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bluebellhairpin · 4 years

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No More

Fantasy AU!Levi Ackerman X Fem!Reader

Part One - No Feelin’ - Part Three - No Regrets

A/N: SO I wrote a piece for a Discord Event and ummm I wrote a part two? instead of anything else I have backed up? In my drafts? And ask box? Oopsie? - Nemo

Summary: A year past, and word from you has been scarce to none. After leaving Levi high and dry last time, he’d been preparing for your return ever since. What he didn’t expect was to see you so suddenly - sitting atop the throne he was supposed to protect.

Warnings: Violence. Language. Character Death. Blood (I feel I should emphasise this one, it’s... gorey. For me). Mentions of rape. Slight Misogyny. More of my bad poetry. MC says Zeke has a small pp.

Listening to: ‘MORE’ by K/DA (slowed) - ‘When I go it’s for gold yeah, they cool but I’m cold. I don’t fit in the mold, I’m a rebel.’

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There was something about the eerie silence that followed your first ‘visit’ that set Levi on edge.

He remembered how quiet you were as his subordinate. How you stood back and watched when you could, but managed to surprise everyone when you had to get in and get dirty like all those others training to be a knight. He wondered what he could’ve done to change things, to have stopped you from becoming that monster he fought in the throne room.

He knew there was nothing he could do about that now, but something about those last words you spoke to him - ‘find your advantage’ - they just stuck with him.

He knew the sword he was given was special. That it had abilities that no human blacksmith could’ve given it. It gave him strength. Immunity. It could heal, rebuild, and it gave him the ability to endure. Yours was not like that.

The people the King put in charge of studying it said it was destructive. That everyone who tried to wield it in the past had suffered nothing but pain, and in trying to control the power it held they’d only succeeded in killing themselves.

Levi knew that you were not like them. Not before. Not a year ago. He knew, not now either.

“You’re very diligent in welcoming me back, Little Captain.”

And how he hated it.

He was left frozen in shock, watching you as you sat atop the throne - legs crossed, the fingers of one hand tangled in the hair of the old king’s body-less head, while the other held that damn sword. The crimson of his blood matched your tainted skin, dribbling down your arms to match your bright veins, and the color of your dreaded blade.

It was like the color of corruption was red, and you were so soaked in it that it stained the floor. With that thought he could almost fool himself into thinking it wasn’t the king’s blood at all.

Except for the stench of it. It was like he was punched in the face with the reek.

“Oh don’t look so surprised,” you said, tutting at him and waving the kings head in his direction, “I thought you would’ve been preparing for my return.”

“You weren’t supposed to come back.”

“Oh, but the king was sitting so nicely on his throne just then, I had to.” You said, letting the head drop to the floor. It rolled down the stairs, meeting it’s limp and pale counterpart. “Can you just imagine my joy when he was here to welcome me with a pretty little concubine between his legs. I couldn’t help myself!”

“You’re insane!” he said, taking his sword in his hand and rushing up the stairs to be met with the tip of your sword at his throat.

“Ah ah,” you said, “You pledged your life to the crown, to serve and protect. I killed the old king, now the crown is mine.”

He grit his teeth, cursing himself for not noticing. For not being fast enough. Then, and now.

“Bow. To your new Queen.”

Levi would never admit how easily he obeyed you.

Despite knowing he had the power to over-power you, he didn’t dare use it.

The old King - Fritz - had not been laid to rest. As far as he knew you had him turned to garden mulch. Him and anyone who decided you weren’t fit to wear the crown.

He had to say, the rebellion that broke out once your position was made public - from those that wanted you gone, and those who thought that meant they could break the law because you did - was silenced much quicker than he’d seen a rebellion be silenced in his whole life.

You slaughtered those who stood at the castles gate, pushing those who wanted you gone with a heel to the back of their heads. They who rebelled against you had a choice - die like those who banged on the drawbridge, and have their blood and innards join the muck in the moat, or submit like the knights.

Then you took to the streets and made those who deserved it pay back what they had taken. If they stole from a market stall, they returned with interest. If they decided to rape, their manhood was taken. If they decided to kill, they paid with their own lives in turn.

So despite your aloof yet demanding nature, your lack of empathy, and love of - putting it lightly - a hunt, you made peace reign over the kingdom. That was something all the knights could admit.

“She’s kinda hot though.” His eyes snapped over to a newer knight, Flotch, who was muttering to Jean, who was in turn doing a very good job of ignoring him. “You know, if you take away the creepy eyes, and those nasty veins on her arms. I’d tap that.”

He had to resist from groaning. Of course there’d be people lewding their new ruler - a murderous one no less - and one of such people had to be one of his subordinates.

“Seriously though, look -”

“- Watch your tongue, young one.” A voice said, and Levi did a doubletake to find you behind Flotch with a clawed hand around his throat. “Diminish me to a piece of flesh like that again and I’ll brand your forehead with a big fat ‘M’.”

“W-what’s that supposed to mean?” he slurred, his own grip now ghosting over yours.

“‘Misogynist’.” you hissed, tightening your grip on his throat before withdrawing, leaving dripping red marks behind. He stood still for a few short moments, then doubled-over, clutching his neck and letting out garbled noises of pain.

“Serves him right.” Jean said, stepping past Levi and over Flotch’s legs to follow you as you walked away.

“Something needs to be done about him.” you mused.

“I agree. For once.” Levi said, stepping to his side to face you before mumbling an addition, “I bet his ass looks as hairy as an ape.” You barked out a laugh - loud, and as smooth as whiskey.

“That would account for the little monkey he’s hiding in his basement.” you said, leaning down to hush the comment in his ear. Levi could tell that there wasn’t an actual monkey, nor a basement, and a rushed glance down Zeke’s body also told him it wasn’t entirely true, however you had been everything but subtle about anything anymore.

“Do you want war?” Zeke asked, covered eyes narrowing over at you. You tutted him, reminding Levi about the time you directed such an action at him - taunting with his failure of protecting the old king.

“Would you go to war over a dick joke?”

He wouldn’t. That Levi knew. No one was petty or childish enough to go to war with another whole-ass country just because it’s ruler said your dick was small. But Zeke was unpredictable.

“I’d advise against it, personally.” you said, tapping your nails along the oak table, “It’s so mediocre. If I were to go to war with you I’d do something much more grand.”

“Like what?”

You smiled, wide and wicked, and Levi was reminded again of who you were. You’d beheaded the old king like he was just an unneeded piece of paper. You’d painted the castle moat red. Despite the good that was no doubt still there - somewhere - you were still very much evil.

You were still corrupt.

You raised a hand, performing a universal signal that meant to wait, and then a man came in. Huffing and sweaty, with eyes wide and broken.

“Ze- you highne- Sir.”

“- What?” Zeke asked, turning in his chair. Clearly unimpressed.

“Our capital. They… She attacked it!” Zeke turned back around, now looking much angrier.

“What?”

“Oh, it’s nothing major.” You said, waving him off as if he were just a child complaining about his socks not matching. “But your place of residence might have a few scorch marks now.”

Zeke stood abruptly, drawing his sword, and causing a chain reaction. You mirrored him, drawing your own - abhit longer and glowing red in aggression. Levi drew his, as did the other guards, Erwin and Miche. And the two with Zeke drew theirs as well.

There wasn’t a single person in the room that didn’t have a sword on them, and not even Levi could say he wasn’t on edge. But you? You just laughed, lowering your weapon.

“Okay, this is stupid. Let’s just -”

“If you call burning my city ‘stupid’, then I’d love to know what you’d call me lathering your streets in your blood.”

“Oh,” you cooed, “Looks like I struck a nerve. Or maybe you’re on your period?”

“Quiet!” He yelled, pushing his sword closer to you. “Or do you want me to slice off your tongue.”

“I’d like to see you try.”

He tried.

And much like anyone else who crossed your path, he was lucky to have just left with his tail between his legs. However, him being Zeke, had to leave behind something to be remembered by.

This particular time it was in the form of a huge gash, spanning across your shoulder and up your neck.

Despite your all-powerful nature, the power your sword gave you was not one that could heal. It took what it was given, and it corrupted it. So even if all Zeke gave you was a scratch, the power of your sword meant it took that scratch, and made it into a cut. Oozing blood, and pulsating with a pain that made you wince with every heartbeat.

You skulked away towards your chambers, a bottle of alcohol in your hand, and closed the door behind you.

Levi knew that it could very well kill you. That’s what you were warned of. It would give the kingdom a chance to regain a sane ruler. It would be good if you died.

‘From chaos to healing, is where to gain the sealing;

Where they be kneeling, you’ll have no feeling.’

Those were the words you told him the first time you met. But later, after you started ruling and he became your own personal guard, you told him there was more. There were ruins. Books. A whole civilization even. Those two phrases were just a part of a whole. A whole that you knew.

‘The one who stops the war, to try and reach the core;

Along the gentle shore, they will gain more.’

There was more to that sword than just corruption, and there was more to his sword than just healing.

Leaning against the wall outside your room, he took his sword in his hands, watching as the symbols along it’s blade glowed up at him from the interaction.

He could save you, but would it be worth it?

#fantasy au #no feelin' timeline #levi ackerman x reader #shingeki no kyojin x reader #attack on titan x reader #snk x reader #aot x reader #knight levi

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thetaoofbetty · 3 years

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I don't know why we're still talking about Betty's mistake or her being a bad friend or her the way she treated Cheryl. When do i have to remeber to these people, Cheryl sent Josie a pig's heart, does her mental health is more important than Josie's? Also this proves that no one in Riverdale, neither their faves is an angel. When Veronica accused Cheryl of incest publicly? They're still besties but, of course Betty is evil for kissing her boyfriend !!! She also apologized for that, she payed fod what she did 7 years ago !! Why take everything against Betty when their faves are flawed too??? Just say you hate her and go, we'll be happier like that, they're literally embarassing themselves with such "reasons you should hate Betty". I hate to take things against other characters (that i actually love!) but i have no idea why other's do everything to defend their faves but Betty stans can't...also if she's the worst character i wonder what's their opinion on riverdale parents. The worst thing is still hearing people calling her a cheater, that's it? years of bughead and Betty being a supportive girlfriend means nothing to them???? I'm tired of seeing Betty stans having to clarify: "i love her and i'm well aware of her mistakes", every characters is flawed but she's the one who pays the causes the most, like that's so sad :(

so, twitter is going through it today i assume?

like, there’s no point in paying attention to teenagers mad on the bird app about whatever it is they’re mad about.

whether they’re mad that their fave is a supporting character and, by definition, never going to get the storylines betty does or they’re mad that she made a mistake 7 years ago...none of it matters. it won’t make her storylines less important, it won’t stop her from getting back together with jughead, it’s just them running their mouths because they decided they don’t like her (did they ever like her outside of her being with jughead? i don’t know and don’t care tbh, that’s a them problem).

you don’t have to clarify anything. that people feel the need to do it is more indicative of the sort of weird public shaming fandom uses to manipulate people into feeling bad for enjoying imperfect female fictional characters.

i’ve already been through the villain shaming era of fandom on social media, i’m immune to their whining. literally, it’s fiction. you don’t need to qualify or explain why you like a character to anyone. that people expect you to is on them. every time i get an ask (and i do. lots of them) telling me to write an essay on why i like bughead or and justifying things i’ve said as a personal opinion, i think of this tweet:

listen, people constantly complain about this show as if it promised them something else than what it delivers. it never said, “here is this sweet found family trope show where the romantic stakes are lower and friendships are the what’s holding this group together.” the stakes were life and death from the start: polly and jason risked it all to get out and they paid for it. jughead and betty both could have died in s2. archie could have died in s3 and he and veronica were seperated for most of that season, right? jughead almost died in s4. s5 is basically: they all could have died! they still might!

(we all know they won’t and were never going to in any season but that’s not the point of the storylines, it’s the drama of it)

truthfully, the only one who ever seems to have a friendship montage is archie (unconscious or not). jughead’s is always betty (or betty majority) related. like, it’s all right there. it’s not subtle.

the romantic drama of it all was always going to be bigger, messier, and far more emotionally wrought than some slow burn that takes 5 seasons to culminate into anything significant (yes, i am talking about the theories of you know who, they’re watching the wrong show for that dynamic). they were never going to break up undramatically. it was always going to be messy. the stakes are too high for them to have viable love interests outside of each other, they’ve never been presented that way so why expect it to happen now? because someone wants it? i want lots of things, doesn’t mean i’m going to get it.

when the argument that a character is bad because she made a mistake 7 years ago as a teenager but no one has anything to say about everyone in town probably being an accessory to murder or doing whatever illegal thing it is they’re doing or have done because they know it’s fiction, i’m going to assume they took it personally and can’t let it go over a year later. which is fine. but it’s also not my problem.

and i don’t think it’s yours, either, doll. more than half of them will pretend they never said anything when bughead gets back together anyway, tbh. might as well just mute, block, or unfollow because it’s not worth the energy.

#besos!#allusions to stalking #with the whole cheryl and josie thing #mentions of 4x17 #discourse #i have learned to assume if i don't see it on my dash first it's from twitter #also because stan twitter is a thing #and they really go through it on the regular #anonymous

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stilesxeveryone · 3 years

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The Rewatch, pt4

Feel free to message or comment any of your own thoughts/opinions!

Season 2, episode 7

All adults in the vicinity crossing their arms as soon as Stiles opens his mouth to say something stupid

“No stiles!” Rip all of his Stiles privileges

I have to assume that kanima!Jackson assaulted Allison because Matt is into her, which is a whole new level of creepy because oh god that means Matt can control the kanima more than just “hey kill that guy”, like this suggests it sort of takes on Matt’s emotions and shit

Stiles knows Jackson’s birthday

Uhhhh missed the rest of the episode because I was drawing, whoops

Just Peter traumatising Lydia, it’s fine

Season 2, episode 8

I always love Stiles and his father interacting tbh, they very much know how to deal with each other’s bullshit a lot of the time and I appreciate it. Seeing them work on a case together is wonderful

Again, this scene between Stiles and his dad about him losing his sheriff position is actually heartbreaking, goddamn

Ah, the first hints of Scott/Isaac

Reminder that Jackson is canonically queer

Also yesssssssssss magic Stiles! That’s my boyyyyyy! I need to write witch Stiles again

Stiles being pack mum will continue to always be one of my favourite tropes and this is just reminding me that I want to rewrite my 10 chapter fic about human alpha Stiles

Deaton saying the teenagers are “more capable than you think” is a goddamn terrible take, they need so much help. Like yeah they can get out of this alive, but your job as emissary/mentor/adult/whatever is to help reduce their trauma

Season 2, episode 9

I feel like the only time I ever really see Lydia’s trauma mentioned in fics is like in passing about why she hates Peter, but maybe I just don’t read enough fics about Lydia

Also I don’t mean this in a weird way, but I really like the sound of Lydia’s scream. Sometimes shows just use bad screams and it’s a tragedy, but the scream they use for Lydia is brilliant

“Doesn’t being a part of your pack mean no more secrets” I can’t tell if that’s Scott being hypocritical or manipulative but wow

Even though I don’t like Allison’s mother, it still breaks my heart to see her try to talk to Allison before she takes her own life, and Allison doesn’t know so she just brushes her off

Stiles kept in touch with the drag queens which is actually amazing information

Again! Stiles and his father! Making me cry! I mean this time it’s a hallucination but goddamn

Chris was killing his wife, I was thinking about how strong his forearms looked

I’m really interested to know how in the world Peter knew that Lydia was immune/a banshee, and that she’d be able to bring him back

Season 2, episode 10

Someone needs to explain this part to me. Like I literally don’t understand the order of events of Matt and the kanima bonding and Isaac’s dad dying. Like did Jackson kill him before they bonded, and if so why didn’t he bond with Isaac instead? Or did he somehow bond with Matt before killing Isaac’s dad, even though this flashback clearly shows them bonding after the fact?

Please someone give me an explanation

“Scott I trust” that is such a sad line

Hhhhhhh wish people would stop manipulating Allison, and can we get some better communication over here please!

Okay Stiles’ dad shouting Scott’s name first when he hears a gunshot kinda hurts guys

I do appreciate that this show doesn’t half ass their villain character motivations. Sometimes I see villains and I have literally no idea why they do what they do, but not this guy

Okay clearly this show enjoys killing their villains in the same way twice, like they burned Peter twice, and now they’re drowning Matt twice

Season 2, episode 11

Stiles (Dylan O’Brien) is so pretty (and clearly this cameraman knew it)

Isaac coming into the vet clinic like a lost pup is really adorable, and him crying after taking the dog’s pain away 🥺

Peter you manipulative son of a bitch, stop looking so good

Oh boy Allison going off the rails and hunting Erica and Boyd, I wish she’d go feral in the other direction and shoot Gerard

Stiles winning the game, and having this amazing moment and having something to be proud of, and then immediately getting kidnapped is kinda fucked up and I appreciate it

Season 2, episode 12

As always, give me pack mum Stiles or give me death

And as always, Stiles never shutting his mouth during interrogations and fights is my favourite thing to see. Also would be into a Stargent or Stallison fic where one of them realises Stiles is down in the basement and they step in

Why does Stiles look so good with that blood on his face

And that no one! No one knows! That Gerard beat Stiles up! As far as we see, he doesn’t tell anyone about it!!!

I honestly appreciate that Chris goes to the side of the werewolves before Allison does, I think it’s very fun and cool

And here it is, the moment we’ve all been waiting for. Scott using Derek to kill Gerard. He’s just so uncaring about the fact that he lied to everyone about what was happening, planned to violate Derek’s autonomy and had planned to murder Gerard, like it’s so weird to see him so nonchalant about it

Erica and Boyd just can’t catch a break

I think there are definitely parts of this season that I enjoy more than the first, and parts I enjoy less. I love the characters they introduce (Isaac, Erica and Boyd) and I love the exploration of Allison’s character, and Stiles’ relationship with his dad. I hate Gerard (which is a good thing), and god bless Chris coming round to the winning side (even though technically he went through this same thing last season, of realising his family member must be stopped before his daughter gets hurt).

I do wish the ending was different, and that Scott went about defeating Gerard in a different way. Or at least for him to show any empathy? He just feels so callous and uncaring as he uses Derek and as Gerard dies and I don’t know if it’s bad acting or bad writing or maybe even my misunderstanding of his character, but I feel like that just doesn’t fit him.

Also maybe this is just me, but I kinda wish that Matt wasn’t major stalking Allison. It feels a little like an unnecessary cherry on top, or maybe I’m just not thinking hard enough about what it added to the season.

#the rewatch #alex rewatches teen wolf #teen wolf

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gritsandbrits · 4 years

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The OFFICIAL Jora Holiday Bio 🍄🌟

While far from complete here's an bio for my OC! Visual ref coming soon!!!

Full Name: Jora Ladybird Holiday

Age: 9; 15 in Omniverse

Species: Human

Hometown: Anneville, S.C.

Current Residence: Bellwood

Eye Color: Deep brown/blackish

Hair Color: Black

Skin Color: Very deep brown

Appearance: Jora is tall for her age, chubby and often wears her hair loose in a parted styled held together with bobby pins. She has a wide and round face, nose, and short uet very thick eyebrows. She wears very little makeup, and always seen wearing lacy pink gloves.

Attire: Varies by seasons and series but she typically wears vibrant or pastel hues with floral and animal motifs, cutesy designs, or polka dots. I'll make an outfit ref soon!

Personality: Jora is described as a super sweet if timid and shy young woman with a deep respect for life. However she bottles up a lot of her negative emotions which sometimes makes her a doormat or she ends up being really icy. She learns to beyter express her negativity, though she does retain emotional sensitivity time to time.

In the OS Jo had to overcome one of her biggest flaws, Bystander Syndrome, in order to protect herself and her friend. Throughout thr series she becomes more assertive, though she dislikes sounding too mean.

While she adheres to the theme of second chances, she has little tolerance for faking and betrayals and wants people to actively work on making amends or changing their ways. She knows that some people can't change, so instead of active revenge she would rather let the person's actions catch up to them, or hold them accountable. She despises assumptions that she's evil just because of her powers. She admits to harboring some resentment, but over time she learned to accept her condition and adapt to it rather creatively.

Likes & Hobbies: Designing her own costumes, watching trashy TV programs, reading, mycology, nature walks, flower pressing, DIY projects, casual/virtual pet gaming, fashion design, Green Cleaning, apple pie, chocolate and strawberry milkshakes, tea with sugar and cream, travel, meditation, quiet time

Dislikes: False accusations and slander, being picked on, people touching her hair without her permission, senseless destruction of nature, animal abuse, forcing someone to tell the truth if they're not comfortable, being pitied for her condition, spicy food, arguing and being made fun of for girly traits

Powers and Abilities

- Rot Inducement

- Fungi Manipulation

- Poison & Toxin Immunity

- Self Regeneration

- Minor Chronokinesis/Acceleration

- Athleticism

- Empathy

- Self Defense/dagger fighting style

Items: Amanita Staff & Pixie Daggers; handmade costumes

Strengths: Can regenerate limbs, slow the rate of decay, empowered by Phoenix Element, controls intensity of powers, incredibly strong against plant/nature elements, tenacity

Weaknesses: Powers are incredibly weak on glass, metals, rocks and minerals, and generally any type of syntheric or inorganic material. She also cannot complete shut this power off

Relationships

Family: Jeremy (father), Mavis (mother) Latasha (sister) Pattibelle (cousin) Ginger (family friend); Kendrix & Kenny and Belle (future kids), extended family

Friends: Team 10, Cooper, Substitute Plumbers (future), Zak, Wadi, Rex

OC Friends: Myra Hopewell, Azura, Kelly Arbol, Richard Mortis, Temika, Mama Gia, Shadé

Enemies: Pretty much the canon villains XD

OC Enemies: Kudzu, Mara Winters/Ice Queen, Cinnabar Rojo, Forever Princess, Mycopath/Cora Holiday, Guardians of Light, Supernatural/elemental threats

Love Interests: Ben Tennyson

Ship Name: Cosmic Toadstool or BenJo

Ben Tennyson is her major love interest, starting from a brief tense rivalry from their first meeting. Over time they began to see they had common ground and developed more friendly relations by the end. The Ben 10000 episode is particularly amusing in that BOTH of them were quite disgusting at the implication that their older selves dated each other. Ironically it was their older selves watching their example that lowkey led to them getting back together.

They restarted their friendship in Omniverse albeit clumsily as both hadn't seen nor heard from each other in several years. Not to mention new problems: Jora hadn't quite got over her shyness and was socially awkward, and Ben swore off romance after too many failed relationships ego and wanting to focus on his hero career. Layer seasons would see the two began to grow a romantic attraction to each other, with them getting together post series. I kinda didn't want them together right at the end of s8 to drive home the point of them navigating a romance and not just "fighting fate" or what not. So they'll get together on THEIR own terms.

Backstory: Jora appears in the original show as a recurring character and ally to the Tennysons. The joke is that her family, who were also on a cross-country road trip, would often show up at the exact same city or town the Tennysons would be in.

Original Series: Unlike Ben and Gwen, the timid Jo was born with her powers but was afraid of them as she could barely keep it in check. She also didn't start out friendly with the two having been put off by their constant quarreling. It wasn't until an encounter with Kevin Levin (hint: KIDNAP) where she tried using her powers to defend herself and Four Arms for the first time. It didn't exactly work out leaving her ashamed for being a bystander, and decided to remedy this by practicing her powers for better use. This leads up to the Camp Fear event where she played a huge part in containing and eventually purifying the corrupted Mycellium (and yes corrupted; there's something bigger going on).

There were a couple of more adventures: goinf to Chicago to meet up with her cousins Patti and Ginger for a music fesitval; time travel shenanigans, fighting Rojo and her niece Cinnabar, & battling the the Negative 10. Her relationship with Ben and Gwen also greatly improved to the point where they became genuine friends near the end of the show.

UAF: After the road trip ended, she parted ways with the Tennysons and headed back to her hometown of Anneville,S.C. While not fully copinf with her powers she had a rejuvenated sense of self confidence and decided to find more uses for her powers. This included clearing away invasive plant species around town, going into homes and clearing away toxic molds, and dabbling into the scientific side of her powers. She maintained contact with the Tennysons until a few years when life started to get too busy for any of them to remain in contact.

It was also at this point Jora would learn about the scorn "dark" elementals would face, as well as a conflict between dark elementals just wanting to live their lives in peace and a group called the Temple of Light. The Temple's goal was to rid the world of all evil but took rather underhanded methods to do it. Jo would also briefly battle a faction of Forever Knights led by her contemporary Forever Princess, and villainous entrepreneur Kudzu.

Omniverse: Six years passed and Jora got a request from Max Tennyson to join a new "initiative." She turned it down, feeling that she wasn't suited for actual superheroics and wanting to focus on her studies. She was also afraid of seeing her old friends; a small part of her wondered if they'd still recognize her after so many years.

A few weeks later Patti planned on moving to Bellwood for her new job. Jora came with her to help her move in, & it was that trip where she and Ben reunited, and met his new partner Rook Blonko. Ben mentioned about his grandfather picking out new teammates to protect Bellwood. Jora admitted that max sent her a letter but she turned him down for personal reasons. Feeling rather disappointed Ben states that there's always an open spot for her.

During her stay Jora and Rook were taken around town to get familiar with each other and the sites. Rook was curious about her relationship with Ben which she replies that they go way back but hadn't really talked to each other in years. Much of season one and two is spent with her and Ben awkwardly reconnecting. Eventually she becomes a bit of a consultant for the Plumbers and a major member of Team 10, further developing her friendship with Rook, and something much deeper with Ben.

Post Series: Jora's experiences leads her to try to form a villain rehab group, succeeding by forming the Substitute Plumbers. She also begins to use her status and fame to raise awareness on multiple issues from gentrification to widespread Plumber corruption. After a brief breakup and working solo, She and Ben 10000 reconciled and within a year of two married and had three kids over the span of ten more years. Jora became a consultant specializing in Earth customs.

Trivia

- Voice Claim is Kimberly Brooks

- Her theme is nature to contrast with Ben's aliens and Gwen's magic

- Also a bit ironic: she's a good character who protects and values life yet has a power linked to death/dying.

- Doesn't really have a signature color though she does wear a lot of white accents as white symbolizes death in some cultures

- She was made 1) because I'm salty B10 didn't have a named black girl character & 2) to give Ben a compelling/fleshed out love interest

- Jora has a Reboot counterpart! Largely the same except now she's a main fixture right from rhe beginning and has a slightly different power set

- She's not present in every single episode of the original; those times she'd be off with her family doing their own thing

- Her verse is called the Joraverse since it's a complete rewrite of the OS and OV as a whole (not strictly related to her btw but I'm also salty at more than a fee b10 things)

- Her alternate counterparts has different elements, personalities and even designs!

- If she existed her theme song would be the Japanese cover of Say So by Rainych

- Much of Jo's character is based on Card Captor Sakura since I've always been a fan of that show

- Just like how Ben has different aliens Jora has different costumes with different themes.

- In OV her costumes signify each color of the rainbow and has a pun of some sort. She even earns special items with different properties (elemental spells, alien tech, token of peace).

- While Jora appreciates all of Ben's forms she has a certain fondness for Four Arms and Grey Matter (he rescued her as Four Arms and she finds Grey Matter adorable)

#character bio #ben 10 #ben 10 original #ben 10 original character #ben 10 oc #oc x canon #jora holiday #ben 10 ov #ben 10 omniverse #long post #joraverse

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semi-imaginary-place · 4 years

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ffxiv 2.5

ah. so that’s were wilred went... didn’t have a good feeling when he disappeared along with the blackmarket weapons

please stop raising flags.

conspiracies? now we’re talking

Alright so got called by alianne(?) away from the banquet, i have a bad feeling that is growing stronger.

larentius better not be a traitor for a second time.

alphinaud... don’t say this at the victory banquet, don’t raise flags. I know heavenward exists.

the game just gave me a point of no return, no way this is going to end well, maybe I should put on some actual clothes. really glad ffxiv has that new game plus feature. time travel...

well that escalated quickly. also game crashed when I took a screenshot so I’ll have to watch that whole thing over again

I’m still not sure how dissolving the monarchy will get rid of the monetarists.

I got spoiled that nanamo died but I didn’t know when., so I got real suspicious when the camera kept showing that cup in frame. That handmaiden is also sus.

lol yuyuhase’s jp voice is so deep.

ah so teledji adeledji bought out the crystal braves to better frame us.

Did Raubahn actually kill Teledji? I didn’t think he was that stupid to goat in front of a grief stricken man. a grief stricken man who is a famous warrior and currently carrying giant swords.

Ok I can’t tell if Lolorito is a part of this plot or just taking advantage of the situation to get rid of a threat and competitor (raubahn and teledji)

Hey Ilberd. Weren’t you the guy who said something like "I may have sold my sword but at least I didn’t sell my comrades”. And now you’re the traitor. The parallels to Rosaille from earlier work really well here.

wow you can really see the moment his heart breaks in two when Ilberd says he killed Nanamo. Raubahn really has had a shitty week. First he finds out his trusted second is an imperial spy, then his beloved mistress nanamo is poisoned, then his friend betrays him and cuts off his arm. Damn Raubahn running around with his arm cut off... is his sheer badassery keeping him from bleeding out?

you know, when they were talking about expanding the authority of the brass blades to free up the immortal flames to help ishgard, I thought to myself “but aren’t the brass blades already narratively established to be completely corrupt?” There’s the intro to Ul’dah cutscene as well as that whole quest with fufulupa. that dude on pearl lane was right, you have to look at the flow of money

and I’m still having audio issues where the voiced lines ore either very loud and then half way through the line it becomes super quiet and then loud again and then quiet again. I can’t find the pattern.

eng audio seems to be mostly fine, there’s the same beginning of the line is quiet issue but not as bad as the jp and random parts of the lines aren’t quiet so maybe its a jp audio file issue? But I don’t like eng audio as much. eng Rauban is weak! maybe its a speaker problem

I think its a speaker problem. eng+speakers is fine though but jp+speakers isn’t...

If Papaylmo was going to bring the gate down, why didn’t he close it with him and Yda on the other side and them take pot shots at the enemies from behind it?

And next its Y’shtola and Thancred sacrificing themselves. Ok, so in general I dislike this trope where one by one your companions go “leave me behind, I’ll slow them down for you. Go!” mostly because it isn’t written well and if you look at it, there characters are making very stupid decisions. Even worse when they do that but you still stick around and see them die so its pointless. Its very cheap drama. That said it can be done well, Nier is a good example of this. This time I was trying to evaluate through the whole thing how much plot immunity these characters have. Papalymo and Yda don’t have that much but would they really kill off 1.0 major characters? I don’t know, but either way the writers better do something with this.

Does Alphinaud really think that hood disguises him in any way?

AAAAAAAaaaaaaaa Pipin!!!!!!!! I don’t know about eng, but in jp his voice is very rich and smooth

What has Cid been doing this whole time. Crystal Tower research? the airship stuff we interrupted?

hmmm so overall I’d say these are probably the best scenes so far. They have a lot of potential, now there is only to wait and see if any of that potential is realized. I do hope they actually do something with Nanamo’s death and Alphinaud. Alphinaud really is the main character lol, we the player character am just along for the ride. I mean you could give all the player character stuff to Minfilia since she has that special Haedalyn connection and I’d mostly work.

a hug for the boy.

so that boundless confidence comes crashing down now... oh alphinaud...

...

there he is!

I knew she was sus. and lolorito defs plotting

wait. whatever happened to those black market weapons?

I think overall 2.5 had better writing than 2.0 though the pacing was a little wack, it went from mediocre to decently good. I’m glad I did 2.5 in less than a month since the constant jumping back and forth between plot threads that the msq chain did would have been a nightmare to keep track of if I was on a patch release schedule. I think they did manage in the end to mostly pull it off, so this might be a personal preference thing

#ffxiv #2.5 #seventh astral era

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danwhobrowses · 4 years

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10 Things that would’ve Improved the Game of Thrones Final Season (For Me)

So it came to my attention that recently it was the First Anniversary of the Final Episode of HBO’s ‘Game of Thrones’. I was taken back to my memory of the BinGOT thing we had at work where we all made predictions of who lived, died and ‘won’ from the last ep (I was in 2nd or 3rd place). And since my mother has started binging it during quarantine I thought in the spirit of that environment I’d discuss a little what I would’ve changed in the final season.

Spoilers for Game of Thrones Season 8 Below, if you haven’t watched it then you’re better off not reading this frankly, if you haven’t been spoiled already at least.

So for starters, the final episode is not the worst tv I’ve ever seen, it just was a sloppy final season in general that really didn’t satisfy the 2 years of hype waiting for it, it’s like with the How I Met Your Mother finale, but that annoyance being more than one episode. But without further ado here are 10 things I would’ve changed about the final season Note: Most will involve the finale. The first 2 episodes were great.

10 - Ten Episodes The Long Night was 1 episode, the LONG NIGHT. A Culmination of the army of living and dead confined into one episode. One of the main problems with the final season was that the pacing was a bit rushed, it made character progression seem unnatural and dropped long-built plot points like water through a sieve. With 10 episodes, which was not a big ask given that this was the usual number and the gravitas of it being the final season would easily allow it to be green lit. D&D immediately backed themselves into a corner by giving a limit they weren’t used to and too much content to put in.

9 - Bite of the Spider Varys’ death was an upsetting start of the penultimate episode, while I would’ve loved him to have survived start to end and potentially ended on top (because he’s never shown to be as cunning or dangerous as he is in the books) there was some sense in him dying. However, Varys was shown sending a letter before his arrest and that never came back up, the finale could’ve used this by revealing to the public Jon’s true heritage, which would’ve immediately undermined Dany’s claim and set up a better conflict. Also we never knew what the voice in the flames said to him...

8 - A More Fitting Long Night While everyone probably popped hard for Arya killing the Night King, myself included, the nature of it was rather abrupt. I don’t think anyone can buy that she sneaked past that entire army. I do feel like the Night King was just a MacGuffin for the Long Night, given that he did so little in the actual fight. This is where a multi-part Long Night would’ve been key as well, going from the Night King being immune to Dragonfire to dying a bit later was not a good pace, and we lacked any conflict with Jon like we teased twice, Arya probably wasn’t the most poetic person to kill him either but GoT seldom did poetic deaths (Joffrey, Cersei, Euron). While the Long Night had exemplary deaths like Theon, Lyanna, Jorah and Beric, the Night King fell among the ranks of Melisandre and Edd in terms of meh deaths. The Long Night should’ve been a bigger bloodbath than it was, half the Dothraki somehow survived remember, we didn’t get to see Ghost fight at all either, no giant spiders, a lot of the tension was lost with the way some fight scenes were filmed; it was too easy to read between the lines and not enough characters had any true ‘oh god this person could die’ scenes.

7 - Resolution for the Characters we didn’t See and Plots unresolved With so much funding and finality in the show, there felt like there could’ve been more stuff that could’ve been resolved; what was the Quaith’s prophecy about? What really happened with the Doom of Valyria? Why does Dragonglass and Valyrian steel kill White Walkers? What is Daario doing after Dany died? Were the Faceless Men really that okay with letting Arya wander around knowing their skillset? Nobody hired them to help in the war either. What happened to the remnants of that warlock dude who stole the baby dragons, they sent one scorpion and that’s it, what happens with the Little Birds now that they’re leaderless? Who was Azor Ahai? What were the spirals about? There are a lot of questions the show kinda just, ignored.

6 - The Mad Queen So, Dany going from ‘I’ll stop if they surrender’ to ‘Burn them fucking all’ was abrupt for many, the majority of fans were not ready or willing to accept turning on their Kaleesi in just one episode. While I could see the conclusion coming from being jumped, losing another ‘child’ and her closest friend as well as her new boyfriend being her nephew and a legitimate threat to her legitimacy despite already pledging fealty, Dany’s descent could’ve used more time, and less naivety. While the death of the dragon was a huge shock, the idiocy fell on Dany in thinking that Cersei would play fair and wouldn’t try to occupy Dragonstone while she abandoned it. There also fell inconsistency when the same fleet and rows of Scorpion crossbows suddenly got Stormtrooper aim during ‘The Bells’. Euron is a renowned sailor, he ruined a Dornish fleet in a previous season, he may be an annoying bastard but you have to treat his naval tactics with a bit more respect - and make Dany less stupid with Cersei doing Cersei things. A lot of people definitely needed more time in buying the idea that Dany had lost her cool and that she blamed all of Westeros to justify burning everyone unashamedly.

5 - Proper Redemption We all know who we’re talking about. Jaime, Jaime, Jaime. In the end he just proved Olenna’s point didn’t he? And his turn away from redemption was only to serve as an example point for Tyrion to use to convince Jon to kill Dany. Jaime didn’t have to live, but he didn’t have to die rushing to Cersei’s rescue, or even due to Euron stabbing him. If anything Jaime should’ve died with some Honour, to be the inverse of Ned as he was presented in Season 1.

4 - My Lady does not have to mean M’Lady This is probably the most selfish ones of my 10 but as a shipper at my very heart and soul I wanted one, at least one, ship to survive this entire turmoil and Gendry and Arya were that couple. We almost had it as well, but then for some mad reason D&D decided that Gendry, despite literally saying that “none of it will be worthwhile if you’re not with me”, stayed in Storm’s End. Arya’s character endgame was right in her venturing off not being bound by the fact that she’s a noble, but Gendry spent a lot of time not caring that he was of Kingsblood to basically being his Father’s son. He’ll rule Storm’s End, marry some woman to have kids, but he’ll still have fallen into the same pit as King Robert did. It would’ve been much more satisfying and hopeful if Gendry abandoned the titles and land he never wanted or needed to accompany someone he loves and who loves him back on an adventure into the unknown. She’s not a ‘lady’ if she’s only marrying a blacksmith and love is the death of duty.

3 - Sansa is NOT Smart (and gets what she actually deserves) Right. So I really, really didn’t like Sansa. Like, I get it, she got held hostage by the Lannisters, watched her father get beheaded, got accused of murder, learned that her brother and mother died, watched the guy who fancied her mother and kissed her kill her aunt and then got effectively sold to an abuser in an arranged marriage. But Sansa is not the smartest player in the game, it was annoying that they tried to portray her as one, she had one idea that anyone could’ve told you ‘don’t be stupid against Ramsay Bolton’. She spent all of Season 8 mainly giving side eye like a petty bitch, completely trying to undermine Dany despite the two being very very similar (remember Dany was raped, sold off in an arranged marriage and watched family members get killed too) to the point where she was conspiring for Jon to usurp her. And in reality she took her ball and left, she was so pissy that the leaders didn’t pick her to be Queen of Westeros that she literally pointed out her own brother’s infertility, claimed that the North wouldn’t bow to a monarch, then declared herself Queen. Hide the ‘Yas Queen’ goggles for a sec, this wasn’t empowering she was throwing her own brother under the bus because she wanted to be queen, and she learned far too much from Littlefinger and Cersei’s playbook to actually be a just one. The North is allowed to be an independent nation, but Sansa’s ‘victory’ was more earned by virtue of a lot of shit happened to her than her actually demonstrating qualities to be queen.

2 - Bran Stark can’t come to the Phone right now... While we’re on the subject of Stark children not being fit rulers, Bran. What a cockamamie decision that was. I was 100% behind the destruction of the Iron Throne, but the chorus of laughter with a democratic rule was a bit of a slap in the face. Of all the choices though, Bran had to be near the bottom, it felt completely unearned that he spent literal seasons disconnecting from the world even to the point where he told Meera and Sam that Bran Stark is no longer here anymore only for Bran Stark to magically resurface when a crown is in waiting. I think it defeats the whole Three Eyed Raven thing too, the guy isn’t really one for the people, which is the problem every other ruler before him failed at. If you can’t pick a just person to lead, then why not a council instead? Just using Bran was a poor and messy decision.

1 - THE MOTHERFUCKING VALONQUAR One of the few expectations across all of Game of Thrones was the wondering over whether Cersei was gonna get what’s coming to her, the Maggy the Frog prophecy was going along quite well up until the Valonquar bit, where the younger sibling that was going to choke the life out of her was: bricks. BRICKS! Of all the long-winded prophecy foreshadowings to drop this one was the worst, Cersei (and Jaime) died in underwhelming, thoughtless fashion, the lack of fanfare on killing off one of the best and most ‘love to hate’ villains in the show only cemented the fact that the finale was not able to live up to the hype. True, most of these are small changes, but it’s worth remembering that there was some good coming out of the final season and it was the lack of those little things and attention to detail that led to the season ending on an underwhelming note.

We did however get a good ton of memes out of it, and at work a long-winded discussion on who should get the ‘winner’ 5-points (compared to the 1 correct points) since we had technically agreed that the 5 points goes to “whoever correctly guesses who sits on the Iron Throne” XD I still can’t believe I was right in Drogon melting the throne though that was one in a million

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daffodi1 · 5 years

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I’ve been wanting to write this essay (except not really an essay, just a long winded ramble) about these two stupid boys for a long time, but I’ve been putting it off b/c I was afraid of being roasted for what is probably gonna be a pretty unpopular opinion. But here we go anyway, hold my beer.

Obviously, this is gonna be a long post, and don’t click under the cut if you haven’t played through/watched through the OG Game, Bonus Stage, and Sirius’ conclusion b/c there’s major spoilers.

One of the things I’m happiest about from Sirius’ game is the fact that it backed up my... idk if I’d call it a theory? But my thoughts on Ashe and Noel. Basically, I always thought it was funny that they had the exact same motive, the same willingness to blame themselves for things that weren’t their fault, a history of being emotionally manipulated and etc, but people largely agreed that Noel is an innocent angel for wanting to save Claire and Ashe is a disgusting little trash man who needs to get over it.

First of all, look: Noel is absolutely NOT innocent. Don’t get me wrong, I love him and I relate to him so so much about everything, but he’s nowhere near innocent and I kinda wish people didn’t woobify him as much as they did. We saw in his own route in the first game that he’s willing to throw people under the bus or let them die for Claire’s sake even if he won’t directly kill them. (Sirius fucking WHOMST anyone? Lied to him about what would happen to the mansion, manipulating him with Dorothy, straight up didn’t care that much when he died? WOOF.) And look, I get that he’s an abused child who won’t know how to handle a catastrophic situation with a whole lot of grace, but letting people die from negligence still isn’t a good thing and ultimately has the same consequences of murder, even if it’s not the same action.

Anyway, sorry for the rant on that. TL:DR Noel is a 3 dimensional and flawed character just like everyone else in the game and shouldn’t be immune to criticism (even if I love him). Having a cast of perfect characters would be boring anyway.

MOVING ON. Seeing these two boys relate to each other, seeing Ashe actually feel BAD about lying to Noel because he sees himself in him, seeing Noel realize he’s wanted the EXACT same thing that Ashe does, I’ve been living for it because it confirms what I’d been thinking since I played Bonus Stage: they’re literally fighting for the same reasons. Ashe wants his family back because he can’t accept that they died, making his family happy was literally his only purpose and he’s absolutely lost without them (even his big dream to become a doctor was because he wanted to help his sister. He’s always done EVERYTHING for his family, and when he lost them, he basically lost his whole life too.) Noel wants Claire back because she’s all he had, the one thing in his painful life that made it worth living (and even if he is more self sacrificial NOW and willing to let himself be dragged into hell for her NOW, this was a new development for him b/c even Rouge pointed out that he was dragging his feet on taking any action toward saving her in the loops before his scenario. Simply put, he wanted to see her again and be with her again at first, it wasn’t until he finally realized they couldn’t stay together that he truly decided to take action to save her.) Both of these boys want the same thing: for the people that made their lives worth living to live on, and both of them are willing to lie and manipulate to get what they want. The only difference is that Ashe takes a more active role in character deaths, and Noel seems to have developed a stronger sense of idealism in Sirius’ conclusion. (I have my own theory on why that is, but that’s for another post because this one is getting long as it is.)

My big point is this: why are people so willing to sympathize with Noel, but not Ashe? I don’t think anyone is required to like him or anything, and I get that murder is too far for a lot of people, but I’ve heard people say he’s unsympathetic even for a villain and that his motive isn’t that great/is far too unrealistic/stupid, but then turn around and say Noel is perfect even when their motives are the exact same: they both want to save the people they love from death. They’re both selfish in their own ways, and selfless in their own ways, and definitely three dimensional characters that deserve better than to be seen as one sided. I hope we get to see more of their interactions in upcoming games, because they were some of the best parts (among other things.)

#emil chatter #witch's heart #witch's heart spoilers #long post #i have a lot of feelings about this game #read at your own risk

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jaaryl · 5 years

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jaaryl (or if someone beat me to it, daaron)

Some answers are going to be based on the rewrite of my Daaron fic which is going to be set during 9.16 (that one day I will get around to finishing I swear lmao).

So, spoilers for that I guess lol.

1. Who makes the first move and how?

It would have to be Daryl.

Even though Aaron has the most experience dating another man/ person in general, I have no doubt in my mind that he would find it incredibly daunting to even try and proceed a relationship with Daryl. His friendship with Daryl is one of the few bright spots of the apocalypse and it would absolutely break his heart if he scared him off or was rejected.

Since my fic is set during the 9.16 blizzard, the two of them are going on ahead to collect supplies at the next way station and, of course, it has to have the cliche trope of Aaron being all heroic and pushing Daryl out of the way of cracking ice so he’ll fall through instead… all while they are escaping ice zombies. Cue the trope of them cuddling naked for warmth and waking up with an awkward situation yada yada.

Aaron: [incredibly embarrassed and freaking the hell out] This doesn’t have to change anything.

Daryl: [also incredibly embarrassed and freaking the hell out, and just fresh off thinking Aaron could of so easily died one (1) day ago and not wanting to waste what time they have together] Ahhhh I kinda want it too????

2. Who is the most insecure and what makes them feel better?

Being seen as outcasts still bothers them a lot, even if they try their best not to show it. No matter how far into the apocalypse, or how important they have become to the success of the communities, there will always be those douches who look down on people for being different. And the best thing about Daaron is how leaning on each other for support and having each other’s backs when they are feeling this way is literally the foundation of their relationship.

3. Who is the most romantic?

Aaron’s the obvious choice with his tendency to be extremely tactile and handing out affection left and right while also giving away huge gifts, like the bike. However, Daryl is incredibly sentimental, and loves and cherishes that bike like it’s one of his most precious possessions, and he also shows his love by making sure the people that he cares about are well provided for. So, it’s for you to decide.

4. Who can’t keep their hands to themselves?

Daryl is extremely touch-starved but he is also pretty awkward when it comes to asking for affection. Aaron is a mix of very tactile, begging to give hugs and super lonely.

So, once Aaron figures out that Daryl wants to be touched more than the occasional hug, handhold or brush of arms all bets are off. I can only imagine how bad it will be when they get into an actual relationship.

5. Who says ‘I love you’ first?

I feel like Aaron has said those words long before they started dating, “Daryl, I love you, but no,” and completely mean them (both platonically and romantically). So, the moment Daryl says the words back for the first time…he is kinda worried Aaron’s smile is going to split his face in half.

6. Who would they ask if they ever had a threesome?

Season 5: Eric, for obvious reasons.

Season 9: Paul, most definitely, hot, gay, single and already someone they both trust completely.

Post 9.08 though? Ah, no one? Aaron is literally the only male character that Daryl is close to lmao.

7. What do they get up to on a night out?

I doubt there is much to do datewise beyond the wall, even for two bamfs like Aaron and Daryl. Maybe fortnightly overnight camping trips when it gets too stuffy in Alexandria and they need to escape for a bit.

On the nights that they have the house all to themselves, it is pretty quiet. Just the two of them hanging out, kicking back beer, pressed up against each other, talking about mindless topics, and having sex etc.

8. What do they like in bed?

Daryl: when you said “magical in bed” this isn’t exactly what I was exp-

Aaron: *holds up 8 of hearts* is this your card

Daryl: *softly* holy shit

Aaron knows that Daryl doesn’t have a lot of experience in the bedroom department, and is happy to help guide him. I see Aaron as someone who is super into foreplay and body worship, especially on someone like Daryl who needs all the touch he can get and is v receptive to praise kink. As Daryl becomes more confident I do see him taking charge a little more, maybe some manhandling etc and he doeeesss have an oral fixation, always putting things in/exploring things with his mouth so take that as you will lmao.

9. What is the most embarrassing thing they have done in front of each other?

Honestly, Aaron is pretty hard to embarrass. Like, sure, he does embarrassing things but he’s always the first one to laugh at himself. Things like his over-the-top dorky dances to make Daryl laugh, his celebrity impression of people Gracie has never even seen, or heard of, and she is super embarrassed about when he pulls it out as his party trick, his off-key singing to Disney songs with Gracie and trying to get Daryl to join in (AK can take Disney nerd Aaron from my cold dead hands these people have solar panels and the kids have definitely seen movies).

10. What two songs, two books and two luxury items do they take to a desert island?

Damn, I can’t cheat and answer with ‘a book on how to build a raft’ or ‘survival guide for dummies’ because they are both very survival competent lmao.

For luxury items: Daryl’s crossbow and Aaron’s knife.

Ahhh I am worst at music questions! I can see Daryl being a sentimental loser and bringing Rick’s terrible music with him even if he hates it.

Ross apparently headcanons Aaron’s favourite song as “Hand in Glove” by The Smiths, so why not?

11. What do they hide from one another?

Their unspoken feelings uwu (lame).

12. What first changes when it starts getting serious?

Their relationship status.

13. When do they realise they should get together?

There has always been something simmering under the surface of their friendship. From the very beginning, Aaron has been incredibly fascinated by everything Daryl Dixon and Daryl in return has found comfort, acceptance and an overwhelming amount of fondness towards Aaron.

It has just never been the right time to explore the unspoken thing between them. But after the six-year time jump, Daryl is finally in the right emotional place to settle down and Aaron has been ready for a long while. Daryl is confronted once more that the world is a dangerous place when Aaron almost dies again (in the fic) and the prospect of leaving their relationship open-ended weighs on him heavily.

14. When one has a cold, what does the other do?

Aaron has been run ragged by the worrying he has done about sick Gracie all week (even just a cold in the apocalypse is a scary thing for Aaron with all that he’s lost). He probably got one good day in before his own immune system came crashing down hard. Daryl feels a little useless that he can’t really help him get better so he goes out and hunts whatever bird he can find so he can cook him something at least resembling chicken soup, and distracts Gracie for the next couple of days so he can get some rest.

15. When they watch a film what do they choose and why? Who gets the final vote?

In this house, we appreciate animated films and since Lydia and Daryl are not really accustomed to the broad range of them they get the final vote. It would probably be Jungle Book (after years of rejecting civilization they finally rejoin it) or even something like Spirit (refusing to let anyone tame their wild).

16. When the zombie apocalypse comes, how do they cope together?

Do I need to answer this one lmao?

17. When they find a time machine, where do they go?

Try and change the events of 8.02? Saving Eric and having the three of them adopt baby Gracie? Changing the events of 9.08, so Paul lives and Jaaryl can happen? 7.01, so Glenn lives? 9.05, Rick never blows up the bridge? 9.15, so there are no pike deaths?

Ahhh there are just so many options, these two have such a sad life!

18. When they fight, how do they make up?

19. Where do they go on their first date?

Out on a hike in the woods, a picnic is involved.

20. Where do they go on holiday?

You and @boltsandashes have given me major daaron beach day feels, it’s an absolutely adorable visual. Aaron making sure Daryl has the best day possible visiting the beach for the best time? I dieeee.

21. Where do they get nervous about going with one another?

They are still both not the biggest fan of parties unless it is a family event with people they like.

22. Where does their first kiss happen?

Waystation cabin.

Aaron makes sure to ask him if it’s okay if they kiss for the first time after they are already in a heated grinding session, the goober.

23. Where is their favourite place to be together?

Beyond the walls and out in the woods hunting, hiking, exploring ect just like old times.

24. Where do they first have sex?

Waystation cabin.

25. Why do they fight?

Pissed at each other for being so damn self-sacrificing (“Whether we make it or not, we do it together,” remember that, asshole?!)

26. Why do they need to have a serious chat?

Aaron’s first priority is his daughter’s happiness so it is pretty crucial to find out where their relationship stands before it gets way too deep (which good luck on that one), it would be different if Gracie wasn’t in the picture but she is so he needs to know if Daryl is 100% on board with being a parent to her or not.

27. Why do their friends get annoyed with them?

The shifty way they try and keep their relationship under wraps.

There’s nothing strange about Daryl moving in with Aaron, they are both close friends, right? But what is strange is Aaron turning up to every council meeting absolutely glowing and grinning ear to ear, and Daryl being a super nice to everyone in Alexandria.

Are they sick???

It goes on and on until Gracie accidentally spills the beans when she excitedly tells Judith that her daddy and Judith’s uncle are dating(not that Gracie knows all the details of their relationship or anything it’s just what she suspects lol).

They probably going to get married one day, and it will make her and Judith related!

So, Judith goes home and asks her Michonne if Aaron and Daryl are dating, causing Michonne to finally connects the dots on why the hell they have been acting so weird.

28. Why do they get jealous?

Aaron is super jealous over how cool Daryl looks on a motorbike, while Daryl is pretty jealous over how well Aaron can articulate his words to describe how he is feeling.

29. Why do they fall a little bit more in love?

When Daryl is being absolutely precious with Gracie, Lydia and Dog. It makes Aaron’s chest tighten and his heartbeat frighteningly fast. Those are the moments that Aaron wants nothing more than to raise a family and have a future with him.

Aaron is probably being dorky af just to make Daryl laugh, for real not just an under the breath chuckle. Every time he pulls one from Daryl, Daryl can feel his heart expand tenfolds.

30. Why does it work (or not work) between them?

Oh man, I could write an entire essay on why these two are perfect for each other but to really simplify it: they already have a super strong bond, they are comfortable with each other and trust each other, both relate to feeling like an outsider, both like kids, they have history, their personalities balance each other out etc

It’s one of Daryl’s healthiest relationships on the show I don’t think there are any reasons why not?

#daaron #aaron twd #daryl dixon #twd

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mirunas19 · 6 years

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Art and characters belong to me. Team 0

Shobu Haikame(silver haired),Hikari Seikatsu(peachy hair) & Akira Uneko (flaming hot cheeto). Haikame,Uneko and Seikatsu were three clans with big potential,the three students tied bonds between each another pretty quickly despite Shobu's arrogant and judgemental nature.The Haikame clan *had* both Iburi and Ryū ascendants,therefore Shobu possesed fairly useful medical ninjustu skills and prestigious taijutsu talents,however unlike his mother he possesed no kekkei genkai.The yooung man resembled his mother physically but inherited his father's goals and personality,he had many rivals through his life and fought hard to achieve one of his goals:to become a Jonin and honour his lost family. His friendship with Hikari molded through years in a one sided love story as he couldn't bring himself to confess his affection towards the girl,and unfortunately by the age of 15 he gave upon his life to protect both Akira and Hikari in one of their mission,and he only succeded to complete part of his goal since Akira was struck as well by Kankuzu's final hits.The last descendants of the Haikame and Uneko clans were gone,leaving nothing but a lonely friend behind,the clans were finally extinct. Akira Uneko was the definition of kindness,he wasn't fond of Kiba and his family due to his tight connection with felines but befriended him nonethless.He was,along with Choji and Shikamaru,one of Naruto's first friend and a not so skilled ninja himself.His father was affiliated with Sarutobi,but no interactions were made between the two,since the clan was originally from Sunagakurebut moved to Konoha due security matters.However the joy was short-lived since the entire clan was dissembled and assasinated,with Akira's death the clan dissapeared,but he proved himeslf to be one of the most loyal ninja the village ever had... Hikari Seikatsu is a rather weird looking girl,as in her childhood she kept her peachy coloured hair long and wild,which most of the times proved itself to be useless to the vast majority of her missions.However,there was a reason for her strange looks and the way her hair framed her face evenly,yet bangs covered one of her eyes. The Seikatsu clan wasn't as well-known as the Hyuga or Uchiha,since it's origins seem to be scattered around the lands,the clan is known for a peculiar yet mesmerizing kekkei genkai:The golden heart( dōjutsu). The kekkei genkai manifests as a dōjutsu and affects one of the posesor's eye,resulting in a specific trait:heterochromia (one eye colour differs from another).It was known that members of the clan dissapeard once with Hashirama's death,but just a few years later, Konoha hosted another Seikatsu family. They lived in constant danger and used various seals to prevent further threats from enemies that could identify their location or sense their true nature. The dōjutsu,as complex as it is,it remains nameless and it's rarely used by the possessor,it's power still remains unevolved.This kekkei genkai allows the owner to foresee their oponents next move within minutes before it actually manifest,it is also described as 'seeing into the close future'.Alike a divination art,this dōjutsu is NOT ENTIRELY immune to genjutsu,as the future sighting is rather complex,a minor missed detail can be fatal. This eye power is capable of genjutsu if exploited enough,but no active members (Hikari) are curently able of discovering it's greatest power(s).As the name of the clan suggest,their members are spiritual,strongly attached to their family and each and every of them were gifted a soulmate.The growth of their hair is linked with loss,and one must cut off his hair when losing a close friend,battle,or even family member.Another tradition requires the traditional ear piercing,one can take the decision to pierce their ear if a close relative or friend dies,it is a way of counting the deaths,mourning them,and carrying their memory wherever they go. At birth,the child is developing a dark or light skin mark ,after the first day the mark is put under a protection seal so there isn't anyone able to dechyper it but the owner and his/her partener.Rarely, the mark resembles a name,it's more common for it to appear as a complicated design. It is often considered Taboo by the clan to cover your soulmate mark,and thus far,those who do so are considered rebelious. Here comes the worst weakness of this bloodline- One can not live without another.If their parteners die,so do they. Despide their dangerous abilities,not a single one used their dōjutsu during the first Shinobi war,sadly nor a big number of them survived.Uchihas had a few disputes with some Seikatsu members,but none too drastic.But on the other part,Hyuga's hold a particular distaste for the clan,describing them as a clan with incredibly low status.The grudge was held many many years after the first war,it surely dissapeared to this day but not entirely. Now,back to Hikari,she wasn't much of a talktive person but whenever she could,she acted and spoke with a grace an older sister would posses.The childhood of this girl stood in a blur,her memories clouded,but her years at the ninja academy were filled with interesting experiences,tying new friendsips with Hinata,Naruto and Ten-Ten(besides Akira and Shobu),discovering new abilities and...joining a team. A team created from the 'last standers' of rare clans such as hers.The hokage knew better that with their abilities molded togheter and their strong wills,they might be ANBU members sooner than they knew. Unfortunately,after Akira's and Shobu's death,Hikari was on the verge of leaving this whole ideal behind.She denied the position and procceded to hide her special mark,then she chopped down her long hair according to the tradition,into a short,shoulder-lenght bob.Her ears held heavy earrings,but no matter the losses,she carried on.Now,oftenly an addition for the teams,she never backs down from any mission given,and more importantly,she met again with a familiar person,a boy with pale eyes,the boy from her younger years-Neji Hyuga,and suddenly,her childhood memories came back one by one.

#naruto #narutoshinobi #narutoshippuden #oc #my art #digital art #digital drawing #hikari #rose hair

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ebhenah · 6 years

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Sunkissed (Original Fiction)

Fictober 18 Day 16

Prompt: “This is gonna be so much fun!”

Original fiction, Original characters (a continuation of my Fictober Day 7 story: Uncharted, Day 8 story : Anchor and Day 13 story: Soulmates. This one featuring Spook and a new OC: Grift)

Rating: T Mentions of war, death, gun violence

So, there were lots of things that sucked about being stranded in a new timeline, almost a decade before your own birth and staring down the early days of a war that you really hoped turned out differently this time around than your own history would suggest. Little things like being out of touch with pop culture, or not being able to find your favorite tool because it hasn’t been created yet, or craving a food no one knows how to make. Weird things like realizing the new baby that everyone is cooing over is your favorite babysitter from when you were six, or seeing vehicles you consider ‘classics’ being billed as the cutting edge of technology, or fixing your aunt her favorite drink only to have her choke on it, because it was the first time she’d ever tasted alcohol. Oops.

There were big things, too. So few of the people she was meeting now were alive in her timeline, even though they were young and healthy. Her history knowledge told a story of a world that was wholly unprepared for the might of the invaders that came seemingly out of nowhere, attacked using technology they couldn’t even grasp, and operated under a moral view that was unfathomable to humans. Losses had been staggering, to say the least. The devastation unthinkable for anyone who hadn’t witnessed it for themselves. That’s what she and her family had been sent back to try to avoid. They’d done everything they were supposed to- and a bit more… but she was never supposed to stick around to see how those changes played out.

In her childhood, the Earth had been teeming with alien life from across multiple galaxies, humans making up only a small portion of the population. The skies had been grey and dull, air quality poor except in areas where massive purification complexes filtered dust and other fallout from the air and water. It had been HOT, the destruction of hundreds of cities within the span of a few months too much for the planet to correct on its own and throwing ‘greenhouse effect’ into being almost overnight. Most of the surface was water, the majority of the rest was desert, and massive sandstorms raged outside of cities built under the protection of huge forcefields or physical domes- much of the population living underground or in orbit. Now, she was one of less than a thousand individuals with even partial alien heritage, and the Earth was green and lush and thriving. No air quality alerts, no radiation alarms, no food shortages. She was now getting to see the Earth that her family loved and spoke about. The Earth that so many people had died trying to protect.

Sometimes, the weight of that gift got to her. People already thought she was the strange alien traveller, stranger even than the other aliens she had brought with her. It didn’t help that it had been decided it was best not to mention the whole ‘time travel’ thing and instead a cover story of being a science experiment that had been force-grown on a world that no longer exists and growing up in the resistance had been built for her. (Actually, it wasn’t even all that far off from the truth). She was seen as someone not to be trusted, despite being vouched for by the planets most celebrated heroes. Despite the knowledge she had offered them. That was alright. She was from a much more paranoid world than this one, so the mistrust didn’t really bother her much.

But the odd looks when she would get overwhelmed by the little things she’d only ever heard about were frustrating. She wanted to scream and yell at them to appreciate it all, because it could still be lost. Her timeline might not be that different from this one, even with all the work they’d put into changing it.

Seeing a butterfly was a MIRACLE. Swimming in the ocean was a GIFT. Being able to stand, on the Earth’s surface, and feel the sun kiss your skin, no need for breathing apparatus, no need for thick suits to protect the skin from being sanded off by the grit in the air, no need for heavy goggles that protected the eyes from pollution and radiation? Just your feet, on the ground; soft sunshine warming you; clean, salty spray from the nearby beach tickling your flesh; sweet smelling flowers wafting on the breeze? That was something out of a fairy story… and she was going to make the most of it every chance she got, dammit. And if people looked askance at her for it, well, they could stuff it.

“So,” came an awkward voice from somewhere behind her. “When they said you were getting some sun down by the water… I wasn’t really expecting to find you naked…”

She turned toward the newcomer, “you squeamish about nudity, Grift?” He was, by her math, maybe a year her senior at this point. Elite pilot, fast track for military leadership- a rising star by all accounts. In her memory, he was one of the highest ranking members of a military force that was getting younger and younger by the year as losses continued to mount. But he’d been on the front lines of the fighting since the very first assault, and not only had he survived, each and every one of his squadrons held some of the highest survival rates on the books. Smart. Talented. Responsible. Respected… and an arrogant asshole who CONSISTENTLY butted heads with her father and with the aliens that held the power to make tactical decisions. Not a particularly well-liked guy among her loved ones when she was growing up.

She could see all those traits in him now, too, for all that he was younger, brasher, less worldly, more innocent. Green. He was also a xenophobe, which had surprised her, because the man she’d known ‘back home’ was not. Of course, by the time she’d been born, he’d had almost a decade of fighting side by side with aliens to rid him of any initial distrust.

“That’s not my name,” he said, as he always did when she called him that. She was starting to wonder how long it would take him to clue in that the main reason she did it was BECAUSE it got to him. It seemed pretty obvious to her. He didn’t even know yet how much of an insult it actually was. Man, she could not WAIT until the Byx/Sieb made contact with the humans and he found out what ‘grift’ actually MEANT! “Not squeamish about it, no. Just wasn’t expecting to see you… without clothes in public at high noon. You immune to skin cancer or something?”

She tipped her face up to the light, loving the way the sun tickled her markings. “I don’t actually know,” she answered, shrugging, “I’m not really used to worrying about things that might kill me in a few decades. Usually, I can barely keep up with the things that might kill me this week.”

“Yeah, that makes a certain amount of sense,” he chuckled. “You don’t mind people staring?”

“I’m purple, Grift. I’m purple with color-changing rosettes, pointy ears and sometimes my eyes glow… and I blush blue. I’m used to people staring.” She bent down to pull a pair of shorts and a tank top out of her bag, clearly her alone time was being cut short. “What’s going on?”

“Word from on high,” he joked, referring to the tactical ships that were in orbit above them. “I’m supposed to test your firearm conflict competency. The new allies are pushing for you to get a security clearance with Earth’s military… even though you aren’t military.”

“How are they justifying that?” she asked, slipping into the shorts, curious to see what loopholes the younger versions of her family were coming up with.

“Diplomat status,” he said dryly.

She stopped short, waistband sitting at mid-thigh, and gaped at him. “DIPLOMAT?!?!” she laughed, “me??? That’s rich. I suck with diplomacy.”

“Looks like we are in agreement on that front,” he answered.

She glared, tugging the shorts into place and getting to work on the button fly, “listen up, pretty boy- you are no better with people than I am, and you are WELL aware of that.”

“Pretty boy?” one of his eyebrows quirked, he seemed surprised that she’d said that.

“What? You have symmetrical features, good hair, are in good shape, high cheekbones, straight nose, full lips, delicate features… objectively, you are pretty- which you KNOW and have no qualms about exploiting. It wasn’t a compliment. I’m not swooning.”

“You don’t strike me as the type to swoon,” he said on a short bark of laughter.

“You don’t know me,” she reminded him, pulling on the tank top as she walked toward him, “I’m a notorious swooner. You’re just not my type.”

“Not a fan of pretty?” he teased.

“Big fan of pretty,” she replied, her eyes glowing a soft, warm yellow, “all kinds of pretty. Pretty hair, pretty eyes, pretty legs, pretty wings- annnd there you go. That face. The one you made when I said wings. That’s why you aren’t my type. It’s not about how you look, Grift. There’s something ugly in you. You’re pretty like Vokarin Crystal is pretty. Lovely to look at, but get too close, and it poisons you. I’m not human, and I can’t change that. So, I stay away from anyone who thinks that makes me some kind of monster. You can smile and charm, but I see that ugliness in you- just as easily as I see your pretty hair and perfect bone structure. It doesn’t blind me to the fact that you are VERY good at your job, though… so, how do we assess my firearm conflict competency?”

“There is a specific set of training scenarios you need to pass,” he answered, falling into step beside her as they walked back to the building, “all done with non-lethal munitions.”

She turned to him, a predatory smile stretching her lips, and she could feel her ears flatten back in anticipation of something that stirred her hunting instincts, “shoot’em’up sims? I love shoot’em’up sims!”

“Don’t get cocky,” he warned her, voice stern. “I’m the one you are facing off against, and I have HIGH standards.”

“Shoot’em’up sims against YOU?” she could feel her rosettes cycle through a few different colors in response to her shifting mood, “ohhhhh man! This is gonna be so much fun!”

#fictober18 #fictober18day16 #Day16ThisIsGonnaBeSoMuchFun #scifi #ThisIsGonnaBeSoMuchFun

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emjenenla · 6 years

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I walk a lonely road, the only one that I have ever known [A Dark Artifices Fanfic]

(Don't know where it goes, but it's only me, and I walk alone.) When she learned her brother’s secrets, Livvy made herself a promise; she wasn’t going to let Julian do everything on his own anymore. Or that LoS AU where no one dies, but things are still messed up anyway.

Title: I walk a lonely road the only one that I have ever known

Author: Emjen Enla (Fanfiction)/emjenenla (Tumblr)

Teaser: (Don't know where it goes, but it's only me, and I walk alone.) When she learned her brother’s secrets, Livvy made herself a promise; she wasn’t going to let Julian do everything on his own anymore. Or that LoS AU where no one dies, but things are still messed up anyway.

Rating: PG-13/T

Canon/Timeline: Bookverse AU; set after Lord of Shadows sans all the major deaths

Dominant Characters: Livia Blackthorn, Julian Blackthorn, Tiberius Blackthorn, appearances by Drusilla Blackthorn, Kit Herondale, Octavian Blackthorn, Paige Ashdown, Mrs. Ashdown (who I named), mentions of Emma Carstairs, Mark Blackthorn, Cristina Rosales, Keiran, Helen Blackthorn, Aline Penhallow, Arthur Blackthorn, and others.

Pairings: Blackstairs (Emma/Julian), implications of Kitty (Kit/Ty), Mark/Cristina/Kieran and Helen/Aline

Warnings: honestly, I’m not sure if there’s much of anything. Angst, I guess.

Disclaimer: I don’t own the Shadowhunters universe or the song “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” by Green Day.

When Livia Blackthorn learned that everything she thought was being taken care of by her Uncle Arthur was actually taken care of by her older brother, Julian, she made herself one promise:

No more.

No more would Julian be left to take care of everything all on his own while his siblings lived the carefree lives of dumb kids. Livvy would be right there with him, helping as much as she possibly could.

She carried this promise etched into her soul as the Blackthorn siblings returned to LA where Uncle Arthur and their secrets awaited them, safe from the meddling of Zara Dearborn. Helen and Aline were re-banished to Wrangel Island, which meant that things were basically back to normal. Livvy tried to ignore how almost pathetically relieved Julian was.

Perhaps it was best if he was relieved instead of anything else, because things were only going mosty back to normal. The biggest difference was that Emma wasn’t returning to LA, and in Livvy and Ty’s opinions there was not a good explanation for why. Emma said that she was going to go on a tour of the different Institutes, but she wasn’t eighteen yet. Not to mention, when Shadowhunters went on their tours, they usually went with their parabatai. Emma was not taking Jules, she was taking Cristina, Mark and (though no one outright stated it) Kieran. It wasn’t right. When Ty had pointed this out to Jules he had just told him to leave it.

All this meant that not only were they back to their pre-return of Mark days, and Jules didn’t even have Emma to keep him grounded. Livvy was determined to pick up as much of the slack as she could.

The trouble lay in attempting to redraw the caretaker/cared-for lines that Julian had drawn after the deaths of their parents.

They had been back at the Institute for a couple days the morning that Livvy woke rather early to get a shower in before everyone else was up (at least in theory because she heard Ty and Kit talking quietly when she walked by Kit’s room to get a towel). While she showered she contemplated her game plan for the day. Firstly, would be to check in on how Tavvy was feeling. Dru and Tavvy had come down with the flu directly after returning to the Institute. Perhaps that wasn’t really surprising, Ty had said something about none of them having much immune system since they all pretty much hung out with each other and no one else. Everyone else seemed to be feeling fine, though, so far at least.

She climbed out of the shower and dressed before leaving her room. She ran across Dru on the way back to her room. The younger girl was looking slightly annoyed.

“What’s wrong?” Livvy asked.

“Tavvy was crying all night,” Dru grumbled. “It was so annoying.”

“He was crying?” Livvy asked. “Why didn’t you wake me? You can’t just let him cry!”

Dru’s face took on a look of afront. “For the record, I didn’t just ‘let him cry;’ I woke Jules.”

Of course, she had. Old habits die hard. “Dru…” Livvy groaned. “I thought we’d agreed not to bother Jules so much anymore.”

“You would have had to wake him anyway!” Dru argued, hands fisted on her hips. “Tavvy was really upset and only Jules can calm him down when he’s like that!”

Livvy wanted to keep arguing, but she really couldn’t. She’d asked Dru to start coming to her for stuff she normally would have gone to Julian for, but she hadn’t told her little sister about Uncle Arthur and who was really running the Institute. Livvy had wanted to, but she figured Dru had enough to deal with without having to handle all that stuff. The problem was that meant that Dru had no idea exactly how much Jules already had on his plate and didn’t see what was wrong with piling on one more little thing.

Not to mention, Dru probably had a point about Livvy not being able to calm Tavvy down…

“Where’s Jules now?” she asked instead of saying something she might regret.

Dru shrugged. “I dunno. I was trying to sleep,” and headed for the bathroom.

“Okay,” Livvy said, then remembered what she should have asked at the beginning of the conversation. “How are you feeling?”

“Much better,” Dru said. “I’m going to shower now.” and she was gone.

Livvy winced. This parent stuff was much harder than Julian made it look.

She crossed the hall and peaked into Tavvy’s room. The little boy was curled up in his blankets, fast asleep. Jules was nowhere in sight. She checked his room in the hopes that maybe he’d just gone back to bed, but that was empty too, though she was starting to realize that of course that was too much to hope for. She headed down the stairs towards the next most likely place to her find her big brother at this time of day: the kitchen.

As expected, Julian was there getting things ready to make breakfast. Livvy paused in the doorway for a moment to study him. He was moving slowly, and his shoulders were slumped. He looked tired. Livvy wondered if she’d have noticed that even a month ago and had to admit that she probably wouldn’t have.

“You know you didn’t have to stay up all night with Tavvy,” she said. “I could have done it.”

Jules jumped and whirled to face her. His face looked even more tired than his body language did. “Livvy!” he gasped. “How long have you been standing there?”

“Just a minute,” Livvy assured him.

“Do you need something?” Julian asked. She couldn’t tell if he’d forgotten what she’d said about Tavvy or if he was ignoring it. She wondered if the latter was something Jules would actually do. It didn’t seem like him, but she was realizing there were a lot of things Jules would do that she wouldn’t have expected.

“Dru said Tavvy was crying all night,” she said. “You didn’t need to stay up with him; I could have done that.”

“You couldn’t have calmed him down, Livs,” Jules said, not condescending, just stating the truth. “Not like he was last night.”

Livvy was a little insulted. Just because Julian wasn’t deliberately trying to put her down didn’t mean that he wasn’t inadvertently managing it. “Then at least go lie down now,” she half-snapped. “I can make breakfast.”

“It’s pancake day,” Julian said, raising an eyebrow.

Livvy felt her face fall. They made pancakes from scratch because Ty didn’t like the taste of the ones made from boxed mix. Livvy might have managed making boxed pancakes, but the homemade ones were something only Jules could do.

Jules turned back to the counter, no doubt assuming he’d gotten rid of her. Frustration boiled in Livvy’s stomach. Why couldn’t Julian realize that things were going to be different now that she and Ty knew the truth? Why did he seem to think that everything was going to go right back to the way it had been? Why did he think that Livvy would be content to let him care for her now that she knew he needed help? Why did he seem to think that her attempts to help would be easy to brush aside?

“Teach me then,” she said with perhaps a bit more force than would usually be used when asking to be taught to make pancakes.

Julian paused and looked back at her. “What?”

“Teach me how to make pancakes,” Livvy said as clearly as possible. “Then next time I can make them myself and you can rest. It doesn’t make sense for just one of us to know how to cook anyway.”

Jules stared at her, his face slightly slack with surprise. “You really want to learn?”

“Do you not want to teach me?” Livvy asked, putting her hands on her hips. She figured that if he wanted to argue he would back down in the face of such an accusation.

“I’ll teach you,” Jules said. “I’m just surprised. You’ve never mentioned wanting to learn to cook before.”

That’s because I didn’t realize that every single adult thing in this place was done by my seventeen-year-old brother before. Livvy thought, but what she said was, “Well, it’s time I learned.”

“Okay,” Julian raised a hand and bit on the corner of one of his nails. Livvy noticed blood welling up as he ripped part of the nail away from the quick. Her chest tightened. She’d always known Jules bit his nails (it was impossible to miss), but she’d never really noticed it before, and never really thought about how painful it must be.

“You should wash your hands,” Julian said, then he looked down and realized he was bleeding. “And I probably should too.”

So, they washed their hands. Livvy pretended not to notice Julian wince when soapy water got into the tiny wounds on his fingers. She wanted to say something but wasn’t sure what.

“Alright,” Jules said, oblivious to her dilemma. He crossed back to the counter, wrapping his still-bleeding finger in a napkin. “First we start with the dry ingredients.”

Jules helped her measure the dry ingredients and then the wet ones. Neither of them said anything that wasn’t related to pancakes until they were beginning to ladle the batter into the skillet.

“You know,” Livvy said, deciding it was time to reopen the previous conversation. “There’s really no reason why I couldn’t calm Tavvy when he cries. After all, you’re Tavvy’s brother not his dad, and I’m his sister.”

Julian paused and stood there a moment, his hands braced on the countertop, shoulders hunched, staring down at the granite.

“Jules?” Livvy asked after the silence had dragged on long enough to be uncomfortable.

The silence went on for a while longer, before Julian shifted and reached for the spatula without looking at her.

“Tavvy doesn’t remember Mom and Dad,” he said.

“What?” Livvy wasn’t sure she’d heard correctly. “What do you mean, he doesn’t remember them?”

“It’s not really that surprising,” Julian said flipping one of the pancakes to reveal a perfectly cooked, golden side. “He was basically a newborn when Mom died, and he was so little during the war.”

Jules sighed and drummed the handle of the spatula against the counter, staring up at the ceiling. “People are always saying that I’m Tavvy’s brother not his father, but they never seem to realize that I was the one who changed his diapers and bathed him and read him stories and cleaned his scraped knees. I’m the one he screams for when he wakes up in the middle of the night convinced the monsters are going to come back and get him too.”

Julian sighed and looked back down at the counter. “My relationship with Tavvy is different than my relationships with you, Ty and Dru. I do all sorts of parent stuff for you three, but you all remember Mom and Dad and know that this family dynamic is abnormal. I don’t think Tavvy does. To Tavvy, this is normal; this is how family is supposed to work,” he paused and brought his thumb up to his mouth, gripping the stubby nail between his teeth. “When Tavvy’s says ‘Jules,’ he’s literally saying ‘Daddy.’”

Livvy just stared at him. Every time she thought she’d finally grasped exactly how messed up her family was, she was bombarded with more. How much longer would this go on?

They lapsed into silence until footsteps sounded in the hall and came to a stop in the kitchen doorway.

“What are you doing?” Ty asked.

Livvy latched onto the distraction like a life raft. “Jules is teaching me to make pancakes,” she said turning to face her twin.

Ty’s face lit up. “Cool! Can I flip some, Jules?”

Julian’s face creased in a gentle smile that Livvy had always thought of as a big brother’s smile, but she now realized was probably actually a parent’s smile. “Sure,” he said. “Come over here, Ty.”

Livvy stood back and used the time Julian’s attention was focused on Ty to think of something to say.

“Jules,” she said after several minutes. “Maybe we should tell the Clave about Uncle Arthur.”

Julian’s shoulders tensed, but he didn’t look at her. “We can’t do that, Livs.”

“Why can’t we?” Ty asked, his gaze focused on the pancakes. “If the Clave puts someone else in charge, then you won’t have to do so much.”

“That would only make our situation worse,” Julian said.

“How could that possible make our situation worse?” Livvy asked, able to hear the growing frustration in her voice.

“The only reason we’re allowed to live here together is because the Clave is under the impression that Arthur is in charge and raising us,” Julian said, he still wouldn’t look at either of them. “If they figure out that he hasn’t been, they’ll take the Institute away from him and split us up.”

“Why would they do that?” Ty asked, flipping a pancake very precisely out of the pan and onto a serving plate.

“If no one wanted us after the Dark War, there’s no reason to think anyone would want us now,” Julian said, he sounded bitter.

“What about Great-Aunt Marjorie?” Ty asked, which showed exactly how desperate he was; he hated Great-Aunt Marjorie.

“She likes it when we visit every once and awhile, so she can pretend to be a doting aunt,” Julian said. “She doesn’t want us living with her.” He went to ladle more batter into the pan, but Livvy took the measuring cup from him and did it herself.

“That’s really frustrating,” she said. “It’s not like she’d need to do much for us.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Jules said. He gone to sit down at the table and it looked like he was fighting the urge to put his head down on the tabletop. For the first time, Livvy noticed that he was a bit too pale on top of the tiredness.

“But we can’t keep this up forever,” she said. “Someone’s going to find out eventually.”

“She’s right,” Ty said. “Now that Malcom can’t make that potion, it’s only a matter of time before someone needs to see Uncle Arthur and we can’t provide him.”

“We don’t have to hold out forever,” Julian said. He didn’t look up, though he might have been studying the grain of the table. “Just until next year.”

“What happens next year?” Ty asked.

“I turn eighteen,” Jules said. “Once that happens I’ll be able to formally apply to become head of the Institute. The Clave gave Clary and Jace the New York Institute at nineteen, and I’m sure I can make a convincing case. Then I can openly run this place and become you four’s official guardian.”

Livvy imagined most seventeen-year-olds would sound excited at the idea of being head of an Institute, but Jules just sounded resigned and exhausted.

“Are you okay, Jules?” she asked.

“Yeah,” he said, watching vacantly as Ty flipped the pancakes.

“You’re sure?”

“Just tired,” Jules said. He rubbed his eyes and then pinched the bridge of his nose. “And I think I might be coming down with Tavvy and Dru’s flu.”

“Do you need to lie down?” Livvy asked even though she was pretty sure Jules wouldn’t admit to needing to rest even if he did.

“It’s really just a headache,” Julian said, meeting expectations. “I’m fine.”

“Jules…” Livvy said trying to figure out what to say to have the right affect.

“I’ll take a nap after breakfast,” Jules said with a small smile meant to comfort her. “Which reminds me; I’d better go make sure Dru and Tavvy are up. Where’s Kit, Ty?”

“Shower,” Ty said, studying Julian out of the corners of his eyes.

“Alright,” Jules said. “I’ll be back, then.” He heaved himself to his feet and left the room.

Livvy and Ty watched him go. “He’s not okay, is he?” Ty asked.

“If he’s getting that flu he won’t be in a couple hours,” Livvy said.

Ty nodded, biting his lip, but didn’t say anything.

~~~~

They had finished making the last of pancakes by the time Julian came back with Dru and Tavvy. Kit trailed in after a couple minutes, no doubt not wanting to seem like he was coming to breakfast when he was told. Sometimes Livvy found his attitude a little tiring, and she could only imagine how Jules felt about it because all his attempts at being caretaker rubbed all Kit’s authority issues the wrong way.

They all settled down at the table and dug into their food. They were part way through their breakfast when the doorbell rang. Jules, who’d been picking at his food and looking vaguely nauseous, lifted his head, eyes wide.

“Who’s that?” Dru asked.

“Can’t be anything good,” Livvy said. “Is there anyone we would actually like to see who would ring the bell?”

“No one who’s likely to show up anytime soon,” Julian said pushing his chair back from the table. “It’s probably someone here for Arthur.”

“Should I go get him?” Dru asked, so earnest and completely blind to the real situation.

“No, you, Tavvy and Kit finish eating,” Jules levered himself slowly to his feet and massaged his temples. “Livvy, Ty, can you come with me for a minute?”

Livvy and Ty followed him out into the hall. Julian didn’t say anything until they were out of earshot of the kitchen, then he stopped and turned back to them, “Can you two go up and wait by the attic stairs?” he asked. “I don’t think Uncle Arthur will come down--he never has before--but he’s been in a weird mood since the Cohort was here. Can you two just make sure he stays upstairs where he can’t contradict anything I say?”

“Sure,” Ty said.

“Good,” Julian said. His face had lost a lot of its color and he was actually looking sick. Dru and Tavvy hadn’t declined this fast and Livvy wondered if Jules had lied about how long he’d been feeling bad when they’d talked about it earlier. The thought that he might lie about something like that hurt, but she no longer thought it was something he wouldn’t do.

“What are you going to do?” Livvy asked.

“I’ll tell them that Arthur Blackthorn is out on business or something,” Julian said, he sounded so shockingly casual about the idea that Livvy couldn’t quite wrap her mind around it. “Then I’ll hope that whatever they need done ‘Arthur Blackthorn’ can do by mail,” he made air quotes when he said, “Arthur Blackthorn.” Then the bell rang again, and he hurried off towards the door without another word.

Livvy and Ty stood side by side for a moment. “Can you handle Uncle Arthur alone?” she asked.

He nodded. “Sure, go with Jules.”

Livvy nodded and darted off down the hall. She caught up with her older brother just as he reached the front door. Julian looked at her in surprise. “Ty’s keeping an eye on Uncle Arthur,” she said before he could speak.

He nodded and opened the door just as the bell rang again.

Linnett Ashdown was standing on the porch with her daughter, Paige. Mrs. Ashdown gave them a friendly smile, but Paige looked like she was judging them. Livvy was suddenly acutely aware that she was wearing a tee-shirt with Captain America’s shield on it, even though Shadowhunters weren’t supposed to know who that was, and Jules was wearing an old navy-blue hoodie that looked like it probably needed to be washed. Livvy clenched her fists and her teeth. She’d never really like Paige Ashdown, but after her horrible prank on Ty, Livvy hated her.

“Hello,” Julian said with a friendly smile. If he was thinking about how Paige had treated Ty, there was no way to see it on his face. “What can we do for you?”

“I’d like to speak to Arthur,” Mrs. Ashdown said. “I know it’s early, but Francis and I have patrol later and I wanted to get this done first. Is your uncle available?”

Livvy’s stomach clenched even though the list reasons someone could be here that didn’t involve Uncle Arthur were slim. Julian’s pale face morphed into the perfect expression of guiltless apology. “He’s out of town right now on Clave business,” he said. “Is there something we could help you with instead?”

“I’m afraid not,” Mrs. Ashdown said with a kind smile, she was so different from Paige who looked like the news of Uncle Arthur’s “business” was a personal slight. “I wanted to ask Arthur if Paige could shadow him in his work running the Institute. She’s interested in the management side of Shadowhunter life and we thought that Arthur might be able to help her get some experience.

That was something that Julian couldn’t do. If Paige came to in the Institute, there would be no way to hide Uncle Arthur’s condition from her. The Clave would find out.

She glanced at Jules. He was chalky pale aside from a splotch of red on each cheek. Fever. He had definitely been sicker than “just a headache” when they’d been cooking earlier. He coughed into the sleeve of his hoodie before he replied.

“I’m not sure how Uncle Arthur will feel about that,” he said. Perhaps his smile was slightly strained but Livvy didn’t think either of the Ashdowns would notice. “He’s very particular about how things are run. He doesn’t even let us watch him work most of the time. I’ll ask him, though, maybe he’ll change his mind.”

Paige sniffed and opened her mouth as if she meant to say something, but Mrs. Ashdown stopped her with a hand on her arm. “It would be great if you could ask him, Julian,” she said. “When will he be home?”

“Tomorrow, maybe the day after depending on how things go,” Julian said so smoothly that Livvy almost didn’t believe he was lying. “I’ll be sure to ask him as soon as he gets back.”

“Oh, don’t rush him,” Mrs. Ashdown said. “Tell him to get back to us whenever is convenient.”

“Okay,” Julian said. “Thank you, Mrs. Ashdown.”

“You’re welcome,” she said then reached out and lay a hand on Julian’s cheek. Julian stiffened visibly. “You’re running a temperature,” Mrs. Ashdown told him. “You should rest. Do you have someone here watching you all?”

“Our tutor, Diana,” Julian said. Another lie. Diana was off wherever she was when she wasn’t with them, but Mrs. Ashdown didn’t know that.

“Alright,” she said with a gentle smile. “Tell her that I said you should take it easy today.”

“I’m fine,” Julian said.

“Don’t be stubborn,” she said with a smile. “Go to bed and we’ll stop darkening your doorstep.”

The Ashdowns said their goodbyes and left. Julian closed the door and leaned against it, his head thrown back, breathing quietly through parted lips. He looked exhausted. Livvy took his arm, Mrs. Ashdown was right about the fever; she could feel his heat through his shirt sleeve. “Come on, Jules. Why don’t you take that nap now?”

Julian’s eyelids were fluttering closed and he looked like he was seconds away from sinking to the floor. “I need to clean up the kitchen.”

Livvy adjusted her grip on his arm and coaxed him into a fully standing position. “The rest of us can handle that. You should rest before you pass out.”

Julian sighed but let her lead him up the Institute’s stairs. When they reached the floor with their bedrooms they met Ty coming back from the attic. “Are they gone?” he asked. “Who was there. What did they want?”

“Ashdowns,” Julian was rubbing at his temples again. “They want Paige to shadow Uncle Arthur.”

“She can’t do that,” Ty said. “She’ll find out.”

“I know,” Jules said. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll handle it.” He coughed into the crook of his elbow again. Livvy felt him sway and tightened her grip on his arm.

“Jules is going to lie down for a while,” she told Ty. “When everyone’s done with breakfast can you start on the dishes? Make Kit, Dru and Tavs help you. I’ll be down in a couple minutes.”

“Okay,” Ty said and headed for the stairs.

Livvy helped Julian to his bedroom and found a pair of pajama pants for him. She didn’t bother trying to convince him to take the hoodie off because he was shivering like he was cold even though he quite obviously wasn’t.

After he’d changed, Jules sunk down onto his bed. For once his face showed exactly what he was feeling, and he looked so incredibly thankful to lie down it brought tears to Livvy’s eyes. She looked away before he could notice and found herself looking at the mural he’d painted on the wall. She’d looked at it hundreds of times before, but she’d never noticed how sad it was. She turned pointedly away; she did not need to learn even more painful information about her older brother, at least not right now.

She pulled the blankets over Julian only to realize that he was watching her with a slightly perplexed look. “What?” she asked.

“Why are you suddenly so into the idea of helping me take care of everyone?” he asked. “It used to be like pulling teeth to get you to even keep an eye on Tavvy for an hour or two.”

Livvy felt her face heat up. She was ashamed of all the times she’d complained about something Julian had asked her to do, now that she realized that all she’d been doing was piling more work onto her overworked older brother.

“I know what’s actually going on now,” she said trying to sound as grown-up as possible. “It seems wrong to just let you do everything now that you don’t actually have to hide anything from me anymore. Besides, you don’t even have Emma anymore; you can’t be completely alone.”

Julian’s face tightened into a complicated expression that Livvy couldn’t define. “Yeah,” he said.

“Why did she leave?” Livvy asked. “You two are parabatai, you’re supposed to go on tour together. Why didn’t she wait until you were both eighteen? I know it wasn’t because of her break-up Mark, because he went with her.”

Julian sighed. He wasn’t looking at her, but that strange expression was still on his face. “It wouldn’t matter how long she waited,” he said. “I wouldn’t be able to go. I have an Institute to run and I will for probably the next thirty or forty years.” He really, really didn’t sound enthusiastic at the idea of running the Institute. Livvy wondered what he would rather do instead.

“So that’s why she went gallivanting around the world with Cristina, Mark and Kieran and left you here to hold down the fort?” Livvy asked. She didn’t want to be mad at Emma, but she found that thought filled her with some resentment anyway.

“Not…” Julian pulled a face. “Entirely.”

“Then why else?” Livvy asked.

Julian fiddled with the edge of one of blankets, chewing on the fingers of the other hand. He was obviously debating something. How much of the truth to tell her, probably. She knew he was contemplating telling the truth, because if he was lying he wouldn’t have spent so much time planning what he was going to say. Jules lied effortlessly.

Just when Livvy was beginning to think that he wasn’t going to say anything at all, he cleared his throat and said, “Emma and I…” he took a sharp breath and then mumbled so quietly that she could barely hear him. “Emma and I love each other.”

Livvy wasn’t sure why that was something to get so worked up about. “Of course, you do,” she said. “You’re parabatai.”

“Not like that,” Jules was still staring fixedly at the blanket. He would not even glance at her. “Emma and I are in love with each other.”

It took a second to sink in. “Oh,” Livvy said. Everything she’d ever assumed about Jules and Emma’s relationship reordered itself in her mind. They had always been close, even for parabatai, and Jules had never liked Emma’s boyfriends, even the nice ones. Even when Livvy had thought about setting Jules up with Cristina, the match hadn’t felt quite right. Now she realized that it was because on some level, she’d known that Emma was the perfect girl for Jules. “Oh,” she repeated.

Jules still hadn’t looked up, she was pretty sure she saw tears in his eyes. She hadn’t seen Jules cry since before their father had died. “I’m sorry, Livvy,” he said. “You must be so ashamed of me.”

“What?” Livvy asked. “No! Of course not. Why would I be ashamed of you? You’re Julian!”

“I’m in love with my parabatai,” Jules looked up at her now. There really were tears in his eyes. It was terrifying. “How could you not be disgusted by that?”

“Why should I be?” Livvy said. “You’re my brother. I love you. You and Emma would be perfect for each other.”

“‘Would be,’” Julian repeated, sounding a little bitter. “Becoming Emma’s parabatai was the biggest mistake of my life, and I knew it was a mistake when I was making it. Emma doesn’t know that, but it’s true. I never really wanted to be her parabatai--I think even back then I knew on some level that my feelings for her weren’t platonic--but it was right after the Dark War, and we were a bunch of orphans. The Clave was going to separate us, and we needed each other. Becoming parabatai was the only way to make sure Emma could stay with us.”

He spoke so quickly the words tripped over each, like he’d been waiting a lifetime to get the words out, to explain. Livvy tried to choke back a sob but failed. Before Jules could react, she grabbed him by the hoodie, dragged him into a sitting position and hugged him with all her strength.

After a moment, he wrapped his arms around her and hugged back. She could feel the heat of his fever radiating into her; his face burned like fire where it touched her neck. Still, this embrace was still something special, because for the first time in her life, she was holding Julian not the other way around.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered into his hair. “I’m so, so sorry.” She wasn’t even sure what she was apologizing for. She had realized in the last few weeks that Julian’s life was a fallout zone of mistakes and wrongs and injuries that most people didn’t even see through his facade enough to notice. She wanted to make things better for him, but she didn’t know how.

Eventually, they pulled apart. Livvy had a million more questions, but Jules was obviously exhausted. He was sick and needed rest more than anything else. They could deal with Livvy’s myriad questions at a later date. She eased him back onto his pillows and tucked the blankets around him. Then she went to the bathroom and got a wet cloth for his forehead.

Neither of them said another word, but Livvy sat with him until she was sure he was asleep. When he was deeply asleep, she let herself quietly out of his room and did what she always did when she was upset or needed to think.

She went to find Ty.

~~~~

Ty and Kit were sitting on Ty’s bed. Ty had a book open on his lap and was rambling about something with a content smile on his face. Kit looked up when she opened the door and his face pinched with annoyance. “There you are!” he said. “You could have helped us with all those dishes.”

“I was talking to Jules,” Livvy said. “He’s not feeling well.”

“You know that means the three of us are eventually going to get that flu too,” Ty said turning a page of his book.

Kit threw himself violently back onto the bed and stared up at the ceiling. “Great,” he said. “Just what I need.”

“That’s what happens when you have a lot of siblings,” Livvy said. “If one of us gets sick, eventually we all do.”

She thought she was doing a decent job of sounding like nothing was on her mind, but Kit pushed himself up on his elbows, one eyebrow raised. “Is something wrong?” he asked.

Ty lifted his head. “Livvy?”

“It’s a long story,” Livvy said. “Don’t worry about it, Kit.” She didn’t say anything to Ty. She would tell him about Jules and Emma, she couldn’t not, but Jules had taken her into confidence by telling her his secret. He’d no doubt assumed she’d tell her twin when he’d decided to trust her, but he probably hadn’t assumed she’d tell Kit. Kit was extremely nice and Livvy trusted him in most things, but he was still an outsider and there was no reason for him to know Julian’s secrets. She would get Ty alone later and fill him in.

Kit was still looking at her skeptically, his lips pulled to the side as he studied her. She needed to change the subject.

“What were you two talking about?” she asked.

Ty explained the conversation and Kit eventually got into it as well, though he was obviously trying to make it seem like he wasn’t actually interested in whatever they had been talking about. Livvy wasn’t sure why he bothered and at that moment, didn’t particularly care. She’d figured that she’d just wait to get Ty alone and then tell him, but now she knew she couldn’t. The new information about Emma and Jules was eating a hole in her stomach. She needed to talk to Ty now; she needed to get Kit to leave.

“Kit,” she said. “I think I hear Tavvy calling. Can you go see what he wants?”

Kit looked affronted. “Why me? Why can’t you do it?”

“You’re not interested in this anyway,” Livvy said. “I am. Why should I be the one to go?”

Kit’s mouth opened and closed as he grasped how his feigned nonchalance had backfired on him. Livvy watched him try to decide which was worse; going to check on Tavvy or admitting that he’d only been pretending not to be interested. After a minute, pride won out and he got to his feet. “Fine,” he sighed dramatically. “I’ll be back.”

He left the room. Livvy climbed to her feet, crossed to the door and locked it behind him. There, he was gone.

She turned back to find Ty looking at her in confusion. “I didn’t hear Tavvy calling,” he said.

“He’s not,” Livvy admitted.

“Then why did you say he was?”

“I need to talk to you about something. Without Kit.”

Ty bit his lip, looking uncomfortable. “Did Kit really think that what I was talking about was boring?”

“No,” Livvy reassured him. “He’s really interested, but ashamed to admit it because he thinks it will ruin tough guy reputation. I just needed to get rid of him for a while.”

“Okay,” Ty said slowly. “Why?”

Livvy went back to the bed. She sat down across from him and sighed. “Jules and I were talking about some pretty heavy stuff,” she said quietly. “He told me something really important about him and Emma…”

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herdustisverypretty · 7 years

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AND ANOTHER TAG THING {warning: strong and possibly strange opinions, LONG ASS RAMBLES (which most definitely include strong and possibly strange opinions), frequent oversharing}

tagged by the lovely Angel <3

1. If you could go backward in time, what would you do first? #2008 Log- Don’t pretend to not be bothered by HC and co’s behaviour and actually call them out on their shit. Note to self: You don’t owe anyone anything. #2009-2014 Log- Start homeschooling earlier. Maybe actually tell people how you felt too? You might have gotten a diagnosis, and thus the treatment that has drastically improved your life, sooner and you’d probably have a lot less scars. Maybe none. And also might not be immune to the effect of regular painkillers. Also maybe then you’d be able to just get said painkillers from the cupboard where they used to be instead of having to ask your mother permission on whether you can have some- at age 22- and having to swallow them there to prove you’re not hoarding them for later (cause that’s right, you did that once, ya dumb little bastard). #2012-2013 Log aka You STILL don’t owe anyone anything- Also do not engage with HS AT ALL. Just nip that one right in the bud. Don’t even go there. PTSD ain’t fun. Also do not allow HC to worm their way back in later. PTSD still ain’t fun. Though then you probably wouldn’t have written that one VIXX story and not only was writing that story enjoyable (sometimes???? ... maybe?????????), that story did also apparently help a lot of people too...so... maybe don’t fix yourself for the sake of those people who told you your writing helped them through a lot of their own shit. **Particularly never forget the one person who said they hadn’t cried themselves to sleep a night since finding your story. Taking that back from someone is not a nice idea. LOTS OF SHIT THAT BASICALLY MEANS: stop trying to kill yourself, dumbass. people aren’t lying when they say things get better. well, somewhat. also don’t let people take advantage of and abuse you. or maybe do a bit. because your suffering has helped others and that’s all that really matters right? BUT JUST A BIT. definitely not all of it cause that was Shite.

2. Conversely, if you could go forward in time, what would you want to see? Dumb men (I was going to say ‘straight, white, cis, American’ men but realised I’ve seen other types of men also being equally idiotic, SO I GUESS JUST MEN) being deleted from all youtube comments please. Also maybe shut down tumblr. I think we’d all benefit from that tbh. Also while I’m at it, can we have a game similar to Pokemon GO but instead of catching Pokemon you catch hot anime bishies. Get exercise and also get five thousand hot boyfriends :D Also retaining the nickname feature. Because that’ll be entertaining.

3. What’s your favorite word and why? I’ve always been fond of kerfuffle. It just sounds so cute and happy. A kawaii way to say you fucked someone’s shit up. Petrichor is also a DAMN FINE word. It sounds satisfying and the meaning is EVEN MORE SATISFYING.

4. Hot chocolate with milk or with water? Toppings? Marshmallows? It tastes better with milk, but as I at times have more than 3 a day (since I don’t drink coffee and need caffeine), if I plan to have more than 2 I will make them with water. I believe I have already stated my opinion on marshmallows as well lmao.

5. If you could change one thing about your favorite fandom, what would it be? Tbh delete all appreciation for my absolute NOTP. And no, I don’t actually mean Akashi/Furihata like most other Akashi/Kuroko shippers; I occasionally state I don’t particularly care for that ship, but I tend to just ignore it and its existence for the most part. Whereas my actual ‘I FUCKING HATE THIS’ ship, NOPE I WANT THAT OBLITERATED> DELETE ITS EXISTENCE. WIPE IT CLEAN OFF THE FACE OF THE EARTH. This can also be said to apply to one particular person in said ‘FUCK NO’ NOTP. I have frequently expressed my disdain for this character, I do not make it a secret, so it should be no leap to assume who, and which ship, I’m talking about here.

6. You now have the ability to permanently alter one character from any fandom. Who do you pick, and what do you change? -Lmao. Okay. Well, I’ll name some names after all then, shall I? -Can I just. Completely erase Momoi’s existence from KnB entirely? Jfc I cannot fucking stand her one bit. The only redeeming quality of her very 2D, bland, and at times downright offensive character, is her desire for the GoM to be friends again. And I could live without that somewhat nice sentiment if it meant the remaining 99.9% of her shittiness was gone. I will never like her. -I can occasionally stand her in fanfiction if she does’t have a major appearance, and also if she’s not being monumentally annoying. And even then I don’t feel any issues with killing her off due to dislike of her canon characterisation. I could literally care less what happens to her. Harsh, maybe, but I personally feel she brings nothing of value to this series, and tbh it would be far better, and certainly less cringey, without her. -I have essentially been awake for 3 days so this is probably said with much less delicacy than I would normally use, though regardless of insomnia-induced aggression levels, the base feeling is the same.

7. What is your philosophy on life? (Is it pointless, is it meaningful, is it what you make it, etc…) I honestly don’t care about things such as ‘the meaning of life’. We’re never going to know who put us here, if anything did, or what we’re meant to do, if there is anything, or why we are here at all. Just do whatever you want. Everyone’s going to die and the sun will turn into a black hole and swallow the earth and the universe will ultimately end in a rather unpleasant manner anyway. As long as you’re not harming anyone’s way of life, do what ever you want I could care less. (that got kinda dark... I guess that’s what happens when people ask philosophical questions)

8. Would you consider getting a tattoo? If you would, what would it be and where would you put it? -Well the first tattoo I ever planned on getting (decided upon when I was 15), and the one I still want to be my first, is my recently passed dog’s pawprint tattooed on my left wrist; where I used to frequently self harm. The original idea was to get a tattoo of something meaningful there that would remind me every time I went to hurt myself that there’s still reasons for living. I stopped self harming around the same time my dog died in 2015, and even though I didn’t really need the reminder to not hurt myself in that way, I decided that getting his pawprint (which I was given a print of when he passed) would be especially nice, and would serve as a reminder of things I survived, and should I ever need a reminder in the future. My plan is now to get his paw on my left wrist (where the majority of damage was done, as he was my first pet), and when my cat also passes (hopefully not for a while still), I will get her pawprint on my right wrist. -In less meaningful directions, I’ve also wanted the Grey Warden’s emblem tattooed on me for the longest time. I’m thinking thigh in terms of placement. idek what it is about them, or about the DA series in general. I mean, being a Grey Warden is arguably (is it tho) kind of a shitty thing?? You don’t really want to aspire to that if you enjoy, idk, LIFE? But their tagline of ‘In war, Victory; In Peace, Vigilance; In Death, Sacrifice’ IDK BUT IT JUST GOT ME.

9. What’s your favorite headcanon? (Could be your own or someone else’s) Shit, I have A LOT. *These are all mine as well! (mostly lol) -One that I’m still fond of is the hc that Kuroko becomes sleepy after eating a lot (particularly sugary things) which is one reason he eats quite lightly, and that the GoM during Teikou would always be attempting to overfeed him because they thought it was adorable when he curled up in their laps and went to sleep. -Another I came up with is Akashi not being allowed to play videogames (and probably also not watch much TV) after his mother died. Thus, the GoM (and later Rakuzan regulars, YES YOU TOO MAYU WITH UR LOVE LIVE RHYTHM GAMES) would bring in their DSs and PSPs to school to let him play them as a much needed break from all the pressure being put on him. -Ideas conceived with 6ubblegum earlier such as Masaomi actually having an unrequited interest in Kuroko’s dad when they were younger, and obviously him becoming quite upset when Kuroko’s dad married Kuroko’s mother. We also came up with the idea that Masaomi and Shiori’s marriage was arranged by their parents for mutual family benefits and that the pair never cared much for each other, and also that Shiori was aro (also I angstily suggested ‘imagine her crying under her veil as she walked down the aisle tho’). Then I also suggested the idea of what if Shiori and Kuroko’s mother were friends, going on playdates with their sons (and also the humorous idea of them putting baby Akashi+Kuroko in matching dresses). So in the end, Masaomi has never been much interested in his own son, and the only person who cared about Akashi truly was his mother, who is now gone. Also Masaomi becoming understandably VERY opposed when Akashi begins dating Kuroko in school. -Anything involving mentally ill GoM + others (though a chunk of these aren’t even headcanons and more: I am 100% convinced these characters actually have these conditions). Especially fond of self-harmer Akashi. -Also literally any hc where any particular character is either aro, ace, or both. I reeaaaally love ace Kise actually. -AGENDER REO!!!!! -I’ll end it with a somewhat nsfw one. The shameless guilty pleasure with 6ubble of Kise and Kuroko being known as the sluts of the Teikou. They’ve definitely boned all the regulars (including NIji) at least once. Probably more. definitely more

10. Do humans have souls? Do animals? I’ve been awake far too long for these kinds of questions XD UHHH in my personal belief I’ve always maintained the idea that all living creatures (this includes humans, as humans are primates) have a sort of.. living energy?? My belief is that once a creature dies, of its lifeforce/energy/soul/the magic keeping it alive/whatever you fancy calling it, the personality part (which I would say comes from the brain and is made up of memories and of course the individual’s unique personality) goes to a plane with other deceased energies (suppose you could call this heaven of a sort - tbh I always pictured it as kinda like the pyreflies in FFX), while the rest of the energy (which I would say comes from the heart and is, I guess, the emotions the individual has experienced through life) is recycled and returned to the earth to be used again. SOOO a sort of somewhat logical theory that combines both afterlife and reincarnation. I also think that the recycled energies can recognise other energies they knew in previous lives. Not in a literal sense, but more like, they might feel an inexplicable connection, be it between two people, a pet and a human, etc etc. I kinda like the idea of this also explaining real life cases of supposed ‘soulmates’. Two energies meeting that once knew each other and were compatible in a previous life (sounds really YA romance I know). This could also be potentially used to explain some conditions or mental illnesses. Recycled energy that previously had lots of negative experiences may be renewed as someone who is also troubled (blame ur disorders on your energy ancestors lmao). This could explain troubled people who have no family history of any similar experiences. IT ALL SOUNDS VERY FANTASTICAL BUT YE. This has all come together after years of viewing and researching many different spiritual beliefs and recounts of spiritual or other ‘incredible’ events, in an attempt to kind of merge everything into something that could potentially be real and/or believable. Idk if scientifically this would make any sense, but I feel it’s logical enough to suit me anyways.

11. What’s your favorite holiday and why? Well I have mentioned I’m pagan before, sooooo, my answer to this will probably be weird? XD LONG AND BORING BACKSTORY TIME: I didn’t really become self identified as pagan until the age of 13-14, and before that I grew up typically celebrating Christian holidays (Easter, Christmas) despite my immediate family not being religious at all. I always saw these holidays as more just time to be with family than anything else. So I do still celebrate Easter and Christmas as I’ve grown up with them in a culture that celebrates them whether you’re religious or not. I guess Christmas was always my favourite? It’s roughly a month after my birthday, far enough that I get double presents, but close enough that there’s still lots of ongoing excitement. And growing up it was typically the only time each side of my family would all be together (we’d alternate, one year at my mum’s parents, the next at my dad’s). But as I’ve gotten older, and grandparents have died and families have drifted apart, I’ve become less interested in both Easter and Christmas, seeing them now more as just times to buy stuff for people when you really can’t afford to, and tbh now I find myself more drawn to things such as Samhain (also ref that if you have seen spn, they butchered the pronunciation. it’s more akin to ‘sah-ween’ it’s an Irish word I think, which explains everything tbh) in particular. Before last year I had never sought out other pagans in my area and thus was a bit lax in my celebration of sabbats, so when I actually started meeting up with other people in my city early last year, it actually really changed things for me (so emotional sobsob). The Samhain I celebrated with this group earlier in the year (as I’m in the southern hemisphere, Samhain for me is in May) was actually a really really special thing that I did. It also happened to coincide around the 2 year anniversary of my dog’s death, and as Samhain (which has become modern Halloween to most) is a day for celebrating loved ones who have died, it was just a really nice experience to think about my dog, as well as my grandmother who died 3 months before him. THAT WAS A LONG, BORING, AND MUSHY WAY OF SAYING THAT BASICALLY: ‘pagan Halloween’ (tho that term doesn’t even make sense lmao) is actually really lovely and memorable compared to almost every other ‘traditional’ holiday of my life.

Geez you just happened to ask all The Big Questions. And you literally went from 100 to 0 to 100 and then probably to 1000. Or maybe that was just me. I AM VERY TIRED AFTER VOMITING ALL THAT OUT. also my finger joints hurt.

WELL, if you got all through that, here are my own questions, which I totally Did Not steal from other question memes already in existence. I’m definitely not lazy. No I’m actually just very tired lol. These are all going to be fandomy/OTPy questions because WE REALLY NEED SOME LIGHT CONTENT AFTER ALL THAT. Plus everyone loves talking about their fandoms and shit.

1. A pairing you initially didn’t consider but someone changed your mind? 2. What’s the longest you’ve ever been in a fandom? What fandom was it? 3. Your favourite fandom {for the people, not the thing you spazz over}? 4. Are there any fandom popular ships that you don’t like or just don’t get? Alternatively, are there any typically overlooked minor ships that you think are really underappreciated? (hay this one i made up myself lol) 5. What was the first thing you ever contributed to a fandom? 6. What’s a popular romantic/sexual ship that you can only ever see as a brotp? (also me!) 7. If you had the chance to make your OTP canon, and your NOTP very clearly stated as ‘definitely not canon eVER’, how would you express this in your ‘new canon’? (i’m on a roll) 8. Which character is Daddy Material? (there’s always at least one, admit it) 9. Character you relate to and why? (please share all tragic similarities) 10. As either a reader, writer, or both!, what’s your favourite fanfic genre and/or tropes? Are there any you always stay away from? 11. Opinions on omegaverse (in any and all forms, ranging from early spn fics, to the surprising amount of BTS/kpop fics, or have you tried the Japanese manga take on omegaverse - or even.... Life From the Ashes)?

#self

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gregellner · 7 years

Photo

Promo picture by HBO.

This is unusual for me, but nonetheless I will be reviewing the entirety of the seventh season of Game of Thrones in hindsight, as it is panned out.

In order to keep this all from seeming like nothing more than one side, I will start by acknowledging that yes, there are some elements of this season that I enjoyed. Two parts in particular: Euron Greyjoy’s ambush of his niece Yara’s fleet and Theon Greyjoy’s brutal hand-to-hand fight with a nameless Ironborn raider.

The ambush was well lain out, and made military sense. Euron managed to catch the Dornish-Greyjoy fleet (hereafter called the Targaryen fleet) unawares, and the fight between his men and those of the Targaryen forces included casualties on both sides. Furthermore, unlike the attempted rescue of Theon in Season 4, the main antagonist of this arc actually is hit and suffers some damage, with his armor having meaning beyond being just metal clothing that has been ignored since approximately Season 4. Furthermore, he got rid of some characters who had grated on fans, though admittedly this is more a case of cleaning up the showrunners’ own mistakes than actually good writing in its own right.

Theon’s duel showcased a different kind of fight, one of pure endurance. There is nothing flashy about the hand-to-hand beatdown on the beach, just blood, punches, and kicks. However, the fight goes to show something that many recent fights have ignored: giving character progression in a meaningful way, with the actual possibility of death for a major person. Theon’s castration proves essential to this fight, giving a mixture of triumph, brutality, and even humor to the fight itself.

However, there is only one word that I really need to say when discussing the rest of Season 7 of Game of Thrones.

Failure.

I see this entire season as a failure on almost every level. While there are a few good character moments, they are few and far between, with far more time spent treading water than actually moving forward in the plot. In order to best articulate this process, I will go into depth on the different elements of the plot, and its different developments, especially how they are presented (which is one of the most important things about the plotting).

First, I’ll go into the general problems that have cropped up in the season, then I will turn to specific elements.

Fast Travel

For those who are unaware, the phenomenon of “fast travel” is a concept in video games where a player can move across a distance that would normally take a very long time (perhaps half an hour to an hour at times, if not more) in the space of about a minute with a single button press, only having to wait through a loading screen before they are spontaneously at their destination.

This phenomenon seems to have been injected into nearly every single force in Game of Thrones for this season, all in the name of moving the plot along faster. Euron Greyjoy can travel around the entire continent of Westeros over the course of fifteen minutes. A call for aid can travel to the far south of the map and allow for travel right up to North of the Wall (with time for a new outfit to be tailored) in perhaps the same amount of time, if not twenty minutes.

This type of problem would not have a significant effect on some fantasy stories. After all, the only thing anyone needs to say is that “a wizard did it.” The issue is, there is no actual mechanism to allow this kind of speed. In every other season, people would be hard-pressed to find transportation from one place to another. In fact, the entire reason the Red Wedding even came up in the first place was a lie about a deal that had allowed for easy passage of the Northern troops south. If this kind of mechanism were in place, we wouldn’t have ever needed to see the Freys or their castle in the Twins, instead able to just move the characters off screen and magically have them be on the other side of a major river.

The effect is similar to one people had in hindsight about The Lord of the Rings: if Frodo and Sam could have just used the eagles in the first place to just go right to Mordor, why walk all the way and allow so much death? Because it wouldn’t make a good story, yes, but it still relies upon a completely new system that could, logically, have existed earlier. But I digress.

In fact, the only army that doesn’t seem to have that kind of speed is that of the White Walkers. If they did have it, this season would have been over before it began, and, heaven forbid, the Night King would have had to actually do something more than once in a season.

Plot Tailored to the Audience, not the Story

While television does have its own limitations, they should be tailored to making a good story, not just a vast spectacle or a shocking drama. The seventh season of Game of Thrones seems to fall into the trap of tailoring character actions to a plot for “intensity,” rather than creating an organic, interesting plot through the actions of the characters themselves.

When questions are asked in this section, there is an implicit response you should assume: “Because the showrunners said so.”

Blackwater Rush

The massacre at Blackwater Rush is highly praised by many a viewer, but there remains a serious issue that people tend to overlook: how would she even know that the Lannister-Tarly forces were still there? How would she get her own forces, her Dothraki horde, across the entire country in time to catch up with them? And perhaps most stupidly, why would she go into battle in nothing more than her regal dress, rather than, say… attempting to wear any sort of armor? Is she aware of the plot armor she has? I will discuss “plot armor” below.

Great Wight Hunt

This hunt, first brought up in Episode 5, then carried out in Episode 6, is far and away the most infamous example of the plot being tailored to television audiences rather than even the most basic logic.

As anyone who knows about zombie apocalypse stories would know, the idea of grabbing a single member of the undead from a horde is virtually impossible without alerting the others, especially without it being killed. Jon, who has actually faced wights, would have known this and accounted for it, even told the others how stupid of an idea it was, had he been given an ounce of actual logic to use. And, surprise, surprise, it doesn’t go according to plan. Catching one wight led to a bunch of wights seeing the group, followed by some more, and then an entire army. Who could possibly believe this was a good idea?

On top of that, the reasoning for the hunt is completely pointless. If the idea is to bring back a single wight for Cersei Lannister to learn of the imminent invasion, she, being a narcissist par excellence, would ignore the threat and let other people handle it just so that she could gain more territory for herself on the throne. Again, surprise! This is exactly what happens. On this count, Tyrion, the one who has the most experience with Cersei, would have been the one to say how stupid of an idea it was… but the entire plan was his idea in the first place!

Let’s not fool ourselves: the real reason this plot even happened was because of the need for a traditional major event for the penultimate episode of the season. However, it failed at even that, owing to the imperviousness of plot armor (again, to be explained below).

Sansa and Arya’s “Plan”

Some believe the “plan” that Sansa and Arya Stark had to trap Petyr “Littlefinger” Baelish was very clever in hindsight, but that’s all it was: a good idea in hindsight. The actual plotting of the scenes leading up to the revelation in the season finale was idiotic at best, and nonsensical at worst. The two sisters would have had no reason to keep up their act of hostility to one another in private, especially given there is little indication at all that Littlefinger has actual spies in Winterfell. All of his “knowledge” is that which he gains by himself in this season. The only reason to keep up the charade is for the sake of the audience, which, again, does not actually exist in the world. Their scenes play out, especially in hindsight, as if they were acting out in a play to go off of reactions… to something that isn’t even there.

This all could have been solved by using a character with had almost nothing to do this season: Brandon “Bran” Stark. Given his omniscience, all that was needed was a single line after one of the Sansa-Littlefinger conversations about how the former’s brother wanted to speak to her, with her going off to talk to him off screen. That way, it wouldn’t come across as nearly as contrived as it was.

Impervious Plot Armor

“Plot armor” is the phenomenon of people in a story surviving seemingly impossible, if not highly improbable, situations because they are important to the plot later on down the line, storyline logic possibly being ignored in the process. Game of Thrones once prided itself on the idea of nobody having such immunity, but over time, this kind of story-driven immunity has become more and more prominent. Though the most infamous case was Ramsay Bolton, who could wade into combat against heavily armored foes shirtless and come out fine, this season has given a serious case to all major characters with important roles. The most glaring cases of this phenomenon come in the form of the assault on Blackwater Rush (the battle of the loot train) in Episode 4 and the infamous “Great Wight Hunt” in Episode 6.

In the case of Blackwater Rush, not a single person with a name died in the entire battle (if one could call that massacre a battle at all). The only named deaths came after the fight was over, and were limited to Randyll and Dickon Tarly (who each barely had a role in the story in the first place). On the other hand, Jaime Lannister was tackled into inexplicably deep water in heavy plate armor, which should have been enough to drown him, and not only managed to get away more or less completely unscathed, but apparently managed to, with Bronn, swim the entire length of the apparent lake with said plate armor on, while underwater.

The Great Wight Hunt is even more egregious. There are a grand total of three deaths, and only one of them is even a member of the crew on this completely idiotic plan in the first place. Jon not only offers to give his White Walker-slaying sword back to Jorah (despite the fact he could have tried to do this before leaving Eastwatch-by-the-Sea, outside of wight country), but is saved from imminent death no fewer than four times, including somehow killing two wights off-camera without a single weapon in hand in the freezing water (what hypothermia?). Tormund is seemingly nearly killed, and put into a position where he could logically die, only to be saved by Sandor Clegane because… reasons. Gendry is sent running back to Eastwatch-by-the-Sea without any weapons whatsoever, and his only real injury is exhaustion and perhaps cold. Jorah seems to almost fall off of the back of Drogon, only to be completely okay, negating that threat.

The only three deaths in this hunt were all more or less inconsequential (dragon-turned-undead be damned). Thoros of Myr lost any relevance he really has when the magic system he uses spontaneously changed for the sake of spectacle (more on that far below), with his only real use thereafter being a means to bring Beric back from the dead if he falls. However, there’s only one season left, and Beric doesn’t really add much to the plot anyway, so who cares? Benjen dies as he unlived: appearing out of nowhere to save someone before leaving the narrative altogether without much importance. What interest he did have, from Jon finding out he’s still around (which he barely even mentions) to his employers the Children of the Forest (who are seemingly all dead), is gone, and his plot went pretty much nowhere. Viserion… while there is an interesting thing of an undead dragon (which can somehow still breathe blue [even hotter] fire despite fire being deadly to wights because… reasons), both Viserion and Rhaegal are barely even characters. Their entire role in the story has been “the other two dragons who aren’t Drogon,” so honestly, he wasn’t much of a loss. If anything, he’s marginally better undead (or a White Walker, or whatever) because he has something to actually distinguish himself. The plot didn’t lose anything by having him die; it gained an actual character, and one with somehow less personality than anything else (which given it’s in an army of thoughtless wights, is really saying something).

Modernization of Symbolic Unimportance

As said by Tywin Lannister in the “Histories and Lore” video for the Westerlands, “Fools look at the Westerlands and see gold. Fools see our wealth and call it strength. Gold is just another rock. The Westerlands are strong because of House Lannister. From strong leadership comes unity. From unity comes power.” In fact, the strong leadership shown by House Lannister is not because of their gold, but in spite of their lack of it. Their mines long since went dry, but they manage to keep an air of importance due to Tywin Lannister’s careful, ruthless politicking.

The fall of an ancestral home is seen as a major defeat in most seasons. The fall of Winterfell to the Greyjoys and then the Boltons meant the end of House Stark. Brynden “Blackfish” Tully died holding the line against invader to his own home of Riverrun rather than abandon it.

This season does away with all of that. Jaime sacrifices Casterly Rock to Tyrion, and both of them agree on it being a strategically beneficial move, for the sole reason of the gold mines having run dry. The importance of the fort was not the gold alone, but its symbolic power. By abandoning it, Jaime should have lost favor, as he would have shown its unimportance (and by extension his poverty) to the world, but none of that happens at all.

The increasing importance of the Iron Bank of Braavos can be excused as Cersei dealing with things very differently from her predecessors, but the overt decision to abandon all pretense of wealth doesn’t make any sense from a medieval perspective that the show is ostensibly supposed to use.

Romanticizing Incest

Earlier seasons of Game of Thrones, while treating some incestuous couplings as loving, did not shy away from the idea that they were disturbed and often resulted in problems, the most commonly cited example being House Targaryen, with Cersei Lannister’s relationship with her twin brother being more up front in how it was shown.

In this season, however, the budding romance between Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen, unknowingly nephew and aunt, is treated as a true loving pair. The fact that they seem to have absolutely no chemistry aside, their relationship is disgusting to some in a way only outstripped by Lysa Arryn’s… mothering of her son Robin in earlier seasons. Is this relationship supposed to suddenly be okay because it is between two protagonists? Is incestuous romance only looked down upon when it is performed by villains? These seem to be indications by the showrunners.

Character Developments

Euron Greyjoy

While the newest King of the Iron Islands is a fun character in his own way, mostly in how he seems to be a more fallible version of what Ramsay Bolton had been before, he has an enormous amount of logistical problems.

First and foremost, his fleet of a thousand ships. Not only did he manage to have them made on a collection of islands that has almost no trees, but he managed to make them all in the span of…what, a week? A month? Not only that, but the ships are purported to be better than the original ones, again without any supplies whatsoever. Raiding can only justify so much.

On the other hand, we have his sneak attack on the Unsullied at Casterly Rock. The fact that his massive fleet that could be completely missed until the first shot is fired stretched credibility far beyond the breaking point. While their assault on the Targaryen-allied fleet commanded by Yara Greyjoy is possible, even well done, this one smacks of incredible stealth skills that do not at all mesh with the borderline psychopath Euron. Not only are his ships still black-sailed, but they are able to sneak up on the Unsullied fleet in broad daylight, rather than using the cover of a storm for a sneak raid.

The only possible excuse for this Euron ex Machina would be the Unsullied being one of the worst armies in the entirety of the world (which, given their incompetence in almost every single encounter they are a part of aside from the one in which they were initially freed, I can’t really deny), but even that discounts the idea of leaving even a single scout.

Jaime Lannister

Jaime Lannister, infamous as “the Kingslayer,” is portrayed in an extremely bizarre way in this season. After the death glare he gave to his sister in the previous season finale for doing the exact same thing that he had become an oathbreaker to avoid, he spends the entire season, barring the finale, working with her. The only real attention given to the thing that should, by right, have him defecting, otherwise quitting, or outright killing Cersei to save the kingdom is for him to imply he might be afraid of her, after saying he does not hate her (despite his expression in the previous season showing that’s blatantly untrue).

Every single thing about Cersei’s treatment of Jaime makes him seem deliberately weak. She implicitly threatens his life with her “never betray me again.” She ignores his quite reasonable comments about the danger they are in and how the Lannister dynasty would only last a single generation. For all of his talk of being in love, he seems more like a kicked puppy than an actual threat, let alone someone with any real agency.

Yes, he managed to break free in the season finale, but it seems to little too late, and should have happened in the start of the season, even if it meant being rid of him for the majority of the season. In the very least, he should have died in Blackwater Rush to avoid this stupidity from continuing (as mentioned above under plot armor).

Brandon Stark

When it comes to Bran Stark, it’s easy to say that the actor is playing a completely different character from the previous seasons, and not one that is really all that interesting. Rather than being afraid or uncertain about… anything, he seems to have had all of his actual personality removed.

Of course, that seems to have been the point in the story, but the presentation is extremely poorly handled. While Bran could reasonably have had this personality if he had shown it before, he seemed exactly the same as always when he absorbed all of the memories of the three-eyed raven. As such, Meera Reed’s “revelation” that he “died in that cave” rings hollow, and her surprise at his lack of emotion is understandable, but for all of the wrong reasons. All that needed to be shown was him having this personality after he escaped from the cave in Season 6, when he met up with Benjen Stark. However, this apparently had not been used, and from the sounds of things, was not even considered at the time.

His new identity as “the three-eyed raven” (a designation that makes absolutely no sense for him given his lack of any actual connection to that identity beyond having similar memories and powers) is one of the most stereotypical fictional children: the creepy child with supernatural powers. There isn’t anything really interesting about this archetype, only how it is used, and the showrunners seem to be unable to find any real use for him beyond “be creepy and stay in the corner” until the season finale. Even the chance to delve into the history of the previous three-eyed raven, to learn of his work with the Night’s Watch and his relation to the Targaryen family as Brynden “Bloodraven” Rivers, is not even given lip service, which would not be so grating if the show didn’t take its time to repeatedly show how nobody has any idea what the three-eyed raven even is.

Daenerys Targaryen

If there is one character I am irritated by above all others, it is Daenerys Targaryen. She is the epitome of the creator’s pet to me, someone for whom the narrative bends over backwards to justify every action, and whom fans actually agree with. Actions such as roasting the Tarly heads of house alive are seen as justified because she “gave them a choice” and going back on her word would cause the threats to lose their menace, ignoring the fact that she is the one who came up with the choices in the first place, making her responsible one way or another. It’s hard to take someone seriously as a heroine when their entire character revolves around their own self-importance, such as her “courting” with Jon Snow.

Every single action since the end of Season 2 has resulted in victory, even if she is momentarily captured. When someone is rarely in even the slightest bit of danger, why bother to think they have a bad time anymore? It’s the world of Game of Thrones, after all, and if you don’t have a serious amount of bad luck, you’re probably either disconnected from the plot altogether or you’re one of the villains, and even the latter isn’t a guarantee. Her loss of Highgarden, Dorne, and the Unsullied are glossed over quickly in Season 7 by her aforementioned attack on the loot train going through Blackwater Rush, where her Dothraki horsemen easily slaughter the Lannister and Tarly pikes (which are specifically engineered to hold back a cavalry charge), making any additional army seem superfluous (after all, she doesn’t even seem to need to wear armor to a battle, unlike literally everybody else). The assault is also praised for being “awesome,” but it involves the destruction of food stores rather than bringing them back to the people from whom they were stolen, given Jaime had already discussed the fact that all of the gold had been sent to King’s Landing.

Case in point is the reaction to the end of the aforementioned Great Wight Hunt. Her loss of Viserion (who is barely a character, more a prop alongside Rhaegal next to actual important dragon Drogon), the first real important loss since Season 2, actually gained her the loyalty of Jon Snow, a man who explicitly would not bend the knee to her for sake of Northern autonomy and his place as their king. Contrast the doings of Robb Stark, where his biggest mistakes led to the defection of segments of his army and ultimately led to the vast majority of them dying in the Red Wedding. While he lost everything, including his standing in the North, Daenerys gains even more forces, loses a dragon that hadn’t even done anything important in the series, and as shown by the very next episode, didn’t even permanently lose the Unsullied, who are easily brought back without fuss.

The worst seems to be the fact that enormous amounts of dialogue are about her beauty, benevolence, and overall perfection, including how she is totally not like her father even when she does the exact same things he would have done. It’s not as if I am asking for the showrunners to say she is the worst person ever. But admitting she is flawed in the show and showcasing her as just as much “not always right” as everyone else would be a nice change of pace, especially when it comes to such things as getting Jon Snow, who couldn’t possibly care any less about allegiance to foreign queens over his work with the North and staving off the end times, to bend the knee to her.

At a certain point, it becomes entirely plausible that the characters in the story will, one and all, bow down and accept Daenerys Stormborn as their goddess forevermore, such is her perfection in the story’s eyes.

Night King

On the surface, the idea of the Night King (apparently created by the showrunners, and distinct from the Night’s King of myth) is disturbing. On paper, he is a silent villain who has lived for eons, capable of raising an army easily and a harbinger of an apocalypse. However… what has he actually done? His accomplishments to date have been killing a defenseless old man, standing in place, walking a little bit, riding a horse slowly, raising White Walkers and many wights, possibly bringing a winter storm, and throwing a javelin. He hasn’t even gotten into a single fight, and on the whole, he’s become more of a plot device than an actual character.

His performance in the penultimate episode of Season 7 showcases some of the veritable James Bond villain qualities that this entity has. He has the heroes at his mercy for what seems to be hours, stuck on an island in the middle of a frozen lake. However, as he showed earlier in the season and was explicitly stated by Jon in the same season, he does not merely come with the storm, but rather he brings the storm. If he could summon up a winter blizzard to cool down the water to the point of it becoming ice again, he could have done so, thereby killing all of his enemies with his own forces before they could be rescued.

The use of his ice javelin just makes things worse. First, he could have used it earlier to, if he could not freeze the lake again, at least throw and kill Jon and perhaps some others, who could be seriously injured by such a strike, especially in the midst of battle with wights or exhausted from the cold. Second, his choice of dragon to kill was rather nonsensical, both from the perspective of the character and from the perspective of the plotting. Drogon is the only important dragon in the entire show, let’s be totally clear on that. Everything important that ever happens with a dragon is far more likely to be his doing than that of the other two dragons, to the point that many viewers forget their names and cannot tell them apart easily. He is the one who is most battle ready, and the one who is burning the wights alive in the center of the battlefield, not to mention the only one of the dragons who seems capable of easily carrying all of the remaining heroes and the captive wight. However, the Night King decides, for some reason, to throw the javelin of ice across the entire battlefield to kill Viserion, who, along with Rhaegal, has had almost no importance to the story. If anything, Viserion has more personality as a member of the undead than as one of the living, and losing him feels more like a boon than a detriment. If the showrunners wanted to make an actual impact on the plot in terms of a loss of forces, they could have had Drogon be the one who is killed instead, especially since he is the biggest, and thus the most threatening.

Rhaegar Targaryen

Rhaegar Targaryen’s annulment of his marriage to Elia Martell is treated in a very bizarre manner. Rather than following the idea of love ruining the realm to its logical conclusion, the showrunners seem intent on the idea that Rhaegar is the one in the right, having his marriage to Lyanna Stark be portrayed as a beautiful ceremony instead of the fact that it ruined any possible standing with House Martell and rendered Elia Martell’s death even more tragic and pointless. The fact that Rhaegar and Lyanna named their son Aegon accentuates the dissonance between the loving atmosphere and the irritating effects, as he took the time to give the name of his son with Elia to his son with Lyanna as well. Did he have no other choices in mind? Did he just not care? Did he forget he had a son beforehand?

Further, this beneficial treatment of Rhaegar also gives Robert Baratheon the appearance of someone who is entirely in the wrong. While he was wrong in his reasons, believing Lyanna to have been kidnapped and raped, he still saved Westeros from a psychotic king, with Aerys II being essentially Westeros’ version of Roman Emperor Caligula.

Petyr “Littlefinger” Baelish

While the excuse could be made that Littlefinger is love drunk while in his plot at Winterfell, this falls apart instantly when one goes through the means he utilizes. He seems to view the North and the Vale, both places with high degrees of honor with some very rare exceptions, as identical to King’s Landing, trying to use his mind games when the people he is manipulating are not mere unknowing pawns, but people who outright despise him. The idea that he would seriously believe that Sansa would fall for Arya, who he can plainly see is more interested in combat than politics, being interested in usurping her position as the Lady of Winterfell is extremely stupid, and even moreso when one considers the fact that he outright stated his intention to claim the Iron Throne with Sansa at his side to her face.

Mechanical Changes

One thing that grates heavily on those who like a consistent story is a change in the laws of the world to fit a story, rather than changing the story to fit the laws of the story. If there are no set laws, anything can happen, and nothing matters as a result. It all becomes nothing but meaningless spectacle. Season 7 is extremely bad at keeping anything set, to the point of only the most basic rules staying in place, those that could apply to any fiction ever that involves fire or zombies, and as a result are completely unoriginal. The changes in magic are split across several areas: greyscale, White Walker magic, and Red Temple magic.

Greyscale: From Leprosy to Acne

In earlier seasons, the progression of greyscale was seen to be akin to a supernatural form of leprosy. It would turn the victim’s body to stone over time, or close enough to it, changing them from the inside out. Jorah Mormont’s condition was so horrific because it was likely impossible to resolve easily. Shireen Baratheon’s survival was considered a miracle, needing the help of healers from both sides of the Narrow Sea, and left a permanent scar on the left side of her face. On seeing the fact of how far Jorah’s condition had gone in Season 7, Archmaester Ebrose claimed that there was nothing that could be done for him.

However, Season 7 also shows that “advanced” grayscale is nothing more than magical acne. The treatment of the disease, which leaves not even a single scar, consists of peeling off the infected flesh (which seems to be just a more painful version of peeling off burned skin) and applying a special ointment to the place where the flesh had been. In fact, the flesh itself does not even seem to be infected, but covered by a kind of coating of grayscale that is held on with pus. How exactly was this supposed to be dangerous, again?

White Walkers and Wights

Outside of the Night King’s ability or lack thereof to call up winter storms, the White Walkers’ magic and their wights’ capabilities changed significantly in this season with no justifiable explanation.

First, we have the wights’ sudden weakness to dragonglass. In past seasons, they have only been weak to two things: fire and being torn to shreds to the point of being unable to even move their disparate parts. What distinguished them from the White Walkers was the fact that the latter had both different abilities and different vulnerabilities, and the lack of an easy win factor made the wights that much harder to fight off. The reason for gathering dragonglass was not to kill the wights, but to kill the White Walkers, who could only be harmed by dragonglass and Valyrian steel. This distinction changed completely, and with no real reason. What does a skeleton care about being stabbed in the ribs with a glass dagger? It doesn’t have functioning organs, anyway. Fire both made sense (destroying the body) and was consistent, in that you needed to change tactics to fight different foes. With the “revelation” (rewrite) of this weakness, which the show treats as though it were always the case, fire actually seems to be less effective, such as during the altogether pointless and poorly shot fight against the wight polar bear. The flaming swords of Beric Dondarrion and Thoros of Myr (to be discussed below) barely do anything at all to the beast, while a single stab from Jorah’s dragonglass dagger brings it down. In fact, using dragonglass weapons, the undead threat seem to be nothing more than another human army, as they don’t even have much real threat at all and can be killed in a single blow in combat.

Another problem is the use of synchronization between the White Walkers and their wights, which flies in the face of everything we have seen before. If killing a White Walker destroys all of the wights it had raised (a common theme in necromancy or other summon magics), why was there no effect on the force at Hardhome after Jon killed a White Walker? To say that there were no wights at that location raised by that White Walker stretches plausibility to the breaking point, especially when one brings into account the fact that the “Behind the Show” segment for the season’s penultimate episode had both showrunners talk about how they were scrambling to come up with a way for most of the people who went on the Great Wight Hunt to survive. Translation: this wasn’t actually an element of the story before. They made it up on the spot. This fact itself would be a problem, but it also fundamentally changes the nature of the story. If all you need to do is kill the Night King (who, again, doesn’t seem to even exist in the source material), then the story turns from one of war and survival to one of assassination. Just send Arya up there if that’s the case. She seems capable of assassinating anyone she feels like on a moment’s notice if you let her go off screen. There, plot solved, we can go home.

Red Temple

The primary rituals of the Red Temple, shown through Thoros of Myr in this season, have had distinct, deliberate differences from earlier seasons, ones that make Thoros himself useless, and his eventual death have no real meaning.

First comes the ability to see visions in the flames. Thoros does not appear to treat the fireplace in which he has Sandor look, but the latter is able to see their destination and the movements of the White Walkers easily, saying things that even Thoros doesn’t seem to have witnessed. If a red priest can’t see something in the flames that a pyrophobe can, what use is being a red priest at all?

Second, and most importantly, comes the use of the flaming sword magic by both Thoros and his companion, Beric Dondarrion. In its prior usage in Season 3, this magic appeared to need the expertise and faith of a red priest, in addition to Beric’s blood. However, its usage in the Great Wight Hunt has the wielders able to light their swords individually with their gloves on, without having direct contact between the blood and the blade. Furthermore, Beric is able to use the spell even after Thoros dies, showing that the latter is not important anyway.

While Thoros is needed to bring Beric back from the dead, the latter is going into the final season of the show having accomplished very little, if anything. Would Beric’s death even be much of a loss?

In summary, this entire season seems to have been a waste of time, and likely the worst one thus far. There were some bright spots, but Sunday nights are dark and full of terrors, the worst of which being poorly plotted, poorly described, poorly shot, poorly written stories told from the seat of one’s pants for the sake of being the next thing to be trending on the internet.

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musthaveloved · 7 years

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hey fellow writer friends I need your opinions

ok so under the cut is some stuff from my ongoing sci-fi project (probably a tv series? idk yet) that I’m super excited to expand on and I’d be interested to know what you guys think / if you have any suggestions

basically the main question is “at a glance, would you watch this series / read this book?”

SYNOPSIS

The story’s set in a future where there are several human colonies across the universe, all of them with different attitudes to interspecies breeding with the inhabitants of their neighbouring planets. The lead characters are a kind of rag-tag found-family bunch, most of whom are mixed-species or otherwise outcasts from their respective worlds-- the episode-by-episode plot arcs are kind of a Firefly setup, with them kicking about between galaxies causing trouble, taking shady jobs and being an adorable (if dysfunctional) lil family.

The ongoing plot arc is to do with the differing prejudices and beliefs on each planet (both human-populated and otherwise) - one of the oldest colony planets, 100% populated by humans, has gone a bit sort of.... space republican and is stirring up tensions between “pure” humans and “neo-humans” (those with mixed-species heritage). Which, as you can imagine, ends up affecting our neo-human lead characters in multiple ways.

So as you can see it’s not at ALL politically charged. Heh. (I put a synopsis on twitter a while back and my inbox was immediately full of wankers.)

THE LEADS

DOM

Partially descended from a species that communicates empathically / psychically-- something he likens to the idea of “reading an aura”. Uses his innate empathic ability to become a very good con man. And annoy Birdie.

BIRDIE

Dom’s partner in crime-- the muscle, though she’s half his size. Used to work for a smuggling ring on one of the border planets, until she tried to con her own people and got her tongue cut out for her trouble. Now speaks entirely in sign language, and is always finding new and interesting ways to curse at people.

ADE

The only fully-human member of the crew. Assassin for hire-- pragmatic, rash, fiercely protective of their crew. Also genderfluid (something they use to their advantage when it is Disguise Time).

REI

The tech support-- scarily good with machines of any calibre. Neohuman who is much, much older than she appears (and uses her childlike appearance

CORA

A synth (android) originally assigned as Rei’s medical unit and constant chaperone-- until Rei began modifying and expanding on her programming and the two formed a very different, much more personal bond. The two tend to view each other as sisters.