#the rogue one novelization once again ruining my life

[spectrestardust]

"He was almost out of time, and all he could think was: I'm sorry, everyone. Sorry for promising what I couldn't deliver. Sorry for not coming up with a better plan. He'd tried. That counted for something, didn't it?"

bodhi rook x best that i can, vance joy

[cielrouge]

YA SFF Books by Black Authors 

A Song Below Water by Bethany C. Morrow: About the strength of black sisterhood set in Portland, OR, best friends Tavi and Effie discover their true supernatural identity when Effie starts being haunted by demons from her past, and Tavia accidentally lets out her magical siren voice during a police stop.

A Chorus Rises (A Song Below Water #2) by Bethany C. Morrow: Teen influencer Naema Bradshaw is an Eloko, a person who’s gifted with a song that woos anyone who hears it. Everyone loves her — well, until she's cast as the awful person who exposed Tavia’s secret siren powers. When a new, flourishing segment of Naema’s online supporters start targeting black girls, however, Naema must discover the true purpose of her magical voice.

A Song of Wraiths and Ruin by Roseanne A. Brown: Inspired by West African folklore in which a grieving crown princess, Karina, and a desperate refugee, Malik, find themselves on a collision course to murder each other, despite their growing attraction.

Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor: Sunny Nwazue, an American-born albino child of Nigerian parents, moves with her family back to Nigeria, where she learns that she has latent magical powers which she and three similarly gifted friends use to catch a serial killer.

Akata Warrior (Akata Witch #2) by Nnedi Okorafor: Now stronger, feistier, and a bit older, Sunny Nwazue, along with her friends from the the Leopard Society, travel through worlds, both visible and invisible, to the mysterious town of Osisi, where they fight in a climactic battle to save humanity.

Bad Witch Burning by Jessica Lewis: For fans of Us and The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina comes a witchy story full of black girl magic as one girl’s dark ability to summon the dead offers her a chance at a new life, while revealing to her an even darker future.

Beasts Made of Night by Tochi Onyebuchi: After he eats the sin of a royal, Taj, a talented aki, or sin-eater who consumes the guilt of others whose transgressions are exorcised from them by powerful but corrupt Mages, is drawn into a plot to destroy the city, and he must fight to save the princess he loves and his own life.

Beasts of Prey by Ayana Gray: Two Black teenagers, talented Beastkeeper Koffi and warrior-in-training Ekon, must trek into a magical jungle to take down an ancient creature menacing the city of Lkossa, before they become the hunted.

The Belles by Dhonielle Clayton: In the opulent world of Orléans, where Beauty is a commodity only a few control, Belle Camellia Beauregard will learn the dark secrets behind her powers, and rise up to change the world. 

A Blade So Black by L.L. McKinney: A whimsical and butt-kicking Alice in Wonderland retelling featuring a black teen heroine who battles Nightmares in the dark and terrifying dream realm known as Wonderland. 

Bleeding Violet by Dia Reeves: 16-year-old Hanna reunites with her estranged mother in an East Texas town that is haunted with doors to dimensions of the dead and protected by demon hunters called Mortmaine.

Blood Like Magic by Liselle Sambury: Set in near-future Toronto in which, after failing to come into her powers, 16-year-old Black witch Voya Thomas must choose between losing her family’s magic forever or murdering her first love.

The Bones of Ruin by Sarah Raughley: Set in Victorian England, African tightrope walker Iris cannot die; but soon gets drafted in the fight-to-the-death tournament of freaks where she learns the terrible truth of who and what she really is.

The Cost of Knowing by Brittney Morris: A gripping, evocative novel about Black teen Alex Rufus, who has the power to see into the future, and whose life turns upside down when he foresees his younger brother’s imminent death.

Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi: 17-year-old Zélie and companions journey to a mythic island seeking a chance to bring back magic to the land of Orïsha, in a fantasy world infused with the textures of West Africa.

Children of Virtue and Vengeance (Legacy of Orïsha #2) by Tomi Adeyemi: After battling the impossible, Zélie and Amari have finally succeeded in bringing magic back to the land of Orïsha. But with civil war looming on the horizon, Zélie finds herself at a breaking point: she must discover a way to bring the kingdom together or watch as Orïsha tears itself apart.

Cinderella Is Dead by Kalynn Bayron: 16-year-old Sophia would much rather marry Erin, her childhood best friend, than parade in front of suitors. At the ball, Sophia flees, hiding in Cinderella’s mausoleum. There, she meets Constance, the last known descendant of Cinderella and her step sisters. Together they vow to bring down the king once and for all.

The Cost of Knowing by Brittney Morris: A gripping, evocative novel about Black teen Alex Rufus, who has the power to see into the future, and whose life turns upside down when he foresees his younger brother’s imminent death.

Crown of Thunder (Beasts Made of Night #2) by Tochi Onyebuchi: Taj has escaped Kos, but Queen Karima will go to any means necessary--including using the most deadly magic--to track him down. 

A Crown So Cursed (Nightmare Verse #3) by L.L. McKinney: Alice is ready to jump into battle when she learns that someone is building an army of Nightmares to attack the mortal world, before she learns of a personal connection to Wonderland.

Daughters of Jubilation by Kara Lee Corthron: In Jim Crow South, black teen Evalene Deschamps finds her place among a family of women gifted with magical abilities, known as jubilation - a gift passed down from generations of black women since the time of slavery.

Dread Nation by Justina Ireland: The Civil War is over, but mostly because the dead rose at Gettysburg—and then started rising everywhere else. Fighting the undead is a breeze for Jane McKenne, an Attendant, trained in both weaponry and etiquette to protect the well-to-do. But the fight for freedom? That’s a different story.

Deathless Divide (Dread Nation #2) by Justina Ireland: After the fall of Summerland, Jane McKeene hoped her life would get simpler. But nothing is easy when you’re a girl trained in putting down the restless dead, and a devastating loss on the road to Nicodermus has Jane questioning everything she thought she knew about surviving in 1880’s America.

A Dream So Dark (Nightmare Verse #2) by L.L. McKinney: Still reeling from her recent battle (and grounded until she graduates) Alice must cross the Veil to rescue her friends and stop the Black Knight once and for all in Wonderland.

Early Departures by Justin A. Reynolds: Jamal’s best friend Q is brought back to life after a freak accident … but they only have a short time together before he will die again.  How can Jamal fix his friendship without the truth?

Fate of Flames by Sarah Raughley:  Before they can save the world from the monstrous phantoms, four girls who have the power to control the classical elements: earth, air, fire, and water must first try to figure out how to work together. 

For All Time by Shanna Miles: Tamar and Fayard, two Black teens, are fated to repeat their love story across hundreds of lifetimes, from 14th-century Mali to the distant future, as they struggle to break the cycle.

The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna: Inspired by the culture of West Africa, a feminist fantasy debut traces the experiences of 16-year-old Deka, who is invited to leave her discriminatory village to join the emperor’s army of near-immortal women warriors.

The Good Luck Girls by Charlotte Nicole Davis: The country of Arketta calls them Good Luck Girls--they know their luck is anything but. Sold to a "welcome house" as children and branded with cursed markings. When Clementine accidentally kills a man, the girls risk a dangerous escape to find freedom, justice, and revenge.

Kingdom of Souls by Rena Barron: Set in a West African-inspired fantasy kingdom, Arrah comes from a long line of powerful witchdoctors, yet fails at magic. When Arrah trade years off her life for magic to stop the Demon King from destroying the world—that is if it doesn’t kill her first.

Legacy of Light (The Effgies #3) by Sarah Raughley: After Saul’s strike on Oslo—one seemingly led by Maia herself—the Effigies’ reputation is in shambles. Belle has gone rogue, Chae Rin and Lake have disappeared, and the Sect is being dismantled and replaced by a terrifying new world order helmed by Blackwell. If the Effigies can’t put the pieces together soon, there may not be much left of the world they’ve fought so desperately to save.

Legendborn by Tracy Deonn: In this King Arthur retelling, Black teen Bree Matthews infiltrates a secret society of powerful magic wielders to find out the truth behind her mother’s untimely death.

Mem by Bethany C. Morrow: In alternate reality Montreal (1925), a young woman’s personality is the result of a startling experimental procedure, leaving her to struggle with the question of who she really is.

Miles Morales, Spider-Man by Jason Reynolds: But Miles Morales accidentally discovers a villainous teacher's plan to turn good kids bad, he will need to come to terms with his own destiny as the new Spider-man. 

Oh My Gods by Alexandra Sheppard: Half-mortal teenager Helen Thomas goes to live with her father—who is Zeus, masquerading as a university professor—and must do her best to keep the family secret intact.

The Opposite of Always by Justin A. Reynolds: After falling for Kate, her unexpected death sends Jack back in time to the moment they first met, but he soon learns that his actions have consequences when someone else close to him dies.

Orleans by Sherri L. Smith: Set in a futuristic, hostile Orleans landscape, Fen de la Guerre must deliver her tribe leader's baby over the Wall into the Outer States before her blood becomes tainted with Delta Fever. 

Nubia: Real One by L.L. McKinney & Robyn Smith: When Nubia’s best friend, Quisha, is threatened by a boy who thinks he owns the town, Nubia will risk it all—her safety, her home, and her crush on that cute kid in English class—to become the hero society tells her she isn’t.

A Phoenix First Must Burn: 16 Stories of Black Girl Magic, Resistance, and Hope edited by Patrice Caldwell: Filled with stories of love and betrayal, strength and resistance, this collection contains an array of complex and true-to-life characters in which you cannot help but see yourself reflected. Witches and scientists, sisters and lovers, priestesses and rebels.

This Poison Heart by Kalynn Bayron: In this contemporary fantasy inspired by The Secret Garden, Black teen Briseis has a gift: she can grow plants with a single touch. Up against a centuries-old curse and the deadliest plant on earth, Bri must harness her gift to protect herself and her family, when a nefarious group comes after her in search of a rare and dangerous immortality elixir.

A Psalm of Storm and Silence (A Song of Wraiths and Ruin #2) by Roseanne A. Brown: As the fabric holding Sonande together begins to tear, Malik and Karina once again find themselves torn between their duties and their desires.

A Queen of Gilded Horns (A River of Royal Blood #2) by Amanda Joy: After learning the truth of her heritage, Eva is on the run with her sister Isa as her captive, but with the Queendom of Myre on the brink of revolution, Eva and Isa must make peace with each other to save their kingdom.

Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko: In a West African-inspired empire, Tarisai is raised by The Lady and sent to kill the Crown Prince once she gains his trust. Tarisai won’t stand by and become someone’s pawn—but is she strong enough to choose a different path for herself?

Redemptor (Raybearer #2) by Jordan Ifueko: For the first time, an Empress Redemptor sits on Aritsar's throne. To appease the sinister spirits of the dead, Tarisai must now anoint a council of her own, coming into her full power as a Raybearer.

The Ravens by Danielle Page & Kass Morgan: The sisters of Kappu Rho Nu share a secret: they’re a coven of witches. For Vivi Deveraux, being one of Kappa Rho Nu’s Ravens means getting a chance to redefine herself. For Scarlett Winters, a bonafide Raven and daughter of a legacy Raven. When Vivi and Scarlett are paired as big and little for initiation, they find themselves sinking into the sinister world of blood oaths and betrayals.

Rebel Sisters (War Girls #2) by Tochi Onyebuchi: Though they are working toward common goals of helping those who suffered, Ify and Uzo are worlds apart. But when a mysterious virus breaks out among the children in the Space Colonies, their paths collide.

Reaper of Souls (Kingdom of Souls #2) by Rena Barron: After so many years yearning for the gift of magic, Arrah has the one thing she’s always wanted—at a terrible price. But the Demon King’s shadow looms closer than she thinks. And as Arrah struggles to unravel her connection to him, defeating him begins to seem more and more impossible.

A River of Royal Blood by Amanda Joy: A North African-inspired feminist fantasy in which two sisters, Eva and Isa must compete in a magical duel to the death for the right to inherit the queendom of Myre.  

Slice of Cherry by Dia Reeves: In Portero, Texas, teens Kit and Fancy Cordelle, daughters of the infamous Bonesaw Killer, bring two boys with similar tendencies to a world of endless possibilities they have discovered behind a mysterious door.

Siege of Shadows (The Effigies #2) by Sarah Raughley:  After Saul reappears with an army of soldiers with Effigy-like abilities, threatening to unleash the monstrous Phantoms, e-year-old Maia and the other Effigies hope to defeat him by discovering the source of their power over the four classical elements, but they are betrayed by the Sect and bogged down by questions about the previous Fire Effigy's murder.

The Sisters of Reckoning (The Good Luck Girls #2) by Charlotte Nicole Davis: The blockbuster sequel to an alternate Old West-set commercial fantasy adventure.

The Sound of Stars by Alechia Dow: Set in the near-future, in which a captive teen human and a young alien leader—bonded by their love of forbidden books and music—embark on a desperate road trip as they attempt to overturn alien rule and save humankind. 

War Girls by Tochi Onyebuchi: Set in a futuristic, Black Panther-inspired Nigeria, sisters Onyii and Ify, separated by a devastating civil war, must fight their way back to each other against all odds.

Vessel by Sarah Beth Durst: When the goddess Bayla fails to take over Liyana's body, Liyana's people abandon her in the desert to find a more worthy vessel, but she soon meets Korbyn, who says the souls of seven deities have been stolen and he needs Liyana's help to find them.

The Weight of Stars by K. Ancrum: After a horrific accident brings loners Ryann and Alexandria together, Ryann learns that Alexandria's mother is an astronaut who volunteered for a one-way trip to the edge of the solar system.

White Smoke by Tiffany D. Jackson: Black teen Marigold and her blended family move into a newly renovated, picture-perfect home in a dilapidated Midwestern city, and are haunted by what she thinks are ghosts, but might be far worse.

Wings of Ebony by J. Elle: Black teen Rue, from a poor neighborhood who, after learning she is half-human, half-goddess, must embrace both sides of her heritage to unlock her magic and destroy the racist gods poisoning her neighborhood with violence, drugs, and crime.

Witches Steeped in Gold by Ciannon Thomas: In this Jamaican-inspired fantasy debut, two witches from enemy castes—one seeking power, and one seeking revenge—will stop at nothing to overthrow the witch queen, even if it means forming an alliance with each other and unleashing chaos on their island nation.

Within These Wicked Walls by Lauren Blackwood: An Ethiopian-inspired Jane Eyre retelling in which an unlicensed debtera, or exorcist, Andromeda, is hired to rid a castle of its dangerous curses, only to fall in love with Magnus Rochester, a boy whose life hangs in the balance.

Yesterday Is History by Kosoko Jackson: Black teen Andre Cobb undergoes a liver transplant and as a side effect winds up slipping through time from present-day Boston to 1969 NYC on the eve of the Stonewall riots, delivering a story that is part romance, part gay history, and part time-travel drama, exploring how far we have and haven't come. 

[storiesundercandlelight]

I Know You - Rafe Adler x Reader - Part One

So this idea kind of came to me randomly, it doesn't follow the story of Uncharted 4/the lives of the characters/specifics but the general story of treasure etc is the same! I changed a lot to make it easier to write a shorter story so...please don't hate me for changing it/pushing parts of the game closer together!

Reader descriptions: I don't describe anything about the reader look wise obviously but I have written this in a female readers POV!

Warnings: None for this chapter!

You walked behind Nate and Sam, following their footsteps as you all moved through the jungle path. The heavily tree covered path helped against the brightness of the sun but did little to keep you from the humid heat. You found yourself regularly swatting away bugs and wiping your brow as you moved forward.

Nate was convinced you were close to your destination, that Libertalia, the famous pirate utopia was just around the next bend. It bloody better be, you thought as you swatted away another bug.

"Nate! Please tell me we're almost there!" Sam cried, chopping away at branches blocking their path.

"Yes, we're almost there I'm sure of it!! Hopefully we'll make it there before Rafe" You tripped a little at the mention of Rafe, you'd been trying hard not to think about encountering them again. God why did Rafe have to do this? Why did he have to break away from you all and go against you? You just kept letting the memories between you flash up as you walked.

_____________________________________________________________

You walked quicker, hoping you weren't going to be late. The campus here was bigger than you thought and your archaeology class was the other side of the building to where you lived in your apartment.

The hallway was quiet as you counted the numbers of the classroom doors before finally landing at the door you needed, taking a breath before you entered. Thankfully your professor wasn't there yet, other students chatting.

"You were almost late" You turned to see Rafe, his cocky smile tugging into place as he looked at you.

"Almost being the key word there" You smiled and grabbed the seat beside him, thankful that no one had snatched it up first. You and Rafe had been friends since the first day of your classes, but you knew other girls wanted to get his attention. You hated admitting it at first but you loved that he only ever gave his attention to you.

"Mmmhmm, yeah you keep on using your almost excuse, what held you up anyway?"

"I woke up late" Rafe snorted a laugh at your reply, turning his full attention to you.

"Give in, it'll be easier on all of us. You know I'm relentless" You sighed and turned to him.

"I was reading"

"For the assingment?"

"Yes" You didn't meet Rafe's eyes, turning away quickly you stayed still as he moved closer to you.

"Liar" He whispered in your ear, you gave him your best side eye in response. "Come on what trashy novel do you have tucked under your bed? You know I'll find it either way. Oh! Let me guess, kind of Indiana Jones-y, but with an oh so steamy encounter between the main characters in some dusty ruin" You rolled your eyes but couldn't hold back you smile, damn him!

"Your wrong....this one is set in Egypt, their steamy encounter took place is a very plush tent near a tomb" Rafe's laugh was infectious, his head falling into his hands as he tried to stop himself from laughing.

"Okay okay whatever" He said between giggles. "Just let me know when you're ready to put those books down and get some real action hmm?" Your professor walked into the lecture hall, grabbing everyone's attention and thankfully pulling Rafe away from noticing you blush.

_____________________________________________________________

You hated thinking of those memories now, knowing you were both on opposite sides, fighting against each other.

"There it is" You came to a halt, almost crashing into Sam as all three of you stared at the scene before you. Libertalia.

The pirate town was in ruins, old building covered in foliage. But the pure sight of it took your breath away. To imagine this place, full of pirates, bustling life, songs and laughter, loot and gambling. Your heart felt full.

"Alright let's get to the treasury" It's higher up towards the mountain.

It took almost two hours of walking, climbing, searching until you finally saw the treasury. Pulling yourself up onto the roof of a crumbling but stable building you took a moment to look at your goal. Was this where the treasure has been all this time?

Nate and Sam were climbing up behind you, you turned ready to continue before stopping. You could hear people talking. All three of you crouched down quickly, your hands automatically going for your gun.

"These fucking guys" Sam whispered. "Well, here we go"

You jumped down from the roof onto a ledge, working your way around half broken walls, stacks of warped barrels, anything to avoid Nadine's and Rafe's men.

"We can get inside without them seeing" Nate whispered.

"They've set up camp!" Sam said back. "We won't be safe camping here too, and the sun's almost down" He was right, the sun was setting fast. You could see the camp they were setting up in the main courtyard of the treasury building, the men moving debris from battles fought many years ago so that they could put up tents.

Your eyes caught movement near the back, towards the entrance. A tent was being put up right near the doors. Rafe stood by as two men secured what you guessed was hit tent, slightly further away from everyone else's.

"Rafe's there" You whispered, your stomach was doing flips knowing that not only was he there, but once again you were face to face on different teams. This whole adventure had felt wrong, always running into them and fighting with the man you knew deep down you loved.

"Alright, we can climb in higher up, set up our own camp in that part of the building there, they won't bother looking there, it isn't the main entrance. Hopefully its just a run down set of rooms"

You'd all agreed, although Sam complained the whole way up to the floor Nate pointed out. He was right though, the space was perfect, hidden, dry, warm anyway from the weather and if you leant near to a broken wall you could see Rafe's camp.

It didn't take long for Sam and Nate to fall asleep, the two brothers sprawled on the ground, packs behind their heads as pillows. But you couldn't sleep, not when Rafe was this close, you charted a way down to his tent, planning which route you would take to avoid the men on watch. It was risky but you knew Rafe wouldn't be sharing a tent and his tent was far enough from the rest that you'd be able to talk to him, maybe convince him that he didn't need to fight against you. Maybe if you could get close he would... be the old Rafe.

Taking a deep breath you got up as silently as possible and made your way down. Thoughts of what you would say to Rafe raced through your mind. Would he want to see you? Would he just take you and use you as bait? No, you refused to believe that, he'd told you once how he felt, that can't have just vanished. The memory of that night was still so clear to you.

_____________________________________________________________

"Okay okay, so Chinese?" Rafe dropped down onto your couch, looking at you impatiently.

"Fine" You smiled, knowing that if you changed your mind again Rafe may just cry from hunger.

"Finally!" Rafe pulled out his phone to order as you looked over your notes. You had to admit, you worked well as a team. Your assignments already finished and onto the proofing stage. "The horror...it won't be here for 40 minutes"

You turned to Rafe who had flopped back dramatically against the back of the couch. "Poor baby, to think you have to wait 40 minutes for someone else to cook you food"

"Don't mock me, my hunger is very real" He leant back up, pushing himself nearer to you on the couch and leaning over to look at the notes himself. You should be used to Rafe being this close to you, he was always close. Most people assumed you were a couple because of how close you were and how much time you spent together. But you couldn't stop the blush and heat that ran through you whenever he moved close. You looked over his face, his brows tilted down as he focused on the words, his hair usually neatly slicked back had rogue hairs falling down over his forehead.

God he was attractive. Your eyes went lower, to his arms, his muscles poking out from his t-shirt that really left nothing to the imagination.

"Admiring my fashion choices?" You jumped and your eyes snapped back up to Rafe who was looking at you, a smirk plastered on his face.

"No! I was...I..."

"You...?" He was so close, if you moved your head forward just a little your noses would brush against each other. You could smell his cologne, a musky woody scent that you loved. He didn't move away, his eyes flicking from yours to you lips.

He moved too quickly for you to think, suddenly his lips were on yours, pushing gently. You didn't need to think twice before reacting a melting into the kiss, your hands coming up to touch his neck, pulling him closer. His arms moved around you, a hand resting on your side as he moved into you, pushing you against the arm of the couch. There was no where for you to move and you were so okay with that.

The kiss grew hotter, more needy, hands were everywhere, pulling and pushing. Your fingers ran through his hair, messing it up even more. A faint moan escaped his lips when you tugged it slightly. You both pulled apart, but still close, Rafe rested his forehead against yours as you both caught your breath a little.

Rafe smiled and huffed out a laugh. "I've wanted to do that for so long"

"You have?"

"I thought I'd made my feelings pretty obvious" He quickly kissed you again. "You have completely ruined me, I don't think I'll ever be able to love anyone else"

_____________________________________________________________

You were still caught up in old memories by the time your feet lightly touched the ground behind Rafe's tent. You stayed in the shadows listening, wanting to make sure he was alone. A few moments passed before you decided it was safe and made your way to the flaps, they were tied closed but you made quick and silent work of undoing just enough of them to squeeze in.

The tent was dark, you had to wait for your eyes to adjust fully before moving and looking around. The tent was simple, Rafe's belongings piled in one corner, an empty cot in the other. Empty.

You stood still, heart racing as you realized the cot was empty. You tried to move but suddenly a hand wrapped around your mouth, your legs knock from under you. Your back hit the ground with a thud and you felt a knife pressed against you. Rafe leaned over you.

[giorno-plays-piano]

Can’t Take My Eyes Off You

Pairing: Dabi x villain!Reader

Warnings: yandere, obsession, non-con, stalking, mentions of human experimentation, non-consensual drug use, lots of swearing.

Words: 1841.

Summary: Running away from the lab where you had been experimented on for years, you have no choice but to join the League of Villains to escape from the government. Of course, you don’t expect things to go smoothly, especially when one mutilated son of a bitch just can’t leave you alone.

P.S. I’ve suddenly remembered Rogue who had been my favorite character once; the heroine’s Quirk is partly based on her ability.

My dear @navegandoaciegas​, this is my first attempt at writing Dabi. Hope you’re going to enjoy reading it ❤

_________________

"Fuck, how much can you drink at once, birdie? Ain't you scared to pass out in a place full of men?"

Oh God, it was that smug bastard again. For the past couple of days Dabi couldn't get off your back for a full damn minute.

"Men? Here?" You opened your eyes and raised an eyebrow at the man whose face was right above yours as he leaned on the back of the couch where you laid. "I see just a couple of kids and one burnt corpse who can never fucking shut up."

"Oh? Wanna see how well can a burnt corpse fuck you up?"

Always up to a challenge. You rolled your eyes at his obvious display of hostility despite the fact he'd most definitely lose against you. Besides, Shigaraki would barely enjoy you two ruining the League's hideout, and upsetting that asshole ready to go berserk any moment certainly wasn't one of your priorities.

"Just go fuck yourself, would you? I'm not in the mood to bark at you."

"Well, then don't. I didn’t come here for that, actually."

This was something new. He suddenly became calm as you studied his grotesque mutilated face inches away from yours. Your expression didn’t betray any emotions either since you weren't shocked or disgusted by the way Dabi looked: you've seen worse in the laboratory, and repulsive things had long stopped looking repulsive to you.

"What are you here for, then?" You asked him, trying to remember if you finished that second bottle of sake or not. Since the time you accidentally got one of those useless Quirks, you couldn't get drunk anymore - now strong alcohol only made you sleepy.

"I've always wanted to ask why the fuck are you wearing these." Dabi pointed out to the black leather gloves laying on the coffee table in front of you, and you rolled your eyes again. One more useless question.

"In this team of no-brainers you're the last person I expected to ask me this question." Groaning, you moved up a little to take more comfortable position and stared at the man above you intensely.

"Don't you want to gather as many Quirks as possible? If so, why wearing gloves when you can only get a Quirk through touch?"

You were close to snapping at him, and it certainly made Dabi look even more smug.

"Who the fuck do you think I am, a garbage bin?" You barked wishing you could teleport the bastard somewhere to Hawaii. "I only take Quirks I need, and it isn't easy to find those in that damp of useless abilities regular citizens have. Besides, some Quirks are quite dangerous for their owners and I'd prefer them not existing at all. You, of all people, should already get that, Pretty Face."

He smiled at you, but you saw his hollow eyes sparkling dangerously at your last remark, and you felt his body emanating heat he could turn into his famous blue flames within a second. Nasty shit, that what's you thought of his Quirk. Who on Earth would want anything like that? You doubted anyone but a true psychopath could really appreciate something as fucked up as Dabi's ability to burn anything and anyone, himself including. You definitely didn't want to use his Quirk despite already taking it as almost all of those belonging to the League of Villains. It wasn't intentional, though.

"You'd better start watching your mouth, birdie. You ain't back in the lab." His smile grew wider as he saw your expression darkening at the mention of the lab.

Fucking son of a bitch. You bet he'd go insane during the first month being locked up there.

"Huh, calm down, dear. I think it's better we get along."

You sent him a glare wishing you could throw his overconfident ass out of the window. Dabi loved messing with fucking everyone, Shigaraki included, but he was still a valuable member of the team. Killing him would do you no good.

Showing him your middle finger, you put your head on the pillow and took the half-empty bottle of sake. Thank goodness you didn't finish it. You hoped Dabi would vanish by the time you were done.

You spent a few minutes in complete silence as the man kept leaning on the couch and watching you drinking while you did your best trying to relax. Why the Hell was Dabi stuck here with you? Didn't he have any other things he should be doing now? Was he here to get under your skin even more? Shit, you just wanted to be left alone. You wanted it since the time they brought you to the lab, but since then somebody had always been getting on your nerves one way or the other.

"Seriously, what do you want from me?" You grunted as you opened your eyes again and stared at Dabi's face. "You wanna take the couch or what? I ran out of sake if you're here for it."

There was that smug smile again. Saints, the guy had been creeping you out with his long intense stares for quite some time, but today he was even less bearable than usual. He definitely wanted something from you, and the feeling was making you uneasy.

"You wanna hook up, birdie?"

You thought you were gonna choke on air when you heard him saying that. What? Seriously? Did he hurt his head so bad last time heroes attacked? So, that was the meaning of those stares, then? He thought you were the one he could stick his dick in. Wincing from the thought like from a toothache, you squeezed your eyes shut. The guy was clearly mad.

"Are you out of your mind? Why would I want to hook up with anyone?" You huffed with irritation and realized Dabi was having way more fun than you.

"Don't tell me you're actually a virgin."

"You think I can be a virgin with the life I'm having?" You sounded more bitter than you thought you would, and the man above you chuckled. He was getting on your nerves more and more with each passing second.

"Then why not? Sex is a good way to relax. You certainly seem like you could let off some steam." You flinched when Dabi extended his hand to you, but he had only brushed of a lock of your hair out of your face. "I bet I can help you with that better than most of the team."

"Sex is painful, and I don't like pain. Go have fun with Toga, she seems more into that than me." You narrowed your eyes at him, your hand almost touching his neck if the villain decided he'd go further without your consent. His stupid grin going wider was making you more and more mad.

Of course, he wouldn't go to Himiko. That asshole had his own type, and she certainly didn't fall into that category. Why did you? You had no idea, but you doubted he would ever lay his hands on you. Yeah, you knew what sex was, and it had nothing to do with pleasure like in those stupid romantic novels you once bought. It was humiliating and painful. If you had a chance to get back to those who did it to you back in the lab, you'd rip their hearts out of their rib cages.

The expression on your face didn't seem to faze Dabi even the slightest bit, and you rolled your eyes in irritation. Apparently, he wouldn't give up unless you showed him you weren't some doll he could play with, and Shigaraki was probably going to get real mad at the both of you this evening.

All of a sudden you felt some strange tickling in your muscles you had never felt before. What was that? Confused, you quickly glanced over the room to see no one except Dabi still on his spot. What was that? Was it some hero's work? Had they found your hideout? No, it couldn’t be. You'd hear them, feel them before somebody even set their foot on your territory. It wasn't a hero.

Unwilling to wait for any surprises to happen, you used a regeneration Quirk, the one you were gifted on your 14th birthday so you could heal yourself after they ran the tests without troubling a healer too much. Strangely, the Quirk did nothing about the tickling, and you felt your legs getting weaker. What the fuck was that?

As you raised your head to ask Dabi for help, you suddenly realized he was eager to see what you were doing. He looked like he enjoyed watching you in such state, confused and even frightened, your knees slightly trembling as if you became weak within a couple of seconds.

It was him. He did something to you. The bastard had the nerve to do something to your body so it'd be easier to handle you.

"What have you done?" You hissed at him while he chuckled, pointing at the bottles of sake on the table. "Have you poisoned my drink?"

But the regeneration would work in that case. You knew for sure.

Running his finger around the shell of your ear, Dabi hummed with content, "Poisoned? Come on, who do you think I am, an Evil Queen? That's just a little handy potion that has a tendency to slowly accumulate in your body. Makes you a little softer, don't you think?"

Oh. Oh. That's why he was always watching you. He had no idea when the effects would start to show. Did he fucking realize it could happen in the heat of the battle when you needed your Quirks the most? Did Dabi have any idea what would happen if heroes managed to lock you away again?

"Seems like you planned to abandon me if heroes attacked, didn't you?" You gritted your teeth when Dabi got on top of you, his hands on your chest as he caressed your body like a lover would, his hot fingers getting under your clothes.

"Of course not. I'd play your personal hero and save your stubborn ass the trouble of murdering everyone."

While you desperately wanted to kick him off you came to realization you weren't able to even stand up, your arms and legs so weak you could barely move while Dabi had no problems stripping you out of your clothes, his hands on the your thighs as he took off your pants.

Shit, shit, shit. You couldn’t use any Quirks to hurt him, all of them barely responding to your call. What was that potion? Why nobody in the lab prepared you for this? How on Earth did that shithead obtain such a dangerous thing?

"If you hurt me, I'll rip your brain out of your skull and bring it to Shigaraki as a present."

His chapped, disfigured lips brushed against your neck almost gently when the man murmured, "It doesn't have to be painful, birdie. I'll show you how much fun we can have together."

___________________

Tags: @coolio-love @awesomerextyphoon​

[cerastes]

Drimo, what IS the Centipede VTuber lore? Reveal it... Reveal it!

I was waiting to have an overlay and a few other things ready before dropping it, but you know what, Centipede VTuber lore, here it is.

--

The first step is posture.

The second step, strong eye contact.

And the third? You guessed it: A signature move that can annihilate them in a split second.

If you ask anybody, it is clear as morning dew that these are the building blocks to make a good first impression at a job interview. But see, a good and lasting first impression is not essential only to land that job or snatch that internship, it is fundamental for a variety of things, like marriage, seminars, and dungeon keeping.

And it is that solitary shining element in a bucket of otherwise drab boring everythings that matters here. But, ah, let us not get ahead of ourselves, yes? In media res is delightful, but today, this humble narrator wishes to relinquish unto you, without mirrors and smoke but definitely with bells and whistles, The Story of the Centipede of Want.

Once upon a time, within the ruined walls of a famously affluent cathedral’s brick and silver walls, there lived the Centipede, as he was known back then. As attentive ace detectives among readers might be able to discern, the Centipede was a centipede, long and eerie, body of man and beast alike everywhere it mattered, famished for as much sustenance as his forcipules could catch first, and as many things that he could get his numerous hands on a very close second. Warm in winter and cool in summer, the ruined cathedral was a comfortable place to live in, where a spring feast on autumn was common occurrence for the Centipede. Insects, such as scavengers and looters, from hereon morsels, habitually wandered in, looking for the old relics of silver and amethyst ripe for plundering in the ruins of the withered house of worship, becoming sustenance for its longest-lived predator, the four-armed, hundred-legged menace that prowled its once decadent halls, filled with the stagnant air of the hunt. Truth be told, the cathedral had long been looted for most of its relics and arcane implements, its silver goblets and amethyst utensils of all sizes and shapes, so the only ones that wandered in were fools and lesser beasts looking for refuge. It was a peaceful, easy life for the Centipede.

But at the same time, something like throbbing roots thrashed in the back of the Centipede’s head, something that tasted of cyan and grey and had no name, as far as the menace knew. Initially, it was merely a light jostle, but as time passed, the thrashing intensified like a landslide, eating away at his every thought, crunching harder and louder than his mandibles did the carapaces and cheap iron armor of the unfortunate interlopers caught in his granite and silver hunting grounds:

Complacence.

Cyan and grey and rancid and bitter. The Centipede’s mind was impregnated by throbbing unease, its quaking manic, its incisors sharp, its vice grip tight. During the day, it was common for the Centipede to mock the bishop and the priests of the once opulent church, begging day after day for tithe and tribute, only to feast behind closed doors of oak and silver. And yet, he himself was much the same: Preying on weak interlopers during the day, pretending to be a grandiose warlord among what little silver and amethyst decadence was left in the ruins during the night, devoid of any real strength and riches he could call his own.

In his ideal world, for each leg he had, he’d wear a different, uniquely etched and engraved silver band. In three hands, he’d hold silver goblets filled with the world’s finest wine, mead, and rum, aged in mahogany casks, with touches of juniper berries, and on his last hand, he’d hold an oversized goat leg, from which he’d munch on in between rounds of ambrosia. Ah, to be the Centipede! Or rather, the powerful entity in his wildest dreams!

Realization is the sharpest blade of them all. No matter how much you temper your carapace, that which is crafted from denial can’t ever hope to stop such a spearhead. Thus, the Centipede came upon an epiphany: He simply had to get that which he desired with his own hands, and that cyan and grey pulsating cluster of fangs would be gone! And so, he got to work: He’d go to one of the silver mines the town was famous for and become its biggest, meanest threat! The head honcho of harm! The throbbing titan of threat! The punishing pimple of pain! The alliterative administrator of annihilation! Oh, with mandible and might, he’d deliver the most poignant of Rectal Ragnaroks and Colon Crucifixions to any who’d dare wander into his domain!

He’d be the most feared Boss Fight of all!

The Centipede rushed out of the church, his two rows of endless legs clacking a demented tarantella as he headed right towards the hill, his putrid eyes fixed on the silver mine. It was time to begin his reign of rambunctious terror!

Or so was the plan. The plan that was supposed to work. Do you think the plan worked?

It didn’t. It really, really didn’t.

To say the Centipede feasted upon manure would be an understatement. Here’s some statements from adventurers that fought him:

“There’s definitely the intimidating factor of something with more legs than a ballroom, but his moveset was predictable. Kinda easy experience and silver, not gonna lie.” -- Anonymous Rogue, Adept Adventurer.

“Well, how to say this... His boss music could use some work, and only two life bars? I just got done fighting something with four phases, so this was... Well, anyways, at least he dropped a nice skill book.” -- Anonymous Mage, Adept Adventurer.

“I cheesed the dumbass with 100% physical damage resistance because he doesn’t have any elemental damage, lmao get bopped idiot, I kept using my overhead helmsplitter and he kept crouching and blocking in panic, you love to see it.” -- Anonymous Samurai, Adept Adventurer.

“He’s kind of a Stage 3 boss, nothing special, he’ll never make it big.” -- Anonymous White Mage, Adept Adventurer.

“mfer wont drop the damn skill book whats the drop rate on that shit i bet the skill sucks anyways, ive kicked his ass like 14 times now orz” -- Anonymous Warrior, Novice Adventurer.

Alas, it turns out that outside his domain of brick and silver, the Centipede wasn’t so big and mean, after all.

And that’s where most stories end: The monster gets conquered by adventurers, and everyone learns how to cheese it. A nice The End in fancy font then drops in front of you and you go to bed.

But you’re not going to bed today, shitlips.

Because this story is not over.

No.

He wasn’t going to take it.

He didn’t have to take it.

The Centipede rose back to its many feet and decided that he’d start from square one: He’d learn what makes a good boss fight no matter what! Then and there, the Centipede vowed to accrue a staggering amount of health bars, to have as many phases as he had legs, to have a moveset so diverse and foul that adventurers would get acid reflux merely by hearing about the shocking amount of tricky delays and annoying status effects his attacks entailed, to have the single most facemelting ultrabanger of a boss theme, and to never, ever again crouch against an overhead.

That day, the Centipede became The Centipede of Want, and what is it that he want? To be the biggest, meanest Final Boss ever!

...But that requires training! A lot of it! How did he decide to go at it? Why, by streaming a veritable variety of video games, of course! By learning from the boss fights of a deluge of games, he’d be able to craft new strategies most rancid and concoct novel attacks most putrid. Plus, what a better way to learn of the adventurers’ way of fighting than by being the adventurers in games? Not to mention that he could naturally engage with humans in conversation and have them unwittingly reveal their weaknesses to him! It was genius! The Centipede of Want headed to the cathedral’s ruins one last time, grabbed every last piece of silver and amethyst not yet plundered in there, and traded it for a streaming set-up in town. Using the last of the silver, he fashioned a mask for himself to signify that he was done being the complacent bully that roamed the walls of that decadent cathedral.

It was time to begin training.

He’d feast on weaklings no more.

He’d eat gods from now on. He’d seek adversity. He’d seek strength.

And the rest would naturally follow.

[maxwell-grant]

You've talked quite a bit about Shiwan Khan, would be OK with talking about the other villains who show up more than once, Benedict Stark and The Voodoo Master?

The Voodoo Master tends to get overshadowed by Khan by virtue of being less prominent and because, in a lot of ways, Mocquino does feel a bit like a prototype for Khan. Like Gibson was testing the waters of what kind of major supervillain he wanted the Shadow to have, and was gradually figuring details like the hypnotic traps and unique henchmen and mystic background and a fraudulent dark magician figure with Mocquino, before Khan blew it all up to bigger proportions. Twice already we’ve had instances where Mocquino was set to appear in a Shadow adaptation after Khan, and said adaptations got canned before he could show up (and I don’t think it does either character a favor if Mocquino comes after Khan). And of course Mocquino has the problem of being an ethnic supervillain whose identity and name are tied up to grotesque prejudice that twists cultures and beliefs into Hollywood boogeymen, and the novels sadly treat vodou beliefs far less charitably than how the other novels approach tibetan/asian mysticism. It’s definitely a problem, but not without it’s solutions.

Putting that aside, The Voodoo Master trilogy is very fun, the first novel in particular was the number one rated Shadow novel in a fan poll back then. Personally, my favorite is City of Doom because of it’s blend of gothic, urban and industrial settings, great battles even for a Shadow novel, and a spectacular finale, but they all have very strong points. And I do like Mocquino himself as a character. He is historically significant as the first true supervillain of Shadow Magazine (if you don’t count other odd criminals like The Black Master or The Cobra). He is different from Khan personality-wise in the sense that he is more of an old-school supervillain, who likens his conflict with The Shadow to a “game” they play, who likes to boast and brag about his powers and whose goals largely revolve around extortion. He has a vendetta against industrial society (although he himself employs industrial tactics, because he is a hypocrite), and said vendetta being largely just him trying to destroy it so he thinks people will fall in line with his cult more easily. Unlike with Khan, there’s no delusions or aspirations of grandeur and greater purpose here, it always comes down to crime and profit with Mocquino and he barely bothers to pretend otherwise.

He is resourceful and insidious and racks up a bigger body count than Khan on City of Doom alone, and there’s a real creepiness to his zombie minions as they are regular people stripped of all identity and forced into becoming walking meat shields. I think one way to make him work better on his own could be by playing up his ruthlessness and charm, and focus on the mind control/cult leader aspect. Make him the Jim Jones of Shadow villains.

Justice Inc redesigned him to look like Boris Karloff, divorced him of racist trappings, played up his dark magician persona and ballooned up his abilities into outright superpowers, all of which worked quite well as the closest he's ever had to an update And interestingly, there’s some odd Joker-esque aspects to him in his final appearence in Voodoo Trail:

Though almost silent, the explosion was forcible. The tank disgorged a greenish gas that spread like an expanding monster, filling the entire room that the trio had just left. 

There was something parched and withery in his face, particularly noticeable when The Shadow saw the Voodoo Master's profile. Mocquino bore the scars of flame, not only on his face, but upon the scrawny arm he extended from his robe. Those burns showed like livid brands: a fitting mark for a supercriminal.

That hissing sound in the zombi cave! It was gas, leaking from underground pipes that led into Manhattan. Filtering through the porous stone, it gathered other chemical elements. Mocquino must have discovered that leakage and noted its effects. He had put the discovery to his own use. 

...lips formed a grin so jagged that it was difficult to note where his mouth ended and his scar began.

Mocquino's shrill laugh told that he expected his men to overwhelm The Shadow through force of numbers.

Honestly, “Doctor Mocquino” I think is a better name for him than Voodoo Master. A Rogues Gallery isn’t complete without a major Doctor in there, and divorcing Mocquino of “Voodoo Master” and all that implies could be the better way of making this character work again. Play up the fact that he’s exploiting Caribbean religions and citizens for personal gain and roping them into his crime ring, maybe even have him use similar theatrics as The Shadow to paint himself as this great master of voodoo, but in the end, he’s always just Doctor Mocquino, an evil, rotten shyster who puts his knowledge to use for evil and evil alone. 

Responsible for the first and only cliffhanger of Shadow Magazine with the kidnapping of Rutledge Mann, Benedict Stark is easily the single worst scumbag out of all Shadow supervillains. Just this completely horrible, wretched monster who ends up being somewhat dissappointing and frustrating of a villain in my view. Despite having quite a bit going on for him, Stark is not really interesting enough to warrant the 4 novels he gets, and where as Khan and Mocquino usually escape The Shadow thanks to prior planning and last-minute escape and strokes of luck, Stark seems to get away with it only because the narrative says so, not nearly as impressive as the other two despite being far, far worse, which makes it you don’t want The Shadow to match wits with him, so much as you just want The Shadow to kill him as soon as possible. In fact, here’s what Stark gets away with in the first ten pages of The Prince of Evil alone:

He gaslights a man named John Harmon into thinking he was developing amnesia

Gets Harmon to sign away enough money to be bankrupted for life, and no one, not even his wife, believe him when he says he was conned

Causes Harmon to commit suicide. 

Then, while Cranston's talking with a friend of Harmon named Jackson who wanted to help him, the two go to Jackson's house to find it completely destroyed, his priceless belongings acid-ruined. 

Then, they find Jackson's dog dead, with it's throat slit, and a Bible scattered nearby with the story of the good Samaritan marked, making it clear that this all happened because Jackson tried to help Harmon. 

And then, as Cranston tries to stop one of Stark's goons from brutally assaulting a boy who was just paid by Cranston to watch his car, he gets attacked and knocked unconscious.

And THEN, the henchman gives the kid a brain concussion and then hauls him in front of a coming truck, with Cranston just barely saving the kid in time as the henchman escapes.

This is just the first 10 pages. Not even Spider novels usually start with this many atrocities happening all at once. Whatever problems Tinsley has as a Shadow writer, I’ll give him this: He definitely knows how to go from 0 to 100 in ways Gibson never would. The book obviously doesn’t keep this up forever (thank goodness), but The Prince of Evil is really all about building up Stark’s presence as this new ultimate Shadow villain, and I think the build up is quite solid up to a point.

He’s established as possibly the richest man in America. Where as Cranston is a millionaire, Stark is a billionaire, who owns “ailways and steamships, factories and mills all over the United States". Nobody knows what he looks like, nobody’s ever seen a picture of him, and Cranston, who knows everyone and everything, has never once laid eyes on the man. We also know in advance that he uses drugs delivered by chewing gum to turn his thugs into bloodthirsty savages who desire only terror and torture and inflict those at his beck and call, and we get a passage where Clyde Burke ingests one of these gums, experiences it’s effects, and ends up chasing down a mouse and killing it, for no reason other than it was the only living being nearby, much to his horror. And it very nearly develops into something even worse:

He could hear the snoring of a man sleeping inside a cellar apartment. Clyde halted. His fingers tightened on his iron bar. He guessed that the man asleep inside was the building janitor. He fought against a hot impulse that flared anew in his blood.

He wanted to kill that janitor! He wanted to smash at him with the iron bar until the man was battered and dead! Murder seemed so exciting. And so easy! Clyde could picture the terror of his victim as he struck at him. It would be sheer delight to maim the fool before he killed him.

The thing that saved Clyde was the thought of the chewing gum. He knew that the savage whisper that urged him on to murder was not his own brain talking, but the voice of a powerful drug.

Laying the bar on the concrete floor, he ran for the cellar exit. He didn't glance back. He was afraid that if he did, he'd be tempted to pick up the bar and commit a senseless and brutal crime.

The cold bite of the breeze was like a draft of cooling water against his parched lips. He began to get a grip on himself. Once more he was Clyde Burke, a normal human being who would go out of his way to avoid hurting a fly.

Stark has weaponized and mass-produced a drug that creates an army of Mr Hydes at his beck and call, that can turn even one of the kindest and most heroic characters into the series into a sadistic maniac itching to main and murder anything that’s in front of him, and that alone is not just a much more viscerally horrifying kind of mind control than what Khan and Mocquino use, it’s also got a an edge to it more suited for gritty urban drama. It’s an idea I definitely would have liked to see used again even after Stark’s out of the picture.

And then we actually get to see Stark for this first time, and he’s described as a grotesquely deformed baboon man leering at his beautiful secretaries, who deliberately employs the most attractive people to make his own deformities stand out further, and who is cartoonishly vile everytime he opens his mouth. He never really displays exceptional cleverness, compared to other Shadow villains, except for the fact that he keeps suspecting Cranston is The Shadow, and sometimes just seems to get really lucky. Stark tends to get much, much less interesting as the build-up evaporates and he has to stand on his own feet as a character, I barely remember anything he did in the following books. At the time, I thought Stark’s characterization was weak, and I still do. 

This text blurb here was used on a promo S&S did for Prince of Evil, and it starts by talking about incredibly well-liked people who are kind and how Stark is the opposite because he's evil. Of course, as we all know, evil and well-liked are not opposites. 

Stark may have been a tad more interesting had they went with the angle of him being a horrible monster who's also incredibly popular and beloved and friendly. About 70% of The Shadow’s villains are already middle-aged to elder rich businessmen pretending to be good, so maybe Stark being young and attractive and initially sympathetic-looking, atop being the richest and cruelest of them all, could also help set him apart. Sort of an evil Harry Vincent maybe. 

But instead he's so obviously and viscerally awful all the time he shows up, so incapable of restraining himself, that it's impossible to buy him as a deceiver who’s pulled the wool over society’s eyes. At the time, I thought to myself that he was just painfully obvious of a villain and too brutish and stupid for me to buy that he’s supposed to be the richest criminal genius in America. 

But then again, nowadays I’m well aware that wealthy and respected figures of society, who are cartoonishly horrible even openly in public, is just what billionaires are like, so maybe Tinsley had a point here. 

[ramblingromance]

A Kiss from a Rogue: Book Review

A missing trunk, simplistic dreams, and past scars play a big role in this final novel in the Rescued from Ruin series, but does it hold up? We’ll dive right in to my thoughts, feelings, and rambles on...

All she wants is an ordinary life A cruel past left Hannah Gray with one simple longing—normalcy. Normal ladies ride and waltz without fear. They have safe, normal husbands to give them safe, normal kisses. After years of healing, she’s ready to find “normal” for herself, and Lady Wallingham’s house party is the perfect place to begin. Perfect, that is, except for the cynical wolf-in-rogue’s-clothing whose every hungry glance threatens to crack her armor and pierce her fragile heart. All he wants is to forget her Bow Street runner Jonas Hawthorn vowed never to see the cold, haughty Miss Gray again. A year ago, he nearly died trying to protect her, only to be dismissed like a lowly servant. But soon, he’ll have land and servants of his own. He just has to locate an old dowager’s stolen goods, collect his prize, and avoid the beauty who haunts him like a moonlit sky. All it takes is a single kiss He never meant to touch her. She never meant to reveal the truth. But once he’s tasted the heat and longing hidden beneath her icy mask, the only mystery this Bow Street man burns to solve is how a roguish wolf might win the elusive Miss Gray for himself.

  _____________________________________________________________

This book was lovely, and a breeze to get through, but maybe that’s partly due to the lack of historical romance I’d had in my life as of late. There’s a case of a priceless missing trunk, but really all the emotional growth and drama was what was center stage for me. 

Hannah is an interesting heroine, considering all the abuse she went through from a young age, and I’m not an expert by any means, so I really can’t say for certain if Elisa Braden handled her journey in a sensitive/realistic manner or not, but I enjoyed Hannah’s journey nonetheless. She grasps her healing in her own two hands, and refuses to let fear control her anymore. I’ve not even been through half of what she has, and yet that’s still a skill I wish I could garner when anxiety has me in its hold. 

The catalyst for her most recent and drastic change comes from the aid of her brand new nephew. Holding him in her arms, Hannah realizes her desires for a family of her own, although the steps she knows she has to take to get there terrify her. 

Jonas seems to be the man Hannah can’t forgot, and while she thinks a much more boring and safe man is what she needs, her heart soon makes its mind up for her. Honestly her proposal is one of my favorite bits in the book, even if it is a bit angsty, but hey that drama was honestly part of the fun. While Hannah still has healing to do, she is in a much stronger place than she once had been, and the focus changes to center a bit more on the healing that Jonas has never really allowed himself. Their conversations were charming in a way that kept me interested, and honestly, there really isn’t anything quite like mutual pining. 

Since this was the final in a series, a majority of past characters make an appearance in this novel, but I didn’t think it was over done. Braden makes sure we have ample time with our main love interests, which I really appreciated. 

All in all, I didn’t have any major gripes, and I finished this one fairly quickly, which I think speaks to how much I enjoyed it. 

  ____________________________________________________________

Trigger Warnings: Mentions of Death, Mentions of Violence, Mentions of Injury/Blood, Mentions of past Abuse both physical and emotional, Descriptions of Panic Attacks

Heat Level: 4/5 Blindfolded Bow Street Runners (Seriously, this is a hot one.) 

[redrobinhoods]

Age of Heroes | Chapter 8, Ruin

AO3 Link | 2000 words (approx) | Prologue, Chapter 7, Chapter 9

Chapter Summary: Ahsoka and Rex struggle with their sense of duty in the wake of Order 66

“It’s not a thrilling climax; it’s not the culmination of an epic struggle. Just the opposite, in fact. The Clone Wars were never an epic struggle. They were never intended to be. […] The Clone Wars have always been, in and of themselves, from their very inception, the revenge of the Sith.” - Revenge of the Sith novelization

Obi-Wan stared blankly at the blues waves of hyperspace before him. R4 was gone, so many Jedi were gone, Anakin- he couldn’t think about Anakin right now. He and Ahsoka were still on Coruscant with the 501st. Ahsoka had practically moved into their barracks. He could only hope that she hadn’t been there when the order had been given. An army commissioned by Count Dooku. And they had trusted them. Obi-Wan remembered an incident where one of Anakin’s clones had gone rogue and killed a Jedi. How could they have been so foolish to overlook that? Or maybe the Sith Lord in the Senate had covered it up. They had been so close to discovering their identity, and now they never would. Maul was probably dead. The Sith would have never left such a loose end lying around at the pinnacle of their plot. Cody had heard some of it. The plan. That clones had been part of the plan. Maybe, if they’d had enough time they could have stopped it. If they had reached Coruscant and spoken before the Council they could have pieced it all together. That would never happen now. Cody was dead, preferring death to blind servitude. Maul was in the hands of the 212th. And the Jedi Council, they must have been destroyed. They all must have been destroyed. No loose ends. No survivors.

A series of beeps from his comm came to his attention. The Jedi recall code. It meant that the war was over, that it was time for the Jedi to return home. It was a trap. Obi-Wan reached for his comm.

“Emergency code nine-thirteen. This is Obi-Wan Kenobi.” Silence greeted him. “Repeat, code nine-thirteen. This is Obi-Wan Kenobi. Is anyone out there?”

“Master Kenobi.” A hologram sprung to life in his cockpit. It couldn’t be-.

“Senator Organa. My clone troopers turned on me. I need help.”

“We have just rescued Master Yoda. It appears this ambush has happened everywhere. We’re sending you our coordinates.”

“Have you heard from anyone else?”

A pause. Obi-Wan knew the answer before Bail spoke. “No.”

“Coordinates received. Thank you, Senator Organa.” Obi-Wan plugged the new coordinates into the hyperspace drive and set off to the rendezvous.

---

The Jedi Temple was in ruins. Fires ravaged its halls and rooms, caring not whether the things they consumed were inorganic or corpses. Dead clones and dead Jedi littered the floors. The living clones still patrolled for Jedi survivors and their wounded brethren. The medics had been the first to withdraw from the attack to treat their brothers. Now the wounded were being taken off-site. Commander Rex watched his brothers being carried out from one of the balconies in the main auditorium. His still posture betrayed none of his racing thoughts. It had been a long night, and the dawn would not bring him comfort. He didn’t think that anything would bring him comfort for a very long time.

At the sound of approaching footsteps Rex turned to face his general.

“Commander, I have just received new orders. You and the 501st are to remain here and ensure that the Temple is secured. I am needed elsewhere. Answer to no one but myself and the Chancellor.”

“Yes, sir!” Rex watched after his general as he strode out of the doors. Once Lord Vader was out of sight- when had he become Lord Vader to him?- Rex took off his helmet and set his forehead against one of the cold stone pillars of the Temple in an attempt to calm his churning mind. Anakin Skywalker, Lord Vader, when had they switched? Was it before or after he had given the order for Operation Knightfall? Did the difference matter?

He pressed his head harder against the stone as his stomach heaved. But nothing came up but bile. He hadn’t eaten in the last rotation, there was nothing to vomit. He spat the bile out and turned to see Jesse standing behind him. Jesse had always been light of step, and his footfalls had been lost in the sizzle of destruction.

“Commander Rex, are you okay, sir?”

“I’m fine, Lieutenant. Just the smoke.”

Jesse slowly took off his helmet and stepped closer to his commander. The effect of the inhibitor chips on the clones was beginning to wear off. His pupils had returned to a normal size, and his eyes were misty.

“Rex, do you really believe that the Jedi betrayed the Republic?” A whisper. Nobody but the dead was around to hear their voices, and the crackling fires that burned in the lower auditorium sheltered their conversation from their brothers below, but dread still hung in the air around them.

“I don’t think it matters anymore, Jesse. They betrayed us. I felt General Kenobi kill Cody. And here, even their younglings and padawans struck us down.”

“In self-defense, Rex. You can’t tell me that this was justified. I killed children!”

“You killed Jedi.” Rex wasn’t sure if he was trying to convince Jesse, or himself.

“I killed children. I don’t know why I did it.” Jesse scoffed. “I mean, I do know why. I was ordered to kill them. But we’ve never listened to orders before. What changed?”

“Jesse.” Rex closed the distance between them and lay his hand on Jesse’s pauldron. “Not another word, I don’t want to lose you too.”

Jesse’s eyes widened and he stiffened under Rex’s grip. “Sir, yes, sir.”

Rex’s heart broke at the fear in Jesse’s eyes. Jesse had never been afraid of him before. But he would have to be now, for his own sake. If Lord Vader had heard him questioning orders, he’d be dead. Rex had watched it happen to at least one of his men who had refused to fire on a youngling. There had been a snap, and his brother had fallen like a ragdoll. He didn’t remember his name.

Rex couldn’t remember who had died or who he had killed. He didn’t want to remember. If he remembered, he couldn’t live with himself. He almost couldn’t bear it anyways. Fives. Fives had been right and he had been killed for it, executed under the order of the Chancellor. Perhaps, so was Kix. Rex hadn’t been there for him as he had been for Fives. He had failed so many. Ahsoka. He’d never be able to look her in the eye again. Did she know what was going on? Was she still alive? If alive, did she know that he had killed her people? He had seen her leave the barracks but didn’t know where she had gone. He could only hope that it was to a place where there were no clones. He couldn’t believe that Anakin would send his padawan to be slaughtered. But Darth Vader, he just might.

“Commander, are you with me?” Jesse had both hands on his shoulders, he could feel his grip through the plastoid.

Rex blinked away his distress. He couldn’t think of those things now. He had orders, and while the small voice in his head had grown weaker it still whispered to him that good soldiers follow orders. “Yeah, yeah I’m with you. Come, I want men stationed at every door and access point to this building. Nobody gets in, nobody gets out. No survivors.”

---

“Anakin!” Padme leapt from the couch to greet Anakin at her balcony, followed closely by Ahsoka. “Are you all right? We heard there was an attack on the Jedi Temple. You could see the smoke from here!”

“I’m fine. I’m fine.” Anakin took his wife into his arms and held her close. Before, Ahsoka would have looked away. Now, her eyes clung to the display of affection as if it was her world. If she focused hard enough, it could be. “I came to see if the three of you are safe.”

“What’s happening?” Padme pulled back slightly to look him in the eye.

“The Jedi have tried to overthrow the Republic.”

“But you said it was just the Council?” Ahsoka stepped forward to bring some of Anakin’s attention to herself.

“I saw Master Windu attempt to assassinate the Chancellor myself. But it seems that the treason of the Jedi ran deeper than we initially thought.”

“But what about the other Jedi? Master Plo wasn’t a traitor.”

“Master Plo wasn’t on Coruscant. Perhaps he has come around to see the error of his ways.”

But Ahsoka knew he was dead. She hadn’t yet tried to reach out to him in the Force, she’d been so overwhelmed by the numbing pain of the day, but there was something inside of her telling her that there was no point in trying. She knew the pain that killing any of his men would’ve inflicted on Master Plo. She wondered if Wolffe had been the one to do it. In a way, she hoped so. It would’ve been quick.

“Anakin, what are you going to do?” Padme asked.

Anakin took a step away from Padme, turning to gaze over Coruscant. Smoke from the still-burning Temple filtered across the horizon, the smell still permeating the cityscape. Ahsoka stopped her mind from imagining what it looked like inside. She wouldn’t allow herself to grieve until everything was over. She needed to remain strong for Anakin, for Padme, for their unborn child. They were counting on her.

“I will not betray the Republic.” Anakin finally said. “My loyalties lie with the Chancellor, with the Senate, and with you.”

“What about Obi-Wan?” Padme reached back out for her husband, holding onto his hands.

“I don’t know. Many Jedi have been killed. We can only hope that he’s remained loyal to the Chancellor.”

“Anakin.” Padme’s voice broke and he pulled her back into his embrace. Ahsoka stepped forward and lay her hand on Padme’s shoulder. She could be strong for her. She had to be strong for her or the images of her burning home would take over. She let a tear slide down her cheek anyways. She wished that Anakin had brought Rex with him. She refused to imagine what Rex was doing now, or what he had done. But at the same time, she refused to imagine that he was dead.

“Have faith, my love. Everything will soon be set right.” Anakin pulled back from the embrace, fixing his gaze on Ahsoka. “The Chancellor has given us a very important mission. The Separatists have gathered on Mustafar. We’re going there to end this war.”

“I shouldn’t, Master. I should stay here with Padme.”

Anakin shook his head. “I need you with me, Ahsoka. We can end the Clone Wars, this may be our only chance.”

“Okay.” She spoke softly and moved to stand by his side.

Anakin turned his gaze back to Padme. “Wait for me until I return. Things will be different, I promise.” He moved in to kiss her, and now Ahsoka looked away. There was no plausible deniability there. “Please, wait for me.”

The next thing Ahsoka knew was that she was sitting behind her master in the cockpit of a starfighter as the lights of Coruscant faded behind them.

---

Wolffe didn’t look up as the door to the cabin slid open. Two of his brothers stepped inside, closing the door once more behind them.

“Commander?” Boost prompted. “Do you mind the company?”

Wolffe didn’t answer, keeping his gaze on the lightsaber he held in his hands.

“We’ll leave if you want us to, but we’d rather stay.” Sinker added.

They both looked around the cabin as they waited for a response or any acknowledgement of their presence. A Jedi’s robe still hung on a hook by the door. It would have to be burned soon lest it be seen as inspiring. If they looked in the trunk at the end of the cabin they would have found some of the very few possessions of their former general. But they didn’t.

It took Boost shifting his weight towards the door for Wolffe to speak.

"Stay.”

So they did.

[mediaeval-muse]

Book Review

A Dangerous Invitation by Erica Monroe. Quillfire Publishing. 2013.

Rating: 2/5 stars

Genre: historical romance

Part of a Series? Yes, The Rookery Rogues #1 of 4 (and a short story)

Summary:  She’s given up on love, and wants only independence… Torn from her life of privilege by her father’s death, Kate Morgan survives in London’s dark and depraved rookeries as a fence for stolen goods. The last man she ever expects, or wants, to be reunited with is her first love, who promised to cherish, honor and protect her, and instead fled amidst accusations of murder. He’s the reformed rake determined to win her back… One drunken night cost Daniel O’Reilly the woman he loved and the life he’d worked so hard to create. If he ever wants to reclaim that life–and Kate–he’ll not only have to prove he’s innocent of murder, but convince the pistol-wielding spitfire that he’s no longer the scoundrel he once was. Together, they’ll have to face a killer. Time is running out…

***Full review under the cut.***

Trigger Warnings: violence, sexual content, sexism, forced prostitution, rape, sexual assault, alcoholism, being buried alive

Overview: Another recommendation from the website Smart Bitches, Trashy Books. I decided to give this one a try because I’m a sucker for a spitfire heroine, murder plots, and the criminal underbelly of late Regency/pre-Victorian London. But while the previous recommendation was a hit, this one was somewhat of a miss. I think the bones of the story are good, as well as the character archetypes, but I wasn’t personally a fan of Monroe’s writing.

Writing: Monroe’s prose is fairly straightforward with some dramatic flairs here and there to heighten the emotion. It’s easy to read, and you can skim it quickly, if that’s your style. For me, however, it bordered a little too much on the melodramatic, and it became a bit repetitive when the same sentiments were evoked again and again. For example, we’re told a lot how much our heroine, Kate, can never trust a man again and that she can’t have a future with our hero, Daniel. After the first few times, I wished Monroe would move on to explore more complex emotions to develop her characters a little more. I also think the dialogue is a bit unrealistic, as characters tend to say exactly what’s bothering them or what deeper issues are plaguing them without much prompting, and real people don’t exactly talk that way. Some metaphors and choices of words were also a little awkward, which made for a confusing read at times.

By far, the biggest issue I had was the way Monroe handled the exposition and the details of her mystery. The action of the story starts out fairly quickly, which would have been fine except that I felt like I was being asked to care about characters’ histories without getting to know them first. Daniel runs into Kate after a long absence on page 2 of the first chapter of the novel, and I wish we were given a chapter where we saw Kate fencing some stolen goods or something else first to get us invested in her as a character. Also, because things happened so quickly, I felt like I was being told a lot of information rather than relevant details being shown to me organically. For example, a character might do or say something, then there’s be a kind of aside that explained the significance of the thing. Or Daniel would reference something about his quest to clear his name, then the author would take some time to tell us how he started his journey, how he knew people helping him, etc. As a result, there was a lot of setup jam-packed in the first few chapters, and I wish more had been done to create a flow that didn’t rely on duck info-dumping. Maybe if we had a chapter showing us Kate completing a sale (as I said) while Daniel is contacting his rogue friend, Atlas, who agrees to help him clear his name. Then the action between them could begin.

Plot: I love the idea of former lovers teaming up to solve a mystery, and at its heart, I think the premise of the plot was interesting. I did think, however, that some of the details and steps along the way weren’t handled as well as they could have been. There’s a lot of going to talk to witnesses or persons of interest, which makes for a lot of info-dumping, and there’s also some random chases which seemed to be inserted for the purposes of action rather than a logical unfolding of the mystery. During the first chase, for example, I was constantly wondering whether their pursuer was just a night watchmen or someone more nefarious. If the latter, how in the world would someone have known Daniel and Kate were snooping around the warehouses at night unless someone was following them? The thought that someone must know they are investigating the murder from the onset (and thus, know that Daniel is back in London) doesn’t really occur to the characters, which I found a bit frustrating.

Overall, I wished the events that made up the main narrative had been strung together more meaningfully. Every encounter that was related to solving the mystery had the potential for some interesting social commentary, and while it was gestured to, I ultimately felt that it was rushed. For example, there’s one scene in which Daniel and Kate go visit a prostitute, and Kate thinks a lot about how the girls are more than just objects and how women have to do what they can to survive. Soon after, she discloses her own rape after being tricked into prostitution. It seemed to me like the author was trying to cover a lot of things at once when the personal lives of the characters and the unfolding of the mystery could have revolved around one or two themes: the link between minorities and crime (due to poverty resulting from prejudice), for example, and the way gender also affects how women experience the criminal world. Or, given that the main undercurrent of the book is the existence of body snatching, every aspect of the story could be tied to the concept of “selling bodies” and disregard for the poor. If the bodies of the poor are being exploited to sell to medical facilities, that kind of matches up nicely with the idea of poor women “selling their bodies” via prostitution or Irish immigrants “selling their bodies” by becoming laborers. But alas, it seemed like the novel wasn’t quite interested in diving deep into those issues.

Characters: Our heroine, Kate, is a headstrong woman who has used her knowledge of her father’s shipping company to fence stolen goods following her family’s bankruptcy. I rather liked how her ruthlessness and street smarts were connected to this aspect of her life rather than the author throwing up her hands and just asserting that Kate was a badass. Kate was also pretty likable as a street-smart protagonist who knew how to navigate the criminal world of 19th century London. I liked watching her get out of tricky situations and disappear at opportune moments, and I especially liked that she had a practical, active role to play in the investigation. She’s enlisted for her quick mind and encyclopedic knowledge of her father’s company, and I found that enjoyable and well-done. However, she was a bit back-and-forth in her affections for Daniel. One minute, she’d be proudly declaring that they can’t be together and values her independence, and the next, she’d kiss him or let him touch her while thinking about how she wanted to be protected. While it was understandable, given her traumatic history on the streets, I did find it a bit frustrating, as a reader, because rather than there being some evolution or development to her character, Kate seemed to be on a more cyclical track.

Daniel, our hero, is an Irish immigrant who has returned from abroad after being accused of murder years before. I liked that Monroe set him up as a struggling former alcoholic and as having PTSD as a result of having found the murder victim before he died - it made it seem like reform was a continual process rather than a quick fix, and that men can be emotionally vulnerable in more ways than just being lovesick or abused. I didn’t quite see what Kate saw in him, however, as her main attraction to him seemed to be physical, especially when recounting their past. Why, for example, did she fall for him before the murder when she says she was concerned about his alcoholism? What drew her to him? I also think Daniel was written as a bit too jealous. He would hate a man he just met just because he potentially got to know Kate while Daniel was away. There was more than one time where his jealousy almost ruined his chances of clearing his name, which I found ridiculous.

The supporting characters were a bit of a mixed bag. I liked Kate’s barmaid friend, Jane, and Atlas, even though neither had quite enough “screen time” to be anything other than a convenient plot device. Other characters just outright got on my nerves with their general disregard for women. The villain, in particular, was poorly done in that he monologued a bit and sexually assaults our heroine for reasons that seem to just be “because I’m evil.” It made for a rather up-and-down reading experience.

Other: There were some interesting political aspects to this book in that many references were devoted to the mistreatment of Irish immigrants. There’s such potential there for a deeper exploration of prejudice and life as a “second class citizen,” including the brief references to Daniel’s code-switching (which was delightful) and his complicated feelings about being Irish but barely remember living in Ireland. I think, however, that a lot of the prejudice was left to stand on its own and generate some automatic sympathy for characters without actually thinking about how it could enhance the story. For example, are Irish people scapegoated for crime in Monroe’s world? How is the stereotype of the alcoholic Irishman subverted by Daniel’s struggle to be better or how does his past make us think more deeply about why people turn to drink (as opposed to judging everyone as uniformly “amoral”)? Just because the novel is a romance doesn’t mean that these issues can’t be explored (one has only to look to someone like Courtney Milan, who weaves social commentary into her romances brilliantly).

I also think more could have been done to enhance the romance itself. While I did like that Daniel was intent on proving himself to be a better man than he was when he left, I also didn’t think the romance was built on much other than their past and physical attraction. Daniel’s reasons for loving Kate seem to be that she anchors him, which is a bit selfish and frustrating, but he also admires her independence and intelligence, which prevented me from giving up on him entirely. That being said, their relationship doesn’t evolve as much as it’s cyclical. They fight a lot and Kate is constantly back-and-forth about whether or not she wants to be with him, so it felt like I was reading about the same issue over and over rather than seeing how trust was built between them. Daniel’s arc could have been more about accepting Kate for who she is now - not reminiscing about a past that couldn’t return - and Kate’s arc could have been about learning to trust again or valuing living people over the memory of her dead father. While Daniel’s acceptance of Kate’s past was well-done, I really wanted more insight as to how each person made the other’s lives better and more emotionally fulfilling, not just how they’re a good person for overlooking the other’s flaws or how the love interest “anchored” them or whatever. In fairness, Daniel does learn that he needs to “save himself” rather than rely on Kate to do it for him, but there was very little lead-up for him to get to that point.

Continuing with the Series? No.

Recommendations: I would recommend this book if you’re interested in historical romance (especially set in the 19th century), criminal underbelly of London, Irish heroes, reformed rakes, disinherited heroines, former lovers, and murder plots.

[vecna]

Oohh for the fandom meme! Dragon Age?

Send me a fandom!

Oh boy, this is going to be spicy.

It’s also very Anders-negative, so apologies up front.

The character(s) I first fell in love with:

I’m actually not sure which was the FIRST, but it’s a tie between Morrigan and Alistair. I saw fanart of them going around at the time Origins first released, and that’s what got me to try the game! 

Alistair was a breath of fresh air, because at the time, I was used to warrior men in games being all Edgy and Rough, and he was the total opposite and a sweetheart.

And Morrigan was just instantly my goth wife, and had Claudia Black as a VA, so I was sold immediately.

Both still hold a special place for me!

The character(s) I never expected to love as much as I do now:

Loghain is the main one. He does a lot of truly reprehensible shit in the first game. But once I sat down and read the prequel novels about young Loghain, plus saw what he’s like if you recruit him, he grew on me A LOT and now he’s a top fave.

Nathaniel I expected to hate as soon as I saw his name + who his father was, but then the expansion came out and I ended up loving that dude almost immediately. I really wish he was around more after Awakening, and also really wish he’d been a romance option, especially for a Cousland haha.

Merrill is a weird one because she was totally uninteresting to me in DA:O, so when they announced her as a companion in DA2 I was like, “Ehhhh.” Then they punked me by making her adorable and sweet and now I love her.

Plus a bunch of side-characters like The Architect? I liked him a bunch in the novel + Awakening – although I found his Plan in the novel much more appealing. But as the years have gone by, I keep surprising myself at just HOW disappointed I am he’s never appeared again haha.

The character(s) everyone else loves that I don’t:

There’s a few, and all of them will get me yelled at, but here we go.

First: Isabela. This one’s a bit complicated, but it really just boils down to her attitude towards how you play your character. I actively dislike characters who are super sexual – regardless of gender. But Isabela in particular bothers me because she’s constantly pushing her lewdness and sexual humor on you, and when you try to discourage it, she admonishes you with, “Well, you’re no fun.” Her whole character is just… like that for me. Super pushy, overly lewd, gets uppity when you don’t have the same ~liberated~ opinions she does, and this is all played up in the writing like she’s this Empowered Woman the player absolutely must love, especially if they’re playing a male character lol. I hate her for the same reasons a lot of people hate Liara in Mass Effect, but with the addition of pushy lewd jokey characters always rubbing me the wrong way.

Second: Iron Bull. I’ve written a lot about why he makes me more uncomfortable than any fictional character I’ve ever encountered, and I just outright hate him, he makes my skin crawl. If you want details, feel free to DM me, I don’t really want to rant about it again publicly.

Third: Anders. Again, I’ve written a lot about him before, but. I hated him in Awakening, for a lot of the same reasons I hate Isabela in DA2. But the changes they made to him in DA2 are just kinda :/. While I absolutely agree with him about Mage Rights, the level of preachiness they added to him drove me nuts, and the fact that you’re painted as a Bad Guy if you don’t like him blowing up the chantry. And from a purely OOC standpoint: He’s become a figurehead for all the aggressive Discourse people in the fandom, and if I see someone list Anders in their sidebar bio, I know pre-emptively that their blog is going to be full of 6 page long essays of meta about how everything is Problematic, and no thanks.

To a lesser extent, I’m also not fond of Zevran. But in his case, it’s not anything major like the others, I’m just tired of Bioware’s habit of making the bisexual characters overly lewd sex-focused rogues/deviants.

The character(s) I love that everyone else hates:

Loghain, lol.

But also Sebastian Vael? There’s so much about him that I find genuinely fascinating, especially regarding his backstory, and his struggles between his feelings of responsibility to his family vs his dedication to the Chantry and bettering himself. He’s such a dear character to me, and such a pivotal part of any playthrough, I’m always blown away when I remember he’s a DLC character and many people don’t have him.

HOWEVER Anders being the fandom darling means that people tend to unfairly shit on Sebastian for reacting poorly to the Chantry explosion. People also like to label him as a poster child of a White Straight Church Boy, while refusing to acknowledge he’s… not straight, and not exactly a church boy either lol.

Also Vivienne, but I think that one’s really self-explanatory. I love her, and she gives a really needed perspective on the Circle, since most of the mage companions previously were apostates. But of course, she gets written off as a Chantry apologist, and an uppity bitch, when people would def love her for the same traits if she was not black lol.

The character(s) I used to love but don’t any longer:

Justice. And by extension, Anders. A lot of people like to rant about how Justice ruined Anders, but I always saw it the other way around.Justice was my favorite character in Awakening. The whole concept around him, that he was a Fade spirit who took human form and was experiencing life for the first time was SO fascinating. I felt like there was so much to explore there with his character.

Buuuut then they had him merge with Anders. With the narrative being that he WAS a spirit of Justice, but the moment he connected with Anders, it corrupted his entire spirit into something he wasn’t anymore. So essentially, the character I used to love no longer exists, thanks to Anders. And it reminds me of that phrase recently, about how the destination is so terrible you can no longer enjoy the journey? I can’t even appreciate Justice in Awakening anymore, knowing what happens to him.

To a lesser extent, Corypheus. He was SO COOL and the premise of him was AMAZING when he first appeared in the DA2 DLC, but then Inquisition had to go and turn him into a weird shallow mustache twirl villain.

The character(s) I would totally smooch:

None? Idk I don’t really have the Smooch Fictional Character gene.

The character(s) I’d want to be like:

MAEVARIS TILANI. May I one day finally have the confidence in my identity that she does, and also marry a sweet bear man who adores me.

The character(s) I’d slap:

Too many to list, really. Probably Anders.

The pairing(s) that I love:

THERE’S SO MANY. And most of them are with the PC, because I generally don’t ship NPCs together. But my top 3 are:

M!Hawke / Fenris is my ultimate OTP in the Dragon Age series, by a long-shot. Not even sure where to start on how much I love it, but two damaged guys leaning on each other to work through their respective loneliness and trauma is MY JAM. And lmao I love silver-sideburned Hawke chillin in retirement somewhere but being a supportive husband while Fenris goes off hunting the Bad Guys, it’s great.

Solas / Lavellan is a close second, with the caveat that I increasingly prefer it with a male Lavellan. Having the Inquisitor in love with Solas just changes the entire tone of the game for me, for the better, and him actually being the villain trying to end the world while in love with this normie elf is just (chef kiss). Too bad I’m burned out by how overly spammed it is.

Dorian / Inquisitor is in third, I will just always be fond of how it’s a story of the Inquisitor helping Dorian be happy with who he is, escape an abusive family, and realize that he’s allowed to be loved. Good shit good shit.

Some others:

Warden / Morrigan is probably my favorite Origins ship, and that only intensified with the way she talks about the Warden in Inquisition, esp if they’re Kieran’s other parent. What a cute goth family, regardless of the Warden’s gender, cause you can pry Bi Morrigan from my cold dead fingers.

Cassandra / Inquisitor might have a lot of Romance Cliches, but I adore it – although, similar others, I increasingly prefer it with a female Inquisitor. I actively dislike the weird no-homo rejection with her, and come on, a lady Inquisitor being her Knight In Shining Armor is just good storytelling.

Cullen / Inquisitor, for a lot of the same reasons as Cassandra. I love me a cliche romance, but I’m also fond of the narrative w/ him of someone he loves helping him heal through the lyrium withdrawals and take time to rest.

Josephine / F!Inquisitor is just adorable all around, and wholesome, and great.

Varric / Hawke COME ON HOW WAS THIS NOT AN OPTION.

On the rarepair end:

Sebastian / Hawke doesn’t seem like it would be a rarepair – you’d think everyone who loves Cullen/Inquisitor would love this one too. I do! But alas. That said, I’m also pretty aggro about this one with a male Hawke because SEBASTIAN IS CANON BI. WHY WAS HIS ROMANCE STRAIGHT.

Maric / Loghain is a rarepair I will take with me to my grave LOL. Never forget the scene where Maric thought Loghain was leaving, and bolted across the camp with almost no clothes on to beg Loghain to stay. Come on.

Nathaniel / Cousland is dear to me, and I love it so much more than Alistair / Cousland haha.

Greagoir / Wynne, I can’t believe this got validated in canon ahhhh.

The pairing(s) that I despise:

Again: THERE’S SO MANY.

Iron Bull / Dorian is my least fave by a longshot. Again, I have written about why I hate this pairing a great many times, but it’s awful and toxic and makes me deeply uncomfortable, and I could happily go the rest of my life without seeing anything about it ever again. Please keep poor Dorian away from that man. He deserves someone that doesn’t sexually harass him until he’s finally worn down into dubious consent (while drunk) and then outted to everyone about it.

Isabela / Fenris. Sorry, but it’s just bad writing that Fenris bails on Hawke because the physical intimacy triggered his PTSD and he needs space to process, but then will turn around and have a casual sex relationship with Isabela instead. Yikes.

Anders / Fenris. Aveline / Isabela. Alistair / Morrigan. All of the DA2 Hawke/companion rivalmances. I don’t enjoy “these two people hate and antagonize and want to kill each other… but they fuck” in any form.

Cullen / Amell. Yikes.

And basically ALL of the canon wlw pairings in this series suffer from the fact they have men writing them, and as a result they’re almost always some kind of abusive or racist, and skeeve me out. See: Celene / Briala, Leliana / Marjolaine, Branka / Hespith, etc. Please Bioware, I’m begging you to consult some actual queer women. It’s insane how badly they’re treated compared to how the canon mlm couples are written.

FINALLY, I recognize this will be the most unpopular of all, but. As much as I love M!Hawke/Fenris, I just honestly cannot stand seeing F!Hawke/Fenris. There are some pairings where I’m so attached to the m/m or f/f version, I cannot deal with the m/f version anymore, and that’s one of them. (The others are mainly non-Bioware.)

[orcinusorca1617]

Favorite Star Wars Fics

REBELCAPTAIN

Floating, Sinking shuofthewind

Somewhere in her is the sinking feeling that they weren't supposed to survive.

[In which they all live, in a manner of speaking, and they keep going, in spite of the odds.]

[Post-Rogue One. Runs through A New Hope. Eventual Rebelcaptain.]

whetstone shuofthewind

They're finished with their first mission. Now it's just the matter of downtime.

[Part of the floating, sinking universe. Mostly just fluff.]

Restless jenniferjun1per

Jyn needs to sleep, but she can't seem to get comfortable.

You Still Are leralynne

The scar zigzags down her side, puckered white along the ridges of her ribs. Cassian’s fingers still the first time they brush over it. With her head on his chest, she can feel his intake of breath.

A Long Pause leralynne

“Be quiet!” Jyn hisses. “I hear something!” Cassian stills. And then slowly, very slowly, he lifts his lips from Jyn’s collarbone.

slowly, and then all at once caramelle

It's probably sheer stubbornness, Cassian thinks wryly.

Even so, it doesn't mean he's just going to leave her like that.

Or, the one where Jyn has a habit of falling asleep around the apartment, and Cassian develops a habit of carrying her back to bed, because he's a Gentleman, and a Good Friend.

There For You guineapiggie

They reach Yavin IV and Jyn has every intention to lock herself in the room they've given her and not come out ever again. However, someone strongly disagrees with that plan.

flight lessons ignitesthestars

“One hundred percent of the crashes I have experienced involved you, Jyn Erso.” K2 informs her pleasantly. “Given that no other flight experience I've been involved in has experienced an abrupt descent, I can only conclude that you - oh. You're bleeding.

Or, Jyn is slightly impaled and Cassian sees to her wound. Emotions are had.

Won't You Let Us Wander (series) angel_deux

Cassian came back for her. Again and again. After Scarif, that complicates things for Jyn, who's used to running | 13 part series.

Cuddling for Warmth leralynne

“Jyn is shivering,” K2 observes, with the kind of bland indifference only possible when one is a droid incapable of experiencing just how goddamn freezing this planet is.

Bloody Little Worms Kobo

Jyn Erso is accustomed to being jolted awake. Saw Gerrera shaking her awake at every hour of the night, keeping her on her toes; the rough shift from hyperspace to realspace rattling the frame of a ship; Imperial guards smacking their batons against iron bars; nightmares, images of her father’s last breath or the echoing smack of Cassian’s back against steel bars: Jyn is accustomed to those.

A white hot grip on her lungs? This marks the first time she’s awoken to that.

Closer muggleindenial28

"They don’t speak on the way down.

They don’t acknowledge the distant shrill screams of TIE Fighters and X-Wings outside.

They don’t think about how they’re not going to get out in time."

They make it off Scarif, but not without scars.

like real people do mollivanders

“I have an idea,” she says, mind whirling as she steps towards the room. “We need a reason to be here like this.” He follows close behind her and she can practically feel the tension washing over him. In contrast, the plan forming in her mind has provided her with a calm clarity. He closes the door behind them before she props it ajar/

They need to be caught.

Beach House lyresandlasers

“Never say I don’t support you,” Jyn lifted his head into her lap, cradled in crossed legs.

cover me, i'll cover you mollivanders

“Are you hurt?” he asks blindly, reaching for her only to snatch his fingers back as she lurches away. He forgets she’s like a feral animal when she’s injured, used to being the only person having her back. “Let me see,” he says, trying to force authority and calm into his voice, both to reassure her and take control of the situation.

Inside, he’s anything but.

I hear the revolution rebsrising

The babble sounds through the baby monitor, soft and quiet, but enough to wake two well-trained soldiers still adjusting to the safety of peace.

Bodhi's Perspective rebsrising

It’s a simple scene - and that’s what strikes Bodhi the most. They kiss like they’re going to do it everyday for the rest of their lives. And he hopes, not for the first time, that they have the chance.

We Can Turn Over and Start Again kyrdwyn

After Scarif, Jyn starts over, with a new mission, and an unexpected friend.

Fifteen Days clashofqueens

It's hard to hold on to a happy ending during a war, and in the final days of the Rebellion, Jyn might lose hers.

Lay Down My Shields katsumi

Jyn comes down with a strange reaction to a foreign plant, but it doesn't seem like a big enough deal to bother anyone with. That is, until she faints in the middle of the hallway.

Run to Me in the Rising Dawn katsumi

Jyn has never had anyone stick around before. The battle is over now, but the war rages on and Jyn is already preparing for the day when she loses Cassian, too. (She doesn't realize he's terrified of the exact same thing.)

the quiet we hold ithacas

After Scarif, Cassian wakes up broken. He and Jyn learn to fix each other.

We Should laurie2000ann

Jyn could have died trying to save Cassian and he’s pretty angry about it.

Let's Give 'Em Something to Talk About astoriamalfoys

“Couldn’t sleep?” he asks her, a wry smile twisting his lips. Jyn ducks her head. “Nightmares or the medicine?”

It’s meant to be an easy conversation, but she says, “I was worried about you,” and his heart stutters to a staccato instead.

Han x Leia captainkitten

Important Thing of Awesomeness™ meets Dumpster Fire of a Human Being™

REYLO

we could plant a house, we could build a tree Like_A_Dove

Ben takes a deep breath. “It’s—it’s a project. Conceptual art. You wouldn’t get it.”

Rey presses her lips together to keep from laughing. She plans her next words quickly and carefully, determining what will get her the best reaction. “Really? Looks like you ruined a bedsheet to me.”

His reaction does not disappoint. “Get out.”

Parenthood (series) pontmercy44

What to expect when you're expecting the child of a rich, womanizing, alcoholic, unredeemable asshole? And what to do when the unexpected, improbable, irrational happens?

What She's Worth g_girl143

After being sent to train under his uncle in the Jedi academy, Ben Solo meets a youngling girl who would change the course of his life. An alternative universe companion fic for Claudia Gray's "Bloodline" novel. A scenario in which Ben Solo and Rey are fellow students of Luke's Jedi Academy and the events that led to the birth of Kylo Ren.

A Proposal by Any Other Name LucidLucy

Rey and Finn have been A Thing for a long time now. Since she was eighteen, to be exact. When Finn leaves on a trip to Europe for six months for work, Rey finally chases after him to Dublin to do what he seems to be putting off: propose. | Leap Year AU

If You Trust What's in Your Heart (What Better Can You Do) TheJGatsby

After the war, Rey likes to savor the peace on her own sometimes. Then she's not alone anymore.

Black Gloves, Orange Soup Solia

While the dwindling Rebellion starves, awaiting their chance to attack a First Order supply vessel, Rey is trying to keep busy repairing the lightsaber. As luck would have it, her Force-bonded rival Kylo Ren is knowledgeable on the subject and keen to help, but he is also very... distracting.

A Good Fall ohwise1ne

Ben Solo refuses to take a stunt double and pays the price when he breaks his leg filming his latest action blockbuster. His new physical therapist, Rey Sanders, seems to be the only person in Hollywood who doesn’t recognize the infamous Kylo Ren – and for some reason, he finds himself fighting to keep it that way.

A Royal Mistake reyofdarkness

Ben Solo (aka The Playboy Prince): Prince of Alderaan and tabloid sensation, never seen with the same girl twice.

Rey: Mechanic, blissfully unaware of Ben Solo's very existence.

Until Paige recruits her for a night servicing the Met Gala, host to a diverse class of guests, including royalty. It is there that a chance encounter gets Rey caught up in a pair of pretty eyes and a charming personality that she knows she should stay far, far away from. The universe, however, seems to have other plans. Hot Tip: Don’t look up your crush’s sex tape.

The End of a String Silvershine

A bridge still exists between the Supreme Leader of the First Order and the rebel known as Rey. As the connection winds tighter, the line between enemy and friend continues to blur, and Rey's loyalties are called into question. A force bond can bring companionship and support, but it's not without its dangers... or delights.

No Ill Will Castiloar

His face set into a resigned expression before tapping his phone with a final flourish, sending whatever excuse he made. She almost jumped when he squarely met her gaze. “Me? Your hostage? I’d almost think you like having me here.” Even with the congestion he managed to drop his voice low enough to make the quip weigh heavy.

variations on a theme of you disasterisms

"Who knows?" Luke darted a faint smile at Ben and Rey as they stewed in silence and disbelief. "The two of you might even learn to get along. Right, Leia?"

"Like a house on fire," the General deadpanned. "Complete with screams, flames, and people running for safety."

"Indeed." Luke's blue eyes twinkled. "There may be no survivors."

As Hard As I Try... KKetura

When her friends find out about her force bond with Kylo Ren, Rey finds herself more alone than ever. But in her forced solitude, she slowly discovers a better understanding of herself and the man to whom she's inextricably linked.

lying restless (as the dawn comes near) TheJGatsby

They have a tradition for nightmares.

you gotta stop doing that semi-hiatus

She caught herself right before the words ‘you gotta stop doing that’ slipped from her lips, saving her from having the explain why she randomly started talking to herself in the hallway.

Why Her? Aramenialys

Just one last battle. One. Then they can be done and put everything behind them. That was the plan. Then it's smashed to bits, and Kylo has to figure out how to come back from tragedy and form a new one. A short drabble/oneshot about Rey dying and (redeemed) Kylo learning to cope.

Quiet issueswithjedipedagogy

He wasn’t sleeping. She had caught sight of him in the darkness, blinking awake to the strange vacuum the bond created around her; the quiet focus on two souls that seemed to make everything else fall away.

Soft Things catmusing

Kylo Ren wakes up aboard a familiar and yet unknown ship. His body aches and it hurts to remember but there is Rey of light.

Aphelion ambiguously

Stranded on a barren planet together, Rey and Kylo Ren have only each other to help them survive.

Vulnerability and Soft Hair smallenoughtofit

After two years with the Resistance, Kylo Ren still lacks any real security or relationships outside of his tenuous whatever-this-is with Rey. And Rey still wonders what his hair feels like.

the remedy is the experience (i won't worry my life away) TheJGatsby

Rey gets sick, and she isn't very good at letting people look after her.

Proper Sleep tearoomsaloon

Much to her frustration, Rey can no longer properly sleep unless she's snuggled between Ben's glorious pecs

ad infinitum hyperphonic

for the prompt: Rey and Kylo telling Leia, Rey is pregnant. Leia had no clue.

any way you want it thegoodlannister

rey helps ben begin to work through the process of making decisions - even really simple ones - for himself. rehabilitation is a slow process in the aftermath of the mess snoke has spent three decades making of ben's mind.

It Will Come Back ReyloTrashCompactor

“Honey, don’t feed it. It will come back”

A Series of Firsts Tandy

Ben (or is it Ren?) and Rey sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G. First comes love and then comes marriage, then comes baby in a baby carriage.

A story told in firsts.

Dark Prism whythokylo (OpalElephant)

Rey awakens again, except this time it's to a life she can't recall with a man she only knows as her enemy. My attempt at a long form, dark AU. (Formerly titled Aphelion)

A Few Small Repairs TourmalineGreen

Rey buried her face in her blankets. She wasn’t crying. She wasn’t going to allow herself to feel anything. Rain was just water, and so were tears. It would all dry, in time. The storm would pass, and then she’d keep going. That’s how it always had been, and that’s how it was going to be.

She would be alright, after this. She would find a way, find something…

what ails you thegoodlannister

or: three times ben solo was sick and one time kylo ren was. unabashed reylo and even more unabashed hurt/comfort.

100 Ways to Say I Love You AquaWolfGirl

Taken from a list on Tumblr of 100 Ways To Say I Love You, 100 little oneshots leading up to Valentine's Day.

I'm always in this twilight (in the shadow of your heart) disasterisms

Coded on a secondhand datapad in a run-down motel room in Mos Eisley, deleted and never sent: Everything about us was a whirlwind.

Written on a scrap of durasheet in a Tion Cluster outpost, the words fading after a while into air and ghosts: You shouldn't have forgiven me for any of it.

Scraped into the bark of an oak tree on the Argazdan homeworld: You won't believe the dreams I have about you.

the one with the lust writing-reylo

She has bigger things to worry about than that.

The most pressing of which is reclining in her bed, shirtless.

“Can you move?” She asks, unwinding her scarf and shrugging off her huge jacket.

Milking It thewayofthetrashcompactor

“Rey.”

The voice was deep and familiar, rough with exhaustion, and echoed across the gap closed by the Force.

She ignored it, hunched over on the edge of the cot she'd been sleeping on. She wanted nothing more than to lean back and curl up into an unconscious ball again, but another voice, this one much closer, called her name again.

morning in the burned house disasterisms

Leia's not really surprised at all, to be honest, but, for the sake of his pride, she should probably pretend to be.

find a thread to pull, and we can watch it unravel again_please

The war is over, Snoke dead at Rey and Kylo's hands. The two of them find themselves feeling a bit out of place as the Resistance celebrates and decide that the answer is a bit of good old fashioned Corellian whiskey. Enjoyed responsibly, of course. And in private.

Because You're There disasterisms

Three years ago, Rey had not yet climbed Everest.

Presenting the first half of my fic/art trade with the lovely lilithsaur, based on her trash triplets x 2 universe. The gist is that there are three Solo boys— Kylo, Ben, and Matt (the character from Adam Driver's SNL skit)— and three Kenobi girls— Kira (dark Rey), Rey, and Daisy (undercover Rey).

Sword of the Jedi (series) diasterisms

“What do you think?” Luke asks his nephew. “She has potential.”

“She bit me, Master,” is Ben’s stiff response. “Any opinion I give would be biased.”

Or: Everyone is connected, even if, sometimes, it's just by the skin of our teeth. Even in the midst of darkness, still, luminous beings are we.

Reign OptimisticBeth

Alternate Ending to "The Last Jedi." Rey accepts Kylo Ren’s offer in return for the lives of the retreating ships.

Political maneuvering is not Rey's forte. She must adjust to life as the First Order's first lady, making friends and enemies along the way and indulging in sweet awkward romance with her Ben.  

Burgeoning Hope crossingwinter

#ShesPregnantAndHesDumbAndHasntLeftHisJobYet

miles from where you are mooncactus

After an argument over Star Wars fandom with a "gatekeeping, entitled monster" with the cryptic username of KyloRen, Rey finds herself stuck in a series of unavoidable video calls.

Prisoner orphan_account

Rey has been running all her life. She had known since she was a small girl that she was born with the powers that had been cursed and labeled evil by the galaxy. Running had worked for so long, that she was almost surprised when the bounty hunter Kylo Ren had caught her trail. But they might have more in common than they both originally thought.

Hand of Fate sweetestcondition

Rey is offered a choice at the end of Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi. This time, she takes the hand of Kylo Ren, grasping at the chance to transform the First Order from the inside. She hopes to create a Resistance from within, starting with the heart of Ben Solo. | feat. KoR, Kezzik

keep me in your clouded mind hi_raeth

Flu season has claimed its latest victim: Rey’s roommate, Ben Solo. But it’s fine. She’ll get him dressed, bring him to the hospital, and everything will be okay. Things are totally under control.

Except for the part where Ben has completely lost his verbal filter and keeps babbling about his feelings for her.

Exile Ernzo

The war is over and the First Order has fallen. Ben has returned home to face his consequences.

A story of Rey and Ben finding peace in the aftermath of war as Ben accepts his punishment.

made a rebel of a careless man's careful daughter disasterisms

The First Order does not exist, what is dead stays dead, and they grow up together at Luke's Jedi Academy.

Or: The one where everything was beautiful and nothing hurt.

(Then again, it's Ben and Rey, so maybe things hurt a little.)

A little ginger, a little honey Areah51

Rey is sick, and Ben shows up where he's not wanted, but in the end, we all need someone to take care of us when we're ill.

my wildest wind (come blow into my room) meritmut

“Would it have been so terrible?” he asks. “Staying?”

Could we have had this? she thinks, like she always does.

Non-consecutive ForceTime vignettes in the days, weeks and months after Crait.

Play to Win Enterprisingly

Ben Solo – aka KyloRen – is a professional gamer, playing the first-person-shooter StarKiller for the internationally ranked eSports team, The First Order. He’s made a name for himself as a ruthless competitor with a ferocious temper and top-notch skills that can’t be beat. That is, until a mystery player named ReyOfLight begins thoroughly trouncing him whenever they cross paths.

Unwell AquaWolfGirl

Jakku was cold, but nothing compared to Hoth. While staying at the old Rebel base, Rey catches a cold, and someone is a huge worry wart over the woman who denied his offer.

The One Where He Decides writing_reylo

He’s on the bridge and he’s alone.

The First Order are no more.

It only took him a year, carefully manipulating every weak mind he came across, emotionally manipulating the ones he couldn’t.  

Embers sciosophia

All the myriad things he’d been—someone who made her laugh; the warmth on the other side of the bed; her best friend—those things, Rey had buried.

Rey left Ben two years, three months, and sixteen days ago. But who's counting?

Interstellar Transmissions LovelyThings, ricca_riot

Rey’s interrogation at the hands of Kylo Ren triggered an awakening in the Force, as well as an unwelcome bond that links them across the galaxy and grows stronger every day.

What Stays and What Fades Away astra_inclinant

Her feelings for Kylo Ren are quiet, not acknowledged, but deeply felt. She cannot make peace with them and send them from her mind.

Or, everyone is emotionally stunted and no one has healthy coping skills.  

Our Heaven is Just Waiting FrostedFox

It's his turn to fall wounded before her, and her turn to decide where to go from there.

If only she could convince him to stay alive.

make it look just the way i planned TheJGatsby

Ben buys the painting on a brokenhearted impulse, and somehow it ends up being exactly the right choice.

(Based on the song Paint Me a Birmingham)

[silcntrilcy-blog]

RILEY PEARSON. CISMALE. TWENTY-THREE. ROGUE.

hi !! i’m tess, i’m 18, i’m in cst, and i use she/her pronouns ! i play two babes so far, riley and amelia ! i’ve written out a lot for riles, so i’m just gonna get to it ! i did play this character before, but i’ve revamped him a bit, aged him up a bit, and then did a bit more, so sorry for the novel of a bio ! there is a basics section down below if you’re just skimming for the moment !

My mind is a very dangerous and destructive place; only the darkness survives.

biography

born and raised to two military soldiers in san antonio, texas, riley pearson was nothing short of the perfect son. he was raised strict and proud with a smile on his face and a salute at his fingertips. his mother, lillian, had finished serving her time for her country only a few months after finding out she was pregnant, but his father, jace, was deployed for another service not even a week before riley’s birth. for the first four years of his life, he was a momma’s boy with a picture for a father. lillian worked hard to make sure riley knew who his father was, what he looked like, the sound of his voice from scattered calls and old home videos. when his father returned, all it took was a week of activities to spur into him those four years his father missed. he was an easy adapter, and his parents saw that clearly.

they were a family, and nothing was going to take that away from them. they dressed him up every day and sent him to school, welcomed him with open arms off the bus, and sat together for dinner in the kitchen as they mused over their day. some would call them ideal, others seemed to like the term “robotic”. it continued like this for years, and soon enough, riley realized just how ideal his parents thought he was.

he stayed inside every night, nearing the age of fourteen, while his friends ran off to birthday parties, concerts and soccer practice. he had never realized his parent’s overbearing expectations until he was made to realize that hardly any other kid had them. he began to hate his home.

he started breaking rules— staying out past curfew, never doing his homework, running away to friend’s houses for days on end, not as much as a text home to let his parents know he was alright. he had gone from the golden boy to the town nuisance. but it was only when he was caught with drugs (weed) at school did his parents draw the line.

he had just turned fifteen when his parents shipped him off to military boot camp. he was infuriated, acting out for nearly a month when he first got there, but slowly he started to condemn to their rules. he began to fall back to that perfect, golden child that he was before. he took his drill sergeant's orders as if they came from his parents. he started making friends, basking in the life he had taken for granted. and not three years later, he was stepping off the bus from boot camp, a smile on his face and a pep in his step. he was happy to see his parents— he figured maybe life would be perfect now. they were going to be this ideal, uniform family again, no matter how robotic. he realized everything his parents did, every little rule and promise, it all was meant to make him into a better man, to keep him on a straight line. over the years, he saw kids continuing to rebel within the boot camp, pushing their luck and ending up worse in the end. it was a never ending cycle, and he wanted no part of it. oh how did his dreams fly.

one year after riley stepped off the bus from bootcamp, his entire ideal world crumbled. a virus swept over the world and the dead began walking. everything his parents had trained for, everything he had trained for, was surrounding them in hoards. they grabbed everything they could and darted off to the first military base they could find, leaving everyone they ever knew behind. they were soldiers now— but they weren’t fighting for their country; they were fighting for their lives.

the pearson family lasted three months. three months of family bonding and survival all washed down the drain when their military base was overrun by an enormous hoard of the undead. soldiers fought bravely, proudly, and children cowered behind whatever family they had left. riley and his parents were in the front of the battle, and as his mother called out a final i love you, her arm was torn apart. his father jumped in to save her, and his leg was attacked from behind. all the while, riley watched in frozen terror as the family he once knew was ripped to shreds.

he couldn’t remember what happened— maybe he fought his way through, maybe he cowered behind everyone else until the last dead had dropped, maybe he slept through it all, but somehow, some way, riley walked out of that base with his life, his father’s jacket, and a gun, not a thing else. no one else survived, that he knows of, and he was the last one alive to tell the tale.

after that, he took no chances. three years of bootcamp and an entire life of military parents taught him how to fight like a soldier no matter what world he was in. he became a cold killer, fighting for himself and only himself. the memory of his parents burned in the front of his brain— they died for him, and he was damn sure not going to let their death be in vain. so he fights for himself, for the world he remembers, and he does whatever it takes to survive— no matter the cost.

he’s became colder, crueler, more sculpted by this world than he ever had been. he resorted to staying silent on most occasions, rarely a full phrase spewing from his lips. he’s fell into an emotionless state for a long time, pushing himself away from other survivors, knowing no matter what, they’d all end up the same. in his mind, there was no point to friendships anymore, no point in taking the time to get to know someone if their fate was already sealed. this mindset hurt him more than he could comprehend, and it took a while for him to learn from his mistakes

it was only last year that riley began travelling with another survivor, italia. they had crossed paths time and time again over the years, and at some point, they just stopped leaving eachother. this... bond, friendship, whatever they wanted to call it, it’s what he needed to chip away at that cold, hard exterior. she had the same sadness in her eyes, the same trauma laced in her veins, and somehow, their pain merged. suddenly, he was talking again, the sentences getting longer as time passed. but of course, tragedy always found riley.

only a few months after joining italia in the apocalypse, riley came face to face with someone he thought he’d never see again. at first, riley thought it was just another bug eye, a stage three that was just begging for a bullet between the eyes. but that flash of camo and the glimmer of a rusted locket hanging around rotting skin, riley felt his whole world collapse ontop of him. it was his mother, in all her rotting glory. 

riley broke. for the first time in years, he let himself break down, right in front of the one person he knew would understand. together, two fingers on the trigger of a shaking gun, riley and italia put his mother to rest. he buried his mother with his father’s old military jacket, his most prized possession, and traded it in for the locket that held years of memories between the rusted engravings. it took him another month or two to push down the urge to burst into tears. 

riley blamed himself for what happened to his mother, not only her death, but for her afterlife. she was left to roam the world for years as a rotting corpse, all because he didn’t take the time to give her mercy back at the base. his father, god knows where he is. 

he took those months to heal, to put the pieces back together, and now he’s managing to live a functional life. he’s speaking more, managing full phrases, almost keeping a conversation. it’s a complete 180 of the boy he used to be.

basics.

riley is an 23 year old survivor who witnessed the death of his parents around 4 ago on a military base where they and many other families had escaped to during the initial outbreak. his family was military born and raised, all of them as uniform and perfect as you would expect. when his teen years came along, he began to rebel— running away, getting mixed up with drugs, general disrespectful teenager stuff. when his parents had decided they had taken enough, they shipped him off to military boot camp, and three years later, riley pearson stepped off that bus and walked home a perfect soldier. he had hoped everything would return to how it used to be before he had ruined it all, but a year after he returned home, the outbreak began and all hopes of a perfect life were destroyed. after the death of his parents, he was the lone survivor of the military base and the last remaining piece of his family. he has become cold since their death, nearly emotionless, only continuing to fight for the sake of his family’s memory. he’s no longer much of a talker, and after seeing his mother’s corpse just a year ago, he’s wondering if he’ll ever get back to the boy he once was. he’s currently travelling alongside another survivor, italia, and she has helped him to speak more, managing full phrases, sometimes even sentences.

wanted connections.

bootcamp buddies - this is someone that riley met in bootcamp and became friends with during those three years. they wouldn’t know about riley’s past since the bootcamp, i.e. the death of his parents and the loss of everything he loves, so this reunion would be quite the awkward one taken by dani jennings 

trading partners - riley has decided to trade with a very select group of people, all single rogues or rogue pairs, and has kept the personal information to the bare minimum. they meet at set locations, on a routine schedule so not everyone is there at once, and trade the basic needs of what they have. i’d love to have some of these trading partners!

an ex ? - this would be from his rebellious years, before the three years in bootcamp (or honestly maybe even the beginning of boot camp ? ). he is a completely different person than he was back then, though he has fallen into some of his old habits (smoking). this could be fun !

his uncle - there is a wc on the main for this !!! i’d love to see him around

those are all i’ve really got now, but if you’d like to plot or fill a connection, hmu! my ims are always open and i do have a discord !

[trishmilburn]

An Exploration of The Untamed’s Romance & Mystery, Episode 7

Disclaimer: This post and others in this series will be filled with loads of spoilers if you haven’t seen The Untamed, the Chinese drama based on Mo Xiang Tong Xiu’s novel, Mo Dao Zu Shi (The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation). My chief interest in doing this series as I re-watch the drama is to chronicle the development of the romance between Wei Ying and Lan Zhan, but I also highlight the progression of the mystery that helps bring them together. Keep in mind that I’m writing these posts with the knowledge of what’s going to happen throughout the series and having read the novel. If you’d like to read my examinations of previous episodes, links are provided at the end of this post.

On to Episode 7…

We pick up where we left off at the end of Episode 6, in the cave beneath the cold pool with Wei Ying and Lan Zhan talking with elder Lan Yi. Wei Ying asks her what happened to his grandmaster, then explains that he’s the son of rogue cultivator Cangse and that rogue cultivator Baoshan was his grandmaster. Lan Yi says that the mess she made with the Yin Metal years ago caused Baoshan to have to live in seclusion.

Lan Zhan asks Lan Yi if she beckoned him and Wei Ying into the cave, but she replies that she didn’t. Instead, in recent years the Yin Metal has been showing signs of movement and her spiritual consciousness has gotten weaker and weaker, making this possible. She says she’s afraid the resentment of the Yin Metal has polluted the water of the cold pool and thus that’s why the two of them were pulled under into the cave. Wei Ying asks her why the Yin Metal has been making movements, and she speculates it’s because the other pieces have resurfaced. At this news, Wei Ying looks at Lan Zhan and says that the cultivator they saw suffering from spirit absorption was turned into a ghost puppet by someone following the methods of Xue Chonghai.

Wei Ying asks Lan Yi if there’s another way to keep the Yin Metal from hurting humanity, but she says it’s a natural object with an earthly spirit, thus it’s impossible to completely eliminate. The only solution is to find all the pieces and eternally freeze them in the cold pool.

Lan Yi starts to fade away, and Lan Zhan bows and says he’ll undertake the task of finding the Yin Metal pieces and freezing them. Wei Ying follows suit, but Lan Zhan decides to be stubbornly standoffish again and tells him it’s a Lan Clan matter and has nothing to do with Wei Ying.  But Wei Ying says that Lan Zhan can’t stop him because he has never taken the principles of humanity and justice lightly, and because the Yin Metal issue forced his grandmaster to live as a recluse for a hundred years. He can’t sit aside and do nothing.

Lan Yi says she hopes they won’t repeat her mistakes, and when she disappears completely the Yin Metal piece falls from where it’s been slowly spinning in mid-air. In that moment the protective barrier falls as well, and an invisible wave flows out of the cave across the surrounding area. Wen Qing feels it as she’s searching the back side of the mountain, and Wen Ning feels it, his eyes going wide, as he helps search for the missing Wei Ying and Lan Zhan.

Then comes one of the more humorous parts of the entire series. Wei Ying and Lan Zhan tumble out of the side of the mountain, their wrists still tied together with Lan Zhan’s “only parents, child and wife can touch it” forehead ribbon, and Wei Ying lands on top of Lan Zhan. So this is how you get a bit of a BL moment in a show that can’t be explicitly BL because of government censorship. When Jiang Cheng and Wen Qing see them in this position, Wei Ying’s all smiley and “Hey, guys!” while Lan Zhan clenches his jaws and tells Wei Ying in no uncertain terms to get off him.

Wei Ying and Lan Zhan are surprised that outside of the cave, they’ve been missing for an entire day and night, and everyone’s been worried about them. Wen Qing mentions that their foreheads are emitting cold energy and asks what is in the mountain. (Let me pause for a moment to marvel at how fast Lan Zhan got that forehead ribbon off their wrists and once again tied properly around his head before anyone else saw the inappropriate connection between him and Wei Ying.) Smoothly covering the truth, and perhaps surprising Lan Zhan in the process, Wei Ying tells Wen Qing that the cave was filled with cold water and ice and he thought he might freeze to death. Then the little devil turns and gives Lan Zhan a grin as if to say, “See how smooth I was. You should be impressed and be my friend.”

We next see Lan Xichen playing his magical flute to calm the piece of Yin Metal that Wei Ying and Lan Zhan brought with them from the cave as they and Lan Qiren watch. Then Lan Qiren puts it in of those magical spirit-trapping bags we’ll see throughout the series. While discussing the Yin Metal and what they should do going forward, they hear and then see one of those wraith-like birds of the Wen Clan. Lan Zhan observes that the Wens attended the lecture series just for the Yin Metal. Lan Xichen says they were right to deduce that Wen Ruohan has a piece of the metal already and knew one was at the Cloud Recesses. Lan Qiren adds that this means Wen Ruohan must have had help from someone to locate the first piece.

Wei Ying tells the others that Lan Yi said the pieces of metal can sense each other, so they should use theirs to find the others. Lan Qiren disagrees and says they should seal their piece once more and put it back in the cold pool, then recreate the barrier. Lan Zhan says he fears that will be to no avail. It’s the first time we see Lan Zhan disagree with his uncle in any way, but it definitely won’t be the last or the most vehement disagreement. When Lan Zhan finally falls in love in the future, there is literally no one he won’t go up against to protect Wei Ying. But we’re not there yet.

When we see Wei Ying outside after the conversation, Nie Huaisang runs up to him and asks where he was. Wei Ying responds that the Cloud Recesses is so big that even Lan Zhan almost lost his way. After Huaisang walks away, Jiang Cheng says that Wei Ying is getting mighty close to Lan Zhan (remember, he saw them with their wrists tied together with that forehead ribbon), so much so that he might as well become a Lan disciple and not go back to Lotus Pier. Part of this is his normal poking at his “brother,” but there is likely a part of Jiang Cheng that wouldn’t mind if Wei Ying stayed behind. Then he wouldn’t have to compete with him and constantly come in second place.

Next we see Wen Chao and Xue Yang standing outside Wen Ruohan’s throne room. It’s obvious the chief cultivator doesn’t like colors other than black and red. How very on brand. They have to talk to Wen Ruohan through a big black door, and Wen Chao congratulates him because the Yin Metal has resurfaced in the Cloud Recesses. But Daddy Dearest asks why he’s congratulating him. Does Wen Chao have the piece in hand? Yeah, this guy isn’t winning any Dad of the Year awards. Wen Ruohan tells Xue Yang to go to Yueyang, a command that excites Xue Yang in that wide-eyed, “I’m going to murder some people” sort of way. Yueyang is the seat of the Chang Clan, and we’ll later see that Xue Yang has a beef with them. He reassures Wen Ruohan that he has no interest in the Yin Metal.

Then we go to another of my favorite scenes in the series, where the Lan Clan and the various visiting disciples are making paper lanterns that they’ll send up into the sky along with their prayers. While Lan Zhan is very stoically making his, Wei Ying watches him, a little smile tugging at the edge of his lips. Why does this boy not know he’s smitten? He says to Lan Zhan, “Since we’ve been through life and death experiences together, let’s release a sky lantern together to pray for blessings.” Predictably, Lan Zhan responds that he’s used to doing it by himself, which strikes me as very sad. Despite having family, Lan Zhan has been very much alone and shut off emotionally since the loss of his mother when he was very young, which we’ll find out more about later in the story. Wei Ying says that habits can change and that he made his lantern specifically for Lan Zhan. And then the most beautiful moment occurs, a small but not insignificant turning point in their relationship. Lan Zhan looks at the lantern, on which Wei Ying has drawn a bunny, and smiles. It’s not a huge smile, but it’s big considering it’s Lan Zhan. He looks genuinely stunned and happy, and it makes you think that perhaps no one has ever done anything that thoughtful for him.

Of course, Wei Ying can’t help laughing and pointing out that Lan Zhan smiled, which totally ruins the moment. Lan Zhan’s smile disappears in favor of his more usual disapproving glare as he grabs his sword. Wei Ying jumps to his feet and backs away, inadvertently setting Nie Huisang’s expensive lantern ablaze and destroying it.

When everyone else lets their lanterns float up and start making their prayers and wishes, Wei Ying says, “I wish that I can eliminate evil and protect the weak.” This is significant because not only does it foreshadow the complicated and often sad path he’s going to travel, but the unguarded look Lan Zhan gives him when Wei Ying isn’t looking shows that despite how he might act he’s developing feelings for Wei Ying. It’s more than just curiosity or a crush now; I think this is the moment he starts to fall in love. He probably doesn’t really realize it yet, is maybe even confused and fighting the truth, but it’s going to be a losing battle. These two were drawn to each other from the first moment they met, no matter how much they might fight it or think that it’s something other than what it is.

During the whole lantern scene, Jiang Yanli and Jin Zixuan were making eyes at each other in that shy little way they have, but when their engagement is brought up by Mian Mian and some of the other Jin disciples, Jin Zixuan’s attitude changes and he says it’s time to leave. As Mian Mian questions him about the engagement as they walk down the road, he tells her not to bring it up again because the engagement was not of his free will. Wei Ying overhears this and hates anything that might hurt his beloved sister. Next thing you know, the two are in a fight. Lan Zhan arrives and goes straight to Wei Ying, telling him to stop, and a random disciple explains why Wei Ying was defending his sister’s honor, because Zixuan was seemingly looking down on her. It takes Yanli’s arrival to get Wei Ying to back down even though she’s obviously hurt by the things that were said.

Because fighting is prohibited in the Cloud Recesses (really, what isn’t?), we next see Wei Ying kneeling in the courtyard while Zixuan is supposedly receiving the same punishment elsewhere. Lan Zhan catches him playing with ants, saying they’re cute, instead of reflecting on his wrongdoing. Next Wei Ying sees that Jiang Fengmian has arrived because he and Jin Guangshan have been summoned by Lan Qiren because the fight was over their children’s engagement. At the end of this meeting, Fengmian asks that they end the engagement since he doesn’t believe in forcing the two into a marriage that won’t make them happy. Guangshan reluctantly agrees.

After Jin Guangshan leaves, Lan Qiren and Lan Xichen tell Jiang Fengmian that the fight wasn’t the only reason they asked him to come to the Cloud Recesses. They tell him about the Yin Metal situation, and he vows to help however he can.

When Jiang Cheng tells Wei Ying that his father ended Yanli’s engagement, Wei Ying races off to see his sister because he knows she’ll be upset. Plus, he feels guilty that it’s his fault that things have come to this. When he sees how sad she looks, he floats a paper man talisman toward her to make her smile. When she comes outside and catches him, he apologizes and tells her she’ll marry a man a thousand times better than Jin Zixuan. Wrong. She loves him, and Zixuan likes her, too. He just doesn’t like being forced into things with no say, and I can understand that. Yanli then tells Wei Ying, “You will also marry a beautiful and talented female cultivator.” Wrong again, but she’d only have to change one word in that sentence for it to be right. After all, Lan Zhan is beautiful and talented.

She then tells him that since the lectures are over, they’ll be going back home to the Lotus Pier. Wei Ying looks disappointed when he says, “It has ended already?” You get the feeling that he’s talking about more than the lecture series. He must be wondering if his budding friendship with Lan Zhan is ending, too, or how long it might be before he sees him again.

Jiang Fengmian tells Lan Qiren and Lan Xichen that while on the way to the Cloud Recesses, he heard disturbing news that in the Yueyang region, some cultivation disciples were murdered with no survivors and that the killer is a young retainer of the Wen Clan with the last name Xue. Yep, looks like Xue Yang went on that killing spree he seemed so excited about.

As Jiang Fengmian, his children and Wei Ying bid the Lans farewell, he and Lan Zhan seem to be extra aware of each other and their imminent parting despite not saying anything to each other or making eye contact. When Wei Ying tries to say something to him, Jiang Cheng drags him out as Wei Ying overhears that Lan Zhan is going on a trip. Once outside, Jiang Cheng asks why with so many other disciples around, why did Wei Ying only want to say goodbye to Lan Zhan? Wei Ying replies that he looks up to Lan Zhan and then teases that he was unbeatable until he “finally met his match.” Oh, sweetie, he’s your match in more ways than fighting.

As Lan Zhan watches the Jiangs and Wei Ying depart, perhaps reluctantly and very privately wondering if he’ll ever see Wei Ying again, and quite possibly why he’d want to, Lan Xichen asks him if they should tell Wei Ying about his trip to look for the pieces of the Yin Metal. Lan Zhan says there is no need.

In the final scene, we see Wei Ying saying goodbye to the white bunnies he brought out of the cave and left to roam over a hillside at the back of the Cloud Recesses. He wonders aloud if he should take them to Lotus Pier with him, but then decides to leave them for Lan Zhan in case he gets bored. He wonders where Lan Zhan is going by himself and then seems to remember the promise Lan Zhan made to Lan Yi about finding the other pieces of the Yin Metal and can’t believe he’s going by himself. After all, Wei Ying had promised to help despite Lan Zhan telling him it was a Lan Clan matter.

So this episode had more revelations about the Yin Metal and Wen Ruohan’s devious plans, but on the bright side it also had some beautiful moments in the early development of the romance between Wei Ying and Lan Zhan. We see some softening on Lan Zhan’s part. Wei Ying’s infectious personality and caring nature are making inroads in Lan Zhan’s closed-off heart. And I don’t think he quite knows what to make of Wei Ying, how he surprises him, and his own changing feelings toward this man who is so totally opposite in personality to himself. But that’s what makes you the perfect pairing, dear Lan Zhan, as you will grow to realize.

Previous posts in this series:

Episode 1

Episode 2

Episode 3

Episode 4

Episode 5

Episode 6

[meta-shadowsong]

On Moral Ambiguity in Fiction

And where it works and where it doesn’t (at least for me), using Star Wars and Harry Potter as sort of examples/case studies/what have you.

Couple sort of definition things to get out of the way--first, when I say ‘moral ambiguity,’ I’m talking specifically about characters and character arcs/dynamics, rather than overall situations/plotlines. Because the two universes, as a whole, are pretty firmly “there is Real Evil and we are going to Defeat It” type of stories. And both verses also have clear and obvious Evil Bad Guys Who Ruin Everything (Palpatine and Voldemort).

I should also say, as a sort of disclaimer before we get started, that I really like nuance, especially when it comes to characters and character alignments. I have a thing for double agents; for people who were once good but now evil, or were once evil but now good, or who are somewhere in the middle of the spectrum, and exactly where they end up depends on the weather/time of day/what have you. Which is not to say that I don’t enjoy the Obviously Evil villains, or the True Good heroes. Honestly, I think that a universe that has variety going for it tends to work the best.

Last definition - there’s a few different ways to do a Morally Ambiguous/Grey Area character. There are the fallen heroes, of course, and the redeemed villains. There are also “technically on our side in the bigger fight against Evil but also really shitty people” or “Your Allies Can Be Assholes”; and “clearly our enemy but also in some ways a decent person with whom we can Empathize” or “Your Enemies Can Be Decent People.”

(Also, while I’m not really going to focus on them here, I should mention that there are also sympathetic villains, who are never redeemed or switch sides or anything, and remain entirely Villains throughout, but have enough character development/humanizing characteristics that you can at least somewhat empathize with them even as they’re Horrible People who do Horrible Things. I’m leaving them out primarily because characters in that category tend to need way more in-depth discussion/their own essays about where they fall on the good vs. bad line; and besides I’d rather focus on different kinds of Morally Ambiguous/Grey Area characters for the purposes of this essay. Also, while I think there are examples in both verses, characters in this category tend to be very much YMMV. Basically, there’s a sliding scale from “Pure Evil” up to “Your Enemies Can Be Decent People,” and I’m trying to pick my examples that sit further on the lighter end of the greyscale here.)

Right. On to the actual discussion. Star Wars, on the surface, bills itself as straightforward good-vs-evil/Fairy Tale Logic/“once you start down the dark path” etc., etc. Harry Potter, on the other hand, has that great line: “the world isn’t divided into Good People and Death Eaters.”

Of course, once you actually start digging into it, Star Wars is absolutely not what it claims to be, and Harry Potter, while not technically wrong, fails to deliver on everything that statement implies.

When I look at Harry Potter, there are certainly a lot of Morally Ambiguous characters involved. We have Dumbledore, who fits into “Your Allies Can Be Assholes;” Barty Crouch, Sr. fits into this category as well. You have Fallen Heroes, with Pettigrew being the primary example. You have people who are maybe not technically actively working for/with the Big Bad, but are still Truly Awful People; i.e., Vernon Dursley. And you have people who are maybe on your side and maybe not assholes, per se, but have their heads so far up their asses with their preconceptions/have so many blinders on that they move past useless into actively obstructionist; i.e., Fudge.

But what you don’t find is the flipside of that. I can’t think of a single person who falls under “Your Enemies Can Be Decent People.” And while I can think of a few “redeemed” villains, they’re either so badly handled they become Your Allies Can Be Assholes (Snape), exist entirely in Backstoryland and thus don’t really have personalities or anything to latch on to (Regulus Black), or are barely present in the narrative by the time they have their Heel Realization (Dudley).

And that’s...like...leaving aside all the other issues with Harry Potter that have been cropping up in hindsight over the past few years...I think that’s a large part of why I fell out of love with the franchise. Like I said, I have a thing for double agents and grey-area/ambiguous characters, and I think a lot of it comes from the way I read this series when I was younger. I mean, it comes from some other places, too, but HP was a big one (probably because HP was such a big Thing for a long time overall, in my life and in pop culture in general). But looking back, it’s...really not what I thought it was. And it’s such a bleak, crapsack worldview, you know? “The bad guys are Bad Guys, but gueeeeess what! So are a good chunk of the nominal Good Guys!”

So, no, the world isn’t divided into Good People and Death Eaters. Technically. But it’s divided into Death Eaters, Other Bad People, and A Few Trustworthy Friends.

When I look at Star Wars, on the other hand--yeah, there are definitely Your Allies Can Be Assholes characters running around. Saw Gerrera, at least in Rebels and Rogue One, is of course the primary example. But there’s also--like, Borsk Fey’lya in Legends. And, depending on the reader/writer/narrator, various characters could fall into the “so many blinders on that they move past useless into actively obstructionist” categories. Plus, characters like Hondo, and others from the seedier side of the galaxy who are Not Good and Only Occasionally Nice, but they’re reasonable allies against the True Evils out there. And of course we have our Fallen Heroes--even if we exclude Anakin from this conversation, we have at the very least Barriss, to say nothing of Dooku and Pong Krell (we don’t really see either of them in their not-fallen hero state, but we know it existed at some point).

But you know what Star Wars also has?

The other side of this coin.

Again, even if we exclude Anakin and Vader from this conversation. Redeemed villains and “Your Enemies Can Be Decent People” are all over the place. I mean, there’s obviously my best beloved Alexsandr Kallus, but there’s also Bodhi Rook and Galen Erso; there’s General Madine (another super-prominent defector); going to Legends there’s Mara Jade and Gilad Pellaeon; there’s Ventress, who was a good person and then fell and then slowly starts finding her way back; there’s my girl Bo-Katan, who joined Death Watch and probably murdered A Lot of people, and then realized Just How Awful things were and tried to fix it. (...side note, I kinda ship Ventress and Bo-Katan, anyone with me? XD). I’m still catching up on some of the canon novels/haven’t really played the video games, but I know through Tumblr/fandom osmosis there are examples there, too.

Plus, something that came up quite a few times in the Clone Wars was that, apart from Palpatine and Dooku and their inner circles, the majority of people on both sides of the conflict genuinely believed they were fighting on the side of Right; and the Separatists actually did have some legit points about the way the Republic government was messed up. (Which is one of the bits I had a slight issue with in Queen’s Shadow, that they seemed to be taking that away from Mina Bonteri a little bit by having her in contact with someone who seemed to be either Sidious or Tyranus, but I digress.) But the PT era in general is where ambiguity and complicated politics lives, and this also starts getting into some YMMV territory, similar to Sympathetic Villains, so I’ll leave it at that.

I think that what it comes down to, really, is that HP, for all it makes its moral ambiguity explicit/centers it/talks about it, leans hard into the Your Allies Can Be Assholes aspect, while Star Wars leans more towards the Your Enemies Can Be Decent People side of things. And, again, this is not saying that there isn’t a range of quality in how these things can be handled. Like, Your Allies Can Be Assholes, when handled well, can be really engaging/amazing. And Your Enemies Can Be Decent People can quickly go in all kinds of bad directions if it’s not handled well.

But overall, a story that leans more towards the second is more hopeful. One of the main arc words in SW is hope, and I think that’s why the grey-area characters work so much better there, because they support that thesis, so to speak.

I also think that Star Wars has a much more balanced greyscale than HP does. Like, the Your Enemies Can Be Decent People is more prominent because, again, the series’ watchword is Hope, but there's still quite a few Not Nice people on the side of Good, which adds its own layer of nuance/interest, at least for me. ...and, you know, the fact that Star Wars has both Pure Evil and more nuanced villains/antagonists probably contributes to that. It might be that this kind of Moral Ambiguity works best when there is a clearly defined Evil to compare it against. Both in terms of the greyscale good guys and the greyscale bad guys.

In the end, I think there’s probably a lot of things that go into it, but overall the ambiguity in SW works so much better for me than HP. And I think the distribution along that sliding scale is a huge part of it. Because HP’s version kind of boils down to ‘Life Sucks; sure there are a few Good People who try to make it suck less, but most of the people, even on your side, are kind of awful’ and SW’s version boils down to ‘there is hope, even if it doesn’t always pan out; yes there is evil in this world and there are some, even on your side, who might choose it and refuse to change--but there are at least as many people who turn their back on it, even if it takes them a while.’ Both acknowledge that there is Evil in the world, and that dealing with it isn’t always simple or clear-cut, but SW takes a broader, more nuanced look at that question. Even if it doesn’t outright say that’s what it’s doing.

(And, sure, the fact that HP promised things it didn’t/couldn’t deliver and handled a few of the examples it tried to provide really badly doesn’t help, but...yeah.)

So, there it is. A lot of Personal Opinion, obviously, but...I feel like I might be on to something here? What are your thoughts?

((Also, I’m aware that I didn’t talk about the ST like at all, but that’s because, at least IMO, the ST has fewer morally ambiguous characters in general, at least in the sense I’m talking about. That being said, there’s at least the one guy from the Phasma frame story who falls into Your Enemies Can Be Decent People; and I guess I technically could have mentioned Kylo Ren when talking about fallen heroes, on the same justification I included Dooku/Pong Krell, even though I personally find him much less interesting than Dooku, in particular...Anyway, what I’ve noticed in the ST is that, when people are working at cross-purposes, they tend to still be firmly on one side or the other, just with differently-aligned priorities. And/or are Hondo, who marches to the beat of his own drum and always will. I love that he’s still around XD.))

[scope-dogg]

Expelled from Paradise: Final Thoughts

When the first SRW T PV rolled in, this was the one entry that puzzled me a bit - while all the other long overdue returnees and new entrants were all well known to me one way or another, this is one I’d barely heard of - I’d seen one review video on youtube years before that delivered a verdict of “it’s okay”, and I barely even remembered that. However, interviews with SRW T’s production staff revealed that this one was actually pretty heavily requested in Japan. I couldn’t really get my head around that, this being a 100% 3D-CG anime movie starring a main character in a ridiculous outfit that had her entire ass hanging out and made her look like an xbox gijinka to boot. However, now that I’ve actually seen it I think I understand now - this is a 2014 movie by Gen Urubuchi, a guy who’s had a fairly chequered history with a couple of duds like the recent disappointing netflix godzilla trilogy and the lukewarmly-received mecha anime Aldnoah Zero, but has also knocked it out of the park with other works like Fate Zero and most notably Puella Magi Madoka Magika. I think this one should count amongst his successes, as it elevates itself above its apparent flaws and delivers a story that’s thrilling and interesting in equal measure.

The plot setup is that in the future, a catastrophe known as the Nano Hazard has left the Earth in ruins. To escape the desolation of the ruined Earth, most of humanity now lives on in the form of digitised consciousnesses called Personalities, hosted in a giant server called Deva in orbit above Earth. There, people are free to live in virtual luxury, while the few humans who decided to remain on the surface eke out whatever living they can in the ruins of the old world. However, a hacker known as Frontier Setter has begun breaching Deva’s security to deliver messages about an alleged space travel plan to Deva’s confused citizens. While nobody knows his true identity, Deva’s Central Security council won’t tolerate Frontier Setter’s intrusion, fearing that his true intentions are malign, and in response send their agent Angela Balzac to Earth in a cloned physical body in order to identify and neutralise the threat. There, she rendezvouses with Dingo, a gun for hire who knows the lay of the land on Earth, and sets out on a mission to track down the threat to Deva’s safety.

It’s quite an interesting premise right out of the gate - the concept of digitised personalities isn’t exactly new to sci-fi but I think it was captured in a fairly novel way here. Seeing as it’s a short movie at around an hour and three quarters, it’s difficult to talk about the plot without spoiling it too much, but I thought it was pretty well paced and had its fair share of interesting ideas. My initial impression before watching was that it was a fanservice movie meant for the lowest common denominator, but it had some surprisingly intelligent things to say, even waxing philosophic at points. I’m not saying that it’s a deep galaxy brain story either, but it’s definitely not dumb schlock. Of course, however, the whole reason it’s in SRW T is because of its action and it doesn’t disappoint with that either - while mecha aren’t super prominent until the last half hour or so, that last half-hour is a thrilling rollercoaster ride featuring some really impressively realised mecha combat. In short, whether you like your sci-fi stories loud and exciting or a little more slow-paced and pensive, you’ll probably find something you like in here.

I thought the movie’s characters were pretty good too. While Angela’s outfit is a lot to get past, I thought she was a well-realised protagonist with an equally well-realised character arc, mostly centred around her struggling to come to grips with life in a physical body on Earth having existed purely as data up until that point. A lot of that comes across her interactions with Dingo, who I thought was a really great character - he’s a cocksure and clever rogue who’s out to make a quick buck first and foremost, which is a personality that clashes with Angela’s more by-the-books, results-driven approach in entertaining ways. The real stand-out, however, turned out to be Frontier Setter, for reasons that would be spoilery to go into.

As far as presentation goes, it’d be very understandable for you to see that this is 100% 3D, for both human characters and mecha, and assume instantly that this would look like shit. 99% of the time you’d be absolutely right. However, not this time - clearly this movie’s budget was enough for the 3D CG work to actually look good - and not just passable either, I mean really good. There are times it looks rough, most notably in the movie’s opening scene. However, the rest of the time you can barely even tell that it’s been done solely with computers. It’s backed up by solid visual design - while I do have to once again point out that Angela’s outfit is a glaring exception to the rule (seriously, the lead character designer deserves a slap for it) it’s otherwise superb. Whether it’s the cyberspace inside Deva, or the strangely beautiful desolation of Earth, the environments are really well realised. The real star of the show is the mecha combat however, with the high-tech New Arhan exosuit leading the way. The battles at the end of the movie look fantastic, with superbly choreographed action scenes featuring some of the genre’s trademark flourishes and just a highly mobile, high-intensity, carnage-filled approach in general. It turns the movie’s final act into a huge thrill ride. When Demo D reviewed this movie on youtube, he said that he “felt the hype.” I concur completely.

Overall, I’d strongly encourage anybody who hasn’t seen it to check it out - while there are aspects to it that would be red flags elsewhere, I’d still urge everybody to give it a chance. Perhaps the fact that it was just a short movie with snazzy visuals has me slightly hoodwinked, but out of everything I’ve watched so far for the first time in preparation for SRW T, this is probably my favourite, beating out Rayearth by a whisker - something I really wasn’t anticipating.

As for SRW T, I do think that they’ll have to use some creative license to make it work in the larger plot - I think certain events will have to go down very differently, and they’ll also probably have to push the story past the point where it ends in the movie. However, I’m still looking forward to its contribution to the story - I think the presence of some of its plot aspects will make the world of SRW T a lot more interesting, plus I think there’s room for them to intermesh with a variety of the other stories that’ll be around, from Gun X Sword to Votoms, or even Might Gaine and Gaogaigar. I definitely think from a gameplay perspective the inclusion was warranted, as the New Arhan is going to have a variety of strong and exciting attacks it’ll be able to pull off.

And with that out of the way, there’s only one series left to watch (well, two if you count the OVA) and that’s Aura Battler Dunbine. I’ve heard mixed things about it and don’t really know what to expect, but I’ll be finding out next.

[bswegrgv]

Tom had deliberately refused to obey the command

She wondered if it had been his face that she had seen, staring out at her from the flames. Tom had deliberately refused to obey the command. Her quiet, good-natured face encouraged me. 1974) Cecil George Saville Foljambe, 1st Earl of Liverpool b. I really felt I was in great physical shape (and the coach knew it), but the switch destroyed my confidence and the coach made the comment to my teammates, "Al is uncoachable."However, the coach did little to help me correct my major flaw, which was leaning out of the boat during the drive phase of my stroke. Her she is! Again! Natasha, darling, how are you, my angel!” he said, sitting down beside her and greedily kissing her hand. Her master knows of no cause for the horrid act, unless it be that she heard him speak of selling her and two of her children, and keeping the others.. Quentyn shared the feeling. “The Others.” Sam licked his lips. Well! I can tell you, my boy, though I’m a rogue myself, from mustang női cipő árgépa mere sense of decency I shouldn’t care to be in his skin. I must not forget my name. “He’s not wrong,” grumbled Ned Woods, one of the scouts from Deepwood. Serve and obey and remember who you are, and no more harm will come to you. Even if he found some secret way out, Theon would not have trusted it. They read and smoked, and only once in half an hour or so communicated some piece of Frankfort news to one another abruptly in an undertone, or some jest or epigram of

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