#to the point that shes killed innocent people and is willing to hurt anyone that gets in her way

[ghouly-boiiiii]

Does Max give anyone else major twist villain vibes???

Okay I haven't talked about Max much yet, but I think it's kinda wild to see people talking about him like he's just this sweet innocent cinnamon roll when my read on his character was the COMPLETE opposite.

I mean yes, he does seem very sweet. He's very soft spoken. Naive in a way like Lucy, but not as much. Kinda vulnerable. Got a killer smile. And some of the moments with him and Lucy are super cute and adorable. But damn if he doesn't have a DARK side!

Like I've heard people say that Max is stupid or that Aaron Moten's acting is bad, but hell no. Aaron Moten sold me on his acting during the interrogation scene. Max was scared shitless and I FELT that. I think Max was meant to be played as a character who lacks understanding about certain things and seems disconnected from people due to both being brought up in basically a cult and having an inherent lack of empathy.

You think about the fact that he admitted he wanted Dane to get hurt, someone who's supposed to be his best friend. How he coldly sat there and watched Titus die. And before that stood there and watched him get mauled by a bear, almost like he was fascinated by it and wanted to see what was gonna happen. The fact that he tried to kill Thaddeus the moment he became a threat, even though the two of them had appeared to have bonded and developed a genuine friendship. And let's not forget he was willing to let all of Vault 4 get plunged into darkness just so he could keep playing with his power armor.

Max wants to be a knight, he wants to be a hero. And I think he tells himself he wants it for the right reasons, but I think what he REALLY wants is power and recognition. Which is really what every (okay maybe not every, but a lot) good villain wants, right? Because at the end of the day Max wants what Max wants. He's selfish, even though he doesn't think he is.

And sure, he's nice to Lucy. And he went balls to the wall to save her when he thought Vault 4 was gonna execute her. But she's a pretty girl who helped him and offered him a safe home. When she gave him the proposition that if she helped him bring back the head, he would have the Brotherhood lend her some knights to save her dad, he KNEW he couldn't make that promise. But he made the deal anyway. So he doesn't REALLY care about her or what she wants.

And that blank stare he gets when he gets mad? ACTUALLY terrifying. The guy's got serious psychopath vibes. Literal anti-social personality disorder, if you ask me. In fact the first thing I thought about when Max let Titus die is this kids going to end up going to the dark side lol.

And I think that would work really well thematically if they plan on giving The Ghoul a redemption arc beside it. There are so many parallels between Lucy and The Ghoul, and they have such a strong connection to the beginning when the bombs dropped. I get that Max is there to represent the Brotherhood and he's from Shady Sands, the town Hank destroyed, but it felt weird that he didn't seem to be AS important in the grand scheme of things compared to Cooper and Lucy.

But if Max turned out to be a badass twist villain to thematically contrast Cooper's redemption arc, while Lucy remains steadfast to her commitment to goodness and the golden rule I feel like that would really round it out. It would make sense if you consider a lot of people have pointed out that Lucy, Cooper and Max all seem to represent different play styles and different moral alignments. And I think it'd be pretty crazy if the writers of the show set out to make it seem like Ghoul is a bad guy and Max is a good guy, but then it ended up being the opposite.

I mean, there are definitely hints all over the show that The Ghoul isn't as bad as he may seem. And Max has already done some pretty messed up stuff, so I'd say the possibility is totally there, and I'd be here for it!

Who's with me???

[essektheylyss]

This was entirely tangential to this post from @utilitycaster which is why this is its own post, but the tags made me think about what feels most compelling about Liliana to me, and it's really because there's such an interesting approach to redemption in terms of the sunk cost fallacy to be had there.

There have been plenty of comparisons between Liliana and Essek, but I don't think they're really situations that can be compared. Essek had done one horrible thing (that was of relevence to the story; it is implied that he's taken other actions that he feels were wrong, but we don't know what those entail nor do the Nein care enough to ask, so per narrative convention, they do not matter for analysis) and was only still involved in it to the extent that he couldn't take it back, so to survive he had to continue covering his tracks. But he was also incentivized to otherwise act in alignment with the group that was not those on behalf of whom he had made terrible choices, because he was still living in the Dynasty, and as such wasn't actively perpetuating those actions beyond the cover up.

Liliana on the other hand is acting with the Vanguard and has been furthering if not personally committing atrocities on their behalf for a number of years, continuing to the present. Like Essek, she believes her involvement in the cause to be a difficult choice that was made for noble reasons, and now can't see a way out. But she is also relieved to be told to stay, though at the point that they discuss her leaving, she is alone and outside the immediate range of contact or oversight from the Vanguard. It seems reasonable that she could disappear with a decent headstart, and perhaps become untraceable quickly enough to be safe from anyone following. With this context, returning to the Vanguard with the intention of feeding information to the opposition feels like the riskier choice, but crucially it is the devil she knows.

I actually liken this more to Cassandra de Rolo than Essek. Cassandra was manipulated against her brother by the Briarwoods, but this was also spurred by having watched Percy seemingly leave her for dead. There are legitimate reasons why the Briarwoods, as the people who rescued her and then kept her alive for many years, are the easier option in which to place her trust. She knows what she's getting from that vantage point and how to handle it. She doesn't inherently have faith that someone she only knew as a young and helpless child, who ran from the hardships she's faced, would have the strength or willingness to do what she has found necessary for survival.

I think that Liliana's actions are more willful, not least because she was not a child nor in mortal peril when she joined the Vanguard, but she sees herself as having made difficult choices when only faced with difficult options, and I do think they have been difficult. She didn't want to leave her family; she doesn't want to hurt the young Ruidusborn under her care; she is probably genuinely sorry that innocent people were considered a necessary sacrifice for what she sees as the greater good. It is psychologically taxing to feel as though one is always picking between bad options, which is a significant contributing factor for why people buy into a sunk cost for so long. And over time, those hard decisions become easier, because you know what to expect from the outcome. Though Liliana is well aware that she might be killed for a misstep among the Vanguard, she already knows how to act to maintain their favor, but how she might be received on Exandria by those fighting the Vanguard, even with the Hells vouching for her, is anyone's guess.

This is a very real reason why people remain in cults and struggle to push back against this kind of conditioning: because the decision to leave feels more immediately perilous than the decision to stay. (On a certain level making these kinds of choices and actions habitual is a fundamental basis behind a lot of military conditioning.) And if you are acting in the interests of your own survival, but that survival comes at the cost of that of countless others who have not, in fact, made any threat or harm against you to begin with, then is the nature of your survival morally defensible?

This analysis isn't a question of whether Liliana will commit to her role as double agent and turn fully against the Vanguard, or even which one of these is a "better" story; this is about what the story might say if she doesn't. Yes, she might commit to a different path than the one she's on and make an effort to redeem herself, but it is also a perfectly coherent and interesting story if she doesn't.

[trans-queen-administrator]

Hey, can I hear about your shatterbird thoughts? She's always been my favourite member of the nine :]

[@faultlinescrew]

Oh I'm about to type for entirely too long.

Alright so a chunk of this is kinda headcanon, but any of that is fully based on canon. I had a giant fanfic planned that was literally an expanded telling of Shatterbird's life from trigger to death, and some plot points there may bleed into this unconsciously.

Number one favorite thing about Shatterbird is that initially, she did nothing wrong. She was unwillingly dosed with a Cauldron vial, and her scream and subsequent exploding of Dubai wasn't her fault. She had no intention to hurt anyone, it was done entirely out of her control as she gained powers and she should not be blamed for her first time destroying a city. The thing is, that doesn't matter in universe. She's still going to be hunted down by countless capes because she killed an untold number of people with that scream. No one's going to just let her go because it wasn't her fault, because she's the only person who can be blamed. People want revenge for their loved ones, and I'm willing to bet that she had a sizable bounty. It's similar to the situation we see with Rachel, where she can't have a normal life because she killed someone in her trigger and her identity is public, but on a much much larger scale.

I think the guilt ate at her so fucking bad at first. She killed her dad, her friends, her sister, her mother, countless others, and as much as it wasn't her fault she's still the one that did it. There's no way she doesn't blame herself for what happened, but when does she even have time to mourn? She's fled to a desert, she's gotta be struggling with food and water, and she's being hounded at every turn by people who want her dead. What's she supposed to do, let them kill her so she can atone for what she did or something?

I just love what a tragic backstory this is. She's one of the most horrible people we meet in canon, and I don't think it's unreasonable to say she has one of the highest body counts on Earth Bet, but she started as someone innocent and desperately trying to survive. And as much as I love this backstory and will defend to the death that she did nothing wrong at this point, it doesn't excuse who she becomes.

Shatterbird laughed.  “There’s only two ways to recover from something of that magnitude, to deal with the fact that you inadvertently killed thousands and thousands of people, and hospitalized twice that many.  You break, or you become it.”

(quote is from the missing interlude)

This is the quote that puts her entire character in a nutshell. The biggest question to me is... when did she become it? She implies in that interlude that it was rather quick, and that she went to Britain so she could hit a big target, but the Tattletale clone calls this out as a lie. She was running, the desert that she'd been in for months was unbearably loud with all that sand, and I think she was sick of living on the run. She wanted society, structure, something to make her feel human. I think she's full of shit saying she went there to destroy it, some accident or desperate confrontation occurred (timeline fits well enough for it to be a result of the Simurgh's attack, but that's just one possibility) and she broke London just as bad as she broke Dubai. What do you even do from there? Any slim hope of clearing her name is gone, she just has to keep running and try to ignore the guilt. And she ran to America, where the Slaughterhouse Nine found her.

The recruiting of people by the Slaughterhouse Nine fascinates me, because most are unwilling to join at first. Unfortunately the alternative is to die. No one in Brockton Bay was jumping to be the lucky winner, and the only people we know nominated themselves are Cherish and I think Siberian. Shatterbird (ever notice how she's the only S9 member with no canon first name? drives me nuts) was dragged into the recruitment process with no say in the matter just like most everyone is. Someone in the Nine found her, thought she would be a good fit because of London and Dubai (and how would that feel, to have someone on the S9 see you as just as bad as them?) and even if she explains that was on accident... what does it matter? It never matters that it was an accident. It never will matter. It's just something that she can tell herself to keep her sane.

So she's doing the fun little tests, I'm actually very curious how she altered herself for Mannequin's since he always does the same test, she's a very vain person, but that's off topic. Atrocities, horrors, being hunted by the Siberian, and suddenly she's at the end. Her and someone else.

“That’s not really a test,” Shatterbird spoke, “There hasn’t been a round of testing since I joined the group where we didn’t whittle it down to one candidate.” “We could forego the final test, pitting them against one another.” Shatterbird turned to him, “Ah.  But, again, the last test where we had to go that far was… mine?”

And she kills them. Dubai, London, those were accidents. This was on purpose, maybe even the first time she's done it on purpose. She could either break and decide she couldn't live with herself as a member of the nine, or she could just as horrible as everyone sees her. All her choices were rigged, there was never much of an opportunity to get better since so many paths closed off to her, but she voluntarily chooses to get worse. What's the point in holding on to the fact that it wasn't her fault at the beginning? She's never escaping what she did, so she'll become the monster everyone sees her as. You break, or you become it.

And there's not much of the more sympathetic side of Shatterbird in canon (partly because her backstory chapter was removed). She's fully embraced herself as a mass murderer. She revels in the attention, the fear. She parrots Jack's philosophy as a way to feel better about what she's doing, and eventually she doesn't need to feel better because she enjoys who she is now.

I don't know, I rambled for a while there but it boils down to me being fascinated by the circumstances of her gaining powers, and the shift from innocent but hated/feared to making damn sure that fear is justified.

Ok, so moving on from the backstory analysis, other miscellaneous details. Fuck it, I'm putting every thought I have on Shatterbird in this post.

She's the Nine's primary recruiter! Woo, good for her. Notably, she recruits Burnscar. Mimi is in a similar position to Shatterbird's past self with the whole involuntary mass destruction, although on a lesser scale (it'll always be on a lesser scale, Shatterbird has the worst trigger event out there in terms of consequences and she didn't even trigger). Mimi was on the streets and trying not to use her power, and Shatterbird scooped her up into the Nine.

“I- before I knew it, the Slaughterhouse Nine had found me.  Shatterbird recruited me.  And now I’m stuck.  I’m trapped.  You know there’s a kill order out on me?  If I try to quit, either the Nine or the cops will off me.  So I keep going, I work for them, and it all just gets worse.”

It's a situation Shatterbird can very likely relate to, but she's perpetuating it and making Mimi suffer like she did. No sympathy, no helping someone get through it and avoid the pitfalls she fell into, she's dragging other people down with her like a crab in a pot. Worth noting that I believe she's still bitter about the hand she was dealt even if she's embraced where it led her to, she remembers how horrible it was to be forced into everything and she does not care if she inflicts it on others.

But if someone else willingly joins the Nine, she takes it personally. Cherie says Shatterbird hates her, and that's because Cherie chooses the life Shatterbird was locked into. She's bitter that she never had that choice, and so she makes sure Cherie understands what it's like by chasing her for days for her test, not allowing any rest or sleep. However, this could also simply because Cherie sucks and is an unpleasant person to talk to, and Shatterbird is stuck-up.

Another thing I like is Shatterbird's appearance of knowledge and elegance. She's trying to appear put together, confident, in-control, and to be fair she does a pretty good job, her costume and theming are great. But under that is someone violent and angry, she's keeping up appearances to everyone else but also to herself. The fact that she's always trying to keep up appearances, even when locked in a room and doomed to die with one Witness (haha get it) she's trying to make it look like she was calm and in control when her body is found, is what 100% convinces me exploding Britain was an accident. The Tattletale clone calls her out, and to me it seems like another attempt to seem in control by framing it as deliberate.

Anyway, my attempts to woobify a mass murderer aside, I also like that she was a spoiled rich kid before all this and her prim asshole attitude points to that. She quotes Edgar Allen Poe, she reads because it makes her feel better than others, she's just so pretentious and unpleasant and to be clear I love this as a character trait, it's fun and leads to her speaking in overdramatic ways.

“Then you should know, nearly-Tattletale, that I’ve spent too long in the company of monsters to be scared by words.”

She thinks she was soooo cool saying that.

I also want to look at the last few weeks of her life. She spends so much effort propping herself up as great and in control, only to be locked in a box and puppeted around against her will. Genuinely I cannot think of anything more humiliating and agonizing for her to endure. She has nothing to do but think as she's used as a marionette.

She had a long time to reflect on her life, to look back at how she got here and what she regrets.

But I think she spent it stewing in her rage, itching and planning to get violent revenge and keep hurting others to be respected. She's unwilling and unable to go back, she'll double down on this forever because this is who she is now. And because 99% of characterization for Shatterbird isn't in Worm anyway, I may as well toss in this minor AU summary by Wildbow. If she escaped, she would have started her own version of the Nine with Damsel of Distress and Trickster. There is nothing left to sympathize with or redeem Shatterbird by the time we see her in canon, she's simply past that point. Side note but Shatterbird + Damsel of Distress + Trickster as a team is perhaps the funniest combo ever and I really wish those 3 fuckers got to interact in canon. Weirdo assholes who dress up fancy and have a taste for theatrics as a murder crew, we were robbed.

I could analyze the Hookwolf interlude but I don't want to. I'm very annoyed that Shatterbird (still no first name) is the only member of the Nine to lose the fight against her recruit instead of appearing terrifying and unstoppable. How come Burnscar can solo Faultline's crew but 3 nazis can take out Shatterbird, who has way more experience? It's pretty uncomfortable to have the only member of the Nine who isn't white be the one that loses to nazis, while one calls her a slur in his internal monologue, in the interludes where everyone else on her team is introduced as a force of nature. I think we should just collectively agree to make this interlude not canon and un-retcon the Witness interlude. While I'm on the topic it's also a bit questionable to have Sophia and Shatterbird (no first name. I am annoyed by this) as the only named capes puppeted by Regent?

But that's not the topic I wanna explore. The topic is that Shatterbird is a great character and I wish that she had depth in the story itself rather than scattered through 20 different sources, because she's legitimately my favorite non-undersider in the story. There is a lot of potential to explore her, one could interpret her backstory in a less charitable way than I did just for an example, and I really think she's neat! She takes hurting someone in an accident and then becoming the monster people see her as, something we see a few times throughout worm, to its ultimate conclusion in terms of scale. That alongside her outer layer of intellectualism and pretentiousness, which I'm a massive sucker for as a trait, and she's just perfect. Did nothing wrong (citation needed). I love her and I do hope that at least some of the stuff written her makes someone appreciate her character more.

Ok! That was... 2.2k words about Shatterbird (no first name). Woo! If some stuff seems inconsistent between paragraphs here, it's probably because I wrote this in chunks over the course of a few weeks and my feelings at the time can influence my interpretation of things and my writing to feel different when read all at once and compared. If you think I'm woobifying her too much, cool. I think it makes her more compelling to examine how much we know was her fault and how much she shouldn't be blamed for, and making her have less agency makes her more tragic which I always like. If you actually read this to the end, thank you! Have a nice day!

[skaruresonic]

https://www.tumblr.com/skaruresonic/758528409170313216/yes-woolie-you-can-win-any-argument-if-you-just

I want to point this it. The person defending the comic unknowingly completely eradicated any ground their argument could have stood on.

"Criminals don't deserve to be free if they're gonna hurt people"

Then why does IDW Sonic keep letting his villains run off scott free when he himself acknowledges that they're gonna continue being evil and hurting innocents?

The single real and true answer is that this comic has abysmal writing. But stans don't want to accept that. They'd rather make up increasingly baffling conspiracy theories.

Exactly. It gets even worse when you realize Sonic presents himself as an arbiter of freedom: he wants people to do what they want, as long as it's the "right choice."

He is the one who decides what is right. He may not explicitly come right out and say so, but that is what he says through his words and his actions. And rather than accept the notion that some people will choose something other than what he wants, he'll punish you by chewing you out or beating you up, despite any mitigating circumstances, such as Surge's abuse at Starline's hands or Metal Sonic and Eggman TELLING HIM THE KILLER ROBOT HAS NO FREE WILL.

The only thing more dangerous than an authoritarian is an authoritarian who's a fucking idiot.

That may or may not be the comic's intention, but that's what ends up being the takeaway when we're given these lengthy lectures about the supposed sanctity of freedom, only for Sonic to betray his own principles.

He doesn't give a shit about anyone's pain. That much is clear.

He leverages Shadow's trauma against him to win an argument.

He ignores how Espio is grieving the loss of his friends to obnoxiously argue "oh so we should murder everyone, huh, Espio? is that what you're saying? we should never give anyone a chance?"

He makes fun of Belle at several points and even looks annoyed when she's angsting about her situation in one instance.

He claims he'd be willing to give "even [Eggman and Starline]" a second chance, only to eulogize Starline with "big oof."

He ignores Surge's pain just to say he'll kick her ass, then eulogizes her with a line so cold you'd think it came out of Eggman's mouth.

He shuts down Tails' misgivings about Metal's release not once but twice.

He drops the "Surge is dead" bomb on Kit without any real tact or follow-through to make sure the traumatized child is okay.

He tells Kit that Surge is "hurting herself."

Yet he throws a fucking pity party for himself in issue 23 about how Eggman "makes him pay" for daring to believe in the "good in people" every day.

Cry me a river. Kick rocks. Get bent.

IDW!Sonic lacks the emotional intelligence to distinguish when someone in pain is lashing out vs. a bona fide unrepentant asshole killing people for fun.

To him, both are the same errant children in need of a paddling. Just as he'd lack the pragmatism to seal the Erazor Djinn in the lamp because muh freedom, he'd lack the empathy to comfort Shahra afterward.

[darkshrimpemotions]

THG Renaissance goes so hard on listing the Gale Crimes but the one I rarely see mentioned is the bombing of the Nut.

Gale suggests and argues for bombing the Nut instead of capturing it. When it's pointed out that this would create an uncontrollable avalanche that would essentially bury everyone inside alive, Gale is not moved. In fact it's revealed that he knew that already and it's a feature of his plan, not a bug.

When he's reminded that most of the people inside are not Capitol but District 2, including some of the rebellion's own spies, he doesn't care. He's perfectly willing to kill them, too, and assumes they'll be happy to make the sacrifice.

Even when Katniss tries to point out that it would be like being buried inside a mining collapse, the thing that killed both their fathers, Gale is unmoved. Unlike Katniss, who would never wish that death on someone, Gale sees it as fair turnabout for his father's death, despite the fact that the mining collapse was an accident and what he's planning is an intentional act of mass murder. In fact, he doesn't even want to give the people in the Nut the option of fleeing by train. He wants to close off any means of escape at all.

To me, this single scene truly encapsulates everything wrong with Gale's mindset and approach to this war. He is not just begrudgingly willing to do what it takes. He takes satisfaction from the killing, intentionally maximizing casualties and cutting off means of escape or surrender. He isn't fighting for a more just world and a neck free of the boot, he's fighting to be the one wearing the boot. He is doling out punishment and vengeance, and at the end of the day he is willing to accept any amount of death that comes with that, to anyone--foe or innocent bystander or even friend--to accomplish that goal.

This event foreshadows Gale's culpability in Prim's death. There are moments throughout the books that showcase his ruthlessness, anger, the satisfaction he finds in violence, and the growing gap between him and Katniss, but this is the first time we see that he is even willing to hurt his own people in order to further exact revenge on the Capitol. This is the moment we the readers learn that whether Gale actually knew Prim would be in the line of fire or not doesn't matter, because even if he did it wouldn't have stayed his hand. He was all too willing to make sacrifices on others' behalf to his god of war, and Prim would have been no exception.

And that's why Katniss can never look at him the same way again. She knows it, too.

[tokiro07]

Something that I've been kind of wrestling with since chapter 1 of Undead Unluck four years ago that I never brought up: kinda messed up that the main cast are just like...casual murderers

I'm not saying this to say that they're bad characters or anything, or even that the series is amoral, it's just a little bit of dissonance that's always rattled around in the back of my head that I somehow only just now got a chance to reconcile with

Andy took out almost all of the Union goons that came after him and Fuuko in ch.1, and then Fuuko deliberately summoned the meteor to kill eye-scar guy (poor dude still doesn't have a canon name)

Then Void and Shen showed up perfectly willing to kill Fuuko, only for Andy to bump off Void, and Shen decides "you guys are great, you should kill Gina too"

And of course, Andy knocks off a few more goons on the way, and finally takes out Gina

That's a lot of murder jam-packed in the first 10 chapters or so, and there's never really a point where anyone says "damn, maybe we shouldn't have killed all those people." Fuuko even helps facilitate the destruction of the black market auction cruise ship, of which there were definitely no survivors! I know that with the exception of Gina and Void everyone who died was "bad," but it's never brought up, not even in the context of brushing it off

In Andy's case, he's been a mercenary for about 200 years, his view on murder is definitely skewed: "this guy tried to kill me, he can't complain if I get him first." Fuuko, on the other hand, is a bit of a question mark. "I want everyone that I've killed with my Unluck to live." I know she meant the innocent bystanders on the plane, but do you think she included the black market folks? Like she wants to not be a murderer, or does she not consider it murder if it's people who deliberately hurt others?

Or, and this is the big one, is it that she already feels like she's too far gone? Does she feel like there's so much blood on her hands that she can't judge anyone else like Andy or Rip or Billy, and therefore she has to live like them lest she be a hypocrite?

I'm decently confident that the Fuuko of Loop 101 would go out of her way not to kill anyone, but is that a way to atone for the life she felt she had to live in L100, or is it that she simply accepted the mistakes of her past and has resolved not to make them again?

It's shonen manga, we don't have to grapple with the moral implications of murder if we don't want to, but it's an angle that we can explore if we want to and that the manga itself hasn't decided to

Me personally, I choose to believe that Fuuko has never viewed anyone as "deserving" to die, and has only allowed herself to take a life if it was for the sake of her own or someone else's survival; she's never purposefully taken out anyone who wasn't a threat in some way, and the ones who weren't she clearly carries the guilt for. Along the same line, she accepts Andy and Rip and the like because she knows that they all have their own reasons, and that everyone is just trying to reach the point where they can live happily without the need for conflict anymore

Hm. Maybe I should reread the Buroja arc, I feel like the idea of conflict for the sake of peace could be dug into really well there...

[seb-reads31]

Could you write some headcannons about Vox Machina finding out their Oath of Redemption Paladin S/O used to be a Bhaal worshiper?

Tw's - SPOILERS, mentions of death, being assigned to unalived a child, betrayal, I'm going all out on this one so beware of a lot of death and unaliving people so that's just a general thing here 🧍, mentions of manipulation, a power corrupted priest, lots of unaliving words, kinda rushed at the end but I'll probably rewrite it later 😭

Type - Head canons technically but they're basically bullet pointed stories 🥲

Genre - Angst with comfort

Comments - THE FIRST VOX MACHINA ASK 💞💞 Of course nonnie 🥹 Let the research commence✨ From my research is that the S/O will be somewhat like Pike except that they will avoid actually unaliving people unless absolutely necessary, so this'll be interesting~ Let's just say that your secret was revealed while Vox Machina spoke with Osysa in season 2. Also, after realizing just how long Percy's was, I decided to split them all up-

Devil worshipper, or redemption seeker?

Pervical

- Percy has his own secrets, everyone knows this. But he shares almost everything with you because, and only because you're his partner

- And he wants you to share your secrets with him, as long as you're comfortable with sharing.

- Your darkest secret, the one you planned on taking to your grave was revealed by the Sphinx, Osysa.

- You could do nothing as she saw through you, to the deepest darkest parts of your soul when you once worshipped Bhaal and was willing to do as he said without hesitation

- She announced this to all of your friends, the people you cared deeply about and never wanted them to know about your past, but Osysa had to ruin that, didn’t she?

- Percy was still trying to wrap around was Osysa said to him before he questioned what she said to you, not fully believing what Osysa said, but knew she wasn’t lying when he saw that petrified look on your face.

- He felt betrayed, hurt, unsure of who exactly he fell in love with, who he’s shared his deepest secrets with, you were once a devil worshipper..? And a killer.?

- He didn't want to believe it, you were the kindest person in their band of misfits, the first one to try and deescalate a bar fight, the one to bandage anyone injured after said bar fight, hell you even try to negotiate with enemies even though you knew how badly it would end.

- So how could you, of all people, have worshipped Bhaal at some point in your life? He wanted to ask so many questions, but he was overcome by betrayal and slight anger that he just remained silent, the voices of his friends talking to Osysa melting together into a mind numbing buzz as he thought about the many reasons you might've kept this to yourself.

- Eventually, after entering the underwater tomb he asked to speak to you alone, and for you to come clean about your past. And you did You explained how you were once an assassin, a killer, a heartless monster who only wanted to worship a god who was corrupt, and the day you finally left that cult.

- You were told by one of the priests that Bhaal wanted an innocent child taken care of. They were supposedly a "god killing" child, and was a threat to Bhaal's life. However, that wasn't the truth at all. You were suspicious due to the target being a child, so you decided to eavesdrop on a private conversation of the priest and one of the other devout followers and learned the truth.

- The priest had committed an act of adultery and wanted the bastard child out of the picture, all because it would ruin their reputation and status. Normally, you wouldn't have cared in any other situation, you had been assigned to kill parents, grandparents, why was a bastard child no one wanted different?

- You didn't know, nor did you care, but the only thing you knew in that moment as you stood there listening to the priest laugh about the child was that all you could see was red.

- Everything was a blur after that, but when you refocused, there was blood everywhere, and so.. so many lifeless bodies around.. all you could do was fall to your knees with shakey hands, and sob.

- You stayed there sobbing on your knees for around an hour before collecting yourself, and walking out of the bloodied temple in your equally bloodied clothes. You didn't know where you were going, but you knew you wanted to get as far away from the bloodshed you caused and quickly.

- After travelling aimlessly for a few days, you came across a small and cozy home. You hadn't eaten for days, only stopping briefly to rest because it had become too hard to walk, just to wake up in a cold sweat after having a nightmare, but you reluctantly walked up to the cabin and knocked on the door softly, but hard enough for whoever was inside to hear you.

- The door opened after a small feminine voice yelled back “Be right there!” Followed by small thumps, the door opened to reveal a tabaxi. She was patterned like a snow leopard and had the kindest smile on her face as she gave you a once over, that smile turning into a look of concern. "A-are you hurt? Come inside, let me check you for any injuries." You didn't even have a chance to say anything as she grabbed your hand and pulled you inside, making you sit at what you would guess was her kitchen table.

- "I'm gonna go grab some bandages and healing ointments just in case, stay right there, I wouldn't want you to make your injuries any worse." You were.. stunned to say the least. She had taken one look at you and wanted to help, she didn't care if you were a stranger who could take advantage of her kindness, she just saw blood and felt the need to help you, even though it wasn't yours...

- She quickly came back with 3 rolls of bandages and a couple bottles of ointments, setting them down before turning towards you with a soft expression on her face. "I got the bandages and ointments, now, I need to check your for any wounds or injuries.." You knew what she was implying, but you didn't want to, and it showed with your conflicted expression.

- She thought originally that you were either uncomfortable with taking off your shirt or just embarrassed at the thought, but after thinking for a bit longer, she realized that you weren't holding any of your limbs to stop them from bleeding, nor were you hunched over in pain..

- Then the thought that this wasn't your blood crossed her mind. She took a small step back, her ears folding downwards as her tail flicks slightly. "T-this.. isn't your blood, is it..?" She asked very carefully, preparing herself to run should you try and attack her, but all she was met with was sobs coming from you.

- She immediately went to calm you down, and once you did, you told her your story. She was shocked to say the least, but she didn't judge you. You were blindly following a god, not that it excuses you for killing people. All you wanted to do was please your god, like many others have done in the past.

- Once you finished, she pulled up another chair from the dining table to sit and think, and it was just for a minute, but that minute felt like hours, all you could hear was the thumping of your heartbeat in your ears. After what felt like ages, she finally said something. "I'm sorry you went through all of this. You never deserved to be manipulated, to carry out the wishes for a supposed god, only to be carrying out the sins of a corrupted priest."

- She took a deep breath after her small rant, then continued. "I know how to help you with your guilt, and how to relieve you if your sins, but it is a long and harsh path. I would know, I've taken it myself." She gave you that same soft smile from before, with eyes that understood the guilt you burdened yourself with. You gave her a questioning look, silently asking her to continue, and so she did.

- "It's called the path of redemption, it is a very harsh like I said before, but well worth it in the end. So, what say you? Do you wish to accept my help?" She held a hand out to you, one so inviting and kind that it would almost be cruel to refuse. So you took it, wanting to feel your sins lifted off of your back.

- After you took her hand, she gave you a delicious meal and bed, as well as a change of clean clothes for when you finished. "Tomorrow, we will start your training." You spent the next few years learning to forgive yourself, to learn how to help convince people to change their ways and join you on this path of redemption through words and not violence. Only engaging when absolutely necessary, and even then you were only to subdue them or restrain them.

- You looked up at the sky as you finished your story, not daring to look at Percy out of fear that you'll see a look of anger, rage, disgust. But he wasn't looking at you with disgust, rage, anger. He was looking at you with a look of sadness, understanding, and compassion.

- Sadness because he hated how you were nearly manipulated into dispatching a god killing child, understanding because he knows how it is to be manipulated, and compassion because he knew you had gone through so much in less than 24 hours and even tried changing yourself for the better, and even succeeded at it. Others would've cracked under the pressure of the training you went under and never would've redeemed themselves.

- Neither of you spoke, the only sounds that could be heard were the sounds of the forest and your group of friends laughing and bantering by a crackling fire. You could feel your anxiety rise as you looked up at the dark sky, your mind racing as Percy just sat there in an uncomfortable silence.

- You were snapped out of your thoughts when Percy pulled you into a side hug, placing a hand on your head to lay it on his shoulder then started to lightly his fingers through your hair. You teared up slightly from the affection, not expecting it in the slightest after you had told Percy about the deepest darkest parts of your life.

- He knew you were a killer in the past, but he also knew that you had changed immensely since then. He didn't hate you for keeping this from him, the furthest thing from that. He understood why you kept it a secret, and promised that he wouldn't reveal your past to the rest of your friends until you were ready to.

- Eventually, the both of you returned to your group of friends who were bantering with one another. It was comforting, hearing them bickering amongst themselves.

- One day you'll tell them, and whether they choose to continue being your friend is up to them. But, you have a feeling that they won't care too much and will continue being your friends no matter what.

[melancholypancakes]

(disclaimer: this is all fanart and fanmade and my OCs aren’t canon to TMNT or rottmnt)

Emily Mochizuki (エミリー 望月) is a teenage girl with short blonde hair, best friends with April and a dark secret past.

Emily grew up in Japan, Kyoto with no father, she was raised by her mother Kayda leader of the Dragon clan.

Emily wasn't fond of her classmates due to being Hāfu (half Japanese-half American in her situation)

Being raised in the dragon clan, she was homeschooled and taught Kuji Kuri, Taijutsu, Shurikenjutsu, Kenjutsu, Sōjutsu, Bōjutsu, and Ninjutsu.

The teachings were brutal and Fierce, almost to the point of abuse.

Emily was one of the few Kunoichi including her mother.

All Emily's life she was taught discipline, concentration, caring for others was a sign of weakness, and yōkai (mutants) were enemies.

Emily couldn't see that, however, they weren't hurting anyone and the yōkai had normal lives just like humans...so how could they be our enemies?

Emily had thought they were doing good for humanity, she thought her mother held justice and morals but it was all a façade...

Her life was a lie, her mother, her goals, they weren't doing good with humanity.

They were killing innocent people yōkai or not, her mother was evil, selfish and only cared for herself.

Emily couldn't kill anyone, nonetheless a helpless yōkai child.

At the age of thirteen, Emily abandoned her clan and fled her homeland.

With a few deals, she managed to get to New York City where her estranged aunt and uncle lived.

Her arrival was not expected, as Katsuki and Haru did not know having a niece.

Katsuki, her aunt was an identical twin to Kayda.

Her aunt was the exact opposite of her mother, she was a chubby woman who owned a tea shop, sweet, kind, and caring towards others and her children.

When Emily introduced herself and told her situation, Katsuki wasn't surprised at her sister's manipulation tactics but shocked at how Emily was treated.

Katsuki left that life behind much like Emily, she was willing to have Emily live in her household and knew she loved America and her cousins.

Who knows maybe she'll make some friends...

At the start of freshman year, Emily was really nervous about meeting people nonetheless talking to other kids she didn't know.

Her cousins often teased her but mainly her eldest cousin, Asuka.

"weird", "loser", and "noob" were little words for fun to tease her even though Emily had no idea what half of that meant.

Since Emily only knew Japanese she was taking English in school.

She ended up befriending April O'Neil when they bumped into each other on the first day of school.

Emily was really shy but managed to talk to April and asked if she could help her around the school building for directions.

Emily is a love interest and best friend to Leonardo, Emily has a HUGE crush on Leo, they don’t act on their feelings til late season 2 & movie.

{…}

However, as for Gwen Aguirre she is a Hispanic teenage girl and a online friend of Donnie and only appears in late season 1 & season 2

She lives in New York with her parents brothers and sister, not much is known about her.

Gwen is a hipster, gamer girl, comic book geek and has a long history of toxic ex boyfriends and girlfriend.

Gwen is a love interest for Donnie but doesn’t get with him at least til mid season 2

Facts: originally Emily was going to Hispanic, an alternative version of Irma, April’s friend from (1987) version and she was going to be a damsel in distress instead of a female ninja with a dark past.

I did the opposite of turtles having a crush on a human girl like April, on other media plat forms of TMNT. Instead it’s Emily who has a crush on her mutant turtle friend Leo and honestly it’s cute 🥰

Gwen is basically Ramona flowers from Scott pilgrim vs the world ;) dyes her hair every other day

[cheemscakecat]

I’m so glad people recognize Debbie as the powerhouse of the Grayson Family.

So I recently found out that there’s a chunk of the Breaking Bad fandom that despises Skyler White. Not dislike, like Mabel Pines getting away with making Dippy Fresh and starting the apocalypse…

They hate and absolutely despise her.

It’s so bad, people were harassing the actress that plays Skyler White just because they loathe the character.

Spoilers ahead:

Here’s an interview segment of her talking about the scene where Walt kidnaps the baby.

And people really sent Anna Gun death threats because they hate Skyler so much. Skyler White and Debbie Grayson are not that different as characters, there’s just a few differences in how their husbands treat them.

Watching Invincible season one, you feel like Nolan might kill Debbie if he finds out she knows the truth… but he doesn’t. He doesn’t hit her either. In the Atom Eve special, he considers killing her and Mark for not having a child with powers, but then he stops because his love for them is outweighing his brainwashing.

Now we know that Nolan won’t attack Debbie, even if he’s willing to attack and kill other humans. But he still hurt her deeply by calling her a pet and attacking innocent people.

And I truly hope that nobody attacks the character or her actress for rejecting Nolan when he reappears on Earth.

Because people hated Skyler for opposing her abusive, manipulative drug-kingpen husband, mainly because he’s so charismatic.

Walt withheld 90% of the facts from her until this point. She didn’t know how much he had changed or how dangerous he was, he was still lying to her face and pretending to be a more sympathetic person.

She thought he was just his old self, but in danger and in over his head. And he let her believe that, she quoted/paraphrased the yarn he told her. But the minute she questions his power and opposes what he wants to do, he starts revealing the truth, but acting like she’s an idiot for not knowing better.

You actively kept her from knowing that you are the one who knocks, Walter; if anyone is to blame for her giving up that money for your safety, it’s you because she could only go based on what she knows. And also, she has every right to do so if she thinks it will protect the kids and extended family.

Ya notice how in this scene, Nolan didn’t get closer to threaten Debbie, but rather to try and reassure her without telling the truth? Still toxic, but a different kind of toxic than towering over your wife and saying you shoot people, and she’s stupid for not seeing you as a threat.

Also; Nolan left on Debbie’s terms even though he was angry; actually, because he was angry and wanted to clear his mind.

Walter was so egotistical that he couldn’t just walk away and explain things better when he was calm, he had to go back and berate Skyler for falling for his gaslighting.

Anyways, we better not catch people hating on Debbie for opposing Nolan. Especially because he’s not like Walt, and he’d come for anyone who did.

[starlightshadowsworld]

Thinking about how Kunikida's dedication and faith in his ideals, and how they save the world.

It's unquestionable that the one who saves the world is Aya.

But Aya would have died long before ever meeting Bram if it wasn't for Kunikida.

Kunikida who just wanted to get his schedule completed and saw a bomb being handed to an unknowing Aya.

And immediately rushed to help her and detonate it outside the train station.

Because above all else Kunikida is someone who wants to save all innocent life in dangerous events.

He values human life, not wanting anyone to get hurt or die because of and infront of him.

He knows that it isn't always the case, people will die and the majority will be the ones he will have to save.

But that doesn't mean it's easy nor something he wants to do.

Even to the point where if an enemy is killed before him, he will wish it could've ended differently.

With Aya, Kunikida grabs the bomb and dentonates it where it can't do any harm.

And again when facing against someone he failed to save.

Hugging Aya close and telling her that she won't face her end alone.

They survive, but that doesn't make his words mean any less.

It makes Kunikida the antithesis to Fukuchi.

A man who reasons that in order to end all wars, 500 lives are a fair price. One he's more than willing to pay.

No matter who those lives end up being, including the detective agency where he was close to Ranpo and Fukuzawa.

As well as his own Hunting dogs.

Said Hunting dogs who mock Kunikida's ideals, to the point of dropping his destroyed notebook in his lap saying they were worthless.

And yet the most vocal of the group, Jouno shows himself to be someone who buys into those ideals.

Being moved by his newfound ability to help others, and wanting to help as many people as he can.

Leading him to trust Aya upon finding out she's believes the dective agencies innocence.

And this belief in Kunikida and his ideals extends to his friends.

No one is suprised when Kunikida chooses to follow Fukuzawa's orders to maintain peace in Yokohama in the cannibalism arc.

Choosing the many rather than the one, but it's a difficult choice to him even if it is the correct one for him.

And he can do both because everyone but Atsushi goes to save Fukuzawa.

They don't mock him for it, nor call him cruel because they know him.

Infact Ranpo tells Kunikida to never forget he's the most virtuous member of the agency.

It's one of the reasons Kunikida is considered to be next in line to run the place.

That's how much faith is entrusted in him.

And it's their conviction in Kunikida that makes him strive to do better and be better.

He can't save everyone.

But he can damn well try.

It's that same conviction we see in Aya.

A child with no ability or skills other than karate who wants to help others. The self proclaimed hero of justice who will save them all.

Aya learns about Bram, introduces him to music and they form a friendship.

Bram says he doesn't care about what happens to this world or humanity.

But he cares about her.

He cares about saving the person infront of him, not wanting her to die.

Fukuchi saw Bram as merely a means to an end.

Aya saw him for who he was, and decided he was worth saving too.

The odds were stacked against her and and she did what she had to save others.

And she succeeded.

And the world is saved.

[kaitlyn-pink]

What's your Summoner ambitious? Like what's their dream?

It’s pretty easy to answer since every game she’s in has one purpose, but there’s a couple dreams or end goals for her so I’ll rank them most important to least.

1. Protecting everyone.

-This always has included friends, children, women, sometimes men but mainly innocents and those who don’t have the strength or courage to defend themselves. It’s what she’s always stood for and by.

-She has strong morals and her duty mainly consists of saving the world, yeah, but also protecting innocent people who have been suffering or injured.

-This also is a dream of hers because when she was a child and in the beginning of her adventures she failed to save people. Multiple times. She doesn’t want that repeating and she’s willing to sacrifice herself, body mind and soul, (quite literally on all 3,) to do so.

-This does however tend to end up with her accidentally overworking herself until she’s about to drop and past that point, but it’s all she’s really ever known and it’s to the point she craves violence and the urge to kill. But just enemies and threats, don’t worry.

2. She won’t say it, but to be the strongest.

-She’s plenty strong now; an insanely powerful sorceress, a dark knight, a multi-class wielder, an omnicrafter, a knight, she saved a world from an apocalypse, she’s a highly respected person who can fight and kill anything and anyone, someone who can kill you in an instant despite your size strength or power without you even seeing it, a one woman army and much more that leads people to either admire or fear her.

-She wants to be strong and overpowered enough to kill and defeat anything or anyone threatening her people. She’s willing to achieve it through any means; dark magic, learning forbidden knowledge, extensive training and battling, pushing herself past her limit, traveling everywhere to find new threats and defeat them,

-I won’t say from which game or lore-dump on it but defeat to a foe that was unreasonably strong and killed hundreds maaaaybe had a lil effect on her. Her only fear is losing what remains of her humanity by becoming so detached and powerful. 2 other reasons are comments from others.

-She’s compared to others sometimes because of her duty and quests, if not called weaker than them and lumped together. She wants to be strong enough and well-known enough to be seen as her own person instead of a successor or replacement of someone. It doesn’t bother her that much but at times it gets under her skin when someone makes an off handed comment saying she’s just like someone. As if they’re equals.

-She maybe kinda got called weak even after she saved a different world and was saving a new one flawlessly because someone was stronger than her (Ahem cough whitehairguy1.) To be fair they didn’t know about a different world or what she’s been through, but she’s made it her goal to be stronger than him. (I’m pretty sure she is.) She got a bad taste in her mouth and a bit hurt after a few of the comments, and despite looking up to him (she won’t admit it because she’s shy about it) and respecting him, she wants to be the strongest. Just in case.

-The other one is the influence her mother had on her as a child as she got raised and taught a bunch of poor information and things that were just.. wrong.

But regardless of all that, she stays strong, quiet, calm, and kind to everyone. When people worry she reassures them because she sees nothing wrong with the way she’s living. All she wishes, out of pure innocence and good intentions, is to be the strongest and protect everyone. Out of any human, demon, or unearthly being, she must always come out on top as the victor. After all, how will she save everyone if she’s not?

[clericofshadows]

thinking about zorya & zaeed's loyalty mission with Regis...

no matter what, I can't see Regis letting the workers die in order to kill Vido. I just can't. he's so against hurting what he perceives to be innocents--he'll make a bartender drink their own poisoned drink, he'll kick a merc out of a window, he'll fight dirty--but letting people die for the sake of one man? no.

it goes against his principles. it's why he's never going to get along with vakarian. justice is good, but not when you are prioritizing it over everything else.

but Regis is also one hell of a hypocrite. when it comes to his revenge with T'Soni, in his mind, he'll do anything to get what he perceives as his back. he has his own revenge plan laid out, and LOTSB puts a pin in that, and ultimately he gets what he wants but it's hollow. it's done. she's gone and he has his ring back and his father and his legacy back. but it's not what he wanted. and it's a mirror to zaeed's plan for revenge. something big, fiery, an eye-for-an-eye--but he doesn't get that.

they both say some very shitty things to each other post-zorya. regis is mad at zaeed for being impulsive, hot-headed, and not listening, perceiving his actions as to why the mission "failed." zaeed is mad at regis for being a hypocrite about revenge, about not seeing the need to get rid of vido--which will also deal one hell of a blow to the suns' operations--all for some lives of a small plant that may have been fine if Regis sent word for backup while they chased after Vido.

it's a mess.

and I think back to something I wrote in feeling numb lost in time:

Small fucking galaxy indeed.   “Surprised I didn’t recognize their work,” Regis said, reaching up to trace the long-healed scar with a light hand.  Zaeed stilled his hand, placing his on top of Regis’s, covering most of the scarring he found so handsome. “You were curious about my history with Hackett?  Part of why I trust the bastard so much is that he followed me to Omega when I was having a meeting with Vido, citing a bad feeling.  Should’ve listened to him.  He was always perceptive." He sighed, a faraway look in his eyes appearing.  "When Vido shot me in the face when I disagreed with the Suns' plan to get involved with the Batarian slave trade, he was there to bring me to the nearest clinic.  I was barely clinging to life, and Vik came in like a damn angel, barking orders and getting me on the table.  Hackett watched over me, running up all his leave, until he knew I was able to take care of myself." Zaeed let go of his hand, but Regis still cupped his face.  He closed his eyes.  "Vik said that I owed them nothing, and since then, they were the first place I would stop if I needed a tune up.  They've offered to correct the scarring and my eye color, but it's a reminder.  A reminder that I fucking survived and will get my revenge." Sounded like Vik, always willing to help anyone that stumbled into their clinic.  Regis wanted to know more about his past with Hackett.  If he had to guess, there was something more between them at some point, a devotion that likely broke apart due to their differing paths.   At least they were still friends, despite it all.  And now he had a new story to grill Vik about.  

Regis pulled him in close, tracing the scar once more before peppering it with kisses.  "And you will.  I'll make sure of it." "Never doubted you for a goddamn moment.  Heard you're doing something for Kasumi after we deal with the convict," he replied, brushing against his lips. "You have quite the heart.”

Regis returned his teasing kiss, humming in response.  “Only for those I like.”

and this scene here is why Zorya hurts. Regis wants to be able to do anything for Zaeed, but in many ways, his code comes first.

I realize now there are even more parallels between zaeed and regis. both having facial scars and changed features after a pivotal moment: vido's betrayal and cerberus's resurrection. neither one of them are doing anything about it, as it's a reminder of what they survived, of what happened to them.

they will get through zorya, and they will heal after dealing with their own shit, but it won't be easy for a moment.

here's some bits I've written:

Zaeed spun around, pointing a finger in Regis's direction, his face twisted with anger. "What the fuck was that, Regis?" "I could ask you the same damn thing. We wouldn't even be in this fucking situation if you weren't so consumed by revenge and just slowed down and listened," Regis replied, his tone flat, carefully keeping his expression neutral. "That's fucking rich." Zaeed laughed, laced with bitterness and anger. "The whole reason why you're even playing nice with Cerberus is so you can tear them apart. You're biding your time to get back at T'Soni as we speak. But the moment I get the chance to get what I have spent years working towards, you throw it all away for a few extra lives. How about that, Butcher?" "Yeah, I'm the motherfucking Butcher. Thanks for pointing that out." Regis stepped forward. "But if I'm the Butcher, you're just another merc, vying for the next target for a bit of cash. Would you even be here if Cerberus wasn't bankrolling you, despite me being at the helm of this mission?"

-- --

Regis started getting ready for bed, alone in his cabin, changing out of his fatigues and turtleneck and putting on comfier clothes. It was cold in the room, and normally instead of asking EDI to adjust the temperature, he would snuggle up against Zaeed on the couch or in the bed, going over reports and dealing with the tasks that befitted the commander and his unofficial XO. But it wasn't a normal evening after a mission and by now, Regis figured he would be spending the night alone. "EDI, adjust the temperature in my cabin by a couple of degrees, it's too damn cold in here," he said, looking around for his N7 hoodie. Instead of his hoodie lying on the desk chair where it was before the mission--that damn mission--it was one of Zaeed's, large, worn, and smelling of gun oil and vanilla. "Belay that request," he said a moment later, and EDI affirmed it, leaving the temperature as is. He grabbed the hoodie from the chair and inhaled deeply, wishing that it was the man it belonged to instead of a cold piece of fabric. The nightmares will most definitely still return tonight.

-- --

"It sounds like you two need to talk it out already instead of involving me." Regis opened his mouth to reply, but Kaidan cut him off. "I really don't want to hear your side. Didn't even let Zee tell me his. Hell, Vido was a common topic between us in the two years. I get it. And I'm not going to speculate with what I would've done because I wasn't there. I'll get involved when the two of you agree to talk, but not before. If you trying to push me away after Torfan didn't fuck us up, I doubt this will." Regis sighed, knowing exactly what Kaidan was talking about. Of course he did. He damn near threw BAaT at Kaidan to get a reaction out of him during all the blowback after Torfan, wanted him to hurt the same way he was during all the press and hearings. It was one of the many things he regrets. Kaidan never held it against him, but it was a terrible blow. Just like what he and Zaeed said to each other yesterday. "And don't apologize for that either," Kaidan said with a pointed look. "I love you both so much. And you both love each other. I see that in the pictures you send. As long as you sit down and clear the air, no matter how explosive, you will get through this." "I know," Regis said quietly, looking down at his lap. "So many things could've gone better on that mission. I'm almost just as mad at myself for not planning better, for not realizing how much this mission would've gone to his head. To our heads." "No one is in the clear here. Let me tell you something I told him: We always knew the lines would be crossed between us. The crux of the issue is differing ideals, but he told me something in return: You want T'Soni to suffer the same way you did above Alchera, don't you?" Regis closed his eyes. "No, look at me," Kaidan said in a low voice. Regis met his unimpressed gaze. "Don't you?" "What do you want me to say, Kaidan? Yes? Of course, I want her to know how I fucking felt! The dreams I have when I'm alone! She did this--" he gestured around his cabin-- "to me! And I want her to face every damn consequence I can--Fuck." Regis slumped in his chair. "I'm the goddamn worst." "Wouldn't even put you in the top ten." "Fuck off," Regis replied, biting back a laugh at the way Kaidan rolled his eyes and clutched his chest dramatically, but it had no bite. "I know. You can stop giving me that look." "There's one more thing I'm going to say to you before I let you go." "And that is?" "I love you. He cares for you, and he said that he wanted me to tell you that if you called. And that he feels like shit for making you sleep alone." "Did he say why he left his hoodie?" "No. But I did see him wearing yours, the same way you're wearing his right now." "You're going to tell him things about this conversation." "Naturally. He came to the same conclusion. See? We've made progress. Talk it out. Spar it out. Hell, even fuck it out if that's how it'll work for you two." Regis blanched at that. "Not really a fan of doing it under all this shit." Kaidan didn't immediately reply, which made Regis come to a realization. "Oh come on," Regis groaned. "We're too fucking similar, is that what you're going to say next." "You're both big violent softies," Kaidan cooed. "Now go. Figure something out. If the both of you call me again and you haven't tried to work shit out, I won't send you any more pictures."

so yeah... fun times to figure out how to tie together. but it'll work out.

[freyanistics]

Love~

“But I love him!” Ceres voice rung out in the castle.

Cassandra rolls her eyes as she continued to walk down the halls. Her eldest daughter was so stubborn, just like herself. She loved Ceres dearly but sometimes she made questionable decisions that could potentially lead her to getting hurt, and this was one of them.

“How can you love him if you only been sneaking around and seeing him for a month?” Cassandra asks as whips around to face her daughter. Behind her, Ceres folds her arms looking up at the brunette through pale yellow eyes. “Dorian isn’t like the other boys, mother. He’s sweet and kind, and-“ she takes a breath. “And I think if you met him you’ll see what I see, please mother, I never asked much of you. Let me continue seeing him.”

“And how do you know he’s not a hunter in disguise trying to lure you away to kill you?” Cassandra asks taking a step forward causing Ceres to take one back. “Does he even know what you are? You think he’ll still “love you” once he finds out what your diet is?” She starts circling her daughter carefully. Cassandra had many skills, she was the best hunter in the family and the most knowledgeable on different weapons and how to use them, but one thing she wasn’t the best at was being a mother. Parenthood turned out to be the hardest job she ever signed up for. However her love for her children runs deep.

“Then I’ll just stop drinking blood. I’ll find an alternative to get nutrition.” Ceres words made Cassandra’s eyes narrow as her lips curl into a snarl. “You cannot just stop drinking blood, that’s like mortals stopping to breathe.” She snaps. “Are you really willing to go through so many hoops for a simple man thing that’ll most likely dump you for another pretty face? If that’s so you’re even more foolish than I perceived.” She says turning to walk off once more, signaling that the conversation is over.

“Now hold on just a minute, mother!” Ceres grabs her mother’s shoulder. “What about you and mom? You took a chance with her and there was a possibility she could have deceived you.” She points out.

“Me and your mother are different,” Cassandra states. “She worked in the castle for two years.”

“Yet you didn’t talk to her until you happen to notice her in the library one day.” She starts recalling the story about how the two of them had met and slowly fell for one another. “Grandmother didn’t want you being in a relationship with one of the servants but you did it anyway, and look where it got you.”

“Ceres-“ Cassandra starts rubbing her forehead.

“My point is you took a chance, even when you was told not to, you did it anyway. That’s all I’m asking from you, is a chance.” She says looking at her through pleading eyes. “What if I invite him over and-“ She immediately went silent when Cassandra snaps her head up to glare. Bring it? Bring that man thing in THIS castle? Has this girl really lost her mind?

“If he takes one step in here he’ll be main course of dinner.” She sneers walking up to Ceres. “You will not see him no more, you will forget about him and never bring him up for this point on. And that’s my final decision.” She finishes leaving no room for argument. Defeated Ceres bows her head not responding, signally she had finally submitted to her mother. Good. She turns away from her child saying one last word to her, “Besides, do you really think he would actually love someone like you?” It was a blunt statement that she could have worded better if she was paying better attention. In her eyes her daughter needed a good wake up call to reality. It wasn’t the first time the brunette spoken harshly to her or anyone in general so surely she can take it.

“What did you say?” Her voice came out in a surprisingly soft voice.

“I’m not the one who kills innocent people. If mom could love a monster, then Dorian c-“ she was cut off by a loud noise.

Everything fell silent as the sound bounced off the walls.

The two women stared at each other for an intense moment before Ceres raised a hand to her now burning cheek as hot tears spill down her face, Cassandra felt immediate regret.

“Ceres, I-“ Cassandra starts but the younger woman bursts into bees flying off down the hall. The distant sound of a door slamming could be heard.

She knew she fucked up.

It didn’t take long for the rest of the castle residents to find out what transpired.

Bela was the first to confront her sister while she was in the dungeon.

“You hit her?” Bela demands after swarming beside her. There was surprise and even disappointment in her tone. Bela has always been the “better” mom in a sense. She was always patient with her kids while still able to hold a firm hand with them. Even when they had their arguments it never got out of hand, not like this.

“It just happened in the heat of the moment.” Cassandra mumbles swinging her sickle at one of the moroaicas. Whenever the brunette got upset or frustrated she’ll come here to either torture or kill off the walking husks of old maids that used to work here. She didn’t keep count on how many she went through, too deep in thought to care.

“Well are you going to go talk to her and apologize? She’s been locked in her room for hours now.” Bela asks folding her arms. She knew that Cassandra wasn’t as patient than herself or mother, but even then she never would have thought she would strike any of her children. Even their own mother never put their hands on them when they got under her nerves or acted up.

“I can handle this, Bela! I don’t need you to try to lecture me on how to rear my children.” She snaps at the blonde continuing to swing her sickle faster. She didn’t need this right now. She was already feeling like utter shit for what she did and was debating on what to do. The last thing she needs is her perfect sister to try to swoop in like a superhero.

Bela open her mouth to say something but closed her mouth instead. “Fine then, if that’s how you feel. Just remember; you’re only going to have her push you away.” And with that Bela swarms off leaving the brunette to her deep thoughts.

Later on as Cassandra made her way to the main hall she ran face to face with Alcina. Cassandra kept her head down as the countess strides over to her, not wanting to see her face.

“Cassandra, I must say I’m very disappointed in you.” Her voice was monotone and full of sadness causing Cassandra to wince. Of course mother had found out what happened, she always know what goes on in the castle.

“Can you blame me, mother? I just wanted to protect her. I didn’t mean for it to happen but I got so frustrated with her that I-“ She goes silent as her shoulders sagged. “She must hate me.” She whispers.

A large hand cups her chin lifting her head up to look into the countess’s eyes.

“I know very well how you feel, for I go through it everyday with you three. And now that I have grandchildren I worry for them too. Yet regardless of what you’ll do or say the last thing I want is for either of you to have distrust in me.” She brushes a finger over her daughters cheek. “There’s no such thing as a perfect parent; we all make mistakes. But as long as we make up for those mistakes and can acknowledge it then we can do better.” She smiles pulling away from her. “You should go talk to her.” Alcina says.

Listening to her mother’s she nods her head before taking off down the halls. She had to find Ceres and make things right. Perhaps she should listen to what her eldest had to say about this man thing she was so enthralled by. If he makes her happy, wasn’t that all that should matter? She still wanted her to be safe though, if something was to happen to either of her kids she wouldn’t know what to do with herself.

As she nears the room her eyes caught sight of you walking around the corner, seemingly upset. When you spy her you walk over. “Cassandra-“ you start, your voice waiving between upset and concern.

“I know darling, I really fucked up. But I’m going to try to make it right, I promise.” She says holding your shoulders.

Looking up at her you nod your head, “She hasn’t left her room since this morning. She missed breakfast and lunch.” You bite your bottom lip. You and your other children have tried to get her to open the door to no avail, only hearing her answer or sob through the door. But after you came by with food everything had went quiet.

“Stay here, I’ll be back.” She says rounding the corner before reaching the door to Ceres’s room. Taking a deep breath she knocks on the door.

No answer.

“Wolf pup?” Cassandra calls gently.

No answer.

A sigh escapes her as she slides down against door leaning against it.

“I’m so sorry wolf pup, I really am.” She frowns as she tries to find the right words. “I just wanted to protect you and keep you safe. You’re growing so damn fast. I remember when you was first born and then I blink and you was five years old driving me and your mom insane.” She says chuckling softly. “And then I blinked again and you’re now almost an adult. I’m not ready to let you go yet.” She softly admits closing her eyes.

“I want the best for you,both you and your younger siblings. I want you to be happy. I truly do, but I can’t help but worry about you.” A pause as she takes a breath, “But I know I can’t always be there for you and that I have to trust you to be able to know how to take care of yourself.” Opening her eyes she turns to the door. “If this boy makes you really happy, then I would like to meet him for myself, get to know him myself. If he truly is the man you say he is, then I will not stop you from seeing him.” She smiles meekly in hopes Ceres would respond.

But there was no answer.

“Ceres, please, answer me.” She begs rising up to her feet pressing her ear to the door. It was oddly quiet. Too quiet.

“Ceres?” She calls trying the door seeing it was locked. But that didn’t stop the brunette from swarming through the door. As her flies settle her eyes immediately land on the open window as a soft breeze blew.

“Ceres!” She calls running to the window and looking out. It was close to evening as the sun was setting in the horizon behind the tree lines. Desperate yellow eyes looked around the courtyard with no sign of the brown skinned girl in sight.

“NO! NO!” Cassandra wails, realization hitting her.

~In the woods~

It was getting dark with the sun slowly setting. Crunching on the fallen leaves Ceres carried her suitcase as she trek through the woods. She takes one last glance towards the large castle as her eyes started to water before wiping angrily at her tears. Her mother will not stop her from seeing her true love. If she couldn’t get her mother’s blessing then she’ll just run off with Dorian, they can get eloped and live a new life. Away from the village. Away from her jarring mother.

“I’m sorry.” She whispers before continuing to walk further away

Hit y’all with a cliffhanger and angst 😁

[silvertonguedcharlatan]

random OC ask: does your OC have any significant relationships that have defined them, for better or for worse? what do those relationship(s) look like, and have they changed over the course of your OC’s story?

I think the most obvious answer to this question, since we're talking about my tav, siobhan, would be the friends she makes during the events of the game

Biggest ones are Astarion (romanced companion and my personal favorite) and Wyll/Karlach (interesting set of circumstances) but they all have a pretty significant relationship with her

Her relationship with Astarion is a bit of a push and pull. She pushes him to be his best self and he pulls her down to his level. They are so disgustingly in love it annoys everybody. Siobhan doesn't care she thinks Astarion is pragmatic and very fun to have around. The obvious changes in their relationship would be Astarion realizing his feeling are in fact real in Act 2 and them getting even closer post-cazador in Act 3. The big changes in Astarion are that he comes around to the hero life and gains a lot of confidence after not ascending, but we know that.

The big changes in Siobhan are that she becomes surprisingly ok with doing crimes. It starts small like stealing some stuff from the druids "because they totally deserve it the healer tried to poison you", extorting a gnome because "well he did offer", and stealing from the Zhents because "they died fighting gnolls they won't miss it". Then it gets bigger because you have to do a prison break to save the tieflings and gnomes from Moonrise it's the right thing to do. And you know another prison break at Wyrm's Rock is really not a big ask if its for Florrick, darling. And before you know it they're robbing the counting house because "it's really their own fault there are no guards in this room" and allying with Gortash because he really isn't the worst option at this point and they can take him if he turns on them. In the end they balance each other out well, I think. They're basically married because i said so and they spend centuries doing the right thing the wrong way.

Wyll had a bit of a rocky start with her and honestly never really recovered. The first strike against him is when he asks Astarion how his rat diet is going the morning after she let him bite her and said he can eat bandits (meta: i felt offended on her behalf). The next and more important strike is when they do Wyll's devil hunt and find the "devil" Karlach. On the topic of devils Siobhan trusts the blade of frontiers and knows that devils need to be sent back to the hells so she defers to Wyll. Karlach's pleading and explanations struck Siobhan as odd but who would know a demon better than Wyll? He wouldn't be so insistent on killing her if she didn't truly need to die right? So they kill her. When Mizora shows up and Wyll starts talking about "innocent tieflings" Siobhan is a little fucked up about it. She trusted him and they killed an innocent woman.

While it wasn't necessarily Wyll's fault, that experience jaded her considerably and she became much less willing to take people at their word after it happened and harbors a distaste for warlocks to this day. They weren't close after that but she did help him out of his pact, mostly so Mizora couldn't use him to hurt anyone else. The distrust of others that came from this was actually beneficial in a round about way. When they allied with Gortash and came to him with the stones she didn't trust him enough to honor their deal if she didn't keep her stones. Which was incidentally exactly what he wanted.

She thinks about Karlach a lot.

She likes Lae'zel. She's the only one who's honest and on task. It's nice. She trusts her to take charge when they go do githyanki stuff at the creche and with voss. They become good friends (she thinks). She is truly sad to see her go at the end but very happy for and proud of her for becoming a leader to her people. Lae'zel doesn't change Siobhan a ton but when she gets taken by Orin it reveals some primal anger in Siobhan that she didn't know she had in there. It shocks everyone. She is happiest to see her at the reunion.

Shadowheart was a wildcard for the longest time to her because of the secrecy and amnesia. Siobhan liked to think they got along but the Shadowfell and Nightsong confrontation was the Most Stressful moment of her life. She doesn't know what exactly she did to keep Shart from killing Aylin but she is glad she did it. This whole event makes Siobhan realize the gravity her actions have and the responsibility she possesses leading this party of problem children. She is able to commiserate with her about the loss of parents you barely got to know so they get closer at the end of the story and I feel they keep in touch.

Gale is the funniest relationship she has I think. He came on to her hard at the beginning and didn't really get the hint that she wasn't interested until she started showing up out of Astarion's tent with fresh bite marks every day (buggy gale was so funny). In my mind this led to antics and mild jealousy like cooking with excessive amounts of garlic when he could. When they finally get over this he starts to grow on her because of his knowledgeability and sense of humor. I think generally making new friends changed Siobhan for the better in the sense that she feels happier and more connected to the world than she used to.

[rake-rake]

Yuta AU 1. Curse user.

When Yuta was 10 years old, he ran away from his abusive home with only Rika's curse at his side. Mostly wandering through the streets for a long time, living thanks to her stealing and protecting him from anything, he would eventually make his way to the lawless part of the city and into the abandoned subway system and sewers underneath it. The maze of tunnels would become his hideout, with he settling down in the deepest part and trusting Rika to guide him out or get him whatever he needed every time.

Unfortunately, their new way of life together with the mix of Yuta's meek nature and Rika's protective own were quick to push the cursed spirit in ways that hadn't happened until then. She started murdering any possible threats that approached Yuta when he was 11 years old and would continue for the years to come, tore apart bodies scattered all around the sewer system. Although initially he tried to stop her, he was quick to realize whatever he said was useless, and would eventually end up numbing himself to it.

Yuta would spend the following years almost exclusively hidden in the tunnels. Both his physical and mental state would deteriorate with the seclusion and situations he lived, his initial fear of Rika hurting more people becoming simple unwillingness to interact with anyone else and apathy for anyone but her. The abandoned tunnels would become a place of urban legend and speculation with the pass of time, with anyone who went into them never coming back, until the point sorcerers got involved due to the suspicion of curses being the cause of the disappearances. The first sorcerer to be sent was a grade 1 member of the Inumaki clan, and he never made it back. From him, Yuta would obtain a katana, as well as his first technique: Cursed Speech. From then on, gored bodies would be found missing different organs, limbs, or just flesh, sometimes with the wounds apparently having been caused by human teeth.

Miscellaneous.

Yuta is not hostile, but enormously apathetic. He's little willing to interact with people at all as he doesn't get anything useful out of it, and most of the times Rika ends up killing anyone to get too close anyways. However, if someone where to hurt Rika, then he most certainly would aim to kill.

Although Rika was the one to start killing, Yuta is not innocent whatsoever. He killed the grade 1 sorcerer himself and partook on his flesh in order to take his technique once he hurt Rika, and he often does the same with the other people Rika kills, as well as curses.

Yuta's whole world is Rika, thus the way to approach him is through her. He has no love for himself, but all his focus is on helping and making her happy.

Since he's an untrained sorcerer he has no knowledge about curses or shikigami whatsoever, even if he can see them. He assumes there's just something wrong with his head. He also is not truly able to distinguish shikigami from actual animals, as if he ever saw one of Megumi's divine dogs he would assume they're just a normal dog.

Yuta doesn't bother mistrusting people because he has no need to. He trusts Rika will kill anyone who tries to hurt him.

Due to years of undernourishment and struggles, he looks incredibly sick. He's 17, but probably doesn't look older than 15, with a frame too small and scrawny for his age, as well grayish skin and sunken eyes.

[dmclemblems]

A lot of Rhea's dubious actions are normally done in self-defense/reaction to something that happened to her and the people around her. And I guess for a majority of people, self-defense is no defense?

To be fair that’s... also how Faerghus gets treated in both games. In general these games have a bad message about being conquered. Rhea does a lot of stuff you could side eye, and a lot of that is from trauma caused by things TWS did... and surprise, Edelgard is allied with those same people and has their exact same views and ideas about humanity. It makes it easy for them to manipulate her when she hates Rhea as much as they do.

Even if I don’t agree with everything Rhea does, she’s in a similar situation to Dimitri and Claude when it comes to reacting to experiences that hurt them. Claude has been known as an outsider and hated for his heritage, and because of that he doesn’t trust people. Instead of being cheerful and fun, he just uses that as a coping mechanism while he takes advantage of people in the academy phase of Houses, even pushing aside people’s feelings for his own gain. His end goal is to attain power for his own desires and not anyone else’s out of the pain that came with being isolated in Almyra. Sometimes he’s pretty cold, but he’s like that out of being hurt and left in danger his whole life until recently.

During the timeskip and for a while post timeskip, Dimitri is completely closed off and stopped behaving like a normal human. He reached the point where he decided it wasn’t worth it and that he only needed to focus on revenge. Like Gilbert said, he was left alone too long with just himself and his guilt. Eventually the voices he hears drove him into so much guilt that he couldn’t handle it without killing the people who killed his family and the people from Duscur. After going through so much, he just snapped.

Similarly, Rhea had things happen to her just because. Just because she existed and wasn’t the same race as the Agarthans. Just because she existed and had been a child of Sothis’. Once the battle against Nemesis was over, she rewrote history, but it was at the detriment to herself, her family and other dragons. Nemesis was labeled a hero (meaning Edelgard believes the false history Rhea decided to put out into the world) and she left out the fact that the Relics are the bones of her siblings. When she was able to rule and had influence over people, she was quick to eliminate potential threats (ex. the Western Church). She reacts out of fear, similarly to Claude worrying after his own life because he knows if his heritage gets out, people will target him. Rhea, in the same vein, would be targeted if people knew her identity and hated for her race. With not many dragons still alive, she wanted to keep the last few innocent dragons left safe, and to do that she was willing to do shady things to prevent more tragedy.

People don’t like Rhea so they don’t compare her to the other lords or want to recognize that she’s very similar to them. Her story is a mash of Dimitri and Claude’s, effectively. It’s just a bit less in the forefront because she’s not a main lord. SS is “her” route (really more Byleth and Seteth’s route, but you know), and Dimitri’s ghost shows up to explain his feelings and regret to Byleth (Byleth specifically, who has a deep connection to Rhea).

In VW, Claude defeats Nemesis just like she once did, basically clearing Fodlan of her lie that Nemesis was a hero and in a sense, freeing the dragons from the forced lie she had to tell for the dragons’ safety. If Byleth and Claude have leadership over the new world that Claude was making, the dragons would no longer be outsiders and wouldn’t have to fear for their lives, even if the truth got out (especially because Claude understands what it’s like to be different and thus targeted).

In AM, Rhea retreats to Zanado and leaves Fodlan in Dimitri’s hands. Byleth only controls the Church, ultimately. If Rhea thought Dimitri’s rule would bring problems about, she wouldn’t have just left and lived quietly. Rhea was kind of like the guide for Fodlan to most of its people, and Dimitri strongly believes that a king is a guide for his people, not someone who is specifically meant to rule and have all the say. He believes the people are the future and should be protected, so his role is to be a guide for them to find the future they’re looking for. Rhea acted in a similar way, but her leadership was different because of her fear.

The only chance you have for Rhea to rule the same way as Dimitri is by S supporting her in SS, i.e. she reaches the conclusion of her story the same way Dimitri does in his own route (as otherwise she dies so the full, proper conclusion of her story changes slightly. She either dies in redemption or steps down and lets Byleth rule while ruling on the side with Byleth but in presumably a new way).

Rhea... really is not that different from the other lords. Unfortunately she’s Edelgard’s main enemy, and since Edelgard is super popular, loads of the Edelgard fans hate Rhea simply because Edelgard does (and yet may like Claude or Dimitri).