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burningthemidnightcityoil · 4 years

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ON CLASSES

Classpects run on Irony, Puns, Wordplay, and each class has a secondary verb, in addition to the one they share with their pair.

Witch - Which. “Choose / Choice”. A Witch chooses power. Witches are the Powerhouse of the Session(cell). They are akin to Thieves, for a Witch takes power. But the difference here is that a Witch doesn’t need to take it from other people, a Witch takes back their own power from whatever Guardian (or “familiar”) has it. Its not like an Heir, where the Heir can just wait for it to come; a Witch has to grab it or be forced into its service.

Heir - Air/Err. “Inherit”. An Heir inherits power. While Heirs are akin to the Page, where they both inspire others to help them; the difference here is that Heirs will inspire others to Guide them (Literally inspire others to act as Seers), while Pages inspire others to Serve them (Inspire others to act as Knights). Heirs don’t like being Served (In fact, Heirs Homestuck-Historically have conflicts with Guardians because of their Service), and Pages don’t like being Guided. (Most Pages tend to talk smack about those trying to Guide them)

Mage - Magician. “Perform”. Mage’s are showy, in addition to being knowitalls. How you are Seen is Important. There are three Mages, two known and one HC’d, that give this. Sollux, inspite of his problems, is a Show Off and tries to play it off Smoothly. His performance is more important than his powers (Or Spells, if we’re dedicated). Meulin also tends to be Showy. Both by showing off her favorite couples, and by her Disciple self showing off her rommance on literal cave walls. HC’d Mage, Diamonds Droog / Draconian Dignitary, is all about the Show and the Class, and not about Flash Powers or Transformations.

Seer - To See. “Envision”. Seers See Seas. What you see is important. Unlike their counterpart, the Mage, A Seer’s visions are more important than their Spells. (This is inspite of the fact that both Mages and Seers are equally capable of both Visions and Spells, as well as Performance. It seems what what indicates if you’re a Mage or a Seer is if what’s important is How you are Seen, or What you See; A Mage wants to be Seen, a Seer wants to See).

Thief - To Steal / To Steel / Steel yourselves. “Enforce”. If Knights are the Law, Thieves are the Enforcers; because they literally reinforce themselves by taking what they want. Let’s take this a step further, and include all definitions of Enforce Thieves Strengthen, Intensify, Force, Drive and Urge whatever they set their sights on, to be what they want it. (After all, they Steal, or Take By Force / Violence)

Rogue - To Go Rogue / Haywire. “To Cross”. Rogues are pretty good about making connections, and making connections work; be it between people, or their Aspect. (Roxy between her Friends and her Windows; Nepeta with her Romances)

Knight - Night. “To Bare / Bear”. Bear hands? This may seem outlandish, but the origin of the word Night is “Bare” or “To be Bare of Sunlight”. And Knights tend to put on a kind of Mask, or Shield, or rather, Helm / Helmet as they feel their weaknesses (or what they think are their weaknesses) feel bare to the world (Dave and his Sunglasses; Karkat and his Temper; Latula and her Gamer Attitude).

Page - Chapter. “To Assemble” YOU BOY, EQUIP ARMS. This one took a bit, but what’s a Page without a Chapter? Be it a Chapter in a Book of Pages, or a Council to of all those they have called on to serve them. A Page is a Knightly figure that has a Round Table, akin to a Rogue’s Merrymen. A Page inspires others to play Knight to them, or to serve them. To call to Arms, or call to Action. So basically, if Robin Hood is a Rogue’s Mythic figure, King Arthur is a Page’s mythic figure. So literally, all those a Page calls on personally, makes them apart of their Round Table of Knights. (Wait, does this mean that HS^2 Jane is Morgan Le F--)

Maid - Made. “To Make” Sugar, Spice and Everything Nice. Maids are the Makers. They don’t so much as Maintain, though they do that too, as they create. Consider. Aradia is a prime example. She dies, so she makes Time for herself as a very powerful Poltergeist. She becomes a Robot, and makes Time for Herself by her many many Robot Time Copies, or as Time is Numeral, making Numbers. She becomes a Godtier, and suddenly, Time in the Dream Bubbles align perfectly with the Present. Notice how when we are first introduced to the Dream Bubbles, Time was a real nonlinear pain. But when Aradia took the Reins on this Time Management Stuff, and suddenly the Dream Bubbles were Linear and aligned with our Story. She did want to see the end, after all (And the more living Time Gods entered the Bubbles, the more Linear things became) For Porrim, its about Making Space for others in both her various views and her uh... Various Views. For the Dolorosa, this included making Space for herself, and for her son. She possibly even helped direct him closer to the idea of Freedom (And he did see visions of another space in time...)

Sylph - Sylvan / Wood Threshold. “To Matter” Okay, this one is like the Knight’s, if not more complicated (and likely gonna require more development in the future, cos this took waaay too much digging for my liking). Thing is, Sylph is a difficult thing to name from name alone unless you look into the word itself. Because its derived from Sylvan “Of the woods”. But we break that down into two things. Silva, the Woods, and Hyle, Matter. Hyle / Hule is already the Greek word for Matter or Wood in any case. And our word for Matter is already derived from Mater, the Latin word for Mother. (The original English word was displaced by Latin; Andwork was once our word for Matter). Unfortunately, I can’t quite make the connections here yet, so I’m not sure if “To Matter” is the proper verb. I can, however, describe some loose connections that at least tell me I’m on the right track: ... Sylphs are defined by their Environment; Such as Kanaya’s relations regarding Trolls (A motherly figure), Aranea defined herself by Information and giving Information (which ain’t healthy), Mindfang defined herself a Thief because the Troll Empire was lead by a Thief And HC’d Sylph of Mind, Snowman was, quite literally, the Universe (And its Multiverse, which is a Mind thing). So a Sylph defines herself by her “Woods”, or like a Nymph / Dryad, by her “Tree / Wood / Matter”. And when you kill the Tree / Wood, you kill the Sylph, and vice versa (Destroy the Matriorb, and Kanaya dies; Kill Snowman and you kill the Unvierse; Mindfang was murdered, and her Enlightenment about the Doc died with her).

Prince - Principle / Foremost. “To Postulate” Its the Principle of the matter. For Princes, Principle and Code are key, and they will follow these as a fundamental truth (and be damned to anything else). This is likely what it was meant when they were called a Destroyer Class, because they do tend to destroy all avenues when it doesn’t fit their Principle. A Group of Princes could be called an Argument. For Eridan, both the system he resided in, and his own internal narrative (his Hopes), were his fundamental truths. And in the end, it fucked everything up. For Kurloz, his Belief System and his chosen Lord were his Fundamental Truth (And Rage is about Truths; so this guy didn’t just have a fortified castle, he had an entire armored country) For Dirk, the Character someone presented was the Truth of the matter, and the Character he presented. He believed that all versions of him were Him, and that was his biggest flaw, because they weren’t. AR was no more Dirk Strider than Bro was. ... And unfortunately, one version of him took this very literally (HS^2).

Bard - Barred / Bar. “To Prevent” Bards are quite the Wild Card, because how the hell do you manage destroying stuff for other people’s benefit and it actually ensured that it is a benefit? But from our few examples, Bards do act as great barriers. They keep things on the path because if you didn’t have that barrier, you wouldn’t progress, or you’d go too far too quickly, or things could go out of hand. For Gamzee, he tends to invoke the idea of the Barrier Maiden (He does roleplay a fairy / maid). He can’t die cos he’s a Cosmic Keystone to things happening like they’re suppose to. Paradox Space, literally, cannot let him die because it needs him to complete the Alpha Loop [By extension, no Doomed Timeline ever has a Dead Gamzee, he’s just that important, the stupid fuck] / [consider the theory that he also absorbs his alternative selves to keep his keystone status; like how Rose absorbed her alternative dream self] (Though when you take him from his story / destiny / fate, he’s just another mortal shitty clown). Gamzee prevented Rage, for Homestuck to continue as its intended narrative. For Cronus, his little Hope Quest was a direct line to Lord English (being the evil wvizard in his little Harry Potter fantasy). But this blew up royally, because as it turns out, it isn’t up to the Beforus Trolls to do shit. So just as Gamzee’s crisis of Fate put things back on the Path to LE and prevented catastrophe, Cronus’s crisis caused catastrophe. He prevented Hope for the Beforus Trolls, because it wasn’t their Story. And now for my HC’d Bard of Doom, Clubs Deuce. He does exactly what it says, he Prevents Doom. Inspite of what it appears, he’s highly competent because that prevents things from going to hell. For CD, he prevented Doom, for his Crew, and the sessions he’s involved in. And any time CD tends to disappear from the picture, is when things go to hell fast (For the Crew, Cans showed up; for the Beta Session, he was a mere herald for the doom that was already coming and his death cinched it)

#homestuck #classpect

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cybernaght · 4 years

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Guardian rewatch: episode 6

Episode 6 jumps us into the case of a disappearing woman, Zhou Weiwei, with the SID team being on the scene, taking the unofficial statement of her fiancé, Ji Xiaobai. While in terms of the actual investigation this case is even thinner than usual, thematically its juicy. It’s musing on the self, and how the self is defined in the eyes of the others; it actually has a grown-up real life take on an unhappy love story, and it can even be read as having pro-immigration connotations. This episode is telling the viewer that one is not entitled to nice things because they are a human from the human world, and there is no sin in wishing to take a chance to move somewhere you can see the sun.

From the very first scene, Zhao Yunlan, who always has been shown as hands-on with the investigation, removes himself from Xiaobai’s flat, claiming that he has to speak to someone. It’s obvious who that someone is; and we see that our Chief is starting to rely on Shen Wei as his consultant way before he ever offers him that job. There is no reason for Yunlan to seek the other man’s help; and yet, he will end up solving with Shen Wei by his side, and purely through Shen Wei’s ample advice.

Left with the worried, grieving fiancé of the missing Weiwei, Guo Chancheng suggests they take a stroll to calm down emotions, bringing himself, the man in question, and Chu Shizhu to his favourite place. He is, once again, being the sweetest, most lovely and considerate human being on this planet; and Chu Shizhu is starting to take his lead, listening, being a calming presence - even going as far as to softly offering Ji Xiaobai a beer.

Hearing the sounds of a magpie, harbinger of good fortune, Guo Changcheng becomes animated, dragging Xiobai up to make a wish out loud. Xiaobai, predictably, wishes for his beloved to come back home, and Xiao Guo gladly repeats this wish, strengthens it with his will. This is where he is in his element: making people better, giving people hope, using his massive heart to help those around him. Guo Changcheng truly is too precious for words.

“Kid. You never make wishes for yourself?”

“I do. When everyone is happy, I am happy as well.”

We see Guo Changcheng’s simple, pure altruism resonating deep within Chu Shizhu, reminding him of his little brother that he lost. Well, I say “little” metaphorically, as the two are twins. That’s right, Guardian has two sets of twins, probably because it does not want to waste its extremely capable main cast. I’m not mad at it.

Later that day, Shen Wei is conversing with a flower Yashou conveniently living on campus. I think she has a name, but I have a habit of calling her Bush Woman, because it’s what she is.

She is animated poorly, but at least she is animated at all: there will be a scene later in the series, in which she is played by a bush, being shaken enthusiastically below the shot. The actual conversation is about a person Shen Wei is looking for: he has received a tip from Butler Wu in the previous episode that one of commanders in the Underworld army had a child. Hoping that that child could give him a clue at to where the next of the Hallows is stored, Shen Wei is now looking for them. Naturally, the child in question is also the missing woman in question, but Shen Wei does not know that yet.

Their conversation is interrupted by Zhao Yunlan being sited on the bike heading towards the university. In the next scene, Zhao Yunlan is shifting uncomfortably at Shen Wei’s office door. Presumably, he has knocked, heard no response, and is just about to give up and go home. This is the moment Shen Wei opens the door from inside, greeting him. Did he teleport into his office so he could talk to Yunlan? Yes, yes he did.

Despite being more than capable of deducing stuff on his own, Chief Zhao brings in the pictures of the disappeared Weiwei to Shen Wei to analyse for clues. We know that Shen Wei is aware that there is no actual legitimate reason for Zhao Yunlan to seek out his help - because Shen Wei states as much, in the nicest way possible. Zhao Yunlan does not actually have a satisfying answer to that, and his response is mostly boiled down to shameless flirting.

And also doing throughly shameless things to a lollipop while maintaining eye contact the whole time. Because why not give our protagonist in the show about brotherhood the most homoerotic character quirk he could possibly have, right?

As Zhao Yunlan and Shen Wei continue discussing the case, it becomes more and more clear that they work together marvellously, going as far as finishing each other’s sentences. The body language also suggests that they are very comfortable in each other’s company.

Yunlan, who a few episodes ago would rather sleuth himself than ask people for clues, listens to the advise Shen Wei gives him, internalises it, and eventually uses it to solve this case. Scratch that, actually - he accepts it when Shen Wei pretty much solves the case for him.

Following Shen Wei’s words to the letter, Zhao Yunlan opens the portal into the magic dimension and discovers that there are, in fact, two Weiweis. The woman from the mirror - an Undergrounder, who left to live a normal life, and a human, who hid because she could not stand being unpopular, and now returned out of jealousy for her mirror counterpart’s perfect life.

It’s very hard to not sympathise with the mirror!Weiwei over the human one. All the former wanted was to live, and to love, and to be happy. All the later wants is to have all that without putting in any effort. Human!Weiwei does not truly understand that it takes more than taking to have a relationship, and there is nothing that would allow her to be entitled to happiness that she did not herself create.

Instead, she calls mirror!Wewei a monster, and the later snaps, creating a whirlwind of energy which threatens to destroy everyone in the mirror with her.

Unfortunately for her, one of the people she is threatening to kill is Zhao Yunlan, and we know how Hei Pao Shi feels about Zhao Yunlan’s life being threatened. This man, who does have a soft, squishy heart, and has previously allowed murderous Wang Yike to stay with her lover, all but snarls at mirror!Weiwei as he captures her.

The show treats hers and Xiaobai’s farewell as a true tragedy; it’s genuinely heartbreaking to see them cry, as we are shown flashback of their relationship.

In the past couple of episodes, we have witnessed a huge shift in Shen Wei. He may have been determined to detach himself and march onwards alone a short while ago, but he has also seen the SID being full of kind, righteous individuals; he has been begged to save an Undergrounder’s life; he has been asked for friendly support and advice by Zhao Yunlan, and so he, perhaps unwittingly, allows his Hei Pao Shi persona to soften. As he takes mirror!Weiwei away, he stops to have a little tiny heart to heart with Yunlan, saying that identity of a person lies in their heart rather than what or who they are physically. This is a very Shen Wei thing to say, actually, but it will be a while before Yunlan figures that one thing out. Two things on this scene:

One. The mask really does hide Zhu Yilong’s most prominent features pretty well, and to help the viewer understand how he could have been hiding his identity successfully for what could be months, the camera more often than not shoots Hei Pao Shi from a lower angle, and Shen Wei from the higher angle, or dead on, subtly reshaping the jaw line. It’s clever; as is often often the case with the camera work in this show.

Two. Isn’t it a little bit amusing how this ancient godlike being needs to fill in the paperwork in line of his duty?

As with Shen Wei’s advice earlier on, Zhao Yunlan takes Hei Pao Shi’s one to heart as well, and makes his way to human!Weiwei to make sure Xiaobai knows that she is not at all the woman he fell in love with and wanted to marry. He unearths her greed, jealousy and entitlement in full; in the end, this relationship cannot survive, because how could Xiaobai possibly stay with someone who does not know - someone who even is, in some ways, responsible, for his lover being taken away from him forever? As the couple breaks up, Wang Zheng and Sang Zan’s love song is playing in the background.

During this scene, the infamous “I would like to buy [this coat] for my girlfriend” moment happens.

As we know, he does not have a girlfriend. He may, however, have a boyfriend.

I really like the idea that he buys Shen Wei’s trench coats based on this. I really do. It is nice to see Shen Wei’s style starting to change dramatically as he and Zhao Yunlan become closer, of course, and I want it to be one of those deliberate coded messages Guardian is absolutely astonishing for. But at the same time, this is the jacket Yunlan is remarking on:

It sadly does not look anything like what Shen Wei wears. I will file this under “it’s true because the fandom said so”.

Later, Hei Pao Shi is having a conversation mirror!Weiwei, revealing that he knew her father, and getting a clue he was after. We are getting a lovely extreme close-up of his eyes. While the mask does not stand to scrutiny of close examination - seriously, they could have maybe put actual leafing on it! - I really love this shot.

At home, Zhao Yunlan is talking to Da Qing about his favourite subject, which is Professor Shen, and performing more shameless things to his lollipop while doing so. Brotherhood, my friends. This show it about bro-ther-hood.

Da Qing wonders if his friend has been bewitched by Shen Wei, because it is obvious that Zhao Yunlan does not shut up about the man ever. When asked whether Yunlan would arrest the professor if he were indeed from the Underground, Yunlan responds with a dismissive, almost affronted “He didn’t do anything wrong”. We are to understand, through Da Qing’s reaction, that this is extremely uncharacteristic of Zhao Yunlan to say something like this, and it is entirely reasonable for Da Qing to be concerned. We could extrapolate that Da Qing’s worried because if Shen Wei is dangerous, getting attached to him in such a blatant manner could put Zhao Yunlan’s career and life at a very great risk. So, Da Qing, who knows his friend very well, chooses to press all the correct buttons to kick-start his natural curiosity, and do some investigative work into Shen Wei.

Step one: break into his flat. As you do.

When we saw Shen Wei view the flat prior to moving in, it was shown already furnished, which is not entirely consistent with this tasteful, yet eclectic, furniture. I don’t know about you, but most flats I have rented have been furnished at IKEA. I can’t help but particularly admire his G Plan style mid-century side-board. And the fact that the man owns a gramophone, because of course he does.

Shen Wei’s book collection is wonderfully perplexing. I’m not surprised that he reads in English - he is educated, and Dragon City is explicitly shown as bilingual, seeing as signs and even gravestones are written in English. But choices were made with the selection of titles. Going off the English ones alone Shen Wei owns: three copies of the same book about architecture, a heavy looking tome on interior design, a tattered one on Van Gough, and the only non-fiction English titles in his possession are… Irvin Welsh’s Trainspotting and a novelisation of Rocky? The former is notoriously difficult read as it’s written entirely in the Scottish accent. The later is very difficult to find, as is often the case with unnecessary novelisations. Neither scream “Shen Wei” to me.

Apart from Shen Wei’s obviously fake book collection, we find out that he has some files on the SID. It should be a weird point of contention for Zhao Yunlan, considering that a) he also read Shen Wei’s files; b) he literally broke into the man’s apartment.

While Zhao Yunlan and Da Qing are still nosing around the flat, Shen Wei makes his way home, stilling at his door when he either sees that the lights are on (they won’t when he left), or notes with his Hei Pao Shi sense that someone is inside.

We, in turn, discover that he has sword replicas on his wall. The swords are obviously European, two of them are shorter, arming ones, and the one in the middle is a longsword with a hand and a half grip. All three have round pommels, downturned cross-guards, and the general shape most reminiscent of very Late Middle Ages (I would hazard at a guess and place them around second half of the 15th century). I wish we could have seen Shen Wei fighting with one of those at some point, because they would be wielded in ways very different from his own blade, but alas. The shield, by the way, has no business being hung together with those swords: it’s not only from a wrong era, it’s from a different part of the world entirely; my guess is that it’s a replica of a shield from the Tang dynasty.

Shen Wei senses Zhao Yunlan hiding on the balcony, and bites back a smile. Anyone else would be less happy to find out that their privacy being violated, but he is endeared at is the same way Yunlan was endeared at Shen Wei’s cunning during the prior episode.

After getting back to Zhao Yunlan’s own flat (possibly by waiting for Shen Wei to pretend to fall sleep), Da Qing and Zhao Yunlan move on to step two: contacting the Underground Regent about Shen Wei. Which is not as important a tidbit as finding out that Zhao Yunlan owns a swing.

Then, they move in to step three: the banner.

According to this article, it’s 锦旗, a traditional gift of gratitude. It’s addressed to “Dragon City University, Professor Shen Wei”, but is singed by “Zhao Yunlan”, without mentioning of SID or his position therein, implying that the gift is personal. The message reads “Helping people [is] helping oneself” and “conscience of the industry”. It’s extremely over the top, which both Shen Wei and Chu Shuzhi, tasked with delivering the banner, are aware of.

Shen Wei looks between tentatively amused and politely mortified.

Chu Shuzhi looks like holding this banner is the most excruciating torture he ever had to endure.

The banner, of course, has a hidden camera in it, so that Zhao Yunlan has a 24/7 feed from Shen Wei’s office. As he and Da Qing are watching the gift being hung, Da Qing is teasing Yunlan with Hei Pao Shi, who is surely the wrong man to tease him about.

In the next scene, Zhao Yunlan is at Shen Wei’s workplace again, and we discover from Shen Wei’s unpleasant boss that Li Qian has dropped out after her ordeal with the Longevity Dial.

From the way this is written and shot, I would surmise that Zhao Yunlan does not spring on the professor in a middle of an uncomfortable conversation, but rather has spent some time with him prior to it, volunteering to be moral support. He continues being a good friend by asking Shen Wei why he feels like he has to shoulder all of the world’s weight: it’s surprisingly insightful into a large part of Shen Wei’s personality.

There is little narrative reason for them to have this meeting, so I am choosing to believe that dropping in on Shen Wei randomly during lunch time is a habit Zhao Yunlan has started to form.

Finally, before the episode ends, we are privy to Shen Wei being the most polite, level-headed mugging victim. He hands the muggers his watch and money willingly, waiting for Zhao Yunlan, who is obviously stalking him, to show up and save the day. The muggers, enraged by his cool attitude, decide to shake him up, and, in the last seconds of this episode, the Pendant of Pining appears in shot for the first time.

Next up, episode 7: No, Shen Wei, It Wasn’t The Bears

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Just a quick note to say that I’ll keep those recaps going, but I will have to slow down the pace at which I’m churning them out to one every three to four days. There are some real life things I’ve been neglecting last few weeks that I need to spend my time on; and I’ve also started a new show (Sound of Providence, not Word of Honour - my watching priorities currently lie with Zhu Yilong being awesome). So, if I’m quiet here for a few days, I’m not gone, just a bit busy.

ETA. Realised that I made a booboo when translating the banner. Fixed that now.

#guardian #shen wei #zhao yunlan #weilan #recap #rewatch #overanalysing set design

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lokidokiliteratureclub · 4 years

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Healer

Kylo Ren x Reader (One-Shot for now)

Plot: Your planet has been destroyed, and as you are attempting to flee you are taken in by the New Order for your supposed healing abilities. With all the other nurses compromised, you are called upon to treat a very special, insufferable patient.

I am pretty sure this classifies as angst. It's less a romance and more an interaction.

Note: Sorry for those who are waiting for me to update the other story. I just needed to put something out to prove to myself that I'm not dead. Updates to Frostbitten coming! I'm doing my best :')

You should have never told these people you had any value. You should have pretended not to understand them. Look where honesty has brought you.

You are at the feet of the first order, a prisoner. A spare. A disposable remnant of the planet they destroyed in your wake. You are the only thing that remains of your people, and you are being dragged around in a lousy pair of handcuffs.

Figures approach as you and your guards turn through a hallway. You don't look up to see them, instead electing to listen to their voices.

"Is this the nurse?" A man in white asks the men in white behind you as you shift your hands around in their cuffs. "Assistance is needed urgently. Lord Ren is unaccompanied and mortally wounded."

That sounds bad, but you don't care enough to react. No one with the title 'Lord' has ever done anything good for you.

"Are there no others that can treat him? We have yet to test for experience. There is no way we can guarantee-"

"The nurses aboard our ships are either wounded or in shock. We need somebody now. These are our orders."

"What if this, this child kills him?"

Oh, please.

"I'm hardly a child," you speak up, looking up from the ground. There are no eyes for you to stare into, so you stare into the pits of the Trooper's mask. "And I know enough about you all to decide that murder is unwise. I'm sure a fate worse than murder would await me as a punishment for betrayal. I will treat whoever you wish."

At first, it seems they're going to take you seriously. Then, a short laugh.

"Do not be fooled into thinking you have a choice."

You are taken to a small quarters. The room is dark- not ideal for your work, but manageable. There is a man in black lying across a rectangular table in the center, and it is clear from the shade of his skin that he has lost plenty a lot of blood. With the urgency that you were rushed in with, it is clear that this patient is a patient of great value. You should be quick.

"All the tools you need should be here," a Trooper states. The handcuffs click quietly off your wrists. "Should you fail to save him-"

"I won't," you cut in. "But please, allow me the luxury of privacy. I cannot focus when I am being intruded upon."

The Troopers look at eachother, and then at the man on the table, and then, regretfully, step out of the room. Now you can begin working.

You strip the layers of bloodied clothing off of his skin, laying them at his sides and adjusting his body to reveal the worst of the wounds. Then, you glance quickly at the door to be sure you're alone, and close your eyes.

The energy begins to flow.

It flows out of you like a second language, striking home as soon as your fingertips touch his skin. The energy races to where he needs it most. His body begins to heal.

But then something odd occurs.

He pushes back.

Within his subconscious, the man on the table fights against your energy. His will rises to meet your own. It's as if to say 'I don't need you' even though he clearly does. You try to ignore it, but the longer you push the stronger the retaliation. You flatten your palms against his skin and focus more energy toward him. There is a slightly higher success rate, and then all his resistance falls back. You ease away from him, now physically drained from fighting, and you open your eyes. The worst of his wounds have sealed off. The only problems you have left are the wound on his face and the noticable blood loss. You decide to tackle the small problem first, and look toward his face.

He's looking right back at you.

An instinctive screech rises within you, but you push it down. You stare longer, silent. He's waiting for you to react. You don't. You take a deep, shaking breath inward, and straighten your spine, awaiting his words.

"Who are you?" He finally asks, faintly. His strength is still faltering, and you can hear it in his voice. He's lightheaded. He's weak. "What did you do to me?"

"I'm a healer," you state. "I healed you. It's kind of what I do."

"You used the force," he speaks, and he says it like a curse. "I felt it. I wanted to fight it- but you weren't trying to harm, were you?" He furrows his eyebrows. "Why can you do that? Who are-"

"I'm a healer," you repeat. You sense it makes him a bit angry. "I healed you."

"And what technique did you use to do so?"

"Unless you're a healer as well, not one that I'd expect you to understand. May I finish my work?"

The anger rises again, like a glowing ember. "I'll ask again. Are you capable of using the force?"

Still unfazed, you shrug. "The force is a part of the Jedi religion. The Jedi are dead. I heal people. I am not a Jedi."

The ember ignites. The man's hand jolts outward, and suddenly your airways are void of air. Your hands shoot to your neck, and you let out an unpleasant choke. "Yes or no," he repeats. His eyes are strong, demanding, but his grip is weak. He is still weak. "I'm not asking for much."

Your eyes trace his hand in the air. It has been far too long since you've seen another person exhibit your same power. Is this why the prisoner was held to such importance?

You stare him in the eye, face going red with lack of air supply. "You're not strong enough to hold this yet. I'd let go."

The grip tightens. There's pain on his face. He's still weak. "Yes. Or. No."

You shake your head, pushing a bit of what remains of your own energy outward into his. He falters, and then his hand drops, limp. "You're still healing. Give yourself time to rest." You reach a hand toward the wound on his face. "Let me finish."

He grabs your wrist. Not with any magical force this time, but with his hand. "You're not part of the Order."

You shrug. "I certainly don't support them. They blew up my home world, kidnapped me, and they are now forcing me to treat this asshole who thinks I owe him something." You shift your eyes back to him, and say with certain certainty: "I don't."

There's a pause, and you worry you pushed the wrong button, but he drops your wrist and closes his eyes, relaxing into the table.

Good. A moment of peace.

"Fascinating. You don't know why I am," he says, and he seems to believe it. "You'll regret saying all of that once you do."

You roll your eyes, placing your fingertips on either side of the man's head, near his temples. The energy begins to flow again. "No one can hurt me anymore. I either live or I don't. All I have left is to work. I left behind everything I had, so now I don't have-" you cut off, and as you stop speaking the energy stops leaving your fingers.

The man sees this weakness before you can recover.

"Anything left to lose?" He guesses. Suddenly, he has the high ground. All because of a falter. "You left? You abandoned?" He laughs. The entire table shakes slightly. "I don't see why they took you. We must be low on nurses."

You flinch. "I'm a healer."

"You're an asset." He raises both eyebrows, looking disgustingly smug. "There weren't many intelligent inhabitants on that planet. I'm sure you were very close to them."

Your hands tense. You feel your own ember begin to form, anger spinning a web. "That doesn't matter."

"Not anymore, I suppose." He opens his eyes, and you don't flinch when he looks into yours. "So, why are you here? Too much of a coward to die with them?"

The ember threatens to ignite. It begs to. You realize this, and take a step back, and close your eyes. And then you place your fingers back over the wound and continue healing.

"It takes one to know one," you say. "And that puts us in the same boat, doesn't it? From the looks of your wounds, you suffered quite a loss in battle. Why didn't you remain among the other men?"

"You don't know anything about me," he states in grim retaliation. "I'm not just some solider."

You laugh. "Clearly not. If you were a soldier you'd be wearing white armor and not a glorified bathrobe." Your hands rise from his skin, and the work is complete. "I'm done. I wouldn't move for a couple of days, as you lost quite a lot of blood." You turn, now eager to escape this tiny prison.

"Y/N," is all he says. You freeze on the way to the exit. "You're very difficult, Y/N."

You turn back around, limbs stiff. "How do you-?"

"I know the force. I can use it in ways beyond your imagination." He exhales deeply, frowning. "Your father taught you the ways of the force, didn't he? Who was your father?"

Your eyes start to sting, and you blink to keep tears from forming. "My father is dead. That's all you need to know on the matter."

"And whose fault might that be?"

That breaks you.

Your hand shoots out in front of you, and when it does the man goes flying off the table and into the wall, before landing on the floor with a dull thud. He laughs. "Good! You are powerful. In need of guidance-" He braces himself on the wall, standing up, clearly unstable. "I know a teacher who can help you use that power-"

You clench your outstretched hand. The man shoots across the room toward you, freezing in the air just a couple feet away. Despite the fact that you're in control, he looks very satisfied with himself. "The force is not a power. The force is a balance. As evil rises, an equal force of good rises with it." You open your fist, leading him back over the table and dropping him on top of it. "My father was not a teacher. He was a force that threatened the safety of others, and I rose up against him. That is all you need to know on the matter. Get some rest- whoever you are."

You're just about at the door when, as you expected, he speaks again. "My name is Kylo Ren," he says simply. From the silence that follows it is clear he expects a reaction. You look over your shoulder.

"No, it's not."

You leave before you hear his response.

#kylo x reader #kylo ren #kylo ren x you #kylo ren x reader #star wars #kylo ren x reader angst

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mudwingpropaganda · 4 years

Text

Arc 2 Timeline Rewritten

I’ve been thinking about my headcanons and I’ve been seriously struggling to get across the plot points that I want to happen within my headcanons. So I decided the best way to figure out what was important for the sequence of events was to just smash arc 2 on the ground and rebuild from the shards.

From now on, I think I’ll be referring to this when working on my own characters (or my headcanons)! It’s not the most eloquent, but this is how I’ll be reasoning the events of the books.

Arc 1 is valid. All arc 1 needs is more foreshadowing for Thorn and a little less forced love interests. Anyway, feel free to absorb by “ideal timeline” if you so desire.

The Second Brightest Night takes place.

(I have my own handful of headcanons about my take on the Second Brightest Night and less magical ending for that night, but lets sum it up by saying that Burn dies via the snakes, unfortunately, Blister is killed by Thorn, and Blaze suffers substantial injuries but survives and goes missing after Thorn ascends to the throne.)

AT LEAST a year or two passes as the RainWing Queendom is focused upon, until Jade Mountain is founded.

Queen Glory requested her siblings’ attention to help set up the tribe before jumping into their next war reparation project. This included the punishment of NightWing criminals, the state of the ex-experiment RainWings, and the customs that were lost when Queen Grandeur gave up on her bloodline and the title was shared between multiple dragonesses. Handsome, especially, assists in this restoration of culture and stability. Ex-Princess Greatness tries to give Glory her tribe’s history and customs, but ultimately gives up her title and acts as a figurehead to reach her subjects.

Jade Mountain is formed at least 2 or 3 years after the end of the war.

As a resolution of treaties, the Dragonets convinced the queens to enroll students in their peace building project, Jade Mountain Academy. Sunny already had the favor of Moorhen and Thorn, Tsunami took a little convincing of Coral, knowing she could bring in her siblings, Glory had the authority of her own two tribes, Clay reached out to Peril and Queen Ruby, and it took a little extra effort of reaching out to Queen Glacier. But after her approval was given, the school could finally take full initiative.

The opening of the school was met with the ominous reappearance of Queen Scarlet. This caused unrest and disaster within the first month of school.

As a result of her disturbance, students who had previously been optimistic about the school’s opening were now uneasy. The attempted assassination of Princess Icicle’s life, the death of multiple students on Sora’s hands, and thicker tension in the air of the school. The disappearance of the entire Jade Winglet lead the school to be temporarily shut down. Classes were suspended and students were asked to stay in their rooms or go home. (This is saying that Jade Mountain was equipped as an escape for those in bad home situations. Though. Not very successful as an escape, per say.)

Scarlet’s antagonism opens the arc, introducing her “alliance” with Chameleon.

Both by terrorizing Princess Icicle to do her bidding or tricking Peril into coming back to her clutches, the terrible things Scarlet did in her reign comes to light, namely the kidnapping of Prince Hailstorm and the mental deception of Princess Tourmaline/Ruby. Chameleon acts as a servant of her, facading as Soar for a majority of the time, acting as Peril’s technical father. Though, it’s obvious that while he serves her, he has not necessarily dedicated his life to her. Chameleon disappears for the sake of Peril’s resolution to wrap up Scarlet’s tyranny. But Chameleon’s near murder of Kinkajou sets up more antagonism on his part.

Chameleon generally becomes the main focus of antagonism for the rest of the arc. He causes the team to split up so Winter could do some soul searching and Kinkajou could coma, I guess.

After the Jade Winglet physically joins Peril and Turtle to resolve Scarlet’s arc, Chameleon is now gone of a powerful ally. He attempts to pick the group apart. Conflict between Winter, Moon, and Qibli, over the injuries of Kinkajou, and the spite between Peril and Winter, leading to Winter having his side trip to the IceWing kingdom with Hailstorm, where no one else could follow him. The Jade Winglet hangs out in Possibility, I guess, I’m still working out the details.

When trouble stirs in Possibility, Qibli accidentally pulls the group into SandWing trouble, revealing the alliance between Vulture and Onyx, as well as Chameleon disguising under their ranks.

Vulture and Onyx begin to be relevant. This was set up and foreshadowed, of course, but I’m not writing these books. Onyx was a dragon who went missing when things started going awry at Jade Mountain, as she decided playing into Sunny’s favor to get close to Thorn wouldn’t work. As Qibli hints at knowing something about the danger encroaching on Possibility, he flees to warn Thorn, but gets caught up in his past. He’s fully aware how to get himself out of these situations, but now he needs to protect the Jade Winglet from the likes of his family.

Onyx and Vulture’s plot relates, once again, to the thrones that were shifted by the Dragonets’ meddling, as Onyx tries to take the throne from Thorn.

Onyx has a more valuable role in this rewritten timeline. Her opinion on royalty isn’t disregarded, and her father legitimately shows remorse for his daughter rather than??? his girlfriend Thorn (which doesn’t happen in my headcanonverse). The concept of a fourth heir to the throne seemed like it would be such a significant plot point for Tui. Darkstalker took over that. In this version, Onyx is an important character, with Vulture pulling the strings, promising she has a chance at the throne. His point being: if a criminal can take the throne based on a child’s word and a magical necklace, another criminal can work for the throne based on his wit and his access to a true blood heir to the throne.

After the royalty plotlines are addressed, Chameleon is separated from his allies by the Jade Winglet once again.

Thorn eventually wards off Vulture and Onyx, with the somewhat support of her subjects, but the event left the SandWing queendom uneasy, as it still has work to be done. Thorn loses the Scorpion Den to the two of them, leaving Chameleon identified again. After being separated from his allies, once again, Chameleon becomes more focused in his vengeful plots against these children, but he does have his own points, especially in relevance to Kinkajou’s abuse she faced against the NightWings experimenting on her. When all else fails, he resorts back to the scroll itself.

As a final grasp for power, Chameleon attempts to become the previous owner of the scroll, leading to the storyline of Darkstalker.

Chameleon attempts to create a charm that will turn him into the true owner of the scroll. So Chameleon destroys the scroll in the process, as Darkstalker overtakes Chameleon’s body and, instead of it being a mask, similar to his disguises, Darkstalker is capable of using his magic to use Chameleon as a vessel as a whole. Jade Mountain begins to collapse with his old body’s sudden disappearance. And Darkstalker plot happens!

Darkstalker is still bent on revenge and restoring his kingdom’s former glory, but more in the sense of a more magically manipulative kind... the idea of magically changing people’s minds and changing people as a whole as he sees fit is focused upon

The twisted scene like Fierceteeth being turned into Clearsight has much more gravity. And directly affects our protagonists. While yes, a plague begins to wipe out the IceWings, and Queens and influential individuals are simply made to accept Darkstalker as a king, Darkstalker also realizes that the best way to get his friends - and enemies - back is molding them from the closest things to them. Moonwatcher being Clearsight, the two of them being striking similar in appearance and mannerisms, Turtle being Fathom, a timid descendent of another SeaWing animus who was afraid of his powers, Winter being Queen Diamond, someone he could kill, over and over, just as his mother was. Kinkajou? Oh, she’s irrelevant. Peril would have to be taken care of. But Qibli’s a wise one, thoughtful, and craved for validation. Perhaps he could help him perfect the spell.

This makes the story moving forward less about MAGIC as a whole and more of the concept of forcing dragons to do things against their will. (Which leads into the Pantala arc but first...)

Darkstalker is defeated, of course, after hinting about the existence of Pantala, and causing a “glitch” in magic system which has caused a lull in enchantments and animus dragons.

After a few obnoxious monologues, a bit of trickery and secret exchanging on Qibli and Kinkajou’s parts, and the sibling drama of animus SeaWing royal siblings, the free Jade Winglet (including Peril) was able to kill Darkstalker, who’s weight on the magic continuism caused magic to “break” momentarily in the Wings of Fire continuum, (just for Pantala’s conflict to be wrapped up without cheat codes). The residue of magic is left on the world, which accidentally manifests into a whole new dragonet. Peacemaker. (I’ll elaborate on my ideas for Peacemaker one day but... as much as I HATE the resolution of Darkstalker getting once another second chance, I love the idea of a whole separate identity facing the consequences for another’s evil. I’ll figure it out later.)

The students will resume classes again. Maybe Stonemover becomes useful to attempt to help out with the consequences of Darkstalker. The NightWings begin grappling with Glory’s rule, even more than usual, after the progress that they made. Pantala’s arc will be moreso about the fallout of Darkstalker, the accidental marks that Clearsight made, and the longlasting magical residue of Fathom. But those are ideas for later posts.

#wingsoffire #wings of fire #wof rewrite

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dwestfieldblog · 3 years

Text

A VERY REMOTE ENGLISH TEACHER

Where meditations, rants, reverie and absent seizures cross over... closer to one gun with one bullet, the rose of ruby and the cross of gold...uff, and MENTACIDE IN THE TIME OF MASQUES. Although I have never suffered from the guilty masochistic torture of ‘pleasure anxiety’, Bacchus hath indeed drowned more men than Neptune. So I stopped drinking for 18 days to fool myself I was doing something positive and threw away enough things to be minimalist again. Arf. Beauty and/or function uber alles.

Been treading water for three years and trying not to drown...big round of one hand clapping for the former poet. Meanwhile, in this temporary world and perception I have created of it, I am looking at a very possible exile one way or the other...my ‘plan’...a long phased withdrawal or hasty retreat. My wish is to stay, but once I leave, it might well be very hard to return. Read as many metaphors as you want into that but in spite of my dislike of the conservatively minded Aristotle’s ‘either/or’ nonsense, there do indeed appear to be only two this time. And appear is the operative word. Appearances can be deceptive and emotions (unless raised and focused) cloud over what should be clear. Pain has a tendency to breed worry and fear too but let’s draw a veil over that for now eh? Suppress, suppress, release comes later...breathe deep and try not to cough, onward we go where the game gets rough...Just like Tom Thumbs Blues 65.

Remember Roman Protasevich...As Lukasenko himself said...‘Belarus stood at the edge of an abyss and I helped it take a step forward’. Look good on your tombstone that will Al. Fecking outrageous the Indian PM only admitted in May that covid was transmitted in the air. He needs removing... as do two thirds of all the other world leaders East and West. Hello Bollsanaro. People are very easy to manipulate when they’re are scared or angry...and right now the world majority are both. But, ‘there is a crack in everything... that’s how the light gets in’... and ‘things could change’, doesn’t have to be for the worse. It can take decades to realise this as actual truth, but still nice to read and try internalise the following last week.’The odds actually favour the optimists, since dissipate structures are more likely to evolve into more information rich (intelligent?) forms than into primitive or chaotic forms.’ All my friends bar my best one are optimists..Hello you:-)

Ever onward deeper downward with Orban in Hungary and his mission of ‘Christian values’, which involves a familiar routine of arresting, beating and disappearing dissenters in the name of Christ and taking over the universities to replace professors with those who understand on which side their bread is buttered. Decent judges long gone. Nice fascist communism...and ex soldiers in France and the Czech republic warning of civil war...

And now spiraling we go into the black hole vortex of Disaster capitalism, ‘Let the bodies pile high’. There’s gold in them thar ills....ISLAND PARANOIA and PERFIDIOUS ALBION! A country which demands a contract, agrees, signs to it and then refuses to honour it. We look worse than ridiculous, we look deceitful. Gentlemen, your places please. Boris Johnson is a clumsy, inept, disgraceful charlatan, con merchant and LIAR. A blustering master bullshit artist, the only decent thing about his recent secret wedding is that now he legally has one less bastard child.

Recently I read that British people are displaying signs of Stockholm syndrome...in that they dislike those who hold power over them and make the rules but during the time of pandemic, they are the ones who will release the saviour vaccine and get everything moving again. So rather than rocking the boat and daring to express dissent at the DIABOLICAL handling of the last 18 months, they have mostly kept quiet and voted for the same endlessly failing, corrupt and venal politicians who made a bad situation far worse. (That said, it bears repeating that there are a few million in the UK who didn’t quite understand that that the spread of a highly contagious airborne virus can be slowed by the wearing of masks/applying basic hygiene and even took offence at being told what should have made sense to any adult homo SAPIENS half capable of cogitating for themselves. Morons and scum. Same where you are?

By the way BBC...the colossal dearth of stories about the endless government failures in relation to Covid, death, corruption and the NHS...ever since they blackmailed you with threats of revoking the TV licence fee and got you to change Directors has been noted. Long may Have I Got News For You continue the satire and balance needed in a DEMOCRACY. Obey your public servants? Why, when they do not serve few but themselves? Power OF the people? Which ones...the mob? The same bleating pricks who follow populists?

Four eyed beanpole fop Rees Mogg, with his wonderful line that the benefits of Brexit will be seen ‘over the next fifty years’...well yes, that is why most people vote in democratic elections eh?...So they will be dead or ancient before the change they hoped for comes...and the politicians who lead them now, will have all long moved on to revolving door chairman of the board offshore limited liability company paradise. Bread today jam tomorrow fairytales. What I tell you three times is true.

O, but the English do so love to be told what to do by dumb posh boys who treat them like dirt. Some are forelock tugging and some are self flagellating middle class upper class wannabes who will never get there but still feel proud they are not street level proles. Doby the house elf alien hamster Michael Gove found guilty of breaking the law. Nothing. Internal inquiries run by those connected to the money changing hands find nothing illegal. Corruption for all to see...and ignore. ‘Well, what can we do?’ The uselessly inept serial failure Dido Harding to be in charge of the National Health Service? (she of the collapsed Woolworths, Talk Talk and the 22 BILLION pound loss of the Covid Track and Trace program where non working consultants/insultants, were paid 1000 pounds a day). American style privatisation is coming where only the wealthy or criminal can afford to be repaired and well. Sick.

Meanwhile, All our imported nurses out, and all the lobster red fat Spanish costa de la sol criminals back in. Great exchange, fair trade and forward thinking. The Kremlin are manipulating/supporting Scottish independence... I read years ago about their base in Edinburgh for Russia Today (the foul insert in The Daily Telegraph) and they were already encouraging it. Rees Smug has accelerated and supported their freedom with his snobbish utterances on countries in the UK other than England and their ‘foreign languages’. With every patronising, arrogant pronouncement, the Eton trifles fuel the fire in Scotland which has a long bitter history of being tortured, murdered and subjugated by their southern masters. Perhaps the chumocracy in Downing Street believe the Celts to be as easily cowed as the middle and working classes down south. Here’s hoping not. ‘Rebellious Scots to crush’? Not this time pal.

As for the future of Britain? A dystopian open prison where the lower social classes toil only at the pleasure of their masters. The higher caste getting richer and all others cast into a living Hell of debt, crime, and sickness. Serve until you die and be thankful we allow you to exist. Increasing in utter irrelevance to the world, other than as an example of how wrong a former democracy can go. This future started decades ago...its baobab roots truly deep now. Better education and critical thinking for the masses in the UK (or anywhere else) is highly unlikely now. Optimism huh? As long as I am not in England, I will still be able to tap into it, but once enclosed long term in the group mind there...trapped in a grey quagmire. Keep smiling...

Several weeks ago, I watched a video on YT of apparently English protestors running after the police in London, some attacking and throwing things, one pulling off the pandemic mask of an officer and all shouting abuse at the outnumbered cops who had to keep pulling back. As always, to get my caffeine rush of fury going, I read the comments and was surprised to see two or three from Chinese names. Almost all comments were against the government (fair enough) and dumb against the lock down, masks, vaccinations etc. Checking again, I saw the video had been posted by CGTN...a media company owned and run by the communist party in Beijing...and not one author of diatribes had mentioned this, nor speculated with a critical thought as to why such an organisation might enjoy turning people against their own democratically elected government (however mind rippingly foul and corrupt they are).

I copy pasted the Wikipedia paragraph about the company onto the page and hoped someone else would make the connection. I wouldn’t mind so much IF there were a credible and decent alternative other than the diseased populist poison for which the demonstrating goons chant. China really cares about the standard of democracy in Britain eh? Persuade your enemies to weaken themselves. Destroying countries by encouraging their ‘patriots’.

(That was written on the anniversary of Tienanmen Square...a few days later Xi Jinping gave a speech saying ‘...a lovable and respectable’ China must be presented to the world and must ‘expand its circle of friends’. Tell that to your teenage ‘dissidents’, Muslims, Falun Gong and Tibetans being tortured and brainwashed in prisons or being used for organ harvesting. Tell it to Hong Kong and Taiwan.)

Unholy America...against abortion and the pill, sex education’s not Gods will and in the Name of Christ they kill...if truth be known, we’ve failed the test...but Jesus was a Socialist and Republican conservatives hate them. The founding fathers of America were Very clear about separation of church and state with damn good Reason. Another part time Christian, Mike Pompeo wants to be president. Q Onan deepstorm morons/Kremlin stool pigeons aka POLEZNYYE IDIOTY continue to push for Trump and his Big Lie...He with the brain where ‘In the left, nothing is right and in the right, nothing’s left.’ Arf.

Over the last two decades, the dumb have been finding their voice and are now louder and prouder of their dumbass ignorance. 74 million in the US alone, their egos unable to retreat in the face of endless evidence to the contrary, they all double down. Like children sticking their fingers in their grimy ears sing songing ‘la la la can’t hear you’. 74 million versions of Eric Cartman, loud, proud and wrong. And uuff, Megan Markle, Majorie Taylor Greene, walking Picasso collage (bad car driver) Caitlin Jenner and Ivana Trump in politics...not exactly holding a proud lantern for women eh? I’d like to buy them for what they are worth and sell them for what they think they are worth. Not very PC?

That was the point. Could easily been written about all of the men written about here too. Next examples follow...

Tucker Carlson and Alex Jones compete for who can be as mentally ill as trump. The Miami school where the husband and wife directors told teachers not to return if they had HAD their vaccine shots because their proximity to students was interfering with menstrual cycles and uuuufff...The sickness of utter mind buggering stupidity. I had my first shot, now waiting to turn reptilian when the 5G masts triangulate my position. Fnord. Covid appears to be killing more overweight meat eating males than females...perhaps testosterone is not useful for the coming Race of non binary mutant hermaphrodites...and look out for the end of the Y chromosome, coming to a temporary universe near you...in 4.6 million years. Yes, really.

Glad Netanyahu is out at last, smug corruption is never a good look unless one is a rich criminal. Ha. The Promised land of Israel...If I was in court for serial murder, breaking, entering and stealing and then defended my actions by saying that God had told me to do it, would the Judge; A. Call for a psychiatric report, B. Disregard the statement as unprovable and pass the appropriate sentence, C, say Ok mate, you’re free to go, good luck to you. ? Moses had a good schtick.

The law is only to punish the poor, do you feel as if you suffer from empathy? Once you know, you no longer need to believe. What does ‘reality’ seem to be? The more certain you are, the stupider you get and belief is the death of intelligence. The machine is running the engineers. What is the definition of rationality...the quality of being based on or in accordance with reason or logic.

Nothing is, but thinking makes it so. Epicurus.

EVERYTHING NOT COMPULSORY IS FORBIDDEN.

The glamour illusion of the mass of pointless hot influencers needs a constant renewing of the Banishing Ritual as much as all the pigslop bile coming from Fox News and Sky. Bloody long haired commie liberal faggot they cry against any not identical to them. Some days I have only flamethrowers of hatred for these idiots. Other days...not exactly self doubt, just questions...most of us seem to believe our opinions are more valid when there are emotions connected to them. Including me. Again, this seems like a very weak version of ‘truth’, unless disciplined, channeled and focused to a certain end.

Life appears to exist in order to become via chaos.

Most of us are working only not to be homeless, some because of the joy in our chosen work regardless of finances. Until ‘reality’ kicks in the door...the bondage gets tighter when you struggle. How much hardship is the individual willing to endure these days by choice? Surrounded by a universe of distraction and destruction, Maya mewling for our attention. Five years of Trump, rampant populism and Brexit doing a Hexagram 23 on democracy, compounded by the pandemic...all on top of ‘normal’ daily life. The ego feeds and the immune system breaks down. Hard to ignore without being on a mountain or in a parallel dimension and emotion free other than compassion. But BY GODDESS IT CAN AND WILL BE DONE. Ladies of Life Nin Khursag, Isis, Kali, Aradia...Love one, Love ALL. At very least have respect for thyself but be not thou proud of thine arrogance nor thy suffering.

Or just Remember where you came from, what you were, seem to be and will become.

Heal, heal, more work to do, more love to give, more love to feel, Heal. Stay in drugs, eat your school and don’t do vegetables. Impose your own reality upon and through yourself, breathe, exhale, repeat, and continue, LOVE UNDER WILL. Experience and absorb but ‘It’s a house of tricks, ignore the world’’.

Stay well, be seeing you:-)

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themeowsticvigilante · 4 years

Text

Obsidian Eyes

~~Featured Short Story: Xern~~

[Before proceeding to read, this story will include themes related to child abuse, implied death, cults, corruption and loss of mental autonomy. All will be tagged accordingly.]

Turnback Cave

It was dark inside this cave save for the dimly lit candles hanging overhead. The faint crimson glow of the lights aligned in a parallel formation from the hallways of the cave. Your vision is a little bit hazy as you walk aimlessly through the dark caverns.

It feels like a dream or … was it a dream? You keep walking as many thoughts run through your head. After all, you can only go forward.

More steps further you go, your feet now starting to leave red footprints as it makes squishing sounds as you walk. Only, you feel something strange. You look down where your feet were and see … blood, puddles of blood everywhere even when you turn around. You are also not alone either.

Two figures, a Plusle, and a Minun watch you from the far side of the cavern. Even when they are far apart from you, you can still feel dread as you stare back at them. Their eyes white and soulless with no pupils whatsoever and they also seem to be drenched in blood.

They start to approach you, moving faster and faster. Something is off; looking back at them it appears that they are hovering instead of running. Fearing the worst, you start running not minding the puddles of blood along the way.

You keep on running with what feels like an eternity, your body starting to give up and struggling to continue. Those two figures from before are still chasing you in hot pursuit with no sign of stopping. You try desperately to keep running to escape this apparent nightmare until … you trip in a large puddle of blood.

You stumble forward, almost hitting your head into a dead-end … a wall. In a fit of rage, you try punching it to no avail, you are panting heavily at this point and feel like your lungs are about to give out. Upon hearing the wet sloshes of blood coming towards you, you stand up and fall with you back against the wall.

The two figures have finally caught up, staring at you with those soulless eyes and upon closer inspection, scars all over their bodies. They each raise a rusted bloody knife as they pace slowly towards you. You try shielding yourself with your arms but they feel too heavy to lift as they stab you and … you awaken.

"Awaken, child! The time has come …"

A voice echoes in front of the Riolu, he has barely woken up as he yawns and faces where the voice came from. It was a cloaked figure, clad in red and noticeably tall wearing a gold and silver mask covering their face.

"What … What do you mean, elder …?"

He stands up from where he slept, a bed draped in a red cloth without a pillow as he stretches his arms and groggily looks around dazed.

"Your birth, child. Come, we must hurry. The daughter does not forgive insolence."

The elder grabs the Riolu with a tight grip as he yelps and flinches. He feels like fighting with the elder's grip but he was too tired to do so. He just whimpers and aimlessly walks with them.

~~~

As they walk, he can see the blood-stained walls of the cavern. Sharp and earthen stalactites were stained with a scarlet red as it dripped into the ground, forming small puddles. He keeps on walking, looking away from the blood as he paces forward. He tries to close his eyes to avoid the sight of the caverns but something or someone kept him from doing so.

We were your friends … Why would you do this to us … Betrayer! Liar! Murderer! Murderer! Murderer!

The images of the twins he killed were there in his mind, scarred and bloodied. They were screaming to him in the inside of his mind as their voices gradually became louder and louder. With a scream, he opens his eyes once again. The elder just looks towards him and utters a sigh.

"Nightmares are just illusions waiting to be forgotten, child. Keep in mind what the daughter seeks for all of us."

The elder stops walking as they both face a vestibule leading to a dark room. The Riolu can hear whispers and muttering from inside as he gulps in air, he is visibly shaking upon facing the room.

"Let us go, the daughter is already calling to you."

"No! Please! I am not ready yet!"

He now tries desperately to escape the elder's grip as he pleads to be let go. The elder, however, just shakes their head in disbelief and grunts having none of it. The elder lets go and immediately grips the Riolu's neck with their paw, their claws poking at his throat and almost enough to draw blood.

"The daughter dictates when you are ready. She alone decides your fate …"

The elder bellows, his monotonous voice piercing through the Riolu's will as the mere force of the elder's grip made him gasp for air and struggle desperately.

"Y-yes …elder … I-I … w-will obey … …"

The Riolu was on the verge of losing consciousness when he was dropped to the ground with a soft thud and barely landing on his feeble legs. He struggles to get up only to meet with the elder's indifferent gaze and just waits for him to regain his composure. He nods in defeat as he enters the room with the elder following close behind.

~~~

The room was slightly illuminated with the crimson glow of the torches overhead in aligned rows. A group of masked Pokemon was already there waiting for him, silently staring at the newcomer and their masks matching the elder.

In the middle was an altar, made of a large stump of redwood and cut into 12 sides. Intricate designs were carved into the wood with what appears to be sigils of different kinds. The center of the altar lay a large pool of black liquid, clear as a mirror and stagnant.

“Is this the child whom she will breathe new life with?”

One of them asks. It is hard to tell who was talking as their faces were concealed from behind those masks. The elder, looming behind the boy nods and gestures his hand toward the altar.

"Prepare the mirror."

He grabbed the Riolu by the hand as he restrained him using some rope. The rope was reeking of dried blood as it wrapped around his body. He is unable to struggle even if he wanted to.

The elder then carried the Riolu's bound body towards the altar as the masked Pokemon began to whisper a harmonic chant. They were holding hands and forming a circle as their gaze focused on the center of the altar.

The Riolu lay there bound helplessly towards his apparent doom. His pleading eyes were looking towards the faceless only to be answered by more chanting.

"Kat'ze, the Discordant Daughter

… I bring you a vessel! He shall herald your purpose in this world!"

The elder holding the Riolu placed him above the altar's center. The once stagnant liquid started to move in a spiral and glowed a vibrant hue as if to look like a spatial void. Upon seeing this, the Riolu struggled and squirmed with all of his will to live but to no avail.

"Kat'ze, we invoke you! Hear our calling!"

The Riolu can feel himself losing consciousness and his eyes slowly getting heavy as he can barely open them. The cacophonous chants of the hooded elders around the altar were all he could hear until … everything turns black.

~~~

Every second felt like hours in this darkness, and it didn’t help that the cacophony of voices he was hearing was replaced by buzzing. The buzzing was worse by a thousandfold, as it was causing a head-splitting headache as he slept. Everything was dark, pitch-black nothingness as he tried opening his eyes again.

The buzzing doesn’t stop as the Riolu grips both of his temples in an attempt to rid himself of this noise as he tries to get back on his feet. The only problem is, there is no solid ground. He looks around expecting to see pitch black darkness only, there is light … little clusters of light around him.

Since he can’t walk, he can only sort of glide aimlessly around this place as he looked for some way out of here. It also didn’t help that the buzzing sound didn’t stop as he struggled to maneuver himself while covering his ears.

“Stop right there!”

No sooner than he made a relatively short distance when he heard an echo from behind him. The voice was almost bellowing and loud with authority. The voice had a hint of raspiness and felt distorted like this wasn’t supposed to be theirs, to begin with. He immediately turned towards where the voice came from.

“Kindly explain why are you here?”

Instinctively, he uncovers his ears pleasantly surprised that the buzzing from before has stopped. He idly looks at the one in front of him, an Origin Form Giratina looking at him with both curiosity and liking. He can’t utter a single word because of both his adoration of the mighty being in front of him and the fear of what they are capable of. The being, however, simply sighed and circled him.

“So my disciples offered me another vessel? Explain yourself, child. Who are you and why are you the one chosen?”

The Giratina coiled around him and looking directly at his face, her black glassy eyes staring directly into him as if it was piercing his soul. The Riolu can see in her eyes clusters of stars being destroyed into a spiral, devoid of light. He gathers enough courage to speak a few words.

“J-jargon … my name’s Jargon … I-I … was … forced to be here by my elders …”

“Tsk tsk tsk … such incidents happen all the time, child. You are not a rare occurrence …”

“H-how about you … who are you?”

The Giratina grins upon hearing the question, her tendrils holding on to the Riolu’s shoulders as she lets out a hearty giggle. It was clear she was amused by his curiosity.

“I was once known as Xiel’zeun, The Daughter of He Who Crafted the World, I was once pure and full of light … I was once one of the well-known constellations of this realm.”

She holds up a star with one of her tendrils and shows it to the Riolu as if it was a masterpiece she is proud of showing. Her voice became a little softer, you can hear what her voice originally was.

“But unfortunately … this wasn’t my calling, to begin with. I saw something from beyond the stars … a vision. It beckoned me towards it …it made me realize what true craftsmanship was all about. I am not Xiel’zeun no more … I am Kat’ze, The Discordant Daughter.”

In an instant, the star that she was holding disintegrated into dark matter, leaving behind a gaping event horizon in its wake as she giggled, her voice being back to normal. She turned to look at Jargon, sensing the absolute fear in his eyes and expression.

“Now, do you see what you’re into, child? Come, let me make you part of something greater ... “

She grabs Jargon by the arm the instant he attempts to escape his sight. She holds his head, making him stare back into her face a little too close as she grins wide.

“Look into my eyes, child … tell me … will you stare into these ebony glassy eyes?”

Jargon struggled to look away but something … something within him made him drawn towards her ebony eyes. He tried fighting back the longing that slowly crept through every fiber of his being. If only his will wasn’t easily broken … if only he wasn’t already weak from everything he had been through.

“Don’t close your eyes, child … I want you to see. I want you to witness true art …”

His mind went blank for a moment, as his remaining will to break free from the corruption faded away as stardust swept into the emptiness of space. He lowered his head, as he fell silent for a brief moment. His eyes then opened, his left eye was a scarlet red as sanguine as to the blood he had spilled in that fateful murder. His right eye was an ebony black, it mirrored Kat’ze’s eye almost perfectly as some of its corruption branched out further into his right temple. He now had a new vision, he thought to himself. From this new vision, a new identity must flourish.

“Now child … who are you again?”

“I … I-I am Xern, I am happy to be in your presence my queen.”

#tw child abuse #tw death #tw cults #tw corruption #tw loss of mental autonomy #pokemon #featured short story #xern lucario

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elmaxlys · 4 years

Text

About Juo’s decision to die and his last words

I am talking, of course, about this panel from chapter 251

(all quotes and panels are from MangaBox’s translation)

For context - some things to keep in mind

A few things we know about Juo in a concise way before going in some more details for the last arc: Juo kills for fun - he willingly chose an evil life-style in a yolo kind of way and has caused the suicide of a classmate back on Earth. On top of that, he doesn’t like “good guys” who do the right thing and can’t kill for their benefits and thinks they’re weak. He didn’t like begging for his life to one of those good guys (Rika).

After his fight with Rika and with the activation of the next stage by the Administrator, Juo had been thinking of changing his ways. He mentions it a few times, as he’s considering whether allying with the Administrator or with Yuri.

He chooses to get the code first, which backfires on him as it convinces the Administrator that he is a real threat that could hinder his plan to become God. Yoshida gets the code, the Administrator takes his body and breaks Juo’s neck. Doing so he also uses “the capability to stop the move” and he seals Juo’s ability to life transfer.

Then the Administrator yeets Juo from the helicopter and leaves him to die, unable to move in body or in spirit.

What are Juo’s thoughts at that moment? Again, he thinks about changing his ways, thinking “changing my way of living doesn’t matter anymore”, along with other regrets and the fear (or unwillingness) to die.

Yuri jumps, Juo sees her and thinks:

“I’m going to survive, going to live and change my way of living.”

This, of course, is immediately followed by the middle finger panel and him falling to his death while thinking:

“It’s meaningless after all. No matter what you do and how hard you try... we can’t change our ways of living. As long as we exist, humans are still evil. You deserve it! Idiots!”

Why is it so important?

Because Juo is able to disobey orders from the Mask. Now I should have included it in the previous section but this gets his own because that’s the most badass thing anyone has done in this manga.

Obeying the Mask is the one thing Sniper, Kuon and Yuri haven’t been able to counter. Those three have the most powerful minds in the whole manga apart from Juo himself and Rika - who didn’t get a Mask but was exposed to the Apostle code who works the same way and that he only managed to resist for a bit before awakening.

Sniper is the one that exposed the rule in the first place. You can’t disobey the Mask’s orders. He wasn’t able to resist it. Kuon, who managed life transfer and was able to complete the God Code Trial, wasn’t able to resist it and broke her Mask. Yuri, who became God’s antithesis out of pure spite, grew her power exponentially thanks to her powerful mind and overthrew the Administrator to become the new one, wasn’t able to resist it and broke her Mask.

Juo didn’t.

The Mask’s code penetrates in your brain, it locks informations and memories away. Its orders are absolute because it comes from your own brain.

Juo was able to resist it. Badass mofo

“After putting on the Mask, there was an order to destroy it... But I refused with all my guts, and I was able to get away from that order! You know, I hate getting orders.”

Now back to the last arc and his death scene.

Despite his movements having been sealed, he moved.

I’m talking about how he went from totally limp and just falling to flipping Yuri the bird. Also, he breathed enough to be able to laugh.

What I’m getting at is: he broke the Administrator’s restrictions on him. Just like he did the Mask, he broke the orders given to his body. My guess is, it was easier since it was an exterior seal and not one from his brain directly. But that’s not what we’re discussing. We’re discussing Juo’s last words.

How does it tie back to his last words?

If he broke the seal on his body’s movements, he might have also broken the seal on his soul’s. Aka he might have performed life transfer anyway.

“but you’re a Juo stan,” you might be thinking, “you just want him to be alive”

Well yes and no.

For me, his last words can mean three (3) things:

1- Basic stuff (aka he’s really dead and really evil good riddance for the world)

He knows the heroes won’t ever run out of bad guys, lmao have fun with that and anyway he’s not letting good guys save his life once again. Miss him with that shit. Plus, he’s not feeding that hero complex, thank you very much. Find someone else to save.

2- Life Transfer (aka as a Juo stan please Miura make it that)

He knows he’ll live on, thus about “we” still existing to make humanity evil. If so he might have a role in TSA and I also have thoughts about it but no spoilers and I don’t have the translation to the info on TSA’s antag so we’ll see when I do if my theory holds (unlikely but who knows. might be fun).

3- Redemption (aka my personal favorite, fanfic writing-wise)

“What do you mean, ‘redemption’? this dude is a bully and a murderer. stop simping and come back to earth”

I hear you and I raise you: Juo really wanted to change his ways. That’s literally what he’s thinking about before the middle finger.

Juo’s desperate to live. He’s about to take Yuri’s hand and change. He actually wants to. What he was hesitating over a few chapters back, he’s taking it seriously and realizes that as long as he’s alive he can change. And he wants to.

Then the “It’s meaningless after all, we can’t change our way” line. That might seem a bit contradictory at first but listen, here’s how I understand it half the times I read this scene (the other half goes to the two aforementioned meanings) : It’s meaningless because he’s done so much wrong there’s no going back for him, especially since he had chosen evil willingly and knowingly, done it for the heck of it and not for some grand ideal like, say, Aikawa.

Now for the last lines.

“As long as we exist, humans are still evil”

What is Juo doing at that very moment? Letting himself die. Killing evil. If the good guys won’t do it (looking directly at the Honjo siblings) then he’ll do it himself.

“You deserve it! Idiots!”

Saying he’s talking to himself or the evil “we” mentioned before would be too much lmao - but I still think that works. You good guys deserve to see me die of my own free will and thus more effectively getting rid of evil that you guys did in your whole career as good guys. (Admin killed Aikawa, not the good guys. Biker killed the corrupt humans. Sniper still controlled by his Mask killed the molesters. Faceless-kun via Floor 9 killed the Administrator. Ultimately the Administrator (and Juo himself) killed Juo. None of these actions was performed for the greater good by the good guys.)

By dying Juo both redeemed himself and atoned for his actions - as it’s what the Administrator talks about as he’s killing Juo.

That’s it. If you read it all, thank you very much and don’t hesitate to tell me what you think!

#i have been thinking about this every day so i thought maybe it was time to write it #hopefully it makes sense #i did my best #meta #tenkuu shinpan meta #ts meta #tenkuu shinpan #sky high survival #high rise invasion #juo #suzuki emiri

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tetrakys · 5 years

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Both Leiftan and Lance are evil. They both have made horrible things. But I think Lance is even more dangerous and evil than Leiftan. He's stubborn, selfish and shows no sympathy for others. He couldn't understand why the dragons would sacrifice for a better world, he didn't even understand why his mother sacrificed for him and Valkyon. He learned that dragons wanted a safe and a better world for him, his brother and all faeries...

Someone who expresses their own thoughts without offending others, thank you anon I appreciate it (and your English is perfectly fine).

I respect your opinion but I don’t agree and I’ll tell you why. You say Lance is more evil and dangerous than Leiftan, well dangerous maybe yes, because at the moment Leiftan is half an aengel while Lance is a full dragon. Evil, I don’t think so.

“He’s subborn, selfish and shows no sympathy for others,” yes at the first two, and not completely at the last one.

Lance is at the same time a complicated man and a very simple character. He and his brother were raised as orphans by a village of good people, then he moved to the Guard where, thanks to his exceptional skills, became the leader of the Obsidian guard. Up until that point he was a good and just man, everyone who knew him had nothing but praises and compliments for him. But when he became leader he started learning the insights of the Guard, the fishy ways it operated and the horrible things it did (apparently before Miiko became leader things were even worse) and, most of all, he learned the truth about the Blue Sacrifice and what happened to his people, how survivors were persecuted and killed in the vague hope of stabilising Eldarya.

He snapped.

Is it right? Is it just? Is it fair? I think the answer is personal. If I knew that my parents, my family, and in a larger context my whole race had been sacrificed and persecuted for pure selfishness, I would feel sick. Does this justify his following actions? Well, it depends.

What are exactly his actions? The main one is that he first tried and then succeeded at destroying the crystal. But do we know exactly what this mean? The end of Eldarya, yes, but it doesn’t seem to mean the end of everyone living there, otherwise why would so many people ally with him? They can’t be all suicidal. It seems to me, that if Eldarya crumbles, all the faeries just end up back on Earth, where they were supposed to be in the first place. In his mind he is righting a wrong. Eldarya is fucked up on so many levels, and he is taking things into his own hands.

Now, how he’s doing it is debatable. He’s violent and completely obsessed with his mission but, and here is the thing, he doesn’t hurt for sport or pleasure, everything is finalised to his goal. He is a soldier who is fighting enemies, and he treats them as such. But, in the few brief moments his mind his not completely occupied by revenge thoughts, you can see his real personality coming through, and you can see he is capable of kindness.

And several other instances where he does nice things when he’s not thinking, when he’s not wearing that mask he’s now so used to after years of hate.

And when that mask is off, he’s such a child, he likes teasing and playing, Erika herself gets shocked sometimes at seeing these carefree and playful sides of him

And this scene serves also to show that he is actually more open-minded than many others, while Erika thinks all krakens are evil, he tells her that’s not true, and in episode 28 you have the chance to save the krakens too.

Lance has proved over and over again that when he’s not completely twisted by his revenge he’s capable of kindness and love, and this is the corner stone around which his whole character revolves: he loves too much, and he is in constant pain for this

his whole twisted agenda and personality formed because he couldn’t stand evilness and injustice, and his own sense of justice got dark, he ended up becoming what he wanted to fight against, but not completely.

The game is very explicit in pointing out that Lance had no plan in exterminating the Kappas, they weren’t part of the Blue sacrifice thus they weren’t his enemies, he is very simple in his way of thinking.

He is very alone, depressed and angry, this combination in someone as powerful as he is makes him a very dangerous person. He’s not currently able to see that his ways are too misguided, someone else might have stopped when they’d learned that his parents had sacrificed themselves voluntarily, but he can only see that they did something pointless for people who didn’t appreciate it, people who ended up committing terrible acts to save themselves, completely disrespecting the act of extreme selfless that had been done for them. He’s not the one who is making the dragon’s sacrifice pointless, but the people of Eldarya did. And he can’t stand it, it’s like a blade twisting in his brain over and over again.

And this is both why he can’t see reason and why he will be redeemed: he is originally a kind man, who appreciate goodness and kindness above everything else, and this is what will bring him to the light in the end.

I can’t compare with Leiftan because the vast majority of Leiftan’s personality and actions have been completely fake. He is kind with Erika because he loves her, but everything else? We can’t trust any of it. We know he too is full of hate and capable of killing anyone against him. He seems to also have a sad story behind, and I think that in the end his motivations and reasons are not so different from Lance.

Now, the real reasons why some people believe that Lance is worse than Leiftan are two:

1) Lance attacks companions, and I agree it’s terrible because in our minds companions are pets. In Lance’s mind twisted by hate and rage, companions are not even living beings capable of feelings, they are the products of Eldarya’s creation and his race’s unjust demise. In his mind companions were born out of his parents’ deaths.

2) He is violent towards Erika. But here is the thing: Leiftan is in love with Erika, Lance is not. He doesn’t represent an abusive relationship because there is no relationship at all. At the moment he sees Erika as an enemy, with other enemies he has no problem in killing them ( or trying to) , while with Erika he had to wait until he was down the cliff, not directly looking at her, to make the rock she was on fall. The most pitiful attempted murder ever seen. He wasn’t even surprised when he saw her alive and health in episode 28. And when he didn’t see her as an enemy, he was the only one always honest with her, he told her about the portals and the potion.

For some people this may not be important, but I value honesty above anything else, and his behaviour is 10000 times more appealing to me than Leiftan’s constant lies. With Lance there’s no pretence, you get exactly what he offers: a sad, enraged, vindictive, abandoned child.

With Leiftan… Who knows? We are only sure that he is against violence on children, this shows he also has moral constraints and limits, but other than this we will have to find out. And we will.

#eldarya #lance #ashkore #leiftan #if u people didn't already know I'm an academic I would never be able to hide it #7 Words pages with figures I checked #wtf is wrong with me

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toomuchponytail · 5 years

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I don't know if you're taking requests right now but I had this whump idea though I don't usually write whump stories but would like to see your take on it. “In the end…NOBODY WILL EVER LOVED ME!” They let out a sarcastic laugh, broken with pain “I DON’T EVEN LOVE MYSELF! HA! Can you IMAGINE!” Tears started coming through and with that they collapsed on their knees sobbing into themself “How can you ever care for yourself when no one ever care for you, when no one ever loved you!”

AAAHHHH!!!! This is so freakin’ good? Like you don’t write whump and you just…come up with that dang incredible dialog? If you ever decide to change your whump writer status I will 100% read what you throw out into the internet void, (tag meee!!) I love this! Holy baloney batman?! Sorry, I’m just excited….Whew.

Also I am always taking requests! I sometimes don’t see them if they are commented on an actual prompt because I’m always a little scared I’m going to get attacked in the comments for sucking so bad? (Is that embarrassing? I’m embarrassed lol but yeah that’s why I don’t go in there super often…yikes) But I will eventually get to anything that’s submitted! (Unfortunate emphasis on the eventually, sorry Anon)

Alright, here we go, I’m feeling angsty, so this one is sad, a lil more than a touch dramatic, and TW for suicidal thoughts and talk! Here’s an antagonist who’s full of self loathing, and has never really been loved and a hero in sudden grief, so here we go! *Cracks elbows*

(It’s long, and I don’t know why anyone would expect anything less from me at this point)

The hero was sitting at home, feet up, flipping through television channels, having a night off for once. It had struck them as odd that no one had called them asking frantically for help, no one had put his signal in the night sky.

But he wasn’t going to complain, he didn’t remember the last time he’d had a night off.

He flicked the channels as far as the news–thinking abstractly that the excess of channels but fraction of decent content was a true criminal act, before he stopped, frozen by sudden horror.

The remote tumbled out of his hand. No, no, no! Was all that their mind was capable of producing.

A reporter was standing in front of a building overtaken by flames, her hair was being whipped around by the wind, sidekick’s civilian identity was pictured next to their masked one on the screen, “The child of wealthy oil tycoon and owner of a shipping company has been killed this evening, they were better known by their masked identity as sidekick, helping hero fight the crime that has long plagued our streets.” The blonde reporter’s eyes misted with tears, she cleared her throat and continued, “Their secret was uncovered this evening when they were pulled unconscious in a warehouse fire suspected to have been started by the antagonist, the hospital pronounced them dead on arrival.

Hero made a soft choking sound, rolling off of the couch and onto the floor, they watched with wide eyes as the reporter wiped tears from her eyes, “There is currently no news of where hero is, and no news of the antagonist claiming the slaying of their longtime enemy. Wherever they are, the police are looking for them, and I have been assured in a statement by the chief of police that the antagonist will be found and questioned in the killing of sidekick,” she looked like she wanted to say more, but swallowed hard instead, when she wrapped up her report her voice was raspy with tears, “More on this as it develops, and to hero, wherever you are, I am deeply sorry for your loss, and to us, the people of this city, I am deeply sorry for our loss as well.”

Somewhere Hero’s phone was ringing, he let it go, checking it to see if by some awful chance they’d missed sidekick’s call, they hadn’t, but they did miss this one, only when it started up again, his burner phone announcing it’s tinny necessity to the world, he groped for it feeling like his arms were full of wet sand. When he flipped it open he couldn’t say anything, it was like his throat had closed, his eyes burned.

“God hero,” it was vigilante’s voice, gruffer than usual, “I’m going to make them pay for this, I’m leaving right now, I’ll get them I promise you.”

Hero didn’t say anything, there wasn’t anything to say, there was, however, something to do.

The hero got to them first.

Blind with righteous aggression they stormed into the Villain’s base with eyes that already glowed a neon green. Not even having bothered to change into their uniform Hero ripped through the base, destroying everything in his path, not that he could see what he was destroying, his eyes were far too blurred with tears. The tears diffused the neon color, but by the time they reached his chin they were no longer charged with power, just grief.

“Where are you? You coward!” Hero roared brokenly, “Get out here!”

A handful of henchmen, all of them covered in ash from the fire rounded the corner, hero recognized the one in the front as the antagonist’s second in command, he grabbed the henchman’s collar lifting them effortlessly into the air before he could turn and get away, henchman had no choice but to grab onto the hero’s forearm as they were lifted.

“Where are they?” Hero growled, henchman could see the wild and unrestrained grief on the hero’s face.

“They didn’t mean it, hero you know that,” The henchman’s voice was gentle, their eyes full of regret, “You can’t hurt them,” they were trying to talk some sense into them, this wasn’t like hero at all.

“Try me!” Hero roared, “Tell me where they are or I’ll–I’ll beat it out of you!”

“Leave them alone hero,” The antagonist’s voice came from behind hero it was soft, resigned, “I’m right here, I know I can’t hide from this.”

Hero put henchman back on their feet, they strode over to the antagonist with murder in their eyes, the antagonist flinched when hero grabbed them, but didn’t move away, hero’s red rimmed eyes beginning to glow again, “What right did you have?” Hero choked out brokenly, “they were just a kid, a kid antagonist!”

The antagonist doesn’t trust their voice, they can’t meet the hero’s eyes.

Hero shook them, ignoring the sound of henchmen coming up behind them, the antagonist held up a hand their eyes found their second in command, looking on in concern, their hands clenched at their sides, their eyes dark with sorrow, “Go, clear out,” the antagonist commanded over the hero’s shoulder.

“But…”

“Go.” The antagonist’s eyes are broken glass, they give away that they know this will be their last order, “No vengeance,” they breathe, “Just get out of here.”

The henchman swallows hard, but they follow orders, leaving the hero and antagonist together in the ruined base. Their henchman doesn’t look back, it was the kind of goodbye the antagonist figured that they deserve.

The antagonist’s attention moved back to the hero, tears burned like sand in their eyes, “Go ahead hero,” they whispered, “I won’t stop you.”

Hero hit them then, letting the antagonist hit the floor, feeling so utterly wrung out by the wrongness of it, by the wrongness of all of this, they let their tears fall freely as they hit the antagonist again, and again, and again. But it didn’t make them feel any better, it wasn’t even really vengeance, hurting the antagonist wasn’t going to make sidekick come back, it wasn’t even revenge, they stopped their attack, hardening their resolve.

The antagonist struggled back to their feet, a bruise, one of many, forming on their cheekbone, but their eyes are confused, “I said it was okay,” they gesture to the hero’s eyes, “go ahead, nobody will blame you.”

Hero is staggered by this, even in their raw sorrow, “You want me to kill you?” They’d wanted to kill them when they’d burst in here, they’d been intending to, wanted to blast them until they were little more than a smoldering stain on the linoleum floor, but something was still holding them back, their useless morals, and now the antagonist was asking them for it?

The antagonist looked away, asking in a small tight voice, “Do I deserve anything else?”

The hero is not thinking, they want the antagonist to suffer, they want more than anything for sidekick to kick down the door with one of their terrible corny jokes, but that won’t happen, that won’t ever happen again, and that is the antagonist’s fault, maybe they can’t kill them because this isn’t really revenge, maybe the antagonist needs to feel what they do right now.

“Who’s someone who loves you huh? You monster? Where is there someone who cares about something like you?” Hero asks, their thoughts darkening to something foreign and terrible, thoughts that would keep them up at night for weeks to come.

In the end it was those questions that broke the antagonist finally, their face screwed up, “This is the end,” they choked out, “do you see anyone here?!”

Hero swallowed, it was is if they’d been broken out of a trance, taking a half step back from their enemy, scared of what they had been about to do, of what they could be reduced to.

“I don’t have anyone, nobody will ever love me,” they whispered it like they were realizing it for themselves, then, louder, their voice growing to a shout, ringing full of self-loathing, “In the end …NOBODY WILL EVER LOVE ME!” They force out some mockery of a laugh, broken with pain,” And is that really such a surprise? You both were the sole holdouts, the only ones who’d never called me that. Monster.” the antagonist shuddered, “I don’t even love myself!” they laughed darkly, “HA! Can you imagine?!” Their facade fell then, collapsing to their knees shaking with broken sobs, “How could I? How can you ever care for yourself when no one else ever has cared for you? When no one has ever loved you?” They covered their face with their hands, their body shaking with sobs, “I deserve it, I deserve that title, I proved that tonight! I didn’t want…I didn’t mean…It doesn’t matter!”

They fixed broken eyes on the hero, “I am a monster, so you’d better kill me, before I have to do it myself!”

Hero faltered, and because they can’t seem to be able to do anything else, cursing themselves for their own soft heart they drop to the floor and pull the unresistant antagonist into them, they can’t speak over the lump in their throat, but they hold them close, crying tears of their own, not angry anymore, just full of anguish.

‘I’m sorry, god, I’m so sorry hero!” The antagonist sobbed into hero’s shoulder, “I tried to get them! They went back in! I don’t know why!” The hero can’t bring themselves to say anything.

They sit like that for a while, weeping on the floor of the antagonist’s base, the antagonist crying for what they’d become, for what had happened to sidekick, and the hero crying in grief, both of them mourning what is, what was, and what could never be again.

After an indistinguishable amount of time, both of them having run out of tears and settled into shell shocked silence, not having moved off of their shared place on the floor, there was a hesitant knock on the door.

“Boss?” It was the antagonist’s second in command, their voice hesitant, hero rose on shaky knees, helping the antagonist to their feet wordlessly, the sadness having washed everything away and leaving only exhaustion. The antagonist would have fallen if the hero hadn’t looped their arm around their shoulder, helping them limp to the door.

“I-I told you to go,” there wasn’t any emotion in the antagonist’s voice, it was a monotone statement.

“I know, but, um, Sidekick is alive.”

The antagonist can feel the hero start beside them, “W-what?” Hero croaks out sharply, the antagonist is glad they were able to speak, this time it was their turn to have shock steal their voice completely.

The henchman pushes the door open, their eyes widen in shock at finding hero still there, let alone finding the antagonist wrapped around them, but they force themselves to look away, clearing their throat, “um, we have it on footage, sidekick left through a secret exit, it looks like they faked their death.”

“I’m guessing you didn’t know about this?” The antagonist asked hero who looked back at them with wide eyes, they shook their head mutely.

“What the hell is going on in here!” Vigilante yelled from the doorway, a large weapon clenched in his deft fingers, his eyes were red from crying too, darting from the antagonist to the hero, and back to the antagonist again.

“Sidekick faked it,” hero stated softly, trance-like, not even moving to let go of the antagonist.

“Wh-what?!” Vigilante stuttered, dropping the weapon, it clattered noisily on the floor, henchman winced expecting it to go off, when it didn’t they relaxed their shoulders, “yeah, we have the footage,” they repeated, “They were picked up by a limo, and, um,” henchman glanced back at vigilante with a touch of worry, “They looked pretty smug about it too.”

“What they hell is going on?” Hero wondered out loud, accidentally parroting vigilante.

“I don’t have any idea,” the antagonist shook their head, “But we need to figure it out.”

“Together?” vigilante grumbled at the same time as henchman, they were both met with glares from their prospective leaders, one soot stained and bruised, the other who’s eyes just momentarily glinted neon green.

Together it was.

192 notes · View notes

dragonrajafanfiction · 4 years

Text

Dragon Dancer III: The Golden Apple

To record the conversation between Herzog and Tachibana, no device could be in the building without being discovered by these experienced conspirators. Fingel suggested an external laser tap to measure the vibration of voices against the window glass. A computer would reverse engineer those vibrations back into voices.

Fingel would need to be outside the tower, very high up. It was Lu who suggested he use a drone capable of carrying his weight.. Heavy rain was forecast. The rain and clouds would conceal it.

Next was the question of entry and exit to get to them. There were only two ways into the building, an elevator and a metal fireproof stairwell. Both would be well cleared and blocked off by Tachibana.

"Can Fingel get photos of the inside?" I asked.

"Oh absolutely!" Fingel gave a thumbs up.

"Then that's all we'll need. So long as I can see where I'm going I can go there."

"Won't you be at the lab?" Nono asked.

I looked at her. "Remember what I said at the Mambo cafe? I can move both through time and space."

Nono gasped. "You… plan on being in both places?"

"If I have to. Is there a clock in Tokyo tower?" I asked

"There is!"

"Fingel, be sure the photos you send me as coordinates include it."

Ruri eyes squinted shut with glee. "This is turning out better than even I imagined!" He sobered again. "I don't believe Johann Chu or Nono are capable of taking down the King. Your job is simply to corner him and control the surrounding areas. In fact, I believe you are very well suited to the job of overwatch Lu Mingfei."

"It is my typical job at this point." He sighed, resting his chin in his hand.

Ruri then turned to me. “I’ve been very interested in speaking with you, Carli.”

I smiled and sighed to myself. “Yeah…”

“You’ve been an obsession for both Herzog and Tachibana for a long time seemingly without reason. Even though Cassell has monitored Japan for a long time, it wasn’t until your arrival that things finally began to unravel.”

Ruri’s voice turned wistful. “And now you speak to me of being sold… because you’re an emperor hybrid.”

“It reminds me of those ancient Greek legends where they throw golden apples on the field to start wars.” I said.

He chuckled. “I couldn’t have said it any better myself. You are indeed a beautiful golden apple. Fiercely desired by all.”

Negative emotions welled up in me. Starting with Anjou, then Caesar, then the Comemnus Corporation, the Devil clan, and Hydra… who would be next? This constant pursuit made me want to end my life, to hide in the sweet embrace of death, away from their grasping hands. “What do you think I should do?” I asked.

“You should keep doing what you are already doing. Using it to your advantage.”

I couldn’t help but pull a sneer. “Bait?”

The smile Ruri gave me was absolutely chilling. I leaned away, remembering that I was the same age as some of his victims.

“I don't have any pictures of the facility. But I do have the address. The lab looks like a dental office from the outside but there's a side door that leads to a staircase. I can give you the access code. Just… " He paused. "Be prepared to destroy whatever you find down there."

He returned his gaze to Lu Mingfei. “The King called Masamune Tachibana shortly after Erii’s arrival back at the Hydra headquarters. Why do you think that is?”

Lu looked up at him, a little surprised he knew that.

“For many years, he has kept her alive at the expense of everyone around him. You were quite close to her. Do you know why?”

I glanced at Johann, but his expression was unreadable. “I just assumed he loved his daughter.” I said.

Johann’s eyes narrowed slightly and then he let out an amused sigh.

Lu looked at me. “Tachibana is a jerk. He uses her. But Herzog contacted him after her return, not the other way around. It can’t be good.”

“The sooner this is all over, the sooner we all can be free. Let’s keep that in mind.” Ruri put away the schematics and the recording device.

Johann took my hand. “We should rest. The night will be long. Especially you, Carli. You’ve been passing too many sleepless nights.” Johann helped me off the stool. I looked out the door. The morning light had intensified.

I blinked.

I had forgotten it was daytime.

I took a pill and slept through the day, dreamless. The mission was not to begin until 10 pm, but my part of it would start only after we were certain of the King’s preoccupation with the meeting. I would listen in remotely.

I sat underneath a bus station across the street from the dental office. “Come in, Come in” It was Ruri’s voice. “Report your locations.”

“This is Carli. At the lab.” I answer. “It’s quiet here. Not much activity.”

“It’s an older part of town. Not many people live here outside retirees. A perfect place for someone who’s lived as long as him to conduct his research. They ask few questions now that they’re waiting around to die.”

“Are you always this melancholy?”

“Life has made me quite bitter, yes.”

Fingel cut in. “This is all very lovely and tragic. I’m miles off the ground in the cold and rain and I’m miserable enough already! Can you please SHUT UP?!”

“Where are you anyway?” Lu asked.

Fingel continued his rant. “I’m 60 meters from the window. Wanna come say hi? I’m just hoping I don’t fall to my death here because I’ve never flown on a drone!”

Johann answered. “Meixiu, I will send you a photo of the price time you need to come get us at our location when we’re ready to act.”

My phone dinged. It was a sample photo. He’d taken a digital alarm clock from the hotel to set it up from their hiding spot outside the tower. “Clever!”

“Quiet all lines! Vehicles are approaching the tower!”

That was my cue. I stood up from the bus station, put my hoodie up over my head and walked to the side of the dental office. The key lock readily opened after I put in the access code and sure enough, a dimly lit stairwell led down. I propped the door open and took quiet steps down.

Another heavy door opened into a room. I paused. “Do you see Herzog?”

“It’s only Tachibana for now.” I held back form the door, waiting for confirmation that Herzog had indeed left this lab.

“The lights all went out? It’s a black out!” Chu hissed.

“The whole area is dark. Stand by.” Ruri said calmly.

“That’s the voice of Herzog! He’s here!”

I smiled and nodded and opened the door to the lab. The room lights came on automatically over two rows of incubators lining either wall. Even though Herzog had only purchased five of my eggs, there were at least a dozen babies here!

My cellphone vibrated and I received a video call. But instead of Fingel, it’s a live feed of the Tokyo Tower observation deck!

“You’re welcoooome.” He said smugly.

The audio was amazing given it was only transmitted via laser measured vibrations on the glass. Herzog was sitting at the piano, tinkering lightly on the keys. “If you’re concerned about security, there’s a scanner on the table. Take it and sweep the entire place. There’s no surveillance. We are truly alone.”

Tachibana glanced around. “I trust you have already made that certain. I don’t want to waste precious time.” The elderly man approached him. “Are you still set on world domination? Even after all these years? I’ll say, time has not had any mercy on your body.”

Herzog stood up, his body shimmering. “Does this appearance seem more pleasing to you, dear friend?” His body is changing into a different form, familiar to me.

Before I could stop myself, I said. “The man... with the badges.”

“What’s that?” Nono asked.

“A long time ago, this man approached Isaac’s grandparents to invest in their company to manufacture the dragonsblood serum. His grandfather ended up turning into a servitor because of it.”

The fire stoked in my chest. “They had a little girl. The servitor killed her. Her name was Charlotte… I… ...I was given her name.”

My head was starting to burn now. I took a deeper breath and slowly let it out. Did the Matriarch at Comemnus Corp know that this would happen? Did she know that I would end up here, to take revenge for her daughter’s death? Is that why she named me this? How could that be possible? Was it just coincidence?

Johann. “The audio Ruri gave us mentioned they met twenty one years ago. Does that sound like the same time?”

“No, He would have made the deal with Comemnus before he met Tachibana.”

“I see.”

Mingfei. “Carli… how do you know this?”

Nono shut down the conversation. “Clear comms.”

Herzog chuckled. “We are the ultimate liars and schemers, you know that! How could two devils like us have the gall to ask for salvation?”

Tachibana nodded in agreement. “Yes, you are right. After the myriad of sins I have committed, how could I possibly count on God’s mercy… tell me about your bargain.”

Herzog obliged. “I know Hydra has also been looking for a way to use the blood of the Light King to make the perfect evolution elixir and you’ve found several keys toward that end… but … you still need your teacher’s help.” The spoken smile, smug in its delivery, was apparent despite the mask over his face.

Tachibana didn’t react to it. “You believe that my only goal is to get rid of you in order to rule the world alone? And now that the god is to be awakened, I’m forced to share my throne with you?”

Herzog laughed, shaking his head in dismay. “I know all too well what you’re truly capable of.”

He gestured broadly. “You have controlled the Hydra, your son is soon to be named high patriarch of this Mafia, your mute daughter has the power to destroy the world! For decades, you’ve done everything you could toward your ends. You’ve twisted the intentions of your colleagues, even fooling Cassell elites into murdering the members of the Devil Clan, most of which you created.” He continues to laugh. “You even convinced your son that ordering the execution and destruction of that girl’s family was the way of justice. Just who is the biggest devil here?”

My phone clattered against the tile floor. Fire raged from my chest to my head.

Johann. “Carli… Carli come in.”

My voice is a bitter whisper. “Everything… Everything I’ve suffered… it’s because of them.”

I looked up at the rows of children lining the walls and I finally understood what Chisei was trying to tell me. Human kindness dictated that a child’s life was sacred, beyond sacred. That these innocent souls had to be guarded at all costs. But the root of their existence could no longer be ignored. They weren’t born because I loved Ruri or Chisei. They were here because that man had created them with a sinister purpose.

My mind flashed back to India, snuggling with Johann. I told him my father was a dragon, that my father had saved my life. “Why?” He asked me, terrified. “What does he want from you? Why does he want to save you?”

I said because he was my father.

“No,” He’d told me. “That was the reason he gave you to fool you.”

“Why am I here... why am I here?” I whispered. “Why am I here?”

“Carli? Carli! Are you alright?” Johann asked me. I’d forgotten my comms were on.

Herzog grew more passionate as he spoke. “To bring back to life the Light King! Only then can we extract her fresh blood. This is the only thing that can evolve a human into a pure blood dragon! But I need all the keys to open the Forbidden Gate. I know that you possess some of them and you know that I possess the remaining others, save one.” He chuckled. “But I believe she will come to me soon.”

“And who gets the elixir?” Tachibana asked, unmoved by the theatrics.

“Equal distribution. One gets the pill, the other gets the world.” He paused. “This daughter of yours, with this treatment, would evolve into a pure dragon. But she will still be your daughter. The same lovely person as before, extending her life greatly..”

Lu Mingfei. “Erii? Turn Erii into a dragon?”

“You really think I would do that to my daughter?” Tachibana asks.

“Of course! She’s a devoted child. She would destroy the world for you. This is why you brought her up isn’t it? To have a dragon at your disposal? The ultimate weapon?”

Tachibana folded his hands behind his back. “Then both you and she would be pureblood dragons. Is that your intention?”

My stomach was roiling. I couldn’t see this situation through human eyes any more. These weren’t just babies. These were lab rats. They were tools. He would take them and turn them into dragons, just like Erii.

“You never had any children… did you?” Tachibana asks, head bowed.

“Silly question. I have no need for petty things like that. In addition, ordinary women do not appeal to me. But your daughter is no ordinary woman. Of 100,000 humans given dragon blood directly, only one can survive. But your daughter has proven herself to be that one.” Herzog’s voice takes on the pleasant tone. “To have her destroy the world at my side would be a genuine pleasure.”

“So you’re going to give it to her. Not to Chime? You raised him as a son.” Tachibana says.

Herzog snorted. “I cannot give the pill to Chime. I can’t trust him to do what’s necessary. Even as he eats at my table, his heart is far removed from my goals.”

“Then, it seems then we have a deal. But you’re not afraid I will betray you?” Tachibana says.

“What king would be foolish enough to assume otherwise? We will battle to be the one on the throne, Tachibana, sooner or later.”

I looked on the rows of incubators. Within one, a soft, tiny hand reached up towards the sky. Is this my purpose? Is this why a dragon kept me alive? To take over the world?

I picked my phone up off the floor. I found the picture of Erii’s room and texted Chisei Gen.

“You were right. I should have listened to you.”

“Where are you?” Came the reply.

“I’m next to what might be our children. Or might not be. There are so many of them. Herzog isn’t going to turn them into super hybrids. He’s going to turn them into dragons! I can’t save all of them. Thank you for being patient.”

“Don’t worry. I will kill Herzog in a moment. Wait for me.”

I gasped. “Chisei is!”

My comms came alive. “What’s he doing here?!” Nono hissed.

“Brother!” cried Ruri. His voice was the cry of fear and worry, not of anger. “Don’t let him get in! He’ll die!”

“Carli! It’s time for you to move! We attack the king now!”

“I’m on my way.” I took one more look at the rows of children. I wanted so much to save them, but would it just lead to more suffering? For me? For them? Would it be the first step toward a world full of dragons?

Johann’s photo of their location appeared on my phone. I could teleport there, the time stamp was there.

I approached the first child. They were only identified by numbers. Which one was Chisei’s? Did it even matter? “I can’t... I can’t make these kind of decisions!”

I was only human. A human with human feelings and human thoughts. What would a dragon do? A dragon doesn’t feel these things. They’ll gladly eat their own family if it benefited them.

I let my dragonblood rise in my eyes, blinking in the dim light that became bright as daylight. I felt my pupils constrict. Immediately, my emotions dampened. The calculation was simple. There were only three bloodlines fit for me.

At the top of the list, Lu Mingfei towered. Second, was Chisei Gen. Third was Chu Zihang. All others were unworthy. When I looked upon the children, I felt a deep offense. None of them. None of them were the worthy ones. These children had a twisted blood.

Herzog’s. He said he didn’t have children. He lied. His dragon mind simply didn’t view them as such.

Likewise, the light spear appeared in my hand. What had been very difficult for Carli to do was a simple thing for Ouroboros.

#Johann Chu #Lu Mingfei #Nono #Chisei Gen #Ruri Kazama #Fingel Von Frings

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sparklyjojos · 4 years

Text

CARNIVAL recaps [10/13]

Today’s recap: Christmas on Christmas and Pyramid on the Pyramid, or the tale of a fortune-teller and a meta-detective.

[tw: suicide mentions]

NINETEEN

21 Dec 1996 — 27 Dec 1996

THE GREAT PYRAMID

Christmas had lost so many people already: his old school friend Souya, his brother Pyramid, his beloved Kasumi, and recently Ryuuguu Jounosuke. He was so thankful that he still had Fuumonji Jouka—or rather “Ryuuguu Jouka”, her new D-name she had asked for after the plane accident.

JDC detectives had been treated like celebrities by mass media, so it’s not surprising that news about Jounosuke’s death spread fast and affected many. A wave of suicides among young girls was noted, and every day crowds would gather in front of JDC. Among all the deaths of the Crime Olympics, this one caused so much grief that this phenomenon was dubbed the “Ryuuguu Shock”.

Naturally, the media kept writing anything they could about Ryuuguu, including the fact that he and Jouka had allegedly got engaged before his death. A few days after that article was published, when Jouka was walking to the JDC headquarters on December 15th, the hysterical crowd attacked her and she was stabbed to death. The media were now talking about a “Double Ryuuguu Shock”, considering her D-name.

A lot of critics spoke about how the public searched for heroes. Just like in normal Olympics the sportsmen become idols, the detectives are worshipped during the Crime Olympics. It’s not that detectives before this era were any less capable, but it’s only now that they are recognized and popular to this extent. After Jounosuke’s death, many others like Dokuson or Ushiwaka started getting popular enough to have fanclubs, and it took the incident with Jouka for the fans to cool down with their enthusiasm.

On December 17th, Christmas, Nemu, Ushiwaka, Amagoi, and newly recovered Kirika all gathered in JDC’s meeting room. Kirika should still be resting, but insisted on coming back to work. She seemed much more mature now, perhaps because when she had been hospitalized, her significant other Hazama Kuroo was murdered by the serial Three Monkeys Killer. (Then again, pretty much everyone in the world lost someone at this point, now that 1/12 of humanity has died.)

Trying to avoid a repeat of what happened to Jouka, Dokuson wanted the five gathered detectives to leave the country for now and take part in investigations abroad. He met with some resistance—what if a significant problem showed up in Japan while everyone’s away?—but retorted that with him around, there should be no “what ifs”. He only allowed Kirika to stay in the country to “investigate something”, which he also seemed to have interest in.

At that point it had only been a few days since the Billion Killer had destroyed the Umeda Sky Building in Osaka, so Amagoi asked about how BOKU was doing in the hospital. Dokuson answered brashly that he didn’t have time or care for talentless weaklings in the middle of a war.

Once Dokuson was out of earshot, Ushiwaka commented that yeah, sure, except he actually cared about BOKU’s health a whole lot, enough to call him every single morning. After all, if Dokuson let his own assistant die, it would mean that he was helpless and unable to do something and therefore not the most capable person ever, and as a self-proclaimed narcissist, he simply CANNOT HAVE THAT.

In this strange warped way, all the JDC detectives were like highly needed parts that made up Dokuson’s identity, and since Dokuson loved himself so much, this love naturally extended to them too. He would never simply abandon them. If anything, he was probably thinking about how to move them around to efficiently deal with the situation.

Christmas was a bit miffed that they’re regarded as pawns to be moved around, but others like Nemu and Amagoi trusted Dokuson a lot—in the grand scheme of things, they kinda were just single cogs that needed to come together to work against the Crime Olympics.

[First person narration from Christmas.]

The one time I visited the Pyramids, I came there with my older brother Pyramid and his assistant Tsuru Himeko. That was a year before my brother was murdered. He had been to Egypt a few times before, seeing as our parents had always had an interest in it—I mean, they even named their firstborn Pyramid.

Ever since joining JDC I’ve been planning to go to Egypt once more. We made awful jokes with Kasumi about how we would spend Christmas looking at the Pyramids.

Now that Dokuson ordered me to go to Egypt in late December, it seems that those plans came true in one way or another. At least I don’t have to care about the cost of the trip this time around. Dokuson insisted to book me a room at the best hotel closest to the Pyramids, because otherwise I wouldn’t focus solely on solving the case, and he can’t have that.

Before I left Japan, Amagoi told me what she and Meiru had figured out about the disappearance of Ryuuguu Otohime, namely that she had run away of her own volition. Amagoi thinks that it had something to do with Otohime’s brother Jounosuke’s death… alleged death, at least, because Amagoi still insists that he’s alive somewhere. She seems so sure of it. To be fair, Jouka also seemed to believe it.

I don’t really understand them, but maybe I don’t really understand people in general, or even myself. Which is one of the reasons I went to Egypt now. Self-discovery.

On the surface, I’m going to investigate a case of tourists frequently falling from the top of the Great Pyramid ever since the start of the Crime Olympics. But actually, Dokuson thinks one of the Billion Killer attacks may happen here in the future and I should be on the lookout for it.

Just like a few years ago, the Pyramids are overwhelming in their size and architectural magnificence. They seem so perfect that they almost don’t feel like something made by human hands. Kinda like if there was hypothetically a completely flawless person in this world, then they wouldn’t really count as a human anymore, no matter if they looked the part.

After some sightseeing, I head back to the hotel—or at least attempt to, because my hopelessness with directions leads me completely astray, and I end up wandering helplessly until I collapse from exhaustion.

I wake up in a shack, next to an old woman and a youth wearing a turban. The latter found me passed out in the desert. By a stroke of luck, the old woman can speak Japanese, which she had learned while taking care of a Japanese person over a decade ago.

I ask about the case of tourists falling off the Pyramids. People have always been secretly climbing them (even though it was illegal), but the number of victims rose lately: thirty-five confirmed deaths in the last four months. Rumour has it the Sphinx somehow kills those who attempt to climb the Pyramids. The old woman says mysteriously that if I really want to investigate this case, I will have to attempt the climb myself, hear the Sphinx talking to me, and test my luck.

Once night arrives, the boy helps me with preparations and soon I climb the Great Pyramid with nothing but rope to keep me from falling. It’s a daunting task. I slowly climb stone after stone, move forward cautiously, aware of the ever-present danger. It’s a bit like life, if you think about it. I have a stray thought about letting myself fall—that if I let go of the rope now, I’ll be at peace. The call of the void. Despite it, I still move forward. Not even for the sake of solving the case; for myself.

As I’m climbing, suddenly I hear a disembodied voice.

“This I ask you… if a new year started just after Christmas, when would the Pyramid be built?”

This line repeats in intervals of ten seconds, the same intonation every time. But why can I understand it? Why is it in Japanese? The only option I can think of is that the mythical Sphinx is speaking to me telepathically somehow, giving me a riddle to solve… and probably waiting to kill me if I answer wrong. Was this what happened to the tourists? This entire hypothesis is nonsense, but…

“The last time I ask you… if a new year started just after Christmas, when would the Pyramid be built?”

I have to come up with an answer, but I can’t figure anything out. As time almost runs out, I yell the first thing that comes to my head.

“Christmas! The Pyramid was built on Christmas!”

After that, there is silence. Nothing else seems to happen. Maybe I just hallucinated it from fear and exhaustion.

I continue climbing until I reach the summit and rest holding onto the pole sticking out of the top, indicating the Pyramid’s former height. Everything else looks so small from here. Various thoughts keep coming to my head—about life, about the case—and I realize that I’ve already heard that mysterious voice before.

After climbing back down, I’m so exhausted that I go to sleep in the old woman’s shack, and when I wake up, it’s Saturday afternoon. There’s a crowd gathered by the Great Pyramid. It seems someone has climbed it. As I and the old woman watch, something falls down on the sand: a half-naked body curled into a ball, face hidden under a mask of Anubis. The body is clutching a skull of the Billion Killer.

The victim turns out to be the same boy that helped me. He died of heart failure, so it’s theorized he froze to death on top of the Pyramid last night and only fell down at 1 PM after many hours, but no one is really sure yet.

When a few days later I talk to the old woman about it, she says that it was fate. Me arriving here, me climbing the Pyramid, the death, everything. She says that the boy—no, actually the disguised girl—showed up here only a little before I did so that she could guide me, and that her name was Tierra. Just like the dead sister of Joyeeta, the person I met on Easter Island… wait, was that “Joyeeta” actually Tierra pretending to be her dead sister?

The old woman repeats that everything is fated. She says that her name is Cassandra, like the tragic prophet.

If everything is fated, I ask, was her meeting my brother ten years ago also fated? He must have been the Japanese man she talked about earlier. It was my brother’s voice that I heard while climbing the Great Pyramid, and careful investigation revealed a speaker hidden inside one of the stone blocks.

That let me realize the solution to the case: it’s the old woman Cassandra who’s killing all those tourists. She would wait at the top of the Pyramid, play the recording of my brother’s voice, and cut the rope of anyone who answered incorrectly. This much is clear. I just don’t understand why she would be helped by Tierra and my brother.

Cassandra explains. Tierra asked RISE to help her kill her father, and in turn she let them brainwash her and send her here under a new identity. (Cassandra stresses that she herself isn’t in RISE, they just happen to have a deal.) It seems Tierra’s father had once worked with RISE, but betrayed them and had to die anyway, so RISE figured they could as well make use of Tierra’s hatred for their own purposes.

Cassandra says that even if I know the truth now, it’s not like I can harm RISE. In fact, it’s RISE who’s explicitly letting me live for now, just like it was with my brother. Everything is a part of the plan. Everything is fated.

Cassandra then tells me the story of my brother.

[Second person narration from Pyramid Mizuno.]

You visit the Pyramids at the age of sixteen, in 1982. It’s your seventh time here, and every time you dream of climbing to the summit, no matter the danger or law. Considering your name, it almost seems like your fate.

You make friends with a local old woman. One day, she asks what you think about people who climb the Pyramids. You say that it’s a horrible, sacrilegious thing to do, and would probably end in disappointment—but despite that knowledge, your longing won’t settle down. It’s like your name is a curse. The old woman understands and helps you finally realize your dream.

But once you make it to the top of the Great Pyramid, she’s already there, wearing a mask of Anubis and threatening you into compliance. The woman just like her family before her murders everyone who profanes the Pyramids. But not you; she can sense that you two are similar and wants your help.

Following her instructions, you go back to Japan, arrive at the organization called JDC and tell them about how you think there’s a murderer behind people’s deaths at the Pyramids. JDC investigates it, but discovers no proof for that claim, and it’s unlikely that they’ll ever pay attention to it again—which is what the old woman wanted. You take the JDC entrance exam and completely flunk it, but their boss Ajiro Souji seems to spot something in you and employs you anyway.

Even as a detective you keep in contact with the old woman. She often speaks about how a tragic fate awaits humanity, so you jokingly call her Cassandra, a name she seems to like. Before that, she was known under a codename RISE gave her, Silva (or maybe Siva; the pronunciation in the middle wasn’t clear).

Cassandra reveals that your little brother Christmas will one day try to climb the Great Pyramid too. You can’t possibly change that fate, but if you comply with what she asks for, she will give him a chance to escape death. And so you come up with a riddle that only a member of the Mizuno family can solve: “If a new year started just after Christmas, when would the Pyramid be built?”

The true meaning of the riddle is that Christmas Mizuno was born on New Year’s Eve, just before the new year started, and you, Pyramid Mizuno, was born on Christmas Day. Therefore the answer is “Christmas”.

As someone who helped a criminal, you don’t feel worthy of being a detective. You decide how to solve this moral dilemma by thinking of your uncle Mamoru, who seems to always without a fail bet on the wrong horse at the derby.

You become a pitiful detective who always, without fail, guesses everything wrong.

The truth is, you are able to uncover the solution to any crime faster than anyone else around you. You just always say the opposite thing on purpose. It’s a wonder nobody notices the truth, really. Nobody knows that you are the single best detective around, just wearing the mask of a loser to atone for your sins.

When you visit the Pyramids together, Christmas says that he wants to join JDC too, like he once promised his friend Souya. You tell him to work on his problem with directions first, and he laughs that at least he doesn’t get lost on his way to solutions like you do. He says that he’d like to try climbing the Great Pyramid one day.

“Keep on living, Christmas,” you say. “You are different than me. Don’t get lost on the way of life. Never give up! I will always be praying for your safety, and for your heart to still shine brightly among the dark world.”

Whenever he will look at the Pyramids, he will remember you, and you will be revived inside his heart—and whenever he wanders lost, he shall never give up and reach his goal, protected by your undying love.

[>>>NEXT PART>>>]

#sparkly reads carnival #maijo and jdc stuff

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unwoundvisions · 4 years

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Pirate Villains Tags + Info

I assumed we would want tags for them at some point so I went ahead made some. I used there last names because they just sound more intimating:

⇝ deadly chisaki

⤜ obsessive toga

✸ anarchic dabi

⥼ dastardly beck

⤷ wicked bolton

⤀ feral hargove

I also thought I’d post some information about the characters you aren’t familiar. I would have done this on the doc but it was giving me trouble so now we get a big post.

Let us begin with Kai Chisaki.

Simple summery: Germaphobe who sees super powers as a illness and wants to rid it from the world while also making the gang he was raised in super successful and respected again (funny how he wanted to do that but was somehow okay with getting to keep his own powers). He’s a truly vile piece of garbage. I’m still going to post some of the stuff about his personality from the Wiki here because it’s helpful:

“Overhaul is a mysophobic, antisocial sociopath obsessed with returning the world to the way it was before the Quirk phenomenon (aka super power phenomena). Due to a combination of an old theory claiming Quirks derived from rats and his own mysophobia, Overhaul believes that Quirks are actually a plague on humanity, having infected people with "syndromes" of heroism and villainy. He looks down upon those that use their abilities for either purpose, referring to acts of heroic sacrifice or petty crime as "sicknesses". Overhaul is extremely determined to his ambition of eradicating Quirks, not only due to his own personal phobias, but also because such a thing would allow the yakuza (his gang) to reclaim the power they once held over society. Overhaul has no moral compass and an enormous ego, viewing himself as the only person in the world that's enlightened to the "true nature" of Quirks and deserving of the spot as ruler of the underworld. As the leader of the Shie Hassaikai (that’s just the name of the gang) Overhaul is usually levelheaded, thinks strategically, and, according to a conversation with Twice, seems to be nice at first. Whether he is acting or behaving genuinely, Overhaul does possess polite mannerisms and can come off as very calm and classy even to people he considers potentially troublesome. If aggravated, however, he may end up displaying a powerful and visible killing intent, more fitting of his true character. Overhaul is very germophobic and hates anything he perceives as unsanitary, frequently remarking about the unclean appearances of certain people and locations. He refuses to be touched by others, or even breathe in the same air as theirs, which is one of the reasons he wears an air-filtering plague doctor mask and forces his subordinates to do the same while around him (don’t see a need for him to do that in our fic). If blood, dirt or some other unclean substance comes in contact with Overhaul's person, he will start developing hives and lose his usual composure, becoming increasingly unhinged as a result. In drastic circumstances though, Overhaul will let go of his aversions in order to crush an enemy that's standing on his way, either due to pragmatism or out of sheer hatred. Overhaul doesn’t value humans, viewing people as pawns for their utilitarian value and being willing to experiment on them to accomplish his objectives. He carries this sentiment even towards the other members of the organization he has dedicating himself to since childhood, treating them as expendable sacrifices for his well-being and having no qualms in killing them off for the smallest mistakes. The masks worn by his closest subordinates also serve as a reminder of this mindset; he doesn't view them as worthy of sharing the same air as his. Even Eri, the centerpiece of his operations, is not spared from this brutal way of thinking as he frequently shames and abuses her through threats and guilt trips, seemingly as a method to force subservience on her mind ((They really glossed over Eri here. She was a girl he abused since she was a baby until she was around like 7 years old. Literally, kept her locked up, called her cursed human, drained her blood all the time and he regularly killed and brought her back ((which is something he can do with his power)) to life just to keep getting fresh blood out of her. Of course, in the name of the “greater good.” I fucking hate him.) As a young yakuza, Kai was extremely ruthless and would kill anyone who didn't show the Shie Hassaikai the proper respect, constantly getting into fights with rival gangs. Kai's boss, who was growing aware of the violent, immoral path his underling was following to uphold the name of the Shie Hassaikai, attempted to sway him towards a more honorable course, but to no avail; Kai became more and more convinced that illegal, questionable dealings were the only way the yakuza could ever restore their former honor. In the end, Overhaul's failure to recognize others and his own obstinate nature result in his downfall. Despite his strong-willed attitude, he is capable of expressing true fear and shock, especially post-defeat..

And if you ever need to know like how he speaks and his mannerisms you can skip around this video. Totally don’t have to but I wanted to share it just in case it may be useful:

youtube

Now as for what I thought his motivates could be in our fic:

Since he obviously can’t be obsessed with getting rid of super power, we need to change his character a tiny bit. I thought that in our world he can have a big thing against pirates who don’t have ambitious goals. Let’s say a pirate want to evade authorities and maybe cause them some mild inconveniences. Chisaki would think you weren’t thinking big enough and say the authorities should be killed and everything that put them in place should be destroyed. If a pirate has average goals, he deems them sick and they need to be cured (killed). I just think in this world his big goal would to go after real power. I could see his goal being to like completely restructure society and eliminate pirates with average goals and ensure the only ones who remain are one who share his vision.

Not sure if we’ll even need his backstory but let’s say in our fic it goes like this:

He is orphaned at a very young age and tries to find for himself on the street. It’s miserable and he probably thought he was going to die. Then, he is found by an older pirate (like 60′s) who takes him in. This pirate and his crew used to be really respected back in the day when they were more traditional pirates who did all the pirate things ( rob, pillage, ect). However, in his older age the pirate has decided that pirates should care more about destroying high society (an understandable cause that some can get behind but simply don’t want to put in the work ). Because of this, his crew has gotten a lot smaller and the biggest disruption they’ve had on high society is destroying a few wealthy business. But it’s important to know this pirate was never extremely violent. Didn’t approve of vile crimes and genuinely wanted to bring a more positive change on society. He really wasn’t that bad (not an angel by any means but not as bad as most). It’s also important to note that he wouldn’t condemn other pirates for having simple goals like fame or adventure. Did he wish they had a drive for more? Yes, but he wouldn’t harm them. So, Chisaki grows up genuinely wanting the same change in the world but also wanting to ensure his caretaker’s crew became respected again so things slowly become more and more twisted as he gets older.

I figured that when Chisaki is around 12 is when he’s properly introduced to Katsuki. How this happens is that I could see Katsuki’s mother helping the caretaker’s crew by looting and destroy wealthy business (simply because it paints her as more threatening figure while also putting money into her pocket). On of these missions, Katsuki’s mother’s brought him along. That’s how Chisaki and Katsuki become friends. But as they both grow older, they drift a part a tiny bit. Chisaki becomes transfixed on ensuring his caretaker’s vision becomes a reailty. He thinks to ensure this happens, they need be more violent, more ambitious and kill those with true power. In Chisaki’s ideal world, average pirates would be put down, nobles would be put down and the only people left would be those who admired them or were willing to work with them. He kills easily, he starts brutal fights with other pirates and his caretaker can do nothing to make him see sense which is why he tells him that he is no longer member of the crew. Ultimately, Chisaki feels so betrayed that he kills the man. Tells the crew he was murdered (obviously they don’t believe him) and decide they would kill Chisaki for the betrayal. Chisaki genuinely tried to give them a chance to come to his side but he knew what their intentions were (because he’s genuinely really smart). He poisons them all in at a supposed peace dinner. Since no one really cared about this crew anymore, no one really noticed that they were dead. But still, Chisaki, feels a strange sense of loyalty to his caretaker and still wants to carry out his vision. This is why he goes looking for Katsuki, thinking he could rebuild his caretaker’s crew but he quickly realizes that his old friend already has a crew. Chisaki intended on joining the crew and persuading to strive for the same vision he did. Of course, Katsuki doesn’t mind letting Chisaki join because he wanted a familiar person on his crew. Chisaki geuinely figured it would be easy to get Katsuki on his side but it proved to be harder than he thought. Thankfully though, the rest of the crew admired his vision so it was easy to convince them all it was time to overthrow Katsuki. Chisaki simply planned on dropping Katsuki off on an island and letting him die but Beck convinced him to ask for ransom first because they were a brand new crew and would need money. So, they did just that. Katsuki’s mother refused and they abandoned Katsuki on an island with nothing but a gun to kill himself.

This leaves Chisaki with a loyal crew that sail under his old caretaker’s banner and on his ship the Kraken. Chisaki never expected Katsuki to escape so you can imagine how infuriated that Katsuki is still alive. They always planned on offing him for good but usually got distracted by more important matter like killing people who opposed them and important nobles.

Okay, I went into way too much detail there but he’s like the most important one so I’ll keep the others brief.

Now onto Dabi:

If a quote that could some up Dabi is, “ Some men aren't looking for anything logical, like money. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn.” That’s Dabi. His chaotic, destructive and hates society. He’s really hot too but that’s beside the point lol (i may just have a thing for fire guys).

Here’s the important stuff from his Wiki:

“Dabi is a stoic, aloof, confident, and focused individual who rarely shows emotion. While rather crude and violent, he is actually cautious, choosing to retreat when needed. Overall, Dabi is a highly enigmatic individual who trusts no one, preferring to do things alone and in his own way. He also gives off the impression of knowing more about certain people than he lets on. Despite his usual expressionless behavior, Dabi finds joy in establishing himself as a villain fighting against what he believes to be false heroes, an ideology proposed by his apparent inspiration, Stain (just a guy who killed heroes because he thought they were hypocrites for getting paid). Dabi is dedicated to Stain's mission and desires to destroy superhuman society, sharing his belief that one person with the necessary conviction can do so. He appears to share Stain's sentiment that Heroes are hypocritical and unworthy of their title, but unlike Stain, he does not seem to seek a society with better heroes. Dabi takes pleasure in taunting heroic figures, students, and Pro Heroes alike, sadistically enjoying the pain he inflicts on others, including those he murders. Sometimes, Dabi engages in psychological warfare in order to unnerve whoever his opposition is (while also allowing himself to cool down from his own Quirk's effects). Very pragmatic in battle, he is rather savvy about how heroes operate and will exploit their natural tendency to rescue others. He's not afraid of causing collateral destruction, rarely holding back, even if it puts his allies at risk. Dabi is intolerant of most people and can be very derisive, being quite rude and condescending to essentially everybody he interacts with. He insulted Tomura Shigaraki immediately after meeting him and constantly does the same to both his allies and enemies. While the League would go on to develop a strong sense of camaraderie, Dabi has remained distant from them for the most part. He has admitted that he doesn't care for Tomura or the rest of the League and that the value he puts on them comes mostly from their ability to bring his ambitions into reality. This selfish way of thinking establishes Dabi as an extreme sociopath. However, Dabi appears to at least be capable of feeling remorse. While he had no problem killing a Pro Hero, their last words appear to have resonated with him, implying that Dabi has sympathy for those that have lost family due to villains.”

Again, here’s a video just for his speech and mannerism that may be helpful:

youtube

Okay and lastly, Himiko Toga

Overall, she’s fucking crazy and fun to watch but actually really scary. Her abilities we can’t include but their really cool. If she consumes someone’s blood, she can become their clone. Maybe in our fic we can just say she’s like really good at being sneaky and disguises. I’ll post the important Wiki stuff about her personality:

“Himiko is a very cheerful girl, to the point of smiling even after having presumably killed someone, displaying sadistic tendencies.This continues even when danger is imminent, but it tends to stop when she is bored or annoyed. Himiko is frequently seen blushing seemingly out of excitement rather than embarrassment, giving her a permanent look of what appears to be lovesickness on her face. However, she has shown that she can easily be embarrassed, such as when she thinks people are coming on to her. Himiko is obviously mentally unstable and has a very twisted perception of love and friendship. Proven when, despite wanting to kill Ochaco Uraraka and Tsuyu Asui, she still attempted to befriend the two girls as they fought, affectionately calling Tsuyu by her first name and describing the former as "lovely". When talking to Ochaco, she said that it was only natural to want to be like the one you love, to the point of literally becoming that person. Later she further explains and compares that like how "normal" people kiss the people they love as "normal", she sucks the blood of the people she loves as this is her "normal", further showing her twisted understanding of love, which thus justifies her carving up and butchering "guys who are tattered and reeking of blood", as they fit the description of her ideal lover. Himiko's interest isn't just superficial, as her questioning Izuku Midoriya about what his values and beliefs imply, showing that although twisted, she does indeed want to know more about the person she "loves". She also has shown a comedic and childlike demeanor when faced with different situations. Like most of her allies, Himiko has stated that she finds life to be difficult for the current world and wants to make it an easier place to live in. She looks up to Stain and sees him as her role model; declaring a desire to kill and "become" him. She has shown to care greatly about her comrades and was enraged by one of their deaths. So much so that she wanted to kill the one responsible and their men as payback. Himiko is also shown to be prone to mood swings when she finds a target of "affection" (often Izuku) she is loud and cheerful. However, when an obstacle gets in between her and her prey, she shows a very angered expression, instantly switching priorities to kill whoever the nuisance is. In the past, Himiko was noted by her family and former classmates to be, "a cheerful, reasonable, well-mannered girl" whose subsequent turn to a life of crime surprised everyone who knew her. However, her own recollections imply that this was merely an act she put on to try and fit in with what society deemed "normal." She believes the way she acts presently is her own normal.

Again here’s a video just for speech and mannerisms:

youtube

Okay, that’s everything I think. The only plot addtion for her is that we could potentially have her be interested in Laurie the same way she’s interested in Izuku on the show. We totally don’t have to but I thought it could potentially be interesting to have a really dangerous person for you to have to protect Laurie from. Of course, he can defend himself but she’s a little bit harder to deal with the average person. Again, we don’t have to do that at all, just an idea. :)

I’ve gone on for WAYYY too fucking long but I think I’ve covered the important things. :)

#⇝ deadly chisaki #⤜ obsessive toga #✸ anarchic dabi #⥼ dastardly beck #⤷ wicked bolton #⤀ feral hargove

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yobaba30 · 4 years

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Long article by Eric Garland- this dude knows his shit . . .

That Donald Trump has been a front for organized crime [like his father before him] is not much of a secret. And yet he became president. Just as in many countries, democracies have been seized by organized criminal elements. How did this happen and who knew? The most stunning historical development of the past 30 years - a multi-decade crisis - has been the merger of Russian organized crime, the Russian intelligence services, and the Russian state. We were warned by Sasha Litvinenko that the world had changed. Litvinenko was an officer in the Russian FSB (the domestic successor to the KGB) who warned Western intel services AND law enforcement that they didn't understand - Russia had become something entirely new in history: A Mafia State. Because of his warning he was poisoned with polonium tea.

To understand how tectonic Russia's transformation was, you have to understand how nation-states dealt with security of militaries, spies, and organized crime: Separately. Usually with discrete agencies. FBI for criminals, CIA for foreign intelligence - that kind of thing. When Russian organized crime propelled Vladimir Putin to power, the rules of modern national security changed for the first time in 100 years. The Mob was the State was the Intelligence services. Not identical, to be sure - but centrally controlled, and DANGEROUS. Understand that, while every true government servant in the U.S. and its allies are thoroughly dedicated to the same mission - cultures, attitudes, and techniques are vastly different. FBI's history goes back to Al Capone. CIA is a product of the post-WWII era. NSA is [REDACTED] and FBI hunts spies on domestic soil, of course. But they're in a different section from organized crime. CIA is looking outward at governments, spies, terrorists. DOD has a different view. Litvinenko told us THE WORLD DIDN'T WORK LIKE THAT ANYMORE. IT WAS ALL ONE THREAT NOW. Russia had fused its best-in-class intelligence capabilities and the ruthlessness of its Mafiya and taken over a nation-state. The totality of this change no longer fit any one single agency, in any country, and the threat was evolving at a breakneck pace. Understand, especially, that government intelligence work does NOT look like anything in the movies. These are tightly controlled, regimented bureaucracies that maintain strict roles and are fanatical about secrecy. They don't do light speed evolutionary threats very well. So imagine, if you can, working your tightly controlled role in an intel or law enforcement agency, and instead of a spy, or a Mob thug, or a white collar financial criminal, you have to track a new hybrid. Like, for example, Rudy Giuliani patron Dmitry Firtash. Instead of Mob boss like Whitey Bulger (FBI territory) or a government agent you recruit like Sergei Skripal (CIA) or Wall Street-type criminal (IRS treasury) or an arms dealer, you get dudes that do ALL OF THAT SIMULTANEOUSLY. WHO HANDLES IT? HOW? Spies infiltrate, they don't buy half of downtown Cleveland. Captains of industry consolidate economic activity, they don't run spy operations. Diplomats don't run drugs. Except when they do and they're all interchangeable. That's what Russia innovated. SO WHO TRACKS IT? This is the world that Clinton, Bush 43, and Obama inherited, along with their intelligence and law enforcement agencies understandably not designed for this new threat. Forget terrorism. THIS was the real change in national security since 2000. And it's been a bumpy ride since. This still may be abstract, but let me break it down as an intelligence analyst with over 20 years’ experience: If the world doesn't match the design of your intelligence services, nothing will work right. You can't collect, analyze, or disseminate properly. If you're looking at a transnational criminal intelligence government syndicate where criminals, spies, and regimes used to be, nobody will know whose job it is. None of the questions will match. The answers will be weird. The policies will be hard to implement. When the transnational organized crime threat doesn't match the shape of your intelligence and law enforcement, then even when professionals are ultimately dedicated, they still may not be able to get leaders to make the necessary decisions.

Which gets us back to Trump.

We arrive back at a few terrible problems that need exposure at long last. Our intel and law enforcement agencies KNEW Trump was owned by foreign mafia and yet he became President. It was not their fault. Their hands were largely tied. And yet - the truth must finally emerge. I brought this to the world's attention in a thread about a month after the election, my personal reaction to people expecting the Intel Community to Save America From Trump, Now! These were my colleagues. I knew they were BUSY. And doing far from nothing. And for those who still thirst for a quick fix (I am regularly part of that group, too) I am still as aware as I was over three years ago of how unorthodox and horrible the options for the USIC were. Totally against everything they stand for. You don't want a spookocracy. That makes us like the Soviet Union or East Germany. The USIC knows that because they studied those regimes. So they can't just "save us" from an election even where we were attacked – BUT - this time may need to be different. Donald Trump is a treasonous sack of shit willing to let millions die. Not because he's a "dictator" or a "narcissist" - because he's a piece of property. Transnational organized crime owns him outright. He must be stopped, now more than ever. Donald Trump has been a mortal threat since 2015, part of the hybrid national security assault we were ill-equipped to fight. But now, his role as president is at the phase of mass graves of Americans, the very ones national security is here to protect. Our entire national security and law enforcement apparatus exists to keep a lunatic owned by foreign enemies from being president. Because that might lead to a person allowing a pandemic to slaughter Americans in a barely-concealed attempt to look "incompetent." For those crying "why didn't Mueller do his job?" or "Where is this so-called IC of yours?" you don't understand - these silent professionals, never seeking self-aggrandizement, willing to die for our freedoms - they are sick to their stomachs over this. Understand this from the Intel perspective, this is a picture of a diseased criminal TAKING A SHIT IN FRONT OF A CEMETERY. One of his first acts was to attack those in the IC that Trump *knew* understood what he was. There are people you never met, never heard of. They died without saying goodbye to their families. They were perhaps tortured on the way out. They did it for us. Trump defecated on that duty and honor and brought a crowd to cheer him. And now, in addition to everything for which they've given their lives, we may need to hope that the Intelligence Community may be willing to break tradition and tell us just why this pathetic, simpering blasphemy happened.

Mitch McConnell will rot in hell for ignoring what Robert S. Mueller III told the nation and refusing to remove this traitor from office. Mueller and his colleagues did their level best only to be betrayed. We now sit hoping for an unredacted report. We expect, we say we are a better nation because our intelligence and law enforcement professionals stick to the rules. But we have to ask this time at what cost. And to prepare for what may be a breach of protocol that could save civilization.

Americans still don't understand what trump is. That is the fault of politicians, the media, propagandists - and of course his sincere supporters as well. But some know the truth. That he isn't rich, that he's Mob property. That's he's tasked with destroying anything his bosses say to. Donald Trump was acquired by Russia when its Mob overtook the Five Families of La Cosa Nostra, his family's old owners. But now he's the joint property of murdering despots. The intelligence communities of many allied nations know this. The common people must know, too.

I know, like LincolnsBible, the complexities and contradictions of what I'm suggesting. We already ask so much of such men and women. And this moment may call for yet more. In 2016, I said I understood why the USIC didn't "act." In 2020, I wonder if they must - lest we be lost. I don't think American institutions will survive four more years of damage from foreign enemies being allowed to destroy us from within the White House. I don't know precisely who would reveal what, when, but I pray it is soon. The truth is simple and hideous. Let it out. I think we all do what we can, whether it's to wear masks and stay home, or take care of our neighbors or fight crime or rise up yell the truth from the rooftops. We do our best. Which makes me think about my own last four years. My colleagues and I knew Trump was a unique danger in 2016. Few of us thought he'd be elected. Then he was. I slept an hour a night for a month, talking to everyone. Didn't think I'd still be writing every day like this.

Somehow mainstream news isn't interested in this... but it is time.

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nerdsideofthemedia · 5 years

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Faunus and the White Fang: The Portrayal of Racism

RWBY has been adored by the progressive community due to the portrayal of 4 strong young women, at least 2 of whom are LGBTQ+. Not to mention the inclusion of other LGBTQ+ minor characters.

Despite this, the show is far from flawless, and it’s time to address what is probably its biggest problem: the portrayal of racism. I suspect this may end up being my most controversial post yet, but, like someone said, “It’s both possible, and even necessary, to simultaneously enjoy media while also being critical of its more problematic or pernicious aspects”.

Before I start I think it’s important to clarify that unlike in conversations about being a woman and LGBTQ+, in this one, I come from a place of no experience, since I am a white European. I do not intend to speak over POC, nor do I claim that my knowledge on the subject is flawless (far from it). Hopefully, this is only the start of a conversation and not the entirety of it.

To be clear: I am not a part of RWBY hatedom. While it’s flawed, I like it, I wouldn’t be doing it if I didn’t. I am criticizing this aspect because racism exists in real life, so how the subject is handled is important and I don’t want the edgelords controlling this entire conversation because their stance on racism in real life is: it doesn’t exist.

Lazy worldbuilding

Like Bright and Crash, RWBY, for the most part, frames individuals as the main culprits of racism instead of the systems which favor certain groups over others. We see this with Cardin, Cordovin, V1 Weiss, Roman and the village people (in the Adam short). Yes, those racist individuals exist, sometimes like caricatures however, they are far from being the only or even the most relevant type of prejudice.

By putting the blame on very specific characters, racism is presented as something easily identifiable and fixable when it’s neither of those things for a significant portion of the population. People often ignore that though laws have changed, biases didn’t magically disappear, segregated neighborhoods didn’t desegregate themselves and the wealth accumulated before wasn’t redistributed. The racist policies of the past created the now and will affect the future unless we try to fix the system.

Keep in mind that the Faunus Rights Revolution happened after the Great War, so… less than 80 years ago. Considering this timeline, it’s just unlikely the Faunus would be equal anywhere, let alone in 2 kingdoms (Vacuo and Vale) and the only thing we see in Mistral is the possibility of discriminating with the ramen shop owner.

The mere fact this sign exists shows discrimination is possible but that shouldn’t be the only thing shown.

Atlas is the exception. In “Tipping Point”, we can hear a conversation about the Faunus, which mentions economic disparity and lack of opportunity, but it quickly fades into the background.

In terms of race issues, Remnant is wildly unexplored, even the renowned for its racism, Mistral. Maybe the writers just thought digging into politic could make for a boring story or maybe they didn’t want to risk alienating the portion of the audience that listens to edgelords. In either case, it makes no sense to have racism as a major theme.

Justifying racism

“Early men were scared to death of the Faunus, and honestly, it’s not too hard to sympathize with that. Seeing something that looks like you and acts like you walk out of the forest and reveal a pair of fangs, can be a little… upsetting.”

Qrow, World of Remnant about Faunus

This does sound a bit like justifying racism and trying to present as understandable. This is an idea that I see a lot. In a review of a book that had a new species and racism as a theme, one of the complaints was that there was no justification given for the treatment like welfare and gangs. Those aren’t causes of racism – they’re just excuses. If anything, they have a lot more to do with stereotypes and wealth disparity caused by racism.

RWBY does make this mistake with Blake’s speech in True Colors, which is reminiscent of when people hold all Muslims accountable for an attack done by one, judging them all for that person’s actions, even though we’d never do that for our own race.

“We’re just as capable of hate and violence as the humans, but I don’t think any of us would jump at the chance to point that out. So why are we letting Adam do it for us? By doing nothing and staying silent, we let others speak and act in our place. And if we’re not proud of the choices they make, then we have no one to blame but ourselves.”

Ghira does the same in the Adam character short, claiming Adam’s violence is the reason why people attack them. If you judge an entire race based on the actions of a few – that’s on you.

Um, actually Antifa is the problem

While the White Fang is not the only group of people fighting for Faunus rights (in the first episode, we learn they interrupted a peaceful protest), they are definitely the ones who are given the spotlight and it’s very unfortunate how they’re portrayed. With the exception of Ilia (and arguably Sienna), they are shown to be so radical that they are not only OK with destroying cities, but also mass murder. They are terrorists and don’t even deserve a face.

In contrast, the racists both deal with their shortcomings fast (Weiss and Cordovin), they all are worthy of sympathy and redemption (even Cardin and the ramen shop owner). I think the writers were going for “racists are people too”, which is a troublesome stance to take when you frame the ones fighting racism as flat out evil.

I imagine that Atlas is going to be shown to be more unforgivably racist and the Faunus will be more sympathetic, but… even so, it kind of feels like trying to make a case for “both sides”. Yikes!

Menagerie

I’m not entirely sure Menagerie was meant to be a paradise. It looks like it, Sun expresses loving it, but Blake quickly claims it’s overcrowded. I’ll give it that it seems a lot less developed than the other kingdoms judging by its constructions, but that’s about it. I think that if they were not going for a positive perspective on it, we should have been made more aware of Menagerie’s drawbacks.

To be clear, it’s wrong to force someone to live somewhere they don’t want to live, but I think it’s a bit problematic to present it as a paradise when in the real world, white supremacists are increasing and their way of speaking is by defending a white ethnostate, claiming homogenized societies are better.

Due to the lack of good characterization of the rest of Remnant, it makes it harder to believe Faunus really went to Menagerie due to being too jaded to be somewhere else because of racism.

Adam’s scar

I have written about Adam before and just so we’re clear, I stand by my post – I’m OK with him being there to be Blake’s cruel obsessive ex-boyfriend who wants to harm her and that he basically represents the last obstacle to close Blake and Yang’s arcs of running away and facing abandonment issues, respectively.

This been said, considering the story, the scar was a huge mistake and I have no idea why someone thought it was a good idea. We’re not supposed to feel sorry for him, it doesn’t make us empathize with him – he’s clearly beyond redemption when it’s revealed and it doesn’t tie to his main motivation, his obsession for Blake, which is the cause of him being in the story. The scar would only make sense if he was an anti-villain, someone with a good cause, but evil methods (Black Panther’s Killmonger). That has never been his story though. He’s always put Blake above his cause and ultimately, he meets his end because of his obsession with her, not because she decides to confront him about his methods. Not to mention that if the scar was tied to his motivation, we should have seen it a lot earlier, not 2 minutes before he died.

Giving him a scar that reveals a cruel treatment of Faunus by humans for no other reason than to show racism is going to have a spotlight in the next volume is incredibly cheap and an awful idea, especially when it basically means nothing for Adam himself and doesn’t humanize him at all – he’s literally trying to kill 2 main characters at that point.

“Remnant can’t be racist, because…”

I also want to counter a few bad arguments against the idea there can’t be any systemic racism in Remnant. The examples usually given are Leo being the headmaster of Haven Academy and Neon representing Atlas in the Vytal Festival.

Leo

Thanks to Raven, we learned Ozpin chose the headmasters in other academies, therefore it’s possible to infer Leo was Ozpin’s attempt at fixing Mistral’s racism.

Neon

Yes, she studies in Atlas, but the headmaster is Ironwood, chosen by Ozpin and probably is also fighting against racism as far as the academy goes.

“They wouldn’t allow a Faunus to represent their kingdom”.

The equivalent of “I can’t be racist, I have a black friend”. Allowing a Faunus to go helps with the “we’re not racists, we even have a Faunus representing us”.

Other than Ironwood, I see no one else who could even have a say in that decision.

“She wouldn’t accept to represent a racist kingdom”

This either reveals an incredibly dishonest take or an almost child-like naivety. I am sorry to burst your bubble, but often people do go against their own interests provided the salesmen know how to sell it (there are Muslims who voted for Trump, women who fought against women’s voting rights, etc.). We can have prejudices against groups we’re part of.

Many will gladly go against their groups’ interests, provided they have something to gain (more than a few people spring to mind).

In this case, her decision doesn’t even hurt Faunus as far as we know – it just advances her fame.

“The townspeople weren’t racist since they were wearing masks and had weapons and we never see what’s inside of the truck”

I cannot believe I have to dignify this with a response… First, the inside of the truck is irrelevant. We had no reason to believe it was anything bad and one certainly can’t start shooting someone else just because they find them “suspicious”. Murders have happened because of racist jackasses who wanted to play hero by attacking a black “suspicious” person. Second, it’s Remnant, a place so full of monsters, teenagers are allowed to have weapons. They are clearly needed to go from one town to another. Sure, they could have dropped their weapons, but that still doesn’t change they weren’t attacking, not even in self-defense. Third, Ghira was still in charge of the White Fang and we know that during this time, the methods of the group were mostly peaceful, even if they were already wearing masks.

“They allowed an army of Faunus to go to Mistral”

OK, this is by far the most difficult one to justify, but not because of race – it’s just the authorities should have handled it all by themselves and I highly doubt they would allow civilians to fight against a terrorist attack. As for the racism point, the Faunus clearly warned the authorities, so I think it’s very unlikely they were bad guys and their weapons were awfully rudimentary. It’s not a great explanation, but I don’t think it’s more of a hit on verisimilitude than letting civilians fight.

Conclusion

I think the problems in the portrayal of race is due to a lack of understanding of racism, insufficient worldbuilding which should have been done before beginning to write RWBY and, probably, trying to avoid alienating any groups in the audience, which is not likely when the subject is racism and should not be the goal. This resulted in a mess where it feels like there is a need to frame racism as wrong, yet understandable (WoR), easy to fix, and too worried about holding the audience to task, hence sticking to cartoonish racism. While all of that is already pretty bad, it’s impossible to deny that it isn’t made worse by the rise of white supremacist groups.

I wish the writers will be more careful during the Atlas arc, but I fear we might be entering a white savior’s narrative as Weiss will probably be the focus of it. I tend to give credit to RWBY for putting the minority character at the center of their struggle, but ultimately Blake was there to fight her own and I suspect they will do the same with Weiss – she will fight her father for the rights of the Faunus (at least partially) and she will be the one who ultimately fixes racism…yeah, we might be heading to a white savior narrative.

I am hoping for the best while preparing for the worst. Still, no matter how well the next arc is handled, it cannot fix the past volumes retroactively.

One last note, I think the election of Trump should be more than enough to reveal that racism is alive and well, but if you want to understand systemic racism and the portrayal of racism in media, here are a few links:

7 Ways We Know Systemic Racism Is Real;

Adam Ruins Everything (it’s a video);

NCSC Implicit Bias;

ContraPoints – America: Still Racist (also a video);

Bright: the Apotheosis of Lazy Worldbuilding (video);

Renegade Cut - Green Book - A Symphony of Lies (video).