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qwertyluverz · 1 year

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[🐚] eternity - neteyam x (metkayina) reader

I’ll be with you for eternity

[MAJOR SPOILERS]

✧ in which reader takes an interest in neteyam

warnings ✧ blood + angst + gunshot + violence + slowburn (kinda) + probably ooc neteyam

word count ✧ around 2.5k

[A/N] ✧ i was listening to say yes to heaven by lana del rey. so this fic is somewhat based on the song 🤭. ANYWAYS first fic and i love angst and death and neteyam so #whynot, also send in request bc im eager to write more for the new avatar characters !!! also did not realize how long this was…

#wrotethisinonesittinganditisnotproofreadwhatsoever

∘ ───♡༉─── ∘

Ever since the Sully’s arrived, the formidable village routine shifted; at least with you.

The Omatikaya family stood on the shore with courage and respect. Villagers of all ages surrounded them with interest, immediately beginning to judge their arrival. Your appearance came shortly after as you followed behind Tsireya, your closest friend in the reef, as you both disconnected your queues from your ilus, the Sully boys both watching in interest

Almost like a shadow to Tsireya, you stood behind her in the crowd, observing the dark blue Na’vis as you fiddled with your bracelets that covered your arms loosely. You eyed them up and down until you locked eyes with the eldest son. It felt as if a heart string was pulled, feeling your pulse pound at the miniscule interaction. His golden eyes stared deeply into your bright green eyes, almost an invitation to see who would back down. You squinted at him before turning away and disappearing into the crowd. Mindlessly, the elder son lifted his head up in attempt to follow your trail, but had lost you in the sea of heads.

A sigh escaped your lips while you made your way back to your ilu. She was a dark gray, almost black ilu with beautiful white markings. Tuhi, was her name. You smiled fondly at Tuhi, reminiscing on the significance of her name; your mothers name. She was taken so early from your life and due to what you considered, a mere sickness. You felt resentment towards Ewya. How could she take your mother? And how could the Tsahìk fail your family? Ronal was intimidating to say the least, but you had your grudges against her. Although you never confidied with Tsireya about your feelings with her mother, she had eased the pain you felt.

You held your hand to Tuhi’s face, rubbing the side of her neck. “Hey girl,” You took your hand and connected your queues, relishing the connection you had with your companion.

“(Y/N)!” You heard a soft voice call to you, just as you were about to take off.

“Huh..?” You turned around with confusion as you noticed Tsireya, motioning you over towards the mauris with her one free hand. In her other, she held a box of some sort, her farce adorning a warm smile.

You gave Tuhi a small pat and disconnected your queues while you waved a small goodbye. A light sigh fell from your lips as you made your way to Tsireya.

“What’s up?” You asked, folding your arms over eachother.

“I am showing the Sully’s around!” She beamed with excitement. Despite not knowing who are what the Sully’s are, you could only assume it was the new Na’vis.

“And what does that have to do with me?” you continued on, simply wanting to enjoy your time with your Ilu.

“Come assist me, Sister! I was given the duty to teach them our ways, and you know Ao’nung won’t be help.” She concluded, putting the box by her feet and grabbed onto your arm, pleading you with her eyes.

In the most dramatic way possible, you rolled your head over and managed to work out a very annoyed “fine”, despite there being a small smile on your lips.

You followed Tsireya as she gave a tour to Sully family, learning names along the way. The oldest girl, Kiri seemed to hate every second her time there, which you didn’t mind. Lo’ak, the younger brother in the family, was clearly infatuated with Tsireya the whole tour. Tuk, the youngest Sully, had an insane amount of energy, and for some unexplained reason you absolutely loved her. And Neteyam. The oldest Sully sibling, he easily was the most mature and whether you two would bump heads or get along was unclear, yet strangely, you loved it.

Neteyam’s eyes were traced on you during the small tour, the way your hair moved with each step and every clang of your beaded bracelets that went all the way up to your elbow, enticed him. Staring was rude, but he couldn’t help it.

∘ ───♡༉─── ∘

You, Tsireya, Ao’nung, and Roxto all dived into the water one by one. Tsireya taking a more graceful approach and you and the others just jumping right in. Free diving was peaceful and crucial to metkayina culture.

Easily, you and the others outswam the sully children. Their constant gasps for air and terrible form had led them to fall behind.

‘They’re terrible divers.’ Ao’nung signed as you smiled in amusement. Tsireya shot down the claim, signing back that, ‘ they’re learning’.

You watched the Na’vis at the surface while they tried making sense of Tsireya’s signings. Neteyam and Lo’ak eventually motioned for your group to come to the surface.

“Holy shit, you guys suck.” You laughed out, moving your hair out of your face. Slightly disappointed, Tsireya slaped your shoulder in retaliation, the Sully’s taking their turn to smile at your misfortune. You rubbed your shoulder while Tsireya began to formulate a new teaching strategy.

∘ ───♡༉─── ∘

As the days went on, you had warmed up to your new routine: wake up, train the sullys, adventure, go to sleep. It was so simple, yet so enjoyable. Teaching sessions had spilt up, you taking Neteyam, and Tsireya taking Lo’ak.

Tsireya showed Lo’ak compassionate and thoughtful ways of teaching, while you showered Neteyam with teasing and sarcastic (truthful) words.

“No! Like this. You breathe like this.” You demonstrated to the older boy, placing your hands on your stomach.

“Like this?” He asked, golden eyes staring straight into your own rather than your hands, his breathing staying the exact same.

“No! You don’t listen. You’re like a baby.” You spoke, forcefully grabbing his soft yet calloused hands into your own, directing them onto his stomach and chest.

Silence.

Realization dawned upon you with a mental note of your position. Neteyam simply looked away, as your eye’s decidedd to find interest in the sand below you. The intimacy of your smaller hands over his larger ones, and you leaned towards him was too much for you to bear. Neteyam, too felt embarrassment — maybe it was the silence.

“Um..” of course. Your voice cracked, sounding two octaves higher. Internally you punched yourself, attempting to fight off the wave of heat you felt rise to your cheeks. Neteyam turned his nervous gaze back to you, a smile creeping up on his lips in amusement. You raised your head up towards the Na’vi, bright eyes locking with his own.

“Just breathe..” you muttered out, your voice barely audible as both your heartbeats molded into one.

“You don’t need to be so scared…” commenting on his fast heartbeat, a mere attempt to shift the focus back onto your teachings.

And other times, you would simply push Neteyam into the water. Unannounced.

Him walking to his mauri after his father called? Pushed.

Sitting on the walkway with his feet in the water? Pushed.

Literally minding his own business? Pushed.

Neteyam called it torture, but you called it reality.

“A good diver should always be prepared to get wet!” You shouted to him with excitement when he resurfaced. Him annoyed, you amused.

Eventually, your teaching sessions became extended adventures, sometimes taking along Tuk because you couldn’t resist her. You had found a habit in carrying her everywhere for reasons you couldn’t understand.

You and Neteyam both rode on Tuhi throughout the reef, and despite Neteyam’s grip on your waist, you paid no mind as the scenery of your home took all your attention. You never got tired of the marine environment, even after all these years.

Neteyam’s eyes were locked on your side profile. He was such a starer, and yet he felt no guilt for shameless watching your every feature.

∘ ───♡༉─── ∘

“What’s it like?” You spoke softly, laying on your back as you mindlessly watched the stars.

“What’s what like?” Neteyam asked, his body parallel to yours.

“The forest.”

Neteyam blinked, head turning over to yours in an instant.

“You want to know about my home?”

“Yes.”

He smiled.

“The stars. You can hardly see them at home with all the trees in the way, and at night time the forest has beautiful glow.” He turned his gaze back to the glowing sky, “My clan was known for its music and ceremonies, so there was never a night without dancing and laughter.” The fond memories of his home felt overwhelming, knowing he would probably never return to the place he grew to love.

A comforting silence fell upon the two, only the distant sound of waves crashing on the shoreline was heard.

“I want to take you there,” Neteyam spoke softly, sitting up from his lounging position.

“What?” You responded with confusion, turning your head to his. Neteyam grabbed both your hands and pulled you up to your feet with ease.

“Let me take you there.” He spoke confidently, your hands encased closley to his chest. Finally grasping what he was saying, you shook your head eagerly in compliance.

“Here. Dance with me.” He lowered your hands, his gold eyes staring straight into yours.

You slowly took your hands out of his grasp. “Metkayina’s hardly dance, only underwater..” you tilted your head to the side, adverting your gaze from Neteyam’s deep stare.

He grabbed your hands again. “Just follow me.” he moved his head back into you vision, a soft smile adorning his lips.

Hesitantly you nodded, allowing Neteyam to lead you in a traditional Omitkayn dance. The jangle of your bracelets and his own jewelry moved as one, almost as if harmonizing with eachother. Hands up, hands down, step back, twirl in his arms; everything about it was euphoria to both of you. Simultaneous laughters filled the air at every mistake, every mistep, every splash made on the alternating waves. The moonlight giving you both a glow as it reflected off the ocean’s surface.

“Neteyam! Neteyam..!” You ears perked, picking up on the voice calling for the Sully brother. Noticing Neteyam’s face drop in annoyance, you turned around, halting your nighttime dance.

“Ao’nung?” You squinted, confirming his presence. Neteyam let go of your hands and made his way towards the chief’s son.

“What is it.” He demanded, folding his arms over in irritation.

“Lo’ak. Me and my boys took him past the reef..” Ao’nung panted out, his body hunched over as he tried regaining his breath. Why he was out of breath? You haven’t gotten a clue.

“What.” Neteyam sternly replied, disbelief lacing his words.

“Past the reef.. he hasn’t returned and…”

“Skxawng!” You hissed, stepping towards Ao’nung. Sure, you and Lo’ak weren’t that close, and but any idiot would know better than to take him out the reef.

“You will tell my father about this.” Neteyam intentionally bumping shoulders with him as he passed.

Ao’nung felt guilt rise in him, as you grabbed him by the ear, dragging him behind you. Despite interrupting your dance, Ao’nung ignored whatever the hell you and Neteyam were doing.

∘ ───♡༉─── ∘

The events that would happen in the next few days were chaotic to say the least.

Lo’ak supposedly befriending Payakan.

And Kiri having a sezuire while connecting to the spirit tree only showed how fond you truly are of the Sully’s.

Rushing with Tsireya and the others to bring Kiri to the Surface. Holding Tuk in your arms to calm her down, and shamefully marveling at the protectiveness Neteyam displayed towards his siblings, something you’ve only had a glimpse of. And the arrival of Jake Sully’s human friends had you questioning your sanity.

‘So much.. skypeople stuff…’ you thought to yourself, finding an interest in Jake’s weird hand ritual and the mechanism that hovered over the shore, sending tsunamis of sand on the viewing villagers, including you.

And of course the arrival of the Tulkuns. More specifically your spirit sister.

The arrival had sent the village into a state of excitement, Na’vis of all ages jumping into the waters at the familiar blowhorn. The Sully’s on the other hand watched with confusion, no one had explained to them about what was happening and why thrillful cries filled the air. Splash after splash, the Metkayina’s met to reconnect with their spiritual families.

“It is time (Y/n)!” Tsireya yiped in excitement, grabbing your hand and pulling you behind her. Weaving through the village walkways, you both arrived at the Sully’s maori.

“Come!” Tsireya ushered the family out into the water, exchanging your hand for Lo’aks. In an instant they disappeared into the waters. You eagerly rushed to Tuk and carried her into your arms. Neteyam taking in the scene with fond eyes.

“The Tulkuns have arrived!” You smiled at her, exiting her home. Kiri stayed put in the floor, only moving after constant urges by Tuk.

“Come on!” You jumped into the water with Kiri and Neteyam following suit. Quickly you called Tuhi over, adoring her beautiful patterns. Connecting your queues, the four of you were off the see the Tulkuns.

Beautiful whistles filled the underwater world as you inched closer to the Tulkuns. You grinned widely once you caught sight of your spirit sister. Lightly tugging on Tuk’s arm, you signed to her, ‘There is my spirit sister! Her name is Mevewi.’ Disconnecting your queue and motioning for Tuk to ride with Kiri, you swam to your sister. Greeting eachother, she began to tell you of her troubles and you shared your current lifestyle with the Sully’s.

Ears perked in realization, you turned around, ‘Wait here!’ You signed, swimming back towards the viewing Omatikayas. You smiled as you made your way to Neteyam. Grabbing his hands, you pulled him through the water to face Mevewì.

‘This is Neteyam. We swim together,’ Neteyam bowed his head as Mevewì teased you and the Sully boy. Unbeknownst to Neteyam, Mevewì’s teasing caused you great embarrassment, but you relished the moment with her.

The inconsistency of emotions the village felt was like no other. One day everyone was celebrating, the next people rallied for war. Clouds, heavy with rain filled the sky on the bitter morning. Almost as if Ewya had a heart to mourn with you all.

Simply, an attack on Ro’a was an attack on the clan. You joined in with the chanting and battle crys, eager for revenge on the Skypeople’s ignorance. Much to your dismay, the immediate charge for war was shot down by Jake. Advising us to warn the Tulkuns instead, and the clan complied, most furious with the agreement.

In the midst of this outbreak for war, Neteyam grabbed your hand and ushered you away. He spoke no words as he led you on Lo’ak’s trail. You stayed silent on your trip, only following the taller boy while your mind was clouded with grief.

“No way you’re rolling out of here baby brother,” Neteyam spoke, letting go of your hand as he approached Lo’ak, Ilu saddle in hand.

“I’m going to warn Payakan. He has no one to warn him.” He replied sternly, fixing the saddle on his Ilu.

“No. You must stay here you skxawng.”

“He’s an outcast. He has no one else but me!”

Neteyam sighed, placing a hand on his head, “Why do you always have to make things so hard?”

Lo’ak quickly pushed his hand off, “You mean..” he started off hesitantly, “You mean why can’t I be the perfect little soldier like you?” Neteyam ushered back in disappointment, “I’m not you Neteyam.. I’m not you.” You watched as Neteyam exhaled, clearly annoyed with his outburst as he beginning to pace on the deck. A part of you wished Neteyam didn’t bring you here to witness the dilemma.

“He’s my brother!” Lo’ak motioned towards the sea, Neteyam only stopping his pace to practically size his little brother up.

Lo’ak swiftly turned on his heel, “Oh! Oh! He’s your brother?” Neteyam spoke with disbelief, his hands gripping onto his little brother’s arm, preventing him from going any further, “No. I’m your brother.”

And with a shake of his shoulder, Lo’ak dived into the waters, ignoring the arrival of Tsireya and the others.

Quickly moving into action, Neteyam called his Ilu, “He’s going to Payakun.” He informs the others before diving into the water, you following suit.

Before you knew it, the entire teaching group was after Lo’ak with the addition of Tuk and Kiri.

“Wait!”

“Stop!”

Wave after wave, you found yourselves eventually reaching the panicked Lo’ak, hearing his pleads for help as he tried pulling the tracker out of Payakun.

“Shit.” You whispered to yourself, climbing off Tuhi as you made an effort to get the beeping mechanism off the Tulkun. Pushing and pulling seemed to go down in vain, the group noticing the large vehicle approaching.

“Call dad.” Neteyam spoke, looking up as his brother as he tugged at the red marker. Lo’ak nodded and made the callout, noting the children he was with and the state of business.

Eventually the beeping machine was pulled off the tough skin of the Tulkun.

“Go! Go! Go! Swim away Payakun!” Lo’ak urged, hoping onto his Ilu after giving his spirit brother a few pats on the fin.

“Everyone go hide. I’ll take this and lead them away,” Neteyam spoke, holding the tracker in his hands. He nodded to you as he dove into the water with his own ilu. The rest of you guys dove down, temporarily finding security in the seaweed.

White lights seeped through the gaps of the seaweed, proving the hiding spot to be fruitless. the mechanical buzz echoed through the water as the group evaded capture. When Neteyam returned, the group had spilt up, taking seclusion in air pockets.

You found yourself with Tuk, the panicked little girl held onto you the second you made your appearance.

“Why are you alone?” You asked urgently, your voice echoing in the plant.

“I lost kiri!” Tuk responded, holding onto you arm tightly.

A sudden splash sent you and Tuk into a state of fear, a scream erupting from both of your throats.

“Tuk!” Lo’ak spoke, giving you a nod of acknowledgement. Soon another splash came, marking the arrival of Tsireya.

“It is coming!” Tsireya alerted the group, noting on the white light that glared on their legs.

“Alright!” Everyone took a deep breath before diving back into the water. You took the lead of the swimmers, ignoring the spotlight that kept you all in sight. Coming to a stop, Tsireya motioned you to swim the other way, another mechanicism making its way towards you. You nodded furiously before turning to swim in the opposite direction. Your endeavors proved to be unsuccessful, a net capturing Tsireya and Tuk. You followed suit with Lo’ak, taking out your handmade knife, trying to cut the girls free. You paused you actions as you watched two Ikarans dive into the water, swooping down to care the net airborne.

“Tuk! Tsireya!” You yelped, dangling off the side of the net, your fingers gripping onto the gaps.

“Hold on! Hold on!” Lo’ak began to hack away at the net with his knife.

“Hurry!” Tsireya called out, moving her and Tuk away from the cutting blades.

“Arrgh!” You groaned in fustration, only splitting one of the woven ropes in half. The wind that nipped at your skin came to a rest, notifying you of the ship’s presence. You felt your body jerk, the Ikaran releasing his grip on the net, leaving you all to fall to the ground. Making a quick recovery, you stood up, locking into a defense stance. Your blue knife blade was held parallel to you as you swung it bavk and froth. Lo’ak shared similar movements, his ears pinned back as he hissed.

“Put the knife down.”

“Give it up kid!”

“Come here.”

Voices of all kinds filled your ears and before you knew it you were held in a headlock by some oddly dressed Avatar. You bared you teeth over and over, attempting to free yourself by a simple act. What caught your attention was a human boy checking up on Lo’ak, perhaps you would ask him about that thing later. You winced at Tuk’s screams as the Avatar led you to a railing.

“On your knees.” He commanded, kicking the back of your knees in order to force you down. You watched helplessly as he cuffed you to the railing, the others falling helpless as they were cuffed as well.

“Are you alright Tuk?” You spoke softly over your shoulder, letting your arms go limp in the restraint. Your attention was then directed to the familiar crys, the appearance of your clan and the Sully parents left you in shock.

“Dad!” The little girl while tugging at her own restraints, a hopeful grin on her face. You and Tsireya exchanged glances, your people on the way to rescue you.

After Lo’ak’s communication device was ripped from him, a stalemate was ensued by both opponents.

“I’ve got your kids, Sully.” The leader Avatar spoke, standing infront of the line of arms.

“Tell your people to stand down.” He held a gun to Lo’ak’s head, you felt helpless against your restraints. “I will not hesitate to execute your kid.” The older Avatar gave you a mere look as you hissed at him, Lo’ak shooting you a look to stand down. Sucking up your pride, you listened to him. You knew Lo’ak probably had a better understanding of these deamwalkers. You huffed, turning your head to watch Jake make his way towards the boat.

‘Please Ewya..’ you had never begged to Ewya, not since your mother died, but now it was a time for desperate measures.

Almost as if on cue Payakun made an attack on the battleship, sending avatars and humans running amock. You eyes widened as Ewya seemingly answered your prayers.

“Payakun!” Tuk shouted, wtaching the Tulkan’s body land onto the deck with thud, destroying the ship in the process. You let out a cry for battle as your clan charged in towards the boat.

“Yes!” You yelled, raising your head towards the sky while Lo’ak focused on getting himself free.

“Come on!” He urgently pulled at the breaking rail, eager to escape confinement. Sounds of gunshots and war crys filled the air as you pulled onto the railing with Lo’ak.

“Neteyam!” Tuk alerted, watching as her older brother came to the rescue. You turned your gaze to the boy, feeling as if you were about to burst out crying at the sight of him.

“Hey guys,” he smiled, beginning to cut off the handcuffs we were put in, sending us free one by one.

“Yes!”

“Hurry up!”

“Are you alright?” Neteyam asked as he approached you, cutting the handcuffs off in a swift motion.

You opened your mouth, yet no sounds came out. Your emotions were all over the place, especially with Neteyam’s arrival, so you found yourself nodding to the Na’vi. He smiled at your efforts, raising hhis hand to ruffle your hair before returning to his self-made task.

“Oh come on, thank me little brother.” Neteyam teased as he freed Lo’ak.

“Let’s go, let’s go!” You urged, holding on to Tuk’s hand as you pushed Tsireya towards the water. You brushed your fingers against Tsireya’s arms, notifying her you were not coming. Tsireya noticed it as your signature way of saying goodbye. She turned to look at you with surprise, unable to argue with your decision.

“They have spider.” Lo’ak commented, picking up a gun as he glanced at his brother.

“Go you guys.” You gave Tuk’s hand to Tsireya as you wtached them dive into the water. Turning on your heel you crouched next to Neteyam, interested in Lo’ak mission.

“We can’t leave him!” Lo’ak concluded, leaving the pair as he began to search for “Spider”.

Neteyam exhaled, shaking his head as he turned to look at you, “Go! Get off the ship!” He commanded, standing up as he got ready to follow his brother.

“No.”

“What?”

“Teyem.” You grabbed his hand, his ears perking at the nickname, “If you fight, I fight. If you run, I run.” You affirmed, keeping your eyes locked with his own.

“(Y/N)..” He spoke softly, the world falling silent as he focused on you.

“Oel ngati kameie, Neteyam.” His jaw slightly dropped in surprise, your hand reaching up to hold it, forcing the words have a stronger meaning on you both. Neteyam nodded, an awestruck expression placed on his face as he met your hand with his.

“Let’s go.” He patted your hand and set off the follow his little brother, who he found to be watching the scene with a smirk.

“Skxawng.” He muttered underneath his breath in embarrassment as he walked past his brother, brushing shoulders. You followed suit, a small smile on your face.

The three of you found yourself climbing on the ceilings to avoid detection, Lo’ak and Neteyam watching for Spider. Soon in a charged assault, you all dropped down on a group of humans, taking them doen with ease.

“Bro!” Spider spoke, smiling after effectively de-masking a crewmate. Lo’ak returned the smile, but the reunion was cut short. Two of the Avatars began to open fire on you, bullets whizzing through the air

“Let’s get out of here!” You said pushing the boys to cover, grabbing a stray gun on the floor as you hid behind the wall.

Your ears kaid flat as you and neteyam peered out, the Avatars approaching you quickly. Being the older kids of your mini rescue squad, you and Neteyam urged the younger boys to run, Spider taking the lead as they dove into the water.

“Neteyam..” You panicked, the gunfire not ceasing.

“On the count of three we go!” He yelled, taking the gun from your hands.

“One!” You mentally prepared yourself for the run.

“Two!” You shook your shoulders as Neteyam shot back at the Avatars

“Three!” He yelled, taking your hand and leading you both to the water.

Strange. You had just prayed to Ewya yet it felt as if she was making you acknowledge the pain in your heart. The unnecessary hatred you had for her, for Ronal, hell, even your mom.

Being submerged in the water felt soothing to say the least, the adrenaline carrying you to the top as you held your chest.

“Teyem..” you voice came out as a whisper as the others celebrated, Tsireya even finding her way there to meet with the group.

You gripped onto Neteyam, feeling your body go weak as the adrenaline rush ran down, “Neteyam.” You spoke more firmly, your tight hold on Neteyam alerting him something was wrong.

“(Y/n)?” He turned around to face you as you struggled to keep your head afloat, even after holding onto the boy. The group watched as the waters turned a scarlet red, you being the source of it all.

Tsireya let out a scream of shock, immediately rushing to your side and calling her Ilu.

“She’s shot!” Lo’ak stated, rushing to hold onto Tsireya’s Ilu. Neteyam felt as if his soul had left his body, “No.. No! No!” He repeated, starting to put pressure onto your wound as you laid against his chest. You let out a scream, the feeling of your injury being touched sent you through a state of pain.

“It hurts!” Neteyam sucked in a breath as he pushed down harder, only causing you to scream more.

“You’re hurting her! Stop it!” Tsireya cried, not able to witness you being put in even more pain.

“Im sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” Neteyam choked back on tears as he unwillingly put you into more pain.

Ewya was so cruel, but maybe, just maybe you deserved it. You treated Tsireya with snarky remarks, paid little to no respect to Ronal, and even your own father. You shut him out the second your mother died, so young and emotional. Why did he let you do that to him? Perhaps Ewya yearbed to teach you a lesson and the only was you could pay for your wrongdoings was meeting your great end.

The group of teenagers urged you onto a small, rocky island, the wave paying no respect to your body as it pushed you back and forth.

“Watch her head!” Neteyam repeated, still pushing onto your wound with heavy hands as you sobbed in pain. Eventually, your body was carried out of the water and laid onto the bumpy stones.

Neteyam taking his spot next to you, shouting to Lo’ak to change spots with him. Lo’ak did as told, his eyes suken in sadness as he placed pressure onto your chest. Your hands closed around his arms in an attempt to pull them off, not wanting to bear the pain. Your fruitless efforts brought tears to Lo’ak’s eyes, “I’m sorry..” He stuttered out.

Tsireya found herself by your head, she encased your head with her hands, her face torn in agony. “Ewya please!” She yelled, wiping your own tears away with her thumbs.

Your desperate pushes on Lo’ak ceased as Neteyam cried silently by your side. You sucked up the small ounce of pride you had left and spoke to no one in particular, “I want my mom!” You cried out, “Dad!” The teens watched you with sadness, “I’m sorry!” You yelled. “I’m sorry!” You closed your eyes shut, not wanting to see the pity your friends held over you.

Lo’ak , the boy who you learned to be a troublemaker, brought to tears by someone he had spent little to no time with.

Tsireya, the girl you had grown up with and sometimes given unnecessary rudeness even though she had saw you as her sister.

And Neteyam, the boy you had trained, the boy who promised to take you to his home, the boy who showed you how to love. Your eyes watered at the sight of him. This would mark the end of your journey with him, no more dances in the moonlight, quick adventures through the reef, or following him to reprimand Lo’ak.

You felt your hands reach up to touch all of them, fingers gliding against their arms, leaving streaky trails of blood. The teenagers watched your action with great sorrow, figuring this was your own, special (Y/n) goodbye. Tsireya choked, the gesture being a familiar one; whenever you would say goodbye.

Neteyam suffered in silence, your time was coming to an end and no one could help it. Ignoring the voices in his head, screaming no, he grabbed his queue. Lo’ak and Tsireya exchanged a startled look.

“Bro.” Lo’ak held his brother’s arm, stopping him from whatever he was doing. “Don’t do it.” The little brother spoke sternly, his now dry tears leaving glossy stripes upon his cheeks.

Neteyam cracked, his heavy sobs filled the air as his hold on his braid fell limp, “I want her, Lo’ak!” He choked on his tears as Tsireya watched the scene play out with woeful eyes. Spider’s hand fell onto Neteyam’s back, showing him an ounce of comfort. Neteyam reached to hold your face in his bloodly hands, taking Tsireya’s place.

“Teyam..” you muttered out, bringing your own hands against his, “I’ll be with you for eternity,” you winced, the pain practically becoming numb as you felt yourself slip. Neteyam looked down with sad eyes, his tears splashing onto your face, mixing with your own. Without thinking, The oldest Sully brother crashed his lips against yours, muffled noises coming from his mouth, unable to conceal his weeping. Only for a second did you return the gesture, you body falling limp in the teenagers hands.

“(Y/n)?” Neteyam broke the kiss, inspecting your lifeless eyes.

Tsireya screamed in realization, turning towards Lo’ak as she buried herself into his shoulder, bawling with grief. Lo’ak lifted his hands from your wounds and engulfed Tsireya in a comforting hug, painfully watching his older brother.

Neteyam felt the way your body temperature dropped, your skin growing cold on his palms. He shakily exhaled, his mouth opening as if he were to scream, byt no sound came out. Neteyam stared at your lifeless eyes, and with a blink of his own golden orbs, he pulled his bloodied thumbs over your eyelids. He felt his lips quiver into a frown as he tried to fight his cries, still wanting to be the strong older brother for Lo’ak. And despite his efforts, he felt himself cry even harder as the realization set in. He wept as he laid his forehead against yours, his own tears gliding down your face.

“I see you, (Y/N).”

∘ ───♡༉─── ∘

Ewya. Everything had linked back to the all seeing god. She predicted and she chose. This time, she had chosen your unexplainable hatred to be repaid with you returning back to her.

The burial marked the ending of your life as (Y/n). Only Ewya knew where the waters would take you once your body sunk to the floor. Neteyam earning a spot in your burial next to your dad and Tsireya, pushed your body through the waters, each of you wearing parts of her signature bracelets.

The clan watched in sorrow as Neteyam choked back tears, watching your father take you down to the bottom of the Cove. You never introduced your father to Neteyam or vice versa, but the pain you both shared created a sense of comfort.

Neteyam’s cries were shown as bubbles escaped from his lips while he watched your body disappear on the seafloor. Tsireya, in a effort of comfort, gave Neteyam a side hug, which he returned only after watching your last strand of hair disappear into the glowing plants.

Essentially, everything Ewya stood for resulted in eternity. Eternal peace, eternal love, eternal forgiveness. Everything eternal lasted forever in Ewya’s eyes, and even if something proved to be gone, Ewya would find a way to wrap it up in the loop of endless beginnings.

And maybe, just maybe, that’s what you had really meant when you told Neteyam you would be with him for eternity.

#avatar #atwow #xreader #neteyam #angst #character death #neteyam x reader #neteyam x you #avatar x reader #atwow spoilers #atwow x reader #lo’ak #tsireya #jake sully #neytiri #major spoilers

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adarkrainbow · 1 year

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What OUaT did (aka a look back at season 1)

Given I have been working on Disney for now, I was bound to look at their television series, “Once Upon a Time”. Or rather, look back at it: this show was a part of my teenagehood and I watched it for quite a long time X) I think I caught up with the show after season 2 was released, and then I went forward... up to season five if I recall correctly.

And in this post, what I want to do is not explain or do a recap of the show (because come on, everybody knows how hard it is to explain OUaT Xp), but rather point out what Once Upon a Time did, as a show, as a creation, and by extension what made it famous and popular in the first place. This is why I will stay focused mostly on the first season. I will consider what OUaT did BOTH towards “traditional fairytales” AND towards “Disney fairytales”. And it will prove a very interesting experience because, fun fact, when I first watched OUaT, I did not know it was a Disney product X) It wasn’t until the Elsa/Queens of Darkness arc that I realized it was a Disney show. Before they managed to fool me enough into thinking it was just its own thing.

One last note: I will not talk about “Fables” here. Everybody knows now that OUaT started out as a failed Fables tv series, and that the first season took a lot of inspiration from “Fables”, but I am not up to do a proper comparison of the two, All of that said... Let’s go!

WARNING! SPOILERS AHEAD FOR THE ENTIRE FIRST SEASON OF OUAT!

# Of course, one of the key elements of the success and efficiency of this first season was the play on the ambiguity of the “Is it real or not?”. The first episodes of the show really played on the question “Is Henry right, or is it just a kid delusion? Are we see two real stories, or is one a fiction-in-the-fiction?”. Mind you, after a few episodes in we have pretty solid evidences that yes, the fantasy IS real (and even before that the promoting material made sure you got it was a FANTASY show), but the clever thing is that even after this audience-reveal, they did not just drop entirely the ambiguity, they still left the main protagonist in a state of disbelief, and most of the cast still carried on the “realistic” point of view, and between characters who think it isn’t real and the audience who knows it is real, it adds such an enjoyable flavor to it all by playing heavily on the dramatic irony. Because, beyond explicit big proof such as the glass coffin in the mines, the writers made sure that everything caused by the undoing of the curse or the curse itself would seem anodine, mundane and trivial enough to not feel like magic: a stopped clock starts again, old tunnels start crumbling down, crickets start singing again...

The excellence of the ambiguity here, beyond just jokes, tension and dramatic irony, is that it also involves the fairytales in a meta-narrative. It explicitely shows and explains how fairytales work “in real-life”, even when they are not real, and the series relies on the traditional “power of stories”. We are presented fairy tales as things such as a way for children to cope with the unexplained world around them or an inspiration for people to become better persons and strive to ideals.

# But at the same time, what OUaT did was also subvert a LOT of traditional tropes, archetypes, stereotypes and cliches. A lot of the stories we know happen after the “happily ever after”, and show that stories can keep going on after the intended “happy end” ; Snow-White, exemplified as the most “passive and weak” of the “fairy tale princesses” is now revealed to be a fighter and a badass, who beat up the huntsman, had to become a bandit to survive in the woods, and pulled a sword on her evil stepmother when she threatened her wedding...

# OUaT actually took a lot of time to explain “fairy tales” magic. It isn’t just because the spells and curses become such a prominent part of the story, or because there are several witches and sorcerers in the cast - what I am talking about here is that OUaT decided to create a “magic system” for fairy tales, and to present to the viewers the various rules that allows such wondrous stories to happen. We have the rule of the powers of names (which will be dropped in later seasons but still plays an important part in this first season), we have the clear rule of the “magic always come with a price” ; and we even have implied/subtle rules, such as the “magic is natural” rule (the makers of the show explained in BTS material and interviews that most of magic relies on what already exist in the world, which is why for examples witches tend to control the trees around them to bind people, or why Regina gets her fireballs out of already-present fires).

# This show massively popularized the concept of Rumpelstilskin as a bargain-making wicked wizard acting as a massive “big bad” for an overall story - just one year after the Shrek franchize also reboosted Rumpelstilskin’s role in “Shrek Forever After”. Mind you, none of those invented the idea of a massively antagonistic Rumpelstilskin that is more than a dwarf and the very embodiment of evil - this honor comes to Connolly’s “The Book of Lost Things”, release five years before OUaT.

# Of course, one thing the show was loved for (but that made it quite hard to explain later one) was how it created a “web of fairytales” - since all of those stories are now supposed to happen in a same country, they not only had different fairytales retooled and reshaped so that they would be connected with each other, but they also went the “Slavic road” by having one same character fulfilling several roles across different tales. Of course, as with the example above, OUaT wasn’t the first one to do this - but the way they tied the stories together into one complex, intricate world was admired and admirable (even though as the show went on it became quite a tangled mess). One thing that has notably been liked was how the writers of the show decided to go for an unchronological order - each individual story full, with a beginning and an end, but each story told in disorder so that gaps, questions and mysteries introduced by the juxtaposition of earlier tales would be answered by the last ones. This is actually another anti-fairytale move as fairytales are known to be linear and orderly things, going on a straight line from point A to B ; but here this structure is broken by a set of different stories having at different times AND in parallel AND in disorder YET forming together a whole like a complex puzzle.

# This show has a very strange yet fascinating approach to the manicheism of fairy tales, as on one side it actually does apply it per the fairytale logic, making “good” and “evil” active forces, the essence of certain course of actions and massive, fundamental traits of characters - and yet, thanks to their confrontation of the “real world” against the “fairy tale world”, associated to their deepening of the fairy tales as individual parts of a larger coherent world, they also question, discuss and sometimes reject the idea of a world divided between good and evil, always pointing out that there is darkness in good people, and good sides to evil ones. The result manifests in world-building principles halway through fairy tales and humanism, such as the constant motto “Evil isn’t born: it’s made”, teaching that while yes evil as a force exists, and corrupts people, and there are evil people - evil itself is not something natural, it is something that has to be created inside someone’s heart or learned/obtained through one’s own will. In fact this is one of the main topics of the original season: exploring how fairy tale antagonists BECAME villains, exploring the act incident or reason that led them to a path of darkness.

# On a similar subject: an excellent thing the show did was apply fairytale logic to the “real world” through the mini-society of Storybrooke, and actually show how it doesn’t work. It is something a lot of people seem to have missed, because at first it shows a “working” translation of fairy tales in the real world: the queen’s huntsman is the sheriff, the queen is the mayor, the evil deal-maker is the pawnbroker/lawyer, the magic mirror becomes the Daily Mirror, etc... But then as the episodes go along you realize that the applying of their fairy tale habits to the real world makes the Storybrooke characters weak to “real-life logic”. Regina, as the evil queen, can’t resist to threatening and antagonizing people, which leads Emma (who was about to leave town), to stay. Rumplestilskin, who still deals with unofficial baby-trades in the real world and still does shady deals, can’t use those same contracts as weapons anymore because he has a legal threat over his head. And while Regina as the evil queen got used to bossing, controlling and dominating everybody around her, as Jiminy quickly realizes it won’t work for him because he is a psychiatric expert, and so if she tries to give him orders again he can testify against her in a “potential custody battle”... As it turns out, what defeats the villains in this new realm is precisely our own “reality”, and the only way for them to truly win is to still use whatever leftover magic they have (see Regina with Graham’s heart).

# In fact, the show seems to have a strong bias towards our world, “reality”, being much better than the “fairy tale world”, the Enchanted Forest, due to how the show heavily plays on a deconstruction of the fairy tale magic. The show works hard on destroying the idea of an idyllic fairytale magic that simply relies on wishes and can solve everything and would make life perfect. Sure, love is still the strongest power of them all and magic does beautiful things... But evil magic is shown to be much more powerful than the good one (Rumpelstilskin and the Dark Curse are noted to be stronger than even characters such as the Blue Fairy) ; magic is constantly reminded to have a price that people must pay, no matter if they try to use said magic for good, often resulting in all spells backfiring in some unpleasant ways ; magic is explicitely said to corrupt unless wielded by supernatural entities such as fairies (in fact, in this first season the only good magic user is a fairy, all the other human magic users being evil witches or dark sorcerers)... to the point that our world goes from “a place horrible where no happy ending happens” to “the only safe place for those fleeing magic”.

# A breakdown of the “fairytale ideal” also occurs throughout its treatment of nobility - as the royals and nobles are explicitely described as living hard lives thanks to the copious amount of responsabilities and duties befalling them, now that the entire existence of a kingdom and its inhabitants are in their hands. Not only does it turns the idea of going from “pauper to prince” into a real nightmare (especially in a country where a king regularly has to fight dragons), but it also shows how royal power, just like magical power, can wear down a man and turn them into cynic, bitter, hard-hearted beings - and if they act only to their whims and desires, they just becomes hateful and oppresive tyrants.

# Choices is one of the show’s main themes. I already talked about the idea of free will, but the show really insists on how everything in life is a choice done by someone, a choice with reasons behind it and consequences that follows - again, we have here a desire to subvert a traditional view of fairytales as simple, linear, “flat” stories where the characters simply are what they are and are driven by outside forces and are punished or rewarded for their very nature. In OUaT the characters and plotlines break this view completely by heavily relying on choices, on the characters being forced to make decisions, on debates about who is to blame or who is at fault for this or that - and, as Emma puts it, the importance of taking up control of your own life in a world “without fairy godmothers”. This is something very similar to how the show handles the character of Snow-White - in the original fairytale, Snow-White was a passive character that relied on the kindness and goodness of others as much as she suffered helplessly for their wickedness ; and all the protections, helps or reward she got were due to her simply being, she barely took any action and left herself be subjected to whatever fate was thrown at her. Here, the show decided to completely break this reading by having her be active and conscious: we see her taking decisions to survive, fighting back against those that want to do her harm, considering the idea of revenge and of fighting evil with evil, there is a deep complexity here... But, and this is the charming thing about the show, a deep complexity that does not remove from Snow’s original character, as she stays deep down a sweet girl, who will always favor kindness and self-sacrifice above spite and hatred no matter how tempting they are - she is roughened, hardened and toughened up by her adventures and not prone to forgiveness, BUT she stays a character of hope, faith and love.

# Speaking of complexities, OUaT also tried to explore the complexities and implications of something such as “true love”. Two main cases can be thought of - their take on the Snow White X Prince Charming story, and their reinterpretation of Beauty and the Beast. I won’t cover every little detail, because it would spoil the whole show, but the episodes fleshes out these loves simplified in fairy tales as “they saw each other and were in love” - often by asking questions that nuance and problematize the whole concept of soulmates. What happens when true love conflicts with marriage and legal unions? Is true love inherently something good, especially when it makes you suffer? How much can love change you? Love isn’t just two gaze locking each other - how long does it take for love to be recognized and take effect? What about doubt, suspicion, fear, those still exist even beyond love, right? Can you resist love? How far are you ready to go for love? Through all of these questions, a love such as the one of Snow-White and James/Charming isn’t anymore being “lovestruck at first sight”, but becomes a long road of twists and turns, of false hopes and betrayals, of denial and acceptance, of fights and hunts and reconciliations... Which in turn makes the whole idea of a marriage being a happy ending logical and reasonable, as such a union feels deserved when the love story itself is stretched and convoluted on such epic levels.

# OUaT was one of the first of the Disney products were the concept of romantic true love was replaced by a familial true love. In this case, OUaT focused and relied heavily on the idea of parent-children love, from Emma and Regina to James’ mother and Hansel&Gretel, it is everywhere and becomes THE main plot point. This was two years before “Frozen” came forward and reinvented magical “true love” as a sisterly love. OUaT was there first (and in fact it is fascinating to see how much the sequel to “Enchanted”, “Disenchanted”, was influenced by OUaT).

# No need to tell you that OUaT tried to recreate some of the original horror and darkness of fairytales. We aren’t on a Guillermo del Toro level... and yet almost as OUaT pays a big homage to del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth in their Hansel & Gretel episode. They don’t just make fairytales more adult and mature by complexifying the plotlines and deepening characters - but also by reintroducing the very adult elements that were in there in the first place, namely sex and violence - with here one more aspect that oldest fairytales didn’t think of, mental abuse and emotional violence.

There are probably more things to say but this is all I can conjure up in my mind rewatching this first season and rediscovering it like some distant past life of mine X)

#once upon a time #ouat #television series #fairytales #disney fairytales #analysis

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andrews-reviews-and-thoughts · 1 year

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Andrew’s Review of The Lion King (2019) and Knives Out

I have two movies to talk about. The first is the 2019 remake of The Lion King, or as I like to call it, Ingonyama nengw’ enamaRemake. I did not see it in theaters due to the not-so positive reviews, and instead saw Aladdin (2019) to avoid it (which was nice, about a 6 or 7/10, but clearly was inferior to the original and could have used some tuning up). And after seeing it on Disney+…Yeaaahhh, I chose wisely to avoid wasting my time at a theater.

Now the one positive thing there is to say about Ingonyama nengw’ enamaRemake is that, in terms of revolutionary visual effects (or, animation, since this is 99.9% animated), it does look extremely good at replicating realism. With every grass, animal, fur, movement, whatever, it shows how far computer-animated technology has gone. But that is where the positivity ends, since the way the remake tells the story is what breaks this movie.

Now while, yes, it is remaking The Lion King, it does so in a way that is Boring. There can be times where it is nearly shot-for-shot, while other times, it pads out a scene of someone or something traveling just to show how good the visuals are. Either way though, neither help make this interesting, and it does not help either that the characters are not as engaging as before, with most of the actors giving an alright performance while attempting to emulate the ones from before. The sole exceptions are Billy Eichner and Seth Rogen giving their takes to Timon & Pumbaa; James Earl Jones as Mufasa making us wonder if age has caught up with his acting or if he just did not give as much energy as he could have (2019 Mufasa: “is that a challenge ?”); Keegan Michael-Key and Eric Andre as Not-Banzai & Not-Ed not being as funny; and Florence Kasumba giving a fierce take to Shenzi.

And then there are the visuals themselves. While it does stay realistic, it does so to a fault by preventing what was once an animated animals movie from being creative. Are the songs as vibrant and fun as before? Nope, they mostly consist of the characters running about with the soundtrack sounding nearly the same, except for ‘Be Prepared’, which is turned into an odd song-speech. Does Rafiki use his staff all the time? Nope, he instead acts like a monkey the entire time, Even when he brings his staff-stick at the end just to attack like a real monkey, while also calling it an old friend for unexplained reasons! Is Mufasa’s death scene as powerful as befor-NOPE!!! It help shows how not making the animals emote like in The Jungle Book (2016) can have people Not connect to them, and quite possibly Laugh at their ‘facial expressions’ not matching the mood of the scene! (2019 Simba looks like he is roaring while sillily saying: “Nooooooooo.”)

So yeah, if you were wondering which Disney Remake is probably worth skipping, this one would be a good contender (and considering how it is an unnecessary remake of not just a great Disney Renaissance film, but one that everyone in the world must know about, that is not really too surprising). Now despite this technically being an animated film, I will go the live-action movie route and just give the overall rating, which is a 5/10 for forgetting that it is more than what it has become.

Thankfully, I also saw a great movie as well, and that is Rian Johnson’s murder-mystery, Knives Out, and honestly, this might be my favorite live-action movie of 2019 I have seen so far. Keep in mind, this is a movie where not spoiling it for your first watch is an Important requirement, so I will try my best to keep things spoiler-free as possible. As a murder-mystery, while I am not very familiar with that genre, I can say with absolute certainty that Rian Johnson made sure to make this an Interesting and Complex one, making us unsure of who to trust or suspect, and keep surprising us even when we think we have been given a good amount of the true story. And by the end of the third act, even the most-tough-to-express-emotions-at-a-movie person like me will be amazed at what is revealed. Another important part of the movie is its political message, which is a bit difficult to describe through words, but the best way I could put it is that it points out the hypocrisy of rich, white established families, while also acknowledging some issues surrounding immigration.

And then there are the characters, who help bring the story and message together, and help make this experience unforgettable. Starting with the main ones we focus on the most, there is Benoit Blanc, a detective who is trying to investigate and solve the case; Harlan Thrombey, the wealthy novelist who has mysteriously died; Ransom Drysdale, the rude and jerkish member of the Thrombey family; and Marta Cabrera, the Thrombeys’ house servant who may be at the center of this mystery, and also has a gag reflex whenever she lies. Sounds a bit silly and ridiculous, I know, but it doesn’t just end up as a silly running gag. And that leads to the strength of these characters; they could just be as typical as I made them sound, but thanks to the strong writing and use of surprises, they end up being more than just their roles.

And then there are the rest of the Thrombeys. There are some notable individuals, like Richard, Joni, and Walt, who have some trouble with Harlan; Linda, who acts like the head of the family; and Meg and Jacob, with the former being friendly with Marta, and the latter who is literally portrayed as a kid always being an alt-right troll on his phone. Now while it could be possible that some of the Thrombeys did not get focused on a whole lot, it probably does not matter because, when they are put together as a whole, they are meant to help represent the film’s message, and that is as an entitled family filled with people who are either ‘nice’, or blatantly racist. As for the other characters, there is Detective Lieutenant Elliott and Trooper Wagner, the regular cops assigned to the case, with Elliott being the more rational one and Wagner being a fanboy of Blanc and Harlan’s works, and other characters like Fran, Nana, and Alan Stevens who are meant to help move the plot along, while also bringing in more twists and turns. And to top it all off, the cast in here is Just Great! If anything, it feel likes this is a Perfect cast, with actors like Daniel Craig, Christopher Plummer, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Jamie Lee Curtis, and many more. Granted, I haven’t seen much of their works, but I feel safe in believing that they are not being themselves when bringing life to these characters.

Overall, Knives Out is just a Great movie that is worth seeing, and probably several times, with a very impressive story that keeps on surprising, a wonderful cast full of great characters, a nice use of a political message, and some nice visuals with the Thrombey mansion, the camerawork, and how almost every shot feels like it has some sort of purpose. Does this mean this gets a great rating? OF COURSE IT DOES! This film gets a solid 10/10 for its sharp wit and clever script. Oh, and one more thin-Ransom: “Eat $%#^. Eat $%#^. Definitely eat $%#^.” Yeaah, don’t expect Chris Evans to be as kind as Captain America, and do expect tons of cursing. Walt: “I ain’t eating one iota of $%#^!”

#review #the lion king #knives out #the lion king 2019 #the lion king remake #benoit blanc #marta cabrera

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tragicbeancounter · 2 years

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Ok so I've not really watched doctor who since mid way through the Matt Smith arch but I usually drop in for the regeneration episodes and I really have to know ... What the fuck? Like what have I missed? I can only pray to the Gods that there is some context from earlier in the series that I've missed because otherwise my only explanation is that the writers are on The Bad Drugs.

So without further delay, my here's my out of context recap of the The Power of the Doctor (spoilers):

There is a Rick and Morty style space train (this does not come back)

Cybermen can regenerate now which is cool as fuck

Cybermen have weird hats now which is not cool as fuck

Child slavery is also not cool. Who is this child, where did they come from, why are they cargo

"I'm the doctor I'll protect you" lol woops there you go

Omg a bunch of seismologists are going missing

Yes but also sometimes all the paintings aren't up in this gallery and there's no explanation "they're gone for scheduled maintenance" no explanation

Yes my missing people and your missing paintings are mystery's of equal value and also definitely linked

Oh yeah old DW actor cameos, like a lot

Why do the daleks have so much emotion in their voices now

The Cybermen too actually

"do you like my seismologist collection"

GCSE level volcano diagram

Unexpected and unexplained rasputin

Did they ever explain why Rasputin was in any way relevant? Did I skip that?

Russian doll cybermen which actually slaps if you ignore all the dialogue and explanation for it

Baldrick the cyberman

Disappointed in the lack of "exterminate" and "you will be upgraded"

The paintings have faces?? Why?? This was not explained??

Oh shit yeah there's like a whole extra planet in space thats also the deathstar, and also metal, and also powered by the child, and also the jokers tardis is there

But the child is actually sentient energy that's actually a laser space squid

Knock off Jack Harkness

Actually I take that back he was probably my favourite character this episode

The doctor is an unhelpful cybernetic ghost hologram

FORCED REGENERATION (I think you mean death)

No apparently it means you can possess another timelords body

What were those two fighting planets?? Why did he take time out of his busy schedule to say "mwahaha I'm the doctor and I did this"

Oh wait I forgot about the whole daleks drilling into the earth's core thing

I'm sure that was plot relevent but I'm still reeling over "do you like my seismologist collection"

The doctor is in limbo aka more doctor cameos

Oh yeah there was a dance break because the master is Rasputin again?

Seriously did I miss something earlier in the series? Why is he Rasputin?

I'm loving this guys acting but my god does it make so little sense in the context of the scenes he's in

Daleks exploding in a volcano is the cinematic masterpiece I didn't know I needed

This master is exuding extreme Sub energy

New Captain Jack is bae

They re-regenerate the doctor

Space squid goes wild

The doctor doesn't seem to really die but also regenerates?

The support group was actually really sad for me. Like can the doctor not just visit. They have access to an actual time machine it's not like they can't make time in their schedule

I'm actually not entirely sure what the doctor did to help anybody this episode

Was there a moral here I missed

In conclusion I don't know what happened but this was one of the most accidentally funny things I've ever seen and it keeps me up at night. By all accounts its a masterclass in bad writing but I'm not even sure I can bring myself to hate it. Would I watch it again, no. Do I wish I hadn't seen it, absolutely not.

Everyone should watch this so we can suffer together

#doctor who #the power of the doctor #daleks #cybermen #rasputin #yes #the lover of the russian queen #so many call backs #hot jack harkness 2.0 #space squid sentient alient child #why do the daleks and cybermen have no much emotion in their voices now #seismologists

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fromtheasheslikeaphoenix · 11 days

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The Grimm Variations | EP 1

Been debating to write some review type content on here for years, why not start now?

This chain of posts comes from someone who grew up with the original tales, as I'm German, but I'm pretty acquainted with retellings so no bias there.

Not spoiler free!

—

Cinderella

I'm honestly not quite sure what I was expecting, I didn't read a ton of the summary prior and the bit I read was quite a while before the show came out...

The style is what you'd expect out of anime these days, stable and pretty. Some visuals are really stunning, most emotions are well portrayed, etc. Even the gruesome has beauty to it, so that aligns well with the origins of it all.

Idea wise it's basically „What if Cinderella was actually a sheming mentally ill girl“ - which, in and of itself, is a solid idea and totally has my stamp of approval..

However, like with the other two episodes I've watched so far, there's a bunch of unexplained that just makes it feel incomplete, like the stories are a draft each for their own spin-off.

Cinderella just randomly has a talking doll, it plays into the old cliche of „Some people are just that way by nature“, gives no real conclusion or ending as the Grimm tales like most stories usually do.

The Grimm's have barely any involvement, despite their high value VA's and nice designs and the inclusion of the sister feels more like a unnecessary extra.

In short, though, it's definitely worth a try - especially if you're familiar with the originals, or as a starting point to check out the originals. They're both meant to provoke thoughts and reactions and however many times I've heard Cinderella and the other 2 stories - they definitely achieved that.

Please keep in mind that the episodes are more like short movies. All are around 40 minutes long and I wouldn't rec splitting them up in between.

The intro and outro are nothing really noteworthy, there's also no content really after the ending so you may just go on after the episodes are done...

If you struggle with dark themes, or gore, or emotional/mental manipulation, and the likes I might avoid the show. The second episode is especially heavy on the bloody, murdery aspects.

This is definitely a show for older anime fans. Some recommendations I can think of or cross-references - in case you need them - would be: Aoi Bungaku (retelling of old Japanese written classics), Kakegurui, Tomodachi Game, Mirai Nikki, Elfen Lied, Madoka Magica, Juuni Taisen. (& Yes, outside of Madoka I've seen them all). These mostly apply to episodes one and two!

#the grimm variations #spring anime 2024 #anime spring 2024 #anime review #anime recommendation #anime reccs #anime recap

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jaaankiey · 1 month

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aaa hello !! i just want to say i adore your fics. i was genuinely so shocked when i saw you like my fic (aadol) and i don't really know where i'm going with this but i just want to thank u for carrying the leafpin community !! ur such a great writer omg ... i am so sorry i am very awkward </3

hey!!! thank you for the comment and AAAA?!?!?! i always get so confused when people reach out and say they like my writing. I'm still like "they're really OOC" but what matters is that people have fun and enjoy reading them haha!!

going off the initials, you're the author who wrote anatomically accurate descriptions of love, I'm assuming? (i hope i got it right otherwise this would be so embarrassing ;0;)

just a heads up to anybody peeking at this, it is a mature-rated work with themes of cannibalism, character death, and implied suicide so please be mindful if that's a trigger.

spoiler warning under the cut as i do want to discuss the work :0

SO assuming that i'm not horrifically wrong about which fic it is, yes. YES. i put something in my bookmark for it along the lines of "cannibalism as an expression of love !!!" and I'm like... WOW! i love that kind of trope! i love how twisted it is like pop off!! words do very little in conveying my excitement over it because i'd be either typing in all caps OR i can't accurately explain how *chef's kiss* this work was.

i really am a sucker for this concept and this one shot was a really good little meal towards it. like there's so much meaning that can be tied to it AND it's all done with minimal dialogue which is a pretty damn feat itself!! UGHH, the concept of loving someone so much that you want to make some shred of them a part of your own being; so primal, so unexplainable, it's a single faucet of the dark path desire and love can lead down right here, RIGHT IN THIS FIC!! this is DOOMED YURI 100 PERCENT.

i read this in horrified shock. y'know that feeling where someone says something really unfunny but the uncomfortable silence sort of makes you laugh a little albeit very nervously and weakly? me with this work. it's a trainwreck in terms of the events that happened and yet i can't look away. I'm compelled to keep watching, keep reading as a silly girl literally eats her lover and then proceeds to kill herself afterward while also ensuring that they died right in the same spot?? if your mate doesn't do this, dump 'em /joking.

i was shocked by the end of it to the point of comedy. i really thought "damn, double homicide" before remembering "wait a minute, this is a cannibalism work stop laughing"

that was a lot of thoughts, i'm sorry. I LOVE THIS WORK! YOU DID GREAT! AADOL is the author's first work so please be kind about it too! hope you keep writing! it's a good hobby to have overall if you're looking to have something to fill your time with. good luck and hope you'll post more!

#jankiey asks #jankiey talking #JVNDANJVDA #I LOVE TALKING ABOUT PEOPLE'S WORKS #YEAYEA LEAFPIN COMMUNITY!!

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lancermylove · 3 years

Text

Teenager MC 5: Little Misfortune (HC)

Fandom: Obey Me

Pairing: All x Reader, platonic.

Warning: Contains spoilers from Little Misfortune!

Requested by: Anon

Prompt: I am in love with your teenager MC series for obey me. I wanted to ask if you can make one with everybody where MC gets turn into a cute child, however, she acts like the little girl from the game Little Misfortune. I can’t help but wonder their thoughts and reaction to this. Especially if the MC talks about Mr.Voice. 😂 I hope life is treating you well😊❤️🙏😘🤗

A/N: ANON, I love Little Misfortune! This is such a cute request!! TY for sending this in. ❤️ Life is treating me as usual, but I am hoping 2021 is better! 😊 Hope things are going well with you~.

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Lucifer

His immediate reaction when you called out to him: since when did a child start living in the House of Lamentation?

The Avatar of Pride was alarmed to see a mini version of you. His thought after seeing you: someone is trying to play a prank. MAMMOOON

"Luci, Mr. Voice told me I am going to die today and asked me to play a game. He says if I win, I can get eternal happiness."

Your words didn't sit well with him as he started to question you about this, Mr. Voice. Lucifer assumed that Mr. Voice was a demon attempting to play tricks with your mind.

Has this happened before in Devildom? No. Do strange unexplained things happen in Devildom? YES.

He didn't want to take a chance, especially considering what the disembodied voice said about your death.

"Why exactly do you wish to find eternal happiness? Are you unhappy here?"

"No, I want to find eternal happiness and give it to Luci."

Lucifer found your unexpected response endearing. But, he warned you to ignore Mr. Voice.

While you ran around his study curiously examining everything, Luci worked to find a way to reverse the spell.

In no time, you were back to your teen self.

"Thank you for thinking of me," Lucifer touched your cheek and kissed the top of your head, "but if you find eternal happiness, then you should keep it for yourself. You deserve it."

Mammon

His immediate reaction: one of his witch "friends" was getting back at him for something.

"Mammon, Mr. Voice asked me if I want to play a game with him. What should I do?"

The Avatar of Greed was confused and questioned you about Mr. Voice. Mammon looked around the room and scratched his head. "You didn't eat anything funny, did you?"

Then, you told him about your death and finding eternal happiness. "I want eternal happiness for Mammon...give him all the money in the world!"

Even though you said the magic word money, all Mammon heard was I am going to die today.

He dropped to his knees and embraced you tightly. "I don't want any money if it means losing you."

Mammon was upset. He didn't want to lose you, and he wasn't going to spare the person responsible for doing this to you.

Until he found the person, though, Mammon told you to ignore Mr. Voice.

He stayed with you 24/7 until you got back to normal, and even after that, Mammon made sure that no demon messed with you, especially not Mr. Voice.

Asmo

You entered his room while throwing glitter in the air. "A little sparkle for you, a little sparkle for you, and a little sparkle for me!"

"Sweetie? You look so adorable!" Asmo scooped you in his arms and embraced you close. "But, did someone cast a spell on you?"

Instead of answering his question, you said, "Mr. Voice, don’t say that about Asmo. I like him, his pretty eyes, his hair, his smile, and his clothes."

Asmo looked around confused and asked you who you were talking to. When you explained to him, Asmo wasn't sure how to react, but something told him that Mr. Voice was most likely a demon trying to mess with you.

"Mr. Voice asked me to play a game with him."

Asmo shook his head. "Forget about Mr. Voice and play dress up with me instead!"

While you were busy raid through Asmo's makeup, he contacted Solomon and told him about the situation.

"Btw, Solomon, no need to rush. Sweetie looks so cute, and I want to spend more time with her mini version."

Satan

His immediate reaction: how adorable.

Satan thought that you touched a cursed spell book and got turned into a child.

He doesn't think much of it until you mentioned Mr. Voice and said, "Mr. Voice says I shouldn't trust you. You may get angry and hurt me."

Satan was upset, but he asked you about Mr. Voice. Not wasting any time, the Avatar of Wrath threatened Mr. Voice and asked him to leave you alone.

He now thought that a demon was trying to play tricks on you.

While you read one of his picture books, he tried to find a spell to cure you.

Once you are back to normal, he asked, "Are you scared of me? You know I won't hurt you, right?"

After you leave, Satan went on a hunt for Mr. Voice. Let's just say that Morgo is not going to bother anyone again, especially not you.

Levi

His immediate reaction: you look cute, but... first we had to take care of a teen, and now we have to take care of a child. Could the universe make things any harder? Yes, of course, it can.

Levi sat you in a spare chair and let you watch him play video games, but then he heard you talking to Mr. Voice.

"Mr. Voice?" Levi thought that name sounded familiar, and when you told him in detail, he had a déjà vu moment.

"EH? You can hear a voice that is trying to tell you to play a game for eternal happiness? Don't tell me that he also said you were going to die today!"

"Levi, how did you know? Can you read my mind? Yikes forever!"

Great, the universe wanted to make things even harder for him. Now he will have to leave his room and be your Benjamin. Maybe he should wear his fox onesie while he's at it.

So, a fox-onesie-clad Levi ended up rescuing you from Morgo's clutch and found a way to get you back to normal.

Beel

Beel thought you were the cutest being in the universe, and he immediately put you on his shoulders, carrying you around everywhere.

He took you out for food and all sorts of desserts, but then you mentioned Morgo. "Beel, Mr. Voice says that eating this much is bad for me. You are a bad influence."

He was far from happy hearing this. How could anyone say that eating was bad for you? How dare someone say that eating is bad!

After getting you back home safely and leaving you under Lucifer’s care, the Avatar of Gluttony went on a hunt to find Mr. Voice.

And when he did, Beel nearly ate Morgo whole.

Moral of the story: don’t tell the...THE Avatar of Gluttony that eating is bad.

Belphie

Huh? Mr. Voice? Eternal happiness? What is she talking about?

Belphie didn't react as his mind was occupied with something else: small child + needing to sleep + Belphie nap time = cuddle partner. So, instead of working about Mr. Voice, Belphie asked you to take a nap with him.

"Belphie, Mr. Voice won't let me sleep..."

"Ignore him and only pay attention to me." He even hummed you a tune to get you to fall asleep.

By the time nap time was over, you were back to your original self.

Belphie asked if you could still hear Mr. Voice. If you could, he knew he was going to have to do something.

"Who is Mr. Voice?"

The Avatar of Sloth chuckled, "You need to sleep more. Sleep makes everything better."

Diavolo

He has no idea how a human child managed to enter Devildom. Only when he paid close attention to your face did he realize who you were.

Diavolo found you to be irresistibly adorable. He was all smiles until you suddenly said, "But Mr. Voice, I like Diavolo! He's not a bad guy."

The King of Demons was baffled until you told him about Mr. Voice's game.

"How about I join you? We can go on an adventure together." He joined in the hunt for eternal happiness without any worries in the world.

"Mr. Voice, are you curious about him? Diav is my friend! He is also the King of Demons and the ruler of Devildom."

Diavolo smiled and remained silent.

"Huh? Mr. Voice? Where did you go? Mr. Voice?"

Diavolo laughed, finding this amusing. Once the two of you returned to the castle, he asked Barbatos to watch over you.

The King of Demons appeared behind Morgo and chuckled menacingly, "So, you were trying to take her soul, huh?"

That day Morgo realized the meaning of true fear.

Barbatos

He was stunned to see you as a child but found your mini version to be cute.

"Barb, are you making dessert? Can I have some?"

While the demon butler prepared your dessert, he heard you talking to yourself. Your actions don't alarm him as kids are known to have imaginary friends.

"Mr. Voice, am I really going to die today?"

That line was enough to alert Barbatos. After making the dessert and watching you eat it, he found a way to get you back to normal.

He pressed you about Mr. Voice, but you told him that you didn't know anyone by the name of Mr. Voice.

When Barbatos researched Morgo, he found something very amusing. "A demon posing as the devil? How interesting..."

Simeon

His immediate reaction: My god, you look precious.

Simeon couldn't get enough of your mini version, but something bothered him. It almost left like there was a dark presence around you. Was someone trying to harm you?

"Oh really? But, Mr. Voice, I like angels, especially Simeon!"

"Mr. Voice?" Hearing you say that made Simeon feel even more uneasy. When he learned about the disembodied voice, Simeon turned on his guardian angel mode.

He held your hands and prayed to the heavens, asking the heavenly powers to protect you.

Before Morgo vanished, he appeared behind you, catching Simeon off guard.

After asking Solomon to help lift the curse and making sure that you were back to normal, Simeon went to talk to Diavolo and Lucifer.

The King of Demons and Luci were supposed to protect you, especially from demons. Let's just say that both Diav and Luci were speechless after getting lectured by Simeon.

Luke

Luke panicked when he saw you, but at the same time, he was secretly happy that there was someone shorter than him.

He started acting like your big brother and became your personal bodyguard; he took you everywhere he went and made sure to hold onto your hand.

When you told him about Mr. Voice, the angel immediately informed Simeon about it.

While the older angel worked with Solomon to figure out the mystery of Morgo while you bonded with Luke.

When Solomon and Simeon returned, they found you and Luke cuddled on the couch fast asleep. You with your head on his shoulder while his head rested on top of yours.

"Why don't we let her stay this way for a little while longer?" Simeon smiled.

Solomon

As soon as you appeared in front of Solomon, he knew he had to find a cure. But the sorcerer was curious about the curse inflicted on you.

How did you get this curse and who is responsible? Also, why are you shrouded in darkness?

He didn't waste any time and started looking for a way to lift the spell, but he was distracted by your tiny version. Your fun-size self + throwing sparkles everywhere + twirling around = too cute to resist.

Oh, he was going to have fun teasing you about this when you get back to your teen self.

Then, he heard you talking to Mr. Voice and figured that a demon was trying to trick you.

"A demon that can trick people and lure them? I wonder if the demon would make a pact with me." Cause 72 demons just isn’t enough.

After getting you back to your teen self, Solomon thought his job for the day was done. Then, he looked around his room - his glitter-covered room.

———————————————

➣ Obey Me Masterlist ➣ Buy me a Ko-fi or Commission?

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thepiratearcinhamlet · 3 years

Text

Dead Apple Explanation:

Part Two: Dragon Head Conflict

---------

WARNING. If you do NOT want spoilers, then please do not keep reading. :)

Understanding what happened during the Dragon Head Conflict is key to understanding what happens in Dead Apple.

This section is going to be the longest, so bear with me.

6 years ago, (from the present timeline,) the Dragon Head Conflict broke out. It was the bloodiest day in Yokohama's history. Dead Apple starts on the last day of the conflict, Night 87/Day 88, but the Prologue explains the basic layout of the Conflict in pretty good detail. (If you want to skip my summary and just watch the YT videos, link in Part One of my explanation. There are five videos, the longest is 5 and a half minutes.)

What happens is as follows:

An unnamed ability user with a vast fortune died. At this time in Yokohama's history, there were many more rivals and gangs in the city and several different groups moved in to claim the treasure. The treasure eventually became just an excuse for the rival gangs to finally wage all out war on each other, even though they just called it a 'feud'. As the conflict dragged on into days and then weeks, turning bloodier and bloodier, the Special Division of the government decided to hire an ability user named Shibusawa, who became known as the White Dragon. They thought they could use him, but Shibusawa had his own agenda. (Obviously he didn't tell the government that LOL.)

Shibusawa has a many faceted ability - one facet of it allows him to create a mist, the Dragon's Breath, which separates a user from his or her ability. (There are users who are immune/can resist, but more on that later.) The ability will then turn on the user and kill them. (Please note that this mist was NOT the all-encompassing mist we see later in Dead Apple.)

I feel like this is the perfect time to explain a bit about what we know regarding his backstory. He is an incredibly powerful ability user, and incredibly intelligent, as well, predicting people's moves with even more ease than Rampo or Dazai. (Dead Apple makes this scarily obvious.) He is bored with everything: life, death, abilities, etc. One of the few things he couldn't predict was what would happen if he could get an ability that was in direct opposition to his. He was NOT interested in creating and collecting ability gems yet, he just wanted to find his ability's opposite. Like he tells Atsushi near the end of Dead Apple, the opposite ability could possibly show him the strength and tenacity of life, and it would do so by killing him. It was so alive and powerful, that he would enjoy death at its hands. But he wasn't /sure/, because he couldn't find the antithesis of his ability. (This guy is seriously messed up.)

KEEPING ALL THIS IN MIND-

Enter Fyodor. Yes, Fyodor had his hands in it the entire time. You thought Shibusawa was in control? Nooooope. Fyodor is an enigma; he has a lot of agendas going at once, and he's basically on the same intelligence level as Shibusawa. He uses Shibusawa, (a feat in and of itself,) telling him about an ability user locked away in an orphanage. This ability is not fully developed, but incredibly powerful; the rival to Shibusawa. Elated, Shibusawa rushes off to the orphanage. How he manages to torture the abilty user is a mystery - either he snuck him out of the orphanage, or the director of the orphange was just that much of an @#$%^&*!. Regardless, Shibusawa tortured the ability user to try and extract his ability - since it wasn't fully developed, and buried so deep inside the user who had no knowledge that he WAS a user, Shibusawa couldn't separate it with his Dragon's Breath ability, and was forced to use electrocution.

The ability inside the user /was/ the rival to Shibusawa's, and even in it's not-fully-developed state, it activated last-minute to protect its user, turning into a white tiger and slashing through Shibusawa's skull, killing him.

However, Shibusawa's ability was unique. It resided in his skull, and the skull was not destroyed by the white tiger's claws. With a little unexplained Fyodor magic, (seriously, someone explain the many facets of Fyodor's ability already!) Shibusawa was revived, but Fyodor withheld his memories, thereby making it easier for him to continue manipulating Shibusawa without Shibusawa's knowledge. His memories are gone, but Shibusawa does remember his lust for collecting and his boredom with the universe. (He's also basically a spirit in some sort of magical physical body, since his skull was kept separate from him, so he's not going to die conventionally.)

There is a bit of a gap here, as Shibusawa somehow went from being a revived dead spirit dude to being hired by the government, and this is not explained. My guess is Fyodor was involved. Shibusawa was vital to his plan, and this was the perfect time to start putting it in motion. (Fyodor's plan is not important right now, that's for the apple suicide section.) So yeah - let's assume Fyodor somehow got the Special Division to hire Shibusawa. (Asagiri, I know this is not the most important detail, but it would be great if you explained it~)

Fast forward to where we left off with Dragon Head Conflict. We are not sure when in the 88 days of conflict that the government sent out Shibusawa, but it was probably around the middle. During the time he was free to roam the streets, the bloodshed increased. Ability users started dying en masse. Rumors of a "White Dragon" start circulating,

Oda, the mafioso who wouldn't kill anyone and Dazai's friend, went one night to investigate a jewelry store that had been blasted apart. It also doubled as a base of operations for a blackmarket organization known as the Gerhardt Security Services, or GSS. (You'll remember them from the Fifteen Arc.) The place was known to be protected by some extremely dangerous combat ability users. While there, Oda bumps into Shibusawa, who pretends to be investigating the scene of the crime and shows little interest in the deaths of the ability users, saying that people die all the time, especially since there is a war on. (Shibusawa actually was the one who attacked the store himself, stealing the gems for a separate collection of his [normal gems, not ability gems,] and killing all the ability users. His boredom caused him to obsessively collect things, and the loss of his memories amplified it.) Oda asks if he's new here, because the murders make no sense and he /ought/ to be surprised. GSS was one of the few neutral parties in the current feud, and therefore, whoever attacked was a "thrill seeking fool". Oda then speculates that maybe it's the White Dragon's doing, a loose cannon who appeared out of nowhere a few days ago and attacks anyone in any organization, leaving no witnesses. Shibusawa comments that, if there were no witnesses, how would The White Dragon get a name? He then says that if it /is/ the White Dragon's doing, he has no business sticking around. Oda says that he's going to stay because he wants to find out the White Dragon's motive. Shibusawa starts to leave, then says he's going to give Oda a hint to the White Dragon's obvious motive. (Real subtle there, sir.) The answer is pure boredom - perhaps beautiful jewels would awaken feelings inside him. He then leaves, saying that if Oda survives, he'd love to meet up with him again.

Dazai appears shortly afterwards, and Oda tells him what happened. Dazai tells him he is lucky to have survived, since that 'investigator' was the White Dragon himself.

Fast forward to 70 days into the conflict. Chuuya confronts Dazai for napping and subsequently ignoring a call from Mori to attend an important meeting, asking him if he even understands what's going on because this is the biggest gang feud in Yokohama's history. Dazai first teases him, saying he needs to buy a microscope to use on Chuuya because he's so short, then tells him that yes, he does understand. An organization called Strain has had 80% of their members wiped out. Another organization, the Tasake Corps, has had their leader assassinated, sending their gang into chaos. He then rattles off several other organizations who have joined in the bloodshed. Old feuds, paranoia, lust for revenge - the conflict is just an excuse for everyone to lay everything on the table. It will only end with the death of everyone involved. Chuuya yells at him, that he needs to contribute to stopping the death. Dazai comments that rushing headlong into a fight is what everyone else is doing, thereby causing more death and chaos. He says they should leave the strategy of the Port Mafia's part of the war to Mori, the leader of the Port Mafia, and then shifts Chuuya's attention to something else.

Dazai shows him a photo of a corpse of a Port Mafia executive named "The Colonel." Chuuya is in shock that the older man, who had a very powerful ability, could possibly be killed. Dazai tells him it's the White Dragon - the White Dragon's ability is still unknown, but he appears to get stronger with every kill he makes. Chuuya says this war makes the perfect hunting ground to find and kill the White Dragon, and asks Dazai what the plan is to take him down. Dazai says he doesn't plan on hunting him down, and that Chuuya ought to be wondering about who will replace The Colonel as the next executive, especially since they both are potential candidates. Chuuya's temper flares again, and he punches Dazai, telling him he's going after the White Dragon and Dazai can go back to napping until he dies, before storming out. Dazai mumbles "how cruel", but smiles, obviously having more up his sleeve than he let Chuuya on to.

Two days later, Shibusawa is taking a stroll through a ruined section of Yokohama. Despite the bloodshed, a few pedestrians are still around - life must go on. He approaches a street vendor and tries to buy a bouquet of white flowers. The vendor asks him if they're a gift for someone. Shibusawa says yes, that he plans to leave them with his next encounters, as a parting gift. (Seriously, this guy needs to learn the art of SUBTLETY-) The vendor then says she will gift him "this", and pulls out a gun, aiming it at him. The rest of the 'pedestrians' pull out weapons and surround him, much to Shibusawa's surprise. Dazai then appears, telling him that these are the Mafia's best, and he shouldn't resist; this is just the "entertainment before the show". Shibusawa is impressed, and guesses Dazai's identity. Dazai informs Shibusawa that he (Dazai) is "on thin ice" with his partner for "sleeping all the time" and asks Shibusawa to come away with him. Shibusawa asks what will happen if he refuses. Dazai tells him that he was offering to let Shibusawa choose where he dies, but he could just stay there and die right now. He then tells him that he made two miscalculations: First, Shibusawa can't win against Dazai, because Dazai's ability will nullify whatever the White Dragon's ability is. Second, the Port Mafia never works alone - the White Dragon is a One Man Army, and that will always fail.

Shibusawa asks if that's why Dazai joined the mafia, (i.e., being stronger in a group.) Dazai affirms this. Shibusawa tells him that's unfortunate, but Dazai probably feels the same way. He goes on to say that groups are important, likening individuals to threads and a group to a whole cloth. However, if you have one black thread in a white cloth, the cloth is nothing better than ruined trash. (Ouch, much.) Dazai brushes this remark aside, telling him that he will show him no mercy. The White Dragon went too far by killing The Colonel, and Dazai will punish him for it. Shibusawa shrugs, and says that's fine with him, but Dazai will regret it. Dazai denies this with a smirk. But Shibusawa keeps talking.

He tells Dazai that if he kills the White Dragon, the feud will not end. Dazai comments that's a unique way of looking at it. Shibusawa says that only the death of everyone will end the conflict, (echoing Dazai's words to Chuuya two days prior,) unless of course… another feud happens to distract everyone from the original feud. Dazai asks how. Shibusawa tells him that to stop a fire in an oil ring, you set off a bomb.

At that exact moment, an explosion goes off somewhere nearby. Rare shock appears on Dazai's face and he asks where it came from. Shibusawa tells him that no longer is this a feud, but an all-out war, thanks to him. His declaration was just delivered to all the organizations involved. Dazai watches the Mafia Headquarters rise into the sky, confused and still in shock. Shibusawa continues to talk, telling him that he is going to reduce everyone's base to nothing but rubble. Dazai then yells out that no, the mafia headquarters is /falling/. The bomb flew part of the building into the air, and now it's going to crash into the square.

Smug, Shibusawa repeats Dazai's "You made two miscalculations" quote back at him. First, Dazai thought the White Dragon wasn't expecting an ambush. Second, Dazai thought the White Dragon was alone. Supernatural abilities appear out of nowhere, attacking the mafia members in the square.

Dazai's subordinates fall one by one as he watches in horror. Shibusawa casually comments that Dazai was right, superiority in numbers was a splendid idea. He decided to form his own 'group', to help distract him from his boredom.

(What is NOT specified here is if Shibusawa is using his ability, or if he recruited ability users to his side. However, as we know from the beginning of Dead Apple, Shibusawa /did/ have a bunch of people in masks and cloaks and hoods. As to whether he animated them with abilities from deceased ability users, or if they were an extension of his own ability, or if they were a mix of ability users and normal people, is unknown. ASAGIRI, PLS JUST WRITE A WHOLE DANG NOVEL CALLED 'DRAGON HEAD CONFLICT'-)

As he finishes speaking, the rubble of the mafia looms closer to hitting the ground. Dazai mumbles that "who would have thought the White Dragon would be so powerful?" (This comment makes me think that in this instance, Shibusawa /was/ using his ability, and his hired hands were the ones setting off the bombs around Yokohama.) Shibusawa says he's tired of that name: "I am Shibusawa Tatsuhiko, the explosion that will end this war. The bringer of death that will end all of the massacres. This is the grand finale. I hope you leave me yearning for more…" Dazai recovers his composure and says that it's all very interesting, and it's time they had some fun, but at that moment, the headquarters finally hits the square, engulfing Shibusawa and Dazai in rubble and dust.

That day, every organization watched their base be destroyed, and they all learned the name of their common enemy. The Port Mafia sent a search party out to find Dazai, but his body was nowhere to be found, and neither was Shibusawa's.

Fifteen days later, Day 87 of Dragon Head Conflict, Shibusawa is moping in his palace, Draconia. (This is yet another facet of his ability - it is a special place, sort of like Lucy's, except he can make his tangible in the real world. Draconia holds everything he obsessively collects. Draconia is technically the name of his ability, but like I said, his ability is many-faceted, and the novel and movie refers to the palace as Draconia, so that is what I am going to do. He created his collecting palace after he was killed by the tiger ability, in a desperate way to find meaning without his memories - Fyodor briefly mentions this in Dead Apple.)

Fyodor appears and asks Shibusawa what's wrong? He's defeated amazing ability users, his palace is full to the brim with beautiful and priceless things; isn't this what he wanted? Shibusawa looks around at all the treasure and the heads (yes, you read that right, HEADS,) of many very strong ability users who he defeated. He says he's obsessively organized, just like he obsessively collected, but he has some measure of regret. Fyodor says that of course he isn't satisfied; he's told Shibusawa time and again that the pleasures of this world will never fill the deep emptiness he feels. "Not even jewels or war?" Shibusawa asks dejectedly. "No, they will not. As someone who has known you a long time, I can assure you of that." Shibusawa agrees reluctantly, commenting on how he predicted the moves of all his fallen foes and it's just so boring. He likens it to children who look back at old, broken toys and wonder how they ever enjoyed playing with them. What did they hope to get out of it? Eventually, they will just feel hopeless and smash the toy to bits. Fyodor tells him to blame the gods, because that's just how the world was made. Shibusawa asks what he should do, "detest the gods?" Fyodor smiles slyly. "No, there's a far simpler answer. Break your toys and move onto the next." Shibusawa smiles and proclaims this an excellent idea.

This exchange of dialogue is eerily similar to Dazai and Odasaku at the end of the Dark Era arc. However, the parallel is striking: both Dazai and Shibusawa are too smart for their own good, but their friends handle it in different ways. Oda tells Dazai to make his world more beautiful, save people, be a good man. Fyodor, who has his own agenda, advises Shibusawa to basically burn his world to the ground and do whatever he wants. (Fyodor, we hate you.)

Back at the temporary Port Mafia headquarters, Mori is holding a brief meeting between Hirotsu, Chuuya and himself. Mori bewails the fact that Shibusawa is a one man army and so enigmatic. Mori cannot use mathematics and logic and normal strategies and manipulation against an enemy they know nothing about, not even his ability, let alone his motive or whereabouts. "It's like we're fighting the mist itself." He goes on to explain that the top four organizations next to the Port Mafia have been completely annihilated, and many Port Mafia members have gone missing, from new recruits to executive candidates, including Dazai.

Chuuya says they should forget about "that moron" and try to find the others. (Obviously he doesn't think Dazai is dead, and knowing Dazai's crafty ways, he can look out for himself.) Mori comments there's the possibility that the missing people may not even be alive anymore, before asking Hirotsu for an update on the White Dragon.

Hirotsu tells him they don't have much beyond speculation and rumors, and that "the White Dragon's supernatural ability" is "a bizarre power that defies expectations." It appears that any user who encounters him commits suicide in despair. Mori then asks if Dazai left any information behind before his disappearance. Hirotsu says he's investigated everything thoroughly three times and has found nothing but a microscope that Dazai recently purchased, but it doesn't even look used.

Chuuya's eyes widen and he demands to know where the microscope is. Hirotsu says it's still in his room. (From the background pictures of said room, it is evident that Dazai has finally upgraded from his frighteningly isolated and empty storage container. Thanks for that stab, Stormbringer.) Fuming, Chuuya rushes off to the room, Hirotsu in tow. Once there, Hirotsu indicates the microscope, and Chuuya grabs it, promptly smashing it. Hirotsu starts to remonstrate, but is interrupted. Annoyance flashes across Chuuya's face as he holds up a transmitter for a tracking device that had been hidden inside. "That jerk saw this coming and got caught on purpose." Hirotsu says the coordinates are probably where both Dazai /and/ the White Dragon are, and is visibly impressed. "And the fact that he put it in a microscope so only I would notice must mean I have no choice but to go rescue that piece of crap. Damn it, Dazai! You always know how to be as annoying as possible!" He starts to leave, and Hirotsu asks where he's going. Chuuya tells him he's getting his motorcycle, indicating he plans to go after the White Dragon and Dazai. Hirotsu protests that Chuuya can't take on the White Dragon alone. Chuuya's annoyance fades, and he becomes more serious. "Don't worry, I have something for him." Hirotsu can't believe he's serious, (hello, Corruption!) and asks if that's really his plan. Chuuya just leaves, gets on his motorcycle, and zooms off, muttering, "Hold on, Dazai… you damn idiot!"

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elencelebrindal · 3 years

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If I'm not mistaken you've now read/watched the three mxtx works and WoH. How would you rank them following personal preference? Which main couple did you like the most? Favorite plot twists in all four?

Yep, I did. I still have to read Faraway Wanderers though. Can't wait to.

This came out to be quite a long post, so I'll put it under the read more thingy.

Now, how would I rank them?

I'll have Tian Guan Ci Fu at the top, no doubts. It's my absolute favorite among all these four, and will probably remain my favorite even after I finally get to read the huge thing that's 2ha. It's the perfect balance of a story with no characters left unexplained (except for the minor ones and RIP Hua Cheng's backstory, why did mxtx rob us so much), of characters being unique all in different ways, and of a romance that, while being absolutely the main focus of the novel, is not overwhelming. For me, an aro/ace person, the romance written in TGCF is so good that it made even me stupidly happy. I don't get such big smiles on my face while reading my own romantic content.

This is the ONLY novel I've ever read that doesn't have a single character I hate in it. Only one, maybe two at most, that I dislike. That's it. Everyone's good. Everyone.

Then I'll definitely have Word of Honor. Just like TGCF, it's a really good balance between an interesting story (I was literally squirming in my seat while impatiently waiting for things to be revealed, enjoying every second of it) and a subtle romance that was still obvious enough to make me wonder what the hell happened with censorship in this drama. Not that I'm complaining though.

Almost all the characters are incredibly good. They have depth to them, all the main ones have either a satisfying backstory or a beautifully crafted development.

And this is it for the ranking. I wrote way more than I should have, but oh well.

After that, it's a tie between Mo Dao Zu Shi and Scum Villain. I don't want to favor one over the other, because I genuinely like them the same. Scum Villain is really underrated, and while I understand it somewhat, it's really unfair.

MDZS (and The Untamed) has a story that draws you to it, especially if you (like me) have an obsession with all things dark and spooky and terrifying like the demonic cultivation in this, like the whole mystery they have to solve with body parts leading them to the solution. The drama, as good as it was, really didn't do justice to the spook factor of using dismembered parts of a corpse to move around.

SVSSS is straight up weird, literally an isekai but make it Chinese. I think the best part of it is Shen Yuan panicking and cussing everyone out every time something happens around him, though... I really loved the story and the way it played out. I especially liked how the novel kept mentioning Proud Immortal Demon Way and compared the events of that book to the events that were happening in that book's world.

But why do I prefer Word of Honor to them? Well, it's simple. There's some aspects of the romance that don't resonate well with me.

WangXian is a beautiful couple, and they deserve all the happiness in the world (they have a canonic son!!!!!!!!), but Wei WuXian's initial obliviousness made me really uncomfortable at times. Not because he didn't know Lan WangJi was in love with him (the fool! thank goodness for Guanyin Temple), but because he kept teasing Lan WangJi about it while the latter was drunk. I mean, I get it. If you don't know, you don't realize what you're doing. But as a person that easily suffers from people making fun of me behind my back... it kinds struck a nerve. I still love them to pieces, though, they're so good together.

BingQiu, well... this is a rollercoaster of a couple. Again, I absolutely love them together, but some parts come off almost as scenes where consent is thrown to the wind. As a reader you know Shen QingQiu is willing and in love (gods, they married each other, I'd be a fool to say the opposite), but there should be a limit to how many times a willing person should say "No" in such a novel. This is mostly me being my aro/ace self, though. I don't really understand what goes on in the world of intimacy between people because I (literally) don't give a fuck, so I'm probably reading too much where there's too little. Don't take this as me not liking BingQiu, I'm in love with them and I desperately need more content.

Favorite plot twists, eh? Okay, big SPOILER ALERT from here onwards. And I mean it. BIG. SPOILER. ALERT.

Now, which main couple did I like the most?

Hualian. I don't even need to think about it. Bonus point because they're both out of their minds and the extras show it.

I said it before, and I'll say it again. I never have smiles so big and goofy in front of anything else, not even my own stuff. Hualian genuinely makes me happy.

Stop reading if you haven't finished all four of these, please.

...

Okay, here I go.

WoH:

Wen KeXing faking his death and telling basically everyone but Zhou ZiShu.

The villain being Zhao Jing; I was actually fooled and thought the main bastard of the series was Gao Chong.

Episode 35, and I'm not saying anything else. Although, as soon as that son of a bitch put his hands on Cao Weining's face like that, I genuinely knew what was going to happen.

The hairpin being the key for the armory. That was so stunning I had to pause the episode for a second and take a walk around the house.

MDZS:

Jin GuangYao being the villain. And being an amazing villain, on top of that.

Nie Huaisang. Fuck's sake, that man fooled the entire fandom just like that. I don't think many people realized he was the one behind everything.

The golden core transplant reveal. I'm sure that more experienced readers and viewers (aka people that had read/watched a ton more cultivation world stuff) had hints of it, but when I watched The Untamed I never read/watched anything remotely close to this genre. It hit me like a brick and I sat in front of the screen in shock.

SVSSS:

Shang QingHua being Airplane Shooting Towards the Sky. It's such a silly thing, but it made me pause for a good five minutes. I wasn't expecting it in the slightest.

The whole thing with the Old Palace Master. The man belongs to the dumpster he never got thrown into.

Tianlang-Jun not actually being the villain. Poor demon, he just wanted to continue with the questionable hobby of reading porn and daydreaming about Shen QingQiu's relationships.

I think I had another one, but it's late and I'm probably forgetting it.

TGCF:

Oh boy, where do I belong? Ah yes, the entirety of book 4. Took me out on the spot.

Jun Wu being Bai WuXiang completely blew me away. That was probably the biggest plot twist in the history of plot twists.

Also, Ling Wen knowing, and her being the creator of the Brocade Immortal.

Fu Yao and Nan Feng being Feng Xin and Mu Qing. For some reason, even if it's kinda obvious when you take a good look at them, it never clicked before being revealed.

On the same note, Ming Yi being He Xuan, and the Earth Master being actually dead. What a ride that arc has been for me.

One of the most important details, however... I got it myself. The ring Hua Cheng gives to Xie Lian. I see so many people saying that they didn't expect the ring to be his ashes, but I did something I generally can't stop myself from doing. I guessed something tremendously important by accident, something I do with many many books so I can ruin the experience for myself. I was literally sitting down, taking a break from reading (I devoured TGCF in 3 days, I needed that break lol), and all of a sudden this goddamn revelation descend upon me like the holy spirit, completely out of the blue. I just sat up, looked at the screen, and went "the ring is is fucking ashes, isn't it?", and completely ruined the surprise for myself.

And this is it.

If there's more I forgot (probably) I don't know. For now, this is my answer. Way too long, as always.

#word of honor #woh #tian guan ci fu #tgcf #heaven official's blessing #svsss #scum villain #mo dao zu shi #the untamed #grandmaster of demonic cultivation #danmei #mdzs

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antidotenurse · 3 years

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What is your opinion on kazuma as a whole

He’s a weirdo lmao. Out of the three “main dads” he’s prooobably the weirdest. WHICH IS QUITE A BAR GIVEN our contenders!!! But, that might be chalked up to how little we know about him. What we know about him is often framed by Yuma or in the bit flashbacks we see— then the rest??

Kazuma is this weirdly omnipotent chess-master who is seemingly working behind the scenes to make the very plot we’re watching happen 👁👄👁 He somehow tampered with Astral, he left a message on Astral’s airship, he left hints and clues at Mytherian ruins, and even left hints in Astral World itself (and I guess became enemy of the state for all of the above). And it was also inferred that he was the one behind making Astral duel Yuma at the end of the series. And Yuma, meanwhile, is left to mostly fend for himself.

AND THEN IT ENDS LMAO AND I GUESS IT’S INFERRED THAT AAAAALL OF THIS was to teach Yuma a lesson about being confident and “feeling da flow.” Which when you reaaally think about everything he does in Zexal II, it’s like “what da fuck m8?” And the weirder part about that conclusion?? I made it up. We don’t even know if that’s true. Faker and Byron had their skewed motivations/intentions unveiled, we never did with Kazuma.

But given the formers motivations were power and revenge via extremism and child abuse, Kazuma looks decent by comparison. If that’s what he was doing. Zexal is never continuing, so we’ll never know anyway. But given the info we do have, it very was likely a lesson… …laced with apocalypse prevention.

I’m not here to judge parenting skills, but I mostly keep in mind that this insistence on child self-reliance and mostly being distant is a very Japanese specific cultural thing, especially towards patriarchal figures. I should also note that all we really know about Kazuma as a parent is that in general his affect on his children was very positive. (At least for Yuma, we don’t know much on Akari— this isn’t really really a character fault tho. Just an external thing, but I digress.)

REAL QUICK TANGENT THO!!!

One time in a fit of desperately trying to rationalize and make sense of Kazuma’s really weird and eerily specific decisions meticulously planned years ahead of time, I came up with the BARDOCK CONSPIRACY THEORY!! BUT! BUT!! HEAR ME OUT!

The conspiracy boils down to “When Kazuma fell into the Astral hole, he gained some kind of psychic future-sight that made him see the very plot of Zexal + the crap involving Astral/Yuma so with this information lodged into his brain, he went out of his way to set things up all over the world and leave messages ahead of time for Yuma to discover and figure out when everything inevitably happens!!”

Then he got tossed into a hole by Faker.

Aside: this conspiracy is named after Bardock Special from DBZ, where Bardock was given future-sight by some aliens and it made him see the future destruction of his planet, and he spends the whole special trying to prevent that (spoilers: he fails).

Bruhhh you know if the most rational thing to explain Kazuma’s weird unexplained omnipotence throughout Zexal is me going on a limb and saying “ALIENS GAVE HIM PSYCHIC POWERS!!!” then kfjdhdhv I dunno man!! I’ve since adapted this as the ultimate truth zexal tried hiding from us.

But if u think about it like that, a lot of the omnipotence and cryptic stuff he forebodes about starts to line up. Maybe not the Astral tampering but a part of me wants to believe whatever he did might have been unintentional, rather than what Eliphas the propagandist implies. MY BASIS?? Idk. A vibe.

And yes,

There’s a high chance Astral himself or the Emperor’s Key gave Kazuma the future-sight—

Wait a SECOND YUMA aLSO HAS MILD FUTURE SIGHT IN SERIES THANKS TO HAVING THE EMPERORS KEYYY. HE SAW THE DOOR VISIONS AND VISIONS OF GALAXY EYES TACHYON DRAGON BEFORE IT HAPPENED

nevermind my batshit conspiracy theory might hold some water after all lmao for the love of god why did i only realize this mid thought

#antidote ask #I LITERALLY HAD THAT EPIPHANY WHILE TYPINF FML #THIS IS THE DUMBESR SHIT EVERRR #affectionate #THIS OPENS UP A WHOLE NEW CAN OF WORMS HUH

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jazy3 · 3 years

Text

Thoughts on Grey’s Anatomy: 17X9

SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

I loved this episode! The writing was excellent, the cinematography was phenomenal, the acting was great, and the sets and costumes were gorgeous! They did some very interesting shots. It was very avant-garde and when done right I love that kind of thing. Also, we got to see Meredith back in action as she wandered around Teddy's dreamscape and talked to her which I loved. They took a risk with this episode and I think it paid off.

This episode was really beautiful in terms of the sets and costumes that we’re used. I loved Meredith’s jacket, the blue wedding dress that Teddy wears is gorgeous, and I loved her silk pyjama set and robe. Very fierce. I love that they recreated Teddy’s apartment in Germany and dressed it up for the wedding. That set was really cool! The flower arrangements were interesting, and the disco balls were a nice touch. I loved the hotel set where Tom and Teddy run away to. It was very flowy and surreal. Teddy’s bedroom in New York was also well done. The wicker bedframe made it feel particularly true to the era.

This episode made me feel like I have a better understanding of where Teddy is coming from now and it made her a lot more sympathetic and understandable than in the past. I’ve been open about the fact that I’ve found Teddy’s motivations and point of view difficult to understand this season. She spent the first half of the season treating Tom horribly for no discernable reason. She’s been cruel to Owen after finally getting what she wanted all these years and I repeatedly found myself wondering what she expected to have happen after she acted the way that she did.

I didn’t think it was possible for me to like Teddy after the way she’s been acting all season and the careless way she’s been treating other people, but this episode made me understand her a lot more and actually have sympathy for her. What this episode addressed in a big way is that Teddy has never gotten treatment or really dealt with the trauma that she has experienced in the way that other characters have.

Owen, Teddy, Megan, Riggs, April, and Parker all served in the military and experienced trauma as a result. But Teddy has never gotten treatment or any kind of help for what happened to her. We’ve seen Owen go through therapy for his PTSD and other issues multiple times across the seasons. We saw Megan receive treatment and she talks to Owen about the fact that both her and Riggs go to individual and couples’ therapy weekly to deal with their trauma and issues.

While we don’t see April go to therapy we do see her work through the trauma of having served, losing her son Samuel, losing her marriage, and we see her go through a crises of faith later on. We see her process those emotions and get help from those around her. Last we see of resident Casey Parker, Teddy and Amelia are admitting him for treatment and he’s reported to be doing better. We never see Teddy do any of that. We see her go to a grief group after Henry dies, but that’s it. As Amelia says to Owen in this episode, they have both openly acknowledged and received treatment for their illnesses and issues. Teddy never has and clearly that's been affecting her more than any of them, including Teddy, realized. This episode addressed the long standing issues that Teddy has and I’d like to see her get therapy going forward. Through Teddy’s dreams we find out that she blames herself for Allison’s death because she wanted to stay in and make her pancakes for breakfast, but Teddy said no.

Allison wound up going to the restaurant Windows on the World for breakfast and then to work at the World Trade Centre and Teddy grabbed something quickly and then went into work at the hospital. Teddy feels that if she had just said yes to breakfast and to Allison making her pancakes or if they’d both called into work and taken the day off that Allison wouldn’t have died, but as this episode makes clear Teddy couldn’t have known what was going to happen. And having breakfast with Allison may not have saved her life. She could have been somewhere nearby the day of the attack and suffered smoke inhalation or been hit by debris.

Or she could have randomly been hit by a car walking down the street. You just don't know what’s going to happen. But nevertheless, Teddy blames herself. In her flashbacks we see Teddy learn of her mother’s sudden and unexpected death at the age of 50. We learn that Teddy’s father was sick for years before he died that same year. That Allison carried her through that and that’s how they fell in love.

So, when Allison died in a horrific unexplainable terrorist attack that same year Teddy was gutted and so she ran away and joined the military in order to try and help the people who were trying to get the people who killed Allison. While serving in Iraq she fell in love with someone who was engaged and when she was discharged and they reconnected she found out he felt the same way but was with someone else who he later married.

So, she moved on and fell in love with someone else who promptly died. Owen then fired her so she would take her dream job at MedCom in Germany and when they reconnected once again, she found him married to someone else. He flew all the way to Germany to see her and she finally thought they were going to have their moment only to discover that he’d been sleeping with Amelia the night before. She kicked him out only to realize afterwards that she was pregnant.

She once again returned to Seattle only to find out that Owen and Amelia had gotten back together and had kids. So, she started over and began a relationship with Tom only for Owen to once again declare his love for her at the worst possible moment. They got back together and she thought she was happy, but the moment she realized that Amelia’s baby might be Owen’s she panicked and ran back to Tom.

Only to discover that the baby was Link’s and that she just blew her life up for no reason. She couldn’t admit to what she’d done because all of that is tied to her previous trauma that she still hasn’t dealt with. She couldn’t face Tom because she didn’t know how to explain her actions. She couldn’t tell Owen because she still doesn’t understand why did what she did and all of that is wrapped up in those past events that she still hasn’t come to terms with. Then Owen can’t forgive her because that lie makes him feel like everything about their relationship has been a lie.

As for the show choosing to introduce and explore Teddy’s deep love for Allison this late into Teddy's tenure I'm of two minds. On the one hand, I wish they had introduced or hinted at Teddy being bisexual or being in love with Allison earlier on in the series as it would have made more sense and been less of a shock. On the other hand, I've really enjoyed seeing the show explore this storyline more and dive deep into what trauma does to people and how the devastation of losing someone in a tragic incident such as 9/11 can make you close off parts of yourself. The actress who plays Allison, Sherri Saum, does a fantastic job and her and Kim Raver, who plays Teddy, have great chemistry. I found their scenes particularly moving.

As for Owen’s behaviour in this episode, while I understand why Owen was upset, I felt it was hypocritical of him to be so mad at Teddy for not telling him that her and Allison were lovers when he got involved with and married both Cristina and Amelia without telling them that Teddy existed. They both found out after or around the time they got married to him that he was in love with Teddy when she showed up in Seattle. What Teddy did was awful, but Owen's no saint. He's done just as bad and worse. I think it's time for him to let go of his animosity toward her and forgive her. I'm also just really sick of watching them fight all the time. No thank you.

As Amelia says to Owen in this episode, forgiving her doesn't mean that they get back together. It can simply mean that he chooses to let go of his angry and work through his emotions so that they can be friends and co-parent together as he and Amelia have done. I thought Amelia was great in this episode. We saw her step up and advocate for Teddy and counsel Owen even though she didn’t have to.

She told Owen what he needed to hear knowing he was likely to listen to her more than others. She supported Teddy and advocated for her even though she didn't have to because that's who Amelia is and she wants Teddy to experience the same sanity and peace that she's attained now that she's had her brain tumour removed and has her addiction under control. Plus, I think she genuinely wants Owen to be happy and for the kids that they are all raising together to be happy. Happy parents make for happy children. She wants that for them.

Amelia has grown so so much in the past few seasons. She’s gone from someone who was mentally unstable and out of control to the point that she refused help for what were clearly serious issues for literal years and then treated Meredith horribly after Derek’s death and made everything about her and whined and complained when Owen and Meredith pointed out that she wasn’t the only one who missed Derek and that Meredith did not have the luxury of falling apart because she had three small children who need her to someone who is sane and stable and has her addiction under control to the point that she is able to advocate and help others and is able to support Meredith and look after her kids with kindness and compassion.

I loved the Beth and Cristina mentions in this episode and all of the flashbacks especially the early one to when Teddy first shows up and we the audience learn that her and Owen have been in love forever, but he's with Cristina and before that he was engaged to Beth. In this episode we saw Meredith and DeLuca accompany and guide Teddy throughout her dreamscapes which I thought worked really well.

I loved seeing Meredith up and about and talking to Teddy and guiding her through her trauma and her response to it. Meredith is Teddy's patient, she wants her to live, and because Cristina and Amelia are her sisters and she's known Owen by extension for a long time she has information that's useful to Teddy so I thought that made sense. I particularly loved the field of bodies scene in the snow where Teddy is blaming herself for Allison, Henry, and DeLuca’s death and Meredith’s tells her there’s nothing she could have done.

Then at the end Meredith says to her, “Come on let’s leave this place.” And Teddy looks at her and says, “Please don’t die.” And Meredith says, “I’ll try.” I thought was funny and also very poignant. DeLuca helping to guide her made sense to me in that he was someone she worked with closely during the pandemic and who died on her table. She desperately wanted to turn back time and save him the same way she wanted to save Allison, her parents, and Henry.

While I’ve never been a DeLuca fan, I genuinely thought his scenes in this episode were funny and the actor had good comedic timing. The road trip with Tom and DeLuca was hilarious. It makes me wonder what the character could have been if they gone with a more comedic route. What would have happened if in Season 15 instead of pivoting and going in a completely differently direction they had stayed the course and after getting his mojo back had him continue to pursue Neurosurgery as a speciality, had Amelia continue to mentor him, and given him more comedic dialogue.

I think that really could have worked well because from Seasons 12 to 14 DeLuca worked well as a side character and in a supporting role. I didn’t have a particularly strong opinion on the character back then and I only started to hate him as a character in Season 15 when they turned him into a complete asshole who was rude and disrespectful to everybody for no good reason. Presumably out of fondness for the actor they decided to give him a bigger role in Season 15 and made the choice to pivot from him having a supporting role to a romantic storyline and then a dramatic one.

Which was a real shame because it took DeLuca from being a decent side character that most fans either liked or were neutral on to being a real asshole that most fans hated and couldn’t stand. The reality is that character and that actor just didn’t work in a romantic storyline with the main character and his mental health storyline did not come across as intended. I think that’s because the actor and character were best suited to a supporting or comedic role and just didn’t work as a romantic lead or in a dramatic storyline.

My favourite scene of the episode was when Tom and Teddy were in the hotel room and the grenade suddenly appeared and then it went off! I didn't expect it to actually go off and blow up Tom! That shocked me and made for an interesting transition. I really liked seeing more of Tom in this episode. He’s a great character and he’s contracting of COVID-19 has really sidelined him recently so I enjoyed seeing him back in action. The actor, Greg Germann, has great comedic timing so that was a treat to see and I loved seeing more of Tom and Teddy together at the hotel room.

Until next time!

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inawickedlittletown · 2 years

Text

Serendipity - Buddie Soulmate AU - 14/?

Summary: Soulmate Marks were personal, they were the most personal thing that a person could have. They were the connection to your other half, the thing that linked you so completely to someone in a way that was magical and unexplainable and they were supposed to be yours and your Soulmates and no one else’s.

When Buck’s Soulmate Mark is leaked to the world, ruining his plans of meeting his Soulmate organically, he has no idea that fate has him covered.

Meanwhile, Eddie has never watched an episode of Serendipity, but starting the show involves becoming a fan of one Evan Buckley and finding out that the Soulmate he wasn’t looking for is a famous actor responsible for his new favorite show.

Notes: Serendipity is defined as: the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way.

Read on Ao3

Masterpost

Chapter Fourteen

“I know you,” Josh said.

“Me?” Eddie looked past him to see if maybe there was someone else Josh was pointing at.

Josh nodded. “You’re the firefighter,” Josh said. “Yes, yes, I remember you. Well, not from the accident exactly, but I looked you all up because we’re — I guess I can tell you — we really appreciate the work you do and so I asked if we could go meet you guys. It’s supposed to be a kind of featurette and promo — only way you get them to do anything. But, and I mean it, don’t tell Chimney, I’d love to see him surprised. No idea when we’re doing it with all the scheduling things, but it’s going to happen.”

Josh had stepped back and he extended his hand out to Eddie. In the scene he’d been filming he’d been down to trousers and an open shirt, but he’d thrown a cardigan on and still his chest peaked through and Eddie could see the Mark on his chest, a faded color that signified a lost Soulmate.

Josh followed his eyes and dropped the hand that Eddie hadn’t taken. “Sorry,” he said. “Spoilers. Don’t tell anyone about that either. I really am just giving all my secrets away. Anyway, Josh Russo. Wait, wait…why are you even here…”

“Eddie,” Eddie said.

Josh’s eyes widened. “Holy shit, you’re — have you met Buck yet?”

“Oh, I—”

“You haven’t,” Josh said. “That figures. Of course you haven’t, because why would you be talking to me? This place is a mess today. Wasn’t supposed to be — we’re not even supposed to be doing the scene we’re waiting on Buck for, but our director is a bit of an artsy type. Which is great, she’s amazing, but her vision means everything.”

It was surreal. A few months earlier, Eddie had known nothing about Serendipity, or about the actor standing in front of him and his co-star. He hadn’t know that his Soulmate was possibly someone famous. The last place that Eddie had ever expected to find himself was on the set of the show that had quickly become his favorite piece of media ever, and certainly not having Josh talk at him.

“Anyway,” Josh said. “Come on, we can wait for him inside. This is so exciting.”

Josh beckoned and Eddie followed, still trying to figure out how he had wound up where he was.

The crew seemed to be in the middle of getting the set ready, and there were so many people around that Eddie didn’t really know what to look at.

“I’m sorry,” Josh said, “I haven’t asked, how are you handling all this?”

“I don’t know,” Eddie said. “But I guess, my job means I can handle pretty much anything which doesn’t mean I’m not really nervous.”

“What is that like?” Josh asked. “Firefighting I mean, the intensity and the expectations?”

One thing that Eddie could not deny, Josh was charming. He was the kind of person that could probably build a rapport with just about anyone. It was his earnestness, the way that he didn’t stop paying attention to Eddie even as they walked onto the set. Eddie supposed that there was a reason that Josh was who he was. He also offered Eddie a distraction. They talked for a few more minutes until Josh was called away.

“Sorry,” Josh said. “The job calls.”

Eddie just shook his head and Josh was off. Eddie watched from his spot out of the way, and he saw when Buck walked in. He was with the actor that had been in the car during the accident. Eddie couldn’t remember his name, but they were walking in together. Eddie couldn’t move. His feet seemed to have grown roots and attached themselves to the floor, but it wouldn’t have mattered if Eddie moved because Buck had been spotted by the director and people parted to let him pass. It seemed that everyone had been waiting on Buck. Including Eddie.

Buck was gorgeous. The light fell on him and the director where they stood right at the center of the fake room, catching his hair and making it shine. His blue eyes were bright and animated as they talked, hunched over a piece of paper. Buck was fully involved in the conversation and after a few minutes he was walking to the door on the fake wall. He opened and stepped out. Josh returned to his spot on the bed. The cardigan was gone again, and he had dropped onto the bed on his back.

It took a few minutes before everything begun and silence fell over the set when it was called for as the cameras started rolling.

A knock made Josh start on the bed and then he was walking to the door. Eddie had only just met Josh and he’d seen a bubbly charming guy, but the guy walking across the room was not Josh anymore. It was Henry.

“Who is it?” Henry called.

“Who else are you expecting, Henry? Let me in!”

Eddie was distracted by the way that the cameras were moved on rails that kept them steady, how the mic that hovered over them was held at a perfect height.

Henry opened the door and there was Buck as Jasper and he stepped forward into Henry’s space. “Hey,” he said.

The main camera faced them head on, catching their profiles.

“Jas,” Henry said.

“I think we’ve done enough thinking, don’t you?”

Jasper’s eyes drifted down to the fading Mark on Henry’s chest. He smiled a sad smile, and then he lifted a hand, eyes going back to meet Henry’s.

“Can I?”

Henry’s nod was barely a movement.

Jasper’s hand was on Henry’s chest. Henry inhaled a breath.

“You can’t tell me this is wrong, not when it feels like this,” Jasper said and then he leaned in.

Eddie couldn’t look away. His eyes were trained on them, on the way that there was barely any space between them. For a moment, he couldn’t even breathe as he waited for it to happen. The moment fell apart when Buck’s lips twitched and he fell back with laughter bursting from his lips. Josh joined too a moment later and they didn’t seem capable of stopping.

“Cut!”

Eddie was torn. On the one hand, he logically knew that they were acting. They so embodied the characters that watching them Eddie had a hard time thinking that they weren’t Jasper and Henry. And yet, his stomach was in knots because that was Evan Buckley, and he was supposed to be Eddie’s Soulmate and Eddie was about to watch him kiss someone else. And after the doubts from those pictures of Buck and Josh, it made Eddie question everything, that maybe it didn’t matter that Eddie might be Buck’s Soulmate after all. But talking to Josh also put into perspective that there likely was nothing between Buck and Josh.

And then on top of everything else was the part of him that was a fan of the show, and of Jenry, because the show was making it canon and that was mind-blowing. And Eddie was getting to watch this happen before his own eyes.

They started another take of it, Buck going back out behind the door, but he didn’t make it far before he was laughing again. He composed himself and they went again. This time, when it came to the kiss they bumped noses and that set off everyone into another round of laughter. Eddie couldn’t help his own chuckle.

“Cut!”

Again and again they went. Josh initiated the kiss in the latest take, but ended as quick as it started and both were wiping their mouths and laughing. The director spent several minutes talking to them. Buck and Josh hugged and seemed to have some sort of conversation before they went and did it again.

Eddie didn’t know what to do about the weird feeling that made his chest feel tight, and yet he kept watching as they did a few more takes of it, the latter few going better with the kiss looking less awkward than the first few. Weirdly, it did get a little easier to watch even if the tight feeling didn’t go away.

“I think we got it,” the director said.

Eddie didn’t know if it was relief he felt, or something else at hearing her say that. It helped to watch Buck and Josh who seemed to be poking fun at the whole thing and making faces at each other. Then, someone with a headset tapped his shoulder.

“Hey, can you go and fetch Tina a coffee from craft services? Thanks.”

“I’m not—”

The girl had walked away already. Eddie didn’t even know who Tina was, but Buck and Josh were back to discussing something with the director and he figured he might as well help out since it seemed that everyone else around him had gotten busy again.

—

Kissing Josh was kind of awful. Well, it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. Buck had some experience with kissing scenes considering he had started out on a Soap and at one point played twins. There had been a lot of dramatic kissing involved in that. With Josh it was — well, it was that they knew each other so well. It was that Buck considered him his best friend and almost like a brother. Kissing him was awkward and strange and Josh didn’t seem to like it any better.

And the part that actually annoyed Buck was that this was not a scene they had had on the schedule. It wasn’t something they had fully prepared for. Hell, they hadn’t even shot the first kiss from the first episode yet. But Tina had a point that it would be dumb to pass up on getting it done while they had everything set up and ready. She was a good director and everything about how she was framing the scene told Buck that in it’s finished, polished form, it would look amazing.

After running through the initial takes, she had them do a bit more to get closeups and other shots that would be incorporated in editing. After having got their giggles and laughs out at the beginning, professionalism took over and they got through it until she was satisfied.

“And now, I’m going to get a drink,” Buck said.

The PAs all seemed to be busy, so Buck figured he’d walk and get it himself. He heard Josh call out his name, but he waved at him and continued on. Whatever Josh wanted could wait a bit.

Buck had almost made it outside when it hit him that he and Meredith had agreed that he was going to meet Eddie at the sound stage. Tina had just rushed him to the set and he had been up there ever since and Eddie was—

Eddie had probably watched all of that go down. Buck would be lucky if the guy had hung around to watch him and Josh kiss again and again. And it had to be that particular scene. He groaned to himself and turned to walk back, hoping that maybe he would find Eddie there even if he knew nothing about who to look for. He thought better of it, already pulling his phone out to call Meredith. Buck turned around again and ran into a strong chest. Seconds later he felt hot liquid hit his chest.

“Oh my god. Oh my god! I’m so sorry. I — wait, I have napkins.”

The guy started to pat Buck’s chest with a wadded up napkin that was doing absolutely nothing, but at least the — coffee, it smelled like coffee — had been closer to warm than piping hot when it hit him.

“I can’t believe—”

“It’s okay. A little hot, but it’s really okay. It happens.”

The guy made a noise of protest and Buck supposed that if this guy had been fetching coffee he was probably someone’s assistant or an intern and he was probably more concerned with the fact that he’d gone and spilled coffee on one of the actors.

“Don’t worry about it. Really. Let’s call it my fault. You’re not going to get fired. I ran into you.”

The guy was still holding the napkin to Buck’s chest and the empty cup in his other hand. It was dimly lit in the hall and since they were so close to the door, it made everything look like it was more shadowed. Still, Buck thought that the guy looked kind of cute if maybe a bit too old to be an assistant or intern.

“The costume is gonna stain I can’t believe…I’m so sorry,” he said.

Buck chuckled. “I’ve spilled plenty and ripped things and — there’s a reason we have so many duplicates of everything. And no one really needs to know. So, just, come on, get another coffee and I’ll go to wardrobe. Is it your first day? It’s kinda nuts but you’ll get—“

“First day?” He tilted his head confused. “No, I’m actually — I, wow, didn’t think it—”

“Buck!” Josh called.

Buck rolled his eyes. If Josh saw him, he wouldn’t stop hearing about it. “I guess I should go, but it was nice to—”

“Buck!” Josh called again.

“Shit I have to get to wardrobe. Can you just let him know where I got to — but I should really—”

Buck was gesturing behind him towards Josh, but he gestured too hard, and when he turned, his hand knocked the cup with the remaining coffee to the ground. None of that mattered, though, not when his hand grazed the other man’s hand. It was a spark kind of like static, but it burst into something bigger that traveled from his hand seemingly through his whole body, lighting up his nerves. It was warm and cold. It was like having the biggest and tightest hug after a lifetime of never having been hugged before.

It felt like an age before Buck could move and for the first time he really looked at the man standing in front of him. Dark hair, shining brown eyes, his jaw was strong and sharp and there was stubble. His plump lips were open in a gasp. Buck had thought him handsome before, even though he hadn’t really looked.

“You’re—”

“Eddie.”

“—my Soulmate.”

Chapter Fifteen

#911 fox #911 fic #buddie #buddie fic #911 on fox #evan buckley #eddie diaz #fic #serendipity fic #buckxeddie

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