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namorthesubmariner · 2 years

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Namor & Talokan

So these are my thoughts upon watching Black Panther: Wakanda Forever twice now.

I loved Namor. I truly feel they captured the characterization so well in so many ways and it’s amazing how good of a job they did in this movie, how Tenoch owns that role, how perfect everything is. This is what it means to adapt a character, changing things but keeping the essence of the character and tbh the changes were such a great choice because in the end it served to enhance the character and bring him to new audiences and fans to enjoy and he is still NAMOR. So many people complaining about how bad it is they stripped Namor of everything obviously think that Namor begins and ends with Atlantis and know nothing of his character.

The overarching theme of Mothers, and their children, Namor & Fen, Shuri & Ramonda, play a central role amidst all the grief of the past/losing someone. Colonization is the enemy, not Namor who was just Wakanda’s antagonist.

Talokan mirrors Wakanda but asks the question: What if Colonization had won, what happens to the survivors who escaped? Wakanda never had to deal with the Invasion of their homeland, while Talokan did.

In the comics Namor is often the “Voice of Reason” when placed within a group dynamic, such as the Illuminati, it’s Namor who points out their plans are stupid or finds the most straightforward path to his goals, he is a very honest character and doesn’t hold back his words/thoughts. So it makes sense that just as Coogler holds up Talokan to mirror Wakanda so he would hold Namor up as a mirror to Shuri and gives her the option that others in Wakanda could not, to take on the world and give into those feelings of Rage. Ramonda (and by extension Wakanda) wants Shuri to grieve properly in a healthy and begin to move on with her life, which Shuri cannot do because in part she blames herself for not being able to save T’Challa. Survivors guilt is strong within her even though she really couldn’t do anything but that’s how guilt works. Which plays off really well because Coogler wasn’t afraid to let Namor be exactly like his comic counterpart and follow through on his word/promises even if that meant he was going to do things no Morally White/Good aka Hero character would do, since Namor is a Morally Grey character he has the space to make and follow through on choices he finds benefits himself and his people.

Spoilers beneath the cut, so this is your warning.

While Namor is much older and had time to rule over his people and deal with the grief of losing his mother for hundreds of years he chose Rage & Vengeance as his crutch to get through losing her. He focuses his anger on the world. He isn’t wrong, the Spanish Colonizers are the root cause for all the evil done to him and his people and by extension the surface world. Namor is a Hero to his people and he is their Protector. Which means he will be viewed as an enemy of the surface world. Namor was superhero comics first anti-hero and Tenoch!Namor is the same.

As a general overview before I get into details, Namor’s arc is very complete. His goal was an alliance with Wakanda, he makes it clear the first time he comes to ask them for help because Namor does not ask for help, not in the comics, not unless he trusts that person or is willing to trust that person. Namor + Trust is a very important trait. Listen if you think Namor couldn’t find the scientist and kill Riri where she stood on his own than you don’t know how capable Namor is. He and his people are not primitive/lacking of skills or smarts, he doesn’t need Wakanda’s help but he recognizes it would be smarter in the long run to have an ally that would empathize with him and his people. He chooses Wakanda because its the Nation his mother told him about, and he recognizes that they and Talokan are both very similar. Namora and Attuma were literally using a hunting trick for Riri, have someone else draw her out into the open before taking them down. Why else would they have been waiting close enough to take Riri if Namor had asked the Wakandans to bring her to him? If Namor had truly trusted them to find AND bring Riri to him he would have waited instead he had a back up plan which were Attuma and Namora. Namor’s trust of the surface, even Wakanda only goes so far.

Let me get into details. You don’t know how much it’s killing me to not have pics to go along with my text but I will have to wait till the movie is out on dvd to be able to gif/screencap everything.

I’m starting off with character design first:

Wings.

His wings are AMAZING. There was no easy Superman gliding and swooping here! His air walking was astounding, at times it felt like he had to really push himself to get up to a certain height level like a bird putting more effort into its wings getting off the ground vs catching a air current. He was so agile and FAST, turning on a whim and aware of his surroundings, honestly some parts felt like he was just swimming or dancing through the air, the way he twists his body/hips to change positions. I am so happy they included the wings because it’s so important to his character.

His wings flap rapidly like a hummingbird, and it’s always been one of my personal headcanons that’s how Namor’s wings move and it was really cool to see! There’s a sound you hear when his wings move, like a rattlesnake/buzzing, I think its because he is called K’uk’ulkan, Feather Serpent God, so that rattlesnake buzzing is a nod to the serpent aspect of that.

Edit: AresisKander on Twitter added this comment after reading this post and I am including their comment:

About the sound of the wings or when he flies, I think the reference is to the ayoyotes or chachayotes many people in Mexico still use to do/reenact traditional dancing

A photo of Ayoyotes.

/End Edit.

I did some searching online today to try and figure out what bird/feather pattern they modeled Namor’s wings off of because in the movie it’s not pure white wings and had some light patterns of grey/light brown with the white. I think its modeled after the Osprey (Pandion Haliaetus).

The parts I’ve highlight here are what stood out to me the most in the movie, the tops of his wings had the same white feathery look and his lower feathers had that pattern. The bird makes sense for Namor as the Osprey is found near rivers/bodies of water and is a fish eating bird of prey, with excellent eyesight to see underwater to hunt their fish. They are excellent divers too.

Tenoch’s ears were so cute, and while Namor has pointed ears, the rest of his people do not, so some people like Namora, use jewelry to give themselves the pointed ears like Namor, others use jewelry on the outside of their ear to mimic the pointed ear shape.

GILLS.

THE TALOKANIL (or is it Talokaneil?) HAVE GILLS. I AM SO HAPPY THEY KEPT THAT FROM THE COMICS!!! The Gills have always set Marvel’s Atlanteans apart from DC, and even Namor has gills in the comics even though artists forget to draw it but it was an important plot point in a couple of comics. Seeing their water masks covered not just their mouth/nose but also the gills on their necks was so cool. I can’t wait until high res stills come out so I can show you all how cool their costumes were! the gill masks were soooo pretty!!! There is just so much detail on their look/costumes/mayan influences that I can’t do it justice with words but it was beautiful, Namora had a few outfit changes through the movie which I loved.

Speaking of Namora, she was not at all like her comic counterpart and like I guessed before she is basically a mix of Namora and Andromeda. It makes sense why they wouldn’t use the character Andormeda since she is Attuma’s daughter in the comics so they wouldn’t have time to explain why his daughter is the same age as him etc. since comic atlanteans are long lived and look the same ageish. Andromeda operates as Namor’s right hand woman, the captain of his guards/army, a highly respected close friend and long time ally who would always fight beside Namor and offer advice.

Namora is smart, loyal, and such a badass in the movie. Mabel played her beautifully and I adored her. Anyways I loved this interpretation of Namora and I hope we get to see more of her and Attuma. Attuma’s character does not get alot of lines, we have no clue to his motivations and if he hates Namor or not like in the comics, in the comics they were enemies, but the recent King in Black: Namor tells the story of Attuma’s origin and friendship with Namor before it all went bad.

Namora, Attuma, and Namor all wear different outfits throughout the movie. The character designs were brilliant, and the costumes were gorgeous, so I really hope they win an award for that again.

It also feels like they each have an “Avatar” of sorts. Namor is the Feathered Serpent, Attuma is a Shark, and Namora is a Lion Fish, remember the Lion Fish is a deadly venomous creature so those spines Namora wears are a warning threat to her enemies.

The Plot

I will be focused on the Namor/Talokan plot mainly.

The first scene we get with Namor is literally ripped from the pages of Marvel Comics (1939) #1. In the comic, two divers go exploring a ship and Namor darts by too fast for them. Later Namor cuts the lines of one diver killing him, then goes after the second diver.

In the movie the divers are sent to check on a drill in the ocean, it had struck vibranium, which the Americans were after since they had a Vibranium detection machine. Namor swims by too fast for them to see, they are too focused on their find, however one diver’s life support signal stops, when the scientist lady on the ship asks the second diver to turn around to check on her partner and see if he was ok, she turns only to find cut life support lines. Namor comes for her next. I want to say very quickly that while Vibranium was included in the backstory/plot of the movie it also has it’s roots in the comics but only since the 90s:

Golden age - two divers on an exploratory mission - Marvel Comics (1939) #1 Silver age - expanded: two divers were sent there because the captain of the ship was Captain Leonard McKenzie on his return to the Antarctic waters after decades to search for Fen. The Sub-Mariner (1968) #44 Modern Age - The original cause of two ships coming to Antarctica is because the first one (The Endurance) was on a mission to find Vibranium, while the second one {The Oracle, Namor’s father’s ship) was on a mission to find The Endurance. Namor, the Sub-Mariner (1990) #52

So as you can see they just cut off the Leonard part since Fen’s origins have changed as well, and they kept the scene from the first comic and their motivation is Vibranium. There was a very Depths!Namor vibe to the character which I adored because Sub-Mariner: The Depths is such a good comic.

Meanwhile above there is a siren song luring the crew to their deaths in the sea. I loved the Sirens, they are a highlight of the Talokanil. The ship is now under attack by the Talokanil, and the scientist lady escapes into a helicopter. Attuma and Namora arrivals are great! The Talokanil are efficient at their tasks.

Namora watches as the helicopter goes higher into the sky but doesn’t do anything because she knows Namor will stop them. The first scene showing Namor’s full strength is amazing, it cannot be understated how Namor is a Power in the comics, he is literally called a one man navy. Namor is the guy the other characters call in when they need the Big Guns. He wrecks that helicopter and the scene ends with a visual of Namor hover over the sea in the dark, it really reminds me of this visual.

Marvel Fanfare (1982) #16

So as you see Namor has been called Devil, Sea Devil, Sea Demon in the comics which makes the Spanish Priest’s words to a young Namor really hit home because humans have always viewed him as something not human, evil, and otherworldly even though they themselves are not good people.

The next time we see Namor he is rising out of the water in Wakanda to speak with Ramonda and Shuri, he carries with him a shell, a conch shell, which in can be symbolic of a declaration of war or something else depending on the context as written here and here by Aztec Empire on twitter. The soundtrack to Namor’s arrival is freaking awesome, and Namor’s first show of pure astonishment/wonder at Wakanda is so endearing. Alot of people complained about this online saying he wouldn’t do that, but the truth is Namor does know how to smile, he loves the wonder and beauty of Nature, he isn’t a scowling angry fish man all the time. Tenoch’s micro expressions are amazing, he goes from wonder to being a Threat in the space of seconds. What I really like is how he captured Namor’s humor which is not an easy thing to do since in the comics Namor has a very dry gallows humor that makes people around him think its very serious but he’s actually telling the joke more to himself than for the benefit of others. Namor says “- I took care of it” meaning he totally killed all those people but he’s acting like it was nothing more than a small chore or something. lol. Also there is something else I wanted to point out about the beginning of this scene, Ramonda and Shuri are alerted by elephants who sensed Namor and ran, in the comics when Namor is running amok in New York for the first time he releases several wild creature from the zoo, which also had elephants. Now I don’t know if that was in reference to that scene in Marvel Mystery Comics (1939) #8 but it did remind me of it.

And as stated earlier, Namor was willing to extend his trust but still Attuma and Namora followed Shuri and Okoye in the later scenes.

MCU!Attuma is strong and a capable warrior, I greatly enjoyed him baiting Okoye on the bridge into a fight. The way he looks at Riri (whom Namora told him to kill) and decides she isn’t going anywhere so he might as well have a fight for fun with Okoye was Peak Character for him. Namora is annoyed and snaps at him to stop playing around. I love their dynamic with Attuma playing the Strong Muscle character and Namora though tiny was clearly in charge. Both of them have consistent characterizations, both are very loyal to Talokan and they get stuff done. Attuma is 100% ready to kill Riri and so is Namora. They are looking out for the future of their people. BUT when Shuri asks them to take them to Talokan alive they confer with each other, they treat Shuri like the royalty she is and they take her wish seriously since they also know Namor wants an alliance with Wakanda. If Namor had ordered them to kill the scientist at all costs, I don’t doubt they would have been done there on the bridge.

When Shuri and Riri are in Talokan, Shuri is treated as according to her social status, a Princess, with all the respect given to her from one Nation to another which really stood out to me. They give her traditional clothing, and they aren’t unknind, they care for Riri and give her food while Shuri goes to speak with Namor. I’m just pointing out that Coogler isn’t depicting the Talokanil as some hostile people who are unreasonable in wanting to kill Riri, they are only hostile when the safety of their people is in question.

The biggest change I would say character wise in regards of the transition from the Atlanteans to the Talokanil is that the Atlanteans actively hated and looked down on Namor for being half human/atlantean, its a major source of isolation for Namor. Namor’s character is rooted in his biracialness, is rooted in being a man of two worlds without fitting into either world and struggling with his two people. Changes seem to have taken away that biracial aspect in the form of two different races of human/atlantean since it seems Namor is a full Mayan/Talokan now however it doesn’t mean it’s lost, Namor is never a part of the Talokanil proper, he is respect and revered yes but also set apart in isolation because of his slowed aging meaning he would outlive all of his people, and that he is seen as their deity. When Shuri meets Namor he is open and honest with her. He RESPECTS her in a way the Elders of her people didn’t, because they saw her as a child. He respects her because she is a Princess and because Namor respects women. I know there is alot of bad Fanon out there regarding Namor’s treatment of women in the comics but as a person who has read all of his comics, so much of it comes down to out of context weird fanon and also some moments of really bad writing however Comic!Namor was raised by his single mother Fen and has great respect for women, so of course Namor would respect Shuri and treat her in accordance with her social stature.

I’ve already begun to see NamorShuri shipping discourse so let be preface this by saying I literally do not care. I don’t care what people ship. However this meta is my, a comic fan’s, thoughts on Namor’s character and the rest of the movie, and I would appreciate it if people don’t use my words out of context nor they drag me into any shipping wars. Once one of my other metas was used out of context to promote racism and I don’t appreciate that. Also I personally believe that shipping is not the end of all things. I believe shipping is a fun addition to the source BUT it’s NOT the end all reason behind character’s actions. So people saying Namor was totally hitting on Shuri, or flirting with her, or whatever, that’s fun fanon for you but I personally do not see it that way.

Namor is charismatic in the comics and Tenoch!Namor captures Namor’s charisma, anger, sorrow, and light heartedness but most of all he captures Namor’s loneliness. When Namor opens up to Shuri and tells her the story of his people, of his mother, he is trying to find a connection, some empathy, a friend.

Princess Fen and her people.

They don’t say Fen is royalty or some high ranking woman in their Nation, however they don’t not say that either. Until we get more information about her then I will only speak on what I saw. Fen and her people are suffering from smallpox brought over by the Spanish Invaders, her people are dying, and she is pregnant. We see Fen place a stone, a funeral rite, into the mouth of a dead man who was placed in a dug grave, he had already passed. The unnamed man died of smallpox, and I personally believe this could have been Namor’s father but also it simply could have been a person who was her family/friend/she had some connection to since we aren’t exactly sure who he was. In the comics Fen is the most beautiful Atlantean ever, and I love the actress they chose for Fen, Maria’s beauty takes my breath away to be honest. In the comics Fen meets Namor’s father after she was sent to spy on the Americans and she falls in love with him. She is strong, smart, and fierce princess of her people. I have very strong feelings about Fen as she is one of my favorite characters.

The Shaman creates the potion/serum they drink to turn into water breathers/Talokanil, however Fen hesitates because her concern is her child. The Shaman promises her that this will save her child and her and then swears that her son will be their new king since he will be the first born of their new people. This new backstory for Namor fits the tone of the movie. I loved both Fen and the Shaman, their actors were so good.

Fen being a central character in Namor’s life is so important and I’m really glad that the movie didn’t skip over that. Fen is a guiding force, the reason why Namor is the way he is in the comics, her love and protection, even her naming him “Namor” which in the comics/atlantean it means “Avenging Son” all shaped Namor into the character he is. Fen and Namor are so important to me.

Namor speaks about how he grew up slowly and his mother aged normally, and how for her death she wanted to be buried in her homeland on the surface. Namor carries out his mother’s wishes. Fen in the comics is also buried in her homeland in the antarctic waters of her youth.

Now. This scene. The Child without Love. It hit me like a ton of bricks. I have not been able to stop thinking about this since.

Namor is the AVENGING SON, he gets his identity from his mother. When I learned she wouldn’t be naming him that I was honestly very upset because its so central to who Namor is, but then I saw the adapted scene and I feel it works in this context. In the comics his name is a warning to the surface world/white people who hurt his people in the original comics. In the movie the name was bestowed upon him by a Spanish Priest who calls him a devil after Namor saw their evil and punished them for it. Namor wears his name as a promise to his people and a threat to his enemies,“My enemies call me Namor”.

Honestly the burial of Fen was so sad, Namor even places a stone in her mouth as well. She missed her home and wanted to be returned there. This really speaks to me about immigration and displacement, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard my own family members, the older ones, who don’t live in the homeland anymore talk about how they must be buried there. I think its something that only people who leave their homeland (not out of choice but a need for a place that will be better for lives because their home isn’t safe or they have better opportunities in foreign land) can really understand that no matter how far away they are, the need to return there, be buried there for the rest of time is a such a human need. The themes of immigration/displacement/colonization is prevalent throughout their story.

In the comics Namor’s first motivation is to wage war against the surface (white) people who hurt his people and he does cause a ruckus but then he faces the true Evil of Humanity when he finds out about the Nazis, he fights alongside the humans to stop them in WWll because he knew that they would come after his people next.

In the movie, the Evil of Humanity is the Spanish Colonizers. There is no romanticized version of this, there is no Spanish colonizer myth of them being benevolent people bringing advancement to the Natives. They are shown in their full evil glory as colonizers who hurt, killed, and destroyed Nations of Native people. This is the first time Namor sees humans, and its the worst they have to show.

When Nakia is searching for Namor/a way to find Shuri and Riri, she speaks to an old woman who tells her where Namor was sighted, and how he returns, and those who go after him with ill in their hearts do not return. So it means Namor is standing on a beach, returning over the years, because there is only one thing that would bring him to the surface world, his mother’s grave. Namor was visiting Fen’s grave in her ancestral lands.

The Sub-Mariner (1968) #17

Namor’s core character is that he is a hero to his people, and their protector, which the movie displayed so accurately. After the story of his people’s origins, Namor takes Shuri on a tour of his capital city. Another time one of his jokes comes into play, he is telling her all the ways her body would die under the deep water, and then goes “We have suits!” he neglects to mention its the SAME suits that he had taken from the scientists he had killed in the beginning of the movie! lmao. I love him. I really love this character even more now even though I’ve been such a huge fan of Namor for years.

Talokan’s Capital City is so pretty. I can’t wait to zoom in on all the details.

I honestly wish I could get my hands on that 400 page Talokan design book of it’s history/lore. I wish I had better pictures of the stone ring in which Namor does the Rising Sun hand gesture to activate the water currents that take them from the cave to the capital city. It’s clear the Talokans have advanced science/machines which they use all the time, and how they harrassed the power of undersea vibrainum like the Wakandans. Namor even says “I brought my people the sun”. I know there is like 30 minutes of cut footage so I will be waiting for that to come out in an extra dvd feature soon I hope.

¡Líik’ik Talokan!

The term means “Rise Talokan” or “Talokan Rises” the Mesoamerican symbol is the hand symbol connected to the sun (source & source) Namor and the Talokanil use it in greeting to each other.

The Mesoamerican worldbuilding of Talokan is more than I ever hoped for. One of my main ongoing complaints of Namor’s world in the comics is that Marvel is more interesting in destroying it than building it up so it’s just really great to see that Coogler and team had Mesoamerican experts and a language teacher (who played the Shaman) to make sure everything is the best it can be. I know this is a fantasy take of Mesoamerica but I feel they really respected the source material, and Namor’s transformation from Prince/King of Atlantis to K’uk’ulkan is a wonderful way to bring about the comic fantasy coding of native (atlantean) people to actual native mesoamerican people representation.

After their tour Namor gives Shuri his mother’s bracelet. The bracelet is made with fibers of the blue vibranium plant that the Shaman gave to Fen and her people. I know people are saying “it’s romantic, he gave her his mom’s bracelet” but like, if y’all could just take off those shipping glasses for one second to understand not everything has a romantic intention behind it. Imo Namor gives it to her as a gift, a sign of trust, everything he’s done so far has been to extend his hand in trust to what he hopes will be allies to his people. That has been his motivation, that’s what compels him to go to Wakanda, he is seeking an ally, and why not the Princess who has a chip on her shoulder, who wants to burn the world as he does?

While Namor is gone, answering Queen Ramonda’s summons/falling for her distraction tactic, Shuri and Riri escape with Nakia and in the process one of Namor’s people, a young woman, is killed. Namor and Ramonda’s confrontation is tense, and again he carries the shell, remember it’s significance of a object that represents war or other intentions.

Until now Namor had been trying to reach Shuri and get her to see things from his POV about why the scientist should die, but he makes it clear to Ramonda that he will kill Shuri along with Riri if it ensures his people will be safe. That is a character who all throughout the movie has made his goals very clear and then the rest of his character follows through on his threats/promises.

When Namor comes back to Talokan he finds that the entire ruse had been a betrayal, a trick, to get him to leave and in the process it costs him the life of one of his people. If there was one thing in the comics that was always sure to set Namor off was one of his people dying, and it’s no different in the movie. He gathers his people to make a speech about how his hopes was for naught.

The attack on Wakanda was Namor’s retaliation for the murder of one of his people.

In the comics the first time Namor attacks Wakanda, he was possessed by the Phoenix Force and not in control of his mind/actions. However there is a Namor and Shuri plot where Shuri sends her warriors to slaughter Atlanteans because of the Phoenix Namor attack, and then he sends the Black Order to Wakanda. Shuri in the comics does have innocent Atlanteans killed and Namor retaliates. Again they adapted stuff for the movie, and it plays out differently but I just thought to share that to showcase how different things were done. You can read Namor and Shuri’s interactions (they don’t have alot in the comics) in my Black Panther (T’Challa) & The Sub-Mariner thread here.

Edit:

I forgot to add another scene that was Comic to Movie:

Black Panther (2009) #1 - there is a scene in the movie that is exactly like this, where they fly above and comment on how fast Namor is in the water.

/End Edit

The action scenes, every time Namor is flying around fighting and breaking stuff. Once again they show that Namor is A THREAT, and he will follow through on it. And again, the Sirens are so pretty, I love them. One thing I really found interesting is how we see Namor’s moral code even in battle, even after Ramonda, he knows he could crush them but instead he gives them time to grieve. Some people might go “why did he give them a week, etc.” but like, it makes sense for his character, he isn’t a murderer because he likes killing, everything he does is in accordance to his moral code and no one elses, honor is a huge thing with Namor in the comics too. Not to mention Namor’s over all goal throughout the movie, he wants Wakanda on his side, he will do what he can to get that. He points at Shuri and says “You are queen now.” He puts the heavy burden of caring for an entire nation on her shoulders, now she will finally be forced to either step up or let it crush her. Namor is pressure that presses Shuri’s character into change, either she will crack or become a diamond.

Good characters are not stationary, good characters grow and change.

The final three scenes I want to talk about:

The big Wakanda vs Atlantis fight takes place on the Sea Leopard, now this could just be a fun name they gave the ship but it could also be a deep dive reference into a Namor comic character, a villain called Sea Leopard.

Okoye vs Attuma fight again and I loved it. Namora was such a badass!!!! I didn’t mention the water bombs the Talokanil use but its so freaking cool, they use it all throughout the movie and they also use Whales to launch their people out of the water with their tails, or the people ride them. I just love all the worldbuilding of Talokan. I know I haven’t talked about other parts of the movie so far, but my favorite characters are M’Baku, Okoye, and Nakia. I enjoyed every moment M’Baku was on screen!!!

Namor vs Shuri, the big fight, Shuri has finally taken the mantle of the Black Panther, and this action scene was so freaking good. Shuri’s plan to use Namor’s weaknesses against him gains her the upper hand and to be honest all those whiney fanbois crying “but SHE is a girl and SHE can’t fight and beat Namor!!!!” need to shut up because they are WRONG. They aren’t jobbing Namor, they aren’t writing him out of character, these weaknesses are the same weaknesses Namor has in the comics!

Namor’s main weaknesses are: Pollution/Poisons, Being dried out/overheated, his wings being hurt, and some forms of mind control/amnesia.

The fight was more than fair imo and Namor isn’t flawless, he has weakness that were used against him. Honestly I would have been mad if he somehow was unaffected. ALSO I LITERALLY FREAKED OUT WHEN I SAW “IMPERIUS REX” ON SCREEN. lol, my arms were flailing for real.

Shuri weapon is against Namor’s throat and she has the power to avenge her mother, to kill Namor, to take that step further into violence and vengance, to burn the world and move further away from healing and dealing with her greif.

“When my mother died, the last person who truely knew me died with her” Shuri’s loss drove her to become the Black Panther.

Namor’s mother dies, and the last person who truely loved/knew him for him, for being him, not a protector, not a leader, that love dies too.

Ramonda’s words “Show Him Who You Are!” is echoed to Shuri, it’s the same words Ramonda yells at T’Challa in Black Panther, when he fights M’Baku at Warrior’s fall. This is Shuri’s defining moment, her path forks and she has to choose mercy and moving on, dealing with her grief or accepting vengence to forever take a place in her heart. Shuri demands Namor yields, and Namor yields, he got what he wanted, Wakanda’s alliance.

When Namora confronts Namor about him yielding, he even says as much, that what he hoped to achieve he got, and now Wakanda would turn to them when it was time (for them to face the surface world/colonizers)

The action scenes in the movie are amazing, I could watch it a hundred times, the final confrontation between them ends in peace between their peoples.

As I’ve said, this post was mainly focused on Namor & the Talokanil, and I didn’t go into depth with the other plots/characters because I’ve been a Namor fan for years so all my interest is hyperfocused on him and his people.

My complaint: Everett Ross’s entire plot was not needed in this movie, it literally could have been a phone call with the first scene and we could have gotten more scenes with Namor & the Talokanil.

Personally my one biggest gripe is that in the end Wakanda & Talokan should have gone after the main people who were a threat to their nations which was the american government, it was a earlier plot point with Queen Ramonda at the United Nations that was just dropped as the focus shifted over to Namor. I do wish they had keep that plot thread going and both Wakanda and Talokan had teamed up to fight the Government/Surface World etc. but this is a MCU Marvel/Disney movie and Disney/Marvel is never going to do anything so controversial as calling out the American or other governments in present day for their colonizing ways, which is why I feel keeping Colonization as something that happened in the distant past isn’t true. I know the realities of the studios politics and the message the movie was sending and tbh it really followed through on alot of things and my complaints are minor and doesn’t take away the sheer enjoyment and happiness I felt watching Namor and the Talokanil on screen. Also I’m so glad we got to see Namor’s artistic side, which he has in the comics as well.

Once again I am so glad that Namor is shown as a Man of Color and his people are Native Mesoamerican. I’ve always personally felt the coding in his comics meant that we would lose the impact of his story if they stripped him of his biracial poc coding and cast a generic white man. It was always my biggest worry when it came to thoughts of Live Action Namor.

I love how multifaceted Tenoch’s acting was with Namor. Tenoch Huerta is MY Namor, he is the perfect choice for Namor and I’ve stood by his casting since it was first announced.

Created in 1939 by Bill Everett, Namor is imo one of the best characters ever created in comics, and the mcu version is one that is equally as wonderful and complex. I love both versions very much.

#mcu namor #namor #mcu attuma #attuma #mcu namora #namora #black panther: wakanda forever #bpwf spoilers #meta #comic meta #mod: imperiuswrecked

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merganalogy · 9 days

Text

Parts 1 2 3 4 5 6

This one takes place in early 2010

An uncomfortable silence hung in the air, each second stretching painfully as his eyes darted around, avoiding contact. The weight of unspoken words pressed down on them, amplifying the awkwardness of the moment.

The whistle of the kettle pierced the heavy silence, its shrill sound a welcome interruption to the tension between them. They both glanced toward the kitchen, grateful for the brief distraction from their uneasy quiet.

“I’ll get it.” Morgana rushed into the kitchen to make the tea. She soon returned with mugs in hand, her eyes briefly settling on the man's bruised face, a knot of distress tightening in her stomach.

“Was it drugs or alcohol?” She asked, placing his mug on the small table in front of him.

He eyed the tea but didn’t reach for it. Nevertheless, he nodded his head, “Thank you.”

“So?” she persisted, wanting to know what kind of shit he had gotten himself into.

“Neither.”

A lie.

Then, Morgana raised one eyebrow high, an elegant, curved arc that spoke volumes. “What happened to your face then?”

The room fell silent as the question hung in the air, a palpable weight pressing down on everyone present. Merlin leaned back slightly, eyes narrowing in thought.

How hard was it to answer a simple question?

Finally, with a slow, deliberate nod, he turned his eyes back to her. The silence broke as he began to speak, his voice measured and deliberate, the result of careful consideration. “I am really sorry for what took place the last time we met… I was-”

He really didn't want to talk about what had brought him to this point. If he was willing to bring up the hotel incident 50 years later, it must be a big deal.

No matter, she’d forget about that for now.

He struggled to find his next words. “…I didn’t have all the facts and I just assumed…when you said-”

Ah, now she got it.

“You thought that I survived all these years because I was stealing the lives of other people. A life for a life. Is that it?”

A look of remorse washed over his features like a sudden wave crashing onto the shore. Lines etched themselves into his brow, as if the weight of regret pressed down upon him, heavy and unyielding.

Of course, he’d thought that. In a way, that did explain his aggressiveness towards her. “Well, I am just thrilled your opinion of me has remained so stagnant, Merlin.”

He continued as if he didn’t hear her, “Aithusa told me how she had saved you, that you lost your magic because of the ritual she had performed-”

She cut him off, he still didn’t have all the information. “I didn’t lose my magic. It’s tapped inside of me. I cannot use it, but it is what’s keeping me alive.”

In the beginning, it had been a fate worse than death. Being so vulnerable all over again. With time, she came to live it. But never accept it.

Merlin nodded his head and cleared his throat, “Yeah, I know that now….I am really sorry. Truly.”

She almost smiled in exasperation, her lips twitching with the urge to release a sigh of frustration. “Why do you keep doing that, Merlin?”

“What?”

“You assume the worst of me and then you hurt me.” Morgana snapped, “You cannot apologize after all these years. What exactly are you expecting? My forgiveness?” she locked eyes with his, a defiant fire blazing within them. “Never.”

“Morgana…”

No matter what foolish excuses he came up with, she had no interest in listening. "You've never trusted me, Merlin; that's the crux of it. For centuries, I kept my distance, avoiding both you and Camelot. Yet, one slip of the tongue, and suddenly I'm labelled as evil once more."

It was all because she had said that she couldn’t heal her injured palm.

“You continually evaded me every time we crossed paths. You never given me the opportunity to inquire properly.” He countered, rising to his feet in front of her. He swayed, but managed to ground himself quickly, "I made an effort to trust you, Morgana. I was adamant about not repeating past mistakes, but it was you who consistently appeared out of thin air only to vanish just as quickly."

Of course he blamed her for his shitty demeanour.

"It was all Aithusa's doing," she explained, feeling it necessary for him to understand the full truth. "I never intended to re-enter your life, Merlin. I was content living mine, away from yours. But then you were injured in the war, alone in the hospital. Aithusa badgered me relentlessly until I relented. The same happened when you were poisoned and on the brink of death. Sailing to America was her suggestion, and in hindsight, I should have known better. And again, when I visited your hotel, it was at her insistence. Even today, you're here in my flat because she sensed danger and asked me to help you." She took a deep breath, “Believe me, Merlin, the last thing I wanted was to see you again.”

As he gnawed on his bottom lip, his eyes flickered with a mixture of fear and longing, a silent plea for reassurance in the face of uncertainty. “You must hate for what I said the last time we met.”

He was referring to the confession she had made in a moment of brief insanity.

“I wish I could hate you, but you're nothing more than a footnote in a story I've long since closed." Morgana shrugged her shoulders. “I am no longer the Morgana you knew Merlin. That one died at your hands along with her memories and feelings of hate…and love. Unlike you, I’ve put the past behind me.”

“Then help me do that. Help me move on.”

“Tomorrow.” She didn’t know why had had said that. She should have declined immediately and he would have accepted her answer. The moment of insanity had not brief after all. “But now, finish your tea and then leave.” she instructed, her tone firm.

From this list, send me a prompt if you’d like.

#mergana #merlin x morgana #bbc morgana #bbc merlin #i didn't forget about this #mermor #mergana fic #this is a long one sorry #katie mcgrath #colin morgan

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everlastiingiimmortals · 7 months

Text

spoilers for 1.5!

No because it actually is something that I have found interesting and even a little confusing about Jing Yuan. He is someone consistently portrayed as gentle, kind, loving; someone who only stoops to violence as a last resort and prefers safer means of resolving issues.

And yet we know of his past with the High Cloud Quintet. We know of his feats even after their time. We hear him straight up say (jokingly) that he'd have been interested in learning from Apyra himself, he sincerely says he's envious of the generals that will succeed him, of the future they will have facing Cirrus as -- perhaps -- a properly worthy opponent. He lists the reasons for mastering the sword as follows: the pleasure of swordplay, the saving of lives, and the dispatchment of enemies.

So why is this the case? Doesn't that last point seem a little odd for Jing Yuan?

Personally, I like to think the closer you are to an Aeon on their path, or rather the more the Aeon gives you power, the more you end up reflecting them, their ideals, their desires. There is no doubt in my mind that for Jing Yuan, the first two points for learning the sword are true. He initially had no intention of joining the Cloud Knights in my eyes; his desires were to learn for the sake of learning, and to have the ability to save people. He wanted to be a Galaxy Ranger, after all. But that last point is such an odd shift in tone for him, and the word he uses is odd. Dispatch. It's... so surgical. Like enemies are a matter to be dealt with quickly and efficiently, like paperwork. And really, that makes sense given what I've already said about him.

He speaks so coldly about cutting down enemies, so distantly, because it is a duty to him, nothing more. Yet he mentions it because in the Xianzhou way of life, it's not just a reason for learning swordplay, but almost a necessity. And yet he seems to relish the idea of a proper fight, too. I don't think Jing Yuan would be the type to fight if he didn't enjoy the adrenaline that comes with it. He wouldn't have committed all those feats of war or stayed as a Cloud Knight if he didn't enjoy it to some extent (his situation as a general is different).

I wonder if his closeness to Lan inadvertently provides not a bloodlust, but rather a heightened sense of adrenaline, fuel that drives the instinct of the Hunt. His role as an Emanator of Lan strengthens that instinct further, and it's one that directly comes into conflict with his philosophies. He cannot ignore the thrill of the pursuit himself, and he's... keenly aware of this sensation. He's also very keenly aware that a weaker man might lose himself to this thrill and fall into bloodlust, and consequently mara, much like Jingliu did.

This is why he speaks of eliminating enemies in such a detached manner. The cognitive dissonance that occurs between his inherently gentle nature and the heat of battle leaves him almost dissociating, in a sense, removing himself from the battle at hand to just get the job done and get it done quickly. This reflects, too, in how quickly he's able to switch from his usual demeanor to his "general mode," in which he's cold and authoritative. It is a mask, and one that is unnerving to see him switch so seamlessly between.

#//about; (DIVINE FORESIGHT)#does this make sense it sounds disjointed to me #i was babbling on the subway to the museum and these are my thoughts

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autisticlancemcclain · 2 years

Text

Lance finally gets his knees under him, despite Pidge’s loud complaints (“You’re squishing me, you lug, quit squirming!”), and hoots triumphantly. He curls his long fingers around the latch of the sunroof of Hunk’s family minivan, yanking it open and sticking his head and arms out.

“Oh my God, Lance, we’re going 120 fucking kilometres per hour! Sit properly!”

Hunk’s fretting does nothing to deter Lance’s gleeful laughter as he hollers to the wind, Allura’s cackling only endorsing him. Pidge pretends to keep complaining, but reaches over and tightens the seatbelt over his hips. Keith laughs, too, shaking his head at Lance’s shenanigans.

“I got him, Hunk,” he promises, wrapping a strong arm around Lance’s waist. Lance grins down at him, kissing his fingers and then pressing them to Keith’s forehead in thanks. Keith feels the area burn.

“If we hit something he’s gonna go flying out the damn windshield!” Hunk says, eyes frantically flicking over to Lance through the rearview mirror.

“There’s not another soul out here, Hunky! Just don’t swerve!” Lance shouts.

“It’s the fucking 401,” Hunk grumbles, “some idiot is gonna show up eventually.”

“Oh, don’t worry about it,” Allura waves off. “We’re far out of Toronto and it’s eight o’clock. No one else is out at this hour.”

Hunk opens his mouth to worry further, but Lance’s loud whoop cuts him off. Keith watches as Hunk’s entire demeanour softens, a grin tugging at the corners of his mouth. He shakes his head.

“Damn kid,” he says, as if Lance isn’t three months older than him. Allura grins too, reaching over to turn up the volume on the radio.

“Oh, I love this song!” Pidge shouts.

You got me stuck on the thought of you

I’m feeling like this might be my time to shine with you

Allura turns it up even more, the airy guitar blasting through the speakers as she and Pidge scream the lyrics at the top of their lungs and Hunk taps out the rhythm on the steering wheel. Keith glances up at Lance, and the sight of him takes Keith’s breath away: eyes closed and head tilted back, arms spread wide. The sun is low in the sky, shining its last golden rays in Keith’s eyes and making the copper-brown of Lance’s hair gleam.

Keith feels something hot and heavy burn in his chest, looking at Lance outshine the sun, a small smile bearing just a hint of his crooked front tooth. The sounds of his friends’ laughter and the rushing of the wind as they whip down the highway, the heat of the late summer air, and Lance and Lance and Lance. He’s suddenly flooded with images of Lance’s laughter, the creases he gets next to his eyes. He imagines those lines getting deeper as Lance continues to laugh brightly and unabashedly through their lives; he imagines holding a sun-browned hand in front of the warmth of a fire in deep winter; he imagines the sound of Lance’s pacing as they fret over a mortgage; he imagines Lance’s even breathes on white sheets as the slow morning rays wake him up. He imagines the rest of his life, the rest of their life, and he sees it so clearly that he feels it reverberate in his bones, feels it in the ache of his teeth.

Oh my God, I’m going to marry you, he thinks, and the words spark along his skin in every place it touches Lance’s.

———

He decides to go to Allura. It was really a pretty easy process of elimination. Shiro was an immediate no. (Keith loves his brother and looks up to him, but he also

watched Shiro impulse-propose to Adam in a Costco on Sunday, so.) Hunk was no good, either, because for all the man’s kindness he cannot keep a secret to save his life. Pidge would tease him until the end of time, and as much as she likes to pretend she is a fortress, if Lance applies even the slightest amount of pressure then she will crack like an egg. (And Lance will, too. He has an eye for secrets, it’s like he fuckin’ smells them. Keith remembers the time he accidentally deleted all the data in his Pokémon game. He’d been sure he’d be able to get it to Pidge in time for her to play it all back without Lance ever knowing, but the very second Lance had gotten home, he’d looked at Keith, squinted, and asked him what he was hiding. If Keith’s being honest it was a little hot.)

So that really left Allura. She was a pretty good choice, too — she grew up with Lance, and they’ve been shopping together since middle school, as far as he knows. Allura will know exactly what Lance will like. So he texts her, tells her that he has something important he needs her help with and to please meet him at the Eaton centre.

Keith waits for her outside the food court, because he knows she hates the Eaton centre and will only tolerate being here for an extended period of time if he buys her an iced capp.

“You better have a good reason for dragging me here, Gyeong,” she says, just as expected.

“I do,” he responds, presenting her with the iced capp. It has extra whipped cream. She grins.

“The odds are already turning in your favour. Hit me.”

“I need your help to find a ring. I’m going to ask Lance to marry me.”

She chokes. In hindsight, he maybe should have waited until the straw was out of her mouth.

“Are you? Seriously?” she rasps, once her trachea is working again.

He nods. Even if he wanted to, there’s nothing he can do to hide his smile. He’s excited. He keeps imagining holding Lance’s hand, rings clinking together, maybe introducing him to a friend. Yes, this is my beautiful fiancé, Lance, he’d say. And then eventually: Have you met my gorgeous husband, Lance? The idea lights him up.

“— to Keith. Eaaarrrrtthhhh to Keeeiiiitthh. Come in, space cadet.”

Keith blinks, seeing Allura’s hand waving rapidly in front of his face.

“Sorry. What?”

Allura rolls her eyes, shoulder checking him fondly. (Although, with her hockey-player muscles he goes flying. Just a little.)

“Someone’s already hearing wedding bells,” she teases.

Keith sighs. “Can’t help it.”

“Well, pack it up, Romeo, ‘cause you’re in the wrong place. We gotta take the train to Scarborough, you’re not gonna find what you’re looking for here.”

“What? Why?”

“You’re a very lucky man, Gyeong,” she says, dragging him by the wrist. Keith has to jog and keep up or else he might actually lose his arm. Allura sometimes forgets that she can easily bench press three Keiths.

“Duh. ‘Course I am. I mean —“ Keith sighs again, even dreamier this time — “just think about him. He’s literally more beautiful than the moon. He’s — he’s everything good in the world. I love him so much.”

Allura snorts. “That’s not what I meant, although that’s very sweet. I meant you’re lucky because Lance has been planning his wedding since he was literally four years old. He has a wedding binder. We gotta go to Tía Marcela’s.”

———

The train ride to Scarborough is uneventful, if a little lengthy. Keith loses seventeen consecutive arm wrestling matches to Allura and thinks about how much Lance loves the train, and gets excited to ride it every time even though he’s been doing it since he was born. Allura scoffs when he tells her this.

“As if I’m not well aware, moon-eyes,” she tells him.

Marcela bestows them both with a flurry of affection and scolding when she opens the door. Allura bears the brunt of it.

“I am wasting away in this house alone,” she laments, ignoring Marco and Veronica’s indignant hey!s. “Would it kill my favourite niece to visit me every so often?”

“I come see you every week, Tía,” Allura says, amused. Marcela waves her hand.

“Once a week, bah. And you, Keith. I can’t see my future son-in-law on occasion either?”

Keith grins, big and toothy. Marcela can keep a secret.

“That’s actually why I’m here, Marcela,” he says. Marcela narrows her eyes at him, confused for a moment, but then it dawns in her and she gasps.

“You’re going to — oh! Dios mío, está sucediendo! Finalmente!”

She hugs him again, squeezing the breath out of him. He can’t say that he minds.

“‘Finally’ is right,” Allura says, sniggering. “How long have you two been dating? Six years? Seven?”

“Since grade ten. Seven,” Keith confirms.

Marcela fans her face, tears streaming down her cheeks. “Oh, my youngest son. About to grow up and leave the nest.”

Allura laughs, patting her on the shoulder. “He’s 22, Tía. And he moved out last year!”

“Leaving the nest,” Marcela repeats, louder.

Keith grins. He’s known the Sanchez’s since Shiro moved him to the neighbourhood in grade eight, but there’s something special about the idea of being part of the family officially. He’s excited.

Eventually Marcela calms herself. She beckons them to follow her into the living room. She traces gentle fingers over the spines of dozens of photo albums, cases for family movies, beloved picture books. She stops when she reaches the most beat up binder on the shelf; three inches wide, blue almost completely covered with worn stickers from every franchise in the world. She pulls it out with a soft ‘oof’, setting it down on the coffee table. Slid through the plastic sleeve of the cover is a small, weathered-yellow paper, childish handwriting reading Lancito’s Wedding. The ‘e’ is backwards. A rush of emotions fill Keith’s throat, and it takes a few swallows for the lump to go away.

He picks up the binder with gentle hands, fingers carefully tracing the curves of the red letters, written so carefully. Marcela and Allura sandwich him in, curling up excitedly on either side of him, although they give him the time he needs to take it in. He opens the binder, finally, flipping through the organised sections and taking in every word.

Marcela smiles. “Dress or tux, I don’t care, but I want a train,” she reads aloud. ‘Train’ is underlined six times. “Of course he does.”

Allura stops him at the section marked ‘flowers’, pointing out a note written in purple pen. Handwriting is a little more refined, but it’s the first hint of purple they’ve seen so far — Keith remembers that. Lance wrote exclusively in purple pen for the entirety of eleventh grade, even taking docked points in math where he was supposed to be using a pencil. Keith has no idea why Lance did it, and Lance doesn’t seem to know, either. Just something he did. Keith inhales sharply as he reads it — Poppies are non-negotiable, they’re Keith’s favourite. Red/orange colour scheme then?? Keith looks nice in red.

“Every time he talked about his wedding, he talked about his wedding with you,” Allura says softly, reading his mind. “It wasn’t just his wedding he was planning. It was yours, together. He spoke about it constantly, to everyone.”

Keith hastily wipes a tear before it drips onto the binder. Marcela chuckles.

“Look,” she says, pointing to a page in the ‘invites’ section. It’s the most chaotic by far, lots of things scratched out and re-written. He sees Marco’s name in particular crossed out and written again at least four times and snorts, imagining teenage Lance angrily crossing out his brother’s name every time they fought.

What she was pointing out, though, and what makes Keith’s breath hitch, is his half of the invitation section. It’s as messy as Lance’s, but the care is so obviously present in each name…

Shiro and Adam in Keith’s party, of course. Make sure there’s space for Keith’s fencing friends. Oh, and maybe Krolia? And his uncles obvi. And I guess I’ll share custody of Allura. DON’T FORGET TO ASK HIM ABOUT OTHERS!!!!

“Share custody,” Keith repeats, tone teasing even as his voice shakes and his eyes wet.

Allura knocks their heads together. “I’m gonna be one of you two’s maid of honour, I’ll tell you that. Or else I’m damn well not going.”

“Liar,” Marcela teases.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. I love them, I guess.”

Keith laughs wetly, finally turning the page into the ‘rings’ section. He came here for a reason, after all. This section is fairly sparse, compared to the others. Only three pages. The first has a picture of two simple silver bands.

These are the wedding bands, the note reads. Simpler, so Keith can wear them without them making him itchy and I can wear mine in the lab.

The next page has a blown-up image of a sketch, black ink with watercolour.

Ring if I propose to Keith, the title reads.

It’s another silver band, very smooth. But unlike the wedding band, this one is inlaid with several small, blue stones, so blue they’re almost black. Keith traces the lightest touches over the stones, heartbeat sprinting in his chest.

“Does he have this one already?” he asks quietly.

“No,” Allura says, just as quiet. “He designed it, but he said he’s only proposing to you if you don’t get the hint in a couple years. He had a feeling you wanted to do it.”

“Yeah,” Keith breathes, running his fingers over the carefully-done painting one more time before flipping the page. The next page has another blown-up watercolour, just like the first. It also has the same smooth silver band. There’s a teardrop-shaped pink stone in the middle, sandwiched by two small white stones. The title on this page makes Keith laugh out loud.

TO KEITH, WHEN ALLURA INEVITABLY SHOWS YOU THIS, it reads, THE BIGGER STONE IS PINK SAPPHIRE AND THE SMALLER CLEAR ONES ARE CLEAR QUARTZ. PLEASE AND THANK YOU. ALSO, I LOVE YOU.

“Dork,” he says. Allura and Marcela grin and mutter their agreement.

They flip through the rest of the binder, Keith memorising every page he sees. It’s like watching a whole new side of Lance come to life, one he loves just as much, but it also feels largely familiar, like an amalgamation of every piece of Lance that Keith already knows. He can’t get enough.

“You’re gonna see this binder again, doofus,” Allura says when she sees his hesitance to put it away. “In fact, I’ve heard wedding planning is horrible. I’m sure you’ll hate it in a few months.”

Keith thinks to how pieces of Lance are carefully tucked between each page. He knows he’ll love that binder and the man it represents until he dies, even if it’s the only thing he ever reads again.

“That is the gayest thing that has ever been said,” Allura informs him, and Keith realises he’s spoken aloud.

“My baby is getting married,” Marcela wails.

———

After Keith special orders the ring online, he spends the next few weeks wondering how he’s gonna pop the question. He spends long enough pondering that the ring arrives in the mail before he even has an inkling of a plan, which distresses him greatly. He loses nearly $50 buying Allura overly expensive Starbucks teas to bribe her into listening to him freak out.

“You are a loser,” Allura informs him one day as he’s resting his forehead defeatedly on the sticky table.

“I am out of ideas,” he says again.

“You could ask him in a pit of lava and he would cry tears of joy.”

“Allura, he deserves everything I could give him. I’d take him to the moon and ask him there if I could. To the kingdom of Atlantis. To the inside of his favourite flower. If it were possible, I’d ask him on the inside of a raincloud.”

“…Jesus H. Christ.”

Eventually, though, it’s Lance who gives him the plan.

“Aw, babe, come look at this garbage!”

Keith dries his hands on the hand towel, not hesitating to drop what he’s doing. The indignance in Lance’s tone doesn’t sound urgent, or anything, it’s really quite playful, but still. The leaky sink can wait.

“Show me,” Keith says, settling in comfortably behind Lance. Lance doesn’t hesitate to sink into him, melting into Keith as he wraps his arms around his waist and hooks his head over his shoulder. Lance angles his phone, showing Keith a video on Instagram. It’s a couple, two people Keith doesn’t recognize. The guy holds his girlfriend’s hand, tugging her into the centre of a square in what looks to be New York City. Maybe? Keith’s not sure.

Once they’re both situated, occasional gaps in the video as people walk by, the guy gets on one knee. The sound of people walking and going about their lives is so loud that it’s impossible to hear what he says. She must say yes, though, because they both look happy when they embrace.

Lance is shaking his head before the video even finishes. “Literally like a 4/10 proposal,” he says. “Ugh.”

Keith hums. He agrees, but this… this is a perfect opportunity. He has to be subtle.

“How come, sweetheart?”

“Well, for starters, it’s in Times fucking Square. There’s like a sixty percent chance he’s kneeling in piss.”

Keith snorts. “Fair.”

“Secondly, it’s so public! You can’t even hear them, and you can’t tell if family’s there. And what if some asshole ruins it? That whole thing is just a risky mess. I’d rather something small, y’know? Like it doesn’t have to be completely private, or anything, but I’d like my family and friends to be there and not random strangers. Maybe a garden, or a beach, or something.”

Keith’s heart pounds. He tries to subtly lean back a little, lest Lance feel it and gets suspicious.

Bingo.

“You asking me to get on one knee?” he teases, playing off the anxiety. Lance squawks.

“No! I’m not! Well, I’m not asking, but I’m also not saying that I wouldn’t mind. I mean. I guess what I’m trying to say that if it was on your radar of things you were possibly considering doing maybe then I wouldn’t mind.”

Keith laughs brightly, pressing a lingering kiss to Lance’s cheek. It’s warm, flustered.

“I’m only teasing,” he whispers, pressing another kiss to Lance’s neck. “We’ll get there when we get there, okay?”

Lance hums. He tilts his head, allowing Keith more access.

Keith takes the hint.

He forgets about planning, for a while.

———

The stress melts away after that. He knows what Lance wants, he knows that Lance is going to say yes (although he never really doubted), and also he’s no longer buying Allura a ridiculous amount of ‘please put up with me’ drinks. She complains about it.

“Now what am I going to do? Pay for it myself?”

“You’re a hockey player in the NHL, with a side job in IT. I don’t know why I was ever paying for your drinks in the first place.”

“…They taste better when I’m not paying for them, honestly.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Keith hides the ring in a place he’s absolutely, 100% certain Lance will not find — he unscrews one of the potlights in the kitchen, hiding the box in the upper cavity before screwing it back in. He’s very proud of that spot. He waits a while, too — he doesn’t want to do anything too soon, he wants it to be a bit of a surprise. If he suddenly takes Lance to the beach he’s gonna know. He waits until Lance’s lab hits a busy period, until Lance is very focused on work and isn’t thinking about much else. Then he finally reveals his plans to the rest of the group (plus Shiro and Adam). He asks them if they want to come over for dinner one evening, when Lance is working late.

“I’m doing a thing,” he announces as everyone’s eating.

“Elaborate,” Allura recites dutifully. Her tone is flat and lifeless. (Keith made her stick to a script. She threw things at him. He stayed stubborn. She eventually agreed.)

“I’m asking Lance to marry me and I want you guys to be there.”

This time, three people choke. Keith should really learn to time this better.

“About fucking time!” Pidge crows. “I’ve been waiting for you to fess up, you goober.”

Keith turns immediately to Allura in betrayal, who holds up her hands defensively. “I didn’t tell her!”

Pidge waves her fork dismissively. “Allura didn’t have to tell me. I know as soon as I saw your whipped ass making moon-eyes at Lance in the car last year.”

Keith’s jaw drops. “No you fucking did not.”

“Did too! It was embarrassing to look at!”

“Did not —”

Keith is interrupted by Hunk and Shiro’s simultaneous and loud sobs.

“Here we go,” sighs Adam, but he’s grinning. He pays his husband gently on the back. Allura does the same for Hunk.

“There, there.”

“Marriage,” Hunk wails.

Shiro nods frantically.

“This is a happy thing, guys,” Keith says, exasperated.

“We know!”

“We’re happy for you!”

“Is it happening soon?” Adam asks, ever the efficient one. Keith nods.

“Yeah, so long as you guys are free. I’m taking him up to one of Lake Huron’s beaches, they’re less crowded and not so rocky. Lance��s family is gonna try and book time off three weekends from now.”

“We’ll be there,” Pidge assures. Her eyes are still bright, but less teasing. She’s happy for them.

“Awesome,” Keith says.

He can’t wait. His veins buzz with anticipation.

———

It’s time. First week of August. He and Lance are the first to pile into Hunk’s van, squished together in the middle row like always.

“I haven’t been to the beach in forever,” Lance gushes. He’s vibrating in excitement. Keith feels the ring burn in his left pants pocket.

“I think you’re going to have a lot of fun this time,” Hunk says, and Keith has to stop himself from shooting him a look lest Lance catch on.

Please, Hunk, just a couple more hours, he thinks, trying to beam the thought into his friend’s head. It must work, because Hunk changes the subject, chatting with Lance about a work friend of theirs until everyone else has been picked up.

“Okay, now that your queen is here,” Allura says, crawling into the front seat, “the party may begin. Any song requests? Speak now or forever hold your piece.”

“Will you play Sunroof?” Keith asks quietly, tangling his hand with Lance’s.

Allura grins at him.

“Sure thing, Romeo.”

———

Keith’s hands start to sweat a little on the walk to the beach. Lance notices, both because he’s the most observant person Keith knows and also because Lance can definitely feel how clammy his palm is.

“You good, babe?” he asks.

“Just a little hot,” Keith lies. Lance squints at him for a moment, but evidently decides to let it slide with a shrug.

“If you’re sure.”

They walk a little behind everyone else, watching their friends and family be doofuses, joking and shoving each other and narrowly missing getting soaked. Keith takes the moment to appreciate how beautiful Lance looks in the dusky sun, jeans rolled up to his calves and water licking at his ankles. He looks ethereal, at the beach. Keith loves him so much his heart bursts.

He literally can’t wait another second.

He makes quick eye contact with Allura, who nods, and subtly starts to calm the circus and gets Adam to pull out his camera.

Keith reaches into his pocket, wrapping his hand around the box.

“Lance,” he starts.

“Hm?” Lance says turning his attention away from where he was looking for cool rocks. “What’s up?”

“I love you more than life, you know that?”

Lance grins. It’s not unusual for Keith to proclaim his undying love out of nowhere. He’s a little sappy.

“I do know,” he says. “I love you just as much.”

Keith smiles, too. The nervousness vanishes from his heart.

This is Lance.

“I love you so much, in fact, that there’s been something I’ve been meaning to do.”

He sees the second it clicks in Lance’s expression, and Lance’s dark brown eyes widen. Keith drops to his knees, pulling out the box and holding it in front of him. Lance still grips his other hand, hold only tightening.

“Keith,” he chokes out.

“I’ve loved you since the day I accidentally crashed into you while skateboarding and knocked you unconscious. You were the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen, then, even beaten and bloody, and I loved you even when you swore we were rivals. I loved you when you held my hand that first time when we were kids in the theatre. I loved you when we kissed after the school bell rang, when I followed you to university years later. I loved you when you tossed me a key and asked me to move in with you. I loved you when you stuck your head out the sunroof when we were speeding down the highway and spread your arms out to the wind. I love you now, standing in front of me, and I’ll love you in every moment and every second of our future. And it’s going to be a long future, Lance, you and me. We’re going to grow old together and I’m going to love every minute of you, every version of you. And so I ask you, Lance Sanchez, my beating heart: will you marry me?”

Keith expects a yes. He expects a shout, maybe, and a hug and a tearful kiss.

He does not expect to be tackled into the waves.

“Yes!” Lance screams, so loudly they can hear him from the arctic for sure. “Yes I will marry you, yes yes yes!”

Keith laughs, wrapping an arm around his waist and dragging them both out of the water so they don’t drown. He’s luckily kept a tight hold on the ring. He opens the box with one hand — yeah, okay, that took some practice — and slides the ring onto Lance’s fourth finger. The cheers from their friends and family echo around them, as Lance grabs both sides of his face and kisses him soundly.

Keith wraps his other arm around Lance’s waist, pulling him closer still, and kisses him just as hard.

“We’re gonna get married,” Lance whispers between kisses, voice awed.

Keith smiles.

Yes, they are.

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shukakumoodboard · 5 months

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anon i hope you are able to find this because you asked my original blog and i’m trying to stealthily migrate so my irls can't find me dkgjhfkjl

answers below the cut <3

would you like some fandomy thoughts?

1. list 3 positive things about your current fandom(s) [which ofc im answering for gaalee]

the discord i'm in for it is the highlight of my day and forms approximately 65% of my social life! who knew you could hyperfixate on some gay ninjas and as a result, end up visiting people irl and getting christmas cards and making incredible friends all over the world? pretty sure i have standing invites to homes in at least 3 different countries rn. incredible

fic quality is fuckin'. superior. and i'm not saying that because i write, i'm saying that as a reader. it's a smallish fandom and yet there's folks who can write full-length novels like @sagemoderocklee and @the-moss-project, people who can write every possible trope and au greyson's georg @ghoste-catte and @urieskooki and so many others i couldn't list them all. it's beyond obvious that the authors who write the gaalees are SO passionate about them. writers i lov you evryday

seguing from that into art!?!? pleas i have a dragon hoard of fanart only for my fics and there's over 100 pieces. A HUNDRED ARE TIOYU GIKISDINDIGME. giving u all a kissy rn. also the way i can get on discord and get immediately smacked in the face with bespoke paneenis liike every day help. gheelpp don't look at me. i will save my money and commission every one of u if its the last htign i do

2. a headcanon you weren’t sure about at first but have come to like!

oho! ready for this one? i was initially not super on board with hairy!lee. what was i on actually. me, a Wrong, and now i will purposefully include it in every fic as a sign of penance for my sins

3. answered!

4. say something nice about a ship you don’t ship (it can be another ship in your fandom, a mutual’s OTP, etc)

those who know me know that i strictly see leesaku as a brOTP, like those dudes are buddies to me. but that being said, i think leesaku as a romantic pairing is far healthier for sakura than her canon partner. lee is capable of so much love and forgiveness and they do parallel each other so much as the like... "underdog"/non-gifted member of their respective teams. she deserves love and support and understanding and lee would be genuinely ideal for it.

5. something you see in fics a lot and love

sunans (and team gai) being multilingual. oml one of my fave headcanons. you cannot tell me these different countries with different isolated villages are all casually speaking the same language when in big chunks of nart they didn't even like. get along properly. i loooove the concept of a shinobi common tongue and regional languages. further on that same thing, given team gai is pretty chinese-coded, i think it makes sense that they'd also be speaking another langauge, whether taught by gai or just because of their own independent histories or whatever. @sagemoderocklee has some truly stunning worldbuilding and it where i got my love for this hc from <3

6. something you see in art a lot and love

h-h-h-hHEIGHT DIFFERENCEEEEEEE

ok joking aside i refuse to believe gaara made it past like 5'3" that man did not sleep for his whole adolescence. conversely lee was probably on the Optimum Macros and that healthy eating would 100% contribute to maximum height gains etc. that man deserves to be 6 feet tall, that's my opinion and im right

thank you so much for the opportunity to gush about my blorbos <3

#gaalee #gaara #rock lee #team gai #leesaku #sakura haruno #fictalk #answers #writing gronp hours #also if anyone i @ed is like who dis itsa me kel

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marshmallowprotection · 1 year

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Ray felt shameful.

Even as he recovered from the explosion, he felt guilty and shameful for how the situation played out. No matter how much he begged, pleaded, or lamented with her to leave him behind and save herself—she refused to let him be alone if that was the end of his life—and her blood was on his hands because of it.

Neither died from the explosion, instead, they were left with scars that wouldn’t leave no matter how many years passed by. He could live knowing that he had marred his flesh because he just couldn’t do anything right—he couldn’t dispose of himself properly—but the scars on her body felt like they were his to take the blame for in the end.

She might’ve stayed with him, knowing what that meant in every way, but she didn’t choose to carry the weight of his sins. She chose to stand to with him so he wouldn’t be afraid to... you know... go away by himself. He spent too many years alone and afraid... and his selfish wish was the ugliest of all, because he felt ultimately grateful that someone was there with him.

Even though the guilt was just as powerful to him as that relief. Even though it’d been a few months since the explosion, he couldn’t shake these feelings away no matter how hard he tried. They were a part of him now... and he doubted the emotions were going to stop vexing him anytime soon. It might’ve been easier to bite his tongue, lay down in the cabin V decided to hole them in, and cry.

But, he couldn’t do that.

The pain of immobility was worse than the pain of a gentle breeze hitting his body like a thousand paper cuts.

It left Ray to sit there on the porch, watching Lila as she sat underneath a tree, a pencil in hand as she stared at the patch of dandelions that swarmed around her legs. She had every reason to be sent back to the RFA... to America... to people who could take care of her better than he ever did. She could’ve gone back to a life that wouldn’t hurt her like... like he did.

Yet, there she was, a sunhat protecting her face from overexposure from the sun and an eye-patch to limit the damage to her pupil. Even if he took the brunt of it that day... leaving most of his right side from his cheek to his mid-thighs with the abrasive edge of frayed skin... it didn’t change the fact that she got hurt, too. The fire licked the left side of her face, burning her cheek from just beneath her eyes to her shoulder blades.

Her hair was no longer in waves that cascaded down her back. it was short and framed her face in a way that made him wonder if it tickled. The curls kissed her cheeks in a way that he once... dreamed of doing. As always, he felt like he was transfixed on her image and he wanted nothing more than to paint her face like a portrait that would never fade from the gallery of his mind.

But, his quivering hand wavered and couldn’t bring his brush to the canvas like he once had. A half-finished painting haunted him of a life that he once dreamed of that they could never have again. There was no more castle, no more walls to protect them, no more gardens and tiaras to bathe her in glory, and no more lost eyes and deluded fantasies that could never amount to the way he realized just how much she’d come to mean to him.

“Why didn’t you send her back?” his broken voice sounded foreign to him but it was a question that plagued him like nothing else.

“My mistake was trying to pull you two apart,” V’s voice responded from behind him, his tone just as weary and shameful, but Ray didn’t flinch when he admitted that. “If only I listened when she pleaded with me to ask for help... your suffering wouldn’t have gotten as far as it did. I cannot change the past, however, so the fact remains that we have to accept our actions and the consequences that are a part of them.”

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

“Neither of you can heal from this without the other. That might... be the selfish part of my choices thus far, but... speaking from experience, this pain that you’re suffering... it’s better suffered with someone by your side instead of all alone in a dark place where no relief can be found.”

“...”

“What do you know about this shame, anyway?” Ray asked. His voice was more cruel than he intended it to be, partially his own frustration mixed in with what he knew was Saeran’s contempt just lurking behind his mind’s eye. “Don’t act like a man like you knows what this feels like.”

V moved from behind him, but the smallest sound of something light hitting the table next to him was done with extra care as not to frighten Ray with what he’d discovered wasn’t safe for him—loud noises. The man he once considered to be interesting and admirable was still in there, Ray hoped, but it was hard to let go of everything that happened to him, both before Mint Eye and after it.

Ray drew in a breath as he took a spot on the porch step beneath him. What was he thinking, anyway?

V unpeeled the shirt from his back just enough so that Ray could see the marred skin from a fire that must’ve taken place in his childhood. The burns covered his upper back, all across his shoulder blades as if the fire had dug its tendrils into it without hesitation. Well, it explained why V always wore so many layers all year around ever since he met him.

“I lost my mother in a fire when I was a boy. She died. She did everything she could to protect me back then, even though I hadn’t been a good son to her in years, if ever. After she found me... slumped over from smoke inhalation, she tried to get me outside of our house... and she succeeded... getting me out of the house... she didn’t get out. These scars I carry... these burns... these are a reminder of her love for me despite my failure as a son.”

“I didn’t have anyone but Jumin back then... but after the accident, I couldn’t face him for weeks. He was the one who wanted me to mend things with my mother... the one pushing me to make things right. But, before I could... the fire happened. I pushed him away for a while. I suffered alone... feeling the fire and letting every part of my body suffer because I felt like I deserved to suffer for being the reason why my mother didn’t help herself.”

“I think... that’s where I went wrong in the end, Ray. My mother loved me more than herself and she wanted me to know that by doing everything she could to save my life. My being alive is... I think that’s her love for me. I don’t want you... to suffer alone, Ray. I don’t think Lila would want you to suffer through this alone, either. That’s why she was willing to die with you.”

As V let his shirt fall back down, Ray looked down at his lap. He didn’t know that V went through something like that. In fact, there was a lot about V that he didn’t know. He never wanted to know more after Rika whispered things into his head, but this? This was something that made sense in some ways, and confused him in others.

Ray couldn’t remember everything about the day that V found the two of them left in the crumbling mass of Mint Eye’s rubble, but... he couldn’t remember the anguish in his sobs and the sound of him begging V to save Lila, not him... not him... if he was to suffer in Hell, so be it. That’s what he felt. That’s what Saeran felt, too... even if his voice was so quiet today.

The guilt in V’s voice felt palpable. “If I can do anything to make things right... I’ll start with you two. I’ll make sure that you both always have each other to hold onto. This fire won’t be a tragedy. It’s painful and you’re still suffering today... but I won’t let either of you fall victim to what I suffered if it’s the last thing I do on this Earth.”

Ray didn’t know what to say.

Not that he imagined there was anything that could be said.

“I don’t deserve—”

“Son,” V’s voice was firm, not harsh, but it shut Ray up as soon as he said it. “I won’t let you become me. I won’t let you spend years suffering alone when you have people who love you and want the best for you. No matter what, I vow that no matter how far you stumble or fall, I’ll be here to pick you up and show you a world that exists beyond our self-loathing and fears.”

“I know you want to sit with Lila. Go on, she’s waiting for you for join her this afternoon. I promise you this, no matter what you’re feeling, she would want nothing more than for you to be by her side. She made her choice and I don’t think she regrets it.”

Ray could feel his body trembling from the influx of emotion. It was a lot... it was too much, in fact. How was he supposed to believe in those words? How was he supposed to believe in anything? He couldn’t believe people were willing to die... to save him, much less than it could be possible that people cared about him like that. Tears bubbled up in the corners of his eyes.

Beyond his wandering eyes, he could see Lila, her smile as plain as day as she beckoned him with a waving hand. She wasn’t angry with him nor was she lost in a sea of resentment. In her brown eyes was nothing more than what could be described as love.

Oh.

He croaked, in a whisper, not a voice, “Thank you, Dad.”

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darklordazalin · 10 months

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Azalin Reviews: Darklrod Anton Misroi

Darklord: Anton Misroi Domain: Souragne Domain Formation: 635 BC Power Level: 💀💀💀💀 ⚫ (4/5 Skulls) Sources: Domains of Dread (2e), VRGTR (5e), Ravenloft (3e), Dance of the Dead (novel)

Anton Misroi, the so-called “Lord of the Dead” (not to be confused with me, the KING of the Dead), is the Darklord of Souragne, an insufferably humid, insect infested cypress swamp. Souragne is the Florida of the Demiplanes except instead of tourists and Disneyworld you have hordes of shambling corpses.

Souragne is an Island of Terror (though I suppose all the Domains are such in 5e lore) cut off from the Core purely because Anton REALLY didn’t want any neighbors. The western side of Souragne is dominated by the Masion d’Sablet swamp. Misroi’s tiny domain contains three settlements that are so insignificant he couldn’t bother to rule over them and the Souragiens govern themselves. The only “law” Misroi maintains is that the dead must not be cremated or buried until four days have passed. You know, just in case you were wondering where all those zombies were coming from, Anton makes it quite obvious.

Misroi has the outward demeanor of a gentle nobleman, all curtsey and smiles until one gets on his bad side. Before he was a Darklord, he was much the same. An owner of a large farmstead, Misroi was a wealthy, powerful, and cruel lord. He even had a favorite “murder spot” in the nearby swamp. Many servants he had deemed “insubordinate” met a slow end there. He also dabbled in spellsinging, which requires one to perform a dance or song to empower one’s spells. Seems an exorbitant amount of effort for little gain, I shall stick to my scrolls and books.

Misroi’s wife despised her existence and as her kindly neighbor was trying to comfort her, Anton walked in on them and assumed his wife was being unfaithful. Never one to listen to anyone but himself, Anton ignored their explanations and had them bound and dragged to his aforementioned favorite murder spot, a patch of quicksand. He had them tossed into the quicksand, then dismissed his assistant murderers so he could enjoy watching their slow death by himself.

A true gentleman, Misroi allowed his neighbor to attempt to save his wife and did not interfere when he hoisted her up onto his shoulders, but once he was completely under, Misroi pushed her down with a pole. She cursed him as the sand filled her mouth and the darkness heard her. His wife and neighbor were brought back to drag him under. Anton screamed into the void that he did not want to die and of course the Dark Power responded and turned him into a Zombie Lord.

Now an undead, rotting corpse, he was driven out of his land by his former servants. An outcast and coward, Anton hid in the swamps for years, studying the creatures and spirits that lived within. There he met the Maiden of the Swamp, the personification of life and tricked her into believing he was the same as her. She taught him the nature of life and death, of the demiplanes themselves, and workings of natural, elemental magic. Through her teaching, Anton was able to learn his own form of magic, the Dance of the Dead, which allows him to cast any Necromantic spell without having to properly learn it. He also regained his lost humanity, but in doing so, became like the spirits of the swamp. Because of this transformation, Anton is bound to the swamp and cannot set one foot outside of its boundaries.

In 5e, Souragne and Anton have a short write up, but have changed significantly. Anton is now a prison warden who’s violence led his prisoners to revolt and drown him in the swamp. He rose as an undead searching for more prisoners. Souragne is still described as being mostly dominated by swamplands, but only two of the three townships are mentioned.

A dancing, living zombie lord who doesn’t even rule his own Domain and kept his Domain separate by wishing hard enough. It was Anton that taught Larissa Snowmane the Dance of the Dead and his skills in Necromancy, though tainted by unnecessary dancing, are quite impressive. It’s fortunate he’s stuck in his little swamp.

#Anton Misroi #Souragne #Ravenloft #darklordreviews #azalin rex #azalin doesn't appreciate the danse macabre

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friendlessghoul · 8 months

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So.. This was an Ask I received and accidentally deleted, but they were asking about why the titles were describing scenes, were there missing scenes and how could scenes be missing.

I just want to say I'm not exactly an expert in this but I can try and explain best to my knowledge.

(and oh my god this turned out very long)

There's various reasons why silent films have missing footage. One is just due to the film decaying; nitrate film was highly flammable and if not stored properly would get gunky and film would become ruined in parts. Sometimes they were able to save pieces of the film.

The early motion-picture industry primarily used film stock made of nitrocellulose, commonly called nitrate film. This film is flammable and produces its own oxygen supply as it burns. Nitrate fires burn rapidly and cannot be extinguished, as they are capable of burning even under water.[1] Nitrocellulose is also subject to thermal decomposition and hydrolysis, breaking down over time in the presence of high temperatures and moisture. This decaying film stock releases nitrogen oxides that themselves contribute to the decay and make the damaged film burn more easily. Under the right conditions, nitrate film can spontaneously combust. In part because of substantial variability in the manufacturing of early film, considerable uncertainty exists about the circumstances necessary for self-ignition.[1] Sustained temperatures of 100 °F (38 °C) or higher, large quantities of nitrate film, increased humidity, poor ventilation, and aged or decaying film have all been considered risk factors. Most such fires in film archives have taken place in heat waves during summers, in closed facilities with limited ventilation, compounding several of these variables. Especially in confined areas, such fires can result in explosions. (source)

For the life of me I cannot find this next part of information, but *someone* was helping Buster transfer his nitrate films to preserve them to better film (I think that's what it was) that he had and went to some business for help. The guy flipped at them bringing nitrate films inside, and the guy begged him to do it saying something along the lines of- you see that guy out there? That's Buster Keaton and we need to preserve these films. Feeding them through the machines was difficult and slow because it kept clogging up the machines (and I think broke one?). There was also censorship problems. I noticed was with the Arbuckle/Keaton films, Chicago was either really strict or their records were really well kept. (idk) The Rough House - The Chicago Board of Censors cut the scene showing the theft of beads from the film.

Oh Doctor! -The Chicago Board required a cut of the scene where a man is pulling a women's skirt up to her knees.

Coney Island - The Chicago Board of Censors required a cut of a scene with a girl raising her dress above her knee. The original ending was considered racist by the mid-1920s and was cut from the film. Out West - the Chicago Board of Censors required a cut of the scene of arrows in man's back and their removal, man burning back with gas flames, and the shooting of the bartender.

Good Night, Nurse! - (this ones my favorite) - the Chicago Board of Censors cut, in Reel 1, Arbuckle kicking woman, Arbuckle putting foot on woman's posterior, and Arbuckle pulling dress off woman and exposing her figure. (the woman that Roscoe puts his foot on is Buster)

In the instance of Coney Island, we do have copies of both endings. (they're also on the DVDs). Now we have most of these despite the censorships, but that isn't always the case with other films. Moonshine was very fragmented, there were two types, one that was crisp with missing pieces, and a more complete print that was blurry and looks more like a negative. (there's also a lot of title cards which seems unusual to me)

Daydreams is...a mess.. there's still missing pieces of that film. "A restoration effort in 1995 recovered most of the footage, substituting stills and titles to fill the viewer in on the missing scenes." (source)

During that time, they would often describe the entire film in a review (they apparently didn't care about spoilers), which gives us a better idea of what happened in the films. In this case, Daydreams has a missing scene where Buster is working in a hospital.

Hard luck was a lost film until 1987, but even then they didn't have the ending gag that Buster called the greatest laugh-getting scene of his career. It was later discovered in a Russian archive print, I believe they found that in the mid 90s, and it's distorted (as you can see). There's also other instances like with The Navigator. Often they would preview films to audiences in towns to gauge how the film would perform. If it fell flat (like Seven Chances had) they go back and edit or add scenes. With the Navigator there are mentions in reviews of a scene-

"Then I started fixing the leak, but a school of fish came by, all going in the same direction except one poor little fish who tried and tried to cross their track and couldn't. I, seeing its plight, picked up a starfish, put it on my chest, whistled, and held up my hand at the school of fish. They stopped, I motioned the little fish to cross, he swam by, then I turned and signaled the school to pass on. They all went by, and I returned to the leak." (A Filmmakers Life- James Curtis pg 259),

but in screening the film, the audience didn't react well to it, so they cut it (after several screenings, not understanding why it didn't work). But in trailers, they kept that scene because it worked better. And then there were the fires. MGM had a massive vault fire (1965), as did Fox (1937) (among many others)

The Cameraman was at one point considered a lost film, destroyed in the 1965 MGM vault fire. However, a complete print was discovered in Paris in 1968.[19] Another print, of much higher quality, although missing some footage, was discovered in 1991.[19] The two prints were combined into a version which now is available. (source)

Another case with The Cameraman was- MGM writing department used the film to train new writers as a "perfectly constructed comedy" for decades, even wearing out their print.

There's also stuff about copyright laws (not getting into that), Rohaur, who was trying to preserve Buster's films had to rewrite intertitles, add canned music and alter crucial edits made by buster and his original cutters. (A Filmmakers Life - Curtis pg 616)

SO in ending this..In the beginning of film they didn't know how important these movies would become and they were not exactly taken care of. There are still silent films being discovered in all parts of the world, fragmented, sometimes attached to other films, and in various conditions. There are restoration projects to restore all silent films, and I have seen people raise money to help aid in this. (IBKS accepts donations to help support their nonprofit organization, which includes artifact preservation.)

Uh yeah.. I'm sure this isn't everything, but I hope this helps...

#ask #holy cow this got out of hand long

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thebxghag · 1 year

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tell me 5 ship hc's of yours, it can be about azulaang, sokkla or anything else you like

oh man okay uhh -- let's do. Azulaang. But specifically I'm gonna choose to do my HCs from Azula travels with Aang after the war au. ye.

Aang and Azula don't stay together:

Okay ironically this goes for all of my Azulaang Aus LOL

I love this ship but I think that ostensibly they're really different people, and while they're what one another needs for a while in any of my aus, I think at the end of the day they're the sort of ship that's meant to change each other and then move on.

This is mainly because I HC that Azula doesn't want kids, and Aang really really does, and also that Azula isn't exactly the type of person that would willingly marry Aang (esp given their statuses as Avatar and [deposed (imo)] princess of the Fire Nation). Mind you, I also don't think that Azula wants to not be with Aang? She likes things the way they are but Aang wants things to change between them -- which I think is a breaking point for many of Azula's romantic relationships.

2. Azula and Aang don't advertise their relationship:

It's a surprise to the gaang when they eventually kind of suss out the fact that Azula and Aang are an item and not just travelling companions. In fact the only reason Zuko specifically finds out is because he happens to discover them kissing in the garden when they think no one's watching.

I think if asked, Aang would happily tell anyone about it, but Azula's way more tight-lipped and definitely doesn't accept a lot of PDA so it's not immediately apparent that they're a couple.

3. Azula adopts Air Nomad clothing colours to show Aang that she's serious about their relationship to one another:

While Azula initially continues to wear reds (despite having cut her hair after the disgrace of losing the Agni Kai), eventually she begins to wear yellows and oranges as well, especially when she and Aang end up being the only two left consistently travelling together.

She's acutely aware that she kind of hides away the fact that they're together, and doesn't want Aang to feel she's ashamed of being with him (since it's very much the opposite), so she begins to wear his colours as a show of her connection with him.

4. The thin gold bracelet that she wears was bought for her by Aang:

Before they were even together, Aang noticed her admiring it at a market they were passing through. When asked about it, Azula expressed that it would be an unnecessary bauble and she doesn't need it when they could get more rice for the extra coins that they have.

When Azula isn't paying attention Aang buys the bracelet for her and then later when they've set up camp for the night he slips it on her wrist as a surprise. She's never taken it off since.

(the bracelet is a thin gold bangle with a 2d engraved lotus flower at its center.)

5. Azula really cannot cook to save her life, so Aang does most of the cooking.

It's mainly vegetarian, which Azula hates, but she's willing to put up with it because she knows she lacks in that area of skill. Still, she complains every time and every time Aang just cheekily replies that she's free to cook dinner if she wants.

Really, Aang uses this as his way of making certain that Azula eats properly and takes care of herself.

#I dunno if these are very shippy #BUT HERE THEY ARE #uhu #azulaang #head canons #prodogg #ask answered

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serenanymph · 1 year

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Hey everyone! I'm Serena - you can call me Ser - and my pronouns are she/her. This is the writeblr for @murderousewpecspredator! I'll mostly be reblogging writing resources, advice, inspiration etc. here. I'll also be posting my original fics and art, plus updates and snippets (and occasional screaming) as I work on my wips, so be on the lookout for that!

My works tend to include:

➼ high fantasy (occasionally dabbling in urban fantasy, dystopia or sci-fi) ➼ traumatized teenagers forming found families ➼ characters all flavors of queer + male-female friendships and queerplatonic relationships!! ➼ sad backstories ➼ hurt/comfort. SO much hurt/comfort. but also eventual happy endings where the characters get to live peacefully :) ➼ at least one character who is stubbornly kind in the face of a cruel world ➼ and hope!!! I love hope

Find me on: ao3 | wattpad

I'm looking for more writing mutuals so feel free to reply if you share similar writing genres/interests, and I'll give you a follow!

(works under cut)

WIPS

𝐵𝐸𝒜𝒮𝒯

In a world where monsters live in the woods - creatures with the ability to shift forms and wield magic - humans and Beasts have been fighting for centuries. One summer morning, Crys Averwell finds a crow-boy in the forest who has had his wings brutally hacked off.

Unfortunately, saving him from bleeding out is the easy part - because hiding the existence of a Beast from Crys's village, and finding a way for said Beast to get home?

That's going to be another story entirely.

𝒪𝓇,

My current wip!! High fantasy series with found families, banter™ and protags who aren't the heroes or the chosen ones but are just really, really unlucky. Also contains,

large casts

the Sarcastic Withdrawn one + the Ray of Sunshine Extroverted one

a Journey

undead creatures

cool magic with runes and potions and spells and Artifacts

Forests. and Mountains. and More Forests

discrimination, eventual rebellion, blowing stuff up

Sad Times

𝐵𝑜𝑜𝓀𝓈

➢ Crow Wings (2nd draft complete, 3rd draft to be started somewhere in July or August) ➢ Witch's Book (1st draft in progress) ➢ Untitled book 3, 4 and possible 5

series/book 1 intro, book 2 intro

taglist (lmk if you want to be +/-): @deer-in-headlights-stare, @allianaavelinjackson, @arctic-oceans, @space-writes, @reneesbooks

𝒞𝑜𝓇𝓇𝓊𝓅𝓉𝑒𝒹

It's the start of a new school year, and Sakoto Misami's brother has disappeared. Another runaway, people whisper - but Sami knows her brother isn't like that, knows that Irumi would never abandon them.

So when police fail to track him down, she decides to investigate on her own. And the things she finds begin to make her wonder - had she never known her brother after all?

Her questions are promptly answered when, that Friday night, on a deserted train platform, the lights flicker, and something inhuman comes out of the tunnel. Straight for her.

Enter the Swords.

𝒪𝓇,

The half-defined urban fantasy wip I take out to blow dust off of occasionally, because I cannot juggle for the life of me. I do write snippets sometimes though, and I'll properly get into it sometime in the future. Includes,

Cool Swords

spirit companions

a Weird Magic System involving Threads and Needles and Weaving and Fabric. I swear it makes sense I just haven't figured it out yet

subways!!! alleyways!!! parkours and night views and leaping from rooftop to rooftop!!!

traumatized teens, again, and found family, again. But also actual family

qprs!!! heck yeah I love qprs

Yeah that's pretty much it. I have a handful of other ideas I may mention once in a blue moon, but they're sitting on the backburner for now since I'm only able to focus on one project at a time. I also dabble in fanfic, and might occasionally post a short story or a poem, but that's all gotten to be pretty rare.

I'll make proper pages in a while, but until then feel free to poke around in the main tags! The gen tags are #beast and #corrupted, while official tags are #wip: beast and #wip: corrupted (though the last one is largely empty).

See you around!

-Ser

#pinned #my posts #intro #writeblr #writing #oh wow this sure got long #whoops #beast #corrupted #wip: beast #wip: corrupted

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incarnateirony · 9 months

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For those of you who have been following the Startup Business Drama and Vacation Man, I've got a convo behind the cut for you. Bearing in mind this man came banging at my door at 130 AM to prove how Here For Me he is after fucking off for upwards of 3 weeks at a critical time period without doing any of his promises beforehand. Like literally I pretended not to hear it because, holy shit dude, it's 130 AM, it's not my fault you can't manage your life. But he knocked until the cops showed up asking what was going on.

(Vacation Boy) — Today at 4:19 PM I agree we need to talk about several things yes. I figured I would come by either Sunday or Monday night after we have both had a few days to calm down and be pain free. I'm in excruciating pain and exhausted from this trip myself and I got back to the house that was completely wrecked. I've got at least a week's worth of trash I got to deal with and a pile of their laundry that's as big as I am just to start was before I can even do my own. I even took a muscle relaxer myself last night and it did absolutely nothing for me.

EXPY P2P — Today at 4:25 PM I honestly do not prefer in person discussion. And that stands with or without awkward conversations. My brain does not assemble thoughts well in person, everything gets lost, I become frustrated even at myself, and it causes manic spirals of anger. There is a reason I am fighting so hard for chat, not voice jobs, even if will accept voice jobs. It is a legitimate disability I do not think people understand. It's not just exhausting by nature of talking costing energy, which it does, but of a neurodiverse issue and the methods my brain functions at, which is why half the time I just. Stare or have long responses or just sit there sorting through things visually, and I inevitably lose what I've said or haven't covered yet, whereas text allows the ability to track back what has and hasn't been said. Or why the longer even calm conversations go the more my voice escalates in either volume, pitch, or speed.

EXPY P2P — Today at 4:34 PM In the time you were gone, I lost one of our leading plants, by the way. In the timeline no longer being "take 1-2 extra weeks" to "move it ahead a week, actually", broken stem girl strangled herself without time to repair. In attempting to stretch, the stem rupture broke out of the stem while the stem itself hardened to the point even attempted surgical cut of the damaged tissue was too late for the impaction. It is to some extent my fault by not attempting to clone her, but I also did not have a clone tray, and that too would have caused a developmental delay, so either way was a roll of the dice. This was on the list of reasons, beyond optimizing canopy coverage for yield, I wanted to give them 1-2 more weeks (recovering from past issues, and her stem recovery, as well as the resurrected plant.) This was an avoidable loss, but I was essentially in a corner, and needing to figure out where my minimum 6 weeks would fit without overcosting Sarah without Gen, who only came back post-flip. Just like all the stuff David tried to price gouge me on at 3x new market rate now being offered, also months late, in the final hour, after all the costs, and struggle, and saves from damages, because asking it earlier was too uncomfortable. If it comes in AT ALL, that NEEDS to go into the grow op IMMEDIATELY, not a branch off, not a learning pet project, into actually being equipped to do this properly. Mark, I need you to understand, the plants need what they need. They need them when they need them, not when it's most convenient for us. We can not simply whip schedules around over and over and demand they meet them, we cannot wait extra weeks to give them the bare minimum, we can not demand peak performance without giving them even essential conditions. If I say "hey here's a ten dollar fan I can't buy", don't go "ok do that" and sit with a thumb up your ass and wait until I get one only for it to come without a cord, only to find you have fans laying all over your house the whole time. If I say it's time consuming to manually train the plant canopies nonstop because they readjust for light, don't tell me "I forgot to get you the thing you asked for, for two months." If I say, I just took critical fall damage with my setup, don't tell me you still forgot the goddamn power strip. When I say I need grow bins when the plants are 4 weeks old, don't show up with them at 6-7 weeks and pikachu face that their roots are too big, the vegetables you are demanding on an insane schedule are literally moving faster than you are, per your request and by my skill. You can't expect me and the plants to run olympic triathalons on a timeline crunch while you stand there Forgetting Stuff or holding on to save 10 bucks yourself just so I can buy it on my pocket change too late too. These are easy things to prioritize, many of which had easy, even free answers to you. The reason the bastards are doing Great is because people paid 60$ to get me the dirt that would have been 24$ to get pickup at walmart independence supercenter. The reason they can have the HPS to themselves dedicated in a space is because John and Noiz collectively put in over $100 to add lights that should have been added months ago but I refused to put more weight on Sarah and spent my days recreating the sun moving for them.

EXPY P2P — Today at 4:42 PM

At this point we are pretty much surrendered to this continuing as a small scale operation that barely self floats through past the holidays until we can work past debts, restrictions, the fraud my old rental agency pulled et al, and if we manage to be out of here before that, we've pulled out a miracle. I am mutually job hunting all day while house hunting for independent rentals all day and yes, contacting them over and over and over as needed. You got offended when I pointed out you've lived with David for years and are out of touch with rental reality. And then you asked if you might have to call more than once, so god far be it from me to assume you went the extra mile and looked for options yourself knowing I'm busy being a horticulturist, a chemist, an engineer, and a goddamn wizard full time while training plants because of Stuff You Forgot. And what about moving costs? Deposit? Where is all this money coming from???? September 20? Unsold plants? Because I communicated what the sped up bloom period would be like, and you sped it up in your head faster than that, to essentially make impossible promises to Sarah in my name, and I told her no, no that's not right, no. NOIZ has been in on this like two weeks and already has displayed a clearer understanding of grow cycles and timelines than you have because they are actually listening, so I've been messaging them, as investors, to make educated decisions on timelines. You, meanwhile, say getting a job you want to [checks notes] throw seeds outside in early October. In the midwest. With a photoperiod strain. After the equinox. At onset winter. You don't even need to be a weed wizard to see why that was None Thoughts, Head Empty. Then, instead of offering to invest up in the business, so I could send you overstock we get in bulk, plan A Grow Of Your Own. All months late. Like okay, lesson one my guy, most plants don't grow in snow.

I am able to do this now because John also prioritized buying other things, like the trellis net I asked for since we start, which has dramatically streamlined my work.

When John saw the setup I had, he was shocked the plants were even alive much less several of them being the size of plants given twice as long to vegetate.

EXPY P2P — Today at 4:51 PM here is another grower with 12 week old, pre-bloom plants about 2 1/2 feet tall, or topped in the same strain to make the spread out version. They had extra leaves from their age but otherwise, I don't know if you notice, this was why I was asking 1-2 weeks extra. To let them get here. By 8-9 weeks, not 12. I did this on next to nothing, and essentially alone.

The neighbor commented on the dirt quality, asked if thats why I used for the ones in tent. I said no, we used timberline bc it was cheaper off the top. He shit his pants. The entire point of choosing dirt over hydroponics is to NOT force a 90 day timeline, to NOT have plants start dying after that point, to BE able to give them extra time, to TAKE the extra few weeks to double or triple your results. I had also been topping the plants when I was told I could have 1-2 extra weeks. Then, I was basically forced into abandoning that, so the topping never had chance to take, and they're going to have minimal returns from that. The plants can not time travel.

I have been still working to my last breath during the day. Sometimes literally, and knocking myself out on CO2 to try to make these plants give us more than 3-4 ounces a plant, because the hundred times I explained timelines, square meter canopies or equivalent light coverage, the differences in yield with comparison to professional growers with high end equipped rigs, et all flew in one ear and out the other, largely because someone planted "90 day grow" in your head when I told you "about 3 months, maybe 4", not 90 days, because I'm not functionally retarded, and I knew the benefit in getting 110 day plants I could push to 100 day plants, that were suddenly committed to being 90 day plants, and then 85 day plants, and I got driven to near insanity trying to make demands and deadlines and flipped the switch before I got other people committing to keeping my ass covered while I got this stable. I might not have been pushed into making this decision if, for example, Gen came around a week earlier than she did, but I was staring down Sarah having to pay september AND a chunk of october to move, before the move fell in. And we conceded I may need to sit. And I can't unflip what's been flipped already, it doesn't work like that. What had once been you saying "oh I can swipe a card for a week or two of the final month if needed" became "I quit my job and NEED money by now." Every term and condition of this has been changed on me. I say "september 20-something" for the earliest, you start promising Sarah Sept 20, not 20-something, that she won't have to pay XYZ, etc, and that is simply Not Fucking True nor did anyone say anything that would have implied that if you were listening at all. "Harvest by Sept 20-something" that goes all the way to Sept 29 = "Able to sell and move by Sept 20" to you HOW? When I was talking about extending 1-2 weeks, and you said yes, and that being 1-2 week Oct? September 20 COMES IN WHERE BEYOND FANTASY, MY GUY? 6-8 WEEK BLOOM, MY GUY.

At some point you decided you "only want an average yield", while ignoring what I said was needed to get there, and reading bare minimum sellers information without context, while giving sub-minimum conditions, lighting, dirt, and grow time all at once.

You say, "I appreciate your work" but that truly means nothing to me if you haven't absorbed what that work is, or what you're demanding, or what I'm communicating to achieve it at all, while setting expectations in your own head about what it will look like how much and how fast. I'm sitting here doing algebra about ppfd and umols and CO2 and absorbable moles in a day to try to push timelines without losing further results beyond the conditions and timelines already forced on them. I had literally ad nauseam in the chat gone over how to get sq meter canopies with 1-2 weeks and before THAT got rug pulled on me got an Uh Huh Go Ahead and then suddenly it got Backwardsed into 1 or 2 weeks LESS, when bloom simply doesn't work like that, which I also explained ad nauseam.

I literally resurrected a different plant from the dead. It could have had 2 weeks to catch up to the others. It will not.

And somewhere between there you started trying to charge me black market rates for groceries that I wouldn't have needed help with if I hadn't been trying to buy shit for the plants on my own well past my investment bar to begin with, just like Sarah, while expecting Sarah to pay more. And then I'm sorry, yes, outright either lying to either us or yourself about the car, and then bouncing when your own words on record, or your own failure to google what I found in five seconds to the same town you drove not just 97.4 miles around that weekend, but at least 50 before that calculating your gas tank capacity and the trip useage to get there. When really it boils down to something you said from the jump "I feel like I deserve this." Just like you feel like you deserve a fuckton of money without meeting the $500 bar, or doing the accounting, or the licensing, or any of it, or deserve Sarah buying more stuff, or deserve to quit your job while I'm ready to jump into working full time alongside this just to stabilize myself now that my whole livelong day isn't set to keeping these plants together. And I pass out at a semi sane midnight hour and have you come banging at my door at 130 AM until the cops show up because you didn't consider time, or that I wasn't replying to the messages, or that I might need human functions like sleep sometimes, just to prove something about you being here, weeks too late, after I pulled everyone else in to cover the stuff I was short to keep this whole operation from going in the toilet because you wanted a vacation that you justified and showed me the long, long list of seals and fluids your car had needed not since last year, but since 2019 at least and like, my guy, you not having your priorities together before isn't our cost to eat. I dare you to do the math on your chipotle drives and costs since 2019. On your 400/mo rent, 1500/mo base income and +500 work going... somewhere.

EXPY P2P — Today at 5:33 PM Then yeah, I hear "oh well no mail since a week ago" "??? the other 10 days?" "IDK David-" ? wasn't told to keep an eye out or to file all mail? That's like, bare minimum dude, that's not even work for you. There's a lot of refusal of bare minimum. If there will be a CEO of this company, at this rate, it will be John. John acted like a CEO. He took a look at my setup, what I was accomplishing with essentially nothing, and asked "what do you need?" without delay, without me bitching. Not "What can you give me how soon?" It all arrived next day in the mail. Not weeks or months later. Well most specifically he said "Holy shit your wires that's sooooo not safe. Oh my god wait holy shit you're actually pulling it off somehow. Oh my god. What do you need."

(Vacation Boy) — Today at 5:56 PM Yes David was told to look for mail addressed to you. In fact David was told twice. After I took you home the first night he met you he and I talked in detail about our friendship and the operation as it stood then, and again the day that I left.

Nothing has arrived here that's had your name on it other than the last mail I brought you before I left. David has confirmed that he has not thrown out or sent back anything with your name on it the entire time that he was here.

EXPY P2P — Today at 6:02 PM Okay. That is good. But we need a come to jesus talk about the rest, my guy. Because I have been in no way vague about plant timelines, requirements, cycles, lighting, et al, but it became increasingly clear in the last ~ETA 3 weeks that nothing has sunk in. I in fact explained these things in loops so many times I felt like I was being obnoxious about it.

(Vacation Boy) — Today at 6:04 PM I agree. We will have that conversation sooner rather than later.

EXPY P2P — Today at 6:05 PM I will not be forced to hold this conversation in person without regards to my neurodiverse limitations to leverage the conversation into your benefit. It can be had here. All the information stays on page where you can read it again and again and again without losing or forgetting anything.

(Vacation Boy) — Today at 6:07 PM Ok fine. But you will not be guaranteed to get a response from me before tomorrow night. I have already told you why.

EXPY P2P — Today at 6:07 PM That is fine. But my points are there. That is another benefit of messages. They can and will stay there, and they do not disappear, or get forgotten. We're having that conversation. You can have it as slow as you want. These points that have been spoken will not disappear, even if we take it to in person where I can't sort out my thoughts, they still exist. But if I say one last thing here today: For all of your thought about your own 10-15 hour a week work life balance, I beg you to consider how you would view a boss that treated you with the conditions, equipment, and expectations you put on me before, and during, vanishing on vacation. John has been now calling me almost daily while working carrying around 100 lb equipment on his 40 hour hard labor workweek to check in on if anything new has come up and been needed, or how to help. The only reason he was not doing this prior was because I wasn't complaining and, well, he was working full time. Keep in mind, if we had gotten a place, and he had moved in, he didn't come in asking for money, he made a contingency on having a job lined up and ready to not put a drain on a young business, not just running here to quit his, despite his own creeping disabilities. So again, remove the perception from being defending yourself. Pretend these demands or lack of listening had come from some other boss or CEO, since that's what you said you were going to be, and put the hats on you to handle. How would you interpret this supervisor and how would you feel?

Zero. Dead plants. That would be the Average Yield in the conditions and timeline I was given. Other people rescuing this made the Average Yield maybe 3-4 oz a plant. I am trying to do the same plant wizardry that kept them alive at all to make them half a pound a plant, but you know I hate overpromising. The average yield with what I was left with, and all the delays to even get power strips or clippy fans or other things laying around for free, would be Zero. I need you to wrap your head around that before this conversation moves any further.

------------------

Fascinating that in that entire brick, he could spring forward to go "well I DID do the bare minimum about the mail, exactly" but needs even MORE delay of time to figure out how to make excuses for the other bullshit.

And that shit at the start? What is he bitching about? Who is he accusing of trashing the house that bad while he was out of town? The owner that hasn't been there half the time? Throwing in a load of laundry for them when he gets to rent an entire 1500 sq foot house for 400/mo utilities included, since said owner is only in town a few weeks a year? Who made all the piles of trash? The fucking cats?

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the-panda-writes · 9 months

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The Siren of the Inquisition

Chapter 12

Aiduin POV

“....What would you have me tell them? This isn’t what we asked them to do!”

“We cannot simply ignore this! We must find a way!”

“And who put you in charge? We need a consensus or we have nothing!”

“Please we must use reason! Without the infrastructure of the Inquisition would harbor-”

Josephine is cut off before she could continue with their argument when Aiduin finally wakes up.

Sitting up with a groan, he looks around him, seeing Ashe with the young boy in her arms and Mother Giselle.

“Shh. You need to rest.” the female cleric says to the elf.

“They’ve been at it for hours.” Ashe deadpans, coming up to sit next to the cleric.

“They have that luxury thanks to the two of you.” Mother Giselle says to both of them with a small smile. “The enemy could not follow and with time to doubt, we turn to blame. Infighting may threaten as much as this, scurry fears.”

“I hate to say it, but she does have a point, your worship.” Ashe says, making him look at her. “During times of crisis and suffering a loss such as Haven, people will turn to blame others.”

He ponders this information, asking if we know where Corypheus and his forces are right now.

“Not yet. To be honest, I don’t even know where we are.” Ashe chuckles.

“How can one laugh in a situation like this?” Mother Giselle asks in a calm yet judgemental tone.

“It helps me cope.” Ashe snides at her, then looks down to the child who is now wiggling in her arms. “If you will excuse me, I need to check on Peter’s wounds. It looks like his vision will be impaired from now on.”

As the woman walks off, Aiduin returns his gaze back to the Cleric. “Despite the number he still commands, there is no sign of him. That, or you are believed dead. Without Haven, we are thought helpless, or he guilds for another attack.” she says, trying to play devil's advocate. “I cannot claim to know the mind of that creature, only his effect on us.”

“If they are arguing about what we do next, I need to be there.” He says, trying to sit up some more, but the Cleric stops him.

“Another heated voice won’t help, even yours.” Giselle says, placing a calming hand on his shoulder. “Perhaps especially yours.”

Aiduin lays back down as the Cleric tells him about what they have witnessed, seeing him; their defender; stand and fall and see him return. He still goes to sit up on the side of the cot as she continues.

“The more the enemy is beyond us, the more miraculous your actions appear, and the more our trials seem ordained. But it is hard to accept to know we have been called to endure, what we perhaps, must come to believe.”

Aiduin just chuckles a little but goes on to continue the conversation. “I escaped the avalanche, barely with my life and the life of the woman that saved me; but I didn’t die.

“Of course. And the dead cannot return from across the veil, but the people know what they saw; or perhaps what they needed to see. The Maker works both in the moment and in how it is remembered. Can we truly know the heavens are not with us?”

Ashe POV

As Ashe left the conversation between the cleric and the revived Herald, she is relieved that he is okay. She was so scared that if she didn’t do everything to save him, she would have to find another way to find a way home.

If there is one.

Ashe places that child in her arms on a spare cot as she checks Peter, the boy now turned orphan she rescued.

He is not going to be able to see properly for the rest of his life. And he is going to have so much trauma from this ordeal, leaving a mental scar as well as physical. Ashe thinks, frowning as he caresses the boy's small head. She uses her magic to try and ease some of the pain from the burns on his neck and torso. She is interrupted by movement coming from the opening, turning to see the Commander coming to check on them both.

“How is he?” Cullen asks with a sad smile.

“He’ll live, but I am worried about how his mental state will be when he fully awakens.” Ashe says, going to place a blanket over the child and using her magic to heat it up to stave off the cold.

“Once we find a better, more fortified place to rebuild, I will see if he will be placed with a kind family until we can get into contact with someone of his ken.” Cullen says, placing a gentle hand on her covered shoulder.

“You won’t have to,” Ashe says, turning her head to look him in the eye. “I’ll take care of him.”

Cullen POV

Cullen is in a state of shock when she, a woman of 25 winters, unmarried and has no children of her own, will be taking in a small boy no older than 5 winters and caring for him and his needs.

Before he could bring another word out, he hears singing coming from the campfire.

“Shadows falls

And hope has fled

Steel your heart

The dawn will come.

The night is long

And the path is dark

Look to the sky

For one day soon

The dawn will come.

The Shepherd’s lost

And his home is far

Keep to the stars

The dawn will come.”

He smiles looking back to the pair, seeing that Ashe has now huddled behind the child to keep him warm and is asleep as well. He brushes a small piece of the woman’s hair away from her face, seeing her marking enhance her beauty to him as he sings with the rest of the Inquisition.

“The night is long

And the path is dark

Look to the sky

For one day soon

The dawn will come…”

Aiduin POV

After the people have quieted down a bit, Aiduin looks to them before his thoughts were interrupted.

“A word.” Solas says, curtly, leading them both away from camp.

As soon as they were far enough away, Solas lights the torch with his magic and turns towards the herald.

“A wise woman, worth heeding. Her kind understands the moments that unify a cause - or fracture it.” Aiduin’s fellow elf says to him as he gets closer. “The orb Corypheus carried, the power he used against you, it is Elven. Corypheus has used the orb to open the breach, unlocking it must have caused the explosion that destroyed the Conclave.”

Aiduin looks at him, almost shocked but now finally understanding the power Corypheus wields is of their people.

“I do not yet know how Corypheus survived, nor am I how people will react when they learn of the orbs Origin.”

Aiduin asks what it is and why he knows of it. Solas tells him that it used to focus and channel ancient magics. “Corypheus may think it is Tevinter; his Empire’s magic is built on the bones of our people. Knowing or not, he risked our lives, I cannot allow it!”

“This whole mess is confusing. I can see how our people might be an easy target for blame for all of this.” Aiduin says, pondering how to go with this information.

“History would agree, but there are steps we can take to prevent such a distraction. I know of a place we can go to for shelter and, possibly, rebuild.” Solas says, turning towards the mountain. “We will set off in the morning and I will tell you a way to lead the survivors to a safer place.”

“Thank you, Lethallin.” Aiduin says, turning to him and giving him a small bow. “Come, let us get some rest.”

As they go to return to camp, Solas asks a question.

“What did Corypheus say about the half-elf maiden?”

“He called her a ‘Traveler,’ said that she is not of this realm.” Aiduin says, trying to make sense of the monster’s words.

Solas remains quiet, pondering the information. I must keep a close eye on this maiden, she may know more than she lets on.

#writers on tumblr #my writing #fanfiction writers #self ship #self insert #cullen rutherford #dragon age inquistion

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