#like I get it blah blah Just War Theory and all but I find it so interesting that Collins uses Gale

[wlwocprincess]

You know the when it comes to the “demonized radical leftist freedom fighter that the narrative has chosen to turn into a villain (maybe they’re a terrorist? War criminal?) that makes the protagonist realize that radicalism can be Just As Bad but then chooses a way that’s easier and safer than Liberation” I’m surprised nobody has pointed out Gale Hawthorne. He’s this trope exemplified. Ppl will pick all these characters but Gale Hawthorne, probably because we have all sort of deluded ourselves into choosing the comfort of the easier and safer option that is so within the ending of these books, isn’t labeled this way which is wild. This is a poor brown character who we get to know really well throughout the first two books and because of how angry he is due to his oppression he quite literally ends up making Bombs that are used to kill children. And we just. Move on from that. Accept that’s just who he is now and that’s the end of his story as we know it. Huh.

[averydavery]

‼️📣 FX'S SHOGUN RENEWED FOR SEASONS 2 & 3 ‼️📣

You know what that means... time for some fan theories!

This should go without saying but SPOILERS BELOW! If you aren't caught up don't read!

For those who don't know, FX's Shōgun follows James Clavell's original novel pretty closely with some deviations, but it starts at the beginning of the novel and ends at the end of it. This leaves some major wiggle room for the continuation of the series and the writers certainly have their work cut out for them if they plan on going on for two more seasons. However, as definite the ending is, there are some loose ends to deal with and at least two directions they can head with it.

Future Plot Theories

The two ways I believe the story will go- IF THEY DECIDE TO NOT ADAPT CLAVELL'S OTHER NOVELS WHICH I HAVEN'T READ AND CONTINUE THIS PLOT- and they're pretty easy to see: either a prequel season or a season that continues the story. Let's start with the former.

At the end of S1 Mariko, one of the protagonists of the story, dies a martyr to enact Torinaga's plan to win over Ochiba's support for the incoming war. Mariko is played by popular drama actress Anna Sawai, which leads me to believe that the writers would want her character to return- if only for the sake of keeping one of their stars. While only Hiroyuki Sanada (Toranaga's actor) has reportedly signed on for the future seasons, if this is the case and Sawai signs on we can expect a prequel season episodes that explore the characters' pasts prior to the events of the first season. For Mariko, that'd likely be a look into her family and their history. As for Toranaga, a look at his rise to power should be expected and maybe a story about the his divide between him and his brother. On a grander scale, this perhaps could mean looking at life before the power vacuum that was left after the death of the previous leader and at how the Portuguese made their way into Japanese society.

Why I think this isn't all that likely: I'm starting with this theory because I think it's the least likely of the two. The main reason being how S1 ended. The first season ends with the Battle of Sekigahara, probably the most infamous battles in Medieval Japanese history. With such a bang, it has really left the viewer wanting and wishing for more, since war = action. This glimpse at the fate of the war is brief and spoils that Toranaga's faction will win overwhelmingly with the support of Ochiba and the heir's army, regardless it also leaves the audience wondering what life in Japan will be like following the decisive battle. Therefore, if we get any "prequel content" it'll likely be in the form of flashbacks or a flashback episode. Although, backstories and a prequel season could be in store for S3, just not S2.

Alright, now with that outta the way- my real theory for season 2.

As I said before, it's clear that we'll be looking at the Battle of Sekigahara and its consequences. However with major characters like Mariko, Yabushige, and John either dead or sidelined... it's to be believed that this season will be Toranaga-centric. This likely will be a season answering "what now?" since we already know Toranaga wins and seizes power. Toranaga's most loyal advisor committed seppuku, so it could tackle the issue of where he can find who to trust and how he'll deal with the former regents and the church. More political intrigue blah blah blah... but if I had to guess (and this is me hoping here): the biggest addition to the plot would be adding in Miyamoto Musashi as a major character. (I will talk about this at length under the "new characters" heading).

Returning Characters (Besides Toranaga since I yapped enough about him)

John Blackthorne

Probably one of the bigger characters who has an unknown future of him is the anjin himself! All we know of John is his remorse for Mariko after her passing and that eventually he ends up back in England as an old man. He's promised his ship to sail again and either complete his mission or return home. Based on his change as a character, I believe he does not complete his mission. But it is possible that he stays for just a bit longer to see what the future will hold under Toranaga's rule. However, since a literal war breaks out I doubt he'll stay for that. Perhaps he leaves and returns? I really believe that John will be fizzled out since his character arc has concluded.

Father Martin & The Rest of The Portuguese

Similar to John, now that Mariko is gone I doubt Father Martin will reappear and if he does it won't be for long- likely to confide in John as they both lost someone they cared for but that moment kind of already happened. However, the more important thing that may happen if they take a more historical stance with this, will be the closure of Japan's ports for another 200 years, effectively cutting off trade and influence from the Portuguese. However, Toranaga is established as a more "open-minded" ruler so I doubt that he will take this stance as well? It remains to be seen.

Kiko, Gin, & The Courtesans

A simple theory but one that may prove important is that Gin's tea house will become a massive source of income and power in Edo and I think she'll end up being a close ally to Toranaga as his influence spreads. I can see her and the courtesans establishing a sort of information and spy trade within the city.

The Regents

This is probably the era where I am most clueless as to what they plan to do with this. I'm thinking Toranaga might just "buy them out" or give them their regions as long as they pledge loyalty to his up and coming empire. There likely will be some in-fighting, but seeing as they ended up siding with Toranaga at the end of S1, I think there just kinda pushovers...

BUTTTTTTTTTTTTTT I do think a whole faction will spring up either stragglers from Ishido's army or something else, but the has got to be some kind of threat to Toranaga's reign... I just have no idea what that could be 😭

New Characters

Miyamoto Musashi

Probably the most infamous ronin of all time and a character/historical figure I am way too educated about, Musashi makes his name at the Battle of Sekigahara and is an incredibly popular archetype from Japanese history that's used a ton in fiction- hell, Hiroyuki Sanada has PLAYED Miyamoto Musashi in HBO's Westworld! So adding him would even be a bit of a nod to Sanada's past roles.

Regardless, since a lot of the major character's plot lines have seemed to tie up nicely by the end of S1, introducing a new major character with a lot of "lore" is likely what the writers are looking for. For those unfamiliar, Musashi is regarded as one of, if not the, greatest samurai in history. Known for his unique two-handed swordfighting style and how he was undefeated in ~61 duels, Musashi actually fought for the losing clan in the Battle of Sekigahara as a samurai-for-hire which rendered him a ronin looking to better himself solely in the way of the sword. Musashi also was a talented artist and writer, authoring the "Book of Five Rings" which was his knowledge on the ways of war and the blade.

The character of Musashi was a legend for centuries, however his first instance of being a folklore character was in Eiji Yoshikawa's aptly titled book series Musashi (1939) which cemented him into the popular zeitgeist and still is one of the most popular book series to date. There have been hundreds of adaptations of the series and stories with Musashi in it from shows to video games, with the most praised version (and my favorite manga ever...) being Takehiko Inoue's manga Vagabond.

However, its for this reason that I believe if Musashi does get introduced his story will be greatly changed from the fictional myth to something that will fit into the context of Toranaga's and the greater plot of Shōgun at large. This could mean making him closer to the historical figure, more of a disgruntled sage than a hot head. If this is the case then I think he will be the new advisor to Toranaga that I mentioned potentially being of importance to the plot earlier. Historically, after his rise to fame, Musashi has advised Tokugawa Ieyasu, the actual shōgun who won the Battle of Sekigahara and who Toranaga is modeled after. So it would make some sense to put him in this role. Also when I go over Kojiro, there's another bit with that kinda fits the tone of Shōgun.

Sasaki Kojiro

Given that Musashi is introduced as a new character, they would have to include Kojiro, his "rival".

In terms of historical fact, Kojiro was kinda of the shit while Musashi was still a rising star and Musashi's victory in a duel against him was what cemented his place in history as a legend. Yet, the way he killed Kojiro was incredibly undignified for someone of his status and just the kind of insane death we've already seen in S1 of Shōgun. A la the shocking death of Toranaga's son Nagakado, (WARNING: GRAPHIC) Musashi rows up to Gānryu island late to their duel and after sharpening his oar into a staff, he slams it atop the skull of Kojiro and affectively bludgeons him to death. That is the end of the great samurai Salami Kojiro.

If a more historically accurate Musashi does get included in the next season the writers would be remiss in not including this conclusion to their duel. As violent as it may be.

But that's just a theory... a film theory 💀

[some-pers0n]

i watched emesis blue, very good, please ramble about it to me

You watched it??? That's so cool!! I'm so glad I was able to infect you and harass you into watching it by reblogging every single thing even tangentially related to it.

So, for the rambling part. Yeah. I'll probably just say first and foremost that Emesis Blue is probably my favourite thing to come out of this fandom. I can barely even begin to describe my love for this movie. It's something I wish goes down not just in TF2 history, but fandom in general as an example of how great fan content can be. It takes the mercs and throws them into a situation that I can only describe as 'nightmarish'.

That's another thing too. I remember once seeing a person describe the movie as a nightmare. I can't honestly think of a better description. It radiates this nonstop uneasiness and dread. No joke, the entire time I watched it I had this constant feeling of pressure in my chest. Even just thinking about Emesis Blue or the scenes in it brings it back. It's harder to breathe and I'm more alert.

I'm a horror enjoyer. I love horror. I've consumed a lot of horror.

Never has a piece of media created a feeling like that for me. The only thing that comes close is 'The Descent', which uses a similar tactic of darkness and constant dread.

But, if I go on more, I'll dip into spoiler territory. I cannot say it enough that watching this movie blind is the best experience. So, yeah. If by some means you haven't watched Emesis Blue, please do it. I know it's a horror movie and not a lot of people are into those, but I can't stress just how good it is. Please. It's free. You can watch it right now on YouYube.

Also, quick note. I was rewatching the movie while writing this and found your comment. Epic. My thoughts exactly as well.

So, let's start with me admitting something: I have not a single idea as to what's happening. I need a hour long story breakdown of this movie.

But, I can try to piece things together. In order to lay the groundwork. I could be wrong about several things, but this is how I think it goes.

Helix Technologies created the respawn machine. Jules Archibald sold it to both Redmond and Blutarch to play both sides of the war. However, the respawn machine is pretty bad and has the tendency to breakdown and cause the person it resurrects to come out...well, broken.

Scout (Jeremy) was one of these victims. The Medic (Fritz Ludwig) helps him out and around, even prescribing him these pills called 'Valium' (spoiler: they're actually the evil bad pills made by a sister company of Helix Technologies).

Medic is...not doing so hot, might I add. Because of some event, he's been prescribing himself the Valium. Though, he's haunted by hallucinations and whatnot. There's a theory that Medic was the one who killed Scout's mother, linking how the movie on the TV, 'M', is about a German murderer and how the director of the film's first name is 'Frtiz'.

Being honest? I thought from the start that Medic being the killer was a possibility, but refused to believe it if only because I thought it was obvious. M = Medic was my train of thought.

Anywho, something happens to Scout and Medic tosses himself into danger to try and save him.

Meanwhile, Soldier (Jane Doe) and Spy are on a mission to find Archibald since he's been kidnapped. Actually, the ploy was to have Archibald be faked kidnapped so that he wouldn't suffer the consequences from how the respawn machine is terrible, but we don't know that yet. They investigate the crime scene of Scout's mother and are led to Medic's office, where they eventually learn they need to go to the Conaghers.

Blah blah blah, the movie happens. Medic is having a bad time. Soldier meets up with the RED Demo (Cyclops as he's called here) and Spy has a funny little run-in with a Pyro and gets horribly burned in the process of escaping them. They all eventually meet up again after suffering through unprecedented amounts of horrific shit and play a nice round of Russian Roulette. Medic dies. Oh and also Archibald is dead because Spy figured out the ruse behind his plan.

They host a funeral for Archibald and Soldier is about to kill himself and the others with a grenade before Medic pops out and shoots Spy. He then goes on a wacky little killing spree and hops into an ambulance before then falling asleep at the wheel and crashing it, dying in the process.

What a silly story. I love it to bits.

Now with that out of the way, I wanna talk about some stuff that stands out to me.

Soldier's character is probably one of the best versions of him I've seen. He keeps that same 'Soldier TF2' charm to him, but he's brave. He's loyal. He stands by his friends in this hellish situation, never backing down or giving up. I also adore the flashback scene of him. The atmosphere of the war and trenches–

CAN I TALK ABOUT THE ATMOSPHERE TOO?? My GOD it's pristine!! The cinematography and the lighting and everything about it oozes with dread and fear. There are only a couple jumpscares in the movie, but by god I find the constant terror to be far more compelling. It's suffocating with how well its done.

The emotions and expressions too. One scene that's always been in my mind is the elevator scene. We see Medic cycle through his emotions. He's sobbing because Scout is dead and now he's stuck here. Then after being offered a cigarette, he perks up and starts laughing. It's haunting. I remember the chill that ran down my spine the first time I watched that scene. And minutes later with Medic pointing the gun to his head, about to kill himself, before putting it down and lashing out at his reflection.

Medic and his character in Emesis Blue is like my good ol' Medic TF2 blorbo, but in an opposite direction. Emesis Blue Medic is a husk of a man, his very soul and sanity being ripped from him a long while ago. He's not doing so well. I adore every single scene with him. You can see all of his fears and and emotions so clearly.

Have I also mentioned this is animated in SFM? Yeah, THAT nightmare of an animation software? I can't even begin to comprehend the amount of bugs and glitches Fortress Films had to endure. How many times entire scenes were corrupted and they had to restart. Just even knowing how much care and work the team put into this movie makes me respect it so much more. This is truly a work of passion and love for the game and its community, delivering something that's beyond words.

The sound design is another aspect I don't see really talked about. It's really good. Take the scene in Scout's home for example, with the TV playing and the droning from the phone. It's haunting.

It's just an incredible movie. It's why I think psychological horror is the best form of horror. It relies less on big scary monsters with sharp claws and axes being the main source of fear. Rather, it focuses on when those monsters will show up. It grips you with dread and refuses to let go. It never gives you that relief that comes with a jumpscare. The startling, yet comforting release never happens.

Emesis Blue also succeeds in a way that none of the characters make dumb choices. They do everything right, yet they still fail in the end. I feel that makes it more terrifying. When you do everything correctly, but it doesn't work out. It makes the situation all the more helpless. All of this mistakes happen at their own hubris, like with Spy trying to take a break by smoking a cigarette and ends up nearly burning to death.

I also love how it doesn't answer a lot of questions. Leaving the audience with a mystery and the ability to theorize on stuff is lovely. What is the masked figure? Why are there seemingly elements of time distortion? How much is a hallucination and how much of it is real? All those sort of things.

But, yeah. I love Emesis Blue. I love it a lot. It's not just a TF2 animation. It's a genuine horror movie. I've seen multi-million dollar Hollywood movies that pale in comparison to this. It shows that talent and storytelling can come from anywhere and could be simply amazing. The fact that I can watch this on YouTube for free feels off. I feel like I should be paying Fortress Films or giving them something for their work.

But, I guess praise and a couple fanfics is good enough. Very rarely does a work move me enough to actually make fanworks. I get ideas, but never write them down.

So, those are my bigger thoughts on it. I'll just list a couple more.

-I refuse to believe that Scout's name isn't a reference to Jerma985. His name on the report is 'Jeremy. E', like Jeremy Elbertson

-When I was first watching through it, my stupid god-forsaken Science Party-obsessed brain thought: "Ooh! Medic and Engie are together! :D" when Medic came into the Conaghers. Then then they started fighting it turned into: "Oh no, they're going to kill each other D:"

-The scene of Soldier trying to get through the countless corpses of himself feels like something out of a cosmic horror and I love it

-I think this movie made me understand Freedom Fries more

-Cyclops's death ruined me RIP my buddy

-That weird Scout monster thing was terrifying

-I am obsessed with Stalingrad and the other resurrected mercs. They're so cool

-Emesis Blue is a great example as to why 2Fort is a horrific map

-That scene of Medic with gouged-out eyes and chipped teeth smiling and staring at the camera makes my blood run cold every single time. I cannot overstate just how much I love that scene

-They gave Demo a pistol finally I'm so happy <3

-I am a massive sucker for Pyro headcanons where they're justed a fucked up and inhuman monster and Emesis Blue scratched that itch. Following up on that, I love how Pyro's face is the same as that one Half-Life 2 zombie model. You know the one. The one that's of a genuine real burn corpse? Good times

-When Spy got burned, I genuinely thought that he would eventually become the Pyro through some weird time distortion shenanigans. I still believe in that theory too, honestly

-I actually really like how it uses the TF2 characters since you're already familiar with them and my intense love for them makes me care about them a thousand times more

-People who complain about the movie tossing in references have no idea what fun or thematic parallels are

-Medic spitting out his teeth in the end could either be a reference to Scout's nightmare at the beginning or to how Medic's teeth are literally falling out in real time. Maybe both. It could be both

-What in gods name is in that briefcase I need to know

[lyranova]

If you're still doing the salty ask game, can you do 4, 9, 12, and 19

Hiya Luce! Yep i’m still accepting requests for the salty ask game, and I apologize this took me a bit, I kind of went on a rant for number 19! Also I answered two of these for Black Clover and two for FFVII! I hope you enjoy!

4 Do you have a NoTP in your fandom? Are they a popular OTP?*

I’ve answered this a couple of times for BC already and I don’t feel like repeating myself again so I’m going with FFVII this time 😆; and my biggest NoTP is Cloud x Aerith, and yes they are a very popular OTP 😅. I just really like them as friends, family, or platonic soulmates whose love is different then that of romantic partners love! Also right behind that is Zack x Tifa and thats because it feels like people are just “pairing the spares” 😔.

(As I always say; if you ship these ships then good for you, and I fully support you in loving these ships!)

9 Most disliked character(s)? Why?

Hmm…in Black Clover? I guess aside from the usual suspects (Sekke, Auggie, Alecdora, etc) it would have to be; Jester, Sally, and Damnatio.

Jester…I like him in fanon, but dislike him in canon. In canon he’s annoying to me and not in a fun and “gremlin” way like in fanon (or at least, in mine and my mutuals fanon 😆). I really just didn’t vibe with him in the movie and couldn’t wait for him to disappear 😔.

Sally is also more of a “i don’t vibe with them”. She’s just very…extra? But not in a good way. And imo she takes things too far and comes off as annoying like Jester. I’ve tried to like her, i really have, but she just doesn’t vibe with me at all.

Damnatio is amazing in fanon! But in canon? He comes across as a bit…boring when compared to other characters in the series, at least to me. Maybe it’s intentional on Tabs part, or maybe its because we don’t see him very much, but to me he is very blah and uninteresting as a character (even tho his magic is kind of cool)!

12 Is there an unpopular arc that you like that the fandom doesn’t? Why?

Hmm…I guess the Devil Believer arc in BC? Thats really the only unpopular arc i can think of 😅. To me the concepts and ideas it introduces are interesting (such as showing us what happened on the ground during the elf invasion, showing us directly how those with very low mana are treated in the country, etc;) even tho they weren’t executed very well. I feel like that arc had/has a lot of potential in it, so I do enjoy it despite its many…many, many faults!

19 What is the one thing you hate most about your fandom?

Since there isn’t anything in the BC fandom that I hate, I’ll go with another fandom that I lurk in which is FFVII! The thing I hate most about it is the toxicity, ship wars, and character hate!

My poor mutuals have had to hear me complain about it many times recently, but its just…so freaking bad rn! I’m trying to find cute art, fics, and headcanons but instead all I see are people arguing about song lyrics, words and meanings and context in scenes, and even going as far as to threaten and argue with the writers and developers of the game (hell and even some going as far as to argue and threaten streamers and gamers over their freaking fan theories)😭! Like I get it, this happens in every big fandom, but maybe its because I’ve been in a small one for so long…but this is just a bit much and kind of took a lot of the joy I had for the game away (There is a lot of good and fun in the fandom too, its just a little harder to find these days)!

And the ship wars are just, really, really terrible (it doesn’t help that they’ve been going on for nearly 30 years!)! Again, I understand this is in every big fandom with a bunch of popular ships, but really is it that hard to scroll past or block and ignore 😭?? I just don’t see the point in arguing about them; you like what you like, i like what I like, and let’s just agree to disagree! This is another one of those “I’ve been in a small fandom too long” because most of the mutuals and people I follow either scroll past when they see a ship they don’t like, or they go “I may not like it, but I see how much you do, and I support you in that!”.

The character hate…*sigh* again, I get it and I know not everyone is going to like the same characters…but there comes a point where its too much! When you have to mischaracterize them completely, or point to scenes that the writers have gone back and changed/retconned/removed in order to “prove how much of a terrible character they are”, or you have to focus on this one “terrible thing” that particular character did while ignoring the terrible things that other characters did…just shows me that you’re willing to make up whatever you want in order to excuse your useless hate for that character! (You can literally just go; “eh I don’t vibe with them/they’re not my cup of tea” and leave it at that 😭!!)!

[broomsticks]

Heyy! I was wondering, can you help me out with some drarry recs? I read a few drarry fics YEARS ago and honestly don't remember them at all, and the past few years, I've only read marauders era fics. I want to explore drarry a bit, but in a lot of the fics i try out the pairing seems kinda illogical. Yk like the fic just pushes them together bc it's a drarry fic but it doesn't really make sense beyond that. Maybe I've just had bad luck. But that's why i wanted to ask whether you have any recs that could get me into the pairing again. I think i mostly want canonish stuff (no crazy AUs), and lengthwise im alright with whatever, but a longfic would be nice!!

so first off - thank you for thinking of me hahaha, but I'm not the best person to ask because I don't read a ton of Drarry! (I say that and it's my third most bookmarked ship, behind Wolfstar and Jily.) it's not a ship I'm particularly wild about either, for similarrrr reasons to you it sounds like (not a huge fan of postwar redemption arc and if I'm going to read that I usually would rather read lightning gen femslash, and most of the AUs tend to read sorta 'any two guys' to me), but I have read a bunch I enjoyed and I do have a couple faves:

Listening for the Angels by @hawksquill // 12k, M

The trials are over. Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy are in Azkaban, the Ministry has seized Malfoy Manor, and Draco is banished to live among Muggles. His exile brings Draco more than he ever bargained for: a Squib therapist, Muggle friends, a new career, and a mysterious pen pal who helps him come to terms with what it means to grow, heal, and make amends.

lmao I know I just said postwar redemption not my jam blah blah, but the writing of this one is just lovely. it's Draco-centric and more pre-slash gen than relationshippy, but the character growth is so well done.

.

What We Pretend We Can't See by @gyzym // 131k, M

Seven years out from the war, Harry learns the hard truth of old history: it’s never quite as far behind you as you thought.

the plot. the relationships. the conflict. the humanity. I remember this one totally sweeping me away! gyzym also wrote one of my favorite aziraphale/crowleys (build me a city, call it jerusalem, 3.5k, T), pre-show/dated 2012, give this a try if you'd like a quick taste of their writing, it's what motivated me to start reading that Drarry longfic!

.

I found the sentient house magic intriguing in this one:

The Claiming of Grimmauld Place by bixgirl1 // 75k, E

When Grimmauld Place begins fighting against Harry’s ownership of it, he decides he needs help to train the historic home — but little does he expect that it’ll be Malfoy who’s most suitable for the challenge. However, as Malfoy and Harry get closer, Harry comes to understand that expectations aren’t always the best path by which to guide his heart — and in the process learns just what is needed to make a house a home.

I will say this ship has a lot of a) magical theory, particularly sentient house magic, b) auror partner casefics, and c) mysterious medical maladies, so if that's something that interests you I can rec a couple more!

.

last but not least I know you said no crazy AUs, but you did also say Wolfstar, and I was just rereading this to rec it elsewhere: here's an online romance Drarry AU with HIV+ Remus and Wolfstar raising Harry. Angst, smut, fluff, family... this fic is lovely.

Dragons Don't Know Paradise by @teacup-tai // 51k, E

In 2004, when Remus spends two scary weeks in the ITU due to complications of pneumonia and his HIV condition, Sirius walks around the house like a ghost and Harry finds comfort and strength in Draco through a chat in an online LGBT forum. Harry falls for him, but Draco has a lot of secrets and, before long, will need to come clean—even if he believes that no one is able to understand a dragon. This is a story about falling in love online and about facing the reality of death, but above all, this is a story about hope, finding love and acceptance. (Non-magical / bookshop AU, written for the 25 days of Drarry 2020)

a couple more recs here for Wolfstar + Drarry!

[destinysbounty]

Which villain do you like?

Ooooh i like a lot of villains! Garmadon, Morro, and Harumi are all obvious answers, of course, i mean those are i think the top 3 fandom faves. If i had to rank them id say Harumi is my favorite out of the three, because i find her rawness so compelling. Like, shes what Lloyd couldve become if he hadnt gotten a proper support system, and thinking about how she and Lloyd are such incredible foils for each other makes me wanna start biting things. Shes so messed up and i love that about her. Part of me wants her to get therapy but the rest of me wants to see how much worse she can get.

So i guess, if you forced me to choose just one villain to call my absolute favorite, id say Harumi. But i feel bad about snubbing all the other delightful villains in this show! I gotta hand it to Ninjago, they really know how to craft a dazzling rogues gallery.

As for underappreciated/underrated villains i love:

Nadakhan. He is SO slimy, and he makes me SO uncomfortable, but honestly thats what makes him work as a villain think. Some Ninjago villains are lovable, tragic, or sympathetic, but hes just a horrible person and youre rooting for his downfall the whole time and its awesome. Also - sky pirate genie who becomes a pirate to compensate for how he can only grant other peoples wishes but never his own, deciding to take by force that which he cannot have, is such a great concept. Really his whole characterization, motivation, and general aesthetic are all very solid, and its a shame Skybound ended up as....messy, as it was. Because the season brings up some amazing themes, characters, and plot lines, but doesnt execute them as well as they deserve.

Aspheera. Not a lot of depth to her, but idk i just love her energy. Shes just my silly little war criminal and i find the pettiness between her and wu delightful

The Mechanic. I 100% support the theory that he was one of those background pirates on Captain Soto's ship who made a life for himself in the modern world by working for Chen. Idk im a sucker for characters who are tangentially woven into the plot - hes there, and the ninjas' actions have direct consequences on his life that turn him into a far more personal enemy. Also, i think the Mechanic should be a Pixal villain. Honestly i think she deserves her own personal villain just in general - poor girl deserves a nemesis 😭😭- and i think the Mechanic fits well into that position. Also, him becoming a major antagonist in Prime Empire and Crystalized was such a satisfying payoff imo. Hes rising up the criminal ranks, im so proud of him. My horrible guy, off to torture nindroids. They grow up so fast

Miss Demeanor. Is she really a villain? I dont care, shes wonderful. Shes got a fantastic vibe and design. Also, "blah blah blah - FIREBALL!" lives in my head rent-free. She honestly deserves more love and i will die on that hill. Shes not a main villain but shes the main villain of my heart and thats what matters.

Actually i change my mind, Miss Demeanor should be Pixal's nemesis instead so they can have rivalry tension. Think Detective Conan vs Kaito Kid type of frenemy action here. Also i just??? Think they would play off each other really well? Lego please hire me so i can write a Pixal focus season where she has funky lil nemesis rivalry with Miss Demeanor. I can make it happen. It would be amazing, you know itd be amazing.

Anyway, thanks for the ask!

[the-obi-collective]

Our Origins

so, you may have been wondering, how did this fic come to life? how did five friends decide to write a fic together? what inspired this fic? well, gather 'round, for the time has come to reveal all.

it all started 13.7 billion years ago, with the big bang. as you all know, the universe was created in this "big bang." planets, stars, moons, asteroids, nebulas, everything. the universe began to expand. galaxies were created.

we shall zoom in on one such galaxy: the milky way. it's gorgeous, isn't it? the circle of the arms in the emptiness of space, beautiful blues and purples, clusters of stars, all orbiting a black hole. it really makes you feel tiny. let's alleviate that. zoom in even farther.

4.6 billion years ago, the sun was born at the inner edge of the orion arm of the milky way galaxy. the creation of the sun has generally been regarded as a good thing, because it led to the creation of the earth, and thus, us. yes, us. the mods. hi. (we're not talking about the newspaper called "the sun." that's a bad thing.)

the circumstances of the formation of what we identify as "life" are unique and horribly difficult to replicate in the wild. lightning strikes, energy hits atoms just the right way, and voila! we have the molecular building blocks of life — carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and amino acids.

we're just going to scroll faster, now. bacteria, endosymbiotic theory, blah blah, dinosaurs, meteor, blah blah, ice age, jesus christ may or may not have been born, blah blah, we'll skip the rest of it.

flash forward. july 2022.

i shall tell this to the best of my ability, for it is a complex tale.

i am setting the scene. picture this: it is the 21st of july, 2022. we are all on discord because we're losers and have no life.

mod obi2 has been reading star wars: the clone wars fanfiction, as is their wont. they get off the fanfiction site for a minute to scream into a discord server, as is also their wont. the difference is that this time they have not been using the glorious tagging and filtering system of ao3, instead retreating to fanfiction.net. (horrible move on their part, really.)

"interesting," they say. "i have just discovered an obitine fic in the wild."

mod obi1 jumps in. "that sounds insane," he says. "i like it."

"what," says mod obi2.

"it sounds insane," repeats mod obi1. "i want to analyze it in a lab."

oh, thinks mod obi2. they understand now. "the tine in obitine is not palpatine," they say, calmly, instead of freaking out as would be rational.

"oh," says mod obi1. "never mind."

the conversation ends there. some time later, still on july 21st, 2022, a largely unrelated conversation happens. we are still all on discord because we still have no life.

"what should my next crackfic be about," says mod obi2. "i have many options: mcfic style writing or purple prose."

here we must travel backwards in time for a bit. several months ago, at the tail end of 2021, two of our mods wrote a fic together. it was a strange, surreal fic, and made little sense to anyone looking for seriousness. in this fic, the legend goes, there was a diner. a parody, if you will, but parody implies an intent to critique. the diner was simply an in-universe analog of our universe's mcdonald's. thus, their crackfic gained the nickname "mcfic."

mod obi4 steps in. "mcfic style writing obitine."

(here i find it important to note that prior to us beginning to write pernicious suitor, mod obi4 was not aware of what exactly "mcfic style writing" entailed. they would soon be enlightened.)

mod obi2 sighs. "do you mean. the fandom-accepted meaning of obitine? or..."

mod obi4 gestures to the preceding conversation. "obi-wan kenobi x sheev palpatine, of course."

"ok. i don't think i could write any romantic relationship, much less this romantic relationship," says mod obi2 with remarkable lack of screaming and running away. truly, we should all congratulate them on their impressive amount of self-control.

"i'm not writing anything at this moment. i'll do it," says mod obi4.

mod obi2, inspired by their bravery, resolves to help. "mod obi4," they say, nodding to themself. "i will help you make it worse."

mod obi1 bangs on the (figurative) door. "let me in i have nothing to contribute," he says.

"ok," says mod obi2. "we are decided, then."

and the conversation moves on.

the next day, mods obi1, obi2, obi3, and obi5 are texting. yes, on discord still, because we are still massive losers.

we throw around name suggestions for the in-universe mcdonald's. such suggestions include "mcahsoka's," "mcanakin's," and "mcdex's," but we eventually settle on "mcyoda's."

mod obi2 speaks. "obi1, obi4, and i are going to write a fic in the mcfic style but it's obi wan x palpatine. who wants in."

mod obi3, who is not on the server where yesterday's conversation took place, is taken aback. "OBIWAN X WHO NOW???????" they scream.

"obi-wan x sheev palpatine," replies mod obi2. "should i make a group chat for this?"

"sure," says mod obi5.

and thus, our google doc "done with everything obi wan x himbo palpatine enemies to lovers slowburn speedrun with plot GO:," aka "they would else have been troubled (with such a pernicious suitor)" was born.

and a month later, we are left with a monster of our own creation, forty thousand words and counting of pure, unadulterated crack, featuring a nightmare sequence, god-awful poetry, and a magical girl battle. there are screenplays, seagulls, purple prose, seagulls, audio transcripts, seagulls, philadelphia, pennsylvania, and more seagulls, all within the confines of the pages of the fic.

we hope you enjoy.

(don't let the seagulls out. they bite.)

[janetbrown711]

My headcanons about Queen Angelina II

Majority of these can be seen in this fic, so if you like the idea go check it out ;)

Also- a handful of these are shared with the lovely @madelynartz, who also has fantastic takes on her, so be sure to check out their post too

If you want me to draw/write any of these specific headcanons/moments, just send an ask and I’ll probably do it

I’ll (likely) be making another, seperate post for William when i feel like it

Update: I have

This is gonna be a long post-

Early Life:

Her parents weren't very loving or caring, only ever wanting her to work on her studies and singing

Her mother was worse than her father, as she was egotistical and always critical of Angelina II and always seemed to find problems with things and people that made her happy

Her mother also always went by her full name (You had to refer to her as Queen Angelina Contessa Louisa Francesca Banana Fanna Bo Besca the First- she wouldn't let people shorten it)

Naturally- Angelina resented her mother and with that, her own name.

She hates it when people say her full name- "Just Angelina is fine"

But if she especially likes you, you can call her Lena ;)

Since the only thing her parents approved of was studying, she devoured the entire castle library as a child, which left her often more informed than her tudors, which left her bored during lessons and she quickly became a "smart-ass" as she liked to talk back and figure out the ways she could get out of lessons

She hated the idea of getting betrothed, and any time a suitor would come over, she'd attack his pride in any form she could think of to get them to hate her, and she was successful

One of the suitors was Prince Salazar

She hated Salazar the most

Despite her attitude being well known across several kingdoms, rumors of her beauty and wonderous singing kept them coming

Her father, King Harold the Eighth, died when she was 10, and she could hardly say she really grieved him, but it made her mother more distant and sometimes outright cruel

She met William when he was 15 in the royal stables when he was training to be a squire

He fell in love instantly, though Angelina wanted to get to know him first

They were the best of friends since they met, though it was obvious Queen Angelina I disapproved

However, after awhile Angelina just stopped caring about what her mother thought entirely and was much better off

She and William loved to garden together, and always planted new flowerbeds in the palace garden every spring

William proposed when he was 22 and she was 21

Obviously she said yes, but they had to keep it hidden from her mother, who would likely take William away

Luckily for them, Angelina I died a month after he proposed, and the two were quickly married.

Yakko:

Yakko was born 10 months after their wedding

Angelina fell in love instantly, declaring him to be the cutest baby she had ever seen

She's terrible with names, and never named her children until after they were born

She hated the idea of giving him a really long and convoluted name, or a name that was in her family (like Harold the 9th)

And so Yakko it was

She didn't expect motherhood to be so exhausting, but hearing Yakko's laugh for the first time made everything worth it to her

Yakko began babbling at a younger age than most, and he babbled constantly, even in his sleep. Angelina loved to just sit and listen to him try to tell stories in nonsense baby language

However, Yakko seemed to have a preference for hearing William give the bedtime stories, as when she tried to read he got fussy

Once he was able to explain he said "daddo does the voices" and that he preferred her lullabies anyway

It hurt at first, but she understood. William was an excellent story teller, though he did have a tendency to ramble at times

Yakko's favorite story was of how they met

She's very protective, and if he was sick or hurt, she'd never leave his side

Her hair used to be very, very long but once Yakko was able to grab things and kept yanking her hair, she chopped it all off and has kept it short ever since

Wakko:

Wakko didn’t cry or breathe when he was born, so for the first moments of his life, Angelina and William feared he was dead

He wasn’t dead though, and they rejoiced greatly, and cried a lot

Angelina refused to let go of him though, and they were only able to get Wakko away from her when she fell asleep from exhaustion

After about a week or so, she relaxed more, but she needless to say her protectiveness went to new heights 

“Lena, Yakko slept in a crib all the time, it’s fine-” “How do you know that?” “Lena, I was there.”

William did always have a way to reassure her though

However, the extra layer of protectiveness was kinda needed for Wakko, as he loved to bite and chew on everything and anything he could get his little hands on (including his own tail)

She eventually gained what William described as a “sixth sense” where she could just tell when Wakko put something he wasn’t supposed to in his mouth.

Wakko didn’t talk much when he was young, especially when compared to Yakko, though his brother seemed to get him to talk even more than his parents could

They didn’t mind though, whatever worked, worked

Wakko loved following Yakko everywhere he went the moment he could crawl. Angelina thought it was adorable.

Wakko had a tendency to hurt himself a lot (whether by tripping, crashing, bitting his tail too hard, etc.) which forced Angelina to learn that he’ll be okay, and not to overreact or panic, as he was most certainly not made of glass

Angelina had a tendency to be a worry-wart

Dot: 

Angelina became pregnant with Dot right before tensions with Ticktockia started to rise, but William was determined not to let that ruin their optimism about having another child that was hopefully a girl

Angelina really wanted a girl bc Yakko and Wakko didn’t like dressing up and she really hoped a girl would, though she knew there wasn’t ever a guarantee, but she hoped

Angelina went into labor in the middle of a meeting with an ambassador from Ticktockia, but forced herself to finish it bc she ain’t a quitter

Despite Dot being her third child, she took the longest to actually deliver (two days), likely due to the exhaustion from countless meetings with Ambassadors and the stress of trying to avoid war bc King Salazar decided past treaties suddenly didn’t mean anything

Angelina had originally been against giving her her name, as she still associated it with her mother, but William said that he only thought of her, and that she was a much better mother and person than Angelina I could’ve ever been, which changed her mind.

However, she had thought of the name Dot before she was born, and liked it to so she and William agreed they’d just call her that for short, and if you asked them “how is Dot short for Princess Angelina blah blah blah the Third, they’d reply “it just is”)

Though she wouldn’t tell Yakko or Wakko, Dot was most certainly the cutest baby of them all

Wakko and Yakko loved to just... stand over Dot’s crib and watch her do things

Wakko also didn’t grasp what a baby was, and would often try to make her do things, and when she wouldn’t he’d get upset and Angelina or William would have to explain why she can’t play with him with the toy soldiers

She’d often just ramble on and on to Dot as she slept while William watched the boys, talking about the new treaties going up, and how worried she was about what Salazar would do if he didn’t agree with the new treaties and deals. It made her feel better. 

To also ease her worries, she taught Yakko how to take care of his sister. How to burp her, how to change her, how to give her a bath, etc. She hated thinking about what could possibly happen, but knowing they’d survive somehow made her feel much better. 

Dot was three months old when the attack happened, and Angelina wished she had had more time with her before dying.

Misc. (bc I refuse to end on a bad/depressing note)

She had family portraits made after each of her kids were born bc she wanted to always remember how cute of babies they were

Her lullabies worked like magic in terms of getting the three of them to sleep

If you asked her, she thinks Yakko has her eyes, Wakko has her nose, and Dot has her eyes and face shape

In the space between her mother dying and their wedding, she met Hello Nurse, who was a childhood friend of William’s, and they hit it off quite well- so much so that Angelina offered her a job in the castle, but she refused, saying she had plans with some doctor in Acme Falls, which Angelina respected. 

She one time tried to practice knitting in hopes of knitting the kiddos a blanket, but she was  t e r r i b l e  at it, and gave up after a week of trying

William and her liked to throw balls at least once a year, and everyone agreed they were the best dancers out there (what they didn’t know was how much practice Angelina had to put in to get a sense of rhythm- she was a terrible dancer, and William’s natural grace when dancing far exceeded her own)

Despite others protesting, Angelina always suspected that the reason tension was growing with Ticktockia was because Salazar was jealous and upset that she married some random knight rather than him (a theory that was proven right to her right before her death)

Her favorite food was bananas

William was a huge cuddler, so they’d cuddle close every night

she personally tutored Yakko on things like history and geography, as she felt those tended to be the most boring classes, and she wanted to have some part in his education, as she hated all of her teachers when she was a kid

She often didn’t know when to shut up, which did end up costing her in the end, but she didn’t regret a single word she said before her death, as Salazar deserved every bit of it. 

[ladymelisande]

The show being about Alina being a spy radicalised by the otkazat'sya into thinking the Grisha are evil and a First Army officer commanded by Zlatan/Nikolai, sent on mission to get information from the General of the Second Army when she discovers she is a Grisha because Zlatan just saw that he could have his cake and eat it there.

She is not exactly a femme fatale before that but a girl that could pass without being seen since she is so plain and boring. ;)

And now she is the Sun Summoner and is in the very side of the inconvenient Grisha General. She sees how he tries to bond with her but also catches his vulnerability upon all the people he has lost and how the Grisha are suffering. But at the middle of the story, Baghra comes and spills her twisted shit version believing Alina to be a naive girl and Alina has just the confirmation that Grisha are Actually Evil™ and should be put down from the little power they have, and that she has to go back to her general so she leaves in the Winter Fete.

In Aleksander's POV Alina is his hope to end this war that has being eating him alive for centuries. There is not much change into his character except that the 'manipulation' doesn't go beyond the fountain scene (which honestly it seems in line with the show lol) but he doesn't discover Alina is a spy after Zlatan sends an assassin to kill her because due to the lack of reports because the assassin catches that he doesn't know. Aleksander has idealised Alina for those brief moments as someone that would understand him and have relationship similar in love and trust as he had with Luda. But nope, she is a otkazat'sya spy that cares shit about the Grisha. Too bad.

So, Alina goes to find the stag so she can kill Aleksander herself so to prove Zlatan she is still for their independence and that she is totally not like those filthy Grisha. But Aleksander intercepts her and kills the stag himself, Alina acts all innocent about it and tells him that he created the Fold blah blah blah, but she is actually expecting to him to take her with her so she can stop the attack on West Ravka. So the whole collar thing is deliberately. And the tent scene is mostly guiltrip, which would make more sense why she makes everything about herself and not the Grisha.

Then the Fold battle happens and West Ravka is attacked, but Alina can't stop it in time and she is seen in the skiff by Zlatan and deemed as a traitor. Everything else is the same except the stupid "stag choose me" plot doesn't exist because Aleksander was never able to control her powers since the 'in theory' was that, theory. But Alina now feels conflicted about the man she started to care about and she has left to die in the Fold. She has no country now, and no Grisha or otkazat'sya wants her. They hail her as a Saint but being a Saint requires her to be a Grisha. So she sails away not knowing what to do and having an actual crisis of identity and ethics.

I think this would make her complete indifference to the Grisha plight a little more... Understandable and less idiotic and unsympathetic, because the narrative is not telling us that she is such a good hero and the Darkling is so bad and not showing shit.

Meanwhile of course, Aleksander is alive and very cross.

[hopeaterart]

RWBY HPTR AU: Mercury talks to Ozpin about fighting

Context for the AU: It’s target audience is me, hence why it's named after me (Hopeater -> HPTR). One of the main things is that most villains are now studying at Beacon alongside team RWBY. If you want anymore info on it, you can ask me. Context for the scene: Mercury is dealing with some shit, and finds Ozpin training his son, which stirs some... memories.

Also, trigger warning: Mercury dealing with stuff from his physicallt abusive childhood. Nothing graphic happens here, though.

"Being a Hunter of Grimm is more than simply being a warrior. It's also about bringing safety, protection and joy to the people we protect, bringing a sense of wonder to Remnant that it most definitely needs. It's why we dress as colorfully as possible, or wear emblems we made for ourselves, or-" Mercury groaned, putting his head on his desk and momentarily blocking out what Professor Liseran was saying.

What a load of bullshit. In theory, he understood why Personal Artistry class was mandatory. Great War where art was at stake, self-expression is important, blah-blah-blah. If he was being honest, he actually got quite a kick out of having his emblem emblazoned on his pant leg. A winged shoe, a sentimentality that Marcus would've spit at him for buying into, and that's what made it so good.

But the truth was: he didn't need any of this shit. He just needed to be good at fighting, and have functioning weapons he knew how to use, and an outfit that was practical, and-

"Oh my god, you guys cannot be serious." Emerald snorted as she and their other two teammates- Torchwick and Neopolitan- chatted with Cinder, the other girl and her scorpion faunus partner- Tyrian Callows- laughed alongside her. "What if you and your guys get caught?"

"Don't worry about it, Em." Cinder reassured her. "A night on the town having fun never hurt anyone. Besides, if Tyrian didn't oversell his boyfriend's skill-"

"-we're not an item like that Cindy, and overselling Arthur's skillset with modern technology is nearly impossible-" Callows interjected.

"- Then they won't figure out who ordered all these... novelty t-shirts for every Beacon student in Jimmy Vanille's name."

Torchwick laughed at that, Neopolitan giggling silently next to him. "Damn, Greenie, you didn't tell us you were friends with such a bad bitch!" Neo made some quick gestures with her hands, Roman starring before turning back toward Cinder. "She's asking if you went to Lady Browning's girl school, and if it's why you're so sneaky."

She waved her hand dismissively. "Just because I like looking classy doesn't mean I hold Remnant's elite in high esteem."

- and he needed a team that was actually focused on getting shit done.

"Guys, shut up." Mercury hissed at them in a low voice. Emerald looked at him, caught off-guard but not mad, nodding and turning toward the teacher.

Torchwick seemed to have something else in mind as he glared at Mercury. "What's the problem, leader? Too far up your own ass to have fun with your team? Gods, one would think you're completely separated from us..."

"Torchwick I said SHUT UP!" Mercury screamed, before immediately covering his mouth. He breathed heavily behind his hands, forcing himself to calm down, before a voice calling him caught his attention. He turned toward the source.

Professor Liseran was starring at him, unimpressed. "Very well. Why don't you tell us about your weapon, Mr...?"

"Mercury."

"Mr. Mercury."

Mercury blinked. "They're greaves with guns built into them. I like using Air Dust rounds."

"The artistic side of your weapon, Mr Mercury." Liseran clarified.

He groaned. "Uh... they're named Talaria?"

They nodded. "Good. Is there a story behind the name you picked for them?"

"Do I have to tell it?"

"You yelled 'shut up' while I was in the middle of explaining how one can express themselves through their weapon. Yes, you do." Liseran hissed, Mercury groaning again.

"I... named them after magic sandals from a myth." He admitted. "They allow their user to fly in the myth."

Liseran nodded again. "Did you add any artistic touches to the weapons themselves? Like a coat of paint, or maybe a little artistic detail?"

"No."

"Well then, think about it." The bell ringed. "And that will be all for today. Class dismissed."

Mercury bolted out of his seat, grabbing his bag and all but running out of the room. He leaned against a wall, sighing. "Merc?" He turned toward the voice, frown softening when he saw Emerald, Cinder a step behind her and ready to intervene if necessary.

"Yeah, what is it, Em?"

"Is everything alright?" She asked, her head tilting in worry. "You don't normally snap like that."

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a bit frustrated with the team." Emerald frowned at that.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" She asked. Mercury scoffed.

"Actually focusing in class would be a good start." Emerald looked taken aback, but Mercury held on strong. Some lessons need to hurt to stick, he justified to himself.

"Look, if this is about us talking in class, then don't give her shit for it." Cinder started, taking a step closer. "I just wanted to tell her how last night went."

"Yeah, no. It's more then that." Mercury informed Cinder, the girl narrowing her eyes. "It's about how Em is doing fuck-all in class with you encouraging her."

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean!?" Emerald asked, frowning and putting her hands on her hips.

"It means that the two of you dragged me into your dreams of becoming Grimm Hunters, but for some reason I'm the only one who's gonna get his licence because neither of you were fucked enough to do the work-"

"Hey." Cinder snapped, getting Mercury's attention. "Don't talk to her like- either of us! Alright?"

Mercury should've apologized for snapping like he had. He knew that. It was unfair to the both of them to be such a hard-ass about it. Instead... "You know what? Fuck that! I don't have to deal with this!" He then turned around and ran.

"Merc!? Mercury, come back here!" Emerald called out to no effect, Mercury turning a corner and disappearing in the corridors. He ran past faceless masses and classes until the stumps of his legs ached and the people around him had faded away. He raised his head, the label above a cracked open door saying 'Ballroom'. The sound of someone shouting combat cries in it caught his attention. Mercury walked to it's doorway, staying hidden as he looked inside.

In the middle of the room, there was professor Ozpin, poised and ready to strike with his cane, usual green coat absent. What looked to be his sparring partner was a young boy much too young to be at Beacon, with brown freckled skin and messy black hair. He was holding a training spear and was in a defensive position. "Alright Oscar, ready for an actual spar?"

"Yeah." Mercury watched as the principal leapt at the boy, Oscar, cane raised high above him as his opponent blocked the strike, raising the spear. The two traded blows like this, Ozpin making grand sweeping gestures that took too much time, and Oscar leaving openings that Marcus would've kicked the shit out of him for.

The boy left an opening as he was taking a step back, and the professor was actually going for the strike on this one- "NO!" Mercury screamed, jumping out of his hiding spot to try and stop the hit from landing.

But the hit never landed. Ozpin had stopped the strike a second before Mercury had jumped out, and the both of them were now starring at him. "Uuuh... hi?" Oscar tried, lowering his spear.

"Is there a way I can help you, Mr... Black?" Ozpin asked as he took his own step back, a small pause between the last two words as he raked his brain to remember this student.

Mercury winced at that. 'Mr Black' was how people who went to their house called his old man. "Uh... just Mercury is fine." He shook his head. Why was he the one being guilty there!? "What the fuck are you doing?" He asked the principal, putting himself between the two.

Ozpin blinked in confusion. "Sparring with my son?"

Oh, this just kept getting worse. "And have you thought that maybe your son didn't want to train with you!?" Mercury snapped.

"Yeah, I keep trying to tell him that!" Oscar started. Ah-ah! "I'd be fine with just going to a normal combat school, but he keeps insisting that whatever they teach over there, he can teach me better! You don't have to teach me personally, dad!"

... Wait, what? "Oscar, we've already had this discussion." Ozpin started, putting his cane back down and leaning on it as Oscar got out from behind Mercury to pout at his father. "I have enemies who aren't above using hostages to try and get to me. And you're both the most previous person I have in my life, and the most defenseless. I don't want to send you somewhere far away."

"Pharos is in Vale's downtown." Oscar deadpanned. "Airship ride included, it's like two hours away."

"And it's two hours too far away!" Ozpin exclaimed. "I don't want to have to do two hours of transport each morning and evening when there's a better alternative that includes knowing you're safe at all times!"

"Wha- then don't accompany me! I'm old enough to take public transportation by myself!"

"Not safe enough."

Oscar starred at his father in disbelief. "Beacon students do it all the time! You launch new students off of a cliff each year because you think it's funny!"

"Beacon students are also adults trained in combat with semi-efficient landing strategies." Ozpin noted. "You're twelve."

Oscar fixed his father with a blank look. "I'm turning thirteen tomorrow. I'm also pretty sure my horns are going to start growing soon, so there."

"We're not in the Dark Ages anymore, peanut. Your antlers growing are simply a sign that you've hit puberty." Ozpin gently told his son, Oscar crossing his arm. The boy relaxed slightly when his father carded a hand through his hair, gently massaging where the beginnings of horns where. He doubted that horns growing in would be painless, and the scalp around the buttons being unusually soft confirmed his suspicions. "And you shouldn't base your arguments on that myth, anyway."

"I know, Mr. Oobleck already told me a while ago." Oscar muttered, leaning into the touch. "It was started by bigots to-"

"Wait, wait." Mercury interrupted, the father-son duo stopping their discussion to look at him. "So you weren't using training as an excuse to hit him?"

Oscar looked shaken at that, and Ozpin's face scrunched up in distaste. "What- of course not! How can you- why would I even- what kind of sick monster would-" He took a deep breath, and then looked at Mercury's face. He calmed down as he saw pure, genuine confusion painted all over the student's face. "Oscar? I know you don't like when I cut our lessons short, but can you please leave me to deal with my student? I promise we'll catch up during the week-end."

"Alright, papa. Love you." The two exchanged quick cheek kisses, and Oscar then ran off, leaving Ozpin and Mercury alone.

"... have you ever heard of a little coping mechanism called 'projection', Mercury?" Ozpin asked, catching Mercury off-guard. His face softened further. "Let's talk."

"I'm not projecting." Mercury muttered.

"So you seeing me training my son in fighting and believing that I was using that as an excuse to hurt him came out of nowhere?" Ozpin asked. "I'm not an idiot, Mercury. I know who you are."

"Tch. No you don't."

"An infamous assassin that is very obviously related to you in some way tried to kill me last year, and you visibly resent your last name."

"That could mean anything. I don't know my family members." Mercury muttered as Ozpin sighed in exasperation. The older man walked to a chair not far away, where his usual ample green coat was resting.

"Projection," Ozpin started, putting his coat back on "is one of multitude of coping mechanism subconsciously created to protect one's self against panic. It involves taking qualities that one does not like about themselves, and thinking that it applies to others. Whatever you thought was happening during our sparing session, it must've triggered a rather painful memory of yours." He explained. "I see that you don't want to talk about matters of your blood relatives, so I won't push the subject. Just... let me ask you this: if we forget the sparing session, would whoever raised you have done the things I've done with Oscar today?"

Mercury frowned at the question. The truth is, not even the sparring session would've been something Marcus have done. There was no intent to hurt in Ozpin's stance. And that wasn't counting what happened after. Ozpin's protectiveness, the complete lack of fear in Oscar's demeanor, the comfortable- if slightly frustrated on Oscar's part- bantering, the freely given affection, that fucking peanut nickname-

Mercury shook his head. "Nah. If anything, you're his anti-thesis as a parent."

Ozpin nodded, satisfied. "May I ask you what your reason for fighting is, Mercury?"

"Uuuh... to kill Grimm?" He weakly offered, and winced at his own lie. Emerald and Cinder would have laughed at him if they were there.

Ozpin shook his head. "No, no. Not that weak excuse you call a lie that you were probably planning on trying to feed to the guidance counselor three years from now- which is also me, by the way." He informed Mercury, who nodded. "Your reason for fighting." There was a longer pause as the two went to sit at a table. "It's fine if you don't have an answer, yet."

"No, I have one!" Mercury protested. "It's just... not very good." He then shamefully admitted.

"I don't care." Ozpin informed him sincerely. "I want to hear it anyway."

"... It's so I can get strong." He admitted. "I don't want to be hurt ever again, and people can't hurt you when you're strong."

Ozpin nodded. "That's actually a fairly common reason to have." He informed Mercury. "Most Hunters of Grimm don't become Hunters of Grimm because they've had a rosy life. They do so because they know how unfair life can be, and start using their strength ."

"Yeah, because Schnee, Arc and Nikos' lives are totally hard." Mercury muttered under his breath. Ozpin raised an eyebrow at that, before sighing in exasperation.

"I swear, some of you need to learn how to look further than yourselves." He muttered, rubbing the bridge of his nose and frowning. "First of all, I said that it was a common reason, not a universal one. After that, have you thought that maybe there was a reason for Ms. Schnee to be studying here, far away from the life she's used to, instead of Atlas?" Ozpin asked, catching Mercury off-guard. "Or maybe that Mr. Arc is aware of his weaknesses and trying his hardest to be stronger now? As for Ms. Nikos, she's been a famous, professional fighter since she was thirteen. She's been groomed for this role."

"I... I- I hadn't thought of that, no." Mercury admitted. The way Ozpin had put it... Uh. He might be more similar to her than he thought. "So, what's your reason for fighting?" Ozpin took a deep breath. "Sir?"

"I... cannot rest until I know everyone I care for is safe." Ozpin started. "I'm not afraid of being hurt. That comes with the territory of my existence. It's generally miserable, if you're wondering." Mercury snorted at the joke (?) despite himself. "But... I lost a very dear friend, when I was younger. And it's..." Ozpin took a shaky breath, rubbing the corners of his eyes. "... and it was horrible, and I don't want it to happen again. I fight out of worry for others, if you will."

Mercury nodded, even if he didn't fully get it. He was used to being alone. The only people he could picture being worried about were Cinder and Emerald, and both knew how to handle themselves. "That's cool. I'll try to keep it in mind."

"Is there anything else you need help with?" Ozpin asked. "Generally, first year students who've been appointed to leader of their team wonder why it's them I chose."

Mercury shook his head. "Nah, I've got a pretty good idea why. It's because I'm pragmatic, right?"

"No. If being a leader was about being pragmatic, then I would've appointed Torchwick to the role." Ozpin deadpanned. "If you want to be purely logical, then how you helped Mr. Watts formulate a plan back during the initiation played a certain role in my decision. But the main reason is how you helped your Ms. Sustrai calm down." He informed Mercury, catching the teenager off-guard. "With how she was panicking, she would've attracted Grimm to her location if you hadn't intervened."

Mercury groaned. "Do you have an explanation in simple words I can just tell Torchwick so he leaves me alone about having a stick up my ass?"

Ozpin laughed. "I'm afraid you'll have to figure that one out by yourself with what I've given you." Mercury groaned again. "What I can do is suggest that you try to relax a bit. Beacon is safe, and I won't let anyone bring harm to either the students, or staff. And maybe start treating your teammates beside Ms. Sustrai less... coldly? Mr. Torchwick does have a first name."

Mercury nodded. Relax, and try to at least get along with the other two. Yeah, that made sense... "What about Neopolitan?"

"I have no idea. Her file just listed, well, Neopolitan as her first name, and I have no interest in looking into her family history if she was so adamant about it." Ozpin leaned toward him "And you shouldn't either unless she wants to talk to you about it. Now, back to class with you."

"Copy that."

-

Mercury entered the team's room, stretching his arms above his head. "Hey asshole, you're back." He looked at Torchwick, the redhead lying on his bed with his Scroll in his face. Neopolitan was also there, sitting on Torchwick's bed and doing homework. He thinks. Emerald herself was nowhere to be seen.

"Where's Em?" He asked, going to sit at his desk and pulling out the toolbox from under, rolling his pants up to the mid-thigh. Time for leg maintenance.

Torchwick shrugged. "Hanging out with her friend, the one with the fire power. Said something about a 'girl's night out'?" Hanging out with Cinder and doing girl stuff. Cool, cool, totally cool, she had known Cinder longer than she's known him. He could apologize about being an ass later.

"Alright. Sorry for earlier. Didn't mean to yell." Torchwick hummed in answer. There was a pause as he tightened a screw. "Say, uh, Torchwick?"

"Yeah, what is it?"

"You and Neo are from Vale, right?" The two former delinquents turned toward Mercury, vexed looks on their face. The two exchanged a look, before turning toward Mercury.

"First: Until she's cool with you, that's 'Neopolitan' for you." Torchwick told him coldly, Neopolitan nodding in agreement. "Second: why do you need to know?"

"I talked to the man-in-charge today, and it got me thinkin' about how ways I could make our team work better." Mercury started. "And one of those ways is... maybe we could try hanging out together? Like, all four of us?"

"Uh." Roman said, before turning toward his friend. "What do you think, Neo?" The girl smiled, doing some quick gestures with her hands as Roman slowly nodded. He then turned back toward Mercury. "We know a good café. How about we go this weekend? Will also allow us to see the kind of people coming in for the Vytal Festival."

Mercury smiled at that, waving his screwdriver in Torchwick's general direction. "Now you're speaking my language." A pause. "Hey, can one of you send a message to Emerald? See if she's okay with that" Neo gave him a thumbs up, quickly typing on her Scroll. The 'ping' of a message sent soon followed, accompanied by a grin in his direction. "Thank you, Neopolitan."

She made a few hand gestures, the grin softening into a genuine smile. Roman cackled. "It's cool, dude. She's cool with you."

[esther-dot]

It is impossible to decipher Jon's ending with the show as a guide. They whitewashed T so much, they hid the many aspects of dark D, it is impossible to have any clear idea where and how he ends up. I can believe Jon bending the knee to D bc he wants the dragons and T requires his dominion via Sansa, but the way they showed it? No. T is a villain and by ignoring it they messed with Jon's entire post S6 arc.

It really is. It feels like there are some distinct paths that could be taken to get to specific endpoints, but I don't see how the major beats/endpoints we have all mesh.

I don’t know how Martin can write a story in which the Starks are in power and Jon is sent back to the Watch without making it feel forced and really crappy. In the abstract I can understand “they’ll all make sacrifices for peace blah blah blah,” but when I think about book Jon…no. Even if his end is him self-exiling, I’ll still think it’s a shitty ending.

He has all this king foreshadowing and training on how to be a good leader for what? He’s dead rn, has to suffer through taking down the Targs and defeating the Others, and then he’s just sent away? An author who wants to defy expectations can think of that idea as compelling in theory. The hidden heir/secret prince finds out and instead of it being a good thing, it’s a curse and ruins his life, but thinking about the character, about what Jon’s life has been/will be...it’s soul crushing.

And it’s particularly insulting that Tyrion may not be punished, instead ends up in a position of power when he is a kinslayer too? After he participates in Dany coming to Westeros? When he married Sansa in order to take Winterfell??? It’s mind boggling to me how that’s not an absurd outcome in-world. And, paired with Jon’s (alleged) ending, it feels incongruous instead of in service of following the rules of the world.

I agree that Jon bending the knee to save his people is possible because of the reference to Torrhen, and while I understand that it isn’t nearly as exciting as going to war, yielding rather than fighting, securing peace rather than pursuing vengeance, that’s a sign of a good leader in Martin’s eyes. He’s repeatedly touched on it. That’s even brought up with Bran turning over Winterfell to Theon rather than allowing more people to die which, now that I mention it, I suppose must have been to contrast him with Robb? I just realized there are probably a lot of contrasts between them. 🤔 Anyway, when the show tried creating a “learn from Mance’s mistake” lesson in s7, it seemed totally reasonable to me that bending the knee was from Martin. Obviously doing it for love/wanting Dany to be the ruler is bs, but they continued to act like Jon’s decision was about the safety of the North in s8 so it isn’t hard for me to assume Jon will do it for the right reasons in the book. Actually, the knee bend in the books could even be insincere/a part of his assassination attempt for all we know. 🤷🏻‍♀️ That’s with the assumption that Jon is KitN and I typically work with that.

I have other asks about Sansa’s marriage to Tyrion, so eventually I’ll talk about that more, and I guess it’s possible that negotiations have to take place to get him to go along with the annulment, but how would he be in such a position to demand something like being hand? We’re really supposed to think he’d have that clout after everything? It isn’t a bad idea (in theory) to have a villain win, but it sounds like a mess of an ending to me.

[syubub]

2021 Reading for BTS and the collective!!

Wow wow wow! I didn't disappear or get dragged away by a demon. No no, I just got thrust into unexpected shadow work and I now have an unhealthy obsession with sea shanties and a love of pasta.

I had this idea planned to be early in January but that didn't pan out so I'm doing it now. I have another yoongi reading in the works and another fun thing coming soon as well!!

I promise I won't bore you to death any longer but I hope you've all been doing well!!

Disclaimer: This is for entertainment purposes only and not to be taken as fact.

If this message doesn't apply, let it fly!

Cool cool cool.

Let's get it.

💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜

Oki. I first want to say that this I gonna be long lol. I did a meditation and gathered some little pieces of things y'all might need to hear and then I pulled cards for every month. The fountain tarot deck is the cards for us, the collective, and the rider-waite cards are for bts. It'll make more sense when I add picks and stuff. I did a little extra card pull for yoongi for the month of May too :) I'll make sure to type out all the cards in text so you know what they are (the pics are kinda wack.) I also used my pendulum to ask if there was a bts related event for every month and that's at the bottom. It's just to take in the possible energy for the month and something that could result from that energy!

LETTUCE BEGIN (hehe)

Starting with the section for the channeled messages. I want to reiterate that this was collective so if it doesn't resonate with you, the message might not be for you! Use your intuition.

(Enough talking. Damn)

So. As I said this was through meditation and connecting to the big column tree thing (I told my cousin about the tree/pillar and they were like,, "so basically a big energy dildo in the æther?" .... I CAN'T STOP THINKING ABOUT IT. h e l p m e) and asking if there was any messages or advice that needed to be delivered and it was... intresting?

Things came fragmented. So there was little messages like, "Its gonna be okay" and "things are changing for everyone" and "open your eyes if you want to see" (that's sassy.) There was one particular thing that was confusing me though. Straight up it was just "flower" on repeat and like a really bad picture of a flower? Like you could tell what it was but it was bad quality. Anyway, I was like "okay. Kindly shut the fuck up. Pls." And I wrote down flower, pink flower and rose. Sooo.... idk but there you go.

More messages were things like, "the block isn't in your head", "try calling forth that which you seek" and... February. Possibly there is specific (very very very loose) connection to the 10th-19th? I'm not to sure what or why but I'd say maybe look out for opportunities on these days and also maybe external events.

Continuing with dates. In the last this 21 and January 21 came up. It came up again but with 2 messages. So first, either 21st is a day where something is put into motion (possibly private or public) or announced and the second was "add them together dumbass" that's not very kind but 3. Again this has been discussed too but but but... maybe a signal of a third mixtape 👀 (not necessarily on the 21st per say but possibly in March? I'm really not sure).

Oki. I got side tracked like I always do and started thinking about tattoos and stuff and I really want koo to have a peony tattoo. I feel it in my BONES. It would suit him so well. and as I was thinking about tattoos I heard, "don't be surprised if yoongi gets/shows a tattoo this year" ??? What the fuck? I think maybe they messing with me but now I have hopes and I don't want them to be crushed and thrown to the wind :(

Back to normal stuff, "the theme is growth" I think that fits very well with the reading. "Blue might be a lucky color" self explanatory. It might be lucky. "Start practicing grounding and centering" this was LOUD. This will help you in how you react to events in the future. Really do practice this if you haven't.

This is where it gets a little weird. So, I got a message that said "start living as if you never existed." I am not a 100% sure what this means but I think I have a pretty good guess. I hate to make it sound weird like this but by sort of focusing on something that is so hard to comprehend (because our brains can't comprehend not existing very well) you kinda break the 4th wall? Like in Deadpool when he addresses the audience and is aware that he is a character played by Ryan Reynolds? anyway, focusing on something that seemingly impossible you kind of accidentally open up the floodgates for a lot of other things. I would say if you are not in the right headspace to do this don't do it but it can be a powerful way to break up the monotony of reality. The theory that everything happens simultaneously bc time isn't a linear progression events blah blah we are energy blah blah the multiverse blah blah.. Theres so so so so so so so so so much about this and how it applies to things that I could probably write you 10+ dictionaries worth of material but for the sake of simplicity and not wanting to write a novel right now, I will continue. The main lesson is to start challenging your perception of the world around you. Ask why and why and why and why. Essentially seeing cracks in the matrix. Pulling your head out of your cosmic ass, realizing that rose you're smelling is actually daffodil ect. It's not supposed to bring you fear but just kinda encouraging you to question all the things that you perceive as given truths.

I tried to make that sound cohesive but really it's such a big concept that I can't really wrap it up all nice and neat.

Oki. May and March are also important times.

Listen to your intuition and try not to take everything so seriously. I'm not saying to check out and go squat in the Himalayas but it's important to find joy in the now. Life is already tough enough so don't forget to watch a silly show that you like or change your hair to a style you've never tried, wear makeup in a very loud way. Just have fun and don't worry so much about things that you can't control. Listen to yourself and your intuition.

Well that was all over the place. Let's get on to the actual tarot part now.

For the record, the pictures are right to left.

January for the collective

We have the empress, the sun, 7 of swords and a fortune that says "act well your part; there the honor lies"

Hmm. Ngl I was a little confused to see the empress and the sun for January... I mean it hasn't been great. So I pulled clarity card 7 of swords. The 7 of swords is all about betrayal. It's about the deception and and actively getting away with things. This is people lying, cheating, sneaking and the works.

This makes much more sense!! The Sun card is usually about joy and success and happiness but in this case I see it as illuminating the betrayal. It's shining light on the deception and keeps the spotlight there. Its also an energetic card so I think that shows passion for uncovering the truth.

With the empress card too I think January is all about getting creative in all forms. Creative ways to protest, to mourn, to celebrate, to connect. Also taking in the abundance that we DO have. The beauty that surrounds us. I like to think of aphrodite energy for this. Its not just love and passion and creativity but is also asserting yourself and having strong passion for what you love and fighting for it. Did you know aphrodite was also called upon in ancient Greece in times of war? She was honored as a goddess of war but still a goddess of love, the sea, fertility ect. What I'm trying to say is that being a creative and "feminine" energy is in no way weak. Sometimes the most powerful things come from this energy. Love aggressively with good intentions. The point is that you should take whatever you're feeling and translate it into something creative or something you care about. The fact that covid is still a thing really sucks but take any rage, hurt, sadness, joy, love whatever and use that shit to make something amazing. Bake bread and punch the fuck out of it, paint your frustration, play hopscotch in higheels while you listen to heavy metal. You get the point.

Now January for BTS!!

We have the death card. (I only pulled one card bc I have things planned from this)

January has been... strange? To say the least.

This card can be a lot of things for them. I think this points to more maturity in their music? Like they've finally ditched the "shiny kpop boy band" label and are being taken seriously in the west. I also think that they're going through a musical/concept transformation~ I think it also signified the change in plans bc of the Grammys perhaps they had things planned an that fell through so they were forced to rapidly change plan/course.

For January: possible mixtape or announcement.

February for the collective

We have 8 of coins reverse and hanged man reverse.

The 8 of pentacles reverse talks a lot about self improvement. Doing that good good inner work and self care. Working on developing parts of you that you've maybe neglected. It's also learning how to work with how you are instead of wishing you weren't the way you are. If you have a therapist its a great time to maybe ask for any extra tips that you can practice daily to help you even more. Maybe exploring more into insecurities relating to finance or jobs or your passions. If you don't have a therapist but you have the means to get one I always highly recommend. You don't have to have "problems" to see a therapist. Everyone could use a non biased point of view that is literally trained to help you be you best self. If you can't get therapy, I get it. Shits tough rn but there's still things we can do to better ourselves like Journaling and reading therapy blogs or self help books (not the taky shit) or trying a hobby you fell out of touch with. There's also a lot of places where you can get therapy promise on the internet. Most importantly, better yourself in the way that you need. Take time in February to take notice of what you want to improve upon. The 8 of coins reversed does come with the warning not to get stuck in perfectionism. Go easy on yourself and if you find yourself getting frustrated when working on projects, try to take a step back and practice whatever it is in a fun way and then come back to it later

Hanged man reverse talks about knowing that you need to chill but you don't. You'll need too. Maybe you'll find yourself swept up in work and tasks and you're over whelmed and know you need to stop and catch your breath but you resist. Why? Well, perhaps you're trying to ignore reality by filling the empty spaces with things and stuff so you don't have to face what's bothering you. Not wise. Take time for yourself. There's also the flips side where people are just kinda stuck.. creative block. Maybe you want something to turn out one way and it just isn't, so your stuck and frustrated and can't move past it. Let go of your expectation of how it should be and let it be what it is. Go with the flow and maybe you'll see a new way to overcome your problem. You'll eventually get that break through that you need! The theme of February is about self improvement. Listen to yourself.

February for BTS

We have judgment.

Hehe yeah. This card is about rebirth and the inner calling. Letting go of the old to step into the new version of you. This is also a very spiritual card lol. This can talk about a new decision that you have to trust your gut on. This is a very significant card that screams comeback to me. It also can talk about sharing your struggles with a group of people and that to me sounds comeback ish. Maybe this will be an announcement in February, maybe they'll be working on it idk but this is ultimate comeback energy so I hope they utilize this for a big group project!!

February: possible BTS comeback (even my pendulum knows)

March for the collective

The chariot and justice

This plays directly off of February! With the chariot you're taking the self improvement that you've done and putting it to action! Now is the time to act on the dreams and passions that you have don't wait and hope for the best. March is about action and standing in your power.

Justice card is cause and effect and truth. What you do will have consequences good or bad. Not doing anything also has consequences. Cease the moment and make the best of it. You'll be taking responsibility for what you do. You start a business? Now you have the responsibility of running it and you get the credit. Stuff like that. Stand by your decisions with conviction and trust yourself.

There's also the side of justice that talks about bringing justice. If you've been wronged, you'll be brought justice if you stand up for yourself.

We also carry the continuous lesson of learning what we truly believe and challenge those beliefs!

March for BTS

Oki we have the hermit and the 6 of pentacles reverse.

Well... let's start with the 6 of pentacles reverse. This can really talk about being so generous and giving to everyone else that you forget about yourself. I think that maybe they might be over exerting themselves and giving so much that they're exhausted physically and emotionally as well. I think too, they take on so much of our pain like its their own? Idk but this would be a good time to do a large scale fan project to show them a little extra love!

With the hermit card it talks about a self introspection so they could be looking inward as a team and kinda evaluating their bond.

I also see this as maybe being alone as in they maybe can't physically go to the grammys? Or maybe they had been planning the rescheduled concerts and they had to be pushed back even further? Things like that. Regardless this signals re thinking/reevaluating the goals that they have and considering what direction to go in!

March: possible mixtape or solo project?

April for the collective

We have 6 of coins and 3 of cups reverse.

Let's start with the 6 of coins. It's about sharing. It can be about charity so sharing money via donation but also giving time, effort, energy to people as well. Giving knowledge is good too! It's an all round exchange. Maybe someone lends you money or you lend money to someone. It's give and take. It's a two way street. It's also a card of balanced finance. So money stuff should be looking promising around this time (for you U.S people this could point to more stimulus help as well)

And for the 3 of cups reversed... I see this as reopening of places and people struggling to find the balance. So think people who've been in lockdown celebrating by throwing a big party... yikes. This card reminds that we should be mindful of the long-term consequences that come with our actions.. maybe also people that are experiencing fear of being in public places now. This is only one facet though. Bc I think this also means in general, missing being with friends and having a renewed relationship because you've really realized how important it is to have these people that mean so much to you in your life. Don't forget that you have people that love you and want the best for you. Call them when you feel alone.

April for BTS

The heirophant

Mhmm. This one kinda gives me vibes that they'll be mentoring people? Idk but I see them more as the heirophant teaching what they've learned/ know to help guide others. HOWEVER this could also be them taking a new task under their belt. Learning something new. Since this is as a group reading I assume that this talks about the group as a whole. This card is also very tradition oriented so maybe they are taking lessons that are connected to traditional Korean culture? Maybe its for RUN or maybe its to incorporate into music and preformance. Think bts mma preformance but all of them learning together? Idk, it's just a thought (maybe wishful thinking). It also talks about seeking counseling so maybe they'll do yoongis idea from the most recent RUN.

This can also be them embracing this kind of leadership/ status.

April: I got nothing. It does feel like something though

May for the collective

Five of cups and queen of cups reversed

Five of cups is disappointment, regret and self pity. Now honestly this to me looks like possibly a tightening of restrictions yet again. Regardless of the situation that this is talking about, the best thing you can do is not wallow in the bullshit. You scrape yourself off the pavement and move foward. You'll need forgiveness of yourself and others and that if shit isn't going your way, you need to pull your head out of your ass and look around bc there's options out there. It's like drowning in a kiddie pool. Just stand up, dude. The water is like 5 inches.

Queen of cups reversed talks about self love and self care. It's more of that look inwards energy. Think about really taking care of yourself. May might be emotionally draining so you need to be ready to take care of you! Part of self care is making sure that your boundaries are well enforced.

Be on the look out for codependent behaviors. Check in with yourself.

The queen of cups is very intuitive and having it in reverse can talk about you not taking enough time to listen to it. Make an effort to meditate for like 5 minutes a day at least. Do something to let yourself connect to your intuition and higher self.

May for BTS

9 of pentacles

This about enjoying the fruits of your labor and absolute abundance and luxury. This could talk about them rolling in the dough after signing a new partnership or having a concert or something if the sort. This could also be a time where we see them buying new things like houses, cars and rings (lol) but also this could be them doing a very high production value project! Also namjoon and his bonsai army are thriving in this time!

May: possible concert or scheduled concert event. Activity of some kind.

Yoongi interlude

I asked for one card to give me an idea of what the mystical May 13th really is. I got: the star, 2 of cups, 4 of wands, the world and the sun.

Guys. I can't with this. 2 of cups is a card of union, romance, soulmate. 4 of wands is celebration, joy, homecoming, bliss. The world is completion and the sun is happiness, joy, marriage, enlightenment.

I've said it a billion times but that's some soulmate shit. So soft so cute and May will be eventful for his personal life.

June for the collective

Death and the heirophant reversed.

Wow wow wow death is transformation and a new chapter so a new way of life and something new/ different that changes how we see things. Again this could be relating to new covid things and new policies and stuff like that but also new as in new to all of us. Groundbreaking perhaps?

The heirophant reversed talks about teaching yourself. Being your own teacher and making your own path. This might be spiritual or otherwise. Challange what the world wants from you and instead listen to what you truly want bc you don't need anyone's approval. Continue to ask questions about why things are the way that they are.

June for BTS

Page of pentacles

Oki oki page of pentacles means a new creative venture and manifestation. Maybe something that they've been wanting for a while finally comes to fruition. This might be the start of a new project that they haven't done before or something cross genre? Idk but its a really good sign of being motivated for a new endeavor and manifesting any projects that they've ever wanted to do. Love this promising energy!!

June: idk

July for the collective

10 of swords and 9 of cups reversed.

10 of swords signals a painful ending. Also deceit. Its a necessary end to a long battle. The only thing you can do is control how you react in these situations. You just kinda gotta surrender into the pain and know that it's temporary. Take time to reflect on what happened and why and how it will help you grow.

The 9 of cups reversed talks about valuing stuff and material things over emotions and spiritual things. This can be talking about society in general, that we are becoming more aware to the fact that there is often more value placed on ephemeral items rather than humanity as a whole. This also can be talking about coming to the realization that we've been working so hard towards... something we don't really care about simply because we were told that it's what you do.

If you want something different to happen you have to put in effort. You can't be sitting in front of a water fountain being like, "damn. I'm thirsty. I really really want water so why isn't it in my mouth yet?" Like?? Hello? You have to take the first step, my dude.

Certainly don't try to do anything that would cost you finatial security or health.

You have the potential to find happiness within yourself. So try looking inside instead of looking outward.

July for BTS

4 of swords.

This is about rest and relaxation!

Taking time to meditate and take some time to look at what you've done objectively. Ots like the hermit in a way but much more focused on resting and relaxing so you can come back stronger and with better direction. Maybe they'll take a break for a couple days but I really see it as them reassessing options. Especially if July goes how I think it will. Maybe they'll film something like In The Soop again? Maybe we'll see bon voyage type thing? Idk. But it could be something kinda out of the spotlight? Maybe something more healing?

July: maybe something?? I'm not sure but it seems like something might be in store.

August for the collective

5 of coins and the wheel of fortune

Well let's see. 5 of pentacles talks about isolation and a negative mindset. This talks about falling on hard times but its a temporary set back. This energy can be talking about falling on hard times emotionally as well. In the card it shows a woman outside of a church shivering and cold but she's too busy thinking about all that she's lost that she doesn't notice the warm church that she could step into for shelter.

But then with he wheel of fortune that talks about fate/destiny, opportunity and luck so maybe this is a necessary loss so that a new door can open. This does kinda tie in with July as well. The end of something is painful but it's often a necessary thing. Might be a bit uncomfy but that's how things change. Again I see this maybe hinting more towards society but none the less it's definitely a theme for August to have doors closing and new ones opening so be on the lookout for that.

August for BTS

The devil.

Now don't fret. The devil talks a lot about choice. Most notably the choice between instant gratification and and something more substantial and the devil leans towards indulgence. It also has a lot to do with the shadow side. This could talk about ~scandal~ sure, but I think its more of a time where you become aware of negative patterns and you shine a light on that part you've ignored. On a much lighter note this card talks also about an incredible bond between people. It can be unhealthy if not given space or boundaries. Listen to pied piper and come back to me.

I also REALLY REALLY REALLY hope that this card points to this: sexuality. The boys have always been pretty pg when it comes to the topic of sex and embracing sexuality so I really do hope to see something more daring and grown up and exploring a tastefully sexy concept. On the same vain as sexuality this card also talks about kinks and stuff like that so don't be surprised if we get more outfits like fake love Era bondage harnesses.

August: ???

September for the collective

We have the world and 10 of wands reversed.

The 10 of wands reversed talks about carrying burden. Doing extra work and taking on more responsibility. Doing everything by yourself and carrying this heavy load alone will get you burnt out quicker than anything. You might be taking on too much and you'll need to prioritize what you really need to focus on. I also think there will just be a lot happening in September for a lot of people. It's a lot of working hard because you know it's good work or because it's what's right. This could be social responsibility that's placed on you or work responsibility. For whatever reason this burden isn't something you want to share with others because you think its yours alone to deal with. It's not though bc you'll figure out eventually that if it hurts so much you'll find a way to lessen the burden. 10 in tarot is all about the completion of a cycle and going through the wands cycle is hard work because for anything to be made of passion, you need to put the work behind it. The burden isn't forever, the heavy work load will lighten but this is you seeing things out. It's a good thing!

Especially considering this is paired with with world. The world is all about completion and that's what you're doing here is finding completion. You are seeing things out until the end but you just need to learn to give up some responsibility, lessen your burden.

This also talks about hard work being put into wider social spheres as well. Things like the vaccines becoming more widespread through the whole globe or at least better planing and infrastructures not related to covid. Things are looking up!

September for BTS

Knight of swords reverse

This bad boi is restless energy. It's being so pent up that you're ready to burst and you really want to take action but you can't because something is keeping you from taking that action. Again I do think this is kinda covid related in regards to touring bc if they do tour in 2021 its gonna look a lot different. This energy can be a bit impulsive and directionless so I think maybe they'll channel this into album material something? I'm not really sure tbh. I'm suprised this energy didn't show up earlier because it almost seems inevitable.

September: no clue

October for the collective

Ten of coins and the star reverse.

Welp let's start with the 10 of coins. Its about wealth, financial security, and long term success so this is a pretty prosperous time. This talks about the obvious monetary wealth and material wealth but also an abundance of opportunities. So this is definitely a good time to enjoy whatever consistency you have. This energy is really really abundant in the career space as well. So October could be very prosperous in the job field and you'll have likely found what it is you really want and could be successful at. This could be the actual act or just the idea. This is could also talk about investing in something for your future, this could be time or money.

With the star reversed it can talk about a loss of faith and a disconnection. This often points to feeling like you've just been forgotten or left out. Like the universe doesn't give a shit about you and left you out to die. Things might seem unfair but always try to look for the lesson that you can take from the experience. Seeing the 10 of coins and the star makes me think that a lot of people have kinda lost faith in their manifestations and also just in the concept of not living in a state of need. Especially if you see other people doing well and you've been trying so fucking hard but you haven't gotten a break. I know we hate to hear it but this can serve as a test of faith. Or rather an opportunity to get your shit in line and take a second to breath. Do something good for yourself and then continue on. This star in reverse serves to show you what no longer sparks joy and helps you find what does and what that initial spark was in the first place. Helps you get back to the original vision/ spark.

October for BTS

5 of pentacles reverse.

This signals the end of difficult times and getting that groove back. The last month was restless energy with no where to go but this month that energy is certainly put to good use. They might be figuring out what has been missing In their lives and starting to rectify that. They are definitely reminded that material wealth doesn't bring spiritual or emotional wealth. Might be also feeling a bit alienated too.

October: something is likely but idk

November for collective

Six of swords reversed and the moon.

Transition and change is prevalent. The 6 of swords is about leaving behind the familiar. Maune this is leaving a job, a new change in the status quo, leaving a relationship ect. The thing you have to keep in mind is just how amazing this is in terms of what it will do. It will alow growth!! And bring clarity!! Thos can also be societal as well, something being left behind in favor of something new. It's letting go and reflecting so that you can move foward.

This is strengthened by the moon card. The moon card is the subconscious and all the things that come with it. The anxiety, the illusion, the uncertainty. You'll want to deal with whatever emotions come up. The moon can signify a confusing time where things aren't what they seem to be. That's the illusions so you'll have rely more on intuition at a time like this. Your dreams might hold significance in this time as well. Listen to your guides and your own guidance because it will help you understand more than you did before this journey began. Using moon cycles to your advantage in November might really help you!!

November for BTS

7 of wands

Challenge and competition. People are envious of bts. We know this. But people will be challenging them for what they've gained: music industry domination. This might co.e in the way that people will spread vicious rumors in attempt to disenfanchise or possibly it will be a fair fight. It could also be a challenge/ battle for some other aspect that involves legal matters.

My best guess though is good old competition. Bts has proven again and again that they will continue to do what they do how they do but they will not be trampled over. In the best way this could renew some of that spirit in friendly competition. They will tear eachothers throats out for a pack of ramen so maybe a bit of competition will be good for them. It keeps life intresting.

November: nothin

December for the collective

Two of cups and the emperor!

Let's start off with the emperor card talks about stability and order. It can also signify being the "breadwinner" so its a good sign that you'll kinda be on top of your shit. The emperor is also an amazing leader so you might find yourself taking on a leadership role too! This is very organized energy that works very smoothly!

two of cups is such a lovely way to end out the year! It's love and partnership and attraction so if you aren't in a relationship by this time you might meet someone who strikes your fancy!! On a none romantic relationship note though, this card is also great for business partnership bc it signifies that you're on the same page and have the same goals in mind!

It's harmonious relationships and trust between them!! Love love love this energy so much! Cups are the suit of emotions and this card is so promising.

If you are in a relationship, this can talk about "falling in love all over again" like you're just reminded of how good they are.

December for BTS

Queen of cups

Intuition, creativity and emotional stability. They're using intuition to guide their moves foward with emotional maturity. They are in a place of knowing what they want and why. This would be a good time to work on an album or a book or to release them. The queen of cups is like the friend that you can tell absolutely anything and somehow they have a helpful answer. This card is really calm and it can also talk about subconscious thoughts.

I think that bts is maybe making more of a conscious effort to make sure that what they do is just as emotionally fulfilling for them as it is for us! They might be kinda pondering the future at this time and considering if this is what fills their emotional cup!

December: possibly a thing?

Now these cards are the vibe of the year and some advice.

For the collective (on the left)

Three of swords and judgment reverse.

The fortune says "accept the challenges, so that you may feel the exhilaration of victory"

The 3 of swords is about disappointment and hurt and heartbreak. It's about the emotional release that we all need when shit gets tough. Don't pretend to be strong. If you need to cry, fucking cry. This year is about letting go of expectations and do what you have to do to release so you can move foward and not have these things pile up.

You have to make an effort to not let yourself take on what other people think of you. You aren't defined by what some asshole says. You define yourself.

Judgment reverse is about self doubt and ignoring your path. It's being stagnant and being harsh on yourself. This year has a focus on building yourself up and noticing when you are not. Bring light to the things that are holding you back without harsh judgment for yourself. You can't beat yourself up. If you make a bad decision you know not to make it again. Take accountability and move on.

The oracle card is inner temple.

Seriously all the focus of this year is in self improvement and dear god, please take time to work on yourself spiritually!!! Everything you want to know is there if you take the time to listen. This should be a place where you feel safe and welcome. It definitely should not feel like something you HAVE to do.

For BTS

10 of swords and page of swords

The fortune says "you create your own stage. The audience is waiting" (how tje fuck?? This is the perfect fortune)

The 10 of swords is a painful but necessary end. This is accepting the current situation. They maintain focus for 2021 for them is adapting and keeping their spirits up.

With the page of swords it talks about new ideas and that kind of creativity. It's also a lot about communication so I really think that they'll be figuring out new ways to connect and new projects that will be prosperous.

The oracle card is Pleiades

This is what we talk about all the time. Bts has helped so many people want to be better and do better. They are uplifting humanity and giving people a sense if belonging. Bts finds you when you need them most 💜💜💜

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wow I had to write this up over 2 days bc this was so fucking long. I need a nap. Idk if I'll proof read this before I post it so don't hate me for the mistakes (honestly, there's like 10,000 spelling and grammar mistakes in my other posts too 🙃)

I hope you guys enjoyed it and maybe this will be helpful to to have a forecast of some possible energy for you to look out for!!

Also bts bc I love them. I have another bts 2021 reading I'll do soon too!

Hope you guys are happy and well 💜

[beels-burger-babe]

Back to planet imagination

What happens if one of the people on the 7 planets(that doesn't exist in this world) is alive but also got trap in the void BUT also born again in the human world but remember everything, like the war and magic, etc oh how much she wanted revenge so she went on A LOT of research

And she theory that she and probably other people that live on the other planets must have been born in the human and she tries to control her power again so she can get her revenge-

SHE THEN FINDS OUT HER ENEMY IN DEVILDOM USING ONE OF HER POWER CAUSE SHE PRACTICE-

and just imagine she go to the HoL and there she meets them, finally after year's of research finally getting her revenge but was stopped by the brothers and they look at mc

While mc is like HAD NO IDEA AND THEY SAID "I don't remember anything, all I remember I wake up at a woods...-" blah blah the explanation and then the brothers have to protect mc until they remember and probably give out the answer to their questions they have-

Oh btw poly!mc pog

Okay this idea is amazing. Super super amazing! And it's crazy original. So original, in fact, I think if you subbed out the Obey Me characters and settings with your own, you would have a really great original book or short story.

[aegonbeingfakeisracist]

I find it interesting how all the good Targs (Daeron II and his sons, Valarr, Duncan, and Rhaella etc.) all barely have an hype for their looks, which I think really emphasizes that the other Targs put so much focus into more PR for their "beauty" to deflect from the fact that they have very few good qualities lol.

😂😂😂

You know, that tracks with the male Targaryens, but some of the ladies are super cool, but have so much emphasis instead on how hot they are? Which is especially creepy, because so many of them are children? No one wants to hear about how beautiful six year old Rhaenyra was, that’s horrible!

Daena Targaryen was so cool! Her one flaw was worshipping her war criminal older brother! Why on earth would anyone spend so many words talking about how pretty she was instead of cool things, like, I don’t know, what kind of things she got up to when she sneaked out of the Maidenvault? Rhaena joined a convent and was very well versed in religious theory - maybe she wrote books and leveraged her position to rise high in the ranks! Why not talk about that instead of how she had larger breasts than her sister? Shiera Seastar was a polyglot and a witch. I don’t give a shit how hot she was or who she was sleeping with, tell me more about her. People are always talking about how Viserys should have given Rhaenyra responsibilities and such - canonically, he did, and she was a part of his councils, but that gets way less focus than how pretty she was as a little girl and the weight she gained as an adult and who she was or wasn’t sleeping with. Gah, I hate it.

With the male Targaryens, I feel like half of it is just...okay, nothing actually interesting about them? Gotta make them good looking, people excuse lack of personality in hot people, right? Aegon the Conqueror is a big blah. I can’t think of a single personality trait!

We have enough scraps about Daeron to piece together a general sense of who he might have been - and that’s a pretty interesting guy! Not a fighter, but a scholar. A generous man who would also punish harshly. Peaceful by nature but with a reign that was defined by a war. Beloved by some as much as he was hated by others. There’s enough there to be interesting without leaning into “oh, and he was handsome, can’t forget that!” In fact, he explicitly noted as less so than Daemon - though, that seems to be mainly because he didn’t have abs. Similar things are true for his kids, at least the ones we actually have insight into - Maekar’s not nice, but he has a personality. He has negative and positive traits. His looks are not relevant! Same with Baelor, same with Duncan. Valarr never got to have a chance to have a real personality, because his most substantive scene was at his father’s funeral, and by the next novella, he was dead - and maybe that’s why he gets just a brief note that he was “shorter and more handsome” than his father. Less defined than his father, uncle, and grandfather, but no need to try to make a bland character more appealing. (Though, just for the record, I would like just once for people talking about him to focus on how he knelt to the ground to help a man to his feet, instead of claiming that people throwing jousts to him combined with his slightly harsh words to Dunk mean that he was a bad person. But I digress.)

All this connects back to the women, too, because several of them do have enough traits to stand on their own without leaning on physical appearance, unlike the men. But you can’t have that! Gotta make sure no one ever interprets these characters as average looking. And god forbid people think they’re plump! I’m generally not a big fan of detailed descriptions of what characters look like in fiction, much less how hot they are, making exceptions for making it explicit that a character is a character of colour. That’s important - people default to assuming characters are white, and if it isn’t made extremely explicit, there’s going to be whitewashing, both in adaptations and in perception of the text. It’s even true if the text outright states that the character is a person of colour, but there’s at least going to be pushback to blatant whitewashing. But I will never understand the need to fixate on characters’ attractiveness.

[glacecakes]

Alchemy Lullaby (12/?)

Of all the changes that came with living in the castle, becoming a father was not one he anticipated. When Eugene encounters a small child suffering like he did, he gives them the opportunity to grow up the way he never did… helping them both heal. (AU where Varian is 4 and gets adopted by Eugene)

Rapunzel, Eugene, Cassandra, and Quirin travel to Old Corona. There, they learn about the past, in more than one way. In which Quest for Varian is actually a quest about Varian.

Read the rest on AO3

hi! Uh. I took the week off cuz my cat died but now we're back on track. Quest for Varian rewrite time! This thing was a monster to hammer out, I kept rewriting scenes and dialogue and blah blah blah but IM HAPPY WITH IT!! A MAJOR thanks to @space-butterflies and @finnoky for helping me with this!

PLEASE if you enjoy this fic leave a comment and like!! It gives me the strength to keep going. And to not focus on my schoolwork haha im a grade below average rip

Maximus’ footsteps trotted one after another, a steady beat in time with Rapunzel’s anxious heart. Cassandra sat by her side, unflinching as ever, but the storm in her eyes said more than enough. So did the bouncing of Eugene’s leg. It was clear as day: they were all terrified. 

“Old Corona is just over this hill,” Quirin muttered, slightly uncomfortable. 

He’d hoped that his words would soothe his companions but it only seemed to irk them more. Rapunzel let out a sharp inhale, biting her lip. A war raged within her mind. She didn’t want Quirin to know the truth; a part of her wanted nothing more than to protect the small child she’d come to see as her own. But it wasn’t fair. He’d been so confused when the princess showed up with grim company. 

She locked eyes with Eugene. He nodded, resolute yet anxious.

Gripping her dress, Rapunzel spoke up. “Quirin, I really appreciate you letting us come with… you should know that, the rocks, they’ve been… reacting. To me. And to a few other people.”

Quirin kept his face impassive but inwardly, he was letting out a massive sigh of relief. So it wasn’t just Varian, no, it was a few people! Thank goodness! He’d been hesitant to bring it up, to confirm that Varian had power over the rocks, but her words made it seem more like the rocks respond to strong emotions in general. And Varian was an emotional child, swinging from sweet to sour to sad. Of course the rocks would react to a child’s emotions, then. Thank goodness!

Never mind the fact that they never worked like that before.His previous theory was definitely wrong, there was no way Varian could have the moonstone! Even if he looked a lot like Ulla, with his big blue eyes and button nose, and he had her curiosity and penchant for mischief… 

The princess’s eyes wandered, trying to find words. “I thought you should know that… stop the cart!” She cried. Max jolted to a stop, nearly sending Cassandra crashing into Eugene. Clear as day, across the path, a single spike protruded from the earth. The party stepped out of the wagon to approach. 

“My dad told me all of the black rocks had been removed…” Rapunzel frowned. She went to brush a hand against it, but decided at the last second not to. There was no use in causing an explosion. All eyes turned to the knight, the apparent expert on the rocks. 

Quirin fidgeted uncomfortably. “We may have… missed one?” Truth be told, this rock wasn’t there last time he visited. And that was last week! How had the situation changed so much in such a short time? 

“Um…” Cassandra said, pointing to the village ahead. “Try one hundred.” 

Old Corona was covered in rocks from head to toe. Nearly everywhere you looked, a rock took up some of your vision. Each house had at least one spike cutting clean through it, and the whole village seemed duller, sucked of life. Bleak as winter, a shadow loomed over everything and blanketed it in eternal night.

“Do you think your father lied?” Cassandra asked. Quirin sucked in a harsh breath.

“No!” Rapunzel stressed. Her voice wavered, clearly unsure. “I trust my father, but he probably doesn’t know how bad it’s gotten.” She took one step forward, then another. Dead grass crunched underfoot. “Come on,” she mumbled.

With each new rock Eugene’s anxiety only grew. All angles were dangerous, each reflected beam of sunlight was dimmed by the obsidian rocks it bounced off of. He could feel his sanity slip like sand, each rock corresponding to a grain in an hourglass. On instinct, he reached out. Rapunzel was his rock, and she was his. They’d get through this together, figure it out side by side. But just in case, he caged her braid inbetween them. Hopefully that would prevent any disasters. 

“It’s the same story,” Quirin said sadly, brushing a hand across the rocks. His tattoo burned so hot he feared his glove would melt. “At first it’s just a few rocks… they’re a nuisance, but manageable. But then they keep growing, and growing, until the town is a maze,” he sighed. 

“And then the King comes and cleans it all up, right…?” Cassandra dared to ask, speaking aloud what Rapunzel feared. 

“...They’ve never been in Corona until now,” he managed. It would be his greatest challenge, sitting in the middle of two royals fighting. One, a King determined to keep his people from panic. Another, a princess who wanted answers. 

He wasn’t sure if either person would be satisfied by today’s end.

“They didn’t show up in Corona until… I did.” Rapunzel muttered. “There’s no question now, these rocks… they hold a secret, and, and somehow- we’re connected to it...” Her eyes shook as she was lost in memory. The use of we was noticed by everyone; each member of the party glanced around to see if they’d made the connection, but no one spoke. 

“And maybe we’re… even responsible for it.” 

Eugene’s normally smiling and charming face filled with solemn grit. His voice deepened as he spoke. “What do we do now?”

“If I may,” Quirin cleared his throat and stepped forward. “I have an… old friend who researched the rocks a while ago. I entrusted her with a graphtyc that may have some answers.”

Princess and boyfriend locked eyes. That could only be one person...

“I’m sorry Eugene, I know you don’t want to be here. But we need to find that graphtyc, so that’s what we’re gonna do.” Rapunzel said.

At first the ex-thief was silent, and his face impassive. But slowly, it broke into the faintest of smiles as he grasped her hand. Their foreheads touched together briefly, and Rapunzel melted into his warmth. Their fight from the other night was still fresh in her mind, seeing as it was the only real fight they’ve ever had. Neither of them had been particularly wrong, but they both knew it was time to put personal discomfort aside. 

For Varian.

For their son. 

Quirin and Cassandra stood to the side. When a figure rushed by, they both turned, catching nothing but the wind left in its wake. 

-

The walk to the house was quiet and tense. Each wrong step caused Rapunzel’s hair to light up like a beacon, and everyone would flinch in preparation of an explosion. Thankfully, nothing happened, and they eventually reached the manor. Out of all the houses, this one was in the worst shape. Every window had a cluster of spikes protruding from indoors. A piece of roof cracked and fell to their feet. One thing was clear: the house was on its last legs, wheezing for breath. 

Eugene’s feet felt stuck to the ground, unable to take another step further. Behind this door was, supposedly, Varian’s mother. She and Gothel tied for his least favorite people in the world, but he couldn’t help but also feel grateful. Oh how he wished Varian had a loving mother, but because he didn’t, it allowed them to meet, it allowed for Eugene to grow and love. 

Quirin knocked steadily. He took one deep breath, then another.  

The door crept open. Its hinges screamed and rang through the air. 

And there she was.

The best and worst thing of their lives.

“Ulla,” Quirin breathed, eyes softening. Her hair was askew, like it had been thrown up. Wild eyes scanned him up and down, before relaxing ever so slightly. 

“Were you followed?” She hissed. That earned a nervous glance between party members. Cassandra glanced back; now that she thought about it, she hadn’t even seen any villagers…

“It’s just us,” Quirin replied. “Listen, we need the graphtyc, you said you’d translate it, remember?”

“Oh I remember,” she drawled. Unimpressed eyes scanned the group. Distantly she recognized the princess, her hair was unmistakable, but then, her eyes widened. “You-!” 

Eugene’s eyes flashed. If it wasn’t for the fact that they needed her help, he’d punch her square in the face. “Yea, not thrilled to see you either, can you help us or not?”

The mood shifted instantly from uneasy to flat out hostile. Teal eyes glared through him as she searched for a fifth person who wasn’t there. And probably would never be there again. 

How unfortunate. After he left it’d been so calm… for a while, anyway. Their time apart gave her space to think up some new theories and tests, too bad they’ll never be utilized. Finally, she stepped aside to let everyone in. 

A shadow loomed over the wood.

Ulla turned her nose up as they entered her lab. It was cluttered with notes collecting dust and farm tools. “I will help Quirin, but not the rest of you.”

“Yeah, you’ve helped us enough.” Eugene’s words were biting, barely contained fury clear as day. It was only Rapunzel’s hand on his chest that kept him from springing forward and tearing her to pieces. 

Out of them, Quirin seemed to be the only one happy to see her. “Thank you, Ulla.”

She gave him the faintest of smiles, before her face turned impassive again. “I’ll take Quirin to get the graphtyc. Don’t touch anything… please.” The last word was tacked on solely because Rapunzel was there. The two elders vanished up rickety stairs. 

“So… this is Varian’s old home?” Cassandra’s eyes flicked to and fro. Dust laid claim to every surface. “Seems… about what I expected.”

To her left, Eugene hummed in agreement as he trailed a finger across the table. His eyes trailed over a few of her notes. Most of them were mundane, farm reports or apple science. “You know someone should sit this lady down and have a frank discussion about the importance of having an organized, clutter-free workspace.” Well, a frank discussion about a lot of things. But that’s a good place to start. A nice, simple conversation not about Varian that wouldn’t end in a screaming match and/or murder. 

But murder was still on the table. 

Especially when Rapunzel, curious, foolish Rapunzel, couldn’t help herself. In the far corner, covered in dust, sat what looked like an invention covered by a tarp. Hesitantly, with bare feet tapping against stone, the dust irritating her nose and the smell of it thick in the air, she unveiled the invention. 

A chair, with shackles. 

Tiny, child-sized shackles. 

She let out an agonized cry and stumbled back into Eugene’s arms. It was like a hole had been punched in her chest. So this is what Varian meant when he said no more…

“We shouldn’t have come here. We should’ve stayed in the castle where we were a happy family.” She whispered, clutching tight to Eugene’s vest. 

“Come on, Raps, you don’t mean that,” Cassandra soothed. She sent Eugene a helpless glance. Regardless of how the chair was used, the implications were agonizing. 

As much as Eugene wanted the satisfaction that he was right, that she was agreeing with him, he knew deep down that it wasn’t true. 

“Sunshine,” he mumbled. “I know what I said before about forgetting all this, and never speaking to… her, but this,” his eyes drifted to the window, from which a massive rock extended. “Is way, way worse than I or anyone else imagined, and one thing has become clear.” He brushes a strand of hair from her face. “People are in danger. A lot of danger. Not just from the rocks. And the Rapunzel I know was never one to run and hide from a fight.”

No sooner had those words been spoken, the door burst open. 

-

“Is there a reason you wanted to speak to just me?” Quirin asked as soon as they walked up the stairs. “It’s rude to leave her highness alone.”

Ulla scoffed. “She’s not alone, she's with the thief.” Her words were sharp as the rocks she studied. 

Thief? Well sure, he used to be, but most people looked past that by now. He’d seen firsthand how Eugene went from a castle annoyance to maids crowding him with gossip and parenting advice. 

“You mean how he was Flynn Rider? I can assure you, he’s a very nice young man-”

“A nice young man who is harboring a disappointment!” 

The silence rang like a funeral bell. Quirin’s face dropped to neutral. God did Ulla hate when he did that; he was impossible to read. Finally, he spoke. “So it’s true. He’s yours, isn’t he? He’s… he’s the moonstone.” It was finality, the sealing of a child’s coffin. It also earned him a frustrated eye roll.

Ulla turned to her bookshelf. Let’s see… which book is it again…? “He’s not the moonstone, he’s the moondrop. Crucial difference.”

“That being…?”

“You can’t manipulate or control it the way you can the moonstone.” Quirin couldn’t help but flinch at her word choice. “The translated incantations will only work if he says them. Which renders him useless to me.”

More like useless to her plans, Quirin thought dryly. “So you abandoned him.” 

“He’s an experiment gone wrong. Nothing to do but scrap it and start over.” She smirked at how the man paled at those words. Finally, her fingers brushed across the book. She opened it to reveal a shining scroll case. It felt bittersweet to see so many hours of work be handed over to Quirin, but what can you do? They spent a whole year together, collecting the pieces of the scroll for translation, trying to solve the mystery and destroy the moonstone. Only fair that he gets to see their hard work completed. 

Quirin’s hand brushed against the graphtyc… but then froze. Wait. That didn’t make any sense. “Ulla... he can control the rocks…” 

“What?” It was like a bullet had gone off, Ulla’s ears were ringing that loud. That… that little brat! How long could he control his magic? Did he send these recent rocks to her… to mock her? Did he just enjoy causing her misery!? 

She schooled her face back to impassive, though the cogs in her brain were already off to the races. New theories, new experiments, if she only had a little more time with him…!

Teal eyes batted up at Quirin, who stood awkwardly under her intense gaze. 

She opened her mouth.

-

From the splintered doorway, a large man stepped forward. His face was hidden behind a masked helmet, a black cloak trailing his red coat. He held out a gloved hand. “Hand over the graphtyc.”

Eugene growled, stepping in front of Rapunzel and shielding her. “Who is that?” 

“Doesn’t matter, I got him!” Cassandra cried. She charged at the man, skidding under his legs up and around him. She grabbed his staff and pinned it against his neck. The man huffed, grunting against her weight, before throwing himself forward and sending Cassandra flying. She landed on the table with a thud, sending notes and chemicals every which way. One chemical turned to goo the moment it hit the floor, trapping papers underneath.

Aha!

Rapunzel grabbed a spare of it, and with all her might threw it at the attacker. In a flash of pink smoke the man’s legs were trapped in place. 

“Go go go!” Eugene cried, grabbing Cassandra off the floor.

“What about Quirin!?”

“No time! He’ll just have to catch up!” 

The door to the house flew open with a bang, nearly shattering as they ran past. Each rock lit up a vibrant blue the same color as Varian’s hairstripe whenever Rapunzel ran past. 

“I don’t know how long we’ll have before that guy breaks out, but-” Rapunzel’s voice was cut off, gasping as a masked man stood on the other side of the rocks. How…? 

“Clearly not long!” Eugene cries, and they turn, only to come face to face with the same mask. “How fast is this guy?” Finally, they break out of the rocks, outside the village. With huffing breaths, the party came face to face with several identically dressed men; the masks crowd them, filling their very bones with dread. “Oh, that explains it.” 

“Hand over the graphtyc,” the chant is repeated over and over, each man taking a turn to say it. Never mind the fact that they didn’t even have the damn thing because Ulla wanted to speak to Quirin about god knows what.

Not a moment later than the thought had come and gone, Quirin manifested from behind the Princess. His large, hulking form easily towered over the men, and it took only a few punches for each masked man to topple. 

A neigh bounced around the clearing, its sound ricocheting off rocks, and Max galloped in carrying a frying pan in his mouth. Combined, the two defeated the small battalion in under a minute, before the young adults even had to lift a finger. 

“Sorry,” Quirin whispered to one of the guards before knocking him to the ground. 

“Max! Quirin! Oh you couldn’t have come a second sooner!” Rapunzel gasped as she and the others ran over. It was a tight fit to get them all on Max, but he was a big horse, and Rapunzel could sit on Eugene’s lap if needed. 

“Do you have it?” The princess’s eyes lit up when Quirin produced a small trinket. “These guys want whatever that is pretty badly,” it was an odd game of telephone as Quirin handed it down Max and to Rapunzel. “And something tells me we won’t make it back to the castle.” 

Quirin opened his mouth to argue, but Eugene cut him off. “She’s right! We need somewhere to hide and come up with a plan.”

“No, I don’t think we really need to-”

“I know just the place!” Rapunzel spurred Max faster as Quirin sighed in defeat. 

-

It wasn’t a far ride, just a trip down a cliff and then some, but soon enough they were at a small alcove covered in vines. 

“Man, this is terrible.” Eugene muttered to himself.

“I know,” Cassandra sighed. “Those men are following us.”

“No, I was talking about my vest. But yeah, that’s bad too. Rapunzel, are you sure this place is safe?”

She snorted. Safe? Hidden? This place was the most hidden spot in all of Corona for 18 years. “I’m surprised you don’t recognize this place!” With a flourish, the vines peeled back, and she faltered. “Actually… I’m not sure I recognize it either.” 

Her tower. The place she once called home. Now surrounded by spikes.

Night falls, and with it comes a moment of reprieve. Eugene gladly gave Max a tour of the tower; well, as much of a tour as he could. “And this is where I died!” He said, proudly pointing to a spot of blood on the floor.

With a jolt, Rapunzel recalled an incident from the other day. Eugene had told Varian a watered down story of how they met, and where Rapunzel’s hair came from. The toddler had been so upset to hear that Rapunzel had been locked away for so long… was his anguish subconsciously causing rocks to appear in places he’d never been? 

The other three humans sat together, fidgeting with the graphtyc. “It sounds like there’s something inside…?” Rapunzel held it up to Cassandra’s ear. They both glanced over to Quirin, who opened it with a crack. Inside sat an unassuming piece of paper. Or rather, it was unassuming until he pulled it out.

The scroll was torn in half, with only two columns visible; one had a sun dripping down onto a flower, the other, a moon onto rocks. Strange characters covered the columns, with fresh pencil markings scribbling all around them. 

But before Quirin could explain, Eugene cried out from where he stood at the window. “Guys… we have a problem. Or rather, many problems. Masked problems.”

“You’ve gotta be kidding!” Rapunzel gasped. “How on earth did they find us!?” A fire lit in her eyes, the likes of which her father had tried to smother earlier in the week. “These guys just ticked off the wrong princess. I came here for answers, for a solution, and by god we are going to get it!” 

Quirin rubbed his shoulder, trying to hide his flinch at the word solution. “What will you do, your highness?” 

She didn’t respond at first. Instead, she stalked forward, letting her braid fall loose. “I’m letting down my hair.” The intensity of her voice took them all off guard; Eugene hadn’t heard her that angry in a long time, not even during their fight. 

It was the righteous anger of a protective mother. 

Her hair brushed against a spike, causing it to glow brighter and brighter, even more than the stars in the sky, then the moon, and even the sun. A shockwave sent the masked men flying away, their backs hitting cliff walls. Quirin had to grip onto the tower windowsill in order to stay upright; Cassandra and Eugene weren’t as lucky and were thrown backwards. 

Then, as fast as it started, it stopped. All was quiet, all was still.

Elsewhere, a small child fell to the ground as a blinding headache racked his skull. He shrieked, startling his babysitters.

A new rock sprouted. Then another. Black obsidian punctured the tower. Before they could even try to escape the rocks grew up through the stairwell leading outside. 

“Up there!” Cassandra cried, pointing to the skylight. “That’s the only way out!” 

With one massive throw, Rapunzel formed a rope for everyone to climb, onto the roof and into the night.

“I don’t understand… I thought you said this was dealt with?” Rapunzel bemoaned to Quirin. He winced. On the one hand, he never said anything, her father did. On the other hand…

“It wasn’t like this when I visited last. There were a few rocks, but-”

“Hang on, you lied to us? You were lying this whole time!?” Cassandra butt in, eyebrow raised. She wasn’t nearly as matronly as Rapunzel, if she had it her way Varian would’ve been shipped off to an orphanage, but she was still fond of the little tyke, and she sure as hell didn’t want him blamed for this mess. 

“Well, yes, but-”

“And what happens when the village is overrun? You never finished that story from earlier!” Eugene added. “Is this it? It chases everyone out?” 

“Can we maybe discuss this on land!?” The man cried. There were more important things, like not getting impaled as the tower roof collapsed! 

Blue glow now shone in tandem with the yellow of Rapunzel’s hair. She frowned, weighing her options. “Guys, there’s only one way down. I think I have a way out, but it’s a little crazy, so you’re just gonna have to trust me!” 

Eugene flinched, grabbing her hand anxiously. He had no idea if he could trust her, even though he loved her dearly. He needed to live, now more than ever! He needed to keep his son safe! If these men were after them just for the graphtyc, imagine if they found out about Varian! 

The tower buckled, sending them all into a heap. Never mind, not the time to debate! “Uh sure, let’s go for it. I’m up for anything at this point.”

With that, in tandem, they all lept off the tower as a glowing sphere that rivalled the sun engulfed them, a sea of gold soft as a pillow yet strong as a diamond.

The ground was soft at their feet. 

“Are we all seeing this? Is that new!?” Cassandra laughed, ecstatic that they survived. But Rapunzel paid her no heed. She could only watch as her first home crumbled and shattered before her eyes. Dust flew in every direction. A deep, wicked part of her wanted to run home and yell at Varian, blame him for her loss. But she couldn’t. He was a child, and she’d be no better than Ulla. 

Besides, he and Eugene were her home now. 

That didn’t stop her from shedding a tear, though. 

Eugene placed a hand on her shoulder. “Are you ok?” She shook her head, and wrapped him up in an embrace. “I will be.”

“Uh guys?” Cassandra said. “Look.”

From the wreckage, the masked men slowly shook themselves out. Only, they were not masked anymore. One man’s helmet laid shattered beyond use as he slowly lifted his head up. 

Cassandra’s eyes widened. “Pete?” she gasped. A quick glance around showed that all of them, slowly standing up, were members of the guard. 

“Princess, forgive us…” Pete said. “We had orders to recover the scroll before you.”

Her eyes narrowed into slits. “From who?” 

The man hesitated. Then slowly, a shaking finger pointed behind her… to Quirin. 

-

“Quirin,” Ulla said. “You know we weren’t able to recover half of the incantations. The one to control the rocks is still lost.”

“Because Adira still won’t tell me where it is, yes,” He grumbled. She had never been a fan of his methods, and now he could see why. 

“But we can still control them, stop them… as a family.” His eyes shot up to Ulla’s smile. She seemed nearly peaceful, if he didn’t know her true nature. 

“A family…?”

Her laugh was that of a funeral gong. “Be reasonable Quirin. Who do you think Varian’s father is?”

[janiedean]

now I'm curious what Heidegger did if you're open to elaborating :P

I am always open to rant on heidegger *rubs hands* THEREFORE I SHALL NOW GO ABOUT IT:

now, problem #1: heidegger is SADLY seen as like THE BIGGEST GENIUS GAMECHANGER OF THE 20TH CENTURY, THE BEST, HE CHANGED EVERYYYTHIIING blah blah blah, to which I say: BULLSHIT

and now we go on to the fact that THE FUCKER DIDN’T EVEN FUCKING KNOW WHAT HE WAS SAYING BUT WROTE EVERYTHING IN SUCH A WAY THAT IT WOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE TO UNDERSTAND IT IF YOU DIDN’T BREAK YOUR HEAD OVER IT *and* on top of that his mantra was saying that you weren’t a true philosopher if people could understand what you were saying’, which means that since everyone things he’s a genius WHAT HAPPENED SINCE THEN WAS THAT EVERYONE STARTED WRITING STUFF PUTTING IT IN A WAY THAT THE AVERAGE PERSON WOULDN’T UNDERSTAND and I hate it because that’s how the category got the fame of ‘ah those people thinking about thin air and expressing themselves without making people understand’ WHICH IS NOT TRUE THAT’S NOT WHAT PHILOSOPHY IS ABOUT

when I say the fucker had no clue, I mean that literally he wrote this essay in the thirties then twenty years later he writes a letter to someone else about it and says ‘I RE-READ IT AND I THOUGHT I PUT A BIT TOO MUCH MEAT ON THE FIRE’ translation for I DIDN’T UNDERSTAND WHAT THE FUCK I WAS WRITING

which also adds up with the fact that the moment you actually understand something and dig in deeper in his bullshit you find out IT ACTUALLY MAKES NO FUCKING SENSE/DOESN’T HOLD UP AND I HATE IT

I shall now give you TWO examples of that before I move on to the stuff that also made him a literal piece of shit under all senses

now, the essay above was a complete fucking lsd trip about how you could understand the essence of the world THROUGH ART which was a complete mess but like at some point he goes around ranting about this van gogh painting with two farmer’s shoes. heidegger is all there like SO SINCE THESE SHOES BELONG TO THE FARMER/HIS LANDLADY WHO ALSO WAS A *FARMER* YOU CAN SEE THE DIRECT LINE TO THE EARTH and a whole load of other bullshit that hinged on THE SHOES BELONGING TO A FARMER/A POOR PERSON right, so yours truly goes like ‘hey you know what I’m just gonna go read up on that painting so I can bullshit the exam if needed’, I go look that shit up and THE FIRST THING WIKIPEDIA SAID WAS THAT THE SHOES BELONGED TO VAN GOGH AND ANY CRAP ART HISTORIAN AT THEIR BEGINNING OF CAREER WILL KNOW THAT so why??? why??? that makes your entire dumb point FALL DOWN, WHY?????

other essay: heidegger decides to teach us all that THROUGH POETRY YOU CAN SEE WHAT LANGUAGE IS MADE OF, which you say okay fine, he’s gonna use more than one poet to prove his point, right? NO, he goes for german poet friederich hölderlin and nO ONE ELSE, and like you could already argue that if you’re discussing LANGUAGE using *one* poet just from your mother tongue is kind of stupid but nvm that, in the middle of the usual nonsense he goes like OH BECAUSE SINCE HIS POETRY WAS THAT GOOD/DEEP/WHATEVER HE COULD SEE THE TRUTH OF LANGUAGE™ THROUGH IT AND THAT MADE HIM GO INSANE, except that if you know anything about the dude’s life it’s pretty obvious that okay he had a bad mental breakdown at some point but the signs started being seen after his sweetheart died so like......... THAT WAS NOT ABOUT THE POETRY™ IT WAS ABOUT THE FACT THAT THIS POOR GUY ALREADY WAS MOST LIKELY SCHIZOPHRENIC AND THE GIRL’S DEATH MADE IT WORSE like it’s not a mystery so why

and that is just TWO things you can possibly grasp but like being and time is all like that about I’M EXPLAINING YOU THE MEANING OF EXISTENCE and honestly fuck that noise

now you’ll say okay that looks like this dude conned half of the world into thinking he was good but what’s the rest of it bc your vehement hatred of him can’t just be that

WELL POINT IS THE DUDE WAS A DAMN CERTIFIED NAZIST™ WHO WAS ALSO A HYPOCRITE TO  BOOT AND I HATE HIS ASS TO DEATH

now we can start with the fact that he was a pupil of other important philosopher™ edmund husserl of whose work I’m not a fan but who personally I have nothing against, now this dude already planned to leave him his position but WAIT HE WAS JEWISH, what happens when hitler comes to power? he gets laid off ofc and heidegger SAYS NOTHING AND TAKES HIS PLACE AND REMOVED THE DEDICATION TO HIS FORMER MENTOR FROM THE 1941 EDITION OF BEING AND TIME and basically he never said or did shit against the regime and imvho it’s obvious reading his works that he... bought into it, but wait more on that later

on top of that the fact that he was supporting the regime/not doing anything against it and having affairs with his students two of which had jewish ancestry/were jewish JUST FUCKING IRKS ME because while I’m not gonna bitch about the affairs since he and his wife most likely had some... agreement bc his second son was from her lover not his but he recognized him anyway and he had affairs all around I suppose that was fine, but WHAT THE FUCK YOU’RE A PROFESSOR AND YOU FUCK YOUR STUDENTS? IDC THAT HALF OF ACADEMIA DOES IT YOU’RE STILL A PIG ffs

ANYWAY like the thing is that since everyone thinks he’s A GODDAMNED GENIUS (my ass) EVERYONE HAS CONSEQUENTLY IGNORED THAT HE SUPPORTED THE GODDAMNED REGIME EVEN IF JUST AFTER THE WAR HE WAS SIDE-EYED FOR THAT never mind that in some goddamne other essay from the 50s he compared concentration camps to industrialized agriculture and ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS, and like NO ONE ACTUALLY SAYS HEY YOU NEED TO STUDY THIS ASSHOLE BC HE’S IMPORTANT FOR CONTEMPORARY PHILOSOPHY BUT KEEP IN MIND THE NAZISM IS STRONG which would be honest naaaaah most people in academia used to pretend he just collaborated and the likes -

until someone published his private diaries a few years ago when it was obvious he was supporting the regime and suddenly 80% of academia was like:

BECAUSE OF COURSE HOW COULD SUCH A GENIUS HAVE AGREED WITH HITLER WELL he did fuck off

and you’ll say okay but why does it piss you off so much? IT DOES BECAUSE THEN I HAD TO SIT THROUGH LECTURES OF PEOPLE BITCHING ABOUT ANCIENT GREEK PHILOSOPHERS BEING MISOGYNISTS WHEN IT HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THEIR THEORIES AND I WOULDN’T HAVE PRESUMED AN ANCIENT GREEK DUDE WOULD KNOW BETTER while I’d presume someone in nazi germany with a brain functioning would have known better and could have known better, but NO WE’RE IGNORING THAT BECAUSE WE CAN’T ADMIT THAT OUR PRECIOUS GENIUS WHO ALSO IS IMVHO NOT WAS A GODDAMNED HITLER SUPPORTER

AND I HATE THE WHOLE HYPOCRISY OF IT like please I don’t mind studying people’s work when I hate their ideology but I hate people pretending it wasn’t like that just because it would make the dude look bad yeah guess what idc also because 99% of what he said was bullshit anyway

tldr: the asshole was an unrepentant nazi supporter who didn’t really change that much after the war, 90% of his writings is incomprehensible and what’s comprehensible is basically ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME and on top of that he’s the reason why all contemporary philosophers can’t talk in understandable terms by the layman if you pay them to AND why everyone thinks we’re a bunch of stuck-up fucks who spend their time thinking about nothing and I really fucking hate that asshole’s guts and if there was ONE overrated person in the history of philosophy it was this piece of shit and that’s 100% of the reasons why I avoid contemporary philosophers like the plague if I can afford it :)

thanks this was my ted talk I hope you enjoyed it ;) ;)