#to be a rebels fan is to suffer i guess :

[invest-yourlife]

can't entirely put it into words, but i am so deeply unsatisfied with the ahsoka finale. so many good moments (like huyang and ezra), but so much really frustrated me and felt half baked. ughh

[idontwanttospoiltheparty]

An (incredibly long) "I want"-style song dedicated to the most unruly of trios: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison.

The setting is the late 50's – it's deliberately a bit of a mish-mash :-)

Lyrics below the cut!

John: Green

Paul: Blue

George: Purple

P&G: Pink

J&P: Red

JP&G: Neutral

Liverpool gave up on me the first day of preschool

Teachers called me unruly cause I don't suffer fools

And my aunt who says she can't believe I’d throw it all away

Quarrybank, that school for cranks suspended me the other day

All those lads who quit this band to learn a proper trade

Think that I don't understand the facts of getting paid

But you both see,

It's them not me, it's us and this here prophecy

Do you see us five years on – well

Maybe three, that's sort of long

As they're writhing for our songs

And “Your group's on now, John "

Earning some preposterous wage

Free of this less-town-more-cage

As we enter center-stage

In our gold disk age

And the birds will have to queue

For a single peck at you

Then, emboldened by the view

Watch them molt on cue

And all we need is not to quit,

They'll call us Great Britain's

Newest stars, brand new guitars, guaranteed not to split

Picture us: the favourite band

With a record deal in hand

Going deaf from screaming fans

As per my new masterplan

Where we going, fellas? Where we going?

Where we going, fellas? Where we going?

(To the topper-most of popper-most of popper, to the topper)

To the toppermost of the poppermost!

I hear music in my head

Wherever I go

It's like it's bursting out my soul

It's something I cannot control

Meanwhile I can't drop this tune

Every night When I get home

I watch dad roll his eyes

"Heard of this thing called a comb? "

I sigh as he implies

That mum would be

So unhappy and so disappointed in me

However inopportune

There's a decade dawning soon

Shooting for the moon

And John may seem unreasonable

But his dream is feasible

Sometimes yes, guess he's a gull

I'll appease him though

And then I see how for we're come

Joined, we're greater than our sum

See, the rhythm's in the strum

Of the guitars and then some

Playing my part in your vision, I'll

Grab a pen, so much to discover

Let's produce another

Lennon-McCartney original

See the day John and me met

And Yes George, I didn't forget!

We become a matching set

Writing tete-a-tete

Where we going, Johnny? Where we going?

Where we going, Johnny? Where we going?

(To the topper-most of popper-most of popper, to the toppermost)

And where do I fit in?

And when do I come in?

Is there a spot for me at the

To the toppermost of the poppermost!

I'm the youngest, there's no day when they let me forget

But the part Paul will not say: I'm their safest bet

See the fact is they don’t practice systematically like me

I know my chord charts, strings, fretboard, parts of my soul, sorted by key.

Still the world is their playground

And I am watching from the fence

I can't yet jump with confidence

But mum taught me about patience

I still feel Julia's arms around me every time I play

What would my mum say? (She tells me)

Anything I set my mind to  (She taught me everything)

The heights I'll climb to (She wanted everything)

My time soon

Anything to prove I'm worth it (Wouldn’t approve)

Move the earth, they'll learn…

I had to learn to be the only one believing in me

And ever since she's gone, I can hardly stand it (Mum says I can stand it)

No one understanding (Don’t quite understand it)

The thing she saw in me

And dad, he just wants me to be practical

She’d call me her rebel without applause and tell me

Just keep making noise, always play in your own key

I will wait patiently

He may believe in me but not my choice

They will have no choice but to love me

Where we going fellas? Where we going?

To the toppermost of the poppermost!

Insert band name here.

Liverpool has no idea what’s coming

Liverpool will never be the same

They’ll put up posters of us

Like on this truck

John, that’s a bus!

Put your glasses on, Jesus!

And dad will be non-plussed when

Walking down the street he’ll see John (John), Paul, George (George) of the…

Johnny and the Moondogs… What! Definitely not. The Shoes!

The Quarrymen… Nononononono, JaPaGe3!

Liverpool has no idea what’s coming

Liverpool will never be the same

When they all see us one as three the blasphemous song trinity.

Everybody’s bitching

Where’s that old ambition

That got you essay prizes and into the institute?

I’m not a delinquent

I’ve just been rethinking

No one realizes I’m still just as resolute

Just keep making noise

Always play in your own key

They will have no choice

But to love me

Anything I set my mind to

The heights I’ll climb to

My time soon

Anything to prove I’m worth it

Move the earth

They’ll learn from me.

Where we going, fellas? Where we going?

Where we going, Johnny?

Where we going, fellas? Where we going?

(To the topper-most of popper-most of popper, to the topper)

And where do I fit in and when do I come in?

Toppermost of the poppermost.

[culpeppercheckers721]

Turn Week 2024– Day 2: Switching Sides

I have been thinking about this entry all day (and then some since I also tried contemplating the prompt yesterday lmao), and I truly cannot come up with anything too interesting or original, let alone plausible, so, all realism aside: Baker.

I cannot see this happening in canon at all, but hear me out for a split second: In an extremely self-indulgent, separate universe. Instead of killing Baker when he is discovered, because clearly Abe didn’t want to, Abraham simply gets into something of a fight with him, and, if he’s successfully able to knock him out cold and/or shoot him somewhere less fatal(???), he manages to take him as a prisoner and catch up to some of the rebels who were still taking boats out of Long Island, where Baker could remain alive, if as a prisoner of war.

This would mean Mary and Abe’s whole fake story wouldn’t be that rebels burned down their farm, but that Abraham and Ensign Baker were “captured by rebels,” where somehow only Abe could escape (unrealistic 🤪), and he could tell his “horror story” of his couple days in captivity— all the while, Baker, now surrounded by rebels day and night, might slowly start to understand why the patriots do what they do, and see that British rule has caused some genuine suffering for some of the colonists living under it. Though I’d imagine it would take considerable time for him to get that perspective, Baker, much like Hewlett, struck me as one of those redcoats who joined up because he truly believed it was helping people, that he was doing what was best for his fellow citizens— think back to his little monologue to Abe, about how the Woodhulls were a symbol of what he came here to fight for, as opposed to someone like Simcoe, who’s just there for vengeance and violence. So who knows??

I don’t know if I can ever imagine Baker entirely turning coats and fighting for the patriots, but perhaps in this alternate universe he could have survived until the end of the war, and by the time it was all said and done, he could understand why Abe and every other rebel fought for their own respective cause.

This feels right now like THE dumbest, most half-assed AU prompt I have ever come up with, but I really wished Baker lived (though I don’t place the blame on Abe at all, since it was about self-defense), and that he could’ve come around somehow 🥲 Personally, I can’t picture anything like this occurring in canon, but alas I guess that’s why we have wack-ass alternate universes in the first place 🤪

Anyways this was a trip, hope you enjoyed my EXCRUCIATINGLY poorly edited meme of Baker in blue!!

ALSO: Irrelevant to the post, but for any amrev fans who are aware, I believe it is “Raritan Day”, so happy Raritan Day, iykyk 🤠

[s3janus]

Never thought the first thing I'd post here about tbosas would be Strabo Plinth analysis, but here we are

On a surface level, the most morally reprehensible thing Strabo does is provide the Capitol with munitions during the first rebellion and then move his family to live in the Capitol after its all over. Its the reason his relationship with Sejanus is so rocky, after all

But what I like about it is that if you really try to get into his head and justify it in the way he probably did himself, his choice to do this actually makes a lot of sense. From a perspective other than just "Oh, he did it because it was a good opportunity to make money, since District 13 was no longer providing nuclear weaponry for the Capitol." That's possible, but I think it's deeper than that

The way I see it, Strabo's decision to side with the Capitol was probably more of a survival strategy than anything. For him and his family

Strabo no doubt felt guilt over what he did. You could imagine him being completely cold and desensitised to the actions of the Capitol, I guess, but he had firsthand experience of what it was like in the districts whilst the war was happening. Even if he was living in a more privileged area. After all, if things were going to shit in the Capitol, it was probably ten times worse in even the best areas of the Districts. He saw the damage that the Capitol was causing and no doubt witness deaths over the events of the war, likely even deaths of people close to him

So, why would he help them?

Well, I think that if you look at the war from the perspective of the Plinth family, the outcome would most likely be a lose-lose situation. If the Capitol won, conditions would likely become even worse in the Districts. (Which ends up being the case.) But if the Capitol loses, well, what's the plan moving forward? He couldn't be sure of how well thought out the rebels ideas were, if they even knew what was going to happen, should they win. But things would likely become worse for a time due to a lack of proper structure. And the Plinth's, already living what seemed to be a perfectly fine life in District Two, would have a lot to lose, should shit hit the fan. Their munitions empire, for instance. Would a new, rebel controlled society even allow for independent munitions manufacturers? There's no telling.

These were likely the outcomes which Strabo was considering. And he wasn't only worrying for the wellbeing of himself and his company. If his munitions empire fails, if he loses his fortunes, well, he has a young son to care for. Say what you will about Strabo and Sejanus' relationship, a lot can be said about it, but Strabo seems to, on some level, want what's best for his son. Would Sejanus be able to thrive in a newly founded society, potentially without a munitions empire to back him up?

So perhaps, if you're looking at it like this, the best decision may be to side with the Capitol.

If the Capitol won, and Strabo had helped them, then it would be safe to assume that him and his family (his son in particular, consdiering young adults were being made targets of the Capitol's aggression and Sejanus would be reaching that age in only a matter of time. He couldn't have known that the hunger games were going to happen, however, he could have predicted that people of Sejanus' soon-to-be age range would face punishment if it all went poorly) wouldn't be faced with such severe punishment as other district people

So, even if it means turning his home against him, even turning his son against him, Strabo may see helping the Capitol as his only option. I can see no way that the Plinths wouldn't have suffered if he didn't.

His decision, whilst arguably immoral, was likely the only thing he could think to do in order to assure the safety of both himself and of those close to him. Like I said, he does care about Sejanus. That's shown in a few small ways, if you ask me. Particularly from the fact that when they did move to the Capitol, the main thing he wanted was for Sejanus to have a good education

If you're looking at it this way, and he did make the choice to help the Capitol out of a desire to protect Sejanus, it would make sense that the thing he would want once that protection has been assured would be something to allow his son to thrive (In theory.)

The whole thing likely came from a lack of any other reliable options and a need to assure Sejanus' safety, rather than purely for monetary gain. Even if the decision wasn't necessarily right, I think he did it for the right reasons

Ah, I love a morally grey character

[dangermousie]

Chang Feng Du - done

Finished CFD which ultimately ended up being a show I admired more than enjoyed, it it makes any sense. I confess I by and large lost any interest in the main couple in the last third of the show - once they figured out their feelings, grew up, went through hell and emerged mature etc, they became excellent people it would be great to know in RL but who were not particularly interesting for me to watch. 

So by the end, I was much more interested in the narrative about the weak emperor, his scheming advisor and the court watching the disaster. I wish this portion was given more room to breathe and done a decade ago when longer, darker, more complex dramas were allowed. 

And my favorite character ended up being Ye Shi’an:

I loved when the Zhous finally rebelled. I wish they’d killed that sniveling imbecile Fan Yu, but no way would the censors let them do it and I am already impressed than in the current climate this is a drama that changed the ruling dynasty via violent means not once but twice!

Honestly, I’d have much preferred to watch a drama centered around fight for the throne redux than cute couple grows up and I am still irritated Gu Jiusi is shown to have talked out Zhous from murder and is so CORRECT and says such PROPER things and sounds like a freaking bloodless booklet but I guess I can go watch The Advisors Alliance, Three Kingdoms or King’s War for that and as I said, they weren’t gonna let them get away with regicide in 2023 c-ent. This was pretty hilarious tho:

They rushed the ending as per usual (40 eps limit is really creating this problem tho it always existed to some degree) but still a solid landing.

Ultimately, well-made, well-acted, well-written drama that for me suffered from (a) not being a heavy political infighting drama which it never claimed it was - I wanted something this drama never said it would be so it’s on me and (b) being pretty close to the source material in the sense of all the novels of this author I’ve read being smart, well-written and nuanced but by and large leaving me emotionally indifferent. 

So - well made, not emotionally involving for me, but objectively quite good.

[narrynukezankielover]

To start with I admit I don’t really like the first 3 seasons. It’s the same thing over and over again and it’s boring. Apparently it’s called villain of the week and I’m not a fan of that. I much prefer the way season 4 and 5 are done. Yes there are still eps where they are just hunting a monster but at least there’s a story to it all. If I was watching back when it was actually on or I didn’t know what future eps were going to be like I would’ve stopped after the first few eps or the first season. I just knew the storyline was going to change so I suffered through it. The only thing that made that easier was Dean. I knew Cas was going to be my fave character (and he is) so I really wanted to get to season 4 to see him and thank god I did.

Now to season 5. I know later on Dean really can’t handle Cas being dead but it’s amazing that it started only a year after knowing him. Chuck told Dean and Sam that Cas was dead. He blew up there was no way he survived that but Dean wasn’t going to accept that. He was like maybe this happened or maybe that happened the guy was not accepting there was even a chance Cas was dead. Same thing in the 5 years later ep when the past Dean realized what future Dean was doing to his friends he said “even Cas?” It was like it’s bad enough you’re sending these people you consider friends to get killed but how dare you do that to Cas. Even with the trickster ep (I’m sorry I don’t remember the names of these eps or what number they are just first half of season 5) when the trickster got rid of Cas Dean even said how worried he was about Cas and then threatened him to bring Cas back. Yet Sam didn’t really seem to care. He had plenty of time to say I wonder what happened to Cas or I hope Cas is ok but nope. I like paying attention to that stuff because people try to say that the three of them are just best friends. These scenes show that Cas and Dean have a much more special bond then just best friends. Cas and Sam at this point I don’t think are even friends. Cas seems to get annoyed when he has to talk to Sam.

I’m also paying attention to the way they are wording things. I’m assuming up to ep 2 Dean thought Cas rebelled because he wanted to or to get away from heaven or the other angels. I like that Cas got in Deans face and said “…I rebelled for you.” He didn’t say because of you. If he said because of you it would sound like Cas wanted to disobey and Dean helped him but he said for you which means he did it to help Dean. Also he didn’t say for you and Sam or so you could help Sam he just mentioned Dean (I guess Dean forgot that in season 4 ep 22 once he said “im done” to Cas that’s when Cas changed his mind. I’m done sounds like I’m never talking to you again and that’s what got to Cas). Also in the trickster ep when Cas found Dean and Sam he said “you’ve been missing for 3 days.” Again he didn’t say you two or you and Sam he said you. Which leads me to believe he was only looking for Dean and he was looking at Dean the whole time. I know this show (including Misha and Jensen) pick their words carefully. Like when Misha said it warmed the Cockles of his heart or when Jensen said his wife calls Misha her boyfriend which is funny cause so do I. I think he choose those words because you can’t tell if he’s saying he also calls Misha her boyfriend or he himself calls Misha his boyfriend. Personally though if it was me and I meant I call Misha my wife’s boyfriend I would say which is funny cause I do that too but if I meant I call Misha my boyfriend I would say so do I.

I noticed that when Cas seen Crowley and that guy kiss he didn’t react at all. He wasn’t surprised or disgusted nothing. Yet when Dean went to that gay sex place (the ep with the magicians) and when he was talking to the two gay guys he was more nervous then anything. If he was homophobic he would’ve been disgusted and if he was straight he would’ve probably had no reaction but he was nervous as hell in both scenes and after he talked to the two guys and they told him his life didn’t suck he was playing with his keys smiling. It was a thinking about someone kind of smile though. Could’ve been thinking about a certain angel. Back to Cass reaction when Dean brought him to the sex place (I know there’s a name on it but it’s bit comeing to my head) he was scared shitless. Obviously it’s not a place an angel would feel comfortable but it looked like more a guy being forced to have sex with a girl by the guy he likes kind of scared. The look on his face honestly made me laugh a little to much.

[yagirlpurplefox12]

Imagine: Being in Love with Clay Barber…and Him Feeling the Same

Gender Neutral Reader

Age Gap (You’re 23 years old)

Long one-shot not edited

Being a child actor was hard for you, especially when you wanted to do a hundred different things. Unlike Zack, your fellow childhood friend costar, you threw a tantrum every time your parents wanted you to do a new tv show or movie. Zack, he did everything but he had the luxury of having a clinging mother and being oblivious of the real world.

World of drugs, violence, sex, neglect, and most importantly exploitation.

Yes, you did love being on the show “Step Right Up” but sadly no one could save you from your parents and self. Especially not Clay Barber, who you had started gaining a crush on when you became a preteen before the show ended. Though he was a world class ass with a drinking and drug problem, he was still nicer to you than your whole family and fake friends. Sticking to just being friends with Zack actually made you feel less lonely and you started to become more passionate about other things in life.

Music.

Games.

Horror movies.

Of course, your parents since you were their money source wanted you to pursue these—and you did—but not how they wanted you to.

After “Step Right Up” ended, you rebelled like no other making the media and fans to never forget about you. You didn’t do anything bad per say but your music was incredibly truthful about your life and Hollywood that it helped changed the music industry…which then changed the film business as well.

You were depressed.

Broken.

Abused.

Suicidal.

Making music at the young age of fourteen, your parents started backing off not wanting anymore attention than what was already brought by you.

Skipping over a few years later, you go to a comedic show.

Clay was one of the comedians which was why you decided to go. Teens and adults were excited you were there and wanted your autograph, pictures, a hug but you didn’t really pay them any mind. All you could do in the crowd of the theater was to stare at Clay Barber. And he stares back.

That night you two went to a Mexican restaurant and though you knew he was just being kind, you called him out on it.

“The question is (your name), why are you here with me? Out of everyone from the cast you are the most successful. Even more than the ginger kid and the duchess. You changed the music industry and even slowly changing the modeling and acting field. You’re doing all that while I’m just a fuck up. A young, talented pup like you shouldn’t be with an old dog like me.”

“I like you.”

“Well…maybe you shouldn’t.”

And you agreed, you shouldn’t but not for the reasons he gave you.

What you didn’t know at that time was that Clay was enjoying your company. And that he loves your music and videos, even if the genre isn’t his cup of coffee, loves the different roles you took because you actually wanted to be in the movies, and how resilient you are against your family. To him you are like the lovely painting, Mona Lisa. Remembering how you were as a kid, smiling to everyone even though he knew it was as fake as your parents love. He’d pay to see your parents drown for how much they caused your suffering.

Then, by some fucked up miracle, you get a call from Hulu three years later about them wanting to reboot the old sitcom you grew up doing. At first, you wanted to tell them they can “shove it,” but instead you put on your adult pants and told them you’ll call the extension back with your answer. Hanging up on them, you think about Zack, Reed, Bree, and ultimately Clay.

Dialing Clay, you shook your leg nervously and impatiently. Doing this every time you text or call him, you can’t help but feel shy and anxious.

“Hello,” he answers amusingly.

“Have you heard about Hulu doing a reboot of “Step Right Up”?”

“Wait what? Are you for real?

“Guess you haven’t got the call yet.”

Standing on set, you take it all in.

Childhood memories, mostly unwanted, come swarming in and it’s almost hard to breath but no one know you are having a panic attack. At least that was what you thought. Clay sees you after he greeted Bree with Reed and as those two are having an awkward moment he decided to walk over.

“How long has it been?”

“About a year,” you breath out, beating at yourself about being too busy with movies and record deals to see Clay at least once in awhile.

He smiled and opened his arm for a hug. Gladly accepting it, you bury your face in his shirt, trying to get your bearings back as he rubbed his warm, big hands over your back comfortingly. “Chin up, we’re taking a picture.”

After a long failed picture attempt because of Reed being too much of a theatrical actor, you meet the director and learned almost at the end of the day that the original director came back…and you’ve dealt with men like him. He’s not a bad guy per say, Gordon, but when he said to Reed, “Who the fuck do you think you are,” it racked chills to your core and instinctually sitting next to Clay you grab his arm.

You have never seen Gordon like this.

Yeah, you may have seen him call Reed and Clay a bunch of stupid Jackasses. But for him to blatantly pull out his authority card, you wanted to just go the hell back home.

Away from here.

Realizing that you are a talented and important person, the chills from you vanish. About to take your hand from Clay’s arm, Clay puts his hand over yours and gives it a squeeze but keeps it on him arm. Looking at him, you see that he is scared.

Remembering the only reason you accepted coming back was because of him, you squeeze his arm to your chest and keep him there. He doesn’t react, solely focused on the confrontation happening.

Would it affect you if the reboot never happens? No.

But it sure would affect him.

It became clear when he told Hannah at her door that if he doesn’t do something during the day, bad shit finds him…you are guilty for laughing at that but it was funny when he said it.

From that day little things would happen between you two.

Friendly smiles passing by.

His hand on your back.

Light touches in scenes.

You giving him sips of your soda since he can’t drink alcohol.

Him giving you random snacks before rehearsals.

Little things like that.

After Zack’s mom gave him a blowjob, he felt great at that time but not satisfied. Sure, he has mommy issues but he knows who he wants to give him a blow.

You.

Whether you’ve done it or not, he doesn’t care. He’d first show you pleasure and then teach you after if it’d be your first time. And him thinking this after he left Zack’s mom in the trailer—he felt disgusted from not only thinking about you but not being with you. A double whammy.

And seeing you walk by, giving him a wave, he knew then and there that he was screwed and wanted you.

“(Your name), we need to talk,” he knocked on your trailer’s door. Opening it, there was silence. Wanting to talk but not being able to from the twist of atmosphere and how deeply he was staring into your eyes.

Finally, he steps forward to let himself in and captures your lips.

“We need to talk pup,” he whispers and takes your mouth to his once again.

[thatpunkmaximoff]

[Book Two of…]

Story: 3 out of 5 Smut: 2.5 out of 5

I can’t believe it took me so long to finish this book. After flying through Hooked, I expected the same to happen for this one, but I just couldn’t get into it.

Don’t get me wrong, Emily has such a wonderful way of telling a story, but I guess the royalty one just wasn’t for me.

Tristan (Scar) is everything in this book! I thought it was gonna take a while for me to like him, but damn… Michael (Mufasa) was just the worst. You’ll be rooting for Tristan from the very beginning.

As for Sara… I normally like the FMC right away, but she rubbed me the wrong way and it took forever to even remotely like her. Like I know she’s angry and wants revenge, but the entitled attitude was a no for me. Fortunately, everything worked out in the end.

Other characters will pull you in- Simon (Simba) is just the cutest- and others will have you wanting to punch them. Not all of them are who they seem to be. Seriously, I was left gasping because of who turned out good and who turned out bad.

* So far, what I’m getting is Tristan = Scar, Michael = Mufasa, Xander = Zazu..

* Lmao. Tristan really wiped beneath his mother’s eye to prove she wasn’t crying and called her out. Damn 😂

* “Long live the king” — That gave me chills.

* Faasa family. Ahh, I get it lol. But dang, they want revenge on the royal family..? This is going to be good.

* Is uncle Raf a modern Rafiki? If so, what happened to being the all-wise neutral party? lol.

* “I’m no one’s queen. I’m just the one who will burn the crown.”

* Oohhh. Is Simon (Simba) a- I hate this word, but it is what it is- a bastard that everyone pretends to not know is the new king’s child?

* And so Sara meets Tristan 😏 Sort of. I wonder how this is going to go down since she’s supposed to be married to Michael 👀

* Holy shit. Sara’s first night and a severed head is tossed at the feet of Michael. And she came with a warning from the Rebel King. Interesting…

* … and Sara’s just rubbed me the wrong way. I know she has ulterior motives, but pulling the “I am to be you queen, give me respect” just made me lose respect for her 😂

* Long live the rebel king!

* “I prefer you this way. On your knees, chest heaving, and face flushed while you stare up at your betters. Let this be a lesson, little doe. Don’t forget your place.” // “And where is that?” // “Trembling at my feet.” — yassss! lol.

* I am Team Tristan 100% 😏 Fuck Xander! I’m glad he got knocked down a couple of pegs.

* Tristan and his apparent nephew Simon are so cute 😩

* Poor Antony is about to meet his doom 😂

* Oh shit. Michael is hallucinating his dead father? Tristan is going to spin the “mad king” bit and sway people from supporting him.

* Someone needs to slap Marisol back into her place and FIND SHEINA!

* I just realized that Timothy and Paul are the human version of Timon and Pumba lol. Right?

* Oh fuck. Tristan’s trusted spy brought Sheina to the one place the rebels gather to fuck her..? wtf.

* Goddamn. Tristan is very displeased. I can’t- I can’t even write the words he said! Holy shit.

* I am not a fan of Sara finding out the castle’s secrets when she still wants to kill Tristan. I don’t trust this hoe!

* So wax play gets Sara going…

* “So you’re a witch on top of being my brother’s whore?” — goddamn 😂

* lol Edward’s punishment. I almost forgot Tristan was pissed at him.

* Oohhhh. Did she finally realize that Simon is Michael’s bastard kid?

* And Uncle Raf is here? Everyone’s just a major cockblock.

* I don’t trust uncle Raf. Or Xander. Something is up.

* My little liar… that’s what he’s been calling her this entire time 😂

* Holy shit. They’re fondling each other under the table with Michael right next to them. And someone poisoned the cousin?! And it wasn’t Tristan..? 👀

* Oh. Sara poisoned him 😂

* She should have slit that creepy bastard’s throat when she had the chance.

* Thank you, Tristan, for making him suffer. You’re a real one.

* Fuckkkk. The story of how Tristan got his scar..? Yeah, fuck Michael. He needs to die asap.

* He didn’t let her cum. What a dick 😂

* I knew something was fishy with Raf. Now he’s pinning Sara’s father’s death on the rebel king? On Tristan?! Why do I get the feeling that isn’t the truth either?

* He’s playing his brother like a fucking fiddle lmao.

* Damn. I like Sara finally standing up for herself to Marisol and Ophelia. But…

* …now Timothy’s dead because she didn’t listen. Although what are the rebels after? I doubt Tristan told them to do that unless they’re starting to not have faith in their rebel king.

* Knew someone went against his orders. But who and why?

* Oh shit. She let him fuck her 😬

* And now she knows he’s the rebel king. Let the shitshow begin.

* Fuck. Michael killed their father? And Xander and their mother nudged him the direction? wtf.

* “I am nothing if I’m not yours. So do it. Kill me, Sara. Put me out of this constant purgatory of needing you without having you.”

* … and she couldn’t do it. She couldn’t kill me. Was the dick really that good? 😂

* Shit’s gonna hit the fan! Tristan told her he didn’t kill her father and her uncle plans to use her as scapegoat so he can take the crown. For fuck’s sake.

* Oh Simon. You would ask Tristan to be your dad and break my heart in the process.

* Ophelia, you traitorous cunt! I can’t believe you snitched on Tristan and Sara. I hope they kill you.

* Marisol is a rebel!? What is going on?!?!

* Holy shit. He crowned Simon as king seven years later 😨

[queerofthedagger]

10 books to know you better, tagged by @tharkuun , thank you!!! <3

So I tried to pick not just faves, but actually some that feel like they'd tell you shit about me which.. yikes. Anyway. In no particular order and with many tears over having been made to choose:

Terry Pratchett - Mort It's kind of painful having to choose one (1) Pratchett book but Mort was the first one that really grabbed me, and I'm also just. Incredibly fond of personifications (in the loosest sense) of Death, so this one it is.

Richard Siken - Crush Yeah yeah, every gay tumblr user, but Siken's control over language is simply insane to me and his poetry makes me want to skip town in the middle of the night, develop some fancy drug addiction, and write until all the words are gone from my brain.

Virginia Woolf - Orlando I'm a classics bitch at heart and I love reading classics and all, but Orlando just. Idk. Did something to me, hard to explain in two sentences, but I think it actually makes up like, 10% of my soul so. yeah

C. S. Pacat - Captive Prince I'm counting a series as one sue me. I do love these books for themselves but I've also read them at a time where they just.. hit the right spot in terms of influence on my writing, I guess? You can definitely see it in a lotttt of my stuff if you know what to look for - not so much explicitly, but in the worldbuilding and the abstract stylistics it's absolutely there.

Madeline Miller - Circe * Insert Jo March gif * I just think that women. I also just think that Madeline Miller's writing and yeah, tsoa is great and all, but in my humble opinion Circe is better.

Jane Austen - Persuasion I love all of Austen's work but I think Persuasion is like, at least 50% responsible for me going absolutely feral over the breaking up & making up trope, as well as my pickiness over it (make them work for the reconciliation I want them and myself to suffer), so. I just love this book. So much.

Markus Zusak - The Book Thief I'm generally a fan of historical fiction but I don't think anything has ever touched me as much as this one. See personifications of Death... uh yeah. 100/10 can recommend.

Albert Camus - The Rebel Okay yeah it feels pretentious as all fuck to put like, non-fiction that isn't even poetry on here but then I'm a non-fiction bitch so what can you do. I love Camus, and I read The Rebel at a really formative time of my life and it's like, 75% responsible for me starting to study philosophy. Which, I mean, it didn't really work out but that's really less about philosophy and more about the people who usually study it so. Anyway. I think a massive amount of how I view both life and activism is greatly influenced by Camus and The Rebel specifically so yeah I'm that kind of pretentious bitch <3

Maggie Stiefvater - The Raven Cycle I just think that found family and platonic love <3 Also Stief's prose!!!

Ocean Vuong - Night Sky with Exit Wounds Only read this recently but I'm still reeling from it; best poetry I've read since Crush, and I read a lot of poetry. It just scraped my soul out of my chest with a blunt knife and threw it to the wolves to be chewed on before slamming it back into my body or something. Jesus christ.

I have no idea who's done this already but no-pressure tag: @emryses @schweetheart @ghostboyjules @softest-punk @clotpole @coffee-writes @atlantablack-chaotic @wynnefic and anyone else who'd like to, just say I tagged you! <3

[jyndor]

Sorry but maybe it’s time to stop trying to find parallels between literally everything. Bix and Jyn are nothing alike, their relationship with Cassian are nothing alike and their arcs are completely different. How is Bix being tortured by imperials a parallel to Jyn being interrogated by the rebels? How is Jyn being sent to a labour camp a parallel to Bix getting arrested for informations? Yes I agree that people should stop this bullshit of comparing them, mainly because they have >nothing< in common besides having some kind of relationship with Cassian at some point at their lives. But they’re not defined by what they mean to some man, just stop it. Also these ‘parallels’ will just make people compare them even more, so if it wasn’t your intention you should reconsider what do you want with that

eat my asshole since you’re so far up it already anon

the interrogation wasn't the point, it was about how they're both hiding how they are actually resisting the empire behind the smokescreen of petty crime/black market business. don’t act like you care about the details of any of this, if you’re the same anon (and again anons don’t get a shred of benefit of the doubt from me) you’ve proven yourself to be uninterested in the film and its characters.

part of character analysis IS comparing and contrasting, just not the nasty ways that a lot of fans do it - in misogynistic, racist ways. ever heard the term foil? it's a character that contrasts with another character to highlight these characters’ traits. comparing and contrasting characters is not necessarily a bad thing - it’s about how are we handling it? for instance: i’ve seen some racist, xenophobic behavior from jyn fans through the years (and honestly i’ve not even seen the majority of the early fandom shit because i wasn’t on tumblr as often - i saw that later on) that makes me question some jyn fans’ thoughts on bix because i know how this shit goes. and of course shippers are incapable of respecting the fact that people can have multiple important relationships in their lives without devaluing them, and often women characters get backlash for being *barf* in the way~~ of their ship or whatever.

what they mean to some man. are you serious right now. first off i have critiqued andor for bix’s arc in particular being pretty shallow in comparison to other characters’ arcs, and how she suffers an extreme amount in the service of pushing a man’s story forward. but also... the show is about cassian andor. it’s his show. in some way each of these characters will be there in service of CASSIAN’s story.

a big part of andor's thesis is that cassian is a mirror to the lead from rogue one as well as a foil. parallels aren't necessarily intentional by writers or even real parallels, and fans have a tendency to point out like things where a writer is just unoriginal and call it a parallel (see: steven moffat’s doctor who lmfao). my guess is when it comes to bix, they aren't entirely intentional - except of course the shots that are similar to shots of jyn. i understand how some people might find it annoying to see people pointing out random shots and thinking the fuck the context is totally different - but i deliberately made the gifset with some meta in mind. like i’ve got explanations for all of those scenes. maybe i should have just included it in the original post instead of writing it on a reblog like i’m currently doing but whatever.

i’ve been trying to give a lot of space to bix fans on this because i’ve seen jyn fans act up and i don’t want to spark some bullshit or play on racist, xenophobic and misogynistic shit in fandom. and frankly some bix fans, or people who claim to be idk yall don’t get to claim anything if you take the cover of an anonymous identity, have been horrible to cassian fans and jyn fans, and its felt similar to the melshi/cass shippers who have been harassing wlw rebelcaptain shippers and...

idk some of you either need to learn to block people whose content you don’t like and/or blacklist tags you don’t want to see. i tag really carefully so if you never want to see jyn erso content, you don’t have to. you don’t have to see my content because guess what? you can block me. i won’t miss your ass. if you were someone who actually liked my content or my blog or whatever, you’d have dm’d me with your concerns privately. because i’m gonna consider criticism from people who do that a lot more thoughtfully than some anon. i get not everyone feels comfortable contacting people off anon, which is why i always keep it on because really lol most of the time even idiot asshole anons are funny to me. but in all seriousness if you don’t feel comfortable saying this shit off anon, then maybe you should reconsider who you feel comfortable following and engaging with.

[arcanepactguile]

Ramblings ahead, following up on the quiz memes~

Teal deer, you've been warned.

Here we go, musings on the Heavy Longing and Love quiz results. To put it bluntly, they're uncannily accurate to a T. Holy fuck. I could go on, then we'd never get anywhere with my brain-rotted ramblings.

It's difficult cementing Alastor's little quirks and facets of his psychoanalysis because his character hasn't been established as much as the others.

There appears to be a general consensus Alastor's contracted to Lillith. Others think it's Eve. I personally think it could even be a third, a canon as of yet unnamed and could very well be a WIP, a nonexistent character. We can't look behind the curtain so any guess is as good as another.

VivCrew may be releasing lore as episodes are released, premeditated, or frankly less likely making shit up as they go like other toon IPs do because of breakout character popularity. That said, I see and portray Alastor the way I do because he's essentially stuck in Purgatory.

He's neither here nor there, the finale dropped the bombshell that he's on a leash no different to Husker & Angel, collared to a higher power who's pulling the strings. He wants to enact his full potential as a sociopathic serial killer god - fueled by boredom, power trips, superiority complex, and enjoying other people's suffering specifically came about through his manipulation.

The other characters, including Husker & Angel have freedom. Husker doesn't lament the power/s he gave up. Angel, despite the abuse and toxic control, has no problems rebelling when backed into a corner. Alastor meanwhile, had suffered a meltdoen and is absolutely terrified of whatever barter he's assigned. One problem is we don't know what he bought, and the cost. Revenge hasn't been introduced as a driving point or extra baggage to push Alastor into behaving the way he does. There's no unfinished business regrets or pursuits. Alastor's focused entirely on pleasing somebody stronger than him who's a complete monster.

So far, Alastor's most complicated and flawed characteristic is fear. He's got immense power, yet his solo song explains he is helpless to use it to break free, pay back what he owes, he has to be careful while toying with his own affairs without making himself a prime scapegoat his contract dealer could utilise as punishment because he's crossed the line. Firstly, fear of overstepping or flouting rules by accident, to whoever they are. He has a duty to perform. One idea is something to do with looking after Charlie, ensuring her redemption hotel project doesn't fail and she doesn't get hurt regardless who does own Alastor. There's other possibilities, but that's the most obvious one. The show's fresh so there's more lore to flesh out before we can claim to know anything for sure. Fear has a death grip; the uncertainties, allies and enemies, how much to give parts of himself away in a perfect balance between false pretenses to get what he wants versus not to breach the rules he has to respect. There's the risk of revealing too much, the exposure of his vulnerabilities as well as the revelation Alastor isn't quite the imposing overlord that he sells himself as. There's bigger predators than him out there. Tied into the energy spent exhausting all avenues where he could be manipulated or declared a fraud, Alastor has a lot of metaphorical housekeeping to manage. Viv confirmed his smile's a permanent fixture, she didn't elaborate it. The stitches that appear during transformation phases could either be an innocent design choice for the vibe. Or, evidence his smile is a literal disfigurement enforcing it. On another note; a pet peeve of mine, is how touch-averse fans have made him - when he's anything but? Alastor's amongst the most handsy characters. Going through rewatches, it should be clear he's not revolted or scared of touch, in this argument affections.

Alastor has shown more warmth and compassion to his fellows than say, Husker or Vaggie has to the same people. Alastor's flirtatious, sympathetic, bold, and suggestive. Annoyance + a big show of wiping his hand when Lucifer shakes his hand, yet receptive and delighted/unabashed when he's manhandled and coddled by Rosie. He takes it in good humour and doesn't resist her. In the duet with Lucifer, he was keen to insult him with his cocky 'your daughter calls me Daddy too' taunt. Alastor's quirks don't fit with the context of a timid and chaste pawn.

I know the fan-favourite 'he's unloved, I can fix that' is a major player in character building fanon, I do think it's ignoring how complicated Alastor's psyche is, to reduce him to a generic touch-averse thirsty virgin due to imagined insecurities instead of portraying Alastor as open and affectionate.

Love & Relationship are other two separate battles, another story that picks apart how his interactions can be misunderstood easily. We've only had to rely on his approach to the others' relationships, he hasn't had any advances yet besides playfulness.

[hunxi-guilai]

Hihi! I've noticed some CQL fic recently about class conflict / revolution of the working class against an elite class of cultivators. This idea is intriguing and I think I've seen it executed well, but I also know that cultivator's practices are tied deeply to religion + Daoism so it seems like cultivators are generally pretty well respected in society. Class definitely comes forward as a theme in CQL though, and non-cultivators (e.g. Dafan Wens) clearly do suffer from the war in CQL. 1/2

2/2 I guess I'm wondering to what extent the idea of non-cultivators leading a class revolution feels like a more modern take vs smth that might conceivably happen in a historical Chinese setting. (Based on what happens with Xie Lian in the TGCF novel I feel like a class revolt might happen in MXTX's xianxia worlds at least). I know this is complex but I'd love to hear your thoughts if you're interested in this topic and care to share them. Thanks for your wonderful blog! sorry this is so longgg

hooooooo okay, okay where to begin with this

so first of all, I’m going to link you to @pumpkinpaix’s most excellent meta on class dynamics in MDZS, because she carries this fandom on her goddamn back and holds the brain cell that I certainly do not have

secondly, I’m going to re-link this post on the ahistoricity of cql, because it is, in fact, very important to me that people do not try to read CQL as a historical text in any way, shape, or form

thirdly, so, okay. before we talk about class or class conflict or the revolution of the proletariat or whatever, I want to point out that this story is 架空 jiakong -- it’s built on thin air. I make jokes about the inconsistency of the worldbuilding all the time, but I’m also a Cosmere fan with unrealistic standards for worldbuilding and at the end of the day they’re jokes. But to try and read class conflict into CQL is premised on the assumption that there’s like, a system in place that is premised on the oppression of the working class and a functional economy that keeps this society running. What is this economy? Who is this working class? Hell if I know! They pay each other with rocks spray-painted a shiny gold and we don’t question it.

oh, we can theorize all day about feudal systems of taxation and protection, or guess at the going price of evil-warding talismans, but at the end of the day, neither the author nor the showrunners felt the need to build an extensively detailed class system into this world. and why should they? that’s not the focus of the story; just the general strokes of a nebulously-familiar setting will suffice.

this isn’t to say class isn’t a major theme in CQL, since it’s literally like, the crux of Jin Guangyao’s character (again, please read that meta by @pumpkinpaix, it’s so good), but like. to talk about class conflict and revolution? feels like we need to get much further in the weeds about, like, economic structural inequality built into the fabric of this society. and to me, that feels like fumbling around in the dark, because there isn’t?? really??? a historical??? analog???? to cultivators????

look, this is xianxia. this is a fundamentally fantastic text. cultivators as a class (hah) of people amalgamate this strange chimera of Daoist priest and warrior-mercenary and landed gentry and wandering scholar that is very much a staple of the wuxia / xianxia genres, but not particularly applicable to history. so the idea of a “working class rebelling against an elite class of cultivators” simply does not have a handy historical analogue to point at because cultivators--in the form of this structured, organized, jianghu sect hierarchy--did not exist???

(honestly, the closest counterpart I can think of is--hilariously--season 1 of The Legend of Korra, which attempts to deal with the societal inequality of benders and non-benders. but like. does Korra handle that well? anyway)

and before anyone tries to make the argument that the cultivational sects map onto the imperial government--they do not. They simply Do Not. If you think so, then you have not confronted the Bureaucratic Majesty/Nightmare of imperial Chinese government. 

here’s the thing about most wuxia / xianxia / Chinese period dramas as a whole--they’re never actually about the “common people.” Your main character is always going to be the member of some elite class, or marry into the elite class, or have Magical Powers Conferred Upon Them and thereby become elite. The genre is simply uninterested in the dynamics of class beyond its effects on a character’s backstory. The reality of it is simply that working class life in ancient China rarely gets made into 50-episode dramas. At the very least, I’ve never seen one.

if we want to look at peasant rebellions in Chinese history, they are often about changing the people in positions of power rather than the systems that impose said power. The dynastic system lasted for millennia because every time there was a successful uprising, the people who led that revolution proceeded to put themselves in the positions of power in that very same system, and the one time the revolution led to a systemic change in governance--

I will never be paid enough to talk about 20th century Chinese history, but if you’re looking for historical analogues of class revolution, you’re welcome to confront the bloody wasteland that is 20th century China

class in ancient China is complicated; class in dynastic China is complicated; class in 20th century China is (hoo buddy) complicated; class in 21st century China is (yells) complicated. Which is a roundabout way of getting to your question of:

I guess I'm wondering to what extent the idea of non-cultivators leading a class revolution feels like a more modern take vs smth that might conceivably happen in a historical Chinese setting.

Not only does this feel like a modern take, this feels like a very Western take; I don’t think Western concepts of class awareness and conflict map easily across national and cultural borders, but I don’t have the requisite knowledge to give you a more nuanced understanding of how or why exactly. That... would be the subject of a dissertation, not a tumblr post.

You did bring up TGCF, and I do want to point out that the fall of Xianle is also... not a product of class conflict, necessarily speaking. It’s the product of 1) a refugee crisis, 2) multiple natural disasters, 3) the literal hand of fate. I think MXTX incorporates themes of class into her works, but her books tend to be much more focused on the development of an individual character in the face of hardship and opposition, rather than the role of an individual in society and the individual’s obligation to contribute to said society. I could write several hundred words on Xie Lian and his relationship to “the greater good,” but that belongs in a wholly different meta and a complete separate blog. I think it’s quite important that, again and again, we see that the ‘happy ending’ MXTX bestows upon her main characters is not “and then they get into politics and reform society to bring the greatest good to all!” but rather “and then they live in a house with the love of their life in quiet, domestic bliss, away from the politics that caused them so much pain and suffering.” To me, that indicates the author’s interest in personal and emotional development of characters rather than commenting on class conflict/class revolution in ahistorical fantasy China as a whole.

Again! I’m not trying to be prescriptive. I’m not saying that people can’t flesh out the worldbuilding and create incredible works of transformative fanwork that speculate on the nature of class conflict and revolution in a fantasy society. If that’s your speed, all the power to you! That sounds like a truly terrifying amount of thought and research, godspeed.

[robininthelabyrinth]

There was a comment a while back about NMJ having capybara energy. So have a cracky prompt of some strategists in the Sunshot Campaign deciding how this could be weaponized, or used as an interrogation technique. If they give cooperate and give information, they can be in a cuddle pile with NMJ.

ao3

The worst part about war was, unquestionably, the war itself.

The loss of life, the injuries, the stress – the agonizing terror of knowing that each moment might be your last, the painful boredom of waiting for something to happen, the shaking anxiety of never knowing which one the day would bring. Watching your friends and family suffer, watching innocent people suffer…it was grotesquely awful in ways Lan Xichen had never even dreamed of it being.

And yet, as if war wasn’t bad enough by itself, it also had – side effects.

Evil creatures thrived on resentful energy, their own or others’, gathered at sites of death or violence, and there was nothing that they liked better than the wasted spiritual energy that accompanied the untimely death of cultivators. This war, sect against sect, was a breeding ground for all the creatures that they ought to be night-hunting, not encouraging.

Led by Nie Mingjue, who never forgot his obligations, their side – the Four Great Sects, that was – took care of the innocent people who were being harmed by their war, protecting them from the immediate aftereffects, settling them in new places if their homes were damaged, making sure they weren’t caught in the middle of ongoing battle. Sects that skimped on their duties to the common people were mercilessly cut off in turn, where necessary, and Nie Mingjue had even demanded that Lanling Jin personally recompense an entire village that had lost their homes due to their negligence or else face the next Wen attack without his aid – the cost of doing so was negligible for them, but the humiliating loss of face among the rest of the sects that he had even had felt the need to make the threat, coupled with the fact that they really did need his help, served as an extremely potent reminder for everyone else.

When possible, the sects devoted some resources to night-hunting, trying to restrain the effects of their war, but it was like trying to hold back an avalanche that had already started: they could mitigate some of the damage, but until the war was over, it would only get worse and worse.

It didn’t help, naturally, that the Wen sect’s leaders didn’t care one whit about the effects of their actions.

Wen Ruohan loudly blamed the other Great Sects for it, claiming that they were ‘rebelling’ against him – as if they hadn’t all been equal just before – and that the heavens were punishing them for their violation of the natural order; his commanders followed suit, disdaining even the distraction of night-hunting and making dismissive promises that it would all be resolved when the war was won.

Still, however Wen Ruohan felt, however his generals and commanders felt, even they couldn’t ignore all the effects.

Especially not the ones that hit everyone equally.

“More nightmares?” Lan Xichen asked Jiang Cheng as he came into the command tent, rubbing his red eyes and looking awful. They all looked awful, but the recent affliction of dream-eaters that had swept through their camp and the enemy’s was especially vicious - particularly on those like Jiang Cheng, who had already existing trauma and were already burdened by nightmares. They were killing the creatures that generated the nightmares as quickly as possible, but there was only so much they could do with the encampment of the Wen sect not far away, waiting for a display of weakness that would give them the opportunity to attack.

The Wen sect were afflicted by the dream-eaters, too, and under any other circumstances Lan Xichen would propose that they raise the flag of truce long enough to eradicate the menace. Unfortunately, the Wen sect had proved themselves fundamentally untrustworthy – Jiang Cheng’s own family situation told the story quite vividly, even if Lan Xichen didn’t have to only close his eyes to see the burning of the Cloud Recesses – and so they all just suffered, instead.

“Bad ones,” Jiang Cheng said grimly, and nodded at Wei Wuxian, who had followed him into the tent looking, somehow, even worse. Not a great surprise, given that he’d been trapped in the Burial Mounds and now utilized resentful energy as a weapon – he had to be even more susceptible to the nightmares than the rest of them, but there was nothing to be done about it; his new cultivation style was too valuable for him to stop now. If Lan Xichen had to guess, Wei Wuxian was working himself to the bone and collapsing into nightmares, never getting any rest; his eyes were bloodshot, his face haggard, his waist too thin.

When Lan Wangji entered the tent next and saw Wei Wuxian there, looking half-dead, his face immediately twisted in what Lan Xichen recognized as clear concern. Poor Lan Wangji was suffering, too, although perhaps Lan Xichen was the only one who could tell.

Lan Xichen felt a stab of pain on all their behalf, all of them, and handed out tea to strengthen their spirits. He’d selected the most energizing blend he could find in preparation for this meeting, their first in several weeks – they were all fighting their own fronts, Lanling Jin in Langya, Qinghe Nie in Hejian, so on and so forth, but they needed to coordinate, and these in-person meetings were the best option for it.

And they really needed to discuss what to do about this new nightmare scourge.

“I think it’s like this for everyone,” Jiang Cheng said, accepting the tea, and Lan Xichen was just in the middle of nodding when he heard a strange sound – laughter, of all things.

They all turned to stare at the door, where Nie Huaisang was walking in, followed by an exhausted-looking Jin Zixuan as his father’s representative. It had been Lan Xichen who had asked for Nie Huaisang to be brought here from his refuge at the Cloud Recesses, thinking that this highly protected meeting was as close to safety on the battlefield as they could get and that it would be good for Nie Mingjue to see his little brother safe and sound.

Of all of them, they needed Nie Mingjue to remain strong. He was the Great Sects’ most effective general, their most terrifying war god; he was as viciously effective a general as he was a frontline fighter, designing many of the strategies they all used and providing many of their sects with critical assistance even though his Nie sect and its affiliated sects were the least numerous of the Great Sects, excluding only the significantly diminished forces of the Jiang sect.

More than his personal contribution, though, he’d become something of a lucky talisman for the rest of them. Lan Xichen had heard all sorts of stories about each and every one of them - Jiang Cheng as the resurrected phoenix, unkillable; Wei Wuxian as a demon barely leashed and used for their own purposes; Lan Xichen himself as a beacon of light bringing hope to those who needed it most - but that was nothing compared to what was said and believed about Nie Mingjue: that as long as Chifeng-zun was there, inexorable and inviolable, the unquestioned king of Hejian, the Wen sect’s eventual defeat was inevitable.

Even Lan Xichen found himself thinking it, reassuring himself late at night that all their efforts were not for nothing, that it would all end well in the end.

It wasn’t a healthy way of thinking, not for them and least of all for Nie Mingjue himself, who had to live up to that terrible reputation, but it was what was getting them through each day of this terrible war. So if there was something within Lan Xichen’s power to help Nie Mingjue keep himself together, he would do it, no matter the risk.

Nie Huaisang had arrived at their encampment the day before, with Nie Mingjue himself arriving even later, coming very late at night, and now it was morning and Nie Huaisang was laughing.

Laughing free and easy as if he didn’t have a care in the world, no less, and probably at one of his own jokes; Jin Zixuan was looking at him as if he’d never seen such a strange and wonderous thing in his life, and Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian and…well, everyone, really, were all following suit. They’d all laughed in recent days, of course, war lending itself to black humor, but Nie Huaisang looked so light-hearted.

So…well-rested.

“Huaisang,” Lan Xichen said, blinking owlishly at him. “You look…good.” No, that wasn’t the word he was looking for. “Healthy.”

Not in need of sleep, he meant.

“Oh, well, you know,” Nie Huaisang demurred, hiding his face behind his fan. “I’m happy to see da-ge, that’s all. I get to comfort myself that he’s well and get a good night’s sleep for once; why wouldn’t I be well? Nothing much to it.”

“Good night’s sleep?” Jiang Cheng echoed, looking disbelieving – as well he should, too. Their current encampent was right next to one of the worst collections of nightmare afflicting creatures, the vicious dream-eaters that confused the mind and injured the spirit. “You got a good night’s sleep?”

“Better here than in the Cloud Recesses?” Wei Wuxian asked, rubbing his eyes. “Really?”

“Uh, yes?” Nie Huaisang said, and now it was his turn to blink at them. “My da-ge is here. I slept well and untroubled for the first time in ages.”

“That sounds...nice,” Jin Zixuan said, rubbing his eyes as well – probably inspired by Wei Wuxian. Such things were communicative. “You must have been worried about him.”

“Oh, da-ge will be fine, I’m sure,” Nie Huaisang said blithely, and Lan Xichen suppressed the abrupt and overwhelming desire to punch him. “But I have nightmares sometimes, you know, and there’s no reason not to use medicine if it’s available, right?”

“Medicine?” Lan Wangji asked, voice intent, and Lan Xichen went from mild irritation to sadness at once: for Lan Wangji to ask such a thing, to show such weakness, the nightmares must be very bad indeed.

“Yes, my da-ge,” Nie Huaisang said. “He’s nightmare-proof.”

“I’m glad that that works for you,” Jiang Cheng said snippily. “Pity about the rest of us.”

Nie Huaisang frowned at him. “It’s not just me,” he said. “It’s just how he is. Don’t you know?”

Lan Xichen was going to intervene and settle them down – their tempers were all unduly short, given the nightmare situation, and he really didn’t want to have to deal with that before having to cope with the same from Nie Mingjue, whose temper was extremely short at the best of times – but then just as he was opening his mouth to say something he was suddenly hit by an overwhelming feeling of sudden calm, the same sort of pleasant languor that came in the early morning of a calm rest day where you didn’t need to get out of bed, or perhaps in a warm and lazy afternoon when you had nothing to do and were considering a nap.  

It was amazing.

Lan Xichen could see the same effect taking hold of the others, too: Jin Zixuan let out a little sigh, Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji both rocked back a little on their heels, eyes sliding closed in pleasure, Wei Wuxian actually let out a near-audible whimper of relief –

And then Nie Mingjue walked into the command tent.

“Good morning,” he said. He looked as steady as always, a tall and unshakable mountain; his brow was creased in his usual expression of neutral ill-humor and one could arguably feel the heat of his always simmering temper, but at the moment it just felt like warmth. “It’s good to see you all.”

They all murmured greetings in return, watching as Nie Mingjue – and the aura of calm relaxation that, apparently, accompanied him – passed them by and went towards the table where they had laid out all their plans. Unconsciously, they followed after him, drifting in his wake, each of them edging closer to him without ever having made a decision on it; as the other sect leaders who were leading the war showed up, they did the same, and by the time the usual pleasantries had concluded and the meeting was about to start, Nie Mingjue could barely turn around without nearly bumping into someone who had drifted too close.

Lan Xichen really ought to tell them to stop – he was the courier, the connection between the sects, familiar with each and every one of them – but he found himself instead abusing his position and his history as Nie Mingjue’s old friend to finagle a place at his right side, just behind his shoulder, and just stood there, his eyes half-lidded as he basked in the feeling. It was a little like really good meditation, he thought, the type that centered you and grounded you, let you be steady and hold your ground, come what may.

As the general, Nie Mingjue opened the meeting, running through the usual updates – he was short and to the point as always, which invariably made these meetings run significantly better because after a start like that even the most long-winded and shameless of old men felt a bit constrained to keep their words within the realm of the reasonable. After he finished detailing their current positions, the Wen sect’s latest moves and his predictions on their next, certain counters he planned to use – all at a very high level of generality, of course, in the event of spies – Nie Mingjue looked around, frowning a little: they had been all listening with surprising quietude, not a single objection or comment among them the way there usually was.

“Is there any other business?” he asked.

One of the leaders of a smaller sect – Sect Leader Ouyang – visibly shook himself and coughed. “The…scourge?”

“Scourge?” Nie Mingjue scowled. “What scourge? Has there been a greater than usual resurgence of evil creatures? What type? Why was I not informed?”

Lan Xichen looked at his old friend as though seeing him for the first time, as though abruptly realizing that your old familiar pillow was in fact a wonderous treasured pearl to be held carefully in one’s hand.

“It’s dream-eaters,” Jiang Cheng said, sounding blank and surprised. “The sort that cause nightmares...you know the type, surely? Common enough and usually fairly harmless, but there’s a whole lot of them and they’re breeding faster than we can kill them – not unless we devote ourselves just to the task, which we can’t do. Has - has the Nie sect not suffered from this affliction?”

“No,” Nie Mingjue said, frowning, and he seemed oddly discomforted, the reason for which he immediately revealed: “In fact, I’ve never seen a dream-eater. They’re not common in Qinghe, I think.”

That was impossible, of course – dream-eaters were notorious for being a pest that could be found anywhere, no matter what the climate or terrain; it was a little like saying that your household had never known a rat.

Although, Lan Xichen supposed, one could see such a statement being made by the single household in the village possessed of a cat…

“That was one of the main reasons I wanted to have this meeting,” he said, clearing his throat. He had told most of the sect leaders that it would be on the agenda, but he hadn’t had time to meet with Nie Mingjue, nor had he needed to – as the general, Nie Mingjue’s presence was a necessity, and so Lan Xichen had known that he would be there and had assumed (incorrectly, it seemed) that he would obviously want to devote some time to the issue. “It has been a rise in the number of such creatures, and yet we cannot divert attention from our frontline. Surely there must be some solution?”

“If it’s so severe, then we could strike a balance,” Nie Mingjue said, looking relieved at the possibility of turning the discussion onto the practical. “Those sects in regions with less ongoing strife could send teams to other fronts specifically to aid in eliminating the dream-eaters –”

“How has Qinghe Nie not suffered from the affliction?” The person interrupting was one of the sect leaders affiliated with Lanling Jin, even though Jin Zixuan turned and glared death at him. “Whatever can be said about dream-eaters in Qinghe, Hejian certainly doesn’t lack them, or at least it never has before. If there is some means of resisting them, it ought to be shared.”

That particular sect leader had arrived late and was seated relatively far back; perhaps he was out of range of Nie Mingjue, and hadn’t noticed – or perhaps, and more likely, he was simply being obnoxious and looking for an opportunity to snatch up whatever talisman Nie Mingjue was using to relieve the effects of the dream-eaters for Lanling Jin’s benefit. As if they had some greater claim to it, when they were doing the least of the fighting..!

“I haven’t seen them,” Nie Mingjue said, his face black with annoyance that Lan Xichen knew was merely a cover for embarrassment. “Not even in Hejian.”

Nie Huaisang giggled behind his fan. “That’s not your fault, da-ge,” he said. “They run away when they see you coming. Isn’t that right, Xiaochun-shushu?”

Eyes turned to the man standing by Nie Mingjue’s side – one of the Nie sect commanders – who looked a little awkward to be put on the spot, shifting his weight and clearing his throat. “To the extent it has been an issue at any of our outposts, we usually ask the Sect Leader to check in on morale, which generally resolves the issue,” he said circumspectly, and Nie Mingjue looked minorly outraged at the suggestion that his entire sect apparently used him as a way to ward off a creature usually classified as a minor pest. Without telling him, no less.

“So the effect is not caused by a talisman or spiritual instrument?” Sect Leader Yao asked, looking disappointed. “Nothing that can be duplicated?”

“What effect?” Nie Mingjue asked.

“Perhaps we could ask Sect Leader Nie to visit some of the other territories?” another sect leader suggested.

“And risk Hejian? Don’t be ridiculous,” Jiang Cheng said, though he looked sorely tempted.

“What effect?” Nie Mingjue asked again.

“I wonder if the Wen sect is suffering to the extent we are,” Wei Wuxian said thoughtfully, spinning his flute in his hand. “We have some prisoners of war, don’t we? They might be inclined to share more information if they were a little more relaxed. Don’t you think?”

“Especially following a state of heightened distress,” Jin Zixuan said, nodding. “The relief will be much more pronounced, which could lower their defenses –”

“Maybe we could even get –”

“Xichen,” Nie Mingjue hissed in his ear as the debate began in earnest, each sect leader rushing forward to add in their views. “What are they talking about?”

Lan Xichen looked helplessly at Nie Huaisang who scuttled over. “It’s the dream-eaters, da-ge,” he said in an undertone. “Sustained exposure. People get tired, cranky, irritable; their cultivation is weakened, their focus impaired…they become simultaneously less sensitive to certain things, like social niceties, and more sensitive to other things. Like a feeling of steadiness and reliability.”

“…so?” Nie Mingjue said.

“So a lot of people are noticing for the first time that you’re very – uh – grounding.”

“Grounding,” Nie Mingjue said skeptically. “Like…a lightning rod?”

It wasn’t quite the metaphor Lan Xichen would have gone with.

“It’s always like this?” he asked Nie Huaisang, fascinated, and Nie Huaisang nodded. “Why didn’t I notice?”

“You probably noticed subconsciously?” Nie Huaisang guessed. “People like being around da-ge, even when they don’t like him. Anyway, you’re usually very steady yourself, Xichen-gege –” Nie Mingjue sighed at his brother’s rudeness. “– so you probably didn’t notice that you were feeling even more so. In our sect, you’ll find parents coming by to drop off their kids next to da-ge; they follow him like a flock of ducklings, it’s the only thing that keeps them quiet…”

“I thought they just liked watching me train?”

“I mean, they like that, too, da-ge, I’m sure. But mostly people just feel safe when you’re around.”

Safe. Yes, that was what it felt like, calm and safe and secure, like there was a rock-solid foundation to the world that nothing could tear down; like even if Nie Mingjue were at the end of his rope, he would still do everything he could not to let you down.

“It’s very nice,” Lan Xichen said.

Nie Mingjue was pinching the bridge of his nose. “Huaisang,” he said. “If this is such a common phenomenon, why didn’t anyone tell me about it?”

“To be honest, we were a little worried that it’d go away if anyone pointed it out to you,” Nie Huaisang said. “Apparently not. Good!”

“This is ridiculous. I’m a sect leader, a front-line fighter, a general…I can’t go traipsing around fighting dream-eaters. We have a war to fight!”

“People fight better if they can sleep,” Nie Huaisang said wisely, and Lan Xichen nodded in firm support. Lan Wanji had drifted over at some point and looked to now be sleeping standing up, which was practically an endorsement as well. “Anyway, I think the idea of gathering people up to go deal with the problem is a good one, and anyone who’s really desperate for a good night’s rest can trade over to fight in Hejian for a while. That’ll keep your forces fresh, encourage the circulation of people and the development of relationships between the various sects, and you’ll have the chance to get a good look at who’s actually competent or not while they fight directly under you.”

“Hmm, true,” Nie Mingjue said, and Lan Xichen had to agree – it wasn’t a bad idea at all. Maybe it was the fact that Nie Huaisang was the only one of them who’d gotten any sleep that had allowed him to be the one to suggest it.

“And of course, best of all, as long as our side is getting relief and the Wen sect isn’t…”

“Oh, all right,” Nie Mingjue said. “I still think this is ridiculous, and I’m having some difficulty believing that I really give off some sort of – sleep field, or whatever.”

“You do,” Lan Xichen said. “In fact, I may propose that we break up the meeting temporarily to allow everyone to take a brief nap.”

“We are not doing that,” Nie Mingjue said. “We’re not toddlers.”

“We should do that,” Lan Wangji said, opening his eyes.

Wei Wuxian’s head turned at the sound of Lan Wangji’s voice. “Do what?”

“Break up the meeting for everyone to take a nap and return with steadied nerves and calmer minds,” Nie Huaisang said.

“We should definitely do that,” Wei Wuxian said, and nudged Jiang Cheng. “Hey, Jiang Cheng, how do you feel about everyone in the room taking a nap before we continue discussing the war?”

“That is the best idea I’ve ever heard,” Jiang Cheng said.

“You’re not serious,” Nie Mingjue said. “You cannot be serious right now.”

“Oh, we are very serious,” Lan Xichen said, and cleared his throat, waving for people’s attention. “Everyone, in light of the scourge of dream-eaters we’ve all been struggling with over the past few weeks, I have a suggestion…”

[artekai]

So after years of loving vanilla P5 I finally got around to playing Royal and guess who's fallen for the apple juice loving gentle madman! This bitch 👋 And since you seem to be therapy boi fan extrordinaire, y'all got any Maruki fic recs??? Really don't mind what kind, just want some good old Mookie content

That's great, anon, welcome to the club!! We're happy to have you! :D <3

I read a bit of everything and anything, so this might get a little long, haha. Also these are all probably gonna be one-shots. Sorry about that in advance.

Hoo boy. Here we go! ^^

Angst:

need you here by @docmaruki: Very, very painful one-shot about Takuto developing an alcohol addiction after losing Rumi, and Shibusawa chastising him out of concern. Be sure to heed the warnings!

Fluff:

This unnamed one-shot by @leelreallylikespersona: Very, very wholesome fic about Takuto introducing Rumi and Azathoth to each other! All three of them are really sweet here and the dynamic between Rumi and Azathoth is adorable. Honestly great if you need something to heal after the Rumi incident and all of the third semester stuff :3

Slow Day: A sweet Marukiwai pre-canon fic about Takuto and Iwai getting together in high school! Takuto is still a nerd and a pushover and Iwai is a rebel, but they're very respectful towards each other so it plays out really nicely. If the high school setting isn't your thing, the author also has a bunch of other Marukiwai fics, and, from what I've seen, their writing seems to be consistently great, so I would recommend looking around for a premise that catches your eye ^^

Another untitled one-shot by @/leelreallylikespersona: This one is an enemies-to-lovers Yaldaruki fic! Yaldabaoth is a demon now and is angry at Takuto for taking over Mementos, Azathoth tries to warn Takuto to stay away from him, and the rest is history, haha. It has some angst, but it ends in fluff, I promise, haha.

For all your third semester/ideal reality needs:

Stained Vow by @nicxan: I could go ahead and just recommend all of nicxan's Mookie catalogue because I really love their fics and they have lots of good stuff about the ideal reality, especially if you like reading Azathoth as dark and manipulative. This fic in particular is about Azathoth not being Takuto's real Persona, but an impostor, and about what happened to Takuto's Shadow if that's the case. It’s delicious ^^

Hard Truths, also by @/nicxan: This fic is about Takuto finding a cognition of his younger self in his Palace, and realizing said cognition is “selfishly” in pain, which forces Takuto to confront some... well, some very hard truths about himself and his reality. It's amazing, Takuto beats himself up and solves nothing, it's very angsty and very satisfying if you like suffering, hehe.

The Fall by @auncyen: Truly a wonderful, hard hitting, beautifully written fic about Takuto struggling with his self isolation after the ideal reality comes to be, thus losing the last shreds of his sanity and giving up.

Takuren family AU:

This is a lovely series of fics by @wildcard-rumi about a bittersweet AU where Ren is Takuto's son! I'm sure there's something for all tastes, but these are some of my personal favorites:

I Will Never Leave You: Absolutely heartbreaking fic about... well, things going wrong after the third semester infiltration.

Someone I Used to Know: Another tearjerker where Ren runs into Rumi, who still doesn't recognize him, which brings back some horribly painful memories for both him and Takuto about how their family fell apart...

Lost Everything: Also a really heartfelt fic, with a lot of fluff, hurt/comfort, and angst, about Rumi meeting a tiny Ren and their relationship as mother and son developing over time, until the break-in incident ruins everything :( Tiny Ren is super adorable, though, Rumi is also sweet, and their dynamic as a family is very cute :3

For all your reader insert needs:

and everything will be fine: very short but very heartwarming hurt/comfort one-shot about Mookie comforting the reader, who's having a terrible mental health day. Established relationship, post-canon, Takuto is trying his best to be better about the way he deals with trauma and it's very nice to see ^^

men, gods, and monsters by @myaphelion: Third semester reader insert fic with angst and hurt/comfort! Also a established relationship, the fic itself is very beautifully written and heartfelt... Reader agrees with Takuto's goals, haha.

Councillor: Another sweet, sweet hurt/comfort post-canon fic about Takuto comforting the reader after a nightmare and offering them to take the pain away, because he still has some control over Azathoth's powers, even if he knows he shouldn't... It's very moving :')

#

So there it is! My non-comprehensive list of Mookie-centric fics I like!

I tend to bookmark every fic about Takuto I read and tag it as "Maruki Takuto-centric" on my AO3, so if you want to find more to read without having to comb through the entire P5R archive then you can go feel free to check that out :3 Not everything in this list might be there because I didn't start doing that until later and sometimes I forget, haha, but there's more stuff there in case you still find yourself craving more! Most of the authors I mentioned have other Mookie-centric fics too, so they're a pretty reliable source too :3

Also, I mostly write about our boy Mookie in all sorts of situations, so if you'd like to take a look at my fics and see if there's anything that catches your eye, that'd be greatly appreciated 👉👈

I hope this helped, anon :3 If anyone else has any more recs, feel free to add on! :D

Happy reading! <3

[living-is-hard-with-eyes-open]

So...

INTRODUCTION

I’m fully aware this was properly tagged. I usually don’t go looking for drama, even if everyone knows this fandom is full of shit and wild takes and factions, but today I was bored and my soul left my body when i read this. So sue me i guess. 

Being a Dany fan, I’m used to seeing takes saying she is Devil incarnate and fuck the slaves, long live the slavers because ThE EcOnOMy and SHE HERSELF killed every 13 years old in Astapor. 

I hate it, but after that shitshow and the way people like to rewrite history to make themselves think they were right all the time, i kind of get why this happens, even if I have no doubt all these takes are plain dumb. No, the only character in this fucking books who is fighting slavery is not the ultimate villain. Period. 

THE TRIDENT

But back to Arya and the post above... why do people have this tendency to rewrite the Trident Incident so much? Because it paints Sansa in a bad light? Sansa is 11. She is allowed to fuck things up, she is not a monster for the way she acts, but that doesn’t negate the fact that Lady being killed was not a “consequence” of Arya’s disrespect for the same “rules” Sansa understands so good. 

Because if the law says you have to stand by while a child prince mutilates another child, well, the law is fucked up and you should not follow it. Law is not the same as Justice. 

Arya did not say “fuck you” to royalty. Arya tried to defend his friend, who was being hurt, and was brave and right to do so. Arya saw something wrong happening, and tried to help; Sansa saw the same, and stood by. Again, this is not Sansa hate, she is a child, she is scared, she wants to be in good terms with his future husband, you know the rest. But that doesn’t negate what happened. These are facts. 

And what happened was not Arya’s fault: Sansa decided to spend her day with Joffrey; Arya decided to have fun with Mycah. Neither of these things are wrong: It was Joffrey who escalated things, because he is, well, Joffrey. 

Arya did nothing wrong. Are you seriously implying she was rebelling against the regime when defending Micah???? Was then Sansa a Traitor to her family when she run to tell Cersei about Ned’s plan??? Or can we all agree these are all children, and REBELLING AGAINST THE CROWN is not... the best way to describe Arya’s conduct in this scene??

THE WOLVES

So, the post above (and others) seems to imply Lady died because Arya drove Nymeria away, so Lady’s death is Arya’s fault. This is wrong for so many reasons: 

- Arya is not Cassandra. She has no way of knowing Cersei is going to order Lady’s death instead on Nymeria’s, because...

- ... Cersei’s orders are impulsive, irrational, and difficult to predict, because they have no basis in logic;

- It’s Robert pride that “forces” him to attend Cersei’s petition; because again, it’s not a reasonable thing to ask. 

- Hate to say it, but there is a good chance that if Sansa had told the truth, Robert would have been so embarrassed by Joffrey’s actions that he might not have had Lady killed. This is giving Bobby B some credit, and I’m not 100% sure I’m right in this because Robert sucks, but it is a possibility. 

MYCAH

Arya is not responsible for Mycah’s death, because a noble child of 9 has no way of anticipate that her playing with a butcher’s son is going to lead to his death. Again, Arya is not Cassandra??? 

Also, have we all forgotten that Arya was on the run too, and if Jaime have gotten to her first she would be at worst killed and at best maimed? Would OP be happy in this case, because then Arya would have suffered ThE COnSeQuENcEs Of HeR TErrIBlE cRiMeS (playing with another child) properly???

RECOGNIZING PRIVILEGE

“If you think she’ll realize her privilege, just like Jon...“ Tell me how Arya’s privilege has helped her from the moment she fled the Red Keep. Go ahead. Make a list. I’ll wait here. 

Now think about what would be Jon’s place in the Wall if he was not known as Ned’s son. I love Jon’s moment of realization in AGOT, it’s a good character moment, but his arc is intrinsecally linked to being Ned’s bastard; he would not be where he is (well he is dead at this point, but you know what i’m trying to say) without the privilege that comes with his Stark blood.  Jon needs to acknowledge his privilege because it is part of his story in a way Arya’s arc is not. 

Also... why is so important Arya realizes how privileged she is? Does Sansa needs to do it as well, or is she exempt because reasons? Or was OP trying to say that Arya needs to be aware of her position and act according to it, because the system they live in is so good it needs to be protected by never leaving the box society has put you in, and then everything will be great? 

Because even Sansa realizes this is bullshit, like in a second book. Try learning something of your fave, at least, i beg you. 

To sum up, privilege my ass. 

“SHE WAS ALWAYS FUCKED UP”

This part is for another post, if I’m in the right mood, because i’m getting angrier and I prefer when my sentences make sense. 

[alynnl]

Dance of the Automaton cleared! (Triangle Strategy)

Two attempts.  That’s all it took for me to clear the final map.  Going by my “number of tries” metric, this makes it officially Easier than Galdera, the Fallen One. (That took me six.)

First, gameplay commentary! 

Oh my God.  The Heirophant was terrifying as an opponent!  That one skill where she is able to just smite your teammates with Aelfric.  That was so unfair it was nigh game breaking!  And then you have mages with thunder magic ready and willing to ruin your day too.  Not happy fun times, not at all.  My first attempt was an outright massacre.  But then my second attempt I was more careful in keeping a good distance, using healing items like they’re candy, and overall just taking the slow and steady approach to the maps.

Once I whittled down the numbers to just the Heirophant though, she was easy to take down.  I also thought it was suitable that Frederica dealt the last blow to the puppet.  Her speech at the end was pretty epic too.

I do like how Geela and Corentin (who are from Hyzante) comment on how their own research was used to create such an abomination.  I have a feeling if I had Medina and Milo in the party they would’ve had something to say but there simply wasn’t enough spots!

But yes.  Only two tries and the map was beat...

But again, I ask, at what cost?

Which leads me to the story commentary!

At what cost indeed.

At first it seems like everything is going well after Hyzante’s defeat.  it’s only right that their false teachings are no longer carried out and that the Roselle don’t have to toil at the source anymore.  And then giving the salt crystals to the people seems like it would be the right thing to do.

(I’m unsatisfied that Gustadolph basically pulled a Karma Houdini in all this and didn’t get any comeuppance whatsoever for starting the first war and having Dragan killed.  Again, I thought Svarog was going to rebel against him for revenge, but instead he uses his son’s inventions to make a weapon of mass destruction!)

And then more reveals...

Much like what I know of Aesfrost itself, there is a clear divide between the rich and poor in this new Norzelia that Benedict and Serenoa have created.  Also... for all the fondness and adoration that Frederica and Serenoa once spoke with when they were on their journey, there was a distance between them that I noticed.  I know that Frederica is not happy with what’s happened to the Roselle (who struggle in the new society), and she seems more or less resigned to remain with Serenoa and watch as her people suffer more.  These two both became colder as a result of the world they created.

I can’t help but think that I accidentally threw away the Golden Ending for probably the Worst Ending!

“You Live but you become calloused.”

That’s a little too close to real life.

And then who’s helping the needy who feel left out in the new Norzelia?

None other than Roland of course.

Except it seems like he’s going to use the people’s dissatisfaction as a means to fan the flames of rebellion!  And he’s allied with the remainders of Hyzante’s faith, no less.

As interesting as all this is, it’s kind of... well?  A Pyrrhic Victory of sorts?  Like, I fought my way through some very difficult maps and then All Is Not Well in the End.  I guess that is to be expected in a game with a darker tone, but even FF Tactics had some form of hope in the ending and that game had a very dark atmosphere!

 If you were to ask me though, I am still glad I picked this game up, regardless.  The plot, characters, gameplay, music, and ... everything else that makes up the whole package was not only worth my money, but also worth my time.  It has been equal parts fun and frustrating diving into it every evening, and now at last, I can say I have completed one route!

Will I dive headlong into the others using New Game+?

Right this moment, it’s too early to tell.

But for now, I’ll bask in my gameplay victory, knowing that at least, my abilities in S-RPGS are in fact, more solid than I gave myself credit for.