#the worst fate of all!

[completeoveranalysis]

Hi Nick. If you don't mind, can you share a summary of what you think Ashura's overall goals were? I'm still sincerely confused. And we now have the "reasoning itself crumbling" thing. He saw and saved this child cursed by FWR... or foresaw. He always planned for Fai to kill him. Was the whole point really to break Fai's curse out of care/love? Or to prove he could? He clearly didn't consider Fai's empathy or emotions. It start out with good intent but then his reasoning crumbled? thank you

Hello Anon! I don't mind at all! I absolutely love talking about these topics more, so thank you for asking!

The Ashura Problem is such a fascinating scenario because I'm pretty sure CLAMP deliberately wrote it to be both misleading and illogical. If it doesn't make sense then CLAMP absolutely achieved their goal, but that doesn't make it any easier to puzzle out.

So! The options!

(With content warning for everything that happens in Seresu oh my goodness)

Option A) That Ashura was a terrible person.

This is the interpretation that most closely matches Fai's lived experience, especially during the Seresu arc.

This explanation focuses on the fact that Ashura manipulated and twisted Fai's entire life and psyche until he was a broken person who would not have survived his own storyline. Ashura used all of Fai's tragic circumstances to mould him into doing exactly what Ashura wanted; he used Fai's dead brother against him, he trapped Fai into making promises he could use against him, he used Fai's emotional wounds to manipulate him, he limited Fai's magic for his own ends and deleted his memories of it, he committed mass murder, he tried to hypnotise Fai directly, he tried to get Fai to kill Kurogane, and then he tried to kill the entire Tsubasa family - all to get Fai to kill Ashura. It's worth noting that all of these actions echo the narrative impact Evil Wolverine has on Fai as well, and we can clearly see how broken Fai is over all of these revelations, even aside from the fact that we are told that Fai would have killed himself if he had succeeded in granting Ashura's wish. It all points to a very solid verdict, and one that pretty much the entire story supports from the very beginning.

The only thing missing is his actual goal. Why is he trying to get Fai to kill him? Is it out of boredom? Is he immortal and can't die without external influence, and so wanted to manipulate events until he got what he wanted? Is he just doing it all for the hell out it, and sees a dramatic death as just another fun thing to aim for? Or...

Option B) Ashura did it all to save Fai

This is the interpretation that mostly comes to the fore when Ashura dies, having failed in his long game to get Fai to kill him by his own hand.

This option revolves around Ashura's otherwise missing motive. The strongest motive potential motive we have for his actions is that he was trying to break both of Fai's curses at once; to become stronger than Fai so that Fai would be forced to kill him, and in the process wouldn't trigger the second secret curse and save Fai's life in the process.

The thing that muddies this interpretation is how badly he treats Fai to make it happen. Over the course of his entire life he breaks Fai. All his actions are hurtful and twisted, and he is willing to murder as many people as needed to make this goal happen, including literally everyone else Fai values in his life. Nothing about the Fai that's left behind is left unmarred by tragedy and self loathing - but he would be alive! And that seems to be what Ashura was aiming for, in this line of reasoning.

This neat thing about this option is that it really plays into the darker characterisation that CLAMP like to work with. Ashura has his own set of morals, inhuman and unknowable, and so he's willing to cross lines that seem to defy all the rules of empathy that you'd think would apply here. DID Ashura think this was still an acceptable result? Did he commit to this goal with the willingness to break and murder literally anything he needed to in order to make it happen? It seems so! But can he really say he loved Fai if he was willing to do this to him? He could see the future, so how could he not see that his actions would kill Fai just as surely as the curse would?

So it's either that, or

Option C: A bit of both!

This is the option that Tomoyo presents in Nihon, after the fact.

Tomoyo posits that both options are true at the same time, and the reason why this doesn't make sense is because of Fei Wang's influence on the universe. Logic itself is breaking down, so Ashura's actions have lost any logical integrity somewhere along the way.

This option allows for the paradoxes to exist as a deliberate example of the wider affect the overall plot is having on the multiverse. Tomoyo says that yes, Ashura did love Fai and was trying to save him, and also yes, his actions don't reflect that and would have killed Fai through his abuse in the misguided attempt to save him.

At this point in the narrative I think it's option C that CLAMP are set on. It does seem like they deliberately wrote the scenario so that Options A and B don't internally make sense on their own on purpose, so that C can rise out of the ruins and cast a shadow on the rest of the narrative right before things really start to kick off in the main plotline.

I hope this helps! This is my ultimate understanding of Ashura's plotline as it stands, but if anything isn't clear feel free to let me know and I can talk even more.

[demaparbat-hp]

No war au: first time meeting each other at a diplomatic event. zuko, crown prince of the fire nation kisses the hand of katara chief of the southern water tribe.

Beyond diplomacy.

[earlgodwin]

The tragic disconnection between Lucrezia Borgia and Juan Borgia::

What I find sad and compelling about Juan and Lucrezia's relationship is that every time he genuinely makes a gesture to make her happy, it inevitably ends up being misguided, resulting in her getting hurt in some way. Like the debauched play he had prepared for her as a surprise at her wedding to make her smile, not realizing that it would anger her husband and cause him to hate her and her family even more. The Paolo situation is where their dynamic changed forever. Juan, as someone who was assigned as the protector of the family by his father and is already feeling inadequate and incompetent in his position, already saw Paolo as a threat. A guy who could expose his sister, calling himself the father of her child, making demands to see her? Had Juan known what Sforza did to her, the hell she was living, and how she found solace in Paolo, most probably, he would've let Paolo live. He legitimately believed getting rid of him (and he was motivated by jealousy as he has incestuous feelings for Lucrezia)—was the right thing to do—and expected applause for his misguided notions of protecting his family's honor. He didn't realize how much he hurt Lucrezia and tried to make her understand that he did it to protect her honor and didn't mean to hurt her. When he realized that she tried to avenge Paolo and kill him, he made a speech about how their family triumphed because they weren't dysfunctional when they came to Rome, that they should always stick together, and that he's motivated by wanting safety for all of them. After he came back from Spain a changed man, he gifted his sister something that positively represented her—a stunning rare panther in a gilded cage—a genuine gesture to reconcile with her and earn her respect. However, it bites her, and they're unable to make peace. And after Cesare betrayed him at Forli, he spiraled once again, and he realized that no matter what he did, he would never earn his siblings' respect, specifically Lucrezia's. This realization hurt him and made him act on his impulsive as by lashing out at her and dangling her baby from the balcony, which also gave Cesare the motivation to do what he always wanted and justify his jealousy by murdering him.

"I had an amazing personal journey to go on with that character and hopefully I presented it with a sense and reality and hopefully you will feel a bit sorry for the guy. I don’t think he’s useless. Everyone says he’s a useless coward. He’s just placed in some shit situations. He’s not afraid of dying in that sense, he’s afraid of not being liked or loved and being left by his family. Whether they know it or not, they have been ganging up on him from the very beginning of the first season. What’s the problem with him? I think he’s lovely. I think he’s really kind and compassionate and cuddly." — DAVID OAKES

[tariah23]

No way!?!!?

[kourota]

in a sky full of stars, I think I saw you

[dungeons-and-dragon-age]

template

jumping on the bandwagon >:] I did cheat a little and swapped "song" for "scent" since i suck at choosing songs lol, but this was a fun exercise!!

[silverbastardgoldenfool]

okay back to wallowing

[vyibunni]

i finally played argenti's story quest... i hope when velite is a pilot they can journey together

[hanzajesthanza]

game regis about beauclair: “this land has never seen such unspeakable evil…”

book regis in beauclair: mmm rosół 🍲 😋👍

[worstmombracket]

The Worst Dad Bracket Masterpost

ROUND 4: Ends Thursday, May 25th at 2:00 PM CST

Feel free to send in any propaganda for the shitty dad YOU think should win the coveted World's Worst Dad cup!

1A Matchups:

Enji "Endeavor" Todoroki (My Hero Academia) vs Dr. Martin Brenner (Stranger Things) - Battle of the Training From Hell Dads Winner: Endeavor

Donald Davenport (Lab Rats) vs Preston Northwest (Gravity Falls) - Battle of the Rich Dads Winner: Preston Northwest

Bro Strider (Homestuck) vs Every Dad from Fire Emblem Fates (Fire Emblem Fates) - Battle of the Dads of Timey Wimey Nonsense Kids Winner: Bro Strider

Mr. Turner (Fairly Oddparents) vs Martin Blyndeff (Epiteth Erased) - Battle of the Dads of Kids who Should Not Have That Responsibility Winner: Martin Blyndeff

Straff Venture (Mistborn) vs Viren (The Dragon Prince) - Battle of Dads I Know Nothing About Winner: Straff Venture

Iemitsu Sawada (Katekyo Hitman Reborn!) vs Jacques Schnee (RWBY) - Battle of Mafia vs Robber Baron Dads Winner: Jacques Schnee

John Winchester (Supernatural) vs Trigon (Teen Titans) - Battle of the Demon Hunter and Demon Dads Winner: John Winchester

John "Jod" Gaius (The Locked Tomb) vs Nyarlathotep (Persona 2) - Battle of the Dads Whose Submission Reasonings Made Me Go WTF the Most Winner: John "Jod" Gaius

1B Matchups:

Clay Puppington (Moral Orel) vs Claude Frollo (The Hunchback of Notre Dame) - Battle of the Religious Trauma Dads Winner: Claude Frollo

William Afton (Five Nights At Freddy's) vs Roy (Don't Hug Me I'm Scared) - Battle of the Purple and Yellow Dads Winner: William Afton

Walter White (Breaking Bad) vs Homer Simpson (The Simpsons) - Battle of the Bald Dads Winner: Walter White

Buck Cluck (Chicken Little) vs Ghetsis (Pokémon Black and White) - Battle of the Animal Abuse Dads Winner: Ghetsis

Masayoshi Shido (Persona 5) vs Manfred von Karma (Ace Attorney) - Battle of Your Rival's Shitty Dads Winner: Manfred von Karma

Harry Wormwood (Matilda) vs Gabe "Smelly Gabe" Ugliano (Percy Jackson and the Olympians) - Battle of the Ordinary Shitty Dads with Extraordinary Powerful Kids Winner: Harry Wormwood

Gabriel Agreste (Miraculous Ladybug) vs Gozaburo Kaiba (Yu-Gi-Oh!) - Battle of the Corporate Shithead Dads Winner: Gabriel Agreste

Gendo Ikari (Neon Genesis Evangelion) vs Firelord Ozai (Avatar: The Last Airbender) - Battle of the Dads of Kids in Desperate Need of Therapy Winner: Firelord Ozai 2A Matchups:

Enji "Endeavor" Todoroki (BNHA) vs Preston Northwest (Gravity Falls) - Battle of the Classless High Class Dads

Winner: Endeavor

Bro Strider (Homestuck) vs Martin Blyndeff (Epithet Erased) - Battle of the Neglectful Toy Enthusiast Dads

Winner: Martin Blyndeff

Straff Venture (Mistborn) vs Jacques Schnee (RWBY) - Battle of the Arshitocracy Dads

Winner: Straff Venture

John Winchester (Supernatural) vs John "Jod" Gaius (The Locked Tomb) - Battle of the John Dads

Winner: John Gaius

2B Matchups:

Claude Frollo (The Hunchback of Notre Dame) vs William Afton (FNAF) - Battle of the Burning Dads

Winner: Claude Frollo

Walter White (Breaking Bad) vs Ghetsis (Pokemon Black & White) - Battle of the Kingpin Dads

Winner: Ghetsis

Manfred von Karma (Ace Attorney) vs Harry Wormwood (Mathilda) - Battle of the there's not a coherent theme here ngl dads

Winner: Von Karma

Gabriel Agreste (Miraculous Ladybug) vs Firelord Ozai (ATLA) - Battle of the Big Bad Dads

Winner: Fire Lord Ozai

Round 3 Matchups:

Endeavor vs Martin Blyndeff - Battle of the Selfish Dads

Winner: Martin Blyndeff

Straff Venture vs John Gaius - Battle of the Literary Dads

Winner: Straff Venture

Claude Frollo vs Ghetsis - Battle of the Ominous Latin Chorus Dads

Winner: Claude Frollo

Manfred von Karma vs Fire Lord Ozai - Battle of the Rival’s Shitty Dad… 2!

Winner: Fire Lord Ozai

Round 4 Semifinals Matchups:

Martin Blyndeff vs Straff Venture - Battle of the Dark Horse Dads

Claude Frollo vs Fire Lord Ozai - Battle of the Awful Authorities Dads

[vendettasfanfictioning]

I just think if the Big Showdown in 15x19 included Dean, not only wearing the bloodied jacket but also placing his palm over Cas' handprint, as he told Chuck. "That's not who I am." We could've gotten some closure. Actually.

[rebelrayne]

Sorry if I'm asking too much but would you do the version with MC's for all stars. I bet some of them would do All Winners if that ever becomes a thing. 😅

Hi anon! I'll give it my best shot! I know some people may have differing headcanons for their MCs so I'll try to make it as universal as possible!

"It depends-who else is going? No, not the people I like. The people I don't like. I've been feeling passive aggressive lately."

S1 MC

"You must be truly desperate to come to me for help. Find your views elsewhere. Sorry not sorry."

S2 MC

"Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh? Yes! Yeah, I mean, yes. I'm totally cool. Oh no, but what if Seb has more kittens? Hm... Oh, you guys got Microsoft Teams, right? That'll do!"

S3 MC

"I don't know. There were a lot of Reddit posts making fun of me for not being 'bombshell material' last time..."

S4 MC

"You still owe me compensation for all the therapy I had to go through after the last time?!"

S5 MC

"Oh fuck off, you invited my evil twin last time. I'm not falling for that again. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, and wow, you're an ass."

S6 MC

"I mean, trade offer, maybe? You receive: Me on the show, and I receive: being an OG Islander this time. I mean, you're really coming out on top here."

S7 MC

"I mean I was just there but I wouldn't mind a round two...You know what? Sure, anything to get me out of going on Liam's podcast again."

S8 MC

[itsbenedict]

[nanomooselet]

Wait. Wait a second.

In Knives's mind, Rem died because she rejected him and Vash.

That the ships were going down and she prioritised the twins' survival over that of everyone else on board didn't occur to him. She rejected them and ran into the flames and that's why she died, and that's why he hates her so much. She was the only human worth offering a chance to live and she refused for the sake of those parasites. It was the most painful betrayal of Knives's life. He's done everything he's done to keep it from ever happening again.

So what can Knives do when it happens again anyway? When Vash makes the same choice as Rem, to betray his family's love and prove he'd rather die than stay? When he's completely out of ways to change his brother's mind?

Knives can inflict the agony that he himself felt when Rem made her final choice. By rejecting Vash the same way Rem rejected them both.

I won't let you take anyone else away from me!

I didn't take her away, brother. She was the one who ran into the flames.

So he'll follow her. He'll make it Vash's fault. And then maybe, finally, Vash will understand that Rem was the one who chose wrong.

[alfhildr-the-word-weaver]

I got thinking too much about Marwa from What We Do in the Shadows again and how she was canonically making observations of Jupiter and Saturn in the 1200s. Then I thought about how Elena took Damon to go watch a meteor shower, and I decided that Marwa and Elena should get away from all the vampire drama B.S. in their lives and go nerd out about astronomy together, and this moodboard sort of happened. I also thought about how Elena becomes a doctor and went ah, they are both women in STEM! So I ran with that as a theme too.

But yeah, Marwa needs a friend who will actually support her interests and engage with her intellectually (no shade to Nadja and the Guide, I'm glad they had a fun weekend watching Mamma Mia together which was literally the only time we got to actually see Marwa happy onscreen, but they have never demonstrated much interest in science that I can recall and I want Marwa to have an astronomy buddy), and I think Elena would be fascinated by her and her perspectives on astronomy from centuries ago, and they could learn about modern astronomical advances together. If I find the time and energy I might even write fic about it, but for now, here is a moodboard so that we can all bask in the vibes of my beautiful crossover vision together.

Image sources: x x x / x (the first frame of x gif + a screenshot from x) x / x + x x x

[chipistrate]

What if Cassie gets back and stays with 3 star fam for a bit after the Scooper ending, but she's already infected with the Vanni virus, so everyone watches as she slowly loses control of her own body and keeps trying to hurt the others when she doesn't want to and the Mimic tries to communicate with her and tell her to go back to the Pizzaplex, all while Cassie is trying so hard to keep it all down and ignore it in a futile attempt at keeping control over herself