#i literally don't remember the lion i think they killed him off or something

[therealnotta]

SUDDENLY AND ABRUPTLY REMEMBERING THIS EDGY WIZARD OF OZ SHORT TV SERIES???? it was like five episodes??????? it had famous actors in it, but like, the kinda famous actors where you see them and go "oh!! oh, what were they in? i know them!" and i think zoey deschanel? or the actress that looks like her??? i have a slight problem with faces, like not huge, but enough that i get confused sometimes. you know the people im talking about tho

anyway i remember that the plot was that oz had become something of a tourist attraction, mc was dorothy's many-times-great grandchild, and everything was this like... dystopian future and guys the books COVERED this, glinda was like "whoa. ok. dorothy was fine, and the three or four other people who showed up were ok, and like... i can tolerate uncle henry and aunty em, but if we don't do something then this is going to become a dystopian tourist trap" and made oz the bermuda triangle. so.

but this was an edgy thing, so acceptable, but the tin man was the cop?? like he was this cool cop going up against this evil government?? and he was A Dude, not even tin. they called him tin man because they locked him in some freaking box and forced him to watch his wife and child die on loop???? it was an insult???? i remember pretty much nothing else about this series it was at least ten years ago and i was but a child what was that all about. he wouldn't be a cop. the second evil people showed up no they wouldn't, he has an axe and he's immortal and made of metal. go ahead, shoot him. try. he's literally just going to get back up and he's ONE guy, you think Ozma is going to lose???? HELLO?????? you enter the court of the fay now!! you're gonna WISH you were just up against the axe guy. man. an army invaded oz in the books and she made them want water and then. got them to drink from the fountain that totally and completely wipes your mind. dystopian tourist trap. smh.

[some-pers0n]

Albatross makes me sick. He makes me ill. How does one even get to a point like this. I don't understand. The fixation on this one character is so strong.

In other words, here's that ramble I promised. It's literally just me talking about the massacre with supporting context from my fic that I haven't even written about yet. Why? He makes me that diseased.

I think there's something to be said about the nature of a character who's life begins with violence and ends with it. Albatross discovers his magic via trying to defend himself against Sapphire and Lagoon, and his final few moments alive are spent taking the lives of Lagoon and anybody else in a general vicinity.

He never wanted this. If anything, he wanted his legacy to be more than that. He wanted to be remembered as more than an animus who hurt others. Lagoon defined him as a monster who could barely contain himself, and Albatross believed it. He didn't want others to remember him as such. He wanted to be known as the first SeaWing animus, not some...beast.

I don't think he snapped. He didn't "go insane" or whatever generic trope. I think he was tired. Exhausted. It had been many decades of abuse under Lagoon. When it happened, it was more of a result from years of build-up and pressure finally being released all at once. Tensions are high. Albatross found out that he's going to be replaced by Fathom and likely killed off by Lagoon. Swiftly disposed of as soon as he was obsolete, just like with Marlin. He went in wanting to have a civil discussion, but when things turn worse, he couldn't control himself.

Albatross wanted to see Lagoon bleed the same way Sapphire did all those years ago. He always felt selfish and horrible for this. What kind of person wants to hurt another? That was such a life altering moment. Besides, they were all kids! Little dragonets. They were playing around. They...they didn't mean what they said. It was Albatross who overreacted. It was his fault for it all.

Yet, he hated her. Lagoon was a constant tumour in his life. From that moment on, he was under her control. She would dictate how his life would go. She arranged him to be married with Marlin. She had him have dragonets in hopes that he would have an animus that could replace him. She had him do party tricks. He was like an wild pet to her. Beast of destruction and chaos who had been beaten into submission. A chained lion who wanted little more to be free. An animal who hated the parties they were forced to preform at. A feral creature who wanted to bite and twist the head off the one who trapped them.

He didn't want it to end like this. He always feared it would be like this, but he wanted to avoid it as much as possible. Praying, pleading with himself. He tip-toed around using his magic as much as possible, believing that trying to "preserve his soul" would keep it at bay. Those were just myths. Legends. A lie he would quietly repeat to himself when things seemed most bleak.

But, he couldn't contain it. Since learning that he was being replaced, he knew it was up. Lagoon would send some assassin after him and have him be killed swiftly and like he was nothing. He was nothing to her. His life was meaningless. He was nothing more than her lapdog. This party, some hollow excuse for Lagoon to show off to some SkyWing diplomats, might be the last night he was ever alive.

He had nothing to lose. He wanted something in his life to be of value. To be remembered as more than a footnote in history.

And it happened. That argument. It only cemented what he wanted to do. Like the cracks in the dam finally growing weak enough for the water to burst through. He killed her. Slit her throat and left her dead on the floor, lying there like how he found Marlin all those years ago.

And he loved it. Who wouldn't? After years of being trapped and jumping through flaming hoops for the sake of entertainment, not just biting at the hand that feeds but mauling it entirely was exhilarating. He heard the screams. He heard the cries and shrieks. It was powerful to finally have some semblance of control. Of using his god-gifted powers.

He knew he was going to die this night either way, so why not take down as many as he could? Reason and thought slipped away rapidly as he devolves into pure instinct. Something he once feared he now embraced fully. He feels the freedom and joy of standing up and being seen as the force of nature he was destined to be. Not a servant for others, but an animus. A god.

I think Manta and Eel, his daughter and son, tried to reason with him. The books mention this explicitly. Manta is trying to reach Albatross. Trying to calm him down, Fathom rationalizes. Manta and Eel see their father, who they know has struggled with this all his life, and want to try and help.

This isn't him. They can help him though. They try to reason with him, but he's wild. He's full of paranoia and anxiety. All of these thoughts spill out of his mouth with no filter. It's a mess of "I'm sorry"'s and sentences that seem more like half-formed words stringed together. Manta and Eel try grounding him, but...Splash comes from behind. One of Lagoon's own dragonets. She tries stabbing him in the chest, but he reacts quickly. He kills her.

Albatross breaks further. He assumes that this was a play from Eel and Manta to kill him. His own children. The dragons he loves most. How could they do this to him? Did they never love him? Did they always see him as this force? They wanted to kill him too. They wanted him dead just like the rest of him.

He kills them both. He finishes off the rest of the scraggles, leaving him with only one target in mind: Fathom. He wants to talk with Fathom more than anything. He wants to have one last conversation before either of them dies. The screams have been silenced. It is just him and Fathom that matters.

He finds Fathom in the storage room. He can smell his fear. He monologues and rambles, finally letting these innermost thoughts out. Fathom was just like him. Fathom would've gone down the same path he did had Albatross not...done this. It was necessary. He talks about how he wasted his life before finally striking. He wants to put Fathom out of his misery. To him, he sees it as less of revenge for replacing him, but rather as a means to ensure he would never have the life he had.

But, Indigo attacks instead. He lashes back, fatally wounding her, but Fathom kills him before he can fully do it. The spears plunge into his body. He should be dead, but...he survives enough to stay standing. He remains there, looking at Fathom. He's hunched over Indigo, sobbing and pleading with her to live.

The shock of the spears sobers him enough to have him realize what he's done. His legs shake as he struggles to stay standing. Fathom looks back at him, asking him why he's done this. Asking him why he's not killing them right now.

Albatross winces. He sees the hatred and fear in Fathom's eyes. He tries to speak, but blood gurgles in his throat. The look he gives Fathom says it all though. He murderous rage had subsided. He was...sorry.

But it was too late for apologizes. He had killed dozens. He truly was that monster.

He staggers out of the room and eventually back into the main hall. He finds the statue of Lagoon he had built for her all these years ago. He steps by the corpses of SkyWings and SeaWings he barely knew, yet already mourned the deaths of. He stumbles as he rests his head on the fountain. It's grand. A beautiful piece of art.

He dies there, bowing to the statue of Lagoon.

...he remains there still. The main gimmick of the fic is that Albatross's spirit has survived. He's restless. Unsatisfied. Bound and chained to the abandoned Island Palace for a couple millennia. As a ghost, he wanders the halls. He only ever truly becomes visible and noticeable on certain nights, where the moons above align in such a way.

He cannot rest until he feels he can. The one thing still binding him to this mortal realm is his want to be remembered as more than a monster. More than anything, he wants to be known for what truly happened. To be seen as more than a mad animus.

Eventually, Turtle and the rest of the Jade Winglet come around. It's been thousands of years since the massacre. Turtle is frightened and fearful of it all, but when nightfall comes and the moons shine down from above, he meets the spirit of Albatross by the beach. A specter with a spear still lodged in his body.

Turtle, despite his fear, slowly realizes that Albatross means no harm. Albatross simply wants to tell his tale. His story. This is the framing device of the fic. Albatross telling his entire life's story to Turtle over the course of one night.

By the end, Turtle is in tears. He's crying after hearing about the massacre. He's been through so many ups and especially downs with this story. He feels guilty for ever believing that Albatross was a murderous monster.

They hug perhaps, with Albatross apologizes for subjecting him to such a tale. Turtle tells him that he wants to make up for everything his however-many-great grandfather had been through. He says to Albatross that he wants to spread this story. He's a writer. He wants to put it to paper. Spread to the masses the truth.

And...Albatross smiles. He feels so happy. Finally, after all of these years, somebody listens and trusts him. Somebody, despite viewing him as a horrible monster at first, learns how...broken he was. How horrific it all is.

The sun peaks over the horizon. The night is over. With it, Albatross is fading away. It would be several years before something like this could happen again, yet Albatross doesn't think there will be a second time. He's happy. His one wish, to have his legacy told to another, was fulfilled.

He says goodbye to Turtle and disappears in the blinding light of the sun, leaving the dragonet all alone. Now? He has a story to tell. A tale he wouldn't let others forget. For Albatross's sake.

[margridarnauds]

Ngl I always thought the discourse surrounding Ascended!Astarion was pretty boring. It's really a choice between encouraging his worst or his best instincts. Maybe him not being my favorite companion doesn't help (he's like. 3rd or 4th depending on my mood lol) and it's clear having him ascend is the Evil Option(tm), but also, sometimes I look at the discourse and just go: "Yeah. That dude is made of pixels whether you ascend him or have him stay a spawn. He can't hurt you. He's not real."

That's where I am, like. I was intrigued by Astarion in EA because I am, first and foremost, a vampirefucker and a villainfucker, then got annoyed with him in the full game, decided he wasn't for me, got bored, and jumped onto Devil Daddy and never looked back. I don't really care about him -- his arc is probably the best handled of any of the companions', but I don't really *care*. I remember there being some speculation in EA that there *wouldn't* be a Good Option, so I was surprised and happy that happened, then I got weary of the discourse and one side trying to prove that you're the actual devil if you support one ending over another, not helped by the fact that his story obviously appeals to abuse survivors who have a very personal stake in him + his arc and therefore tend to feel strongly about one ending VS another. (I have killed Astarion off in no fewer than two playthroughs, had sex with him in one, and am romancing him in another.)

Like, yes, Ascended is evil, yes, he's intended to be toxic and abusive, no, I don't really care, yes, it's fine to headcanon your Tav is in some kind of genuinely loving relationship with him (I'm a *Raphael* fan, I have no ground to stand on as far as "unrealistically affectionate morally black characters"), it literally doesn't matter, no the game isn't REALLY as smart as it thinks it is for only really "subverting expectations" with romances that primarily appeal to straight women (when straight men have had the lion's share of video game romances designed for them for DECADES), but it isn't worth the degree of discourse it gets either and I hear more bitching about A!A fans than I do actual A!A content. You're not traumatizing real abuse survivors by ascending him, keeping him as a Spawn, having sex with him, or staking him at your earliest opportunity, he's pixels. He's a fun little Ken doll that you can dress up in shiny armor and take with you on fun adventures and then put him in clown makeup when he says something racist or that furthers the cycle of abuse. The discourse gets very repetitive very quickly, with both sides repeating the same points ad nauseam, especially a year post-release, and I'd rather spend time talking about Devil Daddy or Drow Mommy. I even get tired of talking about how tired I am of Astarion, because there are other parts of the game I'm much more interested in with characters I'm much more invested in, and talking about how tired I am of him is still talking about him (not @ you, of course, since I obviously answered this and have a bit to say, just at the general way that Astarion still dominates fandom conversations even when they're negative).

[the-whispers-of-death]

what if..... de aging au with the lions and Stone

some magic bullshit happens and now the lions (either one person or all of them or separate character with reader) are kiddos

reader (or whoever else) has to care for the kid version of their lion..... i just want to be a good dad to these traumatised men healing their inner (literal) child and shi

We're just going to assume that they de-aged into kid versions of their adult self and didn't actually turn back into a child, because I don't think I can handle the thought of Stone and Simba both detransitioning against their will due to magic.

Sarabi constantly crawls towards you for cuddles and much like when he was his regular self, Cerberus crawls behind Sarabi because they're attached to the hip. They will take both of your hands while also holding hands themselves.

Stone cries, a lot. It's the most you or anyone else has ever seen Stone cried, actually this is the first time Stone has ever cried in front of the others. Unfortunately, due to his terrible childhood, he cries even harder when you come around. Because he thinks you'll hurt him. (Bharat really should be killed off in canon.)

Kali is constantly trying to act like his regular, aged self and he tries to do paperwork. The man is the one who does all of the financials on his parents' ranch, he can't just stop because he's suddenly a kid again. (He can in fact stop, but he was forced to grow up quickly because his parents ingrained it in him that he would one day have to take care of them.)

Simba is just happy to be playing with something. And honestly, so is Nala. Give them toys to play with and they'll be happy together. (The only thing keeping me from having them together romantically is the fact that Nala insists he's happily married.)

Ladder is a calm child, as long as you give her small amounts of affection every now and then. She's used to a caretaker's attention being divided, so as long you tell her you still remember her, she's happy. (Ma'am, are you secretly traumatized?)

Heartthrob is a sweetheart, but he refuses to eat his vegetables. You think a man who before being de-aged would tell his own kid to eat his vegetables would be fine with vegetables. No. He will throw tantrums.

Hellstorm is being very quiet because he has been taught in his childhood that if he's too loud or too "naughty", then he'd be taken to another foster home. And he's reverting to old habits of making himself smaller. Poor baby.

[spectres-fulcrum]

SenshixShitennou-Loss of my Life

What if I said loml by Taylor Swift is so devastating SenshixShitennou that it was that interpretation that made me tear up? Cause it’s true. (And by the conman/betrayal/etc it’s because of the brainwashing/the girls believing it on the Moon/history repeating)

[Verse 1]

Who's gonna stop us from waltzing back into rekindled flames

If we know the steps anyway?

We embroidered the memories of the time I was away

Stitching, "We were just kids, babe"

I said, "I don't mind, it takes time"

Like who is going to stop them from reliving history? They were reincarnated to live happier lives, with no failsafes but to be prepped to fight when Beryl awoke first. And they were all just literal children-fighting each other doomed to repeat the horrors of the life they lived before. No one to stop them. Just the girls praying to save things.

When your impressionist paintings of heaven turned out to be fakes

Well, you took me to hell too

And all at once, the ink bleeds

A con man sells a fool a get-love-quick scheme

But I've felt a hole like this

Never before and ever since

But on the Moon? They didn’t realize it was brainwashing. They thought they had fallen for tricks, gotten betrayed, and it destroyed life entirely. And now they see their guys brainwashed but as they were and again-a hole. Ever since that fateful night.

You cinephile in black and white

All those plot twists and dynamite

Mr. Steal Your Girl, then make her cry

The Dark Kindom vs the Inner Senshi was black and white until Venus came and in a battle of dynamite, she unleashed a plot twist. They were fighting their ex-lovers. And Queen Beryl was Queen brainwash your man, then make him betray you.

You shit-talked me under the table

I wish I could un-recall

How we almost had it all

Dancing phantoms on the terrace

Are they second-hand embarrassed

That I can't get out of bed

'Cause something counterfeit's dead?

It was legendary

It was momentary

It was unnecessary

Should've let it stay buried

The Shitennou are shit talking them in the Dark Kingdom because the Senshi are enemies. But Makoto, Ami, and Rei can suddenly remember the love they lost. The amazing, short, useless love. But they didn’t live it. Their family and friends would laugh it off as as childish fantasies because they never lived it in this life. It was just a past life that just feels so real and painful and they probably wish they could forget it all,

[Chorus]

Oh, what a valiant roar

What a bland goodbye

The coward claimed he was a lion

I'm combing through the braids of lies

"I'll never leave," "Never mind"

Our field of dreams engulfed in fire

Your arson's match, your somber eyes

And I'll still see it until I die

You're the loss of my life

And we all know what they saw on the Moon. Fire. Destruction. The eyes of their lovers cold as steal. And they think it’s true betrayal. And they trusted Serenity to be near them. And so they fight to the death and kill each other and are reborn in hopes of-

And then they waltz into rekindled flames, knowing the steps. And they remember the night. The loss of their lives.

(Little Tortured Poets Department reminds me of modern SxS. The cycle. Who is going to know them/decode them? Who are they going to trust like them? But also they aren’t who they were, this isn’t the SilMil they’re modern people. It gives me strong Jade to Rei while Rei is fighting her feelings cause she’s scared he’ll end up betraying her again. )

[annabellgone]

I have thoughts, and I need to share.

Beast(2022). The movie.

There will be spoilers, you have been warned!

The opening : a bunch of HUMANS, with VEHICLES cannot sneek up on a pride of lions.

The chill lions : two grown lions greeting and playing with the human that raised them is something that totally happens, I've seen it a dozen times. However, I have doubts that they would have been that chill while being that close to the cubs. I have even more doubt about having multiple foreign humans approaching the pride.

The village : Cats in general have a better memory the people think they do. Tiger are most well known for holding grudges and remembering spacific people, but all cats have that potential. That being said I find it hard to believe a single lion would attack a whole village looking for the potchers, mind you that village has been there for years, and the lion would have known that. Could it happen? Sure! Was it believable in the context of the movie? No.

Things in the vehicle : I have no real life frame of reference for this part, I've never been to Africa. However, why the everloving fuck do you not have more then a trank gun? Why is your first aid so small? You mean to tell me that I, a cosplayer, have a med kit twice the size of what you take TO THE AFRICAN BUSH?!?!

Tranck shot : Tranks not working right, especially with large wild animals, is to be expected. Why does the movie not take five seconds to explain that. The lion wasn't giant compared to the others, and didn't look all that great to begin with. Why did the lion act slugish almost immediately after being shot, which isn't how it works, and then suddenly act like nothing happened a few minutes later? Do you know NOTHING about the big ass cat in your movie?

Anti Poacher : I don't like poachers. I have absolutely zero simpathy for anyone who harms an animal. However, the set up of the white guy being an anti was shit. I didn't believe for a second that anyone was an anti till the poachers literally said it. THAT would have been a cool conversation. Leave visual hints, a real weapon in his truck, side eyes whenever poachers come up in conversation. Something. Anything more then what was done. Why the fuck did white guy(I can't remember anyones name) not say something when the poachers showed up? Why didn't the poacher shot him?

Times Idris would have died because lions are kings for a fucking reason : On first sight. Broke the window. On top the truck. Under the truck. When the poachers showed up. When he got in the tree. In the water. The second he thought he was going to OUTRUN a fucking LION. The second he thought he was going to FIGHT a fucking LION. I'm sure I missed some, but this pissed me off most.

Three male lions : The second a foreign lion is spotted by a pride, shit goes down. The two males, being raised by a human, most likely would have automatically attacked the lion going after another human. The whole ass pride is in ear shoot, why the shit would they just sit around and do nothing? And if they didn't see a reason to fight when the foreign lion showedup, why did they bother to help at all?

-

I'm sure I'm missing things that bothered me but whatever. Can we just, not make movies where the animals don't behave like they actually would? Please? There have been big cats that lose their shit. There have been animals that kill, just for fun. But a human, especially without a weapon, is not a challenge to a murder kitty.

[lightrises]

"Only in allowing her to pass..." — Hornet, The Radiance, and the means by which Hallownest turned its victims against each other

A quick note: I read Hollow Knight as an anti-colonialist text. As such I'll be touching on topics related to colonialism as it's depicted in the world of the game, and said analysis will reflect both a sympathetic take on The Radiance and a critique of The Pale King that won't pull its punches. If this sounds up your alley, hello and thank you for the read! Let us be sad about these bugs together.

———

So!! A while back I realized something about pre-canon that felt rather... "curious" is one way to put it, I think. To wit: for all the effort and scheming and determination The Pale King poured into trying to get rid of The Radiance, neither of his plans involved directly killing her.

Was that his long game? Well, sure, that seems clear enough. His tack changed from luring the moths away from their god and creator to a more literal form of incarceration once the infection became a factor, but at its core the end goal never really changed—The Pale King very sincerely wished to destroy Radiance via obsolescence. The Seer lends us foreshadowing to confirm as much:

[Image descriptions: Two screenshots from Hollow Knight, showing the Seer and Ghost in the Seer's alcove at the Resting Grounds. Across both screenshots, the Seer tells Ghost the following: "None of us can live forever, and so we ask those who survive to remember us. Hold something in your mind and it lives on with you, but forget it and you seal it away forever. That is the only death that matters." End description.]

(Which, by the way and given the context, talk about an extremely unsubtle allusion to cultural genocide huh!!! Whew.)

In any case, we're left with a whole bunch of machinations which build up to... well, two very roundabout attempts at committing deicide. That's kind of weird, all things considered! Why not just do the deed in one fell swoop and get it over with?

This could be for any number of reasons. Maybe the king was devoid of the means to instantly kill another higher being. Maybe his personal sense of scruples stopped him short of signing off on MURDER murder (although, y'know, the aforementioned genocide + eternal imprisonment = still cool and copasectic apparently!). Maybe the long drawn-out cruelty was the point. Maybe the idea of playing fuckign 4D chess with the circumstances was too delicious for him to pass up—that man did love to tinker and stick his claws where they sure as hell didn't belong—or maybe it was a little bit of All The Things. Who knows!!

But interrogating The Pale King's methodology on this count isn't what I'm here for, at least not really. The main reason I raise this question at all is that in her own way, Hornet did too.

"I'd urge you to take that harder path... "

See, going by The Pale King's actions and what The White Lady explicitly says, they both foresaw two outcomes wrt the infection: it can be allowed to spread, or it can be contained. At Teacher's Archives, Quirrel acknowledges the fact that Ghost is expected to do... something about this, but he doesn't elaborate on what HE thinks that's supposed to be apart from the obvious "Gotta bust into Black Egg Temple first". Hornet is the one person who presents to us—to Ghost—what's framed as a third option: confront and destroy the infection at its source.

And she doesn't bring it up like it's just another tactic for Ghost to consider, prim and indifferent to what they would do. She nudges them towards it, actively, up to the point where she throws herself into the fray against Hollow at a juncture that's uniquely dangerous to her and her alone just to make that option feasible.

Even when she's couching it in disclaimers that this is still Ghost's decision to make (and let's be fair, she's extremely not wrong about that lol), no one can pretend Hornet is unbiased. It's obvious in that buttoned-down Hornet kind of way that she is way the hell done with the increasingly tenuous stalemate that's kept Hallownest's desiccated corpse from collapsing in on itself. Personally it's hard for me not to read some Toriel Undertale-esque "My father was too entrenched in his own foolishness to pursue any course of action that would have DEFINITIVELY ended this" shade into her stance here, regardless of whether that's strictly true in canon.

And that bit—Hornet's hopes for an end to Hallownest's stasis, moreover her grim calculation of what needs to be done to get there—that's the bit I find super interesting but likewise tragic and depressing as shit, on multiple levels. In no small part because a) canon itself gestures towards Hornet feeling conflicted about the very plan she's pushing, and moreover b) she has at least two (2) damn good reasons to feel that way.

So, what do I mean by that? Let's look here first:

[Image description: A screenshot from Hollow Knight, of Hornet and Ghost inside the Temple of the Black Egg, standing in front of the unsealed egg itself. Hornet has been struck by the Dream Nail and her dialogue is displayed as follows: "... Could it achieve that impossible thing? Should it?" End description.]

As the curtain is about to drop on things one way or another, Hornet thinks,

... Could it achieve that impossible thing? Should it?

Now, looking at that last bit it's easy to go "Oh no, Hornet's worried that Ghost won't survive killing The Radiance!" And I do think that's part of it: Hornet is, categorically, not her father. By endgame it's clear she's not content to view her Void-borne siblings as tools to be used then disposed of. She's also well aware that as a healthy autonomous Vessel amongst the countless dead, Ghost is the only person left alive who has a fighting chance against The Radiance. Knowing someone is the only qualified candidate for the job doesn't make encouraging them to embrace a probable death sentence any less of a bitter pill to swallow, though. And odds are on that this sentiment extends to Hollow too, who IS going to die no matter what happens here. To put it bluntly, it's more than reasonable to conclude that Hornet hates the absolute fuck out of this.

But I don't think that's all there is to it either. Remember what I said earlier about The Pale King's bids for genocide? Well, it's not like the man deigned to limit his efforts to just the moth tribe.

"We do not choose our mothers... "

On top of everything else—an infected Hallownest being all she's ever known, the fact that she only exists because of the infection, the list goes on—Hornet has spent her life wedged into a position that's been uncomfortable and terminally unglamorous at best: she is both a daughter of her father's kingdom and of Deepnest.

Deepnest, which like the moths and many others was here long before the wyrm and his lady wife swanned onto the scene and the God Become Bug laid claim to everything the Light touched plus a considerable amount of change. THAT Deepnest, which has fought claw and thread to retain its sovereignty against same-said settler king, and for which Herrah not only surrendered her life but also agreed to bed her worst enemy, all in hopes of securing a viable future for her people (put a pin in that last part by the way, I'll come back to it soon).

Two Worlds, One Family (Ft. An Indigenous Woman Trying Her Damndest To Work With What She's Got Versus An Imperialist Who Only Signed Up For This Because He Needed The Political Favor THAT Badly, So It's The Height Of Dysfunctional Actually). Fun times!!!!

The baggage this entails for Hornet is gnarly enough without implications made by The White Lady and the pre-canon timeline of events and even Team Cherry's dev notes that the king may well have looked at baby Hornet, gone "YOINK", then ensured she spent the lion's share of her childhood reared within the pearly auspices of his Pale Court*. That would be rather advantageous for Him Specifically after all, the potential to mold a born foe into a future ally and even have her trained in combat under the same tutelage as her doomed sibling. And far be it from him to stop a grown Hornet—his own flesh and blood too!—from making Deepnest her forever home if she so pleased. He totally wouldn't be reneging on his "fair bargain made" by doing this one simple thing until Hornet came of age, not t e c h nic c a l l y.

If that is indeed the case, there's a non-zero chance Hornet's formative years were a hot mess of cultural alienation and being a good deal more privy than most to just how much of a bastard her father could be. There's an equally non-zero chance that at some point she stood or sat within earshot as The Pale King finally, finally dropped all pretense and euphemism to name the Light for precisely what (for who) it was.

See, in conjunction with the question that started this whole dang train of thought I've been asking this one too: Does Hornet know? When she speaks of confronting "the heart of [the] infection" does she know she's talking about not just a literal person but someone very specific? The Radiance, who god though she may be shares skin in the game alongside Hornet as a native woman screwed over by the same settler king, likewise deprived of her kin and saddled with a life gone horrendously pear-shaped?

I'll assume for the sake of exploring the possibility and because I think it's a likely one anyway that yes, Hornet does know. She knows, and despite everything can't help empathizing. She might even look at Radiance and see bits and pieces both reflected and slightly inversed in her own mother: Radiance was forced to the sidelines while her people—her children, the brood she was meant to lead and care for—died out under The Pale King's rule, and it's no stretch to assume she's at least as upset about that as she has been about everything else; Herrah too took drastic measures for her people's sake, trying to head off annihilation by relegating herself to the sidelines in an act that was as much calculated risk as an attempt to find wiggle room and leverage in the face of a nasty proposition.

A calculated risk that, if things continue as they are, might well amount to nothing as the rest of Deepnest gets eaten alive by the infection. It survived The Pale King's advances for so so long, only to fall here. Herrah's sacrifice would be for naught; the other tribes—themselves the king's victims—would keep succumbing to the infection too.

And this is where things fall apart.

"... or the circumstance into which we are born."

Let's be clear: I think Hornet is wise enough to know what's what here, that all the carnage and suffering falls on her father's head for starting this slow-motion trainwreck in the first place. Hallownest wasn't always Hallownest. This domain was Radiance's home first, along with many others. It was the worm-turned-king who rolled up on the scene unsolicited and decided this was a ""'problem""" that had to be """solved""".

But the fact of the matter is that he's gone and The Radiance is here, raging, seemingly inconsolable. Above and beyond being Deepnest's rightful heir, Hornet isn't in a position to countenance more splash damage even if the grief and fury fueling it makes perfect sense. She can understand without ever bringing herself to love Radiance, and she can bend her knee to practicality even if she hates the everloving shit out of it because the fact that it "has" to end this way isn't fair.

This lends itself to one last awful conclusion: that Hornet has probably considered and (rightly or wrongly) discarded the possibility that Radiance can be saved, at least not without dragging more collateral along for the ride. If even her mother and every other enemy to the king seemed to dismiss talking Radiance down as an option way back when... well. Why should Hornet hope for any better after things have escalated so far?

Again, it's practical. A practical net good is what Hornet strives for. And again, it fucking sucks.

For extra tragedy points, this makes Hornet's extended crypticness around Ghost followed by her last minute casting about for a reason to tell them "Wait, don't; not just yet" that she never voices even more of a gut punch. She can't bring herself to burden Ghost with the context that haunts her so, least of all when it might weaken their resolve to go through with what (she thinks) needs doing.

It's the "same song, different verse" which led to the mantis tribe and Deepnest being pitted against each other: Hallownest rigged the game so that two women who could have been powerful allies—who have a mutual vested interest in driving out settler rule—wound up poised as enemies instead. And how awful is that? The king for all his being extremely fucking dead still gets the last laugh, because outside of a miracle the game never manifests Hornet can salvage what her mother started and look forward to a future where Deepnest pulls itself back from the brink if and only if The Radiance dies.

Resolution comes at the price of a completed genocide. Add two more dead siblings to the unconscionable pile thereof, while we're at it. That's what it boils down to whether or not Hornet can bear to articulate it as such, and there's no grace or even a properly bittersweet ending to wring from this clusterfuck. And that is rough.

———

* This has been better explained elsewhere, but a quick rundown: The White Lady tells Ghost that Hornet and Herrah "were permitted little time together." On its surface this can be taken to mean that Hornet was still very young when Herrah was shipped off to Eternal Dreamland—except this doesn't jive with the fact that we meet Hornet as an adult. If the stasis kicked in once the Dreamers went to their rest, which in turn halted the aging process for every living bug in Hallownest, AND before all this Hornet experienced little by the way of quality time with her birth mother... I think you can see where I'm going with this.

To top it off we've got Team Cherry weighing in ominously from their dev notes on Herrah: "As part of the agreement for her alliance and her role as a dreamer, King gave her a child (Hornet). Was she allowed to keep this child or was she taken away?" This isn't confirmation by itself of course, but given additional canon details (see above): Can I get a "yikes" in the chat fellas.

[bloededhoine]

world building cause twn doesn't part 7: the first northern war

this is actually the part that made me want to start this series! but a wise idiot told me that none of it would make any sense without a bit of exposition. well, 6 parts later, let's go!

colour code cause i fucking love colour codes - already happened/introduced, probably s2, important background info, stuff that might be in the prequel, extras

masterpost

background

this war takes place entirely in ciri's timeline in twn, which is actually one of the most logical thing the showrunner's did

basically, nilfgaard is BIG into expanding and conquering new territories, cause sapkowski was actually kind of a comrade

in 1263, emhyr var emreis, the emperor of nilfgaard, turned his focus north, to the lovely kingdom of cintra. since nilfgaard already controlled all areas south of cintra, it was not at all difficult for them to get there

you probably remember this angular looking gentleman as cahir mawr dyffryn aep ceallach, a nilfgaardian vicovarian officer. he is SUPER important for twn, so here's what you need to know:

cahir's family is incredibly well established, even though they aren't "real" nilfgaardians. cahir's great aunt is even one of emhyr's favourite mages.

he is also a Lot younger than the show made him, like i think he's maybe 18, but he could be as young as 16. this is a literal child, but a very smart child, so emhyr tasked him specifically with capturing the cintrian princess, cirilla, and bringing her back to nilfgaard

invasion of cintra

the red line on the left is the nilfgaardian army's path from alba to the marnadal stairs, the only pass from the south to cintra. they were led by menno coehoorn, but we don't see him in twn (yet! he is super important for a ton of major battles).

the cintran army, led by queen calanthe and her bisexual trophy husband eist tuirseach, was waiting for them at the red star on the map on the right. unfortunately, eist was shot through the eye and killed, only a small group of survivors were able to escape

this group, including calanthe herself, were able to make it back to the capital (shown by the red line on the right) and warn the others that nilfgaard was coming

but, since calanthe had sent all her soldiers to the marnadal pass, there was no one left to defend the city and basically everyone was either killed or imprisoned, with queen calanthe committing suicide

pro tip: if a woman in the witcher makes a big mistake, such as leaving your capital entirely open to attack, and then commits suicide after having an emotional moment with her chosen daughter, something big is about to happen

BUT... princess cirilla fiona elen riannon, lion cub of cintra, heiress to inis ard skellig and inis an skellig, carrier of the hen ichaer, and all around badass, managed to escape with a small escort *whoah!*

by some weird coincidence (or destiny??), this escort ran right into cahir and his group. a scuffle ensued, with the only survivors being cahir and ciri

now, cahir's plan was already a little off the rails, so he just grabbed a terrified and screeching ciri and started running. lucky for him, she fainted pretty quickly

cahir disguised himself and (still unconscious) ciri with mud and shit and tried to join a refugee group, but he felt that this was too risky and decided to take ciri and book it (again)

when ciri woke up, cahir tried to calm her down, but since they didn't speak the same language this was pretty unsuccessful. like, imagine being 10 year old child and waking up covered in dirt with some random slightly-older-child speaking gibberish.

eventually, they both fell asleep, but ciri was able to run while cahir was sleeping. cahir moped back to nilfgaard, and was imprisoned for a year due to his spectacular performance.

obviously, this is very different from the show, but i need everyone to know how perfect my SON is

sodden

obviously, cintra was a massive victory for emhyr (aside from the missing heir to the kingdom he conquered).

next, coehoorn and his armies marched (red line) to upper sodden (red star) and had another huge victory. they were planning on conquering lower sodden (for some reason it's geographically north of upper sodden?), and therefore all areas south of the yaruga

BUT... temeria, redania, kaedwen, aedirn and a shit ton of other allies, including 22 mages, were ready to fight at sodden hill (blue star)

of the people we've met in the witcher, a huge chunk of them were at sodden. seriously. yennefer, triss, vilgefortz, foltest, sabrina, tissaia, yarpen zigrin, and crach an craite were all fighting for the north

despite nilfgaard's huge winning streak, manpower, money, and superior weaponry, the north won both the battle and the war

aftermath

emhyr was not happy. at all. he didn't throw menno coehoorn in prison, but he did put him in time out in cintra

this also gave emhyr a pretty hefty vengeance against mages, especially yennefer, triss, sabrina, philippa, and enid.

[mysticdragon3md3]

I find it endlessly amusing how after 10 years, my OTPs have circled back onto the same type. lol

I realize the Blue Lions have Dedue, and Ashe used to be a commoner. But Ashe got adopted into a higher class. Meanwhile, the Golden Deer has 3 commoners who stay commoners.

And Yukimura probably had commoners serving under him, but Sengoku Basara (2009) takes a lot of time to emphasize that Masamune's commoner associates are named, get screentime, voice his effect on them, and spent time closely serving under him. Meanwhile, Yukimura's only named subordinates seem to also be lords or ninja, more than basic commoners.

When referring to "self-doubt & a phase of failing as a commander", I'm specifally referring to Sengoku Basara (2009) season 2 for Yukimura. That's pretty much most of what he does that season. And he made a critical decision error as a commander that got one of his major subordinates killed and probably also unnecessarily killed some of his other soldiers. Though I am vaguely aware that in one of the videogames, Yukimura similary spent most of the story in self-doubt, after thinking Takeda was dying, and I think he ran his army around doing actions without enough thought.

And of course, with Dimitri, I'm referring to his post-time-skip phase wherein he went full "boar" and refused to properly lead his army. Though after regaining more mental stability and becoming a proper general, he still gets haunted by self-doubts for the rest of his life.

When I spell "Strength" with a capital "S", I'm usually shortening my term "True Strength" and referring to both a mental and emotional fortitude, resilience, and frequently an iron resolve in Compassion. That's just my personal philosophy in defining "True Strength". Personally, I see 2 definitions of "strength" that both converge at Compassion, to define "True Strength". 1) In an amoral sense, strength is resilience in maintaining one's own "soul pattern"/emotions/resolve, without being swayed or influenced by outside forces to change. 2) In terms of defining strength as the ability to do what is most difficult, in my opinion, Compassion is the most difficult. Not only do acts of Compassion often cost a range of efforts from some to exorbitant, but it can also require the enacter to put themselves into a vulnerable position. So it is often something only the strong can afford, or survive, or disregard fears of being vulnerable or taken advantage of. Therefore, in my personal opinion, converging the 2 definitions into an unwavering resolve in Compassion, is my personal definition of "True Strength".

So when I categorize Date Masamune as having Strength, I mean he is unwavering in his resolve towards Compassion. Sengoku Basara 2009 takes a lot of instances to reiterate that Masamune cannot be swayed, his Resolve is unquestioning, no one can stop him, slow him, or change his mind. His catch phase is "pressing onward" (translated as "full speed ahead"). One of his first scenes is charging ahead, disregarding Katakura's warnings for caution. (Notice that in Judge End, this is framed as foolish brashness, but in Sengoku Basara 2009, Katakura smiles and continues following without worry, because he completely trusts Masamune's instincts and decision-making. Because everyone trusts Masamune 2009 to always make decisions based in the best ideals/Compassion.) This is reiterated throughout season 2, when Masamune makes allies and each of them ask him to change directions, but the most they can do is temporarily slow him down, because he doesn't stop moving forward. This Strength directed in outward Compassion towards others is almost unexpected after considering Masamune's historical backstory. One would think that someone betrayed by his mother would become disillusioned and spiteful towards the world. It's a basic supervillain backstory to be betrayed by a trusted figure, especially during fundamental development. But instead, Masamune seems to want only to protect others and bring the whole country under his command, so that the whole country of people can be under his umbrella of protection. The 2009 series only mentions his regret from one of his early battles where lots of his soldiers died, being his major motivation in protecting others, specifically his soldiers. But I've headcanon'ed a lot that can be extrapolated from his historical backstory, that when in conjunction to his actions in Sengoku Basara 2009, portrays a Masamune who has dedicated himself towards Compassion, despite his tragic backstory.

Similarly, Claude's backstory is tragic, yet he emerges with True Strength. I've heard criticisms within the fandom that Claude growing up experiencing so much bullying and discrimination against his being biracial, could not believably yield a person dedicated towards Compassion. But I think that's just brainwashing from too many supervillain tropes telling us that traumatized and mentally ill people invariably become villains. I've heard it's more realistic that people who have experienced trauma, tragedy, or some kind of pain, actually are more likely to increase their ability to empathize/sympathize with others, consequently becoming more compassionate. (Mentioned in https://youtu.be/bHe2seINnE0 at 2:03/9:09; https://youtu.be/zaZYDK1RcEU) Claude experienced descrimination and bullying; he explicitly explains in FE3H canon that he wants to create a world where no one else has to experience that same pain. I really don't see why this can be an unbelievable characterization to some people, when most of the world admires Batman for literally that same reason. And I think that characters, like Claude, who react to trauma and hardship with altruism, demonstrate a True Strength in their characters. They haven't been broken by their trauma. They not only survive, but survive as people who still want to care for others. (Also why I love Natsume Takashi.)

I was tempted to include Dimitri in the category of "Emerged from tragic backstory with Strength and vowing to make world where no one will experience same pain". But he didn't emerge with the same level of flawless Strength that Masamune and Claude did. Dimitri certainly did resolve to protect others from ever experiencing the pain that he felt, after the Tragedy of Duscur. But he was also not as mentally stable. He was so repressed and internally conflicted (concerning his feelings of vengence, or sadness that didn't know how to be expressed as anything but anger, lest he break), that he didn't integrate his "boar" impulses/emotions until much later in his post-time-skip. I didn't feel that Dimitri was a fully reconcilled version of himself, until after he had accepted his "boar" emotions, stopped repressing his unresolved anger, and learned to express them more appropriately or at more appropriate times. After he became more mentally/emotionally stable, I have no doubt that he still can have episodes of rage, anti-social moods, or crippling survivor's guilt, but I think he no longer allows those feelings/episodes to push away the people he cares about or disregard his true personal desires to be kind/protective towards others. He knows how to deal with those feelings now. But he spent a long time not yet at that stable level, until much later. Until then, he was frankly wavering, conflicting with his personal resolve, denying his own ideals, and allowing his survivor's guilt manifesting as ghosts to sway him away from his true desires/motivations/values of Compassion. Dimitri was Weak for a time. So I can't say that he was in the same category of Strength as Masamune and Claude.

Dimitri's backstory of his father's death and idolizing Rodrigue, after he took him in, is information he canonically tells the player.

But I realize that Sengoku Basara 2009 never actually mentions a backstory like this for Yukimura. I'm actually referencing the takarazuka version of Sengoku Basara. In that play, they include a childhood backstory scene, where Yukimura's father was a subordinate of Takeda and died while protecting him. Young Yukimura blamed Takeda for his father's death and went to punch him out. Because Takeda understood that Yukimura needed catharsis and was trying to reconcile with his grief, Takeda allowed himself to be punched. But he also punched back. I think maybe to encourage Yukimura to keep going? I can't remember. But eventually, Yukimura punched out all his anger and only had energy left to finally cry, and Takeda said something that comforted him. From then on, he called Takeda "Oyakata-sama" and became completely devoted to him. This explained the origin of the running gag from the 2009 anime, wherein Takeda and Yukimura engage in fist fights as a form a bonding. (It's a shame that the video of these scenes was taken off YouTube. ;_; ) I don't know if "Sengoku Basara Sanada Yukimura-den" mentions how Yukimura's father dies, since he finally appeared in that game. So I'm referencing the takarazuka version.

There isn't really mention of Masamune's mother in the 2009 Sengoku Basara anime. The closest, was Masamune's maternal uncle appearing in the movie "The Last Party" that ended that anime series. But historically, after the real life Date Masamune survived smallpox at a young age, and lost sight in his right eye, there was a lot of dissent among the other high ranking people within his clan, concerning his continued position as the Date clan's head. A lot of this dissent was lead by his mother, who insisted that Masamune's younger brother should become the new clan leader instead. Some accounts say that to shut up accusations that Masamune was weak and that his faulty eye was just an advertised weakness that enemies would take advantage of on the battlefield, Masamune either pulled out his own right eye or ordered Katakura to do it. Apparently, that shut up everyone except his mother, who still continued to try undermining his position. I don't know if there was one instance of several, but she also tried to kill him through poisoning, to replace him with his brother. Because of this, Masamune's only choice was to kill his own little brother, which forced his mother to run back to her original clan. (I can only assume that Masamune didn't just kill his mother, because it's possible she indoctrinated his brother to ursurp him. So Masamune might have ended up eventually needing to kill his brother anyway.) Lots of us in the Sengoku Basara fandom like to headcanon that all of this happened for the Basara version of Masamune too.

It's my understanding that Cornelia implicated Dimitri's stepmother in the murder of his father and friends at the Tragedy of Duscur, but that things were still left canonically vague. Personally, the fact that Patricia was always kind to Dimitri, combined with the fact that Cornelia is proven duplicitous, I find it difficult to believe that Patricia intentionally betrayed Dimitri. The way Cornelia described it, she offered Patricia a chance to be reunited with her daughter Edelgard, Patricia confirmed that desire, then the Tragedy of Duscur happened. Given that Cornelia was already doing terrible things behind Patricia's back, like experimenting on Hapi, and Patricia being angry at Cornelia when she discovered Hapi, I doubt that Cornelia would have been fully truthful with Patricia. I imagine Cornelia tricked Patricia into opening a path or lowering some defenses to "allow a clandestine meeting with Edelgard", but then Cornelia would probably use it to sneak in enemies to kill Dimitri's father and friends. That's my headcanon theory on the Tragedy of Duscur anyway. So Dimitri was only *possibly* betrayed by his mother figure.

And that's my comparison between DateSana and DimiClaude/DMCL/ClauDimi. It continuously amazes me how similar these ships are and how my shipping has come full circle. lol

[lil-bumbum]

Shiro x male galra reader

  ×3rd pov×

M/n!! Please it's me!it's Shiro,  your friend! ", Shiro yells begging for his galran friend to respond.  (m/n) ignores his friends plea as he continues working with Haxus on the controls of the ship.  Sendak chuckles evilly.  " He won't help Shiro. ",  he says chuckling more.  "(m/n)! I know you remember me! You have too! You helped me escape!! ", Shiro yells,  now frustrated.  " After he had helped you we punished him and did some.......upgrading.",  Sendak says smiling at shiro's distress.

    "Sir, you should listen to this. ",  Haxus says to Sendak.  " What is it? ",  Sendak says still staring at Shiro, smirking.  " I found a radio signal,  sir.  We think there is another paladin inside the castle, sir. ", (m/n)  says,  catching Sendaks attention.  Sendak walks over to the pair.  There is static but if you listen hard you can hear the fuzzy,  muffled voices. " Make it clear.", Sendak demands getting a nod from (m/n).  The said boys expert hands flying across the controls.

    The signal gets clear enough to where you can clearly make out the words being spoken. "We now know where the paladin is.",  Haxus says smirking. " Follow the paladin,  then kill them. (m/n) you stay on the controls and wait. ",  Sendak orders.  (M/n)  once again nods as Haxus runs to find the paladin.  "You called me space cow because you read books about earth and you said my hair reminded you of a cow!!! ", Shiro yells,  his eyes full of sadness and hurt.

    (M/n)'s head snapped up and his hands froze. The collar around his neck sparked a little bit. Shiro's eyes widened as Lance laughed at the ridiculous nickname despite them being in a literal life or death situation.  'Why didn't I notice that collar before! '.  Shiro thought mentally smacking himself. " WHO SAID YOU CAN STOP!? GET BACK TO WORK! ", Sendak yelled making (m/n) snap out of his daze. " You never called me champion because you know how much I hate that name!"

    "You always said 'You have to fight it. If you let your arm control you then that means the galra wins.' You would steal food so that I can have something to eat! You were never scared of me even though I'm scared of myself! You helped me escape even though you knew that death is one of the punishments!! ",  Shiro yelled at the ravenette/white haired boy.  ((I think galrans only have black, purple or white hair)) . (M/n)  froze again.  All of the memories flooding back.

    (M/n) falls to his knees, clawing at his head. He screams in pain as he remembers his punishment. The knives, the whips, all of the blood and bruises.  Getting beaten to the point where he thought he would die. He whispers,  shaking and muttering to himself. Then (m/n) finally faints as his collar stops sparking and starts smoking.  Shiro and Lance stare, eyes wide.  Shiro's in shock and regret for leaving his friend. Lance's in shock and sympathy.

    Sendak walks to (m/n) 's unconscious body. Shiro eyes now filled with anger.  " DON'T TOUCH HIM! ",  he yells. Sendak ignores Shiro and taps (m/n) 's foot with his own. He growls turning around,  ready to strangle Shiro and Lance.  As he angrily walks toward the two there is a big boom,  echoing through the halls. The lights spasming on and off before finally stopping leaving everyone in darkness. Sendak yells in anger as his plan to take control of the ship back fires.

    The sounds of grunts and hitting reach his ears. The lights turn back on,  this time glowing blue instead of red meaning it's no longer under galran control. Sendak spins around.  The droids on the floor in pieces Shiro and Lance gone. He growls turning back around toward (m/n) 's body to find that he is also gone. He walks over to the controls and punches the table in anger. He now has no choice but to retreat.  Lance and Shiro runs, (m/n) in Shiro's arms.

    Shiro stares as (m/n) and notices his purple skin is paler than usual, his body lightly shaking, his eyes going back forth under their lids, and his breathing shaky. Shiro runs faster wanting to help his friend before its too late.

    ×TIMESKIP×

  Muffled talking echoes through the halls. Hunk staring at the stove ((Do alteans have stoves?)) thinking about what had happened. All of the lions we're almost taken and hundreds maybe even thousands of innocent lives were almost killed. And now there's galran in one of their healing pods. Hunk is snapped out of his thoughts by a sizzling sound. 'Balls, balls, balls! I forgot about the food'.  Hunk rushes to mix the oddly bright, chunky mixture so that it doesn't burn any more than it already has. He tuned off the stove and gets plated for the group and scoops up the bright green goop and puts it on each plate.

    He holds all of the plates on his arms like a waiter and makes his way to where the rest are thinking of what to do. He hears yelling as he walks closer to the closed doors. And almost drops the plates as the big door slams open and Shiro stomps away. Hunk regains his balance and walks into the room, nervously smiling at the tense, cold feeling radiating off of allura. He gives each member their plate and shaking makes his way toward allura, pulling his collar as he sweats. He quickly drops her plate in front her and runs to his spot.

×Shiro's P.O.V×

    I angrily stomp my way to the healing pods. I know I should calm down but I can't help it. It's not their fault that they're not fond of galrans but not ALL of them are evil. (M/n) proved that. He was the first to show me kindness and he wasn't afraid to help me. He gave me whatever I needed and he helped me escape with no hesitation. 'He's my........... friend. If the others gave him a chance the would realize he doesn't plan on hurting anyone'. I start thinking about what I had just thought about. 'What is (m/n) to me? '. I shake my head as I open the door to the healing pods. I walk over to (m/n) 's pod and stop. I feel my anger dissapear as its replaced with sadness and regret. My eyes soften as I look at the scars covering his body.

    'I should've taken you with me', I thought. I look at his face, he looks so worried and sad. I put my hand on the glass that separates us. I see his finger twitch and I jump back as his hand shot up. His hand in the spot where I had put my hand before I jumped back. I cautiously step forward reaching my hand out. I put my hand where his is. (M/n) 's eyes snap open and the pods starts opening. I step back again just in case he's still being controlled. But my caution flies out the window as I reach forward and catch him before he hits the floor.

 

 

×(M/N) POV×

    'Where am I? Why can't I move? '. I try to open my eyes but I'm rewarded with nothing. I slowly start to panic as I can't move no matter how hard I try. I stop as I hear muttering. " I should've taken you with me. ". 'That voice..... I know that voice!,I can't remember who that voice belong too.i have to see who they are!'. I again try to move but get nothing. I continue to try and then I feel my finger twitch. 'Yes! Just a little more'. I think as I slowly gain control of my arm.

    I move my arm trying to feel where I am since Im slowly gaining control of everything but my eyes are still heavy. I raise my hand up and I hit something cold and hard. I hear something shuffle and then I feel warmth where my hand is despite the glass being cold. I struggle to open my eyes and when they do I open all I can see is a blurry black shape. I hear a hissing sound and a mist surrounds me as I no longer feel the glass. I try to walk but instead I fall not being able to feel my legs. I put my hands in front of me to protect my face and they hit something warm and hard. I open my eyes and and notice I was in someone's arms. " (M/n)  are you okay!? ", a panicked voice says. I look up and my vision cleared and I recognized the mystery person as " Shiro? What..... where are we? ", I ask confused.

   Shiro holds me at arms length as i grab hold of his arms to keep me standing. He stares at me as I stare back in confusion. I open my mouth to say something but Shiro pulls me back into a hug. He nuzzles into my hair and holds me tighter to his hard chest. I feel him start to shake and I feel something wet. I look up as best as I can since I'm being crushed into his chest. "Shiro? ", I ask softly.

×3rd pov×

    " Shiro? ", (m/n) softly asks. Shiro looks down at (m/n) seeing his confusion. Shiro gently lifts his hand up to (m/n) 's cheek, softly rubbing his light/dark purple cheek. " I'm sorry, I'm so sorry", Shiro whispers to (m/n). (M/n) looks even more confused. "What are you apologizing for?", the galran asks his human..... friend? " I left you. I left you instead of taking you with me", Shiro says laying his forhead on (m/n) 's. (M/n) huffs. "We both know I wouldn't have left Shiro. Someone had to distract the guards and it definitely wasn't going to he you. ", (m/n) says. Shiro sighs knowing that he's right.

    " But they hurt you. I should've come back for you immediately after...", Shiro's voice cracks. (M/n) cuts him off. "No, Shiro. What's more important one life or millions of others? Besides I'm right here in front of you. In your arms. ", (m/n) says sternly but soft. Shiro looks into (m/n)'s (e/c) eyes. Those eyes that have always read him like an open books, the eyes that seem to be staring right into his soul. The eyes that made him melt and go soft. " I missed you.... so much", Shiro whispers after a moment of silence. "Me too.", (m/n) whispers back.

    (M/n) closes his eyes, leaning into Shiro hand as his fluffy purple ears twitch cutely. Shiro silently watches (m/n)  enjoy all of the warmth he's getting. Shiro hesitantly moves forward as he closes his eyes. His lips connecting with (m/n)'s. (M/n)'s eyes flew open in surprise as his ears rise up, he slowly closes his eyes and purr ((i feel like they would purr idk 😅)) enjoying the pleasant feeling of the humans lips on his. There are no Sparks or tingles but there is definitely love. The two seperate from the kiss and look into each other's eyes. " (M/n), I love you.", Shiro says sincerely. "Shiro,...... ". Shiro looks at (m/n) with hopeful eyes. "... I don't know what that means", (m/n) says nervously chuckling as Shiro sweat drops forgetting the galran boy doesn't know most human terms. Shiro chuckles hugging (m/n) again. " My galran boy", he says breathing in (m/n)'s scent. "My space cow", (m/n) says smirking evilly as Shiro's eyes snapped open and narrowed his eyes at his now lover.

   

[staytiny-angel]

Safe Haven 4/?

Rating: E

Pairings: Drew McIntyre/Becky Lynch, Eventually Drew McIntyre/Becky Lynch/Seth Rollins, Jon Moxley/Renee Young, Sasha Banks/Bayley/Charlotte Flair, Mandy Rose/Trent Seven, Jordan Devlin/Millie McKenzie, Ruby Riott/Liv Morgan

Warnings for this Chapter: mentions of violence

Chapter Summary: Drew and Becky get to know their new mate better while meeting members of his unorthodox family, Plans are made to rescue Roman from Heyman's evil clutches.

Taglist:

@hitory--chan @sethsevolution @finnsauroraborealis @the-beastslayers-queen @pikapuff316 @writinglionqueen @writtingrose

"SETHIE!" Seth hadn't even made it back to town before being tackled by a overly hyperactive blonde girl.

"I missed you too Liv" Seth groaned, slightly out of breath.

"You're lucky I'm here and not Rubes, she's very mad at ya"

Seth grimaced at the thought of seeing his older sister.

"Hey! Redhead!" Liv yelled at Becky. "Is this too basic" she gestured at her hair.

"Um-"

"You're right, too boring" Liv pulled out a compact mirror and smiled at it, Becky and Drew staring in shock as her hair turned bubblegum pink.

"How?" Drew asked Seth.

"Liv's a chaos fairy. Hyper 24/7, pranks everybody. C'mon brat" Liv squealed and hopped onto his back..

"Hey Livvie, Mom conjured my clothes..would you mind?" Seth asked his sister's girlfriend

Drew and Becky watched curiously as the unremarkable clothes Seth's mother had put on him morphed into dark-grey skinny jeans and a blood-red t-shirt.

"Hair too?" the fairy asked

"Yes please."

Seth shook his head and a quarter of it immediately went blond "There ya go Sethie! You look like you again, only bigger!" Liv giggles, patting the wolf on the head.

"Thanks Livvy" Seth grinned. "You're still small though"

"I'm still bigger than Millie!" Liv managed to kick Seth in the hip. "Good luck apologizing to everyone. Trent's mad because you made Tyler cry!"

"Tyler always cries!"

"Okay true, but you also made Mandy upset!"

"How long have you been away from home?" Becky asks

"I haven't lived in Haven in 8 years. I lost contact with everyone 18 months ago." Seth explained

"Dude the only reason we didn't completely lose it was because we still felt you through the pack bond" Liv tells him "We knew you weren't dead but...it was hard, anyway so why are you with the newbies?" Liv asked as they made their way to the main house.

"They're my mates." Seth said simply.

"Oooooh, Sethie's got two mates!" Liv said excitedly. Becky looking at her with caution. "I need to see Sarah, you are making me coffee later!" Liv hugged him and skipped off, Becky and Drew watching her.

"I've only heard of chaos fairies, she was...unique" Becky said.

"I need to remind Ceasero she's not allowed any caffeine" Seth said shaking his head

The three mates walked along the path back to the town in silence after Liv left. None of them really knowing what to say.

"So you guys have had this town for a long time?" Becky finally broke the increasingly uncomfortable tension

"My grandparents founded Haven. Grandfather...used to run a circus and all of the acts were different beings. When he retired, everyone just settled here. Haven was these old fairgrounds and some of the woods surrounding it."

"A Circus?" Drew exclaimed

"Grandfather was a warlock, especially skilled in persuasion and he figured it would be a way for him and his friends to not only use their abilities for profit, but to not have to hide as much. Normies will ignore most Supe shit if they think its a trick"

"Absolutely true, they're dense as hell" Becky replied.

"So, you knew Finn?" Seth asked.

"Sort of, his name was Prince back then, always wondered what happened, not surprised that vampires had something to do with it...when they helped save you. I can't believe I just said that" Becky facepalmed, remembering what Mox and Stephanie had said.

Seth smiled and shook his head "I know Haven is an odd case. Weird even amongst the weird. I mean, I'm the Wolf/Warlock hybrid that claims a Lion, a Witch, a Vampire Queen and a Vampire thats the vessel for a literal demon king for parents. Weird is kinda my thing"

"Do you remember that night?" Becky asked. Seth looked down, toying with his amulet before sitting down.

"A little. I remember being in a car with my mommy and daddy" Seth said in a faraway voice "The was a big flash of light and loud noise, and then I was flying through the woods. I had bite marks on the back of my neck. Knowing now what I know about my bio parents, I think my Mom shifted and was carrying me through the woods by the scruff of my neck."

Becky hesitantly reached over and touched the top of Seth's bowed head. Drew looking on silently. It seemed like his spitfire was already growing attached to the younger man, while Drew himself was more hesitant. Seth lived...by Drew's upbringing, an unnatural life. Haven was a lot to get used to and he'd had Becky to himself for so long.

"Do you think it's possible that your mom changed you?" Drew asked. "To protect you?"

"Could be I don't know" Seth pulled his hair. "I don't like thinking about it"

"Hey brat" A girl said, materializing next to the three. She was holding a coffee cup and had red lowlights and was so pale, Drew thought she could be a vampire.

"Hey, Ruby." Seth said quietly, "Guys this is one of my sisters."

"Yo." The girl greeted them easily and handed her brother the Chicago Bears to-go mug "One Double Chocolate Cappuccino, courtesy of Cesaro. Figured you could use it, heard you haven't had coffee in a year or so."

"No espresso?" Seth groaned.

"You know he puts too much in" Ruby said, "Besides I want to be able to sleep tonight. Your howling was obnoxious" she turned to Drew and Becky. "If either of you hurt my little brother, I will rip out your eyes and shove them down your throats"

"Ruby."

"What it's true. We lost you once, brat. Never again" She replied with a smile

"Did anyone mention that Seth is the baby?" Ruby asked

"Millie is younger then me thank you very much" Seth said rolling his eyes and taking a sip of his drink

"Millie hasn't been missing for 18 months, and gone for 7 and a half years before that. So excuse us if we're all a bit concerned about all this" she says waving a hand at Drew and Becky.

"Excuse me, who's Millie?" Becky asked.

"My baby cousin" Seth replied fondly. "She's my Uncle Shawn's kid"

"She's a fire siren, sneezes out fire like crazy" Ruby added, drinking her coffee.

"She doesn't have much in the way of control yet. So she sets shit on fire a lot...luckily her mate is a water sprite. Jordan is really great st putting out flare-ups" Seth explains "Please don't threaten my mates. Honestly, I'm a hot mess. I doubt they even want to be with me anyway"

"Nonsense" Ruby waved her hand. "Mates are mates always. Do you think I would have gotten with Liv by choice?" Seth chuckled and blushed when Becky smiled at him. " Does anyone know about Ro?" He asked.

Ruby's face fell. "Mom is working on a tracking spell, since you don't remember exactly where Heyman's compound is located. Dad is making her rest before she casts it though so that won't be done until tomorrow, the good this is that Heyman can only do his enslaving curse during the full moon...so we have 6 days to find Ro."

"Fuck" Seth pulled at his hair. "None of this would have happened if I hadn't ran away"

"Stop it" Drew said, gently pulling Seth's hands down.

Drew had sat there quietly listening to the exchange between Seth and his sister, trying to learn more about the odd man the fates had bound him and his firecracker to. From what he'd gathered so far Seth was well-loved by his mismatched pack and had been sorely missed while on his journey of self-discovery.

"Don't beat yourself up. You couldn't have known any of this would happen" Drew says softly, still holding Seth's hands in his larger ones. Seth's brother had been right. Seth did look amazingly...like a slightly smaller version of himself, less so now that part of his hair was platinum blonde.

"He's my big brother" Seth whimpered. "He doesn't even know I'm not mad at him anymore, if Paul's spell works on him, he'll be gone for good" Drew unknowingly wiped away a tear that had trailed down Seth's face.

Becky wrapped her arms around Seth's waist "That isn't going to happen, sweetheart. We are going to get your brother back and Heyman will pay for everything he's done to both of you." She says fiercely. To which Seth nodded but said nothing.

"Forgive me for asking but are you his sister from the witch side or vampire side?" Drew asked Ruby.

"Stephanie and Hunter, can't be around Finn and Violet, my blood is toxic and Bálor hates me" Ruby answered

"I only have one sibling from Finn and Violet and that's Jordan. He's the last of Finn's pre vampiric bloodline. His parents died when he was a baby, and an old woman from his clan brought him to Haven shortly after" Seth tells them.

"Is this the same Jordan that's your cousin's mate?" Becky asked. "Yeah, thought my uncle was gonna kill him, then Finn was gonna kill him" Seth shook his head.

"Haven is completely integrated? " Drew asked, he and Becky hadn't realized just how many different species of Supernatural inhabited the small town.

"Unless they can't be around each other for a physiological reason, yep" Ruby answered "One of our cousins is a sun sprite, and she glows with actual sunlight. So she can't be around Finn and Violet."

"No one gets turned away unless you give our father a reason to" Seth said, "The pack is a family"

[lifeofbouyd]

Hospital Fight

Ever sat and laughed about shit that happened to you in the past. That's me every day; so much drama I don't even know how it got myself wrapped up in. I guess I haven't been living my life right but you can't blame me. It takes two to mingle and most the people I dated only dated me because they heard I was a hoe or because I was popular. Most these chicks already had a boyfriend or two; some even had a girlfriend. I remember dodging bottles at a party once because I was dating a lesbo and her chick found out, I've jumped fences, hid in closets and even had to leave certain locations in a hurry to save my life. If I was to tell people about my life they'd say it's a lie and to be honest; if I didn't know me I wouldn't believe it either.

I remember dengue was becoming a plague and killing a whole lot of people when I was in school. I prayed daily not to catch this sickness cause I didn't wanna die or maybe it was because I still had fresh chicks that I hadn't scored with yet; I can't really decide now that I think about it. I went to see my mom one evening and while I was there I started feeling I'll. I had every symptom for this death sickness and I sure as hell wasn't ready to go yet. If I did Y'all wouldn't even know half the things you know now; I guess everything does happen for a reason. I got admitted as soon as the doctor realized how sick i was. Word spread fast about my illness. It spread so fast that they had to be pushing visitors out the next day. Most my friends, family, current and X girlfriends showed up to support me in my time of need. As happy as I was I knew it wouldn't be long before shit started between these chicks . Being on my sick bed meant that all my girlfriends we're gonna come see me and that right there had drama written all over it. For the first day everyone got along, it seemed they were more concerned about my wellbeing. They took the liberty of introducing themselves without titles as if they all wanted to see who would say they're my girlfriend to start some shit. Every time someone else came, everyone stared at each other then stared at me. I could only imagine what they were saying; I bet he's banging her too, who’s this bitch?. The room was tense, you could feel the heat fuming from these girls. Everyone was silent while they killed each other with their eyes; they stared from head to toes and from toes to head. I was nervous as hell. Please god, don’t let them start shit.

Nurse: It's time for an injection Mr. Smith. Ladies can you move to one side so I can get to do this please? They moved slowly as if they didn't want to move. Which of these girls is your girlfriend Mr smith?

Me: 😮🤦‍♂️

Girls: 😳

Nurse: They all look nice. Which one of you is his girlfriend?

Sher: Im his girlfriend

Sammy: Excuse me. I’m his girlfriend

Janae: I guess we’re all his girlfriend

Nurse: Mr. smith that’s not very nice of you. You’re playing with these girls.

Me: Is this necessary, I just want to rest and get this sickness over with. Who’s gonna bathe me?

Girls: Mi

Nurse: 😄 is this a joke?

I laid there as these chicks argued over who’s gonna bathe me. Everyone on the ward was watching as it was days of our lives or bold and beautiful. This jumpy nurse had erupted an unwanted argument 🤦‍♂️. Why the hell did I get sick, why this nurse up in my business and why the hell do I have so many girls?. Eventually they ushered them and I had to call the helper to bathe me. She couldn’t help but laugh when she got there; she found fun in my pain and misery.

It was like this for another day or two as these girls had decided they’re not giving up. I had thought I lost them all but that just made it more intense. These girls started being friends when they realized they were all gonna be there till I got out. One day 3 girls came together and we were all having fun; talking about my dick and how I am . Lost in the conversation I didn’t realize my official girlfriend had walked in. I had mentioned her a few times to these girls but they’ve never seen her before; I guess her uniform gave her away. This girl was already 6 feet tall with the body of a grown woman; everyone went silent.

Tanya: Who are these girls?

Me: 😰 ask them 😬

Tanya: Who are you girls, I’m his girlfriend Tanya.

Chrissy: I’m Chrissy, this is Shaunagay and this is Amelia.

Tanya: what are you to Bouyd?

Surprisingly everyone said friend 😯 I guess they were threatened by her size or maybe it was respect for my relationship. I was scared as hell. She didn’t stay long as she had somewhere to be. By the time she left several other girls came calming to be my girlfriend. Even girls I didn’t know I was dating. It’s as i was having my own series of Teacher’s pet.

The jumpy nurse came to inject me as always with her million questions. It was time for me to bathe and this time they agreed on who’s gonna bathe me but they also agreed no one touches the dick 🙄. How can a guy bathe and not wash his dick, that made no sense to me but to them it was death before dishonour. They had a dick stand off, literally 😂. They took me to the bathroom and got me undressed; as sick as I was several thoughts ran through my mind at that time. I considered this a perfect orgy setting; four of my girls with me in the bathroom, who do I bang first?. I’m my mind my dick was hard as velarían steel but when I looked at it, it seemed more like a dead snake to me 😂. It was just hanging there.

Mellisa: So this is the dick we all here for?. Doesn’t seem like much to me.

Janell: Shut up and bathe him or I’ll fuck you up.

Keachia: I thought we all agreed not to mention his dick. After all I’m the only one here getting it.

Me: 🤦‍♂️

Shan: We’ve had sex once

Mellisa: So I guess I’m the only one he hasn’t fucked. She grabbed it as if she wanted to pull it from the root. Why did you fuck them and not me?

By the time I could even say a word she received a straight right across the face. Janell landed the first punch; “I told you to shut up”. Mellisa isn’t the kind of girl who backs down from no one, so I knew shit was gonna get bloody. Mellisa dived on Janell and they started wrestling; throwing punches, scratches and pulling each other’s hair. The other girls stood there watching them fight. All hell broke loose when Mellisa threw a jug of water on Janell. All three girls including me got wet. Instantly Shan joined in and attacked Mellisa, that’s when I got scared. I was leaned against the corner of the shower hardly able to walk much less in any state to part a fight. They were like lions fighting for a piece of meat. They kicked, punched, scratched and pulled each other. I had to do something. Keachia stepped out when Shan joined in. I tried parting the fight only to be pushed down. Blood started spraying all over the place. It seemed someone got stabbed.

I screamed (((nurse, nurse, nurse))) as loud as I could. They came rushing to the bathroom instantly. The security had to be called to separate them. By the time they got there blood was all over the place. we all thought it was one of the girls bleeding but on checking we realized the drip was pulled out and that’s where the blood was coming from. The security tossed them out and told them never to come back as they’ve being nothing but a disgrace to their uniform and to me the man they claim they love. They praised me, as if I was king and I was doing something good. They had no idea how terrified I was, I legit shit my pants that day watching them fight. Neither of these girls was my girlfriend nor was I their “right out man”. What if my girlfriend hears this, what if this causes us to break up, is it even worth it, do these chicks even love me or is it just the dick?. After all, I sure ain’t no Mandingo so what the hell were they fighting for. I laid on my bed looking in the ceiling thinking about what just happened; I couldn’t help but smiling to myself even though I felt bad. I didn’t even bother to mention this to my friends as this was too much drama and they were the kind of friends who would mock these girls day and night. I couldn’t mention it to my girlfriend cause she would surely break my neck 😂. I broke up with all the girls except my girlfriend once I got out tying to avoid the drama. But even so drama has followed me through out my life. I still winded up fucking Mellisa and to be honest I wish I could take it back. This chick had more bad luck than Professor Doofenshmirtz 🤦‍♂️. I met in an accident, lost my phone, got robbed and got kicked off the badminton team just because I was fucking her. Soon as we broke up shit went back to normal.

Eventually I cut them all off, but that only created room for much more drama I wasn’t even ready for. That experience had taught me a life lesson; never get admitted and if you do, only tell your girlfriend 😂. This way there won’t be a fight at your hospital bed. Through out my remaining time in high school I avoided being admitted but there was always an altercation between women. I guess Some habits die hard. But no need to worry future wife, I’m a changed man today and you’ll see that someday.

[acreaturecalledgreed]

DARK THEORY: so I don't remember if this is explicitly the case in mangahood but! In 03 the animal Chimeras are at multiple instances being controlled through alchemy (most notably bird!Kain attacking Rose). What if. That's at least partially possible for animal/human Chimeras and one of the reasons why they Really Wanted Chimera Soldiers. What if. That was their first step on the ladder to Zombie Armee

that was always one of the Little 03 Quirks that struck me as highly odd, the apparent controlling of chimeras with alchemy that Cornello (and only Cornello) does

and honestly its one of those things that always bothered the hell out of me, b/c it didnt make any sense

b/c later on in 03, Tucker was kept alive specifically to create as well as train and control chimeras (b/c in 03 Tucker is actually considered astoundingly competent in the creation of mostly-animal/beastly human chimeras ((with the devils nest crew being more what i’d consider not-beastly in the sense that they were clearly made to still largely be human But With Some Animal)))

if they could just do that with alchemy, they wouldnt need cornello

except heres the thing with cornello. he only acts like he’s controlling the chimera with alchemy.

he’s a showman.

what do we actually SEE him do to the chimera?

he does use alchemy on them, sure. he makes on bird into a monster early on to attack ed, and then does Something to ‘kain’ that makes him attack Rose

but in all these cases, Cornello does alchemy to them, then hauls ass out of there

he throws the first bird away from himself into the pit where ed is already dealing with the lion

he flees the room Rose and ‘kain’ are in and locks the door behind him

Cornello isnt controlling the chimera at all, he’s hurting them and pissing them off, he’s agitating them to attack, and then getting out of the way so they go after the nearest person, who is typically the person he Wants them to go after b/c thats how he planned it

at No Point does Cornello get ANYWHERE near his own creationsbecause he knows they’ll fucking kill himodds are that ‘kain’ bird was probably very docile which allowed him to work on it over time, and that ‘ordering’ it to attack Rose was literally just him hurting it badly enough to lash out

then he yells about how he’s Controlling them, because Cornello is a con artist and a showman and it can only benefit him to have ppl think he can control his creations with his alchemy

i actually kind of love it b/c it ties into how Such Great And Astounding And Beautiful Power Alchemy Is at the beginning of 03 when they’re still trying to pretend that maybe this is a normal shounen with neato powers uwu!! then things get Fucking Horrific (im always amused with early on 03 b/c its very clearly trying to trick the viewer into thinking the narrative is going to be more straightforward and lighthearted than it actually is)

ADDITIONAL EDIT: because this also ties into one of the REALLY big important things thats very present and should be kept in mind when watching 03- you cannot 100% trust what ANYONE is saying. they are all people with different perspectives and goals. dante says homunculi have no minds, personalities, or anything resembling a soul- something the homunculi themselves parrot b/c its what theyve all been told again and again- despite the fact that this is Blatantly observation all untrue; 

Ed is a voice of privilege and propaganda that slowly learns to actually realize the horrors of whats going on around him, and blindly follows the alchemical ideal of “equivalent exchange” everywhere in his life like a bull by the nose until the very end;

Izumi wants to be a mother and clearly adores children and has more than a penchant for adopting them, but her behavior is violent, volatile and horrendous around them a solid half the time no matter how much she believes shes capable of being a kind mother;Tucker holds up an empty doll and proclaims it his daughter again and again because he cannot live with the evil he’s commited and the grief he feels over his actions and the smothering of her life, so he insists the body he caries with him is like the homunculi, is his daughter born again, is a living person, even though we the viewer can obviously see it is not

Lust insists that the homunculi are all the people the were before dying, because she needs more than anything for the memories she has to be her own, for the love she feels to be her own

Sloth insists that they homunculi are Not the people they were before, because if she were not Trisha, then she could pretend being forced to entrap, manipulate and attempt to murder her own children did not destroy her from the inside out. Wrath does the same in refusing to accept Izumi as his mother, and going back and forth on this again and again.

Envy insists that Dante has no sway over them, that Dante has never manipulated them, when it is clear from everything we see in their interactions together that Dante knows EXACTLY how to manipulate everything Envy does

03 is a story told entirely by hopping around the perspectives of multiple unreliable narratives

HOWEVER, getting off that tangent,

we are shown in 03 that Chimera trained by Tucker (and id be willing to be even chimera created before lab five took in tucker) are trained/groomed to respond to a whistle

so b/c of that i have a headcanon that whistles are actually distinctly Not Allowed in the Devil’s Nest (which usually isnt a problem, b/c its not like random patrons always have whistles or something)

Greed’s very aware of it and sometimes when he feels like being an ass he’ll whistle at one of the crew to get their attention and he usually gets grumbled or snapped at for it afterwards, which he shrugs off but he won’t do it again for a while

[thousandeyesand-one]

Hey anon,

Thank you for your question! There is a common misconception people have about targ restoration that it is going to establish another era of Dragon Lords resuming rule in the Red Keep. Thats not atleast what I think is going to happen I'd like to think there's more people who understand this. 

Stark Restoration was just as important as Targaryen Restoration is for the future of this story. House Targaryen has a very bad reputation when it comes to rule or just in general. Almost like each & every single one of their mistakes were remembered by the history & maybe even exaggerated in some cases.

"The Targaryens have always danced too close to madness. King Jaehaerys once told me that madness and greatness are two sides of the same coin. Every time a Targaryen is born, the gods toss a coin in the air and the world holds its breath to see how it will land".

                      - Ser Barristan Selmy (ASOS)

There are so many accounts of the Targaryen's cruelty most of them true but one should wonder if before Targaryen's came to Westeros, before Aegon's conquest was Westeros really all that hunky dory at all? It is said in TWOIAF that even before aegon conquered the Realm the seven kingdoms fought amongst each other. Black harren terrorized the riverlands always in a fight with Argilac the arrogant whose name alone gives you the idea of what he was North forgot their were 6 other kingdoms, after the age of heroes. In short the war, destruction & internal conflicts are not House Targaryen's legacy alone in Westeros. 

"Because of the Long Night, these early wildlings were then pressured to begin a wave of conquests to the south. That they became monstrous in the tales told thereafter, according to Fomas, reflects the desire of the Night’s Watch and the Starks to give themselves a more heroic identity as saviors of mankind, and not merely the beneficiaries of a struggle over dominion."

          -Archmaester Foma's Lies of Ancients (TWOIAF)

Brandon the Breaker is said to have joined forces with joramun to overthrow the Night's King who according to Old Nan was a Stark. That is why Brandon the Breaker broke the horn of winter & is said to have wiped any record of the Night's King or any knowledge of such instance from Night's Watch history or Stark's records. I am not comparing but Targaryen's have never tried to wipe anything mostly because they didn't care about anything or anyone.

"Like their dragons the Targaryens answered to neither gods nor men."

"Treachery was a coin the Tragaryens knew well"

"What did a Targaryen ever knew about honor?"

Almost every POV we get speaks of Targaryen's in a derogatory manner. Neither has the history written by Septons or songs sung by singers have been dealt with by Targaryens in their favor unlike the Starks who behave way too good to have kept power for 8,000 years. Specially when it is widely believed that Valyrians are First Men just like the Starks.

So both Starks & Targaryens are descendants of same civilization but separated by land & time & later on religion. First men in westeros became the Kings of Winter & First men in essos became Valyrians. Both these families don't have clean records when it comes to their history. Starks defeated the children, killed the marsh kings & barrow kings of the old taking their women into marriage & making their reign formidable & long-lasting without any contests left in the north & Valyrians decimated their enemies & the leftover they enslaved. The oppressed children created White Walkers an army that literally fights & perpetuates death & those enslaved in the caves of 14 flames in valyria created the faceless men who also worship death. Point is both these families have their hands in the dirt but one (stark) were cunning enough to clean the board but Targaryens were too proud & idiotic to care about hiding their mistakes.

"Their must always be a Stark in winterfell" people say has something to do with the Kings of winter & Lords of Winterfell being buried down in the crypts that they'll wake before the endgame being the literal representation of "Winter is coming" as in the dead Kings of winter are coming. That is the true might of Winterfell. Before the Long Night comes again a Stark must be there in Winterfell to fight the army of the dead that brings the storm with them. That is why the stark restoration  happened. I understand we as viewers are very emotional when it comes to Starks because the story started with them & they have been the victims of the books+tv show that we've been following but the stark restoration had a much more deeper meaning behind it than just merely giving them a safe place in this cruel world.    "Everyone is where they are & what they are for a reason.. "  Starks are needed before the endgame that will be the final twist in the show regarding the Night King.

Likewise, Targaryen's are needed to Break the Wheel they created at King's Landing because quite simply nobody else can or will. When Aegon conquered the 7k he offered mercy to the Lords who bent the knee & granted them the land with the title of Lord Paramount but the ones who rebelled & fought him he decimated House Hoare wiped out, House Durrandon wiped save for a daughter who married Orys Baratheon, House Gardener also wiped out. Rest of them bent the knee. Aegon showed mercy to House Stark, House Lannister & just about everyone who begged for it. While House Tully he instilled as Lord Paramount of Riverlands, House Baratheon he gifted his Bastard brother his own house name & a castle, House Arryn also shown mercy to & house Tyrell were stewards of House Gardener who bent the knee to Aegon & he named them the Lord of Highgarden. Even though Martells very much like the Starks had no interest in the power outside of their kingdom they just wanted independence but they never bent the knee whatsoever. Point being all the other houses after the conquest were no less than common folk to the might of House Targaryen, they were sort off elevated to a level of lordship by House Targaryen kinda like how house clegane was elevated to Lordship with their own house sigil by Tywin Lannister, like Ser Davos Seaworth was knighted for his deeds even after being a smuggler by stannis. Back then the fear of Dragons & the might & wrath of Targaryens kept any & everyone under control. so when time came they rebelled against them not only that but are now vying for the very power the Targaryen's created playing the game of thrones.     

"Varys: give us common folk one taste of power we are like the lion who tasted blood.. nothing is ever sweeter"

"LF: Do you know what the realm is? It's the thousand blades of Aegon's enemies, a story we agreed to tell each other over & over till we forget that it's a lie."

"Varys: Power resides where men believe it resides. It's a trick. A shadow on the wall."

Ever since Robert Baratheon died all the people who say they have the claim or want the claim joffery, cersei, Renly, Stannis, Robb, Little Finger, Tyrells etc everyone of these people are trying to chase that shadow on the wall it's like they're trying to catch smoke with bare hands it's too treacherous & volatile causing the destruction it did in the War of the Five Kings. Only the most erroneous of the lesser people will be able to tame it like Cersei who fought to win to save her children & now after losing all of the 3 she's fighting for her own skin, her family. She doesn't care about the greater good or anything she did what nobody had the the soul to do, she stopped at nothing! She tames the shadow on the wall because she stepped into darkness & shadows don't exist in darkness.

"... to reach the light you must pass beneath the shadow"       -Quaithe

Maybe this is the shadow that dany has to pass beneath to find the light, to pass beneath the shadow of power to find the light of wisdom & courage to break the wheel. (Although am not completely denying the possibility of dany going to asshai & passing through the shadow lands as a lot of people theorize). The Targaryen Restoration is just as important as Stark Restoration is.

[sage-nebula]

"they’re going to make Saeran murder his brother" What scares me even more is that this might not be restricted to a bad end, and that it ends up in the main route ._. I really, REALLY, hope Cheritz doesn't pull this, and that they don't use that as an excuse to have Saeran meltdown like Rika did in the Secret Ends after V was shot. Let the Choi twins know happiness, Cheritz! Let them be happy and smile and have fun!

(In reference to this.)

I don’t think Saeran would have a meltdown like Rika did in the Secret Endings after V died, for a few reasons.

The first reason lies in why Rika had a complete meltdown when V was killed in the Secret Endings, and this is actually tied up in a few reasons as well. The first reason (first and foremost) is that Rika is a control freak. It’s important to her, for a variety pack of reasons, that everything and everyone be under her control at all times. This is why she runs Mint Eye with an iron fist as she does, and why she constantly makes demands of the Believers there, forcing them to change things in Magenta on her whim. Rika has a pathological need for control, and when that is taken from her, her grip on her emotions and stability wavers so quickly and so swiftly that it all but crumbles altogether.

To that end, her pathological need for control extended to her abuse of V. Although some have claimed that Rika just wanted to be left alone and that V was in the wrong for following her to Magenta and trying to stop her (there are people who have actually claimed this; the Discourse™ in this fandom is wild), the fact is that Rika didn’t actually want V to leave her alone. What she wanted was to control him. You’ll notice in the flashbacks we receive in the Secret Endings that Rika only grew irate with and decided to “break up” with V once he stood up to her, and told her that her vision for the world via Mint Eye was similar to a dictatorship. It was only when V refused to continue enabling her that she decided to leave him and run off to Magenta. But Rika’s issue with V wasn’t just that he refused to enable her (though that was the lion’s share of it), but also that his refusal to enable her also meant that she couldn’t control him, because he wouldn’t simply bow to her whims anymore. Thus, she ran off to Mint Eye, confident on some level that he would follow . . . and he did. 

With all of that said, although Rika did sometimes tell V to leave, that she was done with him, that he was a traitor, et cetera, Rika knew that V would never do that. Rika knew that V was too devoted to her to ever do that. She was sure of this. Thus, although she “pushed him away” (acted like she was pushing him away, more like), she still had a semblence of control over him. She could accurately predict what he would and wouldn’t do, and could use that in order to manipulate him and get some sense of satisfaction and pleasure from their interactions. So long as he was alive, she could do this. So long as he was alive, he was under her control.

Saeran killing V changed that.

Before, Rika knew that V would come back to her again and again, and she could do with him what she wished. She was happy with this. When Saeran shot V, however, that changed immediately and drastically. Something happened to V that Rika herself did not sanction, and worse, he died from it, right in front of her. Rika could not control this, she could not stop it. And she would never have V around to control or do with as she pleased all over again. Her “sun” quite suddenly went out, and she had no way to prevent it or bring it back. That’s why she flipped out. It had nothing to do with love, not at all, but rather had to do with her very suddenly and violently losing control over one of her abuse victims, in a way that she hadn’t predicted and could do nothing about. This is actually further supported by Another Story, wherein we see her have a breakdown when V says he doesn’t and never did love her (and therefore the control she thought she had over him couldn’t exist), and later still insisting that he was finished with her and was going to move on with MC (in a fashion). Rika first has that hysterical breakdown at Magenta (trying to figure out what went wrong and where, so she could fix it), and then later actually stabs him in what is very plainly a “if I can’t have you, no one can” move. Sure, she regrets it on some level, but at the same time it’s a pretty clear lash out against the fact that she can’t have him at her beck and call anymore, no matter how badly she wants to.

So with all of that said, it wouldn’t make sense for Saeran to have a breakdown over murdering Saeyoung in Another Story, because his relationship with Saeyoung is nothing at all like Rika’s relationship with V. Saeran isn’t a control freak like Rika (in fact, he’s of the opinion that he has never had control over his own life, and to be honest he’s not wrong), and even if he was, he has never once been under the delusion that he can control Saeyoung. Actually, it’s the opposite; Saeran feels chained by the ghost of Saeyoung, because he was so reliant on him when they were small, and now feels that Saeyoung betrayed and abandoned him. The Choi twins metaphor with the plant stalks actually touches on this, in that he says that the “weaker stalk” had everything “stolen” by the “stronger stalk,” and therefore he only felt it right to kill the stronger stalk in order to nourish the weaker one. Saeran was never the one in power in their relationship; he never felt that he had the upper hand. The upper hand is something he wants to take now, to have for the very first time.

This being the case, murdering Saeyoung wouldn’t mean removing him from Saeran’s control the way that murdering V removed him from Rika’s. At the risk of sounding repetitive, it’s actually the opposite; if Saeran was in a situation where Saeyoung’s life was literally in his hands, he would have control and power over Saeyoung for the first time in his life. Giving him the choice and ability to kill Saeyoung would be handing control over to Saeran for the first time ever. This is something that he, even when in the mindset of “Ray” (and I still hate that Cheritz gave him DID in Another Story when it wasn’t at all present in the Original Story, but whatever), desperately wants, to the point where he blatantly ignores MC when MC tells him that both “stalks” should be rescued, and argues that this is justice when she tells him that it’s strength borne of sacrifice (settle down there, Second Kira). Rika never wanted V to die. Rather, she wanted him to live under her thumb, completely under her control, for the rest of their lives (which she hoped would be long). By contrast, Saeran wants Saeyoung dead regardless of which identity is in control. In Saeran’s mind, Saeyoung’s death is not only something to look forward to and celebrate, but it’s also something just and righteous. Moreover, it’s the only way that he (Saeran) can “fully bloom” into a “beautiful flower,” which he can then show to MC. In a way, it’s almost as if it’s being set up so that Saeran killing Saeyoung is the “final hurdle” he has to overcome before he can have his happy ending with MC. The worst part is that it would be incredibly easy, because as we saw in the Secret Endings, Saeyoung will not fight back if Saeran tries to kill him. Saeyoung feels immense guilt over Saeran’s fate, and will readily accept death at Saeran’s hands if that’s what Saeran wants. We know this. We’ve seen it. Saeran would have succeeded had he not chosen to back off at the last second, because Saeyoung did not even try to fight back, even though we all know that he could have easily physically overpowered Saeran if he wanted to. We’ve seen this.

And ah, you might say, but there’s the rub---Saeran tried to kill Saeyoung in the Secret Endings, but backed off at the last second, so why wouldn’t he do that here? And, well, I can answer you: The reason why Saeran backed off at the last moment in the Secret Endings is because he remembered what Saeyoung said and did at Magenta to protect him. He remembered their fond childhood memories as well, but he spent so many years convinced that everything Saeyoung told him in childhood was a lie that he was able to easily dismiss it. However, when he remembered Saeyoung shielding him with his own body, and snarling (despite his injury and blood loss) at the Believers “don’t you dare touch my brother!” he was shaken enough to back off. He had convinced himself that everything in childhood was a lie, but he couldn’t do the same here. He tried---oh, he tried---but that was the first time in so many years that someone had genuinely protected him, and seemed to care for him, that he couldn’t. He was given just enough doubt to back off, and ultimately to decide to give Saeyoung “the benefit of the doubt, and believe half of what he says.” 

But that doesn’t hold true for Another Story, and I don’t see how it could. The reason why Saeyoung had to protect Saeran in the Secret Endings is because Saeran flipped out when Rika said that they were going to induct Saeyoung into Mint Eye instead of killing him, because his hacking was superior to Saeran’s. When Saeran flipped out, Rika instructed the other Believers to take him away and drug him up again, at which point he grew even more hysterical and Saeyoung had to step in to defend him. That would never happen in Another Story. Not only did they severely nerf Saeyoung while severely buffing Saeran (meaning that Saeran is now the superior hacker), but I can’t see “Ray” ever turning on Rika to the point where she would coldly tell the other Believers to drug him again. I guess you could argue that “Unknown” could take over, but . . . I just don’t see a reasonable situation for that to happen unless they directly replicate the Secret Endings, and I’m not sure why they would do that again. Regardless, without Saeyoung being able to prove to Saeran how much he still cares about him (and he had to do that so many times over the course of the Secret Endings before Saeran finally believed him halfway), there would be no reason for Saeran to not finish the job. There would be no IC reason for Saeran to hesitate and back off. There would be nothing stopping Saeran from celebrating Saeyoung’s death, something which he has wanted for years. The only possible thing that could trip this up is that “Ray” mentioned wanting to see his brother again in one chat during the time in the cabin, but that goes against everything else we’ve seen from “Ray” (his insistence that “the redhead” is the worst, the plant stalks metaphor, et cetera), so unless he’s under the delusion that “Saeyoung” and “Luciel” are two separate entities (which wouldn’t make sense given how he says “that redhead” is a lying traitor, et cetera), I don’t see how that fits with the rest of his characterization.

So yeah, tl;dr, it wouldn’t surprise me at all if this was the main ending, but I don’t think Saeran would dissolve into hysterics. A post-Secret Ending Saeran who saw his brother killed would no doubt fall into hysterics, but Another Story Saeran? No, I don’t think that would be the case at all. If anything, I think Saeyoung’s death would make him feel finally “free,” and if he was the one to do it, he might even feel that he has finally “blossomed” given that he overcame “the stronger stalk” and was nourished by said victory.

But I guess we’ll see.

[fly-pow-bye]

ThunderCats Roar - “Mandora - The Evil Chaser”

Co-Executive Producer: Victor Courtright

Supervising Producer: Nate Cash

Producer: Marly Halpern-Graser

Written by: Joan Ford

Teleplay by: Cait Raft

Directed by: George Kaprielian

MAN-DOOO-RAAAAAA!

The episode begins with Snarf and Lion-O catching butterflies in jars. Being the Lord of the ThunderCats, he knows very well that the act of catching butterflies requires the best of stealth, as he perfectly shows off.

Lion-O: Be careful, Snarf! Butterflies scare easy, so we have to be super-duper-duper quiet. (yelling) Ooh, butterflies, HOOOO!

See, the joke is that he's doing the exact opposite of what he said he was going to do. This is going to be a constant through the first half of the episode.

This act of butterfly catching gets interrupted when a huge pod lands on Earth, with voices calling out to pull the lever. Obviously, that must mean they were just scared little voices that just needed his help.

Lion-O: Scary voices, definitely scary voices...

Or, he can acknowledge that the voices are scary. He decides not to open the cage and let out all of the scary voices, and the rest of the episode is about him catching butterflies. No, of course not, the plot wouldn't advance if Lion-O didn't let all of those scary voices out by pulling a lever because those scary voices really wanted him to do that. As one of the space criminals tells him "thanks, hot stuff", he just waves his hand and says "you're welcoooome!" in a sing-song voice despite being literally steamrolled over by one of them.

But hey, maybe it was a mistake, and those people with the scary voices were just nice people that were mistakenly put in a jail cell. One person certainly doesn't agree, as that person makes a dramatic entrance on a flying motorcycle.

As the cool motorcycle person on the cool motorcycle makes a cool motorcycle landing, Lion-O widens his eyes so hard that it becomes 80% of his face. I didn't really want to screenshot that, so here's a screenshot of our titular character-of-the-week: Mandora, the evil chaser, a character from the original cartoon. In fact, this plot is actually a parody of her first episode, also named "Mandora The Evil Chaser", which also features the original Lion-O ignoring obvious danger signs and let loose a bunch of criminals from a prison pod. Being Roar, this is exaggerated for comedic effect, and they decide not to reference "curiosity killed the cat" here.

This exaggeration also applies to Mandora, who was a no-nonsense cop in the original. Roar turns her into a super serious cop with a scowl not too dissimilar to Judge Dredd. As Lion-O criticizes her way of showing her badge with her picture upside down, Mandora makes the correct assumption that this bumbling lion is behind the prison break and arrests him. Snarf brings out his weapons, including a chainsaw, and we can only wonder what would have happened if there wasn't a prime directive against fighting interplanetary cops.

Lion-O tries to defend himself from these accusations by saying he's an evil chaser too, bringing up that fights these guys called the Mutants that are 100% evil. As another space criminal runs out of the jail cell, Lion-O, still handcuffed, hops right on top of him. The criminal does explain that his only crime was tax evasion, and Lion-O considers letting him go because his crime was so minor, but Mandora tells him that getting in the way of streets getting funded.

Despite his unwillingness to capture that crook, his help with capturing that tax evader does convince Mandora that he's on the side of righteousness, though she does consider him an oaf.

Zooming into his very tiny brain reveals that he thinks "oaf" is an acronym for "officially awesome friend", and is overjoyed by the compliment. Mandora then gives him a badge, declaring him a "deputy oaf". She had that badge ready this whole time; it's possible this is a common occurrence for her. Considering the general silliness of everyone not named Tygra in this reboot, that's not too hard to believe.

In order to Mandora to not change her mind on how heroic he is, Lion-O has to prove his status as the deputy oaf by capturing all of those criminals he let free. I would say accidentally, but he called them "scary voices" and let them free anyway.

As Mandora and the oaf zoom past by on her bike, we see Molly Lava, the space criminal that called Lion-O "hot stuff", hiding behind a bush. Other than her possible attraction to Lion-O, which only seems to come up twice in this episode, she just looks like a tiny little rock monster that doesn't seem like much of a threat. This means that most of the episode is going to be about capturing this particular criminal. In fact, all of the other criminals are caught rather easily. How?

With a montage, of course, complete with a song that exposes the might that is Mandora. The action scenes do prove that, with Mandora swatting giant flies with giant flyswatters, zapping lake polluters clean, and fighting people with laser whips. It's pretty cool, and a good contrast to how little Lion-O helps out in this montage.

Sure, Lion-O does help out slightly in a few of the scenes, but for the most part, it's just him looking at Mandora in awe of her abilities and dancing various dances. Yes, this does include doing the Booty Scooty at the camera, but I feel like it's less offensive when he did it than when a certain other group of superheroes did it. For starters, I think Lion-O is supposed to be an adult here. Well, maybe. They could de-retcon that in the future.

After the montage, Mandora does at least show appreciation for Lion-O for making her job marginally easier, and that is actually an accomplishment. Definitely a back-handed compliment, though not an undeserved one, but Lion-O takes it with pride anyway.

Something has to ruin this somehow, and it's not just because he missed that one villain. One of the criminals informs Lion-O that he shouldn't take pride in being called an oaf, and asks him if it even knows what it means. After getting what looks like a Speak N Spell from Snarf, he finds out he's been called an uneducated, clumsy person. It's not wrong, but don't tell Lion-O that.

Mandora finds out she hasn't caught Molly Lava yet, and Lion-O suggests that it would be easy to catch that cute little thing. As anyone could predict, that little cute thing is the worst criminal of them all. It would be even more cliche if she decided to call her "the destroyer of worlds"...which is exactly what she does.

Because of his newfound knowledge of what an oaf is, Lion-O offers that if he captures the cute little thing, maybe Mandora can consider him something that isn't an oaf. As Mandora tries to explain that a deputy oaf couldn't possibly defeat the destroyer of worlds, Lion-O decides to commit grand theft cool motorcycle. But hey, maybe he might be able to capture that small little rock before she leaps into a volcano and become a monster worthy of being called a destroyer of worlds. That could totally make up for that!

Unfortunately for that handsome guy, Molly Lava ends up diving into that volcano. Worst of all, Mandora shows up and realizes what the oaf has indirectly done by not letting her use her own bike.

Lion-O tries to defeat Molly Lava at her full power in, I'm not going to lie, a really impressively animated and creative fight scene. Not only is he trying to show his heroism, he also wants to look good in front of his new idol. I also like the call back to the fight in Exodus, as he repeatedly makes his sword bigger as he realizes he needs more power to defeat her with his strategy of cutting those lava arms off of the lava monster. Sadly, he doesn't seem to realize cutting off Molly Lava's arms isn't doing anything.

Exclaiming himself as Lord of the ThunderCats and King of All Thunderians, Lion-O leaps right at the giant monster's mouth, getting ready to swing his sword right into the monster. Well, something went right into the monster. Or, rather, someone.

It's here where Mandora seemingly has a change of heart on that oaf. Mandora may have only seen him as an oaf, and he pretty much was an oaf, but in her heart, she knew he wasn't lying about being a king. A king that would sacrifice himself for his people, and, while he was a dummy, he was a very brave and apparently regal dummy. A lot of emphasis is put on the king part, as if to soften what is a complete 180 on her character.

She exclaims that she would shed a tear for this sacrifice, but she knows she can't cry when she's on duty. She then takes out her time card and swipes it so that she can go on a break. Or, in this case, a "cry time." Was this really a good time for a joke? Well, anyone could assume Lion-O would still be alive since the show would have to end prematurely, so it's not like we need to take this super seriously. Still, I'd say it works.

To avenge the fallen king, Mandora gets ready to fight, her music playing as if she's about to do something really cool. This all changes when Molly Lava starts getting a big bump on her head, as if someone was coming out from the inside.

Unfortunately for the people who judged this show as horrendous because of that teaser and that Teen Titans Go crossover that the ThunderCats Roar team had nothing to do with, it turns out Lion-O is okay, spinning his sword like a propeller right out of Molly Lava's gigantic lava body, with Molly Lava herself in tow.

In the end, thanks to his bravery, the deputy oaf gets promoted to officer oaf by Mandora. As she slowly walks towards Lion-O and stretches her arms out around Lion-O, he also gets something else, too...

...for grand theft flying motorcycle, hey, I wasn't too far off, he gets a mugshot. Lion-O is still smiling at this, though, because nothing phases him now, not even when Mandora spells his name wrong. One can't forget that all important hyphen.

How does it stack up?

At first, I thought this was going to be yet another Boggy Ben, where the animation is awesome, the music is awesome, but everything else is just "lol Lion-O is stupid" humor. This one also has some great animation and a pretty cool song, and I think the plot works pretty well.

This is as good as Prank Call, and I gave that a 5, so...

Next, Lion-O has to save the ocean.

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