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asukaskerian · 4 months

Note

omg #2 from the arranged marriage prompts but with grimmichihime, where ichigo and orihime are already in a relationship and maybe even engaged but a war with hueco mundo/aizen faction leads to an arranged marriage deal where orihime is sworn to grimmjow in the hopes of ending the war... the drama of it all

2. Royalty AU - To end a war IT'S 2K LOOOONG sobs. also do not ask me about the worldbuilding i don't want to think about it because i WILL try to figure it out andm qvbv bqjhrvb f. yes. that.

anyway.

"You ain't supposed to be here, princess."

The girl's lower lip quivered; her brows scrunched down. A child's attempt to appear fierce. Grimmjow snorted, leaning his hip on the fancy chest of drawers he'd been saddled with for this farce. Embroidered shit from Hueco Mundo and local kimono bundled side by side, a present he hoped to never use again.

"I know. I thought--"

"You thought you'd see me without a chaperone and make double sure we got hitched?"

The twisted tangle of her hands came apart into fists. "No!"

Hooo. Grimmjow tilted his head, regarding her. She had a baby face; he'd have thought her sixteen instead of twenty had he not read the reports. Her hands clenched in her high-waisted, pleated skirt and he couldn't help but notice that it had been rigged so the hem was higher, easier to move in; underneath were dress uniform pants and laced-up ankle boots. Probably how she'd managed to climb his balcony -- but for a princess she sure wore some foreign style underthings.

"No?"

"No," she repeated, anguished, and then breathed in and out to steady herself, eyes closed. "That isn't why. I just -- there hasn't been a moment to talk to you directly, and I think -- you probably don't know. About me."

"Ah. Last-ditch attempt to have me break it off."

"I'm not actually a princess, you know."

She lifted her chin like she expected shock, anger. Grimmjow laughed. "Oh yeah?"

"I'm not!"

"You got the mark of the Soul King. Right? One of his fancy powers."

"Yes, but -- Grimmjow-san, that's not. I'm a commoner, I-- I was legitimised last year. We don't even know what branch I come from for sure." She met his eyes, sad but resolute. "My mother was a prostitute. This marriage alliance -- it's an insult."

... Haa. He reclined against the wall, arms crossed loosely, watching her. Trying to be brave, to be honest and good. She was gonna be devoured alive.

"I'm only a duke as a way to keep my rebellion in check."

"--Ah?"

He snorted. "Don't even got a single drop of blood in common with Aizen, but I had enough support that he needed a way to break my power base in two and put a leash on me. So now the anti-royalty have ditched me and the rest have been fuckin' appeased by thinking I have a chance at the throne whenever he kicks it, but he won't. Guy's fully intending to become immortal somehow."

His voice had gone bitter by the end. He swallowed it; pointless to show too much emotion to someone so ill-suited to court. She would never keep the secret tight enough.

He was gonna have to carry her back home to the royal palace and be saddled with keeping her in one piece, though. Another weight chained to his ankle, disguised as an attempt to make him more palatable, give him more appeal to the cowards of the capital.

"So he knows..." she whispered, a slow horror rising as she started to understand the implications. "He won't break it off."

"Nah. Gonna wait until we're married and then make a fuss about suddenly discovering it to gain an advantage against your country, probably." Or take Grimmjow down a peg by starting rumors at court. Or both. Aizen was nothing if not efficient.

His fiancée (how fucking alien a word, related to him) pressed both hands against her face and muttered to herself for a bit. Grimmjow left her at it. He probably had letters to read--

"I'll run away," she blurted out.

Grimmjow gave her a nonplussed look. "What the fuck. Who do you think is gonna hunt you down then?"

"You won't find me."

He pushed away from his perch, took a few slow, gliding steps toward the girl. She didn't step back, chin up, feet set, like a glowing ball of bunion-healing power was gonna keep her safe from him.

... She really thought he wouldn't find her, too.

Grimmjow had never lost a quarry and the whole continent knew it. She didn't seem that stupid.

"I thought you wanted to stay home, but that's not even it, huh," he mused, voice low, looming to see how much pressure she could take. "What's your reason? Can't be your previous fiancé."

Shocked indrawn breath. "You knew about him?"

"Sure. Had to know if you were gonna pop out a really premature baby, didn't I."

The girl flushed, said nothing. He didn't even get the impression that this was why she was so desperate to stay home -- that she had celebrated her previous engagement too early.

"But you can't marry him and live in his back garden, now can you," he kept going, testing, searching. "The fuck are you thinking? Think some bland civilian schmuck would give you a nice little life hidden away in the attic?"

The way her eyelids twitched on certain words needed to be trained out of her at some point.

Her guy, she believed wholeheartedly, could and would hide her -- had the ability, or had the connections; had the determination. Her guy would take the risk of putting the Four Noble Houses on his ass...

Because they were already riding it anyway.

Grimmjow barked out a laugh. She stared at his widening grin, and her hair pins pulsed with glowing gold, like now she was properly wary of him -- of a man from an enemy country who outweighed and out-reached her and of whom everybody would say he had a right to do to her whatever the fuck he wanted.

A pretty girl like her had to know his kind of man was dangerous, and yet she was only afraid now.

"You guys are in the rebellion."

He was only barely surprised when the window swung open and a man in battered samurai armor plunged sword-first at him.

He was slightly more surprised when the rejected beau -- some nobody from the cadet branch of a fallen noble house, from the reports -- managed a slash and a swipe at a surprise angle that clanged hard against Grimmjow's not-so-decorative vambrace.

Nice.

Grimmjow drew his blade, and while the man was distracted eyeing it, kicked him solidly in the guts, folding him in two. No armor but two pauldrons to get in his way; the room was large enough to maneuver. He rolled low, swiped his feet out from under him as the guy wobbled back up, lunged --

Got kicked off in a way that sent him crashing through a folding screen. The wood splintered noisy like a gunshot. He rolled to the side, behind the low table, kicked it upright to break the guy's charge and then shouldered it straight onto him. Ahh, noisy, so noisy, Aizen was going to be so pissed off. Grimmjow couldn't stop grinning.

Their swords rang against each other, sliding until they locked at the guard. Grimmjow leaned in to smile. The guy had the same kind of forthright, justice-blind eyes as the girl. Well-matched pair of idiots. He hated it.

He shoved forwards with his superior weight, feinted left, right, punched. Was a little appreciative whent his fist was almost blocked, parried enough to lessen the impact.

But the guy's sword was longer than his, so now that Grimmjow was under his guard he was fucked. He aimed the point of his sword--

Golden god-light, impassable. Jarring his arm to the shoulder. He tried to go around the side and it only grew to cut him off again, and then suddenly it was blooming out like a sail catching wind and shoving him back.

His fiancée stepped forward, hands joined at the fingertips before her chest. "Don't fight!"

Ah. Not just a small healing ability, then. The powers inherited straight from the Soul King seemed to be very random when all put next to each other, but also... people usually didn't get more than one. Interesting. Did Aizen know? Was he trying to sneak her out from under the Seireitei's nose? Or had she managed to hide it even from him? Grimmjow pressed a hand to the barrier and while it didn't hurt him, it also didn't yield at all.

"No fighting! Sh-- Kurosaki-kun, we know things about him too. He won't -- he won't sell us out. Right?"

He watched her give soft entreating looks to her old boyfriend, the boyfriend slowly shift to stand before her. "I guess" was the first thing Grimmjow heard in his voice, quiet and roughened by doubt and effort.

"Don't know why you're pretending not to be a Shiba when you could be the clan head's ginger body double."

"Well see, usually when I'm committing treason I wear a mask," Kurosaki-Shiba replied dryly, and discreetly eyed the room for an escape route.

Grimmjow had turned them around, though; he stepped right in the middle of the wide open window, opening his arms, and crooked his fingers invitingly.

"I... don't suppose you're planning to let us pass through."

"You can come right into my arms, sweetheart." He turned his wrist so the edge of his sword would catch the lamplight.

The next look was toward the door, but the noise they'd made had not been subtle. The corridor was filling up with hotel employees and guards from Grimmjow's country -- who knew better than to barge in without his say-so, but weren't going to disperse without having put eyes on him either.

Shiba's sword stayed up for long seconds of narrow-eyed wary thought before the point flagged down. "Fine. What the fuck do you want."

What did he want... Hm. Shiba had good fighting instincts. Could be better, though, sharper. The princess was a little sneakier and a lot more powerful than she seemed. Their righteous fervor was gonna grate on him something awful very soon...

Aizen had a leash on him, but the only real leash on them would be through Grimmjow, and they didn't like him enough to stay their hands out of fear for his safety.

He dropped his sword, tossing it onto an abandoned sitting pillow. Baffled, the lovebirds stared at him with dumbly blinking eyes.

Grimmjow smiled, slow and languorous, as he undid his waistcoat and tugged loose his shirt laces, letting the cloth slide open over his chest.

A twitch, a yelp, two blushes.

Cackling, Grimmjow tackled them both around the waist and let his momentum carry the three of them right into his bed.

"Whoa whoa what the fuck?!" "Iyaa, wait, wait--" "What are you--"

The mattress bounced under their combined weights. Cackling, Grimmjow sat up, straddling them both, and wasn't shy about digging in his knees. "Welp, looks like we're all compromised now. Gonna have to marry you both."

The shriek that came out of Shiba was higher than even the princess' voice could reach. He seemed to have switched from trying to punch Grimmjow's nose in to pressing both hands to his chest to keep him away, as if Grimmjow was even seriously trying to lean close. Virgin bottom behavior. Even the girl was still earnestly trying to knee his balls back inside his body.

"Ahh, shut up, I'll scratch your backs if you scratch mine. Yeah? We can all benefit from this."

And he threw an abandoned book at the door, making it clank obviously enough that the guards would decide it was sufficiently like a knock and check in on him.

As the door creaked open, he decided to indulge his captives' panicked squeakings -- had to start things off on the right foot if he didn't want to have to deal with too many knives in his household, after all. Princess was yammering about how he couldn't marry Kurosaki-kun who wasn't a maiden at all and boys couldn't marry boys and anyway she didn't want him to be a concubine but you couldn't have two main wives--

"Ah, don't worry, in my country you can marry whoever the fuck you want." Behind the bed the room was filling up with rubbernecking guards, come in to stop an assassination attempt and discovering a tryst instead. Ignoring them utterly, he grinned into her wide, wide eyes, her scarlet face. "It's gonna piss everyone off, I can't wait."

#grimmichihime #Asuka writes #bleach #writing meme

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mymoonagedaydream · 1 year

Text

Part 12

Pairing: Biker!Bucky x y/n

Word Count: 2.4k

Warnings: Language, anti-religious sentiment throughout

Author's Note: Final part! Much love!

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6 / Part 7 / Part 8 / Part 9 / Part 10 / Part 11

---

It was gone midnight by the time you and Bucky, both nursing second trimester food babies, spilled out of the restaurant and began to stumble in the vague direction of home. The evening air was chilly but his jacket was wrapped around your shoulders before you’d even begun to feel it. Your hand slotted smoothly into his, a movement that was second nature to you now.

The two of you walked for ten or so minutes when, at an otherwise pretty unremarkable corner, a bolt of inspiration struck you. It was the street name that did it, Cross Street. You remembered seeing it as a child and wondering if this was where your local church and your mother bought all their little wooden crucifixes from. You suddenly knew exactly where you were.

Bucky was heading in one direction but you stopped and tugged him in the other. “We should go this way.”

“Huh? You wanna go the wrong way? How much wine you had?”

“It’s not the wrong way,” he was pulling back against you now, feet firmly planted in place, “it’s just a different, slightly longer way.”

“Longer?

“But worth it.”

“How?"

“I think, uh- I mean, I’m pretty sure there’s a river around here somewhere.” He raised a dubious eyebrow. “Well, eighty percent sure.”

"I'm eighty-five percent sure you're bullshitting me."

"I swear to god I'm not."

"Swear to any imaginary asshole you like. I'm not buying it, sweetheart."

Strong physical resistance was attempted for a few more seconds but, eventually, your very best puppy dog eyes melted him.

“Fine, but if you fall in I’m not coming after you.”

“Deal.”

He gave you a wide smile and snaked an arm around your waist, letting you lead him down the side street. A comfortable silence fell as you turned corner after corner, your face contorting into a smug smile once the water came into view. He just shrugged. The two of you strolled onto a low, stone bridge and watched the ripples distorting the reflections of lit-up apartment windows and orange streetlights. It was gloriously peaceful.

After a minute or so, Bucky turned to carry on walking, but you stayed in place and pulled him back. He stood opposite you, looking a little confused as you took both his hands in yours.

“Buck, what you said earlier, I really think we should talk about it.”

“Nah, it’s alright, it was in the past. Like you said, it's over now and that’s all that matters.”

“What? No, I didn’t mean-” You rubbed your forehead. Christ he was slippery, using your own words against you like that. “That’s not what I meant. If something’s still affecting you, it matters, and it’s good to talk about it.”

He bit at the inside of his cheek and turned his head to stare at the water, eyes combing over the waves. You let him simmer for a little while before bringing your hands up to his face and gently turning it back towards you, raising your eyebrows expectantly. The cold air was whipping harshly off the water and into you but his face was warm and flushed. When he spoke, you could see him carefully considering every word.

“If I keep talking, I might say something that drives you away, and I don’t know if I could take that.”

“That’s not gonna happen.”

“Right, but what if-”

“Buck, I promise there is very, very little that could convince me you’re not a good person, alright? I really don’t care about your past.” You stopped abruptly and frowned at yourself. “That came out wrong.”

He let out a small chuckle. “First you want me to talk about it, now you tell me to shut up?”

“You know what I meant.”

“Mhmm,” he pulled you closer, letting your arms curl around his neck, “I know, baby. I know I can talk to you anytime, you got no idea how much I appreciate that, but if you wanna talk now I'll tell you anything you wanna know. Just ask."

You considered. There definitely had been a few small things you were curious about, the odd interest piquing comment here and there, but for some reason you found yourself completely blanking at his offer. You suddenly realised that you didn't want to know anything. You didn't need to. Maybe just the fact that he was willing to talk was enough.

"Are you happy?"

He chuckled. "Very."

"Then so am I."

"Good."

He shot you a wink, making you giggle like a schoolgirl. You cupped your fingers around his face and brushed your thumbs across his cheeks. The hint of wine on his breath was sweet and warm. Feeling his hands pressed against your back, staring into his still blue eyes, something inside you burst or erupted or… Christ, you weren’t sure, but next thing you knew your mouth was writing a check that you weren’t sure he was ready to cash.

“I love you, Buck.” His face dropped. Fuck it, you were all in now, might as well carry on. “Completely. Like, get a dog together type love. Put up with you stealing the fucking covers all night type love. I’d even go as far as to say-”

He swiftly cut you off by enclosing your half-open, babbling mouth in his, arms squeezing your waist tight. You relaxed completely into him, not sure that you’d be able to stay on your feet if he suddenly let go but too caught up in the moment to care. He pulled away an inch, just for just a second, to whisper.

“I love you too. Just stop talking.”

You weren’t sure how long the two of you stood there, by the river. It was becoming increasingly easy to lose time while you were tangled up with Bucky. The rest of the walk home was a hazy, fragmented mess of staggering for a few minutes before getting distracted and clumsily fumbling at each other. You found yourselves regretting taking the long way, both of you becoming more and more impatient to get back to the privacy of the apartment, and not making it past the floor just inside the door when you did.

But, hey, at least neither of you ended up in the river.

—

You’d found it. The perfect apartment.

It looked small, cramped even, but would be more than enough for just the two of you- neither of you owned any furniture anyway. The beach was only a couple minutes walk away and, with it being a fifth floor apartment, the front window had a beautiful view of the ocean. It even had underground parking, meaning his majesty wouldn’t have to rush to the window to check on his bike every ten minutes. The more you read about it, the more convinced you became that it was meant for you.

Bucky was out at the store when you came across it and you couldn’t stop yourself pacing around excitedly until he got back. You kept refreshing the page, convinced that someone else would snap it up while he was out impulse-buying candy. You practically jumped him as soon as he came through the door, dragging him over to your laptop and squealing excitedly.

After a quick flick through the pictures, he dug his hand into his back pocket.

“It’s ours. What’s the number?”

“I mean, we should probably go see it first, right?”

“Nah. How bad could it be?”

You nodded slowly and wandered your gaze around his flat, lingering on the carpet stains and the patch of mould in the corner. Yep, things were starting to make a little more sense.

He waggled his phone at you. “What’s the hold up?”

Mild pangs of anxiety sparked in your stomach, committing to something this big without properly researching could turn out incredibly badly. The place could be unfinished or falling apart or infested with flesh-eating cockroaches.

Or, you thought, just maybe, it could turn out to be perfect.

A warm smile spread across your face. Maybe it was time to take a page out of his book, stop thinking so much, close your eyes and jump. He smiled back. You gave him the number.

Bucky pressed his lips into your forehead before making the call, the fingers on his left hand tapping excitedly against the table as he made notes with his right. The two of you then spent the next three hours gathering and sending off all of the information and credentials they’d requested.

And then you waited.

And waited.

All evening, checking Bucky’s phone every ten minutes. It was like torture. Nothing had come through by midnight, so the two of you gave up and slunk off to bed, outwardly trying to stay optimistic about finding somewhere else but inwardly pretty disheartened. You’d just have to keep searching.

—

You were woken the next day by the smell of cooking bacon and the sound of Bucky humming to himself in the kitchen. Stretching yourself across the deserted bed, you yawned dramatically and rubbed your eyes, debating how easy it would be to get him to abandon breakfast and curl back up with you. Very easy, probably.

Your hand found your phone on the bedside table and you yanked it from the charger, your head darting up from the pillow in shock when you saw that it was creeping up to midday. How the hell had you managed to sleep for almost twelve hours? Yesterday’s emotional roller coaster must have wiped you out.

Pulling your pyjamas on, you trudged through to the front room and saw Bucky standing over the stove, wiggling his hips along to the jaunty tune he was improvising.

“G’morning.” You walked up beside him, settling into his side as he snaked an arm around you, gazing at the pile of food he was pushing around the pan. “Looks good.”

“Mhmm, this is a real breakfast. I thought we’d celebrate.”

You nodded sleepily, a little confused. “Celebrate what?”

He looked down at you, sporting a wide, knowing smile. Your drowsiness slowly melted away as you realised what he was talking about.

“We got it?”

“We got it.”

Something you could only describe as a kind of throaty yelp noise escaped your mouth, which made Bucky burst out laughing. You threw your arms around his neck, squeezing him as hard as you could, feeling tears welling up in your eyes. A thousand thoughts began racing through your mind but the biggest, brightest one was that you’d finally get some peace. That’s all you really wanted.

When you finally let go of him, he dug his phone out of his pocket and showed you the email from the landlord. Your eyes widened as they scanned through it.

“Wait, this says we move in at the start of next month?”

“Yup.” He nodded proudly.

“Buck, that’s two days from now.”

“Mhmm. We better get packing.”

As it turned out, he’d already hired a van to arrive the next day and picked up a stack of packing boxes while he was out buying breakfast food, all of which he’d hidden behind the couch so they wouldn’t ruin his dramatic reveal. You had no idea who this guy was and what he’d done with Bucky, but you weren’t complaining.

Finally, it felt like things were falling into place.

—

The journey to your new home was about an hour. You had hoped the ride would be relaxing, a chance for catharsis and decompression, but you spent almost the entire time white-knuckled, gripping onto the dashboard. Bucky drove the moving van exactly the same way he drove his motorbike, weaving in and out of traffic like an unbelievably lucky bull in a mercifully generous china shop. He didn’t even seem to notice the sound of all your possessions sliding around chaotically in the back.

When he finally parked up outside the apartment block, you reverted back to religion for the first time in years, thanking both God and the baby Jesus that you survived the drive.

You glanced out of the window. The building wasn’t particularly attractive, sitting in an unremarkable side street opposite a seedy looking off-licence, but you still felt the excitement bubbling in your stomach as you hopped out and properly surveyed your surroundings. It was pretty clean and quiet, the only movement being a young woman with a stroller briskly walking down the opposite sidewalk. A few noisy seagulls flew overhead and you noticed for the first time that you could smell the sea air, fresh and briny. Memories of your day on the beach flooded back. You could get used to that.

Bucky gave you a wide smile and walked towards the door, approaching a man in a cheap suit who you hadn’t even noticed. They talked for a minute, the keys were exchanged and the suit gave you a polite nod before turning and walking down the street. That was, you thought to yourself, quite possibly the only easy interaction you and Bucky had ever had with a third party since you’d been together. You knew life was going to be a whole lot easier after leaving that fucking town, but you certainly hadn’t expected such immediate results. This was incredible.

You grabbed a box and followed your roommate up the stairs, the two of you bursting through the door into your new home.

The first thing you noticed was the view. It was even better in person. You unceremoniously dropped whatever you were carrying and walked towards the window, seeing the vast ocean spread out in both directions as you got closer. Bucky came up behind you, wrapping his arms around your waist and resting his head on your shoulder.

“Whatta you think?”

“I love it.”

“Eh, it needs a bit of work,” he briefly surveyed the walls and the ceiling, “I think the last people here had dogs, there’s still some-”

You swivelled round in his arms and placed a hand firmly over his mouth, feeling a smile form against your palm. “I don’t care. I love it.”

He mumbled something. You rolled your eyes and released his face, prompting him to repeat himself.

“Me too.”

It took a couple of hours to get everything out of the van and, when you’d finally finished, you found yourselves staring at a messy pile of boxes dumped in the middle of the living room. An unspoken but unanimous decision was made that there was no point starting to unpack before having something to eat, even though you’d spent the entire drive shoving handfuls of chips into each other’s faces.

So, for the first of many times, you and Bucky watched the sunset over the sea. Sitting on cardboard boxes in your cheap flat, eating pretty terrible Chinese food, with nothing in the world but a few dollars and each other.

And it was perfect.

---

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---

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hsvh-hp · 1 month

Note

Hi! Thanks for all the responses -- I hadn't realized how many chapters I'd gotten through since your last round until I saw the emails lmao

I was wondering, in regards to this:

And omg, I totally feel you on being a trans person in the HP fandom. It's very weird how my tumblr dash is set up. I have mutuals still from old fandoms who are queer, and I feel so ostracized from them at times when they toe the line of 'anybody in the HP fandom supports JKR, you're a bad person if you're still engaging with it'. I'll spare you the essay on why I disagree with that, but oddly the safest place I feel on the internet as a trans person is in the HP fandom. Which is weird at face value, I suppose, given what JKR is doing, but we really are separate from her. I've yet to see substantial evidence that fandom, which is infamous for generating zero revenue, is floating trans peoples' demise. It's just a thought crime, I guess.

if you would, perhaps, not spare me the essay? lol

I feel the same sort of ostracization which is especially frustrating when I am in such "thought crimes are fake!" circles, and I'm interested in your perspective, if you want to give it!

Sure, I’ll offer my perspective on it! This is probably best broken down into bullet points:

1. JKR was already a billionaire before she came out as a TERF.

There is nothing in the world that will change this status. Even if every single person currently engaging with her various IPs immediately dropped them, JKR would still have a billion plus dollars to drop on anti-trans movements and whatever. A billion dollars is immensely difficult to picture. The easiest way is to think like this: if you make $50,000 a year, the equivalent of her dropping $75,000 the other day is you spending $3.75. How often do you spend 0.0075% of your income and give it any thought? JKR’s wealth is not directly tied to ‘levels of fandom engagement’.

Which leads to…

2. Boycotts don’t work.

Sorry. They don’t. Not against someone this politically powerful. If they did, the flood of people out of the HP fandom in 2020 would have had a measurable effect. What did have a measurable effect? People not going to watch the Fantastic Beast movies (because they were hot trash lmao). Not giving JKR any more money works in the sense that it cripples her future projects, but it has zero effect on what’s already in her purse.

Also, think of boycotts this way: wasn’t it hilarious watching conservatives try to boycott the Barbie movie, Nike, Bud Light, and whatever else they’ve systematically locked on to? But so then why do progressives/the left/whoever think it’s going to work the other way? Like with Hogwarts Legacy? Just don’t interact with the media, dude. And if you do, pirate it.

3. Fandom is not mainstream. I have never seen any data to substantiate that participating in a fandom directly correlates to dollars for the IP. Copyright literally prevents that from happening. To bring up to popular saying, “there is no ethical consumption under capitalism”, fandom exists outside of capitalism—for me, at least, as a fan fiction writer. This is a hobby to me. I have never seen a red cent for any of the hours of work I’ve put into my fics.

And I can probably guarantee that no one has stumbled upon Harry Potter through me, lol. They didn’t read one of my fics and go, ‘you know, I should check out what source material this is coming from’. Harry Potter is so well-known that there’s no way they came in blind.

Also, the TERF discourse is very much an online thing. I work retail irl and I’ve had conversations with customers who’ll say “you know, I really don’t get all this hubbub against trans people” but are too boomer to be anything more than tangentially aware that Harry Potter is a Thing. Like, ‘oh yeah, my kids read those books when they were coming out, but I never bothered’. One of my employees bought a set of the HP books because they were on a wicked deal at Costco, and when we were discussing it I told her that while I still enjoyed HP, I wasn’t comfortable giving JKR more money because she’s extremely transphobic and donates a lot of money to anti-trans causes. My employee was horrified and said that had she known that, she wouldn’t have bought the books. Lots of people just don’t know!

Which takes me to…

4. This type of online activism isn’t effective.

I’m talking specifically about being anti-Harry Potter or anti-JKR. Falling into those two categories does not automatically make you pro-trans. This was pretty blatantly obvious back when the books were being burned for promoting witchcraft. As far as fighting for trans peoples’ rights, screaming until you’re blue in the face about how anybody who engages with Harry Potter is a traitor and JKR BAD is wasting time better spent doing something productive - something that could actually benefit trans people rather than…I don’t know…virtue signalling that their blog or twitter account is a safe space?

5. I personally do not feel welcomed or vouched for by these people.

Listen, I’m going to break myself down into all my stupid little categories. I’m trans. Autistic. Intersex. Aromantic. Asexual. Basically, all the things that people love to try and cast out of the queer community, whether that means they’re trying to split LGBTQIA+ at the T or Q.

The anti-Harry Potter stuff, as far as attacking the fandom, feels like the latest strain of purity politics to me. As I’ve laid out above, abandoning HP will not right the wrongs of JKR in any measurable or tangible way. Boycotts don’t work. Fandom does not feed JKR’s coffers, and destroying the fandom will not cripple her. There are trans people inside the HP fandom, and what of us? Are we traitors? Are we not ‘really’ trans, because obviously we don’t care about the current political climate? Are we just confused and need to be enlightened as to what harm we’re doing? Where have I heard this rhetoric before?

One small thing, tangentially related:

6. I don’t care what JKR says about how engaging with Harry Potter tells her about who her ‘supporters’ are.

Seriously? She’s a lying dirtbag, and I’m just supposed to take her word on this? This is the one thing she just so happens to be right about?

When she started spouting TERF shit, I was really saddened by the writers who, upon leaving the fandom, also deleted their works in protest. Seeing as the majority of the HP fandom is queer, I’m sure that JKR was very pleased with the amount of queer media erasure that occurred. Why did we do that for her?

7. I believe JKR actually seethes and malds over the prospect of her fandom being queer and producing queer content.

As a writer, there’s a special kind of pain that comes from someone not quite interpreting your work the way you would have wanted them to. What do you think JKR’s first reaction was when she first learned about the Harry/Draco ship? The Draco/Hermione ship? If she didn’t live in a stone castle, I bet she would’ve punched a hole in the wall.

So, yeah. Transing and gaying all of her characters is a pretty nice way to get to her in a way that she can’t legally or financially retaliate. Every time she screams ‘WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE?!’ at the queer people in her fandom, a trans person’s crops are watered.

8. The HP setting is very welcoming to trans people.

Potions exist that can change your body. Enough said.

That the Harry Potter books never really says anything specifically about trans people (NOTE: obviously JKR’s prejudices even back then showed through, but this isn’t about that) leaves the question on the table. Obviously trans people exist in the Harry Potter setting, because they exist everywhere. So, how did they never get any page time?

Well, who says they didn’t? In a setting where potions exist to change your body, trans people are just…people. I don’t even think that they would have a marginalized identity because gender dysphoria would be something very easily treated. Think of it like someone who takes medication for blood pressure. They need the medication, it’s life-saving, and while there isn’t a magical pill to ‘cure’ high blood pressure, it can be managed. The magical world revels in being strange. Why would being trans, while being considered strange here in the ‘Muggle’ world, be anything other than normal there? Why can’t it be?

And then there are Metamorphmagi. People who can literally change themselves at will! If that isn’t a trans person’s dream, I don’t know what is. I would personally love the option of being the biggest, hairiest dude with a dick so big an erection would make me black out, and then ultra femme and delicate the next.

Last on this point, Harry never notes anyone specifically trans in the text (NOTE: touching on things like the physical descriptions of Rita Skeeter and Marge Dursley, JKR tends to do the ugly=bad person thing. Although she describes Rita and Marge as mannish in appearance, they aren’t trans characters. They’re women that JKR wants to frame as bad people. Like I said above, this is JKR’s prejudice showing through). If Harry never notes anyone as specifically trans, that probably means that it’s impossible to tell at face value. The same as blood pressure medication, to return to that analogy. How do you know someone is on them? They tell you. You see the pill bottle and happen to know what that medication is for. They complain about side effects. They complain about the symptoms that led them going to the doctor in the first place.

9. Queer HP fandom content can potentially be how a Harry Potter fan realizes that they’re queer (or that queer people are just regular folks).

Hey, the first one happened to me!

If someone comes into the Harry Potter fandom unaware of JKR’s politics - maybe they were gifted the books for their birthday or happened to catch the movies on TV - it’s good actually that this person doesn’t fall right into an echo chamber of JKR’s politics. I’ll be happily here to correct her record in a way that isn’t shaming or policing them.

Anyway, I think that’s everything lol. To summarize:

- The HP Fandom is a neutral setting. Engaging with it doesn’t help JKR, and not engaging with it doesn’t help trans people. Just don’t spend money on official HP merch.

- If you want to be a pro-trans activist or trans political ally, please just ignore JKR and put all your focus on the real world.

- There are trans people in the HP fandom who are left feeling awkward and uncomfortable due to virtue signalling.

- Generating queer HP content is good, actually.

#harry potter #drarry #dramione #just because i mentioned them

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fantastic-nonsense · 6 months

Note

☔

☔Is there a fic concept you have that you'd like to just explain and share because you're not sure you'll ever write it? If so, what is it?

I had to browse through my 30+ WIPs to figure out if there was one I was willing to classify in this category, and...if there was a fic that fits it's a Legend of Korra fic concept I wrote up like 8 or 9 years ago in the immediate aftermath of the series finale. I genuinely don't think I'll ever get to it; not only because I've long since left the LOK fandom and have no real interest in finishing any of my fic ideas that aren't my "Justice for Asami Sato" WIP, but also because it would likely need a whole series of fics to properly explore everything I wanted to cover. I will, however, happily give a detailed outline of what I was planning on doing since I'm never going to get around to it.

Basically, the concept was to completely imagine LOK as the story might have been written if the creative team had known from the beginning that they would have 4 seasons to tell the story of Korra. I was looking at the disjointedness of plot, themes, and character arcs that happened because Bryke originally planned the show as a miniseries and then didn't know how many more seasons they would get...and thinking about how to connect everything together more coherently (within my own preferences and ideas of how things should have been told, of course).

The tl;dr of each fic is as follows:

Book 3′s plot would come first, as it should have in the show: Korra travels to Republic City to learn Airbending from Tenzin, only to find that some spiritual mumbo jumbo has created new Airbenders. Thus, she’ll learn airbending from Tenzin while they’re all on the search for the new airbenders. Meanwhile, the Red Lotus has escaped and is coming after Korra. Ends the same way, with Korra physically incapacitated and suffering from major PTSD

Book 4′s plot would be next: the fall of the Earth Kingdom creates a power vacuum that Kuvira fills. Meanwhile, we watch the season-long restoration of Korra’s physical/mental/spiritual wellbeing. We get the story of Wan and Raava this season, as part of Korra’s recovery arc (so she can discover and restore her bond with the Avatar Spirit).

Book 1 now becomes Book 3: also in the wake of the Red Lotus’s destruction and the tyranny of Kuvira’s Earth Empire, anti-bender sentiment has sprung up around the world. Amon takes advantage of this sentiment within Republic City. Korra, now residing in Republic City, has to deal with the anti-bender revolution as a fully realized Avatar (but one that is still struggling to fully recover from the Red Lotus and is now terrified of losing her bending because of the events of the first two seasons)

Book 2′s dual plot would end the series: Korra has to deal with the Water Tribe Civil War while Harmonic Convergence approaches, which would have had lore drops throughout the show after the ‘Avatar Orgins’ revelations back in the second fic. The series ends with a bang as Korra defeats the spiritual manifestation of darkness and chaos and pledges to lead the world into a new spiritual age.

A fairly detailed explanation of how I'd planned out this reimagining is below the cut, if you like.

Ask me a question about one of my WIPs!

The first fic ("Air") was going to start out with the re-emergence of the airbenders due to a freak spiritual event; this was going to be the reason Tenzin wouldn't be able to train Korra in airbending at the South Pole compound, as he was focused heavily on recruiting and training new airbenders and wanted to put off training the Avatar for another year or two. Meanwhile, the Red Lotus breaks out of their prisons and starts readying themselves to go kill the Avatar.

Korra would make her way to Republic City to try and reason with Tenzin that he could just train her while looking/training the other airbenders, meet Lin while breaking up a robbery in progress, and escape from the RCPD with the help of Mako and Bolin, two pro-benders who just lost the finals this season (but they’re sure that they’ll come back next year even better). They introduce her to Asami Sato, their sponsor and Mako’s girlfriend. She explains who she is, what she’s doing in Republic City, and what’s going on….and they decide they want to help her. They all end up stowing away on Tenzin's ship along with Lin, who basically designates herself as the Air Family's bodyguard (because god forbid Tenzin go swanning off into the Earth Kingdom without any protection for his small children).

We'd spend most of the fic dealing with the three intersecting plots: 1) Korra struggling to learn Airbending and spiritual direction from Tenzin, 2) Tenzin finding and training the new airbenders+Korra, and 3) the Red Lotus political plot and their attempts to kill Korra (which both fall under the “no more world leaders” heading of their group goals).

Subplots would have been more or less the same subplots as the existing Book 3, with some of the Book 1 issues mixed in: resolving the Lin-Tenzin tension, Tenzin struggling to be a teacher and rebuild the Air Nation, korra struggling to figure out airbending, Mako and Bolin finding their family, and the romance issues (Korra-Mako-Asami with a season-long Masami breakup arc and the Bolin-Opal romance…the Mako-Bolin drama over Korra doesn’t happen because we meet Opal basically right off the bat). Korra still ends up hurt and traumatized at the end of the fic. Despite initiating the Avatar state for the first time while fighting Zaheer, she can no longer connect after the physical and spiritual trauma she suffered, so she stays behind at the South Pole to be healed and further mentored by Katara.

The second fic ("Restoration") would have picked up one year after the first fic ends and covered the basic plot of Book 4 with some of the character arcs that Book 2 dealt with (except better): The fall of the Earth Kingdom created a power vacuum that Kuvira fills. Korra's doing her season-long recovery/spiritual discovery arc while dealing with the threat of Kuvira; we also get the Wan-Raava story here, to properly sow the seeds for the Harmonic Convergence plot later down the road.

Mako and Bolin go back to pro-bending, but both find it unsatisfying after going globetrotting. Mako's single, and Bolin and Opal (who's moved to Air Temple Island to continue her training) are still dating. Asami, who's chafing under the restrictions of being back in Republic City and once again living with her father, joins an underground street racing group as a racer and part-time mechanic; she's super lonely, since Korra is still recovering from what the Red Lotus did to her and (from her father’s POV) she no longer has any ‘socially acceptable’ reason to interact with Bolin and Mako since they’re no longer dating. So all of that happens, culminating with Kuvira's attempted invasion of Republic City. The Krew would reunite to fight her off.

The third fic ("Equality") would have picked up about six months later and reinterpreted the Equalist plot. In the wake of the Red Lotus’s destruction of the Earth Kingdom, the chaos that unfolded afterwards, and Kuvira's attempted invasion of Republic City, anti-bender sentiment has sprung up around the world. Amon takes advantage of this sentiment within Republic City. Korra, now residing full-time in Republic City, has to deal with the anti-bender revolution as an Avatar who is now terrified of losing her bending after fully recovering from what the Red Lotus did to her.

Bolin took a long trip back to the Earth Kingdom with Opal to see Suyin+his family and help stabilize the country a bit, but they're both on their way back to Republic City in the first chapter. Mako has, after bonding with Lin in the first season, joined up with the RCPD to work under her and is working his way up the ladder (hoping to reach ‘detective’ status). He’s still having Issues adjusting, especially without Bolin around. He goes and hangs out on Air Temple Island with Korra when he’s off-duty because people actually seem to like having him around and there’s always something that he can do (and he likes feeling Useful). But lately he's been hearing some concerning stuff at his job about the Equalist movement, and he's got a bad feeling about what it means for Korra and for all benders in Republic City.

So Mako has his police corruption investigation arc. Bolin is trying to figure out what he actually wants to do with his life now that he's not a pro-bender anymore. Asami starts getting suspicious that her father is up to something and decides to take matters into her own hands. And Korra is dealing with the Equalists and how to balance the "you're our Avatar too" undercurrents amongst the non-bending population.

The final fic ("Spirits") would start up about six months after Amon's defeat. Book 2′s dual plot would end the series: Korra has to deal with the Water Tribe Civil War while Harmonic Convergence approaches, which would have had lore drops throughout the series after the ‘Avatar Orgins’ two-parter back in the second fic. The series ends with a bang as Korra defeats the spiritual manifestation of darkness and chaos and pledges to lead the world into a new spiritual age.

Unalaq still sets up and starts the Water Tribe Civil War to gain power, but it’s also in service to creating as chaotic of a world situation as he can before Harmonic Convergence (opening a pathway to Vaatu’s domination over Raava; because the world is a) in chaos and b) out of balance, Vaatu will have an easier time winning the fight against Raava). The Raava-Vaatu fight would also be more explicitly framed as order vs. chaos (not light vs. darkness), which would align it more with how ATLA previously handled the concepts of yin and yang.

I was still working on what everyones' character arcs and struggles would look like in that final fic apart from Korra (who was set up to have the same political figure+spiritual leader balancing act Book 2 tried to pull off), but I know that I was planning to give Asami a Tony Stark arc and let her see the direct consequences of Future Industries’ war profiteering, giving her a reason to completely change the company around to focus on energy, transportation, and entertainment instead of selling tanks and biplanes to the Water Tribes. So...yeah. Those are the basics.

....and all of that and more is sitting in a detailed outline in a doc that I will probably never touch again, so I hope this was a fun glimpse 😭

#ask game #asks #my writing #legend of korra #lok #also I do not say this but endgame ships would have been Makorra+Bopal+Asami/OC #(A girl named Yuki who's one of Mako's civilian friends and I was very dedicated to fleshing out in my notes lmao)#also they're all bi and messy teenagers about it but in like...a funny way and not the super cringe way we got in the show

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discar · 1 month

Text

HZD Terraforming Base-001 Text Communications Network

Chapter 47 | Prev chapter | Next chapter Chapter Index

ADMIN [Zo]: GAIA, I have some questions about the machines down in the Burning Shores.

GAIA: Of course. How may I help?

ADMIN [Zo]: Aloy discovered a new machine called the waterwing. It appears to be similar to the sunwing, but with added functionality to allow it to swim underwater in addition to fly.

β: i think its literally a modded sunwing the code is near identical

β: i was able to get aloy an override for it with just a few parts

HIMBO: SPEAKING OF, HOW'D THAT GO?

FlameHairSavior: Dodging anti-air fire, talk later.

ADMIN [Zo]: My question was, what is the point of this machine? I assume it is more difficult to produce than a simple sunwing.

GAIA: The model designated "waterwing" is a dual-mode Acquisition-type machine, designed primarily for collecting and processing destroyed machines and other resources. The sunwing was designed to use solar energy to power its own processors, increasing the amount of time the machine could spend between recharge cycles. The waterwing improves on this base design by adding the functionality to scavenge underwater.

DIVINER: Then why not just make all sunwings waterwings??

Icarus: I assume it as Zo said. It is more difficult to produce. Specialized tools are always easier to design and build than general-purpose ones.

HIMBO: WELL, NO, A HAMMER IS EASIER TO BUILD THAN A CORKSCREW.

HIMBO: BUT A CORKSCREW IS EASIER TO BUILD THAN A CORKSCREW/FIRELIGHTER/SPARKWELDER.

HIMBO: THIS WATERWING ISN'T A GENERAL-PURPOSE TOOL, IT'S A TOOL WITH MULTIPLE SPECIALIZATIONS.

Icarus: I suppose.

GAIA: Correct. There are a variety of air-based Acquisition machines, and a variety of water-based Acquisition machines. Putting both into a single machine would undoubtedly be more expensive than simply building more of each individual machine.

β: we really need to recapture hephaestus

FlameHairSavior: Yeah, and if we had any real leads, I could be doing that instead of dealing with yet another crazy Zenith.

HIMBO: SO YOU LANDED?

FlameHairSavior: Shot down, a little, but we're fine.

β: what do you mean we

FlameHairSavior: I took Seyka with me. She has a stake in this. It's important to her.

FlameHairSavior: Her sister is involved.

FlameHairSavior: And her tribe.

FlameHairSavior: And she's very helpful.

DIVINER: ...huh.

Icarus: This makes me glad I never watched any of those ridiculous teenage dramas.

FlameHairSavior: Whatever. The point is, we're at the park. There's a fake volcano and a bunch of hologram dinosaurs. Lots of Quen guards everywhere.

Icarus: Why in the world would anyone build a fake volcano?

HIMBO: HEY, VOLCANOS ARE COOL!

Icarus: Putting your vernacular aside and accepting the comment in the spirit it was intended, I suspect that volcanoes lose some of their "cool" factor if they lack the ability to actually explode.

FlameHairSavior: I don't think it can explode.

FlameHairSavior: This whole park is some sort of... massive advertisement, or shopping mall, or both, for Londra's wife's most popular holovid series.

DIVINER: WAIT. WAITWAITWAIT.

FlameHairSavior: ...waiting.

FlameHairSavior: Actually stalking a Quen guard.

DIVINER: Are you talking about Pangea???????

FlameHairSavior: I think so, yeah.

DIVINER: [Squee.gif]

DIVINER: We've been looking for that series for forever! We only have the first movie, everything past that is in a format our focuses can't view!

DIVINER: Oh! Oh! If it's a park, there might be a gift shop!

FlameHairSavior: I'm a little busy right now, Alva.

β: also im sure any plush dinosaurs or whatever have long since rotted away to nothing

DIVINER: At least grab me copies of the holovids!

FlameHairSavior: I'll keep an eye out.

----

FlameHairSavior: Huh. Found an old data point about Londra.

DIVINER: Oh? Anything interesting?

FlameHairSavior: Interesting? Yes. Probably not useful, though.

FlameHairSavior: Apparently he thought his wife was cheating on him, so he sent his best friend the bodyguard to investigate her.

DIVINER: And??

FlameHairSavior: And she slept with him.

HIMBO: HA!

ADMIN [Zo]: Erend, be nice.

HIMBO: I'LL BET YOU A BIG BAG OF SHARDS THAT THIS GUY DESERVED WORSE.

----

FlameHairSavior: All right, have a better idea of where we need to go now.

FlameHairSavior: There's a place called the armory which should unlock the volcano, but we needed the key from a guy named Fedder, who was in the big dome.

β: why do you always have to do twenty things to do one thing

FlameHairSavior: I don't know. I really, really don't.

HIMBO: ARMORY? SO THERE WILL BE ZENITH WEAPONS?

FlameHairSavior: Not sure. I got the sense that name might have been from when the park was open. I doubt they had actual weapons inside. And if there are, they're probably all rust by now.

FlameHairSavior: Anyway, we spotted Kina in the dome with Fedder. She's definitely with Londra willingly, but she's... practicing for a play? It's weird.

FlameHairSavior: They were just doing a couple lines over and over. "How could I not come back?"

ADMIN [Zo]: Kina is Seyka's sister?

FlameHairSavior: Yeah.

DIVINER: Um, not sure if this is relevant, buuut that was Jane's most famous line from the first Pangea film!

FlameHairSavior: Jane?

DIVINER: Walter Londra's wife! Well, that was her character's name.

HIMBO: SO HE'S... MAKING THE QUEN ACT OUT HIS MOVIE?

DIVINER: We have experience with that sort of thing, so maybe it was their idea?

FlameHairSavior: I don't even know.

FlameHairSavior: Anyway, we waited for her to leave so she wouldn't be caught in the crossfire, killed Fedder, got the key. Almost to the armory now.

DIVINER: Don't let us distract you!

----

FlameHairSavior: Shit. ShitshitSHIT.

Icarus: Everything is going well, I take it?

ADMIN [Zo]: Perhaps the armory was just the fertilizer depository.

FlameHairSavior: Londra has brainwashing tech. That's what MSP is. "Mutiny Suppression Protocol." It got trashed in the Old World because it made the subjects more violent, even if they were also more loyal.

FlameHairSavior: That's why he has so many Quen guards ready to murder.

DIVINER: ...shit!

FlameHairSavior: But he was able to perfect it on the guards. He's planning to use it to brainwash a select retinue of Quen to be his new inner circle, copies of the friends he had in the 21st century.

FlameHairSavior: That's all he wants. Adoring friends who can't quite think for themselves.

β: and what hell just be on a barren planet with his harem

HIMBO: THAT'S NOT WHAT A HAREM IS.

MARSHAL Kotallo: Usually.

HIMBO: UH. I SENSE A STORY, BUT I'M NOT SURE I WANT TO ASK.

MARSHAL Kotallo: Not every Chief of the Tenakth has been as selfless and forward-thinking as Hekarro.

HIMBO: YEP, ALREADY REGRET IT.

FlameHairSavior: He's also getting DNA samples from all the Quen. He's going to have a colony of brainwashed clones to rule over with a pantheon of gods. But of course he'd be the only one with REAL power.

Icarus: How do you know all this? I doubt he left out a datapad detailing his full plans.

FlameHairSavior: We met his personal AI, Nova. He's basically been brainwashing her for a thousand years, "tweaking" her personality hour by hour.

FlameHairSavior: She begged us to kill her.

Icarus: Ah. That is unfortunate on multiple levels.

Icarus: I don't suppose you kept a copy of her core programming?

FlameHairSavior: No.

Icarus: That is likely for the best.

DIVINER: Waitwait! Does that mean Kina is going to be part of his retinue? Since she was doing lines his wife used to do?

FlameHairSavior: Yeah.

DIVINER: ...how old is Kina?

FlameHairSavior: Old enough to understand, young enough that it's still creepy. She hasn't been brainwashed yet, though. He's a perfectionist, so he's putting off the final selection.

ADMIN [Zo]: Small mercies.

FlameHairSavior: I'm going to the volcano. Hopefully I can find a way to kill him through his shield. Maybe this Zenith weapon will do the trick?

Icarus: I haven't seen the specs on it, but I wouldn't hold my breath. I highly doubt Londra would have given a minion something that could hurt him.

----

FlameHairSavior: So, there was a slaughterspine.

β: was it londras

FlameHairSavior: Yeah, and it was a big one.

FlameHairSavior: On the plus side, Kina finally realized what a bastard Londra is.

FlameHairSavior: On the down side, I think Londra has something else waiting in the wings. The slaughterspine felt more like a distraction.

Icarus: How did he control the slaughterspine? You said he was using a HORUS printer, but surely he wouldn't be foolish enough to print out SCARABs.

HIMBO: WHAT ARE THOSE?

Icarus: The Corruptors. They could easily run out of his control, especially if they're fresh from the printer.

FlameHairSavior: He officially doesn't care what happens to this planet, so I don't think he's losing any sleep over that.

DIVINER: What about the Quen!

FlameHairSavior: Oh, right.

FlameHairSavior: Well, after we took down the slaughterspine, Seyka took Kina and the other surviving Quen back to the settlement. I think most of the brainwashed guards are already dead, so they should be able to reintegrate.

DIVINER: That's good to hear!

FlameHairSavior: Londra went back to the bunker. He's up to something big.

HIMBO: KEEP US POSTED!

Chapter 47 | Prev chapter | Next chapter Chapter Index

#horizon #horizon zero dawn #horizon forbidden west #HZDBaseChat #aloy #zo #erend vanguardsman #kotallo #alva #beta horizon #sylens

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secretmellowblog · 5 months

Note

Hijo for the characterask game

Javert and #8

(A little late but for this ask game!!! Thank you again!)

#8: a thing the fandom does with this character that you despise!

Despise is a strong word! I'll say "confuses me" instead. I talked a little bit about it in my post about fandom Valjean things I dislike-- with the caveat that I don't think any of this is really a big deal, because this small huddle of fandom stuff is a very tiny niche that doesn't have a wide impact, and also it's very normal/natural for people's opinions on characters to change over time, and I know that my *own* opinions have changed over time-- but---

I am confused by all the pro-police stuff in the Javert fandom? XD

I think the main thing that confuses me is why Post-Seine stuff where Javert is "redeemed" usually has Javert returning to his job.

It just makes more sense, thematically and on a character level, for him to resign? The common idea that "redeemed Javert" would go back to arresting people and that this would be a Good Thing always throws me off. Because 'the entire criminal justice system is fundamentally broken, there is a gulf on high, it is immoral to do this' was his whole dramatic realization and all. Plus, even putting aside the anti-police politics of the book, being a cop was clearly not good for Javert's mental health. XD It was making him feel very bad!

I remember once reading a mildly popular fic where a post-seine Javert talks about how he thinks the prison system is fundamentally broken and violent and unjust, and he can never return to his job. And I was like "Wow, this author gets it!" Then I kept reading and it turns out Javert was supposed to be *wrong* in that paragraph, that paragraph was supposed to represent an incorrect pessimistic wrong way of thinking, and the fic was about Javert regaining his faith in the police. It's just very funky! Kinda just like, realizing people view this story in such a radically different way you can't ever vibe with their versions of the characters. People sometimes walk back everything Javert realizes in Derailed as if they're mistakes, instead of positive character development, which feels odd to me. People act as if Jean Valjean is the rare exception to the general rule that Prison Is Awesome And Cool, and that Javert just needs to realize he was wrong about Jean Valjean specifically and nothing else.

I think people often miss that the police are the villains of Javert's story, in the way they're the villains of Jean Valjean's. His family was ripped apart by the criminal justice system before he was even born, he was born in a cage like an animal, and he became an agent of the system that destroyed his childhood because he internalized that institutional abuse as something that he and his family must have deserved. "Is a system that leads to children being born in jails in desperate poverty actually just?" "well of course it is. the baby is a crime baby made of crime. >:("

He's spent his whole life either living in prison or serving as an agent of the prison system; he has no framework for what living outside of serving the carceral system actually looks like. My take is, that poor horrible creature has had enough policework for several lifetimes. If there is a way to be a "good cop," he would've found it by now. Let him rest. Let him find some funky new job.

Also, one or two people have implied in the distant past that I must hate Valvert, but from a Valvert perspective-- I think it's easier to have post-seine Valvert if Javert quits his job. First, it's a dramatic shift in their dynamic and the power level between them; it's a clear sign that Javert has permanently changed. Second: Javert searching for a new job after spending his entire life serving the prison system is just rife for bonding hijinks. You could easily write a scenario where Jean Valjean helps pull strings to find him work as a gardener for Petit-Picpus, but has to help train him for the position or something along those lines, giving them an excuse to interact. Third: I don't think Javert needs to be a cop to be nosy. If you want to write a "casefic"-ish mystery plotline he could be an Angela Lansbury Murder-She-Wrote old lady retiree character solving a mystery out of pure nosiness, without even arresting anyone. Because it would be very funny.

...This has just turned into a ramble about possible Post-Seine hijinks. Anyway the moral is: there isn't really a moral, this is just my petty fandom opinions. But "Javert fics where police are bad" and "Javert fics where police are flawed but ultimately good" are two completely different genres, is my take.

#les mis #ask meme #thanks again!#this is just a funky little ramble #and i dont like positioning myself as an authority over characters

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drkcnry67 · 11 months

Text

This is Your Legacy

Title: This is our Legacy

Pairing: John x Reader

Kink: age difference

Tags: 16 year age difference, mentions of sexual endeavors after going to bring the head of the werewolf alpha back to your family, getting married by a nurse, making out in a shared hotel room, not all of this may be in the story but ya know how it goes

Rating: 18+

Summery nope

Created for @spnkinkevents

"On this day I get to go on my first solo hunt. I'm so scared, I want to do good to appease my family but they say I'm different that something is gonna happen to me on that hunt, that I shouldn't be going. Oh well what do they know. I'll show them what a total badass I am and they will see who the best hunter truly is... though my father is threatening to disown me if I don't complete the hunt so best to get started..."

That was your journal entry this morning. But I don't understand why they wont tell me what I'm hunting.

You were in college but your father pulled you out to go into the family business. But little did you know that this hunt would lead to the biggest change of your life.

So anyway, let's prepare for everything:

Clothing, shoes, food, bait, holy water, salt, silver, iron, pistol, silver stakes, wooden stakes, salt round, iron rounds, devils trap bullets, bow and arrows, chalk, lighters, shotgun, silver bullets, dead man's blood, etc....

Once you had everything sorted and organized you went down to be seen off by your family.

Mom: take care of your self and trust your gut I love you no matter what.

Brother #1: don't choke

Brother #2: don't die

Brother #3: give up now and save us all the trouble later

Brother #4: it's a piece of cake don't panic just do what you were taught and we will see you when you come back.

Father: don't bother coming back if you loose the target, fail and your no longer apart of this family. Your mother packed a few things in the car. Take it and go your instructions are in the car.

You hold your head up high and walk away not showing that he hurt your feelings. Getting into the car you wave goodbye to everyone.

Yn(to self): oh my God okay let's pull over up ahead and check out the information

You pull over up ahead in a random parking lot in front of a random abandoned building. It looked creepy as fuck seemed like the type of place that something supernatural might hangout in...

But opening the instruction package you sort it out, photos and information written out but you had no idea that this thing your father wanted you to bring back the head of was gonna be your greatest challenge.

Yn(to self): okay so if I head up the highway here make a left into town here and find a motel and then I can hangout till the moon starts to rise...

You have your plan and now you continue driving... you follow the GPS in your car and arrive in about 3 hours give or take.

You pull into the first motel you could find, you go to check in and find that there are no more rooms available. The last guy who took the last room now approaches you from the back...

John: sorry I took the last room.

Yn: its fine I guess I'll just sleep in my car

John: a pretty lady such as yourself ain't sleeping in the car. No way not in this lifetime.

You sigh and feel his hand engulf your own.

Yn: thank you but you really don't have to do this

John: oh I think I do... cause you and I are after the same thing hunter...

You stop in your dead tracks.

Yn: why did you

John: what you didn't think I'd recognize that anti possession tattoo on your arm.

Yn: I guess you expect me to trust you well sorry but if I don't do this on my own my family is basically disowning me... it's a tradition thing and I have 4 older brothers to live up to and my dad pulled me our of college for this legacy thing so it's kinda a big deal.

John's eyes widened with a variety of shock.

John: well if this hunt fails you can come on the road with me... what are the specifications for your father as proof

Yn: bring back its head or don't bother coming home

John: what if you get injured

Yn: I don't know but I'm gonna assume he'd call that a failure too

John scoffs and unlocks the room door and helps you bring your stuff into the room.

John: well lets unpack and prep... I guess we will see what happens.

You do just that you put your clothes in the dresser drawers, you set up the room with darkening blinds over the blinds already existing.

John: woah sweetheart you don't need to be so thorough

Yn: yes I do its how I was raised, my father always said that it's always better to put down too many protections than too little

john looks at you with wide eyes and an expression of what could only be described as concern mixed with some form of admiration.

you on the other hand were now cleaning and loading ammo into your guns. he watched you doing this and he found himself being more subtly attracted to you.

john: so your father pulled you out of school for this, was it against your will or

yn: your first guess is correct he was horrible about it he literally grabbed me out of my english lit class like a nieanderthal and disrupted every single person in there and knocked my english professor down the stairs in his efforts to drag me by my hair very unpleasantly and forcefully out of there to the car hog tie me and drive my ass back home where he then locked me in my room for 4 days before sending my mother in to explain everything to me why I was dragged out of school and basically having my life disrupted. Like I explained to my parents I want to be normal I want to live a normal life. I don't want to be in this life. But here I am and I am gonna need something to keep me busy if I get exiled from the family.

John now sitting across from you on one of the chairs with an ice cold beer in his hand now paying full attention to your story...

John: wow, your father sounds like a giant pain in the ass

Yn: believe me your not the first person to say that but I also feel like something is off about this entire thing.

John: here's a crazy thought I will go with you to deliver the head of this beast to your father saying you got injured and I was on the same hunt I helped you stay alive to behead it yourself then I gave you a ride home.

You smile lightly at his words now realizing your starting to develop feelings for this man.

Yn: by the way I am very curious to know how old you are my good sir

John had to think about it he knew this could go badly but he didn't care.

John: 40 but in my defense I have 2 sons who are my entire world

Yn: funny you don't look 40 but I can't help feel attracted to you for some reason

John locked eyes with you at that moment for he felt it as well.

John: how bout we prepare for this hunt and then we discuss this further later

Yn: or I could just act...

You get up and straddle John's lap meeting his lips with your own. To his surprise of course but he let go of his impulse at that moment.

You broke the kiss about 15 minutes later when his gun falls off the table.

Yn: I think we should prepare to leave.

John: nah its still a good number of hours before sundown and besides this werewolf is gonna be a piece of cake.

Yn: what if my dad banishes me anyway

John: why do you think he would

Yn: cause he is a egotistical dick and he perceives "getting help" as a failure to do the hunt correctly. He perceives "getting injured" as a invieniance and a failure. He thinks relationships interfere with your ability to focus on the task at hand.

You lean your forehead against John's as he breathes meshing his breathing with your own.

John: well if he doesn't like how this hunt turns out then he can suck it and we will load up your stuff and you can come live with me.

Yn: thank you baby I love you john

You say not even thinking about it. Then it hits you on what you just said a few moments later. You begin searching John's facials for any sign of negative response to your words.

John: I love you too YN! And I know that this won't make up for it but it will be most beneficial to everything going forward.

Yn: I know but I want to actually relax a bit before we head out on this hunt and now I know I don't have to do it alone. Cause I'm not alone I have you!

John: shall we lay down for a bit so we can rest up as its still a few hours to sundown.

Yn: I like that idea. The guns are loaded and cleaned anyway

John takes you up bridal style to the bed, he sets you down and takes off his shoes before crawling in beside you.

John: I know this seems a little quick but I promise you this will be our relationship this is our time and our lives. Damn anyone else who doesn't like this.

Yn: but What if...

John: if I fall in hunt, everything I own will now be your own.

You looked at him with admiration in your eyes.

Yn: but John we

John: I've never been more sure of anything in my life. And I'll be darned if I let anything or anyone tear us apart. Now rest my love I'll wake you up when it's time to head out.

You settle in against John's chest falling asleep as you are lulled by the sound of his heartbeat.

John(to self): oh my god, this girl is incredible but has had to deal with so much trauma for one so young. It's heartbreaking I swear on my life I'll do everything in my power to break her away from it...

You struggle internally as you are externally resting against your man's chest in a cozy little hotel room.

After about almost 2 hours of rest you wake startled from a horrific nightmare of substantial proportions.

John: woah sweetheart it's okay... you're safe nice deep breaths.

You just clutch John's chest in fear for what you saw made you scared beyond belief.

John: what's got you so scared

Yn: I have to tell you something, about a month before my dad burst into my school and pulled me out I saw it like I dreamt it before it happened.

John: you have visions?

Yn: yes and it's so annoying sometimes cause ever since the day before my 11th grade mid term exams I've had visions whenever something major is about to change my life.

John: and did you see this moment.

You nod and smile

Yn: about a week ago. So yes I was kinda expecting this but I didn't see dates or times or anything so I didn't know when this would occur

John: my my my you really are a smart lady!

Yn: and you are a very lucky man!

John: now will you tell me what got you spooked.

You breathed in deeply and felt your heart rate slow a bit...

Yn: I saw the outcome of the hunt. I apparently get injured to the point where I'm almost killed. John, i dont know if this is gonna go in our favor...

John: have faith baby and if you do get injured we will still killthe beast and bring the head home to your father then i will announce my intent to marry you properly... in a years time...

Yn: but you havent proposed

John: and i will or maybe we will just go to vegas on the way back after the hunt and get hitched there before we go back to your father tell him you got drunk after the hunt and i wanted to be a gentleman and not take you without marriage first

You place a kiss to his hand as you snugle in closer.

Yn: thank you baby

john: your welcome now lets get ready to go, its a bit of a drive before we get to where these wolves are

Yn: wolves I thought we only had to find the alpha?

John looks at you for a moment and tosses you an extra box of silver bullets.

John: there will be a pack with the alpha which is why I gave you an extra set of silver rounds

Yn: but What about my vision

John: I swear on my life we will get through this and stop down in Vegas and get married before we get back to your folks to drop off the head to your father

You look at him with tears of joy threatening to spill from your eyes.

Yn: well then I accept and for everything I am I won't let my family stop me from being happy.

John: besides its your life not theirs and your not a child anymore I see a beautiful smart confident woman one I get to spend the rest of my life with.

You put your handheld in your holster as you have now just strapped on your holster and straightened up your shirt and strapped on your ballistic vest

John: why a ballistic vest

Yn: cause I loose way to many shirts by not wearing one. It always depends on what I'm hunting.

John: I guess it also is easy to carry extra bullets too.

Yn: exactly. Now let's get ready

In moments you were loaded John had his bag of weapons and you both were loaded into John's car and on the highway in moments.

John: alright sweetheart you and I have a few things that we need to do number 1 we need to stick together and if we get seperated we stay in ear and eye shot

Yn: number 2 we knock these wolves off their asses and are in Vegas by tomorrow afternoon to be married

john: so you hve it all figured out do you?

yn: yep and we will live our lives for as long as they may last!

john: i say lets get there first and then kick their asses

john continues to drive and you realize that there is a huge chance that your father will disown you anyway and you dont care

john after about an hour of driving stops after he catches something out of the corner of his eye

yn: why are we stopping?

john: cause we are being followed!

yn: by what

john pulls out his handheld and checks the chamber, you also check your handheld and load a few more into the chamber

john: im pretty sure its the target and we are going to fool this thing into thinking its won, and when it gets close enough we will be able to hopefully kill it and be in vegas by tomorrow morning!

Yn: I love this idea and I love the man who came up with it now let's kill this thing so we can get married

John left the car running as you both slowly got out of the car, his eyes went wide at the sight of a large werewolf chowing down on a deer.

Yn: oh my god

John puts a hand on your arm which halts you as it turns to look at you...

John: no sudden movements maybe it won't attack us

Yn: John are you crazy, we are just making it easy for this thing to kill us

John: relax baby girl, it's gonna be just fine

You watch the werewolf now stand on its hind legs and begin to stalk towards you and John...

Yn: I yn take you John as my husband now and forever more as long as we both shall live everything I am/have is now yours

John now realizing what you have just said smiles as the wolf stalks now in striking distance of you and John making his final approach...

John: I John take you YN as my wife now and forever more as long as we both shall live everything I am/have is now yours

John now locks hands with you as he pulls you to stand behind him as he shoots the werewolf with 3 silver bullets one in his arm, one in his leg and one in his back...

John: lets take this one down for good

Yn: and then we go back to the hotel so I can clean out my car and we can make those vows legal

You were now holding your machete as John held your hand to slowly approach and be ready for anything...

John: careful it might still retaliate.

You were ready but first swing it shoved you back and you hit the ground landing on your arm.

You screamed in pain as it shot right up your arm and into your muscles...

John: that's my fiance you beast, now feel my wrath

That's when John shot the beast straight in-between it's eyes it howled as it fell backward dead

John was at your side in seconds

John: how bad does it hurt baby

Yn: my arm John I think it's broken...

John: well lets go clean out your car but first let's put your arm in a make shift sling so we can clean out your car and get to the hospital asap

John then removed his shirt, tore it into long strands

Yn: John you didn't have to use your shirt

John: it's all good baby girl you are way more important than my shirt let's get your arm slings then I will help steady you enough for you to chop off this beasts head

John helps you to stand up and helps you cut off the beasts head. of which John takes and throws it toward the car.

You feel John remove your ballistic vest and gently take your broken arm placing one piece of us torn shirt under neath it and tying it around your neck.

John: lets stand you up so I can tie this second strand around your slinged arm

John grabs your good hand and helps you to stand up, once your on your feet John ties the second piece of his torn shirt around your slinged arm securing it around your waist to ensure that your arm doesn't move

John: alright babe, let's get to the car...

John made sure to grab the equipment putting them in the car before making sure your in the car safe and sound before getting in himself.

John: how does it feel baby

Yn: ugh I can't believe I got hurt... my father is gonna consider this a failure doesn't matter what happens

John: so just cause you got hurt he will still consider this a failure even though you still bring back the head.

Yn: yes he will

John: no offense babe but your father sounds like a great big bag of dicks

You wince slightly as John turns the corner

John: sorry babe

Yn: its okay let's just go get packed up and check out so we can go to the hospital as soon as possible

You sat there and didn't even notice as John stopped at the motel and started unloading the room and your car of all the stuff and then he went to give the key back to the lady at the desk.

John came back a while later and handed you a flask which he opened and you chugged the entire thing.

John: better?

Yn: much now let's go to the hospital my arm hurts like a mother fucker

John laughed as he pulled out of the parking lot and away from the motel

Yn: you really tied down my arm, where...?

John: did I learn that, I was in the military years ago... I am just glad that my skills come in handy.

John smiled hanging his arm around your form as gentle as possible as he drove within reason to the hospital.

Once there he got out helping you slide out and walk up to the door and upon seeing the shape and state of you and John the nurses ushered you both into an examination area and began to treat the wounds...

Nurse: sir did you make this sling?

John: yes I did

Nurse: let me guess military?

John: good guess! It's broken I'm pretty sure anyway we were hiking and she slipped and fell I got hurt sliding down the hill to help her.

Nurse: well your efforts are indeed helpful cause if left out of a sling her arm could have been much worse now ill bring in the doctor and the x ray machine and we will have you both out of here in no time.

As the nurse left the exam room you felt John's hand engulf your own.

John: at least the hunt is done and we can take the head back to your father after the wedding tomorrow.

Yn: he's gonna probably grill the living hell out of you

John: and I'll dish back to him what he dishes to me, cause nothing is gonna stop me living the rest of my life with you

You smile leaning your head on John's hand as he brought it up to caress your cheek.

Yn: I love you too

That's ofcourse when the doctor and the nurse entered the room with a cart and a machine and such stuff.

Doc: my name is dr. Steven, I am going to be patching up yn and I understand you 2 are to be married congratulations! Now yn I know it's painful for you to do this but I need you to put your arm on the x ray bed for me so we can take a clear x ray of your broken arm.

With John's hand engulfing your good one, you loosened up a bit to allow the doc to take your arm and place it on the x ray bed.

Yn: damn it this hurts..

Dr: just a few more seconds yn your doing great

You squeezed John's hand with your good one and felt nothing but love from him.

Steven: alright x ray is all done while those results are coming in we will get you casted and slinged up

Yn: it hurts so much, John we are never going hiking again

John laughs and puts his arm round your waist

John: well not anytime soon anyway and certainly not on a steep hill.

Yn: can we just find someone closer than driving to Vegas to be wed

That's when the nurse spoke up and her words shocked you both

Nurse: well I can probably provide a solution to your not wanting to sit in a car for hours to vegas

Yn: what do you mean

Nurse: im a marriage commissioner means I can marry people, I always have a variety of wedding bands on my person just in case the occasion needs for it

You look at John who just smiles

John: that's very generous of you miss but why would

Nurse: cause I know young love when I see it besides I can't make my own life any better than by helping 2 people who walk into hospital to not have to drive over to Vegas. To introduce myself properly my name is Sheila

Yn: its a pleasure thank you so much

Sheila: no problem now dr Steven should take your fiance to do the paper work while I get you casted and slinged.

You lean into John's kiss to your forehead and watched as he and Dr Steven left the room

Sheila: okay let's get you into a fun cast

Yn: fun?

Sheila: okay so do you want rainbow, or some sort of color combo or you want to be surprised.

You look toward the door and smile

Yn: rainbow, I want rainbow it will make the best out of my sitchuation being to the fact that I probably won't be celebrating my wedding night properly till my arm is healed.

Sheila: just a few weeks but what will you and John

Yn: I'm sure we will come up with something.

*after the casting and slinging and paperwork, you and John stood up in the little hospital chapel in front of Sheila and prepared your vows to the respects along the lines of what you said on the road.*

Sheila: alright say what you both feel

You take John's hand with your good one and smile

Yn: John I always knew I was destined for something greater than just getting a bachelor's and whatever else but what I never expected is to find myself completely and totally in love with you. I can't see myself living any part of my life without you by my side so today I vow to love you with all i am, honor every single choice and decision you make even if it concerns me not, cherish every single precious day with you and to live every day one step at a time with you for us and all we do, always and forever

You fiddle with John's band while he wipes his eye a bit and clears his throat.

John: yn, I never ever thought I'd be at the alter again, not in a million years did I ever see this happening but here I am with the most wonderful amazing woman I've ever seen. You face adversity with a smile and that makes me happy so today I vow to love you with all I am, protect you with everything in my being, respect you and all your choices even if they do not concern me, cherish every single day with you and to live every day with you like it's our last for now always and forever.

Sheila: I now under the blessing of the church pronounce you both husband and wife. you may now kiss the bride

John takes you by the waist and kisses you ferociously

Sheila: alright so here's the paperwork and once you both sign it I will send this off to the state office and your marriage certificate will be sent to an address of your choosing.

John: I have the perfect place.

John writes down the address to send it too and signs his name right above yours.

John: well shall we go wife

Yn: we shall husband. We have a bit of a drive to see my folks

Sheila: didn't tell them did you?

You shake your head

Yn: no they kinda parted from me on a odd terms along with my parents we are also gonna see my 4 brothers.

Sheila: older or younger?

Yn: 3 older the 4th one is my twin

John looks at you and then you realize that you hadn't mentioned that

John: twin huh?

Yn: yes I'm sorry I didn't tell you

John: it's alright

Then he extends his hand to Sheila and Dr Steven both who accept it with smiles.

John: thank you both for everything

Sheila: no problem

Dr Steven: our pleasure and congratulations on the nuptuals. You both are lucky to have eachother.

Yn: thank you Dr Steven, Sheila, I wouldn't be on my way to healing fully if not for you guys.

With smiles and pleasantries exchanged you and John walked out of the hospital and to the car, John helped you get in before going round to get in himself.

John: come on snuggle up ill drive us to just outside your hometown and I'll wake you when we get there or if we have to stop ill wake you.

Yn: sounds good to me, john

John looks at you

Yn: I love you and I know whatever happens I'm in good hands.

John: just rest wife, we will need all our strength to face your family

John said calmly as his hand held your good one and you snuggled against his side and soon your soft snores filled the car, as John drove to just inside your home town.

John pulled over and placed a kiss to your forehead

John: hey babe we are in your town. Shall you tell me where we are going?

You pull up your phones GPS and set it as you straighten out and kinda adjust your hair.

John: just stop you look beautiful

Yn: thanks babe but my dad expects perfection

John: thats horrible. want me to straighten him up

yn: its fine babe, just follow the road and my gps will tell you when to turn.

john held your hand as he continued down the road and about 15 more minutes of driving later you saw the sign and the gate... you ushered for john to stop in front of the gate and you went to press the call button in your access tones.

about seconds later the gate opened. you watched as john drove inside. the party to greet you in the driveway was your brothers your mother and your father.

you watch as john gets out first and grabs the head in the box placing it on the ground in front of your family before coming to help you out of the car.

your twin brother comes up and immediately hugs you gently and warmly.

Greg: welcome home sister

yn: thanks bro, this man is my husband John, john this is my twin brother Greg!

they shake hands and then greg looks at the head in the box.

greg: congratulations sis you did good, in my eyes anyway!

thats when you hear the sound of your father clearing his throat, you back away from your twin and go stand directly against johns form his hand on your shoulder the wedding bands fully visible and shining in the sunlight.

father: what the fuck is this?

yn: the box has the head in it, i got injured and john who is also a hunter was nice enough to help. the car you guys sent me off in was destroyed, my arm is broken and yes father john and i got married. i forsaw this.

your father now with an angry epression on his features takes the final steps toward you, but when he saw you not moving he pulled his firearm.

yn: dad what are you doing

father: he isnt good enough for my little princess.

yn: dad i havent been your little princess since you gave me my first firearm. dont assume that im still that same little girl, cause im not and for the record i know what you did to Marleen.

he drops his gaze for a moment and then tranqs it back to you.

father: you know about her?

yn: mom showed me a photo of her holding me and greg as babies, how dare you kill my sister just cause she got married

your father was shocked when he realized that you now held your firearm toward him.

john: if i may sir, i asked your daughter, she said yes, it was during the time i was saving her, no one knows how long we have and it should count that i saved your daughters life.

your father takes one step toward john but is stopped by my mother getting in the way.

derek: get out of the way suzie

suzanna: no derek look at the chaos you always bring whenever our children return and we cant blame our daughter for trying to be happy. i gave you a chance years ago to turn your life around get help, seek anger managment and yet you continue to be a fucking dumbass.

derek: what did you say?

yn: its true you need to back the fuck off, john and i drove all through the night after being in the hospital for several hours, we need to rest. greg can you take the bags to the guest house and grab the padlock. i dont want to be disturbed with john as we stay there.

john: give me the gun yn

you hand John the gun as John now scoops you into his arms and then faces your father in a stare down

John: look sir I don't give a crap how you run things but you are through giving my wife orders. She took my last name, im her husband, end of story. And what's more I'll progress her training further than ever before anyone who wants to join us can but right now my wife and I need sleep.

Suzanna: welcome to family John, it's good to meet you Greg help your brother in law move him and your sister into the guest house and fortify it so your father can't enter.

Greg: gladly mom...

*after Greg helped you and John get settled he left you both alone. You sat in the chair and looked at the door ad if expecting someone to barge through it... but soon John had you eating a meal he made and he had you getting all cozy for a days rest and relaxation*

Laying in the bed was not comfortable so John unfolded the futon and made you smile.

Yn: what's the plan here babe

John: well I figure I can sleep sitting up enough that you can use me as a bed and the futon is the best place for that.

Yn: but what

John: your twin left a few body pillows and things of such nature to try and make things more comfortable for you while you recover, he will come by in the morning to see how we are doing.

You lean up to kiss John as he smiles through the kiss.

Yn: thanks babe, I can't wait till I'm healed so we can go on a proper honeymoon!

John: well it's our legacy now we can do whatever we want! And till your injured I'm at your service.

That began a very vigorous makeout session. Which led into sleeping comfortably and in complete bliss.

~to be continued~

#spnkinkbingo #supernatural #john winchester x reader #supernatural john winchester smut

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swlegends · 4 months

Note

As someone who grew up with the Expanded Universe, there are some things I strongly disagreed with: the 365 trillion body count of the Yuuzhan Vong War, the anti-Jedi rhetoric, Imperial apologism or “heroic” Imperials, Grey Jedi, among others.

What parts of the EU do you disagree with?

Ah, this is a good question. I'll put my answer below and Tuesday can also edit this ask or reblog with an answer if they want!

For me (Avi): Grey Jedi is also ehhh to me since it goes against established lore. I don't mind if we're doing a non-canon story or what-if, but as is it doesn't work for Star Wars. Imperial apologism is also cringe, especially when anyone goes "Palpatine would've handled the Yuuzhan Vong threat" like Han didn't tell 'em to shove it with

That's not what the Empire would have done, Commander. What the Empire would have done was build a super-colossal Yuuzhan Vong-killing battle machine. They would have called it the Nova Colossus or the Galaxy Destructor or the Nostril of Palpatine or something equally grandiose. They would have spent billions of credits, employed thousands of contractors and subcontractors, and equipped it with the latest in death-dealing technology. And you know what would have happened? It wouldn't have worked. They'd forget to bolt down a metal plate over an access hatch leading to the main reactors, or some other mistake, and a hotshot enemy pilot would drop a bomb down there and blow the whole thing up. Now that's what the Empire would have done.

The writing quality of the EU also has major dips and curves. I don't mind where characters necessarily ended up in Legacy of the Force, but I felt it could've been better executed (especially in regards to Jacen and Tahiri). Also, I don't agree that Clone Wars '08 is part of the EU. It doesn't fit and doesn't respect the established lore and continuity in a flagrant fashion rather than accidentally. That's not to say it's bad, just that it isn't part of the original continuity.

#asks #anonymous #thanks for the ask!#may the force be with queue

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adaltiorawrites · 5 months

Text

Writeblr Re-Intro | x3

who am i

call me atrice ad altiora (she/her. it's my penname!

22 years old +1 every october.

proud soulaan with an anti-colorism chip on my shoulder.

i have a BA in professional writing

writerly things about me

i tend towards speculative fiction: fantasy, sci-fi, and all the subgenres that come with them.

i've never actually finished a wip before! I'll be changing that real soon though.

i write fanfic!

my works have themes of / religious trauma and deconstruction / afrofuturism / anti-colorism / overcoming sexism / toxic queers™ / eat the rich, burn the monarchy / afro-centricism / slave rebellions (FUCK YEAH) / it's only good if it's gay / polyamory

2024 Writerly Goals

complete five short stories from my worldbuilding project.

have a complete outline of all of my wips using the stc method

write at least half of fem!faustus wip

name fem!faustus wip

name solarpunk isekai wip

post at least twenty instances of stc method practice on tumblr

write one (1) piece of bible fanfiction

wip masterlist

Title: [fem!faustus wip]

Genre: Historical Fantasy

Status: Not Outlined

Logline: After witnessing the enslavement of her dead brother's soul by a white supremacist cult, Beulah Neal makes a deal with a demon for her people's freedom.

Tag: ?

•

Title: [solarpunk Isekai wip]

Genre: Solarpunk , Portal Fantasy

Status: Not Outlined

Logline: After dying and being reborn as the villainess in a novel she hated, Vaelana Vaith disobeys the Plot and schemes to overthrow her brother, the second male lead.

Tag: ?

•

Title: Project Kenopsia

Genre: Epic Fantasy, Anthological

Status: Writing World Bible / Outlining As I Write

Logline: An anthological worldbuilding project exploring a world where the hanahaki disease is a zombie virus, a once defeated matriarchal empire seeks to regain its past glory, and long ago a mysterious force turned the oceans into a forest where eldritch horrors roam free.

Tag: n/a

other blogs

@therosehost

fandom and fanfiction sideblog

@kenopsia-shout

anthological worldbuilding sideblog

@thechrysanthecandle

religious deconstruction sideblog

i'm excited to start writing again!!!

#writeblr intro #writeblr #writers on tumblr #writing community #writeblr reintroduction

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scribble-dribble-writes · 2 years

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i’m sorry if this is annoying but i would really love to hear your thoughts or interpretations of all the namor and shuri scenes in the movies! if it’s not too much

Stop!! I love you ask for my thoughts in the first place 🥹

I wanted to answer this after I watched the movie again and let me tell you I LOVE THEM 😭😭

I'm scared Marvel may not give it to us or move away from it, but pls pls pls pls pls I want them to be together

I'll try to work through each scene they share together and add my thoughts to it. Here we go, I've put together all their scenes together below

*flexes fingers*

Namor meets Shuri by the bush and looks intrigued. Ramonda states that she found this place in her journey of letting go. She spent time by the water, so he kept tabs on Wakanda after Tchalla let's the world in on their secret. But I don't think he expected Shuri to be there. Then he thinks she just another princess because most of his dialogue is with Ramonda. She's being hostile and he's threatening her. But even in that exchange the only time he smirks is she Shuri points out his vibranium outfit. And from them on, his gaze switches between both of them. Knowing Tenoche uses his eyes a lot to convey emotion and add to the character. Namor is definitely curious about Shuri just as she is curious about him.

Now the next time they meet is in his cave. Where the people have been instructed to give her the royal treatment. All the Talokans are welcoming, even Namora herself, once Shuri accepts the garments she's excited to lead the way and for the only scene in the film, smiles. The first dress piece looks like a long tunic, it makes her look like a Talokan princess. I love the way that shot is set, right before she's about to meet him, she's nervous and so are we. But the moment she steps in the colour and setting are all in warm tones. It's welcoming, soft and safe. Shuri eases. Namor greets her, he looks nervous himself in a way. He tells to feel at ease and move about his space, which I feel only Namora was the only other person who has access to it. But other than that it's his room. He's writting letters or reports on his work desk. On it are two things that capture our attention, his message shell and his mother's bracelet. Which are his personal things compared to the other artefacts that are from his culture. He's painted most of the walls himself, he's an art collector, we see him inside his home.

He looks impressed when Shuri notes the date of the artefacts, where they've come from and deducing that his mother is human. Those were the bits he was supposed to tell her. He doesn't put anything as off limits in that scene, she says the bracelet is beautiful, he just hands it to her. He's narrating the story and she stops him to ask why he's sharing all of this and he states it's to get her to see why it's imperitive that the scientist needs to die, what he's got to save instead. I guess in all of that somewhere, Shuri is moved by the love he has for his people. She's genuinely trying to figure a way to fix it. She's coming with solutions, we'll keep the scientist in Wakanda, we'll give you protection, she gives him her word. But he shakes his head with a huff almost like it's a perfect deal except he's not willing to take a risk again. Shuri then says that he can keep her instead, in place of Riri and he's run out of things to say. As much as the other's trying to play a game, they both connect extremely well. It like two halves finding eachother, their conversation, arguments, adoration all flows so seamlessly.

She tells him she'll stay and see the kingdom. Which again is something I don't think he expected. So his immediate response is to say, hypothermia will attack you, your bones will be crushed, your blood will become toxic. He says it in such a way, I interpret it as the 'anti hero admiration', he spouts all this, Shuri looks at her dress, her collar bones peaking through, he says your bones will be crushed and looks at her body, both of them have been checking eachother out throughout the movie. He's saying the truth but it's also like he's saying you'll get hurt if you go out like that or I can't have you be hurt don't worry, I have a suit!

Many had pointed out saying, he's had all this planned because he's reusing the suit the scientists had worn before. But I think it's more to do with the idea of not leaving evidence behind. They can't have two scientists floating around with spear marks through them. So all the others had drowned and the ship snuck into the ocean. He would probably bring back things from the surface world to study them, he had the machine with him for a while before he dumped it in Wakanda.

So he's taking her, tells her to stay close and leads her to the portal to Talokan. Shuri's looking at everything that's happening, the ocean depths, the portal current, his vibranium key, the people, the city and everything, her focus is on what's happening around her. But he's always looking at her. Showing off his people, sneaking glances to see her reaction. Does she like it or not? He swims slowly, journeying along with her, making sure she's safe. Like you cannot tell me he didn't care, the man's not looking at anything else. Shuri watches the vibranium sun(which he built, showing her he's an innovator too 😩) rise from the building, BUT HE'S LOOKING AT HER before he turns away.

The second outfit she gets is much like the ones she wore at home, like shirts and pants. The proximity at which they're seated next to eachother in a WHOLE CAVE??? Like he's sitting so close I would believe they could nudge their knees together or bump elbows. He offers her his mother's bracelet out of sheer gratitude, I'm unable to see it as a manipulation tactic. He's a hoarder, loves his mom, loves his people, admires art, does good to his under water empire that he's single handedly leading. Someone mentioned he was a sociopath, but sociopaths don't have any regard for anyone else. So he doesn't fit there, that's not him. I believe that's he doing it because, Shuri says that she's admired what he's built and all that. I think he's moved by her words too.

But then there's an argument or misunderstanding, she tells him once again she won't stand for it if Riri is killed and nods his head in acceptance. Like he's reasoning with her, showing her everything he's got to lose. She's also talking to him about her grief, that's where the scene begins between them. Were joining them mid conversation, and he's listening to her. Comforting her. There's genuine appreciation between them. She's asking how she can let go or why things were unfair. He tells her that people die and there nothing we can do about it. That he doesn't have an answer to her questions, all if which are all valid. He says the most broken people become great leaders, not in a villain sense but listening to her grief. That the pain in her life will turn out to be good. That she young and he too has faced a lot of loss, but it's how he's looking at her. He feels her pain. HES A BLODDY EMPATH YOU CAN'T TELL ME ANY DIFFERENT. He values empathy the most.

She goes back to state she won't stand for it, killing Riri and he pauses. Now he's sharing his secret with her, his pain that needs to be healed. His fear that he is going to bury all his people like he did his mother over a couple resources. He wants to know if she's an ally or enemy to which she says it's madness and hes spitting out facts saying no one country would have spared Wakanda if it had the chance. That once the threat has been eliminated, he'll return the scientist. He says it in a manner I interpret it as he was never going to do so in the first place. But she objects to it, which is like rejecting him and his idea, his emotions flicker, but when he says the scientist will be killed and Wakanda will face war it's almost like that threat is fake and he's pleading with her. He does the KATE SHARMA EYEBROW CRUNCH. He wants her to listen to him, that Wakanda will not win in dire circumstances and then pleads BABY BURN THE WORLD WITH ME.

War happens and Shuri is now conflicted. She says it's beautiful but they're dangerous people, so when she shows up in her sun bird to fire on him, it's almost like he's a reluctant fighter with her. He's like fine, I'll do this, but stay away. He jumps away on the bridge, he does not want to fight her, but after coming to a point where she isn't giving up, he lands on the hull and damages the engine, like pushing her aside. I also find it fascinating that he's just slicing up the wings of the planes when he could have sliced through the pilot?? Especially the Dora milaje, he could have eliminated all of them at a go, they can definitely survive a plane crash.

Now from here, it's purely my interpretation and how it could have happened knowing these characters and their motivations. He bombs and floods the throne room and then it cuts to the scene of Shuri coming there and him turning to see them as he hovers above. We see Ramonda try to pull Riri to the surface but when Shuri comes there, the queen is in the water while Riri's out and far away. Ramonda could not have done that. Before Namor throws the bombs he sees Riri behind the queen. There is a lot of mother sentiment in that scene. Before it Riri asks to speak to her mother which touches Ramonda, so as Namor comes he watches the queen be protective of this girl, the very girl Shuri was fighting for and instead of plunging his spear into Ramonda he falls back smirking at Riri's presence and throws the water bombs.

I imagine that scene as Ramonda coming up for air but she breathed in a lot of water already, so she holds riri up and reminded of his own mother he helps Riri and places her on the floor but its to late to save the Queen? I don't know but it fit well knowing his love for his mother. Cause without an explanation, that scene falls flat or out of the blue, when we just spent such a long time trying to understand him. Cause when Shuri meets Killmonger, he's degrading her family but he says some important stuff. Her father was a hypocrite, true. He brother was too noble, true. Then instead of saying her mother's death or murder, he says it was her sacrifice, which again adds a whole different meaning to that scene and like we're missing a scene in between. He tells them off and moves on because if you've lived as long as he has, people die.

Shuri chants for wakanda, he still doesn't know she's the black panther. He looks up at her almost like he's tired of fighting her, tired of trying to prove his point that Wakanda will not win against Talokan. All this is happening and he faces off against Riri. He absolutely has a chance to kill her there but still doesn't. Just breaks her back boosters, pushing her away to get out the way. He looks like a deer trying to escape for the first time. He gets captured and Shuri jumps on board. It's only them and after everything he smiles while saying princess. Like hey it's you, you know me hahaha but she's raining fire. She corrects him, that she's the black panther and he's losing control. So his survival instinct kicks in and they fight.

Their fight was angsty, like all this happens and he stabs her. He falls back and for a second there's sadness on his face as he says things could have been different. He believes it, I believe it but what he doesn't expect is for her to come back. PLS THEY'RE SOULMATES. He pulls up his fist, she burns his back and gets everything she wants. He's looking at her almost like he's a second away from crying, that this death will be honourable in her hands cause she bested him, that's what I get from seeing those scenes. But Shuri thinks of past moments and the moment that she remembers of him is the same as when he tells her the origin of his name, that he is without love. THATS THE MEMORY SHE HOLDS OF HIM, THE ONE THATS IMPACTED HER 😭😭

She asks him to yield and he remembers his mother, so he does too. Them flying on each side together as one??? Omg chills. They are the power couple, they are the moment. He leaves that set absolutely changed, he's a man in love. He's taking about her non stop in the two seconds we get. Painting a picture of her, telling his cousin not to worry that she'll comeback to him. Um Fishboy accept your feelings.

Anyway, that is my summary on their interaction and I'm crying cause I don't know when we'll get them next 😭

#shuri x namor #tenoch huerta namor #namor #mcu namor #namor x shuri #queen shuri #shuri black panther #shuri #mcu

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ruthlesslistener · 10 months

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Oohhh I get it now. But tbh if I'm going to be honest, at least proshippers hide their stuff away in their respective dark areas/behind safe walls and even tag and warn people about the dark content they make. Antis dont, they just invade places and engage in the said dark content just to get mad at it. At least from my own experiences from them. Idk I just see most proshippers as responsible in managing what they make, while antis don't. I actually got a taste of dark content from antis myself as a kid, in a lot of callouts made by antis lololol. And not because the proshipper were demanding their content be known. Its been like that even now actually, where dark content gets shoved in people's faces purely because an anti is trying to act like a hero. Though this is just my experience with them.

Another thing if you wouldn't mind, is that while it's true that dark content can lead to a lot of things in real life. I personally see that it has to be allowed to exist, because dark content shows the dark realities of life and that we shouldn't just leave it/ignore it. I seen victims of abuse for example, who had their experiences validated from reading dark content/about their abuse in stories. Or like the fact that a certain famous entertainment company doesnt want to show blood in their content because of "violence" in shows where kids and adults are watching, where some have pointed out that not showing even a small proportions of what violence can do (blood) will lead to a very naive understanding of the consequences of violence. Shocking because this is a western company, and the TV show in question involves guns and... you get the idea. Don't get me started on censorship and how that can get out of hand so easily.

I don't think I'm explaining this well but yeh. Dark content is needed and should be allowed to exist in my personal views, but should still be allowed to exist behind close doors and away from people who don't want to see it. You can delete this ask if it makes you uncomfortable, I'm just trying to put my two cents into this convo. But yeh, I prefer to live in a world where dark content exists and not one where its nothing but "wholesome" and "pure".

[Tone: calm and neutral]

Oh no yeah I agree with you 100%, this is my exact stance on things and is a mirror to most of my experiences- hell, I like exclusively dark content and part of the reason for that is bc I came from a psychologically/emotionally (and sometimes physically) where 'we're all just a big happy family and you're ruining it you little freak' was a big problem. Stuff that's just pure and wholesome actually makes me feel uneasy and on edge all the time because I always feel like the other shoe is about to drop, while horror is comforting because I can read the situation and know what's happening. Part of the issue in my household also stems from the fact that my dad has an issue with differentiating fiction and reality (he suffers from untreated ocd and paranoia and a whole slew of other issues), and he used to blame the stuff I was reading for making me 'disrespectful' and 'cold' whenever I dared to have a negative emotion- hence me just seeking out more and more fucked up shit so that I could vent my anger without getting cussed out (though it also was bc I wasn't allowed to watch anything over a G rating til I was fucking. 16.). Without going into more detail, he used extremely similar tactics to antis and that's why I have such a strongly negative response to them, discounting all of the times where I had nasty run-ins with them. I very much hate all of them and it is because I had to deal with people like them my whole life. It wasn't fun.

I have very few actual squicks, and if I'm in a curious mood I'll also read stuff even if it disgusts me- and hell, sometimes their are exceptions. Captive Prince is a series I'm very fond of full of rape, csa, incest, and psychological abuse, but the reason why I love it despite the content is because it is a very compelling story about how horrible all that abuse is and how deeply fucked up it can make a person, as well as how awful the victim can seem when your pov is being manipulated by the abuser. The problem I have isn't content-based as much as it is the people, and, to the lesser extent, the tone of some of what they make.

See, what soured me on proshippers aren't people who are quietly making darker content and posting/tagging it properly (those are just normal writers and artists imo), I'm talking those who proudly proclaim themselves as proship, aka the vocal few balls deep in The Discourse who make it their whole personality trait. They're mostly centered to Twitter rather than Tumblr nowadays, but the problem with said vocal minority is that they are. Well. Extremely fucking annoying, entitled, tone-deaf, and just overall awful people. Almost everyone who proudly flaunts that they're proship is so balls-deep in the discourse that they feel personally victimized by anyone who shows any negative reaction to the gross shit they're into bc that automatically means they're a puritan, when sometimes it really is just an expression of disgust. Twitter proshippers are a whole different breed than Tumblr ones after the porn ban, but unfortunatly I keep getting their arguments shown to me when I'm on the site scrolling for furry porn and its...bad. It's real fucking bad. Not as bad as antis half the time but certainly not much better in how they treat people and their personal boundaries.

It's also the people who will take content that's pretty fucked up and spins it through a fandom lens that also gets me, though most of the time I just block and move on with a bad taste in my mouth instead of getting actually angry. And by 'fandom lens', I mean people who will take a rape/abuse/etc situation and then go 'oh but what if they're a couple with only a few pokes at the fucked up elements in canon. Ex, some (admittedly few, but they exist) people ship Mohg and Miquella as a reciprocal pairing despite it being a kidnapping and nonconsensual body modification incest-for-power situation, and that just...it feels so wrong. It's just so shallow and such a bad take read on a complex situation that I cannot stand it, it makes me want to run the opposite way. I have zero authority to force people to not do things ofc, I'm not a fucking cop, but those people give me the vibe of someone who'd not help you out with an abusive partner because 'oh but his posessiveness and controlling nature is just so cute, and he clearly loves you so its okay!' and that rings the alarm bells of someone that I do NOT want to be around even if it logically means nothing.

Does that make sense? It's a convoluted mess, but I hope I made it more clear that it's not so much the content that bothers me as much as it is the people and how they use it.

#knittingworm #ex the people i thought were proshippers in my askbox were the ones who kept arguing over ethics even when i said i was uncomdortable #thats the sort of 'no boundary respect only argue' thing that upsets me not rlly what people are into #its very much how people treat other people that bothers me about the Disc Horse #reply

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hello-nichya-here · 8 months

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Genuine question: If the ppl of Brazil are anti-communism, why are they in BRICS with Russia and China, two communist countries?

1 - My God, this question single-handedly took back me back to my school years. Answering this lowkey makes me feel like I'm taking a test XD

2 - Russia has not been communist for over 30 years. Ya know. The USSR ended in 1991? It was kind of a big deal?

3 - China's government is a VERY weird combo of the worst of communism with the worst of capitalism. Obviously a lot about how the country works is a direct result of communism, but they have zero problem playing the capitalist game, and as a result EVERYONE has some kind of economical relation with China - they sell stuff the cheapest (thanks to slavery) and have literal billions of people foreigners can sell their stuff to. If selling/buying stuff with them made anyone communist, the whole world might as well be communist already.

4 - BRICS is not like the EU, or the USSR, or NATO. Brazil's opinions on anything that goes on with our "friends" doesn't matter because the point of it is not for us, Russia, India, China and South Africa to collectively decide anything about each other's politics (border control, currency, economic system, alliances in wartime, etc). It's literally just a group of nations that are struggling to remain/become relevant to the rest the world, while also trying not to go officially broke, that looked at each other and went "If you're about to crash and burn I'll try to help you out if I can, and then you do the same for me. Deal?" It's the possibility economic back up in case of crisis. The one thing we have to decide together is "Who gets to join this group of countries that are desperately trying to not implode?"

5 - Most brazilians are not really anti-communism because most brazilians don't fucking KNOW what communism is. A few might have heard names like Marx, Lenin, Stalin, Vladmir Putin, Mao or Fidel Castro, but they don't know shit about them. Lots of us know BRICS exists, but a ton cannot explain what it is. If you ask most brazilians to point to either China or Russia on a map, I'd say over half wouldn't be able to do it. And if you ask us to point to our own country on a map, a shockingly large number of people here will STILL not be able to do it because our educational system is that fucking bad.

You'll find LOTS of people, especially older generations, that think they understand what communism is, but in reality they were just fed the pro-USA propaganda those motherfuckers were spreading through all of latin america during the cold war by literally backing up dictatorships. And me acknowledging that fact and not calling the coup of 1964 "the revolution that was totally necessary and wanted by everybody and totally didn't lead to all kinds of violations of people's basic human rights" would already make half of my relatives yell at me to go to Cuba or Venezuela so I'll "stop" being a communist - because yes, saying "Dictatorship bad" is enough for them to label people communists.

Our president through 2019-2022, Jair Bolsonaro (I still HATE that dude's gut in case anyone is wondering) literally brought all of that old propaganda back to make people scared of the "communist threat inside Brazil" so he would get elected, and then tried to use that again to stage a coup after he lost to Lula in 2022.

Brazil is not "anti-communist." Brazil is a country filled with people that were never taught some pretty basic stuff about the world, and are thus easily manipulated by any politician.

#asks #brazil #brics #brasil

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seaweedbraens · 5 months

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Yo it’s your local late night 6.5/10 PJOTV reviewer here to offer yet another perspective, especially after the new episode.

I think the core of the issue is that this show has two major MAJOR differences from the book, those being tone and pacing. The latter has been discussed a lot, and all i really have to add to that cesspool is that it is in fact very different and faster, leading to tighter story beats and less character development, which is the only thing i truly hate.

The tone thing hasn’t been talked about nearly as much as it should be, but i think it IS affected a ton of people’s perception of the show. The witty, dry humor of the first book that defined Percy and Annabeth as kids is kind of lacking a little? This is probably the fault of Rick attempting to write for TV and kinda struggling with humor. This makes the TV characters slightly different from the books, with Annabeth being more serious and less sarcastic, while Percy is just snarky sometimes instead of being an absolute little bitch. (This is also a lot because of the lack of narration BY Percy, where he can be a lot more humorous)

Without spoiling much, the newest episode fixes some of the issues with story and pacing elements, but still lacks in some development in terms of the subtext of the story, if that makes sense. The best part is that it reworks and redoes certain parts of the story in a way that just WORKS for TV and this specific cast.

Honestly, the only character that has 100% benefited from the change in focus with character development is Grover. The fact that the show just generally cares less about these characters somehow makes grover less of an anxious, shy companion and more of a fun, wholesome dude which i love SO MUCH!

About LMM as Hermes, i’m totally for it. LMM has pretty decent acting jobs, and the tired look he always has totally works with Hermes being canonically overworked as hell.

Another thing i do love that some people don’t is the Gabe changes. IDK how much you know, but the changing of Gabe is an unforeseen and interesting change. However, i like it because it makes Gabe a more dynamic character, and makes it possible to change who is in a negative light, rather than making him go from “abusive bitch” to “physically abusive bitch”. This all comes from someone intimately family with parental abuse and someone who loves reading fics that discuss Gabe AS a horrible abuser. Like, one of my fav PJO fics (that i did suggest to you) is an entire therapy fic about Percy dealing with that abuse and the scars of trauma. I know what i want from Gabe’s character is all i’m saying.

Finally, one last topic i wanna rant about on the internet is fucking LA Luke. They had absolutely no right to make this dude the most lovable bitch at camp. Hell, even the most anti-live action ppl out there can admit Luke got a lot more sympathetic in the show. Anyone can see they really cared about that aspect of the character. (not the weak-ass attempt at a scar tho lmao)

This entire rant and all of my (and everyone’s really) feelings can change drastically as soon as the next episode drops though, so take everything ANYONE says with a tablespoon of salt and a pile of blue food.

duly noted, and thank you for the update on your thoughts with the new episode, anon - it's so interesting to see thoughts change with every new one! i'll probably binge it all in one go at the end.

from what you've said, i think the gabe changes still bother me, but i'm all for a more likeable luke. that'll make the betrayal that much more painful. honestly, i've been toying lately with the idea of a later betrayal on luke's end, rather than at the end of book 1. i feel like we don't fully get to see how much percy trusts him and likes him in the limited time we get with them in the lightning thief. one day, maybe, i'll write a fic that really gives luke and percy the Bonding Time i think they deserve before the rug's pulled out from underneath percy's feet.

i wonder how your 6.5/10 rating will change by the end of the final ep!

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sapphic-haymaker · 7 months

Text

Media Log #2: Armored Core 2!

Taking a leap into a whole new console with Armored! Core! 2!!

And oh boy!

this was kinda painful.

Armored Core Gen 1 post

The same game, but somehow less.

So. right off the bat. This game feels pretty alright. We've got pretty similar movement and controls to Gen 1, if a bit slower and pilots a bit smoother. Everything looks pretty nice for a Ps2 launch title. But once i'm past the tutorial mission, I see the Arena is open. I am possessed by a dark spirit to head straight into the thick of it, where I run into a major problem with the game.

All the arm weapons suck.

I'll find this is significantly less of a problem in the story mode missions, but in the Arena is where you're going to most feel it: Basically every returning weapon has less ammo and less damage. Technically weapon damage potential is a bit higher than listed due to a new mechanic where taking successive damage makes your mech overheat, dealing damage over time. But I found almost every arm weapon downright lethargic aside from a few.

I eventually landed on the MGSAW, which is the AC2 version of the same machine gun i cleared MoA on with [The Rook], it did not avoid the nerf bat completely. I think it fires slightly slower and it's damage has been dropped. But it still carries a whopping 1000 rounds and this game isn't bad enough that you can shoot someone a thousand times and they'll still live. This is my main gun for most of AC2's missions.

ACs are just generally bulkier in this new generation. Leading to the early arena fights, where you haven't figured out the damage sauce and the enemies are incompetently built, being absolute wet noodle fights. Shoutouts to the poor woman going by the callsign [Tomboy], equip with only a pistol, which i genuinely don't think could kill me if i simply stood still. It's a miserable existence out here on Mars.

I had never seen an enemy AC run out of ammunition in Gen 1, it happened multiple times with the first few Arena fights in this game. I definitely failed some missions due to my habit of not bringing a sword.

I think I did a couple missions upon running into the first somewhat competently built AC in the game, Werehound. But after doing that to scrap up a bit more money I went the distance and cleared the entire arena 4 or 5 missions into the game.

Small gameplay tangent:

At the start of the game, you're offered a choice between "Normal" and "Hard", I had heard some great things about Hard Mode missions in later AC games, so I immediately picked the option. After finishing it and finding it. not at all hard I googled what the differences was.

Not even the internet could consistently answer my question. It definitely makes your lockbox smaller apparently, some people also say that boosters consume more charge, but I can't find anything concrete beyond those two. These certainly make the game harder but I don't think it's in an interesting way. I wouldn't have switched off of it either way but what a weird design choice.

I did both Gen 1 and Gen 2 fully human. playing Human PLUS just does not sound appealing to me.

Missiles Missiles Missiles.

See. While all the Arm weapons have been nerfed. The back weapons are better than ever, due to Gen 2s being slower than Gen 1s, you can actually reliably hit people with missiles now (I swear it was easier to thread a camel through the eye of a needle than hit high mobility ACs with any sort of missile in Gen 1).

I think FromSoft realized they had created a missile meta cause there's a whole new slot called "Extension", over half of extension parts interact with missiles. A new part slot weirdly called "Inside" also lets you mount even more anti-missile defenses.

You've got extensions that let you fire more missile per missile, you've got extensions that fire missiles to counter missiles, you've got decoys to mislead enemy missiles, you've got missiles that split into more missiles. You will find more missiles in AC2 than you will find stars in the goddamn sky.

Meet my next generation gal, [Rock & Soil]! I originally envisioned her as another solid rock(heh) like [The Rook] from MoA but that quickly went out the window as I learned the game. I went with red, earthy tones cause I was actually pretty excited for AC2's setting change to a newly terraformed Mars! (I really don't think they did enough with it imho)

I went with RJ legs simply cause I hadn't spent a significant amount of time on RJ legs in old gen and wanted to try em out. They're fine.

This build is a damage monster. The Arena enemies are FAR tankier than anything in a mission, but they're still balanced around AC2's lower power weapons, being able to spam missiles absolutely decimates them. On top of this, there is a new mechanic in AC2 called "Limit Release", which lets you gain infinite boost for a long period of time, followed by a long period of having zero energy whatsoever.

I abused the hell out of this mechanic. Every single fight I would pop it and completely rush down the enemy opposition with a swarm of missiles. Either I win within the duration or they maul me when it runs out. And that VERY rarely happened. Enemies in the Arena use the aforementioned counter missiles pretty often. But they rarely matter. If i see that they are using interceptor missiles, I simply just spam my weaker missiles until they're out of counter-missile ammo, then rain down pain with my larger back missiles.

Here's what your average fight in AC2 looks like. Kinda beautiful.

It's So Easy…

So. While Arena enemies are full AP ACs, the enemies you'll find in actual missions are… significantly squishier. Genuinely everything in this game melts like butter. There's a very weird decision FromSoft made where if you encounter an AC in story mode, they'll have like 30% the amount of HP. Meaning that you take one look at them and they DIE. It's kinda funny how this is the opposite of AC6 where enemies are easier and squishier in the Arena than they are in Story.

They still do full damage, don't get me wrong, but i've found the AC2 AI doesn't have the Gen 1 bloodlust and they go down without much of a fight.

Aside from that. Almost all AC fights and important boss fights in general take place in cramped, crowded, tiny arenas. It's genuinely kinda baffling how they just don't let you have a nice open arena for a showdown, so the enemies can't move and dodge your fire and they go down quick due to being at such a crazy handicap.

If you want an idea of just how pitiful the enemies are in this game. The final boss went down in 7 lock-ons of a middileweight missile launcher. It has two phases, both went down in the same mount of hits. The entire final boss of the game, down in 1 middleweight missile launcher's clip. Actually laughable.

I don't think I had an awful time with AC2, it had enough setpieces and neat missions to get me along. but it definitely left me feeling wanting. So when I heard I had another AC2 game in store, I was dreading it, but little did I know just how much Gen 2 I had left in store.

Story Tangent take 2.

I kinda didn't vibe with the story of AC2. There's the usual political intrigue and corporations waging war on eachother, but it all didn't hit as much as AC1, I think it has to do with the aesthetics, AC1 is pretty dark and moody, there's an air of mystery to everything. Meanwhile AC2 doesn't have the same vibe, and goes in a weird science fiction direction where you're dealing with implications of ancient aliens on mars that i simply don't care for in my real robot media.

THE REAL AC2 STARTS HERE.

Welcome to AC2: Another Age! (i'll call it AC2.5 a lot) Unlike the Gen 1 games, I did actually load my previous save. I think scrapping for cash is absolutely a staple of Armored Core but i'll be honest I didn't wanna spend anymore time in Gen 2 than I needed to.

It's harder! Mostly! Kinda! Enemies remain their same level of bulk with some new enemies actually taking some shots before going down, unfortunately you're still stuck with AC2's not-great feeling weapon lineup. The most notable change is due to no Arena mode, enemy ACs are at their full capacity and they are definitely more aggressive at times. A particularly early mission throws two absolute powerhouse ACs at you with the condition that you could just ignore them and go for the objective. But. I'm obviously not doing that and rammed my head into them for a while.

What i've found is missile spam is absolutely still strong, but it's less viable when the game is throwing multiple high AP ACs with actual room to maneuver at you. Some missions will even throw up to three at you at a time and the arenas are big enough for them to move around in! For most of my AC2.5 run I started using the series mainstay Karasawa for the first time, which i think it, along with the Grenade Rifle which acts as a higher power, much lower ammo sidegrade to it i feel, is absolute king of arm weapons in this game. No contest.

50 shots isn't a lot but it was enough to get the job done for many, many missions.

Speaking of. AC2.5 is uh. unique. in that it has no story essentially, and is more of a mission pack addon to AC2. Thing is.

It's O n e H u n d r e d M i s s i o n s long

One! Hundred! 100! That's almost TRIPLE the amount of AC2 and significantly more than all of Gen 1 combined! What the fuck! So many of these use the same maps, enemies, setpieces, etc, that you genuinely will run the exact same map with tiny variants 4 to 5 times! And FromSoft is expecting you to be more familiar with the game systems. Did you know that Hovertanks can fly over water without instant dying? I sure didn't until I saw an enemy do it! There's missions that are literally impossible to beat without specialized builds.

A whole suite of missions take place on water maps, making a hover AC practically mandatory. Another required a lightweight build with really good energy/thrust, to the point where my middleweight build genuinely could not make a jump. I hope to see more missions like this in future games. I think it's great and very fitting for the genre to have to modify your mech for different situations, along with getting players out of their comfort zones.

Meet [Sky & Clouds], unlike most games I really did not have a predefined build for all of this. I was constantly changing stuff to suit the mission, which is really good and cool but god I wish I was doing it in a more interesting game. This is a particularly late game edition of [Sky & Clouds], designed to be able to fire the Karasawa as much as possible since other weapons really weren't an option.

This was an absolute SLOG to get through. God. I somewhat wish I just went right to AC3 but my brain wants to say she beat all AC games, so i toughed it out. I don't think I regret playing this game. There was some genuinely cool stuff and neat missions in it. But they're buried under the mountains of monotonous boring missions cause theres no way you can make an expansion like this consistently interesting and unique.

I've put some praise in this AC2.5 section just cause the bad parts are so underwhelming they're not even worth talking about in extensive detail. It's just. Long. Really long and boring.

There's also some throwback fights, two of which were pretty underwhelming (Stinger and Phantasma still eat shit easy), and the other two were absolute blasts. I think it's absurdly cool they throw a Gen 1 AC at you, complete with Gen 1 style movement and damage, just to show the difference in power. In the end the true final post-game mission was a nice lil treat to end the game on and get me the comedic "103%" completion.

I'm so glad to be done with 2nd Gen, it's a neat look at a weird transitional period from the PS1 to PS2, and i have faith that AC3 will be much more refined, mainly cause i've heard good things about that one.

2 Gens down (3 if you count AC6), 3 to go.

Doing these has been a very fun lil experience. I love typing out my thoughts into long rambles. I took a TON more screenshots this time around actively thinking about what to include. If you've read this you're wonderful and I am blowing you a lil kiss. Til next time! <3~

#Fio's Media Log

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xxmothangelxx · 7 months

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Shady Rambles Dislyte Part 6: A Written Movie Sequal

So, I made this post yesterday, and after I was able to make a reddit post that I feel better summarized my point! It may be a tad pretentious in its writing and I do apologize for that, but still, I hope you enjoy!

As a lover of writing and Dislyte, I've always been unnecessarily invested in the story. Funnily enough, unlike most people the story and characters are really my main reason for not giving up on the game – in spite of all the less than favorable updates – so although many argue the story is sub-par, I quite enjoy it. This love of characters and story has made it so I try to keep up with most events. I'll be honest, I stopped playing the game after Valeria's event (and I have yet to read through the ones that I've missed) but I have since completed Cellblock Chaos so I'm making my way back into the game!

Needless context aside, I wanted to discuss the concept of grey morality and why it always bothered me when it was mentioned in reference to the Shadow Decree, it took me a while to figure out why but I feel that I can now put it into words. It is because the Shadow Decree are objectively an irredeemable terrorist organization that have committed human rights violations so extreme, that in a more realistic world Hyde would have been sentenced to death by firing squad upon arrest.

The issue with grey morality and the concept of an anti-hero is a lot of consumers and fans have the false mindset that if a villain has a 'point' then the villain is any less evil. Now, the issue with that therein lies with the fact that morality is less based on thought and more based on action, it doesn't matter if you have a "moral" way of thinking if your actions don't reflect that. This issue can be seen within the Shadow Decree in abundance, many of the characters have seemingly understandable reasons for being members, but their actions within the group contradict their so-called moral standpoint.

For example, many argue that the reason Hyde isn't a villain is because his research is all for the "greater good", he is an ends justify the means sort of person. However, you then have to take into account that Hyde actively partakes in and encourages human trafficking and non-consensual human experimentation. Does it really matter if it is "for the greater good" if you are actively allowing hundreds of innocents to die for experiments that lead to nothing at all?

I am brought back to two events in particular: Brewster and Yun Chuan's. In both events, it is revealed that the Shadow Decree's crimes run deeper than just bothering the Union and stealing their members.

With Brewster, we find out that Shadow Decree actively buys trafficking victims off what can only be described as a black market and experiments on them in an attempt to turn them into espers. These people do not consent, and are nothing more than cattle to them. Few are "successful" like Brewster, with a majority of them dying from the strain placed upon their bodies. Brewster himself was sold by his abusive father and still suffers immense trauma from his time under Kara.

Yun Chuan's hits closer to home however; as someone with many criticisms of the prison industrial complex – more specifically how inmates are treated – to hear that the Shadow Decree makes deals with prisons to experiment on inmates was incredibly chilling. It was one of the most true to life, realistic portrayals of how deep systemic corruption truly is, especially in how it mirrors the real life abuse of incarcerated people globally.

I simply do not see these as the actions of a "morally grey" group of people that only "want the best". I feel that the reason many are quick to slap the morally grey label onto the Shadow Decree is character bounties, most bounties are slice of life stories that show the characters going about their daily business, of course Ophelia and Catherine seem nicer and more likable. Though you then remember that they bombed an orphanage for virtually no reason and suddenly they seem less like good people.

Now, this isn't me saying that you cannot like them or that liking them reflect poorly on you as a person! I for one am definitely a Shadow Decree apologist haha, my top favorite espers are majority Shadow Decree, and I find them to be an interesting group of people with the potential for great storytelling. With that being said, I feel we as media consumers have a habit of becoming so attached to certain characters that we forget that their actions do indeed play a role in who they are.

To be a part of the Shadow Decree is to say that you are okay with human trafficking, human experimentation, terrorism, weapons smuggling, political corruption, prison industrial system corruption, child murder (remember the orphanage bombing that killed Stewart's lover and also a bunch of children?). The Union is certainly not free of skeletons, their rampant negligence shows this, however I cannot feel comfortable saying that they are in any way just as bad or worse than the Shadow Decree based on everything the Dislyte lore has told us.

TLDR: I believe the reason many argue that the Shadow Decree are morally grey, or that they're even a well-meaning group, is because many of the characters have sad backstories, attractive designs, and cute personalities. Though I cannot agree, because I feel that it disregards all the genuinely horrific (and mostly unnecessary) actions of the group; I don't see how people that bomb orphanages and experiment on trafficking victims can be any less than evil.

With all of that being said I would give my left kidney and run over a baby kitten if it meant that Catherine would blink in my direction.

#this is the last time I'll discuss this I swear #dislyte #dislyte catherine #dislyte ophelia #dislyte brewster #dislyte yun chuan #dislyte hyde #dislyte shadow decree #shadow decree #dislyte esper union #esper union #shady rambles dislyte

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