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#circles and dead ends
anna-scribbles · 1 month
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do you think émilie agreste knew, on the day she became too weak to leave that house, that she never would again
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puppetmaster13u · 6 months
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Prompt 63
Danny is honestly having fun. Sure his friends and him have gotten thrown into this world with a bunch of monsters and giant creatures, but it’s fun! He’s going to make friends with all of them- even if they do try to eat him in human form most of the time. They all seem pretty confused by them when they smell like ecto though, which uh, wow wasn’t how they wanted to learn the whole class has become liminal. Oh well, it’s just them and Mr Lancer on an entire island to themselves! And he can’t be the only one to want to pet and befriend a dragon, like, c’mon! It’s a dragon! And Star is already eyeing a giant lightning unicorn so he definitely isn’t the only one down to go feral! Hey, at least there’s no GIW here or ghost attacks, and seeing as he doesn’t know how to make portals like Wulf, it’ll take a while to make a ghost portal to the zone. So feral island children it is! 
Bonus DCxDP crossover is if a hero of group of heroes also get thrown into the world onto the island. To them it’s almost like a peter pan situation only the children have a single adult whose given up on controlling the chaos. Oh yeah, they also all have powers and ride giant mythical beasts. Did they mention none of the group trusts any of them either? Yeaaah, this is going to be a long trip home…
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starmist · 2 months
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I genuinely believe Naksu haunts the narrative. Her actions and existence as Naksu heavily impact the entire story. Her past, the life she lived and the shadow of it in Mudeok. But we don't actually know any of it because Naksu is not in the story.
Like. What she lost as Cho Yeong is something that we are never allowed to forget, the loss of her body, her powers, her freedom, and her impending death as a soul shifter hangs over Mudeok's head like guillotine.
All the while we don't actually know the Shadow Assassin Naksu, she died in the first episode, as soon as the story began. Other than training and killing (soul shifters) what kind of person was she when she didn't have to rely on another person else or hide or live as someone else? We don't know and we don't ever learn any of that.
Still, her absence is the plot, yet her former existence as Naksu influences everything; Yul's actions and what she was to him, Jang Uk's goal of returning her powers, the revelation of soul shifters to Park Jin, Jang Gang's departure, Jin Mu's accomplishments, the King's Star even.
Everything is about her existence but she doesn't actually exist at all anymore.
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limonjarritos · 4 months
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The wine bottle and symbolism
this is personally my take on the symbolism of the wine bottle/bottle opener as based on a post by galaxitic
The wine as a symbol for obsession for a loss of control. For how Vincent feels about his fixation with Rody. Of even in a way a symbol for Rody himself.
The wine opener being Vince's semblance of control over that obsession. That he believes he has control on his feelings about Rody. But when he goes to open that bottle its not in a semblance of control but that of panic, that of impulse but he still tells himself that it's something, not realizing that with a sip of the wine he's consumed back. His rational is consumed. Just like how this whole time Rody has made him drunk with impulse.
How the wine is admittedly what does him in.
Vince breaks the bottle, breaks 'Rody' through a lack of control. He uses the bottle opener to try and open the real thing, drunk and searching for more, willing to truly give into his impulses and be intoxicated.
Vince has for the most part up until this point been bottling up his feelings, playing the part of mild mannered and in control (though his control isn't perfect. The rat, the watching through the peep hole-)
Rody taking that broken bottle in hand, takes said obsession and kills Vincent with it. Because a broken bottle is going to hurt you. Because Rody is so broken right now, shattered, reeling from the revelation that Manon has been killed. The love bleeding from his body and a hot demand for revenge coming to him that results in the burning of Vince.
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I'm back on my bullshit thinking about the Hawke siblings again and how much I love a "both twins live" AU... but y'know what I love just a little bit more? An AU where all three Hawke siblings are alive, but one of the twins still get attacked by the ogre in Lothering and is presumed dead when they actually survived.
I like to think that since the narrative in DA2 is framed as a story Varric's telling Cassandra, we can play around with the fact that he's an unreliable narrator. Varric wasn't there in Lothering. He only knows what Hawke told him. It makes for a better story if Leandra, Hawke, and the surviving twin get to huddle around the dead twin and say their goodbyes... especially if they didn't actually get to do that. I mean, a lot of us already have that train of thought when it comes to Leandra's death and Hawke getting some closure through her final words telling them how proud she is. Whose to say Varric didn't do that for the lost twin, as well?
All that to ask what if the ogre attack happened, but the group was so overwhelmed by darkspawn they had to flee further and couldn't check the twin who "died?" Flemeth still showed up, but it was too late to go back and say goodbye.... so Hawke made a deal with the Witch of the Wilds and they all pushed forward to Kirkwall.
Imagine Bethany, left behind with broken bones and bleeding in the sand, fading in and out of consciousness as the remaining darkspawn surround her. She knows how to heal, how to fight back, but she's weakened. Her staff lays out of reach. Air shakes in her lungs. She tries to call for help, but only wheezes come out. Where's her mother? Her siblings? Did the ogre get them, too?
At this point, we all know what happens to the women darkspawn take, and Bethany could've met that fate; she doesn't have the strength to fight back as they drag her away. But before they can bring her underground, she's saved by another group of survivors. Perhaps they're more soldiers fleeing Ostagar, or townsfolk who recognize her from Lothering. They do what they can to treat her wounds but she needs a healer, so they bring her with them to seek refuge in Redcliffe... except they eventually realize she's an apostate. Well, she doesn't seem dangerous, but they still contact the templars.
Bethany wakes in a warm but unfamiliar bed with skilled healers tending to her. Templars hover by the doorway. First Enchanter Irving greets her, gentle in explaining she's safe inside of Kinloch Hold and that she's going to survive. When Bethany asks about her family, he gives her a sympathetic smile and says they only found her.
Bethany, who never took to embracing her magic the way her older sibling did and always felt like it burdened her family... has lost that very family. Could they survive the ogre and darkspawn? Or did the ogre tear them apart, too? How did she survive... but not them? Did the Maker really have such a sense of humor? How else would she end up in the Circle, a place her family went to great lengths to keep her safe from?
She doesn't want to think about it. She hopes they made it to Kirkwall, but the prickle of dread that crawls up her spine knows how unlikely it is. Bethany finds comfort in speaking with the mages who rotate in to heal and bring her food. Some feel trapped by their magic just as she does, but others remind her of her older sibling in the way they embrace their magic, a gift from the Maker. The younger apprentices who aid the mages ask her questions about what lies beyond the walls. The templars mostly keep their distance, but one is friendlier than others. A man with curly blonde hair and a sympathetic view of the mages bothers to speak to her more than his fellows do.
She's still in recovery when Uldred and his blood mages attack the tower, but she survives. Bethany heals, even as she's haunted by nightmares of the ogre wrapping its tainted hand around her body to crush her, flinging her aside to lay among the limp bodies of her family... haunted by the horrors the blood mages unleashed on the tower. She aids in restoring the tower the best she can, and accepts her new home, her new life. When she's well enough, she lights a candle for each of them; her father, mother, her eldest sibling, her twin... she even lights a candle for the family mabari, and prays to the Maker to give them her love as they stand at His side.
The Blight ends. Years pass. Bethany settles into her new life, becoming a fine example for the younger apprentices she mentors. She witnesses wrong doings against her fellow mages, loses friends to their harrowings or tranquility. She accepts what she is, even if bitterly. The Chantry's teachings about magic scar more than enlighten; she sees it in some of her fellow mages, feels it in herself. Secret meetings. Whispers of escape, of freedom. More escape attempts. Harsher restrictions.
Around this time, back in Kirkwall, Knight-Captain Cullen stands where he always does in the Gallows courtyard. He notices Hawke appear with some of their companions. It hurts to think back to Kinloch Hold, but something occurs to him: he knew of another Hawke who was brought to the Circle while he served there. They only spoke once before... well, before. He wonders if there's any relation. When Hawke wanders over to speak to him, as they always do, Cullen brings it up.
Hawke pales. A beat of silence. Cullen recognizes heartbreak; he sees it unfold in their eyes and swell in their throat as they realize that all this time, their baby sister was alive.
Then the day comes where new whispers float among the mages in the Circle. A visit by a Grey Warden. Most, including Bethany, assume he's here to recruit... until Irving comes to her. He says this warden's requested, though more like insisted, he see her now. But then Irving smiles; the warden in question said his name is Warden Carver. He received an urgent letter that his sister is here, alive, and he demands to know if that's true.
Bethany nearly collapses when she sees him.
While the reunion can't last; she can't leave the Circle and he has his calling; the twins embrace, sobbing out apologies and exclamations that they thought the other was gone. Carver tells her of Kirkwall, the expedition that led him to the Grey Wardens, and their older sibling's status as Champion. With a gentleness she never knew her brother to have, he tells her what happened to their mother, and more tears flow freely. Their sibling learned about her from a templar, though Carver grumbles that the bastard could've said something sooner.
There's the Maker's humor again.
...Now flip the script: imagine Carver being left behind instead.
For as strong and passionate as he is, that ogre still picks him up and slams him to the ground. Bones crack. Black splotches flood his vision, agony exploding across his skin. His sword flies from his hand. The soulless bastard tosses Carver aside like he's nothing, and he's left to lay there. His mother's cries muffle in his ear as though he's stuck underwater, sinking slowly into the dark.
It figured, honestly... that he'd survive Ostagar while his fellow soldiers were cut down all around him, that he and his eldest sibling would flee the field when all hope was lost... that he'd make it home to get his family out of Lothering... only to die protecting his mother. And why not? He is a protector. A warrior. It's a honor to die saving those he loved... so why didn't it give him peace?
Carver eventually wakes in the night among the bodies of fallen darkspawn. Everything aches painfully hot and his thoughts reject coherency. He knows his family is gone; they're dead, or they've fled... either way, he's alone; left behind. Something's broken inside of him, but he has just enough will to pull himself up at the sound of approaching footsteps. A group of survivors find him- funny enough, the same group who aided Bethany in an alternate timeline. Imagine that.
That's how Carver ended up in Redcliffe's Chantry with an overworked healer tending to him. He doesn't even flinch when the mage works their magic on him, knowing all too well the sensation of healing magic seeping into his skin, mending the flesh. He tries not to think of Bethany, or what might've happened to her.
The Chantry's overwhelmed with townspeople hiding from a danger outside that he can only assume is darkspawn... except it's not. He wonders how hard he hit his head when he hears the undead have come from the castle to slaughter what they can of the town every night. But then he sees it with his own eyes when one breaks in, taken down by a templar, and never before has he ever felt so useless.
Then the last two remaining Grey Wardens arrive. They're crucial in the final fight against the undead, swearing to enter the castle to stop the attacks at the source. While Carver couldn't participate in the final fight, something he complained loudly about, he did what he could in his condition to help like sharpening swords and handing out supplies. Mostly to keep his sanity and quite his thoughts throughout his recovery.
When the time came, he took up his sword again in the name of all those he lost.
An archdemon was said to be on the horizon, and the Grey Wardens needed everyone they could get to fight. Carver fights in the battle of Denerim where the Hero of Fereldan defeated the archdemon. He cuts his way through every darkspawn he sees. Ostagar flashes red behind his eyes. Lothering clutches at his heart. So much anger and sorrow built up inside him, flooding out in his tears and screams. Blood everywhere. Fire and smoke.
Then it's over.
In the aftermath of the Blight, like so many others, Carver has no home to return to. No family. He thinks to go back to Lothering to help rebuild, only to hear the lands were too tainted. These tainted creatures took everything from him... That's what eventually brings him to Vigil's Keep, standing before the Hero of Fereldan themself, asking to be made a Grey Warden. He already dedicated nearly two years of his life to killing darkspawn, and he had nothing else. Even when faced with the Joining, holding the chalice of darkspawn blood and being told to drink, he didn't flinch.
Life as a Grey Warden isn't as simple as he assumed it would be, but Carver finds purpose in his calling. Over the years, he grows to view his fellow wardens as family. He travels all over Thedas, venturing down into the Deep Roads to help clear out hoards of the darkspawn. But then comes the day he finds himself in Kirkwall, and it doesn't take long before he hears the name Hawke on the lips of the townspeople. His eldest sibling was not only alive, but they're quite popular among the people. But what about Mother? Bethany? He doesn't have to snoop too far to learn templars took Bethany away to the Gallows, and that Leandra Hawke was the final victim in a string of murders committed by a blood mage.
Carver finds himself standing outside the estate, glaring at the door. Furious. Heartbroken. Bitter. He wants to scream. This entire time, they lived. He's torn between wanting to reunite with his older sibling again, to get the truth from them, and wanting to barge into the estate, demanding answers to how they could let the Circle take Bethany... after what Carver sacrificed, how could they let Mother die like that? Was it all pointless in the end?
He leaves without knocking. He can't bring himself to see them. Not that it mattered. Before he could leave Kirkwall, the tensions with the qunari finally overflowed, and chaos fell upon the city. He's forced face to face with his older sibling again, but he wasn't prepared to watch the recognition slowly bloom on their face, or for all his anger to turn to mush. Carver's the first to speak.
"Somehow, I knew it would be you."
.............So, yeah. I really like this idea.
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featherssideblog · 24 days
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motorcity / transformers crossover my beloved . . . I cannot stop thinking about it. Ah heck. Just gonna mumble about it over here untagged for a bit.
Mike and Dutch tow a Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport Vitesse back to the Burner’s garage. *Admiring oohs and aahs all around from the gang of automobile enthusiasts.* In the early twenty first century, that Bugatti model was one of the fastest street legal cars in the world. This particular vehicle has several incomprehensible mods going on under the hood, components that none of the Burners have ever seen before. And the parts that are recognizable are just - wrong.
Chuck opens the fuse box and stares in bafflement at the segmented metal plates stacked neatly in the place of actual fuses.
“The battery doesn’t have terminals,” Julie says. “I’m not even sure it’s a battery.”
Texas leans in next to them and taps the engine block with a wrench “I don’t need to understand how the dang thing works to use it! Let’s just take this out and hook it up to Stronghorn, Dutch!”
The Burners are shoved back as the car somehow flexes and bends. The hood of the Bugatti snaps shut with a firm clack. And it drives away.
*cue chase sequence at over 200 mph ending with a disgruntled Drift transforming and declaring their driving to be “truly remarkable for organics”*
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giolovesyousm · 11 months
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alright there is this Italian series, I'm currently watching, called "Un professore" ("a teacher"), in absolutely no way it is related to dead poets society, EXCEPT for the fact that there is this teacher, not a normal teacher, if you catch what I mean, that is trying to let escape his students out of their shells. for example: there was this boy, who cannot leave his room, because he was afraid of the world outside, even if he knew that his life sucked. in one way or another the teacher succeeded to let him leave is comfort zone.
but the thing I want to talk about is the dynamic (which is very complicated, I'm not going to explain the details about it) between him and one of his student, which is also his son, Simone.
the teacher always try to talk to his son, even if Simone hates him because of his past, through his lessons.
Simone is a boy who step by step is figuring out to be in love with his male best friend, and is trying to accept the fact that he has no chances with him.
his father (the teacher), discovered this, and for let him know that he accept him, and it's okay to explore sexuality, he did this alternative lesson, in which the students had to walk, however they wanted to, in the empty gymnasium of the school, for making them realize the power and the dangerousness of conformity, by quoting michel foucault, a gay philosopher of the 50s.
and now you might think "gio, well, this is basically what keating did-" EXACTLY, that is the point, they're basically saying that neil and todd, were killed by conformism, as much as Simone was being killed. and that the society in that time couldn't accept someone like them, so they had to find their own voices, and scream as loud as they can, without being afraid of who they are.
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twinsfawn · 7 months
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𖤐
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aroaceleovaldez · 1 year
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i have a strong opinion that one of Nico’s powers should be that he can turn invisible at-will, actually. like, he can already turn intangible and hide in shadows, and if Annabeth can turn invisible with a hat that’s just based off Hades’ Helm of Darkness then it should make sense that Nico would have that ability without needing a specific item
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soullessjack · 2 months
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im probably never going to get into miraculous but i truly think jack and adrien could bond over being objectively interesting characters who are constantly reduced to cannon fodder slash prize money for another character because the writing sucks and the fandom sucks harder
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pasta-pardner · 2 years
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hey! don't you know that smoking kills?
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voiceofthesilly · 3 months
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If me thoughts were more coherent id type up a thing about how if it weren't for our specific circumstances stubborn would often doom us but alas
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kaltacore · 11 months
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"if chantry explosion hadn't happened everything would have been alright" is such a boring take and it simply doesn't work this way for reasons that were explained by people smarter than me but if you give it more thought. it is actually pretty dark and overall hopeless and grim.
so there's no explosion. there's no anders or he gave up for some reason or hawke stopped him. it doesn't matter. what matters is that things stay as they were but it doesn't get any better. it gets harder and harder for hawke to keep meredith and orsino from tearing each other apart. then the right of annulment arrives because why would it be revoked. so there's no more circle. if bethany got stuck in the gallows she dies with everyone else because why wouldn't she. if carver got stuck with the templars he takes part in mass murder and has to live with it. if hawke is a mage they have to witness a legally approved slaughter of their people. if they're not they can lose their little sister. the only family they had left. because it was too late wasn't it. they didn't know. they couldn't change anything. no one man army would defeat the whole templar order and the chantry's divine right.
maybe one day they come to listen elthina preaching about her heart aching for sacrifices that had to be made. maybe they hide in their estate knowing damn well they're granted the right to live and walk freely up until meredith decides they aren't useful to her anymore.
they'll go on like that for another couple of years if they didn't lose it and went on rampage immediately of course. so there's still no viscount because why would someone else be needed when meredith is right there protecting the city from blood mages and abominations even when there's no gallows. actually maybe meredith isn't right there anymore. maybe she's getting a promotion as corypheus' templar general and what's remained of the gallows is already overgrown with red lyrium. maybe there's another exalted march because divine justinia wasn't convinced that the crisis was over.
the bright side? well i guess cassandra doesn't capture varric for interrogation because why would she need a champion whose only achievement was being lucky or skillfull enough to survive the duel with arishok. maybe there's no varric at all because bribing doesn't work on red templars and any rumor about you being friends with apostates is really bad for your health these days. what a wonderful world
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spotsupstuff · 7 months
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How did Gem become the terrifying witch she is today? Was she like that when she was was first booted up?
probably similar case to Murder of Crows
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in the case of Crows, a Gen 3, her existence is explicitly filled with emotion cuz that's just how poor Gen 3s are. instead of the usual "going to anger/determination or joy", Crows' programming scanned through the starting info package and went clinical depression mode
Gen 1s are more callouse about emotions, robotical, usually fall back on logic in their first few years. Gem's programming scanned through the starting info package AND interacted with her elders- especially most likely Boreas and Disdain, two most morally complex Iterators currently online (Orion and Spore were sweethearts, Zephyr generally unavailable to anyone but Boreas and Orion)- and her programming concluded that morality is a choice she doesn't have to take to reach her goals- in fact it might actual hinder her progress- and deleted the stuff out of herself
cue typical growing up stuff in a society where death isn't taken all That seriously while still carrying the horrific effects on mental health like irl and you get Gem's brashness, lack of moral sense and readiness to dig through guts of still living things
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