#she is not evil or anything if anything she is overly positive about death and destruction and the like

[raid3r-r4bbit]

Random Fo4 Companions Headcannons.

With no explanation or order, because I said so.

Gage fucking hates coconut. Also tatos/tomatoes. And he's never eaten muscles/clams/squid but you couldn't make him. Honestly I see him being more of a picky eater than he would ever admit to. If you took him to a red lobster he'd sit in the bar with nothing and noticibly and angrily glare at you or the lobsters the whole time.

Danse loves kids, teaching them, working with them ect. But not only is he socially awkward as all hell, he's naturally a bit commanding which to kids is scary and to teens is annoying. He's aware of this, but has no idea how to mediate it so he just, "heyyyy....champ?"

Cait is the same way with kids but she just dips.

Playing poker with deacon would be like holding a staring contest with a statue.

Having a staring contest with x6 would be like playing poker with deacon.

A poker match or staring contest between deacon and x6 is like taping bread jamside up to a cat.

Dogmeat does that thing that cats do and tries to sit/sleep right on your chest and suffocates you.

Strong loves playing with toys, and wishes he had someone to play fight with. Also he understands that he's a super mutant and still feels like humans should be food, but still doesn't know why people don't like him and it makes him sad.

Piper is evil.

Preston sleeps in the fetal position. He also overheats a lot, but then gets cold, so sleeping soundly is an event for him. He would also make the best educator, of any level. Mainly cause he's clear and precise but also cause if you're stupid (like me) he doesn't get mad if you need things explained.

Ada is actually capable of moving faster but simply chooses not to.

Curie has a crush on Danse, but doesn't understand what that is emotionally so she just likes to watch him and try to learn about him. Danse finds this unerving and weird, but she's essentially harmless so he doesn't make her stop.

Old Longfellow is very lonely and just wants someone to tell stories to. (This might just be cannon ngl)

Codsworth is in denial about the bombs and the death of soles spouse and Shaun being gone. Synth Shaun wouldn't be able to shake him, and if ss chooses a romantic partner, codsworth is both very overly chummy with them, but also super passive-aggressive aggressive towards them.

Ham cooked loves lotion and stuff. Obviously it doesn't really do anything for him, but it's like cat nip to him. He just wants to rub it all over his face.

MacCready(how tf is ur name spelled dude???) sucks at taking care of others people's kids. He'll fight them, but like on their own level.

Kid: "you're a meanie!"

Mac: "Well YOU'RE A POOP FACE!"

*collective gasps and oooo's from other kids watching*

[lances-and-quills]

A collection of Simple Character Profiles

I got creative today and decided to make profiles for the main characters featured in my book Symphony of Dusk. They're pretty simple I know, but I think I got everything for a baseline description which I can flesh out later.

Character Name: Luka “Cotton” Laskyr

Age: 19

Eye color: Blue

Physical description: five foot eleven, plum hair, caucasian, heavy freckles around cheeks

Personality: Nihilistic, loyal, protective

Quirks: Has an eye for quality and subtle detail, has Insomnia and chronic night terrors, gets nervous when around overly friendly people

Fun Facts: He’s an unparalleled rifleman who once shot a hawk out of the sky while it was dive bombing, fastest reload to fire was two seconds, treats Leice to parfait whenever they go out on a date

Backstory: Cotton grew up in an orphanage in the city of Minoria as the only child who never knew his parents, this led to him being relentlessly bullied until he grew too old to stay in the orphanage. After joining the Guild of Heavenly Knights, he met Leice during a rather awkward lunch. 

Name: Aleice Serpentia

Age: 19

Eye color: Amber

Physical description: Eight foot two, Snow white hair, Caucasian (Light Tan), Red scale coloration

Personality: Curious, reserved, Outgoing

Quirks: highly protective of children, self-taught swordswoman, amateur dark mage

Fun facts: She has Ophidiophobia, refers to Cotton as Pookie Bear because of a joke he made while they were sleeping together, really REALLY likes parfait

Backstory: The youngest of the five sisters of house Serpentia a splinter group of house Nagara one of the coinciding families of Emeralis. her abusive xenophobic mother Leice was disowned after she was found having a relationship with Cotton. She later joined the Guild of Heavenly Knights full-time as a Red Hood to be closer to Cotton.

Name: Grelido Iorian

Age: 24

Eye color: Yellow

Physical description: Six foot eight, Grey Hair, Stone Skin, Grey Scale Colouration 

Personality: Laid back, Kind, Honorable

Quirks: His magma blood acts as a mood ring signaling what his feelings are depending on the color, A master of shield combat, Expert leader, and grenadier

Fun Facts: Has a surfer dude accent, is an excellent cook, has over three dozen siblings

Backstory: The twelfth child of The Maiden of Fire, also known as Maltaisa, Grelido was raised in the strict and harsh society of The Firelands where combat was second only to work in service to his father Cinder. He luckily managed to keep a positive disposition and acts as his family's supportive backbone alongside his sister, Malia.

Name: T’dor Nraki “The Decayed”

Age: 30

Eye color: Blood Red

Physical description: Eleven foot, Silver Hair, Grey skin,

Personality: Loyal, Friendly, Protective

Quirks: Can decay anything he touches as long as all five of his fingers touch with the target, Pure-Blood Incubus, Martial arts expert, Leader of The White Hand

Fun Facts: He believes in Necroeternisum a religion based around the cycle of life and death, and has extremely lanky and distended limbs that give him an unnatural gait, he is also great friends with Vance Midori. Is married to a woman named Irina, has a daughter named Eri, and a son named Elric

Backstory: Hailing from a world long forgotten, N’raki’s life was fated to be one of evil until he was saved from his life of villainy by one Vance Midori who showed him that he could use his power for good, after the death of his world N’raki was then adopted by The White Hand, a group of disfigured succubi and Incubi that helped him find purpose again. 

Name: Egg

Age: 10

Eye color: Golden

Physical description: Four foot seven, golden hair, caucasian

Personality: Caring, Protective, Cinnamon roll

Quirks: Makes egg puns, can use Lightning magic, is a gold-winged phoenix harpy

Fun Facts:  Likes reading books about birds, thinks Luka is her father despite the two looking nothing alike, will revert to an egg if she sustains too much damage, being born again after a week or so.

Backstory: A legend among the people of Emeralis, Egg is what is known as a golden phoenix harpy, an immortal creature that can not die no matter what happens to her. Although she is currently ten she has lived since Caelus created her millennia ago as a friend to the developing Maidens and Guardians.

Name: Champ Vinessa

Age: 420

Eye color: Emerald

Physical description: Six foot, Green

Personality: Loyal, flirtatious, protective

Quirks: Chromarian tactician, champion of the arena, Master of Tactics

Fun Facts: Likes jello, believes jello to be the same species as her, has a collection of different flavored jello she refers to as her family

Backstory: Born from the elemental rose, Champ has traveled Eulogy for years growing in power as a wind slime, she settled down in Chromeria and became its champion gladiator after a comedic opportunity led to her fighting and beating every challenger in her way.

Name: The Red Hood (Scarlet Grimm) 

Age: 22

Eye color: Blue

Physical description: Five foot five, golden hair, Caucasian

Personality: Solemn, repentant, withdrawn

Quirks: Likes hunting( Wolves Specifically), Has a beautiful singing voice, likes steak a lot, takes the name of however she kills

Fun Facts: She is Captain Grimm’s daughter, she’s the reason Red Hoods like Luka and Alice have their hoods, has a spirit wolf named Poro Lobos

Backstory: Born to Red and Grimm two souls belonging to The Epitaph The girl now known as The Red Hood disappeared during a walk in the woods which led her to find a transversal mirror, leading to her being trapped in the hell that was The Equestrian. There she learned to survive by any means, forging a legend once she got out as an enigmatic and cold assassin hell-bent on surviving at any costs and killing those who cause terror to the people of the lands she inhabits.

[mithrandirl]

ahsoka and dooku parallels... they both leave the jedi order for their own reasons, sure. ahsoka probably would've come back if order 66 hadn't happened, but in tales of the jedi she's not even sure she wants to help the rebellion, and by extension, fight as a (former) jedi for the ideals the jedi order stood for. meanwhile! (i.e. ~20 years earlier, but meanwhile in a narrative sense) dooku was contemplating the mistakes he'd made that led to qui-gon's death, the things he did while straying from the jedi. just like ahsoka, he had a period of questioning his purpose (in his case whether he should continue to be evil etc).

but they both have hyper-contrasting foils that push them toward a decision sooner than they would have on their own, and maybe in a direction they might not have chosen on their own either. yaddle, a symbol of the jedi order for dooku, confronts him at exactly the height of his uncertainty and she forces him to choose right that moment. but he's also at the height of his emotional state and instead of taking the out she offers, he doubles down, cementing his position at sideous' side. and ahsoka is forced to choose when the inquisitor finds her, betrayed by her kind heart and an ignorant bystander. the moment that pushes her to call bail organa is when she's presented with possibly the worst outcome of what could happen if she joins the fight, surrounded by fire with a body at her feet and a sith lightsaber in her hands.

i just think their stories are so interesting when they're side by side! here are two jedi, not overly remarkable on their own, but they're trained by the best and put in situations that test them beyond what the average jedi would face. they care too much about the few people they allow to get close to them and they see the hypocrisy of their stations in life only when it's too late. they're doing everything for someone they lost (and feel responsible for)! but it will never be enough! they are stuck in a cycle of their own making and even when given the chance to escape it, they keep going! they know their path won't lead them to anything satisfying in the end but they keep going!!!!

[kingspuppet]

In regards to that last post, I also think a lot of people forget that Goro stumbled across the Metaverse when he was only 14/15. He was hurt from his mother by being completely abandoned, traumatized from his circumstances, and ultimately angry at the world (and Shido specifically) for giving him the hand that he was dealt. And so when he saw his first chance at a way out, his first chance at having that control and power to take life by the reins for himself he took it. And I believe I've stated this before, but if not I'll say it again, that Goro lacks a lot of emotional maturity. It's obvious due to the life he lived he was forced to grow up quickly. He had to in order to survive and to make a life for himself. Being independent was what he had to do because he had nobody else to help him out. He didn't have a solid parental figure outside of his mother, and even then we have no idea just how present she actually was in his life before her death. So either way he had to be mature and prove that he could handle himself and take care of what he needed. And it sounded like him stumbling upon the power of wielding a Persona was almost like a lifeline being cast out to him so he could really prove that he was more than capable. But there was nothing there to support the nurturing of Goro's emotions in a positive way, and I think that becomes very apparent when you see just how heavily he relies on anger as a crutch. So when you put together the factors of how young Goro was, his lack of emotional maturity, and how he allowed his anger to fuel him it of course will pave the way to actions that are far more petty and flawed than someone who will sit there to rationally think out their ideas. This is especially true when it's probably the first opportunity Goro has and the potential worries about never having another chance like this again. It's childish and petty, and to an extent Goro knows this. He says how it's an extremely personal grudge and how it's not for something as lofty as society. He admits to not caring about Japan or the rest of the world. All he wants is a sense of control and autonomy for himself. He was a kid who was severely hurt by the life he was forced to live and he wanted to take that back for himself. All that being said, I hate when people label him as a "psychopath" or "evil" or anything equivalent to that. Because Goro wasn't born that way. He forced himself to fit into a mold so he could survive, but that mold also served as the catalyst for acting out his plot against Shido. Anyone else who was involved was a casualty, but he only cared about getting to Shido. So if that meant doing what had to be done in order to get there and making sure there were no threats to his plans then he would do it. It was nothing more than a means to an end. And sure, he may have some very dark/crude humor (we see that when he jokes about killing Maruki), but it's obvious that after everything with Shido that he doesn't have much of an interest in continuing that path. There's no benefit in him doing that as it serves no purpose to him. He's too practical to waste time on something that doesn't serve him or his goals. At his core Goro is just exceedingly hurt. He may be overly critical, cynical, and ruthless, but Goro only ever wanted to give back what he was handed. And immediate death wouldn't serve that purpose. He wanted Shido to feel that same pain he did in whatever way that looked like. And if that meant helping Shido rise into the political seat he so desired he'd do it all so he could kick Shido back down those same steep stairs he helped him climb.

[ir-dr]

Day 2634  - 5 August 2019

Happy Birthday my bro @hikukastel 

.//projectTiGER

[theoriginalcarnivorousmuffin]

In one of your newer asks (forgot which one) you said that Harry got over Sirius' death quickly and that he liked what he represented not the actual person. Can you explain Harry's reactions to the deaths of people (he "loves")? And what he actually liked/valued? I hope you understand what I'm talking about. . .

So, I made a post in which I revealed the crux of my thoughts on Harry. In short, Harry’s a psychopath. And no, I’m not exaggerating or throwing words out there. By the end of the series, Harry is one seriously scary dude.

He shows a complete lack of empathy for anyone or anything in all circumstances.

When Hermione narks on Harry’s suspicious Firebolt Chirstimas present, he refuses to speak to her for half a year and it takes Hagrid having an intervention for him to consider maybe (maybe) deigning to speak with her again. When Marietta’s mother is in the position of losing her job at the Ministry, and Marietta narks, Cho tries to point this out to Harry and Harry tells her snitches get stitches. Harry gleefully goes to Hogsmeade in his third year despite the entire government desperately trying to protect him, it takes about ten people pointing this out until Harry finally feels vaguely guilty.

Harry’s rage is terrifying. He gleefully uses a curse which he has been told many times is evil to torture another human being and feels next to nothing afterwards (there’s no reflection on who this makes him as a person). His stalking of and later butchering of Draco Malfoy is dismissed shockingly easily, he’s not upset about having nearly accidentally murdered Draco but instead more about getting caught and then that his beloved Halfblood Prince is really Snape.

Why am I talking about this?

Because I think Harry’s incapable of love.

... The utter irony and blasphemy of that sentence just struck me. Let’s pause a moment and sit in wonder that it has come to this.

Right.

Harry has... friends, but they’re always friends of convenience. Whenever they happen to disagree with him, on anything, it’s always the friend who has to crawl back (and they do because he’s Harry Mother Fucking Potter). To Harry the world is marvelously black and white, divided into those that like him and those that do not.

Think about it, does Harry admire or like anyone who does not personally like him? I can’t think of a single one.

When Percy refuses to believe Harry, for very understandable reasons, Harry sours on him far beyond he already had (I admit he wasn’t overly fond of Percy, as Percy was the brother no one liked and Ron vented about him constantly). Fleur is an Ice Queen Bitch until Harry saves Gabrielle’s life and she becomes very grateful to and sweet to him. 

He can’t deal with nuances. We see this with Dumbledore. Harry finds out that Dumbledore used him in perhaps the most heinous manner imaginable. Dumbledore, perhaps, cared nothing for him at all. However, Harry cannot come to terms with this, given how well the man seemed to have treated him in the past, and instead creates this heroic martyr legend for Dumbledore.

Same with Snape, the instant Harry learns that Snape had been Dumbledore’s agent, suddenly the past doesn’t matter and Snape is the bravest man Harry knows.

My point being, Harry doesn’t love Sirius, he barely knows Sirius, what he instead loves is the idea of Sirius. Sirius is Harry’s first real promise of family, of a father figure, and of escape from the Dursleys. While it’s not possible now, it’s something that can soon become a reality, something Harry wants desperately.

Harry’s grief for Sirius’ death presents itself as some seriously scary rage (i.e. the stalking of Draco Malfoy) but it never seems to be about Sirius himself. Harry doesn’t miss any aspects of Sirius himself all that much just... the notion of him, the promise of him. Which I think is what Sirius ultimately was to Harry.

Sirius and Harry never really saw each other clearly. Sirius is a mess after Azkaban and is fixated on the memory of James that lives inside Harry. Harry doesn’t mind this, or even really notice that Sirius isn’t in a good place, because Sirius is just the idea of a father to him.

But yes, I think for Harry, in general, his grief for things is very shortlived and tends to manifest in RAGE. We spend, what, a chapter feeling sad Hedwig died? (To be fair, as a reader the idea that Hedwig’s death is supposed to make me feel something always made me laugh). We get  a good few days being sad that Dobby died for the cause. 

Harry was relatively sad when Snape died and revealed the truth, but mostly I think because he was having the existential crisis one must have when you realize you were secretly a Kamikaze agent this entire time. 

Yeah, Harry, what a guy. 

[utilitycaster]

I think a lot of Raven Queen-related discourse is still fueled by some residual (and misplaced) resentment over Vax's ultimate fate (she never took anything from him imo) , but it's also very possible a lot of it is couched in her presence as a death god, and her less-than-warm demeanor making people automatically suspicious. Do you think one or the other is a bigger influence on people's negative expressions where RQ is concerned? Is there a different or bigger reason I haven't thought of?

Honestly...I don't know, and if you actually wanted to know you would need to have a thorough conversation with people who genuinely felt that the Raven Queen was an evil or sinister presence.

Anyway specifically for people disliking the Raven Queen, I do think the most widespread answer is "she's why Vax is dead :(" I think a close second is people with understandably complicated or negative responses to religion but who have not found a way to separate out themselves from a narrative that has nothing to do with them, ie, I understand that extricating yourself from religious fundamentalism is arduous and leaves incredibly deep scars but this is a heroic fantasy story in which there are good and evil gods and it is not actually useful or cogent analysis within that genre to say "but what if the GOOD gods were the EVIL gods" or "what if the gods actually weren't that special."

I'd largely discount the death god thing on the grounds that while there are certainly people who are weird about death and I don't really understand how to interact with that mindset meaningfully so I don't, Caduceus and Melora are pretty popular and didn't get that same treatment. And as for coldness...again, I'm the wrong person to ask, as I tend to recoil specifically from overly familiar/warm overtures from people I don't know and run away screaming from "this is a Positive Space for Warm Fuzziness" situations. I find a cold and distant depiction of a deity infinitely more trustworthy than say, Asmodeus's depiction. Like I believe wholeheartedly in being a kind and fair person but as discussed earlier re: Asmodeus, "nice" or "warm" is just the wrapping paper.

[ivy-loves-chocolate]

Can I request Resident evil guys with a small female reader hc.. also what do they think of her..

Note: Awww 🥺 sure, this such a cute request! Also, I don’t know what type of HCs did you want so i wrote SFW ones 😊.

Warnings: none.

My Discord server if you want to join.

My ko-fi if you want to support me.

Albert Wesker:

He doesn’t care about the height of his s/o as long as she does her job. Still, he will take it in consideration and, if she works with him, he’ll assign her in missions accordingly to her size.

He has a thing for small women, and that’s obvious from his STARS day (undeveloped photo named “raising rookie” which was hidden in his office 👀), even if he doesn’t want to admit. That being said, the size difference will somehow make him have a soft spot for her.

Her likes to see her smaller hands being engulfed in his massive ones. Her head will comfortable rest on his chest while standing and he won’t hesitate to run a gloved hand through her hair. He likes when he has to bend a little so she can kiss him on the lips, it somehow makes him feel more powerful.

Leon Kennedy :

Younger Leon: he will be so sweet about it and for example if he sees her struggling trying to reach for an object he won’t hesitate to help.

He won’t be able to say no. He just thinks you’re so cute and he just wants to see her smile.

I picture Leon as someone who will share his food during laugh time, and because he has a soft spot for her, he’ll buy some food he knows she likes and will give it to her.

While training at the shooting range, if he will end up helping her aiming, he likes to rest his chin on her head while guiding her body to the right position. While shooting, he’ll rest his hands on her shoulders and watch proudly how her aim gets better.

Older Leon: he will still help her, because a part of his old self is still inside him, but he will have his moments when he will be cocky about it. There will be some moments when his one-liners will exit his mouth but he will make sure to make it up (when he has free time).

He thinks she needs constant protection, and will ask Hunnigan if she can put a bodyguard or two near her, but in a way she won’t see them because he knows she’ll get upset.

In his free time, besides making it up for his lines, he will teach her self defense techniques, especially with a knife. He doesn’t see her carrying very big and heavy weapons so he will focus on small weapons.

Carlos Oliveira:

Constant tease. Also she will be his new elbow rester.

Lift her out of the blue. It doesn’t matter, meeting, in a middle of a conversation, doing work, he will lift up her body with his strong arms and will carry her around the room just for the fun of hearing her cursing and demanding to be put down.

Will send stupid WikiHow articles on “how to talk with small people”, “how to hug a girl who is shorter than you”, and the list can go on.

Still, he knows when to not cross the line. When he’s not teasing, he is actually sweet and carrying. He knows his little girl can handle anything, but he will be precarious.

Chris Redfield:

This dilf will be constantly worried about you, and because he doesn’t realize how big he actually is, he will tend to see her much smaller than she actually may be.

He works for BSAA, so this means she will be extra guarded. Not necessarily because of her frame, but Chris in general is a overly protective guy.

No one will dare saying anything regarding her height, because they will be afraid of the muscular, gym addicted, guy from behind her. One death glare and it’s over.

She can tell him all she wants that she doesn’t need extra protection, his savior complex will surpass her speech. However, on the moment he will say like her, to not crush her authority, but will end up doing like him.

Ethan Winters:

The ultimate small s/o protector™.

He won’t hesitate to curse the unfortunate person who mocked her because of her height. He will defend her honor at any cost. Seriously, he won’t hesitate to fight.

He knows she can handle every situation, but he will still be a little more cautious because he can’t hold it. He’ll share some of his books that Chris gave to him about self defense and will offer to teach her basic techniques too.

Ethan doesn’t think she needs extra protection, but his paternal instinct will say otherwise. He will end up being called “clingy”, “paranoid”, but honestly, he doesn’t care. He saw death right in front of him because he wasn’t careful enough when needed, and he in not taking any chances.

Jake Muller:

He won’t shut up about it. The bastard is 190 cm, and her, well, smaller than him.

Constant tease.

“Aww, you can’t reach that can’t you?” He will say while smirking down at her and holding the item she wants in his hand.

She will end up slapping him, because he knows no boundaries. He knows he made a mistake, but won’t apologize directly. Instead, he will take her to a fancy place or buy her fancy and luxurious things to make it up for it.

He likes her deeply inside, and he thinks that by acting like a jerk he will make her tougher to other’s criticism. When he is in a good mood, he let that information slip through his lips.

Nikolai Zinoviev:

The same as Albert, he doesn’t care about her size, for him it’s important to do the job.

There will be sometimes when he will doubt about her abilities, but he will remind himself that it’s not his busses and that money are what matters.

He likes to say that to him a lot to suppress the guilt, but when in a dangerous situation he won’t hesitate to act. It’s one of those rare occasions that leave Nikolai speechless.

When they arrive in a safe spot, he’ll throw the reader that he carried so far on the ground and will leave the room, but not before saying “Take care next time. Don’t be deadweight.”

[maxwell-grant]

Red of Overly Sarcastic Productions once said :"If you can imagine your Batman comforting a shared child, then congratulations, you're righting Batman. If not, you're just writing the Punisher in a funny hat". This got me wondering: could the Shadow comfort a scared child?

Could he? You forget who was there to lift young Bruce to his feet at his first brush with death (sadly far from his last).

But it's an interesting question to pose still, because children were straight up not in the pulps, not in any I've read, and I can't recall any episodes of the radio show that feature them much (there's gotta be at least a few, because they had everything in that show). The most interaction I think The Shadow's ever had with children (from comics that I can discuss here, because Marshall Rogers' "Harold Goes to Washington" is way, way too much for me to go into right now, and the less I talk about some other DC comics, the better) is in the Street & Smith comics.

There's Jerry from the Devil Kyoti arc, a kid who was traumatized by an encounter with the villain who Sayre's looking after and who ends up having some kind of hidden power that allows him to see The Shadow and defeat the villain. There was a blonde Jerry who showed up later in the Monstradamus arc, but he isn't a kid so much as he's diet Jimmy Olsen or a replacement for Harry, but he had weird eyesight-based powers and a familiarity with The Shadow, so I assume it's the same character.

There was also Donald Jordan - Shadow Jr, and okay, I may have to talk more about this weird little failed experiment some other time, but the basic gist of it is that The Shadow had a friend in Tibet named Harry Jordan (and someday I'm also gonna write about the weird prevalence and significance of the name "Harry" in The Shadow's mythos in and out of universe) who was murdered, leaving his son orphaned and with nowhere to go. And, I'll admit that I have a real weakness for The Shadow calling people "son", which he does a lot in this story.

And as you can expect, it then turns out that the kid's also learned how to cloud minds and has basically the same powers The Shadow has in these comics, and they solve the mystery of his dad's murder together, and yeah, you can absolutely tell that they are setting up this kid to be The Shadow's Robin. Although, interestingly, they don't have The Shadow actually recruit the kid, instead it's Jordan who asks The Shadow if he can go with him and join his mission, and Cranston even states he's going to have to "earn" his way

"Must I stay here, sir? It will always remind me of dad - I'd like to devote my life to your fight against evil and evil doers!

Now, "Shadow Jr's" career was incredibly short-lived, it only lasted for about two other issues, and I have no idea what happened in his final appearence called "Snake Eyes" in Shadow Comics #77, I cannot find that issue anywhere and I really want to. But the one other solo story of his I've read was...well, I think it kinda illustrates why the idea of The Shadow having a Robin was doomed from the start.

...Yeah. Even The Shadow at his most sanitized and family friendly is still The Shadow, and there's no room for children in his network, obviously he shouldn't and wouldn't have children be in those positions or make decisions expected from grown-ups who have already had encounters with death and danger, why would anyone do that-

The only instance I can think of The Shadow interacting with a child in the pulps was during The Prince of Evil, when he has to rescue a young boy from Stark's thugs.

Cranston, dazed, tried to stagger to his feet. Before he could do so, the thug had picked up the limp figure of the boy and was darting out into the street. There was a scream of horror from pedestrians.

A heavy truck was racing at top speed along the avenue. Straight into the path of the truck, the thug threw the senseless boy!

The driver of the truck jammed on the brakes. But it was too late to halt the heavy vehicle. The broad-tired wheels rolled toward the limp head of the lad on the pavement.

An instant before it could crush out his life, Lamont Cranston dived headlong into the path of destruction. His shoulder struck the boy, rolling him toward the curb. A quick wriggle, and Cranston swerved aside from the grinding death that loomed over him.

He picked up the boy. One glance and he knew there was no time to lose. The attempted killer had leaped into a waiting sedan and had already made his escape.

The boy was all Cranston could see or think about. Brass knuckles had fractured his skull. He had suffered a concussion of the brain. A glance at his bluish lips and the fixed glaze of his staring eyes told Cranston that unless the boy was operated on immediately, he would die.

A leap, Cranston was in his car. He laid the boy gently on the seat beside him, then headed the car toward the nearest hospital. Traffic lights were ignored.

The boy was taken to an emergency operating room and a skilled surgeon went to work. When it was over, Cranston asked only one question: "Will the child live?"

"Hard to say. We'll do our best."

"Spare no expense. Put him in a private room. Engage day and night nurses."

Cranston's face was pale. He knew that he himself was indirectly responsible for the boy's attack. A supercriminal had made a prompt answer to Cranston's message over Jackson's telephone. That telephone must have been tapped. The attempt to kill the boy was a vicious warning for Lamont Cranston to mind his own business about the Harmon family. It was a follow-up of the attack on Jackson's dog.

Cranston felt a surge of hot anger. He kept it under control while he answered routine police questions. He told all he knew - which was nothing.

He had only one angry thought. He intended to drive straight to the office of David Chester. He'd get the truth out of the sleek Chester, if he had to batter him with vengeful fists!

Cranston was actually halfway to Chester's office before common sense returned to him. He realized he had lost his sense of balance. He was behaving exactly as the crooks wanted. He was playing their game, not his!

He parked, and the hot rage drained slowly from him. He stopped thinking about the limp figure of a young lad on a white operating table.

This is definitely because Tinsley writes the character differently than Gibson, but I actually cannot think of another occasion where we got to read about The Shadow actively wanting to hit someone with his fists. It's very, very rare to read about The Shadow actually getting mad in the first place in such an undignified way. And I think with this passage, you'll start to notice a pattern.

The problem isn't that The Shadow cannot interact with kids or that he can't comfort them, he does it to his agents and adults he wants to help just fine, he knows how to address people in their language, or any language. The problem is, The Shadow is constantly surrounded by danger everywhere he goes, because he is The Shadow. He can be any number of things at any number of occasions, but usually, when The Shadow shows up, it's usually because people are going to die, and people are going to kill, and it's his job to address that and work the scales.

Children should not be anywhere near this, and if The Shadow's interacting with a child, it usually means that some grave danger or tragedy fell upon them, and he's here to either prevent greater tragedy or address the fall-out, and he'd be the first to agree that neither of these options should be happening at all. It doesn't mean he's not gonna do what's right and give life and limb to protect them, but, it shouldn't be up to the Boogeyman to look after them in the first place. Maybe it shouldn't be up to the Boogeyman to protect us.

But then again, as I mentioned when I talked about my own reasons for liking The Shadow so much, there are many kids who would like nothing more than to have the Boogeyman by their side to protect them. There's comfort in knowing that the scariest man in the room is unconditionally there to protect you, and that is the comfort that The Shadow gives best. Not as Cranston, not under a friendly face, but as what he is.

Due to a lack of scenes from the pulps or satisfying scenes from elsewhere, I will instead be pulling one from a fan story written by Kimberly-Murphy Smith, editor and writer of The Hot Cornerm where The Shadow rescues a child who was kidnapped for blackmail. I couldn't care less that it's fanfic, and if you do, come back in 20 or so years after The Shadow's been made public domain and it's gonna be just as official as anything licensed (on my “to write about” list: how fickle the separation between “official” and “fanfic” is, and the many times it plainly didn’t exist). There’s aspects of her writing I don’t care for, but I really like this scene and I do think The Shadow’s more gentle interactions with people are necessary to getting the character.

Annabelle.

She stopped crying for a minute. "Who's there?" she said, her voice choked.

A friend. Your mommy and daddy sent me to pick you up.

"Mommy? Mommy's here?"

Sh-h-h. Annabelle felt a gloved hand gently stroking her hair. She's waiting for you at home. So, we need to hurry up and leave.

"'kay." She looked around. "Where are you?"

It's kind of hard to see me. It's dark in here, plus you've been crying so much your eyes probably hurt.

"Yeah."

Don't be afraid. I'm here to help.

"'kay."

The implicit trust of children was simply amazing at times. Adults trembled in fear of The Shadow's wrath, but children somehow seemed to understand that he was there to help them, even if they couldn't see him.

Sit up, Annabelle. I'm going to pick you up. Be very quiet.

One hand took each of her arms and guided them around a neck she could not see. "Why are you wearin' a blanket?" she asked as the fabric of his cloak brushed against her shoulders.

Sometimes I get cold at night.

"Even in the summer?"

Even in the summer. He gently stroked her cheek and wiped away her tears. Now, you need to be very quiet so those bad men in the next room don't hear us. I'll bet you're tired.

She nodded.

He rocked her on his arms, projecting a very gentle hypnotic relaxation into her with his powers as he did. You probably didn't get your nap, either. Poor thing. Lean on my shoulder and go to sleep. And when you wake up, you'll be back with Mommy and Daddy.

She yawned, then snuggled against his shoulder and went to sleep.

The Shadow sighed with relief. Now to get past the men out front. He gently pulled the pistol out of its holster under his left arm and slipped it into the belted waist of his overcoat within easy reach, then secured his grip on Annabelle and draped his cloak over her.

She clutched the edge of his cloak in her hand like a security blanket and snuggled against his shoulder again.

(Art by Jill Thompson)

[mk-wizard]

Big Hero 6 The Series: It could have been better

Hello, friends. Today, I will be analyzing a TV series based on a movie that I fell in love with for its colourful themes, deep plot, compelling characters, great CGI and memorable messages. Before I get into it, I want to take a moment to say that I have quit doing videos. They are too big of a pain in the petunia to make and I write better than I speak, so I will stick to writing essays, reviews and more. Anyway, onto the analysis.

All I can say about Big Hero 6 the series is that it had a great concept, it presented some great ideas and tried hard to be a cartoon of the times, but it could have and should have been a lot better. The show’s downfall all centers around trying too hard to be kid friendly which makes the shame sting all the more because Big Hero 6 was already kid friendly even with its dark themes, sharp edges and intelligent writing. If anything, even the brightest kid friendly cartoons (Steven Universe, She-Ra, etc.) had those things and actually benefitted from them. By needlessly trying too hard, character development got scrapped, the edges were all smoothed out, storytelling was subpar, the humour was too silly and the executive meddling in the end produced a dismal final season. However, I don’t want this analysis to be one lengthy negative rant about how awful the series was because in its defense, awful is an unfair word. It did have potential and ideas which are worth carrying over to a reboot that I hope will be done someday in the future. Also, we should root for a reboot because Big Hero 6 would not be the first story that needs it before striking gold. Just look at how many times Spider-Man was rebooted in film before MCU found the version that worked. Anyway, I will list all the things in Big Hero 6 that could have been better in my opinion;

1- Go easy on the laughs and be more generous with the action. - I love adding comedy to my own writing because I think a good sense of humour makes everything better, but Big Hero 6 is not a stand up comedy routine. It is a superhero story where we expect action, suspense and life or death situations that are to be taken seriously first. The comedy should be for relief and with the right timing. Also, the chibi cutscenes and having characters act like fools aren’t funny. Ren and Stimpy are the exception not the standard and their way of making you laugh doesn’t fit an action series. In a show as big as Big Hero 6, real life physics and danger matters.

2- Make the villains menacing and gritty. - I admit that after having a movie villain like Yokai who was the stuff of nightmares, it is going to be a challenging act to follow, but it was obvious that the writers were trying especially with some villains who could have easily gone into some dark relatable territory. For example, Mr. Sparkles (the gentleman in the photo above) embodies social media and Internet personalities. Right off the bat, you have a long list of things which embody the dark side of that like scams, fraud, using social media to dox or harass, driving people to suicide, online predators, the Internet personalities being very depressed people in real life, and much more horrifying things. When you stop and look at it, Mr. Sparkles even looks like the Joker which hints how dark and scary he could have been if the stops were removed. The same goes for enemies like Hardlight who embodies online gaming, Liv with cloning, Obake an amoral and insane scientist, and Trina and Noodle Burger Boy (more on him later) being evil robots. Globby especially should have been painted and written in much darker colours rather being played off for laughs because he has many parallels with Clay Face. The only two villains who I can say were supposed to be campy, charming and comical were Baron Von Steamer and Supersonic Sue because they were a satire of the Adam West style villains.

The rest of them needed to be dark and threatening including Mr. Sparkles. In fact, I would love a rebooted version of Mr. Sparkles who gives me the heebie-jeebies. Going back to Noodle Burger Boy, I must confess that I was actually excited when I heard that he was going to be the main villain of the final season because I thought he was going to fulfill his master’s final wish and as a reminder, Noodle Burger Boy was based on a super robot for military purposes.

It would have been fantastic if Noodle Burger Boy was upgraded into a full military war machine with a new threatening look. For that, I think all of the villains deserve to be rebooted and have their full potential unlocked for better or for worse.

3- A show about geniuses merits genius level art quality. - I am usually forgiving towards art styles, but in the case of Big Hero 6, the oversimplified style with minimal details and lack of textures did not suit the show. The characters blend in with the background which makes them look flat and the special effects were extremely dulled down. I also know for a fact that Disney can do a lot better than this because I saw how superbly Tangled the Series was drawn.

You can see and almost feel the difference in quality, the number of layers and level of detail between the two styles. I think there was no excuse Big Hero 6 was not done in the same style and at the same level if not better as Tangled.

3- Don’t dumb down or flanderize amazing characters. - I absolutely detest it when characters are flanderized because it makes them one dimensional and grating. For example, Go Go is tough as nails and extremely calm, but she is not cold or hesitant towards helping her friends. She doesn’t require very special episodes for us to know that. If anything, the movie version of Go Go reminded me a lot of Garnet in how she deconstructed the broody character. She isn’t cold or emotionless. Just calm and mature. Another good example was how Honey Lemon was rewritten to be overly positive to the point of toxicity, naïve and oblivious with a juvenile obsession with stickers. Then you have poor Fred who was rewritten to be an incompetent fool. The spark that makes Big Hero 6 shine is that they are a team of geniuses meaning they are all intelligent. Even Fred is genius in his own way just not a scientific one. He has a vivid imagination, he is resourceful and can get himself out of tight spots. Please, don’t turn characters into dummies especially if their intelligence is a part of them. It doesn’t make them better or funnier. It ruins them.

4- Tadashi needs closure and honour. - I am all for Hiro making peace with the loss of his brother, but Tadashi is to the Big Hero 6 team what Uncle Ben was to Spider-Man. His loss was the catalyst if not the reason. He should never be forgotten. Moreover, there was never any true closure to him especially with the possibility that he may still be alive up in the air. After all, like Callaghan, his body was never found and it turned out that Callaghan was still alive.

With that said, who is to say that Tadashi was not secretly still alive and just hiding or being hidden? This is something that Disney really needed to clear up if not for the fans, then at least as a service to such an important character. Never just forget about them.

5- The format can only be episodic with a deep plots, continuity and character development. - Random episodes with a mere monster of the day is an outdated format which doesn’t fit Big Hero 6′s modern and bright setting. In seasons 1 and 2, when the episodes were plot heavy with character development, the series shined brightest. It also helped move the story along, but with the final season, plot was removed, closure was abandoned or poorly written if any was given, and characters were disallowed from growing. A good example at how plot and character development could have made this series and its characters better was the relationship between Hiro and Megan. Would it have truly survived or would they have broken up?

Would Richardson Mole have eventually lost interest in his obsession with besting and bullying Fred or would his obsession consume him compelling him to become a super villain? I do see quite a few similarities between Mole and Reverse Flash.

Then you have Karmi who is in my opinion, the biggest wild card of the bunch. She was intentionally introduced as an arrogant, prickly and unlikable yet complex character who rivaled Hiro bitterly.

Yet had a huge crush on his alter ego and as time went on, started to grow up and even form a friendship with Hiro. What would have happened further down the road with her? Would she have become a super hero herself? Or maybe even another love interest for Hiro kind of like how Black Cat is for Spider-Man?

Is Obake really gone?

What does the future hold Diana (Liv’s clone), Liv herself or the Sycorax the genetics company?

Is Alistair Krei going to become an ally to Big Hero 6 or an antagonist? There is also the issue at how little we know about the other Big Hero 6 characters other than Fred, Hiro and Baymax. What are Honey Lemon, Wasabi and Go Go’s backstories? These questions matter and while not every mystery can be solved, leaving none of them solved is lazy writing.

6- Executives, kindly stay out of the writing and any other part of the creative process. - I’m sorry, execs, but there is no nice way to say it. History itself proves that every time executives got involved in the creative process of any media, it got worse not better. Leave the writing to the creative team and the execs should only handle the legal stuff. Please. We understand that TV is a business, but writing itself is not. It is an art which you just don’t have a talent for. Let the creative people do their thing with the freedom necessary and you do your thing, deal? Deal.

7- Focus on Hiro and Baymax. - The are the main characters so keep them at the heart of the series no matter what happens around them. That is all I can say.

And that sums up all the things that could have made Big Hero 6 the series better, but this is all just my opinion. What is yours?

PS: I am well aware that the Big Hero 6 series is being retconned because a new series called Baymax is in the works as well as the long awaited sequel to the first movie. I am looking forward to both with an open mind. PPS: I also am aware that some people liked this show the way it was including the art style and I am cool with that. An analysis for art that includes cartoons is never right or wrong. It is solely based on opinion. I may have thought this series could have been better, but there are people who make arguments that it could have been worse.

[immaturityofthomasastruc]

IOTA Reviews: Guiltrip

So, my week has been hell. In addition to working night and day on final essays for my classes, I've been really busy at work lately, and the second COVID vaccine shot really took a lot out of me this week. And that's not even getting into the bureaucratic nonsense that comes with applying for the MTEL which is slowly making me wonder if I actually want to teach in the first place.

But, despite all that, there was a single light of hope this week that almost made it all worth it.

STAR WARS: THE BAD BATCH, BABY!

OH MY GOD, THIS SHOW IS AMAZING! I ALWAYS LOVED THE CLONE-CENTRIC EPISODES OF THE CLONE WARS, AND NOW WE GET AN ENTIRE SHOW ABOUT AN ELITE TEAM OF THEM? KICKASS! AND IT TAKES PLACE AFTER ORDER 66 WITH GRAND MOFF TARKIN AS THE MAIN VILLAIN? SWEET MOTHER OF GEORGE LUCAS, I CAN'T WAIT! I DON'T EVEN CARE THAT THEY TRADED IN THE COOL SNIPER CLONE FOR SOME LITTLE GIRL CLONE, I ALREADY WANT TO SEE MORE THAN THE TWO EPISODES WE GOT SO FAR! GOD, I LOVE THIS SHOW!

Oh yeah, there was also a new episode of Miraculous Ladybug that aired on the same day too, I guess. It was pretty good. Hell of a lot better than the past three episodes I've sat through.

Let's get into the fifth (chronologically the eleventh) episode of Miraculous Ladybug's fourth season: Guiltrip

We start off in the middle of class where we see Marinette looking at Adrien lovingly.

Because the writers are still trying to push the Love Square on us as if they were trying to sell us some death sticks. And yes, expect a few Star Wars jokes in this review. This episode did premiere on May 4th after all.

Rose suddenly gets a headache, and asks to go to the nurse, saying that “Miss Dora” is back. While walking there with Marinette, she explains that it's a code name she gives when her head hurts and can tell Miss Bustier without letting everyone know. She probably felt a name like “Maya Grain” would just give it away.

At lunch, Juleka gets a text that really upsets her, so Marinette tries to cheer her up. Keyword being “tries”.

Okay, yes, this is referencing the previous scene, where Rose refers to a certain snack at the nurse's office she eats to recover her health whenever “Miss Dora” visits called “Mr. Coffee”, but it's just bad timing. I get Marinette has a habit of not reading the room, but why did she have to use the term “Miss Dora” when she knows what it's being used for? Sure, she doesn't know that Juleka knows, but did she really have to say “Miss Dora”? She couldn't have used any other name instead? It's like making a chemotherapy joke when you just found out someone close to you has cancer. Even putting the context aside, what is this joke's punchline supposed to be? That “Miss Dora” will visit Juleka if she eats her lunch? Even by the humor standards of this show, the joke fails spectacularly.

Marinette bumps into Adrien, and although she stutters a little with a little exaggerated body movement, she does manage to take things seriously so she can have an actual conversation with Adrien about Juleka, who wants to be alone. She explains that the text she got was from Rose, who was sent to the hospital because of her sickness, and the entire class finds out because Marinette texted everyone to come to check on Juleka.

Goddamn it, Marinette. I usually defend you for getting screwed over by the writing, but you really aren't on your A game today.

Juleka explains that Rose got this sickness when she was little, which naturally worried everyone else. To make things worse, Juleka also says Rose made her swear to not tell anyone about her to worry her. Everyone else swears to not let Rose know that they know, and the act of support is actually enough to drive away an Akuma targeted at Juleka.

Unfortunately, nobody ever said anything about being overly affectionate to Rose, so everyone in the class tries to do things for Rose like carry her bags, giving her a pillow to sit on in school, helping her take notes, letting her cut in line at lunch, and giving her apples.

All of this makes Juleka remorsefully tell Rose that she told everyone else, which worries her because she hates all the special treatment, so she goes to tell them all about her illness. While they seem to accept her, the next time she sneezes, they overreact like, uh... how can I make this joke in a tasteful way?

Rose says she's had enough with all the treatment, which makes Juleka feel guilty. In the bathroom, she gets akumatized into Reflekta (yet again) with a Sentimonster named Guiltrip. And then Reflekta immediately gets sucked into the Sentimonster, which will cause it to go out of control. Nice job, Shadowmoth.

While it might not look like much, this is easily my favorite Sentimonster by far. Granted, that's not saying much, given all we've gotten so far for Sentimonsters is bootleg Mothra, sentient candy, a robotic doll, a frog with a body count, yet another evil doppelganger, and an eye, but my point still stands. Rather than actually confront the heroes, it's basically a portal to another world where it can trap people in bubbles that represent their regrets and despair, and turn them into copies of Reflekta.

It's a really strong metaphor which reminds me of the villains from Kamen Rider Wizard, who tried to drive their victims to despair in order to turn them into monsters. Ironically, that show's main villain is also some asshole in white who was risking countless lives just to save someone close to him. In general, the area inside of Guiltrip is visually stunning, and easily the highlight of the episode. It's just so surreal, and it really sets the tone the episode's going for.

Ladybug and Cat Noir arrive on the scene, and also get sucked into the portal, seeing some of the victims before they also start to fall into despair. And I can't believe I'm saying this, but this is one of the few times where Angstdrien Depreste is thematically appropriate. Cat Noir points out that if they had simply defeated Shadowmoth by now, none of this would be happening, which is a good point. He even attempts to kill himself using his Cataclysm, but unlike RWBY, they don't try to glorify it.

This also leads to Rose managing to fight off Guiltrip's powers with her optimistic personality (so I guess you could say she's A New Hope for the heroes), inspiring Ladybug to compliment Cat Noir. While I'd normally be pissed that this is yet another way to boost his ego, it does fit in with the episode's theme of positive thinking. Well, with the exception of one line where she points out what her time as Ladybug would be like without Cat Noir...

BEING A SUPERHERO IS NOT SUPPOSED TO BE FUN. Yes, there are certain benefits to being a superhero, but it is not a fun game you play when lives are on the line. Why are the writers so dedicated to validate Cat Noir's beliefs that being a hero is just a fun extracurricular activity? Has there ever been a superhero who shares a similar mentality and isn't treated like a complete jackass?

So Ladybug and Cat Noir break free of the bubbles, and after summoning her Lucky Charm, a pickaxe, Ladybug realizes she needs more positivity to break free from Guiltrip. As such, she pulls out the Pig Miraculous and gives it to Rose, who transforms into Pigella. Funny how she forgot her little headache condition when she bangs her head like a death metal singer while transforming.

The design is... wait, she's not wearing a skin-tight jumpsuit? She's actually wearing something different?

Yeah, I really like the Pigella design. There's a good mix of pink and white, and the skirt really brings the whole thing together. It really reflects Rose's optimistic and bubbly personality.

So the three heroes find Reflekta, who has been consumed by tons of bubbles. Pigella uses her superpower, Gift, to show Reflekta what her heart wants the most right now. So it's basically a more specific version of the Fox Miraculous? In fact, what do pigs have to do with optimism?

Whatever reason, it works, which helps Reflekta to break free of Guiltrip's influence, letting Ladybug de-evilize her. But because we need to have a fight scene in this episode, the Reflekta clones start to attack the heroes, but Ladybug uses the pickaxe to climb out of Guiltrip and purify the Amok.

So Rose hands the Pig Miraculous back to Ladybug, and the episode ends with everyone treating Rose normally in class, realizing she isn't as delicate as she thinks she is.

So yeah, I really like this episode. Aside from a few stupid things Marinette said this episode, I honestly don't have a lot of problems with the episode here.

I also really like the lesson this episode is going for. It doesn't shame Rose for rejecting the help, and it doesn't shame the class for being to overprotective of Rose either. It tries to find a middle ground, which is an important lesson to learn, not just for dealing with a loved one who has an illness, but for disabled people and other kinds of situations where someone has a disadvantage. Even as much as I ragged on Marinette for the text, it's clear that she isn't the only one to blame. In fact, nobody really gets blamed for anything this episode. It's more of a misunderstanding, and both sides find a balance on how to treat Rose.

It's overall a really good episode, and the second best one so far this season. And you know what? This episode taught me the importance of staying positive, so with that in mind, maybe I shouldn't be dreading “Queen Banana” when it comes out this week.

Wait, what? It got pushed back two weeks? Oh, THANK GOD! Now I feel like dancing. And I know exactly what song to dance to...

[what-the-witch-stuff]

Landings Through the Grapevine

Chapter 2: Unfulfilled Expectations

Masterpost: here Go to:  Ch.1   |   Ch.2  |

_________________________

"I have news for you. One good, one bad" Shane said hours after the dance, when everyone was busy cleaning the place up. "Wait! Help me with that table first...Allright. Shoot". Shane grabbed the other side of the table and together they heaved it off the ground to carry it back to Marnie's farm. The path that led to the narrow bridge which divided the forest clearing from the rest of the village, was not large enough for them to carry the table side by side. So Shane volunteered to walk backwards while Riley gave directions. For a few moments Shane didn't say anything but occasionally looked at something over her shoulder. Then he lowered his voice:

"Ok, so...Mr. Darcy" – that was code for Elliott – "has been mingling with my aunt for almost the entire festival and now they both keep looking over at you".

"What?"

"Don't look! I didn't want to say it earlier, because I wasn't sure. But given how Marnie has been really chatty today, I bet she's playing matchmaker again"

"Oh for fuck's sake! What about Elliott?"

"Don't know, maybe he finally figured out that you don't understand his poems, or something"

"Shane!"

„I'm kidding. Don't act so horrified. Also, it's true!"

„No! It's not."

„Okay. Remember the poem he 'gifted' you at the Feast of the Winter Star? What was that about?"

Riley was preparing to answer him in a know-it-all manner but soon realised that she had actually no idea what to say. She hoped her death glare would shut him up for good. Alas, it didn't.

„You can give me the evil eye all you want. I already cringed to death when he started performing it in front of the goddam tree."

„Maybe a few metaphors and references go over my head sometimes, but that's because I never read much poetry before.

„Or maybe his writing is as inflated as his ego"

„Stop! For Yoba's sake, just tell me what's up with him!

„How should I know?"

„Then why tell me?"

"I thought you would want to know these things"

"Well, what does he look like? Does he look upset or anything?"

"Ehm",– at that Shane peeked back over her shoulder, looking rather pained as he tried to awaken his interpersonal skills: "Well he looks like a schmock, so nothing new there. Maybe that's just his –oh shit!"

"What?!"

"He's coming"

"Are you kidding me?"

"Stop! Jesus, Riley have you never been to highschool? You don't look at people you're talking shit about."

"Ok! ok, act natural !"

"You're the only one acting like a headless chicken", he hissed under his breath.

"Well, maybe I would be calmer if you –"

Shane dropped his side of the table. It came to the ground with a soft thud and Riley almost lost her footing from the sudden yank it caused on her side, forcing them to an immediate stop shortly before the bridge. This interrupted Riley's tirade and in hindsight saved her some embarrassment, as Elliott appeared by her side soon after, brushing a strain of hair behind his ear : "Good day, you two. I am so very sorry I didn't get to chat with you sooner. Can I help you with that?", he asked, having seen them struggle but obviously mistaking the situation at hand. Before Riley could even say anything, Shane intervened again : "Glad that you ask!" he said in an overly friendly manner while stretching theatrically and making a face: "My back is killing me! If you don't mind, I'd rather go see if I can help with something else" and with the blink of an eye, Shane and Elliott had switched places.

"You're welcome!", Shane murmured while brushing past her and he was gone. Meanwhile Elliott was getting into position and testing the table's weight while Riley could do nothing but watch him dumbfounded. When he noticed her staring, Elliot winked: "Shall we then?"

"YES! I mean, sure. Thanks for the help", If Riley's face looked as flushed as it felt right then and there, Elliott was gentleman enough to pretend not to notice. "Please, don't thank me! I should have been more involved with the preparations to begin with. I was just so caught up with my newest draft, that I had forgotten all about the dance until a few days ago. Oh, also, I hope I wasn't interrupting anything between you and Shane?", he added, leaning slightly towards her in mock-conspiracy.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, it did look like you've been arguing, before I came over. I hope it was nothing serious"

"Ehm... I was just worried. His, eh... his 'back pain' is quite bad, but he didn't want to bother Harvey during a holiday", Riley lied between her teeth, as they made their way over the narrow bridge.

"Poor fellow, no wonder he seemed rather miffed today. But he danced like a champ!", Elliott stated sympathetically.

"Yes, he knows how much it means to Emily and didn't want to let her down"

"See, I was wondering about that a little. I did expect the two of you to be dancing today"

At that, Riley tripped over nothing, looking at Elliott with such astonishment that she almost forgot to warn him about the slight slope the path would be taking, shortly after the bridge.

"Sorry, who?"

"Well, you and Shane….?"

"Huh?"

Elliott then must have come to some sort of realisation, for it was now his turn to look flushed and embarrassed.

"Oh, Let the greater part of the news thou hearest be the least part of what thou believest." he exclaimed ruefully and smiled at her apologetically: " I should have known better than to make assumptions. I am sorry, Riley. It was something I overheard, please pay no mind to it!"

Riley suppressed the urge to ask him if he had been quoting Shakespeare again, as in 5 times out of 7 she had already been wrong. And by now, she had the nagging suspicion that Elliott chose anything but Shakespeare, just to mess with her. Instead, she stammered: "N-No, it's fine! Shane and I are close, but we are just friends...'', and almost Riley would have given into the temptation of adding something like: '...just as you and Leah, if I am not mistaken?'. But she discarded that idea as soon as it came to her. Too obvious. Though Riley was dying to get her hands on any piece of information about what kind of relationship he and the artist were cultivating, she had to be careful. The last thing she needed was the awkwardness of unrequited feelings or the loss of a friendship because of it. However, remembering Shane's assumption regarding Marnie, she continued : "...Though I do believe Marnie wouldn't mind me as her niece-in-law. But neither Shane or I see that ever happening,". She then laughed. But, following her gut instinct, she kept an eye out for Elliott's reaction, who, still dealing with his own embarrassment, couldn't help but wince slightly.

Bingo.

Shane's words were practically echoing in the back of her mind: I bet she's playing matchmaker again.

– ‘Yes she is and you won't like to find out with whom exactly', Riley thought grimly.

To say this was news to her would be a lie, sadly. Last year it had been just a few questions, if Riley was seeing someone, or if she fancied someone from the village already. Before long, Marnie had gotten more obvious about her actual motivation: "Have you met my nephew, yet? Shane. He is from Zuzu-City too. Oh, I need to introduce you to each other, next time you visit."

But said introduction flopped big-time. It had been difficult. Well, Shane had been. But Riley now knew that this wasn't anything personal. She had involuntarily witnessed his downward spiral until the fateful day at the cliffs, where Shane had finally hit rock bottom. Since then he was getting the help he needed and they could manage having a conversation that wasn't ending in a disaster. Nevertheless, as she and Shane clearly never hit it off, Riley thought that Marnie had moved on and was satisfied with talking her up to some other bachelor instead. Apparently, she had been wrong. "Please, do not believe that I usually engage in petty gossip." Elliott exclaimed and Riley knew, if his hands were free, he would probably underline his words with some dramatic gesture: " This is not why I wanted to talk to you. I would never bother you with such shallow conversation!". They finally reached Marnie's farmhouse and were greeted by Gunther and Clint, who were busy sorting Marnie's belongings back to where they belonged. Soon Elliott and Riley were relieved of their task and hurriedly shooed away. "Riley, you did enough! You've been here all day and surely your farm does not run itself", Gunther called over his shoulder as he and Clint disappeared into the house, leaving Elliott and Riley to themselves. „Well, I don't want to keep you from your duties..." Elliott eventually said rather deflated, after some seconds of them just standing there.

„It's fine! Really. I have time to chat."

„Are you sure? I would hate to inconvenience you", though Riley could easily tell that Elliott was just saying that to stay polite.

„You aren't, believe me. What did you want to talk about originally?"

Elliott immediately straightened his posture, his demeanour getting more relaxed as Riley's question offered him the chance to return their conversation back towards familiar territory.

He suspensefully cleared his throat.

"I wanted to thank you, for you have played a significant role regarding my latest draft. Well, draft is a bit much. It's more of an outline, actually."

"Really?!", Riley could not believe her ears. This was like the beginning of some obscure fever dream, where Elliott would finally announce her as his muse and declare his undying love for her…. Totally hypothetically of course, because Riley would never fantasize about such a corny situation! Ever.

"Yes! For as much as I frequent the library, I just recently noticed the marvellous collection of exhibits you have been providing to the museum. I would've never thought for our tiny valley to be such a place of wonder and history! I must be honest, my latest works were getting nowhere and I dreaded starting a new manuscript. I had gotten quite far with my latest piece. But all these treasures have ignited a new spark within me. Now I can hardly put my pen to rest. But I need more inspiration!". Elliott got more excited the more he talked. It was no longer just polite enthusiasm but an almost childlike delight that made his eyes sparkle in a way she rarely got to see on him.

"Oh that's wonderful! But how can I help you with that?" Riley was getting somewhat confused. If Elliott needed more information on the artifacts, he would be better off talking to Guntehr instead. And following that line of thought, Riley couldn't really fathom what Elliott needed of her, to fuel his newfound inspiration.

"It's about this Adventurer's Guild..."

The answer was: absolutely nothing.

"Oh", Riley tried not to sound or even look unhappy about this revelation and Elliott seemed too fixated on his own issues to notice anything, for he continued talking: "I have seen you standing next to that older gentleman, today. What was his name again?"

"Marlon?"

"Yes! He is the guild's leader, I suppose ?"

"Eh, yes, you could call him that."

"I would like to ask him a few questions. I would love to hear some of his adventures. He looks like a man who has many stories to tell. However, I struggle to get a hold of him!

Surely, I tried asking around. But before today, I didn't even know whose company he keeps. I have never seen him in town either, other than during holidays, which is why I had hoped to talk to him today. But shortly after the dance I lost sight of him and he was gone! I could tear my hair out, Riley! That man is like a ghost. How am I supposed to write about fantastic tales of danger, when I have no authentic experience to write from?!" Elliott had talked himself into such a frenzy, that he ended up being short of breath. While he needed a moment to collect himself, Riley used this pause to talk some sense into him.

"Well, you will be happy to hear that the guild building is actually very easy to find. It's right next to the entrance to the mines.", she informed him, trying to push away the feeling of disappointment. "Office hours are between 2 pm to 10 pm. Normally, entrance is only allowed for adventurers only, but technically you would be considered a potential client. And If you really cannot get in, then Clint, Willy and I see Marlon often enough that we can relay a message to him." "Is that so? Thank you so much, I knew I could count on you! I will seek him out first thing tomorrow!". With that he made his goodbyes and hurried back towards the meadow, presumably to find Leah and share his progress with her. She looked after him until his silhouette disappeared from her sight and with a groan Riley decided that it was indeed time to head back to her farm. The gleeful excitement she had felt at the prospect of being alone with Elliott, had vanished to sober disillusion. She wasn't even in the mood to get worked up over the whole Marnie-situation. Therefore, she decided to no longer think about whatever had transpired today. That would be future-her's issue to deal with. When Riley entered the premises to her own farm, the sight of the seemingly endless plot of land filled her with awe, like it did everytime. Proudly, she watched her cows, chicken and ducks peacefully napping in the sun and listened to the faint rustling of leaves above her head, as she finally made her way towards home.

[lover-of-queens]

Farah Dowling is Alive Part 2

The follow up to Part 1 or as I like to call it: look mom, I told you this degree would have uses in the real world! 

If you haven’t had a chance to read it yet, you can find Part 1: Here 

You know the drill, under the cut cause this is probably going to get long!

Episode 4: Some Wrecked Angel

Episode opens with our favourite trio. If you’ve read the first part then you’ll be familiar with my argument that it could be possible the writers are leaving Farah x Saul threads to pick up at a later date. I think this scene has some interesting ones. There’s a lot of effort in this scene to set Farah and Saul up as parallels - in a way that also makes them stand apart from Ben. We have them saying his name together, but also, when they discover Callum’s body, both Farah and Saul are in sync as they move into a kneeling position. 

I don’t necessarily know if this could be considered an argument for them bringing Farah back, however, in the scene with Farah, Stella and Luna, Stella brings up an interesting point about Farah’s pedagogy. We’re told that Farah chooses care and time over “solely results” when it comes to teaching. In the next episode we learn Rosalind’s own teaching style involves putting her students “through hell”. I don’t necessarily know when the change will happen but given this, I don’t see any way Rosalind can remain Headmistress, especially when they’re taking pains to show Farah as better suited for the role.

Also important in this scene is Farah and Luna’s last exchange. We know what appearances Luna has helped Farah maintain - the barrier/illusion that stops Aster Dell from being seen. So, what’s interesting is Farah’s next line:

Farah: “Yes, we’ve both done a great deal to preserve Solaria’s reputation.” 

This does not get addressed during the remaining episodes. Personally, this line and the amount of tension between Farah and Luna also strikes me as a potential thread that could be picked up later. I’m going to wager that I’m not alone in wanting to know what exactly they did to “preserve” Solaria’s rep. And my guess is, because Brian has mentioned that they’re going to expand on the winx world, we’re going to be finding out more about Solaria in S2. Theoretically, I suppose whatever event that is being referenced here could be dealt with without Farah on screen, but then we’d miss out on all the fun tension! Also, as of right now, fan response to Luna is nothing compared to Farah (at least from what I’ve seen). 

Tattoo theory, several people have already spoken on this and I don’t want to speak over them. I’m still sorting out my own thoughts on whether it’s Farah’s or Eve’s but I will say that Farah is always wearing rings so it seems to me that if they wanted it covered they could easily do it with a ring (or makeup). If the tattoo is purposely put there then I’m going to assume its for a reason that the writers may want to deal with at a later date (hint, hint: bring back Farah). 

Episode 5: Wither Into the Truth

I may do another post on this at some point if I can find enough to say to warrant it but Farah’s eye colour when she does magic. Up until now every time Farah’s done magic her eyes have glowed blue and yet in the scene where she questions Beatrix they glow light orange. Now I’d always assumed that the colour of the glow = element, which was why I didn’t know why Farah’s glowed blue to begin with; she’s a mind fairy so I would have expected the purple that Musa has. And actually the confirmation of her being a mind fairy comes from Fate’s IG page shown below, I don’t know if it’s ever explicitly stated in the show? Further, to my knowledge, Farah is the only fairy we’ve seen whose eyes glow different colours. So, a thread to pick up in season 2, perhaps? 

Also I’m very interested in the use of the word “Once”. In this instance I would almost take it to mean ‘no longer is’ but the tense is present perfect (I think?) which can suggest the continuance of an action. But now I’m being overly nitpicky and technical. Also I don’t know how ‘principle’ made it through what I’m assuming are several stages before making it onto IG, but it gave me a laugh!

“Incredibly powerful” yet loses to Rosalind without a fight? Not buying it. Additionally, the use of “other forms of magic” is interesting and I figure could be taken to mean other elements. But I wonder if there’s more to it than just that. Farah shows knowledge of archaic Fairy Magic with the Nettle Amalgam, so maybe there’s more archaic knowledge out there that she knows ... that could prove helpful. 

Now, back to the episode. When Farah and Hologram Luna are talking, the fact that there are two burned ones travelling together is cause for concern. 

Farah: “There are two of them travelling together. That hasn’t happened since … In a long time.” 

Once again we are left with a thread of something that has happened. In the same IG post as above, in the section for Saul, it mentions that he and Farah became confidants “after experiencing the Black Woods Massacre”. I wonder if that could be what Farah’s referring to here? I know the massacre has come up once or twice in conversation and correct me if I’m wrong but I don’t believe it’s ever been properly explained? To me, it looks like a great bit of backstory to get into at a later date. It may not confirm Farah being alive necessarily, but you could take it as a sign that we might see Eve again. 

Lastly, for this episode, is the scene between Farah and Bloom. Specifically this part: 

Farah: “I will help you get the answers you need. I give you my word.” 

You can probably guess what I’m going to say at this point, a thread that can be picked up in season 2! You could counterargue that Rosalind could help Bloom with answers (as she offers in the next episode) but in my humble opinion, I don’t think it would offer narrative satisfaction. First, because we’ve been shown what a terrible mentor Rosalind is. Second, they’ve spent the first season showing how Farah and Bloom’s mentor-student relationship has developed (bloomed?) so it seems a waste to go through all of that development for nothing. 

Episode 6: A Fanatic Heart

Rosalind has her little prison break. Personally, I still think there’s a lot of unanswered questions about what happened after Aster Dell, how they imprisoned Rosalind, etc. And I do hope that we get some answers in Season 2 - again these answers may not necessarily involve Farah on the screen but as every writer gets told the age old advice of “show, don’t tell”, I think there’s potential for that. 

Farah immediately tries to disprove my points about her intelligence by wandering alone in the woods at night. But she’s pretty, so I’ll allow it. 

Rosalind gives Bloom some answers but not all, so I do think that my point above about Farah helping Bloom find more answers still stands. Further, I find the Farah is Bloom’s mother theory to be unlikely for several reasons (this is not the post for them) but I do want to draw our attention to several lines of dialogue here. 

Bloom: “You hid me from Miss Dowling.” ….

Rosalind: “The guidance you needed was love. Farah couldn’t give that to you. Vanessa and Michael could.” 

There are SO many reasons why this exchange is fascinating. I’m interested in why Bloom brings up Farah to begin with - her other points could stand alone to the same affect. I’m also really interested in the direct comparison between Farah and Bloom’s adoptive parents -- if Bloom hadn’t gone to them, she would have gone to Farah? It almost seems as though the direct comparison implies that. Also, considering Bloom’s relationship with her adoptive parents, I really doubt the validity of the statement. Plus, I wouldn’t trust Rosalind’s idea of love in general. 

Also, Rosalind is just so certain that Farah couldn’t love Bloom … can’t love in general? There’s just so much of Farah and Rosalind’s relationship that hasn’t been explored that I think really needs to be. 

Now, the scene that always makes me cry! Farah and Bloom have had a difficult time this season and it’s all lead up to this moment of trust and vulnerability - on both sides. If you ask me, this season has been setting Farah up to be the mentor figure that Rosalind was not - Rosalind’s opposite. And they’ve worked hard at it, even when they were trying to convince us Farah might be the evil one which like lmao. I find it hard to believe that they would go through all of that work just to discard it by leaving Farah dead. Especially because what Farah admits to Bloom in this sequence feels like a changing moment for her - she recognizes things she wishes she would have done differently (being less of a figurehead, being more open) and I think its only fair that Fate allows her to follow through on those things. 

And onto the scene that I really don’t want to rewatch but I’m going to do it for y’all. I’ve touched on Farah x Saul moments so it’s only fair that I touch on Farah x Rosalind ones. There is tension here (looking at each other’s lips, Rosalind getting closer to Farah, Farah grabbing her), I mean the cast has joked about shipping them. But there are several different ways to read this and you are more than welcome to your pick! It doesn’t really change my point, which is … thread to pick up in season 2? Have you started taking a shot every time I’ve said that (please don’t <3). 

Farah who has shown herself to be incredibly intelligent and cautious when it comes to Rosalind turns her back on her. And we get what is probably the most important piece of evidence: the eye glow. It can mean absolutely anything, but I’d wager one of the reasons its there is to have people do exactly what I’m doing here. Theorizing about whether Farah could still be alive. I’m going to take that as a sign there’s hope (mainly because I think it would be cruel to suggest a ‘could she come back narrative’ and then … not have her come back). Also, in the Fate novel, it describes Farah’s death as “too easy”. I absolutely refuse to believe that it could be easy to kill Farah when she’s proved time and time again how powerful she is. 

That finishes my episode by episode analysis. It totals well over 2500 words. If you can believe me, I still have more to say on this topic (discussing general counterarguments and possible logistics of Eve’s filming), so stay tuned for a Part 3?

[fasterthanmydemons]

What would Pietro think about the events in DSMOM?

{out of breath} SPOILERS FOR MoM AHEAD!

Well let me just preface this by saying that he would be absolutely appalled at everything Wanda has been made to go through... and go through alone. The fact that none of her close friends (with the exception of Natasha who couldn’t for obvious reasons) checked up on her to make sure she was okay or to get her help if she wasn’t okay... would infuriate him. Even though he didn’t overly like Vision, he would still respect Wanda’s love for him and the grief that followed his death, and so what happened to Vision would also infuriate him. Respecting the dead, whether within their Romani culture or their Jewish-Pagan religion is a big deal, so to desecrate Vision’s body and disregard his wishes after his death would really rub Pietro the wrong way. He would be up in arms for Wanda, because he’d believe she was badly wronged.

Westview would break his heart for so many reasons. He’d hate to see her in so much pain, both during the creation of Westview, in finding out she was the one enslaving the town, and then afterward to have to take it all down and lose her family. He would also have hated Agatha for forcing Wanda to relive all her trauma up until that point. He’d just wanna clock her in the face, and Pietro doesn’t usually feel violent towards women. Wanda’s subsequent isolation in the cabin and her studying of the Darkhold would worry him and make him sad, but at that point he wouldn’t really... feel he could criticize. After all she’d been through, he’d understand why she’d want to be alone, and while studying an evil book is decidedly bad, if she thought she could get her children back again, then he wouldn’t have the heart to tell her not to try.

Okay... now onto MoM. To see how far she falls in MoM would hurt him badly, but he’d blame others, not her. Partially because that’s his twin sister so he’s always going to be sympathetic toward her, but also because he’d feel like everyone else’s callous or careless lack of consideration for her pain was what led to all this. If he was actually with her, like if she’d found a way to bring him back or if she could see him as a ghost or something like that, he would try to talk her out of the more nefarious parts of her plan because he’d recognize that as not being her. Wanting to kill a child is not Wanda. Being willing to plough through a seven-nation army of sorcerers to get what she wants is not her either. I think at that point he’d really begin to see how much the DH had been corrupting her and he would try to talk some sense into her before things got out of hand.

Having said that, I doubt Wanda would listen to him. I don’t know, having Pietro with her and opposing her at least in concept might be grounding enough to pull her back a bit, but I’m not sure. I think Pietro would try to get the book away from her if he could, and if he knew Strange at all, he might even go to him for help in breaking its hold on Wanda. Although one might argue that having Pietro with her in any capacity before the events of MoM might have been enough to avoid them. In my opinion a big reason why MoM happened is because Wanda is utterly alone again with grief she can’t handle. Having either Pietro or Vision back again in some capacity might serve to derail some of that. She wouldn’t be 100% inside her own head and with the DH, she’d have someone she loves and respects telling her she’s out of line. That... could have really saved her. But we’ll never know.

If it did get to the level of Wanda trying to kill America or to her killing other people, Pietro would try to stop her if he was in any position to do so. But of course... there really isn’t anything he can do to stop her, especially since he’d be unwilling to harm/kill her. He’d get in her way, buy the others time, try to talk her down, but if that didn’t work... I don’t know what would happen. I’d like to think that Wanda wouldn’t just kill him, but the Darkhold’s corruptive influence is a bit of a wild card. I think she’d just teleport him somewhere or put him in a magical cage or something like that to physically stop him from getting in her way.

[robininthelabyrinth]

For a prompt how about a scenario where against all odds Nie Huaisang is able to inherit Baxia (maybe it wants revenge for NMJ too?)

After all the funeral necessities are done, Lan Xichen and Jin Guangyao reluctantly depart – each one having pledged their full support in helping Nie Huaisang hold off any threat to his inheritance of his brother’s position, and in helping him run his sect afterwards, and all of that, but of course they have their own sects to tend to; they can’t stay at the Unclean Realm all the time.

Nie Huaisang remained.

He wasn’t alone – no sect leader, presumptive or otherwise, ever was, surrounded by disciples and retainers and petitioners – but it very much felt as though he was, as if there was a window between him and the world that couldn’t be broken no matter what.

There wasn’t a scratch on him, but everyone in Qinghe treated him like he was walking wounded.

It was better that way, he thought numbly, better than Jin Guangyao’s poisonous smiles, meant to comfort, or Lan Xichen’s self-centered attempts to ease Nie Huaisang’s grief by taking steps to ease his own, suggesting seclusion and meditation and gentle music as if Nie Huaisang had ever cared about any of that. If he had to hear one more thing about how his brother’s too-early demise was just the way things sometimes happened, the mysterious ways of the heavenly dao, and out of the mouths of the men that murdered him –

He’d do nothing, of course. He couldn’t do anything about it – he was too useless, a good-for-nothing just like his brother always worried he’d be; his brother who had always wanted the best for him, who’d warned him that if he didn’t take care and make himself strong, he might one day be lack the ability to do what he wanted…

Nie Huaisang had scoffed at the thought, back then. Back then, as far as he was concerned, his only desires were for a bit of peace and quiet, some pretty things, fans and paintings, brushes and books, and absent a complete collapse of the Nie sect, he’d always be able to get those. And if that was the case, why did he have to be strong? What could he possibly want that he’d need strength to get?

It’d never occurred to him that what he’d want was revenge.

Revenge needed strength.

He didn’t have strength, so he’d have to substitute it with time. His brother had once tried to explain saber training to him that way: yes, it was repetitive, yes, it seemed pointless, yes, all yes, but it was a trade with the future. Each minute of training was capital, built up from your sweat and exertion, and with that capital you could in the future afford that little extra burst of strength, that extra hour of endurance, that might mean the difference between life and death.

The cost of strength was time. He’d spent his younger years living free and easy, thinking his brother would always be there for him, leaving him without the strength he needed to avenge him, and the cost of his youthful arrogance would be the next ten years of his life, if not more.

It would take at least that, if he wanted to destroy the men who killed his brother.

And he would. All of them, without fail.

Jin Guangshan, who’d instigated it, would be easy enough to bring down. Nie Huaisang had money, if nothing else, and Qinghe had plenty of prostitutes who wanted better lives for their bastard sons – it’d be a matter of nothing to pay one of them to pack up and move to Lanling, to get Jin Guangshan’s attention, to get him talking on the matter of children…to instigate him to say something unforgivable about Meng Yao’s mother, who had always been his reverse scale; after that, he could just step back and wait for the consequences to fall where they would, to let Jin Guangyao do the dirty work for him the way he’d done it for Jin Guangshan.

(The prostitute’s child would be given a new name and a position as a Nie sect disciple, very prestigious, a proper young master. Every day, Nie Huaisang would look at him and he would think of Meng Yao trapped in the brothel dreaming of exactly that sort of rescue and he would smile, because the man who murdered his brother deserved nothing from him, not even sympathy for the unfortunate child he’d once been.)

But Lan Xichen and Jin Guangyao – that would take time.

Jin Guangyao had a tongue made of silver, capable of turning every situation to his benefit by saying exactly the right thing; Nie Huaisang would need to find solid evidence of his wrongdoing if he was to destroy his life. That would take time, time and patience, years of needing to pretend that nothing was the matter, that he relied on him, that he needed him, that he didn’t see the way Jin Guangyao’s lips curled with sick smug satisfaction as he played the role of older brother that should have been Nie Mingjue’s.

He didn’t need to worry about bringing down Lan Xichen, who valued righteousness but couldn’t recognize it when it stood before him; destroying Jin Guangyao would destroy him, too, and all the better if he realized too late that he would be one of the hands that pushed Jin Guangyao to his demise, just as he’d pushed Nie Mingjue to his.

They would see if all of his seclusion and meditation and gentle music helped him with his grief then.

It would be long and it would be painful and it would have to be that way because he wasn’t strong enough.

Thinking grim thoughts, he walked to his brother’s bedroom, thinking only of seeking some comfort on his sheets before they, too, forgot the smell and weight of him, and that’s when he saw her.

Baxia.

Nie Huaisang’s hand automatically fell to his waist, where his little-used saber still hung in some belated attempt to appease his brother’s spirit – not that Aituan was ever going to be any protection against Baxia. Especially now: she should be safely in his brother’s tomb, placed there like all the other sabers that had lost their masters to fight against fierce corpses for the rest of eternity instead of finding her way out into the world where she would fight against evil no matter what its form. Saber spirits didn’t discriminate: living or dead, evil petty or major, it was all the same to them, and that was what made them so dangerous.

As sect leader, it was Nie Huaisang’s duty to tend to the masterless sabers, something Jin Guangyao foolishly thought meant tomb maintenance and which Nie Huaisang knew meant keeping them from hurting people. That had been the duty the other Nie sect disciples had worried that Nie Huaisang would be unable to perform, and in his heart he’d doubted it, too, but he’d thought it didn’t matter – the masterless sabers hadn’t gotten out in years.

Baxia –

Baxia shouldn’t be here. She shouldn’t be floating in the center of Nie Mingjue’s bedroom, her blade having a dull red shine from all the blood she’d drunk over the years in his hand; she shouldn’t look as if she were keeping a vigil, waiting for her master to return when he never would.

Aituan vibrated under Nie Huaisang’s hand. It wasn’t lust for a battle (Aituan wasn’t the type), but rather almost – an echo.

Sympathy.

Family lore said that saber spirits didn’t understand compassion. And yet, Nie Huaisang would swear that that was what it was: an echo of pain made in understanding, a sharing of loss.

His fingers released Aituan’s hilt.

“Baxia,” he said, his voice breaking – too raspy from all the tears he’d wept, pained from the rage he’d swallowed down. Heedless of his own safety, he stepped forward. “Baxia…they killed him.”

Baxia didn’t attack him, which was already something: Nie Huaisang knew very well that he counted as evil by her standards. He who sees injustice and does nothing to prevent it – he who closes his eyes to truth and refuses to help the helpless, preferring to waste time on indulging himself instead –

“They killed da-ge,” he said, his eyes fixed on Baxia. “Your master, my brother…they killed him, and I’m not strong enough to get them back. Not yet. It’ll take time. But I swear to you, I’ll do it. I’ll avenge him, no matter the cost. I swear it.”

Baxia finally responded, floating over towards him – blade pointed down the ground rather than at his throat, which he appreciated.

Moved by some instinct he didn’t understand, Nie Huaisang reached out and pressed his fingers to the flat of Baxia’s blade. He hadn’t touched Baxia in years, not since he was a child, and suddenly there was a spark of energy that he could feel and –

He shouldn’t be able to feel that.

He shouldn’t be able to – that was the way he felt when he finally mastered Aituan, his soul fluctuating as he became one with his saber, and that was impossible; everyone knew sabers only had one master. At first he thought somehow Baxia had stolen his link to Aituan, but no, he could still fell him there, grumbling a little but not overly worried (nothing worried Aituan, Nie Mingjue had once said, with great displeasure, that Aituan was the capybara of sabers), but Nie Huaisang could still feel her.

Not just her.

The spark didn’t stop at his fingers but flowed inwards, running through his meridians in a sudden cycle that took Nie Huaisang by surprise: he was cultivating, somehow. Without doing anything, he was inexplicably growing stronger, filling up with power from –

From Baxia.

From his brother.

No wonder Baxia had come here to wait for him. She’d come to give him his inheritance, his brother’s last gift to him – his brother must have planned this long ago, wanting his little brother to have at least a little of the power he’d never bothered to earn for himself.

Nie Huaisang’s eyes filled with tears.

It wouldn’t make that much of a difference to his plans – he still wasn’t anywhere near ready to challenge someone like Lan Xichen – but he wouldn’t have to worry, now, about any further assassination attempts by Jin Guangyao: he had enough strength, now, to defend himself.

To raise a saber, if necessary.

“Thank you,” he whispered. “I’ll do him proud – I’ll do you both proud. I promise.”

This time, it was a promise he’d keep.

[legendofcora]

Friends, there is a ton of misinformation floating around this website about beekeeping, and about bees in general. I love that we’re taking a collective interest in this and I want to encourage that. But there’s also a huge encampment of people with extreme views, with how we view beekeeping morally, both with an overly positive viewpoint and an overly negative viewpoint. Truthfully, it’s as nuanced as everything else in life. Please consider the following.

Beekeeping Ethics

•Beekeeping is not inherently evil or exploitative, but neither is it inherently uwu magical and benign. Like anything humans do, it can be done ethically or not, depending on who’s doing it and what their practices are.

•Honey is not vegan. I am not a vegan and I am not taking a stance on the vegan worldview one way or another. Rather, this point is to dispute a misunderstanding of the word. The definition of vegan food is that which is not derived from animals. I’m not sure what y’all think bees are, exactly, for you to be out there claiming that their output is vegan. Because they are very much animals.

•It is false that beekeepers never take more honey than they need from their hives. There are absolutely bad beekeepers out there who prioritize production over the wellbeing of their hives. There are also new/uninformed beekeepers who take too much as a result of lack of knowledge.

•Honeybees will not always just “get up and leave” if they don’t like the conditions of their hive or if their beekeeper is not caring for them well. The bees spend the entirety of their lives building and maintaining their home; the situation has to be pretty dire and the conditions have to be correct for bees to leave and even be able to leave in the first place (referred to as “absconding”).

Bee Ecology

•Honeybees make up only eight out of twenty thousand bee species in the world. Honeybees are very distinct from other bee species. With minor exceptions, honeybees are the only types that live in colonies and produce honey. The vast majority of bee species are solitary and don’t produce honey.

•Honeybees are a non-native, and sometimes invasive species in North America. They were brought by humans from Europe, where they are native. There is concern regarding displacement of native pollinators due to the introduction of honeybees into the ecosystem.

•Bees are not the only pollinators in nature, let alone honeybees. There are upwards of 200,000 pollinating creatures on this planet. In fact, a lot of “pests” that we spend a lot of effort trying to kill off are important pollinators, including many fly and wasp species.

Honeybee Biology

•The “queen” is really a misnomer. She is not in charge of the hive. Nobody is, comrades. The queen exists to reproduce. That is it. Once she is thoroughly mated, she comes home and pops out babies til she dies.

•In fact, the queen doesn’t fully get to decide what she lays. Her 1 basic function in her own life is not up to her, much less does she dictate orders to the rest of the colony. For the most part, her workers will tell her whether to lay male or female offspring (called brood), and the workers determine whether to create queens out of any female brood.

•Baby queens do duke it out to the death when multiple hatch at once. Very baby metal of them. Workers and drones do not take part in the process.

•There are anecdotal cases of multiple queens in a hive. We don’t know how common this is, largely because during hive inspections, once you find the queen, you automatically stop looking for more. If there was a second one in there, you’d be unlikely to see it at that point.

•The drones (all male honeybees) do not carry out any basic hive functions. They do not smother bad queens or help make decisions or anything else you might have read on this website. Drones are the foil to the queen: their sole purpose is to fuck off and die. In fact, once a drone successfully mates, his bee penis stays hooked inside the queen he mated with, and his guts explode in a very violent death. He goes out to find a queen from some other colony with the sole intention of spreading his colony’s genes elsewhere. If resources in his home hive dwindle, workers will start killing them; they are freeloaders as far as the colony is concerned.

•Worker bees technically cannot become a new queen if the original one dies without a suitable replacement already in the works. They can become fertile - the term is a “laying worker.” The difference is honestly a little bit complicated to try to explain in a tumblr post, but the long and short of it is that a laying worker can only lay drones. Again, drones do nothing but pump and dump. A laying worker only emerges when the death of the colony is inevitable; the goal here is just to propagate their genes out in the environment until the colony dies. She doesn’t replace the queen, and at this point the colony cannot survive without intervention from a beekeeper.

How to support bees & other pollinators

•Many of you good folk are here on this topic because you have an interest in saving the bees, which is great! You absolutely do not need to keep bees to help them. In fact, two of the best things you can do are extremely simple:

•Put out water for them. I use a flat terracotta dish set inside a hanging planter, and hang it halfway down a chain link fence so that it’s level with the bushes and flowers that I have. You want to make sure to fill it with rocks, sticks, or some other organic filler before putting water into it. Bees drown very easily so just make sure they have a place to sit while they sip :)

•Plant wildflowers/ any flowers that are native to your area. Flowers are friends and food.

•Be nicer to wasps. Please. Not only are they important pollinators as we talked about, but they are a great natural form of pest control for things that truly are a nuisance.

•Bird feeders and birdbaths are also great ways to help pollinators. Remember that pollination is a massive ecological effort across a huge variety of birds, mammals and insects. It’s great to help the bees, but don’t forget about everyone else in the picture too.

•You can try to set up a bee hotel. It’s a small wooden box with rows of narrow holes. The idea with a hotel is to create a space for solitary bees to nest in. Frankly, I have not had any luck with this, and to my understanding most people do not. I’ve used it as a temporary shelter for a couple errant bees in my yard who were tired / freezing / in shock for unknown reasons so that they could rest. Ymmv.

•Finally, be educated. Bees are absolutely fascinating and the ecology of pollination is extremely intricate. You definitely do not have to know everything there is to know on the subject. Just understand that things are always more complicated than a 60 character tweet can ever express, and if you walk away with an overly emphatic response to something, know that you are almost guaranteed to be missing some information.