#kinda considering dropping the dead on main plot...

[jjanuaryrain]

More DPxDC, the backstory of how Danny gets to Gotham

A story is slowly coming together in my head but I'm not sure how all the pieces fit yet. Dunno if everything I've posted will go into the same story but I'm just enjoying writing it for now. More under the cut!

Words: 3355

Danny was no stranger to unfortunate circumstances. It could be said that his life was just a series of unfortunate circumstances, actually, each slotted one after the other. This wasn’t much different. Just another piece in the long line of toppling dominoes that was his afterlife.

“Take the reading again,” Tucker demanded in his ear, voice crackly and strained through the Fenton Tech earpiece.

“He’s redone it three times now, Tucker, it’s not going to change just because–” That was Sam’s annoyed drawl from beside him, but she was cut off by Tucker’s insistent voice.

“You have to be doing it wrong. Take it again.”

Danny let his head fall back in frustration where he was hanging weightless in the air over Salem State University, but he didn’t bother arguing. If he didn’t do what Tucker asked, the dude was liable to catch a flight all the way out to Salem to do the damn readings himself. That, or program a drone to do it for him. Both of which were equally undesirable, given what happened the last time Tucker loosed an unidentified aircraft into US airspace. (A half-exploded drone and visit from Homeland Security, that’s what.)

Instead, Danny picked his head back up and dutifully punched the commands into the Foley Ectometer for the 4th time. He waited for the beeps and clicks to stop then checked the reading.

“…It’s still coming through as a 3.6, Tuck. I really don’t think Salem is a viable option.”

“Bullshit, it’s not a viable option!” His friend seethed on the other end of the line. The sounds of furious typing started up again and Danny felt the distinct urge to find a wall to slam his head against. Sam had just gotten him to knock it off. “Salem is the most haunted city in the US outside of Amity based on every metric out there! If that place doesn’t hit a 5, nowhere will.”

Well, wasn’t that just lovely news. Even Salem, Massachusetts didn’t have enough ambient ectoplasm to hit the minimum 5/10 rating, just like the half dozen other cities they’d tested. If Danny wanted to survive longer than a few weeks outside of Amity Park, he’d need to find somewhere that rated at least that. Otherwise, he’d have to spend just as much time in the Realms as he did in the land of the living. Which was not an option at the moment. Not an option at all.

“We could try Gettysburg again,” Danny suggested, once again twirling upside down in the air, but it sounded weak even to his ears. Tucker only replied with a disgusted scoff. He was still clacking away, but Danny knew it was fruitless. Danny had flown to and tested every city in America that Tucker’s ecto-seeking algorithm had come back with. So far, the highest they’d hit was an 8.1 in Pennsylvania… which had actually turned out to be a 1.8 that Danny had read upside down on accident. So Salem was their next best option, but it still fell devastatingly flat.

“Guys, it’s okay, really,” Danny tried. He floated lower toward the green space at the center of Salem’s campus and wound himself invisibly around the branches of a tree. He rested his head on one of the strong boughs and watched as a bird preened its feathers not 2 feet from his face. “I don’t need to go to college outside of Amity. I’m sure an online program will be just as–”

“Oh knock it off, Danny,” Jazz interrupted. She’d been quiet on the call so far, but Danny could occasionally hear her scribbling down notes in the background. Ever since she’d gone off to college, she couldn’t help but treat every situation as a learning experience. And notes were integral to Jazz’s learning. “I don’t care if I have to haunt the city myself – you will be attending a good, four-year college with a strong astronomy program outside of Amity Park. End of discussion.”

Yeah, right. Danny only just stopped himself from laughing in her face. ‘Outside of Amity’ was already a huge ask, but with Danny’s grades and his limited options? Asking for a ‘good four-year college’ and ‘strong astronomy program’ might as well be the same as asking for Superman himself to descend from the heavens and kiss him on the mouth.

Danny knew better than to voice that opinion to Jazz of all people, though. He could only sit through so many lectures on ‘keeping optimistic’ and ‘maintaining a positive view of the future’ before he lost it. So instead, he settled for a non-committal grunt and poked idly at a bit of fungus growing on the trunk of the tree.

“Tucker, what else have you found?” Jazz prompted when Danny didn’t say anything else.

“Well… It’s- I mean, it’s not looking good, guys,” Tuck’s tinny voice said. “We’ve burned through Savannah, St. Augustine, Portland, San Antonio. Hell, we even tried Chicago.”

Danny wrinkled his nose. Staying in Illinois wasn’t ideal, but he’d have taken it if it meant he could get out of Amity Park. That city, despite being his home, his Haunt, was going to be the death of him. And there weren’t enough ‘I’m already dead’ jokes in the world that could soften that.

“Okay,” Jazz hummed thoughtfully, ever the pragmatist. “Then what’s next?”

“That’s just it,” Tucker said with a sigh. “At this point… I don’t think there is a next.”

Well. Great.

Danny thunked his head against the trunk of the tree. When they’d started this search, he’d told himself in no uncertain terms that he would not be getting his hopes up, that this was a pipe dream at best. But somewhere along the line he’d let himself be lulled into a false sense of security by the surety his friends and sister had that there’d be some solution. Maybe not college, maybe not even outside of Illinois, but somewhere he could escape to.

Apparently not. If Tucker couldn’t find Danny somewhere suitable to live, Danny didn’t know someone who could.

The line was silent. Even Tucker’s clacking had stopped, and Danny suddenly wished he’d start up again, just to fill the silence.

Ancients, was it really so bad? Staying in Amity? He had a life there – or an afterlife, at least. He had friends, too, until they went off to college themselves. He had ghosts to chase and frenemies to brawl and his parents. Well, kind of. His parents were…

Danny sighed and relaxed the part of him that kept him solid on the branches of the tree. Tangibility sloughed off of him like dead skin and he sank through the tree toward the ground. If two of the smartest people in his life couldn’t figure out how to get him out, Danny really was starting to believe it was hopeless.

He was just about to let himself sink fully into the ground and let the dark earth envelop him when the earpiece crackled back to life.

“Y’know,” Sam said speculatively, “there is one place you haven’t tested yet.”

Danny paused his slow descent into the ground, chin just peeking out of the dirt.

“What do you mean?”

“Weeeeelll,” she said slowly, drawing the word out. “It’s not the most ideal, but-”

“Sam,” Jazz cut in sharply. “You’re not suggesting where I think you are, are you?”

“What?” She asked defensively. “It’s, like, the only place guaranteed to have level 5 amounts of ambient ecto outside of Amity. It kinda seems like his only option.”

Danny perked up at that. Another city? With enough ecto for him to survive off of that Tuck and Jazz hadn’t thought of? Or maybe they had, but had decided it wasn’t a good fit. Danny pulled his body back out of the ground and settled on the grass, lifting a hand to press his comm further into his ear.

“What are you talking about, Sam? Where?”

“Sam,” Tucker echoed Jazz tentatively. “I don’t think…”

“I’m talking about Gotham.”

Silence. Did she just say…

“Gotham?” Danny repeated. He couldn’t have heard her right. She wanted him to move to Gotham? The Dread City? The Joker’s Playground? Home of the Bat? She couldn’t be serious… Right?

“Yep,” Sam said, popping her P. And shit, okay. Gotham. “Gotham U has an astronomy program and everything. And I bet we could score you a free ride, knowing the Waynes. They love a charity case.”

“Jeez, Sam,” Tucker hissed. “Blunt much?” Danny could practically hear her returning shrug.

“What, am I wrong? It’s not like Danny’s stupid, or anything, but all this ghost shit has seriously tanked his grades. With a little sob story here and a push from my parents there, though, I’m sure he’d be admitted in a heartbeat.”

“Yeah, but…” Tucker started weakly. “It’s Gotham. Like, Gotham Gotham. Y’know, Most Deadly City on Earth?”

“I know what it’s called, Tuck.”

“I just mean-”

“I’ve been there a few times on my parents’ stupid gala circuit, remember?” Sam interrupted impatiently. “It’s a rough ass city to be sure, but we’ve dealt with worse. Danny’ll be fine.”

“It is more than just a ‘rough ass city,’ Sam!” That was Jazz. “We are not sending him into that lion’s den! We’ll find him somewhere safe and normal where he can–”

“Danny won’t survive somewhere safe and normal,” Sam shot back. It sounded like she was leaning into Tucker’s microphone. “That’s the whole point of this stupid ecto hunt! We have to find somewhere fucked up enough that he can live without relying on the Realms.”

“Then we’ll find somewhere! Just not a city that’s known for how dangerous and unlivable it is. I refuse to get Danny out of the frying pan just to throw him right back into a fire!”

Sam scoffed. “Really, Jazz? You think Amity isn’t the fire? You think he’s any safer staying in that house?”

Danny cringed and the line went silent for a moment.

“Look, I know it’s been really bad recently,” Jazz started, but Tucker cut her off.

“You kinda don’t, though.”

“...What?”

“Like, I know we’ve been updating you and everything, but it’s different. Being here.”

“What do you mean? Different how?”

“Tuck…” Danny protested weakly. His best friend ignored him.

“I mean, your parents have always been odd, sure. But like, manageably odd, y’know? But when Phantom broke the portal…” Danny winced, rubbing his neck. “I don’t know. They kinda lost it. And now they just seem…” The line was quiet for a moment as Tucker searched for the word.

“Unwell,” Sam supplied. Her tone was grave. Tucker hummed in agreement. “Seriously, Jazz. He needs out of there.”

“I… Danny? Is that true?”

“It’s…” Danny started, but quickly trailed off. What was there to say? The last few months since he’d wrecked the portal had been… rough. He hadn’t thought it possible, but in recent weeks his parents had become even more radical. Their hate for Phantom had reached vitriolic levels, to the point that they seemed incapable of thinking about anything else. Forget eating, forget researching, forget Danny. The only thing that mattered anymore was hunting down the ghost that wrecked their life’s work.

Danny never wanted to learn what would happen if they learned that that ghost slept in the room next door.

“...not great,” is what Danny eventually settled on.

The line was silent in the wake of that non answer.

Danny flopped back on the lush March grass and stared up at the cloudless sky spanning above him. If he focused, he thought he could make out Venus burning through the blue. There were no other stars to be seen at this time of day.

“You really think Gotham would have enough ecto for me?” Danny asked into the void. He scratched absently at his neck and the gently writhing lichtenberg scars there. Sure, he’d heard horror stories of the atrocities that went on in Gotham, but Amity Park had literally been dragged into hell not a month ago. If he was gonna move somewhere that even had a chance at being as haunted as Amity, Gotham probably was it.

There was an icy spark behind his ribs at the thought of moving there, and he rubbed at his chest. No one willingly moved to Gotham.

“I mean, if you’re worried about the levels of ecto,” Sam said eventually, much quieter, “why not go check? New Jersey is just down the coast from Massachusetts, isn’t it?”

It was. And that was… not a terrible suggestion. Get a reading, see if it was worth it to spend the time wrapping his mind around the idea that moving to Gotham was a good idea. See if it was worth getting his hopes up again.

“I mean, you could make it there before dark if you left now,” Tucker added, picking up his typing once more. “Crime reports are down 68% during the day. You wouldn’t even be visible to cameras, especially if you stay invisible. They don’t have that type of tech there.”

Well. That kind of decided it then, didn’t it?

The cold spark behind his ribs burned a little brighter.

“Alright,” Danny said, drifting back up into the sky. There was an itching tug at his core, and he drifted toward where it led him toward the south. “I’ll head there now, then. I’ll let you know what I find.”

“Danny,” Jazz said again, quiet but intense. “I really don’t think it’s a good idea.”

“I know you don’t Jazz,” he said as gently as he could. The chill was increasing in strength as he picked up speed and raced for the border to Rhode Island. “But… If it’s my ticket out of Amity?” Ancients, the words felt almost giddy in his mouth. Out of Amity Park. How long had he been dreaming of that? “I have to take it. Don’t you think?”

The line was silent for a long time - long enough that Danny was nearly to the border by the time Jazz replied.

“Yeah. Yeah, I do. Just… be safe, okay?”

“Of course I will,” he promised. But even then, when everything was still okay, the words rang hollow and untrue.

⋆˖⁺⊹₊⋆✧⋆₊⊹⁺˖⋆

Ectoplasm made a different sound than water did when it hit the ground, Danny was learning. The endless drip, drip, drip was different from the sound a leaky faucet made. It was thicker and more robust; more like a plop than a plink. The sound of it was driving him mad. It was also the one of the only things tethering him to sanity.

Danny had long since given up trying to reconcile the dualities of this place. Time passed in a hazy-quick blur, yet seconds dragged on for hours; his body pulsed with life, yet they cut him open as if he were dead; he had no mouth, yet he was always, always screaming.

Hah. A reference. Good one.

Those little thoughts helped him keep hold of his sanity, too. Little snatches of memories from his life before… this. A mindless reference here, the fleeting thought of someone’s face there. All of it grounded him, no matter how slight. So what if he couldn’t remember what he was referencing or who he was seeing? All that mattered was he’d held onto enough of himself to do so in the first place.

The plop, plop, plop of his ectoplasm on the floor slowed to a stop. He would have groaned with relief if he had any capability to do so. The muzzle affixed to his jaw and over the bridge of his nose assured that he did not. He shifted slightly in his restraints upon the cold surgical table.

Tonight’s the night, he thought sluggishly. The doctors had left minutes ago, and unlike the past few weeks, Danny had clung desperately to consciousness in their absence. The researchers had used to work in shifts so that someone was dissecting working on him at all times, but they’d recently pared down to a single team that required breaks to eat and sleep. He didn’t care enough to wonder why. He just knew it gave him a sliver of a chance.

That was all he needed.

The increase in rest Danny had been afforded these past few weeks hadn’t left him unaffected. Rather, he was brimming with an amount of energy he hadn’t felt in months. He felt fully lucid and aware for the first time in Ancients know how long, and he wasn’t going to let this chance go to waste. No, he’d waited and waited for all those extra hours of rest to start to add up and now… Now it was time for his patience to pay off.

Danny stared up at the ceiling for a long moment. If this didn’t work, he’d have to wait another few weeks to work up the energy again. He closed his eyes and centered his breathing. Then, with an internal cry, Danny wrenched his transformation from the depths of his shrunken, emaciated core.

It felt like he was rending himself in two, like he was being torn apart from within and born anew. Twin beams of light reflected against the sterile white ceiling, and all at once the transformation took hold. All at once, Danny was shoved back into his aching, all-too-human body and left panting on the icy metal. It was the most glorious feeling in the world.

It took so little effort to squeeze his hands out of his ecto-resistant restraints, to roll off the side of the table and collapse on the floor with a dull thud. The pain of the impact rocked through him, but he didn’t have the mind to care. Tears leaked out of his eyes, once again clear liquid instead of neon ectoplasm, and his chest shook with hysterical, silent sobs.

He was human again. He- He was a person, just like he’d insisted and sobbed for hours upon first arriving here. A fact that the doctors had ignored in favor of muzzling his cries so they could carry on with their experiments in peace.

At the thought, Danny hoisted himself into a sitting position and scrabbled, half feral, at the latch that kept the mask affixed to his face. His fingers were stiff and ineffectual from being broken and pinned down into uselessness long ago, however, and nothing he did could make the wretched thing budge.

Danny dropped his head into his hands and cried.

His tears dripped through his fingers and into the rapidly diminishing puddle of ectoplasm he was sitting in. His body was already trying to sluggishly heal itself using that which had bled off him a few scant hours ago, and before long he was sitting on dry ground. He sniffed and looked up.

Alright, it was time to go. Sitting around wallowing wouldn’t get him anywhere. What he needed to do was get out. The recouping of his ectoplasm along with the extra rest he’d been stockpiling meant he was still reeling with unprecedented energy. He was well aware a good amount of it was adrenaline, but that just meant he had to work quickly.

Danny pushed himself to his feet. He tilted precariously before he managed to right himself with one hand on the cold surgical table. So cold, even with his ectoplasm leaking all over it. He stumbled over to the wall that controlled the Ghost Shield, to the glowing button that had ruled his life for the past uncountable days.

With feral glee, he slammed his human fist into it. The apparatus gave an electronic whine, and then the green glow dulled to gray and the Ghost Shield surrounding the lab fizzled out of existence.

Danny had never felt such relief.Alarms blared to life, but it didn’t matter anymore. Nothing mattered, except the bliss that was transforming into his ghost form without any expectation of pain, without any fear. He was free. Without a backward glance, Danny hauled up his intangibility and rocketed through the ceiling of the lab and into the open expanse of the night sky.

[lunarspiral1127]

X-men 97 episode 7 *SPOILERS*

Gambit's funeral

UGH, WHY?!?!? GAMBIT, NOOOOO!!!! 😭

I didn't recognize everyone at the funeral, but are they his friends from his past or his family? Cause I have no idea.

Nightcrawler with the eulogy. He sure has a way with words. Plus, him being there as a priest makes sense. Also, he looks so adorable with the robes.

Logan comforting Jubilee was sweet, bit it got me thinking that her screentime has been spent most with Roberto than the other X-Men.

Rogue going solo

Honestly, I don't blame her for hunting down Gyrich and Trask. Especially when it was later on revealed that they were involved but not the mastermind.

Cameos of Thunderbolt Ross and Captain America. Now, last time I saw 90s Steve Rogers was in the Spider-Man animated series during that show's own version of Secret Wars. Before that, he was trapped in a vortex with Red Skull. So, I guess he got out which is why he was there?

I was bummed that he didn't go help Rogue get Gyrich, but I get that he has to do things by the books. Cause that's who he is. Although, Rogue did him dirty by throwing his shield far into the mountains. It was funny and I don’t blame her for doing that. But I do kinda feel bad for him.

Her fighting Ross's army was cool. Also, if the base was durable against the Hulk, does that mean she's stronger than the Hulk?

Nightcrawler best brother! The way he talked to Rogue, hugged her when she was finally mourning over Gambit and Magneto (still don't like the Rogueneto ship), and even called her "sister"! God, I love this blue devil man! 😭 And if anything bad happens to him in the next three episode, Imma be pissed!

Roberto "coming out" of the Mutant closet to her mom

Well, it went better than when Iceman told his family in the X-2 movie. It was a relief to see his mom accepting of him and not hating him.

However, it's unfortunate that she told him to keep it a secret because of their business reputation l. It would've made more sense if it was to protect her son due to the humans' stances on mutants and what happened in Genosha. At least, that way, it would've been more of a good reason than about their business.

Jubilee being supportive and being there for him was sweet.

Yeah, that's pretty much it. Jubilee isn't really part of the main plot, though, so I don't know if we'll see her in action, nor if we'll see Roberto use more of his powers.

Genosha aftermath

More of Jean and Scott talking, so that's good. They're communicating and are still working as a team despite what happened. So, there may be hope that their relationship will survive, but we won't know for sure. So much crap has happened, and I blame Sinister for all of it.

Emma Frost survived, and she got her diamond form! She must've been stuck in all that debris for days. Also, how is she gonna react when she finds out Sebastian Shaw is dead?

Beast and the reporter. Considering how all these relationships have been going in this show so far, I was very, VERY worried about Beast. But, because of what Trish (I think that's her name) said, it ended before it even started.

Trask

Y'know when he said he didn't want to be made a monster more than what Sinister did, I thought he was talking about Genosha, but I think he was talking about him turning him into a human sentinel.

Also, yes, we're getting Prime Sentinels, which is very very bad. They ain't no joke cause Trask as one took out the X-Men one by one. Rogue was knocked out with a single hit!

Speaking of Trask, I have no sympathy for that sunuvabeech. But, it was messed up how his body was twisted.

And, all because Rogue dropped him off the building! Like, DAMN ROGUE! Again, I have no sympathy for Trask, and I get why she did it but it was still a holy crap moment. Also, everyone else could've tried to save him, but they just stood there. I think only Wolverine was cool with it.

Thank god, Cable was there to save them. Doesn't seem like he likes Scott despite him being his dad, even though he cared for his mom back in episode 5. Then again, daddy issues have been a thing in the Summers' family. But, I hope that's not the case cause animated Scott is cool.

Bastion

This whole time, Bastion was the true mastermind?! God dammit, how did I not see this coming! OZT was Operation Zero Tolerance, I should've seen this coming, but I thought it was Apocalypse or Nimrod!

This is his first animated debut, btw. And, I'm surprised he was working with Mr. Sinister cause he's a mutant, and Bastion is a human looking sentinel thing. That explains the Genosha massacre cause, of course, he'd wanna exterminate them.

Magneto's alive! But, he's held captive by Bastion. Okay, I don't know how the hell he survived or how he got captured when he was in Genosha. I hope that'll be explained. But, if he's there then where's Leech? Where are the Morlocks? Cause they were there with Magneto.

I'm really really worried for Magneto. He must've been captured for days or weeks, and I think Bastion is gonna turn him into a Prime Sentinel like Trask. That would be so so terrible if that happened. He'll become the thing he fought against. The thing he despises. God, what's taking Xavier so long?! He gotta go save him!

So, a good episode again. But next week begins the three-parter finale which I'm really nervous how it'll turn out. I hope the show will stick the landing, but I can't handle it more of my favorite characters get killed or worse.

[xxether-nanoemikoxx]

I finished Arcane season one. It was really pretty (review under cut)

:3

Ive seen a bunch of reviews of Arcane season 2 talking about how it felt rushed and too much was jammed in. Uhm. ??? It was already pretty jampacked with sideplots and main plots.

First I went into Arcane thinking 'I bet this is mainly going to be about women.' because I only know about Jayce and Viktor and I was correct (about the first season at least)

I mean counting the main plots Hex Tech or whatever (Jayce's plot) and also Vi's plot line and then probably Silco and Jinx.

Also the other side plots, that one soldier dude (Marcus?) Sevika, Mel, Caitlyn's plot, Ekko's partial plot, Heimedinger being scared of magic plot, Viktor being disabled plot line, also that woman who had a crush on him.

I might be missing something, not sure.

A main gripe I had while watching was that it had that constant 'Yes this plot is so important! Oh shit! We forgot about these guys!' then the story goes on a tangent for like ten minutes and youre like 'Okay..?' I guess most of it is important but god that Marcus guy was dragging the plot. And Ekko..? A lot less considering he was barely present.

Watching Arcane was like a jaw dropping experience because nothing would be happening and it just looks gorgeous for no reason other than just because.

Jinx's mental break was done fantastically and I loved it obviously. I also loved Silco, he was such a freak but god. I loved him so much. His relationship with Jinx was so amazing and sad, and I seriously was jaw dropped when he died. The show did so many fake outs I was just like 'she totally missed' then his ass was actually dead. Seriously the way he cared for Jinx despite being a horrible manipulative person was really sweet in a evil way.

My favorite characters were deff Vi and Mel.

Vi is that female character I realized while watching that I never get in media and my favorite kind. Like she's lowkey kinda a jerk but damn she looks good while doing it, and she's nice too? And she beats the shit out of people??

Mel...I loved Mel so much. God. She was so amazing. She was really manipulative towards Jayce..? And I would also fall for her manipulation. (If you see me being manipulated by a beautiful woman DO NOT help, I am exactly where I want to be) she was very interesting considering the entire time were told how much her family hated her and then her mom (who is super hot) offers to take her back. And I kind of got the impression that she disliked them before she went along with Jayce. I loved Mel so much.

She obviously cared about Jayce even though she manipulated him. I had seen previously someone say that they didn't like how Mel wanted Jayce and I was like 'but he's also attractive' then I watched it and, yeah, no, why did she want him girl you are so out of his league (of legends)

Honorary mention goes to Jayce for being a loser. He's a little classist sometimes but it was kinda crazy that he was going to kill himself because he literally lost his research lmaoo (dramatic bitch)

Second mention goes to Caitlyn for being a woman. I really loved her growth as she explored the Under City with Vi. It felt really natural, especially how she was still naive at times but got a better understanding of the government rules in place to keep everyone in the Under City below and oppressed.

I really liked that aspect of Arcane too. It's not just about women kissing and cool fights but also civil rights and I kind of wasn't expecting that.

I had a really fun time watching it and was just losing my mind over the visuals the entire time and I loved it a lot. When I watch season 2 I'm either gonna tweak or I'm gonna be like 'Fireeeee'

[redhoodinternaldialectical]

Hello, I read and love your Chained Series but only now noticed the Major Character Death tag on the second one, since I moved from part 1 to part 2 without checking the tags/summary. I normally really really really do not touch Major Character Death, it just... well it just makes me really sad in a way i don't enjoy, to keep it brief, even when it's plot or story wise fulfilling a purpose.

This is in no way me asking you not to do it, it's your story, and that's how it should be!

But I was hoping if you'd be willing to give me some information around the MCD, who for example (or if this'll straight up be a bad ending overall), so I can emotionally brace myself because I really don't want to stop reading the fic, because it's really good, but going further into it blind feels daunting, in a way. I will of course not relay anything regarding the fic to others, that you might tell me (since idk how familiar you are with tumblr: there is a way to respond to asks privately in the ask-post settings, if you prefer).

If you're not happy doing this I completely understand, it's your story, but i figured it's worth asking.

I hope you have a nice day, and that the writing will be easy 👌

I would be quite happy to explain what I've got planed with that! I deliberately read spoilers for similar reasons all the time; I totally understand wanting to be forewarned and forearmed. Also I'm just happy to ramble about my fic lol :3 If ya gotta drop it, no worries, glad you enjoyed the first sections and I don't mind anyone takin care of themselves

You're probably not the only one who'd want to know so I'll just put all the spoilers in a read more:

First of all, I don't consider this to be a particularly dark story (though granted I don't consider Death Note to be a particularly dark story so uh your mileage may vary) nor do I see it ending in tragedy.

The planned deaths:

The Joker - So, he's not really a main character in this fic, in fact, he might not even get speaking lines, I'm unsure right now, but he's major in the comics so I'm counting it. It's not going to happen for a VERY long time but it is so pivotal to the functioning of a main emotional plotline that I don't know how I'd write around changing my mind about this one.

Captain Boomerang - Like the Joker, I'm not really even sure he'll get speaking lines, but he's important enough to Tim's other canon stories he makes the cut. Unlike the Joker, I don't actually know if he's going to die yet! At the end of Red Robin Tim tries to kill him but fails. I don't know if my older Tim will do it, but I am certain he'll go at least halfway through a second similar plan. Much will hinge on what I read of his interactions with Huntress.

Other assorted villains, such as Darkseid and the Batman Who Laughs - This will depend a lot on, again, my reading of how Tim interacts with the kind of violence Huntress brings to the table. It also depends a lot on how a few in-fic decisions shake out. Tim has to make the decision as to whether or not they kill more people than just the ones on his small list from the first fic and I've got a more solid idea for if he does than if he doesn't.

Roy Harper (and a few other Heroes) - He's not gonna stay dead though, none of them are. So, due to hesitance and fear of fucking shit up Jason and Tim aren't going to make some key decisions in time to prevent the whole "Heroes in Crisis" plotline from happening. Once they learn of this they are immediately going to start doing mad science to figure out how to resurrect people safely. And, of course, they have the power to time travel.

Jason Todd... Kinda. - An increasingly large and loud elephant in the room is gonna be the fact that Jason doesn't have to have died. Ever. In any timeline.

Tim could save him.

But of course that would mean rewriting the Jason he knows out of existence. There really isn't a clear cut moral equivalent to doing this? But I feel emotionally it would count as this/our Jason dying.

On the other hand if Tim refuses, he is deeply morally responsible for Jason's actual already happened death... but will have saved our Jason's existence.

Tim's decision of whether or not to save Jason's child self is THE emotional climax of the story. One of the main purposes of Chapter 12 was foreshadowing how each character will react to this very situation.

I can't put another read more, so if knowing the two options is good enough for you turn back now! And if you wanna know what Tim's decision is (I sure would!) scroll passed the two big pictures!

Tim refuses to save Jason's childhood self. He loves this Jason too much to emotionally withstand losing him. I have had this story beat and the resulting fallout planned for absolute ages and I'm 100% certain on this one. Frankly, timeline erasing the Jason we know and love would make ME cry too much to keep writing it lmao, so this one I can guarantee.

[kribuki]

LOOKING FOR ATTACK ON TITAN LITERATE-ADVANCE LITERATE RP PARTNERS [OCs welcomed]

I'm Kri, in my early 20s, in the CET (GMT+1) timezone, literate to advance literate, 1500~ keystrokes, 300~ words, third person perspective, past tense, only use Discord and absolutely love to dive in details and characters' psychology. I'm an enthusiastic and hyper writer who might annoy you with headcanons, plot-relatable clips, ideas and memes so I'm not for the weak hearts (⁠ ⁠ꈍ⁠ᴗ⁠ꈍ⁠)

We might be a good match if:

You're around my age or older (20+ y.o.).

You are not interested in smut-centered roleplays. I'm okay as long as the smut isn't more than a 70/3O plot to smut ratio.

You're active: I don't expect fast replies but I'd appreciate if you can at least send one/two replies every two/three days. Of course, I completely understand if you'll be busy, just tell me in advance.

You can write multiple characters and multiple couples: my style of writing evolves around many characters, since it's a nice way to insert drama and chaos. We'll have our main characters in a main couple, but I also like to include a secondary couple or more. It can be considered as doubling, if you'd like, but maybe it's closer to mumu, since I prefer the ships to be written in the same story rather than having a complete different rp.

You like to mix different genres: romance is a must for me; it will always be there either as the main plot or subplot, but I also love to include many other genres, such as action, thriller, psychological, drama, fluff, angst, gore, fantasy, even comedy.

You're okay with mature and dark themes (dead dove: do not eat): I'm not going to write sugar coated stories, I like to write and explore many themes and they include possibly disturbing ones. I don't want to traumatize anyone, so, if you want to write with me, be prepared. I do not have triggers, although my only objections are adult x minor ships and incest. You may talk with me about your triggers and I'll gladly respect them.

You are open to both canonverse and AUs: I personally prefer AUs (alternative universes), since I believe they allow more freedom and creativity. Examples could be medieval, royalty, knights, monsters, ghosts, gangsters, professional hitmen, mafia, car racers.

You can write multiple rps: we all know how hard it is to find the right people with whom we enjoy writing, so I'd be very down to write multiple stories with you if we truly click and get along well. I like to make friends out of my partners, so we can write a lot and to our hearts' content.

You'll match my energy and don't mind OOC (out of character) chatting: like I said earlier, I get very excited and will most likely send you random stuff related to the story for fun and I love it when people can match my energy and spam me with content. It helps me keep my interest up and also gets me emotionally attached to our story. Moreover, I would really appreciate if you could be honest with me. I wish for both of us to enjoy the story we are writing so if you lost interest, if you want to change/drop it, please let me know instead of ghosting me.

Ships I'm interested writing

Only mxf ships. In bold are the characters I'll write. If both are in bold, it means I can write either of them. ♡ = prefered (but I like them all).

Ships as main couple:

Pieck Finger x Jean Kirstein/Kirschtein

Pieck Finger x Levi Ackerman (I know it's not a common ship, but I'm kinda curious about them 'cause, you know, they almost think alike, they both care deeply for their comrades, she is tactic smart, he is action-oriented, and they are both shorties lol. So if you'd like, we can try)

Pieck Finger x Zeke Yeager (also as side couple)

Pieck Finger x male Hange/Hanji Zoe

♡ Nanaba x Mike Zacharias (also as side couple)

♡ f!OC x Levi Ackerman

f!OC x Jean Kirstein

♡ f!OC x Mike Zacharias

♡ f!OC x Furlan Church (also as side couple)

Ships as side couple:

Erwin Smith x f!OC

Kenny Ackerman x f!OC

Zeke Yeager x f!OC

Eren Yeager x f!OC

Mikasa Ackerman x Eren Yeager

Mikasa Ackerman x Jean Kirstein

Reiner Braun x f!OC

Reiner Braun x Historia

Reiner Braun x Annie Leonart

Bertholdt Hoover x f!OC

Bertholdt Hoover x Annie Leonart

Porco Galliard x f!OC

Porco Galliard x Pieck Finger

Nile Dock x Marie / f!OC

Petra x Oruo

Please keep in mind I do want my main character to be a female. My secondary and side characters can be of any gender. I'm open to any ship if you want to write an OC. Those listed are the ones I'm most confident writing, anyway you just need to ask. I'll put as much effort in the side/secondary couple as the main couple so I'm not going to cast your ship aside because I love including many characters and see different dynamics. And I just recently found out this thing is called mumu (multi-muse) lol.

Ok, I'll stop here and thank you for reading this long post! If you're interested feel free to dm me, if you've got any questions I'll gladly enlight you. I look forward to meet you! (⁠ﾉ⁠◕⁠ヮ⁠◕⁠)⁠ﾉ⁠*⁠.⁠✧

[whenthechickencry]

Umineko Ch1. Replay 2

I've always wondered whether Jessica knows Kinzo is dead? I guess she has to and the answer she gives is weirdly evasive, kinda wish we got some info on what her thoughts about the whole situation were.

Ok yeah she definitely knows, implies she has seen him leave.

He really did basically entirely forget, ouch

corner kumasawa jumpscare

Oh my god I definitely wasn't expecting Kumasawa to drop hints about the baby yasu plot point so early

yeah ahah her ruse would be broken if he did indeed grope her but also the way George always feeds into her complex (without even bothering to understand what 'furniture' means to her!) always struck me in such a bad way, I don't think this relationship would be very healthy even under better circumstances for Yasu

haha Maria Yasu moments are cute

There's a full line of people to go through before Kinzo even considered his wife, huh

boo natsuhi is the best battler

he sure is

I can't tell if Kinzo's disdain for Maria is something that actually happened? I remember Rosa saying Kinzo didn't like her naming her child Maria, so I guess it's possible he was grumpy when she was born and it's something that got exaggerated by everyone's already negative opinion of Kinzo?

Very interesting to try and untangle which parts of the fantasy Kinzo scenes are an accurate portrayal of Kinzo, what other characters saw as Kinzo, or even a stand-in for Yasu

Kind of interesting to interpret lines like this instead as support for her parents, like, if even Jessica, someone who considers herself completely separated from the inheritance problem, acts so hard like Kinzo is alive then it lends a lot of credence to her parents claims that he's alive

oh battler

oh that's his magic name or whatever isn't it

idk battler of all the things i could say about kinzo moving like others wanted him to isn't how id think of him

You can sorta see how Battler struggles to try to understand people on their terms and not his own even in small interactions like this. That is probably the exact kind of compliment Gohda was fishing for here!

nice save kumasawa

While Kumasawa was also a bit of an enabler wrt Kinzo, it still makes me sad to think of all the times she died at the hands of someone she had warm feelings for while having no idea what was going on .

You wasted all your money on moon expeditions I wouldn't try to hold those words against anyone Krauss!

Team Natsuhi getting into formation for defense

Man, Kyrie and Natsuhi have it tough. Being both the main brains behind the team but also the ones their husbands constantly work against because of misogyny. Kinda fascinating to see the contrast between them and Eva and Hideyoshi - Hideyoshi mostly being the one to smooth things over when Eva goes too far, they are actually working as a team.

Krauss still trying to prepare for repeating the Kinzo is alive play next year as well, surely 3 years in a row is trying your luck? Especially since everyone knows by now lol.

I wanna read about Krauss Natsuhi and Jessica in Disney Land that seems like an amusing story

Kinda interesting how much worse Rosa's financial situation seems to be than the other siblings. I guess they had the benefits of being able to get bailed by Kinzo of any mistakes for longer (or in Krauss' current state, just embezzling the funds lol)

Natsuhi really is trying so hard. And she's alone at that - It seems Krauss' plan isn't as much deceiving everyone as much as making them okay with his shit for a while. You could communicate better with your wife!

Eva's vitriol towards Natsuhi is of course very interesting. She uses her as a punching bag to launch all the misogyny she has received in her life back to someone while also being deeply bitter and envious of her: She got the position she always wanted as head of the Ushiromiya family and not only that she got it *because* she is a woman (Krauss' wife) which is the exact reason she was being denied it her entire time! Of course, she also got basically sold off from her family because she is a woman and treated as a baby maker for the same reason but. I can't really blame her for being extremely bitter, even if you know the correct answer would be to help each other and kiss and Also, with Eva having George as a mad ploy to usurp the head from Krauss, I wonder what she would have done had George been born a boy? Would she finally give up on her dreams now that they were certainly crushed? Would she put her child through a completely futile quest to become the head? Idk I would probably read a story based on this premise!

Seeing Natsuhi trying so hard for a family who has never really respected her but she has deluded herself into thinking they (Or at least Kinzo) have is very sad

[m-s-justice]

hi sorry op I'm going to hijack your post for a little bit. I am a professional yapper.

To answer the question: Yes, it is weird.

To elaborate on it:

It really fucking sucks. It is deliberate erasure of his queer coding. A huge facet of his character in his two previous iterations was his queerness. From a bit of a pretentious, thematical perspective, it was another way to make him "different" from the other three and more "alien". (Queer people are always the other and has an long, well documented history of being villainized.) It was shorthand that he was weird and crazy and "gross" considering how crass he is about it. (though, it's fine when Dempsey and Nikolai talk about women in that way. eugh.) But that's subjective interpretation and you can ignore all that.

His queerness was never really addressed with any seriousness and was always portrayed as a joke. Seeing the franchise he (unfortunately) belongs to, you can understand that. For all the bells and whistles of "inclusivity" in the modern games and all the shouts of "woke agenda" from audiences, the moment zombies tries to pander to the general player base (which it DEFINTELY is doing by adopting warzone mechanics and the hud, which is another discussion entirely) he is washed of anything that could be off-putting those general audiences. A queer lead was fine when it was in a niche, campy sidemode and was the joke, but now that Richtofen is a serious character in a serious mode he cannot be that.

(of course, there could be symbolism in that. Read into it as much or as little as you want.)

Now, there are counters. Bisexuality is a thing and erasure is a huge problem for those who identify as it. If Richtofen is bisexual then like good for him, good for him. But also, it's kinda gross to take the ONE ONLY character that references how he likes men and has sex with men and never talks about women and then. give him a wife.

Alternatively, compulsory heterosexuality. He could have felt the pressure to live as a "successful man", which includes having a wife and children, alongside money, prestige, and a respectable job. He could feel shame over his preferences and the need to cover them up with a traditional life. Which is very relatable to many queer people and could be a good jumping off point for a sub-plot where he comes to terms with his queerness.

Now, for my purely subjective opinion. I am dropping all pretenses of "literary analysis" and giving my unadulterated view on it. If you have read this far, thank you :] ! I know this is getting long.

It is so fucking boring.

They fridged his wife and kid. I've seen this narrative played out so many goddamn times its ridiculous. Hell, we've seen it played out before in zombies. (Close enough, welcome back Nikolai Belinski.) If it were up to me, I would have fridged Edward and make his wife "Dr. Richtofen" and the reveal is that she is the main antagonist. It would piss off the fanboys but it would at least be interesting. Instead, we get this bland nothing burger. I'm going to be entirely blunt here: I don't give a single shit about his wife or his child. That's because they aren't people. They are motivations. "Oh no, this character I know nothing about is dead! How sad! Look at how sad that makes our favorite boy!! You should feel bad, too!" Maybe it's my low empathy speaking, but it feels so goddamn contrived that I rolled my eyes at the Liberty Falls trailer. It's so pedestrian. I know that makes me sound ridiculously pretentious and tone deaf considering that this is the megacorporation funny gun game where you shoot the glombies. I'm not expecting anything groundbreaking here, but for a game mode known for being off-the-wall, this is so head bangingly unimaginative that it puts me off from the story entirely. I was so hype in the beginning and then the story drops and. It's just the most bland bullshit ever.

The zombies mode has never had any particularly groundbreaking narratives, but at least it was so... extreme that it was compelling. I hate to say it, but this is just indicative of a larger problem. I don't enjoy digging into Modern vs Old zombies discourse, but a problem I've notices is how extremely easy modern is. Easy to get to high rounds, easy to unravel the lore, they practically are spoonfeeding us. But that's, once again, a different discussion. I have talked for long enough. Thank you for reading.

Sorry guys but Richtofen just suddenly having a wife feels weird

Like- are we just gonna ignore all the utterly diabolical and weird things he has said and done over the years ❓️

[chocolatemilksmoothie]

Edge of the World

I knew it was gonna be harsh for King this episode but ouch...

first of all shoutout to Hooty he really did protect these kids!

I do feel the need to mention I'm surprised Hunter wasn't mentioned or shown once (1)? like Eda I know he's not your kid but he did run alone into the woods, panicking, is anyone gonna go check up on him

King wants his demon family to meet his owl family and for them to play catch together :(

hugs <3

anyways poor Luz is having a hard time, understandably, so she must be thankful about the letter so that she feels like there's something she can do

LULU! I love her current design

I liked the little heart to heart with Eda, she is stressed about how serious this all is so it's nice there's anther adult there to talk to

I saw the promo images by the crew with the baseball and glove and I KNEW it was gonna be heartbreaking. I suspected King's dad was dead and I think that is very much the case now huh

getting an army def would've been helpful, but I guess that's out of the question now

thought if you think about it they're kinda losers too, Titan slayers trappers who have never even seen a live Titan

though considering they worship the Collector, and they got King to light up the uh, Round Boi, I am very much expecting to see these guys again

they have this teleporting magic thing, even if it was destroyed it's still interesting. so they're far, but they can travel

I always loved the concept of islands made of a giant carcass, it's fascinating and horrible. seems they can warp from the hand to the finger right? how'd they get the finger so far away

I thought we'd get an Eda+Lily B plot but we really didn't get much from them after leaving, so the cliffhanger makes me think they did something. the house may be empty, or they may have called someone, but who?

I knew there was something creepy or something bad was coming but the moment I realized they were WEARING the SKULLS my jaw dropped, that's dark

"he passed down that skull of yours" they assumed he was in disguise too

it's so sad because he thought he was learning about his family, about his culture, his people! but they were just going to hurt him

how long does a Titan live? how fast do they grow?? if King's dad was still around a few years ago before he hatched then I'm sure he's not the Titan we're living on but is he 100% dead??

is King really the last one...

EDIT because oh my god Titan Blood NO ONE LET BELOS KNOW

this kid's heart has been broken enough times!!! give him a break!!!

Luz and Hooty are actually a comedic duo bless

A couple things:

This dude has wings! I remember back in Eda's requiem I wondered if this meant King would get wings eventually but seeing as other people in the group don't have wings I think it's just him?

and it seems to me he was getting attached to King before realizing who he was, which is kinda sad

"can we play catch?"

look at how tiny he is :'(

"release the grand Huntsman from his prison" it's interesting they have the Round Boi and it's shattered. does Belos know where it is?

I thought the Collector would be freed in the Day of Unity but it seems these guys want to free them too hmmm Bill knew of Belos but doesn't seem to care or be for or against him, so they're not working together...

King lit the flame and his eyes glowed, he was somehow connected to the Collector but the ritual was thankfully left unfinished. but the fact that it started is VERY concerning

"tell Lulu how brave I was" I WILL HUN

this shot is gorgeous

and we end with the house surrounded.

Once again things get tense and the Day of Unity is a week away, so next week should be intense too. this was an Emotions Heavy episode for the main cast, especially King of course, and we finally get the confirmation that he is a Titan. the last one. poor baby

So, speaking of next week

so, ever since Hollow Mind I think it's clear we're on Season Finale Mode so all episodes will be intense. Next week we have Labyrinth Runners (is that a Maze Runner reference lmao) and it's a Gus episode which yesss I love my boy.

but it says the Emperor's Coven is going to Hexside, so I assume they're hunting for Luz and probably anyone who sides with her. Gus will team up with an "unlikely ally" and there's a lot of options there so we gotta wait and see.

Still, I noticed this one shot of the promo is definitely from next week's ep and it's the last shot from the promos we haven't seen as far as I can tell (do correct me if I'm wrong). Which means we're going blind into the last few episodes. ominous

[cream-and-tea]

so, anything on your mind about pallas and agnes? 😏 (i saw all the poetry reblogs so you are definitely thinking about them)

oh. oh boy. here i go i guess. full warning that i cannot legally be held responsible for what this answer becomes since they do consume so many of my waking thoughts. (however thank you mud endlessly for enabling me on this. i owe you my firstborn child and maybe my life lmao)

but before we get really into this: vague trigger warning for just. all of this relationship in general. this is at its core two very traumatized teenagers in a shit situation latching onto each other in an unhealthy way and forming a codependency that damages them both even further in order to cope. they do learn. they do grow. they do get better over time. but right now it’s Bad.

okay so lately i’ve been thinking about just,,, the evolution of this particular dynamic both in the book and outside of it in a more metaphorical sense, since it also kinda sorta consumed the Narrative as a whole and forced me to refocus a lot of it onto them as a result. like what. what even is that. how does that even happen. i definitely don’t know but it sure did and i’m gonna talk about it.

in its wip intro i briefly described Lay Me Down as “an exploration of the toxic friendships we form in our youth set against a backdrop of ghosts and murder”, and that breaks it down in the simplest way possible. there are, obviously, many many different aspects of the story that it couldn’t it exist without, but the relationship between pallas and agnes is what i consider to be the main emotional throughline of at least this first book, and if these two didn’t meet then one or both of them would be dead and the plot of like. the whole book probably wouldn’t happen. it comes together into a perfect storm that turns into a giant snowball rolling down a knife-covered hill into hell.

when pallas meets agnes they are desperate. they just fucked up an important mission from the director and are terrified out of their mind (not that they show it) of returning to the library empty-handed. so they make a split second decision to spare her life and take her back with them, hoping that by bringing a fresh recruit to her door they’ll be spared some of the directors anger. it’s all business. all careful calculation, scrambling for a solution like they have so many other times purely to save their own skin. that’s honestly all there is.

and the gamble pays off! they’re let off the hook for the “failure” with seemingly no punishment at all! the director is even impressed with them! everything is coming up pallas! until the director reveals that it’s not that simple (with the director it’s never that simple. always another shoe ready to drop) and that because they are the one who bought her here, at such a risk to the continued security and exclusivity of the library, pallas is now fully responsible for overseeing agnes and her progress within it. and the subtext is painfully clear: if agnes fails it will mean that pallas has failed. her success is now their success. her mistakes their mistakes, her advancement now directly tied to their status as the library’s top pupil.

pallas isn’t very happy about this, but they literally cannot stand the concept of failure in any capacity (failure means you’re weak. weakness means you die), so they go from being kind of indifferent towards agnes to seeing her as an investment to be protected, their insurance to their place at the top of the pecking order. so they look out for her. they show her how things work. they make sure she’s safe in a place where virtually nothing is. inadvertently turning themselves into her protecter whether they like it or not. it takes them literally almost dying (well, as close as pallas can get to dying) and agnes helping them in that crisis, seeing them vulnerable in a way few people do, for this to change and force them to admit they care for her as anything other than just another project or mission they’ve been tasked with completing.

this is because pallas has a deeply, deeply skewed idea about how relationships with anyone are supposed to work on a very basic level. they don’t know how to care about someone without hurting them in some way because they believe the only thing they’re good for is hurting and killing (thanks director). they would quite literally, actually rather die then show vulnerability to anyone (thanks director). they view everything as a transaction, a barter and trade of kindness for favours in turn (thanks director). they’ve been raised to believe that everything that makes them soft and vulnerable and kind and human should be metaphorically dragged behind the shed and shot (THANKS director). and more then that: the only other person they ever let their guard down around, the only person they had a semi-functional relationship with, their best friend, was removed from their life (by guess who. guess who. fucking guess who. i hate the director so much it’s unreal.) in a very painful way that was also partially their doing, leaving them scared of ever trusting anyone again.

but they do trust agnes, despite it all they do, and more then that they care about her in a way they haven’t cared about anyone (except maybe the director) since nina died. and once they finally realize that they grab on with both hands and refuse to let go. there is so little kindness in their world, there is so little good, and despite everything they’ve done and everything they are agnes is still kind to them. she treats them like a person, not a monster, not a weapon, just a person. human and soft and vulnerable, all of the things they’ve been told they cannot and will never be. pallas knows what they are, they know what they’ve done, but they can’t help but lean towards her and cling to every scrap of affection she gives them. more than anything pallas sees this as a sort of second chance. they couldn’t keep nina away from dangerous thinking, couldn’t protect her. but they’re stronger now, sharper, better, and this time they won’t allow themself to fail.

and when agnes meets pallas…. oh boy. let’s just say she’s been put through the GAUNTLET. the first three chapters of the book are basically just Agnes And The Awful Horrible No Good Very Bad Day. she’s hurt. she’s lost her family. she’s been chased away from the only home she’s ever known by people out to kill her for something she can’t control into the super evil dangerous magic forest she was told to avoid at any costs. she hasn’t eaten for days. it’s pouring rain. she’s covered in blood. everything even remotely sentient she’s come across has either tried to strangle her or drown her or murder her in basically every way imaginable.

until something doesn’t.

it’s such a little thing, but even though they use magic and FULLY intend on hurting her, the fact that pallas doesn’t just immediately try to kill her is enough for agnes in that moment. she’s been lost and alone and hurt for so long that she is 100% willing to latch on to the first person that offers a chance of safety and survival. and pallas does offer her that chance, they give her a place to go and someone to follow and the chance to learn about the powers that she’s only ever been able to see as a curse. they offer her a way forward, a way to live, and of course agnes accepts it. she has no other choice.

and pallas terrifies her. they completely and totally terrify her and she is all to aware of how they could hurt her if they wanted to. but they don’t. they could but they don’t. and when she’s adjusting to the library they help her, even if they say they’re only doing it out of obligation, they still help her. they quickly become protector and confidant and guide all wrapped into one for her, the one thing even slightly familiar in a world of new and terrifying magic. she follows them around all day, eats food with them, spends basically any time they’re not away on missions with them. at first it’s for her own protection (pallas is a force to be reckoned with and has a vested interest in her safety), but they quickly become her anchor, something safe to fall back on even if they’re made up of every sharp edge imaginable.

and because of that she sees parts of pallas no one else really does. they’re not only cold and calculating and cruel, they’re sarcastic and intelligent and awkward and desperately lonely. they know so much more than her and nothing at the same time. they need someone, anyone to be there. it’s the least she can do. the least she can give them for the life they could have so easily taken from her. even when they regress and threaten to kill her after she brings up nina (nina who she sees, nina who she can’t stop seeing) they still don’t do it, they find her and they sit with her and they promise it will never happen again and she doesn’t really believe them but she stays anyways. of course she does. she has no other choice.

and they come to her helpless. and they come to her bleeding. and she pulls a bullet from inside them and they wash the blood from each other’s hands and curl up on the carpet back to back and they are young and scared and just like her and more than her and nothing like her at all. and she can’t give up on them. like her father never gave up on her mother despite all her barbed words and bitterness. he never left, he stayed until the very end. she won’t ever leave. pallas is terrifying and awful and smarter then she ever could be. pallas is her only friend. she would be dead without them, and they tell her she needs to be cruel but she knows they need her to be kind. she can’t help but be kind, she knows they could be kind to, if they ever got the chance. and even if they never are, they’re something, and that has to be enough.

in conclusion:

[ID. A digital doodle of Pallas and Agnes done in a simplistic, cartoony style. They stand side by side looking at each other out of the corner of their eyes, Pallas unsure and Agnes slightly curious. There are thought bubbles above each of their heads. Pallas’s reads “i could make her worse” and Agnes’s reads “i could fix them”. END ID]

[sarcophagid]

15, 34, 38, 41, 45 aaand 49?

hi qiiu ty for the ask :DDD

15 Top 3 side characters?

santana, trish una, diego brando (are the last 2 side characters idk)

34 A character you wish you got to see more of?

under the cut bcz it's rlly long and kind of unclear and stream of conciousness

oh omg theres a lot, i've been thinking abt part 5 recently tho so trish una. idk she just had a really important role in the plot and it was weird that she only got one scene where she was the main focus

(also the story from her pov must be insane bcz on top of the recent death of her only immediate family and the assassins dropping in left and right, bruno's team literally just dont tell her anything until several days in she learns that her long-lost father is the mafia time wizard).

anyways like, everyone in the main team gets a little flashback sequence Except for trish which annoys me sm bcz another VA character that i wish they included more was donatella una. like i said, trish's only family dies and they kinda gloss over the whole grieving thing. in the anime they show donatella's influenced some of trish's personality and she was a loving parent. but presumably, solido naso was still important to her, and would she ever reveal any of this to her daughter? i don't think trish has no preconceptions on who her father is and also there's likely a big difference between solido naso and diavolo in 2001.

bcz complaining aside i think an interesting scene is how in the elevator, trish worries about what her father is like and bruno tells her that everything is gonna be ok, knowing full well he's gearing up to kill his ass. one of the things that messes me up is that even though the main squad has good intentions or whatever - putting yourself in her shoes, could trish really trust them or are they just the lesser of 2 evils?

for the first half of the story, trish is in an incredibly confusing situation where people around her are violently murdering each other but she's important enough to be basically 'untouchable' (tangent- they do sort of treat trish as an 'innocent' the entire time, even after the big final fight giorno hides info from her and mista).

between those loyal to passione and la squadra, it was a 'race' to get to trish first (certainly not something she had a say in). the audience knows that while mafiosi are mafiosi, la squadra is definitely worse - but to an outsider it's one group of strange men or the other. you're saddled with one and you don't know what the other is like, they could be the 'good guys' or the 'bad guys', but chances are they're both pretty fucked up (we've seen bruno's team win every time but this also means that they brutally murder the opposition each time. trish doesn't know these people, or what warrants the ruthless protection). you can see her kinda voice her this uncertainty after bruno kills pesci, but it's just something i wish they touched upon more.

bcz it puts trish in a position where she's deeply alone - her mom is dead, she knows she's going to see a father she's never met, she's moved from place to place with little to no explanation by strangers locked in a bizarre war (bcz isn't it weird? "i dont know you but i'll kill and die for you"). and it's neat to think about how spice girl is one of the few stands that is sentient and can operate with a separate will, bcz yeah, there wasn't anyone else but herself.

i have a lot more thoughts on this but they aren't that clear bcz imo there also isn't that much detail on trish's shift into a more active role into the story, they sorta just decide "everybody friends now :)" without considering that trish's position is insane. but some idea's that've been rattling around is when trish is fully ready to kill diavolo (bcz. donatella knows solido naso, and donatella tells her daughter about the love of her life, and trish can wonder all this time, so out of all the strangers here, her father is a stranger she knows.)

ok thats enough, i'm super chill and normal abt all this 👍👍

38 Characters you wish could have interacted with each other?

while i don't think it fits in the actual story, i think it's an underrated idea in fan content, and i think abt pucci and diavolo interacting a lot, bcz at first it's like "religious guy and devil guy haha" but there's layers to this okay, like. the next thing is how pucci is a priest and diavolo was raised by a priest who he Does not like lol. but also also, in Over Heaven dio's like "idk who this diavolo kid is but we probably have gravity lol" meanwhile pucci also has a ton of gravity (whatever dio means by this shit idk) super important for the heaven plot, and also how pucci's whole thing is how fate is controlling everyone while diavolos whole thing is how fate is his bitch. and yeah they'd hate each other but idc if they'd hate each other i wanna see some blood. Kill!!

41 A relationship between two characters that you really like?

i liked a lot of the jojo&jobro dynamics in the later parts like josuke & okuyasu, hermes & jolyne, and gyro & johnny. also not to bring up trish again but trish and narancia.

45 Scariest/creepiest Jojo moment?

i wanna say nothing scared me thaaat much but i have an irrational fear of zombie type things, so limp bizkit kinda freaked me out with the way they showed sports max like, fully conscious as he became less and less 'human'.

49 If Jojo had a genre swap, what genre would you want it to be? 

idk what exact genre this is but i liked the freaky goopy fleshy horror they had going on with the pillar men's biology (the only enjoyable thing abt battle tendency for me :/)

[cybertron-after-dark]

Here's a beginner's guide!

Transformers Animated (2007) - Largely considered one of the best tf shows of all time. No prior knowledge of the franchise is needed, it has its own story to tell independent of the typical lore. Similar to TF One in that we start out with Optimus before any sort of rise to leadership or power. Dissimilar in that he has no connection to Megatron before they start fighting, so if you're looking for more of that friends turned enemies tragedy, you won't find it here. But you will find a really good dynamic between them on its own merits. Draws a lot from the superhero genre, which is an odd mix but one that works very well for it. The art style isn't for everyone, but there's a really good balance of comedy, action, and overarching plot. A lot of somber, character building moments where the struggles feel grounded, a lot of anti war messaging, and they keep the Decepticons feeling like a genuine threat through the whole show. It's endlessly charming, and really tries to keep things fun whenever it can. This is also the only other show (that I'm aware of) that has Sentinel Prime and hes just about as terrible as he is in tf one.

Transformers Prime (2010) - Another strong contender for the greater tf fandom's favorite. I would argue the writing is not QUITE as strong as animated's but the characters are equally endearing and the animation is drop dead gorgeous (and, like, weirdly horny? Folks, these robots are hot.) The pre-war backstory is a good deal similar to tf one in that Optimus and Megatron started as close friends, clashed over ideals, split up, and caused the war in the process, though this iteration of Megatron is a lot less sympathetic and a lot more unhinged. (Also unbelievably clingy.) Optimus is also a good deal different from his tf one counterpart, not really as overtly playful and more comically serious. The tone in general skews pretty serious and more mature, but often manages to take itself SO seriously it kinda loops all the way back to being camp. The comedy is less frequent and more grounded than in animated or one, but it hits hard. Has human characters that are here mostly to serve as audience surrogates and bond with the bots, but they're sometimes criticized for being kind of underwhelming for the amount of screen time they get.

Rescue Bots (2011) - Not as well known as Animated or Prime, but good lord this show is a treasure. Takes place in the same world and at the same time as Prime, even occasionally having crossovers when that continuity's Optimus or Bumblebee shows up for an episode or two. Shifts focus away from the war and away from the main Autobots, this show is about a group of four non-combatant Autobots choosing to work as emergency responders on Earth with a human family. It's geared towards a younger demographic than other tf shows, but very much written to be enjoyable for anyone. The animation is on a very limited budget, but if you can get past that, you WILL fall in love with the characters. Watching the bots go from a rocky coworkers situation to an integral part of the family is unbelievably sweet, and it's balanced out with really good comedy, a lot more action than you'd expect from a show with no Decepticons to fight, and even an overarching plot with major villains to worry about (and said villains are actually legit threatening!) It's idealistic, and cute, and made with a lot of love. This is above all else a show about kindness and community.

Cyberverse (2018) - Pure Chaos in cartoon form. Another hidden gem of the tf franchise. Gorgeously stylized 3D animation, a lot of really good takes on classic characters and a lot of really interesting narrative choices that still plague my mind with the Implications. Very campy tone and voice acting, a lot of sillier moments, and a lot of sweet character interactions, but all of that is intercut with some of the most objectively horrifying, twilight zone esque story beats that will make you stare at the wall for a hot minute because you will need to process what the fuck you just witnessed. I am so happy this show exists. Once again sharing tf one's approach to having Megatron and Optimus as friends before the war tore them apart, much closer to the general "wouldn't it be nice if we could fix this? Maybe we still can." hopeful tragedy energy the narrative of that movie followed. You will see a lot of bumblebee and good GOD is he a himbo. Also this show gets real gay real fast and does not stop doing that ever.

G1 (1984) - The original animated series that kick-started it all. Exactly as chaotic as you'd expect from an 80's Saturday morning cartoon. Animation errors everywhere. Continuity is dead and plot has no meaning, but the characters are generally consistent and very very fun to watch. A good series to turn your brain off to and just watch the Funny Robot Shenanigans. That is, until...

The Transformers the Movie (1986) - Takes place between seasons 2 and 3 of the G1 cartoon, but you don't really need to see more than one or two episodes to make sense of it. Unbelievably gorgeous, high quality animation compared to the show. For some reason made for a MUCH older audience than the target demographic of the show. Mature and dark, with one hell of a kill count, but EXTREMELY fun and with an unyielding, unabashedly hopeful narrative overall. Do not look up anything about this movie if you intend to watch it, just dive straight in and let it rewire your brain chemistry.

Beast Wars (1996) - A sequel to G1, but once again, you only really have to know the barebones premise of that show to follow this one. Takes place centuries after the war with a new generation of transformers still dealing with the baggage the war left their kind, and trying to survive on an unfamiliar, alien world. The CGI is incredibly dated, it's A Lil Crusty, but once that initial shock wears off, you are left with a wonderfully written show with A++ comedy and character work that WILL make you cry several times. Does a really good job translating looney tunes esque physical comedy into 3D with the limited hardware they had. The overarching plot is fascinating, and it really does feel like most of the characters have their own motivations and agendas, which keeps a LOT of tension and uncertainty going in the narrative. You will not be bored with this show at any point (after like the first two episodes, anyway, they kinda need a second to figure out what they're doing).

Bumblebee (2018) - I have not seen this movie since before I got Really Into transformers but I remember it was easy to follow and very, very fun. Live action, follows Bumblebee after he ends up on earth with his memory corrupted and his voicebox torn out. He hangs out with a human girl named Charlie. A lot of the movie is just them kinda fucking around and being cute before the decepticons show up and ruin everything. I have heard nothing but praise for this movie, and fully intend to rewatch it myself.

Robots in Disguise (2001) - This show is a trainwreck and I love it so much. Anime dub that really doesn't have anything in common with other tf shows other that it's about transforming robots and Optimus and Megatron are there. It's not a good dub. Makes even less sense than G1. The lore is burning in a dumpster somewhere. One of the autobots is bisexual and keeps trying to fuck regular cars and also Megatron one time. Optimus just straight up kidnaps a child and he just kind of hangs out with the autobots from then on. Most of the bots have day jobs and humans don't question it. One of the villains is a shark that sucks so bad at being evil he accidentally joined the good guys. Optimus and Megatron technically have an emo lovechild named Scourge, and Optimus is the deadbeat dad here because Megatron has full custody. Only watch this show if you delight in things that are objectively terrible but so fucking unhinged they end up being hilarious.

This is just the laundry list of what I've seen that I would consider beginner friendly. There's really no wrong order to watch any of these in, most series are self contained narratives that don't expect you to know anything about the other media, though they do get a bit more interesting when you recognize characters or story beats that are clearly referenced from other stories. It's really just gonna come down to what you personally prefer to see. I started with Animated, and that holds fast as my favorite, but I love all these stories to pieces, and other long time fans will probably have their own recs not on this list.

All that said, welcome to Transformers! You are literally never going to run out of media to enjoy.

Hey Transformers Fans I'm new the series and TFOne got me interested to get more into the series. What's a good show or movie to start?

[spectre-writes]

Why you should read 'The Witch and the Beast' manga by Kousuke Satake

Alrighty folks, time to talk about this manga:

Looking at the covers, you're probably thinking ‘oh, this is some cute paranormal romance kinda thing, right?’ Well, that where you’re wrong… this manga is a hell of a lot more action packed and filled with horror than you’re thinking, and while there’s certainly a degree of… ‘something’ going on, it’s subtle, it’s complicated, and it’s anyone’s guess where it’s going. 

Heads up that there will be a few spoilers in this. I'll start off by dropping some fight scene panels so you know I'm not fibbing about how action packed this manga is:

This is a dark fantasy where the world is one filled with magic, where witches are considered the biggest threat, and have a reputation as being evil (which while not all are, there are some super bad ones out there). Basic plot is about our two main characters taking on witches.

So, who are our main characters? Well, first off we have Ashaf. He’s a mage working for ‘the order of magical resonance’, which specializes in dealing with magical problems/threats. He’s polite, calm and collected, and acts like everything is going to plan (even when it very much isn’t). Carries around a coffin and has crow familiars so a treat for you goths out there. His motives are… ambiguous but we’ll get to that in a bit.

Our second character is Guideau, someone who is violent, fowl mouthed, rash and… pretty much Ashaf’s complete opposite. But she’s agreed to work with him and the order. Why? Well, she’s been cursed by a witch, and needs to find that witch to break the curse… What curse you ask? Well… minor spoilers, but that’s not Guideau’s actual body… Guideau’s actual body is a beast of world destructive power that looks like this:

Yep, that’s right. Massive non-bindary/genderfluid energy there… my personal interpretation is non-binary in a sort of ‘whatever pronouns are most convenient go, but idgaf I just wanna kill that witch’ way, based on the fact Guideau never objects to anyone using female pronouns or male pronouns or states their gender. 

In fact, this whole manga has massive queer vibes… As well as another character later on who plays fast and loose with gender roles, there’s a way to temporarily break a witch’s curse (giving Guideau access to his original body), wanna know what it is? You have to kiss a witch… so yeah, we get scenes like this:

I really wasn’t expecting this and personally this whole aspect of the manga was a treat, though I get that might not be a factor for everyone.

There are some great side characters too, my personally favourite being a necromancer and her servant. She’s very sympathetic/kind to the dead and believes in treating them with respect, which is refreshing to see.

Now, Ashaf and Guideau… it’s complicated. Guideau’s motive is simply to find a way to remove her curse by locating the witch that cursed her, and that’s the only reason she agreed to work with Ashaf. As for Ashaf… well, he says their interests align, and I’d say he definitely has some stake in this, but there’s definitely some stuff he’s keeping quiet about and that’s something we’re going to slowly have to unravel. But I think it’s fair to say they’re growing closer, the question is… where exactly is that leading? I genuinely don’t know and that’s part of what I’m enjoying the most, I pretty much never get invested in stuff like this but I'm hooked. Big spoilers ahead but look at these panels and tell me you’re not intrigued…

Now, as for the world building… I really love how mages write to cast, it’s a nice little detail, and I enjoyed learning about how necromancy functions in this world. The witches also seem to have quite varied powers, which can make their fights seem more unique and means you don’t always know what to expect from them (unless you know their lineage). There’s vampires too if that’s your thing, elementals, and who knows what else going forward. I’m curious to learn more about ‘the order of magical resonance’, there’s definitely some mystery there too… Solid stuff on the whole.

I just… really love this series, and I’d love more people to give it a try too. My only warning is there is some gore, so if that’s an issue for you unfortunately you might have to give this one a pass. Otherwise, please give it a shot! It deserves attention.

[ofbloodandbullets]

So it’s recently come to my attention that not everyone in the world has actually watched The Old Guard (WHO KNEW?!) so I’m going to try and do some info dumps about the world, the general canon and Andy’s history, personality, powers etc.  This will ... probably get kinda lengthy. 

Also: MAJOR MAJOR SPOILERS FOR COMICS & MOVIE.

The first thing you need to know is that for the main part, the history and the world that TOG takes place in is the exact same one as the real history of the world.  It’s set in modern day, though the plot points stretch back to 7k+ years ago.  It’s also important to note that there is a lot of historical inaccuracies and some things in canon that conflict themselves so it’s best to just take it all with a grain of salt and just go with what works best for your particular preferences etc. 

The main difference between reality and TOG is that in TOG there are a very minute like .00000000002% of the population that are immortals.  Now, it’s important to note that these people can die but they resurrect pretty close to immediately after they die no matter the amount of damage done.  Now it can take some time to fully heal or reform, depending on how extensive the trauma (being blown to bits or burned etc. will take longer to fix but there’s no amount of damage that we know of that can actually keep them dead).  

There are times when, for reasons unknown to the characters in character (or to us as readers  of the comics / viewers of the movie etc) that the immortality just stops.  There’ll just be a time that they suffer injuries that just don’t heal, and they die.  There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to this, be it age, number of times they’ve died, whatever.  Now, I have my own entirely headcanon and personal preference based theory which you can find HERE but it’s totally just a random idea that I had that I liked to explain the loss of Andy’s immortality in the movie (that doesn’t happen in the comics) and lets me say that she regains her immortality post canon so that I can nudge things back in the direction of the comics for post movie plots and so on.

Andy is, as far as we know, and as far as she knows, the oldest (human) immortal, coming in at around 7,000 years old.  She was born into a tribe, the Scythia (hence what she’s generally called: Andromache the Scythian).  A nomadic warrior tribe that I headcanon to be a matriarchy, Andy was betrayed by the ‘queen mother’ when she was sixteen and killed in battle because the leader feared that Andy posed a danger to her continuing rule.  This person was practically a mother to Andy and it was a horrific betrayal.  What was almost as shocking to Andy was the fact that she got back up again after being literally stabbed in the back and killed.

In the vein of trying to thwart prophecies making them happen, Andy killed the matriarch and took her placce ruling the tribe, eventually becoming a God King to her people and ruling over them for hundreds of years until her loneliness absolutely overwhelmed her and one day she just vanished.

At some point after this, she began to dream of a woman, feeling a pull towards this stranger that she couldn’t begin to explain.  After dozens, maybe hundreds of years, she managed to track down the woman in question (Noriko in the comics, Quynh in the movie) and realized that they’d been dreaming of each other.  (In the comics she meets Lykon before Quynh/Noriko, whom she had also been dreaming of).  

Now, the connection between these immortals isn’t explained in canon, and for a long time, Andy, Lykon, Noriko (and eventually Joe, Nicky, Book) thought they were the only ones but there is a scene in the second set of comics that implies that there are other ‘packs’ of immortals.  I headcanon that it’s a ‘like calls to like’ / kind of Sense8 simpatico type thing - like minded souls drawn to each other, which is why Andy and the others didn’t know about the other immortals, but again, that’s just entirely my thoughts on the matter. 

Lykon is the first to succumb to the loss of immortality, a short couple hundreds years after he and Andy find each other.   He dies on a battlefield, one that he and Quynh/Noriko and Andy fought on like a hundred/thousand before, champions for the abused etc.  Skip forward a couple hundred years again and enter Joe & Nicky, a Knight and a Muslim warrior who kill each other on the battlefield only to both wake up and spend (an unspecified amount of time) hunting and killing each other before eventually Andy & Quynh/Noriko find them.  In time, Joe & Nicky realize that they love each other.   (Important to note that Quynh/Noriko and Andy were also lovers).  In the movie, when the first major surge of witch hunts began, Quynh/Noriko and Andy go to help the women that stood accused, only to be captured and accused of witchcraft themselves.  After being hung, drowned, burned at the stake and coming back to life every time, the witch hunters settled on locking Quynh into an iron coffin and dropping her into the ocean.  (In the comics, Noriko is lost at sea during a massive storm that had thrown their ship entirely off course with Andy having no clue where they actually were at the time.) 

Joe & Nicky arrive in time to rescue Andy, but Noriko is already gone and despite spending decades tracking down every person even remotely involved in the so called ‘investigation’ into the women’s inquisition and punishment, Andy wasn’t able to find anything about where Quynh could be. 

Cue angst & depression & guilt for ages after.

The trio still steps in over the following decades, trying to help prevent the worst of atrocities, but Andy quickly begins to spiral into an, at best apathetic, at worst, entirely distant and withdrawn mindset and steadily begins to lose hope that they’re actually making any difference at all.

Skip ahead a century or two and enter Book; a Russian conscript who had been forced into the fight after being convicted of forgery.  Hung for desertion, Book spend days dying over and over again as he hung there, unable to attempt an escape until the troops finally packed up and moved on.   He and Andy, Nicky and Joe meet up and Book kinda reluctantly joins their little group.  It’s revealed that Book dreams, still, of Noriko/Quynh and while he can’t tell where hse is, dreams of her still dying, drowning on the floor of the ocean over and over and over like she had been for the last hundred or two years.  

Book returns at some point to his mortal family which ended in disaster when his last remaining son was dying of cancer, cursing and screaming at Book for ‘choosing not to save him’ by making him immortal too, even though it’s something Book had no ability to transfer or make happen.  Between his nightmares, losing his son and a number of other factors, Book decides he wants to end it all but no matter what he tries, doesn’t die and stay dead.

Eventually he’s approached by a pharmaceutical company that has figured out what he is and wants to run tests on him to see if they can unlock his healing / immortality for other people.  Merrick’s company works in league with an ex CIA agent whose wife died of a horrific terminal disease who hopes that they can find a way to keep anyone else from dying if they don’t have to.    Initially it was just supposed to be him, but he’d set up a display to stream for proof of what he was / they were and the corp decided they wanted all of the immortals.   Book ends up betraying the team, and he and the others end up locked up and tested on / killed / experimented on etc.  

There’s another character introduced in the meantime, the first new immortals in centuries, an American soldier named Niles.  There’s a lot more that goes on here, but the main point is that in the movie, Andy stops healing from her wounds shortly after she tracks down Nile and is put into incredible amounts of danger when Merrick (the leader of the pharmaceutical company) captures Andy, Joe, Book, Nicky.  Book is devastated, Nicky and Joe are furious, Andy’s just tired.

Eventually, Andy and the others break free with Niles’ help, destroy the lab they were originally held in etc and set out to try and hunt down any other proof, lab results, anything that Merrick got his hands on during the tests.

The group meets and settles on a hundred year exile for Booker (which I think is one of the stupidest things - like, the man’s clearly desperate and depressed and lonely and mentally unstable so by all means let’s isolate him for a fully century) and at the end of the movie we see him stumbling home to his apartment six months later to find Quynh standing in his apartment, pouring and drinking a glass of water which is a whole power move considering how many millions of times she died by drowning.

In the comics, Quynh/Noriko was driven entirely mad and to the point of wanting vengeance against Andy for abandoning her and spends a while gaslighting Andy and torturing her physically and emotionally and what not until she manages to isolate Andy from the other immortals and scoops in to ‘rescue’ Andy.  IDK what they’re going to adapt this to in the second movie, 

Again, via the link posted above, my Andy slowly begins to regain her immortality (again, IDK what they’re going to do with the next movie).  

Uhhhh yeah.  So I .. think that’s the majority of what you need to know for canon info about Andy.  THIS is also an important PSA regarding my Andy’s history & her longest lasting relationship that has nothing to do with canon at all but that is part of Andy’s bg in every verse, even if it never comes into play.

[janiedean]

Book!Theon is Azor!Ahai, not Jon. It makes no sense narratively for Jon to be AA, and it’s the most stereotypical thing ever, and he’s already stereotypical, he’s the red flag for the audience. Theon’s chapters are full of hints, he has the perfect salt/smoke/stars/dragons thing at the end of ACOK, when he “dies”. His story is about destroying death, his entire narrative, with things that come from mythology and ancient literature, points to that. The show is trash, but don’t you think that it’s a little weird that Theon is there at the end and then Arya comes out of nowhere and becomes AA? And what ending does she get? Exploring the unknown SEA with SHIPS? Being free and on her own? Maybe it doesn’t make sense for her because it’s not for her. D&D already took everything else from Theon, they took this too. And even if he’s not AA, he’s still clearly connected to magic and all of that, he didn’t go though so much for nothing, he didn’t take his name back for the first time in his life, his name that literally means “godly”, for nothing. He has something big to do, and it’s about himself, not Robb and the Starks. And he’s also so clearly connected to the politics of the north and of the iron islands, a villain was literally created for him, so I don’t understand how can you say he’s not really important and all he’s got left to do is retire in a house and be sad. Of course he has a lot of trauma and that’s important, but I don’t like how people reduce him to that and act like just because those things happened, he can’t do anything else

anon with no ill will and I swear I don't want to sound pedantic or anything but I, uh, never came to the conclusion you say I came from - that said let's go in order even if I think I already went through all the reasons why it makes literally no sense if it's anyone but jon, but let's start with one thing:

It makes no sense narratively for Jon to be AA, and it’s the most stereotypical thing ever, and he’s already stereotypical, he’s the red flag for the audience.

it's stereotypical.... to us maybe, but it is not to westeros. like, you're looking at it through audience-lens because it has been years and the show confirmed r+l=j and we all figured that shit out, but to westeros, the idea that the prince that was promised is a bastard guy serving on the wall aka a state-sponsored prison where people go to not die and is filled to non-desirables to society is... the least likely option in existence? no really, but again:

first thing that should quiet all doubts, when melisandre asks r'hollor to see azor ahai bc she wants to see stannis, r'hollor shows her jon snow and instead of going like 'uh wait why am I seeing another dude' she's like 'I want to see stannis but r'hollor shows me jon snow there must be some disturbance on the line', like she doesn't even consider for a second that it might be jon;

no one else has brought WITHIN THE NARRATIVE jon up as a likely candidate - they said stannis, they said dany, they said whoever but no one ever said hey jon snow might be AA, because again no one even suspects that it might be jon;

other matter that you're overlooking here: if theon is azor ahai.... it means that the rebellion basically was for nothing? because like the entire shtick with rhaegar targaryen's bad life choices™ is that he was apparently a swell dude, then he read a book where somehow it was exactly explained how the apocalypse was gonna happen, he deduced that he was the guy who had to father AA/the prince that was promised and in order - first he doesn't care about fighting but suddenly after that he starts getting learned; - he immediately worries over having THREE children from which we can deduce from the narrative that as far as he knows in order to fight when the wights come he has to have three kids for three dragons and one of them is azor ahai; - the moment his wife can't have more than two even if he's sure that he already had the right one (aegon) he still runs off with lyanna to make sure he has the third because it's that important that HE rhaegar targaryen fathers the three heads of the dragon... to the point of starting a civil war and most likely giving arthur orders to make sure that the kid lives at all costs even if he thinks lyanna's kid is NOT AA; - let's remember that the entire schtick is also that 'he is the ptwp and his is the song of ice and fire' which means that this kid of rhaegar's is the person these books are titled after.

now, let's look again at tyrion's infamous quote which I always bring up in these cases but let's refresh our memory here Prophecy is like a half-trained mule. It looks as though it might be useful, but the moment you trust in it, it kicks you in the head now: given this, we can absolutely assume that no single prophecy in this book goes the way the person at the end of it interprets it... which means that rhaegar was wrong on a lot of accounts, but guess what, the thing is that one out of three of his kids is dead (if we count aegon as trueborn, if he's not then two on three but I think he's trueborn) and the one who hatched the eggs/has the dragon is DANY so he already was wrong on head of the dragon #1, and he can absolutely be wrong on aegon being tptwp which would mean mistake #2 and we should know about the prophecy, but one of his children being AA and his being the song of ice and fire looks a bit too much of a stretch to be incorrect and have AA being someone else's son also would be.... but if AA is jon ie the one he had for last that he was sure was not AA and who doesn't even have the targ name (nor the stark one) and no one suspects having that kinda ancestry then yes it fits exactly all the parameters and it still allows for rhaegar to have partially misinterpreted the entire thing even in large chunks but not enough to make it look like he was completely making shit up, which... I mean the long night is coming I don't doubt he had very good reasons to want to stop it; also, anon not to beat the dead horse, but: - jon's death fits all the prophecy parameters already there's the bleeding star, the smoking wound and the salt of the tears which btw is not obvious nor something you'd immediately do 2+2 about... which fits perfectly with the above - jon died and came back to life in the godforsaken show like he's literally the only idiot who resurrected in it and we're supposed to handwave it the way dnd did? - jon has a valyrian steel sword that he can handle while theon atm really doesn't - we could argue that ygritte could be a possible nissa-nissa contender though I mean maybe it could also be that he and val get hot and bothered and it turns out it's her or someone else and that hasn't happened yet but surely there's more evidence for that with jon than with theon - theon has like... povs in two books for a total amount of less than fifteen chapters, jon has at least ten chapters per book or so on, which just mathematically makes jon a main fiver character while theon is not and like I understand deconstruction and all but you don't make your ace in the hole mystical prince hero character someone who has had fifteen chapters total at most unless I remember wrong the amount he had in acok in comparison to someone who was a main throughout the entire thing - like guys I say it as someone whose third-fave char is theon, theon is not a main fiver™ character and that's okay that's not the point, and with that I don't mean he's not important, I mean that he's not one of the five main ones that have most of the plot stuff on their shoulders and he's not THE main character, because if theon is AA then these books are named a song of theon greyjoy and considering that the main five are jon tyrion arya dany and bran I think it's highly not probable that at the end of it theon is the one character to rule them all

and that was for how jon fit the criteria, but theon doesn't fit them because again he doesn't have a number of chapters/povs that justifies such a plot twist, balon is certainly not rhaegar and I don't see how rhaegar reads a prophecy wrt balon and thinks it's about him, the heads of the dragon should be three and theon had three siblings two of which are dead and asha has no tie to the dragon storyline, this means that theon should be able to ride/command a dragon and we know that in theory just targs can and there's already three of them around - dany jon and aegon - and if anyone who's not a targ has a narrative reason to ride a dragon is tyrion not theon... and tyrion is a main fiver too, also there's the nissa-nissa/burning sword angle and as it is theon could absolutely use a bow again but a longsword with his hands maimed like that and no muscle mass would be a bit implausible, in order for the reborn prophecy to actually make sense it means his last adwd chapter should have smoke, salt and the bleeding star which it doesn't but jon's has so there's that

now, re what you said wrt theon:

Theon’s chapters are full of hints

not really? he doesn't have a tie to the magical storyline beyond his connection to bran. they have hints for a lot of things but that he's AA? idt so

he has the perfect salt/smoke/stars/dragons thing at the end of ACOK, when he “dies”

okay but then I could use the same argument for saying that AA could be davos when he survives blackwater because he says he woke up in wreckage of smoke in salty water, and then stannis has equally valid arguments bc he has the shiny sword and he's in dragonstone etc and we all know it's not stannis, also an AA death at the ending of acok when the topic has barely been introduced in dany's vision is entirely too early for me to drop that bomb

his story is about destroying death, his entire narrative, with things that come from mythology and ancient literature, points to that.

his story is about overcoming trauma and abuse and not dying in the process (which is why I think the show was trash) and okay but everyone in these books has something that comes from a mythology or ancient literature, like jaime brienne and c. all have arthuriana roots same as bran, doesn't make any of them a viable AA candidate

The show is trash, but don’t you think that it’s a little weird that Theon is there at the end and then Arya comes out of nowhere and becomes AA?And what ending does she get? Exploring the unknown SEA with SHIPS? Being free and on her own? Maybe it doesn’t make sense for her because it’s not for her.

considering that maisie williams was shocked that arya was AA and she also thought it made no sense and that dnd never thought theon had his own storyline while I can agree on the fact that it fits more for him as an ending than for arya, I don't think that means it makes him AA, same as I think that they gave sansa his storyline and possibly his confrontation with ramsay and I'm not 100% convinced on the last part anyway but that just means they didn't realize theon doesn't exist for the starks' storyline, also like.. in the show everyone but c. was in WF and theon was already dead when arya did her thing and honestly idt the battle of the long night will ever go like that anyway so idt even partially show truthing is bringing us anywhere

and even if he’s not AA, he’s still clearly connected to magic and all of that, he didn’t go though so much for nothing, he didn’t take his name back for the first time in his life, his name that literally means “godly”, for nothing

I never said it was for nothing which I'll elaborate in a second and ofc he's connected to the magic storyline... because he's connected with bran's storyline and his last round of atonement has to happen through bran in the sense that since he was the one basically forcing bran out of wf now he most likely has to facilitate bringing him back or smth (surely not dying for him), but like whatever magical stuff he has going on it has to do with bran dot, not with AA which I still think he doesn't have a stricter text connection to than davos has for that matter and idt davos is AA as I think I made clear

He has something big to do, and it’s about himself, not Robb and the Starks.

never said he didn't, and I also said that I wasn't going to speculate in detail about what theon has to do because I don't think there are enough text elements to say it now but there will be when wow comes out for sure, but like again I don't want to make predictions when I don't have the elements and wrt theon's themes/possible canon ending etc I always said that he most likely isn't going to inherit the islands but that he'll do something huge before the books are done which is gonna be tied to the northern storyline and possibly to bran because he has to go specular to acok - acok is his downfall, adwd is 'I'll find myself again', wow+ados have to be what would theon do if he decides his own thing while being his own person, or recycling my old THEON HAS HEGELIAN THEMES IN HIS STORYLINE acok = thesis, adwd = antithesis, wow+ados = synthesis so obviously he has something huge in the plans.... I just don't think it means he's AA

And he’s also so clearly connected to the politics of the north and of the iron islands, a villain was literally created for him, so I don’t understand how can you say he’s not really important and all he’s got left to do is retire in a house and be sad

aaand here we get to the point which is that... I never said that? I honestly never said that? I said he has to overcome his trauma and live and thrive and be happy after that. if he retires in a house at the end of ados after he does whatever he has to do in the main plot it's going to be because it's what he wants to do and most likely he and jeyne are going to be adorbs while doing it together or smth or if he goes back to the islands and advises asha then he's going to be happy doing that too, but like... the entire point of theon's sl is that he overcomes that horrendous abuse while not being a perfect good victim™ throughout and still be happy after and gain his redemption? that's what I always said. I never said that now he can just retire and be sad. trauma recovery is becoming happy after getting over your trauma. not being sad. and like.... sometimes not getting amazing mythological things but just being happy by yourself is actually a goal? again, grrm is a lapsed catholic. if I know that breed and I do, he doesn't think redemption and happiness are in shortage at the supermarket. and in order for theon to have narrative importance/weight/relevance he doesn't have to do magical mythological IMPORTANT™ things (even if I think he does have something cooked up as I said above), but like the entire point of his sl is the trauma recovery. he's there for that. that's literally his point in the plot and the fact that grrm created a villain for him means that he thinks it's an important thing to explore.

also I personally think that theon's arc is the best written thing in those books so like I don't want to undermine its importance, I just don't think that in order to be important™ then theon has to be dragged kicking and screaming into main fiver territory because there isn't the need.

. Of course he has a lot of trauma and that’s important, but I don’t like how people reduce him to that and act like just because those things happened, he can’t do anything else

I don't like that either esp. when coming from dnd who didn't even let him have it fully, but: and when did I ever do it? I never said that theon is only his trauma. my standing opinion wrt theon is that he's grrm's best written/constructed character (along with jaime) and his most innovative one (jaime following but theon wins it) because theon deconstructs the backstabber trope which I already went on about but:

again usually ppl who backstab the good protagonist™ get caught and punished and you never hear their pov

theon has all the povs

he's the main char in that storyline not robb

he has entirely understandable reasons that ppl decided aren't sympathetic just bc they don't want to admit that in his position they'd have done the same thing

the audience hates him for having contributed to robb's downfall but then he gets a comeuppance that's completely not what anyone would deserve for that and he gets the spotlight/the sympathy again

he gets narrative redemption saving jeyne so you can see he's not an asshole at all

has to get through horrific abuse for his entire life not just with ramsay, he's not a good victim™ but he's still written in a way that makes you want to root for him and at the end he actually comes through so you want him to keep on succeeding

which is smth that with the backstabber trope never happens

now the thing is that theon's there bc a) identity issues b) trauma recovery storylines that then get tied to bran's main one but like idg why just having the recovery storyline would make him lesser - saying he's not a main fiver doesn't mean he's not important, it means he's not a MAIN™ character... which in asoiaf doesn't matter bc even ppl without povs are important to the narration and are there to drive a point (see sandor and stannis), and I don't see why saying that the most important part of his sl/the one grrm wants to stick with the readers is the survivor part of it rather than whichever heavy magic related plot thing he has to play in the future means undermining his importance. and while I think he has that role, idt it's the most important one he has bc being a survivor is what sells his storyline/the entire arc of his character.

then if come wow I'm wrong I'll be like okay I fucked up, but: honestly, imvho there is no way that azor ahai is not jon snow, the fact that collectively as a fandom we think it's obvious doesn't mean people in westeros do, each single point of evidence is at jon and if occam's razor is a thing then it's jon and that's okay because as deconstructed chosen one as he is, jon is still the protagonist of these books and regarding the prophecy above, it makes a lot more sense that this series is titled a song of jon snow and not a song of theon greyjoy and I say this as someone who vastly prefers theon as a character. also, if smth is well-written, readers should see it coming, so the fact that jon is AA isn't predictable if it's true, it's grrm.... knowing how to write a book and plant his hints because if everyone guessed right then if he makes it suddenly someone else bc jon is too predictable then it's dnd making it arya bc SURPRISE WE NEEDED YOU TO GO LIKE WTF HAS JUST HAPPENED INSTEAD OF FOLLOWING THE NARRATION TO ITS NATURAL CONCLUSION, not 'it's too predictable' or the audience red herring the way jaime being the valonqar is an audience red herring. jon being AA should be absolutely obvious for the reader who paid attention and a total surprise for the other characters in the narration, the audience red herring is more dany than anyone else imvho and I'm dying on that hill for now, thanks for coming to my ted talk but like I don't see how it's anyone but jon personally X°D

[inspector-montoya-fox]

so... why did Honor Among Thieves disappoint?

and i’m talking about the episode, not the game. as usual, i’m popping off on something based on my opinion, because i’m aware a lot of you like that episode. but i feel like conclusion levels aren’t SP’s forte ? let’s take a look:

Setting: if you’re gonna base an entire game on breaking into an island fortress, you better let us play in that island fortress. and that’s not the case. the setup was perfect: an evil island citadel, kinda paying homage to Clockwerk’s lair, heavily guarded by mutated animal hybrids, but inside, the entire Cooper legacy. so why did it end up being a pool of acid? and why do most preparatory missions take place around the island instead of on it? circling back to the Clockwerk level similarities, i really like the linear structure for final episodes, i think it ups the ante and the tension. the sense of choice and safety granted by optional mission order or the safehouse is stripped and with each level we get closer to the main baddie. but here, the missions feel detached because of the gang being all over the place. Sly first loses his cane and is unconscious and then the original gang disbands before entering the vault. i didn’t appreciate SP’s choice to sacrifice platforming for other modes of gameplay. i know that when game devs introduce new gameplay, they’re usually really proud of it (Arkham Knight’s over-dependence on the batmobile...) but giving us a single platforming mission in the entire final level was kinda sacrilegious, imo. i’ll touch upon the reason behind this in the next section, but this was supposed to be Sly’s level, maybe even the gang’s. but, until we get to the vault, there’s Carmelita shooting, Penelope RC, Guru brainwashing, Dimitri diving, plane fight, Murray brawling and Bentley grapple cam. i think that simply diluted the importance of this episode, and made it lacklustre. i’d rather play as Sly breaking into the island 100%. if you follow me, you probably know how i feel about TiT, but i want to reference the Feudal Japan map here: it really conveyed the sense of a palace fortress. yeah, it was a village, but throughout its circumference there were imperial structures to remind us that we were actually surrounded by the stronghold. i think it would be much more effective to have Kaine Island be some kind of military base or evil tech lab instead of a vat of acid. the game’s tutorial mission was loads of fun and very intriguing because we got to enter the island and look at its interior. that should have been maintained for the final episode. and even if SP didn’t have this vision for the island, dumping neon green liquid mass everywhere seemed lazy. if they wanted it to be desolate, they should have emulated Clockwer’s volcano exterior which was full of lava but had clear characteristics.

Themes: the reason behind the various modes of gameplay was probably to express the theme of camaraderie and show that even if this is Sly’s legacy, all thieves are honourable. everyone gets to help out in some way, and that help is elevated further when Sly, the gang’s supposedly best asset, is benched. i really admire this, i think it’s a nice concluding message to a game which focuses on teamwork and how everyone is a unique individual, despite belonging on a team. that being said, the gameplay came across as repetitive, like Penelope and the Guru’s sections, or abysmal, like the underwater bossfight. i feel like they could have showed that message in a better way, one which wouldn’t require an entire gameplay section. although it was quite “silly”, having the Panda King transport the RC car and the van was an efficient way to show how he helped out without having us endure more firework gameplay. this way, there’d be more room for, again, platforming, which is much needed in this episode. at least the theme is explored well this way, like no one would doubt that the team cares for each other now. the other major theme is, obviously, legacy. unlike the camaraderie theme, this was explicitly presented. you literally go through your dead ancestors belongings. the mission is pretty cool too, i don’t have many complaints. i like how Sly has to channel each ancestor and their signature move in order to get through the obstacles they’ve set. and when the time came to go through Conner’s section, and Sly asked him what to do because he genuinely didn’t know... i lowkey kinda felt so emotional. the theme shows how Sly has come full circle, despite his minimal character development. we start off the series by collecting Thievius Racconus entries from ancestors he only heard about when he was a child, to coursing through what they left behind for us specifically. it’s really nice, and i think it’s what prevents this episode from being a complete disaster, like it’s the highlight of the whole thing.

Plot: my main beef with this episode was Bentley and Murray not entering the vault, despite SP putting in so much some work to portray them as equals. i’ve said time and time again that i absolutely love the Bentley x Dr Matt conversation because it hinted at an older version of the gang, and that Watchmen dynamic is so powerful, especially when the predecessor reaches out to their successor in a messiah kind of way (long sentence, sorry if i’m not making any sense). point is: why would they have this conversation if Bentley and Murray ultimately ended up staying behind? i get that Bentley inherits the Thievius Raccoonus at the end, but that’s a whole different discussions. like, they should have gone into the vault to show how they are as much a part of the Cooper legacy as Sly. i’m not sure how the gameplay would be, like maybe they’d get separated and meet up at the end, but i seriously wish they had followed Sly. but anyway, they didn’t, and then the amnesia thing happens... the perfect way to describe that is ‘bittersweet’. on the one hand, the entire vault and legacy come crushing down; on the other hand, Sly gets with Carmelita. this is perhaps the most development he gets throughout the course of three games. the Coopers are obviously obsessed with maintaining traditions and the lineage (which is weird when you consider all of them dropped like flies at the sight of Clockwerk, like you’d think after a few generations the fuckers would have some sort of back-up) so it’s interesting to think that Sly is the anomaly. he doesn’t have his own cane, he’s in love with a cop, he never introduced his own move to the book, and he ultimately decided he didn’t want to upkeep the Cooper legacy but reinvent it and start anew. so yeah, like that was a nice touch but everything happens so quickly and it’s a lot to take in

i don’t want to say that Honor Among Thieves is a bad case, but i think it doesn’t live up to the build-up of the entire game. one of the reasons why Sly 2′s ending was better was because the game went out of its way to establish a specific course the events would supposedly follow by telling us ‘here are the villains’ at Rajan’s ball. and then, as a direct result, Arpeggio’s death and ClockLa’s genesis came as such a big surprise. but here, we were promised a vault so difficult to get in that we needed to recruit outcasts from all over the globe, and at the end there wasn’t a twist. that’s just literally what happened. holy hell that was blunt.

[generallypo]

[   Constellation ’Director of the False Last Act’ is looking at you.  ��]

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dark academia!hsy, yeeee! the white coat is fantastic, but unlike kdj and yjh, she doesn’t really switch up the color scheme. no, her bum-aesthetic purple hoodie does not count. i think she’s super hot. i yell about how much i love her under the cut.

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yo han sooyoung is actually amazing, incredible, powerful, witty, drop-dead sexy... what makes her so irresistible? let me explain

1) yeah, kdj takes the kdj company to end of the scenarios, but please. how many times does he have to kill himself to get there? not to mention his intentional (and unintentional) kill count? 

sure, he does the job, but damn is he kind of inefficient about it. say what you like about hsy’s methods or personality, but the 1863rd round far surpasses the 1864th in terms of the lives preserved while still managing to take the team to the end.

without the benefit of cheat-like knowledge, skills, and resurrections, hsy almost single-handedly orchestrates the events of the 1863rd round to a satisfying finale. kmw, problematic as he is, survives and becomes an admittedly better person, yjh finds a timeline where he can rest in peace, and the rest of the cast have their eyes set on the hopeful end of all scenarios. all this, while only being HALF of a person (hsy originally split off into two after misusing her avatar ability). do her actions lead to the happiest ending? no. but it’s the one that sacrifices the least and saves the most. for the greater good, in other words. 

hsy may be an intrinsically selfish person, but unlike kdj, she has the ability to grasp the entire picture and avoid tunnel-visioning into a crappier, more convoluted and self-sacrificial solution. ironically, it ends up saving more lives. perks of being a talented writer, i guess. 

and the 1864th hsy emerges as a leader in her own right as well. the epilogue arc shows her assuming roughly the same role as her 1863rd self in kdj’s absence: yjh breaks off from the main group (AND BECOMES A TERRORIST AKFDJDSLKSL HAHAHA) to assume a similarly antagonistic role to the remaining members of kdj company. as a result, she’s the most powerful lawful incarnation remaining, and once more the incarnations circle around her for direction.

2) independent, confident, competent (hot and kinda shameless about it). this woman has the most delightfully unrepentant attitude towards life -- how to defeat the man with the strongest defensive ability without dealing a single blow? summon a horde of your naked dancing clones to terrify his innocent sensibilities, and then cackle at his helplessness. the fact that her sponsor is literally the chuuni-est cringefest in the entire galaxy and she gives no fucks about him is just additional comedic gold. her undisguised disgust for what should otherwise be a highly respected/feared entity is a clear indicator of her supremely dominant position over everyone else, and i admire her consistent irreverence of everyone and everything.

hsy is the only character who can consistently bully kdj, brush off his deflections, and bully him again. 1863rd round hsy gives kdj about 50 migraines in the span of 5 minutes of conversation before confirming her superior wit. jhw comes close, but unfortunately, she actually respects the rat bastard. i wish i could mention yjh, but let’s be real: he -- and just about every existing version of him -- has been whipped for the guy for at least 250+ chapters now. 

hsy, on the other hand, has no regard for anything except herself... man, i respect that so much. what a queen. 

and i won’t lie! i didn’t like her in the first fifty or so chapters. plagiarism? homicide? kind-of-in-general-just-being-an-obstacle-to-kdj’s-plans? yeah, i almost fell into the trap of disliking her purely because she didn’t cave immediately in the grand scheme of kdj’s plotting -- thereby denying me the power rush that came with seeing kdj bulldoze his way through the puny attempts of small fry characters. she’s neither a friend nor a despicable foe, but rather someone who acts independently and in her own self-interest, WITH the ability to thwart major players if need be. aka, the one who frustrated kdj’s plans -- and me -- the most. 

going by my previous isekai/power-fantasy trope experience, i figured she’d get pegged into the sexy-but-sassy harem candidate, or get killed off if that didn’t work out. in hindsight, i’m just pretty fucking dumb, but honestly, i can accept that with gratitude -- 

-- because in fact. the whole ‘she-gets-in-my-way-so-she-either-goes-into-the-harem-or-dies’ trope in light novels/webnovels and the like, is, frankly, misogynistic and boring as hell. i had some admittedly low expectations for ORV, which consequently blasted my ass to the moon and left me there sobbing for 42 years as i mourned my stupidity and paid my respects to its incredible ending and character development. hsy is a particular delight, especially in her meta awareness of these tropes -- blatantly stating she isn’t obligated to kdj for saving her life and declaring the damsel-in-distress cliche as ridiculous, for example. 

and it really is, because suspension bridge effect aside, you’re not gonna want to bang a total shady stranger in the middle of the apocalypse. it’s the little statements of self-awareness, self-worth, and frankness that build up hsy’s charm. as ORV progresses, these little windows of her personality bloom as her presence takes stage center -- and then BAM! you really get to know how strong she is, how hugely capable of love she is, how subtly but wonderfully she expresses it, how she leads and protects those close to her, and how damn good she is at it. hsy is amazing. we stan an iconic queen -- no, black flameS EMPRESS. *kneeling*.

3) writes an entire EPIC, just to keep one lonely, broken fifteen-year-old alive. like. at that point in ORV, i knew. i knew. hsy is the fucking GOAT. seeing her spend the rest of her life on WOS, making sure it reaches completion because it’s the only thing that will sustain kdj until the advent of the scenarios... that hits too hard. inadvertently, it also damns the rest of the world to the terror and tragedy that the star stream brings.. but that’s the call she makes in order to save kdj’s life. 

obviously, there’s no precise beginning to the timelines -- ORV is so neatly crafted in its cycle of writer, protagonist, and reader -- but i’d have to argue that hsy holds the greatest power in the trinity. creating the existence known as ‘yoo joonghyuk’ and granting life-changing hope to an otherwise forgotten boy.. is pretty powerful. yjh, for the most part, is a slave to the scenarios (until he breaks free in the 1863rd and 1864th rounds, in particular), while kdj (unwittingly) admits it himself: he’s truly the most powerless god in existence. i forget exactly where he mentions it, but it’s in response to lgy’s reverent commentary that, with all his knowledge and presumed confidence, kdj seems like the protagonist of story or a god to him. kdj’s inner monologue, of course, is appropriately self-deprecating and scarily accurate.

in a lot of ways, WOS -- and ORV itself, really -- is a love letter to readers. it’s a two-way connection, writer and reader, between someone who creates with all their passions and someone who consumes and responds with equally sincere feelings. Ways Of Survival -- the story of a man who defied death and grief and great powers far beyond his being -- is a fictional guide to surviving in a ruined world. but to a battered, bullied, and ostracized boy, it’s not just escapism, or wish fulfilment anymore. WOS is the map to navigating the hell of his reality. there’s a certain power in the right words being spoken -- or in this case, written -- at the right time, even if it’s only for the temporary burst of endorphins upon reading an especially delightful chapter. even if it’s forgotten the next day, you’ve managed to connect. you’ve touched another person’s heart. you made them think about questions they’ve never considered before; maybe, you made them smile. 

what can i say but the honest truth? ORV, without a shadow of doubt, has most certainly reached me. i’m a goner for this story and its excellent characters -- long, long gone. something has changed, something that wasn’t there the previous day. 

the mark has been made on the reader -- small as it is, it’s irrevocable. behold, in all of its little magnificence: the power of a writer, and their story.