#honestly there was a point in time where the HP series was very important to me | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

thankskenpenders · 4 years

Text

Enerjak Reborn intermission: Who the hell is Enerjak?

Before we move on to the second half of the fun, thrilling, and exciting Enerjak Reborn arc, I think it’s a good idea to pause and take a look back at where we came from. Reading this arc, you may be asking yourself: where’d this Enerjak guy come from? It’s been over six years since I covered the comics featuring the original Enerjak, after all (and I tended to skim over stuff a lot more back then)

So here’s a crash course in Archie’s original nemesis for Knuckles. The big question today is... did the original Enerjak ever DO anything?

As has been established, the original Enerjak was a powered up form Dimitri took on. Even if you’re not following all this too closely, you’ll probably recognize Dimitri as the floating cyborg echidna head. He’s pretty memorable in that form

In his youth, though, Dimitri was a normal echidna scientist working alongside his brother Edmund on Angel Island. Together, the two of them found the legendary Zoot Chute

This, of course, led them to the chamber of the twelve Chaos Emeralds (yes, twelve--the lore was different back then) that were holding Angel Island up in the air. It had been generations since the echidnas had Brexited their capital city into the sky to dodge the White Comet, and they figured, hey, maybe we should land this thing. And so Edmund and Dimitri set out to slowly syphon away the power of the Emeralds to do just that, gently lowering the floating landmass back into the crater it had left behind. A reasonable idea!

Except then their proposal to land Angel Island was denied, so Dimitri got pissed and stole the Chaos Syphon to do it anyway. But then the machine went HAYWIRE and he absorbed the energy himself and it flipped his morality switch from good to EVIL!!!

Boy, that was sudden!

From there Dimitri’s plan was to enslave everyone on Angel Island and make them turn the whole island into one big airship, from which Dimitri would subjugate the surface world

(No, the pirate motif isn’t an artist taking liberties with the script--Ken drew these lore dump backup stories himself)

Boy, this guy sure does have big plans! And he’s got the power to back it up, too, since he absorbed eleven whole Chaos Emer--oh, whoops, the fire ants chewed through the base of his spooky tower and he was immediately crushed by rocks before he could do literally anything else with his new power

From here, Edmund and his allies “renounced technology” and “destroyed their city” (not really, but that’s how the story goes). His descendants would become the Brotherhood of Guardians, eventually including Locke and Knuckles. This part of the lore dump gave me some of my favorite panels. Meanwhile, Dimitri’s side of the family sought revenge and went full techno-fascist, forming the Dark Legion

Fast forward a few hundred years to the events of the three-issue Knuckles miniseries, and Dimitri's HP finally recharges and he manages to escape from the rubble, ready for his first face-off with Knuckles! Except he’s no longer just Dimitri... he’s apparently now Enerjak!

While the echidna lore dump stories published literally immediately before this miniseries that Ken drew himself depicted Dimitri as simply turning all green and glowy in his powered up state, the art in the recap pages of this miniseries seems to retcon the story and say that he had actually turned into Enerjak. I’m not sure why you wouldn’t just use Enerjak in the original stories to set the persona up more instead of just having Dimitri turn green. Here Archimedes also refers to Enerjak as “the great evil of legend” even though no one is supposed to know about Dimitri’s Enerjak persona yet. Actually, this little point of confusion was expanded upon by Ian, which is why in his version of the canon Enerjak is an entity that multiple people can become, rather than just a supervillain persona for Dimitri. Anyway!

In this first confrontation, Enerjak displayed a few of the signature moves Knuckles has been using in the Enerjak Reborn arc. He’s able to unleash blasts of Chaos energy, freeze his opponents in place, and teleport them elsewhere. He uses this to make short work of the Chaotix and teleport Knuckles and Archimedes out to die in the desert of Sandopolis Zone

From there, Enerjak made a new evil citadel (guy just LOVES making evil citadels), this time made to resemble Echidnaopolis... except evil. He christened it “Nekronopolis.” He also, like... made some robots for Knuckles to fight, apparently based on robots they used to have in Echidnaopolis? Okay

In their final confrontation of the miniseries, Enerjak mind controls the Chaotix to make them fight Knuckles. He then starts going on and on about his unlimited power while struggling to kill a teenager, only to be undone when--surprise!--the fire ants show up and sabotage his fortress again. This time, though, they launch him into space with help from Locke instead of just making the citadel collapse on top of him. Oh, and then his evil fortress disappears. He leaves no mark on the status quo of the series in his first appearance aside from adding one more guy to the list of characters Knuckles has fought

Later, in issue #7 of the full Knuckles series, Enerjak is summoned back to Angel Island and meets the Dark Legion. Since he’s their beloved Dimitri, he immediately becomes their new leader. And so Enerjak gets his rematch with Knuckles. This time he uses new tricks like making himself giant and teleporting himself and Knuckles to various inhospitable locations like the moon. (Admittedly, the moon thing is cool.)

Eventually he gets bored toying with Knuckles, though, and he decides to just disintegrate him

BUT Knuckles is immediately saved by God the Ancient Walkers, who won’t allow one of their Chosen Ones to die so easily. So he comes back right away

Enerjak then leads the Dark Legion on an all-out assault on Echidnaopolis. He doesn’t really do much even though he could probably singlehandedly disintegrate the entire Echidnaopolis defense force with the snap of his fingers

And then Mammoth fucking Mogul shows up and drains him of all his power with the Sword of Acorns and turns him into a prune

No, Knuckles wasn’t even the one who beat his supposed nemesis in either fight

And that’s it for Enerjak! No, really! He appears in two story arcs for a total of six issues, and that’s it. He’s just regular old Dimitri from this point forward, eventually becoming a cyborg and then a head. He has no powers and is just a fascist

As with just about every other element of Ken’s Knuckles comics, Enerjak was all hype and no substance. Dimitri is an important figure in The Lore, but as Enerjak he doesn’t actually do anything with his unlimited power that has any lasting impact on the story whatsoever. He just taunts Knuckles and then gets his power slurped out by a mid-tier villain. It’s clear that Ken wanted to paint this as Dimitri repeatedly suffering for his hubris, but it sure would’ve been nice if he actually did anything before he loses each time. Like, honestly? If you took the Enerjak persona out of the story entirely and instead just had the Dark Legion bring back regular old Dimitri with their technology, very little about the overarching story would change. He also has absolutely zero nuance as a character, going from a well-intentioned if headstrong scientist to a world-conquering tyrant demigod to the leader of the techno-fascists at the drop of a hat when the story requires it

Needless to say, it is VERY SATISFYING to have Knuckles become a version of Enerjak with way more nuance and to see him actually do stuff with that power in Ian’s run. Not just cool fighting moves (although he has those!), but also stuff that will have a lasting impact on the series

#tkp post #Enerjak Reborn

156 notes · View notes

drawlfoy · 4 years

Text

Wonders of Ohio P.9

masterlist

requests are closed, but please read this first :)

if you want to be tagged, send an ask or message me!

pairing: draco x reader

request: nope, my original shameless self insert idea lmao

summary: american high school senior y/n y/l/n is in for the ride of her life when their exchange student is...a bit strange (but very hot). NOT a nonmagic AU, though you already knew that if you’ve read part 8 ;)

warnings: swearing, mentions of a break in, concerns about a home intruder, objectively the most fluffy scene we’ve gotten so far in this series (hehe), draco being fucking obnoxious and moody (did i mention swearing?)

a/n: ayoooooo so here’s part 9, as promised. i’ve started getting back into the hp universe more and more, so i should probably be picking up my writing soon. i’ve been feeling more myself again!! which is super awesome. i don’t think many people read this series anymore (or my author notes in general but i don’t blame yall) but i’m having a lot of fun writing it, so i’m going to keep going :)

music recs:

puppy princess -- hot freaks

loverboy -- A-wall

linger -- the cranberries

tags tags tags: @gruffle1 @missmulti @cleopatera @hahaboop @accio-rogers @geeksareunique @eltanin-malfoy @war-sword @cams-lynn @itsivyberry @ayo-cowbelly @nerd-domland @yesnerdsblog @shizarianathania @evanstanfanatic @strawberriesonsummer @hariosborn @night-ving @straightzoinked @imintoodeeptostop @naiomimoonshard @jejegu @ophelia-enthusiast @alwaysbeanunknownfan @nearly-memories @litty-dumb @callieclearwater @malfoy-wife15 @charlenasaxen @belladaises @fiantomartell @writeandtranslate @erisdogwood @loveissupernatural @sycathorn-slush @big-galaxy-chaos

word count: 3.8k :)

Y/N couldn’t help but wonder if Draco deliberately waited until the last minute to tell her family that he was leaving so he could evade her questioning. She tried to talk to him later that evening by knocking on his door, but she was met with complete silence.

Draco was ignoring her, and she didn’t get why. She’d promised to not tell anyone--even begged for him to trust her and essentially swore on her life--but he still wasn’t acting normal. Perhaps he didn’t want her to badger him with questions about the magical world.

Or maybe this was an excuse to get away from her.

Y/N swallowed the second possibility and locked it away somewhere out of sight. He’d left without a single word more to her (not even a congratulations for getting into a top 20 school, that loser) and never even bothered telling her when he’d return. And maybe that was the nicest part of it--she could pretend like he was never coming back.

As attractive as that option was, she had to admit that there was a Draco-shaped hole in her passenger car seat every time she drove to school. And in the kitchen when she was studying. And everywhere else he’d once touched.

“Why do you think he went back?”

Y/N took a break from reviewing her Art History final exam notes to look up at Lizzy. “Maybe something happened with his dad or he wanted to spend his holidays with his family? It’s probably not that serious.”

“Speaking of his dad, I tried to look up his name and see if anything came up,” Lizzy began. Y/N felt her heart jump into her throat. “Don’t you think it’s kinda sus? I haven’t found anything for him. It’s like he’s been completely wiped off the face of the earth. Do you know anything about it?”

“Honestly, I don’t think it’s any of my business.” Draco’s franticness when she found out lingered in the back of her mind as she chose her words carefully. “I’m sure if he’s a genuine political target, they’ve just scrubbed the web clean of him, being a minor and all.”

“But don’t you think it’s funny that he’s apparently so important but there’s no evidence of him or his father ever existing?”

“Lizzy.” Her voice was firm. “It’s entirely possible that his real name is different. And either way, it’s not our story to uncover. He’s entitled to his own privacy, and if he doesn’t reveal his true identity then we need to respect that.”

“Oooookaaayyyyy, Mother,” said Lizzy. “You’re so fun. You know that, right?”

“It’s my job.”

After the close brush with Lizzy, Y/N avoided the topic of Draco with her friends like wildfire. At the back of her mind, she registered that that was probably more suspicious, but when Sylvia asked her about him during lunch, she finally spun up a story.

“I told him I liked him,” she told everyone, the words stinging her throat. “He doesn’t feel the same way. I just would feel better if we dropped it.”

Her friends reacted immediately with sympathy, telling her that it wasn’t her fault that he couldn’t see her for what she was worth. Somehow, this made her feel worse. She didn’t even need to tell him her feelings to know his thoughts--he didn’t see her as anything but a “muggle”, or whatever he called them. She never stood a chance.

Y/N spent an embarrassing amount of time wondering how things would’ve been different if she was a witch. She didn’t know anything about his world (apart from the fact that they really had a stick up their asses about people knowing of them) but she somehow craved a place in it. Would Draco feel differently towards her if she was magic?

It was probably better if she didn’t pay too much mind to it, but she couldn’t let the thought go. Every time she shut her eyes at night, the memory of waking up next to Draco replayed in her head, over and over. She would’ve sold her soul to have gone back to that. Would things have been different if she had just...not found the letters? She was driving herself crazy digging through all her interactions with him. There’s no way she was imagining things, and judging by the surprised reactions of her friends when she told them he didn’t reciprocate feelings, she wasn’t the only one who thought something was there. If he was really so disgusted by her and her people, he wouldn’t have let her sleep in his room, in his bed no less.

As December wore on, her mind began to be occupied by another feverish stream of thoughts. If she didn’t already feel like she was going crazy over the Draco problem, she was going completely insane over the fact that she was misplacing things like crazy and forgetting the most basic of things. It seemed like it was almost every day that she was forgetting where she put her keys (even though she could’ve sworn she’d hung them up by the door) or getting home to find the door already unlocked even though she was sure that she’d locked it behind her. It would’ve creeped her out, but she was really off kilter. It just wasn’t right having Draco away, and the sense of dread she got every time she went by her room just threw her off balance. What if she still had lingering sickness from whatever magical infliction she suffered?

He really should’ve stuck around to watch after me. Just in case.

Another thing was bothering her--a name she saw pop up in the pouch from when she went through his letters. It was a small portion of his collection, and she didn’t even think to examine it until after he took them back from her, but she noticed that the name “Pansy Parkinson” came up more than once as a return address.

Her mind immediately jumped to the worst--Draco was madly in love with another girl, a magical girl, and traveled back home with the express purpose of declaring his neverending devotion for her and complaining about that rat Ohioan muggle that he had to spend his days with.

Y/N knew it wasn’t healthy, but no matter what she did, she couldn’t quite shake it. The fact that he’d no doubt grown up around girls that would be suitable for him to date was making her physically ill with jealousy, which was probably the most embarrassing part of her feelings for him. Nevermind how much time she spent fantasizing about how soft his hair felt or how his stupidly pretty fingers would feel grazing her skin--she couldn’t even cope with the idea of him existing with other women that were honestly a better choice to him.

That Christmas was surprisingly bleak. Being an only child always made for a quiet house during the holidays, but the expectation she held of having Draco there set her up for disappointment. Her house felt empty.

“Do you think he’s coming back?” Y/N asked her mother as they did the morning dishes together.

“Well, I assume so. Why wouldn’t he? He was scheduled to spend the entire year with us. I think that if he’s changed his mind we would at least know by now.”

“What if he’s still deciding?”

“Why, miss him already?” Mrs. Y/L/N’s tone was teasing, but she felt her cheeks grow hot.

“Quite the contrary. I’m just wondering if I’m about to become the pampered only child again or if I’m going to need to go back into the unglamorous life of sharing the spotlight.”

“Y/N,” her mother tutted. She’d stopped doing the dishes.

Y/N made a point to evade her knowing look. “Mom.”

Her mother took a breath before answering. “Nothing. As a matter of fact, I did get a letter from him a few days ago. He’s scheduled to return the second week of January, right before school goes back.”

“Oh,” said Y/N. No matter how hard she tried, there’s no way her relief wasn’t visible.

“How’s that for your Christmas gift, hm?”

“Mom!”

“Hey! Hey, it was a joke,” Mrs. Y/L/N said, throwing her hands up in a “no can do” sort of gesture. “I know that you’re good friends with him is all. Unless…”

“Mom!” Her cheeks were all shades of red.

“All I’m saying is that he seems to enjoy your company.”

“Stockholm syndrome, I’m telling you.” Her explanation of what that meant was on the tip of her tongue before she stopped herself. There was no reason to--the only person who would need that explained to them was no longer on the same continent as her.

“Whatever you’d like to think.”

The snowstorm hit them without warning, two days after Christmas. Her parents had left for the night to attend a charity auction, but unfortunately for Y/N, by the time that they realized that their daughter would be snowed in, the roads were too dangerous to drive on. Y/N begrudgingly agreed to do all of the things they told her to--get the generator ready, make sure the fireplace was prepared, and locate all the candles in the house.

On any normal day, she wouldn’t have been concerned in the slightest, but she’d felt uneasy in her house ever since the night of the break-in, and now that this was the first night she’d have to spend alone, her heart was pounding at the thought of having to sleep in an empty house. Especially if the power was out. Especially when whoever broke in was still on the loose.

She locked up at dusk, making sure that every entry to her home was completely sealed shut. The generator was in the basement, all set up in the case that the lights went out. She’d located all the bottled water in her house in case the pipes froze, and she finally retired to her room to relax.

The sense of dread that hovered around Draco’s room was gone, thankfully. The overall feeling of creepiness was just beginning to lose its jarring sting, but she’d never quite been able to shake how many things she misplaced in the beginning of the month.

She busied herself with mundane activities--she cleaned out her closet, organized her drawers, read, changed her sheets, and finished the last of her homework--but nothing could distract her from the gnawing inside of her. The hairs on the back of her neck constantly stood up, even when she was tucked away in the corner of her room, nestled into her blankets. The tingling was akin to what she felt when she walked into that antique shop on homecoming night--the same night when Draco helped her off her feet and narrowly kept her from throwing up all over Heather.

Looking back on it, she realized that when he grabbed her wrist, he must’ve done something to quell her nausea, something magical. There was no way her carsickness could’ve been able to disappear so quickly.

Her soliloquy was interrupted by what sounded like footsteps outside. Before she could assess the situation and decide what she was going to do, a boom sounded off in the distance and she was all of a sudden bathed in darkness.

Y/N froze.

Someone was most definitely outside her house, but thankfully she’d locked all the doors. And, thankfully, the boom told her that her fuse box hadn’t been messed with. A tree had probably just fallen on a transformer.

But those small comforts still didn’t change the fact that she was no longer alone--and not only that, but no longer alone without power.

Her thoughts were interrupted once again by banging on her front door. Y/N jumped, just barely managing to clap her hand over her mouth to muffle her shriek. She’d seen enough horror movies to know that alerting someone that you were home wasn’t the smartest move. She’d have to be strategic.

Heart pounding out of her chest, she crept out of her room and down the stairs. The power outage was quite lucky, she realized, as whoever was outside couldn’t see in. The moon only cast a slight light as it reflected off of the snow, so she was going to be able to see the person outside before they would see her.

She squinted from her perch by the base of the staircase. She could make out a silhouette, a tall and lanky one. The weak moonlight reflected off a very light head of hair, and Y/N was struck with a feeling of familiarity.

No way...

Y/N stood frozen for a few seconds as she heard the person knock on the door again. A muffled version of a familiar British voice said, “Is anyone there?”

Throwing all caution to the wind and praying to any higher power that was listening to her that her suspicion was correct, she pushed down on the doorknob and swung it open.

Her heart stopped.

“Draco? What are you--”

Before she could get another word out of her mouth, she was pulled into the tightest (and snowiest) hug of her life. One of his arms wrapped solidly around her waist, the other reaching further up to her shoulders to hold her closer. He was tall enough in comparison that he could rest his chin on the top of her head while she cautiously clasped her hands around him, breathing in the same soft pine scent that she knew so well.

When he finally let go of her, she noticed that his face was decidedly less pale than what it had been when she first opened the door. At a loss for words, Y/N just made her way behind him and shut the door to keep the storm from blowing any more snowflakes in. She noted that Draco was shaking.

“You’re okay,” he said, his voice low and quiet.

She grinned. “Yeah. Believe it or not, I’m not that scared of the dark.”

He didn’t look nearly as amused, wringing his hands out in front of him instead of meeting her eyes.

“You’re going to freeze to death if you’re gonna just stand there in soaking clothes,” she chided. “And what are you doing back half a month early? I know you must’ve missed me, but I didn’t expect you to miss me THAT much.”

He rolled his eyes, bringing Y/N the comfort that the sarcastic asshole was still in there. “We need to talk.”

“No, what you need to do is get changed into dry clothes,” she said. “Not sure if you’ve noticed, but until we get our generator working, there’s no heat...and I’m not sure if the Ministry is going to like it if I let you die on my watch.”

Even though he didn’t normally laugh at her jokes, he seemed especially solemn when she said this. It became very clear to her then that he regretted his brief display of affection.

“What are you doing, just standing here? Shoo! I don’t want to see you dripping snow all over the rug.” She waved him off until he made his way up the stairs, still eerily silent.

Once she was sure he was actually getting dressed, she made her way to the kitchen where she started heating up the water. She’d never been more thankful for the fact that they had a gas stove instead of an electric one.

The tea was almost finished brewing by the time that Draco was back downstairs, perched awkwardly on the couch. She’d never seen his sweater before--it was in a rich forest green with a silver crest of a snake.

“Are you going to tell me whatever is going on? I’ve never seen you like this before,” asked Y/N as she handed him the mug that she knew to be his favorite.

He took a sip and waited a bit before responding. “I found out some things while I was away.”

“Is that it? Must’ve been something pretty interesting for you to come in here and act like I’m your long lost love or whatever.” She took careful note of how his cheeks were especially pink, but it must’ve been because of the cold.

“I shouldn’t tell you everything, but I think you should probably know the gist of things,” he began. “First of all, I figured out why I couldn’t use the Obliviation cube on you. Also, you have to consent to an Unbreakable Vow.”

“A...what? Care to elaborate? Like, at least a little? Why didn’t it work on me?”

He sighed, a sharp breath of air that left his lungs in a huff. “Because you stumbled upon a very important box that can bestow the gift of magic onto anyone. And since you did something in your dream to try and open it, it permanently took root in you. I tried to reverse it, but there’s always going to be an imprint of magic on you.”

“Sick. So I’m a witch now? Like you?”

“No.” His tone was sour. “No, you’re not. For that to work, there needs to be a ritual actually completed by someone magical. That’s why you got so sick--because you would’ve needed me to help you through your dream sequence and open up the box. So, now that you’ve essentially pushed yourself into the magical world uninvited, I can’t use anything on you that’s catered towards Muggles.”

“Rats,” said Y/N. “That’s no fun. What about the whole part about my safety? And what’s that vow thing?”

“Apparently someone really, really wants that box,” Draco told her. “It doesn’t just give muggles the gift of magic--it can also give current wizards powers that are otherwise completely unavailable to the rest of the population. In the wrong hands, they could wreak havoc on the world. And I’m almost positive they think you have it.”

“Oh…” Everything started falling into place. “So, the break in? That probably was them right? And, uh, let’s say if you feel like maybe someone has been in your house while you’ve been gone? Like, that’s something I should be worried about, right?”

“Is that happening to you?” His face looked significantly more pale.

Y/N was tempted to tell him no--just to ease his nerves--but something in his look told her that she needed to be truthful. “Um, kind of. You know how I can be forgetful, though. It’s just little things, like sometimes I come home to find that the front door is unlocked when I’m sure I locked it, or I can’t find little things like my car keys and my phone, but it’s all easily explained.”

“I never should’ve left,” he said, tucked his knees up to his chest. “I should’ve known that that was Merlin’s Box.” He swallowed, meeting her eyes with a gaze that looked so forlorn that her heart ached. “I’m so sorry.”

“Hey, hey, all we have to do is tell them I don’t have the box, right? And then they’ll leave me alone.”

“I don’t know,” he admitted. “I assume so, but if they didn’t find the box when they originally ransacked your room and they’re still hanging around, I don’t know what to do. That’s why I can’t obliviate you, the proper way that we use on wizards, because I can’t always be there to save you. Once I’m gone, you’re going to have to manage on your own.”

“Please, Draco,” said Y/N. “People will always talk a big game, but once I pull out my pepper spray it’s over. I can take care of myself! I didn’t need protection while you’re away.”

He smiled then, a small one that seemed more sad than anything. “You sound like me. When I was younger.”

“You probably don’t even know what pepper spray is. What’s that vow thing?”

“You have to promise that you won’t say anything that would reveal what you know about me and my world,” said Draco. “I need to find a wizard to say the incantations, but it shouldn’t be too hard. I ended up telling the Ministry what happened--I’m not going to get sent away as they have a clear record of me at least attempting to wipe your memory and they agree that you need to be able to protect yourself. Unbreakable Vows are just really intense promises. If you break it, you die.”

“Is that your way of saying you don’t really trust my word?”

He rolled his eyes. “It’s required by the Ministry. If you don’t comply, then you’re going to be completely obliviated and then you can have as much fun as you’d like trying to run from whoever that criminal is without even knowing why they’re after you. Oh, and without me.”

“Then why are you even offering the vow? Don’t you want to go home?”

Draco took a long drink from his mug. “I still have a sentence to carry out. If I go back home, I’ll get sent to the same prison that my father is being held at right now.”

“A...sentence?” Y/N stared at him. “I know you mentioned a punishment, but a sentence?”

He remained silent and refused to meet her eyes.

“Draco, what exactly did you have to do?”

“It’s none of your business,” he snapped. The sudden switch of tone made Y/N start, but he was unwavering in his scowl. “I’d prefer to not think about it.”

“But...Draco…” Y/N cast her gaze to the ground so she didn’t have to see the no doubt furious look in his eyes when she continued to push. “How bad? Do you think that maybe whoever is after me might know that I don’t have the box anymore? And that they might be trying to seek revenge against you for whatever it was that you did instead?”

He didn’t respond.

“Think about it. That would explain why I was untouched this whole time that you were away when they were still keeping tabs on me.”

With a pronounced bonk, he set his mug down on the coffee table. “I’m going to bed.”

She managed to get one more look at his face before he spun around to head up the stairs and was shocked to see what was etched into his face--anger, yes, frustration...and also shame. Unmistakable shame.

final a/n: weeoooooooo i’m like 3 minutes early...this is a monumental moment for my blog. let me know what you guys think (if there’s still people sticking with this series fjkds;al). i am going to go back into my hole and work on some math hw (wonders of ohio y/n vibes...i have low key become her trying to roleplay as a stem girl). the plot is going to thicken and hopefully there will be more fluff soon. i honestly didn’t want to add the hug bc i do want this to be slow burn but it has come to my attention that this is now about 30k words long and i haven’t given y’all so much as an inkling that draco has feelings/anything will happen between them so i gotta give you something to hold you over fjdska;

#draco x reader #draco imagine #draco malfoy x reader #draco malfoy imagine #draco x you #draco malfoy x you #draco x oc #draco malfoy x oc #draco malfoy #draco #dracotok #draco x y/n #draco malfoy x y/n

100 notes · View notes

pennylaneforthoughts · 3 years

Text

Lokius Hogwarts AU

All right my dudes, hot take time:

I’ve seen a lot of Hogwarts AU headcanons floating around, and having thought waaaaaay too much about it, I’m here to add my two cents.

( @sortinghatchats has my favorite sorting system I’ve seen to date, since it goes so much in depth into themes throughout the HP series that good ol’ JK barely touches on in her pretty surface level commentary on the subject, so that’s the system I’m gonna use. Go to their blog to learn more about the way the system works bc I’m too lazy to go more in depth than I already have.)

This is gonna be Hella Long tho so I’m putting it under a cut.

Loki: Petrified Slytherin Primary/Slytherin Secondary - sorting: Slytherin House

Perhaps it may seem trite, but Loki really is a Slytherin Primary at heart. Yes he is ambitious and all that stereotypical stuff, but that’s not really what makes a Slytherin a Slytherin. Anyone can be ambitious. No, he’s a Slytherin because he unapologetically prioritizes himself and the people he cares about above all else.

“Slytherin Primaries are fiercely loyal to the people they care for most. Slytherin is the place where “you’ll make your real friends”– they prioritize individual loyalties and find their moral core in protecting and caring for the people they are closest to. Slytherin’s reputation for ambition comes from the visibility of this promotion of the self and their important people– ambition is something you can find in all four Houses; Slytherin’s is just the one that looks most obviously selfish.”

However, Loki’s trauma has pushed him to something this system calls Petrifying.

“Whether through death, betrayal, abandonment (from either side), or through never having had any to begin with, the Petrified Slytherin has decided that having important people is too dangerous. Having those strong ties leaves you open to pain and weakness, and the pleasure of those connections aren’t worth the despair that comes from their seemingly inevitable loss. In this way, they close themselves off to meaningful connections out of what is ultimately fear (though from the inside, it’s far more likely to be experienced as a rational, sensible decision given the circumstances of the world), and gives them a stony exterior that seems impenetrable, resolute, and cold.”

Loki wants love and acceptance so badly, but he is convinced that the kind of attachments and relationships that that comes from are far too dangerous and the risk isn’t worth the reward. He pushes people away, hides behind a mask of self-aggrandizement, and betrays others before they can betray him in an attempt to protect himself from potential pain.

In the series, however, we see him slowly unpetrify and move towards a more healthy style of attachment because of Mobius and Sylvie’s influence on him. Whereas his circle of priorities used to include only himself (and arguably Frigga and later, Thor, in the movie timeline), he proverbially “thaws” enough to let Mobius and Sylvie in, and tragically, because of that, the loss of them hurts him so deeply because by the end of season 1, they’re all he had.

His Slytherin Secondary, however, is obvious in his methodology. He’s the god of chaos. He loves improvisation, and plans only exist as long as another better idea doesn’t come along and usurp it. He’ll change and adapt (quite literally) to best fit the situation in front of him, and he takes joy in that. But beneath all the running and his many personas, he has his “neutral state” that he lets only a precious few see. Mobius gets to see it, and so does Sylvie, and as he progresses through the series, he starts to be more comfortable existing in that state where he’s no longer hiding behind everything he feels like the world expects him to be and he can just be himself.

Mobius: Slytherin Primary (Hufflepuff Model)/Hufflepuff Secondary - sorting: Slytherin House

People like to put Mobius in Hufflepuff, but honestly? I don’t think that’s where he’d be most comfortable. Yes, he is kind and caring to basically everyone, and we see this over and over again in the series. The man radiates comfort. However, like it says in Inky and Kat’s description of the Slytherin Primary,

“Wanting to help someone doesn’t mean you’re loyal to them. Wanting to help them at the expense of your comforts, your values, your commitments and sometimes even yourself–that does.”

Mobius is kind to a fault. But he is not kind at the expense of himself. Not to everyone at least. He is kind to the child in France, but he is not kind to the point of saving him from the resetting of the timeline, and he doesn’t feel guilty about that. He believes in a duty of care, but he does not believe he has any obligation to go beyond what he thinks that duty of care is. He unapologetically plays favorites, and this is mentioned on multiple occasions. Above all else, Mobius values loyalty as a virtue. Sure, he cares about the TVA and its accompanying morality, and he genuinely does believe it’s his duty to care about and be kind to others. He seems to vibe quite well with the Hufflepuff ideal of caring about people simply because they are people, but this is all secondary to his personal loyalties when push comes to shove. For Mobius,

“dropping that model in order to stand by someone you love, or in order to protect yourself, doesn’t feel like a failing. Sticking to that modelled morality at the expense of betraying or abandoning one of their own would make a Slytherin feel guilty and wrong. Being able to put the things and concepts you like aside for the sake of the people who need you feels more righteous than any moral posturing.”

It’s for this very reason that Mobius gets so angry and feels so betrayed when he thinks Loki has abandoned him for Sylvie, and when Ravonna lies to him and prunes him.

“Betraying your own is the worst kind of crime. Loyalty is precious and terrible; it makes you vulnerable. It’s given sparingly, deeply, and a Slytherin will stand by their loyalties through the same death and fire that a Gryffindor would brave for the sake of doing the right thing, or a Hufflepuff to help someone in need.”

Loki is Mobius’ own. Mobius prioritizes Loki over almost everything else, sticks his neck out for him over and over again, and is willing to sacrifice his own happiness for him. He’s even willing to abandon the whole of his former ideology and prior friendships for this relationship that has become closer to him than his own self, the highest tier of trust and loyalty a Slytherin can give.

“It’s an extreme Slytherin who would let the whole world burn for the sake of a friend, but every Slytherin Primary would be at the very least tempted.”

And Mobius very nearly does exactly that. Even says the words, “burn it to the ground” when Loki asks him what he’s going to do. And he doesn’t feel bad about it. Especially after realizing what the TVA has done to him and the people he cares about. He kicks the TVA out of his circle of care, and doesn’t look back. And he does it for Loki.

Mobius’ Secondary is where people get his Hufflepuff vibes from, I think. A Hufflepuff secondary is marked by “their consistency and the integrity of their method. They’re our hard workers. They build habits and systems for themselves and accomplish things by keeping at them. They have a steadiness that can make them the lynchpin (though not usually the leader) of a community.” And that is what Mobius is. It’s why he radiates that kindness and comfort. He quietly and carefully works at and invests in the relationships in his life to the point that people almost automatically trust him, and over time he has learned how to read people and figure out what makes them tick.

He approaches new situations with a steady head and gentle hand that Loki is unused to, and it’s this approach that eases Loki into learning how to trust and rely on people. It’s an inherently Hufflepuff approach, and it’s the key to his success as an analyst for the TVA and an understanding friend for Lokis across the timelines.

Tl;dr - Application to an actual Hogwarts AU fic:

THEREFORE! There’s a compelling narrative to be had with a tiny, first-year Loki coming into Hogwarts. He comes from a pureblood family that’s very proud of their Gryffindor heritage (they don’t talk about Hela, and Loki and Thor don’t even know she exists until later in this story), and his brother had been sorted into Gryffindor a couple years prior, and Loki has heard very little other than contempt for Slytherin House and everyone in it. Loki doesn’t want to be sorted into Slytherin. He doesn’t want to deal with the disappointment and shame from his father and the sad eyes of his brother. But the sorting hat sorts him there almost immediately, and his heart sinks. He wanders over to the table miserably but determined. If he’s gonna be sorted into the “evil” house, might as well just run with it, right? Best not to get close to people though. It’s Slytherin. Who knows when someone will betray you.

Enter Mobius, the tiny muggleborn, bright eyed, bushy tailed, and having no clue about the prejudices between houses. The hat takes a hot minute sorting him, giving him the choice between Hufflepuff and Slytherin and telling him Hufflepuff would love a kindhearted and welcoming member like him. But Mobius has been eyeing the little black-haired kid who got sorted before him and is now sitting far apart from everyone, and he can’t help but feel like he needs to be this kid’s friend. And didn’t the hat just say Slytherin is where you’ll make your real friends? Friends are what Mobius cares about, so he’d like to go to Slytherin, thank you very much, so that’s where he goes, and he happily plunks himself down right next to Loki and sticks his hand out.

“I’m Mobius. What’s your name?”

Loki looks at Mobius’ hand disdainfully and doesn’t shake it, but he does answer, “Loki.”

Mobius’ eyes go wide, and he smiles. “Loki? Like after the Norse god?”

Loki nods, eyeing Mobius suspiciously. People don’t often bat an eye at his name. Not in the wizarding world, anyway.

“Wow, that’s so cool! I loved reading about Norse mythology in school and Loki was always my favorite. Names have power, you know. If you’ve got the same name, then you must be just as awesome.”

Loki has no idea what to do with this kid, but he’s immediately aware of two things:

He’s absolutely sure that this Mobius kid is in the wrong house. No way a Slytherin can be this excited without a single hint of deception in his face.

He’s going to be eaten alive by the other students if Loki doesn’t protect him. What a pain.

Loki is completely wrong on both of these points.

#lokius #loki x mobius #wowki #loki #mobius #loki 2021 #look i've thought WAY too hard about this and i just need a slytherin mobius who subverts everyone's expectations about what a slytherin is #while still being 100% obviously a slytherin when you think about it

35 notes · View notes

kohakhearts · 2 years

Text

i’d like to address a few things about my posting here and my fics because it’s been weighing on my mind for a while and i’ve been having a difficult time deciding how i want to move forward. i know a lot of people have followed me for harry potter content, and that i’ve got a lot of ongoing hp fanworks. so i’m going to talk about what i’m planning to do about these things under the cut. my feelings on this are complicated and i’ve been trying to figure them out for, honestly, years now. thank you for following me and engaging with my content through this time. i’m very thankful for the people i’ve met and for the readers who’ve reached out to me with kind words!

i’ve talked about this before, but i haven’t liked jkr for a long long time. i started to see a lot of her shit when i was ~14. in fact, i got into some tumblr discourse about it from time to time LMAO. so, for me, “separating the art and artist” happened a long time ago (in quotes because that’s not actually possible to do). it’s the reason why i never bothered to support tcc. i read portions of online, but mostly didn’t care about it and had no interest in buying or seeing it. same with the fb movies. the more things she posted on pottermore, the more i ignored them. now, i still find some value as a fic writer in a lot of the lore presented in these things - that’s uh...what the fandom wiki is for, frankly. lmao. from a 10-year-old who worshipped this woman to a very bitter lgbtq teen within only a few years - now, at 21, i have spent most of my time ignoring her. although, i will say, it used to be a big goal of mine to be blocked by her on twitter. unfortunately, i didn’t become active on twitter until about 5 years ago, and she wasn’t very active anymore until she started spewing her terf shit. now, i just don’t want to put her on my trans friends’ timelines. so i don’t really engage, because i think we need to just ignore her. she’s like a kid having a temper tantrum. except i won’t move the metaphorical furniture out of the way for her because i don’t give a shit if she hurts herself, so to speak.

anyway, that’s the big point for me. i don’t want my trans friends to have to see her or her creations or anything. i don’t want to put them in a position where they’ll see me, someone they care about, giving unfettered praise to her (ok, in all fairness, i’ve probably never done this; i can’t ever talk about harry potter without also mentioning how much it fucking sucks, because it does. but that’s not enough) when she is actively trying to get them killed. because that’s what it is. it is violence. plain and simple.

i love harry potter. it’s such an important series to me, and there are a lot of reasons why. i wouldn’t be the writer i am now without it. i wouldn’t have met a lot of my friends. i would have missed out on a lot of important self-reflection i’ve done through these books and my transformative works. this isn’t going to change just because the author is a horrible person who created a...horrifically racist world. there are a lot of lgbtq+ hp fans out there, and i do want to support those people above all else. but at the end of the day, i’m also not willing to sacrifice the happiness i gain from creating my content when i genuinely don’t think it will make a difference whatsoever. actually, i think i can make a better statement if i continue to update my fics. just because i can’t deplatform her doesn’t mean i have to deplatform myself.

so, at the risk of looking like a performative POS, i will continue to post fic. maybe someday i’ll write oneshots again, but for now at least i’m just looking at my big projects. after the ones i’m currently working on, i can’t say whether or not there will be more, but i think it’s unlikely there will be. honestly? creating new works from scratch just isn’t as fun anymore. i’ve gotten most of what i needed/wanted out of the series, and that’s enough for me. i have a lot of guilt about creating for it at all. so i’ll continue to post, but you will never see me post a chapter without something in the notes about jkr’s rancid views. every time i post a new chapter of something, i will donate some amount to a uk-based trans organization. whether that will be a set amount or will be x dollars per x thousand words, i’m not sure yet, and it will depend on my own financial situation. because i’m a student, and unemployed, and i still have at least 2 years of school left. and i will encourage my readers to match my donations whenever possible.

as for my tumblr, well...i think it’s hard, because without personally knowing every single person in the fandom, you can’t really say which hp fans are in support of her and which ones aren’t. so i don’t really want to continue to let hp have such a large presence on my blog. i’ll probably still rb gifsets and fanartfrom time to time, but i am 100% willing to trigger tag anything related to hp and i probably won’t be making any more gifsets myself, or at least significantly fewer of them. i’m still willing to take requests for hp gifsets and fics. in the future, if people wanted it, i would be willing to do hp requests like a sort of charity drive - you pay $1+ to a trans org, i’ll accordingly match with like 100 words/$1 or 1 gif/$1 or something like that. if any other hp content creators are interested in organizing something like that somewhat en masse, let me know because i’m not really “in” the fandom anymore so my reach is quite limited lmao but i’ve done a fair bit of fundraising work irl and i would be more than happy to organize.

with all that said, you’ll notice i’ve been very inactive/haven’t been updating much in the past year-ish. part of that is that i’m busy with school. the bigger part is that my mental health has crashed and burned. i’m not in a great place and i’m endeavouring to not talk about it as much as possible because that’s something i need to be able to do for my own healing process. i’m doing a lot of therapy, but i haven’t really been able to write. i’ve been focussing on other projects trying to get my voice back and everything. don’t know how long it will take before i get back into my ongoing fics and novels, but it will happen eventually. thank you for your patience and understanding. i really hope this process will serve to make me a better storyteller in the end.

that’s kind of all i’ve got to say here. i’m willing to discuss anything i’ve mentioned if people have questions or are feeling conflicted themselves. wishing you all the very best. take care <3

#jk rowling tw //#harry potter #hp tw //#taylor.txt

4 notes · View notes

thedeadflag · 3 years

Text

theconqueeror i saw that tweet about trans NPCs and i didn't even know it was HP based thing but it still rubbed me in such a wrong way. i bet they'd never say "well just headcanon whoever you want as a poc" or something. I'll probably stay clear even though I was interested in checking out more of their stuff later on

fjordgofurther @theconqueeror Orion's pronouns are they/them, which provides some context to where they're coming from in that statement.

Yeah, for clarity, Orion's non-binary, prefers they/them or no pronouns.

It's frustrating. I adore the cast of this series, I respect Orion, and I want to be super supportive and enthusiastic because they're lovely folks. Since I've subbed to Dropout, I've always done what I could to watch live. I don't think I'll be able to do that with this one, I'll probably wait until it's over, take part of a day to see if I can binge it, and be done with it.

Like, they've got a more diverse cast, they've got a black woman GMing, I WANT to support that up front and hype it up. Like, it's D20's first campaign with Brennan not running the game, that's a risk and I want to reward them for these choices because it's important. I just can't give this my all with it being HP-themed.

Like, of all the possible settings to go with, they chose one of the extremely select few that I cannot in any way get motivated about. They're releasing it within Pride month, too, which makes it sting even more.

And like, I kind of get the whole "We couldn't be overt with all the NPCs so just headcanon any of the non-PCs as trans if you want to" thing, but that's just so...obvious? Like, that's what people do anyways, no one needs their permission? It's not a justified point to bring up as a way to assuage concerns of a lack of trans rep, the source setting's transphobia, and the potential to contribute to the source material's popularity/relevance/revenue.

It's like JKR saying after the fact that Dumbledore is gay. It means nothing, it's empty. We should be beyond putting that kind of post-hoc narrative concept on a pedestal.

Like, it hasn't aired yet. It's D20 so I will trust that there's going to be some manner of positive trans rep in it, because they haven't let me down yet, but saying that sort of thing literally drops my level of confidence if anything, because they should feel confident in standing behind their work. They shouldn't need this meaningless stuff that only serves to distract and dismiss.

Like, Dimension20's fanbase is pretty progressive, but I've already seen a bunch of folks across social media platform wonder what the issue with HP is and what TERFs are. Very good chance this'll be a Colbert Report situation where a good chunk of people don't recognize the satire and end up motivated to re-visit their Harry Potter stomping grounds, get the books, preorder the upcoming game, etc. , essentially continue the relevance of the source material.

Satire won't be enough. Dunking on HP and JKR won't be enough. Saying "Fuck TERFs" won't be enough (and honestly, saying "Fuck TERFs" is largely performative at this point, because not only is it often being said in place of what should be open support for trans people and trans women in particular, but TERFs won't care if they even come across that, and the overwhelming majority of the time, no one is putting that to action and trying to stop TERFs from accomplishing their goals, so like, come on).

I know I'm not entitled to shit, and it doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things that D20 was one of the few bits of media where I could go and not have to really worry about being confronted with transphobia. Despite their best intentions, I'm going to be facing down hours of having transphobia bouncing around my head while I try to watch this, because there's no separating HP from its political influence.

#misfits and magic #long post

11 notes · View notes

elkian · 4 years

Text

I was gonna do a “missing the point”-style meme but I’m honestly not sure that would even work tho so:

Harry Potter and My Hero Academia/Boku no Hero Academia have similar issues with introducing and then immediately ignoring ENORMOUS issues re: ableism.

I think these two series in specific come to mind bc it’s ableism within a specific empowered community, and in both cases the series are pretty well-known and the community (Wix/Heroes) are immediately identifiable to many audiences.

[WARNING: Discussions of ableism, child harm, and abuse on multiple levels.]

What’s the problem?

SQUIBS.

[This post got stupid huge SO here is a tl,dr for all you lovely people who understandably have no time for this.

TL, DR: Both Harry Potter and Boku No Hero have a bad tendency to implement or imply a level of disability regarding unempowered people in empowered societies. They then continue on to completely disregard important conclusions to these implications, such as how heavily it is implied that these unempowered people (Squibs) are so ‘worthless’ to those societies that their very deaths are merely a byline rather than an actual tragedy.

This is especially troubling in MHA/BNHA when so many other political and worldbuilding considerations HAVE been planned out, and seems to be less-discussed in the fandom as a whole, so that’s a much larger chunk of this post.]

That’s your tl, dr!

Here’s the Harry Potter angle:

HP has a bit that I’ve seen people discussing already: Neville’s magic was discovered when his uncle dropped a literal child a potenial lethal distance.

Neville activating his power and surviving is celebrated, and then JKR immediately glosses over the glaring issue this has introduced: the heavy implication that a Squib dying from this incident would have not have been mourned or even really commented on.

The few adult Squibs (and isn’t that a whole new slice of wonderful /j) are generally disliked and ridiculed for some reason or other. Now, while obviously there are plenty of places where the Venn diagram of “disabled” and “asshole” intersect irl, when your ONLY presentation of a disabled character or group is, every time, an asshole or a fool or both, boy! That’s bad!

Neville (who is generally presented as magically, physically, and mentally weak and often treated as comic relief) is a bit better via the POV Character constantly having positive interactions with him, but this is still a mess. Yes, Neville canonically is not a Squib, but it’s not subtle that he’s on the cusp OF being a Squib, and that is a key element of ridiculing him in many situations (also the whole trauma thing multiple times, like if I really get into it I could do a whole double-size post of how Neville was done dirty or nearly dirty by JK all the time but this isn’t that post).

This isn’t even the point of this post. Let’s move to MHA/BNHA

Hero Academia has differing but honestly even worse issues. And I’m aware that different countries handle ableism and accessibility in different ways, but if you think too hard about it this is an absolute clusterfuck.

What is the problem now?

Squibs! Or rather, the main character of the series, Midoriya Izuku.

Deku (a nickname meaning “useless”! Imparted after his disability is recognized! hilarity!!) is also born without powers. Even worse in some ways, he is born without powers in a world where the overwhelming majority of the global population has some kind of empowerment. I can’t recall if it’s outright stated or only implied that someone with a functionally useless (and hoo boy, usefullness to society is its own post nope not today i do not have that much energy) Quirk is still more of a person than a Quirkless human.

That sink in? Okay, let’s move on.

In a narratively not-uncommon turn of events, Deku gains power. This is partially a product of, and directly tied to, his own work and determination, as well as his willingness to help even when physically outmatched.

To an American audience (NOT the intended audience though I wouldn’t doubt it if Horikoshi meant to have international appeal more or less from the start), this is a deeply satisfying narrative. Who doesn’t love an underdog story? And we even learn that the strongest hero of all time (til this point, anyways) was ALSO born Quirkless!

However, from here, things take a nosedive.

The key problem is a combination of story progression and overall thought put into worldbuilding. Horikoshi’s efforts may not be the MOST thorough, but he has put a great deal of work and thought into his creation (he at least understands the concept of implications and sometimes plans accordingly, looking at you JKR). However, that tied with story progression and personal repercussions actually works to the detriment of the matter.

Especially given recent turns of events.

[BIG MEGA SPOILERS FOR FAIRLY RECENT PLOT

STOP HERE IF YOU’RE NOT CAUGHT UP

SERIOUSLY]

What I mean by this is the current state of events re: two particular recent/recent-ish plot arcs.

First, Quirk Removal, and second, Endeavor’s comeuppance.

Quirk Removal/Loss was the start of my realization to what the narrative was doing regarding Izuku’s Quirklessness and the state of being overall.

This arc was a perfect time to bring up Midoriya’s past! A lot of Western works certainly would have done so! And yes, it may be bordering on done-to-death, but many elements of Hero Academia put new twists on common themes and cliches; it wasn’t unreasonable to hope that he might do it again.

Instead, little to NOTHING is discussed during this time! In fact, iirc I’d go so far as to say Midoriya straight-up never considers his past at any point during this arc!? If I’m wrong then it obviously made little impact.

NOW, not every disabled character needs to incorporate their disability and/or skills gleaned from living with it in every narrative. In fact, it would get tedious and questionable if they did (note: this does NOT mean ignoring/forgetting the character is even disabled when convenient. Like, I’d like to think that’s the obvious point of this post but... *gestures at tumblr*).

But the complete lack of it here feels really weird. Like, almost hollow. I think Midoriya makes some kind of suggestion to Mirio of his former Quirklessness at the end of the arc, but nothing that made any kind of impact.

Let’s move on.

Endeavor.

Now, the problem with Endeavor’s arc is not the arc itself. Or, rather, it’s the fact that Endeavor’s Comeuppance is pretty good.

This is a problem because someone else should be getting this exact same arc, yet the issue is never even RECOGNIZED, let alone addressed.

Endeavor’s abuse of his wife and children, all in the name of creating a Heroic legacy, is publicized and tanks his popularity. The general public is now aware of what he’s done to the people closest to him, which aside from giving him a more correct reputation, means they can’t trust him to protect them if they can’t trust him to protect his own family.

This isn’t the goal of this post and I’m no expert regardless, but up to this point (around chapter 290) this was handled in an interesting way. Endeavor is humanized and often shown interacting with people in a way that, while often domineering, isn’t always aggressive or abusive. He runs a Hero Agency for crying out loud! But abuse in the real world often isn’t constant, nor happening to everyone in contact with the abuser. So this is a surprisingly good lead up to the reveal, where you can understand how most people never realized this was an issue.

But here’s my main point. Let’s examine some traits and actions that come up:

physically abusive to a child (often dangerously so) to the point of permanent trauma and severe scarring in some cases

target of abuse was weaker (physically and/or regarding Quirk power)

often abused victim emotionally/psychologically, bringing this weakness up again and again

own immense power led to rising in the world of Heroics

comrades, fellow Heroes, UA teachers etc. not aware of prior abuse issues

Who does this sound like?

Endeavor, who has a whole fucking arc dedicated to this reveal and repercussions?

Or Bakugou?

Reminder: This isn’t a hate post. This isn’t a character post, or even an abuse post. This is about ableism.

Bakugou exhibits many, many traits and actions that Endeavor was literally just punished for. So why does the treatment of these characters in-universe differ so drastically?

Two primary reasons I can think of, which feed into each other:

1) Bakugou was a child (still technically is a minor, remember! Still a first-year high schooler!) when this started. This doesn’t mean he’s strictly innocent, but it’s an important point, because it leads us to

2) Bakugou Katsuki’s abuse of Midoriya Izuku is socially accepted.

Reminder of the audience’s first encounter with Katsuki. The very first page with him is him and his grade-school posse picking on a kid that Izuku is trying to protect. His posse is showing off their Quirk powers and mocking Izuku’s lack thereof.

Then we flash forward to late-middle school versions of the kids. Bakugou, in front of a fucking teacher and entire class, is verbally, physically, etc. abusive to Izuku. He trashes his stuff, threatens him, tells him to kill himself (which, as Izuku notes later, is a fucking felony in Japan too).

No one stops him.

No one criticizes him.

We don’t even get a shot of like, some more ‘regular’ students being like “man Bakugou’s kinda fucked up but we’re too scared to do anything about it” NO. NO. Everyone more or less either backs Katsuki up or straight up doesn’t care.

Remember that this started when Katsuki and Izuku were four. Remember that Katsuki’s power is absurdly dangerous, ie. LITERAL. GODDAMN. EXPLOSIONS.

Izuku has scars. He probably has hearing loss! He may have gotten at least one concussion which can cause serious neurological issues and open him up to further risk!

He could have died.

And?

NO ONE. DOES. ANYTHING.

THIS is the point of the post. THIS is the value placed on Quirkless people in this society.

And yet. Despite Endeavor’s comeuppance. Despite All Might and Izuku’s blatant ‘value’ to society through Heroics. Despite so many other political implications and quandaries address in the Hero Academia series.

Nothing. Nothing. Nothing about this is addressed. The nearly-lethal ableism towards Quirkless people in this society is never ONCE brought up properly once Izuku receives One For All.

There is so much potential here! There is so much worth talking about! And yet we’ve moved into what feels very much like the Final Battle without it being addessed, despite numerous, numerous opportunities for a meaningful conversation about it along the way.

Mirio losing his power! Hell, Mirio’s powers’ drawbacks (and pretty much every Quirk’s drawback! if acknowledged properly!) border on a disability-analogue, and even more when Yuga’s laser comes up, and yet again and again we fail to truly engage with the matter in a meaningful way.

At this point, even if it comes up in the finale, I’m going to be disappointed in this particular aspect of the series due to the complete and total shut-down it’s been given so far.

What the FUCK, Horikoshi?

#elk text #24th #February #2021 #February 24th 2021 #I hope the bold helps with reading #long post warn #elk has thoughts #sorry for the ramble #Ableism #other shit comes up but plz keep in mind that that is the PRIMARY POINT OF THIS #also:#child abuse warn #abuse warn #harry potter spoilers warn #boku no hero spoilers #like REAL BIG spoilers for later Hero Academia stuff!#this is not a character hate post and i will block judiciously #elk has feelings

22 notes · View notes

chibinekochan · 4 years

Text

Winter solstice - Obey me! Au Ft. Levi

A special gift for Dani for the Obey me Secret Santa exchange.

I hope you enjoy your holidays and a happy late birthday to you.

This Au includes a bit of angst and a creature of darkness.

TW: Injury, no mention of blood but it hurts.

Pairing includes fem.Reader/Leviathan.

The Reader will be called Dani.

Words 6.7k

It's too long so I will add a read more link.

__________________________

A snowy winter day.

It's frosty and you wrap your coat tightly around your body.

Your breath is visible in the wintry air.

You pull up your scarf and make your way into the forest that stretches out in front of you.

Many rumors surround the pine forest. Legends of monsters and lost souls that wander the woods.

You don't allow this to deter you. Bravely, you ignore the sign with the ominous 'Stay out' sprayed over the name of the forest. You can barely read the name 'Pine Timberland'. Not the most subtle of names.

You reach the trail that snakes its way deep into the woods. This sort of path is usually used to transport wood to the town. This will at least make your way a bit easier.

You step on the path with mixed feelings.

Reminding yourself of your mission: Find the treasure and get out of here.

The treasure is a necklace, lost in the woods a month ago.

You thought that it was lost forever, but just the other day a woodworker, and close family friend, saw it hanging on a tree. It was on an edge and hard to reach, the workers had to return home before dark, and the necklace was left behind.

You know that it won't be easy, but you are prepared. Your backpack is filled with supplies.

You proceed to follow the path into the deep forest. It's pretty dark. You can see why everyone thinks this place is scary. Even when you are always drawn to it.

The path leads deeper and deeper inside the cold and quiet forest. During the summer this place is almost dreamlike. The snow doesn't change that impression. Still, there's something unsettling about the deep pine woods.

Maybe it's the rumors or maybe it's the uneasy feeling that someone is observing you.

Despite your growing uneasiness you keep walking deeper into the forest. There is not a soul in sight and slowly the cold starts to sting your face and creeps into your clothes.

Goosebumps form on your skin.

Finally, you can see the path that will lead to the cliff. You double-check your map. Yes, this is the right way.

With a beating heart, you make your way up the path. The path is steep. Your breath grows heavier, creating puffs of breath in the wintry air.

You have to hurry or else night will fall soon. This deep in the forest and on the narrow path you have to rely on your flashlight. There is no time to waste. Especially now where exhaustion is setting in.

Determined, you hasten your step. The path is getting harder and harder to tell apart from the snow. This path must be rarely used. You almost stumble over a root. You continue with great care. This slows you down even more.

Your boots dig deep into the snow with each step becoming increasingly difficult. Thoughts of giving up enter your mind. It's dangerous to stay in the forest after dark.

Just when you are about to turn around you, notice something shiny in the trees.

Your eyes light up. That must be it!

You light up the tree with the flashlight.

Something up in the tree reflects the light. It's impossible to tell what exactly it is from down here.

Carefully you step closer, mindful of the steep decline near your position. You take the flashlight between your teeth and stretch out to reach the small object.

Almost there, just a little more, you are on your tiptoes.

Suddenly you hear a rustling noise in the bushes. Your body jerks around in a reflex.

Out of nowhere, your foot gets tangled into something. Before you can do anything, your world starts to turn upside down and you can't manage to get a hold of anything.

With panic, you realize that you are falling down the cliff. You scream in terror but can't manage to stop yourself from falling.

Finally, your body stops, your fall caught by a small bush.

You wince in pain and try to move. Nothing seems to be broken. Thank you, lucky star.

“Hey, are you okay?” You hear a panicked voice.

“Nothing seems broken.” You are a bit taken aback by the sudden appearance of a stranger. From the voice, you can tell it's a young male.

“That's a relief. I just heard someone screaming, and I was like: oh, no, what am I supposed to do? And I just kinda came here. I mean it would've been very awkward if you were a yeti just in the middle of something you know.” The young man just seems to ramble on.

You are pretty thrilled to meet someone out here. “Would you mind helping me up?”

“Oh... umm sure. I guess that's fine. Since you are injured and all…” He seems very awkward but comes closer.

The flashlight illuminates his features. Blue hair that almost covers his golden eyes. He has a rather slender build, and his complexion seems pale.

His gloved hand reaches out to you. He is shaking. Maybe he is just cold? Well, you are cold, miserable and honestly, your body hurts almost everywhere. Without much further thought, you grab his hand.

With surprising ease, he pulls you up and you manage to stand. Even when you're a bit wobbly. “Thank you, Levi. You are pretty strong.”

“I know it's a huge surprise that everyone is always like; look there is Levi, he is so weak and pathetic, what a loser.” He sighs, seemingly defeated.

“You seem pretty kind, helping a complete stranger. By the way, my name is Dani.” You smile at him, and now that you see him from up close, he looks pretty adorable.

“Me nice? That's the first time someone said that to me... I'm Leviathan, everyone just calls me Levi... Well, there are not many people that call me anything. Anyway, did you break something?” Levi seems a bit down again, but he is more worried about you.

You move a bit. It hurts, but you seem to be able to move just fine. “It hurts everywhere. I'm sure I've got snow in my clothes, but I think I can walk.”

“Hmm, you fell pretty far. You are only human and the walk back is pretty far. What were you actually even doing up there anyway? Don't you know it's dangerous in the woods?” Levi can't stop himself from a small lecture.

“I lost my necklace, and it seems to be up a tree on the edge of the cliff there.” You drop your head and point to the cliff.

“Oh, I see that must be pretty important to you... Well, no way are you finding it now in this condition. What am I supposed to do now? You are a normie lost in the woods and hurt on top of that.” Levi seems to be pondering this over with himself.

“Normie? I don't know what you mean by that, and if you could just help me to get back to the trail that would be great.” At this point, you just want to get home.

“I hate to break it to you, but the trail is a few miles from here and you are injured.” Levi is pretty pessimistic about your chances.

You feel dejected. “What am I supposed to do then Levi?” You look at Levi with slight puppy eyes.

Levi looks away, he looks very troubled and you can see that he blushes slightly. “Ugh... You really know how to land a critical hit.” He looks at you; he seems unsure of what to do.

His reaction tells you that he wants to help you but just needs a little push. “Please Levi. I require your help.”

Levi wildly gestures with his arms. “Alright, alright. My Hp hit 0. You got me. I live in the forest with my brothers. Luckily for me, they are all busy over the holidays and I'm house-sitting. It's not like I had other plans or that anyone would invite me for the holidays.” Levi seems pretty troubled, despite his words.

“That sounds very sad.” You feel bad for Levi.

“I'm quite alright all by myself. I have just picked my new special edition of 'Celebrate with Ruri-chan'. I plan to watch it at least 200 times and then I have all these holiday events in my games. I'm very busy.” Levi seems slightly offended.

“Celebrate with Ruri-chan'? Wow, that's already out? I thought it would come tomorrow.” You are slightly aware of the popular series.

“YOU KNOW RURI-CHAN?! OMG, an otaku in the wild??? Wow, I can't even...just give me a second. I need to get my soul back into my body.” Levi takes a deep breath.“Alright, so what's your favorite episode of The Magical Ruri Hanai: Demon Girl? Who is your 2nd favorite next to Ruri-chan? You know, for me it's impossible to decide. Like the first episode alone, it set so much up and the season finale was just like, wow. Then when we learn all about Azuki-tan and the lost half. I cried so much. Aaah, it's impossible to choose.” Levi is suddenly extremely excited.

You feel very happy to see this new side of him. He is a very passionate person.

However, you have to interrupt him, since the snow in your clothes is melting and you are shivering. “I'm sorry to interrupt you, but I really need to start moving. I'm quite cold.”

“Oh, yeah right, sorry. I got distracted. I was just about to say that I will bring you to my home.” Levi feels a bit guilty, especially since he can tell that you are miserable.

“Will that be alright?” You have just learned that he is all alone in his home and you are a stranger.

“I know I'm not the greatest company, being a loser Otaku shut in and all but you have to make do. At least until I can get you back out of the forest.” Levi is pretty down again.

“That's not what I suggested. You seem pretty nice to be honest. I mean, if it won't be a bother to you.” You feel like saying something nice about him.

“Ah no, you seem pretty nice, too. For a normie, you know. I mean we can even watch 'Celebrate with Ruri-chan' together while you dry off. This seems like a great idea actually. I mean, I don't care either way, of course.” Levi seems to like the idea but does a 180 turn for some reason.

“Sounds like a plan.” You support the idea.

“Alright, let's go then. Oh, hold on a second. Can you walk without pain?” Levi pumps his fist and then remembers your injuries.

You carefully take a few steps. It hurts. Levi seems pretty weak, so you doubt that he will be able to carry you. “I think I will be fine with a bit of support.”

"You just thought that I was too weak to carry you didn't you?" Levi sighs and looks genuinely distraught.

You feel a tinge of guilt in your chest. “Sorry Levi.”

He shakes his head. “Honestly it doesn't surprise me at all. I mean, I know I'm weak and pathetic. Of course, you would feel like you can't depend on me. You aren't even wrong, you know. I will probably collapse halfway through and then you will have to carry me.”

After saying that he turns his back to you and crouches down to the ground. “Well at any rate, just come and hop on Dani.”

You can't see his face, but his action touches your heart. You decide to trust him. “Alright, thank you so much, Levi.”

Carefully you climb onto his back and hold onto him. With a deep breath, Levi stands up. He wobbles a bit but manages to stand up without massive issues.

“Well, let's get going then.” Levi huffs and starts walking.

“I hope I'm not too heavy for you.” You feel like Levi is suffering a lot right now.

“No, you are not. You are light as a feather. I'm just very weak. My brothers will definitely make fun of me when they hear about this." Levi huffs with each step and seems dejected.

“I think you are pretty cool. I mean you are carrying me on your back to your home. If I meet your brothers, I will tell them that you are super cool.” You tell him your honest opinion.

“R-really?! Y-you t-think t-that I'm cool? Nobody ever said that about me.” Levi is very surprised and starts to stumble over his words. He seems very confused.

“Not everyone would save a random stranger in the woods after all. You are a hero.” You find his reaction pretty cute and want to see some more of that.

Levi stops moving for a moment. “I sure hope you're not joking, because you really know how to hit my weak points.” He mumbles this, but you can still hear him well enough since you are this close to him.

“I'm serious.” You want him to know and cling just a bit tighter to him.

Levi seems suddenly oddly quiet, you think he must be exhausted from carrying you. What you don't realize is that Levi is blushing and has lost the power to speak due to embarrassment. This is certainly a first for Levi.

Soon you see a light shining in the forest. Slowly you can make out an old mansion. Was there such a building in the forest? You certainly didn't know that.

Levi breathes very heavily by the time you two arrive at the gate. The mansion looks very old, but there seems no road leading up to it. This is very odd to you.

Levi stops and lets you off his back. Just when you want to thank him once again, he lands face first in the snow.

“Wow! Are you alright?” You are very surprised.

Levi slightly lifts his head. His breath is labored. “Yeah...umm well, not really I'm probably going to die to be honest, but I got some phoenix feathers somewhere in my pocket.”

“Nice reference but do you need help?” You are concerned but can't help but smile at the casual mention.

“You got that reference? Dani, you truly are player two material.” Levi chuckles lightly. "Um, what I mean is that I will be fine. Just let me catch my breath for a sec here.” He seems embarrassed again.

“Okay, if you say so.” You smile lightly and pretend that you don't look at him laying flat in the snow like a pancake.

After a bit, Levi slowly gets up and frees himself of the snow. “Sorry about that. So much for my hero status. Let's get inside and warm up before I embarrass myself even further.” Levi is slightly depressed.

So you decide to cheer him up a little. “Even heroes need to respawn sometimes.” You offer him a smile when he looks at you, seemingly surprised, and then he turns flushed.

He fumbles with his key, unsure of what to say. “Saying things like that so casually... You should be careful or else I will think that you like me or something.” Levi speaks very quietly, it seems like he doesn't want you to overhear him.

“I like you.” You don't miss a beat.

With an amazed expression, Levi turns to you. “Are you serious? I mean, it would be very mean to joke like that.” Levi has this troubled expression again. “Wait, don't reply to that question. I don't think I'm ready to hear the answer right now. My hp is too low as it is. Let's just head inside and warm up.” Levi sighs again.

You recall him laying in the snow just moments ago and don't want to repeat that. So you keep quiet, for now.

Levi unlocks the door and you step inside.

You were not sure what to expect, but the mansion looks better than you imagined.

It's old but in excellent shape. Everyone that lives here must take great care of it.

Levi closes the door behind you. You can feel the warmth of the place slowly seeping into your body.

“You can just leave your boots and coat here, I will let you use my bathroom so you can dry off. I mean Asmo has a nicer bath, but he would kill me if I use it. I mean he would be okay with someone cute as you use it. Not that he is here regardless, but well better not take any risks.” Levi starts to ramble on.

“Asmo? Is he one of your brothers?” You are curious.

“Yeah, I got six of them. They are honestly a lot to handle.” Levi shakes his head.

“It must be lively when everyone is at home.” You can't even imagine that.

“Lively is an understatement. They are exhausting, to say the least.” Levi vaguely gestures with his hands. “Enough about them. Let's go to my room and just so you know I have a lot of valuable collectibles in my room. So please be careful alright?” Levi seems concerned.

“Don't worry, I will be extra careful.” You give him an encouraging smile. Then you undress your boots and coat.

That seems to be enough for Levi, and he starts to lead you to his room.

You are extremely curious about it, you have some ideas about what he has in his room. Nothing could prepare you for the truth.

Levi opens the door and for a moment the view freezes you on the spot. The first thing you see is a huge aquarium on the backside of the room. Then you spot shelves filled with all sorts of merchandise. Finally, your eyes are glued to a bathtub in the middle of the room.

This is the strangest thing that you have ever seen.

For a moment you think that Levi expects you to bathe in there, but you fail to see any faucets.

Confused, you look at Levi.

He looks very sad. “I know my room is a huge disappointment and if you could run you would. I honestly should've cleaned up. I mean, nobody ever visits me, but I know it's a lame excuse.” Levi seems very disappointed with himself.

“Your room is unique, but it seems to be very you. I was just wondering about the bathtub.” You had barely noticed the mess everywhere.

“Oh, that is just for me to lay in. Don't worry, I have a working bathroom over there.” Levi gestures towards a door in his room.

Somehow this provides you immense relief, even when it's odd for anyone to sleep in a bathtub, but you aren't here to judge.

“The bathroom is clean by the way. I will go and get you fresh towels, and you will need some clothes… I will lend you something from my collection of anime clothes. Fortunately, I have plenty of doubles, and got some stuff that will fit you. Unless you hate wearing that kind of stuff?” Levi seems anxious.

“Sounds great to me.” Right now you would wear anything and anime clothes sound pretty good to you.

“Alright.” Levi then goes and starts to rummage in an enormous box.

You take this chance and look around the room. You notice his massive collection of games. He really has them all, it seems. Most of them look like RPGs and visual novels. You have played some of these yourself. Levi even owns the new DevilCart. You haven't seen this one in the wild yet. “Oh, you have DevilCart? That's so awesome, I love that series.”

You can hear a surprised noise from Levi. “We can play it if you want to. I usually just play alone, but I'm extremely good at it so don't cry if I beat you.” Levi seems to have a combative side to him as well.

“Sounds like a plan to me, but just that you know I'm essentially the unbeaten DevilCart in my home.” You won't back down from this challenge and give him a teasing smile.

“A challenger has appeared! I'm looking forward to that.” Levi responds very cheerfully. Then he stops with his search. “Ah, here that will be perfect.” He holds up a complete set of cute clothes, a t-shirt, sweats, and a hoodie, all with a Ruri-chan pattern.

“Wow, this is incredible. So cute, I didn't even know this existed.” You are very happy with his choice.

“I'm so glad you like it. Honestly, it's the best outfit I own but it's way too cute for someone like me to wear. It will suit you perfectly.” Levi seems relieved.

You take it with a smile. “That's very sweet of you, Levi.”

Levi looks away, hands in front of his face, probably to hide his red face. “N-no problem. Oh, that reminds me. I got this Potion from Satan. He said it would help me in case I injure myself.”

“Satan?” You are surprised to hear that name.

“That's one of my brothers.” Levi seems to believe this will ease your confusion.

“Your brother is named Satan?” You are very puzzled about this.

“I get the confusion. Our parents were trying to be different or something. We are all named after demons. My oldest brother is called Lucifer. Like come on, we were kinda set up to fail or at least to raise some eyebrows. It's no wonder that Satan became a warlock.” Levi shakes his head and shrugs.

“That is a lot of information right here. I don't even know where to start.” Your confusion is just growing.

“I know what you mean. It's best to just accept it and move on. Well, anyway Satan's potions are very effective. So you should feel much better after taking it.” Levi is used to the confusion, and you decide not to ask anything further.

Levi then presents a bottle of blue liquid to you.

“Are you sure that I can have this?” You look a bit unsure about the bottle.

“I might be weak but I will likely survive.” Levi pouts lightly.

Seeing this, you take the bottle. “Thank you, Levi.”

“No problem. It's a bit bitter by the way. Here some candy.” Levi gives you a small candy wrapped in colorful paper. It must be from an anime. Everything he owns seems to be related to anime or games. He undoubtedly is a full-fledged Otaku.

You empty the potion while holding your breath. It's not as bitter as you feared and it makes you feel all warm, so it's not that bad. You still eat the sweet candy.

“Now you can take your bath or shower. The key is inside so you can feel all safe.” Levi seems happy that you drank the potion.

You nod and take the towel and clothes from Levi. Then you head into his bathroom and decide to shower. It feels very good, and your body is back to normal temperature after you are done. Your sore body feels much better too, you can't find any injuries anywhere.

Your ankle is also completely fine again.

You dress and head back to Levi's room. It seems like Levi has used this opportunity to clean his room.

“Feeling better?” Levi had gotten semi-comfortable on a bean bag.

“I feel like reborn, I need to thank your brother for the potion. I'm completely healed.” You give Levi a big smile.

“I will tell him that.” Levi is a bit awkward for a moment.

“Have you taken your shower?” It certainly looks like Levi hasn't showered yet.

“I wanted to but then I thought that you would wonder if I had abandoned you when I was not here when you are done.” Levi has thought about this a lot.

You think it's very sweet of him. “Wow, thank you, Levi.”

Levi blushes. “No problem. You can play DevilCart until I'm done. I'm already used to the controls. So you can practice a bit.” Levi conceals his face again while he talks.

“Alright but don't cry when I squash you.” You grin at Levi.

“Oho, the game is on! Well after my shower I mean. I will be fast.” Levi instantly lights up.

It's fun to see this side of him.

True to his word, Levi is fast back. It seems like he rushed, his hair is a bit shaggy now. You don't mention it.

Levi sits down near you. You have used the chance to get used to the game. Levi watches you while you complete your match. “You are pretty good, not as good as I am of course.” Levi seems pretty confident about his skills.

“I'm just getting started. You have seen nothing yet.” You feel pretty confident in yourself.

“Actually I was wondering why you were looking for a necklace in the forest.You should know how dangerous it is.” It seems like this still bugs Levi.

“You are right but last month I was devastated when I lost it. I thought it was gone forever. I searched for it so much, but I had given up. Then I was told it's on a tree. I don't know how it got there, but I had to try to get it.” You feel depressed by your failure.

“That must be significant to you. I'm certain you will find it.” Levi seems to be very sure about this.

“I hope so too, but now we should race.” You know there is no chance to find it now. It's getting dark after all.

Levi agrees, and so the play session starts.

Levi is very different when he is in his gamer mode. He is very lively and confident.

This side of him is genuinely attractive to you as well.

Levi is a good sport, he is frustrated when he loses but also very impressed at the same time. He fully enjoys his time that much is certain.

“You must be hungry. Fortunately, for us the fridge is filled. I can prepare us some sandwiches for now. So we can refill our batteries. I don't know about you, but I plan to play all night. I mean when else am I getting the chance to play with someone else?” Levi is absolutely serious.

“Sounds like a plan. I honestly can't believe that I'm going to spend the winter solstice here in the forest.” At least you didn't think so this morning.

“Winter solstice? Wait, today is the 21st?” Suddenly Levi seems in panic.

You don't get his sudden outburst. “Yeah, that's right. Is there anything wrong?”

Levi raises his hands over his head. “Man this is bad, no actually, it's the worst thing that ever happened to me. I mean I should have known it was too good to be true. I finally found a fellow lover of anime and games, and they don't run screaming as soon as they see me. It's a cute girl on top of that. Naturally, this is too good for someone like me. What was I expecting?” Levi rambles and he seems in distress.

You don't know what to say to all of this. “Hold on Levi, take a deep breath and explain to me what is going on.”

Levi does just that, he breathes in and out a few times.

“So as you know, my brothers and I live here in the woods, far away from society. The reason for that is that we are all werewolves. I mean it's not a huge deal. Most days we are more ordinary humans but with more hair, sharper senses and higher strength. At least until the night of the full moon. Then we become beasts. Sadly that night is tonight.” Levi isn't sure if you will believe him, but he is extremely distraught.

You aren't quite sure how to react to this. Is Levi insane or are all these rumors that are going around true after all? You only know two things for certain: It's a full moon and it's going to be a very long night.

“Levi, are you kidding me? This isn't funny you know.” You feel very wobbly right now.

“I wish I was joking. It doesn't matter if you believe me. I will leave and spend the night outside anyways. I have a charm against werewolves here somewhere. I'm not quite sure if it works, since I got it as a bonus from a collector's edition but you will be fine when you lock the door. Even in my wolf form I'm very antisocial and it's not like I'm attacking anyone anyway.” Levi is very serious, and you can't help but just stare at him without uttering a word.

He seems so sad. You feel bad for him. You however can't speak. What are you supposed to say to this?

Levi quickly hands you a charm. You take it from Levi.

“I'm sorry Dani.” Levi doesn't look at you at all. He shakes. This must be very troublesome for Levi.

Levi seems lost for words as well. It seems like he wants to tell you a million things and yet can't say any of them.

Levi keeps looking to the ground. Then he shakes his head. “You can stay here and do whatever you want. I got some food here somewhere. When the morning comes, you can leave. Just go straight from the gate, and you will meet the path.” Levi speaks in a defeated way. He doesn't expect you to talk to him ever again.

You can't help but wonder if his status as a werewolf caused him to become like this.

Levi turns towards the door, you aren't able to see his face, but you can imagine his expression.

“Levi…” You weakly say his name when he opens the door.

Levi isn't reacting, seemingly afraid of what you might say. He is incapable to even look at you. He must be terrified of your face right now. Even when it's just frozen in confusion.

The door closes in your face, and you still stare at it for a while, clutching the charm in your hand.

A beeping noise snaps you out of your daze. It spooks you for a moment. It's Levi's phone. It's a bit frustrating when you look at the screen. It's a Lp full notification.

You almost groan in frustration but then you notice you have the same game on your phone. You chuckle lightly.

How would Levi react if he knew that you play the same game? You feel like he would be delighted.

Suddenly you feel isolated in the big mansion.

Then you remember the snacks that Levi mentioned and find a bowl filled with them. Seeing as you have nothing better to do, you sit on the beanbag and indulge in the sweets while checking on your mobile game.

Some time passes, night has fallen and it has gotten rather spooky outside.

You hope that Levi is alright. Suddenly something hits the window. It's probably just a branch but it nevertheless gives you a jump scare.

You almost curse whatever spooked you, when the lights suddenly start to flicker. That's just what you need. Then it's dark. Your phone still provides some light but it's eerily quiet now without the game music. You hear something creak. Truly a great night to be all alone in a huge mansion in the middle of nowhere. A deep sigh escapes your lips.

Another creaking noise, this time it's louder. Your heart suddenly starts to beat faster. What if it's Levi? If he was right then he is a werewolf by now. You wish that you had something silver in your backpack. Sadly, a werewolf attack wasn't on your list of possible scenarios.

What are you supposed to do now?

You have no time to think, something big is outside the door. You can clearly hear heavy steps. You clench the charm even tighter. You look around the dark room. There is nothing here that could defend you.

Next you hear something scratching at the door. You start to shake and move to the back of the room.

The door opens, it's absolutely dark, but you can still make out two yellow glowing eyes. Whatever it is it's huge, big as a bear at least. Your back is pressed against the fish-tank, there is no way for you to escape.

The phone in your hand shines into the room, providing you a bit of light, just enough to see a monstrous shadow moving slowly closer. You can hear it breathing, the shadow is slowly taking form in the light. It's a huge wolf. You hold your breath.

Its eyes are fixed on you, leaving you unable to move. You hold the charm up in front of you. The wolf seems completely unaffected. This is what you get for depending on a collector's edition item.

It keeps on moving closer. Your whole body shakes and then your phone drops to the ground. The light shines right into the wolf's eyes. Now you can see the resemblance to Levi's eyes. Seemingly unable to meet your eyes, he looks down. The color of his fur is the same as his hair color. It's extremely unusual.

The wolf just stands there, with a bit of distance between you two. He seems a bit awkward just standing there, somehow completely out of place.

This is also remarkably Levi-like. Somehow you stop shaking and just look at the wolf with curiosity. It doesn't look like he plans to attack you.

While you still think about your next move, your phone starts to beep, and much like yourself earlier, were-Levi jumps from the sudden noise.

You break out laughing. You can't help yourself. Levi just looks so utterly silly right now.

Levi glares at you.

“Sorry Levi.” You feel a bit bad, but at least your tension is all gone now.

Levi looks like he is sighing, it's a bit hard to tell in his current form. Then the light in the mansion flickers back to life. Somehow Wolf Levi seems even less scary now.

Then you see that he has something in his mouth, and it shines silver.

Your eyes widen. Carefully you step closer, Levi drops the object and withdraws a few steps.

You look at the fallen object. “Levi...that's my necklace?!” You recognize it right away. “How did you find this?” You look at him, mouth slightly open.

Naturally Levi can't talk right now. It's kind of silly to ask him anything right now.

You take the necklace and almost cry from happiness. “Thank you so much Levi.” You say with an honest smile.

Wolf Levi looks away, he seems embarrassed. It's good that Levi is so easy to read. It makes this whole situation much easier.

Levi seems to be slowly backing away from you. He is clearly not interested in hurting you.

“Wait Levi. It's cold outside and you don't want to hurt me so just stay here.” You still vividly remember the cold snow and somehow picture Levi waking up in the cold snow once morning comes.

Levi seems a bit reluctant.

You have a brilliant idea. “We could watch 'Celebrate with Ruri-chan'.”

Levi was so excited about it earlier and you can see that even in his wolf form he is loving the idea. His tail wags happily.

You were frightened of him just moments ago, but now he is pretty adorable.

You put the DVD into the player. Wolf Levi settles somewhere next to you, his undivided attention on the movie. You can barely suppress your smile.

Who would have thought that the winter solstice would be this exciting?

In the process of the movie, you get more and more comfortable around the big fluffy werewolf. You put blankets over him and yourself. It's warm and comfy. You even stroke his silky fur a bit, which he doesn't seem to mind at all.

At some point you pass out. You almost feel the whole night was nothing but a dream.

At least until you see that you are in Levi's room. It's very quiet, and Levi is nowhere to be seen. You find the necklace still close to you and go to clean it. It feels very good to have it back. With the help of a mirror, you put it around your neck.

You hear the door open and look to find Levi, with a tray of food for two.

He looks at you a bit awkwardly.

“Good morning Levi.” You try to just act normal, but you also feel awkward.

“Morning, umm here I made some food. I can just leave it here.” Levi is under the impression that you now hate him.

“Don't be silly. Come and join me.” It's not like you are used to the fact that Levi is a werewolf but you still like Levi a lot.

Levi is very surprised. “Are you sure about that?”

“I admit it was a bit scary last night but you aren't much different when you are in your wolf form and you found my necklace. How did you even do that?” You are pretty puzzled about it.

“My senses are even sharper when I transform, and I guess I really wanted to find it for you. I admit my memory is a bit hazy, so I hope I didn't do anything weird when I was a wolf.” Levi seems uncertain.

“It's definitely the best late birthday gift that I ever got, and I have to admit it was kind of cool to see a real werewolf. Even when I was frightened at first.” You can't really help yourself but to be in awe. This sort of thing has always fascinated you.

“You are an odd one, aren't you? I have no right to complain, at least you don't loathe me. So I call this a win.” Levi gives you a timid smile. Then you both eat.

Somehow you are both silent. You know that now where you have found your necklace you have no reason to even come back. This makes you pretty sad.

“Actually I have been wondering if you would add me to your friends list in Demon Cutie? I happened to see a game notification.” Levi seems to have used all of his courage to ask you this.

“Of course.” You swiftly add him, then you ask him something equally bold. “Can I add your number, so we can keep talking?”

You feel a bit nervous after asking.

Levi shifts around, unsure how to react. It almost seems like he forgot the human language. “S-sure I mean if you want too… in fact that would make me very happy. I hope I'm not being too forward, but you are pretty cool and I would like calling you my friend one day.” Levi starts to stutter a little but then manages to look straight at your face.

You smile at Levi. “You are already my friend. I mean you did all of these things for me, and I think you are a very great person.”

“Now I feel like it's my birthday. I feel like I'm dreaming. My brothers will be so jealous.” Levi blushes and his eyes light up brightly.

You giggle, maybe one day you can level your friendship up but you won't say that to Levi right now.

“We should take a selfie together.” You want to remember this day for a long time.

“I wanted to ask you that. Are you sure that you aren't some kind of mind reader?” Levi seems pretty surprised.

“I'm pretty certain that I can't read minds, but you never know.” You tease him a little.

Levi shakes his head with a smile. “You truly are something. Anyway do you want to stay a bit longer and watch 'Celebrate with Ruri-chan'? I did promise that we would watch it.” Levi clearly looks for an excuse to make you stay just a bit longer.

You don't mention that you technically already watched it with him last night. Since you also want to stay just a bit longer. “Alright, but after that I need to go home.”

“Okay I'm so excited.” Levi is very giddy.

You smile at this new expression of his. Truly a great decision to stay longer.

You wonder what other expressions of Levi you will see in the future. Especially when he realizes the small crush that you start to develop for him.

You can't wait to find out.

~ I hope you enjoyed this read and it's something that makes you happy.

I honestly had a ton of fun writing this.

*Winter solstice where I'm is on the 21st of December. It's the longest night of the year.*

#ObeyMeSS_2020 #ObeyMeSecretSanta2020 #obey me #obey me leviathan #obey me levi #obey me fanfiction #obey me reader insert #obey me!#obey me levi x reader #omswd #obey me shall we date #obey me one master to rule them all #tw: injury

28 notes · View notes

shuturxface · 4 years

Text

Quarantine has, completely out of no where, compelled me to re-read The Life and Times. I finished three days ago and yes I’m still crying. BUT! to get my emotions out I wrote something of a “review”. It’s really just my thoughts about everything. No one asked but I’m posting it anyway.

Please enjoy, it’s below. Be warned, there are *spoilers*:

Thoughts and Musings:

I don’t particularly know why I’ve been so affected by The Life and Times this go around. I’ve always loved it, but I don’t think I’ve ever cried when Alice Griffiths (now Longbottom) tells Lily that she’s spontaneously marrying Frank Longbottom. And I also don’t think that I’ve ever felt more than fondness towards Marlene Price and Adam Mckinnon. And, I’ve always disliked Carlotta Meloni (especially during the summer and 7thyear), but I never actually hated her character. All until now. The first time I read The Life and Times, I really, really enjoyed it and appreciated the characters and the plot and the realism– like, come on, of course they’re not going to make out in the middle of an escape! However, I was, admittedly, disappointed with the lack of James/Lily action. Not that it was scarce, there certainly was a lot! But this time around, I finally realized why Jewels wrote it in that way. Lily disliked James – possibly resented him – for five years, and more strongly much more recently (I expect her unsavory opinions of him were most prominent during 5thyear, what with his excessive exclamations of “go on a date with me, Evans”). Of course, it’s going to take more than a few weeks to erase that! And it’s not like it could take less time, because, realistically, why would Lily want to spend that much more time with James if she wasn’t fond of him, and if they kept fighting. Honestly, their development as friends is much more interesting, and it shows an in-depth thought processes of fleshing out the characters. I am thoroughly moved by the fact that it doesn’t happen over-night or within a few days.

I’ve also read complaints about how James Potter is acting disinterested in Lily. To them I say: did you even read the goddamnstory?! Did you pass over the parts where he watches her when she’s not looking, and the parts where he is upset with himself for how strongly he feels about her?! If James Potter is anything, he is not an idiot (however idiotic he may act sometimes). From what the (actual HP) books show, James was interested in Lily and kept asking her out in their 5thyear. If I recall correctly, it was implied that he may have done so years prior. It is also stated, by Sirius Black, that they got together in 7thyear. Once again, that transformation from enemies to lovers is not going to happen overnight, and is definitely not going to happen if James Potter kept overtly obsessing over her in 6thyear. Also (!) there is a perfectly reasonable explanation Jewels gives us for why he acted this way: he wanted to get over her. Not only does this prove that he liked her deeply, not just superficially, but also that he got the message. He would have been truly, very thick had he not.

But back to the matter at hand. For some reason, this time around (I don’t remember, possibly third), I’ve been thoroughly engrossed and cried at different intervals of the story more so than before. I sobbed at the end of chapter 30, “The Worst Day Ever” in which it followed each character (Carlotta, Marlene, Donna, Mary, and Lily) on September 1st. I cried terribly during the last two chapters with the attack on the M.F.P. conference – the tension and the unknowing, and worst of all, the death of Sam Dearborn. Quickly, a word about Sam. Somehow, through so few chapters, Jewels created such a lovable character (limited in “screen time”) that his death (and Lily and James’ reaction to it) caused me to cry on multiple occasions. Jewels was able to capture the anguish of her characters so well, that for a moment I forgot it was a story at all and felt it myself. I cried when Sirius Black told Lily Evans that she “fit” with the Marauders, after she asked him why he was so sure she and James belonged together. I have absolutely no idea how she managed to utterly take me apart in the span of 3 days and 36 chapters, but no fanfiction has been able to do that.

I am fully in awe of what Jewels has created – The Life and Times is a work of art, capturing the 1970s in the Wizarding World perfectly. Would I like to see how each James and Lily, how Adam and Marlene, Mary and Reginald get together? No, I would love it. Am I still curious of how on earth all those 87 wizards and witches were murdered at the Magic For Peace convention, leaving no survivors? No, I’m haunted by it. And while there are parts that are frustrating to read (some sexist and misogynistic parts, especially from a few Ravenclaws are particularly uncomfortable), I also think she delivers an accurate representation of the 70s, which were much less politically correct that the world is today. She is not even encouraging this behavior because it’s all made by unlikeable “villainous” characters – not particularly evil, but definitely malicious.

Because Jewels created this story so magnificently, only she knew where it was headed and how it would play out. She wrote it so uniquely, using quick dialogue that made me feel that I was actually there. Phrasing her syntax in such a way that her descriptions were musical and poetic and completely relatable. Her chapter structures kept me on my toes, each one with its own unique flavor, yet all of them unified, flowing from one to the other perfectly.

Not only that, she created characters with strong, redeeming qualities as well as true, trying weaknesses. Lily Evans: she created Lily to be a kind individual that always sought to see the good in others, as J.K. Rowling told us she was. But she also made Lily imaginative and contemplative and romantic and strong, and, yes, sorrowful, fearful, angry, and (most importantly, if you ask me) not willing to discuss her real feelings with anyone, thus slightly hypocritical. James Potter: Jewels created James to be loyal, clever, more-than-slightly arrogant, humorous, brave, and even compassionate. But she also made him brooding, impulsive, hot headed, and many times, a prick. I could go on, but the main point is this: Jewels created complex characters. She didn’t make a wondrous, unfailingly kind Lily (if she were, why did she and James butt heads so viciously?), or a comical, lovesick James, a cheeky, brazen Sirius, a quiet, sentimental Remus, a quivering Pettigrew, or a moody, jealous Snape (yes, even he had more to him than this – drive and hunger to prove himself). Jewels created characters with depth! Characters that made mistakes and don’t just immediately learn from them. Hell, she made teenage characters in a fanfiction that didn’t ultimately think with their primary sex organ – characters that were able to see that there were more important things happening besides who’s shagging who. Of course, there were characters that were interested in this, but they’re not the type of people that would go to a protest at the Ministry of Magic (and, obviously, this just strengthens the certainty that James and Lily truly belong together). Essentially, Jewels created characters that are sometimes hard to like. She showed us real emotions and feelings and struggles like a proper novel. She went further than an exploration of two people’s love life and gave contextual reasons to their coming together, and why their relationship was so important in the greater scheme of Harry Potter. She created multiple storylines, intricately woven together, incorporating briefly mentioned characters in the Harry Potter series and giving them backstory and personalities. Jewels created a world within J.K. Rowling’s universe with complex political turmoil.

I fully and strongly admire the work and dedication that Jewels put into The Life and Times. I feel that it’s wishful thinking that she might return to this story after all these years (has it really been seven already?!), but I can’t help but wish all the same. I do understand because life does have a habit of getting in the way and people move on. I’m truly grateful for Jewels and what she gave to the world. No other fanfiction will ever evoke the feelings that The Life and Times does. No matter the emotional strife this story gives me, I will always be grateful, and it will always be my favorite. Thank you, Jewels.

#tlat #the life and times #jewels5 #Lily Evans #James Potter #jily #jily fanfiction #jily fandom #i literally love this story so much #Harry Potter #james x lily #limes #hp fanfic #hp fandom

182 notes · View notes

macbringsitback · 3 years

Text

Over the past few days, I’ve seen a lot of posts about the JK Rowling situation that contain sentiments akin to “it’s a mediocre/bad series anyway so just give it up.” And honestly, I kind of resent this framing.

Harry Potter is a world-wide best selling series that has remained popular for over two decades. It is a highly beloved children’s series that millions of people grew up reading, with eight incredibly successful movies. It has been a major cultural touchstone, generating billions in merchandise, book sales, movies, theme parks and other media.

For me, personally, Harry Potter was a series I read multiple times during my childhood. I was young enough (and privileged enough) where the racism and anti-semitism went completely over my head and it was years before those were aspects that I became aware of. My primary association with the series for a long time was my parents letting my sister and I stay up late while we read through the entire series. I love those memories. I loved the characters and I love a lot of the fan content and community I’ve gotten to experience.

Regardless of the deep flaws of the original story, Harry Potter has not had such tremendous cultural staying power because it flat out sucked and framing the situation like it should be easy to give up because the books were mediocre anyways is reductive. The themes of friendship, found family, and love resonated with readers and it remains a series entangled with feelings of nostalgia and sentimentality for many. For years, Harry Potter—the books, the characters, the fan content, and community—brought me comfort during really dark periods in my life.

All of this is true, AND people still need to stop interacting with JKR and her content. Stop giving her a platform, stop going to see the movies, stop giving her money. Any positive memories and associations you have are not worth the active harm Rowling does. Regardless of any affection I still hold for the characters that helped define my younger years, they are characters, and there are real life trans people who suffer from JKR’s actions and words and I refuse to further that harm for the sake of a fictional series. So yes, I loved the books. I acknowledge that I loved the books and many, many people out there do. I understand why it’s difficult to leave this series behind and I urge you to still do so, because Harry Potter is not more important than trans lives.

#my thoughts #my post #JKR #jk rowling #anti jkr #anti jk rowling #Harry Potter #Harry potter series #fantastic beasts #honestly there was a point in time where the HP series was very important to me #I get why it is difficult to give up something that has been a comfort to so many people but you cannot ignore the active harm JKR does #harry potter is not more important than trans lives #transphobia tw #support trans rights #support trans people #i don't know #i just feel like down playing the impact harry potter had both culturally and for many individuals #is not the way to get people to understand the severity of the current situation #and framing it as the books just weren't good undermines how jkr got to be where she is today #bad people can write and create good art that will be enjoyed by many people #and just because it's good doesnt mean they shouldn't be held accountable

22 notes · View notes

notajinn · 4 years

Text

Top 9 Games Played in 2020: Number 1: Bug Fables

Rising from the ashes of the once-great Paper Mario series comes a game I never expected.

A beautiful little game called Bug Fables.

Where It Excels

Bug Fables is thoroughly inspired by the first two Paper Mario games, and it shows. It uses a similar battle system, a Medal system similar to Badges, and even similar paper-like aesthetics. It would be easy to just say "wow, what a ripoff" and brush it aside.

But this is not a copy-paste of Paper Mario. This is clearly designed with love for those games, and for the people who enjoyed them. This is a game that says "yes Paper Mario was good, but how could it be improved?"

So let's talk about what it does differently (and arguably better) instead.

The story does not have the history of the Mario series to build on, so Bug Fables relies on having to be an interesting self-contained world. It does a good job providing lore as you move forward through the early story, and you can find optional Lore Books that give background into things like why some bugs evolved into intelligent beings, and the past conflicts between different groups. As someone who does not like most bugs in-person, they did a good job getting me invested. The tone is often lighthearted, but able to become serious when needed. The world feels more grounded than Mario, so there's a greater sense of danger during darker plot points.

I loved all three main characters (Kabbu the Beetle, Vi the Bee, and Leif the Moth) by the end, though some take longer to become interesting than others. Each of them feels well fleshed out, and get at least one important backstory sidequest.

And while it initially appears to follow the Paper Mario structure of "find the special items in episodic adventures, then go fight the final boss", it actually feels more like a traditional RPG because the story evolves over time.

In battle, you have three full party members. Each of them have their own HP and specials, and can equip individual Medals. You can change the formation of battle to decide who is in the front (more damage but more aggro) or back (less aggro but normal damage). Importantly you can also pass a turn to another party member, which depending on the enemies and formations may be your best option. For example if you have a bunch of flying enemies, you can just pass an extra turn to Vi so she can continue grounding them. There are certain enemy types that can only be reached by certain character's regular attacks, but you can often use a Special to overcome a lack of reach at the cost of SP. There are even combination attacks that take multiple characters' turns in order to deliver especially devastating specials.Each attack and special also have a unique action command that lets you make them better with good button inputs.

Medals are your equipment replacement, and can give you new active or passive abilities, or just raise your stats. However unlike Paper Mario, most the especially powerful Medals (like boosting your attack) are offset with a weakness (lowering your defense). This means you need more strategy than "I'll just equip this attack-boosting Medal." I'd argue there's less active ability Medals in Bug Fables than Paper Mario, but the greater strategy to the passive abilities makes up for it. There’s even strange setups like giving yourself poison but having +1 defense.

There are two EXTREMELY important Medals that Bug Fables copies from Paper Mario, but in a better way. One immediately defeats weak enemies on the field when you touch them. The other prevents enemies from getting a first strike on you. And Bug Fables gives you both of these extremely early with low MP cost. These make backtracking significantly less frustrating. The backtracking was one of the worse parts of the Paper Mario games, so I appreciate this. You also still get a fast movement option after a few chapters.

Quests are very well organized. You'll find a quest board in every town, and can take as many quests at once as you want. There's a quest log in your menu to keep track of them, and it updates as you go through steps of multi-step ones. And often a quest-important NPC will have an exclamation over their head to make them easier to spot. A lot of them have fun interactions and situations, so they’re definitely worth doing. Only one is a particularly long fetch quest with item trading, but it feels like a purposeful parody.

A lot of strengths in this game come from convenience. For example, you can fast travel between towns almost as soon as you unlock a new town. And you have two-item cooking unlocked from very early-game. These were things that felt unnecessarily gated in Paper Mario. Every party member can also scan the enemy to get stats and provide some information, whereas Paper Mario restricted it to one partner. As a bonus, this means you get three unique pieces of dialogue for every enemy depending on who you have initiate the scan.

Dungeons and their puzzles feel much more involved. There is less emphasis on platforming, and more on using your characters abilities like creating ice blocks. It's a step closer to a Zelda dungeon, which is appreciated. Save stones are well-paced enough to not make exploring feel to daunting either.

In terms of design and sound, it's strong for an indie title. They can't quite compare to a big publisher like Nintendo, but the world and characters look pretty good. And there's at least a few songs I still have stuck in my head.

The game also feels much harder than Paper Mario, which is good because I felt those games were too easy. It can be rough early on when you're learning, but fun once you get the hang of it. The game never gets to a point where you just steamroll everything either, so you'll have to continue paying attention for the whole game. I know some people like to overpower enemies, but I think that gets boring.

Where It Falls Short

While I don't like steamrolling enemies, I do like a sense of progression. And Bug Fables has that in many forms, like levels, and field abilities.

But at no point in the story do your standard attacks do more damage. Paper Mario would give you upgraded boots and hammers and you progress for more damage, but you'll keep hitting for your normal 2 damage here outside of Medals or an optional expensive upgrade. I know that in-universe it may have been weird to explain why Kabbu's horn is suddenly stronger, but they managed to give reasons for Vi not to fly despite being a bee for a long time.

There's also a dungeon puzzle near the end of the game that I found annoying. The solution to one section was actually to defeat a particular enemy. Given I was avoiding enemies at this point looking for a puzzle solution, this took longer than I'd like to admit.

You can also optionally get a fourth sort-of-party member, which I only learned about by accident when looking up Medal strategies. However it is not from an official sidequest that appears on the board, and I honestly missed any hints towards it. I was expecting them to show up in the late-game, but as I was getting ready for the final chapter I still didn't have them. Only when I specifically looked up what to do was I able to find them. I don't mind optional party members, but you need a little more guidance than what Bug Fables provided.

My final complaint may be strange, but...the game does not have a cliffhanger ending. It's a self-contained story that resolves everything important. Which means I don't think they can easily get another game out of this. But I'd love to see another similar game by this team.

Maybe if they do a time-skip and follow a different set of characters, it could potentially work.

Final Thoughts

Bug Fables is yet another indie title that proves you don't need to be a big studio to make an incredible game.

If you like classic Paper Mario, or just fun RPGs, I highly recommend giving it a shot.

#top games of 2020 #bug fables

10 notes · View notes

dlamp-dictator · 4 years

Text

Allen X Rambles about Chapter 7

“I hope Episode 7 is focused on only 2 or three characters with little distraction... Amiya maybe finding out that Ch’en is slowly becoming Infected and helping her come to terms with that. Ch’en revealing her past to Amiya and the two connecting over losing so many close to them due to Oripathy. The two standing up to the political corruption of Lungmen, shoulder to shoulder, as women that refuse to see another life lost due to the indifference of a city’s politics.”

-Allen X, October 2nd, 2020, Rambling about Chapter 6

Man... I’m starting to believe it when they say Arknight’s story mode is longer than the Harry Potter series. Things are getting crazy in Chapter 7 and crazy-long to in terms of length. This chapter really had me on the edge of my seat as I read through it and as I played through because 7-16 and 7-18 were a bitch to get through that require some of the most precise timing I’ve seen in this game yet. That aside, I enjoyed a lot what I read and experienced.

And I wanted to talk about it a bit.

But first, as always, a synopsis.

Coming off the heels of Frostnova’s death and the realization of Wei Yenwu’s purging of the Lungmen slums, tensions are high and trust has been fractured between Rhodes Island and Lungmen. However, in the midst of Ch’en hot temper and Amiya’s cool head, Reunion is plans to send the Russian Ursusian city of Chernobog on a collision course with Hong Kong Lungmen, giving Ursus a cause to make war against Lungmen and its great region of Tawain China Yen. However, through some rather amazing political maneuvering and passionate words by Wei Yenwu’s wife Fumizuki, Rhodes Island agrees to mobilize in order to save Lungmen, the Infected, and the beloved daughter of Lungmen, Ch’en. But beyond Chernobog lies Patriot, Reunions greatest commander next to Talulah herself, who’s rage toward his daughter’s death is only matched by his disciplined mind and even more disciplined soldiers. It’s a fight to the center of the Chernobog to save as many lives as possible, even at the cost of this great general’s life.

An Addendum to 7-18

So between my venting about 7-18 when I talked about some fun Arknight’s lore a handful of people wanted to give me some advice on how to conquer that stage. Admittedly that venting was said out of anger and was much more acidic in tone than my usual essays and opinion pieces. I have since beaten that stage and I can give some of my thoughts on this advice. Some of it was helpful... some of it.

“AmIyA cAn TaNk PaTrIoT’s SpEaR tOsS!”

This is technically true and I was technically wrong. When Amiya’s S3 is active she gained increased Max HP and can in fact survive with a sliver of health. However, Amiya’s S3 takes quite a long time to charge even with her talent, and unless someone is actively blocking Patriot her can honestly spam his spear through for how long it takes Amiya to get prepped for her S3. This is more of an issue of Amiya’s balancing than with the game, but I’ll talk about that later.

“jUsT sTaLl PaTrIoT tO kEeP hIm FrOm UsInG tHe SpEaR tOsS!”

This would be pretty viable advice if Patriot didn’t one-shot my units. Yes, defenders like Cuora, Nian, Hoshigumi, and even tankier vanguards like Zima and Siege can tank at least one hit from Patriot without dying, meaning a squad of healers can just focus-fire on them while they do chip damage to Patriot and stall him out. However, Patriot’s phase 2 has him do constant damage to nearby units with his aura ability, so if he can get lucky enough, he take someone down to a sliver and let his poison damage finish off your staller before they get a chance to be healed. That strategy needs luck and some damn smart unit placement. Neither of which I honestly have.

“uSe SpEcTeR aNd DeBuFfErS!”

Again, this is also a pretty good strategy. Specter’s S2 makes her immortal for a limited time and pairing that with healers like Breeze and Celycon who reduce stun damage isn’t a bad idea. Characters that ignore or lower defense like Pramanix, Shamare, and Meteor are also good. This doesn’t work for me however since I only have Pram and the other debuffers are way too underleveled and not on my priority at the moment, and E2-ing units this late in the game just to take out one boss feels like madness.

“f12 CaN dOdGe ThE sPeAr ToSs!”

F12, W, Jessica, and FEater have a dodge chance. Their dodges are not guarantees. Yes, Patriot will target the ranged operator furthest from him and there are range tiles pretty close to his spawn point for that purpose. However, some of those operators have some pretty damn expensive DP costs and waste that on a chance to survive isn’t worth.And feeding Patriot ranged units that take over 30 seconds to redeploy is a waste of DP in general. And those either dodge chances aren’t viable. Them surviving isn’t a strategy, it’s a fluke, and you can’t depend on flukes in auto-deployment.

“Allen, you’re being kind of an asshole to what’s actually sound advice.”

Yes, I am.

I don’t care.

7-18 does things to a person, man. That stage breaks people. I lost sanity IRL just doing that stage or 20 times with a guide... dear lord this stage.

Anyway, moving on.

Story Notes

My, this story sure was thick, wasn’t it? It’s been while since I’ve been on a ride that wild. And this time around I don’t have any small issues to bring up. All the characters felt in character without breaking my suspension of disbelief. There weren’t multiple character arcs going on at once. And I even tolerated Kal’tsit berating the Doctor for reasons beyond his understand since she wasn’t discussing too many things that were above my head as the player.

No... I only have big issues.

But before that, I wanted to hit on some actual important notes that were very good and smartly written.

Rosmontis and Child Soldiers

This was probably the biggest takeaway for me. I know the Arknights community likes to poke a lot of fun about the child soldier thing and how Kal’tsit is harboring slave children, but... man, it makes so much since now.

These kids aren’t just kids, they’re all infected people with some rather scary abilities. Popukar has a history of mental instability coupled with monstrous strength. Ifrit has powers she can just barely keep under control and could set Rhodes Island ablaze at any point. Frostleaf and GreyThroat are deeply traumatized from their past. The Ursus Self Government are full of kids with hatred, resentment, and fear of both the world and themselves. The list goes on, but the fact is that these kids all either have abilities that would be a danger to themselves and others if they aren’t trained, or have emotional hang-ups that might very well have them lash out at innocent people if not put on a leash. Wouldn’t it be better to at least give them some training and let them hack and blast away at the actual bad guys? Wouldn’t it be better to at least make them a weapon for some kind of greater good? And would anyone else really treat these broken, powerful children as anything but weapons and warriors anyway?

I know this is about chapter 7, but I remember in Children of Ursus Rosa asked Zima why she fought, and Zima casually answered that she just liked fighting. It’d be far better to have someone with that mindset working for an organization like Rhodes Island than ending up in Ursus’s fold and blindly hacking at something she shouldn’t.

And I think it’s important to remind everyone that Amiya is the head of Rhodes Island and not Kal’tsit. She’s a big part of the organization, but it’s the bunny in charge. And the bunny that is herself close to a living nuke and is also has empathetic superpowers understands this probably better than anyone else, which is why she okays it.

Patriot and Reunion

As much as I despise, and I do mean despise, how cagey this series can be with it’s portrayal of Reunion’s morality I can understand why a lot of its members can see the group as being just. Patriot is a warrior of such renown and praise, and Talulah has so much charisma and power that I can see the group overlooking characters like Mephisto and W when the other two do so much for their members and general people. The Guerillas under Patriot behave like soldiers. They don’t rampage, loot, pillage, or harm everyone in sight, only those that halt, stagnant, and harm the infect. Talulah has a charisma about her and attracts people, and seems to come from some sort of royal/noble line to match. And while Faust wasn’t mentioned much in this chapter, he was a soldier that started at the bottom, worked his way to the top, and made sure to play by rules that kept his moral high ground. Mephisto seems to be the only outliner here for some baffling reason.

But... there are some major issues with this story. I hint at them every time I talk about Arknights’ story, but I’ll go into depth here. And I’ll present these two issues I have in the form of a two question:

Who is the Doctor?

I don’t mean this the sense of the story, but what is his function as a character? Is he a self-insert for the player, or his own character to be explored and examined?

And either answer, to me, is wrong.

The Doctor Isn’t a Self-Insert

It’s straight up impossible for the Doctor to be a self-insert character. Most self-inserts are blank enough to let us place our own personality onto them and the situations their in the choices they make are meant to be more or less choices we’d make or at least a general audience could make barring some specifics. Their personalities tend to be blank or at least bland to let us, the players, live through them and project our personalities onto them.

The Doctor isn’t this.

There are too many moment where our choices are clearly pointing to one conclusion and most choices, though varied, give a clear idea that the Doctor is someone that care about the operators’ wellbeing deeply and hates seeing them used, abused, or manipulated. They are strategist and commander, but they have enough humanity to not see people as tools. They are passionate when they see other operators and especially Amiya in harms way and tries to come up with strategies to minimize lost and causalities. Awhile we, the player, feel the same in this regard the Doctor has dialogue that feels more conversational and toward specific directions than what a player would likely want and gives us some bits and piece about what they’re actually like.

The Doctor hates Kal’tsit and wants little to do with her, only tolerating her presence as much as she is with the Doctor. The Doctor is a bit of a bleeding heart that doesn’t fully grasp that they are constantly in a warzone despite their strategic competency. The Doctor has an extremely weird diet and eating style, devouring live animals and ingesting foods that would probably need to be probably mixed and brewed before consumption. The Doctor still sees Amiya as a child despite her mature nature.

The list goes on, but there’s enough there for me to say the Doctor is more like Hakuno Kishinami of the Fate/Extra series, a character that seems like a self-insert but has a number of traits and character tics that keep them from fulfill that role. However Fate/Extra, for all I have against it, makes Hakuno work by giving them their own internal thoughts outside of the player’s actions that explain their dialogue choices and actions outside of the player’s control. The Doctor doesn’t, so them being a self-insert feels really weak and irritating when the dots stop connecting.

But despite this...

The Doctor Isn’t Their Own Character

Too much of what the Doctor does is passive. For a clear as their personality is, at least to me, they don’t have much agency in the plot. Not enough for me to call them their own character at least. They commander the battlefield, but they don’t have a place on it. They don’t have much reason to interact with characters like Patriot and Talulah unless its on the metaphorical and literal chessboard we’re playing on.

Every time the Doctor says something that advances the plot in some way I feel like it could be said by another character and work better. Amiya trying talk down Patriot and explain that Frostnova fought bravely did not need the Doctor’s interjections, especially when Patriot shoots them down in the same manner. In chapter 6, being trap with Frostnova would had worked much better with Amiya since that chapter was giving them parallels anyway. The only thing that really works is the Doctor trying to call out Kal’tsit for her treatment of Rosmontis as a soldier despite her age, as that’s only something that someone who didn’t have the full context could do.

But... Jessica, Frostleaf, Frostnova, Melantha and several other Operators are young teenagers and even children. Specter and Lappland are clearly just as mentally damaged and still going into battles. The Doctor knows the kinds of people that fight for Rhodes Island, so isn’t this just another young fighter like Popukar and Suzuran? Hell, in chapter 6 we canonically had Beagle and Fang in a stage where they had to fight and tank Faust, why is the Doctor so surprised that someone like Rosmontis exist and works for Rhodes Island?

See?

See how trying to give this character separation from being a self-insert and actively slot them in the active story does more harm than good?

I think games like Girls Frontline and Honkai Impact 3rd do this better, where the player character is clearly more behind the scenes and is only a passing influence, if any.

But that leads me to my next question, which is...

Who is Amiya?

Amiya falls into the trope of being a cute anime girl with a mysterious past and dangerous powers. More accurately, she has a mysterious past and powers to the player, but everyone in Amiya’s inner circle seems to have a clue about it. I don’t mind this being a mystery, but... when our main character’s plot revolves around things the player doesn’t know, it’s curious at best, and infuriating at worse.

Folks, I’m not someone that looks to theory-crafting. I’m not someone that reads every scrap of dialogue in this game to find out more about its lore. The lore, to me, is just fun and interesting. I honestly do not have the time and energy to spend on making theories and predictions that could be wrong and a waste of mental energy. However, with all this stuff about the King of Fiends just feels like a waste of time, or at least a last minute addition to something I could had been added properly in Chapter 8.

A lot of it feels like you had to know about the Darknight Memoir side story to really get a feel for what’s going on. The Sarkaz civil war, Theresa, W’s role back when Rhodes Island was Babel, a lot of things that don’t come up in the main storyline. Especially with that bombshell about the Doctor maybe killing Theresa.

I don’t like it when a story expects me to have read the spinoff to understand the mainline story. This is why I don’t like the Dragon Age series and I’m really getting annoyed with Arknights right now.

This bombshell of the King of Fiends also kind of sours a bit of Amiya’s character as this young child who rose through the ranks of Rhodes Island as a charismatic leader being able to steel optimism with the reality of war to forge ahead as a proper leader through her abilities as both a commander and an empath. Instead it’s beginning to come across that her skills as a leader comes from something more supernatural, or at least something more forced than "small child is a good leader and can lead an army,” which is surprisingly more believable and nuanced given how seriously the series takes Amiya’s character.

That said, I recognize this criticism is more my wish of what was rather than an issue of what is. I completely understand that essentially wishing for my own fanfic and limited fan theories to come true isn’t a sound criticism, but it's a criticism I have regardless.

But moving on, there’s one more issue that bugs me.

W’s Importance

I’ll keep this brief since I already discussed my bigger issues of the story and this is an admittedly small portion of the story:

W wasn’t utilized much in this story despite being a main feature of it in the promotional material. She has a pretty lengthy intro, disappears from the story for most of it, then reappears at the last bits of chapter 7 to make mean looks at Kal’tsit and the Doctor before being literally shoved offscreen again. I’ve already discussed my issues with the Doctor’s agency so I won’t bother here.

W’s banner should had been during Darknight Memoir, it just makes more sense given she was the feature character of it and her high physical damage would had been a goodsend among all the arts-resistant Sarkaz units of that series of chokepoint-heavy maps, similar to Weedy’s inclusion her is helpful as a lot of these maps could use a good pusher, especially 7-16.

Speaking of, Weedy, the other operator on this limited banner, has no presence in the story at all. Need I remind you in the last limited banner Aak and Hung at least had cameo-esque appearances in the Ancient Forge event. Weedy’s inclusion feels like an afterthought because they didn’t want the limited 6-Star to have a good chance to be pulled for the whales.

Anyway, I believe those are all the big issues I had with this story, so...

In the Future

As I always tend to say, I don’t like the idea of trying to fix something that has already been made and has already passed. It’s too late to change the past, but I see nothing wrong with asking for things to happen in the future as a way of giving feedback.

To that end, I still have hope that Chapter 8 will have a focus on Amiya and Ch’en tackling Talulah together. From my understanding of some spoilers this is more or less what is going to happen. I also hope that we’ll have a more detailed idea on this whole King of Fiends thing is about. As much as I personally don’t care for it, it’s already be discussed in the story so I at least hope we get the full idea on what’s going on with that plotline.

I also hope the Doctor either plays less a role or becomes their own character outright away from any player influence. Us speaking through a character that already has a personality feels weird to me and I’d rather not have it at all.

Anyway, that’s it for me folks. Next time... maybe I’ll talk about anime or something, who knows.

#your dictator is speaking #arknights

9 notes · View notes