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serknighted · 8 months

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Danse & Hancock's parallels are eating my sanity slowly so by God I will write them here

So. Usually incredibly shy about posting my feelings about characters and my interpretations of them, but I don't think I can sit idly by without addressing 1. how much I love this post about Danse and how his story ties back to the isolation and loneliness of autism, and 2. how much I need more content between Hancock & Danse to exist, because my god sometimes I forget they hate each other in-game. (I strongly suggest you read the post mentioned & linked, they do a fantastic job framing Danse in a way I don't think I could fully articulate)

Danse & Hancock both have stories filled with themes of intense loneliness. Despite their hard work, effort, and prowess in the things they love, it doesn't take good sight to realize that neither of them are very well liked. It's not that they aren't respected, but whether it's Danse's all-too-formal approach to speaking, or Hancock's combination of hard drug use & almost constant overbearing presence (on top of years of slander from bigger cities, but we'll get into that), people see them as a tool of success and a good asset to have around, but not much of a friend, so to speak. Especially in Hancock's case, many people he is overly-affectionate with are often more annoyed by his presence than anything else (even if they do like him).

For Hancock, despite how much he claims to not relate to the isolation of the common ghoul, he's likely over-exaggerating his charisma in an effort to make himself more easily approachable, mostly for his own peace of mind rather than for others. While he sounds quite passive about things many others would react strongly to, I feel it's a combination of him having replaced a layer of how he truly feels with an element of sass on top of the drug use that makes all the trauma more easily bearable (to mixed effect).

One of his lines that has always struck me as conflicting with how he portrays himself is a common generic line he has while traveling with Sole Survivor, praising them for "living out the day" when most others could not. Hancock has seen so many people die to the brutal hands of the Commonwealth; whether it be Vic and his boys gunning down innocent drifters, seeing people succumb to the elements, or, in this case, simply not surviving their travels with him, Hancock seems to have a track record of never properly establishing proper bonds with others before they either die, or decide he's too overbearing to deal with further. He's one of those characters who desperately wants to have a deeper connection with those he loves, but he has consistently lost the chance to do so before he was ever ready, and so he chooses to fill the void with meaningless sexual relationships and one-night stands- anything to make him temporarily forget how much he hates himself and his almost comical lack of social understanding. It's a train of thought that I, as an autistic person, can really understand and relate to-- the desire to know people, but always feeling like no matter how you portrayed yourself, no one seems to want to be around you if you don't provide them with what they desire. It's caused him to deeply undervalue both how much he's done for people (since he believes its expected of him to constantly bend over backwards for the needs of others), and himself, all at the same time.

I don't think Danse fully recognizes how lonely he feels, a lot. He's been so heavily indoctrinated by the Brotherhood of Steel into believing that this is how he should be treated, that his work is for the betterment of humanity, that his sacrifice is a necessary one. The way he speaks almost carelessly about late brothers and sisters in arms makes me think really hard about how rooted this idea of only existing for the "greater good" is. Individuality is questionable & almost taboo, being different is outright abominable. It's the reason why the rhetoric of "Us vs. Them" works-- the BoS as a collective believe that they are doing good for all of humanity, and any outlier to that "perfect" formula is a threat not only to the BoS, but to everything they know. Danse is expected to bend over backwards for people, and no longer questions his loneliness or isolation, as he has all but given up his sense of self for what he believes is right. Another thing that I and many of my autistic friends relate to; a sense of justice so strong that it's overpowering. Like us, Danse is willing to sacrifice anything to do what's right... including himself.

Knowing this, it's easy to understand why he hates Hancock, and that backwards mindset is the reason Hancock hates him. It's an especially vicious cycle that constantly feeds into itself if unchecked, and Hancock knows that he alone cannot convince Danse to break that cycle. Hancock knows he can't beat Danse in a fight; all he has are his words, and logic is useless against an enemy that heeds to no truths. Even after Danse discovers his true nature... you can't expect him to unravel the years of constant reassurance that what he was taught was right in a single night. "Rome wasn't built in a day," and no one gets over their trauma so quickly, either. It's traumatic to have an explanation as to why people hate you. A catch-all reason to people's fear and distaste to you, that is also something you can never, ever change. Danse would sooner hate himself for what he is than accept those he used to murder without a second thought. It's the difficult reality of anyone attempting to unlearn painful conservative narratives; the shame & guilt of hurting others that are more similar to you than you ever wanted to know is sometimes more painful than realizing what you really are.

Hancock, albeit not even close to "recovered" from his mental woes, is much further along the path of acceptance to Danse, but not far enough away that he wouldn't understand where Danse is coming from. For so long, he sat idly by and watched people get hurt, even during his time in Diamond City. The constant conditioning to accept other people's pain as long as it wasn't happening to you still eats at his consciousness; just like Danse, he knows it was wrong to accept it, but the guilt makes it harder to deal with. He, of all people, would understand what it feels like to try so, so hard to fit in, to be normal and accepted, but never quite hit the mark of understanding where he fits in society. That's the reason he is the way he is now; his signature, his "Hancock," is to be as loud and out-of-place as possible-- a constant rebellion against what people expect him to be, a rebellion of oppression and unfair treatment. Danse's sheer existence is an involuntary rebellion of all BoS values, and even if Hancock would be hesitant to become close to Danse for a long while, I think he would be impressed by him, in the end, and more importantly, understand where he's coming from.

Their combined interest in both protecting the people they care about as well as the collective societies those people come from, as well as how nerdy they both are about US history... I think, eventually, they will realize how similar their lives were, how similar they are to each other, and maybe even find some comfort in knowing that they aren't alone in all of the waves of shame, guilt, and loneliness. That there is an overarching group of people who understand them, and that they do have a place in this world. I think once they recognize that similar traumas can manifest in polar opposite conditions (ones that they used to have a narrow, black-and-white outlook on), they'll also find that there is no real reason to hate each other anymore; the world has told them that they must hate each other, but they no longer have any need to listen.

TL;DR autistic Danse & Hancock ftw

#fallout 4 #john hancock #paladin danse #sorry for the long analysis im just rotting over them so hard #fo4 #i think they deserve the world #and maybe also therapy #fuck you todd howard for not finishing Danse's arc i cry #ARGHHH i hope people understand my vision...

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antianakin · 11 days

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What are your thoughts about fans who say that Vader killed Fox for Ahsoka (in one of the comics) or Vader will brutally kill Barriss in the upcoming Tales of the Empire because of what she did to Ahsoka?

Vader didn't offer Ahsoka to join him in Rebels (been a while might be wrong), or offer any of his other jedi friends to be spared. Or any of the younglings. It seems fanfic-y for Ahsoka to get through to Vader more than his own son. Anakin obniously stopped giving a fuck about anyone but Padme, yet he still gets along-ish with the stormtroopers.

I feel like "getting along' with the stormtroopers is a stretch, personally, but I can't say I'm familiar enough with stuff set in that time period focusing on those characters to really speak to it with a lot of authority. I feel like he just doesn't care about them enough to bother them or actively try to kill them, but that doesn't equate to getting along.

As for Ahsoka, I feel like the claim that he killed Fox (I assume this is referencing that comic where he snaps Fox's neck shortly after O66) for Ahsoka is kind-of ridiculous. I haven't read it myself, but I've seen people discuss it and seen some of the panels and my understanding is that he kills Fox because the clones shot at him when they saw his lightsaber, not understanding that he wasn't another Jedi or whatever and Anakin just... kills Fox to demonstrate power. I dunno, this is what Anakin just... DOES. He chokes people who bother him in the OT all the fucking time, we see him get close during TCW all the time too. Anakin leans towards violence as a coping mechanism for a LOT of things, and the immediate motivation is the insult of being shot at by the troopers as an enemy and the disrespect he interprets it as, so he uses Fox as an example. COULD you choose to interpret it so that part of his motivation is that he already hates Fox because of what happened to Ahsoka during the Wrong Jedi arc? Sure. Is it the actual stated motivation within that storyline? No.

Honestly, I find the entire concept that people might be angry at FOX for the Wrong Jedi arc immensely ridiculous just to begin with. Like I get anger aimed at the Jedi Council and Wolffe/the 104th FAR more than I get anger aimed at Fox or the CG. Like Fox and the CG barely have anything to DO with the entire incident, they put her in a cell after a prisoner dies with no other obvious cause immediately after the sound is cut on the recordings, and then they try to recapture her after she does in fact literally break out of her cell and go on the run. Like she's under suspicion and then leaves without permission after a second incident happens, OF COURSE they're trying to get her to stop and come back. They're not HUNTING her. You know who DOES hunt her down? Plo Koon, Wolffe, Anakin, and Rex. All of them go out with squads of men to literally hunt her down and recapture her. And it's WOLFFE who ultimately finds her at the warehouse and stuns her. Fox has NOTHING TO DO WITH ANY OF THIS.

As for what Anakin will do with Barriss, I honestly can't say. I wouldn't put it past Filoni to have him kill Barriss simply because we know Filoni doesn't treat Barriss well and that sounds like something he'd find compelling and meaningful. I'm not planning on watching TOTE for exactly this reason, I'm waiting to see what everyone else says about it since it's bound to be bad no matter what happens.

#star wars #anakin skywalker #commander fox

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soapskneebrace · 5 months

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What's your opinion on how Price interpreted? Besides the idea that everyone thinks he's geriatric in comparison to the other 141 members despite basically being the same age, what do you think the fandom or people in general don't understand about him?

Hmm, good question!!

I've managed to find some great blogs to follow who really understand Price (looking at you @391780 and @ceilidho), so I'm not really in the know about how the general fandom interprets him these days.

I do know that outside of my bubble people treat him like he's in his 60s rather than his 40s, and I attribute that less to poor understanding of his character and more to younger fans being younger fans. People approaching 20, and just starting their 20s, don't have a good grasp of what constitutes old age (not helped by tiktok mind you), so that's my thought on that.

But in general, I think a lot of common interpretations of his character really work. He vibes far more as a husband rather than a boyfriend, and overall prefers emotional attachments over casual. He has a traditional sort of masculinity that rarely veers toward the toxic, because in his line of work good communication has been hammered into his skull. Conflict with him will stem from him trying to protect you from the shit he deals with, even if sharing the burden of it with you would help you both to feel more secure in your relationship.

I think most people see him as a very dominant sort, and I really agree with that too, because I view him as a caretaker who also feels a lot of relief at being in control. He has very little control in his line of work--he's often responding, in fact, to circumstances that have gone sideways due to being distinctly out of his control--and he likes being able to have something go a certain way because he directs it that way.

I've seen several people attribute some domestic trauma to him, too, and I enjoy that idea very much. Young John Price going into special forces immediately out of high school to escape a brutal father, and always trying to make up for not protecting his mother by treating his female partners like queens. Price lives with one foot in the past and has trouble conceiving of the future past the next few months, because growing up for him meant enduring life literally moment to moment. He's trying to fix the whole world because he's always known it's been broken.

#answered #WOW that got rambly #price #no i don't project onto him what are you talking about--#honestly i project onto all these guys though.

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dross-the-fish · 2 months

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What do you think Erik's past was with women, when it comes to dating and women. I'd like to know what your take is.

"dating" is probably not the word I'd use. Delving into the text of the book there are two parts that stick out to me as indicating that Erik may have a history with women other than Christine this segment here from the scene at Apollo's Lyre where Christine is recounting events to Raoul "You wanted to know what I looked like! Oh, you women are so inquisitive! Well, are you satisfied? I'm a very good-looking fellow, eh? … When a woman has seen me, as you have, she belongs to me. She loves me for ever. I am a kind of Don Juan, you know!' And, drawing himself up to his full height, with his hand on his hip, wagging the hideous thing that was his head on his shoulders, he roared, 'Look at me! I AM DON JUAN TRIUMPHANT!' And, when I turned away my head and begged for mercy, he drew it to him, brutally, twisting his dead fingers into my hair." Seems to indicate that this kind of thing has happened before. It is possible Erik is speaking generally and it's not definitive proof but it is interesting, the verbiage he uses.

And this scene towards the end of the book when he has Raoul and the Persian in his torture chamber

"What are you running away for?" asked the furious voice, which had followed her. "Give me back my bag, will you? Don't you know that it is the bag of life and death?"

"Listen to me, Erik," sighed the girl. "As it is settled that we are to live together ... what difference can it make to you?"

"You know there are only two keys in it," said the monster. "What do you want to do?"

"I want to look at this room which I have never seen and which you have always kept from me ... It's woman's curiosity!" she said, in a tone which she tried to render playful.

But the trick was too childish for Erik to be taken in by it.

"I don't like curious women," he retorted, "and you had better remember the story of BLUE-BEARD and be careful ... Come, give me back my bag! ... Give me back my bag! ... Leave the key alone, will you, you inquisitive little thing?"

And he chuckled, while Christine gave a cry of pain. Erik had evidently recovered the bag from her." He says he doesn't like "curious women" and makes a reference to Blue Beard, which is a fairytale about a serial killer who murders his wives. There's a scene in Blue Beard where the most recent wife discovers a room with the bodies of his previous wives. The first quote could be dismissed but this is the second time Erik has indicated a dislike for curious women. Erik's lair is canonically full of traps and features a very cruel torture chamber. By evoking the image of Blue Beard in particular the narrative seems to be further implying that Erik does have some history of women and not a pleasant one. It's possible that Erik is just trying to scare Christine out of looking in the room but it's equally likely that it's not an idle threat. He's shown that he's not above putting hands on Christine and treating her roughly despite his claims to love her. I have a personal theory that Christine is not the first but Erik knows she is going to be the last. I've always kind of run on the idea that throughout the book Erik is aware his health is failing and the clock is winding down for him and that's why Christine is different, because she's his last chance and in the end she does give him, not a living bride, but something much more needed: redemption and forgiveness from someone he's harmed. Proof that he's not unworthy of human compassion. A lot of people in the Phandom don't seem to recognize how dark of a character Erik is. I find him legitimately scary as much as I also find him sympathetic and I think he is fascinating in part because there is something genuinely terrifying about him that tickles my love for horror stories. I feel like it's vague enough that you can leave it up to interpretation, so if you don't really like the idea that he's had women in his past that he ended up killing you can chalk it up to Erik just trying to frighten Christine into compliance but I think it's interesting to look at the darker takes and speculate about the skeletons in his closet.

#The phantom of the opera #book theories #literary analysis

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cerseimikaelson · 1 month

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HIII CERSEI GUESS WHOS BACK (YOUR FELLOW WOTG FAN) WITH MY THOUGHTS ON COTG:

It is such a funny book, my fav jokes being the 'shrek, fiona, donkey' joke and an underrated classic in my mind, the scene where percy is like "There was screaming, crying and running in circles, and that was ✨just me✨" when talking about blanche's story (its so brutally honest and funny in a vulnerable way, which I will expand later on with the vulnerable part of it). It had so many iconic moments

It was a very low stakes, slow plot. You can tell Rick wrote it for the experience of reading our fav characters again (adding on to the fact that rick was made to write it by disney as additional marketing for the show, you can tell the plot wasnt thought of much), and ive seen people get mad over it, id love to know what you think!

This is a bit of a touchy topic. I've seen the people on the internet calling percabeth abusive with the constant name calling and the physical ??violence?? ( i obviously dont agree, but thats another topic), but something I've observed that everything that anti percabeths pointed out was toned down in the book?? Another post confirms that the majority of seaweed brains in the book was from percys pov and not annabeth actually saying it (like when hes looking at her expression and saying things like 'she looked like she was trying to say,....') and also when it comes to physical 'violence' (it feels so wrong to say bc i cant find another word lolol), the only things i found while rereading were 'lightly pinched my arm' and 'nudged me with her toe' which is wayyyy more toned down than ricks usual 'swatting my arm' or 'punching me' or 'judoflipped me'

One thing I admire so much about this book is the way he's written the characters vulnerability. percys way more open when he talks about crying whereas in the books its brushed over a lot, which is something the lovely @demigods-posts pointed out. annabeth tearing up when sally compliments her on something small like a cupcake, grover scared of percy and annabeth leaving him, and ofc percy. i saw someone interpret the river god scene as a ptsd induced panic attack, and i admire how rick has written it with so much angst, but still kept it light for the tone of the books.

another thing i love is how the characters dont revolve around percy as a main character (which is probably something rick learned while writing the tv show). annabeth has hobbies of her own, she's in her dream school, she is a busy woman and good for her. grover regularly goes to camp, and has his own conflicts with his gf and stuff. sally and paul are on their own arc with the baby on the way.

the fluff needs a special mention. every moment is so cute and sweet, there are way too many instances, especially with grover and percy which there was a severe lack of in hoo. them turning to seven year olds, percy and annabeths daily night iris message routine, the domesticity of the jacksons family

As usual, I'd love to hear your thoughts and opinions too, im so happy i get to talk about it with you :))

Heyyy friend, how are you? Thanks for the ask!

Since you mentioned her, I LOVED Blanche. Iris is one of my favourite goddesses, so it was great seeing her. And I loved watching a god actually be ignored by their teenage child for once instead of the other way around. Blanche being a propel rebel with the monochrome was golden. (also, pink hummingbirds? lol)

It is obvious there wasn't much in terms of an actual plot with real structure, but it was fun and light-hearted and it does set the foundation for something in the future. Not all quests need to be high stakes, all-hands-on-deck, the world is coming undone. I liked watching the trio have semi normal lives (meeting up for smoothies after school) instead of constantly being on hero mode.

I genuinely had no clue people were upset about Percabeth's interaction in this. But seriously, violence? Did those people forget Annabeth judo-flipped Percy in New Rome, or was it okay then because it was a grand romantic gesture? How is punching someone in the arm to tell them they are being an idiot (provided you don't turn them black and blue of course) abuse? Percy and Annabeth are in a relationship, obviously they are going to be tactile with each other. Not to mention, people often nudge each other in real life and nobody shouts abuse then. I am rambling now but honestly this is the first I've heard of this and I have opinions.

I know Rick wrote the PG version, but can we talk about Zeus literally objectifying Ganymede at brunch and nobody but Hera (and Percy silently) batting an eye? Honestly, I am not a hardcore Zeus hater (although he is an a**hole) but the way Rick writes him he has no redeeming qualities whatsoever. I officially volunteer to be Hera's divorce attorney.

I really liked the idea of Annabeth having a secret fan club and having dinner with Sally, Percy and Paul every night. That was excellent.

I am already brainstorming theories about what the third book is going to be. Does it matter that WOTG isn't even out yet? Absolutely not. I kind of want it to be about Athena because her interactions with Percy are always 10/10, but that probably won't happen.

Feel free to send me asks about your favourite gods and goddesses, any headcanons you may have or anything you wish to discuss about PJO. You can also find me on ao3!

#cerseimikaelson #percy jackson #percy jackson series #pjo fandom #the chalice of the gods #ask #greek mythology

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mariaofdoranelle · 8 months

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Daydreaming About You

Rowaelin Month masterlist

@rowaelinscourt

Some of you may know this as the Teacher AU, the first fic I ever wrote! This story has a soft spot in my heart, but not its writing 🤣🤣 so I got tired of complaining and rewrote it. I still feel like something’s off HAHAHAHAH but the rewrite got worth sharing.

Warnings: mature talk, but SFW

Words: 1,6k

Rowan’s ass looked absolutely delicious today.

This classroom had a privileged view of one of the fields he used to teach his P.E. classes, and as the class’ monarch for the next forty minutes or so, Aelin decided to give her students an activity in pairs and subtly enjoy the sight.

His eyes were hidden by the cap, but she knew he was watching the students play like a hawk. The best part was when he ran along with them. His legs, as big as tree trunks, deserved all the appreciation Aelin gave them, and she couldn’t even begin to describe the sinful way his uniform’s trunks hugged his ass. His sweat was beginning to make Rowan’s shirt cling to his torso, defining his big, rock-hard muscles—

A throat-clearing made her jump on her seat, not expecting any student to seek her so soon.

“Sorry to interrupt, Miss G.” Evangeline’s smirk was way too wide for Aelin’s liking.

Feigning neutrality, she took the paper from the girl’s hand. “You finished that soon?”

“Yeah, yeah.” The girl waved her off. “Is it true that Mr. Whitethorn and Mr. Salvaterre are exes?”

“What? That’s ridicu—“ Aelin stopped mid-sentence, squinting her eyes at her student. “You know I shouldn’t talk about his personal life like this, Evangeline.”

She focused on another student who just got there, standing beside his classmate. Luca was looking out the window with wide eyes, his mouth ajar before he said, “When I grow up, I want to be just like Mr. Whitethorn.”

Aelin smiled, always pleased to see how much her students admired him, when she asked, “Reliable and efficient?”

”No. Jacked.”

Her mouth opened, then she snapped it shut, too afraid of voicing the things inside her head.

Aelin didn’t like to show to the students that her and Rowan were friends, let alone that she had a massive crush on him. Still, they caught up on it. Those little terrors always did.

It was no secret that Aelin and Rowan were best friends. Or that there were speculations about them. Some students even called them Rowaelin, for Mala’s sake. Rowan never expressed his opinion on the matter, and Aelin was secretly pleased people could see herself with him that easily, even though that kind of attention wasn’t appreciated.

The limits of what’s accepted inside a workplace gets far more flexible when it’s filled with teenagers, hence why some intriguing things tend to happen from time to time. For example, when they were the talk of the week because some students spread a picture of Rowan making poorly-interpreted heart eyes at her.

Truth was, Aelin’s love life would be a lot easier if Rowan was half as interested in her as people in this school suggested.

After the last class, she found Rowan and Fenrys, a math teacher, talking near the garage.

“Hey!” Fenrys greeted with his trademark grin on. “The Vaults tonight? I need a wingman.”

“You never really need a wingman.” Aelin wrinkled her nose. “And I have a bunch of papers to grade tonight.”

“But we had so much fun last time.” Fenrys leaned against the wall, arms crossed and a teasing gleam in his eye. “What about the guy from last week?”

“What guy from last week?” Rowan cut in, frowning with a strained expression.

"No one," she dismissed him before asking Fenrys about some school gossip. Guy From Last Week didn't get further than texting, and she wasn't in the mood to put up with Rowan's protectiveness over her love life.

Dating was easy until sophomore year of college. More precisely, until The Great Gatsbeer Party, when Aelin offered herself in a platter for him and was brutally turned down. But conversation kept going, and he soon became her best friend and favorite person.

She had been in love with him for years, so what? Aelin adapted, like she always did.

Rowan and Aelin were side by side, walking towards his car in the boisterous garage, loud with the chatter of students and parents who parked to get the little ones.

"I didn't know there was a guy from last week."

Aelin gave him a pointed look. "There was a guy from last week. We texted a little, he told me Taylor Swift is overrated, I ghosted."

"Okay.'" He darted a quick glance her way. "Sorry. I didn't mean to pry."

She snorted, finding some sort of amusement in Rowan's unease. "Yes, you did."

"Wanna grade papers together, then?" He asked, changing the subject.

"Sure. And Mario Kart when we're done."

Aelin wasn't the biggest Mario Kart fan, but it became their thing over time. She was competitive enough to get a thrill when she's playing, and Rowan liked it a lot.

Rowan absolutely hated Mario Kart.

He wasn't as into video games as Aelin, but he loved to watch it when she shouted in front of the screen or threatened to end his bloodline when she's losing.

She's such a sore loser, his Fireheart.

A loud moan coming from the kitchen interrupted his thoughts.

“I love you."

Rowan closed his eyes, trying to calm down his boiling blood. He could deal with the love declaration, but not the moaning.

"Aelin, stop flirting with the cake," he shouted, making sure she'd hear him from the other room.

They'd decided she'd grab something to eat while he got the video game ready, and now Rowan was just waiting for her.

He wandered around her living room, analyzing her decoration for the millionth time, but only stopped when he got to his favorite piece.

A framed pamphlet of the party they met, his housewarming gift to her a few years back. Reminiscing about that life-altering day always brought a smile to his face.

“Aelin Galathynius. Hi.” She was swaying, but found her balance again by supporting herself against the wall. Aelin’s expression was earnest when she said, “I find we’re equally hot, and now I’m yearning to sing the passionate chant of the sacred nuptial rite with you.” Rowan was stunned silent, but she still extended a hand to him before announcing, “And I’d be honored to caress your one-eyed trouser snake.”

Rowan shaked his head, chuckling at Aelin's antics in college.

In his darkest moments, Rowan cursed himself for not making any kind of romantic advance, since he did nothing but talk to her and make sure she didn't do something she'd regret the next day. But at the same time, at least he didn't become one of the many men she got bored of after a few weeks and discarded.

She was so picky with the people she got romantically involved with, letting them go for the smallest reasons such as playing Mario Kart with Waluigi, Rowan probably ruined his chances with her at least twice a day.

He sighed, leaving her bookcase to sit back on the couch. There would be no getting over her with his daily dose of Aelin's tight skirts and sweet smiles, and Rowan was too weak to keep enough distance to not be in love with her.

If Aelin wasn't interested in him sober, he had no choice but to pine after her for the rest of his life.

His attention drifted to her coffee table, noticing her kindle didn't have its case on. Again. Typical Aelin. He grabbed the case to put it back on the device—

Rowan froze when he read the book cover.

Friends with Kinky Benefits.

With an increased pulse, he looked around to make sure Aelin wasn't close and turned the kindle on, curious.

It seemed to be just a story about a girl longing to find the dom of her dreams, who ends up having sex with her guy best friend—and lots of toys—over and over again, for almost 200 pages.

Holy rutting Mala, is this what she gets off on?

Rowan skimmed through the book, electrified with a newfound line of thought.

Is this something she daydreams about? Aelin could ask him if that's the case, no need to be shy. Rowan's feelings for her were deep and romantic, yes, but he was still a man. Even when taking a purely physical step with Aelin would inevitably break his heart

"Buzzard..."

He jerked towards her, barely breathing with the awareness that he was caugh red-handed snooping in her kindle. But Aelin looked stiff, her eyes darting between him and the kindle. "What're you doing?"

Rowan relaxed a little realizing a moment later that in Aelin's head, she's in a worse position than he is.

He smirked. "I always knew your books are steamy, but I never expected them to be so kinky too."

Those words were enough to make Aelin regain her movements, and she flung herself towards him. "Give me that!"

Rowan wasn't quite sure what made her so flustered, but he flailed his arm around, preventing him from getting the kindle back.

"But I was just beginning to understand how a cock cage works!" he mock-complained.

“Fuck you!”

With that, Aelin jumped at him on the couch while Rowan tried to hide the kindle behind him. To get the thing from behind his back, she pulled his hair and that's when time slowed down.

Aelin was straddling his thighs on the couch. One hand connected with his, both holding the kindle, and the other roughly grabbing a fistful of his hair.

Rowan's heartbeat became erratic, and Aelin didn't look much better. Her lips were parted, her skin flushed. She blinked, her eyes searching for him as he desperately looked for any cue in her. A hint, a green light, an invitation.

He leaned in, giving her time to recoil. She didn't.

A tiny bead of sweat broke from her temple, running down her jaw and throat in a path Rowan longed to trace with his tongue.

He stroked her cheek with his thumb, another hint of his next step before he—

The crickets of Aelin's ringtone shattered their moment, and seeing who the caller was made Rowan's muscles tense.

He was going to kill Fenrys.

A/N: @leiawritesstories and I are probably the only people who care about this fic so far, so I sneaked an inside joke ours in there. So this A/N is a little nod to Leia. iykyk. Ily Leia.

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#rowaelin #rowan whitethorn #aelin ashryver galathynius #throne of glass #rowaelin fanfiction #rowan x aelin #aelin x rowan #rowaelin fanfic #throne of glass fanfic #rowaelin month

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souryam · 7 months

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I've always been bothered by the analysis that Lily didn't care about Severus. Not only because I love their friendship and ship them together, and also because I think it cheapens the relationship as a whole and makes things fall a bit flat. I do understand where people are coming from tho. She does defend James to him, and is implied to be physically attracted to him even while being friends with Severus (I disagree with her already having a full blown crush, but I do think she found him handsome), also she's pretty emotionless when he's trying to apologize, which leads people to believe she was only looking for an excuse to ditch him. Which I strongly disagree.

First off, I don't think they would've lasted that long if she didn't love him a lot (as a friend or as a crush that's your pick). Their friendship lasted 6 years, and JKR confirmed that a huge motivation for James, personally, bullying Severus was jealousy she felt of Lily's attention and affection, he saw Snape as a threat. Potter watched Lily all the time, hit on her all the time. Lily is described to have a temper. It is almost impossible to me to believe that James wouldn't have noticed that Lily was bothered by Snape and outright wanted him gone from her life, therefore rendering his motive for the bullying flat. We see he is even more cruel when Lily stands up for Severus, mocking him further (as we see on the train scene in Prince's Tale and in SWM), exactly because he believed that they both liked each other (romantically or platonically)

Also, a scene that sticks out to me is the one in DH when Lily is insisting for Severus to stop hanging out with Avery and Mulciber. If she was just looking for an excuse, wouldn't she have given the ultimatum then and there? She clearly didn't like them, thought they were cruel, and they hurt Mary, which is implied to be an acquaintance if not a friend of hers. Why stay as long as she did, "making excuses" for him to her friends as she says, if she didn't want the friendship anymore? Her lack of emotion when he's apologizing can be easily explained away by how angry she is. That scene didn't happen after days or weeks from SWM, it happened in the same day and she clearly didn't want to speak to him in the moment, it being the only scene in which he demanded her attention in a sense. In Lily's POV, that was this friend she had for almost a decade, her oldest friend, who had just turned on her for no reason, when she was trying to help him. A lot of people ignore how bad Severus is at expressing his feelings and telling her hard things about his life (as seen in him using euphemisms for his father's behaviour when we know that he was being brutally whipped), so it's very possible that he wasn't transparent with her about his insecurities or how bad the marauders' bullying affected him, so she never thought much of it. Might be a little insensitive, but hey, she was a 15 yo. It always seemed to me that he presented himself way more as a shoulder for her to cry on than the opposite.

Also, the memories that were given to Harry were not meant to show the pretty moments of their friendship, at least not in my interpretation. Yes, it had some cute moments to make clear to Harry that they were friends, but to me it was way more about showing Harry the conflict of Snape's life from the start, the Dark Arts and the DEs, which he was very tempted and interested by, and the Lily, who's a symbolism for Light in his life. She was the one pulling him away from them, warning him, and he wouldn't listen. That's why basically all their scenes have some sort of conflict. To show Harry how his entire life, he was in between those two sides being pulled back and forth, and when Lily's pull was gone, he headed straight in to the Dark Arts, and ofc, that didn't end well at all.

This got super long for no reason and it's prob very badly written but it was mostly a word vomit lmao I just rlly like them and yes they had their problems but most friendships do :( they would've worked it out in another universe...

#prosnape #snape #bruce mulciber #edmundavery #lily evans #snily #sevlily #platonic snily #lily evans and severus snape #lily and severus #harry potter

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sketching-shark · 5 months

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I saw your post about how you say that western interpretations of swk are just taking his goofy side and not much his violent side, but didn't you say before that western interpretations were just taking his violent side without understanding his character fully? and that he was more than just an evil/violent monkey? you said it with lmk for example, when they show in the past that wukong just wanted the powers for ambition and became ''evil'' and you said it wasn't right they interpret him like just a violent monkey

Im confused here

Complaining below, so if you (understandably lol) don't want to read all of that feel free to ignore.

My apologies for the confusion anon! And I will admit that I don't remember exactly what I wrote in this regard, though I do remember spending more time than I should have whining about both the goofiness and solely destructive aspects of SWK's character being given prominence in a lot of western interpretations lol. Maybe it was a combination of the two & me complaining of the prevalence of the "destructive meathead" interpretation of SWK? That IS a pretty common personality given to this monkey in western interpretations (see Netflix's The New Legends of Monkey & The Monkey King for example), and is a combination of goofiness & violence that shunts the "intelligent" part of "intelligent stone monkey" into the background.

THAT SAID, I am aware that I'm EXTREMELY picky in terms of Sun Wukong representations, and that it would be completely false to pretend there aren't a ton of Chinese presentations of the Monkey King that don't lean heavily towards a goofy and/or destructive characterization. Hell, I have heard and seen some pretty nasty examples of the Monkey King interpreted through the grimdark genre that ended with me hoping I manage to forget about them posthaste. And when it comes to children's media it makes sense that there would be a focus on the silly side of SWK's character. As I've said many a time before, it's not like you'd want to expose kids to a monkey running around smashing people's heads into meat patties.

I guess a lot of my personal frustrations come from the way there's a bit of a monoculturalization in the ways that western interpretations tend to lean heavily on the silly and violent sides of SWK's character while doing away with a lot of his intelligence, attempts to resolve matters through less violent means, and cutting out a lot of the actually pretty understandable reasons and contexts for why SWK does what he does in the classic. To give an example, one of the things that I find really interesting about SWK in JTTW is how he is undoubtedly a very violent monkey, BUT he's a very violent monkey in a world where many of the major power players, from the yaoguai kings to the Jade Emperor himself, are just as (if not more) violent as him. So you do for example have yaoguai like the Brotherhood of Lion Camel Ridge and the Demon Bull King being vicious man-eaters, with the Brotherhood in particular being described as living in a charnel house of human gore; the Tang Emperor, who Tang Sanzang is sworn brothers with, is literally described as a man who killed countless people to get his power, and we do actually see a lot of their ghosts his tour of Diyu; and the Jade Emperor, besides meeting out such vicious punishments as having Bai Longma hung in the sky and whipped 300 times before he was to be executed for accidentally burning some pearls, basically ordered the genocide of the Mt. Huaguoshan monkeys because Sun Wukong wouldn't surrender after stealing a bunch of immortality-granting treats that were grown/made, i.e. stuff that could all be replaced. So while SWK is definitely a vicious and frequently remorseless and ruthless monkey, this is taking place in a world where so is every other leader to a greater or lesser extent; Sun Wukong's just the most brutally honest about it. And the Monkey King seems fully aware of this and respond accordingly; his very first kill, in fact, was that of the Demon King of Confusion, who had kidnapped a lot of the children of the Mt. Huaguoshan troop. As is, you don't see SWK starting a lot of fights (he even often gives his opponents the chance to strike the first blow), but he sure is willing to escalate to get his way! Not to mention how it's ever-more painfully obvious that Tang Sanzang, who is always preaching nonviolence and compassion, would have been killed and eaten from the very start of his journey if he didn't have an ultraviolent monkey and multiple deities guarding his every step. And that dynamic does as such raise such disturbing and disturbingly relevant questions as: what chance does empathy and nonviolence have of surviving under these circumstances? What would it truly take to create a world were nonviolence and compassion are the rule of law? Can any ruler truly justify their violence based on higher purposes, or are we always dealing with a situation where might makes right? How do we persuade others, even those who can and have wield horrific violence, of the necessity of nonviolence? And does violence ultimately have a place in a world where acts of destruction take generations to heal, if they do heal at all?

IN CONCLUSION, I personally think that there's a lot of really interesting and important questions that the Monkey King and his story in Xiyouji raise, and while I am more understanding now as to why a lot of retellings don't even try to tackle half of them, I do find if frustrating that there seems like a real reluctance to even make the attempt. So you do end up with a lot of simplified versions of SWK, with a good chunk of them falling into the silly monkey, violent monkey, or silly violent monkey sides.

Like as far as lmk goes I'm kind of sad and pretty frustrated that even though they keep hinting at deeper or more understandable reasons for why their SWK is such a mess, Flying Bark now has a history of showing everyone and their mother yelling at SWK for being stupid and destructive and then going out of their way to show this monkey being stupid and destructive, and then basically waiting until the last possible second before suddenly pulling an increasingly unconvincing "maybe he doesn't suck THAT much" conclusion. Like...it's now been revealed that this dude, besides never even having a monkey yaoguai family he loved and was protecting, literally though it was a good idea to instigate a war against heaven with a grand total of 4 other guys even though that was clearly doomed to failure (vs. book SWK who was stuck waging a clearly defensive war against heaven with the entirely of his hundreds of allies and their troops), & even though it was definitely inadvertently he played a massive hand in almost exploding the entire universe with the Samadhi fire debacle. And that's to say nothing of how it increasingly seems like lego SWK is the worst Monkey King shifu out there. Could be that a lot of this is because the stakes are so much higher in Monkie Kid than they are in other stories where SWK has a tudi--as with Liu Chenxiang (who wanted the ability to fight his uncle Erlang Shen so he could free his mother Sansheng Mu) or Li Yunxiang (who was being targeted by powerful yaoguai and dragons for being Li Nezha's reincarnation & needed someone to protect him & help him control his abilities until he was ready to stand on his own), and certainly the unnamed Indian prince in the og classic (who was impressed with SWK & wanted to learn martial arts skills under him & who's life was never in danger)--but its genuinely disheartening how much Qi Xiaotian has now suffered specifically because of his shifu-tudi relationship to Sun Wukong. That's a reality that isn't even partially true in these other cases. It's the kind of thing that drives you to ask if the ever-more traumatized monkie boy would ultimately have had a happier life if the Monkey King never became part of it :(

Anyway, I hope that clears things up anon! If anything, just keep in mind that the Monkey King's character in the og classic is rich and varied enough to act as the baseline for a vast variety of interpretations and retellings, and that a lot of my complaining is about feeling that a particular retelling is going too far in its flanderization. People have come up with all sorts of characterizations for this monkey for literally centuries--and they range from a irresponsible and foolish demon to a honest and diligent holy being--but it does pay to remember what an important literary and religious figure he is, and what sorts of interesting and relevant possibilities he offers.

#anon answered #sun wukong #monkey king #journey to the west #jttw #xiyouji #monkey critical

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ailendolin · 5 months

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Thomas�� relationship with his mother implies he was given all the necessary love and affection a child should receive, and his desperation for acceptance is silly and not born from any deep-seated abandonment issues. Everything else about his portrayal is contrary to this premise. It’s so odd

Thank you for bringing this up because I've been wanting to make a post about the scene in 3x05 for ages and never gotten around to it.

The thing with Thomas is: he doesn't lie. That's established in canon. He is an honest person - almost brutally so if we think of the painting or Button FM. So when he says his mother was there but not really there, I just can't chalk it up to him being dramatic. Because the way this scene is built is similar to the way he talks about his death. Both are painful memories for him, and in both cases he distracts his audience from that pain. He makes up a ridiculous kiss with Isabelle that never happened (an embellishment or wishful thinking on his part, if you will, to make it less painful) so who's to say he isn't doing the same when he says his mother eventually came to comfort him?

We know from the book that she did support his writing endeavours so him saying she introduced him to publishers is true and we can assume the same for her putting up his poems on the walls. But while financial and professional support is certainly nice to have, I think what Thomas actually longed for and didn't get is emotional support: a hug when he was upset, a kiss on his knee when he scraped it, a bedtime story to help him fall asleep after a nightmare.

There is obviously a lot of room of interpretation here but I'd go so far as to say that Thomas's mother was emotionally distant and that there's more to what he says about her than meets the eye. The poems on the wall, for example: who's to say that wasn't as far as her interest in them went? Imagine little Thomas, proud and grinning, handing her a poem he's just written; imagine his mother merely glancing down at it before handing it over to a maid to frame it and add it to the collection on the wall. That's neither being loving nor supportive. That's having no interest in your child.

We could always look at it the other way around, too: what if she'd gushed about his poems as if they were the best thing ever written in the history of mankind, giving him false expectations? What if she'd lied to him about how good they are? People lying to him is a theme that's connected to Thomas's character as much as him feeling alone and unloved is. You have Francis lying to him to get Isabelle, you have people in his life constantly pretending to like his poetry because that's what etiquette demanded, you have Alison lying to him about what con means ... So what if his mother was the first person who lied to him - about his poems, perhaps even about loving him?

Interestingly, Thomas never mentions his father or any siblings which could mean that he's an only child and his father either left the family or died, perhaps even before he was born. It could also mean that his mother remarried and he grew up in a household where he was always something of an outsider, a reminder of the past (which might explain why he doesn't sound Scottish btw). It's all speculation, obviously, but he could have very well been the Cinderella of his family - tolerated but not truly loved.

Again, I'm just trying to offer a different perspective on a scene which, at first glance, looks like nothing more than Thomas being dramatic and attention-seeking as always. I'm not saying my interpretation is right, but given that Thomas has a history of making light of his own painful memories, I think there's at least a possibility that there's more to his story about his mother than meets the eye.

#thomas thorne #bbc ghosts #bbc ghosts spoilers #mp bbc ghosts

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jpriest85-blog · 3 months

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It was a bit early, but I came up with some concept art of @vendetta-if sequel MC. Including portraits of my MC, Akami, Luka, Jackal, and my interpretation of her older brother Konstantin. While Konstantin does share Luka's height and eye color, I headcanon he inherited most of his features from his late Uncle Viktor. This probably triggers a lot of bittersweet memories for Luka when he sees his children playing and getting a very vivid sense of deja vu at how much his son looks like how he remembers Viktor as a child. Either way, he's glad Akami has such a close relationship with her older brother... although it worried Luka at first how many times she tried to bite Kosta as a toddler. Here's some more info about Akami

Vendetta sequel MC

Name: Akami Morozova

Nickname: Ai-chan, or норка (norka).

Gender: Female

Sexual preferences: Lesbian

Birthday: April 8

Zodiac: Aries

Face claim: Mikako Tabe

Body claim: Maika

Height: 5ft.2”/158cms.

Ethnicity: Japanese

Hair: long, straight black hair with blunt bangs

Eyes: Black

Complexion: Pale

Tattoos & distinguishing features: A long thin scar that starts on the left corner of her mouth going down her neck to her collar bone. An Irezumi tattoo on her right shoulder depicts a mink drawn like a kamaitachi wearing a jackal skull on its head.

Personality: Akami tends to come across as a Stoic and intense person, which can be expected considering her role in the family is to assist her older brother,Konstantin, and take out any threats to him or the family. Although many people tend to underestimate her at first since she's rather petite and baby faced. They're quick to regret it, though, as Akami is very brutal. Adopted or not, Akami is still a Morozov, and one of her fathers’ is an infamous hitman, and she very much is Jackal's daughter. She is also intensely competitive and hates to lose. While it did help motivate her to improve during combat training, it did cause problems in less high stakes situations. Such as Akami attempting to bite her brother when they were young children whenever she lost against him playing board games. Thankfully, Akami has outgrown the habit of biting people…mostly anyway.

Despite Akami's history of aggressive behavior, she does have a fondness for cute things and even used to dress in Lolita fashion clothes as a teenager. She also tends to get flustered easily around beautiful women turning bright red and attempting to hide behind her longer hair. While Konstantin will often tease Akami about trying to hide her soft side, he does look out for his baby sister and often tries to play wingman for her. While it does embarrassed Akami, since she's not good about dealing with feelings, other than rage. She does appreciate that her older brother is one of the few people she willingly confides in with personal matters. Besides, it's not like she can ask their dads for advice with girls, and Konstantin is the only other relative, besides their cousin Katerina, with actual social skills.

Her older brother also helps Akami rein in her temper since she's also prone to active impulsively. Having grown up together Konstantin knows his sister well enough to intervene early before she does something reckless, although sometimes he does have to physically restrain Akami, and he's one of the few people with both the physical strength and trust with her to be able to pull it off. While Akami's relationships with her brother have grown more professional since he became the new family head, it's not always completely serious. They will still affectionately tease each other and get into childish arguments with each other when in private. They're still siblings, after all. Once in a while, Akami and her brother still indulge in the same dumbass stunts and games they enjoyed as kids. Like Akami convincing her older brother to use his laser vision to blow up a watermelon or pumpkin filled with fireworks! From a safe distance and with safety gear, of course, they don't want to risk their father, Luka, freaking out and putting them both on house arrest again like last time.

Additional info & Headcanons

Akami didn't speak until she was an older toddler. It worried both Artyom and Luka when they first brought her home. They had many doctors and specialists check on her, and they didn't find any physical impairments to her delayed speech. The doctors tried to assure her fathers that she's still within the windows for her first words. Unfortunately, the first words they would hear from their daughter weren't Dada or Papa. It was hearing Akami telling Takashi to “fuck off” after he annoyed the little girl by fawning over her too much and pinching her cheeks. Thankfully he wasn't too offended after the initial shock of hearing baby Akami cursing at him, and most of the family found it funny. Luka took a bit longer to find the humor that his youngest daughter's first words were cussing out an ally and family friend like she was a tiny Samuel L. Jackson.

Akami had a hard time making friends with other kids her age growing up. So her older brother Konstantin was her only friend for a while since he was one of the few people who always figured out how to get her to open up.

Akami has a stuffed Axolotl plushie Konstantin won for her at Carnival game when they were kids. She was upset she was too small to ride anything fun, so her brother made a point to win her the giant salamander plushy to cheer her up. It was her favorite toy, and she still keeps it even as an adult but would never admit it.

Konstantin was also the first one to take Akami out drinking when she was old enough. While it was fun Akami did give her brother a heart attack the next day when he went to check on how she's handling her first hangover by crawling out from under her bed doing a very convincing impression of Sadako from The Ring. It's not like she did it on purpose, but the fact Akami is naturally pale with long dark hair combined with her bloodshot eyes, and unsteady gait while hung over gives her an eerie resemblance to the iconic ghost girl popular in Asian horror films.

Akami received the large scar on her face and neck from an early assination mission that went sideways. She narrowly avoided getting her carotid artery cut but thankfully survived. Both her fathers and brother were furious that someone would dare scar Akami's pretty little face but they were proud to learn she did worse to the bastard who cut her, by tearing out his lower jaw…until she asked if she could keep the piece of jawbone as a trophy.

Akami has an affectionate nickname based on an animal. Her family calls her норка (norka) since it's the Russian word for mink. Her grandfather was the first one to use Nickname since, like the animal, Akami looks small and soft but is quite an aggressive predator. She even received a mink coat from him as a gift, and even as an adult, Akami prefers wearing mink coats when it snows.

Both Akami and Konstantin have a close relationship with their older cousin Katerina, to the point she's become a maternal figure to them. Like how Aunt Cara used to be a mother figure to Katerina when she was young.

Akami and Konstantin are also raised in a multilingual household. They both grew up speaking English, Russian, Cantonese, as well as Japanese considering their close relationship with the Aikawas.

Likewise, they are also close to Katerina's SOs Ash and Rin. All three of them had some influence over Akami in some way. Kitty would often take Akami shopping and dress her up, which is partly why Akami is fond of cute clothes. Rin helped instill a love of music with her, and Ash helped Akami with combat training.

Ash also unintentionally inspired Akami's arsonist tendencies. As a toddler, Akami would always giggle and get excited whenever she saw Ash create a small flame. Granted, Ash is usually more careful about using her abilities around the kids, but how could she say no to little Akami pleading to see her make fire appear on her finger tips. Especially with how cute the little girl is when she giggles and claps like she's watching a magic show. Until Akami starts trying to make her own fires. Thankfully, Luka is experienced in dealing with short tempered girls who start fires, although he makes sure to check that Akami isn't taking any flammable materials with her before she leaves the house.

While Akami also grew up close to the Aikawa family, both as allies and in-laws, since Rin married her cousin Katerina. Rin also helped influence a love of music in her. Akami was a very aggressive child, and Rin noticed early on that music had a soothing effect on her, which came in handy whenever Kitty volunteered to babysit her cousins. Akami does wind up taking music lessons growing up and does develop a beautiful singing voice, although she rarely sings in front of anyone outside her family. Akami has a preference for R & B, Soul, Jazz, and Blues music and even took up playing the drums as a teenager.

While Akami shares both her fathers distaste for large formal parties, she does try to restrain herself. Unfortunately for Akami, that restraint means punching a man in the crotch instead of stabbing him when he incessantly asked her to dance after she already said no. Thankfully, Konstantin knows his sister well enough to prevent such incidents by introducing her to groups of pretty women. Sure, Akami doesn't say much, but she's more likely to come across as adorably shy by being flustered around a group of socialites. Instead of insulting a potential ally's family by punching someone (although that one jackass did deserve it by not accepting his sister's refusal).

#vendetta sequel mc #rough concept art #Akami Morozova #Luka #Jackal #Konstantin #mc info #poor Luka is going to grey before Akami even finishes 4th grade

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neurosiscocktail · 6 months

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Finale Spoilers ahead-

Processing a lot of emotions about the season finale, and I unfortunately just didn’t like a lot of aspects about it. A lot of which is about Izzy’s death, but some of it is about Ed and Stede, and some of it is about the lack of resolution.

Izzy’s death really felt like the “we ‘redeemed’ the antagonist and now we don’t know what to do with his character so we give him a gut wrenching death” troupe. That may not have been the intent, because the writers of this show are great, and because they’re great I really expected someone to say “hey does this feel like we’re writing a troupe that hasn’t been meaningful since 1980” and no one did.

I really don’t feel like Izzy’s death was necessary or even necessarily meaningful. That being said, I’m not really that upset that he died beyond he was my favorite character and that is a bummer and a half. It has more to do with the situation-

1) why do muppet rules apply to everyone but Izzy? Like, yeah the “he’s the only real human in a show full of muppets” joke is funny, but Ed got bludgeoned with a cannonball and he is completely fine. Several members of the crew have survived and recovered from cartoonish injuries, but a gunshot wound takes out Izzy?

2) There was plenty of time in that scene for Izzy to get out of the way. Or take out the prince with him. I don’t really like the take that he didn’t because he was resigned or wanted to die. I feel like it takes away from the episodes we just had of him finding his place in the crew. Maybe that’s what the writers were going for, but it doesn’t sit right with me.

3) his death speech didn’t add much for me. There’s a saying that funerals are for the living, not the dead and in media I think death speeches often reflect that. They’re not usually about the person dying, but instead it’s about giving something to the protagonist. I don’t really think it did that. It felt like Izzy continued to take accountability for both his and Ed’s actions, which doesn’t actually help Ed grow from what happened. The speech pulled at my heart strings and I think I’m a lot of ways that had more to do with Con and Taika being phenomenal actors than it did with the writing itself.

4) his death speech kind of was rendered meaningless and doesn’t really add anything to the story. He uses his dying words to tell Ed that he can move on because he has a new family that loves him and then Ed and Stede stay on shore totally alone, so either Ed didn’t hear him, or what he said doesn’t have any relevance to protagonist decision and again, not my favorite writing choice.

5) Some people have brought up a very good point that if you stick with a popular interpretation of season 1, that Izzy was a representation of Ed’s old life and that the first season was about Ed needing to choose between the relative safety of Izzy- brutal, emotionally devastating Blackbeard or the unknown that is Stede- the chance for love, trying something new, etc, then it makes sense that Izzy had to die for that to happen. For Ed to really move on. However, and don’t get me wrong, I love my toxic codependent pirates, burying Izzy on land and then living on that land doesn’t really feel like letting go to me. It feels like an extension of their codependency

6) budget cuts meant less episodes. Which is a bummer and not the writers fault. However, it kind of felt like instead of cutting things they wanted to include, they tried to speed run a 10 episode season into 8 and the pacing felt very off.

7) I am including what I personally disliked here. Everything above was sort of issues I had with narration and writing, and this point is just kind of complaining about stuff I personally don’t like in writing. I am so tired of watching shows where they kill off queer characters who have a difficult time with self acceptance and opening themself up to love. I see it so often and find it exhausting. The death was painful and on purpose to be painful. His arc didn’t have to end with him dying. No one else’s , except arguably Buttons, did. And that doesn’t mean he NEEDED to live either, but it felt less like “this is what is best for Izzy’s arc” and more like “this will hurt the audience immensely and we want the finale to pack a big emotional punch” and to me that’s just… not a good enough reason. I know a lot of people don’t feel that way, and arguably the point of writing is to make your audience feel something, but it felt like it was there specifically to garner an emotional response, rather than any real necessity to the story. And I think I feel more strongly about it because again, whether intentional or not, I hate the killing your redeemed antagonists troupe. I guess they did succeed in making me feel something, so if the writers view that as the point of writing, they did what they meant to do and that’s a well written ending. To me, while Izzy’s death didn’t make a bad story out of his arc, I would argue it prevented it from being a great one and that’s kind of a bummer. I also think I unintentionally set the bar higher for the OFMD writers because they have shown better, and that may not be fair.

All that being said, I overall really enjoyed this season, and will watch season 3 if they get a third season. My opinions might change on my third, fourth, or fifth watch when I’m not feeling a lot of emotions about it. I think everyone should be kind to each other, the writers, and the actors in the show. I think sometimes we forget that when something like a season finale is polarizing.

#izzy hands #our flag means death #spoilers #ofmd spoilers #ofmd season 2 #edward teach #stede bonnet #israel hands #ofmd

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highfantasy-soul · 1 month

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NATLA Episode 8 - Legends (2/4)

[Masterlist of my NATLA thoughts]

Of course, full spoilers ahead.

I really enjoy how Zhao (Azula) is a much smarter villain in the live-action than he was in the animated series. While I do love them both, leaning into the Fire Nation not just working off brute force, but rather being strategic and clever with their attacks was a great choice. The Ice Moon caveat for the spirits and Kuruk's spirit knife made the world feel bigger to me than just having the moon and ocean spirits conveniently always sitting there to kill by any means. I don't think the live-action team went in with the idea that the ocean and moon spirits being mortal was 'a plothole to fill' like some claim (yet again, always jumping to the least charitable interpretation of the live-action rather than spending three seconds to think about what it ADDS to the story to flesh that part out), I think they used it to seed a lot of lore and worldbuilding while also giving reasons as to why events played out the way they did.

Like I said in my post about episode 6, it makes a lot more sense to me that Zhao would have easy access to the info (and weapon) needed to kill the Moon Spirit rather than that shlub somehow finding the super hidden library that an archeologist spent YEARS searching for. While it was a cool foreshadowing of the library in season 2, having Zhao discover the moon and ocean spirit stuff in Avatar Roku's temple in the live-action I think makes more sense.

The fire sage being the one to explain the spirit oasis and the origins of waterbending to Zhao was a really cool change! It shows Zhao formulating his plan rather than having it just told to us like in the animated version - it includes the lore behind the ocean and moon spirit without making it so obvious that that's the solution to their problem, it introduces it as the problem and we have to work our way to the solution instead of it just being given to us. The fact that the sages still know and revere (even though they're using it to form an attack plan) the histories of bending is a nice touch. Especially the older sages, they remember the old ways and stories and don't discount the power of the old tales like younger people might. It doesn't stop them from falling into fascism (it stops some, but not all), but it does add layers and nuance to their world view rather than the very surface-level 'all others are bad, we don't pay attention to them' view that was shown mostly in the animated version.

Kuruk appearing to Aang to warn him was super cool!! I like how past Avatars can appear to their current iteration (not to mention they were right outside his shrine) to warn them of something and having it be Kuruk's knife that he can feel added a lot. It's another instance where the Fire Nation can turn anything into a weapon against the world - the weapon Kuruk forged to PROTECT the world from evil spirits and keep the world in balance is now being twisted and used by the Fire Nation to hurt the good ones and throw the world out of balance. Just as Zhao and the Fire Sage took a beautiful story about the creation of the Water Tribes and twisted it into something to harm them, they're taking a weapon of protection and making it a brutal weapon against the light.

UUUGGGHHHH Zhao and his twisted 'justifications' as to why killing the moon isn't actually all that bad. "Killing the ocean would deprive people of their lives - I'm not a monster!" of course he wants a world to rule, so he can't kill them, only fully subjugate them and wipe out their culture! See, they will get to live under his amazing rule, why would he deny them that opportunity?? Watch closely, everyone - that's the reasoning a lot of fascists give when they start trying to eradicate cultural practices - they argue that they're leaving the people alive, so it's not actually bad! We're just stripping away their identity and replacing it with our own! Save the man, kill the savage and all that.

"The Avatar's power is great, but it pales in comparison to the elemental spirits" SUCH GREAT FORESHADOWING WITHOUT GIVING IT ALL AWAYYYY!!!!!!! Also a great way to show the power scale of the world - as powerful as Aang is in the Avatar state, the spirits are the OG - especially the elemental ones. Aang ISN'T the most powerful thing in this world. It sets up how they're going to defeat the fire nation army without Aang in control of the Avatar state really well! They're leaving breadcrumbs rather than telling you the plan in a monologue or just randomly deciding to join with the ocean spirit - a power that hadn't been discussed at all in the animated show.

That Momo fake out death was CRUEL!!!! He just saved a girl's life and we think he gave his life to do it!!!! But it was a great way to introduce not only the spirit oasis, but also the healing properties of its waters. In the animated show, that's not mentioned at all until Pakku gives Katara the water vial and tells her it can heal - it's actually SHOWN in the live-action that it's powers are beyond normal healing. Yue's story about her being healed in these waters makes a lot more sense here as well rather than in the animated series where she tells the story once the moon is in trouble. At the time, it seems like it has nothing to do with the immediate danger, it's just a way to set up that she'll give back that life in the end - a quick lore set-up break in the action. In the live-action, it's directly tied to what's happening - she's doing the same thing to Momo that was done to her to save her life. Her connection with the moon isn't relevant yet, so that part of the story is held till later when it is relevant.

Honestly, I think the spirit oasis is much more impressive in the live-action. In the animated show, it's just a small island of grass with a pond - in the live-action, it's a whole valley filled with life. And I love how NO adaptation can resist showing Zuko fire-blasting his way out from beneath the ice - it's just too damn cool to leave out! I like how Iroh is still playing his loyalties close to the chest - he's not going to outright attack Zhao yet, but he'll definitely stall and not help out as much as Zhao wants him to.

Zuzu!!!! Like always, huge shit is happening all around but Zuko still thinks him capturing Aang is the most important thing in the world. I like that they're keeping that narrow focus for him - one of his biggest flaws - that blinds him to everything around him. He's not concerned about saving Agna Qel'a, he's not concerned about saving the spirits, he just wants to capture Aang and restore his place in the Fire Nation.

His face as Katara says she's gonna fight him and Aang agreeing - oof. Here he is thinking he's Aang's biggest threat and Aang is just handing his battle off to Katara. And Aang's sly little 'go easy' that wasn't to Zuko - the poor thing. So we begin Zuko v Katara round 2!!! Back in episode 2 on Kyoshi Island, Katara stood against Zuko - untrained and terrified, but knowing she needed to protect Aang. She was beaten easily, but now, she's had training. She's had experience. She's forged herself into a warrior and she's ready for everything Zuko can dish out. Well, not EVERYTHING as even in the animated series, Zuko does win due to his extensive training, but she puts up a wicked fight!

I am good with the siege only lasting one day rather than several like in the animated version. Though I do miss the 'you rise with the moon, I rise with the sun' line, it does kind of feel like Zuko kidnapping Aang was more to provide a cliffhanger for the end of The Siege of the North: Part 1 rather than a necessary narrative choice. In a 2-part finale, yeah we want a cliffhanger, but since this is all one episode, like I mentioned in my post about how episode flow has to change given the new format, that just wouldn't have worked out as well as a smooth single-night attack. Aang seeking guidance before the battle rather than getting kidnapped mid-meditation I think was a smart move. (I've always felt like that cliffhanger was a bit of an odd choice anyways because they make this huge deal about Aang not being able to find his body if it isn't right where he left it, but then it's…not a problem at all - his spirit just zooms back to his body - conveniently showing the Gaang where to find him and Zuko and nothing actually comes of that 'threat' of him not being able to re-enter his body. I'll talk about Zuko's speech about Azula later when it's brought up and altered in the live-action).

I LOOOOOVE Zhao's little speech here - his ambition to gain status - to become a legend, has led him to more and more dangerous things. He truly believes he could become the new Fire Lord. Iroh pleads with him not to do it, but Zhao is too filled with the desire for power that he's not listening to reason. Even after Iroh's threats, Zhao isn't concerned in the least - he views the threats 'empty' and is so smug about how 'this could still work out for you'. As if Iroh is like Zhao and would cave to any opportunity for power.

Like always, Aang tries to talk his enemy down - he tries to appeal to their better nature, an idea that they wouldn't want to throw the world into chaos. The exchange here is SO FREAKING GOOD. Aang pleading with Zhao that this isn't power, Zhao so drunk on his own importance that he can't imagine why anyone would give up the chance to wipe out an entire race of benders - and Aang knowing exactly what that's like, how horrifically awful it is. But for Zhao, those are only stories - he's never known a world with airbenders in it, but Sozin went down in history for that 'accomplishment' he, himself, can be in the history books along side such a 'legend' with no thought to the actual real, human hurt necessary to get there.

Aang finally tries the last thing he can - making Zhao the same offer he made Zuko: leave the attack behind and he'll go with them peacefully. But Zhao isn't Zuko - he wants more than just the Avatar. He wants to cause pain and suffering and have people look upon him with fear. I think it's such an interesting take to have Zhao, like June, not view the Avatar with reverence. He's bought into the Fire Nation propaganda that the Avatar isn't actually all that powerful - the Fire Lord has taken that place. Even the legitimacy of the concept of the Avatar itself is called into question - after all, the Fire Nation wants all the power and the Avatar would stop them. That's not helping them, so the Avatar must be useless.

Unknowingly, Zhao has just struck at Aang's biggest fear: while Zhao thinks the Avatar doesn't matter on its face, Aang is afraid that he's not good enough as an Avatar TO matter.

I've seen people confused about Iroh's loyalties and his true goal in the live-action - is he really working against the fire nation or not? And some criticism that it seems like he's helping Zuko capture Aang TOO much/ doesn't stop Zhao soon enough from killing the moon spirit. I'd point them, yet again, to the animated series where he very clearly, in The Waterbending Master episode, tells Zuko "once we get to the north pole, the Avatar will be yours". At the moment, animated Iroh is fully on board with Zuko capturing the Avatar. If he plans on trying to influence him not to turn the Avatar in to the fire lord, it's not even hinted at yet, so I think keeping it up in the air for the live-action is staying true to Iroh and Zuko not being 'good guys' - their goals are still to capture Aang. Live action Iroh even attacks Zhao BEFORE the animated Iroh does! In the animation, Iroh threatens Zhao, but doesn’t make a move until Zhao has killed the moon spirit - in the live-action, he attacks in an attempt to save the spirit. Yet another example of people criticizing the live-action for something even more apparent in the animated series - often because they're thinking of the character 2 seasons from now and what they think THAT version of the character would do and trying to apply it to season 1 when that's not even the characterization the animated show gave them in season 1.

I think the subsequent fight in the moonless night is even more emotionally intense in the live action than it was in the animated series. You can FEEL the terror and SEE people dying as the waterbending fails and the fire nation advance. The way this sequence was shot is honestly amazing - it's not gruesome or violent for the sake of it - it's showing the truth of war and the horrific cost of such an assault. Letting the warriors of the Northern Water Tribe have a heroic stand against the firebenders even when their best resource was taken away was great to see. Giving Hahn and Chief Arnook their moment showed that it truly wasn't just about Aang and his friends - this story is about every single person who stands up to fight against tyranny, no matter the weapon they might wield or power they have.

#natla #avatar the last airbender #netflix avatar #atla #natla positivity

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the-trans-anon · 2 months

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Insomanic Spider-Man and Revenge

Something that's really interesting to me is the theme of revenge in the insomanic games, so I wanted to go game-by-game and discuss how revenge is used. This post is gonna b long so putting a read more

Spider-Man (2018):

In the first game we have Martin Li and Doc Ock. Both completely destroy their lives in pursuit of revenge.

Martin Li goes against the values he formed FEAST with, completely betrays everyone who worked for him. He hates Norman Osborn because Norman killed his parent, but in his attempts at revenge Li does the exact same thing to not just Miles but SO many other familes. How many people do you think he killed in not just the bombing but also the many shootouts the Demons cause? In the Devils Breath plague? He wasn't the one who unleashed it in the end, but he still planned to.

Doc Ock falls down a very similar path. He takes a tool that was originally meant to help and heal, and uses it to hurt. In his desire to cause Norman's downfall, he not only brutally attacks and nearly kills one of his closest friends, but also kills SO many people with Devils Breath. And, completely unlike Li, he feels little to no remorse for it. Doc Ock feels like the people who died deserved it, because they put Norman in power.

In the DLC we also have Yuri, who turns against her friends and coworkers in her attempts to destroy Hammerhead, but Yuri is less about revenge destroying someone and more about a "the ends justify the means" mindset. While she does have a theme of revenge in her story, I feel like its less present in her actual character arc. She less destroys her life and more takes her life down a different path. She recognizes that the system can't give her what she views as justice and so decides to take it into her own hands.

Spider-Man: Miles Morales (2020):

Ok, Phin. We don't know a ton about Phin before she started working towards revenge, but from what's there: my interpretation is Phin ends up going against the values that her brother died for in her bid for revenge.

Phin's brother (his name escapes me) lived to help others, and the Second he realized his research was being used for not only capitalist greed but also harming people he wanted to put a stop to it. Phin, in attempting to finish what her brother started, completely loses sight of this original goal. She hurts people, a lot of people, including her closest friend, and almost basically sets off a bomb in Harlem.

Phin wasn't stupid, you can't convince me that some part of her didn't recognize the risks. She was so angry and so convinced that she was the right one that she ignored the harm she was doing until it was too late.

Spider-Man 2 (2023):

Peter's character arc in this game is a direct parallel of Doc Ock's arc in the first game. Thanks to the symbiote weaking Pete's self control, he wants revenge on Kraven and hurts the people around him in the process. He turns Harry's kindness against him, gives MJ the cold shoulder, and literally attacks Miles. He's angry and upset and he doesn't know how to handle it other than taking it all out on Kraven.

Similar to how the arms affected Doc Ock mentally, while the symbiote does affect Pete mentally the emotions and desires he feels are still very very real. In direct contrast to Doc Ock though, Pete is given a chance and he takes it.

Miles didn't save Peter, Peter saved himself. But if Miles hadn't been there and hadn't supported Peter, Peter never would've gotten rid of the symbiote. Miles said to Peter: "I know you're angry but you're hurting people who don't deserve this, you need to stop" and, unlike Doc Ock, Peter listened and took the steps necessary to bring himself away from that path.

Meanwhile, Miles ALSO has a big theme of stepping away from revenge. Miles' entire character arc in the second game is him looking at how others ruined their lives through a search for revenge, looking at his own desire for revenge, and saying "I'm good. I don't want to go down that path"

Miles comes close to killing Li at least twice. If he would've actually killed Li is debatable (I personally believe he wouldn't have), but there's two times where Miles has an opportunity to kill the person who put him and his family through so much suffering, and he considers it.

Miles wants Li to suffer, he wants Li to feel even a fraction of the pain Li made Miles feel, but by the end of the game Miles is able to recognize that that doesn't help him or him mom recover from what they went through, it just causes more pain. Miles decides that he doesn't want to hold onto that hate, that he wants to move on, and so he does. Which gives Miles one of the most emotionally mature character arcs in the entire series.

It looks like the theme of revenge is gonna continue into the third game, with Doc Ock wanting to make both Norman and Pete suffer, and Norman wanting to make the Spider-Men suffer. It's just really interesting how every game has dealt with this idea of the harm revenge can cause.

#insomniac spider man #spider man ps4 #miles morales ps5 #miles morales #peter parker #spider man ps5 #doctor octavius #phin mason #martin li #spiderman #spider man 2 ps5 #spider man 2 spoilers #yuri watanabe #insomniac spiderman

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quetzalpapalotl · 8 months

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Kinda a hot take but I feel like mtmte megatrons arc would have been so much better if he had stayed on cybertron, like if he had to stay and was around Optimus and starscream, people who arguably know him best, so he is always staring who he hurt directly in the face, bc to me while Rodimus is great for giving megatron a mostly impartial view, I think megatron redemption works best when he has to constantly confront his sins and magnus and rodimus feel to distant as characters to really be brutal with how much megatron has hurt people bc he doesn’t know them as well, tho megatrons arc in mtmte is really good I think this would have not made the rest of the story not so bogged down (sorry if this doesn’t make much sense)

You're making perfect sense to me, anon. And you're not the first person to tell me this. I do agree with you on some level, but the thing is that Mtmte Megatron's arc is Mtmte Megatron's arc. It cannot exist in any other story. I feel like this kind of what-if is runs into too much of an hypothetical for me to make any actual meaningful commentary. It's hard to explain but let me try.

I feel like saying what if Megtaron had stayed on Cybertron is not the same as saying something like "what if Drift had returned earlier" or "what if Pharma had stayed on the Lost Light" or even imagining ways in which his character could have been better integrated into Mtmte's narrative in that if Megatron had not gotten in the Lost Light, his character would effectively not exist.

I have told myself fanfiction where Megatron stays on Cybertron many times and there's lots of fun possibilities there., but there's a difference between a fannish idea and what it would have been in an official capacity. The key here is that the Megatron I'm incorporating into the exRID/OP narrative is still JRo's Megatron. He still has character traits and a backstory defined by that comic, even if I try to take as much of all IDW1 as I can in my interpretation of him.

Mtmte/LL, exRID/OP and Windblade/TAAO are all part of the same universe, yes, but they're all different stories, with different genres, tones, ideas and most importantly, different writers. I mean just look at what a different character Starscream is when written by Barber vs Scott. If Megatron stays on Cybertron then either Scott or Barber would have been his main writer and we just don't know what kind of character he would have been then.

Would they have tried to do a "good" Megatron? Well, the idea of Autobot Megatron was thrown at the brainstorming table for Dark Cybertron as a possibility and the JRo said that he wanted to do that. But the idea was there, maybe they would have picked it, maybe not.

I feel like, much like with Mtmte, Megatron just has too much gravity for Windblade/TAOO and the best way for him to be incorparated in it would have been sporadic appareances while he's in jail or something, probably to taunt Starscream, knowing Scott. This is double-edged for me, because I feel like the way the idea of Megatron was incorporated into Starscream's arc needed more buildup so this could have helped. At the same time I already feel like Starscream's character was too much reduced to being a reaction to Megatron's actions, which is no fun to me, and Megatron's inclusion in the narrative feels like it would highlight the aspects of Scott's writing I don't like as opposed to the ones I do. But again, I can't now. Maybe she would have tried to reform him as well, I have no idea how that would have looked like.

As for Barber, well, everything post DC was based around the fact that Optimus is just too big to not change the game completely, so the entire story became about that theme. It doesn't sound like including Megatron in that would be that. In fact, it's kind of a no-brainer, this is a story about the weight of Cybertronian history with is stuck in a cycle of violence riddle with war and colonization. The guy who did war an colonization better than everyone else should be there. It would be very satisfying to see Megatron, who rose up against the legacy of the Primes, be confronted with the fact that all he did was uphold their ideas of Cybertronian superiority. How does he handle the Decepticons? And then there's the mirroring where Megatron is trying to do better while Optimus is on the verge of losing it and everyone is worried he's gonna pull a Megatron. But again, who knows what kind of character Megatron would have been under Barber, maybe he would have played him as a villian until the end like he did before Dark Cybertron. He would have still been a thematic fit.

You know, I like exRID/OP a lot and I feel like Barber is more willing to take certain risks than JRo, so I think I would have liked the hypothetical version of his story that would have included Megatron but really, maybe he would have fumbled the bag, who knows how much the plot would have changed if it had included Megs, maybe he would have gotten a different idea, maybe it would have costed the Optimus and the Arcee I so adore. Also, a lot of people aren't that fond of Barber's writing so the general response to this non-existent story is another matter altogether.

Despite everything, I don't really begrudge Megatron leaving with the Lost Light in itself. Like yes, it removes him from the more direct consequences of his actions and is not fair that he gets to drop the Cons and go on a roadtrip of self-discovery. But Mtmte is a roadtrip story, there just isn't any way around this. Also, I don't care about what is fair because none of these stories are about fairness or people getting what they deserve. And finally, it makes sense in the way I read Megatron. One of his key traits for me is how his experiences led to him disregarding life and only finding worth in fighting, his arc is about peeling off layers of self delusion and it starts with giving him a place to chill so that he can see value in life again and be in a mental state to appreciate how badly he fucked up.

Problem is how much he bogs down the rest of the story as you said, and other minor things I can more easily ignore.

Side note, but you know that part in Combiner Wars where Windblade and Optimus are like "We cannot allow Starscream to have his way, but we can't just pull a coup?" I think it would have been really fun to have Megatron for that. No, Megatron you cannot beat the shit out of Starscream to solve the issue, you have to respect him as the president. Hilarous. I need to pay someone to do a short fic of this.

#quetzal rambles tf

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icedragonlizard · 1 month

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Headcanons for Parallel Susie

I talk about Susie a lot on my blog. She's one of my favorites, after all.

And now I'll talk about my interpretation of her parallel counterpart:

In my headcanons, Parallel Susie has a very similar backstory to regular Susie's: being split from her dad and banished to Another Dimension for a long time, only to then have her dad forget about her existence by the time she manages to finally return to him because a broken machine ended up eroding the memories that he had of her.

And just like regular Susie, Parasusie was also massively hurt by her dad forgetting about her... but she then handled it very differently.

Regular Susie could be considered rather vengeful in what she did about her dad forgetting about her: the action of her stealing Star Dream's helmet was an attempt to humiliate him. But she didn't mean to kill him... that was a huge mistake, instead she was merely trying to force him to look her way. She just wanted his previous self back.

Parasusie, on the other hand, was much more aggressively vengeful. She was so hurt by her dad forgetting about her, she felt like she was spat in the face (regular Susie did, too, but it's notably worse in this case) and decided that she'd just kill him in revenge for 'having the gall' to neglect her, believing that 'bad fathers' like him deserve such a fate. Parasusie killed her father by ambushing him and trampling him to death with her mech. Wow.... just wow. That's extremely brutal, isn't it?

Just gonna say right now that Parasusie is much more brutal than regular Susie.

Regular Susie misses her dad. That she killed him was a complete accident, and she's felt terrible about unintentionally causing his death. In contrast, Parasusie actually killed her dad on purpose and doesn't regret it. She doesn't miss him. She believed that he deserved it for 'abandoning' her and it actually made her feel relieved.

And by the way, Parasusie also used to have a hair clip, as it was also gifted to her by her dad before they were forcibly split apart. But she's long since gotten rid of it. She outright destroyed that hair clip, actually. She completely emotionally detached herself from her dad to the point she unapologetically obliterates anything in his memory.

She happily moves on from her dad and pretends he never existed.

Like with the regular Haltmanns, the parallel Haltmanns also ran a corporation that was very similar to it. Parasusie reluctantly joined her dad's company because she thought it'd make a good opportunity for her to sneak up and kill him. And when the company fell apart after she killed him, she doesn't even bother trying to bring it back. The reason why regular Susie revives the HWC is to honor her dad, and she's operating on the company's originally intended goal of consensually helping people.

Parallel Susie is not the CEO of a technological company like regular Susie is. She doesn't even run a job at all. Instead, she's just chilling around in numerous dimensions, although she loves to build gadgets and be very unhinged with them. Just a weird edgy nomad woman.

By comparison, she's much more of a 'lowlife' than regular Susie.

Her home is in a technological hidey-hole in the Clash dimension.

Parasusie is notably meaner, more crass and more brutal than regular Susie. While regular Susie is also certainly not the nicest person around either, some of her friends have gotten her to gradually soften up over time. She and Kirby are friends. Parasusie, however, most likely wouldn't be interested in being friends with Kirby if they met.

Although Parasusie isn't entirely friendless. She has a total of two friends: Dark Taranza and Shadow Dedede. She met Dark Taranza when he came around in her dimension, and they both came together due to mutual respect of both being utterly insufferable lunatics. Darta invited Parasusie to visit the mirror world occasionally, and that's how she first met Shadow Dedede and become friends.

Wow... I headcanon Parallel Susie and Dark Taranza friendship? Hahaha! Just like how I headcanon the regular versions of Susie and Taranza being buddies. Although it's different here. I headcanon that Parasusie and Darta literally make each other worse, unlike their regular versions which help make each other happier and better.

Her two friends are the reason why her mech has a D-Mind symbol.

The mirror world is a place that Parasusie gives regular visits to. She's not a natural mirror worlder, but she's grown to have something of an affiliation with them. She's met Dark Meta Knight, but they don't get along very well. Although DMK prefers Parasusie over actual Susie LOL. Parasusie has also met Shadow Kirby, and although they very rarely interact, Skirby is very wary of her because of her friendships with both Darta and Shadow Dedede, as he doesn't like those guys.

Parasusie has very different food preferences from regular Susie. Regular Susie is well known for loving ice cream. She's a sweet-tooth. Parasusie instead loves spicy foods, as she enjoys putting hot peppers onto meals, something that regular Susie wouldn't really like.

They also have differences in what they like. Regular Susie absolutely adores cute things; she loves plushies and other kawaii stuff, and she gave the HWC a pink makeover upon reviving it. Parasusie on the other hand does not care about cute things as much. She's far more into goth and edgy stuff. She's basically like a much edgier Susie.

She's also way edgier and more brutal in her sense of humor. They have different tastes of humor that aren't compatible with each other.

Overall, Susie wouldn't get along with her parallel counterpart if they were to meet. It'd probably already freak out her out to meet another version of herself to begin with, but she'd be especially unnerved to meet a version of herself that intentionally committed patricide without any remorse. It would elicit a visceral reaction out of her.

Parasusie would make Susie uncomfortable and even somewhat angry by virtue of just existing. She'd find Parasusie to be repulsive.

On the other hand, Parasusie would probably consider Susie to be pathetic. And if she noticed that Susie still misses her dad and that she keeps things in his memory, Parasusie would probably taunt her by calling her a "daddy's girl", and if she learned about Susie's backstory and how she dealt with being neglected, Parasusie would call her a coward for still caring about a 'dad that was clearly a traitor'.

Most likely, Susie and Parasusie would cat-fight if they met.

Susie's more humorous friends, Magolor and the mage sisters, would find it hilarious to watch Susie beefing with another version of herself.

Anyways... I think that more or less sums up the essences of my headcanons for Susie's edgy red-haired parallel counterpart.

I like to think that Parasusie is less redeemable and is a worse person than regular Susie. But even then, it's not all bad for Parasusie either, as I would not consider her to be irredeemably evil either (that's actually incredibly rare in my Kirbyverse and is just mostly applicable for non-defective Dark Matter). I think I'd just put Parasusie on the same boat as the likes of Dark Taranza and Shadow Dedede, where they're all overall bad people that are worse than their regular counterparts, but not much further than that. Just weird freaks.

But yeah, I think that's it. See y'all more for later posts.

#kirby #susie haltmann #susie kirby #susanna patrya haltmann #kirby susie #parallel susie #kirby planet robobot #team kirby clash deluxe #super kirby clash #dream kingdom #haltmann works company #dark taranza #shadow dedede

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