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lokiondisneyplus · 3 years

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A review of “Journey Into Mystery,” the penultimate Loki Season One episode on Disney+, coming up just as soon as I paper cut a giant cloud to death…

Journey Into Mystery was the title of the first Marvel comic to feature either Thor or Loki. It began as an anthology series featuring monsters and aliens, but Jack Kirby, Stan Lee, and Larry Lieber were so smitten with their adaptation of the characters of Norse myth that the Asgardians gradually took over the whole book, which was renamed after its hammer-wielding hero(*).

(*) The early Journey Into Mystery stories treated Thor’s alter ego, disabled Dr. Donald Blake, as the “real” character, while Thor was just someone Blake could magically transform into, while retaining his memories and personality. It wasn’t even clear whether Asgard itself was meant to exist at first, until Loki turned up on Earth in an early issue, caused trouble, and Blake/Thor somehow knew exactly how to get to Asgard to drop him off. Soon, the lines between Thor and Blake began to blur, and eventually Thor became the real guy, and Blake a fiction invented by Odin to humble his arrogant son. It’s a mark of just how instantly charismatic Loki was that the entire title quickly steered towards him and the other gods.

But once upon a time, anything was possible in Journey Into Mystery, which makes it an apt moniker for an absolutely wonderful episode of Loki where the same holds true. Our title characters are trapped in the Void, a place at the end of time where the TVA’s victims are banished to be devoured by a cloud monster named Alioth. And mostly they are surrounded by the wreckage of many dead timelines. Classic Loki insists that his group’s only goal is survival, and any kind of planning and scheming is doomed to kill the Loki who tries. But this ruined, hopeless world instead feels bursting with imagination and possibility.

There are the many Loki variants we see, with President Loki, among others, joining Classic, Kid, Boastful, and Alligator Loki. There are the metric ton of Easter Eggs just waiting to be screencapped by Marvel obsessives (I discuss a few of them down below), but which still suggest a much larger and weirder MCU even if you don’t immediately scream out “Is that… THROG?!?!?” at the appropriate moment. And all of that stuff is tons of fun, to be sure. But what makes this episode — and, increasingly, this series — feel so special is the way that it explores the untapped potential of Loki himself, in his many, many variations.

This is an episode that owes more than a small stylistic and thematic debt to Lost. It’s not just that Alioth looks and sounds so much like the Smoke Monster(*), that it makes a shared Wizard of Oz reference to “the man behind the curtain” (also the title of one of the very best Lost episodes), or even that the core group of Lokis are hiding in a bunker accessible via a hatch and a ladder that’s filled with recreational equipment (in this case, bowling alley lanes). It’s also that Loki, Sylvie, their counterparts, and Mobius have all been transported to a strange place that has disturbing echoes from their own lives, that operates according to strange new rules they have to learn while fleeing danger, and their presence there allows them to reflect on the many mistakes of their past and consider whether they want to, or can, transcend them.

(*) Yes, Alioth technically predates Smokey by a decade (see the notes below for more), but his look has been tweaked a bit here to seem more like smoke than a cloud, and the sounds he makes when he roars sound a lot like Smokey’s telltale taxi cab meter clicks. Given the other Lost hat tips in the episode, I have to believe Alioth was chosen specifically to evoke Smokey.

Classic Loki is aptly named. He wears the Sixties Jack Kirby costume, and he is a far more powerful magician than either Sylvie or our Loki have allowed themselves to be. He calls our Loki’s knives worthless compared to his sorcery, which feels like the show acknowledging that the movies depowered Loki a fair amount to make him seem cooler. But if Classic Loki can conjure up illusions bigger and more potent than his younger peers, he is a fundamentally weak and defeated man, convinced, like the others, that the only way to win the game into which he was born is not to play. “We cannot change,” he insists. “We’re broken. Every version of ourselves. Forever.” It is not only his sentiment — Kid Loki adds that any Loki who tries to improve inevitably winds up in the Void for their troubles — but it seems to have weighed on him longer and harder than most.

But Classic Loki takes inspiration from Loki and Sylvie to stand and fight rather than turn and run, magicking up a vision of their homeland to distract Alioth at a crucial moment in Sylvie’s plan, and getting eaten for his trouble. He was wrong: Lokis can change. (Though Kid Loki might once again argue that Classic Loki’s death is more evidence that the universe has no interest in any of them doing so.) And both Loki and Sylvie have been changing throughout their time together. Like most Lokis, they seem cursed to a life of loneliness. Sylvie learned as a child that a higher power believed she should not exist, and has spent a lifetime hiding out in places where any friends she might make will soon die in an apocalypse. Our Loki’s past isn’t quite so stark, but the knowledge that his birth father abandoned him, while his adoptive father never much liked him, have left permanent scars that govern a lot of his behavior. The defining element of Classic Loki’s backstory is that he spent a long time alone on a planet, and only got busted by the TVA when he attempted to reconnect with his brother and anyone else he once knew. This is a hard existence, for all of them. And while it does not forgive them their many sins(*), it helps contextualize them, and give them the knowledge to try to be better versions of themselves.

(*) Loki at one point even acknowledges that, for him, it’s probably only been a few days since he led an alien invasion of New York that left many dead, though due to TVA shenanigans, far more time may have passed.

For that matter, Mobius is not the stainless hero he once thought of himself as. While he and Sylvie are tooling around the Void in a pizza delivery car (because of course they are), he admits that he committed a lot of sins by believing that the ends justified the means, and was wrong. He doesn’t know who he is before the TVA stole and factory rebooted him, but he knows that he wants something better for himself and the universe, and takes the stolen TemPad to open up a portal to his own workplace in hopes of tearing down the TVA once and for all. Before he goes, though, he and Loki share a hug that feels a lot more poignant than it should, given that these characters have only spent parts of four episodes of TV together. It’s a testament to Hiddleston, Wilson, Waldron, and company (Tom Kauffman wrote this week’s script) that their friendship felt so alive and important in such a short amount of time.

The same can be said for Loki and Sylvie’s relationship, however we’re choosing to define it. Though they briefly cuddle together under a blanket that Loki conjures, they move no closer to romance than they were already. If anything, Mobius’ accusations of narcissism in last week’s episode seem to have made both of them pull back a bit from where they seemed to be heading back on Lamentis. But the connection between them is real, whatever exactly it is. And their ability to take down Alioth — to tap into the magic that Classic Loki always had, and to fulfill Loki’s belief that “I think we’re stronger than we realize” — by working together is inspiring and joyful. Without all this nuanced and engaging character work, Loki would still be an entertaining ride, but it’s the marriage of wild ideas with the human element that’s made it so great.

Of course, now comes the hard part. Endings have rarely been an MCU strength, give or take something like the climax of Endgame, and the finales of the two previous Disney+ shows were easily their weakest episodes. The strange, glorious, beautiful machine that Waldron and Herron have built doesn’t seem like it’s heading for another generic hero/villain slugfest, but then, neither did WandaVision before we got exactly that. This one feels different so far, though. The command of the story, the characters, and the tone are incredibly strong right now. There is a mystery to be solved about who is in the big castle beyond the Void (another Loki makes the most narrative and thematic sense to me, but we’ll see), and a lot to be resolved about what happens to the TVA and our heroes. And maybe there’s some heavy lifting that has to be done in service to the upcoming Dr. Strange or Ant-Man films.

It’s complicated, but on a show that has handled complexity well. Though even if the finale winds up keeping things simpler, that might work. As Loki notes while discussing his initial plan to take down Alioth, “Just because it’s not complicated doesn’t mean it’s bad.” Though as Kid Loki retorts, “It also doesn’t mean it’s good.”

Please be good, Loki finale. Everything up to this point deserves that.

Some other thoughts:

* Most of this week’s most interesting material happens in the Void. But the scenes back at the TVA clarify a few things. First, Ravonna is not the mastermind of all this, and she was very much suckered in by the Time-Keeper robots. But unlike Mobius or Hunter B-15, she’s so conditioned to the mission that even knowing it’s a lie hasn’t really swayed her from her mission. She has Miss Minutes (who herself is much craftier this week) looking into files about the creation of the TVA, but for the most part comes across as someone very happy with a status quo where she gets to be special and pass judgment on the rest of the multiverse.

* Alioth first appeared in 1993’s Avengers: The Terminatrix Objective, a miniseries (written by Mobius inspiration Mark Gruenwald, and with some extremely kewl Nineties art full of shoulder pads, studded collars, and the like) involving Ravonna, Kang, and the off-brand versions of Captain America, Iron Man, and Thor (aka U.S. Agent, War Machine, and Thunderstrike, the latter of whom has yet to appear in the MCU). It’s a sequel to a Nineties crossover event called Citizen Kang. And no, I still don’t buy that Kang will be the one pulling the strings here, if only because it’s really bad storytelling for the big bad of the season to have never appeared or even been mentioned prior to the finale.

* Rather than try to identify every Easter egg visible in the Void’s terrain, I’ll instead highlight three of the most interesting. Right before the Lokis arrive at the hatch, we see a helicopter with Thanos’ name on it. This is a hat tip to an infamous — and often memed — out-of-continuity story where Thanos flies this chopper while trying to steal the Cosmic Cube (aka the Tesseract) from Hellcat. (A little kid gets his hands on it instead and, of course, uses the Cube to conjure up free ice cream.) James Gunn has been agitating for years for the Thanos Copter to be in the MCU. He finally got his wish.

* The other funny one: When the camera pans down the tunnel into Kid Loki’s headquarters, we see Mjolnir buried in the ground, and right below it is a jar containing a very annoyed frog in a Thor costume. This is either Thor himself — whom Loki cursed into amphibianhood in a memorable Walt Simonson storyline — or another character named Simon Walterston (note the backwards tribute to Walt) who later assumed the tiny mantle.

* Also, in one scene you can spot Yellowjacket’s helmet littering the landscape. This might support the theory that the TVA, the Void, etc., all exist in the Quantum Realm, since that’s where the MCU version of Yellowjacket probably went when his suit shorted out and he was crushed to subatomic size. Or it might be more trolling of the fanbase from the company that had WandaVision fans convinced that Mephisto, the X-Men, and/or Reed Richards would be appearing by the season finale.

* Honestly, I would have watched an entire episode that was just Loki, Mobius, and the others arguing about whether Alligator Loki was actually a Loki, or just a gator who ended up with the crown, presumably after eating a real Loki. The suggestion that the gator might be lying — and that this actually supports, rather than undermines, the case for him being a Loki — was just delightful. And hey, if Throg exists in the MCU now, why not Alligator Loki?

* Finally, the MCU films in general are not exactly known for their visual flair, though a few directors like Taika Waititi and Ryan Coogler have been able to craft distinctive images within the franchise’s usual template. Loki, though, is so often wonderful to look at, and particularly when our heroes are stuck in strange environments like Lamentis or the Void. Director Kate Herron and the VFX team work very well together to create dynamic and weird imagery like Sylvie running from Alioth, or the chaotic Loki battle in the bowling alley. Between this show and WandaVision, it appears the Disney+ corner of the MCU has a bit more room to expand its palette. (Falcon and the Winter Soldier, much less so.)

#Loki #spoilers #episode 5 #review #Rolling Stone #Alan Sepinwall

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dialovers-translations · 3 years

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Diabolik Lovers Bloody Bouquet Short Story: “The Night Before the Wedding ー Sakamaki Laito” [ENG Translation]

1) The story is written entirely from Laito’s POV

2) Rather than aiming for a ‘word-by-word’ translation, I tried to translate it in a way so it reads smoothly in English as well. Japanese literature is written in an entirely different style from its Western counterparts after all.

ーー Just what exacty is the point of this?

“I suppose it’s to make your first night together even more special...?”

It’s the day before the ceremony. She has forbidden me from sleeping together with her. As I grumble to myself, I run both hands through my hair - the locks dampened by the hot water from the shower raining down on it - brushing them to the side. I raise my head with squinted eyes, before opening them wide as the water gets inside. However, I endure the continuous stream without even blinking. It falls and flows down, before new drops come falling down once more...Starting at the corner of my eye, going all the way down my jawline, almost resembling tears.

Right before tomorrow’s ceremony, I am still my usual self. Meanwhile, she ...Bitch-chan is on cloud nine, clearly in a merry mood. ...I have learnt just how important these kind of things are to girls, so from time to time, I would play along and show her an equally excited attitude. However...

“She might have noticed...that I was forcing myself to seem thrilled?”

A sarcastic chuckle slips past my lips, muffled by the sound of the running shower. When I cup my cheeks with both hands, water splashes about from the surface of my skin before I turn off the shower.

Looking back at it, she seems to have lost the brightness in her eyes as the day of the ceremony approaches. However, it still seemed as if she was looking forward to the ceremony...Which meansーー

“She really did...notice...huh?”

That I actually do not care about this wedding all that much.

I am sure it sounds misleading, but that does not mean my feelings towards Bitch-chan have wavered in the slightest. Besides, I am the one who suggested we should get married, and I’m not exactly pessimestic about our future either.

The real problem is difficult to pinpoint, but I am sure it has to do with my personal beliefs. I have no problem with marriage as part of a sexual fantasy, but I still have my doubts about weddings in the sense of it being a strong, emotional promise build on the exchange of vowing one’s eternal love.

However, the second the black roses’ curse was lifted, I undoubtedly believed in it, and wanted to do so. That is exactly how we broke free from the curse after all.

“Well, I suppose I’ll just have to get used to it...”

I cannot suddenly change who I am after being this way for over a hundred years. I am sure that must be a point of concern to her. However, is it too much to ask for me to have her perceive the fact that I became honest with my feelings for even a split second as something positive?

“Guess it can’t be helped...Haah.”

I rise from the tub with a sigh, carelessly wipe dry my wet hair and get changed into the clothes which had been haphazardly thrown on the floor. While it is somewhat of a drag, I decide to go take a peek at her room.

At this rate, she might just pull something at tomorrow’s ceremony. Therefore, I’ll give her plenty of my kisses and fangs, whispering words of ‘false love’...to calm her down.

“I have to get rid of this misunderstanding to put the Princess at ease, right?”

I mutter under my breath, tracing my fingertips across the fogged up mirror before taking a peek inside.

Am I the one suffering from marriage blues? As said thought crosses my mind, I can’t help but find it mockable.

“Tomorrow night’s ‘fun’ is at stake here after all.”

When I speak those words as if I am trying to convince myself, for some reason, it almost looked as if my reflection in the mirror was crying for a second.

ーー THE END ーー

#diabolik lovers #dialovers #laito sakamaki #diabolik lovers translation #diabolik lovers short story #diaboilk lovers night before the wedding #damn this one is deep #and also the most difficult to translate so far because of that reason

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canary3d-obsessed · 3 years

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Restless Rewatch: The Untamed Episode 18, second part

(Masterpost) (Other Canary Stuff) (Previous Post)

Warning: Spoilers for All 50 Episodes!

Hey OP where’s the funny header gif for this post? Sorry, it was murdered by an angst demon and the framing of these shots.

My Found Family Came to Find Me

Continuing our flashback from last time, we see Baby Wei Ying up a tree, refusing to come down because he's afraid there are dogs. Eventually he falls out of the tree, like a dumbass a child, and Yanli tries but fails to catch him.

Unlike his grownup counterpart, Baby Wei Ying doesn't pretend he's unhurt when he is hurt. I'd like to put the change at Yu Ziyuan's door, but actually he admits to being hurt during his Gusu summer - he mimics Lan Zhan's stoicism when they're getting beaten, but it doesn't come naturally to him, and he whines a lot afterwards.

By the time of the Animatronic Dog incident, however, he's laughing off obvious injuries that have secret trauma behind them. By the time he comes back, coreless, from the burial mounds, he won't confide in anyone about his hurts any more, except possibly Wen Qing.

Yanli carries Wei Ying, in a sequence that will be echoed much later in his life when Lan Zhan carries him (gifset here). While they head back, she tells him that Jiang Cheng has a bad temper and to ignore whatever mean things he says. This will also be echoed in the future, when Wei Wuxian says it to Lan Zhan after their argument with Jiang Cheng in the shrine.

Yanli also explains that Jiang Cheng loved his dogs and that he's been very sad since Jiang Fengmian sent them away, demonstrating once again that Jiang Fengmian is a terrible father. Yanli says that Jiang Cheng will be happy to have a friend with him, though. This kind of makes Wei Wuxian's role in Jiang Cheng's life "replacement dog."

Jiang Cheng, after getting over this particular snit, got worried about Wei Wuxian and woke up Yanli to find him, and then went wandering around in the dark like a dumbass a child, and is banged up and crying when the other two find him. Yanli encourages him to apologize to Wei Wuxian and he does, which will not happen again until the very end of the show.

They all smile and laugh together, as Wei Ying looks to Yanli to guide him through the insanity that his life has suddenly become.

(more behind the cut!)

They head back to Lotus Pier in a sweet montage of walking and smiling together, with Jiang Cheng carrying the world's most beautiful candle holder with the world's most wind-resistant candle in it, to light their way back. Back in the present day for a brief moment, Jiang Cheng pretends to sleep and listens to his sister insisting that the three of them should always stay together, while a single tear rolls down the side of his face.

Soup is Love, Chapter 1 of 1000

Then we head to the past again. In Jiang Cheng & Wei Ying's now-shared room, Wei Ying sits on the bed trying to figure out how to deal with his grumpy new roommate.

Wei Ying is unsure what to do when confronted with pajama game this strong. Tiny Jiang Cheng is already a fashion king.

Then he tells Jiang Cheng he's not going to narc him out to the clan leader, since it was his own fault that he hurt his leg. This is all Jiang Cheng needs to hear to decide Wei Ying is all right, and he says that he will help Wei Ying chase away dogs in the future. In fact, Wei Wuxian will protect Jiang Cheng from punishment basically forever, while Jiang Cheng will continue to threaten Wei Wuxian with dogs...forever.

They shake hands on their new understanding and then jump up and down laughing, Wei Ying's leg being all better now, apparently. When Yanli arrives (carrying a tray of...can you guess? I'll let you guess), they stop jumping. Wei Ying dives in to give Jiang Cheng a little tickle/embrace in an adorable moment that would have me saying "oh, my ovaries!" if I hadn't surgically sent my ovaries to hell a few years ago.

Yanli introduces Wei Ying to the emotional and gustatorial miracle that is her lotus and ribs soup. He hesitates a long time before tucking in because he's so unused to being fed.

Consent? I Don’t Even Know Her

The flashback wraps up with Yanli conked out on the table from the drugs in the incense burner, while Wei Wuxian, who is somehow unaffected despite sitting almost as close to the smoke as she was, checks on her. Jiang Cheng and his Uggs period-appropriate sock thingies get out of bed to come stand with Wei Wuxian, and have feelings about sending Yanli away after she JUST said she doesn't want to be parted from them.

Wei Wuxian: If she didn't want us to do this, she shouldn't have signed that blanket consent-to-medical-treatment form. Jiang Cheng: Wen Qing made me sign one of those plus a durable power of attorney, is that bad?

This episode is all about people overriding each others' agency and making massively important decisions without the consent of the people who will be affected. But in a feudal context, it's not a violation, no matter how it feels to the person being controlled. In feudal life, your body belongs to your lord -- your sect leader, in the world of CQL. Jiang Yanli and Jiang Cheng's choices are overridden by their clan leader's final command to Wei Wuxian. Wei Wuxian's core is arguably Jiang Fengmian's property--Wei Wuxian certainly sees it that way, just as his hand was Yu Ziyuan's to take if she wished.

The brothers tenderly tuck Yanli into bed in the rolly cart and hand her off to Song Lan. They talk about how important it is to get her to Lanling and that she's probably going to be mad, as they thank Song Lan for helping them.

Yanli listens while she sleeps and, in what is becoming a trademark Jiang move, lets a single tear roll down the side of her face. Jiang Cheng points out that Yanli never gets mad at Wei Wuxian and Wei Wuxian is like, true dat.

How Can You Mend a Broken Heart?

Song Lan is always so emotional about every damn thing, I love him. Here he's like OH GOD NO DON'T FORMALLY THANK ME! STOP!!!

Then he starts to ask Wei Wuxian to pass a message to Song Xingchen for him, but then decides not to say anything, making it super obvious that they fought and aren't together.

Wei Wuxian reacts to this with confusion and distress, probably because he doesn't want to imagine ever having a breakup with his own soulmate. Which he soon will be having. But possibly he's just upset that his OTP broke up.

After Song Lan takes off, Jiang Cheng gives Wen Qing a rude & perfunctory thank-you bow, turning away before she can return it. Wei Wuxian tells her not to take it to heart - basically everyone who deals with Jiang Cheng gets a version of the "ignore what he says" speech. She says she understands and that in his place she would have behaved worse, which is so totally not true.

Then she asks Wei Wuxian if he's sure about the core transfer (not in so many words, because the script is being kind of being vague about it, without actually hiding what's happening). His reply pretty much encapsulates the whole Wei Wuxian experience.

Then he and Jiang Cheng walk off, with Jiang Cheng giving us a rear view that had me googling Wang Zhuocheng's fashion shoots to determine if that wagon he's draggin’ is really as delightful as this belt makes it look. Alas, there is not a wealth of photographic evidence for this research, as compared to, for example, photos of Xiao Zhan's outstanding ass.

Wen Qing and Wen Ning see them off, with Wen Qing wishing they valued their lives more. Although, what she and Wen Ning are doing is massive treason, so their lives will be pretty much forfeit if they're caught, so...

The Sunshot Campaign of Like 60 Dudes

Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng walk up the mountain for the whole beginning of the Sunshot campaign, which...okay. Maybe it's like Dunkirk or The Witcher where they intercut stuff that is happening in different timeframes, which is one of my least favorite new film style thingies.

You know, for a guy Wei Wuxian constantly calls "peacock," Jin Ziyuan really doesn't wear a lot of adornment; just some subtle metalwork on his belt with no dangly bits at all, and a single reasonably-sized hair crown. Compared to the extremely fancy Lan Wangji he's almost plain. We already know that Wei Wuxian is a massive hypocrite when it comes to his idea of a perfect boy, however.

So, this is the Lanling Jin army, which consists of literally 60 guys, including the ones on the stairs and Jin Zixuan and Douchebag Dad. How are they going to fight a war with this tiny group? Why do they have such a big plaza? Hasn't anybody on this production learned CGI cloning?

That’s better.

Nie Mingjue and his best bitch Baxia make quick work of the 4 Wen guys who were assigned to hold the Unclean Realm.

Hello, Daddy Da-Ge!

Squeeee, it's Lan Wangji! He's taking back Cloud Recesses! Ooooohhh we've missed you Lan Wangji.

Look guys he's here! Look how beautiful he is. He's looking at the gate of cloud recesses and thinking thoughts that Lan Xichen or Wei Wuxian could probably see in his bewitching eyes if they were here to see him, which they aren't. But at least he is here!

....and now he's gone again. *cries*

Hares On The Mountains

Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian continue roaming prettily around this pretty mountainside. The locations in this show are such eye candy.

Young laddies they run like hares on the mountains Young laddies they run like hares on the mountains Young laddies they run like hares on the mountains If I was a young lass I’d soon go a hunting

Jiang Cheng starts to have doubts about the whole Baoshan Sanren thing. Wei Wuxian's reply pretty much encapsulates the whole Wei Wuxian experience.

Then we have just the tenderest blindfolding scene, (more gifs here), which is fodder for your ChengXian dreams, if you have those.

Here's a good place for a sidebar about what is and isn't incest. Whee! In the CDrama context, relationships tend to be more clearly defined than in western media. The mechanism of confession & acceptance means that people either are or are not in a romantic relationship, with few grey areas. So a character can literally say "we grew up as brother and sister, but now we are dating" and when someone looks startled they just say "there's no blood relation" and everyone is like "cool cool" and that's the new definition of the relationship.

For a strong example of this, the extremely wonderful Go Ahead is about a contemporary family in which a girl and two boys, who are not blood relatives, are all raised together, and call each other brother and sister. When they become adults, they and everyone around them expect the girl (now a woman) to marry one of the two men who have been her brothers, while whichever one she doesn't choose will carry on as her sibling. It's treated as the most natural, logical thing in the world; the only question is whether she wants to make that transition, and with whom.

Looked at through this lens, Wei Wuxian's relationships with his adoptive siblings have just as much potential to turn into romances as his relationships with his friends do, and there's nothing creepy about it. As such you can expect my meta to always get into ChengXian moments without treating it as a wrong or forbidden love. Hopeless, of course, because Jiang Cheng is such a prick the power of WangXian is stronger, but that's a different matter.

What is wrong is wearing this fantastic hat & veil combination when the most fashionable person on the mountain is blindfolded and can't see it.

In the course of this blindfolded encounter with Wen Qing, Jiang Cheng gets to kneel before a powerful woman, be led along by a length of silk that's placed in his hand, and then knocked the fuck out and operated on. He'll wake up in a hotel room in a tub full of ice with "we took your kidney" written on the mirror in lipstick, and he'll love every minute of it.

Soundtrack: 1. Still Fighting it, by Ben Folds 2. Hares on the Mountain, by Steeleye Span

Writing Prompt: The NEXT time somebody blindfolds Jiang Cheng

#fytheuntamed #the untamed #the untamed gifs #chengxian #cql #restless rewatch the untamed #canary3d-original #my gifs

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cassava-49 · 3 years

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Let's Play Cupid

It was the 14th of February and Claude couldn't be happier. Today's the day of his final test as a Cupid. As a Cupid, one must know how to pair someone with a person who will make them happy for the rest of their lives, but get it wrong, let's just say that lawyers are going through a lot of checks.

In his school they were taught how pair and match people to each other. They also learned different kinds of love that could be used for the pair. They were taught how to see the signs of a mutual and capable attraction, and how to deal with the aftermath of unrequited love.

For their last test in their school in order to graduate, he must be able to pair 20 people. Given that Valentine's day is the loveliest and loneliest holiday that would be a perfect day for matchmaking. Each of their success will be recorded by a superior who will be watching them as they performed their exam. If they succeed they get to go to the human world in their assigned areas to matchmake humans in either their Cupid form or they may disguise themselves as humans to help them find their love. Given that students were not allowed to be in the human world in either form without the supervision of the superiors.

"You're Claude, right?" a fellow Cupid asked. Claude turned to find a tall man with brownish orange hair whose wingspan was twice his and had a warm brown colour. He nodded excitedly as his feathers spread out to show his excitement. "Yes sir," he replied in a high pitched tone. "I'm Sparrow, I'll be your supervisor today," the man introduced himself as he held out his hand to shake the junior's hand.

Claude took it excitedly and shook it with both hands. Sparrow grinned at the young man's excitement as he let go. "Alright, your assigned in Paris, correct?" he asked in assurance. "Yes sir, the city of love itself. I'm ready and excited for today," Claude answered. "Let's get going then, you're not the only Cupid whose been assigned to Paris," Sparrow reminded as he turned heel towards the portal. Claude hopped towards his senior and followed him to the human realm.

...

"Now students I want you to finish up to the tenth chapter of 'The Three Musketeers' by next week so that we could continue our discussion," Ms. Bustier said as she dismissed her class. The students hurriedly got out of their seats to enjoy the rest of the day.

Marinette fumbled with the letter in her hands as she looked at the boy in front of her. Noticing her actions, Alya have her a light nudge as she pointed to the boy in front of them. Marinette turned to her friend with pleading eyes trying to tell her that she can't do it yet. Alya gave out a sigh of frustration by the girl's reluctantness.

"I could give it to him for you," Alya offered. "I know this is not going to help you talk to him on your own but it's getting tiring now. Do you or do you not want him to know how you feel?" she asked her friend once Adrien left the room. Looking down at her feet she sighed and replied, "I want to, but if you do this for me how will I gave him when he gives me his answer?" Alya placed an arm over the girl's shoulder and have her a tight squeeze. She smiled at the bluenette and said, "Alright, you've got this."

A snort broke them from their moment. They turned and sneered at Felix who was giving them a heathen look. "I bet she's not going to do it," he stated as a foxy grin formed on his face. Alya scowled at the boy and crossed her arms over her chest. "I bet you wrong. You know why? Because today is the day, I can feel it. There's no better day to confess your love than on Valentine's day," she defended her friend. "Really now?" he quipped as he raised an eyebrow at the two.

"How about this, if I get to confess to Adrien today you're going to be my pack horse this weekend when I go shopping. If I don't," Marinette began. "You're going to go on a blind date with a friend of mine," Felix said as a sly smirk formed. Marinette's eyes widen as they turned into a scowl and smacked him on his head. "No way, I'm not that desperate," she exclaimed to him while he laughed at her actions.

"You know, he does have a point. But if she doesn't take the blind date I'll have it," Alya commented. "Alya! I thought you didn't want to date anyone," Marinette said in betrayal. Felix grinned and nodded and said, "I guess you could fill in for her anyway."

"That's unfair, I'm the one whose the bet about," Marinette pointed out. "Well then, are you going to take the blind date offer, then?" Felix challenged. Marinette looked at him, contemplating whether it's a good bet. "Fine, I'll do it," she finally said as she flailed her arms agreeing to their stupid bet.

He crossed his arms and shrugged his shoulders while Alya placed her fingers on her forehead and shook her head in disagreement. "Alright, what are we waiting for? Let's go and see if you can really do it," Alya said as she placed her hands behind the two's back and guided them out. "Wait, wait, why is he coming too?" Marinette asked in confusion. "Well I have to see the bet go through so don't mind me," he says as they exited the room.

...

"So newbie, where are we going?" Sparrow asked as they flew over the city. Claude looked around and began to think. "Why not a high school? There's a lot of teens who are looking for love and could actually help them find the sweet young love they're looking for," he responded. Sparrow pondered and made a note on his notebook. Claude looked at him worriedly and asked, "Was I right?" Sparrow closed the notebook and replied, "That's for me to know and for you to find out, later."

Claude nodded and spotted a school with an open courtyard and landed on the roof and began to scan the perimeter. Cupids have a special ability to detect attraction and capability of humans to another. For Claude, he can see it via scents and colour, a rather rare process that makes it difficult for him to interpret.

"Alright, let's get over the point system," Sparrow spoke as he landed next to him. "If you get soulmates you get 10 points, possible lovers 9 points, young love 8 points, admiration developed through time 7, love at first sight 6, first love 5, sweet 16 lovers 4 points, retrying past relationships 3, friends with benefits 2 points, and finally casual sex 1 point, but the wild card may land you any point," he went over. Claude nodded and took in a deep breath and began to focus.

"Oh right," Sparrow interrupted. "I can deduct points as well, if you matched the wrong pairs, if you use the wrong formula I have to deduct 8 points. If you match those who are not compatible 9 points will be removed. And if you mess up a currently working relationship or possible relationship I'll be taking 10 points," he finished.

"Why are the deducting points higher?" Claude asked. Sparrow shrugged and said, "I don't really know, maybe to fail you guys faster," he joked.

Claude turned his attention back to the courtyard and began to focus on the students and took in the plenty scents and colours around him. He noticed two friends walking with each other. The blonde had two colours around her, one was white, but was slightly faded, either because of the distance or the age. The other colour was pink and it was wrapped around her friend who had the same colour.

He knew this would be a big problem if the soulmate appears but with the faded the colour made it was slightly impossible. Taking two arrows he fired at the two, making a trail of dark pink roses follow.

...

Rose giggled as she told Juleka about a cute video she watched about Prince Ali. Juleka smiled at her as a light pink blush dusted her cheeks. They both stopped in their footsteps as if they were hit with an arrow. The looked at each other and smiled.

"Do you want to, you know, go to that ice cream shop that they keep on talking about?" Juleka asked Rose. Rose smiled and nodded as she took the goth's hand and began to drag her to Andre's.

...

Sparrow looked at Claude and smiled as he said, "That gives you seven points, not bad." Claude smiled to himself as he looked back at the students as he saw a stray colour blue between two people who kept on glancing at each other. He took in the scent and realized that he need to get them back.

He took the arrows and fired at the jock and the other athlete as a trail of blue roses followed. The male pulled the typical I left something in the classroom, making the girl followed him to speak privately.

Next he saw another stray of blue from a girl who was walking into a car and a boy who was driving another couple around town. He aimed at them making the male bike towards his ex.

Sparrow raised an eyebrow at him wondering why he's wasting his points on people who broke up instead of using it to those who have a higher chance of giving him a higher point.

Claude spotted a yellow mess with a sweet honey scent from two friends who were listening to a podcast together. He smiled and shot two arrows at them changing their mood. Next he say a string of red coming from a classroom in the second floor. He flew closer to find an artist and a writer working on a comic, and are obviously attracted to each other, but are too shy to talk about it. He grinned and leaned against the door frame and shot the two arrows that was followed by red roses.

He smiled at this and suddenly caught a whiff of a zesty orange smell. He turned to find a rocker who had a hopeful look towards the girl. He was radiating a strong zest smell, but it was a weak orange colour towards his counterpart. He hates this, it makes it hard got him to decide, mostly because the girl had a strong red colour making it hard for him to decide which one to follow.

Taking a cream colored arrow, he shot it at the two. He watched as the arrows landed on the two making them meet eyes. He watched as the colour changed into a sunset orange with a mixture of a light violet as the scent was an early morning.

"Not bad, you really are moving quickly. You still have fifteen minutes left," Sparrow said as he landed next to Claude.

...

Once out of the classroom Marinette felt a different chill in the air. She shrugged it off as they tried to look for Adrien, who would be at fencing class today. They began to go down the steps, but she can't help but look around.

"Guys, do you feel the weird chill in the air?" Marinette asked. Alya shrugged and answered, "Don't tell me you're getting cold feet?"

"I'm not, it's just that there's something different about today. I mean look, Ondine and Kim are holding hands," make pointed out as she pointed at the couple who just came out of the room. Alya's eyes widened in interest and said, "Scoop! I can't believe they're back. I've got to go and ask them now. Felix make sure that she gets to confess, do not sabotage it."

Felix rolled his eyes and said, "Whatever, as long as she ends up in an awkward situation I'll be happy," he commented earning him a slap on the stomach. "Sadist," Marinette mumbled. Felix chuckled but stopped in his tracks when he saw his two friends together, closer than ever.

Following his line of sight Marinette smiled and began shaking him in excitement. "Oh my gosh, are they finally going out?" she asked as she pointed at Allan who had an arm over Allegra, while they were sitting on a bench listening to a podcast. "I don't see why it's such a big deal," he told her. "What?" she asked in an offended tone. Felix removed himself from her and said, "You know it was bound to happen so why you're overreacting about it." She huffed at his comment and began to look for a seat.

They found a bench and waited for Adrien's duel against a new student in red to finish. "There's something really strange about the air," Felix commented. Marinette nodded in agreement as she tried to figure out what's happening. It suddenly clicked, making her grin and casually reply, "I think it's love."

Felix scoffed at her answer keeping his eye at the game. "Why? Because it's Valentine's day," he sarcastically said. She rolled her eyes at him and said, "What do you know about love anyway? I'm pretty sure you haven't felt it."

He chuckled at her statement as movement caught his eye. "Well, I know when someone's attracted to another. Speak of which, it seems like I found a blind date for you," Felix stated. "Really now, I think Lila has something to say to you though," she commented noticing the brunettes movement.

...

Claude began to look around again, there he found a trio of students coming down the stairs with a string aura to them. The brunette with red tips had a strong pink colour surrounding her while a sweet Carnation smell emitted from her. The bluenette beside her had multiple colours crashing around her, but the strongest ones are white and dark pink, both pointing towards the fencer. However, the blond beside them had nothing, no colour and no scent.

This was a rare occurrence given that all of the people he had seen with this usually end up alone. It's either, they don't want to get attached to anyone romantically, or they are really good at hiding romantic attraction and thoughts. If a Cupid can't detect it, what more the person they love.

He then caught a sudden smell of a horrible odor that could cause him to puke. He turned to find a young girl who was surrounded by her peers. He looked closer and looked at the rather morseful colour colour combination the girl expelled. She was the type of people Cupids dislike, given that they are the homewreckers and whorish opportunists.

He noticed her line of sight and was locked with the blond he just saw. She watched her get up and began to walk towards the boy. He watched as the blond ignored her attempts and touches. However, at the other end he could see another boy who held a letter in his hand and was radiating an orange colour towards the bluenette, who held only the scent of friendship for him.

"You poor soul," he commented as he suddenly noticed a faint red colour mixing with the orange of the boy. Claude turned to find the source of it, it came from the brunette from the stairs who was also radiating a red colour that's mixing with the pink. He smiled as he shot both of them with the arrow.

Suddenly he a sweet fragrance of fresh wine was calling from behind. It was intoxicating and dangerous, given that it's the call of love at first sight. Claude could feel himself get reeled into it, given the aroma was to good to say no to. This made him unconsciously take up two arrows and turned to face the culprits and shot it at them while a spring is violet roses followed.

Realising what he had done he began to see the string white from the male for down. That was when he realized that that was the male fencer the bluenette was fated to. He knew he messed up big time today.

...

"Why am I not surprised?" Felix commented as Lila arrived and gave her model smile with a small wave. "Happy Valentine's day Felix," she greeted him. Marinette wanted to gag at her actions knowing they were all superficial. "What's so happy about today when today is supposed to be the death anniversary of Saint Valentine?" he asked.

"Well, it is his death anniversary. Did you know that I actually babysat his great-great-great-grandson?" Lila spectacled trying to catch his attention. Marinette lost it, making her laugh at this statement while Felix tried to school his features. "You do mean from a close relative not a direct descendant," he tried to clarify.

"Is there any difference?" Lila asked not catching on on what she just said. This made Marinette laugh harder not being able to control her laughter. "Marinette really is crazy," Lila commented. "I mean look at her, laughing at nothing," she added.

"That may be so, but if you were in her position, wouldn't you laugh as well?" Felix asked her. Lila have a puzzled look, not picking on what they both meant.

"You do know that Saint Valentine is a priest, right?" Marinette asked catching her breath. It finally clicked and she knew she couldn't back out now as she placed an awkward smile on her face and began laughing awkwardly. "You got it, it was a joke. I was joking," she tried to save face.

Luckily for her luck was on her side, as Alya arrived and placed an arm over the girl's shoulder. "Hey Lila, I have a major scoop for you," Alya said in an ecstatic voice. Feeling relieved, Lila turned her attention to the reporter, "Really, what is it?" she asked trying to sound excited. "I just found out that Kim and Ondine are back together," Alya exclaimed as she shoved her phone to the Italian's face.

"You know, you still have to notice Nino over there," Felix whispered to Marinette as he edged his head to the boy's direction. Marinette turned to look at Nino and asked, "Are you sure it's for me? I thought he had a crush on Alya if I'm going to be honest." Felix shrugged and simply said, "Whatever." As they both turned they're attention to the duel.

The duel finally ended with both of them pointing each other, making it difficult for the referee to decide. Mr. D'Argencourt smiled as he placed his hand under his chin. "Well it seems like my students are still unbeatable," he stated. "Take your saber away, along with your helmet," he commanded.

The red fencer frowned under her mask, not wanting to show her face to a crowd knowing her failure. Adrien, however, pushed his helmet back and turned to his teacher. "Are you sure, sir? I think he got the point," he defended his competitor. He turned to the fencer and said, "Why not a decisive match to prove yourself?"

The red fencer sighed as she shrugged off her helmet swishing her short dark hair and made eye contact with her opponent. But as their eyes met an instant connection was felt.

Marinette and Felix noticed this, causing her heart to clench and an unintended tear slid down her cheek. She knew that look on both of their faces very well. Those looks they are giving each other are the looks of people who have fallen in love with the first time they made eye contact.

She couldn't help but feel like she's not going to get the answer she would be hoping for. This made her get up from where she sat and began to run out of the school.

...

Sparrow looked at the horrible mistake that Claude had made. He looked at the male fencer and the fleeting figure of the bluenette. Those two were meant to be soulmates, but it seems like Claude paired the wrong couple. He looked back at where the girl sat, only to find that the blond male had gotten up and followed behind her.

Even for Sparrow he wasn't able to hear any form of love emanating from the boy, but seeing him follow after his friend he couldn't help but hear the enchanting symphony of soulmates from him. He looked back at his student and approached him from behind.

"You have to fix this you know that," he told Claude. Claude looked lost as he placed his hands on his head. "I-I don't know how to fix this. They were supposed to be soulmates and I separated them because of a spontaneous emotion," he ranted, feeling angry about himself for making the wrong decision in matchmaking.

Sparrow placed a hand on his shoulder and told him, "It seems like you're forgetting a little thing about soulmates." This hit him as he flew up immediately and began to look for Marinette to set it right.

...

Marinette didn't know that she started to run away from him. She just ran and ran with no direction not caring where she was going as the tears streamed from her face. She even left her schoolbag and dropped the letter she was going to give to Adrien. She finally got tired and sat on the closest bench she found and began to cry her eyes out.

Passersby looked at the girl with pity knowing that she's one of the unfortunate souls that Valentine's day looked down on. But she didn't care about what the other people thought, she just cared about the look Adrien was giving his fencing opponent. Indeed that girl looked beautiful and strong, she had a confident aura around her. Not to mention, she looked like she had a lifestyle and status that was similar to Adrien. How can she ever compete with that.

"Of all the places you could be in, you chose that most romantic spot in Paris," Felix spoke in front of her. She looked up to find him kneeling before her to match her height. He placed her bag and the letter next to her as he took a handkerchief from his pocket and gave it to her. She silently took it and wiped her eyes and blew her nose. He got up and sat next to her with their bags in between.

"You saw it too didn't you?" Felix asked Marinette. She nodded solemnly not wanting to face him with her tearstained eyes and runny nose. "You recognized the look on their faces?" she asked mildly surprised that he knew what a lovestruck face looked like. "I'm not that heartless you know," he replied as he placed both of his arms on the top of the bench's backrest. She snorted and chuckled at his answer as she wiped her eyes again.

The two stayed silent for a while as Marinette tried to compose herself. "Thanks for bringing me my bag," she said once she felt that she would no longer cry. He hummed a 'you're welcome' to her as he looked at the changing sky. She took the note that she wrote for Adrien and began to contemplate as she strolled down memory lane.

...

Five months ago

"You're such a dick, Felix!" Marinette screamed at him as he was sitting on the branch of a tree reading her diary. "Scream all you want, this cat isn't getting down, and remember there are kids in the park," he mocked her with one hand holding the tree and the other he placed his head on to of it while he held the diary and gave her a wink. He adjusted his position as he leaned his back on the main stem of the tree as he began to read her diary aloud.

"Today was an amazing day, I was able to go to the movies with Adrien~ even though I was in my pajamas wearing pink goggles and a towel on my head," he read in an over the top voice making him laugh loudly. "Seriously Marinette, that was the only thing you wrote as the highlight of the day," he added as the bluenette turned red in anger and embarrassment.

"Just shut up and give me my diary back," she shouted at him, losing her patience. "You shouldn't leave these things out in the open you know. If you already had a box for it make sure that it's always in there," he told her sad he continued to flip through the pages.

This made the girl climb the tree as well, hoping to retrieve it before he reads anymore of her embarrassing secrets. Felix, on the other, was rather enjoying this, he knew he still had time given that he's at the top and it would take a while before she'd reach him. He flipped through some pages and a certain word caught his attention.

He read it silently, "Dear Diary, today Felix annoyed the hell out of me again. But I can't help but feel happy to know that at least someone was brave enough to point out my flaws. He's actually right about me being a doormat when it comes to my friends, I noticed that now. Even though he insults us it seems like he's actually looking out for us in his own way (at least he's not as bad as Chloe). He's starting to grow on me despite the horrible first impression we got from him. I just hope that he'll start saying things in a nicer way. I feel like if he was kinder he would be like an antisocial version of Adrien, they look so alike.

"If you look at his blond hair, it's so kept you'd think that he consumes a single can of hairspray or hair gel every day to keep it that way. His eyes are darker than Adrien's though, making him look more mysterious. It makes me wonder what goes on in that thick head of his. Is he thinking of different ways to judge everyone or world domination? Or is he think of, nevermind, as if he'd be think of that. But his eyelashes are very much longer than Adrien's giving him a kind of feminine touch, maybe he got it from his father. But when he looks at me it sometimes makes me feel like Adrien's looking at me.

"Oh Adrien, I just love sitting behind him, because I get to look at the back of his head all the time and when he stands up I could sometimes look at his cute butt. Wait, if Adrien and Felix look very much alike do they have the same body build, like is Felix as ripped as Adrien? Then that would mean—"

"Gotcha!" Marinette exclaimed as she took her diary from his hands. Felix flinched at this realising that he was no longer paying attention to the owner. She gave a victorious laugh only to lose her balance and fall. He reacted quickly, stretching out his arm and caught her, but he was dragged down. He turned them so that he would take the impact as he held Marinette in his arms protectively.

Felix groaned on impact feeling like he broke something. Marinette quickly got up and began scolding him. "What do you think you were doing? You could've been severely injured taking the fall for both of us. But you did deserve for reading my diary," she rebuked. He gave out another groan as he mumbled an apology to her.

"I know, I know, it was stupid of me and I kinda deserved it," he says as he tried to get up. "You think," she sarcastically replied. She sighed as she helped him up as he winced and whimpered. "Ow, ow, ow, careful, I'm fragile," he whined. "Why? Cat didn't land on his feet and ended up bruised," she mocked him. She brought him the get house, where they were supposed to be doing a pair project only to have a brawl.

She placed him on their sofa and began treating his bruises. "I'm sorry," he said as he winced at her touch. "I shouldn't have took your diary it's private," he apologized as he looked at the first aid kit in front of her. "I should be sorry too," she said. "I'm so clumsy that I lost my footing and fell," she explained. The two fell silent as she finished up. "Thank you," he told her. She smiled at his gratitude and replied, "You're welcome, but I should thank you for taking the fall for me. He gave her a smile as he awkwardly scratched his nape and said, "I had it coming. Karma is a bitch anyway." She placed a kiss on his bruised forehead silencing him.

...

Marinette began tearing the love letter she made for Adrien. Felix looked at her with confusion, but didn't stop her. Once she finished she got up and threw it in the trash can and went back to where she sat.

"Are you giving up?" he asked trying to fill in the silence. She looked up at the sky whose colours were changing and turned into a sea of coral colours. "I guess so, I don't want to abuse myself with my obsession with him. He needs me as a friend not as a lover, the same goes for me. I always felt like we were just meant to be friends and I'm happy with that, as long as I'm in his life and he's in mine," she replied.

This made him smile as he looked at the sky as well. "So you gonna start looking for other guys?" he asked her. She shrugged still looking at the sky, "Maybe," she replied. He turned his head slightly to look at her and said, "Luka perhaps? He's s great guy anyways." She turned her head slightly at him and asked in a confused tone, "Weren't you going to set me up on a blind date?"

"Are you still willing?" he challenged with a cheshire smile. "Only if you'll be my blind date," she joked. For some of reason this made his heart skip a beat like that time during their project. She laughed at his reaction as she turned back to the sky. It was short lived because she felt herself get dragged from her seat.

"Where are we going?" she asked rather lost as to why he grabbed her hand and bag. He flashed her a toothy grin and said, "On a date, of course." This made her flush stopping in her tracks, this made him stop as well. He neared her only to have her grip his hand tighter and dragged him along. "Keep up, were going ice cream hunting," she said in a happy tone.

Sparrow and Claude sat on the railings of the Eiffel tower with a satisfied look on their faces. "They are more than two fragments of an original soul," Claude whispered

#miraculous ladybug and chat noir #adrien agreste #felinette #marinette dupain cheng #felix graham de vanily #felix agreste #alya #nino #kim x ondine #nathanael x marc #juleka x rose #adrigami #lila rossi #quantic kids #cupid au #claude #allegra #allan #marinette x felix

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nissakii · 3 years

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Significance of “Madness” in anime

We’ve already established in other posts about significant emotions and concepts in anime or specific media before. The Significance of losing or the one of visuals and metaphors in Haikyuu!! are some of those I would love to mention here, but today we shall delve into a broader topic that goes more along the lines of Makii’s thrilling post about Danganronpa and the Significance of Despair.

Today, our topic of interest is madness.

To ease your mind, in this post we will be talking about the representation of insanity and madness in some anime characters and how that reflects on the story and ourselves as an audience.To make one thing clear, a lot of the times we see overexaggerated versions of unstable characteristics in anime that aren’t realistic.

This is in no way a discussion about actual mental illnesses and not a professional approach to analysing them to our real life standards, but maybe a start to an interesting discussion about how we portray and handle what one may colloquially call “craziness”.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s start!

Artists, and no matter for example if they write or draw, use their platforms to deliver messages in cryptic ways. As humans, we have the innate ability to look at something and consume the facts through entertainment which makes us crave new media to follow and analyse.

We love to question things instead of just taking them as they are, and that is why most writers out there will play around with the perception of their audience.

You may be familiar with the common question that ghosts through your head as you enjoy the latest episode of your favorite anime.

Why did he do that? Is she a traitor? What makes them think that way?

Although one might always do it consciously, we most definitely analyse whatever media we consume and decide for ourselves if it is important enough to keep in mind for future reference.

What the writer or founder of the anime ultimately wants from the reader is a reaction.

No matter what they intend to do with it, if they enjoy the viewer getting excited or traumatised is not of importance, but a reaction is evidently one of the goals.

And as strong emotions always evoke an even stronger reaction, anime characters are often very idealized and have ideologies that make them want to do one particular thing.

Be it save the world or destroy it, we focus and look at these characters and root for them if they give us a reason to do so.

Both sides of good and bad can have deeply rooted admiration drawn out of us, and it sometimes doesn’t even matter because the more interesting part is the lovely grey area in between.

We need a balance of good and bad to enjoy both.

Empathy makes us viewers want to relate to the characters, and if the author gives us the possibility to learn why someone does something, it gets harder and harder to dislike them. That’s why tragic backstories and flashbacks are such an overused tool in anime, because with the extreme behaviour some characters show they also need equal amounts of redemption.

We attach ourselves emotionally to characters depending on our personal tastes as well.

If someone likes and relates to a strong and independent protagonist who would drop anything for the sake of justice, you will find a lot of resembling characters in shounen for example.

On the other hand, if a darker or more obsessive character manages to take over a special place in a viewer’s heart, putting them on a pedestal gets more and more interesting, because you’re not supposed to.

Contrary to that, characters with insane or dark personality traits are often very popular, again tracing this back to human instinct of emphasising with wronged characters and curiously inspecting the fully deranged ones.

As this isn't something that should be put into vague concepts, we’re instead going to look at examples of characters and entities that are seen as ‘mad’ and how they’re interpreted.

It’s not just about villains being unreasonably immoral in this post, as we look into what madness entails and how it's shown, we also have some examples of corruption to look at.

So of course there are the typical evil-thinking evil-doing villains out there.

Some of them have an actual backstory to make them more realistic and believable, some others are just pure evil. While they are often called mad for their actions to achieve their goal, the reason why they are put into that light is the stark contrast between the protagonist and the villain.

If the protagonist loves to save people and always has a smile on his face, of course he will differ from his counterpart when he finds out that his methods are a bit more vicious.

The protagonist perceives the villain as insane most of the time, but what does the viewer think?

We seek to look not only at characters that are enjoyable to watch, but also try to find similarities between us and them or draw lines in their behavior to understand them better. As mentioned before, empathy plays a huge role here as well, since whatever happens in anime doesn't have actual repercussions, we can forgive characters more easily.

For example when they are taken by Insanity as a side effect rather than being insane due to trauma, we often get an 'ally turned traitor' trope through hypnosis or brainwashing, which is just as interesting to look at.

If a person did something horrible under the influence of something they had no control over, are they still to blame?

Does Insanity only involve a separate entity that comes from evil, or are we also looking at the gradual descent into darkness when life just isn't the same anymore?

Insane and with no fear: Soul Eater

A great example of how insanity plays with characters be they good or bad is Soul Eater.

With a premise that one needs a sound mind and body to inhibit a sound soul, we obviously know that people close to becoming Kishin-eggs will have a rotten soul drenched in bad deeds, but what about the good guys?

In this instance we have a lot of different types of madness and insanity that touches multiple characters at different times, and by far the most drastic would be the black blood.

The black blood being a synthesized weapon form of blood that can change form and harden into shape, is a weapon made by Medusa and introduced for the first time with Crona. He was melded together with Ragnarök as a weapon and used the black blood in his proficient fighting style.

Soul Eater as well as Maka and other characters later come into contact with the black blood, and the consequence of the immense strength that comes with it is debilitating madness.

As explained in the anime, the madness makes one deny the soul of oneself and others and takes away your fear. Now with no fear present, the person exhibits extremely erratic behavior and is not scared to hurt others or themselves.

This is an insanity that shows how essential a person's fear is, shown by Maka in one of the latest episodes when she fights Asura. The fact that she learned how to accept her own fear and realise that humans need it to survive is why insanity in Soul Eater is merely a concept to differentiate between what is human and what is Kishin.

A Kishin kills and murders with no fear of anything.

A human protects and masters one's own fear.

The power hungry insanity: Hunter x Hunter

In Hunter x Hunter we have a lot of characters that don't exactly fit the norm of human action.

With people like Chrollo, Illumi and even Chimera Ants there is enough crazy to go around.

Still, the character we shall delve into to look at a different kind of instability is none other than Hisoka Morow.

Yes, in comparison to black blood madness Hisoka is an actual human being with no known influence outside of his own intellect. The contrary to another weapon or entity making someone insane is being shown in this anime.

Hisoka is just insane.

We have no means to see if there is anything that might have caused Hisoka to be the way that he is, but what we do know is that his character is almost too nonchalant for his own good.

His goal is to accumulate power and fight others that he seems worthy, as that is what attracts him. No person is spared if he believes he found a worthy opponent he will make that clear to them and pursue them passionately.

We could rule that the clown is just eccentric, but with the given information from the anime he definitely had some sort of mental difference next to his peers. Harming himself holds no problem to him, and his behavior is deeply rooted only to suit himself. He has no self-preservation except for when he needs to accomplish something, and he even enters the spiders just to get close to Chrollo.

Now we see a single person carry themselves throughout a story only to achieve one thing: a good fight.

After having looked at these two examples of insanity in anime, let's look at how that insanity can be portrayed visually.

A famous way to show someone's psychosis is the “Kubrick stare”. A directorial technique that got named after the director Stanley Kubrick who used a forward tilt of the head with eyes locked onto the camera to show the actors of his movies at their peak of madness. It became a very popular stylistic device and is used still very often in modern movies.

The character is supposed to look menacing, evil-plotting and absolutely unhinged.

Such devices, if used often enough, automatically invoke the message to the viewer.

If you’ve seen the Kubrick stare once in a psychotic character, you will definitely associate it with the same derangement again.

In anime we have a similar thing, and you might be aware of this already.

Familiar with the ‘eye angle just before a character goes insane’ meme?

It’s a running gag that shows multiple characters such as Asura from Soul Eater, Pain from Naruto, Light from Deathnote and Jason from Tokyo Ghoul in a frame where you can only see their eyes and it somehow looks extremely grotesque as if they were looking into different directions with their eyes.

As much as it is a joke, it is a perfect example of something extremely similar to the Kubrick stare used in anime culture. It goes so far that if any anime watcher would see a new character look like in a frame, one would assume they were about to go crazy.

Even Oikawa Tooru from Haikyuu!! was shown with a Kubrick stare in the last moments of the second Seijoh vs. Karasuno game, when his desire to win overtook him with incredible force.

Without loss there naturally can’t be any wins, and without sadness there will be no joy in laughter.

We need the different depictions of what one might call madness, to fill our stories with nuance that relies on our reality.

Be it an unknown entity, hunger for power, lack of fear or the good old fashioned thrive for world domination.

Madness is just another part of what we call life, and to be honest in healthy doses and for effect why not enjoy it in anime?

Now, do you guys know any other characters or concepts in anime that would be worth mentioning? I would love to see them in the comments!

Until then, stay sane!

-Nissa

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remmushound · 3 years

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Bay/rise 31!! @errorfreak88 @selfindulgenz @brightlotusmoon @digitl-art-monstr

Yoshi couldn’t help but smile when he came across the adorable sight of both Michelangelo’s passed out together in the larger one's bed, laying sideways sprawled over the torn mattress and sleeping off the stress of the day with the comfort of each other's presence. Mikey was much more sprawled than Michelangelo, his arms taking up a good deal of the bed and his legs hanging over the side while his mouth sounded loud snores with each raspy breath. Michelangelo, in contract, took up almost no room at all. He had his arms folded under his plastron and his legs pulled into his shell completely to tuck himself away from the world. His head was pulled into the sheltering cavity of his shell, but the bridge wasn’t closed, so Yoshi could see the peaceful face as the young box turtle snoozed quietly.

“Awww…” Yoshi gave a weak smile as he reached a paw to gently stroke his son’s head.

“Adorable, aren’t they?”

Yoshi looked back at the other rat. He couldn’t see the old master until the mutant started to move and distance himself from the shadows that hid him, approaching Yoshi and their sons.

“I didn't even see you there!” Yoshi laughed as Splinter came up beside him and started to stroke Mikey’s shell. “I could never hide so well! With my old bones? I’d sound like fresh packaged bubble wrap!”

Splinter gave a hum in lieu of laughter as he pulled himself onto the bed beside his son. “My boys used to sleep in a pile like this all the time when they were hatchlings. You wouldn’t believe how hard it was for them when they had to start sleeping on their own.”

Yoshi scrambled up onto the bed beside Michelangelo, yanking the young teen into his lap. He started to stroke Michelangelo’s shell in gentle spirals until the box turtle began to churr, almost like a cat's purr.

“Thank you for offering me and my family safety.” Yoshi said softly, “I can’t imagine what could have happened to my boys if they had been turned away...”

Splinter lowered his head somberly as he perfectly understood the emotions reigning through his other’s head. “Your Donatello was very strong in getting your Raphael here. I understand Raphael is your oldest?”

“Yes!” Yoshi leaned back, stroking his beard. “Red has always been a big boy! He was as big as I was when he was four! Then again I suppose that’s not much an achievement given my stature.”

Splinter and Yoshi couldn’t be more different if they tried. Yoshi stood at just over four feet, covered in a coarse coat of thick gray fur that turned scarce on his mostly hairless hands and legs. His tail was long and powerful, sprinkled with a few stray hairs and bent in several areas from old breaks healed wrong. Splinter’s fur, however, was brown and white covering the entire length of his body, including his paws. White fur grew long on his muzzle to appear almost like a beard, and the same assortment of thick white gave him bushy eyebrows. His tail was short when compared to Yoshi’s and stained more brown than pink. Splinter's eyes were beady and black in contrast with Yoshi’s yellow ones.

“We are two kinds of the same, Splinter.” Splinter laughed, and it was weird saying his own name.

“Oh please! Call me Yoshi!” Yoshi offered.

“Well then. Yoshi it is.” Splinter’s lips curled in a smile as he looked over the other rat and sleeping turtle. “Your sons are very polite.”

“They are?” Yoshi was genuinely surprised a moment before shaking his head, “I mean— of course they are! I hope our stay hasn't been much trouble for you.”

“Oh no— not at all! I welcome the energy they bring to the lair.” Splinter guffawed, “My sons haven’t been so lively in years! Well, I suppose Michelangelo’s energy hasn’t gone down very much, but the rest of my sons have matured on a much more… neurotypical timeline.”

Yoshi blinked. “Those uh. Sure are words.”

“It just means Michelangelo has matured in his own way.” Splinter elaborated happily, “If I’m being quite honest, I very much missed the young energy of children….”

“Your sons are, what, eighteen? They’re still young!”

“Nineteen. They’re not as young as yours, and they haven’t near as much energy as your boys. Even my Michelangelo can’t compare!”

“You think they’re energetic now? Just wait until you’ve lived with them all your life. It can get exhausting at times.”

“Well, as someone gone through similar experience, I can assure you it gets better.”

“With my life? I sure hope so!”

“Well, all things considered, I believe you did a great job with your sons. As great as anyone in our situation can hope to achieve without a support system in place.”

“Oh, it wasn’t easy! Especially not the first years when I was still… struggling with my loss of humanity.” Yoshi looked at his paws, tracing his claw across his palm gently to feel the sensation as if he still had to make sure it was actually his.

“You were human once?” Splinter looked to his counterpart, a curious glint in the black of his eyes.

“Oh yes!” Yoshi closed his eyes for a moment to remember the days of his youth before he opened them again to look over to Splinter. “Wait— you weren’t?”

Splinter shook his head. “I was just a normal rat until me and my sons were imbued with the mutagen from Sachs’ laboratory. Me and the turtles escaped with the help of young April O’Neil as the laboratory burned up. What of your story?”

“Er… well…” Yoshi shrunk nervously and rubbed the back of his head as he tried to think of the best way to explain, “I suppose… Baron Draxum is my worlds equivalent of your Sachs. He kidnapped me and took my blood to perfect his mutagen and he used the mutagen to create my sons. I broke free and set the lab on fire, and I took my sons with me as I escaped. I… came into contact with the mutagen as the lab went down in flames but… since it wasn’t injected into my blood and it was simply just… splashed on me, my mutation took much longer to take full effect. Near two years in fact.”

“Wow…” Splinter sucked in a deep breath, “That is very unfortunate. You are very strong for being able to escape such evil. No one would have blamed you if you hadn’t of taken the turtles with you so… why did you, if I may ask?”

“Because they were innocent creatures. Children that had nothing to do with the cruelty of Draxum! And your words aren’t entirely true.”

“No?”

“There is someone who would have blamed me.” Yoshi put his hand to his chest. “Me.”

Splinter’s eyes went wide a moment before settling back down with a gentle smile. “You are a very kind soul, Yoshi.”

They talked for several minutes more, gushing about their sons and their lives and their adventures, before Yoshi suddenly felt incredibly ill at ease. His fur started to spike and that was his first sign that something was wrong. Then his tail began to twitch behind him, lashing like a whip as an instinctually-imbued agitation filled him.

“Yoshi? Are you alright?”

Yoshi grunted softly. The air felt like electricity and tasted sour, and Yoshi’s ears kept flicked around on their own swivel as they tried to latch onto what was causing such an intense aggravation.

“Something is wrong…”

#Splinter bonding!!#they’re friends!#what could be wrong 🤫

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tipsycad147 · 3 years

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Cronus (Kronos) – Leader of the Titans

Before the times of the Olympians, the ruthless Titan Cronus (also spelled Kronos or Cronos) was the god of time and the ruler of the universe. Cronus is known as a tyrant, but his dominion in the Golden Age of Greek mythology was prosperous. Cronus is typically depicted as a strong, tall man with a sickle, but sometimes he’s portrayed as an old man with a long beard. Hesiod refers to Cronus as the most terrible of the Titans. Here’s a closer look at Cronus.

Cronus and Uranus

According to Greek mythology, Cronus was the youngest of the twelve Titans born from Gaia, the personification of earth, and Uranus, the personification of the sky. He was also the primordial god of time. His name comes from the Greek word for chronological or sequential time, Chronos, from which we get our modern words like chronology, chronometer, anachronism, chronicle and synchrony to name a few.

Before Cronus was the ruler, his father Uranus was the ruler of the universe. He was irrational, evil and had forced Gaia to keep his children the Titans, the Cyclopes and Hecatoncheires in her womb, because he despised them and didn’t want them to see the light. However, Gaia managed to conspire with Cronus to take down Uranus and end his reign over the universe. According to the myths, Cronus used a sickle to castrate Uranus, thus separating the skies from the earth. The Erinyes were born from the blood of Uranus that fell onto Gaia, while Aphrodite was born from the white foam of the sea when Cronus tossed the severed genitals of Uranus into the sea.

When Uranus was unmanned, he cursed his son with a prophecy that said that he would suffer the same destiny as his father; Cronus would be dethroned by one of his sons. Cronus then went on to free his siblings and ruled over the Titans as their king.

The myths say that as a result of Uranus’ dethroning, Cronus separated the heavens from the earth, creating the world as we know it nowadays.

Cronus and the Golden Age

In current times, Cronus is seen as an unmerciful being, but the tales of the pre-Hellenistic Golden Age tell a different story.

Cronus’ reign was a plentiful one. Although humans already existed, they were primitive beings who lived in tribes. Peace and harmony were the foremost markers of the rule of Cronus in a time where there was no society, no art, no government, and no wars.

Due to this, there are tales of Cronus’ benevolence and the limitless abundance of his times. The golden age is known as the greatest of all human eras, where gods walked on earth among men, and life was teeming and peaceful.

After the Hellenes arrived and imposed their traditions and mythology, Cronus began to be depicted as a destructive force that ravaged everything on his way. The Titans were the first enemies of the Olympians, and this gave them their dominant role as the villains of Greek mythology.

Cronus’ Children

Cronus wed his sister Rhea, and together they ruled the world after Uranus’ demise. They sired six children: Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, Poseidon, and Zeus in that order.

Unexpectedly, and after a period of calm and excellent ruling, Cronus started acting like Uranus, and conscious of his father’s prophecy, he swallowed all his children as soon as they were born. That way, none of them could dethrone him.

However, Rhea would not have this. With her mother Gaia’s help, she managed to hide the last child, Zeus, and gave Cronus a rock wrapped in clothes to eat instead. Zeus would grow to be the one to fulfill Uranus’ prophecy.

The Dethroning of Cronus

Zeus eventually challenged his father, managing to save his siblings by making Cronus disgorge them, and together they fought Cronus for the rule of the cosmos. After a mighty fight that struck both heaven and earth, the Olympians rose victorious, and Cronus lost his power.

After being dethroned, Cronus did not die. He was sent to the Tartarus, a deep abyss of torment, to remain there imprisoned as a powerless being with the other Titans. In other accounts, Cronus was not sent to the Tartarus but instead stayed as king in Elysium, the paradise for immortal heroes.

Cronus could not break the cycle of sons dethroning fathers in Greek mythology. According to Aeschylus, he passed on his curse to Zeus with the prophecy that he would suffer the same fate.

Cronus’ Influence and Other Associations

Cronus’ myths have given him a variety of associations. Given the abundance of his rule in the Golden Age, Cronus was also the god of harvest and prosperity. Some myths refer to Cronus as Father Time.

Cronus has been associated with the Phoenician god of time, El Olam, for the child sacrifices that people offered to both of them in antiquity.

According to Roman tradition, Cronus’ counterpart in Roman mythology was the agricultural god Saturn. Roman stories propose that Saturn reinstated the golden age after he escaped the Latium – the celebration of this time was Saturnalia, one of Rome’s most important traditions.

The Saturnalia was a festival celebrated yearly from December 17th to December 23rd. Christianity later adopted many of the customs of Saturnalia, including giving gifts, lighting candles and feasting. The influence of this agricultural festival still impacts the western world and the way we celebrate Christmas and the New Year.

Cronus in Modern Times

After the rise to power of the Olympians, the benevolence and the generosity of Cronus were left aside, and his role as the antagonist was the prevalent idea people had of the titan. This association continues today.

In Rick Riordan’s saga Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Cronus tries to return from Tartarus to declare war once again to the gods with the help of a group of demigods.

In the series Sailor Moon, Sailor Saturn has the powers of Cronus/Saturn and his connection to the harvests.

Father Time appears in the videogame series God of War with some modifications to his Greek Mythology story.

Wrapping Up

Although he is seen as one the greatest antagonists of Greek mythology, the King of the Titans may not have been that bad after all. With the most prosperous times in human history ascribed to his reign, Cronus seems to have been a benevolent ruler at one stage in time. His role as the usurper of power against Uranus and later as the antagonist against whom Zeus fought makes him one of the most important characters of Greek mythology.

https://symbolsage.com/cronus-leader-of-titans/

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scarletarosa · 4 years

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The Passage into the Afterlife

Throughout history, the thought of what happens to someone after death has long fascinated and terrified the human race. One may be surprised to discover that every story holds some truth to it. The following documentation has been long researched by myself through both astral traveling and through communicating with Minos, one of the three Judges of the Underworld. This is not intended to force beliefs, but to prepare those who are open on this subject for what lies ahead.

The Ka and Ba

Before getting into what occurs after death, one must understand the difference between the Ka (spirit) and Ba (higher self/soul). This is a concept that can be read about further in Ancient Egyptian belief. Basically, the Ba is the higher self who is immortal and dwells in the realms of spirit. When the Ba chooses to incarnate onto a planet, they choose an “unborn spirit” to embody. These two entities then come together in the womb, and then the Ba closes their eyes, awaiting the time when their human will mature and seek higher knowledge (if they ever do).

If the Ba is fortunate, their human will begin seeking true knowledge of the spirit realms and of higher selves, causing the Ba to awaken and begin guiding the human they dwell within. So we as we are right now, are all Ka; our Ba (higher selves) dwell within us. Most humans have a higher self who is also human, but some have higher selves who might be angelic, demonic, draconic, elven, fae, etc.

The Moment of Death

When we die, we separate from this body and emerge on the spirit plane of Earth. This is temporary, for Earth is the transitioning place before we move on. During this period, there are several things that can happen: if we chose to be cremated, we immediately disconnect from our bodies, but if buried, we remain stuck next to our body for a period of time, depending on how long it takes for the connection to be lost. In a case where one commits suicide, the afterlife is not pleasant, and the Judges seek to punish the human for abandoning their purpose and will delete them from existence. For the humans who died a horrific death, they typically refuse to move on, causing them to become wraiths (hauntings). This action causes the Ka to be permanently separated from their Ba, eventually causing the Ka to go insane and then become a poltergeist.

Voyage to the Underworld

In most cases, the Ka emerges from their body and spends around three days (at least) wandering places on Earth that are familiar to them, as they will be restricted from going anywhere else. Most of the time, people do not realize that they have died. After these days, a psychopomp will arrive to collect the Ka and bring them to the Underworld. The Underworlds in every religion (not including Hell) are all the same place, but include many different kingdoms across the vast land. Once arriving in the Underworld, the Ka will wait to be seen at the Gaunt Palace, where they will confess their corrupt actions to the three Judges in front of a large council, then the council will discuss what fate they should have. The Judge, Minos, will have the final say. Once this is done, the three Judges will direct the Ka to be sent to a specific kingdom of the Underworld depending on what the persons’ beliefs were while alive. So while some may be approached by Hades, others might instead face Anubis and Osiris, or Hel, or Ereshkigal, etc. People who were Monotheists, however, will just arrive in a place similar to the gloom of the traditional Greek Underworld (Hades).

Once the Ka meets with their specific Underworld god, the deity will then give that spirit trials to undergo within their designated level of the Underworld (there are three main levels, but seven in total). The first layer is for people who were good-natured and healed from most of their traumas. The second is for more unmoral people or just those with negative attachments who underwent only some healing while alive, and the third is for people who have very strong attachments due to suffering and didn’t get the chance to heal. The first layer will seek to teach lessons in lesser tormenting ways in order to get the spirits there to understand the things they did wrong and to not do them again, as well as to sever their remaining attachments. The third layer, however, is full of tortures that will force the people strongly attached to their suffering to realize the illusion of their ways and that they can go free if they fight for it. There trials are meant for Rebirth, not always punishment.

The longer it takes for the Ka to fully understand their wrong-doings and their sufferings, the longer they will have to remain in the Underworld. If the spirit is exceptionally evil, however, the Judges will call upon the goddess Ammit. Ammit will then open her enormous jaws and devour the corrupt spirit, sending them to the realm of Hell, where one of the three High Kings (Lucifer, Satan, Leviathan) will decide what is done with them. Once in Hell, the spirit is usually tormented for eternity. So basically, the Underworld is meant to bring about a Rebirth; Hell is meant to punish.

The Shadow Self

While alive, we all experience traumas and negative circumstances. All of the emotions that arose from these things began to develop into an entity called “The Shadow”, which represents the darker half of us. Each person’s Shadow is different, depending on their negative experiences and how they reacted to them. I will get into the different types of Shadows in an additional post, but for now, it is good to analyze your own behaviours that are toxic, since these arise from the Shadow Self. Giving into negative behaviours empowers the Shadow.

When we die, the death of our brain causes the Shadow Self to become more than just a psychological counterpart, and they are now more free. They take on a terrifying form and seek to tear us apart. We all end up facing our Shadows while in the Underworld, and if we are not prepared, they will attack us repeatedly and cause our stay there to be greatly prolonged. In order to prevent this, we need to do shadow work in this life so we can understand our negative traits through in-depth analyzations . Look at your greatest burdens, how you view yourself and others, your self-destructive habits, your negative feelings- all of these come from the Shadow. We must understand this part of ourselves in order to understand how to mend them and eventually, overpower our Shadow Self. We will have to do this in the Underworld, otherwise, one will need to be able to hold it off long enough until the Judgment is over, which is when the Shadow will be destroyed.

Elysium

After a Ka successfully makes it through the trials of the Underworld, they are brought to Elysium, which is a realm of Paradise where we rest and wait for our Ba to come retrieve us. Most spirits will remain together in Elysium for a year, but if the spirit achieved Awakening (realization of their higher self’s identity) while still alive, they will be able to leave sooner. When the higher self arrives, they will approach the Ka and absorb them into themself, and then will return home. Thus, the Ba and Ka are united and the lifetime is completed.

If the higher self is a human, the Ba will have to reincarnate after a decade of being back in the spirit world, starting the process again with another unborn spirit (Ka) until they achieve Illumination. A human higher self will no longer need to reincarnate once Illumination is achieved by one of their embodiments. Other higher selves, such as those that are Higher beings than humans (demonic, angelic, draconic, etc.), will not have to reincarnate all the time; instead choosing to do so in order to help the world progress through their human.

Conclusion

Overall, it is extremely important to realize that our task in life is to achieve Awakening, which is done through seeking the identity of our higher self (Ba), bonding with our higher self through meditation and communication, and to seek true knowledge on the spirit world. We also must make certain to overcome our Shadows by keeping our actions and thoughts in check; thus allowing us to become the best we can be. If we manage to overcome our attachments, negative thinking, and toxic behaviours, we will have less trials to suffer through. All of these things will allow for a smooth transition through Death and to become one with our Ba.

The Underworld (in-depth description)

#the afterlife #death #spirit realms #ka #ba #higher selves #spirituality #the underworld

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streets-in-paradise · 4 years

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Let’s talk about the amazingly on spot social commentary on The Boys

Warning: This post contains spoilers from Season 1 and the first three episodes of season 2 of The Boys

Tags: @nehoymenyoy asked to be tagged. I don’t know if my tags are working well but if they don’t i will send you the link of the post.

I decided to make this post because i finished all the avaliable episodes of the series two days ago and, having a long talk with my sister about this topic, i tought this is too awesome to not discuss it here. We are both studying in careers of the social field, i'm in sociology and she is in social work. We watched the show together and talking with her inspired my own ideas i would like to share here.

This show was a wonderfull surprise in terms of social commentary. I haven't watched one with such a great commentary since American Gods. In that case i was expecting some degree of progressive commentary because i had read the book previously and i was aware the source material had some, the one added for the series is even better and it was great, but it wasn't a shock to find it. For The Boys i haven't read the comics first and , even when i loved the show for lots of reasons, the amazing on spot social commentary was a hell of a surprise. I have been frustrated lately in terms of the messages in entertaiment products because, even when there is a lot of intention for part of the makers to make more progressive points in their stuff, everything becomes bland marketing to me most of the time. I remember that some years ago media used to came out unintentionally with some really cool progressive messages ( like, for example, " a bug's life" and its anti capitalist message). That stuff seemed soo genuine and today i feel that everytime a product targets my demographic in that sense what they deliver it's soo bland and fake that the progressive intention of the message gets lost in the absolutely obvious intention of selling something to me using my ideals as catch. Precisely this is an important point of critic in this show. I didn't expected at all to get a genuine feeling in the social commentary of a superhero show. I'm not saying that this means i think the makers believe in this (after all, it's amazon), what i praise here is how good they did it. In a time when most productions claim to have a social commentary behind to come out as cool but result in shallow fake bullshit this series has provided me with something that feels autentic. Like American Gods, what i feel the show is trying to tell me actually gets me.

Before starting with the proper talk i want to dedicate a few línes to recommend a few scenes of the show i just mentioned. I was super dissapointed after finding out they will probably end up turning it into more bland fake bullshit for season 3 but, to anyone who likes well delivered social commentary, check on Orlando Jones's scenes as Anansi. He is my favourite character from the show and all his scenes are a blessing.

I would also want to clarify that this post and the opinions displayed on it are from an anti capitalist, intersectional feminist and latin american perspective. I know the show is very american, the issues it discusses are most of the time worlwide but it has particularities of the american context so i will try to talk only of what i feel i know enough to have a word. I'm argentinian and we have our local versions of some of this problems but i will stay in the series territory trying to be as faithfull as i can to the american reality it gets inspiration from. Also, forgive me for any mistakes on my writing and expresions. English is not my native language.

Superheros are modern mythology. How would this work in real life?

This is the basic premise of the show’s worldbuilding. The great thing is that this concept is not developed in an edgy, pretentious way. It is serious and painfully real because it’s not only a subversion of tropes, it says a lot of what superheros are to us as a modern times myth. In a superficial view, the world of The Boys feels like what the MCU could have become after the Sokovia accords if they would have been efficiently followed on a worldwide scale.

In that particular universe i use as reference, our superheros are noble and morally heroic individuals.State intervention is the factor threatening to corrupt their actions making them follow the interests of the system. The risk there, along with some very shady violations of human rights to powered people, is having superheros tied to something as unstable as political power. You can fear, for example, what a Trump-like president could do if he had power over the Avengers because, again, the heros are not corrupt, their line of command is. Now, if we strip away all the idealization we had putted on this bunch of powered persons and see them as what they truly are at the end of the day, people like everyone else. Why are we supposed to believe they are immune to corruption? If we also consider the phenomenon of strong privatization of security that has been growing worldwide . Wouldn’t they be more like security workers working for a private contractor? Less like heros and more like private military / security officers? Now, this is what we are talking about.

What feels so different from this show is that it assumes a surprisingly realistic point of view on a modern fantasy we are very used to consuming and still constructs a new power fantasy that empowers the viewer. I’ m saying this as an MCU fan, I had grown too comfortable with this optimistic fantasy and this twist from it is brilliant. To put some context on what i want to say here i will try to explain myself first on why i think that superhero fiction have this enormous popularity today and it has become such a huge thing in entertainment. Besides of the obvious reason of big companies producing big exciting action blockbusters for the genre, it’s curious to think on how much these stories gathered a lot of progressive audiences. In past decades action blockbusters didn’t felt progressive, today’s superhero blockbusters were embraced by progressive audiences and this was the start of a twist in general for the media. I think that there is a contextual social reason for this, not the only factor but one i feel is considerable.

Late Stage Capitalism crushed us, we are so used to injustice and the control the system has over us is so big that we have slowly stopped dreaming of changing it ourselves. Instead, the fantasy of a superhuman who has the power we don’t have saving us from oppression feels really comforting. Captain America becoming such a huge icon in the middle of a time where extreme facism is rising again all over the world, for example. I don’t know much about his comic counterpart but, at least from what i see in the movies, Steve’s ideals feel to me like all those aspects from French Revolution’s Enlightenment that capitalism dropped away once bourgeois defeated their feudal rivals and capitalism got consolidated, the freedom and equality that feudal lower classes fought for. Today, we feel too small to make a difference so we enjoy the fantasy of powerful persons leading the fight for us. Capitalism feels more unstoppable than ever, it is the only thing who seems strong to remain in a terribly chaotic world. The suffering this cruel system brings to this world is overwhelming, we feel only a miracle can save us now. This is what feeds the narrative of the superhero as modern myth and saviour of humanity.

The Boys tosses aside all our hopes and dreams, presenting us with the most realistic escenario. Superheros are not the miracle we are waiting for, they are humans like everyone else. They are not sacred entities existing beyond our societies, they are part of the system and they insert on it as part of the security industries. They can be corrupted and they work in corrupt institutions in benefit of the ruling class like every other security provider in capitalist societies. They become a new face of the security forces in constant tension with police and military because the myth of the superhero provides them with the public trust those other two forces lost. People lost their trust in cops but they trust sups because they are supposed to be this noble individuals mobilized by their personal feelings of injustice trying to make the world a better place … right? Police are the forces of the ruling class but superheros are supposed to be with us, or at least this is what common sense and propaganda claim, having our hopes as a base to work on.

For someone so used to the typical superhero fantasy this felt like a slap on my face back to reality. It soo accurate , the system tends to capture any revolutionary input and turn it into profit. Even if the sups could had been a revolutionary factor at the beginning, the most likely thing to happen is for them to become a profitable industry. If we add to this what we already know of the actions of police and military in our real world we have a combo for disaster. The realistic twist is so fresh and painfully real, i can totally see this happening in real life if superheros were a thing.

We have already introduced ourselves in the world of this story, let’s check on the first main character this series introduces to us. Hughie Campbell, a college age guy who works in an electronics store, lives with his dad and has the most boring average life you can imagine. This guy who is too afraid to ask his boss for a pay raise changes overnight when a superhero kills his girlfriend in front of him and the big corporation the asshole works for covers up the whole thing. The “average guy becomes a hero” trope is not new at all, but the use it has here feels fresh because it is not there only to feed the male geek power fantasy. Hughie is not a geeky average guy only so geeky average guys can identify with him in an action series full of geeky references,he is not there to be the nerdy guy from Robot Chicken. Hughie’s characterization makes a point for everyone. The smallest most unimportant person, the one who can't even stand up for themselves in everyday situations, can make a change. Remember Samwise Gamgee fighting Shelob in Lord of the Rings? Hughie killing Translucent gives me that vibe. If we consider the point i already stated about superheroes being there when we feel too small to fight back injustice, this is the exact opposite. This is a fantasy that gives us the power, makes us think in our own strengths. Hughie is standing up for himself for the first time in his life and he inspires us to fight for our rights.

Pharmaceutical,Security and Entertainment industries and their business system : Superheros as lab rats,elite security forces and celebrities.

This part of the post is the hardest to write and the most exquisite. There is so much to talk about about this system Vought shaped tying these three billionaire industries together. The first thing i want to mention, as a point to start, is Butcher’s ramble over the teddy bear with a camera inside in his meeting with Hughie. Perfect introduction for the character with a delightful moment of commentary. In our current societies people live in constant fear for hundreds of reasons. Fears over street crime had skyrocketed all over the world even when crime is not growing uniformly in every country and that accelerated the privatization of security, fears of parents over the strangers they leave they kids with when they are not home inspired products like the one mentioned in the series’s moment, fears on the effects of processed foods are an impulse for the diet industry and i could keep naming lots of other examples. Fears, and the emotional response they trigger , are the base of profitable businesses.

I had been reading some authors that describe this stage of capitalism as an emotional one. Capitalism preached science and rationality during the past century but today its base of support is an emotional one. To excite the sensations of the people as consumers, to eliminate rational criticism, to push anti popular agendas through emotional excitement and mass hysteria. To cite another example that you can consider bounded to the series, Right Realism in Criminology is now almost common sense and there are people who keep asking for harsher punitive systems. This ideology, with the help of media panic, goes straight after their feelings and fears of being victims of violent crimes. Rational thinking is not the area of discussion, the base of the argument is on fear and pain. Fear of being potential victims, pain shared with the victims thinking in solutions that sound more like revenge than justice.

Going back to my point, in the world of The Boys this type of punitivism seems to have succeeded even in a greater way than in our current world because it has superheros as backup. If real life harsh punitivism feeds on fear and a wish for social revenge, in this world it has the positive emotions supes inspire on people as a trust certificate for the persons who may not feel that way. They are loved and worshipped celebrities, their faces are everywhere, they have thousands of fans… who would see flaws in what they do? Can you imagine a world in which we worshipped cops and soldiers like we worship celebrities? This is it, people put their blind faith in them because most of them seem to be their fans. Even the people who are against brutality in the actions of security forces would end up trusting them because they are famous people. Our culture has taught us to make ourselves blind to the bullshit we see on the celebrities we love. Fans have a strong emotional attachment to their favourite celebs and this can turn into emotional manipulation in this context. If actors or singers in real life can have a fanbase that forgets to see them as human people how would these actual superhumans not end up being worshipped as gods?

There has always been military propaganda in entertainment but this marriage between the industries through superheros is far more sinister than that. It makes you think about the unfair amount of credibility we put in celebrities. The plane crash scene of Homelander and Maeve it’s even more devastating looking at it from that perspective. Those persons had their full trust in them and they were safer with the terrorists. Can you imagine being a Homelander fan and dying there? That’s horrible, the last thing you get in your life is the biggest disappointment ever from someone you trusted and stanned.

Speaking of Homelander, he is a right wing wet dream and one of the best villians i had ever seen, he makes me feel sick with how fucking despicable he is. His character is an excellent point to start the ramble on the third wheel of this corporate nightmare. Superheros are products of the pharmaceutical industry, injected with a drug since they were babies. In his particular case, he was raised like a lab rat and the series is realistic even in this detail. The lab rat kid with superpowers is another common trope that we see pretty often and here it also gets twisted. I’m thinking for example on Eleven from Stranger Things, she has been raised by abusive scientists who treated her as an experiment, yet she is this sweet kiddo who has a hard time socializing. Instead, Homelander is a monster without conscience or mercy and seems to be severely affected by his abnormal childhood. Brilliant, he is the ultimate product of this corporative triangle and depicts everything that's wrong with it.

The cycle is pretty clear: drugs create them, they play their role in security and their media notoriety justifies their actions. As it is shown in season one, the security aspect of the corporate complex represented mostly in Homelander’s actions craves to grow bigger and get supes into the military since, in the startpoint of the series, they only work with cops. Since the industry feeds on fear and Vought seems to have a monopoly in the production of powered persons there were no threats big enough to justify the intervention of superhumans in wars. Dismissing the importance of this monopoly for the company, Homelander suministrates the drug to terrorist groups in an attempt to create the first super villains. This is a perfect analogy of how the american war machine works. There is no way for terrorist groups from Third World countries to get access to sophisticated war technology without help from the ones who wield that power better than anyone. The first mentions of the supe terrorists reminded me of when i was in my course of worldwide history in college and i learned there how most of those famous names in middle eastern terrorism were actually friends with the CIA before at some point. Here in South America we have other history regarding the style of USA intervention, the Plan Condor dictatorships in the 70’s and early 80’s. I was just starting my career when I had a month of history classes about the Middle East and, being pretty ignorant on the matter, it shocked me the way in which the US villainized people they used to work with. I think the series makes a great point with this part of the plot because it hints something of this war mechanics.

Gender politics of the series: a surprisingly complex approach on the topic of sexual assault ,a realistic critic to bland white feminism and the empty cashgrabbing ways in which mainstream media adapts feminist discourse.

This topic was even a bigger surprise for me. I wasn't expecting such an interesting approach of gender issues, mostly because this is the area in which media wannabe woke messages had become more dissapointing to me lately. Specially in a show about superheros, i wasn't expecting to get very interesting points.

I will start talking of the portrayals of sexual assault. We have two sexually assaulted characters in the series, Starlight and Becca. First, i think it is great that they didn't used the "rape as character development" trope. Actually, it's cool how they mock this conceptions. When Starlight saves a woman from being raped on the streets or when she makes a public statement about her sexual assault it's the people behind her, building her public image as a character, the ones who push that trope. In the first time their great character development idea is to sexualize her outfit, after the second event mentioned they literally push her sexual assault as development. I love how the public relationships team acts oftenly in a men writing women way, serving as mirror for the most common mistakes of writers on pop culture products when they write female characters.

Going back to my point, i like the effort they putted into portraying differences in both cases. Homelander is the typical portrayal of a rapist, a narcisistic monster without remorse, a deranged son of a bitch. The Deep is also a piece of shit, but of a different kind. There is a phrase that feminists of my country had popularized " los violadores son hijos sanos del patriarcado" ( it means, the rapists are healthy sons of the patriarchy. It tries to explain they are not crazy individuals who act outside societal circunstancies), the Deep reminded me of that.

He is not crazy, he is an insecure guy with a super fragile ego who abuses women for power. Insecurity on men under patriarchy tends to become bashing of women. This is not a black and white portrayal of a sex criminal, it is surprisingly complex. Of course,his actions were unexcusable. He will never repay what he did to Starlight and other women before her but he has chances of working on his issues and, eventually if he trully wants to get better, stop being the scumbag he is. He is not a deranged criminal whose only fate is to be neutralized for the safety of others.

I think this is important because, at least in my country, i had seen people using sex offenders as an example of why countries without death penalty should implement it. I don't support extreme autoritarian security measures and it makes me sick to hear that there are people claiming those as solutions in the name of women's safety. I like the approach they took to portray The Deep as the piece of shit he is but still showing the complexity of this issue instead of going for a more traditional dichotomic way.

Back to the mocking of mainstream media's attempts of adopting a feminist approach i mentioned, the season two got even better at this commentary on the "Strong Female Character" trope with the introduction of Stormfront. She is the literal embodiment of what shitty marketing says an empowered female character must be and has the biggest "I'm not like other girls" complex ever. That interaction she had with Starlight in "pink = bad, pants = cool" mood was super annoying and blaming her for the assault?? Freaking disgusting.

Honestly, i hated her soo much even before she showed her true colours completely. Stormfront represents everything i hate in Hollywood's feminism and the crappy meaningless messages it's pushing lately. She reminds me to all the fake "woke" advertisements i had seen on tv, like a Carefree (pads brand) advertisement that pissed me off last week because with the slogan " self trust is beauty" it portrayed girls who wear make up as fake and insecure.

Now, speaking of that particular scene of her killing Kimiko's brother. I felt literally sick, even sicker than in every Homelander scene. This bitch is worst than Homelander because at least he gathers a public that serves to his views. If you ever need to provide someone with a proof of why intersectionality in feminism matters use this racist bitch. Horryfying racism hidden behind the progressive mask of a bullshit privileged version of feminism, the thing i hate the most. She has a strong nazi terf vibe. I think she absolutely applies as mirror of critic to stuff like Rowling's terf nonsense.

The introspective look this series has regarding the multiple issues on today’s attempts of gender approach on media entertainment surprised me. It’s everything i would had wished something to point out but nobody seemed to have the guts to make it happen because, as i already said, the current trend is what it’s being focus of critic here.

I will end this now, i feel there is plenty of more stuff to talk about but this post is getting very long and, if i get more ideas i want to discuss, i can always make a second post. As i said before, this expresses my humble opinions and i’m open to hear different interpretations that can enrich my views.

Thanks for reading this extra long ramble.

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missserpentia-fae · 4 years

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Take Care of Them

Warnings: Hmm..? If you’re touchy on religion, I’d advise you to not continue reading. Also when God is mentioned, I try not to put the word God in case I offend someone so most of the time it’s Him or Father unless I think I’m being repetitive

Also I know in real life, Uriel is female but for the sake of the story and to stay with the fact that it’s an otome game, most of the characters MC meets will be male.

Takes place after Lesson 18 but before Lesson 19

Pairings: Obey me boys x MC/Reader

Idea: God talking to MC in a dream or such about the brothers

Part 1 / 2

Chapter 3

They opened their eyes and knew immediately that they were back in Purgatory. They turned around to see God but he was accompanied by someone else, an angel. MC stared at the other being in fascination and awe, taking in their appearance. The other divine being stood at 5’7 and was slender with cream skin. He had piercing pale pink eyes and his long, thick, pale red hair was tied into a high ponytail which seemed to be flowing behind him. He was clad in an ivory shirt with long wide sleeves and a pair of leggings, a pair of slipper shoes on his feet and a light brown medium-length jacket was draped on his shoulders. Two-giant glass like wings in the form of an eagle’s wings hung low against his back almost like it was attached to the middle of his back rather than at his shoulder blades.

Just gazing at the angel gave the human a strange sense of love and warmth that seemed much too different than the aura that He was giving off. MC approached the two, God smiling and welcoming the gaping human, “Hello, my child. It’s good to see you again.”

They nodded blankly, still staring in awe at the angel before He introduced the angel, “Let me introduce to you one of the seven Heavenly virtues.”

“Hello, dove.” The angel bowed, taking hold of the human’s hand and placing a kiss against the back of it. The human flushed beautifully as the angel introduced himself, a smile on his handsome face, “I am Uriel, the youngest virtue. I am the Symbol of Chastity.”

The angel straightened up and MC stared up at the angel, “So your counterpart is Asmodeus, the Avatar of Lust?” The human stated, the statement almost sounding like a question.

Uriel smiled, nodding, “That’s right. Asmodeus was the Symbol of Chastity before I become the Symbol. Ever since the Celestial War and Asmodeus fell, I was appointed.”

The human looked at Him who was just staring at them expectantly. “Do you hate Asmo?” They turned to the angel, their voice quiet almost like they were afraid to offend the angel, “You know, for falling?”

“Hate?” Uriel asked, tilting his head to the side as he thought it over before he shook his head, his pale red hair whipping out behind him from the movement, “Oh. I don’t. I could never hate any of my fallen brothers. I just… I was close with him before he fell. I would even call us best friends.” His smile fell before he continued, his pale pink eyes seemingly staring into the human’s soul, “But he chose to stand by his brothers than to fight for the Celestial Realm. I had no choice but to fight against him. Every day I regret not doing more, I always think I should have done more to guide him back to the correct path but I guess my bond with him was not as strong as his bond with his siblings.”

MC looked thoughtful. Uriel asked, his large eagle-like wings fluttering slightly in curiosity, “How is he? Is he doing well?”

The human nodded before they spoke out enthusiastically. “Yeah. I think he’s enjoying himself. I could do without him being so narcissistic and being very flirtatious towards me but I guess that comes with being the Avatar of Lust.” They giggled to themselves like they were sharing an inside joke before they continued, “He’s still as beautiful as ever if what Simeon says is true. I can understand why he was once called the Jewel of the Heavens.”

Uriel smiled, sharing a fond look with his Father as the human continued with their rant. MC seemed to realize that they were ranting before flushing, embarrassed for getting too out of control, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to get off topic.”

Uriel and God seemed to share a conversation with just their eyes before Uriel looked away from Him to look at the human, “I heard you made pacts with my fallen brothers.”

“Oh! I have. Except for Lucifer but that could be because of his pride. He wouldn’t allow some human to have power over him.” MC smiled before getting the shock of their life.

“How would you like to make a covenant with me?”

MC stared up at the angel who was just flashing them a polite smile. They seemed to finally process what was asked, snapping themselves out of their daze before exclaiming, “Wait. What?!”

Uriel chuckled at the look on the human’s face before MC muttered under their breath, their eyes glazing over in thought, “I thought only demons can make pacts with humans. I didn’t know that it was even a possibility that an angel could make pacts as well.”

He piped up which drew MC’s attention away from the angel and their thoughts to Him, “For angels, it is called covenants, not pacts. Angels can make covenants but it’s not something that happens usually, actually it’s very rare for angels to make covenants. For the one reason that you cannot summon an angel like you could do with demons. There isn’t some kind of incantation that allows humans, magical or non-magical, to summon angels. Covenants are much more powerful than pacts.” The human hummed in thought as He continued explaining, “Pacts and covenants are different as well. Pacts appear as tattoos on a human’s body and there is always some kind of give and take relationship between the two. In your pacts with my sons, you were promised protection that didn’t end with your soul being taken when you die. In exchange, you were to provide companionship to the demons you made pacts with. Another is that in pacts, you need magic to call the demons to your side.”

He gestured to the Symbol of Chastity who was watching the human’s expression carefully with his pale pink eyes, “Covenants, on the other hand, appear as rings. The covenant doesn’t have a give and take relationship so you don’t need to worry about needing to give anything to my angels in exchange for their service. You don’t need magic to call on them as well. You only need to kiss the ring of the angel you need to call and they will appear. On the rare occasion that you do get in danger, they can sense your soul’s distress and will come to your side. Ah, you can also call on their powers instead of calling on them but it takes a significant amount of energy to use their angelic abilities especially since you don’t have magic.”

“We can always make the ring appear as simple jewelry to not alert any demons of the covenants." He looked over to towering angel, "However, we cannot hide the rings from my angelic sons. So Simeon and Luke will know immediately that you have made a covenant with an angel."

MC looked thoughtful before nodding, turning their head to stare up at the towering angel, "I would like to make a covenant with you, Uriel."

The Symbol of Chastity allowed a smile to light up his handsome face before he reached into his wings. He plucked a single feather from the bottom of his wings and the human could only watch in fascination as he crushed the feather in his fist. Uriel opened his fist to show that the feather turned into a light green signet ring. He took MC's left hand and slipped the ring on their pinky finger, leaning down to press a kiss on the ring. They watched as the ring seemed to adjust itself to fit snug on their finger and they could feel the ring pulse with power. MC took a closer look and noticed the seal on the signet ring which looked suspiciously like handcuffs linked together. Uriel smiled as he traced the symbol, explaining as he stared into the human's eyes, “It's my symbol, the symbol of chastity. I have the power of mind control and control over fire. In addition to my angelic powers, each virtue has a weapon of choice. Mine is a bow and arrow. Because of our covenant, you can call both my angelic abilities and my weapon. You can call on my weapon without draining your energy but I have to advise you to not use my powers until you can expand your energy levels. I may not be the strongest virtue but my power still takes a lot of energy to use.”

The human nodded before asking, looking up at the angel in thought, “Does that mean that I have to practice chastity to keep your covenant?”

Uriel laughed before shaking his head, “No, you don’t have to but it would be advisable.” The angel gestured to the ring on their finger, “Please call on me if you ever need help or even just want company. I would like to get to know you more. I know you can’t call on my demonic brothers for help so I would feel at peace if you call me when you’re in danger.”

MC smiled, staring at the ring on their pinky finger before Uriel looked at his Father. He bowed to the other male before speaking, “I must get going my Lord. It was such a delight to meet the little human that has captured the interest of my fallen brothers. I shall see you soon, my dove.”

They flushed at the admission and He dismissed the angel. MC watched as the angel spread his already large wings and took off into the sky, waving down at them before he disappeared from their sight.

They looked down at their arm when they felt the icy sensation going down their back, only to stare as their hand started to flicker in and out of existence. He pulled the human into His arms, leaning down to press a kiss on the crown of their head, “We weren’t able to talk much since I wanted you to get to know my angel better. I promise to tell you all about my fallen sons as soon as you wake up.”

“See you soon, my child.” Were all that the human remembered as they fell unconscious, the Divine Being’s comforting face being the last thing they saw.

PART 4

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bonjour-rainycity · 4 years

Text

Getting to Know You

Jalice Week 2020 Day 3: Cannon Gapfillers

Pairing: Jasper/Alice

Rating: K+

Summary: In the hours after their first meeting, Jasper and Alice get to know each other

Disclaimer: I’m not making any money from this nor do I own anything recognizable

Word Count: 1489

Warnings: Brief mentions of violence

Rain sputters against the window, causing the rickety old shutters to groan under its force. Despite the chill, the fireplace on the edge of the room remains unlit, the cold not affecting the two vampires occupying the room.

Alice perches on the edge of the bed, legs crossed delicately, gazing at her counterpart with fondness in her eyes. Jasper stands across the room, looking upon the small woman with hesitation and uncertainty.

They’ve been like this for twenty minutes, and Alice is about to break. Laughter pushes past her lips and she dissolves into giggles.

“You don’t have to stand so far away, you know. I don’t bite.” And although her tone is light, her words carry truth. With her visions to guide her, Alice stayed safely north, far away from the horrific vampire wars of the South. She never had to experience the carnage, the distrust, the terror.

Jasper did.

In fact, for the first many decades of his new life, it was all he knew.

So while she wishes he would collapse in her arms and allow himself to be held by her, she gives him his space. After all, only one of them has been in love with the other for the past twenty-eight years.

The blond vampire tucks his hands into his pockets, lifting his eyes to look into hers. There’s a measure of honesty there that catches her off guard. “I can tell.”

Alice scrunches her face in confusion. He has no reason to trust her words…so why would he accept them so easily, if not because he loves her too?

Her hope flares.

Jasper smiles hesitantly then, and it’s the most beautiful sight she’s ever seen. “I have a gift of my own. I can feel people’s emotions.”

Alice wonders if she should feel embarrassed. For anyone else, the subject of your affections discovering your unrequited love would be completely humiliating. But for her, it brings a sort of comfort and excitement. He knows she loves him, and he’s not running away.

A small smile spreads across Alice’s face. “Well, then, I guess you already know quite a bit about me.”

“Not as much as you know about me,” he counters, deciding momentarily to take a step in her direction, then choosing against making the movement. When he feels Alice’s disappointment, he can’t help but grin. “Sorry.”

But Alice just shrugs, retaining her usual positive nature. “You won’t stay over there much longer. I can wait.”

Again, a warm feeling spreads through him at her certainty. He takes a small step forward, very much enjoying her spike of happiness.

It’s been so long since he’s made someone happy.

Still beaming, Alice brings the conversation back to their previous topic. “So does it bother you that I know so much about you and you’ve only just met me?”

Jasper sees no point in lying. “Some. But if everything goes as you say it will—” at this, he can’t help but throw her a teasing look, “I’m guessing I’ll get to know you in time.”

Alice scoots further back onto the bed, her back hitting the wall. She pats the spot in front of her. “We have a lot of time right now.”

Jasper hesitates, mentally running through all the reasons he should not join Alice on the bed. But Alice rolls her eyes, foreseeing each of his arguments and refuting them in kind.

“The bed is not too small, you know I’m not going to hurt you, and there’s no one around to care about propriety.”

The last argument though, gives her pause. Her eyes soften, and she extends a hand out invitingly, the picture of vulnerability and openness. Her emotions betray no fear, like he would expect. Because really, she should be terrified of him.

“You’re not going to hurt me, Jasper. That’s not who you are.”

Like before, he feels her complete certainty. She believes this as fact. But how can she, he wonders, when the evidence of my violence is displayed so clearly all over my body?

But she remains steadfast in her belief of his goodness, and he vows right then and there to strive to meet those expectations. For all eternity.

With blank eyes, she sees his choice, then breaks free from her vision, radiating pure joy. Jasper gives in to her emotions, her presence, and his own desires, and walks slowly to sit with her on the bed.

Smiling smugly, Alice tilts her head to the side. “What do you want to know?”

Although he already has a guess, Jasper starts with the obvious—how she knew to find him—and she confirms his hunch, though adds a detail he wasn’t expecting.

“You were the first thing I saw,” she states simply. “When I woke up alone, I had no idea where I was, who I was, or what had happened to me. But I saw your face, and your smile, and felt security like I’d never felt before, and I knew one day, it would all be okay. And it was you, the exact scene of you that I saw earlier in the diner. Ruffled blue shirt, hair the color of honey, and different like me.” She pauses, looking down at her hands for a moment, indecision waging within her. Finally, the words escape her lips, so quiet that Jasper has to concentrate to hear. “It was you that helped me not be so afraid of myself, in the beginning. I thought, if such a good man is like me, then what’s there to be afraid of?”

Her confession floors Jasper, who swallows thickly. Her conclusion was wildly incorrect—how could a monster like him and a kind ray of sunshine like her ever be comparable—but the fact that she found comfort in him of all things…it stirs something in his heart he thought burned away long ago. The emotion is a little debilitating, and he quickly tries to steer the conversation to a safer topic.

“How did you escape The Volturi’s notice if you had no one to guide you? Newborns aren’t exactly known for their self-control…” At the reminder of his not-so-distant past, he holds back a flinch.

But Alice remains unbothered, continuing easily. “My visions. The thirst was definitely strong, overwhelming, even. But any time I decided to act on killing someone, a vision would warn me that it would lead to my death. I eventually figured out that I could avoid those results if I was discrete, so I learned to hunt farther from town and bury my food when I was done with it. Once I knew the rules, the thirst became a lot easier to navigate.”

She sees his next question, and smiles. “Yes, it’s the same reason I knew to stick to the northern part of the continent. I didn’t exactly know what was going on, but I knew my presence in the South would result in my death.”

The image of Alice, delicate, sweet Alice, caught up in the wars for territory causes him to clench his jaw against a snarl.

Then, the image of dismembering and burning Alice, as he would have done without question, causes him to hang his head in shame.

Alice places a gentle hand on his shoulder, and it takes everything in him not to flinch away. He doesn’t want to hurt her like that.

“What is it?”

Through his self-loathing, he forces himself to speak. After all, she has a right to know who she’s comforting. “I was imagining you fighting in the wars…and I know I would have killed you.” Again, he clenches his jaw, feeling crushed under his shame and despair.

Alice surprises him by shaking her head. “If I had met you then, yes, you probably would’ve killed me. But if I didn’t have my visions,” she continues, louder now to speak over his anguished groan, “I would have been killed anyway. Or ran into you down the road and tried to kill you. Or never even met you at all. Or a thousand other outcomes.” When he refuses to look at her, she takes his chin, lifting it up so he has to confront her eyes. “Jasper, we are only together because of crazy, impossible, specific circumstances. In any other reality, we wouldn’t have found each other, but in this one, we have! Can’t we just celebrate our miracle?”

And when he looks at her, really looks at her, and allows her hope and happiness and certainty to wash over him, he can allow himself to relax. For once, he turns off the part of his brain that constantly cycles through the what-ifs and allows himself to be fully in the moment with this woman who, four hours ago, was a complete stranger.

So with a smile, he takes Alice’s hand in his. “I can do that.”

And they continue getting to know each other.

Be sure to check out my masterlist :)

#jaliceweek20 #jalice #jalice fanfic #jalice week 20 #alice cullen #jasper cullen #jasper hale #jasper whitlock hale #alice x jasper #jasper x alice #twilight #twilight fanfiction #twilight renaissance #twilight cannon #twilight cannon gapfiller #jalice fanfiction #1940s twilight

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bastardsunlight · 3 years

Text

My buddy over at @sxvethelastdance is doing some deep dive shit on the subject of Liu Kang’s faith in all his iterations—95, games, 2021—so I decided “hey why don’t I do that too?” because I also desire to be one of The Cool Kids™. This is in no way meant to be taken as gospel truth or whatever. It’s mostly for me own records, headcanons-wise, and just kind of a character-building exercise since Lao has become one of my more active/sought-after muses of late. I’ll hide it under a cut because it’s liable to get long

Like my S C H L O N G [cue pornbot invasion]

PS THIS IS GOING TO BE ABOUT MORE THAN JUST HIS FAITH BECAUSE A LOT OF THAT WILL COME FROM UPBRINGING/FAMILY AND WILL ALSO FOCUS ON HIS PERSONALITY AND THE INS/OUTS OF IT

For our purposes (and like, in reality because I DO respect authorial intent to some extent), Shaolin Monks isn’t canon, like at all. Someone had a fever dream and Liu Kang/Kung Lao were bimbos for a few hours. Okay they’re still kind of like that, god bless ‘em, but you get the idea. AIGHT now that’s out the way, let’s get this cue ball rolling.

Okay for starters, games Lao because well he’s only ever appeared in the games (and we don’t usually talk about Legacy Because OOF middle-aged Liu Kang with a hot topic sweater and anger issues—Liu Kangst. You’re welcome [plays a high G on the nearest piano]).

Kung Lao comes from a long, distinguished family who has always contributed to the order of light—they’re founding members, all that stuff. They did not build the academy itself, but the Order started with the Great Kung Lao. OUR Kung Lao is the fulfillment of a prophecy, some vague old thing that told of an ancestor who would carry the “spirit of the Great Kung Lao”. They figure reincarnation, which is a reasonable assumption. If that’s true or not, only Fire God Liu Kang and Lord Raiden know, because they’re the only ones to have met him in person. Whatever the case, Kung Lao is born with the ability to call spirits and channel their energy, their “pressure” to do a variety of things, including teleport, an ability that thankfully did not come until later—can you imagine a teleporting toddler? Good god.

The entire Kung line is blessed with some spiritual power, here and there. Kung Lao is off the charts. His mother, a short time before his birth, has a dream where the GKL came to her and said “this is the one”. He is reaching out to his ancestor from the Realm of the Honored Dead, knowing full well that the once-a-generation tournament is not far off and feeling the pull to Lao like some kind of magnet or doorway. Kung Lao is the strongest spirit-channeler the Kung family has ever seen. His parents therefore name him Lao and with the name comes a great and terrible burden.

He is, naturally, chosen as the generational tithe to the Wu-Shi academy and, naturally, the Order of Light. This is a case of being raised in the faith, knowing little else, but being sharp enough to question some things. Obviously, as a kid, he doesn’t question—he just learns and obeys, trains under various masters, etc. Sometime during his younger years, an orphan shows up at the temple and, being a charitable organization, the elders of the temple take him in and name the boy Liu Kang. Liu and Lao become fast friends and the elders are, of course, pleased as punch to see the Kung’s legacy being a good influence on someone like Liu Kang who, unbeknownst to anyone but them (and Raiden), is the blood of Onaga and in possession of a terrible power himself. It does not occur to them that Lao will not be chosen by the god of thunder to be Earthrealm’s champion. Everyone at the academy trains for this purpose, but in THIS generation, no one even questions that it will be Lao.

Kung Lao is extremely gifted, rarely has to study, hardly tries on all exams and new techniques and masters the strange and deadly weapon that is his signature with relatively few injuries. Combining that with his abilities to move spiritual force and teleport and he is a shoe-in. His faith in the Elder Gods is more of a background hum, at this point and, though he has met Lord Raiden, his faith there, too, is hardly a thought. It’s just part of his life. As anyone who grows up in a faith could tell you, the routines become like breathing.

Liu Kang and Kung Lao grow side-by-side as best friends, confidants, troublemakers (though Lao is absolutely the one cutting class), and, as they grow older and into themselves, lovers.

The first time Kung Lao’s faith comes to the forefront and really shakes is when Lord Raiden choses Liu Kang to be his champion for Mortal Kombat. There is the initial shock, of course, and then there is fear. Mortal Kombat has killed very Earthrealm champion, without exception, since the Great Kung Lao’s second attempt. The legends of Prince Goro are written in the forbidden texts of the academy’s library and naturally, the shaolin rowdy boys have broken in and read them all. Kung Lao meditates for hours, wondering what he did wrong. He is never, at any point, resentful toward Liu Kang himself, who has always been an unfailingly loyal friend, a humble monk, an excellent student, and has, with hard work and perseverance, excelled in HIS classes as well.

The more he considers it, the more his faith in the Elder Gods is shaken—if it was ever terribly solid in the first place. More than that, he begins to mistrust Raiden. Kung Lao determines that, due to the hopelessness of the situation, the likelihood of Liu Kang’s return is almost zero. He has all the faith in the world in how strong Liu Kang is, of course, but those odds are not good. He begins to deeply resent the idea that Liu was chosen as a lamb for slaughter based on factors other than likelihood to win. This is also when the insecurity starts to REALLY set in.

Kung Lao doesn’t realize that Liu Kang views him as equal or superior, seeing how he has never had to study or work at ANYTHING to just nail whatever it is, every time. Kung Lao is one of those young adults who was a child prodigy and is experiencing some SERIOUS burnout in his early twenties. It isn’t that Kung Lao doesn’t know he’s good—he’s very aware of his skill. It comes out as brazen arrogance. No one but Liu Kang can seem to knock him down ANY pegs. His faith, he realizes, has always been in himself and in Liu, in what they’ve built and shared. There is a depth of intimacy in that friendship that goes beyond even the physical—though there IS that.

He’s kind of in the mode of “what have the Elder Gods ever done for me?” (spoiler alert: nothing) and he questions Raiden’s motivations as he slowly adds shit up. Liu Kang is an orphan, of no family, with great power. He doesn’t know if there’s something else to it, but he sees the reactions of the elders of the temple when Raiden chooses Liu and it isn’t “weird that you didn’t choose the kid we groomed from birth to do this” but an almost insane level of like, understanding, as if this was a possible outcome. There is something else up, but he has no way of knowing it. He hates the way Liu just accepts it and while they are still capable of making jokes about the whole situation, he can sense the turmoil within Liu, as well, who is ALSO wondering why Lao wasn’t chosen.

Kung Lao is now the black sheep, the family failure, the one who was beaten out by an orphan. This really begins his “second banana” status and everyone seems to know it. They equate his brash pride to insecurity, which in a way it is, because part of him will always wonder what he did wrong, but they did not know him before. It goes from being part of his personality to being a shield. If he is arrogant and aloof, untouchable, no one will see the doubt and trepidation within. And STILL the Elder Gods do NOTHING. When he sneaks into the tournament, he’s taking matters into his own hands, where he is convinced they have always been.

See, he had been okay with dying for Earthrealm, though he was certain with this power, he wouldn’t—that he could save the place like the ancestor for which he was named. He is not ready to lose Liu Kang.

Aight so caveat here, most of this above was built with a VERY specific Liu Kang in mind and below is 100% riding on that same writer (heh riding). None of this has to, in any way, reflect on anyone else’s Liu Kang—not that I’ve seen a ton of those.

MK2021 for all its faults, had amazing characterization for the heroes, even if some of the cuts, scenes, and lines were a bit ……. Clunky. Kung Lao is clearly a powerful fighter, confident to the point of arrogance, but with the skill to back it up. Even when Cole puts him in the dirt, he hops back up and summons his hat, like “okay cool, now let’s get real” because Kombat is not like a cage fight. This is a man who knows few limitations, is highly skilled, and has clearly been raised in the faith, much like his counterpart from the games. His Arcana is passed through his bloodline, much like that of the Hasashi clan and a few others who have passed out of living memory, likely done in by previous Outworld assassination coups.

The biggest difference between games and 2021 Lao is that the latter is a man who demands proof at every turn, by force if necessary, AND HE IS AWARE OF THIS. His faith rests not in the Elder Gods—not caring much for them or their lack of involvement—but in Raiden himself and only then because he has challenged the god of thunder and was put down pretty soundly. Kung Lao respects ability. He has it, so he therefore expects everyone around him to hold themselves to that same standard.

He is two or three years older than Kang, the young orphan Master Bo’ Rai Cho brought to the temple when they are still children, probably six and nine, give or take. They have no classes together, initially, but Kung Lao ss instructed to keep an eye on him, to help him adjust. The two become fast friends and Liu Kang admires the bejeezus out of his shi xiong, both because of that age difference and the obvious experience gap, and because Kung Lao will ALWAYS go to bat for him.

Kung Lao is well aware of the stakes of this tournament, knows that it is, for the most part, riding on him. This becomes doubly true when Sub-Zero is sent to Earthrealm to start taking out the other champions, one by one, to halt a prophecy. Someone carrying Hasashi blood will upset the balance of the tournament.

He is a dutiful monk, a competent teacher, a powerful fighter, and, alongside Liu Kang, the best hope humanity has for victory. Kung Lao’s resentment, in this universe, is directed primarily toward the elders who sent Kang out into the world after his graduation from the academy as a student (as must all students, some with specific orders, and some with more vague directions) to find his true path. The elders have essentially forced Kang to relive the darkest time in his life and thence, to feel the rage and resentment that has for so long boiled beneath his skin, channeling it into a killing urge. Kung Lao protects Liu Kang from this as best he can and, more than that, he protects the world from Liu Kang.

#aboutlaometa #both of 'em are in here so

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iturbide · 3 years

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Crest Control Edelgard in Heroes

(CheeseAndCake here) You asked for Crest Control Edelgard in Askr, so here she is! My brain does not like being quiet, apparently. I want you to know that this is your responsibility now, Enjoy! (I also have no idea if this will work, so heres to hoping for the best.)

Note: The things Edelgard says/thinks are things she thinks are true, that doesn’t mean she 100% perfectly understands her past self.

______________________________________________________________

The former Emperor blinked as her surroundings disappeared and reshaped in a flash of light. What was-

Just a second ago, she was entering Queen Ivanna’s office to deliver news, and now she was standing at an altar, with a hooded figure in front of her, and no idea what was going on. She was still wearing her black dress with pink highlights, with her armour over said dress, hair still done up in a bun, and still holding her dagger, so if this was an ambush, it was poorly planned. She was pretty sure the Texts guarded by the church never mentioned this, and-

“Greetings, hero, welcome to the world of Ask.” The figure began, nodding their hood, “I am Kiran, the summoner who called you forth. This world is under attack, and in desperate need of aid, will you fight with us?”

“I am no hero,” She responded, knowing that anyone that referred to her as hero must not know about her earlier life, before she fought Those Who Slither, or have a gross misunderstanding of what heroes are, “But if you need my aid, I shall give it. I am Edelgard.”

That didn’t mean she trusted them, but if they were being honest, she would give her aid.

Kiran nodded, “Very well, welcome to the Order of Heroes. Here, different people are summoned across space and time, so you may run into people you know, or… other versions of yourself.”

That was… the last thing she needed, but she nodded anyway, and Kiran led her to what would be her chambers. This was a war. She knew war.

She nearly tried to sit Kiran’s throat when she thought heard a nearby child scream, but after a moment she realised the child- who she could see had green hair and wings now that she was closer- was laughing, as an older woman who looked similar to her smiled in response.

“You recruit children to your order?” She asked. She didn’t how dragon children aged, truely- there weren’t any dragon’s left when she escaped, after what she did- but she knew only children laughed like that. She made a mental note to talk to them later and ask about their beliefs and traditions, since there weren’t any dragons in Ivanna’s army, and it would be important to know.

Kiran sighed, “I cannot control who I summon, or from what time I do. Sometimes, they are children. I don’t let them fight, but they can stay if they want.”

She didn’t ask why they would want to stay in a country at war. If she had the opportunity as a child, she would have grabbed it with both hands.

“When it’s over, will they be sent back to where they were taken from?” If enough time passed…

“Yes, they’re sent back to the same place, without any time passing, but they keep their memories.” Ah, that’s… not the best, for the children in a bad position, but at the very least, no one will panic about her disappearance.

It was only when she turned a corner and saw a version of herself, not wearing any black, but an Emperor’s red and a horned crown, that she realised how bad this would be. A nightmare. This was a nightmare. But she’s lived longer than most, and she knows how to push down the familiar feeling of dizziness, and focus on following the white cloaked figure up the stairs.

She makes it to the second floor before she empties the contents of her stomach.

Kiran was yelling something, but she didn’t completely hear it. Something about a bad reaction to seeing counterparts?

Before she knew it, someone was leaning over her speaking in a deep voice.. It was only after a few breaths that she understood the words, and looked at the face of the person who came to comfort her, “-completely fine that you had a bad reaction, lots of worlds branch off, and- Edelgard?”

“Dimitri?” For a moment, she wondered if the stress finally broke her before she dismissed it. If it did, Dimitri would look like he did on the Tailtean Plains. He wouldn’t be so calm, wearing royal armour, or missing an eye.

“Which timeline are you from?” Kiran asked, voice breaking through her thought process and they helped her sit away from her vomit.

“‘Timeline?’”

“Ah, right. Each hero comes from their own individual world. In some worlds, different people won the war of Fodlan.” Kiran explained with a shrug, as apparently this was a common occurrence.

She turned to Dimitri, “I’m assuming that in your world, you won the war?” He nodded, wincing.

“Then I guess congratulations are in order.” Edelgard continued, giving a short bow before a thought struck her. “Tell me, what was the fate of- Professor Byleth in your world?”

“They became Archbishop of the church of Serios.” Dimitri responded, starting to look concerned, but she didn’t care. That Byleth didn’t follow her, and Those Who Slither would have destroyed the church if they had a pawn in such a high position, which meant…

There was a world where Byleth lived their own life. Free.

She pushed aside any bitterness that it wasn’t her world that had that Byleth. She played her own part in what happened, and now all she could do was move forward.

“Did I join you, or die?” Now Dimitri was openly staring at her, and she quickly schooled her expression into something more neutral.

Dimitri glanced down, and in that moment, he looked exhausted. “You… died, El.”

She winced at the old name, “Please don’t call me that.” Her death really wasn’t a surprise. She knew how stubborn she was in the past, and how stubborn she can still be.

“I would apologise for all the heartache I put you through,” she began, standing up straight, “but we both know an apology won’t fix anything. I can only try to make it right with my actions.”

“It won’t fix anything,” Dimitri agreed, his single eye almost looking into her soul, “It’s start, though.”

“…I’m… sorry, for everything.” The words felt like lead in her mouth, but once they’re out, she didn’t feel any lighter.

“Thank you.” He sounded sincere, and that just make it worse.

“Don’t thank me. Not for this.”

————————————

It’s later, when she was directed towards a woman named Kagero after a few questions, that she thought about what she was about to do.

She knew herself well enough to understand she only had one chance at it, and if she ruins it, would take much more time and effort to reach the same goal.

Her past self did have a very narrow mind view, so presentation would be half the battle.

She looked at the small drink offered with a bone deep wariness, and asked “Is the drink alcoholic?”

“Yes,” The ninja- who was currently dressed as a maid- nodded as she cleaned one of the glasses, “I can get a different one if you want.”

“No, thank you, I’m going to need this.” She drank the entire thing in a few gulps, willing for the contents of the glass to give her confidence and numb any pain that would come.

“Don’t let me have any more,” Edelgard said as she passed the glass back to the server. “I’m going to need a clear head for this.”

“Working together with an enemy for your world?” The ninja asked, as if it was something that happened every week.

“Something like that.”

—————————————

“In my world, Those Who Slither won.” That was all she needed to say to quiet her student self enough to listen. Despite all the time that passed, and everything that happened, Edelgard still knew how to stand and speak like a ruler, and she used every lesson she learned into what she had planned to say here.

“They won, because my war created instability instead of destroying it. Afterwards, they took me back to that godforsaken dungeon and continued their experiments. You know, when we were younger, they needed to keep us alive.” She didn’t bother trying to hide her bitter smile, “They didn’t need to keep us alive this time, so they didn’t restrain themselves.”

It wasn’t a kind thing to say, but Edelgard wasn’t kind. Kindness didn’t win battles, but violence didn’t win hearts.

“Do you know, why, in the end, they failed?” She continued before her student self could interject, ignoring any memories or emotions that surfaced, “Because Dimitri’s cousin and Claude came back to Fodlan- after years of hiding- to help the people. If we killed them that night in the forest, I never would have escaped. I would have died just another nameless experiment.”

The ‘like our siblings’ goes unsaid, and Edelgard wondered if her younger self even heard it.

“You still think it’s a fairy-tale where the fight will be the hardest part, but war… War will be the easiest thing you’ll ever do. The most natural thing you’ll ever do. We grew up on the stories of freedom through violence, of Nemesis and Serios. We have enough resources to sit upon a throne without thinking about who died for it. We’ve been exposed to bloodshed since we were a child, so killing will be easy. Being remembered will be easy.”

Because at the end of the day, that was all her past self was: a child who wanted to be strong and free like Nemesis. The church was the most visible cage, so it was the first one she tried to destroy.

Edelgard looked her past self in the eye, making sure that if nothing, she heard these words. “Building something after you destroy everything will be impossible for you, because you don’t even know what will come after. You haven’t even thought of it.”

It didn’t take a mind reader to know she’s shaken the girl, but it only took a moment for her past self to deny it.

“You’ve clearly been corrupted by them, if you believe that humanity won’t be able to build themselves up once the church is gone!” Her past self had a fierce look in her eyes, and she knew at this moment the conversation wouldn’t get anywhere.

“Maybe I have,” Edelgard agreed easily, because she never did find out what it was like to have her free will taken from her. Maybe it felt like you were in control, maybe you were aware the entire time, unable to call for help, maybe it felt like you were half asleep.

She hoped that it was the last option, because if it wasn’t she didn’t know what she would do, but she knew better than to hope.

“But I’ll ask you this:” She continued, because her past self might not bother looking for anything that will change her view, but Edelgard knew her past self’s fears and hopes, and she knows just how stubborn she can be. “Do you honestly think that every act in history was created or twisted by dragons? You claim that humanity is strong, but then claim that they have no agency.

“I’m not foolish enough to try and convince you otherwise.” Edelgard turned to leave, “Nothing but your own consequences will do that. I’m just telling you to prepare for the worst.”

She took a few steps down the hallway before stopping. “Of course, if you want to learn how to limit casualties in the upcoming war, come to me. It’s a useful thing to know.”

Because she can’t force anyone to do anything. She doesn’t have the right, but if her past self is curious enough to listen, she will tell the truth, without hesitation.

Fodlan had already paid enough for her ignorance.

______________________________________________

I’m not gonna lie I’ve read through this at least three times now in my inbox and I just love all of it??? Holding strong even after seeing another version of herself until she’s safely away and then completely losing it? Coming face to face with Dimitri, saying she won’t apologize for the heartache she caused because it doesn’t fix anything, but when Dimitri says that it’s a shart she does it (and it doesn’t feel any better but she did it and I’m proud of her)? Steamrolling her way through the start of her conversation with her younger self because she knows that it’s the only way to get a word in edgewise? It’s all fantastic and I love it and I want to see more of it

Also I felt compelled to try sketching out a conceptual CC!Edelgard take this as either thanks for sending this or a bribe for more or both your choice

#submission #cheeseandcake #fire emblem: three houses #fire emblem: heroes #fanfiction #crest control #i love this so much #i want to see more of cc!edelgard in heroes #hanging with claude and arvis and lyon #and talking to the dragons #there are so many interesting possibilities

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hitoshisbabygirl · 4 years

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Cemented love // E. Kirishima

Authors Notes ♡: Omg have I been through the ring (no pun intended) with this collab! I loved this idea and even with my own personal love life crumbling over while I wrote this, I hope it can give someone some warm feelings when you read it! I’m so glad to be a part of this lovely collab and hopefully you guys will see me in many more! Kirishima is one of my babies and I hope this gives him justice for how sweet he is ! I hope you enjoy reading this and much as I did writing it ~ bunny ❥

Warnings : none! I don’t think (´°̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥ω°̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥｀) we love making Kiri a big softly Bakubabe being Bakubabe so a few cuss words

Word count : about 2k give or take!

Paring(s) :Eijiro Kirishima x F! Reader

Plus some of our Class 1-A are dating in this world too ♡

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Kirishima was the light of her world, he made everyone and everything ten times happier and brighter than it was. But to Kirishima, () was his brightest star in the sky. He loved her so much for everything she’s done. She inspired Kirishima to keep going, to press on and be a pro hero even more than he believed in himself. Since middle school she was the driving force behind him, keeping the sometimes sad and less cheerful Kirishima happier and joyful in his life. He loved her for the light she brought to him , and he wanted to return that light to her in the most loving way he could ; marriage. It all started years ago, starting from the last year of middle school to now in his life as pro hero Red Riot

Kirishima knew in their second year at UA that he was in love with one of his best friends. After sparring with her he realized how strong () was and how he wanted her to be his girlfriend. But being distracted he realized he was on the floor, blocking . “Haha! Gotcha” She yelled victoriously , pinning Kirishima under her hands , smiling down at him, heaving out of breath as she yelled victoriously. But all Kirishima could think of is how beautiful she looked when she was happy, a smile of his own spreading across his face that didn’t get unnoticed by a certain pink friend of theirs.

Afterwards that night at the dorms, Mina ran up to Kirishima, stopping the group of him , Sero and Denki heading to the kitchen, their hot headed friend Bakugou already sleep in his room, claiming that he didn’t have time for the “extras and their boring ass games” and grumpily shut his dorm door , the rest of his friends heading back to hangout with their other friends and classmates. “Hey Kiri! I have a question for you” Mina sung, grabbing Kirishima by the arm and pulling him away from the two confused friends he was walking with. “Yeah? What’s up Mina?” Kirishima said , blinking at the excited pink girl, her eyes lighting up and a wide smile on her face. “You like () don’t you? I saw the way you looked at her during practice! You’re practically smitten for her aren’t you!?” She said , causing the red head to sputter and try to argue his defense as she covered his mouth. “Now don’t worry! She likes you too, you should go y'know , ask her for a date” Mina finished, elbowing Kirishima in the side as their friend in question shouted loudly, winning a round of Mario Cart she happily laughed, getting the last slice of pizza from a disappointed Denki . As Minas' smile grew , Kirishimas’ face darkened in embarrassment as he watched his happy friend celebrate. They moment was soon snapped out of his thoughts as he was pushed forward to the common room by the pink counterpart beside him, mouthing a ‘go talk to her’ before she ran off to slide beside () and Tsyu , jumping on one of the couches with the other girls. With a sigh Kirishima sat beside Midorya and Sero, both guys looking at the red head as he longingly looked across to the happy girl eating her prized pizza. () soon looked over and blinked, giving him a small wave and a smile to which the red head turned dark and waved back with his own smile , the two of them in their own world together as their friends watched internally screaming at them to make it official. Once a movie started to play , () and kirishima were given the job to go get and make more snacks. Cookies were in the oven , chip bowls and candy mixes were brought in and out from their kitchen. As () was placing more cookies in the oven , Kirishima came over to her with a small smile.

“Need any help with those?” He asked as () smiled back, sliding out a tray and replacing it with another one, “No , but if you want we can start on the punch and all of that” she said after closing the oven and removing her oven gloves. Heading to the refrigerator she pulled out the jugs of juice, starting to mix them as they started to laugh, acting as mad scientist while everything was beginning to become finished, the two sharing quiet laughters and jokes to eachother. As they waited for the second batch of cookies to finish while stealing glances at the movie as they walked back and forth , the pair sat up on the countertops, talking to eachother.

As () kept talking , Kirishima stared at her, eyes adoring as he listened to her talk, happily explaining how much she loved her work study and the mission she had a few days ago. As she turned to ask him a question about his own work studies she noticed how he was staring, causing her own words to fall off, making Kirishima snap from his thoughts soon turning red as they stared at eachother. “S-sorry I promise I was listening!” Kirishima blurted out , holding his hands over his face in defense and embarrassment as () smiled at him, taking the rambling boy's hand as her own face darkened. “Kiri…” she started and gave him a soft smile, making the red head stop and look at her , his eyes soft as she looked away before continuing. “Kiri..do you like me?” She said only above a whisper, the question almost being drowned out by the screaming and gasps in the living room except he was hanging on to every word she said. He let out a small sigh and held her hand back, shaking his head in agreement to her statement, scared for his voice to fail him. She turned darker and let his hand go, hoping down to check the cookies. With her own sigh she opened the oven, checking the still raw cookie dough.

As she flipped the pan he stared longingly at her, still in disbelief of what she asked but even more shocked once she started talking again. “I’ve..always appreciated our friendship..but I had deeper feelings for you Kiri..and I’m glad..you feel the same way..” () finished as she turned from the oven only to turn into Kirishimas’ chest. With a bit of hesitation she looked up to him looking down at her with a dark color of embarrassment evident on his face as he took one of her hands, giving it a small kiss. “W-well if you want we can become..a thing? No..I mean I want you as my girlfriend...i-if you’ll let me?” He said as his voice got lower and lower, a wave of nerves came over him as he tried to find the right way to ask () out. With a laugh she reached up and kissed his cheek, her own face having the same heat flushing through her own cheeks “Yes Kiri I would..now can we move the oven is getting a bit too hot to lean against” She said giggling as Kiri babbled our apologizes, moving them from the oven door. As the movies played on, the hushed whispers and small giggles flowed from the newly made couple filled the kitchen with newfound love.

Graduation came and went with everyone headed towards hero work. Kirishima was now a certified sidekick for Fatgum and his agency with () working in the office giving them updates and missions to work on. Fatgum loved his sidekicks, they were like his children and he treated them as such, he loved helping them along to become heroes and have their own name in the scene of things. He always saw the potential in the apprentices he chose and that was no different with the ones he had now. As everyone went up in the ranks in the few years that passed Kirishima included, he got his own agency with the help of Fatgum to help stop crime alongside the bigger named hero. Beside him was () , his secretary, sidekick , and long-standing lover and some of UAs newer names in the four years he’s been out of the top hero school. The lover duo of Kirishima and () had made the hero world gain a buzz no one really saw coming, setting a spark in how hero work was seen as people watched them. The two of them had one of the strongest bonds and skill work the world had seen and everyone loved the sensational duo with their bright and lovable personalities shining through as they helped Japan stay safe. With all the media surrounding the pair and with pro hero work it was rare they got time alone but with a large raid being finished this week they finally had time for themselves and that time was something that Kirishima was gonna steal for him and his master plan he’s been brewing up.

It started with dinner, simple enough and enjoyable for the two of them. As () came home from finishing up her last bit of paperwork she was astonished to walk into a low lit home with her towering pro hero boyfriend shyly pushing from one foot to the other , hands hidden behind his back. “Well hello there” She said with a giggle as she placed her keys down on their counter , heading to the hulking man. “H-hey babe! These are for you!” Kirishima blurted out , handing over a giant bouquet of flowers to (),her eyes widening as she let her small smile grow wider , taking the bouquet, inhaling its pleasant and lovely aroma. “Thank you Kiri! I absolutely love them! What’s with all of this? Did I miss something important?” She said as she looked around and found a spare vase, placing the flowers inside as she turned to her red haired lover, him wrapping his arms around her waist as he giggled. “Nah, just want to spoil you” He said softly, kissing her cheek as he took her hand and dragged her to the dinner table, food arrayed and laid out on the table in front of them. “Yknow this is nice, we rarely get a whole lot of time together Kiri” () said, laughing as she took in the meal in front in her, happily making a plate as she looked at her awe stricken boyfriend. “What..?” She laughed, wiping crumbs off her face as Kirishima smiled back, eating from his own made plate. “Nothing..you’re beautiful” he said softly, causing them both to stop and look at eachother as () fondly smiled back at him “And you’re handsome” she finished off , taking his rather large hand in his as he kissed the top of hers , the two finishing their dinner date with talks about work, their well needed break, what to watch on TV and how they’d spend their time off together.

The next day Kirishima told () that they had reservation to a mystery place she couldn’t know where they were going. Only leaving a note saying ;

Hi my love ♡ I hope you slept well

I have a surprise for you later today! Dress up in your favorite dress or whatever you wanna wear, I love you in anything you put on. Once you do just step outside around 6 when you’re done

I love you ♡

Kirishima ~

With a scoff () shook her head , trying to think of what her boyfriend could be planning as she cleaned the house , fixing plants and pictures placed all over there house. With a smile she remembered each and every picture, from when they graduated, their first mission together, when they went out to eat to celebrate with Fatgum and Tamaki , and other significant events in their life together. Setting everything up and neatly () looked at the time, seeing as it was just after four she decided to take a quick nap and once she got up, get dressed and find out what her lovely boyfriend was hiding. Meanwhile, Kirishima set up the penthouse suite , pacing around as Fatgum watched his intern more nervous than he'd ever been before anything, even stressful missions. “Hey dont sweat it Kirishima! Im positive that she’ll say yes!” Fatgum reassures the redhead, his crimson eyes wavering as he looked at the small black velvet box in his hands “You dont think...this is too early or maybe she doesn’t feel the same..?” Kirishima asked, rolling the tiny box as Fatgum gave him a pat on the back “I could bet my whole missions lunch on her saying yes!” He said excitedly as he let out a laugh, a toothy grin coming over Kirishima as they prepared for a mission bigger than he’d done before.

Walking down the stairs of their home and into the night , () looked around as she saw a hot pink car, evident that it was her hyper pink friend. “Mina??” She questioned as the pink girl rolled her widows down , a huge smile on her face. “ () babyyyyy hiiiiii!!!” She happily yelled as () ran up to her window. “So you’re my ride huh? What’s Kiri planning?” She asks as she hears giggles from the back, seeing Jiro and Momo in the back, holding hands as they waved to their other best friend. “Hey ()!” “How are you doing dear?” Momo and Jiro both started to talk and asked her how she was as () got in the car , the group heading to the meet up spot as they talked. “I’m good you two! I’m so happy you guys are here, how’s hero work treating my favorite pair of wives?” She said laughing as the duo smiled at her. “We’re all good here, the boys are already there , Tsuyu, Hagakure and Uraraka are on their way too!” Momo said as they drove off, singing different songs as () looked out the window thinking of what she’d be met with at this mystery spot.

Once the group arrived they were bombarded with the beautiful scenery , their other friends and significant others. “()!!!” Uraraka yelled, rubbing to hug her as the two laughed , () holding her hands as she took in her dress “Look at you, I love this dress! Where’s Deku? How are you guys and the baby?” () said as Uraraka smiled , rubbing her small bulge. “We’re all good! Dekus helping the others in the back!” Uraraka said as they headed around the penthouse, swimming pools , a garden , different spaces and a beautiful sky line. “Wow Kiri has to pay a shit ton for this!” Denki said as he hugged and kissed Mina on the forehead, () smiling at him. “Hey Denki!” She said as the electric blonde ran and hugged her “Hey ()! There’s my favorite person! Are you ready to see what Kiri has panned for you?” He said as he threw her a wink , () frowning as everyone settled in. “How does everyone know but me” she grumbled , going to a large chair in the glass room of the penthouse, watching as her best friends got ready. “Hey babe” Kirishima said, kissing her cheek as she jumped from her thoughts, giving him a grin as he said in his own chair beside her. “Hi love! So why is some of our closest friends here, we’re in a large penthouse, and no one is telling me what’s going on” () said as she pouted and Kirishima laughed, kissing her forehead and then her lips with a satisfied and wide smile “You'll see!”

As the night drew on and everyone was hanging out in the pools , eating , playing board and video games and much more, Kirishima was ready. Grabbing a mic he tapped and said “Uhm everyone can you guys come here? I think it’s time” as everyone giggled and sat around the display , () took Fatgums hand as he helped her up to Kirishima, the redhead taking his lovers hand as he gave her a nervous smile “So..I’ve been talking this over with everyone important to me and I’m glad all of them are here now!” He started as class 1-A yelled happily back, as he continued “Well...now that we’re here..() I’ve been in love with you since we started highschool..I’m so glad that I’m with you and that you’ve been with me thick and thin..so without a doubt I know that this decision of mines is one I’ve always wanted to do..and I’m positive that it’s one I’d never back up from..” With a deep breath he pulled out a velvet black box and as everyone awed and started to clap () eyes widened, seeing as her tall boyfriend was now in one knee, showing her one of the biggest diamond rings she’s ever seen. With a shaky hand she held it out to him as he asked the four little but heaviest words “Will you marry me?” He said with big crimson eyes, a flash of nervousness in them. Without a word she shook her head yes as he slid the ring on her finger as everyone clapped and cheered. Kirishima stood up and wiped the tears from her eyes, giving her a soft kiss as the sounds of their friends drowned out by the beating of their hearts.

——————————————————

Bonus!! ♡

Kirishima nervously fixed his vest and tie for the hundredth time as his best man Bakugou finally let out a sigh causing the red head to freeze. “Listen Shitty Hair she already said yes and now you guys are finally tying the not. Don’t let your damn nerves get to you now” he said with a growl as the redhead laughed “You’re helpful as usual Bakubro! I’m fine! Just excited to finally see her..” He said with a small smile as Bakugou huffed again , heading out the door as he said “You’re the manliest man I know, you’ll be fine. If you mess this up I’ll be your ass myself” and with that the door shut as people took their places. The music started to play as the same penthouse that she was engaged in became the stage for her wedding. As all of their friends and family members who weren’t at the engagement party and the ones who were settled in , they waited to see the beautiful bride stroll down the eisle. As everyone turned around they saw () with her veil and bouquet coming down the eisle, being helped by all might as her father figure. Kirishima felt his breath leave his body as he thought to himself

“This is it...time to cement this love in stone!”

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