#he is the only reason why none of the Black Bulls are dead

[kcuf-ad]

Smile if you are the MVP of the entire Black Clover series.

[bohemian-nights]

That last anon is cooking something. The book does have a second account of daemon being a father figure to nettles. A maester swears by it in fact. The salacious rumors about bathing were told by maids and we know which rumors not to trust (some of mushroom's, singers, maids, etc).

It makes sense if nettles' arc is split between rhaena and addam actually. Rhaena joining daemon at the riverlands fulfills the father-daughter arc that is in need of confrontration and closure since s1. It wouldn't make sense if you have rhaena, addam, and nettles as dragonriders. There'd be too many of them. Someone has to go and rhaena is already a poc. The only answer here is nettles. Addam aIready exists and is non-valyrian looking.

Tbh your self-insert fantasies are getting in the way of you seeing this in an objective light. They're clearly not following the books so why are you expecting a throuple or an incestuous dad-daughter one is to one comparison from the book? Clearly nonny was pertaining to the second account being fulfilled, which would be much better than a contrived alleged cheating plot.

The only thing you and the other anon are cooking is some meth in a basement to feed the voices in your heads🤣

For those that don't know this is a link to the ask that this Dumbnyra stan is talking about.

You must think I’m as stupid as your cult of delusional morons if you expect me to believe that they had someone come in to play Nettles, dressed her up and everything, but only as an easter egg🙃:

You and the other anon need to come up with a better excuse for why they’ll cut Nettles and replace her with Rhaena than the toilet water your spilling.

Shipping nonsense aside, Rhaena is a highborn girl who comes from a dragon-riding family. She may be neglected by her father, but she’s undoubtedly privileged and she does have family who do care about her.

Nettles is the complete opposite of that. She comes from literally nothing. She has no one. The odds are stacked against her and yet this little brown-skinned bastard girl claims a dragon that killed others who had the “right blood.”

She’s supposed to show us that it’s more than blood that makes us. No other dragonseed or dragonrider has gone through what she has and none of them will. She’s a survivor in every sense of the word.

You are literally missing the point of her arc if you think they can just copy and paste it onto Rhaena(or Addam or whoever) cause they are all POC(don't hide behind that word because it doesn't make you look less racist when we know you mean Black) now.

Learn how to read first before you come for me with the self-insert bull crap(rich coming from the likes of you considering that’s the only reason why you care about Dumbnyra and why you refuse to see Nettles as an actual important character):

Maester Norren’s Testimony is supposed to support not dispute the assertion that Daemon and Nettles are lovers (see the “and in this case”).

You can't cherry-pick what you want from a source(which is what you’re trying to do because you know it makes no sense that a man bathes naked alone with their grown daughter). Maester Norren believes what the maids say. He never questions it so you either drop his account entirely or you accept the whole of it.

The maids were there. They weren’t just gossiping for the sake of gossiping or making sh*t up because everyone at Maidenpool from Lord Mooton’s brother to those lowly maids could see how fond Daemon was of Netty:

As far as the show goes, despite what you guys try to claim, your ship has hit dead water:

This show was never centered around Dumbnyra’s “epic love story.” Nettles and the “contrived cheating plot” was always going to come along (and you can cry about it till the cows come home):

As I asked the other anon, if you truly believe that Rhaena will replace Nettles what will be the new cause of Daemon abandoning Rhaenyra?

Does Mysaria still accuse him of sleeping with his own daughter and Rhaenyra believes her and orders Rhaena’s death or does Daemon just decide to abandon her and end it all for sh*ts and giggles?

What makes him confront Aemond now knowing that Rhaenyra needs him, Rhaena’s life doesn’t hang in the balance, and he doesn’t have to make a choice? What’s the reason? What’s the motivation? Don’t leave us in suspense 🙃

And before another Dumbnyra stan sends me another anonymous message talking about how mean I am or how I’m just a biased self-inserter, let me go quote myself from yesterday because you are proving my point:

This is why I responded to the first anon and yourself the way I did. Your side of the fandom is riddled with misogynoir and anti-Blackness all under the guise feminism(while disrespecting every female character who isn't Rhaenyra).

In your bigoted minds, you all think there can only be one or two Black people around, or else there are too many in a sea of white characters you can root for. The presence of a whopping six Black(ish) characters is just so distressing for you.

You all think it’s fine to cut the only in-canon Black character and insert her arc onto race-bent characters because you don’t want her there.

You refuse to see her importance because she’s Black. You refuse to relate to her because she’s Black. You refuse to see her as an actual character with a story worthy of being told because she’s Black.

A story that is unique among the dragonseeds(yes even with Addam having dark hair because he’s still being claimed by Corlys and he has a family) but you ignore it all in favor of she should be cut because there are just too many Black characters.

Let's call a spade a spade and say the main reason you want her cut and replaced with Rhaena is because you know that if Nettles is there she will be Daemon’s lover and due to the color of her skin you refuse to self-insert into a Negro like you do Rhaenyra. Rhaena is the safe option because you know Daemon can't f*ck his own daughter. Don’t insult my intelligence and say that you are doing this because you people actually want to make her more of a key player during the Dance or want daddy to pay attention to her.

I’ve already laid out how they can make Rhaena more actively involved so if you really cared about her you’d root for a story line like this:

You don’t care about Nettles, Rhaena, or Addam who all have their respective plot lines and roles to play. This is all being done to keep your sinking ship afloat(too late for that because it’s already struck the iceberg and it’s going down faster than the Titanic).

You know who can be cut/combined considering they have basically the same role (betraying Rhaenyra)? Ulf and Hugh. Oh, but that’s right, they are both white so you’d never suggest that. They are just too important to the plot for one to be cut.

Your all Negros are the same to me, they’ll have five Negros on the show and that’s five too many even though this show is majority white, I’ll lose what’s left of my sanity if they add one more so they’ve had to have reached their Black quota behind can go somewhere else and spout that bull crap to your fellow Nazi wannabes.

If people can not see how racist this cult of a fandom is I don’t know what to tell you, but I won’t be entertaining your unserious bs about Nettles on my blog when you come out the gate with racially charged language.

[cas-rivaille]

HELLO, DEAR!

Undertaker here! How are you today?

I was thinking the other day and I remembered an idea of mine I requested some time ago to another blog and I wanted to see your point of view as well, if you're comfortable with it ofc! I'll change it a bit because I have more ideas about it than before.

What if, hear me out, Obey me!MC was Sukuna's vessel??

I was thinking about a Female!MC but if you want you can keep them gender neutral (I don't mind!). So let's get into it, shall we?

Some facts about MC before the Devildom:

- They've already eaten all Sukuna's fingers

-But they are able to keep him calm inside themselves because over the year they've been together, MC decided to approach him more (Ya know if you have to die with/for someone, at least know them better)

-Sukuna took a liking to the MC, even though he would never admit it. (I mean- They always visit him in his domain to talk to him, read together, play cards (yes. You heard me. The king of curses loves Poker and UNO) or chess, they always ask him where would he like to go eat something, offer him some of their food to let him try new things, ect. Sometimes, but only SOMETIMES, they let him take control (not fully but they both can talk from the same mouth and he has control over one side, while MC has control over the other one))

- Having said that, Sukuna's still a stinky sassy bastard King. He's still rude, acts like he doesn't care about them and always finds a way to let them down when they're too happy. If they're sad though, he doesn't hurt them more. Sometimes MC even asks him advice whenever they're in doubt and after his bulling he actually gives pretty good advice (if you consider extreme violence a good advice that is)

Anyway, MC was going to get executed when suddenly they fell into Devildom. Their file didn't mention Sukuna at all and MC noticed that because when they arrived covered in talismans and chains the demons were confused about it. So, they kept the King a secret until lesson 16.

After Belphegor's crushing hug, while MC (the one from the original timeline) is in Mammon's arm, before Barbatos Thanoses the other timeline, Sukuna heals them and takes fully control of their body (the tattoos, the fangs, the long black claws, the other pairs of eyes and arms appear).

Now, HOW would the brothers, Diavolo and Barbatos react?

If it is too much or I did something wrong, feel free to ignore this! It's okay! Love you and have a good day!

OH MY GOD ?? THIS IS FANTASTIC THANK YOU OMG !

(i think i'm gonna do it hc style for the individual characters feelings but also some dialogue n stuff and each hc thing for each character is written as like in the game like they all like MC except belphie for obvious reasons)

tags: swearing, lesson uhhh smth spoilers ?? i think like 16 ?? (lmk if i need to tag anything else)

also hi ‘taker🥺🥺 i’m good today,, had a bit of a rough morning but i got to see my partner so i feel better !! how are you ? :D

and without further ado..

MC who is Sukuna's Vessel

- hold up

- hold the fuck up

- it was confusing enough when there were two MCs and one of them was near death in mammon's arms

- but now the injured MC gets healed and comes back to life ? but has another set of arms and eyes and is covered in strange tattoos ?

- then the other MC disappears ?

- when the demon MC starts talking, their voice is different and what-

--

"What the fuck did you to do MC?" Sukuna hastily spits out, checking the body for any other injuries. MC's voice is back and talking out of the same mouth.

"Sukuna, stand down," MC says.

"But he almost killed you ! Without me we wouldn't be standing here right now !" Sukuna argues back.

"I'm aware of that, but we have to be civil about this and talk to them," MC responds sternly.

"Then I want to be present for it. I'm not letting anything happen to you- I mean me. Yes me because I die if you die and I'm too godly to die," Sukuna rambles out before retracting the other set of arms but leaving the tattoos. He opens one of the eyes and forms a mouth on MC's right cheek to watch and participate in the conversation.

All the brothers and Divolo looked stunned at the scene that just happened.

"Questions ?" MC jokingly asks.

--

Lucifer -

- what ?

- questions ? is MC joking ?

- who the fuck is talking out of MCs body and what jurisdiction does he have

- isnt MC supposed to be human ??

- what does this mean for their relationship ?

- why did MC keep it from him ?

- he looks at dia and barbatos with the most confused face

- looks back at MC equally confused

- def hurts his pride that he didn't know

--

"Explain"

Lucifer's confusion turns to anger because that's the only way he knows how to cope/react to this.

Sukuna starts talking.

"Show a little more respect. I'm a king after all."

"Don't be an ass," MC shoots back. MC looks at Lucifer a little embarrassed.

"Uh, so this is Sukuna. He's the king of curses ? We kind of share a body because... uhh... it's a very long story but i mean the gist of it is I ate his thousand year old fingers ? There was 20 of them because he had two sets of arms like you saw before- it was very gross- but i had to because of the energy they posses ? When you brought me here and I was covered in seals and chains, was when I was about to be executed because I have all of Sukuna in me. So,, he can do stuff like heal my body and give me cool powers ? I don't really know what else to say." MC rambles using awkward hand motions and finishes by scratching the back of their head.

"Way to make me sound like a total fucking loser," Sukuna glares at MC.

"For the love of god stop talking-" MC shoots back.

--

Mammon

- huh ? someone has been sharing a body with his MC the whole time ?

- were they present the whole time ?

- did they see him acting like an idiot in love ?

- was sukuna there during e v e r y conversation he's ever had w them

- never felt more insecure and betrayed tbh

- why wouldn't you tell him ? he was your first

</3

- wants you all to himself

- doesn't want to share you with some four armed idiot

--

"So he's just, there all the time ?" Mammon asks.

"Not really? He has a headspace and he usually just chills in there but he can watch what's going on if he wants to." MC responds.

"That makes me sound lazy," Sukuna complains.

"Well if you don't like how I describe you then maybe you can talk about yourself. You're very good at it," MC smirks.

"Fine. I can do whatever I want. We can trade who has control over MC's body. I have a large supply of cursed energy and will beat the shit out of the next person who touches MC," Sukuna glares at Belphie.

"Yeah beat them in poker maybe. But not mariokart. You suck at video games in the headspace," MC laughs.

--

Leviathan

- was that how MC was so good at video games ?

- because they spent hours on end with this guy in their head playing video games ?

- why didn't MC come to him to play games ?

- why is MC okay with sharing a body with Sukuna ?

- why can he be the one to share a body with MC ?

- why was MC playing video games with literally anyone else ?

--

"So let me get this straight, you are his fingers and now you share a body ? How does that even work ? That sounds like something out of the manga 'My best friend ate some ancient object and now shares a body with an immortal warrior'" Levi questions MC.

"Okay so, Sukuna lived a really long time ago. When he died, the only thing that survived were his fingers. They each hold an incredible amount of cursed energy and it's only his fingers so from there you can imagine how powerful he was with the rest of his body," MC explains.

"Okay but that doesn't tell me why you ate the fingers ?" Levi raises an eyebrow.

"Oh. So I went to a high school for Jujutsu sorcerers, which are people who can manipulate cursed energy, and once I ate the first one to save my friend from dying, my choices were to die now or eat all of Sukuna and then be executed because he would die with me," MC says as if them dying was nothing.

--

Satan

- why has he never heard about Sukuna in any of the books he's read ?

- he historically doesn't exist in anything the devildom has book-wise

- so who is he ?

- needs to find out everything he can about him

- is there a way to separate MC and Sukuna ?

- his blood is boiling at the thought of MC sharing a body with someone

--

"So you've basically had super human powers this entire time and elected to not tell us ?" Satan glares at MC.

"Well, when you put it like that it sounds bad. I just didn't want you all to meet Sukuna because he has a lot of anger issues and is quite an asshole and I was trying to avoid this entire conversation that is happening," MC sighs.

"Rude," Sukuna says.

"Anger issues. You think we couldn't deal with this ? Are you serious right now ?" Satan asks.

MC shrugs their shoulders nervously.

"How much do you actually know about what sharing a body with him does to you ?" Satan asks while looking at the small mouth and glaring.

"I mean, I get these marks because he had them when he was alive. He was also so powerful to the point he had four arms and another set of eyes, like you saw before. I get those when he takes over mostly, but I can kee him restrained. But the eye thing is why I've always had slits under my eyes because the eyes are the most common thing to show up. The arms don't really. But it's entirely painless so don't worry," MC somewhat calmly explains.

--

Asmodeus

- those marks make MC look so good wtf-

- not the time

- so this Sukuna person lived a thousand years ago ?

- what was this about jujutsu sorcery ?

- what even is that ?

- asmos not the brightest on the block but from the looks on his brothers faces none of them know what the fuck MC is talking about either.

- they've explained a little bit of it b there's still some missing info

- what is sharing a body really like

- how much of MCs body can change to be like Sukunas ?

--

"So how much of your body can he control ? What can he heal ? Could he bring you back from the dead ?" Asmo curiously asks.

"He can't control much because it's my body and I have a lot of raw power by myself. I don't know if he can bring us back from the dead. I don't think so though or else the Jujutsu school wouldn't have tried to execute me. He used to be able to bring us back when I hadn't eaten all of his fingers, but now I don't think he can," MC explains.

"So why do you let him live in your body if he can't do much for you ?" Asmo questions.

"Well one, I don't think there's a way to get him out-"

"I'm still here you know," Sukuna interrupts.

"You've made that clear," MC says before continuing, "And two he can do stuff for me. It's like a symbiotic relationship. I give him a host and he protects me."

--

Beelzebub

- protects MC ?

- that's his job

- why is someone else protecting MC ?

- overall confusion

- even tho MC has gone over it multiple times, he doesn't get how or why Sukuna is in MC's body

- maybe it's the shock

. was this why MC could challenge him to armwrestling and almost win ?

--

"So how long has he been in you ?" Beel asks.

"About a year," MC responds.

"Can he make you live longer aside from healing you ?" Beel asks hopefully.

"I'm sorry, I don't think so..." MC says while looking at the ground. They cross their arms. They look small, as if they aren't small enough compared to him already.

"So, what does this mean ? Now that your secret is out... are you going to stay in the devildom with us ? Or do you have to leave ?"

" If I leave I'll surely be executed when I go back to the human world. If I stay I don't know what will happen to me, but it's not up to me. It's up to you guys if you want me to stay. I understand if you want me to go, I was harboring a big secret and it's probably unnerving to know that you're never truly alone with me, but Sukuna actually cares about my boundaries even though he acts like he doesn't. There are some pluses and there are some drawbacks but ultimately you have to decide." MC responds, looking from brother to brother then at Dia and Barbatos

--

Belphie

- MC ? dead if you back to the human world ? doesn't bother him

- he doesn't care

- he hasn't known MC long enough to care

- diavolo may have told everyone that MC was a descendant of human Lilith and he told everyone the events that actually happened, but why should he have any attachment to MC

- MC isnt Lilith, and MC sure as hell doesn't like him after the events that happened today

- from what he's heard, MC dying would be good for the human world

--

"I say send MC back. What happens to them isnt our problem any more," Belphie says while under his magical restraints Diavolo put on him.

"Of course you would say that," Satan glares at him.

"Shut up Belphie !!" Mammon and Levi yell.

"You don't have any right to an opinion in this matter." Lucifer states.

"Belphie that's mean," Asmo says.

Beel frowns.

"I vote they stay. I like MC regardless, and if all I have to do is adjust to Sukuna then I'll do it," Beel says while looking Belphie dead in the eye.

There's a beat of silence.

"Me too," Mammon says.

"Hey ! I was going to say that !" Levi protests.

"Oooh~ Count me in !" Asmo says with a smile.

"I also think they should stay," Satan says and looks at MC.

"My personal preference is also that they stay, but Lord Diavolo it's up to you," Lucifer says and looks at Dia.

--

Diavolo

- he knew there was something off, but couldnt place his finger on it

- he also constantly got a powerful vibe from MC and this explains it

- he was very fond of MC and enjoyed their presence

- he knew what he was going to do

--

"Barbatos, what do you think ?" Dia asks him.

"The decision is up to you m'lord," Barbatos responds.

"Well Id also like the input of my trusty all knowing butler," Diavolo laughs.

"Then, I see no reason to send them back to the human world. They can live out their lives here and safe from the school that wants to execute them. It also wouldn't be an issue to get anyone from the human world here if MC so desired," Barbatos replied.

"Then it's settled ! Welcome to the devildom for the rest of your life MC!!" Diavolo smiled and welcomed MC with open arms.

MC smiled and accepted the hug.

--

Barbatos

- he didn't know all along, but he know when the timelines crossed and he had to erase the other

- MC was very near and dear to his heart though and he wasnt about to let them be killed

- just wants to keep MC safe

--

I HOPE I DID A GOOD JOB AND THANK YOU FOR THE REQUEST REMEMBER TO FRINK SOME WATER ILY TAKER <3

- mars :)

[hezuart]

That anaversary aizen looks absolutely fabulous, he looks like a figure skater xd.

I heard along time ago the last arc of the anime was being animated finally bc they pulled a 90s sailor moon were the last season was not either animated or dubbed untill decades later.

I recall near the end of the current 366 episodes there was an episode were the creapy demon ppl woke up in hell and we're all bitter, and there was the other guy who was like, iM cOmEiNg FoR u IChIgO, but then is never mentioned again after and I'm like,why? Why is lt there just plopted randomly into a different arc that seams unrelated.

And locking aizen up underground seems ok, but It deff won't hold, and he will. Escape, and he will kill, you either need that one spell from star, dubbed, the darkest spell of moon the undaunted, a powerfull dark spell that killed immortal beings, that came from best character, eclipsa, the queen of darkness.

We need that.

Or stick him I'm crystal like eclipsa was in star. Is there no one who could trap him in ice or crystal for all eternity.

How about throw him into the centre of a volcano trapped and caged , forverr being killed by heat?

I assume there's space travel, send I'm into a black whole, were a black whole don't fuckin care if your immortal or fat, you will die

:3

Yes, I love anniversary Aizen. His original octopus-butterfly hollow design was ugly so I'm glad he's back to being the fashion icon he is.

Locking Aizen up underground once is one thing, doing it twice after saying he got more powerful by just sitting there, and he escaped to battle the Quincy Soul King God... is another. I think he should have escaped at the end of the Quincy arc. That is the only feasibility.

I heard the anime is coming back for the Quincy arc as well, but because of COVID its probably going to be delayed. (I'm not gonna watch it until the Rain section of the arc then I'm dipping out. I'm only here for Zangetsu)

and funny that you mention that hell scene in the manga :)

-> spoilers for the new BLEACH 73 page anniversary chapter / thoughts/critique on it

So hey you had a premonition! Syazel .... returned? And his hole is outside of his body??? for some reason???

(I didn't understand the explanation or why / how that happens and what that means for the hollow)

And my friend and I were laughing because out of ALL the things. Kubo could do in this anniversary. He gave Syazel his dick back after going to hell. That is iconic. (that's where his hole was located, and now that its not on his body ... well...) This is the funniest thing Kubo has EVER pulled. Kudos to you, sir.

The entire internet is freaking out over Ukitake being in hell. Honestly Kubo has done far worse, and we've established that Soul Society is a corrupt system that hasn't changed, so I'm not surprised he would pull something like this.

At the same time, Kubo 1. cheated his audience. 2. continues to prove me right that he cannot bring himself to kill his characters

1. Hollows who have commit murder in their human life are sent to hell. Syazel and Aaorniero are two of these hollows, and yet, when they are killed, there is NO gates of hell scene. We see them there later in the hell chapter (which was more of a promotion for the fourth movie and I didn't believe it would hold any merit)

But the same goes for Ukitake. We never see the gates of hell take him. What, was hell late? Did hell's gates get lost like an uber before picking him up? It's bull. Withholding such vital information from your audience, not showing the gates of hell when they should pick up this soul IMMEDIATELY is ... I mean its a lie. Kubo lied to his audience.

2. Now we are told powerful shinigami are sent to hell when they die. First of all that sounds like a security threat. Wouldn't shinigami want revenge for that? Or attempt to escape? Why would they still hold loyalty after being sent to a prison of eternal suffering?

Also "Yhwach and Aizen" were the only ones keeping Hell's gates closed is way too convenient and doesn't really make any sense. I feel like Aizen should have deliberately gone to hell to retrieve powerful shinigami / hollows for his army instead of keeping it /closed/.

This is definitely a Kubo-doesn't-know-what-he's-doing-and-is -making- stuff-up-as-he-goes, but it might have a pinch of merit because of previous plot lines.... but either way, there's some big plot holes here, but again, its Kubo, so I expected nothing less.

Again, he can't kill off his characters. He introduced zombification, he introduced immortality through the hougyoku, he has Orihime and Hachigen's reversal / rejection abilities. He brought back Luppi, friggen.... a character who's entire upper half of his body was incinerated. Like.... come on. No. He's dead, you can't bring him back like that. That's a cop out and just weird. You're taking away consequences and grief.

(Also Yamamoto and Unohana deserve to be in hell far over Ukitake, they've done some fcked up stuff in their pasts unlike him)

Also Kubo's favorite character is Mayuri, which.... you're allowed to have a favorite problematic character. But Keeping said character alive and bared from the consequences of abusing his daughter, murdering innocents, and experimenting on your own squad members? Nah. Nope. Kill him, Kubo. Kill this dude.

(his weird attachment to Mayuri is probably why he keeps bringing Syazel back, since Syazel is Mayuri 2.0, but Syazel is the bad guy who does face consequences for his actions while Mayuri is not)

~

Also, I'm certain Kazui and Orihime are going to be THRILLED that their precious husband/dad is going to hell when he dies :)

(I just... Rukia teased Ichigo about leaving Orihime at home. She teased him about having a house wife who he leaves all the chores to. Orihime had two panels. She checks on her son who promised he would be at home and sleep. Kazui fcking breaks his promise like it never mattered to him and JUMPS out the window after pretending to sleep in front of his mother. ... An 8 year old... alone... in the middle of the night.)

Orihime is abandoned. She is not invited to SS, she is not informed of what is going on, her son leaves her.... I...

Orihime is a side character. She doesn't matter anymore. She hasn't mattered for a long, long time.

A part of me is glad she had little screen time, since she tends to waste it, but another part of me is embroiled with rage.

I've even see people try to defend this. "Orihime and Ichigo can't be together ALL the time, that's an unhealthy relationship!" and I'm like guys... that's not the point. The point is Orihime is not part of Ichigo's other life. Any shinigami stuff from now on is none of her business. She's going to stay at home while Kazui and Ichigo go off and save the world. Ichigo is going to be fighting by Rukia and Renji while Orihime watches from the sidelines, or worse, doesn't even know what is going on with her husband and son. Orihime is going to be uninformed and abandoned, because she has not proven she is capable of fighting by their sides(go on, @ me. I will fight this. She's a failure.), and also because she prefers a human life over a dead one. Which is ironic, because she married a dead man. Ichigo is a shinigami, and he will be one forever. god forbid she ever meets his Zanpaktou. She would tremble in fear at the monsters her husband harbors in his soul, especially when she realizes they don't care about her and would rather see her dead. (Zangetsu would absolutely kill Orihime. Not sure about Kazui, but Orihime has not accepted Zangetsu, she does not like either of them, and the feeling is assuredly mutual.) frick now I want to make a comic about this

Also still frustrated over Zangetsu's shikai / bankai regression. Kubo once again lied to his audience. Ichigo has no bankai. How ridiculous is that? The main character of BLEACH doesn't have a bankai. Insulting.

(RIP to Chad. He doesn't exist anymore. He's just gone. No mention, no cameo. Gone.)

Kazui is a demon child. That character from the novels? Hikone? They're the same character. Literally same personality, same power level. Its worse because Kazui is a liar. He constantly goes behind his parents' backs. He can summon creepy fish and creepy eyeballs and open portals like is ANYONE aware of this? How has SS not kidnapped Ichigo's son and experimented on him / locked away his powers yet? All substitute shinigami require a reiatsu controlling / spy badge to keep them in line. Where is Kazui's? Or is he just a weird fullbringer?

I was worried Kubo was gonna try and pull a knock off Boruto but luckily he kept the focus on Ichigo and the others. But that being said, Ichika and Kazui are now just... sort of there? Kazui was kinda just.... having his own adventure that doesn't matter to the plot at hand, and Ichika had some nice characterization at first but she just hid behind her dad the whole time.

I have a feeling Kazui is gonna step in at the last minute or do some major behind the scenes thing that indirectly interferes with the main plot so no one will realize how powerful and dangerous he actually is. Its sad because Ichika is the superior character in personality and likability, but she clearly is not going to have a bigger part in this.

Ichigo having a normal life after everything still feels extremely boring and uncomfortable to me. Everyone's like 'I'm still bLEACH!" but.... BLEACH just... doesn't feel like BLEACH anymore. It hasn't for a while now.

~~~

There's two new shinigami characters. Didn't care for the girl, but the Sign Language kid who talks to animals is adorable ... however... he just reminds me of Chad, and I just... it hurts knowing Chad has essentially been deleted. Chad and Orihime are officially benched. They have chosen the human world, and Orihime has given Ichigo his spawn so she has no more use/purpose to him anymore... ////sigh

~~~

Also. This is claimed to be a new "arc". So is the BLEACH manga coming back? What is happening. I thought Kubo was tired and didn't want to do BLEACH anymore. I thought Shounen Jump cut him off. People made so many excuses for Kubo and why the past two arcs have been so badly written the past 6 years and now almost everything they've attempted to defend him with has been revoked.

BLEACH is going to continue to screw up its plot lines and characters, so Its probably best for it to stay dead but I've seen a lot of Kubo stans drooling over this content, they're desperate for BLEACH's return, but its already given out all its possible revelations. There's really nothing else to top here. It's just going to make things up as it goes along ,and I'm not really here for half-assed writing like that, especially since the damage of rushing the previous manga has already been done. Kubo and Shounen Jump are riding off a money nostalgia. None of this was planned.

Honestly though.... overall feeling of this chapter, not as bad as it could have been.

Syazel stole the spotlight, and he's my friend's favorite character, so that's all that really matters.

[virlath]

The great betrayal

So far, we’ve only really heard what happened in ancient times based on Solas’ own words. But we also know that he speaks in half truths. His own dark legends as told by Felassan, his old friend, paints him as cunning and practiced in double-speak dark wisdom.

His MO is reminiscent of Imshael, a forbidden one who tricked Michel into releasing him (thereby reactivating the eluvian network, which was ultimately what Solas wanted). They both blur the line between spirit and demon and they both traverse the fade as if it is their home.

And I have to say, Solas’ version of events leading to Mythal’s death doesn’t add up.

He claims the precursor to the veil was the evanuris killing Mythal. Abelas reaffirms this version of events by specifically saying ‘the dread wolf had nothing to do with her murder. She was slain, if a god truly can be, by the people who also destroyed this temple’.

But at the end of the day, the only person who stood to gain the most from Mythal’s death was Fen’Harel and his slave rebellion, not the evanuris.

After all, the evanuris’ entire claim of divinity hinged on the claim that they were truly ‘immortal’.

"The gods, our Evanuris, claim divinity, yet they are naught but mortals powerful in magic who can die as you can. In this place, we teach those who join us to unravel their lies."

Based on ancient mosaics at Fen’Harel’s sanctuary, we can presume the evanuris knew the secret to ‘effective immortality’ by body hopping. I am assuming the method to do this is probably similar to Corypheus and his arch demon.

It seems that not many regular people knew of this secret however, which was why Solas took it upon himself to start his rebellion, expose their mortal flaws, and fight back against them to reclaim their freedom.

If the evanuris betrayed and killed Mythal as Solas says, they would have had to announce to everyone that the head of their pantheon, the goddess of love and protection, was dead and gone forever. But in doing so, they would also be exposing their own false divinity, revealing that they themselves can also be deposed.

According to Solas, Falon’Din started many wars to gain more worshippers. They likely started all these wars because the evanuris had the security of effective immortality. Their primary motive seems to gain more followers or slaves, rather than power over each other. In fact, Solas’ surprise at learning Corypheus also learned this secret proves it was not common knowledge even back in ancient Elvhenan.

So, knowing that the evanuris likely kept the secret of true immortality close to their chest, why would they want to off Mythal completely? Deposing her did not automatically mean they gained more power. Remember her killers destroyed her temple but left her well intact, and that was really where a lot of her power lay.

Maybe they were really were power hungry as he says, and mutinied against Mythal. Maybe they were poisoned by the void’s magic. Or maybe, they were manipulated by Fen’Harel to betray and kill her, to set an example and turn people against the false gods.

"The brand of the Evanuris can be lifted from you, that all may know you oppose their cruelties. None here are slaves. All are under our protection. All may choose to fight."

Fen’Harels sanctuary reveals his rebellion actually did attempt to try to fight against the gods. So imagine if Mythal, the head of the pantheon, was actually killed.

Mythal’s death would have sent a very clear message to the evanuris and everyone under their rule- the gods were not divine, and they were all mortals just as they were. This event would have been a huge turning of the tide for Fen’Harel’s rebellion to be honest.

I previously thought Solas and Mythal worked together in their rebellion, but maybe Solas was cunning enough to evade even her. Based on Cole’s dialogue, it wouldn’t be a surprise to learn he was also once a slave of Mythal’s (he left a scar when he burnt her off his face). And as to the reason why he doesn’t trust anyone? His distrust could simply be because he himself is the betrayer.

We can assume from DAI’s epilogue that Mythal and Solas were once close and Flemeth even calls him ‘old friend’. Perhaps Fen’Harel used his close relationship with Mythal as his shield, because the last person you expect to betray you is the person closest to you.

Just remember, an enemy can attack, but only an ally can betray you. Betrayal is always worse. 

Solas does seem genuinely remorseful about everything and his dialogue with Cole indicates he created the veil to save them. Maybe the evanuris were on a trajectory to destroy the world by using their magic and their slaves in their endless wars. Orchestrating Mythal’s death could have been a big part of his rebellion- he needed to resort to drastic measures to send a clear message.

I did not lead a slave-rebellion against immortal mage-kings without getting my hands bloody

There is also the propaganda on the dread wolf we can find in trespasser:

The pages of this book-memory?-warn of a terrible danger, a wolf with slavering black jaws and pits for eyes. The Evanuris-the elven gods-stand in a ring around it, as if preventing it from attacking.

"Beware the forms of Fen'Harel! The Dread Wolf comes in humble guises, a wanderer who knows much of the People and their spirits. He will offer advice that seems fair, but turns slowly to poison. Remember the price of treason, and keep in your heart the mercy of your gods."

It’s been assumed that this propaganda was released by the evanuris to dissuade people from joining Fen’Harel’s rebellion. But a lot of it also rings true, and it is one of those codices that has bugged me for ages in how foreboding and ominous it is.

It has parallels to the inquisitor’s own journey. It has elements of Solas’ own MO. And it reveals that Fen’Harel potentially even manipulated the false gods themselves.

From the dev notes in DAI, he will kill anyone- even Flemeth. He killed Felassan, his old friend. He says in Tevinter Nights, he will kill anyone without hesitation if they stand in his way.

I think there is a lot of solid evidence of his underhanded tactics in the events leading to Mythal’s death. Maybe he persuaded her killers to leave the well intact so that she could come back as a new being and reclaim her power. As he says ‘his people do not die so easily’. Mythal’s death and creation of the veil could have even enabled the blight as we know it today...

Because as told by Flemeth, Mythal became a wisp, just like Solas’ wisdom spirit friend. Based on dialogue with him, he insinuates wisps grow and reform in the void, where its assumed the blight’s magic is based on. 

Maybe his intention was to use Mythal as an example for his rebellion, but also attempt to reform her because she was his friend. But along the way, Mythal’s spirit corrupted into vengeance because she was ultimately betrayed by people she trusted.

If Mythal was Fen’Harel’s big sacrifice, it would also draw so many obvious symbolic parallels to Andraste, who as I’ve said before has a lot of suspicious links to Mythal. Remember Solas’ chess game with Bull in DAI? He sacrifices the queen in order to win the game.

This is of course all speculation and deduction- I don’t claim that Solas definitely betrayed Mythal. But from a story perspective, this would be an absolutely amazing plot twist, even bigger than the reveal of Solas being the dread wolf.

I mean....can you imagine that reveal in DA4?! It would explain so much of his regret and burden of guilt because Mythal was once his closest friend. On a thematic level the emphasis on power and sacrifice and revenge and forgiveness would all be there.

Fen’Harel being the betrayer but not the true killer but the orchestrator behind everything, completely embodying the trickster god trope...ahhh I just can’t stop thinking about this tbh.

[seattlesea]

bad representation in the riordanverse

Racism:

-Gave Hazel and Piper gold and ‘kaleidoscope’/brown-blue-green changing eyes and pretty much went ‘Let’s add some characters of color but they cANT HAVE BROWN EYES THAT’S NOT PRETTY ENOUGH’ as if whitewashing isn’t more than just the skin.

-East Asian characters: Riordan pretty much went 'Here are my East Asian characters- one of them looks like a fat baby on steroids and is super undeveloped, his mother is strict and cold, and all the others are just described as 'Asian' because different countries in Asia don't exist and there's obviously no difference between Japanese, Chinese, and Korean'. His portrayal of East Asian characters went like this: Frank: Chinese, chubby, hates himself, underdeveloped, described to look like a 'Chinese Canadian baby man' and a 'panda' as if that's not stereotyping, and only learned to love himself when he looked hotter.  Drew: Asian, villainized, rude, shallow, vain, and selfish. Ethan: Asian, rude, evil, a traitor, and deceased. Grandma Zhang- rude, strict, cold, traditional, and deceased.

-Hazel: Has gold eyes. Has 'cinnamon brown' hair even though dark brown or black hair would be way more inclusive and realistic. Had a mother portrayed as a rude and selfish witch who sacrificed, used, and trafficked her own child. Was the only character called or described as a witch while African-Americans were usually accused of witchcraft just for their skin color. Was the only character who was cursed. Had a mother who literally practiced voodoo. The only African-American character in the series before ToA who isn't dead (but she also died). Was paired with a sixteen year old guy even though African women are constantly forced with older men and that's blatantly racist stereotyping. 

-Piper: Had 'chocolate brown' and then 'mahogany' hair? Has kaleidoscope eyes. Put a feather in her hair (which is stereotyping)- and it was an eagle feather, which is also wrong because eagles are extremely sacred to First Nation tribes and only spiritual leaders or warriors can wear it or it has to be gifted by an Elder of the tribe, and Riordan basically went 'Feathers are very important and it's racist to make a character wear one at inappropriate times but I'm going to make my character wear one as a cute accessory to make her look cool, pretty, and headstrong and to add to her 'Aesthetic'’ even though Cherokees didn’t wear feathers (which proves he did the bare minimum of research). Constantly oversexualized (56% of First Nation women are sexually harassed and Riordan had the audacity to put Piper in an 'embarrassingly low v-neck' and to have her constantly drooled over by a WHITE MALE and have her sexualized by her 1000+ mother without her knowledge or consent).  It's said that her father was from a reservation in Oklahoma...but there are no reservations in Oklahoma, only cultural centers (which also proves that he did the bare minimum of research).  She's the only First Nations character and she's the only character (besides Nancy Bobofit) depicted as a kleptomaniac (First Nations people are constantly called thieves by racist assholes). “The week before, he’d turned down several million dollars to play Tonto in a remake of The Lone Ranger. Piper was still trying to figure out why. He’d played all kinds of roles—a Latino teacher in a tough L.A. school, a dashing Israeli spy in an action-adventure blockbuster, even a Syrian terrorist in a James Bond movie. And, of course, he would always be known as the King of Sparta. But if the part was Native American—it didn’t matter what kind of role it was—Dad turned it down.” (The Lost Hero, page 165). So her father is fine with playing an extremely racist and stereotypical Middle Eastern role but not a First Nations role. Uses a cornucopia as a weapon (how she got it- cutting it off a half-bull- is disrespectful to her culture as hurting an animal is banned and she used a cornucopia- a symbol of Thanksgiving- as a weapon). Cut her hair, which is basically taboo in First Nations culture.

-Samirah: Had an arranged marriage (at age twelve, and she believed that she was groomed to be married to a rich and respectable family and nothing else). Ripped off her hijab in front of tons of male characters. The only Muslim character. The only Muslim character and she's the only character who married her cousin (you're supposed to break stereotypes, not enforce them).

Thomas Jefferson Jr: Said that he was thankful to the British for not siding with the South during the American Civil War even though they needed the South's cotton (but they didn't side with the North either). AKA a black man and son of a freed slave was thankful to Britain for not openly oppressing him? And at the same time he was named after a racist slave-owner.

Reyna: She's brown and her entire story revolves around her being independent, strong, alone, and self-sufficient but also desperately needing love and support but then Riordan says that she can't get her heart healed AKA she went through an abusive home, killed her father, left her sister, felt alone her whole life, worked a two-person job alone for months, and had to put on a brave face for others throughout all this then was literally told 'Shut up no one wants to hear about your struggles, just suck it up and deal with it’ and have you seen all the shit brown girls have to go through and keep silent about it? 

Extra: -Latino, Puerto Rican, African-American, Chinese-Canadian, East Asian, First Nations, etc. characters and the two most powerful, best, and most skilled characters and who the stories mostly revolve around are two white guys AKA white supremacy.

-"Harriet Tubman, daughter of Hermes, used many mortals on her Underground Railroad for just this reason" and that World War II was caused by a child of Zeus and a child of Hades fighting very blatantly erases the shit those people went through and Riordan just went 'Let's use these racist movements as little easter eggs in my story'.

-Thanatos, who was chained and enslaved, is described with dark skin.

-Riordan writing the characters went a little something like this: Drew: You get common Eastern Asian features like dark hair and eyes because you're arrogant, selfish, conceited, and rude, and because you're an antagonist and you're going to be used to make one of my protagonists- who has unique traits- look good so you're going to have the basic, 'boring' physical traits so the readers know who's the more superior of the two of you. Leo: You get common Latino features like curly dark hair, dark eyes, and light brown skin cause you're the weird, hyperactive unattractive one who's very flirty but constantly gets rejected and you're the only main character without a love interest and the only way you can get a girlfriend is when she's forced to fall in love with you through a curse. Frank: You get common Chinese features like dark hair and eyes cause you're the fat unattractive loser who catches the eye of the African character who already has unique and 'special' traits so you don't have to be super attractive. Reyna: You get common Puerto Rican traits like dark skin, hair, and eyes cause you're the stoic, lonely, intimidating, and cold one who wants all the guys (two white guys for that matter) but none of them want you and they both have girlfriends with traits like blonde hair and gray and kaleidoscope eyes so the readers know who are the more interesting couples.  Piper and Hazel: You two get eurocentric features because you're the main characters I have to set apart from everyone else- including other females whom I'm going to make one of you rivals with- so the readers know who's more superior so I'm giving you unique eye colors that literally cannot be found in humans so I'm going to try to validate it by saying that it's from something mildly associated with your godly parent even though neither of them have those traits. Riordan basically said that the common features are bad and boring and that unique and special features- aka features not found in those ethnicities- are good and cool. Also- if gods don’t have DNA how can their traits be passed down to their demigod children checkmate Riordan.

-Cecil Markowitz is the only Jewish character in PJO and the first thing used to describe him is "That kid, always thinking about the potential payout".

-Lavinia said that she was going to bring her date to her bat mitzvah even though you don't bring dates to bat mitzvahs or bar mitzvahs and she said that it was 'awkward' to tell her rabbi that someone was going to be her date even though you don't explain your guestlist to your rabbi, and they're most likely not even going to be at the party.

-Only three Latino and Puerto Rican characters (Leo, Reyna, and Hylla) and all three came from abusive households.

-Leo said 'Mamacita' as if that's not stereotyping.

-Made Nico ‘pale’ even though he had olive skin and gave him black hair and dark eyes despite Italians usually having light hair and eyes just to add to his ‘Goth Boy Aesthetic’.

-Hazel described Pluto to look like Adolf Hitler.

-Carter Kane said that Elvis took African-American music and made it sound like rock 'n roll and described it as cool- like no it’s cultural appropriation. 

-Leo was abused and Riordan thought that it'd be funny to make all the other characters line up to punch him and then try to make it look funny. 

-Gave almost every single POC character a white name and sometimes gave them white first names and POC surnames, and Reyna and Bianca are the only POC characters with names from their culture/native language and one of them is dead and reborn as someone else and the other’s full name wasn’t revealed until the fourth book in her series and she hates using it.

-Made two POC characters with names from their culture- Samirah and Olujime- go by white nicknames (Sam and Jamie) to make it ‘easier to read’ despite having white characters with the same amount of syllables in their names (like Annabeth) that didn’t go by nicknames.

-Never actually described the characters of color with physical traits from their ethnicities (Reyna, Hylla, and Leo with big eyes, thick eyebrows, brown hair, wide noses, full lips, etc., Piper with almost-oriental eyes, shovel teeth, high cheekbones, black hair, etc., Nico with light or brown hair and eyes, olive skin, a narrow nose, etc., Hazel with a wide nose and lips, dark brown eyes, black or dark brown hair, big eyes, thick eyebrows, etc.).

Anti-LGBTQ+:

-Nico was forcibly outed by Cupid and Riordan and the fandom didn't care and the only thing they thought was 'Aww, he has a crush on Percy! So cute!' AKA romanticizing a forced outing. 

-Riordan said that he didn't want to make Reyna lesbian or bisexual because he thought it'd be stereotypical making her LGBTQ+ because she didn't want men anymore even though she could've been bisexual all along but Riordan casually dismissed the idea of that saying "Having a girl end up with a woman after dating men is a bad stereotype" and basically said that real bi girls don’t exist.

-The Hunters of Artemis were made so Artemis/Diana could protect those girls from men and their behavior towards women but Riordan dismissed lesbian relationships- even though nothing about that was said in real Greek mythology- meaning that he thinks that women need protection from other women just as much as they need protection from men.

-Alex Fierro is the only gender-fluid or transgender character and she/he’s seen as rude, snarky, and sharp and Magnus could magically tell when Alex changed gender.

-Riordan said that he wouldn’t make Reyna a lesbian because of stereotypes despite the reader asking if Reyna was going to get a girlfriend, not come out as lesbian AKA Riordan thinks ‘Girls liking girls’ is automatically ‘lesbian’ and completely dismissed bi, pan, poly, omni, etc. girls.

-Used a self-insert to make fun of wlw readers who saw themself in Reyna and thought she could be a cool character to relate to.

-Enforced LGBTQ+ stereotypes like the cold-hearted Asexual, the flamboyant bi/pan, the snarky gender-fluid, the emo gay, the laid-back and rebellious lesbian who dyed her hair pink and chews a lot of bubblegum, etc.

-Has one-hundred fifty-five characters total minus gods/goddesses, Titans, giants, nymphs, dryads, satyrs, monsters, etc. and only has fifteen confirmed LGBTQ+ characters (do the math, that’s exactly one out of ten regarding OCs).

-Only one character that isn’t cishet.

-Saves most the LGBTQ+ for the side characters or only confirms characters LGBTQ+ once they’ve become a minor character despite being a main character before.

-Only stated that Reyna was Asexual outside of his books and on Twitter as if that’s not exactly what J.K Rowling is doing.

-Used the LGBTQ+ community to make Piper seem like the ‘special snowflake’ and to set her apart from her siblings to make it seem like she’s better than all of them and used Hera/Juno and Aphrodite/Venus as excuses for his homophobic mindset that believes that straight is the default cause “Suddenly, much of what she and I had talked about started to make sense. Not being defined by Aphrodite’s expectations. Or Hera’s ideas of what a perfect couple looked like. Piper finding her own way, not the one people expected of her” in synonymous words is 'The expectations for love and the idea of a perfect couple are a heterosexual relationship, and anyone who 'finds their own way instead of the ones people expect' are different'. ‘Different’ and ‘default’ are antonyms AKA if he thinks that LGBTQ+ people are ‘different’, he thinks that straight is the ‘default’. Remember- an author writes their own personal beliefs.

-Josephine is the only black LGBTQ+ character.

-Reyna is said to be Asexual despite feeling sexual attraction towards Percy cause no one likes someone five minutes after knowing them and it’s anything but sexual attraction.

-Magnus and Alex are the only LGBTQ+ relationship whose growth and development is actually shown in the story (while there was also Apollo and Commodus, Piper and Shel, Will and Nico, Apollo and Hyacinthus, Emmie and Jo, Lavinia and Poison Oak, etc.).

-Riordan never canonically said the name of any sexuality and is clearly uncomfortable with the LGBTQ+ community shown by his little to no writing regarding physical affection and deep emotions in his LGBTQ+ relationships.

-Only added in LGBTQ+ relationships for publicity- Percy Jackson and the Olympians release dates: 2005-2009. 2005-2009: LGBTQ+ support was nearly at an all-time low. No LGBTQ+ characters, relationships, or references in the books. The Lost Hero-The Mark of Athena release dates: 2010-2012. 2010-2012: LGBTQ+ support was still very low. Still no LGBTQ+ characters, relationships, or references in the books. The House of Hades release date: late 2013. Mid-2013: the giant spike for LGBTQ+ support and allies. One confirmed LGBTQ+ character. The Sword of Summer release date: late 2015. 2015: LGBTQ+ support was good and gay marriage was legalized. A few LGBTQ+ references but no confirmed characters. The Hammer of Thor and The Ship of the Dead release dates: 2016-2017. 2016-2017: LGBTQ+ support was quite high. Two confirmed LGBTQ+ characters and the first canon LGBTQ+ relationship and kiss. The Trials of Apollo release dates: 2016-2020. 2016-2020: LGBTQ+ support was very high. More LGBTQ+ characters confirmed in one book than all the other series combined. Kind of obvious he was just following the public opinion.

-Legit said ‘Reyna can’t like girls cause she has had crushes on guys before’.

Ableism:

-It was heavily implied in The Battle of the Labyrinth that Rachel Dare had schizophrenia/psychosis but it's never brought up again.

-Grover's fake feet made it look like he was disabled from the Mist and it was said that he was bullied because of it but it was never brought up again.

-It was said that Tyson looked like he had down syndrome from the Mist covering his one eye but it was never brought up again. 

-It was stated that every character but Frank has ADHD and dyslexia but never actually showed any symptoms after Percy Jackson and the Olympians and characters like Piper and Leo were even able to read English writing throughout The Lost Hero and the only symptom of ADHD Riordan showed through his characters was ‘a lot of fidgeting’ as if that’s not a blatant stereotype. 

Pedophilia:

-Luke, a twenty-two/twenty-three year old had a crush on Annabeth, a sixteen year old. That's a six-seven year age gap. 

-The only two girls put into relationships with much older men are black (Hazel and Sadie).

-Hazel, a thirteen year old, got together with a sixteen year old guy. Hazel's crush on Frank is normal- a girl having a crush on an older guy, but Frank's crush on Hazel is disgusting- an older guy looking down at a child and thinking about making out with her.

Misogyny:

-Aphrodite's kids are seen as useless, weak, snobby, shallow, vain, and selfish just because they’re feminine. 

-Riordan portrayed Aphrodite’s kids as feminine despite Aphrodite being the goddess of love and beauty, not femininity, as if romance and beauty are reserved for women only. 

-Piper is the only 'tomboy' child of Aphrodite and she's portrayed as tougher, stronger, and better than her feminine siblings (and it's portrayed that way multiple times throughout the story like other characters telling Piper she’s "-tough for a child of Aphrodite").

-Piper immediately stereotyped and disliked every single feminine character like Drew and the rest of the Aphrodite cabin just because they liked makeup and skirts as if that’s not shallow criticism. 

-Feminine characters like Drew, Isabel, Khione, and Medea are used or even created solely as antagonists to make Piper- the tomboy- look better.

-Calypso is the only feminine character and she sucks at everything. 

-Riordan’s take on female characters: Drew: a vain, rude, selfish, snobby, and bitchy mean girl. Silena: a shallow traitor. Reyna: a cold-hearted robot. Piper: internalized misogyny that was never brought up again. Calypso: an island whore. Athena: a rude, aggressive bitch with no emotions. Aphrodite: shallow, vain, conceited, and self-centered. Hera: completely evil with no backstory added into it. Marie: an evil witch who selfishly used and sacrificed her daughter.

-The Hunters of Artemis were blessed by Artemis to protect them from men but Riordan made it only about the men in their lives (again) and portrayed the whole 'losing men' thing like it was a burden and that they're 'giving men up' even though they join the Hunters to leave men. He distorted the original meaning of the Hunters- protecting women- by making it about the Hunters hating and being forced to leave men even though they're asking to have no men in their lives, cause that's the point of it. 

-The Amazons and Hunters of Artemis despise men and literally attack them if they so much as speak as if sexism is reserved for women only.

-Portrayed femininity as weakness (and masculinity as strength, it’s even in the word- tomBOY).

-Constantly pit women against women for the sake of romance and love triangles instead of normalizing women getting along despite liking the same people and let the female’s relationships get controlled and influenced by the men in their lives.

-The men always outpower the women in powers and skills. Riordan’s portrayal of powers and characters- Percy: You’re going to have epic water powers and can even create your own personal hurricanes and even though you’ve only been canonically training for eight months total you’re going to be the best swordfighter despite multiple characters having years more training than you. Jason: You’re going to be able to fly, control lightning, create storms, and electric shock people into another dimension. Leo: You’re going to be able to create and control fire and blow shit up with just a screwdriver. Frank: You’re going to be able to shape-shift into any animal you want, even a whole dragon. Nico: You’re going to be able to control darkness and shadows, literally teleport, and raise a whole army of undead soldiers. Reyna: Powers? Nah, your only ability is to lend strength to others as if that benefits you at all. Annabeth: Powers? Nah. Piper: You’re going to be able to manipulate and seduce people and are literally going to use your body and attractiveness as a weapon and your power is literally called charmspeak. Hazel: You have more powers than all the other characters combined that can literally destroy anyone in less than a second but you’re never going to use them or even remember that you have them cause screw the female character being more powerful than the males. 

-The men always accomplish the most incredible feats and if the females ever do accomplish something great (Reyna healing the riff and defeating Orion while the Hunters and Amazons couldn’t combined, Annabeth going through Tartarus, Hazel learning to control the Mist, etc.) they are never praised or rewarded or all the credit goes to the men. 

-Ares/Mars in real Greek/Roman mythology was the feminist patron of the Amazons who loved his daughter very much and killed a rapist but was portrayed as the dumb, cruel asshole who loved nothing but bloodshed and tried to kill a twelve year-old kid who was trying to help him while Poseidon/Neptune in real Greek/Roman mythology was a greedy, short-tempered, and arrogant asshole who raped almost as much women than Zeus/Jupiter but was portrayed as the kind, caring, and gentle father figure. 

Fatophobia:

-Frank is the only chubby character and he hates himself because of it, was constantly fat-shamed, and only learned to love himself after he got rippling abs, muscles, and looked hotter (because fat = ugly in Riordan’s mind, even though it's not). 

-Clovis was depicted with a pot-belly and Drew described him as 'repulsive'.

-Dionysus/Bacchus is also depicted with a pot-belly and he's portrayed as a useless, rude, lazy, and drunken asshole. 

Lookism:

Basically how Riordan wrote his characters- Percy, Annabeth, Jason, Reyna, Hazel, Piper, and most minor protagonists: You’re all going to be super attractive, have at least one character or more pining for you, have your looks constantly commented on, and some of you will even use your looks as a weapon cause that’s not obvious sexualization cause you’re all the main characters and protagonists that readers need to know are the protagonists. Nico, Leo, and Frank: You three are originally portrayed as unattractive but at some points are described as cute and two of you are insecure about your looks cause you’re scrawny and chubby and one of you hates yourself cause of your body and only learn to love yourself once you magically gain abs cause more muscle obviously equals more attractiveness.  Luke, Silena, Chris, and Ethan: You four are going to be super attractive because you’re traitors but all of you make up for your actions and decide to help the demigods and become protagonists again. Octavian, Bryce, Michael, Titans, giants, etc.: You all are the antagonists so you have to be super ugly with multiple physical imperfections cause you’re not allowed to be attractive since you are against the protagonists and I have to set you guys apart and show the readers who’s the better and more superior character. 

-Frank hated himself cause he was chubby and only loved himself once he got skinnier and gained muscle through magic but even then was called ‘cute like a panda’.

-Leo was described as scrawny and unattractive and was insecure about being short but even then was called ‘cute in a scrawny way’.

-Piper had facial imperfections and even a pimple on her nose but once she got claimed all of those disappeared and they stayed gone even after the blessing washed off despite all the magic being gone and only then was Piper’s looks commented on multiple times. 

-Lester/Apollo hated his appearance cause he had a little flab and acne and his physical imperfections were used as comedy by making fun of it as if insecure readers don’t exist.

-Percy and Annabeth had one canon physical imperfection- a gray streak in their hair- and that magically washed away.

-None of the other characters were described with any physical imperfections like pimples/zits/acne, body hair (despite none of the characters having the care or time to wax or shave), bushy/frizzy or messy hair or eyebrows, big or small hands or noses, blackheads, super thick or thin eyebrows, blemishes, birthmarks, scars, stretch marks, braces, lazy eyes, yellow or chipped teeth, eye bags, glasses, moles, dimples, love handles, flab/fat, visible veins, freckles, etc. unless it added to their ‘aesthetic’ despite none of those being bad and saves it only for the antagonists as if ‘physical imperfections’ = ‘evil’. 

Bias:

-Riordan portrayed the Romans as cold, cruel, ruthless, strict, and overall horrible despite them being the more inclusive camp regarding family and godly parents, have multiple families and rules that ensure their camper’s safety, and hold the nicest characters in the series while the Greeks are portrayed as fun, wild, reckless, silly, and cool despite holding the most prejudiced and rude characters, outcasting and ostracizing characters of certain godly parents just for their parentage, stereotype almost every single cabin, and make some campers without siblings live, sleep, and eat alone. 

-Every Greek traitor (Luke, Silena, Ethan, and Chris) were portrayed as powerful, kind, attractive, and awesome and each made up for their actions but each Roman ‘traitor’ (Octavian, Bryce, and Michael, and only one of them are actually a traitor) were portrayed as unattractive, cruel, ambitious, ruthless, and extremely weak and never actually did anything useful.

-The Greeks were part of the Union and the Romans were part of the Confederacy (adding on to Riordan adding racist movements as fun little easter eggs in his stories).

-Four out of seven of the main Seven are Greek.

-There are at least 70+ Greek characters and less than thirty named Romans.

-The Battle of San Francisco Bay was used for the sole purpose to weaken the Romans and make the Greeks seem stronger than them and while the Greeks went through two whole wars, their camp laid almost completely untouched but the moment the Romans are introduced, half their population is wiped?

Romanticization:

-Romanticized Annabeth judo-flipping Percy AKA romanticized physical abuse/harassment (emotions, angriness, feelings of love and affection, ‘they went through a lot together’, etc. do not excuse hitting someone) despite Annabeth knowing where Percy’s Achilles Heel was and not knowing he lost it and flipping him on his back anyways (if Percy didn’t lose the Achilles Heel, Annabeth would’ve killed him).

-Romanticized Leo killing himself to see Calypso again and to take her off her island AKA a romanticized suicide.

-Romanticized Calypso yelling at and insulting Leo and Annabeth insulting and canonically lowering Percy’s self-esteem AKA romanticized verbal abuse/bullying.

-Romanticized Will trying to help Nico through his loneliness and depression as if that can’t be portrayed as someone just wanting to help another person AKA  romanticized mental illness.

-Romanticized every character kissing another character without asking first and without their consent AKA romanticized sexual harassment.

-Romanticized Piper taking advantage over Jason’s amnesia and mental state and jumping onto him despite knowing there might be a girl he couldn’t remember AKA romanticized manipulation.

-Romanticized Piper and Annabeth’s possessive, overly-jealous, and controlling behavior over Jason and Percy (even before they were canonically dating).

-Romanticized Nico being forced to confess his crush on Percy AKA romanticized a forced outing.

Rick Riordan:

-Refused to apologize for his actions even after being called out by people from the groups he was writing inaccurately and stereotyping (Muslim, Jewish, African, First Nation, lesbian, gay, Puerto Rican, etc.) and tried to make himself look like the victim.

-Claimed he was being ‘bullied’ by readers half his age who were just pointing out his books’ racist flaws.

-Showed time and time again that he is not willing to listen to the voices of minorities.

-Clearly didn’t do his research on ethnicities, sexualities, religions, etc. shown by how he got the simplest things wrong.

-Tried to say that he- a straight white man- was right when people of the actual groups he was writing about (gay, First Nation tribes, etc.) were wrong.

-Used excuses like having a ‘headstrong’ and ‘stubborn’ character who wants to ‘show their culture in their own way’ for his stereotypes. No, Riordan, you want to show the culture that way, not Piper. She’s a fictional character, you’re real. Dumbass.

-Literally said ‘Sorry I put feathers in Piper’s hair, I can’t change what I wrote in the past and I didn’t know that sensitive readers existed’ then continued to write feathers in Piper’s hair in the future books. 

The Fandom:

Note: Not to all of the fandom, obviously

-Draws Piper with light skin, light hair, and kaleidoscope eyes with feathers, hippie bands, and beads (yes, it's canon, but you're allowed to change it if it's blatantly racist, and the bead and hippie band thing was created by the fandom and that's also stereotyping).

-Almost always draw Reyna, Hylla, and Leo with light skin and Caucasian traits (props to the few artists who drew them with the right skin tones).

-Draws Hazel with gold eyes, ‘cinnamon’/light brown hair, and an adult body.

-Sexualizes female characters by drawing them in sexy and revealing clothes and giving them all the same exact sexy, slim, and perfect hour-glass shaped bodies.

-Almost never include physical imperfections, muscle, scars, stretch marks, etc. in drawings.

-Fancasts white actors for characters of color and puts actors/faceclaims of white people or people of different ethnicities in the moodboards or aesthetics for characters of color.

-Participates in cultural appropriation by wearing feathers when cosplaying Piper and wearing a hijab when cosplaying Samirah.

-Supports Riordan, tries to defend him, and condones his clearly racist and bigoted actions just cause they ‘like the books’ (if you are straight, white, and/or cishet, I definitely don’t want to see you trying to defend a fifty-five year-old multi-millionaire who is clearly racist, sexist, homophobic, and transphobic).

-Romanticize physical abuse, verbal abuse, mental illnesses and panic/anxiety attacks, etc.

-Ship pedophilic, manipulative, abusive, and wrong relationships.

-Barely allow others to have their own opinions (looking at you Perachel haters) without yelling at, insulting, cursing out, and/or even threatening them for liking or disliking different things than them including ships, characters, books, plots/faults, and Riordan himself.

-Straightwashes characters like shipping Nico with female characters or setting him up with a female character in fanfics.

-Whitewashes characters like drawing Hazel and Piper with eurocentric features, Reyna, Hylla, and Leo with white skin and Caucasian traits, Nico with white/pale skin, etc.

-Try to excuse and explain abusive, manipulative, possessive, and overall very wrong and toxic behavior.

-Fail to recognize and/or admit the toxic, racist, homophobic, sexist, transphobic, wrong, abusive, etc. faults in the books, ships, and characters just cause they like them.

The Percy Jackson franchise does not add good representation. You can still like the series as long as you don’t condone Riordan’s racist and toxic writing and actions and don’t try to ignore the horrible and stereotypical faults just cause you don’t want to admit that your favorite or childhood story is horrible. 

[mattressdemon]

bitching about narrative design in bioware games part 2

to summarize part 1 quickly, i bitched a bit about how bioware wrote some characters and designed some parts of the narrative of baldurs gate 1 and 2. they killed the only black woman in the og bg games for a (supposedly) white man’s pain (minsc) and then offered a replacement in the form of a white woman (aerie).

while complaining about bg1 and 2 could stand all on its own, the reason i wanted to talk about those things in particular is to highlight the way bioware writes and designs characters and stories in their later titles, like mass effect, but especially dragon age. i do particularly pick on the writing of david gaider and lukas kristjanson and a little bit on patrick weekes, but this is not meant to be a personal jab at any of them or say anything about their character or beliefs.

overall i think a lot of the way bioware frames certain characters and manipulates the dialogue of certain characters is really more questionable than allowing for actual critical thought. the best examples of my issues with this are cullen, aveline, fenris, dorian and sera. also a special shout out for jacob from mass effect. you might notice that ive now named four characters that lukas kristjanson wrote for; minsc, aveline, sera, and jacob. that doesnt mean i dislike how he writes all of his characters: i actually really enjoy carver and joker, for example.

my issues with the way he wrote these characters directly relates to over-utilization of stereotypes, writing dialogue that sometimes sounds bizarrely out of character, and combine both of those with poor levels of representation in all of the bioware titles.

aveline, while a very enjoyable character (imho) says things that i think directly contrast how she actually thinks and feels in game. she makes many degrading and insulting comments directly at isabela (who was confirmed as a black woman by gaider) about her sexuality and i feel like its honestly really uncharacteristic of her, given how often she finds herself agreeing with a pro-mage hawke throughout the story and how strongly she feels about the real protection and care of people. this is an issue for multiple reasons:

1. isabela is only one of two black female companions in the dragon age franchise, and she does not even have black facial features (she looks pretty european to me, leaving vivienne as the only black woman in the series with black facial features). contrast that to 12 white female companions throughout dragon age including DLCS, and three white female temporary companions (not including merrill, as i already counted her).

2. isabela is expressive and open with her sexuality in a way only one other female character is, and morrigan isn’t even near to the degree that isabela is. also, isabela is bisexual, and the narrative plays hard against characters that are bisexual/pansexual and simultaneously considered slutty (they have one each game! zevran, isabela, iron bull).

3. isabela is a swashbuckler/rogue with a spotty history irt loyalty, again reinforcing stereotypes of characters that are bisexual or bipoc being untrustworthy or of dubious morality.

and none of this would have mattered if there were more black and bisexual/pansexual characters in the series. weekes’ comment about not wanting to make solas black and bisexual because he didnt want to fall into a stereotype? null and void if there were more black and/or bisexual characters in the franchise. representation matters.

i love fenris too! and you know what i hate? people writing GOTCHA dialogue that doesnt even fit a character just to push a devils advocate agenda.

the conversation in question is between fenris and anders in act 2.

fenris: there, your magic would be a mark of honor. apprenticed to the right magister, you would do well.

anders: so they all do those things?

fenris: just the ones who don’t complain about how powerless and persecuted they are.

“just the ones who dont complain about how powerless and persecuted they are” shut the fuck up. why would this come out of fenris’ mouth at all, ever? bruh gaider wrote his storyline, he knows this doesnt make sense. he has to. doesnt he???

and i feel like da2, but especially inquisition, does this a lot. they shove a lot of dialogue into the game that kinda gives you a GOTCHA sorta vibe, like they’re just tryin to snag the inquisitor on bs.

this happens with dorian in inquisition too. if you play a dalish elf inquisitor, theres an entire conversation with him about slavery in tevinter. while the game spends the entire narrative effectively shitting on a dalish inquisitor for being proud of their dalish culture and heritage, dorian is often praised by the narrative for being nationalistic and proud of tevinter’s culture and history. in the conversation, it feels more like dorian is talking at the inquisitor rather than having a thoughtful and engaging discussion about slavery and why his perspective on it might be different. i dont have screencaps off hand atm, but it’s right there in the game, if you have a copy, go play it.

in contrast, in dragon age origins, you can have a conversation with leliana with a dalish warden wherein she says some hurtful things about dalish elves, things that are typically associated with real life stereotypes about indigenous people, like them being “savage” “brutish” or “lazy”. and by the end of the conversation, no matter what you say or do, she apologizes. she says she was wrong to say those things, and she’s sorry, and she won’t do it again. that’s an effective dialogue about serious issues in a video game!!!! not whatever bullshit that dorian conversation was.

and last but not least: sera and jacob. sera is a great character, and yet, she is the only companion who you can actively dismiss / rudely ask her to leave the inquisition throughout the entire game and in every single conversation. the narrative frames this 20 year old (she is YOUNG!!!! who ISNT annoying sometimes when they’re young???) lesbian as an irritant, and most people walk away from inquisition disliking sera. consistently ppl shit on sera throughout the game, and the narrative itself likes to make her an enemy to the inquisitor, make it feel/seem wrong that she constantly questions authority, when so many other characters are shown in a positive light for doing and saying the exact same shit she does. this is part of a larger issue bioware has in general with writing elven women in dragon age (see also the framing of merrill in da2 and velanna in the expansion for origins, awakening).

do i even have to start on jacob? black man with a heart of gold and a deadbeat, creepy, abusive father? then he “cheats” on shepard in mass effect 3 and the narrative gives you the option to punch him? he didn’t even know if shepard was going to be released from custody!!! he knew the reapers were coming and he didn’t know if he would ever see her again!!!! of course some people will feel his actions were a betrayal, but its all ignorant of the circumstances he was in. its not no two years thought dead thing that everyone is okay with excusing (virmire romance), but it’s certainly fucking close.

tl;dr: i hate how bioware frames characters and designs narratives sometimes. if someone ever reads this that works at bioware: please hire more bipoc and queer designers.

[breanime]

If you’re taking two, “who did this?” and “why do you care?” for Rio please! And if you’re only doing one, then “who did this” also you’re gorgeous and I blame you for my Rio and Johnny obsessions

Last one for Rio, tomorrow (or sometime this week) I’ll finish up my Johnny drabbles!

warning: steamy

*gif not mine*

Rio gave you the keys to the kingdom the same day he got them. He shared everything with you; you were his ride or die, his rock, and he was your King. You were with him through everything, and he kept you at his side.

So when he was arrested for his first big charge, and the FBI broke down your front door, they took you too.

You had been in holding for hours by the time an Agent came in and cut you loose. You asked about Rio, and he said: “your man’s looking at 5-10”, and that was all.

It turned out that Rio took the fall for you, saying that you had nothing to do with his business, and that you were just an innocent bystander. His lawyer ended up getting him off with only having to serve 3 years, which was a hell of a deal. And you were there for him. Every visiting day, you were at the jail. Every morning and every night, you were spending thousands in collect calls talking to him on the phone. You were in constant communication with his lawyer, doing everything you could to make things easier for him. You ran the business by yourself while Rio was locked up, dealing with gangsters and criminals and all kinds of crooked cops. You’d learned a lot from Rio, but having the reigns in your hands—alone—was like a trial by fire.

And you flourished.

The day Rio got out (32 days early, no less), he kept you in bed for the rest of the week. You could hardly walk, and when he touched you, you could feel how much he loved you.

A month later, you came home to find all of your stuff boxed up.

“We’re done,” he had said, his voice low and eyes hollow, “It’s over.”

And that was that. You moved out that day; there were no amount of tears or reasoning that would change his mind. When Rio made a decision, that was it. Of course, you asked him why, what had gone wrong? But his answers had been vague and unsatisfactory. By the end of it, you were telling the man you loved that you hated him.

You had to leave the city.

You couldn’t stay there; Rio owned it, and every single stone, every blade of grass, every scent in the wind reminded you of him. So you moved. You started your own business in your city, you made a name for yourself, answered to no one, and kept yourself working all hours of the day. It was the only way to keep Rio off of your mind. Anyway, you were good at what you did, and soon, you were a Queenpin in your own right.

But being the Queen wasn’t always easy.

Overnight, shit hit the fan. Your empire had been compromised—you’d been betrayed by one of your men. The Feds were on your ass, and what was worse, your life had been threatened. A bomb in your car was the way you found out that there was a hit out on you, and as you lay in the street, lungs full of smoke and dust in your eyes, watching the inferno engulf your wine red Cadillac, you knew you had to restock.

You had to lay low.

Fuck. You had to go home.

You decided to hole up in a luxury suite on the edge of the city. Only your most trusted lieutenants knew where you were, and you didn’t let anyone from your past know that you were in town. You just needed a safe, quiet place to lick your wounds and re-strategize before heading back to your city. You checked in under a fake name, only went out in sunglasses and a wig, and kept to yourself…

…which is why your heart stopped when you heard a knock at your door.

You picked up your gun, holding it near your leg as you stood up. You knew it wasn’t one of your people at the door—they knew to use a special knock, and they had strict orders to stay away until you called them. It couldn’t be the FBI, because they had the subtly of a bull in a china shop; they wouldn’t knock. You creeped towards the door, watching the shadow underneath it move. You’d seen too much to look through the peephole—one shot through the eye would have you dead, and if this assassin had a silencer, no one would even find your body for days. Carefully, you stood behind the door and put one hand on the knob. You opened it, sticking the gun up as the person stepped in, and your heart felt like it would burst when you saw him.

Rio.

“Huh,” he grinned, not at all concerned about the pistol in his face, “That’s one way to greet me.”

You lowered your arm, eyes wide, as Rio kicked the door shut behind him. He walked past you into the sitting area, looking around the suite with his hands in his pockets. He looked good, wearing all black and a beanie. He had more facial hair than he did when you were together, but you could see his tattoo—the eagle—on his neck. You would know that tat anywhere; you had a matching one on your ankle.

“Rio,” you said, and you watched as he turned, slowly. It occurred to you then, as he stared at you, that he couldn’t see how wide your eyes were. You were wearing your shades, and you wondered if he could see his own reflection in them. You swallowed. “How did you know I was here?”

“The Queenpin enters my city,” he drawled easily, “I hear about it. Don’t worry, though, no one else knows you’re here.” He quirked an eyebrow. “You gonna shoot me, Y/N?”

You sighed, placing your gun on the counter. You put a hand on your hip, raising an eyebrow back at him. “Don’t be rude,” you said.

He chuckled, and the sound of his laugh made your eyes water. You blinked back the tears and watched as Rio took out his gun—and oh. He was still using the gold pistol you’d bought him all those years ago… He placed it on the counter next to yours, and seeing your guns side by side made your heart flip. When you looked back up at him, Rio was walking towards you.

You took a step back, and he paused. “I don’t remember you being this jumpy,” he said coolly.

You frowned, and you took two steps closer to him. “I’m not jumpy,” you argued, taking a third step just to prove your point, “I’m cautious.”

Now it was his turn to frown, and he titled his head. “You think I’m gonna hurt you?”

You laughed, shaking your head. “Rio,” you answered, “there is no way you could ever hurt me now, more than you have before.”

He licked his lips, nodding as he looked away from you for a second. “You find out who betrayed you?” He asked.

“I’m gonna handle it.”

Rio smirked. “That’s not an answer.”

Your eyes narrowed behind your glasses. “I’m handling it,” you amended.

“Hm…” He took a small step towards you, and you knew that if you gave any indication that you didn’t want him to get closer, he would stop. But you didn’t, so he didn’t. “And the car bombing? You handling that?”

You moved up, taking another step closer to Rio. “I’m alive, aren’t I?” You answered.

He was directly in front of you now, and he reached out, his hand touching your chin. You held your breath as his fingers brushed over your face, gently brushing over the small cuts there. “You know who did it.” It was a statement, not a question. He didn’t wait for you to respond before he was reaching up and taking your sunglasses off.

You didn’t stop him. You watched as his eyes took you in—the bruises, the scrapes, the redness in your eyes from staying awake, watching your own back for all hours of the day. His eyes were dark with emotion, and you had to look down to avoid getting sucked into them. Rio looked down at your collarbone, his fingers brushing your skin and the cuts there as well before dropping and picking your hand up, looking at the scrapes on your knuckles. When he looked back up at you, his eyes were black, and you could see the anger in them. He was still holding your hand in his, and you could feel the tension in him—or maybe it was coming from you. It was hard, with him so close, to know who was feeling what. You always felt so connected with Rio, and this was no exception. When Rio spoke, his voice was low and rough with rage.

“Who did this?”

You moved to step back, but he wouldn’t let you—and that pissed you off. You yanked your hand out of his and stepped back, glaring up at him. “I’m handling it,” you repeated, “and anyway, why do you care? It’s none of your business.”

“You know why I care,” he said slowly.

You shook your head; your heart wanted to hear him out, but your head refused to fall down that rabbit hole again. “I’m only gonna be in town for a couple of days,” you explained, “and I’m not trying to move in on your terf or take any of your territory—”

“I ain’t worried about that.”

“Then what do you want?” You asked, getting to the point.

He leaned forward for a moment, like he wanted to move closer to you again, but he stopped himself. “A name.”

“What?”

“I want a name. The name of the person who did this to you,” he clarified.

You bristled. “Why?”

“You know why.”

“He’s mine,” you said, walking up to him, “My rat, my problem—I don’t need your help!”

“I’m not asking,” he said calmly, “You could’ve been killed,” he said, as if the thought hadn’t occurred to you, “I can’t just let that go.”

“Oh yes, you can,” you argued, “You’re good at letting things go.”

Rio’s jaw ticked, and you swallowed back a smirk. He was getting riled up. Good. “Don’t…” He started.

“You forced me out,” you went on, “You told me to leave, and now, I’m telling you.” You turned, stomping to the door and ripping it open. “Leave.”

Rio walked over to you, and for one terrible second, you were afraid that he might actually go, but instead, he slapped the palm of his hand on the door and slammed it shut. He towered over you, his face just inches from yours—close enough to kiss. Or slap.

“Give. Me. A. Name.” He ground out.

“Fuck. You.” You said back.

The two of you glared at each other, two pieces of the same puzzle, a King and Queen, heartbroken lovers, and you wanted to devour him. He was so close to you, you could feel the heat coming off of him, you could hear the sound of his breathing, heavy like yours. You could see those long, dark eyelashes, the curve of his lips—you could see the man you loved. Love.

You reached up and grabbed him, pulling him to you fiercely. Rio growled into your mouth, wrapping his arms around you and picking you up. He carried you across the suite and dropped you onto the bed. He was on top of you in a second, his mouth melding against yours, kissing you so hard it would bruise. But you weren’t being gentle either; you scratched at his back, trying to bring him even closer. You nipped at his lower lip, and he hissed, but didn’t pull back. Rio’s hands were on you, pulling at your clothes and ripping them off, tossing them all over the room. You scratched at him as you helped him out of his clothes, relishing in the feel of his flesh under your hands. It didn’t take long for you to be skin-to-skin, and you gasped at the feel of him, the warmth, the heat, the pressure, the weight of him—you wanted to drown in him. He was kissing you again, his tongue swirling against yours, it was sloppy, it was primal, it was just so him. You felt Rio’s hands, big and rough, on your thighs, spreading your legs for you, and when you felt him against you, hard and ready, you dug your nails into his ass, pushing him forward.

You screamed when he entered you, there was no other man on the planet who made you feel like Rio made you feel. No other man who could make you so strong while keeping you so weak. He was grunting, his forehead pressed against yours, as he fucked you. You took him eagerly, your body moving naturally against his. Being with him, like this, was so new and yet so familiar; Rio would always feel like home to you, and you, despite your best efforts, would always come back to him. You could feel yourself approaching your climax, and he could feel it too. It was out of your control, you needed him, you needed him, you needed him.

You were powerless.

You came with a whimper, and Rio came with a shout. You shivered against him as he emptied yourself inside of you, and you never felt so whole in your entire life.

You were breathing heavy, trying to come back down with Rio still inside of you, when you felt him kiss you again. This kiss was soft, gentle… this kiss went from your lips all the way to your toes, and when you opened your eyes, he was staring down at you.

You wanted to cry.

“I made you leave,” he said, his voice hoarse, “because I wanted better for you.” You blinked up at him, afraid to hear him, but unable to do anything but listen. “I’ve done a lot of shit, but that… that was my one mistake,” his mouth was so close to yours, as he spoke, it was like his words were going right into you, “I told myself that I had to, to protect you, cause you weren’t strong enough, but we both know that’s not true. You’re stronger than me,” he admitted, “you always have been.” His eyes were staring into yours so hard, you couldn’t even blink, you didn’t want to miss a moment of him. “I knew it the second you screamed you hated me, and…” His eyes were so soft, so deep. “…You don’t hate me, do you, mama?”

You closed your eyes, trying to keep yourself from breaking. “…please,” your voice came out in a whisper.

You felt Rio’s lips on your skin, kissing you right on the corner of your mouth. “I love you.”

You hugged him to you, and suddenly, you were crying. You vaguely registered him pulling out of you, before gathering you in his arms. He held you to him, leaning back against the headboard with you cradled in his arms, your head on his chest as you cried. Rio let you cry, and you honestly had no idea how long you were crying—a minute? an hour?—it was unclear. All you knew was that he was holding you, his large hand rubbing your back and shoulders, his soft lips kissing away your tears, and he didn’t move away from you, not even for a second. You knew, as he held you, the same truth that you had always known, the truth that you had tried to swallow down and push back all these years: Rio was your kingdom, Rio was your home.

Rio kept you in his arms like that for hours, just holding you. Neither of you spoke during that time, but you felt closer to him then than you did all those years ago when he was yours. It wasn’t until now—just now—that it truly felt that he was yours, that he was letting you see him—all of him. And you could tell that you proved yourself to him, though you weren’t entirely sure when or how, but you could tell by the way he held you, the way he kissed you, the way he wiped away your tears, that he saw you seeing him, and more importantly—he knew you would never look away.

“I can’t say it back,” you said, your hand on his chest, over his heart, “I’m too scared.”

“I know,” he said back, his mouth in your hair, “and that’s my fault.” You felt his press a kiss to the top of your head. “You don’t have to say it back.”

You nodded, looking up at him. There was still a lot that needed to be said, trust that needed to be built back up, but when you looked at Rio, you saw your future. “I can give you a name, though,” you said softly.

He smiled.

A month later, you were moving back to the city—Rio’s city. All your enemies had either been viciously, publicly murdered, or disappeared under mysterious circumstances. Either way—the FBI was off your ass now, and so you decided to move back home and pool your businesses with Rio’s. You moved into your own place (much to Rio’s quiet annoyance), but you saw him every day and every night. You had a key to his place, his car, his warehouses…

…you had the keys to the kingdom. But this time, you were partners in a greater sense, and this time, you both grew and changed and flourished together. He came over to your place one day, and his heart stopped when he saw that everything was boxed up. You smiled, walking over to him and going into his arms easily, feeling him relax a bit as you held him.

You kissed him, and when you pulled back, you could see the question behind those dark eyes of his. “So…” You asked, your voice casual. “…Do you need a roommate?”

Rio answered by picking you up, kissing you deeply as you giggled against his lips. And so a new chapter of your lives began—

—an unstoppable duo; a King and his Queen.

*******************************************************************************************

Thanks for reading! Please let me know what you think! I really want your opinions on this one, please!

Everything Taglist: @sweetybuzz25​  @mrsjaxtellerfan​  @rhabakoli​  @encounterthepast​ @realduckvader​   @justvnash​ @knowles-morgan  @ateliefloresdaprimavera @evanlys19  @nyxxnoxx​ @carlaangel86  @luminex3 @jigsawlover10  @gollyderek @otomefromtheheart  @lexxierave @crushed-pink-petals  @amethyst09​ @falsehopesndreams @a-dorky-book-keeper @witchygagirl

Rio Taglist: @gemini0410​  @glimmerglittergirl @gensneverland @jamielennkeeler @angels-pie @hermionetriskatniss​  @christinawxxx @nich0lasmatthews  @whovianayesha @tashawar @existentialvacuum @beardburnsupersoldiers @feelingsandemotionsnotexplored @thickemadame​ @juul4jesus​

[lyranova]

A Night to Forget

Hi guys~! This was the surprise I mentioned earlier, its my first ever Yamichar fic! But...i’m not really happy with it. Its kinda all over the place to me and they kinda feel out of character, so I may edit this again or delete it I dunno. But maybe you guys will like it! I hope its ok.

Genre: Fluff? Maybe?

Word count: 2,091

Warnings: None except drunkeness

———-

‘How did I end up in this situation?’ Was the first thought that went through Charlotte Roselei’s mind. She had decided to take a much needed break from her girls, now mind you she loves the girls in her squad, but sometimes they could be a bit...much. Normally, Charlotte wouldn’t be caught dead in a place like this and yet here she was. She had been to this bar on one other occasion and it was with the other Captains. From what she understood it was where Yami Sukehiro, the Black Bulls captain, liked to frequent. Which was definitely not the reason she decided to stop by. Nope. The thought never even crossed her mind. Charlotte had only decided to come here on a whim, there was certainly no ulterior motive. That’s what she told herself at least.

Charlotte wondered how long it had been since she had last seen Yami. Maybe a month? Maybe longer if she were to guess. A part of her was thankful she hadn’t seen him as she always seemed to make a complete fool out of herself when he was around, but the other part of her, seemed to truly miss him and the way he made her heart race when he looked at her. Charlotte held her drink in between her hands, debating on whether taking a drink would help her relax a bit or if it would only inhibit her reaction if some man tried to make a pass at her or if they were suddenly attacked. Finally coming to the decision that a couple of sips wouldn’t hurt, she took the glass in her hand and took a drink.

Charlotte swore she only had two sips. Two sips! Yet somehow her head was kinda foggy, she felt somewhat sleepy, and warm. Like her face and body was next to a heater. Charlotte shook her head as though it would clear the fog, but all it did was make her dizzy. ‘In this situation, the best course of action would be to go home.’ She thought with a firm nod and she made her way off the bar stool and towards the tavern door, maybe she would have better luck seeing Yami at a future meeting with the Wizard King. Suddenly, Charlotte ran into some solid force that nearly knocked her over. ‘Good job Charlotte, you’re so wrapped up in thinking about Yami Sukehiro that you forgot to open the door!’ She berated herself until the door reached out and grabbed her arm to steady her. ‘Wait...doors don’t have arms!’ Charlotte instantly followed the arm to its owner and she felt her heart speed up and her face begin to flush even more.

“ Hey Prickly Princess, you alright?” Came the voice of Yami Sukehiro, the person she had been waiting two hours for. She blinked up at him, she thought for a split second she saw concern in his eyes but decided it was a figment of her drunk imagination. Charlotte pulled her arm out of his grasp and crossed them.

“ I’m fine Yami, I’m just headed back to the head quarters. I’ll see you at the next meeting yes?” She asked, hoping he wouldn’t notice the slight slur in her voice.

“Uh, sure. See you than I guess.” Yami said unsure as he moved away from the door to allow her to leave. She gave him a small nod and walked out the door, but not before slightly tripping over the threshold.

Yami stared after her, was she drunk? Her slightly slurred speech, her glossy eyes, and for sure her flushed face indicated she was. Yami began to walk over to the bar before he stopped, ‘Should I go after her?’ Yami asked himself. Charlotte was a strong woman, she could handle herself if she needed too, that he was more than sure of. She could take out an entire army if she were inclined to do so, but a small part of him wondered if she would truly be alright, that she wouldn’t somehow trip and fall into the water canal or something. Yami began to chuckle at the image of Charlotte falling into the water and her reaction, and as much as he would be amused to see that he eventually sighed and turned around.

Charlotte couldn’t believe she let the opportunity to talk to Yami slip from her fingers, that was the reason she even went to that stupid tavern! But she was so embarrassed that he saw her like this she felt she had to get out of their immediately. ‘Maybe this is all he and I are meant to be. Nothing more than colleagues.’ It was a sad thought but it made sense to her, it seemed like the universe was doing everything it could to keep her from confessing to him. ‘Oh well, I didn’t need a man before and I certainly don’t need one now.’ Charlotte nodded firmly before instantly regretting it, the world began to spin again. Just as she was about to lose her footing, a pair of strong arms grabbed her. Instantly Charlotte whipped around and punched her would be attacker square on the jaw, she wasn’t going to go anywhere without a fight. After her attacker let go, Charlotte moved to her fighting stance, ready for an attack but she was shocked when he stood up straight and she was looking into a pair of familiar grey eyes.

“ Y-Yami?” Charlotte relaxed and looked at him, even in the dim street lantern she could see a black eye forming on his face.

“ That was one hell of a punch princess.” Yami said as he rubbed his sore face, she scoffed.

“ You doubted my strength?” She asked crossing her arms and narrowing her eyes at him.

“ No, I just never thought I’d be on the receiving end of one of your famous Roselei punches is all.” Charlotte slightly blushed at this and dropped her arms.

“ I’m sorry, I should’ve looked before punching you.” Yami waved her apology away as he walked towards her.

“ It’s fine, c’mon prickly princess, I’ll walk you back to your head quarters.” He walked past her as he said this, Charlotte whipped around to look at him.

“ I don’t need anyone to escort me home.” She told him, although a small voice in her head tried to encourage her to let him escort her home.

“ I know that, you’re one of the strongest people I know. So I believe you can handle yourself but,” Yami turned to look at her. “ I’d feel a lot better knowing you made it there safely myself.” Charlottes face flushed even more at his words, she knew Yami rarely showed people how much he cared for them so she felt truly honored to hear him say that. As she was about to thank him for his concern he continued.

“ Plus the last thing we need is you tripping and falling into some sink hole or something.” Charlotte glared at him and began to walk forward. ‘And here I was thinking he was actually concerned about me!’ She shook her head, she really needed to stop doing that because the world began spinning again. Charlotte stumbled into Yami and she didn’t think her face could get any more red.

“ How much have you had to drink?” Yami asked while keeping Charlotte steady, she looked up at him as she tried to think.

“Half a glass maybe.” She told him, Yami blinked a couple of times at her.

“Half a glass?” He asked and when she nodded in confirmation he sighed and put her arm around his shoulder and began to help her walk. “ You really are a light weight huh?” He added with a chuckle and all Charlotte could do was glare.

“ I’m sorry not everyone has the same alcohol tolerance as you.” Again Yami chuckled and Charlotte couldn’t help but laugh along with him.

‘How did I end up in this situation?’ Was the first thought that went through Charlotte's mind, her arm wrapped around Yami’s shoulder, him helping her walk back to her head quarters, all because she couldn’t hold her liquor. She and Yami had walked in silence for a while, she had been too embarrassed to start a conversation. She hated that Yami saw her like this, saw that she was so weak that she needed help walking, she hated it. She couldn’t even look at him, so she either kept her gaze on the ground or straight ahead.

“ What were you doing at the tavern anyway?” Yami asked her suddenly, Charlotte quickly looked up at him surprised by his question. “ It’s not really a place you frequent.”

“I...” She began, really unsure of how to answer him, in this state her brain couldn’t really come up with a good excuse so she decided to go with the truth. “ I went there to see you.”

“ To see me? What for?” Yami asked curiously, he couldn’t think of a reason as to why the Captain of the Blue Rose knights would want to see him. As Charlotte’s face flushed even more Yami began to wonder if she had actually had more than one drink.

“ I just haven’t seen you in a while and I wanted to see if you were ok.” She told him softly as she looked away again, Yami stopped walking and looked down at her.

“ You know you could’ve come by the hide out at anytime,” He told her “ so I don’t think that’s the only reason you wanted to see me.” Charlotte blinked, sometimes she could truly forget how perceptive he was. She continued to stare at the ground, hoping it would offer her some answers. If she was being completely honest with herself, she had gone to the bar to not only get away from her girls for a bit, but she also wanted to confess her feelings for Yami.

“ Actually,” Charlotte straightened herself up and looked him square in the eyes. “ there was something else.” This was it. She was finally going to tell Yami Sukehiro how she felt.

“ Ok, go ahead than.” Yami gave her his undivided attention and she couldn’t help but feel very nervous as she stared into his grey eyes. She cleared her throat before she began to speak.

“Yami Sukehiro I lo-“ Suddenly, the world began to dim ‘W-what’s going on? No. Nononono. NO! Not know, why’d it have to be right before I told him I loved him?’ Her voice screamed inside her head as the entire world went dark.

Charlotte Roselei had passed out.

“Hey! Hey Charlotte! Are you ok?” Yami quickly caught her before she could fall, concern etched on his face. When he realized she had only passed out he let out a sigh of relief, he than picked her up and carried her in his arms as he began to walk back to her head quarters. A small chuckle slipped past his lips.

“ Someone really needs to teach you how to hold your liquor better Prickly Princess.”

~~~~~~

The next morning, Charlotte woke up with a pounding headache. She was unable to recall the previous nights events, she knew she had gone to the tavern and had waited for Yami but after that it was all a blur. She looked towards the door as Sol knocked before entering. A wave of relief washed over the young girls face.

“Oh good you’re finally awake Char!” Sol said happily as she hand her Captain a glass of water before sitting down in a chair next to her bed.

“ I told you, call me Captain.” If Charlotte had a gold coin for every time she had to remind Sol of this, she would probably be richer than the King of the Clover Kingdom.

“ Whatever you say Captain Char!” Sol replied cheerfully and all Charlotte could do was sigh as she put her glass on the table next to her bed.

“ Sol, how did I end up back here?” Charlotte noticed the young girls face redden slightly before she answered.

“ U-Um...well.” Sol scratched the back of her head nervously as she recounted the previous night.

As all the memories of the previous night flooded back into Charlotte Roselei’s head when Sol began to explain, the entire Capital could hear the embarrassed scream that came from the Blue Rose Knights head quarters.

——

I’m sorry it’s not that good, there was more I wanted to add like a small scene between Sol and Yami but I might make that a small drabble or something. I just feel like I could’ve done better with this 😞. I also think I rushed the ending a bit too. But hopefully you guys maybe enjoyed it! If anyone wants to be added to the tag list please let me know! I hope you all have a good day~!

Tag List: @eme-eleff

[tigerdrop]

Cringe is dead, talk to me about the funny half-life men and their relationship

okay here is my essay. it is titled These Guys Actually Like Each Other, and Gordon Freeman Is Just Kind Of A Dick*

(disclaimer: these are just my 2 cents. dont take me too seriously! im just some guy online who has watched this shit too many times.)

first things first. these guys actually like each other. this is a key aspect of their relationship. benrey, obviously and textually, digs gordon freeman - you dont flirt that heavily with guys you arent into, and so much of what he says and does is geared around making gordon crack up. thats pretty gay.

but the counterpart to this is that gordon freemans pretty fucking gay for benrey, too. you may say, “oh, but word of god says its not requited!” and to you i will say: bull shit. gordon is uniquely obsessed with benrey compared to all the other characters. if gordon didnt like the fucking guy, he wouldnt giggle with him and share in-jokes with him and bring him up every 5 seconds when benreys not around. thats concern, bro. thats worry. thats real shit

but i cant blame people for thinking that gordon freeman genuinely doesnt like benrey. benreys partially responsible for some of the worst things that have happened to him, the Arm Thing among them. and gordons very insistent afterward that he doesnt like benrey. he even goes so far as to try to kill benrey a couple times. to this, i must argue that gordon freeman is just kind of a dick.

lets talk facts here. canon. Lore. from the moment we hop into gordons shoes, we can see that he is a jerk to every npc on his way into black mesa. this is his default: a dude who just runs his mouth and says rude shit. he calls tommy a freak within 5 minutes of meeting him. he infantilizes the guy and barely considers him a real scientist. he doubts that bubby is a real name for like no fuckin reason. in “real life”, this is because its funny, and wayne is trying to make a funny half-life stream. in a textual sense, this is because gordon “hlvrai” freeman is a dick. this is the way he acts, consistently, throughout the series.

(brief aside: this is why the whole “gordon is a nice guy and a great dad” characterization baffles me. the way he actually acts in canon is, in short, bitchy and lacking in self-awareness. and i love that for him, i really do. it makes the moments where he just tries to be a nice guy stand out. but thats the thing: his intermittent moments of decency and kindness are not the whole of his personality! this dude kind of sucks most of the time!)

the way that gordons general asshole attitude extends to benrey is complicated. in fairness, benrey makes it his job to annoy the shit out of gordon as much as possible, and that warrants a negative attitude, but gordons pretty paranoid and ends up blaming benrey for nearly everything that happens to him, regardless of if its warranted. this is a pattern he exhibits both before and after the Arm Thing. its a little bit of a dick move! especially considering that, prior to the whole “betrayal” subplot (which was not exactly planned very far in advance), benrey is no more malicious or annoying than anybody else gordons having to travel with.

(okay, this is kind of a subjective evaluation, but still. my point stands that benrey is not any more of a hindrance to his progress than anybody else in the science crew, and neither is he particularly more violent or murderous. hell, gordon freeman has probably killed more guys than benrey. benrey just tends to get.......special treatment.)

all that said, i am still convinced that gordon really fucking likes benrey. please consider with me the following: it would be remarkably easy for gordon to just ignore him and do what he has to do, but he doesnt. he could stop engaging. he could stop thinking about benrey. he could stop bringing benrey up to the rest of the crew every time benrey leaves to do his own thing for awhile. but he doesnt. and, again, yeah, the extra-textual reason for this is “two guys are doing an improv comedy thing and bouncing off of scorpy is kind of the point”, but within the text it reads to me as gordon not being about to get the dude off his mind.

and this is in addition to all the times we see gordon being genuinely nice and receptive toward benrey! its in the little things: laughing the hardest and longest at benreys jokes. only ever reciprocating that stupid underwater “BBBBB” thing with benrey. trying to catch benrey when he falls, despite his insistence moments earlier that benrey should hop in the wack ass crystal generator and get hypermurdered. fondly remarking that benreys sweet voice sounds beautiful. his sort of flustered responses to most of benreys overt flirting. none of this is the way normal people react to a guy they hate. this is all fuckin gay to me, man.

its this combination of the outward insistence that gordon hates benrey with his inner eagerness to be around him and think about him and engage with him that gives off strong “repression” vibes, to me. for whatever reason - pride, embarrassment, resentment - gordon maintains a front of hating the guy and wanting to kill him for a lot of the series, but it doesnt gel with the way he fucking giggles and plays along half the time that benrey starts fucking with him. its a game, and that game is one of the only ways gordon knows to manifest affection for him.

(remember “oh my god, hes got a knife!”? that was the gayest shit i ever seen in my life. tittering like a schoolgirl while benrey chases him around like “im gonna get you haha”. insanity.)

the cool thing about repression is that you can have it manifest in a lot of ways! and this is where things like “headcanons” and “my own personal affection for repressed bisexual men” come in. a lot of how i characterize their relationship is an extrapolation of a lot of things like gordons canonical insecurity issues/anxiety, gordons whole anti-bootboy thing screaming “internet wokeboy who means well but probably has a lot of repressed baggage” to me, etc.

how do you get massive amounts of sexual repression out of what you see in canon, you might ask? well. if wayne would stop having gordon talking about being jerked off by the suit, or talking about chugging a 40-gal drum of potion and having to hold his piss, or worrying about being eaten by benrey the moment he sees benrey at setscale 10, maybe i would have a higher opinion of gordon “hlvrai” freeman and whatever latent psychosexual issues hes got going on. but here we are

i havent even touched yet upon how benrey feels about gordon. this one is helpfully made a little more plain by the fact that benrey very much wants to suck his dick in canon. (i dont even have to go into details. we all know.) but IMO the best part about this ship isnt just that they dig each other, but how. benrey gets overtly flirtatious in the second half of the series, but IMO his preferred method of flirting is just fucking with gordon: chasing him with knives, shoving him around in a bathroom, trying to get scans of his feet. but all in like a slapstick, giggly, fun-and-games sense, you know? at least when it works.

a lot of the time, though, it doesnt work out that way. he clearly just likes doing it whether or not gordon responds positively. which is, you know, Weird. not very nice. but also in line with the way everybody else treats gordon freeman. gordons kind of the universes chew toy in any given universe, and the same holds true here. hes kind of helpless......subjected to 4 demons attempting to make his life as difficult as possible. in a way its cathartic.

sorry. i got sidetracked. anyway, benrey very much likes to mess with him and unnerve him and demean him and i will be perfectly frank with you: that is hot. i have problems and illnesses and one of them is that i am a masochist who goes crazy for that kind of thing. calling gordon a “dirty lil boy” and telling him to “look at the mess [he] made” is some straight up kink scene shit.

i like to imagine that a lot of this behavior isnt caused just by the guy who played him wanting to be funny and antagonistic, but by benrey as a character not really understanding what constitutes “pushing a joke too far”. hes not human, and whatever he is doesnt have a very normative way of understanding the world around him, full of people who actually get hurt for real and die for real. benrey expresses what seems to be genuine surprise and distress after the Arm Thing, as if he didnt know that his actions would have serious consequences. and it doesnt seem to fully sink in afterward, either.

it reads a lot to me like hes used to video game rules and treating people around him like NPCs. if they get hurt, its no big deal, because its not real. he likes jamming random buttons on gordons interface and seeing what comes out. its probably a lot of fun for him, the same way that seeing a streamer or a youtuber suffer for our amusement is fun. its like, you know, in my opinion, gordons very cute when hes frazzled. hes also cute when hes laughing. pushing gordons buttons has a 50/50 chance of either of these things. and this is how he ultimately flirts with gordon: by pulling his pigtails.

but at the same time, benrey does legit care about gordon and knows some boundaries. benreys the one most often shooting at enemies to protect gordon, and he spent most of the last act trying to convince gordon to turn around and not fight him because they were friends (best friends, to be specific). he just lacks a lot of the emotional intelligence it would take to express the feeling of “he digs gordon and likes seeing his face get all red and sweaty regardless of the cause”. and gordon lacks the emotional intelligence it would take to express the fact that he doesnt know if he likes or hates benrey and hes scared as hell that its the former

because, lets be real. unironic benrey-liking is a sign of problems disorder. just look at all these words ive written about it.

can you imagine? this bizarrely powerful, non-human entity that can shrug off gunfire and grow to the size of a building has decided that youre his new plaything. benreys the bored guy booting up skyrim and fucking around in the console, and gordons the hapless favorite follower that hes taken a liking to. its a really fun dynamic IMO

after all this, its safe to say my title is a little misleading. the asterisk stands for * and So Is Benrey, Actually. they are both kind of awful dudes who thrive off of teasing each other and they deserve each other. and i am crazy about it. thank u for coming to my TED talk

[braindeacl]

First Fruits | Solo

TIMING: A month ago, up until a few weeks ago. SUMMARY: Eilidh celebrates Lughnasadh and gains a new companion. WARNINGS: Gore

The full moon had yet to touch the sky. But she knew it lurked below the horizon. Waiting for its turn. It was time for the harvest. This cycle would be a bit unorthodox—snow resting on the ground, with rocks hovering above the trees. And the sky was off. But the sun and the moon still awoke and slept as they have done for millennia. And the differences did not hinder her harvesting.

The first was a middle-aged man. Nothing made him unique amongst the population of the town. Except he found himself alone. And that solitude might’ve been safe. If Eilidh hadn’t interrupted, like she had interrupted his life. Knife met his throat. Quickly found an artery. Questions and pleads—why me, why me—choked against the surging blood. Gurgles and spirts were his last words as he fell to the ground. A departing blessing filled the following silence. Before the blade pressed deeper, and deeper, and deeper. Passing bones, passing tendons. Until it escaped the other end. Head met the ground, and it took everything in her not to follow. But that was for someone else. The body would do. She tore into the flesh—shed more blood on the grass and her skin. Anything connecting it to humanity was lost. Only muscle and bone. And then, just bone. Red soaked ground and the bones and the smell the only remainder of the man who was alive and well minutes prior. Well, except for the head, left untouched. Frozen in that moment of terror.

The second was an even older woman. She too found herself straying far from society. Right into Eilidh’s awaiting maw. Knife found its mark again. The artery cleaved, and the blood poured, and the realization striped the color from her face more than the blood loss ever could. Mirror of the first’s final moments. But this was a cycle of change, and the harvest would be no exception. As life quickly drained from the rest of her, the woman’s hands came alive in heat. Palms ignited in white luminescence—as if the eagerly awaited moon was held in both. These moons crashed onto Eilidh; turned to comets in the woman’s desperate and final fury. But craters did not form on impact. Nothing did. The onslaught fizzled and died on her apathetic skin—released the energy back into the world in harmless twinkling lights. The woman followed her creations: breathed her last strangled breath before collapsing. Once more, that blessing left Eilidh’s tongue. And once more, the head was severed.

Eilidh saved the best for last. Bastard had been left to ripen, growing sweeter and sweeter. The sight of him sent hunger pains cascading down her core. She shook under the might of the cravings, under the excitement of instincts finally fulfilled. Inevitable prolonged only by his role in something greater. Not just for sustenance. No, this was her prized bull. And the sun was setting on his last day. Trusty knife readied again. Followed the needed motions. Blood met the blade, welcomed its presence. His skin peeled away so easily from the metal, as if it always wanted to. A satisfaction lacking in the first two blossomed in her chest, while watching the light leave his eyes. And yet, when that blessing met her lips for the third time that day, it was still equally sincere. His head toppled to the ground with a wet thud.

Three heads. For the Three-Headed One. The Triplets. Bundled safely in her arms, she carried the offerings up, and up, and up. Ascension grew, and the trees thinned in turn until the full might of the white light above enveloped her. And she continued until she could no more, finding herself on the peak of a hill. Far from anyone alive. Even the nearby wilderness stood quiet. But she was not alone. Offerings were placed gently on the open ground as she went to work. Fingers clawed and ripped and dug in the dirt. Adding a layer of brown over the red on her skin. What may have at first been mistaken for random ferocity soon formed recognizable lines in the soil. These lines curved and bent and met in such a familiar way, she could do so blind. With the altar set, she placed the offerings on top. Coated her hands in the still dripping blood. Sprinkled the surrounding land in that dark red with flicks of fingers. And her head bowed. And she spoke a new blessing.

A sudden meow shattered those ancient words. They fell dead from her mouth as silence took hold, her concentration lost. It quickly returned, but with new direction as she turned. And met yellow eyes. Their pupils dilated—turned from slits to dimes at the connection. But Eilidh hardly noticed, for she was more concerned about the nature of the cat’s coat. Fully black. Except for a telling white spot on the chest. Breath hissed, and teeth snapped, and hand slapped on the ground. Any commotion to scare the cat sìth away. These souls had already been claimed, and the Three-Headed One did not share. The cat’s body stiffened, then enlarged as furs stood entirely on end. When one final crack of her canines, blood stained and ready for more, the creature met their limit and retreated back to the trees. Lost in the darkness the moon could not touch. It took a while for Eilidh to find that ripped away relaxation. But some was regained, enough for her to continue.

A week passed before she saw them again. It wasn’t strange for such a creature to be drawn to her. Both needed death to survive, and this death connected them both. At least, that’s what she thought initially. When the two met each other’s eyes for the second, but certainly not last, time. A few days later, they met for a third. In the same place. She broke the brief connection, gaze searching for reasons behind the repeated happenstance. Was there a cemetery nearby? A pile of bodies? A frequent dumping ground? But she found hints of none. What she did find was a familiarity. A tree, whose trunk curved and twisted in a way that resembled a large squirrel. She remembered making the association with a chuckle. Right before that woman stumbled into her path. Her blood still stained its exposed roots.

Was this the bana-bhuidseach’s familiar?

Ears drooped low and tail dragged on the ground and fur lost its shine. Deep sadness clung to the cat, refused to let them go. So powerful that it spread to Eilidh as she realized what she’d done.

When their eyes met for a fourth, under that gore-touched tree, she intended for more than their gaze to connect. Slow and steady was her approach. Those eyes dilated, turned to dimes once more. And retreated into the surrounding darkness yet again. The fifth came, and this time she brought a gift. When the cat noticed her form growing nearer and nearer, it startled again. Prepared to run. Until those wide eyes noticed the offering. A dish full of milk. Delectable liquid beckoned the creature forward as carnage did her. It walked slowly, born from uncertainty unlike her own born of care. When the two finally met, not just with looks but with presence, the cat waited for something. A something that never came. And it lapped at the milk with fervor, mewing between sips in delight. In that frenzy, Eilidh extended a hand. Let it rest on the cat’s head. They did not flinch away.

When Eilidh entered her trailer, the cat was nestled in her arms. Fur still lackluster and tail still drooping, but there was a reignited spark in their eyes. And when these eyes met James, he let out a squeal. 

“Oh? Oh! The new baby?” 

“Aye.” 

[nobodyfamousposts]

Twilight Spite: When the Tables Turn

Well, since Midnight Sun is coming out later this year, I figured I’d dust this off and share a “what if”.

__________________________

Nobody quite knew what to say to Leah’s announcement.

“Bull.”

Well, almost nobody.

“Sam.” Billy Black called, a warning in his tone.

But the alpha didn’t seem to hear him, remaining resolute as he glared at Leah. “There’s no way that it’s true.”

“Well, it is.” Leah replied with a smile that totally wasn’t a smirk as she watched his growing outrage. It said something when not even the touch of his precious imprint could calm him. Leah could practically see the fur starting to form on his skin as he barely held back his transformation.

“You’re making it up. She has to be making it up.” He insisted, turning from Leah to the rest of the Council, his words taking on an almost pleading lilt as he looked to them for support.

But the Council members seemed hesitant. Uncertain, even. Because…well…it could very well be true.

“I assure you, I was just as surprised as you when it happened.” Leah proclaimed sincerely. Because, well, she had been surprised.

___________________________

“Hello, Leah! We come in peace! And with a special offer just for you!”

It all started with an appearance by an overly cheerful vampire bearing an offer she couldn’t refuse.

Well, that wasn’t quite true. Everything really started with her boyfriend disappearing, then coming back only to break her heart and dump her for her cousin she just met, and said cousin deciding it was totally cool to break her heart further by getting with him regardless. The whole reservation cheering them on certainly hadn’t helped. Nor had turning into a wolf and having to have their “happy relationship” shoved in her face AND her head. Nor her father’s death, which seemed to be her fault for reasons she hadn’t known of and couldn’t control, and no one would so much as give her time off to grieve for. Being used simultaneously as a scapegoat and wank material for a group of teenage boys was just the fucking cherry on top.

So yeah, the unexpected visit from the leech wasn’t technically where it all started.

Just where it finally started getting good.

Alice was…perky. Annoyingly so. The more time she spent in her presence, the more Leah was certain that was as much of a permanent, unchangeable aspect of her personality as her annoying and incessant need to know and control things.

Leah was apparently another thing to control. If that wasn’t a common trait shared with everyone else in her life, Leah would find herself particularly insulted and ready to attack.

As it was…well…at least Alice had an offer to make it worth her while.

Given that this offer was coming from the enemy of her tribe, the obvious answer shouldn’t have just been “no”, it should have been a clear and resounding “hell no” followed by a death gurgle. But Leah’s tribe hadn’t been the most loyal or supportive by this point, what with the cheating and disparaging comments and the constant degrading of her when she’d already suffered so much because of them. So no, Leah wasn’t feeling particularly loyal in return.

To the contrary, she was feeling particularly petty and vengeful—which they all knew and not only did nothing to help, but actually went well out of their way to encourage and nurture within her. So really, it was their own fault if she made the choice to give them the finger.

So that was why she decided to at least listen to the leech’s offer.

And oooooh, what an offer it was.

It was no secret that Leah….kind of hated her life at the moment. And could anyone blame her?

…okay, yes. They clearly did. Acting like what Sam and Emily did was HER fault, that them leaving her was deserved, and that her transformation—a traumatic experience for her, by the way and one that cost her her father’s life through no fault of her own—was something she should be happy with. So regardless of the situation and how much she never wanted it, she should just “shut up and deal”.

But could anyone who WASN’T part of the “all boys’ club”, only there for the free—if plastic-like food from Emily, or otherwise had their heads up Sam’s ass blame her?

Alice couldn’t, surprisingly enough. And maybe it was all a trick to get her guard down and have her help their enemies, but it kind of said something when the freaking soulless vampires offered more sympathy for her situation than her own family.

Yeah, thanks Mom. Thanks, Seth. THANK-FUCKING-YOU, EMILY. REALLY appreciated the support during her time of need. Always great to have your family with you...on the other side of the house, setting up dates with your father’s best friend, gushing about how “awesome” your ex is after he crushed your heart, and picking out wedding dresses to be married to your ex in not even a year after he dumped you for her. Family of the fucking year, let her tell you.

And yet she couldn’t help but love them still. How sick was that?

It was messed up. The whole situation was. She couldn’t deal with it there, not with them, not while everyone just wanted her to shut up and smile like she wasn’t being torn apart inside.

So when Alice approached her with a promise to help, Leah found herself surprisingly willing to at least hear her out. She expected to laugh at whatever she offered. She expected to tear her a new one. She even expected to go to the Council and warn them of the trick.

She…never expected she’d be agreeing to it.

“We don’t want a war.” Alice assured her, pleading. “We like Bella. And we like it here in Forks. We don’t want to fight. But the Volturri know about Bella now, and they are insistent she HAS to become a vampire to preserve the secret or else THEY will kill her, and possibly all of us.” She let out a breath, looking up at Leah in worry. “And possibly your people as well once they discover you.”

Okay, she had a valid point. But…

“Why not just go to Sam and the Council about this?” They were all about “keeping the peace” over all else—Leah was on the receiving end of THAT well enough to know. So surely they would be on board with this one sacrifice to keep everyone else safe.

“It’s the truce. We can’t come onto your land. And the wolves we’ve spoken with have been…very insistent on us not turning Bella.”

Ah, Jacob. Yeah, sounded about right. The brat had been doing nothing but moaning about Bella and her preference for dead guys who could give her immortality and a fancy life over him and his…him. Even in the same breath he shot snide comments at Leah for losing the relationship she—y’know…ACTUALLY HAD.

Not that she was resentful about the blatant bias and double-standard or anything as everyone coddled him for a relationship with a girl that was clearly never “in” to him in the first place. Not at aaaaaall…

“Why come to me with this then?” Surely they had to know that she…wasn’t exactly a pleasant person to work with right now. Even—especially with her own people, much less outsiders. And that out of everyone, she would be the least inclined to work with the monsters directly responsible for her people turning into wolves and effectively ruining every aspect of her life because of it.

YES, she was still bitter about it. And she would be for a long time. Maybe the tribe should invest in some therapy instead of a new house for the “happy couple”?

“Because you’re the best choice, Leah.”

AKA, “I used future sight and this was the result I liked.” Leah wasn’t sure she liked the idea of placing bets with someone who used visions for everything the way most people use their cell phones.

“You’re clearly not happy here, but you can’t do anything about it. We could help each other!” Alice explained, rocking on her heels. “I know you don’t like us, but you don’t want a war anymore than we do.”

There was a tense pause.

Then Leah sighed.

“Fair enough.”

Alice cheered up at that, smiling widely. “Great! So if this works, we’ll take you with us when we leave Forks in the next year. We’ll give you money and documents—anything you need to set up a new life! You could go to college! Ooo! You could go to a really fancy university and get a fashion degree and become a model and marry a rich socialite and—!”

Okay, cutting that off right now. “And in exchange?”

That got a frown—though whether it was because she cut off Alice’s gushing rant or because it reminded her of just what she was asking Leah to do, it was a bit hard to tell.

“In exchange, we need you to do just one thing…”

___________________________

“You can’t be serious, Leah.”

“Dead serious.” Leah replied, cackling madly on the inside. But on the outside, her eyes seemed to shine with a joy that anyone could be convinced was because of her claim. A claim that had half of the room sending one another glances of abject confusion, and the rest of the room as some variant of enraged and—in Emily’s case, probably secretly happy.

“It’s just…it’s not possible!” Sam insisted, sounding almost desperate.

“Neither was a female wolf, and yet here we are.” She said with a blithe shrug.

She’d been bitter and “a harpy”. Everyone knew it. Everyone held that against her, regardless of the reasons all of them knew yet none of them wanted to acknowledge were wrong. Even those that sympathized were pushing her to simply “get over it”, completely blind as to why she was acting the way she was.

It was only because she was stuck in a situation forced on her—one where she was trapped and degraded and imposed upon in every way possible, and forced to defend herself the only way she could.

But now she could fight back.

And by every single god out there, she was damn well going to use it. Even if she had to lie through her teeth. Even if she had to fake feelings she didn’t have for someone she didn’t like.

If that meant getting some sweet SWEET payback on her ex? And throwing his own actions and justification for those actions back in his perfect little face? Well…

“I imprinted on Edward Cullen.”

Watchu gonna do about it? 

[engaged19times]

RHONJ Recrap - season 11, ep 1 - C U Next Tuesday!

Greetings fellow prostitution whores and welcome to my new weekly recrap of American institution The Real Housewives of New Jersey! Before I jump in I’ll introduce myself by saying that I’m a housewives super fan (I even watched DC, an experience I wouldn’t wish on my worst sister-in-law), an underemployed comedy writer (I can’t define “napalm” either, Lauren Manzo), and nothing makes me happier than to watch 6 bedazzled hypocrites in Cheesecake Factory mansions argue etiquette and loyalty between physical altercations in the world renowned cultural hub of Paterson, New Jersey. I know essay recaps are a bit of a relic but I am fond of ye olde written word so please enjoy this blast from the past, you scumbags!

We open without fanfare mid-scene to red-eyed Jackie and dead-eyed Teresa sitting in Margaret’s partially finished, wallpaper smothered home. We get the Bad Girls Club black-and-white flashes but unlike in Beverly Hills we’re not flashing to “three months earlier” but instead to “three days earlier.” It might take women of less gumption precious time to build to a production-halting confrontation but it only takes these agents of chaos half a week to get the meatball rolling.

Let’s back up a little to the ominous “three days prior” and catch up with our hot girls. It’s Jackie’s giant hot husband’s 46th birthday so she’s throwing him a party under a tent in the parking lot of a Greek restaurant. We learn that Teresa and Joe’s father has sadly passed in the offseason and Dolores Thee Stallion and Margaret have both had full cosmetic overhauls - Dolores with a second butt enhancement that left her with a giant hip scar rivaled only by Sally from Nightmare before Christmas and Margaret with a boob lift and apparent nipple sharpening (is that a procedure?) that she advertises in a blush silk top with no bra. Never one to be outdone at a parking lot birthday party, Joe Gorga arrives with his storyline - I mean wife, Melissa - also smuggling raisins under a skin tight children’s white T-shirt. Nipples are trending, ladies!

The Nightmare Before Christmas.

A beautiful boob lift.

Tarzan’s headlights.

Margaret’s hot employee Lexi and Teresa’s hot realtor Michelle (both of whom are official friends-of this year), as well as iconic social wrecking ball and Aydin Center for Plastic Surgery mascot Jennifer all saunter in for car park cocktails at this 3D nipple fashion show and as the night devolves we see the cast getting truly shit-housed on shots when out of nowhere storyline sniper Teresa drops the bomb that she heard sexy birthday Bigfoot Evan is cheating on Jackie... more specifically, that he “does stuff” at the gym but mysteriously can’t remember any details or where she heard this head-scratching accusation that draws as many gasps as it does “huhs?” Honest straight people question: do y’all hook up at gyms? And if so, where? Are there co-ed saunas now? Also can one of you explain the allure of Mike and Molly to me? Moving on. Most shocking was that the Perez Hilton of North Jersey doesn’t just drop this wild accusation once, she gleefully skips through this asphalt soiree like a goddamn town crier, addressing everyone she passes like Belle through the town square.

The next day the hard partying crew of Jersey Shore: All Grown Up recovers from their throbbing hangovers and we see cool mom Melissa traipsing through her particle board mausoleum in see-through sweatpants with a visible thong in front of her kids’ friends (you girls keep me young!), Marge Sr. driving a blue Mini Cooper with eyelashes on the headlights (which I assume are like the spinning rims of the Jersey Grandma community), and a flashback of Margaret’s Joe puking next to a tree (relatable, my dude).

Marge Sr.: Fully Loaded.

You girls keep me young!

Over at Jennifer’s palatial child farm we learn that her parents fight so much these days that she moved her father (Carl from Up!) to her multi-generational compound which has only angered her mother more.

Jennifer’s sweet dad.

We then find out Dolores’s dry boyfriend David with whom she shares the burning passion of a melting ice sculpture now lives with her bulging slab of a son Frankie Jr. in the house he and Delores built together but Dolores curiously still lives with her also bulging but slightly slimey ex Frank Sr. in her original house, a near Braunwyn-level web of over-explained but still vague relationship fuckery of which none of them seem on the same page. Dolores hid her surgery from David until the day before, David still works constantly so she hangs out with her ex all the time, and I can’t help but think that we aren’t getting the full story on whatever the fuck is happening under these two roofs. Are they brother-husbands? Is Frank Sr. piping both of them? Can Frankie Jr. DM me his nudes please? The only one being straight-forward in these duel households of confusion is Dolores’s dog who is simply named Dog and I honestly appreciate his refreshing transparency.

Dog Catania, king of transparency.

Finally, Jackie calls Teresa to organize an infamous Jersey sit-down because she somehow got wind of the out-of-thin-air accusations that Teresa all but presented with a bull horn and a PowerPoint at Evan’s parking lot social. They decide to meet at Margaret’s partially constructed house/ wallpaper showroom because it’s neutral territory to hash things out in a relaxing landscape of ladders and contrasting patterns and the tension is so thick you could cut it with one of Margaret’s newly renovated nipples.

Jackie pleads with Tre to clear her husband’s good name and Tre enters a baffling Kelly-Anne Conway bullshit loop which includes such hits as “woman to woman, if I heard this you wouldn’t want me to tell you?” (a reasonable point which is actually working against Teresa because it’s the opposite of what she did), then explaining to Margaret the immediately contradictory “I didn’t tell her and it’s not like I told Evan, I told my friends” (which is an explanation of what she obviously did wrong but said in the tone of a defense), the wacky last ditch nonsense deflection “Alright let me tell you the reason why I did it. This year, now, you know I’m single now. I’ve been approached by a lot of married men that think that it’s OK to have affairs,” and finally just saying fuck it and rewriting history “I did not spread a rumor, I heard a rumor.”

The truth is that Teresa was retaliating for a cheating rumor Jackie entertained about her last year but neither can be held to such unreasonable expectations like addressing reality or admitting fault which is actually ideal because if I cared to see emotionally mature community leaders converse thoughtfully I’d watch Oprah’s Super Soul Sunday not this unhinged turnpike circus.

Jackie’s rival won’t budge so she chooses the nuclear option, looks the reigning matriarch of Paterson in her vacant eyes, and declares confidently “I heard Gia snorts coke in the bathroom at parties” which stopped time on Earth as far as I’m concerned. Is this wild accusation true? Probably not. Was this retaliatory tit equal to the offending tat? Debatable. Do I blame Teresa for immediately whipping into a tailspin and storming out screaming the C-word (no Kathy Wakile, not “canoli kit”) at Jackie no less than 80 times? Girl, no I do not. Jackie has since clarified (backtracked?) that this was an analogy not a rumor she heard which... OK, and whether or not either of the atomic bombs dropped in this breakneck premiere were true, I’m excited to watch our Paterson superstars battle it out for another batshit season!

Esteemed poet laureat of Paterson, NJ.

Join me and my own rock hard nipples next week to recrap a girls trip to Lake George, more developments in the case of Jackie vs Teresa: Jersey Crime Story, and hopefully another cameo by breakout superstar Dog Catania! Please share this recrap with the prostitution whores in your life if you enjoy and follow me on Tumblr (engaged19times), Insta (@engagednineteentimes), and Twitter (@_engaged19times)! I’m recrapping weekly but I don’t get screeners (yet) and it takes me a few days to catch up so please be patient!

XO engaged19times

[giantladywithtitsicles]

Introducing my Lavellan brothers;

Fenrir Maliel - Assassin Blades Rogue (the oldest & a shameless self insert) - 27-31

Lin Maliel - Two Handed Reaver Warrior (the middle child, and the Official Inquisitor) - 25-29

Sandu Thevael - Necromancer Mage (the youngest, the “black sheep” that isn’t actually the black sheep: the red herring if you will) - 18-24

Fenrir and Lin were originally of Clan Maliel, which was massacred in an event the elder brothers refer to exclusively as “The Trample”. Clan Maliel was caught in the crossfire between two human settlements, both of which decided to take a shortcut through Clan Maliel’s campsite. The brothers, as young as 4-7 years of age, hid during the duration of the battle. They emerged after the ground was razed, and the fires were long cold.

They were fortunate to have survived the month long journey they took to find safety, picking up scraps as they went. After that period of time, they encountered a trail Clan Lavellan left: freshly put out bonfires, Halla tracks, indents from footsteps and wagon wheels. Tired and hungry, they stumbled into the open, and were caught by one of the healers.

Fenrir is blind in his right eye, Lin has an unnamed heart condition and the tip of one ear is cut off, they both manage. They gain inspiration from the other elves in Clan Lavellan, who have lost much more than an eye or an ear.

They were adopted into the clan as full blooded members, and nobody questioned why neither of them looked or acted quite like the other elves. They trained with the masters, and became an integral part of their community.

Five years later, they go out as a junior party to scout the Emerald Graves, where they encounter another site of a wrecked elven clan. They determine a demon outbreak to be the cause. Sifting through the rubble they find records of this clan: formerly known as Clan Thevael, sister clan of Clan Maliel. They pack as many intact journals and scrolls as possible, and as they were about to leave, encountered a young Sandu. It was clear to them they were taking this child in. The Clan Lavellan healers determined that Sandu was left alone for some time, and that there was no easy way to tell his age due to malnourishment.

Sandu turned out to be a proficient mage, but he was one too many in the clan. Fenrir and Lin begged Keeper Istimaethoriel to keep Sandu around, and somehow convinced her. Sandu is timid, and does not take up more space than he feels he absolutely needs. Keeper Istimaethoriel, though careful around him, tries to make him feel welcome. It’s a work in progress.

Around the time Lin was pulled into the Inquisition, Fenrir investigated the files they found in Clan Thevael’s ruins. He read letters exchanged between his mother and a friend of hers, talking about their origins, how their clan was shunned by others. A few years after Lin’s emergence as Inquisitor, Fenrir arranged a meeting between his two brothers to discuss exactly who they were.

This meeting between the brothers enlightens Lin on many things, and when the time comes to confront Fen’Harel, he is able to put the pieces together as to his original clan’s history. Fenrir discovers why his peers hesitate when saying his name. Sandu has the closest relation to Fen’Harel, but his clan buried these records deep within their stories to protect themselves from scorn, and his exact ancestry is unrecoverable.

They do know that Sandu is more precisely Fenrir and Lin’s nephew, but they treat him as a brother anyway. Fenrir is three years older than Lin. They don’t know exactly how much younger Sandu is, but they estimate the difference to be as little as two years to as much as eleven years to Lin. Sandu’s stunted growth made it a difficult task.

If Fenrir were the Inquisitor, he would have married Cassandra (Vivienne as Divine), and travelled between his estate in Kirkwall and where the new generation of Seekers train. He abandoned the elven gods and adopted Andrastian faith, and became somewhat of a religious zealot. While running errands in Kirkwall, a masked assassin targeted him, and Fenrir was afflicted with a deadly poison. He died within days, and though Varric sent for Cassandra as soon as he could, she was barely too late to make it before Fenrir passed. They had a single child, who Cassandra named “Maliel”, after his lost clan, even though their child was not elven.

Otherwise, Fenrir remained within Clan Lavellan. He became an elder, who was tasked with training their non-mages. He was well-loved and respected, but clan members were always wary of him, as he had an edge to him that unnerved them at times. He recognized that his past experiences would always have made him cynical. Fenrir connected with one of the mages, a woman named Ghili, and they had twin daughters: Juna and Fenwe.

Lin became partners with Iron Bull, and vied to rebuild everything he could. He did not want for anyone to be unreasonably vulnerable, and so he remained meticulous in how he influenced Thedas. He gained favor from Fen’Harel because of the care he put into his actions, though he was always spiteful of the betrayal. After the conclusion of the events in Trespasser, Lin joined the Chargers, and became quite a hit. His arm, amputated from the elbow down, was a roadblock for him. He switched from two handed weapons to a sword and a shield. The shield, specifically tailored to him, acted as a prosthetic arm. Iron Bull jokes that it’s more of a boon than anything else, as its massive size is akin to an impenetrable wall. Lin encounters a small child during a job, and nearly dies protecting it. They are a human toddler, simply nicknamed “Finn”.

As the years go by, Lin’s health declines, and eventually he retires from fighting for good. Iron Bull and Lin retreat to the Storm Coast, bringing Finn along with them. The mantle of leader of the Chargers passes to Krem. Finn learns to fight the Reaver style, and alters Lin’s shield to be useful to them. Finn joins the Chargers, and makes a name for themself as the Lightning Bolt of the Chargers, “Finn the Bolt”, for short. They all find it to be a funny title.

If Lin is not the Inquisitor, he joins Fenrir in the search for their heritage, and becomes an elder as well. Lin teaches healing and non-violence, diplomacy, and culture. He becomes a father through surrogacy, and has a child who they call “Denmirr”.

Or he stays with Clan Lavellan and searches for elven orphans, adopting a bit of a clan of his own. Because of how many children he adopts, Clan Lavellan sends him away with extra members to revive Clan Maliel. Most of the children are not related by blood, but it becomes somewhat of a family of its own.

He himself develops a flirtatious relationship with one of the male warriors, Naris. Fenrir teases him often, but means well.

Sandu, as the Inquisitor, had to learn how to insert himself as the dominant party. He observed Vivienne and found her to be his greatest confidant. Not only did she teach him much about magic, she taught him confidence and that his image didn’t need to reflect who he is completely. She didn’t approve of his choice to establish Leliana as the Divine, but she respected his decision and his reasoning. Sandu felt foolish when he faced Solas for the last time: wondered how he could have missed the signs. After he disbanded the Inquisition, he returned to Clan Lavellan. He remained accessible for Cassandra to summon him when needed, but became Keeper after some time passed, and his connection to the clan became strong again. He never assumed the name Lavellan, but was referred to as that, similarly to a title.

He otherwise would become a tradesman for the clan. He sent to towns and cities to be a spokesman, and learned to deal with ruffians after being abused into a bad situation on a few occasions. In one far trip to the Anderfels, he met a surface Dwarf named Jekard (ym/yr [yim•yer]), and formed a brother-like bond with ym. They exchanged insight and advantages with each other, and both Clan Lavellan and Jekard’s guild benefitted. He met Krem once, and looks up to him like an idol. Sandu never fell in love, and really had no interest to, but took a group of apprentices who aspired to learn from their Keeper. Imposter’s Syndrome hit him hard for a very long time, before he realized he was right where he belonged.

If none of the brothers became Inquisitor, all three stayed together, and functioned as a single mind. They dedicated their lives to Clan Lavellan out of gratitude, and the clan evolved into one of the strongest outposts in all of southern Ferelden and Orlais. They all had different roles, but the future generations of the clan benefitted greatly from their presence.

If all three brothers became influential members of the Inquisition, their power would likely have gone uncontested. Their strengths would allow them to spread farther than if only one of them were Inquisitor. The Inquisition would be an empire, and almost definitely considered a threat to even Par Vollen. Fenrir and Lin would take it different directions, and the possibility of a schism turned great. Sandu would side with Lin for the sole reason that he found Fenrir’s ideologies to be extreme. The Inquisition would be built up by the brothers, and torn down by the brothers.

In that scenario, a civil war would erupt between Fenrir’s loyalists (the Fenedhis), and Lin’s loyalists (the Athim). Fenrir would slay Lin, but Sandu would defeat Fenrir. Sandu would dismiss all soldiers and scatter the army, and soon after would disappear without a trace. He wasn’t dead though- his presence was tangible even though he could not be seen.

While this doesn’t encompass all that these characters are, I thought it was a nice overview of these brothers I’ve had in my mind for a while. The inspiration came from my realization that most of my DA:I characters are elves and Qunari. I might do more in-depth timelines for each brother later. This is completely separate from Dragon Age canon, clearly, and is just a fun little thing I put together. I may revise it if there are details I want to alter.

[365days365movies]

March 2, 2021: The Last Unicorn (1982) (Part 1)

I, uh...I wanna talk about zoology.

It’s my profession of choice, although if I’m going to be specific, it’s ecology and ornithology, based on my Masters. But while my expertise is in birds, that doesn’t mean I have any particular preference. So, let’s talk mammals. Specifically, I’d like to talk about horses.

Horses are odd-toed ungulates (Order Perissodactyla) belonging to the family Equidae, with only one living genus (Equus), which includes donkeys, zebras, and a FUCK-ton of fossil progenitors. Not gonna go into horse evolution here, since it’s a vast topic on its own, but the group dates to about 54 million years ago, during the Eocene period.

There are specific features that define modern horses as horses, including a single hoofed toe for walking on, a body built for running with high stamina, and a large cecum in the intestines for breaking down fibrous and herbaceous material. It’s a group native to North America, Africa, and Asia, with the modern descended horse descended from a somewhat unknown ancestor in Central Asia.

They’re grazers rather than browsers, which many similar sized herbivores are. And, of course, they have a close relationship to humans throughout prehistory. Their main systems of defense against predators are the afore-mentioned running capabilities, a VICIOUS kick (especially horses like zebras), and a high-range of monocular vision due to the position of their HUGE eyes.

In terms of sexual selection, it’s essentially based on physical competition between the males in a population, which are usually formed into reproductive harems. That’s one male with multiple females that live within an established range. The females have their own dominance schemes, while groups of males exist in bachelor herds before establishing a harem of their own.

And those two paragraphs help explain why horses don’t grow horns.

Animals like this bighorn sheep, as well as antelopes with impala and gerenuk, perform intrasexual selection using their horns, the size of which determine the fitness of an individual male, with the fights settling any potential ties for watching females. And that’s the main reason why herbivorous mammals grow horns, and horses have come up with different social structures to compensate. But OK, couldn’t they just horns anyway? 

Remember the stomach I mentioned earlier? Here’s the thing; hindgut digestion, which is what horses do...not the most nutritionally efficient form of digestion. In order to maintain their running lifestyles, they invest all obtained energy and nutrients into building muscle and other important functions. Fact of the matter is, they just can’t devote enough energy and nutrients to the physiologically expensive act of owning a horn. They do have a close relative that does that, though. However, they’ve sacrificed their speed, intelligence, and even their eyesight for their horns, as well as beefing up their physical defense with thicker skin.

YUP! So why talk about this? I mean...you know why.

OK, so that had basically nothing to do with this movie, but a post like this has been building since I mentioned the gerenuk a little bit ago. Sorry, had to get it out. Anyway, yeah, unicorns are impossible, but they’re still a hallowed mythical creature. National animal of Scotland, one of the most prominent symbols of medieval mythology, a magic-using ethnic class in a mythical kingdom composed of a horse-based majority that also includes normal horses and pegasi...

You know, unicorns. So, I’m definitely interested in what would happen to make a unicorn, well...the last one. My bets are on something man-made, like deforestation or another for of habitat depletion. Could be poaching for the horn. After all, that’s what’s been driving rhinoceros species to near-extinction (or actual extinction in the case of the western black and northern white rhinos. RIP Sudan, you goddamn king).

But let’s find out rather than speculate! SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Recap (1/2)

During medieval times, in a mystical wood called the Unicorn’s Forest, a hunter shows unease to his companion. In the forest, there are no seasons, and the beasts are protected from hunters, as long as there is one unicorn left if the forest. That last unicorn is...the Unicorn (Mia Farrow), who learns from the hunters that she must be the last of her kind.

The opening credits, which are a gorgeous animated medieval tapesty, are backed by the song “The Last Unicorn”, by America (damn, nice pull). Gives the whole thing a Renn Faire feel. Never been to a Renn Faire, but I’d love to go to one, honestly.

Anyway, the Unicorn is in doubt that there are no more of her kind in the world, as they live forever, and she would know if there are none left...right? However, they can also be killed and trapped, so...I mean, they might be dead, Unicorn. As she’s thinking on this, the most Rankin-Bass butterfly ever shows up singing a ballad of love. This is...the Butterfly (Robert Klein), a bard-erfly (see whay I did there) who won’t stop singing, despite the Unicorn’s pleas to tell her of other unicorns.

Butterflies, apparently, repeat to anything they hear around them Which involves like, a lot of non-medieval songs. There’s one about the A-train, apparently, which makes...just NO fucking sense. As the Unicorn also shows frustration at this anachronistic little bugger, he breaks his songs to tell her than the Unicorns have all been chased off by “the Red Bull.”

...I’m going to hold it off as long as I can, but the joke WILL come. It WILL come.

She wonders if she can truly leave the forest, then actually does so in order to find the other unicorns. She happens upon a farmer, who attempts to tame her, as he only sees her as a horse. Apparently, men can no longer see unicorns as they are, and usually only see them as white horses. So, there may be unicorns in the world after all!

Not sure why she doesn’t go back to her forest after realizing this, but...OK. She continues on, backed once again by a song performed by America, called “Man’s Road”. Real talk, I’m digging the music in here, which is my inner folk rock fan talking.

While she finds nothing on her journey, she’s instead found by Mother Fortuna (Angela Langsbury), a witch who runs a carnival that needs a new exhibition. With her comes Ruhk (Brother Theodore) and magician Schmendrick (Alan Arkin), the latter of whom actually can see the Unicorn as a Unicorn.

At the carnival, Schmendrick introduces hiself to the Unicorn, wanting to get her out of there. Meanwhile, an audience is fooled by Mother Fortuna’s illusory magic to see a manticore, satyr, and the Midgard Serpent, when in reality they are an elderly lion, ape with a twisted foot, and really sad snake. However, the Harpy that she has IS real, and a major threat to Fortuna were she to escape.

That night, Fortuna speaks to the Unicorn of the Red Bull, owned by a King Haggard. The Unicorn asks Fortuna to free both her and the Harpy, two signs of the same magical coin. Also...is this a kids’ movie? Kinda thought it was until I noticed that the Harpy has, well...pendulous breasts. Literally the best way I can describe them. Also, three of them, so...there’s that.

After she leaves, Schmendrick arrives to free the Unicorn with his magic...and he’s shit at it. Like, REALLY shit. But thankfully, he’s a decent pickpocket, and stole the cage keys from Ruhk. He lets the Unicorn free, and she in turn releases the other animal prisoners, Harpy included. Which is NOT great for Fortuna, who’s IMMEDIATELY killed.

The two leave together, and head on the Unicorn’s journey to find her own kind. She cannot grant Schmendrick his wish to become a true magician, but he still gives her information about this world, and King Haggard, who seems like bad news.

On the road, the two encounter a gang of thieves of the road, who work for Captain Cully (Keenan Wynn), a short and portly leader of bandits. His mistress is a woman named Molly Grue (Tammy Grimes), who’s endlessly frustrated by Cully’s regular failures. They befriend Schmendrick, who impresses them with illusions of Robin Hood and his Merry Men. Although, it’s not his illusions, but those of the Unicorn, trying to help.

Doesn’t help that much, though, as the Robin Hood-hating Captain Cully ties him up to a tree after all of his men and Molly leave. A frustrated Schmendrick mutters a spell by mistake, and brings the tree to life.

And then my girlfriend fuckin’ broke. Here she is, below:

Ravishing. Yeah, she’s watching this too, and when the tree came up, her words were, and I quote:

...a smooth-talking horse, a three-tittied harpy, and a BOOBED TREE!

Boobed tree is an expression I will find a way to use in my life. Also, this is ABSOLUTELY not a kid’s movie, and that is one busty-ass tree. This tree, called...The Tree (Nellie Bellflower) is in love with Schmendrick, and is enraged by the appearance of the Unicorn. However, the Unicorn undoes Schmendrick’s magic, and puts the t-horny tree back to sleep.

The two encounter Molly Grue, who’s astonished to see a Unicorn. She cries, as she was been waiting to see one since she was a young maiden, but now she isn’t one anymore. Interesting implications there, but moving on. Molly wishes to join them, and while Schmendrick isn’t super down for that, she wins the Unicorn’s trust when she points out that they’ve been going in the wrong direction. Whoops.

OK, with that, let’s break for Part 2! See you there!

[eleanor-devil]

Boruto: Sacrifices [Remade] | Chap.3 - Naruto’s Decision

Written by: Eleanor-Devil & @mirage-05​​

Prologue | Chap.1 | Chap.2 | Chap.3 - You’re here

A complete silence descended upon the meeting hall for a full minute as everyone stood still, almost too afraid to breathe. Naruto worked to control the shocked expression on his face, but it wasn’t easy. How… how in the world had Sarutobi Kichiro found out about this…? His eyes swept over everyone in the hall briefly, lingering longer on Sarada and Shikadai, who understandably looked dumbfounded. And Konohamaru… Konohamaru just stood there, eyes wide open, looking like he was struck by something… Naruto had absolutely no idea how he was gonna make up for this... And then… the blast happened. A lot of people got on their feet, their expressions outraged and… panicked. “Hokage-sama, what’s the meaning of this?” “Did you really allow a brat of that snake in our village?” “Not good…” Kakashi mumbled next to him. “I don’t know how he learned about the kid but there was a reason he waited until now to reveal it…” The reason was pretty clear. A panicked turmoil had come over the gathered, wild looks in their eyes… an upheaval. Sighing inaudibly, Naruto took a step forward and raised his arms in a placating gesture. “Please. I would like everyone to just give me a moment.”

The roaring of chatter dimmed slightly to a low hum. “My decision to accept Mitsuki into the village was made regardless of his parentage. I intend to keep my view on it.” “And it shouldn’t solely be your decision to begin with,” Kichiro continued above the crowd, dead-pan. “This matter concerns all of the village, with the boy being related to the most heinous criminal this village had created.” “It is not our way in Konoha to judge someone - especially a kid - based on his connections.” Tsunade put in, as calmly as she could, already tired of the views of the elders in Konoha. Sarada was shocked as she could do nothing but watch the mayhem unfold. “What… does that even mean…?” she heard Shikadai speak beside her. “Sarada… did you know this…?” “N-no… I had no idea…” the girl mumbled numbly, shaking her head. “But… I know Orochimaru… and he’s…” she couldn’t exactly complete the sentence. The Nara raised an eyebrow. “Well, I’ve heard of his name a number of times before, but neither my parents nor my uncles go into details…” “I’m surprised, really,” came a voice behind them, and both turned to look at who was speaking. “Your family was one of those who was the worst affected by that snake.” “Sarutobi Ichiro.” Shikadai said wearily. “What do you mean, worst affected?” “Oh boy, you really don’t know.” Ichiro tsk tsked, shaking his head. “Well, I guess families really do like to mollycoddle the younger rather than let them face the truth for their own sake.” One of the girls standing next to him, his teammate, sighed and closed her eyes. “Really Ichiro, can we spend just one day without you going around having beef with someone?” “Oh, I’m not trying to start anything Wasabi,” the teen crossed his arms with a smirk. “But for now, let’s continue to watch how this will unfold. It’s gonna be interesting.” And unfolding it was. The whole room was on its feet now, everyone talking at the same time, trying to get their voices heard. “And how are we supposed to relax when his kid is roaming free in our village?” asked one from the Yamanaka clan. “Do you have any evidence to prove he wasn’t related to the attack at all?” There was a momentary surge of indecision on Naruto’s face, but he was quick to hide it. “Not yet, we don’t. Just as there is no evidence yet to point to his involvement. And this is why I wouldn’t want to be hasty in pointing fingers.” “Hasty? Hardly.” A sneer had formed on Kichiro’s lips. “I believe we have been really rather slow in this matter.” “If I may be so bold…” all the heads in the room turned to the unexpected speaker. Truth being told, Aburame Shino had never been a very vocal man. “I taught that boy during academy and I don’t believe he has the material to betray Konoha. Why? Because he has proven himself many times to be quite loyal.” “And how do we know he wasn’t play-acting, that it was some sort of scheme?” “Because he doesn’t have reasons to,” Shikadai mumbled, still watching the whole exchange with unbelievable eyes. Mitsuki had been what he considered a good friend over the years they got to know each other, and he just couldn’t believe they wouldn’t read a sign if he was planning to betray Konoha. They wouldn’t… would they? Sarada was staring at their sensei, who had kept his silence ever since the bomb was dropped. She could see his blank expression even from this distance. She could only begin to comprehend the shock he was experiencing… but wasn’t he going to say anything? Wasn’t he going to speak up in favor of their teammate…? The girl shivered at the possibility of Team Konohamaru crumbling to pieces… it was a… very scary thought, to say the least… “I believe we can all see where your decision is based on, Lord Seventh. That’s why I will have to ask you to not let your own past cloud your judgement.” “And I believe I am capable of handling that part, thank you very much,” Naruto said with a small squint between his eyes, his tone decidedly colder than before. “I am not bringing personal matters into this discussion. And I would expect everyone to act with the same sensitivity.” “It’s not a personal grudge though, is it?” Someone from the Nara clan interjected. “Who knows with what kind of purpose he was sent to Konoha? We all know what kind of being Orochimaru is…” “Yes, that would be his parent.” Shikamaru called from up front, his eyebrows a little furrowed. “In case you have missed it, the kid’s name is Mitsuki.” “I think we do need to think this matter out of the box,” Mirai spoke up, her arms crossed and a firm expression on her face. “Like it or not, he is still part of Konoha. We can’t just cut his ties with no proof and send him out there. For one thing, that will only create more problems in the future with the other villages too if this is indeed some sort of a scheme.” “Th-this is getting serious,” Sarada said nervously, still in a state of shock. “Will they actually…?” she couldn’t even complete the sentence, the thought was just crushing. “No,” Shikadai tried to comfort her, but his tone lacked the conviction she so desperately needed to hear. “Not when Lord Seventh is here…” “Ha,” came Ichiro’s voice from behind them, which none of them really appreciated. “They can’t ignore when the big clans press for the matter.” “What is your problem?!” Sarada rounded on the teen, already pissed off at his comments. “What did Mitsuki ever do to you?!” Ichiro raised an eyebrow. “Really, Uchiha, are you even paying attention?” “It won’t matter anyway.” The black haired girl felt her friend’s hand on her shoulder, a gentle reminder for her to keep her calm. “Not all of the clans will agree to it. They will have to have a majority to pass such a decision.” “Oh don’t worry, it’s coming there.” A cocky smirk made its way to Ichiro’s lips as he turned his attention back to the front of the room. “Watch and learn. This is what we call politics.” As if to prove his words true, more and more people were standing up to speak in favor of Kichiro’s suggestion. “If anything, this kid is nothing more than a test subject whose intentions we know nothing about.” one of their academy teachers Anko was saying, which was almost like a slap in Sarada’s face. Why… why were they treating Mitsuki like he was a soulless object…? She heard Shikadai sigh. “You know what… I think we can take a little break from here.” “We can?” the girl whispered back. “Well, the chuunins are mostly observants here… although I guess we will hear if they do notice we’re gone among all this mayhem,” the Nara explained, rubbing his neck. “We are not supposed to succumb to our emotions… but honestly, you need to cut yourself some slack, you look ready to collapse any time.” He put his hand on her shoulder again. “Come  on, let’s go.” … Not too long after they were out, though, not even long enough for anyone to notice their absence… people began filing out of the room. “What’s this about…?” Sarada asked her friend, baffled. The boy had no answers to offer to her but it turned out that he didn’t need to, because next thing they knew, Konohamaru was walking towards them. “Konohamaru-sensei…” Shikadai mumbled, although he was hesitant… they wanted to ask what was going on, but they also didn’t want to get scolded. The young man was quicker than them. “They decided to have a voting.” he stated, his tone almost… emotionless… if she were to be honest, making Sarada… scared… “Voting for… what…?” the Nara asked, cautious. “On whether Mitsuki should stay in Konoha,” came a second voice as Moegi, too, joined them. “Bunch of bull if you ask me but well… those are important clans for you…” “Is it possible, though? Do they really have the power to… exile someone from the village…?” Sarutobi Ichiro’s words were still ringing in their ears. “Well, no matter what they say, Nanadaime-sama has the final word. And not just the clans but we would cast our votes, too, so I don’t have a bad feeling about this.” In all this exchange, it didn’t escape Sarada’s attention that her sensei was still unusually quiet. She… had no idea that he didn’t know about Mitsuki’s origins either… so it made sense that he was still trying to take this all in, but… “Sensei,” she mumbled, her voice tiny. “What… will you vote for…?” The question caught the brunet off guard, and he blinked at his student, not knowing how to answer for a moment. He opened and closed his mouth, and the look in the Uchiha’s eyes just got sadder… But just then, Hyuuga Hanabi walked out of the door… Seeing her childhood friend suddenly tense, Moegi sighed. “Konohamaru, you really shouldn’t-” But it was too late, and the man was already walking over to his girlfriend. "Hanabi, stop this." The young woman seemed to regain her composure after the initial moment of being caught off-guard. "Stop what?" she asked in a formal manner. "What you've been saying... That can't be what you truly think!” Konohamaru was obviously trying to keep his voice down, but wasn’t much successful about it. “Just… everything is so messed up right now, we are all confused and people look for a solution, but this can’t be it... you know this is not right deep down in your heart…!" "Konohamaru," Hanabi said, brows furrowed as a serious expression crossed her face. "Please, remember that this is a formal meeting, so there is no place for all these." "Ugh! Just look into my eyes and tell me that is what you truly think!" "That's enough! I made it a point not to involve my personal feelings in village business." That was the last straw, and ice coated Konohamaru’s tone when he next spoke. "I'm sorry, Lady Hanabi. I guess I never realized you didn't have a heart." A fleeting, hurt look crossed the young woman’s eyes before they turned hard as steel. "Well, some of us have to think with their brains, not with their hearts." Despite the seriousness of the situation (and fully aware that they had just witnessed a very private interaction in her sensei’s life), Sarada couldn’t help but exclaim in wonder as she watched Konohamaru walk off. “Oh…” “Well… what he did certainly wasn’t the most conventional method, but… I guess that was his answer to your question.” Moegi’s tone was half exasperated, half proud. The black haired girl couldn’t help the whole-hearted smile that came across her lips, now this was the Konohamaru-sensei she knew and admired. Shortly after, the doors of the meeting room opened once again and they were called back inside. “Come now.” the orange haired jounin said, ushering them inside. “You will be voting too.” … When at last the door was closed behind the last person, Naruto cleared his throat to get attention. "We are going to do it like this," he began. "All of those who are in favor of..." he hesitated before saying the word. "exiling the child..." he continued, emphasizing the last word. "Please take your place on the left side of the room." He waited with bated breath as people started filing to the left. More than half... Naruto felt his heart sink as he looked at the considerably few people left. He was relieved that at least none of his friends agreed with that view, and of course Mitsuki’s chuunin friends stayed firmly on the other side of the room... but it pained him to see all of the Hyuga, led by his sister-in-law, Hanabi, were on the left corner. He sighed. "In the case that some of you wish to remain neutral, those who are against, please move to the right." There were only a few people in the middle of the room. Naruto took a deep breath, feeling all of their eyes on him. "Before I announce my decision, I would like to remind all of you of one thing." he began, and out of the corner of his eyes, saw some on the left stir uncomfortably. "We have been through many hardships. Many wars that cost many lives. Through the years I have served as your Hokage, it has always been my priority to prevent differences turning into marginalization, mistakes turning into grudges... If I was to exile a child for the mistakes of his parent, I would go against everything I believed that would make me a good and fair leader." "A leader should be ready to take action and defend his people. You have indeed gone soft over years of peace." A loud thud cut into Kichiro's rant, and Naruto looked up with fire in his eyes. "That," he snapped through gritted teeth, finally at the end of his patience, "has nothing to do with going soft over peace. I am not going to judge or punish a child for something that is beyond his control!" "If we do not take immediate action, there will be more regrets! Lord Third would never..." That was a low blow, one which made Naruto double-take, and Kichiro actually stopped himself before he said something worse. The Hokage had to pause for a moment before he continued. "It's my final decision." He put in, slowly but firmly. "Mitsuki stays. The meeting is hereby dismissed." There was an uproar of protests, which Naruto mostly tuned out - until the Sarutobi leader's voice once again reached him. "You will see that this was not the right decision to be made. This matter is far from over." Something in his tone made the blond go cold. "Kichiro-san," he called over the rumble. "Do not forget about the decree - no one is allowed to harm the child under any circumstances." The elder was just about to step out of the hall. When he heard him, he turned to look at the younger straight in the eyes. "Don’t you forget this - the decree had already been broken - and not by us."