#ME REALIZING PHYSICAL VS EMOTIONAL DISTANCE IS A THEME ON
Text
HOW do ppl consume media without scooping up moments with similar beats and stringing them together in a sparkling chain of Theme??? I reflect on albums for YEARS after listening to em just to sift out even more lyrics to twist into frantic braids, look, see how it alllllll makes sense now??
#ME REALIZING PHYSICAL VS EMOTIONAL DISTANCE IS A THEME ON#TRANSATLANTICISM#BY#DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE#ALSO THIS ALBUM IS A LOOP. IF YOU PLAY ''THE NEW YEAR'' ONCE AGAIN AT THE END THERE ARE 12 TRACKS. 12 MONTHS IN A YEAR#this album is so interested in time and how it divides us across space#''wish the world was flat like the old days so i could travel just by folding the map ... there'd be no distance that could hold us back''#OUGH THE YEARNING#deathcab .... you get it#not to say this is a perfect album bc baby it's not. the slow tracks annoy me v much#but the way each song plays w time and longing and distance is exquisite. gorgeous twinkling shards in this mosaic.#is this lit major brainrot or is this having a rich internal life? both#i wish it upon everyone (:#snowswords#analysis#death cab for cutie#dcfc#Transatlanticism
10 notes
·
View notes
Text
Epel Vs. Romance
Feburary meta post! That means dealing with tha big L-O-V-E. Epel isn't the mushy type, but I'm here to examine his relationship with romance based on what little has been said/shown about it.
Why He Would Front
So! First of all. Let's establish that Epel tries to distance himself from anything feminine. This post is not about his relationship with femininity, but that relationship is relevant to his relationship with romance.
Romance is often seen as a feminine thing. Some examples of this include rom-coms being labled "chick flicks", bodice rippers having a primary audience of 30+ women, and the outdated sentiment that feelings are for women, and "real men" don't care about any of that.
So. It stands to reason that Epel would have a lot to gain by feigning disinterest in romance as a whole. He doesn't want people thinking of him as someone who's romantic-- even without the feminine associations, it's not in line with how he wants to be seen (someone strong and cool, not mushy and sensitive/emotional)
HOWEVER. Epel has also displayed that he may not be as romance adverse (or ignorant) as he may like people to believe. I'm not saying he's secretly some super mushy closet hopeless romantic. But I certainly don't think he finds it "totally cringey" as he's said in the past.
Caught in 4k nakskxHQKEFJKXKXA
So, he does have an idea of what a nice/good relationship would be like for him. He's thought about it enough to have that little daydream, and he seemed happy enough talking about it before he realized he was saying it in front of someone else.
Which brings me to his...
Point Of Influences
He appears to base his ideas of romance on his grandparents (not his parents? that's a separate, more headcanony [read: less supported by the text] post),
as well as movies/books/popular media.
Him using his grandparents as a model/point of reference for what a healthy relationship is like makes sense, considering he is very close to them and has spent a lot of time with them growing up.
Him looking to media follows a running theme with Epel caring about what can be seen on the outside, about public perception. Epel is very concerned with how people see him, and how things look-- not from a physical beauty standpoint like many that reside in Pomefiore, but from a "how would it look if people saw me doing this" standpoint, a "what would people say", kind of way. In some ways he rejects the status quo/social norms, but in other ways he is very much beholden to them. He may not care about things like getting his clothes dirty or what people would think if they saw him doing donuts on a tractor, but he would very much care about wearing a gown, or what people would think if he cried at a "chick flick".
I would posit that Epel has less of a problem with romance itself, and more of a problem with how he himself fits into that romance. It's fine for other people, like his grandparents, but on him it feels awkward and embarrassing.
Which brings me to...
What (He Thinks) His Role Is
Epel's image of the man he wants to be is someone strong, cool, and dependable, that people take seriously. He very much aligns himself with traditional masculinity, and as such he would imagine himself as doing all the traditionally "male" things in a relationship. But more than that is his desire to be strong and dependable. Most of his lines describing romance involve him being strong and protecting his significant other
His view of what he should do/be in a relationship is largely focused on this idea of the big strong man protecting his partner, being someone to lean on, being cool and dashing. He has never been in a relationship before (tumblr will only let me add ten photos to this post so I can't add any more, but it's mentioned in the ghost bride event), but if he were to enter a romantic relationship, he would want to be very chivalrous. He would hold doors open, foot the bill on dates, walk his partner home, hold their hand during scary movies-- etc etc etc. Everything that a guy is "supposed" to do in a relationship, because he bases a lot of his perception of romance on media, and he wants to do whatever will solidify him as "the man" in a dynamic.
He's clearly insecure and defensive about the disconnect between who he is and who he wants to be. He might feel awkward doing romantic things/imagining himself in romantic situations because he isn't where he wants to be yet. I wouldn't be surprised if he wouldn't feel confident in a relationship until he got taller, or stronger, or had more muscles. As things are now, he might feel ridiculous doing those traditionally "manly" things, beacuse he doesn't feel "man enough" to do them yet, and he thinks/knows he looks silly doing them. Though this last paragraph is more speculation than the others (though this entire post is also speculation, just speculation with some examples to support my ideas/headcanons ejfjajjekckakdkfka)
Conclusion
Now, all that being said, I really don't think Epel thinks about romance very often. It's not a concern of his, he's not looking for a relationship or anything, he's genuinely not really the romantic type. I just wanted to examine some of his lines and point out that his take on romance being cringey probably isn't the most truthful, and he might actually secretly like some romantic stories or "chick flicks" or whatever, but it's not something he'd be willing to admit.
Happy (Late) Valentine's Day !! 💕
2 notes
·
View notes
Text
Ah, I do see your points, anon. I'm not going to post all your asks publicly because if you really feel that unsafe, it's probably best not to have a bigass chunk of your text for people to analyze and try to guess your identity from. I think one of the best points you made is about how close to home it hits when the non-fave is not only your fave but is similar to you in some way like demographic. You're not wrong for having those emotions. I do wonder if they make it hard to see how some other people feel similarly embattled on other axes.
TBH, I think one of the big problems here is that the large aggregate patterns you're talking about are racist, but most individual fics and fans are not really the problem. It's hard to know how to talk about this or who to tell to "fix" it when we're looking at free, hobbyist art.
A lot of people's tastes are certainly formed by shitty society, but once they're formed, they don't change fast if at all. Asking someone to rewrite their libido is a big ask, yet tumblr does it all the time as though it's as simple as snapping your fingers.
This leaves me with the sense that a lot of tumblr is... like... the political lesbians of porn fic or something: desire is not real, only choosing based on logic and politics. Or maybe people are so asexual that they just don't understand the lizard brain's "YES!" at some porn things and complete indifference to others?
I don't think it's great if great swaths of people feel like bottom!Nicky is super hot and top!Nicky fundamentally isn't, but I also don't think they can necessarily just turn it off like flipping a switch.
(If someone reading this doesn't like their current tastes and wants to attempt to alter them, I do think it's possible. What you should do is line up a large slate of media that prominently features characters of the ethnicity or whatever that you don't find hot/interesting. These should be leads whose emotional development drives the plot and is supposed to be central to the audience's enjoyment of the media. Watch/read/etc. this media all the time. All. The. Time. Try out many pieces because you won't like every character or every show, and we're looking for genuine enjoyment, not the fandom equivalent of a pity fuck. Spend enough time on this, and your unconscious sense of who's hot and interesting will eventually shift somewhat. This is a project you should expect to take a few years.)
But I digress.
The one tweet thing is a very toxic pattern. If TOG fandom is doing that, guys, please try to be more conscious of holding the actors of color to a higher standard (or the women or whomever). I know this often comes from a place of paying more attention to our own and wanting to set a good standard, but the effect is that minorities can't fuck up ever while white dudes get infinite passes.
Okay, on to the fic thing... Gotta say, my instant reaction to that description is "Ooh!"--as it would be for the same scenario with the characters reversed. (Ships who start out trying to kill each other are my favorite! x1000 if they're resurrecting style immortals and they literally do.) I can see how it would feel like slamming into a brick wall if you aren't kinky in just the right way and you didn't know it was coming though.
Part of why I react so strongly to a lot of discourse that runs along these lines is that I am a naturally extremely kinky person. It's not so much about what I do (which as a deeply lazy person in a long distance relationship is essentially nothing), but it's absolutely how I'm wired.
And I can tell you that my quotidian experience in fandom is sharing something I don't even realize is a big deal only to have someone I like, respect, and trust react in horror and tell me that it's triggering and awful and should not be allowed in fandom spaces because it makes "people" unsafe. It's such an instant, kneejerk reaction they don't even realize I was sharing it because it spoke to the very core of me. Lesson learned, friend. Lesson learned.
That sounds a bit off topic, I know, but bear with me: The point of that anecdote is that it's pretty common for me to get people trying to raise my awareness of things I have already thought deeply about while denying my essential humanity and not even realizing. As a kinky person who likes to make my fave the top (and generally a conflicted sadist), this constant request to explain and justify is exhausting.
I doubt most of the top!Joe fans have this precise problem simply because people who make their fave the top are much less common in fandom than people who make their fave the bottom, but I see a similar pattern with fans who are just fundamentally wired for rape fantasies (one of the most common fantasies that exists) vs. fans who just don't get rape fantasies at all. Or substitute your BDSM/kinky/messed up fantasy trope of choice. Covertly radical feminist attitudes towards kink and power are on the rise in fandom, and as a naturally kinky person, boy do I notice it!
I know that it feels like crucial activism to share these insights about why the ratio of top!Joe is hurtful, and the pain you feel is real. But it's also the case that it's a big ask to want people to listen. (Not me. Obviously, I routinely choose to engage with discourse. I mean overall.) The reason for that is that you're only seeing a fraction of what they do or who they are, and you don't know how many previous people they've listened to how many previous times. It's a very different situation from someone whose job is making some major TV series or movie or something. That person does, in my opinion, owe you some amount of listening.
Now, I'm not saying no top Joe fan was ever a jerk. I'll bet they were. There's a tendency to be rude and to publicly air your schadenfreude when you feel like everyone has been yelling at you. What I am saying is that a lot of the problem here boils down to conflicting needs, and that means there isn't a good solution. It's a situation where people are genuinely hurt, but I don't necessarily agree that other people have harmed them.
I like that you did an actual count of the explicit fics, btw. It's good to look at the real numbers. I see too little of that in these situations. My off the cuff reaction is that 2/3 to 1/3 is not a bad ratio at all compared to many fandoms, but yeah, it definitely shows a strong trend, and that can be painful. (I have a fandom where I think there's maybe like 1 bottom so-and-so fic in the entire zine era fandom. One. It's pretty extreme.)
I guess my thinking here overall is: What is the practical solution? What are we hoping to gain? What is reasonable to ask of people?
And it can't be "Well, if they would just listen..." That's just a sneaky way of saying "If you haven't done it my way, it's because you haven't listened to me yet."
So the question I would ask of people is this:
What does a non-racist fic where Joe tops look like?
What does a non-racist sex pollen, dubcon, or even noncon fic where Joe tops look like?
And if you say the latter is impossible... well... sadists exist everywhere in the world. So do doms. So do people who prefer to top in a purely physical sense. People with rape fantasies where they're the rapist exist (people who are not actually rapists, I mean). None of this is restricted to any one group. We can't categorically say fic like that about Joe is coming from a place of racism without denying the fundamental humanity of kinky MENA people who'd want to make Joe like themselves or like their ideal partner. (Yes, I agree this won't be the majority of fic writers writing top!Joe, but this is a place to start for figuring out what the better version would look like.)
IDK, maybe you're that kinkster yourself, but your asks gave me the vibe that you don't really get the drive towards those darker kinds of fics and what might be motivating it besides stereotypes and shittiness.
If we can answer these kinds of questions, we can better critique the way people write what they write without telling them all of their taste is bad and they should just stop writing. Even if we think the latter is true, it isn't going to get us anywhere. Figuring out how to make Joe more multidimensional in the fic they already want to write or finding very specific wording that should be avoided might actually work.
Beyond that, the actions I think are productive would be running prompt fests, exchanges, or other events for bottom!Joe or for top!Joe where he's the main character and the fics are required to be from his POV. Themed collections and recs lists are great. (I've seen a bit of this going around in TOG fandom in the past, and that's an excellent approach! Keep it up!) Positive actions tend to work better here. Make more of what you want. Promote what you want to see.
I don't mean this in some fluffy magical thinking way: you aren't going to change that ratio radically just by the power of positivity. But I've seen this kind of thing play out in many, many fandoms, and going after the people who write what you don't like, even in a well-intentioned effort to educate and even in a polite, kind way doesn't do much. A few people feel guilty. A few feel defensive. A lot ignore you. The overall fic doesn't change. It's not a good use of your limited time and energy.
I'm off to look up that fic to see what I think of it in practice, but I'm going to post this before tumblr manages to eat it.
70 notes
·
View notes
Text
Word of Honor - Episode 3 Part 2 - We’re getting INN to it now!
Meanwhile back with Scooby and the Gang.
B-characters realize that the Goldilocks is missing and it was only the 3 bears that were killed.
And we can hear them surprisingly well from this far away. Their voices must carry exceptionally well.
---------------
The spiderwebs of DEATH
Seriously though it’s been hours. How has no one either taken these wires down or run into them accidentally? You cannot tell me they have checked every bit of this place for ChengLing’s body if these are still up.
Someone has lied to you Mr. White ‘n’ Blue.
----------------------
No you fucking did not. If you were cleaning them up roughly you’d at least get the ones on the main doorways! goddamn.
-----------
Old ppl vs the Ghosts!
COME ON DOWN FOR THE FIGHT OF YOUR LIFE THE ALL DEAD VS THE MOSTLY DEAD THIS SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY BE THERE BE THERE BE THERE.
---------------
The Ghost Valley is a menace! It’s high time someone went in there and eradicated them all!
Huh... never thought of that before...
-----------------------
Eh. Old people chanting the children’s rhymes doesn’t have the same tension. It’s just not the right feel. It’s a no from me.
----------------
Yes. This is perfectly far enough away. No one could possibly overhear us from this distance! I am a genius!
-----------------
We are all very worried about ChengLing’s well being. Yes. That is all. Only his well being. Nothing else. No ulterior motives here. Nope. Purely just good will and worry. :DDDD
---------------------
Ah yes! Back to my boys! :D
------------------------
You big softie.
Seriously though. He is so considerate of not only Best Boy’s physical well being but really his emotional state and autonomy as well. He doesn’t expect ChengLing to act like a full grown adult but he doesn’t treat him like a little kid either. It’s great and I’m here for it.
---------------------------------
It’s not stalking if we got here first, right?
Now you’re stalking me! :D :D :D :D :D
-------------
Some day soon I’ll get you to admit you like me ;)
-------------------
-------------------------------------------------------
Whaaaaaaaaaaaat you’re here to? At this random river?????? OMG what are the chancesssssss?!?!?
At this point I just wanna know fuckin how????
----------------------------------
A-Xiang deserves a fucking medal for putting up with this BS. For real.
----------------
A-Xu you make-a him sad D:
---------------
Zhou ZiShu! Look out! They’re stealing your boat!!
-------------------------
-Hey if the ghost valley peeps come up to wreck shit it’s gonna be our shit that gets wrecked too you know?
-I don’t give a farting fly’s left ass cheek! I’m one foot in the grave already.
------------------
Glazed armor this glazed armor that give me a glazed donut and let’s call it a day. I don’t careeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
------------------------------------------
Are you inn or out?
----------------------
Sorry we’re out of space because for some reason we let ourselves rent out the entire establishment to a single person.
Like I get he paid for the rooms but it’d still be bad for business?? Like no one wants to go to an inn if they won’t let you stay even though there are empty rooms. Like the fuck
------------
Look elsewhere? Shit you know this is the only inn in town (apparently)!! Where we supposed to go???
Um... why don’t you try looking at I don’t give a FUCK
----------------------------
Well well well. Who could have seen this coming?
-------------------
Zhou ZiShu is about read to add a few more nails
---------------------------
This old ragged beggar man is hot as fuck. Set him up in my room at once!
Just end my suffering. I beg you
-------------------------
ChengLing just gonna keep his mouth shut and stay out of it
------------------------------
-I gave you my own room!
-My room now. Kindly GTFO
-But I bought you clothes too!
-Yeah no one asked you. GTFO!!
-How have my seduction techniques continued to fail??????????
-------------------------------
Love me pls D:
-----------------
If Oedipus invented a wire tap he’s gonna have to work harder to get past me!!
---------------
But he doesn’t look like he’s a bad person
Bad people rarely do.
--------------------
Take the bed? I couldn’t possibly!! No! You’re taking care of me and protecting me and you’re old! You take the bed! I’ll sleep on the chair! I’m the best boy!!!
Bitch did I fucking stutter?
--------------
You owe me no explanations. I’m sure you have your reasons and that they’re good ones. But don’t suffer needlessly. Treat your wounds and I won’t ask any more about it.
--------------
MY BOY DOESN’T DESERVE THIS. ALL THIS OVER A PIECE OF FUCKIN SEA GLASS??????????
---------------
Ain’t nobody dope as me I’m just so fresh, so clean
(So fresh and so clean clean)
--------------------------
Daaate niiiiiight
----------
So I get that you’re like persistently stalking me and all that but like
Why??
Because I know you cute as fuck. Why you hiding?
Show me what your true face and I’ll tell you what I want. What I really really want.
You first bitch
-------------
Local man tries to pry secrets out of only human in a 10 mile radius who has no ulterior motives and is confused when it doesn’t work.
--------------
Das gay
HDU
----------------------
Clink Clink bitch
-------------------------
Master can you please keep it in your pants for 5 minutes? It’s all I ask. Just 5 minutes of peace! Please!
---------
Pop Quiz!
Who is the second cutest person in the world?
I will settle for anyone who feeds me
Naw. Tsundere is where it’s at.
*Is unimpressed in tsundere*
---------------------
Then who is the mostest cutest?
A tsundere with long legs, slim waist, fat ass.
Heavens strike me down now. Please end my misery. Why did I sit here? Didn’t I know better?
Anyone have any more torture nails? Anyone? Please?
-----------------------------
*Insert Mii channel theme*
--------------------
We are the unwashed masses. Let’s go fuck some shit up
---------
Hey guys. Does this look like anime style to you? Someone said it looks like anime but I don’t see it.
I think it looks great! I can’t even draw a stick figure! hahahaha
--------------------------
Sleepy boi <3
----------------
How the fuck did I become the third wheel?
-----------
*mii channel theme continues*
----------------
Your honored uncle here wouldn’t let us eat anything until you woke up even though he sat at my table. D:
-------------------
-Stop acting like a little brat and start acting polite and demure like the other girls
-Uuuuuuuuuuuuuugh gross
-------------------------
We’re doing found family and we’re doing it now!
-------------------------
Why aren’t you eating?
Yeah! We had to wait all this time for you to get here and you’re not even eating anyway!!!!!!
Well my home and my entire family died, and so did that random boat man who protected me. And also there’s a hole in my stomach. So I don’t have much of an appetite atm.
Oh My God. can you not???
But that’s how I show affection!!!!!!!! D:<
---------------
Shoving food in your face to hide your tears. A time honored tradition.
Also D: Best boy is sad </3
--------------------
Oh no. More people I’m supposed to remember.
JESUS FUCK REALLY???
ARE YOU KIDDING ME? HOW MANY? You cannot tell me they are all important. Please tell me I’m not supposed to remember this many people.
I can’t handle this.
aaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARG
THAT’S 11 PEOPLE AT ONCE! WHAT THE FUCK
---------------
Whenever this guy speaks it sounds like he’s trying really hard not to cough in front of the board meeting.
-------------
Okay so what I got from this is
There was a treaty between these peeps and the ghost peeps to say they’ll leave each other the fuck alone
The ghost peeps broke that promise by fucking with the mirror lake sect and so these peeps decided to retaliate
and they’re gonna retaliate by throwing a party?
Like I guess they’re just gathering forces? But like it’s a weird way to do it.
-------------
Oh for the love of god.
--------------------------------
Pffffffffffffffff welcome to the circus
----------------------------
*sigh*
Okay y’all I can remember like 6 people. 7 Max. Y’all gonna have to be picky about who’s important here.
How many of these people do I actually have to know?
----------------------
Now what the fuck happened here and why are the twin jades here?
-------------------------
You two have a piece of the glazed ham. And even though no one is using it it’s really important that we keep it that way. No one must hold all pieces of the glazed ham. Or..... bad things?
--------------
Oh my. Pain o’clock already?
-----------------
SOMEONE GET THEIR ASS IN THERE AND GIVE MY BOY A HUG!
-----------------------
Hey! What do you see? Is he in there?
I can’t see a goddamn thing.
-------------------
So I know that he’s like what, 15? And like grew up with a dad. But like you know they made him scream “A-Die” and then wake up to Zhou ZiShu’s comforting touch on purpose. You know that was planned.
Maybe not a father, but certainly a father figure.
(Also thanks, A-Xu for answering my request from earlier for someone to comfort the poor boy.)
--------------------------
What’s this? The sounds of a scuffle???
Whelp. Not anymore.
--------------------------
Couldn’t he have just ordered them to leave instead?
---------------------
The Ghost Valley seems to be following me rather closely.
Oh you have no idea. ;)
-------------------
Alcohol detected
-------------------
Let me call you a cute pet name and I’ll let you drink from my bottle of nectar. ;)
Oh my god this shit again?
----------------------
You know what?
Two can play at this game.
---------------------
You wanna see what lies underneath? Rip it off yourself.
Don’t worry! I’m patient! Sleep well! Dream of me! I know I’ll be dreaming of you! ;)
#word of honor#Shanhe Ling#wen kexing#zhou zishu#zhang chengling#Gu Xiang#Writing WoH#spoilers#episode 3#long post
36 notes
·
View notes
Text
Follow-up post
So I got a reply to my comment about the ableism in Ironwood’s character arc by @swapauanon and then they immediately blocked me. Since I am sometimes a petty bastard I decided to make a separate response anyway.
The first thing I would like to point out is that this person does not actually address my points in any way throughout this lengthy rant. My comment was all about the behind-the-scenes comments from the creators and they only responded with in-text examples and their interpretations of them. Those are important sure, and I will talk about those, but they don’t exactly come off as arguing in good-faith right from the get-go.
Okay, so I don’t TYPICALLY acknowledge RWDE’s beyond blocking them, but I think it’s important to separate how Ironwood views himself versus how the writers view him.
Because Ironwood’s entire downfall is his misunderstanding of how humanity works. He denies his own humanity, and sees maiming his vulnerable flesh and replacing it with unfeeling machinery as ridding himself of his own human weaknesses.
Except at the end of the day, he can’t cast off his VERY human soul, and his refusal to acknowledge that he can’t and SHOULDN’T do that are ultimately what leads to his downfall.
I have seen this “Actually it is just Ironwood himself that is ableist” argument before, and I don’t think it holds any water. While it is true that he begins to see compassion as a weakness, he never expresses the views you say he does about his own machine parts. And if you want to talk about how Ironwood sees himself vs how the writers see him you really can’t do so without talking about framing and subtext. When we get scenes that emphazize Ironwood’s machine parts to make him look intimidating or use his passive superpower (described as “hyper-focus” by the creators themselves) to shut off his empathy, that is the writers telling us that these physical aspects of Ironwood makes him less human.
Meanwhile, what V8C12 was TRYING to convey (even if it was horrible in its execution), was that it’s one’s SOUL that defines them, not the body that houses it.
Literally NO OTHER CHARACTER with mechanical parts added to their body views themselves as less human.
[...]
Penny doesn’t angst over not being human, she angsts over being treated like a soulless tool. (Which is why I don’t like that they turned her human. Had they set up that she’d wanted to be human back in Volume 2, it would’ve been one thing, but they don’t establish that Penny wanted to be human until AFTER her mechanical body has been discarded.)
So here they outright contradict themselves. They start off saying that no other character views themselves this way, and then go on to say that Penny does (but only after she has been turned human). And like, points for admitting that scene was bad, but they seem unwilling to consider that maybe the fact that the writers did include that scene tells us something about the way the show at large views disability. They seem to think they can just write it off and move on like this instance of Penny absolutely seeing herself as inhuman can just be ignored. it also disregards that this isn’t just Penny expressing how she feels about herself. When Penny gets her human body she expresses surprise that hugging someone makes her feel “warm inside” even though she has hugged people countless times before. This is not a villain saying that having machine parts makes you less human and being proven wrong, this is a hero saying outright that “wow, my mechaniocal body made me unable to appreciate this simple human interaction, but now that I have a flesh-body I can”. Things like this is why I do not buy the argument that it is only Ironwood who thinks being part machine makes you less human.
Mercury doesn’t angst over the loss of his legs, he angsts over the piece of his soul his father tore out.
[...]
While Yang DOES lose her arm and angst over it, she doesn’t view herself as less human because of her prosthetic.
The closest we get to a LITERAL “cybernetics eats your soul” story is with Cinder, and she doesn’t have ANY cybernetics, just a parasitic leash that’s slowly consuming her flesh and threatens to eventually consume her mind if she doesn’t get rid of it. And if/when she does, I imagine she’ll replace that with a mechanical arm.
(I moved a few parts of their post around here because it made more sense to me to talk about these quotes together)
I feel like this highlights how much this person completely ignores the core argument of what makes the themes in RWBY ableist. They focus way too much on the literal and whether the characters “angst” over their humanity. But like I have said before, thie main issue here is theme and subtext.
Mercury doesn’t “angst” over his legs, but that doesn’t erase the subtext inherent in the fact that he still lost his legs (and presumanbly the piece of his soul) at the same time as he joins team evil.
Yang is probably the best take on a disabled person with a prosthetic in the show. I will give it that. I don’t think there is anything particularly wrong with how it has handled this storyline, but I do think it sets a certain expectation for how it thinks a “good” person should handle their disability. Because Yang basically deals with her lost arm by seeing her prosthetic as an “extra”. She creates a distance between herself and it instead of seeing her mechanical arm as actually part of herself. Again, nothing inherently wrong with that but combined with the Penny-nonsense it creates a pattern of seeing machine parts as inherently inhuman and “lesser”.
The point about Cinder is where the argument relies too much on technicality. Sure, Cinder’s new arm isn’t cybernetic, bhut it is still a prosthetic and it is unambiguously presented as evil and corrupting.
So, no, it’s not the fact that Ironwood has prosthetics that makes him less human, they’re simply a symptom of his view of “soft” traits (kindness, empathy, forgiveness, and flesh), as weaknesses to be sacrificed for the “greater good”. Basically, while I know this term gets misused a lot, Ironwood embodies toxic masculinity. The idea that showing any emotion other than rage and pride is “shameful” and “unmanly”. The idea that brute strength matters more than strategy. That taking unnecessary risks to achieve your goal is “brave” and “daring” and not “stupid beyond belief”. Plus, I want to point out that WINTER HERSELF said that Penny (as a robot) was more “human” than her.
Again, this completely ignores how Ironwood and his prosthetics are framed by the narrative. The idea that all of his flaws are based in toxic masculinity and have nothing to do with his disability is just not very supported by the text or by word of God (again, it was the creators themselves who said that losing his arm was “symbolic of losing his humanity).
And Winter’s words to Penny aren’t very positive either. The point being made there is that Penny was always human “underneeth” her robotics, which sounds good until you realize that this still frames her mechanical differences as negative. They are treated as a prison for the “real” Penny and the narrative explicitly tells us that they have made her unable to feel certain emotions.
It’s just that searing off that flesh after breaking his own Aura serves as a good visual metaphor for Ironwood giving up his “softer” traits to accomplish his goals, even if there was a better solution staring him right in the face (i.e. the rings were EXPOSED and he could’ve just nudged them out of alignment to get to Watts).
This feels like a really big reach on their parts to justify their idea of Ironwood as stupid on top of everything else. It relies on assuming things about fictional technology that was never explained in the show itself. I mean, if the rings are so easy to nudge then what is even holding them in place?
Either way it doesn’t really matter because the message of the scene is the same. If the point is to signal that ironwood is willing to give up his softer traits because he is also willing to give up his soft bady, then that also tells the viewer that being able-bodied and being capable of compassion/kindness/etc are synonymous.
It has nothing to do with the metal, and everything to do with the “Mettle”.
I have no idea why they would bring up the fantasy neurodivergence the writers added in through word-of-God as if it somehow makes the show less ableist. “Mettle” as it is described by the writers, is not a character flaw. It is a chronic condition.
Edit: Seriously, I hope you realize that the hatedom makes it VERY hard for any criticism of the show to be taken seriously when the very VALID cricisms are downed out by “Adam should’ve been an anti-hero!” and “Fascism is good, actually!” leading to those of us with ACTUAL constructive criticism getting lumped in with you lot!
I am curious what they think “constructive criticism” looks like since apparently “Hey, constantly equating robot parts with inhuman behavior is shitty and ableist, please stop” doesn’t cut it.
Anyways, fuck this guy. If they want to be taken seriously maybe they should think about why they had to make such a long-ass rant to dismiss criticism of very basic ableist tropes.
27 notes
·
View notes
Text
THE PERMANENT RAIN PRESS INTERVIEW WITH MADELEINE SIMS-FEWER AND DUSTY MANCINELLI
Violation is one of the most stirring films we’ve seen over the past year. Since making its world premiere at Toronto International Film Festival last year, the Canadian flick has been busy on the film festival circuit; now available through digital-cinema on TIFF Bell Lightbox, with Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) Connect to follow beginning March 26th.
What inspired the story behind Violation?
We were both dealing with our own personal experiences of trauma at the time, and wanted to make an anti-revenge film that deals with female rage, and emotional and psychological unravelling that trauma gives rise to.
We really wanted to make a revenge film that pushed the boundaries of the genre, challenging the tropes of the scantily clad woman becoming empowered by violent revenge against a menacing stranger, and that revenge is the cathartic climax we are all seeking at the end of the movie. Yes, it is a film about seeking retribution, but also about the cost of that retribution. It is a film about violation, but also about lack of empathy and selfishness, and how both can erode your morality and the relationships around you.
It’s been described as “twisted,” “feminist-minded,” and a “hypnotic horror.” At its core, how would you describe the film’s genre(s)?
Those three descriptors fit perfectly, actually! We weren’t thinking too much about genre when we wrote the script, mostly about the story and about how we portrayed Miriam’s journey. We were inspired by films that don’t sit comfortably in a genre box, like Caché, Fat Girl, Don’t Look Now. Films that are dramas with elements of horror.
When you were writing the script, can you elaborate on the dynamics between the two couples that you wanted to portray – Miriam and Caleb, and Greta and Dylan?
Miriam and Caleb are very much at an impasse in their relationship. The spark has gone out and they don’t know how to reignite it. Instead of doing the work it might take to get through a rough patch Miriam is very much running away. There is a real transience to modern relationships that we wanted to capture in their dynamic - this idea that when the romance is gone the relationship has run its course. Miriam wants to fix it, but doesn’t know how - she clumsily tries to fix it with sex (on her sister’s advice), and this echoes how she tries to fix her trauma too.
Greta and Dylan have a seemingly healthy relationship. But when you look a little deeper their outward affection and codependence masks a deep distrust. Dylan is having his ‘grass is greener’ moment, and he’s totally selfish to the impact this has on those around him. Greta can sense this, but she’s too enamoured by him to risk rocking the boat. It’s all a recipe for tragedy really.
Miriam and Greta have a complex relationship, to say the least. It’s natural to have distance between siblings as they grow older, did you always intend to have a sibling relationship be a centre of your story?
Yes, we always wanted to make a film about a person who suffers sexual assault and is not believed by their sibling. That was one of the first parts of the story that came together. There is so much to unpack in a sibling relationship like theirs. A rich history of mutual failures and resentments as well as so much camaraderie and love. The more painful betrayal in the story comes from Greta, not Dylan.
We wanted to explore the idea of trauma within families, and how abuse and violence affects everyone in the family, not just the person who suffers it. Everything else orbits around these two sisters — Miriam and Greta — as Violation mines the little resentments, commonalities, shared joys and sorrows that weave together a truthful portrait of these women.
A lot of the horror and dread in Violation comes from the way the sisters interact, and in the ways they react to each other from a place of fear. There is no filter in these close sibling relationships (we know this as we both come from big families!) which can be wonderful, but can also lead you to hurt and be hurt in ways that leave permanent emotional scars.
The non-linear editing engages viewers into the story, as do the jarring intercuts with imagery of nature, animals and insects. Tell us about the editing and post-production phase, and what you hoped to accomplish with the progression and symbolism.
The way we have edited Violation is very deliberate. We are forcing you to experience things you might not want to in a very specific way, guiding you through this post traumatic landscape where the past and present are constantly speaking to each other.
We chose to weave two timelines together — the 48 hours leading up to the betrayal and the 48 hours surrounding the act of revenge. This forces the audience to re-contextualize what they have seen, challenging their own opinions of the characters based on what information we choose to reveal and when.
Violation is told completely from Miriam’s perspective — we watch her emotional and psychological unravelling as she struggles desperately to do the right thing. There is a sequence in the middle of the film where we see this act of revenge. There is no dialogue for a long time, we just follow Miriam as she goes through these meticulous actions. And what we realize is that her plan, though well thought-out, is unbelievably emotionally and physically taxing. She’s not prepared, and we watch the real horror of her actions play out through her visceral emotional responses. It was important for us to really force the audience to experience things as Miriam does. The editing is focused and relentless; never letting you stray from her experiences and emotions.
Madeleine, for you, getting to play Miriam and connect with her pain and turbulent emotions through the course of the film, can you share your thoughts on that experience. How did committing to this character challenge you as an actor?
It was the most challenging role I have ever played, and in many ways was absolutely terrifying. I wanted to push myself as far as I could go as an actor and challenge myself to really find the truth of who this woman is, and reveal that to the audience. There are so many quiet moments where Miriam’s journey is so internal, so the challenge there was in truly living each moment as if I was her — getting lost in the role — so that I was not indicating what she was feeling, but living it.
What was it like having Anna, Jesse and Obi as screen partners?
Very liberating. They are all extremely dedicated, layered, engaging performers. They elevated me and challenged me every step of the way. Jesse and I have worked together before, and we have an ease that makes scenes with him very fun. The comfort level we share allows us to really experiment. It was my first time working with Anna and Obi, but it won’t be the last. They are both so open and sensitive that I felt our work was incredibly nuanced.
An overarching question is whether revenge is ever justified. Tell me about Miriam’s mindset, and the struggle between morals, motives and her actions. For you as individuals, is this something that you have had conflict with in your own lives?
In a way we wanted to make a sort of revenge fairy-tale. Fairy tales provide ways for children to think through moral problems, and to wrestle with life’s complexities. They aren’t depictions of reality, but reflect ideas about morality and humanity. We wanted the audience to think about consent, the rippling effects of trauma, how we judge women vs how we judge men, and perhaps consider those things more deeply.
In the end Miriam’s desire to punish those who have wronged her hopefully leaves the audience with a compelling ambiguity to be unpacked as they scrutinize her actions.
Tell us about the trust built between the cast and crew on-set, especially during the more intimate and grim scenes and tense conversations. How do you build that comfort level?
It’s really just about having open, honest conversations. We spent a lot of time with the actors during prep and rehearsals just talking, and building friendships. We are dedicated to creating a comfort level where actors can be completely transparent and open with us, so that when we ask them to go somewhere they know we are there guiding the process and aren’t afraid to take big risks.
To survivors of trauma, what do you hope this movie provides in its story?
We hope to provide a new take on the revenge genre - one that explores rape from a different angle and context - with the focus of the narrative much more on the psychological ramifications of trauma. We aren’t looking to tell anyone what to take away from the film, and we made Violation as much for people with no experience with trauma as for people who understand these murky waters. Really we hope the film sparks thought, discussion, and empathy.
You met at the 2015 TIFF Talent Lab; what drew you together as a filmmaking team? What advice do you have for artists/filmmakers looking for their own collaborators?
It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what drew us together - it’s sort of an intangible thing. We developed a very candid friendship that we thought might translate well to a working relationship. Luckily it did!
Shortly after the Talent Lab we decided to work together on two short films, Slap Happy and Woman in Stall. Until directing these shorts neither of us had really had ‘fun ’making a film. Filmmaking was a drive, but it wasn’t a joy. These shorts gave us a totally new perspective, where we actually had a good time workshopping the script, creating a visual style, and just challenging each other. By the time we were making our third short, Chubby, we had decided to officially form a creative partnership.
We definitely approach filmmaking from different perspectives and with complementary strengths, but we don’t say ‘this is your thing and this is mine.’ We work collaboratively on every part of the process, and we built this unique way of working through our shorts, so that when we got the funding to make Violation (through Telefilm’s Talent to Watch program) we already had a solid method that works for us.
In terms of advice it really helps to know how you like to work before looking for a collaborator. Then it’s just about experimenting. It is very much trial and error. Don’t try to force a collaboration that isn’t working for you. There is no shame in a creative relationship not working out. But also it is important to be flexible and open to compromise - that’s how ideas flourish and grow. If you are too rigid then maybe collaboration is not right for you.
Going from short films to your debut feature with Violation, what new challenges did you face and how did you overcome them?
The endurance required to make a feature was something we weren’t prepared for. At about day 3 we turned to each other, totally exhausted, and were like: “there’s 30 more days of this.” It was brutally draining. Honestly every day brought its own unique challenges and problems to overcome, but we had such a strong, supportive team that it made each mountain a little easier to climb.
Aside from yourselves, who are some other up and coming Canadian filmmakers viewers should keep their eyes on?
Grace Glowicki and Ben Petrie are both doing really interesting work. Grace’s film Tito is a disturbingly good character study that builds a terrifying sense of dread. Ben’s short Her Friend Adam is one of our favourites, and he’s about to make his first feature.
Is there anything further you’d like to add or share, perhaps what you are currently working on?
Right now we are writing a slow burning mystery thriller and a twisted dark comedy. That’s about all we can reveal at the moment!
Thank you to Madeleine Sims-Fewer and Dusty Mancinelli for providing us with further insight into Violation! Visit their official website for more information on their projects.
#entertainment#Interview#feature#Violation#Madeleine Sims-Fewer#Dusty Mancinelli#Movie#film#Canadian Film#horror movie#thriller movie#VIFF#GAT PR#Canadian Movie#Jesse LaVercombe#Anna Maguire#Obi Abili#Pacific Northwest Pictures#TIFF#Toronto International Film Festival#TIFF Talent Lab
1 note
·
View note
Text
The True Power of NEO: Part 2
To see previous entries in the series, check out "The True Power of NEO" tag on the ArgentDandelion blog.
Made with help from CinnamonAzzy and Ihasafandom.
Introduction and Overall Theme
What Mettaton thought would happen. Image from NCHProductions' Chara vs. Mettaton NEO YouTube video.
General Motivation and Tactic Explanations
Alphys, Undyne, and Gerson are more pragmatic, even cowardly or “dirty”, in their approaches. Alphys stays away from the Human, hindering them with laser traps (probably remotely). Most of the time, Undyne attacks from a distance, using the environment to her advantage to hinder the human’s movements, kill them, or give her cover. Gerson doesn’t try to attack the human, shrewdly selling them items, and possibly knowing the Human can’t kill shopkeepers. None of them, not even Undyne, are looking for fame, nor do they want to absorb the Human’s SOUL themselves.
Initially, Mettaton encounters the human in Hotland, but doesn't fight them, saying: "The world needs stars more than it needs corpses!" However, he changes his mind, later saying:
"You see, I can't be a star without an audience. And besides...there are some people...I want to protect."
He doesn't stick with pragmatism. Why?
For the sake of concision, the following section covers Mettaton’s aspects of Mettaton’s modus operandi shared by all three tactics.
Reason 1: Invulnerability
Consider Mettaton’s tactics. Alphys, Gerson, and Undyne understand they are all vulnerable to the human’s attacks, but Mettaton doesn’t have the same problem. His original body is supposedly “invulnerable”, according to flavor text. Furthermore, judging by the Mad Dummy dialogue and Mad Mew Mew battle, he probably can’t be killed by physical attacks. Note that when fighting Mad Mew Mew, damage is only listed in the final strike: it's unclear whether a body-destroying strike can be somewhat damaging to a ghost possessing the body, or whether that was damage to the physical object. Even then, Mad Mew Mew survives the dismemberment of her body, seemingly unharmed, as she didn’t fuse with her body yet. If Mettaton can assume he won’t fuse with his body and become corporeal, then confronting the human is pretty sensible.
Reason 2: Drama/Bloodshed/Heroism
As shown in the Neutral/Pacifist Routes, he wants to exploit the human to gain fame (e.g., his TV segments), but also kill the human, take their SOUL, and be a star on the Surface. Mettaton has a flair for the dramatic, as well as a taste for violence and bloodshed. After all, all of his shows in other routes are violent, even when the shows’ genres typically aren’t violent.
Although exploding the CORE’s exit ahead of time would block the human, it doesn’t have the same drama and bloodshed as fighting them. Though there are much more pragmatic tactics to block or kill the human, but he doesn't take them: probably because it’s not glamorous or heroic enough. Neither attacking from a distance Undyne-style or herding the human into traps seems very heroic or "anime". Mettaton may have wanted to block the exit while the human was in the room, dealing damage at the same time the entrance was sealed.
To avoid confrontation with the human entirely is the safest route, just in case he’s not as invulnerable as he thinks or he somehow fuses with his body. However, doing so simply isn’t dramatic, nor violent.
Reason 3: Cross the Barrier (and Be a Star)
Yet, neither blocking the entrance ahead of the human nor blocking the entrance as the human enters the room fits his motives as much as killing the human. Mettaton loves humanity. Part of the reason he wants to kill the Human on the Neutral and Pacifist Routes is so he, not Asgore, can take their SOUL, allowing him to cross the barrier and perform for millions of humans.
It is unclear whether he wants to protect humanity from getting wiped out purely so he can perform for them: if monsters waged war and created a huge prison camp of humans that Mettaton could perform for, would he be happy then?
If he blocks the exit, the people of New Home will be safe (for a while, at least), but someone else (i.e., Asgore with six SOULs) might come in and kill the human instead of him.
Reason 4: Protect Humanity (from the Genocidal Human and Asgore)
Overlapping with the above reason, it is necessary to keep the seventh human SOUL away from Asgore, and to stop the destruction of the barrier.
The biggest difference between a high-murder Neutral Route and the Genocide Route is how, in the Genocide Route, monsters believe the human will try to wipe out humanity.
Undyne (pre-Undying): "This isn't just about monsters anymore, is it? If you get past me, you'll... You'll destroy them all, won't you? Monsters... Humans... Everyone..."
Mettaton (Genocide Route):"After our first meeting, I realized...something ghastly. You're not just a threat to monsters...but humanity, as well."
Under ordinary circumstances, even a hateful child armed with improvised weapons wouldn’t really be a threat to humanity. A monster with a human SOUL is a “beast with unfathomable power”. If the reverse applies, the genocidal human might be a threat to humans only after absorbing Asgore’s SOUL. Although zeal in killing monsters doesn’t guarantee zeal in killing humans, Undyne and Mettaton both believe the human is still a threat to humanity. What’s worse, in the Genocide Route there’s a lot more urgency for Asgore to absorb the six SOULS he’s collected. Undyne believes Alphys has been watching her battle, and has surely instructed Asgore to absorb the six human SOULs and so gain the power to stop the Human. Even Flowey hurries to Asgore, likely begging him to absorb the Human SOULs and fight the genocidal human.
Reason 5 and 6: A Humanoid Body, and Fusing With It
Mettaton really, really wants to change into his new body, to the point he often asks Alphys for progress on it. It’s not simply because it’s cool, or has improved dancing ability. It seems that he has some sort of body dysmorphia, for, according to his diary:
“She [Alphys] surprised me with something today. Sketches of a body that she wants to create for me...a form beyond my wildest fantasies. In a form like that, I could finally feel like..."myself". After all, there's no way I can be a star the way I am now."
In the Neutral and Genocide Routes, Mettaton shows his boxy mode was his original mode, so he’s surely lying about swapping to a more “photogenic” boxy body in the Genocide Route. Judging by Mad Dummy/Glad Dummy/Mad Mew Mew, ghosts fuse with their bodies when they feel pure, unbridled emotions while possessing a body. Most likely, Mettaton expected that emotion to be happiness.
Summary
Unlike all other characters, Mettaton has many desires, is driven to fulfill those desires, and all his desires are fulfilled, almost all at once, if he can kill the human in his humanoid form. If he doesn’t take the Human’s SOUL himself, it’s likely Asgore will, and he’s expected to break the barrier and try to destroy all humanity as soon as he does. If Mettaton can kill the genocidal human in a humanoid form, he gets everything he wants: showing off his humanoid body, glamour (and glory), violence, and a human SOUL. Indeed, this anticipation of getting all he desires might have been the "unbridled emotion" necessary to fuse him with his body.
Weak Points & Problems
All his likely tactics rely on one thing: that Mettaton won’t die if his body is damaged (whether from self-destruction or combat) because he hasn’t fused with his body.
In fairness to Mettaton, fusing with his body when encountering the human wasn’t guaranteed, and it might have seemed unlikely. Most likely, he believed fighting the human would only help him eventually fuse with his body. After all, fusing instantly is just too unlikely. Yet, it seems this is difficult to achieve, even under good conditions, so exactly when they fuse is impossible to predict. In the Genocide Route, Mad Dummy fuses instantly, surprising them. Mad Mew Mew, however, doesn't become corporeal during or immediately after the battle, saying:
"Huh...? Such... such kindness...!It's... making me FEEL something! It may be a while before I can truly fuse with this body. But, I think this is a start...!”
Furthermore, it's also possible that, if "unbridled emotion" causes fusing with one's body, Mettaton didn't consider fear would work, and seriously underestimated how afraid he would be while fighting the human.
In conclusion, Mettaton's sheer level of confidence, combined with presumably good offensive and defensive options, meant he didn't create a backup plan.
If you liked this content, check out the ArgentDandelion Ko-Fi and Patreon.
#Undertale#Meta#Analysis#Mettaton#Mettaton NEO#Undertale Genocide Route#Genocide Route#Essays#Post Series#The True Power of NEO
27 notes
·
View notes
Text
Epiphany (Gifts sequel)
Word Count:14.5K
Trigger warnings: Violence, strong language , yandere themes
Teaser :Epiphany is a moment of sudden and great revelation or realization.
Fate really have it twisted way of bringing two broken souls together, the said souls share the copy image view of the world not only mutual understanding but bring out the best in his other half , understand one another with the simplest move , love unconditionally and care for each other like there is no one but them.
Soulmate bond that unbroken, soulmate was a whole being divided by two , one soul in two separate bodies.
Korra found on him the companion that she was seeking all the time , someone who understands her no matter how massed up and fucked up she was , the later always understand her , someone who view the world just the same like he was seeing it through her own eyes, he was magical too and he brought a new purpose to her life , he saved her from the bottomless loneliness.
Tom found on her everything literally, a savior, a companion, someone like him with extraordinary abilities, she showed him how special he was , cared for him like a human being that he was, he felt gratitude for her first , he wanted to give back to her and protect her that feeling slowly developed to a youthful liking that took an expected turn to become an endless obsession that growth worse day by day.
He called it love and soulmate decided by fate.
She called it companionship of no more or less then best friend platonic love.
Korra laid down on her bed, no there bed now that her massed up besitie claimed it as theirs , he was taking a bath in the exact same water she just bathed into it.
She heard him humming a song that she always listen to when she was working and she let her mind roam for a second debating if he always did that in his time in the prison , she though that leaving him there will help him realize that she doesn't have romantic feeling toward him , the only emotions her heart hold for him was platonic one .
But unfortunately it did not help at all, it made him believe she was either :
A)giving him time out as a punishment of not telling her he was Lord Voldemort and not making her involved in the purge as her right for being his soulmate
B) transferring there relationship to the state of long distance one to taste his ability for it which he proved to be idealist one
Even direct method of communication like talking her feeling toward him to make it loud and clear made the latter believe she was denying her feeling and too afraid to let herself being loved and love someone , loving her soulmate, he claimed that she have Philophobia .
He called himself her medicine that will cure her of that phobia.
She sighed making herself in the fetus position , as she deeply analyzed trying to see from when and where he started loving her and having that 'we are soulmate' delusion .
Usually adolescence start having crushes around fourteen years old the average age where puberty happen , the awkward stage of leaving the childhood and entering the mystery land of teenage years that will be the gate to adulthood the current state of which both of them where now , they are doomed to stay in it for evermore .
"Fucking horcruxes" Korra scowled her tone dripping loath for whoever had a hand in letting him know about it , she never felt the desire to rip one throat with her bare teeth or the desire to curse him down with all the unforgivable curses respectfully in sequence .
In her fetus position she froze down at the idea, at the train of thought and where it landed her.
She was thinking just like him, the ill intention to cause harm and unmentionable thing to an innocent.
Maybe just maybe they were .... alike?
‘No...I am not the same as someone who
torment ,kill and destroy pure people life .’
She buried her face in the pillow deeper , letting the soft cushion consume all of her face , needed to let it block her though
How dare she let herself to even think they were the same?
Next thing she knew that she would believe that they were product of fate design, the two shards of the same entity... soulmates.
Whoever said that one mind can be it worse enemy is truly man of wisdom.
Even if the said wisdom applies to her right now, it's a sword with two different blades, her ally and her foe.
She could use it as weapon if she played her cards right.
She can be free in no time and she could run away from him if she pretended that his ' treatment ' is curing her of her blindness of the indisputable truth.
'and then when he see I view him as a soulmate, I will run away when he give me freedom, when he trust me blindly '
Her mind was being her ally right now , Lady luck was on her side , her lady hope persona may lost the battle but there is war left , there is fire left on her that didn't die .
The door of the bathroom slightly opened leaving a crack that let the steam escape and the scented candles with lavender to spread into the air.
And his humming stopped.
"Korra dear? Is everything alright there?" His voice was worried with no other trace of emotion there, just filled with worry.
"Yes Tom, everything is right, did something happened?" She matched his voice.
The crack spread more allowing for his wet head to be seen, and that smile to be fully displayed on it glory ,"it just that I heard you saying, " he paused for a few seconds allowing himself to perfectly mimic her words like a passage of speech from president himself.
"Fucking horcruxes" his smiled forsaken for a smirk .
"Darling you can't ..have an intercourse of that type with a container ...but if you feel...."
Korra who's face exploded with red had avoided eye contact with him and rushed to cut his sentence.
"No! I..don't want that ..."
He chuckled softly , like she made an inside joke .
"I know you don't want it ....now ....you are just saving yourself up for our wedding"
His eyes had hunger look into them as he slowly closed the door.
Leaving her a mess of red and heat, while he returned to his humming that followed by more tone of euphoric.
She really needed to get out of that place.
As a mocking from fate her eyes landed on the pillow form the living room, she didn't know why it was there but the writing on it mocked her
{HOME SWEET HOME}
It's like a butcher welcoming a livestock before ending them for good.
She stepped out of the bed, but remembered the masks, she looked at them.
Lord Voldemort persona was staring at her with unforgiving stare promising chaos to whoever breathed an insult directly or indirectly to her or him, to any and every no magical human to make them existent from the word of living.
Her eyes drafted slightly to the right.
Lady Hope is antonym of her counterpart, her eyes brought mercy and hope to the suffering survivors, a reminder of the light side that still exist.
Anyone in their right mind will see that they were the opposite, foes made to destroy one another.
Light vs dark in their form of materialistic.
But not to him of course.
Tom Marvalo Riddle was soaking wet in the bathtub
He couldn't help but to feel rush of adrenalin through his vines.
That smirk was still in his lips.
The masks were even more proof of their love.
Lord Voldemort destroy the enemy while Lady Hope cure the falling of their side both mentally and physically like the ancient Yin and Yang, one can cease to exist without the other, they need each other to survive.
Why she was so confused and misguided by those muggles ?
His teeth chatting and his jaw clinched.
The rotten muggles made her filthy .
How dare they firstly to drive her away from her world that rightfully belong to her by their nasty spawn of Satan that doesn't have the ghost of claim to magic that preserved only for pureblood no they stole magic from them no claiming to claim something is to have an ownership right for it ,secondly they made her live among them doing low job that barley cover the bills ?
In infuriating he ran his hands through his long hairlines, he recalled that she would return them to their original length just the same length she putted will he did what he always does, impressive her.
He breathed in more of that scented smell of lavender, he noted to himself that in the manor he bought for them and just them he will grow lavender in the garden and more lovely flowers so when she walk the pathway it always have a scent she liked.
He has millions and more scenarios of their eternal life together, he had one year of isolation to plan it and write it down on the diary, even living them in his slumber.
He heard the sound of a door opening and he was half expecting that she will be joining him, he embraced himself to feel her body heat against his and move his body to the side of the bathtub making space for her and he moved a finger and music began a pleasing song filled the atmosphere but the bathroom door was not the one who opened that the bedroom one .
Korra was on the hallway , it was still Halloween night she called hear children screaming with enjoyment "trick or treat", she looked at the window and saw youngsters wearing cosplays of their favorite characters even that one of them even wore a suit and claimed to be bodyguard for his sister that wore a simple regular custom resemble modern princess. she got an instant flashback at the sign of the two.
It was Tom first year Halloween with her and she wanted to give him as normal childhood as someone like him called.
Blaz was waiting for them at the living room to get ready for the ancient act of trick and treat.
"Are you sure you want to be wearing suit? I don't mind it but it's your choice " he simply nods and flashed her a lovely smile.
"Yes bestie, I am really sure also I read in a book that cliché is overrated so why not use something new?" The boy that too mature for his age said , Korra theorized that his suffering and tormenting that he faced in the orphanage led him to be this developed in his mind but they say that trauma build the character ,it's a sacrifice of innocent for the gain of knowledge.
Korra left him to change to her custom in her room .
the boy mentally scolded, he never liked this 'Blaz' , but for her he will pretend that he tolerate him until he find the perfect method to get him to leave them alone .he looked at himself on the mirror .the reflection showed his dark hair gracing his childhood feathers and his dark eyes matched the occasion and the suit that he insist on wearing will give an effect on anyone to not talk down to him.
After couple of minutes Korra come back wearing regular clothes that was not addressing the holiday at all, he extended his hand to her like a young gentleman , korra though he was being in the character so she took his hand into hers and they wordlessly went downstairs to join Blaz .
The man jumped to his feet from seeing that she was not dress up and he was wearing skeleton custom .
"You...you didn't dress up?" Blaz voice filled with disappointment as his eyes traveled between his custom and her regular everyday clothes .
She shrugged "I am going in as a background character they don't dress shiny like the protagonist and antagonist, just normal to blend in" she took a good look at his custom and an idea popped into her head ." I can be the previous you ... Living just before death" Tom hand on her squeeze and he bite his lips making them thin line, just the idea of losing her to death was unbearable , he hated how death means separation of loved one, in his orphanage days he was starved out of love and caring that he craved so frantically, just because he was different than others doesn't mean he didn't yearn for his basic human right of emotional containing.
That made him attached to her as she was the sole survivor with him after the apocalypse.
"And Tom? let me guess a high lord of a previous lifetime?" Blaz voice may come as cheery for others but to him it's as irritating as sharp nails on a chalkboard. He just couldn't wait to get him out of the picture.
It took Tom a maximum of five seconds to put his fake tolerance for Blaz to display. His vocal was so calm and soft as his dark eyes held warmth of the sun in a winter morning
"You can say so , but in fact I am korra's bodyguard...she may say she's a background character for someone story but for me she’s the heroine in my book" his eyes captivated with real emotions of gratefulness as he continues with charming tone ." She's my savior" with a kiss on her hand he finished.
"Tom....that’s too much .... You are too much of a true gentleman now " Korra who can't remember the last time someone made positive remark on her maybe it was when she worked in the ministry when Jonathan Morgenstern an aurora made a mistake of practicing magic to let out a fire when he was camping during his vacation unaware of unwanted attention of a muggle who was hiking which led the wizard to ask the ministry to send an obliviter to fix his undone, he called her in a friendly comment a light giver due after obliviating the muggle she didn't forget to bring with her a light to help him start a bonfire.
That nickname become her code name after the accident .
"No bestie I am telling the truth....is that a tear?" Indeed she had a silent tear on her eyelids , "yes, something went into my eyes I think it was an eyelash" she was not lying completely since one was on her eyes and she had a tear because of the impact pf his words on her , it was fate giving her a merciful look.
"Let me rub it out for you" before she can protest he reach out his hand that she knelt to his head level allowing him to get the stubbornly eyelash for her but instead of dismissing it with his hand the boy put it on his hand palm .
"Bestie what are you doing?" Korra was concerned that he will practice magic Infront of Blaz.
"It's a saying in a folklore that if you put an eyelash on your hand and made a wish it will become true , come one bestie make a wish for me"
The woman mumbled lowly out of Blaz earshot but in Tom's one "I wish that we will stay best friends forever " and then she bellowed.
-----
When they walked from house to house that was decorated for the night of the mythical creatures, enjoying the peaceful night without any accident until one that nearly ruining the night for them had happened .
They were walking to the last house of the night when the one responded to the door ball was an obese man with his double chin and obvious vines that was nearly everywhere and his smell was straight out of butcher as he smelled of livestock fat and tissues , his eyes was too inside of him that he had to widen them to get great view opened the door.
"Trick or treat" Tom said as he felt the weight of his bag full of sweets from the night .
The man that awfully reminded anyone looking at him of a pig grinned as he looked above and behind Tom shoulders to Korra, his hands around the glass bowl he was holding tightened while colors of deep red exploded on his face he licked his lips as saliva escaped his mouth .
"Oh dear lord knows I don't mind trick ...private trick from her " his tone heavy with unmistakable lust as he made clear with his eyes what type of tricks he seek from her .
Blaz didn't get the time to respond to the direct verbal sexual harassment when it happened.
The bowl in the human pig hands exploded candies falling like tiny rain of child dream on the small area between them ,shards of glass entering the man body piercing his skin do deep that it surprised Blaz with how deep the shards buried into the man that they disappeared in him like pins hanging on a jacket not a living body , but that didn't shock Blaz more than the fact that in nothing but a miracle when the bowl exploded a wind blowing from behind them protected them from the shards .
The pigman face was stuck on shook as he shaking tried to take out the shards with his fat fingers but in pointless efforts he failed , then his eyes widened even more that it was semi cartoonist as his bloody hands went to the place his heart was and it looked like he was having a heart attack but in fast and extremely misery and just like a pig he made a final cry that literally sounded like the said animal and he dropped dead.
What happened after it was the classic of making sure that Tom was fine as the later took the opportunity to hug her and bury his face into her claiming to be shocked by the tragic and trauma death that happened before his innocent child eyes, as Blaz dialed the police and ambulance informing them of the accident ,Tom was glad that the hug give him the cover for that dark grin on his face . He was wearing the suit suitable for a bodyguard...savior his extraordinary abilities helped him to live as the role ...her savior and not just for one night for all their life together.
Korra was back to the present time with feeling of his arms around her torso and hot breath on her ears as he whispered" do you remember that night? That pig of a man ...?" The edge of his voice was merciless ,his arms stiffed but didn't feel like the force that will case a break more like borderline feeling of a snake closing itself around her waist in a light hug .
"Now that I think about it his death was....easy , I should have tortured him more , by that time I didn't realize the disturbing truth of his words I thought it was just trying to make you do a trick without me , I got this feeling of heavy burn inside me and then you saw what happened, if that happened now... " Still he didn't press harder on her torso but his chin rested on her shoulder and she saw scarlet on his orbs , mad with rage at the mere thought of dead man. his eyes softened when he saw that she was looking at his reflection.
"Sorry love for that " he let her go only to take her hand and led her to the bedroom where a scissor lied on the table waiting to be used , a faint glow on the edge told her it was magical enchanted just like everything else in the house .he sat on at the chair and she knew what he wanted , that damn hair.
She realized a sign if she wanted to gain his trust and escape to the ministry of magic she will have to play the role .
----
"I am never a chief but at least let's try it"
He made for them a dish that she didn't bother to look at it but when he sat the plate to her with a wave of his hands she saw it was a simple parmesan chicken .
"Bone Appetit" he said as they began their meal, Korra found it mystery how he was still having a appetite after ordering Nagini to eat the shop owner but again that was just a drop of the black sea of his mistakes that she wanted to fix, she refused to accept the fact that her bestie is now someone that obsessed with her and claim it as love , for a second she paused as she realize that it was love and she knew it but he have his way of showing it that made the line between friendship and romantic relationship to be questionable.
She forced herself to eat not wanting to know what he will do if she didn't.
Being done eating he waved again but this time the dishes disappeared in favor of bottle of wine and two glasses.
"A toast for our eternity together" he raised his glasses and she knew that she have to do her part of the tradition.
"For our eternity" 'until I escape to the ministry ' and there was nothing but the sound of their glasses cracking .
----
They were laying on the bed with a book on her lap as she was reading and he was following making comments on how the characters were predictable and nothing new happen.
As if he's complaining was a cue an owl dropped a letter to his lap.
He led go of the hand that was holding his before flashing her an apologetic smile and opened the letter.
{Done} with no sender information at all.
Korra didn't remove her eyes away from the book "you are right they are so foreseeable" he kissed her head ,"I love when you admit I am right ....maybe that's will make you see how deeply I am willing to go for you , purging the wizarding society is just a tip of what I am capable of and how far I will go for you" his voice was one of those who have a sugar rush .
"Muggles need us the same way we need them..."she firmly said ,he took a deep breath "we don't need them at all, they can't use magic to safe one of their loved one dying or even to simply left an object ....they drove you away from where you truthy belong " his tone hold grudges as if he was born for it .
"I left because it became toxic with all the pureblood maniacs " he paused looking at her in disbelief.
She took at as signal to continue " I mean I know a lot of muggle born who are brilliant with a lot of potential unlike some purebloods who have squib in their family " she grinned falling victorious .
"The only reason for squib to happen is because a mudblood took the said squib , muggles are nothing but kelptomaniacs that need to be punished for the crime of taking what not belonging to them" that victory in her died at his reply, she knew that there is no point on keeping this conversation going.
"Five" he said with a silky voice .
In puzzling state of mind she looked at him .
There is no need to ask as he understood her without talking .
"Each single time you defend those low life of mudblood and muggles I will end five of them, the ratio will vary it can be five kids , five men, five elders , five women , a twin child and woman and two men , or to make the odd preferable five pregnant women so that bonus "
He said that with a teasing amount of causality like he was reading a newspaper .
"You can't do that....think about how Blaz will feel" a finger on her chin forced her to have eye contact with that flame of hell .
"Don't you dare to say any male name around me .... especially Blaz he was the worst , really he need to be learn to mind his own business and he had absolutely no respect for personal space " he silenced himself to collect air in his lungs.
"He was my secret keeper and you know what his death did , it was what made my existence return to the wizarding world " hint of regret was on her voice but she didn't take her eyes of his bluntly to keep that fact buried into his mind.
"You do realize that they have a shorter lifespan then us, why not choosing a wizard to be the secret keeper? “he was not complaining but did she really disliked to that level how toxic the situation of blood state was?
This time she avoided eye contact with him "it's felt the only way to truthy have nothing left to come back to that society"
What do they say about anyone who avoided eye contact when he in the middle of a conversation?, Clear sign of a lie .
He smugly grinned at the conclusion that she had something that will always connect her to the that world. He just needed to find it, he had that ambition that he wanted no, eager to clarify the fog of mystery surrendering his soulmate past.
"You know , lovely angel , you never told me about your time as a witch save being an obliviter I want to know facts like your magical state , what you did in Hogwarts ?, If you had any childhood friend or took solace in being friends with books?" He freed her chin of his finger to lean back to the head of the bed to observe every single move she makes.
She felt a knot in her throat, her past was nothing, but song of loneliness played with melody of tragedy. She was a love child of misfortune and loss,
"At a very young age I learned that nothing good last forever "
Her very first memory is this, It was her seventh birthday with her parents they were celebrating it in the forest surrender by a lot of creatures, her father holding her to reach a tree branch where a small nest had bird that was too shy to go and see what the world have to offer, "daddy he is so shy , he won't take the worm from me" her tiny voice hold disappointment, her father slowly lowered her back to the ground fearing that a rush will harm her , "sweet one , it's too early for him to step out of his safety shell to the outside " he kissed his daughter head.
Her mum was setting on a rug that they brought with them that on it their lunch and a simple cake for three , her skin glowed attractively in the sun light her brown hair gracefully freefall on her without any style to keep their beauty away.
The little girl walked to her mother that embraced her so tightly as she whispered to her "Happy birthday" her father who had black hair and heterochromia eyes , one was grey the other hazel, he was watching the scene with butterflies on his stomach, how lucky he is to get both a beautiful wife and lovely daughter it was so contiguous euphoric like a scene a painted by an artist of what the first minutes in heaven like.
The girl remembered a trick she can do but it required a baby animal such as a bunny or hare .
"Mommy , daddy I am going to show you something really cool just wait for me"
Her mother had a book in her lap and her father laid down looking at the clouds telling his wife the shapes they remind him off , her mother extracted her wand from her pocket.
"Expecto Patronum" from her wand busted a silver ghostly runespoor, it's three head tall with pride and in that sunlight it give him a glow of grace .
"I will protect you " it was awkward to hear her mom voice from the Patronus but she got used to it from the second time , Patronus are meant to be guardians even companions for the lonely souls, never she felt the intense feeling of her blood turning ice on her vines from the terror of the runespoor Infront of her , she found him comfortable and favorable to have around when her parents where working, call it a questionable choice of babysitter but the three head serpent was her only friend ,they were living on a shack in the forest it was not fancy neither in poor condition but perfect for the small family with no civilian only for a small town that was miles away what was it name? Little Hangleton.
It's a small town actually with nothing of interest, the family lived in peace away from the anything that was civilian, self-sustaining themselves form the little garden they have and a nearby river. They had jobs small one in the town enough to get them by and never to let them feel short hand and waiting from pay check to another .
It's was all so peaceful and paradise like.
It was too good to be truth, too good to be left without darkness tinting it .
Korra went deeper to that forest not lost due to the the patronus keeping a clever watch and map of the soul to its caster ,when she didn't only find a bunny but a wounded child around eight years old .
"You don't look so good " she draw closer to him , now that she was closer she took a good look at him , curly platinum hair and strange purple eyes , albino?, And a gashes covering his body he was bleeding heavily.
"I am on my way " again the patronus spook with that voice .
"What happened to you?" Her curiosity was over the roof .
"I...I was attacked by a wild creature I don't remember it's shape it was fast...so fast and brutal he left me to die as you see “the child spook with wary voice .
"My mom is coming to help, my name is Korra" all what she can do is to speak to him to keep him awake.
"Nice name for a nice child, mine is Godric, tell you what we are going to be friends , actually we already are "he give her a little smile as his lips managed to part.
The girl eyes widened , "friends ?, Really ...I have no friends like living flesh and bone one" she didn't have any at all the town people didn't have any child as if they were so afraid to bring any to the world due to the economic crisis that was going on yet they give her parents looks she didn't understand and her looks of discomfort and pity but to finally have a friend it was an experience that she longed for , she read about it in books and always longed for someone to call a friend other than runespoor .
"Korra dear , step aside I want to aid the child " her mom took out her wand and the tip of her wand touched the child body.
In a blink of eye, a heartbeat ,the boy vanished , long gone his aurban locks and purple eyes , now standing on all four a creature of darkness and eyes of the devil , lava like eyes glowing with bleeding red , and his voice bottomless hole it must be what an vengeance will be like if it had a voice , his teeth so sharp it was surprise it didn't cut that long tongue .
"I knew I will find a Huffman here ...not one but two my dark lord Grindelwald will be so pleased " he snicker , her mom come in front of her shielding her .
"Go and tell your lord that he can make love to himself that all I care about " her wand never left her hand as she throws a hex at him , he judge with a jump upwards , it was thing of wonder how a being of that mass is able to move with such agility and in a blink of eye landed behind them , the patronus sprinted attacking at the same time that her mother made a protection charm to her daughter not caring for her safety , the creature went invisible the same minute the patronus hit him and dismissing into thin air .
"We are friends korra just you and your mommy come with me to the dark lord" he mocked ,voice coming from everywhere and nowhere .
"Think about what your place will be with my Lord , your daughter too, you are wasting away all your potential and abilities here " a shift in the branch of nearby tree made her mother send a hex at it .
The jinx hit the tree with but no monster was on it .
It was right next to her child, who was shaking .
'f....friend .monster. They do this...trying to kidnapped their friend to a bad guy....I don't want that '
Her daughter magic core what in chaos and the aura around it growing viciously , repealing against the protection charm , creating an orb of gray cocoon .
Her mother was torn between keeping her daughter save and calming her and defeating the monster.
The creature open his mouth so wide but it was not the teeth to be terrified off, it's spitted a texture liquid and sticky it rained from his mouth like riddle of bullets at them , but before it can touch any one of them it froze .
His body abruptly vibrated brutally , and like a fireworks it explode .
Korra magic murdered him.
Her mother was caught off guard, her daughter was more powerful then she thought she need to learn to stabilize that magic before wrong hand find her .
She rushed to her hugging her , " I am so sorry you had to witness that, so sorry for what happened , you are alright right ?" She briefly scanned her daughter, wide teary eyes, and shock on her face.
"Mom is that what friend do..." It was not a question, a broken statement.
"No.....they do this " the monster voice raged again with a tone that will hunt her for the rest of her life .
Her mom eyes froze when she realized what the creature actually was .... It was ultio.
Ultio was the worst ever, it should never ever be killed, once he is dead, he literally brings his murderer down with him to the grave.
There was only one way to survive.
"I love you " she kissed her daughter check and hugged her so tightly shielding her from what was happening .
She heard to sound of blood spilled and tissues of body ripped off as the creature killed her mom and was gone with her.
One Huffman was gone , another shocked to the core .
Her mother sacrifice made the girl to be invincible and untouched by any dark force.
Her father grows worried from not seeing anyone return as he felt heavy silence, even the birds were silent, he just woke up from a nap.
"Love, Korra??" The cake and food were left untouched, again no answer.
He felt string leading him forward to the deeper part of the forest.
The deeper he got the more the lack of sound become ominous.
Until he saw the scenery.
A bony body hugging a frozen bloody living one , and the hair covering the girl become red with blood .
He lost it.
-----
"Daddy I am so sorry...I wanted to show you and me....why aren’t you looking at me?" Her father was gone in his mentally and it had been days since that cursed day, be barley ate , slept that was when he was home , when he was not he drowned himself in work ,locked the house on his daughter who desperately needed someone to calm her from all the mental attacks she have , there was no runespoor anymore to keep her company, no friend , not a soul but her and his dad who is mentally dead ,refusing to accept it , part of him died with his wife he couldn't bear to look at his daughter she was the spilling image of his late wife, not acknowledge her , like she died with her mother.
For four years she didn't hear her father voice at all, just crying and ugly whining.
She never spoke during that four years at all , so when an owl appeared dropping a letter of acceptance to Hogwarts ,like a robot her father moved his eyes hallow and took her to get her things for the school .
---
Now they were at the train express , families where hugging their children goodbye promising to exchange letters , her father gaze to the unseen as he just waved goodbye.
She didn't bother to wave back at all.
"Salvatore ,Korra Salvatore" the sorting hit said her name , she walked toward it ,not caring which house she will be into , the hat was putted on her head .
"You are unique one here, not many like you , I can name very few who share the same magical core like you ...I see intelligence and bookworm Ravenclaw will be great for you... But you are loyal and love fair play ...it's equal the traits of the two houses on you hmm it's difficult for you ...is that a trace of .... oh, my let it be ... Hufflepuff!" The said house clapped and giving her a warm welcome , she didn't feel a string even when curious eyes looked at her wondering what the sorting hat was going to say as he cut himself off before announcing her house .
Time passes and she never gained any friend , she didn't want another Godric she wanted her mother back she wanted her father back from the dead , it's like she become orphan losing them both .
Soon even her house learned to leave her alone she was shut down of the world it's all black and grey no white that white left along with runespoor that patronus friend , she never spoke a word unless it's absolutely necessary and to cast a spell other time they thought that she was mute , but as more news come by about the dark lord and people more and more terrified, her sleep had a lot of nightmare surrounding by one word Grindelwald, what was that wizard and why he wanted her and her mother so badly ?, It's definitely have to be about her family from her mother side.
In one evening her mother made her promise that she will never ever tell anyone she was Huffman rather than she was a Salvatore from her father side , she didn't know why but she made that promise without asking .
Her father had no family at all, he was orphan didn't have a foster family.
Her mother never told her about her family or even if she has one .
Still the mystery around that Grindelwald and her family hunted her , she wanted answer and a book in the restricted section will contain the answer.
But all what she had to do is to one of the perfect students to be able to get access there.
So becoming teacher pet and bookworm she was her approach .around the time that her pairs where getting hormonal she was ignoring all the looks of admiration that she got from boys , she felt gross by it , no one will deny that she was beautiful .she never let herself feel the need to have a friend let alone lover .was she asexual aromatic? She didn't care at all to leave her heart open to anyone .
she found solace in the darkness , in the middle of the night one day she realized she was nyctophile , that was when a teacher asked randomly if a student preferred light or darkness more if they preferred sun time or moon time since that cursed day of her mother untimely passing and she avoided everything that reminded her of it , even light .she felt her light wither fading more into a grey one .
"Listen today lesson is about casting a Patronus " she temporary froze as if she was stunned by stupefy, the others didn't give her a mind .
"To conjure it you have to think of a memory that make you happy , feel you with joy " she felt sick on her stomach .
"Good job Felix of Slytherin. Your Patronus is a stage that quite amazing...Miss Salvatore you are next " Korra knew what will happen before hand , she rise her wound looking at her wand tip and said the spell, nothing at all not even a spark or pity excuse of smoke.
"Thing of a happy memories dear " then she doesn't recall what happened but when she come by her class was terrified and she was quickly dismissed of the class.
-----
It's he fourteen birthday, she was setting with a teacher in her office.
"I am so sorry for your loss dear , you must have been so close to him that his loss affected your magic that day" she felt her teacher words of condolences .
When she got that letter that day she didn't feel anything negative more like relief that her father joined her mother , at least he was happy there and content .
Not her , she never smiled at all , she looked to be more suitable to be Lady of darkness then light .
"......"
"I understand your grief I am here for you "
"He was dead long time ago" her tone was colder and lack the care.
She left her teacher stunned as she exists the room.
Korra was not completely unaware of her surrounding she just knew the elephant in the room when it comes to wizarding society was always blood state .
She was half blood , she didn't know about her mother blood state if she was pure or not , but it was unfair that a teacher will be extra careful marking muggle born and careless when marking pure blood, and the bullying was so unbearable for those muggle born , from calling them mudblood to physical beating .
It was unjustified at all, it had to be stopped no one was doing anything like it was the norm , even when a first year was being cornered by a pack of fourth years .
It's the harsh reality of that world, she told herself that she will try to make them say what they were doing was wrong but the only way for it was if she had a high position in the ministry of magic.
On her sixteen birthday she found the answer, the restricted section illuminated by her wand the light casted shadows in her face among with the darkness of the night made the scene to be out of a mystery movie , the book of about every magical family that existed.
'H for Huffman ' she found her family from her mother side .
'Huffman have a long and interested origin , they began in the early dawn of the magical history ,legend says this that a Huffman witch found an injured animal(tale varies about the animal type some says it's a dove , dire wolf, phoenix, cat or another animal ) on the blink of death ,no passerby spare the dying animal any glance , the Huffman witch who had heart of gold took the animal in and spend countless of night nursing it back to health in the expense of her what little of supply she had and time , once the animal is back healthy , the unexpected happened , it's turned out to be an divine being.
"Congrats dear witch , you are the only one who passed the test" the holy creature said his voice was so captivating and delightful.
The witch was catch up by the creature ethereal beauty and light .
"You and your entire bloodline will be blessed , you will have the full package, beauty , wealth , talents, abilities and luck, I have been testing witch community to see who will earn my blessing" the witch didn't approve or disapprove she tough that she died nursing the creature and this was her going through the afterlife ,but a light touch on her check told her it was real ."thanks but I was doing the right thing ", the angelic beamed.
"It's a gift ,pure lady ".
Korra couldn't finish reading the rest of the tale .
She just closed it , tears on her eyes and onerous in her stomach.
Her mother died because of a legend , and she knew that Grindelwald won't rest until he get a Huffman to join him but why he couldn't get another one or went on a hot pursue for them earlier ? If her bloodline was that of a jewel for a crown, why no one mentioned them earlier? What she believes will answer her questions have risen more questions than satisfied her.
She closed the book and returned to her dorm.
The next morning she found a ray of hope when she heard that Grindelwald was captured and for the first time since more than half her life she smiled and the words that lift her lips were one of kind .
"Fuck you Grindelwald" and a sea of shocked wizards and witches looked at her .
-----
When she graduated from Hogwarts she got a lot of work offers from everyone who had a high position in the society , the thing is she never learned how to use that 'blessed' side since her mother didn't tell her how to use it , the only thing that was default was the looks . She didn't care about wealth since she was not one to spend it on trivia things.
The only job she accepted was the obliviter position in the ministry of magic , she became obliviter for the hope to be promoted to higher position that will let her voice be heard about the racism unethical practice .
It's funny to be memory wiper when you are yourself hunted and broken by your past .
But as time process by and more years flew by that hope died on her , it transformer into dark void in the black hole of herself, they didn't care , they accepted the fact that it's written on stone , you see when generation rise a generation it's rise them on the previous learning that they got from the generation who risen them and the generation that is being risen will sink in the learning in like a sponge in its mindset and being risen to care more about blood state then potential is one of those things.
So it was no surprise when she quit her job and moved into muggle world .
She never realized just how lonely she was until one day when it was December and numerous people pass by congratulating each other for the upcoming Christmas , a child walked to her being so full of the spirit and congrats her for it .
"Lady, I hope you have a Joyful Christmas with your family and friends"
Friends....she had none she couldn't even conjure the spell that heavy emphasis on happy memories.
Friends were not for her , ' they either turn out to be server of the dark or one that prejudge so much ...they are risen like this ......risen wait ... Why not adopt one and mold him into a friend that is what I seek for , what I lost, who accept me for being who I am ?'
It was the only option she had , all the others was unfavorable as the old saying say beggars can't be choosers. Desperate time lead to desperate methods and outcomes.
Before she knew she was standing in front gates of wool's orphanage.
"And that lead us to where we are now, bestie " she dropped the last word like a spokesperson dropping the mic after victorious speech.
The dark lord was in utopia , it just couldn't get any better, every single peace for the puzzle fall together creating the perfect picture, fate really outdone herself in this love story it’s a masterpiece , he was broken by his past just like her ,he saw how the society was toxic ,they were half-bloods her family from her mother side was pure blood descended from the origin of Helga Hufflepuff his from mother side rooted from Salazar Slytherin , both of their fathers were unfortunately muggles , he will forgive fate for making them muggle , also they come from the same village, what a wonderful gift to have two decedent from two out of four now dead houses to be soulmates? it must be that their ancestors were one too, and that the great Salazar went mad when a muggle tried to take his other half away from him, it all fit perfectly fine, she was expert in advanced level of magic just like him , safe that she is so shy to show it off.
Korra knew from how she found his arms around her waist and his lips on her that his obsession have grown worse , she told him her entire background to give him window on herself a chance to let him see that she’s beginning to heal and see him as what he saw her, a step to her freedom.
so, when his kisses become more demanding and hungrier, she gives in.
----
its bright afternoon when his hand sneaked like spider legs from her back to rest at her shoulders and he printed a kiss on her cheeks before saying in nobbling words "love its time" she nearly dropped her calm facade, time for what? there weeding or to do the traditional purposing to her?, only one way to find out.
"what is it time for? Beloved one" she forced the words out of her lips, its worse than the fresh memory of that creature and its acid rain.
"to move to our new home" she looked at him like he was having a second face behind him , he adored every single expression she was making except the painful one , a pure lightness like her way not allowed to have a painful look, it's ruin that perfection on her esthetic face , he careless toyed with a hair lock , speaking about expression he was lately wondering about the type of faces she will be making from the gift he got for her.
"But our belongings, we can't leave them" ‘oh sweet angel you really are worried about muggles devices aren't you.’
"I took good care of them "
As they existed the place Korra with their luggage that was magical transformed to their new home , he just had to be extra dramatic and burn the house down, he smiled as he cut down the last string that pinned her to the muggle world, there was truthy no turning back now, not when the orphanage that they crossed by was with ear tearing screams of agony.
--------
The marble floor felt pleasing against her bare feet , in other life she showing more awe for that manor or mansion that was her new home ,every single detail was phenomenal , what is it with dark lord ,heir of Slytherin and incredible taste? , It's like she was in heaven.
Heaven..... No heaven was worth the price of one freedom and free will.
"I told you I can give you the world and more , here it is, just name the thing and in a snap of a finger it's yours" he purred seductively.
She had to remind herself to earn his trust to get a chance of that sweet freedom .
She run her finger to the outline of his sharp jawline and stood up on we toes the same way he was kneeling to her level , arms around her waist to give her access to his ear .
"I already have everything I want " her whisper send shiver to his spine and goosebumps to his skin .
"Precious one , you don't have the tinniest idea of what you are doing to me now " his dark eyes landed in hers as his thumb found her lips gently running to her upper one .
---
As she took a bath , it was out of blue , a lightbulb opened in her mind and then Epiphany happened , her heart nearly stopped when a sense of revelation washed on her .
He needed her more than air , his soulmate
She needed him her one true friend , obsessed and all but he understood her at the bottom of his heart.
Messed up relationship but fate granted her that wish.
They were part of each other that forever intertwined, tangled and become one.
Speaking about fate she wanted to know why her out of everyone had to be his....
A knock on the bathroom door made her flinch , the level of the water that was crowned with petals of rare flowers rose higher then it's container level.
"My lady I am so sorry to disturb you in your time of showring but he told me he have present for you " she was glad it was not Tom voice rather a house elf one ,if her memory serves her right she will safely recall the name of Delphine for the voice owner .
"It's alright Delphine thanks for telling me that" she knew that he send her to send curiosity in her to see him and know what is the present was, sneaky one isn't he, she got dressed he made sure that all of her wardrobe had luxuries clothes from every item manmade ,they had to be highest of the high end or else in his eyes it will not do her right, his wardrobe is not of a differ from hers , she settled for a simple yellow summer dress and a high socks to cover her knees , she will never wear anything short when he is in her radar.
"Precious one, you don't have the tinniest idea of what you are doing to me now "
his voice sink on her, she will never wear any short that exposes her skin, not that she was a fan of short clothes to begin with.
the marble floor welcomed her feet as the house elf led her to the garden, more accuracy one of the gardens. The ridiculous size of the land was as if it was a small country of its own and here is, he the man of the question standing and giving her a bow before claiming her hand and planting a kiss on it.
"I missed you"
"I was in the bath for twenty minutes, Riddle" his lips twisted.
"lovely angel, you don't have to remind me of the agonistic amount I was not around you" there is a lock for doors for a reason and it’s to keep the lovesick away.
she saw a box, its green color had yellow ribbons on its surface cycling it like a snake, even the house elf can tell why he chose those colors. His thumb flirt with her hand as he rubs on them, liking her body heat.
"I love the feeling of our skin together its feels right" and she longed to be contained but not like that, it’s wrong on all the right places, right on the wrong reasons.
"I am here for the present, curiosity is killing me" god by the time she escapes she will have a lifetime to spend on therapist and that therapist will need another one for himself after every session with her.
he give her a worried glance and his tone heavy with concern "my one, don't you say or suggest something like that ever again, I can’t live with the idea of losing you " she was not imagining the wet tear on his eyes , out of habit she put her hand wiping it out, out of nature he take that hand press it on his cheek before leading it to his lips and kissing it. with his extended long arm he retrieve the box, when she put distance between them he gesture for her to open it , and when she does she is captured by the present beauty.
Salazar Slytherin locket had never shined so brightly like it did in that light "you like it don't you?" her eyes had been captured by the locket and he took his sweet time glancing at every detail of her face, "its mesmerizing"
"just like you" lord have mercy, smooth one she will give him that
"turn around" he ordered.
she obeyed and his long thin fingers skillfully opened the lock and he putted it on her, it felt so right and marvelous.
"I have another present for you".
----
Azkaban eerie atmosphere screamed death and doom, it was home for him, forced to call it home after spending more than decade in it he felt strange link to it ,Grinderwarld face has aged but his feathers was still identifiable as what he was. A dark lord.
memories of his region of terror hang beyond his inner mind, his goals of making wizards and witches a superior to muggles as if it supposed to be, his only key to make that noble dream to come true lay no other than Huffman's ,this unique and sacred bloodline have unimaginable powers that no warlock or the darkest wizards could even dream off, but the dispute pose within that they are cleverly vanished from the history like they were a myth, a fragment of one imagination or even made up legend of a story to be told in a lazy winter night to children.
when he finally discovered how they managed to remain under the radar he wanted to slap the back of his head in shame, a secret keeper that pass before death the secret of the bloodline existence to another secret keeper ,foxy way to disappear but it’s not safe from the short stick of the said secret keeper untimely death, this is how they returned to existence, all what left was to find only one of them to join him, he place off lots of his followers to different places in hope to catch a wind of one of them, the more time it took the deeper his desire turned deadly , forget deathly hollows ,Huffman were the real deal, soon his fascination turned into obsession ,its forbid him from resting until he got one Huffman into his army , no it didn't matter the age , gender or blood state of the said Huffman.
He have two different aims to fulfill , firstly to get Lady Macy Galen (Korra mom) as his wife and queen, secondly to make wizards superior, ever since he met her and all what he could think off was her, his time with her as her fellow student of Beauxbatons academy of magic and they could get a future that will be envied by others, all was good until she fall in love with that muggle , he went basilisk and nearly killed him if it was not for his best friend Dumboldore stopping him, Dumboldore who is now six feet under the dirt and dead ,just like Macy .
he felt a stub of pain in his chest at that though, he waited and longed for death to get him save out of this world to her, she will always hate what he become , cant she see it was all for her?, he become dark lord to get her to notice him, why did a muggle stole her from him, he will never forget his elation when he discovered she was a Huffman ,universe love to throw every single twist at him.
he heard two footsteps walking toward his cell, one was so light like bunny, the other was balanced like a model on runaway ,the two walked in symphony that if he didn't gain acute hearing from complete solitude he will mistake them as one. He felt a wave of magic consuming all of his sense and then when he come by he found himself pined to the wall of his cell with chains, Lord Voldemort himself was honoring him with his visit and he had a women with him ,two dark lords in the same cell and a light being trapped with them.
Grindelwald looked at the women and he froze, "Ma. Mancy you are alive?" he visited her grave even digger it himself and he felt the corpse, she was truly gone, that leave one possibility. "you are her daughter" he jabbered, "Huffman, blood and soul and everything in between " the falling dark lord cooed, not believing that his dream walked to him literally. "yes she is , and keep that dirty toughs to yourself or else you want to test crucia on you " never Grinderwarld felt that the other was using legilimency on him, he didn't even make eye contact at him or felt him invading his mind, he was as good as the rumors had him to be.
"on what honor you two are visiting me for?"
it was kora who spoke "answers ", he noticed that Voldemort had his hands on her waist a clear sign of relationship and saying that she was his ,he couldn’t help but to imagine him in the other position and the daughter as her mother, it will be flawless world to make that imagination see the light , Voldemort growled and then there was nothing but the feeling of his bones turning dust through unmistakable penalty of the crime of imagination, he was being cruciaed .
he didn't know the duration of it but when it was over he found himself on the cold floor and panting like a thirsty dog, “hope that enough to make you cooperative " Voldemort voice white noise compare to the main attraction of the Huffman.
"Tom , the sooner that I ask the questions the sooner that we get out of here , it’s depressing to be here" her tone was so sweet he wanted to hear every day, if only she was Mancy,"as you wish love , I don't have a string of like in my heart for a lich like him" the gentle manner that he was speaking to her was of one of those movies about purest form of love.
"firstly, why starting the entire regain and why my bloodline of every other, I know of the powers but still get a life "
"my life ended with your mother death, I tried to commit suicide on her grave holding her corpse, but the auroras found me and now I am here “she was stunned by his answer.
"didn't anyone tell you that you are creepy obsessive lovesick specie? “he chuckled, her mother told him that a lot, but he was being her soulmate and where is the crime to love your soulmate?
"darling, do you mean me?" Voldemort asked not being sure if she was speaking to him or the falling.
"no , Tom you are my soulmate “she had to fight off the urge to choke herself , he was her bestie not lover.it had magic on him as he kissed her lips quickly .Grindelwald smirked "you don't know about the rest of the story of your bloodline do you?", a sense of dread fall on her heart , his tone had no good news on it ,he took the silence as his que to answer, “the brighter your light shine, the darker your shadow become, your bloodline have a quirk that no one will wish for on their worst enemies , to attract darkness to you , to make dark lords desire only you, yes ..to have a soulmate of darkness obsessively over you "
there is it, that cursed word that doomed her from the dawn of time, the word that awaken the devil himself that was Tom Marvalo Riddle,the delusion that in a twist of fate become truth , become her reality.
"even you know that me and her are soulmate its must to be one of kind bond that others envy us for" Tom arms caged her waist even more , "but still I can’t alter my mind of your fate " Grindelwald felt confused by Voldemort words.
before Tom could do the signature move himself korra pointed a finger at the gray-haired dark lord, infamous green light brushed from her finger illuminating the room with deadly green.
one dark lord was dead, the other having his body pressed against hers
----
"why are we in the chamber of secrets" she asked feeling a sense of raw confusion, “love , to meet the legacy that Salazar himself left as a prove that he will always love Helga at the extend of passing it to all the generation"
"a chamber that its only accessible through girls’ toilets, pervert" he laughed "I love that sense of humor of yours "
he hissed in parseltongue and the basilsilk merged in, with his eyes closed, “that it’s the legacy, touch it dear, its smooth right? but it’s no match to your skin" he flirted
indeed it was smooth and left pleasing feeling in her when she touched it ,but her mind was occupied by what she did to Grinderwarld, she didn't know what she was doing it’s like her body took matter into itself and acted up, she didn't know if it was part of the powers or not ,she had not felt that feeling of raw power before its felt so natural and deep within her soul , buries and left unattended until that moments its awaken itself .
music fall on her hearing and Tom bowed to her like a gentleman and then they danced there ,she had to act the part , after all there weeding is months from now and her only chance of escaping is the tradition of the groom leaving the bride for 24 hours that due there weeding, until then she will act , act , act until then.....
"he made the basilisk to be protector of her bloodline against mudbloods "his voice will be great for narrating any story, engaging anyone to it ,he span her and when her wrist found his , something magical happened .it come like streams of raw cosmic energy , ancient language that manifested itself within and settled there , a feeling of liquid ink of the stars themselves being written on their waists , when it was done its left words that was solid truth.
I can’t live without you
he hummed that song in relish and a long finger touched the words on her waist, it was so ghostly that his finger can be a breeze of air in a summer night ,she saw her counterpart on his waist the exact same words that can summarize there entire being.
-----
the manor felt oddly like something changed within it that matched her change , when they returned there were as always bowing death eaters to them and sentences of compliments as if both of them were a personified version of an answered prayer , till this day she couldn't get used to it , she found appreciation that he was born for the spotlight and she was born to shy away from it .
so, she failed to notice a follower mumbling to him words of approval of a delivery.
"why are we heading down?" she had never been to this part of the manor before in matter of fact she hasn’t seen all of it.
"It had failed to my attention that there is something I turned blind eye on and its should be done long time ago but you know ,my angel, that I was busy with a lot of important business to give that thing its attention" he bubbled hands holding her , leave it to him to give a speech that indirectly answer her. he loved to hear his voice, didn't he?
the door opened and what lies behind that closed door should stay behind it.
Tom riddle was being bonded by unseen robes to his rusty chair, it was not her Tom that she knew , it was the forty something version of him , what he will look like if he didn't do that deed ,if he was remind mortal and aged gracefully, his muggle father held there and completely helpless.
"why is he here?" it’s the only thing in her mind that buzzed louder then thunder.
"you mean dear, why is he still alive till now? don’t worry he won’t be" the senior made a gagging sound in response to his son assertion.
"ohh does my fool father have anything to say?, what a low life that carry made blood in his vines , a beetle that only purpose in life is to be lab genie for the wizards to test new research on" he paused for a minute to inhale a breath .
"you left my mother knowing that you are unworthy of her, she was larger than life and you were lower than the dirt" the senior again made a gag sound.
"Tom can you ungag him I want to know what he will say" she didn't care what the other will hay but she knew that her Tom will never stop talking if it was about his loathing for his father his grudge for him was undying , just like his obsession with her.
"as you wish, soulmate" with a lazy wave of his middle finger to his father, he could talk now, and the very first words were....
"Fuck you son"
what a classic, its run on the family, touché.
the junior giggled, " I am not interested on you, only in your bloodlust death, actually it’s her who should I fuck"
one thing that both of she and her father had in common, both had disgust look on them, she was glad that his attention was on his offspring and the later was glaring daggers at him to notice her greenish skin.
"now now don't you dare to get any idea of yourself in my position, you mud scam" the junior harshly said ,jealousy of something that never happened burning him, just when she tough that his condition couldn't get any worse.
"I will never think of a lady of the street like her in that way, I , who have the blood of Riddle in my vine , the heir to all ...ohhhhhh" his scream of agony nearly tore down his throat and korra found herself again in that rotten cell in Azkaban and the dead dark lord Grinderwarld dead eyes looking at her , empty with no light, he was in the afterlife now, but Crucio curse had one thing that its due to the miserable receiver, they cry sound exactly the same, that why in her mind both screams of Grinderwarld and Tom senior merge as one.
the junior sound as he stopped the curse brought her back to the present, "I am the hier of slytherine , blood of ancient pure blood run to my vine with magic you cannot imagine should end you, for this crimes, being mudblood , daring to think of marking my soulmate as yours and finally abounded my dear mother who died of a broken heart , you were never the man to stay there by her side when she needed you the most"
korra looked at the senior ,she was astonished to see the face two halves now, one for the for his father, the other for hers, she saw the similarities , both of them were never there for them leaving them to the dark , to suffer burdens that crashed them, there innocent is gone.
she felt wave of void consuming her, "kill him, he is waste of space " she was hissing, the senior looked at her as if she was the bogyman of his nightmare, Grim the ripper come for his soul.
"love!! you are truthy amazing aren't you, the reason why I remembered him was when I visited my mother grave that day and your too"
that glorious green light showed up and her father died again.
-----
its white and wonderful, her dream was miracle of light, pure in it natural form, if it not for that old man of infamous long beard and half-moon shaped glasses. They stared at each other for a very long time before he began.
"Korra Huffman or Lady Hope, I am quite disappointed in you" no hello?
"why?"
"you are literally the only one who could stop him, the prophecy was fraud to get you some time to act and be Lady Hope, he only answers to you, his soulmate"
"I am traying to bid my chance, but it is getting worse, he even threatened to kill five muggles each time I defend them" at her answer Dumboldore shrugged.
"it’s for the greater good, there death among Harry and Neville just like your mom"
time froze in that dream if that possible and so her mind, did he just....
"you are the one behind the certain, the one who send Ultio, but why"
Dumboldore began his speech and his task of explaining his deed.
"you believe in the butterfly effect don't you?, I know about your bloodline, I know that my Grinderwarld only weakness was your mother, his soulmate ,he only cared about her, I know about the quirk of your bloodline so I did that , I killed her by sending that Ultio, I know that your magic will act up killing him and triggering it all, then when she sacrificed herself Grinderwarld died with her so he tried to be physically dead to join her , and her death send your father to the state of numbness which made you what you are today so you could stop him, stop Voldemort make him see that killing muggles is wrong"
she shut down.
"YOU RUINED MY LIFE, DISTROYED ME WITH NO REPAIR, MADE MY LIFE LIVING HELL, MY PAST IS KILLING ME, MY PRESENT IS UNCHANGING, MY FUTURE IS DARK, ALLL FOR WHAT?"
Dumoldore didn't flich at her breakdown, he softly answered with voice clam and solid with no doubt even a hint of it.
"it’s for the greater good"
her mind showed her the alternative of the light lord action "if only you didn't do it I will never met him and he will never believe that we are soulmate, he will never be obsessed with me"
"oh dear child of light, it’s true, you are soulmates , there is no avoiding it , even if I didn't do what I did, he will still find you , still get you, even if he burned down the world to claim you from its ashes , there is no running from it, never"
"you are crazy you are just as dark as him, are you truthy in the light side?"
"yes, I died as I lived..."
"completely mad man"
"there was only one way to stop him, but you didn't take it that what disappoint me "
she woke up with cold sweat on her and her heartbeat so loud in her ears but it was nothing compared to her nightmare ,she found Riddle legs closing around her legs and his arms caging her torso ,like the symbol of his house he was embracing her in a snake like manner needing her body heat but it was more than the heat , she was in top of him so she felt it ,his heart beat matched hers in it racing he was still sleeping and he had heavy blush on him , she looked at him and his face was peaceful like he was light lord not the most darkest of them all if she didn't know she will be taken back by that face but again even the devil was once an angel, now cold blooded murderer, and so is Dumbledore.
she saw her waists and that words on them, in that state of mind all what she saw was the word (out) she really needed to get her nightmare out of her mind , so it’s no surprise when her nails scratch the word out .
again, and again, stronger with each turn.
'get out, get out, get out'
that nightmare is a new demon on her collection among with the epiphany of everything that had happened to her.
Where there is truly light side and dark side? she belonged to none, the light side forsaken her after its destroyed her, leaving her to be claimed by the dark side, sacrificing her like a lamb.
she smirked; she was going to show them wrath of the lamb.
her blood fall on his shirt.
-----
she was at the library with a book titled (all about soulmates) by a bitch of a witch that she didn't care about, she was now at the section of signs of a soulmate. ten ill signs.
1. You just know it.
'nope, but everyone said it'
2. They're your best friend.
' unfortunately, yes'
3. You feel a sense of calm when around them.
'before the storm, yes, I did feel calm around him when they lived at her house of the muggle world, now I still do because I am allergic to death eaters'
4. You have extreme empathy for them.
'it’s every Hufflepuff thing, it’s my thing to be empathic'
5. You respect each other.
'it’s true we do respect each other'
6. You balance each other out.
'he is the dark, I am the light'
7. You share the same life goals.
'to get rid of toxicity'
8. You challenge each other.
'Lord Voldemort and Lady Hope'
9. You can totally be yourself.
'yes, yes'
10. You fight for the relationship.
'w.....no comment'
why was she reading it? to feed the image that she was believing and feeling the bond, he was having a nosebleed there while pretending to read another book.
----
she was at the garden during that dreadful and 24 hours of being without him , yes she was completely without him for the very first time in forever, he left her to attend the last bit of touches before there weeding ,she was with both Regulus and Snape acting like her bodyguards.
Regulus was called back to do a final check on a package, that left her alone with Snape, he had that aura of hate around him and dead inside more and more.
so, it was not the wind that spat and snapped.
" die, die, die "
the dagger that he was hiding in his robes rose shiny silver dry and went down red and wet with her blood, she barley saw the light reflection and managed to judge nearly unscratched safe for a wound in her arms ,how does a tiny dagger cause sharp burning pain?.
"why you are alive when Lily is dead, I will make him feel what I felt when he killed her" he snapped voice echoing in the open space , he rise that wet dagger again but this time she was ready her survival instinct taken over her blocking everything ....even the stunting jinx that Regulus send to Snape.
"my lady I am so sorry let me check the wound " when both looked at it, it was healed not even a scar left.
that's the second sign of the said powers.
Regulus didn't question it , he just rose his wand and cast the lavation spell lifting up the body , when they walked back korra knew that her window of opportunity is gone , if she run now he will kill every single muggle till she return to him or find her , burn villages down, do unspeakable things to people, but there was another chance it was named Regulus Black.
------
she was wearing the wedding dress, she requested no help in getting ready she didn't want anyone to see her nearly breaking down, Snape died in a horrifical and what left of his body was giving to werewolves to feast on, but she didn't feel sympathy for him. he got what he deserved, Regulus Black was immediately having the title of Tom right hand, so he was using it right now, to give her personally one last present before the weeding.
"you know that I like you a lot, if we met in a different circumstance, we will be ...."
Regulus said shyly looking down toying with the package that he left to take yesterday when the assaults happened.
"we will be f... friends or even siblings like" Korra said " you know Regulus you are too soft to be death eater, too kind to be a Slytherin, too humble to be a black" he blushed at her words.
" you mean I should be in your house? both of our houses are extremely loyal and curious, my lady but have our differences that shape us "
now his tone become warry.
"I will help you escape "
---------
The door opened and korra walked in her white dress to the aisle ,she was breathtaking beautiful ,even few witches looked at her in awe , her soulmate was in more than awe , envying his own luck with her , and then she stopped next to him .
" you are taking my breath away love, black is your color "korra told her soon to be her husband. The priest began the classical vows ordering both to repeat them.
------
She felt the silky texture of the fabric of the invisibility clock in her hand awfully reminding her of the basilisk skin but she shook that memory away as she sneaked out transporting herself to the second nearest ministry of magic beside the British one ,the Italian one, she couldn't risk to go to the British one since it was under his control, France one was too close so she choose the Italian, its ministry is as what she heard extremely kind so it’s her only chance.
when she settled in the minister office and by sheer luck, he was alone she removed the clock throwing it away in desperation to be seen. The poor mistier nearly had a heart attack but before he called say anything she spoke.
"please help me I want to be away from him"
he looked puzzled, like he couldn't understand her, so she switched to Italian her father native language.
"I want your help in shielding me from him "
"I know you .... Lady hope" hope is still alive, so naturally good deed is being rewarded,
"Yes, I am"
"you are my lord soulmate" not only it was in English, but it was a settlement that meant .... all hope is gone.
"m.....my Lord?"
"yes, my lady ....and my lord" he bowed, he was there right behind her, the smell pf blood hanged on the air.
his arms left wet mark on her shoulder as he settled them there and then that manic laugh echoed through that massive office, the sound waves come back to her ears from them it entered her body settling in her broken soul.
"you ,my soulmate ,wanted to personally see the extend of my control so much that you abounded our weeding for it making Regulus Polyjuice into you , he is dead now ,red his coffin ,I will give a hint all of the magical society in the world is mine , I am sorry ours a mate is an equal"
he spans her around facing him, facing red eyes of the devil, finger under her chin and he left her head to take a good look at his bloody suit.
"I am sorry Korra , the wedding must frightened you but you didn't want to break my heart so you send him as you "
he kissed her and she tested blood on his lips, he broke apart to laugh again that maniac psychotics laugh, it didn't have to be echo through anything as it directly invaded her soul.
"'and then when he see I view him as a soulmate, I will run away when he give me freedom, when he trust me blindly " he recited her though of that night that he escaped and got her , which meant...
"you were in my head but ...."
"how?, you see love , when I knew we were soulmate I didn't want it to be like another soulmate bond I wanted it to be more symbolic and unique so I took part of your soul and putted it in me and part of mine and putted it in you "
he toyed with her wrist before capturing them with one hand of his now his eyes returned that dark color.
"we are each other horcruxes" at her word he jumped in joy.
"yes , one of the things your shard did to me made me lucky in achieving it in a very short time , one of mine did to you is it made you parseltongue it was quite the romantic move when you spoke it to me ordering to kill my fool father when you hissed it at me and again you spoke it again in your sleep that day "
this is it , her mind being her enemy, so now epiphany happened what Dumbledore told her by that she couldn't use that only way to stop him, he meant to kill herself, but since their souls is forever intertwined as one, it’s impossible he won completely.
"now now, dear soulmate since you didn't do the weeding it’s time for those to pay the price of your defining me since there movies made you so blind to see that we are meant to be together, we are soulmate "
more than five muggles died that day, and he have won.
Lady hope is no more.
Trivia facts:
this actually started as a drabble discussing both OC and Tom’s relationship but it ended up as a sequel
Kindly leave comments and feedback , ask any question you would like me to answer, I am doing an ask event for gifts you can ask any character anything and I will answer as them.
27 notes
·
View notes
Photo
A Bend in the Stars - Rachel Barenbaum
In brief: Love. Science. War. Fear. Desperate journeys. Hope. Or: two Jewish siblings in Russia in the early years of the First World War, and where life takes them.
Full disclosure: This was a reading copy which I received through work, with the expectation that I would like it enough to review it and then order it for stock. I read it after the book was released, but I don’t think I would have read it without the ARC so I’m putting this in anyway.
Thoughts: I think Kate Quinn may have ruined me for historical fiction, because this is the third book in the genre I’ve picked up this year and they’ve all kind of been disappointments. And this one even got positive comparisons to The Alice Network on the cover, so it had me excited.
First off, apologies for the slightly odd summary. I decided to go for teasing the mood and themes than the plot because the plot’s hard to summarize without giving too much away. (Basically, though, Vanya’s trying to beat Einstein to the relativity equations, because he can use them to save his family, but he’s got to cross Russia to do that, and his sister Miri, a surgeon, has to deal with life without him but ends up on a cross-country journey of her own.) It’s a story full of high emotion of all kinds—except that I never quite felt it. Not when homes get raided, not when they reach destinations, not when they succeed or fail in their goals.
I liked the setting, though. Russia in 1914 isn’t something I’ve read before, and the trend in historical fiction right now seems to be for World War II, so it was interesting to read something different. Barenbaum captures the sense of it well, I think—winter forests, rotting fields, Jewish slums, war in the distance—and has done enough research to make it all seem believable and to round out her protagonists. I liked that there were so many central Jewish characters too and that their Jewishness is central to the story, same with Vanya’s and Miri’s professions of physicist and surgeon. They’re properly courageous too, and survivors, and familiar and relatable despite the historical gap.
At the same time, if you’re looking for a book steeped in Jewish faith and culture, this isn’t it. This is “people being heroic in wartime while also being Jewish” more than “Jewish people being heroic in wartime”, if that makes sense. You’re not going to find a lot of stereotypes or typical jobs in the main cast either, and even the matchmaker grandmother is shown as a community leader and a pogrom survivor instead of the local busybody. I get the sense that Barenbaum’s bringing known figures or events to life instead of writing a book about Jewish people, and I liked that.
I also liked that I learned things! I didn’t know about the Jewish hospitals, for instance, and there’s stuff about trains and physics and the army too. It’s an interesting window into and realization of history, and you do get a sense of the fear and oppression and beauty and hope of Russia even before the war starts.
Unfortunately, like I said, I found the writing a little less evocative than I’d hoped, so I ended up not connecting the characters much, and I found myself not caring so much about whether they succeeded, failed, or got reunited. There’s also a motif of superstition vs. science, which I wish had been taken a little further, and I had my usual problem with the frame story, which is that I generally don’t care for them.
In the end, this was interesting enough to hold my attention, but barely, and I’m not sure I’ll pick up another book of Barenbaum’s. Let’s hope my next historical read turns out to be more my speed.
To bear in mind: The characters face antisemitism, though it’s usually matter-of-fact, not violent, and something they’re just aware of and living with. There is also violence, including attempted sexual violence, misogyny, and war-created food shortages.
6.5/10
#books#book reviews#booklr#new releases#historical fiction#world war i#a bend in the stars#rachel barenbaum#russia#jewish fiction#read in 2019#adult booklr
11 notes
·
View notes
Text
Oklahoma! Holy Shit!
You know what, I’ll say it. This is a perfect revival.
Oh wow.
This is definitely one of those “run don’t walk to see it” kind of shows. I mean it. I’m honestly thinking of how I’m gonna see it again even though I just got home. Who would’a thought I’d love Oklahoma! so much?
I honestly and truly think this is a perfect revival. Daniel Fish took the text and the show and did something entirely new and entirely different with it, but it was still in theme with the show and worked. Like he didn’t just do a stripped down and thematically amped up Oklahoma! for the hell of it. He did it for a reason, he didn’t do anything so dramatically left field, like, for instance, staging Oklahoma! in space or something equally absurd, but instead made it more immersive and in tune with actual Oklahoma. He also made it incredibly relevant, or maybe Oklahoma! was relevant all along and we didn’t realize that with Hugh Jackman at the helm.
I guess there’s some spoilers in here, but not really cause it’s Oklahoma! and it’s been around for, well, a while.
I’m so tired of revivals that basically do the original production all over again. This is the most unpopular opinion to ever unpopular opinion but while Hello, Dolly! was a great time (Gavin Creel is an all time fav of mine), I wasn’t totally in love with it. It didn’t take a single risk. And that’s a revival at its best! And at its worst - I’m looking at you, Carousel - if it’s not a good lavish traditional revival and it doesn’t do anything with the material, then I’m not a fan.
Oklahoma! is one of the oldest and most well known musicals. I believe I read somewhere that it’s the first ever show to fully combine a story (or book scenes, I guess), songs and dance all together. I could be wrong, but my point is that Oklahoma! has essentially become a “school” musical. Every school has done it, even the fancy arts high school I went to that prides itself on doing “good” musicals. This could have gone very wrong very fast.
Instead, it was marvelous.
There are so many images in this show that are going to stick with me for a long, long time. This production was filled with so many powerful moments that I’d never ever expect.
I love what Daniel Fish has done with this show, or more like what Daniel Fish has brought out of this show that was already there. What I saw was a show about small town isolation and small town traditions that hurt everyone except the few who benefit and how dangerous and scary the male gaze can be. What I saw was a show about “us vs. them” and moral grey areas of group conviction. This was all there before Daniel Fish directed this show, but I never saw it.
This was actually a super frightening show. I felt on edge and super tense the entire time. I don’t think I’ve ever felt this way during a show before but the tension is hot in this show and everything about it feels dangerous, partly due to performances and partly due to lighting, which I’ll address separately.
The show itself takes place at a potluck in Oklahoma and it feels very modern and very fresh and very inviting. Much like how I feel during Sleep No More, I felt like I wasn’t in New York. I was at this potluck with these people and all the audience.
The house lights stayed on for the majority of the show, which made the moments when it was dark (and when it was dark it was really dark) more poignant. Brightness is akin to openness in this world and darkness is isolation and loneliness and things that can’t be said otherwise can be said here. Light is also used as feelings and emotion and the rich green light during “The Surrey with the Fringe” and that deep orange during “People Will Say We’re In Love” very much so showed just how in lust Laurey and Curly. Lust, not love. To be clear.
I never got the sense that Laurey was really in love with Curly, more that she was super attracted to him physically and he was the safer option in this town in Oklahoma where she’s going to have to marry somebody and she’s gonna have to be a farmer’s wife because that’s how things are and always will be there so it might as well be Curly. That’s what I got from Rebecca Naomi Jones’ phenomenal performance. Her Laurey is smart but also anxious and unhappy but sensible but also very, very scared. Her Laurey knew what her lot in life was before the show started but finally accepted it at the end of it. This is, by far, Jones’ best performance to date.
Curly, on the other hand, is doing what he’s doing because he can and because the town knows and loves him. And it’s so easy to love Curly, because Damon Daunno is Damon Daunno. He’s fantastic. He’s got such an interesting voice too. Someone at intermission said he reminded them of a peacock and I think I agree. His Curly was at ease when he was loved but desperate when he wasn’t.
Him and Rebecca Naomi Jones give really different performances of these two characters so it was really interesting to see that paired with Ali Stroker’s very classic very to the book performance as Ado Annie. Ali Stroker is and always will be wonderful in everything she’s in. Her performance paired really well with the others, by that I mean her very classic comedic Ado Annie was a good match for the more serious and intense moments of the show. What I’m saying is she’s great! She’s wonderful!
Mary Testa is a force to be reckoned with. I know Amber Gray is amazing in Hadestown (which I’m looking forward to see but not looking forward for that 5am rush line) but I’m ready to hand deliver Mary Testa a Tony Award for this performance. She commands the stage. She’s the moral authority and the backbone of the show. She’s hyperaware of everything and knows exactly how to fix things. Testa gave me the impression that she’s seen this all before. She gives off the impression that this is how it’s always been and always will be. She was hilarious but intense, all at once.
The person who really walked away with this show for me though was Patrick Vaill as Jud Fry. His was such a sensitive and quiet Jud who was also terrifying and left me pretty shaken at intermission. He spends a lot of Act One sitting in a chair in a corner looking absolutely devastated, which is gonna stick with me for a while. The look on his face was heartbreaking. And no one would look at him at all. Even his big Act One scene (which I’ll discuss later because I loved it) took place almost entirely in the dark. What Vaill does with Jud is pretty amazing because he’s created a sympathetic Jud but a Jud who is still a scary person. I felt for him but felt scared whenever he spoke. You could feel this profound pain about him that I wasn’t expecting at all.
And Jud Fry is where Daniel Fish really makes things interesting. A lot of the show becomes about how isolated Jud is from everyone and how literally no one in the town likes him. He’s incredibly lonely and the town very purposely wants him to fail.
But that doesn’t excuse his actions. He’s still Like That and he’s still scary and there’s a reason Laurey doesn’t feel safe around him. Fish makes you feel for Jud but he never ever excuses his actions. Likewise, Vaill makes Jud human and I get where he’s coming from but at the same time he’s let his circumstances make him a monster.
How Fish and Vaill interpreted Jud really stuck with me for a lot of reasons. The first and biggest being that I knew going in that Jud is the quote unquote villain of the show so seeing him in Act One during his song really put me in a weird headspace because I know that guy. I know a Jud and he has a name and a face I’ll never forget. Not to get too personal on a theatre review but a good friend of mine was killed by someone like Jud just last year. Someone who was isolated and often separate from any and all groups but he was only separate because he was mean and scary and loved guns. So seeing that person on stage and seeing the surrounding world really resonated with me. But I was able to distance the Jud Who Reminded Me Of A Boy I Knew In High School and Vaill’s very sensitive portrayal of Jud on stage, which led me to think more about how Jud is a bad guy, but so is Curly.
SPOILER but two scenes that really stuck with me are the Jud and Curly scene in Act One and the ending of the show.
The scene with Jud and Curly in the smokehouse talking about how people would like Jud more if he was dead was super interestingly staged. The two sit together and the lights go completely out and for a while we just hear them talk while sitting in the dark. But then we get this close up live video of Jud’s face projected onto the screen and he’s weeping just about the entire time and I thought this was so heartbreaking to watch. The scene itself is fascinating because it’s basically Curly telling Jud to kill himself - and with this staging it’s very much Curly’s dark side coming out and Jud’s human side becoming more apparent. This is the first time in the show we ever really hear about Jud from Jud himself, so the fact that we either don’t see him at all or see a very up close and personal live video of him (I think it’s nice that the actor who plays Will Parker is holding the camera in the two camera moments in the show. It made it seem like he picked up a camera during his time in Kansas City) is very intimate. Then afterwards with his song was really terrifying but expertly acted.
Then there’s that finale. Oh wow. That will stick with me for years to come. Watching Rebecca Naomi Jones scream the lyrics to Oklahoma while covered in blood is a gut wrenching image that shook me to my core. An even more blood covered Damon Daunno howling the lyrics while stamping his boots on the floor was something else entirely. The whole kangaroo court of it all with a steely Mary Testa doing what she has to do made my stomach churn. Just that whole cast screaming the song at the end was incredible to watch. The sheer rawness of it all and how primal and angry and scared it was. It felt relevant. I hate when people say a piece of theatre is “important” but this felt very important. I felt that anger and fear. I knew that anger and fear.
Has Oklahoma! always had such good book scenes? I feel like I haven’t seen a good book musical in ages and seeing this reminded me how good musicals can be for the person who loves plays. This whole production was completely haunting from start to finish, from the decades old material to the brand new direction.
Oh yeah, and the chili was delicious.
#oh geez this got reaaaallly long#damon daunno#Rebecca Naomi Jones#ali stroker#review#broadway#oklahoma!#voice
23 notes
·
View notes
Note
Aesop 29 or the Helmsman
(I’ve drawn his floating head a lot, so here’s him with his hood up, which I draw less) Also formal apology because I think like maybe no more than four people who follow me play Destiny, so a couple things may sound a little esoteric. I’d suggest checking out the Ishtar Collective (links to offsite) if I refer to something unfamiliar.
Full Name: Aesop-29
Gender and Sexuality: Male and Homosexual.
Pronouns: He/Him.
Ethnicity/Species: Exo, from the little crop of Destiny fancharacters that I have.
Birthplace and Birthdate: Unknown factor. But Aesop was found by his Ghost in the middle of nowhere, in a southwestern state that I have not chosen yet. Arizona, Texas, Colorado and Southern California are all candidates. Aesop has just a little bit of a Texan accent.
Guilty Pleasures: Aesop is trying to learn how to play guitar and is really bad at it, making him very shy and nervous about his attempts. Similarly, Aesop enjoys singing, but usually does it when no one else is around - because no one else has really heard him sing before, it is a well kept secret between him and his Ghost that he’s actually pretty good. I personally like to keep the list of music that he likes to the 50’s-60’s bracket to match the kind of retrofuturistic style that the Golden Age tech in Destiny has. We the viewer read it as being ‘old’, even if it’s much, MUCH older than we realize because the setting is far future. That’s really all that matters, that we recognize it as being antiquated. His favorite of the very small pool of albums he has access to are Marty Robbins’ “Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs” and Nancy Sinatra’s “Boots” and “Sugar”. Sojourn teases him about it and has thusly introduced him to the feeling of shame. He also likes drinking alcohol even if it doesn’t actually make him drunk. Sometimes he does it out of spite. Someone you don’t like? Pound his drink right in front of him and walk away.
Phobias: Aesop’s kinda agoraphobic - he feels trapped and panicked in enclosed areas with lots of people, can be overstimulated by large groups of people talking/making a lot of noise. This makes him mostly useless in large-scale conflicts. He has managed to curb some of this by being accompanied by Sojourn or Calico to areas or situations that are high risk (whether that means a combat scenario or just going to The City), but this can get squirrely because Calico doesn’t have a ghost anymore and if killed would die permanently, and Sojourn has a tendency to get worked up in a fight and leave him behind on accident. If everything goes well though, Aesop is perfectly functional fighting in the small group that is his fireteam - himself, Sojourn (exo warlock) and King (human titan). His ghost, Chanticleer, can also sometimes talk him down if he’s starting to spin up into a panic attack. It’s something that he wants to fix, but, existing within the confines of your anxiety is a cold comfort that he indulges in. In general, he’s a very anxious person with a lot of existential dread, but he puts on a clownish, brazen act and hopes people don’t notice.
What They Would Be Famous For: Honestly, probably something very mundane, like breaking a dopey Guinness-style record or something like that. The entire point of Aesop is that he is very average in his skills in a world of blisteringly powerful space wizards and the like. I find his challenges are more about what goals he sets for himself and if those goals conflict with the status quo. Does his worth need be defined by how good he is at killing things vs. is the pursuit of personal wellness and happiness selfish in the context of a world fighting for its survival. Can these things coexist. etc.
What They Would Get Arrested For: Probably something relatively benign done for the sake of pulling a dangerous stunt in the name of fun or looking cool. If he was a regular ass human in a normal modern setting, probably taking a nice vintage car for a joyride.
OC You Ship Them With: Aesop will have a love interest in the comic canon, but I’m gonna keep that under my hat for awhile yet. It’s not Cayde though, Cayde is dad. If Amanda Holliday was a man, he’d be utterly and entirely in love, but, alas. He’s still infatuated with her platonically though, and thinks she has pretty much the coolest job in the world. A promise of visiting her is a good way to entice him into going to The City.
OC Most Likely To Murder Them: When death is not a factor, this becomes less of an issue, hah. Aesop and his bff Sojourn have killed each other a number of times in training, to an almost nonchalant degree. Aesop has also been killed much more in training, by his fireteam’s resident titan, King. Aesop will also find a rival in a local Fallen pike gang, the leader of which has the placeholder name of Easy Rider. I also have a Cabal villain I am throwing around and trying to decide if they’ll stick, but I need to do a lot more work and research on that. They’re my least favorite enemy type mechanically, but I think they could make perfectly acceptable antagonists in a narrative.
Favorite Movie/Book Genre: Aesop does not read. He can, he just doesn’t. I think maybe, MAYBE, someone could get him to read comic books, but those aren’t very sturdy and I feel like the amount of intact physical copies at this point would be almost nothing. The pool of movies and media that he has available to him are very sparse, but he absolutely drowns himself in spaghetti westerns, and would probably also like trashy action movies if they were available to him. I also think he would like Grease, HAHA. It has cars and guys in leather jackets singing in it. He’d also probably like any kind of rustic, western themed musical. And anything with cars in it would have his immediate interest no matter how bad it is, but he’d zone out in any parts he doesn’t like.
Least Favorite Movie/Book Cliche: To be honest I think most of the time, movies are a little too long for him and lose his interest partway through. He has a really short attention span and anything too long, complicated or artsy will lose him and he’ll start being fidgety and chatty and start making his boredom everyone else’s problem. Even if there’s a movie he likes, if there’s a part that’s boring to him, he zones out. He probably watches the same 2-3 movies over and over again, which is fine because his available library of media is probably really small. I like to think that they probably have movies in some kind of archive that they put up publicly in The City every once in awhile, like they have a projector that puts it on the side of a building and people just bring chairs and shit. Aesop has an aforementioned fear of crowds but he probably does some hunter parkour bullshit and perches somewhere at a healthy distance to watch from afar, as long as it’s something he thinks he would like. If he doesn’t he gets up and leaves.
Talents and/or Powers: Aesop seems to have an interest in vehicles, but due to a bet with his mentor, Calico, he has not actually been taught how to drive a Sparrow and so pines for them from afar. As said, he’s learning how to play an instrument, and if we want to be technical, is a Gunslinger speced Hunter with the Golden Gun super. He is very bad at being stealthy, as he is very impatient and is also a little bigger than the average exo. He’s just kinda tall and wide and tends to clunk around. If his Ghost Chanticleer wasn’t as clever as she was, Aesop would probably be perma-dead by now.
Why Someone Might Love Them: He’s kind of a dumbass and a space cadet but has the potential to be very sweet, and the people he cares about, he latches on to really hard. Similarly, when set to a task he cares about, he does not quit. Unfortunately, many of his goals are unresolved, but it does not mean that he will stop trying. If he were to, say, become romantically interested in someone, he would go to great lengths to connect with him, even if it meant doing things Aesop himself may not like. In specific circumstances, Aesop may find that he has a great capacity for nurturing and bringing out the best in other people, a talent Aesop himself undervalues. Though he’s not all that intelligent, Aesop is very reflective and existentially inquisitive, and thinks about a lot of big picture stuff that other people might push aside in an era of crisis. Though he may not understand science or the way the world works in a mechanical sense, he is awed by it, and is a great appreciator of natural beauty. He’d cry at a particularly beautiful sunrise, if he could cry. I’d say he could be described as having a romantic soul.
Why Someone Might Hate Them: To be honest, Aesop has trouble establishing empathy with people he doesn’t know very well, and so is less invested in Earth’s plight than he probably should be (it would not be hard for Dead Orbit to sway him to their views). This makes some people think that he doesn’t take his charge seriously, and they also usually assume that he’s a slacker because he’s plateaued in his abilities so early. Really, Aesop is acutely socially anxious, can have panic attacks in large crowds, and generally prefers to stay away from The City unless he needs to go there, and so has a big emotional disconnect from it. Calico and Chanticleer have tried to get him more accustomed to groups, but has been thusfar mostly unsuccessful. His insecurity and anxiety also cause him to pull odd, dangerous stunts to prove his worth, making him unreliable and impulsive. He can bungle social interactions rather spectacularly, and is easily goaded into doing really stupid shit. Really, he is a person who may just be “too much” for some.
How They Change: Oooooghhh….I can’t talk about this. I forgot how frustrating it is to not be able to talk about things because you’re going to make a comic out of it. Suffice it to say he’s gonna change a lot.
Why You Love Them: I think Aesop encapsulates a lot of anxieties I have post-college. Aesop is a person in transition who is unsure of his future, knowing only that he can’t quit now, because quitting means failure and failure means death. Because he is in transition, he is anxious about forming relationships with people, worried that either he will be left behind by them, or that they won’t like him when he’s “finished” becoming a person. I think he has a complex relationship with his personhood and sense of self. I dunno, I think that’s an interesting anxiety for a protagonist to have. I am also interested to see what Aesop will end up contributing to his society/organization and his interpersonal relationships, and if he’ll be happy with it. I’ve put a lot of work into him, the ‘original Aesop’ I had in mind might as well be a completely different character now. Aesop was originally a little cameo that I did in our TTRPG game, Godslaughter, because my boyfriend had put a dunmer cameo character into our game and I wanted to return the favor. Then he made a sheet for him. Then I decided to keep him around, then I decided to play Destiny 2, then I decided I loved it, lol. There is still a version of Aesop in the TTRPG but he is so incredibly different, they may as well be different characters. We refer to him as “Bad Aesop” but should probably call him something more dignified (we won’t).
4 notes
·
View notes
Text
Henry Knox and Lucy Flucker Knox, part 1
Mini-summary of The Revolutionary War Lives and Letters of Lucy and Henry Knox by Phillip Hamilton.
Historian P. Hamilton has transcribed and published the approx.150 remaining letters between Henry Knox and Lucy Flucker Knox, his wife. Part of the Gilder Lehrman Collection, the letters most extensively cover the period 1776-1778, with a few more from 1779 and 1781. Hamilton notes that alongside the letters between John and Abigail Adams, the Knoxes letters to each other provide one of the few opportunities to observe a written dialogue between spouses during the revolutionary war period. If one wants to imagine the language in the letters Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton wrote her fiancé/husband, Lucy Flucker Knox's letters are a fantastic resource. There was only a year age difference between the women, and both grew up in established, wealthy families (Albany vs. Boston).
Henry Knox was born in 1750 in Boston. His father was a financially struggling shipmaster who sailed to the West Indies and died in 1759. With the additional deaths of his two oldest brothers, Henry had to abandon his formal education and support the family at an early age. He got a job as a clerk in a bookstore; with an interest in books on military science and artillery, he joined Boston's Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company in 1768. Hamilton (the author) describes him as, "ambitious, eager to rise above the hardships of his youth, and supremely confident in himself....he always dressed in the most elegant suits he could afford, and he remained fastidious about his appearance throughout his life." Henry lost two fingers on his left hand in a 1773 hunting accident, but concealed this injury throughout his life with a silk handkerchief.
In 1771, Knox opened his own bookstore, the "London Book-Store," possessing "a large and elegant assortment of the most modern Books in all branches of Literature, Arts and Sciences" according to an advertisement that year in the Boston Gazette. He regularly engaged his customers with discussions on the topics of the books within; he especially liked to discuss military science and engineering, but he also began to learn other languages and kept himself au courant with the knowledge and ideas of the day. As one can see, he was largely self-educated. He was also a "gentleman." After his bookstore was raided and destroyed by British soldiers, he nevertheless made the final 1000 pound payment for a shipment of books from London that he never received, out of his sense of propriety and duty.
Thomas Flucker Sr was the Royal Secretary for the Massachusetts Colony and a wealthy merchant who married Hannah Waldo, daughter of Brig. Gen Samuel Waldo*, in 1750. Lucy was born on August 2, 1756 (making her only a year and a few days older than Elizabeth Hamilton).
It's not certain when the teenage Lucy Flucker first laid eyes on Henry Knox - she may have seen him in military demonstrations or at the bookstore, but in 1773 she began spending so much time at his bookstore that a relative commented that it seemed she was courting him.
As Hamilton writes, "[t]wenty-three-year-old Henry Knox cut an impressive figure - physically large and fit, and officer in the city's elite militia company, and a witty and knowledgeable conversationalist on most subjects. Thus he seemed to be a dashing and attractive catch...Like most young couples in the mid-eighteenth century, love and physical attraction were increasingly important - indeed, vital - to a courtship's success...As [Lucy] most likely realized, the emotional and material quality of a woman's life was largely determined by the decisions she made during courtships. Therefore, beyond her obvious infatuation, Lucy surely considered Knox's ability to support her and any future children they might have together." Henry was industrious, ambitious, intelligent, and a gentleman - qualities that mattered more than being "well-bred." "Nor could [Henry] help but notice her family's lofty social position and considerable wealth..." Henry let Lucy take the lead in getting her father's consent to their marriage:
HK to Lucy Flucker, 7March1774
What news? Have you spoken to your father, or he to you upon the subject? ...I am in a state of anxiety, heretofore unknown. My only consolation is in you, and in order it should be well grounded permit me to beg two things of you with the greatest ardency. Never distrust my affection for you without the most rational and convincing proof. If you do not hear from me in a reasonable time do not lay it to my want of love, but want of opportunity; and do not, in consequence of such distrust, omit writing to me as often as possible. My love is, as it were, in its infancy. It will increase to youth, it will arrive at the most perfect manhood, it will grow with such a steady brightness that if the youth of both sexes do not esteem it their chiefest glory to come and light their tapers at it, want of discernment must be the reason...
Henry was 24 and Lucy was 17 at the time of their marriage on 23 June 1774, at Henry's house. Although her father had eventually consented (after encouragement from her other relatives), neither of her parents attended. Lucy and Henry fled Boston in April 1775; Henry joined the militia army, and the rest is history. (Or rather, if one is interested in Henry Knox's participation in military campaigns during the AmRev, wikipedia is a start. One note though: Knox's famed artillery train from Ticonderoga occurred when Knox was a mere 25 years old - certainly such feats were in AH's head when he was approaching 25 and had no comparable glorious accomplishment.) Lucy's family fled to Britain shortly afterwards and cut off all contact with her.
Henry wrote that Lucy made him, "the happiest of mortals" (to his friend, Henry Jackson, following his wedding to Lucy). Lucy was also, "the animating object of my life." Besides being "My dearest Lucy," she's also addressed as: “My dearest hope, My dearest friend, My dearest tender friend, my dearest love, my lovely love, my best beloved, My dear dear wife, my dearest blessing of heaven, my charmer,” though once he writes, "I leave [off] the usual address at the head of my Letter because I can fix upon none the thousandth part strong enough to convey the Idea of the strength of my attachment & love to you,” HK to LFK, 6Apr 1777.
To Lucy, Henry was, "My only love, my only friend, My Ever Dear Harry, My dearest friend, My all."
One of the themes P. Hamilton presents is that the challenges that spouses faced during the AmRev, especially wives with long-absent husbands, led to a sense of greater equality between men and women. Lucy was left in charge of financial management of what she could obtain of her family's affairs - and manages without Henry. At one point, Lucy decided on a course of action that Henry disagreed with (so much for the stupid thought that wives were absolutely obedient to their husbands); Henry pleads with her to follow his advice instead as, "your Best Friend, your Lover, and blessed by Heaven to be your Husband..." They are certainly an example of the companionate marriage ideal: marriage as a partnership between best friends, strengthened by their attraction and physical intimacy.
There's a lot of great information in their letters about American Rev activity, patriotism and American grievances re. Britain, smallpox inoculations, the ins and outs of other generals and their wives (Caty Greene is mentioned frequently), and eventually their children's education and Lucy's concerns about their financial stability. Henry shared a great deal of information with Lucy not only about his day-to-day life, but about military plans and ambitions (as was prudent - many letters mention the fear of miscarry and falling into enemy hands). There are more surviving letters from Henry to Lucy than the other way round - Lucy's letters were likely lost by Henry as he traveled with the army.
The below quote from Lucy summarizes as well as anything I've read why EH likely destroyed her own letters to her husband:
29 or 30 April 1776. L to H
I should long before this have indulged myself in the pleasure of writing to him who is allways in my thoughts, whose image is deeply imprinted on my heart and whom I love too much for my peace, but the fear that the language of a tender wife might appear ridiculous to an impartial reader (should it miscarry) has restrain'd me. Is my Harry well. Is he happy. No, that cannot be when he reflected how wretched he has left me. I doubt not, but the please of his little girl, as he used fondly to call me, must sometimes draw a thought from him tho surrounded with gaiety and scenes of high life. The remembrance of his tender infant must also greatly affect him when he considers it as so great a distance from its Father, its natural guardian in a place exposed to an enraged enemy and almost defenceless.
2 May 1776. H to L
I sigh for my love. I think of her night & day & I wish her here, but dread the fatigues of the Journey. I am extremely chagrin'd that I received no letters from her by the last post. What can be the reason? But my love did not know I am being at New York, she must have thought me on the road.
28 Aug 1776 H to L
Dear Girl, how much I love you. War will bring peace and bye & bye we will live together, enjoying the felicity & happiness of each other's society 'till time walk us to immortal happiness. Kiss my babe for me & Believe me to possess a sincere affection for you as it is possible for a mortal to do.
In his letters, Henry also asks for, “intelligence concerning the dear pledge of our mutual affections,” [little Lucy Knox], and later refers to their children as, "dear little images.”
After rising to the position of Major Gen., Knox resigned his commission in 1784 and became Secretary of War in 1785, continuing in this position in Washington’s cabinet. Most of his duties revolved around "Indian Affairs." At some point, he also comes to weigh over 290 pounds (Lucy reached around 250 pounds.) Tied up with his various business ventures (x, x), he did not participate in the suppression of the Whiskey Rebellion; AH became acting Secty of War in Knox's place. [HK and AH were good friends - well, besides that matter of their rank in 1798. Their wives likely were also, or at least shared the same social circle. The Knox and Hamilton children shared tutors at times. HK is the author of the letter informing AH of EH’s likely miscarriage in 1794.] Knox retired the position in Jan 1795 and he and Lucy settled in the Maine frontier and were hated by most of their neighbors, to the point of armed conflict. (Maine settlers found Knox to be aristocratic - Henry Knox is the inspiration for Hawthorne's Col Pyncheon in The House of the Seven Gables. It's a useful reminder, in this age of Founders Chic, how rapidly the vision of the Founders was rejected by the American people.) Henry choked on a chicken bone, developed an infection, and died in 1806. Only three of their 13 children survived to adulthood, and Lucy lived alone in their home until her own death in 1824.
To be cont’d
*Henry and Lucy eventually became landowners of part of her grandfather’s large patent of land, once called the Waldo patent, in what would become Maine. They later sold it to William Bingham.
3 notes
·
View notes
Text
Help For Hire, Advice For Free: Marsti Houtek as Sylph of Void
Marsti Houtek is a queen who deserves the love of the world and she definitely hasn’t been getting enough so I’m here to give her a classpect character analysis. She’s just... so kind... so good... Today - as any other - we will be using @revolutionaryduelist’s understanding of the Homestuck class system. Spoilers for Marsti’s routes and long post ahead:
Let’s look at what Taz has got to say on Sylphs:
“But some consistent themes surrounding [fae - the Create class unifying myth] include an unearthly Fairy realm of their own to inhabit(which certainly describes Aradia’s relationship to the Bubbles) and an interest in meddling in the affairs of mortals. (Kanaya and Aranea. Nuff said).”
“So Kanaya’s one reference to being a fairy is here, where she’s described as being a Fairy God Troll.”
“Fairies in general were also sometimes considered a species of Elemental, being a broad term sometimes used to describe [Sylphs]. Sylphs in particular are a kind of Wind Elemental, meaning a being literally made from the force it derives its essence from.”
“Finding a balance between focusing on themselves and their desire to get involved with and help others is part of a Sylph’s struggle.”
- optimisticDuelist
A lot there but we’ll break it all down.
Marst’s sign is Arittarius - the Astronaut - meaning they are a Derse-dreaming Void player. Void (in short) is the aspect of nothingness and irrelevance, obfuscation/mystery, misfortune, and erasure. As the inverse of Light it also has connections to the material. As a rustblood, her caste - via the presiding Aries true sign - are influenced by the Maid of Time classpect. Time is - most importantly here - the aspect of decay, action, inevitability, and death (as a facet of destruction). Maids are the active (selfish) class of the Create class pair, Sylphs the passive (selfless). I also refer to these as being ‘internally vs externally motivated.’
The etymology of her last name relates to both Time and Void. Credit to the MSPA wiki:
“Her first name means "purification" in Sanskrit which fits her janitor like appearance. Her last name could be derived from the comet Kohoutek, which before its close approach, was promoted by the media as the "comet of the century" as it was expected it would produce a spectacular display of outgassing; because Comet Kohoutek fell far short of expectations, its name became synonymous with spectacular duds. Additionally, In 1973, David Berg, founder of the Children of God, predicted that Comet Kohoutek foretold a colossal doomsday event in the United States in January 1974.”
To purify something is to remove unwanted or negative elements, erasing or ‘voiding’ them, so that’s a bit of a gimme. But Houtek is interesting; it’s a promise of great relevance - due to a bright light - becoming associated with irrelevance and darkness (Void), assuming apocalyptic symbolism? Well Time - particularly Aradia, apocalypseArisen - is all about moving toward the day everything is destroyed. Perfect double thematics, and it relates to her title as the Astronaut.
An astronaut is literally a professional spaceman, sure, but I more immediately think of the loneliness of space: someone swallowed by - if you will, becoming one with (elementals i.e. Sylphs) - a great unknowable void, in which they are made entirely insignificant. I could stop here but I’ll keep going aye.
First I want to jump onto the fairy imagery because it’s the most distinctive part of Marsti’s characterization in regards to classpect I feel. Marsti emulates a single story that shows her as a Sylph, roleplaying as a Maid: Cinderella.
1) Cinderella is a maid, forced to serve others - cleaning AKA Marsti’s self-and-socially-imposed job - as a fundamental part and symbol of her poverty (rustbloods anybody?). Speaking from a Create class perspective, she is also literally a Maid: an active class forced into an unhealthy state of passivity, maintaining her family’s home. She is made irrelevant in a bad way, and has her life consumed by the material. I know there’s a lot of bolding but that’s because there’s a lot of importance here, bear with me. This is relevant because Marsti is assuming the role of Cinderella, roleplaying as a Maid who is made to (functionally) roleplay as a Sylph. It sounds like I’m suggesting Marsti is embracing Sylphdom, but because she’s approaching it from a misinterpreted angle of negativity, she’s doing so in a non-constructive way. As Taz notes, diminishment of self is a key struggle for Sylphs (and Maids when they are too passive at the beginning of their self-realizing journey).
2) Cinderella is inextricably linked to her fairy godmother, a familiar-like figure that enables her realization of self. The fairy godmother is Marsti’s true role. The fairy godmother is a selfless helper who helps Cinderella overcome the irrelevance she had accepted by using irrelevant items: a mystery figure showing up in a pumpkin carriage only identifiable by a glass slipper (something transparent, leaving no real information) - it’s literally the most Voidy it gets as Homestuck is concerned, really. This is the fairy godmother who meddles in the affairs of the poor and downtrodden, creating and empowering through Void; someone who comes - heralded by “twinkling lights” as the “embodiment of Cinderella’s hope” (an active person’s passive desire to help others) - and solves problems with the wave of a wand “that she can summon from nothingness.” In pop-culture, the fairy godmother is basically a glorified janitor for a shitty life.
The fairy godmother appears and purifies a situation, cleaning up Cinderella’s irrelevant life with the symbols of Void that kept her down and dirty in the first place. Cinderella is the literal janitor, the fairy godmother the metaphoric one. And of course we can’t forget that this magical spell is on a timer, so there’s that.
I think it’s fair to say these things all relate pretty well to Marsti on all 4 class and aspect levels when you start connecting some dots. Like with Vikare, there are no explicit mentions of fairies or magic beyond that, but - similarly - there is some naturalistic imagery.
Moss being an irrelevant and unwanted plant that grows in empty spaces.
The purple calls it his sacred iconography, important information relevant to his faith that she erases: creating void (for others, removing unpleasant imagery for a nicer viewing experience).
The scientist reference reminds me of Jade, someone also referred to as a scientist, whose class - the Witch - is ‘less magic’ than the Sylph. In this way, Marsti’s class identity is being reduced - made irrelevant - by her social role.
The Reader refers to the creation of their potential relationship as hinging on a ‘drunken’ destiny, alcohol - and the obfuscation of being drunk - explicitly related to void: creating through void to the benefit of the Reader.
In an alley - a dark and unimportant place - Marsti creates a hiding place by hunkering in the trash and silencing you (creating Void for others).
She questions the Reader’s seeming desire to die - the ultimate form of self-imposed irrelevance, removing your ability to affect reality - because she’s the concerned mom-friend (as Sylphs are want to be)...
She goes out of her way to help the most neglected areas with her own positive Void, taking advantage of their irrelevance to heal them...
A very physical, material activity the Reader notes takes a lot of muscle power (connecting her to Void players, with the continuous references to her seeming lack of weapons reinforcing this as they all fight with fistkind)...
Which is a process hinging on her ability to make her own feelings, desire, and very self irrelevant. She becomes Void to help others.
She makes the Reader’s prior information irrelevant, creating a void in their knowledge that benefits everyone involved because this is effectively a casual-racism allegory. She emphasizes this by again assuming the aspect, creating a mystery around her entire character.
Similarly, she creates a physical mystery - and an emotional distance between herself and others - by wearing her goggles. They say eyes are the windows to the soul, so I imagine it’s hard to get information from a person when they’re closed off like that.
In the bad route - where the Reader worries about leading her into becoming a Zebruh slave, service being a core problem to the self-realization of Create classes - it seems like Marsti is internally motivated. Like she says, she cleans “whatever [she’s] feeling, mostly -_-” Therein lies the problem: this isn’t because she’s a Maid embracing her activity. It’s because she’s a Sylph rejecting her natural passivity and trying to emulate an active figure subsumed by an irrelevant passivity in turn. Cinderella indeed. She doesn’t want to lead the janitorial lifestyle and she doesn’t want to do things for herself, she wants to help others. Her perceived selfishness - her closing herself off and doing whatever she wants - is a defense mechanism, disguising her desires from a violent society and trying to assume some control over a worthless life; it appears like she has achieved this - yay successful Sylph right? - but her independence is an unhealthy kind stemming from the Void imposed by society. You can tell it’s unhealthy and disingenuous because it makes her incredibly unhappy and confrontational:
She’s worried about dying if she commits to her true passive self, so has created a persona of independent agency to protect herself at the cost of her well being. She hasn’t found a true balance between focusing on herself - validating her own desires and identity - and helping others.
She’s happiest when she’s using her understanding of Void to help Folykl nurse herself: creating through X with X, for the benefit of others.
When she’s finally honest with the Reader and herself, it’s bonding over the creation or repair of Void, and the happiness they find when helping others: meddling in their lives to clean them up, like a fairy godmother.
Some misc stuff is how she doesn’t want a “staged mess” in the bad route - natural imagery - and her presence in Galekh’s hive allows the destruction of Galekh’s writing (Light) - creation of Void - via goatdad.
So there you go folks. Marsti as the Sylph of Void.
#Hiveswap#Marsti Houtek#Homestuck#God Tier#Sylph of Void#Friendsim Troll Analysis#Hiveswap Friendsim#Friendsim#Me#My Theory#Sylph#Void#I love her#People: love Marsti
12 notes
·
View notes
Note
Bayverse!anon again I'm a bit disappointed in both fandom and film makers that the tragedies shown in the movies are not being discussed more in depth. I have nobody who cares enough about the franchise to discuss anything except the "explosions", but that's why I appreciate your insight. There was something about the movies that left me with a weird feeling. You put it into words when you explained that the Transformers are facing extinction. Having seen TLK recently, I noticed that P ½
P 2/2 Optimus and Megatron’s actions can be seen from different perspectives. No doubt Optimus is the better person of the two. However, if I was a Transformer there is a chance I could side with Megatron especially after AoE. During the last fight in against Quintessa one of my thoughts was: if I was a Transformer desperate and angry enough I would probably let her? This is what makes the theme of extinction so interesting. It has no solution. And at the end of the film nobody is really fine.
Hm, I’ve heard similar arguments for Megatron, including Tyran Megatron. However, I find it is an error in judgment for a variety of reasons beyond the “Well, Megatron is the worst.”
Cool motive, still genocide—
Megatron never wants to rebuild Cybertron. Well, he never wants to rebuild Cybertron. He always wants to rebuild it in his image; it is a Biblical theme of of some divine entity exerting influence over another and reforming them to mirror their own.
The other issue the same as with Sentinel and Quintessa: they want to rebuild Cybertron, which they will rule as they see fit, at the sacrifice of another plane (see: Earth). Many Autobots would love to have their world back, but this is a faction that has almost the same philosophical loyalty to Optimus as the Decepticons (when it was convenient for them or the writers) had with Megatron. In the end it is about the motives: selflessness vs. selfishness.
Optimus’ desire for Cybertron is legitimately about the continuation of his people. This is his homeworld. He fought in the tribal wars and he helped unite them. He helped to build the Empire as it was in its last age, arguably one of its golden age if not for the pesky problem of energon resources steadily beginning to run low—think of our climate change and how it started small, scientists were warning us, and now it is sneaking up at us at a rapid pace. But back to what I was saying about how Optimus genuinely loves Cybertron. He doesn’t love himself. He doesn’t love the power. He doesn’t see Cybertron OR its people as a tool for himself, he sees himself as a tool for Cybertron and its people.
Before Megatron’s faulty motives is explained in the context of his back story and past before, I must clarify one important fact about Tyran Cybertron:
Cybertron had two real divisions in their society: civilian and military.
This shaped everything. From the macro level to the micro. Megatron was the leader of the military, and Optimus was the leader of the civilians.
Cybertronian civilians have taken a vow to give up their violent ways. Referring a previous anon, it was explained how the Cybertronians are naturally violent. As a test of their free will many Cybertronians took that vow as a way of making amends for the tribal wars that came to follow. Think of it like this: it was almost like half the population took a vow of silence. But, instead of silence, it was to abstain from violence. Another fictional analogy would be to refer to the history of Star Trek’s Vulcans, who also had a history of extensive conflict until they were led to peace through a vow of logic. Monk’s (may) give up their speech, Vulcan’s get rid of their emotions, and Cybertronians gave up violence. It was a societal addiction and they went all or nothing. So, military went all out and the civilians had none of it.
This distance from their violent past was crucial to the civilians, and one reason why Optimus was chosen to be their leader beyond reasons of “Oh, he’s a Prime.” It is because he was the first leader to show any ability to be peaceful; he gave a speech on a battlefield that swayed the sparks of many, and Ironhide was the first to preferably lay down his sword. The laying down of sword for the civilians was everything. They would struggle like any addict, and one way they managed it was clearly defining the differences between those in the military and those not.
As leader of the military, Megatron’s job was to led those will indulgent in violence to use that in a way that protected Cybertron and freed the civilians to… well, more civil pursuits.
Thus, Optimus became Prime and Megatron became the “High Lord Protector.” However, originally he was to solely be referred to as the “Protector.” But notice that in his official title “High Lord” is added on. Why? Was that already there? No, it was there at Megatron’s behest. He wanted to still Lord over people.
When the energon famine really began to be a clear and present danger he argued with Optimus, the civilian leader, that the resources should be rationed and diverted predominantly to the more “stronger” Cybertronians and the weak should be left to fend for themselves. Notably this is a primal way of thinking, and isn’t without some basic evolutionary logic. However, as Optimus ascertained they are not wild animals. They are sentient—the strong should PROTECT the weak. Although it could be said Megatron wanted to keep the resources for the “most likely to survive” had some logic, it loses that rationality when put into the context that Megatron’s motives were that the strongest Cybertronian’s were the military—which was directly under his control. On the other hand, the civilians (Optimus’ part) was considered the weaker. This would leave Megatron with total control of Cyberton, and Optimus would have no legitimate influence to help curb Megatron’s worst qualities—qualities that Sentinel constantly criticized.
With the leaders unable to come to a settlement the struggle began as a cold conflict working behind the scenes. As it could be surmised, it was Megatron and his supporters who had more subversive means of getting their way while the leaders were officially in a morally grey stalemate. Officially their factions were given equal share of the resources and the leader would divide the resources among their faction as they saw fit. Megatron the strongest, Optimus everyone.
At that time Megatron claimed to agree with Optimus on one thing goal in the meantime: finding the AllSpark. It is important to note that before becoming Prime, Optimus had previously been an archeologist. Now, the military has no archeologists, and Optimus was the senior most archeologist on Cybertron. So, according to the laws of the land the hunt for the AllSpark fell directly under Optimus’ purview, not Megatron’s or his military. This was salt to rub in that Megatron was just a violent soldier, the fiercest and more volatile of them all. In the military this gave him respect, but the civilians did not respect that.
Respect was something Megatron struggled with, and it was one of his emotional hot buttons. The two (spark brothers) had been groomed and mentored by Sentinel—he was something of a father to them. The two absolutely adored him. Sentinel loved Optimus, even if he was frustrated with Optimus’ absolutism about sticking to his personal virtues. Optimus was perfect, could really do no wrong, and Megatron was a failure in comparison because he was such a brute. At least, that is how Megatron saw Sentinel’s treatment of them and honestly he wasn’t far off. Sentinel was cruel to both, though in different ways. Most of the time he was groomed into a sense of security and trust in loyalty, given positive feedback if he pleased Sentinel. His mentor would manipulate him in the most seditious of ways. If Optimus went against his wishes.Sentinel was passive-aggressive of just nasty, making Optimus feel like he wasn’t living up to him—he was a disappointment. But Megatron? He got smacked around, physically. He was always scolded and treated like a rabid dog that failed. In the end, both wanted Sentinel’s approval.
Now, the relationship between Sentinel and the dyadic leaders as both a singular unit and individuals is important. It shapes Megatron’s motives to find the AllSpark before Optimus. The famine began to ramp up and the quest for the AllSpark began. As mentioned earlier this quest would be Optimus’ job, his responsibility, because he was the civilian leader & a highly respected archeologist. So when the AllSpark would be found… who would get all the credit and the glory? Let it not be forgotten that they wait to fight over the I had already begun before it was even found. Megatron had to get to it first if he was going to become the more powerful of the two, have his military control Cybertron. Yes he cared about Optimus or even Sentinel, but it was not sufficient to stop him from undermining Optimus’ powers. At that time he was torn between completely overthrowing his brother or just asserting dominance with his military.
So, the race to find the AllSpark was off. This was when Megatron found the Fallen’s tomb. Why did he find the tomb? Because he was searching for the AllSpark when according to Cybertronian laws he wasn’t supposed to. The Fallen possessed him, brought out the already destructive traits to the surface and had them completely take over. In the end it was the Autobots who found the AllSpark and the war began.
Megatron has no track record of wanting to rebuild Cybertron for altruistic reasons. His motives were selfish, malicious, and ultimately brought ruin to their world. In TLK Lennox asks Megatron what he wants and Megatron’s answer is, “To go home.”
This sounds sincere, but it isn’t. If it was he would have done what was written in the DOTM’s book ending and that was a call for truce. In the DOTM’s book it ends not with Megatron’s death, instead it is the two reuniting because Megatron realizes that the only way for Cybertron to be rebuilt is if he works WITH Optimus. In TLK he is fighting against Optimus.
Of course, that is when Quintessa comes into play. When Quintessa slaps Optimus she leaves a scarlet mark; the mark of her ownership. Whatever powers are in it have the capacity to begin take control. The mark on Megatron’s face shows exactly who he belongs to, and the best plausibility is that he is Quintessa’s puppet. Her strings with Megatron were probably much the same as with Optimus: the promise of reviving Cybertron.
It is unlike that Quintessa’s revival of Cybertron would have been good for the surviving Transformers.
Note: I will shortly be writing up a headcanon to explain the state of Cybertron as presented in the movie and it will elaborate on what is to follow in this answer.
Cybertronians fear enslavement. They fear it. Yes, we do too. But not all of us have experienced a recent memory of enslavement. Cybertronians do. They also know what it is like to be led by someone that ultimately destroys everything they care about. Many Decepticons didn’t even think far enough about why they were obeying Megatron. They did it out of loyalty or because they get to blow shit up. Autobots, for all their roughhousing and their inclination to interact as we would perceive as violent, they do want peace. They don’t want to have the kind of war Megatron and his Decepticons want. They know they are the last of their kind. They want to sun on the beaches of Cuba and play some volley ball. They are TIRED. Right now all they have is Earth or a dead & rotten planet. Most Cybertronians are going to see a repeat of their experiences: Megatron leading them to domination or the Autobots trying to protect what they care about. One is total destruction and one is just total preservation.
Ultimately, I do not believe most Cybertronians would help Quintessa and/or Megatron revive Cybertron unless they are already a follower of Megatron and inclined to excessive violence for the sake of it. They will see that Optimus and Megatron are on opposing sides and unless they are already a Decepticon… they are going to side with who they trust to not be a planet killer. These are the last survivors—they are experienced, they know better. They know that Megatron’s word can never be taken at face value.
And ultimately, those surviving Transformers who are not already on Megatron’s side are the ones who have lived long enough to value the sanctity of sentient life more than they already did before the war, and that’s saying a lot because Optimus wasn’t the only one advocating for the preservation of sentient beings. This particular virtue isn’t even an ethical one for Cybertronian, but a moral one with practical applications. The original Primes had the law that they could not use the sun of a solar system that had any planets with life on it. The Cybertronians find it aborhant to throw away like that, which puts their so-called violent nature into perspective by illustrating that they, by large, had a clear line on the issue of sacrificing one group of sentient beings for the benefit of another—even their own. Transformers just don’t respect any action calling for the compromise of their most highly valued ideals if committed at the expense of others. They like seeing themselves of guardians of younger alien species.
As you can see I have a lot to say on the matter of justifications of Megatron’s intentions to revive Cybertron. It is a subject that has come up in a few continuities, Tyran and Aligned being chief among them.
In the end I see no way to justify Megatron’s actions that he may disguise as altruism until it is clearly narrated that he has had a redemptive moment of self-insight. i.e. Him at the end of TFP Season 2 and him at the end of Predacon’s Rising.
Trust no bucket until it the truck says so.
#optimus prime#megatron#transformers bayverse#maccadam#quintessa#anonymous#// tf5 spoilers#— ♞ ┊ 「 meta 」;;#— ♞ ┊ ( ❛ TYRAN ❜ ) 「 ⋅ 」;;#— ♞ ┊ 「 headcanon 」;;#— ♔ ┊ 「 meta 」;;#— ♔ ┊ 「 headcanon 」;;#— ✱ ┊ 「 meta 」;;#— ✱ ┊ 「 headcanon 」;;#bayverse anon#// sorry it is late#bayverseanon#professor opi#// maybe tomorrow i'll get myself to reread this and proof it better#// typos and where i got incoherent#// or just failed to connect my train of thought
57 notes
·
View notes
Text
Dear Femslashex Author
Hi! Thank you for writing for me! I’m reconditarmonia here and on AO3 (and have been since LJ days, but my LJ is locked down and I only have a DW to see locked things). I have anon messaging off, but mods should be able to contact me if you have any questions.
Simoun | Sleep No More | The Strange Case of Starship Iris
General likes:
– Relationships that aren’t built on romance or attraction. They can be romantic or sexual as well, but my favorite ships are all ones where it would still be interesting or compelling if the romantic component never materialized.
– Loyalty kink! Trust, affectionate or loving use of titles, gestures of loyalty, replacing one’s situational or ethical judgment with someone else’s, risking oneself (physically or otherwise) for someone else, not doing so on their orders. Can be commander-subordinate or comrades-in-arms.
– Heists, or other stories where there’s a lot of planning and then we see how the plan goes.
– Femslash, complicated or intense relationships between women, and female-centric gen. Women doing “male” stuff (possibly while crossdressing).
– Stories whose emotional climax or resolution isn’t the sex scene, if there is one.
– Uniforms/costumes/clothing.
– Stories, history, and performance. What gets told and how, what doesn’t get told or written down, behavior in a society where everyone’s consuming media and aware of its tropes, how people create their personas and script their own lines.
Smut Likes: clothing, uniforms, sexual tension, breasts, cunnilingus, grinding, informal d/s elements, intensity; stories whose resolution isn’t the sex scene.
General DNW: rape/dubcon, torture, other creative gore; unrequested AUs, including “same setting, different rules” AUs such as soulmates/soulbonds; PWP; food sex; embarrassment; focus on pregnancy; Christmas/Christian themes; focus on unrequested canon or non-canon ships; het, including mentions thereof, for requested characters.
—
Fandom: Simoun
Ship(s): Aaeru/Neviril, Neviril/Mamiina, Mamiina/Rodoreamon, Paraietta/Rodoreamon
This is a perennial request for me and anything would make me very happy. I’m so interested in how the war changes all the characters and their relationships with one another, how Everything is Beautiful and Then Shit Gets Real but amidst the war-is-hell there’s still the creation of bonds of trust and loyalty and chances to do what’s right (the bits with the Plumbish priestesses, for instance). Every character gets a chance to develop and make choices that are all brave in different ways. Would also be curious about post-canon (what happens if Neviril and Aeru make it back to the main world when war is brewing again, but Neviril has no one from the old cohort to lead because they can’t fly anymore?) and/or about magic and time weirdness retconning character deaths or disappearances. Thematically, it might also make sense for sexual first times to be a part of the fic if that's something you're interested in writing, but please believe I'd be very happy with G-rated fic! Most of my prompts lean in that direction anyway.
Obviously I've requested some canon (or close-to-canon) ships and also some non-canon ones. For Aaeru/Neviril I'd be most interested either in postcanon, or in potential loyalty-kink-exploiting situations in the canon timeframe - Mamiina/Rodoreamon I'd love to see more development of their relationship during canon (tease out their mental process a bit more for going from that initial tension to the deep later bond), or *handwave* magic post-canon to bring Mamiina back and how they feel about that! Paraietta/Rodoreamon is a ship I have a little soft spot for because it's nice to imagine them building a life together and finding purpose in ways they very much didn't expect when helping the war orphans (but they're also veterans, and war is still brewing, and neither of them is the other's lost love, so there are lots of directions to take it in). And Neviril/Mamiina I have no idea how it would go but they're both very strong personalities with different motivations for flying that clash initially, but end up being heroic - I'd love to see any ideas you'd have.
—
Fandom: Sleep No More
Ship(s): Bald Witch/Sexy Witch, Bald Witch/Hecate, Bald Witch/Sexy Witch/Hecate
One of my favorite things about Sleep No More was the idea of this world of darkness and magic that’s underlying or intertwined with the social world, rather than in a separate space - I loved seeing the Witches at the ball and, holy shit, Bald Witch pulling off her wig after the ball in her solo ritual thing! (I hadn’t realized it was a wig until that moment.) So, how do the Witches interact with the normal world, or deliberately carve out other spaces (like the apothecary shop)? How does Hecate fit in to one world or the other or both for them? How’d Bald Witch and Sexy Witch find each other - before becoming witches? After becoming witches? (or is there no “becoming” and they’re just eldritch abominations that look like people? are they immortal, and if so, were they always? what's that like for them and/or Hecate?) How much do they have day-to-day lives vs. witching all the time?
Or, sexy prompts - ritual sex magic to make something happen or share power? If they have non-witch personas and sleep together while they’re being normal people, is there still magic? Sex in one of the play locations - the apothecary, the ballroom, the bar that’s the empty shell of the real bar? Slow dancing nude, or another inverted version of something in the normal world?
—
Fandom: The Strange Case of Starship Iris
Ship(s): Arkady Patel/Sana Tripathi
Loyalty kink OTP for this show - Arkady’s “If I can put myself between Tripathi and a bullet, that’s the best thing I will have ever done” destroys me in the best way. I love Arkady’s “Have you ever been led by somebody who had absolutely no doubt? Because I have, Sana,” her “How much shit have I given you, over the years, for assuming everybody’s gonna be as honorable as you” and distress when she doesn’t know whether or not Sana is in danger, Sana’s idealism when it’s a big goal and when it’s just wanting her loved ones safe and her “Just understand that when I say that I would do anything for my crew, I mean it. But that’s not an offer, Lenny, and it never has been. It’s a threat.”
This could go to a lot of places - angsty, with their past/s? fluffy taking care of their beloved captain/first mate? casefic/heist/rescue/fighting together? I have some prompts for specifically sexy scenarios in my previous Femdom Exchange and Femslash After Dark letters, but I'd be just as happy to read something non-explicit - I'm just hungry for more fic about this canon! Maybe how they got together, since Arkady crushed on the cool heroic older leader from a distance they didn't know each other originally back in the same place? Or more about the music they like to listen to/sing/play or other things they like (any operas that aren't Rosenkavalier?), or cool space places they've been (either at leisure or, like, smuggling and fighting people)?
0 notes
Text
Antisepticeye Dossier
A/N: Vix here with another dossier! These are more or less just thoughts I've been thinking to myself. For me, that's kinda what makes certain fanmade characters of YouTubers interesting to me. You get to sit there and try to discover what makes the character tick and all that. I have seen a lot of people, not all but a lot, of people pursue more of either 'what' and 'how' a character came to be.
Which are very good questions but most of the time, people forget the 'why' portion of the character's existence. Why do they exist? Why do they do what they do? Why are they like this? And so on and so forth. And figured it'd be best to write it all down in case I forget important details and such. Also acts kinda like a FAQ... depending on the question. Also it is subject to change as I tweak it here and there in the future.
Remember, I did not create Antisepticeye this is all just my collection of thoughts of how he came to be. Why he came to be as he is now.
Anti is relatively new to me but caught my interest and after watching several videos, mostly one that show all the Antispeticeye moments… I sat here and thought about it. Hell I'm listening to the original song, Anti Personality by SecretlyMarkiplier'sBarry, right now as I'm writing this. Fucking good song to be honest.
But since Anti is still new to me, there's not going to be very much information on him here, until I finish my analysis of the character.
Enjoy.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Theme: Anti Personality by SecretlyMakiplier'sBarry
Name: AntiSepticEye
Aka: Anti, AntiSeptic, Anti-Jack
Age: N/A (depends on when his concept 'creation' was made which I don't know) [but for now his age is equal to Jack's which is: 27 years old]
Height: Exact height as Jack
Weight: Exact same as Jack's weight
Hair: Exact same as Jack's style, if only a bit more wild and the green fluctuating between a darker or lighter shade than Jack's
Eyes: Blue but can at will turn them into a solid jet black
Clothing: Originally, he was clothed in dark hoodie and jeans. Currently wears a slimming black T-shirt, skinny black jeans and black shoes. Possibly a type of boot. He also wears a pair of black stud earrings, gothic in type. Unsure if they are the magnetic types or bar bell.
Personality: Erratic and demented, Anti is twisted in nature, often giggling and laughing maniacally between bouts of ranting and raving. He has a strong desire to harm others by any kind of means; be it physical, emotional or psychological. He pairs that desire with his desire in scaring others, often interfering Jack's videos with his presence and sliding his beloved knife across his own neck to generate that fear; which he takes great delight in.
But he also harbors a great amount of anger and hatred for the fanbase and Jack himself… as well as a hatred for Darkiplier. Perhaps even a wicked streak of envy a mile long, perhaps jealous of the love Jack receives from the viewers; the fan-base thinking less of the evil entity and Dark being the more popular dark entity.
Granted, that is… debatable. He never truly states his reasons why he's angry. He's also quite intelligent, just because he's insane doesn't mean he's a fool.
[Edit:] His intelligence is proven in a recent video 'Kill Jacksepticeye Bio INC Redemption' where he reveals that the entire time the fan-base had believed they had gotten Jack back from Anti, that it had been Anti who was in control and fooling them from the start. Not does make it amusing for him in fooling the fan-base but also agitated that they once again, threw him aside for Jack and mocked him. To which he threatens more harm on Jack 'next time', should the community forget about him or mock him again. He seems to also threaten Jack's other alter egos with harm should they step out of line once more.
Anti is growing more confident in his powers and abilities, conducting control over Jack and the other alter egos like a puppeteer. He openly taunts and challenges the Jack's community to 'rescue' Jack themselves, as the alter egos are under his control and power.
Weapons: Currently only known to have his beloved knife, but its possible he has multiple blades hidden on his person.
Fighting Style: Close quarters with his knife (or knives) as his weapon of choice. Possibly a defensive fighter.
Strengths: Aside his possible expert skills with the use of a knife; Anti possesses great agility, similar to Jack obviously. This also gives him great flexibility to dodge attacks and strikes, paired with his knives and possible defensive style; Anti can twist his way around oncoming attacks and slice at his opponents with his knives. It also gives him better chances at striking vital organs and if he manages to get behind his target, go right for slitting the throat.
Be mindful, however, that attacking him at close range is not recommended at the highest degree. With his glitchy movements, striking Anti is almost impossible and even harder to read his movements. Even mid-range and long-range attackers are to be wary, his speed and agility will allow him to close distances in short bursts.
Its gathered that he's able to create illusions and generate fear with those illusions to work in his favor. Its likely he is able to glitch warp in short distances and can interfere and control electronic equipment, namely cameras, computers and microphones. It is uncertain if he can warp into the internet like Virus!Cry can or not; but it is proven that he can cross to other dimensions as shown in Darkiplier VS Antisepcticeye video. Which could lead to possibly have the strength of a tulpa, like Darkiplier.
[Edit:] Anti's powers and abilities are growing in an alarming rate. He has exceeded prediction with his hold on Jacksepticeye. He refuses to let him go and it is concerning that he has been active this entire time since October of last year. It seems that he can control his host and his alter egos like a puppeteer, making them walk and talk as he wishes, or able to interfere with their doings if they attempt to help Jack escape his grasp.
Extreme caution is warranted, Anti is a wild card and enjoys every minute of it.
Weaknesses: Uncertain. It is not known what exactly are his weaknesses. So only those we deem as 'weakness' will be listed for now. While its possible that Anti can appear at will if he wishes, it seems to only last for a short amount of time. It also seems he can take control much better and faster, if Jack is under stress or terrified and possibly on Halloween. But Anti can also appear if he so much as feels as if Jack or the fan-base 'forgot' him or cross some invisible line with him.
As he is, for now, listed as a defensive fighter, its assumed that he does not have much in attack power, making him more towards a defense/evasion speed class fighter. So its possible for more powerful enemies to overwhelm him if they manage to get a hit in.
[Edit:] It seems there is another weakness Anti shows. His strong desire to be recognized and seeking attention… this is possible that he needs the viewers to pay attention and keep in him in mind for his strength and power to grow. As well as his overconfidence, that could lead to his downfall in the near future… but he is intelligent. His eyes never leave the viewers, his 'puppets'… even if he fails this time, he will learn and grow stronger.
Relations: Jack (JackSepticEye) as his host for possessing and lighter counterpart; Mark (Markiplier) destests the man; Dark (Darkiplier) absolute hatred
Fears: Unknown
Backstory: Unknown
Theories: 1) I was thinking along the lines that Jack is still alive, because... you know, Anti would have difficulty controlling a dead body and no amount make up and cologne would cover that up. But its possible that, Anti made us and Jack think he died, because there's not enough 'blood' to show that Jack bled to death for his evil counterpart to posses.
Remember what Anti says as Jack was playing one game, "Forgotten? Or too afraid to remember?"
Jack could've been SO scared about the action Anti was making him commit in front of the camera so much in Say Goodbye, that he passed out; allowing Anti to take control without realizing it, hence his 'last words' "Help me..." Which could imply Jack was calling for help in the hopes of someone walking into his room and snatch the knife from him or attempt to rescue him before he thought he was dying.
So this could mean that Anti needs Jack to be alive (until fans start to think of him as an entirely separate entity like how we recognize Darkiplier is) but unconscious or weak from fear or stress to take control for more than a few seconds. But this is just all in theory, yes I posted the theory in Antisepticeye page in Fandom wiki.
2) Given Anti's ranting in Say Goodbye then in Always Watching, it sounds like he's angry at the fanbase for he assumes to be 'walking all over' Jack… and angry at Jack for being 'too weak' to put his foot down. So its possible that Anti had wanted to protect Jack but with Jack suppressing him and keeping him inside 'for too long', he was denying Anti the right to do so. Locked away and chained where he couldn't lash out, Anti could have gone insane with his desire to help and his rage at the fanbase and then later towards Jack, has cracked his mind. And lost all care of 'protecting' and went for harming and generating fear to get people and Jack to listen to him. Again, all in theory.
3) With the same videos… as listed previously, this theory tilts toward the idea of Anti being a tulpa, a manifestation of the minds of the fan-base and Jack himself, thus being the evil and insane counterpart of the Irish YouTuber. But… no one paid attention to him and became jealous and angry of being 'created' for no reason but to be a whimsical fantasy… perhaps merely a 'copied' idea fans had thought about in relation to Darkiplier.
That could be his source of hatred for them all, just nothing but a copy and not treated equally.
And in his jealously, he sets out to take the attention he believes he deserves… one way or another, doing things that others couldn't do. Possessing Jack and 'killing' him to prove his power (which is very likely an illusion he created to gain easy access to Jack's body) ; and directly challenging Dark for position of 'King' of the… dark realm they're in, to prove he is better and assert his existence to others. [Whether it be Raspy Hill (given that Dark had shooed him away and told him he 'didn't belong' and to 'go home'…) Or YouTuHell (or YouTuDark… whatever the hell the darkside of Youtube is called) or some other dark realm Dark rules over currently.]
The actions he does, the interferences with Jack's videos to openly confronting Darkiplier, could be ways of him not wanting to be taken lightly, thought of as second best or perhaps to not be forgotten.
4) Combining theories 1 and 3…
Anti seems to be a tulpa, a manifestation of the minds of the fan-base and Jack himself, thus being the evil and insane counterpart of the Irish YouTuber. But… no one paid attention to him and became jealous and angry of being 'created' for no reason but to be a whimsical fantasy… perhaps merely a 'copied' idea fans had thought about in relation to Darkiplier.
That could be his source of hatred for them all, just being thought of nothing but a copy and not treated equally.
And in his jealously, he sets out to take the attention he believes he deserves, one way or another... doing things that others couldn't do. Forcing Jack to believe he was dying to easily possess the unconscious and terrified YouTuber. After all, he enjoys harming others, you can't harm a 'dead' person. But he can harm him more than physically, letting Jack suffer in trapping him in his own mind, unable to communicate with the fan-base freely. Even going as far control his movements, watching him with a sharp eye.
This action allows Anti to prove his power as well as instill fear, dominance and control over Jack, his alter egos and the community. Anti seems to grow in power the more people think of him and he continues to fuel that thought to gain that extra strength. This strength allows him keep control over Jack, pretending to be him to fool and taunt the community. Of course, it doesn't take long for Anti to be upset as people don't think of him often as he likes… which is to be evil and extremely feared.
In the video, 'Kill Jacksepticeye Bio INC Redemption', Anti interferes with Dr. Schneeplestein's attempts to save Jack. Taking control of his actions to stall and make things worse, even go as far as nearly getting the doctor to strangle himself with the headphones' wire. This proves his strength in power and being able to take control of others aside from Jack.
Though this is probably because Dr. Schneep is an alter ego Jack has.
Anti rants about being in control and tired of the fan-base ignoring him. Its possible that while in Jack's body and searching around to see what people thought of him (Anti), he sees that people… do not fear him. Instead, they romanticize him and turning him into, what he calls, a 'glitch bitch'… which he doesn't like being seen as and sees it as an insult.
I mean, I don't blame him really. You're an evil counterpart of someone and people think of you as a romantic figure and basically whipped… you'd be pissed too.
It's also possible that he's angry at being mocked in the 'Darkiplier vs Antisepticeye' video. Doing it with Mark, in thinking it would be more serious, only to see it was a mockery of what he wanted to do. Which is directly challenging Dark for position of 'King' of the… dark realm they're in, to prove he is better and assert his existence to others.
This is kinda proven when Anti mocks 'Dark' to 'put on' more make-up; cunningly insulting Mark that he was as weak as Jack and that the world is Anti's since Jack isn't there to stop him. As well as taunt Mark that his best friend is gone and he doesn't even realize it. Though that is merely an assumption. But its still scary to think about… all the youtubers pretending to be their evil personas and yet there was a true one among them.
The actions he does, interfering with Jack's videos to openly taunting the community, could be ways of him not wanting to be taken lightly, thought of as second best; and most importantly, to not be forgotten.
[These are currently the theories made so far by this mind… more could be made as more information is found. For the current moment, this report on subject: AntiSepticEye is up to date.]
[The document is subject to change as more information is brought to light. And as subject: AntiSepticEye grows in power… there will be more to come.]
#antisepticeye#antisepticeyefanfic#antisepticeyefanfiction#jacksepticeye#jacksepticeyefanfic#jacksepticeyefanfiction#Markiplier#Darkiplier#therealjacksepticeye#antijacksepticeye
2 notes
·
View notes
Last Seen Blogs
casgape
SPITE ALONE HOLDS ME ALOFT
vivialviyani
Lembaran Baru.
amicutisugnumaciuddianomichiamo
Pani ruru e cuteddu ca' nun tagghia
thamacaveli
90's Hip Hop 4 Yo Mind
