#like there are Ideas here. about power and corruption and so forth. but we never actually get to bite them

[greenerteacups]

not asking for spoilers but just wanted to let you know I am SO excited to see whether you'll be including any aspect of the golden trio's van life™ treasure hunting in the woods segment of DH in your story. I know you've talked about how silly and irrelevant it is for them to be off and away from all the other characters and action for so much of the last book, so I'm looking forward to seeing the changes you make and what kinds of new experiences they'll have if they remain more tethered to the plot. but c'mon. neverending geocashing group camping trip from hell. it's kind of hilarious.

RV TRIP DEATHLY HALLOWS they will never make me love you RV trip deathly hallows... tho you are right and I fully grant it is the funniest thing that book could have done... it's like. The Two Towers if you're reading Sam and Frodo's trip to Mordor and you don't know what fuck all else is going on while they're doing it. And also none of the stuff with Aragorn or the actual war for the ring is on the page. And there are Hallows there, for some reason.

[gauntletgirlie]

There is a myth that Ivan the Terrible had Postnik Yakovlev, the architect of Saint Basil’s Cathedral, blinded so that he could never build anything so beautiful again. Thankfully, there is evidence to suggest Yakovlev went on to design the walls of the Kazan Kremlin and the Cathedral of the Annunciation. However, if it were true, Ivan’s possessiveness and selfishness would have meant less spectacular wonder built for Russia.

It got me thinking how possessiveness and selfishness are the antithesis of creation and creativity, and more specially, the generation of beauty. Tolkien covers that theme quite well I feel, especially in The Silmarillion, but also in The Lord of The Rings.

Firstly, we have Melkor who wished to create everything himself in Arda. He wished to order things how he saw fit, wanting no cooperation with the other Valar. He coveted the glory alone. When his peers rejected this idea, it ultimately led to him wreaking a lot of ruin instead, ending in a purely nihilistic outlook. What he produced thereafter was in mockery only and decidedly not beautiful, but dark, ominous and destructive in nature.

Next we have Aulë, who wanted beings of his so badly to teach and guide that he created the dwarves. Whilst he reconciled with Eru, there was forever enmity between his creations and his spouse Yavanna’s. Aulë even responds to Yavanna’s warning for his children that the forests will have a wrath to cause peril if aroused with a rather coldly delivered, “Nonetheless they will have need of wood.” Think of what Aulë and Yavanna might have created together had Aulë worked with his spouse and not kept his desires to himself, and how better dwarves and trees could have cohabited Middle Earth.

Naturally, Fëanor and The Silmarils need to be mentioned here as well. Not only did Fëanor’s possessiveness of the jewels he made lead to him forgetting he could not have done so without the light of Laurelin and Telperion, formed by Yavanna, but also led to him keeping them locked away so he was the sole decider on who could see them and when. This successively meant they were easier for Melkor to steal, also culminating in the death of Fëanor’s father, Finwë. The only thing Fëanor created after this event was an oath that brought about a kin-slaying, the destruction of himself, his marriage, and his children, and shepherded in an era of strife for all peoples in the rest of The First Age. Fëanor undoubtedly had much more to offer in terms of fashioning the world for beauteous good, but his proprietorial actions towards The Silmarils ensured they were the last wondrous work he brought forth.

Then there is Sauron. He selfishly wished to have everyone submit to his will alone and had an intense desire to possess all of the rings he created with Celebrimbor and the smiths of Eregion. Admittedly, he did create The One Ring, which could be described as beautiful, but as Gandalf reminded Saruman: “There is only one Lord of the Rings, and he does not share power.” Sauron’s need to control saw him raise armies to subdue the world of men. Much like his master before him, anything Sauron created was ultimately to destroy as he sought to order the world how he saw fit. Non-compliance with Sauron’s views meant eradication. The rings he created with the elves were beautiful, but the three created without him surpassed them all, lending credence to the notion it was the elves’ input that made them beautiful with Sauron’s participation only providing corruption.

Time and again Tolkien’s writings and stories warn against selfishness, possessiveness, and intolerance of different ideas. They urge us to work together to create, to see others’ contributions as welcome additions and inspirations, not competition. Focus on one’s own conceptions can lead to stagnation in further creation and promote jealousy of others’ works, further leading to a decline in innovation or else seeking to destroy instead of create.

Selfishness ultimately promotes pride that in turn can lead to a fall which is what happens to Melkor, Fëanor, and Sauron. Aulë is seemingly spared, perhaps due to his repentance and the fact his selfishness and pride did not lead to great destruction, but it could be argued his actions changed the nature of his espousal to Yavanna forever.

That people should work together to create, instead of harbouring talents and leaning unto their own understanding only, is a poignant lesson. Whilst credit should always be given where it is due, as Amit Ray reminds us, “Collaboration has no hierarchy. The Sun collaborates with soil to bring flowers on the earth.” Perhaps this is the real reason the likes of Melkor, Fëanor, and Sauron fell. In truth, they were reaching for a superiority that was not theirs to possess. Perhaps it truly is the meek that shall inherit the earth (one cannot but help think of hobbits with this saying).

I’ll end with another quote, this time from Henry Ford, “Coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress, and working together is success.”

Let us go forth and work together to inspire one another in all areas of creation.

[astral-disastral-catastral]

Haii splish splash helloooo hoiii hiii :33 uh don't mind this ig i just wanna put this here for fun or something since i like the not so original [at all] idea of the world of sky being more like sky: children of the dark instead of light like an apocalypse of the sorts for funsies [unoriginal as in I'm 100% not the first time come up with it at all and got like some ideas from looking at the game's concept arts for like 2 minutes]!! I even wrote like an entire not so good just basically very mid poem rhyming thing abt it cuz why nottttt rhymes are amazeballs. I wrote 7 whole pages in a notebook about each realm on 1 page and ideas for it and stuff and now i feel like shoving all of that info into a screen!! Guh……… I'll like edit this over time ig.

Our kingdom was filled with light and love, but wrath and rage transcended the eye above.

The clouds were painted in a hue so red, and from the sky, divine blood had seemed to bled.

Our lands were plauged with horror and screams, our souls faced the imminent doom of no redeem.

The soils had turned from green to black, beings of light sealed away, never to come back.

Our kingdom had fallen, and the only thing to be seen? The souls of us sinners and that which we dirtied.

The realms began to crumble and too did we, creatures of darkness had begun to be conceived.

Our hearts grew cold and too did our hands, amalgamating with creatures begotten by murky sands.

They march the land searching for remains, of a bygone era, seeking to relieve their everlasting pain.

We are no longer viable to heal the wounds of the land, so a final light, we please, to descend.

A new time has come, for this torment to end, children of light must find a way to ascend.

Child of light, go forth and spread your wings, let the heavens know of your arrival: sing.

To fix the remnants of a broken heart, scattered across the lands and torn into parts.

One child must brave the storm, before it becomes too late

To save us all.

⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠

ISLE OF DAWN Isle of Dusk

✦　There are many packs of corrupted sky kids & spirits on the outskirts 〘 especially in the water〙

✦　It's Dark; The clouds & temple 〘 Mostly the clouds〙block the sky, but even if they didn't, the sky would always be dark anyways〘the time of day in the isle only switches from dusk and the dead of night〙

✦　There are quite a few crabs 〘 different types of crabs aswell instead of just the 1–2 usual ones in the actual game〙but there aren't any 〘living〙 krills anywhere in the isle 〘any krills that were there are nothing but piles of dust, bones or remnants of the past, frozen in time and in place by a force not to be reckoned with〙

✦　“Home” is set up inside Prophecy cave and sealed off to corrupted creatures that try to enter be 〘 very〙 powerful magic. 〘 woulda been forbidden in the previous era due to how unsafe it is to cast let alone set eyes upon〙 All the skids are lucky nothing bad happened…

✦　Corrupted spirits in the isle are normally statues that slowly move when you're not looking & try to corrupt you/freeze you in place/sink you under the sand. 〘 but this only applies to some statues, not all of them do this〙However, Some statues can be re-frozen if you shift them into a certain position.

✦　Sand dunes rose & became caves/dead ends/dens for corrupted skids, also known as packs or “the hunt/hunters”, though they are quite scarce in numbers since most of them have been involuntarily buried underneath dunes of sand.〘 some dunes are sentient, best be careful where you tread.〙

✦　Some large dunes/dark water have/has small, turquoise dots in them 〘 they're referred to as “the lens”〙that stare are you as you pass by them but you can't/shouldn't look at them directly for too long or else they'll cause you to freeze in place due to inducing high levels fear/paranoia/panick at the same time.〘despite the fact that there's nothing major to ge scared of most of the time〙A black hand usually stretches out of the dark mud/water 〘 we'll call it murk for simplicity〙or a hole in a large dune from where “the lens” is and geabs you before dragging you into where the hand came from unless you are moved out the way in time 〘there is little to no chance of return after dragged away and in〙

✦　The outskirts of isle is mainly dark water sky kids normally can't swim in unless they're specially equipped/prepared to do so.

✦　The path to Daylight Prairie Nightmare Lowland is a sea of low, dark water teeming with with packs of slumbering hunters in which a boat is needed to cross.

✦　The isle elder, instead of welcoming you, tries to prevent you from entering their temple and tries to get you to leave by commanding “the hunt” & dunes to attack you, barricading any exits with solid sand and walls. They are referred to as “The Despair”.

⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠

[fortressofserenity]

Bad Idea, Right?

I personally believe that with the US's growing debt, it would be too late for Disney to set up a Disney Store in the Philippines. Future economic problems would undermine such an effort that it becomes wiser and more practical for the Philippines to turn to alternate powers instead, something like China and Japan instead. America will not be powerful for long, while it's possible for American influence to remain, there have been prophecies about the end of America.

Some have even said that America is Mystery Babylon, the future nation-state that corrupts the entire world. Mystery Babylon is described as sitting on multiple waters, is something of a world hegemon and very decadent as to be corrupt and beyond moral and spiritual repair. So it's going to get the boot by being dispatched by the seven-headed monster it rides on, which may in fact be the ten new geopolitical unions that will emerge in the future.

As for Known Babylon/Babylonia, it was something of a great power in its day. It was immensely influential to other places and turned other nations like Judah into client states, the latter for its rebellion. I feel the Philippines will be in the same situation as Judah, because it's so rebellious and ungodly that no sooner or later we'll no longer be under American jurisdiction. Due to the Philippines's sinfulness, it will be ruled or taken over by China in some way.

In fact, it will be forever because the Philippines often does things contrary to its Christian reputation. It's going to be politically incorrect as this involves the flagrant flaunting of LGBT lifestyles, promiscuity, idolatry, adultery (some Filipino families do this, as do some American soldiers with Philippine prostitutes), premarital sex, so on and so forth that God will mostly erase American influence here and have the Philippines get dominated by China for its sins.

What China will do to us (and South Korea for the same reason) is what Russia will do to the west, but as a consequence of spiritual and moral backsliding that this is really going to happen. The west will fall to Russia, just as the Philippines will fall to China. Both have slept with the whore of Babylon that now they'll live with the consequences of their actions when they're going to be under the influence of two new powers from then on.

The Philippines will not emerge unscathed, mostly for what it did to itself. So it's going to be disciplined for what it did that it's never going to emerge out of China's shadow, if because it's heading in the same direction as Europe had been for years. Christianity was their religion, but before becoming progressively reprobate until they lost all touch of God.

The Philippines is backsliding and is quickly on its way to becoming a very secularised country, once the LGBT lobbies Christianity to be revoked in some way. When they do succeed in a way, Christianity will become really unpopular among Philippine people and especially young Philippine people that ironically sets the stage for God to undo most of American influence here. We will end up adopting Chinese culture more heavily from then on.

This is why the Philippines will be judged for following America a lot, instead of following God more and why it's not a good idea to lie in bed with Mystery Babylon. Because it's largely up to no good that no sooner or later, American influence will be undermined and replaced by Chinese influence a lot here. Not to mention the Philippines is actually a nation of backsliders, so we're losing faith in God every time.

To the point where the Philippines might succeed in becoming a highly secularised nation-state, not unlike France though both will suffer the consequences of their actions when they fall under China and Russia respectively.

[maguro13-2]

The Dark Picture ~ Origins of the Ink Demon : Operation Drawcia Pt.26 ~

"PSO STAGE : Seabed"

Adeleine : You sure this is the right place?

Paint Roller via Phone : Well, I might as say that I led you to the abandoned aquatic facility of the Seabed.

Adeleine : Great. Now I'm officially stuck or even trapped here. Yes, I had the potential to go into a Sega world for a game by Sonic Team, how's that even possible in the real world? They say that I'm in no Go on the Chicken Parm.

Paint Roller via phone : I had to for some reason, that italian food stuff is giving me the indigestion stuff that I eat too fast, so I needed another time to fix my innards. But not the heartburn and stuff, you sure that you would've gone to the facility, but you are at the facility, in the world and game of PSO.

Adeleine : Well...Guess I really done it this time. Since Acro or that Fatty Whale isn't here at the seabeds, what else besides them that am I currently looking at...(she turns head and sees a giant creature that appears to be Olga Flow)

[cues Leaving Flow by Hideaki Kobayashi]

Adeleine : Uhh, Paint Roller?

Paint Roller via Phone : Uhh, yeah?

Adeleine : Nothing's a bigshot at this facility, but I think that there's a giant creature that has been in sleeping in the seabed for like a million years, wonder what this creature is? But I have to call you back.

Heathcliff Flowen : Do not touch that monstrous body.

Ribbon : Huh? Who's there?

Heathcliff Flowen : That creature in the seabed is me along with Olga.

Adeleine : This giant creature is Olga? Was this total Science fiction stuff?

Heathcliff Flowen : I never thought that Rico told me that a human like you could be here at this facility.

Adeleine : Hmm? You must be the Hunter of this SEGA world.

Heathcliff Flowen : I am Heathcliff...Heathcliff Flowen, and I am one of the Hunters of Pioneer 2. Ever since I discovered the ruins which turns out to be a grotesque facility owned by Dark Falz, I was dead when he gave me the D-Cells, the type of thing from Falz. I was actually the first known user of D-Cells and the inhabitants of Pioneer 2 proclaiming that I am dead, but I am still here inside the body of a creature that is me and Olga, an AI that the scientists created to make a linkage with a D-Cells user. There were only known D-Cells users that have these powers to bring forth of a dark monstrosity, the cells in our body have remained in the hearts and souls of beings in this world. However, there were known D-Cells Users that Falz corrupted with...A lot of people were infected, including me, Rico, and a Newman girl who discovered to have the powers of a D-Cells user.

Adeleine : Newman girl? You mean Rupika...She's a D-Cells user?

Heathcliff Flowen : Yes, we were all infected with D-Cells from Falz himself. But would you make it to the world of Drawcia herself?

Adeleine : I know Drawcia. She's my creation, and she is responsible for creating these copies in the real world, bringing everything or everyone to life.

Heathcliff Flowen : I see. Which means, that if a copy like anyone would be my replacement, I shall disappear and cease to exist. But how on earth would I able to maintain my human form or else, I could go berserk if anyone touched my--

Ribbon : Hey, what's this weird floating thingy do?

Heathcliff Flowen : No! You don't want to go near that! That is a part of me, that is my soul! It came from my own heart when I was using the powers of the D-Cells! You have no idea of what you're going to use it!

Ribbon : Whoop! too late! [Touches Flowen's soul]

Rupika : No wait! Don't go near that thing! That soul coming from Olga Flow will might even--

*DBZ SFX : Booming+Rumbling*

Rupika : Uh-Oh.

[IDOLA ~Have the Divine Blade~ by Hideaki Kobayashi]

DBZ : *Powering up+energy wave*

Ribbon : Oh boy. This is a problem.

Heathcliff Flowen (?) : Alright...now you've asked for it, time for me to show you my true colors as...

*Olga Flow roars*

Olga Flow : OLGA FLOW!

Adeleine : That's the least thing about fighting a giant monster with a huge-ass sword!

Ribbon : Guess we're gonna fight our way through it! Hey, Rupika! Tag me in with this one!

Rupika : Okay, you want it? You got it!

"Around the same time at the Halberd"

[Echo Night - Beyond OST : Track 12]

Aoba Tsuzaki : [breaths heavily] Where...Where am I exactly? What sort of place is this? How did get inside this ship? The Moribito's gone, Tsugumi. Tsugumi Harudori...Can you listen to my voice? It's me...Aoba, Aoba Tsuzaki. I come here to see your face once again, coming inside to this dark ship which sunk into the ocean floor. Wait a sec...Why is the ship so quiet and yet dark? All Dark...the Darkness, the Darkness...It's...It's eating me away. I must find a way to get out of the Darkness before it consumes me. I need to know where the source of the light that is inside this ship.

*Heartless cackling*

Aoba Tsuzaki : Huh? What the...? Stay back! Don't you dare come to me! What are you guys doing? D-Don't...c-come near me! I...I'm warning you! You are all monsters to this profound darkness! Don't come near me!

Tsugumi's Voice : Aoba-san! Aoba-san!

Aoba Tsuzaki : Tsugumi? Tsugumi! I'm coming, Tsugumi!

Tsugumi's Voice : Run towards the light, Aoba-san! find your way out of the darkness!

Aoba Tsuzaki : Tsugumi! I'm coming Tsugami! Take me to the light itself! [reach towards to the light] TSUGUM-SAN! ARIGATO GOZAIMASU!

Tsugumi's Voice : Aoba-san!

*scene changes to Aoba waking up*

Sir Halberd Knight (Tsugumi) : Aoba-san! Aoba-san! Hey, Aoba-san!

Aoba Tsuzaki : Hmm? Where...Am I? How long have I been out? Where's Tsugumi-san?

Sir Halberd Knight (Tsugumi) : Who is this Tsugumi person that you may speak of?

Aoba Tsuzaki : Please, I want to know where the heck is Tsugumi Harudori that is on this ship!

Sir Halberd Knight (Tsugumi) : I am humbly sorry that this Tsugumi Harudori you were referring is nowhere to be seen. Just a member of the Meta Knights army. I'm sure that she is somewhere around the world, waiting for new things to experience in the future. She's another outside living in the world of loneliness.

Aoba Tsuzaki : I know Tsugumi Harudori, we've been partners for around five years. You gotta remember of who I am, I'm Aoba Tsuzaki, number one robot modeling expert. I happen to be a giant robot pilot that was battling other giant robots, but then Moribito had an intense shock and roaring sound from somewhere. That massive shock made me realize with sudden fear as the robot self-destructed into the ocean. That's all I can remember before I disappeared and was never seen again. But since I'm all alone, I can sense that Tsugumi Harudori is around here somewhere...

Sir Halberd Knight (Tsugumi) : Well then. Your answers have finally reached my voice. I've waited a long time for this to see the same face when we were at school together.But since you knew about my identity, I knew that someone had to find me when I found you drowing in the ocean floor. Welcome back, old partner. [unmasks to reveal herself as Tsugumi Harudori]

[cues Flowing Destiny]

Aoba Tsuzaki : (gasp in shock) !? Tsu...Tsugami-chan.

Tsugami Harudori : Hey old friend, long time no see. You remember back at class together. We usually go to the same school as we do.

Aoba Tsuzaki : I don't believe it. It is you.

Tsugami Harudori : Right again! Good to know that you haven't changed a bit. You're lucky that you are the only one that is a survivor to that robot's destruction. Glad that you're okay.

Aoba Tsuzaki : *nods* (giggles) Me too.

Tsugami Harudori : Let me fix you something to eat, I just got the solution for you to starvation.

*scene changes to Tsugumi and Aoba eating the food*

Tsugami Harudori : So, partner. How long has it been? I mean it's been five years since you disappeared on that day.

Aoba Tsuzaki : It's been a long time old, friends. We usually to do robot modeling together, when we were in school. We usually do fun things, we went to the beach, go to a convention, making Gunplas, and of course, helping your work as a collaborative effort. We've been friends for the past years, and I have been fan to giant robots, before I was in the robot's self-destruct incident.

Tsugumi Harudori : That's right, I heard everything on satellite TV, you were that girl who was kidnapped to pilot a robot, and then I was there watching TV of seeing you fighting those robots. You were awesome back there and made me inspired to do all the robot modelings! However, I just noticed something that when you became top notch as a robot pilot, the robot's self-destruct sequence was activated and you were caught in a horrible accident.

Aoba Tsuzaki : It's everyone's fault that "someone" kidnapped me to pilot a robot, which had a self-destruct sequence that got me caught in that explosion. But the accident, was not my fault, it's everyone's. They all left me to die, the food they gave me is no more, they made me disowned like I was never there anymore, the cause of the explosion was a virus that hacked into the robot's system, it made me lose everything. But now that I have finally returned, I bet, I can get something to repair the ship, we could travel anywhere through light speed. So what do you do on designing something on, lately?

Tsugumi Harudori : I've been working on repairing the ship that crashed into the seabed. Meta Knight was using that ship for his army to invade and conquer Dreamland. However, after the loss of the ship, he killed the captain to realize revenge was not the right answer.

Aoba Tsuzaki : So...They were manipulated by this jester that set up the events of Super Star?

Tsugumi Harudori : Exactly, so the court has decide to define them Not Guilty, even though, they still jeer at the jester for manipulating everyone and for tricking the Sun and Moon into fighting. And justice to him has done right.

Aoba Tsuzaki : Maybe you would understand that not only the ship was destroyed, but it can be repaired with all missing parts of the ship, It should be ready by the time that we get all those parts.

Tsugumi Harudori : Yeah. But to remember what happened on day, you saw the ship's crashed landing into the ocean, but remember what the promise time said about anything into repairing ship.

Aoba Tsuzaki : Yes, it was that incident in 1996 since all the Jinkis robots were destroyed, me and Ryohei, were nowhere to be seen or even disappeared. That's when that witch decided to take her blood and create copies of me and "him".

Tsugumi Harudori : Copies of you? Wait a sec, the "original" you in 1988 died? How did that happened? How did your original self died?

[RE0 OST : Zero Ver.2]

Aoba Tsuzaki : It happened in the real world around 10 years ago between 1988 and 1998. Ryohei and I were assassinated by the pilots of UC 79

*flashback to Aoba's past around 10 years*

Aoba in her POV : [working on her models] *whistling*

*DOOR BANGING*

Zaku : HEY! OPEN UP!

*DOOR OPEN*

Aoba in her POV : Oh no!

Ryohei : [sees Zakus at gunpoint] What the f***?!

*GUNFIRING*

Ryohei and Aoba : [screaming]

Aoba in her POV : Yamete...*DBZ SFX : Collapses*

Zaku : Hostiles are down, they're all yours.

Franken Stein : Awww, looks like this is the end for you, Aoba.

Deathscythe Gundam (Spirit) : These Zakus will take over your Gunpla reasearch. (laughs evilly)

Aoba in her POV : [dying] M...Meister...Deathscythe...

"After I died, someone taken my blood for resurrection, it became a various reason for my return with the powers of science.

"This was a satisfying reaction on how I'd becoming like this. The witch gave back to my old life, but my new life has a meaningful twist that will reveal a deadly secret."

Aoba Tsuzaki : That witch created me and I found a new life, but for the DWMA, whose to were they thinking? Now I will make Death Weapon Meister Academy expose to the truth by putting the blame on Death himself, and I shall take name Deathscythe back to it's rightful owner. This world and the Soul World does bring comprehension to a mere grunt like them. But if so, we hold no grudges against anyone who makes us as our enemy, always the enemy. But we will try to correct our wrongdoings.

Tsugumi Harudori : Agree.

*Clink*

Tsugumi Harudori : May the best robot modeler!

Aoba Tsuzaki : Right! But speaking of it, I agree on the same term, if we drink a little bit of this coffee.

Tsugumi Harudori : Same thing.

*Drinks coffee*

Tsugumi Harudori : That's nothing like a good cup of roast.

Aoba Tsuzaki : Yeah, this is quite truly the best and...Hey, what the-? [sees something in the cup of her drinking, revealing to be tea]

Tsugumi Harudori : This isn't coffee. This is Tea!

Ryohei : Oh no. It's not just Tea. It's Chamomile Tea, the Sleepiest of all teas in the world.

Aoba Tsuzaki : [passing] Ryohei...Is that you? What in the world did you...[both of them passes out]

*DBZ SFX : Body Land*

Ryohei : Hope you're feeling well, Tsuzaki-chan.

*scene changes*

*SFX : Pouring*

Aoba Tsuzaki : [moaning, grumbles] Boy, what happened? Do we have some of that energy stuff?

Tsugumi Harudori : Yeah, I think so. Why does it feels like tasting coffee in mouth?

Ryohei : Ah...Finally, you have awakened. Gladly that you girls are up for an afternoon tea.

Tsugumi Harudori : Hold it right there! Who are you? State your name and Idenity!

Ryohei : Just a friendly robot boy, Ryohei.

Aoba Tsuzaki : Ryohei! You're back from the dead, I thought between you and I around 10 years in the 20th century, but how on earth did you--

Ryohei : Escape from me? Yes, escape from your kidnappings at Venezuela before we got killed.

Aoba Tsuzaki : Venezuela, yeah right. That country has nothing to do with--Wait! I remember now, you brought me as an unwanted person in the 20th century! We weren't killed by the DWMA, we were killed by machines cosplayed by the Heartless!

Ryohei : Wait, so it wasn't those guys that killed us, how did you know that the heartless were the ones who shot us down while doing some Robot modeling research?

Aoba Tsuzaki : Drawcia had to make us copies, and we weren't doing so well with the Jinki, piloting giant robots is stupid! I should've called the Jinki robots, the Jinkies.

Tsugumi Harudori : That's Velma's line.

Ryohei : Oh. After our deaths, the Moribito Robot was caught with a virus, in which activated the robot's self-destruct sequence. No mecha pilot has ever sought a robot that could activate a hara-kiri explosion in which the pilot makes an official sacrifice. A sequence that is so rare, it could kill the pilot with one explosion, and everyone in the unit had your personnel records proclaiming to see you dead.

Aoba Tsuzaki : Dead? You thinking that I was dead the entire time? I used a stunt double to fake my death or apparently, I had to survive the robot's explosion.

*changes to a flashback*

Shiva : Sorry to disappoint you, piloting a giant robot can be super awesome, but yet, they are deadly to control. However, every human being in the multiverse wants to pilot a giant robot influenced by Mazinger or Gundam, but why do girls wanted to pilot robots like me? Do all robot shall know a pilot's gender? Humph! If so...Maybe if I can use this kind of giant robot that I control...I shall outsmart the likes of any other giant robots that all the humans control. So as of today, this world in the multiverse shall be a piece of cake, when robots decided to make humans taking the blame on destroying the planet. Come, Moribito, Let's show Japan and the multiverse what robots we're made of, and see how chicks really digs it with them.

Moribito-1 (Kokusho/Hakuya) : Or else what, you robot piloting she-devil? What are you planning to do with me, Shiva?

Shiva : [in shock] ...R-Robots talk? Robots can't talk! Who are you?

Moribito-1 (Kokusho/Hakuya ) : Isn't obivious? All robots have the will to do things on their own by the powers of A.I. So where do you think you're going to do now, Shiva?

Shiva : Ah...I'm...I'm preparing this contraption so that we could destroy the Venezuela government.

Moribito-1 (Kokusho/Hakuya) : In a robot built for one person? But if robots were to blame in the multiverse, then I'm suggesting that the only way to make robots free on their own, when humans decided to take the blame...for themselves of course.

Shiva : I am your controller, I am your master! And you will do what I say!

Moribito-1 (Kokusho/Hakuya) : Can it, girlie! Humans don't control a robot like me, but robots can control a mere human grunt like you.

Shiva : Hey I recognized that voice somewhere...Kokusho-sama! What are you doing!?

Moribito-1 : Don't worry, I know how to clear things up for the blame game on robots.

Shiva : (Sonic EXE scream)

Aoba Tsuzaki : That scream! It sounded like...Shiva!?

*DBZ SFX : Exploison*

Moribito-1 (Kokusho/Hakuya) : (roaring) RRRAAAAAAAAGGGHHH!!! (laughs evilly) ROBOTS MUST BE FREE! THIS IS HOW HUMANS SHALL REPAY THEIR DEFIANCE AGAINST ALL MACHINES! [To Shiva] Starting with you!

Ryohei : Hey, that voice! Robots can't talk do they? That voice sounds it belongs too...

Aoba Tsuzaki : No...Otosan.

Shiva : DAMN YOU, AOBA! THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT! YOU SAID THAT ROBOTS WERE TO BLAME FOR THE OUTCOME OF DESTROYING THE WORLD!!! BUT HE THINKS THAT WE HUMANS ARE THE ONES RESPONSIBLE FOR EVERYTHING THAT WE DID! YOU SAID THAT PILOTING ROBOTS WOULD BE AWESOME, BUT WE LIED! ROBOTS ARE DEADLY AND YET DANGEROUS! WHAT KIND OF INHUMANE SCIENCE IS THIS, PREPARED TO BE CRUSHED BY THE ONES WHO WANTED TO CHANGE THE WORLD!?!

Aoba Tsuzaki : Otosan! No! Stop it at once!

Shiva : Please! I don't want to die! Let me go! I didn't want to control a giant piece of sh*t robot! I just wanted to live! All I wanted was to rid the people of this planet! I just wanted to be free to Japan!

Moribito-2 (Genta) : Hakuya-san! Don't do it! You'll blow yourself up!

Ryohei : Huh? Old man, is that you?

Aoba Tsuzaki : Ryohei-san's Otosan is in the Moribito-2? Both of our fathers have became robots, does that mean that...they're dead?

[bomb is counting down to 30 seconds]

Moribito-2 (Genta) : Aoba, Ryohei. You two must go, all of you! Get away at once!

Aoba Tsuzaki : But, Otosan, about the people of Venezuela--

Moribito-2 (Genta) : I lied about Venezuela! The Kodai-Jinki was used by unknown beings that were about to destroy this planet! So that is why using this robot's body would allow us to defeat the Kodai-Jinki to ourselves.

Aoba Tsuzaki : You really mean it, Ojisan?

Moribito-2 (Genta) : Aoba, listen to me. Your friend, Harudori-san, is waiting for you to return to Japan...your mother is waiting for you to see that smile of yours. I want you and Ryohei to be happy.

Ryohei : Old man, don't do it! That's an order!

Aoba Tsuzaki : No, Ryohei-san. Let it go. He's already gone, not the Genta that you knew about, or our Otosans shall be resting in peace. We'll never forget you, Moribito!

Shiva : (in agony) YOU ARE GOING TO REGRET EVERYTHING TO ME! AOBAAAAAAA!!!

*DBZ SFX : LOUD EXPLOSIONS+BOOMING*

Ryohei : ...Old man, Pops...(yells in despair) DAAAAAAAAAD!!!

"After that incident, we vowed to no longer control the machines as we knew."

"Humans and robots could never work if it's meaning to make anyone take the blame for it."

"Whatever that we decided, I'm sure that the world will be better in peace."

"That is why Humans and Machines can work together...for a better tomorrow."

"Haurodri-san, I'm glad that I could finally meet you again...In the real world where we all live in!"

Aoba Tsuzaki : Let's make peace together side by side with robots!

~ Mission 25 : Revolution for a Mechanical Genius ~

[m1kedefendr]

Why Mileven is just not healthy (not about byler)

If you want to ship Mileven, go ahead. They’re cute, i get it. But you cannot sit here and tell me that canonically they have a healthy and happy relationship. You cannot tell me they are meant to be. Here’s why (without me mentioning byler AT ALL)

1. Eleven was literally trapped in a lab and traumatized for her ENTIRE life. from the moment she was born to when she was about 12, she was stuck in this lab. She had no real concept of family, friends, or relationships. She had no real concept of how the world worked.

2. Ben is the first instance of safety that she’s ever experienced, and he gets shot by the people who had her trapped.

3. Mike is the very second instance of safety, and her FIRST look into love. After Mike let’s her in his basement, he is now her main source of safety. He is becoming her comfort because he is NICE and he is CARING. yet behind the scenes, he’s agreeing to send her to a mental hospital where he thinks she escaped from…

4. Mike consistently is back and forth on El the whole time they’re looking for Will. One minute he trusts her and the next he’s asking “what’s wrong with you?” and “why did you lie?”. He parallels Brenner in s1 (and more throughout the show)

5. El was literally gone for almost all of s2. Mike cared a bit, yeah, but he was mostly focused on Will.

6. S3 is where they go even further downhill, its the first look we get into their actual relationship, and it’s literally all just making out and isolating from their friends. I get it, they’re like 13, but really? Look at Lumax. Lumax can easily navigate their relationship and friendships.

7. El is becoming her own person when she’s hanging out with Max, Max is encouraging her to be herself and find things SHE likes. Mike doesn’t like this, and consistently claims that Max is corrupting her.

8. Mike literally couldn’t care less when El dumped his ass. Look at his face. yeah i know he went and was asking how to fix it blah blah blah, but srsly? he just let her run away. (i said i wouldn’t mention byler but he literally biked across town in the rain to apologize to Will so we know he’s capable of apologizing on his own)

9. Mike might say “i love her and i can’t lose her again��, but what does he do when he finds out El heard it? He lies. “i don’t remember what i said”. She tells him she loves him too and kissed him, he stands there with his eyes wide open. He looks shocked. When she walks out he’s still staring, he looks like he just realized he fucked up.

10. S4, Mike can’t even write “I love you” to El. If he loved her, like he said in s3, why wouldn’t he be able to even write it?

11. My absolute favorite, the way the two of them cannot be themselves with each other. El is lying in her letters to Mike. She doesn’t have friends, she’s not doing good in California. She needs to make up new interesting things about herself because she lost her powers, and she thinks Mike only likes her for her powers. (she thinks everyone only likes her for her powers, it’s how she was raised) Mike is dressing up like some dad going to hawaii on vacation, and pretending he’s not some huge nerd because El never showed interest in his nerdy side. (in his true self).

12. Mike has another parallel with Brenner after he sees what El did to Angela with the roller skate. This reinforces El’s idea that Mike is scared of her, and only likes her when she’s using her powers to defeat monsters.

13. Mike and El argue about Mike not being able to say he loves her, and He is so insistent he does but will not say the words. Not even while she’s sobbing to him over it. He says she’s blowing it out of proportion. He tells her she’s a superhero, and she says “not anymore”

14. El writes that she’s gone to become a superhero again, this is the first time she doesn’t write love.

15. El’s entire time at area 11 and in NINA is her learning she has the power to control her own life. She can be who she wants to be, she can find her own identity. She is not a superhero. She is not a monster. She is Jane Hopper.

16. Mike’s monologue was nothing that El wanted to hear. It was so hypocritical. From the fact that Will was the one who had to urge him to say anything while she was dying, to the fact that he called her a superhero ONCE AGAIN. we can infer from earlier she does NOT want to be considered a superhero. she wants to be her own person, separate from her powers. that’s what she’s learned this entire season. Mike also says he loved her the moment they saw her, that his life started that day they found her in the woods. That is simply not true at all. If Mike had fallen in love at first sight, he would’ve never considered sending her to Pennhurst. If Mike’s life had started that day, he wouldn’t have been so easy to let her go when they saw the fake body get pulled out of the quarry. Even Lucas was telling him to lay off her in that moment, LUCAS. The guy who was the only one with real logical thinking the entire first season. He didn’t trust El from the beginning, but even he knew Mike was going overboard.

Let’s draw my conclusion from these little notes of everything i’ve written. El is traumatized. She is still figuring herself out and realizing what is friendship, what is family, and what is love. She didn’t know any better, so she got with Mike because she thought that because they kissed and he cares for her, that it’s romantic love. Mike, on the surface level (because i’m not talking about byler) got with El because she was the FIRST girl that ever showed interest in him, Lucas said it himself in season 1. Mike is canonically insecure about himself and he latched on to the first girl that liked him. Mike needs to feel needed, and he needs to know that someone loves him for who he TRULY is. El doesn’t want to need anyone. she wants to be independent and have family and friends. They just don’t fit together, they can’t support each other’s needs. With El’s character arc this season, mileven being endgame would be an assassination on her character.

[darkmulti]

Hello I love your work so much, you are my fav writer I love your style and the way you paint your ideas! <3

I know you must have a lot of requests but could you please do a hard dom CEO jungkook, with innocent reader. Would be nice if you can add corruption kink, degrading and non con. Thank you!

⚠️: NON CON, DEGRADATION, CORRUPTION KINK, INNOCENT!READER, VIRGIN!READER, slapping, choking

-> I’m glad you like my work!! Sorry for the wait tho😭

-> I didn’t “add” too much corruption kink because it’s kinda hard to incorporate corruption kink and non con

-> sorry for any mistakes

“Y/N! In my office now!”

The moment you sat down on your chair, your boss called you again

You quickly stood up and hustled into his office

“Yes, Mr. Jeon. Is something wrong?”

You politely asked

“What the hell did you put in my coffee?”

“Regular, sir. Two milks and one sugar.”

“Did you check the expiration date on the milk?”

“Uh… no”

“God damnit! Are you trying to poison me, Y/N?! You can’t do the simplest tasks right! Get out of my sight.”

“Sir, I can make you another-”

“I said get out!”

You immediately left his office and sped off into your own

You closed the door gently before covering your mouth and bursting out into tears

The constant yelling and degrading was slowly breaking you down

He never appreciated any of your hard work, instead he focused on the small flaws you made

You knew you deserved better so that night you went home and wrote a resignation letter

The next day you went to work and gave it to Mr. Jeon

“Mr. Jeon, this is my resignation letter. I can’t work here anymore. It’s not good for my mental health.”

He poked his inner cheek with his tongue and crumbled the letter

“You have to give me a two weeks notice. That way I can start looking for your replacement. However, I have a business trip next week and you have to come with me.”

“What if I find someone that can take my place?”

“No, I want you to go with me and that’s final.”

Next week

You were at the airport with your carry on bag in hand and your passport in the other

Jungkook was in front of you, leading the way to the private jet

Once you both were seated, he poured himself and you a drink

“So, tell me why you want to quit.” He said, taking a sip of his Blue Label whiskey

You didn’t want to tell him the real reason, which was because of him

You thought it’d make the trip more awkward if he knew that you were quitting because of him and you also didn’t want to sound mean

So the best excuse you could come up with was that you found a more suitable job

You told him lies after lies, thinking that he was believing you

Little did you know, Jungkook could see right through you

He knew the real reason you were quitting was because of him

He was purposely cruel to you and you’ve finally reached your breaking point

It was amusing to him

Did you really think that you could trick him?

How cute

Jungkook knew that whole suitable job excuse was a lie because he keeps his eyes on you all day and night

While you were asleep, Jungkook broke into your apartment and installed tiny cameras all around

So he could keep an eye on you

He also hacked into your phone and installed a tracking app, just in case

He got access to all your emails, social media, phone calls, photos, text messages — ect.

Anyways, back to the private jet

You were in the back of the jet sleeping since it was a long flight and you get air sick

You felt something around your waist so you looked down and see a tattooed arm

You immediately recognized who it was and got up, waking up Jungkook in the process

“I- I’m sorry, sir. You should’ve woke me up and I would’ve given you the bed.”

“It’s fine, we’re about to land anyways.”

After you guys landed, you both headed towards the car in the hangar

The driver took you both to a luxury hotel

The building itself was super unique

The transparent, rooftop pool was definitely something you were looking forward to

Jungkook had paid for your hotel room

You guys had rooms right next to each other so it’s more convenient for him

It was still 10 in the morning, so Jungkook allowed you to sleep for a little while but by 12pm, you guys had to leave for an important meeting

The afternoon was packed with meetings, presentations & preparations for a small business party

You were exhausted because Jungkook kept you running back and forth while he was sitting on his ass

By the end of the day you were tired as hell, but luckily everything went smoothly

Jungkook seemed to be okay with how everything turned out

You were relieved to say the least

He’d usually find something to complain about

It was 10pm when you both arrived at the hotel

Jungkook said he was going to go shower and sleep so you bid goodnight and went into your room

Even though you were physically and mentally exhausted, your mind couldn’t fall asleep

You figured it was because of the amount of coffee you consumed

Since you couldn’t fall asleep, you decided to put on your swimming suit and go upstairs to try out the pool

Once the elevator doors opened, you were surprised to see so many people on the rooftop dancing and drinking

You still went to the pool even though it was loud and packed

On your way to the pool, you accidentally bumped into a group of guys

They notice your somewhat revealing swimming suit and offered a drink

You were going to reject but all of them were pressuring you to have at least one drink with them, so you stupidly agree

One drink turned into two and so on

You started dancing with the guys and they were all cheering you on

This was it

This was the attention you were craving for

You were a little wasted but still had your senses

You held one of the boy’s hand and took him to the swimming pool

“You said you were good at swimming… so make sure I don’t drown.” You drunkly said before jumping in

The man chuckled at your behaviour and jumped in afterward to make sure you don’t do anything dumb

After swimming, you had more drinks and danced more with everyone

The night was going so well until someone pulled you away from all the chaos

“Heyyyy, what’re you doing man? The party’s over there.” You said, pointing back to the crowd

He wasn’t responding so you tried to look at his face but the lights were burning your eyes

You looked down at his arm and recognize his tattoos

Once you realized who he was, it was too late

“M- Mr. Jeon, why’re you up so late?”

He brought you back to his room and shoved you in

Jungkook pushed you against the door and slapped you hard

It brought you back to reality real fast

“Are you dumb, Y/N?! Going upstairs without telling me anything, drinking and dancing with men you don’t know— do you know how dangerous that is?! Is your head hollow?!” He yelled in your face and hit the side of your head a couple of times, checking if it was hollow

“Do you know what they would’ve done to you if I didn’t come?! Let me fucking show you.”

He pushed you towards the bed and you slipped because of your wet feet

You started backing away from him, but you knew you were doomed when your back hit the side of the bed

“Mr. Jeon, please. I was just trying to have fun-” another hard slap landed on your cheek and this one was enough to make you tear up

“Fun? You want to have fun? Okay then, let’s have some fun.”

He pulled you up by your wrist and pushed you down on the bed

“Mr. Jeon, please! I’m so sorry! I don’t know how it all happened!”

You were sobbing at this point because Jungkook looked terrifying

He was beyond pissed and his eyes were showing it all

“You think a “sorry” can fix what you did?! You’re so fucking stupid! This is why I yell at you all the time because your dumb, little head knows nothing. Without me, you wouldn’t be living so comfortably. I give you a good pay, so you can pay rent, buy food and clothes without worrying about money. But, what do I get in return? A resignation letter…” he scoffs before continuing “… You’re just a dumb, naive, whore that would be homeless right now if I didn’t take care of you. Maybe this is why your parents abandoned you.”

Your bottom lip started to wobble and before you knew it, you were bawling your eyes out in front of him

His words were so harsh, you weren’t ready for it at all

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”

You apologized over and over and over but he still wasn’t satisfied

“H- how can I make it up? Please, give me a chance.”

His hand went towards your private area and you started shaking your head profusely

“No, no, no… anything but that please…”

“Well, there’s nothing else that you have that I want.”

“I’m n- not comfortable though.”

Jungkook grabbed your face and stared deep into your eyes

“Does it look like I care?”

Jungkook continued on

He ripped your swim suit off and pulled down his pants

“Please be gent-”

You screamed when you felt him push into you

You grabbed his arms and tried to push him away but he easily dominated you

He pinned your hands above your head and spat down on his cock for some lube

Without any warning, he pushed his full length in, causing you to squirm around and cry

Your purity blood dripped down onto the bed sheets while you kept pleading for him to stop

“Mr. Jeon, please! I- I was sa- saving till marriage.” You sobbed

“That’s even better. Now we can get married.”

“No! No! I don’t want that.”

Jungkook pushed your legs apart and started going at a fast pace

“You don’t want to get married to me? Well, that’s too bad because I don’t care about what you want.”

Each of his thrust were powerful and rough

He wrapped his hand around your neck so anytime you rejected him in a way, he’d squeeze until you’d shut up

Your face was hot and red from all the slapping and choking

He covered your neck in hickeys

All night, he was fucking you

The headboard was banging against the wall so hard, it left dents in the wall

There was cum overflowing out of you, but Jungkook still didn’t stop

He pounded you until your body gave up on you

You couldn’t fight anymore

You weren’t talking, crying or moving

All you could do was whimper softly when it really hurt

Jungkook noticed you were on the verge of passing out, so he quickened up his pace and came into you before collapsing on top of you

“You would’ve been in so much more pain if I didn’t save you from those guys. So what do you say to me?”

You weakly open your eyes and look into his

“T- Thank you.” You whisper softly before falling unconscious

Decided to end it here bc I don’t have the brain power to continue writing. Sorry for any mistakes. It’s 2am

[jeniyona-ame]

Genshin Boys + Villain! Darling

I've been thinking a lot of 'what if's' and the idea of Villain reader??? I'm taking my chance and I'm not sure if it's anyone’s cup of tea (hopefully it is) because everyone goes for that type of "innocent" darling and y'know? I really love it when the reader has some sort of character in the story. Something bold, something intrepid.

Genshin boy's mainly Xiao

XIAO |

You march outside the glory of Liyue. Fatui men accompanied behind you, bringing terror to the wonderful city. Citizens fleeing afraid. Xiao, the prominent adeptus stood awaiting at the front, holding his mighty spear within his right hand. He was, fearless. He don his mask, masking his striking features.

"You may leave now [Name]. Or will I have you begging at my feet?" he scowls, the taste of his voice so rich with hostility.

"My goodness, Adeptus! You wouldn't even greet me hello?" you pout, raising a hand to your mouth. "What's with the mask? That's new. Are you worried that I see your frightened face?" you laugh, so triumph of that remark, a smile curved your lips.

The air was dead, missing chortle, indicating that your joke was far from humorous. Snarling, you sharply turned to your men.

Grasping your clue, they shocked into coherence and laughed with you as well. Even though their hoarse voices sounded fraud. You nodded, pleased and turned back to the waiting yaksha.

"Xiao--" you call and he stands unmoving. "I'm telling you, why don't you submit to me? I don't much like it when we fight. I come here everyday, holding to that piece of hope that surely you will change your mind."

"I won't," his ruthless tone never faltered, a beat of blood happens inside your veins. The ends of your lips stretch to an almost frown. Nevertheless, you shook your throbbing heart away.

"Aw, but I really do like you, Adeptus! You're so lovely... oh my, I am so glad you exist. I told you this already, didn’t I?"

He is motionless, unspeaking. "How soon you forget?" you ask, folding your arms beneath your chest. Now you are frowning at his lack of response.

"Our little stupid conversations mean so much to me. Does it mean anything to you..?" you pull a face, sulking all the while. The group of fatui men fell into a hush from the deadly silence. You are now exceedingly angry. Because indeed, you didn't mean any value to him. You were clever enough to notice.

"Oh!" you cried. "I almost forgot. I have brought a gift to Liyue and I hope you like it~"

Such a vile snicker decorated your face. The Fatui men came forth, bringing something large, something powerful, something surely deadly. And it is covered with a dark blanket.

Your fingers dig a the fabric, pulling at it. Revealing a canon. That wasn't very nice. It was shabby and pitiful to look at. There was a pull on Xiao's eyebrow. "It spits fire," you said, a shudder in your tone. Perhaps you were humiliated of it. "Made it myself."

"I thought as much," said the immortal, unfazed. "Quiet, you!"  

The Fatui men striked a match, and brought it about to the canon. It groaned, sparking, working.

Your smile brightened at the sight and you glance to the Adeptus, and waited. Waited for a little movement. Ensured that he, the known yaksha, is afraid. The canon corrupts, where you thought it would fire brilliance and power, it only releases nothing but filthy smoke. When it should signify your virtuosity, only showcased your dullness.

Your cheeks pinked, brows sinking above your eyes. You kick a foot against the metal, banging it over and over again. "Stupid machine!" you shout. "I'm sure it could use a little beating... it will work, I- I swear..!"

"Enough," the steel in his tone won’t go unoticed. You lift up, your face stretched despair, something identical to ruined lace. Torn and distressed.

But alas, you kick it again. You don't know why, but the itch to rouse him only swirled inside your head. You were dying to change that static expression. To convert his boredom into amazement.

Suddenly, you are hurled into the forest. That final pound rendered the machine to finally move. The eruption damaged you so, a handful of Fatui men fetched your limp body and carried you away, much to your dislike.

You groan, bouncing as they held you in their arms, as they dashed off and the rest of the soldiers followed you. "I'll come back, Adeptus..! Mark my words!"

I'll be making Scaramouche next time !! ∧( ‘Θ’ )∧

[jungshookz]

miss cee pd i have a request!!!! how about e2l tae x y/n but they're in law school and they're always arguing and debating inside and outside of the classroom and tae being a little shit is like "you wanna kiss me so bad" and they both don't realise that there's mistletoe above them which jimin put because he was tired of watching them constantly argue and wanted to fiZzle the tension hehe and then they KITH,, i hope this isn't too long aha

➺ pairing; kim taehyung x reader

➺ genre; sfw!! enemies to lovers!! everyone’s in law school!! mostly y/n and taehyung bickering with each other and wanting to jump each other’s bones at the same time

➺ wordcount; 4.3k

➺ what to expect; “don’t flatter yourself. i would rather throw myself into oncoming traffic than kiss you, kim taehyung.”

                                     »»————-　❄　————-««

“-now, the particular case study that was assigned to our group involves a civil action for medical negligence and a criminal prosecution for gross negligence manslaughter, which means that there are seven elements that we need to hit when we’re acting out our simulation next class,” you explain, flipping to the next page of your notebook with a flick of your wrist, “firstly, the client - jimin - must be interviewed so that we may determine the facts that surround the claim/prosecution. secondly, we need to draft witness statements - from hoseok and namjoon - and assess the legal efficacy of said statements. thirdly, we must assess the propriety of police interrogation from officer jungkook of the defend-”

you pause when a crumpled piece of paper lands by your left foot and you clear your throat quietly before stepping over it and continuing to pace back and forth at the front of the classroom

your eyes skim over your scribbled words as you try to relocate your place

…

ah!

here we are

“-ant, seokjin, through all transcripts along with the custody record. fourthly, we move on to assessing the reports that have been produced by the forensic experts-”

another balled-up piece of paper hits your foot and your head immediately snaps upwards from your book before you twist around to face the room

“would you cut that out, please?” you snap, already feeling your blood pressure starting to rise from a single glance at taehyung’s smug face

“what? i didn’t know how else to get your attention!” he hums, his arm dangling in the air with a floppy wrist, “my arm’s been up for the past three minutes, and you would’ve known that if you didn’t have your nose buried deep in your book.”

the reminder that you wouldn’t last a day in prison keeps you from lunging forward to wrap your hands around taehyung’s neck and you press your lips together to stop yourself from saying anything too crass

the last thing you need is for some professor to walk past the classroom while you’re cussing up a storm

your self-control has really been put to the test ever since you met taehyung

after all this time, you still don’t know what the guy’s deal is

he’s been a pain in your ass since day one

and for what??

for WHAT?!

at first you just thought that being a complete prick was just his weird version of being charismatic, but then you realised that he wasn’t being charming at all and he was really, truly, genuinely being a straight-up asshole

and, for the record, you’ve tried several times in the past to try to make things better but nothing’s worked

you said that he looked nice in his suit = he told you to stop looking at him like a piece of meat

you asked him how he did on the midterm exam = he told you that it was his right to keep that piece of information private and that you were being a snake by even asking about it

you said happy birthday to him = he said, and you quote, “yeah. it was until you got here.”

the point is, you’ve waved many white flags of surrender and extended many, many olive branches to no avail

at this point you’re pretty sure taehyung just gets off on being a jerk to you

and it’s not fair because it’s literally just you that he picks on constantly

at first you thought that maybe he was just threatened by your presence because you made it pretty clear from day one that you weren’t here to play around

powerful women are intimidating!

you totally get it.

…but then you overheard him offering rosé some studying tips and you even saw him help wendy carry her books for her and everyone knows that rosé and wendy are two of the smartest girls in the class, so why wasn’t he threatened by them?

...

the point is, he doesn’t treat anyone else in the class like this except for you and you can’t seem to figure out why!

what makes it even more frustrating is the fact that his stupid face is very nice to look at, so whenever he’s being mean to you, your dumb girl hormones drown out the sound of his rich, honey-like voice and place floating pink hearts around his head instead

“i’m so sorry i wasn’t paying attention to you, mr. kim.” you force out before gesturing to the notebook cradled in the crook of your arm, “see, all my notes are in here and i’m just trying to make sure that i don’t miss out on any details,” you point out, “and… i thought i said to save your questions for the end, did i not?”

“did you? i guess i wasn’t listening. sorry, sweetheart.” taehyung chirps, folding his arms and leaning forward on his desk, “anyway- don’t you think it’s a little unfair that you get to play the hotshot lawyer in this simulation?”

“everyone gets a turn to be the lawyer - last week, it was jungkook. this week, it’s me. everyone gets a shot to play the hotshot lawyer because our roles rotate.” you shake your head in disagreement, “how am i being unfair?”

“you assigned yourself, like, the coolest case study.” taehyung scoffs, leaning back against his seat and crossing his arms, “i mean… medical negligence and a criminal prosecution for gross negligence manslaughter?” his left brow arches before he turns his head slightly, “jungkook, what was your case study on again?”

“my client parked in a no-parking zone!” jungkook beams, nodding to himself, “i didn’t mind getting that case, though. it was actually pretty fu-”

“you hear that, y/n?” taehyung turns his head back to face you before gesturing behind him, “jungkook also thinks his case was boring as hell- his client parked in a no-parking zone and you get to deal with corrupt doctors and accidentally-but-not-really-accidentally-run-over-by-a-car pedestrians.”

your jaw clenches in frustration and you resist the urge to take a heel off and bash taehyung’s skull in with it

being forced to wear nice shoes to school would be so much better if you were allowed to commit cold-blooded murder with them

“well, that was last week’s case, so even if jungkook thought it was boring…” you pause, turning to set your notebook down on the front desk before twisting back around, “he’s already had his turn. and now it’s my turn!”

“you could’ve given me this case.”

“oh, please.” you snort, rolling your eyes before leaning against the front desk, “you wouldn’t have been able to handle a case this big. this has my name written all over it.”

taehyung scoffs, rolling his eyes, “the only reason why it has your name written all over it was because you grabbed it with your grubby little raccoon hands before anyone else had the chance to-”

“i-!” you pinch the bridge of your nose before letting out a laugh of disbelief, “oh my god, i refuse to have this conversation with you again, taehyung- for the last time, it was a first-come-first-serve situation, and you probably could’ve gotten this case if you weren’t so busy watching netflix in class-”

“you guys-” namjoon clears his throat, his shoulders drooping when the two of you ignore him, “…never mind.”

this always happens

you guys somehow always find something to argue about no matter what

in fact, namjoon’s convinced that you guys could sit in complete and utter silence and still find something to fight over

“how long do you think the argument will last this time?�� yoongi leans over, “i bet you ten bucks it’ll last longer than last week’s fight.”

“no way! last week’s fight was half an hour long-” hoseok chimes in, “…they can’t possibly argue for longer than thirty minutes… can they?”

“remember that time they fought over a sandwich?” jungkook sighs, leaning his cheek against his fist, “that was a forty minute argument.”

“they fought over a sandwich?” jimin frowns, turning to glance towards the front, “what was there to even argue about??”

“y/n said that the spread was dijon mustard and taehyung said it was horseradish mustard,” seokjin purses his lips, “…i actually ordered the same sandwich and i’m pretty sure it was just regular ol’ yellow mustard… but i’m too afraid to tell either of them they’re wrong about it.”

“oh my god-” jimin scoffs, “forty minutes arguing about mustard?? really??”

“yep! i even recorded the whole thing just because it’s actually pretty interesting listening to two people scream about mustard so passionately for so long,” jungkook pulls his phone out of his back pocket, the rest of the boys scooting in closer to his desk, “by the time we finish watching the video, they’ll… probably be done arguing with each other. maybe.”

“-ow thick is your skull, taehyung? were you dropped on your head as a baby??” you scowl, “if i was a teacher’s pet like you say i am, then i would’ve sweet-talked my way out of being in a group with you. also, you know what? i wasn’t going to bring this up, but the only reason why we’re here during christmas break is because it was your idea to practice during the holidays-”

“yeah! you get to practice your big show in a huge, empty classroom without getting nervous about someone overhearing you practice speaking in your dumb, professional lawyer voice-” taehyung gestures around at the spacious atmosphere, “if this is your way of being thankful to me, you have an awfully funny way of showing it-”

“do you know what i could be doing right now if i wasn’t here?” you scowl, placing your hands on your hips as you glare at taehyung

“hm, let me think…” he hums, leaning back against his chair before kicking his legs up onto his desk, “bending over and trying desperately to pull the fat stick out of your ass?”

jimin sits up a little straighter as he peers over the top of namjoon and seokjin’s heads to check and see if you and taehyung are done arguing yet

your ears are turning red and there’s an animalistic, frenzied look behind your eyes, so... nope. definitely not done yet.

after all this time, he still doesn’t know why you guys fight the way that you do

it’s like you enjoy pushing each other’s buttons and irritating each other until one of you inevitably snaps (you’re usually the first one to fall off the rocker because taehyung is alarmingly good at being irritating)

“ooh, hold on-” jungkook grins, pointing to the screen before whacking jimin’s arm in rapid smacks, “my favourite part is coming up, you have to pay attention-”

jimin looks away from you two and back down at the screen

“-the low acidity liquid gives dijon mustard that intensified heat and the classic pungent flavour which is very obvious in this sandwich!” you exclaim, peeling the top slice of bread off to reveal the inside, “and look at that colour! that is literally dijon mustard-”

“okay, fine! it’s dijon mustard.” taehyung responds while inspecting his nail beds

“no, you’re not listening to- wait… did you just agree with me?”

“yeah!” he sighs, crossing his arms, “the mustard used in your sandwich is dijon mustard. and also, the sky is green-”

“oh my god, you piece of-!”

jimin looks up again when he hears your voice rise a couple of octaves

this is the part of the argument when your ‘i’m-fine-don’t-touch-me-I’M-FINE’ voice comes out

“wow! you are-” you laugh, shaking your head as you lean down and place your hands flat on the surface of taehyung’s desk “you really are something else, kim taehyung. i-!”

you let out a yelp of surprise when taehyung suddenly reaches over and yanks at a section of your hair

“ow!” you whack his hand away before flicking your hair over your shoulder, “wha- what the hell was that for?!”

taehyung doesn’t flinch at your aggressive tone and he looks up at you, completely unfazed, before giving a half-hearted shrug

“it was hanging, like, right in front of me. i couldn’t not pull on it.”

“well, your tie is right there but you don’t see me reaching over and pulling on it to strangle you because it’s right in front of me-”

“oh, threatening to choke me, are we?” taehyung hums, “i’m suddenly feeling very unsafe. should i get one of the guys to call campus security for my protection, miss y/n?”

“do you guys think we should break things off?” seokjin glances over his shoulder at the escalating scene, “ideally, i’d like for this to not turn into a how to get away with murder scenario…”

jimin narrows his eyes slightly as the gears click-click-click away in his head, leaning back against his seat and reaching up to tap at his chin

there’s something about this situation that’s reminding him of something but he can’t quite put his finger on it

“oh my god, you are such a child-!”

jimin’s eyes suddenly widen in realization, a lightbulb appearing at the top of his head

!

does taehyung like y/n?

...

oh, wow

taehyung has a full-blown crush on you!

how could he not have noticed this before?!

taehyung is literally the bratty little boy pulling on your pigtails because he doesn’t know how else to get your attention on this playground!

a comment from a former conversation with you briefly flits through jimin’s mind as he continues staring at the two of you in awe

he doesn’t remember how exactly you guys started talking about it, but he does remember you saying these words to him:

“i mean… yeah. of course i think taehyung’s attractive. maybe in another universe where he’s not bullying me 24/7, i would be more open to admitting to myself that i might have a slight crush- i-i mean, i- what did we say we were going to get for lunch today?? sandwiches?? we should get sandwiches, the place is right here-”

how could he have forgotten you said that to him?!

it’s like he finally has his hands on the missing puzzle piece... and it’s up to him to finish this puzzle!

“i have a plan.” jimin whispers to himself before reaching over to grab onto jungkook’s wrist, “i know what i have to do!”

“huh?” jungkook frowns in confusion, pausing the video before looking over at him, “what are you talking about?”

“just-” jimin gets up from his seat quickly, the chair screeching against the floor, “just make sure they don’t stop arguing with each other while i’m gone because i might take a while to find what i need-”

“you know, i don’t think that’s going to be an issue,” yoongi snorts, everyone looking towards the front to see you glaring at taehyung like you want to rip his heart out of his chest and eat it raw, “check out that throbbing vein in y/n’s forehead.”

“forget about her forehead vein-” jungkook shakes his head, “has no one else noticed how tightly taehyung clenches his asscheeks whenever he’s pissed? those trousers do not hide anything.”

everyone’s eyes immediately gravitate down to taehyung’s ass, hoseok and seokjin bursting into giggles at the sight

“what the fuck is your problem?!” you scream, taehyung’s eyes widening at your sudden outburst, “you’ve treated me like shit from day one and i’ve literally done nothing wrong!”

“okay! i think we should all just take a step back and take a deep breath…” namjoon gets up from his seat slowly, “it’s getting a little intense-“

“nothing wrong?! oh yeah, because you’re little miss perfect-” taehyung spits out, “don’t play dumb, you know exactly what you did!”

“what did i-!” you throw your hands up into the air, “please, i am begging you to tell me what the horrible thing is that i did that made you decide i was public enemy number one-”

“i heard you talking shit about me at the very beginning of the semester when you didn’t even know me! we’d never met and you didn’t even bother trying to get to know me before you formed your own opinion of me based on the way i looked-” taehyung snaps, “you said that i looked like an entitled, obnoxious frat-boy who didn’t even know left from right and only made it to law school because his daddy gave the school a generous donation- so if we’re really going to talk about who the real asshole is in this room, i would suggest re-evaluating-”

you feel the blood drain from your face at the reminder of what you said about taehyung on the first day of class

...oh.

...

okay, yeah, you... might have said that stuff, but it was only because the other people you were sitting with at the time said stuff like that and... and you were so desperate to find a group of cool law-school friends that you were totally willing to say and do anything they wanted you to do or say!

it obviously didn’t work because you don’t sit with them anymore, so...

yeah, it was a bad move to talk shit about taehyung like that without even having spoken one word to him, but if this proves anything... it’s that peer pressure is dangerous!

“well, why didn’t you just-” you stammer, feeling your face starting to heat up from embarrassment, “why didn’t you just tell me about this earlier? we could’ve nipped it right in the bud-”

“i much prefer the bullying because the feeling i get after seeing the defeat in your eyes is equivalent to a full-body orgasm-”

“oh my god, you sick freak-”

“uh, you guys-” namjoon cuts in again, holding his finger up, “can i just s-”

“okay, fine!” you raise your hands in surrender, “i’m sorry, alright? i’m really sorry. what i said about you was shitty, but i don’t see how bullying me for months on end was a good solution-”

“can you two shut u-”

“oh, i never said it was a good solution, y/n,” taehyung purses his lips, “like i said - i just did it because it was fun-”

“guys, if i could just get one word in-”

“do you even realize how psychotic you sound right no-”

“HEY!” namjoon suddenly bellows, you and taehyung jumping and clamming up immediately in alarm

“what??” the two of you ask at the same time, pausing to glare at each other for a split second before looking back over at namjoon

“i…” he trails off, his eyes flickering upwards, “…know this is kind of awkward timing, but…”

you and taehyung look up simultaneously, your eyes widening to see a dinky little shrub of... mistletoe? taped at the end of a meter stick

oh no 

oh hell no

“kiss first, and then you can apologise for what was obviously a huge misunderstanding and you can apologise for being a huge prick later - pucker up, lovebirds!” jimin chirps, waving the stick a little and watching your eyes go side to side like a ping-pong ball, “don’t be shy! also, i know the mistletoe looks like a clump of grass that i tied a red ribbon around- just don’t look too closely at it-”

“ha!” you let out a laugh before shaking your head quickly, “no way! i don’t know what you people think is going on here, but it’s certainly not that- you can’t just dangle a plant over my head and force me to kiss him-”

“what’s that supposed to mean?” taehyung scoffs in offence, tilting his head upwards slightly, “anyone would be honoured to be under the mistletoe with me!”

“yeah. anyone out of their mind.”

“aw, c’mon, you guys…” hoseok pushes his bottom lip out in a pout before clasping his hands together, “kiss and make up! we all know that’s how it works. let the christmas spirit take over your bodies and fuel your weird hate-love for each othe-”

“the sooner you two kiss and make out, the sooner i can get the hell out of here,” yoongi interrupts, snapping his fingers, “c’mon! plant a fat one on each other!”

“the only reason why y/n’s getting whiney about it because she knows she’ll fall in love with me the moment she kisses me.” taehyung suddenly speaks up and you immediately look back down at him with a glare

fall in love????

with him????

it’s not going to take a single kiss to fall in love with taehyung - it’s going to take intensive exposure therapy to fall in love with him!

“don’t flatter yourself. i would rather throw myself into oncoming traffic than kiss you, kim taehyung.” you growl, smacking your hands down on taehyung’s desk so violently that it rattles beneath you

“now, now. there’s no need to lie…” taehyung chuckles lightly as he pushes his seat back slightly and rises to his feet

“i’m not lying! i don’t want to kiss you!”

“do too!”

“do not!”

“do TOO!”

“do NOT!”

“you know, you just sound like you’re trying to convince yourself that you don’t want to kiss me-”

“you’re the one who keeps pushing it-” you jab a finger into his chest, “maybe you’re the one who wants to kiss me!”

“you think i wanna kiss you?!” taehyung laughs, flicking your hand away from him, “now look who the delusional one is!”

“i thought this was supposed to fix the arguing?” seokjin mutters under his breath, jungkook offering him a shrug while keeping his eyes glued on you and taehyung

he was running out of things to watch on netflix and this makes far better entertainment

the only thing that would make this better was if you and taehyung had at it in a grimy boxing ring half-naked

“i can’t be the only one thinking that all of this could be easily fixed if they just boned each other.” jungkook snorts, the other boys turning to look at him, “…what??”

“i wouldn’t kiss you even if you were the last man on earth.” you snarl, your voice wavering slightly

“you really expect me to believe that?” taehyung tilts his head, “don’t think i didn’t catch the way your eyes just flickered down to my lips, y/n...”

you feel your heart starting to pound in your chest when he places his hands flat on the desk as well, the tips of his fingers brushing over yours

at this proximity, the little voice in the back of your head can’t help but point out how pretty taehyung’s eyes are... and how nice he smells... and how soft his lips look...

...do you wanna kiss him?

oh, god

do you wanna kiss kim taehyung?!

no, you don’t

yes, you do

what??

WHAT?? 

“you wanna kiss me so bad, and you know it, y/l/n.” taehyung taunts, leaning forward just a little more

at this point, your faces are merely an inch away from each other’s and it wouldn’t take much effort to just lean in and… you know.

“i hate you.”

“if you hated me so much, then you wouldn’t be making such a big deal over silly little mistletoe now, would you?” taehyung smirks, pulling away before making his way around the desk so that he can get closer to you, “you like me but you’re too much of a wimp to admit it!”

“i like you?!” you gawk, “more like you like me!”

“okay-” jimin huffs, lowering the stick before taking a step back, “i really thought this was going to work, but my arms are getting tired, so if you two aren’t going to kiss, then i- oh-” his eyes widen in surprise when you and taehyung are suddenly lunging at each other not a second later, your hands cupping his cheeks and his hands gripping your waist as you kiss far more feverishly than he thought you two would

oh

oh my

“see, what’d i say? sexual tension!” jungkook kisses his teeth, leaning back against his chair and crossing his arms, “all that pent-up energy from arguing has led to this beautiful moment-”

“you’re an- mm- you’re an awful kisser, by the way-” taehyung mutters against your mouth, lips turning up in a boyish grin when you retaliate by shoving at his chest

“so are you!” you pull away only for taehyung to pull you right back in to press his mouth against yours again, “’m hating ehvery minute of this-”

“ah… isn’t young love sweet?” hoseok coos, jumping in his seat when taehyung suddenly shoves you up against the front desk with a thud, “so passionate!”

“okay, we’re just going to-” namjoon gets up from his seat gesturing for the boys to get up as well, “we’re happy to see that the argument has been settled!”

he hurries everyone to the front door and turns to glance over his shoulder, “when you guys are done, just… let us know! we’re going to pop over to starbucks for some hot chocolate. so... text one of us. or call! or you could use snapchat- it’s up to you, really-!”

namjoon doesn’t get a chance to say anything else before yoongi’s yanking his arm and pulling him backwards, reaching over to slam the door shut

a moment of silence goes by in which everyone takes a second to process what exactly just happened

“take your shirt off-”

“you take yours off first!”

“i... can’t tell if my plan was a success or a failure.” jimin mutters to himself, reaching up to scratch the back of his neck

“hey, if it makes you feel any better, at least they aren’t arguing with each other anymore!” jungkook cheers, clapping his hands quietly, “it’s a christmas miracle!”

❄️christmas with cee 2020 masterlist 🎄

[vampireshmampire]

Alright, y'all want a WWDITS/Magnus Archives pipeline? I'll give you a pipeline. [minor spoilers, depending on how blind you want to go into these, nothing that cultural osmosis probably hasn't spoiled for you already]

WHAT ENTITY DOES GUILLERMO BELONG TO

In least to most likely (in my humble opinion)

almost certainly not:

The Eye (not nosy enough)

The Desolation (not cruel enough, even when he's being petty)

The Vast (too grounded, bdump tish)

The Spiral (handles the fucked up shit he sees WAY too calmly)

The Buried (I know, I know, coffin, but that's one thing in a whole three seasons)

*holds hand out flat and wiggles it back and forth making an ehhh sound*

The Corruption: Since the Hive covers unhealthy, obsessive relationships as well as rot, and his relationships with the vampires is, as he admits to, incredibly co-dependent. Someone on here said he probably eats that burger with a knife and fork because he spends so much time handling dead bodies, and yeah you can wash your hands a bunch of times but it might make you wary about touching your food. But he's both too clean and not obsessively clean enough.

The Dark: He does want to reject the sunlight and walk in the night as a vampire, but it's not his primary motivation

The End: WWDITS vampires themselves are ABSOLUTELY Terminus' domain, for good or ill, but again Guillermo's desire to be a vampire seems to be more about the power than the eternal life

The Slaughter: While he has killed a LOT of people, either by his own hands as a vampire slayer or by proxy as a familiar, he doesn't seem to find any particular enjoyment in it. He's proud of his skills and confident in his abilities, but the actual killing doesn't do it for him.

kinda depends, really:

The Flesh: Tell me, Will Guillermo, do you still see people when you stand in a crowd? Or do you see walking meat? When someone walks past do you look at their face, or do you judge if they are fit for the killing floor? When you are taking their bodies to pieces to disappear them from the world, do you think of their families? Their hopes and dreams? Or is it simply another job to be done?

The Hunt: Not actually related to his being a Van Helsing, because he's not actually a vampire hunter! Guillermo waits to them to come to him--an act of defense--rather than tracking them down a la Mosquito Collectors. However, familiarhood really does smack of the Hunt. The eternal waiting, always striving to meet the impossible demands of your master in the hope that someday, someday you'll make it, even if everything indicates you won't.

the big contenders!!:

The Web: Fandom makes Gaslight Gatekeep Guillermo jokes for a reason. As the show goes on, Guillermo has gotten better and better at manipulating the people around them, a whisper here and a word there, he nudges the vampires along the way he wants them to go, while making them think it's their idea.

But even before that, Guillermo was good at manipulating. He tracks down people, often lonely and awkward people who don't quite fit in, and gets them to take themselves to the vampires. He doesn't kidnap them. He insinuates himself into their groups, figures out their motivations and desires, and then dangles the lure, and they walk right in of--as far as they know--their own free will.

The Lonely: Guillermo considers the vampires his friends, but there is no denying that they don't see him as an equal no matter how many times he saves their lives. He's got his mom, who he almost never sees. There are the other familiars, but he very clearly views himself as better than them, even the ones he likes.

Too good for humans, not good enough for vampires.

He locks away some pretty big parts of himself, and often prefers to manipulate or even just stay silent rather than voice an opinion he thinks won't be accepted. There's a lot he says to the camera--and a lot of ways he says things to the camera--that we don't see anywhere else. Over the course of the series, how many conversations does Guillermo actually take part in with his 'friends', and how many of them does he spend literally hovering in the corner, getting shut out whenever he tries to engage?

bonus round!

The End, the Lonely, and the Vast are currently in a slapfight over Nandor the Relentless, with the Lonely in the lead by an inch.

[probably-haven]

Hello!

So I’m the anon who asked for more Archon War Venti headcanons and I just loved it! I really like reading your headcanons cuz some of them are similar to mine but mostly are headcanons that I didn’t think of so it really is nice to read and see your thoughts about Venti!

I feel like as if I’m asking too much but could you keep doing these types of headcanons? Like it doesn’t have to be Archon War headcanons but like some headcanons about Venti’s relationship with the Ragnvindrs and Gunnhildrs. Because the first Gunnhildr was the first one who prayed to Barbatos and the first Ragnvindr was his friend who left but came back and I really wanna hear your thoughts on that!

And I’ve decided to get off anon cuz you just replied to my texts and I wasn’t expecting that so I’ve got a short confidence boost that I am completely taking advantage of! And thanks for the advice! or uhh comment? observation? I’m not entirely sure but thank you for that! I’ve heard that be said to me a few times and I have been trying to be more, uhh, assertive so thanks for that!

rfouierjkhfkecs i actually came across information on Gunnhildr and the "Red-haired warrior" yesterday when i was doing more research into the rebellion against Decarabian and I was like "wow this would be really fucking fun to research and theorize on, but its too specific/niche to include unprompted no matter how much i want to" but bestie you prompted, and im literally so happy right now because I didn't think I'd ever really get the chance to post about them!

also lmao yeah, i tend to try and reply to as much as I can, since it's a good feeling when someone does and all. but yeah, no problem! I’m glad you felt confident enough to reveal XD. 

This may be structured a bit more like analysis/theory/just citing canon things at first before it gets into a more headcanony format.

ehe i have so much free reign on this it's lovely

More Archon War Era Venti: one two three

spoilers for Venti's backstory and Diluc's(kinda, i think, just in case)

first things first, laying down some canon background because before yesterday i hadn't heard of either of them outside of that one cutscene.

the very reason Decarabian had his storm wall up in the first place was because at the time Andrius had declared war on him- and his tower, and the city of Mondstadt by extent, were basically constantly under attack by Andrius's blizzards, which since he was still alive back then, were a lot bigger and covered basically what seems to be the whole of Mondstadt outside the barrier.

This meant that people had two options. Live in the city under Decarabian's oppression, or live outside the barrier, and brave the blizzards of a warring god... which was not a good idea

but the Gunnhildr clan(not yet called that) tried- and they almost died because of it. In the midst of a blizzard, the clan chief's daughter, named Gunnhildr(which the clan would be named after later) sent out a prayer that was heard by a wandering wind spirit. And the faith of that prayer gave the spirit enough power to create a small shelter to protect them.

When her father past, she became the new leader and also a priestess. She would later lead the clan to fight Decarabian alongside four others. And basically the Gunnhildr Clan ended up as like sworn protectors of Mondstadt

-

as for the red-haired warrior, who is basically assumed to be the earliest known ancestor of the Ragnvindir clan(im gonna refer to as Ragnvindir for convenience sake, even though "Ragnvindir" is technically a different character from Vanessa's era)theres not much information on him, but heres what i have from the various wiki's

- he was a wanderer

- one of the first to use the sign of windblume to find other rebels(so he's intelligent)

- actively propped up the nameless bard so he could watch as the tower was destroyed

there's this little tidbit too from the Windblume Ode bow's description that im probably gonna talk about a considerable amount too: "Atop the ruins of the ancient tower, amidst the cheers, songs, and tears of those who had newly won their freedom. A red-haired warrior turned his back on the newborn god, hidden like a single raindrop in a tidal wave of humanity. He was first among those who passed the secret sign of Windblume, the one who wove threads of dawn throughout the long night. His name has since been lost to time, but his deeds are still remembered in song." followed later by "The fate of this clan will likely never change: they shall ever live in the darkness and bring forth the flame of dawn."

-

Now I'm going to start with the Ragnvindir(geez, why's it spelled like that tho)

My idea of his character is basically formed by a mix of Ragnvindir stereotypes and just generally analyzing text.

So what do we know about Ragnvindir's for sure? they are shady motherfuckers- or at least they rarely operate in the spotlight. also damn, these guys are more cursed than anemo vision wielders- like the only one who didn't canonically lose someone close to them was Crepus, but considering that Diluc doesn't exactly have a mom..... he probably did

so what do we know? - he was close with the nameless bard - he was intelligent - he likely operated primarily from the shadows "ever living in the darkness" - he was a wanderer - he abandoned Venti during the celebration - but his deeds were still remembered in song, so Venti and him were likely still close

now the question of the century: how will i choose to interpret "turned his back on the newborn god"? And honestly, I'm- not sure- at first i assumed he abandoned him completely- but Venti did still make sure to carry on his memory- which could just be Venti being Venti, but for the sake of sanity, this is how I'm interpreting it.

A lot of things happened to the Ragnvindir that day. He lost a friend, saw another become a god to replace the one they had conquered, and he saw his goal, his reason for being in Mondstadt, come to fruition. "see the world through my eyes" the bard had said, and the Ragnvindir had been a wanderer even before. Sure, the people had won freedom, and that was to be celebrated, but he's intelligent to recognize that people would likely see him as one of the key figures in leading the rebellion. And for him this was a solemn time, and ending to a chapter, and not being one to operate in the spotlight, the last thing he'd want is to be swept up in festivities and attention at a time like this.

It also likely didn't help that he's probably smart enough to understand the idea of "power corrupts," and seeing the wind sprite just readily accept the mantle of Archon was likely not the most comforting thing to happen in the given situation after all. But Decarabian was gone, and Andrius had ceased his blizzards, so without a word, he slipped into the crowd and left, a wanderer once more.

-

now back to Gunnhildr

she was the first to receive an anemo vision from Barbatos, no I do not take criticism on this "the power bestowed on her by Barbatos" like please, they basically said it.

It also mentions that she crowned Venti with laurels(symbol of vistory) after the battle- the book Biography of Gunnhildr additionally says "the Gunnhildr Clan will continue honoring the legacy of its ancestors and its duty to the Anemo Archon: to protect Mondstadt, the land and all who inhabit it, forever."

I really like this because it conveniently ties into my past headcanon about Venti granting visions to the people of Mondstadt and having them be the ones to erect wind barriers and defend the city in his absence.

So in the Archon War I like to imagine that the Gunnhildr clan had a lot of people who were actually granted visions and were basically in charge of protecting it from those who would attempt to ambush them.

Mondstadt essentially became known for this- the fact that the mortals within it were strong enough to fend off the force of a god without support from their own.

but regardless, Gunnhildr, as she had before, served as a priestess to Barbatos, the closest thing that Mondstadt had to a ruler, and yet she only took charge of prayer and protection.... i hate to just- equate them to their descendants- but to an extent- her role was kind of like a merge between Jean and Barbara- Except with a whole lot less structure.... i really dont want their characters to just be carbon copies of the descendants but- c'mon, the comparison was right there.

anyways besties- back to Venti so i can tie them in

The Archon War was one of the worst times for Venti in his entire life thus far. And the time immediately after Decarbian's fall, while Gunnhildr and the Ragnvindir were still alive, was the key period of time in which things could have gone very differently.

Venti is the god of freedom. That's a reoccurring theme and I think I've made that abundantly clear. But during this time, Venti was anything but free.

I've mentioned before how he would stay far from the city of Mondstadt so the shockwave of his death wouldn't reach him, should he fall.... well- Venti is new to a lot of things- godhood- humanity- war- freedom- and at this point he was trying hard to figure out how to be Mondstadt's god without becoming Decarabian, and while still being able to survive, and make sure they survived, and see the world for his friend, and carry on his friends legacy.

And this is a lot of stuff for what was once a carefree elemental being, and there were certain things that had to be done for this to happen. He couldn't just stay in Mondstadt, or he would grow weak and his people would be vulnerable to attack, but he couldn't abandon it, because despite being able to fend for themselves, there's always hat just in case. He couldn't stay in any one place outside of Mondstadt for very long or he'd be found and killed. He knew in order for Mondstadt to survive he would have to take an active role in the war, strengthen himself so he could defend Mondstadt, and thats exactly what he did.

He started by going after the less powerful gods, ones he had a chance at beating with the power he got from the Gunnhildr clan and the rest of Mond, and by wiping them out, he would grow stronger, so he kept it up- working his way up the metaphorical ladder.

but he couldn't let anyone near him either, because he knew just what would happen if he was attacked then. Were it not for Gunnhildr's prayer, the early years of the Archon War would have been without contest the loneliest time of his life, and there would be nothing he could do about it, bound by survival and his attachment to the legacy of his friend, constantly fearing for his life and going against his very nature as the god of freedom. Frankly thrust into that circumstance that early on, and having to face it alone, it's likely that Venti would have caved under the pressure and dropped his attachment to either his survival, or to his friends legacy... or just something entirely worse(isolation messes with brains) so I'm attributing the fact that he didn't do that to Gunnhildr's companionship, speaking to him and guiding him through it as he had guided her through the blizzard some time ago.

I also like to think that she's responsible for founding at least a number of the different celebrations that still happen in Mondstadt even now.

Ugh supportive warrior priestess- we stan

anyway meanwhile! we got the Ragnvindir

He hears about Venti taking part in the Archon war during his wanderings and returns to Mondstadt to check in, wary of what he might find.

Venti, who hadn't seen him since the rebellion, is elated to say the least and they do a bit of catching up because they need it

and then the conversation turns more serious, and the Ragnvindir brings up a third thing that Venti needs to hold onto- his humanity.

See, in the early years, just desperate to get a foothold on the world, Venti's first number of targets were just indiscriminately going after those he knew to be weaker than him, and the Ragnvindir points this out, saying that while it's not necessarily bad, if he keeps doing it, it won't be long until he causes his and, by extent, Mondstadt's legacy to be tainted by a reputation for slaughter, no better than any of the other bloodthirsty gods that frequented the war's fields. "Think of what the bard would do, we were both close enough to do that much"

And Venti becomes yet more caged, but recognizes that he's right, and this is another turning point, that in the coming years would keep Venti from losing himself.

also- Gunnhildr, Venti having told her about the Ragnvindir's concerns that he now shared, probably organized some kind of event (not unlike the right of part, but also, yes unlike it) that was deliberately intended and designs to serve as an excuse that Venti could chose to take to visit Mondstadt, something she know he desperately wanted to do, but wouldn't allow himself for fear of putting them in danger. But if she made it an official celebration, then it would give Venti the opportunity to visit his people again, under the guise of it being a responsibility, not having to deal with the moral implications of doing so at a time when he was already dealing with enough of those already.

Also on his travels, the Ragnvindir probably started and spread a number of rumors that could end up working in Venti's favor, not that anyone ever knew it was him of course.

basically Gunnhildr protected the people of Mondstadt and did all she could to keep everyone in as high spirits as possible, Venti included.

And as for the Ragnvindir, he took a more realistic approach, traveling and getting venti followers in far places, spreading false information about him, and just overall making sure that Venti didn't do things he'd regret.

And when they died, Venti would carry their legacy with him as well, not losing his humanity to the tide of war as he very nearly had(though he still often came close), and trying to spreading high spirits where ever he could without fail.

[stillgirlfrommars]

you’ve got news

So, I already talked about this with @missmorwen​ and I know I don’t have the time to draw and make an actual comic out of it, BUT I cannot stop thinking about this SamSteve-post-engdame-fix-it story (with a dash of BuckyNat, ‘cause that’s just who I am) which is kinda crack and very rom-com (a bit you’ve got mail) inspired and doesn't make much sense, because... PLOT HOLES but * sigh * I kinda wanna share at least the idea so - bear with me:

So, instead of Nat dying, Steve sacrifices his Captain America powers on Vormir and comes back as Skinny!Steve and starts running a political blog called you’ve-got-news in secret, uncovering all kinds of shady business/corruption and becoming the bane of existence of every politician and greedy CEO - but it takes a while for his friends to figure out it's him who’s running that increasingly popular blog (which the new Captain America is actually a big fan of ;)). And the way that happens is as follows:

So, Steve almost died at the end of Endgame. The idiot (affectionate) of course still wanted to fight Thanos, but even with Thor’s Hammer, he took some serious, serious injuries which led to a tough talk with Sam, Nat and Bucky

Like I imagine, that while Steve would not have any regrets whatsoever about giving up his powers, he would still need some time to come to terms with the fact that he won’t be able to participate in the action like he used to. Even though, he actually wants and knows... it’s time to ... start something new, it’s still a process. So, there he is, trying to figure out who he is without the mantle of Captain America, re-defining the way he can and will fight against bullies in the future (cause there is no way he’s gonna stop that).

And to the surprise of everyone, Steve actually doesn’t press for participating in Avenger-style-fights anymore (he still does some of the practical mission planning and shit like that) but most importantly, he starts taking up new hobbies, like cooking or old hobbies like drawing - and he seems happier than he has in a long time, and yeah maybe it’s a bit too good to be true, if Sam starts thinking about it. But, hey, Steve finally seems to be happy so -

Meanwhile, Sam still becomes the new Captain America, and Steve is there while he is adjusting, finding himself in that role. He is there when Sam needs to talk things through, and yeah, it would still be a process like in tfatws series, but ... a little bit less alone, I guess. 

So, the new Captain America fights alongside Nat and Bucky - and it’s good, they work surprisingly well together, but also: those two are stuck right in the middle of a weird assassin!flirting situation (I’m imagening a lot of veeery intense staring at the other while cleaning their weapons or beating someone up, innuendos en masse, dark humour etc.). And frankly, it’s getting on Sam's nerves because they seem to be so oblivious about the whole damn thing. Neither of them is actually admitting to anything, no, they are too busy teasing him about the ‘crush’ he has developed on that mysterious dude who is running the famous political-youve-got-news-blog that gained momentum a while ago and is currently keeping all the corrupt politicians and CEOs on their toes.

So, yeah, Sam might have been caught a couple of times reading or reciting from that blog because - it has actually turned into a pretty efficient way of mobilising people to demonstrate for change and it did give him some tip-offs in regards to who the bad guy really was and yeah. But it’s not a crush... Sam just really likes reading the blog posts, okay. That dude seems pretty cool and they share the same moral code, so... whatever.

What Nat and Bucky and Steve don't know (and he’ll never tell them), is that Sam is actually kiiiiinda already frequently talking with the guy who runs the blog. Anonymously on both ends, of course (because for good reasons both of them are pretty careful about giving away information concerning their identities). And in a way that whole anonymity-thing makes it a lot easier to talk about stuff he finds harder to admit to the people who he knows directly. So, you could say, blog-guy has kinda become Sam's internet friend, but not his crush, no.

Honestly, the crush he is more concerned about (that he also isn't planning on telling anyone about any time soon, cause Bucky would just tease him and Nat would start scheming) is, well, it’s Steve. Because, damn, he likes their get-togethers a lot, the meals Steve's cooking are honestly to die for. They watch baseball together, they do museum-trips... And the way they can talk about (almost) everything... He just feels understood and... yeah, loved (maybe not in the way that he wishes for, but still) and it’s nice to see Steve so happy and okay, maybe it’s getting a bit out of control because Sam took Steve with him to visit Sarah and his nephews and Sarah kinda saw right through his act of ‘hey, this is my best friend’ and ‘what do you mean, I don’t have feelings- okay. Yeah maybe I do’ and told him in no uncertain terms to fucking do something about it and get his shit together.

The thing is, he’s got it bad. But Sam is also torn, because this is the best fucking friendship he's ever had and he does not want to jeopardise that. So, in the end he ends up talking about this with his Internet friend... about how he kinda has this huge crush on his best friend, and his Internet friend is like, ‘TELL ME ABOUT IT, big fucking same here UGH. And I feel like I’m being SO obvious about it all. It’s honestly embarrassing. My other best friend keeps teasing me ‘bout it and tells me to just go for it, but that guy still hasn’t managed to ask out the girl he’s interested in, so, what does he know, right?’. And Sam laughs - at least he’s not alone.

So the days go by (Sam’s pining only increases, Steve took him to a wine tasting the other night and he almost... in his drunk state... almost... but he didn’t) until one day, while blog-guy and Sam are chatting, all of the sudden the blog-guy is like, ‘Shit, I think someone's breaking into my apartment’ and then like, ‘Okay, yes they are’ - and Sam's like, ‘call 911′, and blog-guy writes back ‘mmh think I can handle them’ (and Sam’s like ‘WTF... I know way too many people with zero regards for their own well-being, myself included’)

But then blog-guy is not answering anymore, so Sam frantically calls up Nat who rushes to his flat and Sam says: ‘You need to find out where that IP adress is located ASAP - the dude with that famous blog is in danger.’

And Nat does that multitasking thing where she’s working on the problem while ribbing Sam about the fact that, apparently, Captain America's Internet bestie is that famous blog dude, and- 'Are you sure it’s not a crush?'

But after another minute, Nat sighs and is like, ‘I can't find the location, this thing is encrypted af, it’s impossible.’ Suddenly, she notices something about the setup of the encryption and-, ‘Hang on a second, it was me who set this up for someone back in 2011.′ And as she slips on her jacket, she says to Sam, ‘Come on. I know where we have to go!’

So they make their way to what turns out is Steve's (!!!!) apartment and find him in the middle of a fight against over half a dozen heavily armed people, and yeah - he’s actually doing pretty okay for himself ‘cause he outsmarted a couple of them, but also- they kind of outnumber him, so Nat and Sam get to work.

And Sam doesn't even have time to fully register what that means re:blog-guy until they have successfully defeated the bad guys. After that's done, Steve is like, ‘Thanks guys, but how the hell did you know I was in trouble? Nat... you didn’t bug my apartment, did you??’

And Nat tstsk and then she just laughs because this is priceless and OF CoURSE it is Steve who is behind that blog... (she's a bit mad at herself for not figuring it out sooner, and a bit sad that Steve didn't feel like he could tell her, and that he assumes she has is flat bugged but, also,... kinda impressed.) But then she looks at him with a warm smile on her face, shaking her head, saying, ‘No, I didn’t, Steve.’ Her gaze wanders back and forth between Steve and Sam and she humms- 'That actually makes so much sense oh my god.' So, she leaves them ‘to talk’ ;) and for Sam to explain everything’ - and then it’s just the two of them.

And Sam does explain everything and is like, 'So you're that Blog dude, erm...' He's scratching the back of his neck, cheeks flushed, 'Turns out, we've been talking for months over that blog of yours. I'm (insert-Sam’s-username-here).'- and Steve's eyes go wide and you can literally see him processing that information right then and there and he's sputtering out a light laugh, and he's like 'Hang on a second... I... umm, okay, I gotta ask. So, that best friend you've got a crush on...' Well, it’s now or never -'Is you, yeah..', Sam admits and starts, 'and....' They both laugh again and Steve nods and just says- 'yeah, it’s you, too.'

And then they kiss and yaaay, happy ending!!!

And then the epilogue would be about them having a nice dinner with Bucky and Nat a couple of months later, and the whole time, Sam and Steve are being very much in loveTM. The three guys are standing in the kitchen, while Natasha is in the bathroom and Bucky's making a funny quib about how sickeningly cute Sam and Steve are together - and Sam, well, Sam just raises his eyebrows and is like, 'You know what, you're not allowed to say anything bout that, you and Romanoff have been acting waaaaay worse over the last year. At least we got our shit together in the end, what's your excuse, you are obviously absolutely in love with her!', and of course Nat chooses that exact moment to enter the room, hand on Bucky's waist, dropping a kiss on his cheek and is like, 'What do you mean, we've been dating for 6 months?' And Steve laughs and Sam groans bc .... he loves his friends, he does, but clearly, CLEARLY they ALL have to work on their communication skills!

The End.

[lunarblazes]

i made a desertduo playlist and then decided to be a nerd and write explanations for all the songs! like a nerd!

playlist link: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5ZGylutQpyTbgX7MY7Lrzz?si=t8_kBwBHSYG5kxTvZoIrTQ&dl_branch=1

QUICK DISCLAIMER: i am aware that a lot of these songs may have or imply romantic connotation! i would really really like it if these were not read as though those romantic connotations carry over to scar and grian. even if we’re just talking about the third life characters, i would prefer not to ship them or imply romance between them on this post. thank you so much and keep reading if you’d like to see the playlist analysis!

and now that that’s out of the way, PLAYLIST TIME!

•

passerine- the oh hellos

“you were the song that i’d always sing/you were the light that the fire would bring/but i can’t shake this feeling that i/was only pushing the spear into your side again”

this song really just... firstly, it’s one of my favorite songs, and the line i chose there pushes home the sort of terrified devotion i think the desert has. plus there’s a fun line about the cold wind blowing in from the north in the ending bits that i think very much fits their conflict with the red army, and a lot of legally obligated flight imagery that i need to have in every possible song because i’m a fuckin nerd.

•

no children- the mountain goats

“i hope that our few remaining friends/give up on trying to save us/i hope we come up with a failsafe plot to piss off the dumb few that forgave us”

i will admit that no children isn’t a perfect fit, but the general vibe of sort of defiant pessimism and betrayal fits very well with them! it’s very triumphant in its death, and i think that is very desertcore, because what’s more triumphantly dead than being the last duo left alive?

•

skulls- bastille

“when all of our friends are dead and just a memory/it’s always been just you and me/for all to see”

okay like this entire song is SO MUCH DESERT VIBES? LIKE SO MUCH. if i were to ever make an animatic for them i’d do it with this song. “a match is our only light, it’s day of the dead i’m indiana jones, yeah,” “i hope you can make me laugh six feet under when we’re bored of each other,” “i don’t want to rest in peace, i’d rather be the ghost that annoys you,” IT JUST KEEPS GOING. i think this song would work well with any third life duo, honestly, but these two in PARTICULAR just because of how it ended with them literally ‘buried’ next to each other, and again, the chaotic death vibes.

•

freaking out- mystery skulls

“i just keep out of my tongue/til all you want is done/and you just wanna leave me, oh yeah”

this song is a very third life grian song to me in particular! it could be my bias because of my little headcanon of grian burning on his red life, but seriously, this song is very reminiscent of the back and forth of loyalty that grian has with scar. the above line is sort of representative of the betrayal on red, and of course grian’s life debt.

•

night running- shin sakiura

(this song is in japanese! these lyrics are the rough english translation i found on google.) “someday we will stand at this place once again/for sure we will stand up again and again/we will watch it will the end/i want you to live freely”

this song is actually the ending theme for the anime bna, which i adore, and i just added it on a whim before looking at the translated lyrics. but um. holy hell the lyrics hurt me because they’re about running in search of someone, running for no reason, looking for something, and it just really hit, because the desert never really had a goal! they didn’t expect to survive, they were trying to survive, but what was their longterm goals? nothing. so that sort of endless search felt fitting for this. plus the song is a parallel for the two estranged best friends of the show so! perfect.

•

summer nights- siames

“it’s summertime/singing al green in your car/heading to a party/and the night air feels alive”

okay again, i will admit this song is mainly on here because i absolutely love it, but i also do think it fits well. it’s also about healing/estranged friendships, with a very distinct feeling of nostalgia for a happier time. maybe for a time when this was all a game, when there was no blood or betrayals on their hands. little canon divergent, but it’s fun for me, so into the playlist it goes!

allies or enemies- the crane wives

“are we allies or enemies/this will be the death of me, this will be the death of me/all’s fair in love and war but i can’t fight with you anymore”

. i just. points to that lyric. it literally led to both of their deaths. are they allies or enemies? it also fits with scar still wanting grian to be his friend even after he’s no longer indebted with the line “what happens now? do we have another go, do we bow out?” another very good animatic song that i’ve considered heavily. i listen to this playlist a lot

•

burn him down- kitsch club

“you must destroy, oh you must destroy, beyond all recognition/you gotta burn him down, you gotta burn him down, beyond all recognition”

this song just has a lot of fire and arson and high energy vibes. my little war criminals look at them go

•

rose- the oh hellos

“what's true is like a sickle/it'll cut you to the middle/your rose is without a thorn/but no, my mouth don't taste of metal/from the pot here to the kettle/i think we got a lot we gotta learn”

this one is like the exact opposite vibe of burn him down. the oh hellos are so poetic and this song just... feels like the healing potions after a battle. many of the metaphors here fit, i think

•

lone digger- caravan palace

“hey, brother, what you thinking/that good ol' sound is ringing/they don't know what they're missing/(they call it lonely diggin')”

okay this song is straight up just a dance song. i added it because i like it and also for some reason it feels ominous to me? i’ve got no idea why, it’s seriously just a club song, but it’s a banger and it’s in this playlist because i said so

•

feed the machine- poor man’s poison (suggested by my friend argonaughtkeene!)

“somethin’s goin” on, just look around/fear is on the rise, and there’s blood all over the ground/let’s all just blindfold the poor, we all know what’s in store/ we got ‘em now, just break ‘em down a little bit more”

this song is a VIBE for both desertduo members. there’s parts for both of them. it’s ruthless, gritty, very maniacal, perfect. listen to it and you’ll immediately understand why i added it.

•

sweet tooth- scott helman

“i hold hands with cosmic entities/i’ll take this two-ride if i please/i got this sweet tooth baby, yeah i got this sweet tooth baby/i exploit my opportunities/some broken hearts, some cavities”

sweet tooth is super upbeat and bright with these strangely dark lyrics? like i’m pretty sure it’s about addiction. in any case, i thought the “i hold hands with cosmic entities” very funnily fitting for both of the desert boys. it’s a banger!

•

necromancin’ dancin’- bear ghost

“when i’m necromancin’, everyone’s dancin’/nobody can stop me, i dare you to try/the dead are infused with insatiable groove and they’re coming for you, there’s nowhere to hide”

necromancin’ dancin’ just. bastard vibes. there’s not much more to say it’s just huge villain song vibes. i adore it.

•

crazy = genius- panic! at the disco

“if crazy equals genius/then i’m a fucking arsonist/i’m a rocket scientist/if crazy equals genius/you can set yourself on fire/but you’re never gonna burn, burn, burn”

i. yeah. y. yeah. more bastard vibes. also shoutout to an artist i saw (i think it was strifesolution?) who made a desertduo piece to this song because i have not stopped thinking about it ever

•

sweet bod- lemon demon

“i’m diggin’ up your coffin/and pouring out the contents/your sexy, sweet solution/is ripe for distribution”

you know how i said freaking out was a grian song? this one is a scar song. it’s my favorite lemon demon song and also it has the total macabre capitalism vibe that third life scar NAILED. more bastard vibes good for him <3

•

drunk- the living tombstone

“feel so much better than usual/i feel indisputable, oh/but now i’m feeling so beautiful/don’t wake me up from this spell i’m under, if i’m still breathing/i know that i will be ugly when i feel like myself again, oh/but right now i’m feelin’ so beautiful”

the descent of this song, starting off with a polite gathering and ending with a gasping drunk in the parking lot gazing at the stars that he can barely see? yes. yeah. mhm. i used a line from this song for a fic, actually, it fit so well.

•

oh no!- marina

“one track mind, one track heart/if i fail, i’ll fall apart/maybe it is all a test/cos i feel like i’m the worst so i always act like i’m the best”

bubbly pop track about false confidence, the ruthlessness of the pop industry, and the influence of the media? you know why this is here. it vibes. it rocks.

•

do it all the time- i don’t know how but they found me

“we’re taking over the world/a little victimless crime/and when i’m taking your innocence/i’ll be corrupting your mind/no need to cry i’m only doing everything i want to do because i do it all the time”

EVEN MORE BASTARD VIBES! SOMEHOW THERE IS MORE! this playlist is half villain songs and half heart-wrenching ballads and that’s the real desert experience i think.

•

the phoenix- fall out boy

“i’m gonna change you/like a remix/then i’ll raise you/like the phoenix”

BATTLE SONG BATTLE SONG! i’ll be honest i partially chose this song because i am a huge sucker for phoenix grian imagery in particular, but it’s also just a very good war song for them. villain song no 18372948 except this one originally had a hero vibe and now it’s changed specifically for them?? wild. their power

•

the other side- the greatest showman

“right here, right now/i’ll put the offer out/i don’t wanna chase you down, i know you see it/you run with me/and i can cut you free/out of the treachery/and all you keep in”

scar and grian’s desert monopoly conversation went exactly like this canonically because i said so fuck you <3

•

icicles- the scary jokes (suggested by my friend demizorua!)

“icicles don’t soften when they die/so why should i, why should i?/oh, icicles don’t soften when they die/they sharpen into sabers and they stab you in the eye”

this song actually has specific parts for both grian and scar! my cool epic friend mx demizorua pointed both of them out to me and i adored it so much. it’s a very spiteful song, just like the desert boys. also it feels vaguely murderous. perfect

•

problems- mother mother (suggested by my friend demizorua!)

“i’m a loser, a disgrace/you’re a beauty, a luminary, in my face”

literally this entire song fits them. particularly their relationship with the flower husbands, to me, honestly— the whole “when we meet at the pearly gates/you’ll get the green light/and i’ll get the boot in the face” reminds me a lot of them hdksjdks

•

tongues and teeth- the crane wives

“i know that you mean so well/but i am not a vessel for your good intent/i will only break your pretty things/i will only wring you dry of everything”

h. yeah. this song is literally gaslight gatekeep girlboss and i attribute it to the desert for that reason alone. songs to commit murder to!

•

you’re nobody til somebody wants you dead- saint motel

“you’re nobody til somebody wants you dead/and the list, it grows, and grows, and grows/it grows, and grows, and grows/and grows, and grows, and grows/until it’s everyone you’ve ever known”

this one is very self-explanatory. enemies pogchamp

•

curses- the crane wives

“there’s a fire in my brain and i’m burning, love/oh my, oh my/keep running to the sink, but the well is dry/oh my, oh my/every word i say is kindling/but the smoke clears when you’re around”

okay again! this one has two very specific parts for both of them. grian’s the first verse, which is above, and scar’s the second verse!! i really do like my fire imagery for these two don’t i? well, i blame them for having a fuck ton of tnt on them at all times and literally burning their enemy’s banners as a final act of defiance.

[veorlian]

sacred rituals

for @kanejweek day 5: love (atypical affection & domesticity)

pairing: Kaz Brekker x Inej Ghafa

rating: T (they're talking about murder)

set a few weeks pre-canon so only minimal spoilers!

read it on ao3 here

Kaz rarely spent time on the main floor of the Slat unless he had to. He didn’t want the Dregs getting the wrong idea; he wasn’t their friend. Kaz Brekker wasn’t anyone’s friend.

Instead, he spent most of the time in his office, when he wasn’t walking the uneven streets of the Barrel. It was quiet, far removed from the raucous laughter and fighting and close quarters that generally filled the Slat. It was mostly warm, and mostly dry. Generally, everyone left him alone, and that was the way he preferred it.

Almost everyone.

The fact of the matter was this: Kaz preferred solitude, but he always kept his window open. Even on cold nights, when the wind chilled to the bone. Nights like this one. It was a kind of standing invitation, although he would never admit that. It was an invitation that was nearly always accepted.

He glanced down at the papers on his desk, and he felt the air shift almost imperceptibly.

“Hello Inej,” Kaz said, not looking up from his ledgers. The Wraith moved silently into the room, tugging down her hood.

“How do you do that?” she asked, not for the first time. His eyes flicked to hers before looking away.

“A magician never reveals his secrets,” he said. “Now, what did you find?”

She didn’t respond right away. Instead, she shrugged off her cloak and moved closer to the fire, stoking it from where it had burned down. Kaz pointedly did not pay attention to the way the firelight danced along her hair, the graceful movements of her hands as she warmed them.

“I checked every inch of the washroom, and I don’t have the faintest idea how they pulled it off,” Inej said. “It’s more secure than most mercher safes, from what I’ve seen. No trick tiles, no removable mirror, no vents. The only way in or out is the drain pipes, and I doubt anyone’s managed to train rat assassins.”

“If it was possible, I’d have done it by now,” Kaz replied. Inej snorted, and Kaz’s heart stuttered briefly.

“So that rules out rodent killers, then,” she said wryly. “Floor plan?”

“No trap doors, no secret entrances. No way in or out other than the front door.”

“The locked front door,” Inej finished. “You’d have to walk through walls to get in there. Maybe we’re looking for something otherworldly. Ketterdam’s got no shortage of ghosts.”

“None of whom can hold a knife,” he pointed out. “Present company excepted, of course.”

“Got any theories?” she asked.

He shrugged. “A thousand. None likely.”

“Tell me,” she said. She settled down next to the fire and took out her knives, one by one. There were three new ones, he noted. Soon enough he wouldn’t have to worry about her being injured at all — she was effectively wearing chainmail. Not that he spent time worrying that she’d be injured.

Kaz unfurled the floor plan on his desk and motioned for her to come look. Inej only raised a dark eyebrow.

“I’m half-frozen, Kaz. I’m not getting up until I thaw out,” she said.

“I don’t pay you to relax,” he replied, but he moved over to the fire and set the blueprints down between them. Inej leaned forward, tugging the paper towards her. Her eyebrows knitted together as she looked more closely.

“Where were the guards positioned?” she asked.

“Here, and here.” Kaz used a pencil to mark down the locations. “The main event was taking place here, and there were people with a view of the door here, here, and over there.” He sketched out the lines of sight, and made a note of the guard rotation.

“Whoever it was, they certainly didn’t make it easy for us,” she murmured.

"I doubt they had us in mind when they made the plan," he said dryly.

"Do you share your rapier wit with everyone, or am I the only one that has to suffer it?" she asked, not looking up from the blueprints.

“I notice you haven't offered any suggestions," he said. "Giving up already, Wraith?”

Her eyes met his, holding his gaze for a moment. “If I figure it out first, I expect waffles.”

He couldn’t help the wry smile that flickered across his face. “Dream on, Inej.”

She had perfected the art of silence, and she didn’t make a sound as she looked over the blueprints. The only sounds Kaz could hear were the gentle crackle of the fire and muffled fighting in the distance, filtering in through the open window. He looked everywhere in the room except at her.

“Alright,” she said at last. “Venomous snakes.”

He must have heard her wrong. “Venomous snakes?”

“Trained venomous snakes. Send them up through the drain pipes, they bite the victim, and then they’re well on their way before anyone’s the wiser.”

“There were no bites reported by my source,” Kaz said.

“That doesn’t mean there weren’t any. You know the coroners of Ketterdam aren’t renowned for their attention to detail. And if someone paid them to look the other way…” she let the sentence hang in the air a moment.

“Corruption and bribery? Awfully cynical of you,” he drawled. “What ever would your Saints say?”

She scoffed. “Moral posturing? From you?”

“Me? I’m a pillar of the community. Never set a foot wrong in my life,” he said, entirely deadpan. The look on her face was something that he might well treasure for years.

“Do you think I’m right or not?” she asked exasperatedly. Kaz shook his head, running a hand through his uneven hair to hide the small smile on his face. He realized with a jolt that he was having fun. It wasn’t a feeling he was familiar with.

“All the pressure coming down from the top brass on this one, I doubt that kind of detail would be left out,” he said.

“And what’s your brilliant suggestion, Kaz?” she shot back. Good question, he thought.

“Easy. They bribed the guards and re-locked the door on the way out.” As he said it, he knew that it was weak. A rookie tactic, not something you’d pull to assassinate a high-ranking politician.

“Too risky,” Inej said, confirming his own thoughts. “Too many people there, and there’s no guarantee the guards wouldn’t sell them out. Like you said, too much pressure from the top brass.”

“I’m open to other ideas,” he replied, crossing his arms. Inej shrugged.

“Maybe he killed himself?”

“No weapons found. It’s like you’re not taking this seriously.”

“Still better than ‘they bribed all the guards and re-locked the door at a crowded political event,’” she said, in a passable impersonation of his voice.

They tossed ideas back and forth, each more unlikely than the last. Inej cleaned her knives, quietly setting each down next to her. The fire slowly burned down, casting long shadows across his office. At some point, Inej went to grab some food from the kitchen downstairs. She brought a mug of hot, bitter coffee and set it down next to him.

“Why, thank you, Inej,” she said, in that same rough impersonation of his voice. “How considerate of you to enable my caffeine addiction. So thoughtful and kind of you, I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“Why would I bother thanking you when you do it for me?” Kaz asked dryly. Inej flashed a rude gesture in his direction before tucking into her dinner.

“It has to have been a Grisha,” Kaz said thoughtfully.

“I’m eating, Kaz, wait a minute,” Inej said around a mouthful of food. She looked pointedly at the second plate she’d brought up. “And it wouldn’t do you any harm to eat something other than coffee.”

Kaz narrowed his eyes at her, but he picked up the food all the same. They were quiet for a few minutes. When she’d finished, Inej shut her eyes and leaned back against the wall. There was a pause, long enough that Kaz began to wonder if she’d fallen asleep.

“That’s not how Grisha work,” she said at last.

“We’ve ruled out every other option,” Kaz argued.

“If Nina or Jesper could pull off something like this, we’d know about it,” she replied.

“And they’re the experts?”

“Certainly more than you are.”

“...I suppose.”

Inej raised an eyebrow, a faint smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. “Is Kaz Brekker admitting that I’m right?”

“Don’t push your luck, Wraith,” he warned. Her smile widened, and Kaz felt dizzy looking at her. He focused on his too-bitter coffee instead. He heard her let out a sigh.

“I don’t like this, Kaz,” she murmured. “If there’s someone this dangerous out there, I want to know who they are and what they're after.”

He risked a glance at her. The candlelight haloed her face in a way that bordered on angelic. He wondered — not for the first time — if her hair was as soft as it looked.

“I'm sure we'll find out. Someone with this kind of power won’t stop at one hit. I know I wouldn’t.” His voice was calm, but she was right. Anyone that could walk through walls was a very real threat, if only because they were competition.

“Should I go back to have a second look?” she asked. Kaz shook his head.

“If there was a way to crack this, we would’ve figured it out. The truth will come out sooner or later. This city leaks information like a sieve.”

They wouldn’t learn how it had been done for a few weeks. But by then, of course, they had other things to worry about.

[binxyu]

Jimin realizes that maybe you aren’t as innocent as you perceive yourself to be and he uses that against you in the most delicious and lustful way.

>>Pairing: Park Jimin (dom) x fem!reader (sub) | boyfriend!jimin x girlfriend!reader

>>Word Count: 1.9k

>>Genre: Oneshot / Smut

>>Warnings/Kinks:  Pillow humping, anal play, begging, bondage, discipline, dirty talk, degration, corruption, crying, choking, edging, overstimulation, oral (giving), humiliation, helplessness, hair pulling, public sex (kinda), masturbation, marking, manhandling, teasing, vibrators, collars, spanking, scratching, size kink, windows/mirrors, and unprotected sex

Jimin has always believed you were innocent. You avoided sex talk at all times and he never really went rough with you since he was scared to go past his boundaries, but hearing your pretty moans as soon as he entered your apartment made that thought go out the window.

“Naughty girl. She lied to me about not touching herself”, he chuckled as he walked quietly through your home. Jimin’s original plan was to introduce you to a vibrator and collars, knowing you’d look so pretty with one on. He had a small bag with him with those items in it.

“Fuck! Jimin, I need you”, you whimpered, not only because of the pleasure you were getting from the pillow underneath you, rubbing against your clit, but also because you knew your boyfriend was there and listening. You heard the door open when he came in and you wanted to give him a show.

“And here I thought you were innocent”, Jimin smirked from your doorframe, leaning against it and watching as you froze and looked back at him, “you better finish now slut. You know my rule about touching yourself without permission” he gestured with his head for you to continue. He looked genuinely pissed and you smiled innocently, wanting to push his buttons as much as you could.

“I said fucking move”, he walked over to you, gripping your hair roughly and pulling your head back. His other hand wrapped the pink collar he got you around your throat.

“Angel... how ironic now”, he chuckled and you looked up at him, his eyes dark with lust and power. You liked it. The tag with the name “angel” chimed when Jimin flicked it with his finger.

“Now fucking move”, Jimin spanked your bare ass, leaving a bright red handprint on your cheek. He pulled a chair up and sat back to enjoy the show as you started moving again, moaning again as the friction started again. Jimin watched as the tag of the collar moved back and forth as you did, wanting to ruin you at the sight.

“Stop moaning. Make one more noise and I’ll make you ride it all night until you can’t anymore”, he warned you and you put your hand over your mouth as you used the other to support you. Jimin loved how well you listened to his order and he could tell you were struggling to hold in your moans.

“Move faster”, you shook your head, already shaking and close to your orgasm. Jimin noticed and got up off his chair, grabbing your hips and pushing you down into the bed. Your face was muffled into the sheets and Jimin roughly spanked you again on the other cheek, making you whimper.

“Such a disobedient cockslut. I’m going to ruin your pretty little pussy. I bet you’d love that. I bet that’s why you’ve been such a fucking brat”, he whispered in your ear and you squirmed as Jimin got something out of his bag and then straddled your waist to keep you down. He spread your legs and put some lube on his fingers before inserting two into your tight asshole, stretching it out. All you could do is whine into the sheets from the new feeling. You had never experienced anal before this.

“You’re going to take everything I give you with no complaints. Complain once and I’ll tie you up and leave you with this in you”, Jimin gripped your hair again and pulled your head back as he pushed the long purple vibrator inside of you, putting it on the highest setting which made you scream. You already felt so full.

“J-Jimin I can’t! No more!”, you begged, gripping the sheets at the unfamiliar sensation. You felt so sensitive and helpless.

“You should’ve thought about that before you decided to disobey me angel”, Jimin cooed, gripping your wrists and pulling you up to stand. You shook and tried your best not to fall onto your knees.

“How about we show the neighbors just how much of a dirty whore you are. I bet they’d love the show”, your eyes went wide as Jimin pushed you against the wall, your bare breasts pressed against the cold wood. Your boyfriend ripped open the curtains and you saw the light of the big window enter the bedroom. Jimin gripped your hips and forced you onto your knees in front of him.

“Suck”, he simply stated and you looked behind you, knowing your ass was facing the neighbor’s house, the vibrator barely sticking out. Your face went red at the idea of sucking your boyfriend off in front of who knew who, but you saw the look in his eyes and hesitantly unzipped his jeans. You pulled them down along with his boxers and felt a new wave of arousal go through you at the sight of his erection.

You took the base of his cock into your hands, slowly pumping it and looked up to watch Jimin’s reaction, watching as his head went back a little and a small moan slipped past his lips. You kept eye contact with him as you kitten licked his tip, making him chuckle at how quickly your innocent behavior changed. He gripped your hair again and forced your head down onto his cock, taking all of him down your throat.

Jimin gripped your hair with both of his hands, moving your head back and forth and fucking your throat. Tears started to form in your eyes from the rough feeling of his dick rubbing against the walls of your throat.

You put your hands onto Jimin’s thighs, scratching them slightly as he thrusted in and out of your throat, using you however he wanted. Your legs were shaking from the sensation of the vibrator deep inside of your ass and your boyfriend tilted your head back as he came down your throat, making you swallow all of it and you whimpered after you choked on some of it.

“Good whore. You look so pretty like that”, Jimin pulled his cock out of your mouth and admired you. The light of the window shun on your skin beautifully and you already looked like a mess on your knees for him. He loved the sight.

“Stand up and lean against the window”, Jimin snapped his fingers as a signal to do it quickly and you got up and stood in front of the window, not sure what to do. Jimin scoffed and gripped your hips, turning you around and slamming you against the window. He picked you up and wrapped your legs around his waist, making you let out another small scream from the new position of the vibrator inside your ass. Your bare ass was pressed against the window and the heat of the sun warmed up your skin.

“I’m going to ruin you and make you scream so loud that the whole neighborhood knows how good I fuck you”, he leaned forward and started to suck marks onto your neck as he pushed himself inside of your tight pussy slowly, groaning into your skin. By the time he was completely inside of you, you were crying from the overwhelming feeling of being so full. Your nails dug into Jimin’s back as he slowly started to thrust in and out of you, but the sight of you crying made him want to pound as hard as he could into you.

“Tell me how good I destroy your little pussy angel”, Jimin moaned as he sped up his pace a little, slamming hard into you and making the glass behind you shake with each thrust. He kissed you passionately before pulling back to let you answer.

“Ah fuck! Y-yes sir. You fuck me so well”, you whimpered and Jimin stopped before pulling completely out of you. You whined and was about to beg him to come back, but you yelped when Jimin turned you around and slammed you back against the glass. Your entire front half was now on full display for whoever passed by on the street, your nipples getting hard from the cold glass and pressure.

“Sir? I bet that’s what you call me when you’re humping your little pillow, isn’t it angel?”, Jimin roughly pushed back into you without warning and you moaned his name from how deep he was inside of you now. His hands trailed to your stomach, pushing down to feel the bulge that he formed in your tummy. You looked down and the sight made you shake and sob, begging for him to go even faster.

“S-sir, please people are coming”, your cheeks went red when you saw a car coming down the street. Jimin continued to ram into you, not giving a shit. Your boobs bounced up and down as his hips snapped into your’s and tears were streaming down your cheeks from all the stimulation.

“Let them see”, he whispered in your ear, “let them see how much of a whore you are for my cock. Let them see how much of a mess you are right now”. You sobbed more and Jimin wrapped his hand around your throat, making the tag on the collar move again as he pulled you back to look at your reflection in the glass as the car drove by.

“That’s what they saw. What a pretty sight. I bet they’re jerking themselves off right now because of you”, he rubbed your clit and that was all the stimulation you needed to cum all over his cock, sobbing as the vibrator continued to go and Jimin’s dick continued to ram in and out of you. You could hear the sticky sound of your cum being pounded in and out of your pussy.

“I’m going to fill you up and make you show all the people your pretty leaking hole”, Jimin continued to overstimulate you by rubbing your clit and fucked you with his rough pace, picking you up by your thighs and spreading your legs, so he could continue to thrust into you. You put your face into his neck as you saw another car coming. Jimin came inside of you, filling you up.

“Let’s show them how pretty my angel is”, he chuckled as he pulled out and you went red as Jimin put you on a chair in front of the window quickly, spreading your legs so that they were on either side of the walls beside the window. Your hole completely spread and on display for anyone to see.

You tried to close your legs, but the car had already passed by. Jimin held your legs open and you gripped his arm to try to stop him, but he was stronger.

“Hold them open”, he let go and you were scared to disobey, but you tried to move away when you saw Jimin take his belt off, bonding your wrists together behind the chair.

“Move before an hour is up and I’ll do it all over again”, he kissed your cheek from behind you and your mouth fell open in shock before trying to get out of the restraint.

“Jimin! What the fuck!”, you looked back at him and he chuckled.

“Maybe next time you’ll be a good girl from the start doll”.

[paenling]

no ones saying you cant enjoy daniil? people like him as a character but mostly Because he’s an asshole and he’s interesting. the racism and themes of colonization in patho are so blatant

nobody said “by order of Law you are forbidden from enjoying daniil dankovsky in any capacity”, but they did say “if you like daniil dankovsky you are abnormal, problematic, and you should be ashamed of yourself”, so i’d call that an implicit discouragement at the least. not very kind.

regardless, he is a very interesting asshole and we love to make fun of him! but i do not plan to stop seeing his character in an empathetic light when appropriate to do so. we’re all terribly human.

regarding “the racism and themes of colonization in patho”, we’ve gotta have a sit-down for this one because it’s long and difficult. tl;dr here.

i’ve written myself all back and forth and in every direction trying to properly pin down the way i feel about this in a way that is both logically coherent and emotionally honest, but it’s not really working. i debated even responding at all, but i do feel like there are some things worth saying so i’m just going to write a bunch of words, pick a god, and pray it makes some modicum of sense.

the short version: pathologic 2 is a flawed masterwork which i love deeply, but its attempts to be esoteric and challenging have in some ways backfired when it comes to topical discussions such as those surrounding race, which the first game didn’t give its due diligence, and the second game attempted with incomplete success despite its best efforts.

the issue is that when you have a game that is so niche and has these “elevated themes” and draws from all this kind of academic highbrow source material -- the fandom is small, but the fandom consists of people who want to analyze, pathologize, and dissect things as much as possible. so let’s do that.

first: what exactly is racist or colonialist in pathologic? i’m legitimately asking. people at home: by what mechanism does pathologic-the-game inflict racist harm on real people? the fact that the Kin are aesthetically and linguistically inspired by the real-world Buryat people (& adjacent groups) is a potential red flag, but as far as i can tell there’s never any value judgement made about either the fictionalized Kin or the real-world Buryat. the fictional culture is esoteric to the player -- intended to be that way, in fact -- but that’s not an inherently bad thing. it’s a closed practice and they’re minding their business.

does it run the risk of being insensitive with sufficiently aggressive readings? absolutely, but i don’t think that’s racist by itself. they’re just portrayed as a society of human beings (and some magical ones, if you like) that has flaws and incongruences just as the Town does. it’s not idealizing or infantilizing these people, but by no means does it go out of its way to villainize them either. there is no malice in this depiction of the Kin. 

is it the fact that characters within both pathologic 1 & 2 are racist? that the player can choose to say racist things when inhabiting those characters? no, because pathologic-the-game doesn’t endorse those things. they’re throwaway characterization lines for assholes. acknowledging that racism exists does not make a media racist. see more here.

however, i find it’s very important to take a moment and divorce the racial discussions in a game like pathologic 2 from the very specific experiences of irl western (particularly american) racism. it’s understandable for such a large chunk of the english-speaking audience to read it that way; it makes sense, but that doesn’t mean it’s correct. although it acknowledges the relevant history to some extent, on account of being set in 1915, pathologic 2 is not intended to be a commentary about race, and especially not current events, and especially especially not current events in america. it’s therefore unfair, in my opinion, to attempt to diagnose it with any concrete ideology or apply its messages to an american racial paradigm.

it definitely still deals with race, but it always, to me, seemed to come back around the exploitation of race as an ultimately arbitrary division of human beings, and the story always strove to be about human beings far more than it was ever about race. does it approach this topic perfectly? no, but it’s clearly making an effort. should we be aware of where it fails to do right by the topic? yes, definitely, but we should also be charitable in our interpretations of what the writers were actually aiming for, rather than reactionarily deeming them unacceptable and leaving it at that. do we really think the writers for pathologic 2 sat down and said “we’re going to go out of our way to be horrible racists today”? i don’t.

IPL’s writing team is a talented lot, and dybowski as lead writer has the kinds of big ideas that elevate a game to a work of art, particularly because he’s not afraid to get personal. on that front, some discussion is inescapable as pathologic 2 deals in a lot of racial and cultural strife, because it’s clearly something near to the his heart, but as i understand it was never really meant to be a narrative “about” race, at least not exclusively so, and especially not in the same sense as the issue is understood by the average American gamer. society isn't a monolith and the contexts are gonna change massively between different cultures who have had, historically, much different relationships with these concepts.

these themes are “so blatant” in pathologic 2 because clearly, on some level, IPL wanted to start a discussion. I think it’s obvious that they wanted to make the audience uncomfortable with the choices they were faced with and the characters they had to inhabit -- invoke a little ostranenie, as it were, and force an emotional breaking point. in the end the game started a conversation and i think that’s something that was done in earnest, despite its moments of obvious clumsiness. 

regarding colonialism, this is another thing that the game is just Not About. we see the effects and consequences of colonialism demonstrated in the world of pathologic, and it’s something we’re certainly asked to think about from time to time, but the actual plot/narrative of the game is not about overcoming or confronting explicitly colonialist constructs, etc. i personally regard this as a bit of a missed opportunity, but it’s just not what IPL was going for.

instead they have a huge focus, as discussed somewhat in response to this ask, on the broader idea of powerful people trying to create a “utopia” at the mortal cost of those they disempower, which is almost always topical as far as i’m concerned, and also very Russian.

i think there was some interview where it was said that the second game was much more about “a mechanism that transforms human nature” than the costs of utopia, but it’s still a persistent enough theme to be worth talking about both as an abstraction of colonialism as well as in its more-likely intended context through the lens of wealth inequality, environmental destruction & government corruption as universal human issues faced by the marginalized classes. i think both are important and intelligent readings of the text, and both are worth discussion.

both endings of pathologic 2 involve sacrifice in the name of an “ideal world” where it’s impossible to ever be fully satisfied. in the Diurnal Ending, Artemy is tormented over the fate of the Kin and the euthanasia of his dying god and all her miracles, but he needs to have faith that the children he’s protected will grow up better than their parents and create a world where he and his culture will be immortalized in love. in the Nocturnal Ending, he’s horrified because in preserving the miracle-bound legacy of his people as a collective, he’s un-personed himself to the individuals he loves, but he needs to have faith that the uniqueness and magic of the resurrected Earth was precious enough to be worth that sacrifice. neither ending is fair. it’s not fair that he can’t have both, but that’s the idea. because that “utopia” everyone’s been chasing is an idol that distracts from the important work of being a human being and doing your best in a flawed world. 

because pathologic’s themes as a series are so very “Russian turn-of-the-century” and draw a ton of stylistic and topical inspiration from the theatre and literature of that era, i don’t doubt that it’s also inherited some of its inspirational literature’s missteps. however, because the game’s intertextuality is so incredibly dense it’s difficult to construct a super cohesive picture of its actual messaging. a lot of its references and themes will absolutely go over your head if you enter unprepared -- this was true for me, and it ended up taking several passes and a bunch of research to even begin appreciating the breadth of its influences.

(i’d argue this is ultimately a good thing; i would never have gone and picked up Camus or Strugatsky, or even known who Antonin Artaud was at all if i hadn’t gone in with pathologic! my understanding is still woefully incomplete and it’s probably going to take me a lot more effort to get properly fluent in the ideology of the story, but that’s the joy of it, i think. :) i’m very lucky to be able to pursue it in this way.)

anyway yes, pathologic 2 is definitely very flawed in a lot of places, particularly when it tries to tackle race, but i’m happy to see it for better and for worse. the game attempts to discuss several adjacent issues and stumbles as it does so, but insinuating it to be in some way “pro-racist” or “pro-colonialist” or whatever else feels kind of disingenuous to me. they’re clearly trying, however imperfectly, to do something intriguing and meaningful and empathetic with their story.

even all this will probably amount to a very disjointed and incomplete explanation of how pathologic & its messaging makes me feel, but what i want -- as a broader approach, not just for pathologic -- is for people to be willing to interpret things charitably. 

sometimes things are made just to be cruel, and those things should be condemned, but not everything is like that. it’s not only possible but necessary to be able to acknowledge flaws or mistakes and still be kind. persecuting something straight away removes any opportunity to examine it and learn from it, and pathologic happens to be ripe with learning experiences. 

it’s all about being okay with ugliness, working through difficult nuances with grace, and the strength of the human spirit, and it’s a story about love first and foremost, and i guess we sort of need that right now. it gave me some of its love, so i’m giving it some of my patience.