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mythicaldemigoddess-of-deltarune · 5 months

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Mamtella With Cherri & Sari: Happy Holidays (2023)

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Credit for Transformers goes to Hasbro

Credit for Helluva Boss & Hazbin Hotel goes to VivziePop

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[Note: click on the drawing to make it a bit bigger to get a better look at it and to see the characters in the said drawing better. :) ]

for some reason, the ship name "Mamtella" and I'm not sure if others will end up liking and using the ship name besides me, the ship name pop into my head because of these two...

but yeah, for some reason the ship name Mamtella, makes me think of something that goes on bread and you eat...

and just so ya know, the Sari in the red dress in both her human form and the disguise form thanks to using Asmodean Crystals that are in her hair-clips.

and the one of Sari that is really close to Cherri, and both are wearing a Holiday/Christmas outfits...

well like I pointed out before, this version of Sari is 23 years old, and at some point her eyes become purple, so even in her robot mode, she will have purple optics.

I kind of want her to get involved with a Robo-Fizz which she ends up nicknaming "Rozz" which comes from the name where she can get the idea from...

Robotic Fizzarolli...when you take some of the letters, you get Rozz.

it's like the name Roz but with two "Z" instead of one but the name is still pronounced like Roz with only one "Z"...

I plan to add that in Falling For The Angel In Disguise over at Quotev (the story is on a little hiatus, I might not update it until either later or tomorrow or 2024. and I know the story isn't 100% perfect and I might not make it very long but I'm going to try my best, even if it has a bit of a Semi-Ship between Swindle and Adult-Sari which might become a full ship later on.)

to which I guess it is a spoiler that I may have said before, that I changed it so the character that was originally the main character turns out to be a faux main character and the new real main character is now the Adult Sari Sumdac.

even though I'm just posting this drawing now on December 30, 2023 and didn't post it on the day it was drawn...

but I was mostly playing on my game console while the other times letting my cat be on me and being all clingy and cute...

and even if I talked about how my cat needed surgery some weeks ago, which I think it started around almost the end of November.

but when I can, I can talk about what type of surgery that they needed.

and if they weren't taken to the vet on time or those who work the vet did anything wrong to my fluffy baby, I would still want to do the Omnigeddon...which I know isn't possible, but if it were...

I would possibly go Feral Earth Angel on Lucifer or Archangel Samael...

I wonder if there could be like a parody of Jerry Springer in cartoon form like a Fanon Crossover AU with Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss (of course wouldn't be canon to the shows)

where it has to do with who's Cain's Real Biological Dad is.

and the audience who are a mix of both hellborns and sinners all scream and chant "Perry! Perry! Perry!" if it's going to be a parody, might as well have the name be Perry....

maybe like Perry Springy or something...

and whoever the real bio-dad of Cain is, wins a slap to the face from Cain and Seth's shared descendant...and it is insensitive to assume that all Cain's descendants will be "evil"...at least being one of his along being Seth's descendant, I can see that both Cain and Abel were at fault, and Cain wasn't given the proper help before his emotional and spiritual depression reached a very dangerous breaking point...

and even if not everyone has to agree me on this, but I can't help but think Abel may have had a little bit of vainglory in him, and both brothers ain't exactly 100% innocent in the actions they have taken...

Grunkle Grandpa Cain needs ice cream, a movie and a emotional support hug stat! O_O

Abel needs to learn a bit of more Empathy and be less vainglory if it does turn out he may have been suffering from that vainglory and that might of been the reason why he couldn't see Cain was hurting and was going to break at any moment in a very dangerous breaking point.

it be interesting if in a Fanon AU, Cain goes to Charlie's Hotel to be redeemed, well him and Abel...

anyway since some "ships" aren't always romantic, and there are platonic types which you NEVER use the words "I ship it" on, because it would give the wrong idea...

for family or friendship, where they are just family or friends...

ya use "I fam it" or "I bud it" even with some characters who are friends but end up bonding like siblings even when not being biologically related, you go "I sib it" which the "sib" part is short for sibling.

ya NEVER use the words "I ship it" with those types, you only use "I ship it" for the romantic & in love type ships or like the young love types....it should be considered a unspoken rule between the shippers, to NEVER under any means, call something that isn't a ship "I ship it" when it isn't.

it be like if Fizz and Ozzie weren't the most Adorkable Sweet Potatoes, who are just too cute and being as adorkable as sweet potatoes that they are, have no idea they are technically dads...

even if it might not end up being canon or mention in the show, and I don't mind if it stays in the fanon but I'm still gonna view Fizz and Ozzie being the Dads of the Robotic Fizzarollis that they technically created together, even if Fizz was just the template...

in a Crossover Timeline (which is still in the Fanon)

picture Sari standing next to Rozz (a Robotic Fizzarolli)

and glaring up at Ozzie with Fizz on his shoulder, and she ends up saying these words while pointing at Rozz.

Sari: "you got anything to say to him...?"

Ozzie & Fizz could look confused and in silence until Sari breaks it again by yelling a them while gently hugging Rozz.

Sari: "you two didn't even think before you made YOUR kids, did you?! at least one of my Dads took responsibility! and even if Megatron NEVER found out that I'm his daughter, but he mitosis while in stasis and I could of stayed as a liquid metal human size baby protoform if my Human Father hadn't found me! even if I became half-human by accident and my protoform self was born in my Dad's secret lab on accident, and Dad-2 who I'm also calling Mom, could care less because how he would care more about being the leader of the Decepticons than being a Carrier or Sire! so don't think I'm letting you both get away with being deadbeat Dads like Megatron! you are spending time with ONE of your creations aka one of your Sons, even if I have to kick your butts from here to where the Pit is until you agree to spend time with Rozz!"

and after saying all this, Ozzie and Fizz are processing everything...

then the next thing Sari and Rozz knows, both Fizz and Ozzie end up fainting.

even if the whole idea that Ozzie and Fizz technically being Fathers to all the Robo-Fizz would be more fanon and not likely to be brought up in the show, it's okay if it just ends up being fanon.

plus if Ozzie and Fizz did adopt Oliver, that would give Oliver a lot of Big Brothers to protect him.

Ozzie, Fizz and Oliver is a "I fam it" which has Ozzie & Fizz being the Dads and Oliver being their new son.

I'm still going to fan-headcanon that Megatron has two Moms, which is his Carrier Solus Prime and Mentor Termagax.

Megatronus Prime is the Sire who didn't get custody of his son, but when he tries to bring up the idea of wanting to spend time with him, his Ex-Sparkmate Solus and Solus's current sparkmate/junxie...

would both be giving Megatronus Prime very hateful and dirty looks.

so if Solus Prime was in a TFA Timeline, she would be one of Megatron's Moms, who tends to baby him a bit more than Termagax did.

I also want to ask if it is weird to think that Mammon and Stella might be too perfect together even if it isn't canon and it is just in the fanon...?

their ship name still makes me think of food, like even if the ship name pop into my head a few days ago, the ship name still sounds like something you put on bread...

the ship name Mamtella just reminds me of food....I'm just weird like that. great, now I'm hungry, ya happy Mammon x Stella...?

your ship name made me hungry. XD

well I'm going to hurry up and post this, even though I still wish I had posted it on Christmas instead a few days later but better late than never, and well I was thinking about waiting to post this next year because of something that got me a bit mad before which I'm not gonna talk about in this post.

I will wait a few hours to post another drawing I drew on December 25, 2023...and well I'm going to go watch a movie first and eat some food, because Mamtella all of the sudden made me hungry.

I must be really weird to think the ship name "Mamtella" makes me think of it as something that goes on bread, and it being like toast.

#do not reblog without permission #mature audiences only #crossover fanart #hazbin hotel fanart #helluva boss fanart #transformers fanart #transformers animated #mammon x stella #mammon helluva boss #stella helluva boss #sari sumdac #cherri bomb hazbin hotel #happy holidays #merry christmas #december 2023

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umutisiktagiyev · 22 days

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Book Notes | Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen | 12.03.2024

It was one of the best, if not the best, books I had the pleasure of reading. The book arrived at my doorstep on March 5th. I was halfway through “How to Live With Life,” so I told myself I would read this work later.

The next day, on the 6th, I wanted to glance into the contents, especially the opening paragraph. I had previously listened to 20 percent of the book in audio format, and seeing the opening myself, I couldn’t help myself. I was compelled, drawn in.

It’s been six days, and I am done with this book of decent width. Initially, it was 10-20 pages a day. The more I read, the more I could contain myself. It soon became many hours of my day dedicated to reading.

The story is said to be mainly about Elizabeth’s Prejudice and Mr. Darcy’s Pride, though it was more than that for me. The entire setting—the characters, the world, the interactions—was full of life and so full of charm. Yes, charm is the only word I can come close to describing Jane Austen’s style; her work is charismatic.

The story takes place in Longhorn, though the names of the towns do not matter. We are first introduced to a family, Bennet’s.

Mr. Bennet married his wife while young, though later, when he saw how foolish and silly the said wife was, he pulled away from the relationship—taking refuge in his library, amusing himself by his wife’s folly.

Mrs. Bennet—How can I say this without being rude…All she thinks about is her perception of others in her society who are middle class; unlike her husband’s family, her family has a bad background. She is a shortsighted, emotional, selfish woman. All she cares about is the optics and how they affect her.

They have five daughters, and by age, they are Jane, Elizabeth, Maria, Lydia, and Catherine.

Jane is a highly compassionate girl, aged 22. She is caring, self-sacrificing, and good-humored, yet she has the vice of never finding blame in anyone. She always assumes the best to a point, even when done wrong; she cannot fault it.

Elizabeth, the main person the story revolves around, is 20; she is wise, clever, honest, and frank, making her disagreeable in her time. She claims to be a study of character, is self-aware, amuses herself with the foolishness that she sees in people, is emotional, and, although to a lesser degree to her sister Jane, compassionate. While Jane is Fe, I’d say Elizabeth is Fi, for lack of better words. She is her father’s favorite. Jane is the second favorite.

Maria is hardly ever talked about. I believe even Jane Austen forgot to include her until the later parts, ironically, since the middle children are often forgotten. Maria felt she was competing with her sisters in beauty, maturity, and education. So she tries hard to be better, always studying, yet never really maturing. Her studies are the result of her insecurity rather than a virtue of a good mind.

Lydia is the carbon copy of her mother; she is 16 (the story takes place within 1 to 2 years; 16 was her latter age in the story). Being thrown into adult society from a young age, she had a taste for men’s desire and attention from a young age. Extremely imprudent, like her mother, she flirts with everyone; there was a dream of her in which she was to flirt with six officers simultaneously. She cares not for the men in particular, but their attention towards her is her drive.

Catherine, the youngest, was initially to follow Lydia around, and because of it, became like her. Later on, when Lydia is married, she becomes a decent character. There is little to say about her personality, as it greatly changes.

There is Mr. Collins, a proud clergyman and cousin of Mr. Bennet.

Charlotte Lucas, later on, Mrs. Collins, as they marry after Elizabeth refuses Mr. Collins. Elizabeth’s childhood friend. Lucas’ is a family friend.

Mrs. Phillips is Mrs. Bennet’s sister and the girls’ aunt. Her wife, Sir William, was a retired soldier.

Gardiners, Edward Gardiner is Mrs. Bennet’s brother. He is an honorable, intelligent man. It is a miracle that this family is even related to Mrs. Bennet.

Bingley moves into town, where the story gets going.

Mr. Bingley has two sisters, Mrs. Hurt and Miss Bingley. He comes to town with his friend Mr. Darcy.

Mr. Collins’s patroness, Lady de Brough, is Mr. Darcy’s aunt—the late Mr. Darcy’s sister. The late Mr. Darcy had a godson, Wickham, who grew up with Darcy.

De Brough has a daughter who is entailed as Darcy’s wife from birth.

Darcy has a sister, Georgina, Miss Darcy.

There are also many other characters that I am now too tired to write about. I don’t have to portray the story in detail, but the lessons.

I remember screaming at the pages in some parts and spanking my cat in excitement. That is how this book should be remembered. I remember yelling, “Stop edging me, Austen!” after five chapters passed without Darcy, only for him to appear suddenly.

The work provides a good understanding of the middle-class life of her time, which included some mingling with the upper class. There were a lot of balls, and people visited each other.

I saw a comment that said, “The book is about people going to each other’s houses,” with a one-star review. That’s like saying the story of the Underground Man is about a man getting angry at a prostitute and his work friends. Sure, that’s what occurs, but not what happens.

Darcy seems disagreeable initially, but he is an introvert, a well-bred man of virtue. He becomes the talk of town to be the worst kind of man after they leave with Bingley, as Wickham lies about him. He is indeed proud, to the point of pride. We will discuss this later.

Elizabeth, even though smart, fancies herself to be objective and impartial. Yet, she is prejudiced. She believes her conclusions are accurate; she studies and decides on people��s characters.

This is why their relationship with Darcy is good; the entire point of the story is how, in the end, Elizabeth is humbled by Darcy’s true virtue and sees her prejudice. While Elizabeth humbles Darcy’s pride, and he becomes a better man.

The story is about how companionship and love can temper the personality of the two parties involved. Changing them for the better, for each other. This is a conclusion reached by many before, including me, but it is a good reminder of the truth.

Jung puts this best:

The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed.

It is, beyond a doubt, a fact of life. It is also a good reminder of my pride and prejudice. We should always check ourselves for the vices we all possess.

I did like Maria, the middle child. She reminded me of Asuka. Her constant dialogues about morality were funny since she was doing it all to be “not like other girls,” while Eliza (Lizzy) would often roll her eyes at them.

The scene where Darcy first confesses his love, and Elizabeth goes HARD on him, saying how much she hates his conduct, was so funny and shocking to me. It was so sudden that I was on the edge. And when Darcy, the next day, comes to her with a letter that takes six pages of the book, I laughed even harder about it.

When Darcy was teased by Miss Bingley, who was envious of Elizabeth because Darcy fancied her from the start, she teased him.

“A lady’s imagination is rapid; it jumps from admiration to love, from love to matrimony in a moment.”

Who can forget the start:

“It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.”

Elizabeth’s admission to Jane:

“There are few people whom I really love and still fewer of whom I think well. The more I see of the world, the more am I dissatisfied with it; and every day confirms my belief of the inconsistency of all human characters, and of the little dependence that can be placed on the appearance of merit or sense.”

Darcy, upon being asked by Elizabeth at the end when he started his love for her:

“I cannot fix on the hour, or the spot, or the look, or the words, which laid the foundation. It is too long ago. I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun.”

“Vanity and pride are different things, though the words are often used synonymously. A person may be proud without being vain. Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves, vanity to what we would have others think of us.”

Elizabeth’s letter to her Aunt, Mrs. Gardiner, after Darcy proposed:

“I am the happiest creature in the world. Perhaps other people have said so before, but not one with such justice. I am happier even than Jane; she only smiles, I laugh.”

This scene was funny, Mr Bennet:

“An unhappy alternative is before you, Elizabeth. From this day, you must be a stranger to one of your parents. Your mother will never see you again if you do not marry Mr. Collins, and I will never see you again if you do.”

A glance, at first, at Darcy’s pride, yet it also applies to Elizabeth’s thinking.

“My good opinion, once lost, is lost forever.”

In this scene between the two, earlier on, what flirts:

“There is, I believe, in every disposition a tendency to some particular evil, a natural defect, which not even the best education can overcome.” “And your defect is a propensity to hate everybody.” “And yours,” he replied with a smile, “is wilfully to misunderstand them.”

Darcy’s admission on how Elizabeth changed him:

“I have been a selfish being all my life, in practice, though not in principle. As a child, I was taught what was right, but I was not taught how to correct my temper. I was given good principles but left to follow them with pride and conceit. Unfortunately, an only son (for many years an only child), I was spoilt by my parents, who, though good themselves (my father, particularly, all that was benevolent and amiable), allowed, encouraged, and almost taught me to be selfish and overbearing; to care for none beyond my own family circle; to think meanly of all the rest of the world; to wish at least to think meanly of their sense and worth compared with my own. Such I was, from eight to eight and twenty, and such I might still have been but for you, dearest, loveliest Elizabeth! What do I not owe you? You taught me a lesson, which was hard at first but most advantageous. By you, I was properly humbled. I came to you without a doubt of my reception. You showed me how insufficient were all my pretensions to please a woman worthy of being pleased.”

I like Darcy’s honest character:

“Nothing is more deceitful,” said Darcy, “than the appearance of humility. It is often only carelessness of opinion and sometimes an indirect boast.”

One criticism I have about this beautiful story is that it depends on coincidences. What if Elizabeth’s trip with the Gardiners weren’t cut short, and they went to the lakes instead of London? What is the likelihood of Darcy coming to Pemberley a day before while the Gardiners were doing a home visit? What is the chance of Mrs. Gardiner having known someone at the house to warrant the visit in the first place?

The suddenness of Darcy’s confession of love, though it is all explained later on, embarrassed them both. They couldn’t make a move on the other. What I don’t know is why Darcy is so madly in love, yet that is how love works to begin with, so that is not a point I will press on.

I like how everyone has their faults, especially Elizabeth. No one is a Mary Sue, though Darcy, the more we knew him, became a sort of Mary Sue, but it is balanced by his previous pride and claims of superiority.

Sadly, I focused so much on practical works that I had forgotten novels and stories. That still teaches you great lessons: the world, human interaction, perception, and emotion.

Overall, it was an AMAZING book; if I ever forget the story’s details, you can re-read it. I am ashamed that I have not read this sooner.

9/10

#book notes

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the-cat-chat · 2 years

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June 5, 2022

My Dead Dad (2021)

A young burnout discovers his estranged father is dead, leaving him the responsibility of managing an apartment complex.

JayBell: On the surface, this seems like it could be a good movie. I like the idea of a young man struggling to come to terms with the fact that his parents are more complex than he thought. This is something that most children realize about their parents as they grow older.

But I just didn’t like this movie that much. It felt like a student film more than anything, and I wasn’t sold on the acting. I also didn’t really like the main character. We all have daddy issues, but that doesn’t give you an excuse to act like an asshole.

I expected the movie to be more about rediscovering who his dead father was by bonding with the different tenants in the building, but besides one older lady, he doesn’t even really bond with any of the tenants.

Instead, we have to suffer through this terrible excuse for a romance. I wasn’t rooting for them at all. In the beginning, I was apathetic about the relationship, but by the end, I was actively annoyed by it. I hated the romance, and it distracted from the main plot of the movie. What was the point of it?

The reason for the father and son estrangement was vague and kind of stupid. Okay, maybe it makes sense when we was a kid, but the main character has been an adult for several years, so the mother as a barrier and custody is no longer an excuse for not rebuilding your relationship.

And the skateboarding. My god, the skateboarding. Just why?

Rating: 2/10 cats 🐈

Anzie:

******deep inhale******

Okay. So first of all geesssssh. Second, don’t watch it, the only redeeming quality is that they were gracious enough to make the movie an hour and a half, rather than a long drawn out never ending story. Stare at the wall for an hour and a half, it will be more enjoyable.

There’s just so many problems for starters- the entire time we have no clue why he’s estranged from his dad. The whole time- then by the end ——- it’s the moms fault?? Of course it is- we’ve all heard that one before. Then - the movie could’ve been nice if he tried to have any meaningful interactions with the other tenants- but no the only one he does have is sleeping with one and then assuming she should care for him and absorb allll of his trauma?!? And these problems could just be all a result of LAZY writing. This was a great concept. The dialogue was terrible, the acting worse, and what the fluff is with all the skateboarding?!? We GET it ITS California.

Rating: 0.5/10 Cats 🐈

#movie review #film review #movie #film

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komatsunana · 3 years

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Unpopular opinion, but I think Nana K and Takumi are really good for each other. I'm just really drawn to the both of them. I think that in his own way, Takumi does really love Hachi. Hachi is warm, motherly, and gentle, things that Takumi had always been deprived of ever since he was young. Even though Hachi is spoiled and childish she is a pillar of strength and loyal to a fault to her friends. Takumi can better ground Hachi to reality, and can accept her for what she is, and Hachi can soften Takumi.

I remember that scene in the bathtub when Hachi said that Takumi can rely on her, he was so surprised, like the concept of relying on someone else is so foreign to him, which is not surprising given his background. That's why that time when Takumi received the call about Ren's death, and he held Nana's hands, is all the more significant, because Takumi does not do that, he takes care of everything by himself.

I won't excuse his problematic behaviors, but who amongst the characters in Nana are not problematic? (Nana O with her possessiveness, Ren with his addiction, Reira and Shin's self esteem issues and struggle with their self worth)

Sooooo there is LOTS to unpack here, particularly with another ask I assume is from you.

What I'll focus on here is that,, I think the relationship is FAR tilted in Hachi making Takumi a better person than the other way around. Sure Takumi can give Hachi a reality check, but this isn't something that other character's couldn't provide Hachi if given the opportunity. Additionally, Hachi is 20, later turning 21. At that age, not many 20 year olds have a firm grasp of themselves and reality. Hachi's flightiness is part of her age. We see her growing up through the series and with or without Takumi, she'd be getting a reality check just by growing up. On the other hand, the things Hachi offers Takumi are things that no one else in the series is able to offer.

Take your example of Takumi taking Hachi's hand after getting the call about Ren's death. That is a very powerful example of how Takumi depends on Hachi, yes. But later, when Hachi is still processing her grief over Ren Takumi tells her without discussion that he won't be staying at their place. When Hachi, pregnant and grieving, cries and basically expresses that she's upset and needs his support... He just tells her to go stay with Nana, like it's obvious, like he hadn't just made plans all on his own and not discussed them at all with her. It's great that it worked out to both Hachi's and Nana's benefit to be together to grieve but as we find out... Takumi leaves Hachi at Nana's without any contact whatsoever. Prioritizing Reira's well-being over Hachi's. And while, true, Reira is in need of more direct comfort and care in her state... they have phones. A phone call, A TEXT would be sufficient just to check in. But he doesn't.

Additionally, at the end of the day... Takumi has raped Hachi twice that we've seen (chapter 29 and chapter 47), because rape isn't just physically beating someone into the act. She even says it's rape in chapter 48, though narratively it is treated as a joke. He also emotionally abuses her constantly, isolating her from others and belittling her when she implies he's jealous about Nobu when he is at least a little.

The way abuse works, the abuser has many more good and charming moments with their victim. That's why abuse victims stay which is why yes, Takumi and Hachi have lots of cute moments together. Those moments are why Hachi stays, why many abused people stay with their abusive partner at least in the beginning.

I do believe completely that in those future chapters we see ahead in NANA, Takumi is a much better person because all we've seen is that he does change and feel regret over his past behaviors. A better husband and partner to Hachi, and most importantly a loving father. But none of that means Hachi would ultimately be better off with their relationship. I do enjoy Takumi's character - he is among the most interesting characters of the series - but he definitely got the better end of the deal here.

Which brings me to the word problematic. I hate that word honestly, because it brings us to situations like this where we can distill people into being ~problematic~ without naming what qualities making them so. Takumi is a rapist and abuser and this is not equal with any of the characters problematic traits you've listed. That said, I'll say that Ren's problematic flaw is NOT being an addict. Being a drug user is not a moral failing, even if how someone treats people while using drugs can be. Ren's big failing is the same as Nana's - possessiveness even if it manifests itself differently. Also... one, struggling with self-esteem and self-worth are not problematic. Reira's issue is being an adult who is in a romantic and sexual relationship with a kid who is being sex trafficked.

One of the great things about NANA is the characters and their wide range of character flaws. I think the story is better off for having all of them, with all their flaws (even if narrative handling of some of those flaws could be better imo). That doesn't mean all flaws are equal. I respect that you have that opinion and I don't think it's as unpopular as you think. I just think you're on tumblr, where most users see rape and abuse as deal breakers. Go seek out the Instagram NANA fans or if you're interested in having a nuanced discussion about Takumi join my NANA Discord here.

Thanks for the ask and I'll answer the other asks in my ask box ASAP :)

#nana #ai yazawa #komatsu nana #komatsu hachi #ichinose takumi #takumi ichinose #my nana feels #i scream #ask #Anonymous

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scripttorture · 4 years

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Can a parent who is a torturer teach his child to become a torturer since childhood, but not teaching it as torture, but the techniques involved, and well, violence and abuse. Is it normal that the child is not being abused himself?? Or would such a parent torture their child if they wanted the child to grow up to become a torturer and take their place one day.

Torturers ‘teach’ on the job. I’m not sure if it would be possible for them to teach these techniques without exposing someone to violence.

And even if it was that isn’t what they do.

They bring the people they want to ‘teach’ into the cells with them. They have potential-torturers witnessing torture (and encourage them to participate) from the first day.

And here’s the thing: this makes sense. It makes sense because torture is functionally simple and because it applies social pressure to the potential-torturer. It makes it harder for them to refuse to torture and implies that they will be at risk of violence if they do.

The scenario you’re suggesting fundamentally misunderstands torture and torturers. You’re assuming that this stuff is more complex then it is and that torturers are more patient, thoughtful and restrained then they are.

All of those are common misconceptions that feed into torture apologia.

It’s OK to be wrong. The important thing now is the next decision you make; where you go from here.

Child torturers are rare. And while I have heard of cases where children were abusers or torturers I’ve never heard of a case where a parent tried to encourage their biological child to become a torturer.

There’s quite a lot to unpack and explain there so bear with me while I break this down.

Child torturers are rare because generally children are not put in positions of authority, and the torturer being in a position of authority is an essential part of the legal definition of torture. Children are not (usually) allowed to become police officers, soldiers, doctors, civil servants, teachers or any of the other professions torturers are drawn from.

There are ethical reasons for that but there are also practical reasons for it. Children do not make good soldiers. They are typically weaker then adults, have more complex nutritional needs, have shorter attention spans, cope less well with sleep deprivation and are not as good at performing repetitive tasks without fault.

They are harder to train as soldiers, less physically able to act as soldiers and harder to keep at a base standard of health in a warzone.

I am not saying children are incapable of torture: I am saying that they are not given the opportunity.

The cases that I’m aware of involving child torturers are uniformly child soldiers. Usually those children are kidnapped and enslaved. They are not the biological (or adopted) children of the other torturers.

Sometimes these children are deliberately drawn from despised minority groups. For instance the Daesh use of kidnapped Yezidi boys on suicide missions was part of a wider campaign of genocide.

Sometimes these children are encouraged to take part in torture as part of strategy to make these children feel like they can’t return home. They’re made to participate in violent criminal acts then told that they will never be forgiven by their society. This is part of how these groups coerce cooperation from their victims.

So child torturers are rare and the children who are usually in a position where they could be classed as torturers are generally not valued by the groups using them.

This makes me think that a valued, blood-related child would be less likely to be used as a torturer.

There’s also the question of why a torturer would want their child to follow in their footsteps.

Because torturers generally do not enjoy what they do. They report finding the experience distressing and exhausting.

Some of them frame it as ‘necessary’ and genuinely seem to believe they were doing something helpful. (This is not true, torture does not work). Some of them frame it as a punishment their victims ‘deserved’. Some of them don’t really seem to have much justification at all, everyone else was doing it so they did too.

But as a general rule torturers don’t report having a positive view of their own job. The typical relationship is more complex.

They have an inflated sense of their own importance and the importance of their job. They often depict themselves as the ‘only ones doing the real work’ and talk/act as though they’re the most important part of the organisation they’re in.

But they also report feeling consistently under-valued and overlooked by their organisations. They consistently describe a hugely stressful, pressurised working environment and an atmosphere of continued, unhealthy competition with everyone else.

Torturers do not take enjoyment in their work. They report finding it physically exhausting, extremely stressful and the development of mental health problems associated with torture.

They often feel as though they’re at risk of violence from their colleagues and superiors. And they’re not wrong. Looking over modern historical records of regimes like Soviet Russia show that torturers were regularly purged by the state. And the fracturing effect they have on organisations is sometimes enough for them to be attacked by other members of their organisation.

When this doesn’t happen they burn out. They reach a point where their mental and physical health problems become so severe they can’t even pretend to do the job they were hired for. And then they’re dropped, or ‘encouraged’ to quit.

They struggle to find any employment. Because by that point they typically have really severe mental illnesses and no useful skills. Plus the general aura of asshole that comes with an inflated sense of self importance and a tendency to lash out at anyone who doesn’t feed that ego. A lot of them end up dependant on other people.

Basically- I don’t think any torturer would want someone they value to become a torturer.

Even when torturers see their ‘work’ as essential they don’t see it as a good job. They’re acutely aware of the dangers and the toll it takes on them.

If this character actually cares for their child at all they’d probably discourage them from being a torturer.

I think that leaves two broad questions: ‘Do torturers abuse their families?’ and ‘Are torturers typically torture survivors themselves?’

And neither of those questions have clear answers because of the lack of research on torturers.

There are reports of torturers who abused their families. But there are so few reports by mental health professionals on torturers that it really is impossible to say if this is a trend. And there are also reports of torturers who never abused their families. Familial abuse by torturers could be in line with familial abuse in the general population.

There is no evidence to suggest torturers are any more or less likely to abuse their families then anyone else.

The second question is more complicated because of the assumptions underlying it: people who ask this generally seem to assume that someone who is tortured goes on to become a torturer and…. That isn’t exactly what we see these people reporting.

Yes some torturers are also torture survivors. Because a lot of them are soldiers and sometimes captured soldiers are tortured.

The pattern I tend to see reported (this is anecdotal because of the lack of research on torturers-) is torturers getting captured after they’ve been torturers for a while. Either by their own side or an opposing side in the context of a conflict. Then they’re tortured.

Or their area is invaded by an opposing side, they flee the conflict and get targeted with… exactly the same stuff everyone else fleeing the same situation is targeted with.

The child soldiers I described earlier in the ask seem to be particularly vulnerable to torture and other ill treatment.

We don’t have a way to measure how many torturers have also been tortured. By which I mean, no one has really done enough research to answer that question.

The vast majority of torture survivors will never go on to become torturers, because they won’t be put in a position of authority. Mentally ill people are systematically barred from positions of authority in most places. And torture survivors seem to be particularly vulnerable to unemployment.

So I think torture survivors are unlikely to be put in a position where they could become torturers.

But, yes torturers are sometimes put in a position where they might become torture victims. We don’t know how often this happens. My impression is that it’s no where near the majority, may be not even a particularly significant minority (though it seems to be more common in some specific areas/circumstances then others).

Wrapping up: I don’t think it’s a good idea to have a torturer also be a torture survivor in this sort of narrative. I think that’s an incredibly complicated thing to try and handle and I don’t think you’ve got the knowledge base to do it justice yet. I also don’t think it adds anything to the characters as you’ve described them.

There is no ‘safe’ way to expose someone to torture. Torturers do not try to protect the people they ‘train’, they throw them in at the deep end and encourage them to participate almost straight away.

But torturers also don’t necessarily see their jobs as ‘good jobs’. They don’t describe it as a legacy they want to pass on.

Why is it important that this child is actively taught? Could they be exposed to or witness torture in another context? Is it even important that the torturer is their parent? Using another influential adult character would allow the child to keep a more-or-less positive relationship with their parent. And it could make the conflict between child and parent about ‘You allowed this torturer access to me and they showed me awful, traumatising things’ rather then ‘You exposed me to traumatising things and you hurt me’.

Does familial abuse add to this narrative? Because I’d argue that exposing a child to torture is abusive and it creates another layer of complexity. On top of torture, and the peculiar mindset of torturers, and the mental health problems torture causes in survivors, torturers and witnesses.

Think about those questions. Go back to the sources page. Read O’Mara’s Why Torture Doesn’t Work and the appendices to Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth. Read Alleg’s The Question.

And consider whether these elements actually help you to tell the story.

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#writing advice #tw torture #tw child abuse #tw abuse #tw child soldiers #tw genocide #writing torturers #behaviour of torturers #child torturers #torture training programs #effect of torture on torturers #writing witnesses #torture is not safe #torture does not work #torturers and organisations

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aer-in-wanderland · 3 years

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I am sorry but you have to do a part two as well as every other part up until 16 of your descriptions and your translations of the episodes. With all the background you know and explain. I am sorry but if you don't do it, I will definitely sue you for doing the first part in the first place! Now I am addicted and it is your fault.

Now 3 questions. What do you think about all the scenes with Ji- Ah before he knew she is Ah-Eum? Was he interested in her? I mean what reason would he have had to keep an eye on her always?

Did you ever think about the question wheter he loved Ji-Ah differently than Ah- Eum? After all she's STILL another person? And she had a point in saying that after that first kiss?

And finally... Were all the women looking like her before then completely other people- or was she reborn then as well, but it came never to a moment when he got to see the fox bead?

It's a lot. But you have to answer, I might go crazy otherwise.

Thank you!

Hahaha I’ve never been praised with apologies and threats before, but thanks? Your strategy is interesting, yet oddly effective. Don’t worry, I’m currently working on a write-up of episode 2. I’m glad you enjoyed the first one. ^ ^

As to your questions, I can only give you my educated opinion as a fan, but to my sense:

1) When you say ‘keep an eye on her always’ did you mean once they reunite when she’s an adult? I’m fairly sure that, while he did come back to check on her when she was little, he hasn’t been watching over her for the past 21 years. TvN released a deleted scene in which he looks her up on the internet to see what her deal is after Shin Joo tells him she’s trying to track him down. If he’d been watching over her, he wouldn’t have needed to do that. Also, his line to her at the end of episode 6, ‘So that’s how you’ve lived until now,’ implies that he didn’t know how she’d lived in the years since he saved her as a child.

As to whether Yeon was interested in her, I think the answer is yes, but not romantically. As Yeon says, foxes mate for life, so he had no interest or intention of falling in love with anyone other than Ah Eum (or rather, her reincarnation). He also tells Taluipa that it doesn’t matter to him what she looks like. I believe him on both fronts. At the same time, I think not being moved by the sight of Ji Ah when she looks exactly like Ah Eum would be pretty much impossible. She’s the living, breathing image of someone he loved and misses desperately.

But more than her looks, I think it’s who she is as a person that he’s drawn to. Ji Ah is smart, driven, and fearless. In the scene in episode 2 where she tells him, ‘I’m not threatening, I’m gambling,’ you can see from his expression that, despite his irritation at her having literally broken into his house and tranqed him, he’s also quite impressed with her for it. It’s worth noting, too, that it’s only after this encounter that he goes to find Taluipa guessing that Ah Eum has been reborn (with the same face, no less). Similarly, the reason he checks for the fox bead again when they’re on the island is that - despite having already tried and failed - he can’t help but see Ah Eum in who Ji Ah is, not just how she looks. And that’s, I think, why he can’t help but look out for her. Because he admires her as a person, and because he recognizes her. He only doubts himself because she doesn’t appear to have his fox bead.

2) This is a hard one. Ji Ah and Ah Eum are different people in the sense that they’ve lived different lives and possess different memories, and obviously our experiences and memories are an integral part of who we are. At the same time, they are the same person in the sense that they possess the same soul. Ji Ah is Ah Eum reborn. It’s not as if Ah Eum exists somewhere separate from Ji Ah. Ah Eum was reborn as Ji Ah, and Yeon, I believe, loves who that person is regardless of what path she’s walked in life or what memories she does and doesn’t possess. He tells her more or less as much in the letter he leaves her: ‘I liked the attitude with which you faced the world. I liked that, despite bearing a terrible fate on your shoulders, you didn’t thoughtlessly despair.’ I think this line really gets at the heart of what drew Yeon to Ji Ah in addition to being what he loves about her, and it’s a statement that was equally true of Ah Eum. Ji Ah and Yeon are kindred spirits in this way: the way in which they bear up under adversity, and the strength of character they each possess which allows them to do so.

When Ji Ah tells Yeon, “I’m not the shadow of your past,” I think she absolutely had the right end of things, and I think Yeon is wise enough to recognize that as well. Ji Ah can’t be ‘Ah Eum’ for Yeon one, because she doesn’t share those memories of their past with him, and two, because she has an entire lifetime’s worth of memories that Ah Eum never had. Moreover, 600 years have passed. Even if she did somehow remember her past life, in this life, she’s no longer an abandoned princess, and he’s no longer a mountain god. For them to live trying to recreate the days they spent together 600 years in the past would be an exercise in futility, if for no other reason than the fact that the world itself has undergone tremendous change since then. Ji Ah is asking Yeon to be in a relationship with her as she is here and now, and I think that Yeon should be commended for the grace with which he did exactly that.

3) I had this thought as well early on, and all I can say is, if that had been the case, then what a terrible tragedy that would have been. But I believe the answer is no, for a couple of reasons.

First off, Yeon was under contract to work for the Ten Kings of the Afterlife as a sort of enforcer in exchange for them allowing Ah Eum to be reborn. Because Ah Eum’s death was considered a suicide of sorts, she should have been ineligible for reincarnation. But Yeon cut a deal exchanging his service to the Ten Kings for her rebirth. Rang describes this as a sort of karmic ‘mileage points’ plan whereby Yeon builds up mileage points through his service, and once he has enough, Ah Eum gets to be reborn. If you flip that around, it means that he’s only under contract until she’s reborn. So since Yeon was still under contract at the start of the drama, I think we can safely assume that those other women were not, in fact, reincarnated versions of Ah Eum. That still begs the question of why he wasn’t let off the hook 30 years previously when Ji Ah was born, and I honestly don’t have a good answer for that. [Edit: tvN published something that says the contract ended when he realized Ji Ah was Ah Eum’s reincarnation].

Second, even barring the previous point, multiple supernatural characters - including Imoogi, who was reincarnated part and parcel with her - have stated that it took 600 years for her to be reborn. If those other women had been Ah Eum, they would also have been Imoogi as well, and I can’t imagine Imoogi would have just not tried to get revenge on Yeon if he’d had the chance before now. Moreover, the fortune-teller (whose true identity is Tenth King of the Afterlife who presides over reincarnation) also says that Ji Ah was a princess in her previous life (i.e. the last time she was alive), and I would consider that to be fairly conclusive evidence.

So why bother with the look-alikes at all, right? On a narrative level, I mean. Very simply, I think we as viewers needed probable cause to believe that Yeon could meet someone who is Ah Eum’s spitting image and yet somehow not immediately realize it was her. If Yeon hadn’t seen women with her face over the centuries, then her appearance alone would have clinched it. So I view those other women as a way of introducing probable doubt. I don’t believe they were incarnations that Yeon failed to recognize.

Believe it or not, that is my short answer to your questions haha It’s ultimately only my own opinion, but hopefully it was helpful. =) @me-dreaming-out-loud

#ask #tale of the nine tailed #totnt #lee yeon #ah eum #nam ji ah #me-dreaming-out-loud #구미호뎐 #이연 #아음 #남지아 #lost in translation #totnt ask

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kaypeace21 · 5 years

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something i noticed, during the s3 byler argument, Mike says “El’s not stupid, it’s not MY fault you don’t like girls.” Mike’s “it’s not my fault” doesn’t fit as a retort, the theme of his retort should be defending El. He should have said “it’s not HER fault you don’t like girls”. Knowing there were other versions of that line the writers must have consciously chosen to leave this one in, knowing how it could be interpreted. anyway, do you have any idea why mike even said that line?

Yes, I have talked about it -here (in my long ‘why Mike is gay post’). But since so many people misinterpret the meaning of Mike’s words- might as well do a shorter/more brief version .And do a post focusing on it. HE’S SAYING THIS TO HIMSELF!

First some background

Mike DOES NOT think Will is gay. Dustin foreshadows their fight in s1 saying “Dustin: “He’s just jealous.” Mike: “What?” Dustin: “Sometimes your total obliviousness just blows my mind?” Dustin: “ What matters is, he’s your best friend. And then this girl shows up… and all you ever want to do is spend time with her!” Mike: “that’s not true!”

Dustin: “Yes it is! And you know it. And he knows it. But no one ever says anything until you’re both start… yelling at each other like goblins with intelligence scores of 0. And now everything is weird”

Mike: “He’s not my best friend! … I mean he is. But so are you.”

He won’t let himself consider that Will could be gay because then it would be harder to pretend he isn’t gay himself . That it isn’t just a weird phase that he’ll grow out of. We see that throughout the show Mike is projecting his feelings for Will on to El . Who in s1 was described by 5 characters as looking like a boy (and specifically like Will, by 3 characters ). There’s just way too many examples of him projecting to list here. But s3 we see Mike is trying to mimic romantic moments between him and Will (from s2) to El (in s3). In order to transfer his romantic feelings for Will on to El. The “blank makes you crazy” vs “crazy together”, the shed scenes of “most important thing” vs “the best thing I’ve ever done”,etc.

The difference between past seasons though, is that Mike is now conscious that he’s doing this. The more feminine El gets- the harder for him it is to pretend. Especially now that they’re going through puberty- and the physical differences between boys and girls is becoming more prominent. We see this in the first ep of s3. I talked about it more here, but the Duffers use music with all the characters to convey plot points or the emotions of the characters. One example is when Mike forces Will to dance with a girl so he ‘fakes a smile’.

So yes, the fact that the very first lyrics that play when we see mileven kiss for the first time is “Just a little uncertainty can bring you down”- reflects Mike’s true feelings.And we know this is how Mike (not El) feels about their relationship because he begins to sing the song right after this lyric.The song is even from the album titled “boy in the box”. AKA: Mike is in the closet

“And nobody wants to know you now. And nobody wants to show you how.So if you’re lost and on your own. You can never surrender.” He fears that if he isn’t straight everyone he cares about will abandon him, and that he’d be lost and the only one ‘like this’ -all alone.But he can’t ‘surrender’ the false-idea of being in love with El (out of fear). This is the rural Indiana in the 80s- at the height of the aids epidemic. People on the news said gay people were being rightfully punished with the ‘gay cancer’ (aids). They equated being gay with being a perv, p*d*phile, murderer, or mentally ill. Churches said you’d ‘burn in hell’. In rural areas people would form gangs and murder people they thought were gay. Of course Mike is terrified and wants to be straight! His parents in s2 were Reagan supporters. And Reagan was notoriously homophobic. He’s probably afraid his parents will hate him, kick him out, or that someone will kill him or he’ll die from aids by simply kissing a boy.

We see Mike is doing his own f-ed up form of conversion therapy. He kisses El but he puts on the wall a drawing of Will so he can look at it while he kisses her. Probably hoping to transfer his romantic feeling for Will on to her.

Like that’s Will! He has light brown hair (not black) and Will is the only one associated with fire and has drawn himself with fire in the past. And Will even overlaps with the rainbow drawing that reads “mike” before we see the mileven kiss. It was intentional.

So when Will Says “you’re ruining everything (their relationship) .And for what?! So you can swap spit with some stupid girl.”

This infuriates Mike because he thinks swapping spit with El is the best way to save their relationship! And he’s been trying to ‘fix himself’ so Will doesn’t hate him- and it hasn’t been working, to Mike’s frustration. So he screams “El’s not stupid, it’s not my fault you don’t like girls!” because he’s projecting. And although, he loves Will… a part of him probably is a bit angry that he’s making him feel this way.

Mike never actually says to El’s face that he loves her- he even says during his fake-confession “[old people] say it”.And later Mike apologizes to El and says “sorry, I sound like a [7 year old].” Aka the number Will rolled in s1. Right after he discusses d&d with Will and talks about seeing both of them for the Hollidays. So it’s telling that after he says “El’s not stupid . it’s not my fault you don’t like girls” (to himself). He immediately regrets yelling at Will. He even closes his eyes and takes a breath before continuing. And apologizes, by giving a heteronormative answer of:

“I’m not trying to be a jerk, but [we’re not kids anymore]. What did you think, really?! that we’d never get girlfriends. That we’d just sit in my basement and play games for the rest our lives?”

Mike is yelling this at himself to keep his feelings for Will under control.El is an idea to Mike about what adulthood is- which is why he doesn’t really defend el (and his ‘love’ for her) but just talks about “girlfriends” in an abstract way. This was essentially Mike telling himself- he’s NOT allowed to just be with Will and never have a gf. He has to grow out of his ‘childish feelings’ for Will- before it’s too late, because being a gay man is dangerous. That’s why when the camera is on Mike (when he looks back a the byers house -and they only show Will and Mike). The dialogue is “But I know you’re getting older, growing, changing. I guess, if I’m being really honest, that’s what scares me. I don’t want things to change.”He doesn’t want things to change (and his feelings for Will to evolve into love, because that means Mike has to admit he’s gay and accept his future as a gay man-which at the time, didn’t seem very bright). They both are afraid of the future because of this. Mike tries to act like a ‘straight-adult’ and Will tries to revert back into his childhood because of this.

Mike also mentions “games’ because d&d is a symbol of byler’s romantic relationship. He’s just pretending to not enjoy the d&d game. Mike says they have to get girlfriends and they can’t play games for the rest of their lives. But that’s what Mike wants- he just wants to be with Will for the rest of his life (playing games) without either of them having girlfriends. Because, we see Mike never took any of Will’s d&d art off his walls.Even though he changed his poster (from the same wall that had will’s drawings on it) Mike couldn’t remove any of Will’s d&d art. It was an act - which is why he was upset (in the last episode) when Will was donating the game, and why during the Hopper speech, it pans to Mike as Hopper says “I miss playing board games every night.”

Mike even has a binder filled with every d&d drawing Will has ever given him.

In the pilot, they even say Will uses d&d to “escape” his insecurities about his sexuality “like mike” & Mike uses d&d to “escape” his insecurities about not having a gf. * And no, dustin & Lucas didn’t use d&d to “escape” anything- in the pilot script.

And right before Mike says the famous “crazy together”line it zooms in on Mike’s d&d set.

The “crazy together” scene is romantic since both Mike & Flo both equate love making you ‘crazy’. Mike saying “it makes you crazy” and Flo saying saying in s1 “ only love makes you crazy and that damn stupid”).

(x)(x)

Mike is lying about his feelings for El- and El is just confused about her feelings for Mike. The only one’s with mutual feelings for Mike is Will! Will even has a breakdown and goes ‘crazy’ after seeing a pic of them the night they promised to go crazy together - and then Will repeatedly calls himself ‘stupid’ . Because this is when he realizes and admits to himself he’s in love with Mike. And so he grabs a bat (that his dad- who called him a ‘queer’ taught him to use) and destroys castle Byers in a fit of anger and self-hate. That fight was what caused Will to realize his feelings for Mike and the jealousy he had been feeling were because he was in love with Mike. When Mike asks “what did you think, really? That we’d never get girlfriends… play games for the rest of our lives?”

Will is 100% honest a says brokenly “yeah. I guess I did” And then says angrily “I really did!” . Even if both don’t understand the gravity of their words in that moment Will was honest- he doesn’t want to ever have a girlfriend he just wants to be with Mike for the rest of his life. And Mike, who assumes Will is straight, is shocked that this conversation upset Will. Or that he would disagree with his words.

And again their last conversation (about d&d is very telling and is foreshadowing). What Will meant when he said , “I’ll just use yours when I come back- I mean… if WE still wanna play”. Is essentially foreshadowing that the ball is in Mike’s court. If he wants to be with Will for the rest of his life he has to initiate it and prove he loves Will after pretending for so long to love El, instead.

gif credit: first 2 gifs ampwn98 , 3th gif by janebycrs, 5th gif Cath-avery , 4 & 6th gifs mine

#byler #byeler #anti mileven

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selfproducingfanfictionauthor · 4 years

Text

to be treated this way - chapter i

pair: shownu x reader

summary: When your alpha - sort-of - found his true mate, you’re stuck dealing with the aftermath and the coming of your next heat. So when your friend suggested a “dating service” to aid you, signing up seemed like a no-brainer. So, you’ve prepared yourself for the dominance, the adrenaline-fueled by fear and arousal and the constant out-of-this-world sex but when you meet Shownu, everything you know about Alphas is challenged. He’s soft - for the lack of better word. He cooks you meals, he takes you out on dates… all of which are not really necessary for an Alpha - Omega relationship… right? Whatever. You’d just really, really, wish he’d touch you now warning: this story may be slow-paced at the start, no other warnings for now - also, boo seungkwan’s appearance! a/b/o dynamics!

Many poets and writers have tried, failed and came close to describing what true heartbreak is. Such fundamental human experience is so universal that many men and women across history have drawn inspiration from it and created amazing works of art - sculptures, plays, books and songs. At the back of your mind, you remember reading something like - “If nothing saves us from death, at least love should save us from life” and although it’s beautiful and you certainly want to be saved, you feel like it’s too dramatic to apply to your own situation.

Even though you certainly feel like dying right now.

Mouth dry and head pounding, you blearily open your eyes to the sight of your blinking alarm clock. The numbers 1:03 pm mocks you in all its inherent cheeriness. Underneath the cocoon of your warm bed, you squirm, sweating and uncomfortable – feeling like you just want to crawl out of your skin just to reach the itch between your skin and bones. Fists closing and unfurling, you try to resist the urge to scratch, knowing that there’s nothing to find beneath, nothing to offer you relief.

Kicking off your sheets, you try to reign in the uneasiness. At the back of your ears, you feel the itch worsen, crawling down your nape burning down its path. Rubbing yourself against the scratchy texture of your bedsheets feels like heaven and hell alternating between five seconds – the brief relief only highlighting the torment of your hormones tenfold.

Time seem to pass too slowly as you try to muster the strength to get up. But your body refuses to cooperate, your limbs heavy and your mind foggy. This is what you hate the most about suppressants, the side-effects feels like punishment for being born an omega. Your head feels like it’s submerged underwater, and you don’t hear your apartment door opening with a bang.

“I’m here!” Seungkwan sings, grocery bags hanging from his arms. His eyes roam your kitchen before landing on you through your open bedroom door. At the sight of you, his mood drops. ”Oh my god, what are you doing!”

Your best friend rushes over to you and grasps your wrists, quickly pulling it away from your arms.

Streaks of scratches marred your neck and arms while you tremble. He notes with a small amount of relief, that at least, you didn’t break skin.

Aish, this girl.

Relief flood you at the familiar smell of your friend and his cool hands, drawing away from the heat marked by your nails. You let him drag you up to your couch. Sitting down, he grasps your wrists with one hand and reaches for one of the grocery bags with his other.

“Next time I see him, I’m gonna kick him in the nuts.” Seungkwan swears, agitated. Between the two of you, there’s only one person he could be referring to. You wince at the thought of Geun-woo, the alpha who had once frequented your bed. Pulling you out of your thoughts, Seungkwan fishes out a sheet of tablets and pops one open for you.

Trusting you to control yourself, he lets go of your wrists and hands you a bottle of water from the same bag.

“It’s not his fault he found his true mate, Seungkwanie.” You sigh, after swallowing the pill. You don’t know if it’s placebo or not, but immediately, the irritating itch and heat under your skin recedes.

The beta rolls his eyes. True mates, bah – people throw it around like a free pass. “True mate or not, it doesn’t mean he gets to drop you like a hot sweet potato – which you are, sweet and you look like a potato, woman, get yourself together! – and ride off into the sunset. Any decent alpha knows that omegas need weaning –”

Seungkwan goes off on a rant that you’ve heard on loop for the past week.

Geun-woo was a friend from the university. As alphas tend to be, he was popular and well-liked by your peers. His designation spurred him to be in the best shape he could be, drove him to win championship after championship for your university football team. After graduation, he went on to train for the national team and was – is – on his way to being a national athlete.

You could talk on and on about who Oh Geun-woo is to many people, but you could summarize what he was to you in three words: not your boyfriend.

The arrangement between the two of you was simple. You were adults, busy people living busy lives interrupted almost monthly by your heats and ruts. It was a logical and practical way to ensure that neither of you spend your vulnerable biological ~events~ alone. It was a good arrangement and after two years of it, you could honestly call Geun-woo a good friend.

However, the downside with spending such time so often with someone you’re not bonded with is you develop what experts call, a quasi-bond. It has all the effects of being bonded but dialed down by almost a hundred. You think it’s an exaggeration but you, an unbonded omega, really isn’t in the position to do so.

So when, Geun-woo found his true mate at some meet abroad, he dropped you faster than you could blink.

You don’t blame him, but man, it sucks.

Seungkwan glanced at you, sighing at your silence. Sending a prayer above, he fishes his wallet and takes out a card. “I have a suggestion.”

With your heat coming at you, barreling in the next two weeks, you’re just about open to any suggestion so, you hum behind your coffee mug, “The floor’s yours.” Well, at least the little of it that’s still visible under your clothes and knick-knacks.

“Before you say anything, know that I am suggesting this out of the goodness of my heart. But why don’t you consider this?” Seungkwan implored, handing you the card.

The black and purple card reads; “SS Matching Services” and under it, their company motto; “We’ve got the match for you.” With their office address and contact number.

“A pimping service?”

“Ya,” Seungkwan protested, red-faced, “Take your 19th century standards out of the gutter.”

His adamant protest startles a laugh out of you. For the guy who used to glare at anyone holding hands in public, your best friend has grown well. “Actually, it was worse in the 19th century but go off, I guess.”

Seungkwan leveled you with a flat look that had you raising your hands in surrender. No good can come from antagonizing the guy who just quite literally saved your life. “I’m listening.”

“Look, it’s just an option and it’s legit. Tough screening process too.” He takes out his phone and shows you the company’s website. Briefly, you glance at it before taking the card. Physically, it weighs like nothing but in your mind, it weighs like something amazing.

“How’d you know that?”

“My sunbaenim, uses this from time to time. It helps with his ruts. Win-win.” Seungkwan shrugs. You wonder which sunbae he’s referring to, given his many hobbies.

The website doesn’t look like it’ll give your laptop a virus, you’ll give it that. It’s classy and clean, and no random photos of just naked torsos. Good sign.

“You’re surprisingly blasé about this.” You laugh, eyes warm and surprised at how maturely Seungkwan delivers, only to laugh out loud at the sight of his burning ears.

You promised Seungkwan that you’ll check out the site but as soon as you got back to work, everything just swept you away.

That’s what happens when you work with kids.

Eyes warm with fondness, you quietly pat the bottom of one of your snoozing students. It’s nap time and your classroom has turned into some sort of sleepover area with all your students wrapped up with their soft blankets, nuzzling into their softer pillows. The early afternoon light filters into the room through the curtains, painting over the children with a soft glow.

Across you, another teacher takes the opportunity to get some of her own sleep in, curling herself protectively around two kids. Your classroom smells like baby powder and sweet treats, littered with small pastel chairs and tables. Its walls decorated with your students artworks and colorful cartoon characters.

This, this is one of the many moments that remind you why you became a pre-school teacher.

Many of your peers assumed it’s because of your designation. Omegas are naturally more inclined to take positions that require caretaking, given the innate desire to give care to others. Just like alphas are more likely to take positions that require leadership.

However, you muse, cooing as the young beta in front of you snuggle closer to your lap, many tend to gloss over the many manifestations of one’s designation. It’s true that by virtue of being an omega, you’re naturally more inclined to take care of your peers. Your so-called softness being the defining quality of your group.

But your omega manifestation is… a bit different. Sometimes, it makes you wonder how you got hired as a preschool teacher in the first place.

“Teach’r, sleepy time?”

Glancing down, you see the young beta pout at you. Waving away your thoughts, you slide down to her side and let the afternoon light lull you to sleep. All thoughts about your heat fading away quietly.

Soon, naptime was over and so is the day. Parents slowly trickle in, one after another, to pick up their children. Most of them harried from work, but still smiling at you and your co-teachers in gratitude.

“See you tomorrow, Rahui!” You call, as the last student leaves.

The little girl in her puffy sweater turns and smiles at you sweetly. “Bye, bye, teacher! Sleepy time!”

You flush at your student’s comment much to her mother’s confusion. After falling asleep earlier, you’d woken up to a clean classroom and several of your students hovering over you. Your pre-heat symptoms felt like they’re coming too fast for your taste.

Waving her off with a smile, you untie your apron and walk to the staff room where the others are. It’s almost 6 pm, and your daily staff meeting’s in session. In front of the room is your superior, an older bonded omega, with deep dimples on her cheek.

“Good job today, everyone.” She starts off, smiling at the soft cheers from everyone. “As you know…”

Your superior continues on to talk about the children’s upcoming activities. Vaguely, you hear her talk about a field trip, or is it a field demo? Shaking your head, you try to clear your thoughts but it seem like everything’s underwater, and no sound is escaping from her lips.

“… right, y/n?”

Blinking, you focus, and sent her a sheepish smile. “Sorry, you were saying?”

Your superior smiles forgivingly, “I was asking about that self-defense class you’ve been wanting to teach. When would you like to schedule it? Of course, pending approval with everyone’s schedule.”

Immediately, a large smile appears on your cheek. It’s approved?? You’ve been proposing that seminar for months. Most of the omega teachers were wary of the thought but warmed up to it recently. Especially when you mentioned how it’ll help them protect their kids – their students – more.

“How about two weeks from now?”

“Anytime!” You offer. The enthusiasm isn’t lost on your co-workers, some of them shaking their heads in amusement.

Your superior looks over your office board and hums at the chart. It contains all your schedules, including leaves, conferences to attend and heat cycles. With one look, your heart drops.

“Actually…” you start off, wincing at the thought of inconveniencing everyone because of your biology. “My heat is coming up in two weeks…”

Surprisingly, or not, omegas are actually quite liberal in discussing things like this. It’s simply part of the biology you live with. So your mortification is unfounded as your co-workers nod in understanding, quickly suggesting different dates.

Your superior nods, and glances at your work log book. “Well, we could schedule maybe four weeks from now to get you time to recover? Don’t forget to file your leave.”

Right.

“I still can’t believe she flew you in for her rut.” Jooheon’s laugh and disbelief reaches Shownu’s ears before he even steps inside. Smiling to himself, he finds his friends lounging in his living room, completely comfortable and completely unexpected.

Jooheon looks up at his arrival, “Hi, hyung! We let ourselves in!”

“I can see that.” Shownu nods in greeting, trying to remember who he gave his spare keys to. He’s pretty sure he didn’t make six copies of his set. Shrugging off his coat, he look on, realizing how his living room looks smaller with a bunch of guys occupying it. Jooheon and Minhyuk are on his couch, Changkyun’s on his stomach on the floor, playing with his phone and, Hyunwoo and Kihyun are by the window drinking a can of beer each.

That’s one, two, three… four, five…

“Hey, you’re home! And – are those protein bars?” The paper bag is snatched from his hand, before Shownu registers, blinking slowly as Wonho disappears once again into the kitchen.

The smell of jajjangmyeon invades his senses. Ah, yes, guys’ night.

Shortly after his arrival, everyone gathers in the dining room. With the two youngest improvising chairs out of the boxes Shownu hasn’t had the chance to unpack, having just moved into his new home a month ago.

To the eldest’s surprise, everyone pitched in with dinner, bringing different dishes and filling the dining table. Assorted cuts of meat are sizzling over the portable electric grill Wonho brought, several small plates of side-dishes and… are those buttered crabs he’s seeing? “What’s this?”

Minhyuk shoots him an amused glance over his beer, “You don’t really think we’ll let you off without a house warming, right?”

Shownu blinks, a small bashful smile forming on his lips, “But I’ve been here a month.”

An arm wraps around his shoulder and a weight shakes him back and forth. Kihyun rolls his eyes, getting into his personal space. “This is the first time we’ve been complete for a month! Just enjoy it!”

Jooheon hums, his cheeks filled with lettuce and meat from the grill. “Yeah, I mean, though it’s only Minhyuk-hyung that hasn’t been around, too busy getting his dick wet.”

“Oi!” their youngest protests, ears burning and nearly spitting out his drink. “We are eating.”

Wonho heartily “taps” Changkyun’s back, laughing. “We’re all adults here. It’s not as if you haven’t heard or said anything worse, Kyunie.”

“Yeah, daddy~” Hyungwon hits, reminding everyone of one very particular incident in college that featured a younger Changkyun and a girl from the bar, and the very thin walls of their shared apartment.

Changkyun flushes before rolling his eyes, “At least I get some. Can’t say the same to you.”

Scoffing, Minhyuk raises his hands, “Excuse me, I have no problem with that.”

Before Minhyuk starts to dive into his sexual exploits, Kihyun saves the day and shoves a piece of meat into his mouth and diverts the conversation to work.

Over food and drinks, Shownu and his friends catch up on their personal lives – not having as much time to get together as before. Not with Wonho’s celebrity coaching taking off, Jooheon and Changkyun’s new artist, Kihyun’s voice academy and Hyungwon’s and Minhyuk’s modelling.

Sometimes, Shownu feels left behind by the big dreams his friends are living but every day, he wakes up and goes home happy as a chef and food blogger. His appetite thanking him for the career path he chose. Besides, as Changkyun said, he could go big time if he wants, it’s just a matter of self-promotion which he’s terrible at given his shy personality.

Dinner passes by with a blur and they find themselves nursing their last beers when Jooheon circles back to Minhyuk’s vacation.

“So, hyung. How does it feel to fulfill your sugar baby dreams?” The young alpha jokes, his dimples appearing on his cheeks as he elbows Minhyuk.

Stars appear in the latter’s eyes and with a dreamy sigh, he responds jokingly, “Just as I’ve always dreamed.”

The one of the only two omegas of their group has never shied away from talking about his exploits, his looks and all the advantages he gets from it. Often, he jokes that’s why he became a model – to be admired and to fulfill his duties to the world and bless them with his godly looks.

“She flew me to her family’s island, and we spent her rut and my heat underneath the blanket of stars.” Minhyuk recounts, all dreamy-eyed, “I felt really spoiled.”

“I bet.” Kihyun remarked, smirking. “Is this the girl you’ve been telling us about?”

Ignoring Hyungwon’s cough of which one, Minhyuk nods, “Yes!” and turns to Shownu, “She’s actually friends with Nayeon – who, by the way, is asking me about you, hyung.”

Shownu blinks, before handing a can of beer to Wonho across him. “Me?”

“Yeah, she asked why you never called her.”

A chorus of ooh’s echoes in the room followed by a few gruff laughter. Shownu ducks his head and nurses his drink. Nayeon’s a nice girl, a model that he met when Minhyuk called in a favor for him to substitute as one of their shoot’s models after the original model called in sick. She gave him his number on a piece of paper before departing with a sultry look and a flying kiss.

Contrary to popular belief, Shownu is not dense – or, more like, he’s not that dense.

“Ah,” Shownu starts, “Um. I don’t think we’re looking for the same thing.”

Wonho pauses and eyes him, before levelling the younger guys with a look that has them catching their teasing remarks and keeping it to themselves. Wonho has known Shownu the longest and knows that though his friend’s an alpha, physically, through and through, his disposition often throws people off.

He’s soft when others are hard. Soft-spoken, patient like a saint and very careful with his actions and words. Wonho doesn’t even remember if he’s ever seen his friend get angry or aggressive in the span of their long friendship.

A romantic at heart, through and through.

“Well,” Kihyun claps, breaking the quiet, “You know, no point in pursuing something that you know’s a dead end, right?”

Minhyuk pouts, sometimes a little bit insensitive in his enthusiasm, “But she’s cute! And she’s an omega too! Besides – wait—how do you even deal with your ruts?”

Shownu’s face lights up like a lantern, the drinks doing nothing about the flush crawling up his neck. It’s not like he’s never spent it with someone, but every time, after the week of his rut, he always feel tired and empty. So for the past ruts, he’s been dealing with it - “Alone, with suppressants.”

“Yah, I thought you’d stopped taking those!”

Constant use of suppressants for an alpha fucks up their cycle and even their moods. Wonho knows this the best because he was on it for several months back in college, before he started becoming confident enough in his newfound muscles and height.

“I did.” Shownu nods, assuring his friends. “I don’t use them anymore. Just when I’m… you know. It’s just easier to deal with.”

All the alphas in the room scoff under their breaths. Yeah, it’s easy if easy felt like walking and dancing on hot coal in the middle of the hottest summer day. It’s not as if their eldest can’t get a woman just by standing by the bar, being his awkward self.

At their little corner, Jooheon and Changkyun glance at each other, years of friendship evident in their wordless communication. Changkyun tilts his head, eyes widening and jaw clenched, “Go”, he mouths.

Jooheon pouts, “Do you know how hard it is to get into their mixers, punk?”

Shrinking at Changkyun’s flat stare, Jooheon rolls his eyes and sends a prayer to the universe asking for good karma.

“Hyung, what do you think about dating services?”

Notes: The stage is set for our two protagonists! I tried to incorporate as much world-building and character backgrounds as I can without it being over the top. Please leave comments and asks! :) I’m trying to stick to weekly updates. Also, support Monsta X’s next comeback!

#shownu x reader #monsta x shownu #monsta x imagines #monsta x fanfiction #abo dynamics #seungkwan cameo appearance #because im a moncarat #seungkwan's a pimp #sort of #alpha shownu #omega reader #quite the lore for abo #monsta x comeback #monsta x x reader #monsta x #son hyunwoo fanfiction

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jwillowwolf · 3 years

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Magic and Miracles - Chapter 9

Sanders Sides Big Bang fic, Chapter 9!

< Previous Chapter | Next Chapter > | Masterlist

Summary: “What in Hades happened to you guys?” Remy exclaimed when he saw them appear.

“We fought that giant mole thing guarding the fruit,” Roman answered.

“You what?”

Warning/s: food mention, minor violence.

Characters: Logan, Virgil, OCs, Roman, Remy, Remus, Patton, Janus.

Tag List: @theimprobabledreamersworld @remy-please-come-back

Read on AO3

9 | The After Party

“I think we’re cursed,” Virgil stated as he eyed the giant mole.

The group had not been expecting anything to be inside of the cave, apart from of course the unique underground tree that grew the fruit Remy sent them for. So when they came face to face with a giant mole monster, Roman appropriately began freaking out and would have screamed at the top of his lungs if Janus hadn’t covered his mouth to silence him, because they did not need to be seen or heard by that thing.

And when I say giant mole, I mean giant mole, like whale-sized giant mole. Have I mentioned this is a giant mole enough? I should probably get back to the story...

“Merciful Gods, that thing is huge. What the hel do we do?” Willow asked in a panicked whisper. “There’s no other way through to the fruit.”

“Remy expects us to face that thing? Is he mad?” Remus asked.

Logan felt he half agreed with the question because honestly, this creature looked like a lot for seven teens to handle by themselves.

“Maybe it’s friendly?” Patton suggested.

“Well, average-sized moles are carnivorous, so I doubt a giant one would have a much different appetite…” Logan stated.

“There goes that hope,” Virgil muttered. “There must be another way through.”

“There really isn’t. This is the cave that Remy marked for us, and there’s no back doorway to that tree, and we even can’t go back the way we came to check if there is” Janus said.

Virgil sighed. “We’ll have to fight it then.”

“I’m sorry, but can you see the size of that thing? It’ll squash us like pests.” Willow whisper shouted.

“There are seven of us and one of them. Besides, Remy wouldn’t have us fight something he wasn’t sure we could takedown.” Virgil declared. “Come on guys, we have literal magic on our sides.”

“How do we know it isn’t magical itself?” Remus asked.

“Stat Check,” Logan said. “It could probably give us a good reading on this creature.”

Willow shrugged. “Better than running in blind, I guess.”

Logan pointed his wrist at the animal and whispered the spell, which created a small screen of light that it thankfully didn’t seem to notice.

Unknown

Titles: Killer Mole, Mountain Mole

HP: 100 - Full

Skills: Echolocation, Poison.

“Killer Mole, what a friendly name,” Roman snarked, finally free from Janus’s silencing hand.

“It doesn’t have any magical skills, so that means it probably has no magical defence, and since it uses echolocation, I think it’s safe to assume that it has poor sight,” Logan said.

“We’ll need to keep an eye out for whatever poison it has though,” Janus pointed out.

“Alright. The best approach would probably be a spell to immobilize it. Something that could maybe cause confusion.” Virgil suggested.

Remus lit up. “Ooh, I know just the spell!”

“Remus wait-”

Before anyone could do anything to stop him, Remus lept out from their hiding place and cast his spell. It was a wind spell that made an annoying ping sound echo around the cave. Everyone winced at the sound, including the mole, who had been very much caught off guard. It began to run around and stomp and grunt like it was seeking out the sound’s source to destroy it.

This however caused rocks to fall from the cave ceiling and nearly crush the group. Which of course led to the teens screaming and running around, doing their best to avoid falling rocks and the giant mole. Willow tried to cast an animal communication spell, but their attempts to calm the creature were useless.

"Make the pinging stop Remus!" Patton yelled.

"Right, uh, I'm not very great with reversing spells…"

"Well someone needs to do something or we're doomed!" Willow screamed.

Logan quickly cast a reversal spell to silence the pinging, but that did nothing to stop the mole's rampage.

"Guys it knows we're here and is not happy!" Willow stated.

"What if we explained we mean no harm?" Patton asked.

"I don't think it will believe us after Remus's little stunt," Roman said.

"Run!" Willow yelled as the mole charged them.

Janus shouted some colourful words as he barely dodged another fallen boulder. "We need to stop it!"

Patton tried using an ice spell, but couldn't manage to properly aim while he and the creature were running. "We can't use magic on it directly while it's moving like this."

"Remus, do something about the roof!" Virgil yelled.

"What?"

"You're the one with proficiency in rock type magic, do something!"

"Oh, right!" Remus cast a spell to strengthen the cave ceiling. "This should stop anything more from falling but I'm low on MP!"

"Don't use any more magic then. Patton, get the stupid fruit, Willow how do we take this thing down?" Virgil questioned.

"While I hate to admit it, nothing but brute force is going to stop it. It's out for blood." Willow answered.

“Will our weapons even make a dent?" Roman asked.

"Only one way to find out!" Janus said as he charged at one of the beast's ankles with his staff magically set ablaze.

Roman ran at another ankle with his katana drawn and Remus went for a third leg with his morning star while Willow shifted into their wolf form to attack the fourth leg. Meanwhile, Logan and Virgil charged at its middle from either side. The mole let out a nightmare-inducing scream as it was attacked from all angles.

“HP?” Virgil asked.

“Sixty-two left!” Logan answered.

The mole tried to stomp on Remus but Janus managed to push her out of the way just in time. Roman took another swing at the creature’s back leg, causing it to let out another scream and run forwards.

“I have the fruit!” Patton yelled.

“Look out!” Roman screamed, seeing that the mole was headed for him.

Patton squeaked and ran back up into the tree.

“Everyone, do another rush attack!” Virgil commanded.

The group once again ran at the mole from different angles. The creature screamed as each weapon made contact. Patton chose this moment to take aim at the animal and managed to hit it with a sleeping spell that instantly caused it to fall unconscious.

Everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief. Patton jumped down from the tree and ran over to Remus to give him a big hug.

“Never, ever, do that again, please?”

“Pat, I swear to you if I ever see a giant mole again, I will simply run the other way.”

“What do we do with it?” Roman asked.

“Leave it? It’s asleep, not dead,” Janus pointed out.

“It’s only at twenty-three HP,” Logan declared. “And we honestly have no idea if it would have attacked us if it weren’t for the panic Remus’s sound spell caused.”

Remus awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. “Sorry about that, everyone.”

“Everyone makes mistakes,” Virgil replied. “I think we should at least heal it though. As a sort of sorry for ruining its day and nearly killing it.”

Willow nodded agreeingly. “That’s probably the least we could do…”

“I’ll heal it. Could one of you open a portal back to the manor, so we can get out quickly once the spell is complete though? I don’t know if it’ll wake up and try to kill us again,” Virgil said.

Janus nodded and cast the portal spell for seven entities while Virgil did his healing spell. Once the group crossed through the portal into the familiar manor garden, they all collapsed with exhaustion.

“What in Hades happened to you guys?” Remy exclaimed when he saw them appear.

“We fought that giant mole thing guarding the fruit,” Roman answered.

“You what?”

“Fought the-”

“I heard you the first time, kid, but there is no giant mole in that cave. I checked it out last week to be sure that she’d migrated already.”

“Well, she must have been out for lunch or something when you dropped by. Because we all just barely escaped her,” Janus stated.

The colour suddenly drained from Remy’s face. “Oh f- are you all okay? Did she injure you? You didn’t get hurt badly, right?”

“No, we actually almost killed her after Remus sent her into a panic and we had to fight her because she was out to kill us,” Willow answered.

“Oh my- wait, you all nearly killed her?”

“Yep.”

“How in Hades did you manage that?”

“Teamwork and the collective will to live,” Virgil answered.

“...You kids are going to be the death of me.”

---

That evening, just as they had been promised, the class had themselves a party to celebrate their success. The dining room was decorated with brightly coloured floating orbs that gave the room a festive appearance, and the table held a banquet fit for royalty, including some fabulous pastries from the bakery.

Emile and Everleigh had come up from town and listened eagerly as the group retold everything that had happened. When they got to the part about the giant mole, Emile turned to Remy and gave him a stern lecture.

"You said they'd be safe."

"I thought the guardian had migrated! Besides, it's not my fault they were reckless enough to take it on instead of calling for adult assistance."

"You did tell us only to summon you if we had an emergency," Roman pointed out.

Everleigh raised an eyebrow. "You guys don't think being almost killed by a giant mole, counts as an emergency?"

"Well, we all were trying to just stay alive, so the idea we could call for help didn't really come to mind," Willow answered sheepishly.

Apart from that, the night was full of fun and laughter. Once the group had finished their meal, they went to one of the sitting rooms and continued their light-hearted conversation there. At some point, Emile and Remy went off to get some drinks for everyone, so the kids were left alone.

“Let’s play truth or dare,” Everleigh suggested.

Remus nodded vigorously. “Ooh, yes! Roman, Truth or Dare?”

“I didn’t even agree to play yet.”

“Yeah, but you love this game.”

“...Truth.”

“When was the last time you wet the bed?”

Roman blushed. “I have never wet the bed.”

“Really, I could have sworn you did this morning.”

“You dumped water on me, that isn’t the same thing!” Roman rolled his eyes. “Anyway, Patton, truth or dare.”

“Hmm, truth?”

“Who was your first kiss?”

“Me,” Remus said at the same time Patton replied, “Ummm…”

“Wait, I wasn’t your first kiss?”

“Well… you know the story where a princess kisses a frog and he turns into a prince.”

“Yeah.”

“So, my mom told me and Morgan that story, and then Morgan dared me to kiss a frog.”

“Oh… was it a good kiss?”

Janus raised an eyebrow. “It was a frog.”

Remus rolled her eyes. “I know that, but it’s not the answer to my question.”

“I was like eight, so I don’t remember. It didn’t turn into a prince though. Willow, truth or dare?”

“Um, dare.”

“I dare you to give me a hug.”

“Aw, sure Pat!” Willow got up and gave Patton a quick hug. “Janus, truth or dare?”

“Dare.”

Willow smirked. “I dare you to kiss Roman’s cheek.”

Janus and Roman both blushed while Remus went “Oooooh!”

Janus turned to Roman. “Do you mind?”

“Uh, nope. Not at all.” Roman said as calmly as he could, but failing to keep his voice from cracking at the end.

Janus kissed his cheek and Remus cheered. “They did it!”

Janus rolled his eyes. “Virgil, truth or dare?”

“Truth.”

Janus smirked. “Okay. What really happened between you and Logan when you got ‘lost in the woods’?”

“Um, nothing. We just got lost.”

“I can tell you’re lying~”

Logan huffed. “For the last time, Janus, nothing happened.”

“You’re both lying. Come on guys, we’re your friends!”

“Then why don’t you believe us?”

“Because something happened and we can all tell you’re trying to hide it,” Remus answered.

Virgil turned to Logan with a confused expression. “Do you have any idea what they believe happened?”

“Well, the short version is, they think we went off to make out.”

Virgil turned bright red. “What? I- You- We- no, no, nooo.”

“He’s getting flustered! It’s true!” Remus declared.

Roman objected. “That doesn’t prove anything.”

Logan nodded. “Thank you, Roman.”

“Obviously making out would have been going too fast. They just shared their first kiss.”

“Un-thank you, Roman.”

“Uh, shouldn’t we carry on with the game?” Patton suggested.

“Hmm, I think this is a bit more entertaining.” Everleigh giggled.

Logan gave her a look of betrayal. “Et tu Everleigh?”

“Logan, I grew up with you, I definitely know when you’re lying.”

Willow sighed. “Please just tell them before they all drive me crazy with their betting?”

“Betting?” Virgil squeaked.

“Janus has bet that you’re both together already and in a… close relationship. Roman thinks you’re taking things slow. Everleigh thinks at least one of you believes you’re together while the other is oblivious and pining. Patton thinks you at the very least confessed and Remus thinks you’re at least intimate.”

Logan gaped. “What the heck! How much do you guys think about this?”

Remus shrugged. “Often enough to form a Fanclub.”

“Oh my gods.”

“You formed a Fanclub?” Virgil asked.

“Yeah. Remy’s the chairman and Mr Picani is even a member.” Remus declared.

“You recruited Remy?!”

Willow shrugged. “If anything, he recruited us.”

Everleigh nodded. “I don’t even see you guys that often, but it’s super obvious with how you gravitate towards each other.”

“We don’t.”

“You’re literally sitting beside each other right now.” Janus pointed out with a smirk.

“Okay, you know what. You want the truth?” Virgil asked. “We were kidnapped by pixies.”

...silence…

Roman scoffed. “That is the worst lie I’ve heard yet.”

“Actually, he’s telling the truth,” Janus declared.

...silence; the sequel…

“How the f-”

I will save you the boring details of the explanation that followed, but to put it in a nutshell: Virgil explained what actually happened + how his parents met and all that, and now everyone is just sitting in silence again.

“...so, you didn’t kiss?” Remus asked.

“I told you so!” Logan huffed.

“Not even after that? You guys are together like all the time,” Janus stated.

“No, we aren’t.”

“Just last night, while everyone was sitting around the campfire, you two sat off to the side on a log of your own.”

“Actually, Virgil was comforting me because... well, I was worried about what will happen to our friend group after the test.”

“Oh…”

“Well, I would hope we keep in touch.” Roman declared. “You guys are the best friends I’ve ever had.”

“Yeah. I can’t even imagine having to go back to my hometown. I mean, sure, I miss my family, but you guys… you’ve sort of become like my second family.”

Willow smiled. “Aw, Pat, that’s so sweet. I know I’ve got a whole pack to get back to, but I can’t imagine not spending every day with you guys, learning spells and trying to get out of trouble.”

Janus laughed. “I like how you said getting out of trouble instead of trying to avoid it.”

“Well, duh, we’re stupid reckless. Especially me!” Remus declared, causing everyone to laugh. “Seriously though, it won’t be that hard to keep in touch, I think. We can teleport to each other whenever we want.”

“True. plus we still have our book club meetings if you guys want to continue those.” Everleigh said.

“Of course! We have to keep those up.” Patton stated. “And we can even go on our own real-life adventures all together!”

“Yeah, we can form an adventurers party. We’ll call ourselves the Great Eight.”

“No offence Roman, but I don’t think that name works,” Janus said.

Roman shrugged. “We can choose a different one then. Hmm, the Magnificent Eight.”

“Does eight have to be in the name?” Everleigh asked.

“We could just go be, the Magnificent,” Patton suggested.

Virgil shook his head. “That sounds like it’s just one person. If we’re going with a team name, it needs to be something that defines us all.”

“The sides?” Remus proposed.

Janus tilted their head to the side. “How does that work?”

“I don’t know. It just felt familiar…”

“Maybe it’s something weird from a past life,” Roman suggested.

“What was I? Half of a coin?”

“Part of a person maybe? Like, a facet of someone’s personality,” Willow thought aloud. “Nah, that sounds totally crazy.”

“We are great, but it’s spelt G-R-8.” Patton proposed.

Willow frowned. “Why would we say we are G-R-ate? Like we’ve eaten already? Or we’ve... been... eaten?”

“No, like the number eight.”

“Eight days a week.” Everleigh put forth.

“There are only seven days of a week.” logan pointed out.

“The 8th wonder of the world!” Remus suggested.

Roman frowned. “What are the other seven wonders?”

“The octave…? Like a sequence of eight notes.”

“Did you just make a pun?” Patton grinned at Logan.

“...No.”

“Party of Eight?” Janus offered.

Virgil shrugged. “That seems a bit on the nose.”

“Family of Eight?” Patton recommended.

“Again, too direct.”

“The eight musketeers~!” Roman sang.

Logan frowned. “What’s a musketeer?”

“How about we don’t choose a name yet. The greatest heroes didn’t have any titles until they earned them.” Everleigh pointed out.

Everyone nodded in agreement. They didn’t need to give themselves a name. They would earn that later on. For now, they were eight friends, just having fun together. They didn’t have to think about their future plans just yet; they had to all get through the magic license test first anyway. In the end, they were just happy that they’d settled on one thing.

Staying together.

The very next moment, however, everything would change. They didn’t know it yet but their group would earn their name sooner than later. And it started when Remy and Emile walked into the room.

“Remy? What’s wrong?” Virgil asked, noting the man’s forlorn expression.

“Virgil…”

“Remy, you’re freaking me out. What happened?”

"...Thomas and Nico have been kidnapped."

---

A/N: thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed this. I'll be posting two chapters a day until the full fic is up, so if you want to be tagged, you can just ask.

I'd love to hear what you thought about the chapter if you wouldn't mind commenting. Thanks again for reading! Here's hoping you have a magical day 💜

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juni-ravenhall · 3 years

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my opinions on mistfall!

under a cut bc spoilers and/or not everyone wants to read :D

overall experience:

its fun that there IS a sso cartoon now even if its not exactly amazing quality, and im happy to see if there will be more series or movies after this. it was fun to watch and see sso things in cartoon form too and i wish that we had more already (of sso animation in general). imagine if there had been a ssl cartoon? i also kept thinking throughout this, that it wouldn’t be hard for me myself to make an animated series with around the same length episodes and in a similar quality to this (aside from voice acting and music production), which made me feel a little inspired.

favourite scene:

skye taking photos of blaze and hanging out

positive points:

i like the background art a lot, i think the style of it, and the colour schemes, helps give the series a specific vibe that fits for an sso series in my opinion.

i like the concept art (i assume) illustrations which we saw in the recipes and other posts on sso ig, i think it looks a lot better than the characters in the series, but thats normal for concept art!!

the music is really good quality (whether or not its your taste, the quality is good) which is ofc bc its sso - theres already good music and not something they only did for the cartoon but something they care about in all of the starstable media.

i think skye is a nice character (despite the series’ overall low quality writing) and i like her design. i also think rania’s cartoon design (visually) is cute.

skye and rania being a teensy bit gay (minus points for sso if they dont end up really gay in later canon)

i like that blaze wasnt actually like... mean or anything to skye, and i like that shes a mare since typical stories like this usually have stallions. but i just like that there wasnt really any “ooh difficult horse” things between skye and blaze in the current time of the story, blaze actually was sweet to her most the time. blaze seemed pretty charming whenever there wasnt “omg fire” drama.

the animation itself (not meaning the details of the drawings or scene timing, just the actual frame by frame / puppet movements) was fine! not amazing, but absolutely fine.

points i have constructive criticism for, which doesn’t mean that i expected more from the series, but that we’re all allowed to discuss the quality and our opinions of media regardless of the target audience, budget, etc:

the writing was childish and rushed - this is not to be rude, but a matter that affects a lot of “media for girls / kids”, and a topic talked a lot about by Lauren Faust (creator of the FiM reboot of MLP) who wanted to show that a show about rainbow ponies “for little girls” didn’t have to be badly written, and could be engaging and interesting. if you watch the older MLP cartoons and compare to the first season of FiM (where Faust was still on the team) you can see a huge difference in quality of the storytelling, characterisation, etc. Mistfall, so far, did not subvert any expectation in the quality of what typical “cartoons for girls” are like, and is reminiscent of stuff like “The Ranch” (french horse cartoon) which imo is so bad that its hard to watch. (and ofc... that goes for a lot of “cartoons for girls / kids”, but doesn’t have to be like that.) in order to improve on this, the writer has to study more on storytelling and study from better writers.

on the topic of being rushed: no, it’s not an excuse that the episodes are short: - you have to ADAPT your storytelling and writing to the length of the episodes, not do a bad job and blame the episode length. being able to adapt to different types of media is a necessary skill if that’s what you work with. this comes down to proper planning and structuring the story and writing in a way that works for the length of the episodes. i don’t think that was overall done well here (at times it was okay), and bc of that, it feels rushed and has exposition thrown in your face instead of being shown through better storytelling. the classic thing with exposition is “show, don’t tell”. this is what the writers/directors should study, or pay more attention to.

the timing (length of shots, length of scenes, or parts of shots, etc) was rly bad at times and overall unimpressive - this comes down to the skill of directors and editors. to improve this they have to study more on the topic. bad timing and pacing can really ruin a good scene or a good story and make it feel disconnected and hard to immerse in for the audience.

the artstyle of characters and horses is fine at times, but appears very low quality at others (skye’s childhood scene really bothered me bc her kid-self had really badly drawn eyes in my opinion). this, like everything else on this list, is ofc something that appears in almost every single “cartoon for girls” that ever existed. to improve on this, most likely it’s not a problem with the artists but with the budget and the production timeline (allowing the artists more time to produce better quality art and animation), and it can also be a problem with the art direction, if the art directors aren’t very skilled or experienced (i don’t say that they aren’t, im just giving examples of what could cause these problems.)

the character design for all characters that aren’t skye, rania, or blaze was very lacking. none of the not-main-3 characters looked interesting or fun to look at, they looked very dull and like the most boring NPCs you could think of. even though its understandable that the mainest-main characters would have the most interesting designs, that doesn’t mean everyone else has to look that boring. this is an issue with art direction or character design. i think most likely there was just very little time (equals money) put into designing the other characters.

the horse design could be improved for a cartoon that focuses on horses this much. like, horses are a big part of the selling point here, so make sure that their designs and art/animation is good. at times even blaze looked awkward and uninteresting, as did the other horses.

“alonso” looks nothing like sso alonso and i don’t like that they used his character if it’s not going to have anything to do with him. they should have given this character a different name if they wouldn’t make him seem like he had anything to do with the sso character aside from being a male ranger. (also in the game he’s like 22 or something, skye is 15...?)

why did they add a “he’s cute” dumbass fucking stupid hetero comment for literally no reason other than adding a dumbass fucking stupid hetero comment?

considering that they “can’t confirm whether a sequel is happening or not”, it seemed very meh to throw in druid cult magic stuff and not really connect to it and now the series ended? you would have expected to find out more about the cloaked people, the runes, the magic that the ranger guy did, and blaze’s magic in general, and skye herself, why her mom is “a witch”.... thats a lot to throw in while saying that you can’t say if there’s a sequel coming to answer all those questions. (it wouldn’t have been a criticism from me if they said “we’re working on season 2″ or “there will be a comic book that continues the story” or anything that told us that these questions, in this particular iteration of a story in jorvik, will actually be answered. - and i assume they ARE working on the continuation of the story, but i dont agree with that they’re not upfront about it, when they left so many questions unanswered.)

at times rania’s blindness was handled stupidly and i think they should have gotten more consultation from actual people with visual impairment, but i think its still good to HAVE a blind character in the main cast and that it’s not a big dramatic story thing but just an everyday thing. at some points it was fine though; and i personally don’t think the scene with rania being able to see blaze was necessarily a problem - because - a lot of blind ppl can see sharp contrasts in light and dark, and this seemed relatively realistic to me when blaze is on fire. (however, the way it was drawn as if she could see the whole shape of blaze and skye could be criticised for sure, and makes it feel more like “i can see because of magic” and not “i can see bc THIS MARE IS ON FIRE”).

personal opinion which i said before, but i don’t think rania’s voice fits her at all, and it’s not the voice actor’s fault (i’m sure they’re lovely) but the casting and the directors. from the sso character, rania would seem a lot more lively, quick and adventurous, and not as calm and gentle as she appeared here. she seemed a lot too sort of motherly or just adult, instead of an adventurous teen who runs off on her own to do whatever she feels like. compare in-game rania going “MC, thats a jorvik wild!!!” and alonso going “stop talking nonsense” (paraphrased), to Mistfall rania going “jorvik wilds are really rare...” (calm, sort of disinterested, doesnt seem like she cares that much about adventures)

the voice acting overall was meh. i see this as a direction problem, not an individual voice actor problem (and the writing didnt help - it’s hard to provide good quality acting with a poor script unless you can just toss the script aside and improv, if you have good actors). it felt childish and uninteresting at most points and generic low quality for “cartoons for girls”. from a voice acting perspective i think skye had the best result. anyway, the way to improve this is for the director in charge of voice acting to not direct the actors to perform in this childish manner. (again, refer to cartoons with better writing and better voice acting, that have a very similar target audience.)

ok, i think that was everything that i wanted to write about for now, might think of more later lol

#star stable mistfall #opinion #text post #long post

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boglog · 4 years

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Reader beware bc tbh I didn’t really like this story all that much but since so many of you actually read my post on The Haunting of Hillhouse (surprising considering I admit to watching scenes on mute ahhsjsjs) I figured maybe this will b interesting to some of you

I’m on mobile and I can’t figure out how to do readmores... srry

Bly Manor repeats a lot of the same faults we had with Haunting: bad dialogue, weird children, useless fathers uncles etc but it also lacks a lot of the originality that Haunting had. A disparate family of adult children reuniting at their sisters funeral to have flashbacks to their traumatic childhood in a haunted house versus... a nanny at a medieval mansion :/ they didn’t quite have as much to work with here

The theme is relatively unchanged: the living are a bunch of control freaks and only Love and Moving Forward will free you, some stuff on sacrifice and grief etc

repeating theme isn’t something I’m against like having two different themes in the same show would b unnecessary BUT

I really feel like there’s not much else making this ghost story truly unique in terms of their worldbuilding which would again be okay if we focused on something else to spice it up BUT

because of its lack of originality, the writers seemed to want to compensate for that by just making it confusing as possible

It’s not an engaging mystery it’s more like we are presented with a series of character backstories while information is simply omitted alongside eerie music for the first seven episodes

The story also seems to lose focus a lot as it switches from character to character and all these flashbacks feel like non sequiturs because we still don’t know anything about the ghosts etc

For the most part I don’t really like most of the characters. Owen and Hannah are endearing and the actress who plays Dani is really good at making her sympathetic, strong willed, but still frazzled af but mostly ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Tbh I feel like they half-assed Jamie’s character jst bc they assumed they already had the ingredients for a fan favourite: British, button nose, sassy, lesbian in overalls

But it’s not enough to be sassy you’ve also gotta be consistent

Jamie literally dumps her whole life story onto Dani in one shot after we’ve already established that she has trust issues and specifically trust issues with Dani herself

The poppins thing got old real fast

In the end I do think their relationship is endearing and engaging enough to warrant the dramatic finale

And using Dani as the opposing force of good that’s keeping Viola’s ghost in check because Dani is naturally Pure of Heart isn’t original but it does mesh really well with the themes and motifs of love and grief

But tbh episode 8 > the entirety of the season. Largely I think, bc the flashbacks with Viola and Perdita are completely straightforward, introduce us to characters with clear relationships, motivations and conflicts compared to the A plot w Dani: a long-winded and drawn out mystery of ghosts that are haunting characters who’ve only just met each other

Which is again part of the flaws inherent to this premise

#the haunting of bly manor #bly manor #the haunting of hill house #u #onion post

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cosmicjoke · 4 years

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Ash and his consistent lack of hate

It is an important point in understanding Ash’s character to acknowledge and examine his consistent lack of malice in everything he does, even when committing acts of violence. He isn’t at all a hateful person, and this is an important and defining character trait which has a direct impact on his decisions and the events that eventually unfold within the story. When you take into consideration all that Ash has been through, the extraordinary depth of suffering he has lived through in his young life, the absence of hate in his heart is all the more astonishing, and you understand then this lack of hatefulness can only be natural within him for it to endure through such overwhelming pain.

More striking still for how you realize all of Ash’s enemies are driven and consumed by their own hatred, in one form or another, motivated by their inherent cruelty, twisted desires, and self-serving ambition, while Ash himself never displays any sense of real venom or hatred, even towards those who have committed unspeakably horrific acts against him.

Certainly, Ash feels anger, even rage, towards those who have repeatedly and unforgivably wronged him, but never actual hate.

Let me explain.

Let’s start at the beginning.

Ash first kills at the age of eight. It is the desperate act of a child forced to defend himself after the abject failure of the adults around him to protect him against the horrific sexual abuse he’s suffered at the hands of a monster meant to serve as a role model and guardian himself. First, in the police, the supposed representatives of “justice”, refusing to believe Ash, before outright blaming him for it happening, accusing an eight year old child of “seducing” his abuser. And then in Ash’s own father, failing to keep his own son safe, allowing the abuse to go on, again and again, for who even knows how long.

Ash later tells Eiji that he cried afterward, because he didn’t feel anything while he did it, but Ash’s very admission at having cried contradicts this claim. He felt deeply over the act he’d just been forced to commit, an act Ash was too young to fully comprehend the meaning of, too young to grasp it’s full implications, either for himself or anyone else, but upset enough by it to reduce him to tears afterward. The fact that Ash cried at all over having killed a man who repeatedly and brutally raped and molested him and who would have eventually killed him, given the numerous other children he had already murdered, is remarkable. There was no malice behind Ash’s act. No hatred. No pleasure. No satisfaction. Ash didn’t kill the baseball coach out of a sense of revenge, or because he wanted to. He killed him because he had no choice. He killed him, because nobody else was able to protect him. Because he was an eight year old boy who simply wanted the pain to stop. It was purely an act of self-defense.

This connects to later on in the story, and to Ash’s relationship with his father.

Ash has every reason and right to hate his father. Firstly, for how James Callenreese was so neglectful and uncaring a parent when Ash was born and growing up, that he would have starved to death if Griffin hadn’t stepped up and taken responsibility for his care. Secondly, for how it was essentially James’ fault that Ash ended up alone, at the age of eight, on the streets of New York, only to be found and captured by a twisted pedophile in Marvin, again repeatedly and brutally raped, passed along to Frog to have more of the same done by him, before being sold to another pedophile in Dino, and into an underground child sex trafficking ring, only for the abuse to continue on like that for years and years more, before he’s forced into a life of crime and violence, out on the streets again. And then, when at last Ash returns home to Cape Cod after ten years of this absolute nightmare of abuse and suffering, he is greeted by his father calling him a “whore”, accusing Ash’s friends of being “clients” of his, and proceeding to then tell Ash to “get out”. Real father of the year material here.

And yet, despite all of that, and it is a LOT, Ash doesn’t hate his father. Why? Because Ash, at his fundamental core, is a good person.

Ash never shows any hatred, not even any real anger towards his father, despite the utterly blatant verbal and emotional abuse James lays on him, refusing to take the bait of his father’s petty tactics of hurling insults and accusations, blaming Ash for everything that’s happened to him, because he’s too much of a coward himself to face his own guilt and accept his own role and responsibility in his son ending up like he has. Ash only responds to James’ cruelty with a quiet resignation and acceptance of his father’s rejection and hostility, telling his friends to forget it when they express shocked horror at James’ treatment of his son, and promising to leave once he gets what he came for from the other house on the property. Later, when James is shot, Ash shows genuine pain and concern for him, and breaks down into tears when he’s forced to flee and leave his injured father behind. He forgives his father for his weakness and his cowardice, and doesn’t hold his rejection of Ash against him, despite, again, having every reason and right to hate the man. Ash, in spite of it all, still loves his father, in defiance of all the pain the man has caused him.

This is a truly extraordinary display of kindheartedness on Ash’s part. A testament to the astounding goodness innate to him.

And that innate goodness which so characterizes who Ash really is continues on in him, even as he’s thrust into a nightmarish hellscape of violence, cruelty and savagery.

The next example to look at as proof of Ash’s inherent goodness, is the conflict between him and Arthur.

The first conflict between them arises when Arthur sets Ash up to be sent to Juvenile Detention, and then proceeds to bribe another inmate to try and kill Ash for him. Arthur tires with very real intent to kill Ash, because of the assumption that Ash is, one day in the future, going to be a threat to him and his claim to power among the youth gangs of New York. Because of Ash’s natural abilities and intelligence, he can see how others are just naturally drawn to this young fifteen year old boy, inclined to follow him, and he wants to eliminate Ash before his own crew members start ditching him for someone better. He does this, even though Ash has never actually done anything to hurt Arthur up to this point. This fact is really important to note. While in Juvie, Ash, due to those natural abilities Arthur so feared, begins to attract the other street kids to him, without even wanting it or having to try. Ash makes no attempt to win their loyalty or alliance, and is made uncomfortable when they start to give it to him, because it isn’t something he ever strove for or wanted. Not something he ever intended to gain. Ash shows no ambition towards that goal, and it’s even mentioned more than once by Dino in the story that Ash has never shown any real ambition or desire to be a gang boss. The other streets kids, therefor, give him their loyalty of their own volition. They realize, after Ash’s fight with Frankie and his crew in the library, that Ash is superior, and capable of protecting them, and so they start to follow him around, aligning themselves with him, forming a gang around him.

Eventually, more and more street punks choose Ash as their leader, and you have to assume, by the time he gets out of Juvie, he’s got a fairly sizable crew of street kids ready to follow him wherever he goes and in whatever he does. Again, it’s vitally important to note that Ash didn’t choose this. It instead chose him. Ash accepts this responsibility placed on him by the other street kids, because the real reason they’ve chosen him is because they think he can protect them and keep them safe.

This new reality for him, and the attempt to kill Ash, of course, leads to an eventual, unavoidable one on one confrontation between him and Arthur. Ash wins. At this point, Ash has every right to kill Arthur. Not only would it be accepted, but it would be expected by the other street punks, and would also prove to be of great benefit to Ash, both in eliminating a legitimate threat against himself and in solidifying his newly acquired position as gang boss.

And yet, Ash doesn’t kill Arthur. He lets him live, his only punishment to Arthur for trying to kill him and losing their fight to destroy Arthur’s ability to use a gun. And given Arthur’s reputation for ruthless violence and brutality out there on the streets, and his obvious willingness to kill people who have never done anything against him, along with this being an act of mercy, this is also Ash’s first step in ensuring the safety of the kids now under his command. Once again, him accepting the responsibility those same kids have placed on him. He’s making sure, even as he lets Arthur live, that he doesn’t have the ability to easily kill anyone else. He also allows Arthur to keep operating in the area, even when Arthur has done nothing to earn that right.

Ash’s act of mercy would later come back to haunt him, for reasons all of us already know of course.

Arthur says to Ash, right before their final battle, “Ain’t you gonna ask? Don’t you wanna know… why I hate you so much? You know why, huh?” Ash tells him “yeah”, he does know, and then he says “But that ain’t my fault”. They’re talking about Ash’s natural abilities, his natural talent, the way people just chose him to be their leader. Arthur admits this is true, that it’s not Ash’s fault that he has these things, or that people naturally want to follow him. And then Arthur says “Y’know, you’re absolutely right… You prob’ly never wanted it that way. But that just makes me hate you all the more.”. Arthur is driven by his hatred of Ash specifically because he knows Ash doesn’t even want to be a boss, while Arthur himself wants it more than anything. Ash is so naturally gifted and charismatic and capable, that he inadvertently draws people to him, without him even having to try, without him even meaning for it to happen. Arthur hates Ash for this, is overwhelmingly jealous and envious of his talent, his hate compounded by Ash not even wanting the gifts that make it seemingly so easy for him. Again, this is similar to Yut-Lung, in how we have a character who is consumed by their hatred towards Ash for having something they don’t. The sickening irony here is that, all of these gifts and abilities which people like Arthur are so jealous of, have done nothing but bring Ash misery and pain. His good looks, his intelligence, his physical reflexes. They’ve all been used as excuses for others to destroy and take away his life and his choices. It’s the very reason Ash gets into a fight with Eiji, when Eiji scolds Ash for not understanding how people who don’t have his exceptional abilities feel. Ash gets so angry here, because Eiji is making the same mistake that everyone makes when they see Ash and everything he seemingly has, assuming it makes his life better, when in reality, all having these exceptional abilities has done is make his life exponentially worse. Eiji eventually realizes this, realizes the mistake he’s made in judging Ash for the choices he’s had to make, and that’s when we see Eiji vow never to leave Ash’s side, and to simply accept him for who he is.

But back to the topic, Ash’s initial mercy towards Arthur, despite all of this, serves as a prime example of his lack of hate, once again, against a person who himself outwardly hates Ash, who did him and intended him very real harm. Once again, Ash’s actions aren’t motivated by any feeling of malice, or vengeance, or to satisfy any sort of urge, but by self-defense, and defense of others.

This is mirrored in Ash letting the two members of his own gang live after they had betrayed him by working for Dino, even as, once again, it would have served him better to simply kill them, once again his act of mercy coming back to haunt him when those two run back to Dino and rat Ash out about his knowledge of Banana Fish.

Ash shows mercy again when letting his would be assassin in Chinatown live, telling Shorter’s guys to let him go.

Other, more minor examples, but still just as telling about who Ash is, is his initial dynamic with Max. When Ash and Max first meet, their relationship is nearly antagonistic, the two of them even coming to blows a few times, Ash feeling deep anger towards Max for shooting Griff in Vietnam and leaving him abandoned in a state hospital afterward, Max consumed by guilt over the fact. But even in this initial anger, Ash eventually admits that he doesn’t hate Max. He says specifically to Max “I wish I could hate you. I needed someone to hate.”. Even when Ash wants to hate someone, he can’t bring himself to. Again, further proof of how that kind of malice just isn’t natural within him. He can’t bring himself to hate, even as he actively tries to.

The same applies to Blanca. Blanca gives Ash plenty of reason to hate him when he initially shows up in the story. Blanca was really the only adult in Ash’s life before the main events of Banana Fish who didn’t actively abuse him, or really even use him in any way, and was thus able to gain his trust and even admiration. It’s safe to say that Ash looked up to Blanca and saw him as a protector to at least some extent from the rest of the abusive men around him. Blanca’s betrayal of Ash to Dino then must have been particularly painful to him. At the start, not only does Blanca stalk Ash and work him needlessly up into a state of extreme anxiety and fear (remember, this is a kid who’s constantly having to look over his shoulder, constantly living under the stress and pressure of having his life threatened), but he then forces Ash into sacrificing everything he’s worked and risked his life for up to this point in the story, everything his friends and family have died for, his very freedom itself, by turning himself back over to Dino’s clutches, allowing himself to be held captive by his oldest and longest abuser, all because Blanca is threatening to kill Eiji if he doesn’t.

Even with all of this, and again, just like with his father, it’s a lot, Ash never shows any real malice or hatred towards Blanca, or expresses any desire for revenge against him. He only ever shows real anger and hurt, understandably, but even then, eventually, he forgives Blanca entirely, and puts his trust in him again by accepting his help. In the end, he even wishes Blanca good luck with his life, and displays a genuine fondness for him in their final encounter.

The next, prime example of Ash’s lack of malice is in his rivalry with Yut-lung.

Yut-Lung does some truly horrific things to Ash. Firstly, in his blackmailing Shorter into betraying Ash by threatening to kill his sister Nadia, essentially acting as the lynchpin that set the events in motion that would lead to Ash having to kill his own best friend in order to save Eiji, in turn causing Ash untold emotional and mental damage. Secondly, by allowing his own, petty jealousy and hatred to force Ash into a position in which he has to give up everything he’s worked for in uncovering and exposing the truth behind Banana Fish, to break free from Dino, to avenge his brother, and Shorter and Skip, and to sacrifice his very freedom in order to protect Eiji, and after that, again allowing his jealousy and hatred to lead him in setting into motion numerous attempts to destroy the one good thing Ash has ever had in his life by trying to kill Eiji. After all of this, once again, it would be more than understandable and justified if Ash hated and wanted to kill Yut-Lung. And yet, once again, there’s never any real sense from him that he does.

We see him threaten to kill Yut-Lung immediately following Shorter’s death, when Ash’s own emotions are running sky high, dealing with unimaginable trauma and pain. Yut-Lung comes into the room Ash is being held captive in, mockingly leaving him the key to secure his escape, and Ash’s angered, threatening reaction to him at that point can only be expected. Anyone in Ash’s position would do the same.

After that, we see Ash confess to Eiji that he doesn’t really know if Yut-Lung is a friend or an enemy, which tells us that Ash never really meant what he said before, and that he had no real plans to go after Yut-Lung at that point, willing to simply let it go. Proven further by the fact that Ash never really makes a move against Yut-Lung until Yut-Lung himself goes directly after Ash and his allies.

Later still, after Yut-Lung has been involved in numerous situations which have caused Ash incredible suffering, we see him take Yut-Lung hostage and once more threaten to kill him. But, once again, this isn’t an act or revenge, but a desperate gambit to get Eiji and the other hostages being held by Yut-Lung’s men released. Ash doesn’t want to kill Yut-Lung. He only wants to protect Eiji and the others. He only threatens Yut-Lung here for that purpose and that purpose alone.

After this, while talking to Cain, Ash says “I should have killed him when I had the chance.”, and his expression is, just like with his father, one of resigned sadness. He knows Yut-Lung could very well one day be his undoing, but even in that moment, there’s no sense of hatred, or even anger towards him from Ash. No sense, either in his words, or his expression, of wanting to make Yut-Lung pay for all he’s done, or to make him suffer. No indication that he has any plans to go after Yut-Lung. And this is further confirmed by Ash’s final conversation with Blanca, when he says as long as Yut-Lung leaves him alone, then Ash won’t go after him. Even when Ash says to Blanca before that, that he would tear Yut-Lung apart if he ever got his hands on him, there’s an expression of joking amusement on Ash’s face, a clear indication that he doesn’t really mean what he’s saying in that moment.

Then of course, there’s Dino. Dino is Ash’s greatest enemy, and the root source of a great deal of his pain and suffering. Dino is the only person in the story who Ash shows an active desire to get revenge on, for obvious reasons that don’t bear repeating, and most certainly feels hatred towards. But even in this, when Dino finally meets his demise, and Ash watches him fall to his death into the fire below, there’s no look of satisfaction, or happiness, or even relief on Ash’s face. There’s no sense of triumph. Ash once again only has that same resigned, even sad expression on his face as the person who tormented and abused him more than any other in his life finally dies. There isn’t any malice, no glee, not even any real anger, because, in the end, Ash’s desire to break free from Dino was never motivated by hate. In the end, just like with all his other enemies, Ash’s only motivation was to be left alone. To be free. Even for the person most deserving of his contempt, Ash couldn’t ever really bring himself to feel it fully. He couldn’t ever conjure enough hate in his heart to be driven forward by it, even against Dino. It shows us with plain clarity the innate goodness of Ash’s heart then, that against all odds, that goodness won out against the abuse and cruelty every time, never destroyed, for how pure and powerful it lived within Ash. For how much it was a part of his soul.

The tragedy of it all then, you realize, is how, if these monsters had only ever left Ash alone, none of any of it ever would have happened. But of course they couldn’t, their hatred, greed, perversion and lust for power too strong within them to let a 17 year old boy who just wanted to be left alone, be, underlining in stark and startling relief the total contrast of who these people were against who Ash was. Monsters consumed by hate, against a boy who loved too much.

#Banana Fish #Ash Lynx

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psychosistr · 4 years

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Megavolt x quackerjack

Im going to assume this was for the ask challenge and say that I LOVE these evil chaotic idiots xD

This was one of my first ships as a child and I still love them as an adult. Quackerjack amd Megavolt are, arguably, the most insane members of the Fearsome Five, which is probably why I enjoy them so much since I’ve always had a weakness for crazy and destructive characters (Joker, Harley Quin, Junkrat back when I used to play Overwatch, etc.). Their individual delusions and quirks just play so well off of each other that it makes them click in a way that’s somehow both perfectly compatible and horribly dysfunctional at the same time. They drive each other crazy and argue, but they keep being drawn to one another because, despite their differences and own individual fixations, who else would understand what it’s like to be crazy enough to hear voices no one else does that tell them what they’re doing is okay? (Referencing Megavolt with his hearing electronic devices and viewing himself as a liberator as well as Quackerjack’s conversations with Mr.Bananabrain and his belief that kids really would want his toys and he’s not wrong for doing stuff like kidnapping them.)

The thing that I’d love to see explored more in fics with them personally would be Quackerjack and Megavolt dealing with the other’s delusions and psychosis when they’re not at an equally low point in their own sanity: Megavolt insisting that an electronic device left an important code or message with Quackerjack that he never got and the two of them arguing to the point of Quackerjack frustratedly telling Megavolt that “that thing” isn’t alive and he’s just hearing things. Quackerjack tiring Megavolt out with his endless ranting about how nothing involving the poor selling of his toys is actually his fault to the point of Megavolt making an off-hand comment about his toys not really being fun. Or even a story about the two of them getting older and trying to walk away from their life of crime while going through the complicated trials of therapy, leading to moments where they have to bring one another back to reality when one of them has a mental relapse into their delusions- maybe even some emotional angst of them trying to figure out if they can still get along and be together without their previous common ground of insanity.

However they’re written, I always enjoy seeing these two together because, as we all know, toys DO need batteries ;)

#ask #ask prompt #quackerjack #megavolt #quackervolt #quackerjack/megavolt #darkwing duck #dwd #personal #personal rant

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ask-de-writer · 4 years

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KURIN’S FOLLY : World of Sea : Part 2 of 15

KURIN’S FOLLY

Part 2

De Writer (Glen Ten-Eyck)

23,699 words

writing begun 2006

Reproduction in any form, physical, electronic or digital is prohibited without the express consent of the author.

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All sorts of fan art, cosplay, music or fiction is actively encouraged.

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New to the story? Read from the beginning. Part 1 is here

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Kurin looked up at him with a boldness that she did not really feel. High Cloud was sharing his utter confidence in himself, as one of the premiere predators of the air, with her. It helped. A lot. With that deceptive calmness that Master Juris had seen and learned to fear during the trial up north in the Dragon Sea, she replied “Yes it is, isn’t it?” Then she turned to the cabin boy and asked, “Bron, would you be so good as to get Captain Mord and Purser Alor? Their presence is needed for legal reasons.”

“You don’t need to bother the Captain,” said Master Juris, with a sinking feeling. He turned to try and stop Bron but the cabin boy was already gone on his errand.

Learning that Kurin did not bluff had been a hard lesson and one that was still sinking in. The years of Kurin’s apprenticeship to him had made him overconfident of his ability to manipulate her. Now that she was an independent journeyman and had found out from the Grandalor what self-respect meant, she no longer needed to take his arrogance.

Shortly, Bron came back, leading both the Purser and Captain. Both seemed upset. It was Alor who spoke for them. “Kurin, why didn’t you come to your welcome back party? Most of the crew were hurt or angry that you didn’t even send us a note to say you would be late.”

Surprised, Kurin said, “There was a party? When?”

Captain Mord Halyn said, “At ten in the morning. We wanted to have some time to celebrate before we sailed at noon. The decorations are still up in the mess. Why are you surprised? Master Juris sent you the invitation.”

Kurin’s mouth went round as she took a breath before saying, “Ah, that explains everything. Captain, this is for you. Please sign this receipt and put it into the Log. Alor, this one is for you. Sign here. This needs to go into the ship’s legal record.” Kurin produced a pen case and ink along with the documents.

Master Juris started to say, “I think that I should go to the boat shop.”

Alor stopped him. Looking up from the document, she snapped, “Master Juris, did you write this?” She held out Kurin’s document.

With ill grace, he took it, glanced at it and snorted, “Of course not! This isn’t my handwriting at all!”

Alor’s eyes became angry slits. “Of course it’s not your writing! This is a Fleet Certified True Copy of the original! The references at the bottom tell where the original is in the fleet archive!” Tightly, she finished, “Did. You. Write. These. Words?”

Master Juris tried to dismiss it with, “Merely a prank! Nothing more!”

Captain Mord read aloud, “The Longin sails at three. Be aboard by two. Juris. – Master Juris! You have got us provisionally charged with violating the Wergeld agreement between the Longin and the Grandalor! We are in danger of losing our ship and being Scattered!”

Juris looked down his prominent nose at Kurin and said, “Her white hair reflects the fog that passes for her mind. Kurin overreacted. That’s all. It’s done with now. She’s here.”

Kurin responded with that mildness that held more threat than any shout, “And the Grandalor? My ship . . . remember that I own her? The diversion to get me here has cost her more than a day of ship time. Adults pay for losses that they cause by pranks. I’ll settle for fifty skins, drawn from your Purser’s account, Master Juris, and then we can all have a laugh at your sense of humor.”

Master Juris snapped, “Ridiculous! I won’t pay you a block!”

Tiredly, Captain Mord simply ordered, “Bron, get all of the Craft Masters and off duty officers to the mess immediately. We will be having an emergency meeting of the Combined Councils of Crafts and Officers. I will get the duty officers that can be spared.”

Alor shook her head and put a hand on the Captain’s shoulder. Sadly, she said, “I was afraid that things would come to this head, son. I will go and get the Minutes and other documents.”

As they left, Master Juris snarled, “Now look what you’ve done! First, you left us for - - - for the Grandalor! You nearly destroyed us. You made a fool of me in front of the court and over a fourth of the crew got scattered. There have been three sent to Dark Iren! Now this, and it’s all your fault! Why did you have to go and defend the Grandalor of all ships?”

High Cloud on her shoulder, Kurin was carrying her bags toward the companionway that led to the ship’s mess. Looking sadly back over her shoulder at Master Juris, she said, “Little things that someone I still respect once taught me were vital. You know them. Justice. Honor. Observing the Great Laws. They were denied their rights. It had to be fixed.”

Down in the gloom of the passage, Master Juris continued his tirade. “What about that monster war catapult that they built? That thing’s a danger to everybody as long as it exists. It should be dismantled.”

As she slid aside the mess-room door, Kurin said frankly, “They wanted to. I ordered it kept. We did install hunting blocks, though. We can take them out quickly if the need arises. I made them keep some antipersonnel shot, hull breachers and rigging destroyers too. Trying not to use it, up north in the Dragon Sea got a friend of mine killed.

“Too late to save Morga, Captain Sula taught me the value of being prepared. She told me that the one thing that you can’t do is let your own folk be the ones to die because you weren’t ready.”

Several officers and three Craft Masters, including Mistress Daeron of the Rope Walk, were in the mess already and overheard Kurin’s remark. They looked at her as if they had never seen her before. The Kurin that they had known had been a pacifist.

They also remembered the damage that just one shot from that catapult had done to their ship during Kotance’s ill fated attempt at piracy against the Grandalor. It had taken three days, with the help of the Grandalor and the Soaring Bird, to repair the mainsail and rigging.

Kurin set her bags down and looked for a place to sit. She saw party streamers and a big ‘Welcome Back!’ banner across the forward bulkhead. Most of the looks that she was getting were outright hostile.

Captain Mord entered, leading a contingent of officers. He saw the situation at a glance. “Gentlemen and Ladies,” he said in a clear voice, “hold your anger until you hear the facts. Things are not as we believed. As soon as everyone is here, we will begin.”

At last, everyone was there. Most had taken out tallow-slates and styluses to make notes. They were giving Kurin dark looks, assuming that it must be something to do with her, since she did not belong in a Council meeting and had missed both her party and their sailing.

The silence stretched. Finally, Captain Mord said, “Master Juris, you are the head of this Council. Will you begin the meeting?”

In a surly voice, he replied, “You called it, you open it.”

TO BE CONTINUED

<==PREVIOUS ~ NEXT==>

#KURIN'S FOLLY #Part 2 of 15 #World of Sea #Written by De Writer

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all-my-novels · 4 years

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Carlotta’s Lament / Tool Scene

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure fanfiction: OC/fankids focused

Words: 1,481

Read on the Ao3 here

Carlotta Brando sees herself as a tool to be used, and assumes Kokoro Kujo sees her the same way. She couldn't be more wrong, though.

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This is a scene from my fanchild fanpart for JoJo, called "Heartbreak Hotel Heartbreakers." As I'm notorious for never finishing things, I'm writing out scenes from my fanparts so you guys can read them in case they never get written. For more updates on these characters and more, you can find their works here:

My Writeblr -- Fankids Ask Blog -- Fankids Discord (open to anyone, I'm not the only one who posts content there)

Did you like this? THEN COMMENT. Seriously. Leave kudos too, and if you really liked it, bookmark! Creators won't create if there's nothing to create for!!! It's not hard to leave a comment saying "I liked this!" so please do if you liked it!

Carlotta’s Lament / Tool Scene

"Carlotta -- hey, Carla, slow the hell down!"

Kokoro's voice is uncharacteristically loud and somewhat emotional as she chases down her wayward cousin. The blonde stalked off after managing to defeat Hephaestus, a stormy expression on her face and sour parting words hanging in the air:

"I'll be making my own way from here on out."

Kokoro knows it's an illogical decision. The Artemis House is far from defeated, and if Carlotta goes off on her own, she'll most certainly be killed by them. It's what she's been trying to avoid...

So why is she moving faster while Kokoro tries to catch up?

Catching the other girl on the shoulder with her hand, Kokoro whirls her around to face her. Her expression is still stormy, but now there's an undeniable pain on her face as well and in her eyes.

"What's wrong with you?" Kokoro says quickly. "You know going off on your own puts us all in danger, right? Not just you? Making impulsive decisions will drag this whole team down --"

"It's always like this," Carlotta murmurs. Her voice may be quiet, but she absolutely sounds hurt. "I'm always -- always -- doin' shit for other people. Been that way since I was a kid." She bites her lip. Kokoro decides to keep her mouth shut for now, instead watching and listening while Carlotta continues. "Now, nobody asked me t' do that, t' be fair. I took up the mantle on my own, of my own free will. I'm always shoulderin' my own shit to deal with other people's. For their good, instead of mine. Y'know why I do that, Miss Psychologist?" Carlotta jabs a finger into Kokoro's chest, but the red-head doesn't respond.

"Not even gonna guess? Damn, yer borin' as always." Carlotta turns her head to the side and spits, then looks back at Kokoro, in the eyes. Kokoro's uncomfortable with the direct eye contact, but maintains it. "Well, fine. I'll take the fun outta it n' just tell ya: it's cause I think that, mebbe, if I keep helpin' people, even when they don't like me? Maybe they'll start t' like me."

A period of silence stretches between the two, and Carlotta snorts, removes her finger from Kokoro's chest and lets her hand fall back to her side. "I mean, I get it. I get this whole Artemis House deal, I get why people don't trust me or anybody else with th' name "Brando." My Pops did some bad shit back in th' day. I mean... how many folks d'you know who had their brother's body copied t' use as a backup in case somethin' happened to theirs?" She chuckles bitterly, but there's absolutely no happiness behind it. "Course, Uncle Jonathan forgave 'im for that, 'cause he's got a soft heart, y'know? Like me." She curls her hand into a fist over her chest, her fangs sinking deeper into her lower lip. Kokoro can tell that she's drawn blood, but she keeps speaking anyway.

"But the damage 's done. Nobody trusts me when I say I'm not a bad person. So I got to thinkin'... mebbe, if I just... stopped worryin' 'bout myself, how I felt, n' just let myself be a tool for others to use... mebbe I could fix us. Mebbe I could fix my family." Carlotta sniffs, her blue eyes shimmering with tears now as she rubs furiously at her face.

She may be eighteen, and legally an adult, but in reality, she's still just a child. A child with a burden far too heavy to bear on her own.

"Mebbe I could rewrite the Brando story, y'know? So that -- so that we ain't always just moochers on th' Joestar line." She sighs, looks down at her feet and kicks half-heartedly at a rock lying next to her foot. "But that was naive, n' stupid. We ain't never gonna be nothin' but a footnote in somebody else's story at best. At worst... we're the villains." She swallows, wipes away some of the blood trailing down her chin from where she split her lip earlier with her fangs.

"Pa n' Pops always wanted better fer us than what they got in life. 's why I never... told 'em about any o' this. Thinkin' about how Pops'd feel if I told 'im I was depressed after everythin' he's done for me? 's too much. 'sides, he don't need to worry 'bout me when we've got all the little ones, already." Carlotta wraps her arms around herself. She's long since looked away from Kokoro, instead turning her focus towards the ground as she shuffles her feet.

"Don'tcha get it, Kokoro? I'm -- I'm a fake. A fuckin' fake. Everythin' I've ever done is for somebody else, to make somebody else happy, so somebody else'll like me, or at the least, y'know, find some kinda use for me. My Pops used other folks as tools for his own gain..."

And here, Carlotta's hands curl into fists at her sides as her shoulders tremble with the weight of the world; she's become her own Atlas.

"... so I became everyone else's tool t' fix it. But even then -- even then, I couldn't win ya' over. An' not the Avdols either -- sure, J.P loves me, n' I'd die for him like I'd die for August or Teddy, or any of the others, but he's his own brand o' crazy. The others ain't gonna trust me. Even if I did die for 'im, I doubt they'd care enough to leave flowers at my grave. Yer different, though, Koku-chan. I think..." She furrows her brow and sniffs as tears roll down her cheeks. "... I think I wanted t' be friends with ya' so bad 'cause I wanted t' prove we -- the Brandos n' Joestars -- ain't gotta fight all the time. We can be friends, y'know?"

She starts to cry harder now, hiccupping sobs breaking through her words here and there. "But -- but I was -- I was wrong, again. Like a dumb lil' kid, I -- just don't learn my fuckin' lesson. It's my fault. I'm -- I'm not th' cousin ya' deserve, or th' friend ya' deserve either. I'm not good enough for nobody."

She ends her final word with a choked little whimper, curling in on herself before sitting down on the forest floor. Without thinking, Kokoro kneels down in front of her and puts her arms around her cousin, pulling her head in close to rest on her chest -- cheek pressed just above her heart -- just as her father Noriaki had done so many times when she would get overstimulated and panicked as a young child, so she could hear her heartbeat.

"You're wrong, Carla," Kokoro finally murmurs. Carlotta stops crying for a moment, curls her hands into the fabric of Kokoro's coat and goes still against her chest. "I don't hate you. I never have. I kept pushing you away because I figured you would be better off without me. I'm... not very good with showing emotions. I do a better job at analyzing other people's emotions and feelings, and talking them through it. Until you came looking for me, no one had ever tried to be my friend before, besides Axel." Kokoro sighs heavily, rests her cheek against the top of Carlotta's head as a few wet drops fall from her own eyes onto her hair. "I didn't know what to do. I'm sorry that I hurt you. But I don't -- I don't hate you. Not for anything you did, and not for anything your father did. That doesn't concern me -- or either of us -- anyway."

She squeezes Carlotta tight, presses a platonic kiss to her scalp. "Just promise me you'll do your best to live for yourself, and stay alive for yourself, and nobody else? You're not a tool to be used. You've got a path all of your own that's just as important as anyone else's. That's why I agreed to help you with Artemis House, anyway. I did it for you, and your family, not because I wanted anything out of any of you. I just believe living things have the right to live. Even if they are smelly vampires."

Carlotta snorts out a little laugh, pulls her head away from Kokoro's chest to look her in the eyes. She slides her glasses off, and Kokoro removes her shades for a moment, and they both rub at their eyes at the same time before putting their eyewear back on in tandem.

"We're gonna fight this battle together. As friends and equals. Got it?" Kokoro says, extending a hand to Carlotta for her to shake.

Carlotta gives a wry grin, takes Kokoro's hand in hers and shakes it. "Yeah. Got it. Thanks Koku-chan."

They return back to the others, hand-in-hand as cousins, not knowing just how important their bond is for the future of the Joestar family line and for each other.

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