#wolf sage mode etc.

[atoriv-art]

hatake white wolf

[poisonouswritings]

I'm writing a once upon a time au with Sage 🫡 I like it, very beautiful. U can find it on ao3 👍

Yes I'm promoting ty

https://archiveofourown.org/works/44185960

How are you ozzy!!!!!

-Disney anon

Link

Aw, that's cute! I don't really know anything about Once Upon A Time but I like your story so far!

I'm actually gonna go on a separate tangent here but it's still storybook/fantasy related,,,

There's a game called Night of the Full Moon where (depending on the game mode) you play as Little Red Riding Hood. Your best friend is the Little Carpenter, aka Jerry. In the original game, you're trying to discover the secret of the Black Forest and why people are disappearing/turning into monsters/find your Grandma. In the normal ending, you cycle through fighting a Witch, A Priest (those two are working together to kill you because you have magic blood and you're the only one that can purify the corruption they cast), a Werewolf (who keeps insisting he didn't take your grandma and he doesn't want to fight you), and the final boss is the Cursed Werewolf (who initially possesses your Grandmother to kill the Priest, and then tries to get you to join him to kill the Priest's congregation, who are all either cluelessly complicit or malicious). The True Ending involves you discovering Jerry is actually the werewolf (the son of the Cursed Werewolf, but neither of them are aware of it). You have to defeat the corrupted Forest Spirit in order to purify the forest/save everyone. Jerry (who is in love with Red but was always too afraid to tell her) sacrifices himself to protect you from the Forest Spirit's spell, and the story ends with him dying.

The sequel (called The Wishing Night) starts talking about how Red knows Jerry isn't really gone, and she'll stop at nothing to find him. A map is delivered to her (we don't know by who, but I have some guesses) that details a magical cave that's accessible on the night of the full moon. Deep within the cavern is a Wish God. If you can defeat him, he'll grant you a wish. There are two bosses you have to fight; the first is the Wolf Illusion. The illusion uses Jerry's voice and some of his voice lines from the original ('I don't wanna hurt you!' 'Don't push me!' etc) aND ALSO ONE OF THE LINES IS 'Little Red Riding Hood... I-' AND THEN IT FUCKING CUTS AND I KNOW HE WAS GONNA CONFESS BUT THEN HE FUCKING DOESNT AND I SCREECHED A LITTLE THE FIRST TIME I HEARD IT BECAUSE I WASNT EXPECTING IT AND IT HURT MY HEART. AND THEN THERE'S ANOTHER LIKE WHERE HE SAYS 'WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS TO ME?!' AND I BAWL. Anyways once you defeat the Illusion, you learn it was actually the 'Wish God' who was trying to trap you in an illusion to steal your powers. But since you won the fight, he offers you a wish. You wish to see what happened to Jerry and you just see him getting killed by the Forest Spirit again. You ask where Jerry is now and the Wish God says he'll give you one more chance, so you have to go through the battle map again. When you do, you get the option to fight The Eye Of Truth. When you beat him you get this message

Which is the end of Wishing Night and now we're waiting for the next chapter. There's also a whole concurrently-running plot where the Queen of the kingdom (who we're just meeting for the first time so we don't know much about her) enters the Wish Cave to try and find a cure for her ailing husband, the King, at the same time as Red. Apparently she has an enchanted voice and the Wish God wants her power, so he takes the form of the King to trap her in an illusion. When you defeat the Eye of Truth, you get this message

Which I'm assuming sets us up for whatever the next chapter is gonna be.

So. Uh. I've maybe scribbled up an AU where Sage is Jerry and MC is Red. Alternatively, Lucan could be Jerry and Sage could be Red.

Anyways I'm back from dealing with my grandparents, which was frustrating and depressing. Hope classes are going good!

[revunant]

A VERY DESCRIPTIVE PROFILE OF YOUR MUSE. Repost with the information of your muse, including headcanons, etc. if you fail to achieve some of the facts, add some other of your own!

NAME: Jean Damon or Jean Ramsel, verse dependent.

NICKNAME: Prince, Wolf/Old Wolf, Moshka, Pupman, Worm, Piss Wizard.

TITLE(S):  Havik, the Forest Gate Butcher, Sarat Ilqum - Returner, Cihenim Lis'ekt - One Who Walks the Voidspine (aka Spinewalker).

AGE: 41, in main verse.

SPECIES: Human*. Has a not insignificant amount of god blood in him. In that it was introduced to him, not that he has any relations. His ability to shift into a dragon has no bearing on his species, because he gains it via a tonic he takes fortnightly.

SEX: He's dude.

NATIONALITY: British (English), the child of first-gen immigrants from the Republic of Ireland and Kazakhstan.

INTERESTS: Won't really let himself have them, and also hasn't had much time or opportunity to develop them. His interests align with his work, mostly, though he sometimes finds himself sitting with a guitar in his lap; sometimes finds himself singing, too. It's something that always feels so wrong and uncomfortable to do, and he tries hard to avoid letting anyone witness it. He likes doing things for people, fixing things, building things. He's also got a restrained interest in plants; the sunroom he spends a good amount of his time in is full of cuttings and propagation stations, and of course the plants from which the cuttings were obtained.

PROFESSION: Unemployed, but he's a roboticist, specialising in prosthetics/general body augmentation, with a side of AI.

BODY TYPE: Greyhound coded. Most of his muscle is in his legs, some amount in his shoulders and back, and he's kind of scrawny. In his main verse, he's put on some mass in the last couple of years thanks to finally not being malnourished all the time, and is pretty safely in the Healthy Weight zone, but previous to that he was a bony little thing. Long legs, sort of has an hourglass figure going on (slutty little waist, comparatively broad shoulders and wide hips, thankfully not very dysphoric about the latter at all). Now that he's actually being fed, he's got a bit of softness to his lower stomach/butt/thighs, but he's still kind of undereating despite Teddy's best efforts.

DISTINGUISHING FEATURES: Two robotic prosthetic limbs (left arm and right leg), mostly a sort of bone-white colour, but with accents of charcoal grey. Right arm has a tattoo that runs from the back of his hand to his bicep - a dark teal, simplified snake. A few years after he got that, it was added to, and the snake is now surrounded by bluebells and sage flowers. He's covered in scars, but the most recognisable are the ones across his back, the X-shaped one that takes up most of his chest, and the claw mark across his left eye (that also took a notch out of his ear).

EYES: Dark slate grey, central heterochromia (has a ring of brown around the pupil). Tend to appear brown or even black in some lighting. Some verses have replaced an eye or two, and those replacements are very rarely the same colour (usually bright blue, white, yellow, or orange).

HAIR: Dark brown, dyed but very close to his natural colour - is actually pretty salt-and-pepper, but he doesn't want anyone to look at him and think man that guy must've been stressed. About tit-length in main verse, thick and wavy, somewhere between 2B and 2C. WC-068-B has completely straight, "dead" hair, resulting from a combination of brain damage, psychological trauma

SKIN: It's clear he's meant to have a sort of medium olive-tan complexion, but years upon years of not going outside very much (and even then, mostly at night) and also being Kind Of Dead has made him a bit paler and greyer than he's meant to be. Kinda pallid and corpselike, with dark circles.

POSTURE: One of two modes, depending on whether he's afraid (submissive, obedient, thinks he's being watched and judged) or afraid (submissive, defensive, thinks he's about to be harmed). The former, he's bolt upright, almost uncomfortably so, like his spine's been fused together. The latter, he's hunched almost to the point of being curled around himself, which is kind of the point.

HEIGHT: 5'7"/170cm. Taller in verses where both of his legs have been replaced, e.g. Sigma and Vespa. WC-068-B is 7'8". Draugr is 4'0 at the shoulder.

VOICE: Soft, of average depth, always a little bit hoarse/gravelly. Fairly devoid of emotion due to his flat affect. Has a kind of implacable English RP, except for the fact that it's clearly north of the trap/bath split (pronounces laugh as laff, and not larf.) Very rarely gets loud; would rather hiss than shout.

SIGNATURE OUTFIT: A black, closely fitting turtleneck, can be either long- or short-sleeved. Slim fit but not tight fit slacks, often wool or corduroy, some shade of tan/brown/olive green. Black jacket with a furred collar. Brown leather brogue ankle boots. Usually there'll be additional layers between the turtleneck and the jacket; cardigans, flannel shirts, sometimes oversized, tucked in t-shirts.

SIGNIFICANT OTHER: In main verse, Teddy, and probably soon to be Vincent. In a lot of other verses, it's...probably also some form of Teddy. Oops.

COMPANIONS: His dog(s). Against all odds, Mercedes. That's kind of it.

ANTAGONISTS: Pieter Gravesen. Jean would deny this, of course. Also Hrana T'sarit, all the members of which are now dead - the most prominent in his life were Margot Zetkin, and Vaughn Damon (his own father).

STRENGTHS: Obviously, cannot be killed in a way that matters. Incredibly durable and determined, able to ignore incredible amounts of injury and pain and exhaustion and endure. Most forms of torture are ineffective against him. Very good at reading people, though will often read intent where it's not there, which means it's difficult to pull the wool over his eyes unless you already know how to do it. Very charismatic in the sense of lying, manipulating, gaslighting, blackmailing. Skilled with machines, generally pretty handy, good with most weapons you could arm him with. Very intelligent, if not necessarily wise.

WEAKNESSES: The regular human weaknesses, like how being shot in the head generally kills him, much to his chagrin. Very vulnerable to cold. It's very easy to pull the wool over his eyes IF you know the way to go about it; he can be manipulated without much effort at all if you use the same pathways Pieter hardwired into him. Emotionally, he's very stubborn and bad at communicating, tends to internalise and prevent himself from feeling things until it seriously negatively affects him, and is very afraid of everything all of the time.

FRUITS: Stone fruits. Likes nectarines and yellow-fleshed plums.

DRINKS: Black coffee, usually instant. Taken for fuel rather than flavour.

ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES: Vodka, usually cheap. Taken for self-medication rather than flavour. He also tends to reach for whiskey and absinthe when there's no vodka around - will only drink cocktails/spirits with mixers when pressured to.

SMOKES: Cigarettes, preferably Richmonds - but in mainverse he's semi-kicked the habit; he only smokes when particularly stressed and nothing else is cutting it.

DRUGS: Ketamine - he was frequently sedated during his stint with Pieter, and he finds it both comforting and helpful for productivity to be a little bit to the left of his body but in a way that he control (because he's usually a little bit to the left of his body even when sober). Has a very small cocaine habit, but only when he deems it strictly necessary. Despite having an addictive personality, he's also very rigid and stingy with himself in terms of doing something to indulge himself, rather than for a concrete purpose, so he only tends to partake in substances when he can justify it.

DRIVER'S LICENSE: Suspended, deemed unfit to drive. Mad about it.

TAGGED BY: @bleedinghearth (fank u :33)

[urbanseeress]

𝙷𝙴𝙻: 𝙽𝚘𝚛𝚜𝚎 𝙶𝚘𝚍𝚍𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝙳𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚑.

WHO IS HEL?

Hel (or Hela) is the daughter of Loki, the trickster god and the Jötunn Angrboda and sister to the monstrous wolf Fenrir and the Midgard serpent, Jormunganr. Appearance-wise, she is “half living”; where half her body is described as being heart-achingly beautiful, and “half dead”, where the other half of her body is described as the pale flesh of death and the rotting flesh that comes after.

Odin, the All-Father and ruler of Asgard, sent Hel to the realm of Helheim where she was to rule over the souls of those who had died a “dishonourable death” - this refers to the death of those who did not die in battle but have died of natural causes, sickness, old age etc. This gives her titles such as Goddess of Death, Goddess of the Underworld etc. (NOTE: Those who die in battle do not directly go to Óðinn. Freyja gets the first pick of warriors and those she chooses go to Fólkvangr, only then does Óðinn get to choose his warriors for the Valho̧ll from those who remain). 

ASSOCIATIONS:

SOLAR SYSTEM: Pluto

ZODIAC: Scorpio

MOON PHASE: Dark Moon, New Moon

CELEBRATIONS: Samhain, Yule

COLOUR: Black

NUMBER: 9

RUNE: Hagalaz

HERB: Mugwort, Wormwood, Cedar, Rue, Mullein and Plantain

INCENSE: Myrrh, Storax, Jasmine, Sage

TREES: Ash, Beech, Elder, Elm, Holly, Juniper, Willow and Yew

CRYSTALS: Black Tourmaline, Black Obsidian, Black Onyx, Apache Tear, Black Moonstone

ANIMAL: Wolf

ISSUES, INTENTIONS AND POWERS: The Afterlife, Battle/War, Darkness, Death, The Otherworld/Underworld, Shadow Work, Necromancy

HONOURING HEL:

The various ways I honour Hel:

I built Hel an altar that consisted of a statue of Hel, black candles, black crystals (See above in “Associations”) and a black altar cloth.

Make offerings to Hel – she tends to like coffee and dark chocolate, but I also burn incense on the altar for her. I also light a plain black candle dedicated to Hel.

Hel’s Incense – See above in “Associations”.

I meditate on the Hagalaz rune.

I say prayers in her name to my loved ones that have passed away.

I leave offerings for my loved ones who have passed away, this is mostly a candle, incense, a small dish of their favourite food.

Clearing up the graves of the dead whenever I walk pass and see rubbish left around it or fix any flowers or wreathes that might have fallen over.

Doing anything creative for her is something that she loves. I made a gemstone bracelet to represent her so that I can wear it everywhere I go and connect with her even more. The bracelet is made of Black Onyx beads, Skull beads and the Halagaz rune bead; all these things are associated with Hel.

CONNECTING TO HEL:

How I connect to Hel is by taking a walk through a cemetery where I can really contemplate on Death and connect with the energies of the dead around me. I also do meditations in the cemetery to tap into the death current. Whatever I hear, feel, smell and think of during my walk (or during my cemetery meditations) I always write down in my journal.

Sometimes I call upon her with a simple invocation before asking her directly for guidance. I use Tarot Cards to communicate with her following an invocation or sometimes I just meditate on the spot and wait for any images or sounds to appear in my mind’s eye that could potentially be a message from her.

I play dark, tragic and brooding instrumental music out loud, which helps me relax and contemplate on a lot of things. I also listen to a lot of Viking-inspired music to help me connect to her. I also read a lot of gothic literature, which inspires feelings of grief and longing as a healthy way to let all those feelings out, Edgar Allen Poe’s poetry is one of my personal favourites to read out loud for Hel and I to enjoy together.

MY MEDITATION – ENCOUNTERING HEL:

The first time Hel appeared to me was when I was simply daydreaming, I heard faint whispers of “Hela… Hela… Hela…” in my mind. Before this happened, my mind was completely blank and this was at nighttime as I laid in bed. I thought that this was very random, but nevertheless, I understood these words and felt inclined to close my eyes and meditate in case there was a message for me.

Hel was very unfamiliar to me and to be fair, I am still getting to know her to this day. Deities are very complex with their many different layers, personas, and energies. In general, if I ever feel like a deity is reaching out to me, I focus on the energies I feel from them and meditate on it. Doing so helps me get a “feel” of them, their energies, their intentions, their story. I tend not to look them up because I always want to feel their raw, unfamiliar energies personally and not let their mythology affect the way I sense or view them. I then take note of it in a journal and then proceed to read about them afterwards to see if my interpretation of the deity matches that written in the literature. I always believed in trusting my intuition.

In this meditation, I found myself being transported into what looked like the inside of a cave, however, part of me felt like this was no ordinary cave because it was not completely dark and obscure like caves would usually be without a torch to light the way. This cave in my vision had a pale light blue light seeping through from somewhere. I also noted there were white/pale blue crystals around me among the rocks that made up the cave’s walls.

In the cave, a child approached me. She had long silvery-white hair and pale white skin and icy blue eyes. I also noticed she was wearing a grey torn-up viking dress that was up to her ankles and that was also covered in dirt (perhaps she had been in this cave for a while trying to find her way out of it). She did not seem like she was afraid or lost, in fact, she was quite the opposite. She saw me, playfully touched my hand, smiled and giggled and happily ran away.

Not long after, a woman appeared in the direction the little girl ran off to. She had long raven black hair and was wearing a long, black dress. Her appearance reminded me of a crow.

She just stood there and stared at me, studying me. We stared at each other without saying a word to one another for a while. Later, the little girl I saw later reappeared and joined the woman. Were they mother and child? I had no idea, but they most certainly knew one another and seemed very close. They held hands and suddenly, a flash of light appeared above them and then they disappeared…

Standing in the spot they were standing was another woman with her back turned towards me and partly covered in the shadow of the cave although part of her was also under the pale blue light of it. She slowly turned around to face me. As she turned, I saw from the light that she was indeed very beautiful. Youthful, glowing and with an air of mystery around her but I could not help but feel a sense of brooding and grief in the air too. I could not tell if she was smiling or not for she also looked as if she was pained and in sincere regret. When she finally turned to face me completely, that was when I realised half of her face was disfigured.

It was not just her face, the other half of her body that now revealed itself from the shadows as she stepped forward, half of her body was either rotten or in the process of rotting away. I admit that this image frightened me, and I felt my heart beating and I also felt myself going into fight or flight mode. However, I could not move and stayed rooted on the spot, just staring at her. I could not scream but I know my jaw hit the floor at this point, to be in shock is a complete understatement.

This was Her, this was Hel and I was in Helheim. I probably should not have come here.

I stood there as she limped over to me, she was limping because she was trying to drag her “dead half” with her. The dead half of her was completely limp. I noticed the half of her that is “alive” is also had toned arms and legs and has somewhat of a four-pack, possibly from dragging that “dead weight” for so long. She took my hands in hers; one of her hands was pale but felt very warm, I even felt a pulse from it, a sign of life. The other hand, rotten, decayed, skeletal but still covered in strips of tissue felt cold and dry, and majority was bone, it made me flinch. I also noted the smell of rotting flesh and perfume (I assume is what her live half was wearing at the time) as she stood in front of me.

I finally had the courage to look up at her, into her eyes. One eye was a beautiful sapphire blue, while the other eye was blind, white and lifeless and barely hanging on in its socket as there was no eye lid to support it. I tried to ignore all that and she smiled at me. Her lip curled into a small smile, whereas the skeletal half of her face already looked like she was smiling since all I could see were her exposed teeth. The image of Hel then faded, and I slowly came to, back to the mundane world.

I am still in the process of interpreting this message but I believe the main thing that Hel tried to convey to me was DUALITY. Half beautiful, half rotten and decay. Half alive, half dead. Woman and child. Black and White. Shadow and Light.

HEL IN MY LIFE:

Whenever I think of, work with and connect to Hel, I have always felt a sense of brooding and grief, darkness and mystery, there are also times when I feel fear. She is most certainly a compassionate deity when she wants to be, but most of the time, she is detached, cold, stoic and does not really take sides. She also does not mind what you do in your craft or in your life. She basically gives off the impression of, “You do YOU as long as you do not impede on others.”

She prefers to not interfere with anything and would rather watch you. I always feel like she has her eyes on me, watching every move and decision I make, wondering what will happen next. She sometimes expresses curiosity and fascination with me; I interpret this as even though she is a Death goddess, she still likes to be involved in the lives of her children where she can watch them live in the way they want until they pass away from this world and she welcomes them into her realm with open arms.

I never really got over the fear I feel sometimes when I connect with her, but then again, I believe that was her intention. The whole point is to feel uncomfortable and never get used to this feeling. I remember sincerely apologising to Hel later for reacting so negatively towards her, but she told me that she took no offense and that it is a good thing that I reacted in the way that I did towards her.

She wants to constantly remind me of how I feel whenever I encounter a shadow of mine. This fear is a projection onto her. It is almost as if she is a mirror image of all the “bad” and “evil” things of myself that scare me, make me uncomfortable and make me want to run away from. Since she constantly pulls out the shadows from within me to make me feel extremely uncomfortable and makes me face them, I ended up doing Shadow Work with her as my guide. She always asks me, “Are you truly afraid of me or of the things I remind you of when you look at me?”

She is aware that half of her body is Death itself, but it never bothers her. Even though she literally must drag the other half of her body along with her wherever she goes (literally the dead weight of herself), she acts like she had gotten used to it over time and does not let it stop her from doing what needs to be done. The fact that physically, she gained muscle from dragging her dead half around for so long indicates that she gained strength from her ordeal.

I see Hel and see that this dead side of herself is like her very own personal shadow, except that, she is at peace with it and living in harmony with this side of her. She is an example of someone who had integrated their shadow into their life and has reached the point where she no longer needs “Shadow Work”. Only a deity is capable of this because to me, Shadow Work lasts a lifetime. As you grow older, the more Shadows form.

I admire her so much and this is why she is my role model. I strive to become like Hel and so I have dedicated my entire life to Shadow Work with her. I believe that I too can live in harmony and be at peace with the parts of me that I tried to cast away. I want to unapologetically bare my real self and feel nothing but pride. I want to uncensor my own ugliness.

Hel also eased my fear of death and completely changed my perspective on it. I view death as an end to something and the beginning of something new. I view death as a transition. Death also leads to rebirth. It is very hard and painful to let go of things sometimes, but it is necessary in order for you to move forward with your life. You come out of that situation stronger.

I used to be so afraid of the idea of dying and leaving behind all my loved ones. I also struggled with the death of loved ones, losing my Father was the one that hurt me the most. When he left, I felt a part of me die with him. I remember it took a very long time to heal and move on with my life. I was trapped in never-ending grief and was consumed with so many negative emotions like guilt, pain, rage.

What I felt is indescribable, but I remember telling my therapist that “Losing Dad felt like there was a hole in me that can never be filled by anything or anyone and I had to learn how to live with a part of me gone, but at the same time I somehow still felt severely depressed. It is not normal, it did not feel normal, nor did it feel right. I felt so numb and so empty yet despite that a part of me had died along with him, I was still able to feel negative emotions that reminded me that I was still alive.” Thinking back to that moment, it feels like Hel was with me all along, but I never realised until much later, she was there especially during those times where I felt, “half dead and half alive”.

Nowadays, I have accepted and even embraced death. Hel made sure that I was ready for when that time comes. To live your best life, you must also embrace death. As for the death of my Father, I had finally come to terms with it and vowed to live the best life that I can. I also realised that he is not truly gone because as long as I remember the memories of him, he will live on inside of me.

[chrisodonline]

In which I unwrap a little from “Mother” and also tie in past seasons’ of G Callen character development AND character insight shown and implied...

This episode was all about parallels -- and they were well done. Parallels in TV episodes are nothing new, and you see them as handy ways to tie storylines and characters together, either from within the show itself or with references and homages to past literature and media.  They are a great tool for new writers, and for good reason. People expect themes to episodic and serial presentations, and they help keep formulae from being just straight formulae. ECO and Babar definitely leaned into them, but with a lot of thought. 

I do think the parallels between Akhos and G were supposed to make us think as well as make G think.  Akhos definitely thought they were two sides to the same coin. Hetty had concerns they were, in a way, as well. It was setup to put Hetty in continued crisis thought and self-reflection that has started recently -- but you saw seeds in past seasons.  It’s still very in character.  The beauty of the ep was that it didn’t actually lean all the way into the parallel. It was more explicit in noting the parallel of Akhos and G, but mainly because the dialogue was coming through to display the aforementioned mentalities of our Baddie of the Week and Mother Hetty. (Mother was also the very specific nickname/codename given to the CIA during the Cold War, and I just kept thinking about that. I’m sure that was no coincidence.)  Sam also had a little dialogue that floated this -- in this ep and in recent ones.  

Anyway, what the episode demonstrated was a reinforcement that G and Akhos? Actually two very different people. And it’s not that they ended up on two different sides of a forked path after Hetty’s modus operandi of intervening with lost souls. It wasn’t even anything about what Hetty planted. G was never going to be Akhos, Hetty or no Hetty.

Before I get into the ending parts with G and his fantastic dialogue, we’ll look at the speakers of lines that contributed to the “Akhos = what G could have ended up as.” Akhos himself belabors the point. Akhos is extremely misguided, and approaches things from an embittered POV. He has also lied to someone who is loyal enough to him to go to the HQ of a government agency.  There’s an entitlement aspect to him, and also someone who refuses to accept any of his actions or mistakes as completely of his own doing. It was all “nurture” to him. He wasn’t a full-grown adult or anything at some point capable of making his own decisions.  If anything, saying he was ruined and fallen shows that he has a pretty darn clear understanding of morality.  You can’t fault a person for not being mentally healthy or having emotional issues. But he knows right from wrong. He did wrong. He’s not the voice of reason in all this. He has a skewed view of things, and we’re not supposed to walk away thinking, “Man, Akhos was a deep guy. He’s super smart. He had it all figured out.” He tried to kill Hetty, then G, and tried to blow up Deeks and Kensi. He’s not...a good guy. He’s not on the side of right nor is he right about things. He ends up killed by Hetty.  If this were a novel, well, a traditional novel -- let’s say -- Akhos’ ending up killed in a very bloody fashion and coming out the loser -- big time -- with his men taken out and plots being foiled all over the place pretty much enforces his worldview and ways of life are not ones the author subscribes to nor are they trying to get the audience/reader to subscribe to them. 

Hetty is another person who muses this, and she does it not from her usual confident stance.  She isn’t Hetty the Purveyor of Wisdom.  She is Hetty the Mother, specifically Hetty the Mother, who is going through common paternal guilt mode. She’s questioning her decisions, how it’s affected her children, etc. She isn’t Hetty the Orator. She is Hetty the Doubter. Sage!Hetty is a voice we’re supposed to listen to.  Confused, guilt-ridden, confidence-bruised is not the Hetty we’re supposed to listen to. It’s her at her most human, not her most all-knowing. 

Sam? Sam is your favorite aunt. He meddles at times, but he always cares. He might get a little personal, but you know you can go to him with whatever horrible thing you think you did, and he’d give you a look before helping you out and guiding you back and giving you the best hug you’ve ever gotten. He’s also a worrier. Sam’s just worried about his friend, and this is probably his gateway into deeper discussions because he knows G isn’t up for the really, really deep ones.

So, we’ve established that these aren’t necessarily the voices we need to put full faith in -- for the ep that is.  (Hetty and Sam know what’s what very often.)

The episode is smart enough to let G speak for himself. He doesn’t do it often, and that’s been a big point in some of his plots. He gets deep here, and he drops his guard. It’s Hetty, and he’s often done it with her. However, he also knows she needs to hear what he has to say. It’s all true, so he’s not lying out of kindness. He’s being honest. He doesn’t do this because Hetty showed him a magic, fun path. He may have ended up on this super specific path because of Hetty, but he was always going to help people. He doesn’t do this because he feels like he has no choice. He does it because he sees the good it does. It allows people to live their lives. That’s all he wants. He wants people to live outside of violence. He has every reason to doubt the good in people. He’s seen the worst in this job, and he saw it before the job. He had abandonment issues not knowing who he was and if he was ever wanted. He had to live with that on top of not only encountering horrible, cruel people, but being left in their charge. Time and time again. His childhood was full of horrible things and horrible people. But he also saw good, innocent people -- his fellow foster kids. 

Sam, Kensi, and Deeks usually mention at least one personal relationship when talking about doing the job, though they also love helping others and explicitly note. In the 11th season, with G’s acknowledging he is no longer a lone wolf, that he does have people close to him, and seeming to be okay with, he still talks with distance about the people he saves. He’s tried the “normal” things beyond the found family: girlfriends, a niece and nephews, steady dwelling places, staying in a job for a while, etc.  He still sees himself as separate from the “normal life.” From the world he saves. The world is full of other people living their lives, not him. He’s not bitter about that. In fact, he kind of misses the aspects to being fully solo. (See? Already very different Akhos. Not bitter. Not feeling entitled to something better or throwing blame around.)

G Callen has had emotional growth in being able to trust more people and let them in. He’s allowed himself to make connections.  Morally, though? He’s still the same person. Because he was never evil. And he never would be. Don’t get me wrong. He’s no saint, and he’d be the first to tell you that. He lives in the gray, though. Always has, and always will. He might have ended up in a different system if he stayed in juvie or kept going back. Even if he never went and ended up in organized crime or on the “wrong” side of the law because that was sort of his only options, or seemed like it, he’d be a total Arkady. (Maybe more...understated, shall we say?) He has the natural skill set and aptitude for organized crime, but you know he’d be helping people one way or another. Probably even be a CI.  He’s clever, and always has been. But he’s never been evil. He might go dark at times, but all these characters have. 

Again, Akhos feels like so many things forged him.  He takes no responsibility for the forging he did of himself. Trauma and horrible experiences do not forge us. That’s a misconception. It permanently affects you, in ways you sometimes don’t understand. It can affect your physical health. It can dig into your DNA. It’s not what makes you you, though. Survival is not a creator of bravery, it is a product of it. (I do want to note here, that the lack of survival does not mean there is an absence of bravery. There is no victim-blaming here.) 

G Callen was impacted by cruelty and tragedy. He got scars from them in various ways. He may have not wanted to get close to people or let them get close to him as a result. However, that doesn’t mean he didn’t care about them. G Callen didn’t go into this life because Hetty told him to or offered it to him, and made it sound like a trip to Disney World every day or like constant 80s training montages. The G Callen who went from agency to agency because, even though he hated the structure, he wanted to do the job. (He also says he left the CIA because the thought they were too shady.) He could have been a private investigator. Or just left and did something less kickass-y.  Something without any rules or bosses.  But he stayed. He didn’t stay because of Hetty. He’s super loyal to Hetty, but he’s also super stubborn.

G Callen sat there tonight and told Hetty that she didn’t fail him, that she didn’t fail any of them, that he does this because he wants people to be able to live their lives and that the world is worth saving. That’s why G Callen has always done this. That’s why when he sees kids in trouble, he doesn’t do what Akhos does and go “Oh, woe is me! You think you have it bad! Look at what life and the people in it have done to me! Aren’t you lucky to still have a parent who might be upset you die in a bomb blast!” G Callen has the opposite of the crab mentality.  He wants to make sure everyone else makes it out of the bucket, usually feeling like he has to stay in it himself -- no matter how often Sam tells him he can come out of the bucket. 

G Callen will always live in the gray, but never the dark.  He knows he’s not meant for a life in the “light.” He’s okay with that. He doesn’t double-down and go and live in the dark, taking down everyone with him. He wants to save people from the dark, no matter what it means for him. 

G Callen is still very often that hurt, little lonely boy who just wanted a family and to be loved and know who he was. To be safe. He was well into adulthood before he knew any of that, really.  He even says as much to Nadir back in “The Seventh Child.”  You find people who make you feel safe. He has talked about the team being family, and he said it tonight. He’s gotten all of that. That stuff is newer; however, he has always wanted other people to be safe, too. His hands are far from clean, and he can be extremely lethal and detached due to his training -- as seen tonight, as well.  But he’ll always help people. It’s who he is. It’s why he does what he does. In the “Matroyshka” episode (another nice maternal name, there), he reacts very strongly to his father calling him a good man. He doesn’t feel like he is, but he wants to be. 

G Callen lived through horror after horror, and he was still never going to approach Akhos-level evil. That’s not how it works. I realize the episode itself seemed to be pushing that more than it didn’t, but it was just having a discourse and exploring things through dialogue and plot -- as good TV does. G Callen would’ve said in his moment of deep honesty with Hetty if she did anything that might have led him to be Akhos.  I know there’s an argument to be made about whether or not Callen is self-aware, but what this ep and the ones before it have shown us is that he so very much is self-aware.  He’s more self-aware than he gets credit for because people mistake behavior changes as a guaranteed result of self-awareness.  (Behavior changes are soooo ingrained. They are nearly impossible to change permanently. It is very serious work and doesn’t signal a lack of attempts to make those changes.)

Anyway, that went even longer than I intended. I could go on and on. Clearly. I just wanted to put it out there that G Callen was never at real risk for becoming an Akhos, and the episode didn’t end with that notion, either. At least not to me.  

[barrimyr-adin]

How would you handle Naruto justu and abilities?

Boi, you can bet your ass I’ve thought about this too much. Mainly because I hate Naruto’s canon power evolution.

Gonna put this under a cut because it’s gonna be long as fuck.

So first we have to lay out what Naruto’s abilities were at the end of Part 1.

Academy-taught techniques. Could barely perform them at all. Seems to have gotten the hang of them by the end.

Taijutsu and shurikenjutsu. Seems to have basic skill but could be easily outclassed by most of his peers.

Shadow Clone Jutsu. Although it is a jonin-level technique, it’s almost useless in Naruto’s hands. It’s only effective when ridiculous amounts of clones are summoned, and even then only barely.

Summoning Jutsu. Unstable in his hands due to lack of chakra control. Usually only able to summon Gamabunta or Gamakichi. Either one presents a problem for him.

The Rasengan. Requires shadow clones to create, making the technique useless unless his opponent is restrained or distracted.

Nine-Tails’ Power.  Capable of accessing the Nine-Tails’ power but has almost no control over it. Suseptible to unplanned transformations.

Now that we’ve laid out Naruto’s abilities, we need to lay out how Jiraiya would have trained him.

First off, Jiraiya wouldn’t have just been traveling with Naruto. There’s no point to that since we’re barely even gonna see a fraction of their travels. Instead, Jiraiya would have brought Naruto to Mount Myoboku to begin his sage training. We could even get a flashback to Naruto proving himself to the toads.

As Naruto becomes more skilled with his training, Jiraiya would have started taking Naruto on his Akatsuki reconnaissance missions.

As for Naruto’s actually training, we’ll have it divided into three categories.

First Year, Chakra Control and Physical Training

This year would be mostly devoted to making the techniques Naruto already knows actually useful. First, Jiraiya would place Naruto on his own training regimen. Since Jiraiya is a big burly dude who doesn’t seem to like pulling off any acrobatic moves, this regimen would mostly be devoted to building physical strength and strong stances. By the time Naruto gets back to Konoha, he would be one of the physically strongest members of the Konoha 12 (right behind Lee who’s practically a perfect physical specimen, Choji who has the ideal weightlifter’s build, and Sakura with her chakra strength). Naruto’s strength and bulkier build would be put in contrast to Sasuke, who would have a leaner physique and would have trained his body to keep up with the Sharingan. His style of taijutsu would also be influenced by his sage techniques.

Besides this Naruto would improve his chakra control. This would improve almost all of his jutsu.

Shadow Clone Jutsu. With better chakra control and distribution, each of Naruto’s clones becomes stronger. This means he doesn’t have to create countless clones just to have any effect. With his improved taijutsu, Naruto only needs a 2-4 clones to be a real beast. Naruto then takes it a step farther by learning the Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu. Also, I would have made the Shadow Clone Jutsu a rarer technique instead of something any run-of-the-mill jonin can do.

Summoning Jutsu. Now that he has better chakra control, Naruto is much more precise with his summonings. He’s capable of summoning smaller toads like Part 1 Gamakichi in order to help him in spying and reconnaissance. He can summon medium sized toads (like the one Jiraiya summoned in his confrontation with Itachi and Kisame) for combat. He usually summons many of them because their speed and numbers can be disorienting and pressuring to his opponent. He can also summon larger toads about the size of a truck or larger. He usually uses them for travel or against larger opponents. The only downside to this is that Gamabunta doesn’t have anymore patience for Naruto now that he can summon other toads. Unless there’s a huge disaster, if Naruto summons Gamabunta, he’s gonna beat him into the ground.

The Rasengan. With better chakra control, Naruto now doesn’t need any shadow clones to create the Rasengan. This makes it a much more versatile and powerful weapon. However he still needs shadow clones to make the Giant Rasengan, which he uses for larger opponents and large-scale defenses. I also would have kept the Rasengan as being as effective a technique as it was in Part 1 because Part 2 made it seem like some basic bitch technique.

Also by the start of Part 2, Naruto’s taijutsu and shurikenjutsu would be jonin-level. He would be well-trained with shurikens, kunai, smoke bombs, wires, and explosive tags which he would keep on him at all times.

Second Year, Sage Techniques

During this year, Naruto would begin his senjutsu training. Here are some techniques he would have learned. 

Sage Art: Amphibious Evolution Jutsu. This jutsu allows him to grow gills and webbed appendages. It also allows him to swim at high speeds.

Sage Art: Burrowing Jutsu. Similar to a certain earth style technique, this jutsu allows Naruto to tunnel through the ground at high speeds.

Sage Art: Camouflage Jutsu. This technique allows Naruto to blend into any surroundings, helping him in stealth missions. However, it takes a lot of concentration and great chakra control so it’s one of his more difficult techniques.

Sage Art: Toad Oil Jutsu. This technique is one Jiraiya often uses in conjunction with his fire style ninjutsu. However, since Naruto had no talent for elemental ninjutsu, he instead uses it as a weak long-range attack, a way to blind his opponent, or a way to limit their manueverability or movement. Occaisionally he uses it in conjunction with explosive tags.

Sage Art: Toad Transformation Jutsu. This technique is one of Naruto’s most used ones and it heavily influences his taijutsu style. Essentially, it turns Naruto into Asui from MHA. It gives him a long toad-like tongue which he uses as a whip or a grip as well as strong legs that grant him greater manueverability and leaping distance. It also gives him the ability to store things in his stomach. It would also allow him to stick to walls.

Sage Art: Toxic Secretion Jutsu. This is one of Naruto’s more advanced techniques. It allows him to secrete a poison from his skin that he can determine the toxicity of.

Naruto would also begin his training for Sage Mode during this year. That way it actually makes sense. Rather than learning one of the most advanced techniques in the world after only a short period of training and learning almost no sage techniques, Naruto would have been training for Sage Mode for 2-3 years and have already learned several sage techniques. Also he would have been the one to come up with the idea of fusing Ma and Pa to him in order to enter Sage Mode rather than Jiraiya, who would have actually mastered Sage Mode by his age.

Third Year, Jinchuriki Power

This year would have been devoted to trying to master the Nine-Tails’ power.

By the end of this year, Naruto would have:

Mastered his jinchuriki ability. The Nine-Tails’ ability would be known as fox screech. Essentially it’s Black Canary’s sonic scream but with more physical force. Also, it would be on a much larger scale once Naruto’s undergone one of his transformations.

Come to understand the other abilities granted to him by the Nine-Tails, like his healing factor, tremendous stamina, and huge chakra reserves.

Learned to stay in control of up to three of his tails. However since he was under the tutelege of Jiraiya rather than another jinchuriki, he’s mainly staying in control through brute force. This leads to his transformations leaving him scarred and pained. Once he trains with another jinchuriki, they would teach him that the way to stay in control during his tailed transformations would be to use an anchor (think Teen Wolf) and this would lead to him learning to control more and more tails as Part 2 progresses. I’m actually toying with the idea of Naruto using Jiraiya as his anchor andfalling into a lot of anxiety after Jiraiya’s death due to him losing control and the emotional stress. The idea of Naruto unwillingly undergoing his transformation durng an anxiety attack and him having to face this issue before his battle with Pain is very interesting to me.

Anyways, I’d also like to outline how I would have handled the jinchuriki abilities. Each jinchuriki would have a different ability unique to them (sand shield, blue flames, fox screech, etc) and I would get rid of the Tailed Beast Balls, whatever the hell those are. Also, instead of gaining chakra cloaks or whatever, they would just transform into smaller versions of their beasts. In Naruto’s case, he would undergo an almost werewolf-like transformation. 

Also I hear that Kishi retconned it so that the Nine-Tails is ridiculously more powerful than the other tailed beasts. Fuck that. The beasts should all have comparable strength.

Also I would have it be that none of the jinchurikis could actually use all of the beast’s power. But they would still have an enormous amount of power. Also, a single tail from each beast would not be equal. Each tail would be a percentage of their beast’s power. For example, 1 of the Nine-Tails is nowhere near equal to the One-Tail but all nine are. Also, the full jinchuriki transformation would not be as large as the actual beast. It would still be huge but if a jinchurikis transformation is as large as the actual tailed beast, that probably means the beast has taken over and escaped.

Progression through Part 2

Besides learning to control more tails and entering Sage Mode, there are a few more things Naruto would learn through Part 2.

The Rasenshuriken. Rather than the bullshit we saw in canon, the Rasenshuriken would be a Rasengan shaped to be sharper and leaner. A strong long-range Rasengan designed to slash through things. In Sage Mode, he would be able to perform the Giant Rasenshuriken, without any clones. Same for the Giant Rasengan.  The Giant Rasenshuriken would also be similar in size to the canon Rasenshuriken.

Sage Art: Toad Gourd Summoning Jutsu. This essentially allows Naruto to summon a large gourd designed to look like a toad. It’s an incredibly strong defense and also a great way to buy time.

Adult Naruto, the Nine-Tailed Sage

Here are how Naruto’s abilities would have evolved in adulthood.

Taijutsu and Shurikenjutsu. Would have become kage-level.

Giant Rasenshuriken. Able to perform it out of Sage Mode, but only with shadow clones.

Nine-Tails Transformation. Able to control all nine tails.

Sage Mode. Can enter Sage Mode without Ma and Pa.

Sage Art: Sizeshifter Summoning Jutsu. Able to summon a special sort of toad that can change its size. We’ve seen Jiraiya summon it.

Sage Art: Frog Call Jutsu. Although he couldn’t learn the frog song, he did learn the frog call which makes any creature in his area of attack paralyzed.

Summoning Jutsu. Able summon a toad as large as Gamabunta on the regular.

Sage Art: Toad Throat Summoning Jutsu. This is the incredibly strong jutsu Jiraiya used in attempt to trap and kill Kisame and Itachi.

Nine-Tails Sage Mode. Naruto’s strongest technique. Essentially a combination of the Nine-Tails Transformation and Sage Mode. In this form, Naruto takes on the appearance of the Nine-Tailed Fox (only slightly smaller) but with the golden marks of Sage Mode going through his fur. However, Naruto rarely uses this technique. If Naruto is even capable of using it without fulling releasing the Nine-Tails, it will almost certainly leave him crippled or comatose.