#i KNEW this was part of the quest was going to activate a lot of neurons | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

brodieland · 1 month

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.˚ 𓈒 ࣪.𝝑𝝔 he's not just a man, mom.. ´ˎ˗

Luke Castellan x Fem!Athena!Reader Synopsis: Reader has a special bond with both Luke and her godly mother, so when Luke joins Kronos, her head starts spinning in confusion on what to do anymore Warning(s): angst. and uh swears ig Word Count: 4314 A/N: I was inspired from a Tumblr post that was inspired from that one Gilmore girls scene😛😛 the post, I mixed in some show and book moments, sometimes just can't decide what hit harder. love them both💔 ugh why did I yap?? Part 2

You and Luke were perfect for one another. Like two pieces to the same puzzles. You were childhood sweethearts and everyone knew it. If you told yourself a couple months ago what had happened, you would've laughed so hard your lungs might've collapsed. This was not a happy ending, though it could've been.

˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥౨ৎ

It was an average summer evening at camp half-blood. Normally you'd be busy helping Annabeth prepare for capture the flag, but she insisted on doing it herself. She always thought it would help prove herself more and more to your mother, Athena. You and your mom are quite close, you both talk a lot. You make sure to tell Annabeth that she already has faith in her, but she still feels the need to do this, maybe it'll help her get the quest she's been dreaming of.

Since you're close with your mother, Athena also knows of your long-lasting relationship with Luke, the Hermes head counselor. At first she didn't approve, she thought her daughter could do better than a son of the god of thieves, but she knew she couldn't change it so she let it go. Well sorta, she always gives a slight diss about it every now and then.

Now it was the day of capture the flag, and you had the newcomer Percy Jackson on your team. Annabeth whisked him away as part of her plan while you and Luke fended off the rest of red team. And for the fourth year in a row, your team won at capture the flag. You and Luke were celebrating with the rest of Athena and Hermes cabin, when you heard yelling from behind you.

"What is wrong with you?!" You turned around to see that a cut up and bleeding Percy was yelling at Annabeth for pushing him into the water. As he stood up, you and everyone around you noticed that his cuts began to heal, but before you could question it a symbol appeared above his head. A trident.

"Poseidon," announced Chiron. "Earthshaker, Stormbringer, Father of Horses. Hail, Perseus Jackson, Son of the Sea God."

All the campers in the surrounding area stood in shock, but congratulated Percy non the less. You stood there with a big smile, happy he was claimed after spending the entire day before being somewhat of a, well, failure at all camp activities.

"Luke! Percy got claimed isn't that amazing-" You turned to look at your boyfriend, but didn't see him smiling the way everyone else was. His expression seemed different. It was a look of curiosity beyond him being a child of the big three, more as if Luke seemed.. upset? He had a grudging smile hanging off his lips, you were confused but shrugged it off.

The next day at around 10AM you were sitting with Annabeth as she raves to you about how she's finally found the one. And by the one, she means that Percy ended up picking her to go on the quest with him. Annabeth goes on telling you about the quest, about how she has to recover Zeus' lightning bolt before the solstice in a week, she sounds excited but you can tell she's nervous.

Your conversation was interrupted by a knock at your door. You turned and saw your handsome boyfriend, Luke, coming to pick you up.

"Mind if I steal her away for a little?" Luke asked as he smiled at your little sister. She just sighed.

"Fine, bring her back at a reasonable time though. Last time you brought her home at 2AM half the cabin woke up." You and Luke started laughing.

"Annie you were the only one awake," you leaned forward and kissed the top of her head, "I'll be back soon to say goodbye." And the two of you were off.

Whenever the both of you had free time like this you two would head off to the strawberry fields. There aren't always many campers by the fields at once, so you and Luke would just grab and bunch and walk around through the forest before they noticed the missing strawberries. Most campers don't go there for the fear of monsters, but with Luke being the best sword fighter this camp has ever seen in years, you liked your odds. You guys decided to sit by where Percy had gotten claimed the day before, the sound of the ocean is just so calming.

"The Demeter kids really know what there doing with these strawberries," Luke groaned as he took a bite out of one of them.

"I think its in there job description," you both just chuckled and continued enjoying not just the strawberries but each others company. Not many opportunities for being alone lately. Then you remembered the look on Luke's face when Percy got claimed. Why wasn't he happy for him after all the time he spent helping him get claimed just the day before?

"Hey Luke, can I ask you something?" You yourself weren't sure if you should bring it up, but something in your gut was telling you too.

"Of course, you can ask me anything."

"Well, yesterday when Percy got claimed, how did you feel about it?"

"Hmm? I was happy for him, sucks he's gonna have to stay in that cabin all alone though. Why do you ask?"

"Yeah.. well I don't know when I turned to you, you just seemed kind of upset?"

"What? Why would I be upset?" Luke started smiling like you were crazy. Hey, maybe you were just seeing things.

"I don't know, maybe I'm just going crazy. Oh what would my mother think of her legacy losing her marbles," you giggled to yourself and turned to Luke, he was laughing but it felt like the mention of your mom hit a nerve. He knows she isn't his biggest fan so that's probably it. You both moved on and continued like normally till the lunch bell went off, which was your sign to start heading back. You both split up and sat at your cabins table with this rest of your siblings.

"Hey Annie," you greeted as you sat in the seat next Annabeth.

"Hey your back," she smiled. "I'm leaving after lunch."

"Better make this lunch count, you're probably not gonna have so many good ones out on the road," you joked. You're not really joking though. You remember back on the times when you and Luke were on the road with barely enough to eat, not fun times. You stopped thinking about it and continued to send your last moments with your dear sister before she goes off her on her dangerous quest. Please gods, mom, let her come back safe. You both finished up and walked over to your cabin and helped her finish packing up.

"I gotta go pick up Percy now."

"I'm coming with you? I'm spending all the time I can with you before Percy and Grover take you away from meee." Annabeth just rolled her eyes at you (you could still see her smile though) as you both walked over to the Poseidon cabin. When you walked in you saw Luke talking with Percy. He was giving him something.

"Hey Percy, watchu got there?" You asked as you leaned on the door frame.

"Some.. converse? Pretty cool.." He looked to Luke to see if he got it right, you just smiled knowing what the shoes really were.

"Maia," Luke said, and the shoes grew some wings.

"Yup, pretty cool shoes." Luke smirked and the two boys stood up and started walking toward the door. Percy stood next to Annabeth and you leaned in and gave them both a hug.

"Come back safe you two," you looked Percy up and down, "no funny business either."

"Haha very funny, we're not like you and Luke," Annabeth rolled her eyes, AGAIN.

"Roll your eyes at me again and they'll get stuck like that." Percy decided to stay silent, which you thought was funny. And just like that, they were off.

You pretended to wipe a tear from your eye, "They grow up so fast," You turned to Luke who was smiling down at you. You couldn't help yourself and just threw your arms around him and kissed him.

As you days went on, you still had that nagging feeling in your gut that something was off. But this time you just decided to ignore it. Questioning Luke got you no where so maybe you were just overthinking it.

The night before the trio was supposed to return, you were instantly pulled into a dream. You were standing back in the spot that you and Luke went to regularly by the water. Except it wasn't any normal dream, it was a demigod dream. And how did you know? You were currently standing next to your mother, Athena.

"Hey mom." You waved, she just nodded back.

"Hello Y/N."

"Soo.. what's up?" Normally you wouldn't be shocked of her appearing in a dream, but this time she had an extra amount of seriousness clouding her features as she continued to stare at the ocean.

"That Luke of yours, he seems off doesn't he?" You wanted to deny it, but you knew she was right. You couldn't help but just nod. "You get your instincts from me you know. I'd take it as disrespect for you to not trust them."

"But mom, I don't even know what it is that's bothering me. What am I supposed to do? Question him from a look I'm not even sure was on his face?"

"If you're not sure, why's it still bothering you?" You went silent, she was right. Mother knows best.

"You've never liked him, is that it?" You accused.

"Excuse me but this isn't a matter of me liking your little boyfriend, it's a matter of whats at stake right now. You saw the look on his face when that forbidden kid was revealed. And what was with that gift, hmm?" Athena was saying so much yet so little at the same time. This is one of the few times you've felt so useless, and it just had to be in front of your mother.

"I-" You looked down at your feet, ".. mom can't you just give me a clue, just once can you help me out here."

"You know us gods can't interfere," she stared daggers at you, and you started getting nervous, more than you already were at least. "I know you're smarter than this" It suddenly dawned on you what she was accusing Luke of, but you know he wouldn't do that, right?

You looked back at her, "He wouldn't."

"You really believe that?" You faltered for a moment.

"Of.. of course I do." Your mom just closed her eyes and shook her head.

"I thought you were smarted than this. I can't believe this boy has left you so blind." And with that, Athena and the setting around you started to disappear. You tried reaching out, trying to say that you are smart, but everything went black.

You shot up from your bed in a cold sweat, you were panting heavily. You turned over to check your alarm.

[6AM]

You looked around to see everyone still asleep. You knew you wouldn't be able to fall back asleep so you just went to go take a shower, wash off all the sweat and think. When you hopped in you just stood there under the water. You couldn't shake the conversation you had with your mother. Luke hadn't left you blind. You've known him for years, you knew him better than anyone. Especially better than Athena.

You got out and got ready for the day. This was the day Annabeth, Percy, and Grover were supposed to return. You tried to think on that instead, the positive. You hoped it was positive at least. It was now around 7:30AM, yes you took that long getting ready, what about it? You had a lot of thinking to do in the shower, and cool enough this was also the time Luke wakes up. You made your way to the Hermes cabin, watching the early birds, or Apollo cabin, sit around making haikus (every now and then they'd make a good one).

You snuck your way into the Hermes cabin, seeing everyone was still asleep. You tip-toed over to your boyfriends bed and kneeled down beside his bed, faces leveled together.

"Hey," you started to softly shake him awake, "Luke wake up." You made sure to whisper so no one around would also wake up. Luke started to stir awake. He softly groaned and rubbed his eyes before opening then. "Hey there gorgeous," you winked.

He chuckled and whispered back, "Hey beautiful." Morning voice is actually so hot. Luke sat up and pulled you up and into bed with him. You tried not giggle too loud as you snuggled closer to him. You were so close you were breathing in his scent. And there it was again, your gut feeling telling you something was wrong. After that conversation with your mom the feeling just got even worse.

"Luke," you laid on you stomach directly next to Luke, who was laying on his back, "aren't you excited? Percy, Annabeth and Grover come back today." You smiled, and so did Luke, but his smile didn't reach his eyes the way they normally do. What's up with him?

"Yup, excited to see them again." Morning voice didn't sound as hot when he didn't sound that happy to see them as he said he was.

"You don't sound that excited."

"What?"

"Luke are you hiding something?" He shifted for a split second, like he wasn't expecting such a question.

"From you? No, never." You felt uneasy, but what could you even do at this point. You can't go ballistic over an instinct.

"Fine, but you should really brush your teeth."

"You woke me up?"

You just laughed and got up from Luke's bed as he left to go get ready, and brush his teeth from that deadly breathe of his. When he walked out the bathroom in his classic orange camp Half-Blood t-shirt, you knew it was time to head out for breakfast.

As the day went on, you were anticipating the arrival of your fellow campers, mostly your sister. You loved her dearly and missed having her around. Despite her being a few years younger, she was one of your best friends. And finally she was back, and without hesitation you ran up to her and pulled her into a hug.

"Annie, you're safe!" You hugged her tightly as you both swung side to side.

"You crushing me," She groaned and you pulled away holding by the shoulders.

"You survived the underworld, you can survive my hugs." You looked around then noticed something. "Wait, where's Percy?" Annabeth looked a little worried.

"We found the master bolt despite it being past deadline. Percy went to give it back alone."

"Kids ballsy," you scoffed. "Or he has a massive death wish." Annabeth laughed softly but you could tell she was nervous. "Hey you guys made it this far, he'll be fine." She just nodded and looked up and you.

"So, wanna hear about the quest?"

"Uh, duh? And don't think mom didn't tell me about the tunnel of love." Annabeth tried looking at you with her intimidating face that read 'shut up or else' but it doesn't work out very well when she's blushing. "She said and I quote 'get your sister away from that reckless water boy'," you quoted while waving around your finger, Annabeth just groaned loudly and walked off with you laughing as you followed behind her.

Annabeth started explaining the story. Clarisse was the lightning thief? Ares covering for her would make sense but you don't know, something didn't add up.

"Yeah we called Chiron but Luke answered, he said he'd tell Chiron about it." Why didn't you know about this? And you knew Chiron definitely didn't either, so what the hell? You were cut from your thoughts when you heard cheering outside. You and Annabeth ran outside and saw Percy walking back to camp. You turned and saw Annabeth eyes go wide and run up to Percy, you saw her whisper something but didn't think much of it and went over to Luke, who was also watching the scene.

"Isn't it cool he made it back" You asked Luke.

"Amazing." Percy and Annabeth were now walking by you two, gesturing for you to follow them, which you did. As you looked over to Luke.

"Why didn't you tell me the Lightning thief was Clarisse." He swallowed.

"Oh, just slipped my mind." And he flashed you that smile of his, it doesn't looked as genuine any more. And now you four were standing in an empty Hermes cabin conspiring. You just zoned out of the conversation. Mom, please, this is the first time I wished you were wrong. Don't hold it against me.

Luke disappeared for a little bit, and to our understanding it was to inform Chiron of who the thief really was. Then, he disappeared with Percy into the woods. You were a little nervous, Luke made a new sword, Backbiter, made of both celestial bronze and steel. Hopefully there sparring would be fine.

Oh how wrong you were.

While alone in your cabin, you were organizing the mess of books when you saw Luke rushing through the doors.

"Luke are you okay, why the rush?"

"We need to talk." You were confused, but weirdly felt sweat a single drop of sweat fall from the back of your neck.

"Of course, whats up?" You said as you slid the last book onto the bookshelf and turned toward Luke.

"Remember our quest together, all that darkness and the monsters growing stronger. Don't you think all this is useless. How we're just pawns for the gods in this silly game they should've been over thrown from years ago-" Luke was rambling.

"Luke.. slow down. What are you saying? What do you mean over thrown?"

"I mean, the only reason their still around is for us, and even then they still don't treat us with the respect we deserve."

"Luke, that's our parents you're talking about. They're trying their best."

“That’s supposed to make me love them? They're killing the world and don't even seem to care. We need to start over, that's what he's been telling me in my dreams."

"Luke, what the hell are you talking about, whose 'he?'"

"Kronos." Your eyes widened, you couldn't believe what you were hearing. this couldn't be true.

"Luke, he's brainwashing you."

"No he's not. He's opening my eyes to the truth. In all the time I've been here, my dad sent me on one quest, a quest that's already been done. And I come back with this!" He angrily pointed at the scar on his face. "And all I got was pity. That's when he started speaking to me. That's where I got the ideas."

Your mouth went dry and your knees started to wobble, you couldn't believe what you were hearing. "You.. you stole the master bolt and Hades' helm, didn't you."

"And it was so easy, the gods are so full of themselves they wouldn't ever believe that someone would steal from them. And ares wouldn't have been easier to turn on my side." You didn't even recognize the man standing in front of you anymore.

"Why are you telling me all this?"

"Well, I can't continue keeping secrets from my dear girlfriend. I'm here to take you with me. Your beautiful brain is the last piece I need."

You wanted to cry. The thought was tempting. You saw how kids got ignored, how the unclaimed flooded the Hermes cabin, how most kids never hear from their parents, and how kids of minor gods don't even have cabins. You loved Luke with all your heart, you didn't want to leave him. You knew your choice.

"Luke, this is wrong. You have to know you can't just over throw the gods. They are your family."

"You're the brainwashed one here Y/N, you have to be if you can't see I'm right." He turned for the door, but you caught his wrist.

"You can't start a war like this. So many people will lose their lives." You were pleading with him. He turned to face you.

"It's the only way the gods notice, I have to go now. Last chance, are you coming with me or not." Tears were threatening to escape your eyes.

"You know I can't. I can't betray my mother." Tears were falling from your eyes, and you saw one fall from Luke's as well. He leaned and kissed you deeply and pulled away.

"Then this is goodbye." He rushed out your cabin and left you in tears. That was the last kiss you'd ever have with him. He was so gone and you didn't think you could bring him back. And that's when Annabeth came running and yelling.

"Percy's in the infirmary close to death, hurry!"

And so you wiped your tears and hurried. And there he was, a greenish grayish color with a lump on his hand.

"What the hell happened to him?" You asked worriedly.

"Looks like a pit scorpion bite, we won't know more till he wakes up." Chiron said.

Annabeth turned over to Chiron, "So did you interrogate Clarisse?"

"And why would I do that?" Chiron asked.

"What are you talking about, didn't Luke tell you she's the lightning thief?" Annabeth said.

"No he didn't," they both turned to you, looking more confused than ever. "He didn't snitch on Clarisse because it wasn't her. Luke's working for Kronos." You voice was cracking and Annabeth and Chiron both exchanged looks of worry.

"Here we are again." Percy said. Annabeth turned around and called him an idiot, ah. Young love. You feel bitter now but whatever.

"Percy. Explain everything now." And he did. He explained Luke's plan, the same one he explained to you, and how he said Percy couldn't be there and had the pit scorpion sting him. You then explained how he tried to recruit you and was now gone to who knows where. It went silent.

"I need to be alone." You excused yourself and went running to your cabin. The second you made it to your ned you collapsed and you immediately sobbing. This was Luke, your Luke, and now suddenly he was working with Kronos?? You just couldn't believe it.

As weeks went on, you became worse. You can never bring yourself to leave your bed unless absolutely necessary. Your friends and family around you started getting worried, they tried so much but nothing seems to work. At camp, you were the sweet older sister people came to for advice, now you were the girl who could barely say three or more words at a time. It got harder when Annabeth left, normally when she's gone the head counselor job would be handed to you. Of course, now that can't happen in your state. You're losing sleep and couldn't be bothered to make your self look presentable.

After about three months, you put yourself to sleep and you were pulled right back into a dream. You were standing in your special spot with Luke, and how bad you wanted to wake up but you couldn't. It was your mother who brought you back here.

"He's never coming back you know." You could barely cry, your eyes were dry. You stood there without saying anything. "I knew I never trusted him."

"Yeah because you always have to be right about everything don't you?"

"You better watch how you speak to me." Athena glared down at you, normally you'd be scared but you couldn't care less right now.

"Why, whats the point? Why are you even here? To what, rub it in my face that you were right about Luke?"

"I'm here to talk some sense into you. You're a daughter of Athena, you should be thinking with your brain, not your emotions. Yet that's the problem, you're not thinking clearly. Your ruining yourself over some guy."

"Mom," your voice was cracking. "please."

"Please what? You're grown enough to know right from wrong. Luke was just a man, nothing more nothing less." And somehow, some tears started to flow.

"No he wasn't," your voice was barely higher than a whisper.

"Speak up, you know how I feel about mumbling."

"He was more than just a man, mother," you were just barely yelling.

"Oh really, what are you saying to me? That a man who can so easily betray the gods and everything you stand for is the man for you? The love of your life? The man you would've married and had a family with?" Athena's words dripped with condescension, and it made your blood boil.

"You know what, yeah. He is, or was, or whatever. And I don't care what you have to say about it. Any future advice you have? Keep it." You were now yelling.

"Watch yourself, you might regret this. No daughter of mine will speak to me like this."

"No mother treats her daughter like her emotions don't matter, you just see me as another pawn to do your bidding. Get me out of this stupid fucking dream. NOW!" You demanded.

Athena looked at you with a face you couldn't decipher, before letting you go. The dream went black and you shot up awake just like the last time. Athena opened your eyes, just not in the way she hoped. What you knew? She didn't care about your emotions, just your ability to carry out her duties. Luke was right, and it pained you. You didn't know what to do, or who to stand with anymore.

#percy jackon and the olympians #percy jackson #percy jackson pjo #percy pjo #percy series #annabeth chase #luke castellan #luke castellan pjo #luke pjo #luke castellan angst #luke castellan x reader #luke castellan x you #luke castellan x y/n

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ladyloveandjustice · 8 days

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I liveblog the Odyssey (The Liveblogyssey)

'I've been listening to and reading The Odyssey (Emily Wilson's translation) and I've been rambling a lot to my partner, so I thought I would also liveblog my first impressions! I read parts of The Odyssey in high school and college but never the whole thing start to finish.

Athena spoils half the plot right off, I mean obviously I knew it already, but still. We start near the end of the story with Odysseus trapped on Calypso's island, Telemachus really upset that the suitors are EATING ALL THEIR SHEEP, and the beginning follows Telemachus around as he travels around to try to learn about his dad and if he's alive. Which... we know he is so that takes a little of the tension out of it.

(Seriously, Telemachus is very fixated on the sheep thing. I get that it's a big source of food but maybe you should be a little more concerned about your mom fending off 108 suitors bud).

Athena in disguise goes to meet and accompany him, appearing as an older man, and this translation is very simple and accessible (though there are definitely moments of beautiful prose) but this sometimes leads to really awkward lines like Telemachus telling Athena in disguise "I will give you a precious, pretty treasure as a keepsake to mark our special friendship" which like. are you hitting on him Telemachus you just said you think he's fatherly.

Telemachus is going thru it though. so you can't help but feel bad for him. "My mother says I am his son, but I can't be sure [...} I wish I were the son of someone lucky, who can grow old at home, instead the most unlucky man alive is said to be my father." Like that one of the times you feel the connection going back thousand of years so fiercely, the idea of having no connection to your father because you've never met him and he doesn't even feel like your dad, just a story, and too bad you can't be the son of someone who's around.

Meanwhile, a super unintentionally funny lin from young Mac is "The poets are not to blame for how things are, Blame Zeus." which yeah, that sums up most of Greek myth doesn't it! (also very funny of Homer to be like "be nice to poets, they're cool".) He also tells his own Mom to go back to the kitchen so he can assert to the suitors he's in charge and there's a man in this house, but we are reading a story from 8th century BC so.

Anyway he goes around with Athena travelling and learning about his dad, and honestly, the Odyssey is so funny. Love the part where Nestor is like "oh if only Athena favored you as she did her father" and Telemachus is like “Yeah Athena’s not on my side” :/ and she's just. sitting there with him and says”hmm are you sure I think she maybe is probably"

(and then she's like "btw to gods don't control who lives and who dies TELEMACHUS we can't even protect our mortal loved ones (but please ignore all the times we've actively killed people) and also! also! I think your dad should be grateful to go on a cool quest and be alive when he could have just died the second he left Troy, think about THAT!!!)

then she just randomly turns into a bird and leaves after ensuring Telemachus has good sleeping arrangements. Telemachus never reacts to this, everyone else is just like "omg Athena!!" he says nothing I assume he was just standing there in slackjawed shock for the next couple of hours and going over all the embarrassing things he said.

Also we get to see Helen! And I knew from earlier Greek studies that people today acting like she was dumb just because men found her attractive was misogynist nonsense. But now I get to be extra mad because the woman isn't just not dumb, she's really intelligent and observant!

Not only does she immediately figure out who Telemachus is because she saw him when he was a newborn (how??) and relays that during the Trojan war she was the only one able to recognize odysseus when he came to her place in disguise and gave him intel, but most importantly she talks about "the day the Greeks marched off to troy, their minds fixated on war and violence. They made my face the cause that hounded them". Just subtly calling the whole army out. She knows they didn't actually go to war for her. She knows she was just an excuse, and a weak one at that. She knows they wanted this war, they wanted this violence.

So yeah, Helen is smart as hell! Screw that "Everyone wanted Helen of Sparta I wanted someone a little smarter" shit from Epic, sexist nonsense, I'm glad that song was cut.

She also mentions that "Aphrodite made her go crazy" when she agreed to run off, which could be literally true (Aphrodite did tend to do that) or a clever way to protect her reputation after leaving her husband.

Helen also has drugs, which I imagine is a big reason everyone liked her. The total package. But uh, she also does drugs everyone's drinks without apparently telling them. With what sounds like superpowered magic weed or something, to make them mellow and calm and erase anxiety and depression. It says "Whoever drinks this mixture for the bowl will shed no tears that day not even if her mother or father should die" which uh actually seems kind of dangerous! But Telemachus is goin' thru it, so maybe he could use it. but apparently it doesn't work (or takes a long time to kick in} because Telemachus gets upset anyway and says things like "This makes it worse! Courage could not save my father's life!" and wants to go to bed. (PS she got the weed from Egypt, and it's nice that the story is very complementary about Egyptians, calling them the "healer's people").

And then we've finished Telemachus's depression session and get back to Penelope. THE SAGA CONTINUES IN PART 2.

#the liveblogyssey #nev reads the odyssey #the oddysey #telemachus #athena #epic the musical

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hairstevington · 6 months

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songs that voices never share (2)

Deaf!Steve Harrington x Eddie Munson

Summary: Steve receives a letter from El and goes on a quest to fulfill her wishes. Along the way, he runs into Nancy as well as the intriguing metalhead that Steve can't stop thinking about, for better or for worse. (part 1 found here)

Warnings: Lots of angst, good babysitter Steve Harrington, use of ASL, appearances from a bunch of the kids, Steve and El are penpals and it's very cute

Word count: 3.6K

A/N: I am going to move this story over exclusively on Ao3, so please follow along there if you're interested!

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Chapter 2 - I'm getting further away

Steve wanted to go directly to Robin’s after dropping the boys off at home, but he forced himself to wait until they worked together the next day. It was after dark, and Mrs. Buckley wasn’t the biggest fan of teenage boys showing up at the house unannounced and distracting her daughter from studying.

Pssh. As if Robin didn’t distract herself most of the time.

Steve had pulled his typical Harrington move a few times and snuck up to her window, which Mrs. Buckley didn’t love, but she accepted, as long as he didn’t step on any of the flowers in the garden when he did so - he learned that lesson the hard way. Anyway, Robin’s mom tolerated Steve’s excessive presence in Robin’s life because she was happy that Robin had a “handsome boyfriend.” While Steve was a year older and not in college, he still had a decent reputation in the town (somehow), and Mrs. Buckley approved of him, more or less.

He would have called her, but his hearing over the phone was hit or miss, and besides - he wanted to see her face when she found out.

So, Steve went home. He went up to his bedroom (which Robin often called the torture chamber due to how poorly it was decorated and also the general vibes of Steve’s house being off), and he thought about Eddie.

Seriously. Eddie. Steve Harrington was lying in his bed, staring at the ceiling, thinking about Eddie Munson. A total freak. The bane of Steve’s existence due to the fact that Eddie was actively replacing Steve in Dustin’s life. That Eddie. And all because of Tommy and Jonathan and Billy and the Russians all treating Steve like a punching bag until he started losing his hearing, and now that guy, Eddie Munson, was one of the only people Steve would be able to communicate with.

Okay. So apparently Steve had gone from being excited to being angry about it. Funny how that works. At least Steve understood anger better than he understood…whatever the hell he’d been feeling before.

Eddie seemed to be, like, fluent. Steve wasn’t. He’d been practicing pretty much nonstop for three months, but that didn’t mean much. He could carry a conversation as long as people talked about very specific topics. And even then, Steve wasn’t sure he was signing half the words correctly. Books about ASL were great but not exactly the best way to learn a 3-D, visual language.

The impending migraine he’d felt approaching over the course of the day was getting worse. It was probably going to rain tomorrow or something. That was a thing, right? Feeling achy and sore before a storm hits? Or was that only an excuse for when his mom didn’t want to do chores? He could have looked it up at any point, but he didn’t feel like it. Robin or Dustin would probably already know the answer, anyway. Who knows? Maybe Eddie would, too.

Ugh. Steve was sick and tired of feeling like the stupidest person in his life.

The next day, Steve woke up and noticed an envelope had been slipped under his door. He rolled his eyes, consistently amazed at how his parents avoided trying to talk to their own son. Whatever. He walked over to grab the letter and noticed it was from El.

It was kind of exciting, receiving a letter like that. The last time he’d gotten letters in the mail, they were rejections from colleges, so this was a lot more fun, even though he barely knew the girl. He opened the envelope and read it.

Dear Steve,

I do not know you very good well, but I want to practise writing. Will is helping me with grammer and spelling because I am not good at it. I am working on it and I think I will be good at writing soon.

School is okay. It is nice to have friends, but the homework is hard. Joyce and Jonathan do not help me much. There is a woman at school who helps me. She is nice but she smells bad. Will told me it is something called perfume. I asked Joyce and she told me women wear perfume for dates. Why is Mrs. Vickers wearing it at school? Will says she likes Mr. Samson and that is why. But then I asked her and she said no and that he is married.

I wrote Mike and Max letters too and they probably will get them at the same time you do. If you see them, can you make sure they have them?

I hope you are good. How are your ears?

~ El Jane

PS: My name is Jane. Please call me that.

Steve smiled. There was something so endearing about it. El - er, Jane - was just a girl, and yet she’d saved a lot of people’s lives a bunch of times. She’d saved Steve’s life at that mall - that is, unless he dreamt that. It was right after he’d puked his guts from the truth serum shit so his memory was a bit faded. But he was pretty sure El threw a car across the room and then Jonathan sliced her leg open to get some wiggly thing out of her.

Jesus. That whole night was fucking wild. Why did nobody ever talk about it?

Anyway, it was Saturday, and the boys (Dustin, Lucas, and Mike) were hanging out in Nancy’s basement to do god knows what. Probably something nerdy. Although, Steve didn’t mind the nerdy shit as much now that he was friends with Dustin and Robin. Since Jane specifically asked Steve to check if Mike got his letter, and it’s not like Steve had anything else to do, he got in his car and headed to the Wheeler’s.

It struck him as he approached the driveway that Nancy could very well be in her own house on a Saturday afternoon, so he might see her.

Idiot.

Well, he couldn’t leave now, because Nancy’s Dad was totally paranoid and probably would have called the cops about a mysterious car pulling up and then driving away. Unless he was asleep on the couch or something, which he did pretty often. It was 50/50 with Ted Wheeler. Eh, more like 75/25.

Being at Nancy’s house was weird. He didn’t go there very often other than the occasional drop-off after Hellfire. He and Nancy were fine, in the technical sense, but still. She broke his heart and left him for Jonathan. They were exes.

Of course, she was the one who opened the door.

“Oh!” she said once she saw him. “Um, Steve! Hi! What are you doing here?”

Fair question.

“I’m looking for your brother.” Steve nonchalantly signed YOUR BROTHER as he spoke without even thinking about it. Nancy looked at his hands and pressed her lips into a thin line. She’d been acting extra weird around him ever since he’d told her about the hearing thing. She didn’t learn any ASL, she just stopped talking to him - which was fine, because it’s not like they had much to talk about unless the world was ending or something.

Which meant they probably still had at least a few months of silence between them before they were due for another apocalypse.

“I think so,” Nancy replied, looking behind her. “One second.”

Nancy walked ten feet closer to the basement door and yelled for Mike, who tumbled up the stairs and ran to the door so fast Steve wondered if Mike had considered joining the track team. Steve already supported Lucas joining the basketball team, and even helped him out before tryouts. Lucas didn’t need much training, though. He was a natural at basketball.

Mike was huffing and puffing when he noticed it was Steve asking for him, and then his face fell.

“DUSTIN!!!” Mike yelled behind him. “YOUR STEVE IS HERE!” Steve rolled his eyes. One good thing about talking to Mike was that he frequently yelled, which translated to a more normal volume for those who’d had ruptured eardrums.

“I’m not here for Henderson,” Steve clarified. “I’m here because your girlfriend wants to know if you got your letter.”

“You - what?!” Mike exclaimed. “How did you know that - since when do you talk to El?”

The other good thing about talking to Mike was that he was relatively good at enunciating. This was especially helpful considering Mike signed BITCH instead of TALK. But hey, at least the kid was trying.

“Her name’s Jane, now, dude,” Steve corrected him. “And uhh - I dunno. She wrote me a letter too.”

Mike clearly did not like any of this. He crossed his arms and scoffed so dramatically Steve had to hold himself back from laughing.

“MOM!” Mike yelled. “DID I GET A LETTER?” There must have been a response in the background, because Mike looked like he heard one. He turned back to Steve and nodded. “Yup got it.”

“Great,” Steve replied. Unfortunately, only half his job was done. “Did Max get hers?” Mike shrugged.

“I don’t know,” he answered. Steve sighed.

“Okay,” he said. “Do you know where she lives?” Mike responded, but Steve couldn’t for the life of him figure out what he said. It looked like - “Frosties?” Mike shook his head and said it again.

“Forest Hills,” he clarified. Steve furrowed his eyebrows.

“The trailer park?” he asked. Mike nodded. “Oh. Okay. Thanks.”

Steve always had a headache after talking to people, because he had to concentrate super hard to get what they were saying. It was getting old. He turned to go back to his car, but was stopped when Mike grabbed him by the wrist. Steve spun around and tried not to laugh at how hard Mike attempted to look menacing.

“Don’t hurt her, understand?” Mike demanded. At least he had one sign down - UNDERSTAND. Steve nodded, regretting that he taught Mike anything.

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Steve responded. Jane could still kick his ass probably, even without her powers.

He left for Forest Hills after that, feeling somewhat sad for Max. He hadn’t really talked to her much, so he didn’t fully know her deal, but he knew she grew up with a psycho brother and was angsty enough to take down said brother. Steve was knocked out cold for it, but Dustin had told him her attack involved using Steve’s nail bat to threaten Billy’s junk.

Needless to say, Steve was kind of terrified of Max.

All that said, Forest Hills was known for being - uhh - not the best place to live. It was relatively close to Steve’s house, and his dad warned him all the time growing up not to go there. He told him it was filled with the worst kind of people.

Then Steve grew up, and he realized his dad was among the worst kind of people, not the folks at the trailer park.

It was just sad there. Even though people lived in the trailers, something about it felt empty at all times. Hollow. Miserable.

Steve realized he hadn’t asked which trailer belonged to Max’s family (idiot), but thankfully she was outside feeding the dog when his car pulled into Forest Hills.

She didn’t seem at all surprised by his arrival, or maybe she just didn’t care. It was probably the second one.

“What are you doing here?” she asked after Steve got out of the car. She looked around her, and Steve could have sworn she saw a crack in her tough exterior. He wondered how many people knew this was where she lived now.

The sky was cloudy. It would probably rain any minute. Steve’s head was pounding.

It was at that moment Steve realized how ridiculous this whole mission had been. This girl who he interacted with like three times in his life wrote him a letter and asked him to check in on two other kids, both who Steve also didn’t have much of a relationship with, and he just…did it? Because he had literally nothing better to do on a Saturday?

Oof. He had no idea when he got so pathetic.

“Steve?” Max called. Steve was too lost in thought to even respond, but within moments she was standing a foot in front of him. Despite being a lot shorter than he was, she still seemed tall. She signed, WHAT’S UP? He took a deep breath.

“God, this is -” he said. “This is so stupid. Did you get El’s letter? I mean - uh - Jane’s letter?”

Max’s gaze softened.

“Is she okay?” she asked, slight fear in her expression. Steve nodded.

“Yeah,” he answered. “She just uh - she sent me one, too. Asked me to check that you and Mike got yours.”

At the mention of Mike, Max rolled her eyes. At least she and Steve had that reaction in common. She walked to the mailbox, opened it, and shuffled through the (many) envelopes inside.

“Jesus,” Steve exclaimed. “Someone’s popular.” Max didn’t react.

“I always forget to check,” she said casually in response. Steve wondered why she would be the one who had to check the mail, but didn’t press it. Max took one of the envelopes and held it in the air. “Here. Got it,” she said.

Max was acting differently. She was never the most bubbly person, but she seemed even more tense than usual.

“You okay?” Steve asked, signing OK. Max nodded and signed FINE. As much as Steve knew she was definitely for sure lying (seriously, Steve was the King of pretending everything was fine when it wasn’t, he saw right through this shit), he also knew he wasn’t great at the whole emotions thing.

“Be nice to El or I’ll kill you,” Max threatened. Steve shook his head.

“Why is everyone saying that shit?” he complained. “Seriously, I just -”

Suddenly, there was a sound that Steve assumed was thunder. Max’s eyes focused on something in the distance behind Steve, then pointed at her ear and nodded towards the noise. When Steve turned around, he saw Eddie attempting to put a garbage bag in the metal dumpster and failing miserably.

He turned back to Max, who looked at him expectantly.

“What?” Steve asked. She looked back at Eddie, then to Steve again. “You’re the one who lives here, you help him.” Max’s face crumpled with judgment.

“I’m a child,” she explained, as if helping Eddie with his task was a preposterous thing for her to do. Steve rolled his eyes and turned back to the dumpster, which was now closed. Eddie was wiping his hands on his pants, triumphant. Then, he locked eyes with Steve.

Shit.

Usually, Steve could pretend he wasn’t able to hear someone if they were far away, and then he didn’t look like a dick when he didn’t talk to them. Unfortunately, Steve couldn’t use that excuse with Eddie.

HERE WHY? Eddie signed from across the park.

Steve wasn’t sure why he was so nervous all of a sudden. It sucked that every single time he ran into Eddie, he forgot all ASL he’d practiced and instead just looked like a total fool. Steve pressed his lips together and gestured to Max beside him. Eddie raised an eyebrow.

Steve looked at Max panicked, and she looked back at him.

“He knows ASL?” she asked, impressed. Steve nodded. “How?”

“Uhhh, his mom is deaf,” Steve explained. “Was deaf. She’s dead now.” Steve knew like three things about Eddie, and those were two of the things. Of course, those facts sounded incredibly tactless when repeated without context.

“Steve, what the hell?” Max replied. “You’re being weird.”

“I know,” Steve replied in a hushed voice. He went to go back to his car, then noticed that Eddie was walking right toward them. Steve’s eyes widened.

Okay, here goes nothing.

“This guy bothering you, Red?” Eddie asked. He was using a sign Steve didn’t recognize, but he assumed it meant BOTHER. Steve crossed his hands in a similar way at his waist, as if doing it would sear the sign into his brain.

“No,” Max said. “He’s fine.” She signed FINE once again. She was really getting her mileage with that one.

Steve signed a question that was meant to ask if Eddie and Max had met already. Thank God he was actually able to express a coherent thought. He was pretty sure it was grammatically correct, too!

MEET, Eddie signed back. Steve cocked his head, so Eddie continued. “You signed DATE,” he explained. He closed his fists more and then repeated the motion. “This is how you sign MEET.”

Okay, so Steve officially had to disappear forever.

THANK YOU, he signed instead, resisting the urge to hop in the car. TWO-OF-YOU MEET HOW? This time, Eddie nodded in approval at Steve’s signing, which felt good. He was still humiliated, but at least he’d slightly redeemed himself.

Eddie signed a whole bunch of words Steve couldn’t really follow, but thankfully Eddie spoke anyway.

“We’re neighbors,” he explained. “Also, her boyfriend is in my club.” Eddie was signing while he was speaking like it was nothing. Steve watched in awe.

“Okay,” Max interrupted, unamused. “I’m gonna go inside before it starts pouring, but it was nice to talk to you both, I guess.”

With that, she was gone. That left Steve and Eddie alone. It was times like these when he really wished he could telepathically summon Robin.

“So,” Eddie said. Then, he signed something else Steve couldn’t understand. YOU, something, then ME?

The missing word was extremely important. Thankfully, Eddie seemed to recognize that Steve didn’t understand. Eddie fingerspelled, S-T-A-L-K, then signed STALK again.

YOU STALK ME?

Once Eddie’s initial question clicked, Steve shook his head aggressively.

“No, no,” he insisted. “I came here for Max, because her and I have a bunch of friends in common, and -”

“Steve,” Eddie said, cutting him off. JOKING.

Steve exhaled in relief. “Oh. Right,” he said. From then on, Eddie spoke as he signed.

“How long have you been signing?” he asked.

“Three months,” Steve answered. “Started losing my hearing in July.”

“Shit,” Eddie replied. “So it’s very new.” Steve nodded, noticing that instead of signing VERY NEW, Eddie signed NEW with a more dramatic motion and expression. Interesting.

“Yeah.”

Eddie looked up at the sky, which had gotten a lot darker over the last few minutes.

“Well,” he said. “We should take refuge before the storm hits. But for the record, you’re pretty good at ASL considering it’s only been three months.”

Steve smiled. REALLY?

Eddie nodded. REALLY.

Steve didn’t think Eddie had any idea how much this brief conversation impacted him. Eddie just walked away after that to go inside, but Steve lingered outside the car for a few extra moments.

Then he realized how fucking weird he looked and drove home as fast as he safely could.

Steve had a few hours before work, which was good because his headache was still going strong. He figured he’d pop a Tylenol and take a nap or something.

When he got back to his room, he saw his letter on the desk and decided he’d write back before he slept.

Dear Jane,

Hi! I honestly didn’t expect you to actually write me. That’s pretty cool. I double checked for you and Max and Mike got their letters. And then they both gave me the shovel talk - wait, do you know what a shovel talk is? They basically told me that if you and I are gonna be penpals, I have to be nice to you. That’s kinda bullshit, right? I’m, like, really nice, now. Except to Dustin, but only when he deserves it.

That was a joke. I’m joking.

Steve crumpled up the paper and threw it across the room. What was he thinking, going on about shovel talks and how he sometimes bullies a literal child?

He took a deep breath and tried again.

Hey,

I’m really glad you wrote to me. Things have been kinda hard, honestly. My ears are the same. Actually, they’ve gotten worse. Today they’re hurting me a lot. I’m starting to think I’m gonna go completely deaf and I don’t really know how I feel about it. I just feel like a total dumbass all the time.

Jesus Christ, was he seriously trauma dumping on a girl who’s formative experiences included being imprisoned and experimented on in a lab??? And now, she had even more shit to conquer. She didn’t need to hear about his problems.

He thought about giving up, but decided to try one more time.

Jane -

It’s nice to hear from you. I always had a hard time in school, too. Nancy used to help me out with my papers because I’m a shit writer. So this is good practice for both of us 🙂

I just found out this guy named Eddie also knows sign language, so I want to try to get to know him better. He’s in Hellfire club with Dustin, Mike, and Lucas, so I’ll see him sometimes probably. It makes me feel less alone, I guess. I’ve been feeling alone a lot these days. Maybe that’s not a manly thing to say or whatever, but I’ve given up on trying to be cool. Cool is overrated, it’s lame-time for Steve.

Shit. Robin told me to stop talking in third person like that. She’d probably be fine with it this time though since I was calling myself lame while doing it.

Max and Mike both have their letters, so all is good on that end. All your friends here are doing well. I’ll keep an eye on them for you if you promise to look out for Will. Okay?

Until next time,

Steve

PS: Mrs. Vickers is totally trying to get with Mr. Samson. Keep me updated with this because now I’m invested.

Well. That was as good as it was gonna get. He sealed the envelope and climbed into bed.

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

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#eddie munson #steve harrington #steddie #writing #steddie fic #songs that voices never share #deaf steve harrington #eddie munson x steve harrington #stranger things fanfic

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tarisilmarwen · 10 months

Text

Rebels Rewatch: "The Call"

In which we gain whale friends. :)

RIGHT, SO, FIRST OF ALL, ANYONE WHO CALLED THIS EPISODE USELESS FILLER OWES ME TWENTY BUCKS.

Even when I didn't know the purrgil specifically would be returning I knew this was an important episode for Ezra's character development and for growing his unique Force affinity for animal connection.

Technically falls under the Friendship Fetch Quest episode type, albeit on a bit more of an abstract level.

I love the touch of the fog on the inside window of the Ghost that Hera has to rub off. Everyone's breath fogs, and they even look a bit paler and more harried, eyes more lined, really emphasizing how cold it is.

Ezra's face when he first hears the purrgil song, aww.

It's really interesting that only Ezra can hear the purrgil, even though Kanan also has the Force. Could of course just be his stronger affinity for animals--he's more naturally attuned to them--but he's also more sympathetic to the purrgil throughout the episode, the only one actually listening to them, so maybe that's why he's the only one that can hear. Nice little foreshadowing either way.

Love that even though Kanan can't hear the purrgil, he trusts Ezra enough to believe him.

Right, I'm suspecting I'm going to be using up a lot of my limited photos with caps of Ezra's face this episode.

Subtle animation appreciation moment: Sabine's double-take as she glances forward out the viewport and sees the purrgil.

Purrgil are presented as really interesting creatures, they're not actively malicious at all (unless you really piss them off lol) but they're big and tough-hided and can severely damage a spaceship just by brushing past them. They have natural migration routes that sometimes unfortunately run afoul of hyperspace lanes and ships traveling through them. They're connected to the Force. They live in space. They can achieve hyperspace, naturally.

They're like any herding group of big animals really, whales, elephants, moose, they need to be given a wide, respectful distance.

Which is why flying with them works. They recognize, "Oh, this is part of the herd now. Hello friend!"

Possibly the calls Ezra was hearing earlier was the purrgils' method of saying, "Hey, coming through, get out of the way!" because he says they calm when the Ghost starts flying with them.

Kanan praising Ezra for his good instincts. <3

Oh you know I'm gonna talk about the leitmotifs in this one, I gotta.

So! There are two main themes associated with the purrgil. One of them I'm going to call the "Hyperspace" theme, which is pretty self-explanatory, it's the track that plays when we learn that the purrgil can jump to hyperspace. This cue here that's playing I think might be part of the larger "Triumph of Nature" theme, it definitely sounds like it's in the same key and tempo. I'm calling it that because of the overall underlying archtheme of nature's wrath against the oppressive industrial world that features in this episode specifically and in Rebels and Star Wars overall. It's a very classic motif in extrapersonal conflict fantasy stories, the need to respect and live in harmony with nature, appearing in dozens of classic influential stories from Lord of the Rings to Princess Mononoke. (Both of which were inspirations for Rebels, funnily enough.)

Both cues are later going to come back in the finale.

All right, done with that tangent for now, back to Ezra making whale friends.

Lol he rolls his eyes at Kanan and Hera's argument.

Love how he immediately tries to connect with the purrgil.

The modified TIEs represent the Mining Guild's intimate ties with the Empire. The Empire supplies them TIE fighters to secure and protect their facilities and in exchange gets full exclusive access to the fuel they produce. Once again, Rebels says state corporatization of private industry = bad.

They're so low on fuel the front cannons stop working, Ezra's panic here is adorable.

LOL Hera's face when Kanan gets all smug about not shooting the purrgil. AND I LOVE THAT WHEN SHE CUTS HIM OFF ON THE COMMS HE COMES DOWN FROM THE TURRET TO PERSONALLY FINISH HIS GLOATING.

They're so married.

Love this little music box chime in the music here.

Kanan so completely on Ezra's side this episode it's so sweet.

Therapist!Ezra strikes again, getting Hera to explain why she's not fond of purrgil. Characters around Ezra just seem to have a habit of telling him their darkest secrets lol.

I remember a lot of people kvetched about the physics in this episode, apparently not realizing that this planetoid we're approaching is the source of the gravity. (It's certainly large enough.) And there is atmosphere it's just not breathable for humans, hence the helmets.

The lack of fuel is mostly a plot device for this episode but it works, limiting the movement the Ghost is capable of, necessitating personal infiltration, which puts Ezra more in contact with the purrgil in order to realize why they need the Clouzon. Also another plot element done way better in Rebels than in Last Jed--*shot*

Okay okay, less sequel salt.

Shut up, let me have this.

Ezra completely not actually paying attention to the plan lol.

"You said you just wanted to look at it!" "I did look at it... and it looked bad." <3 Sabine cannot resist painting a blank surface lol.

Gosh this sequence is just so... there's so much lightness and wonder and it just evokes a feeling of flight.

Ezra reaching out to touch the purrgil like the embodiment of every tropeiffic "A Boy/Girl and their [X]".

This is not Ezra's day is it? Lol.

Underrated Papa Wolf Kanan moment: The sheer quickdraw frantic speed at which he put his saber together and shoves Ezra aside to block the blaster shot.

Seriously, I timed it it's less than a second from initial alarmed shout to full saber ignition and blaster deflection.

Kanan's absolute trust in Ezra awwwwwwww.

Hanging a giant lampshade on the tendency for their plans to go sideways lol.

This is a unique cue, feels vaguely like a 90s animal rescue movie score. Which fits.

The running gag of Ezra just completely losing his head to be all, "Whale friends! :D" is hilarious.

Purrgil get colorful after they "refuel", interesting note.

Aaand down he go.

Love this handheld (computer held?) shot tracking Hera to the displays on the wall.

Kanan's spinny flip. <3

And the worry in his voice when Ezra doesn't answer. <3

:(((((

Ezra fortuitously landed on the back of a purrgil so he's not going to be falling to his death.

He is, though, in serious danger of suffocation.

Bbbbyyyyyy. :((((((

Once again embodying the spirit of every heartwarming animal friend movie ever.

And this is so cool. Love it when things get Force Weird.

This scene is also really well acted, Taylor does a great job of conveying the relief when he can breathe again.

"I can't believe we're gonna lose to this guy!" Lol.

REMEMBER THE OTHER LEITMOTIF I SAID THE PURRGIL HAD? THAT REAPPEARS IN THE FINALE LIKE A HEROIC HERALD OF EUCATASTROPHE? YEAH IT'S THIS ONE RIGHT HERE.

"TRIUMPH OF NATURE" BABY.

And the nasty foreman gets his karmic comeuppance.

Oh he got ate. He definitely 100% got ate.

Ezra gets his own cool spinny flip.

And there's the "Hyperspace" theme, closing us out triumphantly.

Even beyond all the implications and connections this episode has for the finale (and hoo boy are there many), this episode is just such a fun classic kind of adventure. It continues the spacefaring as sea voyages metaphor, has a little bit of a environmental message without being obnoxious, has gorgeous animation, is so SO important for Ezra's character and his unique personal Force abilities and it's just... delightful.

Imma just sit here, smug in the knowledge that I loved this episode before it became Plot Important.

Jokes on you it was always Plot Important.

#star wars #star wars rebels #ezra bridger #space dad and his precious pumpkin child #rebels rewatch #liveblog #music #soundtracks

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ae-to-the-snow · 8 months

Note

since you (maybe) finished fontaines archon quest, what are your thoughts about it?

🔮 anon <3

IT WAS SO COOL

Spoilers below for the Fontaine Archon Quests Act 1 and Act 2!! Proceed at your own discretion.

BROOO LIKE THE TRIAL AND EVERYTHING... Ok I was a Danganronpa kid (red flag ik) BUT I WAS GEEKING OUT. I GUESSED THE TWISTS. felt proud... And brooo it hurt me that the traveler doesn't like Lyney after all that. I understand that tho ! But if it were me I seriously didn't care about Lyney and Lynette being Fatui related like he said, he was showing us his true self and not the part of him that joined the Fatui. You can tell he doesn't fucking approve of their ways but he does it anyways because at first he wanted the protection for his siblings but when he realized the Fatui dark side he knew he couldn't get out likely... Just my prediction/theory tho

As for the rest... I loved the ending where that guy is murdered. They really had me believing he was gonna be happy with his love but I was pleasantly wrong... Yeah the news of the girls going missing disturbed me but it didn't really attach me to them and make me hate this guy. BUT HIS ENDING MANAGED TO MAKE ME HATE HIM AT HIS VERY ENDING AND SUPPORT THE LADIES... GOODNESS THAT WAS MY FAVORITE MOMENT. I LOVED THAT... WHY IS NO ONE TALKING ABOUT IT I LOVE IT WHEN CRIMINALS GET SHIT BC WE'VE BEEN REDEEMING AND UWU FYING THEM TOO MUCH...

Also also, Colirivia... Like oh my god the yuri. When she first appeared I was cheering LET'S GO SAPPHICSSSSSS

Clorinde is a lot softer and less cold than I thought. I expected her to be like Keqing/Sara but no... I actually really like Clorinde. She's so cool.

About Furina... I'm really invested in her. Yes she's annoying and all but like it's just so right. I usually hated characters because they're just not for me, but I don't hate Furina even if she's annoying and all. You can tell she doesn't mean to and that she's only doing this for some other reason. Okay so the Fontaine visions and everything give us a constant theme. Duality. Everything comes in pairs in Fontaine... Pneuma Ousia, Furina having split colour eyes, the gliders being split colour too... And we notice that with hydro vision wielders, they have another side of them that they show and the other side they hide. Like a play, a mask, a performance. And I see that clearly with Furina. I love her augh even if I wanna squeeze her. I can ramble a lot tbh this is what happens when an autistic bitch has a SI in Genshin...

And I notice that Furina is clearly actually very caring. She only puts up an act of flamboyance, which I believe may be her way of getting love from the people. She is noticeably unknowledgeable and lacking in certain aspects, but would you notice that if you were focused on her theatrics? I think she believes that the people cheering and supporting her in an opera like performance is her kind of love, believing she's doing a good job maintaining that belief and worship in her as a god. Which she needs to keep up, because not only does the energy there rely on her people's beliefs, but the previous Hydro archon died, leaving her with a lot of expectations to shoulder. She seems to judge other gods, so she probably noticed how Nahida was treated, and didn't want that for herself so she actively tries and tries to get her people's love, AND IT'S WORKING.

I feel like due to the recent trials and oratrice incident however, that this belief is starting to shake, which is where we get act 3 of the AQ. As the energy supply is malfunctioning, Furina will struggle to regain those beliefs in her, and I think that could be her character arc. Realizing that she can't keep wearing a mask forever, she'll definitely do something about that. I'm really invested in her... I can't wait.

Also also I think Wriothesley, who's in charge of the prison, will personally oversee Tartaglia. That's when we meet him and all, bc the traveler cares about Childe and will probably request to see him.

Speaking of Wrio, I can't wait to see his dynamic with Sigewinne. They're so cute...

I think I like every single character tbh. Every character in Fontaine has some depth and expectation subversion... Oh shit wait that's the entire theme of hydro nation. Lmao. How fitting.

AUHHHH I COULD RAMBLE MORE

#genshin impact #genshin 4.0 #genshin archon quest spoilers #fontaine quest spoilers #Fontaine quest #genshin fontaine #ae's asks #🔮 anon #genshin theories #genshin speculation #furina #clorinde #navia genshin #lyney and lynette #lyney

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ceasarslegion · 2 months

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So ive been playing skyrim since it came out all the way back in 2011

Obviously, i was a bit younger 13 years ago. And a lot more naive. Didn't know a ton about how the world worked. I didn't even know that I wanted to go into federal work and I barely paid attention in social studies.

Since Skyrim's release day, I moved to 4 different places, most of those cities I also moved to different homes within. I graduated high school, took a few years to gain work and life experience, performed in multiple professional musicals, moved out on my own on the other side of the atlantic where I was the only one I knew on that entire coast, went to uni, started HRT, got involved in street-level activism, graduated uni with a double degree in political science and cinema (and a minor in history!), dealt with my childhood dog dying, nearly died myself of covid, moved again, got a shitty door to door salesman job, quit, got a shitty retail job, quit, got a job in federal security until I can climb the ladder higher, worked a provincial election for the NDP, and met my boyfriend. This is by no means an exhaustive list.

To say that a lot happens in 13 years is a bit of an understatement.

The first time I ever played Skyrim, I joined the stormcloaks. I was a naive kid who didn't know much about politics or the world. I didn't really know much about how all that jargon worked and only saw them as a rebellion against some kind of tyrant. Worked for me.

My recent run I picked up after all these years because I remembered how many hours and years I spent in elder scrolls games. It seemed that no matter how far away I moved or how different everything seemed, I always had either Oblivion or Skyrim to pick up and escape into. I feel a little lost and disoriented in my life now, and needed something familiar and comforting, so I booted it up again.

I got to the quest where you negotiate a ceasefire between the imperials and stormcloaks until the dragons return is dealt with. "Lets make sure we actually have a skyrim left to fight over, yeah?"

The first time I played, I gave the stormcloaks everything. Why wouldnt I? I joined them, after all.

This time was a little... different. I joined the Imperials, and was willing to seceed more territory to the side I wasn't on. Now I have a formal education in politics, and direct experience within it.

If you want Markarth, we need Riften. Winterhold's strategic position isn't a fair enough trade for Markarth's size and direct access to Skyrim's silver mines. No, we aren't sending the Thalmor ambassador away.

The White-Gold Concordant is too fragile and the Dominion's armies too strong to risk alienating them any further and playing with fire for another Great War. I don't like the Thalmor either, but we need to keep them docile enough to build the Empire's armies again to kick them back out, and for that we need time, so she stays.

You ask why the dragonborn has imperial sympathies? It's not sympathy for an imperialist power, it's recongition that this is the only legitimate possibility for a chance at peace again after all tge secessions and the incident at the Imperial City 30 years ago.

Sometimes you just gotta do dirty work to keep the wheels greased and the cart moving. I understand where you're coming from with a lot of things, Ulfric, but your blind fanaticism has both served the Thalmor's interests by diverting the precious resources of the army that can stand up to them fighting your stupid proxy war, and you have turned into a bigot chasing this traditionalist nord supremacy. You are part of the world, you're going to have to play ball with it. You can't have your secret third option and expect to have a Skyrim to come back to in 10 years.

"Even the dragonborn betrays Skyrim." Yeah, that's how a politician throws a tantrum when they don't get their way. But I won't speak up about the hypocrisy of implying that Skyrim's prophecized jesus-figure hero is somehow a traitor to it just because I didn't hand the victory to you on a silver platter. We got a ceasefire and didn't alienate the Thalmor while we need to buy time to regroup. That's the important part.

I don't know, man. When I was a kid I didn't think any of that through. And this time it came so naturally that it was like breathing for me.

It's a bit of a silly thing to draw comparisons through but I think it says something

#story about how skyrim made me realize how far ive come under the cut #skyrim #the elder scrolls #tes #tesv

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servingthecuntry · 4 months

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Several things to say after the newest episode

WE'RE GETTING THE FATES Y'ALL(if u didn't see the episode trailer go back to the end credits and it'll be there)

Idk why they were moved to after the chimera fight but they're coming!!!!

Also I've been listening to the audiobook and decided to make a post of what we've been missing in the show

Some stuff makes sense like cutting out argus. Maybe it would've been too hard to animate all his eyes or his role wasn't big enough to fit in the time limit. But I've been craving for a missing poster with percy. At camp he's given a newspaper of his and his mums dissapearance with him as a person of interest because gabe calls him a troubled kid with a delinquent past. I get cutting out some stuff for gabe but it couldve been easy to see them walk past a newspaper of this on the train. Also there were missing posters percy would tear down when in the human world and I just want to see one person of interest or missing person poster.

Now SPOILER WARNING(books and show) but here are the other things I've noticed:

Grover got the flying shoes because percy isn't safe in the air due to zeus

The styx oath is super super serious

ANNABETHS BEEN TO OLYMPUS

Annabeth has a crush on luke(maybe they want to retcon that idk)

I'd been wondering for ages why the kids don't have cells ITS BC MONSTERS CAN TRACE THEM

argus is the camp protector and was going to drive the kids to the coach and for some reason they cut it out so we don't get to see a dude covered in eyes

Percy and annabeth aren't supposed to get along because of their parents rivalry

Argus may ship percabeth

Percy has missing posters everywhere

Percy is a person of interest in his mothers suspicious dissapearance because of gabe

GROVER CAN READ EMOTIONS (like auras?)

Grover eats tin cans and playing cards(he's also a vegetarian)

Percys mum married Gabe bc his smell hides percy from creatures/ monsters

Chiron has had a percy related prophecy that's only now starting to make sense

There were meant to be 3 furies on the bus(i can see why they cut this out)

Monsters come back to life and mrs dodds had come back

The camp was attacked by a hell hound out for percy who was fought off by annabeth with a sword and killed by chirons arrow (I get cutting out this scene but it would've looked SO COOL)

It could only be summoned by someone inside the camp and was from the field of torment so that's how they knew hades was the one who had stolen the lightning bolt and framed percy

A hawaian shirted tourist had taken a picture of percy with riptide

I'm guessing they rewrote the coach scene so they didn't lose all their snacks and money(rip grovers tin cans)

In the book if percy dies the quest is over and annabeth and grover have to go back to camp but I don't think that's an issue in the show(or maybe percy didn't know because annabeth didn't explain to him idk)

Annabeths never actually gone out into the real world since she was 7

We got to see annabeth unsure of herself because she's never gotten to properly fight a monster since she was 7 which is a shame to cut out of the show for her character arc. Tbh theyve cut out a lot of slower character arcs which is annoying but understandable with the length of each episode

Grover can play songs to help eg the find a path song but he hasn't got the hang of it yet

Hes basically a level 1 bard

Auntie M was able to use some kind of snake charmer ability

Grover was way more fighting active in the book because he found his uncles statue earlier than in the show

In the book they used a reflection of a spear instead of annabeths cap and annabeth was calculating how off the light would be because the spear was curved. Both show off annabeths intelligence but the cap is more unique and cooler on screen

When parts of a monster are cut off they don't disappear with the rest of it and become a "spoil of war" -basically a magically remaining trophy

Satyrs aren't meant to get migranes but percy and annabeth gave grover one at medusas

I'm guessing at least 50% of percys impertinence comes from being an only kid

This isn't a fact this is just something I started imagining after the 50th time someone said "Percy" with the same energy as a cat being annoyed at another housecat and giving a warning meow before attacking it

Grovers getting a searchers license to find Pan the Greek God

Grover doesn't know what happened to his dad who was also a seeker

The search for Pan gives satyrs hope after seeing what humans have done to the world

Grover tells percy annabeth forgave him for what happened at Grovers first assignment

The furies were holding back and could've been more aggressive than they were

Grover can use his emotional reading to see what percy hides about his feeling to his dad

The thing in Percys dreams tries using him to pull itself out not to drag him down

Grover can talk to all animals

Grover is a snorer

Percy tells annabeth about his dream at this point but I don't think he's told anyone about those dreams in the show

They've not said anything about the beads on their necklaces the campers get for surviving another year. Would've been an easy merch ad but maybe it wasn't important enough yet

Children of athena are made as thoughts of athena and given to people she feels close to or something

Annabeth was sent to her dad in a golden basket with the winds of zephyr

Even though she respects her mum she has equal level of daddy issues to percy

In chapter 12 percy acts like he doesn't care about his dad's approval but grover can read his emotions and knows percy sent medusas head so poseidon would be proud

But then he wonders in chapter 13 why annabeth acts like she doesn't care about her dad who seems worse than gabe when she still wears a ring from him which is such a teen thing for him to do honestly

Whenever a monster attacked annabeth the stepmum and dad blamed her for "threatening" their mortal/ normal kids

We get a hint of architecture nerd annabeth in the episode but she doesnt say she wants to build something for athena. I assume its implied but its not clarified how big her dreams are. She wants to build something that'll last 1000 years. I won't give any major spoilers but maybe we'll get it in a future scene and I'm hoping its in her siren scene

I think that while percy loves his mum and hates his dad Annabeth hates her mortal parents and Athena was her only hope of a loving mother even though in the show she says its a kind of transactional thing

Also side note I thought the chimera was the pink poodle before it left the bag and I love that they kinda sorta reference it when we see from the human passengers pov

In the books they're careful about mentioning gods around humans but percy just straight out calls the mother of monsters a monster in front of the passengers and officers. Didn't even lower his voice or anything

Hades has a helm that can make him become darkness and make you so scared you go insane

Do they ever get something equivalent to sending stones or detect thoughts like in DnD to deal with this? Obviously normal tech is out because monsters can track it but what about magical communication methods?(the iris video call system doesn't count that seems like a premium thing if it costs one gold drachma-also the book explains demigods only use gold drachmas even though in ancient greek it would've been silver- and they have 20 for the quest so they cant just use a drachma every time they want to send a magical text which; you can't do with the iris system. Also the iris system isn't any subtler than a zoom call so wouldn't be good for hiding stuff from hades)

Percy still hasn't gotten a chance to confuse annabeth with his blue snack foods(i assume grover already knows bc he'd have had blue sweets at yancy)

Zeus allowed the mother of monsters to attack Percy

The mother of monsters hates that ant eaters are named after the echidna

For some reason riptide didn't return to percy during the fight and its mentioned in the book. Maybe poseidon kept it so he could contact him?

Also a couple notes I've learned while listening to hesiod

The cyclopes helped zeus defeat kronos and bring the titans to their time out tartarus zone(not by crafting the lightning bolt in the original myths unless I'm misremembering I think they just helped in the fight like bringing your older brother to fight your bully)

The river styx is the only female river goddess and a favourite child

I hadn't taken any notes so lmk if u want me to add more hesiod fun facts and I'll relisten to theogony

I'm stopping notes here so I don't go past chapter 13: I plunged to my death

I'm thinking of writing my notes as I binge listen to the audiobook and editing them after watching the episode before posting on tumblr. Or I've already read until book 4 of the pjo series so I may decide to hold off on listening to the audiobook until each episode airs(I have vague memories of important or memorable stuff but its been a couple years since I last read the books). I'll see how long I can stop myself from listening to the audiobook. This isn't a perfect list so let me know if somethings wrong or if I missed something in tags or comments

#Pefcy jackson #Percy jackson olympians #Rick riordan #Walker scobell #Leah jeffries #Aryan Simhadri #Annabeth chase #Grover underwood #Pjo #greek mythology

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larnax · 1 year

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finally managed to rewrite a version of thronés story i actually like

first we have to decide what thronés story is like. about. on a material “what happens in the story” level and then on the thematic level of why those things happen. right now i think thronés story is probably supposed to be about getting freedom and something something family abuse but what actually happens is throné trying to get this weird collar off which she does by performing a very convoluted paternity test she didnt even know she needed to do until halfway through the story and its About how fucked up it would be if this one weird horny guy had too many kids that he was evil to. that sucks ass so we’re gonna change it. im fine with the “what happens” being throné trying to get her collar off, i actually think it works pretty well as a way to symbolize her being trapped in the blacksnakes and you can do a lot of interesting things with the degree to which her metaphorical collar even can come off the way a physical collar can, so thats what the story is actually gonna be About. the focus of the story should be on the conflict between thronés desire for freedom and a Normal Life and the fact that shes never Had that and the life shes had instead is extremely difficult to get out of

the single biggest problem with thronés story is that i cant emphasize this enough at the finale it suddenly nosedives into her being told about her biological family history and then needing to go on a quest to find this one random fucking dude who she has never met before and who is so blatantly evil he might as well just be a generic villain and then she has to kill him and then the story immediately ends. its not ‘bittersweet’ because im still feeling whiplash from a completely different story busting in at the last minute and the story claude is from is so morally simple(should this evil immortal rapist be killed? yeah, probably???) that it literally cant be bittersweet because it was definitely good that he died and throné has no reason to care about him

i understand that ot2 wants to have the character’s stories all tie into the postgame(except agnea lol) and honestly i dont even hate the idea of taking the theme of grooming her story has and giving that exaggerated form in this immortal organization but for the love of fucking god the leader needs to actually be a part of the story before the eleventh hour and it makes me insane that hes not because its so so so fucking obvious: Father. you know, Father? that guy who was introduced in chapter one and who throné actually has an established relationship with and who has actually been the one grooming her for her entire life before the story? why the fuck is the climax of his death preceded by a confusing and boring account of his relationship with thronés biological mother who she never knew who cheated on him with a complete stranger all of which happened before throné was born and that she did not know about until just now and is mostly irrelevant because it doesnt change her relationship with him at all because she just kills him. what is going on where am i.

so the first thing i would do in a rewrite of thronés story is remove the question of who thronés biological family is entirely. it doesnt matter and in fact actively makes the story weaker. what matters to throné and ideally the player is the people who raised throné who she considers her family and who she actually has a relationship with. even though Father is now an immortal who created the blacksnakes hes not biologically related to the children because thats stupid im sorry its just dumb.

he created a gang of children the normal way by taking in poor children who don’t have anywhere else to go and don’t have anyone to miss them with the promise of a place in the world and food/board with the caveat that they work for the parents Forever. this also means that some of the blacksnakes believe theyre in the organization by choice, or that this is the best option for them(will be relevant for mira), and are willing to accept the treatment not just because of the collars but because of the metaphorical collar of poverty. none of this even needs to be outright said & in fact i would significantly prefer that it exists almost entirely in the inquire/etc options for npc blacksnakes and the player is allowed to simply pick this up through characters who act as if its true. throné specifically will have joined the blacksnakes because she was drawn in by the idea of having a family and a place in the world as a kid who was starving to death in the streets of fucking uhh idk i play in spanish whatever Sotoburgo is. this does not need to be established in a flashback, it can be established entirely through simple mentions about how the blacksnakes saved her life and then the player can just recognize what’s going on.

Mother still exists and is still the primary antagonist of chap 1-2 while Father exists sort of in the background, but she needs to have the simplistic evil turned down just a tiny bit. as it is the blacksnakes’ familial structure feels really shallow because Mother is all vinegar no honey. the mafia boss who is very rewarding and affectionate with well-performing underlings and simultaneously cruel with under-performing underlings is both another character who can just exist and the player will like Get It almost instantly, but is also much closer to how a lot of abusive mothers work. oh also uhhh im. replacing pirro with mira entirely. sorry pirro but mira is the second most interesting character in the story and i want to give her more screentime. mira is Mother’s golden child, shes younger than throné and kind of bad at her job but Mother insists on sending her on jobs with throné anyway and blames her if things go wrong, so when the diamante job goes sideways and one of their crew dies and also they fail to recover the objective Mother does the whole whipping her in front of everyone thing and then demands that she go and singlehandedly complete the mission, which Mother clearly considers to be a suicide mission to do solo right after a failed attempt when the place will be crawling with guards, but throné has no choice to accept it because, you know. collar. so throné goes and tries to stealthily infiltrate the diamante manor and manages to recover it but what then? why, it’s mira! mother has trusted her with her first ever assassination, and it’s to make sure that even if throné makes it to the objective alive, she doesn’t make it out of the manor. throné fights mira and wins, but when mira realizes she might die she begins pleading for her life and throné can’t bring herself to kill her so she flees the manor and decides that her quest to leave the blacksnakes begins Right Now. on her way out of town she’s “ambushed” by Father, who came to congratulate her for successfully making it out of diamante because he knew she would be able to complete a mission no other blacksnake could. throné is conflicted between feeling good that he’s proud and knowing that shes gotta get the fuck out of here and feeling just a little bit incompetent for not being able to kill mira(she doesnt say any of this explicitly, she thanks him for praising her and hes kinda like ‘cmon champ say it like you mean it’ and throné thinks ‘but i dont’). he leaves and throné thinks about her objective— she needs to remove the collar, so she needs the keys from Mother… and Father. she knows that at this time of year Mother goes to visit the orphanage in Sotoburgo she uses as a front for educating and taking in young blacksnakes.

she arrives in Sotoburgo and sees. well look who it fucking is, mira! a normal blacksnake wouldve been executed for failing an assassination(throné was definitely going to be executed either way which is why she needed to leave immediately, this is unstated but you can guess), but mother’s golden child rides again. throné disguises herself as a nun and sneaks into the orphanage to find that mira has been brought with Mother as a punishment for failing the mission, where shes being treated as a child. throné walks in shortly before mira is used as an example to the children of what happens if they fail to succeed in their duties and shes whipped. after that Mother leaves to go to the garden and throné pursues her but when she gets to the garden Mother reveals that she knew it was throné the whole time and mira steps out of the shadows, Mother reveals that mira was spared from execution on the condition that she helps Mother eliminate throné now, there’s a double battle where mira protects Mother but after throné overpowers them both and knocks mira out Mother also begins pleading for her life and uses the fact that she spared mira to prove that throné is actually very kind and all this will be forgiven if she just— and then throné stabs her and as Mother’s dying shes like “damn.. you really are your father’s daughter…” and throné is like ah. the agonies. anyway then mira recovers and realizes mother’s dead and does the whole “SHES ALL I HAD” thing and that shes really gonna kill throné this time Youll See and throné tells her that shes clearly not meant for the blacksnakes either but that the next time they meet, it’s kill or be killed. mira asks throné what other options does she think she has(even if you get the collar off, what will you do then? do you really think you can live a normal life?) and throné… cant answer her. she leaves. Father ambushes her again on the way out and tells her that hes proud of her for killing Mother, and asks her to go on a job with him. throné agrees, and he leaves. throné wonders if this really is all somehow part of his plan

thronés chapter 3 is actually really good so im leaving it unchanged

but ok so chapter 4. throné confronts Father and he tells her how proud of her he is for making it this far and that he knew she would. if she succeeds here, she’ll prove once and for all that shes worthy to lead the blacksnakes. throné tells him that shes fucking off forever after this and he cant stop her. he says he doesnt have to— someone with so much blood on her hands can never live a normal life. even if the collar is gone, she’s still a killer and a thief. sooner or later, she’ll realize the blacksnakes are all she has. throné wants to refute him, but can’t come up with a satisfying response. Father switch to fighting sprite and tells her that it’s time to stop trying to run away from the life she chose, that she was meant for. throné defeats him. his last words are “i love you”. throné switch to heavy damage sprite and after a pause says “i hate you.” she reaches for the keys and unlocks the collar, but realizes that she really doesn’t know what to do now. she leaves the montwise cathedral but on the way back to town is grabbed by a strange man who is just repeating . idk like “i’m lost, help, help, i’m lost” or whatever this guy is one of the broken vessels and throné manages to shove him off and kill him but finds a note in his hand that is a map leading to an X or maybe directions. idk whatever but this is a map to the gondola

throné arrives at the gondola and finds lostseed. i actually love lostseed i think it owns and its one of the coolest locations in the game so im slamming it in just like the writers but at least trying to make it relevant. throné finds the shrine(btw this is the shrine) and goes through and who is it at the end You Guessed It it’s mira. throné is like. what the fuck is going on. mira tells her that this village is where the successor of the blacksnakes must go to receive the gift of agelessness and throné is like. what? she reveals that Mother and Father both wanted to have their successor candidates and that mira was Mother’s. the gift of agelessness is like. a fountain you have to drink from or maybe it is the flame itself somehow, and all the broken vessels are people who tried to drink from the fountain but were unworthy and instead went insane and are now empty husks. mira says that shes going to kill throné once and for all so she cant come back to take revenge and then mira will drink from the fountain and become the successor. throné tells her that this is a bad idea and shes definitely going to become a husk. mira tells her to shut the fuck up and you know what at least she knows her place in the world and attacks. throné overpowers and kills her. mira has a bit before she bleeds out where she tells throné that she always knew throné was stronger than her, and that throné could be the best leader the blacksnakes have. her last words are. ok so this would be easier in japanese but in english even though i feel like its kind of clunky you can still have mira call her “big sister”. throné obviously decides not to drink from the fountain of youth. you dont need to have any dialogue to establish that she has now realized she had complicated feelings about mira but i want to have her unlock mira’s collar and maybe give her a burial in lostseed. her last scene is returning to montwise and buying a raspberry turnover or whatever. she reflects that she still doesnt know where she goes from here, but that she at least knows that no matter what, she won’t be the blacksnakes’ successor. i was debating between her endcard being that or the grave but since temenos already has a grave endcard i think having a version of her endcard that references the raspberries thing is better

OH also her design on her endcard is way better than her ingame design. no thief design is complete without the little mantle and also please give this poor woman some fucking pants. i think she should also have gloves though. tbh i also want to have her skirt be full instead of asymmetrical but i do acknowledge that at this point im basically just describing tressa’s clothes with a longer skirt but in my defense i really like tressa’s design and they could add details to make it different.

MORE IMPORTANTLY THOUGH for crossed paths . its so fucking stupid that her crossed paths is with temenos i fucking hate it here for real. throné doesnt even do anything shes literally just the Specialest Birthday Boy in the world’s sidekick and its so frustrating bc again theres a way more obvious pairing: osvald. obviously osvald. if you asked me which character i would pair with the girl whose main trait is that her abuse was from her father, the guy whose main trait is his relationship with his daughter would be a lot fucking higher on my list than catholic sherlock(partitio can just be kind of there in temenos’ story and in the postgame he suffers a lot less from being completely ignored because The Most Important Guy In The World is the only person that matters for temenos’ torch(no hate to partitio btw i love the spaghetti western man but someone has to be the sacrifice)). throné and osvald are mirrors of each other in a bunch of interesting ways, thronés conflict is about whether or not shes her father’s daughter/osvald was extremely close with his daughter who was a lot like him, throné has spent her entire life in the underworld but wants to live a normal life/osvald was living a normal life but has recently been plunged into the underworld, etc. you could have osvald and throné conflicting because both of them are projecting their father/daughter onto each other and their crossed paths are about them realizing that they need to approach each other as individuals, you could have the two of them ending up falling into a father/daughterish dynamic in a lighthearted way, you could have an inverted mentor/apprentice dynamic where throné ends up teaching osvald mugging tips and tricks or whatever, you could have the two of them sharing the conflict of not being sure if they can ever find a normal life when osvald has dedicated so much of himself to revenge and its not like he can just fucking. pick up his life where he left off and throné doesnt even know what a normal life would be like and hey maybe osvald could share some of what a normal life with a caring father is supposed to look like. if the crossed paths were tied to their main story you could even explicitly have the two of them conflict over what osvald owes to his daughter now that he knows shes alive or have throné react to harvey changing elena’s memories, or you could have osvald get invested in thronés conflict because as a father hes got a personal stake in seeing a father treat his daughter like shit. or i dont. fucking know. thatd probably be best saved for travel banter actually but what im saying is their dynamic is much more interesting and i would pretty please like to allow throné to have an important role in what is allegedly supposed to be Her shared story.

but in the spirit of not completely rewriting everything osvalds crossed paths actually works fine with throné instead since she and partitio both have a get item path action but throné’s motivation for helping regulus will initially just be contrarianism where osvald is like “dont waste your time” and throné is like “hmm interesting. unfortunately i do have to see what happens solely because you seem so upset about it”. i think this story works best where throné and osvald sort of unconsciously fall into a father/daughter dynamic where throné feels a sudden powerful urge to exert major teenager energy. the second entry is again mostly the same but throné offers to steal it instead and osvald is like “no im going to punch this guy”. during the stargazing scene regulus mentions that osvald’s new assistant reminds him of elena and that he thought she was the only person who could drag osvald into wasting his time and osvald is like ill fucking kill you and throné is like ah papá i did not know you were so weak willed that a ten year old could drag you around and osvald is like ill blow this whole building up (paraphrasing). this is definitely on the lighthearted end but thats fine octopath really doesnt like having protagonists conflict which does suck ass but i also understand

for the postgame obviously like i said lostseed is the location of the scholar/thief shrine, the blacksnakes’ founder found a way to harness the power of the flame to achieve immortality and the leader of the snakes is brought into the moonshade order and theyre supposed to sacrifice themself to snuff out the torch, if youre really dedicated to The Sacred Flame Is Unambiguously Good No Matter what you can have lostseed not be the shrine and just keep the blacksnakes leader sacrificing themself bc ik octopath’s canon mythology is allergic to being interesting but either way osvald can be like. Damn you dodged a fucking bullet huh(paraphrasing)

since mira has tragically passed away she cant be the postgame quest but instead the elderly guard/gondola operator being twins can still be a thing so i would like the guard to have a brother and also like. niece who he thinks died, and so he asks you to see if you can find anything that remains of them. the brother is his twin and his niece is the “give it back” girl. the solution is still to bring the guard to his brother, and the brother leads him to the girl and explains that she was another successor candidate but that when she tried to drink from the fountain it turned her into a husk and so he stayed in lostseed to watch over her. the guard and ideally the player realize that all these broken vessels were once full people and decides to stay with his brother to watch over the town in case a way is ever found to heal them

#c.paradisi #i wanted to put this under a readmore but apparently youre not allowed to do that in the old editor and the new one has character limits #so you get big chunky boy.#octoposting #while writing this i was like. hmm. is this too sappy and straightforward. and thats definitely my biggest concern #but like whatever. i really liked octopath 2's stories that were straightforward but well-executed so #yeah idk. its pretty fitting that i think about throné way more even though i thought castti's story was better #octopath loves to give me delicious concepts and then trip on its face trying to execute them and every time im like hmm interesting.#i am going to think abt this for the rest of my life

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legendofzoodles · 2 years

Note

why not write the fic where the chain magically sees what happened between sky and demise

Finally a request! I wasn't sure which Sky and Demise confrontation you meant. Whether it was the one in SS or the one I wrote a little while ago. So I assumed it was the one from the game. Hope you guys like it, I uh, I spent too long on this.

Strangely enough, writing Sky and Wild’s fight was the hardest part.

~~~

Recovered Regrets

At some point in the adventure the chain are compelled to find out more about their purpose, why they were all brought together and the cyclical nature of their existence.

Four suggests that they go back to the beginning, find out how it all started and maybe that will lead them to answers. It is assumed that Sky was first, since none of them know about Allen (that’s what I call First, see my Era of Hylia series), so they ask him about who he fought and what happened.

However, Sky’s memory of the fight is “hazy”. The only thing the chain are able to get out of him is an oddly detailed description of how it felt to channel lightning, showing his scars as a graphic visual. Two things that are very out of character for him.

As it so happens they’re in Warriors’ era (technically a few decades ahead). After a lot of complaining, arguing and nagging, the Captain reluctantly takes the chain to see Lana and Cia at the Valley of Seers. After explaining their situation the all-seeing sorceresses give them a crystal with the same magic as their orb, if Sky asks sincerely enough it will show him what happened that day.

They try activating the crystal there and then but it doesn’t work. They wait until they leave the Valley of Seers (to Warriors’ relief) and try again...nothing. It’s not until a week later when they’re camping in a completely different era does the crystal finally awaken and let them witness Sky’s battle.

---

“Idiot, parry it.” Wild barely spoke above a hushed whisper. He couldn't risk raising his voice any louder lest Legend snap at him. Again.

He'd already made more than a few unwanted comments regarding the placement and timing of Sky’s sword strikes. To him it was all worth pointing out, but the others didn’t see it that way, including the person they were aimed at. In fact, Sky had become relatively unresponsive since the crystal had come to life. While a little strange, Wild tolerated his silence, giving him the benefit of the doubt since he'd vaguely said that he couldn’t quite remember what happened.

Wild's eyes had been glued to the moving images for so long that the colours began to bleed together, and for some reason, instead of staying at a fixed third person view the angles kept changing. At one point he saw Sky's back, the other he saw the Demon's, and sometimes there were even close ups of their faces. It was jarring.

However despite all that, he and the other heroes were able to follow along with the flow of battle, each analysing the dual with the knowledge of his own past experiences. The group sat in a messy semicircle with the campfire to their backs, a few of them were wrapped in a blanket to keep out the night chill and sat on a sleeping mat. Despite the brutal fight playing out before them, the overall mood was light-hearted. Wind, Four and Hyrule cheered when Sky landed a particularly well executed move. Legend smiled, Warriors nodded and Twilight reached out to playfully nudge him when he blocked a particularly heavy blow, taking the impact without yielding. Even Time seemed impressed upon seeing the first lightning enhanced Skyward strike.

Wild seemed to be the only critic. The strange thing was that he wasn’t sure why he couldn’t be as enthusiastic as the others. Was it jealousy? Perhaps. Wild had long been bitter of Sky’s achievements, his ease at completing his quest and how he seemed to be favoured by the Master Sword. Whatever entity was inside that blade Wild was convinced it resented his weakness.

Even though he knew he wouldn’t like watching the fight, he didn’t expect to feel this agitated. It wasn’t that Sky was doing well against the demon that bothered Wild, because it wasn’t flawless, excluding the 101 mistakes Wild had pointed out without request, he could tell the fight was taking its toll on Sky. Haggard breaths, stumbling back from heavy hitting blows and channelling lightning...Wild knew that feeling well and he’d only ever wielded a fraction of such a power.

Yet despite all that, something felt off.

Sure Sky’s scars were distinctive. The jagged discoloured streaks that branched up from his hands to his upper arms would have been enough of a reminder to the events of the battle. For him to want to never recall the specifics was understandable, but what could the crystal show them that Sky could’ve just told? Nothing Wild was seeing seemed to warrant such forgetfulness.

Something his Zelda once told him came to mind: “They say you don't forget what you want to remember.”

That being said there didn’t seem to be anything to worry about.

Wild switched over his legs into a more comfortable sitting position on his shared mat with Hyrule. The fight was over now. He was surprised to see that Sky and the Demon were just standing still facing each other, but looking at the monster it was clear he was defeated.

They were talking, or more accurately, the Demon was praising Sky’s abilities. Wild rolled his eyes and leaned on Hyrule’s shoulder, facing up to focus on the starless sky; he’d seen enough.

This was pointless. All they were learning from was what Sky’s version of Ganon looked like, where they fought and how that all went down. In other words, nothing about the nature of their existence or why they had all been brought together had been revealed by watching this fight.

“What’s Demise saying?” Hyrule whispered.

“Is he still fawning over Sky?!” Wild muttered rubbing his temple, now barely paying attention.

“Shh, I can’t hear him,” Four said and he nudged Hyrule.

““born anew in a cycle”.” Warriors leaned forward. “What...the hell?”

“Pathetic,” Wind chuckled, but his voice sounded unsteady and he was glancing nervously at the others. “He’s just whining because he’s butthurt he lost.”

“Of course,” Wild scoffed, earning a brief grin from Wind.

“That’s not it.” Four frowned and looked over at where Time, Legend, and Twilight were sat, and being worryingly quiet.

Wild took notice of the seriousness in Four’s voice. He tore his eyes from the night sky and ran his gaze across the semi-circle, finally noticing the drastic shift in mood. The once comfortable silence became oppressive, necks were craned forward, faces had hardened and bodies stiffened into statues. Wild raised an eyebrow at the sea of confused and frustrated expressions.

Twilight's expression was especially sobering, everything about it was neutral except for the searing focus in his eyes and distinct creased brow. Wild sat up properly and listened attentively to what the demon was slowly saying.

"I will rise again," the fiend boomed.

Wild grit his teeth remembering the similar wording Impa once used to describe the Calamity. Surely he wasn't connected to that, his era is thousands of years ahead of Sky's. Wind was right this was just-

"Those like you, those who hold the spirit of the hero and the blood of the goddess..."

"Those like you"? What did he mean by that? Sky wasn't like the rest of them, he was the first, he was the chosen hero, one of the founders of Hyrule, the one they all followed after.

...Was this really just the ramblings of a pathetic dying creature? This wasn’t just any creature, he called himself the demon king and judging from that fight incredibly powerful. Why wasn't Sky doing anything to stop him talking? Why was he letting him live? He was just standing there! What was he waiting for?

"Move." Wild couldn't keep his mouth anymore, but this time no one told him to be quiet. "Move."

"What's going on here?" Warriors uttered, becoming increasingly restless.

"Is he chanting a spell?" Hyrule asked, tilting his head.

“They are eternally bound to this curse...”

Legend’s eyes went wide as he put the pieces together. "He's not only vowing to reincarnate, but he's tying his future lifetimes to Sky and his Zelda."

"Does that mean we're involved too?" Wind asked.

"Us and our respective Princesses," Legend said through gritted teeth, not looking at Sky. In fact none of them were.

"Do something!" Wild exclaimed at the screen. Only the demon was in the frame, but it was clear that it was from Sky’s perspective, meaning that for this to happen he was just standing there.

But to their dismay the hero clad in green on the crystal screen did not listen, allowing the demon to finish his spiel. “An incarnation of my hatred shall ever follow your kind, dooming them to wander a blood-soaked sea of darkness for all time!” And with that the screen froze on a cruel shot of Demise pointing right at his once again silent audience. It wasn’t just paused, the screen had inexplicably stopped playing.

The campsite remained silent for some time after the recording ended. Although each member of the chain was processing what they had just witnessed to varying degrees of success, what was universal for all of them at that moment was a new distrust of the chosen hero. Sky, didn’t have to try too hard to avoid their eyes, he was already sat quite far from the group with his closest neighbour being Twilight. Ironically, this normally quiet man spoke first.

"Why didn't you leave the sword in?" Twilight asked quietly. "That worked for me. It stopped Ganondorf talking mid-sentence and prevented him from calling on more power."

“At the time I didn’t think that...” Sky was sat cross-legged bundled up in his stained sailcloth, forehead lowered and resting on his clasped hands, eyes to the damp soil below. “I didn’t think he was serious. I thought I’d beaten him.”

Warriors raised an eyebrow at Twilight. “Would that have done anything?”

“He could have tried,” Legend spat.

Hyrule shifted uncomfortably in on his mat. “He can’t be connected to every version of Ganon, right? What about the ones really far down the timeline?”

Legend glared at him. “He is, he confirmed it himself. This is where it began.” He ran a bejewelled hand through his hair and finally turned his attention to Sky, who flinched when they made eye contact. “This whole time I thought it was Hylia stringing us along, making us do her dirty work. But in fact, we were all just cleaning up your mess. You let this happen- this is all your fault!”

Sky shook his head slightly and said, “He would have come back anyway. What could I have done differently? None of you were able to defeat him for good.”

“What?!”

Wild’s outburst made the younger members jump. Hyrule looked at him worriedly and Wind hid the bottom half of his face in Warriors’ cape. Warrior only raised his eyebrows at the Champion and Twilight too far away to do anything but offer him a sympathetic nod. Legend was unfazed and Time was still silently looking at the screen.

“We can’t be sure,” Four said, resting his head in the palm of his small hand. “Legend was right; by his wording it sounded like he was tying his incarnations to Sky and Zelda’s...he must have done that for a reason. And I don’t just mean revenge.”

“Maybe that was just to guarantee that he would come back,” Warriors said. “He seemed pretty desperate when he was speaking, like he was out of options.”

“No,” Four said slowly. “There’s more to it...”

“Yeah, fuck that. Can we just rewind a second?” Legend said. “Hey cloud boy. Are you really gonna sit there and tell us you forgot all of this?”

“I didn’t forget! Not in the way you think, it just kind of faded from my mind,” said Sky. “Back then I-”

“Back then? What about when we were all sharing our origins and you laughed with us about what a funny coincidence it was that we all just appeared from nowhere when he reincarnates,” Legend said. “What the hell was going through your mind back then?”

“I guess I felt sorry for you guys-”

“Wild no!”

Sky didn’t even get to finish his sentence as the cold metal of a blade pierced the air the chosen hero drew for breath, the tip would have sliced his face had he not jumped back in time. Wild, unnoticed by the others, had taken his scavenged sword and without warning thrust it at Sky, who as expected dodged the attack near perfectly. Hyrule tried to call out, but his effort was in vain, as was that of Warriors’ and Twilight’s, who attempted to apprehend the young swordsman. Their reaction time dulled by the sheer suddenness of the attack.

Wild himself wasn’t quite sure of what he was doing either. He moved without thinking. He wasn’t even sure of the true extent of his current feelings. A lot was racing through his mind, but the emotion that dominated every fibre of his being was anger. Anger at Sky’s hypocrisy, at his lack of accountability, his infuriating silence and above all the fact that he didn’t feel even a hint of guilt.

He felt sorry for them?! As if he cares.

“What are you doing?!” Sky asked in confusion, ducking to avoid another swing of Wild’s blade. He instinctively reached for the Master sword which sat close by among his other belongings, however like before, the moment he touched the handle furious violet flames erupted and swiftly burned his hand. The sudden searing pain distracted him long enough for Wild to accidently land a hit. His blade drew an ugly scarlet line across Sky’s right cheek and sliced off a noticeable lock of his chestnut brown hair, narrowly missing his ear.

“If that scars you’ll have another reminder of what you did- or rather didn’t do,” Wild said bitterly.

But his voice wavered slightly, as he watched Sky clutch the bloodied part of his face and delicate strands of his hair flutter to the ground. Wild was still angry but his rage subsided a little when he cut Sky. The two looked at each other like they couldn’t quite believe that actually happened. The others seemed just as shocked as they were, and many were stood up like they were going to do something. However, not one of them moved.

“Finished?” Sky wiped his cheek carelessly and eyed his attacker, bracing for another swing.

It didn’t come in the way he anticipated.

“No! You- you always had this stupid air of superiority!” Wild yelled, brandishing his sword as he spoke, “Acting like you were perfect, like you were better than me. Whenever you handed me the Master sword you looked at me like I was something you scraped off the bottom of your shoe.”

“I never...” Sky stammered in confusion. Where was this coming from? Had Wild always felt that way about him? Was it because he yelled at him because he thought the sword was broken? That was months ago; he thought they’d moved on from that. Sure he still didn’t trust Wild with the blade, but he tolerated him using it like Time said. “Wha-? Well I have every reason to be wary of you using it. You act so irresponsibly and- and carelessly- she’s not one of your tools-!”

“This is what I’m talking about! You don’t believe I’m fit to wield it!” cried Wild. “Always putting yourself above me because I failed where you succeeded. To think you acted like this perfect hero, when you’re actually the cause of everything. The curse happened because of you!”

“I did what I could,” Sky cried, “I didn’t know the curse was real and I am sorry for what it’s done. I’m sorry it’s caused you, and all of Hyrule to suffer! But I can’t go back and change what I did.”

“Are you serious?” Wild said exasperated, “Do you not feel any guilt?”

“What’s done is done. I won’t torture myself over what I can’t change,” Sky said, “And Wars was right, what could I have done differently? He would have come back anyway.”

“I can’t believe you’re this self-centred!” Wild said, swinging his sword close enough for Sky to smartly step back, “You’ve had it so much better than the rest of us-”

“Don’t go there,” Sky said coldly. “You don’t know anything about what I’ve been through.”

“Well, you never told me anything,” Wild said, letting the hand with the sword fall to his side. “But whatever, what you’ve been through can’t be worse than us. As the hero you have a duty to-”

“I never wanted to be the chosen one!” Sky cried, “I didn’t ask for all this power, I didn’t ask for all this responsibility I never wanted this role. I just, I just wanted to save her.”

“So what?! I didn’t ask for this either! None of us did,” Wild retorted. “I had to save my Zelda too- yet she wasn’t my priority. I understood that my duty doesn’t just lie with her, but all of Hyrule.” He paused for a moment, wondering whether or not to bring this up, before continuing with, “...sometimes it feels like you only care about your Zelda, like you think that your role ends with protecting her- but it doesn’t! Is that why you stopped attacking when you thought Demise was defeated? You were convinced it was over and didn’t even bother to consider what his words might mean?”

“Come again?” A breathy and shaky laugh escaped Sky. “Do you actually expect me to have some kind of foresight a-and magically know every event in the future?”

“No! No, that’s not what I,” Wild huffed, even though he wasn’t physically fighting his body was shaking all over, “It’s just...there’s this detachment I’m getting from you that’s pissing me off. You’re not just bound to Zelda, you’re also responsible for every creature in the land and their futures.”

“Why should all this responsibility fall on me? How is that fair?” Sky shook his head and ruffled the now uneven hair on his right side. “And in what way can I take responsibility?”

“That responsibility doesn’t just fall on you but all of us. You’re not special,” Wild said. “And...well, you could have had the decency to have thought more about your choice and not go on like you did such a good job. You didn’t even remember when Legend spelled it out for you months ago! Do you...do you even care?”

“Of course I care, why would you...?” Sky looked at Wild a hurt expression. He shared that expression with the others too, hoping someone would speak up and take his side. But they just stayed where they were. Why weren’t they doing anything? Did they all take Wild’s side? Their stares made him feel so uncomfortable. “You didn’t answer the first question.”

Wild didn’t know why he said that. He only wanted Sky to acknowledge his faults, yet he ended up parroting something he heard from Farosh years ago, just months after waking up from his 100 year slumber. Why was he thinking about that now? Should Sky not be called out for not understanding his duty, when Wild was so heavily shunned for failing to do his?

After a fairly long pause, in which Wild could feel the eyes of his comrades now on him but didn’t turn around to face them, he answered, “...I don’t know. Forget I said that.”

Sky wasn’t satisfied with that response. “Then answer me this: why should only I take responsibility for what was a small in the moment decision? Demise’s incarnations haven’t been stopped permanently in any timeline, by anyone or anything else. And yet you’re going to stand there and blame me for everything wrong following my era? How is that fair?!”

“But it is fair, you started it!” Wild yelled, unable to fathom why Sky was still making excuses. “It could have ended with you, but you failed! No, it’s worse than that- you did nothing! Why can’t you just accept that? I never said all of it was your fault, you didn’t flood Hyrule, you didn’t organise the Twilight invasion and you didn’t start the Calamity- but all that might not have happened if you’d just acted when you could have and done your job! It’s exactly as Legend said, we’re all dealing with what you let happen!”

This struck a chord with Sky. He stood up straighter and tilted his head, the blood from his wound spilling onto his shirt, staining the white fabric crimson. “You talk of regrets and remorse I should feel, but actually you’re projecting your own feelings. I didn’t train for years before facing Demise, but you had years to prepare for the Calamity. What’s your excuse for failing?”

“Huh...?” Wild’s breath hitched and he gripped his sword tightly.

“At least I defeated Demise and saved my world,” Sky continued, glancing to the side. “I’m far from the perfect hero you’ve made me out to be...but let’s be honest. You’re the worst out of all of us.”

Sky was ready when Wild charged at him again. He dove to his side, picked up a sword (which happened to be the Phantom sword) and parried every one of Wild’s attacks. This time the others finally stepped in. Twilight ran to hold back Wild and Wars went to apprehend Sky, Wind also rushed in and tried to take back his blade. It didn’t end up going anywhere though, as neither Wild nor Sky were at all interested in stopping, even though now Legend was shouting at them to cut it out.

They were being loud enough for the whole forest to hear them, the discord of their voices creating a din no creature should ever have to hear. It’s a miracle that they even heard the distinct shattering of the crystal by Time’s own blade.

Either to stop the fighting or because he was tired of looking at it, Time made the screen disappear by destroying the crystal given to them. Everyone watched in silence, frozen in their positions as the image of Demise was slowly distorted beyond recognition, with particles flashing at random, showing glimpses of lingering colours before vanishing entirely.

Time stepped forward wordlessly towards the statues and tore the Phantom sword from Sky’s hand in one fluid motion, handing it back to Wind, who mouthed a small “thanks” in return. His immediate presence separated the group near instantly. Wild spared a worried glance at Sky’s injury but didn’t meet his eyes, shrugging off Twilight’s shoulder pat as he stared at the ground. Time turned his attention to Sky, the campfire illuminating the non-scarred side of his face, casting dark shadows on the other. It made him appear weary and old.

“You’re not what we believed,” he began, a stern authority punctuating his words which made the group, especially Sky anxious of his next words. “I’m right in saying that you’re not the first, aren’t I?” Sky looked troubled for a moment before slowly shaking his head and shrugging his shoulders. Time gave him a look of pity. “I can understand why you wouldn’t want to believe it. Although, you’re still different to the rest of us in the sense that your existence isn’t tied to this curse. Someone else was responsible. You once mentioned that your Zelda is a reincarnation too, not a blood descendant.” Time gave Legend a strange look. “It seems we’ve been strung along by the gods since the beginning.”

Legend crossed his arms and returned his solemn expression. No one else seemed to fully understand what Time was saying other than him, and unfortunately Time didn’t seem too concerned about elaborating further.

Although this was roughly the validation Sky had been looking for, he oddly enough found it to be of little solace. Warriors had already let go of him by now and he didn’t feel like seeking comfort from the others. So he wrapped his arms around his sides and hugged himself. A small pain jabbed at his chest when he said, “I’m sorry.”

“Not good enough,” Wild muttered but was silenced by a cold glare from Time.

“If you want to discuss this more, do it in the morning once we’ve set off and I’m out of earshot. I’ve had enough,” the old man paused and sighed heavily. “Hyrule patch him up, the rest of you go to sleep. I’m taking the first watch.”

“Wait,” Wind said tentatively, looking around the campsite. “Where’d Four go?”

“...again with this?” Time shut his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Wind can you go-?”

“I’ll find him.” Twilight nodded at Time, grabbed his shadow crystal from his pouch and ran into the woods.

Wind caught Twilight’s reassuring smile and smiled back. He went back to sheath his sword, watching Hyrule tend to Sky’s swollen cheek as he did. He wondered about going over to Wild, but he didn’t seem to be in the mood for talking, already arranging his sleeping mat in his own secluded corner of the campsite. Time and Legend were having their own conversation by the fire, and also didn’t seem very approachable. So Wind went to Warriors and helped him pick up the pieces of the broken crystal. Hopefully the two sorceresses didn’t want it back.

~~~

Thanks for reading!

This was so difficult for me, sorry it took so long. I had nine characters to keep track off and I needed them all to shine without making the story a confusing mess.

I’m going to do something different and link to a post where I’ve put my notes for the story, it’ll also hopefully answer any questions it might have brought up. Like who agrees/disagrees with who and what Time was talking about:

Recovered Regrets story notes

Context for the ask and story:

Hero of the Sky character analysis part 2

Masterlist

83 notes · View notes

marrecarandgi · 6 months

Text

Some thoughts (and prayers) after the episode:

Everyone keep suggesting that Troy should just live in the hotel - is he Your Neighbor Troy? A Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Troy? Why do they all think that Troy living a short walk and swim away is a good idea? The only thing protecting Padre is that Troy doesn’t know where it is, and he will eventually find out, if he’s in the area. Which kinda adds to the problem of the show feeling small.

It’s also seen when Tracy and Victor jump out of the boat in some random place and just walks up to Madison in the middle of nowhere as if everything is a short walk away and Madison is known for living under that tree. And Troy supposedly killed Alicia somewhere in the area too? Tracy sends a message and Luciana rolls up seconds after? How small is this world?!

However, somehow no one ever heard about ‘Alicias’. Apparently Alicia is this legendary figure, who went on every side quest imaginable, and these girls get mistaken for her a lot, but no one who actually knows Alicia ever learned that she was alive and active for a while or mistook rumors about these women for Alicia still being out there? Everything about this fanclub is silly.

I liked that Tracy was a little bitch, even with bad dialogue and questionable acting she was kinda amusing to watch. Also not this 8yo girl with bound hands out-swimming Victor. Probably gets it from her father. Speaking about getting things from Troy, he and her mother both had great hair, so, poor kid really got screwed with that cut.

Also, I’m really not sure how Madison immediately knew that Tracy’s mom isn’t Alicia. I’m sorry, but that face is beyond screwed at this point, so, how can she tell? And why is she missing an arm? Not saying that it is Alicia, but it’s so contrived.

Speaking of the mom (will the writers even bother to give her a name?), it’s wild that Troy left his wife to wonder around in that horde, when he uses the idea of this being Alicia’s fate to screw with Madison. I guess it can have similar logic to Tracy leading Madison to her - using the mom’s state to punish Madison… But, come on, burry this poor woman! And this definitely won’t happen now. Nor will she be a part of the final horde, she was just left to rot there…

Madison ‘killing’ the mom with the idea is also some melodramatic silliness, I was expecting it to be a Padre related incident. But what bothers me more is that the mom supposedly was a fan of Alicia and Madison? How does that work alongside being the wife of a man, who almost got killed by Madison? And she would’ve known Troy and his story before she ever heard about Savior Alicia and her Holy Mother, and she was still a fan of these people? The math isn’t mathing.

And I’m not sure what’s so great about Madison. I never cared about that character, so, I was cringing when Alicias were gushing about meeting her. Madison is discussing killing a child in front of them, but they’re not bothered by it at all. Also, I’m not sure why I should root for these people. Madison and Daniel not even having the guts to quickly kill Tracy and instead doing that whole tying her to a tree and trying to have a walker bite her? And they act like this is comparable to Tracy ‘using’ her mom to protect her? Strand kidnapping a kid and then his annoying husband being all righteous and completely missing the part where immediately returning Tracy would’ve prevented this mess... None of them are sympathetic and I’m only rooting for Troy.

And how did the Germans even find Tracy before Troy? She was near the hotel minutes before the tank blew up, then Strand went back to Padre and made the Germans go back there to find her… All while Troy and his men were searching the area? Why the girl didn’t immediately go back to the hotel? And how did anyone find her, if she was running in some random direction instead? Why is the plot so bad?

Love not seeing the shoot out between Troy and whatever the other group should even be called. Who wants action in their zombie shows? Also love that no named character got hurt or killed. I suppose they were just having a little break while nonames were killing each other?

Also also loved Sherry doing a little cunty walk before bothering to take her gun out in the middle of a standoff and Luciana’s little ‘call the ambulance but not for me’ moment especially contrasted with her group being slaughtered in the aftermath. I know that she said that Troy lost most his men…except that all his men are seen in the preview for the next episode. I guess they’ll respawn by that point.

This episode had criminally few Troy scenes, and it’s great that the next one seemingly has more of him. However, I’m so tired of Madison trying to hammer Troy. I could never like her character because the show always bends backwards to make her seem cool, and that includes the second time this half season when her chronically ill geriatric ass will somehow overpower a younger, stronger, taller man.

#troy otto #ftwd

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choocokookie · 1 year

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Yahoo! How you doin?:D

NSFW

So so. Blooming panic LI's during their first time with more dominant top male reader. Like would they be shy or brats? Would it be intimate,planned out or just a quickie? Tbh i see Toasty be more on the sensitive side and i hc them as touch starved (idk I'm going feral over all of em)

ALSO NO PRESSURE IF U DONT FEEL COMFY/DONT WANT TO WRITE THIS

Ur first person i found that writes for Blooming panic nsfw and seems to be "active"(?) so WOOO

May i be 🐑 anon if that's okay?

Have a nice day/night:DD

Hello! I am glad that I recived this ask, it was really interesting to write about. I do like quite a lot first time scenarios, so, I dedicated myself quite a lot for it. I particulary see everyone being quite emotional when the subject is the first time with their S/O - well, less XYX (so basically, from the most intimate to the less intimate on the list: Toasty - Quest - Nightowl - XYX).

Anyways, I am glad you took interest in my little blog. I try my best to be the most active I can in Tumblr, but college keeps me busy most part of the time and I don't recive many asks. Well, hope you like it. Sorry for any mistakes, English isn't my first language. :)

PS: Sure you can be! Hope I can see you more oftenly around!

cw: male reader, explicit nsfw, brat sub, soft subs

minors dni

Right at the moment Nightowl was finally able to place his hands over you, he already knew for sure the effect you had over his heart. He knew plenty well how you were able to mess up even more his head, how you were able to make him stutter sentences with absolutely zero meaning, how you were able to make a carnal desire bloom inside his chest. All the man ever wanted was to have you over him, running your tough hands over his delicate silhouette, holding his waist as you fuck him like never before.

Everything starts with innocent gestures… the warm hands touching each other, sweet words that seduce you to be closer to your lover, some declarations of love. However, pretty soon such words start to become each time more lewd until a point that the blond haired one was shirtless, over your lap, kissing you like it is the last time both lips will be able to meet in such a cold night.

He wants so badly to be devoured by you… and it isn’t like he doesn’t let it clear enough. With his smile on lips, he doesn’t think twice before allowing soft chuckles out of his throat, amused by how handsome you look right now. His passionate brown eyes stare at you in such a sweet way, as he doesn’t think twice before asking if you enjoy the vision you are having or if he was too much for you to handle… but he didn’t know how much this sentence would cost.

Before he could realize, he was already under you, being fucked as he burry his face at the pillow of your guys’ bed. This feeling was so nice… it was so nice to feel so filled, to feel like he was finally all yours! It was so nice to finally feel so loved by you. His fingernails held into the blankets for his dear life as the pleasure took control of his whole body. He couldn’t avoid not letting out your name in a muttered moan every time you thrusted his insides… he was so glad to share such intimacy with you.

The movements of your hips against his is a delicious combination with the pervert touches you let all over his skin. The peace and strength of the thrusts were rough, something that the male enjoyed quite a lot… As you complimented him, Nightowl felt like any moment he could just combust in the middle of such an act… He is just so glad to be sharing such intimate moments with you.

Quest is the type of man who mostly cares about the ones around him… however, he might admit that whenever you kiss his lips and embrace him in a warm hug, he feels just so happy to have someone to take care of him as well. He enjoys quite a lot the intimacy he has with you… adoring kisses over his neck, your hands firmly gripping his muscles, sweet words of affirmation leaving your own lips. He just feels so loved by you.

Little by little, his clothes were ripped off from his body, leaving this man so vulnerable under you. He is not so used to that, but he just adores such comforting feelings your actions have over him. He feels cared, he feels like he finally found someone that he can rely on, someone that will always be with open arms, ready to shower him with the affection he lacked so much in his rough life.

As your body finally is able to fully explore his insides, the brunette man can not avoid locking his eyes with yours. For him, it is one of the purest demonstrations of intimacy, of passion towards the one who was fucking him in the moment. His large hands hold your back with delicacy and he gives you a sweet smile.

A slow peace is all he could ever ask, as well with the amount of care while you two are surrendering for each other's love. When you two became something special, he already expected to end up being at least a bit vulnerable to you, but he never imagined how much he would feel comfortable in your presence, how much he would love to be in such a position. He loved you, and above all, loved the pleasure that you were able to deliver in his mind.

He craves for more contact, to feel each second closer from the warmth that you carry on your body. Being simply so close to you means a lot to him, it is like a sign that you two are in love and nothing can break you two apart from now. He is so glad… he is so glad to be able to admire you with his diamond eyes, to feel completely satisfied with you loving him so deeply.

For Toasty, the most important thing in a relationship is the connection you have with your partner in a non-sexual way… But they could never deny that for them, the bond that an intimate moment carries is quite strong. So, when you two are alone in the bedroom and nothing else is there to stop the touch of your bodies together, your poor lover is quite nervous. They can not avoid it… as much it may somehow feel silly, for them sex is in fact a big deal.

However, once you kiss his neck softly and whisper near his ears that everything is fine and he doesn’t need to worry, he seems to relax at least a little. Surely, it is not able to completely erase his tense posture, however, just the fact that he was going to be in your hands was already enough. He trusts you, he truly does.

Slowly, he finally surrenders to such lewd touches and becomes one with you. Locking your fingers together, his body aches and he allows sweet wimpers to get out from his bitten lips. It is a weird sensation he is never going to be able to fully get used to, but despite that detail, he didn’t think it was a bad feeling… he enjoyed it quite a lot.

Fixing their hair out of the way of their gorgeous face, you started to move in the moment he gave you the green flag to keep fucking them. Throwing their head back, they tried their best to keep his voice down and keep his breathing regular, which is an impossible task. Just the way you are able to seduce them, the way you were able to satisfy all the primal wishes they had inside their primal mind… this was so much for this poor man.

Even though he was adoring this sensation of belonging to you. Drowning completely in the pleasure and passion that both of you were sharing, a smile bloomed over his mouth as he whispered quietly, just like he was worried about anyone else hearing it: “I love you”...

XYX isn’t the type of man who enjoys following rules whenever he is outside of work, he is more of the relaxed type of man… which sometimes can drive you quite crazy. He has no respect towards the “authority figure” you try to be in your guys’ relationship, being a provocative guy who doesn’t think twice before being a little brat when you two are together. However, sooner or later such a behavior would end up being corrected by you.

The brunette is under you, with that damn smile over his thick lips… that smile that teases you, that makes you just wanna destroy it as soon as possible. Your boyfriend is so tricky… but everything was fine, after all, you knew exactly what you needed to do with him. More specifically: you knew what to do when he was with his ass on the air, craving your more of that touch you had to offer him.

He should have known you wouldn’t be fair with him after all he did to you… but how could he avoid it? You were so cute with that angry expression decorating your face, doll. But now, he was ready to pay for such actions - and being completely honest, being in such a position wasn’t something that displeased the man. For some unknown reason, the idea of being dominated by you in a rough way sounded quite hot for this man.

When you finally started to properly hold him, strongly holding his body with your hands, it was like nothing else mattered. The intensity of the movements your hips were doing were able to satisfy all wishes XYX had, making his whole head get overwhelmed with such a feeling. The moans were impossible to contain anymore, however, something that remained over his face was his smile… that fucking smile who seemed like it was mocking of the whole situation. You were ready to rip it off from his face, to make his eyes tear with the pleasure you would bring today.

It would be a truly remarkable first time between you two, a moment where nothing else mattered besides making such a brat pay for his action… It was time to destroy with the mind of your lover like it was never destroyed before.

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