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antianakin · 6 months

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Honestly when people call Cassian Andor morally gray, mostly from the movie, I kinda side-eye? Because he doesn't really fit that. He's, he's a spy but the two things I see called morally gray are:

Shooting the other spy in the beginning, which was a sad choice to make, but the man was injured and they were being chased. There's no way for him to carry the man to safety while fleeing the stormtroopers, and leaving him there would have been a fate worse that death, we know what the Empire does to suspected spies, along with not risking intel leaks.

And setting out to assassinate Jyn's father, who at that point, nobody had confirmation he was anything other than a man loyal to the Empire, building a weapon of mass destruction. Its reasonable to think getting rid of the head engineer behind that project would either delay it or cause issues. The Rebellion was operating with less information than we, the audience had.

Both hard decisions made during hard times, but to me, Cassian Andor at least is an average guy, trying to make the best decision he can in basically the worst times ever.

I mean, I think that a lot of this is what MAKES Cassian morally gray. Being morally gray doesn't have to mean he doesn't care, or that his ultimate goal isn't something generally good and altruistic, either. Cassian is fighting for the greater good, he's trying to take down a tyrannical fascist Empire, he's doing what he's doing because he firmly believes that it's what's best for the entire galaxy and because it will ultimately save a lot of lives in the long run.

Being morally gray just generally means that the character operates outside of the more strict dichotomies of "good" and "evil." Luke Skywalker is pretty unequivocally "good" and he would likely never do the things Cassian does even though they both are aiming for the same goal. Luke would never even AGREE to assassinate Jyn's father, especially if he has to use Jyn to find her father in the first place. This would be something that Luke would consider wrong and he'd refuse to do it, even though there are reasons to think Galen might be working for the Empire and that it could be better for everyone if he was dead. And on the other end of the spectrum you have someone like Palpatine, or even Anakin (specifically during the OT) who aren't out for the greater good at all and are always motivated solely by selfish greed and nothing else.

So someone like Cassian operates somewhere between these two extremes. Cassian is willing to kill an innocent man who is his ally because he cannot take the risk of either of them getting captured by the Empire. He can presumably trust that HE'D hold up under torture, but he cannot trust that this informant (who has been pretty anxious and flustered so far) would do the same. Cassian's options are to stay and get captured with him, escape without him, or give him a quick and painless death and then escape on his own. The honorable option that we'd probably see a character like Luke choose is the first one, staying with the informant and trying to find a way for both of them to escape even though it runs a VERY high risk of both of them being captured. Killing an innocent man is an objectively evil thing to do, but Cassian looks at all of his options and weighs the risks and ultimately chooses the option that is best for his cause even if it requires doing something objectively evil.

And you ARE supposed to recognize that. There's this whole moment immediately after Cassian kills the guy that Diego Luna makes this really devastating face where you can tell he HATES what he just did, he HATES that he felt like he had to make that choice at all, but then he lets it go and escapes. This is not something that he just brushes off like it's nothing, it's something that does weigh on him and that's part of his whole arc within this film. He has to decide how to live with the choices he has made and the reasons he has made them and whether those reasons are worth what it costs to him personally. He obviously ultimately decides NOT to kill Galen because he cares about Jyn and he knows that killing Galen will mean ruining the connection that's been beginning to build between himself and Jyn. For the moment, he chooses to care about Jyn and Jyn's happiness more than he cares about the cause of the Rebellion. And at the end, he and the other volunteers all choose to go to Scarif because they cannot just abandon this cause that they've all given up so much for, that they've all had to do objectively evil things for. It HAS to be worth something, killing that informant HAS to be worth it or what does that make him? Without the cause, he's just a murderer.

And all of this is part of what makes him such a compelling character. Often these days we see morally gray characters in the position of the villain, where they have perhaps a sympathetic motivation but they're going about it all wrong and they have to be stopped because they've let their desire for a better world be corrupted into simply a desire for power. Some of these stories get done better than others, obviously, but this can be a really powerful narrative. But Cassian sits slightly differently where he is unequivocally one of The Good Guys, but the narrative posits the idea that sometimes sacrifices are required to achieve "the greater good." When your enemy is pure evil and willing to use tricks and lies to beat you, sometimes you have to give up some of your own moral code in order to beat them at their own game and protect as many people as possible. Sometimes being selfless looks like setting yourself on fire so that everyone else can stay warm.

And like I mentioned in the Andor post that I assume this is probably in reaction to, what I love most about this is how it relates to the Prequels Jedi and the themes therein, the struggle they have with maintaining who they are and the morals they live by when there's a galactic civil war going on and the other side of it is willing to commit massive atrocities in order to win. By fighting in the war, the Jedi are having to compromise, but if they refused to fight at all, they would lose everything that made them who they are. The Council chooses to commit treason in order to save the Republic from its own elected Chancellor. It's objectively morally wrong to commit treason, but it lands morally gray because of the motivation and the circumstances of the choice they are making.

Often doing the right thing isn't the same as doing the easy thing. Being selfless usually comes with making sacrifices. We see the the bigger "cosmic" version of this with the Prequels Jedi during the Clone War, but Rogue One and Andor show us another version of it from the perspective of the little people, those whose names and stories will never be remembered by history, but whose sacrifices paved the way for people like Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa to step in and be the heroes who took down the Empire. Cassian and the Prequels Jedi fall into a very similar thematic category in their stories and it's honestly SUCH a compelling story and I love the way Rogue One and Andor chose to follow up on that theme.

#star wars #cassian andor #rogue one #andor #star wars andor #jedi #prequels jedi #pro jedi

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wintersera · 1 year

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business issues || ceo!kimlip x ceo!reader

notes: i had sm fun writing this i cant lie. BUT anyways if you study business or whatever and i get the terms and shit wrong… no i didn’t pls ignore it </3 ALSO researching high end rich people stuff was a pain in the ass bc it reminds me that i dont have disposable money- also reader is a ‘tsundere’ yk the trope,, and is also like 5’11 just because 😭

cw: degredation, dom reader, sub idol, theyre just very mean to eachother. use of the word ‘brat’ but idk if i characterised kimlip enough to be a brat 😭😭

wc: 3.2k

shit… why is she here?

there was this uncomfortable pressure inside of the meeting room and everyone around felt it, but they couldn’t understand why. a couple guys crossing their arms looking elsewhere in the room, a close ceo friend of yours awkwardly shifting around in their seat and the deafening sound of silence was just… overbearing. you could hear the sounds of a few people tapping their pens, shuffling their shoes, rustling their jackets and good lord it was awkward as hell.

your completely obvious scowl was directed to one person in the room and it was none other than your life long rival, miss kim jungeun.

well let me give you a rundown. you came from a background of extremely successful business men and women. growing up spoilt by your parents, you always looked down at people who were well… less fortunate than you. growing up with a family who were heavily involved with stocks and marketing, you of course, had to honour the family and take up the same jobs as they had. it’s not like you hated it either, in fact, you absolutely enjoyed it. everything was just money, money and more money for you and you were nothing more than happy. your personality wasn’t any better than your average millionaire. picture your stereotypical wealthy individual- that was you, but obviously way worse.

boastful, one of the many words that describe you. you lived for the thrill of business, making risqué deals and then bragging to your peers about how it worked well for you (as if you didn’t threaten them with the risk of losing money… you have your ways) always having recent designer brands on display and whatnot. showing them off to, once again, your peers. and by god you were so cocky about it every single damn time “have you bought louis vuitton's newest arrivals? well i doubt you did, i know a shit ton of your graphs are decreasing. let’s talk about that”

your lifelong rival, kim jungeun, also came from a similar background. another spoiled kid raised by rich and successful parents. like you, she also grew up learning about the marketing business and how to make money easily. another successful business woman in her family, money was a need, a want, a lifetime goal to earn more. she HAD to be rich. it’s just a rich kid thing you know… god, not to mention how painfully bratty she is. throwback to when she’d pester the hell out of her parents to buy her 2 different coloured porsche cars. one black and one red, the same model but different colours… oh, and the time where she started arguing with you about how she wanted the same exact bag as you and begged for you to give it to her? sure, she looked cute be- i mean she looked desperate begging for it. anyways…

now, the two of you sort of grew up with each other, attending the same private school. on the outside people would’ve believed you were friends, really really good friends. but in all seriousness you hated each other's guts. was there a reason? no, not really. rich kid hate was very common actually. petty things like either one of you had a branded item and the other would go mad because they didn’t have it, screaming at each other because you HAD to prove that you were richer than the other, fights over who would ride this specific horse for horse riding practice? the list can go on and on and on.. like said, rich kid problems. what made it worse was that both your parents were best friends, meaning you’d often see each other during your parents’ meetings or somewhere like the golf club. unfortunate right?

anyways, you had started a business at the exact same time as jungeun had. which is also funny because you had started the business in the same area- whats even more funny is that your company specialised in almost the same thing as hers. same starting time, same business, same location, same everything… it’s like you were soulmates or whatever. the thought of that sent shivers down your spine, almost causing you to gag out loud

“my apologies, i feel ill”

you’re sat in the meeting room with numerous other ceos, one notably being your acquaintance miyawaki sakura from hybe cooperation “what’s got you all queasy? nervous for the presentation?” eyes locking into yours, whispering loud enough for only you and her to hear.

“there’s a certain bitch in front of me and the thought of her is making me sick” covering your side profile, whispering back to sakura.

“you have to be joking? miss kim? she’s one, if not, the best strategists out there for marketing. how exactly is she a bitch?”

“uh, hello? i’m clearly the best. also she’s a complete and utter bra-“

cutting you off with a loud cough, the host of the meeting begins his introduction “as you all know, we’ve noticed a couple trends in a lot of your companies graphs. i’ve gathered a few of the best ceos to at least provide some help, because of well… we’re sort of losing audiences right now so-” another throaty cough escapes the mans mouth “-miss kim, if you would like to present first”

rolling your eyes and scoffing i hope you trip over and bruise your ass… her blazer looks very nice today, i wonder who tailored it. whoever did the colouring must use high quality- what the fuck am i thinking about?

not even 5 minutes in and you’re already ticked off. over what? just her, her presence alone pisses you off and it can be seen through the way you’re leaning back on the chair “as seen by this information here i believe that it would most likely attract more audiences. also looking at this chart it sho-“

“clearly you know nothing about the audience, miss kim. you know nothing about this department” a pen twirling around in your fingers.

“excuse me what? i know nothing about the department you say” tilting her head ever so slightly up, intimidating as she may seem, you only scoff at her attempt to drive fear into your heart “i’ll let you know i’m much more qualified in comparison to you”

“HA- as if. i just wanted to mention that your tailoring is humiliating to look at. whoever designed your clothing should be shamed” she looks at you in disbelief, bringing up your petty arguments into the meeting. what are you five?

“miss l/n… you’re stooping way too low” sakura says as she’s holding your arm to calm down.

jungeun ignores sakura, her attention completely diverted onto you and winning the argument “right, as if your tailoring isn’t any better. your cufflinks look like they were made out of nickel silver. how poor do you have to be to buy- i mean borrow cufflinks”

“fuck off. it seems like your eyesight is getting worse, not being able to tell the difference between nickel silver and pure platinum. ha, maybe the fake chopard glasses are fucking with your eyesight”

“you wanna fight?” loosening her sleek black tie, her hands already balled into a fist. seeing her angry made your day, bringing her bratty personality out is what you lived for.

“and break your smug face? with my pleasure” leaping from your chair, you fists ready to land themselves onto her face. yet you feel a couple of people holding you back, one of them being sakura “sakura, you’re a great person, but for the love of god let me go”

“security come quick, a fights broken out” a guy calling for them desperately.

the same goes for jungeun, wanting to smash your face into the table, a few people held her arms. “get off me you lowlifes, you’re ruining my shirt you fucks” flailing around as she’s swatting hands away from her “hands off my blazer, that shit costs more than your monthly salary”

eventually you were escorted out of the building and into your respective cars. what an immature fight you thought to yourself. there was some self reflection going on as your chauffeur drove you back to your house. why exactly did you start pestering jungeun and why did you enjoy it so much? how has she stayed in your mind for so long and why did you keep your rivalry even though you could completely put her out of business (your hubris speaking)

—

you sit at your table, a cup of coffee in your hands as you scan the documents given to you this evening. it was a cold night, the clouds outside your window were dark grey and unwelcoming, much like the knocks at your door “give me a few minutes i’m busy”

you’re currently wearing a white button up, your top button being undone while your tie was hanging around your neck loosely. the rest of your attire was made up of some formal black pants, obviously high end. you looked scruffy today, but it didn’t matter to you since you planned on staying inside your office for the rest of the night.

fuck, your head was throbbing from all the thinking you did yesterday.

another knock on the door and your assistant walks in without any care then leaves? what the fuck “i told you to give me a few minutes, do i need to fire you” shouting at her from across the room. you could care less about your appearance, that was until you saw.. jesus fucking christ… kim jungeun again “why are you here?”

“to apologise for being such a bitch at the meeting” although it sounded genuine, you couldn’t believe someone so haughty could be apologising, it was like you were in a daze how could she be apologising to you while being sober? it’s almost comedic. but you couldn’t just accept it like that, where’s the fun in being nice.

“go on then, bow down and get on your knees or something”

“fuck you mean by that? i change my mind. i’m not apologising to your annoying ass” she spat at the ground “how about you apologise for embarrassing me in front of the other ceos” turning the tables back at you.

as much as she did piss you off you had always looked at her with some sort of interest- yes you fought too much but that’s what made your relationship interesting, to be honest you felt a little sad when she never paid much attention to you. maybe just a little jealous when she would argue with her employees and not you.

“you’re so bratty you know” you scoff, feeling heat rise to your head. standing up from your desk you tread carefully towards her, eyes narrowing as you rip off your tie from your collar, a fiery gaze piercing through her like daggers “there’s no way in hell i will ever apologise to you, brat” you would be lying if you weren’t turned on right now, seeing her once stoic face turn into a cowardly frown made you feel sort of… aroused. “oho, not speaking back for once, cat got your tongue?” your body towering over her with ease, thank the lord for your amazing genetics because now you’re trapping a 5’4 girl between the wall and yourself.

“you’re so pretty when you don’t furrow your brows at me, fuck, you look even better when you have that dumb look on your face” you’ve only been alone with her for a couple of minutes and your knee is placed in between her thighs, she lets out a small whimper, much to your surprise. she could’ve fought you right here right now yet she didn’t, instead she lets you do as you please.

looking at her you coo, “letting me humiliate you like this? i thought you had decorum jungeun,” that may have been her breaking point, you never EVER called her by her first name and with that simplistic action of calling her ‘jungeun’ you had her in the palm of your hands.

jungeun chuckled “you’re saying i’m the one without decorum, yet you’re here pinning me against the wall in your office” her hands sliding down your chest, resting itself on your abdomen. her actions spoke words, she’s as riled up as you were and you knew it.

biting your lip, you try not to make a sound, tracing her fingers around your waist. “you want me don’t you y/n. give in and just fuck me”

the last few words ringing in your ears. forcefully grabbing her arms and bending her over your desk like a slut, her pencil skirt showing the curves of her ass very well “you don’t need prepping, your wetness is already soaking through the fabric… are you a slut or something jungeun?” smirking. without hesitation you drop to your knees, peeling off her tights, exposing her ass to the air “keep your mouth shut for me” you say as you pull her panties aside, her glistening cunt waiting for it to be fucked by you- and you only.

it was a sight to see, and fortunately it was only for you. pausing in your tracks you lean back to observe the scene “you look amazing, however you’d look even better without this cheap skirt” ripping it off of her waist.

“you’re so pretentious that it’s almost disgusting”

“i didn’t say that it looked horrible on you this time though'' truth be told, you were actually internally salivating at the way the skirt enhanced her body lines, but it’s whatever. you could buy another one for her.

parting her folds apart you suck gently on her clit, eliciting a few muffled moans. grabbing her thighs just to pull them apart to make it easier for you. she rolled her eyes back, feeling vibrations from your “mhm’s” and “so good” and other comments on how good she tastes.

the friction of your tongue circling around her clit made her scream out loud “the whole building is gonna hear you if you don’t shut your mouth” yet you secretly didn’t mind that. sure you had a reputation and so did she, but in this moment you couldn’t care less. seeing how responsive she was only made you greedier, she was like money to you; you wanted more. you felt hot, something you couldn’t explain took over your mind and made you work hard. lapping up her cunt, practically making out with her pussy now, you take your hand that was resting on her leg and slide two digits inside of her gently.

“s-shit.. ah-“ clutching onto your desk with her hand while the other one tries to reach for your wrist. moving so painfully slow, you watch her hole swallow and clench around you fingers. entranced by the way it looks and by the way her walls feel wrapped around you, it was like a perfect fit “go, fuck- faster, d-don’t be like this…” the way her voice trembled sent shivers down your body, sounding so desperate and needy that it was overwhelming. never in your entire life had you seen her this desperate and it made you feral.

slowly, ever so slowly, you thrust your fingers in and out. your tongue still working circles around her clit. although it wasn’t like you being sweet and caring, you made sure to start slow. really, fucking, slow. moving her hips in tune to your movements, because you’re that much of an asshole that you had to be painfully slow.

but that’s the fun of it, switching up from very slow to excruciatingly fast- slamming, not two but three, fingers into her dripping cunt. for her it felt out of this world, waves of pleasure crashing all over her body that it seemed like she was being possessed, as you can tell by her legs shaking like crazy. your attention now back at her clit, instead of what you were doing previously, lightly sucking and circling, you licked with passion. it was messy- the way you ate her out, her juices dripping all over your face and dripping down to your chin, something that you could deem as pornographic because it was just that messy “mmmgod- fuck fuckfuck, y/n right there” unfortunately, you didn’t have the view of her face but you knew she would be drooling all over the table from having her cunt be abused.

“so- feels so good…” her moans alone cleared your mind, and you wanted her to scream out your name badly. you felt her walls clench around you harder, knowing that she was on the verge of orgasming you had two options; be mean and edge her, or let her cum all over your face and into your mouth…. the second option sounds way better.

“jungeun mmhm, you’re so close. let me take care of that” your jaw started to ache and your arms became sore, yet your will prevailed. wanting to see her unravel because of you was definitely worth the pain. “cum- cum for me jungeun”

curling your fingers inside of her sent her over the edge, she became breathless and so did you. the sounds of her squirming on the table and the ticking of the clock in the background were the only sounds that could be heard. you ignored the latter and focused on her only. somehow her hand finally made it to your wrist and tugged at the cuffs. then she became limp, as a joke you jerked your hand again which rewarded you with a squeak from her. standing up again, you gazed at her from above. sprawled out across you desk, her once straight hair becoming dishevelled, clothes wrinkled and more- the finest piece of art couldn’t rival such a view.

“um… are you okay? did i fuck you too hard” growing a tad bit concerned. she wasn’t getting up… you assumed she passed out from exhaustion since it was pretty late in the night and well you knew her from childhood so of course you knew she wasn’t able to stay up for much longer“fucks sake, eurgh okay… passed out in my office for what reason” you’re so glad she’s sleeping, or else she would’ve felt the kiss you planted on her forehead “stupid”

—

the next day she woke up in some stranger's bedroom. curious to where she was, she got up from the king sized bed only to find out she was half naked. anyone waking up half naked in someone's bedroom would obviously be scared as hell. she was shocked beyond belief? she knew she didn’t drink so why was she in-

“before you scream profanities in my house, i was the one who brought you home”

“WHATTHEFUCK? oh my bad you scared the living shit out if me… ah- did you at least dress me?”

“well yeah, did you think i would let my employees ogle at you?” you again, scoff at her, your tone less sarcastic than usual “alright come down before breakfast gets cold”

“you made breakfast for me?” the first time you’d see her blushing at you, it was cute but you couldn’t admit that to her face.

“not exactly me, my chefs made it, but i suggested some foods i thought you would like soo…” hiding your face in embarrassment “don’t look at me, please”

#wintersera #loona x fem reader smut #loona x fem reader #loona kim lip smut #loona x reader smut #loona x reader #loona kim lip #kim lip x fem reader #kim lip x reader smut #kim lip x reader #kim lip x fem reader smut #oec kim lip #loona oec smut #gg x reader #kpop smut #girl group smut #fem!reader #kpop girl group smut

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marvelstars · 3 months

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Fate and Choice in Star Wars

I believe Star Wars tackles the whole issue of fate and choice in an interesting way because it allowed for destiny to exist while also allowing for free will.

Fandom often considers this to be a reason to condemn Anakin´s choices but imo, If we take this pov at face value, Anakin definitely wasnt the only one who made bad choices in the story, he is simply condemned because he became Vader but while Lucas certainly wrote Vader as a character suffering for the consequences of his actions, he also wrote him as a victim of circunstance but also a hero who in the end had to come back from the darkside not for his own sake or for his Son but because this was the neccesary element for the Galaxy to be freed from the Sith.

Anakin wasn´t the only one who made bad choices and if we don´t understand Palpatine´s role on all this then we don´t understand Anakin´s story because just like the Jedi would not have taken a slave army to go from peace keepers to soldiers and fight in the clone wars if given the chance, Anakin would not have turned to the darkside without Palpatine´s involvement.

The reason why George Lucas insisted on showing Anakin as a kid on Tatooine, was to show he wasn´t just a nice kid, he was an awesome kid who already had many Jedi virtues and given the chance he would have become Tatooine´s champion even if he stayed a slave, simply because he was powerful but this power he used instinctively to help those less fortunate than him, to protect and love his mother and to help his friends or even strangers in need like Qui-Gon and Padme were, even if that meant him risking his life for them. Anakin was all those things already and while he probably could have need at some point a guide to learn how to use his force powers, just like Luke did, Anakin was well on his way to become on his own one of the greastest force users ever simply because he cared, he was kind and wanted to help make the universe better.

Qui-Gon didn´t need to force the issue about Anakin being trained on the Jedi Order or even become a Jedi, he could have asked for Anakin simply being given a force guide and to free his mother but he didn´t, because he was more interested at the time in fulfulling a prophecy than on Anakin´s personal best interests, he did a good thing freeing Anakin but made a mistake leaving Anakin´s mother a slave. The fact Anakin was indeed the chosen one didn´t mean he had to be trained at the temple, the prophecy talks about a strong "force user" who would balance the force and defeat the sith not a strong "Jedi" and it´s told like this because at no point this force user could not fall to the darkside in his free will, he could but he still would be the chosen one,Vader was still the chosen one even if he was fallen.

Yoda should have keep his first decision of not allowing Anakin to be trained as a Jedi because he already knew a family and would hardly adapt to the Temple, he should have keep Obi-Wan from training Anakin because Obi-Wan wasn´t insisting on training Anakin for Anakin´s sake or even for the Order, he was doing it because he was mourning Qui-Gon and wanted to fulfill his last petition, Yoda sympathized with Obi-Wan but at no point Anakin´s best interests were taken in consideration when it was decided he had to be trained as a traditional Jedi. This Obi-Wan addmited and understood in the OT when he said he made a mistake believing he could train Anakin as well as Yoda did but the issue was even deeper than that.

The reason why Palpatine, who was hellbent on turning Anakin to the darkside, allowed him to be trained as a Jedi were clearly stated on the Darth Plagueis novel: Being taken from his mother and her left to suffer on slavery with her Son knowing this, while training in an Order of people who could not understand "missing his mother" as a natural emotional response, were the first tools Palpatine used agaisn´t Anakin to turn him to the darkside, this was way better than any kidnapping or torturing scenario Palpatine could come up to turn the kid and he used this very fact to become his father figure. All this because Palpatine understood way better than the Jedi of his time, how absolutely damaging this was going to be for Anakin´s psyche and so a benefice for his plans.

All of this happens beyond Anakin´s control or decision making, in the rest of the movies he is mostly reacting to those events without actively making a stance on it and that´s such a tragedy, because as a kid he had such a strong force of will to do the right thing and love those around him and in the second movie he is so used to be given orders he almost doesn´t complain or argue even in the face of losing his mother or Obi-Wan, his other father figure.

So yes Anakin did made bad choices he regretted, he planned on just rescuing his mother from the tusken raiders even after being told they had actively tortured her for no reason for months, he had enough strenght of mind to keep himself from hurting them even knowing that, what he could not forgive was them killing her and while he was horrified by his actions after the fact, this original hurt, to know for a fact that had he stayed on Tatooine, a decision that was taken from him as a child, could have as well save his mother´s life and actually made a difference for the slaves on Tatooine given all of them were ignored at the center of the republic, this was the beggining of Anakin´s fall, there´s a reason why Qui-Gon ghost reacts the most at Anakin´s fall on ATOC than at his actions on EP III, the fact of the matter is that he already had partially fallen in AOTC but we would be kidding ourselves if we believe this decision was something Anakin made just on his own free will and wasn´t the result of other people caring more for what he could do for them or what he represented to them than about Anakin the person.

Despite this fact Anakin still went on to become one of the greastest and more caring soldiers and generals in the clone wars, who cared not just for victories but also of giving people under his protection a chance, be it by helping them learn how to take care of themselves in the face of violence, something that later would help sustain the rebel alliance, or because he wanted to show the clone soldiers it was perfectly ok to have their own individual thoughts and express themselves with freedom. So even a half fallen Anakin that Count Dooku could detect, had still so much of himself to genuinely care for the fate of those unders his authority but with time this also eat at his own psyche.

Everything else was a consequence of this, Anakin understood the nature of death as a child, he understood and tried to do his best to keep people from dying but after losing his mother the way he did, he developed a fixation of keeping those close to him alive, something that only made him fall further because then he was send to the middle of a war in which he could feel every soldier die, his master was thought dead twice and even his padawan was in constant danger, so being given the idea of losing his one constant after his mother in his life, Padme and their future family, was enough to permanently break him.

This doesn´t mean he wasn´t given a choice but it was a choice affected by the circunstances around him and especially by the emotional and force traps put on by Palpatine and of his will taking a beating every time he tried to make individual decisions bassically since he was an infant.

This is also why ROTJ feels so liberating as the climax of the story, because in this movie, while Luke certainly cared about Vader and wanted to give him an out from the dark out of compassion for his father, knowing his story, Luke also realized that to save his father also meant to save himself, because for him killing his father meant falling to the darkside, what he didn´t realize until the end was that his father´s fate was to save the galaxy, even from himself and his master, so Luke saved his father, his father saved him and then Anakin decided to save the galaxy out of compassion for his Son and what he believed in.

I believe Star Wars as a story is richer when we consider all those circunstances as well as the characters choices.

#anakin skywalker #star wars #luke skywalker #darth vader #Jedi Order #Yoda #padme amidala #Shmi Skywalker #Qui-Gon jinn #Obi-Wan Kenobi #Palpatine

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quitealotofsodapop · 9 months

Note

(resending this cuz it seems like some of my asks got deleted)

thank you for posting this ver of the ask, and thanks for the extra responses!

[Macaque having the mega-regret when he finds out all those years later about the Stone Egg, feeling like a dad who wasn't around for their (ex)partner and unborn baby and barely having enough time to adjust when baby arrives.]

considering he just finds out about the baby mere weeks before their born, and only actually starts the path to reconciliation the day before if not the day Wukong goes into labor depending on how long it is between the final battle ending and the campsite scene, he really didn't have a lot of time to get used to the idea of possibly being a dad (not even knowing if he wanted to rebuild his relationship with Wukong until he was un-possessed) until their was already a baby in his arms, but he is forever grateful he made the decision to stay.

that being said, I feel like with him feeling like he missed a lot causes Wukong to have to reassure him often that what really matters is that he's here now, and that as long as he makes the effort to be apart of Yuebei's life now Wukong wouldn't have it any other way. I think Macaque (even if a little wistfully) loves to listen to Wukong telling old pregnancy stories of funny or fond moments he missed. he probably likes hearing stories of bad moments too, so he gets a more full understanding of Wukong's pregnancy experience.

[likely responding to the Samadhi fire like it would consumable dao like; "Hey, can I eat that- OOO NO SPICY!!!").]

Yuebei trying to eat the Samadhi fire is absolutely hilarious, so is Yuebei describing a world ending fire that can tear apart the fabric of reality "spicy" in baby terms. as a baby she tries to chew on Red Son hair "because the spiciness has gone down."

[Wukong's mental health was not good after the ritual]

Wukong def doesn't leave Ao Lie's side for weeks after the ritual to make sure he's okay (I like to think that the fourth ring wasn't a problem at first, but as time passed symptoms started cropping up and then they started getting worse and worse). When the affects of the ring start becoming noticeable and then beginning to worsen Wukong only becomes more distraught. he tries everything to help Ao Lie, but he just keeps getting worse, Wukong apologies at least 200 times everytime they see each other, Ao Lie never blames him for anything. Wukong is there when he dies, Wukong's mental health obviously takes an even worse turn.

[Wukong risked his own baby for them, and the couple don't learn this until centuries later.]

they are both all the more grateful when they finally learn, especially PIF who understands that putting his own baby at risk for hers must have been a difficult decision, so he also has more respect from her because of that. they also chastise him for putting his own baby at risk.

but imagine how they (and Ne Zha) would feel upon learning the reason he slipped was his baby reacting badly to the fire, considering losing control and slipping was something he got a lot of flack for because of the danger it posed.

[Spider Queen turns, only to see Guanyin/Kuan Yin glaring her down like the vengeful goddess she is.]

Spider Queen is losing her mind because of her loss, she turns her attention on her own minions for a moment, they don't react at all because they are used to her temper. all of a sudden, they do start shrinking back and acting scared, Spider Queen's yelling falters as a shadow falls over her. she turns, looks up, and finds herself being stared down by a very angry Guanyin.

SQ gets her ass handed to her.

LBD stays hidden until Guanyin leaves, ot wanting to risk being seen by the vengeful goddess and risk their wrath. SQ trusts her a little more than in og canon because when LBD comes out of hiding she also brings a healing item of some kind to heal SQ from injuries sustained from her beat down from Guanyin.

[Instead of the infamous "OH WUKONG!" while flying overhead at the end of S2, Macaque instead announces hos presence to MK specifically.]

so blatantly ignoring Wukong's presence while the bone demon is practically hovering over his shoulder would be too obvious. he fixes this by only seeming to attack when MK starts trying to talk about him. MK's got Wukong alone on the deck of the airship about to tell him about the shadowplay? "ooooo MK!". Wukong and MK meet up while trying to escape the east sea palace and MK once again tries to warn Wukong about the shadowplay incident? I don't think so. MK: *running out of the east palace* Monkey King, there you are! are you ok? SWK: I'm good bud MK: good, I know I didn't get to explain earlier about Macaque but he- MK: *Macaque's staff skims his hair and embeds itself in the wall behind him* MK: STOP INTERRUPTING ME! MK: *a shadow clone comes out of nowhere to punch him, causing both MK and wukong to scramble* MK: on second thought, maybe I'll just stop talking.

[Wukong gets the drop on him cus it's such a paradoxial offer. If he agrees, his baby will be a lonely little cub in the world like he was + he'll lose all his found family and the world at large. If he refuses, LBD might just decide to aim for the Egg directly, taking away something Wukong has been incubating/nuturing for centuries away from him and using the energy accumilated within to fuel her mech.] + [LBD does not think about feeding Wukong in this timeframe ofc, since in her mind he's an immortal self-sustaining puppet now. It's ultimately what leads to her demise...]

the thought of losing the found family he's managed to gain after spending so long alone makes him falter, he pushed everyone away for centuries until now and he's just started relearning what it's like to have his loved ones around again, he doesn't want to lose them now.

but on the other hand the thought of LBD targeting his egg and using their dao to fuel her mech makes him feel physically sick. he can't afford to lose his egg, not after this long. he'd never recover.

funny, how it ends up being LBD who gets consumed by the egg. how the tables have turned.

as concerning as the egg consuming her initially was, Wukong can't help but smirk and call it hubris.

[You know when the Mayor gets un-possessed by LBD? Think that, but the soul energy is getting eaten like a string of noodles and slurped into Wukong's body.]

that is terrifying, I'm gonna have to draw that now. (as of you seeing this, the drawing has already been submitted)

[The Egg needed Wukong to gain a couple few more family members before it could "hatch" into Baby. XD]

egg was like "troop is here? mate is here now? food is sufficient? now these are prime birth conditions!" *sends Wukong into labor*

[Mac's crying cus he's finally coming to terms with why Wukong hurt him all those years ago + he's meeting his former mate's little cub who looks like him!! He makes a sound akin to a dying squeaky toy when he's asked how he thinks of little Yuebei.]

seeing Yuebei look like him and the joy that brings him and Wukong both is def one of the things that makes it finally click. he so easily could have lost this by his own hand, he could've cost Wukong this. in that moment he not only gets over the whole dying thing completely in an instant, he almost feels glad that Wukong did whatever he had to to ensure little Yuebei's safety, even if it was Macaque himself Wukong had to keep her safe from.

Wukong def thinks Macaque's "dying squeaky toy" reaction to being asked about what he thinks of Yuebei is adorable.

[DBK holds it together until he has Yuebei in his palm. Smaller than even Red Son was as a baby. DBK does one deep breath... and quickly has to pass the baby to PIF cus his eyes have turned into waterfalls. She's so small!!] + [... but holding Yuebei is the first time in a long time she makes a joyful snotty sob. The baby monkey is confused by the bodhisattva's reaction, and tries kissing her tears away. This only makes her honorary aunt/grandmother cry even harder with pride and joy.] + [+Not to mention how hard MK cries when Wukong introduces him to Yuebei as "your honorary big brother". Mei has hundreds of timelapsed photos of MK as his face contorts into an ugly cry as he holds Yuebei for the first time.]

Wukong and Macaque as DBK's sworn brothers def joke that they always knew he was a big softy.

Wukong is laughing at Yuebei trying to kiss Guanyin's tears away whilst also giving Guanyin a big hug.

MK loves that he's being referred to as the big brother, even if only honorary. Mei def has hundreds of photos of everyone's reactions.

[He reminds himself to say sorry to Wukong for not checking if the Buddha's punishment was Stone Monkey friendly. Wukong and Mac laugh him off cus the Gold Star of Venus is currently having his beard nearly yanked off by the playful newborn cub.]

all in all, Gold Star is very happy that it all worked out for them in the end. they are too.

[Azure: "What do you think little cub? Am I not a fine Emperor and guardian? Do you think your mother will warm to being at my side?" Yuebei, hungry, frustrated, and bored: *glares and makes a distinctly "Macaque"-sound as her ears glow* The Brotherhood: "..." Peng: "She must be hard to impress. As any princess ought to be." Azure: *feels a little better* :'3 Yellowtusk the Wise, internally: "I'm telling Guanyin. I am not going to be held responsible for what nonsense Azure gets up to regarding Wukong and the infant."]

it would be even worse considering Yuebei likely has Azure as a "bad voice", so him talking about her Baba would not make her feel any better, even if she can't actually understand what is being said.

Yellowtusk looks at Azure talking about having Wukong at his side at last with an infant (that he was being neglectful of) that so very clearly belonged to Macaque, with Macaque and Wukong seeming to be on good terms these days if Macaque's anger at Azure for imprisoning Wukong in the scroll was anything to off of, and start seeing just how possessive and obsessive Azure really was and just goes "oh, you are a terrible person, actually" and decides that his brothers aren't actually the people he wants to associate himself with.

[If Azure still had a tail, Yuebei would have taken it as a chew toy long before the MKrew (love that name) got there. And Wukong would have let her keep it as a trophy.]

they'd have it like, preserved or something so they could keep letting her use it as a chew toy. if not that then they would have hung it only the mantle place where they've also been keeping LBD's skull for the time being.

Referencing this Slow Boiled Au post.

[considering he just finds out about the baby mere weeks before their born, and only actually starts the path to reconciliation the day before if not the day Wukong goes into labor depending on how long it is between the final battle ending and the campsite scene, he really didn't have a lot of time to get used to the idea of possibly being a dad (not even knowing if he wanted to rebuild his relationship with Wukong until he was un-possessed) until their was already a baby in his arms, but he is forever grateful he made the decision to stay.]

Once Mac learned that Wukong got possessed trying to take down LBD, the shadow monkey almost 99% decided that he wasn't going to lose his King to that bony biotch. And depeneding on how messy the Samadhi Fire ritual goes, the last thing Wukong says to Macaque is along the lines of "You ruined everything!", and Macaque doesn't want those to be the last words he hears his King say...

And ofc the protective Stone Monkey instincts kick in once he sees; 1: His pregnant mate being forced to fight, 2: LBD tossing her human-cub host aside like trash, 3: The kids almost dying trying to control the Samadhi Fire etc...

And soon Macaque started to remember how much him and Wukong discussed Having a family once the war on heaven was over, and how much they both wanted to be parents...

And soon there's a newborn monkey in his arms, and Macaque can't stop smiling and crying at the same time. He's so excited and overjoyed and scared that he isn't sure how to feel.

[that being said, I feel like with him feeling like he missed a lot causes Wukong to have to reassure him often that what really matters is that he's here now, and that as long as he makes the effort to be apart of Yuebei's life now Wukong wouldn't have it any other way. I think Macaque (even if a little wistfully) loves to listen to Wukong telling old pregnancy stories of funny or fond moments he missed. he probably likes hearing stories of bad moments too, so he gets a more full understanding of Wukong's pregnancy experience.]

Macaque says something like: "Sorry I wasn't here for alot of it.", and Wukong just replies like "Eh. You got plenty of time to make it up."

Macaque often asks Wukong "how it was" to be carrying the Stone Egg. especially for so long, and he's always glad to hear Wukong's rambling stories about his odd symptoms ("You couldn't eat peaches?! How did you survive?") and the tales of the many gods and demons that shrunk away nervously when they discovered his condition. Macaque is still shocked that Wukong managed to keep the Egg a secret from PIF and DBK (and most of Heaven) for so long too - and might give him the stinkeye for risking himself and the baby during the Samadhi Fire ritual.

Its also around the time Macaque really has it sink in that; "Oh sh-t. I attacked the Monk and fought Wukong when he was pregnant. No wonder he killed me." He isn't sure how to build himself up to discussing this fact with Wukong yet, but he'll get there.

[Yuebei describing a world ending fire that can tear apart the fabric of reality "spicy" in baby terms. as a baby she tries to chew on Red Son hair "because the spiciness has gone down."]

Red Son holds Yuebei for the first time (after a lot of encouragement from his parents and MK), and the first thing the baby does is tug Red's hair from his ponytail and try chewing it. Red's hair is ruined with baby monkey drool by the time someone gets Yuebei off of him.

Wukong, snorts out a laugh at the sight: "She must like hot food. She tried eating the Samadhi Fire the first time around." Nezha: "She what?!" Wukong: "Oh yeah... didn't tell you that part yet." Nezha, angry flames flaring up: "You mean to tell me that you were "with Stone Egg" during the ritual to separate the Samadhi Fire!? She could have suffered the same fate as Ao Lie!" Wukong, guilt-ridden: "Yeah. Don't remind me. She kicked me non-stop for days afterwards." Yuebei: *tries grabbing Nezha's skates to test the "spicyness"*

Red makes sure to keep his hair covered the next time he sees the cub.

[Wukong def doesn't leave Ao Lie's side for weeks after the ritual to make sure he's okay (I like to think that the fourth ring wasn't a problem at first, but as time passed symptoms started cropping up and then they started getting worse and worse).] + [Wukong apologies at least 200 times everytime they see each other, Ao Lie never blames him for anything. Wukong is there when he dies, Wukong's mental health obviously takes an even worse turn.]

Even being a dragon that could handle flame magic, Ao Lie was ultimately just *one* dragon. One that rarely used his fire magic at all save for the time he acted out at his father pre-Journey. He practiced great self-control in making sure that the Ring he held within didn't start a blaze that spread outwards to hurt his friends.

But in supressing his symptoms, Ao Lie inadvertently hid how much pain he was in from his dearest friends. Wukong knew something was wrong immediately when the infamous White Horse Dragon no longer had the strength nor will to carry even one of his pilgrim brothers. The weakness, the pain, the burning in his joints; it was all to obvious how hard the dragon tried to hide it.

Wukong cries for months after Ao Lie leaves them/passes away. And the dragon's last words to assure his friend that he never blamed him for the accident, nor his baby. Ao Lie was just sad that he'd never be able to meet the cub in this lifetime. He just wants Wukong to stop being so hard on himself for it. If only the dragon he tell him that in person.

[they are both all the more grateful when they finally learn, especially PIF who understands that putting his own baby at risk for hers must have been a difficult decision, so he also has more respect from her because of that. they also chastise him for putting his own baby at risk. but imagine how they (and Ne Zha) would feel upon learning the reason he slipped was his baby reacting badly to the fire, considering losing control and slipping was something he got a lot of flack for because of the danger it posed.]

OH the second PIF hears that Wukong put himself at risk of the Samadhi Fire whilst pregnant - she's flying straight over to shout how "stupid and reckless it is!". But she soon calms down and pulls him into a soft hug, whispering with a single tear (out of range of the kids); "Thank you for saving my baby. Now allow me to protect yours." Wukong was confused but very touched that the Princess recognised the risk he took in helping lil Red Son all those years ago. She knows it was a tough call to make.

When the lotus prince overhears that Sun Wukong has been pregnant "since at least the Journey", he just crumbles at the realisation that Wukong was in fact pregnant during the ritual. Nezha blames himself for not recognising that Wukong was carrying at the time, and even more so how he blamed him for "screwing up!" the ritual whilst distracted. He now realises that the baby was likely reacting to the sudden surge of fire magic and Wukong was in great pain. He def makes an awkward apology once they run into eachother at the start of S3. He refuses to let Wukong get into danger or exert himself tho - Nezha's a momma's boy at heart after all.

[Spider Queen's yelling falters as a shadow falls over her. she turns, looks up, and finds herself being stared down by a very angry Guanyin. SQ gets her ass handed to her.]

Spider Queen hears the sounds of a thousand knuckles cracking and realises that she's looking at the person who might as well be the Monkey King's Mama. SQ ain't even mad by the end of it. She would have done the same (she'd def the kinda mom to beat up her kids' bullies).

I love the imagery of the rest of the Spider Gang just... watching it unfold. They only need a single glare from Guanyin to not step in. LBD is hiding far away atm cus she knows the goddess would recognise her magic at a glance. Or recognise her host as being a possessed little girl and reverse-kidnap her for an exorcism.

LBD only comes out to heal SQ's injuries from the Divine butt-whooping once Quanyin has left. And although SQ kinda trusts the demon a little more, she's far more hesistant to step on the Monkey King's toes than before if his Mama's gonna respond. SQ is a lot more scheming for the rest of S2.

[so blatantly ignoring Wukong's presence while the bone demon is practically hovering over his shoulder would be too obvious. he fixes this by only seeming to attack when MK starts trying to talk about him.]

I can almost imagine Macaque's demeanor becoming especially cold towards the crew, particularly MK. He can't risk Wukong knowing that MK told Macaque about not only the baby, but also how Wukong was pregnant during the Journey. He just wants to grab the Kid, give him to LBD, fufill his contract, and maybe make up for it later when this all blows over.

Macaque from MK's perspective during S3;

But by ignoring Wukong and focusing solely on MK, he still draws Wukong's attention. His sunlight isn't a dumb monkey. He knows what Macaque ignoring somebody looks like (thinking back to the Brotherhood days when Macaque would pretend not to hear Peng's criticisms). And he's still protective over "his cub" whenever MK dodges a shadow attack.

Eventually it comes to a head when they meet just after Lantern City. Macaque is clearly in pain from an icy curse, and isn't saying anything to him. He's aknowledging Nezha sure, but it's like he's pretending Wukong doesn't even exist right now - even as he leaves the King untouched by the powers lended to him by LBD.

Wukong, shouting: "Why are you doing this!? Don't you know that Lady Bone Demon will kill everyone if she gets her hands on the Fire!? Macaque: *silently tries to fly past Wukong towards the ritual sight* Wukong, flying infront of him: "STOP! You've been like this, this whole road trip! Are you possessed? Or are you too much of a coward to look me in the eye!?" (*a small one-sided mid-air fight happens as Wukong beats the everloving crap out of Macaque, slamming him into the rocks below*) Wukong, crying: "C'mon! JUST TALK TO ME!!!" Macaque, sad frown as the ice spreads: "I don't... want to make you choose again." Wukong: "What!? That makes no sense!" Macaque: *goes silent again. Escapes Wukong's hold via shadow portal and books towards the ritual altar*

Odds are Macaque doesn't even force Tang to do the ritual, the ice on his body having spread so much that he can barely whisper "Do it." before the scholar catches on the severity of the situation. Wouldn't be surprised if the shadow monkey stayed with the group afterwards as a "my bad" once the curse was lifted.

Wukong only realises after he confronts LBD and gets her ultimatium what Macaque meant by "choose again"...

[the thought of losing the found family he's managed to gain after spending so long alone makes him falter, he pushed everyone away for centuries until now and he's just started relearning what it's like to have his loved ones around again, he doesn't want to lose them now. but on the other hand the thought of LBD targeting his egg and using their dao to fuel her mech makes him feel physically sick. he can't afford to lose his egg, not after this long. he'd never recover. funny, how it ends up being LBD who gets consumed by the egg. how the tables have turned. as concerning as the egg consuming her initially was, Wukong can't help but smirk and call it hubris.]

In the question of his new family vs his Egg; Wukong would always be left stalling. Wukong def sees LBD'a hubris as her downfall, but admits that she really threw him for a loop when she made the offer. He especially laughs at the fact that the Egg consumed LBD almost in the same fashion it tried absorbing the Samadhi Fire so many years ago - guess his baby found the ancient demoness "less spicy".

BTW I love the art you did for this scene!! Stone Egg had enough of LBD's nonsense and was Hangry, and Bama had spoken some sense into Baba, and now Nom NOM NOMNOM.

[egg was like "troop is here? mate is here now? food is sufficient? now these are prime birth conditions!" *sends Wukong into labor*]

Be post-battle Wukong thinking all his aches and pains are just from his injuries/possession, and not from his baby sending him into extended labor. >:3

Stone Egg knows when the Time is Right. And the troop is all here so... being born time.

[seeing Yuebei look like him and the joy that brings him and Wukong both is def one of the things that makes it finally click. he so easily could have lost this by his own hand, he could've cost Wukong this. in that moment he not only gets over the whole dying thing completely in an instant, he almost feels glad that Wukong did whatever he had to to ensure little Yuebei's safety, even if it was Macaque himself Wukong had to keep her safe from. Wukong def thinks Macaque's "dying squeaky toy" reaction to being asked about what he thinks of Yuebei is adorable.]

Oh gosh Macaque realising that the baby looking like him brings Wukong joy too would make him cry even harder. He almost cost his mate everything by risking the world over his own debt to the Bone demon. Mac would gladly have died all over again if it kept the baby safe.

Wukong, petting Yuebei's big fluffy *glowing* ears: "So cute. What do you think, Plums?" Macaque: *blubbering, dying squeaky toy sound* Wukong, laughing softly: "Me too." *kisses Yuebei's face* Yuebei: *grumpy sleepy coo*

Its a very sappy moment between the pair.

[Wukong and Macaque as DBK's sworn brothers def joke that they always knew he was a big softy. Wukong is laughing at Yuebei trying to kiss Guanyin's tears away whilst also giving Guanyin a big hug. MK loves that he's being referred to as the big brother, even if only honorary. Mei def has hundreds of photos of everyone's reactions.]

PIF isn't far behind her husband either. The tiny precious thing in her arms nearly died in a bid to save her own baby. She plants a big kiss on Yuebei's forehead, forgetting that her lipstick stains. Her husband chuckles, still teary-eyed, at his wife's embarassment at planting a big kiss mark on the baby's head.

Guanyin is at Wukong's bedside, still crying at how beautiful and healthy the long-awaited baby is. And Yuebei is just "why you crying? lemme do the thing everyone did to me when I was crying" and tries planting big wet kisses below Guanyin's eyes. Wukong is just beaming with how sweet the sight is.

MK is having unknown instinctual urge to curl up with Yuebei (his honorary sister) next to the other monkeys. Pigsy laughs that MK did the same with his fave plushie for years.

[it would be even worse considering Yuebei likely has Azure as a "bad voice", so him talking about her Baba would not make her feel any better, even if she can't actually understand what is being said.]

Yuebei has very vague memories of Bad Sounds, like the three Brotherhood hurting her Baba a long time ago. The birdy (Peng, who captured Wukong in the Yin-Yang vase that nearly killed him) gets the fastest response of anger - which only proves to the trio that Macaque is the baby's other parent.

Peng: "Hmph. With these ears, we don't need any guesses on who the other-" Yuebei: *screeches like a banshee when Peng comes closer!* >:O! The Brotherhood: "..." Peng, amused smile: "Though, she's certainly braver than he was." Yuebei: *most intimidating hiss she can muster* Azure, thinking it's like a kitten spitting: "Aww."

Also, Mac is def the kinda guy to use exaggerated versions of the Brotherhood's voices when narrating villain characters in Yuebei's books. The little raspberry noises (or "Boos" as Mac likens them to) she makes at the voices encourages him even further.

With the Brotherhood, Yuebei keeps hearing them talking about her Baba and Bama, and the rest of her troop, but its all in tones that sound super negative and she *hates* it. She just wants her parents!

[Yellowtusk looks at Azure talking about having Wukong at his side at last with an infant (that he was being neglectful of) that so very clearly belonged to Macaque, with Macaque and Wukong seeming to be on good terms these days if Macaque's anger at Azure for imprisoning Wukong in the scroll was anything to off of, and start seeing just how possessive and obsessive Azure really was and just goes "oh, you are a terrible person, actually" and decides that his brothers aren't actually the people he wants to associate himself with.]

By this point Azure is also corrupted by the Emperor's power, so a lot of what he's saying is a mix of geniune yearning, and maddened desire. In the old days, Azure would at least keep these thoughts hidden and focus on the bigger picture. Now he's spiralling down a Caligulan rabbit-hole with Wukong's increasingly-distressed infant in his grasp.

Yellowtusk immediately catches on that this Azure Lion is not the man he called brother anymore. He makes the quick decision to alert someone outside the Celestial Realm for assistance, even if it compromises their successful coup. And considering Yellowtusk is the only one with the sense to feed and bathe the hostage infant, he's not surprised when she turns on Azure and Peng specifically.

[they'd have it like, preserved or something so they could keep letting her use it as a chew toy. if not that then they would have hung it only the mantle place where they've also been keeping LBD's skull for the time being.]

Oh they would have. Wukong def would preserve Azure's tail like a dog's chew toy if Yuebei wanted to keep it. But I think Azure canonically doesn't have a tail - it's not in his design, though in Jttw its's described as "long as a broom". If it were I def see Yuebei throwing Azure around by it like plush toy.

Some of Peng's feathers are stolen too (Yuebei had a mouthful of them) and Macaque and Sandy turned the feathers into a cat toy. Mo and Yuebei both adore it.

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invested-in-your-future · 7 months

Note

I have curious to know more about that:

In your version what would Jaune fallout would be?

Would he be an outcast or a you suck speech to be better?

How would the team dynamic be especially after the situation?

If I were to alter stuff in V1-V3, the bully arc would need some significant changes - far too many things in a show are built around excusing him rather than making him confront his flaws.

I think I said most of these before, but if I were to put it into a list.

Starting with the Bully Arc:

DON'T have Pyrrha help Jaune save Cardin and actually show that while his mindset is toxic, Jaune has the conviction to risk it all when pushed - of course, since Pyrrha wouldn't help him there, Jaune would actually get hurt, making the confrontation a bit messier even if the outcome is the same. And Cardin seeing someone like him put his life on the line to save him would likely sting a lot more.

DON'T do the weird "Ursa Grimm like honey" at all - the show has literal bullies prey on people in the forest, and Grimm are attracted to negative emotions - this means we don't get the "harrowing" scene of Jaune throwing honey at people and the whole plot is a bit less silly - and that means Jaune is NOT here because of blackmail or anything - having Jaune risk his life to save Cardin despite him being a bully is good enough as it highlights the qualities needed for being a Huntsmen and there must be no possible upsides to Jaune doing this - Pyrrha won't change her opinion and she is not involved in the fight - there's no benefit for him doing it other than it being his calling.

DO make Pyrrha genuinely angry with Jaune and have Jaune actually openly apologize to her after the Cardin incident and come clean to her.

DO have Cardin threaten to blackmail Jaune, but resolve it with Jaune coming clean to his team first (ALL of them) and then resolving to come clean to Ozpin and co.

DO have Ozpin shrug it off, either when Jaune comes clean or when Cardin decides to rat him out because, to him, the forest events would be all the proof he needed that Jaune has "needed qualifications" - can even throw in some shady Ozpin stuff and imply the teams are the way they are for a reason too.

DON'T have just Jaune and Pyrrha train. DO have the entire team JNPR decide to work spar together and train together to help him and make him regain their trust by putting in actual work to earn his spot.

There's no instant forgiveness or reassuring Jaune that he's great actually - everyone involved agrees that it's a work in progress, but his willingness to come clean and work to be a better person is a good first step. Team building.

Oh look we just got done with Jaune Arc arc of V1 in, like, two episodes instead of four or five.

V2 stuff

Just erase the "trying to woo Weiss" arc for Jaune Arc. Completely. Have the feud be about Cardin shifting targets and fighting Pyrrha in that sparring match and Jaune being unable to stay in his lane when she handled them just fine herself.

Drop the "I can't dance part" from Neptune. How about Neptune, despite his womanizer façade, actually likes guys but thinks it would make him seem uncool if he asked a guy out to a dance. Here, you have an actual LGBT rep two volumes in without "having to build up a relationship", and it ties nicely into the theme of dealing with toxic masculinity and how it affects different people. And we avoid a scene where two guys treat Weiss like an object they own.

It overall also ties better into the cross-dressing segment because it now becomes Jaune basically going - "Look, I learned my lesson, and I am comfortable without stereotypical macho nonsense" to Pyrrha. And it's a message to Neptune that there's nothing "silly" about not adhering to heteronormative "coolness" - oh look, suddenly there's no need for a laugh track of everyone pointing out that a guy in a dress is oh-so-funny in this diverse and accepting world of Remnant. EDIT: also yes monty intended ot to be about him keeping promises but that still works - Jaune regressing at the start by whiteknighting is him faltering on the promise he made to the team on v1 arc of this version - so the message of him reaffirming his promises still remains.

That's just off the top of my head in what could make him more bearable without sweeping his flaws or his forgery under the rug.

There are PLENTY minuscule things to change that would expand upon his characterization in a way that doesn't detract from the actual protagonists.

BUT

Since I am keeping the first three volumes as-is instead, I am treating the Fall of Beacon as Jaune's wake-up call for self-reflection.

Jaune had quite a bit of time to rethink everything that happened in Beacon - what he did or didn't do, what he said, and his overall priorities in life.

Coming face to face with how insignificant he ended up being ironically had provided him with a sense of clarity - everything falling apart allowed him to look at it all from a different angle.

He did not like the person he used to be, and that's where V4r starts - Jaune views his staying at Beacon due to forgery as a debt Jaune can never repay, and he strives to be a better person - actually worthy of that chance. He also understands just how privileged and stupid his behavior during Beacon was.

He has newfound respect for Pyrrha for having put up with him all this time. He also is regretful over how his antics had prevented them from actually exploring what could have been between them till it was way too late.

There's no melting her weapons for himself, no hero's journey for him. After the tragedies that hit Beacon Jaune ended up with a more clearcut understanding of who he wants to be and how he wants to honor Pyrrha's memory, in turn having processed grief in a bit more healthier way than the others.

#rwby #rwde #rwby au #jaune arc #rwby rewrite #rwbyr stuff mine

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butterflydm · 1 year

Text

wot reread: a memory of light (chapters 32-36)

spoilers for a memory of light, the final book.

Ah. It's a Mat PoV. I never really know what to expect out of Mat PoV these days, I have to admit. Early-to-middle Mat is always an enjoyable read, but I learned to despise reading Mat PoV during CoT & KoD, the two books that made me dislike Mat. The Sanderson Mat PoV chapters have varied wildly between "ugh I hate this"; "huh, that's intriguing"; and "Mat! <3". So, yeah, never know what I'm about to get when I start a Mat PoV these days.

2. Mat considers going out onto the battlefield again but changes his mind when Tuon glares at him from her ten-foot tall throne (...someone is overcompensating; that thing is twice as tall as she is). We get another of those bizarre thoughts from Mat where he praises Tuon for things that he dislikes from anyone else (Min did the same thing in her recent PoV too -- she's all "I don't respect any titles... except yours, Empress! I'll kiss the ground you walk on, Empress! I'll tell you anything you want, Empress!" ...I am mildly paraphrasing). I mentioned this earlier, how Mat starts having super-weird "I was born a native Seanchan" thoughts at a certain point, and this really feels like one of them.

In this instance, he claims that Tuon's ~way of giving orders~ "gives him a thrill", which... I'm torn between two things:

A. it just sends me right back to slave-conditioning (go back to Bethamin's Rules of Slave-Breaking back in Winter's Heart! It is downright eerie how much Tuon followed the rules there in how she interacted with Mat in CoT & KoD; it reminds me of how the most heartbreaking damane moments are when the channelers stop fighting and start desperately wanting to please their mistresses).

but

B. his actions don't really seem to back up that he enjoys getting ordered around by Tuon? Or enjoys watching her order other people around? It might be a thing, I guess, where his body has been conditioned into getting a thrill out of her being a slave-owner but emotionally and intellectually he's turned off by it?

3. Hmm, so Tuon gets incredibly jealous about Mat being in the same room as other women (who aren't slaves), but she doesn't want him looking at her with lust either. Interesting data point.

This is also a place where we really dive into the toxic ways that Mat is using the phrase 'Aes Sedai', where it basically is twisted to mean 'woman with power that I'm scared of' -- Tuon is an Aes Sedai in Mat's thoughts here, despite never actually channeling or having gone through the training to become an Aes Sedai. She's 'one of them' because she is a woman who is capable of having a power that Mat doesn't understand. If Mat had gone to Merrilor and learned what damage his fear and mistrust of Aes Sedai had caused in Caemlyn, he might have learned a healthier way to think about Aes Sedai.

4. Ah, @markantonys, here's that line: "You're doing a fine job of persuading Tuon not to use damane" (Mat sarcastically thinks to himself).

?????

It really is a fascinating/horrifying/mind-boggling contrast between what Mat's intentions apparently are and what he's actually done when he interacts with Tuon. Now, this is not the first allusion to the idea that Mat wants Tuon to stop using damane -- he told Min a few chapters back that "Rand" would want her to selectively use her viewings to try to encourage Tuon to think more favorably about Aes Sedai (Min proceeded to completely ignore him and just spilled literally everything to Tuon that she wanted to know) -- but it's the first time that Mat has actively tried to claim that he has been attempting to persuade Tuon on the matter of the damane.

So, in theory, Mat wants to persuade Tuon to stop using damane.

But in practice, Mat has always been silent and complicit when it comes to Tuon's use and abuse of damane, just as he is in this scene here. It kinda seems like the only way Mat is willing to risk himself for the damane around Tuon is by trying to place other people in her path who will argue on their behalf.

Mat is "unnerved" by how quickly the new Sharan damane has taken to her captivity. I mean, I could say the same of you, Mat.

5. Hmm, Mat is charming Galgan now. Maybe I spoke too soon on thinking that Galgan would no longer try to murder Tuon now that Mat is next in line for the throne, displacing Galgan's claim. If he ends up liking Mat more than he likes Tuon, then Mat might 'accidentally' become the (first?) Emperor of the Seanchan.

Ugh, now Mat is using "marath'damane" instead of "channelers". ...and, by contrast, Galgan is using "Aes Sedai" on Mat's orders. Hmm.

I guess we're supposed to be wondering who will 'win' in the corruption game between Mat and Tuon -- does Tuon manage to break him into being a proper husband-slave or does Mat manage to reach whatever tiny shreds of empathy might still lurk inside Tuon's heart?

6. idk why Mat keeps thinking that Tuon's behavior is mysterious and a puzzle to figure out. It's the omens. She's told you this. He wants to think that she's deeper than she really is, I guess. I suppose if I were trapped in a similar situation, I'd be doing my best to make the best of it too (but that runs into my other big problem of: Jordan's fatalism infecting all the characters even when it's contrary to their past behavior).

7. Tuon is currently interrogating Min on all the omens that she sees for every member of the Blood that's around. And Min just, you know, obeys. For whatever reason.

"He had an inkling of what Tuon might be capable of, if she grew displeased with Min."

Hmm.

"He loved her-- Light, he was pretty sure that he did. But he also let himself be a little afraid of her. He'd have to keep watch so that Tuon didn't decide to 'educate' Min."

Hmm.

Much like Mat himself, Min is in an 'honored' position... but Mat is very aware that this will not actually protect her from getting 'educated' if she displeases his wife-owner. And, once again, Mat gives us nothing he loves about her. Yet when it comes to why he's "a little afraid" of her, Mat does have reasons -- what he's alluding to here is that he's worried that she might hurt his friend's girlfriend (because he's seen Tuon hurt other innocent people in the past).

And we know the kinds of lessons that sul'dam teach. To quote from The Great Hunt again:

Renna took the chair, frowning at Egwene. "I must punish you severely for this. We will both be called to the Court of the nine Moons -- you for what you can do; I as your sul'dam and trainer -- and I will not allow you to disgrace me in the eyes of the Empress. I will stop when you tell me how much you love being damane and how obedient you will be after this. And, Tuli. Make me believe every word."

8. As a result of Min's reading of the 'omens' around one of the Blood, Tuon (through Selucia) announces that the woman will be executed, making both Mat and Min startle severely. Wow, maybe it's a bad idea to hand that kind of surveillance 'technology' over to an unhinged dictator, Min? Who could have guessed?

Anyway, Min is completely shocked by this (completely predictable) reaction from Tuon at an 'omen' that hints at potential betrayal.

Mat's thoughts about Tuon, the woman that he "loves":

Mat shivered. He didn't like it when Tuon got like this. That stare of hers... it seemed like the stare of another person. A person without compassion. A statue had more life to it.

That's literally just Tuon being Tuon, bro. Not sure what to tell you. This is the way she behaves the majority of the time. If you dislike this about her, then you're going to be unhappy for most of your marriage.

9. Min 'wins' this round pretty much the same way that Mat 'won' Tuon telling him that he was more than a toy to her -- she says that she won't tell any more omens to Tuon if Tuon continues to behave this way. If Tuon executes people based solely on Min's 'omens', then Min will stop giving her any omens.

I will say... this has been pretty consistent in the narrative so far -- Tuon only really responds to the threat of her toys being taken away from her. Anything less that that and she will continue to push the boundaries of making someone uncomfortable. Only the threat of losing her toys entirely really makes it through to her brain.

Mat worries here that Min's "lack of respect" towards Tuon is going to get her executed, but for the moment, Tuon agrees that she will not kill anyone based on what Min says they 'might' do.

...given how 'well' Tuon has kept her word so far, I'm pretty sure that she'll have trumped up an excuse to kill this member of the Blood in the next couple of days. But she'll be able to convincingly lie to Min that it wasn't because of her viewing.

I do think it's weird/fascinating how Min seems to view her 'job' with Fortuona as an all-or-nothing affair -- Mat suggested that she pick and choose what she tells Fortuona in an attempt to influence her, but Min seems to feel like she can either tell Fortuona everything or nothing at all. But we don't get any reason why that's the case. Especially since Tuon is a lot more interested in hearing Min's viewings about other people than the ones about herself, which was something that Min claimed she did for Rand as a ~special exception~ to her normal policy of respecting people's privacy. Again, why is Min going out of her way for the Seanchan? Tuon wouldn't actually know if Min lied to her about this.

10. Awww, Egwene is speaking in code to Mat about his medallion so as not to give his secret away to the enemy Seanchan. It's too late, Egwene. Setalle Anan betrayed Mat's secrets long ago, but it's very sweet of you to care.

Okay, so Elayne joins the, uh, conference call at this point ("thick with child". Um, exactly how far along do you think she is, Sanderson?) and so I am going to try to figure out what, if anything, she knows about the Mat situation. Thom told her a heroic story about Mat freeing slaves. Perrin told her Mat was doing "something" with the Seanchan. She's been pretty busy since then, so I wonder if Egwene has had time to update her on anything.

Mat wants to merge all the forces together. Mat's thoughts on Elayne: "She maintained the posture of a queen, but her disheveled hair and clothing burned in several places indicated what she'd been through." Meanwhile, ~Fortuona~ sits in pristine silks and lets Mat do her talking for her. I suppose she views him as acting as her Voice-husband-slave right now.

11. Elayne and Mat are the two people talking over the tactics at this meeting, btw (so consider that another spit in the eye to Perrin for trying to diss Elayne's tactical knowledge). Mat laying out the plan and Elayne questioning the details and reasoning.

Elayne doesn't acknowledge Tuon's existence at all during this entire section. She is absolutely and 100% only talking to Mat, and there's never even a mention of her looking over and noticing Tuon. She also doesn't seem to be treating Mat any differently than she had before.

I am so curious about Elayne's thoughts on this situation! Did Thom tell her about Mat's marriage being an accident when he came to Merrilor? Does she even know that Mat is married to the Seanchan Empress? She knows he's married to someone, because of his letter, but does she know who?

...also, she doesn't mention the Horn of Valere and Mat needing to blow it. That's maybe the one thing here that does indicate that she is aware of Tuon & the Seanchan even if she doesn't acknowledge them, not wanting to give away the Horn's believed ties to Mat. Which implies that she's ignoring ~Fortuona~ as a deliberate snub (good for her).

If the "Two Rivers coat" that Mat has been wearing was sourced by the person that Elayne found for Mat (by his request), then he is also wearing clothes that were supplied by Elayne during this entire meeting. Seanchan breeches and an Andoran coat.

Also, Elayne telling Mat, "I hope you know what you're doing," triggers the dice in his head. Is that... is that about more than the battle, Elayne? Are you speaking in code, Elayne? Are you talking about Tuon, Elayne?

Side note: Elayne doesn't get the whole "ugh no, she's a Dreaded Aes Sedai" treatment from Mat here even though she literally is one and Tuon is, in fact, not. I'm guessing because Mat isn't scared of Elayne?

12. Elayne then "passionately" explains and defends Mat's plan to Tam and, idk, some other leaders in the armies on her side.

lol so much at Galad's thoughts about how Perrin is so ~reasonable~ compared to other leaders like Elayne and how maybe the Whitecloaks should settle in the Two Rivers after the Last Battle. Perrin doesn't. He doesn't actually like you, Galad.

It is interesting that Galad is thinking of them as "Whitecloaks" though. When did that start?

Haha, just I was noting that, Galad also notices that he just did that and is puzzled at himself for it.

Elayne does not mention the Seanchan at all here, only "Mat" this and "Mat" that. Nothing about the Seanchan.

13. When Perrin asks Slayer if he thinks he'll be rewarded by the Dark One, Slayer tells Perrin "The Dark One does not discard useful tools" (citing the Forsaken as evidence) and I'm reminded of the many many commonalities that the Seanchan and the Shadow share all over again, because that is just about as true about TDO as it is about the Seanchan -- which is to say, sure, as long as you're still useful, you won't be discarded.

The Seanchan Empire is going to be the Great Evil of the Fourth Age, one way or another. I don't think there's any way for anyone to stop that. The poison is too baked into their culture as it currently stands, and the poison drips through to the people ("the poison drips through" is apparently a quote from Succession, which I've never seen, but that's a fantastic line).

14. Faile is hanging out with the Redarms, who are worrying about "Lord Mat" and wishing that they could be with him to protect him from the Seanchan. So that's now two sets of groups that care deeply about Mat and want to save him from the Seanchan that he's gotten himself tangled up with: Egwene & the Band of the Red Hand's Redarms. So it is 'known' among the general army that Mat is hanging out with the Seanchan (though not that he's married to ~the Empress~), so Elayne definitely knew last chapter when she was completely ignoring Tuon and only talking to Mat. And Faile is here to deliver the Horn to Mat (presumably without tipping it off to the Seanchan with him what they're doing?). To everyone except Faile herself, though, the delivery is "tabac from the Two Rivers" for Mat to enjoy during the battle, as a treat from The Amrylin.

Setalle Anan is also part of this group, it seems, and so is Olver, who is not dead (no thanks to Mat).

A bubble of evil sets their planned Gateway awry and they end up in the Blight instead of Merrilor.

15. ...Melaine is apparently "near to term" and just about ready to give birth. Which would mean that it's been less than nine months since Min first arrived in Caemlyn back in Lord of Chaos (and yet six of those months have apparently happened after Winter's Heart?).

It has been "many days" since Rand went up into the mountain of Shayol Ghul.

Aviendha catches Graendal in the act of attempting to influence the new commander who was put in place after Ituralde was taken out of command, and has an encounter with the red-veiled Aiel, realizing that they are the men who were sent into the Blight to die with honor upon realizing they could channel and that they have been Turned by TDO's channelers.

side note: this does remind me that one group that ends up not having a single Darkfriend in it are the Aiel Wise Ones. Not all of them are great people -- some of them are pretty awful -- but even the worst of the Shaido Wise Ones are not Darkfriends, I'm pretty sure? And no Aiel clan chiefs are Darkfriends either. No one who has been to Rhuidean and lived, essentially. Were the glass columns filtering out Darkfriends in addition to filtering out people who couldn't handle the truth about the Aiel's past?

16. Ah, I think this is our first real introduction to The Dark One as Entropy & the End of All Things. TDO 'wants' (or is driven by its nature) to consume the Pattern and leave nothing behind. I think, out of all the Darkfriends in the book series, that only Ishamael/Moridin actually understands TDO's goal. All the others are scrambling for temporal power and think they're actually going to rule the world after TDO 'wins' but there isn't going to be a world to rule. Only Ishamael/Moridin understands that the endgame is the ending of existence itself.

In the show, they've already tied us into this concept -- Dana, who gets dreams (presumably from Ishamael), talked to Rand about how TDO wants to end 'suffering' by 'breaking the Wheel'. So the show already set us up for the endgame battle which is great because it means (as long as Rafe & co know in advance that they're writing the final season), the show can always pivot to our endgame because they've already planted the seeds.

I'm curious about how much they'll tie Dana's argument into the Seanchan invasion. Because TDO is an existential calamity for everyone, but the Seanchan are an existential calamity for channelers in particular (though we do also have da'covale and I definitely hope that the show doesn't forget about them the way that it kinda feels like the books forgot about them). Once the Seanchan are on the scene, the question of "is it better to suffer in agony and humiliation for hundreds of years with no hope of escape or it is better to just end that suffering?" becomes an active question for the majority of the main cast (Moiraine, Egwene, Nynaeve, Elayne, and Rand too when/if the male a'dam comes into play -- and especially Egwene, who goes through that suffering personally).

17. Poor Faile actually has to worry about travel logistics -- they're stuck in the Blight and it would take 'months' to walk to Merrilor. Shame she doesn't have Mat's magical non-channeling teleportation skills.

However, they do see that they're not too far off from the peak of Shayol Ghul itself and decide to head in that direction, since some of Rand's troops should be there. But Faile worries that there's a Darkfriend in their caravan and worries even more that someone on the side of the Shadow knows that she has the Horn of Valere.

Somewhat nearby, as she is also in the Blasted Lands, after a lengthy battle with the red-veiled Aiel, Aviendha's group gets battered by Graendal, with one of the Aes Sedai getting compelled and two others getting killed.

18. Olver still hates the Shaido (and all Aiel by extension) for killing his parents and yet had zero lasting negative reaction to the Seanchan invading a city where he was living, causing destruction and death all around him and deeply injuring someone he cared about a lot (the wall falling on Mat). The contrast between Olver's trauma from the Shaido invasion and his lack of trauma from the Seanchan invasion really does remain so baffling. The Seanchan invasion should have brought back so many horrible memories for him, but he was basically the same in WH as he was in ACoS -- all he cared about was snuggling into a grown woman's breasts.

So Olver knows that Noal is dead, "filtered through what the Lady Moiraine had shared about what had happened at the Tower of Ghenjei" (haha so she did get around to saying more than "the Wheel weaves as the Wheel wills" eventually). He also knows that Mat has "run off to join the Seanchan" (parental figure abandonment -- and Mat has not even spared a single thought for Olver this entire time, btw. Olver is worrying that Mat might die and Mat hasn't even had a passing thought about Olver's wellbeing; though I focus on the loss of Mat & Rand's friendship because of how... shallow... their reunion was, Mat's relationship to Olver also got shredded by Mat's off-the-page choice to desert his people).

Anyway, poor kid. He actually feels like a kid here, too, instead of a walking advertisement letting us know that Mat Cauthon Leers At Women And Teaches Kids To Do It Too, which is basically all he was for most of ACoS-KoD. He worries that he's going to end up all alone (again) as his companions die or abandon him. He has signs of trauma from Mat abandoning him here, too -- he thinks if he's able to train up and prove to Mat that he's useful, maybe Mat won't abandon him (again).

19. It sounds like the 'essence' of the Dark One in Shayol Ghul is basically acting like a miniature black hole -- it's trying to suck them into it. It's already eaten Nynaeve's shawl.

For Nynaeve and Moiraine, about an hour has passed. Rand's foot touched the darkness when he went to meet Moridin sword-to-sword and now the two of them appear frozen in time & locked in place. The wind pulls and tears at Nynaeve and Moiraine's clothing but Rand and Moridin are untouched by it.

20. Carefully moving around the chamber, clinging from rock to rock to keep herself from being pulled into the black hole, Nynaeve finds Alanna behind one of the rocks in the chamber. She's chained to the wall and has a bleeding wound in her side (matching Rand's, perhaps?).

Nynaeve realizes that the reason that Alanna here is to die at some point during Moridin's encounter with Rand, hopefully leaving him vulnerable due to the broken bond and making him easier prey for Moridin (and/or TDO? Though Nynaeve thinks here in terms of making Rand more physically vulnerable, making him more emotionally susceptible to TDO's arguments also seems like a likely motive to me?).

She wonders why Rand didn't notice Alanna's presence -- is he just so used to reflexively ignoring her? Nynaeve is feeling frustrated that she is unable to heal Alanna with the Power, because all her Power is in the link with Rand.

...oh, hey! I bet that's what Rand was feeling earlier! He could feel that someone he was bonded to had gotten hurt but the feeling was weird and he couldn't trace it. I bet that was about Alanna getting stabbed and it was wonky because it happened in the Weird Time Dilation Room.

21. Hmm, Mat is having memory issues. He blames his dice here on when "Egwene gave him control of the armies" but it was Elayne's words to him that triggered this set of rolling dice. We know because we were in his PoV when it happened.

Mat sees an old Andoran man that almost triggers an old memory for him, one of the ones that the dagger stole (it would have been when Rand was taking care of him on the trip to Caemlyn -- another one of the shoes that never quite fell for Mat, characterization-wise, is him getting back his foggy memories. We've seen a time or two that they are still in there, not just in this moment, but also back in Ebou Dar, when he saw the Darkfriend who attacked him and Rand in the stables). Mat actually remembering that everything Rand did to help him during the time he was sick with the dagger seems like one of those things that will inevitably happen post-canon, because the memories are still there, just hiding.

22. When Mat sees "his" Deathwatch guard among the working people here, he compares them to "wolves among the sheep". Mat does see it as a bonus that he was able to pull the armies together and pick his own battlefield but he's still pretty worried about the battle ahead.

Tuon gave Mat a new eyepatch to wear -- bright red. To remind people of the wound underneath? We know that she likes the active reminder to everyone that Mat has been bloodied in battle. Or we do get a reminder that the Deathwatch guards (all slaves) also wear a distinctive shade of red, so it's probably also another badge of her ownership over Mat.

23. When Mat tries to avoid the Deathwatch guard that are coming to "collect" him to be brought to Tuon's tent (the narrative keeps bringing up things that are so reminiscent of Tylin's behavior towards Mat), he runs right into Egwene and a group of Aes Sedai. Also... it's interesting that he thinks of it as "Tuon's tent" and not a tent that they share together.

When he mentions that he's running away from the Deathwatch guard, Egwene tells him that she's glad he's defecting back to the Westlands but the middle of the Last Battle is maybe not the best time. He walks back with Egwene (& Gawyn and Leilwin née Egeanin) back over to the Aes Sedai area of the camp as they talk.

24. Mat says that the reason he's running from the guard is not because he's defecting back to the Westlands but because Tuon wants him to sit in judgement over potential criminals (...in the middle of the Last Battle?). "Anytime a soldier is seeking the Empress's mercy for a crime, I'm supposed to sit in judgement!"

Mat thinks here that he's not going to 'order men to be executed' and, yeah, I keep going back to what Renna said to Egwene, all those books ago. Perhaps you believe that because you are valuable now, you will be allowed license. Or I think back to Mat's worries that Min's "lack of respect" towards Tuon will get her killed.

Because it kinda sounds like it's been made clear to him that "sit in judgement" means "condemn people to death" and that Mat would risk personal punishment if he rules against what Tuon would want him to rule. Is Mat worrying about how hard he can push Tuon without it painfully snapping back on him?

25. He obliquely asks Egwene if they've found 'it' (the Horn of Valere) yet. Hey, Mat, if you were so worried about that, maybe you shouldn't have defected to the Seanchan at the beginning of this book? Just a thought.

Yeah, we get a reminder of how easily Mat rewrites his own memory here when he talks about how he did all the hard work of finding the Horn and the dagger was barely a consideration for him. So for anyone wondering why I keep poking at Mat's professed reasons for doing things and doubting the surface level of what he says -- page 611 of the hardback copy of AMoL:

"It seems nobody can remember straight but me. I hunted down that bloody Horn like a madman. And, I'll mention, it was me blowing the thing that let you all escape Falme*."

"Is that how you remember it?" Egwene asked.

"Sure," Mat said. "I mean, I have some holes in there, but I've pieced it mostly together."

"And the dagger?"

"That trinket? Hardly worth anyone's time." He caught himself reaching to his side, to where he had once carried it.

(* side note: yeah, his mention of this here makes me feel even more sure that he deliberately didn't tell Tuon about Egwene being captured in Falme because he didn't think it was her business. He tells Tuon things on a need-to-know basis only, from what I can see, which feels like it's reflected in the advice that he gave to Min)

26. Egwene Travels them to the top of another location (to further move away from the Deathwatch guard) and Mat takes a moment to notice the grove of trees that Rand grew on the Fields of Merrilor.

[Mat] could feel something pulling on him, tugging him northward. Rand would need him soon.

27. Mat tells Egwene that this will have to be their last stand -- they don't have the supplies for a protracted battle. She says that they just need to hold out long enough for Rand to beat TDO.

But Mat points out that if they are unable to break the Shadow's advance, then they do still lose in some pretty important ways, because the Shadowspawn will flood the lands and kill all the non-combatants. "We can't just survive... we have to win."

We get another moment of Rand tugging on Mat from Shayol Ghul while the dice tumble in his head.

Mat turned northward again. A cool, somehow familiar wind blew across him, rippling his long coat, brushing at his hat. He narrowed his eye. Rand was tugging on him.

Ugh, I feel so cheated by this. Why set this up only to give us such a disappointing conclusion to this thread, Sanderson?

Anyway, the battle starts anew. And Mat successfully avoided being dragged back to Tuon's tent, so congrats to him on that.

Okay, the next chapter is the monster (nearly 200 pages all on its own), so that will be a separate post.

#wot #wheel of time #wot reread #wot book spoilers #wot spoilers #wot amol spoilers #wot a memory of light spoilers #mat cauthon #elayne trakand #seanchan content warning #faile bashere #olver (wheel of time)#next chapter of Voice is postponed until next week #due to covid making it difficult to do the polishing on the chapter that I wanted #but my reread vibe was still strong so there will be two reread posts this week #and we are almost done!

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akutasoda · 1 year

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hello! ^o^ i hope this isn’t too much to ask but I had an idea. I was thinking a little bit of angst with tecchou but not a complete angst, you’ll see hehe. so I was thinking, hunting dogs are in a mission, a very difficult mission and tecchou sacrifices himself in the middle of the mission and thanks to that, hunting dogs win. S/o is depressed and they go back to their camp that they set close to the place of the mission. Days pass after tecchou’s “death” and s/o every night goes so far to the camp and cries out loud and one day, before they go back to hq, she’s doing her routine of crying for tecchou all night and suddenly he appears in front of her, he didn’t die! He almost die but for a miracle he could escape! And then she cries louder hugging him🧍🏻‍♀️I hope is good enough for you

never do that again

synopsis - all this time you thought he had died a sacrifice but maybe this wasn't a cruel trick

includes - tecchou

warnings - gn!reader, angst to slight comfort, mention of blood and injury, crying, wc - 1k

a/n: hello! no idea is too much! i love to see all the ideas in my inbox, sometimes i think they're better tha mine haha

quite a few people would agree that dating a co-worker truly never worked out. especially with a job such as yours and your boyfriend's. however the difference for you two was that you both were well aware of the risks but had the confidence that it would work out no matter what issue was presented.

even when it came to balancing your shared personal life with the shared worklife it never really affected the relationship, and not to credit yourselves to much but you both reconned that you handled it very well.

that being said, issues were going to arise one way or another. it just so happened that this one was particularly damaging. an issue had arised quite far away and had led to the involvement of the hunting dogs as a last resort. this meant you and your co-workers would have to be set up elsewhere for a short period of time while the issue was resolved.

there was no big deal initially for anyone, you all reconned that ot eould go smoothly and be back in no time. however it seemed the description of the mission only scratched the surface of the issue. leading to a longer stay and a much dreaded bloody conflict.

no ome expected it to result in a rather violent resolve. but there was no changing that. and tecchou had understood pretty quickly that if he saw an opportunity to end this as quickly as possible he would do so, no matter the consequences. to keep you safe and to ensure justice was enforced. and he saw an opportunity, a less than favourable one but again it was an opportunity. he successfully had managed to leave an opportunity for you and your fellow hunting dogs to swifly win the battle but to you, it was not worth it.

you had finished the battle in an anger consumed state. your mind clouded over with sadness and rage at having witnessed tecchou, the love of your life, sacrifice himself in the middle of the battle. seeing his bloody, presumed, lifeless corpse had broke something within you. but the battle had meant no one had time to retrieve him. this further upset you. with the post-battle clarity washing over, you you melted into a puddle of tears.

your colleagues looked upon you in sorrow and had to escort you back to get you to safety instead of the battlefield. and back at the temporary camp, they left you be as they knew you had to get it out your system. they did offer support but you were too distraught to listen. sealing yourself in your area and crying your heart out and the loss of your loved one. your colleagues hearts couldn't help but feel your sorrow aswell when they heard you sobbing late into the night.

days had passed, not that you noticed however. your eyes were puffy from crying and you looked like a mess but you hardly cared. tecchou's death had lead to the hunting dogs swiftly clearing up the rest of the mission, letting you grieve. and before you knew it one of them informed you that it was over and you would be returning in the morning. you hardly cared. tecchou was dead and nothing felt real anymore.

however, tecchou wasn't dead. he had awoke a few hours had passed from the battle - he thought it was a few hours when in reality it had been a couple of days. the moon shone brightly above him as he hoisted himself up, steadying himself as his head spun from blood loss. now if it were anyone else they would've died ages ago, but thanks to the enhancements given to hunting dogs he had lived. as he glanced around the area he remembered what had happened, his eyes widening realising that after all this time you all probably thought he was dead. and upon this realisation he tried to quickly find base camp to assure them he wasn't dead, more specifically you.

you couldn't sleep at all, even worse than previous nights. and you thought maybe if you too a quick walk you could have another good cry, this time without disturbing your colleagues, then maybe by the time you got back you would sleep. you slowly walked around feeling tears start dripping down your cheeks. you were so lost on what you would do without tecchou, how you could just go back to your normalish life. as you were deep in thought you spotted a figure in the distance.

a figure that looked suspiciously like your deceased lover, your mind probably was playing tricks - how cruel you thought, bitterly chuckling to yourself. the shadow kept moving forwards, seemingly limping and the closet it got the more confused you became. until the figure got close enough to make out every single featire of your lover. was this a trick? you stood stunned, as tecchou stared back. how desperately he wanted yo pull you into an embrace but he knew you probably were in disbelief.

so he painfully opened his arms to gesture you into believing he was infact still alive and standing in front of you to embrace. you still thought it was a trick but you felt inclined to believe it was real. even if this was a trick maybe you could indulge yourself for the last time. cautiously returning the embrace, you realised this was in fact real. your lover wasn't dead and was now infact embracing you in the tightest hug. at this fact you couldn't help but feel your body wrack with sobs. crying into his figure as he only comforted you, reminding you that he wasn't dead and that he loved you dearly.

#x reader #x gender neutral reader #bsd x reader #bsd x gender neutral reader #bungo stray dogs x reader #bungo stray dogs x you #bsd x you #bsd tecchou #tecchou x reader

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braskide · 1 month

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i know in main verse / by default i have previously stated that i headcanon that summoners cannot have children ( i have to write a longer explaination to why i hc that but the tl;dr is i think yevon would take away this ' privilege ' from them the moment they become summoners so they do not backtrack and refuse to go through with the final summoning / killing sin because they could become scared in the face of having a child / family so they reduce the risk of having summoners not do their job ) but. what if in a verse where she becomes seymour's wife and they have a child and. he dies — she probably actually kills him still. somewhat. with anima's help? they never blame her though. they try to come for her ass but she has learned from him so much that it's almost impossible to catch her lacking. and her child ( a boy? or children. hm ! ) becomes the next maester in his stead and it kinda terrorizes all of spira because now there's like just a mini seymour running around but like. improved. and she's so guilty because she wanted to free him from the fate of having to become his successor but instead seymour really taught him so well / or never really loved him properly and he wants to make him proud somehow ? ???? follow the footsteps. become better than him. prove a point? you know. generational trauma repeating!!! !!! just like jyscal and seymour. actually sh*ot me! !!!!

#wishlist tag.#:sob: !!!!!!#i'm projecting major alicent vibes onto her.. ......#h*td brainrot.... ....#anyways BEAR WITH ME BEAR WITH ME.. ...#me writing all types of ideas for verses but not sitting down to write / roleplay.... ...#:standing_man_emoji:

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soleiltac · 1 year

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Okay, recently I found out the information from Disney Wiki that AUTO from WALL-E is the only non-sentient robot in the movie. And I don't feel like that. :(

I am aware that he is meant to be an antagonist, the "villain" of the story as he follows his directives like there's no tomorrow. But, I didn't think this trait should define ALL of his personality. Like, he clearly had emotions and showed them in a restrained way. Or at least I thought he did?

I decided to rewatch it.

Warning: spoilers, potential grammar, punctuation mistakes. Excuse me, english is hard!

***

Why do I think AUTO is a sentient robot? My observations.

• Every bot on this ship is capable of emotions, when why an intelligent steering wheel isn't?

• Well, why, he actually has them! You can tell it by his body language and a tone of deep synthesized voice.

He expresses:

1. Frustration, annoyance.

- "CAPTNNNNN D:" – AUTO said calmly.

2. Surprise.

- He is genuinely shocked to see WALL•E with 'the p l a n t' on his head. I actually laughed at his reaction.

- "n ot pos sible! 0:" every now and when.

3. He is persistent and blutantly stubborn. Strict on himself. Some people can be like that without any directives.

- Captain McCrea needed to give AUTO 'a stern look' for him to share the information about directive. AUTO reluctantly obliged. (At least he tried to reason with Captain.)

- "sir, i INSIST you give me the plant." (Dutch Van der Linde voice here: "he INSISTS...")

- (And the whole plot obviously.)

4. Anger, fear. McCrea: – You want it? Come and get it, blinky.

Auto: – N O.

- "E N ouGh" 😡 *flips the ship around impulsively*

- "NOT POSSIBLE D:" but with more panicking tone.

- "NoOOo..." when he gets deactivated.

• The whole sequence with manual is... interesting.

- At this point of the story AUTO ordered GO-4 to steal the plant from EVE to make her look defective in Captain's eyes.

- I felt how much AUTO and McCrea are tired of each other's presence. AUTO is patiently anticipating McCrea's attention, he is eager to do his job.

(- Captain tries to imitate jogging in his seat and AUTO for some reason looks at him with puzzled and uncertain look. )

- AUTO keeps pretending like he doesn't know anything...

• Which is actually not a common thing for robots. "Lying is a human emotion." (c) HAL 9000

And yes, hiding the truth is considered to be lying too.

It's not like he was instructed to lie by his superiors, they didn't care. But rather it's the tactic that he learnt while being active for 700 years. I bet he understands it would be much easier to secretly yeet the plant into space without bothering captain with a decision. I suppose it required some thinking in his mechanical brain.

When why does he show the captain an operation manual? Good question. My personal headcanon: he loves doing his job so much, it doesn't matter for him if it can increase risks towards his global goal. That is why I can tell it wasn't a programmed, logical decision of the machine. If non-sentient perfect AUTO knew about A-113, he wouldn't let captain see the possibility at all. He hasn't considered that his domestic human pet might get interested in whole "Earth" thing. And he hasn't considered sentient WALL•E and EVE as serious obstacles. He did a crucial mistake to satisfy his ego... Or... Or maybe not? It's a headcanon, after all. Maybe it was a part of protocol. Or maybe he tried to entertain McCrea. AUTO seems to care about him in some way as he didn't push him out off the power until the last moment. (uwu) Choose whatever you like more. It's a thought-provoking subject.

• That aside, have you noticed that there is not a single character in the movie who would not be terrified of having to leave the comfort zone? It's only AUTO, who is opposing this idea for the sake of survival. Recolonizing nearly-dead Earth is not an easy work, someone can get really hurt and, well, die. And knowing that AUTO is based on famous computer HAL 9000, who is, in fact, killed people because of his panic attack (he didn't want to be deactivated/murdered), this situation kinda gets a new meaning? It's an interesting perspective to look at AUTO's character, too. AUTO, like HAL, at the start of story was okay and non-hostile towards others. Eventually, as the story progresses, AUTO becomes more and more impatient, eager to complete his primary task, thus taking violent measures. In AUTO's eye WALL•E & EVE are rogue robots anyway, defected and dispatchable. But attacking the captain? AUTO's final step to AI "madness" was fighting the man he is designed to serve. And though I believe he wouldn't kill him, we can imagine AUTO was panicking at this moment. So, no programmed logic there either, pure emotion of fear and reckless behaviour, almost like HAL. And HAL is 100% sentient and conscious entity.

*** Well...

Maybe it's just me and my anthropomorphizing tendencies on non-living fictional objects. I can be self-projecting too much, so if you disagree, let's say it's my headcanons and leave that at that. After all, AUTO is a direct representation of BnL – heartless company, that destroyed life on Earth and continued destroying it in space. They made humans, their customers, helpless like babies! And I am afraid it could only be worse in the future, if it wasn't for WALL•E and EVE.

It's quite a tragedy that AUTO can't escape from this never-ending system of least resistance and comfort. He is the system. He is made to be an autopilot of Axiom, he IS the Axiom, programmed to do his job fully dedicated to the mission of saving mankind. And if he was really fully-sentient... well, it would've made his life even more miserable. What's the use of the steering wheel on Earth surface? It's not like they are gonna fly into space again. Captain's dead and woah, hello eternal loneliness, next generation forgets about your existence or decides to ignore it like a bad memory about containment. Even AUTO's closest henchman GO-4 is forever destroyed... *sigh*

I am overthinking too much, aren't I? Gosh, this wheel NEEDS a redemption arc. And friends. My heart bleeds for him, really.

#AUTO is a sentient being #with poor life choices #nevertheless #give him a chance to be nice #I made it angsty in the end #analysis?#text #wall e #wall e auto #my thoughts #ai

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liedownquisition · 4 months

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One thing that frustrates me sometimes is that the premise of the original RHATO team joining up together would not... take a lot to be made into something actually decent. Respect for the characters, really. Keep Kori's amnesia, keep Roy's isolation, but nudge the script a little:

Jason is vaguely familiar to Kori, because canonically they DID meet at least once when he was Robin (ignoring n52's everything tbh, the continuity still confuses me sometimes esp when some writers couldnt decide whether ot not 52 was a reboot or if they were going to keep referencing prior shit), but she doesn't remember, just has vague vibes and maybe he can help her with that if they knew each other? And Jason could try to help with what he can but he barely knew her, really. He's agonized bcs the only person he knows who might maybe help is Dick and he's Very Deliberately Estranged from the Bats.

Enter a tip from Talia. Maybe Jason reached out asking about the Titans, maybe she knows where he is and came to the conclusion that interacting with non-Bat heroes that he had a decently positive relationship before his death would be beneficial to him.

Roy's been off-grid since some time after Lian's death, pushing away everyone and deliberately running headfirst into things that could kill him. They're planning to televise his execution, but don't want to risk him getting rescued before that, but they can't hide from her spies. It solves a lot of problems then, doesn't it? Jason and Kori rescue him and he can help her with her memories and/or get her back in touch with the rest of their old team to help and Jason doesn't have to deal with any Bats himself.

But then they don't leave.

Kori's pretty content as she is, with people who know and have been helping her. Her memory loss isn't exactly life-threatening or anything and she's not in any hurry. Roy took one look at the two of them and came to the conclusion that he could help here, help both of them, and they won't judge him for what he's done or try to force him to reconnect with anyone before he was ready to face them/reality (if ever).

And Jason? Jason's a wounded animal snapping at anyone and anything that tries to come too close and covering up his own issues by fucking with shitty ppl & ruining their day. It's a bit of a challenge to make him chill out, but neither of the other two are afraid of that and he's already done all this to help them so why not return the favor?

Jason's the "leader", not because he's more qualified to lead a team but because he needs the feeling of being in control. There's only three of them and there's enough power & experience between them to compensate if anything goes off the rails & Roy's fluent enough in Bat from all his history with Dick to nudge Jason a little to the left if he has to. It's halfway between babysitting and a vacation.

(Amusingly this gave me the mental image of Roy & Kori in beach gear slurping colorful mocktails and Jason running around on an adult-sized child leash.)

You could even keep Roy/Kori, build it up slightly more, ect., ect. Just make it an actual relationship & not turning Kori into a sex doll lmao. I mean they were friends! Even without Dick they were friends with Each Other! & sometimes friendships can get sexual or turn into relationships!

None of this fixes like the racism & such in a bunch of the plot but that's a speech for whole different post I think, and I'm honestly not sure if I've got the chops to redesign all that. At the very least, it would be too big of a distraction from everything else I'm already easily distracted from working on lmao.

#Ax rants #I remember being really excited about the idea of rhato's lineup and then so disappointed by the execution I stopped reading comics #not too long after (it was combined with a few other disappointments and life situations tbh but still. It's prominent in my mind)#Also fuck the “bro code” it's demeaning. Sometimes you run in similar circles for a REASON & it takes a few tries #Its only when you MAKE it weird which Lobdell kinda did that it's a problem. Or like. Cheating but that's different and super irrelevant #Not opposed to joyfire tbh I'd even tolerate jaykori if they made it less weirdly written. But I'm more dickkori shipper tbh #Dc #Mostly writing this post bcs I'm not going to write the fic but I might make like a couple fics “within” this premise eventually

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pomplalamoose · 11 months

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To go with your Luke’s SO on their period headcanons, I raise you: traveling around with post-ROTJ Luke for Force artifacts as a fellow Jedi or traveling with the OT crew when your period hits (I have PMDD, so severe mental and physical symptoms two weeks before the period, then awful periods physically) and him determined to take care of you, even if you’re not together yet (he maybe enlists Leia to give him more helpful info?).

OOOOH yes that's a great addition!🫶🏻

Here are some of my thoughts in no particular order because I'm at work and have to be sneaky lmao (and also I really hope you'll feel better soon xx)

For anyone interested, here's the original post

• no matter which Luke we're talking about or at what point your relationship currently is, he always wants to help and be there for you

• he'd be so concerned

• he'd immediately notice you're seriously struggling with something, it doesn't matter if it's physically or mentally or both

• if the two of you are already a thing he'll talk to you about it of course but otherwise?

• he wants to be very respectful and not push you into talking about intimate topics you may not be comfortable with

• after all he has no idea about how this is handled where you are from

• maybe it's just not spoken about with friends or the opposite gender?

• how is he supposed to know?

• he would definitely ask Leia not only about her own experiences to better understand what you're going through but also about where to best get more information and how she thinks he could or should take care of you

• (he may have tried that with Han first but I don't think he'd be much help lol)

• but he doesn't want to pry or, if you're traveling with the OT crew, put you on the spot in front of the others

• so he may even wait some time to see if you come to him first or speak up at your own accord

• when you don't, he can't hold himself back much longer and approaches you during a quiet moment to ask what's wrong

• whether you give him a straight forward answer or tell him you're doing okay is up to you

• (quite possibly you don't want to burden anyone with this and try to keep your suffering to yourself?)

• but I think he'd be a little bit hurt when you end up lying to him

• that won't stop him from worrying and asking you about it again though

• actually quiet the opposite would happen

• he'd keep a secret eye out for you anyways

• most importantly he wants to make sure you're eating and drinking enough

• he also offers to take more frequent breaks for you to rest

• he gives up his bunk or bed roll for you if he thinks it's more comfortable than yours

• he makes up tasks to get you out of irritating or overstimulating situations or straight up motions for you to leave the room when things turn hectic

• he tells Han to shut up when he teases you about being sensitive (or about anything really)

• however he won't accept you outright avoiding him

• you will be taken care of, if you like it or not and he'll tell you so

• I think he'd get pretty worked up about it too, after all you're important to him!

• it's then that you might actually talk about what's been going on and you get all the reassurance you could possibly need

• he would never think of taking care of you as too much work or it taking too much effort

• he infiltrated the Death Star and risked his life for someone he didn't even know at the time and you think helping you through a hard time would be too bothersome for him? Oh PLEASE

• bonus thought while we're on the topic: take a look at this

• that's something Luke would do once you are in a committed relationship, like I can genuinely see him doing that and it's beautiful

#ask #luke skywalker #luke skywalker x reader #luke skywalker x you #luke star wars #star wars #star wars fanfiction #fanfic #star wars headcanons #star wars a new hope #star wars empire strikes back #star wars return of the jedi

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holylulusworld · 1 year

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Aahp (4) - Four is better than one

Summary: You end up being a pawn.

Pairing: Mobster!Andy Barber x fem!Reader, Mobster!Nick Fowler x fem!Reader, Mobster!Steve Rogers x fem!Reader, Mobster!Bucky Barnes x fem!Reader

Warnings: angst, mentions of character’s death, mafia business

A/N: *Pookie = is a term of endearment for someone or something that you care about deeply in your life.

Angel and her protectors masterlist

<< Part 3

“Y/N needs us to keep her family safe. We don’t want innocent bystanders to get hurt only as we involved their daughter in our business,” Nick points at you sleeping soundly on the bed. “I promised to keep them safe.”

“Consider it done,” Andy says as Steve and Bucky enter the room. “Two of our men are going to keep an eye on her family. I’ll make a few calls.”

Steve huffs when Nick sits on the bed to run his hand over your head. “We got bad news, and shitty news, gentlemen. Which one do you want to hear first?”

“Bad news,” Nick says as he leans over you to press a soft kiss on your hair. “But not so loud. Pookie needs her sleep.”

“She doesn’t need a daddy,” Bucky tuts. “You know that she doesn’t like it.”

“Did you spy on us?” Nick gets up from the bed to size his brother up. He jabs his index finger into Bucky’s chest and squares his jaw. “Did you? Huh? Are you perving on my girl now?”

“She’s not your girl,” Andy corrects. “And we should stop focusing on Y/N and talk about more serious things. Steve, would you please fill us in?

“Harlan is dead. It looks like Ransom finally got rid of the old man. His allies believe we are behind Harlan’s death.”

“That’s the bad news. What about the shitty news?” Andy already gets his phone out. He needs to make a few calls. If people believe they are behind the hit on Harlan, they are done for.

“Ransom is taking over his grandfather’s empire,” Bucky chuckles humorlessly. “Can you believe this? The old man built an empire only for that piece of shit to take it over.”

“Question is. What are we going to do now?” Nick starts to pace the room. He huffs and mutters as his brother sits next to you on the bed. “Bucky, hands of Pookie.”

“What? I only tried to have a good look at her,” Bucky grunts at his brother. “You are all over her all the time. Give me the chance to get to know her better too.”

“We need to prove to Harlan’s allies and his men that we are not behind the hit on Harlan. It should be easy because according to my informer inside Harlan’s organization, Ransom was the last one seeing Harlan alive,” Steve shrugs as everyone stares at him.

“You’ve got an informer within Harlan’s organization and never thought about telling us so?” Andy grunts. “This would’ve been very helpful to know.”

“What? They didn’t want me to tell anyone, Andy. My little rat is risking their life. I will try to meet up with them tonight. Maybe we can get our hands on the footage. I know that old bastard hid cameras at his office.”

“I don’t like that you are hiding things from us, Steve. We are partners. And we are brothers,” Andy grits out. “No more secrets from now on.”

“You shouldn’t meet up with your informer on your own. Let me come with you,” Bucky suggests. “We can’t trust anyone at the moment.”

“You’ll take three of our men with you too. For backup. You know, I don’t want to lose my brother or one of my partners,” Nick smirks darkly. “Even though, I do not like it when you touch my Pookie.”

“Do we believe that Rogers and his little friends killed Harlan?” Alexander Pierce looks around the room, at his confidants. “I was asking you a question.”

“No,” Fury grunts. He’s just done sitting in a room with his business partners. It’s damn hot in the room. “Rogers and the others are young and reckless. Not stupid. We all know his useless grandson was the last one talking to Harlan.”

“Agreed,” Pierce nods thoughtfully. He folds his hands on the table, and hums. “What do we want to do about it now? We can accept Ransom as the new head of Harlan’s organization and use him against Rogers and the others.”

“Or we can stand up against Ransom and find strong allies in Rogers and the others,” Fury throws in. “We should not start another war, Pierce. You know that. Ransom is an ant, and we should squish it with our boot.”

“It’s not that easy, Fury.”

“We both know war comes with a price,” Fury insists. He runs his index finger over his eyepatch. Reminding Pierce all of them lost something on their way to the top. “You should always remember the past.”

Alexander waves Fury’s concern off. He shrugs and continues with his plans to use Ransom. “He can help us bring the others down. After he’s done, we will get rid of Ransom too.”

“It’s your funeral, Alexander,” Nick plays is it cool. “If you want to do it the hard way, we can use Ransom. Let’s talk to him after the funeral.”

“About damn time, Nick,” Steve whispers as Fury enters his car. Nick huffs as he sits in the backseat. “What took you so long?”

“Pierce and the others know you are not behind the hit,” Fury begins.

Steve nods. “Good. Then they know the truth.”

“They don’t give a shit about the truth. Pierce wants to use Ransom to bring you and the others down. You know, shit is going to hit the fan soon enough. We all should reconsider where we are standing.”

“Pierce is out for blood. Harlan is dead. Ransom is the worst possible replacement,” Bucky grumbles from the passenger seat. “What are we going to do now?”

Part 5

Tags in reblog.

#Aahp (4) - Four is better than one #steve rogers #bucky barnes #nick fowler #andy barber #steve rogers x reader #andy barber x reader #nick fowler x reader #bucky barnes x reader #mafia au

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purple-link · 10 days

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Alisaie and Purple Link

FFXIV Write 2024 Story Entry

Spoiler: Story takes place after WoL reaches Garlemald in Endwalker, but but before the Tower of Babil dungeon. Story will be largely sfw, but will adhere to FFXIV's level of mature storytelling.

youtube

Chapter 11: Surrogate

♫Naelc ot evil swish-swish aroo!♪

In the silence of the cave, she thought very deeply about the center of the planet. She thought very deeply about the center of the moon. She thought very, very deeply about the reflections of the Source, and what tidings they held.

They had only gone to the First reflection, she thought, that band of miscreants. Risking their life, to perform good deeds and help people on a version of the planet that was not necessarily theirs.

What little solace she could take away from the fact that her daughter was still alive, after all that, still seemed to be shadowed under the implications of the task.

After all was said and done, she thought, the troubles that plagued the First reflection was only a brief glimpse into a different world, a fraction of about thirteen different shards, the source being the fourteenth.

There had been seven rejoinings in all, and the destruction of those worlds meant that every single soul on it perished.

She shed a single tear, but to many who knew her, it might as well have been full-on bawling.

The sadness that crept along her spine and her staff didn’t stop her from recognizing that there were some people who were going to suffer based on the actions of those with ill intent.

She knew that one person wasn’t going to be enough to turn the tide, let alone a whole crew of Scions, who were ready to give their lives for people they had never met.

But she wept anyway, understanding that, even as cynical as she could be, she wasn’t as heartless as to wish to deny people their lives, just because they lived on different versions of your world.

She wondered who they were, on the other reflections, what they were like.

She thought of each reflection, having the time to get up as far as eleven, feeling that events there were familiar, but not quite as similar as they were in the Source.

♫Sseltops gnihtyreve ekam swish-siwsh aroo!♪

She got as far noticing the possibility of those in other reflections coming to visit the Source, not just that of the First reflection called the Warriors of Darkness, when she noticed a group of five walking into the cave.

While she didn’t smile at the sight of Y’shtola, she felt her spirit soaring upon noticing.

“Master Matoya,” said Y’shtola, after finally reaching the table sitting in the center of the cave, “It has been too long.”

…

Sitting underneath the ruins of Sharlayan, in the Dravanian Hinterlands, Purple Link and the Wolf Burglar explained their situation to the elderly woman

She was standing hunched over and holding a staff, but her most defining feature was the huge purple hat that she often wore. Even if it looked heavy, it didn’t seem to weigh on her head in the slightest.

No, the reason why she was so hunched over was because of all her experiences weighing her down. She pondered the question, thoughtfully.

“Interesting,” said Matoya, “So, in order to feel more comfortable in your skin, you asked the Warrior of Light how comfortable he felt in his.”

“Uh…in a nutshell, I guess?” said the Wolf Burglar, “It does feel like I’m out of place in the world. If I want to see this ceremony performed successfully, I want to make sure the people I work with don’t have any compunctions. We’re going to be doing things and going to a lot of places a lot of people wouldn’t risk.”

“If this were a matter of personality quirks, I wouldn’t even be humoring this,” said Master Matoya, “I would think the two of you had something better to do than accuse one another of duplicity.”

The Wolf Burglar gulped, but he tried to keep his cool. He was an excellent agent, and he tended to keep his wits about him in a crisis.

However, the old lady was watching him. It seemed as if she was the only person who noticed his moment of weakness.

♫Gnivil raelc wodniw raelc swish-swish-aroo!♪

“I wish there was another way,” said Purple Link, “But unfortunately, we don’t even have a place to start. We have one artifact, but the location escapes us.

"Everything’s being kept under covers, until we can reach our destination and perform our duties, and the question of integrity is up in the air.

“I have found myself turning against friends I’ve had since forever,” said Purple Link, “and I’m beginning to have doubts myself. If I can discover the truth of the Phial of Fantasia for myself, maybe it’ll be a better place to start than we have right now.”

Matoya went up close to Purple’s face, as close as to shove her head up close to his, right up to the brim underneath her hat.

She stared right into his eyes. They were light-blue and slitted.

“You’re a Lost Hrothgar, aren’t you?” said Matoya, “Tell me, did you select this avatar because you felt a kinship with their kind, or did you just like the way that it looked?”

Purple Link didn’t answer right away. He was often put off his rocker by the old lady, but suddenly the invasion of personal space meant she was done wasting time.

“Excuse me,” said Alphinaud, “You make it sound like he selected it from a list, like a book off a shelf.”

“That’s exactly what I’m describing, my lad,” said Matoya, “I remember this young man. He was much smaller and much less hairier. I can’t begin to understand why you would want more hair, must make summers living hells.”

Purple Link furrowed his brow. He was fond of Master Matoya, but her demeanor could be off-putting. She tended to be abrasive, and put in no uncertain terms that what you were fighting for was demonstrably not worth it.

Purple Link, on the other hand, often begged to differ.

“That’s up for me to decide, isn’t it?” said the purple Hrothgar, “I’m more than willing to accept the consequences for my decisions.”

“As you have proven,” said Matoya, “But you you’re not the kind to think about your decisions, either, take the time. You very obviously rushed into this.”

“I didn’t have a lot of time,” said Purple Link, “I have other things to worry about besides saving the planet.”

“As you should,” said Matoya, “Obviously, a lot was asked of you, from the lowly peasant oppressed by the Empire to the Mother Crystal Herself.

"You should be allowed to make your own decisions and take the time to progress through your story on your own. Anyone else expecting you to do the job they can’t falls short of exploitation.”

“Master Matoya, if you please,” said Alphinaud, sounding very serious, “The tasks we ask the Warrior of Light to perform are no small challenges, and he could have refused at any time. He did not–”

“You mean he could not–”

“We are not taskmasters!” said Alphinaud, “We do not intend to force our way of lives onto others, and I am not in the business of pushing everyone I’ve considered a friend into overly uncomfortable situations.

"Including Purple Link, everyone I’ve ever asked for help has done so of their own accord."

Matoya stared severely at the young Elezen, and Alphinaud felt as if his walls crumbled into dust then and there.

She was accusing him of the kind of control of power that was demanded of all from Garlemald, and yet when she stared at him with such accusation, he found it difficult to deny he also couldn't be guilty of it.

He silenced himself, and looked away guiltily.

“If you aren’t here to take my business seriously, I suggest you take your grievances and leave,” said Matoya, “I sympathize with your dilemma, and I will do everything I can to certify your existence, but I will not have my experiences made a mockery of by an upstart who wasn’t even alive when I was given my Archon.”

Alphinaud looked away, frowning and looking upset. He didn’t speak again for a while. Matoya turned her head back to Purple Link.

“You do not owe anybody anything, not even to me,” said Matoya, “In fact, I owe you, several times over, for saving my daughter. Knowing what befell her in the First reflection makes me grateful, and I couldn’t be more proud of the two of you.”

“I…Thank you?” said Purple Link, anxiously.

“But just because I do this for you, doesn’t mean I’m a pushover, y’hear?” said Matoya, holding the staff dangerously over his head, “I want you to recognize that your actions are your own, and not the machinations of the Scions or of Hydaelyn herself.

"However, I also want you to recognize that just because you go fannying about in other parts of the planet and trying to save everybody, doesn’t give you the right to treat these matters with triviality.”

“Master Matoya,” said Purple Link, sounding quite serious, “When I changed into a Hrothgar, I was completely serious. I didn’t even hesitate once I found a form I liked.”

“Again, you make it sound like browsing a shop,” said Alisaie, “How easy could it be to change your shape?”

“Quite easily, I have to say,” said Matoya, “If you remember, the heavily tempered of those that surround their primals, their aether can change their form in drastic ways.

"There were even people in Dravania that willingly drank the blood of dragons, so that they could take their form and fight against their own.”

“Such was the terror of the Dragonsong War,” said Alisaie, “As we have learnt.”

“This isn’t unheard of magic,” said Matoya, “In fact, such practices have been in use for countless millennia.

"Aether, when manipulated in just the right ways, can alter the appearance of an individual to such a degree that they are unrecognizable from the situations of their birth.

"However, such manipulations require a great deal of power, and mana, as we evidently do not have the ability to reshape aether like clay, as the Ascians did.”

“Such knowledge was lost when the Ascians were destroyed in the Final Days,” said Alisaie, “Very few survived that could perform magic at that level.”

“I’m sorry, but this is going waaay above my head,” said the Wolf Burglar, “Are you saying that the Lifestream isn’t just the flow of water, but it’s molecules as well?”

“Finally, someone who paid attention in class,” said Matoya, smiling, “Honestly, you could go to the Studium for the rest of your life, and still not get the most basic of principles.”

“Pretentious witch,” said Alphinaud, in his corner. Matoya smiled quite indulgently.

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” said Matoya, “We often spoke negatively about our professors, but it didn’t mean they lost our respect.”

“I’d say it’s pushing it when the professor is the kind to kick a student out of their class over a minor incorrect answer,” said Alisaie, “But I could agree with that.”

“Standards are higher for you than they were for me,” said Matoya, “Back then, we thought we were so smart, jumping from place to place, like Garlemald, pretending to be like them and making settlements without asking.

"The sharp contrast after our exodus made it clear just how wrong we were.

“But where were we?” said Matoya, suddenly changing the subject, “I believe you wanted me to examine your aether?”

“You can do that?” asked the Wolf Burglar, “I mean no disrespect, but this lady can literally only see in aether.”

“Yes, but who do you think taught her how to do that?” said Matoya, “If manipulating aether was as easy as breathing, we would all be as deft as the Ascians. As it stands, we have to start from scratch, and being able to see aether after taking the time to learn the skill is pretty damn good after so long, don’t you think?”

“Quite,” said the Wolf Burglar, “If you could shine a light onto this subject, I would really appreciate it.”

“Fine,” said Matoya, “Purple Link, I only have one question I want to ask you.”

“I…yes, what is it?”

♫Eros era seltsirb ym sdog swish-swish-aroo!♪

“You were born a miqo’te,” said Matoya, “Why did you want to change your species? And please, don’t give me the answer you give everybody, I want the truth.”

Purple Link looked at Alisie nervously for a minute. She put a hand on his shoulder and nodded.

She was there for him, he thought, he was going to share this with her. Maybe it wouldn’t be so scary to explain with Alisaie around.

“So…I had been playing around with this idea for a while,” began Purple Link, “I don’t have to remind everyone that Hrothgar hadn’t been around that much at the beginning.”

“Try none at all,” said Matoya, “It was until recently that treaties had been signed and agreements have been struck so that they could travel and walk freely within our borders. It’s not a far shot to say they’re a recent inductee.”

“Yes, that is a bit intrigue,” said Alphinaud, whose curiosity shook him out of his fume, “All I can remember at the earliest was being amongst miqo’te, and that’s about as far as it went. Even if you were a lalafell, you weren’t out of place.”

“And we’ve had spoken before,” said Alisaie, “But none had ever been so-called ‘qualified’ to receive Hydaelyn’s blessing.”

“I’m not holding my breath,” said the Wolf Burglar, “We Lupin have been doing just fine on our own, and I think many of my race would say much the same.”

“But I remember Purple Link,” argued Alisaie, “He was there from the beginning, all the way from Ishgard. Even if I do remember his previous form, I see him mostly as a Hrothgar. I had almost forgotten he had a previous form.”

“Was it the discovery?” said Alphinaud, “Or, was it the news that they had joined our population? This is all becoming rather mysterious.”

“Hang on!” said Alisaie, “That means, whatever family troubles you had were with Miqo’te, not Hrothgar!”

“Good guess,” said Purple Link, “But believe it or not, I loved my family. It was home that I wanted to leave. I eventually found myself in Ul’dah, and the rest, as they say is history.”

“But that wasn’t enough for you, was it?” said Matoya, “Eventually, you found out the new home you arrived at was also not to your liking. You sought a change, began living in Limsa Lominsa, and took up with those marauders, the Maelstrom.”

“What can I say?” said Purple Link, “I’m a cat of the sea.”

“No, you are a man,” said Matoya, “Or at least, you were born a man. It doesn't really matter to me, what really matters is what you wanted.”

“Yes…” said Purple Link, in shock, “Yes! That’s precisely it!”

“Wait, so you wanted to be a spoken?” asked the Wolf Burglar, “I hate that title, by the way, isn’t there a better name you could call differing species?”

“Generally,” said Alisaie, “We call them ‘friends.’”

“Or if not friends,” said Purple Link, “Then at least family.”

Matoya looked at everyone in turn. She looked perturbed, but the stoic expression on Y’shotla’s face suggested she looked like that all the time.

Eventually, Matoya began to grin.

“I don’t often express it, but I love my family,” said Matoya, “When you can look past a person’s race and see them for who they truly are, the differences aren’t that stark.

"I would imagine that would be coloring your appreciation for the Garleans now, would they?”

“The Garleans are in an awful position right now,” said Purple Link, without hesitation, “It would be a waste of my skills and my kindness to turn them away just because their suffering hadn’t matched ours.

"It’s not fair to make that comparison, and I refuse to turn a blind eye to them.”

“I stand corrected,” said Matoya, “You are a good man.”

Matoya asked Purple Link to lie down on a cave ledge nearby. She approached and put her hand over his chest. He was confused about this for a minute, until he realized they were beginning to glow.

“Um…” said Purple Link, “What…are you…is she doing?”

He turned to Y’shtola, who folded her arms.

“I haven’t the slightest,” said the white-haired miqo’te, no visible reaction, “She hasn’t shown me this trick yet.”

“Aether is indiscriminate,” said Matoya, “In today’s world, it would not see the difference between one’s tail and another one’s pointed ears.

"However, the matter of one’s birth leaves an imprint that’s easy to detect, if you know how, but after that, it’s up to the person how they want to live their lives.

“It’s the anchor that allows one to determine how far one travels along aether,” said Matoya, “It leaves a distinctive trail, and it makes it easy to figure out how an individual has come.

"It’s how we were able to find you in the First, or rather, the lack of you here.”

“Yes, aether is quite a unique property,” said Y’shtola, “And quite difficult to materialize. We had to produce vessels for not only our souls, but also our aether, just to return to our bodies.”

“When you fell in the Lifestream,” said Matoya, “You became permanently attached to your anchor. The kind of changes Purple Link made are impossible to make because your aether, for just a brief second, became indiscriminate. You effectively died, for one small second.”

Y’shtola lowered her head, looking anxious. Matoya peered over at the white-haired miqo'te and smiled at her, getting her attention.

“You remember, when you were young,” said Matoya, “And you were so fussy? You wanted to go out and play, just like a normal child, but I had you studying inside, and you pouted.”

“‘Fussy?’” said Alphinaud, “‘Pouting?’ Doesn’t sound like the Y’shtola we know.”

“Alphinaud, you and I are going to have a talk later,” threatened Y’shtola.

“I thought to myself,” said Matoya, “‘What a little brat that girl is going to grow up to be.’”

“I’m sorry, ‘grow up to be?’” said Y’shtola, “I don’t recall ever acting untowards lately.”

“Not true,” said Alisie, and the evil grin on her face prompted Y’shtola to want a talk with her as well, “Remember that time you were in Azim Steppe and you called the leader of the Oronir Tribe a ‘little sun.’”

Everyone had a fresh guffaw, except Y’shtola and Matoya, the latter of whom wasn't told what happened at the time. However, she ended up smiling greedily anyway.

“Sounds familiar,” said Matoya, “Louisoix and I would trade a million names before we settled on an agreement, and after a time, they became terms of endearment.”

She concentrated a little too long on Purple Link.

“Did I ever tell you,” said Matoya, “How grateful I was that you survived?”

“Not often,” said Y’shtola, “But you have said it recently.”

“Well, I’m saying it again,” said Matoya, “Even though I am not your mother, I’m still grateful that you’re not dead yet.”

“‘Yet,’” said Y’shtola, smiling, “You make it sound like a dare.”

“You’ve certainly treated it as such,” said Matoya, “I don’t like that you’re throwing your life away nilly-willy.”

“Matoya, I do it for my friends,” said Y’shtola.

“That’s why I’m grateful,” said Matoya, “No better sacrifice than to risk yourself for your friends. I am very proud of you.”

“Thanks…” said Y’shtola, a single tear falling from her eye, “...mother.”

“Ah, here it is,” said Matoya, “Yep, you were definitely born a miqo’te.”

“That’s it?” said the Wolf Burglar, “A vocal confirmation? Can I at least see for myself?”

“Take a look,” said Matoya, holding out her hand. She was holding what looked like…

…It was indescribable. The Wolf Burglar pointed it out.

“The anchor, if you’ll believe it, is simple to find, if you know where to look,” said Master Matoya, “When you drink from the phial, all you have to do is take a slumber, and all your wishes will come true.

"A vision of changes flows through your mind, and if you are able to perceive it, you can pick which changes you would like. The phial makes perception that much more acute, takes hold and reshapes the aether that surrounds the anchor.

"It’s a lot like lucid dreaming, except your aether is permanently rearranged and refreshed.”

“Wow, and you really went for more fur,” said the Wolf Burglar, flatly, looking at Purple Link with suspicion, “It’s like going one step forward and two steps back.”

“What can I say, I like the feeling of fur on my body,” said Purple Link, smiling meekly, “And the tail, I really wanted the tail.”

“Miqo’te had the tail,” said the Wolf Burglar, being exceptionally strained to point this out.

“Yeah, but Hrothgar have the muzzle and the claws,” said Purple Link, “I liked being a cat, I just wanted to become more cat.”

“You know what, I’ll give it to you,” said the Wolf Burglar, “No one who would go this far for a species transformation would be a liar.”

“That’s…reassuring,” said Purple Link, “Are you going to put it back now.”

“Hold your horses,” said Matoya, enjoying every minute of this experience knowing that Purple Link was being annoyed by it, “You young kids today, with your linkpearls, and your fast mounts, and your global crises threatening to end life as we know it on not only this planet but thirteen other reflections of it across different universes.

“Always in a hurry,” she added.

♫Evivrus llahs tsud fo kceps a ton swish-swish-aroo!♪

To be continued…

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