and trained.

This scene is important because this is where Catwoman affirms how she sees herself in this relationship: she is Batman’s equal and she expects– demands– that he treat her as such. These changes seem benign at first, until it becomes clear later why they were made. More on that in a bit.

The original script for Hush also included a tasteful post-coital scene that was ultimately cut by editorial. The scene makes its way back into the movie in lieu of some of the more emotionally intimate moments, like Selina dialoguing with Alfred in the bat-cave. The dialogue also fails to compensate for this. Batman and Catwoman’s pillow talk topic include how Batman used to think Catwoman was a kleptomaniac.

“You were beautiful, intelligent, and brilliant,” he tells her. “I assumed if you were stealing it was because you couldn’t control it.” I see this come up in fandom every now and again, and Catwoman cannot be a kleptomaniac because kleptomania is an impulse control disorder. Catwoman steals for profit and executes elaborate premeditated heists. I can see why other people would make that mistake, but the world’s greatest detective should have more cognizance.

Most of the changes to film are surface-level and trivial, but where the movie majorly fails is when they attempt to fix things that weren’t broken to begin with.

The most major change doesn’t occur until the final act of the movie when it is revealed that Hush is actually the Riddler. At first, I thought this was a misdirect, but no. The Riddler is really Hush and Tommy Elliot was just a plot device, and he is really dead. Like in the book, Riddler gained knowledge of Batman’s identity while in the Lazarus Pit, and decides to take revenge by going after Bruce Wayne’s friends and loved ones.

This change is nonsensical and renders Tommy Elliot’s role in the movie essential meaningless. He is a mere plot device, a shamefully underdeveloped plot device, intended to provide Batman with angst. Villains targeting Batman’s loved ones is all too familiar occurrence, but audiences barely get to know Tommy long enough understand the depths of Batman’s grief and mourning.

As I’m sure all of you are aware at this point that in the book it is revealed that Hush is Tommy Elliot. Substituting Tommy for Riddler diminishes the impact of the reveal and Hush’s motivations. Tommy, Bruce’s close childhood friend, has a personal vendetta against Bruce. He uses his friendship, familiarity, and access to Bruce Wayne to attack him both personally and as Batman. It also complicates Batman’s relationship with Hush as a villain. The Riddler being Hush is just a theatrical Gotham villain pretending to be a different theatrical Gotham villain for no reason whatsoever.

Towards the end of the movie Riddler kidnaps Catwoman and tries to kill her in an elaborate trap. Since Bruce was damseled early in the movie, I didn’t so much mind that they did the same to Catwoman. I like that Batman and Catwoman can depend on each other, and it demonstrates a degree of equality in their relationship. However, while Batman was only incidentally damseled for maybe 60 seconds, Catwoman was subtly threatened with rape for intervening on his behalf and later got the full-on woman-tied-to-railroad-tracks-treatment. Predictably Batman shows up and saves the day.

THE UGLY

Batman: Hush made several missteps that I was willing to overlook, and almost got through its entire 82-minute run time before doing the only thing that I considered truly egregious.

After the ensuing fight the building begins to collapse and Catwoman leaves Riddler to die, after Batman attempts to save him. Batman argues that they could’ve saved Riddler instead of letting him die. Catwoman becomes angry. “You’re crazy! You’re absolutely insane,” she exclaims melodramatically. Batman and Catwoman decide that their moral differences are too stark and break up, but leave the door open for the future.

This is where the movie took an unexpected turn for the worse. This is where the reason why so many changes to Catwoman’s character becomes clear.

Batman goes out as the voice of morality and looks like the hero, and Catwoman is completely thrown under the bus to make it happen.

Early in the movie during the famous battle of Metropolis when Superman is under the influence of Poison Ivy, Catwoman throws Lois Lane off a building to snap him out of the spell. Later when Superman is out of earshot Batman tells Catwoman that throwing Lois off the building was not part of the plan and that he did not approve of her methods. In the book it was Batman’s idea to throw Lois from the building. This moment frequently makes appearances on Worst-Things-Batman-Has-Ever-Done lists on comic sites.

During the opera scene Catwoman attempting to stop Batman from killing the Joker in a fit of rage was also cut. Here it was Batman who was acting morally questionable, and Catwoman was the reasonable and morally righteous one, so to speak.

These, along with Catwoman allowing Riddler to die, are intended to make Catwoman seem like she has a cursory attitude towards killing, when that couldn’t be further from the truth. All of this inevitably shifts all the blame for the relationship not working out on Catwoman. Catwoman’s flaws are irreconcilable while Batman is the blameless voice of reason. This is abominable at best, and sexist at worst.

The book ends similarly and yet profoundly different. Upon the announcement of the film some people were hoping for the ending to be changed to something presumably happier for Bruce and Selina. In the book Batman and Catwoman break up, but under much different circumstances.

I personally feel that the ending to the original was appropriate for the story. Batman sabotages their relationship pushes Catwoman away because he realized was not ready for the vulnerability required in that type of relationship, It ends on a bittersweet note. Batman and Catwoman can have a relationship “someday.” All they need is a little more time, and it’s Batman who need to be a little bit different.

Even as things end Loeb simply and perfectly sums up why Batman and Catwoman work:

We are who we are. That’s why this works.

The film makes fundamental differences, that can only be remedied by Catwoman changing herself, are the root of Batman and Catwoman’s relationship dysfunction.

The changes to Catwoman’s character occur only to justify the ending. The filmmakers went to great lengths to villainize Catwoman to make it seem like it was all her personal shortcomings that ended things instead of Batman’s to make him seem more heroic. It relegates Batman and Catwoman’s relationship to a tool to demonstrate Batman’s inflexible moral code.

To add insult to injury, as Batman and Catwoman’s relationship comes to an end, Selina tells Bruce bitterly that she changed herself to be with him and was willing to continue changing. This robs Selina the agency of having reformed on her own, in a film that has already diminished much of her voice and independence.

It’s almost laughable that Selina once told Huntress that reforming was worthwhile, “as long as you’re doing it for yourself, and not for what someone else thinks of you,” in the same book the movie was based on.

Some dude (and it’s a dude; I checked) read the book, saw this panel, then decided to have her say literally the opposite. I wish I was making this up.

On its own the Batman: Hush movie is watchable. The casual viewer and batcat shippers alike can easily find something to enjoy. But watchable is a low bar to pass when based on one of the most popular Batman stories of our era. What should have been an exceptionally easy recipe for success did not exceed the bare minimum. It’s drab, bland, and dark animation style does not hold up to Jim Lee’s iconic penciling or Scott Williams’ colorful fills. The changes to the story are generally acceptable, until the final act of the movie when things go off the rails.

Ultimately the movie exceptionally fails at capturing the dynamics of Batman and Catwoman’s relationship, trading in much of the depth and intimacy for shower sex and pet names. On its own Batman: Hush stands as a mindlessly entertaining adaptation, loosely inspired by a Batman story of mystery and intrigue. Held up to the source material, it’s a pale and grotesque imitation.

#ask #blackbatpurplecat #batcat #Batman #Catwoman #Bruce Wayne #Selina Kyle #personal note #review #long post #batman hush spoilers

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sparda3g · 5 years

Text

The Seven Deadly Sins Chapter 317 Review

Pride Month may be over, but that doesn’t mean Escanor’s pride will be stopped at the slightest. This is his first combat as a normal fragile man, but sadly for him, he is nowhere near strong enough to stop a baby Indura. However, the narrative isn’t about how he can overcome the odds, rather it’s about his unbreakable pride. Personally, I’m glad he fought without Sunshine this time around, for it not only presents him as a courageous fighter, but a true gentleman.

Going into the chapter, my first thought is, this would be a moment to shine all of them in a near impossible challenge. The three knights, however, will have to settle to Escanor’s prideful determination, which is a shame, but what they can do. In that regard, it does lead to one of better characterization display of the series.

The fact Escanor is taking all the beatings for his friends speaks volume on his determination. He clearly knows he had no chance at winning, but he’s fine to die for them. It’s more telling when he reflects the beatings from Meliodas is nothing in compare, despite how strong he was with Sunshine. In this type of scenario, you would think he would be whiny or so disheartened for no longer having the power to defeat enemies with ease. Instead, his former self taught him enough experience that his new (normal) self doesn’t mind. The only part he was bothered is whether his friends would see him weak in his current state.

Whether you believe he will die or not, the brutality is striking. He takes a heavy beating, losing his limbs and shaved off his skins. It’s fortunate enough that the artwork darkened the damages, though it supposed to be his blood that covered it. That’s actually clever of Nakaba to not only “censored” it but still bring in the grimness. I would argue this is worse; that’s how good that style worked. This hurts me to watch him take a serious beating. Despite of it, he only wished to fight alongside with his friends.

As mentioned earlier, the thing I like about this is how Escanor doesn’t think about his power because of his personal (selfish) needs. He only wanted it, so he can be with the Sins. He thought he would be mocked for his puny self, but he knows better that they will believe in him. Fighting alongside with them is his greatest pride and his proof is in his heart. Now, that’s a nice character development, let alone heartwarming. I really like that panel with Escanor, all beaten-up, announcing his title one last time. That’s my exhibit A on why he’s my favorite.

The torment stopped when Mael arrives to save the day and recover Escanor. I had a feeling he wouldn’t die, but the whole scene was not diminished whatsoever. It was felt and rather powerful. It’s kind of funny how Mael is like their lord and savior from the way they react, including, “Your prayers have been answered.” I know he’s an Archangel, but still. Anyway, it’s good to see him around again; this time, fighting alongside with everyone. Or so I thought.

I thought the interaction between Mael and Escanor is quite neat. As much as Mael would love to help, there’s a limitation on how much he can assist, such as defeating the Demon King. Kind of funny knowing Elizabeth was embarrassing him earlier, but okay. I like how Mael was so serious about the request, but Escanor is all non-chantingly about it; in fact, he was very casual and light-hearted. He didn’t ask for Mael to assist; he wants to borrow Sunshine one last time. Again, it’s amusing to see him so casual.

It’s not amusing however to know borrowing Sunshine will kill Escanor. Now, I don’t know if he will die, though I have my doubts. For now, it’s a good 65% chance of survival. I’m challenged by the timing alas series’ end. With that said, he’s still perfectly okay about it. Despite everything against him, if he can risk his life to fight for the Sins, then it’s all good. I really like this guy; who said I like him due to being overpowered? I like how Mael takes out his hand and tells him that he has time left before noon. That’s a nice bonding moment, and they have Sunshine to thank for. Who said it only means power? Escanor gets it back for one more go. What a man.

This was one of the better chapter of the final phase of the arc; the best one in my opinion. You don’t have to be a fan of Escanor to see how nicely written this piece was. It shows a different side of him that isn’t hindered by the sheer pride that his former self often shows. Even then, he always has a heart and pride for Sins. I still remember how he was more focused on defeating the Ten Commandments than Gowther was, back in the tournament. That was a sign for his overall character, and it was well presented here. The artwork is at vintage level with solid details and clever use of “censorship” and brutality. The ending was earned after a great display of courage. Let’s hope he doesn’t die now. He’s too good to disappear from this world.

#The Seven Deadly Sins #nanatsu no taizai #chapter 317 #review #spoilers

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hellzyeahthewebwieldingavenger · 5 years

Text

Spider-Man: Life Story #4 Thoughts Part 2: Broken Ben, bits and bobs

Let’s move back to Ben Reilly.

Nitpick: why is he wearing glasses?

His spider powers mitigate the need for glasses.

Peter doesn’t wear glasses. Is staring at photos in a dark room really going to diminish your super enhanced eyesight so much more than lab work, reading business documents and getting punched in the face by bad guys?

A more serious problem though is Ben’s characterization.

Putting aside the photographer thing Ben goes absolutely nuts when he finds out he’s the real Peter Parker. Peter meanwhile is more calm.

The context here is seriously different to the 1990s Clone Saga but does that add up with the differences in how it plays out?

In the 1990s Clone Saga, Peter had recently lost Aunt May, recently recovered from a mental breakdown but ever since had been put under extreme pressures and mental anguish, the reveal he was a fake also hit him hard because it meant potential genetic ailments for his unborn child and the possibility his wife would reject him as a freak. He flipped out...hard.

Here, the clones haven’t been established to regard themselves as lesser than the real people. Peter initially regards them as such yes, thus you’d imagine that would extend to Ben. But Gwen more or less seems to sort of see herself as real even if she isn’t Gwen Stacy.

Peter also lacks the mental fragility or issues his 1990s counterpart had.

Ben in the 1990s Clone Saga though was comparatively mentally healthier and he also flipped out but less so than Peter. When he first realizes he was a clone back in the 1970s though Ben nearly contemplated suicide.

So within the context of these changes I don’t think Ben and Peter’s change in reactions is out of character.

However it doesn’t really reflect well on Ben as a character that the scene where he talks the most so far and is defined the most as a character has him flying out of control, trying to beat Doc Ock to death and irrationally blaming him for stealing his life when Otto had nothing to do with it.

It also doesn’t help that within the span of four pages he goes from out of control irrational violence to saying ‘oh no how could I commit murder I’m Peter Parker’ (whilst being held back from continuing to beat Otto) to then diving out of a broken window (without web-shooters) screaming Otto is a murderer.

It doesn’t leave you with a positive impression of the character at all, it makes him look unstable and not a great choice to adopt the mantle of Spider-Man.

I also wondered briefly if Peter catching Ben by the foot after he fell/committed suicide maybe (?) had killed him like it killed Gwen. I guess when you have spider powers physics don’t apply to you.

Oh one more thing related to Ben Reilly, and it’s about the fact that he’s revealed as the real Peter Parker.

It’s just a teeny tiny thing you know, really more of a nitpick hardly worth menti- WHY WOULD ANYONE BELIEVE THAT!

Look at the logistics of this for a moment.

Warren switched out Gwen for Helen, probably before her wedding. As the ‘father of the bride’ and her boss he’d have had private access to her so a switch makes sense.

When the fuck could he have possibly done this with Peter?

Nowhere in this comic was anyone implied to be able to bypass the spider sense at all. So how the Hell was an old man like Warren supposed to switch Peter and his clone without Peter or Ben realizing; back when Peter was in the prime of his powers btw?

Wouldn’t there be gaps in their memories????

I know, I know, I know Warren never did do this. But Ben and Otto BELIEVE he did.

Why?

Is Ben not simply coming off as insane in this story but supposed to actually be nuts because you could figure out that this is obviously not true with ease. In the canon Clone Sagas it made sense because Peter and Ben both remembered being knocked out then woke up repeating one another’s dialogue.

What’s worse is that Ben flips out over the word of Doctor Octopus!

In the Clone Saga Peter and Ben perform the tests themselves repeatedly and that’s how they come to the conclusion Peter is the clone.

Here Ben Reilly goes nuts because the elderly delusional nut job super villain claims he just read some data that confirms Ben as the Real McCoy.

Why would you believe that immediately???????????????????????

Okay sure, later on Peter and Ben do double check things and confirm the results but nevertheless Ben flips out big time on the trustworthy word of Doc Ock!

Now let’s talk now about Ben’s wife Helen Parker and/or Reil-

...Wait a minute...

*searches every page of LF #4*

...She...she’s not....she’s not in the issue...she’s not even mentioned!

What in the actual fuck Zdarsky!

You introduce the clone of Gwen Stacy in a remix of the 1970s Clone Saga, then when you come to remix the 1990s Clone Saga where she was prominently featured...you ignore her?

Worse you don’t even mention her!?

Peter doesn’t even ask after her, his ex-wife????????

She gets mentioned on the recap page but we know nothing of where she is.

Last we checked she was posing as Ben’s wife and/or relative. What the Hell happened you can’t ignore that, she’s conspicuous via her absence!

Sigh...let’s talk about the Osborns.

They were handled better. Arguably they were the best/least shitty aspects of this comic (sans the standard stratospheric artwork).

Harry dies saving Peter, remixing Spec #200. Okay that’s not too bad even though the context is totally different.

Then Norman dies of a heart attack after trying to spite Peter one last time and after learning Harry is dead.

Now one nice touch in the issue is a bait and switch where you think Peter is having Ben followed but really it’s Norman Osborn. Didn’t see that coming so well done there.

Norman is also mostly in character because he’s spiteful and hateful till the end, but displays a genuine albeit twisted love for his son.

His role in trying to trick Peter into thinking he’s the clone is rather at odds with canon though and far less dramatic. In canon Norman always planned to trick Peter this way but put the plan in motion in response to Harry’s death as revenge. Here it’s just a pathetic last ditch attempt to spite Peter.

Now granted maybe that was the point. For the plan to totally backfire on Norman and showcase him as the sad pathetic old man he is. If that’s so then okay, well done I guess as a remixing of canon, along with the fact that you kill off Norman in the era he actually came back to life in canon.

His characterization gets wonky in some places though.

He says ‘He drove me to it. He’s always in my head.’

It’s not clear who Norman is talking about. The long shot is Peter which would make sense. It might be the Goblin because some interpretations paint the Goblin as another personality, but that’s against canon and this series never implied that. the dialogue though seems to more directly imply he means Harry which...huh? Doesn’t add up at all that one.

We also have a lingering problem from issue #2, re-emphasised in this issue.

Apparently Norman served out his sentence (really, he didn’t get life for his crimes, okay) and is sour Peter in issue #2 screwed up his escape plan.

Re-read my thoughts on issue #2 for more details on why this is a problem but in a nutshell:

a) If Norman has access to his money, resources and knowledge of Peter’s identity then he had multiple ways to plan an escape. In the very well known Marvel Knights: Spider-Man Norman kidnaps May and blackmails Peter into freeing him from prison, a plan he mapped out very soon after discovering Peter’s identity. There is no reason given in LF why he wouldn’t do something like this

b) His escape plan in issue #2 made absolutely no fucking sense whatsoever.

A final potential problem with Norman in this issue is that if everyone knows who he is and he’s desperate to get back at Peter somehow, even maybe letting Doc Ock kill them...why doesn’t he just reveal his identity to the public!

In canon Norman kept that secret because HE wanted to kill Spidey alone and/or because exposing Spidey meant exposing himself too.

In this context though he’s already exposed and he isn’t going to be destroying Spidey directly at all. So why not just reveal his identity to the world?

P.S. According to Norman Harry owns stock in Parker Industries but didn’t he give all his money to MJ?

#Spider-Man: Life Story #chip zdarsky #mark bagley #Spider-Man #Peter Parker #Ben Reilly #Scarlet Spider #Gwen Stacy #Norman Osborn #Harry Osborn #Green Goblin

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kcwcommentary · 5 years

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VLD3x03 – “The Hunted”

3x03 – “The Hunted”

The Paladins have piloted their Lions to where Lotor’s ship is at some planet (which actually looks like a planet). Allura’s having trouble piloting Blue, and accidentally slams into Yellow. Lance gives a quick comment about Keith’s “hot headed” leadership before asking Allura about Blue (it makes me feel like the bond between Lance and Blue isn’t severed, but I know that’s just me wanting it to be that way). Allura says she’s just having to get used to piloting Blue. I still don’t like the switch or how the show has made Keith lose his intelligence just so that they can make some kind of bit about him not being good at leadership.

Lotor’s just sitting on his ship; he actually looks bored. He takes otu his personal fighter to engage the Lions. Lance/Red accidentally slams into Black. Keith is frustrated with how slow Black is compared to Red. Allura continues with her piloting difficulties.

Pidge, Lance, and Hunk all have a conversation about Allura’s difficulties piloting Blue, all while forgetting that she can hear them. That the three of them would forget how their communications work and that Allura would hear them is absurd. I think the show thinks that this is a funny bit, but it comes across more like a combination of Pidge, Lance, and Hunk’s incompetence and pure disrespect for Allura.

They ask Keith what to do, and he responds, “How about this: Everyone stay out of my way.” Lance responds, “Great leadership.” Keith might not have led this team before, but he’s been a part of this team for a good while now. The idea that he thinks the problem is the rest of them being in his way is not believable. He’s fought with them around him before and not felt they were in his way. This show wanted to do a story of Keith having trouble behaving like a leader, but this isn’t telling such a story. This is suddenly diminishing Keith’s already proven abilities in order to pretend to be a story about him not being good at leadership.

Keith calls for them to form Voltron, but they can’t. Lotor heads away, planning to lure them somewhere. He recognizes that there’s been some change to Team Voltron, that whatever is up with them now, they’re not the same as they were when they defeated Zarkon. Axca and Ezor do a bit of an exposition about the planet Lotor’s going to lure Voltron to, and I don’t find Axca and Ezor interesting in the least.

Planet Thayserix is mostly round like an actual planet, but the absurd spikes sticking up off it would have to be hundreds and hundreds of miles long, so no. There’s a lot of cloud cover on this planet, and Voltron enters it. The planet’s environment messes with the Lions’ systems. Pidge suggests they fall back, but Keith says they have to keep going. The planet is affecting their communications. Allura falls behind a bit, but in trying to keep up slams into rock and hurtles off course. Hunk goes after her.

Keith becomes fixated, obsessively so, on pursuing Lotor. It gives the show the chance to have Lance yell at Keith, and eventually Keith breaks off and they return to where Allura crashed. Lance brings up sticking together and being a team, but Keith says, “It’s not about the team. We have a mission that is more important than any one of us.” What this show is doing to Keith’s character is infuriating. It feels like such a distortion of who he was in the previous two seasons. In the past, he might not have had the skills to be a leader, but he still recognized the importance of a team. To change his character now to make him not care about the team is a retcon, at best. That this show couldn’t think of a way to write Keith having difficulty with leadership that didn’t require writing him out of character is a major failure of the show’s writing.

Keith then decides to attack Lotor alone, but the rest of the team won’t let him go alone, so they follow.

We get some more exposition from Axca. This whole little scene of the generals on the main ship is unnecessary and uninteresting.

When the Lions try to shoot at Lotor, the gas of the atmosphere ignites around them. Allura/Blue gets hurled off into the distance again. Lotor follows after her but can’t find her.

The episode now has Keith confess his fault to Lance. The problem with that is that the specifics of what just happened isn’t a problem with having followed Lotor, it’s a problem with not having someone examine the content of the planet’s atmosphere. Pidge had been gathering some information on the planet such that she made her comment earlier about the planet’s unusual magnetic field, so why didn’t she also check out what the atmosphere was made of?

Pidge tells Hunk she can’t do anything to compensate for the planet’s interference.

In hiding, Allura asks herself, “What would Lance do,” and then she flirts with the Blue Lion. She’s not wrong, the show would have Lance do that, especially since he did just that last episode. This shows that the writers know Lance’s flirtatious behavior is absurd, they just think that it’s okay, interesting, or funny for him to behave the way he does. I do not agree. He could be flirtatious yet not offensive, but the writers don’t know how.

Allura gets sad and asks Blue for help, and she seems to bond a bit with Blue in the process. Lotor’s found her, she flees, and he pursues. Blue suggests the sonic canon, which Allura uses to create a map. I’ve never understood why it takes the Lions in this show so much time to suggest useful options to their pilots. Allura uses the ice blaster and hits Lotor’s fighter, causing Lotor to retreat.

Hunk is chatting with Pidge about food when Allura turns up with the other Paladins because of course he is. Pidge asks how Allura was able to connect with her Lion. Allura says, “I just had to get into a Lance-like mindset and stop thinking so much.” Lance responds, “Are you calling me dumb?” She says, “No, I’m calling you a natural.” She is actually complimenting him. There is something to the idea that a person can get stuck in their thoughts when trying to do something and that it inhibits them in doing it. Also, the better a person gets at something the less they have to think about it when they do it. That’s why practice is so beneficial. Annoyingly, the show writes Hunk to then say, “Yeah, naturally dumb.” Pidge joins in, and then so does Keith briefly. For supposedly being Lance’s friends, they really treat him badly sometimes. It would be nice if the show wasn’t, through Hunk’s and the other’s taunts against Lance here, teaching the idea that it’s okay and supposedly funny to make negative comments about a person’s intelligence. What these supposed friends are doing to Lance is bullying him. Not that the show ever shows us this, but if other people previously in Lance’s life have treated him the way these supposed friends are treating him now, no wonder he has severe insecurities.

Keith gives some kind of generic believe-in-ourselves speech and they form Voltron. Since at the beginning of the episode, the story made a point that they couldn’t form Voltron, it at least fits the narrative structure that they would be able to do so by the end of the episode. It just would have been nice if this moment that supposed to mark the team coming together did not come out of most of the team being mean to Lance.

I really like Allura joyously yelling out, “Hunk, I’m a leg!” That’s a nice callback.

Voltron’s inconsistent power pops up again. This time, they’re able to use their shield to not just block a Galra cruiser’s blast, but reflect it, destroying dozens, if not hundreds of ships. Lotor heads off in one direction, Keith says they shouldn’t pursue and instead regroup and recover.

There is very little that I like in this episode. I like Allura’s Voltron-leg comment, and I like some of her scene when Allura gets quiet in talking to Blue. But that’s about it. I don’t like how the writers have diminished and distorted Keith in order to manufacture leadership problems. None of it fits with what the show has shown of Keith before. I don’t like that the show makes the others picking on Lance seem okay. Lotor and his generals were thoroughly uninteresting in this episode. His generals could have literally been any other Galra characters; there was no reason to include them.

Oh, and during all this, where is the Castle Ship? Was Coran just hanging out off somewhere having tea? Sure, the Lions might have blasted off following Keith from the end of last episode to pursue Lotor, but why was the Castle Ship not involved? The show gave no reason whatsoever to explain Coran’s and the Castle Ship’s absence from this episode.

So, not a good episode, but at least it didn’t take me as long as last episode did to get through it.

#voltron legendary defender #voltron #vld #voltron criticism #vld criticism #voltron critical #vld critical #vld season 3 #vld 3x03 #commentary

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parvativalleyadventures-blog · 5 years

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How to Visit the Valley of Flowers National Park in India

The staggering scene of The Valley of Flowers National Park in northern India's province of Uttarakhand, flanked by Nepal and Tibet, wakes up with the rainstorm downpour.

This high-elevation Himalayan valley has around 300 unique assortments of snow capped blossoms, which show up as a splendid floor covering of shading against a sloping snow topped foundation. It's spread over 87.5 square kilometers (55 miles) and was proclaimed a national park in 1982. It's likewise an UNESCO World Heritage Site. The principle Valley of Flowers is a cold hall, around five kilometers (3.1 miles) long and two kilometers (1.2 miles) wide.

The trekking course to the Valley of Flowers was gravely harmed by floods in 2013. The Valley revived for the whole season in 2015.

Area

The Valley of Flowers National Park is situated in Chamoli Garhwal, near Nanda Devi National Park. It's around 595 kilometers (370 miles) from Delhi, and has a height that differs from 10,500 feet to 21,900 feet above ocean level.

The closest air terminal is in Dehradun, 295 kilometers (183 miles) away. The closest railroad station is in Rishikesh, 276 kilometers (170 miles) away.

The most effective method to Get There

Some exertion is required to arrive at the Valley of Flowers. The trek starts at Pulna town close Govind Ghat. To get to the beginning stage, you'll have to travel roughly 10 hours by street to Joshimath from Dehradun, Haridwar or Rishikesh. This is trailed by one more hour by street from Joshimath. The course is en route to Badrinath sanctuary and this article has more data about vehicle alternatives.

From Pulna town you'll have to trek to the base camp at Ghangaria. Following the 2013 flood, the way has been rerouted at numerous spots and the complete separation has expanded from around 13 kilometers (8 miles) to 16 kilometers. Nonetheless, the new street from Govind Ghat to Pulna town will thump about an hour off your trek time. Contingent upon your wellness level and how quick you trek, you can anticipate that it should take six to eight hours. Do take note of that there's a checkpoint close to the beginning of the trek and you won't be permitted to cross it after 2 p.m. In this way, get moving as right on time as could reasonably be expected!

The start of the principle valley, where every one of the blooms are, is a further 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) from Ghangaria. The trek has turned out to be more extreme since the flood, as a major aspect of the way has been reconstructed. Inside the valley, you'll have to trek for a further 5-10 kilometers to see every one of the blossoms.

Valley of blossoms

How Difficult is the Trek?

The principal extend, from Govind Ghat to Ghangaria, is genuinely simple to decently troublesome. It turns out to be increasingly strenuous after that. Be that as it may, you'll feel large and in charge in this mystical and charming spot. Outlandish blooms and foliage can be discovered up and down the course from Ghangria to the primary valley.

The individuals who are worried about their wellness level can employ a watchman at Govind Ghat to convey their baggage to Ghangaria or ride donkey (or even pass by helicopter if the climate is fine).

At the point when to Visit

The Valley of Flowers is just open from the earliest starting point of June until the start of October, as it's canvassed in snow the remainder of the year. The best time to visit is from mid July to mid August, when the blossoms are in full sprout after the main rainstorm downpour.

In the event that visit before July, you'll find barely any blooms whatsoever. In any case, you will almost certainly observe day off liquefying icy masses. After mid August, the shade of the Valley changes significantly from greenish to yellowish, and the blossoms gradually pass on. In September, the climate winds up more clear with less downpour yet the blossoms begin evaporating.

With respect to the climate, temperatures get very cold during the evening and in the early morning.

Opening times

To keep trekkers and animals from taking a lot of a toll on the recreation center, access to The Valley of Flowers is confined to light hours (from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.) and outdoors is denied. The last passage to the recreation center is at 2 p.m. You'll have to go from, and come back to, Ghangaria around the same time.

Section Fees and Charges

The section charge is 650 rupees for outsiders and 150 rupees for Indians for a 3-day pass. Each extra day is 250 rupees for outsiders and 50 rupees for Indians. There's a Forest Department checkpoint not exactly a kilometer from Ghangaria, which denotes the official start of The Valley of Flowers. This is the place you pay the cash and get your license. (Ensure you convey proper ID).

Hope to pay 1,000 rupees upwards per individual for a doorman or a donkey (contingent upon interest), for the trek to Ghangaria. Modest plastic waterproof shells are additionally accessible for buy at Govind Ghat. A guide will cost around 2,000 rupees. Travel by helicopter one path from Govind Ghat to Ghangaria (or the other way) costs around 3,500 rupees for every individual.

Where to Stay

The administration run Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam (GMVN) guesthouses are dependable spending alternatives for lodging in the region, and advance appointments are conceivable.

You can go through the night at Joshimath or Govind Ghat before beginning the trek to Ghangaria. The lodging are progressively abundant and of a higher standard in Joshimath through. Perhaps the best spot to remain there is Himalayan Abode Homestay, as the host is an accomplished mountain climber and possesses an experience travel organization. Nanda Inn homestay is suggested also.

There are Sikh gurudwaras (hallowed places) at Govind Ghat and Ghangaria that give protected and clean facilities, and free nourishment. On the off chance that all the private rooms are involved at the Ghangaria gurudwara, you can rest in the lobby.

At Ghangaria you'll discover a scope of housing from shoddy guesthouses to extravagance tents, valued anyplace between 200 rupees to 1,500 rupees for each night. In any case, solaces are insignificant, and the power and water supply are flighty. The Sri Nanda Lokpal Palace is the best spot to remain there.

Outdoors in the lovely valley of blossoms

What to Pack

Ensure you get a lot of garments case you get rained on (which is likely). Other helpful things pack incorporate a parka, spotlight, headlamp, sunscreen, top, water bottles, medical aid unit, toiletries, little towel, and plastic sacks to shield your electronic things from getting wet. In a perfect world, wear waterproof climbing shoes, rucksack and day pack.

Travel Tips

Enable three days to finish the trek - one day from Govind Ghat to Ghangaria, one day for the Valley of Flowers, and one day for the arrival trek.

Govind Ghat and Ghangaria become very busy from July to September with Sikh pioneers on their approach to Hem Kund (a Sikh holy place with the most elevated height in India), so it's a smart thought to book lodging ahead of time.

On the off chance that you have an additional day, you can likewise visit Hem Kund. It has a pleasant mountain setting with an elevated lake. The trek is more extreme than that to the Valley of Flowers through. Anticipate that it should take 3-5 hours from Ghangaria. The height of Hem Kund is 14,100 feet above ocean level, so it will be cold there.

There are eateries serving essential Indian nourishment along the course up to Ghangaria. You'll likewise discover shops in transit from Ghangaria to Hem Kund, and free nourishment at the hallowed place. Be that as it may, you'll have to convey your very own sustenance from Ghangaria to the Valley of Flowers as none is accessible.

Note that there are not many toilets along the trekking course and none in the valley. Hope to diminish yourself in nature.

A great many people will find that their cell arrange inclusion vanishes after Govind Ghat.

Visits to the Valley of Flowers and Side Trips

Blue Poppy Holidays has over 10 years involvement in trekking to The Valley of Flowers, and the proprietor is energetic about the zone and nature. The organization runs normal premium fixed takeoff visits each year from Haridwar and their site is brimming with accommodating data. The visits are estimated higher than different organizations yet they permit two days at the Valley of Flowers rather than one - and are the main organization that does this. Furthermore, they have their own premium risen camp at Ghangaria and houses at Auli to oblige visitors.

Other trustworthy neighborhood visit organizations incorporate Nandadevi Trek n Tours and Himalayan Snow Runner. Famous experience organization Thrillophilia likewise offers trips. Ensure you look at the subtleties of what each gives in contrast with the expense.

Government worked visits keep running for seven days from Rishikesh (see Tour 12). The visits are efficient and fun yet have fundamental housing. The blessed Hindu town of Badrinath is just 14 kilometers (8.6 miles) from Joshimath and can without much of a stretch be visited on multi day trip from that point, and as a stop on the visit. The town includes a vivid sanctuary devoted to Lord Vishnu. It's one of the Char Dham (four sanctuaries) prevalent with Hindu explorers.

Valley of Flowers in Himalayas

New Treks Near the Valley of Flowers National Park

So as to pull in more travelers after the recreation center's conclusion, the Forest Department is including various new trekking courses around the Valley of Flowers National Park. These are:

a 15 kilometer trek from Kunthkhal (in the Valley of Flowers) to Hanuman Chatti, which has been opened to voyagers again following 45 years.

a 21 kilometer trek to Dibrugheta from Lata Village.

a 13 kilometer trek in the rough piles of Dronagiri.

a trek through Chenab Valley, at a stature of 3,200 to 4,000 meters above ocean level.

#valleyofflowers #travel

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