#genuinely would it have been better to just make the killing blow after everything she did to you

[eruukat]

in el terms i have recently* replayed kotor but im missing bastila so bad. and cutscene comps for kotor SUCK the last time i went looking for tattooine clips, op slaughtered all of the tusken raiders just to get some czerka credits WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YUO so anyway methinks ill have to replay it myself. or something.

*translation: like 3 years ago

[oopwoop]

Playing Minecraft W/ The SpiderVerse Kids

pairing(s): Miles Morales (e!1610!), Hobie Brown, Pavitr Prabhakar, Gwen Stacy

warning(s): swearing! unedited.

i used this site to figure out/decide what type of player they’d be

i’ve been playing a lot of Minecraft recently and thought of what it’d be like to play with them so.. here you go!

Miles Morales (e!1610!)

He prefers Creative over Survival for sure, reasoning: he’s scared of the mobs and refuses to fight them

Plus in Creative it’s a lot easier for him to build stuff because he is definitely The Big Builder or The Decorator. He makes the most outrageous buildings but they look good

Has a whole world full of buildings and stuff. Like, complete towns filled with mansions

Playing with him is a lot of fun though! He’ll come up with build designs with you and you’d work together. If not, the two of you would totally mess around, building things just to blow them up with TNT or set it on fire

Miles is the one to put your beds next to each other. He thinks it’s cute, though he’ll do it without saying anything and if you mention it he becomes a stuttering mess and says he knows nothing and didn’t do it.

If you do end up playing Survival with him he will make you kill all the mobs, no doubt about it. He’ll make the base, probably trade with villagers, farm and kill the animals for food but not much else. He’s too afraid of dying

“Miles, did you put the beds next to each other? Because I know I didn’t.” You snicker teasingly, your character staring at the beds then at his character. You turn yourself to glance at him and notice his eyes are wide and he’s blushing.

“What..? What, me? Nooo.. That’s stupid why would I do that? Maybe you forgot that you did it because I didn’t.” He stumbled over his words, refusing eye contact. It was cute.

“Mhm, okay. Y’know, maybe I did forget. I think it’s a cute idea, though.” You smirked, kissing his cheek before turning back to the screen and continued playing.

Gwen Stacy

I think she’d play Survival and only Survival, claims Creative is for the weak

She goes all out in Minecraft, fighting mobs, getting achievements, going to the Nether, all of that. She’s not afraid

Definitely The Pro or The Achiever. Like I said, Gwen goes all out

She’d forcefully make you go with her, but she’d give you the right equipment needed and pointers on how to fight. If you genuinely don’t want to fight with her she’d have you farm and trade, pretty much do the smaller necessities for survival.

Has finished Minecraft several times, got all the achievements and everything on different worlds, never gets old for her

If you got her to play Creative she’d go on a rampage, killing everything for fun. Or she’d fly around trying to find different biomes

“C’monnn.. it’s not that bad!” Gwen would groan, trying to convince you to go to the Nether with her. “I’ve given all the armor and tools you need! Just try not to die.”

“Try not to die?? It’s the Nether, I’ll die no matter what! I’m not a pro like you. I’m not the one who’s finished this game multiple times.” You gave her an incredulous look, gaping at her words. It’s one thing to not die on the main world, that was usually easy, but the Nether? Yeah right, she’s insane.

“You’re overreacting.. Plus, if I’m a pro, wouldn’t that make you feel better that you’d be with me? Not by yourself.” She chuckled, arguing her point. You just scoffed and told her to go, following in after her.

Pavitr Prabhakar

I see him playing both Creative and Survival. Just really depends on his mood. Either way he’s having fun

He’d be The Zookeeper, collecting animals like Pokémon cards for real. Within the first 30 minutes of playing he already has a house full of cats and dogs, probably three parrots flying around him and is starting an animal farm. How? No idea, he just does

In Creative mode he’d spawn them all, naming all the animals with name tags one by one, even coloring the dog collars too

In Survival he’s taming every animal he sees, using a lead to bring the animal to a fenced in area. There’s one full of cows, pigs, horses, all the usual ones. But he even has them for pandas, camels, and turtles.

He’s also one to place his bed next to you, though unlike Miles, he’s not embarrassed by it, actually stating out loud he’s doing it. No shame at all.

When he’s not collecting animals, he’s following you around. He has no idea where you’re going or what you’re doing but he doesn’t care. He’s following and collecting every flower he sees, claiming he’s gonna make a bouquet for you.

“Hey, Pav? Where’s the- woah what the hell? How do you already have a whole army of pandas? Where’d you even get those from? We’re no where near a jungle..” You questioned, beyond surprise by the sight of around a dozen pandas in a fenced up area. It was even decorated to what a panda would need, looking like a small jungle.

“Hm? You say that likes it’s hard to find them! What’s so bad about it? I think they’re cute!” He smiled brightly, his character jumping around in the area full of pandas. “I have more than just pandas!”

“How?? We haven’t even played for more than an hour! When did you do all this?” While it was probably better not to question him, you needed to know how he did it, and seeing him more than happy to explain made it all the more better.

Hobie Brown (sorry it’s shorter than the rest)

He genuinely does not care if y’all play Creative or Survival, doesn’t matter to him, he’s gonna be a complete menace either way

He’s not any of the type of players listed in the site I used, he doesn’t believe in consistency. He can go from killing mobs to farming. His main goal is to fuck with you though

He never gets you killed in Survival but he will mess around. He’ll hit your character (without a sword or anything) when you’re fighting a mob and run away. It’s like playing with a child

I can see him setting a village on fire and saying something along the lines of “they’re capitalist pigs and deserve to die” or something

All in all, he’s not much of a fan of Minecraft but he’ll play it with you if you ask.

“Hobie, why is there a village on fire? What did you do?” You raised a brow at him, staring at the slight smirk on his face. It was a telltale sign he did it, but you knew it was him either way. There’s no way a village randomly caught on fire.

“What ya mean, luv? Oh, tha’. Yeah I did tha’. Bunch a capitalist pigs, I tell ya. Jus’ doin’ my job gettin rid of ‘em.” He chuckled while setting another village on fire. You didn’t wanna know how many he’d set on fire at this point.

“It’s a game, B. And I need to trade with them, they have good stuff sometimes.” You whined, huffing at him. You know he doesn’t care and will do it anyways.

“Find another one then, luv.”

All of them!

My god is it a nightmare.. first it starts out as an argument, trying to decide whether or not y’all are playing Survival or Creative. Mainly Gwen and Miles though, Pavitr and Hobie don’t care.

After about ten minutes of arguing they decided to ask you, so whatever one you prefer is what y’all played on. Either way one of them is whining.

If you picked Survival it leads to a pouty Miles, complaining how he’s gonna die a lot, and a smiley Gwen.

Within the first day Miles has already made a small base for you guys, Pav has gathered a few animals (he pouted when it was stated the cows and such would be used for food eventually, Gwen was mining for ores, and Hobie was.. being Hobie.

It was surprising to see how smooth everyone seemed to work together for a while, considering before y’all even started playing an argument broke out. Though if y’all could work well together while on mission, why couldn’t you in a game, yeah?

Give it an hour or so.. bickering over stupid stuff is bound to happen.

If you picked Creative, Gwen is whining how it’s for losers, which causes Miles to flip her off and thank you for picking it.

With Creative there’s a lot less arguing and bickering. Though there is much more chaos. Y’all are blowing up everything or settlor on fire for fun.

It started with you all just doing your own thing until randomly Hobie brings up the idea.

“I ‘ave an idea..” Hobie says out of the blue, causing everyone to pause. You all look at him with a face of confusion or hesitation. Whenever he had an idea, it was wild or something went wrong in some way.

“Great.. you have an idea.. does it have to do with the game or real life? Because I don’t feel like blowing up a building in your universe again..” Gwen scoffed, the others nodding in agreement.

“Yeah.. I agree with Gwen.. last time you had an idea we almost got killed..” You chuckled dryly, still traumatized from that.

“Damn, no faith in me at all, huh?” He rolled his eyes. “Yea, in the game.. Don’t worry, don’t plan on killin’ y’all. Woulda done so already if I wanted to.”

That caused another pause in the room, silence too loud. Thank god for Miles for breaking it. “Okayyy… what’s your plan?”

“Well, Gwendy got blowin’ up a buildin’ correc’. Though, I meant in the game. Why not have some fun an’ blow up some shit, or set it on fire, yea?” It was a smart idea, surprisingly. Everyone agreed, just with some terms, mainly Pav and Miles.

“Sounds fun! As long as my animals are safe and out of it, I’m in!” Pavitr stated, Miles nodding in agreement, but for his builds.

“Woah, a surprisingly good idea.. Let’s do it! Let’s blow some shit up!” You poked fun at Hobie, before smiling widely. It concerned the others at how widely you smiled but brushed it off. They agreed with the idea so they must be just as crazy then. With that, buildings were blown up, forests were burnt down. It was so chaotic to the point that the game started to lag and eventually crashed, causing you all to burst out in laughter. Well, it was fun while it lasted.

I apologize for not posting yesterday, but hopefully this makes up for it! It’s longer than my normal posts. I hope you enjoy!

Send requests! Love you!

[aurumacadicus]

I posted the first two parts of minotaur Steve (under same tag) specifically so you all could have some slight background on this scene (because I wanted it to hurt more probably):

"You have to come," Tony exclaims, angry, but there's some genuine panic threading his voice. "We've come this far, you can't just--"

"You dragged me this far," Steve snarls, and only feels a little bad when Tony takes a nervous step backward. "You took me from the labyrinth for your own reasons. It was never to rescue me from living and dying there. Now you want me to die to save you? You're no better than the gods."

Tony looks hurt for a moment, like Steve has taken one of his massive hands and just slapped him, but it doesn't hide the hint of shame that crosses his face. He recovers quickly, though, anger covering everything. "It's not my fault. I'm not the one who made that shitty prophecy. I wanted to solve my own problems. The gods are the ones who decided I couldn't!"

"So you'd sacrifice me?!" Steve bellows, and Tony skitters backward, clutching the Rogers shield to himself protectively. "Like I'm a dumb animal?! You should have taken one of the others. At least they wouldn't know one way or the other." He glares at Tony for a moment. He doesn't know how to explain how much this betrayal hurts, that Tony knew the gist of the prophecy meant Steve would probably die and had strung him along with him anyway. Had probably offered Steve the gift of his body knowing he would never have to fulfill it, he thought, perhaps uncharitably. He doesn't even want that, which doesn't help the hurt at all.

He should have known the world outside the labyrinth wasn't for him, is probably what hurts the most. There was a reason his mother had never brought him outside, even after she'd realized Steve could navigate the walls. She'd never asked him to find the way out so she could show him the sky. She'd known what Tony had apparently known, but hadn't had the heart to tell him--he's a monster, and men kill monsters. There will never be a place for him in open air.

"I hope the Hydra Cult burns your entire forest to the fucking ground," Steve snarls, and it mostly isn't true, but he wants Tony to hurt as much as he'd hurt him.

It works a little too well, he thinks, as Tony sucks in a breath that sounds more painful than helpful. His eyes fill with tears, and his face flushes with shame and embarrassment. There's a moment where he starts to feel guilty.

But Tony rallies quickly, flush turning to anger, blinking back his tears as if they never existed. "Fine. Go back to the labyrinth for all I care. I hope someone kills and roasts you like the beast you are before you get there," he snarls. He throws the shield at Steve's hooves. "I don't need this. I don't need you. I can take care of my forest myself."

"Sure," Steve spits back, glaring, as Tony turns on his heel to stomp down the road. The urge to remind him he had to save him from a few satyrs along the way is on the tip of his tongue, but something in him makes him swallow it back. Probably the part of him that remembers his mother's expression before she'd told him to run away and hide. It would be too low a blow, even for him, even as angry as he is.

He bends to pick up the shield. He doesn't understand how it can be a weapon. His mother had never spoken of it. But then, it had been from her husband's side of the family. He had inherited it because of her name, not because they'd accepted him. They'd only given it to him when Tony had mentioned a prophecy. Humans were scared of being on the wrong side of a prophecy, the village elder had said as he'd passed it over to them. It's heavy. He's reluctantly impressed Tony had carried it as long as he had, too anxious at the sight of the emblem burned into his hip to take it in his own hands.

Was Tony's kind understanding just pity, because he knew he was bringing Steve to die, Steve wonders. Or was he being kind to be kind? He'll never know, he figures, turning to chuck it into the sea.

Then he hears a sound, perhaps the most awful one he's ever heard--agony, and defeat, and dismay, all at once. His mother had instilled a conscience in him. He turns.

Tony is crumpling to the ground. Steve thinks he's tripped, for a moment, except his hands don't go out to catch himself. He just falls, and lies there where he landed, small and unmoving. Like the gods had struck him down where he stood for his hubris.

"Tony," Steve gasps, only half against his will, and thunders after him.

Steve is so careful as he turns him onto his back, feeling awkward and unwieldy. Tony's shaking--seizing, he remembers his mother calling it once, eyes rolled back in his head, saliva foaming in the corners of his mouth. As he watches, a drop of blood begins to trickle from his nose. He cradles Tony's head in one big hand, so he doesn't hit it on anything, feeling helpless, just like he had as his mother had passed away in his arms.

Tony doesn't pass away, though. Eventually, he sags in Steve's hold, eyelids fluttering. He coughs, and a fine mist of blood fills the air in front of his mouth.

"Tony," Steve whispers, pulling him close to his chest. "What happened?"

Tony says nothing for a few minutes, focused on catching his ragged breath. Finally, though, he croaks, "They cut through one of my heartwoods." He coughs again, then sobs, looking up at Steve with liquid eyes. "Steve, they're killing everyone in the east of my forest."

Steve frowns. "How do you know?"

"I can feel them dying," Tony sobs, and somehow he manages the strength to grab Steve's arm, crying in earnest. "I can feel all of them dying around me. I couldn't protect them. I couldn't do enough. They're dying because of me."

"Tony," Steve whispers, cradling him to his chest, as Tony sobs and sobs.

[showtoonzfan]

i would like to say that ozzie COULD have been better as i do love his character but MAN did they fucking butcher him in the new episode

he is the embodiment of lust, making him the WEAKEST sin is well a sin and also since he’s apart of the seven deadly SINS he should be ya’ know POWERFUL because in that episode he just feels like some rich guy akin to every other rich guy in this show, he should be a guy that the whole cast are afraid of(and honestly the same thing happened to bee where she’s a deadly sin and NO ONE is acting like she of any importances)

how i would fix him personally is well not make him soft uwu boy i do like the fact he cares about fizz but well he’s powerful we should FEEL how powerful he is make some imps or succbi be cowering near him, fizz not sprouting jokes and blowing a BLOW HORN in his ear give us the feeling that he’s not to be mess with, and the stolas and ozzie team up honestly should be studied on how to kill a character, they shouldn’t made ozzie just be the same hight as stolas and i mean that IN EVERYWAY POSSIBLE because stolas seems to be scared of him thats good but ozzie ya’ know is chill about everything i mean stolas didn’t cause anything but him being chill is very stupid. thats my take of everything about ozzie and honestly im curious on what your take of fixing him is

So I’m not against Ozzie being nice and soft to Fizz, but him in general being the nicest sin and a cool “chill” dude does bother me. Again, these characters are supposed to be the rulers of Hell and I refuse to believe they’re just nice, it’s how I felt for Beezlebub. Same for Leviathan since Viv confirmed she wants him to be a chill surfer dude and so far the only sin she plans to be an asshole is Mammon. In Ozzie’s case, it’s also weird seeing him say how “lust shouldn’t be forceful” when I feel like the writers are confusing love and lust again. He’s also called the “deadly SIN” for a reason, he’s normally supposed to represent the sin itself, how sinners let lust consume them, in a bad way.

For Viv’s interpretation, I genuinely have no idea. Despite being called the “sins”, I feel like the seven sins in this show aren’t connected to the sinners at all, since they’re all in the Pride Ring and Lucifer was the one confirmed to be ruling over them, so we’re only left to believe that the sins tend to the hellborns. We know that Ozzie rules the Succubi’s, I guess you could say those are the types of demons for his ring, but I thought that the whole reason he gave the succubi’s crystals in the first place was to let them tempt those on earth….and yet he’s saying “lust” shouldn’t be forceful. See how it kinda doesn’t make much sense for his character? Then again there’s not a lot we know about Ozzie, outside of Viv describing him as chill and nice. For his job, all he seems to do is handle the sex objects that hellborns use. I’m not against the idea of him being an inventor/tinkerer either, these are interesting concepts, I just feel like not much is done with them. There’s still tons of empty gaps for this character, even after the new episode we still barley know him, so it’s kinda hard to say on what I think would “fix” him.

All I can say is just make him more threatening and intimating, which is funny because Stolas CLEARY was intimidated by Ozzie in S1E7, but Oops really makes you wonder what he was afraid of in the first place, especially if you’re going to paint him as the “weakest sin”. What if…as a better contrast to Blitz and Stolas, what if Ozzie was nice to Fizz, but mean and threatening to everyone else? His workers, other demons, basically a guy you don’t want to mess with, a person who takes his business seriously (whatever that would be lol). And while Fizz loves him, he questions their relationship and if he should be getting involved with a sin. There’s a lot you can do, I’m just kinda tired of characters in Helluva being “just good” and “just bad”. It’s very black and white and this is Hell.

[atopvisenyashill]

genuinely, what do you think happened to daena the defiant after the birth of her son? as much as it sucks that grrm likes writing women off of the page once they gave birth to historically significant people, I think that if he was planning to include her in the build-up to the blackfyre rebellions as a sort of alicent hightower figure, her involvement would've been mentioned in twoiaf.

and even though i'm pretty sure a rebellious girl like her would've been pissed off that she got passed over in favor of her uncle, the fact that she didn't announce daemon's parentage after viserys ii died and aegon iv ascended makes me think she wasn't actually trying to crown her son to vicariously live through him.

so my current theory is that daena died before aegon claimed daemon and that aegon specifically ordered a secret hit on daena (probably a "hunting accident") so that he could claim her son as a potential heir (whether or not daemon is actually his, it doesn't matter as long as he has an alternative to daeron).

Interesting theory!

I more or less agree - I think Daena died before Aegon claimed Daemon Blackfyre and I think Aegon only claimed Daemon after she died because she didn't want him to be claimed by Aegon. I tend to lean towards Daena feeling so scorned after not getting to be Baelor's queen, being locked up for a decade, and finally being passed over that she didn't want Daemon to have anything to do with the crown. Not dissimilar to Rhaenys Velaryon, in that she's just resigned herself to the fact that she's never going to get it. BUT. Unlike Rhaenys, I think Daena was likely happy to be a menace, a sort of living ghost in King's Landing reminding everyone that her claim was set aside despite it being better under normal circumstances than Viserys' (and Aegon's). It's not that she wants the crown, nor does she want to put Daemon in danger, it's that she's just like, deeply pissed off and bitter. If her pissy attitude makes Daeron nervous about her intentions, well, that's his fucking problem as far as she's concerned.

I also think - this is part of my Daemon Ballfyre theory but it works even if Daemon is Aegon's - that Aegon at least marginally respected Daena's choice to keep Daemon out of everything. I'm not trying to blorboify him here, but my read on them has always been that like...Daena is the only relative he's ever respected. She's wild and untamed and rebellious and bitter as fuck, and he's always been enchanted by that part of her, especially surrounded by the very religious and dour Aemon, Baelor, and Naerys. So while he's scheming to overthrow his own son, instead of claiming Daemon, he tries to make his own bastard heir and switches from random women as his mistresses to noble born virgins; I think this is partially a power and control thing, he likes the fact that he's the king and he can bed a noble virgin and no one can stop him. BUT. I think it's because he knows he needs a noble born mother for his bastard heir. Except things with the Brackens blow up quickly, so Aegor is out. Melly gives him an albino ~freak of nature and two girls, so she's out. I think he might have wanted to try with the Butterwells, but they're not quite noble enough, they have all girls, so he gives Lord Butterwell a dragon egg for his troubles and he's out. He's getting old, he's getting unhealthy, Daeron is out here having sons and making friends, so when Daena dies, he seizes the opportunity and just...claims Daemon. Similar to him not implying Daeron was illegitimate until after Naerys and Aemon are both dead, I think Daena would never have allowed this - but now she's dead.

Is he capable of killing her? I mean, it's not unlikely, he's actively trying to get his own son killed, he rapes his sister to death, he potentially poisoned his own father, so sure why not. I will definitely be interested to see what their relationship looks like when F&B part 2 comes out.

[presbierue]

Sometimes I wish Star Wars had gone in a more cultish direction with the First Order because I think having a friendship (an unhealthy, dysfunctional and toxic one) between the First Order triumvirate would have been kinda cute in an off putting way but also a good source of angst and I love angst. Like, cults prey upon those who lack connection and are looking for a sense of purpose, and I think that would have played into the big connection themes in Star Wars.

Like, little Ben Solo looking for belonging, feeling lost and like he cannot possibly measure up to his family legacies and he meets two young people equally driven to live up to Imperial Legacies. Phasma is a common First Order child soldier who fascinated by Boba Fett who did whatever it took to win. She wants to be the best fighter, to be noticed and seen by others, and will do anything for it. She is already well on her way at a young age. Little Armitage Hux has a mild god complex, believing (knowing) that he could make an unbeatable Death Star, that he can fix the weaknesses of his family legacy (less of an unwanted child in this version, more of a single survivor of his bloodline deal) and restore his family name to greatness. He misses his family dearly and resents the hell out of the New Republic quietly though (would probably prefer his actual family back than greatness but lacks EQ to realize this).

Snoke offers Ben everything he wants: like minded peers and a chance to be as great as his family. That would be hard for a teen to turn down, especially as Snoke would be hiddibg the fine print of this deal.

Hux, Phasma and Ben would likely exist for long periods of time with minimal conflict between them as they aren’t direct competitors. Hux does a lot of the planning and scheming, Phasma runs the pragmatic and social game, and Kylo leads the spiritual and visionary role of the group. Yeah they probably quibble over what they specifically want and need for their own power and plans, but it would probably be low grade jabs that teens usually trade in. More “your stormtroopers are well trained in treason” than force choking and blaster fire. Cooperation would be the best way to increase their power and influence.

I feel like having both the good and bad guys have the whole “power of friendship” on their side would have been an interesting dynamic when contrasting them. Rey and Hux both want their families back but can’t have it so they cling to their friends, Finn and Phasma are ultimately just trying to survive in abysmal conditions (one goes high visibility violent to deter others from attacking her where Finn goes avoidant, only fighting long enough to flee), and Kylo and Poe are trying to reconcile their family legacies with their own personalities and abilities. The difference is that the First Order triumvirate is a much older and well defined connection that is adjusting to new changes and pressures; Hux won by the start of TFA he built an even better Death Star (I think having it blow up in the First movie was ultimately the wrong move it would have been more threatening if it hung in for all three movies to emphasize that the First Order isn’t messing around) and that puts pressure on Phasma and Kylo, who are still not at Legendary Boba Fett/Vader levels. Like, your friend rising to the top of the heap before 40 when you’re still trying to reach previous levels would sting. On the other hand, Hux might genuinely resent Kylo for killing Han, because Hux feels his victory is empty without his parents and siblings around to see it. Phasma and Kylo are probably too self conscious and jealous after Starkiller success to actually acknowledge that Hux did the thing until like movie 3 when there might be some emotional resolution for that group, so Hux is probably just sitting with a hollow victory all movie 2 and is now just fully depressed as the one thing he thought would make him happy didn’t. This could be resolved by end of movie 3 or blow up in their faces when their relationship can’t hack the pressures anymore.

Flip that to the tensions you could do with Rey, Finn and Poe. Poe feels like his mother and other rebellion sacrifices were for nothing since the First Order took over in like a week, so he feels like a failure which results in him taking bigger and bigger risks, threatening his own life. This freaks out Rey who is PETRIFIED of losing the people she cares about again, and Finn goes to an avoidant attachment style where he starts trying to not care about either of them and does a Han Solo Hoth exit (he comes back again quickly but it freaks Rey out even more so she’s not ending the middle movie in a good place). I think the end moral ends up being something like “Avoiding one kind of pain leads to another, be open about what you’re going through so people can help because you’re never completely alone” kinda thing. Maybe you can’t be the perfect Jedi who avoids fear entirely, but fear is a gift that tells you what you care about and you can work with that. The First Order Triumvirates cardinal sin is that they’re pursing outdated markers of success and security that they think will protect them and the people they care about, but it worsens their relationships and self worth instead.

IDK man this feels like an AU that I could develop into a full rework of the sequels but it is half baked at best. I just think it would be fun to Rey and Finn screeching at Luke to give them combat training while the whole time Luke is just bouncing Grogu and other Jedi younglings around and asking them “So do you feel like you can really trust each other, or do you trust that the other is useful in filling a gap in your own life?”. Just relationship counselling the shit out of everyone. Like, recontextualize the whole “can you control the darkness in yourself” Yoda question as “can you build a support network strong enough to support you and your loved ones when you feel the darkness”. Because while Leia, Han and Luke all tried that, they built networks that only worked for them, not the people they loved, which resulted in isolation and deterioration of their relationships over time (Leia rebuilt Alderaan, Han built a semi legal shipping company and Luke built his Jedi school, but none of those things had room for the people they loved).

Edit: also, it adds a degree of Kylo having to think it through at the end where he either has to actively destroy Phasma and Hux, the people he is closest to or back down. He has to actively do all the things that made Vader as miserable as he was (lose a parent, kill the one he loves most, betray his mentor/father figure) to HIMSELF. And that’s an interesting question: is this character actually resilient enough to go through what Vader did? Can you do it completely alone, with the knowledge that no one else could do this to you but you? When does self hatred become that destructive?

[troius]

I am genuinely asking this cause this is a plot point I've been stuck on: how would you write Ichigo getting his powers back? The Shinigami ex Machina twist felt like bland fan service but I don't know how else it should go.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, I've been thinking about this a lot, and I don't really think it's too hard! It's kinda sad, because all the heavy lifting has actually already been done-- we have four whole volumes of set-up. We've established:

Ichigo was depressed because he was powerless. This provided an in for a gang of con artists to sucker him in with the promise of making him feel better about himself. The lesson he has to learn here is his own self-worth absent his powers (which thematically will result in him getting his powers back).

Ichigo and his friends completely fail to communicate with each other throughout the arc, thinking that keeping things secret will keep their friends safe, only for it all to blow up in their face. The conclusion therefore must also involve these idiots finally talking to each other.

How I, were I Kubo's editor and yet completely immune to the commercial pressures of Shonen Jump, would do this after the cut:

We're going to start our divergence when Ginjo and Ichigo arrive at Tsukishima's mansion, with maybe a slight change to establish this thing earlier in the story because it sort of came out of nowhere. But rather than bring in Ichigo's nonpowered friends and family for a second round of trauma, I'd suggest keeping it tight on Ichigo's desire to kill Tsukishima. This is what he thinks will solve his problem. He fights his way shockingly easily through the other members of Xcution (it's almost like they're not really trying...) before getting to Tsukishima.

And naturally, Orihime and Chad intervene. But instead of being strangely stoic about it all, they're acting like you would expect people to act if one of their best friends was trying to kill the other. Orihime is full-on crying as she heals and shields Tsukishima. Chad is screaming to Ichigo about how this isn't what Ichigo used to take pride in. And most importantly, they're actually trying to restrain him and stop the fight instead of just passively protecting Tsukishima when attacks happen. As the fight spills outside, Ichigo can't win the fight without hurting them.

And so finally, finally, Ichigo resorts to dialogue. He tries to talk them out of it. And Chad and Orihime, who still have all of their memories of Ichigo even if Tsukishima is weirdly in some of them, listen. They're not going to harm him either. Ichigo, breaking down, apologizes for failing to protect them. Orihime and Chad tell him he doesn't need to apologize for anything, that they're fine. Even Ginjo and Xcution stop fighting each other. It's all very sweet. And that's when Uryu shows up and seemingly ruins everything.

He drops out of seemingly thin air with a massive licht regen that completely demolishes where Ginjo and Tsukishima are standing. Ichigo, Orihime, and Chad are astonished, verging on furious. But Uryu responds that those two are the ones who attacked him. The dust clears, and rather than being dead by Quincy powers, the two of them and the rest of Xcution get the drop on the Karakura kids. Uryu, Chad, and Orihime are all quickly taken down, and Ginjo takes Ichigo's fullbring.

Ginjo and Tsukishima do their villainous exposition. Ichigo has his full-on breakdown. But his friends are there too, and share in his pain. Uryu tells Ichigo that he's arrogant for assuming its his job to protect them. Chad points out that all their instincts to protect worked disastrously as they concealed the truth from one another. Orihime says that what matters here is that he, and everybody here, aren't hurt. Rukia calls him an idiot.

OH SHOOT, RUKIA'S HERE. She says that the four of them really made a mess of things, but that Isshin sent a message to her through Urahara that something was wrong. Ichigo says that she didn't think she cared, as she hasn't been in his life for 18 months. Renji (who is also here) points out to Ichigo that she is an immortal soul with a job, and that if he wanted to see them he should have asked! And then Rukia points out that it won't be a problem going forward, as Ichigo can see them now.

Because Ichigo has his powers back! No magic sword necessary-- we already established when he was training with Ginjo that his powers were coming back. Rukia gives the above spiel about how Ginjo couldn't steal them, and then informs him that she and Renji are taking him in. Xcution naturally does not take kindly to this. Our six hearts each pair off with a Fullbringer (Orihime did some healing during all this), and if people ask for it I'll do a second post about how I'd pair those fights off.

But I'll leave it at this for now. That's how I would thematically tie off the arc.

[bearimba]

Kris (Pokemon Crystal/HGSS) Character Headcanons

And last but certainly not least, it's time for the third of the New Bark Town kids, Kris! (just to be clear btw, I kidnapped her from Crystal (the game) and threw her into HGSS because she deserves love too)

Anyways, here's my list of headcanons for her:

Her name is actually Crystal, she just goes by Kris because she likes it better (she spells it with a K because when they were kids, Ethan said it was "cooler" and she thought it was amusing so it stuck)

Her pokemon are Furret, Dunsparce, Slowpoke, and Tauros.

She's friends (tired older sibling vibes) with Ethan and Lyra, but because of her position as one of Elm's research assistants, she doesn't get to hang out with them nearly as much as they do with each other.

She's four years older than Lyra and Ethan more or less, making her about 20 by the time HGSS rolls around.

She's super chill most of the time but can be incredibly dry and sarcastic and sometimes brutally honest. Despite this she's genuinely and openly supportive of her loved ones a lot and would probably kill for them. Unfortunately for them, she's also not afraid to turn her fury on them too if necessary. Sometimes tough love is valid if your friends are risking their lives by being idiots :D

She's already been on her own journey when she was around 13-14, during which she managed to get most of the badges and dominated the Battle Tower (which has expanded into the Battle Frontier by the time HGSS rolls around. She likes to visit from time to time when she needs to blow off steam). She probably could've gotten all of the badges if she hadn't gotten bored of travelling.

She likes to battle “just for fun”

She takes over the lab from Elm, though it doesn't happen until he's basically forced to retire (the man loves his work, ok?). He still hangs around though especially since his home is literally on the second floor.

“oh haha looks like I won (again)! great battle tho :D don’t worry maybe you’ll get it next time <3 btw here's a comprehensive list of everything you could've done better” meanwhile the opponent’s team is absolutely decimated. dust in the wind. reduced to scorch marks on the ground

Where Lyra depends more on flexibility and Ethan just kinda does whatever during battles, Kris uses a lot more strategy. She's able to come up with plans on how to defeat an opponent team even if she's never seen their team before thanks to her extensive knowledge of pokemon. However! if her plans happen to get knocked off track, it's much easier to overpower her team.

She also specializes in evolution, but instead of focusing on breeding like he did, she's more interested in requirement-based evolution (like why some pokemon will remain in their first stage of evolution despite being old enough/having the experience to evolve. or why some pokemon need certain items to evolve. or why some pokemon evolve with trading. stuff like that. it's definitely a wide field but she enjoys the variety a lot).

She has this habit of flicking people's heads if she's annoyed with them. Light flick? she's being lighthearted. Painful flick? she's actually upset. Oftentimes she'll flick herself if she's particularly stumped on something, usually to do with her research.

She owns a bicycle her parents bought from Goldenrod and takes it absolutely everywhere---girl could probably ride across the entire region if she wanted to.

Her pokegear is horrendously outdated, and the screen is so cracked it's a miracle it still works. Regardless, she refuses to get a new one because "it turns on just fine."

She typically just wears whatever clothes are comfortable/convenient. She also mends all her clothing until it's unsalvageable and she's even made a couple pieces herself. For example, her white jacket is just a lab coat she cut short and upgraded. She tried to teach her friends but Ethan would start loudly complaining about being bored after two seconds and Lyra couldn't sit still long enough to learn anything past basic mending. Silver is the only one she's had any luck with, but even then it's far from his favorite activity (they'll still save their sewing projects until they can meet up and gossip together).

She has the worst handwriting known to mankind, but she still insists on scribbling everything down herself. It's like a rite of passage for every new researcher to try and decipher her notes well enough to transpose them into the lab's computer system.

Her love language is sending pictures to her friends. except. most of the time it'll be motion-blurred pics of random pokemon or the world's most incomprehensible memes

[cometcrystal]

dott’s offical velma thoughts

watched eps 1 and 2. i only wanna talk about stuff i haven’t seen hashed out a million times. because im tired

heres what i LIKED:

like i said, the designs are sooo good. i LOVE the designs

the childhood pics of velma and daph were sooo cute

velma’s mom is sweet :) i like her from what we’ve seen. i doubt she left i bet shes part of the mystery

velma dealing with hallucinations/trauma and fred dealing with his dad making him feel inferior masculine-wise could be really cool plotlines if they were in a better adult scooby adaption

the guy whose leg gets cut off was a funny gag. thats the kinda gory joke i wanna see in an adult scooby adaption

“500 DOLLARS?? THATS LIKE A MILLION DOLLARS”

the drugs being named after their catchphrases is funny

velma and daphne’s romance so far is really cute and probably the best part of the show. yeah i know velma tried to kill her in episode 1 i really dont care at this point

daphne’s writing has its issues but shes still the best member of the gang in this one

the mystery is interesting and i wanna see how it plays out. im interested to see that aspect of it

heres what i DID NOT LIKE:

“fred’s creepy sex van” die mindy kaling

the meta 4th wall breaking shit. all of it. at this point im SO sick of this trope just let it die and make something genuine and beautiful for once

daphne’s lesbian cop moms. why do the lesbians always have to be COPS!!!!!!!!!

daphne’s cop moms pulling GUNS ON VELMA

fred’s voice is Not Good. velma and daphne’s voices sound good at least but i dont like fred’s voice acting. i think glenn howerton could be a great voice actor for another character but it just doesn’t sound like fred to me

velma’s dad being verbally abusive to her and velma being mean to her stepmom. what an unhealthy family

shaggy calling velma a bitch. literally evil

SWEET BUT PSYCHO IS IN THIS FUCKING SHOW DIE DIE DIE

all the other factors that people have talked about ad nauseum. the metoo joke. the h*tler joke. the jokes about fred’s genitalia. so on and so forth.

emphasizing that shaggy isn’t a stoner doesn’t really hit. either make him smoke weed, or don’t bother bringing it up. you can’t have it both ways

this could have been an original property and NOTHING would change. they really did just make this a scooby doo IP to make as many people angry as possible. i 100% believe that.

it’s just not funny. even if everything offensive was removed, it just wouldn’t be that funny of a show.

MISC THOUGHT: i dont really give a shit that scooby isn’t in this show. other members of the gang have been absent before and it’s been fine. he’ll be okay

anyway. im not viscerally angry rn. it had a few things i liked and am probably going to cling to but overall it was shit. i think waiting for a bit to watch it softened the blow. if i had went in completely blind, i would be seething at this moment. but i already did my seething

[trillscienceofficer]

I gotta say, you're posts are making me think how hilarious Chakotay/Seven are, and I love how it's actually coinciding with me figuring how to write a story with Seven and B'Elanna. Also! I agree the moment B'Elanna figures out about them, she would be "WTF, man!" At Chakotay, since that was all I could picture when I was trying to write a scene between them.

* (In my head, Chakotay/Seven was angsty and then hilarious because for me, Seven hasn't spoken to Chakotay in 20 years. And then I realized when Seven breaks up with someone she ghosts them for 20 years or kills them. and then does the opposite with Raffi).

Oh man I just keep thinking about Chakotay/Seven because you're so right, it's hilarious as a pairing but also angsty.

Between Seven being Seven and having no experience with relationships whatsoever (and facing said new experience like she does with everything else, with the subtlety of a battering ram) and Chakotay who I think is genuinely fond of Seven (he's been in her corner pretty much since he put his own brain on the line in order to disconnect her from the Collective) and could be very patient with her but also has his own bad experiences with women using and/or deceiving him. I don't know what he would do if, for example, Seven confessed that she used his likeness in a holoprogram. It could get angsty very fast, is what I'm saying.

But in general I think of them as a funny couple, I think most of their interactions would go much like the scene in which Seven and Chakotay kiss for the first time. I'm sure Seven will keep thinking that there is a script they should follow for 'progressing' the relationship and Chakotay sighing and having to explain that no, actually there is no script, until Seven finally gets it. (But Seven will keep trying to find the way in which you can Win At Relationships And Sex because nothing is worth doing unless you can do it perfectly the first time around, isn't it.) I think Chakotay understands that Seven generally cares more than she lets on, and he's challenged her to express said care and broaden her horizons a few times over the years (“One Small Step” and “Natural Law” come to mind) and Seven does care about him a great deal otherwise I don't think she'd have ever suggested they try dating in the first place.

And yes lol B'Elanna will be SO DISAPPOINTED in Chakotay once she learns of his relationship with Seven, there's no way she would take that information with any kind of neutrality. I'm not sure she would confront him, mostly because by that time she's probably very busy with a newborn baby, but B'Elanna would think less of both of them for it.

I can't blame B'Elanna tbh, Chakotay and Seven are kind of odd together and I'm not sure it would've worked out in the best case scenario, but being thrown back into the Alpha Quadrant basically a few hours after having decided to be together? I really don't think the relationship survived for very long, especially since we know Chakotay got a Starfleet commission and Seven didn't. That was very likely the final blow, and it was probably ugly and full of angst. I wouldn't be surprised if they hadn't spoken to each other in 20 years like you said.

And by the time of Star Trek: Picard it has become a bit of a pattern for Seven, hasn't it, to just run as fast as she can away from anything that has a chance to hurt her (I'm thinking of how she tried to run away even in “No Man's Land”). To be honest I don't blame her given the whole Bjayzl thing—by the time we see Seven again Chakotay is likely a very distant memory for her, and the end of that relationship just the beginning of all her troubles in the Alpha Quadrant. But it's not like Chakotay did much better for his part since he got stuck in the Delta Quadrant again, lol. Truly a couple of people who do Not have luck by their side!

I'm sorry this got so long and rambling, I'm just weirdly fond of this ship! I wasn't always but talking to @avoicefromthestars really sold me on them and @fate-motif has the best ideas when it comes to their post-canon breakup. I'm very glad if you can see the potential of this ship even a tiny bit, and now I'm very curious to see how you made it fit with writing about Seven and B'Elanna 👀

[motheatenscarf]

I beat the base-game story for FF14! Yaaay! \o/

I have... SO many thoughts, I just kinda powered through the last bit after the Scions got got, most of my thoughts are relatively positive, but also I have some very mean, very stupid opinions about some of the writing choices happening here.

I'll probably make a few posts in greater detail later, but for now my strongest opinions can be summed up as follows;

Holy fuck, I hate Minfilia, the literal child was a better leader than her. She's weak and indecisive and written as a terrible leader without the narrative addressing that fact at all. So it's not just irresponsible misogynistic writing, it's just lazy and laughably incompetent writing.

I wound up liking the villain quartet more than I thought I would, namely the big dude you have to kill first. His devotion to his men and belief in the empire due to his ability to rise to his station really stood out. That was probably the most nuanced this game has been so far, I was impressed, I genuinely felt bad I had to kill him. He was written from a perspective of empathy with the full breadth of emotion, like a real human being.

I had not come to expect that from this game!

Namely because all of our villains until this point were cartoons who wanted to blow up the moon and all of our heroes were made of unflappable cardboard. That's not to say they don't have their charms, I love a good "Mua ha ha!" as much as the next person, but y'know, largely forgettable. The worst example of this comes from Cid and Thancred. Like. Hey, Cid, these are your childhood friends we're slaughtering. You really gonna no thoughts, head empty your way through this?

Yeah?

Okay... cool...

god forbid someone have an interesting reaction.

The WORST example of that, however, is Thancred. I really thought we'd get something out of Thancred being possessed by Lahabrea. Like, even if he didn't make a choice or a deal to get possessed and had no agency in that, he would at least have a reaction to knowing he'd gotten his people killed or tortured. That's going to at the very least cause reflection in a character and an interesting change in his perspective if not outright trauma he's going to have to work through, and that's a good emotional hook to have someone your character needs to look out for. Real vulnerability, maybe, if we're lucky.

Haha,

NOPE!

Like. I've played Kingdom Hearts. I'm getting big Organization XIII vibes from the Ascians, and I'm looking at Thancred like, oh, okay, you're just... older Riku. Sure. I can work with that, that's a good source of angst, at least someone's feeling SOMETHING in the narrative at that point.

But fucking lol, no, he's just like "Thanks for saving me, I've been a real inconvenience, I should take some time off to recover so nobody has to help me again."

ANd like...

Buddy, that is the reaction you have when you're hangry and you get kinda snippy before somebody hands you a candybar and tells you to calm down. You're REALLY not gonna talk about this?! I have a whole subsequent sidequest to help Minfilia find her MOMMY so she can grow the moral fortitude to refuse bribes, but Thancred spends months being possessed by THE bad guy and gets the Scions nearly wiped out and he's FINE and we're MOVING ON!

REALLY?!

I know I JUST compared it to Kingdom Hearts, but it's not even that! Kingdom Hearts, for being TERRIBLE, at least understood that the way to get people invested in a narrative was to give them characters who CARE about things and react accordingly! Oh my god, Kingdom Hearts was more competent than this! OH MY GOD, it's so bad, I'm so ANGRY! It was starting to show promise, how did it turn around and do itself this dirty, who was responsible for this?!

GOD.

That said, the things I like are, like, everything else about this game so far. My god was I frustrated the entire time I was sitting through some of this shit storywise, but the gameplay was very fun. The game is otherwise the single most functional, deep, and FUN mmo I've ever played gamewise. I'm ASSURED the story gets better, and like, frankly, it wouldn't take much effort for that to be true, but if they can also make the story GOOD, I will be pleasantly surprised because right now we're in "so incompetent I burst out laughing" territory.

And then after all that they called it the 7th Astral Era like, job's done, go home team, ignore the multiple other looming threats! We're admitting Lahabrea isn't dead even in-text among the Scions and there's still countless Primals being summoned and I'm pretty sure somebody needs to talk about these giant talking crystals, but NOPE, 7th Astral Era here we go!

I give it ten months.

Anyway, I'm gonna go read up on how to kill the Moogle King so I can progress this narrative, but I'm in like, humorously SHOCKED disbelief at how bad this was. Like, the FUNNY kind of angry, not legit angry, the "Oh, here's a new rant I could go on about for ten minutes EASY" kind of angry, it was so bad.

[marciabrady]

Rank your favourite princess sacrifices!

Meg taking the crushing blow of a pillar for Hercules.

Mulan taking her fathers place in the army.

Belle offering herself in exchange for her father.

Tiana turning down facilier’s deal.

Cindy’s day-to-day life

Rapunzel’s promise to never escape for Flynn’s life

Any other you can think of….

Hi there! I'll rank the ones you listed, just in the interest of time! In order, from favorite to least:

Cinderella's day-to-day life: I think, while Mulan is very valiant in her sacrifice, Mulan has an end goal in mind she's fighting for- her Father's life, family honor, peace of her own mind- while Cinderella is fighting for her life. There's no outcome or goal in the way she lives her day-to-day life other than trying to find happiness and survive. I think often about how lonely she must've felt and how much mental strain it would've inflicted on her, to live in such close proximities with three people who genuinely hated her with everything in them. This is who she grew up with, the people who supposedly know her better than anyone else...and for people to go around and try to, now, frame Anastasia as the heroine of the story because of the sequels and how Anastasia being unconventionally attractive makes her more of the victim is sickening to me. Cinderella never resorts to being an abuser, the way the other three do, even when things couldn't get any harder for her and she's at the lowest of lows. Instead, she fosters a haven for the mice- she saves them from traps, feeds them and clothes them, and harbors a sense of community and love. That's so beautiful to me and to think that it even naturally occurred to her to be such a resource to others when no one had ever been that figure to her is both heartwarming and breaking to think about.

Mulan taking her Father's place in the army: I actually just rewatched Mulan last night and I think there's so much value in her story and I was surprised at how non-Western they made her struggle and really admired it. Mulan is a very selfless person, but I also think taking her Father's place in the army was a way for her to connect to her family and achieve something in a way that she believed they would've finally seen her at the level she was at. I think the focus on her Father's safety and contributing to family honor, instead of a more selfish goal like some of the other heroines have, is something that is, by nature, a deeper motivation and driving force. It did used to bother me that she and her Father had such an underdeveloped relationship prior to her leaving so that we couldn't really see exactly why she'd go through the intensity of all of this, but again, she had reason enough to go and I do think the framing of her doing all of this so they would have a way to relate to each other more and get deeper in their bond than they would've had she stayed at the family home makes a lot more sense to me.

Meg taking the crushing blow of a pillar for Hercules: I know Meg gave her life up for her ex, but this was the first act Meg performed that was selfless for Hercules. She's jaded, which everyone praises her for, but it irritates me at points because she's allowing her past relationships and views of men to color the way she treats Hercules and characterizes him, even though he's continually kind and understanding and expresses that he'll be there for her no matter what and he'd never do anything to disappoint her- and that's such a rare thing to find in a partner, so for her to finally reciprocate after being so cynical (despite having such a treasure right in front of her) and trying to either kill him or betray him through her deal with Hades, just made their dynamic seem more equal.

Tiana turning down Facilier's deal: I really love Tiana's friends in the parks and some of her spinoff books, but I always felt bad at how the script kept forcing her to be humorless and just blindly ambitious. There's a real heart to Tiana and an emotional depth and complexity I hope they tap more into in the series, instead of writing it off for more "I have to work even harder!" jokes. That being, this was one of those moments where she connects to the second part of her Father's message and not just her relentless pursuit of her restaurant. She called back to the family values and the loving parts of her Father, and it definitely gave emotional weight to the scene...though the mucus line makes me very uncomfortable and the execution is off, which is why I docked points lol

Rapunzel's promise to never scape for Flynn's life: Maybe it's just that I dislike Rapunzel and Flynn as characters so I never really connected to them, or it's the brevity of this scene, but this always felt hollow to me. Not much more to say/add

Belle offering herself in exchange for her father: You all know Belle is my least favorite princess, or one of them, and everything about this exchange highlights why lol the act, in itself, is touching but she breaks it like ten minutes later. She says "take me as a prisoner in exchange for my Father and spare him his life" and once the deal is made, she shortly runs away right after because she's yelled at for trespassing in the West Wing. She's not a woman of her word. Moreover, it's just...frustrating. Maurice was rotting away in that cold, damp cell forever and Belle shows up and doesn't even stay in it for longer than a minute before she's upgraded to that incredible room with a magical wardrobe and Mrs. Potts cheering her up. She's asked to go to dinner and she refuses...but then the entire enchanted crockery is performing "Be Our Guest" for her. She's told she can explore the entire Enchanted Castle but just not to go in one room, and when she goes in it and she's yelled at, she runs away, breaking her promise, and showing how little she must think of her agreement and her Father. Idk it just irritates me...she's treated so much better than Maurice and she still breaks the agreement, so it never really was one in the first place

[cosmicjoke]

Ahh, bad-ass Thorfinn reappears!  Reading the first five chapters of “War in the Baltic”, and I take back all my stated fears of “Vinland Saga” delving into the realm on easy solutions.  I worried after the culmination of the confrontation with Canute that all of Thorfinn’s encounters would be similarly, easily resolved, but boy was I wrong.  I should have known better, given the pedigree of story telling from Yukimura through the vast majority of this series. 

Hild’s presence with Thorfinn and his party continues to be a wonderful parallel, with her tagging along and, unconsciously I think, she’s helped already multiple times to protect Throfinn’s life, the same way Thorfinn did for Askeladd, under the belief that they were doing so because it had to be them who delivered the killing blow.  We again see Thorfinn in Askeladd’s own position, with Hild snapping at him that she doesn’t take orders from him, the same way Thorfinn often snapped at Askeladd.  Thorfinn, though, unlike Askeladd, views himself as beholden to Hild and is willing to give up his life to her without struggle once he’s made amends for his past killing.

The highlight of these chapters is definitely just watching Thorfinn kick ass though.  It’s been a long time since we really got to see him unload his abilities on anyone, and I was happy to see he still has some of his old fight and spirit left in him.  That’s a part of him, his ability and talent to fight, an essential part, I would say, and while I understand he’s felt a need for self-sacrifice for the past, five years, born largely from his sense of guilt and remorse, I really love to see him regain some of his old spark and start to value his life more, to fight and defend himself more, and not just stand there and let himself be killed, or beaten.  I like seeing Thorfinn regain some self-respect.  That’s growth too.  To forgive himself enough to fight for himself.  And though I don’t think he’s quite there yet, to the point of valuing his own life enough to fight for it (his continued statement that he’ll let Hild kill him once he’s made amends proof of that), I hope to see him get there.  He’s a good person, and doesn’t deserve to die, or even be mistreated.  Of course, Thorfinn was really fighting here to protect the villagers, which was amazing to see too, and amazing character development.  To see this kid who went from aiding the raid’s of Askeladd’s band on villages, to now saving villages which are under attack, is pretty incredible.  The little girl calling Thorfinn a “good guy” and cheering him on to save them all was incredibly heartwarming.

This brings up another parallel, this one with his father, Thors.  Even as Thorfinn comes out into the open and abandons his escape plans from the Jomsvikings to save the villagers from them, he only has to do so in the first place because his presence on the island is what drew them there.  Just like Thor’s attempt to escape his past as a warrior brought him to Iceland, which eventually lead Floki to the island, and put the lives of the villagers there under threat, along with everything that transpired after, with Thorfinn himself being swept up into a life of battle and violence, it’s now Thorfinn who, in his attempt to escape his life as a warrior, is being followed and pursued by that past.  That it’s Floki again who is chasing after him and not allowing him the life of peace he seeks makes the parallel with Thors all the greater.  The scene with the little girl running up to Thorfinn and trying to give him the seashell necklace, only for her mother to pull her away and cower in fear before Thorfinn, was heartbreaking.  Thorfinn, just like his father, is a genuinely good and kind man, but his life of violence continues to haunt him and continually tries to pull him back, again, the same as Thors. 

I’m super excited to continue on now, and see what takes place.  With the request from the two warriors from Vagn’s group to join them in overthrowing Flokie, and them insisting to Thorfinn that he can’t live among the sheep, because he has wolf’s blood running through his veins, and with that seemingly being true, as everywhere he goes, violence and confrontation follows after him, on top of the looming possibility of Thorfinn finding out that Floki was, ultimately, the one really responsible for Thor’s death, things are obviously far from seeing any easy solutions.  I’m super stoked! 

[noxianwilled]

“You and your brother… you are both young, still. You have changed, and he will, as well.” Swain tries to bring her some reassurance for the thoughts that he knows must plague her. “You stand firmly where you wish to be, free of whispers of the past muddling the path before you. He is not lost to you, yet. Perhaps he has yet to find his own footing.”

— @visionoxus

Out of all her losses, that had been the one that cut the deepest. Father was the first heartbreak, of course, but also the most inevitable one. As a little girl, he had been her hero; Katarina worshipped the ground he walked on. She wanted to be just like him. She gave herself entirely to her training so that she would, but even when others saw her skill and devotion, his standards seemed impossible to achieve. That disappointment would come sooner or later; hurt like hell when it did, but now she was glad it had been sooner.

Talon is different, though. After that first failure, her brother had been the only one she had kept close. The assassination attempt had made her furious, at first, but it didn't last. It wasn't Talon's fault. And he was her brother — that they didn't share the same blood made no difference at all in that regard. He was the one who had always matched her, blow for blow, in training and fighting alike. The one who got to her like no one else, but who she'd have killed to protect. She didn't want to let father take that away from her; she had been foolish enough to think she could have this one thing, if nothing else.

"We've been through a lot, but I'm not sure there's coming back from this." Talon made his choice, as Katarina had made hers. "It seems I only pushed him further into the arms of the Black Rose, anyway. Now that he's in Shurima with mo— Soreana and Cassiopeia, their influence on him will only become stronger."

"Especially when he learns you and I both had a hand in Marcus' death — if he is truly dead this time, that is." His loyalty had always been to father, of that she had no doubt. And if her brother had been sincere about anything in all those years, Katarina was certain it had been in his dislike and distrust towards the Grand General. "He won't take that well."

While the attempt to reassure is appreciated (Who had even bothered last? Drann, most likely), she has little hope there will come a day when they can make amends. And perhaps it's for the better. How could she trust Talon again, after everything?

"I do hope Talon will find his own path, for his own sake." Katarina knows the blind devotion, the eagerness to prove yourself, doing anything for a sliver of Marcus' affection and pride. She knows how hard it was to leave it behind, too; to not let that man dictate what she could or couldn't be. Her hope for her brother is genuine, painful path that it would certainly be; but that is being optimistic. "But if he doesn't, I won't hesitate to take his life the next time we clash."

Nothing was above the empire. Not a life, and not family, bleed as her heart would for it.

[jacksgreysays]

Untitled (2022-11-16)

“I’m so sorry,” she says with a slanted, rueful grin. She is genuine but unhesitating, righteous and thus ultimately remorseless. With a swift, almost slicing hand movement, she summons an invisible force to strike at your knees and you crumple to the ground. You look up in time to see her make another gesture, fingers curling into a loose fist, before everything goes dark.

When you wake up you are on the front porch of your neighbor’s house and six days have passed.

—

“I am a daughter of Izanagi, unfortunately.” She rolls her eyes, exasperated, at herself or her statement, it’s hard to tell. “I mean, if you believe the myths, everyone with Japanese heritage is a child of Izanagi, but I do mean mine literally.”

You’re not sure what expression is on your face, only that it makes her crinkle her own in response.

“It’s not that impressive. Sure, there’s the whole, you know, access to divine powers that seems cool, but it also comes with the stipulation that should dear old dad ever give in to his millennia long ennui I’ll probably have to be the one to take him out. And trust me,” she grumbles, “killing gods is extremely tedious.”

—

You’re more concerned about the loss of time than any possible injuries—you’re eager to go home and check your journal—but your neighbors are kind and well-connected enough to have a doctor make a house call on short notice. You tried putting them at ease, assurances that you feel fine and just want to go home. You even put a hint of teenage whining into your tone, annoying enough to send you on your way, but they are insistent and for all that your parents are barely around they did raise you to be somewhat polite.

And any further protests might raise the question of where your parents are anyway which is a topic you’d much rather not bring up more than you’d like to not continue imposing on your neighbors.

Mysterious strange doctor it is.

Except… when she arrives: her expression is flat, she’s older, and it’s not an exact match, but--

“You!”

—maybe she’s not so much a stranger after all.

—

“It’s going to suck at first,” she says, reaching a hand out to help you off the ground.

You’re panting, trying to catch your breath after what should have been an absolutely brutal spar.. The gouges in the earth around you tell a story of extreme force and speed that you would have assumed only construction or industrial machinery capable of. But, no, that was you.

All of her hits landed, of course, which is why you’re the one on the ground, but they were no less powerful. And yet… you felt the blows—you know you did—they hurt during the spar and still do. But they are aches and bruises instead of broken bones or fully liquified flesh which is what should happen to human bodies under force like that.

“It’s going to take time to get used to everything,” she continues as you finally take the offered hand and let her pull you to your feet. “You’re still you, but… more. You’ll have to be careful and you’ll have to practice. And then—”

“Let me guess: it gets better?” you interrupt, because that’s what all the adults say. Not that she’s an adult—she can’t be more than a year or two older than you, even if she’s been patronizing this whole time.

She doesn’t laugh. She doesn’t even seem annoyed that you interrupted.

If anything, she seems sad.

—

The doctor puts her bag down before holding both hands in front of her, nonthreatening. Her expression still doesn’t change, as if rushing to make a house call in the middle of the night and then immediately having to deal with an accusatory teenager were absolutely normal and even boring.

“You!” you say, because you don’t know what else to say. “You’re—you!” You’d feel embarrassed any other time, stuttering and incomprehensible, but once you’ve recognized the similarities you can’t unsee them.

“Is something the matter?” your neighbor says, looking between you and the doctor. You’re not sure who he’s asking. After a moment’s assessment, he moves to stand in the middle, his back to you, protective of you even though he was the one to call her and surely must trust her.

“I’m Doctor Ellen Kaiza,” she says, looking you in the eyes. “I was called here to check on a patient. If you are uncomfortable in leaving your care to me, I understand and I can leave. If you would like for me to examine you, I can do so. It’s your choice if you would like company, but if you don’t I am bound by doctor patient confidentiality and will enforce it.” Her tone, like her expression, does not change at all.

She does not know you. You do not know her.

You have never met her before.

—

There’s a burning warehouse and sirens of every types flashing and sounding through the night. The both of you are watching this safely from a few rooftops away, thankfully upwind of the smoke, after her hurried flight snatched you from the fiery jaws of death. Or the fiery jaws of your own mistakes.

“So, what have we learned?” she asks, after setting you down on your feet.

“Don’t start fires when you’re in a possible meth lab?”

You can feel her glaring at the side of your head, but you’d much rather watch the spectacle you had a hand in creating.

The silence kicks you, unimpressed.

“Don’t take cover behind pressurized vats of flammable chemicals?”

The silence is impatient and practically shoves you over, demanding your lunch money.

“… don’t provoke the highly armed and extremely paranoid criminals when we’re on a recon mission,” you sigh, thoroughly chastised.

She turns away to watch the fire department try to put out the flames while the survivors are split between the police and the EMTs. The silence gives you an awkward clap on the shoulder.

“How badly did I mess this up?” you ask in a desperately casual voice, because you work best with clear and constructive feedback and if she’s going to yell at you, you’d rather get it over now while you’re still in an adrenaline high.

She hums considering. “We’ll have to wait until the fire goes out and hope the pissing match between the cops and fire department delays them long enough for us to get in, get the relic, and get out.”

This time you turn to her, blinking in shock. The moisture in your eyes is only because you’ve been staring at the burning warehouse for too long.

She rolls her eyes, “You didn’t fuck up that badly. Relics are divine, they’re extremely difficult to destroy. Ideally, we would have gotten it without any collateral damage, but this isn’t too bad.”

This time the silence is on your side, an elbow nudging her in the ribs even as she looks away from your crying face.

“Don’t worry, we’ll make a hero out of you yet.”

—

“So you’ve met Tetsuki,” the doctor says in your neighbor’s guest bedroom where she’s set up a makeshift exam room. You had to reassure your neighbor twice that you were completely fine with the doctor despite your less than stellar initial reaction, and three times that you would prefer to see her by yourself.

You nod, awkwardly shuffling back and forth on your feet.

“Sit down,” she says, stethoscope already in her ears. “You can ask questions while I examine you.”

“Deal,” you agree quickly, because you’re pretty sure you’re not going to be able to out negotiate her.

On her instructions you take in a deep breath, hold it, and exhale after she reminds you about human limitations.

“So you know her, then. You… I mean, you look...”

The doctor nods, still blank faced. “By blood, she’s a… distant cousin. A niece of sorts. By ichor, hm… Her divine father and my divine mother were said to have created humanity.” Finally the doctor makes an expression: she rolls her eyes and the similarity between her and her niece are even more obvious. “But every pantheon claims to have created humanity, and I highly doubt that’s true.”

As fascinating as lore is, you have a more important question to ask.

“I’m missing six days,” you admit finally because a normal human would assume head trauma, but a divine scion would know better. “Do you know where she is?”

—

“I’m so sorry,” she says with a slanted, rueful grin.

You check behind you to make sure that she isn’t talking to someone else, but it’s only the two of you in the skatepark. It’s too cold for even the most dedicated skaters, but the emptiness and silence of your house almost physically shoved you out the door.

“Sorry for what?” you ask because you do not know her, you’ve never met her before.

She is genuine but unhesitating, righteous and thus ultimately remorseless. With a swift, almost slicing hand movement, she summons an invisible force to strike at your knees and you crumple to the ground. You look up in time to see her make another gesture, fingers curling into a loose fist.

Before everything goes dark, you hear her say, “For making a Hero out of you.”

~

A/N: Whaaaaaaat is this? Not at all what I wanted to write, but for some godforsaken (lol) reason this flowed so easily?

Anyway, I’ve been making a lot of Scion: Hero (the White Wolf RPG game in which players are half blood children of gods) character sheets for an outside project and reading a lot of Batfam fic (Tim Drake-centric, because he is my blorbo) and I guess my brain shook this out.

So an AU all around in which both of my Kaiza OCs and Tim Drake are divine scions. Tetsuki is a daughter of Izanagi (Japanese father god of the sky) while Ellen is a daughter of Izanami (Japanese mother god of death/the underworld) which makes their mortal relationship all the more hilarious what with their divine parents being legendary exes lol. I like the idea of Tim being a scion of Loki because within the RPG that gives him access to Illusion abilities including “Stolen Face” for those good trickster alternate identities.

Anyway, this doesn’t HAVE to be Tim Drake. Just as the kind and well-connected neighbors don’t have to be the Batfam. ;D

[chi-haku]

its 5-star day!!!! which means i get to do my fave thing and rank the album based exclusively on my first listen. ive only heard all of these once with the exception of the title so these are just first thoughts. my rankings always change insanely after like a week (looking at my maxident rankings im always like …weird!!)

rankings of the album below the cut!

1. fnf - oh my god i cant believe theyre singing abt five nights at freddys… this song is genuinely so good though; it makes me feel the same joy as i cant stop or the view does upon first listen. its emotional but its danceable, its got everything.

2. collision - THIS SONG WASNT EVEN RLLY ON MY RADAR AS A POTENTIAL FAVORITE?? (talk abt a collision haha!!) but dare i say it is actually my favorite?? (edit: its actually my second favorite) its a really fun track; this is one i would hope would get a dance tbh bcuz i think itd look really cool

3. topline - this song is such an ear worm its been stuck in my head before it even came out; it simultaneously serves cunt and bad ass at the same time; tiger jks verse eats. love the vocals in it too, and the BOM DIGGY DIGGY BOM BOM BOM BOM. its a rlly fun enjoyable song def gonna be on my list of faves

3. youtiful - i thought it was gonna be cringe which it kinda is but its also heartwarming and a bit sad. it would probably rank a bit higher if it didnt have some tough competition but ‘the universe in ur eyes’??? UGH IM BASHING MY HEAD INTO A WALL SCREAMING OK ITS CHEESY BUT ITS ALSO GREAT. our first tie because in making this these two kept switching ranks over and over

4. DLC - ok dlc standing for dance like crazy is so cute. this song makes me wanna just vibe and have a great time; just dont listen to the lyrics they make me a bit sad just a little bit. also the pre chorus whisper with a harmony right underneath? YES PLZ. eating this for breakfast this is so good

5. hall of fame - WOAH! early on i was like oh its nice but maybe not my fave until the kinda tron-ish break down before the chorus its kinda hypnotic—ONE SMALL STEP FOR MAN ONE GIANT LEAP FOR MANKIND made me giggle lol—the instrumental of this song is v interesting i like it a lot (this was actually below #6 for a hot second before i made a last minute call)

6. superbowl - you whisper in a song and thats it for me it kills me sorry!! someone said this is god menu pt 2 and it is its so good (i dont care that the lyrics are goofy i love it) this ones rank was shakey until the end that rlly sold it for me. noticing a trend of rlly strong outros on this album

6. get lit - i rlly struggled with this and superbowls ranks so theyre getting the same rank. skz knows how to make an amazing party song fr. i love a lil edm moment i wish they would do even more like side effects level breakdown

7. s-class - okay this song is a bit all over the place but kind of in a way that fucks; like its a mess in a way that if would blow my mind to play a shooter too! i do love IN’s breakdown he gets i LOOOOVE his voice. also the last bit before the end starting at like 2:35 to the end kinda reminds me of og skz in a way i rlly enjoy

8. item - really like the instrumentals they r playing w this album. im kinda predicting that this will be the song on the album that grows on me a lot; i really enjoy the breakdown towards the end and the videogame core of it all

honorable mentions (i dont rank previously released songs!!):

the sound - i didnt like this song like at all when it came out but it IS better in korean.

time out - we know her, we love her, she cant be in the rankings because she would top them and im biased cuz i listen to it all the time!