#anyway morgana's entire existence is everything to me | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

morganalefae · 7 months

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s3 morgana being "beyond redemption" is soooooo crazy to me like yeah trying to kill the evil tyrant king whos been murdering every last one of your kind is sooooo evil lock her up and throw away the key!!

such a prime example of a kick the dog character too. like they cant condemn her for just fighting for her right to exist so they have her executing civilians and trying to have gwen executed to make her into the villian.

and! the same goes for morgause! literally what did she ever do wrong? uther conquered camelot (said by him in the episode where gili fights in the tournament) and then executed hundreds if not thousands of people with magic but morgause trying to kill the king is a step too far? why? its almost like the show is actually on uthers side 🤨🤨🤨🤨

which leads me to: the fact that we essentially watch the entire show through the pendragon perspective. merlin protects arthur so everything we learn about the purge and magic and the old religion is from uther/gaius. so, biased, to say the least. one of the most important things they tell you when researching history is to consider where your information is coming from and how that persons perspective influences their discussion of it.

which is why i also dont consider nimueh to be a villain. shes an activist! yeah she tried to kill arthur that one (?) time but he didnt even die so. doesnt count <3 but we SEE her having a conversation ALONE with uther where she says she didnt know what would happen to ygraine and i just cant imagine why she would lie. if she really wanted to hurt him she could have said she'd known and killed her on purpose but i dont think thats the case at all. she says she never would have helped him if she'd known what would happen. like, surprise, if you hunt and kill people for the crime of existing they will fight back and its not going to be the way you like it and innocent people will die. because thats war. you ruthlessly slaughter her people and she will slaughter yours.

worlds most unstructered post. professors hate her. anyway the show eventually starts to take on a very firm, "merlin has magic but ues not LIKE those other magic users therefore hes ok :) everyone else is evil tho. except the druids (sometimes :|)", whereby merlin using magic is only allowed if hes helping or saving arthur (except all those other times but we dont talk about those i guess) and his stance on magic eventually warps until hes just kind of horrible about it.

100% unpopular opinion but gaius should have died in s2 or 3. he influenced merlin far too much and basically never for the better. sorry to gaius lovers but i do NOT like that old man. he advises merlin EVERY time to not tell morgana about her magic (which she has no control over and therefore is manifesting in ways that will absolutely get her caught), to never help any of the unfairly persecuted people of the episode or even to use magic at all. hes a bootlicking coward who only helped people he cared for or when it suited him. how many people do you think he watched burn simply because he didnt agree with the way they used magic, whether it actually "evil" or not.

merlin's only friends who know about his magic are an old conservative man and a guy who dies right when merlin could have used the support of someone to help him "come out" to arthur about his magic.

im firmly of the opinion that had he told morgana about his magic everything would have been literally fine. because alone and with loterally no support system at all, is it any wonder that morgana would go down the road she did? after years of fear and watching people just like her be burned for the crime of existing, with no prophecy or friends to tell her that it wont always be this way. you dont have to be afraid because youre not the only one and i wont let anything happen to you. oh wait. she did get told that. by MORGAUSE. not about the prophecy but how can they be judged by trying to bring about change by themselves. by trying to kill a king whos killed so many of their own people.

if the intention of the show had been to give a poignant message about the cycle of abuse (morgana succumbing to bitterness and hatred just like uther) or how fear can control you (merlin eventually becoming essentially the bad guy, judging everybody who doesnt use magic the way he sees fit, staying silent and contributing to persecution of magic people because living in fear can make you paranoid and bitter (sound familiar?)) then i would applaud because wow did that make me fucking cry! and hit actually very close to home! and it was tragic and horrible but also inevitable

but as far as i can tell that was not at all the point, because in the end kilgharrah tells merlin the prophecy has been fulfilled, albion is united and magic returned! hurrah! but. um. did i miss something? when did that happen? oh, you mean when gwen is queen....? so.... gwen unites the land of albion and returns magic to the land? except, merlin seems to have lived on until the 21st century of our world and magic is not what i would call flourishing atm.

so i guess my question is... well actually i dont have a question. actually wait i do. what the fuck?

#whoops long and probably confusing post #oh well #merlin #bbc merlin #morgana pendragon #arthur pendragon #uther pendragon #merthur #gaius

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violetren · 1 year

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It's been 200 years since I watched Merlin and it's taken until I saw a post talking about some raw like the dragon gives for me to go huh. That bitch really was the true antagonist of the series.

Might be considered late to the club by some but here I am anyways, hear me out.

Big magical creature with a fuck off long life span trapped under the castle of a dude who tried to systematically wipe out all magic. Said castle owner killed friends and family and turned the world into something unrecognisable and hostile that may never be recovered from. Well time to destroy this fuckers entire LIFE AND LEGACY. What humans consider a long game is basically a round of Connect-Four to a dragon.

Merlin rolls in magic up the wazoo able to roam freely around the castle AND getting into chaos trying to figure out his purpose and destiny. The dragon is like "perfect, how best to manipulate this twink? I know I'll say there is a prophecy. Humans eat that shit up when it comes from a fuck off sized magical creature they can barely comprehend existing."

He puts himself squarely in the position of wizened mentor who can drip feed merlin important magical info as required. Always careful not to give too much at once so that merlin doesn't know enough to catch onto him. He is someone whose word should be trusted. He helps merlin find fixes to shenanigans and strange magical visitors looking for their own revenge, sometimes because he doesn't want to work around their plan, sometimes because of his own prideful desire to be the one to get his ultimate revenge and doesn't want anyone getting in the way of that. But all Merlin knows is that he has helped and so that lends credibility when he's sowing the seeds of discord and future destruction by saying shit like "Morgana is destined for darkness."

Even by the time Merlin starts questioning and bucking against the dragons rules and opinions he has already internalised so much of what was said, and made so many mistakes based on the dragons advice that he doesn't know how to walk back on. Some lingering ignorance in combination with the sunk cost fallacy and a desire to be The Good Guy turns a bogus prophecy into a self fulfilling one.

Once he's laid the pieces he just has to wait and watch. Eventually Merlin realises his whole dragon lord thing and it's an annoyance but by then he's in too deep to actually comprehend how far along he is in the dragons plans and wouldn't be able to unravel the dragons plans to first destroy everything anyways.

It doesn't matter that Uther isn't there to watch his kingdom change into something kinder than he would ever have wanted or that he isn't there when it eventually crumbles because it was never about Uther's pain and always about the dragons pride.

#chirping wren #bbc merlin #the great dragon #kilgharrah #as i've said its been an age so like take this meta/head canon with a grain of salt #its just based on vague memories of the show #but yeah #merlin makes a lot of his own worst enemies on this show and its always because he was working from info about the future from the dragon

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luniise-kel · 1 year

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Opinion on each of the Phantom Thieves ?

oki im going to go in the order of whoever i remember first, this turned out kinda long lol (also i ramble a lot in this, sorry not sorry)

Akechi - hes a silly, little silly man. goofy goober, committed lots of crimes i think he should be jailed for these crimes. He and joker kiss. I think Akechi is a really complex and well written character and that his entire life is really tragic, I really love his character in general. Akechi’s character is someone who sticks to his ideals, no matter the situation or if his ideals are proven wrong and this loyalty to his ideals translates to his loyalty to the protagonist and the deep sense of envy he is implied to feel for him. baby man, my babygirl Protag/Joker - opinion for him r all my hcs. he is like cat. Futaba - forced to kin her, i love her omg. shes so me. character great 12/10 love her to death. She was the most useful character in the metaverse no i do not take criticism. wasnt able to finish her confidant in vanilla but im def going to max her out on my royal playthru. I do like futaba’s videogame logic being applied to irl logic bc,,,, i do that too and erm Ryuji - i like him. I hc he wears a leg brace. I wish all his prevy scenes were cut, idk they all felt out of character for him. also i wish we talked more about childhood friends ann and ryuji like. hello? they should have been besties, sharing embarrassing stories about each other. Ryuji’s confidant was def one of my favorites, always hung out with this man. I really like Ryuji’s strong desire to be helpful and to just be a guy, he wants to make ppl happy and like yeah me too bestie Ann - atlus ruined you im so sorry. act 1 ann was fire, she was so badass amazing 10/10 great character. everything past the first palace was like ????? where her character go??? i wish we had more scenes were ann explicitly takes back her sexuality, like she is not uncomfy with it and rather confident or something idk. but i love her anyways, i hope she girlbosses gaslights and gatekeeps her way through life Yusuke - sigh, another force kin. i think he is also silly, my honorary babygirl. Yusuke struggle with his identity and place in the world is really cool bc Yusuke is a great foil to Akechi, i guess its a more black mirror situation with Yusuke and Akechi but whatever. Yusuke being an orphan but had a (albeit bad) father figure with akechi has no father figure and the closes thing he got was shido (shitty father). and like i wish we would have gotten more yusuke relates/sympathizes or something with akechi, i mean they both have strong ideas r without a mother, cmon atlus do something. also Yusuke is like, my favorite, besides Akechi. hes so girlypop. Makoto - sorry makoto lovers shes not a favorite. i do like her character but also i hate it. Like some aspects r cool amazing great even, but other parts. I like her persona thats cool. um not much to say other than decent character. solid 6/10. not a fav but i still love her. Haru - i have literally not met her yet, she spoke to her once in vanilla and im working my way slowly to her in royal. current opinion is: she exists. i like her hair. Morgana - cat (i almost forgot about him) Sumire - shes cool, i like her so far. accidentally spoiled her entire character arc for myself……whoopsies. dont have much to say about her other than good character, shes solid.

Okay and i think thats everyone, i really love all of the phantom thieves and yeah maybe ill come back to this question when i finished the game but this is my currect opinion on everyone.

#luniise ask #long post #persona 5 spoilers #persona 5 royal spoilers

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weakforarwen · 2 years

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I like everything about Lancelot and Guinevere except Lancelot and Guinevere. The episode starts out so wonderfully with Morgana and Gwen being total badasses - their friendship was so lovely in this episode, as was Morgana before they ruined her; I also loved Arthur and Merlin, Gwen standing up to Hengist, and seeing Lancelot again. However, I did not like Lancelot and Guinevere's characterizations in their scenes together. Before getting to that I'll start with saying:

Lancelot was dueling men for money to entertain mercenaries. It's not even clear if he spared his opponent because he wanted to or because Gwen was watching. Gwen looked at him and shook her head as if to tell him "Don't do it." and then Lancelot decided to spare the other guy. It obviously wasn't the first time he fought for money and Lancelot looked willing enough to finish his adversary off. For comparison, when Arthur fought Olaf in 2.10, Gwen was watching too and nodded approvingly when he spared Olaf, yet Arthur didn't do it for her. In 2.02, he asked Uther not to retaliate against Carleon after he tried to kill Arthur for the death of his son and Gwen's approval was also not why he did it, though he enjoyed it. I know this because I know Arthur: he spared Carleon in 5.04, and, in 3.04, conceded the match to the man who'd helped him in the tournament, before even learning that man was Gwaine and without knowing Gwen had been watching. Point is, Arthur didn't do things for Gwen's approval and the fact that Lancelot's entire characterization in this episode was about him gaining Gwen's approval is quite sad.

Lancelot said "There are few opportunities for men like me. So I've been earning a living the only way that I know: with a sword in my hand. It seems it is my destiny to entertain men like Hengist." We're supposed to sympathize with him, but, truth is, it wasn't destiny but choice. Fighting mercenaries, slave traders, smugglers, etc. for money is not "destiny" or something that was out of his hands. He was strong, smart, healthy; there was work for him somewhere even if it paid poorly. It would've been better than killing people for money and turning a blind eye to the actions of "men like Hengist".

Lancelot also said "I came to save Gwen.". That was a half-truth. He stayed to save Gwen but it was a mere coincidence that he came upon her. Anyway, moving on to Lancelot and Guinevere:

I'm tired of Gwen propping up the male characters at the expense of her characterization. This happened with Arthur a few times as well, but, for the most part, her support of Arthur was also her way of fighting for the people of Camelot, and believing in, and giving advice to, the man she loved and was in a relationship with, is quite different from becoming someone's whole reason for existing.

"I didn't even know I could feel this way about someone." What did she mean? Was it because Lancelot promised to rescue her? He was a normal man who proved to be a hero and that inspired her? The line and Angel's delivery were so dramatic. What about Merlin? Who had also rescued her and whom she once had feelings for?

"I would die for you 100 times over. Live for me, or everything that I am has been for nothing." "You can do what you will with me. I do not care. You can do no harm to Guinevere. [...] She is worth more to me that you will ever understand." Excuse me.. what? Living for another person is not romantic. Saying someone is the only reason you're good is not romantic. Dying for someone just so you can say you're not as worthless as you'd thought is not that noble. What is Gwen worth to Lancelot? His honor? His self-esteem? His pride?How can he love someone he's known for days?

"As long as I live, my feelings for you will never fade." Well, that was a lie (re: 4.09 in particular).

Am I really supposed to be touched by any of this? Every episode that starts out about Gwen becomes about someone else.

This episode is so mean to Gwen. The way they contrasted scenes of Arthur risking everything for Gwen with scenes of her falling for Lancelot was cruel. It's no wonder fans hated Gwen after this. Even I have to remember Gwen owed Arthur nothing, that she'd been under extreme duress, and that it doesn't matter Arthur liked Gwen more in the beginning. The episode was written in bad faith and painted Gwen as the woman who forgot all about Arthur as soon as she saw Lancelot and wasn't deserving of his devotion. "I can't expect Guinevere to wait for me." Cue Gwen not waiting for Arthur.

Between Gwen's actions and words, and Lancelot leaving so she wouldn't have to chose between him and Arthur, it's no surprise fans think she loved Lancelot more or whatever - if you ignore the rest of the series, that is. But there's no denying that, if you care about Arthur, this episode makes Gwen look bad. Arthur's selfless, brave and romantic, Lancelot's noble and romantic despite his cowardly actions (making a living fighting people, leaving without a goodbye), while Gwen's the woman who betrayed Arthur while he rescued her...

This is so frustrating to me because there are many things I like about the episode - like Arthur. I love how he spoke of Gwen. He implied he would wait for her until they could be married if only she was willing to wait for him, and said he cared for her more than anyone. He risked his and Merlin's lives going through Wilddeoren infested tunnels not knowing if the berries would work; he couldn't rest or sleep until he found Gwen. However much Merlin cared for Gwen, Arthur cared more. When he found Morgana in the woods, all he asked was "Where's Guinevere" like Morgana's well-being was nothing compared to Gwen's. I love that he personally delivered Gwen into Morgana's arms and made sure she was okay.

Also, the tone of the episode is fun, Arthur and Merlin have some great teasing moments, I love Merlin's friendships with Lancelot and Gwen - Merlin was so gentle with Gwen and felt so bad he had to deliver the news that Lancelot had left.

In the end, though, Lancelot and Gwen ruin the episode for me. It didn't help that Gwen looked so offended when Arthur cowardly told Lancelot he only rescued her for Morgana. She stormed off like she was angry at him for clearly lying to her face and implying she wasn't worth fighting for. I get it, but, like... did that mean she liked him, or... ? Sending Lancelot away is not the proper way to resolve a love triangle.

The episode starts out strong and leaves me angry, that's it. That's the post.

#bbc merln #bbc arwen #merlin #arwen #gwen pendragon #arthur pendragon #lancelot #lancelot and guinevere commentary

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teeto-peteto · 6 months

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Strange question, do you prefer when Star Guardians was more Sailor Moon or Madoka Magica? Or do you like both?

Oddly enough i prefer Sailor Moon.

Reason is that Riot keeps releasing skins (wich is not... bad, entirely) and those skins now need a plot/story. Point is that back when Lux team was the only one the skinline had, it was very Sailor Moon styled. They fight the baron, void creatures, they have silly school drama, lesbians, that's literally pretty much Sailor Moon. And it was great. Back on the day it was suggested that Janna, as she is the one that has been an star guardian for the longest time, has some secrets. Thats fine.

Then Ahri's team appeared, and it wasnt bad, either, but they started introducing a story that was more than just haha sparkles! And honestly, it was interesting! Problem is that, you back then realize 'Oh, no, this skinline is going to crash down in hell' cause now we have 3 mysterious star guardians that are dead/fallen/etc. Now Syndra exists, and its stated that she has dark secrets. Sarah is a lesbian (periodt and it has literally nothing to add to my point but regardless) and she has like conflict with Ahri so thats more school drama. This is kinda like when the Outer Senshi started to appear in Sailor Moon and they got added to the original team in a lot of the episodes? well.

Then Neeko, Zoe and Xayah/Rakan released. And oh man things were so good but everything started to crash eventually. Now we have the concept that star guardians can be corrupted! By desesperation/death/whatever. Do you guys remember when Janna said she had secrets? At this point in the lore, who the fuck cares about Janna??????? Who cares about the Lux team? What do they do? Do they just rescue kitties from trees while Ahri shows up like 'ok i can handle the sassy kid and my corrupted best friends with my chameleon bestie'.

Okay, the Kai'sa gang is what killed me and made me loose the focus on the story. I have opinions, and that is that i just think community has done a lot to make star guardian entretaining because i didnt understand half of the story on the event. Lux is dead or smth cause she has an statue, and i readed that and i just said 'Whatever' cause Lux dying is so meaningless to the plot. We literally know nothing about her in recent years, there's literally nothing to say 'omg i cant believe this happened'. They just say well Lux is dead. Well what about Jinx?? Lulu?? Poppy?? Janna??????? I hate Ezreal with my guts but that dude isnt like affected??? Where IS the people?!??! Completely understand that they added A LOT of characters to the story line but come on you cant just said 'oops she died, anyway here's Kaisa talking to a stone LOL'. I didnt get the villains and the corruption. The Harp being Fiddlesticks was like woah! Thats cool. Why is Zoe just Zoe but purple then? Why is Morgana purple then? Why are they sassy?????? I mean okay there are great villains that are sassy. these arent.

Okay i dont want to rip the lore apart. Thats what sentinels of light are for. they are my punching bag and i dont regret it. This is just what happens when you're a capitalist and you try to keep people interested but you keep stepping over your own story and messing it up just for the sake of adding more characters. If this was just Sailor Moon then we could have as many skins as we wanted without trouble and sassy villains! But i get the story keeps people interested, i cant blame aanyone and im happy they like it! I love what community has done for Star Guardian cause it what keeps my interest rather than the canon, keep writing keep creating cause im watching.

good thing Everything Goes On was released cause i wasnt understanding half of the story and put it to sleep but i went heheee this song is soooooo coooool.

#thank you porter robinson *thumbs up*#anyway #i respect everyones opinion sorry if i get mean #its not the intention #i only get mean with riot #not anyone on my tumbly #there were things i liked in the last kaisa team but i started loosing the thread and ended up just skipping #and then watching video resumes #anyway take a shot everytime star guardian lore pulls a deux ex machina

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doiefy · 3 years

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nct dream playing league of legends

ok so this is completely self-indulgent because i finally got a new computer and can properly play league again ahfjkhfjh. a quick rundown for anyone who hasn’t played the game:

the objective is to destroy the nexus in the enemy team’s base, which can be reached through three different lanes.

top lane: brawlers and fighters mid lane: assassins and mages bot lane: one marksman and one support jungle: neutral camps

some other terms cs: creep score, number of minions killed in lane kda: kill, death, assist ratio gank: going into another lane to flank the enemy

mark: “nice job bro”

the reliable jungler. or at least, he tries to be.

will constantly come help you if you're getting beat up in lane. laughs when his ganks fail but will hype you up when it works.

always lets you get the kill and apologizes profusely if he accidentally steals it.

forgets that dragons exist “oh wait dude, dragon was up?? FUCK WAIT THAT WAS ELDER”

he'd play rammus, nunu and zac, literally all the wholesome, funny characters. memorizes their voice lines and repeats them while he clears his camps.

would quite literally die for willump. if he dies and hears nunu say “no! don’t leave me, willump!” he’ll go on a muderous rampage when he respawns.

renjun: "GET ME OUT."

the mage midlaner who’s hardstuck in silver and can’t get out.

the ranked matchup algorithm hates him and puts him with an entire team of trolls.

at first he refused to play the game, but somehow got addicted overnight. hates the game.

preaches against the objectification of sexy female characters and bonks evelynn to horny jail whenever he sees her.

a farming and skillshot GOD. perfect cs even under tower, lands everything and people think he’s scripting.

plays mage assassins like ahri and leblanc, artillery mages like lux and xerath.

refuses to spend money on the game and relies on skin shards.

mass reports everyone he doesn’t like. you didn’t say gg to him? reported

jeno: "ggwp <3"

the wholesome top laner who beats people up and then friend requests them at the end of the game.

looks tough, has a deep username, so people are scared of him. in reality he’s just having fun

has the most wholesome emotes.

while everyone’s casually laning, he’ll already be in the enemy base at 20 minutes, 1v5ing and singlehandedly ending the game.

sends cute faces in all chat as if he doesn’t have a perfect kda and can beat your ass to the moon.

probably plays sett, malphite (oh god), gwen, renekton... probably has the patience for nasus too.

never fucking pings before he teleports but it somehow works out.

haechan: *aggressively pings enemy missing*

TOXIC ASSASSIN MAIN CHANGE MY MIND.

he’s good, has good mechanics, but usually ends up getting way too cocky after two kills, constantly dies while diving the enemy.

spams pings on people and emotes whenever he gets a kill.

plays teemo just to be a little shit.

istg he’d play zed, yasuo, yone, katarina, all the assassins. “you need skill to play yasuo.” proceeds to go 0/20/1

streams his games on twitch and accidentally sends the link in all chat so the enemy can stream snipe him.

either he carries or he’s useless.

takes special game modes just as seriously for some reason ?? buddy calm down it’s just super mario party

anyways i love you donghyuck <3

jaemin: "you're doing great sweetie. just fucking amazing."

the passive aggressive support main and i stand by that.

likes the pretty champions and will buy ONLY pink skins and chromas, even if it’s for a champion he doesn’t play. pink warwick?? hell yeah

pretends he’s proud of you even if he’s completely, utterly done with your dumbass.

the passive aggressive, disappointed comments like “you need me to get that cannon for you? no? you can do it yourself? andddd you missed it. nice job sweetie. we just lost 60 gold.”

lets people play ranked with him even if they’re bad and then he has to smile through the pain of demotions.

plays champs like yuumi, lulu, janna, morgana.

will play yuumi and do nothing just to spite you. “sorry you died but my heal is on cooldown.”

is really sweet sometimes though <3

chenle: "i got autofilled."

unbothered king.

he can play every role pretty decently, and gets experimental with his champion picks. like he’ll take a mage into the jungle and somehow get away with it, or play a support against a brawler and beat them up ??

just laughs at everyone’s pain and doesn’t really care about his rank.

secretly owns thirty smurf accounts.

has the dumbest ideas like selling all his items and buying 6 mana crystals.

will somehow get the entire team to partake in said dumb idea; in other words, jisung’s worst nightmare.

dances in lane while his team is fighting. “GUYS LOOK AT ME.” “chenle DO SOMETHING.”

again, he plays e v e r y t h i n g

also streams on twitch and makes a whole army to bring donghyuck down.

jisung: "my entire team is dead and they think it's my fault."

the stressed support main.

he’s good at the game but can’t possibly save his entire dumbass team from certain death.

ends up having to fight tooth and bone on his own while the rest of his team is dead.

always calling the shots but no one listens to him so he just talks to himself instead, “guys, stop splitting up- oh and they’re all dead. k i’m gonna go over here.”

plays engage tanks like nautilus, leona and blitzcrank. engages the wrong enemy and gets yelled at.

refuses to play ranked with anyone. not even renjun. n o o n e. trust no one.

ends up playing tft, the autochess of league. because at least it’s every man for himself. somehow climbs to diamond.

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tellthemeerkatsitsfine · 3 years

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Second episode! Very exciting! It aired last night but it took forever to download so I saved it to watch today when I was awake enough to fully appreciate it. You can’t watch this show while half asleep.

Thought on Taskmaster s12e02, written as I watch it:

- I like prize tasks that change the adjective as well as the noun. So anything that starts with a word other than “best”. For “most awesome square”, we not only judge which is the most square-like, but we can debate the definition of “awesome”.

- “To make me a promise and then not to be able to deliver on it is the opposite of awesome.” I liking Desirees fortune teller (I do remember those from childhood, of course), but Greg actually makes quite a good point against it there.

- Morgana threatening Greg that he’ll piss of people at home if he doesn’t give her prize five points (it’s Albert Square, and I’m getting from context that this is part of the soap opera East Enders and because that show is popular people will want Greg to approve it). I like it. I immediately like her aggressive style. I don’t think it will work in this particular instance, but I like it anyway.

- Jesus, Victoria’s entire rant defending her prize was amazing. Just beautiful, beginning to end. In forty seconds, she manages to make a definitive statement about the “most awesome square in board gaming” (a hell of a claim, considering how very long a huge number of board games have existed in many cultures all over the world), reference the fact that pawns becoming queens in chess represents social mobility, refer to a children’s book character as sexy (but only after he’s been blow dried), appeal to the rules of Taskmaster by calling the score game respectable while also calling the show nonsense, and crack up both Desiree and Alan. Brilliant. This was exactly what I both wanted and expected out of the great VCM on Taskmaster.

- I enjoy it when people do things like this. Jamali Maddix making someone embroider the word “natty” onto a sweater. Joe Lycett labelling his picture “The Median Duck”. Alan Davies doing this to a box of wine:

Three leaders of rose is a nice amount of wine, too. I strongly approve of this prize. Not nearly as beautifully defended as Victoria’s, of course. But the best prize so far.

- Desiree’s argument against Alan is bullshit, as her square is also three-dimensional. And none of those are perfect squares. But I like that she gave it a shot.

- I honestly gasped out loud at the sight of Guz’s prize. The amount of work that must have taken. The combination of being impressed and being mildly afraid that it should elicit in anyone who’s its subject. Damn.

- Greg Davies: You’re not going to like this. Alex Horne: Who, me? Greg Davies: No, Desiree.

- I think I agree with the scoring on that one. I might have moved things around a little, but the top three were all very strong entries (well… two very strong entries and one very well defended entry) and I can see an argument for putting them in just about any order.

- We finally get to see this year’s team task combinations! I’m excited for that, but first I have to point out that the helmet cameras are back. I guess those are a good way to film things during COVID. And as Ed Gamble and Mike Wozniak said in last week’s podcast episode, seeing people wear a helmet with a camera on it is inherently funny.

- And it’s exactly as @tiefy called it last week! Alan and Victoria versus Morgana, Guz, and Desiree. The older people versus the less old people, if we want to describe it in a way that’s kind to the three-person team. The people who are very established in their careers versus the people who are not quite so established in their careers, if we want to be kinder to the two-person team. Classic way of splitting it, setting things up this way goes right back to season 1. I like it. It also worked excellently in season 4 (“the children and Noel”).

- I enjoyed everything about the first meetings of the teams. Alan and Victoria excitedly repeating “Hello!” at each other but not knowing what to do besides that. Guz and Morgana defensively telling Alex they know what’s going on, and then both getting shocked and scared when they realize Desiree is behind them. And it’s all much funnier when we get footage taken from their helmet cameras (the word “helmet” does not have a double meaning where I’m from in North America, so I suppose it’s a sign that I’ve gotten very used to British slang that the term “helmet camera” made me giggle just now).

- “Can I be honest? I ain’t got any ideas. So whatever you tell me to do, I’ll do it.” - Guz Khan

- “What if one of us dies? It can be me.” - Morgana Robinson

- Alan and VCM making Alex get them cocktails for a task in which they have to pretend to climb a mountain.

- Victoria Coren Mitchell: It was a metaphor. We were social climbing. Alan Davies: That’s it, that’s it, I remember now! Yes, it was quite sophisticated!

Oh I love this. Please let this be the team-of-two’s dynamic for the whole season. Covies? Victorilan? I like Victorilan. I hope we gets lots of Victorilan operating by VCM coming up with intelligent plans, and Alan saying, “Oh shit, that’s a cool idea, yeah let’s do that. You do the actual defending it to Greg, though. I’ll have forgotten this in an hour.”

- Greg Davies [to Victoria Coren Mitchell] Yeah, this is more of your very, very eloquent bullshit. Me: Fucking right. Let’s go.

- “I feel like someone who’s... I’ve married beneath me.” - Victora Coren Mitchell

To be fair to David, it wouldn’t be possible for that woman to not marry beneath her.

- Even if this season of Taskmaster gives me nothing else (which isn’t the case, as it’s already given me a bunch of other things), it was worth whatever resources it took to film it just so they could give me this screenshot. This lovely picture of QI’s Alan Davies and Only Connect’s Victoria Coren Mitchell.

- Morgana using her fantastic acting skills to turn jam into blood and then bread into pieces of her ass. I knew her ability to play characters would come in handy. She is going all out for this show.

- Guz rolling down the mountain made me laugh unreasonably loudly.

- I wish the internet where I am was good enough to make and upload gifs, so I could get one of Desiree doing lying-down jumping jacks at the top of the “mountain”.

- I’m all right with five whole points for the ass bread tragedy. I liked it. I’m liking all of this. I really like everyone so far this season.

- My first thought upon seeing the opening to this task: at some point before this episode is over, Alex Horne is going to eat at least some of the contents of at least one of those doggie bags.

Let’s see if I’m right.

- I love Desiree’s sweater.

- VCM: Okay, I’ve got questions. Me: Of course you do. That’s what you’re here for. Tear this show apart.

- Classic gross-out challenge. I picked the wrong time to grab a snack during this episode.

- So far we know about toffee and Nutella. So I get the impression that they’ll be relatively tame flavours, just made to look disgusting because they’re in doggy bags. From a psychological perspective, it’s interesting how visual presentation can affect the way we respond to even food we otherwise like. From a less intellectual perspective, I’m hungry but can’t enjoy my Bits n Bits until this task is done.

- I knew Alan was a vegetarian, but I didn’t know he’d been a vegetarian since 1986. That is commitment. Good for him (for the record I do eat meat, I just know that people who don’t are better than me).

- Oh shit, Victoria’s the first the get both ingredients from one bag. “Nutella and tortilla chips.”

- “Onion and God-forsaken bird vomit.” I like Desiree.

- Oh, I got so into the episode that I forgot to look for the title drop. But there it is, from Desiree Burch. “Oatmeal and Death.”

- Holy shit, Victoria got 8 out of 10. That is genuinely impressive. I suppose a task like that, which rewards meticulous analysis, plays to her strengths.

- I thought Morgana didn’t have a chance, but going through the discarded bags is quite a good idea. She gets to taste each one like the others did, but without the stipulation of having to take a massive spoonful.

- I was actually about to add a bullet point in which I admitted that I was wrong about Alex tasting the contents of the bag. But of course it happened in the end. The background music, the apprehension on Alex’s face, and the delight on Morgana’s face all make this a great bit of Taskmaster content.

- We saw this dome in the New Year’s episode, and I remember there being talk at the time of how they must have gotten it to be used in a future season. I approve of its return.

- Guz has a point. Technically the wording of the instructions means that if they spill even a drop, they haven’t completed the task and should be disqualified. But I assume they won’t do it that way, and they’ll just give points for the person who spills the least paint.

- Alex Horne: Sometimes they’re a team, and sometimes they’re just grouped into the same age bracket. It’s Alan and Victoria. Victoria Coren Mitchell: Oh, we’re not in the… why would you… I mean… I love you, Al… but he… it’s a bit… Alan Davies, while giggling: She’s a lot younger than me.

To be fair, when predicting this team last week, @tiefy also pointed out that Victoria is closer to Desiree’s age than to Alan’s, so it isn’t really fair to call them the “old people” team. I think that’s going to happen anyway, though.

- Putting down a bunch of papers is a good idea on Victoria’s part. Putting down just one paper is less of a good idea, but still a pretty good idea, on Alan’s part. I think if I were doing this task I’d find something big and cover most of the floor of the dome with it. I wonder if that would count as mess. If you get a large sheet covered in paint, but then you take the sheet out and leave the dome clean – have you made a mess? The sheet is messed up, but the dome isn’t.

- “Do you stop when it’s all green? Or do you stop when you’ve had enough?” – Alan Davies

- VCM just referenced “the taunt plastic corpse of the space hopper”.

- “I mean, this is cleaner than it was when I came in.”

Not sure about that, Victoria. I mean, it definitely is clean in there. But I don’t know if that thing is completely covered in paint.

- “Um… how do I not… okay, and it rolls. Okay.” – Desiree Burch, about a large ball

- I like Morgana’s idea of putting garbage bags down. I think I’d do that.

- Oh, I did think of the idea that they should put down something bigger than a few sheets of paper (or were those cloths that Victorilan used?). I did not think of deflating the space hopper. Good idea. Morgana is great at this.

- While coming up with genuinely good ideas, Morgana still has time/presence of mind to pretend the paint bottle is her penis while squirting it onto the plastic. Just a great all-around contestant.

- The little clips of Alex to link into and out of commercial breaks are getting increasingly weird.

- Ohhhhhhhhhhh. Guz becomes the only person to suspend the ball, which is a great idea. Also, he seems to be the only person doing this task at night. That’s quite a pretty scene.

- “I mean, I’d like to make this sound more scientific than it’s about to be, but we’re just going to make this shit green.” – Guz Khan

- Right. So Guz has made quite a mess on his outfit, and a bit of a mess on the dome’s ceiling. And he’s spilled a fair bit of paint on the ground because he couldn’t resist the urge to slap the space hopper. This may be a case of a good idea executed badly, like Al Murray putting all the balloons together before popping them and then losing track of them. But he just looks so fucking pleased about the whole thing that I can’t hold it against him. Adorable.

- I really wish I had good enough internet to make a gif of that ball falling on top of Guz. That was very funny.

- “Well, at this point we might as well just get messy. Enjoy ourselves and shit.” – Guz Khan

- I also unfortunately do not have the internet speed required to make a gif of Guz Khan jerking off a space hopper.

- Guz Khan’s way of not making a mess:

- “We could have won this task.” Guz seems to think he and Alex are on a team together. This whole task attempt from him has been very adorable.

- Victoria doing all the math in her head that fast is… there’s no other way to put this. That was fucking hot. (Yes, I realize the editing made it look faster than it was. But still.)

- I love how much of this episode Alan has spent giggling like a child.

- Classic studio task. A locked box. Jackets full of pockets that contain lots of useless things and the occasional useful thing. Straight-up timed task, fastest wins. This has season 1 vibes. I like it.

- Victoria is digging through a satsuma.

- Look how pleased with himself Guz looks:

- Desiree found the working key, and Alex announced that someone else had gotten into a box. Alan, while patting himself down and looking confused, vaguely remarked, “That’s good news.” That was unreasonably funny.

- Desiree looks much less impressed than Guz did:

- Okay. I might have to start acknowledging that my predictions about VCM winning this season might have been a little premature. But I don’t even mind. All five of those people are so fucking awesome. I’m just enjoying this.

- Love how Guz just stashes all the prizes in his bag and walks off with them. I’m still not sure he’s clear about what show he’s on. But he’s having a good time.

#taskmaster

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maxmagi · 3 years

Text

A List of My OTPs

because it's 11 and I can't sleep.

Enjolras x Grantaire a.k.a. Enjoltaire a.k.a. ExR- Les Mis

How I fell into this I don't remember now. I vaguely remember reading a crackfic of this and then everything just went sideways.

This was also the fandom that helped me realize that I wasn't exactly straight and that it's okay to not be loud about my sexuality, that I can just be.

I think that explains my attachment to this ship, not to mention just the movie's Grantaire (played by George Blagden) also shipped the characters and played his character like how he thought it should be, Grantaire loving and pining after Enjolras without the revolutionary knowing it.

Except in the fan fics, Enjolras returns his feelings and they work it out, even though it's not easy because they're both stubborn as mules. Ah, ultimate fantasy I guess. And the number of great fics here, *whistle*

Also, the Les Amis? Is amazing? Especially in the modern AUs? Like they're great friends? I love this fandom so much! Permets-tu!

Shen Wei x Zhao Yunlan - Guardian / Zhen Hun

C'mon, Zhu Yilong & Bai Yu's performance and emotions? Plus just the fact the fanfic writers of this ship are absolutely amazing? Please, escape from this pairing is impossible!

Best opposites attract trope for me. An academic by day, superhero by night in love with a roguish police chief who has no powers but whose charisma, wit, and heart can get him to toe to toe with the legends.

Also, Professor Shen Wei constantly acting like an innocent civilian and lying badly? Gold!

Loki x Tony Stark a.k.a. FrostIron - Avengers

How did I honestly get to this ship? I really can't remember what started it all. I think it must have been a Loki redemption fic where Tony Stark and Pepper broke up and something something happened. Let me tell you, the writers of this ship have written sagas and ballads of epic and sometimes confusing proportions, and that is why I fell deeper into the pit. I mean, they gotta give justice to two brilliant but chaotic characters, right? Angst. This ship has sooooooooo much angst.

Eiji x Ash - Banana Fish

My god, if you want to keep your heart intact and not be reminded of all that's ugly in the world, DON'T WATCH OR READ BANANA FISH. YOUR HEART WILL NEVER HEAL!

If you're gonna watch/read it anyway, make sure to watch something fluffy and sweet after. There's a reason that people from this fandom go, "If you've seen Banana Fish's ending, then you can handle whatever angsty show you're watching now." ~ or something to that effect. Another thing we like to say in this fandom is, "Other fandoms: Let's write a Mafia AU! Banana Fish fandom: We are the Mafia AU." Yes, all of us in this fandom is dramatic af.

Yuuri x Viktor - Yuuri!!! on Ice

Uh, does this really need an explanation? Aside from the fact that you will surprisingly find a lot of Mafia AUs here because we all know that hiding behind that beautiful face of Viktor Nikiforov is a devil capable of... tearing down your self-confidence, like WTF Viktor, don't make Yuuri cry! Also, their dance together at the end, such beautiful love.

Magnus Bane x Alec Lightwood aka Malec - Shadowhunters

I never read the books and have no plans to in the near future. I just saw a video on Youtube about why Malec is life and now here I am, still reading some Malec fics from time to time.

Some stuff on the show were WTF but overall they were a really good couple who supported each other. Plus, they're a Power Couple.

Erwin x Levi aka Eruri - Attack on Titan / Shingeki no Kyojin

Not to be confused with Ereri, which is Eren x Levi, which I don't generally ship except for that one time when a writer wrote an epic fanfic series with Eren in his mid 20s and Levi in his late 20s/early 30s, reincarnation AU. Boy was that one a surprise. I did not expect that.

Anyway, I'm an Eruri fan through and through. Especially with that promise that Levi made to Erwin. And the reason he gave the serum to Armin. HE DIDN'T DO IT FOR THE KIDS YKNOW. HE DID IT FOR ERWIN. Plus, Levi, Erwin, and Hange are my special trio. Erwin's batch was really amazing.

Also, I really like the fact that the shorter and slighter person is the more badass fighter while the taller, bigger one is the more calculating and strategic one. Rocks the boat of stereotypes and all that. Bonus: how these two met. My god, what a meet-cute! 😂

Dani x Jamie aka The Au Pair and the Gardener - The Haunting of Bly Manor

It really is more of a love story than a ghost story. I dunno how to feel about this. I loved these two characters so much and I wished they had a better ending but I wasn't SO surprised because it was a horror series (Like, I was still hoping at the end that they'd be together forever but yknow...). In any case, Jamie was just awesome. And her nickname for Dani? Poppins?! God, what a lover and fighter. She was not afraid to cock a gun in a ghost's face.

... and now for my flexible BROTPs

Merlin x Arthur aka Merthur - BBC Merlin

Yeah, my brain is so chaotic multiple OTPs and BROTPs of the same pairing exist at the same time without clashing with one another or having major identity crises.

I actually really like BROTP Merlin and Arthur and also like reading OTP Merthur.

And when Merlin is paired with Morgana or Freya or sometimes even Gwaine, that's fine with me too. As long as his bromance with Arthur stays intact, because that's what drew me to the show in the first place. Personal preference. I see them as platonic soulmates.

*Shout-out to the Merthur writers though, you kept me sane during my "Post-Merlin Depression," which is actually a term thrown around in the fandom because of that horrid final season (not saying it's a good term but it's what it was called). A lot of amazing fics here, too, both Magic Reveal and Modern AU ones. Full of action and adventure too! I mean, there are boy-band-looking Knights and magic-wielding badasses!

Tim Drake x Conner Kent/Kon-El aka Red Robin x Super Boy - DC Comics

More like flexible otp. I dig Stephanie Brown and Tim Drake BUT I really really also dig Tim Drake and Conner Kent. When they're TimKon, it's like an entirely different entity from TimSteph. Ugh, hard to explain.

I mean, Kon telling Tim, "You'll always be my Robin" and Tim telling Kon, "And you'll always be my clone boy" is the shit. Also when Kon could pick out/recognize Tim's heartbeat. And when Tim nearly went mad scientist trying to bring his bestie back. Like, dudes, wtf. And at the same time, hell yeah.

Liu Kang x Kung Lao aka LiuLao - Mortal Kombat

- I see these two as more like ride or die best friends connected by fate/platonic soulmates. But also like their dynamic is so awesome, cute, sweet, badass, can't-live-without-you vibes.

Basically the same way I feel about Merthur. I like reading both romantic and platonic relationships between these two characters. Like, the LiuLao fan creators peeling off the layers of this relationship and exposing every raw nerve is beautiful.

They love diving into the characters' psyche, emotions, motivations, fears, and doubts and you get really amazed because... Aren't they just characters from a video game, you ask? Well yeah, but MK video game has several interesting storylines and the Mortal Kombat 2021 movie was just the perfect jumpstarter to this beautiful blaze.

I mean, "We swore that if we were to die, it would be together"? Hell no, you're not dropping that on us and not expecting us to create our very own spin-offs and 12-page essays on that shit. That's what we fans do, baby. And also, really, we need a shaolin monks/white lotus spin-off/prequel. We're starving here.

As this ship is the newest one on my list, it's the one I'm looking forward to the most. Not enough fan content, I tell you. Not enough. One of these days, I just might add my own.

But right now, it's past 1 and so I shall attempt to sleep.

***No images for TimKon and LiuLao coz apparently I've gone past my 10-images allowance 😤

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auncyen · 3 years

Text

chasing dumb ideas from work lol

Ren’s Palace takes the form of a video game world, bright and zany. The Shadows have their silhouettes color-coded according to difficulty, the cognitions are NPCs repeating stock dialogue--Mona pops up surprisingly often, considering he and Ren haven’t really hung out since May--and some of the logic used to progress is worthy of a click-and-point game. Which means it’s lucky they have Futaba with them, since she’s the only Phantom Thief who understands the logic of click-and-point games. Still, it’s such a breeze that it takes only three hours to reach the center of the stage, and Oracle complains they never even left the hand-holding tutorial.

Ren’s shadow smiles at them when they arrive, and hands Ryuji a controller for the P4Storm his parents took away from him and sold after his arrest. “Wait--is this the Treasure?” Ryuji blurts. “We didn’t give you a calling card, though.”

“Hmm...we did talk with him about what he thought the distortion might be, though,” Futaba muses. “He’s the NPC who knows the most about our methods, so that might have accidentally triggered the effect. Good thing we moved fast.”

The shadow nods at Futaba’s explanation. “I didn’t want to give you guys too much trouble. You’re my friends, after all.”

“Dude, you gave us no trouble at all,” Ryuji says with a laugh. “You’re way too nice for your own good!” Still, in this case, he’s relieved it’s not coming to a fight. Ren’s a friend, and he hasn’t seemed all there lately--they might have curbstomped his shadow if it’d come to that, and wouldn’t that feel awful.

Ren’s shadow smiles shyly, and waves them off before disappearing in bright light. The PT make their usual escape. The Palace crumbles.

So does the controller in Ryuji’s hands.

Despite the alarm the crumbling treasure causes for the entire group, Ren seems to take his change of heart just fine, doesn’t even throw himself a week-long slumber party like Futaba did. He stays home from school one day, Futaba reporting that he seems a bit sleepy but nothing too serious, and then the next day, Ren gives Ryuji a fist-bump and smile outside Shujin. Ryuji grins and tackles him into a headlock. He’s so glad the change of heart didn’t hurt Ren. Ren’s his best friend. The Phantom Thieves might have given Ryuji a reason to stay at Shujin and not drop out, but Ren’s pretty much an honorary Thief anyway, and he’s been running with Ryuji, and helping him deal with the track team’s problems, and he’s just so good at knowing exactly what to say to make people feel better. Ryuji’s thrilled he could help Ren for once.

And then, days later, he gets a text from Makoto during class, which he knows is urgent because Makoto texting during class: “Ren is still logged in the MetaNav on my phone for some reason. The location and distortion have been erased, but his name is still there. Is anyone else seeing this?”

Yusuke starts typing. Futaba and Ann chime in well before him that yes, they see it too. Ryuji opens the Metanav on his phone. Ren’s name is glaring on the screen, a partially-complete entry that shouldn’t be there at all.

“Class was that bad?” Ren asks when Ryuji trudges out of his classroom, prompting the blond to immediately shove the phone in his pocket.

“Uh, yeah,” Ryuji mutters. “Hey, Ren, can we talk about the--uh--you-know-what?”

“The completely unsuspicious you-know-what, yes, what about it?” Ren answers, because oh good the change of heart gave him his sarcasm back. Actually--that would be good news. It means the change of heart worked and the Metanav’s got some random glitch. “Let’s get off school grounds first.”

Ryuji manages to only jump a little when his phone buzzes.

When he checks, the Metanav has accepted “school” as the distortion’s location, even though the Palace was actually at the scramble in Shibuya and, more importantly, doesn’t exist any longer.

They go to Leblanc, where Shiho and Futaba are both waiting to talk to Ren as well, which helps Ryuji with the conversation ahead. It’s...kind of hard to muddle through ‘hey, we were trying to help you with your heart, but something might have gone wrong and we don’t know what’. It both helps and doesn’t that Ren stays calm the entire time, doesn’t get worried or pissed off that they might have screwed up. Wouldn’t a distorted person get mad? Wouldn’t a normal person at least be nervous?

Then again, Ren’s always had nerves of steel underneath the nerdy glasses. It never made sense to Ryuji why he didn’t awaken to a Persona when Ryuji and Ann and Shiho all could, not until they found his Palace. He’s got the guts for it.

Futaba openly prods Ren on how he views the school, and he shakes his head. “This must be a glitch. You guys have already helped me. I feel better, and everyone else has only needed their heart changed once. Why would I be different?”

Shiho purses her lips but then agrees. Ryuji feels a little antsy, wants to push but also wants to trust Ren, and even if the change of heart didn’t work for some reason, his friend is pushing back now. Ren’s not hurting anyone. His heart is his call just like Futaba’s was hers, and even the hacker, for all her curiosity, respects that. They gotta drop it.

But it stays on the back of Ryuji’s mind for weeks as the entry stays in place, 2/3s complete, and everyone else is worried too because they all like Ren and something does seem a little off about him--like he’s trying too hard to be normal, to convince them everything is fine--and then apparently one morning, right before class starts, Ren startles Ann by leaning over her shoulder and drily reciting: “Ren Amamiya, Shujin Academy, theater”.

The keywords work, Ren supplying them is taken as an implicit request, and there’s a good chance their calling card timer is already running just like the first time, since Ren knows how they work after tagging along for most of the first Palace and helping them with supplies for later ones. So they go.

Ren’s second Palace is a theater. It’s completely different from the video game world, with dark, muted, traditional colors, yet unmistakably Ren’s, and Makoto has to get their navigators back on task several times because Morgana and Futaba are going nuts theorizing (because who has a second Palace to begin with?). Luckily Shiho doesn’t have much trouble leading the group through anyway. Once again, Ren’s Palace is weirdly easy. The Shadows aren’t color-coded any longer, but they also don’t seem to care about the Thieves as long as they don’t interrupt the show on stage. It’s...an improv show, Ryuji thinks? Yusuke says it might be an avant garde direction on a play. (Ryuji has no idea what the difference would be.) What happens is Ren’s shadow is always acting, and sometimes a cognitive audience member will leave their seat and join him. All of the Thieves are there, even Morgana, which the cat seems touched by, plus Mishima, and Ms. Kawakami, and Ms. Chouno, and Ryuji is about to question why Ren has the hots for so many teachers when Ushimaru gets up and that thought becomes cursed, and the newspaper club girl, and that cute gardening club girl, and actually, Ryuji still thinks Ren has some kind of bias for hot girls going on here. Even if the (former) stalker girl is pushing it.

That’s probably nothing to do with the Palace distortion though, since Ren’s interactions are always a simple back-and-forth with the cognition: they request something of him, even if it’s just to talk, and Ren obliges them admirably, or sometimes he acts as though he’s ignoring them at first, only to swoop in at the last second and give them something even better than they asked for. It’s interesting maybe the first couple times? Morgana stands out again because his cognition nags Ren to study and make infiltration tools, something Morgana says he’s never done, which makes sense because Ren is one of those aggravating people who never needs to study to ace exams and Shiho’s always made the infiltration tools just fine. After Morgana, though, it just falls into a predictable pattern, and the only reason to keep watching is to see who else comes up to stage. And once cognitive guest stars start repeating, the Thieves are out. Every improv act has been slightly different, but the flow is so obvious that it’s become mind-numbingly repetitive anyway.

They sneak past security into the back halls and find a dressing room. Futaba and Morgana both detect the Treasure inside. There’s a white-and-black domino mask sitting on a vanity in a dark corner of the room that both navigators swear up and down has to be the Treasure. It almost seems appropriate for a Thief mask. Maybe because Ren’s seen most of the team’s? It fits the theater setting, at least, but...

“Are we just...taking this?” Ann questions, with an uncertain look around the dressing room. “Seriously? His Shadow’s not even going to talk to us?”

“I would not complain about us being proper thieves and going undetected for once,” Yusuke points out.

“Okay, point, but it just...feels like I understand Ren less than I did before the video game place.” Ann sighs. “I thought he was just a quiet guy, but he saw part of Tokyo as a game? Now he’s acting with everyone at school? I wish I got what it actually meant...”

“We can ask him about it later,” Shiho reassures her. “Right now we just have to take the Treasure.”

That suits Ryuji. They take it. The Palace collapses.

The mask crumbles in Shiho’s hands as soon as they reach the real world, and she makes a small noise of distress. Morgana and Ryuji spit out the same curse in a rare moment of heartfelt unity. Futaba, on the other hand, just whips out her phone. “Hey-hey,” their navigator says, “Guess who doesn’t want to leave the Metanav?”

Ren is sympathetic with his thief friends not being able to steal a Treasure, which feels wildly inappropriate to Ryuji because it’s Ren’s heart in question here. Ryuji thinks in his shoes, he’d be losing his mind. Ryuji’s in his own shoes and he’s still losing his mind a little, because the only answer the group can come up with for what’s going on is that Ren’s somehow got three distortions.

No, sorry. It’s that he has at least three. Three may not be the magic number. Ren doesn’t seem to think it is, anyway, because now he puts down his foot. “I’m not hurting anyone. I’m fine.”

“Yeah, you weren’t even down for a day like last time,” Futaba mutters, giving him such a suspicious look that Shiho nudges the girl. Ren is their friend, and he’s been helping them be Phantom Thieves. They’ve got no good reason to antagonize him.

Ren gives her a long, silent look before shaking his head. “You guys should be figuring out your next target.”

They should be.

They do.

Ren helps them less with supplies this time. Ryuji wonders if it’s because of the distortion, and then he catches himself and realizes he’s been wondering if everything with Ren is because of a distortion or not. It’s probably not even Ren’s fault. They’re just not talking to him about Thief business as much, since...yeah. The only upshot might be that Morgana has been making some effort to get to know Ren better. Because Morgana was a jerk when they first found him--he’s still a jerk sometimes, but even Ryuji would say he’s gotten a lot better--and he pretty much brushed Ren off in favor of people who were actually awakening to Personas, like everyone else. They never really argued or anything, though, and apparently judging by Ren’s Palace...s, Ren’s fond of him, and Morgana seems to have finally realized that sometimes, making friends is its own reward, even if they can’t wield kickass Personas. So that’s a thing, now, Shiho passing Morgana off to Ren so they can trot off and do whatever people do together when one of them is a cat (apparently watch movies, get food, fish, and just talk).

And that’s why when Morgana says “I think I know Ren’s keywords” at the start of a Phantom Thieves meeting, Ryuji blurts out “I thought you stopped being an asshole” with a disappointment so deep that it kind of surprises him, because, wow, he really had been expecting that Morgana was just trying to be nice and not obsessed about Palaces and Treasures for once, huh?

Morgana blinks at him across the table. “I have never been an asshole,” he says, outright lying. “Though there are a few things I could say about you--”

“Morgana,” Shiho says, heading off that argument. She looks upset, too. “We don’t have any reason to pursue Ren’s Treasure. He’s not hurting anyone. He...seems to be doing all right,” though the hesitation is audible in her voice, and quickly followed with, “and even if he isn’t, it’s his heart. You’re not getting a unanimous vote here, and if this is why you’ve been friendlier to him lately, I... don’t know what to say, except that I thought you were better than that.”

There are two Phantom Thieves who can scold Morgana and actually make him feel ashamed: Ann and Shiho. Sure enough, she lands a critical hit; Morgana’s ears pin back, and he nearly ducks down under the table to escape her stare before stopping himself. “I’m not asking for a vote,” Morgana says. “If we took his treasure it’d probably just crumble again. But I want to check if I’m right about the keywords. It could be critical information.”

There is a long moment of silence. As much as Ryuji’s still pissed off at Morgana, he can’t deny being curious. If they at least knew the keywords, even if they didn’t go in, they’d understand Ren better, right? Though...after how the last two distortions went...

As it turns in, they go in anyway, because Makoto taps on her phone to open the Metanav, places it in front of Morgana, and when he utters “Tokyo, Metaverse,” the app responds “beginning navigation”, and--

“Fascinating,” Yusuke says.

“That’s not the f-word I’d use,” Ryuji says.

“Huh, Kaneshiro’s Palace is here,” Morgana notes, because that is indeed an effing bank flying through the sky, narrowly avoiding a blimp. The cat continues getting down to business despite the absurdity of the situation he just launched everyone into. “That means both that he’s seen it, and that his mental map of the Metaverse isn’t accurate. It might be based on his most recent memory? We never brought him in the bank, though. What do you think, Or--” He stops when he actually turns to Futaba and sees her face. She’s paler than usual. “...Oracle? Are you okay?”

“My Palace is there,” she says, pointing in the direction where Yongen Jaya would lie. The golden tip of a pyramid gleams over dozens of other riotously colorful, stylistically mishmashed buildings. “How does he know what my Palace looked like? How does he know about any of these? There’s at least two hundred--maybe three!”

Three hundred palaces is a stupid number of Palaces for anyone to personally remember, but it’s especially stupid for a guy who doesn’t even have the Nav on his phone.

the idea: “if persona users simultaneously having a Palace can be justified with wildcards having multiple personas (for one to turn into a shadow while the others remain to use), what kind of shitshow would Ren create if all his Personas just--” and then ng+ shenanigans wandered in

#persona 5 #ren amamiya

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morgana-ren · 3 years

Note

I noticed youd said that you get more shiggy requests. So, if you'll indulge me for a sec.

We've had gatos input on how strade would be if the roles were reversed. Mc somehow had him under their control with the shock collar on.

I want your input because your writing is so detailed i know id enjoy reading what a submissive little bitch he'd become.

Please and thank you Morgana.

ily :3

Oh OH You know me so well! This is one of my favorite things to daydream about when I get angry or annoyed because since Strade is such a garbage human being, it tickles me so much to think about how cathartic it would be to turn the tables.

So as well all know, Strade, while very experienced, is not the brightest bulb in the box. He’s got years of know-how behind his expertise in kidnapping and torture, but there’s some shit that just kind of evades him sometimes. Double checking your ropes after he gets a little too excited and wants a dirty basement floor romp, for example. Thanks to his overexcitement and shit-idiot brain fungus he’s got going on, it’s entirely possible for you to slip your bonds. This mistake, in canon, costs him his life.

But what if MC wasn’t so kind?

With a level head, you might be able to scrounge around his torture room for a little bit. Maybe he has a needle with some knockout liquid hanging around for “difficult” catches. Maybe you just wait around behind the door until he walks in and smash him on the head as hard as you can and knock his ass out. Either way, he’s got plenty of restraints, and now he’s the one cuffed to a rusty pole. The look on his dumb face when he comes to is priceless.

You’re not making the same mistakes he did. He’s triple tied to that thing. You know he’s strong, and you’re playing on his home field. You’ve got to be prepared for everything. At least long enough to get upstairs and find help or call the police. Right? Right?

But what if you don’t?

What if, after he comes to and is sputtering and howling and hissing things at you in German that would make Lindemann blush, you decide not to go for help? He’s mad. He’s oh so very mad. He does not like this, not one bit. But he’s panicking beyond what you’d expect, even for a serial killer who’s been two-timed by his own victim. There’s something else in those dilated eyes. Something you’ve become very acutely familiar with over the last few days. You can still smell it lingering on you the same way it’s staining his shirt now.

Fear. He’s afraid. And not of death or capture.

I mean, he very well might be terrified of those things, but whatever it is he’s feeling right now is far overshadowing that. His face is red, and you can practically see the veins in his neck popping in rhythm with his thrumming heartbeat. He’s sweating extensively, and while that’s not uncommon for him, there’s not that macabre jolly smile plastered across his face. He’s baring his teeth and snapping at you like a feral hound, swearing to end your miserable life in a manner that would make the ghosts of his past shudder in horror for you.

You don’t put it past him to snap these ropes any second and wrap his hands so tightly around your neck that your eyes pop like overinflated balloons. Even if the cops show up and try to escort you to safety, there’s an unspoken darkness in his glare, something that promises pain in your future even if they manage to subdue him. A promise that you can’t guarantee yourself that he can’t keep.

It strikes you that you know nothing about this man.

Surely someone out there knows about this. Someone knows about him and his little hobby. Monsters run in packs and even if you can’t see them, you know they must be there. Best case scenario, they can’t have him spilling their secrets so they find a way to end his life before the police can. Worst case scenario? Worst case, they come for you.

You’ve seen enough Hollywood horror movies to know just how wrong it can go if justice is left to the authorities. You haven’t seen much of it, but this looks like a pretty nice house. If he has money, he can just buy his way out. Who is to say that he doesn’t already have a deal with the cops? Kidnapping people is risky business, especially when folks begin to notice that you’re gone. Surely he has some safety net?

What if he’s part of a network of psychopaths? There’s been enough late-night conspiracy youtube binges in your existence to know that shit like that is perfectly plausible. What if he’s just one of many? What if they have the pull to see him set free even after you’ve gone through the proper avenues to get him locked away? What if, one night, when you think he’s rotting in a 6 x 6 cement cell miles away from you, you wake up back here in this basement with even more Strades with different names and faces but each one shares the desire to see you ripped apart at the seams and devoured?

No. HELL no. You’re not going to be the cliche victim. He can bark and screech at you until his throat is sore and his gums bleed, but the plain and simple fact of the matter is that you have this monster on a leash, and you’re not about to hand that leash over to someone else.

How many people has he killed? How many have met their end in this godless basement? How many unsuspecting people has he dragged here only to take them apart piece by piece until their eyes glaze and their final breath moistens his cheek as he watches the light in their eyes extinguish? Do you even want to know? Would it make you feel better or worse to know that, at least for now, you’ve narrowly escaped such a fate?

You have to know.

His screaming turns fearful as you ascend the stairs. Again, not for fear of being caught, but because he already has been. It’s so odd to hear the phrase “Don’t leave me here!” from his quivering chest when he’s apparently in the place he values most, and there’s a sick sense of catharsis that settles in your gut as you listen to him begin to whimper and whine. You don’t let yourself dwell on it but you do slam the door behind you loudly enough that he will be forced to acknowledge that his pathetic pleas mean nothing to you.

His house is painfully average, at least for someone like him. He’s even got portraits up with what must be friends or family or someone that cares enough to pose for a cheesy photo with him. If you didn’t know better, you’d say an upstanding, if a little tacky, upper-middle class man lives here. The furniture is unremarkable and well cared for but lived in enough to not raise suspicion. His kitchen is filled with expensive appliances that might as well be fresh out of the box. His fridge, as expected, is filled with beer and various quick meals. Not much of a cook, you guess.

The car sitting in the garage costs in the six digit range and looks like it’s the most beloved thing in the entire area. It reeks of Armor All and disinfectant, and you’re willing to bet that if he was so inclined, he could put it on a showroom floor right now. He’s got tools and cables of all sorts thrown about, but not the kind you’ve gotten so used to. Maybe he actually does use them for their intended purpose sometimes.

As you walk the length of his home, you notice a distinct lack of screaming. You can’t hear anything, not even a peep from the basement, and you are very certain he’s crying up a storm down there. Interesting. He’s go this place sound proofed. You’re not sure what you’d expected, but it’s good information to have regardless.

After you’ve sated your curiosity by observing the dragon’s den, you make your way to the upper level. He’s probably not foolish enough to leave any sort of evidence behind where friends and neighbors can see it, so whatever it is you’re looking for is going to be somewhere a little bit more personal. Perhaps like a bedroom?

Bingo.

His bedroom, much like the rest of his house, looks about what you’d expect. King sized bed, wooden dresser with a TV and player on top, and a desk beneath the window. Sliding closet doors with all manner of free range dad apparel inside, and honestly, it’s the closest you’ve been to laughing since you got here. He would wear cargo shorts and plaid, wouldn’t he? A scrounge through the drawers of his dresser and closet reveal nothing remarkable, but you’re willing to bet your injured thigh that there’s something special in the desk.

Just like you’d expect, the desk is locked, but you’d noticed a pair of keys sitting willy-nilly out in the living room and you’d picked them up. About 7 key changes later and the desk pops open for you like a cheap whore. He really isn’t too bright, is he? Or maybe he just wasn’t expecting this to ever be a problem. Either way, you’re grateful he’s a moron.

Inside the drawer seems to be loads of DVDs, unmarked except for dates. It feels like you’re the unprepared cop in a serial killer movie as you look down at them. You don’t need to watch them to know what they are, but you’re going to anyway. You have to know. You need to know just who you’re dealing with here.

You pick one at random and pop it into the DVD player and the scene that greets you seems all too familiar. A hunched figure, bloodied and tied to the pole you’d become so intimate with over the last week. This person was in much worse shape than you, however. You could see shadows moving off screen and the camera fuzzes and refocuses repeatedly as what you assume is Strade messes with the controls. Not long after, he emerges, practically skipping into frame. Even though most of his face is concealed behind a hideous bandana, you can tell he’s smiling. It reaches his eyes.

He says what appears to be a rehearsed greeting and you’re left wondering just how crazy is he? Is he talking to his future self? You can see him making these videos to relive his sick, sadistic fantasies but talking to himself like an absolute lunatic is just a little disconcerting. However, you also acknowledge that the only reason you’ve even thinking about this is to distract yourself from the fact that you’re watching a homemade snuff film that you almost starred in yourself.

And then he begins.

Despite the visceral horror on display before you, the urge to vomit never comes. You watch, blank faced, as this poor soul is faced with every horror a human mind can conceive. It goes on for long. Too long. And Strade never stops talking.

The realization sets in that’s because he’s not the only one watching.

He’s not talking to himself. He’s responding. This wasn’t for him. This was for them.

If you had any emotional energy to give, surely you’d be absolutely horrified, but you don’t and you can’t. You’re not even surprised. Someone like Strade, that bubbly personality and 1,000 watt smile, of course he’d find a way to utilize his talents. He’d found a market. He had a hobby and he made money from it. ‘Love your job and you’ll never work a day in your life.’ and you are just so willing to bet he loves his fucking job.

You let the video keep playing as you sit up from his bed and leave the room. You make your way down the stairs, back to the living room, and then back to the basement door. You open it and immediately are bombarded with the sounds of his screaming and hateful vitriol. It doesn’t phase you. You’re not sure anything will ever again.

Calmly, you walk into the room and stare at him. He doesn’t cease his incessant threats until he realizes you’re waiting for him to finish so that you can speak. He finally silences himself, though he continues to rip and tear at the ropes holding him hostage as you tell him you found his little home video collection.

“Let me out.” He demands, and you realize he doesn’t quite understand that he’s not the one in control anymore. Of course a dog without a tangible leash will continue to run wild. You needed to drive the point home.

You turn your back to him and begin to ruffle through his various cabinets, searching around the nooks and crannies for something that will help him understand just what position he’s found himself in. You make a very interesting discovery next to his med kit. A collar. A literal collar.

Poetic justice.

It’s thick and burdensome and more than a little hideous. It’s definitely homemade, because not even the most fucked of BDSM sites are going to offer something like this. It’s accompanied by a small remote with a large red button and not much else. You push the button and yelp in pain, the collar clattering to the floor as it slips from your fingers. It shocked you. It was so very painful, but you’re smiling.

You retrieve it from where it fell and pop it open, observing it curiously. Strade watches you through wide eyes and sniveling, trembling lips. The look on his face is a dead giveaway that you’ve found something you really shouldn’t have. The toothy grin you flash him shows him that you understand that.

Without a word, you approach him, holding the open collar in your sweating palm. His struggles begin anew and before long he’s practically yanking his arms out at the sockets trying to get away from you and your newfound toy. He’s throwing his weight around and doing whatever he can with his limited movements to make damn sure you can’t get that terrible thing around his neck, but it’s all in vain because energy is finite and he’s been expending a lot of it over the last hour.

He’s breathing heavy and you could swear he’s begging between heaves as you clap the collar around his thick neck. His flesh bulges from the side and you’re fairly certain it was made for someone much less burly than himself in mind. You get the odd urge to adjust it on him like a necklace but he’s still dangerous, even caged. You feel weirdly... proud.

“Stop-! you don’t know what you’re doing!” He hiccups, and as he pulls his head upward, you can see he is indeed crying. “Please! Don’t!”

You’ve never thought of yourself as particularly sadistic, at least in that sense, but some ghostly force pushes your thumb down on that big red button. Watching his eyes go wide and his body convulse and seize fills you with a sense of sheer euphoria that can’t properly be conveyed. The utterly satisfying clang of his head hitting the pole at mach 5 as he shakes and bumbles almost humorously while the collar sends x amount of volts through his body makes you giggle.

When you finally pull your thumb off the button, he’s still shaking from the residual shock, drool and mucus bubbling from his mouth and nose and sloping down onto his chin. He looks defeated; utterly pathetic. Is this how you looked to him all those times he stood over you grinning as he gifted you pain the likes of which had been unthinkable to you before you met him? The desire to push down again is overwhelming but you’re determined for him to understand there’s a point to this misery.

There’s a thousand thoughts going through your mind right now faster than you can comprehend them all, but they all have the same general principal. This man is a murderer. This man is a rapist. This man is contained. This man is afraid. This man is at your mercy.

And unfortunately for him, you just ran out.

‘How many’ you ask, despite already knowing. If the videos upstairs are any indication, there’s more than he can probably count. More names and faces than he can practically remember and they’re dead because of him. He looks up at you through wet lashes with a trembling lip, already caught on to the fact that there is no correct answer. Your thumb hovers over that seductive red button and he’s quick to spit out whatever he can regardless.

“I don’t know! I don’t!”

You don’t doubt that he’s being honest, but it sickens you none he less. You press that button for half a second and he jolts up off the floor as much as his restraints will allow. When he comes to, his eyes can barely focus in on you and when his slumps over, you can see the burns from the collar already settling in on his tan skin. You’re not sure how to turn down the voltage or how lethal it is, but you don’t really care at the moment. If he dies, he dies. You’ll deal with the complications of that later.

You could sit here all day and grill him, literally and figuratively, about his track record of atrocities, but it won’t bring you any peace. You’re not sure that peace is something that you’ll ever feel again, all things considered. Meeting the monsters that dwell in the dark is drastically different than simply acknowledging that they exist, and through some twist of fate, you’ve been given the opportunity to show this particular monster that he’s no longer at the top of the food chain. There’s so much you could do, so many things you want to do, and it’s at that moment you realize you’ve spent too long staring into the abyss to try and claw your way out.

You’re being offered the chance they never were. You’re holding the controls now. He’s already crying and you’ve barely touched him, barely done anything besides shock him a little. You remember that feeling well. If you recall, you were already crying before he put that knife to your thigh on your first day with him.

Truth is, you decided the second he fell unconscious what you were going to do.

Maybe a revenge like this isn’t yours to take, but you’re taking it regardless. For yourself, and for every sorry sap that’s met their end in his cement hellhole. They died for you to have this opportunity, and you’d like to think that maybe they’re there with you in this moment. Even if you never knew them, you feel a strange kinship with them. After all, it was almost you.

He continues to babble underneath his breath, various pleas for mercy or sympathy or any form of compassion you can muster from your still aching body, and though you desperately wish you did, you can’t find any. You’re certain when you look in the mirror next, it won’t be your own eyes looking back at you anymore, but something closer to his. Maybe you did die in this basement, because whoever you were before you met him is long gone and has been replaced with something so much more empty.

You explain to him, as gently as you can, that it’s your turn now, and his resistance will only make this harder. You don’t delight in seeing him in pain (whether or not that’s a lie has yet to be determined) but it’s a necessary evil for all he’s done. You don’t believe his life is yours to take, but you’d be as terrible as him if you let him loose on the world again. You can’t trust anyone but yourself, and since this situation is so delicate, you need a bit more time to think on it.

He doesn’t seem to understand, at least until you’re binding his legs and securing his head snuggly to the pole. Maybe it’s overkill considering the man looks like he belongs in a shibari magazine right now, but there’s no precautions you can’t take. You can’t have him escaping. It’s far too soon, and you have such wonderful things planned.

Were you a kinder soul, maybe you would put him to sleep because it’s so apparent he’s terrified. Being bound like this has really brought out his inner little bitch, and the way he’s looking, he’s going to piss himself. But its a price it’s only fair that he pay, all things considered. You don’t know what time it is or even where you are, but you know you’ll return to him when you’ve been rejuvenated, eager and ready to begin on him. You’re only a few steps toward the door when he begins shouting, words barely discernible between his emphatic weeping and sobbing hiccups.

“D-don’t leave me here in the dark! Let me go, let me out! You can’t! You can’t leave me here like this!” You grin softly, turning slowly to face him, and tell him that you can and you will. You ask what he’s so afraid of, but you don’t wait to hear the answer as you step through the frame and shut the door behind you, leaving him to rot in his personal dungeon. It’s only been an hour and he’s already so pliable. You wonder what you can make him do when you really make it hurt. Psychology says it takes 7 years to brainwash someone and coerce them into absolute compliance, but you’re willing to bet you can have it done in a few months.

You already know one of his fears, and are very clearly not ashamed to exploit it. How many else does he have, you might wonder, already planning tomorrow’s festivities. Maybe you were sicker in the head than you thought. Maybe Strade just brought out the worst in you, stripped away all that made you human and left you with raw hurt and despair.

It’s tempting. To give in. To sit and massage your aching body while listening to his screams as they echo through the soundproofed basement. But you’re tired, and you haven’t slept in a bed in over a week. His looked awfully nice. Maybe after that, you’d wash the dried blood from your battered body, order some food, and appreciate the niceties that civilized life had to offer. Niceties you took for granted.

After that? Well, after that you had a new pet to train.

#snaspants #Strade #BTD #NSFT #tw torture mention #im mean just mean lmao #IM LOVE YOU GIRL!!

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musette22 · 4 years

Note

As it's Chris' birthday today, what's your Evanstan headcon for how they are spending it? We don't know if Chris is still in LA (as far as I know), do you think he might be back in Boston to be with his family? That would mean Seb could easily visit him now that the lockdown in NYC is over. Or would he fly to LA to celebrate with his bf? (He hasn't been seen in NYC in the last couple of days either, right?) Or will the only hang out virtually? I would love to know what you are imagining 😊

Hello darling!! So yesterday, I said I probably wasn’t going to write any Evanstan for a while, but then I woke up this morning and had a lovely little Evanstan headcanon fantasy about Chris’s birthday - as you do - and then I thought screw it, let’s write this thing. So here’s a little drabble (well, it should’ve been a drabble) about how Chris might have spent his birthday 😘

A/N: This is just a nonsensical little fantasy scenario that doesn’t actually make any sense, but the idea made me happy, so I hope it’ll make you guys happy too! Don’t look too closely, please, there’s some overlap with previous fics and this was all written very quickly and hasn’t been edited properly because it’s late where I am and I need to sleep lmao 🙈 Sorry about that!

Happy birthday, Mr. America

*********

Chris likes surprises, generally speaking.

Not the nasty kind, like when a part unexpectedly falls through, or someone gets angry at him out of the blue and he doesn’t know what he’s done wrong. But he likes it when exciting things happen and shake things up a bit, like when he’s having a lazy day alone at home, and a friend suddenly shows up on his doorstep to tell him, change of plans, we’re going bungee jumping. When that happens, Chris will happily drop whatever he’s doing and jump in the car, because that’s the kind of thing that makes him feel alive.

So when he arrives at the Evans’ family house today, on his birthday, and is greeted by a chorus of Surprise! and Happy Birthdays from a bunch of people he hasn’t seen ages - literal years, in some cases - Chris is delighted and touched; excited to see familiar faces and catch up with his friends and family.

That excited feeling lasts for a solid few hours, until his Aunt Melanie corners him and starts telling Chris about her Pilates instructor. This isn’t the first time she’s tried to set Chris up with whichever wonderful girl she’s most recently met and feels would be perfect for Chris, but this time she’s really hammering on about how she just can’t understand why a good-looking, successful young man like him hasn��t found a wife yet. She no doubt means well, but that doesn’t mean Chris is about to go on a blind date with her Pilates instructor.

When he’s finally managed to excuse himself under the pretense of needing a bathroom break, he sneaks off to the back of the house, to his dad’s old study. As soon as the door closes behind him, he lets out a sigh of relief and leans back against it for a moment, catching his breath. He loves his family to bits, but there’s no denying they’re a lot. There’s a sofa in the study, a wide, navy blue one, and Chris lies down on it, stretching himself to his full length. He closes his eyes, hoping to nap for a couple of minutes, but no dice. His aunt’s comments play in his head on a loop, causing something uneasy to stir in his stomach.

The thing is, she’s right. He should already be married and have a couple of cute kids to dote on. He’s wanted to have a family and settle down for a long time, ever since he got done with sowing his wild oats and calmed down a little. He’s the long-term relationship kind, and there had been a few girlfriends with whom he thought he definitely could see a future.

That had been Before, though. Before Sebastian Stan had waltzed into his life and upended everything Chris thought he knew for certain, complicating everything in the best and worst possible way. After the initial shock of developing feelings for another guy wore off, Chris had simply accepted his infatuation as a fact of life, and it had become something he carried with him always, but never acted on or even spoke of. He wouldn’t know where to start. It was clear there was something between them, though. The way Sebastian looked at him sometimes… It had to mean something. For the longest time, they’d danced around each other, always just shy of outright flirting, and there had been a few times when Chris really thought something might finally happen between them. But it never did.

And now it never would. They’ve hardly even seen each other, over the past year, after they stopped working together. Sure, they kept in touch from time to time, but there is only so much keeping in touch two work friends can plausibly do before it gets weird or necessarily has to turn into something else. And Chris thought he’d accepted that, more or less.

But then last week, he and Scott had gotten drunk together – like really, stupidly drunk. At around 3 in the morning, Scott had put on The First Avenger so he could make fun of Chris in his skin tight leggings, and then suddenly Sebastian’s face had been right there on his TV screen: larger than life, young and handsome like he’d been when Chris first felt that tug in his gut when he’d looked at him.

And Chris, whose brain-to-mouth filter unfortunately ceases to exist entirely whenever he’s had too much to drink, had just blurted out, “I think I’m in love with him.”

Initially, Scott had thought Chris meant that Steve was in love with Bucky.

“Well, clearly,” he’d slurred. “They’re soooo gay, oh my god.”

And instead of using the misunderstanding to cover up for his unfortunate drunken slip-up, Chris had slowly shook his head and corrected, “No, with Sebastian. ‘M in love with Sebastian. Have been for a long time, I think.”

He’d passed out not long after, possibly his subconscious’ way of trying to protect himself against the barrage of questions from Scott that Chris had been in no state to answer in that moment. Inevitably, Scott had tried to talk to him about it the next day, but Chris – hungover, embarrassed and annoyed with himself for opening his big mouth and spilling this secret that he’d managed to keep for close to a decade – had told Scott to leave it and that he didn’t want to talk about it. Nothing was ever going to come of this now anyway, so it was much better if they could all just forget it ever happened.

Scott and he had gone to dinner at their mom’s that night, and of course, Lisa had instantly sensed something was off. Unfortunately, Chris never did stand a chance in hell against his mother, so when she took him to aside after dinner and outright asked him what was wrong, he’d had no choice but to spill the beans. Besides, if he didn’t, Scott would probably have found a way to guilt him into telling Lisa, eventually - they’d always shared everything with her, after all.

Lisa had been so loving and understanding, just like Chris knew she would, and despite the aching in his chest, he was grateful and a little bit relieved to know he wasn’t keeping something this significant from her any longer. But in the end, it didn’t change anything. Of course, Lisa had asked him why he didn’t just go for it, told him to just go for it, call Sebastian and ask him out for dinner, but Chris had dismissed all her suggestions. It just wasn’t going to happen. Certainly not now, not anymore.

She’d dropped it, eventually, but Chris is under no illusions that he’s heard the last of it.

Since then, he’d tried to put the whole fiasco out of his mind, but then Aunt Melanie started badgering him about his marital status and it had all come rushing back again.

Just when Chris about to give up on trying to nap and head outside to get some fresh air instead, there’s a knock at the door.

Chris sighs, rubbing his eyes. “Come in,” he calls, not bothering to get up because it’s probably his mom coming to check on him. “Hey, mom,” he says, when Lisa’s head does appear around the door.

“Hi, sweetheart,” she replies, smiling. She opens the door a little wider. “There’s someone here to see you.”

“Oh?” Chris says, sitting up a little straighter for whatever friend or family member his mom wants him to meet so urgently, but then Lisa steps aside to reveal –

Sebastian.

Sebastian is here. In his mom’s house. Standing right there, looking a little apprehensive and unsure, but still so fucking gorgeous it makes Chris’s heart stop for a moment inside his chest, before it starts up again at double speed.

“Hey, Chris,” Sebastian says, and it’s his voice, he’s really here, in Chris’s dad’s old study, speaking actual words at him.

What the fuck.

Chris gets to his feet so fast he feels a bit lightheaded, lightly swaying on his feet before he manages to get some semblance of a reply. "Hi. What- Sebastian. What are you doing here?"

Sebastian’s eyes flicker to Lisa for a moment, looking at her a little uncertainly. She gives him an encouraging nod.

“Um,” Sebastian starts, turning his eyes back to Chris again. “Lisa, your mom, invited me to your surprise birthday party.” He licks his lips nervously. “So, yeah, happy birthday. And, um. Surprise.” The last word is accompanied by a dorky little wave, and Chris is just. Speechless.

Literally, can’t form any words speechless, which is highly unusual for him. When he just keeps standing there, staring a Sebastian like he’s some kind of fata morgana, Lisa rolls her eyes and nudges Sebastian with her elbow.

“Well, go on, then,” she prompts, nodding in Chris’s direction. “He won’t bite.” Then, the look in her eyes turns mischievous, and Chris has half a second to think oh no, before she adds, “Unless you like that sort of thing, of course, but then he'd ask first. I raised him well.”

Sebastian makes a strangled sound, but starts towards him nonetheless, and before he really knows what’s happening, Chris is holding Sebastian in his arms. Holding him in his arms and burying his face in the crook of his neck and breathing him in. Sebastian’s arms go around him, too, a little tentative at first, but growing tighter, more secure, the longer the hug lasts.

And it lasts, much longer than a casual happy birthday hug between friends is supposed to last, but Chris can’t for the life of him bring himself to let go. He knows he’s clinging, that he’s got his nose pressed to the spot below Sebastian’s ear and that’s probably far too intimate, but Sebastian’s arms around are wound tightly around Chris’s waist and his cheek is presses to the side of Chris’s face, and he’s not letting go either.

Finally, after what feels simultaneously like forever and the blink of an eye, Sebastian inhales shakily, his chest expanding against Chris’s. With Herculean effort, Chris makes himself pull away. But, of course, that brings with it the complication of being able to see Sebastian’s face, flustered and glowing, eyes shining with something unnameable. They’re so close then, their faces only an inch or so apart, and when Sebastian’s eyes flicker down to Chris’s mouth for a split second, Chris’s restraint breaks.

He lunges forward, and Sebastian does the same, and their mouths crash together awkwardly and suddenly, they’re kissing. Really, actually kissing.

Chris’s hands fly to Sebastian’s face, holding it like it’s something precious, causing Sebastian to make a small, desperate sound that reverberates throughout Chris’s entire body. When he licks at the seam of Sebastian’s lips, Sebastian parts them immediately, letting him in, and Chris is drowning. Drowning in the kiss, in Sebastian’s taste, his smell, the little sighs he’s making against Chris’s lips, like he’s just as overwhelmed and stupefied and happy as Chris is, while they cling to each other like they’re each scared the other’s going to disappear if they dare to let up for just one second.

Eventually, though, they have to break apart for air. Chris presses their foreheads together, unwilling to put any more distance between them than is strictly necessary, still breathing the same air. When Chris eventually opens his eyes, he finds Sebastian looking back at him in a way that makes his knees feel suddenly weak.

"Hi," Seb says, voice low and husky.

"Hey," Chris replies, his hands on either side of Sebastian’s face, thumbs idly caressing his cheekbones.

Sebastian giggles, a light, happy sound that makes his nose do that scrunchy thing it does, and Chris wants to die. He groans, pulling Sebastian back in by the back of his neck –

And then Lisa clears her throat. Sebastian startles; he’d evidently forgotten she was still there, or maybe assumed she’d have left to give them their privacy, but that just goes to show Sebastian doesn’t know Lisa very well – yet.

"Well,” Lisa says, a grin in her voice. “I'll leave you two to it then, let me know if you need anything.” She pauses, before cheekily adding, “Anything at all."

“Yes, thank you, mom,” Chris says quickly, keen to spare Sebastian any further embarrassment. Sebastian’s hiding his face in Chris’s chest as it is, arms still wound around his waist, and Chris is literally about to pass out from how fucking cute that is.

Holding up a placating hand, Lisa finally retreats, closing the door behind her.

Once they’re alone, Chris steers Sebastian towards the couch, sitting down and pulling him into his lap. Sebastian lets himself be guided, straddling Chris’s thighs and giving him a coy look through his eyelashes. Chris blows out a slow breath to center himself a little, bringing up his hands to settle on Sebastian’s waist.

He knows they’ll need to talk about this at some point, but right now he can’t think of a single way to express what he’s feeling, and what this means to him. Right now, all he can do is stare at Sebastian in wonder, relishing finally getting to look at him the way he’s always wanted to: unabashedly, fondly, and very appreciative of exactly how tempting Sebastian’s lips look – especially after having been thoroughly kissed. By him.

“Fuck,” Chris breathes, overwhelmed, leaning in again to catch those pretty pink lips in another kiss.

Sebastian responds beautifully, opening up right away, melting into him. His arms wind around Chris’s shoulders, fingers scratching gently through the hair on the back of Chris’s head, making him shiver.

It’s sweet, at first; lips sliding together lazily, slow and lush, but eventually, the kisses turn a little dirtier, with nipping teeth and teasing tongues. When Sebastian bites Chris’s bottom lip a bit too hard, pulling on it, Chris literally goes cross-eyed for a second. The hand that found its way into Sebastian’s hair tightens instinctively, pulling his head back just a little.

“Oh,” Sebastian breathes, eyelids fluttering, and Chris instantly feels all his blood rushing south.

He can’t believe it. He can’t believe he has Sebastian here, in his lap, looking like innocence and sin wrapped into one, looking at him through heavy lidded eyes like it’s Chris who’s something to be desired. And Chris wants. He wants so bad, with every fiber of his being, to have Sebastian right there and then, but he has just enough presence of mind left to know that they can’t rush this, can’t make any rash decisions they might later regret if they don’t talk about what’s happening first.

Words still seem impossible, however, so instead, Chris takes one of Sebastian’s hands in his and presses a kiss to the center his palm, hoping to convey with that one gesture everything he wants to say but can’t.

When he looks back up, Sebastian blinks at him, his eyes wide and stunned, before he suddenly grabs Chris’s face between his hands and starts planting breathless kisses on his cheeks, his eyelids, his forehead, and even his nose. Chris lets himself be kissed, basks in it, feeling like his heart might burst, and when Sebastian finally presses his lips to his mouth, Chris seizes the opportunity to deepen the kiss. Despite Chris’s best intentions, it turns heated again in no time. Without his permission, his hands slide under Sebastian’s shirt, stroking the smooth, warm skin of his back, while Sebastian mouths at Chris’s jaw, then trails a path of kisses down the column of his neck.

“Seb,” Chris groans, hands tightening convulsively on Sebastian’s waist. “Sebastian, wait.”

“Yeah, yeah, sorry,” Sebastian pants, lifting his head to look down at him. He’s disheveled, his hair a mess, pupils blown, his lips red and a little raw from mouthing at Chris’s beard. He looks stunning.

“Jesus, you’re beautiful,” Chris says honestly, touching Sebastian’s left cheek.

Sebastian ducks his head turning his face into Chris’s palm, but he’s smiling, which makes Chris smile, too, then they’re just smiling at each other like a couple of dorks.

Chris shifts their positions to get more comfortable, tugging at Sebastian until they’re both lying on the couch on their sides, face to face. Pulling him closer, into his chest, Chris swings a leg over both of Sebastian’s, and Sebastian takes the hint immediately, snuggling into Chris and tucking his head under his chin so they’re full on cuddling.

“Best fucking birthday present ever,” Chris mutters into Sebastian’s hair, his hand tracing idle patters on Sebastian’s upper arm. In reply, Sebastian presses a kiss to Chris’s chest, over his heart.

Somehow, they snooze for a little while, just drifting in and out of consciousness, neither of them seeming to want to untangle themselves from the other, until after an indeterminate amount of time, there’s a soft knock at the door.

Chris hums questioningly in reply, not wanting to wake Sebastian, and the door opens cautiously. Lisa pokes her head in again, and the moment she sees them, all wrapped around each other like that, she covers her mouth with her hands, cooing softly.

“Happy Birthday, baby,” she whispers, her eyes shining with affection and pride.

“Thanks, mom,” Chris whispers back, blinking back tears. “Love you.”

From where he’s half asleep on Chris’s chest, Sebastian murmurs, “Love you, too.”

#evanstan #rpf #my fic #or something like it #don't know what this is #happy birthday chris #Anonymous #the keep reading tag is ducked #sorry about that guys #:((

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badassllamaclan · 4 years

Text

Welcome to the world where I’m stuck at work and heavily debating watching Wizards on my phone!!!

ANYWAY!

I was checking out episode descriptions and thumbnails, cause I’m straight up trash and I was checking to see if any of them mention Strickler! There was not...

BUT

I did notice one of the episode descriptions

(there’s no actual spoilers in this post)

Let me preface this with the fact that I literally took time travel and paradox theory as a science credit!

So anyway, I haven’t watched any of the episodes yet, so I’m not entirely sure of what the timeline is as far as how far in the past they are. Because if we are pre-Morgana changeling era, then if they actually stop Morgana from going all out, then the changelings won’t exist. Meaning, Strickler won’t exist. More so, Jim wouldn’t become the Trollhunter, because Merlin wouldn’t have made the amulet either.

Based on Inconsistent Casual Loop theory, anything the gang does that could change the future could make it so that Jim never became the Trollhunter. Then the gang wouldn’t be involved and never would have ended up in the past in the first place, and never would have made the changes to the past. Worst case scenario, they all delete themselves from existence entirely.

Based on Retrocasuality theory, none of that matters. Meaning that every event that occurs while the gang is in the past is the reason why Morgana ends up against Merlin, why the amulet gets made, and why the changelings exist. Which means that no matter what Claire and Douxie do they can’t change the outcome because it was always going to happen the same way.

But then if we get into parallel universe theories, any changes they manage to make in the past creates branches from that point in time. So if they try to go back to the present they will end up in the alternate timeline where, the amulet and the changelings never exist. Ignoring the full extent of butterfly effect theory, more or less, Strickler never would have existed and Jim would have never talked to Claire. Without Trollhunting taking up Jim’s time, he won’t fall behind in his classes. Instead Jim would be worried about his future and the idea of leaving his mom and her having no one.

Hypothetically the only way they could end up back in the original timeline, would have to be Merlin in that timeline bringing them back. Meaning everything they’ve done hasn’t affected the timeline and just created a parallel branch that they’ll never have the ability to access.

Personally I would be hoping for a scenario where the timeline self-corrects to avoid any paradoxes. Meaning if, for example, Strickler was present in that period of time, when the gang comes back to the present, Strickler is suddenly remembering seeing Jim and the others in Arthurian era. Aka..

JAMES LAKE JR! WHY WERE YOU IN ARTHURIAN ENGLAND?!?!?

#trollhunters #tales of arcadia #3below #3 below #wizards #walter strickler #blinkous galadrigal #blinky #arrrgh #barbara lake #james lake jr #jim lake #claire nuñez #toby domzalski #trollhunters merlin #trollhunters morgana

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hayleysstark · 3 years

Text

a comprehensive list of everything i flat-out forgot and/or straight-up didn’t process about Trollhunters because the first time i watched it, i binged it in a weekend while i was high out of my damn mind and now i’m finally rewatching it and losing my shit

“my friends call me Walt.” “what do your enemies call you?”

Vendel’s entire existence

“HE REWROTE SHAKESPEARE”

“put your hand in the Soothscryer.” “um, I’m going to get it back, right?”

Coach Lawrence deadass has a coffee cup that says “#1 Butt Snack” on it

Blinky just eats whipped cream directly out of the can. this man fears no god.

ARTHUR-SAN

“where IS that contact lens???”

apparently there was an undead assassin named Angor Rot and the entire fandom collectively thought he was very sexy????

no no i canNOT stress this enough. the man is literally a pile of bones. he looks like a deformed ram. he wears nothing but a loincloth. and y’all were STILL horny for this man???

literally i went into the AO3 tag and there was just wall-to-wall Angor/Gunmar smut??? sometimes the occasional, slightly classier Angor/Strickler or Angor/Morgana but iT WAS ALL ANGOR ROT SMUT

in conclusion: y’all need jesus

remember that episode when the amulet starts randomly producing clones of Jim and they’re all different aspects of his personality and they’re all in color-coded jackets??? because i sure didn’t

to atone for this, here are some true highlights, in no particular order:

when NotEnrique sees all the Jim clones fighting in Claire’s bedroom and says, out loud, “I’m not dealing with this” and just fucks off out the window again

“THAT MOVE’S NOT LEGAL!”

“[through tears] they overcharged you on your cable bill??”

“YO YO YO HOLLA!”

“what crime have i committed but from yearnings of the heart?” “unsanctioned use of troll magic, hindering a Trollhunter in his duties, and altogether wussiness”

okay okay i’m done i’m normal again

“girls don’t pee! they conspire!!”

when the undead assassin named Angor Rot coats his knife in poison and then licks the blade. that’s really not a good habit to get into, buddy

“if EVERYONE believes it, then it MUST be a conspiracy!!!”

everybody calls Morgana “eldritch queen” which is hands-down the funniest fucking name i have ever heard in my entire life, i would literally be so flattered if someone said that to me??? call me an eldritch queen. tell me i’m the most eldritch queen you’ve ever seen

Gunmar’s voice is really just Like That huh

Blinky was a human for a little while???

when all the teachers accidentally drink the Changeling dust coffee and Jim calls Strickler in a panic and asks what to do only he lies and says it’s Toby’s cat that got into the dust and so Strickler tells him “just put the cat down” and Jim is like “wELL WE CAN’T DO THAT--”

and then Strickler comes into the school and sees Ms. Janeth eating out of the garbage and he’s not even angry with Jim he’s just like mildly disappointed. you can literally hear him thinking “wow i am really hedging my bets that this idiot is going to defeat Gunmar okay wow”

when Jim and Toby get arrested for breaking into the museum and there’s that montage of all their mugshots and Toby is just having the time of his short teenage life and then it flashes to Jim, who just looks miserable and humiliated

Gnome Chompsky asking the plastic doll to marry him (you know what??? i ship it)

“i told you, i don’t care about my dad!” “you do now”

when Jim gets shrunken down to like two inches tall to go after that gnome but then it doesn’t wear off so he spends the night at Toby’s house and when he falls asleep, Toby really just deadass puts him in the dollhouse

Senor Uhl

Toby’s weird obsession with the mole???

“birthing day”

“wait, you ate cat food????” “and i LIKED it!!”

when Toby gets arrested and shoved into the cop car but when the officer steps out for one (1) second, Toby jumps into the front seat and drives off with the car and then he calls Jim in a panic and screams “I’M IN A HIGH-SPEED CHASE” but when it zooms out he’s literally just going like 2 mph

that whole episode where Barbara says she’ll be at the hospital all weekend so Jim, Strickler, and Draal decide to set all those traps for Angor Rot but then Barbara comes back early and pepper sprays Jim and Draal

when Steve and Eli have to raise that sack of flour together

when all the kids are stuck in Saturday detention together and that girl with the glasses (Shannon??) talks about how they should all be kinder to each other and Claire goes “what are you in for, anyway” and the girl says “embezzlement”

when Toby pretends to be Vendel to steal the Heartstone staff and even though he fucks up spectacularly, he still gets away with it

“keep it ✨ crispy ✨”

when Blinky’s human and he comes to the school and overhears all the kids calling Jim a wuss. and he AGREES with them

when Claire gets possessed by Morgana in the middle of her double date with Jim and Toby and Darci and she is literally trying to murder Jim with a steak knife but Toby insists it’s just because she’s totally into Jim. and Jim believes him.

when they’re searching for Merlin’s tomb, and Jim and Draal are being chased by Gunmar, the Gumm-Gumm king, and Angor Rot, the deadliest assassin known to trollkind, and they are in a cave that is collapsing around them, and Jim and Draal deadass look at each other and go “race you”. chaotic stupid.

“hey, guys, i taught myself bass guitar in the band room. this one goes out to my Juliet--”

Blinky is really just out here hating Merlin for no reason and Merlin is really just out here not even giving a fuck. iconic.

“our Trollhunter is fearless, gallant, courageous--” “BLINKY THERE’S THIS CRAZY TROLL TRYING TO KILL ME AND I’M TERRIFIED”

in conclusion i’m sorry that i wasted my first watch of Trollhunters on post-op prescription painkillers

but i still don’t understand why everybody wants to fuck Angor Rot. y’all please read a Bible.

#trollhunters #i heard they were coming out with a movie soon and i didn't remember anything abt Trollhunters so i decided to watch it again

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uwukechi · 4 years

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shuake and/or pegoryu for the ship thing uwuwu

001: Shuake/Akeshu

when I started shipping it if I did:

Honestly? Right from the get-go. I saw Goro at the TV station and when he opposed the Phantom Thieves but immediately took an interest in Akiren, and Akiren reciprocated that interest and there was no outward negativity expressed (by either Akiren or Morgana) towards their relationship, it was basically greenlit in my head. This was back in vanilla -- but the rest of the game, AND Royal, definitely just made it go stronger. The main reason was the fact that they could intellectually stimulate and interest the other with no ill will or malice, and that they both seemed to enjoy it.

my thoughts:

First of all, there’s the entire rivalry thing which I LOVE.

The whole concept of healthy rivalries always appeal in a relationship dynamic to me, because 1) they don’t “bore” each other due to the fact that there’s always going to be something keeping their interest up in a competitive way, 2) there’s no power imbalance due to the fact that the basis of any rivalry is that they are equals, and 3) both people in the relationship will always be striving to become better not for the other person, but because of the other person. Look at it this way:

There’s “I want to be the best version of myself to make you happy,” which is pretty much any other relationship dynamic that enforces self-betterment.

THEN, there’s rivalmance, which is, “I want to be the best version of myself because you motivate me to want to become a better person for myself,” which just honestly strikes a chord with me, mainly because it means that the relationship isn’t about pandering to one another, but about two people who can go up head-to-head, bare their souls and give each other everything they’ve got, and still come out stronger and happier than when they went in.

It’s exactly this in shuake that appeals to me so much -- that, of course, and the fact that they genuinely care about the other for who the other is, and not for anyone else. It’s especially blatant when you think about the fact that they both mirror each other in so many ways -- they both put on so many masks for the public and everyone around them; they’re both wildcards; they’re designed to mirror the other -- anyway, that list goes on for days.

The fact of the matter is that they can honestly, truly understand each other. There’s a saying -- “it is when dressed for a masquerade where you are most naked” -- that I think fits them really well. Their whole confidant route explores the many layers to their relationship and how they can fully understand the true depth of what the other means by using the guise of casual conversation as metaphor for the truth. Which you’ll know I obsess over if you’ve seen my post on their third confidant rank in Royal or small potatoes.

Oooops, that got a little long...

And of course, to no one’s surprise.

What makes me happy about them:

can’t i just say “everything” and be done with it

Okay but in all seriousness, I absolutely love how they’ve found someone so special for themselves in each other. Their relationship is so valuable to them, so important and meaningful that it’s truly something I think is precious. And that’s not even taking into account how much they would consider doing (and sacrificing) for the other if need be. Hell, Goro entrusts Akiren with his life mission (taking down Shido to let him rot) before intending to give up his own life in the engine room, and Akiren is given the absolutely heartrending choice to choose between Akechi or the world. The fact that it’s such a hard choice to make in and of itself is testament to how much it means. The fact that 2/2 exists is testament. The fact that Goro’s third awakening takes place at Leblanc, with Akiren, every little detail. They just. they mean so much to each other and that’s honestly one of the things that really makes me happy.

What makes me sad about them:

Nothing in particular about their relationship saddens me, per se? Like, they truly make me and each other happy by virtue of just being there. That’s not to say that their circumstances aren’t impressively saddening -- just take Proof of Justice, for example. The only thing that saddens me about their relationship is the tragedy of their circumstances: “If only we had met a few years earlier”? That hit. Well written angst is the best variant.

things done in fanfic that annoys me:

When. Akiren. is. mean-spirited. to. Goro. or. vice. versa. It’s just...not them? Like, Akiren knows what Goro’s been through, and seeing people write him making fun of Goro with the Phantom Thieves as anything further than light/playful teasing just makes me wince because it’s... cruel. Similarly, Goro’s a prick, yeah, but he’d never really go so far as to be needlessly cruel to Akiren and enjoy it for the sake of it. It’s just...blegh. I don’t like it.

things I look for in fanfic:

DYNAMIC! If any fic really nails their dynamic I absolutely adore it. The edge of competition, the proud and encouraging taunts, the innate bond and trust? Gimme that sweet sweet RIVALMANCE. The “do I hate you or do I hate what how you make me feel?” The “I want to get my feelings across but saying them would make it real and make it matter, so I’m going to layer it within thousands of metaphors and hypotheticals that I know you’ll understand regardless, but as long as I don’t let myself falter with my goal, it’s fine”

Ahem.

Basically I like them pining/trying to one-up each other and just generally relishing being in the other’s presence.

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other:

GOD this is a hard one because I don’t really ship either of them with anyone else? I know for Goro there’s been a lot of akesumi stuff going around but that really isn’t my cup of tea, so for Goro I’d prooooobably go with Yusuke because akekita is cute, lol. I will say that I headcanon Akiren as massively bi and I’d be willing to settle for shuann but I don’t really see them romantically? Like, bi solidarity and that’s all? OH though I wouldn’t mind Akiren with Hifumi; that’s a cute ship too!

My happily ever after for them:

They’re happy as long as they’re together, in my heart. Given both of their characters I think they both do like the fast-paced life that keeps them stimulated, but they can only properly slow down when they’re with each other, just because of how well they truly understand each other and knows what the other needs. Their happily ever after is honestly just them being together, because home is where the heart is.

who is the big spoon/little spoon:

Real talk, they snuggle together and both kind spoon each other? Other than that they alternate between big and little spoon, depending on whose trauma is affecting them. Akiren claims to be the big spoon more often because he likes believing that he’s able to comfort Goro when confronted in his darker moments and be there to protect him and assure him that things aren’t gonna hurt him anymore, but Goro ends up being the big spoon a lot more frequently because Akiren takes up too many people’s problems and gets stressed out over them without dealing with his own issues first, so Akiren frequently needs to be reminded that he has someone to protect him too, and Goro’s more than glad to be able to fill that role, to be able to help heal instead of hurt.

what is their favorite non-sexual activity:

Anything, so long as it’s competitive! As long as they can aim to compete with the other or one-up the other, it’ll be absolutely engaging for the both of them, whether it’s a debate, a game of chess, battleships, darts, pool, baseball batting in Yongen-Jaya, or playing tennis. Just let them compete and get passionate about it, and they’ll both have the time of their lives. Seriously.

Ask post here!

(I’ll do pegoryu next for you, anon, in a separate post!)

#ask me(me)#shuake #akeshu #persona 5 #p5 #persona 5 royal #p5r #vague p5r spoilers #goro akechi #akira kurusu #ren amamiya #this is my absolute favourite ship of all time so i have a LOT to say about it lol #emmaski analysis

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witchmd13 · 3 years

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The thing that I've been thinking about a lot lately in regards to the Druid episode in S4 is how we all assume that nothing ever came of it but I'm wondering of maybe that's the wrong way to look at it? I mean Arthur promises that the druids would no longer be raided and senselessly slaughtered and in 5x04 we see Arthur ask the man hanging the sorcereress if she'd received a fair trial. That actually suggests to me that he did keep his promise in the sense that sorcerers were no longer being killed without reason the way they were under Uther. Even with Kara, he didn't kill her simply bc she was a sorcereress but bc she pledged her loyalty to Morgana and killed multiple innocent people. So in that sense, he did keep his promise. Beyond that, I actually think it's a bit unreasonable to expect him to simply lift the ban on magic when he didn't know the full truth and had reason to be wary of magic users. I mean aside from the Dolma pretty much almost all of Arthur's interactions with magic users even in the last couple of seasons were where they threatened him or his people. When you think about it, Arthur was betrayed and lied to by magic users so many times yet he still found it in himself to at least question the belief that all magic users were evil. I don't think it's fair the way people try to judge and condemn Arthur when the truth is that he did the best he could with the knowledge that was available to him. Beyond that, it's really not his fault that nobody would tell him the truth. While I don't believe that Merlin had any obligation to tell Arthur about his magic, I do think that would've been the thing that changed Arthur's mind for good bc I have every reason to believe that while he would probably have been upset at having been lied to (and understandably so IMO) he would've come around to it pretty quickly. Anyway, I'm just wondering if maybe we look at Arthur's promise in the Druid episode the wrong way in some ways

I agree 100% with everything you said.

I’m going to elaborate on the way I see it. I realize a lot of people are going to strongly disagree with my answer, but I’m going to write it once and for all.

First time watching, I honestly thought Arthur did change his policies regarding the Druids just like he’s told the Druid boy. I thought he was just teasing Merlin. Later, and mainly because of tumblr, I changed my mind and assumed I read the situation incorrectly, but now that I’ve had the time to watch it again and let it set with me, I really believe my initial impression was correct. Arthur didn’t fully lift the magic ban (for all the reasons you’ve mentioned and I’m going to elaborate on that in a moment), but I fully believe he did stop persecuting Druids and attacking them based solely on the fact that they existed. The main thing that makes me believe it so is what Arthur tells Merlin in Arthur’s Bane about the murdered Druids they find (just after Merlin hears Arthur’s death prophecy for the first time). He says: “We’ll leave once we give these people a proper burial” which, I believe, is something Uther would’ve never allowed had his policies remained unchanged. Mordred tells Merlin later that sorcerers were not allowed marked graves, do you think Uther would’ve permitted that to Druids?

I also totally believe Arthur stopped persecuting people for being born with magic (for the same reasons he presented to Uther when he was defending Mordred in the Beginning of the End; that he was just a boy and there was no telling what he’ll do when he grows up), but he didn’t stop persecuting people who actively practiced magic, and since he had very good reasons to believe all magic was evil, I think was a very good change at that point.

The show made it perfectly clear that in the end the story became about Merlin and Arthur, and I truly believe that’s what they were going for at the end. The story zeroed in on Arthur and Merlin so much that we weren’t even shown what Gwen did as queen, what happened to everyone else, hell we weren’t even shown the result of the battle, only what happened to Arthur and Merlin. You are free to see that as a flaw in the storytelling of the show (as I do), but it’s another reason why I believe we weren’t shown the gradual change in Arthur’s policies regarding magic in the years between s4 and 5 and after the episode with Dolma. Still, like you said, we could see it in the whole Kara issue. I believe Arthur had 100% the right to have her killed. He had given her the opportunity to go back on it and get away with it, which, yeah, she tried to kill the King in time of war, had killed multiple people, and had publicly declared her allegiance to Morgana. How can anyone really expect Arthur to let her live? are you kidding?!?

Morgana’s actions and her constant attacks on Camelot made it impossible to change something as drastic as an almost 30 year old magic ban.

I never saw anyone talking about this, so I’m mentioning it here. Morgana’s story from Arthur’s POV must’ve been a literal sobering nightmare on how magic can corrupt. I’m honestly surprised it didn’t turn him away completely from magic forever even before he asked Dragoon to save Uther. Here was this girl who was good and kind to everyone suddenly without warning turning into this monster that broke his father’s heart and wanted to kill him and his people (still, the one time we saw his reaction to her being imprisoned and tortured was clear hurt for her). All he knew was that one day Morgana cane near magic and then became the polar opposite of who she was. How can you blame him for thinking magic had corrupted her? How can you blame him for thinking magic was pure evil?

Arthur’s betrayal at Merlin’s secret was just that. It was because Merlin didn’t tell him, not because he had magic. It was about them, about their friendship and their personal relationship. It was never about the magic or not trusting Merlin himself. He was willing to send Merlin back to Camelot and to Gwen, to his kingdom and his queen! He absolutely trusted Merlin. He was just hurt.

I don’t believe either Morgana or Merlin owed Arthur the truth, but we have to keep in mind that Arthur was kept in the dark about magic almost his entire life. All he knew was that it corrupts and kills and hurts people and he still made the choice to assume the good when he had the choice. If anything, that shows his true character more than anything.

#arthur pendragon #afireice #ask #honestly if you read all of that you deserve a cookie #i just have so many feelings about arthur's relationship with magic you have no idea #believe it or not this is the edited version #lmao

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