#she’s so aggressive and it’s meant to make you antagonistic to her

[disco-tic-wonderland]

Personal beef with one aspect of the game only: confused why the game seems to want you to gain Titus’ approval. It threw me for a loop when you’re given the option to invite him to be a cop.

This guy and his whole posse cold blood murder Harry and Kim both just for interrogating them. They admit to letting the pretty women go for crimes. They almost start a war because Titus has a thing for Klassje.

Like?? And I’m supposed to invite this dude to kick it with my organization? Hell no! I almost didn’t shake his hand, but thought it would be needlessly impolite in the circumstance. I think that guy is a loose canon.

I have a hard time reconciling the way Harry seems a little…fond? of him at the end.

Love to hear some other takes on this.

[is-the-owl-video-cute]

Hazmat Hole 1: Overture

I went back and forth on whether to do the pilot or not, but ultimately decided not to. Pilots are meant to be an episode 0 that isn’t necessary to understanding the plot. I may go back to it after episode 8 if I’m not completely sick of this.

It starts off with a story book narration about how hell started because Lucifer was a rebel or something and just states very vaguely that he had big ideas heaven didn’t like. Also Adam was the first man, Lilith was the first woman but she didn’t like Adam and liked Lucifer better they fell in love or whatever and Lucifer gave Eve the apple and he and Lilith were banished to hell. I wish I could lie and say I was skipping over details but they used more words to explain that in about as much depth as I did there. Anyway. The important part is that Charlie is a princess of hell as the daughter of Lucifer and Lilith and the angels go down to hell annually to purge excess souls.

These two start off annoying and by god I do not see them getting any less so. Charlie is legitimately the most generic Disney Princess rip off I have ever seen in my life, complete with reading books aloud bursting into song. It’s genuinely jarring to hear her swear because you can tell the voice director basically just told her actor to pretend she’s auditioning for the little mermaid. Vaggie is annoying because she’s written like a middle schooler’s first “strong female character”. She’s the emo love interest in a B movie that was straight to video and made by people who don’t actually know what emo is.

Appropriation Deer is literally just here to make wise cracks and occasionally move in ways that make animators cry and deviantart users in 2010 scream in joy.

They could probably cut the budget in half by not having him in the show. Anyway no he is not here to do anything besides whine about how television sucks and emphasize that he’s only there at all because he’s into watching people fail and cry or whatever. He’s very flat as a character since he’s just there to be tumblr bait.

Angel is here and spends the entire episode being sexually aggressive to the point of making everyone there uncomfortable and that’s the entire joke. That’s it. He’s a gay man who says penis and wise cracks and sexually harasses the men in the hotel. Because that is how vivziepop writes her mlm characters.

We get a two for one easy joke with these two. Haha gay man is harassing a man who isn’t gay as well as haha asexual gets hit on but he says no way.

Angel is here because “crack is expensive” and they don’t charge him rent there.

Which he says while drinking a whole bottle of liquor to establish he’s an addict because vivziepop is as subtle as a bull in a China shop.

And thus we are taken to our first musical number. It’s very underwhelming.

Also Vaggie sings like she’s getting over a cold and plugging her nose and trying to do an impression of a duck.

The opening number also leaves me with a perplexing question. Can you die in hell? Do you go to super hell if you die in hell?

And we get our first real sexual harassment/assault joke from a giant slug flasher trying to make Charlie touch him in the middle of a musical number. I’m sure this bodes great for how angel’s abuse will be treated.

I hate that I know this but as someone who did shamefully hate watch sausage party twice I have to point out that Adam here is literally just a rip off of a sausage party character.

Everything down to the voice direction is literally just a rip off of the main antagonist of Sausage Party, the douche. This is probably somewhat intentional as vivziepop was a massive fan of that movie when it came out, but if you’re going to make an homage that borders on plagiarism (this is a joke I’m not accusing her of plagiarism here but it’s giving original character, donut steel), does it have to be from sausage party? Does it really? There’s other movies. Anyway he doesn’t say much, just establishes himself as a douche.

Back at the hotel they start filming a new commercial since Alastor intentionally made their first commercial bad because he wanted to make fun of them and hates TVs just that much. Nothing very interesting happens. Angel is hot horny. Husk doesn’t want to be there. Alastor makes a deal with Vaggie to help as long as she never makes him go on TV again.

We go back to Charlie begging Adam to stop coming to hell and killing demons by the hundreds every year and Adam says no in frankly one of the only songs that I like from this series. Sadly, it’s still terribly annoying and repetitive.

Viv posted meme please clap.

Isn’t this the homophobic character from the pilot? Didn’t realize she was given a male voice to imply she’s either a drag Queen or trans I guess. Great. I’m sure it’s a very artistic and respectful choice and not every other more likely reason this was the casting decision.

The episode ends with the discovery that an Angel was killed during the last extermination so they plan to come back in just six months to kill every demon in hell. I might care if any character established themselves as anything other than a vessel to spout boring exposition and sex jokes for twenty minutes.

And that’s episode one. It’s honestly just boring and all of the explicit language sounds extremely forced and awkward.

0/10, the one okay song wasn’t enough to save it. Too much exposition dumping.

[howi99]

Grimm au

Salem called ozpin!? God how did that go? Like with a grimm or by phone?

Ooohh bigger question is Salem with the times she knows what a phone and tv is? Or is she behind the times?

Ozpin: Salem, so good to see you. You really should get more outside, you look grimmly pale.

Salem: Ozpin, my dear, how goes your aching back? We both know you shouldn't strain yourself too much at your age!

Mama arc: I accepted to use my home for this meeting. If both of you don't stop being passive aggressive right now, i'm going to kick both your raggedy ass out of the house.

Ozpin: ... Sorry Nicole.

Salem: We will... Try being less... Antagonistic.

Mama arc (aka Nicole): Good. Now i heard from Salem that one of her henchmen did something to my baby boy. Now, i hope it's either not something that will cause irreversible damage to Jaune or make anything?

Salem: *sigh* Don't worry dear, he isn't in any danger. In fact he might be the only human truly out of danger from the grimms.

Ozpin: *nods* I could see during the initiation that the creatures of grimm weren't attracted to Jaune as much as to the other students.

Nicole: i heard he got some physical mutations... If my boy becomes a grimm/human hybrid, i swear to god.

Salem: There's no risk for him to... Well, to turn like me, if that's your concern. The "parasite" is more symbiote and needs the host to be at his best. Both physically and mentally. I technically could take partial control over him but i won't ever hurt my descendent... Not like high and mighty over there.

Ozpin: His behavior didn't drastically change, though i did notice a lack of... Awareness?

Nicole: let me guess, he doesn't see any hint from a girl that likes him?

Ozpin: the apple didn't fall far from the tree.

Nicole: *sigh* so, aside from my boy turning into a weregrimm, you both agree to the ceasefire, correct?

Ozpin: I read the document Salem sent to me, yes. *Turning to Salem* I'm still surprised you have a working scroll and an internet connection.

Salem: I also need entertainment Ozpin. What else am i supposed to do? Look at a window all day?

Ozpin: I meant i was surprised you have access to the cct tower from that far away.

Salem: ... I know a guy.

Nicole: Hey, focus you two!

Ozpin: Sorry. I do agree with your terms, a truce until the end of his education, your pawn at my school are not to be armed and you will help me save the fall maiden. Did i miss anything?

Salem: No. Those are the terms.

[coldgoldlazarus]

Some stray Metroid Prime 4 thoughts in brief, that I didn't feel like making their own posts:

On Sylux and the writing:

Really hope Sylux is a good, complex, nuanced antagonist. Gimme that Cyclosis lore, too!

I am admittedly a bit worried that this being pre-Fusion (not that I expected it to be otherwise, but still) means they might not be able to do as much with the Federation as I'd hope for, but hopefully it can still do some decent foreshadowing. (Post-Fusion MP5 tho pls)

Apparently the lead writer has done some amazing work with a Star Wars game (Fallen Order?) though, so feeling more optimistic about the writing after learning about her

Since she did dialogue writing for that game, I kinda wonder if we might get to see/hear the return of some of Samus's internal monologue. I know Other M's reception makes that kind of unlikely, I'd be leery of that if I was the people at Retro, but I honestly think it could be done right. More of a Fusion-esque noir narration that characterizes her well could be what we need to heal from that.

Think I already said this, but just in case I haven't; hoping Sylux survives this so they can pop back in after Dread and be like "Told you so!" lol

On the gunship:

Gunship still has the bottom hatch. I bet Samus comes out of the top when there isn't a proper landing pad with reliably even ground, such as that spot she popped out in the trailer

The addition of red trim around the windshield is a cool touch, makes it look a bit more aggressive somehow. Like the gunship has dramatic tearful red-rimmed eyes or something

I like how she sent the gunship off immediately after getting out; she learned from Ghor

ZM gunship was destroyed. Prime gunship's fate unknown after Hunters, possibly just sold off to make way for the next two. Classic gunship and Corruption gunship seem to be alternated between depending on needs of the mission; rv camper van versus well-armed speedy one-seater. Then classic was destroyed in Fusion and she switched to the purple one full-time, instead of going back to the Corruption one. Could we see the Corruption gunship get destroyed here, clearing the way for that?

On the timeline:

Also curious if this will use Sylux's Metroid and the Mochtroids to create a serious enough Event to lead into the extermination order in Metroid II. Might kinda conflict with my desire for nuance, but I could see some ways to thread that needle

Also wondering if we might see Samus be a little bit more flawed and morally compromised here, coming off of Corruption and leading into Metroid II. Rewatching the extra ending for Corruption, it tends to get overshadowed by her grieving beforehand and the Delano 7 afterward, but for a moment after dismissing the powersuit, she has a bit of a darker expression. I wonder if that was meant to imply some subtler, more lasting impact of everything she went through there, that Beyond could expand on further. Or it could just be a determined expression that I'm misreading lol

Wouldn't object to them finally taking another stab at Meta Kraid, but pls no Ridley unless we absolutely 1000% need him here. In general want that to be the policy going forward; keep the recursion to a minimum unless it's necessary.

I don't seriously expect this to be post-Super (as interesting as that would be) because of the date, since the dates given are so infrequent and inconsistent. But I could see the emphasis on that coming first thing, plus the time travel, be used to finally clear up that inconsistency and put hard, definitive dates on stuff going forward.

On the possible time travel stuff:

Kiiinda wondering if they'd use the time travel thing to branch off the Prime series timeline from the 2D games for more creative freedom going forward, (sorta like the Star Trek Kelvin timeline) though I don't think it's likely. Would be interesting though

Torn between wanting to see the time travel used to get new angles on familiar places, versus just wanting to have mostly new stuff

Time travel used to foreshadow Fusion/Dread Metroid Samus pls, like the Hordika plotline in Bionicle being foreshadowed by Vakama's visions in the Tahtorak comic

As I said previously, also wondering if they'll use Sylux's Metroid and the time travel thing to patch the whole "Metroid Prime in the Impact Crater" inconsistency and bring things full circle

On gameplay and possible multiplayer:

Gameplay-wise, I just like how classically Prime it looks; obviously I want new gimmicks and mechanics and expect those will come in due time after that intro, but I'm glad they're not trying to completely reinvent the wheel and make the baseline more like traditional FPSes. This is Prime 4, not Metroid Doom, and I appreciate that (as someone who respects Doom)

Torn on multiplayer since I've heard whisperings on that; don't want it to become too geared toward that sort of thing and wind up with an influx of like, toxic CoD fans or something

But I wouldn't object to a Hunters-style multiplayer, (maybe paired with upgrades for more parity with singleplayer) Especially since Sylux is a factor, even if the story is just them and Samus, they could still use extra hunters for the multiplayer

Corruption's trio being included somehow would break my heart but make my day, even if they'd be difficult to balance mechanically

Revisiting the Hunters and Corruption casts through this would be great, but would also love if they added even more all-new ones on top of that. (Maybe a few more gals?) Let's keep building this out! Samus is the best of the best, but I wanna see the rest of the best xD

On the overall experience:

Honestly far and away most excited for the new places to explore! But I ironically have the least to say about that rn since it's such an unknown

Would love to see unique new biomes, I guess, kinda like I mentioned in my big wishlist. Maybe a coastline with cliffs and coves and beaches? Maybe badlands, with one huge long continuous canyon instead of several smaller ones? (Maybe even with a flying boss fight through it, like one of the early abandoned concepts for Meta Ridley) Something even crazier?

At any rate I love how that rainforest in the preview looks, and I especially love the foggy chasm with that huge bridge off to the side

On that note, the additional shots of the rainforest on the JP website all point away from that direction. I bet you there's an awesome fucking view of whatever's on the other side of that bridge, that they're saving for a later trailer. Or possibly something plot-relevant that they're saving for the game itself

Kinda torn between wanting to see a little bit more of the places we'll be visiting, versus wanting nothing else so I can go in almost completely blind

Really really looking forward to hearing the new title theme. Would be cool if the main menu takes after the logo and has a big black hole or something in the background

[princess-of-the-corner]

On Nino & Adrien not being bros it was kind of a few things.

1: Adrien & Chloe are closer and more to the point more reliant on each other. So even though she's less aggressive she's also more omnipresent if one is hanging out with Adrien they are hanging out with Chloe too.

2: I am unsure she'd really do anything to warrant being called out on Adrien's first day of school. She's both more chill and actively trying not to pick fights unless someone starts with her.

3: The seating might change in general anyway but in a less antagonistic manner, or just shuffling Adrien himself around over Sabrina & Chloe.

4: He may make it on the first day if Chloe waits & either intervenes with his escorts, helps with Fu, or unleashes a horde or Maenads(Fan girls) on them in exchange for autographs which would very much set the tone of, "Oh he's a famous rich playboy type."

As said, I don't think Nino would be hostile, he dislikes Chloe & is both a friend of & crushing on Marinette. But he's not a dick or overly judgmental and he has less bad history with Chloe at the least.

I just don't think he and Adrien even if sitting next to each other would get as close if Adrien didn't publicly reject Chloe as he did and if hanging around him meant Chloe was there 90% of the time. Still likely a bridge between classmates in this regard, just not as generally tight.

True fair enough!

Though our characterization of Nino being the 'if your parents suck I'm adopting you and taking out their kneecaps with The Nine Iron™' friend, he might try befriending Adrien after overhearing him complain about his dad.

[randomfoggytiger]

Mulder's Alien Baby Baby Trauma In-Depth (Part V): The Mutual Pain of Reconnection

As established previously in Part IV, Mulder switched from apathetically observant to actively distrustful: while he was gone, Scully partnered up with a new guy on Kersh’s say-so, didn’t bother to relay this information, and spoke highly of him after working a mere six months alongside him. Mulder's trust cracked, misconstruing her silence as a tell of her kneejerk “what does it matter?” denial. Doggett then became a convenient target, the representation of the shadowy men that caused him to lose six irrecoverable months of his life. Scully and Skinner, he thinks, were too caught up trying to find him that they didn’t notice the new recruit was yet another in a line of befriendings and betrayals. 

Mulder’s anger was roused, channeling his helplessness into an aggressive goal: make the men who did this to him stop. Decided, he got up to get ready for work, asserting his position in spite of Kersh's authority and Scully's new "above reproach" partner.

And in the wake of these burgeoning resolutions, Doggett conveniently (so Mulder presumes) becomes MIA. 

Mulder Is Back and Not Moving

As… terrible as Season 8’s mytharc is, it will have to, unfortunately, bleed into this review here and there to set key pieces in order. 

Now thoroughly suspicious and grasping at the familiar-- conspiracies and enemies behind every corner-- Mulder ducks away from dealing with the darker reality of his shambled purpose and looming PTSD and back into work: sniffing out a motive and capturing a villain. Kersh might be trying to shut him down, but he’s certainly not going to let the files be handed over to his boss’s newest bootlicker. He may be banished from the basement, but he’s never followed orders, anyway. Let them all naysay-- they’ll see. 

He cheekily texts Scully during her and Skinner’s manhunt meeting (knowing she’ll pass the message along) and waits, comfortably, for them to walk through the door with the infamous, dastardly Doggett. Quite literally, the audience’s first glimpse of him back in the basement is of the bottom of his shoes parked possessively on top of his desk, followed by a guarded, impudent, “I dare you to tell me to move” smile. Message loud and clear: I’m back, and I’m staying; and I’d like to see anyone try to give me the boot.  

Even during his years as Kersh’s toilet brush holder, Mulder never acted out to this blatant degree. Back then, he and Scully kept their heads down, weathering the storm in the short term to get their files back in the long run. Now, Mulder is willfully antagonistic, a provocateur with a slipping smile and studied carelessness. Apparently, a lot changes when you come back from the dead and find you've been replaced. 

But, though strained and a tad too forced, Mulder still spares a genuine “Hey” for Scully as she waddles in with Skinner at her heels.

An interesting note: Samantha’s picture is placed at an angle for him to easily glance at when looking up from pilfered evidence, a beacon of his past bookended by a pile of stacked X-Files documents to the left and his rebellious shoes to the right-- another very deliberate shot. 

“Mulder….” Scully warns, approaching slowly. She’s not finger-wagging, lecturing, or even harshly discouraging him. Instead, she lets the silence hang between them, waiting for whatever Mulder will pull out from his sleeve. 

Mulder rewards her anticipation with a quip-- “Who says you can’t go home again?”-- and it’s almost like old times… except she’s not as welcoming here as she was at his apartment.

Drumming his fingers against the paper, he waits for their next move. Scully fills in the gap, picking up where she left off.

“What are you doing here?”

His mood instantly shifts: mirth gone, Mulder's smirk freezes in place as his eyes slightly harden and laser in on his partner, guessing and second-guessing what she meant. “What’s it look like?” 

Rejection is blazing across his face. Mulder expected trouble from Kersh-- but not from Scully.

He’s one confirmation away from being crushed. 

Skinner cuts in, recognizing this Mulder: a belligerent man bent on a spite mission. “It looks like you want to give them some real ammunition to use on you-- that’s what it looks like.”

Amused, Mulder bats away Skinner’s astute point. “Hey, I am just down here visiting my buds.” A very un-Mulder expression, and a glaring, blinking neon sign pointing directly at the bee in his bonnet. 

Readjusting his position to assume a more respectable, authoritative stance, he turns his glib remarks into a direct poke at the true interloper: “Where is this Agent Doggett, anyway? What hours does he keep?” 

Mulder will continue to mark his territory this scene, scoffing at Doggett’s unprofessionalism and underhanded dealings while unashamedly posing himself as the only other person the X-Files needs. There’s not much Scully and Skinner can do about that matter; but he is determined to remind them that Doggett isn’t needed or wanted and should scuttle off back to whatever dark, primordial ooze Kersh summoned him from. 

“Please, you do not want to stir that up right now.”

‘Please’ interests Mulder: Scully is serious, but not serious enough to avoid a slight banter in her turn of phrase. Furthermore, the statement is intriguing in and of itself; and, wanting to know more about the situation without sacrificing the impersonal high ground, he adopts a humorous stance.

“Why?” He asks, mock-serious (and underneath that mockery is insistence.)  

Skinner again interjects. “Because we have a manhunt in progress and I want Agent Doggett running it.” 

It isn’t meant to be a swipe at Mulder; however, he’s not going to let this go-- their boss wants Doggett in Scully’s absence, not Mulder, on the case. And, yes, Skinner has little authority over Mulder with Kersh standing between them-- and Mulder is aware of this-- but he also isn’t sorry to delegate the task to the ‘replacement’, either. 

Mulder pulls out his ace card and waves it for emphasis: a squirreled away photocopy. And not just any photocopy: one with a connection no one else found. (Evidence that leads him straight to the Conspiracy’s doorstep. How convenient.)

It works. Scully and Skinner draw nearer, eating out of his hand as Mulder spells out his theory.  

This scene is interesting because Mulder has been making some assessments of his own. When Skinner dropped into his apartment to deliver Kersh’s threat, Mulder disguised how carefully he was watching Scully and his former boss's interactions. As discussed in the previous part (post here), he concluded there was nothing to be jealous of; but also that the two now worked as a team rather than the hot and cold professional routine they’d danced in the past. Here Mulder wheedles them both in, watching Skinner and Scully hold their own council and act together as an oppositional force to his newest hairbrained scheme. The changes in his absence have gone far beyond a new partner and a baby on the way-- the basement is getting crowded; and he’ll find out how much so when talking to TLG in Scully’s apartment later.

“Because I noticed that the man who was shot on the White House lawn was one of the men in that photograph. Top right hand corner? In profile? Howard Salt, if I’m not mistaken?” 

Some of Mulder’s tension is melting away; or rather transforming into his intensity of the hunt, the chase, of the ever-elusive truth. Some of his natural animation shines through as he delicately hands Scully the picture, tilts his head around, and pumps his eyebrows in the proper places. 

Mulder’s right on the money, immediately. As usual. 

Scully is torn: heavy-hearted at this ‘proof’ of how impossible her and Doggett’s efforts had been to fill Mulder’s shoes, and proud that her partner so easily slipped back into them and hit the ground running. 

And Scully shows her own growth, (albeit reluctantly), confirming “He’s right” to Skinner and “You’re right” to Mulder.

She’s not enthusiastic with this development-- she wanted Mulder back at work but not as a threat to his own career-- but, like old times, a part of her is thrilled to be on her old partner’s madcap journey to the truth. 

Mulder’s animation switches with the darker turn of his voice: “Consider that a freebie. Next one’s gonna cost you.”

And he means it, sending a message loud and clear: Don’t underestimate me. Don’t devalue me. And don’t try to stop me. 

“Why? What else do you know?” Skinner asks grimly. 

“Oh, I don’t know anything,” Mulder responds, shrugging his shoulders in a demonstration of ignorance. 

“But you know me, I’ve got a real big hunch,” he continues, wetting his lips for the bombshell. “This Howard Salt? Was a multiple alien abductee, worked for the Census Bureau. Wanted to get word to the President? Unspecified grievances? What d’ya wanna bet those grievances were?” 

Scully is already keyed up, anticipating where this is going. “You think he knew something.” 

“I think they killed him for it,” he agrees, sitting back and further away. A comfortable distance from this topic’s implications and any potential Scully mind-reading scrutiny. 

Skinner’s “A man jumped the White House fence-- he had a gun” is logical, but weak; and Mulder smoothly parries that counterpoint: “Once again, I’m a betting man. I’m betting he had more than that.” 

Scully decides now is the time to say “Mulder, you make it sound like it’s a conspiracy.” 

“Ooh,” he shivers sarcastically, “there’s that word again.” 

Mulder is not in the mood for Scully’s skepticism, denial, and any other deflection. Not when he is living proof of this harmful Conspiracy, not when Agent Doggett is in their midst, and not when bad things are still happening and will happen again. And especially not when they could happen to him. 

Mulder started out Three Words smiling-- or trying to-- at Scully, behaving as sympathetically as he could amidst the dawning horror of his memories. That changed the next day after his homecoming when it was revealed his partner had a new partner and didn’t plan to tell him. It cut deep, and ripped open old scabs of former poor choices Scully made to deflect ugly truths she didn’t want to deal with or believe in. Mulder doesn’t know what she has or hasn't proved, what is or isn't accurate; and that hitches his paranoia at the world up a few thousand notches. She was his rock upon reentry. He was depending on her silent strength… and now he doesn’t know if he can trust if her perspective is balanced or biased. It is unfair of Mulder to question her judgment so harshly; but he’s already in a tailspin, can’t see clearly, and just wants answers. And as much as Mulder wants to vent some of his anger at her, he can’t. He keeps Scully close, taking her with him (nearly) everywhere he goes. He’s snippy, snappy, and short, but never physically distant-- a sign of true Mulder rage. 

“You’re being paranoid, Mulder,” Skinner scoffs, “even for you.”  

Mulder strips his theatrics in one fell swoop, laying out the big picture quickly and efficiently; and appeals to their common sense and trust in his judgment. He hopes there’s still enough of both to go around. 

“You wanna hear something really paranoid? The FBI gets its way, there’s gonna be nobody down here to ask the paranoid questions-- nobody to find those faces in those photographs.” 

Mulder’s proven his point. It isn’t ego that is driving Mulder to double-down on his suspicions. It’s a healthy dose of fear and pessimism that there’s a train barreling down the tracks and no one else is trying to stop it. 

“Surely not this Agent Doggett,” he concludes, locking eyes with Scully. 

She understands she’s been reproved-- for the second time in the episode-- and now wonders how she’ll have to navigate this, too, on top of Mulder’s other odd behaviors. 

But she doesn’t have to wonder for long. 

Mulder and Scully Bridge the Gap...

Mulder brings her along to the forbidden evidence room, using her natural cautiousness, personal interest, and innate curiosity to keep her engaged even when Scully wants to flee. 

“Mulder, I know you know this but if anything leaves this room you could be in violation of the law,” she rambles, a shade of the old times peeking through-- tramping up haunted stairs to the rhythm of their footsteps while her lighthearted lectures echoed around them. 

“Really. When I was dead, I was hoping they’d changed the rules,” Mulder deadpans, moving away from the moment and deeper into the bowels of work, work, work.   

Scully awkwardly pauses, then passes over his crack. “Mulder, just being here could be used by Kersh as cause for dismissal.” 

And here is where Mulder tests her resolve to see if the Scully behind him will still walk that tightrope at his side: “Then why don’t you shut the door so he doesn’t find out?” He swiftly looks over his shoulder to show his vague remark was an open-ended invitation, and just as swiftly turns back around, not wanting to watch her make the final decision. In, or out. 

Against her better judgment, Scully chooses-- as always-- the siren call of Mulder’s next adventure. Ever the thrill-seeker, even if 8 months pregnant. 

“I just don’t know what you’re hoping to find in Howard Salt’s personal effect,” she clarifies, having drifted within a safe distance of Mulder's slashing pocketknife.

“Neither do I, really,” he admits while doing his own version of slicing and dicing, “Maybe it’s like Howard Salt’s picture-- I’ll know it when I see it.” 

“So you’ll risk the consequences,” Scully says, softly; but that softness bleeds away as his ill-advised plan takes shape in her head, “even though there may be nothing here.” 

“You don’t get it, do you, Scully?” he replies; but it’s a mild reproof. They’re talking; and because her interest in his motives, in him, is second nature to their dynamic, it’s pulling them both back into the old ways, leeching the feeling of “one man alone” from his shoulders and giving him hope that Scully will still keep up with him, junior or new rat partner nonetheless-- that she still thinks he’s worth keeping up with. That even if she made a wrong judgment call, she’s grown as a person enough to admit it and correct her mistakes-- even if the truth is one of her partner’s unsubstantial hunches. “A man shot up the White House, a prisoner escaped, there’s something bubbling to the surface here. I want to know what it is.” 

Scully notices that he’s settling and takes heart, voice piping up as she begins her rote rational monologue. Cadence slipping between energetic and calming (a dance between her lifting mood and her forced monotone for Mulder’s recovery’s sake), she narrates the past few days, hoping to serve as a helpful self-reflection. 

“Mulder, you… have been through an ordeal that defies all logical explanation-- how can you think that these… two men have the answers when they defy all standard of credibility?” 

Mulder does not like this at all, batting back her rationale with a little more force than was his want before. “And since when does an X-File not defy a certain standard of credibility?” He pauses and locks eyes with Scully-- an action he’s strategized around as much as possible since his hospital release (always walking one step ahead or looking at another person in the room or peering fixedly into a file)-- as he, again, brings the topic back to his greatest fear: “Or that’s the way it used to work.” 

Scully doesn’t bother to rebut, returning his gaze with confusion and a little frustration. 

Mulder interprets this correctly; and lowers one of his walls with an increasingly softening tone. “Look, Scully, I… I need to make sense of what happened to me so that I can stop it. Because if I can’t stop it, it could happen to anyone. It could happen to you.” He half-pivots in her direction but doesn’t lock eyes, swivelling back before adding, “And who’s to say it’ll stop there?” It’s an oblique reference to their child, Mulder-style; and an even more oblique acknowledgement of his paternity as well: I was abducted, you could be abducted, too, and who else could also be abducted like me? The baby. 

The paternity question has already been discussed at length here and here; but since we all know Mulder knows it’s his, the tiny acknowledgements he drops here and there (looking at her bump in Empedocles’s end scene, “tell the kid I went down swinging” in Vienen, “Boy? Or girl” in Alone, etc.) are especially important to watch out for-- and the above was one of them. 

Scully lays her cards on the table, too: “Mulder, if you go down, the X-Files goes down, too.” 

An interesting observation: 

Scully considers Mulder the lifeblood of the X-Files, meaning without him there the files would cease to have meaning.  

In that vein of thought, Scully didn’t consider herself as that lifeblood during his abduction and death; which means she is carrying around massive guilt at “failing” the mission in his absence-- that Starbuck complex again-- and having those failings “confirmed” by Mulder’s on-the-fly deductions the first day back. 

Scully hasn’t realized how deeply invested she is in the files outside of her attachment to Mulder. In Deadalive, we see her moving about the basement like a widow returning bittersweetly to mourn her dead; here, she insists the X-Files will go down if Mulder doesn’t toe the line. But in Alone, she drifts back, wanting to help Doggett (and later Reyes, if you watch past Season 8) despite Mulder drawing her away from the files. 

As much as she hoped for a “normal” life outside of Mulder’s work (Dreamland I, Arcadia, Biogenesis, etc.), Scully found that this was what she wanted for her life (All Things.) But finding out about their baby, losing Mulder, and forcing herself to take his place all this time has kicked up her self-doubts and inadequacies. 

Scully and Mulder are both clinging to the files as their sense of normalcy, trying to use it as an escape from their personal troubles (as usual.) Mulder, as we know, is dodging his PTSD and the revolutionary changes of the past six months; Scully is avoiding the compounding sense of failure she feels-- not pulling the X-Files’ weight to her standards, walking around as a constant reminder of the time her partner has lost, being unable to give him his office back, and hurting him over and over again by her misplaced reticence. The wonder of it all is that they’re still working as a team in spite of their struggles, personally and with each other.   

Mulder nods, raising his eyebrows and chewing on his lips as he continues searching. He’s willing to gamble. 

“I mean, theoretically, they could put you in prison for what you’re doing here!” Scully’s forced calm is lifting with her impassioned speech, scrambling from reason to reason to back her partner down from the ledge he is hurling himself towards. She takes his recklessness as a sign that he’s not coping well-- and she’s correct-- but since Mulder won’t listen to reason, she can’t figure out how to dissuade his stubbornness.   

“Yeah, well,” he huffs, “compared to where I was, prison is a princess cruise.” 

It’s the first allusion to his capture and torture; and Mulder, of course, keeps his head down and eyes away. 

Scully is frustrated and hurt, having smacked up against a wall she can’t guide them away from; and, since Mulder is refusing to see the error of his ways, she turns and heads for the door. It’s the same forwards-and-backwards cycle all over again: he advances, she offers a counterpoint; he deflects in a way that leaves her feeling bruised and unwanted, she retreats in self-preservation; he makes it up to her (off-screen), they move forward. In this case, Mulder won't be reasoned with; and Scully determines not to stick around waiting to be arrested when the baby's due in a few, short weeks.

Just as she’s about to leave, Mulder calls her back--  not even with the answer he’s looking for, but AN answer that’ll keep her from walking out. Again, Mulder is as desperate to keep Scully around this episode as Scully is to be around. 

Like always, Scully’s curiosity is piqued at Mulder’s intrigued exclamations; and she waits by the door, debating with herself as a mere formality. He’s already won this round. 

Mulder waits for her to saunter over without saying anything else, letting his engrossed demeanor speak volumes for him. Scully nonchalantly scoots back into position, trying to make sense of the numbers and letters flying by. 

“It’s been encrypted,” she sighs, slipping her eyes closed while surrendering to the inevitable. 

“Hm,” he agrees, snapping the laptop shut and turning it in each direction. 

The seconds tick by until Scully gives in again. “What are you doing?” she asks, finally reopening her eyes.

“I’m gonna book myself on that princess cruise,” he mutters, pleased.    

As Mulder deftly locates and unclicks the drive, Scully reaches out and snatches it from him. For a split second, his face rehardens into hostility, fading doubts resurfacing at breakneck speed-- all this progress they’ve made, only to be overturned because of a threat to her job.

“I’ll book it for you,” she concludes, resolute. She’s still Scully; and Scully’s still in this together with him. 

Delighted, Mulder packs everything back up and rushes after his partner’s speedy getaway. 

Back in Action (with Patch-Ups Ahead)

Mulder and Scully are back at it again. While far from perfect, they have managed-- in their own, special way-- to find understanding, respect, and equilibrium again in order to, once more, save the day. 

…Or so we hope. 

Thank you for reading~

Enjoy! 

[vigilskeep]

Hiya, do u have a carrd or anything with info on your ocs? I love reading about ocs n all that crap but the tumblr search function is like actually evil. Keir seems super interesting but it’s like killing me trying to find posts to recap his lore 😭

i don’t i’m afraid!! it’s just his enormous mess of a tag as the lore built up... i might make something sometime??? i hadnt thought abt it tbh. in the meantime feel free to ask me any and all questions even if it’s something i’ve probably already said, i love going over this stuff and will do so forever if even slightly prompted. on that note, if it helps, here is a briefly condensed version:

keir is a red personality (aggressive/direct) non-mage hawke. i did his full playthrough as a warrior, i sometimes talk about switching him to rogue, but the only really important thing is that he’s a reaver and will bite you for real

he’s a man of few words, extremely blunt and threatening to the point of being absurdly over-the-top with pretty much all strangers, and much softer but still bluntly earnest with the small group of people he considers his own. he considers himself first and foremost a protector and would do anything to keep those people safe. his father malcolm was a strict man who raised him to do this and he accepted that wholeheartedly. consider him a guard dog. killed his first templar in defence of the family aged 15

he adores and idolises magic and fiercely supports mage freedom, though ultimately he would absolutely sacrifice a wider “cause” if doing so would keep his mages safe. fortunately or unfortunately, he can’t do that because the two are inextricable

he’s a proud fereldan and cares very little for kirkwall (hates kirkwall. hates kirkwall. someone please get him out of here) and its nobility, which tends to show in his appearance and behaviour. long braided hair, the streak across his nose is kaddis, and takes his mabari, silla, absolutely everywhere

he’s elf-blooded via his father, who was the bastard son of a fereldan elven servant girl and an orlesian chevalier who was with the occupation

his playthrough has circle mage bethany. he adores her and he would do anything for her but her acceptance of her fate and disillusionment with his overprotectiveness meant they had an increasingly strained relationship. it was because she was trapped that he couldn’t leave the city. once he was champion, meredith essentially had a knife to his sister’s throat whenever she wanted his compliance, not to mention the looming threat to anders and merrill, making those three years the worst and most terrifying in his life

he romances anders! friendmance and they escape kirkwall together in the end. not always easy but he really loves him, justice half included. there’s a lot of lore here ummm if i mention the “and they were housemates” timeline, that’s my silly mutual pining alternate version of events where anders moves into the amell estate for safekeeping before he and keir actually get together. if i mention aura hawke, that’s the potential daughter i occasionally hc for them

he had previous relationships with morrigan (in lothering as young 20-somethings) and merrill (during act 1). you cannot keep him away from those romanceable mages

he’s still close friends with merrill. isabela is his best friend. he has a complicated, semi-antagonistic friendship with varric, who was really closer with anders but now after the fact doesn’t want to remember that. he deeply respects and is friends with fenris. he did rivalry with sebastian, but in an agree-to-disagree way where they considered each other friends nonetheless until All That happened. he had a more genuine rivalry with aveline though still coloured by their trauma bonding

i THINK those are the main beats of his lore but he’s my most discussed and developed dragon age character so i’m sure i’ve missed some of the assorted junkyard of thoughts

[some-pers0n]

Reading through scenes with Albatross in them, so you know what that means!! Note time!! Time to take notes about Albatross, with little sprinkles of Fathom and Lagoon.

This is a post literally only meant for me. I'm. yeah. If I ever rip it out of my drafts it's gonna be because: "Wowie you think the other dragon likers will enjoy this as well?" It's not going to be coherent at all, switching from bullet points to full on tangents. I'll eventually shorten it down to something more compact and easier to comprehend, perhaps with a character sheet for Albatross with a detailed personality section.

With that being said, lets read.

Chapter 1

Chapter where Fathom learns that he's a magic guy. Okie.

First note is entirely off-topic, but I really do love Indigo and Fathom's interactions. They're so sweet.

Lagoon's first introduction already paints her as ominous and foreboding, comparing her rising out of the sea like "a sinister iceberg". Iceberg flipping videos are spooky to me, so yeah that makes sense. Either way, it establishes her character to be one that's antagonistic, with the use of the phrase "stalked slowly up to the beach" in the next sentence making it very firm that she's not exactly a dragon we like.

Lagoon's literally beefing with a child. God I hate her so much,, I love her <333

Interesting use of the titled "most respected dragon in the Sea Kingdom" to describe Albatross. I like that it implies that Albatross is viewed more highly than even Queen Lagoon (which isn't too high of a bar to clear, but ehh). He's beloved by the kingdom. He's their first animus.

Odd to describe his expression as "suspicious" here. I like thinking that he looks like a generic evil cartoon villain/anti-semite stereotype here. The next sentence describing him with a hooked snout doesn't help.

Curious that he would complain about the TOP ceremony here. I get it's for exposition, but I find it interesting. He doesn't see a point in the exam. It's a waste of time to him and the others. He says that, if they were an animus, they would've figured it out by now.

Lagoon on the other hand wants to use this exam to weed out the animus dragons quickly. She wants another animus so she can use them in case the RainWings or MudWings try to do anything fishy, saying that they've been acting up. She views animus dragons less like actual people and more like tools for either how own vanity projects or for war.

^ Something very compelling to me here is how she uses she/her pronouns to refer to this imaginary animus they'll discover. Why does she do that? That's...quite odd. Does she want Pearl to be the animus? Strange.

Lagoon once again uses the Sapphire incident as leverage over Albatross. This is our first introduction scene to these characters and we've established that Lagoon is antagonistic and kind of a prick. She reminds Albatross of this without batting an eye. I like to personally think that she isn't as bothered by the mauling of her sister as Albatross is. Albatross was traumatized by the event and the guilt of it all has followed with him for his entire life. Lagoon on the other hand doesn't exactly seem too bothered with the idea of bringing it up just to remind Albatross about what he's done, reminding him that, no matter what he does, he destroyed Sapphire's life.

Albatross shows his disdain for being used as a tool for Lagoon. He's given her everything she wants, yet she does not feel fully satisfied with it. He also mentions he does not want an apprentice. Headcanon: I think Albatross isn't fond of the idea of having an apprentice because he kinda just hates the concept of Lagoon having another animus to look after. Honestly? I fully believe that if Fathom discovered his magic on his own time and approached Albatross privately about it, Albatross would've trained him but he would INSIST that he NEVER tell Lagoon about it. He doesn't want to doom another dragon to his fate.

!! Lagoon reacts to this aggressively. She hisses and snarls at him over this slight resistance. It shows that she's not one for the idea of Albatross ever standing up for himself. It's never been about what Albatross wants. He's barely even a dragon in her eyes. He's just a breathing wish-making device that looks ugly as hell to her.

Albatross submits. Headcanon: I think Albatross is always anxious and tries controlling himself constantly because he doesn't want to hurt Lagoon the same way he did with Sapphire. It's...very hard not to, though...

I like thinking that Albatross did the coconut thing because he was so confident that there wouldn't be an animus dragons. I also like thinking that he thought it would be something to entertain the dragonets. Like...imagine being nine or something and you're told you could hit the Pope with a basketball if you just yell at the ball. Silly.

^ Also in the Guide, Albatross says it's much easier and a lot more safe to enchant a coconut to float or something. It characterizes him as actually caring about the safety of the tribe and putting in far more thought and care into the exams than Lagoon ever could.

Albatross is bored by doing these tests. Fathom is amazed however by simply watching the coconut fly over to him.

^ Interestingly, Fathom is spooked and scared. He's unsure if the test will hurt him. He's anxious that, somehow, Albatross has enchanted the coconuts to react if somebody touched it.

"Wouldn't it just be easier to throw it at you?" BWAHWHUDHAIDUH-- INDIGO AHHHH

^ Albatross laughs at this. He's amused by the response, finding humour in such a simple question. Silly guy.

Interesting note of animus magic here is that you have to command something to do what you want. You don't ask it. You order it. Fascinating.

BONK!!

IT BROKE BONES??? I mean, obviously. It's a giant dense coconut flying at him at the speed of a bullet. Of course.

Pearl you goddamn rat.

HAHAHAHAHAH OH MY GODDDDDD how could people read this book without understanding that Lagoon is clearly evil and Wrong? "You are going to do such great things for m- for your tribe" AHAHAHHA

^ Actually obsessed with how shitty the royal SeaWing family is. That's such a silly thing of Tui to do.

Albatross is happy!! Again, going back to that headcanon I talked about, I think Albatross would like to train Fathom, but rather he doesn't want to be replaced or to sentence Fathom to a life of constantly serving a bitchy queen. That's something to worry about later. For now, everything is happy and nice.

Chapter 3

Private magic lessons with grandpapa.

I actually adore Indigo and Fathom oh my goddd they're so sweet...

Really love the interactions here. It's quite fun and goofy between all of the characters.

Fathom listened to Albatross's wishes to have him save his animus magic. Albatross knows the dangers that animus magic holds, and Fathom wants to listen to his grandpapa. Fathom really does look up to and love Albatross. He's so sweet and untraumatized <3

HANDWRITING!!! USE OF THE WORD HAND!!! NOT TALON!! HAND!!!!!

I always forget the Island Palace was a thing and the massacre wasn't at the Summer Palace you mean to tell me that this bitch needed THREE palaces????? One of which only really existing as a means for PARTIES??? Gott DAMN Lagoon chill out.

^ Fuck it. Headcanon: Albatross lives at the Island Palace. Yeah yeah it's mostly used for parties and for political diplomats to sleep, but GOD I don't think Albatross could stand to live in the same palace as Lagoon. How about Albatross lived there with his wife and raised his kids there? Now he lives there alone. Boo hoo. He's the host whenever guests come to visit. He gets pissy that his house basically becomes a nightmareish party hellscape whenever his sister comes over.

^^ It's also pretty and I think Albatross would like it.

Albatross drags Fathom to the beach where he first discovered animus magic so he could really drill it in just how fucked up animus magic is. Epic.

Albatross is silly and goofy!! He is happy and having fun and is excited to teach Fathom the ways of being a wizard. Fathom inversely is so inexperienced and gullible. Silly guy.

Something to note: So far, Albatross really hasn't been talked about like he's...stern or rude. He's only bothered by Lagoon's antics and demands. I think he's a fairly good and friendly dragon, but it just extremely annoyed by Lagoon (completely understandable)

GOD he's full of so much whimsy and joy. He's so silly. I love this little guy (I am talking about an old traumatized dragon)

Fathom describes this interaction as being new and slightly odd, as Albatross was always seen as some distant and powerful figure. A dragon of importance that was always too busy. He was always nice and friendly, but never exactly...there. Now? He gets to see how he really is: SILLY!!!

Further showing how much Albatross is having fun via by describing him jumping into the ocean with him "splashing into the sea".

Lagoon requested Albatross show Fathom the palace just in-case Albatross dies before it's finished. Now, I know I'm biased, but from how things happen later on, I feel Lagoon was plotting to dispose of Albatross the moment Fathom was discovered to be an animus. She wanted Fathom to pick up where Albatross left off. Fathom would be a new, better, more presentable animus.

^ Albatross doesn't know about this plot, so he goes along with it. He's excited to teach Fathom!!

Again, Albatross shows that he's a lot more considerate and aware. He's cautious and thoughtful. He purposefully stretches out the creation of the Summer Palace so that it doesn't cause any damage to the ecosystem.

Fathom stfu your gandpapa cares about the environment. He didn't mess up the spell, he just didn't want the ocean to explode or whatever.

Albatross is supportive of Fathom's idea to create a cover of leaves over the Summer Palace, but this is where Albatross gets serious and tells Fathom he needs to think and plot out his spells. Albatross does not want Fathom to use up his soul carelessly or to make rash and impulsive choices without thinking them through clearly. I think this fear of Fathom misusing his magic was instilled by, again, the Sapphire incident. He doesn't want Fathom to follow in his footsteps.

TRAUMA STORY TIME!!!

Albatross is obviously telling this story to Fathom as a) exposition for his backstory and b) to tell Fathom that he needs to be careful with his magic. It is not a toy. It is a powerful, dangerous force.

Fathom is hopeful and still thinks Albatross isn't really capable of harm as he assumes that his first enchantment was something grand and wonderful.

Literally how does anybody read this and come away thinking that Lagoon was entirely innocent here. Fathom literally reflects on Albatross's comment on them doing "normal brother-sister teasing", which is Sapphire and Lagoon coming down and bullying him until he snapped back at them. Fathom is like: "...I don't think that's normal brother-sister teasing, grandpapa."

AUGHHHH LAGOON YOU'RE THE WORST,,, classist loser. Treating Indigo badly and saying that, by keeping her around, they're "coddling the lower class". She obviously views herself as being better and superior to common SeaWings.

Sapphire and Lagoon are the worst. "Everything you have will be mine when I'm queen" ughhhhh

Such a terrible event shaped Albatross in a way that cannot fully be described. It scarred him. It was the first time he had used his magic, and it was to harm his sister. It was a simple mistake, yet he can never live it down. He blames himself for it. Lagoon on the other hand uses it as a means to control him. Manipulate his trauma and guilt-trips him into doing what she wants.

I blame TF2 for making me have a knee-jerk reaction to the word "spy". Albatross literally saying "a spy?" when he notices Indigo watching them made me think of the french guy.

Aww,,,Blob....

Chapter 6

oh no

Lagoon is becoming more rude towards Indigo since Fathom was revealed to be an animus. Again, she hates how she had a commoner dragon frolicking around with royals.

Lagoon more or less hosts these parties as vanity projects for her to show off everything grand about her (which was basically done by Albatross after she manipulated him into using his magic). I'm willing to bet she doesn't care really at all about what happens from a political standpoint, so long as she's known as some grand and glorious queen.

Fathom mentions that Lagoon is "skilled with diplomatic meets" because she has the power of an animus behind her. Again, she mostly relies on Albatross and his magic to be feared.

Fathom wearing jewelry that also matches the stuff Albatross wears. I wonder if that was set up by Lagoon.

IT'S BEEN THREE YEARS SINCE THE TEST?? Okey then.

These Fathigo moments are melting my heart. Tui....

BWAHAHWHAHUWDHAIWUHAI--- I always forget how charming and silly these books are. Ahhhh this is so cute and fun.

Blah blah blah let us get back to old murder man. It's THE chapter after all.

So after three years, Albatross is still too spooked to let Fathom do more than basic spells. Is he fearful? Perhaps at this point he knows about Lagoon's plot to replace him and wants to live longer. It's hard to tell. Three years is a large timeskip. A lot could happen in that gap.

I think Albatross has become a lot more...quiet and estranged since then. He completely erased the work that Fathom had made. He's a bit more erratic. If there's one thing I wish we got, it would be a better explanation for this. Something HAD to have happened in order for him to have a personality shift like this.

He's described as being unexcited when they finally completed the palace. Perhaps this was the moment. I think that, yeah, Albatross figured out that his time is up. He's going to die. Lagoon is probably going to kill him off and replace him with Fathom. I headcanon that Lagoon killed Albatross's wife, which he probably could've figured out by now as well, so him finally completing the palace would mean he's obsolete. He's finished. There's no use for him anymore. He'll be disposed.

I don't think he planned the massacre. It was rather him finally reaching a breakpoint and going "fuck it, if I'm dying tonight, I'm taking down as many other dragons as I can". He would've been repulsed by the idea, but at this point he just straight up doesn't care. I think when he first approached Lagoon he wanted to sort things out with her, but as it became increasingly obvious that she was going to be unreasonable, he just pulled out the knife and dealt with her himself.

I hate you Lagoon.

There's no real point in me describing this part. It's Lagoon just basically showing off Albatross's creations to the very-not-okay-with-animus-dragons SkyWing royals. Her head is so far up her own ass she just doesn't care.

Big fight happens.

The reactions from the other dragons are interesting. Manta, Splash, and Reef all react with anxiety and tense up. They know that Albatross isn't in a Good Mood, or perhaps they are a little aware that Albatross is going to be disposed of and Lagoon is practically throwing rocks at the bear now. No longer is she poking the bear with a stick. She's pretty much just hurling rocks and telling it that she's going to kill it.

Definitely when I rewrite this scene it's gonna be a lot more dramatic. I mean, it's the climax of Albatross's story. The big moment everyone knows. It deserves to be slightly more bombastic than this.

KNIFE!!!

Chapter 8

Still endlessly amused by there being a Clearsight chapter right before this.

Murder dragon becomes murder dragon chapter, lets go.

Straight up doesn't care anymore. Again, like I said before, I think he wants to go out with a bang. Headcanon: I don't think Albatross was at all content with how his life went. Yeah, he's the most respected dragon in the tribe, but at the cost of being a little pet for his sister to boss around. At this point he is Done with everything. Its gone fully into a manic episode.

^ Something like this as well, I don't think he liked the parties at all. Circling back into the Island Palace being his home, he hates his house basically being turned into a playground for Lagoon to show off. I also think he just generally doesn't like parties because they're loud and bother him. I'm 100% adding in my animus curse headcanon into this winglet, so with the added bonus of him being sensitive to sound it makes him yearn for peace and quiet. He's just getting that wish in a bloody and brutal way.

Interesting that Fathom tries DEFENDING Albatross even after he's fully aware that he killed Lagoon on purpose and is going after the SkyWings. He's in denial. He still loves his grandpapa and doesn't want to think he would actually do any of this. If he did, it was for a good reason, right? He would stop soon, right?

MANTA NO NONONONON NOOOOOO OH MY GOD NOOO THIS IS SO SAD NOONONONONOOO Manta is Albatross's daughter, by the way. She's trying to reason with her father.

Finally the realization is beginning to set into Fathom that, yeah, his grandpapa is going to kill everyone.

Ouughhhhh I wish Tui did more horrific moments like this. Having Albatross come into the room and act all like a horror monster is so good. She's really good with writing tension in these scenes. Love it.

Interesting that Albatross would point out Fathom's lack of an imagination of all things. Perhaps he's reaching for straws for anything that makes him better than Fathom. Reasons for why he should've been seen as a good and worthy animus.

Again, with Albatross mentioning here how he wants to kill Fathom up close, it's less about the killing them to him. It's the joy and release from watching the life drain from their eyes. To finally show how powerful he is. To show that he deserves to be seen as powerful and more than just a lapdog for Lagoon.

^ Albatross also sees Fathom as the reason for Lagoon disposing him. Albatross blames Fathom for it. If it wasn't for Fathom, he could've lived on with his miserable existence for a while longer. Maybe he could've shown Lagoon what he thought of her then.

Annnddd Albatross is dead within like two paragraphs. Yippeee.

Honestly if I'm doing this I'm giving his ass a Breaking Bad ending with him managing to live on and limp over to a place that's important to him before dying. RIP bozo.

[chaotic-clouds]

Another theme I really love in little nightmares 2 is how all the beings affected by the Signal Tower can be interpreted as representations of the different kinds of abuse children face throughout their life.

(Now bc of the recent LN podcast that came out giving some insight on how the LN universe works, we know kids that end up there are usually there because they’ve experienced severe trauma and/or abuse throughout their lives. What we also know now is that adults can also end up there, but instead these adults are usually the abusers, which is what makes this world 10x more nightmarish for the kids that inhabit it.)

But I’m not gonna get too into the logistics of the podcast for now though because I’ve not watched it entirely, and I still think this interpretation can be applied with or without the podcast context so I’ll just give my personal thoughts on the main antagonists in general for now!

Starting off with The Bullies I think their symbolism is most obvious, abuse from peers. In typical bully fashion the way they attack you is usually in hoards, killing you with their bare hands instead of a special ability. They even set out traps or what could be seen as a deadly prank, to kill anyone that is unfortunate to set it off. And while yes you are their main target because you are an outsider and “not one of them”, they also seem to regularly harass each other as well, emphasizing the cruel and vindictive nature they internalize (like when mono and six come across a solitary room with a chair in it, implying that the bullies regularly tied some people up and left them there for days, weeks even). But my favorite part is despite how cruel and aggressive they act, the form that the signal tower has turned them into is a porcelain doll, one that while keeping the appearance of a child is instead hollow and just as easy to kill (if not more than a regular kid). The bullies are the closest thing to the regular survivors of LN, but because of their cruel actions in defense of deeply buried insecurities, the Signal Tower has turned the bullies into fragile hollow husks of hate that will forever showcase the damage done to them outwardly, without any chance of concealing the cracks and pieces missing.

When it comes to The Teacher I’m not as sure, but I think she is meant to represent the abuse that individuals in power (specifically the education system) can commit to those underneath their rank. She’s extremely strict and cruel in her punishments, and has stricken fear into even the rowdiest of bullies, her class being dead silent as she teaches nonsense for however long she wishes. Adding onto this, she seems to be the sole person in power to the entire school, setting the schedule however she pleases. With her extensive neck I think this also can be seen as another act of dominance on her part, being able to literally be above whoever crosses her.

The Doctor is less direct, but I think he represents how those put in more knowledgeable and trusted positions can easily take advantage of those they’re supposed to protect. In this case towards his patients that he has taken advantage of and turned into his own experiments, but what confuses me is to why he’s on the ceiling? I mean it could just be as a way to be disturbing but I think it could be conveying how the doctor’s moral views have been so warped that he is literally viewing the world upside down.

The Hunter to me is also a little more confusing. I’m not sure what abuse he would embody but again he is farther from the pale city, so perhaps he’s not as in line with the Signal Towers influence/theme.

The Viewers in my opinion, represent neglect and addiction. While technically passive until provoked, they are designed to make you feel as though you’re walking on eggshells around them whenever you have to walk through the room they’re in. But because of them not caring about you whatsoever, you can pretty much just do whatever you want around them and they won’t even blink an eye until is directly disrupting the connection between them and the signal tower, in which case they get extremely violent, making a sound akin to screaming as they get up in your face to suck the life out of you. Their appearance also has a lot to say about their condition; The way their faces have been distorted and how uniform they all look, the Signal Tower has pretty much sucked the life out of them and made them forget who they ever were, possibly also representing how the relationship between them and whatever children they had would be so distant, that the kid wouldn’t see them as any different than a stranger they walked past on the street.

Aaaand because this post is now way too long maybe I’ll rant about how this applies to Mono and Six’s transformation via the Signal Tower another day. (Also this is just a silly interpretation!! So take this with a grain of salt, I’m sure someone else has explained this like 10x more literate than I could but I just love talking about this game 💔)

[toastywarmth]

HBO’s Fred isn’t as bad as you think…

From the title, you’re probably confused, but let me explain.

I’ve seen a lot of people (rightfully so), criticising this new version of Fred, and saying he’s now a bad person.

But after analysing the first two episodes, I believe this Fred isn’t as antagonistic as people make him out to be. Don’t get me wrong, he’s a whiny brat, but when you actually look deeper into it, he didn’t do anything particularly wrong, and it’s the characters around him who give him crap for no reason.

Let’s start with his dynamic with Velma for example;

At first meeting, Fred does not give Velma the time of day and is pretty racist towards her, and is overall a jerk.

In the context of this one scene, Fred was not meant to be likeable, and it would make sense why Velma would dislike him enough, to accuse him of murder.

But...then we get the scene of them having a heart to heart, with Fred opening about his insecurities around his masculinity, and Velma sharing her experience with her mom and her hallucinations. It was a sweet moment between them, and Fred even remembered Velma’s name. This was the only scene in the first episode that I genuinely enjoyed, because it felt like the show was finally taking itself seriously instead of being meta, too bad they had to ruin it, and I’ll explain why in a moment.

After this scene, we get a scene of Velma changing her appearance to fit in, but it only works for a short while, before her classmates remember that she is still the main suspect in a murder case, and begin throwing trash at her. Fred immediately goes to Velma’s defence, though a bit passive aggressive, he was still one of the few people to believe that Velma didn’t do it. Plus, he’s a popular guy, why would he risk that by defending an outcast like Velma, if he didn’t have a smidge of belief in her.

And after both the heart to heart and him saving her from being hit by a paper cutter, Velma still had the audacity to insist that Fred murdered Brenda, even though it fundamentally makes no sense.

The body was found in Velma’s locker, the second body was found in her recycling bin. Surely, if she rubbed together two of her shrivelled, dulled, flea-sized braincells together, she would assume that the person who murdered those girls, is trying to frame her. So why would she believe that Fred (one of the few people who believes that she didn’t do it and openly defended her) be a part of the murder.

“Oh! Because he’s a rich white guy with a small dick—” I will roast you in a chicken rotisserie and feed you to my cat!

Velma is supposed to be the clever detective, yet she is clouded by her own biases, and doesn’t see the clear answers in front of her face. And the worst part is, when she did end up defending Fred, she does it by humiliating him in front of an entire courtroom.

Claiming that he couldn’t possibly cut those girls’ brains out, when he couldn’t even cut his own food, but completely forgetting that in the first episode, he threw a paper cutter with extreme precision and in doing so casually slicing off a student’s leg (yes, this is a real thing that happens the show, no it is not addressed).

Also, I hate how Velma joins in on dogpiling Fred on his body issues, even though she is aware that he struggles with his masculinity. It comes off as really mean, when Fred poured his heart out to Velma, and in return, Velma just judged him like everyone else.

The issues I stated above could’ve been fixed immediately, if they just removed the scene of their heart to heart, and the scene of Fred defending Velma. Velma would still have a reason to suspect Fred of murder, but won’t come off as too ridiculous.

Now that Velma is done, time to move on to Daphne, and her dynamic with Fred.

In their first scene together, it’s framed as Fred being a bad boyfriend. Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying Fred is a good boyfriend, he did planned for Brenda to be his Plan B, if things didn’t go as planned with Daphne. But Daphne is not any better, when it comes to their relationship;

For one, she sexually pressures Fred. Touching him inappropriately, then gets mad at him when he says no. And then proceeds to gossip about him behind his back, all because he doesn’t want to have sex with her.

This is played up for jokes, or seen as Daphne being justified. When in reality, this was wrong of Daphne, she shouldn’t get mad at Fred for not having sex with her, then betray his trust, by talking behind his back to Velma, a person Fred doesn’t even know personally. And the reason this pisses me off so much, because I know this would be taken more seriously if the gender roles were reversed.

Here’s a little Tumblr wisdom; it doesn’t matter if you are a boy or girl or whatever, if your significant other is pressuring you into doing sexual activities, despite your protests, they do not care for you as a person, but more as something to benefit from.

You don’t need a reason to not want to have sex, even with the person you are dating.

This isn’t the only thing that Daphne does to Fred. She doesn’t even come to his defence when he accused of murder. Their relationship is implied to be one out of convenience rather than love, but still, shouldn’t Daphne be at least concerned that her boyfriend (whom she probably known for a while) could most likely end up in jail?

Not to mention, her possibly cheating on Fred with Velma. I say possibly, because I don’t know if it was stated or implied that her and Fred broke up, and I do not have the willpower to rewatch the episodes.

So recap; Fred is a bad boyfriend, but Daphne is an even worse girlfriend. Daphne and Velma are both mega-bitches, and deserve each other.

Now for the writers themselves, who think that having a 15 year old boy being constantly sexually harassed is considered ‘comedy’.

I can forgive something like Family Guy for doing these kinds of disgusting jokes, because they are at least a original property. Fred Jones is a character that people grew up with for years, and they decided to show him in this light, without even having the decency to age him up.

We get constant scenes of random ass adults making uncomfortable jokes about this minor’s dong. We get a scene of a bunch of people photographing this HIGHSCHOOLER in a open robe, and Fred’s father is more concerned about people finding out about his penis size, rather than the fact that these adults are taking pictures of a naked minor. Everyone in this show should be in freaking arrested!

And it’s made worse, it’s made so much worse, when you see the writers of this show are purposely making Fred as infantilised as possible.

Not only do they sexualise/make sexual jokes towards a highschooler, but they did it to a highschooler who has the mannerisms of a toddler. I don’t care if it’s a joke, I am GOING to give the writers the side-eye for this.

Also, side tangent, but making Fred this clueless child-like fool, is a can of worms of itself. For those who don’t know, Fred Jones was autism-coded by the fandom for a while, and was confirmed to be canonically autistic in Mystery Incorporated. I don’t need to explain why it’s bad to make an autistic-corded character into a clueless blubbering man-child. Of course, I know that the showrunners didn’t intend to make an incredibly ableist portrayal of Fred, but that doesn’t make it better. This is why you should ALWAYS do research on the source material before making a reboot, or else you end up with shit like this, and erase actual good representation. I know I sound overly passionate about this, but as a person on the spectrum who felt seen by Fred in Mystery Incorporated, this felt like a huge betrayal for me.

In conclusion to this post, this new version of Fred is annoying, but he deserves more of your sympathy than Velma.

Velma backstabbed him, even though he defended her.

His girlfriend sexually pressures him, and then didn’t have the gull to defend him when he’s committed of murder, and then fucks off to make out with the girl who tried to bash her head in with a crowbar in the earlier episode.

Everyone is constantly sexually harassing and body-shaming him, most of which are freaking adults.

That’s the end of my post, thank you for reading.

[spotsupstuff]

Oof sorry, it wasn't a very good question I suppose, my goal wasnt to assassinate the character, I just thought it was an interesting thought for a character who has lived their life without a conscience to suddenly have to grapple with having one, and the cognitive dissonance surrounding a new perspective on past actions.

My apologies nonetheless.

yeah, i see why it would be asked, that's why i hadn't meant to aggressively rush in! only stating the thoughts, 's good

normally i'm all for going 180° on something (that's how you get to interesting stuff after all), but see, this is why i took an issue with it:

Gem is an Extremely background character, working especially in the background. her main roles are to be an aspect of worldbuilding and then a momentarily antagonist thanks to her Intergral Aspects not matching what needs to be done for the Goal to be achieved

by removing an Integral Aspect, she cannot offer the one big thing she's here for, which is her reaction. asking what she'd be like if one of her main things was different creates redundant character conflict, in the case that she reverts back to what she was and it is useless in that it would never come up for the sake of the plot

the characters drive the plot, but the plot dictates their goals and reactions and so we need to answer to the plot. if it doesn't serve the plot and the character isn't in an important place in the hierarchy of the characters, it becomes an Eh, creates a drag for the story, affects the pacing and such, so why give it any thought, yanno?

granted, if the question was directed towards one of the Main characters or the Enriching ones and i was the sorta writer person... thingy... that enjoys those little "for One Episode, this character acts differently !!!" episode plots, then aight, sure, but none of that is really the case. see, i'm not too big of a fan of these sort of... "distractions" from the main story, much less when i'm the one making it i'm noticing

[tobiasdrake]

"Good is not a thing you are, Kamala. It is a thing you do."

This is a very important concept that a lot of people struggle to understand. Some people aggressively don't want to understand it, to the point that I've seen this show blamed as if it invented the concept of judging people by their actions.

What Sheikh Abdullah's talking about is a fundamental shift in how we interpret concepts of good and evil. One that seems so basic when you say it out loud but that is inexplicably difficult for a lot of people to grasp. I don't know how it is in Muslim culture, but in the circles I come from, I see people struggle with this all the time.

The idea is this: People do good things and people do bad things. Try to do good things. That's it. It seems so simple as a system of morality. You would think, you would really think, that this is the baseline system of morality that people just naturally follow.

But it's not.

Many people treat good and bad as intrinsic qualities of individuals. The things that good people do are good. And the things that bad people do? Those things are bad. It's not even about what the thing is; The same act can be good if done by a good person but bad if done by a bad person. The morality of the act is defined by the intrinsic goodness or badness of the person doing it.

If a person agreed to be good steals a loaf of bread, then the assumption follows that they must be desperate. They're hungry. They're going through tough times. But if a person agreed to be bad steals a loaf of bread, then it's because they're bad. Bad people steal. They're just expressing their inner badness.

Nobody stops to ask why the person stole the loaf of bread. They just trust their inner judgment on the person's goodness or badness to define the act for them.

In fact, this often applies to how we consume media. We've seen and discussed quite a bit of it right here in the MCU. Heroic characters have gotten away with doing some horrifying shit in the MCU, haven't they? From serial murders to building a WMD that annihilated a sovereign country, with nary a slap on the wrist. The stories we consume just throw those things out there and keep right on trucking like the characters we're supposed to root for aren't horrifying criminals.

Why? Because of an agreement between the writer and audience that these characters are good people. So even when they're engaging in mass murder, even when they launch attacks on populated cities or destroy a country with their hubris, we are not really meant to judge them harshly for it. Because they are good, and the things they do are good.

Meanwhile, characters like Karli Morgenthau are meant to be judged harshly, meant to be condemned, even when every word out of their mouth is right. Because she is the villain, and so her works are bad.

This is called Protagonist-Centered Morality. It's the application of "Things are good when done by good people and bad when done by bad people" applied to the narrative roles of the protagonist and antagonist. It's the obligatory assumption of intrinsic goodness and intrinsic badness coloring perception of the actions being taken by the characters onscreen.

It's the reason that, whenever you're writing a story, you should really take some time to think about your hero and your villain, and to ask: "What actually makes this character good and that character bad? What am I actually doing to give the audience reason to agree with the narrative assessment of their roles?"

And it's something that, once you start to see it in the real world, you can't really unsee it. Xenophobia thrives on Good People/Bad People logic; Categories that are just as easily defined as In-Group and Out-Group. A conservative will accuse Mexicans of being drug addicts and then take a hit of cocaine without an ounce of self-awareness, because drugs are only bad when they're done by Bad People.

(Personally, I think drugs are fine in general even though the hardest substance I use is caffeine, but that's beside the point. Point is, a lot of political hypocrisy is itself driven by Good People/Bad People logic. It's a hell of a trip.)

Point is, Sheikh Abdullah has touched on a very important philosophical change in the way we view morality that a lot more people need to hear than you might think, summarized in a single, easy to quote line of dialogue. And oh boy, will quoting that line to some of the people who need to hear it piss them off. Not even at you, but at the show for writing it. As if Sheikh Abdullah was the first person to ever have this idea.

[beevean]

Top 10 favorite CV characters!

I remember when you sent me this ask a year ago! I was in the middle of playing CoD and I still had other games to go lol. Well...

10) Julia. She deserves more than for being remembered for an awkward romance plot :( I like her coy attitude towards Hector, and I'm intrigued by the implications that she's repressing her pain for the Isaac situation, for the sake of assisting the man who wants to kill her brother.

9) Walter. Honestly for a guy just meant to be Beta Dracula, the dude is very fun! He's like a Dracula if he didn't even pretend to have a shred of decency or justification :P dude just wants to play with his food because he's bored, and he's entertainingly cruel about it, from deliberately turning the women he kidnaps for shit and giggles to subjecting Joachim to a fate worse than death. Proof that villains don't always need a tragic backstory, as long as they have style.

8) Joachim. I warmed up to the guy! He reeks of "cut from development", because his concept is very fascinating and he's so wasted as a random boss. He's antagonistic to Leon because he's a haughty vampire who clearly thinks he deserves at least his castle lol, but also to Walter because holy shit the dude really punished him in an exemplary manner. That art of him looking out of his mind says a lot. Also he has very cool powers that make him a joy to use in Joachim Mode.

7) Leon. A pure, noble-hearted knight, so honest that he won't even take a sword that didn't belong to him, who only wished the wellbeing of his fiancée and his best friend... and oh. Oh how he paid for it :) Leon's story is utterly miserable, made even worse by how he ends his game with the most depressing canonical ending imaginable. My man has immense mental fortitude, and I love the scene where he angrily rejects Mathias' offer of immortality because he'd rather honor Sara's dying wish, unlike a certain vampire we know... but he didn't know that, by swearing revenge on the newly-turned Mathias, he'd doom his own lineage to a lifetime of terrible pressure...

6) Rosaly. girl <3 I once again have to thank Ayami Kojima and Kou Sasakura for breathing life into this character, especially the latter. She's just an aggressively kind girl who will love you to death. Even if others think she's too nice or too trusting, she stubbornly helps people because she likes to do so. And I find it a very interesting detail that she seems absolutely unconcerned with Hector's past: she only sees the good in him, without the baggage. I find her endearing :)

5) Trevor. He's the Sonic of Castlevania. He's shaped like a friend <3 I like what personality we can glean from CV3: that despite being shunned by people for his powers (now where did I hear that before) he was ready to accept the quest of slaying Dracula - he didn't even do it for the Legacy, he's just that much of a brave guy! - and he was able to easily befriend and lead all sorts of people, hinting at his charisma and at his good heart. And of course in CoD he's just sass central :P I forgive his weird hostility against Hector because, despite his cockiness and ferocity, I like how he still takes the time to give credit to his friends for their victory <3

4) Dracula. The bastard himself :) I really like how, by being the most recurring character in the series, he ended up being quite fleshed out. His tragic story does little to justify how much of a hypocritical asshole he is. He loves so intensely, yet so selfishly. He wants his son by his side, but only after cutting his human heritage. He takes two abused boys under his wing, but only to raise them as his loyal knights and forgerers of armies. And overall, you can see the degradation of his morals and even his personality through the centuries, as he loses a piece of his humanity with every resurrection... not that he was a saint as a human, either.

3) Shanoa. Things Shanoa deserved: the world. Things Shanoa did not deserve: all the shit that happened to her :) it's hard to make an interesting character out of an amnesiac without emotions, yet Shanoa is intriguing. This girl who was taken in by Ecclesia as a young child, raised to become a weapon to vanquish all evil yet constantly protected by Albus... even when she loses everything, even when she learns that her entire life is a lie and for her beloved mentor she was nothing more than a lamb to the slaughter, she still wants to fight, she still chooses to sacrifice herself. And by the end, she finds a place to live in Wygol Village, after rescuing and befriending all the villagers. also she kitty :3

2) Isaac. A pathetic wet cat of a man <3 just terrible in every way <3 miserable and bitter and ready to make it everyone else's problem <3 genuinely tragic backstory of terrible loss that makes you pity him but never to the point of excusing his terrible actions <3 how much he strives to be nothing but a tool and dying as one (and a defective one too) <3 absolute banger of a theme too <3

Hector. I just think he's neat.

:P

I talked enough about the guy. I know that he's basically a smoothie of Alucard and Guts. But something about his journey of self affirmation, how he chose to serve Dracula out of a need to belong somewhere then chose to put his principles above his trauma but still paid the consequences for his past alliance and betrayal, the parallels with Isaac and Dracula showing that yes you can fall into evil but you can rise again as many times as you want, his development thanks to Rosaly, his struggle with his own humanity and powers... It just speaks to me, what can I say.

[technicallyblakebelladonna]

Anything you want from ilia that’s isn’t related to Blake or yang? Personally I want to see a little of ilia finding herself not in relation to Blake or Adam. And my personal hope is that we see anything to suggest she isn’t just following in ghira’s footsteps, I’ve been dissapointed by the white fang plotline and that’s really all I can hope for at this point

im trying to discern whether or not this is a subtle passive-aggressive dig at the fact that when i rambled about ilia earlier, basically all i did was talk about her and her relationship with blake and future interactions with yang.

but i'll do my best to answer in sincerity in the case that it's not.

so just to quickly state, i'm of the stance that i'm not someone who should be speaking about the white fang/faunus arc and how it's been handled previously since i am white (and the faunus arc has been most widely discussed as a metaphor/narrative vehicle for real world racism) -- and also i don't believe that my opinion should matter for that very reason. far better people than me have had better things to say about all of it, and usually i try to avoid getting too much into rwby fandom discourse in general bc it just turns into a hot mess extremely quickly no matter where you end up in the fandom. so i'm just going to avoid all that and say it's not my place.

having said that, i genuinely believe that i don't think it's a bad thing for ilia to work with ghira and kali to reestablish a better white fang. it feels like a natural continuation of ilia's arc to have her further split from adam and his influences. blake even directly compares ilia and adam, but follows that comparison up by stating "i don't think ilia is like adam - not yet at least" so it really makes sense that ilia would continue to strive for a goal that she once had -- working towards the betterment of the faunus -- but through a lens that is no longer twisted by spite and rage and a overzealous desire for power, as adam's goal for the white fang was. actually, adam never used the white fang for what they were actually meant for in the first place, he just was doing whatever he could to have as much power as possible (but most specifically, as much power as he could over blake -- and he sought to do anything and everything he could to gain control over here).

so for ilia to continue her journey, unfettered by misguided leadership, to step into her own leadership role in regard to the white fang, i personally feel like that's a good continuation for her character. for her to completely abandon the white fang and just leave it for ghira and kali feels like a weird characterization for her, in my opinion. plus, on top of that, really what else would her character do? with her character redemption arc resolved and now that she's on the side of good, why would she just stop there? that doesn't make any sense to me, personally. like, canonically, that makes sense to me from both her character stand point and giving her an in-story reason to continue on with her journey, rather than just having her drop off the map entirely bc all of the sudden now her redemption is complete and we have no need for her. she's a tertiary character for sure, but i dont think even miles and kerry and the other writers are that lazy to just simply drop an entire character. not when they went decided to include her in the montage shots during ruby's v8 monologue. they plan to keep her around, and clearly they plan to keep her around through her connection with ghira and kali - likely meaning, the white fang.

now for something that i would LOVE to see them do with ilia that "isn't related to blake or yang", but will likely not happen, is for ilia to become a maiden in some way, shape or form. i've seen, specifically, that ilia will become the summer maiden somehow as a theory that's gained some popularity. specifically because the maidens (other than cinder, who is basically ruby's main antagonist) are tied to our protagonists in some way -- winter is weiss' sister, and raven is yang's mom. so it feels like a fairly short leap to assume that the next revealed maiden could end up being tied to blake in some regards.

there are a couple other posts that completely sold me on this (as if i needed much convincing in the first place bc i love ilia so much and having her be a maiden would just be dope as fuck) that you can read HERE and HERE if you so desire to, but basically they boil down to how thematically ilia could fit in as the summer maiden and how it would make sense, actually. one point is that the maidens themselves have interesting relationships/connections between themselves, so it stands to reason that the next maiden-maiden connection would have something similar. and it would be a connection that winter would have with another maiden. and winter and ilia have interesting established narrative parallels already that could be more deeply explored in ilia becoming a maiden.

the other post talks about how team rwby would become guides to the maidens, rather than becoming maidens themselves. this is already showing up with yang and raven, with ruby and cinder (to a degree), and certainly with weiss and winter. blake currently does not have a guide position to fill -- except that she already has guided one character along their path back to redemption. so, again, not a massive leap to see the possibility of blake further guiding ilia in that journey. again, the posts say far more and say it much more eloquently than i did, so feel free to read those instead.

there's certainly a lot the writers could do with ilia's story that isn't related to her interactions with blake or yang, and a lot that i'm excited for if they choose to bring her back, but in the meantime, i'm just gonna keep hoping we see her again, somehow.

[hopeful-hugz]

♔

Get to know the RPer || Accepting

Send me a ♔ for me to describe a favorite rp character of mine.

🕯️ Okay so I'm sticking to this blog's muses for now and since I don't play favourites in general. I'll just talk about one of the muses that has had my braincell lately.

So, Leah! A muse I have yet to draw a reference for. His original iteration was made on Discord cause I wanted to expand more on the aethers' opposite species, nagete. That soon evolved into my wanting to test aether-nagete hybrids as well and expand on that.

I tend to test a lot of storylines with close friends on Discord so I can bring a more fine-tuned version of things here for you. I did that with Maria and Leah is another example of that.

Leah in particular I've struggled developing beyond him being a permanent antagonist on the blog.

His goals are horrific and terrible (something I'm not spoiling) and has accepted playing the role as the villain for the sake of that. But he really is just a guy who wants to run his radio, tv and online shows with his cast. He's a gameshow host mainly, but he's got some other things he films for the air too, more often than not having a live show or three every night when his shows are available.

Currently he's got a small group of four that make up his main cast!

Amygdala is one of them! Leah made her shortly after he ended up self-corrupting into a mix breed hybrid. Mixing nagete shadow manifestation and Hope's own DNA, she is to epitome of a stoic mad scientist and is responsible for making any beasts and creatures that are used for security and the games Leah hosts. Treats every creation like they're her pets.

The other two I can't go into much since they aren't officially debuted here yet and are written by a friend, but they are Leah's co-host and his best friend. Folks he originally thought would be interesting to save from a "bad end" timeline of their universe.

Originally he was gonna be "just the bad guy for this episode." Now he's attached and has lowkey started to make the amusement park grounds, the tower at it's centre where shows are filmed and the living spaces at the top of the tower a home he and his cast can use even after his plans come to fruition.

Lost Now Found from HOAAR is a good song for him regarding his Cast.

As far as his relationship with Cam, Hope and Teal, it's not a good one.

Leah originally tracked the two siblings down in regards to his investigations regarding Maria and the interest he took in her life, story and legacy. Things didn't exactly work out and he put them in a state of distress instead.

Naturally this got Chamyle's attention and made Leah pay dearly for even laying a metaphorical hand on them. [He's still salty about that and Cam's job as The Archivist having meant she was keeping an eye on him. Now he's more than aware of her "passing" and has instead directed that Pettiness towards Melody.]

Despite this, Hope still gave him another chance. The two talked for a while after that incident, exchanging questions on their views and goals. Until Hope gave him- a purebred nagete at the time- an answer to a question that made him start thinking. Too much logic can start turning an aether into a nagete or completely hybrid them; something that is considered the worst fate for any aether and nagete and something incredibly taboo.

In reaction to this, Leah snapped and had a breakdown. In the midst of said breakdown, he not only kidnapped Hope- having blamed her for the change- and demanded she fix him. When she couldn't, he decided if he was going down he'd take multiple universes with him. He really wasn't in his right mind at the time and even he will admit that if you ask.

Teal was the one to solve this issue and get back Hope. Still bears an aggressive view on the host; believing him to be a heartless monster who's only true goal is destruction.

Hope is terrified of Leah and tries her best to avoid him when possible. Though she doesn't hate him. If anything she feels sorry for him.

Leah still blames Hope for his hybrid state and hates her for it. Heavily dislikes Teal because of him being one of Maria's experiments among other petty things. He won't hesitate to actively mess with either sibling and will often do elaborate things to them just out of that hate and because he finds it amusing and interesting.

As far as the rest of the multiverse?

He's a heavy believer in people being free to do whatever they want or they should be given the power to wield autonomy. It's the main motivator behind his current overarching plan.

He takes freedom very seriously and treats his usual contestants and guests with that. Picking on a volunteer basis and making sure people know what they are getting into (and that they may not leave the studio ever again should they participate in certain games.)

But he can't tell the multiverse this. Doesn't care to with how bored and tired of everything he truly is. It has to stay all behind-the-scenes. He's their enemy of the multiverse; the Big Bad Evil Guy! The Villain!!

People need to believe he's such so they can come up with their own reasoning behind his actions.

He knows the path he's taking, but he's taking it of his own free will.

[imjusthereforironwood]

I am curious: how would you use cardin?

Makes me think of the post: How I would use Jaune Arc

Is cardin only good as bully turn redemption path?

Is it better to remove the bully aspect completely?

Is he a rich family or tough street guy that is why he is in canon?

To talk about how I would use Cardin Winchester if I was writing RWBY, we must first look at how he was used. Simply put, he was a high school bully, meant to serve as a temporary antagonist to Jaune. The only things we really get to see of his personality is his arrogance, his pride, and his aggressive behavior. Other personality traits can only really be gathered if you overanalyze him. So, it's up to us as the audience to determine why he acts the way he acts.

After Jaundice Arc, Cardin kinda...disappears? Sky Lark and Russel Thrush appear in a doubles match against Penny and Ceil, so apparently, CRDL won a match. Then we see Cardin for a few seconds during the Fall of Beacon getting saved by Ironwood. And that's it. We never see him in any following volumes. He's never mentioned, even in passing.

This gives the fanfic writer ample blank space to work with. Everyone has their own tastes and ways they like to write Cardin, and if you write him differently then me, that's perfectly fine.

Me personally, I like to write Cardin Winchester as a troubled young man. His father, Caleb Winchester, was a Huntsman who died defending a village on the outskirts of Sanus. His mother had to work twice as hard to support him and his older sister, Carrie, who is about 5 years older than Cardin. When Cardin was 11 years old, Vale was facing some pretty severe racial tensions, after a human supremacist group hung several Faunas. There were clashes in the streets between human supremacists and Faunas eugenics groups. Around this time, the White Fang had begun employing stronger methods to free slaves from the Dust mines and fighting back against human supremacists. A group of Faunas thugs, putting on the disguise of White Fang members, decided to attack a Dust shop and rob it. They figured they could make a quick buck and pin it on the White Fang as well. A Dust shop that Cardin's mother worked at. She was hurt, badly, and to this day, her scars have not fully healed. This memory forever left an impact on Cardin.

Cardin went to Beacon, primarily because he wanted to follow in the footsteps of his father. He's agressive and cocky, but Ozpin saw something in him. A chance to be more than just a racist bully.

All of that to say, when I write Cardin, I like to keep some of that pride and arrogance, but I like to show how he grows up. Have him redirect his aggression away from other people, and towards the Grimm. Have him mature into an adult.

So, yeah, that's how I like to use Cardin Winchester.