#like he is (rightfully) still fearful of his powers but working solely out of fear did not help anyone last time

[taiturner]

So... if you're bullshitting me, I don't care. If you're hiding out here and don't want to be found, I understand. I just came here to tell you that I'm sorry for my part in what happened.

The Umbrella Academy 2x02 | The Frankel Footage

[agent-cupcake]

As a resident Claudefucker, I know am curious to know what our fave charming schemer is doing during this Mafia!AU. He'd look lovely in a suit.

~It was quite the headline when Godfrey Riegan died. The details are a little hazy, a little convenient, but people don't talk about that sort of thing. Car accidents are common. Tragic, but not unreasonable. There’s no reason to smear a man’s perfectly respectable political career for the sake of some sensational gossip.

~In the right circles, however, there was a huge uproar, questions about who was going to take over the Riegan family when the elderly boss Oswald died. The Riegan’s had been dominating Leicester for quite some time, but a lot of people began to predict that the Gloucester family was going to move in. They had powerful friends, it seemed. Friends with money, no less.

~Claude Riegan, grandson of Oswald, appeared out of nowhere just when he was needed. Stories of the lost daughter Tiana still circulated, sure, but there were still a lot of questions about Claude’s origins when nobody except Oswald were able to vouch for him. He obviously had military leadership experience—his skill with guns and ability to lead was just too excellent for any other explanation—but he dismissed the question out of hand. There’s no documentation of him, either, leading some to wonder if even his name was false. But Oswald said he was family, and that was that.

~Claude was quick to establish himself, in any case. Despite his cavalier attitude, his efficacy in overhauling the power dynamics of Leicester were profound.  

~He decided, first and foremost, that the way to win the people over was to invigorate the local culture, which had seen a sharp decline as a result of new laws that were unfavorable to business, Adrestia’s growing market monopolies, and the bad reputation of the red light district Ailell. This included some perfectly legitimate campaigning and some under the table type schemes. 

~The result was a flourishing Derdriu Street. While it lacks the prestige of Enbarr Square in Adrestia, it welcomes entertainment that would be considered too “low brow” like comedy, trendy new restaurants, and music venues. Even better, all of it is built on the recently cleaned up river. The Riegan family is involved in all of  it, of course. 

~Casino owner Claude. This exists solely to thirst but maybe it was preexisting and he took it over due to its poor management? If there’s going to be gambling anyway, it should be done right. The extra money’s not so bad, either. But, Claude lounging in a big leather chair in a dark blue blazer with gold brocade, his white shirt unbuttoned low enough to see enough his chest. Enough to make you drool. Enough that you’d definitely get caught staring and probably called out for it because he can’t help himself. Claude with his elbows on the arm rests and fingers folded in front of him as he considers you, gold rings winking because he’s just that ostentatious and appearances are important. Claude asking you how you feel about taking risks in a way that really feels like it has nothing to do with cards, staring at you with a friendly smile that doesn’t meet those calculating eyes—eyes that you know will pick up on every tell. 

~Claude also struck a deal with the Kupala Distillery. They’d been fighting to keep hold of their historic business for years, and Claude offered to help them with that. You know, not for free, but he’s good at making deals that leave everybody happy. 

~The second biggest thing he tackled was the drug trade. For the most part, no one family had ever had a complete handle on that market. The Goneril’s had a hold over the docks for years, but the Edmunds had been moving in and working with the Gloucester family to bolster their power. Distribution was scattered and hard to keep track of as it ultimately circulated wherever there was a profit to be made. Looking at it like this, Claude decided that the only way to fix things was to take control over all of it. In his line of work, shady things like the drug trade are impossible to avoid. At the very least, if he has control over it, he can ensure the product is clean and expel far more unsavory ventures.

~Through these escapades, Claude was able to make alliances with all of the major families. A lot of them had only remained loyal to the Gloucester family out of fear so as soon as they had an alternative, they bolted. This has an unfortunate side effect of revealing how his power is perceived. Every day is a balancing act for Claude. He allows each family to function as they please as long as they’re aware they do so at his mercy. It’s better to keep friends than to control enemies, but even that requires a delicate maneuvering of power.

~However, Claude likes the conflict. He enjoys the game and he especially enjoys winning the game. There’s a certain level of his excusing amorality for the sake of his family and Leicester, but there’s an equal part of him that understands his wrongdoings and deals with it separately. He wouldn’t hold to the naïve “ends justify the means” idea to excuse himself, but he would still argue that his actions have value and are even necessary. If it weren’t him, it would be somebody a lot worse than him. That’s probably something that would linger in the back of everybody’s minds whenever they shook his hand or paid their respects, whenever they began to think of how easy it would be to take him out. Fear, too. So far, Claude’s never done anything shockingly bad, only what was necessary. But with his power and intellect, it’s always a question of what he could do.

~If someone asked him that, Claude would smile that friendly smile and tell them that he would do anything to see his vision made real. Whether or not that’s true remains to be seen. 

~Luckily, Claude’s not alone! Hilda is the stereotypical crime family princess. She joined Claude because he offered her freedom from the overbearing control of her father and brother. Her skill in manipulating everybody around her combined with her reputation as a ditzy rich girl makes her fantastic at gathering information, assuming Claude can get her to do so. But, as long as he’s not being too forceful, she’s surprisingly motivated to weave her way through social circles and charm everyone. Although she would never say it, the order he brought to Leicester, not to mention the entertainment, made everything a lot better for her and her family. Plus, she likes being useful after spending her entire life watching Holst give his heart and soul to family while she did nothing. Ultimately, the information she provides is essential and her relationship with Claude is one of the few either have that’s built on trust, respect, and loyalty. That said, sometimes even Claude gets a little shiver as he watches how easily Hilda can manipulate people.  

~Lorenz was one of Claude’s most disdainful detractors, although a part of that was jealousy. Claude just swept in and did things that Lorenz had been waiting and planning to do once he became the head of the Gloucester family. Even after being on the receiving ends of such vicious attacks, once Claude undeniably had the upper hand in Leicester, he went behind the Gloucester boss’s back to Lorenz and told him that they were going to be friends or enemies, it was Lorenz’s choice. Not threatening him, just pointing out that the fall of the Gloucester family was inevitable under his father’s leadership and that Lorenz didn’t have to suffer for his father’s sins. Probably over mimosas and brunch. Lorenz is proud and has no appreciation for Claude, but he’s not stupid. After they worked out their disagreements and more or less accepted each other, Lorenz and Claude became pretty close. Claude knows that having someone to openly and aggressively disagree with him isn’t a bad thing. Not only that, but Lorenz’s a solid ally with a better grasp on some of the things Claude has difficulty with due to not being a native. Lorenz is willing to admit that Claude is a good leader.

~Marianne is well educated in the realm of the law and political action. The reason the Edmund family saw such success despite their lesser status was because of her adopted father’s genius. which he made sure to share with Marianne. She is invaluable in aiding Claude on the perfectly legitimate side of his business, and helping him hide his tracks for the shady stuff. Raphael is the muscle. Lysithea is a computer genius. Being a sickly shut in with issues that only recently saw treatment, she’s on the Mr. Robot level of hacker mode activated. Ignatz is an architect which is useful since so much of Claude’s power is in the property and infrastructure. He also designed a lot of places to have some neat-o hidey holes. Claude loves buildings that have secrets. Leonie is manages a lot of the physical and pettier side of the work. If someone’s stirring up trouble, she’s likely to pay them a visit as a warning before Claude has to get involved. She used to be a mercenary but being on Claude’s payroll is a lot better of a gig.    

~As for the suits, one thing is very important. Claude would not, under any circumstances, wear something tight on his thighs. I actually kind of like the idea of him going for a 1980′s style modernized. In his post timeskip outfit, he’s already got a hint of that going on with how oversized his outfit looks. The 80′s (rightfully) gets a bad rep for fashion, but it’s also very iconic with those wide-collared suit jackets, matchy-matchy three piece suits, sportscoats with a fun patterned shirt underneath, open blazers, pleated pants with an oversized jacket, and—in particular—the trend of summer suits in shades of tan and cream with colored shirts underneath. Then, combine that with a pair of Ray-Ban Aviators and a topless convertible and you’ve got a distinctly recognizable mob boss who doubles as a devastating heartthrob. I’m not saying he’d do a 1:1 recreation, but you’d definitely see references to the fashion of the era in his outfits. He would wear oxfords or ankle boots. Whatever it was, they’d have to be comfortable. He also doesn’t shy away from jewelry. The earring, of course, and rings when he's feeling particularly decadent. When he’s wearing his shirts unbuttoned Claude could possibly wear a gold chain. I mean, what are you gonna say, no? That gold doesn’t look gorgeous against his skin? That it’s tacky? You’re talking to the man who wore quilted pants. Claude’s not afraid to stand out because he knows he will anyway, nor is he afraid to be seen as unfashionable because he doesn’t particularly care about trends. I also enjoy the idea of him emulating the 80′s as someone who didn’t grow up in a western culture and thus mainly saw things through the lens of movies. Whatever he wears, however, he would look very handsome.

[logicalbookthief]

Things Left Unsaid -- An Analysis of Rei & Touya

Apparently Rei has been getting a lot of flack lately, all of it undeserved, and since I had a post analyzing her relationship with Touya in the works already, I figured no time like the present.

Disclaimer #1: There are a lot of issues with the writing for Rei’s character that have nothing to do with her and everything to do with how the storyline is using her, which I will address and examine.

Disclaimer #2: I’m someone who, while always curious as to what kind of relationship Rei had with her oldest son before he died, never thought it would be revealed that Touya was close to his mom. I don’t think you get the Dabi we see in Chapters 290-295 without him being so warped by his relationship with his father yet so dependent on his attention that he was willing to kill his brother and himself simply for his father’s acknowledgement.

But that’s what I find so interesting about Rei and Touya -- it’s a relationship that mainly consists of regrets and things left unsaid. There isn’t the anger or resentment Dabi feels for Endeavor, because that intense level of emotion sprung from the loss of the father who used to be his whole world. His feelings toward his mother seem more amicable, but also more distant.

And while she could’ve done some things differently in regards to her oldest, I want to make it clear that the distance between them was very much by design.

After all, Touya was the end goal of their marriage. It was never any secret as to why Enji wanted to marry her and to some extent Rei must’ve realized that this child was not meant to be hers: the child was the transaction, the thing she was needed to create, to give to her husband. Of course she loved Touya and was likely his primary caregiver for most of his life, but there was no doubt that once his quirk manifested and he could begin his hero training, his life would be dominated by his father. Which is what happened.

Here, I would like to point out something I noticed in the flashback chapters. We never see any panels of Enji alone with any of his children during their infancy -- even with Shouto, the perfect child he longed for, we see Rei holding Shouto, sitting by him as he sleeps. Enji is there tangentially. Once Shouto begins his training, that is when we see him with his father.

So to see Enji with Touya when he was a baby, prior to his quirk manifesting, strikes me as a big deal. But it makes sense if you remember that he’d placed all his hopes, dreams and expectations on his firstborn. Initially, it doesn’t look like he even considered the possibility that Touya wouldn’t be his successor or that his little eugenics experiment would fail; this was his first, most optimistic attempt at a masterpiece. So I don’t believe it’s far-fetched to see him spend more time with Touya right off the bat (it’s what will make the eventual abandonment all the more crushing).

However, Rei isn’t seen at all in the snippet of Touya’s infancy, despite us knowing she was relegated to the caregiver role. Rei is literally out of the picture. Compare this to how she features prominently in Shouto’s infancy or how we see her holding a baby Natsuo. You could argue that, hey, we don’t see her holding a baby Fuyumi either, but there’s other scenes where Fuyumi’s attached to her mother’s hip or crying over her being hurt. Things that suggest a closeness, when the only scene we get of just her and Touya is one where they’re at odds. 

As we move further into Touya’s childhood, though, Rei becomes the only voice we hear advocate for him against his father. I’m referencing two specific instances:

When Enji coerces her into having more children to replace Touya now that his father has deemed him a failure, something she knows will hurt their son deeply.

And after Touya lashes out at Shouto, which Rei doesn’t blame on Touya, but rather on his father. She delivers such a satisfying condemnation of his actions, probably the most cutting one Endvr’s received to date, and it so accurately sums up one of his major character flaws.

How can you call yourself a hero when you can’t even face your own son?

The tragedy of it all is that Rei never said any of this in front of Touya -- it was always said in private, just to her husband. That alone took courage, yes, but it would’ve meant everything to Touya to hear her condemn his father aloud. Instead when she does speak to him, she says this:

It’s why I can’t wrap my head around that scene in Ch 302, where after Enji admits he didn’t know what to say to Touya, Rei replies, “Neither did I.” 

When we’re shown in flashbacks during that same chapter that she did understand her son. “He just wants to be acknowledged by you” is quite the indication that she, at the very least, understood the cause of Touya’s turmoil even if she couldn’t fully relate to it herself. So why can’t she say any of this to him?

The answer is in the way she addresses Touya, as it is nearly identical to how Nao addresses Tenko in this scene:

Both Touya and Tenko grew up in similar households: the father had all the power, physical and financial, so the mothers were left to try and comfort their children in a way that didn’t go against their husbands’ desires -- and so, to use Tenko’s own words, they would “reject them with kindness.”

So it’s no wonder that Touya lashes out at his mother after she suggests he pursue other things. He isn’t five like Tenko was, he’s thirteen and has a much clearer understanding of why she says this and why it’s a bit hypocritical, since he’s aware of her situation, too.

Just as she was bound by her family, who wanted her to marry Endvr for the money and status, he’s bound by the expectations of his family. I’m not sure if I’ve seen anyone else touch on this detail, but when Touya states that he knows his grandparents sold his mom into marriage so his dad could have a child, we could infer that Touya knows enough to realize that his mother might not have necessarily wanted him.

Not him specifically, but any child — the story has neglected to flesh her out beyond her marriage and motherhood, so we have no idea if Rei wanted to become a mother prior to this arrangement, despite how much she loves her kids now — although it is possible that he might’ve internalized it this way.

So you have Touya, who at least knows with certainty that his father wanted him to exist, yet he comes to understand that his father only wants him if he can meet a specific set of expectations, and if he cannot, he’ll be discarded. If he can’t surpass All Might, he can’t fulfill his reason for existing and his father will have to replace him. So to have his mother urge him to follow a path other than becoming a hero would mean, to Touya, accepting that he is the mistake he fears he is. Of course he isn’t going to respond well to that.

I don’t like when people try to compare Touya’s reaction in this moment to Shouto’s when Rei tells him he isn’t bound by his father’s blood, using that to paint Shouto as the “good” child and Touya as the “bad” one. They didn’t react differently because of any innate sense of goodness or lack thereof -- they reacted differently because the situations are different.

Telling Shouto that he didn’t have to be like his father comforted Shouto, who only knew his father as the bully who hurt his mom. He associated his father, and his father’s fire, with all of that fear and pain -- and thus, he associated the part of himself that took after his father with those feelings. She wasn’t denying his dream of becoming a hero, only assuring him that when he became a hero it could be whatever kind of hero he chose to be, that he wasn’t doomed to be like his father.

Whereas what she tells Touya sounds a lot like what his father told him, which was to give up on being a hero and pursue other aspirations.

Encouraging Shouto to become his own version of a hero still falls in line with what Endvr ultimately wants, which is for Shouto to be a hero capable of surpassing All Might. Whereas this is what happens when Touya continues to train to do that against his father’s wishes:

This is where the framing begins to bother me and where Rei’s characterization becomes inconsistent. 

So in this scene from Ch 302, we see Enji abusing his wife for “letting” Touya continue to train, punishing her for her “failure” to stop him. Obviously, none of that is Rei’s fault. If anything, Enji would be more responsible for preventing Touya from hurting himself since he’s the reason his son is hurting himself in the first place.

Moreover, the fact that he hits Rei over this sort of muddies the water of an previously-established narrative. Since the Sports Festival arc, we’ve known that Endvr abused his wife because she tried to interfere with Shouto’s training. It got to the point where she was terrified of her husband and it drove her to a breakdown. Why introduce this new aspect to the abuse, when it was already established that a) he was physically abusive and b) his motivations for abusing her were explicit to the audience? 

I’m not saying it doesn’t make sense that a man who hits his wife for one reason could find another reason to do it and justify his actions to himself. And while the scene does portray Endvr in a bad light to show how wrong his actions are, literally draping his figure in shadow, why does it even dare to suggest the idea that Rei was remiss in her duties as a mother? Again, the scene isn’t even necessary, since the narrative has long-since showed the audience that Enji abused his wife. 

By itself, the scene would read as further exploration of how Rei was victimized and how it affected her children. When you look at it with the chapter as a whole, though? Remember, this is the chapter where Rei claims that all of the family shares the blame in what happened to Touya, displacing some of the blame that rightfully rests on Enji. 

But my major gripe with this scene is how it reframes the sole moment we get of Rei and Touya alone. Because we know that Rei understands Touya, based on her confrontations with her husband in Ch 301 & 302. Rather than encourage him to be what he wants or acknowledge that his father is in the wrong, however, her advice falls in line with what Enji wants -- to stop Touya from training. And this comes after a scene where we see Enji beat his wife when she doesn’t stop Touya from training.

With all that in mind, it could potentially be read as Rei trying stop Touya for the sake of protecting herself and the family -- I don’t think it’s coincidence that in the scene where he hits her that we see Shouto, Fuyumi & Natsuo all as witnesses who are very distressed by what’s happening to their mother -- at the cost of Touya’s need to be validated. And if executed well or at least better than it has here, that wouldn’t be a bad choice of narrative per se, and it would fit into the pattern where the households the villains were raised in -- notably Shigaraki, Dabi & Toga -- mimic the society they live in, just on a smaller scale.

Except. Does that sort of narrative make sense based on what we already know about Rei?

Certainly, it is natural to want to protect yourself under physical and/or emotional duress by appeasing your abuser. This sort of complicated dynamic appears in the Shimura family, too. Just like in the house that Kotaro built, the Todoroki family revolves around the desires of the abuser and is dictated by his whims.

I would argue that Nao does give us a well-written example of this narrative. From the beginning, it’s established that she loves Tenko dearly. But in the house her husband built, there’s no room to love her son as he deserves. She prioritizes the feelings of Tenko’s father for the sake of maintaining peace in the household and this is established quickly and plainly.

Early on in the flashback, Kotaro exerts his control over the house, while Nao + her parents look uncomfortable. Despite this, we watch as they comply with his rules, all at the expense of Tenko’s feelings. When she stands up to Kotaro at last, it is not where Tenko can see and already too late. It’s a painful story, full of regret and sadness, but it is consistent from start to end. Nobody feels out-of-character or there to prop up anybody else.

So why doesn’t Rei feel as consistent in this narrative?

Because it doesn’t fit with everything we knew about Rei prior to her abuser’s subpar redemption arc.

The way she interacts with Touya would make sense, if this was how she was portrayed from the start. However, her behavior in Shouto’s flashback -- where she was first introduced -- contrasts what we get in the later Todoroki flashbacks.

Let’s compare this to the scenes in Ch 302. Here, Rei interferes on Shouto’s behalf. She advocates for her son in front of Shouto where he can hear. She stands up to his bully/villain and tries to protect him, while also validating his feelings in the process. Directly after this, Enji hits her, not for failing to comply with his demands, but for defying him. 

It is difficult to reconcile this Rei with the Rei we get in Ch 302. And if you try to find an in-story reason for the inconsistency, the options either do a disservice to Rei or make things even more painful for Touya. But I’m sure most of you have realized that I’m going to suggest a reason for this inconsistency that goes beyond the canon.

Because when Rei was first introduced in the story, Endvr was unequivocally the villain in the Todoroki family, not some misguided patriarch trying to atone for his “past” mistakes. Years later and in the midst of his redemption arc, the narrative seems to be intent on making this man more palatable to readers, and it’s used Rei at every opportunity to prop up his efforts to be better. Often, though, it takes some of the heat off Enji by displacing it onto other family members, most significantly Rei & Touya.

Like, you can literally see the difference in the frame from early in the manga to now:

Ch 39: Endvr trains his five-year-old to the point where he’s throwing up due overextension and being punched by a fully grown adult who is also his father. Rei tries to protect her son and gets slapped by Endvr. All the blames rests squarely on Endvr, who is clearly the aggressor and painted as the villain here.

Ch 302: Endvr hits Rei for not preventing Touya from sneaking out to train, knocking her to the ground. Again, Endvr is clearly the aggressor, but oh this time it’s not driven solely by his selfish desires it’s also cocnern for his son; Rei is the victim but oh she also should have been watching him more closely, and oh well why was Touya going out in the first place, when everyone has told him to stop and he knows his mom will get punished for it?

Honestly, I can understand where some people have mixed feelings over Rei’s character, particularly since the writing has done her such a disservice recently. With that being said, however, it takes a minimum amount of critical thinking to recognize that while you can criticize some choices she made, you cannot hold her to the same standard of accountability as Enji, it’s absurd. The power imbalance was obviously tipped in Endvr’s favor, always.

It is a shame, too, that we can’t have more discussions that don’t turn into some readers (a lot of whom are attempting to make Endvr sound less horrible than he actually was) trying to demonize her. It’s doubly a shame the story itself doesn’t bother to flesh her out as a person, instead using her as a prop, because the complex relationships she has with Touya -- with all her children, really -- has plenty of room for exploration. 

Like, there was no reason to add this new dimension of resentment due to her spouting Enji’s words back at Touya, when there was already a source of tension supported by previous canon -- the neglect the Todoroki kids suffered because Rei couldn’t be the parent they needed, due to her declining mental health and eventual breakdown.

Or, if you want to complicate their dynamic further, why not add something that focuses on Rei and has nothing to do with Enji? We learn in the flashbacks that Rei agreed to the marriage more-or-less to please her family, lamenting that she “intended to smile through it to the end,” essentially admitting that her hope was she could grin and bear it. It is telling that she had this attitude before entering her marriage; evidently, she was raised with the idea that she should be acquiescent to her parents’ whims and not express herself if she was only going to be contrary. Maybe she didn’t know how to deal with Touya’s very expressive, very emotional outbursts as a result. And her inability to respond would be the exact opposite of what Touya was seeking.

Not to mention that Touya died, and for the last decade, Rei was under the impression she had lost her son forever. He died while she was hospitalized, torn up with guilt over what she did to Shouto, only to find out that her other son died in a frankly horrific manner, and she could do nothing. By the time she would’ve found out, it was too late to even try to do anything. I can’t imagine what she must’ve felt in terms of regret alone, plus her grief. And I’m still mad we were robbed of her reaction to Touya being alive, because now suddenly there is a chance to do something, to change what was once written in stone.

Or what about Touya’s feelings for his mother, that have yet to be given much depth? As the oldest and most aware of his existence, it seems like he was the first to truly understand his mother’s situation and I can’t help but wonder: If Touya knew he vessel for his father’s ambition, and his mother was sold into role of creating/caring for him, did he question her love for him? Once he found out one parent’s love was conditional, it wouldn’t be a leap for him to consider it for the other. And yet if that’s true, Dabi doesn’t appear to hold any ill-will towards her for that. He was angry at her hypocrisy, because he knows she should understand, but her words to him didn’t reflect that.

All of that is fascinating and so much better than what we got in canon, so far at least. I’m hoping for them interact in the present at least once before the end of the series, and I think they will, but as to how satisfying a reconciliation it’ll be, I guess we’ll have to wait to see how the Todoroki plotline progresses from here on out.

[angeloncewas]

Theory: Tommy covets the discs so deeply because he fears reaching a point where he "has nothing to lose" and follows Wilbur's path.

Tommy watched his older-brother figure (whether they are canon family or not, the dynamic was pretty clear) race forward with unbridled ambition and come out victorious. Wilbur taught him everything. He encouraged Tommy to fight with words instead of weapons, he stood his ground in front of the most powerful people on the SMP without armor, he straight up declared a plot of land independent; that's not how servers work, but Wilbur did it and Tommy followed with faith and awe every step of the way.

L'manberg was to Wilbur as the discs were to Tommy. A hard-fought victory, a symbol of unity and success and everything they'd worked for. It drove every action Wilbur took.

Then, when Wilbur, his idol, was about to lose the country that was everything to him, Tommy chose to sacrifice what mattered most to him in exchange; giving Dream the discs in for the formal recognition of L'manberg's independence.

Flash forward a bit though and they've lost. For real. Schlatt won the election; L'manberg officially was his and not Wilbur's.

Tommy was sure they could restore everything to how it was before... but Wilbur became less and less like he used to be as time went on. Wilbur didn't have the confidence he used to. Wilbur stopped guiding Tommy anymore, instead standing beside him and whispering that they can't trust anybody.

"I know you're scared, Tommy, I understand you're scared. [...] In a time like this, when a man has nothing to lose, d'y'know what that means? It means we can do what we want."

Tommy watched the man who'd always known where to go and what to do, the person he so desperately molded himself after out of admiration and the pursuit of what he'd had established, lose it.

Tommy watched Wilbur lose everything and then, consequently, himself. All while unable to do a single thing about it.

And it did scare him. Especially after Wilbur destroyed all that he created and died by his father's hands. It still does scare him.

Why doesn't Tommy just burn the discs?

He would be just like Wilbur.

Or at least, he thinks that he would be. Discs don't seem equivalent to an entire nation, but you have to understand that they each are (to Tommy and Wilbur, respectively) the sole things that they have earned. Their prized possessions, that which is rightfully theirs, what drives every action they've taken.

"I say if we can't have Manberg, then NO ONE, NO ONE CAN HAVE MANBERG!"

If Tommy were to take the discs away from everyone, sure, the wars may be over, but he will have come to the same conclusions Wilbur had. That if it exists out of his hands, his thing deserves to be destroyed.

He spent so long wanting to be Wilbur and setting himself up to do so. Now, because of that, he dreads repeating history.

Without L'manberg, Wilbur cared about nothing and no one. He detonated a bomb in its center with no regard for the carnage it would cause and then was happy to be killed, having begged for it.

Without the discs, what will Tommy do?

[extremelyblackandwhite]

handmaid - 33

PAIRING: mob!sebastian stan x ingenue!reader

WARNINGS: age gap, guns

A/N: we’re a few chapters away from the end and i’m much too emotional. hope you enjoy this chapter x

NEXT CHAPTER

Her reflection in the mirror was quite clear: the handmaid was dressed like a bridesmaid. She observed the tiny details of the dress which reached all the way to the ground, the same tiny details reproduced on every single dress any of her bridesmaids were wearing and in that exact moment, Y/N never felt more hypocritical than ever before wearing a celebration dress for a celebration she didn’t want to celebrate. She really wanted to be happy for her and if she were marrying anyone else, she would’ve been so excited, but she wasn’t. Gwen was marrying Sebastian, she was marrying the man she was in love with and the man who was unknowingly the father of her baby. 

Everything just seemed to happen in slow motion and she felt herself leave more and more from the scene as she stood there in her bridesmaid dress and berry coloured lipstick with no one talking or even noticing she was there. For the first time in her life she realised how invisible she was to everyone in that room. Every single person in that room had once asked for her help being with homework or lying and she was still as invisible as ever. As the bridal party exchanged various gifts to be used on her “first night” along with unholy amounts of champagne and expensive gourmet canapés, Y/N took away from the bedroom, slowly and quietly closing the door. The halls of the Ritz were filled with several guests from mob families’ heads to their friends, celebrities, public personalities and rich people waiting for the time to get a peek the blushing bride. Y/N would have easily swayed through the crowd and returned to her bedroom had it not been for a few flower girls running around in their puffy taffeta baby pink dresses with their hair up in silky ribbons with some flowers peppered around. 

She didn’t know if it was her hormones playing tricks on her or if the lack of sleep had finally caught up to her but she couldn’t help but stare at them with an inherent sadness as her hand rested against her stomach. Was she gonna even have enough to provide for her child? The pay checks coming from being in Sebastian’s employment wouldn’t be enough for more than the first year and with the economy, Y/N didn’t think someone would be looking for an English Literature major. She had never even had experience in the field, being forbidden to do a internship year at the British Museum with the excuse that it would be much too dangerous. How was she gonna provide for the baby? Maybe she could get a job as a waitress in Paris, the city was filled with cafés and restaurants. 

Nevertheless, she couldn’t help but feel worry as her thumb caressed her stomach. Turning her head away from the playing children she continued her way down the hall until the lift that would take her to her bedroom. Y/N watched the numbers of the doors go down until she noticed Sebastian’s door. Unlike Gwen’s door, there was no one awaiting outside, it was void of any seemingly curious people about the groom. She should really keep walking and not get in, yet she felt pity for him not having his mother or his father on his wedding day and so she knocked softly on his door, opening it to see Sebastian walking from side to side, a condensed glass of orange coloured whiskey on his left hand and a untied tie hanging from his neck.

     - Liquid courage? - she walked into his room. He looked at her for a few seconds before gulping the rest of his beverage, cleaning his lips with the back of his hand afterwards. - Where are your groomsmen? 

     - In the same place where non-existent things belong. - he replied, turning to his floor length mirror to try and tie his tie to no avail. Y/N sighed, placing her hands in his shoulders and turning him to face her before her hands moved to his tie to tie it into a Windsor not. 

     - You surely must have someone close enough to be your groomsman or best man. - she straightened his crisp cotton dress shirt before sliding her hands back to his shoulders. She let out a sigh, looking to the other side and contemplating what she was about to ask him. - Let’s run away.

     - What?

     - Let’s go to France. There’s a place I know which would definitely take us in until we found a place since I’m sure Mr. Forrest wouldn’t allow me to keep the house. Let’s just go, please.

     - What? Angel, we can’t just run away, my whole money is dependent on this marriage. How am I supposed to take care of you? Do you know how many enemies I have? I couldn’t possibly hire enough security for you. - he cupped her face, trying to make her understand her point. - I will never have enough to give you if we leave.

     - As long as you’re with me, that would be enough. Am I not enough? 

     - Angel, there is a legally binding contract between me and Genevieve. I can’t just ... I promised my father. - Y/N took a step back, hitting the door while her hand held the knob. - We can’t rush in, we need to have a pla ...

     - Why do you care so much about what your father made you promise when you were a child. The same child whose mother he forbad you from seeing ... you know Sebastian, just because your father was a great man, doesn’t mean he was a good one. 

Before he could reply to her, she opened the door and exited, rushing through the hall and punching the button of the lift so she could return to her bedroom before she completely broke down. She could feel her chest clenched and the warmness of her tears which almost burned the brim of her eyes. All she could hear was her heart pounding in her ear mixed with the soft music of the lift and nothing made her want to break down more in tears than she should.

As she rushed into her bedroom she collapsed on her bed, the tears finally rolling down. Mr. Williams was right, she was a mistress and a innocent mistress at that. Why would she believe he would run away? Why would he gave up on what he knew for her? But will all of that, what would she do with the baby? She clearly couldn’t stay, Gwen and Dan would be quick to notice her growing bump along with other pregnancy symptoms? No, she had to leave. Start again, start again Y/N. She can’t spend her whole life dreaming despite it being all she seemed inclined to do. She was about to be a mother and needed a brand new start. Wiping the tears from her eyes, she opened the bedside drawer to pull out the key to her apartment in France but instead of it she found a blanket. Her eyes couldn’t believe the picture they saw as she realised it was the same blanket she had left back in Sebastian’s penthouse. 

     - My, my, there must be quite a story to go with that blanket. - her blood froze as she turned her face towards one corner of the bedroom to see Mr. Williams sat on her arm chair. - Won’t you tell me? 

     - Get out. - she held tightly onto her pillow, fear installing itself in her whole being?

     - No? Alright then. - he grinned darkly. - I will tell you a story. Once upon a time there was a man who was deeply in love with a beautiful young woman. He used to sit in the box of her operas every single night just to hear her sing and all was well ... But, one day, the beautiful woman shows up engaged to a mob boss. He quickly understood that in this world love is meaningless and all that matters is power so, he decided that he was gonna get as much as he could and maybe win the woman as a treat too. He planned everything, he had her unborn daughter’s safety put in risk knowing the young woman would rush to his employer for help. He thought that surely offering his employer the only family that stood in his way would make him overcome with joy and he would finally promote the man to the type of power he wanted. However, the employer instead decided to make sure that family would never stand in his way by ensuring his son would marry the young woman’s precious daughter. The man knew his only way to power was if that daughter disappeared so he decided he would kill her yet when he tried the beautiful young woman stood in the way and he couldn’t finish the job. 

      - Why are you telling me this? 

      - The father of the young woman’s daughter grew worried that his precious little daughter would be harmed again so he made an orphan baby pass out as his daughter to ensure she would never be harmed. However, the father was much too weak to completely give the baby up and instead kept her around as a handmaid. The man thought power was just on the horizon but then at a masquerade he saw the eyes of the same woman he loved controlling the man who held the power he deserved. And so, I lived unhappily ever after. 

     - You’re lying. - she could feel her heart pound harder as she felt into an abyss of existentialism. What do you do when you see that who you think you are isn’t what you think you are. 

     - I knew I would have to get some concrete proof so I asked a few favours. I knew Michael Forrest wouldn’t leave his only child, his only daughter completely penniless and so when I saw your name as the sole benefactor of his will I had my proof. 

     - But Dan ...

     - Daniel Forrest is nothing but an affair gone wrong whom he took pity on but you ... you were born more powerful than I have ever been. Not only are you the sole benefactor of a whole entire family’s work and prestige, you also were born rich enough to never work a single day on your life. Everything was given to you and you didn’t even know it while I paid and I suffered only to see that petulant man child grab the spot that I rightfully deserved. - Y/N looked at her door hoping Elias would be there to help her out, she really hoped someone would pass be. He had to be lying, he had to be lying. - Here is how you’re gonna pay me if you were to have what you so want. No one will believe you, a pregnant mistress who isn’t even smart enough to dispose of her own pregnancy test and your daddy would never allow you to be married to someone from the Stan family, but with me on your side, with my evidence, they will listen. When you are married, you will make me a personal adviser and you will put forward my good name and I shall manage that clueless little man child who should’ve never been born in the first place.

      - He’s not clueless. - her voice was low but full of intention.

      - And who are you? How are you gonna rule two mob families if you can’t even piece together who your parents were even with me giving you clues. Best give it to me, that way both of us will have exactly what we want. 

      - No. - she stood up from her bed, looking him down from where he was standing much to his surprise. - I couldn’t defend my mother from you but I will protect Sebastian.

      - Well, birdie ... - his hand grabbed something from his side and as it hit the light, Y/N realised her was holding a gun in her direction. - Who will protect you? 

      - Please, don’t do this. - she pleaded. - I ... I told Sebastian not to be harsh with you, I helped you, I was kind to you. 

      - Kindness doesn’t get you anywhere in this business. - he noticed her eyes on the door and chuckled. - Your bodyguard thinks you’re in the bridal suit, no one is gonna come looking for you. Now, you’re gonna be a good girl to me and go with me to the car or I’ll make sure they find your bodyguard in a pool of his own blood.

He got up from his seat and rushed to her, putting her in front of him, one hand gripping her arm while the other one held the gun against her spine. She could feel her heart beat and flashes of everything she had done since she remembered living. Was she gonna die? Was this how she ended? Nevertheless, there was nowhere she could go as he led her drown the stairs and onto the lobby, stopping as he noticed the telephone on the entrance table. He turned her harshly towards the desk until her ribs hit the edge and before the assistant could say anything, he pointed his gun at her. 

     - Sebastian always thinks he has everything under control, I’m about to show him just how wrong he is. - he ordered the woman to type in a number on the hotel’s phone before grabbing it himself. - If you want this lovely lady not to have a bullet in the middle of her eyes you are gonna tell him you’re pregnant and how scared you are. 

He shoved the phone against her ear, hurting her in the process and she could feel her tears burn the brim of her eyes yet again as the loud beeping played around and around before he picked it up, a rather upsetting hello coming through. She, however, couldn’t say anything which quickly changed as he pressed the gun against her back rather forcefully. 

     - Go on. - he whispered against her ear as Sebastian said another hello on the phone. 

     - S...Sebastian, it’s Y/N ... - the gun pressed harder on her back. - I’m scared, Sebastian. I’m scared.

     - Are you alright? 

     - Now, don’t play games with me Y/N. Go on ... tell him

     - I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to, I’m so sorry. 

     - Angel, whatever it is, you can tell me. 

     - I’m pregnant. 

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[fortheloveoffanfic]

Protective Service

John Wick x Reader (with a nickname and last name). Requested (A/n-posting this instead of the series that already completely written and ready to go. Initially a request, at this point, I don’t know by who, but if you’re still out there, I hope you enjoy. Also, it, as you can see, became bigger than it was supposed to. Why can’t I just write a oneshot?)

Masterlist

Warnings- murder, gun violence.

Chapter 1 A Murder, a Memory, a Hiring.

Sighing heavily, Y/n sank further into her impressive, leather upholstered chair, her legs crossed, one hand outstretched, her manicured nails drumming on the mahogany table top. A draining of scotch lingered near a stack of papers in a delicate crystal glass, forgotten. The men lined before her desk seemed nervous, they always did when they were around her; fear and respect went hand in hand when she was around. It was what Y/n had learned from her father, many years before his passing; sometimes, to earn the respect of those beneath you, you have to force it into them, by any means necessary. 

“So,” Y/n pursed her maroon stained lips, “What the hell should I do with you?” When the one with her attention didn’t answer, opting to stand before her like a broken animal, knees shaking and sweating like a pig, Y/n glanced around the room, her eyes passing over four of her most trusted men, “What do you think gentleman? Think he’s any use to us?”

Even they seemed reluctant to answer, desperately avoiding being on her bad side. That was a side one never lived to come back from. “Well?” Her tone was now heavy with annoyance, “Do we tolerate scum?”

Seeming to find some misplaced courage, the man finally spoke up for himself, “Vila,” he pleaded, his frumpy form racked with sobs, deep down, knowing that the end was nigh, and inevitable, “I can serve you. I can…...I can….”

“You can what?” She smirked, “Give me something I need?” Y/n mocked, reaching into her desk drawer, she produced a custom handgun with abstract designs carved about it and gold embellishments emphasizing the beauty of the matte black. Slowly, her lithe fingers worked on loading it, “You know,” Y/n’s words were absent and careless, “Vilas, in Slavic folklore, they’re fairies, extraordinarily beautiful. Do you think I’m beautiful Johan?”

Y/n stood from the chair, letting it roll back a little and as she walked around to the other side of the table, she was sure to make a show of swiping the gun off the top. Her heels thudded softly as she approached him, and her men stepped out of her way, eyeing Johan closely, making sure he didn’t try anything. “Well?”

“I do,” he nodded vigorously, whimpering, as he was shoved down to his knees, his beaten face bloodied and sweaty, “So beautiful,” in an attempt to earn her forgiveness he planted his hands on the floor at her feet, “Please, please Vila, it was mistake, it won’t happen again.”

“You’re right,” she smiled slyly, “Do you do what happens when someone betrays a Vila?” Sighing as she awaited his answer, Y/n brushed some hair out of her face with the tip of her red polished nail. Shifting her weight from her left leg to her right, “Answer me!” Her snarl was venomous and her henchmen jumped; it was rare for her to lose control of her anger like that. Y/n got angry, of course, she was only human, but she had enough self control to maintain her cool demeanor. Always emanating danger but never out rightly so.

When Johan still couldn’t muster up the response, she grabbed him by the hair, violently yanking his head up, “Let me tell you, when scum like you betrays the hand that has given them so much, it dies.” Letting him go, Y/n clenched her jaw, snapping for two men to hold him in place, “I’ve had enough of this bullshit,” she managed, pressing the gun to his head, and before he could even beg again, the sound of the shot being fired resounded, bouncing off the walls of her office. Blood splattered, droplets clinging to her pristine white blouse while some flew to her face, though most of it was on her hands.

“Great,” Y/n rolled her eyes when they dropped the limp body, the heavy thump being followed by blood pooling on her rug. “What a fucking mess,” she huffed, tossing the gun to the table for cleaning later, taking the handkerchief offered by a man just about ten years her senior, Donavan, he was a loyal one, her right hand when she needed one, and quite the treat to look at, among other things.

Tossing the kerchief back to Donavan not caring if he caught it or not, Y/n was already walking out of the room, sure to evade the saturated parts of the rug, her heels thumping softly when she was out in the hallway, “Call clean up, and get a replacement for that rug before I’m back this evening.”

“Yes ma’am,” Donavan was just a couple paces behind her, already getting out his phone to make arrangements. When he slipped the cell back into his breast pocket, they were already descending a spiral staircase that led down to an open floor, where most of the business took place; packing for exports, accounts in another corner and stocks kept in the back. All in all, the nondescript warehouse on Staten Island was where Y/n spent the majority of her day, running the empire that had been built long before there was even an inkling of her conception. It was the base and brain of operations, where her office was and where the dirty work happened. 

Typically, upon her arrival at around nine am, Y/n didn’t didn’t leave the lot until late in the evening, but that day, in addition to her very busy morning, she had a meeting with the High Table, her first one since being inaugurated. Her father would be proud.

But Y/n?

She was downright terrified.

Not that she would admit it. Y/n wasn’t the kind of person who admitted to fear. Or any sort of human emotion, she preferred to keep those around her guessing, that way they’d be sure to fear her, and by consequence submit to her rule. At least, that was what she’d told herself.

Just as they stepped outside, Donavan opened up an umbrella for her, guarding Y/n from the slight drizzle that overcast New York offered. Awaiting her was a black Rolls-Royce, it’s sleek coat shining even in the dimness of the day while the heavily tinted bullet-proof windows were spotless. Another hand held the back door open, and as Y/n slipped into the vehicle, Donavan handed her a thick long coat and large designer handbag;  peeking out of the opened top was a fresh blouse, a charcoal colored, silk one. Without as much as a word to part them, he closed her door, letting the car pull off.

The minute they were out of the lot, she got to work on her blouse, quickly untucking it from her skirt, pulling it over her head and casting it aside before hastily pulling out the clean one, shrugging on the cool material. The inside of the blouse was rough against her skin and Y/n’s nimble fingers made short work of the mimicked crystal buttons and when she was finished, she haphazardly tucked it into her black pencil skirt and pulled on her coat. Afterwards, she ran a corrective comb through her tresses and freshened her lipstick. 

She was finished by the time her driver was taking her over the Verrazano-Narrows, the Continental wasn’t too far off there, right in the thick of the city and Y/n opted to occupy the rest of her drive with a drink from the limited selection.

The burning twinge of the whiskey was paired with a smoky note, both pleasantly welcome, cooling Y/n’s nerves. Finally, in the quiet security of the car, she could think. Think about what she’d gotten herself into. Taking up the seat at the High Table wasn’t a decision that she’d made lightly, Y/n knew what came with it; with power came enemies, and her line of work had already fitted her with many. There were those who didn’t approve of her induction, older heads who felt that Y/n was too young to be held in such esteem, she couldn’t have known much, she was nothing more than a daddy’s girl who didn’t have to claw, or fuck, her way to the top. There were even a select few who’s reservations were contained solely in their jealousy too; one twenty something shouldn’t be afforded that much power when others twice her age were still scurrying for scraps.

However, their opinions on her weren’t what contributed to Y/n’s unease, she never paid much mind to what others thought of her, only the insecure spent time worrying about something as frivolous as public perception, and Y/n was anything but. Optics were the least of Y/n’s problems, her issue was with what people would do to ensure her untimely downfall. There were only so many enemies a girl could kill before starting to seriously worry for her life. Y/n didn’t want to die, no one did, not by a bullet to the head or poison in the rum. But Y/n knew that there were those that would go the lengths, that would do anything to see her gone just so they could snatch up what was rightfully hers.

The troubling thoughts were consuming, and the more her mind worked, the more Y/n felt like she’d just been tossed into the Hudson without a life raft, paddling clumsily just to stay afloat, icy water frosting her insides. Blinking quickly, Y/n downed the rest of her drink, hoping to swallow the feeling and return it to where it belonged; deep down for none, herself included, to find. Fear meant that something had power over you, and she couldn’t be the one without control. She was in control.

Before Y/n could think to pour herself another, the car was stopping in front of the Continental, where the meeting was being held. A person, who’s face she didn’t care to commit, held the door open for her and Y/n walked straight past him without as much as a thanks. Eyes followed her as she strode towards the concierge’s station, some adoring, other’s with glares as sharp as daggers. No doubt, they all knew who she was, the only Romanov daughter; a pampered princess turned ruthless bitch. It was impossible to be a working fraction of the criminal underbelly of New York and not know her. But whatever they thought they knew; it wasn’t nearly enough.

Her expensive perfume carried in the air like a siren song, calling attention from all around, making hotel staff temporarily stop their jobs and guests raise their heads and hang their jaws. Upon reaching the desk, Y/n drummed her fingers on the cool surface. That was one thing everyone knew about her; impatience ran in her veins; no one made a Romanov wait. “Charon,” Y/n purred.

“Miss Romanov,” his professional politeness was one she was used to, Y/n wouldn’t really call him a friend, but he was certainly an acquaintance that she didn’t mind sharing drinks with, “How do you do?”

“Delightful,” she chirped, and, as always, it was a scramble to figure out if the word was meant in sarcasm or not, “You?”

“No complaints yet,” he nodded astutely, “I assume you’re here for the meeting?”

“I am,” Y/n confirmed, shifting her weight from on leg to the other. Absently, as Charon hit some keys on his computer, she shifted a lock of hair away from her face, vaguely aware that someone had come to stand a couple feet behind her. As much as Y/n wanted to know who it was, she didn’t dare look back, instead straightening her back and awaiting service. 

Minutes later, Charon was directing her to where the meeting was being held and bidding her a good afternoon. Before she was out of earshot, he seemed to move on to the next client, with the same friendly disposition, “Hello, Mr. Wick.” The name rang a bell, though, Y/n couldn’t really place it. Not spending too much time on something that didn’t concern her, Y/n pushed the thought away continuing her walk towards the elevator.

The meeting had been just as she’d expected, boring and political. Many might have thought that bloodshed and drugs might have made criminal politics more entertaining than that of the conventional kind, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. It was still dominated by people twice and three times her age, unable to accept the opinions of anyone their junior. Over drinks and stiff banter, most of which could have been likened to sneers and insults directed towards whoever sat opposite them, the Table voted on a couple matters, mainly on who they collectively needed gone and how to keep their connections in law enforcement and various civil arms in check without too much speculation. They’d also traded updates on their personal empires as if it were housekeeping and at the end, they’d set a place for their next biannual meeting, Vienna.

Y/n was among the first to leave the room, and she hadn’t realized that Winston was a close second until he called out to her, “Y/n, dear!” He chuckled, pulling her into a hug.

“Uncle Winston,” she smiled, her first genuine one in months. Winston wasn’t any sort of biological relative, but he was someone that her family had greatly considered, he and her parents had a long history, and after they’d passed, Y/n had remained close to him. Besides her them, he was the only one privileged enough to really know her. “How have you been?”

“Better now that my goddaughter’s paid me a visit. Though, I’d hope that it wouldn’t take a High Table meeting to drag you out here,” his teasing was light and Y/n felt herself relaxing, letting Winston lead her to the lounge, where they slipped into their usual booth, away from the fuss. Without as much as a request, two martinis were placed in front of them.

“I’m sorry,” Y/n smiled lightly, looking down at her beverage, “I’ve just been busy.”

“I know,” Winston hummed, his gaze trained on her, “Trying to rule the world, as usual,” hesitating for a moment before continuing with more regard, “You know that you’ll never be able to do it, right?” He wasn’t talking about ‘ruling the world’ anymore and Y/n knew it, “You can’t just kill away your fears.”

Her shoulders slumped and Y/n brought the glass to her lips, sighing at the taste, “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she shook her head.

“You know exactly what I’m talking about. You think being like him will give you some kind of immunity to the dangerous world we live in. It didn’t do it for him, and it won’t do it for you,” Winston was talking about her father; he’d lived just like she did, running his operation with an iron fist and without and ounce of empathy, thinking it was some kind of wall that would ultimately make him invincible. It was an assumption that couldn’t be further from the truth and the memory of a bloodied Channel carpet and the gurgle of blood filled lungs was enough to send a painful pang to Y/n’s chest, forcing her to take another drag of her drink.

“I’m just saying; I think you need to consider your options,” Winston sighed when Y/n didn’t answer, deciding that he’d have better luck at getting through to her in another way, “You look like Meredith with your hair like that.” Meredith, it was a long time since Y/n had heard her mother’s name. Even before her father died, he’d never had the stomach to utter it, for with the name, were a slew of jerking memories. She had been gone for a long time, long before Y/n could understand what death was, but once in a while, she’d think about her, wonder what her life would be like if she had lived, “You know what she’d have wanted.”

“I barely know her,” Y/n countered, trying to deny the real effect that Winston’s words had. “Look, if it’ll make you feel better, then I’ll think about it, okay?”

Winston smiled triumphantly, “It’ll make you feel better too,” he reached over and patted her hand, it was a fatherly gesture, the kind she found herself missing in quieter moments, “He’s here, if you want to talk to him before you leave.”

Truthfully, Winston was right, having someone to protect her, watching her back would make her feel better. It would be nice knowing that she wouldn’t have to keep looking over her shoulder. Nodding, Y/n agreed, “Sure, the sooner the better, right?”

“Right,” Winston mirrored, “His name is John Wick, and he’s in room 214.”

214

It looked like all the other rooms, though for some reason, that one specifically made her nervous. Maybe it was because she wasn’t used to seeking people out, she was used to them coming to her. She wasn’t used to asking for things either. No, Y/n was the type of woman that got what she wanted, when she wanted it, no questions asked. But still, there she was, standing in front of a hotel room, a little shaken, about to ask for the Boogeyman’s help 

Taking a deep breath, Y/n raised her enclosed fist, hitting the cream wood in three short knocks. It wasn’t long before the door was being pulled open, revealing a well-dressed man with nearly a foot on her height, eyes as dark as whiskey and neatly combed hair just past his ears. His three piece suit was missing its jacket, though Y/n could tell that it was a tailored piece that probably cost a considerable amount.  He was attractive, Y/n didn’t think that any man had ever had that kind of effect on her. The kind that made her breath hitch and her heat speed up. Usually, it was the other way around, she was the one racing hearts. “You must be John Wick,” Y/n had to raise her head to meet his gaze, maintaining her unbothered disposition. 

John continued his hold on the brass knob as his other hand slipped into the pocket of his black slacks, “It depends on who’s asking,” he didn’t seem to be interested in small talk or anything that would cost any more of his precious time. Already, Y/n liked him.

“Why don’t we cut the bullshit?” She moistened her lips, hooking her handbag in the crook of her elbow, “You know who I am, I know who you are, introductions are a waste of time. I have a proposition.”

John eyed her with silent intrigue, the toe of his shoe soundlessly tapping the carpet, “Well?” Reluctantly, he ushered her into the room, pouring them a couple drinks before leading them to a small table in the center of the room. Smoothing her dress as she sat, Y/n discarded her bag on the table, crossing her legs, letting the slim heel of her stiletto gently knock her shin. 

“I need personal security,” there was no point in dancing around it, if she wanted John’s attention, then her best bet was to be straight forward, “And I heard that you’re the best at what you do.”

“You should also know that I’m not a bodyguard,” John countered bluntly. 

Y/n nodded slowly, trying to not let her demeanor melt away just just because he could easily match her stoicism, “I can pay you well. Whatever you’re making on your current job, I can triple it, quadruple it if that’s what you want. And that’ll be you’re monthly salary”

“Not interested,” John brought his glass to his lips, taking a tentative sip of his bourbon, “You have money, you can find someone else.”

“I don’t want someone else,” Y/n dismissed coolly, mirroring John when he took another sip of his drink. By that rate, someone else might have been drunk, but Y/n was known to hold her own when it came to booze, “I want John Wick.”

“Not. Interested,” he repeated and Y/n clenched her jaw, trying not to show the flare in her anger.

Setting her glass down, Y/n scooped up her bag by its short leather strap, she wanted John’s protection, but she wasn’t going to grovel, she would rather die, literally. “Very well,” she stood, casually dusting off her dress. At least she could tell Winston she tried. “Thank you for the drink, Mr. Wick.

Maybe it was the way she said his name, the way “Mister” just seemed to carelessly fall off her plump lips. Maybe it was because she was a pretty little thing or because John could see her fear past the bravado. Whatever it was, it had John changing his mind faster that he could register. Before Y/n was even a few feet off, John was standing again, grabbing her by the forearm, “Wait,” she turned, now standing close enough for him to see her lace clad breasts down her top and smell her perfume mixing with her shampoo. Put together, it was enthralling, and John wondered if she looked like that on purpose; no woman could be that alluring without effort. “Why does a Romanov need protection? And don’t lie to me, I’ll know.”

Y/n raised her head a little accentuating her neck, briefly glancing at John’s grip on her forearm before turning to him again, “Fine. Truthfully,” she exaggerated the word, hoping to downplay her next ones, “I��m scared of dying. I know who I am, and I know that there are those who’d do anything to see me gone, and I’m not ready to end up like my father.” Or worse yet, like her mother. 

John was quiet for a minute, and finally he let her arm go, taking a step back, “I work alone,” he began, “I don’t care who the rest of your team is, you won’t need them. I make all security decisions, and I don’t ask before shooting. Got it?”

Y/n cocked a curious eyebrow, “Got it. We’ll discuss the rest of this arrangement soon. Thank you, Mr. Wick,” Y/n winked, swaying her hips as she walked towards the door, letting herself out. 

*****

Tagging- @harrisongslimited @magnificentclodpiebanana   @keandrews @greenmanalishi  @rdjloverxxx  @danceoftwowolves  @planetkt @wheretheriversrunintothesea​

[spaceorphan18]

i really liked your s6 blaine meta! would you be willing to do something similar for season 5 episodes 14-20?

Hi Nonny! Sorry for the delay, this is kind of a huge undertaking.  I’m going to be honest, this will be more of an abridged answer.  I really recommend looking over to my Finding Kurt Hummel Meta, because a lot of Kurt and Blaine’s stories are intertwined, and I do talk a lot about Blaine and his motivations there.  That said, let’s dig in! 

Pre-New York Arc

So, as Blaine tells us when before he’s going to graduate, his senior year has been really hard and really weird.  He broke up with his boyfriend, dealt with a school shooting, suffered the loss of a good friend, and then got engaged.  (Y’all should check out my Glee Timeline to see just how squished all of this stuff really was.) By the time his tenure as a high school student is over, he’s desperate to fast forward to being a full fledged adult -- living out his dreams in New York City.  The problem is trying to force your dreams come true doesn’t always work, especially when a) you’re still a kid trying to figure things out and b) you still have a lot of insecurities and mental health issues to deal with.  

So Blaine (and Kurt) still have a lot of growing up to do.  And a lot of the New York Arc is figuring out just that.  

Let’s talk about the proposal for a second, too.  Blaine jumping to marriage is, yes, a bit pre-mature.  He’s was so desperate to get his relationship back on track with Kurt, and so wanting to prove his commitment, he jumped about fifteen other steps and went straight to what he would be the ultimate band-aide -- marriage.  Well, just because you’re married (or engaged) doesn’t mean you don’t have a lot of issues in your relationship.  Blaine and Kurt were too young for their engagement -- and not necessarily because of their age, but because they really hadn’t dealt with a lot of things the move to New York, the cheating, and the first break up did to their relationship.  However, Blaine wants to ignore a lot of the red flags because he feels since he has Kurt back, and put a ring on that finger, he should be fine, right?  His insecurities about Kurt not loving him or wanting to leave him should be squashed because -- ring.  Right??  Oh, Blainey. 

New New York

So, what we don’t see is the six-to-nine months of Kurt and Blaine living together.  Which is a shame.  Because we don’t see how it started, and how they probably were so head over heels wanting to live together and do all the fun things Burt listed off in his conversation with Kurt before the proposal in Love Love Love that they did not have any kind of conversation about how living together would ultimately work.  So, it’s nine months later, and things aren’t so rosey.  

Blaine is trying very hard to make them the old married couple he wants them to be (which is no shade on Blaine!).  He’s singing old timey songs, and basically trying to show his love through acts of servitude, and kind of trying to ignore the nagging feeling that Kurt’s unhappy about it.  

Blaine is a giver by nature, and wants to make Kurt happy, and he thinks if he can be the perfect boyfriend (because he wasn’t before, made a mistake, didn’t take into account that Kurt really was part of that issue, and blames himself for the relationship woes) that his relationship with Kurt will be fine.  The problem is that Blaine is losing himself in the relationship -- trying to be the person he thinks Kurt wants him to be, and the person his own imagination thinks he should be, instead of the person he really is.  

The other thing is that Blaine is a bit clingy.  There’s nothing wrong with wanting to spend time with your significant other.  But Blaine wants to spend every waking moment with Kurt so they can share their magical journey together.  You see -- in high school, they were joined at the hip, and did do a lot of things together.  But they also had a lot of time apart.  They both had groups of friends to do things with, and different households to go home to.  But now, all aspects of their life are jammed into that little loft.  And for Blaine, it’s fine, (though it’s not - he has to learn how to be an individual person, too), but Kurt is struggling with it. 

Here’s the part where I do need to bring up Blaine and his homelife.  Blaine being who he is - is somewhat just his personality.  But part of it is also his homelife.  We can infer that unlike the Hummel household, Blaine’s family wasn’t exactly ones to unconditionally supportive in the same way.  He always had to compete for attention (and possibly love) with Cooper.  He has always felt that no matter how ‘good’ he is -- he’s a failure.  And he is, by far, his own worst critic.  These are things that Kurt cannot fix for him, and while Kurt can continue to love and support him, Blaine himself has to reach a belief that he is a worthy individual of love, support, and happiness.  

Also, because Blaine is trying so hard to make life perfect for Kurt, he’s not being able to make his own experience uniquely his own.  He tries to find a cute couch -- but it’s rejected (rightfully because bed bugs, but still).  He tries to make himself a space in the loft, but Kurt shuts that down.  Everything is about how Kurt thinks and feels, and because Blaine’s giving in on these things, he starts to go inward on himself, and thus they fight over dumb things.  (Kurt needs to learn how to share and compromise, Blaine needs to learn to stand up for himself and his own wants and needs.)  

As an aside, Blaine isn’t really jealous of Elliott -- that’s a bit of displaced anger.  But going to Elliott does help (wise sage that he is), and while that convo is a little weird, there is some good advice in Elliott saying you have to figure out who you are, and maybe not be so clingy.  Boundaries are good and don’t lose yourself in the relationship. 

So, about their decision to live apart -- my Kurt meta had a good paragraph: 

I’d also like to mention that Kurt isn’t really thrilled with Blaine’s idea.  He doesn’t want Blaine to leave, but he recognizes that something has to change.  Unfortunately, they’re still young and growing and don’t have the tools or experience to figure out how to fix what’s wrong.  So - in a way, I get this solution.  Blaine doesn’t know how to give Kurt emotional space - so let’s try physical instead.  

Blaine wants to fix the situation, so it’s no surprise that Blaine is the one to comp up with the solution.  It’s not great (honestly, they should have moved out and found their own place but alas tv show logic), but it’ll have to work for now.  Blaine is more interested in salvaging his relationship the only way he can try to.  Unfortunately there are some other, bigger issues going on, but for now, they’ve come up with something that might help.  

Bash

It’s a shame we don’t get more Blaine during this episode, because I think it’s really important.  There’s a story here about the frustrations a gay couple can have when one of them is going through a major trauma, and the other can only sit and wait to see how it turns out -- adding in outside factors such as, hospitals not allowing the partner to visit because they aren’t legally “family”.  

So, one of Blaine’s biggest fears is losing Kurt.  And this time he does to an external power.  Blaine, who likes to control things just about as much as Kurt, feels like he should be able to protect Kurt no matter what, and comes out of this episode feeling like it’s his duty to do that.  

You see, Blaine doesn’t think he’ll survive very well if anything ever happened to Kurt, and kind of ignoring the fact that Kurt kinda jumped into the fight himself, Blaine decides that he’ll do everything in his power to ‘save’ him.  Problem is, that’s not at all what Kurt wants or needs....  Which will be discussed more in the next episode. 

Meanwhile, Blaine manages to piss off Carmen Tibideaux with he and Rachel’s little duet idea.  Not liking anyone mad at him, he does go retake the final (or whatever it is), and pours his own fears and sadness into the song.  I do kind of wonder if Blaine’s involvement in this is a slight nod that Blaine won’t be finishing his college career at NYADA.  (Which is fine - the school is utter shit.) 

Tested

Okay, god.  Here’s the Kurt Meta because this is one really complicated episode that I won’t do justice in the little blurb I’m going to write here.  There’s A LOT going on, and it’s helpful in understanding the story as a whole, and I do write about both their sides in the Kurt Meta. 

So, here we are -- Blaine is trying to make Kurt’s New York life and experience perfect, and he kind of ignores his own.  But, he is indulging himself (as young people in new places often do) and not taking care of his physical health either.  He does gain some weight (or Glee tries to suggest that he does), and this latches on to his insecurities from before.  

A lot of this episode’s issues comes down to identity --- Blaine saw himself as the White Knight in Shiny Armor -- the one who protected Kurt from Karofsky, and made him smile.  The one who was the prince who got to give the other prince the Happily Ever After.  The problem, though, is all of this is magical fairy tale talk that doesn’t work in the real world.  

Kurt isn’t a delicate flower who needs rescuing.  He is very physically fit, and is seen as attractive by other people.  And Kurt is trying to find his own, individual identity that isn’t solely connected to Blaine.  All of this activates Blaine’s major insecurity about being rejected -- about not being loved enough.  He doesn’t understand that he doesn’t have to be the person who another person needs for them to love him.  He can just be the person who someone wants.  But Blaine has a very hard time with this concept.  His value of himself is wrapped up in how much he thinks he’s needed, which of course, causes all the problems.  

What’s making it worse is that Blaine begins to manipulate the situation -- trying to make Kurt ‘need’ him again, which is very unhealthy (don’t do that guys!).  But also starts to do what he always does, and we see a repeat of the issues had back in season 3/4.  Blaine starts to pull away physically because he fears he’s not good enough, and in turn, Kurt pulls away emotionally, and it’s just a downward spiral that they keep doing.  

The thing that Blaine is not doing is expressing how he actually feels to Kurt.  When he finally does that at the end of the episode, when he reaches out and says ‘hey I need help’ Kurt is finally there for him.  (Yes, Kurt is still pissed, but at the end of the day, Kurt is not wrong about the fact that he’ll never stop loving blaine -- no matter what happens.)  The problem is, no matter how many times Kurt can say it, or even show it, until Blaine actually trusts him, it’s never going to work.  

As an aside -- one of the reasons I think the second break up actually was good for them, is that Blaine learns how to love himself, and live with himself, after Kurt’s gone.  He’s too attached to defining his self worth based on what Kurt thinks of him -- and that’s not healthy.

(Also, I encourage you to read the Tested Meta -- there is so much to dig into in this episode!) 

Opening Night

There really isn’t much Blaine in this episode - but we do see him use his acts of service love language towards Rachel.  Usually, she’s much better in her response, though.  

I also want to point out that it’s Blaine’s idea to go to the gay bar.  I’m all for Blaine starting to learn where his places in the city are.  Makes me wonder if Kurt and Blaine frequented there together, of this was a Blaine only thing.  Hmm.  

The Back-Up Plan

So... the June Dolloway stuff.  Okay.  

June plays to Blaine’s romantic ideals of what life as a successful performer would be.  And, as we’ve talked about, Blaine’s self worth is based on the idea of how much people need him (or want to use him).  So, he kind of falls into June’s trap, and lets her try to mould him into who she thinks he is.  The problem is, that entails getting rid of Kurt.  But a big part of who Blaine is - is loving Kurt.  

There’s also the issue of competition again (which came up in Tested, too) that I kind of roll my eyes at.  I’m not going to say that Hollywood, or the performing arts, isn’t competitive.  Because it is, in a lot of ways.  However, I feel like media and society are often the ones pushing that narrative.  You can be successful and still support your friends and love ones.  

There’s an entire conversation to be had about how art is subjective, and this idea that this painting is better than that one is just kind of stupid, so all of these fancy awards for things are really, often times, just rich or powerful people stating what they think is the “best” and puts a false equivalency on things that can’t or shouldn’t be pit next to each other.  

So, this whole idea that Blaine is ‘winning’ because June picked him is just -- whatever, Glee.  The thing that I do like, however, is the fact that, despite Kurt being disappointed in the situation, he is still supportive of Blaine and his career.  The thing that I think is a bit contrived is Blaine’s eagerness to please everyone leads him to lie to Kurt instead of be honest about what’s going on with June.  But alas, television. 

However, as we’ve talked about earlier -- Blaine’s ultimate goal is to make everyone happy at the expense of his own happiness, so it isn’t out of nowhere that Blaine would try to please June and Kurt at the same time, in an attempt to ‘fix’ everything before someone rejects him. 

Old Dogs, New Tricks

So... this episode really isn’t about Blaine or the Klaine issues at all.  Chris was perhaps wise (and maybe mandated a little) not to even get into it.  

The thing, though, we do see is that Blaine’s spending a lot of time on his fantasy career ideas with June.  He does recognize that Kurt isn’t really happy with life, and while the Klaine issues will eventually hit the fan, that’s not what this episode is about.  It’s about Kurt trying to find his own place, and make his own happiness, when everyone around him is becoming more successful.  It’s really not Blaine’s issue -- and I’m glad Chris didn’t make it out to be.  

Instead, Blaine plays the supportive partner here, and while they do need to work more of their shit out, I’m glad they do get a softer, and more emotionally aware moment here.  

The Untitled Rachel Berry Project

So, Kurt mentions in this episode that he and Blaine have had some long conversations about their relationship.  And while I’m sure that’s true (probably a lot after Tested), I do have to wonder if Blaine wasn’t listening as well as he should have been.  I think, in order to preserve things, Blaine probably nodded along, and took more notes on how to be the world’s perfect boyfriend, while maybe not actually comprehending some of the issues Kurt laid out.  All the while, I’m guessing that Blaine didn’t express many of his wants or needs, in order to not rock the boat.  Unfortunately, all of this holding back, on both their parts, comes back to haunt them. 

The big lie comes out, that Kurt isn’t in the showcase, and this plays a lot on Kurt’s insecurities, partly about being a failed performer, and a lot about his trust issues with Blaine from the last time they broke up.  Blaine is the type of guy who tries to make everything perfect until he literally can’t anymore, and he’s left there being forced to tell the truth, even though he knows it’ll hurt himself and Kurt.  And while this, normally, would be a minor thing, because of their past history -- this self-imposed forced disappointment is what he expects.  Because he believes that sooner or later, he’s going to eventually disappoint everyone he loves, and they will eventually leave him.  

The thing is -- Blaine has a tendency to push people away, because he thinks that’s what he deserves.  But interestingly, Kurt comes back to him -- and they talk about it.  

And, I’m just gonna quote my Kurt Meta cause I don’t feel like writing it all out, but the Klaine scene here is important! 

So - yeah, let’s break this down…  Kurt’s pretty stiff when he comes to Blaine, arms crossed, looking forward out at the birds and not at Blaine.  He’s thought through is anger, but these kind of conversations are still hard for Kurt.  But then there’s Blaine – who outright says to him that the showcase doesn’t mean anything without Kurt – that /Kurt/ is more important to him than his career.  And Kurt visibly relaxes when he hears this.  Because its confirmation of something he does already know – that Blaine really does love him.  He seems to fuck it up, but he loves him.  And it’s something Kurt really did need to hear again.  

(Obviously vise versa needs to happen, too, but more on that in a second.)

So - Kurt goes on talking about birds, and builds this elaborate metaphor around them – about how taking a step out of the nest is freakin’ scary, but you can’t stay in that nest forever – at some point you have to trust that you can fly.  And even if you fall and hit the ground, you have to keep on trying.  

Well, Kurt comes to the smart conclusion that relationships are like his bird metaphor – you can’t have a relationship unless there is implicit trust there as a foundation.  And he’s learned, the hard way, that yeah, sometimes one of them is going to fuck up and they will hit the ground like a stone, but if you hold on to your faith that it’ll be all fine in the end – that you can help each other out keep that solid foundation, it’ll be okay.  Because at the end of the day, you can’t ever be 100% that someone won’t hurt you again, you can’t control anyone else but yourself (oohh and Kurt letting go of complete control is huge - HUGE).  

And yeah, yeah this little speech is nice and all but what about what’s about to happen? What about the second break up?  Do you guys remember in Dance With Somebody when Blaine says to Kurt - if you’re unhappy talk to me don’t cheat on em?  Well - this is almost the inverse of that.  Kurt says to Blaine that you don’t even know if or when someone’s going to break that trust – and this is true, because yeah, Kurt is going to fuck it up not that long after this conversation.  

But this is a resolution to the original issue back in season 4 – Kurt’s finally understanding that in order for this thing to work, he has to choose to trust Blaine.  Blaine can’t instill that in him – it’s something Kurt has to do for himself.  And for better or worse, he does choose to trust Blaine, to love Blaine, to let Blaine in implicitly.  Blaine has been desperately trying to break through Kurt’s shell since the whole cheating incident, get back into that place in Kurt’s heart.  But what Blaine doesn’t know - or realize - and what Kurt’s just figuring out himself, is that it’s not about Blaine’s ability – it’s about Kurt allowing it to happen.  

Kurt doesn’t let people into his world, past is exterior, implicitly into his heart – but on a smaller scale, this whole June ordeal kind of just puts things into perspective.  Yeah – he was mad about Blaine’s lie – but he realizes that the way Kurt was acting about it, he was going to be hurt either way.  And he can be mad and be angry, but at the end of the day, they all have choices to make, and Kurt makes the decision to still stand by Blaine through the hard stuff as well as the easy stuff.  

(But what about season 6? Well – we’ll talk about that when we get there ;))

I will say this – Kurt never breaks his promise about loving Blaine no matter what.  Even through the stupidity of the second breakup, it’s really not because he doesn’t love Blaine.  That’ll always be apart of him, and the more they go on, the more he understands his own heart will always feel that way.  

Meanwhile – Kurt actually can be (gasp) a loving and supportive partner.  Yeah, it’s hard on him to feel unwanted by June – he’s been fighting that fight since forever.  But he is proud of Blaine, wants Blaine to fly incredibly high – and much like way back when in season 3 with Tony – he’ll be there giving Blaine flowers and telling him how amazing he is.  Which is reassurance that Blaine needs, but doesn’t always get.  

(I realize that’s mostly Kurt’s POV - but it covers what’s going on with Blaine, too.)  

The thing though, while Kurt’s learning what it means to trust again, Blaine really just wants everything to be fine.  And gives in to Kurts wants and needs immediately.  The one problem, really, that’s still lingering is the fact that Blaine is still only defining himself through his relationship, and that’s not good, and is part of the reason Kurt’s going to pull away, and ultimately break up with him, the second time.  

But, we do end the season on a happy note.  Blaine, feeling the love and support from Kurt, is able to stand up to June, and is able to have a moment for himself, where he gets to express his true self, in the form of showing everyone his love for Kurt at the showcase.  We also get a moment of a small step forward when Kurt let’s Blaine have a bit of the loft -- a small space to call his own.  

Yes, ultimately it’s going to break down again, but it’s a first step.  By the end of the season, Blaine and Kurt have started to learn what being in a real, adult relationship is like, but ultimately, for Blaine, he needs to learn to be okay with himself first and foremost, and that is what Season 6 was about... 

If you’d like to continue on, here’s the Season 6 Blaine Meta! 

I know there are things I didn’t get into -- like Blaine’s relationship with Sam, but idk, I don’t think there was much to pick apart there.  

If you guys have any questions on specific things, let me know! :) 

[thiswaycomessomethingwicked]

Aragorn and Boromir: one of them was late to/forgot about an event for the arguments thing!

Alright! They didn’t argue-argue because they REFUSED. Idiots. But they did have some weird emotional conversations so that’s as good as we’re going to get. I hope you enjoy! 

Title: Sweet is the Air

Pairing: Aragorn/Arwen/Boromir - basically. 

Summary: Set in the same time-line/AU World of Naming the World & My Land is Bare. So, Boromir survived Amon Hen, to everyone’s great joy. The main plot-points remain mostly the same. Barring some people living who died in the canon. 

This is post-ROTK. Denethor remains alive, the ghost at the banquet. 

--

‘Did you forget?’ Aragorn asks.  

‘I didn’t,’ Boromir says. 

Aragorn repeats: But did you? It’s alright if you did.  

‘I didn’t,’ Boromir insists.  

Aragorn wishes the man would just admit to it. Yes, he forgot. How hard is that to say? Yes, it slipped his mind that they were going to have a Talk with Denethor about The State of the Stewardship. Or, more truthfully, Yes, he forgot because he wanted to forget because he doesn’t want to talk to his father about The State of the Stewardship. 

‘Do you know how hard it is to corner your father?’ Aragorn asks, attempting to not be annoyed. Because he isn’t annoyed. This is only the third time this has happened, after all. And the first occurrence of Boromir’s lateness to the Denethor Conversation had a legitimate cause; the second - well it could be argued to be legitimate. A third time though? 

But he’s not annoyed. 

(Arwen, last night, You’re annoyed. Aragorn, insistent, I am not annoyed. Arwen raised an eyebrow and therefore looked eerily like her father, For some reason I remain unconvinced. Have you told him you’re annoyed? This made Aragorn scowl and so he therefore looked like a statue of one of his dead relatives, Why should I do that? I’m not annoyed. There’s nothing to talk about. Arwen, I’ll tell him if you don’t. To which Aragorn tried to forcefully declare: You will do no such thing but that merely prompted Arwen to pantomime opening a window and hollering out, Boromir, your king is frustrated with your inability to manage your father. Aragorn became horrified, You wouldn’t dare. At which Arwen smiled and said, Just watch me.) 

‘I promise I didn’t forget - it was only, I was tied up,’ Boromir states. 

Aragorn swallows: well that is a terrible excuse. Because that is not a kind thing to say. It is not a worthy thing to say. Boromir deserves better than Aragorn being missish. Because they are no longer on the road. Because the Fellowship is over. The Four Hunters has long been disbanded. 

Gods, Aragorn thinks bleakly, I’ve been king for ten months now. 

‘Well, it’s terribly difficult to force him to have ten minutes of time. Your father is wily.’ 

Boromir nods slowly. Picks at his nails. Looks at the sad bushes, the dismal remains of summer roses, jasmine climbing up columns, the naked trees. Aragorn isn’t sure how to proceed. He should have practiced. Arwen told him to practice. Aragorn despairs. 

‘He is,’ Boromir finally agrees. ‘He is very wily. A puppet master. I don’t -’ he stops. Aragorn waits with great expectation. Boromir works his jaw for a bit. Does more scanning of the environment so Aragorn can’t see his eyes resting still for more than a second. Aragorn worries Boromir is going to leave. He does this when he wants out from a situation. When he wants to disappear into captain-hood and slide sideways from duty as, essentially, regent-steward.

‘I can’t do this,’ Boromir finally whispers. 

‘You have to.’ 

‘I can’t, Aragorn. I really can’t. He’s my father.’ 

Aragorn makes a sympathetic face. He wants to say that he understands but that would be a lie so he keeps quiet. He cannot imagine Elrond no longer firmly grasping the world in front of him. He cannot imagine Elrond forcing this situation upon himself. There is no dignity to it. Aragorn cannot imagine Elrond without dignity. 

Boromir is silent which causes Aragorn some small anxiety. 

‘It would be a kindness, I think, in the long-run,’ Aragorn tries after another minute of muteness from the future-steward passes. 

‘Yes. It would be. It is.’ 

‘No one need know the reason of why he is being set aside.’  

Boromir looks at him with a sidelong expression. It is almost a sneer. ‘Everyone knows.’ 

‘Is that what frightens you? That people know and will think less of you for your father’s - um-’ 

‘Madness?’ Ah yes, here is a Boromir sneer. ‘Insanity? Lack of mental stability? Gone off with the birds?’ 

Aragorn nods. 

‘No, that doesn’t frighten me,’ Boromir says. ‘I can handle it well enough. It’s more that - well, it’s demeaning to be relegated to old, doddering man. It takes a person’s pride from them and gods, I feel like he’s lost so much already. All the things that matter, too: his position, his son to a certain degree, his father’s affection, my mother. I think, in many ways, pride is all my father has left.’ Boromir draws breath to continue only to deflate. Aragorn wants to comfort him but isn’t sure this is the time or place or, indeed, the best approach. 

It’s hard to know how to handle Boromir. He has more walls than Aragorn can fathom, at times. When he thinks he’s through one, there will be another five he didn’t anticipate. All of this alongside Boromir’s dislike of receiving reassurance. Comfort. Vulnerable affection, as Arwen calls it. There is such a deep fear of being seen as weak or, Aragorn thinks, being thought to be a burden. 

Aragorn tries, ‘Your father has more than that. And he hasn’t lost you.’ 

‘I was speaking of Faramir.’ 

‘Ah.’ 

Boromir’s humourless smile. ‘It’s all a bit of a mess, isn’t it? I’m not sure what I thought would happen after the war, but it wasn’t this.’ 

‘It’s hard to know how people will take things. And, I mean,’ Aragorn shrugs helplessly. ‘There were extenuating circumstances. No one knew about the palantir.’ 

‘No.’ 

‘And, well -’ he stops. Shrugs. Boromir raises an eyebrow, but otherwise he is still as stone. As a king of old, the ones whose names are lost to time but their faces are committed to rock with paint, with chisel. To Aragorn, Boromir has always conveyed more of the regal air he thinks is expected of a king. That he, himself, should display. 

What a thing, to walk into a room of foreign dignitaries, have the King of Gondor be announced and everyone looks at Boromir. Which Aragorn cannot blame them for, because he too would look at Boromir. Honestly, he thinks not for the first time, their roles should have been switched. Boromir should be king, Aragorn can be steward. 

‘Yes?’ Boromir prompts. 

‘I was just thinking, is your father truly mad or merely desperate?’ 

Boromir opens his mouth then closes it. 

‘Sometimes, it can look like the same thing,’ Aragorn continues, gently. He is so desperately trying to be gentle. ‘It’s as you said, he has his pride. He was raised to be Steward of Gondor. To be the sole ruler of this land and then I went and showed up. He’s desperate to hold onto what is, at the end of the days, is rightfully his.’ 

A dismal nod from the future-Steward. 

‘Perhaps there can be a compromise--’

‘No,’ Boromir shakes his head. ‘Not over this. It’s all or nothing with the Stewardship. I know my father, he does not share power.’ 

‘But you always seemed to have a position of influence --’ 

‘Of his making and of his control,’ Boromir shrugs. ‘So, you will either have him as Steward or me. It won’t be both.’ 

A bird’s screech ricochets through the courtyard that is empty and feels so desolate, like they are in Hollin or on the empty steps of Emyn Muil. Boromir has turned and begun a slow, meandering tour around the garden. He pauses where an arch looks out over the city, the River Anduin snakes its silver body through the eastern land of Gondor. Osgiliath shines in the distance. Boromir’s back is to Aragorn and the Future-Steward who is essentially acting-Steward, rests a hand on columned archway. Robes drape in such a way that he is a shadow against white marble, dappled grey. Aragorn wants to go to him but suspects it would be unwelcome, at this exact moment. 

‘My father once told me that he couldn’t remember what happiness was and I said that there would be brighter days yet, that he would live to see them. And he has, there is sun and the clouds of Sauron are gone, but he is not better.’ 

Aragorn thinks that a monstrous thing to tell one’s son. To say: I can’t know warmth, so light the fire and if you do not, then all my coldness is your fault.

‘I’m sorry,’ he says instead. He suspects Boromir won’t take kindly to having his father be called monstrous. 

‘Why?’ 

Aragorn stalls in thought then just shrugs and says that he is sorry because that is a lot to say to a child. 

‘I wasn’t a child.’ 

‘Still,’ Aragorn says, if a bit lamely. 

Boromir sighs, turns to face Aragorn. ‘I can’t do it. I can’t be the one who tells him that he is being pushed aside.’ 

‘Would you be able to be present?’ 

Boromir’s lips thin out into a line and his unhappiness at the prospect is a wave how it rolls from his shoulders. But he nods in agreement, as Aragorn knew he would. Still, it is a relief to have a firm agreement. 

Or, as firm an agreement as he is going to get at this juncture. 

He had asked Faramir: What should be done about your father? And Faramir had gone a little wide-eyed and said, I don’t know. What do you mean? And Aragorn had sort-of motioned as if that could contain everything that had happened. Faramir had then shaken himself out of whatever place it was he went when the question was posed and declared that the person to ask is Boromir. Boromir always knows how to handle our father, Faramir said with confidence. If you want to get Denethor to do things he doesn’t want to do, you have to have Boromir do the asking. 

Later, Aragorn relayed this to Arwen who said, What family have you gotten us tangled into? And Aragorn had replied, primly, I’m absolutely sure it’s worth it. And Arwen had laughed and said she agreed and that she trusted him. It’s just, really, that was what said? 

‘I’m glad you’ll be there,’ Aragorn says. ‘I’m happy to do the talking it’s only, your father is quite fearsome. Like a tempest. Or a sandstorm.’ 

‘Don’t be mean.’ But Boromir said it with a smile so Aragorn feels he can continue. 

‘Just, this time, don’t forget.’ 

Boromir mocks becoming affronted. ‘Excuse me, your royal highness, I did not forget. I got tied up in other very important affairs of state and therefore was merely late. By just five minutes, mind you, and you had already scarpered.’ 

Aragorn takes his arm and steers them towards the covered archway that will slowly weave back to offices and studies and rooms of state. ‘Tempest,’ he says. ‘Remember that.’ 

‘Right. Or sandstorm.’ 

‘A deluge.’ 

‘I’m going to make a record of these.’ 

‘You don’t need to do that.’ 

Boromir grins, ‘I absolutely do.’ 

Aragorn shakes his head, ‘If this is the sort of treatment I am going to receive from you I shall pass you over in favour of Faramir.’ 

‘Oh thank the gods,’ Boromir dramatically sighs. ‘Finally, the man has a good idea. The first time I’ve heard one from him since we met.’ 

‘I wouldn’t go that far -’ 

‘Let us run across Rohan for a week, he said. It’s a good idea to chase two thousand Uruk-Hai with only four people, he said. Trust the former-traitor-witch of Rohan to be of aid on the paths of the dead, he said. Let’s hike across a mountain in February with no firewood, he said.’ 

‘These were all brilliant ideas, I don’t know what you’re talking about.’ 

Boromir laughs, then, a full one. And Aragorn grins because it is a pleasant sound to hear and these are sunny days. Despite the shadows that linger in them and the ghosts of still living men who haunt the halls of this palace, there is sun and there is warmth and there is, at the end of it all, something like hope for a new start.

[tarajenkins]

Please no more Square, I am at my (character) limit lmao

"The Light will not be denied!" 

I really do still wonder how anyone who played through ShB could reach the conclusion that a child with no Blessing Of Light ever stood a chance against the will of a Lightwarden. And not just any child--a child the Ascians intended to use as a doorstop to prevent the First from being destroyed before the Rejoining could happen, a child whose own trusted parental figure was willing to gaslight and manipulate them for the sake of their own power. A child whose behavior would absolutely need to fit a certain mold to achieve their ends. 

The Light corruption of a Sin Eater is confirmed by Halric's arc to be a lot like Tempering. Repeatedly Tempering someone, like Loonh Gah's mother in the Amalj'aa questchain, destroys their sanity. Emet-Selch's own dialogue up there confirms that the Warden essences in the WoL would not only drive them to madness, but violence. Vauthry had the essence of a Lightwarden forced into him before he was even born, and he had no higher power to protect him. 

Selch puts it plainly: the corruption of a Lightwarden is absolute in time, even for the WoL. I have yet to hear a good reason why Vauthry’s corruption would have been the sole exception to this rule. The “half Sin Eater” bit is brought up sometimes, but that is just buying into the lies his father told. Vauthry was already an entirely Hume infant. He was never “half” anything. He was already complete. He was corrupted. Tempered, according to Halric’s arc--blaming him for not fighting it is like blaming Thancred for the Waking Sands. It’s not a thing anyone can fight.

There’s also Yoshi-P asking players to ask themselves if Vauthry was really a friend of the Sin Eaters, or was he being controlled by someone.

(On a side note, I could have sworn it was stated the Ascians can't handle Light well, or at all? How did Emet-Selch even do that in the first place? Bad Writing(tm) \o/)

Silence Is Golden:

In a world where everyone rightfully fears Sin Eaters, a world where Eulmorans had fought them and died to them for decades, where those corrupted by fallen Sin Eaters have to be put to death before turning themselves--how would the mayor of Eulmore even explain his son's "gift"? Explain his son having a second, Sin Eater face in his chest? Explain that he allowed his child to be corrupted by a rando in a cloak, with no input from his wife? How did he keep her silent? Besides Square not bothering to give her dialogue, of course.

(Also, there was at least one other Minifilia in Vauthry's lifetime. The Minis all fought for Eulmore, as per Moren's book. How did they miss the Lightwarden now residing in Mr. Mayor's child? Did Hydaelyn know?)

It's such poor writing on Square's part to have left the disturbing Echo of how Emet-Selch “made” Vauthry as a footnote, and even moreso to have Wrenden claim in the hilariously contradictory patch 5.1 that Vauthry's father was the "good old days" of Eulmore. A man that would agree to let that be done to his own wife and child, a man who vocalized such disregard for his own peoples' lives, that was the good old days, really? The mayor who had "unrest" and detractors "stirring up the citizenry"? THAT mayor?

This is how far the writers were willing to go to dehumanize a fat man who had absolutely no consent or control in his “destiny”. And, speaking of dehumanizing--

--Square couldn't be arsed to treat Vauthry's mother like a character and not a convenient and silent womb, so we have no idea what happened to her. (My money is still on the Obscenity theory.) But since Vauthry only mentioned "Father", it sounds like the mayor raised him alone. 

What did Former Mayor do when his son had challenging questions about his father’s plans for him, or when the child balked at the answers given? How did he explain whatever happened to his wife? Just how much did "Father" have to manipulate that child's world to maintain the lies?

It’s strongly implied Former Mayor kept his son in a state of isolation where neither his word nor the Ascians' will could be questioned until the child was thoroughly brainwashed to believe, and there would be no questions then. Whether intended by Square or not, Vauthry does display many signs of an adult who suffered extreme isolation as a child. 

An entire childhood, with his likely only trusted source of knowledge and solace being someone who was grooming him for a power grab--and all the while, he can’t escape the presence of a creature inside him that drives mortals mad.

One of “Father’s” directives stands out in particular between the lines during ShB, though we don’t know how it came about originally:

Don’t tell anyone what you really are.

Even though Vauthry was given a good reason “why he was born as man and sin eater both", it still leaves the impression he was born because Sin Eaters are bad, and Vauthry needed to stop them from doing bad things--plus hush, don’t tell, people would find his existence bad if they knew the truth of it. Kids ask questions. Kids wonder. Feeling like an outsider hurts, let alone an outsider made of the same stuff that everyone fears. If Sin Eaters are monsters, then what was he? 

The fact Vauthry asked his father why was he born that way in the first place indicates the child instinctively felt there was something wrong.

The in-game dialogues appear to back this up. Although Vauthry's "heritage" was supposed to be this amazing thing, the true nature of it was instead lied about and kept hidden his entire life. Seems unusual for a guy supposedly convinced that he is “perfection”, doesn’t it? The fact that Eulmorans never once referred to Vauthry as "half Sin Eater" or a "God" during twenty years of his rule, the fact he only mentioned it himself before the Warden was about to claim him entirely; all well and good his father obviously invented some lie to placate the masses (“born with miraculous and convenient power” was all it took), but how did maintaining that lie, hiding who he really was, read to Vauthry all those years? 

During ShB, he still seemed to keep to the isolation he likely always knew. He never left that room. The citizens came to him when they wanted something, but it was never implied or shown he sought social contact on his own. Nothing was scaled to him, utensils, glasses, plates, etc.--as though he refused to single himself out as different from everyone else.

He called the Lightwarden’s awakening a “trial” to be embraced during Crown Of The Immaculate. Odd that someone supposedly convinced of his godhood would ever think he needed testing--but it makes perfect sense in the context of someone who always felt they needed to prove that they were worthwhile.  

He was proud of his power to protect his people, and proud of the paradise he built for them, but he didn’t want Alphinaud to paint a picture of him, he wanted a painting of the city. There were zero paintings or other monuments to himself in Eulmore. Lot of people in the fanbase speak of him being vain, yet he seemed to not want to be seen unless he had to be--almost as though, even toward the end, even through all the bluster, he still read being “half Sin Eater” as wrong.

With that in mind, there didn’t seem to be much evidence to even tell Vauthry he was born because he was wanted. He was born because his ability was needed. If not for his father’s ambition, however sweetly that may have been disguised, then to defend Eulmore against the monsters he was a part of. His ability was needed, not even him specifically--and the Eulmorans, with all their wishes and dreams to be fulfilled, could easily enforce the belief on the child that who he was didn’t matter, what he may want did not matter, only what he could do for others mattered. And what he did for them wouldn’t matter if they knew the truth of him. What a terrible, conditional ”love”. It could explain why he was so cynical about human nature. (Even though his predictions about human nature in the face of a dying world 110% came to pass in the Black Rose timeline. 6_9 gg G’raha) 

Yet despite all this, Vauthry needed to be convinced he was doing good for the shattered world. He needed to be convinced what he was doing was right, despite having power enough to not care. If Amaurot was Utopia, then Eulmore reminded me very much of Ursula K. LeGuin’s Omelas--a paradise, at the cost of one child’s eternal suffering. 

Food For Thought (and Bad Writing(tm)):

A lot of people have a boner for the cannibalism implications of meol despite the bad math behind it, but fucking meol, how does it work? 

Sin eating historically was to cleanse one who has passed on of their earthly sins that they may find peace in the afterlife--this was done in different ways by different people, but one of the best known methods was ritualistically baking the sins of the dead into bread or cakes and consuming it. Yoshi-P has even said he thought of meol as a sweet bread. Quest text from the Unfulfilled Forager in Gate Town further backs up that meol is not meat-based:

(By the way, nothing was keeping this man from hunting a shit-ton of meat that was literally within walking distance.)

It suggests Vauthry could have been taught that by eating the sins of the world, a.k.a. Sin Eaters, a.k.a. meol (which in the Japanese version, was something he was apparently afraid of doing?) --he was saving someone’s soul. 

“And for thy peace I pawn my own soul. Amen.”

In reality, there would be a point Mr. Mayor would not know how to feed the Warden forced on his child. Humes don't have a natural method of feeding on "living aether", yet the Warden would not reach its full potency without it. Making meol could either involve an instinctive act on the Warden’s part, or it was taught--and that seems very much beyond his father’s area of expertise, OR Vauthry himself, so I’d almost wonder if the Ascians had a part in it.  But like mixing medicine in a favorite food, theoretically, the aether provided by meol would slowly build up. And as the Warden grew in power, it would need more, and more. It would explain that final “powerup” before Mt. Gulg.

Provided Sin Eaters have any living aether left. They never explained that bit. Sin Eaters have no bones, no blood, no meat, nothing but Light. We saw enough of them dissipate into the air, including in cutscenes. Even Tesleen, very recently turned, faded. There is nothing else to them but Light...and there should be nothing left but that “blank perfection”, the Eater would have ate the rest? So where is the “living aether” they require to survive?

Fresh-sliced sneater wing, empty as the plotholes of this arc.

I could buy him turning people into Eaters directly, but then what was the point of the bread?

That’s right folks, meol still doesn't make sense, surprise! Also: so many people in one city allegedly being "disappeared" over twenty years, from a stagnant population, to “feed” everyone every day--yet no panic, not so much as a hushed whisper about it? Eulmore is supposed to be the safest place anywhere -- no idea how it could gain that reputation with that theory. Square wrote Eulmore like it existed in a vacuum, no one knowing no one. The lack of depth is still jarring, three playthroughs later. Only one unreliable narrator of an NPC (Thoarich) even hinted this theory, to boot. 

Side note I thought was strange: you never see any of the normal food in Vauthry’s chamber actually eaten, it’s all untouched. I wonder if the Warden somehow eventually affected his ability to tolerate the food a Hume would normally eat.

That said, his “mind control” of the populace was laughably ineffective, so I wonder what even was the point of feeding them meol. Perhaps it was again the Lightwarden instinct to create more of its own kind. Nothing else seems to fit. “Oh no, this Eulmoran is staggering randomly around, muttering about Vauthry! How can we survive this onslaught?” Yyyyeah no, lol. Alphinaud confirmed the Eulmorans were acting of their own free will until that final showdown, so the mind control seemed to be a panic move--I wonder if it was even took conscious effort at that point, or just another instinctive SOS from the Warden. Given his father’s trouble with the smallfolk, I have to wonder if it was Former Mayor’s idea, if there was a real reason behind it. Not a reason that would make good sense, but nothing in this arc does make good sense, so.

The thing is, meol was an optional dish. No one was forced to eat it. So Vauthry must not have been relying on controlling or turning anyone.

But despite the fact meol defies their own game logic, Square really did seem to relish hinting at the dehumanizing, Austin Powers “haha fat guy eats people” trope anyway, and seriously. They could do better than that--I hoped they’d BE better than that. But here we are, the company that is supposed to go so hard against harassment takes an easy target and encourages a very specific negative response to it. This is the reason I believe Eulmore was such an inconsistent arc--they almost entirely depended on Vauthry’s appearance to carry the weak narrative, explaining very lttle of his actual motivations because that would ruin their weak-ass “gotcha” that he was the Lightwarden of Kholusia. Of course he’d be evil, just look at him! Right guys? Look! He’s fat! 

Just as they used nothing but thicc’qotes in the trailer to try establishing the evils in Eulmore. Thicc’qotes eating fresh fruit whilst having pleasant conversation is the root of it all in Square’s eye; not a noblewoman who tried to have her maidservant murdered, not the nobleman who pushed his bodyguard over the rails, or even that asshole on the balcony laughing about splitting someone’s head like a melon. No, fatness is the real wickedness. Square was full of shit for this one and it shows when looked at with even a little critical thought. I don’t know what I expected of someone who requested a human “Jabba The Hutt” to be the last-minute midboss, someone who looked at a heavier Lakshmi and said “that’s not cute”, or a jackass who told a cosplayer they needed to lose weight onstage at FanFest 2014.

Even more disappointing? All these questions here, all these inconsistencies? For the majority of the playerbase, “he’s fat” was good enough. The Ascians get a million thoughtful theories. One of their victims? The playerbase thinks he manifested from the womb as you see him in game. They don’t stop to think of what it implied, to be born corrupted and groomed as a tool not only for Ascians, but his own father. They avoid the fact the fandom darling directly violated a woman and child’s bodily autonomy even as they insist on Vauthry taking absolute 100% responsibility for everything he was made specifically to do. And there’s just one difference between him and literally every other villain in this game, aside from the fact he had no choice. Yeah. As much as some players hate to hear it, if Vauthry had swapped models with the fandom darling, we wouldn’t be hearing justifications for mass murder/dictatorships/skeevy noncon. We would definitely be hearing how Vauthry was used, though--and how tragic his story is.

Some players bring up Dulia-Chai as though she somehow counters all the bodyshaming bullshit elsewhere. It doesn’t. She was still in place along with all the other thicc’qotes as Square’s fucked-up shorthand for excess and indolence. I had to learn she kept books for the Stoneworks in optional dialogue. Maybe if she didn’t talk about cakes and such so much, but I mean, that’s what fat people do, right? 

So if you’re laughing at fat men, we fat women know you’re actually laughing at us, too. Git gud or stop embarrassing yourselves.

“Tyranny”, aka you keep using that word, I don’t think it means what you think it means:

Whatever the Ascians did to make sure Vauthry’s "Ascension" was a time-release event, the "madness and fury" clearly had taken him when we met him in Shadowbringers. Punishments for those having broken the laws of the city changed from exile into vicious death sentences. Suddenly the God talk, where not even Alphinaud had heard that. It really makes a case that Vauthry was slowly declining into madness the longer he was exposed to the Warden--in fact, Thancred sort of confirms it, during the trailer: “This town certainly has changed, but not at all for the better.” He was only on The First for five years. 

Vauthry likely had no introspective dialogues because much of who he actually had been was already gone, and the player is left with his remaining drive to do “good” and “justify your existence” wrapped around the instincts of a Lightwarden.

Yet a lot of things remain that really contradict the "bones of the poor" narrative the writers were trying to push about the city, and many times I felt a real disconnect between what our party was saying and what Eulmore was actually doing. A lot of it implies that, despite the Warden utterly subverting Vauthry as per the hard rules of Tempering, there was benevolence at work, once. The Minstreling Wanderer said that he could not say whether Vauthry was wicked in his youth, and I take this as a sign he was not. 

First off, let’s just get this out of the way: The Crystarium also expected you to work for the city in some form if you were expecting to stay there.

”Layabouts”: a people who were the main line of defense against the Sin Eaters for all The First for eighty years, until the futility of it, and all the loss, broke their spirits entirely. Just another sample of how Square intended Eulmore be shown as fat=lazy, despite their own lore--until Square was lazy themselves and didn’t finish the thicc’qote models so Eulmore would be exclusively fat bodies as shown in the trailer. 

The narrative often fudged with writer omnipotence regarding the protagonists, pressing to cast Eulmore in a negative light because they’d given up hope, even though loss is so important in excusing the Ascians’ actions. Our party had the WoL, whom they knew not only had a good chance of defeating Lightwardens, but G’raha seemed to know the WoL could contain them. Your average native inhabitant of the First would not be far off the mark feeling hopeless about the world, though, because they didn’t know about these extraordinary circumstances. Most of their oceans were lost in the Flood, and that in itself, realistically, is a death sentence. It’s all well and good G’raha was so perky and hopeful, and all well and good the game contrived a convenient deus ex machina to fix the issue (they never really addressed the issue anyway), but none of the locals could know any of this. I can see why Eulmore would think the Scions were full of shit, because for 80 years after the Flood, Eulmore tried to stop the Sin Eaters and could not. Honestly, I expected more sympathy for the Eulmorans, because they had been the front line for so long and lost so much. But lol fatties amirite?

Now, Square tried to dabble in many other Enlightened Social Commentaries with Eulmore, but immediately contradicted themselves so many times I was constantly asking myself why Alphinaud was being so goddamn extra dramatic. Gate Town/The Derelicts:

Not at Eulmore’s hand, Alphinaud honey, you can’t solo farms or communities. The people who remained behind were borked over by the ones who left. What are you even trying to say here, Square, help me out. Generosity--”largesse”-- is bad? Abandoning what you have, all others  be damned, for something you were never given a promise of receiving....good? Sympathetic? Seriously, what is your point here, Square? How does this equal Eulmore being malicious? How does this not make the bulk of Gate Town hopefuls a bunch of dipshits? Wright is in sight from Gate Town, but no one ever thought going there might be better?

If Square meant for Eulmore to seem a prison for the “poor”, they did a shitty job of that, considering: 1) A big point about Gate Town was that the people staying there left viable homes, farms, and communities for a chance at getting in, a chance that was never guaranteed by anyone, and they refused any alternatives Alphinaud offered them, plus

2) No one was keeping anyone from leaving if they wanted to. No guards, no masked vigilantes, no rando singing Hotel California in your ear.

So ruthless a prison, there were not only invisible guards holding you against your will, there was an Amarokeep waiting in the Derelicts to whisk you away for 70 gil so you can pretend to make a daring escape, straight to the freebie Amaro that will take you to The Crystarium. Tell your friends! Tell Alphinaud! He will literally buy anything this expac.

- “Young Kai-Shirr” getting into Eulmore was never a “matter of life or death”, and I can’t tell if that was Alphinaud being pretentious again or the writing was just that bad. Kai-Shirr was offered work at the Crystarium and he refused it, “it has to be Eulmore”. How is that on anyone but him? (Plus why does no one ever question Kai-Shirr’s complete lack of caring for why Alphinaud wanted in, if that was true? Was Kai-Shirr then not dooming Alph to “death” instead when he robbed him? That’s not very cash money of him.)  

This isn’t “life or death” either.

Neither is this.

Nnnno. 

Considering Stilltide reported they have fish for all, and Wright’s trouble was not enough people, this is not only not “life or death”, but fucking creepy. Hopefully this better illustrates my confusion of what we were being told vs. what we were being shown in Gate Town/The Derelicts.  d( ᐖ )

- The citizens In Gate Town/The Derelicts were not at the mercy of a "contest" to be let in. It was shown to be literally a help wanted board with jesters, and the “contest” was “do you have this certain skill someone is looking to hire”. I guess the Crystarium will hire a fishmonger to do the work of a chirurgeon or something? 

The jongleurs were otherwise just "rule of cool", I guess--although the significant look the Red gave us, followed soon after by Emet-Selch’s lurking outside the Offer, made me wonder if they were not acting as monitors on Vauthry for the Ascians. 

- There was at least one person in the Derelicts from the Crystarium, looking to make a quick gil on the extravagant “refuse” of the city, and several locals were doing the same. I guess those “layabouts” inside the city had their uses after all, Katliss.

- Meol was not the only food given to those outside the city. Produce and such that was not “pretty” enough for the fussy free citizenry was distributed to those camping the outskirts. 

I’d have expected a “tyrant” to let that produce rot. Catty in Stilltide confirmed there was enough fish for everyone living there, and Zia-Bostt above seems to back that up. Game in the field was also aplenty even in terms of map mechanics--this was not some form of forced famine to hold the smallfolk in a state of dependence. Eulmore was still paying the villages for produce. 

So much for the exploitation of big, bad Eulmore! 

Again, Alphinaud himself bemoaned how the people were there of their own choice, and how they refused any and all alternatives he presented them with. The people in Gate Town wanted to wait for Eulmore, they left their own homes and farms freely for Eulmore, screwing over their neighbors in the process--and that is not Vauthry’s fault, that is on them? 

Hurricane Florence left my husband and I homeless a while. You do not fucking pass up sure shelter and work and food to wait instead for a nebulous chance at Hollywood or Las Vegas--and if you do, that’s all your own tomfoolery, that’s not “injustice”, no BONES OF THE POOR required. It’s common sense, Square, goddamn lol 

The Free Citizenry:

- The rich would not be permitted into the city if they did not give up their wealth  for the benefit of all living there. This was a condition for the rich only. There is zero indication those funds were being put into Vauthry's pocket; it ran the city, and both free and bonded enjoyed the results (there seemed far more bonded residents in Eulmore than free, to boot.). There's a policy that would never fly in at least two allied citystates, lol.

It raises the question, if Wrenden and Former Mayor were so damn equitable, how were there even rich to begin with? There’s an old noble in Vauthry’s Eulmore who apparently does not know how to tie his shoes without a servant--a.k.a., the idle rich existed before Vauthry even came into power. The dialogue of Vauthry’s father also made it seem that these were systems in place long before he his son was even born -- except Vauthry’s system did not allow their hoarding of wealth, and distributed it instead to the benefit of everyone in the city. It was also a system that was so satisfactory, both free and bonded citizens became loudly dissatisfied after he was gone. 

- The rich were the only ones guaranteed “Ascension”, and if you want to call that a perk I’m going to assume it’s because the entire system relied on their dosh--technically, they already did their “work” for the city. (”Buying a stairway to Heaven”, as it were.) So much for those "bones of the poor", Alph. Statistically, if bones built Eulmore, it was the bones of the rich.

Until Gaia, Ascension was only mentioned twice, but again, no real context was given. (jfc Square, we shouldn't have to buy an overpriced lorebook for this.) First time was the Weeping Warbler chain. Going by the quest dialogue, it sounded very much like something offered as mercy to terminal illness or otherwise impending death, as the Warbler's creepy patron lamented how he almost wished he could hasten his own to join her (btw, the right answer to that poor girl's fear that she'd be a burden more than a treasure was "YOU ARE MORE THAN YOUR VOICE”,  asshole. >:| ). Players at the time were legit “oh that poor old man, she’s like his daughter :CCCCC” Ahahaha oh my sweet summer children

Either way, "Ascension” was definitely implied to be entirely voluntary. It was implied there were even rules and conditions to be granted it. And Vauthry did not seem to push anyone towards the idea, it was just there. (If it was for terminal illness, though, consider the following: Thoarich seemed confident the Warbler would live, but may lose her voice. If you have to be terminal to be Ascended, ironically Vauthry may have refused her patron's request.) The second mention was from Vauthry himself, for his “trial” when the Lightwarden awakened--so he certainly, tragically, believed what he claimed it was.  The Bonded Residents:

- Even at his worst, there is no indication that the free citizens were encouraged by Vauthry to abuse their workers; in fact, the Amiable Maiden and her Ardent Attendant implied heavily that appreciation and respect for one's bonded was the ideal that was pushed by Eulmore, that "love for one's fellow man". 

At no time were the bonded residents “slaves” (a new accusation from Twitter). They were “bonded” to the patrons who hired them by a work contract, and they sought those jobs willingly. No one kept them from leaving Gate Town, only kept them from getting in without a work arrangement--again, a prerequisite the Crystarium also had according to Katliss. The bonded residents were paid, and apparently paid well. 

As the WoL, we were also bonded to the Chais, and were able to come and go later. It was like the writers knew they needed to sit the fence so the free citizens would be redeemable enough to help with the immersion-breaking giant Talos plot later, and so never pushed Eulmore to the evils they talked about but never showed--leaving behind the most disconnected, self-sabotaging arc I’ve ever seen from this MMO.

An evil slaveowner at work.

Alphinaud rewarded for being an agreeable yet melodramatic young boy.

- The bonded we met who fled Eulmore had fled their patrons, not Vauthry himself--even the Warbler thought Vauthry a “great man”. No one in Eulmore feared him.

- Tristol’s “grave sin” to be patronless and penniless was contradicted by Fathana, whose patron had died some time ago, and yet she remained in the city without one to help new workers--because her patron had been so kind to her. The clerk whom you first speak to upon entering Eulmore even says that if you are “fired” or otherwise lose your patronage, you can try to find another patron to remain in the city or work as a general laborer like Fathana until, presumably, you do find another patron. Or maybe you don’t even need a patron, and you are allowed to stay as your own boss at that point, she certainly was.

Since the Chais helped us leave the city, I’m not at all sure why they didn’t do the same for Tristol, especially if Vauthry’s violence was a well-known thing. It’s almost like violence from Vauthry wasn’t expected, and they’d never think that would happen. I mean, some recent time ago, Vauthry only exiled thieves from Eulmore.

(Hell, Square may have even fudged Tristol’s punishment, implying Vauthry had ordered him tossed off the balustrade of The Offer. Vauthry’s balcony appears to be the one directly above The Path To Glory, right above the gates into Eulmore. There doesn’t seem to be ocean nearby at any realistic distance or angle from that balcony. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯)

- Laws that we saw in effect were for the benefit of patrons and bonded citizens alike. There was nothing to suggest those laws were unreasonable, either. The punishment became fuck no unreasonable (though as I pointed out earlier, the punishments seemed to ramp up in violence the longer the warden was part of him, from exile to a literal pound of flesh, much like Titania went from a benevolent ruler to Jumpscare Prime). But fraud being a crime is sort of expected anywhere, and creeps at the Beehive should not touch dancers unless dancers consent, lest they get the bouncer. ( another strangely thoughtful law for a “tyrant”. )

- The bonded residents inside seemed much happier with their lot than Alphinaud’s dramatic assessment, which was also confusing as hell. 

-  Entire families were allowed to enter if one member was hired. Alphinaud was able to drag us along with a minimum of fuss as his “assistant”. Vauthry’s definition of how one “gives” to Eulmore was not based solely on traditional work.

- Bonded residents were not afraid at all to speak of bending rules for perfect strangers when offering drinks to us, so Vauthry wasn't out prowling for blood 24/7 like an Inquisitor trying to fill their heretic quota. Not only was Dulia-Chai not afraid to go calm him down at the height of his rage, Chai-Nuzz didn't freak out at the idea she'd do it. Nuzz. Wasn’t nervous. Yeah, let that one sink in 9_6

The only time Vauthry acted seemed to be when an issue was brought forward directly to him. Otherwise, it seemed like standard Lightwarden behavior: stasis, until presented with a real and immediate threat to itself, which in Vauthry’s case was a threat to the order of his city, or the ones killing Lightwardens.

For allegedly being aggressive against Kholusia's neighbors, Vauthry seemed to have taken the Crystarium's refusal of his offer to lead them back in the day really well, as in, he did jack shit in retaliation and accepted it. In fact, he was so warlike, Emet-Selch was surprised Vauthry would move that army, even for a very clear threat against fulfilling the false destiny Emet-Selch forced on him. 

While on the subject of aggression, the people in Amity have dialogue indicating they feared Vauthry would send the army after them--which he obviously never did, in all 20 years of his reign.  

- “No one leaves” except hey whoa there hi, Lue-Reeq, who comes and goes as he pleases. Plus that bonded resident who came to Wright looking for ale. Plus us, also bonded residents, because Dulia-Chai once again had nothing to fear from Vauthry.

Also anyone who was exiled previously. For supposedly wanting to keep people inside Eulmore, Vauthry sure was terrible at doing it lmao

GCBTW: I'd really love to see Square and Alphinaud be similarly vocal and insistent with the actual horrors our own Allied city-states commit without the corruption of a Lightwarden in play. The selective outrage/pearl-clutching is really immersion-breaking.

Ishgard: “Highborn” genuinely exploiting the “lowborn” every other sidequest to this day. Genocide of the Au Ra. At least two FATEs, one job quest, one lorebook entry, and one dungeon indicate Ishgard has fucking disgusting levels of rape carried out by figures of authority. Rent is being charged for people from the Brume--the homeless, destitute people in the Brume--to live in the Firmament, but they can arrange payment plans! And this was all talked about while one of them was shivering in the cold nearby. What, can't the highborn be arsed to share what they have? Eulmore is the height of wickedness because they couldn't cram an island full of people into one tower, but Ishgard's our pal even though they can't manage to make space in their mansions for one small area of one city. My God, Vauthry had FOOD in his chamber, shame!--but that's okay, Aymeric, you rock that extravagant dinner spread in the dating sim cutscene. Maybe the Brume can fight over the Ishgardian Muffin crumbs.

(Yes, I know, Vauthry had more food than that in his chamber. He’s also approaching fifteen-plus feet tall. Proportionally, the food in his chamber would be the equivalent of you or me living on cocktail peanuts and thimbles of water. Once more, Square was so fixated on fatphobia they didn’t do the fucking math.)

Doma: “Hey yeah look guys I know child trafficking is bad but let’s just smile and nod at this guy who did it to Yotsuyu and give him a different post, okay? Okay. Remember to be polite. We will never speak of this again.”

“Let me laugh about your beliefs and call them bullshit while I angle you into a war that isn’t even yours, Xaela tribes.” Gridania: Lets people straight up die if the “elements” tell them it’s okay. Exiling a child for stealing a bag of flower seeds is normal and totally not at all fucked up. Open and accepted racism against the Duskwights with no sign of Kan-E-Senna saying fucking stop that shit.

Ul’dah: Human trafficking. Child trafficking. Human lab rats. Using prisoners for blood sports. The Syndicate living it up in finery, giving exactly nothing to people living in the streets. Notoriously corrupt Brass Blades. More implications of fucking disgusting levels of rape. Turning away the Doman refugees when they literally had nowhere else to go and nothing left. We smiled and nodded when Godbert said people mustn’t be given charity, they must work for their own good.

Limsa Lominsa: Fucks over the “beast tribes” at every opportunity, then complains they summon Primals.

But remember, folks, it was Vauthry’s Eulmore that was the real evil we had to desperately move against. Not the newer, capitalist Eulmore that didn’t feed two guys from Wright because they couldn’t afford it, shoosh those “bones of the poor” don’t count. The writers tried to retcon a lot in 5.1, it seemed--suddenly, it was implied people were forced to leave villages, conscripted, etc. Except the people were still there to tell us otherwise in 5.0, and there was still no sign of any Eulmoran forces keeping them in Gate Town. We went from Alphinaud demanding the free citizens take responsibility for what they’d done in Eulmore to posthumously blaming Vauthry’s “bad influence” for everything up to and including a noblewoman’s attempted murder of her maidservant, because the noblewoman’s husband was creeping on the girl. 

Which leads us to another of my biggest peeves--all the while, despite “the truth” being so important when it came to Emet-Selch, the sins of Vauthry’s father and the suffering his wife and child endured because of Emet-Selch’s direct hand are left unspoken. We smile and nod silently to Eulmorans and then offer them up Vauthry and his “bad influence” as an excuse for their own misdeeds. I’ve never felt less a “hero” in this game as I did then. Yet Emet-Selch, who committed this atrocity on a child, was called a HERO because fandom darling, while the child is vilified and thoroughly dehumanized.

It’s really telling how much blind condemnation the fanbase dealt to Vauthry for reasons that were completely inaccurate, while the fandom darling of this expansion was 100% the founder of not one, but two civilizations based on domination, the most recent being a nation whose canon creed is  "No lands must remain beyond our grasp. Go forth. Conquer. Rule.", a nation whose people have a habit of calling all the “lesser races” they conscript “savages”. Fandom Darling was also hype af for Black Rose and called it worthy of his bloodline! ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ

It’s really telling that the fanbase will randomly accuse Vauthry of being a sexual predator with Sin Eaters based on exactly zero evidence (but a lot of projection on their part), while the fandom darling 100% canonly used the actual Solus zos Galvus’ enthralled body to sire a child with Galvus’ unwitting wife, and going by the dialogue--

--he’s done that before. No wonder consent was no big deal when he made that offer to Former Mayor. But this was played for sympathy because fandom darling and what do you know, the fandom bought it.

Square “both sided” actual authoritarian characters--actual colonizers, actual mass murderers of entire worlds, actual skeevy-ass characters who don’t care about consent because “not really alive”--called it “heroic”, even (the latter was called “moral relativism”, and it’s genuinely unnerving how many players pushed that as absolution or relatable)--but throughout the course of the main expansion and two subsequent patches,Square went all-in that the fat guy who had his agency and sanity stolen from him in utero to be used as a tool of destruction was the real tyrant. We the player were encouraged to buddy up with E-S while we were never once given the option to wonder if something was terribly amiss with Vauthry, if he may need help. They didn’t even spare us a “jfc that poor man, the Eaters got to him” when he blindly twisted his neck 180 to neither see nor hear us. He was still “evil” because reasons, a.k.a., he was fat.

TL;DR, the playerbase: 

I remain unconvinced the Ancients were not clever enough to suspect summoning the “Will Of The Star” may have an effect on their own wills, as their wishes for Zodiark carried an unspoken need for the Elder Primal to be granted control to achieve its end. Emet-Selch stated that Tempering was to be “expected”, even “natural”, though his appearance towards the end of 5.3 seems to contradict Tempering: has there ever been another instance that a Tempered being was able to act directly against the best interests of the primal that holds them in thrall? Elidibus sure couldn’t. 

Disclaimer: I actually have no issue with liking the Ascians, be it shipping, writing, art, porn mods, whatever. But if you come into my yard with nothing but shit talk for Vauthry on reblogs of my art, yet have all the praise for the one who made him, you’re going to hear in my personal space about why you’re a hypocrite. Often. With receipts.

The End.

First off, it’s popular in the fandom to say the Lightwarden was Vauthry’s real body because it’s just so damn inconvenient to the dating sim mentality that the fat guy was the default. Thing is:

That is Innocence’s head and its wings inside Vauthry’s split-open back during the pre-phase two “transformation”. Between that and the second face that appeared to cave in most of Vauthry’s chest (on the heart side, interestingly enough), the face whose eyes opened and glowed upon the Warden’s “awakening”:

It doesn’t look at all like it was a “transformation”.  It looks like the Lightwarden emerged and absorbed what was left of its host’s physical form while still retaining Vauthry’s broken mind.  (Notice the nose, much longer than Vauthry’s actual nose, eye spacing, the bit of smile. That second face was the Warden.)

Before his death, Vauthry did not say "well dang, the Ascians promised I would be all-powerful so I could be evil! Curse them for cheating me!"

He said "Father told me...that I am hope. That I am righteousness. That I am...a god... That is why I was born...as man and sin eater both...I kept the people safe!"

Those lines make no sense if Vauthry interpreted Father’s manipulations as "haha I'm a spoiled evil brat I can do what I want". A spoiled evil brat wouldn't need to be convinced what they were doing was GOOD, would they? Why would that even have been a thing, wouldn't they just not care? He had the power to not give a shit. Instead, he would see his peoples’ “dreams fulfilled, their wishes granted.” EDIT - Canon as of 5.3 appears to support this analysis! \o/ 

Spoken at the end by G’raha Tia on the subject of enduring hope, and additionally supported by the Minstreling Wander, who told us in the Immaculate EX unlock he could not say if Vauthry was wicked in his youth. ”Vindicate his existence”. Vauthry was never in this for the evil selfish lulz. He believed he needed to prove the “half Sin Eater” heritage forced on him did not make him a monster, that it was good, that he was good, and he did it by doing everything he was gaslighted to believe was good by his father--until the Warden finally broke him entirely. To the people who debated so strongly he was just evil because reasons, or refused to hold other characters to the same standards of damnation they set for him because reasons, hope your shoe tastes good. Your reasons were always really clear, btw.

This remains the story of a child who needed a hero that never came, and players choose to discard it, like the free citizens snub produce, because Vauthry isn’t pretty enough for them. A fat character’s stolen life simply isn’t worth the effort of contemplation because the one who made him makes players horny on main.

What happened to this character, with just the little information the game gave us, was straight-up abuse. Yet too many in the fanbase thought no further than juvenile fat jokes (so cool) or unquestioning contempt for a character who was clearly in a state of mental breakdown (unless it was the fandom darling, he’s allowed, even if it destroys worlds) --while Square readily had their characters ace detective enough to detect his weight, but not his unnatural height, his pointed ears, his fogged over eyes, his bendy-straw neck, his second freaking face. Oh, and he can control Sin Eaters. Wait, you mean the Lightwarden was in him the whole time!? Seems legit gais, what an unexpected turn of events! 

ᐠ( ᐛ )ᐟ

[nadiaportia]

Cibela de Rubalcaba

The heiress who seeks to become a legend.

Other bios:  Ximena | Sayelle | Deirdra | Heloisa

Full name: Cibela María Teresa de Rubalcaba y Saavedra

Meaning of name: 

Cibela: derived from Cybele, the Anatolian mother goddess

María Teresa: Combination of “María” and “Teresa”, possibly meaning “summer” in Greek.

Family:

Heloisa de Rubalcaba and Ximena Rubalcaba: Cibela’s younger sisters. She has a closer relationship with Heloisa due to her being born when Cibela was 6 years old while she was already 12 by the time Ximena came into the world. Heloisa’s and her own personality constantly clash ever since their youth but still they managed to co-exist in some way or another. Regardless, Cibela considered Ximena with her calm and gentle nature her favourite sister despite there being considerable distance between them and never having properly lived together since Cibela soon began her training abroad.

Marisol de Rubalcaba (deceased): Her mother and the former Marquesa de Rubalcaba. Cibela was the apple of her eye and Marisol was incredibly attached to her daughter and fulfilled every wish she ever voiced. Her death hit Cibela the most out of the three sisters.

Valentín Saavedra (deceased): Cibela’s father and a sea-faring merchant prince from the higher Cartagense bourgeoisie. For the while where it was only the three of them, Valentín was a caring and loving father who regularly took his daughter on his travels and showed her the world.

Aníbal Heßling de Cordovero: Cibela’s husband. The last offspring of an impoverished line of nobles, Aníbal met Cibela when she returned successfully from a military campaign and shortly after the death of her father. He has a lot of affection for her which he is never shy about showing. They are basically polar opposites in terms of personality, him being openly emotional as well as having a pendant for kicking down at those beneath him, while Cibela has a cold exterior but is tough yet fair.

Esmerelda de Rubalcaba: The matriarch in-all-but-name of the Rubalcaba family, Marisol’s older sister and Cibela’s aunt. In contrast to her parents worshipping the ground she walks on, Esme is Cibela’s harshest critic while Cibela looks up to her as matriarch of the family and having made a name for herself after breaking the mold. Not getting the approval, affection and respect she believes should be rightfully hers, Cibela walks the line of being spiteful and needing to be appreciated.

Agustín de Rubalcaba: Esmerelda’s only son and Cibela’s cousin. Despite being very close in age, they have an almost antagonistic relationship with both having little respect for what the other does. 

Catalina Saveedra: The aunt of Valentín Saavedra and Cibela’s great aunt. Catalina has great love for her nephew’s eldest daughter and herself being a powerful member of the Calpacian merchant guild, supports Cibela in her military campaigns and her position as Marquesa. 

Others: Constanza de Rubalcaba (maternal grand-mother, deceased), Cristobal de Rubalcaba (maternal uncle, deceased), Máximo de Otxoa (maternal grand-father, deceased), Jaime Saavedra (paternal uncle), Genoveva Saavedra (paternal aunt), Dulcinea Saavedra (paternal grand-mother, deceased), Leonardo Buendía (paternal grand-father)

Nicknames: Bela (by family and her husband), Maythé (by her father only)

Favourite meal: Ceviche

Favourite drink: Orange flower tea

Favourite flower: Vanilla orchid

Favourite color: Violet

Birthday: 3rd of August

Age: 49 during the events of the game

Zodiac: Leo

MBTI: ISTJ

Patron Arcana: Strength and the Knight of Pentacles

Upright: Strength can be quiet; often she shines through patience and compassion, not aggression.

Reversed: Strength has lost her careful equilibrium, and with it, control of her inner beasts.

Upright:  The Knight of Pentacles is traditional and steadfast, using well-proven methods to achieve success.

Reversed: The Knight of Pentacles has become stuck in his routine, trodding slow with his eyes to the ground.

Gender: Cis Female

Sexuality: The author of this text believes two things: 1. Cibela refuses any label; 2. Cibela is 100% not straight.

Height: 177 cm // 5′8″

Appearance:

Cibela is of athletic build. Her skin is of a slightly dark medium brown with a warm undertone and she has an angular face with slightly visible lines underneath her eyes and on her forehead as well as a beauty mark next to the corner of her left eye. She has three scars: one on her lip, one on her right cheekbone and another one on the left side of her jaw. She has thick eyebrows, eyes a color reminiscent of dark honey, an upturned nose with a low bridge and full lips. Her hair is black with various grey streaks, curly and reaches her shoulders.

She has the tendency to frown as well as wear a rather serious expression on her face, which fits as she is in general a serious person - as is seen fit for a high-ranking member of the military and an heiress of a powerful house.

Visual inspirations:

Gina Torres, especially as Zoe Washburne

Languages spoken: Calpacian, Prakran, Firenti, Karnasso, Galbradan, Hjallen, Nopali, Nevivish, Kerusksch, Venterran, Oriolà, Zadithi and the Common Tongue

Love interests:

Aníbal

In general, like with most of my characters; if they’re compatible sexuality-wise as well as personality-wise, feel free to ship them with your OCs or MCs! Hit me up with a message and we can discuss the details.

Backstory: 

As the firstborn and heiress of an influential aristocratic family, Cibela had expectations placed upon her from the moment she could walk. In addition to that, the day she was born, her aunt Esmerelda, back then herself the heiress to her own mother, Marquesa Constanza, renounced her title and passed it onto her younger sister Marisol.

Both Marisol and Valentín saw their daughter as the most precious person in the entire world and someone who would surely become someone important in her adulthood. Her aunt, although not Marquesa anymore but still very much the head of the family, tutored her in the responsibilities of being a leader, and soon recognized the determination and bravery within Cibela. Already idealizing Esmé, back then in her peak as the greatest military officer in the history of Cartagenth, Cibela wanted nothing more than to fill her aunt’s footsteps and become a legend just like her. While having a lot of affection for both of her parents, she didn’t interest herself to lead her father’s merchant fleet or become a courtier in the Zaan’s service like her mother. 

As a young woman, she steadily worked her way up the ranks, with her connections being of considerable help, and became an excellent fighter and strategist in no small part because of her perfectionism and desire to always get what she wants, no matter what it takes, which earns the respect of high-ranking officers with strong foothold in the Cartagense War Council. Yet she never managed to fully leave her aunt’s shadow due to being more impulsive and having little to no political savviness - an area where her sister Heloisa excelled. Her shortcomings led to Esmé criticizing her openly which angered Cibela who resented that Heloisa had her aunt’s unconditional approval and affection despite her being the one who would soon carry the family’s and Esmé’s legacy. 

The death of her father and proceeding illness of her mother that caused the latter’s departure to their Southern seaside residence, the Summer Palace, hit her hard and out of desperation and loneliness, Cibela entered a relationship with Aníbal. She asked for her mother’s blessing who granted it enthusiastically, being reminded of her own issues with her marriage to a non-aristocrat, while Esmé believed her niece to be settling for a man miles beneath her out of fear of being abandoned. A few days after the grand wedding, Ximena decided to expose the plans made by the War Council, led by their aunt, the Court and the Zaan about the future of Calpacia and brought chaos into the Rubalcaba residence. In order to save face, the Zaan announced the Rubalcabas to be the sole scapegoats and it was only due to Esmé’s immense influence and a very direct threat that kept their titles, lands, fortune, positions and even their heads in place even if beyond the official statements, they effectively became social pariahs too powerful to be removed and useful to be thrown to the angry mob in the streets. Cibela’s view of her gentle and harmless sister was broken and she resented her for lashing out at their family to whom she was supposed to have unconditional allegiance and loyalty and daring to run away to not face the consequences. 

With her parents dead, Ximena dead to her and stuck in a marriage with a man who did love her but also desired to improve his social status and now also had to take the fall, Cibela went on to emancipate herself from her aunt in the eyes of the leaders of Grand Army of Calpacia and by the time she was middle-aged had the rank of a general and was well-respected by both the new Zaan and their court. Over the years she continued to lock horns with Heloisa, who became an influential figure on court and didn’t bother to hide her ambitions of wanting to be the Marquesa de Rubalcaba despite being second-in-line of succession. Despite both sisters having in common that regardless of their best efforts they never managed to eclipse their aunt, they continued to stand on opposite sides fighting a “cold war”. Whether Cibela’s own way of gathering her own support loyal to her and only her is more successful in removing herself from her aunt’s manipulative influences than Heloisa’s insistence on “playing the long game” remains to be seen.

[vinculafidelis]

ELDRIT is a 363 year old DEMISEXUAL, FEMALE, SHE/HER, here in Firebrand City. People say they look a lot like GAL GADOT. They are TENDER but can be TROUBLED. They are a DRAGON TRAITOR in Firebrand and they work as a DEMON COUNCIL ASSISTANT

I.

Sand dragons are small with serpent-like bodies; incredibly elusive they live their lives in the unforgiving desert in packs of 3 or 4. Excellent diggers they can go deep into the hard ground and find water, making oases of life sprout in even the harshest conditions. Eldrit grew up in a clan made up of her older brother and his mate, her older sister and herself since parents usually took off to start more families once hatchlings were self sufficient.

II.

It was a happy life but it wasn’t easy. Even for dragons, resources were difficult to come by, seasons were merciless and time moved slowly. They were defenders of the flora and fauna of their land and mostly they didn’t want their kind to go extinct. Eldrit and her thunder hid in razor sharp mountain ranges, caves and wherever they could, sometimes for years, months, or days. Their existence was nomadic and home was not a place but a feeling. Eldrit adored her siblings and constantly showed it, she was an affectionate and amicable reptile: she learned very fast, was easily pleased: they said that whoever ended as her mate was going to be lucky. Eldrit had no problem to wait for the one.

III.

The desert lands had always been territories full of magic and sand dragons were highly coveted specimens for those privileged enough to know about them. An energized enough sand dragon had the power to turn anything into diamond with their breath. Eldrit grew up distrustful of everyone and anything that wasn’t a member of her family, a paranoia that had been engraved in her genes for centuries and centuries.

IV.

It was Eldrit’s obsession with honey that set off the beginning of an endless nightmare. Her sister had been long gone to form a family of her own and the rest of the clan had been on the move to locate more sand dragons to maybe find a mate for the youngest. Eldrit wandered off to sample a honeybee hive. Careless, carefree, captured.

V.

She didn’t see them or smell them until it was too late. Their scent wasn’t that of regular humans. Some of them had fire like her. Some of them had water and air. Some of them turned into animals. They said words and made things happen. They put heavy chains and shackles around her legs, pinned down her wings, she couldn’t open her jaws to call for help, to defend herself as they took her far away from any kind of home she had ever known.

VI.

Eldrit was thrown into an ornate golden cage in a fancy marble palace where dozens of faces got to gawk at her every day. She got enough sustenance to exist but not enough to be able to break free from the chains. She had seen mountain lions and camels in local towns suffer similar fates as hers but never a dragon. Never a seemingly untouchable, magical being like her. She did not understand. Why couldn’t she free herself? Apparently the beings around her had magic too.

VII.

The sand dragon spent years and years captive as a glorified zoo animal for greedy Supers to parade and brag about. Every so often she was forced to showcase her powers and turn things into diamond. But inside, Eldrit was losing the battle, weakening, not made for life in captivity.

VIII.

That was when they noticed and started tampering with her heart. Showing her kindness in the form of presents; sweets, fruits, little trinkets, honey. A bigger enclosure. More sunlight. Lighter chains. Sand. A family of mice to break the isolation. Little by little, Eldrit was being tamed, her instincts fading to adapt to a new way to stay alive. However shameful it was, she wasn’t even aware.

IX.

Her first collar was so pretty, covered in diamonds that complimented the peach and gold hues of her scales. She barely felt when they locked it in, dazed by the wine that had been poured in her water. She still had a chain that tethered her to the marble floors of the palace at all times, but it was just the one. Just the one.

X.

She was the palace’s good girl, in their remote oasis with impenetrable walls. Eldrit had no place in politics, she was just a fancy pet, but she heard they stood somewhere between humans and some up and coming Council. And when the time came, it would be expected of her to protect those that had been so kind to her. And she did. Time and time again the sand dragon would be unleashed on the palace’s enemies. Like a good girl, Eldrit did as she was told.

XI.

And because of that, she got her biggest reward: an egg. The actual mating was nothing short of terrifying for Eldrit with a feral dragon that was brought to her enclosure one day and she never saw again once the deed was done. But her egg was beautiful; sparkling like the diamonds she could make with her breath. She was sure it was going to be a boy like her beloved older brother and she started referring to him as her ‘little prince’.

XII.

But her little prince wouldn’t hatch and Eldrit could feel the impatience growing around her. They wanted him to hatch just as much as she did. Like a protective mother, she would get aggressive whenever anyone would get close to her egg. And aggression and Eldrit were two things unknown to each other. So they took him away. For his protection, they said. He was too valuable. And Eldrit had to agree, even if she didn’t. She was his mother. But they started planting a new fear in her heart, that everybody wanted her egg. And the paranoia started chipping away at the sand dragon’s sanity.

XIII.

The once affable creature became highly weaponizable. Eldrit was blinded by terror, by their fear-mongering. They had to add more chains, because every noise meant somebody coming to steal her little prince, not even the people within the palace were safe. In reality, rebels knew their shameless way of life was coming to an end. They had threatened the Council for too long and they had to pay.

XIV.

The day the palace fell was the darkest of them all. Eldrit was released in all her furious glory telling her it was time to defend her egg, that they had finally breached the walls with the sole purpose of taking her little prince. But she was just one small sand dragon, brainwashed by decades of lying, of deceit, of deception. She was not prepared for an actual war, for an actual army, to be called a “rebel dragon” and be sent crashing through a marble tower, the entire structure collapsing under her.

XV.

Hearts are made out of muscle, so when they break they don’t make a sound. However, eggs do. Whichever one Eldrit heard was the loudest noise in the entire universe, it was deafening, it was maddening, it was infuriating, it was insufferable. The diamond looking pieces of eggshell were laying under a large marble column and Eldrit’s little prince was no more. And if he was no more, then nobody else had the right to be.

XVI.

With fury and rage born out of the purest grief, Eldrit broke off her enchanted chains and obliterated everything and everyone around her. It didn’t matter the affiliation, the species, the cause, she just annihilated with the power of a dragon much bigger and powerful than she was. Fire, ashes and smoke rained for hours as she bellowed and fought and destroyed, until she had nothing left.

XVII.


Waking up in a human body for the first time ever is a curse on its own. Waking up and remembering the destruction you caused, somehow worse. Waking up and looking at a piece of diamond eggshell tightly clenched in your human palm… Eldrit thought she was going to go insane again. Except now she couldn’t turn back into a dragon because she was wearing some different kind of collar, without diamonds. There were no chains. She was freezing. Her new body ached. She was on her way to some place called Firebrand. Still a slave. Now a traitor. Still alone. Without her little prince. To serve a new kind of sentence at a new kind of purgatory. Rightfully so, after everything she’s done.

XVIII.

Nothing about the city makes sense to the dragon now stuck in a human body. The air hurts her lungs, clothes hurt her skin, their food hurts her insides, it’s so cold all the time. She’s been in Firebrand for a month. She has a job that she’s somehow good at, her saving grace is her ability to learn things incredibly fast. She took to reading like hatchlings take to flying and there’s nothing inside a book that Eldrit doesn’t want to know; it’s an escape from the acidic grief that’s always consuming her and the reminder that she doesn’t want to be in a world without her little prince. What’s the point of trying to find a purpose when you don’t even want to have one anymore?

[class1akids]

Hi! I followed you recently and I wanted to ask you a couple of questions,if you don't want to answer it's totally ok though! so,what do you think will be the future relationship between bakugou and deku?and in your opinion which character was more important for bakugou's development between deku and kiri(or if they both had the same importance)?I like to read meta about these topics because there are very mixed opinions in the fandom(mostly 'cause of ship wars)and so I wanted to read yours too!

 I’m not Midoriya, so I cannot give you percentages of influence. Also, they are just very different relationships and play very different roles in Bakugou’s arc. 

Deku is the closest thing Bakugou has to a sibling; he’s someone who has been there for his entire life, even when they didn’t get along, even when Bakugou wanted to push him away, he always stuck around. But despite this familiarity, they didn’t understand each other in fundamental ways. Bakugou felt threatened by Midoriya, and misinterpreted his helpful gestures as being looked down on; Izuku admired Kacchan for his quirk and his potential, but never understood his fears or his inferiority complex. Their ingrained dynamic was mimicking the larger society around them which viewed Midoriya as defective and worthless, while treated Bakugou as amazing and high potential. 

Their relationship couldn’t change until all of these false paradigms and Bakugou’s overblown ego were broken down - and Izuku played a huge part in this, but he was not the only one. Here are the main milestones:

Sludge monster: Izuku ran in to save Bakugou f, when the pro-heroes on the scene hesitated. Before this incident, every time Izuku tried to help, Bakugou didn’t really need his help. But this time he did. And Izuku, quirkless as he was, didn’t hesitate. And clearly Bakugou felt like he owed Deku (even if it was just to run after him and tell him that he doesn’t owe him anything - but he stopped hurting Izuku - and sometimes actions speak louder then words)

Entrance exam: They both got into UA - so maybe Bakugou wasn’t all that special, if Deku of all people could get in - but at least Bakugou got the highest points, so he was still ahead of the curve

Quirk assessment test: Bakugou realizes that Deku does have a quirk and an awesome one at that, that him threatening Deku will not be tolerated by Aizawa, and that he’s ranked below Momo and Todoroki - the two recommendation students he wasn’t measured against during the entrance test.

First battle exam: Bakugou loses to Deku in an extremely humiliating way, with the entire class and All Might watching. But not only that, Momo picks apart all his mistakes in front of everyone with ease, and freaking Todoroki wins his own match-up single-handedly totally effortlessly. Bakugou realizes he’s not the strongest in the class, he’s not as special as he was told his entire life. The next day, Aizawa calls him out in front of the class for being dumb and wasting his talent.

This is the first big wake-up call - Bakugou realizes that he needs to do better, work harder to succeed, and he is a hard-worker (even if nobody ever credited or praised him for it). But at this point, he behaves like a cornered wild animal, pushing everyone away, focusing only on his own improvement.

Sport Festival: Todoroki challenging Deku, Deku drawing out Todoroki’s fire are are main event - anything Bakugou does pales in comparison to the display of power in their match. His win feels empty, and he is put on display chained and muzzled.

Kamino: He’s kidnapped because the villains think he’ll join them, then he has to watch All Might use up the last of his power against All for One. The crushing guilt sets in that he’s the cause of it all.

Provisional Licence exam: Bakugou fails, for nothing but his own arrogance and stupidity, when almost the entire class, including Deku passes. 

The breakdown process is complete - Bakugou went from top student admitted to UA to the rock bottom. His ego - built on years and years of empty praise focusing on solely the strength of his quirk, and misconceptions about strength and what makes a hero - is shattered. 

Yet, he doesn’t break, because in the meantime there was another, opposite process underway as well. As much as UA was a blow to Bakugou’s ego, his new experiences also started to build his true self-worth, on a different, healthier basis and Kirishima has a crucial part in this process, but he’s not the only one:

USJ attack - Kirishima acknowledges Bakugou for his battle sense and his fast reflexes, and when Bakugou explains his reasons of going after Kurogiri instead helping the others, he convinces Kirishima. He follows Bakugou not out of threat or wanting to gain something, but simply because he agrees with Bakugou’s reasoning. I think this is kind of a breakthrough for Bakugou in terms of earning respect with something that’s separate from his quirk, something he can actually control - his great tactical sense. 

Sport Festival - This is a mixed bag for Bakugou but Kirishima plays a positive role here too. Bakugou is clearly at a loss when it comes to assembling a cavalry team, not having paid much attention to his classmates. So Kirishima volunteering not only to team up, but also displaying understanding of Bakugou’s goal comes as a relief. It exposes Bakugou to wider team-work and while both Sero and Mina push back at Bakugou’s name-calling, but are willing to follow his lead for his drive to win. Kirishima also gives Bakugou a decent 1 on 1 fight - and we see how he respects his opponents who go all out against him. I think the Sport Festival solidifies Kirishima’s special status in Bakugou’s eyes, and because Kirishima is friends with pretty much everyone in the class, he also connects Bakugou to the others to in the class (the Bakusquad should rightfully be the Kiri-squad).

Mid-term exams - Bakugou is tutoring Kirishima (!) Something like this would have been unimaginable before, but it’s important to their bond. Kirishima could have gone with the Momo-group, but he chooses Bakugou instead. Again, it builds in Bakugou this sense that his academic skills are respected, but also exposes him to the idea that helping others or seeking help is not a terrible character flaw, but something normal friends do for each other.   

In the practical exam, there is also a breakthrough with Deku. Up until this point, Deku was one of the people who praised Kacchan for his amazing quirk. This is the first time Izuku fights back against Bakugou’s unacceptable behaviour, but also helps Bakugou to reaffirm his self-perception - as the ultimate winner.

Kamino arc - There are some interesting things here. Bakugou experiences some crucial positive reinforcement from Aizawa, who speaks up for him publicly, when the media is turned against him. And the group who goes after him - Deku, Todoroki, Yaoyorozou and Iida - are people who had a part in crushing Bakugou’s ego. Kirishima is the notable exception, and I think it’s a great development here both for Deku letting Kirishima take the key position in the save, and for Bakugou accepting the help. Kirishima functions as a bridge between Bakugou and Deku here. 

Provisional Licence Arc - Not only Kirishima, but Kaminari also teams up with Bakugou, and Bakugou at this point is actually a decent team player, cooperating with his teammates. It’s also interesting that when Bakugou fails the exam and Kirishima passes, it doesn’t seem to sour their relationship. 

Deku vs. Kacchan 2 - This fight is crucial for Bakugou. All his worst fears are confirmed about Deku being the special one, All Might’s favourite, earning a quirk with a potential even better than Bakugou’s… By all rights he should be bitter and jealous. But instead, he’s mostly in pain - because of the guilt he feels about All Might’s fall. All Might plays a crucial role here; exonerating Bakugou from the guilt, acknowledging his strength and him as part of the All Might-legacy, and admitting that his focus on winning is not wrong - it’s just not the full picture. Also, All Might extends his trust to Bakugou by telling him the full story and making him part of the secret. Bakugou can feel equal with Deku and they can start building a new relationship.

Remedial arc - This is clearly a mortifying experience to be one of only two students who failed, but I think that it helps that the other is Todoroki. They pull each other through it, and somehow the experience brings them closer. Bakugou doesn’t want to care about him, but by the end, he does - they even get to the point where he calls Todoroki by name and Todoroki thinks of him as a friend (this will be important for the Endeavor internship arc). They also get to make a splash with their hero-debut and are officially all caught up with the class.

Joint training arc: The entire Bakugou-team follows his lead and they get a decisive win. He feels more confident than in ages, and even tries to help Deku in his mastery of Black Whip. 

Endeavor internship arc: I wrote a lot about this in different meta, but this arc solidifies the three-way rivalry between Bakugou, Deku and Todoroki; which has become more cooperative and mutually supportive. They try to get better by pulling each other along. Watching Endeavor also gave Bakugou more food for thought. 

TL; DR - to me it feels like both Deku and Kirishima are incredibly important in the two processes that needed to happen to break down Bakugou’s overblown false ego, but start building his true self-worth. But they are not the only important people in the process. Aizawa, All Might and Todoroki also have important roles, as well as the whole class. 

As for the future of BakuDeku:

I can imagine quite different outcomes for future Bakugou and Deku, depending on how things will go down with the villains and in school; but also how their relative powers develop. Based on the hints and foreshadowing, I think they will open an agency together and work as a team.

One of my favourite type of endgame for them in fics in terms of dynamics is where they remain rivals, are still capable of endlessly annoying each other, and each of them has a different circle of best friends, but when shit goes down, they know that they can 100% count on the other to help and be there for them, and everyone knows they’d die for each other without hesitation. It’s the type of relationship where they prefer to hang out with others, in public they seem like they barely tolerate each other (though everyone sees through the BS) but at the great crossroads of his life, Bakugou shows up at Izuku’s doorstep in the middle of the night, yelling “Dekuuuuuu!” because he knows that sometimes Deku knows him better than he knows himself; while nothing can cut through a crisis of confidence for Izuku than some words of encouragement from Kacchan (which sound like insults, but Izuku is fluent in Kacchan so he knows the difference…).

Of course, it’s possible that they become best friends or more… What I cannot imagine is them ending up like All Might and Endeavor - there was a chance at some point, but not anymore. I think Bakugou being in on the secret of OfA and how he reacted to that makes things very different. He’s accepted the challenge of trying to surpass Deku, but at the same time he has enormous respect for All Might and his power, so in a way he’s also invested in helping him succeed.

Masterlist  - BNHA meta

[kadeu]

Accepted — Lee Junghee

♠️   Lee Junghee aka. Tomo looks like Kim Taeri (actor) ♠️   She was born June 07, 1993; making her 27 years old ♠️   This Human is Asexual  and a One of Spades ♠️   She is an Employee at Dragonfire Hotsprings

Biography

Lee Junghee is the child of Lee Donghyun and Choi Minkyung – both partaking in a middle-ranked, military-based lifestyle. SILENCE was what lingered around them more than often, wounds that would seemingly never heal decorating their hands. Since childhood, there was this constant FEAR tumulting in the back of the small girl’s head, words her mother had whispered; if they someday don’t make it home, please take care of the family’s assets and their HONOR. Young Junghee often just shook her head, tears in her eyes – those were things she did not want to consider or ever think about, if their lifestyle was this DANGEROUS, why didn’t they just stop? At least do it for her? Even throughout the years, the coldness towards her was just growing, she knew that her parents were exhausted, the most minuscule spark of joy had been EXTINGUISHED by their dedication to their rank and work. Something that Junghee just could not understand. Her father had come home injured more times than she could count, her small hands barely able to hold the alcohol-doused cloth to his wounds while her mother tried to ARGUE with him at the same time. In her father’s eyes, there was no way they were going to retire at their mediocre ranks, as he had called them. Though she was still too young to fully understand, Junghee was certain of one thing: There was no reasoning with her father – the man did WHATEVER he wanted, no matter if injured, dirty or poor.

And that was the quality she had earned from him. If everyone else was doing whatever they seemed as appropriate in their own minds, then Junghee could do the same. She did not see herself entering the military when she hit puberty, her age and hormones only putting more emphasis on her THICK-HEADED attitude. There was no way she was going to lose a leg to defend their position over the Joker or try to start fights with other factions when she did, in fact, not give a damn about any of that. From her side, there was no understanding of any of these military tactics and the rise to power, even though she should have been thankful having been born into the SPADES, if she had been slightly more unlucky with her free-spirited mind, she would have been DEAD long ago. And deep down, Junghee had taken note of that. It took many months of collecting rations, stealing useful items for survival and many hours of observation before she had taken the pen into her hands and had begun to write her APOLOGY to her parents. Until her 18 years of life, she had put off the enlistment, every year she had another excuse, most of the times being that she wanted to make sure she was healthy and mature enough to finally serve the Spades rightfully in their mission. And when there were no more excuses, she knew she had to take her way out as quick as possible.

Junghee made sure it was a working day when she decided to leave her youth behind. Parents asleep, she left them her letter on the bedside table, breakfast next to it – one LAST favor. Her soles hit the ground quickly, feet dragging her body along as fast and as far as possible, chest heaving with deep breaths as she ran away. Backpack filled with food, she knew she could make it the next few days.If you’d ask her where she had gone, she wouldn’t really know what to answer. Junghee was NAIVE, not knowing her surroundings, just WANDERING through dark alleyways, trying to keep her identity a secret. Her name was quickly ditched, adopting the name of TOMO, an old lady with crystal ball in her hand, living in an abandoned building had given her; she said it meant she was a SMART GIRL, and Tomo liked that. She kept the marking on her arm covered at all times, never trusted anyone who tried to act superior than her or tried to give her tips on how to survive. She didn’t need no know-it-alls in her life. Idiots.

Being a wanderer for many years, Tomo had found herself in more TROUBLE than she could have ever imagined, the muscles in her legs strong from running away from her problems over and over. Surprisingly, she encountered more than enough interesting personalities along the way, studying from them instead of listening to the authorities and learning what is right. Once-have-been-highrankers would indulge her into the seemingly ENDLESS stories about how everything would work, who would do what and how broken the entire the system was with PASSION. Soon enough, she knew how she could play the bureaucracy to her own gain. After all, everything was written down somewhere, that’s how others would write their HISTORY – but not if she fumbled with it. What had started out as shady-looking crumpled up papers that she had kept in her bag, quickly turned into entire stacks of neatly filled out paperwork that would be sent around the city and left in the mailboxes of important enough people.

Around the same time, at the age of 21, she had gotten herself into a fight with someone she probably shouldn’t have started a fight with in the first place. It had been a petty fight, something that Tomo could have avoided, but at the end of the night and the early morning hours, she had found herself SLUMPED over against a wall, holding her arm that had taken enormous fire damage. Not knowing what to do, she thought that this fight might be the end of her if she wouldn’t do anything to HEAL her wounds as soon as possible. However, that faithful morning, the owner of the Dragonfire Hotsprings had DRAGGED her in, and taken care of her in her feverish state. Even if time would tell otherwise, Tomo would swear she had been in a coma and had woken up to the most graceful and sophisticated woman she had ever seen in her life. To show her gratitude, Tomo agreed to work for her at the Hotsprings, keeping the place clean and in order, learning about the healing qualities of the waters and taking care of the customers.

Since then, she has rarely left the onsen, spending most of her time lost in books, forging documents and fulfilling the owners wishes.

Personality

Tomo is a very ROBUST person. She probably considers herself as the TOUGHEST human around due to having spent most of her life roaming around, lurking in the shadows and opposing herself to any sort of threat that was coming her way. She is INDEPENDENT and CAREFREE, she does not mind anyone’s business unless she is trying to ruin their reputation or going through their personal letters she just happened to come by… 

Tomo is SECRETIVE about her identity and doesn’t like giving out her real name. She’s very VOCAL about her wants and thoughts, and will not hesitate to call someone out if she thinks they are behaving oddly. Even being a serf, she does not care about her rank at all, she sees everyone as being the same idiots. Due to this nature, she can be quite HOT-HEADED, always ready for a confrontation and she usually thinks of others as LESSER THAN HER, unless they prove themselves to be honest and trustworthy to her. On most days, she is quite IMPULSIVE and does not think about consequences to her actions too much, she just rather does things however she feels like. 

In correlation to people she trusts, she is a RELIABLE FRIEND, even if honest work is NOT her thing. she often slacks off in secret and will treat herself to any services they’d offer the high-rankers in the middle of the night IN SECRET. All-in-all she is quite SMART at what she does and how she organizes her life. 

Factions are something she does not care about at all, she will treat everyone equally, in the most neutral way possible, unless they show any sort of disrespect towards her. She will SUBCONSCIOUSLY prefer to interact with lowrankers as they seem more relatable, but she also enjoys playing around with highrankers just to annoy them. 

Congratulations Laura your app has been accepted and your personalized plot drop will be sent to you soon

Please follow and welcome @tomokadeu to Kadeu!

[chidoroki]

Would any of TPN kids kill another human?

I first had this idea back with ch160 but didn't give it that much thought. That has changed ever since the kids raided Grace Field House. More demons, more plot twists, more guns. As my worries constantly grew, so did the amount of human enemies; Peter Ratri, his men, Isabella, the mothers and sisters. While a human enemy isn't anything new (Isabella & Krone at Grace Field and Andrew & his men back at B06-32), they are far less common than all the demons we've encountered up til this point. The children have no trouble hurting or killing demons when they've come across them. Humans, however, are very different. In most cases, the kids have survived by escaping, so harming another human has rarely crossed their minds. With everyone now stranded on the Grace Field plantation, their usual tactic won't be possible. Sure, the reforged promised will (probably) allow the kids to finally escape, but being trapped on a dangerous plantation with a group of highly intelligent and armed humans in the meantime does make you a bit anxious.

Of course, my worries have lessened with recent chapters. Isabella & her ladies are now helping the children, which is huge. Peter's followers are still around (i assume?) but don’t pose much a threat. The major concern that remains is Peter himself, especially with his most recent scheme to kill our best girl. We know he has no issue with pulling off such an act, but what about Emma?

I've seen people get really excited about these panels, hoping that Emma would shoot the bastard. While I fully support the idea of this boy getting the pain he so rightfully deserves, I don't think he'll get it at this moment. As I've said, humans are different. The kids shooting a demon? No problem. Killing one? Absolutely. Shooting another human? Rare. Actually killing a human? Unheard of. The series has given us glimpses of murder in the past (the shelter raid and Andrew) so expecting it again wouldn’t be too farfetched. I'm not saying there will definitely be a moment where in happens in the near future, but if there would be, who do I believe would be capable of committing such an act? Allow me to ramble..

Emma: No. This is the girl who has trouble killing demons. Yes, she's fully capable of doing so in order to defend herself and her family, but she doesn't normally wish death upon anyone, or anything (events at Goldy Pond being exceptions). She can be reckless but killing an actual person just wouldn't fit her character. If it had to be done, she would most likely regret it immediately. Fear of making wrong decisions tend to weigh heavily in her mind. In this scenario with Peter, I have no doubt she'll try to talk him and change his heart. We've seen her talk-no-jutsu Yuugo and Norman, even attempted to do so with other villains such as Lewis and Andrew. If she were to fire her weapon here, it would probably be in self-defense and would only cause injury, but not kill. (unless, something happens that makes her completely snap)

Don, Gilda & the Grace Field kids: No. Most of them are far too young. Don may have the physical strength but I believe he avoids killing if it's possible, fancying the run away tactic more (ch138). I don’t recall Gilda ever killing a demon herself.. or shooting an arrow or gun. Correct me if I’m wrong.

Norman: No...? Like Gilda, I have yet to see this boy use the gun he's been given. That's not to say he isn't capable though. He miraculously escaped Lambda somehow, right? He also had absolutely no doubts when ordering a civil war, killing the royals and the extinction of the demons. He isn't against the idea of killing or having the blood on his hands (figuratively and literally), however the deed has never been done by his own hands. He had his Lambda crew and a ton of poison for that. If the series wishes to throw me through a loop and surprise me, then go for it.

The Lambda crew: Yes but no. These kids have so much pride in their power that killing demons is seen as a simple task. Hell, some of them even enjoy it. Their animosity towards such creatures is well known, and I believe they might hold such feelings towards the humans who experimented on them as well. If the opportunity arises, they could pull it off. The issue is that they all follow Norman's command. It's rare they don't follow his orders. Not only that, but.. aren’t they all like seriously injured right now? Cislo, Barbara and Zazie from their fight against the Queen and Vincent was recently shot at too. Hayato seems like too pure of a boy to do such a thing, same thing with Jin.. wherever he is.

Oliver & the Goldy Pond kids: Yes and no. Remember how I said it was rare for one of the kids to shoot another human? Well that occasion belongs to Oliver, back when he shot Andrew's shoulder and hand with wonderful accuracy. Taking it a step further to actually kill someone? I think he would be the only one out of the Goldy Pond group to commit to that, especially after holding a gun to Peter's head during that whole “you’re not our father” nonsense. I can imagine any of the others following Oliver's lead and cause harm to another human, but that's as far as it goes. Well, at least the half of them that aren’t being kept safe in the storage room at the moment. I have my doubts, but if any of them did shoot to kill, I would only be mildly surprised.

Ayshe: Yes. Humans killed her demon father figure. It's natural that she wants to kill them in return and get some sort of revenge. She claimed she could never forgive them. Granted, those humans were Norman and his crew and they're now all working together during the Grace Field raid, but she could still hold a grudge. Honestly, I'll be all for it. Having her kill a human (preferably Peter) in order to feel that satisfaction and to allow herself to let go of that hatred would be nice. Maybe she has already, idk, she doesn't say much. I just love her and want to see her get more attention.

Ray: Yes. Ray is the reason why I kept thinking so much about this idea. Back when ch160 released, we saw just how angry he is at the Ratri clan for being the sole reason why all of this suffering even started. Suffering that lead everyone around him to live such harsh lives and take the lives of people he cared about. I couldn't help but notice the fury in his eyes. Such an intense look that we've seen several times before.

That look usually surfaces whenever someone's life is at risk. He showed that same animosity after Lewis stabbed Emma, and we know for a fact that Ray had full intentions to kill in that moment. Granted, Lewis is a demon and killing one is reasonable, but that shows us how merciless he can be towards an enemy (something not all the Grace Field kids are capable of) and just how important those people are to him.

When emotions are running high, we see just how strong his desire is to protect his family, no matter what it takes. He never really dismisses the idea during a life and death situation, whether the threat is a demon or another human.

It shouldn't be too surprising. Like Ayshe, Ray has shown us his hatred towards certain humans for a long time and the idea of killing them has never been a foreign concept to him. It may be subtle, but it's there. We can go back as far as the first arc if we wish to see it.

He knows how unethical the act is and how serious one must be to commit to it. He understands that such a concept would be way too hard for most of the children to carry out, Emma included. In order to achieve safety and happiness for his family, he'll protect them not only from a physical threat but from doing something they might regret and hurting themselves mentally & emotionally.

He was once so close too. I don't mean a simple injury either, I mean a full on headshot. Dead. One-hit KO. He finally had the resolve to throw all moral aside in order to save an innocent life, because he would rather deal with such a trivial burden that would only affect his sanity than have any more casualties in his family that would ultimately weigh everyone down. Ah, if only it weren’t for that wild demon..

Some might think that one of the kids killing another human may be stepping over the line, but if any of them had the chance in a dire situation, my bet would be on Ray. He shares that hatred towards certain humans like Ayshe. He's shown his hostile side like the Lambda crew, as well as Emma on occasion. Speaking of our girl, the two of them are both highly protective of their family. While he may not be as reckless as she is, he still had his moments. From his suicide attempt, to using himself at bait in the demon forest. He snuck into a demon hunting ground in order to save our best girl and eventually fight alongside her and others against one of the best villains I've seen. He chose to escort a large group of children to safety, knowing he would be on edge for three weeks constantly worrying about Emma's condition, instead of making the quick trip back with Yuugo because he knew how important it was to her that those kids, new members of their family, remained safe and feel what true freedom is. He also journeyed to the Seven Walls knowing full well there would be a low chance of returning or even making a new promise. He took all of those chances so others could survive and have a better future. (am i giving him too much credit? idc i love him) He's willing to do so much for his family and I'm so proud of him. So if Ray were to pull the trigger now, when his family is face to face with the savage man who caused his loved ones to suffer their entire lives, I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest.

Now originally, my thoughts stopped there, but with the return of a certain someone.. I shall add one more possibility.

Isabella: Yes. Please. Having her own the shot that claims Peter's life would grant me much happiness. It would be the best payback for not only having her suffer, but her wonderful children as well. I feel like it would be an act of kindness (i guess thats what i'll call it?) similar to Yuugo and Lucas agreeing that they alone should shoulder that heavy burden of dealing with Andrew's men in the shelter while the kids escaped.

Of course I could've just been rambling for no reason at all because who know if anyone is even going to actually kill someone? If the moment ever comes, I can imagine Emma trying to talk them out of pulling the trigger, too. So, there we go. These thoughts have been whirling around my mind for weeks but now I'm free.

[shit-she-wrote]

Genre: Fantasy

Summary: The hero loses to the villain. There was nothing he could have done, and, if he listened for a second, he could realize that maybe he hasn’t been fighting the real villain after all.

Word count: 1973

Content warning: n/a

Author’s note: inspired by this tumblr post and later expanded ^.^ hope you enjoy it!! (and, if you can, I would be eternally grateful if you could buy me a coffee!)

New Gods

a short story

The Old Gods could not save the world from destruction.

They fought with all their might, and after defeat, they simply shrugged when the world was burning after a battle for leadership, and they scurried away so they would not be a part of a clean, leaving it all to me.

And who am I, you ask? I am Destruction.

At least, that is what they call me, the people whose gods I chased away because it seemed fitting to them because it sounded far more fearful than Kullah. Therefore, I am Destruction, the leader of all lands, the one who put out the godly fires, aimed to kill me, with floods that saved many but that also destroyed their homes. I am King, although no one dares to call me that, for the missing Old Gods would detest it. I am Chaos, I am Misery. It is what they had been told before the battle, the people, and what even I believe to be the truth by now.

You see, I was only a child when it all started. I was chosen for a mission by the Gods, to bring harmony among the people, and everyone treated me, since the ripe age of twelve, as the child of prophecy I was. It made me reckless, as you might believe, drunk on power and angry when suddenly life passed me by and I desired revenge on those who took away my childhood for their own laziness.

And suddenly, Kullah, Great Kullah, The Chosen One, Brave and Powerful Savior, became The Betrayer of Gods, Fearsome Kullah, Destruction. It is quite funny how quickly people start treating you differently when you grow up to think with your own head.

None of that matters to me, however, for I am still on the route to fulfilling my destiny. I am only taking a different path, where I do not blindly bow down to the will of others, and rather decide on people's benefits on my own. It is a long-term process, especially most of my people hate me, but I am a fair ruler and I am striving for a better future that I, as a half-god, know how to achieve better than Old Gods, who have never laid their feet to the land in order to learn what a better future means to people.

Despite their defeat against me, the Old Gods are not sleeping. In fact, they have planned a way to bring me down once and for all, to get rid of me and reclaim what once was theirs. And so, I am standing in the middle of a large burned-down field, a reflection of me in the past standing before me. A half-god, I knew immediately from the fire in his eyes, a powerful soul, chosen by the Gods to defeat me and bring back the long-forgotten past.

However, I see no hero in front of me. There could never be one in this boy, who has barely grown in a permanent set of teeth. He is no older than I was when I was called upon by the Old Gods, not even far enough into his teen years to be anywhere near being close to adulthood.

"Cowards!" I scream at the sky at the top of my lungs, a distinguished fury in my eyes. "Cowards! You hear me? Each and every one of you is a coward! How dare you send a child to fight your battles! Have you no shame? You already ruined me, and now you are on your way to ruin another one. Come down and kill me, bastards, if you want. Do it yourselves! I will not let you put murder on this kid's conscience."

"Don't call me a kid!" The boy yells, his childish petulance visible on his frowning face. "I am strong enough to take you! I have trained-"

"Oh, yes?" I ask, my voice quieter, turning to him. "You think you are enough?"

He says nothing, gulping once his eyes met mine directly. I have such an effect on people, rendering them speechless with a glance. My appearance is not to blame, oh no; it is what they see behind it that frightens them. The fires of my soul, burning up the rules the gods had set down, creating chaos within myself and glowing brightly through my eyes. They think I will contaminate them, too, that my freedom will be their downfall. However, I never would force my own opinions on others. I am unlike the Old Gods in that way, too.

I pitied the child. I truly did. Up until that moment he has at least pretended to be brave and has been, perhaps, convinced that he truly could take me down, to stop Destruction in its core. Now, he is doubting himself at last.

This is your savior, I think bitterly. Fuck, you weren't even able to find a good actor for the role.

In a menacing impulse, I swing my hand at him from afar, let him be struck down by lighting I have conjured up in the sky. He falls down but remains alive, conscious even. The Old Gods at least prepared him a little. Maybe they put a protection spell on him, maybe they gifted him with their own divine powers. None of it matters, though. One strike and he is down, defeated, barely able to rise up to his knees.

He looks at me and there is a flash of something in his eyes. I see smoke and lightning and fire in them, just barely. he raises a hand towards me as I stride forward, bares his teeth as I stop before him.

"You cannot harm me," I say matter-of-factly. "It was unfair of them to make you believe you can."

"I have been chosen to end you," he grits out, angry tears and tears of sorrow gathering in his eyes. "I am-"

"You are young," I say and kneel down next to him. "You are naive enough to believe them. This is why they chose you. To fight their own battles when they care not about what happens down here even a little bit. We are nothing but entertainment."

I see he is bleeding – a scratched forearm from the fall. Feeling slightly guilty, I reach out for him to see the wound, but he pulls back, creating a new distance between us.

"Let me see that. I want to help."

"I don't want your help."

"No." I sigh. "You only want to fight me."

Dropping back, I sit down on the ground as well, respecting the space between us.

"I used to be like you, you know. Before all this," I tell him and for the first time, he looks at me with something other than anger. It barely lasts a moment, though, and then he is back to his glaring.

"You're lying."

"Not in the least," I say, a smile on my face feeling like coming home. I haven't smiled in such a long time. "I know my own kind when I see them. Demigod, am I right? The son of one of the higher-ranking ones, otherwise you would never even be considered for something like this."

He neither agrees with my guess nor denies it, but his face softens and that is good enough response to me.

"People will sing epics about you, kid, just as they used to sing them about me," I say. "Kullah the Bringer of Peace, Kullah the Brave and Powerful and Kind, and every other adjective they thought to add to my name. I was the one everyone built their hopes into, I was considered almost a god myself. Because I was the messenger of the Old Gods, and I did their dirty work here, on the land they would never set a foot upon. But the truth is, I was no one. Yes, I fought those monsters, yes, I built that monument, yes, I helped create a city or two, yes, I followed the Gods' plan all along. When it came to being myself, my personal desires and dreams of the future, nothing was there except some image of puppet controlled by the Gods for all eternity. So I decided to do something about it. I marched myself up to their divine palace and I wreaked havoc with the very powers they had gifted me. It was the day I lost my name and my reputation. And now, I am a villain, and you are the new puppet marching in here thinking you can kill this monster."

"I am no puppet!" the boy snarls at me. I chuckle.

"No," I agree. "Hopefully, you aren't. What is your name, by the way?"

"Kethan," he mumbles it out unlike any true hero ever would. I remember crying my name out with joy, announcing myself proudly, ignorant of the fact that no one actually cared for it. At least Kethan knows his place already, or maybe he hasn't built up enough pride to be arrogant yet.

"Kethan," I repeat, offering yet another smile in hopes of appearing more approachable. We are on the same side, after all. "What have they told you about me? What have you come here to do?"

"To destroy you." He spits the words out with such hatred that it makes my blood boil. I look up to the sky and hope they see me glaring at them. Who abuses the ignorance of youth to poison it with malice, and calls themselves good after?

"And what have you come to destroy?" I ask, turning my attention back to the boy before I lose myself in some empty yelling at the sky again.

"You are Kullah, Betrayer of Gods." He says my name boldly as if to show me he isn't afraid of it. As if that would intimidate me. As if I ever wanted anyone to fear my name. "I have come to destroy your ministrations upon this side of our world, to take back what you have stolen from the Gods. I have come to take back what is rightfully theirs and what you have destroyed."

"Destroyed?" I laugh. It's that word, destruction, that keeps getting used as the sole weapon against me. "Look around, boy. What destruction lies upon my land?"

He does look around, over the edge of the castle grounds. The village beneath it is flourishing. The clouds make the scene more beautiful instead of gloomy, bringing out the vivid green in the wind-swept grass, upon which white cattle rest and whiter sheep are prancing around like snowflakes. People are working on wheat fields, children are playing. To me, and my people, this is paradise. Freedom.

"But ... I ..."

"You imagined barren lands and muddy rivers." I smile, standing up.

"No life such as this can exist in the world anymore! Not until you're gone!" Kethan protests, scrambling to his feet and pointing wildly. "This- this is an illusion!"

"Is it? Or did the Old Gods find it easier to say I am responsible for your misery when they are too lazy to take care of you?"

Lost in doubt, Kethan looks back to his side of the land. Barren, dusty, wretched. I know who he is thinking about; his mother, waiting for him to return. His friends, each living a worse life than the other. His father, who has never been present until it suited him.

"If my people denounce the Old Gods," he says, so quietly the even the Old Gods can't hear him, "can we come and live with you?"

Again, he makes me smile. People really will sing epics about him and he is going to deserve them much more than me. Kethan, the Bringer of Peace. Kethan, the Brave and Powerful and Kind.

Kethan, Denouncer of the Old Gods.

[pi-cat000]

MSA time travel idea (part 36)

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, Vivi POV, 8, 9, 10, Lewis POV, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, Lance POV 18, 19, Lewis POV 2, 21 , 22, Vivi POV 2, 24, 25  Lewis POV 3,  Mystery POV , Vivi POV 3, 29, Lewis POV 4, 31, ViVi POV 4 , 33, 34, Lewis POV 5

Part 37: Here

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Content Warning: (chapters got some light descriptions of blood right out of the gate. So watch out for that.)

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Mystery POV:

Blood splatters, leaving a long trail which arcs in a circle around him. Mystery flings Lewis’s arm, now containing the cursed abomination, across the ground. It bounces twice, skidding to a stop several feet away. He bares his teeth, snarling, fanning out his tails so he occupies as much space as physically possible. It is a warning to anything that would dare challenge him. The forsaken creature twitches and spasms pathetically, helpless without a proper host. Only his sworn oath not to pursue holds Mystery back from ripping it into smaller chunks and burying it in the desert.

The disembodied limb flips itself upright and, at the centre of its palm, is one green eye marred with gold flecks. Lighting flashes accompanied by rolling thunder which amplifies his growls so they shake the ground as his anger grows. When he concentrates, he can feel water collecting in the clouds, the static in the air and the arid land, anticipating rain.  Mystery cannot channel the full might of the storm, that is beyond him, but he can still funnel some of its latent natural energy into the space around him. The air crackles.

Rightfully, the creature inhabiting Lewis’s arm immediately about-faces and scuttles off, disappearing behind a low-growing shrub. Oh, how he longs to give chase and punish it for threatening what is his.

“My…Mystery?”

Vivi’s voice pierces his rage, slicing it apart like a knife. Mystery tears his attention away from the challenger, looking over his shoulder. Vivi's eyes are wide, face pale, breath shallow and rapid. Lewis is unconscious, blood pooling under him. The human’s aura dims as his body fails, connection to the physical world weakening.  

“Help me.”

If there were ever a moment that Mystery had felt true shame, this would it. Hastily, Mystery spits the blood collecting at the back of his throat onto the concrete. It tastes like iron and broken promises, conjuring unpleasant memories. He is beside Vivi in one elongated jump, examining both Lewis and Arthur. Both are dying, Lewis faster than Arthur. In his attempt to save the human, he may have inadvertently hastened his death.

/I am here./ Mystery reassures even as he desperately sifts through several centuries worth of memories and experience for a solution. Healing others and repairing damage had never been skills under his preview. Healing was the domain of different, more benevolent, entities. Ask him to erect a protective ward or cast an illusion and he could do so in a heartbeat, but foxes weren’t healers.

Vivi is now breathing hard, glancing from where she is holding Arthur and over to Lewis, lying prone. Dying. 

No. Not good enough. Perhaps a spell to slow decay and put both humans into a stasis state would work. Once upon a time, he had held enough power to speed or slow the growth of whole rice fields, matching them to weather patterns. Acres upon acres grew or failed at his command. He hasn’t been able to call on that ability since his oath to the Yukino family replaced his oath to Inari. But…he knows the theory behind that sort of time-based magic, and even without divine help, he should be able to accomplish something similar on a smaller scale. It would just require personal sacrifice.

He glances back at his seven tails. The physical manifestation of his skill and experience. One tail for each human should do it. Two hundred years’ all up. Mystery has never willingly given one up, let alone two tails at once…but it would be more than adequate payment for the ritual he wants to perform. A spell to extend their lives by slowing decay. 

Why is he even hesitating?

/ I will save them./

Carefully, he reaches for the intricate web natural energy which makes up the living world, feeding in his own power. Behind him, his tails still, then sway in a very particular pattern, weaving a dome-like structure which tightens around Lewis and Arthur.

Time slows.

So focused is he on the task, that he barely hears the car pull up or see how the area around him lightens in its headlamps. It is not until Vivi speaks, voice scratchy, that he registers a second presence.

“Dad…”

Touma Yukino drops beside him, flustered yet determined. Mystery has never been gladder for the human’s presence. In this trance-like state, both Yukino’s glow a bright, fluorescent blue. They seem to be moving doubly fast now that Mystery has detached himself from the regular flow of time.

“You’re doing fine honey. Keep holding that down,” Touma says. More footsteps and louder panicked voices sound behind him.

“…heard gunshots? What’s happening?”

“I need the lights on.” Touma yells, “Quickly!”

The building’s lights flicker on and there is a low gasp and more commotion. Mystery closes his eyes and concentrates, attempting to block out the humans panicking and yelling.

“No…keep the girls inside…bring the medical kit.”

Alongside the yelling is the scent of fear, thick, almost overwhelming now Lewis’s parental figures have joined in assisting Touma.

“Lewis…calling the hospital… need an air-lift...only way…”

The sounds fade. All the chaos drops away becoming a soft silence.  Mystery inhales and exhales, opening his eyes to examine the faint transparent outlines of Arthur and Lewis’s auras, no longer weakening.

“I was beginning to think I would fade to nothing before I had this chance to talk.” 

The oddly familiar voice comes suddenly, causing circular wrinkles to form mid-air. Mystery’s eyes dart up, searching for the source.  The sound disperses, ripping away in all directions. He cannot move far while in the middle of this sort of ritual. If he is interrupted now, the consequences would be catastrophic.

“Over here.” The air shimmers and a second Kitsune, wearing a set of eye-glasses and sporting suspiciously familiar black and red fur, appears.  Judging by the human’s lack of reaction, Mystery is the only one to see it.

/This is a trick./ He growls, suspicious of the creature mirroring his appearance. /What is your business here?/

His snarled question is met with a dismissive tail wave. A single tail wave. This Kitsune only has one. “Only to give a warning, late as it may be.”

The other fox flickers, losing transparency, like it is not wholly there. The very act of speaking seems to be weakening it.

“In my timeline, between now and two years into the future, Lewis, Arthur and Vivi die. It was, in no small part, due to my inaction. With help, I sort to send Arthur’s soul along with this echo to act as a guide. I had hoped to avert the disaster. I thought my death would be payment enough for this transgression against the Natural Order. “

Mystery narrows his eyes. /Arthur’s aura./ He interrupts, /That was you. What did you do?/

“Mid-way through attempting to merge the older and younger soul I was interrupted. I am sorry.”

Before Mystery can snap another insult the other continues, “When I initiated the ritual someone or something intervened and I was trapped, helpless, watching history repeat itself. It is just as well that Arthur and Lewis’s fates are not solely reliant on my ability to act or everything would have all been for naught.” It looks somewhat reproachful now, fading so it is barely visible.

“Shiromori is coming and I fear that, in reversing time, I have put you all in greater danger. But ..." Now there is a clear note of hope in the other's voice, "at least I have managed to give this warning. Protect them and do not make the same mistakes I did.”

The echo disappears completely, leaving Mystery cold with fear.

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When Mystery completes his stasis spell, he immediately shifts to his dog form. Even the small transformation leaves him wholly exhausted. He feels the fatigue in his bones, and in his head, fuzzy and distracting. Quickly, he staggers out of view, so he does not accidentally trip one of the many humans who arrive and begin to prepare Lewis and Arthur for transport. The loss of two tails, two hundred years’ worth of experience, is disorientating. It is like having his insides scooped out and replaced with empty space. His memories swim around, disjointed, as he attempts to stitch them together. He hopes he has not lost anything too important but only time would tell.

Uncomfortably woozy and lightheaded, his thoughts turn to the warning.

The other Kitsune had talked of an alternate future and oncoming danger. Fretfully, he scans the horizon.  All he sees are clouds and a wall of rain coming towards him from across the desert. The taint left behind by the demonic abomination is faint. Most likely, it is attempting to put as much distance between itself and Mystery before sunrise.  As it should. Mystery growls. There is one final flash of lightning and the downpour reaches him, falling in a thick sheet, drenching him in seconds. A wind picks up, turning the droplets into tiny needles.

Shiromori cannot have escaped her seal. It was guarded by the Yukino main family. Touma would have heard word of it breaking and informed him. Surely, this was a trick or a trap. No sane creature went against the Natural Order.

Mystery tries to shake the image of the faded Kitsune, painfully weak, its single tail curled over its paws. The creature had spoken like someone mourning the loss of a loved one. His kind are not meant to love. Mystery stares down at his dog paws and his vision blurs, water running into his eyes. He feels himself shiver, growing cold. This form had always been one of his weaker ones. A poor choice of disguise. He blinks the exhaustion away, staggering to his feet, having to brace all four paws.

Vivi. He should find Vivi. He owes her an apology and an explanation. Whatever otherworldly dangers may be approaching, it was useless to fret without properly examining Arthur first. He could start panicking once he had confirmed the existence of time-travel.

Slowly, he trots around to the door of the Pepper’s diner. Whereas moments prior the driveway had been alive with commotion, it is now empty. All that is left of the evening’s chaos are two puddles of blood being quickly washed away. Would Vivi still be here? She might have followed Lewis and Arthur to the hospital. He sniffs, and finding the rain too heavy, searches his connection to the Yukino family.

Vivi is, indeed, inside the diner. He scratches at the door, hoping to be let in.

Vivi answers, looking down at him with a blank expression. Then she turns and walks away. Silent. Mystery waits for a beat before following, shouldering the door closed to shut the rain behind him. The many times he has been in this building, it has always been awash with colour and activity. He could barely walk two steps without getting petted and pulled in various directions by Lewis’s younger relatives. Not that Mystery had minded, the younger ones always reminded him of when Vivi was small and would follow him around attempting to grab his tail. Concerned by the room’s unnatural stillness, he listens. Several feet away he can hear the mummer voices belonging to the Pepper patriarch and the three smaller humans.

Satisfied that the family seams safe, he continues into the next room. Vivi has moved to sit on the large family-sized couch. She is balled up in one corner, knees drawn to her chest. Before her, resting on the low coffee table, is a cup of flowery tea with steam slowly rising above it. Her clothes are clean, and her hair is damp, smelling of soap and shampoo. From his position of the floor, in spite of the rooms low lighting, Mystery can make out how the skin on her hands and face is red like she’s scrubbed them a little too hard.

/Arthur and Lewis?/ Mystery asks, because, after setting his spell in motion, he had been too tired to see its aftermath.

“A helicopter picked them up. Dad and Lew’s mom are on their way to the hospital. Apparently, I need to stay here and ‘get some rest.’” Vivi falls silent after a sarcastic imitation of what Mystery thinks is Touma. Rain pelts against the window, rattling the glass, and wind whistles around the building.  

He sighs, sits, and waits. There was nothing more for him to do. Last he had seen, both Lewis and Arthur were stable enough physically. They should live with proper care. 

Vivi is the one to break the elongated silence, “That demon, the body snatcher, is it…”

/Gone./

“It’s not in Lewis?”

/No. I removed and sealed it to the best of my ability. It will not be possessing anything for a long while./

“I see.”

Vivi falls silent and glares at him, eyes accusatory. Tentatively, he tries wagging his tail. He knows it is far past too late to continue the dog act, but Vivi always loved when he wagged his tail. A small part of him hopes it will make her smile.

“You lied.”

Mystery winces.

“All this time. You were lying. You were all lying. Dad, gran….did mom know?”

/She was aware, yes./

Her expression darkens, stricken. “Why? I thought dad was just a paranoid stick in the mud. Maybe, if you’d told me the truth, I could have actually been useful.”

/I believe the reasoning was that you were safer not knowing./

“Well, congratulations you failed.” Vivi stands, stomping out of the room and to the kitchen sink, dumping out her tea. She paces back and forth for a minute before turning to the door.

/Where are you going?/

“I’m not waiting here. I'm driving to Milton...I'll sit outside the emergency room all night if I have to.”

/It is raining./ He points out helplessly, following on her heels as she picks up a jacket which is coloured purple and several sizes too large.

She spins and glares again, “Does this look like the face of someone who cares?"

Mystery hesitates, pausing to watch her pack a bag and have a brief discussion with the elder Pepper. The short man escorts Vivi to the door, visibly tied and worried, giving Mystery an expression of acute unease. The faint smell of fear collects around him.

“Are you coming or what. It’s a forty-minute drive. Plenty of time for you to start explaining things.” Vivi orders, facing away, freezing at the door, silhouetted in the frame.

Mystery skirts in close. Despite her brash words of action, Vivi remains still, eyes fixed on the pavement just visible through the rain. The blood from earlier has all but washed away, soaking into the ground. The faint red streaks remaining have Vivi transfixed. Tears are dripping down her face, falling in time with the rain. Her hands tighten on the jacket. Mystery watches and aches. Many myths and stories caution against becoming too attached to humans. Mystery thinks of his failure to save Arthur, and the forced decision to pick Lewis instead. His inaction had almost killed them both, and it should not have affected him as much as it has. He can still feel the echo of rage and fear. A decade ago, he would have simply chosen the route with the greatest chance of success and thought of it no further.

Now, all he wants to do is stop Vivi’s crying.

/I am sorry./

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NOTE: Mystery joins the angst party. The next part is either going to be a Lewis or Arthur POV. Since they’re interchangeable, which would people rather read first? 

ALSO:  I realised as I was editing. I accentually cut the foreshadowing for echo-Mystery out for some reason. It was supposed to be in part 22  but I think that it was before I decided to add several Mystery POVs to the fic so it wouldn’t have made much sense back then.  Might add it back in at some point. I should really keep better plot notes. 

Part 37: here