#good breakdown of how cults or cult like groups work
Text
I'd love to see a time travel/ng+ fic where all the phantom thieves plus the royal/strikers thieves PLUS all the confidants travel back to when the game starts. Everyone's utterly bewildered.
The core phantoms and kasumi, being already physically close, figure it out pretty quick and regroup, but the rest are left confused and floundering until joker gets there and starts reaching out. But with so many people and everyone so lost and upset, he starts delegating and introducing people to each other so they have more options to reach out in case of emergency and to solidify his own web of connections, and for the better efficiency collaboration brings.
And yes I want to see all the confidants become friends or at least co-conspirators in a grand scheme sharing knowing smiles. I want to see normal people struggling with the reality of having lost a year or two of their lives, the surge of hope or fear as they realise they get to do it all again, feeling confused and alone and with the other confidants and plenty of soul searching build up an eclectic support network with others who share the same goal. As a group they could be so much more, and so many would benefit from joker putting them in touch with each other.
But I mostly want to see people coming to the dawning realisation that the scope of joker's reach he's built up is absolutely insane.
Just about every single named character in this huge game is a tarot confidant. Outside of palace rulers, the (hilariously but sadly rare) acquaintances of friends, and occasional mission target, EVERYONE is a secret member of joker's web. He's got the wildest, 'how did you guys even meet' people in his pocket too.
He's got a sentient AI. He's got a politician. He's got a yakuza guy who sells fake weapons who once took out 50 gang members. He's got a secretly talking cat. He's got a high class lawyer. He's got an underground doctor with like 5 PhDs she got revoked who does human experimentation. He's got a government agent. He's got a fortune teller. He's got a guy running his website and managing public missions for no pay. He's got an up and coming teen model. He's got the second detective prince. He's got a world famous wanted hacker. He's got a ten year old. He's got the REACH baby.
It's so funny. He's got like literally 30 odd people with maxed bonds who all think they're one of very very few who know the secret of the phantom thieves and who would break literal laws for this kid. I just think if they all worked together they'd rule the world. And they'd have a huge support group.
Fortune teller: yeah so then I managed to escape the cult, but it's just been so hard to discover who I am outside of that, you know? And they still want me back, it terrifies me.
Reporter lady: *drunk* girl that's absolutely awful you deserve like sooooo much better listen if I see them sniffing around I'll let you know. You shouldn't have to deal with those guys alone, I know allllllllll about making those kinds of guys sweat.
/Ex yakuza fake gun seller: you remind me of my son. He's a good kid, you'd like him. I can set you up?
10yo gun arcade player: oooh do these have real mechanisms? They look so realistic!
Ex yakuza: joker said you could both do with someone your own age - PUT THAT DOWN-
/Shoji player and art kid (yusuke) from the same school: *sitting in silence doing their own thing during school break, having a fantastic time*
/Akechi: *having a breakdown*
Sae, having hustled him off to an empty room for privacy: you know I can't believe I ever bought your nice act. Anyway do you think I could make a case for getting custody of you?
Akechi, stunned out of his attack: ????? Your sister would murder me.
Sae: yeah but it'd annoy shido and my boss so bad.
Akechi:.... I'll consider it.
/sojiro: I admit it's nice to have an adult to talk to about this... Sometimes I still can't believe it's the kids I know that go out and change the world like this.
Government agent: YEAH even with my own persona it's an absolute Ride. You should be proud. Also your coffee is delicious.
/Government agents daughter and mishima: *having an absolute BLAST designing merch*
The list goes ON its just so many under utilised possible relationships!!! Post games the meta verse is gone and most problems are solved (or dead) but if we put them all together in joker's biggest melting pot it'd be such a ride. All of them just low key scared of how many high ranking connections he has.
Like he just texts someone 'hi I think I know someone you'd like to know. I'm sending them to meet you.' and you're like okay??? I guess we'll see why?? And you round the corner and there's a politician and a previously famous missing teen detective waiting for you and they're here to help you get a restraining order on your stalker if you help predict a lottery number or two. And it just keeps happening. Sometimes you're the 'I know a guy' sent to meet people. Like how does joker even know this many people???? He's just moved here!!
#I just think they'd be so good for each other#And also we need more 'joker could so so easily have been a super villain' realisation lol. Can't get enough of that XD#Most fics obviously don't focus on the confidants but they're a huge part of the game! You spend so much time with them!! They give skills!#Idk I just feel they don't get enough attention#p5#p5r#p5 joker#persona 5#akira kurusu#ren amamiya#There'd be some absolutely wack dynamics lol
66 notes
·
View notes
Text
BG3 Fic Prompts
I am once again creating a massive document of fics I want to write, to be updated whenever. This is 50% me keeping track of ideas, 25% giving the fandom ideas if they want to steal, and 25% pure entertainment.
“She looks like she could throw me over her shoulder and carry me to safety.” Six times Karlach carried a party member and one time the whole group returned the favor. Bonus points if carrying her is pre-insulation upgrade so they have to get creative and/or sacrificial about it.
~
Similarly, Karlach/Character of Choice in a Pushing Daisies-esque situation, except on steroids. It’s not just that they can’t touch her, they’ll actively burn themselves if they get too close (so no easy kiss-through-Saran-Wrap solutions). They make it work though through the power of love, magic, and a fuck-ton of stubbornness. Ideas can differ greatly depending on who the partner of choice is. Example: Lae’zel toughing it out while Shadowheart curses and sprints to heal her; Astarion leaning into his flirty cad side: “Gale? Summon me a mage hand so I can slap that ass.”
~
Because the Gale romance bug remains one of my favorite things: angsty fic where he—in true BG3 fashion—misinterprets the most basic, bare-bones decency as love because he’s a) been groomed by a goddess since he was a boy and then abandoned by her in a way that makes him feel completely worthless and b) locked in a tower for a year+ with only his cat for company. Writer’s choice whether this results in Tav rejecting Gale and leaving him with the bittersweet realization that they may not Love him, but they do love him and this helps forward Gale’s recovery. OR
Narrator: Lying awake that night, you think back on your talk with Gale. He looked so handsome in the candlelight, even while devastated by your rejection, and you dwell on how unfortunate it is that you don’t return his romantic feelings.
Hmm…or do you?
Oh dear.
~
That Githyanki egg is going to hatch if it’s the last thing I do, even if it’s only in fic. Cue the absolute chaos of this found family/polycule parenting. You’d think Lae’zel would be some help in this but no. She’s not. She’s really, really not. (Doctor McCoy voice: “I’m a warrior not a creche tender!”) What do they feed the thing? Who gets to decide their name? How young is too young to start teaching them to wield a dagger? Spoilers: Withers is a surprisingly good babysitter and the only one with a braincell to draw on.
Wyll: I want a baby
Astarion: Give me a week. What color?
Tav, walking in with acid burns and a panicked Lae’Zel: You got green
~
More Gale angst because I’m trash: Yeah, yeah literally everyone in this party is hella touch-starved but this boy has a year of isolation on top of a kicked puppy personality hidden under that arrogant bravado. Astarion plays his needs off with charm and a supposed obsession with sex, Wyll and Karlach distract with cheer, Shadowheart and Lae’zel stoically power through… and then there’s Gale who’s going to get teary-eyed at the first clasp of his shoulder. Character of Choice gives him a hug one night and he just breaks. Full on sobbing, hyperventilating, holy-shit-this-is-embarrassing-but-now-that-I’ve-started-I-can’t-stop breakdown that’s exactly what he needs. Halsin might be a good choice for this.
~
Forced Lae’zel / Shadowheart bonding via the specific experience of two abused ex-cult members figuring out what kindness looks like.
Lae’zel: Tchk. I failed our leader in battle and they say only, ‘We’ll try again next time’? If this were a githyanki camp my blood would have dyed their armor red tonight.
Shadowheart: Indeed. The disciples of Lady Shar never would have stood for such indolence. There are no beatings for failing to rise with the sun and no one monitoring our rations. Gale gave me thirds last night!
Lae’zel: Why then do I… prefer this weakness?
Shadowheart: Worse, why do I agree with you?
~
I want to give my companions presents! Six times Tav gives a party member something they love—a githyanki tablet for Lae’zel, good wine for Wyll, etc.—and one time they give Tav something back. Or, alternatively, one time Tav refrains from giving a gift and the recipient ends up appreciating that even more. Example: not letting Shadowheart get ahold of any Dark Justiciar armor.
~
Obligatory “Astarion is insecure about not being able to see his reflection and someone helps him with magic/drawing” fic that I may or may not be working on atm.
~
Equally obligatory The Last Unicorn reference where Asatrion has a rage-driven breakdown, screaming at Tav for not being this selfless hero when he needed them. Everyone ignores the realities that, you know, Tav probably hadn’t even been born yet, because they understand that Astarion just needs to Let It Out. This segues into reassurances that they’ll be there for Astarion in the future. End fic. Sike! Plot twist. The party winds up in the past due to plot shenanigans and are like, “Holy shit. We can rescue Astarion.” Except it turns out they can’t because that would totally fuck with the timeline (idk if that’s actually the case in D&D. I just watch a lot of Doctor Who), but they’re at least able to assist him in some small way/comfort him/give him hope for the next 100+ years. They wind up back in their own time where Astarion suddenly realizes that the absolutely insane, weird-as-balls group he met a century ago and whose kindness he's been leaning his sanity on is his group and there are ~emotions~.
~
Hurt/Comfort Bloodweave fic where Astarion, as the rogue, does the best job of finding (read: stealing) items for Gale to feed on. He’s really good at it, to the point that when they get together he starts to fear that’s the main reason why Gale is ‘bothering’ to stay with him. After all, what the hells else does he have to offer? Especially now that he’s pulling back from sex as a primary incentive? Someone loving Astarion for who he is? Absurd. Someone needing Astarion’s talents to keep themselves fed? That he understands. That’s familiar. Cue Gale cycling through obliviousness (necessary intervention from another party member?), horror, and finally reassurance.
~
Wyll teaches the party to dance one night when they’re all bored. Bonus points if Astarion is insulted af because his moves from two centuries ago aren’t cool anymore. Bonus bonus points if Withers turns out to be really good.
~
Honestly, I feel like we’ve been sleeping on Withers in general. Granted, I haven’t finished the game yet so I’m sure there’s stuff that hasn’t been revealed to me yet, but he’s a skeleton that randomly appears in your camp, makes himself at home, changes reality for you provided you've got the funds, tuts about your love life, and is surprisingly good with kids. There’s so much potential in that.
~
“I hate this place. I want to go to Build a Bear!” Total crack fic featuring the Faerûn equivalent of Build a Bear: a kindly toymaker with lots of simple stuffed animals that he’ll personalize for you with clothes, accessories, embroidery, etc. Karlach has the time of her life (as does everyone else, even if they won’t admit it).
#BG3#Baldur's Gate 3#BG3 prompts#BG3 fic prompts#Astarion#Gale#Karlach#shadowheart#lae'zel#Wyll#bloodweave
49 notes
·
View notes
Text
20th century boys - scrapped reveals and plot twists?
Don't know if anybody cares about speculating something as hard to proof and irrelevant, but I had a few ideas while reading, which even if didnt come true, seemed to be getting hinted at and with how much was made on the spot I wonder if they were originally the plan...
So not really them mentionened besides random yt comments that may or may not be an alt account of me...
Spoilers of course.
Donkey was supposed to be friend?
Remember how Donkey was first introduced? As the weird kid others ostrociced and didnt really want to include, who actually was very smart and talanted all excentricitys aside.
And he was the first "friend" to die, as a classic misdirection - while having an obvious excuse introduced to fake his death "Oh all his siblings look just like him..." (Also the evil twin angel was really emphasised with the fat bully kids at the start, hmmm....)
Donkey was the one that had the skills and near supernatural abilities while being the classic story of a good kid cracking and turning - tieing the dark subversion if shonen magazine tropes.
His whole skepticism of things could tie into too with him cynically learning that "Oh people want to fall for superstitions for illusions, really friendship is fake as well, so why not start a cult, not like its hard for me to make some tricks..."
The symbol being sent by him would be than a cheeky hint, the intentional start of a goose chase, but no geese will ever outrun a donkey...Even all the showing of Donkey in the first half would not just be as motivation for the middle aged friend group, but a setup for this dark twist, while laying the seeds of the themes, maybe even having Dunkey in his twisted logic think he did it for their sake, to make them be the heroes they didnt become.
Oh and also the whole Aldrin Moon Nasa thing seems to work the best for him - with him being the stereotype of a "I fricking love science" kid (who if I dont misremeber is said to have actually wiaited till it happened and didnt fall asleep, but maybe Im misremebering that part) and also his familys lack of money stoping him from enjoying many activities with his "friends" (even having to watch tv with Kenji...)
Oh and for any "well how would he set it up, was the one injured guy lieing about what Donkey said before he threw him of??? Or was that all part of his plan??!"
And yeah its convoluted and kinda breaks the "trying to figure out a mystery without the author just lieing and pulling bullshit" part - but Urasawa does it anyways, with all the reveals obviously not being planned before getting changed again (as he admits)
Oh and also that applys to the "real" reveal (the first one) - we literally saw the friend guy have an emotional breakdown, say he knows who the real friend must be, remove the friends mask and say he isnt that and then fall to his death
So if the Dunkey twist goes against the story, so does the real one. "Ohnono, you just had to assume that he lied and hired actors for his family and then did a double misdirection plunge to the dead and-" Yeah ok Donkey could have done that too.
but for the other theory
Kiriko/the protags sister had a "virgin birth"
So remember when there was that random detail about "Godzilla being a girl and giving a birth without a father"? And how this godzilla thing getting a callback with the mom saying she is one cause her virus killed that many people?
Well isnt it weird that the actually weird part wasnt adressed? Especially when Kanna was mysterious from the start and that at the same time talks of a "Holy Mother" started, as did all the Christian imagery with saviors dieing, resurecting and the pope (with Catholics having the biggest connection with Mary...)
But then it didnt pay of - guess she really had a secret relationship with a random half-friend of her younger brother🤷♂️ Not saying that that is more fantastical than all the magic and conspiracys but still a weird detail, especially with the romance and relationship not being explored at all.
It even seems to be anti thetical, with the sister being very mature and selfless, while "friend" is childish and egoistical (well maybe a certain codependent weird thing makes sense now but ehh...)
Still what would make more sense in a dramatic story with supernatural elements - the model sister suddenly just having a kid and abandoning it without ever telling anyone about the father who she only found out was evil after having a consensual relationship which she didnt really have a reason to hide at the start
Or if she DOES have a miracle birth...
Like Kiriko was literally shown to be a perfect sister, doing everything for her brother, being responsible, taking everyones shit, even sacrificing her well being for her brother and others while having a stoic expression.
Maybe she actually did magically get a baby and that scared here enough to abandon it without explaining because who could believe it.
Or maybe something cause it, something she couldnt explain.
Like Friends "magic" or "science"(magic) - hence why Friend calls himself "the father" - he kinda is, in some way, indirectly, idk
Or, as a subtheory...
Kiriko was friend. Think about it, she would be "the father" if her research developed a way to create a child without a fathers DNA (I mean there is a magic anti-proton bomb, and the virus is also not really scientific), the "father" being the part of her that is the alter ego executing the plan, the magic and the tricks.
But more importantly, it would be the perfect obvious misdirection - they were so busy searching for a boy in their class, missing the obvious girl who was just a few years older, who may even in younger photos, if she could have had short hair as that other girl love interet with the dog as a kid had, may have looked as a standard early middle school boy.
And the thematic motivation would be perfect too - she allways just saw everything from the outskirts, she had to be the older and responsible one, not having a chance to ever play like her younger brother did, being resentful of not being able to have a secret base and alll, especially when the other girl could join later.
The scientific angel is there too, as the metaphor of "being in the space capsule while the others got all the fun and glory"
Also it would be a perfect hiding in a plain sight twist thing "Oh my sister disapeared and left a baby, I wonder who this mysterious masked individual is who seems to know me and my friend so much while even knowing the name of my sisters kid... Guess we'll never know🤷♂️" (bonus connection - the concert being "not real rock" could be the sis either trolling him on porpuse, or doing it as a intentional thing while also not understanding why it doesnt work, showing that there is this misunderstading between siblings that could get solves in the end)
8 notes
·
View notes
Photo
FANtastic - September 1997
Six nasty guys with dark clothes make monstrous music and insane stage shows and are quickly recognized as a German cult metal band of the nineties. No wonder, because which group can claim to have entered the charts for the fourth time with a two-year-old debut album - and at a record high. Besides, there aren't many German bands that managed to get onto the cinema soundtrack of a US cult director.
The texts of the sextet were often and fiercely debated, analyzed and dissected. Now Rammstein are offering fresh meat with the release of their second album "Sehnsucht", which is just out. FANtastic spoke to keyboarder Flake and bassist Olli.
You wanted to design your new video in a boy band style, loosely based on the motto “The toughest boy band in the world”. Why didn't that work out?
Flake: We really had to perform as a boy band, even rented a space and hired a choreographer to teach us how to dance. The poor woman almost had a nervous breakdown because we just couldn't get our bodies to move in sync...(laughs)...No really, we honestly meant to do it and I've even watched 'N Sync on stage. Really impressive.
You do spectacular stage shows with chain mail, flamethrowers and fire gloves. Isn't that getting boring, especially as the fans expect exactly that from you?
Flake: We do it because we enjoy it and not because people want to see it. Till is a trained stage fireworker and has a pyro certificate. If at some point we don't want to do it anymore, we'll just do something else.
Do you guys have anything to do with the occult, black magic and things like that?
Flake: Oh god, nothing is further from us. We're not graveyard goers. Most of the time the fans are more into it. With us, the band and private life is also strictly separated. I would never listen to our music privately. I would never go to a concert like that either. At home I prefer to listen to classical music or some old records.
David Lynch used two of your pieces for his film Lost Highway. How did you like the movie?
Olli: Well, the parts where our music comes in were a bit uncomfortable for me because it was used quite "crassly". But the Americans don't understand our lyrics anyway, so it comes across very differently.
Do you think that many fans misunderstand your lyrics? Some think that you glorify violence.
Olli: Of course, a lot of people misunderstand our lyrics. You can see that from the fact that we are considered fascist. However, I find that the kids tend to misunderstand television. Violence is actively shown there, all day long. There are also a lot of hip-hop bands and rappers, for example, who come across as much more violent than we do. We sing about love!
Flake: Our songs are meant lovingly. We also sing about people who are looking for love. Many people just take a line of text and try to analyze it. Then of course these wrong things come out of it, which we are always accused of. You have to listen to the whole text. Only then can you make statements about the song.
Some of your songs are very depressive. As if the whole world was bad...
Flake: When we got together to make the songs, we never thought that anyone would ever hear the music. We just made the music that we wanted to play ourselves. Now everyone is trying to analyze these lyrics and categorize us, but we are six completely different types. It's not all bad, and we're not depressed or anything. We also don't want to wag the index finger and lecture others about how evil the world is. But I think you have to see the bad times to understand the good ones.
#Rammstein#Flake#Flake Lorenz#Oliver Riedel#Till Lindemann#Paul Landers#Christoph Schneider#Richard Kruspe#Interview#translation#1997#*scans#*
72 notes
·
View notes
Note
Ive been following the smkakaohybe drama since you wrote your post abt it and its so crazy like a real lief drama 😭😭 i dont work in corporate so i didnt know that shit could get like this lmao is it always this dramatic??? like the sm ceo dude really released a two part video now like youtubers do when they want to “tell their truth” lmaolmao i feel like sm ceo dude really is scrambling bec this is so unprofessional??? like lsm the dude who started all this mess is doing better than him just releasing written statements lmao are the videos supposed to help with the shareholders or its just for public pr??? the ceo threatening bang to release a record lf their phone call??? in Public??? as an outsider the whole thing is lookin more and more like a petty family squabble on thanksgiving bw the two sm parties and kakao and hybe are the unsuspecting partners dragged into it unknowingly or smth lmao
but fr tho i feel like hybe bit more than they can chew bec this has gotten a lot messier than people could possibly have thought last week lol i feel bad for the employees and artists tho bec whether its hybe or kakao things are gonna change and maybe therell be firings too
***
Ask 2: the pink blood shit is wild tho like it sounds like a cult lmao i know armys joke abt being purple blooded but the pink blood is wild to me bec imagine stanning lsm and sm as a company stan 😭 what the hell is happening over there there might be smth in the water???
**
Ask 3: That video was interesting for so many reasons. But the most surprising thing was the breakdown in ticket pricing between sm groups and hybe. Was that supposed to be a drag for hybe?
***
Hi Anon(s),
I really have nothing else to add beyond what I've said already, except to use what Anon in Ask 3 says as a good example.
(Screengrab from SM video seen on my Twitter)
The whole video made me laugh, but this slide alone shows how much of a joke that company under Chris Lee's management is, because this slide is a class in manipulation 101.
I'm not sure if I have to spell this out, but pricing is a function of demand and supply. And if the disaster that was KAMP LA 2022 (k-pop's Fyre Festival scandal) didn't show the vast disparity in perceived and actual demand for mostly SM groups, if the brouhaha over Hybe's merch pricing didn't do that either, then the fact most analysts comp HYBE against Tencent, Warner Brothers and UMG, rather than SM or YG, should have settled this debate months ago. And this is aside from the fact that in this slide, SM quotes HYBE's VIP pricing against SM's regular ticket prices...
Like, y'all, how can you blame me for laughing?
This whole thing is pure entertainment so I suggest you just nod, smile, and wave.
10 notes
·
View notes
Note
Sorry if this is demanding or something you're not interested in doing- please feel free to ignore it! You seem very widely read and I haven't read any fiction in ages due to life stuff and was wondering if you'd be interested in recommending some books you've read that you would consider a good place to start for someone who wants to feed that part their brain again! Many Thanks
for sure! here are some books i've read relatively recently (like, in the past couple years) that i enjoyed:
the atmospherians by alex mcelroy - i just finished this last night! it's this wild satire about a "cancelled" wellness influencer who narrates the story of her downfall and her eventual rebrand as a cult leader. it's about storytelling on social media, what it means to trust any narrator but especially someone who has a brand to maintain, gendered expressions of loneliness, and legacy. the prose is kind of so-so but i liked it for the extremely unreliable narrator pov and the startlingly funny twists and turns.
we play ourselves by jen silverman - another book about a lonely woman who had a very public breakdown. contains toxic and competitive female friendships, magnetic leaders, the moral lines people start being willing to cross just to feel valuable, the genius myth, and the murky difference between exploitation and art.
nevada by imogen binnie - one of the best coming-of-age novels i've read, ever. it's a small, simple story about a trans woman from new york and a new friend she meets on the road, someone that she immediately recognizes is a trans woman too. the absolutely gorgeous prose brings you through themes like the dangers and rewards of emotional detachment, when you can lie to yourself and when you can't, taking care of someone else when you aren't able to care for yourself, and that most tumblrina phenomenon, self-recognition through the other. it's hard to come by since it was out of print and is now awaiting republication in the summer, but you can find pdfs floating around online (i even have one if you need).
such a fun age by kiley reid - the story of a black woman working as a babysitter for a wealthy white family during a time in her life when she's not sure what she can do with her life. it's about the narratives people make up about women of color and what it is to live with them, and it's also about the heartbreak of domestic work, how painfully transactional it is to be paid to love a child. really good book.
with teeth by kristen arnett - another book about motherhood, this one focuses on a lesbian mom who is spiralling out as she struggles to care for her very challenging son. this is one of those books that depict just a snowball of catastrophe that builds and builds even though it is, at the end of the day, just about this one family and their little lives. themes include generational trauma, the futility of measuring up to any kind of perfect mother image, living with loneliness when you're part of a family, and what it looks like for a mother to put herself before her child, grim as it is.
our wives under the sea by julia armfield - ohhhh this book was good! it's a creepy, vaguely fantastical horror book told in a dual pov: one woman who went on a submarine expedition that went very wrong, and her wife, who received her when she returned and had to deal with the fallout. some very unsettling body horror imagery from this book has lingered with me (in a good way). contains repressed and unspeakable trauma, facilitating a partner's coping mechanism as an act of love, doubt, faith, what no communication does to a mf, and the brutal horror of the ocean.
manhunt by gretchen felker-martin - 10 OUT OF 10 STARS I LOVE THIS BOOK! i had to end with this because it's almost this book's pub date and i am hell-bent on inventing this book for the tumblr audience. an insane horror romp that follows a group of trans and disabled protagonists as they try to find a safe place to live after a plague turned everyone with enough testosterone in their system into a cannibalistic monster. but the monsters are almost the easy part--the remaining cis women are no easier to evade, with super-rich wellness heiresses, chasers, and of course TERFs putting the protagonists in a more subtle danger. the big themes are inter-community harm (what women and queer people will selfishly do to each other), how survival scenarios bring out the worst and most honest core of who you are, and how at the end of the day, whether you're on the side of good or evil, community will be the deciding factor in whether you survive. this book is so darkly funny, sexy, and just so fucking good. i can't wait for more people to read it.
i hope that's a wide enough list to get you started! i'd love to know what you think about any of these books. lmk how it goes :)
#manhunt#our wives under the sea#with teeth#such a fun age#nevada#we play ourselves#the atmospherians#lit
99 notes
·
View notes
Note
may i ask for some poly relationship w larry & sal x male reader hcs?
Ah! Of course! :) Sorry I've been taking so long school is getting to me cause of finals;-;
Warnings: Noncannon compliant (their parents aren't together, no one dies, etc), NSFW (implied teen NSFW otherwise they're out of highschool), no weird cult stuff but they still ghost hunt, more modernish (?) phones and stuff
Sal x Male Reader x Larry hcs
highschool
I think that Sal and Larry would have gotten together before you got there
Like, I say gotten together but the way they started it was literally best friends that were super hornknee and decided to have sex together
They started then developing romantic feelings for each other though
And although the sex dynamic wasn't perfect (refer to my Sal x reader NSFW fic) it was good and they loved each other
It became an on and off thing until they actually worked it out
they talked about it and decided that it was better that they stay friends until they can sort out their own sexual desires and endeavors
Sal didn't even know he could do both as a switch and verse so he wanted to just re-examine his sexual self
And Larry was okay with that
So they decided to date but just without sex for a while
Then you moved to Nockfell their sophomore year
and god were you cool
Sal was the first one to see you in the hallway
It wasn't love at first sight really
He thought you were cool and he wanted to talk to you
Then that same day he told Larry about you during lunch
"I want to talk to him I just don't know how to approach him"
"Oh, well who is it?"
Ngl Larry was kinda jealous about how flustered Sal was getting at the prospect of a new friend but then Sal pointed at you and Larry was like "Oh, okay, I get it."
So Larry just approaches you
It was kinda to tease Sal about how shy he was being
Also kinda because you looked rad as fuck
So Larry approaches you sitting at a table alone
You were actually quite chill
You were happy since no one was approaching you
You guys hit it off and ended up becoming really good friends!
So for the duration of your sophomore year and the summer of your junior year, you guys were really good pals and hung out a lot
Then Larry started developing feelings first
And he was super confused since he knew he still liked Sal, no doubt about it
So he was just super confused and conflicted because he didn’t want to break up with Sal
So during, about the first half, of all of your junior year he kept this to himself and tried to keep himself from feeling for you
Sal on the other hand already accepted his feelings, he realized it later than Larry
And he read yp on what being polygamous meant
So although there was a lot of confusion at first he figured it's no different from people in love triangles
He realizes it a couple weeks after Larry and decides to bring this up to Larry during winter break
The conversation pretty much just went like Sal explaining polyamory to Larry for an hour
They end up deciding to just wait a bit and try to flirt with you individually
you know,
because they don't remember that you don't know they're attracted to you at this point
:)
So basically you think that they're both trying to cheat on each other for the week they're flirting with you
At the end of that week, you tell them to meet you together
And they don't know any better than to meet you
And then you come to them, don't let them explain, and cry because you don't want two of your best friends to cheat on each other like this even though you like them
And then they realize why you're saying this
So although this was not the time they expected to confess to you they told you what they were trying to do
So you just sat there
With these two idiots
and told them "No guys, cause I was literally having a breakdown about losing my two best friends."
And they confess to you
and everything is emotional and raw and you accept
Your guys' dynamic doesn't change because you’re dating now
The only difference is you guys make out together and show lots more pda
although you always bring up what they did when they were trying to give you hints
"We just really wanted to flirt with you okay??? Is it such a crime to want your crush to fall for you???"
"When you guys don't explain you're looking to expand your relationship, yes. Yes, it is Larry."
"He's kind of right babe-"
"SAL-"
Y'all spend a lot of time communicating with each other on stuff like that now
Your senior year goes without any bumps between all of you and you then graduate
College Dynamic
so you and the gang (except Ash, she moves to the city of course) goes and makes a college house
once you all move in together there it's a new routine
You all agreed and talked about the move together and what it would entail
And then you all finally realized how different it was from a monogamous relationship it was
But you all had your learning curves within the relationship
You find out more about their dynamic as a couple
For example, Larry and Sal never liked to fall asleep without you anymore
They had trouble sleeping without you beforehand and the first time you all slept in the same bed together it was just... so... peaceful
They'll spoon and cuddle without you individually (Sal is always the big spoon with Larry)
but they just love falling asleep next to you
They also refuse to do homework without you there
Even if it's just the simplest this they're just gonna need to have you in the room to finish it
Sal likes to make songs about you guys
He records them and edits some but he never lets you two listen to them
"It's just embarrassing if you two were to listen to it. It's like confessing my love for you guys all over again except I can't hide behind the mask."
So until he decides to release his songs online or plays those at gigs he's never going to let you listen to them
Larry likes to paint you guys
His paintings of you before the "disaster confession" were okay, it just looked like he was making a painting of a friend, except for the occasional rose
But now he paints you and draws you two whenever he can
He finds it funny how flustered you and Sal get whenever he makes suggestive paintings or sketches of you two
One time he painted a whole sex portrait of you and Sal together (A 12 by 28 specifically) hung it upright in front of the door to your rooms and didn't tell anyone
So after you and Sal got home that day you were welcomed with Larry lounging on your bed with the giant picture of you fucking Sal next to him
It was definitely beautiful though, even if it's hard to call your nudes beautiful
"Larry Johnson, this painting, as always, masterful. Beautiful craftsmanship but please-" "-we mean this in the most loving way possible Larry-" "-STOP PAINTING OUR NUDES BABE"
He put it away to be hung up in your apartment for when you all move out
Non-College Life
Once you all finish college you guys move into an apartment outside of Nockfell
The minute after you and Sal leave to get food Larry puts up all his private paintings of you guys
It's funny to him
I imagine you guys moving to a really populated city
Somewhere where it's a good place for people wanting to have creative jobs but still close to Nockfell
Maybe not back to New Jersey but probably not as far as New York or LA
you guys do all the cute stuff you never got to in Nockfell together
It's not like the majority of Nockfell was homophobic, mostly just the people who went to the church
But a lot more of them didn't think that polyamory was possible
So now it's easier
It's not like you never experience any polyphobia anymore but it's easier because you're in a more open-minded place
Sal's favorite thing is to go to concerts now
And pride
He also likes coffee house dates too
Larry gets hit on a lot though whenever you guys go out anywhere though
He finds it funny how jealous you both get
Sometimes if he wants Sal to get really mad he'll play along
But most of the time he shuts it down before it begins
Sal gets hit on a lot at concerts the most though
He gets kind of awkward about it, he's not going to edge them on but he gets uncomfortable enough to just not know how to shut them down
Usually, you and Larry will just appear behind him and whisk him away
Larry likes to use it as teasing leverage for a good rough one that night but you usually make sure he's okay with it before Larry does anything
You get hit on the most casually
Here and there but there aren't really specific places
It just sort of happens
You mostly shut them down alone
But occasionally you'll have to go to Sal and Larry if they're persistent
And they'll be mean too
One of the first times you saw Sal and Larry ever legitimately get that mean was when you got hit on in a club and they both just pulled you behind them and absolutely ripped the person a new one
You guys really like to stay at home if you guys have dates though that way everyone feels included
But when you all do go around together it's always specifically for three people you never tell anyone it's a date for dinner reservations, you always make sure you go on rides everyone wants to go on at amusement parks, and hey if worse comes to worst smoking is a group activity (if you have asthma or any other breathing condition Larry makes you edibles if you really wanna do edibles with them)
Starting jobs there are tough and all but you make it off your feet
Sal ends up booking a lot of gigs and Larry's commission request skyrocket when he moves to the city and makes a blog about his art
You all get an apartment with affordable rent and one that allows Gizmo
I hc that Gizmo is an esp but I don't know if that's real
So regardless you'll still be able to have room for him
Sal proposes to both of you
You guys talked about marriage and decided that it would be easier legally to just not get married through a court
So you guys have a friends wedding and Gizmo is the ring bearer
You guys don't get a fancy venue or anything
You guys all just have a city wedding
NSFW
So, the first time you all decide to hook up it's mostly just very communicative rules beforehand
Sal is more comfortable with being fucked than fucking someone else at most times but "It's not like I never want to stick my dick in you two" as he puts it
He also likes background music on most of the time
It's kinda weird if there isn't just a little bit of music
It isn't really bothersome, you guys keep it below 20 at most times
Sal's also super submissive
He liked it rough, make him cry out for you two
A bit of a pillow prince
Especially enjoys being tied up by you two
gags and blindfolds are on the table
Although whenever he does feel up to fucking you and Larry he'll usually end up having you two ride him because he gets to be such a mess with you two unless he's jealous or upset
Usually, when he's upset he's gonna lift you two up and fuck you against the headboard or wherever you two are if he's impatient enough
One time you were chilling with Larry in your bedroom and he was painting over his easel
Sal burst through the door where it slammed back on itself and closed itself
He then tracks his eyes on you
immediately asks you "Can I please fuck you right now"
and as soon as your safe word and consent comes out of your mouth he's holding you down on the bed and fucking into you so hard you can barely breath
Larry doesn't mind it and just continues painting with you moaning and being so pathetic in the background of his music
He kinda finds it funny because before you all got together and he and Larry would angry fuck it never worked out
Sal was just being a brat most of the time because Larry still wouldn't let him fuck him submissively
Speaking of which, Larry's more comfortable with being dominant, he'll bottom but only if he can still be dominant otherwise forget it
Larry's just a rough fucker anyway
He really likes pushing and holding you two up against walls when he fucks you guys
He likes showing off the muscles he got helping his mom with handy work and stuff like that
The first time he did this was to Sal when you were studying in your guy's room
You said you didn't really wanna participate today so they fucked like they would without you
And so they're talking back and forth, teasing each other
and Larry corners him
And just
lifts him up
It looked like he was just lifting a bag of sugar up
Sal seemed weightless as Larry just rocks into him
It was one of the hottest things you'd seen at the time so you joined them
You do that a couple more times but then it just becomes normal and you decide you need to start finishing all those assignments
Larry does that to you one on one as well without Sal but it happens to Sal a lot more spontaneously
Larry though is kinkier than Sal in some respects
He'll try anything at least once "Lisa didn't raise no bitch-"
He's really into breeding and long fucking sessions though
Like, lowkey he has omegaverse fantasies
Not because of the weird stuff just because a lot of the time..... they have breeding written in
He'll never admit to reading any of it but you know he has at least once
Super into dirty talk
And he's really good at it
He also had a praise kink and a degradation kin
He likes degrading you and you telling him thank you and how good he's treating a filthy little brat like you
"What're my filthy little brats good for other than sucking my dick so well. Taking me so well like the dirty little whores you are?"
"Yes sir-" "-we're made for your big cock-" "-thank you for fucking us like this-"
He especially likes breeding you and having Sal suck you off while he does it, he finds your crying cute
And an added bonus is rewarding Sal after for it
You guys talk about long-term consent and all that and decide that it's a good idea, you all trust and love each other so there isn't a problem
lol this kinda went to shit at the end but I still like it enough! Thanks for the Sally Face request I really like this game and the dynamic between a poly reader hc :)
-Laika
#poly reader#poly Sallarry#sallarry#sallarry x reader#sallarry x male reader#sally face#sally face x Larry#sal x larry#larry x reader#sal x reader#sal x larry x reader#noncannon compliant#sally face smut#sallarry smut#sal x larry x male reader smut
386 notes
·
View notes
Text
why 'there's no lore going on' right now in the dream smp - The Misfits Analogy
Fans of television, especially British television, will probably be familiar with an early 2010's show called Misfits. The show ran for five seasons spanning 2009 to 2013 - while the first two seasons (the first moreso than the second) are regarded more as cult classics, the latter half of the show completely falls in writing and production quality due to one significant change - the cast.
Seasons one and two of Misfits was centred around the original misfits gang - Nathan Young (portrayed by Robert Sheehan), Kelly Bailey (portrayed by Lauren Socha), Simon Bellamy (portrayed by Iwan Rheon), Alisha Daniels (portrayed by Antonia Thomas) and Curtis Donovan (portrayed by Nathan Stewart-Jarrett).
The show was good for two different factors from my perspective -
The intersection of superpowered television and interpersonal conflicts that broke the norm for stereotypes.
How the cast reflected modern British society.
In summary, the show followed a group of five young offenders at a community service centre. Not too interesting - but give them relatability, realism and explore their character development and their existing stereotypes/tropes through the use of superpowers? Genius.
Nathan was most definitely the fan favourite character of the show - he was outgoing, annoying, larger than life in a lot of ways and in all senses, he was a skeevy asshole who would insult characters at every turn. He was very much the class clown of the show and any British viewer could probably see someone they remember from school in Nathan, except Nathan was lovable and you could sympathise with him because you could see him struggling primarily at home and with his family.
Spoilers for the show - Nathan's power was immortality and the ability to resurrect himself from death. This power wasn't explicit immediately either to Nathan or to the audience unlike all of the other young offenders, and it reflected his 'nothing can hurt me ' attitude. Nathan was a character who could take any comment and brush it off like it was nothing, and he in the physical sense could take being thrown off a roof, impaled and practically buried alive and be sitting in his own coffin with his iPod all fine and dandy.
Kelly was also another standout example - her character reflected the stereotype of a chavvy girl, 'council house and violent' - loudmouthed, not very smart, questionable fashion choices and a bit abrasive. The only difference is that the show knew they had to subvert that stereotype - instead, Kelly was smart in her own way and she was empathic -> her superpower was the ability to hear other people's thoughts, and later, she became superintelligent and when her character left the show she decided to move to Uganda use her newfound rocket-scientist level intelligence for good. She was still loudmouthed and definitely chavvy, but she was also a whole human person who cared about other people and who was definitely intelligent.
If I kept going, I'd be lamenting about how season one's cast well reflected and subverted stereotypes and expectations using their superpowers, but I'd be here all day and that's really not the point I'm trying to make.
By the end of season 2, Robert Sheehan, as the standout performance from the show, decides to move on to greener pastures (which,, I don't blame him, being stuck on E4 would have been a nightmare for his career and look where he is now? He's a fan favourite as Klaus in TUA now!) - thus, Nathan is written out of the show in a post- season 2 special in which he gets locked up in prison in America.
This was the first character to get written out of the show.
In season 3, we lose Kelly who moves to Uganda with Seth to defuse landmines, and Simon and Alisha are both killed, and the only remaining member of the original ASBO five is Curtis.
Season 4 rolls around, and we pretty much have an entirely new Misfits cast - Curtis, and then we have Rudy (who had been present since season 3), and then we have new additions Jess, Finn and Abbey.
Let me tell you that by this point in the show, all of the fans had lost interest.
Not only had the two biggest fan favourites, Nathan and Kelly, left the show, but you now have to replace four out of the five original cast members with new ones that don't function the same way the originals did. What type of person is someone with X-ray vision trying to represent? You could argue that maybe Jess is good at figuring people out, but I don't really remember this being explored that much in the show. And the difference between this reflecting a minor personality trait is that the original cast didn't do that - in dumbed down terms, Alisha was a 'sket' who had the power to make people horny for her, oftentimes against her wishes, through skin-to-skin contact. That's much more impactful and there's a lot more to explore there.
Episode 7 of Season 4 of Misfits is the clearest indicator of the departure of the original show's intentions and explains perfectly why it didn't work the way it used to.
For the entirety of the season, Jess had been crushing on a guy called Alex from a bar she frequented (who later went on to replace Curtis as the fifth Misfits member in season 5, go figures) who, as far as we had seen, not at all reciprocated those feelings nor was there any indication of him wanting to.
In episode 7, we figure out why.
Jess, using her x-ray vision, finds out that Alex's penis was stolen by a trans man.
I'll be honest, when I first heard it, I thought it was a joke.
The show went from having a diverse cast, not only in terms of having two black characters in it's main cast, but also in it's diversity of character tropes that they aimed to subvert - to then having a mainly white cast in a show that actively perpetuates harmful stereotypes about trans people being dangerous.
Now, and I want to preface this, I don't think that the Dream SMP is malicious in the same way that the writing of that episode of Misfits is. I don't think the SMP is malicious at all. What I want to highlight is how the change in cast directly mirrored when the audience dropoff was and when the show itself started to go south in terms of quality, production and what they wanted to achieve.
For the sake of my argument, there is currently three seasons of the dream smp. The start of the server up until the end of the initial disc war is the prologue, season one encompasses Wilbur's L'Manberg and the Pogtopia arc, ending on November 16th, season 2 starts November 17th and ends January 20th (the disc war finale) and season 3 spans from January 21st to the present day.
Most of the fans of the Dream SMP can tell you that the primary story of the server is centred around quite a few certain characters who viewers started watching to see more of. I'm guilty of this myself - I primarily watch the SMP for Tommy's story, and I also stick around for Wilbur, Tubbo, Ranboo and a little bit for Phil, Techno and Jack Manifold. Those were the people I was invested in and those are the stories I like to follow. Not to discredit or to downplay the work or the stories of other characters, but I can imagine that there are a few people who watch the SMP primarily for a close few perspectives/storylines, and following some storylines over others just because you're not interested in them is completely fine and there's nothing wrong with that at all.
In season one, there was always things going on with my favourite characters. Tommy was always getting himself into spots of trouble and making up different schemes to get people to come visit L'Manberg as a tourist attraction, or getting people to support the rebellion, and this was interspersed with the heavier, plot-driven moments such as Wilbur's mental breakdown, the festival, the pit fight and the season 1 finale. This got me invested in him as a character because he had been there for quite a while and we'd seen him develop and grow into the character we now see in season 3.
In the back half of season 1 came Techno, who really shook things up and threw a spanner in the works and provided a totally different perspective - unlike Dream he didn't hate L'Manberg because he couldn't control it, and unlike Wilbur he didn't have a personal connection to it and he didn't know it's history. Techno initially hated L'Manberg because it was a government he knew nothing about (and still knows nothing about even today), and because violence and destruction is kind of his thing.
We had a well balanced cast of characters - not too many - that we could follow and who all had varying perspectives, experiences and personalities. We had clearly defined groups of individuals with different morals: you had the people on the side of Manberg, the people in Pogtopia who wanted Manberg blown up, the people in Pogtopia who didn't want Manberg blown up, and on the side to compliment it all you also had the Badlands, comprised of three longstanding members of the server,,,, and then Antfrost who was kidnapped by Tommy that one time. It was all wrapped up nicely in a neat little bow and there was structure to it all. There was one plot that went in one direction, and despite the many perspectives, it all ended up in the same spot and the story ended. There was a conclusion.
In season 2, the two primary additions to the 'cast' were Phil and Ranboo, whose characters complimented the existing story well. Phil functioned mostly as a successor to Wilbur alongside Ghostbur by exploring well the departure of Wilbur as a character in that moment, and he also functioned well as a companion to Techno's character. Ranboo, on the other hand, had a pretty good complimentary solo story that could be followed alongside the main plot, however his story wasn't too distant from the main story to the point where he was completely removed from it - he had direct involvement in different events such as the exile conflict, his connection to Dream as the main antagonist of the season and his involvement in blowing up the community house.
Season 2 starts with a focus on two different spaces - it breaks up a longstanding duo and the storyline diverges into two halves: Logstedshire and New L'Manberg, and you have Techno's short 'retirement' arc working decently to compliment it and also to set the tone for his character going forward in that season. In Logstedshire we see the aftermath of Tommy being exiled from L'Manberg by Dream - we see him endure what is (in canon) at least a month of isolation and physical and psychological abuse and it culminates on December 15th when Tommy rescues himself, jumps from the tower and goes to hide in Techno's house (which acts as a good precursor to his involvement in Techno's storyline in that season). On the other side, we follow Tubbo in L'Manberg dealing with Presidency - he talks a lot and gets 'friendly' with Dream, he prepares to run against Ranboo in the coming election cycle (primarily because he doesn't want to be President) and we see his interactions with the power-hungrier Quackity who all too often takes the reigns and this culminates in the creation of the Butcher Army, and following the Butcher Army's attack on December 16th, once again, we have two clearly defined sides:
One one side, we have Tubbo, Quackity and Fundy who represent L'Manberg, and on the other we have Tommy (who is unaware of the Butcher Army's attack), Phil and Techno, and more in the middle we have Ghostbur and Ranboo.
Season 2's finale format is a clear departure for the format of November 16th, but it's not a poor choice - I think, especially considering the story that they were telling, it worked perfectly. On November 16th, pretty much everyone was streaming their perspective of the event; at the time, there were even compilations of everyone's reactions to Wilbur blowing up L'Manberg. On January 20th, however, we only had two perspectives - Tubbo and Tommy.
I'll say it now, while Season 2 was definitely Clingyduo's season, it didn't focus solely on them. There was also a big focus on Techno as a character, whose arc came to an end a little earlier on Doomsday, and there was also a focus on Ranboo a lot as a solo character, and he streamed a little later on January 20th with what I refer to as the 'epilogue', where there was also a shift in his character to expect moving forward.
Why season 2's finale worked is because it was centralised around only three characters, only two of which we ever see the perspectives of, and it was the finale of the longest running storyline of the entire narrative - the disc war. Two boys who were on their last life, making their last stand at the one man who pulled the strings to make their lives miserable - those two perspectives only, and it worked. We didn't have compilations of everyone reacting to the things happening around them which worked for season 1, instead, we focused on these two characters whose turn it was to get the focus, and we had iconic and moving moments. We had the two boys walking down the prime path saying what they could only assume might have been their last goodbyes to the people that still had a shred of care for them, we had the two sailing to where they would face off against Dream for their final stand and finally talking about their feelings a little and dreading the implication that if they were both to die, nobody would live to tell their stories, we had Tommy choosing his best friend over his discs time and time again, and we had Punz - Dream's last confidant - standing against Dream and bringing everyone with him and sending him to prison, now on his last life too.
Everything about it was perfect. The more focused ending worked for the ending of season 2 because it was their time to have their climax moment - and it wasn't some spectacular display of explosions or violence like in Wilbur's finale on November 16th, where the ramifications hit everyone and we got to see it, nor was it a show of violence and almost oppressive dominance like Techno's finale was on Doomsday, where we saw everyone's breakdown and how the people contributing to the destruction of L'Manberg, no matter how righteous they thought they were, did not care to understand how much they were hurting and destroying the lives of the country's citizens. On January 20th, Tommy and Tubbo went into it thinking they were going to die, they got their asses handed to them despite how hard they tried, and they had their behinds saved by Tommy's preparative thinking by people who weren't there to save them more than they were there to get rid of Dream.
Season 3 suffers a lot from a lack of focus, awful pacing and really poor timing.
Seasons 1 and 2 occurred during the brunt of the coronavirus pandemic, where everyone was stuck at home and had more time to stream because it was their primary form of content and because it was the best way to communicate with their friends. Thus, the pacing of those seasons was extremely steady and things were always happening.
Now, lockdown restrictions have eased quite a bit, and creators can branch out a lot more and can meet with each other in real life and can do vlog-style content. Therefore, they don't stream as much, and the focus of the Dream SMP story has shifted more towards newer or sideplot characters. If you enjoy those characters, that's fine, but when they take the focus away from the characters and the storylines the majority are expecting, a lot of people won't try to keep up with it and from their perspective there'll be a massive lull in narrative content.
What I'm saying, is that Tommy streaming for thirteen days in a row in July 2021 is a fucking pipe dream. It happened in December because the story was consistent and the pacing was steady and he had the time and the want to be there. Now, Tommy's off making his vlogs and hanging out with his friends and thus he can't stream as much as he used to. He's sort of suffering from the Robert Sheehan problem, isn't he? Tommy is still involved with the Dream SMP and his story is definitely continuing, and his narrative in season 3 is really starting to pick up with the newer developments, it's just that he doesn't have as much time to play the role anymore because he isn't streaming as much.
I'm not saying this is a bad thing - it's obviously making him happy that his content is changing and I'm fully supportive of that.
So when all of these meetups are happening and we don't have as much content from the main characters that we follow anymore, what happens?
Well, the fans get a little itchy. This fandom, especially. They might throw out a comment or a tweet asking when they're going to stream on the SMP, or if they really don't understand why the Dream SMP is good, they'll ask when the next 'lore stream' is, and they'll lament a little about how the content and the story has slowed, especially in contrast to the fast pacing of season 2 which only lasted a little over two months with much more story going on than in season 3 despite it having been going on for triple the time. What they'll get in response is that the Dream SMP is still going on and that lore is still happening.
On all accounts, these statements aren't incorrect. Lore still is happening.
But when you've been following lovable characters for two seasons, setting up their struggles and then switching the focus onto newer or 'sideplot' characters that you haven't really followed before, there's going to be a bit of moaning about it on twitter dot com.
The SMP now suffers from having too many characters, too many unfocused narratives, and poor pacing/ditched or unfinished storylines from the characters we used to follow and love while we're being told to love other characters instead.
I never really cared too much about the egg subplot, I'll be honest. I was a little interested in the involvement of Sam, Puffy and Ponk, but other than that, I wasn't really too invested. It very much tried to replicate the 'you should have paid me more' moment from January 20th at the Red Banquet, and it really didn't hit as hard because most of the characters there were either ones that didn't belong there at all (like Niki, Fundy, HBomb, and Purpled), weren't that involved with the plotline and felt out of place with the established characters in that storyline (Techno, Quackity and Ranboo), or were new characters that were difficult to get on board with because they hadn't really had too much of a story beforehand (Hannah and Foolish), or in the case of Antfrost, characters with no known motivation to be there other than that being the storyline they're currently in. Not to discredit those involved or their characters, but the Red Banquet really tried to replicate what the disc finale did with it's focused perspectives and it's Punz moment, and it failed.
Now, following the egg subplot's finale, I'm meant to focus on Las Nevadas, Snowchester and the Syndicate.
Las Nevadas is the most consistent storyline, however it's biggest problem is that it is filled with new characters or ones that are barely there. Despite how long he's been on the server, Purpled really is a new character if only because he's only really become a character recently - Foolish is still considered new, Slimecicle is new, Fundy rarely streams on the SMP. The only consistent longstanding and heavily involved characters that are a part of Las Nevadas are Quackity and Sam, and even their streams are infrequent, with a lot of Sam's perspective not even focusing on Las Nevadas but instead the prison.
Snowchester's plot is very much dying, dead and in the water. She's suffering. We haven't seen Michael in over a month, a nuke is still missing, Jack Manifold is dubiously a citizen and Tubbo doesn't even think he has a character on the SMP. It breaks my heart.
The Syndicate suffer from a lack of existence. The four characters really aren't a friend group in canon - all of the stuff about them hanging out all the time and them basically being a book club is all fanon. They've hung out as a four all of twice, the first time they ever got together they celebrated someone's death and then basically invaded Snowchester to give themselves a reason not to destroy it, terrifying Tubbo in the process. The second time was because it was Techno's birthday.
Now, Techno is in prison, and the only reason Phil hasn't read the will to progress the story is likely because of difficult scheduling with other server members, which is written off in canon as Phil not wanting to accept the possibility of Techno potentially dying.
Literally reading the will and having the Syndicate figure out that Techno's in prison with Dream will solve all of season 3's formatting issues and have the story back on track.
Currently, we don't really have two clearly defined sides the way we always had. We were meant to root for L'Manberg against the Dream Team, we were meant to root for Pogtopia against Manberg, and in season 2 we had a lot more moral ambiguity and room for side switching between the forces of Dream, Techno and Phil against L'Manberg, and then we rooted for Clingyduo against Dream.
I can predict that if the will is read, here's how a good conflict can arise.
Two clearly defined different sides - Las Nevadas on the side of Pandora's Vault, and the Syndicate (currently consisting of Phil, Ranboo and Niki), and you have compromises to make. If the side of the Prison wins, Techno and Dream stay in Pandora's Vault without a proper trial and being treated inhumanely, and there's also the threat of the rest of the Syndicate also being imprisoned. If the side of the Syndicate wins, the prison is taken out and Techno and Dream are no longer being treated inhumanely - problem is that Dream's out, and he's very much dangerous because despite what c!Dream apologists will tell you, he's not docile and he's not going to have a healing arc with Techno because he doesn't think he's done anything wrong and Techno can't tell him that he's done anything wrong (because Techno is the most wilfully ignorant character who gets to be political it's INSANE) - he'll go right back to the evil, abusive bastard he was, obsessed with Tommy, probably worse now that he can easily get Wilbur to do anything he wants and more vindictive against Quackity. Plus, if the Syndicate take down Las Nevadas they'll hold the most power on the server systematically and the so-called anarchists will ironically be the top dogs of the server.
Then towards the middle you'll probably end up having Wilbur, Benchtrio and Jack Manifold - Tubbo and Jack would prefer Techno and Dream staying in prison, except Tubbo's really not on the greatest terms with Q at the minute (because Q's paranoid and making conflict with parties that would have otherwise helped him out and thought they were friends), whereas Tommy would be stuck between wanting Techno out but needing to either keep Dream in or kill him, and Wilbur will be having to pick between aiding Dream's escape from prison or staying with Tommy, because he can't have both. Ranboo will probably be having the same problem as Tommy, except he's on the side of the Syndicate and will have to pick between the Syndicate or keeping Dream imprisoned.
Season 3 is salvageable, it really is. You can fix the poor pacing and you can fix the lack of focus with literally one revelation from fucking Philza M|necraft. But as it stands now, season 3 suffers from a similar situation as Misfits - almost replacing the cast of characters we've followed for the longest time with a new one in a format completely different to the original seasons.
79 notes
·
View notes
Text
Church of Light, Mauler Temple, and the characters associated with them – Part 1
I thought I was done with all the stuff I had to say regarding the Church of Light, Mauler temple, Antandra, Lucius, and Belinda, but apparently I still have more thoughts on the matter. So here’s a more detailed breakdown of why I think the AFK lore is amazing and nuanced and why I don’t think a single character in the Church of Light or outside of it is objectively morally correct or wrong. And why I don’t think Antandra is as much of a moral authority as people seem to like to think of her. But let’s take it one by one.
This is gonna be a long post, so I’ll be putting it under Keep reading.
Church of Light
The Church of Light sucks. That’s once consensus we can all agree on. It’s corrupted and terrible and absolutely doesn’t deserve to hold any sort of moral high ground over anyone at all. But regardless, it exists, and the general idea behind is not an evil one. CoL is meant to guide humans to humility and to enforce peace and prosperity with the help of celestial magic. They take in orphans, give them education, jobs, and some stability in life despite them not having families. Outside of the church, the only other organization we now of that sort of does something similar is the Violet Orphanage. But where the VO focuses on forcing children to enter life-threatening situations to bind to demonic powers, CoL raises children in the presence of the divine and allows them to grow their own connection to it at their own terms. Furthermore, CoL roots out demonic cults and violent groups across the Lightbearer Kingdom that could, and often do, threaten the peace of the common people. They track their origins to the first worshippers of Dura and the celestials during the first Hypogean war, and they strive to give hope to people and allow them to live in faith that something or someone is watching over them. All in all, the general idea behind CoL is a noble and good one. It’s just that, much like everything ran by imperfect people, it got horribly perverted over time.
As things stand, CoL is a horribly misguided organization. This is an important detail because I don’t actually believe most of CoL members are malicious or causing suffering on purpose, even though I agree that the people in charge probably are terrible and disgusting and deserve to be wiped off the face of Esperia. Their first crime would be how overly careful they are. Someone who hid a criminal is not necessarily a criminal but the chance is always there, and for the CoL, even that chance is too big a risk. In a way, I believe this comes from a place of fear. They know how easily humans are corrupted, and thus they don’t trust the local authorities to deal with violent dangerous criminals on their own, and they don’t believe they would put them trough honest trial either. Just the possibility of a violent criminal escaping justice thanks to their money or talking skills or just because they don’t seem like they would be one of those people is too much of a risk for CoL to take, and it is really not that hard to see why.
The church protects people and connects them to the gods. That’s their entire purpose and the reason for their existence. It’s only natural for people to try and justify their own importance in the world, to try and prove that they are needed. Now, should this ever come at the cost of purposely creating enemies and ruling with fear and iron fist? Of course not. But at the same time, you can’t blame an organization based around protecting an insanely large amount of people for being careful and trying to eliminate potential threats as soon as possible. Sure, the people hiding the cultists may not be a part of the cult now but if they were left alive, they might decide to continue the work of said cult, sewing more evil and distress to society.
Another thing that I think doesn’t get brought up enough is that there is a place within the kingdom where CoL has close to no influence. That place is the city of Rustport. And far and wide, it is known as a hellhole of chaos where you will get robbed or murdered in broad daylight if you’re not careful or powerful enough. Anything from petty crimes through illegal alchemy to slave trade is on the market here and the absolute freedom is terrifying. The survival of the fittest is the only law that applies here, only further highlighting the importance of CoL for the kingdom. Twisted as it may be, CoL provides stability. The good priests and priestesses shine as beacons of light, hope, morality, and humanity while also teaching others to be humble and considerate, and supporting the ruling power’s laws.
Mauler Desert Temple
The Mauler society has a very different set of rules and codes than the human-based Lightbearer kingdom, and what more could we really expect? The Maulers are a people who were treated less than poorly, and were nearly slaughtered by their own creators before they decided to fight back for their lives and honor, and both of those remained a huge part of their culture ever since then. Maulers are a tribal society that has very little in terms of centralized structure. There is the Mauler Chieftain who can order the other tribes to unite against a common threat but such alliances inevitably fall apart when the Chieftain dies. The only other constant across all the Mauler tribes are the voodoo priests working for the Desert Temple.
The Desert Temple, much like CoL, has many roles and comes from a very good place. It heals the sick, it provides support and wisdom to the fighters. It can help settle disputes in a non-violent way in a culture that is very much based around violence. And unlike CoL, it has a deep understanding of both life and death and a great respect for both, that can clearly be seen in its practices. The game even directly tells us that voodoo magic is one of the oldest forms of magic that exist in Esperia, one that is not bound to a god or an element but rather one that is innately a part of the world and that allows itself to be seen and used only by those who are familiar with and respect the natural order of life and death. Even the Wilders were not able to tap into it, and it might be because they chose to run to save their lives rather than to fight for them and embrace the possibility of dying for the cause they considered right. Furthermore, DT has proven itself as the helping force to drive back calamities and natural disasters, with its members willing to put down their lives to protect or help others. However, even here we see many imperfections.
As with most things with Mauler society, DT is inevitably based around usefulness. If you aren’t useful to the temple, you aren’t welcome in it. If you are a burden, you are better off dead. Emotions aren’t useful, only raw power is. The temple demands children from many tribes be sent there to serve as temple warriors from a very young age, and then trains them to only be loyal to the temple. In the process, they strive to destroy their empathy and stun their emotional growth, essentially crippling them in that regard. This is one of the reasons why Antandra never hesitated to kill someone she grew up with for something she considered the right thing to do. These children are raised as killing machines, doing simply what the temple tells them, or what the temple instilled in them as the “right” and the “just” causes. It demands blind obedience though, especially from the temple warriors themselves. Antandra gets banished not because she killed but because she drew her blade without an order. The DT is authoritarian and absolute and doesn’t allow for any free will.
Sadly, we don’t have nearly enough lore on the Maulers as a whole to talk about a place without their influence to see whether they have some wider role in the society like CoL does, but a lot is likely going to come with the promised artbook. Until then, I will go off the note that nearly all the tribes seem to have deep-rooted respect for the temple. Aside from the Chieftain, the temple really seems to be the only thread connecting the wild and untamed Mauler society and possibly to be the only organization capable of making it work closely together, although they are yet to properly use this power of theirs. Or perhaps it is good that they didn’t yet. The religious zealotry that CoL pursues would end up devastatingly when combined with the Mauler temperament and sense of honor, so perhaps a part of their role is making sure the religious tensions never reach such an insane high. All of this is just pure speculation though.
I could go on and on and talk about all the characters in a single post as well but this is already getting long and Tumblr text editor has horrible delays on posts of this length, so we’ll end part 1 of this massive analysis here. I might post the next part tomorrow or later or I might not get to it at all but I needed to get at least this first part off my chest. I hope you enjoyed my ramblings and I’m looking forward to seeing you at the next one!
#afk arena#lilith#afk lightbearers#afk maulers#lightbearers#maulers#afk col#afk church of light#afk mauler temple#afk desert temple#afk antandra#afk lucius#afk belinda#afk analysis
21 notes
·
View notes
Text
POV: I’m writing more Claire x @morvantmortuary shenanigans because I have unorganized inspiration :P
So these are just very loose things that I’ve just thought about in passing involving this group of cool cats because I truly don’t know if i have the chops or the energy to write them out fully >:3
- The Trial and Error montage that would be Claire figuring out how to be in the house without a breakdown
Now while I truly believe that Maxi and the Gang would put in their best efforts to make the house as...should we say agreeable? To Claire’s condition? The Vibes in their are likely way too strong and Claire far too sensitive for her to be able to handle the house without her own safe guards up.
Because she can definitely feel that something is up, the day she does come over she just thinks “An extra charmed bracelet or two should do the trick”
it does not.
Claire, currently not at the point where she knows all of what happens in that house assumes its just the intense amount of grief that happens that gets to her. She also certainly feels something or in fact several demonic things poking about, but considering her last experience with the cult and the demon that was draining away at her, she decides that maybe if she ignores it for a while it will leave her alone :D.
She probably spends two weeks working on some sort of solution regarding a protection plan which takes several charmed pieces of jewelry and a few spells, not to mention some extra salt laid down courtesy of Maxi. (She sleeps for two days straight after finally getting everything down pact)
- ahem... CLAIRE MEETING MAGGIE?!?!?!!
I went out earlier today and it just popped into my head how the interaction might go because it just seemed so cute in my head. First off she would just lose all her marbles when she first pops up because she would hear her “purring” and go !!!! “ Oh my stars you have a cat? Why didn’t you tell me?!” and then she sees the bones approaching and she is even more excited?!?!?
I also would assume this happens soon after she finds out more of The Details of why the Morvants and their house feel the way they do. (Which I don’t even know how to explain how much of a mess that probably was) So seeing a skeletal cat wouldn't be so como se dice.... traumatizing.
Claire for as sweet as she is can have alot of trouble dealing with people because of their emotions but animals she just K N O W S (i Kinda sorta decided to give her a little Raven Companion named Beacon who I intend on getting to shortly lmao) because she can feel their emotions she’s really good at tending to them but they arent nearly as loud spiritually as people are so they’re her favorite form of companionship.
Any hoot, because of this i feel that Maggie and Claire have the potential to be the best of friends. She babies that skeleton kitty as much as she can.
-Ahem, THE MORVANTS MEETING BEACON?!??!?
So for some background Beacon is Claire’s little raven buddy. He has always had a tendency to get himself hurt and always manages to find Claire so she can help him recuperate, hence why Claire dubs him Beacon. The latest time he got hurt though he injured his wing really badly and he hasn't been able to fly around like he used to, maybe a couple feet at a time on a good day. Because of this, Claire took him in and he’s not really her pet but they're more like roommates. He’s very temperamental towards people who aren't Claire and has very strong opinions on people and this very much includes the Morvant’s :P
I honestly think his fav would be Hector for no reason other than the raven equivalent of “I like his Moxy.” Whenever/If ever Hector allows he’ll hop onto his shoulder to perch there and hang out with him. If Hector doesn't allow it then he still tries because he’s a little shit and then he’ll get angy and caw aggressively at Hex as if he wasn't the one being difficult.
He’d be scared shitless of Rora fully. He’d be hopping his way to hide in Claire’s hair whenever she comes around because something inside him tells him that she’s not supposed to Be Here currently. He starts off very impolite but after some time he realizes that Claire genuinely cares for her and eventually he warms up to her more. Not nearly as close as he may want to get with Hex but pleasant and not throwing a fit.
I thinkhe’d be most neutral with Maxi. I mean when he first meets all of them he is tugging at Claire’s hair all “DON’T BE HERE ITS DANGEROUS” but after realizing that Claire deems it safe enough for her to be he figures he’ll ride it out. He’ll only travel with Maxi if he explicitly invites him unlike with Hex, but out of everyone he’s the softest with Maxi. If Claire is about Maxi is the one he’ll go to first if he wants a soft cuddle. (This is making me realize i have to write more about Beacon LMAO)
And that’s about all that’s in my silly little brain bye-
6 notes
·
View notes
Note
What do you think of this?
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/religious-group-known-ar-15-201319202.html?guccounter=1
And what are the odds that one of them will have a breakdown and start on a rampage killing? Not that I want them to do that but it seems to be their MO especially when they have access to guns. I hope nothing happens and someone bans this insanity before it's too late.
The Rod of Iron Ministries, a gun-obsessed religious group, is now reported to have bought a property in Tennessee that will be made into a so-called “training center” for its members.
The Pennsylvania-based church has sporadically appeared in headlines in recent years, including in a 2018 NPR piece highlighting an “armed ceremony” that featured everything from bullet-adorned crowns to AR-15-style rifles being utilized as interpretations of the Holy Bible’s “rod of iron” mention.
A new report from Vice News, out Tuesday, says the newly acquired 130-acre property in Tennessee marks the latest sign that the group is pushing for expansion. Pastor Hyung Jin Sean Moon, the son of the late Rev. Sun Myung Moon, is known for launching an offshoot of the Unification Church following his father’s death. Founded by his father, the Unification Church was known for its implementation of mass wedding ceremonies, a trait that also appears in the Rod of Iron Ministries world albeit with guns.
The original congregation has been met with years of abuse allegations, many of which centered around the original “spiritual retreat” that could soon be emulated in Tennessee. Mentioned in a recent sermon from Moon were plans for the Tennessee site—which Vice News reported was sold for $460,000—to include schools and training centers, as well as separate living cabins for men and women.
The “core values” cited by the Rod of Iron Ministries group on an official website include—among other things—“defending our family, neighbor, and God’s Kingdom through the biblical word of God and self-defense culture” and “mind-body unity through self-defense training.”
[More...]
A cult centered around the fetishization and veneration of semi-automatic weapons as totems for their god. What could possibly go wrong?
The Unification Church, itself already a cult, is even disavowing association with this spin-off.
A spokesperson for the main Unification Church congregation is quoted in Tuesday’s Tess Owen report as saying the Rod of Iron sect doesn’t “represent the legacy of the late Rev. Sun Myung Moon.”
When a notorious cult is saying "woah, we're not with them," you know it can't possibly be good.
The likelihood of something going terribly wrong? 100%. I mean, "disaster waiting to happen" seems like such an insufficient understatement here.
==
All of that said, I don't agree with banning it. Freedom of belief, freedom of religion, freedom from religion means that they can believe whatever stupid thing they like, and they're allowed to.
If someone is entitled to believe that their wooden mixing spoon is their Harry Potter/Hogwarts magic wand, we can't say that someone else can't believe that their rifle is their god's "rod of iron".
You can't ban a belief. Firstly, it doesn't work. Which means that it will just go underground and become more attractive to some types of people as "forbidden knowledge." It's better if it remains in the open where people can openly scrutinize, criticize and mock it.
Secondly, it's not illegal to be an idiot or to think stupid things are true.
In order to maintain our freedom of belief, freedom from religion and ensure we do not have others impose their beliefs on us, we must allow them their beliefs, no matter how stupid.
What they do about/with those beliefs, what actions they take, is what we certainly can say something about.
We can insist that they conduct their cult/religion in a manner that is legal. That their guns are legal and registered, people can leave freely if they choose, both adults and children are safe, they are not abused or coerced into sex, they're not planning to overthrow the government, etc, etc.
==
As I say, I think it's virtually inevitable that something will go badly here.
But as long as it resides within the boundaries of freedom of belief/religion and they're adhering to the law, there's not much that can or should be done about it.
It's not a perfect system, but it's the best we've got. Just maybe steer clear of that part of Tennessee. Or, you know, the whole state.
==
BTW,. for reference:
Psalm 2:7-12
I will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.
Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.
Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.
Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth.
Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling.
Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.
Basically, it says that god will give the faithful dominion over the lend and the heathens, who are to be killed and destroyed with the "rod of iron."
Nothing foreboding about that, whatsoever.
Meanwhile...
Judges 1:19
And the Lord was with Judah; and he drave out the inhabitants of the mountain; but could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had chariots of iron.
#ask#christianity#Rod of Iron Ministries#bible#bible study#rod of iron#Unification Church#nutjobs#religious nutcases#religious nuts#religion#cults#religious cults#Tennesee#religion is a mental illness
18 notes
·
View notes
Text
Texts I sent a friend the first time I watched The Boys, Season 2:
- Gird your loins
- I’m dying to know more about Black Noir
- Ugh ffs Homelander smarming about on stage at Translucents funeral
- It’s an empty box but I suppose how would people know cause invisible corpse
- WHY IS ANNIE SINGING AT THE INVISIBLE PERVS FUNERAL
- Aw no straight in with Sad Kevin
- Oh ok angry drunk Kevin
- Ugh not these Samaritans Embrace fuckers again
- Oh Annie. Parroting the company line. I hope she’s gonna fuck them all over
- SAD HUGHIE OH NO
- BILLY JOOOOOELLLL
- Aw Kimiko is learning
- Her lil smile
- Oooh Hughie is a liiiiiar
- Meeting on the subway like a couple shifty teenagers
- Oh I forgot they microchipped the supes like dogs
- Oh nooooo young love angst
- Oh no a Sad Kevin incident
- Aaaaand he’s been arrested
- A nice archer bailed him out
- Omfg the fake Butcher re-enactment
- Oh do NOT tell me this crazy bastard is gonna drink the frozen breast milk
- Oh fuck he is
- What the FUCK, HOMELANDER
- This visually impaired ninja seems nice
- That probably means he’s gonna turn out to be a dick
- OH FUCK
- Homelander what the fuuuuuck
- Ok what the shit is happening here in the motel
- WHAT
- What the fuuuuuck
- I – MM is making a dolls house? That’s so cute
- Oh shit smuggled people
- Homelander is nuts with power
- Uhhhh who is Carol and why is she staring at Kevin while he sleeps
- Finally an archer who is honest about how useless they can be once they run out of arrows
- Oh noooo are they gonna try brainwash Kevin with homeopathic stuff? And why do they keep offering him Fresca
- OH FUCK ME NOT ANOTHER RELIGION THING
- Oh Hughie has grown a pair since last season. Good for him
- Where’s Butcherrrrrrrr
- Body gore porn dude is called Gecko that’s too cute a name for him
- Stormfront seems like fun
- She’s gonna be pissing off Homelander so much I like her already
- OH WHAT THE FUCK THE CIA LADYS HEAD EXPLODED
- I like Stan
- Giving Homelander the dressing down he needs
- I know it’s convenient for Toni to wear the padded suit all the time but does Homelander ever wear anything else
- Oh hiiii Becca I still think you’re a bitch and Butcher deserved better
- BUTCHERRRRR YASSSSS
- “Daddy’s home”
- I’m dead. It’s official.
- The fuckin smirk and the voice I’m fuckin dead
- OH NO KEVIN IS TRYING THE CHURCH THING
- Is he making shroom tea
- Why is Patton Oswalt voicing Kevin’s gills this is delightful
- Atrain is awake again that’s not good
- I’m cracking up at Sad Kevin and his singing gills
- Homelander is gone way off the deep end oh boy
- Awwww soft Maeve in the hospital with her girlfriend
- I want to like Becca but I can’t shake the bad feeling
- Homelander is a terrible father
- I mean I know he has no role models to base his parenting on, but yikes
- It’s like if Scar was raising Simba instead of Mufasa
- ….are the gang raiding a party city store
- I love how Frenchie always looks a mix of horrified and amazed whenever Kimiko kills someone
- AWWW IT’S HER BROTHER YAY
- Oh shiiiiiiiit
- Butcher STOP JUST SHOOTING PEOPLE
- You were right this season is weird
- I like Kimiko’s brothers bedazzled denim jacket
- Butcher don’t punch Hughie wtf
- Starting with Hughie listening to the same song again, nice
- Butcher is terrible at apologising it’s so cute
- I’m sorry did Hughie just fall over trying to throw a punch
- The kid’s a dandelion omg
- Why are they on a boat? Did Karl just decide “I like being on boats lemme go on a boat”?
- I see what you mean about Homelander being scary
- He’s completely insane
- Why does this storyboard guys shirt say assbinder
- Chace Crawford is an excessively veiny man
- BLACK NOIR IS CRYING
- Or possibly laughing
- Hard to tell when they have no face
- Annie actually leaked all the compound V stuff good for her
- FRENCHIE KISSED HUGHIE
- Homelander is gonna get this kid killed tryna make him fly
- Honestly the kid looks more like Hughie
- OH MY GOD HE PUSHED HIM OFF THE ROOF
- OH MY SWEET FUCKING JESUS HOMELANDER YOU CAN’T DO THAT
- Oop there’s the laser eyes
- Oh Homelander is back at the Tower and freaking Maeve out
- OH FUCK THE BROTHER IS LOOSE
- Hughie don’t do it
- Oh ok I thought he was gonna jump off the boat
- Kevin and the cult weirdos are up to something
- Hughie no you don’t call the girl you like crying over Billy Joel lyrics
- Oh god boyo you don’t then drop the L word in the same voice message!
- He’s hopeless
- Oh nooooo Kevin is attacking the boat goddammit Kevin
- OH FUCK A WHALE
- For fuck sake Kevin
- Ewwwww
- Butcher what the fuck
- Hughie having a nervous breakdown inside of a whale
- No but why is Karl so hot covered in blood
- Actually I didn’t even need to include the blood part of that question
- Oh boy here we go, the 7 show up to find Sad Kevin crying over spilt whale
- ….why is Stormfront tryna get all up in Homelander’s ass?? I thought she was cool but now she’s all lemme suck that radioactive dick
- OH NO
- Poor Kevin he’s worked so hard to accept his gills and now Homelander has knocked him back down
- Oooo dear Atrain is having a heart attack again this isn’t good
- Oh fuck is Hughie gon get caught
- Oh no it’s Annie it’s ok
- OH FUCK
- ANNIE WHY
- THAT’S YOUR HUGHIE
- OH MAN KIMIKO’S BROTHER IS BADASS YES SQUASH THE SMUG PRICK
- Oh I do NOT like Stormfront holy fuckin shit what’s wrong with this woman
- Poor Kimiko
- What’s with the random woman talking about calling off her wedding?
- Why is Frenchie taking drugs
- FUCK SAKE FRENCHIE DON’T TRY KISS A GIRL WHEN SHE’S GRIEVING
- What the FUCK is thiiiiis
- Is he dreaming or is this the shapeshifter tryna stay alive by granting Homelander some sick wish
- Yikes I feel bad for Doppelganger
- I am fascinated by whoever and whatever the fuck Black Noir is
- MM sees right through everyone’s bullshit
- I feel so bad for Annie
- Ooooo Atrain getting fired
- MM having to put up with Hughie and Annie having a we didn’t start the fire singalong 😂
- Ok who’s in the weird group therapy sesh with these women with strange views on love
- Vending machine date so cute
- Omfg ahahahaha the girl with the Ed Sheeran tattoo
- I really want to like Becca cause she stands up to Homelander but I can’t shake the suspicions about her
- I feel bad for Butcher
- Homelander is a scary good liar
- Oh shit interviewer lady is pulling out the diversity questions
- OH FUCK
- HE’S OUTED MAEVE
- Poor Maeve what the fuck
- Ugh Stormfront
- Shut your racist hole bitch
- Oh shit Kimiko on the warpath
- Frenchie! Kimiko listen to him he’s tryna help
- MM is doing a lotta sharing this episode
- Ohhhh something bad is gonna come out about this Liberty lady they’re looking for oh fuck
- Wait WHAT. STORMFRONT IS LIBERTY
- Stormfront is like 70????
- She’s really good with social media for an old bird
- Ohhh fuck Homelander is pisssssssssed
- Christ you’d know Homelander was an only child
- Bitch you better not be fucking Butcher over
- I FUCKIN KNEW IT
- BECCA YOU RAGING BITCH
- Got her goodbye fuck then called the supercops on him cause he’s a little broken? FUCK BECCA
- Oh no Annie don’t give Hughie the “we can’t do this” talk
- Pick your emo ass up and stop being melodramatic
- All these women are chatting to Kevin?? Why??
- Also this most recent one is super weird
- THEY WERE INTERVIEWING TO BE KEVINS WIFE
- This cult thing is so fuckin weird omfg
- KEVIN GET YOUR SAD BUTT OUT OF THE CULT
- Oh gross not the Doppelganger shit again
- Doppelganger is really bad at flirting
- ….
- WHAT THE SHIT
- Nonononono don’t do the selfcest
- Not even Homelander is that fucked up
- This is super weird
- Why is Homelander crying
- OH SHIT HE KILLED HIM
- Uhhhh are they doing a lesbian scene in a vcu movie
- Christ that was terrible and way too on the nose
- “Strong female lesbians”
- Homelander you himbo fuck what other kind of lesbian do you get
- I feel bad for Ashley
- She just wants to do her job well
- Poor Butcher. His lil heart is broken
- Oh no baby you’re hurt and upset? That’s so sad let me suck your dick about it
- Oh no what’s he gonna do
- BUTCHER WHAT THE SHIT
- I mean it’s really fuckin hot but still
- There’s always a cut on the cheekbone
- “They’ve been moving her around like a Catholic priest” omg HUGHIE
- Aww he called Hughie his canary
- Oh shit are Frenchie and Kimiko missing?
- KEVIN GOT MARRIED
- BILLY HAS AN AUNTIE
- Doggiiiiie
- Awwwww soft Butcher with his dog
- Aaaand now I feel bad for Atrain cause he’s being kicked to the curb
- Oh gross this interview with Kevin and his cult wife
- This is so cringe holy fuck
- Bring back the Patton Oswalt gills
- Why are the gangsters discussing musicals specifically Hamilton
- FUCKING HELL KIMIKO PEELED OFF THAT GUYS FACE
- Ahahaha the boys showed up at Butchers aunties house
- The dog’s name is Terror that’s so cute
- Hahahaha Hughie was holding the fuck pig
- Why is there a sniper on the roof
- Oh shit it’s Black Noir
- Ugh what does Annie’s mom want and why is Stormfront being her friend
- Oh hey it’s dickless
- These two writer dudes are hella irritating
- Poor Elena getting dragged into this shit
- Yes Maeve scheme against his ass
- Heartbroken Butcher is so tired
- He needs a hug
- Hughie give Butcher a hug please
- Why is Kimiko in a church
- Oh hey its Frenchie’s other girlfriend
- Oh ok Kimiko is doing hits that’s fair
- The old man just looking away like “I do not see it”
- Aw no Frenchie don’t break up with Kimiko
- Oh fuck off Cult Kevin
- Stormfront again?????
- Does this bitch ever fuck off
- DID SHE JUST CALL ATRAIN GARBAGE
- Wait why is Homelander giving an unapproved speech
- This is gonna end in someone getting murdered isn’t it
- OH FUCK
- That’s a lot more murder than I expected
- Ohhhh phew ok he was just daydreaming
- Ashley is gonna go bald from stress
- I adore grumpy Butcher
- Omg auntie Judy is a drug dealer I love her
- Ohhhh shit Homelander is having a nervous breakdown
- BOBBY FROM X-MEN????
- Uhhhh why is Homelander talking to Stormfront this can’t be good
- Ooh MM set a trap this gon be good
- BUTCHER HAS A BROTHER???? THAT HUGHIE IS LIKE
- Oop Lenny is dead
- The random explosions as Black Noir trips the traps
- Oh shit Butcher locked the others out to face Black Noir alone
- YES MM
- OH NO MM
- YES HUGHIE
- Oh fuck did he KO Butcher
- Shiiiit shit shit shit
- Yes Butcher save your Hughie
- Oh good they all survived
- For fuck sake Kevin stop with the cult shit
- Maeve please save Kevin from the cult
- Annie why are you sneaking around don’t do it
- There’s a lot of shots of Annie’s bum
- What the fuck is Sage Grove
- Stormfront needs to go choke on a bag of dicks
- Oh fuck no not Homelander again
- Uhhhhhhh
- Stormfront x Homelander was not what I was expecting
- These two have the WEIRDEST relationship
- They’re gonna do some really fucked up supe bdsm shit aren’t they
- Frenchie is Betty White. Fair enough
- Wait what is happening. Why is Annie letting Frenchie at her with a lil saw
- Ohhh the chip
- “This might sting a little” FRENCHIE IT’S A FUCKIN SAW
- Oh fuck that’s a big chip
- Oh look it’s loves psychotic dream
- Well that’s suitably gross
- Aww Kimiko hugging Annie
- Butcher is so menacing I love him
- Kevin tryna be helpful to his buddies he’s so cute
- NO! NO BAD KEVIN! STOP TRYING TO MAKE PEOPLE JOIN YOUR CULT
- Kimiko with her brass knuckle
- Oh man, flowers??? Homelander has it BAD
- Annie back the fuck off and leave Butcher alone
- OH SHIT IT’S STORMFRONT AT THE HOSPITAL NOOOO
- What the fuck is going on at this hospital
- OH FUCK BOBBY FROM X-MEN IS LAMPLIGHTER
- Oh shit who got let out
- What does Cindy do
- OH SHIT SHE’S THE HEAD BURSTER
- Aaaaaaand now they’re all out
- Good job, guys
- Ewwwwww acid vomit
- OH NO HUGHIE
- Are you kidding me?? Annie can’t go all Starlight unless there’s a power source in the immediate vicinity??
- What kinda fuckin shite superpower is that
- Aha Butcher agrees with me
- Ok so I’m guessing Homelander went berserk on set
- Uhhhh apparently Cult Lunch is a therapy sesh?
- Atrain get outta there
- This cult leader guy is an arsehole
- Hospital escape lookin like a horror survival game
- Awwww flashbacks to happy times
- Omfg Butcher with the slicked back hair
- Welp, Annie just killed a guy
- Oh shit a baby seat
- Annie is gonna have a bad case of the guilts now
- Oh fuck ok Lamplighter killed the kids by accident
- So Frenchie went to save his friend instead of tailing
- Oh god that’s the penis isn’t it
- Stormfront to the…rescue? Maybe? She’s gonna kill Lamplighter isn’t she
- Oh, no ok she didn’t kill him
- Aw no sad Butcher cause Hughie’s hurt
- Oh nooooo Elena found a video from the plane
- Mallory gon kill sad Lamplighter?
- Stormfront is coming clean to Homelander? Whaaaa
- She was buddies with the Nazis??? SHE WAS MARRIED TO THE VOUGHT FOUNDER GUY
- Oh fuck the head burster is still alive
- A montage of how Stormfront is brainwashing people into racist attacks, nice
- I hate Annie’s mom so much
- Black Noir has just fuckin LAMPED Annie
- Butchers mum called him 😂😂
- Oh shit his dad died
- Why are Hughie and Lamplighter watching knock off supe porn
- Oh boy a racist rally
- Homelander just threw Annie under the bus
- Hughie that’s a really weird pep talk
- And he’s gonna get Lamplighter killed
- BUTCHERS MUM IS ADORABLE
- Oh shit it’s Denethor
- And he’s not dead
- Oh fuck he’s why Lenny died?
- Shit Lenny shot himself
- Butcher was SAS???
- WHERE ARE MY PICS OF BUTCHER IN HIS ARMY UNIFORM
- Ah fuck he’s bringing stepmommy Stormfront to meet the kid
- I have an urge to run my fingers through Butchers beard
- Frenchie and Kimiko are too cute she’s teaching him her sign language
- Is this a cult birthday party?
- Poor Eagle the Archer. He pissed off the cult so he’s gon be excommunicated
- Uhhhh kiddo made a Lego film?
- Good for him
- I know it shouldn’t be sexy when Butcher starts threatening to brutally murder people in his growly voice, I know, but hear me out: sexy growly voice
- 11/10 would let Karl Urban murder me
- Oh FUCK Lamplighter killed himself
- Poor Hughie
- Why do all the bad things happen to him, like having to saw off a dead guy’s hand with a broken whiskey decanter
- Annie versus Black Noir, beat his/her ass girl!
- HUGHIE COME SAVE YOUR ANNIE
- YAY MAEVE
- Black Noir has an almond allergy that’s such an off the wall weakness
- Annie’s favourite chocolate bar saved her life
- Well Maeve did, technically. But still
- Omg Hughie accidentally saving Annie’s mom
- Hughie and Annie are too cute
- Oh shiiiiit Homelander screwed the pooch and showed the kid everything
- HAHA SUCK IT BECCA
- OH SHIT HEADS ARE BURSTING ALL OVER THE PLACE
- Butcher in his lil jumper
- For a non-American, this school safety psa video is supremely weird
- BOBBY FROM SUPERNATURALS CHARACTER IS CALLED BOB
- BOBBY FROM SUPERNATURALS CHARACTER IS JUST BOBBY FROM SUPERNATURAL BUT FANCY
- Annie’s mom critiquing her choice in boyfriends while in mortal danger is gas
- And typical
- The lads going nuts with weapons they’re so happy look at them
- And Butcher in his lil jumper again he looks so comfy
- I would very much like to cuddle him in the soft jumper and give him beard scritches
- Annie ffs let Hughie enjoy his Billy Joel, that’s a good choice
- Ahahaha Maeve just called Hughie a twink
- She’s not wrong
- Oh fuck off Becca
- Uuuuugh OF COURSE Mr Edgar is in with the cult
- Oop Atrain overheard all of that
- Poor Ashley she’s going bald from stress
- The kid is gonna have a meltdown
- Poor Hughie with his mom leaving
- I wonder if she’ll pop up at some point and turn out to be a supe that would be fun
- ATRAIN YOU CAN’T JUST APPEAR IN A CAR LIKE THAT YOU COULDA KILLED SOMEONE
- Hold the phone is Homelander actually being a good dad for a minute
- What the actual fuck is Stormfront on with this white genocide shit
- Ahahaha the news broke
- Uh oh the Vought soldiers got caught by Homelander
- OH SHIT
- MM BETTER BE OK
- Becca fuckin constantly squawking about Ryan is so annoying
- WHY IS KIMIKO LAUGHING
- It’s adorable but still
- Oh FUCK she snapped her neck
- She’ll be fine
- She’s like a wolverine, snapped neck won’t keep her down
- AYYYYY MAEVE
- The lads just watching them kicking the shit out of her like uhhh
- Oh hey Becca did something useful and stabbed the Nazi in the eye
- Huh. The kid melted Stormfront
- Good for him
- AHAHAHA YES HE GOT BECCA TOO
- BYEEEEE FELICIAAAAA
- I mean yeah, heartbroken sad Butcher isn’t nice to see, but Becca sucked
- Aaaand now Homelander covered in blood has arrived to listen to Stormfront babble in German
- This is like in those scenes where it’s like oh who will the dog go to
- Ayyy Atrain got back into the 7
- Aww poor Kevin getting rejected again
- See Kevin this is why we don’t join cults
- Annie thought he was breaking up with her, girl don’t be daft
- Butcher and the kid, not awkward at all
- The one lesson Butcher can teach a kid – “don’t be a cunt”
- Aww happy endings for all the boys
- Aaaaand a “happy ending” for Homelander too by the looks of it
- Oh ffs a corrupt politician in with the cult, what a surprise
- HIS HEAD BURST
- Wait the politician lady is the head burster? I’m so confused
- Confusion may have been aided by it being almost 3am
- Hughie getting a real job, bless him
- Too bad it’s with the head burster
- Oh this is such a good song to end the season with
- Welp, now begins the long wait for season 3, I guess
- Should I sleep or find fic to read
- Body says sleep, heart says fic
- That’s a lie, heart says Butcher
- ….Butcher fics it is
#theboys#theboystv#theboysmemes#theboystextposts#I'm back with more insanity#middle of the night is probably not a good time to be texting but hey ho#I'm still a shameless ho for Billy Butcher#that's so sad let me suck your dick about it#I mean like damn#Karl Urban doesn't mess around when it comes to thirst trapping#I need season 3 like yesterday#amazon please#the boys#season 3#I need it
18 notes
·
View notes
Note
so! you wanted to talk about your ocs, yeah? hm, idk about them so can you give a little introduction about who they are and their likes or something like that? or at least about some of them? thanks! 🥰💞
Thank you! Sorry for the delay I wrote way too much then wrote less but still too much then I took medicine that knocked me out lol.
So I’m going to talk about Draven because he’s who I’m fixated on, but if you want me to jump to another OC just say the word and I’ll talk about someone else instead.
So my first attempt at answering got out of hand and was not a “little introduction” so I’ll tag you in a separate post with all that if you feel inclined to read it after seeing the ‘short’ answer lmao. Even this answer got long so you can imagine the other went very detailed.
Let’s start with the part that’s short, his likes and dislikes.
Likes: Cats, he grew up with a big blonde cat named Captain who only liked him and he’s loved cats ever since.
Leto, his surrogate brother.
His friends…begrudgingly sometimes.
Music, he’s a big music lover, especially violin music but really anything he can tell had real passion put behind it.
Makeup and generally making himself look beautiful: it offsets the scars a bit and people—including his enemies—already call him uncomfortably pretty so why not lean into it. Plus it makes him feel good when people call him pretty/beautiful. (He might be slowly having some gender self-revelations but Draven isn’t very insightful so it’s taking him a while)
Dislikes: Demons, demons, demons. Glabrezus (treachery demons), Succubi (you know), you get the point. He really hates demons. He doesn’t mind tieflings/ abyssal sorcerers/ other people who just happen to have demonic blood in them, so long as they don’t let it define them. Which is good for him since he recently discovered *he* has demonic blood in his bloodline so he’d have had a way worse breakdown if he’d been upset about the blood in general not just which specific demon it belonged it (Jerribeth, a Glabrezu, and likely the cause of his entire family’s deaths…so yeah, baggage)
Other things he hates…people telling him how he should feel about something. He’ll feel how he should feel in his own time and not a moment sooner.
Having people’s lives in his hands. He’s a commander of an army he has no choice in the matter but he hates it so much he wishes he could just be a front line grunt fighting demons and risking his own life not giving the order that might kill dozens or more of others if things go wrong or he miscalculated. He carries the weight of every person who has died under his command and take it very personally.
People insulting tieflings for their existence.
About: this still got long but less long than the first time.
Draven Imani is a warpriest of the goddess of righteous valor, justice, and honor, Iomedae. After his family was killed by demons when he was 8 and he was the sole survivor, he was saved by Iomedaen crusaders. After he was healed, except for a Mark of Deskari on his wrist that festers and remains open no matter what healing is applied, they had him bandage up and keep it secret, although vicious rumors already began spreading. He was taken in by an Iomedaen orphanage called the Light-Oath Orphanage. This is where he gained his faith, and his desire to follow in the footsteps of the crusaders who saved his life. This is also where he met his best friend and surrogate brother, the tiefling Leto, who he’s been inseparable from for 13 years.
The two of them made a group of 6 who all wanted to join the crusades for various reasons, and they set out for the Crusader hub city of Kenabres. Unfortunately when they were an hour out of the city, a demon slipped through the wardstone barrier. Draven sensed it first, the evil mark on his wrist burning and bleeding in response. It was too late to flee or warn the others, and one by one they fell. Draven lost his eye while trying to protect Leto, and doesn’t remember the rest of the fight from the shock and trauma. Next thing he remembers is waking up in a healer’s bed in a temple of Iomedae in Kenabres, Leto waiting for him, his other friends dead, and unable to see out of half his vision.
The for next year he retrained himself how to fight with his sword and shield with only one eye, relearning to judge distances and to mostly figure out his spacial awareness. However because everyone saw him as irreversibly damaged, he got relegated to the lowest, least prestigious, most mocked rank of the crusades: the Raven Corps. And there he rotted in guard duty and being degraded by both townsfolk and other crusaders, all of whom see the Raven Corps as the lowest of the low.
Then the Wardstone protecting the city was destroyed, the Stormking, one of Deskari’s generals, lead an attack on the city and began slaughtering everyone, and the party was swept underground by the silver dragon Paladin of Iomedae, Terendalev, who told them they had a destiny to fulfil.
And then Auriel Answerer, Draven’s friend and mentee from the Raven Corps died right next to him striking a fatal blow against a Baphomet cultist. And it turned out Auriel was supposed to be Iomedae’s Chosen One. So because Auriel vouched for Draven, now Draven is the one allowed to wield the Holy Sword Radiance—although Radiance themself seems begrudging of this.
Draven met his hero, Commander Irabeth Tirabade, a half-orc Paladin and former Raven Corps member who once saved the city and was promoted to commander of the prestigious Eagle Watch Legion in recognition. Irabeth immediately gave Draven a field promotion to acting captain of the Raven Corps for recent events. No pressure or anything.
We destroyed the final wardstone shard that Deskari cultists were trying to corrupt into a weapon, via our archer Hiskaria avoiding a boss battle while the party fought her and kept her distracted by being bigger threats until it was too late. Then Hisy jabbed the stone with the rod of cancellation and it broke and destroyed her and two of her minions. And a single shard hit each of us after we had a vision of what had meant to happen—of the doomed world we weren’t meant to save—and how our actions had literally broken fate. Afterwards in reality the Wardstone shards sank into us and bequeathed new powers to each of us.
The night after becoming Mythic Draven met Iomedae in our dreams and received a number of really helpful boons from her. So Draven was in awe there. And learned from meeting the warrior goddess that maybe he should be less self deprecating about his own facial scars.
Since then he met the Queen of Mendev, got promoted to Commander of his own legion (The Adamant Shield Legion) with Irabeth friggin Tirabade as his mentor and advisor, they liberated an impenetrable citadel in two days, found out Leto was now working with the cult of Baphomet for unknown reasons, but he promised Draven that he wouldn’t let them hurt him. It turned out he’d been acting strangely since meeting a Glabrezu on the battlefield, and when Draven tried to ask over sending Leto only told him that “wishes come true at the most unexpected times”.
Since then. Dray’s learned that the mark on his wrist means he also made a wish to a Glabrezu, that he doesn’t remember because he was a traumatized child who was just tortured and saw his family killed when he got his mark. And not just any Glabrezu—Lady Jerribeth, the original architect of Drezen’s fall, and very likely the cause of his family’s deaths. And not only that, but Jerribeth’s blood runs through his veins, from within the last few generations of his family. So the Crusader, the demon slayer, who fights demons but embraces tieflings, is struggling to put his money where his mouth is when it’s his own blood touched by a demon’s influence. Also killing another mark bearer places a new mark of Deskari onto him, so he has a new one on his neck now from killing a raider half-fiend berserker who also shared Jerribeth’s blood and mark. He’s scared of the implications.
And that’s Draven so far.
6 notes
·
View notes
Text
Stronger than she thinks Part 5
Triggers warning: mental and physical abuse, violence, swearing
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4
Fanfiction | Archiveofourown | Wattpad
Hi guys, I updated the last chapters so they seem nicer to read, tell me what you think about it in the comments. I also edited the links to the previous and next chapters as they were a total mess, sorry about that!
I hope that you like this story so far, I try my best to readproof it, but some mistakes remain, my bad if it’s bothering you.
Thanks for those who lived a note on the previous chapters, it means at lot!
-Lys
What was I doing? That question rang in my head as I made my way to the Child Care Service. I was not a fan of kids, they bothered me more than anything else. Their cries, tears, and temper tantrums were stress-inducing for me. They made me uneasy and self-conscious with their bluntness. As we all say, "truth always comes from a child's mouth" and that's what put me on edge. I didn't know what to expect of my babysitting day. Why did I accept such a thing? Eric, of course. I wanted to know if it was his idea or if it was just a sick joke on Max's part. One can never be so sure about others' intentions and hidden agendas. The leaders had the power to make everything possible within the walls of the headquarters. Why would they want me near orphans? That's what I intended to discover.
I played with my fingers, eyes fixated on the door decorated with drawings, tiny handprints, and a whole bunch of names. How many children find themselves alone every year? No idea, but it seemed that numerous of them had gone through that door to find a new home. It was not really surprising when we knew that their parents took risks on a daily basis.
Patrols in the factionless territory could turn bad pretty fast. The homeless didn't have anything to lose, they were determined to seek their revenge on the system that shut them down without any possibility to be part of it. I understood where they came from. They had to fight to live whereas all the other factions would sustain themselves without thinking twice about them. Except for the selfless Abnegation faction that helped them the best they could by providing them supplies, clothes, and from time to time, food. However, their violence had dire consequences in the Dauntless faction.
As the soldiers of the city, we were to protect and maintain peace in the streets. We were the first to suffer from the conflicts between Factionless and the system. These children were proof of that. I sighed deeply, my fingers caressing the weird painted animals.
" I'm glad you came here, they're really excited to meet you. "
Startled by Eric's deep voice, I turned around to find him, arms crossed, shoulder pressed against the wall a few feet away from me. A small smile stretched my lips, although I could tell that it didn't match my eyes. I wasn't thrilled at the idea of taking care of children. I have never done it before because I was always afraid to make something wrong and being an only child didn't help either. I swallowed thickly, trying my best to keep my cool in front of the young leader.
"Hey, I didn't know I was coming until now," I admitted in a whisper. "I'm not sure that's a good idea."
"Don't be so tense, they're not that bad. I promise everything will be alright, they gave their word to behave." He reassured, eyes locked in mine.
"I'm not afraid of the children," I snorted softly. "I'm more nervous about me being around them..." I shifted my weight on my other foot before adding: "How do you do? I mean, with the initiates and… kids? " I asked, curious about his answer.
Eric snickered, I didn't expect him to be so confident and relaxed, it was as if he had done it his whole life. Which wasn't far from the truth, he had taken care of the initiates since he became a leader five years ago, if not more. I didn't keep track of time as often as I should considering my job but days were pretty much the same since I've been hired to be Harrison's assistant. I felt my cheeks burn and I looked at my feet, defeated that he mocked me for being a pansycake. Which I was, but still, it hurt.
"If I can do it, you certainly can, Chris. Come on, they won't eat you."
Before I could respond, Eric opened the door and made a sign for me to enter. I heard shuffling and whispers, all noises died down as soon as I was inside. The children lined up obediently, aware of Eric's presence behind my back. I felt intimidated under the scrutiny of their innocent eyes. They were of all different ages and sizes, some were almost teenagers.
"Hi," I waved, almost shy. "I'm Christine but you can call me Chris, it's nice to meet you all."
"Hi Chris." They exclaimed in unison.
One of the oldest stepped forward, his shaggy blond hair falling in his chocolate eyes. His joyful smile was contagious, I couldn't help but return it. However, his expression changed suddenly as he seemed to think about his next words. The younger ones kept gawking at me as if I was an alien coming from another dimension. I felt the tension rising in the room as the blond hair boy opened his mouth. Was he the leader of the group or something? Is this some sort of secret children cult?
It looked like it, and this boy gave me a lot of Eric's vibes. He held his head high, his torso pumped, shoulders behind. A future leader for sure... or another Brent. That thought made me frown. How could I compare him with this asshole without even knowing his name? It wasn't fair for the teen. I pushed away any unwanted images. Having a mental breakdown in front of the kids wouldn't do me any good. No doubt that Eric would report it to Max and I was good for an endless "vacation". The other kids looked at him with mixed expressions, some seemed about to explode from excitement or take a run at any moment to come back to their games, and some were tapping their foot impatiently as if waiting for a signal to be able to speak.
"Before we introduce ourselves and let you join us, you have to pass the test." The boy sounded much older than he looked at that moment.
My jaw clenched as I pictured Brent in his place. It was so easy to see the similarities between them. Were they related? If that's the case, I'll make sure to keep my distance. My eyes widened and I stole a glance at Eric who was smirking. He only shrugged his shoulders when he met my eyes. Damn him, he should have warned me beforehand.
"Depends on what this… test is."
What would they want me to do or say? The blond boy made a sign and all children moved in sync to gather around him, whispering between them to come to an agreement. What was that? After several seconds of heated debates, they finally took their original place. Mini soldiers, perfect future initiates, are already programmed to fulfill the faction's goals. Was it Eric's doing? All these questions drove me insane, I wanted to turn around and talk to the leader alone.
I needed some clarification on what's going on and the rules of this Child Care Service. While I was thinking of it, I didn't see any worker or nurse on my way here. Did nobody care about these kids? Was it a wicked way to push me to take the job? I was so lost that I didn't register that the teenager had taken another step forward, standing right in front of me. He was almost eye level to me, he had to be at least fifteen if not more.
"So, Chris. If you want to become one of us, you have to answer one question." The boy paused to look me dead in the eyes. "What do you think of Eric?"
I blinked a few times, unable to comprehend his question. He curled an eyebrow in defiance, a smirk playing on his lips. His expression matched Brent's perfectly, so much that I shuddered. Heat rose in my cheeks, coloring my skin a deep red, I felt hot and cold, shivers running down my spine. I gathered all my courage to not react when I caught a glimpse of satisfaction in his irises. I won't let this brat get to me that easily. In truth, I was a complete wreck Brent and the boy morphed into the same person in my mind, that same wolfish grin on their lips. I slapped myself mentally to snap out of it. I needed to answer that stupid question or else they'll consider me weak and that wasn't an option.
"Cat got your tongue?" Teased the teenager, arms now crossed over his chest, surely imitating Eric's posture, but lacking his charisma.
" No, I… I didn't expect that kind of question, that's all." I felt Eric's eyes boring into my skull from behind. "We don't work a lot together so I don't think I know him as well as you do, but I trust him, he's a good person, even though he's almost always in a bad mood. I also like his jokes." I added more quieter so that the leader couldn't hear me properly. "Don't tell him that I said that but, sometimes, he's not funny but I laugh anyway to not make him feel bad."
I think I gained some extra points with my remark because the kids burst into laughter, clutching their sides as if recalling the infamous jokes of Eric. I tried my best to smile when the blond boy extended his hand to shake mine. His hold was strong and confident, showing me clearly that I just entered his territory.
"Congratulations, Chris, you're welcomed in the CCS." He bent over to whisper softly in my ear. "Eric didn't lie, you truly are beautiful."
Stunned by his boldness, I stared at him, fear evident in my eyes. Wrong move. Something flickered in his eyes, a malicious glint that made me want to run for my life. What he said took time to reach my mind. Eric told him that I was beautiful? I blushed uncontrollably, his smile grew wider, believing that he was the one to have this effect on me. I opened my mouth to retaliate but he beat me to it.
"I'm Aidan by the way. I'm sure we'll get along very well." He called over his shoulder as he turned on his heels and joined the older ones.
Petrified, I jumped out of my skin when Eric's hand found my shoulder. He put it back right away as if I just burned him. His worried eyes plunged into mine and I knew that I was screwed again. Eric was able to pick up that something was wrong. Something that we couldn't discuss in front of the kids.
"Don't let Aidan get to your head, he just likes to mess with everyone. He's a good boy when you get to know him."
"Yeah, I'm sure." I replied dryly, unconvinced.
One by one, the children came to introduce themselves. There were so many names to remember and faces to attach them to, I started to feel a pounding headache making its way into my brain. At least, it helped me get my mind off Aidan and Brent. I already had a fan club following me like lost puppies around the room. Everytime I turned around they would hide behind furniture, playing innocent. This routine kept going for some time before I got tired of walking aimlessly. The only one following me without even hiding it was a little girl who hasn't said a word since my entrance. I crouched down to her level, a reassuring smile on my lips as she cowered a little from me.
"You didn't tell me your name before," I said gently.
She just looked at me, clutching a stuffed bunny in her tiny arms. Her emerald eyes were mesmerizing, I could almost drown into these pools of rich greenery, they were gradually lighter from the center to turn into a deep olive green on the outer ring.. She looked so small and frail compared to the others, I wondered what her story was. Seconds passed and she didn't try to make a sound. I finally gave up, it will take time for her to warm up to me that's all. I brushed her hair out of her eyes, revealing her porcelain skin.
"You don't have to say anything if you don't want to, it doesn't matter."
To my surprise, she jumped into my arms and clung to me even when others wanted my attention. I sat in a chair, humming softly an old song from before the war. I didn't remember the lyrics nor the title clearly, but I could recall the melody anytime. The mute little girl was snoring in my neck as I rocked her back and forth. She dozed off minutes prior, lulled by my voice. I didn't realize that many children were sitting around us, listening and daydreaming.
Eric was sitting in a chair nearby, his hands behind his neck, eyes closed. He seemed different among the kids, less nervous and on edge, he didn't even have to raise his voice to make his point clear. The children surely respected him. The peacefulness lasted another twenty minutes before a knocking on the door stirred awake the few ones who had fallen asleep. I came back to reality, my hand entangled in the girl's brown hair. When did I begin to stroke her head? She looked comfortable on me, her hands held my shirt as if to prevent me from abandoning her. My heart ached painfully for her, she wanted affection and attention, as any of these kids.
"Chris." I looked up to see Eric towering above me, a knowing smile on his face. I rolled my eyes and he chuckled. "It's time for us to go, the next team is here to take over."
I admitted that I enjoyed my day here, as long as we forgot about Aidan. The girl in my arms shook her head, realizing that we were about to leave. Her fingers curled around my shirt, preventing me from putting her back down. I felt bad so bad that I hugged her back and whispered in her ear.
"I'll come back, I promise."
She refused to let me go as I tried to pry her off. I kept murmuring sweet nothings to ease her pain to no avail, she was stubborn as a honk. Eric approached and tried to take her with him but she fought back, crying silently. I didn't know what to do so I let the leader take matters in his hands.
"Violette, look at me." The brunette looked at him with teary eyes, he gently wiped her tears away. "You know that we can't stay all the time here, we have to eat, work and sleep, too." Violette nodded slightly. "We'll come back before you know it, now Martha will take care of you. I heard that she has a gift for you, one that you wanted for a long time."
Violette's face brightens at the prospect of a new toy. She kissed my cheek then wriggled in my grasp. I put her down and she ran straight to Martha who was ushering the elders towards the bathroom. A contented smile crept upon my lips, kids were so fast to change their minds. I envied their ability to forget about their problems as long as they had anything to play with.
"Fear of abandonment, a hard one to fight against at such a young age." Commented Eric beside me. "They're stronger than most of the initiates that I've trained so far."
"That's not right, they're still kids, Eric."
"I know. I don't like it either, but it's their way of processing what they've been through. They grow up faster than the other kids, they have to look after themselves because they know no one will do that for them. I try to be there whenever I can, it's obviously not enough, you know how a leader's agenda is full."
"I can help." I blurted out before I could think of it.
"That's not why I brought you here." He replied without explaining further as we made our way out of the room.
"Thanks, that was… interesting and surprisingly calming."
"I knew you'd like it. So, you'll come back?"
"Sure, I don't have anything better to do anyway."
"Right."
A casual silence followed our little conversation. My thoughts were drifting away when he spoke again.
"What did Aidan say to you?"
"Nothing to worry about, he was just being a teenager." I dismissed with a flick of my hand.
"Don't lie to me, Chris. I saw the fear in your eyes." His tone grew cold. "What did he say?'
"That's not what he said," I whispered. "He kind of reminds me of Brent. I don't know why but I don't feel safe around him. Damn, I'm ten years older, I shouldn't feel like this." I ran a hand through my hair in an attempt to keep my composure.
Eric remained silent as I stopped dead in my tracks before we came close to a more crowded walkway. He turned his head with an eyebrow raised in question. I sighed, debating whether I should talk to him or simply keep my struggles to myself. He must have sensed my hesitation, he tilted his head to the side, eyes narrowing to read into my soul.
"Stop doing this."
"Doing what?" He retorted, genuinely clueless.
"Your "I'm reading your mind look", it's quite annoying." Eric rolled his eyes.
"Then stop thinking that I'll report to Max whatever you say or do, and talk to me instead of overthinking. "
That was my turn to fall into silence, his face softened ever so slightly and I felt guilty. He helped me before I even was aware of it, I should be grateful and trust him, but I couldn't because I didn't trust myself anymore. At least, not for now.
"Chris, I've already told you that seeking help doesn't make you weak nor unworthy. "
My heart skipped a beat, was this his way of saying to let him help me? His cerulean eyes screamed sincerity. Why was he caring so much about my well-being?
"Thank you, Eric. I'll keep that in mind." He nodded curtly. "See you tomorrow, then."
"Meet me here at four, we'll go together."
"Sounds good. " We shared one last look, then we parted ways.
#ericxoc#eric coulter#eric divergent#divergent#divergent fanfiction#fanfiction#fanfic#four#eric divergent x oc#eric coulter x oc
16 notes
·
View notes
Text
The Magnus Archives Relisten: Episode 60 - Observer Effect
Does it just want me to keep living in fear? - Statement of Rosa Meyer
Yeah. Yeah it does.
I ended up having something of an on-air breakdown.
I'm somewhat glad that she doesn't go on to explain her breakdown in detail because I would be curled in a ball, cringing. There's some things that just shouldn't have an audience... (Yeah, I might have certain traits that have made people I know go "You'd make a good Eye avatar" but I would make an equally good Eye victim... mind, sometimes there's not all that much distinction between the two, is there?)
He didn’t recognize the mirror, but a few years ago, Christopher was looking into writing a book on the totems of what he called “outer cults”, small organized groups of worshippers whose beliefs weren’t simply deviations from paganism or other major religions, but seemed to focus on holy beings or concepts completely apart from what would be considered normal religious practice.
So I was thinking "Hm, how did he end up with the mirror, then? Does the Eye have a cult we don't know about - sure, there's the Archive but they don't LOOK like a cult from the outside so why is the mirror among the fetishes if there's no obvious Eye cult" but...
He had apparently logged several trips to London in order to consult with your Institute.
I'm thinking what happened here is Christopher finds out the Archive has information on cults like the ones he's looking into and the head of the Archive is very helpful, very generous, even ends up giving him an artefact from the Archive's own collections, would you imagine?
A bizarre and apparently motiveless crime. The one detail that still nags at me is that the company the Danilo Costich worked for, Paper Run Limited, is the same company that at the time supplied most of the stationery to the Magnus Institute. I have a nasty feeling about exactly where she was taking that petrol. - Jon
She figured it out!
Martin: And we'd really like...
Elias: To not have to fire you.
Oh, what an empty threat, Elias.
Not!Sasha: And let’s have no more of this paranoia.
PFFFFFFFFF! Like you're not rolling in it like a pig in muck!
My impression of this episode
I had remembered this episode as being kind of dull and actually forgot most of it, but I must have been in a strange mood because it's really quite eerie (not the most powerful Eye statement in TMA, but up there in quality!) And the intervention and supplemental are pretty fascinating in their own right!
10 notes
·
View notes
Text
read max brooks’ devolution the other day, which was A Thing to do right before bed. i liked it though!
it’s a horror novel in similar style to world war z, where some of it is interviews with various peoples, and most of it is the journal of one of the people living in a microcommunity designed and built by tech guys(six word horror story) to be eco-friendly and self-sustaining, except it’s on the slopes of mt rainier and when it erupts, even though they’re out of immediate danger, they’re cut off from things like drone grocery supplies and the internet they need to call for help. which might have worked out okay, except the eruption drove a troop of bigfoots from their usual home. the subtitle of the book is “a firsthand account of the rainier sasquatch massacre” so you can guess how that goes for everyone
spoilers and thoughts under the cut
i was kind of leery about it after i read the free sample off kindle, so it’s been a solid few weeks between reading that and reading the rest of the book, but eventually i decided i can finish it fast enough for a refund if it sucks. the sample was basically the intro to all the characters and, since i was interpreting it as a slasher intro, i will admit i was primed to hate everyone. you have the conflict-avoidant protagonist kate and her useless husband dan, tony the tech guy who designed the place and his “guru” wife yvette, a vegan foodie couple bobbi and vincent, a philosopher, reinhardt, a lesbian psychologist couple, carmen and effie, and their adopted daughter palomino who escaped the rohingya genocide, and mostar, an older woman who’s a sculptor working in a 3D printer. the only people i didn’t hate in the first chapter were palomino, who i was sad about presumably being in the massacre, and mostar, who people were jerks to
tony and yvette were…exactly what that description makes you think they were like. kate went all crushy over tech guy right away and wrote about guru in that annoying “ohhh she’s so BEAUTIFUL and NICE i haaaate her” way. foodie couple…eh. boring and annoying. i don’t even remember their intro. they turn out to be Those kinds of vegans that think animals are all sweet innocent harmless creatures. philosopher was pretentious. there was some hinting that carmen was emotionally abusive, but that never went anywhere? i don’t know if we’re expected to assume that the life-or-death situation improves their relationship like it does for kate and dan. also they gave their daughter a “placeholder” name so she could change it in the future if she wanted. which is fine as a concept but it felt weird that there’s never any mention that she probably had a name before? she’s mostly nonverbal throughout the book so it’s possible that she was never able to tell anyone her original name though. also the placeholder is “palomino” because of how her only possession when she was adopted was a book about horses.
anyway, i was disappointed that the free sample didn’t even mention any ~weird noises in the woods~ but once the volcano erupted things started moving faster. mostar immediately starts prepping for the long haul of being cut off and everyone is like “oh she’s ~crazy~ of course we’ll be reconnected and back to normal super soon” but she is the only person with a brain. tony is like “oh it’s fine we have water and power and heat and yes the volcano erupted but we’re fine and yes we can’t contact the outside world and the satellite radio is saying things are bad but they’re totally not don’t even worry about it” and yvette is alternately spouting bullshit crystal-healing slogans about ~connection~ and ~healing~ and playing social mind games to maintain control. like it feels as if they could’ve turned things into a cult if it wasn’t for getting cut off from supplies. they absolutely feel like people who could have manipulated their ~micro-eco-community~ into total obedience given enough time. they’re already isolated enough to make it work even before the eruption
everyone else in this story is SO FUCKING STUPID about wildlife. like carmen and effie are encouraging pal to hand-feed a random deer apples when they are cut off from getting any food from outside. a literal fucking mountain lion nearly eats pal and mostar chases it off with a homemade spear and yvette starts screaming at her about “it was just scared! how could you hurt it! you provoked it!” despite knowing it was bigfoots breaking into the compost bins, mostar tells everyone that it was a bear so they’ll actually listen but bobbi gets So Offended when she asks if anyone has bear spray and they decide to spread the compost in the fucking woods for the “bears” to eat! no brains! not one! they actually say that bears aren’t aggressive! they are when they’re fucking hungry because a fucking volcano exploded and drove all the food away! then kate and dan get bigfoot footage and prove to everyone that that’s what’s around and they’re like “no this is good most apes are herbivores! maybe they’re friendly! no we’ve never heard any of the seven million cautionary tales about not treating any wildlife, particularly apes, like harmless pets!”
if you hadn’t guessed, the most prevalent theme in this book is “nature is not nice” with a side order of “being too dependent on tech will fuck you over when that tech fails.”
mostar is the best character in the book tbh. she lived in a warzone that she never names but references a lot of things she learned there. including the sniper trick the bigfoots try. as mentioned, she is the only one to have a brain when the plot starts and drags everyone else kicking and screaming into growing one too. except tony and yvette. like a third of the way into the book they go and hole up in their house and proceed to have complete mental breakdowns, then get eaten. as you do. but they’re still terrible so it’s still satisfying. although it’s hinted that part of tony’s might be that he saw or even got chased by a bigfoot. but since he was trying to abandon everyone and save his own ass, it’s not like you work up much sympathy for him
the bigfoots are led by a scarred matriarch ruling what seems to be at least mostly her own family group, which was a touch i liked and made her being dubbed the “alpha” much more tolerable. also the fact that it’s not like kate is the kind of person who’d know more than the most mainstream nature stuff. also the bigfoots appear to be either human-level intelligent or close to it. on top of hurting one human to try to lure the others into a rescue, there’s a moment where one seems to be holding pal hostage(it doesn’t work. effie literally rips the bigfoot’s throat out with her teeth), and it’s speculated that alpha destroying kate’s garden and leaving a pile of dung in the middle might be spite. a very human motivation. kate seems pretty convinced that they’re capable of reason. so that made it a little weird towards the end when “zoo fees” are mentioned in the context of bigfoots. like i appreciated that it wasn’t going to be the standard government coverup angle. the book speculated that the government is planning to reveal the proof when the disaster relief is handled and attract a bunch of tourism based on bigfoots. admittedly primates aren’t especially one of my areas of interest but the way the bigfoots act strikes me as at least smart enough to cause a lot of debate on whether it’s ethical to keep them in captivity, even if they aren’t fully as intelligent as humans.
speaking of the lure, i think that was the most effectively scary part. besides the conceptual horror of them being smart enough to do that(and, you know, the idea of suffering through it), there’s a short but really effective passage that leads you to the slow realization of what alpha is waving at the humans and, therefore, exactly what happened to vincent. terrifying
i also really enjoyed the narrative foils of kate and alpha. maybe that’s not the right word for it but whatever that mirroring they have going on is. how alpha seems to recognize kate as the protagonist/the biggest threat/the enemy alpha. alpha destroying the garden in spite rather than taking the opportunity to kill kate after the burn. kate leading the desecration of alpha’s mate’s body to begin the real fight, alpha killing dan, kate killing alpha. it’s good.
even though she dies for it effie literally ripping juno’s throat out with her teeth to save pal is so fucking cool
i was very glad pal survived, at least potentially. i’m naturally biased in favor of the humans, but i liked the part of the ending where kate’s brother theorizes that maybe nobody’s found her and pal because they decided to hunt down the surviving bigfoots and may even still be out there, tracking the survivors to find other troops and living off bigfoot meat. fuck ‘em up.
4 notes
·
View notes
Last Seen Blogs
