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bestbonnist · 3 years

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Chapter 140.1

At the beginning of the chapter, Fushi doesn't want anything to do with Mizuha, saying they don't want to wear the clothes she bought them, which Tonari notices, although she decides to not follow up on it.

Tonari says she thinks of her friends (Fushi included though she doesn't state it directly) as her property, revealing the similarities she's seen between herself and Hayase: who views Fushi as a possession she can own instead of their own person. Their love is fundamentally different, but Tonari does default to dictating right and wrong to the people around her instead of compromising. She relents in this situation because she doesn't want to be like Hayase, and also acknowledges that Fushi's experience isn't necessarily the same as hers (her logic is since they were friends with Kahaku despite him being one of Hayase's successors there's no reason Mizuha should be different) and gives Mizuha the benefit of the doubt.

Tonari using words like "control" and being upfront and apologizing to Fushi, as well as stepping aside to let them be with Mizuha if they so choose, draws a clear line between her actions and Mizuha's selfish ones. Fushi's last words to her before leaving in Chapter 139.2 were "don't control me," so for Tonari to back off reminds them of Mizuha again.

Tonari also accidentally reaffirms that Fushi should be trying to fulfill Mizuha/Kahaku's dream, even though she's only talking about Upa, Mia, and Uroy. Mizuha is a whole other thing. So basically, after Fushi ran out on Mizuha, Tonari finds them and tells them that they were actually right to try and fulfill her dream right when they just decided to stop doing it. Her saying these things is what prompts Fushi to get upset again.

Tonari asks Fushi to tell her what's wrong, because she cares about them, but they cut her off before she can finish, probably since her desire to understand them is reminiscent of their last conversation with Kahaku (which is a connection that they notice) and that didn't really end well. But more importantly because Fushi's also starting to realize that Tonari is in love with them, and they felt she was building up to a confession, so they stopped her with a rejection of her hand (and that connection is one Fushi is doing their level best to ignore). This is hurtful to Tonari, who can feel the divide between them but doesn't know/doesn't want to admit why. There are also some fun panels where the background subtly splits Tonari and Fushi apart:

You can see here, the buildings behind her divide them.

Fushi keeps going to Bon for "orders" the way they only followed what the Beholder told them because it was easier/safer than making complex moral decisions themselves... They did this with Mimori's knocker too, basically told Bon to make the choice instead and let them carry it out. Because the Beholder's left them without any sort of guidance. Anyways this behavior started in the Uralis and Renryrr Arcs, when Bon chose to go through the Beholder and keep important information from Fushi, therefore making the decisions for them. They associate Bon with the Beholder because of this.

Bon also says that there's value in living life for yourself and experiencing all negative emotions for yourself instead of others doing it for you, but Fushi doesn't really register this even though it's exactly what they're doing for Mizuha. From their perspective it's either them or the Left Hand, and since the knockers are bad it's their job to fix it.

Kinda weird how Izumi's knocker led with "we have stew at home." Gugu parallels... Was it eavesdropping somehow? I mean, yes, obviously it knew exactly what was going on when it found Mizuha, but are the knockers also monitoring Fushi like they thought in Chapter 138.2? Food for thought. Haha, pun.

Izumi's knocker mostly just comforts Mizuha and lets her cry on its shoulder. Says all the right things. But there's one line, where it goes "all that matters is that you like this person! That feeling is all you need!" Izumi's knocker is saying it's OK if it's not reciprocated as long as the sentiment is there, and encouraging Mizuha to continue loving Fushi instead of moving on after rejection, which I'm pretty sure means Mizuha's love for Fushi is important to the Left Hand somehow.

So instead of showing up with explosives like would be expected if Fushi plans to destroy Izumi's knocker, they make a sword. Since this accompanies the words "I'll make you drop your human act" I guess they're planning on. Um. Torturing Izumi's knocker until they get it to admit the truth in front of Mizuha. Which is really just to satisfy themselves, both to blow off steam and to prove that knockers are really the bad guys. It will traumatize Mizuha though, especially to learn that the mom she was starting to bond with was a fake after all. And Fushi lied to her about it, plus killed Izumi's knocker themselves.

This is all assuming that they're not planning on going after the Left Hand too, which will be useless because in order to make that death stick they'd have to leave Mizuha dead to prevent it from returning in her body, and even that's iffy since the Left Hand doesn't need to stick to Hayase's descendants. Fushi won't do that though, narratively speaking, because Mizuha's the deuteragonist of this arc and if she's out of commission right now, then the story loses half of its drive. Character-wise there's no way in hell Fushi would kill Mizuha and leave her dead forever, but if it was just until they figured out how to destroy the Left Hand permanently... they might be persuaded. But they would need time to convince themselves.

Final thoughts! Fushi's going to be pushing their morals regardless of the specific outcome, but to make it even worse there's a silhouette that looks like Ricard up in the air when they run into Bon, meaning Tonari's tracking them down to talk, and will see with her own two eyes that the world's not peaceful. And unlike Yuuki, she'll want all their other friends to know. The chapter's called "Acting Human (1)," so if the next one is "Acting Human (2)" then Izumi's knocker probably won't be dropping its act like Fushi hopes.

I forgot to fit this in anywhere but Tonari has also decided that the difference between her and Mizuha is that Mizuha's still a kid so she has time to change, but Tonari's stuck as a twisted adult so the only way she can support Fushi is by being mature and lenient. As the Beholder says, if the vessel changes the soul/faie does as well, so the current Tonari is best described as a combination of her adult and child selves as seen on the chapter's title page. Tonari needs to find that balance.

#fumetsu no anata e #to your eternity #to you the immortal #fnae #fnae spoilers #fnae manga spoilers #fnae anime spoilers #present era #new world arc #tonari dalton #tonari #fushi #immo #mizuha #izumi's knocker #bon #i wasn't really awake when i wrote this and it shows

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panharmonium · 4 years

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@once-and-future-gay asked:

how do you think will would react to how merlin treats mordred were he alive??

Okay, I LOVE this question.

And my honest answer to it is that I think if Will were alive, things would never have gotten to a point where Merlin felt like he needed to treat Mordred like that in the first place.

(more details under the cut, because this got long!)

The reasons why Merlin ends up in a place where he is able to make those kinds of cold decisions about Mordred are obviously super complex. But in the end, I think most of it comes back to the fact that by Season 5, Merlin has come to see himself as a tool. The ultimate fallout of Merlin being constantly told about his role in Arthur's life is that he comes to see himself as an instrument of destiny, not a person in his own right. His life isn't his own. He has no inherent worth, no inherent self, just a purpose to fulfill. His life was always earmarked for someone else. His value, in his own mind, is inextricably tied up with whether or not he can succeed in his mission. He doesn’t think he is allowed to have more than that. He doesn’t think he deserves to have more than that, frankly - every time he tries, something terrible happens.

This isn’t the case, earlier in the show. In the early days, Merlin still has hopes and dreams for himself. He still longs for a day where he can be known for who and what he is. He still chafes at having to hide. He still thinks he deserves better than what he has. He's still invested in his own life, as a person who is worth something just by virtue of existing. But as time goes on, those feelings start to slip away. He's still fighting, but for other people, not himself. He stops asking Gaius, "When do I get to reveal myself?" He doesn't expect that to ever happen now. He starts defining his worth as how well he can fulfill his “destiny,” and stops seeing himself as a person in his own right. He's been told so many times that his life belongs to someone else - that his only reason for living is to serve a higher purpose - that he now believes it. And that makes him more willing to do things (in service of that destiny) that he would have balked at when he was younger, before he lost his sense of selfhood, before he became just a tool to ensure that events unfolded as they were “supposed” to.

In the earlier seasons, we see Merlin defy Kilgharrah's directives on multiple occasions. He saves Mordred. He forces Kilgharrah to teach him how to heal Morgana, even after she's been revealed to be a traitor. He's not yet willing to do things he feels uncomfortable about to bring about “destiny.” He still thinks things can be better than that. But as time goes on (read: after Will dies, and especially once Lancelot is also dead) Merlin becomes so isolated from anything that isn’t The Mission. He has no “real” friends anymore. Which, as I've discussed before, isn't to say that he doesn't have meaningful, caring relationships with other people, just that every one of those relationships is, for him, undergirded by the knowledge that the friendship is conditional - aka, “if they actually knew me, they would hate me.” He has nobody to meet his most elemental need for connection - to be seen and loved for who he is - and by the later seasons, Merlin has been deprived of that kind of care for so long that he just stops trying to find it anywhere anymore. Every time he has had somebody to love him like that, it has gone horribly, terribly wrong, and by the time we reach S5, Merlin just feels like it's better for everyone if he stops feeling these "selfish" desires for real companionship and just focuses on the job he's meant to do, no matter how painful it is for him. It doesn't matter if he's miserable, as long as he's be able to bring about the better world that has been promised.

Lancelot is able to serve as a buffer against this, briefly, while he’s alive. His presence is a huge part of why Merlin is so happy in the S4 opener. Finally, Merlin has a friend to know him, to share his burdens, and everything is changing for the better. Arthur is basically running the kingdom, and it's only a matter of time before he actually becomes king. Traditions are already changing, by Arthur's command - now Camelot's most respected knights are commoners! The Crown Prince is publicly courting a servant! This is a moment where Merlin really feels that the moment he has been waiting for is right around the corner. He thinks they're almost there. He has so much hope, at the beginning of Season 4.

And then Lancelot dies - for Arthur - and everything starts spiraling. Lancelot dies on the altar of Merlin's destiny the same way Will does, and that breaks something in Merlin. He stops trying to make things better for himself. “Destiny” is going to take everything from him anyway. He gives up and accepts that the only worthwhile thing he can actually do with his life is to make sure that Arthur lives to create the better world that has been promised, and that he himself is always going to be alone.

And then Merlin is alone, for the next three years. And that's who he is when we meet him in S5 - disillusioned, desperately isolated, all of his personal needs subsumed for far too long. The only thing keeping him afloat is his mission, and he will do anything to make sure it succeeds, now, because if he starts doubting it, then that means that everything terrible that has happened has been for nothing.

And this is really why I feel that having Will around would change things, to a degree where I honestly can't imagine we'd ever wind up in a position where Merlin would have been self-abnegating like this for years, or would have allowed Kara's execution or told Arthur to reject magic just to ensure that Mordred would die (TO BE CLEAR - I'm not putting the blame on Merlin for what Arthur decides to do in 5.05. Arthur's a grown man; he's seen enough to have more nuanced opinions on sorcery by now).

Will is just....I know he was only in the show briefly, but his presence in Merlin's life was so much more important than that one episode, and his ABSENCE is more disastrous than is made apparent on the surface of things. Will is Merlin’s anchor. He gives Merlin something that Merlin cannot access from anybody else, Lancelot included. He is the only person in Merlin’s orbit who is not somehow connected/beholden to Arthur and Camelot. All of Merlin's other friends become knights, or become queen, or are deeply invested in Merlin's destiny and the emergence of Albion (eg, Gaius). Every single relationship Merlin has is with people who are committed to Arthur and Camelot in the same way that Merlin himself is. He has nobody to tell him “this is wrong; you're sacrificing too much,” because everyone he knows is on the same page as him. All of his companions are sworn to die for the realm. Will is the only person whose existence reminds Merlin “you mattered BEFORE you went to Camelot and got this magical homework assignment from the gods. You were just as much of a person back then.”

Will is the only friend Merlin has who links him back to his original self, who connects him to who he was before destiny buried its hooks into him. Merlin in S5 has been so alone and so put upon for so long that he believes his only purpose in life is to be an implement of destiny, but Will, if he were alive, would throw a fit every time Merlin started saying things like “his life is worth a hundred of mine” or “I was born to serve [Arthur].” Merlin might think he's a tool and that his life doesn't matter outside of its ability to usher in the new world, but Will wouldn’t tolerate that attitude. Will would tell him you are NOT a tool; you are a person, one who likes to read and whose favorite fruit is apples and who gets the hiccups when he eats too fast. You don't have to do everything somebody tells you to just because they told you to do it. That's the kind of wrong-headed thinking that got my father killed.

Will would never let Merlin arrive at a spot where Merlin felt like his life and his principles were disposable or worthless in comparison to the success of the “mission.” And Will would never let Merlin get away with doing questionable things in the name of keeping Arthur alive, either. Will, in canon, is the person who serves as Merlin's moral compass - in 1.10, Will is the one who's telling Merlin “it is WRONG for you to consider letting all of these people die in order to keep your secret safe.” Even Merlin's own mother won't tell him that - when she realizes that Merlin is planning to use his magic to help during the battle, she tells him not to do it, despite the fact that there is literally no way the village can defeat Kanen without Merlin's help. She advocates for Merlin to protect his own secrets, even at the expense of other people's lives.

Will, though. Will refuses to compromise. Will wants Merlin to be safe, too, but not at the expense of what makes Merlin who he is. Will KNOWS that sacrificing others for the sake of his secret isn't what Merlin really wants to do. Will knows Merlin is better than that. He tells Merlin to smarten up. He tells Merlin to do the right thing.

So like - having Will alive would change things for the following two reasons: 1) Will, in canon, is the person who tells Merlin “you deserve better than this,” and 2) Will, in canon, is also the person who tells Merlin “you ARE better than this. you can do better than this.” I don’t think Merlin would have made the same choices with Mordred if Will had been present for the previous five seasons, because Merlin would never have fallen so far into the “i don’t remember who i used to be and i can only see one purpose for my life now” hole. Will would not have let him get to that place.

Possibly more importantly - I honestly think if Will were alive, we might never have ended up in a position where Merlin had to make choices like that about Mordred in the first place. Will living would change the entire story. Now Arthur doesn’t just get to sweep the whole “oh man an Evil Sorcerer died/almost died saving my life; that really challenges my worldview; hope I don't have to think about it too hard” issue under the rug, like he does in canon. He’d have to be confronted with that continuously, every day. And he would not be able to just project his anti-sorcery beliefs onto Merlin like he does in canon, either - he would know that Merlin's best friend is a sorcerer, and that Merlin continues to stand by said sorcerer even after the sorcery itself has been revealed.

In canon, Arthur and Merlin avoid this topic forever, and I think Arthur honestly tries to forget it ever happened, because it's easier for him and makes him less uncomfortable, but if Will had lived, they would have been forced to deal with that friction every day, and Arthur would have been constantly confronted by the cognitive dissonance of “sorcery is supposedly evil, but how can it be, when this guy so obviously is not?”

Will being alive would mean Arthur had to confront his prejudices sooner, because a) I fully believe alive!Will would have eventually followed Merlin anywhere, even to Camelot, and b) once he was there, Will would absolutely have kept up the pretense of being a sorcerer. He would never have allowed Merlin to be endangered by him abandoning the ruse. So Arthur would have had to deal with that, and honestly, I’m not sure Camelot’s policies on magic wouldn’t have already changed by the time Mordred showed up again, in this timeline.

There’s one other thing that I want to be clear about when it comes to any question that deals with Merlin’s interactions with Mordred (or many of Merlin’s late-season decisions, to be honest).

The way Merlin ends up dealing with Mordred is obviously something that we all are watching the screen being like "IF YOU WOULD JUST BE NICER TO HIM EVERYTHING WOULD BE OKAY." Even before I finished Season 5, I typed up my thoughts/worries/predictions, and I said that I was concerned Merlin's behavior was going to be the thing that ultimately created the exact future with Mordred that he was trying to prevent. We all know it's a messed up situation.

But I also personally find it absolutely imperative to recognize the unique situation Merlin is in, and that Merlin doesn't react this way to Mordred just for the hell of it, or even because he wants to.

This is something I want to make sure I address, because when talking about the potential for alive!Will to have changed Merlin’s behavior, it’s too easy for the discussion to be framed like “Will would be able to stop Merlin from doing all those stupid/irrational things, like mistrusting Mordred,” and it’s also VERY easy for the discussion to slide into, “Everything that happens at the end of BBC Merlin happens because Merlin was so consumed by how much he cared for Arthur that he was willing to sacrifice everything to keep Arthur alive (and perhaps Will could have snapped him out of it).” But I want to be very careful not to give either of those impressions.

There are two things that I am dead set on remembering when I think about any and all of the decisions Merlin makes, including his decisions about Mordred: first, that Merlin does not suspect/reject Mordred (or support/protect Arthur) in a vacuum. And second, that he doesn't do either of these things solely on Kilgharrah's advice, either.

Merlin, on a personal level, does not want to be in conflict with Mordred. He still relates to Mordred as kin, even at the beginning of the Disir (“It won’t always be like this. One day we will live in freedom again.”) He LIKES Mordred, even, he tells Gaius. But when he says so, he expresses it like this: “I like him myself - but I can't ignore what I saw.”

To get into this in a little more detail - why does Merlin struggle with Mordred in the first place? Because he's been shown that Mordred is going to be instrumental in Arthur's death. And why is Merlin fixated on preventing Arthur's death? Because Merlin has been told, by multiple magical and/or godly powers, that Arthur is the key to establishing peace in Albion and returning magic to the land.

This is a non-negotiable point for me when I read things about Merlin's decision-making. I've written plenty myself about the messed-up place Merlin gets into in S5, where keeping Arthur alive at all costs has overridden every other aspect of his better judgment, but it is ESSENTIAL to me that we recognize that this is not something that happens solely because Merlin has a personal attachment to Arthur. He does care deeply about Arthur, obviously; he loves him - but that is NOT why Merlin in S5 is slipping into the murky waters of “save Arthur no matter what, even if it means doing things that go against my conscience.” His decision in the Disir - any decision he makes about Mordred, quite frankly - is not made because of a selfish, personal desire to keep Arthur alive. It is made because Merlin has been told, repeatedly, from all corners of the magical world, that keeping Arthur alive is the only way to establish peace in the world and liberate magic. And thus, by the time S5 rolls around, Merlin will do anything to achieve this, even things that seem on the surface to be working against these goals. He does not make his decisions because he is choosing Arthur OVER his people's liberation, but because he has been told that choosing Arthur IS the way to his people's liberation.

Merlin does not develop his obsessive fixation on keeping Arthur alive because his personal attachment to Arthur becomes so strong that he's willing to just let the rest of the world burn. He develops it because he has been told that Arthur is the key to creating a world where all people can be free. And it is ESSENTIAL to recognize that Merlin is not foolish for believing this, either. He isn't just listening to some random dragon spout nonsense at him. He has literal gods speaking to him, calling him by the name the Druids gave him and telling him his “time among men is not yet over”; he still has work to do. Druid prophets show him the future (Mordred killing Arthur) and urge him to “alter the never-ending circle of [Arthur's] fate.” Alator recognizes the legend Gaius speaks of as true and immediately offers Merlin his support. Bendrui like Finna (aka the remnants of Morgana's own sect, the High Priestesses) offer Merlin the assistance of further prophecies and tell him “without you, Emrys, Arthur cannot build the world we all long for.” The Catha pass on “ancient knowledge” about Arthur's fate that they've guarded for hundreds of years, in the hopes that it will help Merlin save Arthur’s life. The Fisher King recognizes Merlin as Emrys and tells him “I have been waiting all these years for the arrival of a new time: the time of the Once and Future King” - and then he gives Merlin the means to enable Arthur's victory in the S3 finale.

It's not just Kilgharrah telling Merlin about Arthur's destiny. It's the wider magical world - and bits of the divine world, too. Merlin is not stupid, gullible, or deluded to believe that Arthur's role in the prophesied future is true. It IS supposed to be true, in the Merlin BBC-verse. (And, once again, this is why the finale is, narratively speaking, garbage. But that's a topic for another day.)

All of that said - the fact that Merlin has legitimate reasons to believe what he believes and fight for Arthur's survival does not mean that every single sacrifice he makes in the name of achieving that goal is necessarily the only way he could go about things, and that, I think, is where Will being alive would have made a difference. Will, who loves Merlin more than life itself but does not care about Arthur or Camelot at all, would be a counterbalance to all the messaging Merlin receives about “destiny and Arthur over everything.” Will would have pulled Merlin back from the brink, with his stubbornly honest, “All right, so you have to do this, but not like this. Listen to yourself. This isn't you. This isn't the you I know.”

I don’t think anyone else could have done that for Merlin. Even at the very end of the show, after Merlin has been in Camelot for years, Will is still the longest-running relationship Merlin has ever had (excepting his mother, of course). Will is the only relationship Merlin has that both predates Camelot and isn’t even slightly concerned with Arthur Pendragon’s well-being. Will is the only one who isn’t beholden to Arthur or sworn to serve Camelot. Will is the only person who cares about Merlin instead of Arthur, not along with Arthur. Merlin has other people who love him, yes, definitely, but Will is the only one who says, “You, over everything else. You are the only thing on the map for me.”

The part Will played in Merlin’s life is not something that could be performed by somebody else. That loss is a hole that cannot be filled, even by other people who know Merlin’s secret. The history is unique. Merlin can’t just grow up again with someone else. Will was irreplaceable; the role he fulfilled in Merlin’s world was singular. Without his influence, Merlin is perpetually off-kilter.

Merlin needed someone like that in his life. He needed somebody to balance out the perpetual focus on Arthur+Destiny, which all of his other relationships encouraged, to varying degrees. The perpetual focus on Arthur+Destiny is what ultimately led Merlin to make the kind of decisions that he made with Mordred, but if Will had been around to push back on that, then I can’t imagine that things would have unfolded in the same way.

#very long answer for a short question i know #you can see why this would not fit in the message box #XD #thank you so much for asking; i enjoyed writing this up!#replies #meta #the once and future slowburn #no kings no masters #merlin S5

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gch1995 · 3 years

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OMG! I’m watching the 2016 PPG reboot on reboot to make fun of its awfulness by comparing it to the far superior OG cartoon from 98’-05 version, and I just got finished watching the atrocious episode “Musclecup.” I know the girls are supposed to be very precocious for kindergarteners-first graders, and I know that Buttercup is the “toughest fighter.” However, I still am in awe at the sheer stupidity of the writers of this episode, who thought it would be a “genius” idea to write a storyline in which Buttercup, a super-powered little girl in the first grade, actually gets addicted to steroids because she wants to bulk up her muscles!

First of all, Buttercup is a child, so this storyline feels gross and unnecessary, even if she is the “toughest fighter?”

Secondly, it doesn’t even make any sense as to why Buttercup thinks she needs to bulk up her muscles to a beef-cake level since she was born with superhuman strength that easily allows her to overpower the average person, anyway.

Thirdly, it’s annoying that Blossom and Bubbles are yet again rendered to be completely helpless and ineffectual by the writers together against one villain together without Buttercup, the brash and brawny tomboy, there to swoop in and save them. I know I’ve complained about Buttercup occasionally getting the short end of the stick when she had centrics the OG cartoon in which she was either getting into trouble, getting punished, getting double standards, and/or suffering exceedingly and/or unfairly with the world getting turned against her, sometimes to the point of needlessly mean-spirited overkill of character derailment for either her and/or other characters in the episode she cared about. Yeah, the writers not knowing how to write Buttercup centrics where she was framed in a positive light, being treated fairly, and/or granted the same individual compassion and emotional support of her loved ones that she normally had otherwise, and that her sisters were granted individually in their centrics when they were in the wrong or feeling down, was an occasionally recurring flaw in the writing on an overall great show that started showing up sometime in her centrics in S2.

However, in the 2016 reboot, the writers seemed to have overcorrected the writing flaw of Buttercup’s occasional designated butt-monkey status in the OG cartoon by turning her into the main character Mary Sue of the show, who gets the most centrics, and who does all the saving by herself without the other two girls most of the time. In the reboot, this now has created a new problem of diminishing Blossom’s and Bubbles’ individual strengths and relevance in the story.

Not to mention the fact that reboot!Buttercup’s personality is pretty shitty. In the OG cartoon, she was generally portrayed as a jerk with a heart of gold. Here in the reboot, she’s been flanderdized into an openly arrogant, crude, exceedingly aggressive, disrespectful, loud-mouthed, mean-spirited, obnoxious, petty, nonchalant, and selfish brat. She disrespects Ms. Keane and mocks her when she’s teaching a grammar lesson to be a class clown in “Painbow.” In “Professor-Proofed” she gets her dad hurt by causing him to lose focus, sneeze, and get hurt when he’s working in his lab with a dangerous chemical by peppering her pancakes right in front of him, then doesn’t ever apologize to him for it, and even ends the episode doing it again with an evil smirk on her face right in front of him, causing him to get hurt all over again after sneezing when the pepper goes up his nose. She tries to steal one of Bubbles pigtails in an attempt to catch a crawdad in “ClawDad,” and didn’t apologize. In “Little Octi-Lost,” she steals Octi from Bubbles in the dead of night when they are all asleep to “teach her a lesson” for being so into it, which isn’t a good reason at all, then realizes she wants to go play with Octi herself, takes him to a state fair, and then tries to cover it up when she loses him, rather than tell the truth. In the episode “Man Up” she violently blows up in an aggressive rage, recklessly destroys an entire state fair, and accidentally gives Bubbles a black eye all because a villain calls her “princess,” and she hates being called that. The moral of the episode was supposed to be learning to temper her aggression, but unlike in the OG Buttercup centric, “Makes Zen To Me,” the lesson doesn’t actually end up sticking with Buttercup at all, and she ends the episode reverting back to being an overly aggressive and obnoxious jerk because “status quo is comedy gold.”

Granted, out of the three girls in the OG cartoon, Buttercup did have the greatest tendency to be the most aggressive fighter with the greatest instigator and rebel tendencies, and she had some ooc instances of suddenly being a very uncharacteristically greedy, sadistic, and remorseless jerk than usual to fit certain contrived plots in bad episodes, such as “Moral Decay,” though almost everyone in the fandom despises that segment the most of the OG series and pretends it never happened because it was such ridiculously out of character and mean-spirited derailing writing for both Buttercup and her entire family in order to turn her into the villain and punish her harshly in ways that didn’t feel fair or make any sense.

However, generally, og Buttercup genuinely did have the heart of a hero and love her family more than anything. While she did have trouble apologizing to Elmer for teasing him in “Paste Makes Waste,” she genuinely did still feel bad about it, even if she had some trouble apologizing for it, and she did learn to swallow her pride and do it at the end. She and Blossom tended to argue a lot because they both were very stubborn people, who had trouble making compromises, and admitting to it when they were wrong, and she liked to mess with Bubbles the most. However, she generally hated seeing either of her sisters getting hurt, and she was always quick to defend them in battles against threats. She generally felt bad about hurting her sisters, and apologized all the time.

Buttercup occasionally got irritated when the Professor became a doting, sentimental, and overprotective Dad™️ with her and/or her sisters in the OG cartoon in episodes like “Uh Oh, Dynamo,” “Mr. Mojo’s Rising,” “PowerProf.,” and “Oops I Did It Again,” especially because she didn’t like to be doted on. She got in trouble with the Professor more than her sisters, partially because she was genuinely caught being disobedient, making bad choices, or instigating fights with her sisters by him more often than they were, but also partly because the writers dealt her an unfair hand in the world in her centrics since they liked turning her into the designated butt monkey when she got in trouble in them in a couple of instances, such as “Moral Decay” and “Down ‘n’ Dirty.” However, even at her worst and most OOC, she would never have tried to deliberately hurt her dad for shits and giggles like she did in reboot episode “Professor-Proofed.” She and her sisters also never would have deliberately sabotaged one of the Professor’s romances for their own benefit because they wanted him to be happy in the OG cartoon.

Fourthly, I know he’s not in the episode, but if the girls are this irresponsible and stupid in the reboot, then why would Professor Utonium ever think to trust them to stay at home alone, while he goes to work for the day? Oh, right...It’s because he’s also been reduced to an idiotic, incompetent, irresponsible, neglectful, reckless, and selfish parent 9 out of ten times in the reboot, who has little to no knowledge of how to actually be a good parent at all, and usually only appears to make things worse whenever he does appear anyway by being a cliche and mostly unfunny bumbling bad sitcom dad. In the OG cartoon, it’s different because the girls are mature enough to handle staying by themselves for a few hours, even while he’s out at work, though he got babysitters for them when he was out at night to be safe, but in this reboot version, the girls shouldn’t be trusted to stay at home alone by him.

Finally, that’s the other issue in the reboot. All of the adults are morons who have no common sense most of the time. The writers really expect me to believe that an adult would be totally okay with giving a little girl steroids without any thought to just how gross and unethical that is? Yeah, I know it’s a cartoon, and even in the OG cartoon, the city of Townsville were complete idiots at times to fit certain plots, but I don’t believe any of them would actually ever be stupid and unethical enough to give steroids to a little girl with superpowers to help her bulk up her muscles, especially not without warning her first about how it could be dangerous.

#anti PPG 2016 reboot #ep: musclecup #I can’t believe they actually did a storyline about a superpowered first grader getting hooked on steroids!#the classic PPG wasn’t always a good show but overall it was a really great cartoon #they have completely turned buttercup into an obnoxious tomboy Mary Sue in the reboot #granted they’ve ruined all of the girls in the reboot but I’m focusing on buttercup in particular here #they completely ruined buttercup’s personality in the reboot!#buttercup utonium #bubbles utonium #blossom utonium

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juniaships · 3 years

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Actiontoongorlz's Top 8 Canon x OC Ships 💖💖

I've been looking at OTP/Couples memes for a while and decided that it's time for me to make my own! For an extra surprise I'm not putting Ben Tennyson x Jora Holiday on this list because I focus too much on them anyways & I want my other OCs & their loves to have the spotlight for a change. The timing couldn't be more perfect as we're close to Valentine's Day!!! If you don't support canon x oc or find my ships displeasing then move along because this is a Happy Place! 😁😁 Again these are couples that I consider my personal OTPs in regards to canon x oc. That and making more content with my ships in general! Be warned the text is long and contains spoilers for certain shows and such!!

Clarify: these are my own ocs so there's not going to be anyone else's oc/canon. I might have to save that for another post in the future! 💚 But yeah these are characters that I came up with :]

Alright I'm done ranting, let's get started!

1. Sonic x Lani: I never quite gave much thought into this pair as I should so I promise to do something with them in the future! I promise! What I appreciate about SonLani is that there's little drama, like everything is super chill because both parties are chill. It's not a big deal and they don't need grand gestures to show how much they care about each other. Unlike Preboot Archie with its carts full of poorly written romance and strangely OOC moments on Sonic's end, SonLani had a lot of time to grow, while keeping his established personality in check. They actually communicate with each other, and stick by each other thick and thin. Lani loves Sonic for who he is & has no plans on changing him. Likewise Sonic has someone he can rely on when things get tough; not to mention he can really be himself around her without going all "iLl sLOw dOWn fOr U." Plus the ship name I gave them is a huge nod to the games ^_^

2. Jason x Vanessa: A recent pair due to Vanessa being a new creation but I'm honestly in love with them right now. In-universe they are regarded as the prime example of 'Opposites Attract' in Odyssey. They didn't get along very well in Jason's first couple of months in town due to his hardheaded self and her aloof demeanor. But through events such as Blackgaard and Novacom they gradually learn to trust one another. They see each other in a different light, Vanessa realising that Jason is a lot more thoughtful than he lets on, and Jason discovering her hidden fun side and kindness. Vanessa provides challenges and a sense of normalcy Jason can enjoy away from spy business. Meanwhile Jason fulfills her thirst of adventure & simultaneous desire for a peaceful life as well as spirituality. They're a equals, regarding each other as such and not to mention the BANTER! Hard to believe a former nun can keep up with a secret agent both physically and trading barbs XD. There's also the Forbidden Love factor of Vanessa being the duaghter of Regis Blackgaard, Jason defending her because he KNOWS she is nothing like her old man. Their friendship and romance overcome so many obstacles. I can honestly say that if Vanessa was canon she'd be the type of person Jason would like to be with especially over Jillian Marshall *gags*

3. Kaysha Wallace x Leo Hamato: Now here's a ship that I want to get more into 😁😁 Honestly I love the idea of this pairing: the serious leadee x bubbly spirit! Kaysha is very perky yet understands Leo's feelings on shouldering so much responsibility (she being the oldest child in her family). She's very willing to support him because she doesn't want to see him get all weary from burden. Likewise Leo can be himself around her, and teach her to be more responsible. He doesn't doubt her potential and sees her as an equal even during those periods where she was not on par with the other ninja. Kaysha shows Leo it's okay to relax and let other people help him out and not shut everyone out. When Leo expresses his ability to give her a safe life she simply laughs it off; the way she sees it him simply there in her life is enough. The most interesting facet is their dynamic varies between shows, so you'd see different scenarios and reactions as well as similarities and differences in their romance subplot.

4. Artie x Rhodanthe: Another couple I seriously need to give more attention to, they're meant to be is the foil to Shrek and Fiona in several ways. Artie and Rho may come from different social classes but they're both searching for a purpose to prove their haters wrong. Artie lacked confidence while Rho was overconfident believing she didn't need help. Together Artie learns to stand up for not only for his kingdom and loved ones hut also for himself; Rho's pride gets tempered by Artie's kindness and willingness to compromise. Another thing I like is that Artie has someone who loves him for him not because he is attractive and of royal blood. Likewise Rho has someone who respects her in spite of her social standing & shares her beliefs in making life easier for the poor & outcasts. While both lacke the physical prowess of Shrek and Fiona they rely on each other's resourcefulness and strategic thinking to get by. Unlike Shrek and Fiona they don't get married at the end of their focus movie, resolving to figure out where to take their relationship next. They still have their own life goals and don't want to rush into a relationship which sends a pretty good message. However they have their disagreements - in fact they got a huge argument that became a plot point in Shrek Forever After - but through it all they rediscover the things that made them fall in true love with each other. I'm really loving the subplot I have planned where they forget their memories and slowly fall back in love again.

5. Finn x Alma: Surprise! Yes8 I have a Cars OC (that was originally a fanon Disney Princess) who is the niece of Tow Mater in my verse and she enters a relationship with Finn McMissile. The thing I love about this pair is that it allows Alma to use her skills to flourish, treating amd healing injured spies. She's also into travel and adventure so she can pretty much keep up with Finn. Likewise Finn realizes she is more than just a pretty face or a one-off fling but someone with the passion to face challenges head on; Finn seems to love a good challenge! But overall they'd make a nice pairing, Finn showing Alma the world and Alma showing Finn some of the more simpler things in life.

6. Alexander Paine & Qiu Jin: Well well well look at what the cat dragged in? If it isn't our first villain pairing? XD Just kidding only one half is a genuine villain. What makes this couple so unique in that their storyline goes way back to before the events of the show, he being a agent and she a mechanic. They loved each other deeply, even to the point of starting a family, but forced apart due to some troubling events. When they do get back together it's not so much a bittersweet reunion as Paine became a full villain and Qiu Jin had spent years in&out mental institution before being released There's visible pain & regret, Alexander desperately wanting a semblance of what they once had. He seeks power not just for himself for to heal her. But Jin refuses to go along with his schemes wanting nothing more than to move on and see their children. Jin is a huge Mortality Pet for him, but his own selfish desires for power is a major obstacle their love can't overcome. It's the more bittersweet of my pairings but an important one nonetheless.

7. Bruce Wayne x Nicola Holden: Ok the Brooding Guy/Gentle Girl trope is a mixed bag these days but I really like this trope in regards to Brucola. Like with Artie/Rho, Bruce and Nicola come from different social classes but has that same compassion and drive to help others. Nicola is someone Bruce can trust but at the same time she lets him know there are boundaries (aka don't use my weaknesses as a contingency plan). I also feel like Bruce needs a sort of normal love interest, while he has canon normal girlfriends most of them were pretty boring. At least with Nicola she has has a life outside being a love interest her own goals and motivations. She also loves Bruce for him, not because of his money and good looks. It's a generally healthy dynamic built on honesty & empathy. Another reason why I find this pair adorable is that it actually matches with the rest of the Trinity; you know, like how Superman is with a journalist and Wondy is with a soldier/agent. Nicola & Bruce having different ways of pursuing justice while still sharing similar moral codes. It helps that Nicola is actually a hero rather than an antihero/villain/straight villain (Bruce dating a villan would only make him look like a hypocrite). Nicola sees all facets of Bruce's life and makes the choice to stay; provides some much needed light not just in his life but also the rest of the Batfam. In turn Bruce has another connection to the normal world that is willing to be in his life and see him genuinely happy. They're mature adults who ground each other and build each other up.

8. Optimus Prime x Malina Lovelace: Okay is it just me or do I think TFA Optimus Prime needs more love? What's funny is that at first Malina didn't like the thought of being outshined by newcomers in her superhero career. Spending time with Optimus makes her realize that there's more to being a superhero than fame. Optimus doesn't look down on her, and is more than willing to work with her and appreciate her work. She becomes touched by his friendliness and aceepts him and the other Bots. At the same time Malina reminds Optimus that it's okay to make mistakes and move on, and that it's okay to cut toxic people out. I even wrote a noncanon ficlet where Malina calls out Sentinel and Blackarachnia for the way they treat Optimus. OptMalina is a romance built on respect despite the obvious differences. Not to mention they have each other's back, and they learn about each other each time. And just like with KayLeo and BatRose there's different continuities which means unique versions of the Optlina pair. The Bayverse *chortle* and Prime versions are a few I'd love to explore in the future!

Miscellaneous

- Chad Charming x Soraya Nedakh: Essentially snobby rich kid who learns to be self sufficient and see past appearances through a positive influence. Soraya helps Chad to understand that being royalty isn't just pretty clothes and parties but actually using that status to help others. And Chad actually has his views challenged: Soraya doesn't back down easily.

- Jetta x Zane: The concept of JettaZane (or A Touch Of Snow/IceMagic) is that the robot teaches the human what it's like to be human. Jetta started out as an extremely cold person and a loner, but her time with Zane - the literal ninja of ice - gradually melts her heart & she becomes more caring and accepting. So the robot programmed to be human helps the human raised to be a cold machine unlearn her toxic traits and reclaim her humanity. Also Pixane is kinda boring imo, like they're only together because they're both robots. Not very compelling if you ask me.

- Brian Crown x Kelly Arbol: The wellmeaning goofball and the beatnik poet are something I rarely see much of, but that pretty much sums up their ship. Brian may be a bit self centered but he has a heart of gold and through Kelly's influence he becomes more confident in being a worthy successor to his dad. Meanwhile Brian respects Kelly in and out costume and teaches her how to have fun. Not to mention Kelly interacts with someone outside her circle, which is a welcome change from the trope of only dating someone within your circle.

- Janus Lee x Lenora Rose: Another pair from the same show as Paine and Qiu Jin, there's not much to say on them other than it's one of the most tragic couples. Lenora died a long time ago due to circumstances beyond her & Mr. Lee's control and it's her death that was the catalyst to his gradual descent into evil. As the show goes on we see glimpses of their life together and realize that Lenora is more than the Ghost, she was someone with her own dreams and motivations. She and Janus were outcasts who found companionship in each other, and were able to build a life together using their hard-earned resources to help others. Even in the last few months of her life she didn't go down without a fight, wanting her legacy to be one of love and hope. It's her memory that may be the key to redeeming Mr. Lee in the future of A.T.O.M.

- Ben Florian x Paige: Again not much else to say but they're the antithesis of Mal x Ben. One thing that bothers me about Mal & Ben is that they are supposed to be equals when it's pretty darn obvious from the scenes they were not. With PaigeBen it's clear that they ARE equals who respect each other. Ben's agency isn't reduced to just love interest, he has someone he has good communication with and wants to see him succeed. Paige has someone who shares her interests and see her more than just that One American Newbie. They LEARN to work together without love potions involved. Plus we haven't had a commoner Disney Princess in a while so Paige fills in as someone who works her way into high status then uses that status to help others with Ben at her side.

That's enough of my Canon x OC OTPs! I hope to explore them more throughout the year :) I work hard to flesh out my OCs and their romantic storylines as if they're real 💚😌

I do have KayLeo week planned for Feb 14 to Feb 21 so don't be shocked when I start posting rottmnt stuff or art of Kaysha! Anyways these are my personal ships that I enjoy despite the lack of content I made of them, so hopefully I have the creative juices flowing to make more stuff! Final note I'm working on a platonic oc x canon meme to show that love doesn't have to be romantic. A

#canon x oc #oc x canon #otp #multifandom #actiontoongorlz #oc meme #oc x canon meme #long text tw

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mediaevalmusereads · 3 years

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A Rogue By Any Other Name. By Sarah MacLean. New York: Avon, 2012.

Rating: 2/5 stars

Genre: historical romance

Part of a Series? Yes, The Rules of Scoundrels #1

Summary: A decade ago, the Marquess of Bourne was cast from society with nothing but his title. Now a partner in London’s most exclusive gaming hell, the cold, ruthless Bourne will do whatever it takes to regain his inheritance—including marrying perfect, proper Lady Penelope Marbury. A broken engagement and years of disappointing courtships have left Penelope with little interest in a quiet, comfortable marriage, and a longing for something more. How lucky that her new husband has access to such unexplored pleasures. Bourne may be a prince of London’s underworld, but he vows to keep Penelope untouched by its wickedness—a challenge indeed as the lady discovers her own desires, and her willingness to wager anything for them... even her heart.

***Full review under the cut.***

Content Warnings: explicit sexual content, gambling

Overview: I don’t know how to rate this book. On the one hand, MacLean has a knack for writing addictive romances, and I found the heroine to be fairly complex and the crux of the plot to be compelling; but on the other hand, there were a lot of tropes I personally do not care for in this book, so enjoying it fully was difficult. I ultimately settled on giving A Rogue by Any Other Name 2 stars because of my subjective experience, not necessarily because MacLean is bad at her craft.

Writing: I found MacLean’s prose to be fairly well-crafted; not only does it flow well, but it also balances showing and telling. Sentences and descriptions are lush and emotive when they need to be, and slow and sensual when appropriate. MacLean also paces her novel fairly well; on the whole, the story (and sentences) moves along at a quick pace that doesn’t feel rushed, and moments that were more emotionally weighty felt like they had room to breathe.

Perhaps the most interesting thing MacLean does with her book’s structure is insert small excerpts of letters in between scenes or between chapters. These letters are written primarily from the heroine’s point of view, showing her attempts to write to the hero from the time he goes away to Eton to almost the present day. In my opinion, these letters were a good way to show that the heroine had a long history of trying to reach the hero, and I think it worked better than MacLean simply telling the reader in some flashback or climatic scene.

Plot: The main plot of this book follows Michael (the Marquess of Bourne) as he seeks revenge on Viscount Langford, the man who took his entire inheritance in a game of cards. After nearly ten years, he finds that Langford has lost his lands to the Marquess of Needham and Dolby, who has added them to his eldest daughter’s dowry. Bourne thus traps the eldest daughter in a compromising situation which forces them to wed, and he must devise a way to get back at Langford while also dealing with the angst that his marriage stirs up. Not only is his wife, Penelope, one of his dearest childhood friends, but Langford’s son is the third part to their inseparable childhood trio. Bourne must thus figure out whether revenge or love for his childhood friends is more important.

On top of that, Bourne is notorious for not only losing his inheritance, but for building back his fortune by running one of London’s most dangerous gambling dens. His reputation, as well as the scandal should the circumstances of his marriage leak out, is sure to cause harm to Penelope’s family by making it impossible for her younger sisters to marry.

Honestly, I was pretty intrigued by this plot. The question of what matters more, revenge or love, was a really interesting promise with a lot of potential for angst and moral dilemma. I think in general, MacLean handled the plot well by making Penelope a formidable force and making the details of the drama feel real. The thing I really didn’t like, however, was how the initial “marriage trap” went down. Bourne puts Penelope in a compromising situation by having her spend the night alone with him. To her credit, she tries to escape, and Bourne was 100% a horrible person for making her stay with him. I honestly felt like that wasn’t the problem, since it created high stakes and a flaw that Bourne had to atone for. Where it went wrong for me was in Bourne’s character and his actions. I think if Bourne had just blocked the door and prevented Penelope from leaving their shared room, it would have been sufficiently bad, but Bourne also picks up Penelope and spanks her before ripping her dress so that even if she escapes, she’s well and truly ruined. To me, picking up a woman and spanking her feels infantilizing, and it’s a misogynistic flaw that I simply can’t get over. I also feel like ripping her dress and exposing her constitutes sexual assault, and I couldn’t get over that either.

Characters: Penelope, our heroine, is fairly likeable at the start. She’s the eldest in a line of daughters whose spinsterhood threatens to ruin her sisters’ chances at finding matches, and her dilemma between doing right by her family and doing something for her own happiness was a compelling one. I liked that she was sharp-tongued to the point where she would say or withhold things from Bourne to hurt him; it made her seem flawed without being overly petty, mainly because most of the things that hurt him were borne out of her frustration over her situation. The main thing I didn’t like about her was that she didn’t seem to have any female friends, and when she met another woman who was beautiful or who may have shown interest in Bourne, she got absurdly jealous. To MacLean’s credit, Penelope never acts in hostility towards other women and eventually develops a kind of friendship with Bourne’s gorgeous housekeeper, but I found this jealousy over a man who does nothing but hurt her disappointing.

Bourne, our hero, is an archetype that I really don’t like: self-hating, brooding, controlling, and violent. While I liked his revenge vs love dilemma, I hated that he was self-loathing to the point of destroying everything around him (when he could have easily just... not). I think more could have been done to make him a selfish, obsessive, manipulating character without making him so controlling of Penelope. His actions regarding their marriage are bad enough; I really didn’t need him to try to control Penelope’s life by giving her no control over the household, over where she goes, etc. and I really didn’t need him to be so violent and jealous that he thought about murdering anyone who so much looked at Penelope.

To be honest, I was hoping Penelope would run away from Bourne and end up with Tommy, a childhood friend who seems to treat her with genuine kindness and worries about her happiness. Tommy was interesting in that he loves Penelope as a brother would, not as a suitor, and respects her decisions even if they are obviously toxic or self-destructive.

Other characters were interesting for their potential to offer commentary. I liked Penelope’s sisters, who embody different personality types and have different views on marriage and scandal. Watching Penelope worry for them was honestly touching, and provided unique opportunities for reflecting on romantic expectations versus realities. Bourne’s colleagues at the gambling den were also pretty great in that they seemed to be more respectful of Penelope than Bourne was. I liked that they called Bourne out for his behavior and didn’t try to control Penelope on his behalf.

Langford, our primary antagonist, wasn’t present enough for me to have an opinion one way or the other. Honestly, I didn’t feel that much animosity towards him - he was an ass for taking the entire inheritance from a 21 year old, but I felt like the blame was more on Bourne. I only reveled in his eventual demise because he got pretty sexist in the final showdown.

Romance: I’m going to just say it: I wasn’t rooting for Penelope and Bourne to be together. Most of their “love story” involved a lot of manipulative, controlling behavior on Bourne’s part, which would have been something to atone for and could have been a good story had Penelope not forgotten about it the instant Bourne showed some basic human decency. A lot of their fights consisted of Bourne being manipulative, Penelope realizing that everything he does is for selfish reasons, then forgetting it because she finds him attractive or because he does something nice. There was no acknowledgment or atonement for him hurting her or using her, and Penelope decides she loves Bourne because he raised himself above his scandal by building back his fortune. For some reason, she finds that admirable, but because we see Bourne ruining people in the same way he was ruined at the beginning of the book, I couldn’t see him in the way Penelope did.

Bourne’s redemption also felt pretty empty. Throughout the whole book, there’s this constant lamentation that he’s not good enough for Penelope, that he will only cause her ruin, but he wants her anyway. He’s also so obsessed with revenge that everything he does hurts Penelope, whether it be ignoring her happiness or going after Langford by way of Tommy. Instead of a slow, steady process where he comes to value love over revenge and where he makes up for all the hurt he caused her, he seems to turn on a dime with maybe 25% left of the book. Honestly, I found their whole romance exhausting after the first hundred pages, and I wished there was more of a gradual ennobling of Bourne’s character, rather than the self-indulgent pity party he seems to exhibit.

TL;DR: Even though A Rogue By Any Other Name has quick, witty prose and an interesting crux at the heart of the plot, the self-loathing, controlling hero and exhausting romance ultimately prevented me from enjoying this book.

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wolfiefics · 4 years

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To all the fans of Steve Rogers who persist that Steve was in the right during Civil War, consider this:

Your argument that after the events of Winter Soldier he lost faith in the US government, why did he stay? Why did he not renounce his US citizenship and try elsewhere? He likely had enough ties with another country, either of familial origin or one he helped liberate during WWII, to do so. Why did he stay? Why did he continue being an Avenger? Living by US society rules put in place and maintained by the government he no longer believed in? If you can answer that in a logical way that isn't knee-jerk high-mindedness, I'll concede it.

If he was right to go against the Accords because "they stifled his freedom" then you are advocating the same mindset of the people taking guns into government buildings in an attempt to terrorize officials into not wearing protective gear designed to save the lives of themselves, their family and their fellow citizens AS IS IN THE US CONSTITUTION CHARTER. Or you are the one calling the police on someone for doing something you don't like, lying about it to make it wrong when that person was doing nothing wrong to begin with? You just didn't like them for some reason, they have to go away. FREEDOM is not a gift. It's not a thing that everyone has. EVER. Not even in the US at the time of the American Revolution. Freedom is a CONCEPT, an ideal to reach for. A utopian dream. The very nature of human civilization NEGATES freedom by its very existence. You want "freedom"? I can rob, rape, murder, enslave, and destroy everything I want to because I'm FREE to do so! No one can tell me what to do! You're the victim? Not my problem! Maybe you should be bigger, meaner, carry a bigger weapon or have more people in your side. FREEDOM is ANARCHY, lawlessness, and disrespecting others wants and needs for whatever you want to have withoutrestrictionsof moral conscience instilled by society (i.e. laws and government).

Society, civilization, has rules for a reason. So that shit DOESN'T happen. You don't follow the rules? You're a criminal. Since the Law Codes of Hammurabi its been this way (before that, those are just the first known written laws). Rules can be amended, recodified, or completely rewritten as your society and culture expands intellectually, technologically or in accordance of getting along with another culture different from yours. They aren't concrete (I was going to say "written in stone but some actually were...aforementioned Hammurabi law codes for example).

But to argue that Steve Rogers was right to IGNORE the rules and laws and do whatever he wanted because he was "betrayed" by the government is ignorant, elitist bullshit. He had NO RIGHT to do that. Attempt to dissuade, argue down or compromise, yes, definitely. But give it the middle finger and stomp off in a snit and do whatever HE thinks is right? He's no longer a law-abiding citizen who has EARNED the rights of his society. He has turned his back on them. I'm not saying the Accords were right (though they had a strong argument for it) but everyone tried to tell him "do this now, we'll wiggle it around til it's more acceptable. If not, they are going to ram it down our throats or throw us in a dark dank corner and forget we're there". But noooo! Steve was too good for that! The petty concerns of almost the entire world is not his problem! HE knows better than ANYONE what's right and what's wrong! Fuck them! He was not interested in compromise, trying to work a deal, nothing. He saw it as oppression and done! And that's how all of you who say he's in the right feel too. 112 out of 128 countries have no RIGHT to feel threatened! What's their problem anyway? It’s not like the Avengers destroyed an entire country! Oh wait.. well it's just some backwater Eastern bloc country, no big loss. And part of South Africa. And an entire floor of visiting humanitarian and diplomat workers. No big deal. The UN should just suck it up. Steve knows what he's doing.

All governments have laws a person doesn't like. Nature of the beast. You might get away with bending it on occasion, depending what it is. But if your actions breaking it means ending the lives of others or compromising/destroying their property or culture because "I'm right, you're wrong"? Bigotry. Elitism. Holier than thou. Entire civilizations have vanished for that and we know little to nothing about them because that attitude meant no one cared to note it. Those civilizations could have cures for, I don't know, CANCER!!? (Medicine Man with Sean Connery is awesome. You should watch it).

The first rule EVERY writer learns when writing about sentient beings is there are good things and there are FLAWS. There is no such thing as perfect. If you have a perfect person who can do no wrong, makes no mistakes, just rolls through life getting everything they want without effort...why would you want that? It's boring. It's unrealistic. Why is this persistent idea that everything Steve does is right and just and morally incorruptible? Sounds like some asshole that needs a bullet in the brain before he decides to kill ME for getting in his way. Most of you don't write him in your own fics that way. Why on EARTH do you think he's perfect in the movie verse? Is he not fictional? Is he not a character in a story? Is he somehow exempt in the movies of all writing conventions?

Civil War is easily the worst of the MCU movies. The potholes are so large you can hyper drive the Deathstar through them. Too many to go into here. That's a whole nother rant. But this movie is the basis of this fan idea that Steve can do no wrong and anyone who opposed or argued with him are immoral, arrogant and oppressive...or government doormats. REALLY?! It's obvious Steve trusts NO ONE. Not Sam, whose life he continually puts in danger with very little remorse. Nat, who has been at his side since two weeks after he woke in the 21st century, fought aliens, was on an elite task force with (two in fact), etc ad nauseum but since she DARED to disagree with him, she's obviously not to be trusted. And he was hyper focused on two things:Bucky and Peggy. Peggy, he moped and brooded over, punishing himself for a trick of Fate. FOR YEARS. And Bucky, who was such an obvious distraction that Hydra knew it was a HUGE weak spot and CONTINUALLY used it against him at the expense of other people's lives that Steve apparently didn't give two shits about or even attempted to modify that weakness. How many legitimate, under cover S.H.I.E.L.D. agents were exposed world-wide when Nat laid bare every record of S.H.I.E.L.D.? Not even a flicker of remorse from Steve. Made this big patriotic speech to the Triskellian but not one single mention at all in the planning of those people. None. Cannon fodder. So sad, too bad, ah well! Gotta save Bucky!! Same in Civil War. Steve headed that op in Africa. He ordered and helped gather the Intel on Crossbones and his gang. He made the plan, placed an unstable high-powered individual ALONE in the field with Nat telling her what to do over an ear piece (and Wanda blew her off), as soon as Crossbones blew Steve's strategy, he went gung-ho through a major, heavily populated marketplace, confronted the enemy, IMMEDIATELY got compromised by the word "Bucky" and allowed Crossbones to set off a suicide vest. If Wanda hadn't been there, Steve and that entire block would have been decimated. Wanda did her best, but she was not up to snuff and lives were lost anyway. Did Steve show remorse? No. He brooded that Rumlow said "Bucky and I was 16 again". He told Wanda essentially that it's regrettable but not to worry about it. Those dead people due to his hard-on to get Rumlow? All those lives of diplomats and humanitarian workers gone? No big whoop. Sad but you know, Steve's perfect so they just had to die. He willingly and uncaringly put people in harm's way that got them killed that with a cool head and better planning (or compromise with others ideas) could have been avoided. That's the making of a sociopath. A monster. NOT someone who should be in charge of an elite team that defeated an ALIEN INVASION HEADED BY A GOD.

Think about this. I loved the Winter Soldier. I think it's in my top 5 MCU movies. Other than the exposure of who knows how many legitimate S.HI.E.L.D agents who may have been in the middle of stopping child slavery rings or something, it's an excellent film. Civil War? Garbage. Utter garbage. Trash. They had a good plot, the Hydra super soldiers, that could have been action packed, exposed Bucky's whereabouts, had a big fight scene, had Tony learning Steve had been omitting how his parents died and still had Zemo taken down and the Avengers break up. Set it up even. Those soldiers were shot off screen as this confusing red herring. Why even mention them if you're just going to shoot them off-screen like an afterthought? Hmm. I should write that. I may have too, if someone hasn't done it already. If so, DM me the link?

But get away from this "Steve Rogers can't be wrong cuz he's Captain America" schtick. Bad enough Civil War turned him into a callous, selfish tool. Don't make the situation worse for him.

I love my Stucky, don't get me wrong. I'll die on this ship. But Civil War is NOT the Steve Rogers characterization you need to be advocating as the ideal. In that movie, he's an asshole and if Peggy or 1930s Bucky knew what he'd done, they'd have BOTH punched him. Maybe more than once. And withheld his dessert at dinner.

I'm just saying.

#steve rogers is not perfect #civil war was hideous #unpopular rant I'm sure #hate at me I'll probably not notice #i rarely look at my messages

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teyrnacousland · 5 years

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So I just found out about the Faces of Thedas thing with Anders (I know, I’m late to the party, but I only just now saw it online here) and I just.

What. The. Fuck.

I don't even know who they're talking about because it’s certainly not about the Anders we know and love. Maybe this book was written by Templars? Anyways I’m pissed and I accidentally wrote, like, an essay to point out all the things they got wrong. I even have sources, up until about halfway through where I shifted from essay format to full blown angry ranting. I’ve spent hours on this. Help.

“A virtuous heart? Well... two out of three isn’t so bad. [...] He’s selfish.”

Did they actually just call Anders selfish and imply he doesn’t have a virtuous heart?? Anders who comes back to help you even if you send him away after he’s freed from the Templars and the darkspawn are dead. (As seen HERE. Seriously. Watch that video and tell me this man is selfish. Tell me all he cares about is joking and running away. I dare you.) Anders who begs you not to leave Amaranthine because if there's even one person alive you have to save them? Anders who opens a free healing clinic in the worst part of Kirkwall and works there tirelessly pretty much 24/7 just so he can help as many people as he can????

”[...] a coward [...]”

A coward?? Anders??? Anders who came back to help after you sent him away because he couldn’t just leave you to fight alone when he knew he could help. Anders who despite all his protests about the Deep Roads (he’s claustrophobic!!!) will still go with you every time you ask. Anders who isn’t necessarily eager to go on the suicide mission to save Amaranthine but will not argue if you bring him. Anders isn’t a coward just because he’s afraid, he’s a brave, kind, incredible person because he will help people no matter how afraid he is.

"He played the part of a good little Warden, all the while planning his next disappearing act."

Anders was an amazing Warden, there was no “playing”. He wanted to help people and he did. And he explicitly says he isn’t planning on running away if you ask him in his personal quest. (LINK it’s at 10:13, if the link doesn’t work right)

"While he ostensibly belongs to the Libertarian Fraternity of mages"

Anders says in Awakening that the Libertarian’s plan to pull away from the Chantry is “a recipe for disaster”. (LINK) I’ll concede that it is possible he’s part of the Libertarians because they’re the closest aligned with his views despite him not agreeing with exactly what they want to achieve or how. Although even then it's still unlikely, because for Anders to be an Enchanter wouldn't he have to have an apprentice? I'm pretty sure he doesn't. And he never introduces himself as an enchanter. So he can't be part of ANY mage fraternity.

(About escaping the Circle) “It’s not out of righteous indignation-- it’s fun!”

Hoo boy. This is the most blatant piece of mischaractreization I’ve ever read. Tell me this man was not full of righteous indignation. And you can’t think of one reason besides “fun” that he would try to run away? He literally tells you one of the Templars used to call him inhumane and kicked him in the head to wake him up (LINK, at 0:29), they put him in solitary confinement in a dungeon for a whole year. AND, in Dragon Age: The World of Thedas, vol. 2, pp. 160-162 (sourced from the Wiki, I don’t actually have this book. Yet.) when asked why he ran away “he tearfully replied that he had simply wanted to go home”. What fun.

Just because he makes light of his escapes and subsequent captures doesn’t mean he’s just messing around. What it means is that he’s smart. If he’s a joke, he’s not a threat. If he doesn’t fight back when they come for him, if he laughs and jokes and plays along, they don’t have any excuse to kill him.

“Enlisting Anders requires appealing to his primary concern: his own amusement.”

Yes, as seen in this video where you don’t even ask him to help and he offers anyways (LINK, at 14:57), or the one mentioned above where you tell him to run off and he comes back to help you (here it is again). Clearly he is a selfish coward who just wants to fight the darkspawn for... his own... amusement? Alongside someone who for all he knows will turn him in to the Templars as soon as they get the chance (which you can do, might I remind you). He has no reason to trust you, but he puts his own safety aside because he wants to help. What a selfish coward he is.

“[Justice] became a lodestone to orient Anders' shaky moral compass"

Are you kidding me?? Anders and Justice joined because their moral compasses were aligned. And this inaccurate slander of a characterization isn't even consistent with itself. Their selfish jokester version of Anders had no reason to make this deal with Justice, and Justice had no reason to suggest it if he didn’t think Anders was a good person. Our Anders agreed to host Justice because he's compassionate and wanted to help his friend, and because he was starting to let himself believe that maybe they could actually change things, which he'd never believed he could do on his own. Before Justice he just felt helpless to change anything. That's why he's so bitter about mage rights in Awakening. And Justice knew this, so Justice wanted to help.

The “Variations” Boxes

Do I need to point out how gross it is to refer to executing him as “bringing an end to his suffering”? But also, look at the general difference between the two variations. If you kill Anders, people support him and elevate him to martyrdom and follow in his footsteps, but if you let him live then everyone hates him forever and he’s miserable and on the run for the rest of his life. I don’t really know the motivation behind this but it’s clear they want you to think killing him is the “good” choice. Also, one specific line in the “killing Anders” box annoys me:

"His valiant and ultimately doomed blow against their oppressors"

Doomed?? Anders started a rebellion. It was bound to happen eventually, the rebellion and the war have been building up for years. But he gave the mages an advantage. HE started the war, not the Templars. And thus he gave them a chance to fight back. Because if the Templars had been the ones to start the war you can guarantee they would have done it by either turning every mage Tranquil or cutting them all down while they were all nice and rounded up in their Circles. Most of them would never have seen it coming. He gave mages everywhere a better chance to fight back. And he succeeded. Circles fell. The Divine agreed to a Conclave to negotiate their freedom. He started that, he was the first step. Anders is a hero.

"His friendship with Justice awakened a keener awareness of and and empathy for the plight of all mages."

Are they really trying to say that JUSTICE awakened a sense of empathy in Anders? Have you met these two? Anders is the empathetic one, the one who cares about individual people. Yes, Justice wants justice for the mages too, he also believes they deserve to be free and he wants to fight for them. But Anders is the one who feels their pain, which is the definition of empathy.

Not to mention that despite the way he lightheartedly brushes off Justice’s insistence that he do something to help the other mages, he does obviously care. He brushes everything off with humor because it’s a coping mechanism. But in one of his banters with Justice he says: “Yes, well. Welcome to the world, spirit.” in a defeated tone. He wishes he could do something but he’s just one little mage. He’s resigned, not apathetic.

"A chance meeting with Hawke [...] was the catalyst for Anders' fanaticism. Through their association, Anders witnessed firsthand the increasingly heavy-handed measures taken [...] against mages."

He gets into mage rights because of... Hawke? He knows the Circles are terrible because he was in one. He learns about how bad the Gallows are from the people at the clinic, and Karl’s letters, and through his own investigations. Why are we taking away Anders' agency and saying that he was only confronted with and only started caring about these things because of his association with Hawke?

The entire first paragraph on the second column of page 6, starting with "Vengeance’s influence"

This entire profile is filled with this disgusting undertone of “oh this poor crazy mage and his delusions”, but it’s especially prevalent in this paragraph. They word it as if Anders gave in to some temptation Justice was pushing for. And as though they were wrong. And they say this as if he were wrong. They say Justice "pushed Anders to conclude freedom for mages would never be granted" as though he hadn’t come to that conclusion after being ignored for YEARS. Seven long years they (meaning Anders and Justice) spent trying to make someone, ANYONE listen, and they never used violence (except in self-defense) throughout those years because Anders is not a violent person. Neither is Justice, not needlessly. Their one act of violence was a last resort and it went against everything either of them stand for, but something HAD to be done and they knew nothing else would work because they'd already tried everything else. And he didn’t have time to think up another way, because things were escalating with or without him. Meredith was trying to invoke the Right of Annulment. It was a now or never thing, and this was the only way he could save anyone.

"Elthina called the city's mages and templars to a conclave to hopefully broker peace."

This isn’t even true! There was no conclave, and unless I’m forgetting Elthina made zero effort to "broker peace", she chose “neutrality” on a field where neutral means Templars get to openly abuse and rape and lobotomize mages as they please.

And yes, Anders didn’t want their compromise, because there was never going to be a compromise. Because those in power, the Chantry, had no reason to compromise. They held all the cards. The mages had nothing to offer, nothing to threaten, they had nothing. The mages were dealing with a millennia of oppression and abuse, and the Chantry were dealing with little more than an annoyance. How could any compromise be fair under those circumstances? And even if the Templars did decide to compromise, how do you compromise freedom? What is the middle ground between human rights and being treated like a slave?

Anders knew that the Chantry would never offer the mages any kind of freedom anyways. They couldn’t. They would have offered something small and inconsequential as a token so they could say that they’d tried to compromise, and the mages would have had to either resign and accept it, or refuse and risk the Chantry using it as an excuse to call them unreasonable and rebellious and get rid of them, which they were already talking about doing. And Anders believed, with good reason, that Orsino would do the former, would condemn them to another however many millennia of rolling over and letting their rights be trampled just to avoid escalating things.

"Even among those who share his convictions [...] he is considered a lunatic extremist."

Really? Every mage thought that? Every person who ever went to his clinic to be healed (for free, by the way) thought he was just some “lunatic”? Every member of the Mage Underground, every mage that he helped rescue from the Gallows, every person he sheltered and freed and healed, his lover, his friends, EVERYONE thought that he was just a “lunatic extremist”??

This line is actually disgusting. The Templars wrote him off as a “lunatic” when he didn’t play the victim like they wanted him to, and the Chantry called him an “extremist” for daring to oppose them. These are the words that were used by his oppressors to further oppress him and dismiss his very real and valid concerns. His supporters never thought this.

Honestly, the entire "relationships" section is just garbage. He doesn’t bring misery to everyone he encounters, he brings every Hawke nothing but joy and they all love him because he's a wonderful, kind, smart person who's easy to love and they’re starting a fan club for him and inviting everyone who respects and appreciates him to join.

"He's most likely to value those who don't deny, excuse, or rationalize his multitude of sins."

This is the worst line. “Anders doesn’t want to be supported, he wants you to hate him and think he’s a monster because that’s the only way he’ll learn!” Also since it’s relevant, here’s a line they have later: "He wants to be [a] good person [...] but he can't see the way forward through the fog of anger and remorse. He needs a guide." They’re saying what the Chantry says, that mages can’t be trusted to make their own decisions. That they can’t be trusted with the responsibility of managing their own lives. He’s just a “troubled” “lunatic” in need of someone to guide his subhuman incompetent self through basic life choices. He doesn’t want someone to support his beliefs and decisions, he needs someone who will tear them down and tell him why he’s wrong, and instruct him on how he’s supposed to act instead. (Fun fact, that’s abusive!)

Also to me this reads as a fun little dig designed to try and guilt people who support Anders by trying to tell us that he doesn’t value us or our support and doesn’t want it, and that what we’re doing is actually bad for him, so that’s fun.

"Anders is a pariah, arguably the most universally despised person alive"

Hawke's new Anders fan club/support group says otherwise. Also the Hero of Ferelden is a member now too, because fuck you, she loves him unconditionally. Seriously though, it’s just unrealistic that no one would support him. The fandom proves this. LOTS of people support him. And his actions didn’t even save us specifically from a lifetime of abuse/death, whereas for the Kirkwall mages in game it very much did.

"But only the most bloodthirsty fanatics condone the cold-blooded murder of hundreds."

And please note their second attempt to try and guilt people who support Anders, this time by calling us "bloodthirsty fanatics". Cute, no? I support Anders even more now, fuck you.

“Vengeance's hushed whispers chip away at Ander's desperate desire for atonement."

Justice (/"Vengeance") OPPOSES Anders' "desire for atonement"?? Justice. Justice who spends half of Awakening running around telling your companions to atone for their wrongdoings. (Atone is actually literally the word he uses with Velanna!) That guy wasn't on board with Anders' "desire for atonement"?

Again, bullshit, even if we’re not considering the fact that Hawke CAN kill Anders, which is something they wouldn't have been physically possible unless Justice had allowed it. Justice protects Anders from physical harm all other times, why would that suddenly not apply? Because as I said, this goes against everything either of them stands for, and while they both see it as necessary they both desire atonement and justice. Anders wants it because of the guilt and depression he feels, and Justice wants it because they need to atone because that's what is just, and also because he's scared of becoming a demon.

Okay, less important, but what’s up with those stats?

Why does his "deception/persuasion" stat go up when he joins with Justice? The book itself claimed that pre-Justice Anders was charming and impossible not to like, while together they were apparently utterly unlikable. Also Justice is basically physically incapable of deception, since he HAS to always act on his nature.

Also his empathy is at 2 for both, despite them literally claiming that Justice increased his empathy. (And despite Anders being canonically one of the most empathetic people in the series, but I digress.)

In conclusion.

tl;dr Anders is the best person I know, fuck you.

#anders #dragon age #dragon age 2 #anders was right #faces of thedas #as written by knight commander meredith apparently because who else would tell such blatant lies #none of this is even touching on how badly they demonized and vilified justice. i might even make a whole separate post because justice is #good person too

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gg-astrology · 5 years

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I seriously love your blog, you put in so much time and effort into all of this so thank you (: What are you thoughts on cap sun, pisces moon, and scorpio rising girls?

Hey there!! 💕💕💕💕 Aaaaah thank u so much! 💕💕 I’m just Doing My Best Here 💕

[Below Cut: Capricorn Sun - Pisces Moon 💧]

Highly artistic and dreamy individual?

These people likes to escape reality into their fantasy world, has a lot of imaginative qualities to them that probably often secretly (or openly) day-dream about stuff while looking out the window (listening to music is a daily ritual/activity-- rich inner world, doesn’t like to be disturbed)

To the people outside they may look dreamy/mysterious--- one of those rebellious type of people who’s like ‘-shrugs- yeah I like their music’ to an obscure artist or something.

Soft smiles, often sleepy. These people enjoys sleeping and relaxing more than the typical Capricorn. They move at their own pace (slow, relax) looks laid back when they’re stress free. Laughs easier.

Probably keeps a notebook with them skdjfnkdnf or something to take notes in will help them expresses themselves/keep track of their minds

They don’t know this but literally they’re like....kinda hipster ksjnfknsdkvn

Ah and sometimes no matter how they appea,r whether they talk about it openly or not--- they have a strange connection to the morbid/darker side of life sometimes

The thing about these people is that they often don’t know where these ‘intuitions’ are coming from -- they may be prone to recognizing/realizing some of their emotions (like melancholic, missing someone, strong emotions) but the happier ones, or rather the more ‘neutral’ ones to them are like-- confusion???????

Because they’re kinda slow on the up-take, they can take days for Moods to let go of them (like, if they were writing a personal piece one night letting it all out-- then the next few days it’ll STILL be with them)

They’re rather observers, so they take notice/interests in things about others like their emotionality/mood quite easily

At the same time, they are kinder and much more compassionate than most Capricorn. The way they approach these things is sometimes with uncertainty, like ‘is this my business? should i say something?’ to a person they don’t know-- but to close friends, they’re quick to softly and subtlety offer their hands/energy if they need them

While they may be soft and understanding, they are however a little detached because Capricorn is quite an independent sign. If the other person needs them, they will have to seek them out. Or if the opportunity is there, then it will happen.

Don’t wait for these people to come running asking for updates on situations, sometimes the stress/empathy they have for others can affect their own moods/stress-level and mentality. So they can’t let others over-consume their brain/energy level.

Y know, like. ‘Im here for you.’ But they also expect you to know they aren’t your slave and can’t be at your every beck and call--- or there to receive the backlash of your emotions all the time

No matter how perceptive these Capricorn/Pisces gets--- they still have some consciousness/independence in them and will not stand for more than what they can handle

As in, they’ll let you know if they need a ‘time out’ from your emotional drama. It’s not you, it’s them. They can’t handle That Much emotions.

So you get this enigmatic character (for others) that adds to their appeal, sensitive and stubborn, independent yet caring. They’re a living breathing ‘soft, sensitive lover’ trope although nobody would’ve guessed it exactly (because they may not like to ‘look’ vulnerable to the surface in case anyone takes advantage of them/think they can impose themselves onto them--- they’re defensive and on-guard at All Times).

Yet knowing the Capricorn/Pisces and staying with them can be more complicated than that, they don’t even know themselves sometimes dfkjnkn so they might look for partners who sparks an understanding in them, a sense that they energize them, get them, can teach them more about themselves (because they may know them better than the Capricorn/Pisces does)

Watch that they aren’t doing this so they’re like--- getting soft and easily romanticized. These Capricorn/Pisces person can have a hard time letting go, feelings overwhelmed them but they always want to make like-- a present or something heart-felt/sincere so the other person knows they’re always appreciated and loved so much by them.

(They may be notoriously bad at saying this out loud so you’ll get like, gifts or letters to express this instead ksdjnkdn)

With Capricorn/Pisces-- because they have pretty high ideals, they also have really high moral ethics and won’t compromise their humane/ethical considerations for success.

Which--y know, is an extremely good thing because it makes them such a strong advocate for certain things. But because they do have that Pisces-- they tend to over-analyze themselves and their actions, trying to ‘catch’ themselves both past and present if they’ve ever done anything contradictory to what they strongly believe in.

If they do catch themselves being ‘hypocritical’ in situations, they’re immediately distraught. Although it’s pretty funny to bystander (that’s a lil insensitive) they also have to realize that people grow, and it’s admitting that they grow/develop change and giving this disclosure is what makes us humans in society.

The Capricorn/Pisces is stubborn, it doesn’t like to believe it was EVER wrong in it’s life. Instead of living in self-pity, these people would rather repress everything and think they do not want to live with ‘regrets’.

Past mistakes are experiences that could be made into poems/creative outlet. But letting mistakes be mistakes, just admitting that it was a mistake-- is something that’s extremely hard for them to admit to.

Although they don’t like to admit it (and they know, they just don’t like to face the situation) -- they know they may have unchecked ego. No matter how much they strive to be compassionate, giving, better to other people. They’ll always have this fear of facing themselves, and the part of them that they (w/ prejudice) think is selfish, manipulative, egoistic and hard-headed. Anything they don’t want to be.

Want to accept the good side (prove to others that they’re good) without acknowledging the bad, or wanting the bad side to be something else. Something more manageable for them to fix or learn from or admit to

(They don’t like their own problems. And this can lead them to procrastinating theirs and fixing everyone else’s problems instead).

Aaaah these Capricorn/Pisces are sensitive, but don’t worry your problems aren’t that big of a deal ;; 💕 It’s easily adjustable too, since it’s just-- this one big clump of core problem that you can easily untangle one and then everything else will be good for you dskfgjnksdfnjg

It’s hard-- and it’s definitely troublesome because it is a big deal to you. I think the biggest thing right now is to do some self-evaluation. Our end goal is to have you become more self-accepting sincerely/honestly through hard work and not just saying you are.

If you’re into astrology, look to where your Pluto is on your chart. See what it’s aspecting and try to focus your energy in getting along/understanding Pluto better (or Neptune/Uranus and tackling it’s problem if that’s the case)

Anything in 12H could help as well, try looking at the ruler or any planets in the house. Try looking at how to manifest/bring or work with that energy into it being easier for you (learning it’s lessons)

If you’re new to astrology and just want to have a good time, here’s some practical advice for you: try embodying or thinking about a Cancer friend. They won’t let you get away with this stuff, and they’re much easier to handle when they’re giving you support/advice when you’re emotionally vulnerable than you realize.

Given that this Cancer has a semi-decent relationship with you, they’ll be better at letting you adjust and admit at your own pace when you want to ‘face’ your faults.

But you have to do it, just remember that the Cancer is supportive and there for you so you’ll have to take the ‘role’ of a more objective and less emotional person because of this relationship. It’ll be natural, since you tend to switch gears when someone is more sensitive/emotionally astute than you are anyways.

The hardest part is ‘facing’ your faults, and there’s no shame is putting yourself in situations where you feel surrounded by people who are clearly and overwhelming better than you at emotions. It makes you learn (through osmosis ksjnfsk) how to recognize and be better at emotions, so really-- seek them out!

Another thing about Capricorn/Pisces is that they can feel negative emotions stronger than happy ones skdjfnksn especially when it comes to their own guilt partially because of the ‘heaviness’ of their emotions

They have a highly reactive imagination-- sometimes they day-dream about things occurring to them: along the terms of ‘saving’ someone (themselves/others) or a particularly hard and unforgettable thing where they come out successful/happy afterwards (healed). There’s some ‘hope/happiness’ in saving themselves/others, and they may funnel their ‘ambition’ into those imagination this way instead.

Sometimes they are just sad or feeling over-casted for some reason, if they need space/feeling detached it’s mostly because they’re a rather receptive person to how they are in the material world and how ‘heavy’ it can be

That’s all I have for Capricorn/Pisces 💕 I hope you enjoyed! 💕

#capricorn sun #pisces moon #capricorn #pisces #capricorn-pisces #anon #asks

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queen-of-bel · 5 years

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part 3 of a series i'm doing on analyzing the desu characters

naoya | kaido | amane | gin | mari

I'll be talking about Atsuro in this post since @roomofangel-s encouraged me to write one and I was planning on writing one anyway. I'll be honest, this was a challenge. Atsuro doesn't undergo any character development throughout the game, and is pretty much the definition of "what you see is what you get". He's a very straightfoward person and is fiercely loyal to Kazuya, but that's about it.

Still, every other Devil Survivor character has their own personal motivations for their actions throughout the game, and I really found it odd that only Atsuro was the one who showed this utter lack of conviction. No matter which route Kazuya chooses, Atsuro is there for him. Atsuro has his own idea of how to end the lockdown, but he's the only person who willingly abandons their idea to immediately join Kazuya if Kazuya chooses a different idea.

(I say "immediately" because there is one character who switches sides in Overclocked, but I'll leave that for her analysis. Also, Yuzu's idea doesn't count as having a belief.)

So, Atsuro didn't show any indication of standing his ground, and really, all his character boiled down to "loyal to his best friend". Given that every other character is fleshed out, I found it hard to believe that such a major character as Atsuro is as plain as he initially appears. But after thinking about it more, I think this lack of conviction is exactly what defines Atsuro as a character.

Atsuro doesn't really lack conviction per se, but what he lacks is the confidence to stand up for what he believes in. Given everything that's presented in game about him, there's only one reason I can think of for that.

At the end of the day, Atsuro is a very lonely person, who is desperate for friendship. This desperation leaves him with a fear of abandonment, an aversion to conflict, and ultimately, he is too scared to stand up to others.

Atsuro was born to computer science researchers who moved to California when he was in grade school. They offered him the chance to come along, but he always refused, citing his poor English. Now, this was made as a passing remark, but it's actually something interesting to note. Grade school children already aren't really fluent in their native language, and they tend to be more confident in attempting to speak a second language. For a young child to be willing to separate from his parents (who are both presumably fluent in English) simply because he doesn't think he can speak the language well enough speaks volumes about his self-confidence.

He spent most of his childhood online, making friends with college students and adults as his parents were away and his friends had cram school. He says that nobody ever caught on that he was just a child, which is a good testament to how mature he is, even as a child.

Atsuro also states that while it was fun to have the anonymity of the internet, he wasn't doing it to have fun-- he was doing it because it was all he had. Again, this was made as a passing remark, but if a child thinks that all he has is the solace of internet friends and the anonymity that comes with it, then that's an indication that the child is extremely lonely in real life.

We also know that he was bullied in middle school. Thankfully it didn't go too far since Keisuke helped stand up for him, but Atsuro easily admits that without Keisuke's help, he would've been at the bullies' mercy.

So now, we can start to understand what kind of childhood Atsuro had. He was lonely and insecure, unwilling to stand up for himself, and felt most comfortable in an environment where people didn't know who he was.

This leads him to who he is now. Atsuro is very loyal to his friends, but at the expense of his own morals. This is evidenced in Naoya's seventh day, just before Kazuya summons Babel. Atsuro says that he's unsure of whether or not they're doing the right thing, but he'll always be Kazuya's friend regardless.

Now, what Atsuro has agreed to do isn't a small favor, or even a large one. Atsuro has agreed to kill YHVH. That's one hell of a commitment, and requires a strong amount of determination. The decision to stand by Kazuya goes beyond typical friend loyalty. Even Yuzu, who's obviously in love with Kazuya, backed out because she thought it was the wrong path to follow.

So, what gives? Why does Atsuro stand by Kazuya to make such an extreme decision when he doesn't believe in it?

The answer to that ties back to Atsuro's insecurities and loneliness. Kazuya is his best friend, and Atsuro treasures that more than anything else. Just to state it one more time to really understand what their friendship means to him, Atsuro would rather kill God than lose his best friend.

This isn't the only time Atsuro is willing to compromise his morals for his friends. He's demonstrated a few times that he is extremely loyal to his friends, perhaps to a fault. This is particularly evident in his relationship with Keisuke.

On the first day, when Atsuro runs into Keisuke, Keisuke runs away when he sees their death clock at 0. Kazuya tells Atsuro and Yuzu this, but Atsuro denies it, saying it isn't possible. But remember, Atsuro hadn't seen or talked to Keisuke in 2-3 years, and realistically Keisuke has changed since he was a middle school student. And yet, Atsuro was very adamant that Keisuke would never do such a thing. It's a realistic and understandable reaction, but it's important to note how Atsuro still holds Keisuke in high regard and is so loyal to someone he lost contact with years ago.

On the second day, when the Laplace email predicts that there will be over 50 casualties because of a demon invasion in Ikebukuro, he is initially extremely concerned about all of the victims, but when he realizes Keisuke is in danger his priorities change. When Yuzu points out that there are supposed to be 50 other potential casualties, Atsuro tells her to basically forget about that and focus all their efforts on saving Keisuke. From this exchange, it's clear that Atsuro prioritizes Keisuke's wellbeing over the others. He could've said to defeat the demons to save everyone, but he made a conscious decision to shove the thought of the 50 others out of his mind and only cared about saving one person-- his friend.

A small aside, Atsuro loses his temper with Keisuke after that battle, which is, interestingly enough, the only time in the game we see him willingly conflict with a friend.

On the fifth day when Kazuya confronts Keisuke about Yama, Atsuro asks Kazuya if there's any way to essentially turn a blind eye to Keisuke's actions. He doesn't want to fight his friend, and is willing to set aside their differences despite vehemently objecting to Keisuke's actions.

Of course he knows that Keisuke is in the wrong, but he's so averse to conflict that he's willing to compromise his morals and settle things with an "agree to disagree" mindset.

Atsuro has also been shown to be unwilling to stand up for himself. This is evident in his friendship with Yuzu.

I won't mince words. Yuzu is not very kind to Atsuro. Yuzu cares for Atsuro, but her teasing goes too far at times. We know that this is a habitual occurence, though, because of his (lack of) a reaction, and he tells Kaido on Naoya's eighth day that he's used to fighting with Yuzu. Atsuro never tells her to stop, though, and the most likely reason I can think of is his aversion to conflict. In his mind, it's better to have a friend who takes things too far, than to not have one at all.

Something else to consider is that Atsuro is vaguely implied to have feelings for Yuzu. At the end of Naoya's no kill route, when Yuzu and Atsuro are reading an email from Naoya, Naoya says that Kazuya will be coming home soon, and thus Atsuro's momentary dream will end.

Naoya's use of the word "momentary" means Atsuro's dream was only viable when Kazuya was gone. There's also the fact that Atsuro becomes extremely embarrassed when Yuzu asks him about it and quickly tries to change the subject. The only thing I can think of to explain this is that he has feelings for Yuzu, and hoped Yuzu would reciprocate once Kazuya is gone. Seeing as Kazuya is coming back soon, Yuzu's feelings for Kazuya won't fade, and Naoya knows that.

Again, this is a subtle event, but it would explain why Atsuro became Yuzu's gofer throughout the lockdown without complaint. If we compare Yuzu's actions around the person she likes to Atsuro's, we can see a big difference, and Atsuro's unwillingness to stand up for himself is apparent.

If Yuzu disagrees with Kazuya, she'll put aside her feelings and stand by what she believes in. She does so when Kazuya initially agrees to Naoya's plan, and even resorts to siding with the angels, who she firmly believes are selfish, to kill Kazuya if he kills any humans during Naoya's eighth day.

Compare this to Atsuro, who accepts Yuzu's teasing (which sometimes borders on verbal abuse) without standing up for himself. The closest he ever gets is telling Yuzu she's being cruel, but even then he phrases it as a nonchalant question and simply lets it go.

Everything I've cited so far is extremely subtle, but together it does show that Atsuro isn't strong enough to stand up for himself or his convictions.

He is the type to enable his friends when they make the wrong decision (Keisuke with Yama, and Kazuya during Naoya's kill route). Despite knowing it's the wrong thing to do, he still becomes a murderer if that's what Kazuya wants. He makes up excuses to himself, saying that this is the only option, but he knows that it isn't. Naoya explicitly gave Kazuya the option to convince humans that the angels are the true enemy, but Atsuro didn't fight for that option. He knew that was the right thing to do, but he didn't speak up out of fear of angering Kazuya and losing his friendship.

So now that we've established that aspect of Atsuro, I'm going to switch gears a bit and talk about another thing which defines Atsuro to me, which is his insecurities.

Atsuro is a very good programmer, and Naoya's best (and most likely only) student. There isn't really any question as to his competency, but Atsuro feels the need to bring up multiple times how good he is at programming and how he's Naoya's star student. He's not lying, so I wouldn't call it overcompensation, but he does so to reiterate in people's minds that he's an extremely accomplished programmer. But it's never good enough for him to just say that he's great at what he does. He always has to back it up with "because I'm Naoya's student". This happens so regularly that Yuzu comments how sick she is of hearing about it.

It's interesting that when Kazuya finishes that sentence for him on the fifth day, Atsuro is dumbstruck and tells Kazuya how much it means to hear that coming from him. His expression implies he wasn't expecting Kazuya to say that, which to me, says that Atsuro still thinks people doubt his abilities, despite being Naoya's apprentice.

The thing is, whenever he says that, it always feels to me like he's leaning on that as proof of his accomplishments.

Atsuro was able to decrypt Naoya's work multiple times, even when the Shomonkai couldn't even do so themselves.

This is solid evidence of Atsuro's abilities, but he never lets his work speak for itself. If he constantly has to rely on Naoya's endorsement, it shows he's always second guessing the quality of his work. He believes that people will still doubt him, despite looking at what he's accomplished, but if he has Naoya's recommendation, then he has to be good, right? Ultimately, it feels like he has no faith in his abilities, and has to rely on external praise in order to feel validated.

Atsuro comes off as a very loyal friend, and while he certainly is, I don't see it coming from genuine support of his friends. I see it stemming from a fear of abandonment, and an unwillingness to stand up for himself and his beliefs. Atsuro is loyal to a fault, resulting in him compromising or even abandoning his morals completely. So as harsh as it may sound, I think the adjective "weak" is better suited to describe Atsuro than "loyal".

#honestly how loyal atsuro is was always something that bugged me #it went beyond just being supportive of a friend #and now i firmly believe that his loyalty is actually more selfish than it initially seems #devil survivor #desu #desu character analyses #amelia rambles #atsuro kihara #desu rambles

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windup-warrior · 5 years

Text

Prompt 14: Validation

False Saviors

“When a man feels that he has a divine mission, say to lift up, to save or to liberate mankind‐‐when a man feels the divine spark in his heart and believes that he is the mouthpiece of supernatural imperatives‐‐ when such a mission in. flames him, it is only natural that he should stand beyond all merely reasonable standards of judgment. He feels that he is himself sanctified by this mission, that he is himself a type of a higher order! . . . What has a priest to do with philosophy! He stands far above it!‐‐And hitherto the priest has ruled!‐‐He has determined the meaning of "true" and "not true"!”

― Friedrich Nietzsche

Though I grew up primarily in Dravania, I was born in the Holy See of Ishgard. My father’s family served House Haillenarte for generations and his wife came from one of the lower high houses. While they were by no means of elevated status, they certainly weren’t any sort of Brume trash. Now, don’t get me wrong, I have absolutely nothing against those who call the Brume home. In fact, I likely have more in common with them than I do of any inhabitant of the Pillars. But the whole point of what I was saying is that I came from a good family. A well respected family that had served Ishgard for generations upon generations, ever since coming to Ishgard well before the Holy See closed itself off to the rest of Eorzea. I think my father said they came to Ishgard sometime during the Sixth Astral Era, in the time of King Thordan, First of his Name.

Thordan and his merry men rose to power and thus began a long standing pattern within Ishgard of isolationism, xenophobia, racism, sexism, and classism. It became the Haves and the Have Nots. My father and his family teetered on the very periphery of the Haves, narrowly maintaining their lifestyle, status, and level of acceptance within Ishgardian society, mostly by sacrificing their morals and virtues, compromising their very humanity for the sake of holding on to some sliver of contented power within Ishgard. Now… that’s not really the way I would want to live, but hey to each their own, right?

Right. Anyways. My father’s wife, I don’t call her my mother because I bear none of her blood despite being born of her mortal body, was a sweet, if complacent, woman. She lived to serve and served to live, and when one of the Lords of the high houses sought to exploit that, she was left with a burgeoning bastard child in her womb and a broken heart to match her shame. She died, but not before the Void took hold of her and claimed her body for their own. My father had no clue. I figure he was drunk more often than not and if not, he was definitely oblivious. He joined with his Voidtouched wife only to find that rather than his beautiful wife, he instead had just fucked a monster.

Don’t kink shame, it’s evidently some peoples’ ‘thing’.

Not his though. The succubus managed to leave before he could kill her, escaping with his wife’s body and leaving in her place a tiny baby. A pink and blue haired baby with eyes of fire, molten lava alive in the infant’s gaze, if not her very soul. Judging by what I see every time I look in a mirror, I can only imagine that such a thing would be immensely disconcerting. But I was just a baby. My father didn’t know what to do, but he did know that if word got out that he had not only consorted with a Voidsent succubus but also ended up with a child due to the union, he would be assuredly tried for heresy. Under the cover of night just twenty-four hours later, my father left the Holy See of Ishgard with me and as much of his wealth as he could manage to take in a single trip.

Twenty-one years later, I returned to Ishgard under the protection of House Fortemps thanks to another bastard of the high houses. I owe my life a thousand times over to Haurchefant Greystone and the hospitality of his father’s house was integral to my journey thus far. When I returned, I couldn’t help but wonder just how many of the people I saw would have known my father once upon a time. I had long since abandoned his family name, taking instead Garwynn’s for my own. Though I received my share of queer looks from passersby, my reputation as the Warrior of Light seemed to outweigh their discomfort.

Eventually I was summoned to the chambers of Archbishop Thordan VII. At first glance, he was as unassuming as anyone’s grandfather could be, a wise but stern old man who was well respected as Ishgard’s leader. We spoke of war and of peace and of the things to come and I couldn’t help but worry that there was more to the man than met the eye. He was cunning and ruthless and seemingly willing to do anything necessary to end the war with the dragons. Even if that meant consorting with Ascians, foul scum that they are.

I did his bidding, as ashamed as I am to admit it. But when he eventually threw Aymeric de Borel into the Vault and sought to do away with the truth after everything I had done for him and for the people of Ishgard, enough was enough. We fought our way through the Vault and freed Aymeric then sought to chase down Thordan and his knights before they could make their escape. What ensued was the worst day of my life. Thordan escaped and as he did, I lost the first person to ever understand me in my adult life.

My first true friend, my first almost love, he died in my arms while that pious asshole ran away without so much as a fleeting look back. In a world where so often I felt as though my only purpose was to do the selfish bidding of others, Haurchefant had reminded me that there were genuinely good people in this world. Having him ripped away so suddenly, so callously, so violently… it wasn’t fair. But it was validation… validation of the worst sort and confirmation of all I had known as a child.

Thordan had to die for his sins.

And damn it, it would be by my hand if it was the last thing I did.

#FFxivWrite2018 #spoilers #heavensward #heavensward spoilers #Haurchefant Greystone #Aymeric de Borel #King Thordan #Karma #Warrior of Light #writing prompt #Ishgard

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poipoi1912 · 6 years

Text

Barba-centric thoughts on Ep 19x13

For the last time.

But first, to get it out of the way.

Sonny Thoughts

Who’s that?

No but, are we honestly expected to believe that Sonny would pass on observing Barba’s murder trial?

Sonny, who is a lawyer himself, would pass on witnessing a) any colleague’s MURDER TRIAL, b) BARBA’S murder trial, c) Randy Dworkin working his magic and d) the skills of Peter Stone, out of sheer curiosity? How does any of that make sense? Sonny as a law student was eager to shadow Barba just to observe a random trial he had no personal connection to, and he’d return to the precinct literally saying “court was AWESOME” while the others rolled their eyes, and now that he’s a lawyer, all he does is say “lol it’s a good thing I’m a cop”?

Remember when the conversation was “will Carisi join or even replace Barba at the DA’s office?” to the point where Peter was asked about it in interviews? Remember when Sonny’s law degree had a purpose? When it was building up to something, to a potential change? When Sonny actively faced a dilemma? Now it’s only good for a throwaway line.

What has Sonny done all season?

Nothing.

Which brings me to, what has Barba done this season?

A lot, and none of it’s good, unfortunately.

Barba Thoughts

Barba has messed up many times this season. Too many. Twice it’s been completely intentional (causing a mistrial with the jurors on that elevator, and this). We’ve seen him act way too emotional for someone in his position, and indeed we have seen his heart guiding him (like it did the other week, with the alt-right/antifa case, when he dropped the charges because his heart wasn’t in it). It’s a fact that Barba changed, a lot, over the years, and this season saw him going through even greater changes.

In the past, he always had his integrity. He may have misstepped before (like with Munoz, who was a very close childhood friend) and he may have held opinions which pitted him against the squad or the police in general (the Terrence Reynolds case), but he always held his positions with impressive, if firm, conviction. Just last season, he admitted to what was, at the time, his “deepest” secret, i.e. giving money for drugs to a witness who ended up OD’ing, and even then he believed he had done the right thing.

Because he did do the right thing. Then.

This season, however, Barba has been doing the wrong thing, way too often.

Part of me appreciated the focus on Barba’s decisions, and part of me was suspicious (as I mentioned recently) because I knew that, usually, when a character receives an unprecedented amount of focus, it means they’re on their way out, and all those “bigger” moments are meant to sett up their exit arc.

I was wrong.

Barba’s exit wasn’t the result of his longterm disenchantment with his work. Barba’s exit wasn’t set up previously at all. Barba’s prior mistakes were, in retrospect, simply meant to highlight the fact he has turned into Liv, i.e. he shows complete disregard for the law and just does whatever he wants wait no, I mean, he has grown a heart. also he could never fully become Liv because her actions never have consequences Because you can’t have a heart and still prosecute criminals? For some reason? Do the writers know Barba wasn’t a defense attorney?

Anyway,

This was no masterplan. Barba’s exit happened on a whim. Even though the writers have known about Raul’s desire to leave since literally before the season started, they did nothing to create an actual exit arc. They just used him as normal, and they came out with the most dramatic, far-fetched and soapy idea they could to create a single exit episode, instead. Which Barba then had to share with McCoy and his own replacement, both of whom took up valuable time which could have been spent on Barba himself, and on highlighting Barba’s importance to the entire squad.

When an actor leaves amicably, and when they graciously make themselves available for an exit “arc”, it’s customary to treat them with the analogous level of respect.

Barba deserved a tribute, and this episode was no tribute to Rafael Barba.

Case(y) Thoughts

Remember when I said a “right to die” case had some potential for an exit arc, even though it would never come close to (the actual best ADA) Casey Novak’s iconic exit in S9? Casey, of course, put her career on the line by knowingly lying about evidence (i.e. something a lawyer would conceivably do), because she wanted justice. Because she tried to help a friend and colleague (my fave, Chester Lake) who snapped and resorted to extreme actions when the system failed him and a victim.

“He deserved to pay.”

“And so do you.”

That’s how you write a morally gray exit.

You do NOT have an Assistant District Attorney literally turn off life support for a baby even though he is not a doctor or even a relative of the child. Truly no one would do what he did in real life. No one. No matter what half-assed and canonically inaccurate story the writers tried to spin about his father.

Can you imagine? Physically ending a life thus rendering yourself liable for homicide? When it’s not your place to do so? And you are fully aware of the legal ramifications? When the life in question is a child’s life, and the parents disagree on what to do? Can you imagine “siding” with one parent and taking that final (and irreversible) step, as the other parent is forced to forever live with the consequences of your actions?

Can you imagine any of us finding any of that ethical?

Can you imagine that, instead of having Barba passionately argue a case for the right to die, or find a smart, legal-yet-shady way to help the mother do the deed herself without being charged for a crime (which was what I thought was going to happen, when the episode began), the writers had him physically pull the plug?

With that one move, and with the fact Barba’s actions were attributed to (selfish) emotion, because of his father, Barba lost his moral footing, no matter what that opening eulogy tried to tell us. His position on the matter may well have been correct (it was certainly defensible), as was his instinct to help that poor mother, but his actions were wrong. And this is now how or why I wanted him to leave. Not because he was so very wrong.

Squad Thoughts

I admire Liv for personally and single-handedly manning an entire Special Victims Unit while taking the time to attend lengthy trials and also haphazardly inserting herself to any and all hostage situations in the Tri-State Area.

Stone Thoughts

Eh. That said, I did like his quip about the Class A Felony. My Barba thoughts aside, I’ve been saying it all along, SVU needs a prosecutor who does the job without being emotionally compromised every five minutes. It’s one thing if A Case hits home, but an ADA who can’t do his job because his feelings are clouding his judgment shouldn’t have a job oh wait he no longer has a job lol.

Also I can’t believe I’m saying this but I was Team Stone, not Team Liv (or Team Barba) and I kinda think that’s exactly what the showrunner intended? And I’m offended I fell for it? But Stone was right so I had no choice but to agree with him? is it because i’m a lawyer too omg

I’m conflicted. But Liv dissing him over not having children (I hate that more than I hate most things by the way) and then acting like Barba, who also has no children, “gets it”, I guess because he’s been around her long enough, and her parenting skills are so good they’ve transferred over to him? Ugh.

Seriously, Team Stone. Do you think there’s a chance the showrunner (who created the character and is clearly attached to him) will actually let Stone be his own person? And challenge Liv on equal footing? Because Liv might be Liv, and Mariska might be Mariska, but the showrunner’s love for Peter Stone might be enough to keep him from being swallowed by the Benson Vortex?

(and do I kinda like that? Are they gonna make me like Peter Stone by having him disagree with Liv every time she’s wrong i.e. all the time? Because I’m open to it 👀)

Religious Thoughts

Both Barba and Carisi have talked about their faith in the past. Carisi especially is a man of faith who regularly goes to church and has been shown to be a true believer. And yet, he had no insight to offer about what the Church might have to say about a case like this. In fact, religion was not mentioned at all. During this case, of all cases. In my opinion, that was because the writers knew that by religious standards there is no defense for Barba’s actions, and they didn’t want to give the audience a reason to think negatively of him. Still, this was a glaring omission.

Stray Thoughts

“Weasel”? They couldn’t find a better word lol?

RANDY DWORKIN. Not an obvious choice to defend Barba (oh, Rita, where art thou?), but definitely an entertaining one. I felt like I was watching the original Law & Order every time he spoke. Also, every single thing he argued was, indeed, defensible, and the writers made a decent (if schmaltzy) effort to paint Barba’s actions in a positive light, but the fact remains; having the right to die (which I personally support) is not the same thing as allowing a complete stranger to (technically) kill you “for your own good”. Even if it was the right decision, it was not Barba’s decision to make, and the trial glossed over that a bit.

Jack is still the DA? Since when? And why did they never namedrop him in all these years?

Both Peter Stone’s Class A felony quip and Jack’s quip about it being “unbecoming” to have his ADA’s killing people were great lines, but they rubbed me the wrong way because they were effectively making fun of Barba? But also they were accurate? And Barba deserved to be dragged? Again, I’m conflicted.

The new showrunner can write dialogue very well, but he cannot write season-long arcs (the Sheila mess confirmed that), he can’t write characters well or consistently, and he struggles with original episode ideas. For Season 19, I guess that’s not so bad. But for television in general, in its current thriving state, it’s pretty disappointing.

Liv, to an Assistant District Attorney: Forget the law for a minute.

me: *facepalm*

Peter Stone: lol how ‘bout I don’t?

me: u go gurl

The Barisi Corner

One last time, for old times’ sake.

The ship lives forever in our hearts. Where it’s always lived.

And also in Peter Scanavino’s heart ❤️

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pidgelings · 6 years

Note

Hey! Did you update the AU list? I don't recall seeing that Suasoculi AU. What the heck is it?

Hi, anon !! Yes, I did update the AU List and yes that’s one of my new AUs.

XD Yeah, the name doesn’t explain much, does it? So, basically, a Suasoculi (or “Suassie” for short) is a creature I came up with (don’t know if there are any mythological equivalents, so if there are let me know).

Basically, the name “Suasoculi” comes from two Latin words:Suasorius which means PersuasiveandOculi which means Eyes

A Suasoculi is either a creature that looks human (but does have an alternate, somewhat less human form) or a cursed human whose eyes have a constant hypnotic power to them that the holder can’t control. Basically, if they make eye contact with any person or creature (except for their own kind), they gain control over them. The power can be blocked by things that block the eyes (sunglasses work best but contacts don’t work at all).

The AU focuses mostly on Pidge, who’s a Suassie, but Keith also is a rather important character. The pairings of the AU are Plance (of course) and Sheith. Anyways, enough explanation, time to get into the plot !!

Suasoculi AU

Pidge

Pidge was born a Suassie and has had her power for as long as she could remember

No one else in her family is one so she’s one of the “Cursed Human” variants of Suassie (how she became one is unclear)

It was kinda hard to grow up as one because her power became stronger as she aged

As a baby, her eyes would just cause someone to stare at them for too long but as she grew up, she found she could control people by making eye contact with them and giving a command

She became afraid of her power and tried to find a way to control or hide it

When she couldn’t control it, she found out that sunglasses could hide it

She quickly bought a permanent pair and only used her power on her family after that to make them not question why she has sunglasses on all the time (she made them believe it was a medical issue)

“I wear them because I’m sensitive to light, okay?”

She’s very much against using her powers on people

It makes her really uncomfortable with the idea of controlling people

The only times she uses the ability is to protect herself and occasionally protect someone else

She hates having the power and she really wishes she could get rid of it

Sadly, nothing can get rid of it

She’s rather isolated and lonely as a result of the fear of her power

That changes when she meets Lance and Hunk though

Lance, Hunk, and “The Debate”

Pidge meets Lance and Hunk around the start of High School

Lance was oddly determined to become her friend and, eventually, she just allowed it to happen

Lance and Hunk were actually one of the first people to reach out to her (as most people thought she was just weird and left her alone) and really try to befriend her

Of course, they were very confused as to why she wore sunglasses all the time

They didn’t really buy her excuse to being “light sensitive” as she wore them even at night around them and it was usually very dark

They never forced her to explain though

As High School started to draw to a close, Pidge realized she had developed feelings for Lance

Only problem? He was head over heels in love with a girl in their school by the name of Allura

Who could blame him? She was a pretty, take no shit type of girl and very popular

This is where Pidge found herself caught in a debate

It would be so easy to make Lance fall in love with her. All she’d have to do is lock eyes with him and give him the command

But, that would be the wrong thing to do

So, she just kinda hoped that Lance would change his mind and fall for her

He didn’t

This is where the debate became harder and harder for her because she has this power for a reason, isn’t it okay to be a little selfish with it once in a while?

It’s during this debate that she meets Keith

Meeting Keith

Pidge bumped into him by accident

Well, actually, he bumped into her

The bump caused her sunglasses to go askew (showing off her eyes)

When she snapped at him to apologize, he turned to look at her (taking off the sunglasses he was wearing in the process) with a glare, until he noticed she wasn’t going into a catatonic state

Pidge was confused why he wasn’t doing so either

He almost instantly grabbed her arm and pulled her aside, causing her to panic

Who the hell was this guy and what was he going to do to her?!

“Calm down! You’re a Suassie, aren’t you?”

Yup, this guy is the same thing she is

At Pidge’s demands for an explanation, the guy introduces himself as “Keith” and explains to her who he is and what they are

Turns out, she’s not the only person with this ability

There are many others; some good, some bad

Keith is actually trying to track down one of these bad ones by the name of “Lotor”

Lotor kinda stole Keith’s boyfriend from him (and not just in a “you love me now” sort of way)

As a kind of way to figure out what kind of Suassie Pidge is, he asks for her help to get his boyfriend back

Seeing as Pidge wants a distraction from her Lance issue, she agrees to help him

Little does she know she had just entered a battle bigger than what Keith let on

Lotor and the “Champion”

Keith and Pidge manage to track down Lotor a day or two after they met (as Keith was already rather close to finding him)

Turns out, Lotor isn’t alone

He’s got 4 other Suassies with him and one... human?

He greets Keith warmly, contrasted by Keith literal growl of a response

When his eyes fall on Pidge though, he’s interested

“Ah, so the Eyes of Marmora are dragging any Suasoculi they can into their ranks? How cute~”

Keith tells Lotor to shut up but Pidge is already confused

Who the hell are the “Eyes of Marmora??”

Lotor tells Keith to not be that way, after all, shouldn’t he be happy to see his boyfriend is safe?

Yeah, the “human” wearing a strange visor/mask turns out to be Shiro, Keith’s missing boyfriend

The visor/mask makes his eyes unable to be seen, which prevents Keith from freeing Shiro from Lotor’s control

Not only that but Shiro now responds to the call sign of “Champion”

Lotor soon sends Shiro to attack both Keith and Pidge

Now, Pidge has next to no combat training at all and Keith refuses to fight against Shiro

The two are almost taken out... until they are saved by three men wearing rather interesting outfits

Keith seems familiar with these men as he calls one out by name, “Kolivan”

The three drive Lotor’s group and “Champion” away and soon scold Keith

“WHY THE HELL WOULD YOU TRY TO FACE LOTOR ON YOUR OWN AND WHO THE HELL IS THIS?!”

Keith and Pidge are brought back to the EoM base to explain themselves

The Eyes of Marmora

After explaining their actions and being scolded by Kolivan, Pidge is finally told what the “Eyes of Marmora” are

They’re a group of Suassies that either use their powers for the benefit of humanity or don’t use their powers at all (their name comes from the Suassie that formed their group)

They’re in constant battle with the Eyes of Galra (named after the first Suassie who used his powers for this reason), a group of Suassies that desire to use their powers to benefit themselves and only themselves(They’re pretty much the Suassies that want to control the world)

Keith is a member of them and has been raised by them his whole life

Keith tries to explain to Kolivan that he believes that Pidge could be a great member of the EoM if she’s trained as she was willing to help him despite him being a stranger

Kolivan is hesitant but soon asks Pidge if she’d be willing to join their ranks

He warns her that from just helping Keith that she’s now on the Galras’ bad side and isn’t safe anymore

Not really having much of a choice, she joins them

Keith becomes the main person who trains her as he is excellent in combat (when Shiro isn’t the one he’s against)

Pidge picks things up rather quickly as Keith is a rather unrelenting teacher

Soon, she becomes his partner for missions against the Galra

Turns out, Lotor isn’t the only problem as there are many, dangerous Galra that have to be dealt with

So, Pidge often finds herself suiting up to take Galra down

EoM uniforms are pretty much the BoM uniforms but more casual and modern, being made up of hoodies/jackets, sweatpants, and parkour/paintball armorNothing too fancy

The armor, of course, is enchanted so it’s a lot stronger than it looks

Both the EoM and the Galra use a mix of magic and technology

Pidge is also given her first blade after her first successful mission against a Galra known as Sendak

She and Keith have many encounters with “Champion” and all they can really manage to do is drive him away, never beat him as Keith refuses to hurt him still and Pidge isn’t that strong against him

Pidge becomes really dedicated to her EoM training and missions

Questioning of Morals

As Pidge starts to disappear to do EoM stuff more and more, Lance and Hunk become worried

I mean, their friend is becoming so scarce that she’s almost a ghost at this point

The two eventually head over to her house to ask her what’s up

She doesn’t let them come inside, so they compromise by heading out to the local park to talk

She’s very vague when answering their “Where have you been?!” questions

This only causes more worry in both of the boys

“Do you not want to be our friend anymore, Pidge?”“No! It’s nothing like that!”“Then what is it?”“Like I said, I’ve just been busy-”

That’s when Keith shows up

He asks Pidge if the two guys she was talking with were giving her trouble and she explains that they aren’t and they’re just a couple of concerned friends

Lance takes one look at Keith and pretty much instantly doesn’t like him

Dude looks shady as hell and is wearing sunglasses at night like Pidge

Yup. He doesn’t like the fact that Pidge is talking with this guy so casually

Pidge cannot be having shady friends like this

Meanwhile, Keith gets very worried

He asks Pidge if she close with these two guys and when she confirms his suspicions, he gets extra worried

He doesn’t want either of these guys to end up like Shiro

So, because he doesn’t know how to explain things well, he tries to use his power on them to make them leave and forget about Pidge

This only pisses off Pidge and she stops Keith before he can follow through with it

This betrayal of trust really hurts her

She storms off with Lance and Hunk in a rage and makes sure they both get home safely before she wanders off to sulk

She questions if it’s really even smart to be a part of the EoM and questions how she even got into her situation

She cuts herself off from everyone and everything for a few days as she questions her place in the world

This is when Lotor and his group make their move

They bring Pidge out to the local forest and make her an offer: Join the Galra and not only will her family be safe but she’ll have what they know she wants: Lance in love with her

To prove their point, they even already manipulated Lance to love her and present him to her

He, of course, is very happy to see her and tells her that the two of them could be happy together if she just join the Galra

Now, even though she may not be on best terms with Keith and the EoM but she still has her morals and refuses to accept the offer

However, when she tries to free Lance from their control, a visor/mask similar to the one on Shiro is placed on him as he is commanded to attack Pidge like his life depends on it

Not only that but “Champion” is sent to attack her as well

Battle of the Oak Forest

Pidge is well outmatched by just having to fight “Champion” with no backup but Lance attacking her doesn’t help her situation

She also realizes why Keith refuses to hurt “Champion” as she can’t bring herself to hurt Lance

Also, it doesn’t help that Lance is actually really good at fighting when he thinks his life depends on it

Just when Pidge is about to easily be overtaken by both of her attackers, Keith and a few members of the EoM jump in just in time

The EoM members deal with Lotor and his group while Keith takes on Lance and Pidge takes on Shiro

It’s at this point Pidge notices something she never noticed in all of her previous encounters with “Champion”: There’s a weakness in his visor

That means it can be broken off

She changes her battle strategy to do just that

After a few attempts, she manages to break the thing off of Shiro, causing him to stumble

Keith notices what she did and runs from his fight with Lance, telling Pidge to help Lance while he helps Shiro

Pidge does just that, breaking Lance’s visor off as well before using her powers on him to counteract Lotor’s

The other EoM members managed to drive away Lotor’s group so that everyone can escape

Once they return to their base safely, everyone can take a breather

Reunions and Explanations

Finally, Shiro and Keith can have a long-awaited reunion

It’s very soft as Shiro pulls Keith into a hug that lasts a long time

There a bit of tears on both sides of the reunion as both guys are just so relieved to be together once more

Keith makes Shiro swear not to leave him again, even using his power to make him promise for emphases

Shiro already had no plans on leaving Keith again

Kolivan lets the two have their moment while he tells Pidge that she should either explain things to Lance (who is currently asking the EoM members way too many questions) or erase his memories of the whole thing

Pidge chooses the former, pulling Lance aside to explain everything. What she is, what she’s capable of, who the Eyes of Marmora are, who the Galra are, and anything else she thinks she should explain

Lance is really awkward and disbelieving of everything at first until Pidge uses her power to make him believe her

Now being fully aware of everything, Lance takes a note of Shiro and Keith’s reunion

The Galra captured him for a reason and made him do something he vaguely remembered and seeing Keith’s relationship with Shiro gives him a better idea as to what that reason is

Of course, he doesn’t ask Pidge. If his suspicions are correct, she’ll tell him her feelings for him eventually

He’s just not sure how he feels about that idea

Him ending up with Pidge? That’s crazy! Right...?

He doesn’t really have much time to think about it before he and Pidge head home

Now, he just has a lot to think about

Shiro and Lance

Now that Lance is in “the know” of what Pidge is, he kinda grows a friendship with Shiro as he’s really the only other human that he knows of that knows about these “Suassies”

Shiro is a rather nice guy when he’s not trying to murder everything while under the control of the Galra

Lance is kinda curious as to how Shiro and Keith ended up together and Shiro tells him the classic: “It’s a funny story...”

Shiro and Keith became friends in middle school (they’re in college now) and Shiro found out on accident what Keith was

Rather than be afraid of him, he was curious and did his best to learn about what Keith was

Years past and their bond grew stronger and stronger until Shiro finally asked Keith out

Keith was afraid at first because, well, he’s a Suassie and he’s rather dangerous

After a lot of comforting and convincing, the two started dating

Lance: “So, how do you two handle the whole ‘no eye contact’ thing? Isn’t that rather important for intimacy?”

Shiro: *chuckles* “I’ll admit, it’s rather difficult to remember at times and I’ve made the mistake many, many times. Still, there’s no doubt that we care about each other... ...Plus, if I’m going to be honest with you, sometimes we break that rule on purpose...~ The ability to give someone a command they have to obey can... spice things up from time to time~”

Okay, too much info, Shiro --

Still, learning about Shiro and Keith’s relationship really helps Lance come to terms and be comfortable with Pidge being a Suassie

Plus, if anything, he’s a lot more intrigued by her

Also, when Pidge and Keith go off to do EoM stuff, it’s kinda nice for the two to have another human to worry about their safety with

Basically, the two become best bros and Shiro starts to hang out with Lance and Hunk more often

An Ongoing Battle

Even though the Galra don’t have their “Champion” anymore doesn’t mean they’re any less of a threat

That also means that Pidge, Keith and the rest of the EoM have to continue to fight

Keith and Pidge reform their bond after that little bump and become partners once more

Shiro and Lance also become great support for the two Suassies

Hunk would also eventually learn what Pidge is as well and become support for her as well, along with her brother (who already knew Pidge wasn’t normal)

Pidge’s parents would still stay blind to everything but they’d still be protected

After all, the battle is nowhere near done and who knows what other things the Galra have up their sleeves

So, yeah, that’s where this AU is at right now. Hope it interests you !! :D

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james-tea-kirk · 6 years

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Man, I’ve been wanting to write a post since Tuesday and, like, It’s amazing to see the drafts in my head change constantly with even the most minor events happening. Will my life ever slow down and be quiet? Probably not, but it’s how I asked for it to be

I’ve gotten to a point with a lot of my long-term endeavors of fixing issues that the now obvious conclusion is there is nothing I can do. No long message I can send, no outing, no gift, not even a situation to happen in my life that I tell them to actually give power to any more effects I could compose. There’s an odd peace to it, but it isn’t a peace that can conclude things Not in the way of “the compromises to my issues will never be how I want them”, it’s actually more “I don’t think they truly understand my position and any compromise made hasn’t been made out of a full understanding of the issues foundation” which is even worse to me than the original issue.

Why? Sadly I can’t actually tell you the solid reason cause I am not my friends, but I can make pretty sure assumptions.

None of the friends I physically see often have ever had to survive in their lives. I mean truly mean survive. Not to discredit their hardships, maybe more discrediting how they utilize them. Two of my close friends may criticize Christianity to hell and back, but I’m starting to notice the differences in the foundations of how we cope and handle things from the past and present more deeply now than ever. Hate to give Christianity the credit, but these foundational morals, empathy, ways of understanding and giving perspective, are from the values instilled within me through that religion. I don’t mean that people without the background don’t have the skill, rather, they usually have a different way of using the skill. I have seen others without the background utilize them in the ways I do too. However, I will say it was my own smarts that took the values taught from the religion and disconnected them from it, making it a universal skill.

Christianity, specifically evangelism, forced upon a lot of moral/lifestyle-like topics. The ones that really stuck with me that I can recall are:

Every human has a story that should be heard, empathized, understood, and utilized with to further their journey of having a testimony to share within the light of Gods glory

Don’t praise God only when times are good and pray and cry when times are bad. Praise God during all hardships and pleasures and welcome his plan into your life with whatever comes from those events. Learn from hardships and utilize pleasures to live a fulfilled life in Christ

Forgiveness is key to moving on and showing mercy to one another

Think about your comfortableness and question if becoming uncomfortable could be the solution/the right thing to do. (This was mostly in reference to when it came to open prayer, talking to your friends about God, and altar-calls)

Know that whatever happens in your life is a plan and a reason. Do not stress over not being in control, rather, find freedom in knowing it’s all to help and benefit you (This one gets a lot of controversy and flack, but it does ease anxiety to the surfaced minded)

Don’t be bitter or anger for what has happened or is happening. Find ways to use it to strengthen you by using Gods love and glory to help you

Don’t pray for things to happen. Pray for guidance and strength for whatever is planned for you (This was also is confusing/gets flack due to there being an emphasis on “praying for the world/sick/dying ect ect” in the public church square. That type of pray is more to cushion the helplessness humans feel during times of demise where nothing can be done within an individuals/small groups power, not really of questioning Gods plan)

Don’t go through your life alone, especially with bitterness

Love and the pursuit of God is what humanity needs to pull us together again

Now, let's take those foundational beliefs and make them more universal/humanitarian outlook (Which is technically what most enlightenment scholars/past powerful politicians did when it came to adapting the humanistic morals that religion brought):

Every human has a story that should be heard, empathized, and understood. This person should be empowered by other to utilize their experiences to go forward, experience emotions, and learn.

Have a perspective that respects both happy times and sad times, fight the feeling of over-sulking and over-indulging. Let yourself experience the emotions that come and go, learning gratefulness and wisdom from the endeavors, Use what you learned to help others during their times of good and bad

Forgiveness is key to moving on and showing mercy to one another (This one can stay as-is)

Think about your comfortableness and question if becoming uncomfortable could be the solution/the right thing to do. (NOW this can reference more if something is making you uncomfortable, don’t fight it completely. Ask why, and dissect it in depth to help you and/or the other people in this scenario. If it can’t be explained semi-neatly, it’s irrational/purposeless beyond trying to make you //possibly with unintentional selfish intentions// feel okay)

Accept the unfairness of life with a motto of it all about how you look at it. Yes, there are some things that will never really have a ‘good reason’, but there's nothing wrong with acknowledging it’s overall terribleness, but learning good things from it to not repeat it

Don’t be bitter or anger for what has happened or is happening. Find ways to use it to strengthen you by using what you have learned, the people around you, and what you know you can learn to help you

Instead of wasting time in wishing things could be your way/better, find ways to use the situation to make it better for yourself now or in the future. This will force you to learn self-responsibility, patience, and communication among other people in areas it is a possibility to do so

Don’t go through your life alone, especially with bitterness (Again, stays as-is)

Learn to love the gift you never wanted (life) and try to help others in finding their peace. When helping others through vulnerability, emotional guidance, and love, you too will find peace and purpose.

You may say those values above are obvious-- but are they? Sure, they’re obvious in belief, but within actions, they’re lost. That does go for both sides, too. I wouldn’t be surprised by the few eyes who read this will find the teaching I was taught in church to be ‘wrong’ and ‘thats not what churchs teach you’. Trust me, there was a lot of wrongness I went through due to church, but you know what? Acknowledge the bad, and learn the good things from it. Living the example, baby.

I would say the one that is most lose is the one about uncomfortableness. Too many times have conversations been shut down or never fully understood because someone felt ‘uncomfortable’ and that is a valid reason in their mind to drop the topic. I’ve been a victim to this too, but I can honestly say it’s been a while since I’ve done it. The act of questioning and truly seeing if maybe you’re a victim of a belief you don’t want to let go because it makes life easy for you but not for another is such a lost art. It has its dangers, too. Obsession and increased sense of distrust towards yourself can happen, and it sure isn’t fun. But with knowing that’s a possibility, doesn’t that just give you another tool to apply this skill to your life because you now are guarded?

I will say there is a difference between someone shutting down a topic due to those feelings and someone asking if they can think on it and come back another time so they CAN think clearly on their feelings and the others stances. One is avoidance, one is self-awareness of how one learns.

In this time of waiting and hoping, I am alone. I’ve been feeling so dreadful since the last week of December of 2017, probably one of the worst times I’ve been going through, but no one knows. Hell, I’ve been told more time within the past month that I’ve been the brightest I’ve ever been.

Do you know why? It goes back to what I said above: I’ve done all I can do, and nothing in my power will change anything. I do not obsess over the reality over no control, rather, I accept the fact with sadness, but try to live anyways. The issues It’s all on the shoulders of those I hope to hold close for the rest of my days. The weight is currently an oblivious one right now, though, and I can’t give you the exact time it’ll show itself, but it certainly will be soon.

If anything, it isn’t even a huge weight, it’s what they make it. I’m not one to force someone to speak what they say, at least I try not to be. But never got any confirmation of understanding of fully where I come from, how hard it is for me to even stay friends with them. Not even because of their character, but all their stories are filled with events that I can only dream of experiencing. Truly talking to their parents, knowing family love, independence, privacy, freedom, just being yourself without future fear of huge repercussions. These things won’t fully disappear when I grow up, they will linger with a foul stench. It would be nice to know the people closest to me would verbally confirm that “Hey, I know I can’t do anything, and I know you know that too, but I love you, okay? I know it’s hard seeing us live and breath and you have to sit on the bleachers for longer than you should, but I will try my best in everything I can do to make you feel what I’ve always known to be true, okay?” and show it a little too

There wouldn’t even need to be a huge (or even any in parts) change in actions or what they talk about. It’s the matter that I feel/practically know the foundational things behind those things that can make me emotional isn’t fully understood. “It’s anxiety, it’s aroace, its parents”. Okay, but what about those things? Are you really willing to swim in the mud I’ve been drenched in my entire life for a few seconds so I can feel understood and know you will live on understanding me from that experience of vulnerability? It’s not like that’s what I’ve been doing and have been praised for being so “understanding” and “Selfless” for as long as I can remember. It isn’t some skill you can’t obtain, I had to work my god damn asshole off to be like this, and I’m sick of constantly feeling like this teacher/role model everyone loves but will never actually take seriously and learn from

God, I want to go home

#grace rambles #words #and the wait continues #but for how long?#it all depends #what I'd do to be able to drive to the public library right now and be out of this room that's making me ill

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bindy417 · 7 years

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So Stephen Amell did a Q&A video last night on Facebook. One of the questions involved the Susan Williams issue, and he addressed why Oliver acted the way he did in that situation. If you were like me, you were rolling your eyes the entire time as he twisted himself into a pretzel to try and excuse Oliver’s behavior. I don’t really blame him, because the guy isn’t going to say anything negative about a storyline that is currently unfolding even though it is one of the worst ever for his character. It’s his job to promote Arrow, and he’s not going to piss off the higher-ups. However, I do believe he and the writers are getting the message because there was a big push to promote 5x15 and scrambling to do some damage control afterward.

There were many responses to Stephen’s video, and I wanted to share one that I thought was really great and hit on a bunch of important points. It was posted by another Brittany (a.k.a @snarky_bee on Twitter). It’s definitely worth a read, and I’m hoping Stephen (even if he remains radio silent) will take a look at it.

Hey Stephen!

Thanks for answering a few questions tonight. It's really nice to have your perspective on the season & your character added to the mix so it feels more like we can talk TO you about the show instead of AT you about the show.

Since you have expressed some confusion as to where the intensity of unfavorable feelings towards Oliver Queen's actions this season are coming from (considering he's done much worse in the past or you don't even really see the fault in his current actions), I'd love to continue the conversation and respond to some of that with the singular intention of shedding some light on where I, as a fan, am coming from. I have to imagine viewing the show on a week-to-week basis vs. having the information you have behind-the-scenes makes for a wide gap in thought and understanding that sometimes could benefit from being bridged. I hope you will have the time to read this and take it with the heart it is intended. [Addendum A* This ended up being a LOT longer than anticipated. While it would be awesome if you read the whole thing, you may need to kick up your feet somewhere comfortable and grab some Doritos… or, you know, kale chips… whatever floats your boat]

So, let's dive in. Yeah? :)

Let's start with Oliver Queen. That is who you play, after all. When wondering how Oliver's actions this week (and last) in pursuing reconciliation with and absolution for Susan Williams (she is always referred to by her full name on the show, so I'm following suit) ultimately "was the straw that broke the camel's back" for many fans, you reference multiple examples from Oliver's past of things he's done that were MUCH worse. No one (well, at least not me) is arguing that Oliver hasn't had.... questionable morals in past seasons or that he hasn't made tiny (read: huge) "mistakes." However, as a viewer, despite his struggles he was always someone worth rooting for. He was someone who was growing. And he was someone who the audience could sympathize with because of everything he'd been through. Like Felicity, we could see he was a good man with a good heart who was just… in progress. In season 5, Oliver is 5 years into his growth and 5 years into having people in his life who do nothing but support and care for him. His (mis)treatment of those people, his ego/self-righteous attitude, his unfortunate choices of whom to trust, his over-inflated "man pain" or self-pity, his return to killing and more than anything for me, his selfishness have made him feel regressed and almost unrecognizable as the character and hero I loved. I know there's a chance his "spiral" will be related to a greater game that Prometheus is playing with him... but Oliver just said to Thea last week that she makes choices and is responsible for those choices. Oliver can't blame his actions on anyone but himself. He makes choices. And this season, the majority of those choices have been wrong. Examples are our friend, so let's see:

Susan Williams (*insert gag here*): You commented that Susan Williams hasn't exposed Oliver. Well, she's had her job back for all of two seconds and has now been kidnapped... so... there's that (I mean, honestly, when has she had the opportunity since getting her job back to release the story?). Also, Susan Williams blatantly said something along the lines of "and I can't even release the story now because I've been discredited." So, she admitted she was writing and at very LEAST hoping (if not fully planning) to release a story on Oliver Queen/Green Arrow and Oliver still blindly and with unfounded certainty defends that she wouldn't do that? Dude, Oliver, she was interviewing you in bed!! (Sorry, I needed to yell at the character for a moment) Let's all not forget about that terribly distasteful moment (actually, I changed my mind- someone Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind me because I never want to think about it again). From what the audience has seen, she is nothing but shady and unethical and deserved to lose her job (even if it was for a different reason than why Thea had her fired). In fact, I think she's been so abundantly clear about her actual intentions that his continued blind-eye is making him appear terribly foolish. [See above: unfortunate choices of whom to trust… also falling into this category, but not warranting his own paragraph tonight since his whole existence is crafted around fooling Oliver into trusting him- Adrian Chase]

Thea: Can we all take a moment and clap? (*pause here and give a round of applause to my girl, Thea) In episode 1 of this season Oliver mutters the familiar phrase "no one can know my secret" and proceeds to snap a man's neck [See above: return to killing]. However, mere episodes later, when Thea protects Oliver and his secret (out of love for him) by discrediting a reporter who has been lying to and using her brother and has the means to expose Oliver and potentially compromise the entire team, she is labeled a villain (even though she found another way... you know a way besides murder to protect his secret). When Oliver does "whatever it takes" to protect Thea and others on the team, he's labeled a hero. For him to shame and vilify Thea for looking out for his and the team's best interest didn't ring true or fair [See above: self-righteous attitude]. Whether or not he wants her to be better than him isn't really on the table, because he didn't communicate that (Plus that whole “do as I say, not as I do thing” doesn’t really work. People should lead by example). And, as a viewer, how can we not cheer for her when we want to protect Oliver from this snake as well? (Ok, well, we DID want to protect him before he went full-force "Susan Williams can do no wrong" and we all rolled our eyes so hard) Instead of trusting his sister, someone he's known his whole life and he can be assured had his best interest at heart, he fought for someone who had betrayed, lied to and manipulated his sister earlier in the season (and that he’s known for a hot second, calm down son). [Remind you at all of him teaming up with Malcolm Merlyn in S3? Someone who had hurt the people he loves? A real problem at the time, but as a repeated “mistake” in S5 it’s inexcusable.] Additionally, this is the second time a very important woman in Oliver's life has said, "you have to let me go." At some point Oliver has to acknowledge that he's the common factor… he’s pushing the people who love him the most away (when they need him the most) instead of drawing them closer and being there with and for them. Why is that? And why isn't he more concerned with fixing it? [See above: his treatment of the people who have always been there for him; See above: selfish]

Felicity: Now, while the last two episodes were decidedly rough, Felicity’s part of the discussion requires us to take a slightly longer journey. First of all, thank you for acknowledging that Oliver’s aggressive lying was a very valid reason for Felicity to walk away from the relationship. It was and I appreciate that being seen and acknowledged. After “walking away” however, Felicity put aside her hurt (from one of the most painful experiences of her life) to be there for Oliver and the team. She comforted Oliver after the loss of Laurel, she stayed when everyone else left, she immediately forgave him for killing Billy [See above: killing again]. . . . Ok, let’s take the journey there. Oliver comes back to the lair after killing Billy and immediately turns a moment that should have been about Felicity into a moment about himself and his pain [See above: over-inflated main-pain and self pity], but it didn’t end there… oh no. While Felicity was home alone crying on her couch, Oliver made his way over to Susan Williams’ couch [See above: selfish]. I mean, Billy's body isn't even cold yet and Oliver's making out with....... Anyway, I want to continue to talk about the end of 5x09, because I think it’s a very important piece of the assassination of Oliver Queen’s character development, but my hands are shaking from rage and if anyone can’t see the problem with Oliver’s actions at the end of 5x09 then I don’t know what to do for you anyway. So, let’s move on. Fast forward to six episodes later. Could someone link me to the scene where Oliver asks Felicity how she’s handling the loss of Billy and if there’s anything he can do to help? Oh, wait, what? There wasn’t one. Ok. And yet, in two episodes we have seen Oliver belabor and mourn the loss of Susan Williams’ job and how that loss was affecting her to ad nauseam. But despite the fact that he and Felicity's relationship ending was his fault (and he never apologized), Billy’s death was his fault (and he never asked her how she’s doing) and he’s tried so little to be there for her it’s hard to believe a year ago she was “his always,” he still has the audacity to ask her for help with his girlfriend?! (Remembers Daniel Tiger’s lesson on anger.. deep breath.. count to four. 1. 2. 3. 4.) Ok, as if the audacity wasn’t enough, she tries to tell him no TWICE and he persists, pushing her into helping him when she’s obviously not comfortable with it [See above: treatment of the people who love him; See above: selfish]. Yet, in true Felicity fashion, after this unacceptable behavior from Oliver, she still stops him from leaving the lair to tell him he’ll get through this and that he’s a hero (there’s a fairly good chance Felicity is an actual angel). We find out later in the episode that Oliver has passed off some of his concern for Felicity to Diggle (so maybe he does notice things and care? Were not sure because, if it’s true, it’s happening off-screen… and we all know that in the land of television, that which is valued gets screen time), so Diggle talks at Felicity and while it’s a nice moment it’s clear he’s not really having a conversation with her that’s seeking to understand where she truly is at the moment- he’s just telling her how she has always been and how she should continue to be. This obviously didn’t work since Felicity joins Helix at the end of the episode. And why wouldn’t she? Rory is the only member of the team who has been a true friend to Felicity and now he’s gone. So, let’s recap… Felicity: follows Oliver to the darkest corners of the world and his soul to be his light no matter the cost to her personally. Oliver: is busy.

[Addendum B* Susan Williams breaks up with Oliver & wants him to leave her alone, she ignores his phone calls and resists his in-person pursuit, but he continues to do everything he can to fix it. Where was this with Felicity? Honestly, I feel so betrayed as a viewer that I never saw him even call and say he missed her. Even on a voicemail or something. Where was that fight? It makes me look at Oliver Queen and shake my head sadly. I'm sad.]

Honestly, I thought this season would be Oliver proving last season’s words by this season’s actions. That we'd see a flipped script of Oliver being a light to the people in his life. That he’d be re-building trust and proving Felicity wouldn’t ever lose him, that he wanted to fight through the danger together, that he would include her, that she was his true partner and that she really was his always… instead, he’s disregarded her feelings in favor of his two-week girlfriend, shown disrespect for her earned place on the team as someone who should be able to call shots when his judgment is impaired, is currently failing to even be a friend like he would have been years prior to them falling in love and almost getting married, has conveniently forgotten her trauma from gun violence and obviously thinks things like Havenrock, Billy’s death, the leaving of her friend Rory, etc, etc don’t require any compassion from him. This week the doctor told him he could use a friend and whom did he call? Exactly. Not the person who chose to stand by him and continues to choose to stand by him (despite EVERYTHING), but the one who manipulated his sister and betrayed his trust. This is the Oliver Queen on our screens today and he’s hard to look at. (Also, really Arrow? Oliver could use a friend? See how much FELICITY could use a friend above)

I want to love Oliver Queen. I miss him. I hope they redeem him brilliantly because I still want to believe in him and Olicity. But he has some work to do. He has some sacrifices and apologies to make; some light to bring. So, maybe now you see that one single straw didn’t break the camels back… it’s been straining on the weight of bails of hay this season and at some point one straw is too much. This week that one straw for me was Oliver fighting for Susan Williams job when we wanted to see him fight for Thea’s soul and Felicity’s heart. Fighting for the wrong things and the wrong people isn’t growth, it’s just… disappointing.

I hope this has bridged some of the gap between what you want us to see and how it’s playing on screen. Obviously, I only speak for myself, but this is what I’m seeing and it’s breaking my heart. Every week I hope the pendulum will start to swing up and when instead it goes lower than I ever imagined it could, my heart and my hope sink with it and I can only hope when the up swing finally happens that in the words of Taylor Swift the high is worth all the pain. I want to see it rise. I want to see Oliver Queen rise and Olicity rise and I really wanted to see Tometheus rise… but two out of three wouldn’t be too bad. :)

*Sidenote: in S2 Slade took the wrong woman by not kidnapping Felicity… so, we’re supposed to believe Oliver cares about Susan Willa—uhh, I’m tired—more than he did Laurel? Nah. If Prometheus is as awesome as the show wants us to believe he would have known who to take… hint: he took the wrong woman.

Anyway, thank you for all the hard work you put into the show and for opening up a dialogue and an outlet. I hope you are able to appreciate the passionate fanbase Arrow and its characters have created. I am passionate about Arrow and I want nothing but the best for this show and for the characters I have grown to love. Have a great day!

P.S. if you want to be like, "thank you for all the time you put into this thoughtful post Brittany, here's my favorite upcoming Olicity line from S5 for you to keep in your pocket and pull out when you need hope...." that's cool. I mean, whatever you want

#Stephen Amell #facebook q&a #response #Brittany hit on some great points #and was respectful while doing it #hoping Stephen and the writers at least take a look #I think it's getting to them #arrow season 5 #ratings don't lie

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cchie · 7 years

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Redd Blaze’s Big Ol’ Honkin’ Questionnaire

A. Psychology

What of the Meyers-Briggs personality types they most fit into? INFP, ENFT, et cetera… Redd is an ESFP for sure. “The Entertainer”. Friendly, playful, enthusiastic, energetic, helpful.

What alignment are they? Chaotic neutral, lawful evil, et cetera… Chaotic Good. Redd isn’t super selfish so she isn’t Chaotic Neutral, and she’s not evil.

Do they have any emotional or psychological conditions? Are they aware of it? Do they try to treat it? I’m sure Redd has ADHD and used to have anger issues. She also has depression but has been getting better about it.

Are they a pessimist or an optimist? Optimist! She used to be a pessimist but ever since escaping her father with Ducky, she’s become a brighter person.

Are they good at handling change in their life? She doesn’t really know how to approach it at first but eventually goes with the flow. She likes change and embraces it after the initial warm up

Does your OC tend to assume their interpretation of events and reality is correct, or do they question it? I.e., “I’m sure that’s what you said” versus “It’s possible I misheard you.”

Oh, Redd is never wrong. She’s very certain about everythng, except for the things she’s uncertain of, in which case she will still determine something definite about it.

Is your OC confident in their reactions to life in general, or do they get embarrassed or easily shamed for it? I.e., if something startles them, do they insist it WAS scary? When they cry, do they feel like they overreacted? Redd doesn’t get embarassed easily. She cries a lot and doesn’t think it’s an overreaction and actually believes it is a sign of strength. Redd isn’t startled easily but when she is, she’s not embarassed and rather laughs it off and thinks it was awesome.

Is your OC a martyr? I mean, I guess? She took all of her younger brother Ducky’s beatings for him since she didn’t want him to get hurt. So in a way she did sacrifice a lot of herself for his safety.

Does your OC make a lot of excuses? For themselves? Others? Oh, absolutely. Ms. Blaze doesn’t ever mean it in a manipulative or harmful way, she just does so to keep everyone happy.

Does your OC compromise easily? Too easily? Hell no. Compromising with her is extremely difficult when it comes to the important things. When it comes to smaller stuff, it’s super easy to please her.

Does your OC put others’ needs before their own? Yes. Absolutely. If she cares about you, she will do anything for you. She has a very fierce love. She’ll take a hit for you, physically, mentally, and emotionally.

Does your OC have any addictions? If so and problematic, have they admitted it to themselves? Redd gets high off adrenaline. She’s the SHSL Daredevil, so naturally, she would be. There have been times where Ducky has come to Redd about some of her stunts as he grew older, but he would reluctantly step off once Redd’s fierce determination shined way too bright.

Does your OC have any phobias? If so, where did they come from? Redd actually has trypophobia. It’s a fear of irregular holes, cracks, etc. It freaks her out because it reminds her of the abuse her father put her through and also, it’s just plain terrifying.

Is your character empathetic? Yes! She doesn’t always seem it though. Once she understands the exact emotion someone is feeling, it clicks in her head.

Is your character observant? God, not really at all. She’s too busy in her own world to pay attention to details and small unimportant things.

Does your OC have to go through their own trials to learn a lesson, or do they listen and learn from observation and lecture? I.e., does your OC listen when someone tries to tell them the importance of budgeting, or do they have to go experience what happens if you don’t budget first? Oh, she absolutely has to go through her own trials. Really, the only person she listens to is Ducky, and sometimes Reed or December. She’s too stubborn to listen to anybody else.

What’s one of your OC’s proudest moments of themselves? Saving Ducky.

Do they get jealous easily? Do they feel bad if they do? Not really. She’s pretty confident. She’ll only get jealous over loving parents and geniuses. Even then it’s more of a wistful jeaousy rather than a malicious jealousy.

What instantly irritates them or puts them in a bad mood? People who are mean for no reason. Abusive parents. Being told what not to do.

Are they harsh on themselves? It depends. Physically, yes, but she can handle it. Emotionally, sometimes. But she always finds a way to deal with it.

Do they make excuses often? I mean, I answered this question earlier.

Is your OC intended to be found generally attractive? Unattractive? Average? Is there a reason why? Generally attractive. She’s a strong, well-figured redhead. Her confidence also helps.

Does your OC place much importance on their appearance? Do they feel confident in it? She always feels confident no matter what she’s wearing. She could be wearing a banana suit and still feel absolutely comfortable and like she’s killing it.

What are some of your OC’s biggest personal obstacles? This could be emotional, physical, social… Are they aware of it? Are they trying to overcome it? Redd tries to overcome being told what to do most of the time, hence her SHSL Ability. She knows she’s incredibly stubborn and wants to work on that a bit more. She also knows that she needs to get a handle on her emotions because of things she’s done in the past.

B. Social

Do they believe you have to give respect to get it, or get respect to give it? Redd firmly believes in giving respect to get it. If you don’t show it, why should you get it? This was ahuge factor with her father and her hatred towards him, aside from all of the abuse.

Do they get frustrated when lines at places like pharmacies, check-outs, delis, banks, et cetera, are moving slowly? Oh, most definitely. She doesn’t complain loudly about it though because she understands that the workers are trying their hardest. She’s just frustrated with the speed of things since she’s always on the move.

Under what situations would they get angry at servers, staff, customer service, et cetera? The only time Redd would ever get mad over someone in food service was if they were blatantly discriminating against somebody, or treating children like shit. She would also say something if she noticed a manager being particularly hard on their employees.

Do they tip well? How easily can they be moved to not leave a tip? Tipping has always confused Redd. There’s something about a rule for 20% or something? She doesn’t know. She just gives a hefty amount since she has quite a bit of money from the stunts she does. When Ducky got older, he taught her that tips are generally given based off of the quality of service. But the thing is, Redd always thinks the quality is great and continues to tip a large amount of money.

Do they hold doors open for people? Yeah! If she sees somebody is walking her way, she’s very polite and holds open the door. Especially if it’s older people or children. She knows how rude some people are and refuses to be like that intentionally.

Would your OC let someone ahead of them in line if your OC had a big cart and the person behind them had very few items? Hmmm, this is hard. On one hand she woudn’t want to because in fairness, she got there first, and she’s all about speed. But I think if somebody asked her if they could go in front, she would let them.

How do they respond to babies crying in public? She runs over to try to cheer them up by making funny faces and holding them. She tries to remember that she needs to ask the child’s parents if she can hold them and throw them up in the air, but it’s hard because she just gets so excited.

Is your OC considered funny? Do they believe they’re funny? She is considered funny! The people who played in the campaign I created her in loved her. She thinks she’s frigging hilarious. Even if her jokes don’t make any sense.

What kind of humor does your OC like the most? Slapstick, ironic, funny sounds, scare pranks, xD sO rAnDoM… Redd finds almost everything funny. Scare pranks crack her up but she doesn’t like the ones where the person gets genuninely upset. Slapstick can be pretty hilarious to her but, really, almost anything can crack her up.

Does your OC find any “bad” or “mean” humor funny? Do they wish they didn’t? She hates that kind of humor. It’s not funny if somebody is getting genuinely hurt.

Your OC is running late to meeting someone: Do they let the other person know? Do they lie about why they’re late? She doesn’t really let them know unless she remembers. She’s very forgetful. She doesn’t lie about why she’s late. Redd is very blunt and open about things. “Yeah, I was late because I was too busy sleepin’! Sorry!”

Your OC orders something to eat and gets their order done in a pretty wrong way, something they can’t just pick off or whatnot to correct, or something major is missing. What do they do? I mean, she’ll eat it anyways. Can’t let food go to waste. Redd will eat just about anything, she’s not a picky eater.

Do they have a large or small group of friends? Large. She makes friends wherever she goes. She has a lot of love to give and passion to show.

Do they have people they are genuinely honest with about themselves? As of right now, occaisonally Ducky. Sometimes she’ll initially lie about how she deals with things and Ducky sees right through it, so then she’ll open up and apologize.

Does your OC enjoy social events, such as parties, clubs, et cetera..? YES. She loves them. She gets to make more friends, be her obnoxious self, and show off. Plus, there’s almost always free food.

Does your OC like to be the center of attention or more in the mix? Center of attention. She doesn’t mind being more in the mix, but when se does, she accidentally makes it about herself. Her loudness is a great factor to this.

C. Morality

Does your OC have a moral code? If not, how do they base their actions? If so, where does it come from, and how seriously do they take it? Redd is a very morally grey character. She’ll drink alcohol despite being underage, but she won’t do drugs because that’s bad. Redd has a very upright moral code, but once murdered a acquaintance to save her little brother, and tried to get away with it. She also beat the shit out of her father because of his incessant abuse, believing she left him for dead. Redd believes in justice and getting what you deserve. She bases her actions off of these things: will this hurt someone, do they deserve it, will I get hurt, will this affect Ducky negatively, and what would Ducky think?

Would your OC feel bad if they acted against their morals? If not, would they find a way to excuse themselves for it? Redd felt incredily guilty about murdering December in order to save Ducky. She confessed immediately after getting caught and regretted taking an innocent life. She knows it was wrong, but would probably do it all over again if she had to.

Is it important for them to be with people (socially, intimately, whatever) whose major ideological tenets align with their own? Not necessarily. She doesn’t mind being friends with people who are completely different form her. Really the only basis she has for being around people is that they aren’t jerks who hurt people.

Do they consider themselves superior or more important than anyone else? Lesser? Redd thinks she’s a god reincarnated. She knows she’s dangerous, attractive, and physically superior. She doesn’t think so in a shallow way, but more in confidence. She thinks she’s the best. Because she has to.

Do your OC’s morals and rules of common decency go out the window when it comes to those they don’t like, or when it’s inconvenient? Aka, are their morals situational? This is tricky. But in the end, they would go out the window for her. SHe would know it isn’t right, but wants survival of the fittest.

What do they do when they see someone asking for money or food? If they ignore them, why? If they help, how so? If she sees somebody doing this, she will immediately give them both. She always carries cash and woud go to the nearest place and buy them a meal. She knows the world can be rough.

Do they believe people change over time? If so, is it a natural process or does it take effort? Redd believes people can change over time, but is very hesitant to believe it firsthand with people who have done wrong. She’s very hypocritical when it comes to this.

Is your OC more practical or ideal morally? I.e., do they hold people to high expectations of behavior even if it’s not realistic for the situation, or do they have a more realistic approach and adapt their morality to be more practical? I mean, she doesn’t really give a shit. She doesn’t have too many expectations and goes with the flow.

D. Religion and Life and Death

How religious is your OC? What do they practice, if anything? If they don’t associate with any religion, what do they think of religion in general? Redd isn’t religious. She doesn’t practice and she thinks religion is a little silly, but respects people’s beliefs and finds them pretty neat.

Do they believe in an afterlife? She doesn’t, but she hopes it exists. It doesn’t make sense to her as a concept, but she wants to be able to continue existing somewhere, especially if her loved ones will also be there.

How comfortable are they with the idea of death? She’s comfortable with it but doesn’t want to die until she’s ready. Redd gets sad when people she dies and she takes it hard, but she knows and understands it’s a natural thing and tries to cope via those beliefs.

Would they like to be immortal? Why, why not? If they are immortal, would they rather not be? Redd would absolutely take that offer up. I feel like she would love to be immortal, but would only hesitate because then that meant she would have to continue to exist without her loved ones. So actually, she wouldn’t! The desire to be with her loved ones is stronger than her desire to do everything in the world there is to do.

Do they believe in ghosts? If not, why? If so, do they think they’re magical/tie into their religion, or are they scientifically plausible? She does believe in ghosts. Everything has energy, and energy can neither be created or destroyed, so somebody’s existence has to go somewhere, right?

E. Education and Intelligence

Would you say that your OC is intelligent? In what ways? Would your OC agree? Hahahaha, Redd is surprisingly intelligent in some aspects, but otherwise, she’s very simple, to put it plainly. She can definitely be an idiot and not understand or get a lot of things, but she’s smart in other areas.

Which of the nine types of intelligence is your OC strongest in? Weakest? (Linguistic, existential, naturalist, et cetera) Bodily-kinesthetic is most definitely her strongest. Her weakest would probably be logical-mathematical or lingustic. She doesn’t understand math as well as she wishes she did, and she’s not great with words. Redd speaks with malapropisms.

How many languages do they speak? A lot! Whether she gets all of the words and pronounces them correctly, is another question.

Did they enjoy school if they went to it? Redd enjoyed Hope’s Horizon but often slept in academic classes that bored her. She was too hyper for everything else that if the class couldn’t keep her focused, she would just sleep or eat.

What’s their highest education level? Do they want to continue their education? She eventually graduated from Hope’s Horizon, but didn’t go to college right away. She took a break for quite a few years until Ducky pushed her to attend college and get a degree. Although she wasn’t super open to it, she wanted to please Ducky. And when Ducky said, “Yeah? Well I dare you to go to college”, well, she just simply couldn’t refuse.

Do they enjoy learning? Do they actively seek out sources of self-education? Redd loves learning about different things as long as they excite her. If they don’t, she doesn’t seek it out. If someone starts teaching her about something boring, she’ll try her best to get out of it or loudly proclaim “SNOOZEEE” if it’s a snore-fest.

Are they a good note-taker? Are they a good test-taker? Do exams make them nervous? No, no, and yes. Taking tests has never been her strong suit and she’ll just goof around and guess.

What’s one of your OC’s biggest regrets? Leaving her father alive, but also letting her emotions control her in that moment.

F. Domestic Habits, Work, and Hobbies

What sort of home do they live in now, if at all? How did they end up there? After escaping her abusive father, Redd purchased a mansion to accomodate to her and Ducky. She ran away and looked for an abandoned house to stay at for just a day or two. Luckily, she found a giant, red mansion. She contacted the agent and bought it off.

What’s their ideal home look like? Where is it? The home she has right now is her ideal home. It’s in a large secluded area so that her and Ducky can have some peace and quiet for once.

Could they ever live in a “tiny home”? Nope. Redd takes up to much room and needs the space to run, move about, stretch, etc.

How clean are they overall with home upkeep? Not very clean at all. When she remembers to clean, she tries realy hard, but it ends up still looking very messy. Her idea of cleaning is putting things into “organized” piles.

How handy are they? Can they fix appliances, cars, cabinets, et cetera? Redd can be pretty handy, but she usually is the one accidentally breaking whatever needs fixing. She’ll usually come to Piper or Ducky if something needs fixing. If neither are available, she’ll resort to Google and epically fail at the instructions and somehow create something entirely new. Or get it to work but in a very bizarre and unrecedented way.

How much do they work? What do they do? Do they enjoy it? Redd’s full time job is as the SHSL Daredevil. She loves doing action-y things, stunts, dares, etc. It’s her life.

What’s their “dream career” or job situation? She has it! Travelling the world, meeting people, eating good food, and doing dangerous things.

How often are they home? As often as she can be. She likes coming home because it’s the first place that feels like home. But for the most part, she’s out and about.

Are they homebodies and enjoy being home? Not a homebody, but does enjoy being at home. She loves spending time with Ducky and inviting friends over to her mansion to play games, work out, swim, etc.

Do they engage in any of the arts? How good do you intend them to be? Would they agree they are? Redd doesn’t do art! She thinks art is beautiful and music is too, but she doesn’t know how to do either of them. She’ll participate when she feels like it but gets just a little dscouraged when it doesn’t come out as great as she wanted it to.

What are some of their favorite things to do for recreation? How did they get into it? What part of it do they like the most? Anything extreme? Redd will love. Skateboarding, shark tanks, skydiving. But she secretly likes spending time doing what Ducky likes the most.

Would they enjoy a theme park? She would LOVE theme parks, but kicked out of some of them for reacting certain ways and trying to do dangerous things.

G. Family and Growing Up

Is your OC close to their family? Only Ducky. Her father was a real piece of shit and her mother left when she was very young, never to be seen again. Ducky is her life. She protects him and wants to make sure he grows up normally.

Who makes up your OC’s family, at least the more important members to them? Her and her little brother Ducky.

Does your OC find their family supportive? If not, what would be an example why not? She finds Ducky very supportive! She relies on him a lot.

What kind of childhood did your OC have? A very terrible one. Her father would get drunk and beat her. When Ducky was born, she had to take care of him because herfather would just drink and watch tv and go to work. When Ducky was a toddler, her father realized he had somebody else he could take his anger out on. When he first swung his fist at Ducky, Redd’s eyes widened in fear and anger and she jumped in front of Ducky, taking the hit for him. Ever since then, she made sure Ducky was never home alone with him and took every hit and blow intended for him.

Did they go through any typical phases growing up? Not really. Redd didn’t get to have any typeof typical childhood she she grew up very differently.

Do they have any favorite childhood memories? When she took Ducky to the movies for the first time. He was so excited and she was so happy she could treat him to it.

Do they have any childhood memories they’d rather forget or be less affected by? LOL. Redd wishes she could forget all the times her father scarred and burned her. She has long scars and burn marks from the abuse all over her back, arms, legs, stomach, etc. Most places where people can’t see. She used to wear long sleeves and jeans so nobody would notice. Once she ran away, she started becoming more comfortable in shorts and short sleeved shirts. She wishes she could forget her father, but uses her scars and marks to remind herself of her dedication and protectiveness.

H. Romance and Intimacy

What is your OC’s orientation, romantic and/or sexual? Has it ever been a source of stress for them? Have they always been pretty sure of their orientation? Redd is pansexual and panromantic. She’s always been sure of having all types of love but was initially confused as to why her father hated gay people. She thought it was a bad thing. She soon realized it wasn’t and came to grips with it. Redd is also polyamorous but doesn’t mind being monogamous if her partner is.

Is your OC a thoughtful partner, in whatever aspect of that you want to cover? Yes! Redd is very thoughtful, but a bit awkward at first. She’ll always try and make sure her and her partner(s) have fun and feel loved. In the beginning she’ll forget things and events but eventually she’ll start traingin herself to set reminders.

Does your OC believe there’s only one ideal partner (or multiple ideal if not monogamous) for everyone, or that there are many people who could be right? No! She’s polyamorous and believes that whatever feels right to the person, that’s how it is. If someone feels there’s only 1 person for them, then there is! If someone believes there are 3 people for them, then there is!

Does your OC believe in love in first sight? She does. She loves love.

Does your OC believe in marriage (or their culture’s equivalent)? In a way, not really. She believes in the legal advantages of marriage but doesn’t believe marriage is the be-all end-all. Although, a wedding would allow for good food, loud music, and loved ones.

Has your OC ever cheated on anyone or been cheated on? She has never cheated on anybody and she has not ben cheated on. You better pray you don’t cheat on her.

What do they look for in partners? (Emotionally, mentally, physically..) Someone who is fun and appreciates her for who she is. If they are cool with her, then she’s down.

What’s your OC’s idea of a perfect date? She doesn’t really have one. She’s perfectly content with whatever they do together. But I guess if I had to say something, good food and an adventure of some kind.

What are some things that your OC finds to be an instant turn-off in potential partners? Abusive and intentionally mean people.

I. Food

What are their favorite kinds of flavors– Sweet, salty, sour, spicy, creamy, et cetera? Redd loves salty and spicy foods. Creamy weirds her out a little bit, but she loves food and is willing to eat anything.

Do they have any eating requirements or preferences? Allergies, vegetarian, organic-only, religious restrictions… Nope! Redd requires meat in every meal just because of preference but she’s not allergic to anything.

Are they vegan/vegetarian (if their overall culture/species generally aren’t)? If so, why? Do they think animal products are wrong in all circumstances? She could never. Meat is like oxygen to her. She thinks it’s wrong but doesn’t think about it too much.

How often do they cook? Do they order out a lot? Redd is never allowed to cook. She’s too attention defecit and forgetful and bad with directions. She orders out A LOT.

Are they a good cook? See above.

Could they eat the same thing they enjoy over and over and not get bored of it quickly? Absolutely. She eats steak and bacon almost every day.

J. Politics, Current Events, Environmental Aspects

Where does your OC stand most politically? What would they align with most? Redd is more on the left side of the spectrum.

How politically aware are they? Redd is surprisingly politically aware. She used to pay no attention to things like that becase she didn’t think it affected her. But traveling has opened her eyes and now she is more open to it.

How politically active are they? Redd will absolutely fight for rights and take place in marches. She’ll go to protests and be the loudest one there.

Is your OC the sort to fall for fake news? If not, do they ignore it or make a point to clarify that it’s wrong? Ducky is her source of correct information, and Violet and Jack as well. In fact, there’s a group chat dedicaed just to Redd linking articles to them asking about teir credibility.

Are they or would they protest for a cause they’re passionate about? Absolutely. Redd is a very passionate woman and won’t back down for what she believes in. She would have certainly marched in the Women’s March.

How do they react to people whose political viewpoints are very opposite of theirs? Not well. She’s not very open-minded in that aspect and will get in their face about if they even show ANY sign of agression.

How much interest in environmental health do they have? She is interested but not as interested as she could be.

In reality-based or applicable worlds, do they believe in global warming? Do they recycle? Yes! She tries to be aware but often forgets. She does indeed believe in global warming.

L. For the Writer/Owner

How have your characters changed since you created them? Originally, I was going to have Redd be a little more serious. But then I decided to make her this lovable ginat goofball. I really love the archetype of dangerous girls who could kill you, but have a big heart and are dorks.

What do you consider the biggest themes in your character, if any? My biggest themes with her are action, overcoming abuse, and love.

Did you create the character to be like yourself, did they end up being like yourself, or are they very different from you? This is hilarious because me and Redd have a lot in common. Each OC of mine takes parts of myself and I create and add things to them. Redd takes my passion and what I wish I could be. She’s like an extroverted me. She has my dedication and stubbornness as well. However, she’s more blunt, more extroverted, more active, etc.

Would you hang out with your OC if you could? PLEASE. I would love to hang out with her. She would be great.

How did you come up with your OC? @thores came up with a tabletop RPG for a Danganronpa type game. We had to create three characters, and so Redd was the first character I came up with. I wanted to play a more physical character since most of mine reflect my on physical abilities and comforts. I decided SHSL Daredevil would be pretty cool. I then came up with her personality, found a reference picture, and built her background from there.

#redd blaze #my ocs #damn this questionnaire is long as hell #mine

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