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unproduciblesmackdown · 11 months

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i rewatched fury road and it is not penciled in on my daily agenda to type too much here even though i can't keep anything brief but like. i mean as ever: furiosa: everything to me

i had just recently been musing on like. the Connections and Interactions from Afar, like, maybe close enough to see someone rather than Necessarily scores of miles away type of farness, but wherein like, intimacy, A Dynamic, a Connection, Significance, etc, can all be happening at peak like depth and importance and genuineness without this being correlated with increasing physical proximity or direct contact....the way that the dynamics that are developing and shifting with relationships in fury road being like, so little of this is happening through Speaking. there's such non normative interacting / socializing / communicating from all these mfs like this Pwns. furiosa's pure "i am here behind you and shoot you a quick silent Gesture without even looking directly at you b/c i saw you in my peripheral vision look back enough to see me in Your peripheral vision" like. the way she and nux are perfect comrades mode in the end without her having spoken to him since pointing a gun at him, with her prior interactions being: [spit in face], prior to that, [knife at throat]. but it all makes perfect sense when it's about shifting from "are you at least not someone who's immediately trying to kill me" to "our goals are parallel / not at odds rn" to truly sharing Thee Same goal, beyond any more tentative alignment.

like there's not that much of like, showing us how relationships have developed via displays of Verbal Rapport, though there's varying illustrations of people's ease, and style, with Talking....nux quickly becoming quite affably relatively chatty, presumably from having always been around a bunch of peers, the girls having a somewhat more "strange" way of talking amongst themselves, the other girls having more humor and talkativity when there's been more of them and living more freely, furiosa also fairly isolated but presumably having regular opportunities to talk, if even just in her capacity as imperator....the Nonspeaking speaks to me, the way What People Are Doing for each other, what they Aren't doing to each other, all matters beyond anyone needing to go "you're alllllright!" only after some like, cooldown messing around usual Rapport Building scenes or anything like that, though of course it's relevant that they hardly have time or space for that anyways....just like, it matters first and foremost that people aren't people who want you dead, and it matters that people are people who are trying to live, and they're listening and paying attention to each other even beyond "this person is directly &/or extensively conversing with me"

i can't go on all day ugh i love how little Conversing matters lmfao. i love how What Really Matters is what really matters. the entire arcs happening despite nobody's "normal" socializing with each other....toast becoming like, closer to furiosa, taking to the Fighting & Weapons Handling of it all, standing near her, talking to her, having that peak position of relevance during the climactic events....thinking like damn f for the valkyrie every time and that gayass reunion (hell yeah) and dying 5 min later, but eventually finally noticing in full like my god the fact that she took out a few mfs who furiosa then did not later have to battle while losing blood, air capacity, that Interaction of Great Significance from afar....thinking about the journey of "does knowing my name matter" to "sharing my name as this manifestation of [sips water HUMANITY RESTORED] but via, like, having [HUMANITY] of others' shared with you, finally, as well as your sharing your own, the interactions based on That vs nothing beyond 'you are not going to kill me in the immediate future / i don't yet have to fight or flee over anything from You'" like, in my still like "wow. driving" enhanced sensitivity and just like ready to think of things re: Autistacity it's like, truly this realm where [who can you know isn't about to kill you or only Just willing to ignore you for now at best?] where [to whom are you not only a possible threat or merely an obstacle] where [whomst is caring about What Matters and what people are Actually Doing and pursuing Actually Getting To Live. all versus someone's superficial affect of warmth or charm or Normality or w/e tf all that hardly matters that much, sure not More than what they Actually Do and their Actual Goals] the [fr how it's so not like Speaking Is Everything out here, fuck yes] like idk cried hard at that My Name Is Max moment beyond any degree before lol like might've gotten momentarily misty as is easy enough for me to do, but shed two whole tears this time. fury road you're so much to me....furiosa you're soooooooo Everything

#fury road #mmfr #things also making me think like furiosa didn't share her name either did she lol #but it was Just Said then; could've been [this is our furiosa] overheard; probably overheard at the very start. imperator gone rogue....

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inhonoredglory · 3 years

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ROTT: hot takes 🔥 (spoilers)

I wrote the following last Thursday, before my fandom life was waylaid by birthday shindigs for my sister and a weekend of migraines and nausea/fainting because of the COVID vaccine. I feel so out of touch w/ fandom but here’s my late but initial thoughts to ROTT if anyone’s interested LOL

––––––

DAMN SON.

DAMN.

I saw Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans last night. Before I launch into the fandom again, I’mma share my unfiltered thoughts.

ThAT oPEnING. HOLY SHIT. It was exhilarating. Seeing all of Tales of Arcadia rush past me in 3 minutes was awesomesauuuuuce.

but guYS GUYS lemme tell you the

✨✨ABSOLUTE✨✨

✨✨✨UTTER✨✨✨

✨✨✨✨✨HIGHLIGHT✨✨✨✨✨

✨✨✨✨✨✨of MY LIFE✨✨✨✨

////oh gODS////

hearing Douxie say in that deep, grave, convicted, voice:

❝ ｂｕｔ　ｔｈｅｙ　ｃａｎ　ｔａｋｅ　ｍｅ ❞

DOUXIE MY SELFLESS WIZARD BEAN. LIGHT OF MY LIFE. I’M DECEASED.

Because it’s scenes like this which convince me they KNOW that Selflessness Is His Thing. And that means so freaking much to me OH MY LORD.

Act 1 of ROTT was an absolute delight, let’s just say.

Men in Black!Krel

Nari!Douxie (i cANNot beLIEve THIs is a THING im in tears)

THE BARBARA/JIM REUNION!!!!!

A FREAKING STRICKLAKE ENGAGEMENT!!!!! Jim/Strickler relationship growth arc 😭😭😭

Y’ALL WE GOT JLAIRE SITTING ON A FLIPPIN’ RED ASS BED. This is the closest we’re gonna get to sex in a kid’s show.

NOT COUNTING OFC THE INSTA-STAJA-FAM CONCEPTION

should I be scared that GDT is reading the totally wack corners of mpreg AO3??!! 👀👀👀dude, like DUDE. that happened.

ELI GLOWUP !!!!! damn son u hot

also aja is such a Queen in this whole thing omg

I obvs can’t go scene by scene through this thing but––

Douxie and Nari in P A I N during the spellbreaking scene. that hurt my soul oh lordy. there must be art made

OK but then after this SHIT GETS VERY REAL. There’s a lot of Character Thematics/Arcs and Real Narrative shit I can get down into and stuff I want to think about because yEAH... wow, this movie Went There. And Back Again. (lOLJSKGSg)

I appreciate the deaths. I really do. But Strickler was a shock. Jim holding onto his mom and crying, overwhelmed with guilt, was the most Jim thing. The boy puts so much agony on himself. It’s his undoing. gAH POOR JIM.

CAN WE MAKE A NOTE THAT JIM’S RIBS WERE BROKEN/HURT throughout this entire thing??? 😭😭😭 HMmm? HMMMM!!! LOOK AT THE ANGST

Claire shadow-porting an eNTiRE TITAN. This girl is OFF THE CHARTS SJGHSBKGJMNFSBG

Nari’s death was emotional. Wow. She was being a Hero. Not running, like she said. That was a Power Growth and beautifully scored. Not to mention archie trapped forever?!!! Nooooo?!!!

They really want to take everything away from Douxie don’t they.

Jim getting Excalibur and leveling up with Akiridian armor was pRETTY SWEET. Especially ✨together✨. And everyone saying the Destiny speech. *tissues*

Act 3 finale babbaaayyyy.

CHILDREN OF THE SUN REDUX OMSKGJSGGMN HELL YEAHHHH

Jim realizing the amulet didn’t make. him a hero, HE DID. And that’s why the amulet chose him.

y’all I sobbed for tobes. that was powerful, painful, and moving. and y’know it was almost like this whole movie was an apology for treating toby like a comedic sidekick––and giving him the trollhunter mantle in the end.

like THEY VALIDATED JIM AND TOBY’s FRIENDSHIP and that cANnNOt be underestimated. Because friendship is almost ALWAYS knocked down the ladder of importance in the pantheon of human relationships, and ROTT said NO. Jim loves Toby so much that he’d change his own history and the history of the ENTIRE WORLD in order to get him back.

like, Jim, our sacrificial Hero. Deciding to truly be Atlas and take all the weight of What Could Have Been on his shoulders, because he cannot stand the losses that happened under his leadership.

this kiss tho. the absolute ANGUISH in the way jim presses himself to her face. gOD. THE PAIN. THE LOVE. THE “I LOVE YOU”

––––

The whole time travel twist tho. I’m kinda... not here for it?? Time travel is tricky to pull off and yeah, I think I’m in the camp that everyone’s character arcs (except Jim’s) have been retconned. It’s sad because people get connected to one another by the shared pains, joy, and experiences that brought them together, and now they’ve lost that.

But thematically and more importantly, why can’t the acceptance of death be validated? Sure, so many people dying was painful, but Let. It. Be. Painful. That’s life. TOA hasn’t shied away from dark things before. Toby and Strickler and Nomura and Nari (even Archie and Charlemagne) gave their lives; Toby became a Hero in the truest sense of the word. Let him do that, let that choice be his. In fact, it says a lot thematically about Jim’s hero complex that he cannot accept other people making heroic choices with tragic consequences. That it’s all on him. But with this ending, they do make it clear Jim’s need to be a hero is a driving obsession, and I appreciate the strength of his conviction on that identity for himself.

But the thing about retconning the anguish is that it’s telling us that bad consequences, tragedy, and loss are unacceptable in life. That just because Jim and his friends need 10 years of therapy, he should try to erase all that pain and give himself and his friends a “normal” life. No. Depression, loss, hurt... these help make us who we are; growth is about accepting them and using that pain to become better people, not invalidating them from our past.

*grumbles*

let’s be real tho: that ending was meta. it was like they were telling us fans that now WE can go create the Trollhunters we wanted to see, and fix all the things we thought went wrong. I think someone’s been reading a bunch of Trollhunter AU fics, no?

tl;dr ROTT creates more questions than it does answers and we need another show LMAO

#trollhunters #trollhunters rise of titans #rott #rott spoilers #toa #tales of arcadia #jim lake jr #douxie #claire nunez #*mymeta #*mythoughts

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violet-t-9 · 3 years

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Check in on my (not very realistic) wish list for episode 141

1. Blooming Grove Clay family reunion! Hugs and tears! Home-cooked meal and tea! Much needed relaxation and downtime after saving the world.

Ay that was a nice meal and a good night’s sleep.

2. Widogast’s Nascent Nein (9!) Sided Tower because Caleb still has a spell slot for that! So many cats and books. Also, rooms for Essek and Molly (9!). Bonus: seeing more rooms on the 8th floor of the tower?

Oof well thanks Trent now we don’t get to see the tower again, ever. I’m 100% sure that Essek will see his room during the Aeorian study fun times and Luc and Yeza will see their rooms in magical summer camp with professor Widogast though, so I’m happy.

3. Check in and visiting Allura to return her staff and Kima’s Holy Avenger (”hey we saved the world killed Lucien stopped the city Allura are you proud of us? You are? Tell us who is on the Tal’Dorei council.”)

They mentioned it, but they didn’t play it out, unfortunately. Alas, the members of the Tal’Dorei council shall forever remain a mystery.

4. Check in and visiting Yussa and Wensforth to apologize for their last visit to the Tidepeak Tower and using his emergency exit plan, but Yussa being too grateful to be saved from a screaming city hivemind to care.

Yep, thank you Caleb for remembering Yussa lol. Should have known that he would want to study the Happy Fun Ball... Wizards sharing knowledge, how nice! Also, Veth’s goodbye to Wensforth was very sweet.

5. Molly getting more and more of his memory back and slowly becoming his old flamboyant self.

I... wow I mean I guess Kingsley? This technically happened? He is going to become someone new, which is always exciting! He got a lot of... interesting memories back too. He is also interested in learning about Molly’s memory too, even though he is somebody else (and just as flamboyant).

6. Caleb says goodbye to Frumpkin and there is either a sweet farewell or Frumpkin just goes “nah fam I choose my wizard you can’t get rid of me”.

Aw Frumpkin didn’t feel ready to leave at first... :( The actual farewell was indeed short and sweet, I loved it.

7. Beau and Yasha moments, conversations, fun times, shameless PDA, or potentially fade to black because they deserve it.

Camping outside at night, aw. Their moment after the Zeenoth trial was very touching as well! “Yes, my love?” and “my Expositor” lol how romantic they are. They are planning to settle down and explore Yasha’s past together! Their honeymoon little trip! Also, “I will have you and then some” was indeed hot.

8. Jester and Fjord being domestic, adorable and sharing kisses/conversations or potentially fade to black because they deserve it.

The sleep snuggle was soo cute and Jester’s love admission was adorable! Also the rain and double confession wow Fjord what a romantic man. Their conversation in Nicodranas was sooo cute guys. They planned boat trips!

9. Caleb and Essek have a long one-on-one conversation about their “it’s complicated” relationship and have some more physical contact (still reeling from the forehead touch last episode).

Caleb attempting to include Essek in the globe of invulnerability and Essek dragging Caleb away from melee combat aw. The kiss on the cheek and the empathetic hug... I will take the time travel conversation as well.

10. Veth, Yeza and Luc’s joyful/tearful family reunion and happy fun times in which Veth and Yeza may or may not celebrate in private.

Aw that was a nice reunion, so very cute. Veth gets to fully return home to her family after saying goodbye! I’m going to assume that she celebrates her return with Yeza in private.

11. Cad’s moments with his family and also with Molly (because it’s fun to watch them on screen together and conversing let’s be real).

Caduceus gets to be with his family now, enjoying life at the blooming grove! He deserves the relaxation!

12. Jester’s reunion with her mother with big hugs and finding out that parent trap TM has succeeded thanks to her genius plans. Also, the gentleman being a super awkward but loving dad.

Yes I knew it would work! The gentleman is a nervous drinker confirmed lol. The mother-daughter talk was very nice and a great reminder!

13. The Mighty Nein plans for the future: getting rid of Cloven Crystal, Fjord visiting Vandran (with Jester probably, who discusses Tusk Love with him) and maybe Sabian? Yasha’s plan to bring flower to Zuala (trip with Beau?). Beau’s plans regarding Zeenoth’s trial (has that happend yet? Does she want to go?) and Caleb’s plans for the assembly (or even further ahead, magical school? Aeorian research with Kryn Colleague? How pissed is Ludinus Da’leth?)

Well, the empire siblings sure started a task force against the assembly huh. Also yeah Caleb you tell him, F**k your vacancy Martinet Ludinus Da’leth! Professor Caleb will teach Luc. Astrid would be more interested in the position anyways. Fjord got to visit Vandran with Jester and got him to join their sailing adventures! Jester also talks about Tusk Love with him wow. Beau testified against Zeenoth with Yasha by her side! Yasha gave flowers to Zuala on a trip with Beau! Caleb and Essek got to do their Aeorian research study! Fjord’s cloven crystal adventure was also addressed! I’m so good at predictions you guys I KID YOU NOT I predicted everything.

14. Getting an update about Astrid and Eadwulf to find out that they are in fact doing fine because Trent is in deep trouble and under heavy investigation by the Augen Trust and Cobalt Soul (bonus: Trent is already starting to get what he deserves. Or even better, Trent has died from liver failure in jail. Like his jaundice really kept getting worse so one can hope I guess?)

F**k you Trent, you just had to show up and ruin everything didn’t you. Well, Astrid and Eadwulf are fne now, and Trent IS in deep trouble and rotting in jail. Still hoping that he will die from liver failure after like, a few years.

15. Fjord officially “meeting the parents” and Gentleman/Marion giving Fjord the shovel talk because that didn’t happen last time.

Aw he didn’t go with! But the gentleman did talk about Fjord anyways lol and gave her some sound advice.

16. Wedding mentions/discussions? Proposals? Anyone? No?

Well Jester proposed to marry... her parents? Lol did not see that one coming. Veth and Yeza renewing vows yes! It was a nice suggestion.

17. Artagan/sprinkle joins in the celebration because why not (bonus: Sprinkle gets to be free! Or whatever an undead weasel could be lmao)

Artagan and Jester’s conversation was very nice development for them. Sprinkle gets to stay forever, unfortunately for Sprinkle lol.

18. Obligatory wish for Essek’s fancy dunamancy or magical items (like I know we will never see dark star probably but I live for spell casting flavours).

Essek’s hold person on Trent was clutch, “stay down”, what a king. The tether essence, lightning bolt and gravity sinkhole were all wonderful. Still sad about the dark star never being seen though.

19. Obligatory wish for the polymorph spell (look, I just love it okay).

Hey, Jester threatened Astrid with it! Polymorph mention wins! Fjord was sad about the potential choice of turning her into a turtle but it would have been funny.

20. Obligatory wish for Caleb to use more fire/customized/dunamantic spells creatively or with nice flair (what’s sexier than wizards NOTHING).

What’s sexier than counterspells and dispel magic NOTHING. Also hey, the manacles of stasis worked!

21. Discussion about Essek’s future because oh boy can he even go back to the Dynasty? Have they found him out yet? If they did, how mad is the Bright Queen? Are Volstruckers too busy to chase him down? We need to know!

Oh man I mean Essek found a way to live freely at least! With a lot of illusions and identities, of course. He also got to stay in contact with the M9! I think he may show up in campaign 3!

22. Group hug! Group feast! Group cheer! I dunno, just do group stuff. They are the Mighty Nein, they are the Mighty Nine, they saved the world!

A lot of group hugs and feasts! I especially loved the hug when they said goodbye to Essek.

23. Visiting/checking in with other NPCs or allies potentially! Like Kiri, Calianna, Twiggy, Keg, Shakasta, Bryce, Dagen oh also the Hag (I’m kidding).

They checked in with Orly! Not these allies but you know, Orly is awesome.

24. Obligatory wish for everyone (the Nein, their friends/families) to get a happy ending that gives me a feeling of satisfaction and fulfillment, and that the episode/campaign ends with a poetically beautiful scene!

Yes, it was a very poetic and very beautiful story indeed

I love the Mighty Nein/Nine, I love the cast. I’m so grateful for their story in my life. Words are not enough to describe my thankfulness for being able to go on this journey with them.

Now excuse me I just need to go sob in a corner.

My score: 19/24

Seriously though check out #13 I’m proud of that one

Other Highlights:

Caleb hit 100 HP OMG I too am proud of him.

Well I didn’t expect the boss fight but I’m glad we are getting one?

Caleb’s produce flame was used by Veth on Fluffernutter, nice!

The Veth + Beau putting collar combo was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen, also there is something poetic about Caleb relying entirely on his friends and Astrid to carry out the collar tactic on Trent.

The forced empathy commands by Cad lmao wow angry Cad is scary, too bad Trent didn’t have any.

Veth’s silent image... Caleb disintegrating and burning everything in the T-dock... Caleb’s book for his parents... Professor Widogast... Excuse me I’m going to cry now.

#cr spoilers #c2e141 #critical role #critical role spoilers #cr liveblog #manifest list #the mighty nein

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mental-dilemma · 4 years

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A Quick Meeting Part 4?

Damian’s an exchange student in Paris taking it easy until an Akuma attacks and he gets to meet ladybug. -----------------------------------------

Ok before everyone starts pancking: I am Emu-Lumberjack I just decided to create a Sideblog for all my writing so that way those who follow me exclusively for that don’t have to deal with the chaos that is my main blog

also I’m sorry it’s taken so long to post this but just between school and work and school and just general exhaustion it’s been hard for me to write.

and as always all credit to the Au goes to @ozmav

pt.1

pt. 2

pt. 3

“I don’t suppose I could bribe you to drop the matter.” Damian said sitting down in Tim’s office. He and Ladybug were situated next to each other while Tim was on the other side of the desk.

“Nope.” He turned to Ladybug, “I didn’t get a chance to introduce myself, making sure Damian didn’t disappear and all that. Anyway I’m Tim Drake, Co-Ceo of Wayne enterprises and Damians older brother.”

Ladybug turned to Damian and quietly said, “So does everyone in your family constantly talk like they’re trying to impress a victorian lord?” Damian snorted. Tim, unable to hear what she just said, looked to the two agape.

“At least I have a reason.” Damian responded, this time loudly enough for his elder brother to hear. “Anyway Tim is in CEO mode right now, which is pretty rare. Usually he’s a bumbling zombie dependent on coffee to function. In fact I remember one time when Dick took the last cup he----”

“I’d suggest stopping right there or I’ll tell her about the batcow incident.” Tim interrupted.

“Did you just say batcow? Because I understand each of those words separately.” Ladybug said, and even though her mask still concealed half her face Damian could tell she was really confused.

“Don’t ask. Just don’t.” Damian said quietly.

“Anyway. I never caught your name and considering the fact that your in a mask I assume you’re a hero. Which is surprising because none of us knew Paris had heroes.” Tim cut the two of them off before more could be said.

“Yes that’s becoming a common theme I’m finding,” Marinette began. “My name is Ladybug in the mask. I have a partner, Chat Noir, but he’s currently indisposed, something about paint in his hair.” Damian stifled a laugh as Marinette continued, “We have been operating out of Paris for the last few years, early on we tried contacting the Justice league but Green Lantern told us not to prank call him.”

“Oh did he now.” Tim said, leaning his head forward.

“Yes he did. Thankfully my power allows me to reverse all damage done during a fight. Including any lives lost or monuments destroyed.”

“That sounds like a very useful power. I'm sure that the heroes of Gotham would love to work with you.” There was a twinkle in his eye that Damian knew meant Tim was concocting some scheme. He was about to jump in, but Marinette got there first.

“Yes I’m sure you would but the issue is we currently have our hands full here although from what Damian told me you guys sound much more fun to work with. At least the villains have better costumes.”

Tim noting her wording turned to Damian, “Did you tell her the family secret? You know what Alfred will do if he finds out.”

Damian smirked “I’m not an idiot Drake this was all her. She could rival you for deductive reasoning.” Marinette just sat there looking innocent.

“Well that explains why the two of you were sneaking around together, Ladybug should I assume Damian knows your identity as well?”

“Yep.”

“Well this is going to be a nightmare. But this just means I can formally invite you to Gotham at least. Ha just leave it to the Ice Prince to leak the identity on his first civilian trip abroad.” Tim leaned his head back, closing his eyes.

“Actually it was you guys who tipped me off.”

Tim suddenly opened his eyes and looked her straight in the eyes. “Come again.”

“Well it was the fact that no one had spied Robin around Batman while Damian was in France. Then the fact that you were patrolling rather than him tipped me off that Robin might be on a vacation..” Tim just face palmed.

“Of course that would happen, how did we not see it coming.” He muttered to himself. “Wait, that begs another question: how did you two meet.”

Damian blushed and before Ladybug could respond he said “not important, there was an akuma. Now do you need anything else.”

“Actually yeah. Ladybug you mentioned the video you sent to Green Lantern, well Batman found it and wanted us to investigate. He didn’t know Green Lantern had seen it or otherwise he’d be on his way back to Ooa healing from a scolding from Alfred. Dick and Jason wanted to come but Bruce needed someone he could send discreetly and who better than the Co-CEO of Wayne industries who could just be checking up on the Paris branch.” Ladybug was impressed by the scheming having Dick Greyson or Jason Todd come in would stir up villain or media activity but Tim the third son wouldn’t.

“Well if you want we can meet up with my partner later and you can formulate a list of questions. Plus it seems you and Damian have some catching up to do.”

“There was a reason I came to Paris Ladybug. Being forced to talk to Tim was not one of them.” Damian made to leave only for a yoyo to catch his leg. Ladybug smirked at him. “Maybe a five minute chat couldn’t hurt anyone. Family reunion and all that.”

“Great then as long as everyones in agreement I can set up a time with chat later this evening for all of us to talk things through and get a strategy in place.”

“Are you sure about this having the league involved is going to cause a lot of chaos and even more dangerous villains could target Paris.”

“Tim I have dealt with so much crap the last couple of years that at this point I will take Darkseid over Lila…… Oh crap. We forgot about Lila.” Marinette looked at Damian who was coming to the same realization she was. He called out Lila in the bakery, and outed himself as a Wayne.

“Do I want to know?” Tim said rubbing his temples. He did not miss highschool.

“Lets just say school tomorrow’s going to be interesting, and I think we’re going to have to put the meeting on hold till after it. Ladybug and I are going to need to deal with school tomorrow, and caffeine isn’t gonna cut it.” Damian said.

“Then again if we aren’t lucid tomorrow might not be so bad….” Marinette began

“Do not even finish that, you even more than me need sleep. Between fashion, school and heroing you function off an hour.”

“You.. have a point. I’ll brief Chat on the situation on my way home. In the meantime I’ll leave you too to the brotherly bonding I’m sure you need.” she pulled her yoyo from her pocket, “See you tomorrow Damian, and whatever plan you hatch up make sure nit doesn’t include killing anyone.”

“Goodnight Ma--- Ladybug. And no promises.” The boy caught himself before revealing Ladybug's identity. She gave him the look of ‘don’t fuck up my secret identity bird boy’ before jumping out the window to run from rooftop to rooftop.

“So. how long have you had a crush on her.” Tim pulled Damians attention, and Damian was sudden;y very glad he had said nothing about not killing his brother.

--------------------------------------

“Do you think they’ll actually help this time?” Chat’s voice rang over the phone, Marinette had stopped behind one of the chimneys to talk to him in private.

“I don’t know, at least now they are actually considering it rather than just brushing us off as children.” Marinette was tired but they needed to have this chat now, there wouldn’t be any chance to in class tomorrow.

“Yeah, just don’t get your hopes up. They left us to fend for ourselves for 3 years and are only doing this now because of Damian if you didn’t know him then none of this would’ve happened.

“Ok but why does that matter that it’s Damian? They could’ve been doing it because of Jon too.”

“Oh please, you're more dense than our class sometimes. Jon would’ve noted it then forgotten to tell someone, but Damian told Batman right away. Why do you think he did that?”

“Chat I am too tired for this.” Marinette could feel Adrien facepalming through the phone.

“Oh I am not spelling this out for you, this time you get to figure it out yourself.”

“Fine. but next time you need help on your calc homework don’t come running to me.” Marinette hung up on him and made her way home. The parisian streets were nice and quiet for her, no akuma meant maybe another hour of sleep.

Once she was out of the suit she let Tikki rest and got right to work on the new piece she was making for Jagged, he wanted to somehow have the score of his newest piece sewn onto the pants for his next concert, and she had to brainstorm.

Twenty minutes went by.

Then an hour.

Then two.

Finally she put up her pencil and put on her pajamas, as she was falling asleep Adriens words kept replaying in her head, and the meaning slammed into her like a truck. Pulling out her phone she sent one message.

Oh fuck off

tag list: @clumsy-owl-4178 @pawsitivelymiraculous @yuulxd @smolplantmum @inarachi02 @notmycupoftea26 @laurcad123 @unknownvsworld @jeminiikrystal @megawhitleycalderonpaganus

#The dilemma writes #Maribat #damian wayne x marinette dupain cheng #Damianette #Damientte #Chat noir #Kwamii #fics #fanfic #myfic #damian x marinette #platonic ladynoir #platonic adrienette

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fangirl-1523 · 4 years

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My Sworn Brothers [Luffy x Crossover!Sister!Reader x Ace x Sabo]

A/N: Hey, so I want to write a High School AU of the many, many anime I have watched/ read. Bleach, Blue Exorcist, Devil is a Part-Timer, Durarara, Fairy Tail, Fullmetal Alchemist, High School of the Dead, InuYasha, Kill La Kill, Magi, My Hero Academia, Noragami, One Piece, Ouran High School Host Club, Pokemon, Saiki K, Sailor Moon, Seven Deadly Sins, Soul Eater, Sword Art Online, Vampire Knight, Your Lie in April, and Yu Gi-Oh. And I was wondering who would you like to be apart of your friend? And would you like to have a relation to any of the characters of the world.

Summary: [Y/N] is the oldest sworn sister to Luffy, Ace, and Sabo. And after finding Ace and Sabo aboard Luffy’s ship, the Thousand Sunny, she explains to them who she is, her other sworn brothers and sisters, embarrasses the three of them (a regular Tuesday for her), and threatens them with a chalkboard for interrupting her. Multiple times. In this story, most of the anime I am into is in the same world (Bleach, Blue Exorcist, Fairy Tail, Fullmetal Alchemist, InuYasha, Magi, My Hero Academia, Naruto, Noragami, Seven Deadly Sins, and Sword Art Online. I might do a part 2.

Warnings: spoilers for the above mangas and animes, also, even though this is along the timeline of after the time skip (at some point), I took the creative liberty to have Ace alive during this meeting for a quad family reunion, might be language

Word Count: 1, 668

“How the hell am I suppose to believe that my three idiotic brothers would be in the same place at the exact same time I’m trying to find them?” the girl with [H/C] hair, old enough to be Luffy’s age, maybe a year younger or a year older than him.

“[Y/N]!!” the rubber boy flung himself at her in a hug.

She fell down on her butt from the impact of the hug. She groaned before pushing the boy off of her and standing up, dusting herself off. “Geez, Lu. I was on a job, just finished, and I heard something about a Straw Hat, a Fire Fist, and a blonde with a top hat that put the mad hatter to shame. I just came to see if the rumors are true.”

“What job did you have, sis?” Sabo said as he sipped a smoothie created from Vinsmoke Sanji.

“Well, you see. In the ten years I’ve been gone, I’ve been busy. Both with being lazy and being diligent.” the girl explained. “I am a member of Fairy Tail. Dragon Slayer Magic, particularly fire, water, earth, air, and plant. Requip the Knight. Some space jumping there and vortex opening here.”

“You got the two mixed up, kid.” Ace said from his spot next to Sabo.

The girl grinned an evil grin. “Oh, did I, Ace of Clubs?”

The raven haired pirate groaned at the nickname while Luffy’s crew members wondered after the nickname. Ace kept giving her the don’t-tell-them-anything look with a cut-it-out motion. She, like most people she knew, did not listen to reason.

“Well, when we were younger, I attempted to teach the pour unfortunate souls that you call Luffy, Sabo, and Ace golf. And we played mini-gold. First hole we went to, the club flew out of Ace’s hand and crashed into the window where the pour lady working the club stand was clonked on the head and fell unconscious. Another fun fact: I’m overly competitive and therefore master of mini gold. Luffy on the other hand... beat my bowling high score of just a little over four hundred points.” [Y/N] explained.

“THAT’S NOT HOW YOU PLAY GOLF, YOU IDIOT!” Usopp shouted at his captain.

“Ace was a lot worse. However, on the eighteenth hole, got a hole in one. Although with team sports, I always sided with Luffy ‘cuz he was the baby of the family.” she explained.

“Never play Volleyball with her unless you’re Luffy.” Sabo warned the Straw Hat Pirates.

“Could you... possibly.... explain who you are?” asked Nami.

“That’s an easy and excellent question, m’lady. I am [Y/N] [L/N], the daughter of the Demon King from the Demon Clan, Niece of Solomon, adoptive daughter of the great dragon, The Curse of Depravity, a mage of S-Class ranking, the best older sister anyone can have, a Shinigami, and the Pirate Fairy.” [Y/N] said with her hands on her hips like wonder woman.

“You’re not wonder woman, dumbass.” Ace muttered.

She scowled at the boy (who was now physically older than her). “I know that, asshole.” Ace shrugged his shoulders at that. “Anyways, I should get going. I’m here with my teammates. And Salamander will have a cow if he finds out I’m on a Pirate Ship. Which may or may not include Natsu asking you all to fight him at once for his sister.” [Y/N] shrugged.

“SISTER?!” Luffy screeched.

“YOU ALREADY REPLACED US?!” Ace and Sabo said in unison.

“This is why I never took you to Amusement parks or sat next to you on a ride.” she clenched at her swollen ears. “No, I was merely saying that I have something called [Y/N]’s Council of Brothers. They’re basically a band of boys I feel need my protection, wisdom, and power to embarrass them until they’re six feet under and rotting.”

“She’s dark.” Nami said. “But can you explain this whole Council of Brothers thing. Because I’m not sure they,” the ginger pointed to the three brothers, “understand.”

“Alright! I will go over a lesson here!” and suddenly a white board appeared by her side with writing already on it.

“Where did you get the white board?” asked Luffy.

“That’s not important right now.” she scowled. “Yes, Sabo.”

“Was that Whiteboard always there and we just never noticed it?” the blonde asked.

“No. Ace if this is a question about the white board, I will smack you with the same gold club that flew through that window. All questions about the stupid whiteboard will be answered after I explained everything. Got it?”

The three brothers grumbled out a, “Yes.”

“Good. Anyways, to start it off I have two half-brothers. Meliodas and Zeldris.” she slapped a pointer stick against the whiteboard.

“Did she always have that?” Ace asked, whispering it to his two brothers.

“I don’t know. I’m just glad someone noticed it besides me.” Sabo murmured back.

“SILENCE, YOU INSOLENCE FOOLS!” and she threw a frying pan which hit Ace in the head.

Why does she have a frying pan in her requips? Sabo wondered in his head, not wanting to get hit in the head with anything else she might have to throw at them.

“Anyways, Meliodas and Zeldris are my half-brothers. Zeldris is the captain of the Demon Clan’s ten Commandments while Meliodas is the captain of Liones’s Seven Deadly Sins of which I am co-captain and the Phoenix Sin of Darkness. To be fair, I look more like my mother and I think the only thing me, Meliodas, and Zeldris share is our dumbassery we inherited from our father. Second off, my cousin is Magi Aladdin since my mother is his father, Solomon,’s sister. Now, that’s enough of my actual biological family. Now, I won’t go into detail about those three. Because you already seem well-acquainted with one another. Anyways, onto the next one. The next one on my list of brothers is a half-demon named Rin who is the son of Satan along with his younger brother, Yukio, but he doesn’t really need protection. next is Kazuto Kirigaya also known as Kirito. I prefer to call him that. He got stuck in a game where if you die there, you die in real life, but he defeated them. next, we have Satan himself, a king of demons, Sadou Maou. He works as a part-timer for a fast food chain which is sad to be honest. Next, we have Alibaba Saluja, a prince and a king’s candidate, also my cousin’s best friend. He wields the fire djinn, Amon. Also, he’s trying to be a gladiator while figuring out his feelings for Fanalis and former slave Morgiana. Next, we have actual God Yato who is a former god of calamity and a current god of war. I think. I’m not quite sure. But he and his two regalia, Yukine and a Nora named Kazuma, but also Kazune under Yato, must be protected by me at all cost. Then, we have Edward Elric, a alchemist missing both a leg and an arm because he wanted to see his mom’s smile again which kicks me in the heartstrings whenever I hear it. His brother, Alphonse, is an honorary member of the Council of Brothers. And he used to be entirely a soul attached to a suit of armor. No joke.”

“Does no one else notice that they are mostly raven haired or blonde?” Nico Robin commented.

The Straw Hat Pirates turned to the three sworn brothers who just shrugged their shoulders at that. “I admit I am guilty for that. But my actual brothers are raven headed and blonde, so that may be the reason. Anyways, off to the next people. Now, this person could make Luffy look like a genius. Sometimes. Natsu Dragneel, a salmon haired fire dragon slayer, is the brother of Zeref Dragneel, the black wizard, and also simultaneously END, the most powerful demon of the book of zeref which makes him one of the top fifteen most powerful demons. Next, we have strawberry boi, Ichigo Kurosaki, a shinigami who I’ve been helping train. He could see the dead and then he discovered his spiritual power, stole the shinigami powers of Rukia Kuchiki, and started to exorcist hollows and send souls to the soul society. Then, we have my favorite band of brothers since they could literally be in a band. Broccoli Boi, Izuku Midoriya, kinda has a power augmentation quirk, best way to describe it without giving too much away, Porcupine Katsuki Bakugo who can blow things up with help from his sweat. Zuko Wannabe Shoto Todoroki who can wield fire and ice. Also, his brother Touya may or may not be Dabi. Then, Pikachu Kaminari Denki who can utilize elctricity, but too much and he makes Luffy look like a genius. No joke. Well… maybe… I don’t really know. Anyways, then we have speedster Tenya Iida. Oh, there’s sharkboy Eijiro Kirishima. He can make himself go as hard as rock, but he has limitations. Then, we have spidertape Hanta Sero that can shoot tape out of his elbows. Then, half-demon InuYAsha who is the son of a dog demon and a mortal woman. There’s also Shippo who is an adorable little kitsune. And I think I got everyone.” the girl looked at her board before smacking it again as she noticed Luffy had begun to doze off while Ace had totally fallen asleep.

The action alerted the two boys to wake up at once and glare at their older sister. And then, a silver haired undead man with a flying blue cat landed on the floor of the ship. “Thank goodness we found you. C’mon. We got a mission and you and your ‘Team Natsu’ have a job request from the old man and a princess.”

“So Hisui and Bartra both agree to have us do something, but what is this so-called mission?” asked [Y/N].

Ban smirked. “We’re fighting slave-trading pirates.”

“I want in!” Luffy cheered.

#one piece #sabo #portgas_d_ace #portgas d. ace #luffy #monkey d luffy #fairy tail #seven deadly sins #anime #crossover #one piece x reader #asl #asl x sister reader

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lambourngb · 4 years

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Post finale thoughts: I watched live, I never do that since I am usually spending time with my partner on Monday nights, and he doesn’t watch the show. I pulled the ‘it was just my birthday during the plague card’ and won. (Or lost?? hahaha) Anyway. Long rambling thoughts under the break.

It’s like they heard my complaints about the pacing of 2x11 and 2x12, and said “hold my beer” for 2x13. So much happened, and happened so fast, I could barely get invested or get mad about it. Is that a victory? Are we not allowed to sit and breathe in any of the emotionally destroying scenes?

I listened to malex shippers through this season say “don’t worry, Miluca is breaking up in the finale” and I kept shaking my head going, “No? Like they seem solid? They really care about each other?” and then it actually happened- immediately after an “I love you” exchange no-less... and I’m like, what the hell? Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy that’s over but it still felt emotionally empty. But no time for that feeling because there’s more to go---

I absolutely loved the 1947 stories though, and now I wonder about Tripp. He really loved Nora. How did he survive watching her pace the cage in Caulfield? Pre-season 2 I was very meh about the flashbacks because I had enough to feast with the main cast, but now, I take it all back. I would have loved more of ‘47 and less of the Stef storyline. I want to know how long that skeleton was there. Do we have only Jesse’s word that Tripp was an old man in 1987? Does Arturo remember him? Also Harlan is a moron because a body under a wooden floor would have had some significant decomp smells for weeks and months. I guess no one walked by the shed while that was going on....

ETA: Okay Alex told Michael when the shed was built by Harlan when he was 70, so what year was that ? Tripp was alive in 1987 according to Jesse but I still don’t trust anything Jesse said about Tripp being factual since he was only sharing that to manipulate Alex into trusting him (and somehow getting the ship piece from Michael). I want to like Tripp but....yeah.

Liz- I love her and still do, but I was rather waiting for the hubris of science experiments to come into play and I felt rather robbed it didn’t materialize, that the conflicts between her and Max were very set in the relationship dynamic? Wanting to know who she was outside of him? Lots of build up over ethics and exposure, but then it came down to it, it was boundaries and preservation of self while in a soulmate relationship....Though if anyone studies Stef and her recovery too closely, that hubris card will still be in play.

Other things I was looking forward to and was left a little empty by- Jesse Manes dying. It was... very quick and I could barely enjoy the moment. I will have to re-watch the town gossip scenes to figure out how a veteran getting shot during a fire is dying a hero? Was Michelle Valenti just so happy Jesse was dead, she didn’t investigate the discharge of a firearm? Again, I’m happy he’s dead although it was something I didn’t anticipate happening with how the show was trending toward redemption messages. Jesse was a lost cause, but Flint is not? Both radicalized young but one you still have time to save? Okay.

I absolutely loved the shed scene. Michael going for the hammer, Alex still flinching a bit away from it, before he is reassured by Michael? I could have lived in that scene. Maria sending Michael with food- what a choice, bringing a casserole to the family of the man who killed yours- I loved that growth for Michael. He showed up for Alex and for Gregory. Good god I would have loved the look on Greg’s face when Michael shoved a dish in his hands, “thanks for killing him but also I really wanted to do that myself, here have this meatloaf?”

As for the song and the ending Malex scene, I enjoyed it. I didn’t want Michael hopping from one relationship to another, so I get why he didn’t immediately drop to his knees with a marriage proposal. I do wish he had stayed in the bar, listened to the song, let Alex know that he was still working on meeting him halfway.

And the Forrest stuff? So I dunno if this is unpopular or what, but I do not ship it for the same reasons I never shipped Maria and Michael. I am an OTP diehard, cosmic soulmates or bust. I blacklisted Forlex last October once his name was released and have no intentions of whitelisting it. With the departure of Jesse, there’s room for a reoccurring guest star, and as much as I would love Gregory Manes stepping in, I am pretty sure those minutes are going to go to Forrest in S3. My pre-season 2 thoughts were, “okay they can both date other people at the same time and move back together when the time is right” and now it’s shaping up to be another round of “watch one date and the other be alone” ? Do not want. I didn’t like it with Alex, and I don’t like it with Michael.

Also some of the discourse around that final scene- the whole “good it’s time for Michael to pine” or “Make Michael stew in jealousy” - makes me intensely uncomfortable and it’s directly counter to what Alex wrote in his song- he doesn’t want to keep score anymore with Michael. So can we just stop with that idea that Michael needs to be punished while he sits on the sidelines during this whole Alex dates Forrest thing? I get why people want it, because that’s how fandom saw Alex while Maria and Michael dated but it’s not what the character Alex Manes wants?

Anyway, still have no idea what this show is supposed to be about. Is it cosmic soul mates with alien imprinting? Is it you can love many people at the same time? Is it have fun with someone else until you settle down forever?

Final thought- Listen, I can write a fixit with a dead girl coming back to life and Noah getting flambéed. That fit very nicely with a crime story/investigation frame. What am I supposed to do with clone (?) Max? Or Max’s dad? How am I supposed to make that make sense?

Staring down the barrel of a long hiatus with the carrot of “happier and lighter Malex” in s3 held out in front again, with the whole promise that Carina wants Malex’s reunion to be emotionally earned.... and 2x13 is littered with unearned plot resolutions. So. Still a clown I guess. Still here.

#basic malex trash shipper #roswell new mexico #rnm season 2 spoilers #2x13 Mr Jones Thoughts #this is neither a yay or nay post #i'm tired

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qqueenofhades · 4 years

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Top 3 things I loved about Deus Vult: 1. All the historical and cultural details and how neatly they tied into and elevated the story, without it feeling like heavy handed exposition or scoring points for accuracy. 2. How you showed how awful the crusades, and war in general, are, but without the sense of "hurr durr ye olden days were all terrible", but instead contrasting things like the time Yusuf spent with his mother, or their time together in Constantinople, versus what the crusades... 1/2

2/2... did to those places, and the people - the bit that really hit me was the introduction to Phil, and his propensity for screaming like he's never been fed in his life, and then seeing him lying in the street - that hurt bruh. 3. The whole idea, best exemplified in Nicky & Quynh's conversation that hundreds of years of pain and loss and heartbreak don't have to turn you into a grimdark (tm) angsty tool, but instead it's an endless series of chances to do the right thing...

3/2 And even if that right thing isn't guiding humanity to this wonderful utopia, but just standing up for what is good and right, and speaking for them as has no voices. But yeah, whole thing was incredible and I really really loved it and thanks for writing it

Ahaha, I did change the title slightly, to Deo Volente, as a commenter kindly reminded me that (because they ruin everything) white supremacists and the alt-right have co-opted the other version of the phrase for their Nazi crusades fantasia, and I obviously did not want any confusion or misunderstanding with that. “Deo volente” means the same thing in Latin, just a slightly different version of the phrase (”God willing” vs “God wills it.”) So yes, sigh. White supremacists: still the worst.

Anyway, I’m so happy that you enjoyed it so much, and this comment is delightful to me because it picks up on many of the things that I personally enjoyed about this fic (as I said, possibly the most self-indulgent thing I’ve ever written). I’ve had so many lovely comments on AO3 raving over the history, that either they knew some of it already or they’re learning so much of it, and as an early career academic who’s struggling with the job market and feeling useless that I currently can’t do professionally what I’m good at: really,you have NO IDEA how much it truly warms my heart to have people tell me that I’m teaching them something real and valuable (and in the course of gay historical romance enemies to lovers Feelings, which we all have to admit has to be a pretty painless way to do it?) Obviously, anybody who has spent two seconds on my blog knows that I have Strong Opinions on the “hurr durr ye olden days were all terrible” thing, and there was never any chance that was happening. Instead, I very much wanted to do exactly as you say: creating these moments of beauty and wonder and magic, showing how happy they were in places like Constantinople, and then what the crusades ultimately did to those beautiful things, and how it got turned and twisted into something so awful (and frankly, was pretty awful to start with). Obviously this is VERY relevant to what’s going on right now, and the entire “War on Terror,” and.... yes. It’s very relevant to the arc and themes of the whole story and especially post-9/11.

(And yes, Phil. That whole latter third of the chapter during the sacking of Constantinople, as noted, just gives me a lot of emotions. It’s fine.)

And I ended up LOVING Nicky and Quynh’s relationship (and hurting myself deeply as a result). Obviously we never see them together in canon, we just hear Nicky (and Joe) explaining what happened to her, and that whole conversation is deeply poignant in that we KNOW what’s going to happen to Quynh. She’s going to face an even worse kind of totally dehumanizing and insanity-causing experience, she’s going to be put in the position of whether to completely turn her back on everything she loved and swear herself to revenge, and her expressing that fear that she wouldn’t be strong enough to resist that temptation, that she might BECOME a monster, is... ouch. (Where is my sequel goddammit I need the Quynh Reunion and the feelings not just with Andy but Nicky and Joe /gnaws own arm off.) And obviously Nicky being the world’s biggest romantic as usual and talking about how he didn’t even consider giving into revenge long-term because Joe was there, and he always knew that was worth more. In other news, I hate them.

ALSO YES, the idea that you CAN take pain and it can make you kinder, that we all have a choice as to how to respond to all the bad things happening around us (even if not on the same scale/long-term view as the immortals). We’ve all learned that by how utterly much of a shitshow 2020 is for everyone, and I think a lot about the lesson that, unlike every single Grimdark Fantasy (tm) and Macho Post Apocalyptic Fantasy Where Only The Strong Survive, we can become better even in the face of total darkness, and in fact, it’s the only way forward to any kind of future for anyone. The so-called “strong” are throwing fits over being forced to wear face masks in a pandemic and sitting on their hands while America descends into fascism, while in places like Portland, we have middle-aged mothers in bicycle helmets standing in a human chain to protect BLM protestors from the literal American Gestapo. So after Joe and Nicky try to fix everything permanently from on high with the Sixth Crusade, and then that doesn’t work, they have to reckon with the fact that like everyone else’s, their lives are going to be a series of choices, of small steps, of making things better where they can, and accepting that that will not be forever, rather than just doing it once and thinking that will work forever. They likewise can’t blame ordinary people for not living long enough to see the same things that they do, and they have to understand that they’ll see it crumble over and over, and still hold onto their goodness and desire to do the right thing, and.... yes.

They can’t just work with the kings and sultans and powerful people of the world and try to think that that’s the solution (as Nicky says during their conversation in Malta in chapter 5). They have to stand with the little people, the powerless, the people who aren’t going to get paid attention to in any of these wars, and do what they can, when they can, even in the face of total horror (as is the case with Joe in chapter 6). I really LOVE the movie (and love it more with every rewatch) for so totally demolishing the idea that a) superheroes can only Fix Big Things and b) that being kind even in the smallest and anonymous ways doesn’t ultimately matter. Because it DOES. We’ve all justifiably bagged on Marvel for totally giving into hollow CGI spectacle rather than any kind of authentic conflict that feels personal and constant manufactured conflict between the characters, and on GOT for “everyone is secretly awful and no good deed goes unpunished,” and I really, truly love the fact that the core message of The Old Guard is to do good for the most vulnerable among us, and that it DOES make a difference. Because there are so, so many of the usual tired tropes and cliches that they could have done, and they didn’t. It’s optimistic and hopeful and makes a statement about moral good without being saccharine; it doesn’t feel like we’re being force-fed some Disneyfied version of good and evil, but rather that the good can exist with, and ultimately overcome, even the worst evil. So that was a theme I also wanted to explore in the fic, with both the beauty and the pain, and obviously I also emotioned over that.

Just. Gah. Anyway. I had feelings about that story. Thanks for giving me a chance to talk about some of them.

#the old guard meta #tobsjpalfrey #ask #dvla asks

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aspiringprofessionalnerd · 4 years

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Wei Wuxian and the Trauma of the Burial Mounds

Sorry folks I am officially In My Feels after therapy this week, and then I came online this afternoon to see that @hunxi-guilai has knocked it out of the park with their analysis again. I love to see that people are talking about the portrayal of WWX’s trauma on a larger level, and I wanted to add my two cents:

Pre-Resurrection

First of all, I want to acknowledge that WWX is far from the only person who experiences trauma throughout the course of CQL ahem Jiang Cheng . Even WWX endures various types of trauma throughout his first life. But what I’m so impressed (and gutted) by is the way in which the show establishes that it is WWX’s first stint in the Burial Mounds specifically that breaks him (or, at least, catalyses his breakdown).

We know WWX has had a difficult childhood and teen years. He lost his parents at a young age and had to survive on the streets for an unspecified amount of time, facing physical and logistical hardships like running from dogs and battling starvation (no cultivation training yet, so no opportunity to train inedia) as well as the grief of losing his parents. Yet, remarkably, aside from his lingering fear of dogs, these incidents don’t seem to leave too many lasting physical or emotional scars. WWX is able to jump around and play with his adoptive brother on his first night at Lotus Pier, and when we see him in his teen years at Cloud Recesses Summer Camp he is a warm, bubbly individual with no reservations about physical contact (on the contrary, he’s more gung-ho about it than LWJ would like). He remains open to new experiences and new people, and even though he uses humour to obfuscate at times, the people close to WWX can still see through to his deeper intentions (take, for example, Yanli reminding Jiang Cheng that WWX is serious about the important things). Moreover, once the Jiang siblings and WWX return to Lotus Pier, we gain a greater appreciation for the past things WWX has survived, including years of verbal abuse some awkward family dynamics. Madam Yu’s words obviously hurt him, but even so he bounces back almost immediately and diverts his attention to comforting Jiang Cheng despite the fact that he is still recovering from Teenage Mutant Murder Turtle injuries himself. I think there is an important distinction to be made here: it’s not that criticism and harsh conditions just roll off of WWX. He DOES process and internalise them, but he keeps going and maintains his faith and openness in spite of having these negative experiences. Clearly, he is a remarkably resilient person.

After the massacre at Lotus Pier and Jiang Cheng’s loss of his golden core, we see WWX wrestle with more complex emotions: grief, guilt, and concern. It’s obvious that Wei Wuxian is suffering acutely, but he’s still doing it in a way that’s very true to his character as we know it. He’s crying. He’s seeking physical comfort from Yanli. He’s proactive, looking to plan and problem-solve. Yes he balks a little at what JC’s core recovery will involve, but his overall reaction is primarily one of satisfaction and relief.

We don’t see too much of WWX between the mountaintop ordeal and his dropping into the Burial Mounds, but I think we have enough material to say that he is still in command of his own mind and maintains his sense of agency. You can tell that our Wee Sweaty Boi has been through the wringer, but he’s still quite animated and even cheeky when facing off against Wen Chao and Wen Zhuliu in the teahouse. That dog speech? Damn. Classic WWX. He might die, but he’s not going down without getting the last word. It’s only when they are all riding swords to the weirdest and most out of place glam rock score in the entire series wtf over the Burial Mounds that we see an inkling of genuine horror cross WWX’s face.

Take now, by contrast, WWX’s reactions and interactions post-Burial Mounds. His flinchy moments inspired such a visceral reaction in me. I’m a repeat trauma survivor as well, and when I saw the way that WWX jerked back from NHS’s hand, it was deeply uncomfortable to watch precisely because of how familiar it was. This is an instinctive, almost animalistic response to touch, and it’s a FEAR response. Moreover, this isn’t some rando about to bump into him; this is one of his best friends from childhood. This is the reaction of someone who has survived by believing that the only possible safe space he has is within the confines of his own body; if anyone touches that, it will shatter. Wei Wuxian’s logical mind can tell him that NHS is not a threat, but his trauma-brain can’t turn off the panic simply by knowing that. (And why should he trust his logical mind, anyway? As we get glimpses of in the first few moments of the Burial Mounds, it’s as much the voices of people he knows and loves as the voices of unnamed resentful souls that prey on him during those three months. The psychological trauma in the Burial Mounds was not just the introduction of external threats, but the convoluting of things WWX knew and loved into instruments of torture so that even once he returned to the world, he could not shake those negative associations.)

We get an equal-but-opposite illustration of WWX’s trauma in instances like his reunion with JC and LWJ or his soup session with Yanli. There’s a deadness behind the eyes, an uncanny stillness. Wei Wuxian is in survival mode, going through the motions of what ‘should’ be his return to normal life but wondering why it doesn’t feel right this time. Wei Wuxian had told himself in the Burial Mounds that all he needed to do was survive the Burial Mounds themselves and then everything would be alright: he would go back to Lotus Pier, JC would be healed, and he would make up a new version of the plan that had been shot to hell (I’m convinced that WWX DID originally have a plan for how to navigate life in Lotus Pier post-golden core; however, he never got to put that plan into place because he got dumped into the Burial Mounds before he could enact it). But Wei Wuxian returns, and what he’s told himself isn’t true, because in all his planning for returning to Yunmeng he didn’t account for the fact that what it took to get there would fundamentally alter him. As a result, Wei Wuxian doesn’t fit anymore--not because the world has changed, but because Wei Wuxian has changed. And he can’t talk about that with anyone.

Why not? Sure, in part it’s because he feels bound to keep the secret about Jiang Cheng, but I think there’s another aspect here that’s been significantly overlooked: namely, that Wei Wuxian is the ONLY person to survive the Burial Mounds in any kind of living cultural memory. The problem isn’t so much that he can’t tell people as it is an issue of no one being able to understand or relate to his experiences even if he did share them. After all, how do you convey to an outsider what it was like to survive for three months in a place where every single bit of torture was customised to draw on YOUR individual, personal fears and hurts? Significantly, this is also the point in the story where we see Wei Wuxian begin to answer questions by in turn asking, ‘Would you believe me if I told you...?’ The question is rhetorical: he doesn’t expect people to believe him (although it still hurts when they don’t), but even if they do believe, it’s still not enough because they don’t understand. IMO, the rest of WWX’s issues leading up to the cliff at Nightless City stem from him trying--and failing--to come to terms with the loneliness of that knowledge.

Post-Resurrection

After WWX comes back, we see a shift in him. He’s no longer focused on the fact that no one will understand him; he’s decided that having someone (namely LWJ) believe him is enough. This resolves many of the auxiliary issues that had been plaguing WWX before his death, but it does NOT resolve the original trauma of his first experience in the Burial Mounds. WWX continues to have nightmares, and what are they about? Not Lotus Pier. Not Qiongqi Way and his sense of guilt. Not Shijie getting stabbed right in front of his face. Not his final, distraught moments with LWJ and JC. Nope, his nightmares continue to revolve around falling into the Burial Mounds all those years ago: an experience for which even death and rebirth are insufficient to ease the pain.

I’m convinced that even at the end of CQL Wei Wuxian still has a LOT of healing to do, and I think this healing is not something that can happen through Lan Zhan’s love alone. Thank goodness for fanfic and headcanons, eh?

**Gentle reader, this turned out to be more like 50 dollars than two cents. Thank you for reading to the end if you’re still with me!

TL;DR I believe Wei Wuxian’s turning point moment in the story is his dumping into the Burial Mounds. It’s easy to get swept up in how many terrible things happen to him AFTER that in the lead-up to Nightless City, but I genuinely think he could have endured the loss of his Jiang family, the censure of LWJ, and society turning against him if he had not been psychologically broken during his first three months there. The writers, directors, and Xiao Zhan give us a very raw, real version of what trauma looks like with their depiction of post-Burial Mounds WWX, and it is utterly harrowing.

#cql #xiao zhan #big angst vibes #the untamed #meta #wei wuxian #i've edited this too many times because i'm a perfectionist #but it's still a mess because i've picked up slang from each country i live in #also talking about my own feelings?#nope don't like that one bit #projecting hard #ptsd #mdzs

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cypher-of-the-night · 4 years

Text

Biography: Yuuichi Kuroi

“Between going to hell for killing leeches, or to heaven at the cost of innocent lives... I’d rather stay a sinful man for the rest of my life.”

Full name: Kuroi, Yuuichi

Kanji: 黒佑一

Age: 19

Meaning: Yuuichi - To help one; Kuroi - Black, Dark

Nickname(s):

Sensei (by Yui),

Yuuichi Jiang (Alias)

Yòu-Yī Jiang (Chinese Name)

Age: 19 (Looks around early 20′s)

Birthday: April 1st

Zodiac Sign: Aries

Ethnicity: Chinese/Japanese

Nationality: Japanese

Hobbies: Hunting, Practicing Martial Arts

Favorite Food: Cream Stew

Dislikes: Days-Off, Vampires, and Ignorance

Race: Vampire, Human (Formerly)

Gender: Male

Height: 178 cm (5’10")

Weight: 67 kg (147 lbs)

Hair color: Black

Eye color: Blue

Blood Type: O

Occupation: High School Teacher-in-Training, Vampire Hunter

Relatives:

Ying-Yue Jiang (ancestral foremother)

Naoki Enjo (Distant Relative)

Hisoka Kuroi (First-Cousin, Arranged fiancée)

Tsurara Kuroi (Parental Grandmother)

Favorite Food: Cream Stew

Hobbies: Hunting, Practicing Martial Arts

Seiyuu: Satoshi Hino (Ao from Hakkenden (Talking /Singing)

English Voice: Greg Cote (Eita Izumi from Just Because) (Talking)

Personality:

To the public eye, Yuuichi is a cool, collected young genius. At the age of 13, He graduates from college and is mentioned to be friendless, as he distances himself from others ever since childhood; Only having his cousin as his only other companion growing up. As he was always quiet, people found Yuuichi intimidating as he would be the only one brave enough to stare down and talk back at the Sakamaki’s, the Mukami’s, and even the Tsukinami’s; Something not even the Principal could do. Yuuichi is also observant and strict, even catching Ayato cheating but never calls him out on it; This leads to him and Ayato having a rather antagonistic relationship.

However, Yuuichi’s cool front is actually a mask, revealing himself to be passionate, but broken young man, desperately looking for love, affection, acceptance, and acknowledgment. Having grown up in a family of Vampire Hunters, Yuuichi has learned to kill vampires since he was young; While he was exceptional in this field, Yuuichi always had to live up to high expectations and was forced to distance himself from others to protect them from getting involved with his life as a Vampire hunter. He cares dearly about innocent people, but felt he must put them at a distance to keep them safe from harm. Always feeling that he must carry the burden on his own, Yuuichi bottles up his emotions in order to continue his role as a protector to innocent humans. He also has a soft spot for children, especially orphans, as he himself is an orphan.

While it was never reciprocated, Yuuichi did hold romantic feelings for his cousin, Hisoka, ever since they were children; Even before their arranged engagement. However, while he has tried to win her heart, it was apparent that She never loved him anymore than a brother. This is due to growing up believing he was a mistake by their grandmother, as he was born as an illegitimate child to the Kuroi family, and that Hisoka was the first person that has treated him as if his existence wasn’t a mistake and that he felt validated by her. This is also why he was not the family heir, despite being the oldest. He also developed a self-hatred and a case of PTSD from having to undergo harsh training as a Vampire hunter, losing his family members, to the abusive treatment from his grandmother.

Due to the way he grew up in the organization and his own hatred towards vampires, Yuuichi feels no remorse in killing the blood-sucking creatures and strongly believes that they are beasts in human form that deserve nothing more than to be extinct. While he genuinely feels that way, it only adds in his self-hatred and disgust for allowing himself become a vampire just to survive when he would rather die. As a vampire hunter, he also knows tactics to torture someone and do what ever means necessary to get the job done; Even it meant resorting to manipulation.

While appearing rational, Yuuichi also holds a sadistic side from the influence of being a vampire and would have the tendencies to succumb to vamperic urges along with his own desires; Depending on which route he’s in, He can either succumb to insanity, forcibly take what he wants as a desperate attempt to find his own happiness, and die as a tragic man, or He can be taught that he can love and be loved healthily, that he must pick up the broken pieces in order to find happiness, and to live as the avenging survivor.

Strengths:

Highly intelligent, respectful to elders, goal-oriented, protective, observant, a realist, serious, mysterious, cool, calm, fast-learner, outspoken when needed to, Caring to children, does show gratitude, strong-willed, kind, athletic, knowledgeable, passionate, experienced, and faithful.

Flaws: Secretly sadistic (from Vampiric urges), cold, stoic, vengeful, stubborn, persistent, easily lonely, hot-tempered, hostile, emotionally scarred, secretive, mentally scarred, self-hatred, has a hard time trusting people, hard, mentally unstable, anxious, paranoid, can’t cook, fearful of losing loved ones, socially awkward, shy, secretly masochistic (heavily embarrassed of this fact about himself) and secretly soft-hearted (can’t show it due to his upbringing as a hunter).

Skills: Shooting with guns (specifically pistols), Fluent in different languages (Chinese, Japanese, English), her intelligence (has even gotten a higher score than Reiji on tests), has high patience, high stamina, a fast runner, enhanced sense of smell, slightly stronger than normal humans, good listening skills, reading people and their emotions, skilled at playing on the flute, singing, has good flexibility, is Ambidextrous (both left-handed and right-handed), charisma, negotiation and interrogation skills, pain endurance, has slow but steady healing, a quick thinker, surprisingly observant, excellent swordsmanship, and an expert martial artist.

History:

Born as an illegitimate child to the Kuroi family, Yuuichi has always been deemed as a “mistake” all of his life by his own grandmother, Tsurara Kuroi. At a young age, His father was disappeared after being reported as MIA during a mission while his mother was kidnapped by a vampire. He was placed under the care of his aunt and uncle for a short time, meeting his first-cousin, Hisoka Kuroi; Falling in love with her and her innocence, Yuuichi swore to protect her and to work hard to become her husband when they are older. Such a thing even became the reason why he would eventually become a exceptional vampire hunter as he grew older.

When he was placed under Tsurara’s care, Yuuichi was immediately taken to start the harsh vampire-hunter training for Kuroi family members; The training sessions caused him to experience horrors and force him to kill in order to save himself, resulting nightmares and eventual numbness in order to get through every training session. Becoming a professional at the age of 8, Yuuichi’s first mission was to kill the same vampire that kidnapped his mother; But once he did and comes across his mother, who was imprisoned the entire time and showed signs of abuse and bite marks, She tearfully begs him to kill her so that she doesn’t turn into a vampire, fearing she would end up hurting others the way her captive has hurt her. Heartbroken that their reunion would end up as it did, Yuuichi complies before telling his mother he loved her, in which his mother replies that she (along with his father) will always love him. From having to kill his own mother as well, this lead to the start of his burning hatred for vampires, vowing to eradicate every single one of them so that humans won’t have to suffer the same way his mother did.

After hearing about the deaths of his aunt and uncle, the memories of his father’s disappearance, and the kidnapping and death of his mother comes back to haunt him and fuel the burning hatred of vampires more; Whether or not Hisoka herself survived or not, Yuuichi will still remain guilty for not being able to be there to protect her or her innocence as he swore to.

If Hisoka did survive, whichi is Hisoka’s Route: Due to the fear of almost losing her, Yuuichi becomes heavily emotionally invested in her to a point he gets jealous of anyone that Hisoka interacts with, especially Yui Komori, who he envied and hated for being the one that helped Hisoka open up when she needed someone the most. Yuuichi would do anything for Hisoka just to make her happy and to win her love, in a similar way Richter loves Cordelia; However, when a mission to rescue Yui was changed to killing her, Yuuichi was the first to take the task to do so. Due to Hisoka’s love and devotion to Ruki Mukami, Yuuichi’s mentality breaks, becoming insane and unpredictable, and resorts to making his happiness happen by force (the happiness being promised by Tsurara herself if Yuuichi kills Yui successfully). This ends up failing and leads to his death by Hisoka’s hands.

If Hisoka didn’t survive, which is Naoki’s Route, Yuuichi becomes the only Kuroi member left in the new generation, making him the only other candidate to become heir to the Kuroi family. But Tsurara does not allow it as she still labels him a ‘mistake’, despite his adroit skills as a hunter. From this, Yuuichi comes to the belief that Tsurara had something to do with the death of the rest of his family members, especially after learning about the wiping out of the clan from his mother’s side. As such, He has decided to investigate deeper into the mystery, which lead to taking on the task to assassinate Yui Komori, only to use her to figure out a lead to Tsurara’s crimes that ended up massacring the rest of his family.

Sometime in between the Haunted Dark Bridal Saga and the MORE BLOOD Saga, Yuuichi was almost near death from a mission he was sent to by Tsurara, only to be saved by and turned by Richter on a certain condition:

Hisoka Route: Richter agrees to make Yuuichi strong enough to kill the Mukami’s, especially Ruki Mukami, who was working with Karlheinz, the Vampire King, but in exchange, Yuuichi will help him dethrone Karlheinz and kill the Sakamaki’s. Due to Yuuichi’s mentality breaking from Hisoka loving Ruki, He agrees to help Richter overthrow Karlheinz and kill the vampires. This is also because they share a mutual understanding of loving a woman that loves someone else, and will do anything just to make them happy/their own, to a point not having them in their arms makes them lose their own sanity.

Naoki Route: Richter agrees to help provide Yuuichi the information he needs to prove Tsurara was guilty, if Yuuichi agrees to keep Yui safe from the Sakamaki’s and the Mukami’s. While Yuuichi didn’t understand why Richter would give him this opportunity, seeing that they both have a common enemy in Tsurara, Yuuichi accepts this despite his own hatred for vampires as long as it would be beneficial to what he is looking for in order to get evidence of Tsurara’s crimes. He eventually does kidnap Yui, using Naoki as a distraction, but while he had her in his custody, they do eventually fall in love and Yuuichi realizes his own inhumane actions and decides to learn to love himself, as well as to move forward with his life.

Eventually, He goes undercover in the guise of a Teacher-in-Training at Ryoutei Academy.

(SPOILERS)

In Naoki’s route, in the DARK FATE Saga, It is revealed that Yuuichi is also a bloodline member of the Chinese clan of human vampire hunters with the first-blood blood in their veins, due to their foremother ancestor, Ying-Yue Jiang; Ying-Yue was the original host of a first-blood’s heart (whom was also her lover in her former life as a human), and was a human before turning into a vampire after she gave birth to a human son that carried the blood of a First-blood, Asher. Due to herself staying hidden for many centuries to hide from Karlheinz under her first-blood lover’s instructions, Ying-Yue was given the nickname “Lilith”, who was known to be the first wife of Adam but leaves him after she refuses to become subservient to him (in a similar sense where Ying-Yue refuses to let herself become experimented as an Eve to Karlheinz’s plan); However, their secret was revealed when one of their clan’s members was kidnapped by a vampire who found out about the truth of their blood. That kidnapped member was Yuuichi’s mother herself. And after the Clan was targeted and massacred, Yuuichi became one of the two only clan members left alive; The other revealing to be Naoki Enjo, the current host of Asher’s heart. The one that plotted the massacre of the clan was Tsurara herself; However, due to Karlheinz’s decision to kill off the entire family of Hisoka, including Hisoka herself, to allow one member from the Jiang clan escape from the massacre, this lead to Tsurara to hold a grudge as she had plans to use Hisoka as her perfect successor as Head of the VH Organization.

It is also revealed that, the real reason Tsurara called Yuuichi a mistake, is because she became aware of the first-blood blood in his veins, and deemed him as one with filthy blood; This is the reason why she refused to make him heir to the family, as all of his abilities were only enhanced from the blood of a first-blood, and that she only sent him on the mission where he was almost killed is to ensure that he does get killed and never returns. In Hisoka’s Route in the DARK FATE saga, where Yuuichi has already been killed, Tsurara explains that she was responsible in organizing the massacre of the Jiang clan and that she did arrange killing of Yuuichi in order to give Hisoka the push she needed to attempt rising up against her, and turn her into the perfect successor after Hisoka herself realizes the truth of her existence and the reason for the death of her family was all because she existed.

Once everything comes to light, in Naoki’s Route in the DARK FATE saga, Asher reveals to Yuuichi that his father was the one informed the clan about the kidnapping as a warning and took Naoki to the orphanage, but as a result from receiving word he gave warning of the VH Organization hunters coming to massacre them, Tsurara had him, one of her own sons, executed for “betraying the organization”.

Trivia:

• Yuuichi is unable to cook; Legend tells he tried to cook something himself, but he ends up burning everything he cooks into flames. Even cereal. Even in

Hisoka’s Route

in the

MORE BLOOD

saga, It is mentioned that Yuuichi himself almost burned down the organization from trying to cook; The one of the very few things he can do is brew coffee.

• While only describes as his hobbies, Yuuichi actually hunts and practices Martial arts as said hobbies is mainly because it helps him keep his figure and to ensure he does not slack off from lack of training.

This is why He doesn’t like day off’s, as he feels uncomfortable doing nothing and that he would rather much do something than doing nothing.

• In his own Manservant ending in the MORE BLOOD saga with Yui, He ends up becoming just like Richter and becomes a submissive slave to Yui, who would end up inheriting dominant, sadistic traits from Cordelia; He even ends up killing Richter to ensure Yui remains his, in fear that Richter will take her away from him.

In the DARK FATE route of Naoki’s Route, Yuuichi confronts Richter as he tries to make a move on Yui in the delusion that she’s Cordelia and denies being like him; This is ironic, considering the fact that he is very much like him in Hisoka’s Route, as his own mentality breaks and would do whatever means necessary to keep Hisoka at his side, even if it meant killing those in his way.

• He inherited his blue eyes from his father, while his mother holds the same pink eyes as Naoki; It is implied that the bloodline family members of the Jiang clan have the same colored eyes, but the reason why Yuuichi has blue eyes is because the Kuroi family genes has been known to be arguably stronger.

• Yuuichi was originally made to be a character for Hisoka Kuroi’s universe; However, regretting such great potential to go to waste, Yuki (The creator of this blog and @star-crossedfidelity) brought him back for Naoki Enjo’s story in an alternative universe and gives him a happy ending where he is the love interest of Yui Komori.

• Yuuichi’s real name is Yòu-Yī Jiang (Jiang Yòu-Yī; 江佑一), which respectively mean “To protect all” and “River”.

• Upon his appearance in the MORE BLOOD Saga in Naoki’s route,

• By the DARK FATE saga in Naoki’s Route, Yuuichi is revealed to be spiritually-Endowed Human-First Blood Hybrid; This is due to Ying-Yue Jiang, his foremother and Asher’s lover, became the first carrier of the first-blood’s heart before she had sexual intercourse with another human in an arranged marriage, which lead to conceiving a human child that would later start a family line of human with first-blood ancestry from Ying-Yue carrying Asher’s heart before the child was conceived; Thus, Yuuichi is a human with first-blood ancestry.

Asher reveals that because the child was born from two humans, despite his blood running through its veins, they can not possess magic, transform, or summon familiars like a first-blood; Instead, because of his blood, The child was stronger, quicker, and healed faster than an average human, along with inheriting the ability to sense vampires and invisible familiars. This is why the clan were phenomenal vampire hunters as, while they can’t see them, they can sense their presence, using those abilities to their advantages.

Asher also reveals that Yuuichi’s enhanced abilities were due to the blood that ran through the family bloodline for generations, and if Yuuichi was the host for his heart, Asher admits that Yuuichi would’ve unlock even more power due to his upbringing as a vampire hunter.

• Due to never having a normal childhood or having a chance to relax, Yuuichi has no knowledge or recollection on what’s it’s like to be a child; For example, He has never been to an amusement park, nor has he ever been to a festival before.

• While he is good with swordsmanship, He prefers to use guns instead; The reason for this is because, when he went on his first mission, He used a sword; Which meant he had to kill his own mother with the sword, and began to use guns after that. In Hisoka’s Route, It is confirmed that Yuuichi would only use swords if he is being sent on a more difficult mission.

• Yuuichi uses the alias “Yuuichi Jiang”, a mixture of his Japanese name and his mother’s maiden name; However, in Naoki’s Route in the MORE BLOOD saga, this is how Asher began to suspect Yuuichi as another living survivor of the massacre, due to his Chinese decent, his own enhanced abilities, and his familiar scent of those from the Jiang clan.

• In Hisoka’s Route, Yuuichi is in love with Hisoka, and not Yui, who he bitterly hated and envied; However, in Naoki’s Route, Yuuichi becomes Yui’s keeper by the MORE BLOOD Saga and they end up falling in love. ~

Credits: Character sheet image, art provided by @seven-re.

#yuuichi kuroi #Yuuyui #diabolik lovers oc

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fortunatelylori · 5 years

Note

1/2 Hi! I really liked your review of Sanditon ep. 7! I wanted to ask for your thoughts about the Heraclitus comment but the conversation around it. I agree Sidney absolutely did not intend to insult Charlotte, but Eliza turned it into an insult and the rest of the party (except Lady Susan) all laughed at Charlotte's expense. And it cut to Charlotte's insecurity about not fitting in with the London crowd, which we also saw at the ball in ep. 6.

2/2 But while at the ball Sidney told her “not to doubt” herself and “you’re more than equal to any woman here,” in ep. 7, he doesn’t laugh, but he doesn’t say anything reassuring either when he catches up with her. He only says he hopes she wasn’t she wasn’t offended by Mrs. Campion, and that it was all “in jest.” He clearly meant well, but that’s the worst thing to say to someone who is clearly hurt and upset by said “jest.” And he didn’t reassure her, which hurt as well. What do you think?

Hi! Sorry this turned into a 3/3. I would have really liked to see more of Sidney and Eliza, especially after her behavior toward Charlotte. Because we know Sidney doesn’t agree with her assessment of Charlotte, but not if he said anything about it to Eliza. I wish we had seen their last conversation! We know so little about their story. Did he realize how mean she actually is and how her behavior was inappropriate?

Hey, nonnie!

Thank you! Glad you enjoyed my review.

I wanted to ask for your thoughts about the Heraclitus comment but the conversation around it.

Oh, good! We get to talk about my current favorite subject: Sidney Parker. You have unleashed the cracken, nonnie! Get your tea, biscuits, sausages or whatever and strap in. This is going to be a loooooong one!

I actually thought it would be interesting to try and analyze Sidney throughout this episode because, as I said, the narrative choice of making Eliza’s reappearance all about Charlotte’s unrequited love drama has robbed us of some insight into Sidney. For all intents and purposes Eliza was his plot, not Charlotte’s and it’s a shame Davies didn’t explore it.

That being said, I do think that enough was given in order to create a pretty clear picture of what Sidney was going through if you are willing to look more in depth. And let’s face it, we’re all willing since we’re spending inordinate amounts of time watching these scenes.

Btw, I’m at my 87th rewatch of the dance scene. Anyone else keeping score? And speaking of that glorious tv moment to be treasured for all time, that’s where our clue hunt must start. In this particular moment to be precise:

This is the genesis, the big bang if you will of Sidney’s crisis and the word that can describe him from this moment on is: CONFUSION! Sidney spends the entirety of episode 7 in a state of confusion.

You can see it in this moment above. He goes from complete calm decisiveness in regards to what he feels for Charlotte and what he wants from her to completely losing the plot in a matter of seconds when faced with the return of Eliza Campion.

Look at him! I don’t think we’ve ever seen Sidney this flustered. And the way he walks towards her, like a moth to the flame? In an instant it’s very clear just how much he must have loved this woman and that, for the time being, he’s forgotten all about Charlotte.

There is a brief moment where he remembers her that will be echoed in episode 7, when he brings Eliza to Tom’s house:

Episode 6:

Episode 7:

Theo James is really bringing his A game to these micro expressions because you can see very clearly that Sidney hesitates and also feels a bit uncomfortable having Charlotte see him with Eliza. He is, however, spellbound by Eliza in the London scene:

Incidentally we will never see Sidney this happy in her presence again. On the subject of micro expressions, I would like to draw your attention to this smile Theo James does over and over again. It’s almost a tic at this point:

Once you see it, you can’t really unsee it. This is the face Sidney does every time he doesn’t actually want to say what’s on his mind and it’s his way of keeping people at arm’s length. The reason why this is important is that he has this expression in every single scene he shares with Eliza:

Beach scene:

Boatus interruptus:

Tent of doom:

The don’t make me do this scene:

He’s also pretty much retired this expression when talking to Charlotte, instead hitting her with the irresistible combination of:

and …

My guess is Eliza didn’t see those pearly whites once during her whole stay in Sanditon.

So, given all of this distant body language, why is Sidney confused to begin with? Clearly Charlotte makes him happy while Eliza makes him indifferent at best and unpleasantly surprised at worst (we’ll get to that).

In order to answer that, we need to pay a little attention to this line Sidney says, during his scene with his brothers:

Sidney: It is a strange feeling. You’ve wanted something impossible for so long and suddenly it’s within your grasp.

If we were to do an exercise of imagination, we could go back in time to a young Sidney Parker. What would he have been like? I would argue he wouldn’t be all that dissimilar to Charlotte. Basically a happy, go lucky kind of guy who grew up in a loving family. Or as Eleanor Tilney in Northanger Abbey would put it, a person with a dangerous upbringing.

Sidney grew up thinking that the world was a basically wonderful place and everyone was “as pure of heart”as he. With the romantic notions of a young man, he fell in love with the pretty and witty Eliza and perhaps turned a blind eye to her more disagreeable traits. That was until those traits hit him right in the emotions organ and she left him to marry an older, richer man.

I don’t think it can be understated just how cruelly Eliza behaved. This isn’t Anne Elliot refusing Fredrick Wentworth’s proposal because she’s a young girl who’s a little too trusting when it comes to the adults in her life. This is a girl who knowingly strung Sidney along, through an engagement, only to leave him in the dust the moment a more “appealing” option came along.

Despite all of this, Sidney isn’t angry at her (supposedly at least). Moreover, he admits to having dreamed about their reunion for years. Usually when you dream about getting back with someone who showed so little care for you it’s because you’ve idealized them in your head and you probably remember that relationship through rose colored glasses.

That’s why Arthur is truly the genius of the Parker family. Just look at this smooth motherfucker smashing those glasses of delusion:

Arthur: Do you know that for years all I knew about my brother Sidney was that he was driven to the West Indies with a broken heart?

He instinctively understands that if he were to outright tell Sidney that getting back with the woman who used his heart for minced meat, that would make his brother dismiss him immediately. Instead he gently reminds him of the pain she caused. Which still elicits a defensive answer from Sidney:

Sidney: And what is your point, Arthur?

So in his very jovial, kind way, Arthur kicks Sidney right in the feeling nuts:

Arthur: I admire your spirit of forgivness. That is all. If it were me, I do not think I could bring myself to trust her again.

Still, Arthur’s intervention can only go so far. Sidney’s wanted to be with Eliza for so long … How could he help himself from being in her company when given the opportunity?

Well actually he can help himself quite easily …

Coming back to the whole topic that you were talking about, we need to separate Sidney’s actions from Sidney’s words because his failure to understand himself is displayed in this marked difference.

Let me give you an example: Sidney says he’s wanted Eliza for a long time. But how does Eliza Campion get to Sanditon? Does Sidney bring her, eager to have her near him?

No … Sidney doesn’t bring her because Sidney left London after the ball and is now spending his time waiting for Charlotte in Mrs. Griffith’s drawing room. Eliza gets to Sanditon on her own, surrounded by her minions. And this creates a trend throughout the episode, where Sidney might be talking about Eliza but seeks Charlotte out every chance he gets and it’s actually Eliza that is pursuing him.

Sidney’s true confusion doesn’t even really come from having to choose between Charlotte and Eliza but rather because he can’t get his mind around the fact that he is no longer in love with the woman that has occupied his thoughts for years. He’s carried her around with him for so long that now that she’s here and available, he can’t really grasp why he’s no longer interested.

It must be because:

Sidney: I haven’t picked up an oar in years.

Or because

Sidney: I had convinced myself that I was destined to remain alone. That I was ill suited for matrimony.

These series of excuses go on and on throughout his interactions with Eliza because what Sidney really loved was the way he had loved her and not Eliza herself. And that idyllic image of what might have been is shuttered by reality because:

Sidney: A man cannot step into the same river twice.

Charlotte: For he is not the same man and it is not the same river.

How fitting it is that it’s Charlotte who finishes this quote for him. Because in Eliza and Charlotte, Sidney has the opportunity to either go back and relive the what might have been or go forward and live the what can be. To go back means to try and be the same man on the same river. To go forward means to leap into the unknown with someone new.

What does Sidney do?

Might I just point out that if he wanted to balance the boat he could have invited Eliza? But he doesn’t … He might not be ready to admit it, even to himself, but only Charlotte can truly balance his boat.

However things don’t end up coming to a head until the tent scene. That’s because the last stage after releasing yourself from someone you used to be attached to is to see them for what they truly are. To discover the chink in their armor to quote Lady Susan. And boy, does Eliza wreck her freaking armor!

Did he realize how mean she actually is and how her behavior was inappropriate?

Of course he did. He actually realizes it much sonner than you’d think.

Eliza: There must be a boy in your village that’s caught your eye.

That’s not a happy face.

Also it’s very important to note that when Sidney says Charlotte would be happier reading a book, he doesn’t actually say that even though that’s what she understands. What he says is exactly this:

Sidney: I have no doubt Charlotte would rather be sat somewhere, quietly reading Heraclitus.

If he had said anything else, then it might be debatable whether or not he was making a joke at her expense but because he mentions Heraclitus in particular, this becomes his attempt at bonding with her, one outlier to another.

He doesn’t say anything reassuring either when he catches up with her. He only says he hopes she wasn’t she wasn’t offended by Mrs. Campion, and that it was all “in jest.” He clearly meant well, but that’s the worst thing to say to someone who is clearly hurt and upset by said “jest.” And he didn’t reassure her, which hurt as well. What do you think?

I get how from Charlotte’s point of view she feels hurt by his lack of reassurance and by feeling like she’s a “source of amusement” for him. But you know …. Charlotte’s in the whole “I’m just a girl standing in front of a boy …”phase. She’s not thinking all that clearly.

Sidney runs after her because he realizes she’s upset and tries to comfort her. But I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect him to understand why she’s upset. I’d argue most people have the source of her sadness wrong.

Eliza isn’t the first person to make jokes regarding Charlotte’s marriage prospects. Lady Denham did the same thing to her in episode 1 and 2. Only Lady Denham was far harsher and rudder about it. And Charlotte wasn’t the least bit upset. She responded in kind and, in Lady Denham’s own words, “couldn’t help but stand up for herself”.

She doesn’t do it with Eliza because what’s causing her pain isn’t the lame ass attempt at making jokes about her not finding a husband. What’s truly hurting her is that Sidney is revealing something personal to the two of them to this woman that, in Charlotte’s mind, has made it impossible for her to ever be with him. She feels exposed, vulnerable and insecure.

When Sidney runs after her, trying to comfort her, there’s truly only one thing Charlotte wants to hear:

Charlote: What is it you want from me?

That’s something Sidney can’t answer at that time. He can’t really formulate what he wants from her because he’s just coming out of the whole Eliza spell and is himself uncertain about what Charlotte may or may not be feeling for him.

However, as I said, at this point his words are less important than his actions and given the sequence of events, it’s pretty obvious that the tent scene is the last time he is actually in Eliza’s company until she seeks him out at the end of the episode. So he might not have found the words to reassure Charlotte but he made certain he taxed Eliza for hurting her.

And when Eliza finally does track him down, what’s the first thing he tells her?

Sidney: You know, you didn’t have to wait for me.

Well … color me swooning. What girl doesn’t dream of hearing that?

I truly wish they had given us this complete scene because I really wanted to see how he would resolve this chapter of his life but given that she says this:

Eliza: The truth is now that I have found you again, I can scarcely bring myself to let you out of my sight. (beat) You know I never lost hope that we would stand besides each other once more and here we are! Fate has gifted us a second chance.

And he looks like this:

I’m willing to bet Eliza’s minions wasted all of their handkerchiefs on her on the coach ride back to London.

Which leaves us with:

Sidney: [Mrs. Campion] has already left. I decided against joining her. On reflection, I realized I would rather be here. I am a great deal less than perfect. You’ve made me all too aware of that. But, for whatever it’s worth, I believe I am my best self, my truest self, when I’m with you.

Sidney’s words finally match his actions. He chooses to go forward as the man he is now, wanting the woman that’s in front of him and not as the boy he used to be, chasing the dream of the girl that never was. Because …

A man cannot step into the same river twice. For he is not the same man and it is not the same river.

Thanks for the ask!

#sanditon #sanditon 2019 #sidney parker #charlotte x sidney #sidney x charlotte #sidlotte

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doof-doofblog · 3 years

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"Small Price To Pay For Your Freedom!"

Tuesday 15th December 2020

Hello again folks! So even more news has been revealed on what we can expect in the episodes taking place around New Year. Mick has been battling with the knowledge that he was sexually abused in his childhood years by his so-called childhood friend, Katy. Since Katy's arrival on the Square, Mick has behaviour towards his family and friends has been ruined, he's pushed everyone he loves away. Mainly I think because he can't bring him himself to accept the facts, and if he can't accept it - how can he possibly tell his family? He doesn't seem to think they'd understand, so instead of talking he's pushed everyone away, his Mum, his sister and now his wife. Devastatingly things are only going to get worse for Mick as the New Year comes, he contemplates taking his own life as his mental health and emotional feelings get worse and he feels there's no one he can turn to. I feel that this New Year is going to be an upsetting one for the Carter family.

Wow! So there's quite a bit to cover from this episode, the main two things I'll leave till the end. I'll start this blog by talking about Denise and Kim. Of course having her son with her for his first Christmas on Walford would mean a lot to Denise, however she seems to be wary of what his traditions with his adoptive family was like. She comes up with the decision to make this year a traditional Christmas for Raymond, which could might mean that they'd have to go to church. Now as the episode continued, Denise is seen chatting with the pastor from Raymond's church and he voices that he's expecting to see Raymond on Christmas Day. Only Denise isn't too sure as herself and her family are not religious, but maybe to give Raymond some familiarity, she may consider going to the church. However, something is telling me that she may come to regret her decision. We know her ex-husband, Lucas, is returning to the Square on Christmas Day, what if he just so happens to appear at the church that she takes Raymond to?!

From the recent Christmas trailer that has dropped, we see Denise look in absolute fear as she comes face-to-face with Lucas, however he doesn't seem as happy to see her, as I'm sure we see him clench his fist! What brings him back to Walford?! Could he end up ruining Denise and Raymond's Christmas?! Although, before she can start her plans for a traditional Christmas, she needs to bring her family round to the idea. At first, Kim announces that she's not a church person (maybe it'll take something more to bring Kim around to the idea)? but Patrick! Ahhhhh Patrick! How good is it to see him back on the Square?! For those of you who weren't aware, during the lockdown, Patrick had caught Covid-19 and was in intensive care, he has not been seen since the soap come back on air. This is the first time we've seen him in months! Clearly both Denise and Kim are thrilled to see him looking so healthy. Before their family reunion, Kim does as she was asks and attends the Prince Albert, for what she thinks, is her first day on the job. However, there appears to be another young girl waiting for Kathy also, named Mila. It looks as if Kim has got the wrong end of the stick and comes to realise that she'll have to fight for her position at the Prince Albert. They find that Kathy has left them a list of cocktails to make, they both appear to be making the cocktails with ease, only when they both reach for the vodka bottle, Kim yanks it from her and sends the bottle flying across the room and smashing all over the floor, just as Kathy walks in. I love how Kim is playing the sympathy card in an attempt to win Kathy over. Mila however tells the truth and admits fighting with Kim for the bottle and how she got a little competitive, interestingly, Kathy decides to give Mila the job, leaving Kim in absolute shock! I don't know whether anyone else was questioning who Mila is, or was it just me?! Could she have simply been an extra? Or will she have some unknown connection to the Fox family? Will she have anything to do with Lucas's return? Who knows, I am simply guessing and I certainly could be wrong - but it's nice to guess, right?!

Another minor thing which happened in the episode involved Tina, Gray and Shirley. Earlier in the episode, we can see Gray's frustration at the mess Tina continues to leave around his house. He informs Shirley that he's wanting his children back and if Tina can't keep things tidy then it's going to cause problems for the household, maybe Gray won't get his children back?! Shirley pleads to him to give her another chance as everything is up in the air at the moment, everyone seems to be walking on eggshells around Mick and after Tina being arrested for being a suspect in the case against Ian, it's clear that Tina's head is all over the place, she tries to fight her sister's corner, even stating that if Tina leaves, then so will she, and it's clear that Gray wouldn't want Shirley to leave as she's been the support he's needed in recent weeks. He softly agrees to let Tina stay, however later on in the episode, Tina questions her sister as to why Gray is so on edge when it comes to the mess. Tina can see that her sister is hiding something and she questions whether Gray has anything on his sister which is making her stay. But Shirley reassures her sister and warns her that if she tells her the truth, it goes no further! It's then she takes the brave decision in informing Tina about the night she found Gray threatening to blaze the house with him and the children inside. Tina can't believe what she's hearing, she fears that she could be living with a potential killer (She's not wrong there - Oooh if only she knew!) Oh!!! That could be the big question now couldn't it?! - We know that Luisa Bradshaw-White will be leaving her role as Tina, what if she comes to realise that Gray is incredibly dangerous? What if she confronts him about what Shirley told her and she becomes the target of his anger? Could Tina be Gray's second victim?!

Now focusing on one of the main aspects of the episode, involving Rainie and Stuart. Earlier on in the episode, Stuart approaches his wife with the news that he's made an appointment for them to go a surrogacy clinic, however Rainie seems pretty unsettling when he delivers the news. She questions what they'd have to do during their appointment, only when he mentions they'd have to take a blood test, Rainie freaks out and lashes out at her husband, claiming that it was a stupid idea and stating that neither of them are destined to be parents, this leaves Stuart looking really confused - together, they want a child more than anything. So why would she lash out in this way? Honestly, it becomes very obvious to the viewer before anyone has to mention anything - the only reason why Rainie would lash out after having being told she'd need a blood test, is because she's been taking drugs and she'd fear that what they'd find in her blood would ruin their chance of becoming parents. Eventually she does come clean to husband - it's then we see the flashback of her night, during the time Ian was attack - after being insulted by Ian, Rainie was clearly feeling devastated - especially after Tiffany and Keegan changing their minds on being their surrogates earlier in the day - Ian just topped everything off for he, didn't he? She went down an alleyway and scored some drugs. Which explains her disappearing for a number of days, maybe she feared what people would say if they found out?! The moment she reveals everything to her husband is so touching, she feels as if she's become a failure again - but no matter her flaws, Stuart informs her that he still loves her, regardless of her knockback. But suddenly, with Rainie giving her version of events of her night, she questions what her husband was doing on the night Ian was attack. Now this, I didn't see coming! Stuart had gotten himself worked up for losing their surrogate, plus having to cope with the fact that his brother is struggling. We then see a flashback of Stuart's night - he was in fact stood in an alleyway, waiting to confront DI Thompson! Initially he only wanted to scare him, trying to defend his younger brother - but things got a little out of hand as Stuart punched Thompson and he ended up knocking him to the floor. It's then we come to realise that Stuart had (accidentally) killed DI Thompson, however when Rainie questions where the man is now, Stuart confesses that he's in the fridges in their undertakers. Honestly, I'm glad DI Thompson is now out of the way but I do worry if the police start searching for their colleague? His disappearance is going to be talk amongst the police, and with Callum being at the forefront of his threats, what will it mean for Callum? Does this mean that the police will stop looking for Phil and Ben? Or something much more darker?! Who knows, either way I think that revelation is the most mind-blowing of all!!

Finally, coming to Ben, Ian and Suki! At the very beginning of the episode, Ben confronts his brother after being released from the police. Ian is visibly shaken to his brother out on the Square, after he reported him to the police. Ben toys with his brother, teasing him, making him quiver in a sense by informing him that even though the police tried their best to find evidence, the only thing they found were a few of Ben's prints from a tyre iron, but to Ian's surprise, the prints didn't match to Ian's scene of attack. It's then that Ben informs his brother that after everything he's done to his family - stealing from their Mum, grassing up his own brother, Ian is now dead to Ben! The only thing I've noticed through out this scene is that Suki has been stood behind Ian, listening to their conversation the whole time. Is that just a ploy maybe?! Trying to get more information possibly to stop the attention being drawn to herself? As Ben walks away, Suki points out to Ian a letter which is hanging beside the Vic addressed to him. As Ian opens it, all that's inside is a small simple bullet. Is this some kind of warning? Will his attacker come back to finish the job? Funnily enough, Ben and Suki come into contact again at the very end of the episode, she just happens to mention to Ben that her shop has had graffiti sprayed all across it in recent weeks and she's been trying to find the culprit, Ben is polite as they share this brief conversation, but suddenly Suki takes the story on another direction, by informing that her shop has CCTV, but even though she hasn't found the culprit who keeps spray painting her shop, what she has found is footage of Ben leaving the Queen Vic on the night Ian was attacked. Ben instantly realises that he needs to find a way to keep her quiet, instantly he simply just asks her out straight how much it would cost for her to keep quiet and not show the CCTV to the police. She demands £10,000 for her silence!!!

Now what will Ben do? Will he give her the money? Do we actually think he's the guilty one who attacked Ian? I, personally, am not so sure. I'd like to say it wasn't him. I feel the ones we can rule out now are Bobby, Tina, Rainie and Stuart. I still think there could be a chance it was Max, Peter, Sharon or Kheerat. I'd like to think it's not Ben, I hope it's not him! What do you guys think? Do you have a theory of who Ian's attacker could be?! Please feel free to leave me and thoughts, comments or theories you may have, I'd love to hear them! Thank you all again for reading, I really do appreciate it! Love you all xXx

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duhragonball · 5 years

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Dragon Ball Z Movie 12: Fusion Reborn (3/6)

So Janemba’s messing with King Yemma, cutting off his authority over the boundary between the living and dead. Yemma knew this would have dire consequences for the universe, and we see that manifest on Earth, where dead people are suddenly back from the grave. For example, this family is at a cemetary to visit their grandfather’s grave, only to find him alive and well in his burial clothes no less. He’s not a ghost or any other sort of apparition either; he has feet and everything.

Elsewhere, an older man named Romeo has a similar experience at the grave of his deceased lover, Juliano. Or Julianne? I don’t know. You’d think they would have called her “Juliet” to play in with Romeo, except in the play they both died young. Here, Romeo survived, and he’s and old man.

But Julianne hasn’t aged at all in the past sixty years since her death. It kind of makes for an awkward reunion.

Incidentally, Romeo has a crucifix, so this marks the first official appearance of Jesus Christ in Dragon Ball. We’ve seen crosses and the name “Jesus Christ”, but this is an actual image of the Son of God Himself. “But Lord, why are there no footprints in the sand during the most difficult parts of the journey?” “Because that was when I Instant Transmissioned you, lol.”

Speaking of crosses, here’s Dracula, and I guess he was dead, until he came back today. But he still has a wooden stake in his heart, which... okay why does he want it removed if it’s not killing him? Why can’t he just take it out himself? Also, if Janemba’s powers are causing dead people to come back to life, shouldn’t Dracula turn back into a human?

Meanwhile, some horde of invaders on horseback marches through traffic. I think these are supposed to be Mongols, but I dunno.

They kind of get their thunder stolen when a second army of tanks shows up, let by Adolf Hitler. I mean, it’s not quite Hitler. His uniform is bright purple, and the real Hitler wouldn’t be leading a battalion of tanks into action. But this movie never bothers to give him a satirical name, like “Dunkoff Shitler” or “Adenoid Hynkel” or whatever. So I just refer to this guy as Hitler. Same as that vampire from a minute ago.

In any event, this guy’s obvious resemblance to Hitler is why his scenes were edited out in several countries, which have laws against depicting Nazi imagery. For what it’s worth, the movie doesn’t really lose much with these scenes taken out.

Also, there’s just straight up zombies running around, which I don’t really understand, since Hitler and Julianne are fully alive. But that’s the chaos of Janemba for you. He’s not purposely doing any of this. This is just the result of him cutting off King Yemma’s power to regulate the dead.

But don’t worry, folks, Gohan’s here and he’ll save the day, right after he finishes eating.

Goku may be dead, but his legacy lives on in his sons, Gohan and Goten. Chi-Chi doesn’t mind doing all the dishes from the boys’ meals, but she does miss her husband at times like these.

So Videl offers to help with the dishes, but Chi-Chi’s like, no way, you’re a guest in this house.

But somehow we end up with Videl doing the dishes in the next scene. This is one of my favorite animations in this movie. With the sound effects, I could watch a loop of this all day.

Chi-Chi is impressed, so she tells Videl that she’ll make a fine wife.

And Videl’s all “Marriage? Gawrsh!” This is adorable. She’s so worked up that she drops a dish.

But Chi-Chi doesn’t mind, because she still thinks Videl is cut out for married life. In the manga, Chi-Chi wants Videl to marry Gohan so she can get a chunk of that sweet, sweet Mr. Satan fortune, but in this movie, I almost feel like she’s proposing to marry Videl herself. “Marry me, Videl, so I may never have to wash a dish again!” “Wh-what about Gohan?” “What about Gohan?”

Then Videl breaks more dishes, but before she can clean them up, she gets a call from the Satan City Police, who inform her that the dead have risen and are overrunning the town. Also, they ask her to contact Great Saiyaman. Videl’s like “No problem, I’m at his house now. I think his mom is coming on to me.”

“Stay away from my mom, Videl.”

Meanwhile, in Otherworld, Goku and Pikkon’s championship match is interrupted when a giant crystal sprouts out of the ring.

The Grand Kai believes the disturbance is coming from King Yemma’s domain, and he sends Pikkon to investigate. But Goku doesn’t want him to go, since that would mean he’d win the tournament by forfeit. So the Grand Kai orders Goku to go with Pikkon, and that works out, since Goku can teleport there.

When they arrive, they find everything all messed up.

Yemma somehow contacts them from within the barrier around his domain, and he points out Janemba on the roof.

Pikkon tries to ask Janemba to cut the shit, but Janemba either won’t cooperarte or he can’t understand him. When Pikkon loses his patience, Big J flicks him into one of those floating jellybeans he made.

This catches Goku’s interest, and now he’s happy that they left the tournament for this, since Janemba seems like an even greater challenge.

Janemba seems to agree to tangling with Goku, so he suggests that Pikkon see to Yemma while Goku lures Janemba to hell, where he’ll be out of the way.

I’m not sure if there were already jellybeans in hell, or if Janemba brought a bunch down with him.

Otherwise, Hell has experienced its own bizarre changes. I’m not entirely sure what’s changed, since we only saw it twice in the entire run of the anime up until now, but I’m pretty sure all those humanoid-looking figures weren’t there before.

Janemba grabs a few and turns them into mini-clones of himself.

Goku thinks they look cute until they all start ganging up on him.

Fortunately, Goku can just beat them away with a few roundhouse kicks, and they all vanish. The bad news is that the big Janemba won’t be that easy.

Back on Earth, Gohan’s having tons of fun clobbering zombies.

Videl’s doing pretty well against them too, but the real question is: Why is this happening, and how do they stop it? Gohan isn’t sure, but he’s confident that it’ll all work out with the two of them together.

Videl’s charmed by his answer, but then--

Some jagoff intrudes on their moment.

Oh look, it’s this asshole. Yeah, Frieza’s back and he’s in this movie too, along with Dracula, Hitler, and Jesus. For those of you keeping score, that means Steel Ball Run, Hellsing, and Resurrection F were all inspired by this movie.

Frieza is surprised that anyone on Earth knows him by name, so Gohan unmasks to reveal that he was the kid with the bowl-haircut on Namek.

Videl’s completely smitten here. “Wow, he’s wayyy dreamier than his mom!”

So Frieza’s decided to kill Gohan as revenge for Goku defeating him. You’d think he’d be mad about Future Trunks killing him, but he was friends with Gohan too, so it still works. The part that doesn’t work is this punk-ass bitch running around in Movie 12 like it’s still Movie 3.

So Frieza sics a surprise army of henchmen on Gohan to soften him up. Of course, it makes perfect sense that all the top Frieza soldiers would be here, and that they’d still be loyal to Frieza, but there’s also a lot of Movie 1-5 henchmen too, and most of them don’t even know Frieza. Still it’s not hard to believe that they could be persuaded to join his side.

But Bojack seems pretty hard to swallow. Out of everyone in this scene, he’s definitely stronger than Frieza ever was, so why isn’t he calling the shots here?

Anyway, waves of henchmen, Frieza’s invincible, what will Gohan do now?

FREE-ZA FREE-ZA FREE-ZA FREE-ZA

Hadou ooana GALAXY Yudan wana PARASITE

FREE-ZA FREE-ZA FREE-ZA FREE-ZA

Obienaku wa warera min

DIE!DIE!DIE!

So yeah, everyone sees Gohan END Frieza with one fraggin’ punch, and they all turn chickenshit and run away. Even Bjoack, I guess, which only makes sense, because Gohan punched a hole through him in Movie 9.

Videl’s like “Wow, it’s kind of weird how all of these dead people came back to life, and presumably we can’t kill them again because they’d just come back, and yet Frieza was the only jerk in this whole movie who got exploded and stayed dead from all of this.”

Then Gohan does his victory poses, and Videl swoons off-screen. In the dub, they changed the ending dialogue to suggest that Gohan and Videl made out shortly after this scene, and Goten and Trunks saw it. It’s not in the Japanese script, but come on. How was Videl not al over this dude after this? We know it happened.

Meanwhile, Mr. Satan is punching zombies someplace else, and he’s pretty pleased with how well he’s doing, except there’s no one around to watch him in action, so he moves on to find his grateful public.

Fortunately, he won’t run out of zombies anytime soon.

Meanwhile, Goten and Trunks are helping out by gathering the Dragon Balls, They find the seventh one on a golf course.

But Goten gets hit with a golf ball while he’s there. Irritated, he decides to hide the ball to get payback on whoever sent it his way.

But he hides it in the hole, so the golfer thinks he made a hole-in-one and he’s sobbing with joy. This doesn’t have much to do with the movie, but what’s great about Fusion Reborn is that you can expand on almost any scene and make it part of the wider story. Maybe this guy’s a dead Frieza Soldier who got the call to mobilize and he said “Fuck that, if I’m alive, I’m gonna hit the links one last time.” Or maybe he’s just a regular dude, but the lady there is his dead wife, who’s come back to tell him that the accident wasn’t his fault, and it’s okay for him to move on with his life. Or they’re both alive, but the golf course gets destroyed by Cell during his epic battle with Tiencha.

Back at Capsule Corp. Gohan summons Shenron. For some reason, in the dub, she tells him he’s “the only one who can,” and I’ve never understood that. Maybe she means that Gohan’s the only one who understands the crisis well enough to make the right wish to Shenron, but she could still call the Dragon. She’s done it before several times.

It’s funny how this is the first time Goten and Trunks have seen Shenron, even though the plot of Movie 10 was them gathering Dragon Balls specifically to see Shenron. That’s how big a disappointment Movie 10 was. Meanwhile, Movie 12 is so awesome that it pays off ideas from other movies.

Videl might have wished for a handsome BMF with cool shades...

But Shenron can’t grant a wish that’s already come true. Let’s just pause here to drink in this majestic shot of Casual Friday Great Saiyaman.

...

Nice.

I’m just gonna put it here again. It’s great.

So Gohan explains the situation to Shenron and asks him to put all the dead people back where they belong, which Shenron says is a simple task.

But then he says he can’t do it after all. Goten complains, and Trunks silences him before Shenron can take offense.

Now, in the dub, Shenron gives a more thorough explanation. He can move the dead back where they belong, but with King Yemma out of commission, there’s nothing to stop them from simply coming back. I think that logic is strongly implied in the subtitles, but it’s not quite so clear. In any case, this is beyond Shenron’s power. It wouldn’t be if Yemma were on the board, but if that were the case, there’d be no need to involve Shenron in the first place.

So that leaves everyone feeling pretty dejected. The problem lies in Otherworld, and if Shenron and Gohan can’t fix it, then they’re out of options.

And while they ponder what to do next...

...Shenron awkwardly asks if there’s anything else he could do for them while he’s here.

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fistsoflightning · 5 years

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unending character meme // zaya qestir

RULES: repost, don’t reblog! tag, and good luck!

TAGGED BY: tagged in spirit by @to-the-voiceless

TAGGING: any and all who want to do it but haven’t actually been tagged by anyone!

BASICS.

FULL NAME: Zaya Qestir

NICKNAME: none, really.

AGE: 29 by the end of Stormblood. 30-ish by the end of SHB? Haven’t figured out the time distortion thing.

BIRTHDAY: 17th of the 4th Umbral Moon (8/17)

ETHNIC GROUP: Au’ra; Xaelan

NATIONALITY: Nomad? From the Azim Steppe’s Reunion, if that helps.

LANGUAGE / S: Eorzean Sign Language, Xaelan (crude/unpracticed); understands most languages through use of the Echo

SEXUAL ORIENTATION: Bisexual

ROMANTIC ORIENTATION: Demiromantic

RELATIONSHIP STATUS: dating Thancred Waters??? unsure of status during post-SHB but getting there.

HOME TOWN /AREA: Reunion, Azim Steppe

CURRENT HOME: A shared room in the Rising Stones or a shared house in the Mist; depends on where they are at the time of night.

PROFESSION: jeweler, weaver, gladiator of the coliseum, bard teacher (appointed reluctantly by Sanson after many a problem with Guydelot’s schedule), adventurer and warrior of light

PHYSICAL.

HAIR: Straight and somewhat below shoulder length. Most of their hair is black, but slowly changes to blue and white at the tips.

EYES: Dark blue; navy color? Light blue limbal rings that glow in the dark, too.

FACE: Sharp jawline accented by their scales, often covered with some royal blue facepaint similar to Arenvald’s own.

LIPS: Often chapped, but otherwise normal.

COMPLEXION: Ashen brown? Hard to describe bc of weird lighting everywhere they go.

BLEMISHES: None

SCARS: There’s a lot, and I might make a scar map at some point??? Major ones happen to be their legs and their left arm; the legs from Ifrit and the arm from Elidibus in Zenos’s body in 4.5

TATTOOS: None, no matter how much people think the facepaint is one.

HEIGHT: Taller than the average Au’ra, about 5’4

WEIGHT: about 135 pounds

BUILD: Muscular, especially due to their main fighting style requiring muscle literally everywhere. Fistfighting for money is no small feat.

FEATURES: Their scales are an odd color (think black and blue borealis dice, but as scales), and their horns definitely look a bit… ragged. Watching them fight will give the odd realization that lightning sparks in cobalt blue come off of them sometimes.

ALLERGIES: Some undetermined fish allergy. Higiri fed them some assorted sushi once and never did again, so the Scions (and themselves) have no clue what fish they need to avoid.

USUAL HAIRSTYLE: Tied into a loose ponytail at the back. Sanson often comments how they share a hairstyle, but it’s simply from need of clear vision when moving around for monk skills and attacks.

USUAL FACE LOOK: Stoic as all hell. Not used to making full-on facial expressions outside of conversation, so normally looks bored.

USUAL CLOTHING: Tabards, cyclas, or generally something with flowy fabric that doesn’t restrain movement all that much. Metal boots and gauntlets/knuckles are also common, but not always.

PSYCHOLOGY.

FEAR / S: being the last one standing, change, losing their younger siblings/younger friends, spiders, breaking a promise with their mother.

ASPIRATION / S: To have a proper adventure, and to inspire others to live their fullest lives.

POSITIVE TRAITS: Devoted, comforting, slightly protective, carefree

NEGATIVE TRAITS: Easily angered, impulsive, emotional, stubborn

MBTI: ISFP-T (Adventurer)

ZODIAC: Leo, apparently? Sort of fits, if you look at it closely.

TEMPERAMENT: Some crazy blend between phlegmatic and choleric? Generally carefree and easygoing with friends and willing to spend a lot of patience on them, but unrelenting and downright frightening in serious situations, especially when involving Garlemald.

SOUL TYPE / S: Server/Caregiver

ANIMALS: Birds and dogs.

VICE HABIT / S: Drinking, although the Echo does prevent it from having any effect whatsoever, so its more of a taste thing? Tends to sleep a lot when stressed, and often spends their leftover money on gemstones for their shared collection.

FAITH: Polytheistic; the Twelve and Nhaama are gods they generally believe in.

GHOSTS?: Yes, mainly because they’ve seen one.

AFTERLIFE?: Yes.

REINCARNATION?: Probably, with how they’re sure they’ve seen someone who was supposed to be dead before

ALIENS?: before becoming Warrior of Light, it would be no, but with the revelation of Elidibus on the moon and Midgardsormr and OMEGA‌‌ (ALIEN‌ ROBOT????) they aren’t so sure anymore.

POLITICAL ALIGNMENT: Does not care enough even though they are staunch friends with Nanamo. Didn’t care enough to try and challenge Oktai for the seat of Qestiri Khatun, certainly doesn’t care enough to take a political stance in Eorzea.

EDUCATION LEVEL: Barely any; just enough to read letters written in Eorzean and faintly Ishgardian (courtesy of Alphinaud and Haurchefant).

FAMILY.

FATHER: there was one, once, but he’d rather he be forgotten in pursuit of a happier future. Zaya remembers him as Baatar, but they don’t remember if that was actually his name.

MOTHERS: Erhi, Odgerel.

SIBLINGS: Oktai (older brother), Taban (older sister), Sarnai (sister), Delger and Tuya (fraternal twins)

EXTENDED FAMILY: any of the Scions (former or current) or their fellow Warriors of Light, if we’re talking found family. House Fortemps, Aymeric, Estinien, Sanson, Guydelot, Sidurgu, Rielle, and all of the Qestiri tribe are up there too, but you know, that’s kind of a lot of gifts to be sending around during Starlight. (zaya totally sends them all gifts anyways.)

NAME MEANING /S: Zaya means fate in Mongolian, which all of the other Xaelan names seem to be based on. Their previous name, Dzoldzaya, meant light of fate.

HISTORICAL CONNECTION?: Recorded history on the Azim Steppe is easily lost, but if asking around the different tribes, one could learn about a rather prominent Qestiri warrior whose image is painted in some of the caverns nearby where much of important, unforgettable Xaelan history is recorded by the Gharl, swathed in blue cloth. In the days of Amaurot, there was one standout Amaurotine who shared a love for lightning and birds…

FAVORITES.

BOOK: They don’t know enough Eorzean to read a full book, not even a children’s book. The Echo doesn’t help with reading. Urianger has read a book of myths and legends that turned out to be true to them, however, and that has been their favorite for a while. They’ve been considering asking him to read more for them, but that’s been placed on hold after the events of the First and following Mt. Gulg.

DEITY: Nhaama, or Rhalgr, if talking to someone who thinks ‘what’s a Nhaama’ when they mention her.

HOLIDAY: Starlight Celebration. Something about the festive mood always makes them happy.

MONTH: August (4th Umbral Moon)

SEASON: Summer

PLACE: On the Source, Reunion in the Azim Steppe just because interacting with other tribes is rather fun. On the First, Il Mheg all the way!

WEATHER: Clear nights where they can trace the constellations, but it isn’t too cold to need a blanket.

SOUND / S: Excited chatter, harp, singing, small hammers clinking against metal.

SCENT /S: Rain, fresh wood, the air in Gridania, light perfume, Syhrwyda’s food.

TASTE /S: Snurbleberry, honey, most Doman seafood, buuz.

FEEL /S: Soft and smooth fabrics, cold metal, the grip of someone’s hand around theirs, wind blowing through their hair on a warm day.

ANIMAL /S: Yol, chocobo (birds!).

NUMBER: 17, for their nameday and the first year they spent in Eorzea

COLORS: Cobalt blue and indigo, pale gold, soot black.

EXTRA.

TALENTS: Extremely good when working with cloth or metal; even more so when tinkering little trinkets. Interestingly enough, very good at playing flute and harp without much practice. Expert at pulling a person’s true emotions out with simply body language.

BAD AT: Sneaking around/stealth. Do not, under any circumstance, give them a job involving secrecy or stealth unless you want it to fail. Speaking/reading is also pretty horrible, due to how they were raised. Also bad at taking change or lies well.

TURN-ONS: Loyalty, bravery despite all odds, kindness and love even when it would be easier to be otherwise, being able to understand other beliefs, and a love of freedom or new experiences

TURN OFFS: Lying to their face knowingly, extreme greed, lack of self-worth, anger for no good reason

HOBBIES: making music with Guydelot and Sanson, attempting to keep a journal, idle tinkering, dancing, gardening

TROPES: Good is Not Soft, Hope Bringer, Magnetic Hero, Omniglot, The Power of Friendship, The Quiet One, Silent Snarker, Dark is Not Evil, Five Stages of Grief, Horrifying Hero, Magic Music, Warrior Poet, Dance Battler, Warrior Monk, Determinator, Pintsized Powerhouse, Pragmatic Hero (don’t let me stay on TV‌tropes pls)

QUOTES: have a snippet of some writing?

Scrawled onto a piece of paper underneath his arm in Thancred’s handwriting and marked with Zaya’s name reads, “Your words, no matter how I react, do not change how I love you all.”

MUN QUESTIONS.

Q1: If you could write your character your way in their own movie, what would it be called, what style would it be filmed in, and what would it be about?

A1: Honestly, I think there would be two movies that could include Zaya; some comedy musical revolving around Zaya’s bard lifestyle while placing their active lifestyle in the background (called “A Bard Knock Life” bc i think puns are cool) or an action drama framed around Zaya and the Scions living some sort of high fantasy/DND type adventure bc I love that stuff called “The Unbroken Thread”. (THAT‌ QUEST‌ NAME STILL GETS‌ ME)

Q2: What would their soundtrack/score sound like?

A2: Something featuring a flute, probably. I got attached to Zaya playing the flute being a former flute player myself. (I only wish the oboe performance sound bank clicked with me a little more…)

Q3: Why did you start writing this character?

A3: Originally, Zaya wasn’t meant to exist. I was literally planning on just creating A’dewah, Syhrwyda, and maybe Lumelle and Elwin in different roles. Then the Au’ra came out; I‌ used my free Fantasia from the sub rewards just to be an Au’ra (I was a miqo’te before; shh, i was still babu who liked cats) and suddenly Zaya started being formed as Menphina Jewel. Before I knew it, that Menphina Jewel grew a whole backstory and a new name and new friends (Azim Steppe arc of Stormblood MSQ? Final nail in the coffin.) that slowly took over the previous two Warriors as the focus of my attention. I wasn’t even supposed to keep playing FFXIV‌ past HW, dude. I had like a million other things to be doing at the time, but here I am, lying in my grave 3 years later still attached.

Q4: What first attracted you to this character?

A4: They’re (mostly) mute. I really wanted to explore what it’s like to not be able to talk and only converse in body language, but then I discovered that might be a problem, so my interest in sign language collided with Zaya’s backstory. It also helps me work out a personality without them sounding/looking too much like what I think is Basic Story ProtagTM like I tend to do on accident (see A’dewah and Valdis’s dialogue sometimes.)

Q5: Describe the biggest thing you dislike about your muse.

A5: They can’t really speak. Funny how the thing I like most is also the thing I hate most. It’s very frustrating when I want them to convey something and then they can’t without using actual words and a voice because I haven’t got a clue on how to convey that through body language. How in the world do you convey ‘I feel like I’m doing arcanist calculations when you speak’ in nonverbal language??? I have no damn idea and every attempt looks like I meant something else.

Q6: What do you have in common with your muse?

A6: The snark, man. I have friends constantly commenting on how I’ve made a burn without me realizing I’ve done so, and it’s hilarious. The love for music also carried over big time, especially after discovering how fun the bard NPCs were to write and how they’d fit into Zaya’s relationship web. (they’re totally the more comedic side, but I love Guydelot and Sanson anyways.)

Q7: How does your muse feel about you?

A7: No clue, dude. Maybe thinks I’m boring? I don’t tend to want to drastically change things or look for new adventures; the biggest leap I’ve taken in two years is probably changing to a reed instrument from flute, and even then I don’t have to change key when‌ I read music, so it’s not that big a deal.

Q8: What characters does your muse have interesting interactions with?

A8: Urianger and Lyse, maybe? I like the exploration of repairing relationships after something that might have ended another, weaker bond. It’s also kinda fun trying to see how Zaya would react; they’re a lot more rash than I am in real life, and that’s honestly saying something. Alisaie and Alphinaud, however, are the most fun just because I know what I’m doing when I write them, and it’s funny to see how Zaya reacts (or has a lack of reaction) to their dynamic. Guydelot and Sanson fall into another category of ‘dear god I simultaneously love and hate these two’, while Thancred, Y’shtola, Urianger, Syhrwyda, Duscha, and Ryne fall into some sort of strong found family vibes that just get me everytime I think about it

Q9: What gives you inspiration to write your muse?

A9:…Doing job quests or side story quests or even MSQ I haven’t caught up on yet. Watch as I slowly rewrite as many MSQ‌ and job quest scenes as I can in any of my Warrior of Light’s viewpoints. (currently chiseling away at some backstory/before they were Warriors stories after reading too deep into the race/subrace text and lore keep an eye out LOL-)

Q10: How long did this take you to complete?

A10: A day or two; don’t remember when I began. It was probably when I was procrastinating on homework, though. I didn’t post it until a week later whoops.

#ffxiv #ffxiv character meme #zaya qestir #whee i wrote a bit much #oh well #zaya cm #tales from the blue

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demaury · 5 years

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Game On – High School AU | Enemies-to-friends-to-lovers AU (chap.4)

Ten years after his father shipped him off to boarding school, Jude is back to Los Angeles for his senior year. As it turns out, relinking with his childhood friend isn’t nearly as hard as it is to deal with his almost estranged father. Zero is the typical high school heartthrob and a basketball prodigy on the way to make a name for himself. Everything should be easy, but years in foster care and physical abuse don’t make for the smoothest reunion with former teen-mom and her perfect family.

Really. They have a lot on their plate already.

Falling in love was not supposed to be an option. (read on ao3)

_________

“You look like trash for someone who doesn’t drink,” Kyle groaned, squinting hard.

“Good morning to you too,” Zero replied sarcastically as he strolled into the small kitchen, before sitting down at the table, his back against the wall.

Kyle’s hair was sticking up in every possible direction and he could already tell that she’d go back to sleep as soon as he’d leave. Her resistance to alcohol wasn’t very on point, but she kept claiming it was because her body would ‘react differently' depending on the day.

“Pancakes?”

He shrugged and accepted the plate that she was holding in his direction, then she sat down next to him after grabbing two cups of hot chocolate and a second plate for her. A regular Sunday morning, mostly. Kyle’s mom was generally working on weekends ever since her daughters were old enough to stay home on their own. The fact that their house was on Zero’s way to his part-time job prompted him to swing by most weeks to hang out with Kyle, before taking his shift at the mechanic shop located down the street.

“So, what’s with the long face?” Kyle asked, quirking a brow.

“’Didn’t sleep very well,” he muttered, bleary eyes fixated on his plate.

Joke was on him because he had actually left the party reasonably early precisely to avoid being tired as hell the next morning. Thing was, he had spent most of the night before replaying the conversation he had back at Xander’s with Sadie. Yes, after exactly two weeks of refusing to talk to her or even to see her, Zero had let himself be cornered by his not-very-ex-girlfriend the night before — he was too busy trying to smash Abramson’s head in during Homecoming to say the three magic words (WE-ARE-OVER). Surely it had given Sadie hope that there was still something to fix between them, and now Zero didn’t know what to think anymore.

Kyle hummed in response around a mouthful of pancake.

“You talked with Sadie last night,” she observed, nonchalantly adding some maple syrup on her breakfast, as if she had been able to follow his train of thought.

If he didn’t know her so well, it could have sounded like she didn’t really care. What a mistake that would have been. “We were just talking.”

“I should have dragged you away,” she added grumpily. “What did she say?”

Zero pursed his lips a little, staring at his pancakes. He was trying to decipher if being honest was the best call or not when it came to his best friend, especially whenever Sadie was involved. “She said she was sorry,” he said vaguely. “That… er, that she felt lonely because I was always busy.”

“So that excuses cheating?” Kyle scoffed. “What is she, some bored housewife?”

“Maybe not, but it’s true that I didn’t see her a lot last summer,” Zero admitted, rubbing the back of his neck.

Between his job and those weeks of basketball summer camp, plus the moments he had to work out, those three months had been pretty busy, and looking back, maybe he should have tried more. But he was often annoyed by her sending him ten texts in a row, or whenever she’d be mad at him because he wasn’t answering fast enough, so sometimes it’s true he had delayed answering on purpose.

Kyle groaned and bitterly turned a pancake to shreds on her plate. “You know what’s wrong with this? You don’t give a damn about the girl on your arm as long as there’s someone. It could be literally anyone.”

He glared at her. “Bullshit.”

“Oh really?” Kyle drawled. “How long have you been single since you started dating?”

“That’s beside the point,” Zero countered. “Sadie and I, we get along well.”

“Sure, when she’s not cheating,” Kyle huffed.

Zero dropped his fork in his plate, fuming. “Hart, I fucking swear to God-”

“Okay, fine!” she exclaimed.

Zero glared at her nonetheless.

She didn’t know Sadie the way he knew her.

They had been flirting a bit around the Christmas of their junior year, a few weeks after he had ended things with Ginny Goodyear, about a month into their relationship. They had started texting every now and then during Winter Break, before running into each other while on a morning run later in January. She was hoping to score a scholarship as a varsity member of the Volleyball team, so they had naturally taken to the habit of working out together. Sure, she could be annoying, possessive, and sometimes, frankly, bitchy. Her parents constantly put her on a pedestal regardless of her behavior, and she wouldn’t give a damn that they were literally right next door before going down on him.

But she wasn’t just staring at him with stars in her goddamn eyes. They looked good together according to most (which meant everyone but Kyle), and they had fallen into some kind of comfortable routine together.

Yeah okay, she was also hot. It helped.

Kyle took a deep breath and put her fork down. “I’m worried for you, you big dummy. Cheating isn’t okay. You could have anyone you want, why would you settle for somebody who has hurt you on purpose?” Zero obstinately kept his eyes on the table. “Plus, you can say whatever you want about her, but I’ve never seen someone nearly as self-centered as she is.”

“Really?” Zero eventually asked, unimpressed. “And how would you know that, since you always passed on spending time with me whenever she was around?”

“I didn’t always pass on that,” Kyle retorted.

“That’s not what I asked.”

Kyle sighed and played with her cup of hot chocolate. “I know she never bothered to fight you on not bringing her to your place.”

“Neither did Ginny, or Britt, or any of the others,” Zero replied bluntly. “There’s no reason to pick a fight when I make it plain it’s off the table. That’s called being sensitive.”

Kyle huffed. “You deserve someone who cares enough to pick a fight.”

“And I think,” Zero snapped, “that I deserve someone who respects something called boundaries.”

Kyle grinned at him insolently. “Then I think we both agree on the fact that Sadie is out.”

Zero stared at her, then he rolled his eyes with a loud sigh.

Why was he even trying?

“Does that mean that Kinkade is officially off the market?”

Surprisingly enough, the question emanated from Terrence, as they were making their way down the hallway the following morning. Sunday had come and gone uneventfully for everyone, and the better part of Zero’s afternoon had been spent occasionally hitting the gas pedal of a Range Rover whenever his boss needed him to.

Kyle waved. “I think it was more like a game.” She then looked at Zero. “Not everyone loses their V-card during a 7MH session.”

“Bold of you to assume I was a virgin,” Zero fired back.

Okay, he was, but that was beside the point. And it didn’t change the fact that he lost his virginity much sooner than Roman or Wall. Yes, he was taking pride in those things. Like the day he had finally reached Terrence’s size, AND had outgrown Derek. That had been a thrill.

“Bold of you to assume he is a virgin,” Derek deadpanned. “He probably lost it with a model on a yacht or some crazy shit like that.”

“Dude, we’ve got to find you someone,” Kyle decreed all of a sudden.

“You got to do nothing at all,” Derek retorted sharply.

They headed out to their lockers but Zero had lost interest in the conversation the moment she decided that they couldn’t have Derek be single by the time Zero “breaks another heart” — like what, they had forgotten he was the one who had been cheated on? Zero froze briefly. Think of the devil. Sadie was hanging by her locker on the other side of the large double-doors, looking at him from over her friend’s shoulder. She was wearing an oversized sweatshirt, the hem falling down mid-thigh on her skinny-jeans.

“Are you kidding me right now?”

Zero startled and glanced at Kyle, who had followed his gaze.

“That one is yours,” she said matter-of-factly as she pointed right to Sadie, or rather her sweatshirt, without even a single care for discretion.

Zero huffed. “Nah it’s not.”

“Sure, she has the habit of wearing stuff that fits her so well that she’s got to roll the sleeves three times to have her hands free,” Derek said, unhelpful to the last degree.

Zero shoved his hands in his pockets and shook his head. “You guys are the fucking worst,” he grumbled, striding to get inside the building.

“She’s trying to get you back with a goddamn sweatshirt,” Kyle sneered, following him inside. “How can you just let her do that?”

“She’s got a point, dude,” Terrence intervened. “Just ask for your stuff back. It’s not like you two are on a break or something, you split up.”

Zero didn’t answer right away, which left enough time for Kyle to voice her disagreement through an incomprehensible mumble and the guys to eye him with disapproval. “I didn’t break-up with her... yet,” he admitted half-heartedly.

“Okay, Zero, bro, hear me out,” Terrence started, automatically falling back into the default big-bro mode that always made Zero roll his eyes. “She’s a cheater. Alright? She cheated. That’s it. Don’t get hung up on her.”

“Says the guy who had Kyle practically break-up with his ex for him,” Zero deadpanned. “I don’t need advice, okay? I just need for everyone to mind their own business,” he mumbled as he took the stairs to the left.

Zero stared at his phone, profoundly annoyed. It wasn’t in his nature to be late, at least not consciously. It wasn’t in his nature to be early either. Generally, his timing was always on point to never be the first one or the last one to show up. It was perfect.

So why, why was that starting to change?

He was waiting on his fucking own at the same table they had used for the past three years, a slice of pizza growing cold in front of him as his appetite seemed to be absent as well. Where the hell was everyone?

“Where’s everyone?” a voice echoed.

Zero’s head snapped up from his phone, only to find Kinkade staring at him with his food tray nonchalantly tucked between his hip and his arm.

“I should ask you, you’re the one sharing classes with them, not me,” Zero groaned.

Okay, he was still pissed about this. How do you explain that he was the only one who hadn’t been sharing more than one class with any of his friends since their sophomore year, and Kinkade suddenly shared a whole bunch of them?

Who was he supposed to fight for this?

Kinkade shrugged, setting his tray on the table. “Jelena’s with her coach. Guess the others are just held up.”

And with that he sat down, like it was no big deal. It’s only been a week and Mr. Kinkade was parading around like he had been there for fucking ever. Couldn’t he at least have the decency to look hesitant? Slightly confused? No, everything was perfectly fine for Mr. Fucking Perfect. God Zero wanted to smash something. Screw the shitty family history. Kinkade had more than enough good shit to compensate. You didn’t just look like a goddamn Disney Prince, with the bank account of one of those dummies featured in the Rich Kids of Beverly Hills, and just expect people to like you.

People couldn’t like him. That couldn’t be a thing.

And yet everyone around him seemed to. The betrayal.

Terrence and Derek liked his occasional comebacks. Jelena, the resident cold-hearted know-it-all, was sharing notes with him. Even Kyle was going on and on about how nice he was. And Raquel. Raquel. She literally didn’t even wait a week before throwing herself at him. Gross… and rude. So what, he missed one date and he was black-listed forever, but Mr. Kinkade just disappeared from the fucking surface of the Earth for ten years without so much as a call every now and then, and it was okay?

And now even Mr. Kinkade was ignoring him. Literally. He was scrolling on his phone like the outside world didn’t exist, especially not someone sitting opposite him, someone living and breathing. Zero stared at him blatantly for a moment, following his small gestures as he typed a text.

“So you’re an item or something?” Zero eventually asked, perhaps harshly but oh well, if Golden Boy couldn’t take it they weren’t made to live on the same goddamn planet.

Kinkade looked up from his phone, and honest to God he looked confused and slightly taken aback. That was a normal reaction, a human one. So he wasn’t an alien after all. “What?”

“Raquel,” Zero snapped back, rolling his eyes. “Lipstick, Xander’s? Ring any bells?”

Kinkade hummed in response and locked his phone before putting it back on the table, screen down. “Not that it’s any of your business, but no. We aren’t,” he said with a casual shrug, face perfectly collected all over again.

Zero scoffed. “It is my business because she’s a friend of mine.”

He didn’t really know where that came from though, at best Raquel was a friend of a friend, but to say that she was a friend of his was a little bit much. He shrugged to himself. Whatever.

“So that gives you the right to be nosey?” Kinkade deadpanned.

“I just like to know where everybody stands,” Zero retorted, folding his arms over his chest.

Kinkade glared daggers at him. “Oh, so that’s why you’ve been an ass to me since the beginning? Don’t worry, I’m not aiming to challenge your serial fucker title any time soon.”

“You’re the one who acted like an ass at the beginning!” Zero blurted, now honestly pissed.

Kinkade’s eyebrows shot up. “How so?” he scoffed. “I said, like, three words before you literally walked out, probably to go punch someone because, you know, apparently that’s a thing you do?” Zero opened his mouth and closed it, which took probably the exact three seconds that the asshole allowed him to use before he started speaking again, shaking his head: “If you wanna hate me, fine, I don’t care. Just don’t say it was because of me, because whatever I said that got you all pissy, I didn’t mean it that way.”

Zero stared at him, with a mix of anger and suspicion. He couldn’t quite decipher what he was supposed to say to that. Kinkade couldn’t be nice on top of everything else. He just couldn’t be. “Are you seriously apologizing right now?”

“You know what? Just take it however you want,” Kinkade huffed with another shake of his head.

Zero felt downright bad, which was new for him, actually. Not that he didn’t care about other people’s feelings in general, but people were just so prone to get offended over even the slightest comeback that he was too tired to give a damn the majority of the time. He glanced at his cold pizza, no hungrier than he was before Kinkade even showed up.

“I’m in the middle of a rough patch,” Zero mumbled, not looking up. “Usually somebody calls me out on my shit, so I guess that makes you, like, part of the group now…or something.”

There was a second of silence at the table, and Kinkade snorted. “I’m flattered, really.”

Zero rubbed the back of his neck. Awkward. It was as if he had forgotten how normal conversations with people were supposed to work. He didn’t talk to a lot of people outside of his friends, save for the usual ‘not interested’ that he kept uttering every now and then to desperate-looking freshman girls.

Seconds, then minutes, dragged on without either of them talking, and when Zero spotted Kyle’s blonde head and Derek’s slender outline towering next to her at the end of lunch line on the other side of the cafeteria, he felt a little bit relieved. The rest of the Gang flooded the table not long after that, each of them bickering over various disagreements which had caused them to be so late in the first place. He wasn’t forced to make eye-contact with Kinkade, given that he had slid a spot away to the right and wasn’t sitting right in front of him anymore. Honestly? It was better that way.

“I need your help,” Zero said, easily catching up with Jelena as soon as she exited her last class.

She looked up at him, slightly confused. “For what?” she asked, pursing her full lips. “If it’s about Sadie, I’m out.”

Zero sneered. Damn it, his life didn’t revolve around Sadie fucking Sinclair. But maybe he could use some help in that department too, though — not that it was anybody’s business. No, right now, he had a much, much bigger problem to solve, which he was reminded of when he had spotted his Coach talking with another teacher in the hallway. Robertson had hit him up for updates on the matter of his tutor three times already, and the last time Zero replied that he had found one and everything was under control.

Which, of course, was not.

And now he was screwed.

“It’s not about Sadie,” Zero retorted. “I need help with my grades. I’ve had Geyer on my back since Homecoming and if I don’t find a way to improve them, he could pull me out of the Team.”

Jelena’s pace faltered and the frown on her face deepened. “Why would he do that? If they take you out, the team loses. That’s it.”

That was the easy thing with Jelena. She was a smart cookie, but a smart cookie who didn’t like losing. For all he cared, her feelings for Terrence had seemed genuine since the beginning, but it didn’t mean she was pleased by the prospect of dating the Captain of a losing Basketball Team. Zero kind of counted on that to get her to help save his fucking ass.

“Well, duh, thank you, I didn’t know that,” Zero sarcastically replied. “C’mon, Jel, I need your help.”

“I can’t, I’ve got the squad already. That’s plenty of work as it is, I don’t have any free-time left,” Jelena shrugged, shattering Zero’s hopes of somehow managing to master feminine psychology any time soon. “Why don’t you just ask a tutor? They’re here for a reason, you know.”

He laughed dryly. “I can’t go there.”

“Oh, because you’ve got a reputation? You don’t have a choice, dumbnut.”

Zero glared at her. “I can’t go there because I already looked into it and the only one available these days is Goodyear. As in, Ginny’s brother.”

Jelena turned on the spot, looking at him with a beyond-annoyed expression. She heaved a long sigh, resting her hand on her skinny hip. “Let me tell you something, if you kept your dick in your pants every now and then, these things wouldn’t be happening to you.”

“Like you never broke up with a text,” he scoffed.

“First of all, no, I never have,” she said slowly. “Secondly, you should have probably avoided drooling over Sinclair for over two weeks before you ditched her.... with a text.”

Zero huffed. That wasn’t a good reason for Ginny’s brother to suddenly act like he could rip his fucking skin off. Was he the only one to see that it wasn’t a big deal? Was he the only one who understood that high school wasn’t a place where you were supposed to meet your stupid soulmate? Jeez, how childish could people be? If you couldn’t use the goddamn technology in your daily life, what was the point, seriously?

“Can we go back to the part where I really need your fucking help? Don’t force me to beg.”

“I told you, I can’t. What about Raquel?”

“We aren’t exactly… compatible,” he cringed.

Understatement of the year. The one time they had worked together on a project was during their junior year and he thought she was ready to stab him before the end of their work session, which had ended with Raquel throwing him out of the room to get the work done and Zero politely having a little discussion with her older sister Adriana (no, he hadn’t been hitting on her, he was just that charming with everyone).

“Kyle,” Jelena suddenly said, just as Kyle hovered next to them, “explain to your dummy friend over here that he can’t be picky over the choice of the people willing to help him.”

“What have you done this time?” Kyle deadpanned, tilting her head as she looked up at him.

“I didn’t do anything!” Zero protested. “I need help raising my grades to stay on the team, the only tutor available detests me for fucking his sister, and everybody else is apparently busy for the next three years or so. So no, I’m not being picky!”

Kyle and Jelena shared a look and Kyle simply huffed a long sigh, before turning back with an eye-roll. “Don’t worry it’s gonna be fine. I’ll try to think of someone,” she said, nudging him amicably before walking away, following Jelena close behind.

#hit the floor #zude #jude kinkade #zero #mine #*#*go

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phoenix-downer · 6 years

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I'm still crossing my fingers for Kairi being the other playable character. No offense to any other big potential possibilities but we've 2 (3 if you count kh2) games playing Riku for a big portion of the game. Roxas had a whole game to himself as well as kh2 long prologue. Aqua technically starred in 2 games too. I'd love to have Kairi jist to finally have played all Destiny trio members and to see her fighting style. Plus since Light's going to expire maybe the keyblader who's a pure light --

(2/2) will be left standing in a reality overtaken by darkness? Idk, she’s already saved Sora’s butt once by basically defying all accepted logic. I have a feeling she could do it again (plus we’ve had so much Sora+Riku development and even really cute Kairi+Riku interactions, I want some heavy focus on the Sora+Kairi bond again considering they’re each other’s most important person).Answer, here be KH3 spoilers:

I’d love for Kairi to be the other playable character for the reasons you mentioned, but lately I’ve been thinking there’s a good chance Roxas will be the other playable character instead.

For one, his move set is similar to Sora’s, so it’s probably easier to have him as a playable character.

For another, just like how we play as Roxas for a little while in KH2 and we even have to fight him near the end of the game, it would be an interesting twist to play as Roxas again, this time as the good guy fighting Sora near the end of the game (if Soranort happens).

Plus, if Sora falls to darkness saving Roxas, I can see Nomura going for the parallel of Roxas returning the favor and saving Sora.

And, let’s be honest, Roxas is a lot more popular with the fanbase than Kairi, and Nomura is probably aware of that. He tends to give more screentime to fan favorites like Lea, Aqua, and Riku (though Riku has waned in popularity somewhat in Japan at least) than to the (as of late) neglected Kairi and Naminé, who scored third and fourth place in the female character popularity poll behind Aqua and Xion. Of course, this is arguably even more of a reason to have Kairi be playable, but history is not on Kairi’s side here.

Would I like a playable Kairi? Yes, but honestly, I probably would enjoy playing as Roxas again. I’d rather have him be playable over Riku, since we’ve had plenty of chances to play as Riku already and DDD was more his game than Sora’s. Playable Riku wouldn’t ruin the game for me though; I do think if the other playable character was him, however, Nomura wouldn’t have been so secretive about it.

The one thing I do think that might hint at Kairi being a playable character is that she has been shown on the cover art with her Keyblade:

This isn’t by any means conclusive, but it’s interesting to note that the only other characters who have their Keyblades on that cover art are Mickey, Sora, and Riku, who have all been playable at some point or other throughout the series.

My guess is that this is hinting that these four (Mickey, Riku, Sora, and Kairi) will be the main characters of this game, but it’s hard to say, and again, hoping for tons of screentime for characters who are not Sora is setting expectations that might not get met.

But based on what we know, I think the narrative will follow three general arcs: Riku and Mickey’s search for Aqua and whatever comes next, Sora’s quest to gain the Power of Waking and find The Key to Return Hearts, and Kairi’s training along with Lea. It would make sense for at least one of these other main characters to be playable, and fingers crossed it’s Kairi.

Who knows, maybe we’ll get lucky and Sora, Kairi, and Riku will all be playable though! If Soranort does happen I’d love for Kairi (along with Riku) to be the ones to rescue him because of those potential parallels with KH1.

No matter what happens, however, give me more moments of Sora and Kairi bonding, please and thank you! As friends, as allies, as potential romantic interests, because we NEED to see more of their relationship! KH1 did a good job of this, but you’re exactly right - KH3 would do well to focus more on their bond again. They’ve been separated for so much of the series and that separation has NOT done their romantic development (or friendship, for that matter!) any favors.

Think about it: we haven’t seen them on screen together since Blank Points. It’s been eight years (nine for the Japanese fans). Now, I think Nomura has something special planned for their reunion, because he carefully avoided having them meet in 0.2, but Square Enix in general lately has… not been good about having their main couples actually interact with each other (looking at you, Noctis and Luna and Snow and Serah, though the latter was much better about this than the former). And let’s face it, interaction is VITALLY important for a good romance! Don’t tell me they are deeply in love, SHOW me.

I am a HUGE SoKai fan, as anyone who has read my writing can tell you, but… even I know that if Nomura wants to further their romance in a believable way, they actually NEED to be on screen at the same time. Talking. Interacting. Cracking jokes. Making each other laugh. Comforting each other. Cheering each other up. Lingering gazes. Lingering hand holds. Reminiscing about shared memories. Grand romantic gestures. Small acts of love. Big acts of sacrifice.

And the thing is… every time they have been on screen together so far, their interactions have been fantastic! The chemistry is there, the emotion is there. Their reunions are always the highlights of the games. There just hasn’t been enough shared screentime, and the two of them desperately need more of it for their romance to develop believably.

I’d even argue that Sora’s feelings have been demonstrated well. There’s no doubt about how he feels about Kairi; he sacrificed his life for her in KH1, Xion looks like her because of how much she means to him; Naminé replaced his memories of her with memories of Naminé because Naminé knew she was the most important person to him, he can’t wake up in KH2 until he has his memories of her back, etc., etc. It’s not much of an exaggeration to say the plots of two entire KH games (COM and Days) have been centered around how much she means to him.

It’s more on Kairi’s end that I want to see more about what Sora means to her, and it’ll help if she has more screentime. Especially if she’s playable. That being said, I don’t want her to only think and talk about Sora; she needs to have just as much depth as he does. Let her interact with other people and have friends of her own, just like Sora has friends of his own. Her growing friendship with Lea is promising, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t worried that that’s going to center completely around Xion, given Xion’s popularity with the Japanese fans. I’m worried Lea won’t value Kairi for Kairi, instead the audience will just constantly be reminded of how much Kairi reminds him of Xion instead of treating Kairi like her own person.

I mean, c’mon, she’s the original! Without her Xion wouldn’t even look like she does! Naminé wouldn’t exist! Sora wouldn’t have needed to sacrifice himself to save her in the first place, so Roxas wouldn’t either, for that matter. For a series so big on how special and unique every heart is, no matter how it came into existence, it’s kind of shooting yourself in the foot if you treat one of the original main characters as lesser than the people she helped create!

To be fair, though, that’s more just my concerns, and we don’t know how things will actually play out in the game, so I’ll reserve further judgment until then.

But I actually have hope that we will see Kairi and Sora interacting more in this game, mainly because of this:

“Destinies intertwine, and an oath becomes power” - combined with the quote about a new charm that seems to imply Kairi will be giving Sora some sort of leveled up version of her good luck charm, if not a completely new one, and my guess is that they will talk at least once before the final battle. Hopefully during the battle and after the battle as well. I have a hunch that even if Kairi is not playable, she might very well be a party member along with Riku for the final world.

And I am really excited about that. That screenshot above at least is proof that they’ll have time alone together to talk, which is in and of itself huge! The last time they were alone together was in KH1. Even in KH2 other people were present for their reunions. Alone time like this is a sign of something special, make no mistake about that :) (Edit to add: and no, I don’t think this is proof that Riku is dead. Riku exists outside of their relationship, and they exist outside of their relationship with Riku. He’s a good friend and knows when to give them their space, that’s all. Riku is also the deuteragonist of the series and it would make little sense to kill him off in a game that seems like it’s going to be all about saving and restoring people, but that could be an entire post of its own and I’ll leave things as they are for now).

Anyway, this got really long-winded, but yes, I’m hoping Kairi is the other playable character too, because I want her to get the screentime and development she deserves.

Thanks for the ask!

#kh3 spoilers #kh3 #kingdom hearts 3 #kingdom hearts 3 spoilers #kingdom hearts #kairi #sokai #kh meta #kh speculation #kh analysis #my analysis #answer #long post

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