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itsclydebitches · 7 months

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Zevlor: An Angsty Character Analysis

Hey, Zevlor simps. Can I interest anyone in 4,000 words about our favorite disaster tiefling? 💀

“We can’t stay, but we’ll be slaughtered if we leave—we’re no fighters.”

Back during my first play-through this is the line that turned Zevlor from another dime-a-dozen, exposition spouting NPC to a character I was legitimately interested in. “We’re no fighters.” My DnD ignorance abounds, but even I could see that wasn’t an accurate statement. Here’s a mountain of a man sporting fancier armor than my level 2 Tav knows exists yet, having wrecked half the goblin hoard with his crossbow and, if you let him, he'll happily turn to punching as a solution to verbal disagreements. Plus, he’s clearly the one giving the orders, so what do you mean you’re not a fighter?

Having explored the Grove a bit I chalked it up to a generalized assessment of the refugees as a whole. They’re mostly kids, civilians, and would-be protectors who only look the part of fighters in cobbled-together armor. One woman is grappling with the guilt of killing someone for the first time, even an enemy. Lakrissa is sure they’re all going to get slaughtered and is willing to put money on that fact. Meanwhile, the couple you meet are more concerned with what pet they’ll get when they somehow, someway, make it to the city. Don't worry about how that'll happen. You learn later that even those like Ronan are small potatoes compared to most of the baddies you’ll face. On paper he looks and sounds like the real deal—dressed in robes, talking up an apprenticeship with the famous Lorroakan—but scenes like the celebration light show and his own fury at needing to be saved, again, highlight how far he still has to go. The point is that Zevlor is right: these aren’t fighters and he at 18 strength, paladin, former commander, is definitely the exception.

However, BG3 is the sort of detail-heavy game where I’d expect them to include that exception in the dialogue. “We can’t stay, but we’ll be slaughtered if we leave—these people aren’t fighters.” Zevlor’s inclusion of himself in this assessment continued to nag at me and it didn’t start to make sense until I delved into his tag here on tumblr, with more patient players than myself posting everything there is to know about the tiefling. (Thanks, all.) Zevlor is fascinating to me in part because he has this contradictory nature, one example of which is that he’s a very talented fighter who desperately doesn’t want to be a fighter anymore.

…but also he totally does.

We overhear in his dialogue to Tilses that Zevlor is adamant about shedding the titles he’s earned through combat: Hellrider, Commander, Sir. He insists that they’re just civilians now and it’s not like he’s being disingenuous here—note that he introduces himself as just “Zevlor” to Tav. Zevlor means what he says to Tilses and we can see that he’s trying to both reinforce his point and lesson the blow by referring to her as “Tilly.” The nickname is a sweet one, hinting at their close bond in just a single word, reminding her that he’s not saying this to hurt her, he cares for her… but the nickname is simultaneously something he never would have used as her commander. The intimacy meant to comfort is also a hard blow to weather. They're now people who use nicknames inappropriate for the hierarchy of battle.

So Zevlor means what he says here, means it enough that Tilses is convinced and drops her use of “Commander,” but there’s definitely a hint of bitterness in his voice. At least, I’ve always heard it. Zevlor is steadfast in his conviction here, even going so far as to say, “I’m done soldiering, Tilly” when discussing what will come next at Baldur’s Gate. Yet for all of that his tone conveys (understandable) anger and disappointment that it’s come to this. Zevlor doesn’t act like someone who truly wants this change, but rather someone who’s been forced to accept it.

Is it outside forces unwillingly influencing him then? Did Avernus truly change things irrevocably? No, not really. At least, not in the way Zevlor likes to claim. Tilses herself states that being a Hellrider is for life; nothing can take away that title. You lost your post? Your whole city? Most of the people under your protection? Doesn’t matter! You’re a Hellrider forever, no matter the circumstances. I can easily picture a time in Zevlor's life where he would have agreed with Tilses wholeheartedly. They are Hellriders, dammit, and so long as there’s one person looking for their help they will wield that title alongside their blades. And right now, Zevlor has a lot more than just one person in need of his assistance.

So it’s not that Avernus truly stripped them of that identity. Nothing can do that. Zevlor is not rejecting titles and planning retirement because the mechanisms of fate are forcing him to.

He’s doing all that because he’s lost confidence in himself.

Even as someone with a shaky understanding of DnD classes, I love the parallel between a broken oath and the rejection of a lifelong title. If Zevlor can fail in his oath—or in his faith entirely, according to the memories stemming from his pod—why-ever would he think that any other ‘permanent’ part of his identity was worth fighting for? If you can loose the very thing you’ve built your entire life around, every important aspect of yourself, tied to your very soul… what’s a bestowed title compared to that? Zevlor doesn’t believe himself worthy of being a Hellrider anymore, but I think that goes deeper than a string of horrific circumstances making him feel incompetent. As an Oathbreaker, Zevlor likely believes that if he couldn’t uphold that, he can’t uphold anything. Calling himself a Hellrider would be a lie. A fiction. A pathetic, dangerous, insulting fiction at that. It’s like calling yourself the “Hero” while continually failing those around you. Sure, others might insist it’s a title you’ve earned, one you will always carry with you, but you don’t believe them anymore and at a certain point calling yourself that feels worse than embracing the title of “Villain." You don’t want to be the villain… but you want to pretend you’re the hero even less. Pretending is exhausting.

We see this struggle in the many ways that Zevlor fails, or almost fails, to uphold the ideals that originally guided him. I use the term “villain” above deliberately because Zevlor is not merely a former hero-type who’s self confidence has been shattered, or who has been reduced to a civilian, or who thinks themselves useless; he’s actively fighting against temptations that, under less stressful situations, he’d never even consider. I don’t think he is a villain, I think he’s a flawed, struggling victim who sees his own, inevitable mistakes as villainous—and the longer that warped perspective continues the easier it is to fall into bad behaviors. This cycle is perfectly summarized in the autobiography Zevlor keeps by his bed:

“When every passer-by thinks you a thief and a heretic, it is deeply tempting to become one.”

We don’t know if this is Zevlor’s autobiography (as far as I’m aware, anyway) but even if it’s not the words have clearly resonated enough for him to keep them nearby. This particular line paints a pretty clear picture of Zevlor’s struggle. If everyone you meet says you’re devil-kin, vermin, or would-be criminal, isn’t it easier to just give them what they want? If you can’t persuade them otherwise, why put in the effort of trying? If he can’t be Faithful to his God, why have faith in anything at all? If he can’t save these people—setback after setback, mistake after mistake—why is he even making the effort?

Zevlor obviously is trying, very, very hard, which is why such thoughts are merely temptations rather than actual, questionable actions. Still, the Grove gives us numerous examples of the precipice he’s balanced on—and the ways Tav can tip him in one direction or another. You can talk Zevlor down from his anger and get him to acknowledge his disgust in nearly sinking to Aradin’s level. You can also let him boil over and punch the human at a time when the last thing anyone needs is more violence. You can convince Zevlor that there are peaceful ways of stopping Kagha's ritual, or you can help him in pursuing the darker temptation to kill her. It’s a “low” thought, but at his own admission he hasn’t been above entertaining it. Zevlor’s requests for help, though always polite and humble, carry a spark of manipulation in them too. He’s not above leveraging your previously selfless good deed to his advantage—"She owes you for saving this grove"—and if you approach him before speaking with Kagha he’ll claim that the ritual will “be trouble—for all of us.” Except, no? Not really? Tav can make it clear that they’re just here for a healer, they’re only passing through, and as a fighter they are not beholden to the Grove’s sanctuary as the teiflings are. It’s not trouble for everyone involved, yet Zevlor frames it as such in the hopes that (unnecessary) self-interest may motivate you if selflessness fails. Finally, if Zevlor dies in your play-through and you use Speak the Dead on him, he will admit to having “plenty” of secrets, none of which he’ll share. Admittedly, this may be the result of cut content, specifically a story-line in which Zevlor knowingly betrays the tieflings rather than being tricked by the Absolute. Still, the game as it stands is the story we have and within it we’re given a man who is both fighting against these dark urges (ha) and has a past riddled with secrets. If Zevlor is anything, it’s blunt when it comes to his own failings, accurate and otherwise. So how terrible must these secrets be that he outright refuses to divulge them when, generally speaking, most corpses speak freely in death?

However, out of all of this the struggle I’m most intrigued by is the one surrounding the gate. Zevlor represents the tieflings: persecuted refugees, vulnerable civilians, people seeking to survive through cooperation, specifically by joining a community. Kagha represents the druids (or at least a vocal subset of them in Halsin’s absence): bigoted individuals, powerful fighters, people seeking to survive by giving in to their fears, specifically by keeping themselves isolated. This is the moral dichotomy of the Grove and it is symbolized through the gate. Zevlor wants to open it to everyone whereas Kagha wants to close it, permanently.

So isn’t it odd that Zevlor is the one ordering it shut?

When the scene first starts Kanon shouts down that no, he won’t open the gate. Zevlor said that no one is allowed in. Notably, he’s saying this to Aradin and his crew, people that the Grove is at least passingly familiar with, given that Halsin left with them to search the temple. It’s also notable that Zevlor isn’t expecting goblins to attack the Grove. He’s shocked that this is suddenly a problem, brought about by Aradin’s decision—“You lead them here?”— and the entire point of staying at the Grove is that it’s at least comparatively safe. Yes, there have been more attacks lately, but Zevlor seems to be relying on the Grove’s relatively unknown location, as well as the fact that goblins are normally disorganized. The safety is only compromised because Aradin brought a hunting party back, so Zevlor has no reason to expect any visitors, let alone ones that would be a threat.

More importantly, he should welcome such visitors even if he did expect them. After all, that’s precisely what the tieflings are: strangers with no ulterior motives other than to survive. Broadly speaking it makes perfect sense why he'd shut the gates. Zevlor’s first priority is to his people, so anything that keeps them safe is, theoretically, a good thing. But through the lens of his specific characterization and this specific, moral dilemma, it’s an awfully hypocritical decision. Based on everything we’ve seen, our party would not have been welcomed by Zevlor if we’d arrived without danger on our heels and a rescue to endear him to us. So his people should be welcomed, trusted, kept safe, given the benefit of the doubt… but Zevlor isn’t necessarily willing to extend that same trust to others. At the end of the day, he and Kagha want a version of the same thing: safety for those they deem are worthy of it.

It’s precisely these flaws and temptations that make Zevlor such a great character to me, even before he’s tricked by the Absolute. The fandom has leaned hard into Zevlor’s self-loathing and let me tell you, I love it (kisses, hugs, and cookies for you all), but canonically I think he has more reason to fear himself than we tend to portray in the H/C fics. I’m not saying he’s a bad person. Rather, it’s precisely because Zevlor is such a good person that he has the capacity to fall so far. It’s his all-consuming desire to protect his family that leads Zevlor to do and consider so much that a paladin would normally balk at. Denying others the safety you’ve been granted. Subtly manipulating others to do your dirty work. Considering murder.

Zevlor is someone torn between doing the Right Thing and the thing he believes will help those under his care survive. Importantly, when we first meet him he considers these to be two separate courses of action. So can you imagine what goes through his head when he first sees Tav saving everyone and doing so righteously? I think it’s integral to Zevlor’s characterization that the game all but forces you to play the Good Guy in that initial encounter. A cut scene starts, you’re thrown into combat immediately afterwards, and unless you plan to start attacking the Grove members alongside the goblins (which the mechanics discourage through the coloring that distinguishes enemies from allies) you will always finish this fight as Zevlor’s hero. Sure, you can be an asshole afterwards and demand payment. You could already be plotting your betrayal and the slaughter of all the refugees. But in this moment you are nothing but a miracle made flesh in his eyes. Right from the start Tav is succeeding in all the ways Zevlor feels like he's failed. You're the hero.

More specifically, you’re an Every-Man Hero. We might have epic backstories for our Tavs, but within confines of the game you’re largely a nobody when not playing an Origin character. How powerful must that have been to witness then? A total stranger, someone who has no ties to the tieflings or even, depending on your class, any sworn reason to help others, putting their life on the line to save what is most precious to Zevlor? I think a lot about the fact that he never asks Wyll to step in and try to change Kagha’s mind. She owes him just as much as she does Tav—Wyll is an equal participant in that fight and, if your shoddy play style is anything like mine, he likely did more damage—and Wyll is clearly invested in the tiefling’s survival, training the kids as he is. Now, obviously Zevlor’s reticence is largely a question of assigned roles (we need to be the one engaging with Kagha because we’re the protagonist/player) but, like Zevlor’s choice to include himself in the Not a Fighter group, it would have been all too easy to explain this away within the narrative. One comment about how Wyll already tried and failed, or how Kagha doesn’t trust Warlocks, or hell, maybe you don’t meet Wyll in the Grove at all. It’s an easy thing to accomplish and though this is edging more into the realm of headcanon than anything else, I can’t help but think that Wyll isn’t the kind of person that Zevlor could turn to for help right now. Because he’s a folk hero. The Blade of Frontiers, known far and wide for his impressive, selfless deeds. Zevlor is struggling so hard to keep the tieflings safe, tempted by all the unsavory solutions that might achieve that, drowning in self-hatred as his past and current failings catch up with him, wanting nothing more than to be his peoples’ protector:

“I would be a paladin again—with a god’s purpose, a god’s power. Everything I needed to protect my people. And all the while, the cult tortured them. They fought, and ran, and died around me, while I imagined myself their savior.”

Three of the things Zevlor mutters while trapped in the pod are “Hellrider… for… life…,” “Trust… in me…,” and “Children… look away… look at me…” He wants to be the protector, the one children look to for reassurance, he wants his words to Tilly to be a lie and he wants a way to prove that he is a Hellrider for life… but he’s not. At least, Zevlor doesn’t believe it. He lost his titles while Wyll still proudly bears his. Wyll trains the children to fight while Zevlor can only get swept up in anger at them being threatened. The people trust Wyll, adore him, he’s the hero and Zevlor… is not. Not anymore.

It’s too painful to approach Wyll and admit all that. That would be a hell of a blow to Zevlor's pride. But Tav? A stranger? A nobody? The Every-man who had no reason to help or reputation pressuring them, saving them anyway? That’s inspiring. Someone like Tav could be the answer and even, perhaps, the proof that Zevlor could redeem himself. Neither of them are folk heroes, untouchable in their assumed perfection. Tav is a living, breathing example of how the flawed, everyday adventurer can be everything Zevlor strives for.

No wonder he won’t shut up about them in the Shadowlands.

All of this is why it’s so tragic that Zevlor wasn’t given a redemption arc. Sure, you can recruit him for the final battle against the Netherbrain, but there’s no quest to change the cast’s opinion of him—or change Zevlor’s opinion of himself. All his content at the end of Act 2 and Act 3 reinforces that self-hatred.

Let’s make a list, shall we?

Nearly every line of his reunion with Tav has Zevlor painting himself in the worst light possible, from “a lie kinder than the truth” to his refusal to join you because he believes he’ll stab you in the back. You cannot convince him of the Absolute’s manipulation and there’s no response to his belief that such horrors start within the person like, “Of course it does! Because we’re all flawed and equally capable of good and evil deeds! That potential doesn’t make you irredeemable, Zevlor, it makes you mortal!!”

He’s utterly failed as his peoples’ champion and he’s also deemed “unworthy” of being a True Soul. Obviously not being chosen by the Absolute is a good thing, but for a man drowning in self-loathing that’s one hell of a complicated rejection.

Nearly all the tieflings hate him now, all those people he’s been sacrificing his soul to keep safe. I found it particularly devastating that this is one of the rare occasions where nailing a persuasion check doesn’t change the person’s mind. There’s at least one tiefling at Moonrise (I’m drawing a blank on her name) who will believe you when you explain how the Absolute influenced Zevlor, but that doesn’t lead to forgiveness.

Zevlor is deemed unimportant on a literal, narrative level. He is very easy to miss in the pods (I nearly did on my first play-through) and the game does incredibly little to dissuade you from that mistake. Putting aside for a moment that obviously an Origin companion is more significant than a minor NPC, compare this to Shadowheart screaming from her own pod, the game making it abundantly clear that this is someone in need of help—someone worth rescuing. She’ll even say later that you could have run past, more concerned with your own survival and the big picture heroics to bother with her. How must it feel then, if Zevlor ever learns that Tav was there and never stopped for him?

If you do miss Zevlor… oh boy. We’ve probably all seen at least a recording of Orin’s so-called gift. There are plenty of characters who can meet untimely and devastating ends, but very few go through this level of horror. Zevlor—after being held captive, remember—is tortured by God’s Favorite Torturer. He is stripped of his personhood and reduced to a mere “message,” a “pet.” Zevlor is further humiliated in death by being literally stripped of his armor—not just vulnerable in his nakedness, but denied the last symbol of his faith, his status, his power—and it’s always struck me that this is the closest we see to him 'enjoying' an intimate moment, this parody in Orin’s painting. Zevlor is one of the NPC’s most in need of physical comfort and instead he’s forced into this torturous mockery of a sex scene. It also hits hard that when Tav first spots his body the narration says that Zevlor “might almost be sleeping.” Undoubtedly this is a man who isn’t taking good care of himself. He needs a good night’s rest, yet this horrifying trick is all he gets.

As if all this weren’t enough, most of your companion are VERY critical of Zevlor while commenting on his demise. It’s one thing for the tieflings to believe the worst given their ignorance and the fact that they are the ones who suffered from Zevlor’s failure, but your company understands the Absolute and the ways that she gets her hooks in people. Still, Astarion calls him a “wet rag” even if he did deserve better than this. Shadowheart wouldn’t have wished this on him either, but she can’t help but slip in a “no matter his failings.” Lae’zel, often the most blunt, straight up says that he was “always destined to fail his people—and to fail us.” Wyll shakes his head and intones that “even good intentions can lead us down deadly paths.” Only Gale and Karlach stick to mourning the dead rather than airing his shortcomings.

When I spoke to my allies before the final battle Zevlor didn’t have a cut scene. It became clear to me later that this must have been a bug in my play-through, but at the time it only reinforced my feelings that his story was incomplete. Looking on Youtube I’ve found recordings of him saying that he is a Hellrider once more and he would “die a proud man if [he] were to die this day”… but that rings as terribly hollow given where we left him. Last we were together, Zevlor was saying in no uncertain terms that he could not be trusted, he would fail again, he was unworthy of forgiveness. Where did this change of heart come from? It makes perfect sense that he would help Tav in this moment—he begs to be of some use after getting free—but not that he would present himself with such confidence. Within the story as it’s been told this feels… fake. Like Zevlor is putting on a mask to fit the mood of this lively, optimistic party. Which, in turn, gives the “I would die a proud man” line a terrifying implication to me. Does Zevlor expect to die this day? Does he intend to? What would persuade him not to lay down his life here and now? His mission is complete. The tieflings are safe—though not by his hand. There's no hero's welcome waiting for him after this battle. They hate him. He hates himself, and by his own admission the one thing that could still make him proud would be to die at Tav’s side, trying to do one last bit of good. If someone said that to me after everything Zevlor has been through I would keep them far away from the front lines.

(I did, for the record lol.)

I’m not saying anything new then when I go, “Larian, PLEASE add more to his story.” Give us a Zevlor side-quest to renew his oath. Let us invite him to our camp. Something to link the broken man mid-game and the confident fighter at the end so that the latter doesn’t feel like an alarm bell with two legs and a tail. I mean yeah, I get hooked on minor characters so 75% of this is simply me wanting more content of a fave, but I also I do legitimately believe that BG3’s story would benefit from tying up loose ends like this.

Zevlor is a fantastic character, someone who contains an astounding amount of complexity for so little screen time. You have to follow up on that complexity though. If he’s meant to be a purely tragic figure, okay, fine, that’s the ending you get with Orin. But one where he joins you with a smile and reclaims a title he's previously rejected with such fervor requires more work in the middle; a through-line that explains how someone with so much self-loathing learns to think of himself as the hero again.

Because it does all come down to Zevlor’s perception of himself. He was always a hero, flaws and all. He always was and always will be a Hellrider.

The UI knows what's up :)

#BG3 #Zevlor #bg3 Zevlor #wow this took forever #someone cry over this wet cat of a tiefling with me #mymetas

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sunkissed-zegras · 1 month

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𝐅𝐔𝐂𝐊 𝐈𝐓 𝐈𝐅 𝐈 𝐂𝐀𝐍'𝐓 𝐇𝐀𝐕𝐄 𝐔𝐒 ─ AS³⁷

TRACK 4 ─── DOWN BAD

TTPD CELLY MASTERLIST !

౨ৎ ─ summary | one summer, one town and the fullest love you've ever felt all to be ripped away from you. life was pointless without the love of your life, your soulmate (even if you'd only known him for three months).

─ word count | 3.4k

─ warnings | dramatic af, oh god, so so so so so much angst WITH NO HAPPY ENDING (ur gonna cry by the end of this), where do i even begin? love bombing, LYING AF, andrei being mysterious asf, mention of life being hopeless, very depressive themes and like.. babygirl is GOING THROUGH ITTTT, maybe even suicidal themes (depends on your perspective), lmk if i missed anything else?

─ ev's notes | down bad has been on repeat since friday, it's genuinely so addicting (but like... the entire album is so?)

YOU LIFE FELT ABSOLUTELY hopeless, like the color was drained from it.

How could one summer change the whole trajectory of your life, you're not sure. Your entire perspective of love had been turned upside down, each day felt like a struggle just to breathe, let alone find any semblance of meaning or joy. It was as if the universe had conspired to strip away every ounce of hope, leaving behind only an empty shell of a person.

How could you let someone con you so easily? Make you believe that you were his soulmate, only to absolutely wreck you? You couldn't help but wonder if he felt even a shred of sympathy and if he ever stopped to think about you, like you did with him?

How could you have been so naive, so blindly hopeful in the face of his deceit? The wounds he inflicted cut deeper than mere flesh and bone; they pierced straight to the core of your being, leaving behind scars that may never fully heal.

You could barely get out of bed ─ you can't even remember a time when you didn't know him, even if you'd know him a short span of time. The weight of his absence feels like a physical force, pinning you down to the bed as if gravity itself has conspired against you. How could you go on without him, when every corner of your world still echoes with his presence?

It's as if he had woven himself into the fabric of your being, leaving no thread untouched by his influence. Even the simplest of tasks feel overwhelming without his guidance, his encouragement, his love.

You try to remember a time before him, a time when your heart beat to a rhythm untouched by his melody. But the memories blur together, distorted by the prism of his existence. It's as if he had always been there, a constant presence in your life, one way or another.

──

"Are you a local?"

You turned around to face the voice that had drawn you out of your thoughts, an annoyed expression on your face. But as you looked up to meet his chocolate brown eyes, all the irritation had quickly dissipated.

First, you noticed his eyes ─ they were so big and brown, you could feel yourself get lost in them. Then your gaze fell to his lips and ultimately, his smile and his dimple. Whoa, he was gorgeous.

"Uh, yeah." You got out as you managed a smile, turning to face him completely.

His smile widened at your response, and you couldn't help but feel a flutter of warmth in your chest at the sight of it. It was infectious, lighting up his face in a way that made it impossible to look away.

"Great!" he replied, his voice sending a shiver down your spine. "I'm here on vacation. Any recommendations on where to grab a bite to eat?"

His voice carried a hint of a Russian accent weaving through each word like a thread of silk. It added an extra layer of intrigue to his already captivating presence, drawing you in even further.

"Actually, there's this little café a few blocks down the street that serves amazing sandwiches," you offered, your voice betraying a hint of excitement. "I could show you, if you'd like."

God, what were you doing? You didn't even know what you were saying before the words flew out of your mouth. To your surprised, his smile widened into a grin as he nodded.

His eyes sparkled with amusement as he nodded in agreement. "I would love that," he replied, his accent lending a charming cadence to his words.

As you stood up from his seat, you took in his build; you just realized how tall he was. He towered over you, his frame exuding a quiet strength that only added to his allure. It was as if he commanded the space around him effortlessly, a gentle giant in a world full of noise.

Together, you made your way out of the café and onto the street, the sounds of the city fading into the background as you fell into step beside him. His presence was comforting, reassuring, like a steady anchor in the midst of chaos even though you'd just met the stranger.

As you walked, you found yourself stealing glances at him, admiring the way the sunlight caught in his hair, the way his eyes crinkled with laughter at something you said.

Arriving at the café, you found a table by the window. As you settled in, the conversation began flowing effortlessly between you. With each passing moment, you felt yourself drawn deeper into his orbit, captivated by the way his presence seemed to fill the room with warmth.

"So, what do you do, Andrei?" You found yourself asking as he paused for a moment, taking a sip of his drink before sighing.

"I'd... I'd hoped you didn't ask that." Andrei's tone came out amusing but you could hear the sincerity, too. "I play for the Hurricanes. A hockey team."

You couldn't help but raise an eyebrow in surprise at Andrei's revelation. "The Hurricanes? That's impressive,"

"It is, but it's very demanding. That's why I came here," he explained as a smile began playing on his lips. "To get away from everything, even just for summer."

"Why would you want to get away?" You asked, your curiosity getting the best of you. As you registered your words, you shook your head as you sighed. "You don't have to answer that."

Andrei's smile softened, a flicker of gratitude shining in his eyes at your understanding. "No, it's okay," he replied, his voice carrying a note of sincerity. "Sometimes, even the things we love can become overwhelming. I guess I just needed a break, a chance to clear my head and remember what's really important."

"I get that," you said, a small smile playing on your lips. "Sometimes, we all need a moment to step back and breathe, to remind ourselves of who we are outside of our titles and our accomplishments."

Andrei's gaze softened, a silent understanding passing between you. In that moment, you felt a weird connection for a moment. He let out a small chuckle as he looked away, a tinge of redness enveloping his cheeks.

"You wanna get out of here? I still haven't seen the beach and I've been here for two days." Andrei's voice was amused as his gaze finally flickered back to you.

His chuckle was infectious, and you couldn't help but feel a warmth spread through you at the sight of his flushed cheeks. There was something endearing about his candidness, a rawness that drew you in even closer.

"Absolutely," you replied, a grin tugging at the corners of your lips.

After that, the two of you spent every moment together. You didn't know why you were so drawn to him ─ it wasn't just how abosolutely beautiful he was, that wasn't even a factor after you'd spent the whole week with him. It was something more, something raw you hadn't felt in a while ─ or maybe even ever.

In Andrei's presence, you felt as if you were seeing the world through new eyes. He showed you the beauty in the simplest of moments ─ the way sunlight danced on the water, the sound of laughter echoing through the streets of your hometown that you'd walked in a million times (somehow, it was different now with him), the warmth of a shared smile exchanged between two strangers.

But it wasn't just the external world that he illuminated for you; it was your own heart. With each conversation, each shared comfortable silence, he peeled back the layers of your soul, revealing the raw, unfiltered truth that lay beneath. In his arms, you felt safe, cherished, loved in a way you swear you'd never experienced before. It was a love that transcended the physical, a love that touched the very core of your being and left you breathless with wonder.

And as you lay beneath the stars in his arms, the night sky stretching out above you like a vast canvas waiting to be painted, you felt a sense of peace wash over you. For in Andrei's embrace, you had found something real ─ something cosmic and eternal.

──

"Do you ever wonder," he begins, his voice soft but filled with a sense of wonder, "if there's more to the universe than what we can see?"

You both gaze out of the bay window for a moment, the night sky stretching out before you like a vast canvas scattered with stars.

"It's... it's something I've thought about," you reply, your voice barely a whisper in the quiet of the night. "The universe is so vast, so incomprehensibly large. It's hard to believe that we're the only ones out here, you know?"

Andrei nods in agreement, a knowing smile playing on his lips. "Exactly," he says, his gaze returning to the stars above. "I like to think that there's something out there, something greater than ourselves. Something that binds us all together, even when we're worlds apart."

"Yeah," you replied, your voice barely audible. "All the time, actually. It's... overwhelming, sometimes, to think about how big the universe is, how insignificant we are in comparison."

Andrei nodded, his gaze fixed on the stars twinkling in the night sky. "But isn't it also kind of liberating?" he mused.

"To know that we're just a small part of something so much bigger than ourselves? It makes all our worries and fears seem so... trivial, in the grand scheme of things."

"You're right," you said, a sense of wonder creeping into your voice. "It's like no matter what happens in our lives, the universe will keep on spinning, the stars will keep on shining. It's... comforting, in a way."

Andrei smiled, a warmth spreading through you at the sight of it. "Exactly," he said, his voice filled with quiet certainty.

A comfortable silence filled the air before he spoke up again. "You know... when we met, when I said I wanted a break?" A pang of uncertainty flickered within you at his words, but you nodded, inviting him to continue with a gentle tilt of your head.

Andrei's gaze softened as he reached out to take your hand, his touch grounding you in the present moment. "I didn't just mean from hockey," he confessed. "I meant from everything ─ the pressure, the expectations, the constant scrutiny. I needed a break from the world, from myself."

His words hung in the air, heavy with the weight of truth. You listened in silence, feeling the gravity of his confession settle over you like a blanket.

"I came here seeking some kind of relief from the chaos of my life," Andrei continued, his eyes searching yours for understanding. "But what I found was so much more than that. I found you."

The sincerity in his voice struck a chord deep within you, stirring emotions you had long kept buried beneath the surface. In that moment, you realized just how much he had come to mean to you, how integral he had become to the fabric of your existence.

You'd felt like you'd known him lifetimes but in reality, you'd only known him only a couple weeks. And yet, in those fleeting weeks, Andrei had become more than just a passing acquaintance; he had become a beacon of light in the darkness, a source of comfort in a world of uncertainty.

──

Andrei's arms wrapped around your waist as you both watched the sunset go down. His large frame practically engulfed you as he stood behind you, his chin resting on your shoulder. The warm summer breeze caressed your skin, carrying with it the scent of salt and sea. You leaned back into Andrei's embrace, feeling his hands squeeze your hips.

"Let's go for a swim, yeah?" Andrei's breathe hit your neck as he spoke, sending shivers down your spine as his warm breath danced across your skin.

His suggestion brought a smile to your lips, the idea of plunging into the cool embrace of the ocean sounding utterly inviting. You turned in Andrei's arms, a playful glint in your eyes as you met his gaze.

"Are you sure?" You teased, a mischievous smile tugging at the corners of your lips. "The water might be colder than you think."

Andrei's lips curved into a smirk, his eyes dancing with excitement. "Only one way to find out,"

"Wait, Andrei-" Before you could protest more, Andrei pulled you up on his shoulders. You let out a fit of giggles as he carried you out to the deeper waters, his strong arms supporting you effortlessly as you clung to him, your laughter mingling with the sound of the waves crashing against the shore.

"Ready?" Andrei called over his shoulder, his voice filled with excitement.

You nodded, your heart pounding with anticipation. With a smirk, Andrei took a few more steps forward, and then, without warning, he jumped, sending you both crashing into the cool embrace of the ocean.

For a moment, you were weightless, suspended in the currents, the sound of laughter and splashing filling the air around you. And as you surfaced, gasping for breath and laughing with joy, you felt a sense of freedom wash over you ─ a freedom that only comes from letting go and embracing the spontaneity of the moment.

Andrei's laughter joined yours as he helped you to steady yourself in the water, his eyes sparkling with mischief and joy. "See? Wasn't so bad, was it?"

You grinned up at Andrei, the exhilaration of the moment coursing through your veins. "Definitely not."

Andrei grinned, his smile lighting up his face as he tugged you closer, his arms wrapping around you in a warm embrace. "I'm glad you enjoyed it."

He stared into your eyes, the grin still on his red face before he grabbed your chin and pushed his lips against yours. You wrapped your arms around his shoulders, pulling him closer.

As you deepened the kiss, losing yourself in the intoxicating sensation of his lips on yours, you knew with unwavering certainty that this was where you belonged; in his arms, consumed by love.

His touch was electric, sending sparks dancing across your skin as you lost yourself in the intoxicating sensation of his lips moving against yours. And as you finally pulled away, breathless and flushed with emotion, you found yourself lost in the depths of Andrei's gaze. In his eyes, you saw a reflection of your own desires, mirrored back to you with an intensity that left you breathless.

He caught his breath as he laughed, giving your cheek another kiss. "I don't know how to explain how I feel about you, it's something I don't think I've felt in a long time. Or... ever."

"I feel it too," you whispered, your voice barely more than a breath of air. "Whatever it is, it's real. And that's all that matters."

Andrei's gaze softened, a smile playing on his lips as he reached out to gently caress your cheek. "I'm just glad we found each other," he said, his voice filled with quiet certainty. "And no matter what the future may hold, I'll always be by your side. You're like..."

He paused as he laughed, shaking his head with amusement. "My soulmate, or something like that."

You couldn't help but smile at his playful tone, feeling a surge of affection well up within you. "Your soulmate, huh?" you teased, "I can live with that."

Before you could fully grasp it, it had slipped away, fleeting in its passing. It was over before it even fully started. The summer had come to a close, and Andrei was talking about leaving back to Carolina.

You knew it was coming, of course it was coming. He had to go back to his home, where he worked, where his everything was. What about you? Hadn't you become his everything, just as he had become yours? Where did you fit into his world once he was gone?

And then one morning you awoke and he was gone.

It felt like something you'd seen in a movie, or read in a book. Confusion clouded your mind as you glanced around the room, searching for any sign of him. But as your gaze fell upon the empty drawers where his clothes once laid, reality came crashing down around you.

It was over.

The realization hit you like a tidal wave, sweeping away the remnants of the life you had built together over the summer. And in that moment, you felt a profound sense of loss wash over you, a hollow ache that echoed in the depths of your soul. You had known it was coming, of course. He had obligations, a life waiting for him back home. But that didn't make the pain any less palpable, the sense of abandonment any less hurtful.

Was all of it a lie? The laughter, the whispered promises, the moments shared beneath the stars – were they nothing more than empty words, hollow gestures meant to deceive?

The days following his departure, it felt hollow. It felt like you'd awoken from a daydream, something that only existed in your head. Was it really not as serious as you'd thought? Was he really not in love, as you were with him?

Life loss all of it's meaning, you never thought you'd be that girl: the girl who let a man absolutely reroot her entire life, just for him to leave. Had you really become that pathetic?

The days turned into weeks and the hollowness didn't fade, it turned into numbness then ultimately into a sense of emptiness that seemed to permeate every aspect of your being. It was as if a part of you had been hollowed out, leaving behind nothing but a void that echoed with the absence of his presence.

As the days turned into weeks, you found yourself grappling with questions that had no answers. Was it all a lie? Had he ever truly cared for you, or were you just another pawn in his game? Had you ever really known him, your Andrei? The one who held you, laughed with you, whispered promises of forever beneath the stars? Or had he been someone else entirely, a stranger acting as the love of your life?

The uncertainty gnawed at you, a relentless beast that refused to be tamed. You replayed every moment, every word, every touch, searching for clues that would unravel the mystery of his true intentions. But the more you searched, the more elusive the answers became, slipping through your fingers like grains of sand.

You found yourself crying every night, every free moment you spent bawling your eyes out over a man you're sure you'd never really known, just another stranger who had walked into your life and turned it upside down.

The pain was like a physical ache, a weight pressing down on your chest until it felt like you could hardly breathe. How could someone you had cared for so deeply have caused you so much pain? How could you have been so blind to the truth of his intentions?

You needed him again, life felt meaningless ─ no, life was meaningless without him. Nothing felt worth having without him. Without him, life felt like a barren wasteland, devoid of color and purpose. Every moment seemed to stretch on endlessly, each day blending into the next in a monotonous haze.

You found yourself longing for his presence, for the sound of his laughter and the warmth of his embrace. Without him by your side, even the simplest pleasures felt empty, leaving you adrift in a sea of loneliness. What was the point of it all, you wondered, if he wasn't there to share it with you?

No one would ever make you feel like he did, no one would ever manage to love you like he once had. It was a truth that cut to the core of your being, leaving you feeling exposed in its wake.

How could you ever hope to find happiness again when the one person who had made you feel truly alive was now gone from your life?

You tried to fill the void with distractions – with work, with friends, with anything that would help numb the ache of his absence. But no matter how hard you tried, the emptiness remained, a gaping wound that refused to heal.

In the depths of your despair, you found yourself questioning everything ─ your worth, your purpose, your very existence. What was the point of it all, you wondered, if he wasn't there to share it with you?

#nhl imagine #nhl #nhl fic #nhl fanfiction #hockey #nhl oneshot #hockey fic #andrei svechnikov #andrei svechnikov x reader #andrei svechnikov imagine #andrei svechnikov fic #andrei svechnikov moodboard #andrei svechnikov smut #carolina hurricanes #carolina hurricanes x you

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catsconflictscopicsandchamomile · 3 months

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@kimberleyjean ok, you asked for this, its cursed and I'm sorry.

So first off I'm NOT going to try to explain what Supernatural is. Its a garbage fire, and I am unfortunate enough to be one of the feral, touch-starved gays to live in said garbage fire. Its the best show ever but all of its accidental, its the worst show ever in terms of anything that was done on purpose, etc etc. You're on tumblr you know the drill

Anyway, before GOs2's "Final Fifteen", the ONLY connections between GO and SPN were:

A demon in spn is named Crowley, in an homage to GO Crowley. They are alike, but they are NOT the same character and I don't think it can be argued that they're the same person in different forms (bc with demons that would be possible). They are however both Scottish, greasy and have a deep disrespect for authority. I do HAVE a theory/hc connecting the two Crowleys but that's another post for another day. Weirdly, SPN!Crowley (who I'm going to call Fergus from here on out, bc even though nobody in spn or the fandom calls him that, it is his canonical first name) has very little to do with anything I'm about to say. Just fyi, he exists.

Secondly, The Hillywood show did a Supernatural parody back in 2014-ish. I will link it below if you're curious, but again not much in this video is ACTUALLY RELEVANT to what I'm about to say (however, Fergus is there. He's the Scottish guy)

youtube

However, the specific arcs of Supernatural that SURROUND the season/topic this parody is centered on (Mark of Cain arc, ~s9-10) are where the coincidences get weird, and ok now I do have to talk about Supernatural a bit.

mmmfffff. Okay so the Metatron is a greasy, annoying, manipulative, power-hungry bastard who lies every time he speaks, wants full rule over Heaven and will control anyone and wreck anything he can to get there....

...and I'm talking about the version of the Metatron from Supernatural. LONG tldr, Dean (buzz cut, older brother, guy who's in love with an angel, the guy who says the news headlines in the Destiel meme) takes this thing/curse/whole other mess called the "Mark of Cain" to kill this kinda super-powerful arch-demon called Abaddon (more on her later), and blah blah blah Supernatural Happens For A Bit, and due to the Mark's curse making Dean act like a total psycho (and also, its implied, slowly turning him into a demon) they try to get help from the Metatron, who had been locked up after... well.

-when God was no longer contacting heaven, Metatron ran away from Heaven and hid on earth because he thought that the angels would use the Word of God (which the Metatron holds) "wrong" or something

-later, took advantage of strife & power vacuums in Heaven to manipulate Cas (angel, deeply autistic, the guy who says "I love you" in the destiel meme, in love with Dean) into doing a spell that CAUSED ALL OF THE ANGELS IN HEAVEN TO FALL, for no reason other than the Metatron is an actual pissbaby.

anyway, Metatron claims he can help Dean, that was a lie (shocking, I know), Metatron pulls some bs including basically stealing Cas' life-force (a second time. the first time was when he was ALREADY fucking w Cas as mentioned above) and runs off back to heaven... along with Gadreel, who he has manipulated/convinced to help him take power in Heaven.

who's Gadreel?

well. he's the angel who let the Serpent (or in this canon, just Lucifer) into the Garden of Eden, and he was cast into Hell to be tortured forever or something as punishment. However, after Metatron's earlier all-the-angels-falling scheme, Gadreel (for reasons I'm not too sure of tbh) took the name/identity of a VERY highly-regarded and powerful angel named Ezekiel, who died of his injuries during the fall

^this last part is a detail I try hard not to think about. this is because the names and roles are JUST similar enough to GO's Ineffable Husbands for the implications make me very, very sad.

Anyway, Gadreel had been around spn canon before, posing as Ezekiel, possessing Sam blah blah blah shit happened

Anyway this is a whole lot of words to say that the season/s of SPN that The Hillywood Show was parodying were the seasons where the Metatron was a main villain, and attempted/temporarily succeeded in taking power in Heaven BY MANIPULATING THE GUY WHO LET THE DEVIL INTO THE GARDEN OF EDEN

and then The Hillywood Show (who tbh I almost feel bad for lmao like BRUH) got signed to produce the parody/teaser/release date announcement for GOs2. Where the Metatron...

yeah.

yeahhhhhh

I would have LOVED to see the Hillywood Show team's live and immediate reaction to the Final Fifteen because I can't even imagine what must have been going through their heads.

ah yes. the FUCKING Metatron

oh also in spn, the Metatron (its complicated but basically)severely/fatally wounds Cas, and straight-up KILLS Dean, but Dean resurrects as a demon (for a few eps at least), meaning that Metatron DID technically try, and almost succeeded in, killing both members of an angel/demon gay couple, if only bc timing lined up so that Metatron was an antagonist in the arcs where Dean was turning into a demon.

so yeah

anyway I mentioned we'd get back to Abaddon so here's those major spoilers I mentioned. I'm fairly sure these are real spoilers and not theories, since my source is wikipedia

that's the whole article, there's not much else on her on wiki (though I should really do more research on Muriel). I think I heard Neil say somewhere that he created Muriel because "he wanted an angel character, from Heaven, who was 'just nice'" but idk if anything specific has ever been said about her name.

anyway that's why the Metatron gave Muriel that book "The Crow Road" in the Final 15, why he likes her so much, and why he's having her stay on earth

"The Crow Road" is a book about the nature of Death, and Metatron is, for lack of a better/less problematic word, grooming Muriel for the role of angel of Death in the apocalypse (Abaddon being a VERY prominent figure in revelations, for those who weren't aware)

...so on top of all the other Supernatural/Hillywood-Specific coincidences, sure, let's have Abaddon too.

uhhhhh

yeah

#I also found a canon-adjacent “Explanation” for the Coffee Theory if you're interested in that as well.#its not canon and its never gonna be canon but imho it explains it just believably enough to make for some VERY good fic/hc inspo #hint: its nothing to do with the almonds (afaik)#longpost #supernatural #YIKES #the metatron #gomens #good omens season 2 #GOs2 #final fifteen #hillywood show #Youtube

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dragynkeep · 4 months

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can confirm there are no trigger warnings for SA on the Hazbin Hotel show, not in the episodes that feature it or even in general. it just says "sexual content" under the general content advisory, and the start of the show doesn't give any trigger warnings either.

I'm...disappointed, honestly, because the ADDICT music video at least had trigger warnings for SA on it. so it's not like Vivzie doesn't know they should be there or anything, and yet they're not present in the show. I mean, I'm disappointed in the whole thing--I decided to try watching Hazbin after seeing a few people in a Discord I'm in talking about how much they liked it, and I wanted to like it too--but the show itself is just...a train wreck. unwarned for SA, anti-blackness, bad character design, the usage of voodoo symbols to try and make Alastor seem more spooky edgy evil like there's not enough demonization of voodoo as it is...

the comparison of Angel Dust and Husk's situations was the final straw for me. although in all honesty I really couldn't stand Charlie's attempted intervention in Angel Dust's life either, how absolutely unhelpful she was, how much she did not understand at all, how it totally backfired and Angel Dust got hurt because of her thoughtless (and imho kind of selfish) actions, and how quickly it was just....forgiven and forgotten without Charlie seeming to really learn anything beyond "oh, I should've left when I was asked." the show is a train wreck but the entire fourth episode made me feel ill.

I knew they didn't have any warnings but having it actually confirmed is just so much worse. The episode didn't just have "sexual content", it was fucking rape. That is a whole different discussion that needs to be specific because I'm not gonna get triggered by just sex.

The one thing I did like in the episode was the idea that even the most well intentional people can just cause more damage in domestic abuse situations. Charlie wanted to help but made things worse because she couldn't get Angel Dust out of the situation with Val, and because Angel Dust isn't in the right mindset yet to leave nor is he even able to because of the contract.

Did I like how over the top Charlie was at the end? No, but that's because I don't like how much of a baby they're making Charlie in an attempt to make her naive and innocent. That's a grown ass woman, stop it.

And also, I'm sorry, but there's like negative chemistry between Angel Dust and Husk. Husk literally had to be sent by Vaggie to go and get him, rather than it happening naturally through him feeling guilt or just wanting Angel Dust to be alright.

Nevermind that the song sucks ass. People can say critics have no reading comprehension and don't understand it, but I've rewatched it multiple times along with Ais, and we both agree that this song is just Husk calling Angel Dust a loser because he is in a situation he has no control over.

And loser is such a weighted term because it's an insult at people over things they have done. Angel Dust is stuck in a sex trafficking situation, where he is raped daily and uses drugs to escape the pain, while Husk was an overlord who sold his soul to Alastor and at worst is stuck working at a bar.

Which is something we thought could use at least a small tweaking to not be so horrific. The song can't be saved, but Husk having an alcohol problem than a gambling problem would at least have it that Alastor is refusing to respect his boundaries and making him work in an environment that is specifically triggering him all the time.

Nevermind that there's far more in the actual show for Husk to have an alcohol problem being his main issue than a non-existing gambling problem. At least then he and Angel can relate to issues that they don't have as much control over and having bosses that don't care that their work is triggering to them in the form of forced sex work and bartending while surrounded by alcohol and drunk people all the time.

#hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel critical #answered #luke.txt

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heardchef · 11 months

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Okay, so, can I offer a perspective as a viewer with no shipping expectations/affiliations whatsoever?

What I respect a huge amount about the writers and Storer is that they seem genuinely determined to make sure that the woman characters in the show are whole people, with stories and lives that exist outside of their connection to the main character (Carmy). I do think that’s admirable. And I also get the sense — especially having seen the reaction to the romantic storylines being what it has been — that the resolution on their part to come out and say, ‘No, it’s never happening between them’, might have something to do with *all that*, tangentially. Which is to say, would Sydney as a character suffer to be considered as a whole apart from her relationship with Carmen if that’s where they went with it? Or would she be reduced to just that; just her relationship *to* him? Because, internet fandom do be weird like that sometimes.

But, I do also think that people are underestimating what the *intention* of Carmen with Claire — and Syd with her Dad, Marcus with his Mom, The Berzattos with The Berzattos, Richie with his ex/daughter, Tina with School, etc — was, this season. Storer said that it was always meant to be a season where we meet who these characters are outside of who they are to each other, and the restaurant. And so because we get to leave the restaurant, when we’re back there, it feels like more. It feels like being trapped in a pressure cooker (or, a walk-in, if you will). Because everyone is all in, and the risk has to work, or they’re all screwed. And it all means more to us, the audience, as well, because we know exactly what there is to loose.

Part of the point with Claire specifically, to my mind, was always to properly bring Carmen home. He’d been holed up in The Beef since he got back, pointedly avoiding his life outside of those four walls. And so, when he’s forced back into it, he’s forced to accept that he *is* home — that people know him, that there’s nowhere for him to hide. He’s forced to accept who he is to other people, and to understand who he is, without Michael. He’s not just Chef, he’s Brother/Friend/Son/Uncle/Man. And so in facing that — that, despite himself, he does exist outside of a kitchen — it was always going to be that he went with safe if he went anywhere. Girl he’s been in love with since he was in school who knows his family and all his shit and who he doesn’t have to get to know because he already knows her, and who already knows him? That’s safe. Living up to an idea of himself that people already had? That's baby steps.

(And beyond just that, beyond trying for safe, is it really so unrealistic that Carmy would be bad at balancing life and work? He’s literally never done it before, by any measure.)

But another thing I think the final episode makes clear, is that Carmy had, at least subconsciously, been avoiding taking on the full responsibly of the risk he — the great hope, Food and Wine's Best New Chef — has lead everyone into taking. He lets Nat handle it, and he lets Syd handle it, he lets Jimmy handle it, and he even lets Fak and Richie handle it. But he was always terrified of handling it. And to be honest, he never really does — he doesn’t cram or keep his skills warm or go on a tasting adventure all over Chicago. He regresses into habits he had from before, that contributed to making him the wreck that he is, and he actively avoids having to confront the reality of work by escaping into not-work.

And so that’s where we’re left — with everyone a mess, in a mess. Season Three: Season One, Electric Boogaloo.

i talked about this a little bit before [here].

i think that part of the reason why people want to a see a romance between syd and carmy is because of how well-developed, interesting, and nuanced the women in this show are. i think people want to see romance tackled as beautifully and intricately as this show has tackled grief, addiction, and mental health.

i agree with your points about claire. yeah, this season was about expanding horizons and experiencing life outside of the kitchen. i understand what her purpose was for carmy, being the guiding hand to show him that yes, there is more than these four walls you trap yourself in. you are more than your work. i just think the execution was a little lackluster.

people calling her carmy's pete isn't the compliment they think it is. we don't see pete much but when we do see him he doesn't exist just to act as nat's lighting rod for all of her negative emotions. is he that sometimes? yeah, for sure! his relationship with nat is a big part of his character but he gets to exist out of that and i don't think claire was afforded that same dimensionality.

at the end of the day i truly do not give a flying fuck what this show does with romance, who ends up with who, or any of that. that's not what got me into the show and it's not what'll keep me invested. i just want to watch a show about a motley crew of chefs and how they evolve and change.

i appreciate you offering your perspective! sidenote: i found it sweet how carmy picks-up drawing again after reconnecting with claire. he's still drawing his ideas but instead of pants it's food. he may not be able to handle the responibilities he's faced with or balance his two lives but he knows how to handle some prismacolors lmao.

but, yeah. shitshow for season 3, shitshow for season 3, shitshow for season—

#the bear #the bear fx #the bear season 2 #the bear spoilers #ask

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areax · 8 months

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laika bg3 lore dump (BG3 SPOILERS)

keeping with her source material (homebrew campaign) her patron is cthulhu bc i was like oh i love cosmic horror lets get a little funny with it— [discovers that i, erika, was born in lovecraft’s town] ah shit. which fits perfectly into bg3’s story as well because of the. you know. mind flayers. but her backstory is still pretty much the same: she grew up in an isolated village, wanted to learn forbidden magicks, accidentally contacted cthulhu, he was like hey girl hasten my return to this realm and i will give you power beyond imagining also you WILL have to serve me for 1000 years in the dreaming city after you die btw. and she was like yeah i can do that, he did a whole the color out of space thing where everyone in her village was turned to white ash except her… whoopsie.

and then as in her og lore he would give her an assignment every few years to go kill someone whose death would make the world worse on a structural level not just a personal one so like. a noble who would have pushed for reforms, a worker who would have become a union leader, a scholar who would have had a scientific breakthrough and in the mean time laika made the most of her warlock power by searching for a way to defeat death because if there’s one thing she loves it’s weaseling her way out of consequences for her actions and also she wants to live forever.

also in her og lore her patron (and another being just like him) were connected to mind flayers even though the exact nature of that connection was never made clear (like did they create them? do all mind flayers in this universe serve one of these great old ones?) with the implication that this is what laika would eventually become when she serves her 1000 years after death

HOWEVER, in the bg3 canon ive decided that cthulhu is some variation on a highly advanced elder brain from another universe of existence (and not just another plane like the astral plane or hell or something, i mean an entirely different universe that is basically unconnected to the bg3 universe, one that’s outside of our own, but since cthulhu is so powerful in his home universe, he’s able to influence / contact the bg3verse) who wants to take over control of this universe or be born into it and wreck shit or whatever. who knows. he’s a great old one. who knows what he wants. point BEING that he has some kind of meaningful connection to the mind flayers in the bg3verse but the specifics of that ive not decided and may just leave ambiguous (is he the one who first created them aeons ago so that they would evolve into a species like his own and execute the grand design to bring about his own birth in the bg3verse? thats the main theory)

the thing is. how does he communicate with laika. and i think it honestly would be. really funny. if she already had a (mostly dead) parasite in her mind even before she got got by the mind flayers. and they were just like well this ones defective put another in there. so when everyone is freaking out about being infected shes like oh a mind flayer parasite? no problem 👍 this is normal to me. but having another one put in her skull suppresses her connection to her patron enough so that he can’t contact her, but she can still siphon off his power... so initially its in her best interest to KEEP the thing in her head and that adds much more depth to her choices later on of do i accept more of these parasites into me? do i become half-ilithid? do i try to take control of the brain? what will happen if i destroy all the parasites? will that mean that he has control over me again?

which opens up really interesting parallels between her... quest (kind of) and that of the other companions. do i become like my abuser to gain power over him? is what ive done in the name of my god justified? am i responsible for my actions when someone else was forcing my hand? can i give up my power in favor of what i know is right?

this also makes her dynamic w raphael really interesting bc he has like no interest in her soul whatsoever its like buying a shitty used car. this bitch is already sworn to 1000 years of service after she dies, i’ll have to wait that long for her soul? pfft dont waste my time!

ALSO IT MAKES EVERYTHING WITH THE EMPEROR MUCH FUNNIER SHES LIKE I SEE YOU VILLAIN.

#laika tag #bg3 spoilers #erika plays bg3

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trans-girl-uchiha-itachi · 8 months

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so i don't think i post abt this on here much but i have this folder of like a dozen different (broadly mediocre and quarter-baked) hinataverse crossover concepts, because i love to put hinata in Situations. there's this whole MCU crossover branch that is well enough fleshed out that i keep branching ADDITIONAL crossovers off of it whenever i watch an action movie. i don't think anyone has ever seen any of them except @combat-epistemologist; for the most part i haven't bothered to give any of them coherent plots so most of them are just, like, Hinata Experiences Culture Shock.

but anyway i was rereading the scholomance crossover just now (whose existence i vaguely alluded to here) and -- the problem with this, right, is that the scholomance books are sufficiently tightly plotted that it's hard to wedge a hinata in there without completely wrecking galadriel's character arc. and also that hinata is kind of too OP to fit in well with the setting, which is another common structural issue with these AUs. it's not Good Content, it's just noodling around with the concept "what if the scholomance yoinked hinata during the freshman induction at the end of a deadly education, and hinata is incredibly mad about it because she was In The Middle Of Things". there ARE SOME REALLY FUNNY BITS though and my current favorite is just the entire concept of itachi's isekai adventure to modern japan.

itachi is trying to find hinata, right (this is a non-massacre AU, or more accurately the massacre interrupted AU i alluded to in the tags of this post; you see why it's impossible for me to post 80% of my shit with the dependency web i've got going on). hinata has Mysteriously Vanished and itachi was forced to cram a five-year course of study on advanced fūinjutsu into like three weeks in order to track the space-time jutsu that yoinked her THIS far. he seriously contemplates stealing the kinjutsu scroll and resurrecting the yondaime with edo tensei if he can't figure out the necessary sealwork himself. his general emotional state can be summed up thusly:

he doesn't know what a car is and he talks like a nobleman from the sengoku period and he's been yote randomly into -- well, i haven't quite decided where yet, because that would require a good deal more historical research than i really feel like doing for this fic (in particular: what the hell is going on with kyoto enclave), but either Literally The Middle Of Shinjuku (funny, but then he probably finds tokyo enclave too quickly) or a random patch of countryside (wherein he almost gets himself isekai'd again by truck-kun within the first 15 minutes). but eventually he DOES manage to gaslight gatekeep girlboss his way into tokyo enclave --

#F in the chat for the tokyo dominus once hinata finds out he did this btw #the trashcan speaks #my fic #text/itachi

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champagnepodiums · 10 months

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Okay; I’m gonna request something and I’m expecting a full essay if you are down.

Okay so; In your honest opinion I want to know who you think are the top 5 drivers whom were truly the best in there respected times of driving but you don’t have to do fia racing (f1,f2 or f3) if you choose not to, it can be IndyCar drivers, NASCAR drivers and or rally or moto gp drivers; you Can choose whatever one you want but all 5 drivers have to have raced in that respected Motorsport.

This leads to the question why you think they are best drivers of there time and how you think these drivers made the Motorsport into what it is today.

But here’s the kicker one of these drivers have to be from the current grid; and I want to know how you think this driver(s) is/are gonna change the future of Motorsports.

OKAY so firstly, this ask gave me STRESS DREAMS last night because CHOOSING ONLY FIVE?!?!?!

My research focus at the moment is American Open-Wheel (which is what I personally use to encompass all of the different sanctioning bodies because it's easier than listing them all out) so I felt like I was most qualified and knowledgeable to select these 5 drivers (but it probably made it so much harder).

So here are the five drivers who I think are both the greatest in terms of racing talent and helped shape motorsport into what it was today:

Ralph DePalma: First and foremost, I do want to say that I wholeheartedly believe that every motorsport fan should know who Ralph DePalma is because his career was legendary. The Motorsport Hall of Fame of America estimates that over the course of his career, Ralph won somewhere in the ballpark of 2,000 races. WON. (Not entered). He was the winner of the 1915 Indianapolis 500 and was a dominating force for a decade, however he was continually plagued with mechanical failures that stole wins from him. In fact, Ralph DePalma held the laps lead record for the Indianapolis 500 until 1987! (Even now, Ralph sits third on the all-time list -- nearly a century after he ran his last Indianapolis 500). In terms of impact, Ralph has two big ones -- he was one of the first (if not the first) to take motorsport as an actual sport and to make it into a career (for the most part, the early days of at least American racing were almost exclusively either incredibly wealthy men or engineers trying to show how good their car, people were not making whole careers out of it). Ralph's second impact is really being the first greatest American Open-Wheel driver. He set a standard, not only with his statistics but with how well-liked and how well-respected he was. For further reading, this is a really good summary of his career, including a few anecdotes.

Wilbur Shaw: Wilbur won 3 Indy 500s (1937, 1939 and 1940), the second drive to do so and the first driver to win two consecutive Indy 500s. He was crowned the AAA National Champion in both 1937 and 1939. But Wilbur Shaw's impact isn't the races or championships that he won. Simply put, without Wilbur Shaw, the Indianapolis 500 and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway would no longer exist. The Speedway shut down for the duration of WWII and the facilities were not maintained. Wilbur saw this first hand when he did a tire test for Firestone at the end of the war. He was told shortly after the rest that the Speedway was going to be sold to a land development company (which is a fate of many, many race tracks). Wilbur immediately went to work, trying hard to find somebody to buy the Speedway and preserve the race. He approached Tony Hulman, a local businessman and managed to convince Tony Hulman to buy the Speedway. After Tony purchased the Speedway, he installed Wilbur Shaw as the track president and they worked together to update the facilities and preserve the Speedway and the Indianapolis 500.

Bill Vukovich: Bill won two Indy 500s (1953 and 1954) and was in the lead when he was pulled into a wreck that ultimately was fatal. He was one of those drivers who just seemed to have Indianapolis figured out. He was respected and well-liked. But his death was, indirectly, part of the reason that AOW almost ceased (and frankly, is still recovering from). You see, 1955 was a Really Bad Year for motorsports. Like, it's a miracle that motorsport didn't end in 1955, bad. Manny Ayulo died in practice for the Indianapolis 500 on May 16. Ten days later, on May 26, Alberto Ascari was killed in a test session. Four days after Ascari was killed, Bill Vukovich was killed while leading the Indianapolis 500 in a wreck that was horrifying and it injured two spectators as well. And two weeks later, the Le Mans Disaster killed approximately 80 people and injured approximately 120 people. People were starting to lobby governments to ban motorsport. The sanctioning body that sanctioned both Indy 500s and other AOW races, AAA announced that it would no longer sanction races, citing both the Le Mans Disaster and Bill Vukovich's death specifically as why they would not. In response to this, Tony Hulman formed USAC. Yes, the owner of the Speedway formed a sanctioning body! I am not going to hash out all of The Split here but the formation of USAC later gave Tony George the power to split American Open-Wheel racing. Would he have had that sort of power if AAA hadn't quit sanctioning? I don't know.

AJ Foyt: AJ Foyt was the first person to win four Indy 500s (1961, 1964, 1967, and 1977). He won 7 National Championships and especially in the early 1960's, AJ was just an unstoppable force -- for example, in 1964, there were 13 races and AJ won 10 of them. But I don't think his impact on motorsports is that he was good at winning (because he was). His impact was in his versatility and his ability to win in virtually every racing discipline he tried (which -- even now, it's fairly rare for a driver to try different disciplines during his prime and AJ did and he won). He won the Le Mans in 1967. He also won the 12 Hours of Sebring and the 24 Hours of Daytona in 1985. AJ also won the Daytona 500 in 1972. AJ is the only driver to win an Indy 500, a Daytona 500, and a Le Mans. AJ also is a case study in the longevity of a driver. He raced in 35 consecutive Indy 500s, his first Indy 500 was 1958 and his last was 1992. He was able to adapt to the rapidly changing technology in motorsport and he was able to be successful in not just one discipline but in basically everything he tried.

Scott Dixon: The driver currently on the grid that I think is a great of his time + has had a big impact can't be anybody but Scott. He has competed in 319 consecutive starts and when he won that race, he has gone 19 consecutive seasons with at least one win. He has 6 championships and is 2nd on the all-time win list. I think it's hard to put his impact into words while he's still doing it but I think his impact (to me) at least is that he has kind of bucked the stereotype that racing drivers are rash and have to run through people to be the best. He's shown that sometimes racing can be a mental game and keeping an even keel through it will set you up for success more often than not.

OKAY WHEW that definitely took me all day and boy did I struggle LOL. Pls feel to give me thoughts, questions etc. Thank you for asking this, it was honestly a lot of fun to do (even if I was Stressed but that's more on me wanting to get it right than anything)

#Kate talks motorsport history

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dark-elf-writes · 9 months

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I have never consumed any ff7 media outside what you’ve talked about so here are my assumptions and thoughts on your au built around my very very very limited knowledge (pt 1):

Turks are a thing here. Is this like a post apocalyptic world where only Turkish people survived?

Or is this like a human classification type deal? Or a group?

Local small blond child is being raised by the best Turk. Is he the best at being Turkish or the best at being good? Very important. Ik one Turkish person and I hate them (derogatory x100) so this will affect my opinion of this man (?)

What tf is mako

Why is it in this child’s eyes

Are they mermaids? Have I missed their mermaid tails in fanart? Mako mermaid powers?

Is it magic? Fantasy crack? Secret government shit you shoot up in a back alley for a power up?

There’s a person (?) named Reno that’s probably rly fun to piss off

If angels exist here did Jesus? Did this Jesus have a sword?

Why does this Vincent person need to be tricked out of a box? Is he a cat perhaps?

Why is a blond child setting things on fire to wake someone up? A little extreme but it has spirit.

And why is the person in need of being woken up sleeping in a box? I’m not positive this Vincent isn’t a cat. Are Turks cats? Cat-boys?

The box was a coffin. A little dramatic considering he clearly isn’t dead. Like just get an eye mask fr.

He a vampire or some shit? Did they make him a vampire because he’s Turkish? Did they put him in a box because he’s Turkish? That’s rude

Oh there was a lock

If a tiny blond could break it I’m not convinced this Turkish cat couldn’t do it too

Whoever this hojo mf is I hope they know I’m watching their ass and am in full support of their murder

Who’s chaos and why are they in the Turkish cats head? Is this a naruto situation? Are they paying rent? Is this why Vincent was locked in a coffin?

Is shinra the government or something? An organization? The group of this hojo mf

There’s aliens now?

The alien is wrecking the world AGAIN? As in once the first timeline and now here? Or they wrecked it once already and are coming back for fun?? Do aliens not have anything better to do. So fucking lame.

If I saw an alien trying to wreck my plants shit I’d simply say “that’s loser behavior” and leave.

They’d be so stunned by my confidence they’d just have to stop

Ff7 is frankly just wild trying to explain to someone in general but in the broadest of strokes I can say that the Turks are basically spies/assassins/what have you for the evil uber corporation (Shinra) that is fucking up the planet. Mako is in essence the lifeblood of the planet that said evil corporation make into “renewable energy” (its not and is in fact just trying to heal the planet from the fucked up alien (JENOVA) thousands of years ago before he was banished to the timeout pit and unfortunately unearthed by you guessed it the evil corporation) and makes the very few people who don’t like die immediately insanely strong/fast/etc while also making their eyes glow. It’s weird to see on a child basically only seen by Shinras elite fighting force (SOLDIERs) and therefore worth mentioning a lot. Vincent was technically dead or at least was very much hardcore attempted murdered before being experimented on getting Chaos and a hand full of other murderous entities shoved inside of him by Hojo (evil scientist for evil company) who is basically the reason the alien was able to fuck shit up so bad in canon/the first time around in this au by implanting her cells into his unborn son. Vincent chose a coffin for a guilt/depression nap after he did and didn’t die a la a certain cat.

That’s the barest of bones not going into the whole eco terrorism weird soul bond mommy issues memory/identity theft and the cat robot… or the clones… or

Also the mind control there’s a lot of that too

Yeah it’s a lot.

#the elf talks #it’s a great game but the story is off the rails okay #I laughed really hard reading thsi #ff7 from an outsiders perspective is batshit insane and a delight to see #everything comes back to the alien the scientist and Sephiroths mommy issues tbh #if your confused that’s totally fine cloud spends 75% of it also confused and he’s the main character #you know when you get fully enmeshed in a fandom and forget how cray it is from the outside? yeah #vincent is dramatic but like also intensely traumatized #did they put him in a box because he’s Turkish took me out okay

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ticklystuff · 3 months

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He-he~

My team is Sampo, Kafka, Black Swan and Fu Xuan c:<

ask game is closed!

He-he~?

but hello hehe thanks for sending your team! i'm so excited i get to talk about mr sampo nyehehehe

who’s the most ticklish character

omg i'm putting sampo here bc like just look at his outfit sir why are you dressed like that unless you wanna be tickled?? (and what if he loses even more clothes when a 5 star version comes around hehe we all saw what they did to dan heng) but ya he has the ugliest shrieks whenever he's tickled and no matter the kind of techniques that are used it's always the same obnoxious cackling from him and he begs a lot lmao but he's super hard to pin down and catch but it's so worth it when someone can get their hands on him

who’s the character that most people would assume isn't ticklish, but actually is

kafka because she's so fearless and does not flinch even when tickles are coming her way and keeps that same calm demeanor. if someone tries tickling her, she'll even encourage it and be like "no, no, go ahead, tickle me, i insist. see what happens~" and it makes people second guess whether they should or not bc this woman is a threat like gurl is gonna snap my fingers lol also i mentioned this before but black swan because she does not have a physical body but people can still tickle her in dreams and such! sampo made sure to make use of that when he found out that she's ticklish hehe

who’s the character that everyone gangs up on and tickles

FU XUAN this team is full of good lers and then there's her just standing there rip to the master diviner. like girl is just trying to live her life and do divinations one minute but then the next minute everyone is dogpiling her and she's getting her shit wrecked. sometimes she'll be doing her little divinations and she sees that she's going to get ganged up on later that day and she's like "oh fuck oh fck me time to panik" and she gets super stressed out i feel bad for her lol

who’s the character that somehow knows everyone else’s tickle spots and reveals them to others

oki so black swan would be super good at this because she collects memories so she has memories of people getting tickled in specific spots and she'll reveal them casually like "sampo~ do you dress like that because you like having your little sides tickled?" fu xuan has black swan beat in this category though because black swan can only see where people have been tickled memories, not tickle spots that have yet to be explored. fu xuan can see everything though and it is the one trump card she has over the others lol

who's the character with one specific tickle spot that only one other person knows about

okay i was watching this streamer rank hsr characters and they said sampo has vagina bones and now i can't unsee it so this man and his vagina bones or his crotch i guess are super sensitive and somehow kafka knows about it and she just teases him about his vagina bones in general aksldfjklsa

who’s the most likely to win gang tickle wars

there are so many good candidates for this question. like black swan is probably the right answer for this question because she can manifest those arms WITH POINTY NAILS to come out and not only tickle multiple people but also pin them down. but also kafka and sampo would just be so teasy in their own different ways and they themselves are very good ticklers that don't need to rely on some external force to help them out so like ya maybe black swan is technically the right answer but these two still give her a run for her money y'know? fu xuan is like that one jojo meme where it's like three people beating up one guy together like poor thing just ceases to exist during tickle wars

which character has a kink for tickling

i wanna say kafka i just feel it in my soul i just know she'd give her lee hell because she's good at getting people in their head and maybe the actual tickling isn't so bad but its the way she teases and psyches her lee out the whole time that makes it ninety times worse than it should be

which character didn’t even know they were ticklish until another character tickled them

oh it's absolutely fu xuan and back at the xianzhou, no one would dare to tickle the master diviner, but in this team, kafka is like "i have to thank you for imprisoning me, it was truly a once in a lifetime experience" and she already has her hands all over fu xuan and fu xuan can barely process her words because she has to deal with all the unfamiliar tickly sensations

which two characters have tickle fights all the time

oh sampo absolutely fights kafka and black swan everyday like this man is so brave trying to fight these two menaces in that outfit and he is so dumb because he loses all the time but that moment of shock the two have when he manages to actually tickle them is so worth the wreckings he receives later idk he's such a dumb little guy

#sampo #kafka #fu xuan #black swan #honkai star rail #tickling

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bdslab · 4 months

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Ok so now that I've finished reading Bizu it's time for me to figure out how to work Keryna back into the story… I kinda don't want to do "oh you forgot everything that happened" but if I don't want to completely rewrite the Keryna arc it is sadly required due to the bilzigs

[this got really long so it's going under the cut]

Basically Bizu can't meet the Bilzigs for the first time two different times unless he forgets about them. Same for Schnockbul and Mukes. Keryna introduces him to the bilzigs the first time. How do you work with that without completely rewriting it?

The Bilzigs absolutely have the power to make everyone forget what happened and so does Blévis Noir… I know that Le Grand Désordre was SUPPOSED to end with Blévis finding out he's Keryna's brother and going "wtf no i dont want to marry you anymore im sorry for troubling you"

Other thing: Bizu still knows Bekar even though Bekar's WHOLE STORY was "I need to get my dad back from the forest spirits [bilzigs]". He has his picture hanging in his house…. I don't think Bekar would ever forget what the bilzigs did so there's gotta be something there…

If we do go the route of everyone else forgot, Bekar could come to visit and ask about Keryna/if she broke up with Schnockbul and they'd be like "who??" Honestly thinking about it it's gotta be Blevis's fault nobody remembers anything. The Bilzigs forgot Bizu too afterall

Blevis at the wedding when Schnockbul runs up with the proof they're siblings. Instead of becoming an apologetic good guy decides "fuck it, none of you are remembering this. And to make sure none of you remember it I'm locking my sister up forever so she can't tell you"

I don't 100% recall but I think he'd been after her for a while so she'd probably remember that he exists maybe? I think it'd be nicer if she didn't forget Schnockbul and everyone so we only have to do one round of memory restoration

The bilzigs can still know OF blevis and keryna so finding them afterwards can be easier (maybe they think blevis stole her powers as the explanation for why she's powerless and also good now).

Actually I take it back, let her forget too that way she's not just locked up the whole time. IDK having her just sit and wait for Schnockbul twice doesn't sit right with me. Maybe she doesn't remember why she's powerless but knows she hates Blevis for some reason and opposes him

Maybe there's like a true love clause or something to Blevis's spell so he had to separate her from Schnockbul. IDK why the hell not who's gonna stop me.

Maybe Bizu and the Bilzigs never fully regain their memories of their time with her but when Keryna & Schnockbul lock eyes they remember EVERYTHING. Schnockbul also remembers how Ker Bizu got destroyed in the first place and that his old home was wrecked on PURPOSE

Postman shows up one day and is just like "oh you two got back together" and Bizu & Schnockbul are just like "?? You KNEW she suddenly disappeared??" and he's just like "I assumed you broke up and didn't want to talk about it?? I'm just a postman"

Blevis forced to apologize for abducting lady and nearly forcing her to marry him until he finds out their related before doubling down on the shittyness. Do the Bilzigs give him a proper bilzig punishment? Given the late bizu stories I don't see how he would escape one

The bilzigs would NOT take lightly to having their memories tampered with. But Bizu might be more forgiving since he apologized? Maybe a temporary punishment that lasts until someone actually loves him or some bullshit cause of the wedding related shit he was trying to do

hmmmm another issue is that Bekar's in le grand desordre. He could simply not be present at the wedding part? Like he was taking care of something elsewhere? Helping speedup the reconstruction of Ker Bizu?

Ok so I just reread the ending and basically Bekar walks in and sees Bizu's acting weird and that all the bilzigs are there and is confused but nobody really…. tells him what's going on? He could easily be told to go do something else while they deal with Blevis

Blevis also barely knows him, like he saw him for a minute but that's about it. No reason for him to get his memory wiped if he's not around. Maybe bekar waits for them for a while wherever they told him to go but has to leave eventually… maybe that's why he goes back

They asked him to help with the situation in the grand desordre but because they all forgot they just kinda left him there for a few years until he comes back like "hey guys what the hell happened where were you" and they're like "oh hey bekar what do you mean"

Less accidental "what happened to keryna" and more freaking out when it becomes apparent that they've had their memories messed with (maybe some visual cues that prompt bekar to pull up a book and be like "uh your minds have been messed with" followed by "WAIT IS KERYNA OKAY")

Do I really think Bekar is the type of guy to stay put for a few years? Yes. Bekar would absolutely stay put for a few years if he was told it would help by someone he trusts. Then again, maybe it would be better for it to just be one year

#twitter archive

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pumpkichia · 6 months

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The Kerberos Mission

---Kerberos: Moon of Pluto---

Three astronauts gather on the moon orbiting Pluto, "Kerberos", trying to wrap up the expedition they were sent on.

"Easy son, this ice is delicate." Samuel Holt states, examining the piece of ice being ejected by a machine. They have drilled a hole in the satellite's surface, extracting samples to analyze and bring back to their home planet, Earth.

"Amazing. Isn't this exciting Shiro?" Matthew Holt asks. The kid Matthew Holt had just barely became a member of the Galaxy Garrison, a military regiment tasked with obtaining knowledge of space. His father Samuel Holt has been on a couple missions in the past, but this is the furthest they've ever traveled.

"You guys get a little more excited about ice samples than I do." Shiro laughs, holding the retractor. Takashi Shirogane, also known as Shiro, is a junior office at the Galaxy Garrison.

"This is history in the making. Not only have we traveled farther than any human ever has, but this ice could hold microscopic clues about the existence of life outside Earth." says Samuel Holt.

"Think of it, Dad. We could use those clues to become the first people to meet aliens." Matt says, excitingly.

"My life's work would be complete." Samuel Holt states. Just as they finish ejecting the final ice sample, rumbling is heard from behind the three astronauts.

"What is that? Seismic activity?" Samuel Holt questions.

"We should get back to the ship." exclaims Shiro. Over the horizon of Kerberos, the three see what looks like an alien ship.

"What is that?" Samuel Holt yells. The front of the massive ship can now be seen. It's intimidating nature would make it so that anyone would be in shock at just the size of the ship.

"Run! Come on, run!" Shiro yells, ushering the two astronauts to sprint. A bright purple light gleams from the massive alien ship, wrecking what major progress they have made on Pluto's moon. Screams of the astronauts can be heard as the light seemed to capture them and hurdle them upwards towards the inside of the ship.

---Shiro's POV---

"Emperor Zarkon," I heard a muffled voice state. "we were scouting System X-9-Y as ordered when we found these primitive scientists." My head was still pounding from the impact, but I managed to open my eyes to see that I was someplace other than the moon Kerberos.

"I don't think they know anything useful." says an unknown creature standing in front of me. He was facing what seemed to be a screen with another unknown being projected onto it.

"Take them back to the main fleet for interrogation." Says the projected being. I turn to face my comrades, but they still seem to be unconscious.

"The druids will find out what they know." I could only think to try to reason with them.

"Please, we come from a peaceful planet! We mean you no harm! We're unarmed!" I shout. Just then I feel a sharp pain hit my back as I lunge forward. I go unconscious. As I fade in and out of consciousness, I can see myself being dragged down a corridor of sorts. One of my comrades, Matthew I believe, was being forced to walk alongside a tall robot-like being. I can see what looks like prisoners peeking from beyond their enclosures.

"Look, they brought in another one." "Who is it?" "Over there. It's another one." I can hear the prisoners whispering. As I am being dragged, I look around to see where exactly I am. Just then I look out a passing window and see what looks like a whole prison complex with multiple floors. No way this shit is actually happening, right?

---Earth- five days later…---

---Alex's POV---

"I got it fixed, try starting the engine!" I say, signaling the "ok" to the pilot.

"Running nice and smoothly!" The pilot yells back. "I'm gonna take it for a test drive." I nod, backing away from the ship. I was one of the only engineers in our class that was actually able to work on ships without careful monitoring from the commander.

"Alex!" yells Keith, running in through the doors with a panicked look on his face. The engineering department of the Galaxy Garrison is in a big garage outside of the main corridor.

"Keith? What's wrong?" I asked, concerned. What was Keith doing here? Shouldn't he be in class?

"So you haven't heard yet?" Keith asks, slightly out of breath. "Heard what?" I question. Whatever it is it can't be that bad, right?

"It's Shiro… The Garrison said they failed the mission. They wouldn't tell me if he died or what but-" Keith stumbled across his words. "No." I reply. "NO. That isn't possible." Shiro is one of the best astro explorers known to man. He was top of his class, one of the youngest to make junior officer, there's just no way something happened.

"I know.. Whatever happened, we'll get to the bottom of it." Keith says "I can break into the Admiral's office and check her computer-"

"No." I respond "You're this close to being kicked out of the program, I don't want you to risk it. Just leave it to me."

"Well, what are you gonna do" he asks. "I don't know yet." I say, looking at the ship I just repaired as it flies overhead.

---One Year Later…---

"Galaxy Garrison flight log 5-11-14. Begin descent to Kerberos for rescue mission." Says Lance McClain, a cadet of the Galaxy Garrison. They were on a training mission to rescue a Lunar Vessel from the planet Kerberos. Lance's dark brown eyes focus on the monitor ahead of him.

Hunk groans "Lance, can you keep this thing straight?" Tsuyoshi "Hunk" Garret is an engineering cadet for the Galaxy Garrison.

"Relax, Hunk, I'm just getting a feel for the stick. I mean, it's not like I did this!" Lance aims the steering wheel upward, making the entire ship unsteady. "Or this!" Lance exclaims, aiming the steering wheel to the left. Hunk groans from his motion sickness.

"Okay, unless you want to wipe puke out of all the little nooks and crannies in this thing, you'd better knock it off, man!" Hunk yells, sweat gathering on his orange bandana.

"We've picked up a distress beacon!" alerted Pidge Gunderson, a communications cadet. She is one of the youngest in her class, at only 17 years old.

"All right, look alive, team! Pidge, track coordinates." Lance states as he starts their descent on Pluto's moon a little harshly. Lance smirks, knowing he'll get backlash from his engineering companion.

"Knock it off, Lance! Please!" Hunk exclaims wearily. You can hear a computer beeping in the background, signaling an error message. Even with a hydraulic stabilizer built into the ship, the ship starts rumbling tremendously.

"Oh, no" Hunk says, sickly. "Oh, no. Fix now, puke later." Lance says dryly.

"I lost contact. The shaking is interfering with our sensors." Pidge states, trying to fix the error messages.

"Come on, Hunk!" Lance turns to face Hunk. "It's not responding." Hunk moans and gets up to fix the sensors.

"Oh, never mind, fellas. Thar she blows." Lance states as he sees the location pop up. "Preparing for approach on visual."

"I don't think that's advisable with our current mechanical and-" Pidge pauses as Hunk throws up into their engineering box. "-gastrointestinal issues…"

"Agreed." says Hunk, hurrying back to his seat.

"Stop worrying, this baby can take it. Can't ya champ?" Lance smirks. "Pidge, hail down to them and let them know their ride is here." As Pidge stands up to broadcast their message, the entire ship rumbles, causing Pidge to fall flat on her face. Her glasses fall off the bridge of her nose.

"Pidge, what are you doing? Buckle your belt. And Hunk, stop that shaking!" Lance says.

"Attention Lunar Vessel, this is Galaxy Garrison Rescue Craft One Victor Six Three Tango. Coming in for landing and extraction-" Pidge states. "-against crew recommendations." she mutters under her breath.

"No time for your mutinous comments now. They're going under and we're going in." Lance smirks, lowering the ship.

"Watch out for that overhang!" Pidge yells, clutching to her seat. Her light brown eyes wide with terror.

"No worries. My first year in flight school, they called me "The Taylor" because of how I thread the needle." Lance laughs, trying to fly the ship through an opening. Unfortunately, Lance ended up crashing into the overhang, losing a wing in the process. "Oh, man." Lance sighs.

The ship's monitor displays a failure message as the three cadets exit the simulated ship.

"Nice work, Taylor" Pidge says with an angry expression on her face.

"Roll out, donkeys. Well, let's see if we can't use this complete failure as a lesson for the rest of you students." States the Commander of the Garrison Regiment. "Shit, if you guys are gonna be this bad individually, at least quit arguing and be able to work in a team! Galaxy Garrison exists to turn cadets like you into the next generation of elite astro explorers. But these kind of mental mistakes are exactly what cost the lives of the men on the Kerberos Mission."

The commander turns towards Lance. "I hope I don't need to remind you that the only reason you're here is that the best pilot in your class had a discipline issue and flunked out. Don't follow in his footsteps."

---Later that Night---

"Lights out in five! Everyone back to their dorms, now." says the commander, parading down the hallway.

"We shouldn't be doing this." Says Hunk, sneaking around the corner. His caramel eyes shifty from nervousness.

"You heard Commander Iverson. We need to bond as a team." Lance smirks, peeking out to see if he has a shot at sneaking through the hallway. "We're going to grab Pidge, hit the town, loosen up, meet some nice girls, maybe-" Lance gets interrupted by the lights getting shut off.

"I'm just saying this here, right now, on the record. This is a bad idea." Hunk says as Lance glares at him. Lance dashes down the hallway without getting seen and Hunk follows swiftly behind him.

"You know, for someone in a space exploration program, you don't have much of a sense of adventure." Lance scoffs.

"All of your little adventures end up with me in the commander's office." Hunk states. Lance peeks through a window to make sure no one was paying attention to him and Hunk running away. They swiftly crawl under the window, but right as they were about to turn the corner, they see Pidge exit her room.

"Where is she going?" asks Lance. The two cadets follow Pidge up to the rooftop of the building, where Pidge had set up a bunch of electronics around her.

"You come up here to rock out?" Lance whispers, lifting up Pidge's headphones. Pidge gasps and turns around to see that her two team members had followed her up to the rooftop.

"Oh, Lance, Hunk. No, um, just looking at the stars." She says, trying to block their view of her computers.

"Where'd you get this stuff? It doesn't look like Garrison tech." Lance says.

"I built it." Pidge says smugly. "With this thing, I can scan all the way to the edge of the solar system."

"That right? All the way to Kerberos?" Lance asks. Pidge gives him a loud sigh. "You go ballistic every time the instructors bring it up. What's your deal? " At this point Pidge looks as if she's holding something back.

"Look, Pidge, if we're gonna bond as a team, we can't have any secrets." Lance scowls.

"Fine. The world as you know it is about to change." Pidge says mysteriously. "The Kerberos Mission wasn't lost because of some malfunction or crew mistake. So, I've been scanning the system and picking up alien radio chatter."

"Whoa. What? Aliens?" Hunk asks. "Okay. So you're insane. Got it." Lance says mockingly, crossing his arms.

Pidge frowns. "I'm serious. They keep repeating one word, "Voltron." And tonight, it's going crazier than I've ever heard it." Pidge picks up and points to her notepad with the word "Voltron" written on it.

"How crazy?" Lance asks. But before Pidge could give an explanation, the emergency alarms start ringing.

The PA system blares. "Attention, students. This is not a drill. We are on lockdown! Security situation Zulu Niner. Repeat: all students are to remain in barracks until further notice."

"What's going on?" Hunk asks concerningly. "Is that a meteor?" Hunk points to the speck of light in the sky. It seemed to be on fire, heading not far from the Galaxy Garrison Headquarters.

Pidge grabs her binoculars out of her bag. "It's a ship." She states, looking out the binoculars. Lance snatches them away from her. "Holy shit! I can't believe what I'm seeing! That's not one of ours."

"No, it's one of theirs." Pidge gasps, falling to her knees. "So, wait. There really are aliens out there?" Hunk asks. Shortly after, the ship zips past them and crashes straight into the canyon by the Garrison HQ. A ball of light surrounding the fallen vessel. The three cadets could see the Galaxy Garrison's shuttles leaving headquarters and rushing towards the ship.

"We've gotta see that ship!" Pidge exclaims running after them. "Hunk, come on." Lance commands, following Pidge.

"Oh, this is the worst team building exercise ever." Hunk groans, running after the two.

#voltron #voltron fanfic #voltron fandom #lance mcclain #keith kogane #pidge gunderson #takashi shirogane #vld #voltron legendary defender #shiro #hunk garrett #pidge holt #allura #princess allura #fanfic

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vakhiyamusings · 1 year

Text

I Need To Do What?! - Part 6

Part 6 - The Night Before Judgement Day

Anzu's POV:

It was the night before judgement day.

Fortunately or unfortunately, it landed on a Saturday.

Anzu knew she was a nervous wreck. Rio was awkwardly sitting in her chair, watching as she paced like a caged animal.

"Why can't I choose someone? Pretend to date so the council is satisfied?" she asked for the umpteenth time making Rio sigh.

"You know they can detect fake love. Wizards haven't been around for millennia to be fooled by a single human girl," he replied.

"But- but how do you even know you love someone? You can't just force someone to fall in love!" Anzu shrieked, clutching her hair.

"Under the right circumstances, it's entirely possible," Rio muttered mildly, looking at his fingernails.

"You're not helping me at all! Don't you have some jumbo jumbo gadget to gauge my feelings or lack thereof? What is going to happen tomorrow?" Anzu shrieked, shaking Rio till his head lolled like a broken doll.

"Only the council has an emotion reading machine. They will assess your feelings tomorrow," Rio said decisively with a nod.

"Such a thing actually exists?!" Anzu shrieked, feeling a tidal wave of apprehension hit her.

Anzu hunkered down by the side of her bed with her head clutched in her hands.

What was she going to do?

How was anyone supposed to know what they felt?

Especially a teenage who had never once been in love before?

How did people recognize the emotion for what it was?

Anzu knew she was capable of love.

She loved her parents.

Her sweet cat, Momohiki was another object of her affections.

Inanimate objects such as video games and chocolate were never classified under the category of love. They were necessary for her very survival. She needed them like the very oxygen she breathed but in those dark days, she proved she could live without them all.

Everything she held dear was ripped apart from her overnight and she still survived.

Did that mean she didn't love her parents, cat and games that much?

Anzu didn't understand what wizards called love.

Rio did say that the whole point of this endeavor was to increase Japan's population.

Oh. My. God!

"Rio!" she gasped suddenly.

"Anzu?" he asked concerned. He was crouching in front of her, poking her cheek, not that she noticed. Anzu batted his hand away.

"Why are you wizards spending so much time getting me to fall in love? You do realize that not every loving couple in a relationship wants kids, right?" Anzu asked fixing him with a cold stare.

"Uh..."

Rio's eyes widened as he followed her line of thought.

"If this love scheme doesn't work out, what do your people plan to do?" she inquired in dangerously quiet voice.

Rio gulped.

He played with his fingers as he spoke.

"Um, I don't think the council thought that far ahead. Wizards - they can't interfere with your free will. We live long lives and it's frustrating to watch humanity plummet before your very eyes. They just want to make a difference where they see fit. Plus, it gives us something fun to do!" he exclaimed, waving his wand around.

Anzu pondered his words, trying to push the darker images of wizards trying to breed humans like cattle for their amusement.

What did you expect?

She was a Non Heroine for a reason!

Anzu stymied down as she continued her meandering thoughts.

She thought of Tsukasa, Junta, Hijiri and Rio. They were her close friends and she would do anything for them. Hell, she would even help them bury a body and lie in a court of law if push came to shove. Anzu wondered why her thoughts were darker than usual today. She blamed the blasted wizards for their nosy, interfering ways.

If Tsukasa or one of the others left her, it would hurt. She wouldn't mind if she could meet them whenever she wanted and could just talk over the phone. She wasn't that attached to the hip with them, but she truly valued their friendship.

If their relationship was destroyed, if they could no longer remember her, if they simply passed by her in a crowd without a sparing a glance her way or worse, they had no spark of recognition, it would be like getting shot in the heart. Only she would remember their friendship. All their inside jokes, taunts, camaraderie!

It was the cruelest punishment of all!

Anzu spent many days worrying over this mess but she was no closer to an answer than she was before.

"Anzu, why are you on the floor?"

She lifted her head to look at Junta who was peering down at her.

"Hey! Why are you crying? Rio? What happened?" he demanded, crouching down to pick her up. He sat down with her on the bed. Anzu noticed Tsukasa look at her with concern as he sat beside them.

Rio sighed and sat on the ground.

"She's upset because the council is going to decide whether you all get to keep your memories of Anzu or not tomorrow," he replied sounding more down trodden than ever.

Anzu wailed as she heard the words out loud. No matter how many times she heard it, it still hurt.

She closed her eyes at the twin exclamations of surprise. Guess the truth was going to come out whether she liked it or not.

---

An hour later, Anzu was surprised to find Hijiri among them. Secrecy meant nothing when the wizard council was planning to do something potentially malicious to them.

"Let me get this straight. Anzu has to fall in love by tomorrow or we all will lose our memories of her?" Hijiri inquired Rio, eyeing him intensely.

Rio nodded slowly, biting at his hangnail.

"Anzu," Hijiri crouched in front of her, holding her gaze steady.

"Do you love Tsukasa, Junta, Rio and me?"

"I do love you all," she replied without hesitation.

"I just don't know if I'm in love with you. What does romantic love feel like? I don't understand!" she cried closing her face with her hands.

"Do you enjoy spending time with us?"

"Yes."

"Do you like holding hands with us? And the occasional kiss?"

All the guys leaned forward to hear her reply.

Anzu blushed under their scrutiny and closed her eyes.

"Yes."

"Do you have fun with us around? Even if all we do is sit and watch tv?"

"Yes."

"Do you miss us when we aren't around?"

"Of course, I do."

"I'd say that you are ready for being in a romantic relationship with any one of us. All that's holding you back is hurting the feelings of those you haven't chosen," Hijiri replied with a shrug.

"The wizards' plan backfired. She can't move forward because you placed her in a stalemate. You were being thorough by providing her options like an otome game but real life doesn't work out in such a way," he explained.

Anzu, Rio, Tsukasa and Junta stared dumbfounded by Hijiri's simplified explanation.

"The wizards should cut their losses and move to a new subject. Only time will tell how this relationship will pan out in the future. Wizards are not as clever as I would've expected them to be," he went on with a casual flip of his hair.

"What do we do tomorrow?" Anzu asked quietly.

"We meet them as a united front and confront them on the idiocy of their ways. I, for one, will not tolerate for my brilliant mind to be addled by mythical beings," he answered placidly, taking a sip from his cup of tea.

Anzu couldn't believe that it would be as simple as confronting them with the flaw in their plan.

But a girl could hope.

#romantic killer #rio/riri #anzu romantic killer #anzu hoshino #tsukasa kazuki #junta hayami #romantic killer fanfic #ao3 author #fanfic

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