#he thinks aliens are bad. he stabs aliens to protect his family. he and his family were offered jobs stabbing aliens. easy pie.

[factorialsotherfandoms]

From @cubitodragon

I know nothing about xcom but I do love hearing all the au babble SO: how did the morning crew form in this timeline? Are animal hybrids a thing or is it more a unit/call sign reference? What brought the various teams into contact with one another? What order did egg children show up in their lives? (Do bad and forever still have dumb arguments about politics during not!date dinners?)

Hihi! Okay so I'm running with XCOM2 specifically, which is a turn based strategy game where you run a group of resistance members who live on an alien spaceship they stole, and fight against aliens who invaded earth ~20 years prior, recruiting people, making contact with other resistance cells, gathering proof of crimes against humanity, etc. For sake of the AU making sense I cut this time down to like ~10 years ago. There's the very basic premise.

Okay so question one! So we actually have a couple of answers here. The simplest is that there's a shift pattern for who is on comms and checking the airship is going the right way (and also shift sleeping as there's like 10 beds for the entire group), and they have the morning shift. Very basic. HOWEVER, at the start of the missions, Tazercraft are missing. Tubbo also doesn't go out on active combat duty, being Chief Engineer. Tazercraft used to have that job but, well, there's a reason they're both missing and the Chief Engineer no longer goes on combat missions... Tubbo was about 14 when Mike found him blowing up a Federation base via rewiring their electrics, and took him back with them. Pac and Mike took him as their joint apprentice, and he got forced into their job when they vanished. Fit and Philza both showed up a bit later. Fit and Philza knew each other before the invasion, but were split pretty soon after it began, each ending up being heavily involved in different resistance cells which later folded into the main one. Philza knew Tubbo as a kid, though lost contact a bit before the war. Fit and Phil have actually been on the ship a couple of years when shit kicks off for plot, just not quite as long as Tubbo. It's a little funny - if you need one of the five the place you need to look is the engineering quarters. At the start it's Phil dragging Fit to check up on Tubbo, once Tazercraft are back (because of course they will be eventually), it's Fit dragging Phil there on vague excuses of getting gear fixed to make puppy eyes at his crush. Either way, if its one of the five of them you need, you check engineering first. Philza's the least likely to be there, Tubbo is most likely, but even if its Tubbo sleeping in a cupboard someone will be there and will know where the others are. Forming wise... Well they just kinda stumbled together. I think you can piece it together from the above?

Haven't quite decided on hybrids and such. On the one hand, all human is more sensible. On the other hand, hybrids are fun and I'm soft for wingfic and it'd help the eggs settle in... Better. If human society is used to hybrids of some forms. They're a bit... *vague gestures* off.

At the start of everything the egg children have yet to show up at all! I am still in the process of placing them all but currently... Operation Shadow Tomb brings Chayanne and Bobby Operation Rotting Wail brings Pomme and Richarlyson Operation Pungent Father brings Trump Operation Crypt Hand beings Dapper, Ramon, and Leo Operation Dismal Paramore brings JuanaFlippa and Tallulah Operation Haunting Night brings Tilin While those words have no meaning to you, they are in order lol. There are reasons they go this order (mostly who has parents where when, but also some of them due to plot happening in specific places). All of the eggs are safe from death, you will be pleased to know. I also reserve the right to add Hope and/or A1 in, but... Well A1 would take Trump's place, who would instead have to end up with Flippa and Tallulah. Memory would take Tilin's place, who would be dropped back to with Pomme, or even back to Bobby and Chayanne. It's not really to do with their canon ages or aught (okay bar the triplets coming as a three), but yk. It's not actually until Trump/A1 that they actually have any idea what the eggs /are/, beyond slightly odd children. Their parents love them anyway.

Bad and Forever have dumb arguments about literally everything all the time, and when he's injured Bad /will/ use the fact he's one of the squad captains, and therefore writes reports, and Forever is the commander of the operation, and therefore reads reports, to demand Forever bring him snacks/attention while he's injured. It is, unfortunately, a little hard for them to get time and privacy to have not!dates. Living on a single airship with like 40-ish other people once vague background NPCs are accounted for

I've picked out characters I struggle with (Bad, Forever, etc) to have to write a lot of the in-universe documents, and the entire main plot is in-universe documents and then I flesh it out piecemeal like the one fic I did already as takes my fancy. In theory. Not much is written.

[qiu-yan]

haterisms beneath the cut

this hater poll brought to you by....a series of Bad Mcfucking Takes i had to read with my own eyeballs. seriously did we read the same book or not.

explanations:

"jiang cheng killed wei wuxian": jiang cheng did not kill wei wuxian in any version of the story. in mdzs wei wuxian died from backlash and in cql wei wuxin chose to let go of lan wangji after jiang cheng stabbed the cliff face. you can argue till the cows come home about how responsible jiang cheng is for wei wuxian's demise, but "jiang cheng killed wei wuxian" is just factually incorrect.

"jiang cheng abuses jin ling": jiang cheng does not abuse jin ling. first, the narration goes out of its way to establish that jiang cheng does not hit jin ling, specifically in a setting where hitting children is normalized and expected. in fact, wei wuxian says that jin ling is bratty specifically because he's never been hit. second, jin ling is also clearly comfortable talking back to jiang cheng and needling him in a way jiang cheng definitely was not with his own parents. even when jiang cheng is actively losing it when he captures wei wuxian in qinghe, jin ling remains completely unruffled - which speaks to how much jin ling takes for granted that he is safe with jiang cheng.

"jiang cheng could have easily helped the wen remnants, he just didn't": antis love to act like yunmeng jiang could have easily taken in the wemnants and jiang cheng simply chose not to because he was a hater/super jelly/various synonyms for ontologically evil. which is not the fucking case. learn to read. yunmeng jiang's own position post sunshot was very weak - they were a great sect in name only and were excluded from the alliance tying the three other great sects together - and jiang cheng could not politically afford to protect wei wuxian after wei wuxian alienated lanling jin. that's why jiang cheng says "if you insist on doing this, i can't protect you," and why wei wuxian then tells jiang cheng to let him go. because they both understand this. come on

"jiang cheng forced jiang yanli to marry jin zixuan": jiang yanli as a character makes so many sacrifices for her family and her brothers. her relationship with zixuan is like the one thing she chooses for herself. she loves him!! the tragedy in wei wuxian killing jin zixuan is that yanli genuinely loved zixuan!! ngl i think antis argue this purely to try to exonerate wei wuxian: if jiang yanli didn't love jin zixuan then wei wuxian donutting him isn't a problem anymore, apparently. this is the result of people thinking of jiang yanli as purely a thing for wei wuxian, rather than a human being in her own right.

"jiang cheng should have protected wei wuxian from yu ziyuan": this one is annoying because jiang cheng was also a child. when a child is abused, it is the fault of the abuser, not the fault of another child who is also subject to the whims of the abuser. come on.

[microstmnt]

Timeskip Turtles Part 1 (Part 2 will have April and Casey, and everyone in lineup to showcase their heights)

Oh boy, these bad boys can fit so many plot points in three years... I’d said that at this point everything is said and done... Unless (I don’t know, there’s only so much you can do and thinking back perhaps I should have made their versions during the encounter with Bishop, or during the alien invasion instead of whipping these guys and going “yes, that all already happened lmao”.. But then again, I’m making these on the fly so... Imagine me rambling in an empty theater and you guys are the rats that inhabit it, listening with curiosity, I love you but ultimately this is for me)

More tidbits over here

Leo: Still the fearless leader, but now with the knowledge that his family is not gonna fall apart if he’s gone. After the defeat of Shredder (that came with its consequences, yay new scars and traumas...) came quite some more issues, like the Foot Clan being disbanded and it’s former members looking for revenge, or the rise in mutant population by an unknown source, but all problems that seemed tame and easily resolved in comparison to the Shredder. So Leo took the opportunity once he thought things had quieted down to take a trip to train, leaving with Casey for about 8 months (8 months that are going to be hell for your brothers baby lmao). Notable scars: Broken plastron (he was sure he was not gonna make it but eventually recovered) by Shredder, some various slashes across his arms by Slash, a nick on the lips by a random foot ninja (he’s embarrased by this scar), the scar in his eye that left him blind by Karai prior to the Battle Nexus arc

Raph: Took the title of leader during Leo’s 8 month absence, in wich the boys had to deal with a mutant uprise, a crazed secret service guy obsessed with “protecting the earth” from aliens that is creating the mutants, the turtles secret fifth sister that was used by the aformentioned crazy guy, and an actual alien invasion so I guess the crazy guy wasn’t so crazy after all... All while your big bro and your best friend are probably having the time of their lives in their little fun trip (so it turns out that Leo is right and being the responsible one is never fun but whatever). Notable scars: Big plastron slashes by Krang, electrocution scar on right arm by Shredder, small scar on the face by a random Foot Ninja, slashes on left shoulder (and shell) and the underside of right arm by Slash, bullet wound by Bishop, and the infamous neck scar by Donnie that he hates looking so is the only scar he purposefully covers

Donnie: Hey, looky who needs glasses (embarrased by this), has fully accepted that he and his brothers are only going to rest when their dead. Not really as affected by Raph that Leo left on a trip, but still prefers when the team is all together, after one too many times where his brothers lack of preparations left them with scars (dumb dumb bros not taking care of themselves of course I gotta do everything around here...) he carries a bunch of supplies on him, anything you can name he probably has it on him. Bishop almost killed him in an explosion... so that was fun.... Notable scars: Explosion caused by Bishop (finally an explosion that wasnt his fault, ehem), face stabs by Slash grabbing him by the head (Donnie is not having a good time), slashes on arm and a plastron wound by Shredder, some knicks and burns on his hands from working without gloves and the infamous leg stab by Raph that is now out of sight because he wears pants (Don: if I had known about the extra protection of pants when we were younger, perhaps I wouldn’t have a scar the size of a state on my leg)

Mikey: Sometime after the defeat of Shredder he and Renet became friends, and eventually started a queerplatonic relationship (cue his brothers reacting with variations of “why her??”), he’s still an exceptional fighter but also is still quite sheltered, so he is the one with the least scars by virtue of being pulled from fights by his bros as soon as it looks like he’s not doing so good (something that pisses him off but is a little gratefull for as well, it’s complicated), that doesn’t save you from being kidnapped and tortured by Bishop tho, didn’t last long but that’s where he learned that they all have an older sister (being the first one to find out), got back into art since he needed some healthy coping mechanisms, and eventually turned into a bonding activity with his bros. Notable scars: bite mark on left shoulder by Slash, slash in right shoulder (and part broken plastron) by Shredder, acid burns on hands by being tortured by Bishop 

All in all, I took a lot of things from Bayverse when designing the boys (if it wasnt obvious), and I do realize that it’s kinda weird to be like: here they are three years later, they crawled through hell during that time teehee, but this is after so whatever,

But what can I say, I kinda make these up as I go and things change and other stuff stays, who knows, maybe in a year this post will be rendered completely obsolete because I thought of something more interesting... Hell, some things that I’ve already said about existing characters have been rendered obsolete, like Usagi’s height, but that’s something for Part 3 of Timeskip Versions

Thank you all for liking or reblogging, I know a lot of these things are all over the place but it genuinely makes me happy when I see notes of any kind in my posts

[theorist-influencer-untitled]

7:52 am Sunday

Uncle Jun is still here... He washed his clothes yesterday, early night... I don't know if he will go to Georgia'Z forest...

Me? Drinking my first cup of coffee and still having windblow trap... I feel frustrated and I feel ugly and fat...

I wanted to leave the hometown and I wanna have some new added friends (men most specially) I wanna have aliens friends who looks like Ken the barbie doll... I miss being with my some of my good old friends, I miss being in the center...

I still wanna see donkey and camel.... I wanna leave the hometown...

I have pelvic pain and more pain coz I can't poops and waiting for it... Oh! Need to drink laxative tea or whatever...

9:04 am

I still have the windblow trap... I feel like I have soul interference now and that soul is sleepy head... Strange feeling, I feel like a teenager but I'm already on my 40's.... But I want to be young and I feel hopeless coz I wanted to be center of my friends and some alien friends... But I know I have sanity compared to biological mother and GeorgiaZ crazy groupish here in Cavitish...

I feel bad having "deep smile lines"...

I hate ugly friends and I want to do my collagen shots... Will explain those ugly people later, angels...

I feel bitterish... I miss being carried by my friends like my exes... But I want some aliens now... I miss having attention....I feel bitterish...

Getting older for nothing? Bullshit! People who damaged my image shouldn't stop carrying the heavy loads,angels...

9:32 am

Just got free rice from 12R for now... But will be paying it...Coz Uncle DD is handling the fundings not yet answering....

It is so good to gain new friends who can assist you in times of emergency case....

I still wanna leave the hometown and I need a job and I still wanna buy starbucks everyday... Don't wanna commute that far here, angels...

10:53 am

What about my "deep smile lines"...

In the Nutshell:

Define ugly friends? Back-stabbing of words behind you....Some are ugly face but even pretty if they back-stabbed you or doing a "consipiracy plan", it is so UGLY!.

One phrase of saying negative things about a friend or a kind of being judgemental is UGLY!

Over-protecting a friend to the point that you sleep on my bf or men that I like or stepping-on on your friend's she-ego is super dooper UGLY!

2:11 pm

I feel bitter and self-pity...I want to remove this "deep smile lines" and I need a collagen shots, angels...

I feel hurt for 16 years and be older for nothing... I need money and job but I don't wanna commute that far...I wanna be with Ken the barbie man...

7:44 pm

Uncle Jun is already here around 7:35 pm...

Still, have the windblow trap and these some bad monkeyaZ who interfered on me since 2007, I don't know what are they thinking? They just damaged me angels... I'm stuck for nothing...I feel fat and ugly...

Done,stretching my sciatica/ priformis and I execrised my legs today... I feel so frustrated here in my family and here in this demonic Cavite coz I can't have a good life since some bad FilipiNOSE are observing me and judging me and worst trapping me unfairly....

This Uncle DD will not react on our text here if we don't have any ugly situation here... I wonder why... That was and probably his pattern....Coz he is handling the fundings for here basically food and bills, that suppossed to be including my body shops toiletries and other stuff that originally I had... My memory came back and they just aborted me for nth times...

You can't blame me angels, I wanted to leave the hometown...I wanna have money and wanna buy starbucks everyday...Things that I wanna do like seeing donkey and camels or go to the dream land... My deep smile lines are here for nothing..

Totally unfair they stole my 16 years and for nothing... Whoever alien that will save me it will be a blessing for me, hoping for a barbie and wonderful soul...

9:51 pm

Done, eating dinner with John... Done, brushing his teeth using his "SPLAT ICE CREAM" toothpaste and his breath really smells like a candy ice cream...

Relax and a lil while will take my shower...

Oh! I need collagen shots on my feet and vagina'Z... I'm not kidding....Plus, I have deep smile lines... I want someone supportive...

I feel self-pity... Will be 42 in a lil while.. I need a job and money and brand new life...

10:14 pm

Will drink my laxative tea... I feel fat and ugly....I feel irritated,I have windblow trap and I want a collagen shots ....ARGH!!! I feel irritated! You feel like kicking someone on the face coz I lost my beauty now... I have insecurities now on my feet, my deep smile lines, my 41 years old vagina... NO AC! Skin mapping on the butt... Grrr!

10:56 pm

Finishing my tea and irritating windblow trap...

I'm self-pitying.... I want a barbie guy who can lift and fix me...

I feel bitterish... Aging for nothing... Sleeping for aging and no future...

I want an alien group who will make me feel special and be the Queenish! I feel bitter....They took away my life here since 2007!

[melbournenewsvine]

Little miracle boy survived nursery massacre in Thailand while sleeping under a blanket

Of the 22 children stabbed to death, 11 died in the classroom where she was dozing, according to police. Two other children were in hospital with serious head injuries. rare moment of joy On Sunday afternoon, the family sat in a circle while a religious leader reads from a Sanskrit prayer book and conducts Buddhist ceremonies for children with bad experiences. My mother sat patiently in her mother’s lap, looking around shyly through big eyes and playing with the two candles she was holding. Relatives splashed each other with rice wine poured from a silver bowl and shouted good luck. They held Amy’s little wrists with white threads for luck, pinch her cheeks and whispered blessings. It was a rare moment of joy in a town mired in grief. In addition to the carnage at the nursery, Banya rammed his pickup truck into pedestrians on the street and shot neighbors in a two-hour rampage. Finally, he killed the woman he was living with, her son, and himself. In a close-knit society, little has been touched. Since dawn on Sunday, families of the victims have gathered in temples where the bodies are kept in coffins. They brought gifts for the spirits of the dead, according to local traditions, including food, milk, and games. Later in the day, they sat down for a Buddhist ceremony at the nursery, where mourners left white wreaths and more gifts. loading At my mom’s house, her mother said she believed spirits protected her young daughter. “My baby is not a deep sleeper,” Banumbay said. “I think there must be some spirits covering their eyes and ears. We have different beliefs, but for me, I think she protected my child.” Another relative told local media that it was a ��miracle” that Amy survived. But the family had to pass on the news of the death of her beloved two-year-old friend Teshin and her teacher. “She was asking her grandmother, ‘Why don’t you take Teshin from school?'” Banumbai said. “. She does not yet know the full extent of the tragedy she has been through. Reuters Get a direct note from our alien correspondents About what’s making headlines around the world. Subscribe to the weekly What in the World newsletter here. Source link Originally published at Melbourne News Vine

[void-bitten-ghost]

OKAY YALL KNEW THIS WAS COMING

OFMD WINTERSBERG AU IDEAS

Gentleman pirate Ethan who took to the seas with his daughter not for the adventure, but to keep her safe and away from the real threat. I dunno the crown or something? I'm thinking mold powers are still on in this AU so there's some weird bitches messing around with aliens and making them into bioweapons somewhere on land and Ethan gets *Gone*. Acting piracy on the seas to make ends meet may be no place for a child, but Ethan has little choice in the matter when his decision has been made.

Finding out his wife was a spy and willing minion for people who wanted to take their child kind of made it for him, tbh. The day she tried to secretly take blood from Rose was the day he had the plans for The Revenge sent off for construction. He thought it was a very pirate-y name. Would blend in well.

Problem was, he was the one that didn't blend in well.

Infamy was inevitable. A man with a young baby strapped to his front politely threatening goods out of people?? Yeah. That gets attention.

I don't know nearly enough about this part of history I just want to see the 4 lords as pirate captains please and thankyou. Alcina in rose floral silks and pearls with a huge hat and a collection of cutlass'. Her coat a similarly shimmering white and grey... her three daughters in the rigging when the sun is warm on their cheeks but down in the hold under blankets during storms. I feel like the boat name would be The Sanguis Virginis. Yaknow. For reasons

Sly Twink Moreau in a sleek, black, hooded coat. Terribly allergic to citrus and sea salt. Has a very bad time at sea. Might name his ship The Ailing Tempest or something I dunno. Maybe Miranda named it with spite

Donna with her legendary and prized doll collection she gained from plundering noble ships. No one has ever seen her face and there's a betting poll going around her crew about it. There's a small fortune on what the colour of her eyes is, but every soul that's ever seen them has never lived long enough to tell the tale. Ship name would have something to do with Memories I think.

Now Heisenberg... he's all about the panache of things. The flair. The showmanship. But recently he's just been so fucking tired of it all. Has considered the act of grace a grand total of twice when at the bottom of some paticularly potent bottles....

Then he catches wind of The Gentleman Pirate, and he's just smitten from the off. What kind of fucking idiot brings a baby out to sea??? What kind of feral lunatic manages to keep a baby alive as well as himself while out at sea?????

Yeah. Heisenberg has to meet this crazy bastard. He has to.

One of em gets stabbed. Maybe both if we're being honest. Maybe ethan is more severely hurt from turning to protect Rose. He wakes to a strange man holding his little girl and shushing her back to sleep with stern tellings off. Things like "now you see here missy. Your papa needs to rest. Yes I know. I know, mate. It's fine though, the sword missed all the important bits he'll be fine," under his breath and Ethan is having an out of body experience with how much adrenaline pumped through him when he realised he wasn't holding Rose

Cue Heis being like. Thank fuck you're up how do I make it stop??? With the noise??? These things are so fucking loud how do you stand it???

Cue romantic slow-burn with Heis insisting on holding Rose for Ethan while he recovers. Instead of the clothes swap it's Heis wearing the sling and Ethan wearing all of his guns and harnesses as insurance. Ethan needs survival tips. Heis wants to know more about the world that was denied to him. A home. A family. All those delicate and beautiful things he's never known...

Ahem. Someone take this from me please I beg

[feanorianethicsdepartment]

time travel aus, amirite? since we’ve all decided to start talking about our ideas, i thought i’d throw my hat into the ring. i’ve actually had this idea for a while, i just wasn’t sure what to do with it because i barely have the patience for one-shots, let alone the continuous plotted longfic this would need

it’s not my idea, of course, i’m incapable of original thought. it’s based off this can-i-really-call-it-a-genre-if-it’s-two-fics-with-the-same-premise where some combination of maedhros, maglor, elros, and elrond land in the blessed realm before - even the unchaining, in my take, when the ambarussa are still children and the world is blissful. it’s more specifically my take on this fic, which takes elrond and elros from very early in their captivity and maedhros from just before the silmaril theft and maglor from several centuries into the second age. i just plugged my own characterisations into it, and, uh. the specific setup this not-genre uses is that maitimo and makalaurë *~mysteriously disappear,~* throwing their extended family into chaos, blah blah blah, and then a few decades later -

well. with my characterisations, we have a nightmare hellbeast who’s burned up everything he used to be in singular pursuit of an unreachable goal and has carved his very self into a weapon, a completely drained beaten-up husk barely cognisant of reality past the screaming in his mind who’s so utterly broken it’s debatable if he even counts as an elda, and two extremely young extremely traumatised children in a completely unfamiliar land- and skyscape whose only adult they can maybe-kind-of trust is currently bleeding from the eyes and shrieking wordless notes of utter despair

yeah, this au’s Fun. elrond and elros have maybe eight words of quenya between them, most of which are obscene, maedhros will act completely normal until he suddenly stabs himself in the arm because can’t this stupid hallucination end already, he has a character arc to tank, and maglor seems completely unaware he’s not still on the beach having the same cyclic arguments with the ghosts of the people he failed. the elves of valinor aren’t completely unprepared to deal with this, at least not the ones who remember cuiviénen, but it’s still a massive shock to see two of the children they came to the land of the gods to protect twisted and scarred like the worst victims of the dark. especially since noone can figure out why

so yeah. i have trouble finishing oneshot collections, so i doubt i’ll ever write this out in full, but i do have a lot of Scenes. fëanáro staring in utter horror at the oath, whispering ‘i made this.’ elros and elrond’s somewhat hole-filled explanation of their backstory devolving into a sindarin argument, and when the family asks tyelkormo what they’re talking about he freezes before saying ‘they’re arguing about whether maitimo killed their mother.’ the moment maglor finally managed to get through what happened after they got the silmarils to maedhros, who immediately switches from off-the-cuff self-harm to well-planned suicide attempts. the five-minute period the family hellspawn’s working theory was ‘they’re maitimo and makalaurë from an alternate universe where we’re evil’ (‘is there an evil version of me??? does he eat kids???????’ - tyelko) finwë going full bulldoze taniquetil in the background. fun times, might write some snippets in the future

but i like to think through the mechanics of this kind of time travel story too much, so i started wondering where maitimo and makalaurë, yanno, went. i quickly came to the conclusion that they probably swapped places with their evil future selves, giving me three time travel aus for the price of one! technically four but (a) i’m not sure if or with who the twins would swap and (b) if they did their alternate selves are probably having a really bad time and i don’t particularly want to think about it. the stories maitimo and makalaurë are in... they’re not necessarily any happier, but they are a lot more wtftastic

maitimo falls asleep under the light of the trees, on a relaxing retreat from the demands of court life and family-induced disasters. he wakes up in a world that’s almost completely dark, surrounded by plants he’s never seen before and wearing clothing designed for a much warmer climate, the scent of death in the air. now permanently separated from all his old problems, maitimo rapidly acquires several exciting new ones, including but not limited to:

everyone he ever loved being dead or worse

the lone possible exception, his last surviving little brother, being an almost unrecognisable blood-drenched kinslayer who hates everything in the universe especially himself

said blood-drenched kinslayer almost immediately imprinting on him like a grouchy murderous duckling

his future self having apparently wanted to kill even more people, why

getting dogpiled by like thirty dudes in full armour the instant they showed up at the army of the west’s camp to surrender

getting soul-scanned by eönw two minutes later. not fun

arafinwë pulling him into an enormous hug and then bursting into tears

the subsequent explanation as to just what happened to him and his brothers, which somehow got worse after he’d already thought they’d hit rock bottom like four separate times

proceeding to lose a staring contest with findaráto

the way everyone in camp looks at him like he’s an incredibly dangerous wild animal that might bite at any time

how if half of what arafinwë said is true he can’t even blame them, fuck, fuck

the twin half-elven(?????????????) princes he and his brother apparently kidnapped and held hostage for years, inflicting unimaginable cruelties as far as anyone knows

his first meeting with the kids happening when elrond broke into where they were holding maglor to scream at him in very loud very fast very angry sindarin for like half an hour

maglor just staring at him, eyes wide, ears pinned back, the whole time, and then trying to maul the first guard who mocked him for it

getting saddled with kinslayer containment duties in the aftermath of that whole incident

elrond punching him in the collarbone when he tried to apologise, shouting ‘you weren’t there, don’t you dare try to tell me what it was like’

elros’ visible half second of pure terror after the blow hit home

elros then using recognisable techniques from maitimo’s debate team circuit during a speech to the edain

like, clearly some shit did happen, but it’s obviously not what the local leadership’s afraid of

this sour-faced scar-covered warrior slipping out of the shadows in an unpopulated part of camp, kneeling before him, intoning ‘the swords of the host remain at your disposal my lord’ and then immediately vanishing

he didn’t recognise them until after they’d left but they were definitely one of his philosophy club friends, what even

just generally having woken up in a future a thousand times worse than his darkest nightmares

his natural instinct is to try and fix things, but how?? what’s even left to fix????

maglor sometimes goes into these unhinged desperate spiralling rambles directed at the older brother who exists in his head rather than the one in front of his eyes. whatever’s left of maitimo’s biggest little brother is clearly in so much pain

all the things he’s trying extremely hard not to think about because if he slows down enough to he’s pretty sure he’ll collapse

all the people he’s never met who hate him for pretty understandable reasons and whose social structure he now has to learn to have any hope of making it out of All This

the edain’s collective insistence on calling him pasthros

curufinwë isn’t even a hundred how does he have a kid

makalaurë, on the other hand, wakes up on a beach beneath a giant glowing orb. finding himself in a land so much barer than what he knows, among people whose souls don’t even work like his, his initial working theory is he’s been abducted by aliens

[black-coffee-and-sugar]

I guess if it makes me a bad person to say I had zero issues with Lena killing Lex then I am a bad person.

Like, are we all forgetting that Kara was trying to save Lex, he managed to wiggle his arm free and fall. And sure, he did that so he could escape but Kara did not know that. She didn't make any effort to try and catch him and she totally could have. She has superspeed.

She chose not to and I'm not upset with that at all. Kara also spent what I'm assuming is weeks if not months thinking that she helped kill her best friend's brother and felt no type of way about it (at least what was shown). And when she finally finds out that Lena killed Lex, she still doesn't care! She wanted to burn a hole through Lex's head during crisis and I guarantee you if the monitor hadn't stepped in, she would've done it. And no one would've made a single noise.

But Lena isn't a hero so automatically her killing Lex, a psychopath hellbent on genocide and world domination mind you, will still be perceived by some people as "bad" and her being "evil". Like yea she killed the man who turned the red sun, murdered dozens of people, took advantage of red daughter and then discarded her like trash, experimented horrifically on aliens, was about to blow Argo up just to kill one person (and I could go on and on) and I'm supposed to be reprimanding Lena about that? Yea no.

I bet you if it were Alex or Kara or even J'onn, they wouldn't say a damn thing. Because they're heroes and therefore infallible. But everything Lena does, good or bad, is under scrutiny. How dare she be flawed and not self righteous like the rest of them.

Remember Alex killing Astra when she could have stabbed her anywhere nonlethal and still save J'onn? She claims to be an expert on xenobiology, I'm sure she knows exactly where to stab a Kryptonian without killing them but we barely talk about that. We also don't talk about her trigger happy attitude towards Julia Freeman and other aliens on the show.

Also remember J'onn killing Manchester Black? Not because he was causing problems but because the man taunted him with a vision of his family. Now that was genuinely disturbing. Even Kara was like wtf?? But it's brushed under the rug. No one talks about it because J'onn is a hero. That death was not at all justified. MB was a heartbroken man grieving in all the wrong ways. He needed help. Plus J'onn disarmed him!

And yes, Lex was unarmed too when Lena shot him. But he's already proven that the prison system is a joke and that he can and will continuously try to eliminate Kara, aliens and Lena too because he feels betrayed by her defiance. Short of yeeting him into the PZ, there was no protection. Plus he knew SG's identity and would've used it to escape like he tried to in 6x01. Only this time they'd be fucked cuz Lena would not have had myriad and J'onn doesn't seem to have the balls to mind wipe people by force even when necessary.

The only death Lena caused that I felt sad about was Adam. But even that, tragic as it was, was not totally on Lena. Sure the procedure and setup and even the recruitment was shady asf but Lena was 100% transparent about the risks when she didn't have to be. And she shouldn't have let the guy convince her to do it when she wasn't uncomfortable but she did and that's not fully on her. He was a consenting adult fully aware of the dangers.

I'm not saying that killing Lex didn't backfire because it absolutely did. But that's due to shitty writing. Lex was not needed during crisis. He wasn't. You have Lena and Brainy, arguably the smartest people in the Arrowverse and barely utilize them? Especially Brainy, the 12th level intellect Coluan from the future.

And unfortunately killing Lex on top of finally being forced to see Kara's secret, made Lena snap and spiral. So if it's to avoid that then yea, Lena shouldn't have killed him. But let's not pretend that Lena killed a saint or even a halfway decent person. His own mother who was championing his craziness before also tried to killed him and was unapologetic about it.

Lex was a huge problem that needed to be eliminated. Putting him in prison is equivalent to letting him go. Only a DEO prison might've worked but that can't happen because he's a human and high profile. You can't just make him disappear like that. So he would've returned to murdering more innocent people and tormenting aliens, an already demonized group. Lena handled it like she does everything else and while I was shocked, I wasn't mad about it. As Katie said in that interview, Lex deserved it.

[tonystarktogo]

Last part of the time travel crack ‘verse for now (and sorry for making you all worry about the scepter, I didn’t mean it that way, it just seemed like a good cut-off point tbh):

"The scepter! Did anyone keep an eye on the scepter?"

"I assure you," Agent Agent, who looks a little singed and has a bandage wrapped around one ear, yet continues to rock the personality-free drawl that tricks people into thinking he’s not worth paying attention to, speaks up, "that the scepter is still safely in SHIELD custody, Dr. Banner."

Banner scoffs.

Rogers grimaces.

Barton winces.

And oh, all other issues aside, the vindication of this moment is glorious. Tony feels fully justified in the doubtful look he aims at the screen. You know your show sucks balls when even your own operative doesn’t buy what you’re selling.

"That’s great," Banner says in a painfully droll voice. "But I’ll feel a lot better when we hand it over to our resident Asgardian prince for safekeeping rather than put it into a secret high-security facility and hope for the best. Like the one you stored the Tesseract in took Loki what, five minutes to take over?"

Woah, talk about burn. Tony doesn’t bother muffling his snicker. Who’d have thought Banner has it in him?

[continues under the cut]

"Hang on, wouldn’t it be better—" Rogers interrupts before Fury or Coulson can come up with an excuse, which judging by their sour-slash-carefully-blank expressions isn’t as easy as they’d like it to be.

Banner raises one hand. It shouldn’t be a power move on part with his green counterpart squashing a car in his fist, isn’t even particularly aggressive but for some reason Rogers shuts up. Immediately. The bright, eerily green eyes might have something to do with it. 

"If you’re going where I think you’re going, I advise you to reconsider," Banner growls, the vocals deep enough that Romanoff reaches for the nearest weapon. "Even setting my personal issues aside, it’s not worth the risk."

Barton sighs with what sounds less like exhaustion and more like sad resignation. "Hate to say it, Cap, but he’s right. Sending the scepter off-Earth with the Tesseract is probably the safest course of action we can take right now. We can’t count on being that lucky again."

"Agent Barton," Agent Agent’s words drip with such a pointedly polite friendliness, it’s a wonder he doesn’t spear his own tongue on it. "Please desist in trying to hand off objects that pose an immediate threat to global security to an unvetted alien who, while a valued ally, is in line for the throne of a foreign world."

And wow. Tony’s not gonna win a prize for his sensitivity any time soon, but there’s some things you just don’t say to a guy who got brainwashed into doing an alien’s bidding less than forty-eight hours ago. Going by the way Romanoff has gone rigid, she agrees.

Luckily for everyone present, Barton doesn’t bat an eye at the dig. He leans forward instead, elbows placed on his tights, the picture of relaxation. As long as you ignore the expression on his face that could possibly pass for a smile. If you catch sight of it out of the corner of your eye. Through a dirty mirror. 

"Not that I’m not glad to see you alive and well, Phil, because I am. But getting my head rolled once was already one time too many and if the Tesseract is powerful enough to draw fucking aliens to it then it’s too fucking powerful for us to protect." Barton’s voice becomes progressively lower as he continues his little not-having-any-of-your-shit rant. "More people are gonna get killed over that thing. Good people. Because we don’t have the damn resources to keep it safe. So if we gotta bet on Asgard for this, then that’s what we’re gonna fucking do because to be frank with you sir I’d rather lead the hostile aliens to a world ready for interstellar warfare than my own."

Thor straightens from where he’s been fixated on Loki for the past hour or so, trying to crawl into his brother’s skull through willpower alone by the looks of it, and dips his head in Barton’s direction. "Thank you for your faith," he says gravely, as though Barton hasn’t straight up told everyone in this room he wants to use Asgard as a shield-slash-sacrificial-offering. "I hope my people will prove worthy of it."

"Should be fine." Banner shrugs with a nonchalance Tony envies. "’s long as we take care of your murderous sibling first."

Thor winces. Loki’s face loses whatever expressiveness it had left and it already was at state zero: emotions not welcome here to begin with. 

But. Tony tilts his head. Why not just call Loki by his name? Unless, of course, Banner isn’t referring to him. But how would the infamous Hulk-slash-brilliant-scientist have gotten himself wrapped up in alien family drama? And is there a form Tony can sign? Because he hates being kept out of the loop.

"Avengers!" Fury snaps before things can get any more awkward. Which, good for him, but in Tony’s fine opinion he should have taken the win and be done with it. There’s just no winning against whatever type of madness — not to mention feelings — these people are so inconsiderately spreading inside his walls. "You’re not bartering off our best chance to defend ourselves against alien invaders, have I made myself clear? That’s an order."

Rogers scoffs at the screen and damn it, Tony’s determined not to like the guy but the way he just smirks humorlessly as he stares Fury down, all aww shucks did you want the pretty, glowy thing too and well too damn bad for you makes it hard. Especially when Rogers goes that little extra mile and asks with a plain as day air of who fucking cares: "Whatever gave you the impression that this is a negotiation, Director Fury?"

It’s just too great a line to resist and Tony is only human. He makes a sharp gesture with his hand and JARVIS disconnects the call before they witness Fury pop a blood vessel. Let that be Agent’s problem for the time being.

"So," Tony states after a moment. "Besides all but declaring war on SHIELD, the organization two people in this room are officially employed by, for the record, and dealing with Reindeer Games over there, what’s the plan?"

Nervous shuffling. Awkward grins. Badly-hidden glances going back and forth. 

Perhaps most notably, nobody protests the declaring-war-on-SHIELD part. Tony would ask but frankly he’s still on his first glass of scotch — meaning way too fucking sober for whatever madness the answer to that question will undoubtedly raise. It’s a sad, sad day in the history of mankind when Tony is the voice of reason in a room filled with one-person-armies.

"What about Shawarma?" Rogers, apparently the most uncomfortable with the pressing silence, blurts out.

Tony gives that pitiful attempt to change the subject the nice try, have to admit I didn’t see that coming but you’re gonna have to give me more than that look it deserves. As it turns out though, he may have been overestimating his present company’s average ability to read a room.

"I could go for a bite," Barton pipes up, earning himself a soul-shriveling, dead-eyed, where the fuck did I go wrong with you and how have I not killed you yet stare, courtesy of Romanoff that he brushes off with admirable ease. Still not moving an inch away from her either and if Tony’s noticed the way her hand’s been edging ever closer to the knife strapped to her calf, there’s no way Barton hasn’t.

"Sounds good," Banner chimes in with a twisted amusement that makes Tony want to scratch his eyes out. "I know just to the place."

*

They do eat Shawarma together. [All of them, even Loki, because Thor insists his brother is far too thin. Considering Barton doesn’t protest and the only person Loki tries to stab with his salad fork is Thor himself, nobody comments on it.]

As if to add insult to a very long list of injuries that Tony is dying to poke and prod at, the food tastes delicious.

*

Okay so the whole antagonizing SHIELD thing wasn’t planned, but I figured in this AU there was no drawn out battle and no bomb and so there was no ‘thank fuck we’re even alive right now’ relief to take the edge of. Instead everyone is pissed off and frustrated (if for very different reasons) and not outright attacking the helicarrier right now is about all the diplomacy Steve has the patience for at this point.

[votederpycausemufins]

Guys, idk how to tell you this, but we’re nearing the end. I mean, i’m gonna write more smaller pieces and maybe another long one in the future, but this one specifically is ending soon

@petrichormeraki

Mumbo walked down a hallway behind Drista. It looked like something Scar would have made as it looked more like a decorated underground tunnel than anything else. Stones of different types lined the walls and some vines and grass were present here and there. He kept trying to ask questions to pass the time, but Drista always shushed him. 

Since he couldn’t really have a discussion with her, he just looked at the walls around then that looked worn by time. Some ores were present in the walls, though they weren’t any Mumbo recognized. When he looked away from them, the redstoner could see what looked like the tunnel widening up ahead, likely to a room or sorts, though based on their surroundings, it could be more along the lines of a cavern.

He was right as when they stepped out of the tunnel, the ceiling was still made of rocks, but the room itself was filled with life. Trees of varieties he had never seen before littered the area. Leaves of blue purple and gold were scattered around and hanging on the trees. Flowers of every color. A small pond to the side, small lily pads covering a good portion of the surface. It was beautiful.

“Alright, a couple of the fam are headed over here to talk with you. Don’t go wandering around because this place is like a labyrinth and you don’t have the ability to get out yet.”

“You sound like you’re going to leave me here.”

“Cuz I am.” And with that Drista ran off down another tunnel that connected into the room. With nothing to do but wait, Mumbo wandered around the cavern, trying to not stray too far from where they had entered. He really decided to stay close when he saw what he thought was an armor stand wearing armor, slumped against a wall. When he got closer and noticed the skeleton within that was obviously not a reanimated monster, he made sure to run back and stay in place.

After he started to become a bit restless again, Mumbo was slightly glad to see people approaching him. All of them wore some sort of mask, which unsettled the redstoner a little bit, but he remembered how Drista and Dream had worn some of their own, so it must have been a Vault God thing. Come to think of it, Grian also showed off a Watcher mask once. Did these higher beings just wear masks?

“We do indeed. It hides the self and keeps us separated from those we… work with.” A chill went up Mumbo as he realized that they had just read his mind. “Yes, another reason for the mask, though that enchantment could be placed on anything.”

“Should I just ask questions in my mind then?” Mumbo asked, now trying to keep his mind empty.

“Nah, just Song being cryptic and stuff.” A new voice spoke from the Vault Gods and one wearing a mask that resembled a turtle slapped the back on the head of one wearing a mask decorated in music notes. “We can control it easy enough, some people just get used to various powers and tend to overuse them.”

Mumbo sighed in relief at the casual tone from turtle mask. He had no clue what to expect from whoever he would meet and assumed they would be very strict and cold people. “I see. Well, speaking of powers…” He trailed off, not sure how exactly to ask.

“Drista’s kept me updated.” Another new voice spoke. They gave a small wave when Mumbo tried to figure out who was speaking. He had to shift a little to see them properly, but taking a step to the side, the redstoner would see their mask which seemed to be a generic green alien. “You don’t want to be a Vault God, but you used your powers out of necessity.”

“I shouldn’t have any to begin with!” Mumbo argued. “I said no the last time Drista showed up and they went away. It wasn’t until I found Dream that anything happened again.”

It was quiet after he shouted, long enough that Mumbo was beginning to worry he shouldn’t have said anything.

“That does change things.” Someone in an earth mask stepped forward. “Due to Dreamon’s work with the abandoned Watcher he obtained.”

“His name is Grian.”

“Yes, that one. He was able to shield his world from the sight and hearing of both us and the Watchers. His abundance of power is likely what pulled yours out again, not true willingness.”

“Are you saying you can do something about it? I don’t want to be one of you. Grian’s a Watcher and he’s told me many times that your magics don’t mix. I lo- We’re… really close to each other. I don’t know what I would do if us being around each other caused problems.”

Again, there was silence from the Vault Gods. This time Mumbo wondered if, being able to read minds, they were communicating telepathically. “I suppose there is something that could be done.” One of them finally spoke up and Mumbo sighed in relief. “Masks are usually used as a limiter, that is due to enchantments, but others could be placed on it so it has the opposite effect.”

“That being?” Mumbo asked.

“It can be so that only when used will you be able to access your self as a Vault God. That being said, to do that, more than just powers would need to be sealed within the mask.”

“I would be able to stay around Grian though?” Mumbo asked, not caring about any side effects if it would get him what he was after.

One in a mask that seemed to house an entire galaxy spoke up next. “Yep, pretty much any Watcher if you really wanted to. I mean, doubt you’ll be around many, but hey, if you help out when we have to deal with… or I guess work with other Watchers, it would help.”

“Then I’ll do it.”

“Ey Big Geeeeee!” Tommy burst into the room, followed by Grumbot who had led him there. “Tubbo went with Sparklez to go see some of his family. Meaning time for you and I to get back into things. What are you thinking? New normal war to teach people things? Invitations to the upside down? Take people on base tours and blow their minds? Or maybe we go with the tried and true chicken bombings?”

Grian just rolled over in bed. “Noooo. I wanna go but everything’s catching up to meeee. I’m a messssss.”

“Dad is feeling sick from bad magic that was left over in your world.”

Tommy sat down and slumped. “Great, another thing Dream messed up. Can’t you just do some shit to get rid of it and be better already? The longer we wait, the less fun it might be.”

Grian gave a small hum as a signal that he heard Tommy. “Yeah. Left it on a table. Mask I was wearing when you stabbed me.” He pointed in a general direction and Tommy left to grab it. While he waited, Grian curled up more, wrapping his wings around himself. He was glad that the feathers helped muffle the sound around him which was starting to give him a headache. Stupid living base that you could hear everywhere.

When Tommy returned, he tugged gently on one of Grian’s wings. Because of the avian’s current state, he panicked and hit Tommy away with the wing. The blond was pushed back, glad his armor negated whatever damage that would have caused. “Sorry for startling you. I found it.”

Grian took the white mask from Tommy and put it on, glad that it started to block out whatever was making him feel sick. “Oh, that’s much better. So, what were your ideas again?”

Grian, Tommy and the bots were enjoying themselves as they returned to Mumbo’s base. Jrumbot was admiring the diamonds he had scammed someone out of while Grumbot put away the last of the discs he had been playing around, making sure he couldn’t be seen while they played, confusing whoever heard them. Tommy had emptied a shulker box of eggs onto the smp island and Grian had placed signs all over the place with cryptic messages.

“Oh man. We need to get Mumbo and get him to drag some people into Hermit Challenges.” Grian said through his laughter.

“I dunno. Me and him aren’t really on the best terms right now.”

“I know, but that’s exactly why you should do it. It’ll give you the chance to clear the air and ask why he was so upset.”

“Daddy yelled at us too.” Jrumbot looked up briefly from his diamonds. “Auntie Stress took us to see him but he got upset and wanted us to leave.”

“I wasn’t able to get a good look, but he had seemed scared. People tend to have different reactions when they are scared. Some get angry, others panic, even more just hide it.”

Grian picked Grumbot up in one arm and nuzzled him. “And we’ve all been through a lot so we know that. Mumbo hasn’t been through nearly as much. It would be better if it never happened, but the fact that it took so long is a good sign.”

“I guess.” Tommy responded, but he still seemed upset.

Just before they reached Mumbo’s base again, there was a burst of energy that came from it and Grian narrowed his eyes behind his mask. “They were told to stay in your world.” Then before Tommy could ask what Grian meant, the Watcher set the bots down and shot up into the sky so fast he left some feathers behind.

He scanned the base until he spotted a figure and dove towards it, landing nearby. “You shouldn’t be here. This is Watcher claimed. Get out before I make you!” He almost growled at them. He was prepared to shove them through a rift to send them to smp island and then throw them through the portal when the figure turned.

They wore a familiar suit, except for the fact that it was stained a bright red color. They wore a metal mask with piercing red eyes, and most importantly, a mustache. “Grian.”

Grian’s eyes widened. “M-Mumbo…” The Watcher felt himself start to cry. This couldn’t be happening. Mumbo had said no. Why would he change his mind? And he had protected Mumbo so this could never happen? So why had it? “Mumbo… please… why? Why would you-”

He didn’t get to continue as Mumbo pulled the mask off his face and discarded it by letting it drop to the ground. He followed it, collapsing to the floor and Grian rushed to him. Before he could do anything though, he noticed the lack of any foreign energy in the air. “Oh Mumbo… I’m sorry I thought you said yes.”

[funkymbtifiction]

Thanks a lot for answering! I wonder could you please give examples of everyday deeds/types of behavior of different primaries and secondaries? Like what are they like when there's a school test or when they need to visit a doctor? The more the better. Something more down-to-earth than the situations from the fantasy movies listed on the website that may never take place in the real world, something found in everyday life that will help someone identify themselves and mb others around them

I’m not sure I can do that, because frankly, your Primary House is a state of mind. It’s what you want and how you feel about things (or do not feel, in the case of Ravenclaws, ahem). But I can talk about a few things, particularly in response to Harry Potter, that can shed light on the state of mind of the Primary.

What I have most noticed about people in general is that we all have a built-in bias, and in order to find our true type—whether that is our MBTI type, our Enneagram core and tritype, or our Hogwarts House combination—we must abandon our ego defenses. What does that mean? We have to overcome our biases and want to know our true self, and own it, more than we want to fight against an answer that might not please us. In the Enneagram, I’ve noticed particular biases against being a 2 or a 6. Everyone wants to be the more “glamorous” 4 or the elusive, bookworm 5.

Harry Potter, for better or worse, introduced us to the concept of Hogwarts Houses, but also introduced us to a bias, because it made Gryffindor the most glamorous House, due to all the main characters (however unrealistically) hailing from that House. Or, at least, all the main characters we like. Ravenclaw is full of wise weirdos like Luna Lovegood, who irrationally believes in things no one can prove. Slytherin is host to mostly back-stabbing, snobbish cheaters. And Hufflepuff is an “afterthought” where all “the boring, nice people are.”

What I like about Sorting Hat Chats is… they made the entire system more interesting and a lot fairer. Now, Slytherin isn’t the only House with villains automatically placed in it: their villains have to be specific in their love (and not betray their family, because it is the house of My Family is My Life). This also means people, fictional or real, who prioritize their loved ones, are Slytherins. Such as Mr. Darcy, or Katniss Everdeen. Suddenly, being a Slytherin doesn’t seem so bad, right? Not if you are loyal to the ones you love! That alone will appeal to the mindset of a Slytherin, because they will think, “Of COURSE I am. Of COURSE my loved ones come first! They SHOULD!”

I have friends in all four Primary Houses, but I will use myself as an example of the Ravenclaw. When I was reading the books, having all the main characters in Gryffindor bothered me, because not only did it show a bias, but I felt some of the main characters ‘belonged’ in other Houses—such as Remus Lupin being a Hufflepuff rather than a Gryffindor. I also felt like Hermione belonged in Ravenclaw. But that is neither here nor there… my objections to the system came from the logical flaws in how she arranged it. It wasn’t realistic to have everyone ‘important’ or ‘admirable’ within the story come from Gryffindor. It was easier to have them share Common Rooms, but people don’t isolate like that and only befriend someone from their House. They look for like-minded friends who share interests, and would make them all over the place. It was my little Ravenclaw brain, pulling away at her system and finding flaws in its logic, but reacting from a place of logical reasoning rather than moral indignation.

When I took the SHC test, it placed me in Slytherin. And I was not opposed to that. In fact, I explored it for a long time, as I thought about how I respond in various situations. Slytherin appealed to me, because… I wish I could stand up for my family automatically. I wish I could prioritize my loved ones all the time. But I kept hitting upon the fact that – I like to think about things in a detached manner, and come to what I feel is a rational consensus. It’s more clinical and less emotional than Slytherins are—and it helped at the time that I knew a Slytherin, and could easily see both how possessive she was of people (they are “mine to protect” – she always reminded me of Slytherin Sam Gamgee in The Lord of the Rings, with his “MY MR. FRODO”) and how, without fail, her sister came before even me, her best friend. Through comparison, I knew I had to be something else. So in typical Ravenclaw fashion, I went through and considered them all. Because, as a Ravenclaw, I want to be RIGHT more than protect my ego. I am always looking for the truth, even when it hurts. And I am always measuring the world against an ideal in my head, built up of my belief system. I do not go against my beliefs; I mold myself to them. And it shocks me to find others who do not, but who claim to be the same as I am. I take, for example, my Christian faith seriously—so what do you mean you are ignoring what your faith says, and doing whatever you want??? YOU MOLD TO YOUR BELIEFS, DON’T YOU? Well, yes, if you are a Ravenclaw, you do. If you are any other House, you do not.

The Hufflepuff Primary I know has a far more ‘felt’ opinion of the books and their sorting system. She got livid reading them, and thinking about how constantly unfair it all was, how biased Rowling was, and how Dumbledore was clearly playing favorites constantly with Gryffindor House. She developed a bad attitude about him as a result… which, of course, is coming from her being a Hufflepuff. To a Hufflepuff, people come first. They are all treated fairly and seen as equals. You do not discriminate, you do not alienate, you do not give unfair favors to Harry and his friends, just so Gryffindor can win the House Cup over and over again. She was actually so angry about this, from a Hufflepuff perspective, that she was willing to be a Slytherin in defiance of ‘The System’ until she realized that kind of mindset is… pure Hufflepuff. “You are not being fair about this, I will oppose you.” It’s all instinctual, it’s all emotional, and it’s all loyalty to the human race, which includes Slytherins. (This caused us some friction for awhile, until I realized it was “just a Hufflepuff” objection, because... how can you be mad at Dumbledore for that? It’s just a convenient plot device in the book! ... says the Ravenclaw who isn’t getting too emotionally involved. ;)

The Slytherin I know, by the way, denied being a Slytherin at first, because she felt ashamed of it. She has been taught to act like a Hufflepuff, that she SHOULD care about everyone all the time, but… she does not. She cares about her loved ones the most, and she would protect them above other people, every time. I pointed out to her that Hufflepuff fits her less than Slytherin, because “You ARE Katniss. You told me that once. That you identified so heavily with her, because you would go into the arena for your Prim.” And then she admitted it, and saw the gloriousness that is being a loyal Slytherin.

The Gryffindor I know is always looking for a Cause, and… as a Ravenclaw, I find that exhausting. She wants to be mad about things, because that anger gives her the fire she needs to do something about it. She has taken on big Causes by financially supporting the Causes she cares about, and done physical things about smaller Causes. For example, as a teenager, she came upon three guys tormenting a dog. It made her so livid, she charged straight at them, swearing and screaming at them to leave the animal alone, and it scared them all so much, they turned tail and ran. She just knew it was the right thing to do, and she and I often butt heads a lot, because she expects everyone else (meaning me) to be as passionate as she is about doing the ‘right thing.’ My more detached “well, let’s look at both sides of this issue” has no place in her black and white Gryffindor mind (no, that is WRONG).

Secondary Houses are… something that may take a little more time to figure out, as you think about how you handle the ‘unexpected.’

Gryffindors… have to speak up if they see an injustice, or hear something they disagree with. They are they person who cannot keep their mouth shut, they need to voice their opinion. They don’t care if you don’t like it or don’t agree, to not state their views would be antagonistic to their central self. My Hufflepuff friend is a Gryffindor Secondary. Not only did she get mad about the biases in Harry Potter, she complained loudly about it, to me, and to other people, and even in a blog post, because the injustice of it needed drawn-attention to, and dealt with, and she doesn’t really care if you disagree. That’s just how she rolls, about EVERYTHING. Because Gryffindor Secondaries state their views. They see an injustice, and they rush toward it. (My Gryffindor friend is also a Gryffindor Secondary: see dog being abused, rush in to do something about it!)

Ravenclaws… want to prepare for everything, and then rely on their own skill set to handle problems as they arise. They are the person who, when their bike breaks down halfway home, consider what they know about bikes (can they fix this easily?), and what they know about public transportation (am I going to be able to catch a bus home?), and make decisions from there. Or who study for a test in advance and show up, only to panic because they found out they read the wrong chapter in the book and know nothing about it. My father is a Gryffindor with a Ravenclaw Secondary, and he over-prepares himself with any useful knowledge he thinks he might need to combat a wide variety of situations—and then is stumped if confronted by something he did not prepare for, and knows nothing about. He is always trying to think ahead and prepare so that he doesn’t have to improvise anything at the last second—because he sucks at it.

It was a comparison with him that actually shifted me away from assuming I had a Ravenclaw Secondary, because… I don’t suck at improvising. I’m actually quite good at it. And I don’t over-prepare, because in true Hufflepuff Secondary position, I figure I can ask someone for help. And they always give it to me. But what really cemented the deal for me, in terms of recognizing my Puff Secondary House, were two—no, make that three, truths from my life. 1) Ravenpuffs distill complex information and put it back out into the world for others to enjoy (hello, Funky!). 2) Puff Secondaries show up and do the tireless work, clock the hours, and are highly reliable, which is… me. I have run this site day in and day out for years. I am punctual, fastidious, I put my responsibilities ahead of all else (even turning down fun occasions because I need to work), and I will painstakingly work on perfecting something, finishing something, improving something, or polishing something (even when I’m bored). In short, I show up and do the work. And 3) the truth that Puff Secondaries have friends to stand up for them, because they have proven themselves reliable and trustworthy, is no joke. A few years ago, I had trouble with someone online and, without being asked, three of our mutual friends came to my defense. Proof of the Puff.

Lastly, Slytherin Secondaries are highly adaptable. It’s no problem for them to shift their approach given the needs of the situation. It’s the equivalent of a friend you admire, but who puzzles you (if you don’t share their Slytherin Secondary trait) because… it seems like they are a different person everywhere you go, because whatever is needed, they can become it. They are the person who has no trouble with change and no need to plan, because they just trust that it’s all going to work out fine, based on their ability to adapt. It’s the person who shows up at a friend’s birthday party expecting it to be formal, finds out it’s casual, sneaks into the bathroom to rearrange their attire, and emerges ready to play Twister. Or who will be serious with you, joke constantly with your brother, and behave like a saint around your mom, according to whatever works and appeals to you the best.

Hope some of that helps, though it wasn’t explicitly what you asked for. Best this ENFP can do, since in-depth sensory specific examples require a heck of a lot more Si than I’ve got. :P

[interestsofabookwormbitch]

Season 1 Episode 13

Ok, just over 3 hours for the last episode of the season. I'm good with that time. Not so good with where we left off though.

I was so excited to start the next episode I forgot to click it....😑

Yo, I like the intro again. Idk, the opening monologues are usually really good at catching my attention. Even when it's already enthralled.

Look, I 100% get where Michael's coming from, and I get what he wants, but I am way too worried about what Noah could do. I'd also much rather Max put his gun down, cause that's just not it. Hmm if only Noah would die while right now

Michael! Baby! Please. And torture is just worse then dying.

Pfff. I didn't think I'd laugh, but Max just shooting the antidote made me fucking snort. It shouldn't have, but it did.

Also, sidenote... how are they gonna explain Noah's disappearance? Like idk, that's gonna look sketchy.

Michael and Max are on such different sides on how they feel about things, and it's why they keep getting into conflicts. Like I've talked on the whole family and belonging thing before I believe. Michael feels he'll belong amongst aliens, Max feels what they've got is all they need, yada yada. It's still upsetting to see.

Ah shit. Michael please don't. We can't have Noah running around. Because see now that we might get that, I know 100% that it's a bad thing.

Aydgsjzyzyhhzgzydy! See BAD FUCKING IDEA! Shit! Fuck!! Ok, Michael will be ok, but this is most certainly a bad thing.

And now Noah's gonna be healed without anyone watching, he's gonna be running around again. This is not good.

Hey Maria. They didn't tell her anything. Ngl, I kinda thought they would

Wait wait wait wait! That necklace! The flower! Powder! Oh shit, that's supposed connect her family to aliens back in time. Yo that's cool!

I was wondering if it's supposed to protect her from them, and my first thought was how I don't think she was wearing it when Noah jumped in her body, then I realized she was when Isobel influenced her, so I thought it didn't work, then I remembered Isobel got sick from that! It does work!

Liz just went through a lot there lmao. She was about ready to jump on Maria/Michael, then learning about Alex and Michael, and now she's here. Both her friends have something with Michael. Lmao

"If we could choose we wouldn't fall at all," um excuse you, I would most certainly choose to fall in love. So sshh. Lol

Of fucking course it was Manes! Does this man do anything that isn't fucking sick and twisted?

Can we go back to Michael though? He's kinda bleeding out right now.

No? Ok, instead we go to this asshole. Great. Dude, they're planning murder right now, aren't they?

Oh shit, I am very uncomfortable with Liz in here alone.

Ah shit. He's here. Ok, well this isn't good

Oh, she has that dust! Theres gonna be more that'll happen, but at least there's this.

Ok, we're back to the house. I'm a little concerned about getting to Michael, but you know what, once Max sees he will be too, so I should just let it play.

Did it work? I mean, duh it has to, I know he's alive and well later on, but I still get worried.

Ok, but why does Noah have like all their powers? I just realized I never asked that. What's special about him.

Ha "I thought you were the smart sister" he says as he gets outsmarted.

Yeah, Michael may not be the best person to have around right now. I love him, but he's not in a good place right now.

Tell her something she doesn't know.

What is she thinking?

Pffff.....

Oh wait. Liz doesn't know this. Kyle! Why didn't you tell her!?

I am not convinced she's fine. I'm fairly sure she got stabbed, and the more she says she's ok, the more sure I am.

Girl! Go to the fucking hospital! You're human, you can go. There'll be questions, but that's not all that important right now.

Ok, while I don't hate that guy dying, Noah gaining strength is something I do hate.

Ok, she called Kyle. That'll work as well.

Fuck off. I knew she wouldn't be good too. It sucks how she can be controlled. I can't wait til we're completely done with Noah for good.

Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck. I don't like what is happening. Nope not one bit! I keep remembering the picture! Why is Max see through? I don't like this. I am not okay. I know in my heart if he dies he's coming back (hence, see through. He'll still be around to some capacity) but I cannot deal with it if he dies I cannot I cannot I cannot. Nope nope nope.

Yeah, ok, Kyle's right, Liz should be in the hospital, but I also get her reasoning too. At least she has a doctor though.

He knew. Sorry Liz. Oh, she's just understanding about that. Wow ok. I expected her to be mad he didn't tell her. But I guess I should know better.

Hey Michael's up! Hey buddy, look I love you and Alex, and I love that Alex is here, but imma need you to head out and find Max, because he's not doing so hot rn. Also that is your blood actually.

Alex, any of other fucking time I would love this, but right now, I need you to stop. I am sorry, now is really not the fucking time Max is about to fucking die, and I can't say I'm gonna be okay either.

Look, I'm sympathizing with Alex, I feel bad for him, I'm happy he's talking, but I just... not right now. The timing is horrible. I don't even know if Michael could find the other two, so it's not a great situation we're in, but he's the best chance we've got right now of somehow helping, because Max is currently getting the his insides torn up, Isobel is out of commission. I just need some reassurance. Maybe even, idk, going back there in the show?

Bitch if this keeps up this is gonna be the episode I spoil myself for everything in. It is so tempting. Literally the only reason I have not read wiki is because I'm liveblogging. It is killing me. I am actually dying. Most shows I end Googling everything about after 3 episodes. I never wait and anticipate. Even when I watched the Walking Dead, if we weren't on time with the weeks episode, I'd read the episode description before watching.

Ok back to the show.... I don't want to keep watching. Lmao.

Shit! Ok, so, hey, he knows where to go now! And yeah, tomorrow's a great time Alex. Would have been better, but you know.

Oh, he didn't kill them. Well I mean duh. But why?

Who? The aliens are coming back? Oh shit. Ok, who are our aliens? Why wouldn't they be left here?

Saviour? What is all of that. Yo! They have more powers. Yeah, ok, see I don't mind the idea that aliens were the gods. It's fun to think about.

Yes! Ok, Michael's here! But now, um, well, how do we deal with Noah? Cause he's still powerful.

Where's he going? What are you doing Max? Also, I don't like leaving Michael in there alone either. Um, yeah no. Not a good idea.

Ok, I see what you're doing. He's gonna pull a Pikachu. That makes me nervous. But I mean so does anything. The image cover really just puts me on the edge of my seat. Watch it all be some stupid thing that means nothing and I've been freaking out half the season for nothing.

Um, what happened to Michael. You know, Noah coming out of the cave doesn't make me feel good.

Ophiuchus always annoyed me tbh. It throws off all the zodiac. Throws off the patterns, the even levels of everything. Does it even have masculine or feminine aspects? How about fixed, mutable, or cardinal? Whats it's element; fire, water, air, or earth? It doesn't make sense. And if you give it one of any of these the numbers are thrown off. Ophiuchus sucks. Am I trying to distract myself from my worries? Why yes, yes I am.

Ok, Michael's out, which, we knew, but Isobel is now up! So that could be good.

That's a lot of electricity. Yeah, Max is gonna kill him

Isobel? What are you doing? Oh. She did that to break up with him. Ok, fair I guess. It's her life

Take care of who? The only person I can think of is Rosa, but she's dead, so it can't be her.

Oh Michael's up too, and Noah is dead now. Deserves it. We still have half an episode though... hmm. Setting up for next season?

Yes, 'Murica and it's guns.

Kyle is going a little loopy. He should talk to someone.

'Murica! You think someone's going crazy, and instead of not selling him the gun, you sell it cheaper.

Ok, fall out with Noah now.

Isobel☹

Look, I tend to agree that you focus on what you have and try and make the most of it. And I don't think they should be obsessed with their pasts, but I do think they shouldn't ignore them either. There's stuff to learn, and knowing things about who they are would definitely come in handy.

Also, Max definitely feels off. He's overly celebratory me thinks. I worry what this'll entail.

Ok, hmm, this is unsettling. Also definitely got that power boost from killing... I really hope hat nothing bad comes from it.

Don't worry Liz, that's from way before.

They ate still so cute together though. Like ngl.

Lmao, thirsty girl. Oh, first time sleeping together in the season finale.

Yep, says nothing about you Isobel.

Lmao, I mean fair enough. Yeah, her relationship problems definitely took first place in shitty relationships

Michael..... It's not Alex's fault, but like, yeah, his family history would definitely factor in a lot. Most of the trauma the Michael has suffered is at least in part due to the Manes family. That's a really shitty situation to be in.

Oh, is this Noah's cave?

IT'S FUCKING ROSA!? Well ok, I guess it was Rosa he meant afterall. Fuck me.

Wait, how is she even in there? She's human. Can humans be in there? Apparently. It works on everything. Does this mean she's aware of her surroundings though? You know, since his is a defective pod? Or I guess not since she's dead. So she's gonna come back then right? Like they're not gonna have her body there to leave it at that.

Yeah, um, no, you're not gonna see yours. He is though. Yeah.

It's because the mystery was something that was essentially keeping her alive. It was more you could learn about her, and uncover and all that. It was a new side of her you didn't know, something you usually find only while alive

DID HE JUST FUCKING KILL KYLE!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? WHAT THE FUCK DUDE? I was not predicting that at all. The fucking image made me focus on Max (which by the way seems to be a fakeout. Unless something happens next season. I can't really see him dying now. Though tbf, Kyle getting shot came out of left field too, so...)

Oh he's not dead. Well that reaction was for nothing then. Damn. Bulletproof vest I'm assuming. Nice idea.

Ok, went for a vest instead of a gun. I actually like that. Though, Kyle, you may want some kind of back up. Hmm, I mean that works too. I am worried though for Kyle's sanity. He's been through it the last couple days.

Yeah, they definitely have to tell Liz. Idc what they think it'll do to her, but she would want to know.

Max, that's not a good idea. And Noah was stronger because he killed. This is not something you can do.

Michael is 100% right right now. Yes, the best situation would be to take some time, bury her, though also tell Liz. We are not gonna try and bring back the dead. Bad Idea.

Max I don't like that look.

And Michael is visiting Maria right now. Dude, why did they have to have Alex talk to Michael like just the day before. If they didn't I wouldn't be feeling conflicted right now. I'd just say let him be. And then what he said to Isobel. Ugh! I think I'm gonna do a wrap up post about the season later.

I hate love triangles, someone always gets hurt. Usually me.

Ok ok ok. I mean its cute.

Oh, he can play again! I wonder how good that feels!

😬 she's not there Liz.

Max! No! I am scared! This could go so so wrong! Ah shit! Max! Consult people!

This with Liz's speech is giving me mood whiplash.

Isobel is practicing other powers. It's working! Yo that'll be so cool!

Ah shit. And this is what I mean about things hurting. Alex just sitting there waiting. See like I said, if this wasn't an issue, I wouldn't be upset. And same would've went the other way too. Idk, waiting is the worst. Like no matter how I feel about a ship, unless the person is an asshole, watching someone just sit and wait makes me hurt. I know I've never actually experienced that, but like, it's the one thing about relationships and relationship woes that I feel intimately familiar with, despite not dating. Maybe it's a past life thing, left a scar on my soul.

Yeah, um Maria's noticed noticed hand. See, this wouldn't be an issue if people let her in on the secret! Like dude, she's the ONLY one who doesn't know.

Isobel! She did it! Nice! Good for her good for her.

Ok, back to Max, this will not end well. Like either somethings gonna be wrong with Rosa when she comes back, or he's gonna be sick/hurt.

Rosa's back! But, and I'm sorry to brush you off girl, Where's MAX!?

Wait is this gonna be why he's see through!? He's not gonna fucking die in like the last minute of the season right? Like that's not gonna happen. They wouldn't do that. I'm right. Right? Nah. He'll be fine, like that be the worst cliffhanger to leave off on for people who first watched this.

Imagine though, seeing your sister after that. How would that feel. How could you feel?

Ah shit! Nononnonononobobinonkifuzgsgsygzgd they didn't nopenopenopenopenopenoepnoepenodp I refuse I do not accept I do not see he is not dead, episode ended earlier. I do not care. Nothing happened Max is fine. He's ok, he's not dead. Nope nope nope nope.

Well shit guys, kinda weird how that episode was just like a minute of nothing at the end, huh? No but seriously he's not gonna stay dead. There's no fucking way. Impossible. If Rosa came back, Max is gonna come back, so you know what, I'm not even that bothered (you know denial is fun. Even so, I doubt Max could stay dead. He's too important to the plot).

Ok, well I finished season 1. This episode took me so long to watch. I kept pausing way too much, but I'm done now, and probably should head off to get ready for my lift today. Expect a post summing up my thought on the season tonight. Maybe the first episode of season 2 also.

[crowmero]

MCL UL final review

2020 was the year I took the resolution to make peace with MCL and the last thing I wanted to do before taking a break from the game was finishing UL season. I also wanted to follow tetrakys example just to make it more meaningful for me.

For starters I want to thank my boyfriend because he just got super interested to know more about all the games I enjoy or used to and just encouragement to keep playing if I feel like having a hour for myself to enjoy something because he knew how I was super busy and worn out with work at the time. I think he deserves credit on this because he was there supporting me in all this process and was the truly person who would hear me talk and rant about the game and hype with me at a time I didn’t have anyone to hear me because everything was complicated and some of my friends who played the game were also trying to come to terms in their own private way. It was wonderful to have someone cheering me in a positive way, to enjoy the things I wanted to have fun with without regrets. Thank you my dear!.

I feel like 2020 and 2021 have a impact in my general relationship with otome games, between some of my favorites games ending and me slowly drifting away from them. I feel like I’m not the same person that I used to be and that things have changed too, but I don’t feel bad about it. I wish eventually I could go back to many of the games that I used to enjoy but I wonder if in the future there would be another game that would make me hype so much and I that I would devote and dedicate as much of myself as I used to.

Also a lot happened since 2018 and how much hurted for all what happened with MCL. I was tired of feeling bad about it so I felt like I have to come to terms with it. I have carried a lot of weight for other things in my life but never for a game. Is the first time that something like this didn’t worked as a way to cope but more as a way to hurt us. I do wonder a lot of things but are things that probably will never know. The only thing that could have made perfect my way out from the game if that we weren't in the middle of covid and trapped at home.

All that said, let's start talking about every topic on the list below:

LIs and routes

Non-LI characters

Favourite episode

Favourite scene

Favorite Outfit and/or Favourite illustration

Conclusions

LIs and routes

Priya

Priya was my main LI and the one I was more excited about when UL launched before knowing the true about who she was replacing. I’ve get to date her and fulfilled that fantasy. This was the season were we got to know her better, apart from knowing that she was not that good with art (and working on it) and that she loved to write fiction in her free time. I loved that she got more context to her motivations on becoming a lawyer and her family past life on india. 

I think for me, the flirting was subtle but it was enough to understand, or maybe was because I was into her since many others just viewed her as a good friend. But that was also actually cool for me, it was cool to have at ally, specially with the assault situation at the start of the game. She was fierce and protective and smart and caring. 

But also I felt like the game keep pushing her aside or putting her in the back burner. Several times I was quite annoyed for the little time we get to spend with her (I mean, yes this was a general issue with all the LI’s since all five have to make an appearance in the short span of the episode) and the game will cheat on me when we have a good moment at her side making her run away because he needs to do/to be somewhere else. 

I think since the season focused too much on Nath, Priya was one of the characters that got neglected and the sad part is that we actually had time in the last episodes that could had be filled with more trivia, more learning about her. We also didn’t get to meet her parents or family and get to know more about her past than what was said.

Hyun

Hyun is a character I didn’t expect to like on the long run but ended appreciating a lot. He become my second favorite after Priya. I think was the character that got me more confort looking at his illustrations. I wish I knew him better and I think he deserved more, it makes me feel bad that people look down on him as a character. 

He is really nice! I really have a change of heart with him. I get that the game will push him onto us, but he is not bad at all. He is really thoughtful and worries about Candy and has cute details with her. Also my boyfriend is like him *shot*. I don't really get the hate on him, I think is just because he is the most normal of the love interest, thus why people find him boring or plain (because he is not a rockstar, not a bad guy, not our teacher). 

So he is like "the safe guy" you choice in real life because he is not full of BS and drama, he is just normal and tame, and some people just want that, but I get that doesn't work as a fantasy for some people. He is the guy who is prepared for everything and is there for you if you need him. Still impressed to where Hyun finds the strength to organize a party after all the stress with the thesis and cook for a whole army.

Castiel

I have really few thoughts for Castiel since my Candy and him don’t liked each other much in high school and the few moments I came to feel ok with him was because he was Lysandre’s best friend (My Candy’s LI). He  really changed, he become more calm and collected and overall mature while he softened his original nature. It was a surprise he was not the first to start a fight but Nathaniel. I think I was lucky to spend time with him since he was more busy with his own life and personal business.

There were really sweet moments from him like when he give us his old MP3  while we are in the infirmary, and some more chill like when we are waiting for the oral presentation at the end of the season and we share some company. We also find that he tries something with Candy if we’re not dating him, so that was unexpected and thrilling, it was a surprise he have this feelings for Candy or he wondered for her all this time. On the bad side, he tried to patronize Candy sometimes or just butt in Candy’s business with unrequested help and I’m glad Candy called him out on that.

Rayan

I don't find him creepy, I was actually interested in him because I'm almost his age and I find also interest in more older characters like him. Also I reflected that I can relate to him in some personal stuff (My thing wasn't as tragic, but I can understand him). Sadly I think his personality type is not for me and that's why I was kinda disappointed. What I was thinking that could have worked better with him is that instead of making him feel interest for our character since the start, for me would be more natural that our character makes the first move instead. So in that way, people who wanted to go for him from the start could unlock this path and players who don't want that, just carry on without worrying about him. I understand that people could change his mind over the course of the game and choosing his path from the start could be extreme, but also the option in episode 8 was not better. I don't think that an option like the one I suggest is that crazy. Overall, I don't think he was creepy, he just feel odd for me, and everything happening with him in a romantic way just didn't make sense if you're not into him, even the drama is pointless. Also It's weird because I don't feel he is the creepy type at all, he was just victim of the writers who forced everyones to be in love with Candy from the start instead of just building a relationship more naturally. But yeah, they needed to move the story quickly, no time to bother that much.

Nathaniel

While revisiting my past notes about him, I more come to the conclusion that I really hated him and his guts in this season. It was worse because this whole season focus on him and how much he changed as a person. I was forced to deal with him and... I saw that as a waste of my time and AP.

I think Candy was really reasonable with him (I clearly remember how Candy would confront him and he just will go on circles and nonsense to try to avoid giving answers while acting like a poor lost soul). I also had to put with his nasty behavior and babysitting him when things got worse like when he was stabbed. Like at some point I couldn’t care less but the game would keep shoving him on my face.

I’m surprised myself of having a heavy negative opinion about him. The sad thing is that despite my Candy being dragged in his whereabouts, being dragged for other characters like Amber (because Candy is the salt of the earth) to look for him and all the things, at the end Nath manages to disentangle himself all alone without our help or presence needed, and I understand how disappointing that was.

Like I feel sorry for the poor souls who loved Nathaniel in HS just to have a alien put on his skin and be someone completely different. I know this change also helped to bring attention to new players who love this kind of characters or he acted as a replacement for the old players in the crowd who needed to fill the gap that the old deleted characters left.

Non-LI characters

Chani was my favorite and I think was the favorite for many on this season. She became one of Candy’s BF and she also is caring, smart and supporting. I loved her own whole aesthetic and vibe, I wish I could have such a good and interesting friend like her. The episodes I enjoyed the most involved her (included all the weird trio wet dream haha) and she actually make me feel better and reassured in general while confronting all the bad arcs and misfortunes of the season. She also gift to us a pretty amulet and was one of the few extra items we got for free like in the HS times.

Yeleen was a character than for starters I really wanted to get to know better and become friends with. It makes me sad all the hate she received and also I got myself some angry person calling me out for liking her (that was awkward buddy). But i loved her developed and how she changed as a person. The bad side is that I wished we could develop a more intimate relationship with her, but I’m happy with the good influence that was Candy for her and she take the bull by the horns at the end of the season. Her farewell letter was really touching.

A side character I liked from the beginning was Morgan because he was pretty handsome and I wish we knew more about him since he was also good vibes but got eclipseted when he becomes Alexy’s boyfriend. I still remember when we though he was Kentin in the trailer.

I don’t really have positive opinions for the rest of the cast or I just really don’t care much. The other character that got a bit of redemption in my eyes was Rosa. It was hard to be friends with her because how much she changed as a person but also how much her new self contradicted with her past self. It was worse because she was there supporting and cheering my relationship with Lysander since she was dating his brother Leigh in HS but in UL was pushing me to look somewhere else. It was also weird for me to be hanging of with Leigh but not Lysander when we weren’t that close to Leigh in the past. I still believe that what happened to Rosa (the drama!) It was done so that we felt pity and sympathy for her. The thing that probably make me feel better about her was when she organized that date at the beach for my Candy and Priya, it was sweet, it was the moment when I really felt guilty about how I feel about her.

We should talk about Amber and how much of a failed and inexistent redemption arc was that? Adding that when we got on the topic of cyberbullying she got to be on the spotlight but we couldn’t talk about what happened in HS. Also she was dragged my Candy around for the sake of Nathaniel and she also give us a big scare when she faints in that bathroom stall...

Favourite episode

For some reason, Episode 11 got good grades from my part as chillest long trip (I HAVE TO TRUST MY OWN SELF ON THIS) but of course Episode 16 was second best because the sex dates (If only we didn’t have to deal with Nath at the start of the episode...)

Episode 11 really got me thinking in a lot of things and make me remember some good memories. Chani was incredible in this episode, she really cares a lot about Candy. I wish a moment to chill right now the same way Candy and Chani go out to eat sushi and to the snake room, I miss doing this kind of things before Covid hit my country and everyone. In the same way, Chani has some very wise words to offer, things right now are so crazy and been stuck at home is just making everything just worse, taking care of you mental health is difficult, social media doesn't help either (Rosa did the smart call there deleting her social media) and fandom spaces right now are not doing that well.

In general, I enjoyed how chill was everything for Candy and how she focused more on herself than the rest of the world. Like I wish she focused more on herself that in trying to save the world. All with Castiel was a trip from start to finish. All the description of the new video got me thinking in whatever video from MTV from the 2000's! I'm also surprised with how smooth he was in the scene in the apartment, was not difficult to me to imagine all the situation, and for a moment I wanted, really wanted to go his way, but since Priya is waiting for me and because I didn't expect of my HS mate to be soo into Candy, I stopped and leave. Was a interesting develope. It also got me thinking how some old classmates would think very different of me right now that from the child I was 15 years ago.

An well, we got to the Priya's moment, and... I really don't get why all that jealousy with Tara haha, my Candy is not like that at all, BUT I really wished more time with her (I know, the drama), but this episode really got us the perfect ending we didn't get in the past episode, just my Candy chilling, hugging and kissing her beloved.

When I played episode 16 at first was with Priya and later did a replay with Hyun and honestly, Hyun date was bananas! I wish I could do all the dates to see how they play because all look cool on their own way. I didn't expect my Candy to be this horny for Priya (?).

After the traumatic events in the start of the episode, we get to chill with Chani because she is such a good friend and she also craft us an amulet to protect us from all the terrible things that happen   Everything gets better in our date with Priya. We celebrate that she would be able to do her bar exam and we spend the day chilling on the park chatting, but Candy falls asleep in the middle lol. Priya invite us to spend the night since her roomie left for vacation. Our Candy reveals she still owns her HS underwear (?) so she proceeds to buy new one (I know underwear is expensive but five years is a lot, those things have holes already). We cross paths with Hyun and is hilarious, he was so embarrassed lol. Back in our date, time to get really nervous. I'm loving that all this characters are now into horror (Thanks Chino!) and Priya propose to watch " The haunting of Hill House". Anyway, it was hilarious how everything played because Candy rEaLly WanT It! but at the end, Priya falls asleep and Candy is too self conscious of Priya sleeping half naked next to her that she couldn't close her eyes all night long. Then morning arrives and everything gets really hot and yeah, I didn't expect that Candy was that thirsty omg. Coolest ending.

--

Hyun date was bananas! I have to say it again because was so fun and cute all along: the fact that Candy surprised Hyun in the Cosy Bear since he have to work that day, that he is up to solve conflict with actual talking when we got a cheating scare, that he is a good person to helps people, even novices in online games. Yeah we also learned his weird thing for shoes that don’t reflect in his actual fashion lol. AND THE DATE! It was so hilarious that they were about to watch the wrong version of Toy Story! POOR HYUN! This dude was fucking prepared for the day, he brought everything in that magic bag, the ending was hot and satisfying, he really surprised me.

Favourite scene

NATHANIEL SHOWS IN THE MIDDLE OF CANDY’S STUDY SESSION WITH EVERYONE THERE AND PRIYA IS ABOUT TO KILL HIM BECAUSE MY CANDY CONFIDED ON HER AND NATH IS COMPLETELY CLUELESS ABOUT IT AAAAH YEAAAAW!

This was the indiscutible winner because despite there was great moments to talk about, this was the only that really make me feel actual excitement for this game (IS WEIRD I KNOW!).

Favorite Outfit and/or Favourite illustration 

Illustrations

This priya Illu is one of my favorite among the rest.

This one was when I noticed Hyun’s great body.

This is illu with Priya is also very sweet too.

I felt really touched with this illu with Hyun.

Candy’s expression is so funny.

This was one of the cutes too and really funny<3

Honorable mention

I think this was one of the most controversial Illus we got and hot too.

OUTFITS

Ep 5 & 6 (and I forgot to add Ep 4!) but a big part of this season clothes were incredible.

Ep 11 & 12

Ep 15 & 20

Honorable mention

Ep 9 party!

Conclusions

Was I angry and disappointed when I started UL?

Yes

Have I made peace with it?

Yes, that’s what I wanted to achieve doing this. I also feel like there is not much I can do or think at this point, I’m kind of resigned.

Did this stop me from enjoying UL?

The “angry and disappointed” part sure played into my original run and perception of the game. I think that this was the case for many others since the wounds were open fresh at that time. But it really took me until the middle and end of the third season (!) to change my perspective (aka like 2-3 years later). I would said that after all that time what bothered me the most that was stopping my enjoyment of the game was how long it takes to play it for free and how that limits you from the whole game experience.

Would I have enjoyed it more if BV hadn’t done us so dirty?

Of course! I ended enjoying the change of tone. I do think many players were precisely looking forward to see our favorite characters in a different phase of their lives. When the company lied to us is when everything burned. I think is a matter of opinion at this point: if Lys, Armin and Kentin stayed, I wonder how people would have taken this whole season since there was a lot of negative critic and people saying that it was for the best that the old boys weren’t there because they probably would have ended totally changed like Nathaniel. They also could have ended in the back burner like the new LI’s and that also wouldn’t be fair. But I’m not sure how much of that negative critic is fueled by resentment or is biased by nostalgia since many didn’t bothered to play and just took what others were telling them without making their own opinion. For me was important to make my own opinion.

This season had their ups and downs, was hard to navigate with all the imposed changes, it was baffling to see how all the characters changed for good or bad, the dialogue options we got where I couldn’t relate at times especially at the begin, the thoughts on reflecting in all the very good things we got that also make me think I wished Lysander was around for all that.

I definitely don’t like the idea of replacing Lysander with Priya, both characters were unique in their own way and both deserved love and respect. Now that the first generation of My Candy Love ended it’s weird to be in this position were everyone is throwing a party around you in slow motion and feeling you don’t belong there because you weren’t lucky enough when picking your LI.

I was thinking on coming around at some point to play LL in the future (who knows) despite right now I don’t think I can make myself to do that and because I have the feeling that I will got more of what I got from UL. UL ending was fitting for me as a “what if...” My Candy got a different path in life where Lysander is not around and having the extra of looking forward to a happy bright future. I still sincerely wish that I could have had more than what we got.

[eris-builds-a-world]

OC-tober Day 3: Duel

Prompt list by @oc-growth-and-development​ 

Duel between Ever (she/her) and Kori (he/him). They’re both about 17 years old. Futuristic setting, where they are part of an elite mission on a distant planet. 

Warnings for violence against both characters, swearing, and use of weapons.

***

“Fight me!” Ever screamed, making another lunge at the boy in front of her. 

Kori backed away, panic rising in his circuits. Ever clearly wasn’t giving up on this. The girl had worked herself into a frenzy, and despite his best efforts, Kori couldn’t think of a way to talk her down. 

“What is that going to prove?” he asked, his volume rising louder than intended. He dodged another of her blows, but she responded with a quick kick to his chestplate. “Either you win, and my siblings--” he rocketed back several feet, avoiding a kick to his face “--aren’t very good at designing protective casings. Or I win, because I have literal iron bars for bones! I don’t want to hurt you!” 

The girl didn’t let up at his warnings, but raced toward him for another punch. 

“Coward!” she hollered, her voice cracking. “Cheater!” A flurry of punches, and then her foot slammed down on his boot, sinking him slightly into the ground. Although the air was thick, the sand around them was billowing up from Kori’s earlier propulsion. 

This close, Kori could see pure hatred in Ever’s eyes. Pink and blue strands of hair stuck to the sweat on her forehead, and Kori tried not to look at the spit forming around her mouth. 

“You cheat death and leave the rest of us to starve!” Kori thought her shouting was unnecessary, as they were standing face to face, but she continued, her contempt lifting up to the skies. “You will never be a person, you’re nothing but scrap metal. You should have stayed six feet under like you belong!” 

As gingerly as he could, Kori caught her hands in his own, keeping her from throwing more blows. She yanked back, but his grip held firm. He thought about lifting her by her hands and flying them back to base as they were. The purple bruises around her wrists gave him second thoughts, though. He worried her earlier punches may have caused broken bones, and lifting her like this might lead to more damage. 

His indecision gave her the opening she needed. With all her might she kicked at his knee, trying to bend it backwards. Kori stumbled, releasing his grip, and in the time it took to blink, the girl had pulled a knife out of who-knows-where and was jabbing it at his face. 

Kori threw a hand up in defense and soon found it punctured, the end of the knife sticking through his hand. He was sure he saw Ever’s lips curl in satisfaction. A quick assessment told him the hydraulics in his hand would need to be repaired.

The next minute was a flurry of sand and dirt, Ever continuing her attacks and Kori deflecting. When Kori had Ever soundly knocked to the ground, he flew into the air, getting more distance between them. But when the dust settled, she was no longer lying in the sand as he expected. 

A flash of blue hair ducked behind their dune buggy, and Kori dodged away before a taser blast made impact with his midsection. He cautiously descended so he wouldn’t have to shout as loud. 

“This is pointless,” he told her. “Isn’t it good? Shouldn’t families be reunited if they can? I’m not a machine. Or...I mean, I am, but I’m not replacing a person. I just have...prosthetics.” He gestured to her and the empty supply route they had been traveling along. “You’re just angry at everything, and you’re getting yourself hurt.” 

Several taser blasts shot toward him. He had to admire her aim, because despite his trajectory tracking, she managed to clip his hip. For a moment, his world went dark and he plummeted to meet the ground. When he regained his sight, Ever was standing on his wrists, her rifle pointed at his head. 

“Reunited?” The word dripped like poison. “Like anyone cares about reuniting families if there’s no money in it. I think I have a right to be angry!” Now the rifle was at his throat. “No one seemed to care about reuniting families when they decided my land was expendable! Where were all the medical teams and body upgrades for us? News flash, there are still actual people planet-side, trying to survive wars.” 

Some quick math told him yes, he could flip Ever off of him before she took her next shot. Her rant continued, and he waited for the best timing. 

“But you?! You beef it and everyone rushes to mop you up and turn you into a machine. No one deserves to be immortal, least of all some pampered satellite bastard like you!” 

Kori stiffened at that. The idea that his life had any correlation to the word pampered was laughable. He hadn’t known what her life was like on Earth, so yeah, he didn’t blame her for going ballistic. But she clearly had no idea what his life was like either. He figured blowing off some steam wasn’t a bad idea after all. 

“Fine, you want to do this?” he snarled back, trying his best to make his face plates look aggressive. “No one’s here to stop us. If you’re that angry, hit me like you mean it.” And he flung her into the air. 

Her rifle shot went wide, but she kept a tight grip on the firearm while she landed unsteadily on her feet. 

Kori (mostly) no longer held back, trading blow for blow, and trying to knock the rifle from her arms when he had the chance. Her knife made a comeback, and he wasn’t even sure where she was keeping that! In a matter of minutes, scorch marks spattered the ground. Kori propelled into the air just to get a break from her rage, but she latched on, and soon they were both several stories in the air. Shit, he didn’t want to accidentally drop her and kill her. 

But she didn’t seem phased by the risk of falling, and the close proximity only fueled her on, giving her a chance to try to stab her knife under his shoulder blade. 

As the two came crashing down to the ground, Kori made a mental note to apologize to her later for the likelihood of giving her more broken bones. The fall only mildly slowed her frenzy, and she was back on him in a flash. She was pulling at ears and joints, anything she could find purchase on. Kori was certain if she found a way inside his casing, she would dismantle him then and there. 

So he punched her. Really punched her, and she fell several feet back. The sand dug into her limbs and face, but when they locked eyes, Kori saw her grinning wildly. Like, an actual smile. Which would have been amazing if it wasn’t so terrifying. 

Ever lunging back at her opponent, and Kori found his shoulder trapped in a hold as Ever twisted his arm around her own arm and leg. In her pained state, she put all her strength into pulling his shoulder apart; which she was quickly succeeding at. Kori could feel the metal arm separating from its socket, wires stretched to their limit and fraying. He was going to lose his arm, not to an alien invasion, but to an upset teammate. 

“Okay, ow. Ow!” Kori scrambled to push her off from him, but she wasn’t relenting. “Stop already! Ow!” Kori squealed. 

And then she let go. 

They sat on the ground staring at each other. Kori counted 11 agonizing seconds. Ever’s sweat had turned the sand on her body into mud, which was caked on her clothes and certainly getting trapped in the open wounds she had received. Kori’s hand was leaking an undisclosed fluid. 

“That really hurt? You weren’t just faking?” Ever asked. Kori noticed her arm was shaking, though her fist tightened its grip on her knife.

“Duh, you were trying to rip my arm off!” 

Ever huffed. “Nearly succeeded too, if you weren’t such a baby.” She was quiet for a beat. Then she let out a war cry loud enough Kori was certain homebase could hear it. As her voice quieted, Kori thought she was actually laughing. 

“Thanks, bolts-for-brains. I needed that. You would think if you’re supposed to be some superweapon, they would make you out of thicker stuff. Remind me not to depend on you for life-and-death situations.”

For awhile, the only sound was her labored breathing and a metallic grinding, like gears out of synch. 

“I guess we should...head back to camp?” Kori suggested. Ever nodded. He noted that the girl made no attempt to stand up. 

“If you need, I could carry you,” he offered. 

“Hell no.” She climbed to her feet, trying and failing to hide a grimace. “Though I guess if you use your rocket boots, I won’t try to stab you if we...hold onto each other and fly back. It might make you actually useful for once.” 

“About that,” Kori countered. “You cut the fuel line when you were stabbing my leg. Rocket engines are out of commission.” 

“Ha!” Ever shouted. “I’m proved right once again! You heard it here, sand scum, robots are completely useless!” 

And so they began the tedious journey back. Kori eyed his human companion. Her hands were...well, “mangled” was the best description Kori could find. He was sure the team would put her in double casts for the foreseeable future. And Kori didn’t even want to think about what Zed would do when he saw Kori’s shoulder...and fuel line...and shielding...and hand. 

Stealing another glance at Ever, he was pretty sure she walked with a proud swagger after the damage she had done to him. Or maybe that was just a limp.

[serendipitous-posts]

I see your Au’s where Klaus is the one with his powers suppressed and I raise you an Au where Ben’s power is the one suppressed

(May call this Cthulhu au? Sounds about right. I also somehow made Reginald worse??)

So, Reginald Hargeeves is a dick, but he’s also pragmatic, right? He doesn’t care for these kids, as long as they can live up to his expectations

He is absolutely determined for them all to reach their full potential, mental and physical safety be damned

So in this verse, he doesn’t give up on Vanya. He remains certain that he can control her and that she can control it

It takes a lot of time, but he’s persistent in his belief she can achieve greatness, which would be amazing virtue if he wasn’t such an abusive ass

The violin, he learns, helps a lot, helps hone her abilities and fine tune them to her advantage

The press love the little musician, with her big shiny eyes and careful nature and gentleness

You know who the press doesn’t like? Ben. Hates him actually. 

Or rather, they hate what is inside of him. They hate the Horror

(once, when ben was very young, he had tried to explain to three that he was the horror and the horror was him. like conjoined twins, but she had looked so disgusted that he had shut up)

Because it’s hard to spin a weird eldritch abomination that kills people into a positive light, and in the aftermath of every mission there’s always a group, growing louder and louder with each one, arguing that just because they were criminals doesn’t mean they should be murdered. That the Umbrella Academy were playing judge, jury and executioner when they shouldn’t, that they had no legal power and what were they doing?

An even smaller group, but potent in it’s ferocity, points out just how terrible it is, forcing a child to kill people

And normally Reginald would write it off, ignore it except-

Except he can’t ignore the way the Horror has been acting lately-hungry and aggressive and mad. But not towards the other kids, no. Towards him. He steps into the room and Ben’s skin starts crawling and twisting.

(if he didn’t know better, he would say it was trying to protect him)

And Hargreeves, as we see in season 2, is an experienced fighter, but he’s not going to kid himself. He knows he doesn’t stand a chance against the Horror. The only ones who might are his siblings

But, as he realises with horror, he doesn’t know if they would side with him against number 6.

Because Ben is the shy, quiet kind one. If he ordered them to kill them- Number One might do it, but the others? No, no way, he sees how they look at him sometimes, all quiet fuming hatred and anger and-

They’d probably try and kill him themselves

But they’re young, and easily manipulated so he starts - leaving suggestions really- makes them watch any videos of the Horror attacking, showing it’s rampage as Ben wilts before them all. Suggests 6 shouldn’t be near the cameras anymore because he’s too frightening. TV shows now have movies like Alien and documentaries about parasites that burrow under the skin

They see a hulk figurine in the store one day and he makes sure to tell One, loud enough for everyone to hear, that he’s not a hero, he’s a monster, because he can’t control his impulses

At the end of every mission, he finds a reason to critique the Horror and Ben and their brutalness, all the while sending them out to do so anyways

The Horror, perhaps sensing the amount of bullshit that is happening, grows worse, grows even more agitated over time

4 and 5 and 7 rally behind him, because 5 and 7 are his isolation buddies and 4 and him have been friends forever. But 1 and 2 and 3- they start to pull away, little by little

Because they believe that he’s going too far that their father may actually be right, at least on this, it is a little freaky, and it’s not just their father saying it, it’s everyone and they can’t all be lying

He makes them all sit in on Ben’s special training- killing a rabbit, and now Vanya starts to flinch whenever he comes into the room, stops inviting him to her recitals

(it’s not a coincidence that rabbits were her favourite animal)

Five stays loyal though, making a point of going with him to the libraries or talking to him about books he’s read. Ben’s- he’s paler now, even quieter, but he enjoys the company and the Horror always seems to settle down in his presence

Then Five disappears one day and never returns. 

Reginald is torn because on one hand- he’s one asset down and Five was always a very useful asset and very very clever but he always thought he was so clever, working around all of his rules

Vanya and Five were the closest and now she’s alone. And even though Vanya is one of the nicest people out there, she just lost her brother, and she needs someone to blame to lash out at and she remembers how Ben and Five would talk for hours about Five’s powers

She yells at him, screams at him that this is his fault, and Klaus tries to intervene but it doesn’t really work, because in this universe Vanya isn’t forgotten or ignored, she’s the most powerful and that comes with a certain amount of respect.

She’s more confident and sure of herself and she is sure that this is Ben’s fault

The Horror, sensing Ben’s stress, lashes out. It slams a tentacle down on the ground in front of her, causing her to scramble back, suddenly aware of the fact that she is in a room with someone who has a literal monster in his stomach

Diego walks in on Ben attacking their sister and immediately grabs his knife, stabbing into it and Ben howls, the tentacles sliding back under his skin

Diego is praised for his quick thinking, one of the few times his father ever compliments him and he holds it close to his chest

(she’ll realise her mistake much later of it not being Ben’s fault, but she doesn’t apologise, too scared of the Horror and what it could do to her)

(she full on avoids him now)

All that leaves in Klaus, but to be honest? He has his own issues to deal with. At first, he clings to Ben because he gets it, the absolute hatred you have to your powers

And Ben is so so so happy to have someone be there for him, someone who hates their abilities as much as he does. They comfort each other after their own personal lessons, talk about which powers they would like to have, how they would love to get rid of their powers entirely

And then Klaus does. Get rid of them. 

Well, kind of. Drugs as it turns out, cancels out his abilities. They learn this during a mission and he’s so happy. And Ben is so happy for him

Except . .  after a while, Klaus starts to pull away too, so caught up in the world of drugs and addiction and leaving him behind to deal with his own issues

He tries to confront him on it, but Ben was always the meekest of his siblings, and it doesn’t go well

“You’re just jealous” Klaus spits “you can’t turn off” he gestures towards Ben’s torso “that thing.”

All the while, the Horror is growing more and more agitated, squirming under his skin like an itch, stretching it and bruising it, awful and visible. His siblings, sickened by this display, start to avoid him, which just makes him agitated, which just makes the Horror agitated, which makes it more active, which makes his siblings avoid him more, rinse and repeat

(he can’t move, somedays, from the pain of it all, muscles stretched beyond their limit by the thing that should never be beneath a persons skin)

And then- and then, after a very bad mission, where his siblings had all looked away as he emerged bloody from another room, his father tells him he doesn’t have to do missions if he doesn’t want to

Holy hell. Holy fucking shit

This is- it’s- everything he has ever wanted since his first ever training exercise 

He says yes, of course

(The Horror hasn’t been this calm in years)

And he doesn’t have to go on missions anymore! He gets to stay home and read and be alone but in a good way and it is everything he has ever dreamed of and more

(in another room, their father announces that Ben is too dangerous to be allowed on missions anymore, and that he won’t be training with them anymore)

His siblings are torn between relief-that they won’t have to see another killing spree, and jealousy-because he doesn’t have to go on missions or have personal training

(none of them are relieved for ben, who always hated going on missions)

Klaus especially is jealous, and is snippy towards Ben for the remainder of the week, but he’s on cloud freakin’ nine, and he doesn’t really notice any of his sibling’s odd behaviour

But as time passes, Ben starts to feel more and more left out and excluded. The main reason why the siblings are so close is that they go on missions and train together, and Ben is no longer doing that.

He also notices that the others are . . . blaming him a lot. Even for things he didn’t do

“Why is there a hole in the wall?”

“Ben must have let the Horror out”

“You’re bringing an animal inside the house? Don’t let Ben see it”

It’s lonely, but the alternative is going back to training, and he would actually rather die. It’s just- he’s being selfish. The Horror is a monster (he is a monster) so it makes sense that others would think he was the one doing Bad Things

And Ben spent his entire life trying not to be a Bad Person, but everyone keeps saying that he is a Bad Person, and he isn’t sure what to do. Sometimes people recognise him on the streets, pull back, hide their kids, some the same age as him

(once Allison and Luther were with him when this happened, and they looked at the woman shielding her baby with something like-understanding? empathy? whatever it was, it made Ben’s stomach open, but not in a Horror way in a Bad Way)

He breaks down in tears, finds his mom in the middle of the night, feeling like a baby because he is fourteen years old and he shouldn’t be crying except this morning Diego had turned to Luther and asked “where’s the freak?” and Luther had grinned and said “Ben’s still in his room” and neither had realised he was standing behind them

(family scapegoat syndrome is a very serious thing.)

He goes to her, crying and wishing that it would just go away, that awful, awful monster in his body, why won’t it just die already?

Grace tries to comfort him, but Reginald knew this would one day happen, and put certain  . . things into her coding, things she can and can’t say.

She sits there and tells her son awful things about him and the thing that lives inside of him, a parasite, she is forced to call it, to call him

(and you may think Diego hates Reginald the most, but that title has, will and always shall belong to Grace)

“You’re disgusting” she tells her son and thinks of the man who made her

Ben wails, loud and strong, and the Horror responds to his horror, jumping to life and slamming into Grace and then Ben is screaming and he can hear his siblings footsteps, rapidly approaching, but he’s trying to get to his mom and-

He blacks out

He wakes back up in the infirmary, where Pogo is waiting for him. He explains how their mother is damaged, and will take a while to fix

He has to go about his day with Diego’s glare scorching his back. Breakfast is burnt porridge and milk.  The first chance he gets, Diego accosts him, knife missing by inches

“A-a-asshole!” He shouts, brandishing a knife “h-how could you?!”

“I didn’t mean to!” Ben squeaks, because he was always the shortest brother and his brother loves their mom and he hurt their mom and his brother is armed

“Diego stop” Vanya says, tugging on his arm “you’ll anger it”

Ben looks down to see his skin ripple and flushes, pressing himself even further against the wall

“You saw what happened with mom” Allison chimes in, glaring at Ben because their breakfast that morning was awful

“He’s not worth it” Luther says, and for once it seems they’re in agreement, because Diego turns and walks away, the others trailing behind him

Klaus stops, and gives him a sad look before scurrying after them, leaving Ben alone

Afterwards Ben is pulled into dad’s office and he’s handed pills. “To suppress your more . .  animalistic side” he said by way of explanation. 

Six blinks up at him. Suppress? As in . . get rid of? No more Horror

“It has come to my attention that you are far too dangerous to have running around unchecked” dad says when he asks, and Ben wilts

He takes the medication, and tries not to get his hopes up about it, but the Horror is gone

Instead of the usual aching chasm in his stomach there’s nothing. Just a sense of stability, of calm. He doesn’t feel like bursting into tears or crawling away in shame

(he doesn’t . .  he can’t feel much of anything really)

But he does feel excitement. His siblings are going to be so amazed- no more Horror!- and- and his dad can give Klaus some medication too, so he doesn’t have to use drugs anymore- or other drugs anymore!

His father pulls him aside and tells him that he must never tell anybody about this medication. His siblings have to keep thinking he can summon the Horror

Ben loves their father so much, wants to impress him, wants to make him proud. Except-Klaus. Klaus deserved to have this medication too, right? His- his powers were way worse than Ben’s

Reginald tells him, point-blank, that if he tells anyone about suppressing the Horror, he will take him off the medication

And that is-Ben feels kind of muffled right now, as if he’s under a weighted blanket but-

Terror is the only way to describe it, because he just found peace and now it is being threatened to have it ripped away

He lies about the Horror. The others continue to avoid him, but he also avoids them now, guilt over his lie causing him to cut himself off from Klaus, who cared for him, who deserves to have this as well, but Ben is just so selfish-

The second he hits eighteen, Ben leaves the house. He’s been on medication for 4-5 years now, and it shows. His emotions are basically gone.

He stays away from everyone until the funeral, when Five returns, telling him about the apocalypse, and he believes him, wholeheartedly believes him

He’s so frazzled by the announcement that he goes off his medication, forgotten in the moment of the literal apocalypse

(Reginald Hargreeves was a man trying to play god. He tried to lock away a beast too strong to be tamed)

(Someone should have taught him;when you cage a beast, the beast will get angry)

[questionsonislam]

What are the negative effects of computer games and the internet on children? How can we eliminate these effects? Can you evaluate the issue in terms of the hereafter of the child?

What are the negative effects of computer games and the internet on children? How can we eliminate these effects? Can you evaluate the issue in terms of the hereafter of the child?

"He suddenly stood up and started to shout. He reacted too strongly because he could not kill the man who shot at him. He tried again. He sat down and stood up repeatedly, and tried to kill the person against him. He harmed his opponent seriously. When his opponent fell down drenched in blood, he burst into laughter. The incidents continued. He fought to death and did his best to harm his enemies. He did not stop playing though his mother called him several times. He was so engaged in the game that he was thinking of nothing but the game."

Similar incidents often occur in homes and internet cafes nowadays. Children and young people spend most of their time playing games on the computer. Parents allow computers because they think,''It is necessary to keep up with peers, innovations and technology; it will help my child in his/her studies.'' However, children generally use the computer to play games. Using the computer may start with a good intention but it deviates from the purpose in the course of time. 'Using computers without control", which is the common complaint of parents, is a very difficult problem to solve even for specialists.

How do computer games affect the subconscious of children and their lives in the future? Can games that could affect children positively be presented in a healthy way on the computer?

Computer games can be dealt with in two categories. Firstly, games that can be a means of developing skills, understanding life and inculcating moral values;secondly, games that do not enrich imagination, do not contribute to the world of thought, and that encourage violence and immorality.

The positive effect of games on the mental, bodily and spiritual development of the child depends on the content of the game and the amount of time spent playing games. This amount of time must not be very much or very little. It is possible to establish a balance regarding the issue by educating the child about using time efficiently. Children who spend their time doing unnecessary things can do the same thing when they grow up. To sum up, it is necessary to teach the child the importance of time one way or another.

Time spent unnecessarily in front of a computer screen causes children and young people to be inactivated. This increases stress in children. This inactivity causes accumulation of energy in especially active children and affects their behavior negatively. Discharging the energy from the body through sportive activities is helpful in terms of growth, development and learning to share. Exercise also helps to release growth hormone. Besides, time spent in front of a computer screen deprives children and young people of taking part in cultural activities like useful games, studying, sports, etc.

Most parents complain that their children cannot express themselves well and that they cannot communicate clearly with others. When you ask your child a question, you get either a very short or a predictable answer. Time spent playing computer games has an important effect on it. We see that violence in computer games is increasing day by day. Game industry regards everything permissible in order to attract children. Images and videos that are not suitable for their age cause the subconscious of the children to be shaped. Anxiety, fear, inclination to violence, sudden outbursts and regarding violence ordinary occur in children who are exposed to videos and images containing violence for a long time. The reactions of the children who watch violent films and play violent games change in time; they use more violence against their friends and the people around. They push and kick people when a slight disagreement occurs. Anxiety and sleeping disorders occur in children who are affected by harmful videos and images; their personal is affected negatively.

The anomalies mentioned above are seen more frequently in preschool children since the causes and effects of the behavior involving five senses are not questioned by them. The following incidents can be given as examples regarding the issue: "A 3,5-year old child who used to watch violent films practiced what he saw on TV and stabbed his brother to death. A child who thought he was a cartoon film hero jumped off the seventh floor with the intention of flying. In France, a child who could not be successful in computer games developed epilepsy." Unfortunately, we often hear about similar incidents. We need to provide our children with useful alternative games in order to fill the subconscious of our children with positive qualities like goodness, doing favors, compassion, charity and altruism.

Harmful games prevent children from learning their national culture hence causing cultural erosion. In those games, cultural values of foreign nations are often used; symbols of different faiths are placed in the subconscious of children and our children are affected by them without noticing them. Through these games, Islam is presented like a boogeyman and Muslims are shown like terrorists and targets to be hit.

The children who became computer game addicts are alienated from their environment. These children, who have difficulty in finding friends, become prisoners of computers and are isolated from the community. From then on, the only friend of the child is the computer; even if the child spends some time with his friends, he cannot get rid of the feeling of loneliness. Parents need to provide their children with activities appropriate for their development and to balance the time spent for computer games.

The bad characters shown in many computer games play a negative role in the formation of the child's personality . The messages given in these kinds of games like trying to be strong and powerful, ignoring lives of others, killing in order to live, despising moral values, ignoring feelings of others, not appreciating the people around and categorizing people affect the personality of the child negatively.

Games affect attention and learning too. The images changing frequently on the computer screen cause the child to be distracted, triggering lack of concentration. Besides, too much light might cause epileptic seizures in children.

In conclusion, computer games cause children to tend to regard everything in life as a game, to daydream all the time, to be mentally busy with the theme of the game even after the game, to convey this theme to the games with his friends and to his attitudes, and to reduce his family relationships and the time he spends with his family.

It is not possible to ignore the benefits of computers, which is a reality of this age. What is ideal is to benefit from the positive aspects of computers and to be protected from its negative effects. It is necessary to establish a balance between the time allocated for real games for the child's development and for virtual games. Games

- in which children can take part actively,

- that pedagogues and counselors recommend

- that enable the child to develop a consciousness of history and adopt his own cultural values,

- that support attention and development of reasoning,

- that enables the child to develop qualities like sharing, team spirit, charity, altruism, honesty and diligence,

- that arouse curiosity, facilitate learning and enable a child to love learning,

- that are possible to play with the parents,

- that enables the child to obtain the consciousness of duty and responsibility,

- that develop the ability to imagine, think and invent

need to be preferred.

When the organs like the eyes, ears, etc, which are among the important bounties given to man by the Creator, are kept busy only for entertainment in front of the computer screen, it means they are be used contrary to their purpose of creation. Therefore, the vital responsibility of the parents is to ensure that their children use their faculties like seeing, hearing, feeling and reasoning properly and positively.