#but no one goes on about the fleeing the army scene

[thetimelordbatgirl]

Kinda sad how nowadays Doctor Who will never be able to do a scene like the scene of Gwen, Rhiannon and the kids fleeing the army while Rhys and other men in the neighborhood with eventually Andy fight back against the army. Because lord knows with the UK's constant army adverts lately, that the BBC won't the army be the bad guy in Doctor Who again.

[anonymouscheeses]

The Morningstar family :)

First off, king of hell himself, Lucifer! I incorporated all of the animals he transformed into in the battle with Adam scene(goat, horse, snake, and duck but i wont include duck since hes obsessed already) Because I kept looking up what animals lucifer has been depicted as and was like, yeah nvm let's jst use this one scene and call it a day. His wings are black instead of white with black tips to further imply lil bro is a fallen angel. Made him doll-like to be similar to his daughter a bit but also they aren't freaking carbon copies of eachother, she is unique I swear guys. He's also not an all powerful being, he has limits, he gets tired quickly and his physical strength is LOW ASF he cannot throw a punch for the life of him. Personality wise, he is judgemental, prideful, and neglectful. But it's okay cuz he's silly 😐 /j he is super different, and it takes years for Charlie and him to be on speaking terms. He's trying, but is that enough?

Lillith!!! The first succubi, from what I know. I didnt include succubi features because I'm an idiot and forgot that was a concept. Sure it may not be canon anymore, or at all maybe, but I would've liked to make it true ☹️ there's not alot known about her in the show and we don't know why she is in heaven (if that's even her tbh). So once we know I'll either rewrite that or keep it as it is, not sure. But this Lillith does own Alastor's soul, she knows that he is one of the most unusual and powerful sinner in hell, so once she flees to heaven she gains his soul to keep an eye on Charlie, in return she gives him influence over hell(being that she influences hell with her voice) The radio station and all, since that's pretty much all he wants. He gives her info on the hotel's progress and how Charlie is doing, she just wants to be there. Personality is uh, calm, ambitious, and generous, yet negatively she is strict and wants things her way. She is the one closest to Charlie and very dear to her, which is why Charlie always tries to call her instead of Eve or Lucifer. Even though Charlie knows now she won't pick up the phone anymore, maybe ever again. It still comforts her to call anyways.

Lastllyy, Eveeee!! She's a pretty silly lil gal. She ate the apple of knowledge, so she was cursed to forever be reminded of it when she sees her tail. Oh yeah, they are also all married! Lillith's ring is under her glove. Anyway, she is pretty powerful despite her having no demon form. She already looks demon enough to fit in. So she does, she goes into pentagram city often and creates bonds with the people. Some know she is Eve and some just see her as a friendly yet powerful individual. Her magic is similar to Charlie's, she got the fireworks coming out of her finger from Eve, and they both can heal their body parts. Charlie doesn't know it because she hasn't needed to yet. Eve uses her charm to be friends with the people of hell, Lillith uses it to gain an army for the fight against heaven, Lucifer couldn't care less and coops himself up in his castle. Personality wise, she is very golden retriever, peaceful, and honest, yet also neglectful being that she spends time with demons rather than her own daughter. (She's barely there with Charlie even before she disappeared along with Lillith. But when they moved to the hotel she tried to make up for it.)

She regretted the marriage. For years.

The potential of Lillith angst is immeasurable, it's painful. Imagine being the first woman, forced into a marriage with a controlling man, falling in love with an angel, the other angels forbidding that, you both try to get Eve to join your relationship, she takes the apple but evil and such take over the world, and then because of your lover's dreams you are all sent to hell. Freaking horrible.

Demon forms!! Charlie gained Lillith's demon form, but I may give her dragon wings to make up for it. Messy doodle I knowww *sob*. Eve doesn't have one because the elder angels stripped that away form her because they were terrified of all of them having stronger forms. They are also ALL cursed with different features. Soo uh, Lucifer has one red eye to remind him of his evil side, he also has all sort of animal details and doll features because he's a mess and a control freak! :3 Lillith has horns, hooves, and a tail because she joined the devil. Eve is blind, the angels ripped her eyes out because she dares to willingly see the devil and his bride, she has wings on each side of her head because she was also a fallen angel(it was hell, because she was unhappy in being Adam's wife, it was temporary as she made herself go to hell instead of being kicked out.) She has a snout and ears too, cuz goat, and a tail with a shape of an apple at the end. Eve was done the worse oh lawwdd 😭😭

BABY CHARLIE!! She at one point HAD to have worn overalls. Right? PLEASE?? I don't know how to draw toddlers bear with me here.

Emo Charlie! Yayy.... she got her period so now she's an adult. 💀 little does she know it's actually a trauma response to being neglected so she tries to get attention by being weird!! 😃👍 (I ruined emo Charlie now)

(I have no idea how to do aesthetics... I'm in pain.)

When I said Lucifer is judgemental, prideful, and neglectful, I meant it. He's a horrible person. But he's trying to be better. That doesn't make him good nor excuse his behavior, he deserves the consequences. Which is why I don't like Lucifer in the show. He is NOT a good person but in one episode he is deprived from the karma of YEARS of neglect and shame. He just says "oh ill support you now" despite two episodes later the message is that actions speak louder than words which only applies to Vaggie for some reason. Why is Lucifer all of a sudden the exception? Oh right cuz he's a silly dad with depression so it's fine(Sorry but this genuinely pisses me off). And people in the fandom have demonized Charlie for being "mean" to him, when she is honestly so valid for reacting like that. The thing is, I don't hate Lucifer. Which is why I hate him if that makes sense. I hate that I like a character that shouldn't be liked yet. This should have been an arc for season 2. This scene should have been the start of the journey. The scene I drew out above is in ep 5 and it's the only interaction they get (it replaces the more than anything scene)

Charlie has no idea how humans/sinners work. She likes to observe them but never quite gets the purpose of their actions. She's emotionally unintelligent like in the show. Which lemme just say, is a FLAW. Characters have FLAWS PEOPLE. If I see another person shaming her for indirectly hurting Angel in episode 4 I'm going to lose it 🥰 she doesn't get emotions, she doesn't understand how people work, because she's been in isolation her entire 200+ years of living maybe less. But still this is all new to her and she is not at fault at all for that (im projecting probably) 🙄 (this is before Vaggie is revealed to be a fallen angel ofc). She's so in awe at her people, it's like a new world and she just wants to understand. It's kinda creepy but y'know it's a Charlie thing. Vaggie also is emotionally unintelligent but that's because she never used to focus on relationships or bonding. Which causes bad communication and problems between the two, YAY DEVELOPMENT!!

Idk bro I just wanted to draw her full demon form again. Uhh from the last time I drew I gave her... a new outfit, darker fur to match her skin, uhh, and dragon wings. Ya thas all but I like this one so much more already lmao. I got the fire hair idea because when she gets angry in the show(+pilot) her hair would defy gravity and it would remind me of yknow.. fire.

They're first meeting went swell! Unlike Lucifer and Vaggie's... but that's for later. Emily grew up afraid of hell but especially Lucifef and turning out the way he did. She still is but she's getting used to having the monster of her bed time stories be a short gummy bear. (Takes place when Charlie and Lucifer are in... better terms I guess) Also, Vaggie and Lucifer's first meet? Not great. Let's just say... Vaggie replaced Alastor and it become "Hell's Greatest Pal" or somthn like that. But yeah, Lucifer didn't really like Vaggie, not because she's a woman n homophobia hellll no his wives are wives, but because he didn't think she was good enough for her. Being a sinner n all. He's a hypocrite like that 😭 plus, he knew Vaggie was a fallen angel but he's not a monster so he didn't say anything. Just passively jabbing at the fact she is in the song to make her scared.

And one last doodle before I sign off!

These six bro... my absolute favorites <3 if you want please send in a request of them and their relationships I'm so desperate I love them sm (especially chaggily butttt lucifers stolen wives(that's the ship name I made 😭) too)

I hope you liked my rambel... my rewrite.... my redesigns.... and my stupidness... have a great day lmao

[fullcoffeemoon-nem]

Second part seasons' Theory

Timeline Theory here

Second update: 06-03-24

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Hi there!

The LVL UP gave us a new trailer full of expectations, as well as a preview of Stolas and Blitz's song from Full Moon.

Here are some considerations which, admittedly, may contain annoying spoilers.

YOU ARE WARNED!

I've scaled this analysis down to share one thing in particular about a X's post.

So now is almost confirm the chronology: Full Moon set on September 29th 2023.

There was a verbal clash between Blitz and Stolas, both are right and both are right.

The way I think:

Stolas has reached the limit and, accustomed to a situation in which other people's feelings have always been clear to him, he demanded an answer. Yes or no. He had already decided how to behave because he always assumed that Blitz didn't have masks.

Blitz, on the other hand, was raised in a context of manipulation, where the only certain thing was that his name was enough. He doesn't believe in the possibility of being loved for two reasons:

1. They keep repeating that wherever he goes, he only hurts

2. He doesn't believe himself enough to be

The two reactions were therefore: Stolas "I am not enough, therefore I am abandoned" and Blitz "I am abandoned because I am not enough".

I think we need to really find out what happened to Blitz's mother to find out more, but Applogy Tour could also start to clarify this story.

The song Is magnificent!

Apology Tour may be scheduled for October 31st, Halloween. There seems to be a party, that both Verosika and Stolas attend. Blitz will have to face both and will take the hit heavily. Did he get into the hole following Stols or did he end up there by chance?

The scene where all of Stolas' memories of Blitz are broken could have two meanings:

Rejection

Remorse

Ghost Fuckers should be specifically about Millie and Blitz and delve deeper into the latter's story.

Surely, you will have seen some boards with drawings of a ghost, Millie and Moxxie hanging from a chandelier and Blitz running to save them with Loona.

Not familiar to you? I hate to admit it, but I think those boards weren't fanmad...

Mistermaind will be a real bomb:

We have already seen the Angels and Agents, but it definitely doesn't end there. Their army of bishops has yet to be mobilized. The situation is so tragic that it sees to forced I.M.P to flee or even abandon someone…

We also see some new memories from Blitz, specifically:

A scene with his mother

Cash Buzko taking him away from the crashed Fizz (Here's the “them” of Oops?)

Here or on Applogy Tour.

Finally Sinsmas, obviously set in December. Here too, an incredible load of characters: The Goetia with Vassago (Parrot Boy on X), Andrealphus, Mammon and Satan.

They are probably also in Lucifer's palace.

There were also sad leaks for this episode: Via's song and the final confrontation with her father, who seems to have taken a holiday… Is it Blitz's fault?

I need to recover and at the same time the new episode...

[oathkeeperoxas]

Codywan rec list – fics I had open in my browser for 4+ months in 2022

Surely I’m not the only one who opens fics and then leaves them open for ungodly amounts of time before I read/comment on them... anyway I have cleared my browser out as a first act of 2023, and I am here to share with you some of the gems that I found there which deserve more appreciation 😤 please find several excellent codywan fics below!

Dream you not of broken men [38.9k] by aceofsuns

Clones are disappearing from the Imperial Army. CC-2224, haunted by the memories of the man he loved and killed, decides to investigate. Its a question of what exactly is up with the clones' medical examinations, what has happened to the missing troopers, and how CC-5052 is mixed up in all this. (Featuring Imperial Clone Commander CC-2224, Cody and Obi-Wan trying to navigate what they are to each other during the Clone Wars, and the clones doing the best they can to support each other despite everything else)

Only read this if you want to cry 👍 no but for real it messed me up in the besttttt way like oh my god this fic is so excellent in everything it sets out to do – the POV of an Imperial chipped Cody is so tense, and the flashbacks to the clone wars and codywan’s developing relationship will tear your heart out. Tragic codywan my beloved!!!!!!!!

Travelling at the Speed of Light [32.2k] by @anaclastic-azurite

Cody’s General has feelings for him. It’s not a problem. *** In which Cody spends the years of the Clone Wars dealing with things that are a problem, and then a little longer afterwards dealing with the things that are not. OR: A festering pile of loosely connected one-shots following the years of the Clone Wars, featuring (mostly) one-sided pining!Obi-Wan and Cody, who very much does not have the time to deal with his General’s shit on top of his own.

Honestly contender for favourite fic of last year, this one just has everythingggg the humour is packed in alongside the angst and the developing relationships so so well. I love slow burn codywan, and this delivered – the trust and the friendship between Cody and Obi-Wan in this feels so earned and so real, and makes the cumulation of their feelings at the end even more sweeter for it!

when our truth is burned from history [23.6k] by writerforlife

"'You are so good at protecting others, my dear, that you often forget to look after yourself.' Kenobi hesitates, then briefly, briefly enough that Cody thinks he has imagined it, squeezes Cody’s shoulder. 'I am not keen to leave you in the ice.'" Or: When a mission to a snow-and-ice-covered planet goes wrong, Cody and Obi-Wan are forced to flee across treacherous terrain with only each other for warmth. Along the way, they confront all the things they have been avoiding -- including their feelings.

Every cold weather trope you could want, plus a few more on the side! This has great prose and some juicy scenes to sink into, the hurt/comfort is exquisite and the set up for codywan and Cody’s character particularly is awesome

Good Man of War [16.2k] by @ooboowoonkoonooboo

During a medic’s first mission with the 212th, everything goes wrong. In the midst of it all, Cody deals with his growing feelings towards General Kenobi.

Very very good!! The mission here was very tense and the punches kept coming. Mind the gore/violence tags though, the author is very much not kidding about that, but I adored every OC in this fic, and loved loved loved how Cody was written in it!

The Raephens’ Gifts [8k] by @lttrsfrmlnrrgby

After the end of the Empire, after seeing the remaining clones and Jedi and a rebuilding Republic to something stable and close to real peace, Obi-Wan and Cody take some time away from their duties and take a vacation on a backwater planet in Wild Space to rest and recover. They sleep a lot, catch up on the last decade's books, go for long walks, and work to enjoy just being them, instead of Generals on whose shoulders the galaxy rests. They also make friends with some smart local birds.

A soft epilogue for my boys!!! I adore post-canon fics, and domestic established relationship, and healing and dealing with what happened in canon, and this is a fix it on top of all that deliciousness. Excellent prose and a unique set up finishes off this lovely treat.

deep in your marrow [2.7k] by @redminibike1

Huffing out a chuckle, Obi-Wan stood, moving across the small space to Cody’s cot and resting one knee on the mattress. Pressing his palms to the indented cheeks of Cody’s helmet, he sought out the catches, releasing them with a quiet hiss. “Head up,” he murmured. Obliging, Cody propped himself up on one elbow, blinking sleepily as Obi-Wan tugged the helmet up and off. “Hi,” he rasped, eyes warm and melting in the low light. Or: After a long and difficult campaign, Obi-Wan seeks out his commander. For Codywan Kiss Bingo 2022: kiss on the stomach/fingers/[redacted]/lips

Obi-Wan taking care of Cody hits soooo good, and this is a very soft get together that has lots of layers going on underneath. The contrast between how Obi-Wan deals with what he’s feeling and how Cody deals with what he’s feeling is sooooo much like oh okay I’m going to have shrimp emotions about this ship just thinking about it!

[altocat]

https://x.com/VERGILROTH/status/1710137727851647109?s=20

“Elfe’s words shake Sephiroth to his core, for though people call him a hero, he is still just Shinra’s pawn.”

So he knows! He fucking knows, and if EC goes well, we will soon learn how he really came to first see this. Elfe and her words were another big wake-up call for him. He immediately saw that something was wrong. Our boy was shooketh.

I am also seriously reconsidering everything we saw in Crisis Core now, especially with Sephiroth refusing the missions that would lead to Gen and Angeal and his subtle acts of treason.

When he tells Zack that they will “fail” to eliminate their friends, it’s very sly and secretive. They want to help them get away in time before the army shows up. Seph was literally doing everything he could to save his friend’s lives, and finally it culminated with him seriously considering running from Shinra on the eve of the Nibelheim mission.

He was SO close to waking up and gathering the courage to escape, and his friends’ desertions were so much of what fueled that. I think he will see the first hints of him being “corrupted” like this in EC and that’s why I would say your theories about Shinra stopping him from acting on his own in the story is probably pretty valid.

I just want to know what happened to make him so hesitant to desert besides the obvious train of brainwashing and conditioning, because this thing with Elfe really tells us that Seph knows he is a pawn and doesn’t act according to his own will. What will they show us in EC that could explain why someone aware like this would be reluctant to flee? Hmmm.

This scene, albeit very brief, is one of the pinnacle Sane Seph scenes. It brings up some VERY interesting ideas about his character, which I think EC is definitely cementing more and more little by little.

Either Sephiroth is loyal to Shinra solely because they raised him and he has no other alternative in mind, or something extremely traumatic is about to happen in First Soldier. With Sephiroth being shoved off into the Wutai War shortly after and the subsequent meeting of Angeal and Genesis, something in this narrative is likely to break him, while still leaving room for him to take in the lessons he learns from the FS trio--namely compassion and opening up to others. They may very well be the reason he is still able to gain friends in Angeal and Genesis, though his resignation towards bloodshed and his lack of a purpose becomes all the more pressing.

I'm hoping we see another update before Halloween. I think they're purposefully going to have the story completed before Rebirth, so we're going to have some very exciting new lore coming up soon, and rife for new Sephcanons!

[esters-notepad]

I tried so hard to stay out of the Gaza war discourse on the internet. I really tried. But I haven't heard anybody saying this, and it needs to be said.

(Today is 16 Dec 2023.) Recently Vladimir Putin let people ask him questions on Russian television. I saw a review on German Tagesschau. Somebody asked about the Ukraine war, and Putin replied "those scenes we see in Gaza... you don't see that in Ukraine".

Correct. You don't. But it's not because the Russian army is good and the Israeli army is evil, like Putin was implying.

It's because when the Ukraine war started and the civilians tried to flee, they were not met with closed borders. We - Germany, Poland, Finland, the Baltic states, probably more that I don't know of - we took them in. Gave them shelter, emergency supplies, access to medical attention, access to school. Two Ukrainian girls ended up in my daughter's class! They're welcome to stay for at least as long as the war goes on.

If Gaza is an open-air prison, then Egypt controls one of the doors. If the Middle East states and Russia cared about the Palestinians of Gaza, cared about them as human beings and not just a way to make Israel look bad, the border at Rafah should have been opened the second the Israeli Army crossed into Gaza. Every Palestinian should have been allowed to run into Egypt. From there, they should have been allowed to travel on into Russia, Saudi Arabia, Iran and lots of other states. They should have been given shelter there for at least as long as the war goes on.

It's no more than what Europe did for Ukraine.

[changelingsandothernonsense]

Wip Whenever

It's the first day of spring kids! I want winter to come back... Tagged by both @mareenavee and @orfeoarte <3 I get to this really late so I imagine everyone else has been tagged/ I probably shouldn't be a bother with my art wips lol. Anyway, we have art and writing... I've been doing a bit of costume design. That and we finished Josh's hair in the render and we will start with that.

Josh fucking about in his big, fancy warlord tent before assaulting Red Mountain. That man built an army and is choosing to be a tart about it. Let him be... also probably the longest extent of his hair. :P This is long so under a cut the rest goes!

Next, I've been playing with two concepts the first is Josh's Twin Lamps persona Molag’shaln. Oh, it's a whole arch.

And the next is Josh's appearance as of 4th Era 199. Complete with Ashlander ritual scaring. These symbolise atonement (yes Yani has the same style, he got them as atonement for familial mistakes, Josh's is Red Mountain related). Oh and the mullet stays, I can't help myself. It's too him.

Josh is done with everyone ever for the reasons below... Writing! Been working on Serious Mistakes again and yes...its a Josh chapter. Josh is in a fight then he gets tired.

Hang on.

“What?” He hissed under his breath.

Something whizzed past Teldryn’s right ear, the sound vibrating the hollow helmet. He felt a heat erupt behind him and smelt the stench of burning fabric, wood, roasting fish, ash yams. He turned to face the bazaar and saw the canopies had caught alight, the flames spreading through the marketplace with a ferocity that suggested an accelerant. He realised that he hadn’t smelt anything but sulphur, ash storms... Surely, he hadn’t missed something that obvious! He rushed back towards the marketplace. A small group of well-armoured mercenaries were clashing with a growing contingent of Redoran Guard. He scanned the battle scene, searching for the Argonian who stole his belongings earlier that day. Nothing! Wait! Scales!

The scene was a blur as Teldryn rushed in. Golden moonstone sword clashing with blades of iron, steel. He moved between the mercenaries like a dancer, skewering one particularly persistent one who would just not fall to his sword the first five times he slashed at him. He hastily pushed the dying Nord off his blade with the heel of his boot.

He looked around the scene before him, the shadows from the fire were disorientating and the smoke was beginning to choke the air from his lungs. No! He can’t have lost that bastard yet! Not when he was so close! There was a sudden movement. A peculiar figure in dark leather armour was racing north up the main street towards the city gates. Slight, his tail bobbing in rhythm with his gate. He’d found his man! 

He heard a woman scream.

He looked behind him, attempting to locate the out-of-place noise. Not far from the entrance to the Netch was his answer. A Khajiit was tugging a slight dunmeri woman by her hair. His clawed hands unsheathing his sword. Time seemed to stand still for several moments. Teldryn looked back towards the fleeing Argonian. Then towards the Khajiit. He watched as the Dunmeri woman reached for the small weapon at her belt. The Khajiit moved his blade towards her abdomen. Shit! He ran towards the mercenary, sword in hand. He grabbed the fucker by the throat and plunged his blade through the cat’s spine. Bone cracking and giving to his blade, the slightest smell of burned flesh and hair wafted on the wind. The Khajiit gurgled as his body finally went limp against the blade.

They really just make it too easy?

He let out a breath and looked over the mess before him. The Dunmeri woman had landed on the ground. Auburn hair fell wildly over her face. The front of her terracotta tunic now soaked a dark red. She stared back up at him with those same wide, amaranth-coloured eyes he’d first noticed at the corner club weeks ago. What was she still doing out here? Practically unarmed and totally underprepared!

What was she thinking?

Why do you care?

“Damn Outlanders, never paying attention! You’ll get yourself killed!” He scolded. Teldryn pulled his blade from the now lifeless mercenary and dropped the sod to the ground before the woman. He lightly flicked the errant blood to the side and watched as the woman before him smiled and tilted her head to the side. 

He didn’t mind that. He also didn’t have time for this.

Don’t lose him!

Shit! Right again! Teldryn looked back towards the main gates, the faint shadow of his mark disappearing amongst the darkness. He was right, the Raven Rock Gaols were the target. He took off in pursuit, all his focus on reaching those cells before that fuck could disappear into the tunnels. He moved through the dying chaos, certain that the rest of Veleth’s men could handle whatever mercenaries were left. Teldryn sprinted back through the main street slowing down to a light jog as he approached the Bulwark. He can’t lose him down those tunnels. Not now!

He reached the shabby wooden door that led to the town’s gaols. It had been left wide open.

Teldryn quickly entered the narrow passageway, carefully closing the door behind him. He didn’t need anyone else following him. Not when he was so close! He stomped through the dimly lit corridor towards the singular cell that lay at the end. The barred gate had been unlocked and left wide open. The room before him was empty save for the small, extremely uncomfortable cot that lay in the corner. He had spent more nights than he cared to admit on that thing. And yet, as exhaustion began to settle in his bones once again that old cot seemed just as inviting as his bed back at the Retching Netch.

By Azura had he really wasted this much energy?

[herbirdglitter]

I had such a good idea for a lord of the rings/Narnia crossover, but I know I will never write it so I will leave it here.

It goes thusly:

Legolas, Gimli, and Aragorn are making their way through the paths of the dead. Legolas can see the ghosts, right? All of a sudden he sees a light in the distance and as soon as he focuses on it, it's as if he's zooming towards it, being flung through nothingness and lights and noises too jumbled to understand, until quite suddenly, he's sitting strange little room, surrounded by people in strange clothing, feeling very, very queer.

essentially, (spoilers for the last battle kids) when Tirian gets chucked into our world as a weird ghost thing, tries to speak and asks for help, Legolas get's chucked there too, and the same thing happens.

the friends of Narnia decide Narnia must be in great peril (they don't know what to make of Legolas), they go to find the rings, and everything happens as before. Nearly everything. While Jill and Eustace get flung into Narnia, Peter, Edmund, and Lucy find themselves on a grassy hill by a river. They mill around, find some locals, and establish that this is definitely not narnia. They figure they must be here to help the stunningly gorgeous dryadish guy but none of the locals have heard of him. Least ways, not the way they're describing him.

Meanwhile, the three hunter trio are sailing upriver (downriver?) freeing slaves and recruiting people to their cause, hoping to bring an army to help Gondor. And who does Legolas see? why those very noble looking funnily dressed ghost people. They all rendezvous on land, introductions are made, and a brief description of the situation is given. Peter volunteers their help which is gladly accepted after they explain that they're not actually as young as they look and a brief recap of their battle experience. Lucy has been speechless and staring at Legolas for almost the entire time, and Edmund uses the opportunity apologize for his sister and then flirts with him outrageously. Gimli gets protective, and Peter and Aragorn exchange long suffering glances.

Cut to the battle. this is where it gets good.

The three Pevensies are fighting back to back when they are approached by a bigass troll. They've never been trained to fight this creature, hell they hadn't even seen one before a couple of minutes ago. For a brief moment before their instincts kick in, they stand frozen.

And in that brief moment, two arrows fired in rapid succession pierce the troll's heart, felling it where it stands, and familiar voice with a Finchley accent says "Well don't just stand there!" And there's Susan, looking annoyingly imposing on horseback and dressed in the garb of the Rohirrim. Next to her is a Man, tall and proud, and wearing the symbol of Gondor.

and that's chapter one.

in chapter two we go back to the train on which the Pevensies parents were riding as well, unbeknownst to either party. Unbeknownst to C.S. Lewis was that Susan joined her parents last minute and when the train crashed, she too was thrown into lotr but she was thrown much farther back to Boromir's death scene. However, in this version, because I cannot figure out how it would work otherwise without stealing someone else's idea, the three hunters flee without putting Boromir in the boat, and Susan manages to revive him and nurse him back to something resembling health using a combination of ww2 army nurse's medical trainign and herb lore she must have read in a book somewhere. (actually she got it in narnia but she's pretending that's not the case)

at some point she takes him to the elves for healing and then they make their way back to gondor by way of Rohan, get absorbed into a group of Rohirrim making their way to the rendezvous and ride with them the rest of the way. But, along the way, Susan and Boromir have a lot of time to chat. He's got his troubles, she's got hers and they're able to help each other. He tells her about the ring and how he tried to take it , she very logically points out that he's only human, the ring is very powerful, and he literally had only good intentions. The weakness that the ring prayed on was the love for his people, and that is a very good weakness to have. Basically all the stuff we've all been saying for ages. She tells him all about Narnia and the problem of susan (tm) and he tells her all the stuff we've been saying.

They come to an understanding and they grow. Is this a romance? No. He's aroace and she's not into him like that but they decide to get married anyway because they're convinced they'll be the power couple of the century. It's beautiful.

and that's chapter two.

chapter three is the wrap up.

Boromir goes to find Faramir, completely oblivious to the rest of the fellowship who all think something is dreadfully wrong with their eyes as he runs past, but this isn't his story (ask much as I am tempted to make it his) so we cut back to the fight. At some point Lucy is fighting back to back with Gimli because i think they'd be a power duo, Peter lends his giant fighting expertise to the oliphant fight, Edmund is fighting with two swords while singing snatches of songs by the Andrews sisters, Susan is humming under her breath now too because now he's got Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy stuck in her head, and Lucy is attempting some field healing and joining in on the chorus. In short, they look and sound insane. It is beautiful.

At some point, Eomer sees one of the siblings and instantly falls in love, probably Peter but I haven't decided.

They battle ends, they all have a chat and resolve some stuff and they decide to stay and help until they have to go.

so there's that

[taurielofmirkwood77777]

My prediction for the season 2 structure: (I'm excluding the Crows from this because we have no idea what role they're going to play in the story other than freeing Matthias)

Episode 1: Alina lives in hiding with Mal, trying to avoid suspicion, but something gives them away and Kirigan captures them, showing Alina his Nichevo'ya. She and Mal are brought on Sturmhond's ship and introduced to the captain. The episode ends when Alina finds out Kirigan plans to hunt a second amplifier for her.

Episode 2: Mal tracks the sea whip and finds it. Kirigan and his crew try to capture it. Sturmhond betrays the Darkling, Tolya and Tamar are introduced, and Alina and Mal are saved by Sturmhond. The episode ends with Sturmhond revealing he's planning to take Alina back to Ravka to meet someone who's interested in her OR with Kirigan ordering the Nichevo'ya to attack Genya after her betrayal (but not seeing the result of the attack).

Episode 3: Alina claims the second amplifier and tests it out. She discovers that there are three amplifiers and realises she must claim all three in order to defeat the Darkling Sturmhond reveals his flying ship and takes them all through the fold where they go Volcra hunting and Alina gets her first mental visit from the Darkling. They make it out and the episode ends with Sturmhold revealing he is actually Nikolai Lantsov, son of the king.

Episode 4: Alina, Mal and Nikolai have the argument in the tent and Nikolai takes Alina back to Os Alta, where she is presented in front of the king and she asks to be the leader of the second army. Alina goes to see Baghra and finds out Kirigan blinded her. She convinces the Grisha to let her lead them by using the Cut. She has a couple more visions of the Darkling and the episode ends with her deciding to fight him back.

Episode 5: Alina begins to learn how to lead the second army, while at the same time starts to lose her connection with Mal. She also starts her search for clues regarding the third amplifier. Alina finds out about the fights Mal has been participating in, so she starts hanging out more with Nikolai. Alina goes to that party where she meets with the Apparat, and the episode ends after he tells her she has an army of followers.

Episode 6: Everyone is preparing for war. David makes the mirrors that amplified Alina's power and would allow her to use the Cut more efficiently. The children are moved out of the Little Palace and Nadia's brother is introduced. Some fights between Nikolai and his brother. He reveals to Alina his backstory, and why he is unlikely to be king. The episode ends when Alina is visited again by the Darkling, who tells her that they'll meet soon.

Episode 7: Alina and Mal have another fight, which makes her go into the public crowd. People recognise her and start suffocating her, before she is saved by Tolya and Tamar. She finds a clue about the possible location of the third amplifier. Nikolai's birthday happens, and when Vasily reveals the deal he made with the Fjerdans, everyone realises they are in danger. The episode ends when the bells ringing announce the oncoming attack.

Episode 8: Big fight scene, Nichevo'ya everywhere, confusion, screaming etc etc. Alina tells Nikolai to get out and save Baghra. She, Mal, and everyone else who survived flee to the cathedral. The Darkling shows what he did to Genya and Alina agrees to give up. She tricks the Darkling and uses Merzost to almost kill him, before Mal interrupts. Everyone is taken through the secret tunnels while the cathedral collapses. Alina is badly hurt, but still alive. The episode ends with the Darkling emerging from the rubble (much like season one ended) OR with him sitting down on the throne of Ravka.

Okay, I know a lot of things would likely be changed from the book, like what happened with season one, but if I were to structure the events to fit a season of a show, so that each episode contains at least one fight scene/action scene and one cliffhanger, this would be my take.

[wildfyrevalkyrie]

Time for another week of @journeythroughjourneytothewest's book club! Complete with a brand new counter!

Chapter 5

Summary

Wukong has recently become quite chummy with the various spirits of Heaven. Fearing what he will do if continued to be left to his own devices, the Jade Emperor orders him to maintain the Garden of Immortal Peaches, where the Peaches are both Immortal and grant Immortality (not Bootleg this time), where Wukong proceeds to eat the rarest of the peaches. The Queen Mother hosts the Peach Festival, to which Wukong was not invited. He impersonates another immortal to attend, where he knocks the entire party out with a sleep bug, gets drunk, eats his fill, stumbles over to Laozi's place, and realizes how extremely he Dun Goofed when he eats some sacred pills meant to go the Jade Emperor. He flees back to Flower Fruit Mountain, and the Heavenly Army is sent to bring him back in. Wukong's Army has managed to hold off but not push back the Heavenly Army when the chapter leaves off.

Misc. Notes

Monkey Manners Counter: 4 (Wukong calls everyone "bro", including his superiors)

"If you dare but utter half a 'No'" Counter: 2

Speaking of the "bro"ing, the reactions of the Xu Jingyang/the Jade Emperor remind me of how the older generation reacts when a language loses its formality (see the "Crassification" of English, or German's formal you generally falling out of use with the modern generation (at least, based on stories from my dad))

Once again, we're told that Wukong is inherently mischievous (which, given the shenanigans this chapter, isn't a completely unwarranted comment)

So Wukong has the power to immobilize people and create sleep bugs. Why did he immobilize the maidens, anyway?

Wukong is very impulsive. Saw a bit of it w/ stuff like the Dragon Incident, but he's just giving into so much Temptation™ here

Wukong going back to Heaven after fleeing to go get his monkey buddies some Good Food™ is very wholesome ❤

The Jade Emperor really called all the king's horses and all the king's men to catch one (1) Monke (🐒)

• Wukong, when the cops he knew were gonna get called on him show up: What is this? The consequences of my own actions? How dare they!

Thoughts

Viva la revolución

Did the Jade Emperor fear Wukong was going to cause/inspire some kind of revolt? The text goes out of its way to mention that "[Wukong] no longer consorted with friends" because he no longer had the time to post-gaining his post at the Garden, which when added on that they were worried he had too much time on his hands/did not like how casual was, gives me "up and coming revolutionary" vibes (at least from their perspective, as Wukong seemed content enough pre-Garden)

Classism in Heaven

TL;DR: Book emphasizes that Wukong is from essentially a lower class of immortal who got promoted shortly before his subordinates (who are from the upper class) disrespect him, which makes me think the beef might not be personal.

The general situation pre-festival reads as a metaphor for classism. Specifically with the 'Divine Maidens coming to collect peaches' scene, where the other immortals made up excuses as to why they could go behind Wukong's back and take from the Garden he was in charge of without gaining his permission. Of note is the remark from one of Wukong's subordinates, "'Our Great Sage has a habit of wandering,'" which comes very shortly after the narration "[Wukong] did not take any more trips [after being assigned to the Garden]". Being annoyed about a change in management causing inconveniences is normal, however, it has been established that court etiquette/the Bureaucracy is taken very seriously in Heaven, making the choice to ignore it where Wukong is in charge stands out. Additionally, the chapter goes out of its way to stress that Wukong is only able to consider the simple things (eating three meals a day, making friends, sleeping well) and none of the "complicated" things like title, rank, or properly addressing one's superiors/subordinates, despite the fact that Wukong and the other immortals of FFM demonstrably understood at bare minimum rank last chapter. Given that it specifically associates these aspects with Wukong being a monkey demon and uses food to emphasize that the FFM Immortals are lower-class than the Heavenly Immortals (coconut water vs peaches festival), the whole situation comes across as an allegory for classism (ie despite being a well-regarded member of his community, because he had to literally fight to gain his position in the upper class, he isn't respected by those who were already immortal).

(Of course, there’s an alternate reading where the beef is personal and bc Wukong ‘skipped the line’ in terms of rank, so YMMV.)

Poll!

On a meta level, this chapter was a chore to read. I think it comes from the pacing. It feels like it goes too slow when it needs to speed up and too fast when it needs to slow down. How did everyone else feel?

[assistant-honcho]

Working on a clone wars AU to maybe write some fic in, here's what I got so far

The main turning point is that Fives manages to tell Anakin and Rex about the inhibitor chips. Rex gets his chip removed at a medical facility in the Jedi Temple, and Anakin tells the Jedi High Council. Fives disappears into the night, but is eventually hunted down and killed by the Coruscant Guard.

You then get a similar scene to Palpatine's arrest from RoTS. Kit Fisto and Agen Kolar are killed, and Sasee Tiin and Mace Windu are both injured. Sheev tries to force lightning them, but he overestimates their injuries and gets the lightning deflected, weakening him. He switches back to his lightsaber and is about to finish the two masters off when-

Count Dooku cuts through the window and enters Palpatine's office. When his spies informed him of the inhibitor chips' discovery, Dooku decided his master had failed and Dooku's best shot at power would be by leading the CIS to victory in the Clone Wars. He enters the office through the window and duels the weakened Sidious, who holds his own until he faces more attacks from a stabilized Windu. Dooku kills his master, then flees to avoid Tiin's telekinetic attacks and Windu's saber.

Dooku then goes on to continue waging the Clone Wars, this time in earnest. The clone troopers gradually get their chips removed due to pressure from the Jedi on the Kaminoans. They don't all go at the same time, but there is a large enough reduction in the size of the clone army that the Confederacy achieves sizable victories.

I'm also messing around with some numbers. The canonical size of the GAR(about 3,000,000 troopers) is just stupid. I would guess about 500 systems are active war zones, and that 3 million would be necessary for each of them. That would be enough to hold a planet, at least. I would expect clones to be deployed about 90% of the time, so the total number of troopers has gotta be like 1.67 billion.

As for Jedi, 10,000 is probably not enough. Assuming they're only deployed 50% of the time, there are only 10 per war zone, or 1 per 300,000 clones. I'd multiply Jedi numbers by 10, so there would be one hundred thousand Jedi total. Potentially only 10,000 operate out of the Temple on Coruscant and the rest are HQ'd elsewhere.

[nicascurls]

Final Family - Alice lives Au because I'm scared of what Don has done in season 3

Usual key changes for my AUs apply: Nica still has her limbs (fuck you Don), Season 1 took place 2 weeks after Cult like it was supposed to meaning Season 2 was 2018 and this then goes on to be just before Season 3 (around fall of 2019). True to the Final Family AU started by @streets-in-paradise and @losersclubisms Andy has adopted all the younger Chucky survivors and Nica still hunts Tiffany when possible but lives with them the rest of the time after rescuing Caroline.

So basically, Alice's 'death' happened not long after Chucky successfully possessed her, making her about 8 years old at the time. (I believe Curse was supposed to take place around January of 2013, I'm happy to make a post explaining why I think that if people are interested) Since we don't know Alice's birthday I'm just gonna make it the same as Summer's, so late May.

What ended up happening was as Chucky in Alice's body tried to stab the victim, they ended up being able to grab the knife and fight back, stabbing Alice in the abdomen before fleeing the scene. Chucky, afraid of dying since he didn't have his army of dolls yet, quickly made his way back to where he had been staying and transferred his soul back into a Good Guy before leaving Alice to bleed out. Alice however, managed to get up and at least out of where Chucky was staying before collapsing and someone finding her and taking her to hospital.

Long story short, Alice survives the attack and after being discharged from the hospital, is put back in foster care but she gave a different name after waking up out of fear of Chucky finding her again.

Over the next 5-6 years, Alice is sent to multiple different foster homes and during her free time secretly tries to find a way to visit Nica until the news comes out when she is 12 that Nica escaped and is assumed to be behind the murders that took place at Harrogate before her escape.

This is when Alice starts to form a reputation of 'trying to run away' from her foster homes whenever she gets an idea of where Nica and as she has worked out, Chucky and Tiffany would probably be.

Eventually, Alice settles down in a foster home since she realises that with Chucky and Tiffany being involved again, she needs a better constructed plan, and she gets along well with her current foster mother.

This takes us to fall of 2019, obviously the Final Family are all together, but Nica still believes Alice is dead. (When Chucky was possessing her he could essentially look into her memories and vice versa, and Chucky ended up showing Nica Alice's 'death' at one point during the year she was imprisoned). Chucky and Tiffany are working together again since they realise the danger they are in with the survivors together and at some point, Chucky finds out that Alice survived and they both go after her.

Now 14 year old Alice wakes up to a noise one night and creeps downstairs to find her foster mother dead and quickly flees the house, grabbing the bag she had packed for emergencies. From the research she had done over the years, she found out what had happened to Sarah back in the 80s and that Mike Norris was the one who first killed Charles Lee Ray. With that in mind she heads towards Chicago, hoping that someone in the police department may have worked with Mike and know where she could find him now.

This leads to Mike getting a call one evening from one of his old work friends, claiming that a girl has turned up asking if they knew where he was and that he saved her grandmother in the 80s but she won't tell them her name.

Mike and Karen both know the story about Alice from Nica and Andy, so quickly make their way to the station where they recognise Alice from the photo Nica has. They end up sharing their stories and tell Alice that they know where Nica is and that she is safe. Since it's late that night, Alice ends up staying with Mike and Karen for the night as they leave a message for Nica telling her they need to meet as soon as possible.

The next day, Nica gets back to them and they bring Alice over to the cabin, needless to say, it's a tearful reunion for both Alice and Nica. Andy and the kids obviously agree to Alice staying with them instantly and she ends up living at the cabin too and attends the same school as the other teens once again using her real name.

It turns out all the other kids get along great with Alice (especially Lexy since they bond over having shitty mothers and Devon through thier love of reasearch and the general fact that Devon is the most chilled of the kids) and Alice loves having so many people around since she had always wanted cousins or siblings. The twins also adore her and are very protective of her, calling her their little sister. Basically, Alice fits into the family instantly and Nica is overjoyed to have her niece back and to know she's safe.

[fantasyinvader]

Going by what that anon said the other day, the one about the game's ties to Buddhism, I've been thinking about Edelgard's hegemon husk form. Namely, concerning this line:

"Edelgard acts out of ignorance like an animal or common beast, her vision cannot see past her own immediate desires and so she acts on that ignorance and her own selfishness. But what condemns her to hell, what turns her into an evil demon instead of remaining a selfish yet innocent animal is that she turns away from many people imploring her to listen to them and that her actions are wrong and that she is causing suffering."

Considering the parley scene, as I've described here:

Dimitri flat out confronted her on her actions, to which she keeps trying to push lines he ends up countering. After this, she goes and turns herself into the Hegemon Husk. Edelgard knowingly lies, Edge of Dawn flat out says so. She knows who assassinated Lambert, but is shown saying it was the people of Duscur in Houses or that it has nothing to do with her despite being told it was done for her benefit. Hopes made it abundantly clear she knew TWSITD were experimenting on people in order to turn them into monsters for her army, she's even aiding them in it in-game, making it clear she wouldn't have stopped them "if she had known" in contrast to her words at Remire (and supporting Jeralt's views on the Flame Emperor). She knew where Monica was taken, but allowed her to be sacrificed because "an opportunity never came up." She put a hit on her classmates, then left her assassin to die (despite claims of some fans who said she was trying to scare off the teacher. Kostas did his job if that was the case, not his fault Rhea made someone other than Jertiza teacher, and that's not even touching her allowing other classes to rescue Monica). Then there's how her army, in her pursuit of absolute conquest of the continent according to Hopes, has a brutal "take no prisoners" approach to warfare. You either bend the knee to her or die. Houses also implied that Edelgard knows that her father was a puppet of TWSITD, yet she's still doing what they wanted her to do and attack Rhea. FEH has her fleeing from Lissa when her views on the burden of her lineage are challenged, while Edelgard is left saying "Gods are bad because they don't help people out and if they do help people out they make people weak and dependent on them" to Mila. She even tries to kill Dimitri after she's been beat and the Hegemon form fades away, the boy she used to love reaching out a helping hand only to be met with her throwing a dagger at his heart.

Edelgard did all this despite, and more, despite not being transformed into the Hegemon Husk. Not being physically an "evil demon" as anon put it. And as Hopes made it clear, while TWSITD did corrupt her they could have simply turned her into their puppet instead. Edelgard chose to work with them and chose to turn away from the truth when presented to her. As she herself says, she'd just turn a blind eye.

Here's my take, the devs have said that Edelgard's depth comes from the fact she's a violent conqueror who is also a cute girl. The Hegemon form is Edelgard stripped of the latter, left nothing more than a monster who seeks to rule the world. While TWSITD may have led her down this path, she choose to continue it just like she choose to go to war after ousting them from the Empire in Hopes. She gave up her own humanity long before she took that form, whether willingly or not. It's use in Hopes symbolizes that Edelgard hasn't changed in this timeline, she is still the same villain she always was despite not working with TWSITD. She's not the cute little girl she once was, that's the amnesiac Edelgard (the "cute girl" stripped of the violent conqueror). No, she's the one who started a continental war of conquest, intent on shaping Fodlan to suit her vision while removing anyone who defies her all while ignoring what her actions are actually doing. All the pain, death, suffering, and injustice she causes or is a part of, all of that she turns away from. She'll continue to lie and manipulate those around her as her meeting with her shadow made it pretty clear, she doesn't trust anyone.

The Hegemon is the core of Edelgard's character, and her single scene of being in that form in Hopes is meant to signify the shift from her willingly going down this path to her being rendered nothing more than a puppet. Her body being changed to reflect the blackened heart she sings about having, the cute girl part being gone and replaced with the evil demon.

[avrablake]

Hi rainstormdaughterdearest

I challenge you to list chapters/scenes/the timeline of events of your wip using the "in which this thing happens" format

Mother Dearest I love this question! I am going to try to do this without spoilers. We'll see how it goes.

*cracks knuckles*

Chapter 1: in which Thea runs into a couple scary looking guys in an alley

Chapter 2: in which Nix (one of those scary looking guys) is not having a good time

Chapter 3: in which Nix (still not having a good time) gets shot by Gram before sharing information

Chapter 4: in which Thea and Nix fight and both end up unconscious

Chapter 5: in which Thea and Kai get adopted into the found family

Chapter 6: in which Nix is REALLY not having a good time and thinks substance abuse is the answer (spoiler: it's not)

Chapter 7: in which Thea gets a prescription to work out

Chapter 8: in which Kai knows (uh oh)

Chapter 9: in which things get a lot worse for Nix (If you thought his times could not get worse you were mistaken)

Chapter 10: in which Nix meets up with Kaori

Chapter 11: in which Nix should not have trusted Kaori (spoiler: he's having an even worse time now. Times are not going to improve anytime soon)

Chapter 12: in which Thea gets her perspectives shaken

Chapter 13: in which the gang flees for "safety" to an even less safe place

Chapter 14: in which Thea feels guilty

Chapter 15: in which Thea is now the one having a Very Bad Time

Chapter 16: in which Nix hates waiting

Chapter 17: in which Nix does something Very Stupid™

Chapter 18: in which Thea makes a big decision and has a realization

Chapter 19: in which Thea learns about the past

Chapter 20: in which Gram tells a story

Chapter 21: in which Thea has a training montage

Chapter 22: in which Thea meets grumpy sad boi 2.0 Ryu

Chapter 23: in which there are a lot of people who do not like Nix, but maybe there are a few who do

Chapter 24: in which Nix is not good at making new friends

Chapter 25: in which Nix should not have said that

Chapter 26: in which Mel does something Very Stupid and Nix tries to fix it by doing something Even More Stupid

Chapter 27: in which Nix runs off like some kind of one-man army

Chapter 28: in which our heroes work together to defeat evil or something

Chapter 29: in which Gram has good news

Chapter 30: in which they all live happily ever after, or they would if they weren't dumbasses

Chapter 31: in which it's timeskip time

[luellal0l]

you all can thank @severevoiddragon for this one

here's two of the main characters for North Star, one of my stories that I've done nothing with! heads up it's long.

Wisteria: woke up in the ring of stones with no memories of who she was with Maven and the two of them decided to venture out to see where everyone else is after finding notebooks that had been left in a camp by soldiers. Typically seen in a white shirt, a long-sleeved pale pink wrap, and blue-gray pants that have lots of pockets. She has long brown hair that fades to pink at the tips and brown eyes.

The forgotten backstory: Wisteria was an alchemist and inventor. She lived in a cottage in the middle of the forest plotting how she was going to take down the king who had stripped her of her title and burnt the school at which she studied alchemy (he didn't burn the school. she did when they wouldn’t give her something to do an experiment she wanted - the same one she had proposed to the king which made him strip her of her title as a member of the Royal Alchemy Society as it would harm their kingdom and the citizens). When word of her plot to assassinate the king at a royal dinner began to circle, the royal guard took her prisoner and marched her out to be executed away from people due to fear for civilians because of the dangerous potions and poisons she was known for creating. They set up camp by a circle of stones and prepared to execute her at sunrise. Before they shoot her, she splashes two potions: one that wipes the memory of anyone around and one that creates a large, blinding blast of light and knocks out anyone who happens to be in its proximity. The army flees, all except for Maven, who was in the circle because she was supposed to deliver the killing shot but instead wound up being affected by the potion.

As the story goes on, Wisteria deals with voices in her head that tell her to do nasty things (the mountain cliff scene where it tells her to push Maven off the large cliff into a chasm to which she reacts physically, ending up falling in herself, crashing into the river below and finding the Cave City and its inhabitants) and ends up not being the hero of the story, despite being the main character.

The most important thing about Wisteria is that she is not a good person. Her morals were so fundamentally flawed during the time that she plotted to kill the king that anything she thinks is a very good thing is actually evil. She is unaware of this, as no one told her otherwise. She is not a good person and never has been a good person, no matter how hard she tried to fight her destructive urges towards others.

Maven: woke up in the ring of stones with no memory of who she was with Wisteria, wearing armor, carrying a sword at her side and a loaded crossbow in her hands. She has no idea what she used to do but feels a strong urge of protection, often stopping Wisteria from doing something stupid. Likes to pretend she doesn't care about Wisteria and only wants to get back to the capital where she assumes she can regain her memory but has slowly started to care for and be willing to die for Wisteria.

The forgotten backstory: Maven was a captain of a division of the Royal Guard. She was one of the first to know of any threats against the life of the king she had sworn to protect and usually made the decision on how to deal with the traitors. When word gets to her of Wisteria, a former alchemist of the Royal Alchemy Society, is plotting revenge against the king for refusing to allow her to work on a project that would endanger the kingdom and everyone in it, she decides the best course of action to take is an execution. Pronto. She and her army march to Wisteria's tower and arrest her, then march far away from the kingdom in case something goes wrong. It was a good thing they did that, because they missed a couple of potions tucked within one of Wisteria's many, many pockets. One that Maven now feels the effects of. (The rest of the guard had fled. It was what Maven had told them to do if something went wrong. They had to get back and warn the others to make sure the kingdom stayed safe.)

As the story goes on and she gets pieces of her memory back, her gut tells her not to trust Wisteria. But she can't help it. Wisteria has had her back the entire trip and she has had Wisteria's. She assumes her gut was wrong. She forgot that her gut was the most trusted in the whole kingdom for scoping out a dangerous situation.

The most important thing about Maven is that she is pessimistic and doesn't have much hope for a better world where people choose to be better. This mindset stems from her years fighting battles and wars. She has watched so much suffering that she finds it hard to care when other people are now suffering. The loss of her memory does not negate this; however, the connection Maven makes with Wisteria while both have no memory creates a crack in Maven's emotional defenses that Wisteria then exploits at the very end.

[thevalleyisjolly]

what, in your opinion (or the opinion of anyone reading this after you answer) would a Maedhros Hamlet AU require? snappy lines, character parallels, etc... right now I'm thinking the setting is Formenos, with Fëanáro dead and all of the Valar as the people fëanor is encouraging Mae against

First of all, absolutely fantastic ask, thank you!  Formenos is a good place to start, I think my brain went towards Maedhros at Himring, sometime before the Nirnaeth, hearing his soldiers talk about a ghostly apparition on the ramparts that looks like his father. So he goes to investigate, and lo and behold, a spirit that resembles Fëanor appears and reminds him of his (Fëanor's) death and his (Maedhros') Oath.

Now Maedhros is very far from stupid, and does not immediately take the apparition at face value. This could be a trick of Morgoth or his servants, sent to sow terror and discord among the Noldor. Nevertheless, the reminder of the Oath begins to press in upon him...

Noldorin royal politics (aka the usual completely functional Finwëan family dynamics) happen. Perhaps with the memories of old tensions brought up again by the apparition of Fëanor, Maedhros is a little more tense than usual, something which does not go unnoticed by his allies. Old grudges and whispers start to simmer again, of Losgar and the Helcaraxë, even of Alqualondë. 

Meanwhile Celegorm and Curufin, as Rosencrantz and Guildenstern-esque figures, are very transparently pushing to do something about the Silmarils.  Maedhros is onto their game and tells them off for trying to play him like a flute (I just love that line too much) and Maglor (a much less helpful Horatio) plays the flute because of course he does, this is what happens when you have bards in the family.

With all of this happening, Maedhros devises a plan that surely cannot go wrong.  Tensions boiling under the surface and fathers in need of avenging?  Time to stage a show of force and unite against a common enemy!  Fingon (as a sort of Ophelia role) is worried about this sudden aggression from Maedhros, who’s always been the more diplomatic and rational among the whole House of Finwë.  He tries to check in on him, but Maedhros is consumed with his plan and sweeps Fingon along in it, even as the pressure takes its toll and he starts wondering to be or not to be...

(As a side note, the “to be or not to be” monologue translates surprisingly well, especially with the Everlasting Darkness as the undiscover’d country)

The Union takes shape.  The Nirnaeth happens.  Fingon, now taking Polonius’ role, is slain rather than Morgoth.  Maedhros flees the battlefield with Maglor and joins up with his other brothers.  There’s a little bit of wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff here; pretend Lúthien and Beren has been happening in the background and they’ve recovered a Silmaril.  Maedhros hears of their death; in a terrible place mentally and emotionally after the Nirnaeth and Fingon’s death, he is convinced by Celegorm and Curufin to fulfill their Oath and attack Doriath.  “O, from this time forth/My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth!”

The attack fails in its main objective and they don’t get a Silmaril.  Celegorm and Curufin (and Caranthir too of course, can’t think of a good character equivalent for him) are dead.  Meanwhile, something is rotten in the continent of Beleriand.  It’s not going great for the Noldor!  Nearly everyone is dead, insert graveyard scene here.  This here is where we diverge from the play a little; there is obviously no Claudius or Gertrude or Laertes, but Maedhros-Hamlet still sends his letter to Sirion, portending his arrival.  The Third Kinslaying happens, lots of bodies everywhere but still no Silmaril. 

At this point, Maedhros knows that he has succumbed to the genre, that there is only one way this ends.  The Norwegian army Host of the West arrives and defeats Morgoth, taking the Silmarils; Maedhros prepares to make his last stand despite Maglor’s best efforts to convince him otherwise in a version of the closet scene.  Instead of a poisoned blade in a duel, it is the hallowed light of the Silmaril that seals his fate; he feels its burn and he knows.

He doesn’t fight it.

“O, I die, Makalaurë; The potent jewel quite o’er-crows my spirit: I cannot live to hear the news from Aman; But I do prophesy the Silmaril lights On Eärendil: oh! Middle-earth rejoice; So tell them, with the occurrents, more and less, Which have solicited.  The rest is silence.”

(I know it doesn’t quite scan, shhhh)

And Maglor lives to sing in regret the tragedy of Fëanor and Fëanor’s kin.

Idk, that’s all I got off the top of my head ¯\_(ツ)_/¯  Would love to hear anyone else’s thoughts!